19th April 2016

nigeria’s most informative newspaper no 16,482

TUESDAY, 19 april, 2016 www.tribuneonlineng.com

Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

TribuneOnline

Nigerian Tribune

n150

Saraki's CCT trial to hold 10am to 6pm daily —P2

•My trial won't disturb Senate proceedings —Saraki •Proof of evidence tendered six weeks after charges were filed —Witness •Senate President used different bank drafts to buy property in Lagos, he says

Budget crisis: Nigerians occupy senators' telephone lines —P4

Tompolo, 6 Akpobolokemi's brothers arraigned in absentia —P10

Oil price: OPEC deadlock won't affect economy negatively —Experts —P11

A cross section of women affected by the military invasion in Rivers, weeping during a public hearing in Port Harcourt, on Monday.

PHOTO DAPO FALADE

Purchase of 108 SUVs

Senators greedy, insensitive —Labour

—P4

•Return vehicles or face massive protests, senators told

2

news

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Saraki’s CCT trial to hold 10am to 6pm daily Sunday Ejike - Abuja with Agency Report

T

HE trial of Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, over alleged false declaration of assets took a different dimension on Monday, as the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Mr Danladi Yakubu Umar, said the trial will go on as from 10.00 a.m. till 6.00 p.m. everyday, until judgment in the matter is delivered.

Umar, who gave this directive at the resumed hearing in the case on Monday, said his decision to conduct the trial day to day, was in line with the provisions of section 396(6) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

According to the Tribunal chairman, by virtue of 396 (6) ACJA, criminal trial of a defendant after arraignment should proceed day by day and that, he intended to do in the matter.

“We will start by 10.00 a.m. till about 6.00 p.m. everyday till the conclusion of the case,” he said.

Meanwhile, Saraki’s lead counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, earlier pleaded to the tribunal not to make the proceedings in the matter daily, as it will ground the activities of the Senate.

But the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, objected to that line of submission by the defence counsel, adding that “it is a disgrace to the nation to say that the business of the Senate will suffer if the proceedings in the trial is allowed to go on day by day.

“It is not the Senate that is on trial, the senators can hold their sitting while Saraki attends to his trial,” he told the tribunal.

Also, a detective with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Michael Wetkas, told the tribunal, while being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, that Saraki failed to declare some landed property he owns in the assets declaration forms submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The detective and a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the Senate President at Tribunal over false assets declaration told the Danladi Yakubu Umarled Tribunal that the Senate President failed to declare his property located on No 1 and No 3, Targus Street, Maitama, Abuja, in his assets declaration he made in 2007 and 2011, even though he had acquired those property before he became the governor of Kwara State.

The witness also told the Tribunal that although the assets declaration form provided a column for factories, ranches, farms and other enterprises, Saraki wrote in the column that “I do not have,” while investigation revealed that he has several companies.

According to Wetkas, the Senate President had substantial and controlling shares in Skyview Property Limited, Carlie Property and Investment Limited, Babs Trading and Manufacturing Limited, Delta Foods Limited, Lintas Limited, Orion-Agro Limited, PPI Limited, Bastone Limited, Quality Packaging Limited, among others.

He said that property on No.15 A and B. Mcdonald, Ikoyi, Lagos, that were declared by Saraki in his assets declaration form were bought in the name of Cerlie Property and Investment

Limited from the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Sales of Federal Government property.

The Tribunal admitted 17 more documents as exhibits as proof that Saraki owned the property in question.

Among the documents tendered through the witness by the prosecution counsel included GTBank draft of the sum N256.3 million, N12.8 million and another N24 million, as part payment for property on No.17 Mcdonald Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, by the defendant.

“There is another draft of N180.6 million, dated April 3, 2007. We have another draft for N36.1 million, dated January 10, 2007, both as part payment of the No. 17 Mcdonald Street, Ikoyi, Lagos,” Wetkas told the Tribunal.

He said even though the policy of the Presidential

Committee on Sales of Federal Government Property did allow anybody to buy more than one property, the Senate President bought three of the properties from the committee, saying the property No. 17 and 17A, Mcdonald Street, Ikoyi, were acquired in Saraki’s personal name, while the property on No.15, Mcdonald Street, was bought under the name of Carlie Property and Investment Limited.

He said investigation revealed a list of property Saraki owned, one of which included Rustos Garden with nine property that yielded a total income of N126 million per annum, which he also failed to declare.

Under cross-examination

by Saraki’s lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, the witness, Wetkas, told the Tribunal that it was the prosecutor who told him to file a sum-

mary report of his findings and activities during investigation.

According to the witness, the charge against the Senate President was filed on September 14, 2015, while the witness report, which formed part of proof of evidence, was filed on October 30, 2015.

He said he did not mention any petition from Kwara Freedom Network or did investigate it. The petition from the network, he said was being investigated by team, adding that his own team investigation was based on the intelligence report.

The witness also told the Tribunal that he did not investigate the pension scheme of Kwara State or knew the pension entitlement of the defendant.

The witnesses had, last week, told the Tribunal that Saraki had been receiving

monthly salaries from the Kwara State government for four years after the expiration of his tenure as governor of the state.

The Senate President was arraigned by the anti-graft the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 13-count charge bordering on allegations of false asset declaration and money laundering.

He had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charges slammed against him by the Federal Government.

The prosecution witness, while being led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs at the resumed sitting of the Tribunal on Monday, claimed that the Senate President had been receiving monthly salaries from June 2011(when he left office as the governor of Kwara State) till August 2015, while he was a senator.

Trial continues today.

My trial won’t disturb Senate proceedings —Saraki Taiwo Adisa - Abuja SENATE President, Dr Bukola Saraki, said on Monday, that his ongoing trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) will not disturb the activities of the Senate.

A statement by his Media Adviser, Yusuph Olaniyonu, quoted Saraki as telling newsmen after the CCT chairman, Mr Danladi Umar announced that the proceedings in the trial involving the Senate President would hold on a day-to-day

basis.

The statement recalled that at the preliminary stage of the trial, senators had always accompanied the Senate President to the tribunal each time the case came up for hearing.

It, however, indicated that

since the trial proper had commenced and the Senate was in session, Saraki would not want his trial to affect legislative business.

The statement quoted him as saying: “I am the one on trial, not the Senate. Even though I have been over-

whelmed by the solidarity displayed by my colleagues, it is important that the work of the Senate is not unduly affected by this process,” adding that the Senate President would not like his trial to affect the institution of the Senate.

Lawyers threaten to sue Senate over CCT Act amendment SOME lawyers in Lagos, on Monday, threatened to sue the Senate on the ongoing moves to amend the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act 2004.

The lawyers said embarking on such an amendment at a time when the Senate President was being tried by the tribunal, was in bad faith.

Mr Tope Alabi, a human rights lawyer, said the Upper Chamber had the constitutional duty to legislate for the country, but that the motive for making the law must be right.

“The Senate has the constitutional power to amend any law, but the motive must be right and for the good of the country,’’ he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Alabi said: “The intention of the Upper Chamber to amend the CCT Act when Saraki is standing trial before the CCT is clearly in bad faith.

“Nigerians must rise to oppose it, I will proceed to challenge them (senators) in court.”

Mr U.P.E. Nnaji said the Senate was trying to make retroactive laws as it was done under the military era.

“They should focus on leg-

islations that are beneficial to the citizens, rather than wasting our lean resources to legislate on irrelevancies.

“They should stop the amendment or face court action,’’ he also told NAN. For Mr Chris Ayiyi, the

amendment was nothing to worry about, as long as it was not retroactive.

According to him, Senate

was empowered to repeal or amend any law, but it should be done with a sense of responsibility.

Wale-Oke chides Senate over amendment of CCT Act

By Dare Adekanmbi AS the trial of the Senate President, Dr Saraki, before at the CCT resumed on Monday, the Presiding Bishop of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Bishop Francis Wale-Oke, has chided the Senate for going ahead with the amendment of the CCT Act, saying this action could jeopardise government’s

anti-corruption crusade.

Bishop Wale-Oke, who addressed journalists on the state of the nation at the conference room of the church in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Monday, explained that the amendment would only render the CCT as a toothless bulldog that could not bite while corruption would continue to thrive in the country.

“Let the CCT be, even if that Act is not perfect. Let’s wait until this case of the Senate President is over.

The Senate is not doing any good by amending the Act now. The Senators should save the integrity of the Senate,” he said.

He stressed there were other pressing matters the Senate had left unattended to, including the unresolved

budget issue, the yet-to-be found Chibok girls, decaying infrastructure, among others, stressing that the nation as it is now, is paralysed in terms of power.

He urged the Senate to backdown on its move and be more productive in other matters that were important and not to add insult to injury of the nation’s present state of the economy.

Reps committee refutes allegations of budget padding Bola Badmus - Lagos AS the budget showdown between the Presidency and the National Assembly rages, the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption has refuted reports that the National Assembly padded the 2016 budget estimates for the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Chairman of the committee, Honourable Babajide Akinloye, said this in a statement issued in Lagos, on Monday, describing the media reports on the allegation

as a gross falsehood and total mischief.

The lawmaker representing Eti-Osa Federal Constituency of Lagos State, said his committee only rearranged the order and priority of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB)’s proposals at the request of the organisation.

Akinloye remarked that CCB had, during the budget defense, informed the committee that the working environment for its staff was not conducive at its five different offices scattered around Abuja and that this consti-

tuted an impediment to its efficiency.

Akinloye explained that the CCB had after the implementation of the 2015 Budget, returned over N230million, hitherto earmarked for the building of the bureau’s head office in Abuja to the coffers of the Federal Government.

“But after due engagement with CCB management, it was agreed that the bureau could either continue with the Head office project or buy a building that will accommodate their operations

for optimum service delivery in its anti-corruption drive,” he said.

According to the lawmaker, this led to the inclusion of N4 billion for CCB head office project in the budget sent to the president, contending that the House committee in its oversight responsibilities had engaged in robust interactions with other agencies, such as the ICPC and the CCT towards ensuring that the anti-corruption war was supported with resources to achieve their statutory duties.

3 news Gbajabiamila to Chinese president: Fayose has no locus standi to write you Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Jacob Segun Olatunji and Kolawole Daniel -Abuja

M

AJORITY Leader of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila, has written President Xi Jingping of People’s Republic of China over the letter reportedly written to him by the governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, saying the governor “has no locus standi to write him.”

The Majority Leader, in his letter to the Chinese President dated April 18th 2016, said, “my attention has been drawn to a letter written to you by a governor of one of the states of the Nigerian nation, wherein the said governor purported to speak on behalf of the Nigerian people, describing himself as a stakeholder in the Nigerian project.”

According to him, “Ordinarily I would not join issues with the governor, but as the Leader of the House of Representatives, I am saddled with the responsibility of driving all government business and policies in the House. It is, therefore, incumbent upon me to set the records straight, though I am sure the letter written to you by the governor will probably receive little (if any) attention from your high office, assuming it even gets to you.

The letter reads in part: “Mr President, Nigeria as you well know is not a project as erroneously described by the governor but a nation like all others in the comity of nations. It is also a federal republic operating under the principles of administrative and fiscal federalism. As such, like most democracies with a federal structure.

“Nigeria operates a threetier government and adheres to the principle of separation of powers which is both vertical and horizontal. Horizontal between the executive, legislative and judicial branches and vertical between the federal, state and local governments.

“To this extent, it is a clear affront on our constitution and ultra vires his mandate for a governor of a federating state to delve into any matter outside his state, particularly as it concerns international agreements between two sovereign nations.

“The duties and responsibilities of a governor are clearly spelt out in the Nigerian Constitution and they do not include negotiating loans on behalf of the country nor do they extend to foreign affairs or economic diplomacy.

“Indeed, the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of our Republic contains the oath of office sworn to by the governor of a state on assumption of office and it states: “........that I will exercise the authority vested in me as governor so as not to impede or prejudice the authority lawfully vested in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

“Therefore, a governor who overreaches himself and acts outside his constitutional mandate can, at best, be described legally as a meddlesome interloper.

“Mr President, perhaps our governor is not fully seized of the way budgeting works at the federal level. The Federal Government of Nigeria has a three-year budget rolling plan captured under a Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

ECOWAS Court to deliver judgment on 9 cases against Nigeria, others THE ECOWAS Community Court of Justice is set to deliver judgments in nine of the pending cases before it in the external session of the court in Abidjan.

A statement by the court made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, on Monday, said the session would begin on April 18.

According to statement, 41 cases of alleged human rights violations against member states would be handled by the court during the weeklong session in Abidjan.

The cases before the court were filed against the governments of Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Togo and the ECOWAS Commission for alleged human rights viola-

tions.

The court is also expected to deliver rulings in three other cases of human rights violations against Liberia and Nigeria and hear 29 other cases, including one from a former Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso, Mr Djibril Yipene Bassole.

The cases of alleged human rights violations were brought against Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo and the ECOWAS Commission.

The external session of the court is one of its annual activities through which it seeks to improve citizens’ access and create awareness about the court.

“The MTEF 2016- 2018 has a borrowing component in which the legislature approved for the President to incur both domestic and foreign loans for the purposes of infrastructural development and deficit financing. This MTEF was passed unanimously, by the National Assembly, including the six House Members and three Senators from Ekiti, the governor’s state.

“I am, therefore, dismayed as are many members of the National Assembly that the governor would claim that the loan sought from your government did not have parliamentary imprimatur.

“It is also a fallacy that

the country’s debt is being financed with 25 per cent of the Federal Government’s annual budget as there is something in economic and legislative borrowing parlance called nominal debt service where a portion of borrowed monies in this case about 1.3 trillion stays within the country’s financial system. Such are the intricacies of national debts, aids and loans.

“Surprisingly, the governor refers to a $2 billion loan as opposed to a $6 billion investment package. This betrays the fact that he is not fully seized of the facts of the transaction between our two countries.

“Mr President, I am unaware of the western nations that turned Nigeria’s requests down for a loan as claimed by the governor.

As you are probably aware transacting business with China was a strategic and economic decision on the part of the Nigerian Government, which will be of mutual benefit to our two countries. Such symbiotic relationships are the kind of relationships for which responsible governments embrace.

“The people of Nigeria overwhelmingly elected President Muhammed Buhari to make such strategic decisions for them and on

their behalf not any state governor.

“Finally, Mr President, yes, we are a democratic nation and, yes, citizens do have a right to freedom of expression (though not absolute), however, this letter to you by an opposition governor is a new law in opposition politics.

“I am not aware of any instance in modern-day contemporary politics when an opposition governor went outside the shores of his country to oppose the efforts of a Head of the State and gleefully attempt to denigrate his President and country in the name of opposition.”

4

news

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Purchase of 108 Toyota jeeps: Senators greedy, insensitive — Labour Soji-Eze Fagbemi - Abuja

T

HE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) took on the Senate, on Monday, over the acquisition of 108 Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps at inflated prices, describing the action of the lawmakers as greedy and shameless.

This was as the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has described the Senate as insensitive, as they collected car loans less than a year ago.

The NLC said the action of the senators was “morally despicable and shameful,” even after publicly admitting that the standing committees of the Senate were unable to perform their statutory functions due to paucity of funds.

In a statement entitled: “Return these cars or face the people,” the NLC wondered how the Senate can afford “this level of reckless luxury and arrogance,” at time with severe economic challenges and deepening poverty in the land.

The statement, signed by the president of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said the congress consider “appalling, insensitive and greedy the decision of the Senate to acquire 108 Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps (one for each member less the Senate President) after collecting car loans in August, last year, for the same purpose.”

Comrade Wabba said: “We at the Nigeria Labour Congress equally consider it a willful and grievous criminal act, the inflation of the unit cost of each of the cars by over a 100 per cent, as each car supposedly cost N35.1 million instead of N17 million.

“Aside from this, Nigerians are keen to know from where they got money for the purchase of these cars without appropriation.

“The defence offered by the Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, is laughable and childish. According to him, Special Advisers use jeeps, why not senators or do Nigerians expect them to trek to work?

And in any case, cars are capital projects.

“Couldn’t this have been put to better uses such as the constituency projects of these same Senators? At a time with severe economic challenges and deepening poverty in the land, can the Senate afford this level of reckless luxury and arrogance? The answer is, ‘No’ “Their multiple acts of criminality, ranging from acquiring these cars after

previously taking loans for the same purpose; spending money without appropriation and over inflating costs constitute not just corruption, but a crime against the Nigerian people whom they claim to represent.

“Accordingly, we demand they return those cars to whoever supplied them or the appropriate agencies prosecute them for corruption. In the event none of this happens, they should be prepared to keep a date with Nigerian workers and their civil society allies, including market women and students. No one is above the law.”

In a statement Monday evening, the TUC said it was an act of criminality to acquire cars after collecting loans for the same purpose.

“Where did such idea emanate from for God’s sake, at a time the country is bleeding from all sides and seriously gasping for breathe? This is obviously a pointer to the fact that our senators mean no well for the country. They have lost touch with the plight of the people that vote for them,” the statement, signed by the TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama and the acting Secretary Gen-

eral, Comrade Simeso Amachree, said.

The congress, which queried what the senators had achieved since the last one year, said the politicians were reaping where they did not sow.

The statement read: “Our politicians and their tradition of reaping where they did not sow! What would our senators say they have achieved in the last one year? It is morally wrong and shameful for the Senate of the Federal Republic to attach so much importance to infinitesimal things like cars and houses at a time

their counterparts elsewhere are making good laws and transforming lives.

“We do not know of any lawmaker both in the Red and Green Chambers who had not got cars before they came to the Senate. Some have even been in the Senate now for 12 years, after serving as governors and lawmakers in their respective states.

“Where lies the conscience of our senators? How come they are not disturbed by the efforts of our president to revamp the economy?

We are not going to let all these forces frustrate the ef-

fort of the Federal Government again, not any more.

“We want the Senate to immediately furnish Nigerians and the world with information about how they got money for the purchase of these cars without appropriation. We view as demeaning and laughable the explanation by Senate spokesperson, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who said Special Advisers drive jeeps, why not senators?

“It is unfortunate this Senate is determined to frustrate the effort of the Buhari-led administration.

Budget crisis: Nigerians occupy senators’ telephone lines •As Nigerians protest budget delay • Senators worried, drop lines Taiwo Adisa - Abuja THE crisis over the 2016 budget took another dimension from last week, following the publication of the mobile telephone numbers of senators of the eighth assembly by some online channels.

Messages sent out through Whatsapp networks and a popular online publication asked Nigerians to occupy the telephone lines of senators for allegedly tampering with “budget of change.”

“Know your Senator. Call him/her to tell him/her to stop tampering with the budget of change,” the message sent through Whatsapp application read.

It went on to list the telephone lines of the 109 senators, some of whom have, however, been replaced through tribunal verdicts.

Investigations showed that the lines published were the current telephone numbers of the senators, while the text only mixed up the line of the former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Ahmed Sani.

Since the bombardment, which started last Thursday, most of the senators have had to contend with unwanted calls and text messages, asking them to act fast on and resolve the budget controversy.

Senators, who did not want to be quoted, said the development had unduly exposed them to harassments, while putting their lives in danger.

“I can assure you that our phones have been unduly compromised through that unwarranted publication,” a senator from the NorthWest told the Nigerian Tribune.

He added that it was a usual practice in democra-

cies for the executive and the legislature to have issues on the budget.

“In America, we have heard of government shut down for days. This was due to complaints over the budget, but we have never got to that stage in Nigeria. People need to understand how the process called democracy works,” he further said.

An aide of a senator from the South-West told Nigerian Tribune that the lawmaker was already contemplating switching her number because of the unwarranted calls.

“She had to drop that line

all through the weekend,” the aide said, adding that the senator might apply to the service provider to get another line if the trouble persisted.

It was, however, gathered that many callers had also been rejecting the proposed Grazing Reserves Bill, which is before the House of Representatives.

“The calls are not only on the budget, many who have called, especially those of us senators from the South to warn us that we should have nothing to do with the Grazing Reserve Bill, which they consider to be anti-South.

But the unwanted calls and messages are discomfiting,” a senator said.

The 2016 budget ran into troubled waters following the refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari to assent the document after it was passed on March 23.

The executive has alleged that the legislature further padded the budget after the discovery of the first round of padding that emanated from the executive.

President Buhari is yet to communicate the lawmakers on his decision on the budget, though he is still within the constitutionally

guaranteed 30 days to consider the bill.

The controversy has been around the alleged removal of the N60 billion LagosCalabar rail project from the budget, among others, though the legislature insisted that the document was not included from the proposals submitted by President Buhari.

Last week, the executive arm and the lawmakers, however, agreed to hold consultations to resolve the gray areas, though the Senate had initially refused to take another look at the document it passed.

Tears as victims testify against military invasion of Rivers D apo Falade - Port Harcourt EMOTIONS were betrayed and tears flowed freely, on Monday, as people testified against the alleged invasion of some communities in Rivers State by soldiers between January and February.

A 52-member House of Representatives Committee on the Army was in the state on a two-day fact-finding mission on the invasion, which left over 24 people dead in Yeghe, Zaakpor, Bori and Babbe, all in Gokana and Tai local government areas of the state.

This followed a petition written by the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) against the army on the killings of Ogoni people in their communities.

Soldiers were deployed from the 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Bori, Port Harcourt, to Yeghe to effect the arrest of former militant leader, Chief Solomon Ndigbara, who was accused of kidnapping, killing and gun-

running.

While military authorities had claimed that the soldiers were on a peace mission, several people from the affected communities, including two traditional rulers, claimed that there was relative peace before the two invasions by the soldiers.

The House of Representatives Committee on the Army commenced a twoday public hearing on the invasion, on Monday, sitting at the Auditorium Hall of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Testifying before the Honourable Rimamde Shawulu Kwemum-led committee, the paramount ruler of Yeghe, Israel Mene Barinade, said his people had known no peace since the military invaded and occupied his community.

He appealed to the House of Representatives’ committee to prevail on the soldiers to leave his community, claiming that they had been terrorising and harrassing his people.

The traditional ruler also absolved Ndigbara, who had since been declared wanted, of any complicity in the crisis in his community, saying the ex-militant leader did not do anything wrong to warrant the military invasion.

Another traditional ruler, Chief Samson Adamgbo of Zaakpor, also claimed that soldiers shot one person, dead, injured three others and destroyed several boreholes when they invaded his community.

He said the victim was Bariture Zigbo, adding “nobody is telling lies here. The people, who came to my community are soldiers.

They bullshit these people.

I am not talking about other communities because I was not there,” he said.

Also testifying before the committee, a youth leader from Yeghe, Mr Christian Barile, said his brother, on Saturday, was killed by the invading soldiers, alongside a pregnant woman and a palmwine tapper, who was shot on top of a raffia tree.

In the same vein, Solomon Ndigbara’s counsel, Eugene Odey, absolved his client of any crime and expressed hope that the House committee would be able to correct the abnormalities allegedly perpetrated by the army.

He said the military invasion in the affected communities was not in tandem with the Nigerian constitution, the Armed Forces Act and other extant laws.

Odey said Ndigbara, though a former militant, should be declared a free man, being a beneficiary of the amnesty programme.

“Ndigbara was undoubtedly a militant, who fought for the Niger Delta agitation.

But he has been granted amnesty. There was no conviction against Ndigbara; he was not charged before any court.

“By virtue of this, Ndigbara is a free citizen. After the amnesty programme, there is no record of his activities that breached the amnesty and thus warrant the manhunt for him. His rights has been infringed. continues pg34

5

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

6 Edited by

Lanre Adewole

olanreade@yahoo.com

0811 695 4647

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Lagos Protesters shut down Ikeja electricity firm •They disobeyed court order — IKEDC Bola Badmus and Tunde Dodondawa

Respite may not have come the way of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) as protesters, under the aegis of Citizens’ Access to Electricity Initiatives (CATEIN), in collaboration with civil society groups, barricaded the entrance of the company and also occupied the immediate surrounding, while protesting increase in electricity tariff amid darkness in the state.

The protesters were seen marching up and down the Obafemi Awolowo Way, carrying various placards. While some others were sighted dancing at the entrance of the electricity distribution company, some more others were seen sitting inside BRT buses which they hired to the venue.

Speaking with Lagos Metro, Comrade Chris Nwachukwu of Joint Action Against Victimisation and Exploitation of Workers and Masses, lamented the plight of Nigerians, particularly Lagosians in the hand of IKEDC, declaring that the company was incapable of carrying out the task assigned to it.

He accused the IKEDC of alleged exploitation, sayA coalition of civil society groups demanding prompt action for regular supply of electricity at the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) office, Alausa, on Monday. PHOTO: Sylvester Okoruwa ing the company had been engaged in over- billing of its customers for services not rendered.

Meanwhile, the firm has claimed that the Labour unions defied court order, to picket it.

The labour unions, under however revealed that many wait till the train gets to Iju or arrested at notable stations roof top riding has been on new coalition, picketed the Tola Adenubi of the youths, who have been Agbado before climbing the like Ikeja, Agege and Oshodi the decline in metropolitan facilities and distrupted acome passengers labelled illegal passengers by roof top due to periodic raids during regular police raids Lagos, with many of the tivities of the firm, which who take delight the management of the Ni- by men of the Nigerian Police organised by the Railway miscreants climbing the may eventually lead to total in sitting on top of gerian Railway Corporation Force (NPF).

Command of the NRC. trains at Agbado, Itoki and collapse of power supply to moving Lagos Mass (NRC) at different fora, now Many of them are usually Due to this periodic raids, Iju railway stations. its customers.

Transit trains have claimed Felix Ofulue, Head of that bad Global System Strategy and Communi(GSM) network inside the cation, Ikeja Electric, told congested coaches force Lagos State government advantage of this discount Lagos Metro that “We them to climb the top of the has urged landlords in the opportunity by making have served them with trains. state to promptly pay their year, which he said was payers are still entitled to timely payment,” he said. court injunctions from the “Payment of Land Use Speaking to Lagos Metro Land Use Charge within 30 due to “introduction of the usual 15 per cent dis- Charge is a requirement National Industrial Court during a train ride from Iddo days of being served their improved technology to counted rate if payment of law and property tax, (NIC) for the issue of sacked to Ijoko, some of the culprits bills, saying failure to do so, streamline the process.” is made within 15 days of defaulters will have their former employees to be adsaid they prefer the roof top means penalties would be“Be assured that irre- bill delivery as shown on properties sealed and are dressed, but they decided to of the trains to inside of the gin to accrue from the 45th spective of the delay in our records. Tax payers liable to be prosecuted in defy it and disrupt our aclocomotive coaches. A group day after bill delivery and tivities.” the delivery of bills, tax are hereby advised to take court,” he warned. of young males stated in lo- rise further afterwards, cal dialect that: “The trains leading to the sealing-off, are always congested and we of the affected property. cannot make calls or receive with Governor Akin- in existence but not be- them from. He also adLand Use Charge contribBola Badmus calls clearly while inside the uted a total of N7.14 billion Lagosians wumi Ambode, who pre- ing strictly enforced. monished Lagos State government sided over the session, Section 10 of the law not to patronise traders locomotive coaches. to state revenues in 2014, has vowed to enforce the calling on residents to prescribes the sum of who sell in unapproved “That is why we always tar- dropping to N6 billion in existing restriction order comply with the extant N5, 000 as fine or three areas. get the roof top of the mov- 2015, while the state exon commercial motorcy- laws. ing trains if we want to make pected an improvement While speaking on Govmonths imprisonment cle operation in certain calls,” they stated. ernor Ambode’s direcThe street trading and upon conviction. this fiscal year. routes as well as street illegal market prohibiWhen reminded that they State Commissioner of tive last week at a Town Commissioner for Fitrading within the state. are risking their lives by sit- nance, Dr Mustapha Aktion law (2003), which Police, Fatai Owoseni, Hall Meeting in Ikorodu The government dis- gives jurisdiction and who spoke at the end that commercial motorting on top of the trains, one inkunmi, gave this warnclosed this after the power to special courts of the meeting, urged cycle operator should of them simply told Lagos ing on Monday, while monthly Security Coun- to order the seizure residents to shun com- not ply Mile 12-Ikorodu Metro that only the weak get addressing newsmen, cil meeting involving and public auction of mercial motorcycle op- route, Mr Owoseni said hurt while on top of moving just as he acknowledged heads of all security items impounded for erators who ply routes it was product of a thortrains. the late distribution of agencies in the state, street trading, has been which the law restricts ough deliberation.

Findings by Lagos Metro demand notices for this

We sit on moving trains for better GSM network — Culprits

S

Landlords issued ultimatum on Land Use Charge • Defaulters’ properties to be sealed

Fresh clampdown on defaulting Okada riders, street traders, begins

7

Nigerian Tribune

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

metro How we robbed hotels, guests, workers — Suspects •I only robbed 3 times, partner says Olalekan Olabulo Two members of an 8-man gang have narrated how they operated mainly at hotels within the Lagos Metropolis, robbing guests and workers of such hotels.

The two suspects, Kayode Johnson and Sheriff Owolabi were a few days ago arrested by the police at MAN Centre Divisional Police Station and operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).

Policemen from MAN Centre, who were on a routine patrol sighted Kayode Johnson, popularly known as Badoo and questioned him. Then, Badoo was unable to convince the policemen of his source of livelihood and he was arrested and transferred to the SARS, where he confessed to being a member of a robbery gang.

The suspects

Gbagada gun duel: Injured officer

compensated with N.5m Bola Badmus Governor Akinwumi Ambode, on Monday compensated paramilitary officer, Mr Dunca Daniel, attached to the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force), who was injured last Friday during the operations of the agency at the Gbagada dumpsite area of the state.

The governor, following the briefing he had about the agency’s operations at the dumpsite, which led to the attack of the officer, released the sum of N500,000 as compensation and so that the officer will be able to take proper care of himself and to boost the morale of other police and paramilitary officers.

The officer, according to report published by Lagos Metro had his five fingers shattered with bottles and cutlass.

In a statement made available to Lagos Metro by the agency’s Public Af-

fairs Officer, Mr Taofik Adebayo, Governor Ambode was represented during the cash presentation by the Chairman, Lagos State Task Force, Olayinka Egbeyemi.

While thanking the Governor on behalf of the agency,

Egbeyemi commended the governor for his unflinching support to the agency.

Meanwhile, within the last one week the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) disclosed that it arrested 219 miscreants

and hoodlums out of which 35 were screened out, saying the remaining 184 were charged to environmental courts for prosecutions.

It said that a total of 90 motorcycles were impounded for plying restricted routes in the last one week.

The state commissioner of police, Fatai Owoseni confirmed the arrest of the suspect and assured that the police would arrest other members of the gang.

Badoo confessed that he was holding a gun, when he was arrested by the police but he managed to drop in a gutter. Speaking on the operations of the gang, he said, “Once we approach a hotel, we would bring out guns and threaten those outside to take us inside the hotel. Then, we would start raiding rooms and lodgers.

Whatever each person got during that operation was his for keeps.”

The other suspect, Owolabi, who was arrested after Johnson had confessed to operatives of the SARS confessed to have gone out with the gang “just three times.”

“I went with him to rob only three times. I stopped going out with them. He now mentioned my name to the police. This time around, I didn’t even commit any crime. I quit crime in January,” Owolabi said.

Govt alerts on commencement of night flying training by NAF Shola Adekola Lagos State Government has advised Lagosians not to panic as the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) commences night flying training exercise in the state yesterday night.

Clarifying the development, the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, said the exercise which commenced on Monday, April 18 will continue till April 23, from 7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. daily.

According to him, the exercise will involve the usage of the C-130 Hercules Aircraft by the NAF and the 201 Heavy Airlift Group.

The Commissioner further explained that the C-130 Hercules Air craft will fly very low in some locations across the State, but assured that residents should not panic as all precautionary and safety measures have been put in place.

He assured that residents should go about their normal duties, as the exercise is to be conducted with a very insignificant discomfort.

“The only unusualness of the exercise is the low flying nature of the air craft and the increase in noise level which will be noticed during the six days exercise, only along the training routes,” Ayorinde said.

Park ‘N’ Shop security guard admits stealing phones from employer Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin

Injured officer (second left), being compensated by Governor Akinwumi Ambode, who was represented by the Chairman, Lagos State Task Force, Olayinka Egbeyemi (second right).

A 27-year-old security man, Philip Peter, who allegedly stole three phones worth N250,000, has pleaded guilty to the crime before an Igbosere Magistrate’s Court.

Peter admitted stealing one Infinix phone and two Microsoft phones worth N250, 000 from Park ‘N’ Shop Supermarket, were he was working as a security guard.

He is standing trial on a count charge of stealing, preferred against him by the police. The prosecutor Sergeant Oladejo Balogun,

told the court that Peter committed the alleged offence on April 12, 2016.

He said that the incident took place at Park ‘N’ Shop supermarket along Lekki-Epe Expressway in Eti-Osa Local Government Area.

According to the prosecutor the offence committed is punishable under section 285 (7) of the criminal law of Lagos state 2011.

Peter had earlier pleaded guilty when he was arraigned, and the Magistrate, H.O. Amos adjourned the matter till April 26 for review of facts and sentencing.

8

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

news Delay in trial of corruption cases worry CJN 9

Sunday Ejike - Abuja

T

he Chief Justice of Nigeria( CJN), Justice Mahmud Muhammed, on Monday, decried the delay in the trial of corruption cases, which he noted, remained a major challenge confronting the nation’s justice system.

The CJN, therefore, stressed the need for lasting solution that will improve the administration

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

of criminal justice system, reduce delays, restore public confidence, as well as improve judicial performance.

The CJN spoke while declaring open the 2016 refresher course organised for magistrates on current trends in Law and Administration of Justice by the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja. He held that, “More often than not, trial delays are caused by the antics of parties and

to some extent, the court, which results to unnecessary adjournment.

“Often, prosecutors or defence counsel are unable to present their cases or witnesses and Investigating Police Officers (IPOs) are often unavailable or transferred; there is sometimes a lack of diligent rendering of legal advice on whether there is a prima facie case to prosecute, an increased use of preliminary objections, unnecessary legal

devices for delaying trials and a myriad of others too numerous to mention here,” he added.

Justice Mohammed also stressed the need to reduce the backlog of cases, especially, in criminal matters which he said, have contributed to the congestion of prisons and expressed optimism that the course will provide an avenue to device ways of achieving this.

According to him, “I find it distressing that many

criminal trials are not given the attention that they deserve. I urge you to accord criminal matters priority as had been the legal tradition and not to unduly delay proceedings.

“For emphasis, I wish to draw your attention to Section 35(4) and 36(4) of the 1999 constitution (as amended), which have the combined effect of underlining the need to expeditiously try criminal matters in view of the various

Court never stopped FRSC from issuing fine, tickets —Spokesman Clement Idoko - Abuja THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), on Monday, refuted claims in social media that a Federal High Court in Lagos, had nullified its power to issue fines, tickets and impound vehicles.

Head, Media and Strategy of FRSC, Mr Bisi Kazeem, said the corps was aware of the post on social media questioning its powers to punish traffic offenders.

He, however, said there was no recent judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos, on the Tope Alabi’s case as is being circulated.

Kazeem said: “What happened was that one Bar Tope Alabi, challenged the powers of FRSC to arrest him and impound his vehicle and make him to pay fines for offences alleged.

“The Federal High Court

presided over by Justice John Terhemba Tsoho, held that FRSC had no such powers.

This was in September 2014.

“However, in other four cases before the Tope Alabi’s case in March 2014, same Justice Tsoho, in the case of Bren Williams and Anor v FRSC, held that FRSC had statutory power to issue notice of offence, arrest and

One suspected robber was killed in a heavy shootout with the police within the Port Harcourt metropolis in Rivers State, on Monday.

This was as two cars were recovered from the hoodlums in the shooting incident which occurred at Psychiatric Road, close to the Rivers State College of Arts and Science, Rumuola.

Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Mohammad, in a statement issued on the incident, said the shooting took place following a tip off that a Toyota Venza snatched three days ago, was sighted within the area.

“As a result of this our men quickly mobilised, trailed and engaged the vehicle’s occupants.

“In the interim, one of the hoodlums was fatally injured while an object suspected to be dynamite, one Toyota Venza, light green colour No. Rivers NH 262 ST and one Lexus 300 Jeep pencil colour, No. Rivers KRK 957BX, abandoned by the hoodlums, were recovered”, he said.

He said police onslaught was ongoing “with a view to

motorists to change over to new number plates and that it would be ultra vires the powers of FRSC. This, he said, was its power to arrest motorists for not using the new number plates under the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012, a subsidiary legislation to the FRSC Act, 2007.

He said the decision was challenged on Appeal and the Court of Appeal held, inter alia, in October , 2014, “that FRSC had statutory powers conferred by its enabling laws made pursuant to the Nigerian Constitution to regulate the use of number plates, design and set deadlines for change over to new ones”.

Army/Shiite clash: Arewa youths uncover plan to politicise investigation ahead 2019 Ademola Adegbite - Lafia

AS the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the killings in Zaria, Kaduna State, in December 2015, continues to sit, the Arewa Youths Intellectual Forum, on Monday, raised the alarm over plot to politicise the investigation ahead of

Police kill one suspected robber, recover 2 cars in Rivers Dapo Falade - Port Harcourt

impound vehicles suspected to have been used to commit traffic offences.’’

According to kazeem, on that same day, Justice Tsoho delivered another judgment similar to the Tope Alabi’s case, in Emmanuel Ofoegbu v FRSC. He said Justice Tsoho held that FRSC had no powers to set deadlines for

arresting the other fleeing hoodlums.”

However, the police image-maker was silent on the armed robbery attack on a new generation bank on Rumuola Road beside the College of Arts and Science.

Incidentally, the bank was located directly opposite the Psychiatric Road, where Police was engaged in the shootout with the hoodlums.

Eyewitnesses said the attack lasted more than 30 minutes as many customers and the bank lost an undisclosed amount of amount of money, the third time the bank would be robbed this year.

In a related development, a bookshop on the ground floor of a building also housing the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), along Ikwerre Road, was also robbed.

The armed robbers, who were four in number, hit the daughter of the shop-owner with the butt of the gun as well as one of the customers, who came to buy stationeries.

The Nigerian Tribune gathered that an undisclosed amount of money was carted away by the robbers.

the 2019 general election.

The national secretary of the forum, Peter Bawa, who disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja, therefore, admonished the Federal Government to do everything possible to stop the radicalism and militarisation of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) or any other group that has the indoctrination of youths as its focus.

According to the group, “it is out of our desire to prevent a repeat of the trauma that Arewa Youths have endured and must never be allowed again. We are worried that the various probes of the Zaria incident are at risk of being politicised.

“We have signed up to being part of a secular Nigeria, and therefore, we are at a loss as to where IMN wants to drag this country to. We should all be worried that people who are citizens of this country are the ones undermining not just its sovereignty but are also bent on wiping Nigeria off the map of the world as we currently know it.

“These elements are trying to create unnecessary bad blood between the Nigerian Army and the Kaduna State government as a last resort to remain relevant in the minds of Nigerians and to impress foreign powers that are bankrolling them.

“The attempt to politicise the proceedings was inducing enough without trying to paint the Nigerian army into the politics of 2019”, the forum said.

It then promised to do all within its reach to resist the sinister attempt to politicise and rubbish the

investigation into the Zaria incident, saying the group was desirous of unbiased findings that would help in fashioning future responses and initiatives that would free youths from the clutches of extreme doc-

trines.

The forum, therefore, alleged that there were plans by the IMN to pitch the Federal Government against the Kaduna State government in the investigation.

fundamental rights that an accused is deprived of, especially, when in custody or detention.

“On our part, the Nigerian judiciary will continue to actively pursue lasting structural and ethical reforms that will better position it to meet the aspirations of the average court user for a speedy, affordable and transparent system of administration of justice”.

Earlier, the NJI administrator, Justice Roseline Bozimo (retd), while stressing the importance of law reforms ,said it is essential for the purpose of enhancing and promoting judicial importance.

She commended the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act 2015, saying that, all the provisions of the act are geared towards ensuring speedy dispensation of justice.

Bozimo added that the refresher course with the theme, ‘Promoting judicial performance through innovation and reforms’, was aimed at ensuring that the relationship between the bar and bench is maintained, access to justice as well as enhancing the productivity of judicial officers, among others.

10 news Tompolo, Akpobolokemi’s brothers arraigned in absentia Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin -Lagos

R

egardless of his continual absence from court, former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, was, on Monday, arraigned before a Federal High Court in absentia on 22 counts of N47.6 billion fraud brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Also arraigned in absentia regarding the alleged fraud were six brothers of a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Patrick Akpobolokemi – Igo, Julius, Victor, Norbert, Emmanuel and Clement.

Tompolo, Igo, Julius, Victor, Norbert, Emmanuel and Clement were, however, declared as being “now at large” when the charges were read against them.

But Akpobolokemi himself, and two others, Josephine Otuaga and Rita Uruakpa; and Kime Engozu, who were also listed as defendants in the amended charge, were present in court, on Monday, to answer to the charges.

The other defendants in the charge were five companies, namely: Mieka Dive Training Institute Ltd/GTE; Oyeinteke Global Network Limited; Wabod Global Resources Ltd.; Boloboere Properties Estate Ltd.; Gokaid Marine Oil and Gas Ltd; and Watershed Associated Resources.

The charges bordered on conspiracy, advanced fee fraud and money laundering.

In one of the counts, the EFCC alleged that the defendants conspired among themselves to defraud the Federal Government between December 2, 2014 and April 10, 2015, by inducing the Federal Government to deliver an aggregate sum of N11.9 billion to them.

The EFCC claimed that the accused induced the Federal Government by falsely pretending to the Federal Government that a parcel of land and its appurtenances situated at Mieka Dive Training Institute, Kurutie, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, had been acquired by NIMASA for the temporary campus of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, by allegedly making fraudulent and false representations to the Federal Government.

The EFCC said the defendants violated Section 1 (b) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and other fraud related Offences Act, 2006 and were liable to punishment under Section 1(3) of the same Act. In another count, the EFCC

accused the defendants of fraudulently converting a sum of N13,027,564,822 belonging to NIMASA to their private use sometimes, in 2014.

The offence is said to be contrary to Section 18 (a)

of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

The defendants were also accused of swindling the Federal Government to the tune of N11.940 billion, by presenting a forged Cer-

tificate of Customary Right of Occupancy of Bendel State of Nigeria dated May 6, 2014 to NIMASA on the false claim that the forged document was genuine and issued by Warri South-West Local Council, Delta State.

For the alleged offence, the EFCC said the defendants were liable to being punished under Section 1(2)(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap. M17, Laws of the Federation, 2004.

But Akpobolokemi and

Former Director-General, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Johnson Olawumi (right), handing over to his successor, Brigadier-General Sule Kazaure, at the NYSC headquarters in Abuja, on Monday. PHOTO: NAN.

his alleged accomplices pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The presiding judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, subsequently admitted them to bail.

Akpobolokemi, who had earlier been arraigned along with others by the EFCC at two different times before Justice Buba, was allowed to continue with a bail granted him by the judge on March 22, 2016.

While the second defendant, Engozu, who had also been earlier arraigned, was also allowed to continue with the bail granted him on March 22, 2016.

The third and fourth defendants, Otuaga and Uruakpa, were granted a N50 million bail each with one surety in like sum.

The judge said the surety must be resident in Lagos and must own a developed landed property and swear to an affidavit of means.

The defendants and the sureties were asked to submit their passport photographs to the court.

Justice Buba subsequently adjourned the case till May 30 and 31, 2016.

NYSC to raise corps members’ allowances

•Secures N150m deal with Glo •Olawumi bows out as DG, Kazaure takes over Adetola Bademosi -Abuja, with Agency report As part of its efforts to expand partnership with critical stakeholders for greater impact, funding and support, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has secured a N150 Million sponsorship deal with GLOBACOM Nigeria Limited.

The outgone NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, disclosed this in his handover speech in Abuja, on Monday.

According to him, the Community Development Services and Special Projects (CDS & SP) department is currently working with the company to enable the two organisations to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the scheme to access the fund.

The former DG, who handed over the mantle of power to the new DG, BrigadierGeneral Zakari Kazaure, said unfortunately, some projects could not be executed during his tenure due to paucity of funds.

“It is rather unfortunate that we could not execute some major programmes and activities due to paucity of funds. We are all aware that the scheme was not able to handle some of its programmes, especially the Sports and Cultural Festival in 2015.”

He urged all staff in the scheme to accord the new DG with same level of support he received and more, during

his tenure saying, “the staff have a lot to contribute in sustenance of this laudable scheme which, over the years, has contributed, in no small measure, to the development and progress of the nation.”

While speaking on the increasing corps population accompanied by dwindling financial resources, he said steps had already been taken to address the situation.

His words: “I will like to use this opportunity to state that the major challenge I had as the Director-General is the increasing corps population

with accompanied dwindling financial resources. You may not be aware that series of letters have been written and necessary follow-up made to the appropriate authorities on the need for proper funding of the scheme, especially now that the current corps population is over 260,000.

Brigadier-General Olawumi also announced plans to increase allowances of corps members soon.

“We have also brought to government’s attention the urgent need to increase some allowances due to

Corps members and recent response suggests a strong ray of light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

In his maiden address, the new Director-General, Brigadier General Kazaure, solicited more support from the NYSC staff in building on the successes and achievements of the past DGs. “I am soliciting more of that to enable us to build on the successes and achievements made to move the scheme to greater heights.

“I know that the task ahead is enormous and the road

looks very rough, but with cooperation, we will make progress. Therefore, I urge you all to be proactive and optimistic in all our dealings.”

Kazaure hails from Kazaure, Jigawa State, where he attended Arewa Primary School, Kazaure, after which he proceeded to Government College, Birnin Kudu, old Kano State and later Science Secondary School, DawakinKudu.

He enlisted into the Nigerian Army on October 4, 1989 and posted to the Nigerian Army Education Corps.

Husband of deceased Edo gospel singer raises the alarm Says powerful clergies shielding wife’s killer Banji Aluko -Benin City Odion Omoarebokhae, husband of a woman who died about a fortnight ago when in a hotel, in company with a pastor, Pastor Psalm Okpe, has said some powerful Christian clergymen were shielding his alleged wife’s killer.

Omoarebokhae added that police informed him that theresult of an autopsy carried out on his wife would be out in 30 days, contrary to social media reports that the report of an autopsy conducted on his late wife showed that she died of cardiac arrest.

He opened up on Monday, in Benin, do State capital, about how his wife died, in company with Pastor Okpe of Fresh Oil Ministry, Lagos, pointing out that the CCTV

footage obtained at the hotel he took her to showed that Apostle Psalm Okpe and his late wife, Yvonne, slept in the same room.

The man, who spoke with journalists in Benin, on Monday, said some highly-placed pastors visited Pastor Okpe in prison and were working on securing his release from police detention, adding that police informed him that they might need to release Pastor Okpe, while they waited for the autopsy report.

He said: “the pastor has written three different statements at the police station. He said my wife and himself went different ways after the programme in Sapele. The CCTV footage at the hotel, however, showed that when they came back from the programme, my wife was

just following him like a dog, someone without sense.

“The next morning, Apostle Psalm came out of the room, stood by the door like somebody thinking of what to do before going out with a taxi.

By the time he came back, he went to the reception to demand for his key hoping that my wife would have left to go and die in my house.

“They told him that the key was not with them and that his key was with him. They called the porter who brought a spare key and forced the door open. Immediately the porter opened the door, he left and the pastor entered. He spent another one hour and 18 minutes with a lifeless body inside the room.

“I have seen my wife’s body.

They is no physical mark on

her. From what I observed, she was given an overdose of substances that her system could not take. The police told me they met my wife fully dressed like somebody about to go out.

“The doctor told me that they have sent the specimen to Lagos for the result and I am now reading about reports claiming that she died of cardiac arrest.”

In his update on the matter, Edo State Police Commissioner, Chris Ezike, said Pastor Okpe had been arrested and that a post mortem would confirm the actual cause of the woman’s death.

He said: “Not until a post mortem is conducted, we cannot conclude what happened.

I have asked the matter to be transferred to the State CID.”

Nigerian Tribune Tuesday, 19 April, 2016 11 businessnews Doha’s deadlock won’t have much impact on economy —Experts

•As oil prices tumble after talks collapsed •OPEC’ll continue to achieve consensus for output freeze From Olatunde Dodondawa with agency report and Ademola Adegbite

E

FFORTS by the Nigerian government to rally its counterparts at the Organisation of Petroleum Countries (OPEC) during an urgent meeting in Doha, Qatar, to address the challenges of declining crude prices by freezing output hit the wall on Sunday as Saudi Arabia and Iran refused to reach an agreement.

The Nigerian delegation, which was led by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Ibe Kachikwu, was optimistic that the group will agree on freezing output thereby pushing prices upward.

Being a mono-product economy, Nigeria relies on crude oil proceeds to finance its economy because it is responsible for about 80 per cent of its foreign exchange earnings.

However, industry sources have also argued that inability of the world oil producers may further push the crude price, which has gained marginally to above $40 per barrel, further south from the recent gains.

Decline in crude prices has resulted into major decline in the country’s revenue of over 50 per cent since January 2015.

According to the NNPC Monthly report, it was discovered that Nigeria’s revenue from crude oil sales fell to $1.934billion in January 2016 from $2.499billion it recorded in December 2015, representing about 22 per cent shortfall in one month.

In his reaction, a financial expert and security dealer, Lanre Kalejaiye, stated that “failure by the major oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Iran to agree on output freeze may lead to decline in crude price and negate the marginal increase it has gained recently. By implications, it means more output will flood the market, thereby creating glut and mounting pressure on the prices to fall.

“This may affect Nigeria’s ability to finance its 2016 budget which was pegged at $38 per barrel. This may further worsen economic hardship being presently experienced by Nigerians.”

On what is the way out for Nigeria, he advised that the country should adopt a cheaper way of crude pro-

duction so as to maximize profit on each grade produced.

“Cost of producing internally must be reviewed in order to break-even. We should look for effective ways of production to reduce cost and maximize gains. It is also time for us as a nation to ensure our refineries are up and running so that we can effectively manage our foreign exchange earnings from crude proceeds and use it to finance other critical sector that are competing with the scarce foreign exchange

earnings,” he said.

Another financial analyst and Head of Research at Afrinvest Securities Limited, Ayodeji Ebo, was of the opinion that despite the disagreement to freeze output, it may not have significant effect on the Nigerian economy.

According to him, “it may not have significant impact on the economy due to outlook of oil globally which is bearish. Most projections are below $40 per barrel. While the federal government has also projected for $38 per barrel as benchmark in the

2016 budget with non-oil revenue accounting about 50 per cent of the budget.

The budget was structured not to depend on crude oil proceeds.

“Global crude price may not go below $30 per barrel for long but when shale oil production cuts, price may now begin to rise. It is expected to go on for a very long time even if Iran agrees to freeze production.”

However, oil prices tumbled on Monday after a meeting by major exporters in Qatar collapsed without an agreement to

freeze output.

The failure also made the credibility of the OPEC producer cartel in tatters and the world awash with unwanted fuel.

“OPEC’s credibility to coordinate output is now very low,” said Peter Lee of BMI Research, a unit of rating agency Fitch.

“This isn’t just about oil for the Saudis. It’s as much about regional politics.”

Morgan Stanley said that the failed deal “underscores the poor state of OPEC relations.’’

“We now see a growing risk of higher OPEC sup-

From left: President/CEO, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote; Chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Jiang Jianqing and Chairman of China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE), Wang Yi, during signing of $2 billion loan from the Industrial Commercial Bank of China Ltd for two cement plants, in Beijing, China recently; while President Muhammadu Buhari and President, People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, look on.

Labour dares INTELS over proposed sack of 1,600 workers Tola Adenubi-lagos

THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) is warming up for a face-off with leading port concessionaire; Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS) over the latter’s plans to sack over 1,600 dockworkers in its employ.

INTELS Nigeria Limited are the operators of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Area in Onne, Rivers State, with other operations in Warri, Delta State and Calabar, running supply services for oil and gas industry operators.

Findings had revealed that the company had been badly hit by the economic policies of the Federal Government and as such, it could no longer maintain its workforce, especially the dockworkers.

Confirming the development to Nigerian Tribune, President of Dockworkers Branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) Adewale Adeyanju, said the

union is already in talks with INTELS in order to reduce the number of workers that have been pencilled down for sack.

Adeyanju said MWUN had taken the matter to the NLC and the apex body has taken over the matter with INTELS. “We are about to start the negotiation, the Nigeria Labour Congress has stepped into the matter,

we are not going to accept this from INTELS because the number is too much.

Most of the companies are folding up as we all know because things are not moving well. The economy is affecting the maritime sector as a whole.

“Vessels are not coming in and it has affected revenue. INTELS now is about to downsize 1,600 workers and this will af-

fect us the more, but this figure is too much” Adeyanju stated.

He urged INTELS to thread with caution, arguing that there is no job anywhere for the sacked workers.

He lamented that as a result of the harsh policies of the Federal Government, vessels are no longer calling at INTELS and other concessioned terminals as before.

Honeywell reiterates commitment to skills devt

By Bode Adewumi

HONEYWELL Flour Mills Plc, has reiterated that training and impartation of knowledge to bakers to make their business more result-oriented will continue to be a priority.

Managing Director, Lanre Jaiyeola, speaking at the company’s Apapa office, Lagos, during the 29th Certificate Award Ceremony of the Honeywell Flour Mills Plc Baking School, reiterated

the company’s vision to equip bakers with the most important resource, i.e. knowledge required to run profitable operations and build enduring businesses.

“This vision is driven by the understanding of the impacts small and medium scale businesses can have in our country as engines of job creation and enablers of wealth distribution, of which the baking industry represents, being

one of the largest SME in terms of numbers and size in the country”, he said.

He added that “at Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, we believe the Nigerian bakers need a broader mix of skills; this is why for close to a decade we have committed resources to the training of over 374 Master Bakers from different parts of the country in a total of 29 Regular Courses and One Executive Course.”

ply,” especially as Saudi Arabia threatened it could hike output following the failed deal.

Brent crude futures fell almost seven per cent in early trading on Monday before recovering to 40.97 dollars per barrel, still down 2.15 per cent since their last settlement.

Traders said only an oil worker strike in Kuwait had prevented Brent from tumbling below 40 dollars per barrel, while a cut in U.S. drilling down to 2009 levels had prevented steeper falls there.

Goldman Sachs said the Doha no-deal could a “bearish catalyst” for U.S. crude prices, which it forecast would average 35 dollars a barrel in the current quarter.

Analysts said that the failed agreement would also impact the broader economy.

Meanwhile, Kachikwu, on Monday, said despite the stalemate on crude oil production freeze, the OPEC would continue to work to achieve consensus for output freeze among oil producers.

According to him, “we are just going to work at it. It is a supply and demand issue and we need to consult and bring everybody into the circle and thank God that a committee is now in place to try and work towards getting everybody on board.”

In a statement issued and authorised by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, NNPC, Garba Deen Muhammad, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Abuja, the minister noted that once every member country of OPEC was brought on board, it would become easier to convince other major oil producers to sign-up to the freeze policy which was designed to remedy lingering decline in the price of crude oil in the international market.

The statement reiterated further that after the protracted meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers held under the aegis of oil-producing countries ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, Dr. Kachikwu stressed that OPEC must work at achieving a workable consensus on the issue by bringing everybody on the negotiating table.

It was expected that the consensus issue been canvassed by Kachikwu would be pursued vigorously in the next OPEC Ministerial meeting slated for June, 2016 in Vienna, Austria.

12

businessnews

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

G24 advocates $100bn annually to fight climate change Sulaimon Olanrewaju, Washington DC

T

HE Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four of International Monetary Affairs and Development (G24) has called for concessional financing of $100billion annually to fight climate change starting from 2020 in pursuance of the 2030 Agenda

N900bn revenue target: Customs restrategises Saliu Gbadamosi-Abuja

IN a bid to generate more revenue into the coffers of the Federal Government, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has revealed plans to open new windows, including the excise space.

This was disclosed by the Customs Public Relations Officer, Wale Adeniyi, in an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Tribune, saying that this became imperative in view of dwindling revenue accruable to the government.

Adeniyi, a Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs, informed that with the plan, more goods would be brought under excise for revenue to be collected on them.

“We are also trying to see if we can open up some new windows. We want to strengthen our excise: We are trying to bring up proposals to open up the excise space so that more items can be brought under the excise table,” the PRO stated.

According to him, the Customs was not leaving any stone unturned in realizing the about N900 billion revenue target given to it by the Federal Government.

for Sustainable Development.

The G24, set up to coordinate the position of developing countries on monetary and development issues, at its 95th meeting held on the sidelines of the just concluded World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC, said, “The availability of concessional finance will play a key role in lowering the up-front costs of greenhouse gas emissions, climate-resilient investments as well as in mitigating the risks related to climate change.”

Pushing further for concessional financing for

developing countries, the Group said this should be additional, rather than a substitute for contributions from development partners in the light of ambitious global agreements on SDGs, COP21, and the Sendai Agreement, arguing that developed countries should guard against overburdening poor countries with higher cost liabilities.

The meeting, presided over by Mauricio Cárdenas, Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia, had Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, in attendance.

The meeting also called for a concrete roadmap

SHAREHOLDERS have thrown their votes behind the expansion plans of Transcorp Hotels Plc applauding management for the significant improvement in the financial performance of the company and commending the recent award from the World Travel Awards to Transcorp Hilton Abuja as the best leading business hotel in Africa.

The shareholders made their opinion known at the 2nd Annual General Meeting of Transcorp Hotels held at its flagship hotel, Transcorp Hilton Abuja, on Friday, April 15, 2016.

The shareholders also overwhelmingly approved the recommendation by the Board of Directors of

ing their access to concessional financing.”

G24 also stated that MDBs should emerge as a strong partner for developing countries in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) to enable them achieve the Sendai Framework targets by 2030.

“We call for MDBs to increase financial support to developing countries and facilitate their access to new technologies. Overall, continuous work on DRM will prevent disasters from undermining the progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” the communique stated.

From left: Marketing Director, Nigerian Bottling Company, Sergio Vieira; Director, Public Affairs & Communications, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Clem Ugorji; Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Patricia Jemibewon and Marketing Manager, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Cletus Onyebuoha, during the launch of Coca-Cola’s “Taste The Feeling” campaign, in Lagos.

EU to invest 12m euros in Nigeria’s export sector Ademola Adegbite-Abuja EUROPEAN Union, on Monday, announced its plans to spend €12 million to set standard for the Nigeria export sector through the United Nation Industrial Development

Organisation (UNIDO).

The lead consultant to the UNIDO, Professor Abimbola Uzoma disclosed this while leading the organisation’s delegation to the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, on a visit to his

Shareholders back Transcorp Hotels’ expansion plans, approve 40k dividend Gbola Subair-Abuja

that would facilitate its realization.

According to a communique issued at the end of the meeting, the Group, while calling for strong advocacy by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), added that, “We also seek the urgent replenishment of the Climate Investments Funds.

We continue to urge the international community to work with small middle-income countries and those in fragile situations that are vulnerable to climate change, in improving their debt sustainability, including through enhanc-

a 40.85 kobo dividend per share.

Shareholders expressed confidence and support for the company’s expansion plan while commending the 100 per cent subscription achieved in the Transcorp’s corporate bond offering during the year.

Briefing shareholders on the company’s performance, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, Chairman, Transcorp Plc said the company grew by 20 per cent from N4.5 billion in 2014 to N5.4 billion in 2015, while total assets was up by 30 per cent from N70 billion to N91 billion within the same period.

“I strongly believe that we will continue to enjoy growth across all our business lines. We have demonstrated our capabilities

across products, customer segments and markets. We intend to continue to leverage on this solid platform to achieve our aspirations and deliver value to all our stakeholders,” he said.

office in Abuja.

Professor Uzoma, who bemoaned that Nigeria lacked recognised quality infrastructure agencies, also added that, that was why international community rejected her export products, assuring that UNIDO would streamline the shortcoming in the Nigeria export sector.

She emphasised that Nigeria export regulatory agencies would know their boundary and its limit as soon as UNIDO fully began operation.

According to her, “we are here to brief you on the activities of UNIDO so as to

set standard for our exports in Nigeria. UNIDO is running a programme which is being sponsored by the European Union and it’s involved about 12 Euro. It has to do with quality infrastructure in Nigeria, especially our export sector.

“Currently, we don’t have recognised quality infrastructure agencies outside the country and that is why our exported products are being rejected in the international market.

The latest is the rejection of our beans product which we all know about it.”

Chinese company to invest $30m in Delta Alphonsus Agborh-Asaba A Chinese firm North China Construction Company is to invest over $30million in infrastructure development in Delta State.

Chairman of the company Wu Guo Qi, disclosed this during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on infrastructure development with the state government in Asaba, on Monday.

The MoU which was

signed by Festus Agas, Secretary to the State Government, Olorogun David Edevbie, Commissioner For Finance on behalf of the state government and Qi on behalf of the Chinese Company, was witnessed

by Governor Okowa and some members of the State executive council.

The chairman explained that the partnership would totally transform the infrastructure of the state in order to accelerate the economic and social devel-

opment of the state as well as wealth creation through employment and skill acquisition Qi stressed that “the MoU is aimed at long term strategic partnership with the state to develop key infrastructure and skill/ technology acquisition including design, sand filling and provision of infrastructure in the new city on the banks of River Niger; design and construction of world class government offices, among others.

Nigerian Tribune

Coca-Cola launches new global campaign in Nigeria COCA-COLA has launched its new global campaign, ‘Taste the Feeling’ in Nigeria.

The campaign, which was launched at the weekend, has set a new benchmark for the audaciously innovative world of event activation, Coca-Cola said.

According to the company, the new campaign explores storytelling and every day moments to connect with consumers and celebrate the simple pleasure and experience that makes every moment of drinking Coca-Cola special.

Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Patricia Jemibewon, explained that ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign will bring to life the idea that drinking a CocaCola – whether classic or Coke Zero – is a simple pleasure that makes everyday moments more special.”

According to Jemibewon, while the company’s previous award-winning “Open Happiness” campaign which ran from 2009 until now, leaned heavily on the emotional values of ‘happiness’ and ‘optimism’ which the brand stands for, the new “Taste the Feeling” campaign will feature universal storytelling with the product at the heart to reflect both the functional and emotional aspects of the Coca-Cola brand experience.

“With this new campaign, we are highlighting the core values of the CocaCola brand, using simple, relatable, and emotional storytelling long associated with Coke.

“Taste the Feeling is all inclusive but with a special focus on teenagers who are known to live for the moment and who are most demanding as far as creativity is concerned. In the coming days, we will be rolling out several engagement activities that will provide them the opportunity to have memorable moments that keep them talking and expressing their feelings with their peers,” she said.

Speaking on the campaign, the Public Affairs and Communications Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Clem Ugorji, explained that the ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign is an offshoot of Coca-Cola’s new ‘One Brand Strategy’ which marks a significant shift in its marketing approach and for the first time unites all Coke Trademark brands in one global creative campaign.

13

editorial

O

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Thriving in the post-oil era

N March 31, 2016, the 30-year-old son of King Salman and second-in-line to the Saudi throne, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, set out his vision for a sovereign investment fund, as part of the preparation for a post-oil era. The $2 trillion wealth fund will be created by selling off state petroleum company, Aramco’s assets by 2018 or even a year earlier in a dramatic plan to transform the country’s economy, which relies heavily on the oil industry. This fund more than doubles Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, regarded as the largest in the world. The mega fund will be enough money to buy the four largest US companies, Apple, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway. The sale of Aramco and transference of its shares to the Public Investment Fund technically make investments the source of Saudi Arabia’s government revenue, in place of oil.

Several factors marked the beginning of the end of the oil era.

In 2015, a Paris agreement on climate change was reached, with 195 countries setting themselves on a low-carbon path through economy-wide plans. This agreement will be developed and strengthened every year because climate chaos continues to build. While 2015 was the warmest year of the warmest decade since humans started recording temperatures, the forecast for 2016 is even grimmer. The number of climate refugees is swelling and everywhere, popular movements against pollution and irresponsible use of the earth’s resources are gaining momentum.

Solar power and other forms of clean energy continue to be more widely used as sources of energy. New clean energy power plants are being built in the United States, China, India, as well as in the developing economies of Africa and Latin America. For example, India, with a current electricity grid capacity of less than 300 gigawatts (GW), is on its way to building 100 GW of solar power by 2022 from its 5 GW, double the current solar capacity of China.

Meanwhile, cheaper battery technology will continue to drive clean energy costs down, while changing the way people think about energy. Indeed, the world is on the threshold of a revolution in the way modern society fuels itself.

Technological innovations in the field of transportation further accelerate this march to the post-oil era. Scientists all over the globe are working to develop sustainable new energy sources to reduce dependence on dwindling fossil fuel supplies. Some sustainable energy sources, such as solar energy, are mature marketplaces, with 60 years of research behind them. Others, such as antimatter, are more experimental. The science of antimatter is still in its infancy but scientists claim that mixing just half a gram of antimatter with half a gram of matter would create the same energy generated by the Hiroshima bomb. Energy-converting tiles are installed on smart football pitches, such that youngsters playing on

such a football pitch power the neighbourhood’s street lights with every step. Their movements across the astro turf are converted from kinetic energy into electricity by hundreds of hidden energycapturing tiles built by London-based Pavegen. Pavegen has built one of such smart football pitches field at the Federal College of Education, Lagos.

Furthermore, biomass-based fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, which emit less carbon dioxide per unit of energy, are also already being produced. In Brazil, ethanol made from sugarcane constitutes some 40 percent of transport fuel. In the US, roughly 20 percent of the corn crop is being converted to ethanol. Much of this is blended with gasoline at a 10 percent level in reformulated cleaner-burning gasoline. The use of biomass-based fuels will steadily grow. Researchers are exploring more radical propulsion systems and fuels, especially those that have the potential for low life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions. Innovations will significantly improve gasoline engines, achieve more efficient transmissions, and low-emission diesels.

Nigeria must therefore begin to refocus its economy for the postoil era. The time has come to move away from the preoccupation with the recovery of the oil market to thriving in the post-oil era.

For many years, policy makers have been preoccupied with the issue of diversifying the economy away from the dependence on oil. Yet, no significant achievement has been made. The reality is that oil will become less and less in demand. Like the stone age era, the carbon asset bubble is deflating. The Federal Government must take the initiative of guiding the country through the transition to the post-oil era. It must set up a body right away, perhaps through the Federal Ministry of Trade, to review the situation and chart a course for the country in the post-oil era. The task for this body, comprising investment experts, will be to study investment opportunities around the world in the processing of primary products, which Nigeria produces, into manufactured items and make the feasibility studies available to Nigerians.

The target should be to make at least 500 business feasibility studies available annually to interested Nigerians to consider and act on.

We are aware that many Nigerians possess funds which lie idle or are wasted on frivolities because they lack the knowledge of profitable productive ventures to invest in. Instead of focusing on the exportation of primary products whose prices are beyond the country’s control, policy makers need to help Nigerians and the country at large to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the post-oil era. The green economy is gradually emerging as a major producer of jobs. Nigeria must shift its human capital development plan in that direction. A restructuring of the entire economy has become urgently imperative.

AFRICAN NEWSPAPERS OF NIGERIA PLC Founders: Chief Obafemi Awolowo GCFR, SAN (1909 - 1987)

Chief (Dr) H.I.D Awolowo CON (1915 - 2015)

Chairman Rev. (Mrs) Omotola Oyediran Co-Chairman Dr. Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Edward Dickson Controller (Business Development) Fola Oke Chief Accountant Oluremi Olufisayo, ACA

Ibadan Office (Advert Hot Lines): 08077227269; 08034135733 Lagos Office (Advert Hot Lines): 08055333067; 08033013177 South South Regional Office: No. 50 Ikwerre Rd., Mile 1, Diobu, P/Harcourt, Rivers State

Snr. Manager (Advertisements) Kayode Titiloye Sales Manager Omotayo Lewis, Ph.D Consultant/Director Segun Olatunji, Ph.D

GOT NEWS?

Abuja Office: Suites G2. 05-07, PEB04 Plaza, Plot 2027, Dalaba Street, Beside NAPTIP Headquarters, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja Advert Hot Lines: 08033199716; 08078891797 Kaduna Office: AN 20, Lagos Street, by Keffi Rd., Kaduna.

Ikeja Marketing Office.

Block C, First Floor, Motorways centre, Opp., 7up Alausa, Ikeja.

Contact: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com or call:08055069471, 08116954630

14 LETTERS TO THE

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

editor

Letters to the editor should be sent to letterstribune@yahoo.com or by sms to 08078891826.

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

Benue govt, reverse BSU’s tuition increment now

T

HE decision of the Benue State government to increase the tuition at the state university, the Benue State University, Makurdi, is a wrong decision at this period in time. This was what brought about the recent students’ protest, which made the university authorities to promise that something would be done about the increment soon.

To know how ridiculous the increment is, the acceptance fee, which used to be N5, 000, was raised to N25, 000.

The governor, who is aware of the hardship being felt by the people in the state, should have op-

posed this decision by the university management.

It is so unfortunate that the governor, who still owes workers about four months salaries and allowances, could approve the increment in tuition, knowing full well that many civil servants have children attending the university. Where does he expect them to raise the money to pay for the increment?

I am very happy that the students quickly registered their anger through the protest to the vice chancellor, Professor Moses Kembe, and the governor.

The students raised salient points that if government wants to increase its internally generated rev-

enue (IGR), then it should look at other ways instead of targeting the education sector.

The increment would definitely make some students drop out of school entirely, and at a period when we are encouraging education, such policies of increasing tuition astronomically will only make this impossible.

There are several ways the government can generate revenue, and it is not

my duty to highlight them here; there are several people employed by the state government who are only saddled with the responsibility of thinking of how to generate revenue for government.

However, whoever must have come up with the decision to increase the tuition at the Benue State University is definitely not creative.

Benue State needs enough manpower for de-

velopment, and we can only produce such through our graduates, but the recent policy will only make it impossible for the state to produce enough graduates who will develop it.

This is just the period to encourage more people to acquire tertiary education, at a time when the saturated job market is discouraging most would-be students.

Increasing tuition at this period is just a way

of reducing the number of university students in the state.

As a result of this, I want to charge Governor Ortom and the vice chancellor, Professor Kembe, to immediately reverse the increment.

•Awunah Pius Terwase, Mpape, Abuja. piusawunah@ymail. com

Still on NFF’s shameful acts THE last has not been heard about the crisis rocking the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), with the court ruling sacking the Amaju Pinnick-led board from office.

When the world football governing body, FIFA, intervened in our case in 2013 in order to ensure the smooth running of our football, Nigerians felt relieved, believing that the issue had finally been settled, but the recent Jos court ruling, which installed Chris Giwa as the head of the football house, has thrown the football family in the country into a confusion.

However, in spite of the court ruling, the attempt

by Giwa to take over the NFF secretariat in Abuja is an overzealous act, and this has led to further confusion. It is, therefore, not a surprise that FIFA has written Nigeria again, calling on it to put its football in order or get banned.

Our football is in such a mess; we could not qualify for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) coming up next year in Gabon, and we shouldn’t wait until we are banned by FIFA before we do the needful.

The current issue must be resolved as soon as

possible so that it doesn’t affect our chances of playing international football, particularly the Rio Olympics coming up in Brazil in June.

Nigeria can’t afford not to take part in any football event this year, as it will have a negative effect on our internationals’ careers. It will make it difficult for them to be signed by foreign clubs.

Instead of our football authorities to look at the challenges facing our teams, particularly the Super Eagles, they are fighting for control of the football house.

For the second time in a row, we have failed to qualify for the AFCON, and we are not bothered by that.

Our football has reached its lowest ebb, and just at a time when we should be calling for an emergency meeting towards proferring lasting solution to the challenges facing our football, NFF officials are fighting a supremacy battle. I believe if this issue is not resolved as soon as possible, then our football will continue to suffer for it.

•Bala Nayashi, Lokoja, Kogi State.

Why political office holders should be diplomatic FIRST and foremost, I want to agree that the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu is not a politician, and that was why he said he was trying his best towards solving the acute fuel shortages in the country, and that despite his best, he was not a magician.

That statement was the

trigger the oil marketers needed to make the situation more terrible.

Dr Kachikwu later came out to say that he only jokingly made the statement which some marketers capitalised on to make Nigerians suffer by hoarding fuel. This is why people in positions of authority should always watch what

they say in public, as such could affect the masses negatively.

Politicians know how to wriggle their way out of inciting questions, and are always careful about the statements they make in public.

I am happy that the minister has learnt his lesson, and I hope other people who hold positions in the

country will also learn from what has happened.

The truth is that this government is trying to solve the issue of fuel scarcity in the country once and for all, and this will definitely take some time. We all know that it is easier to destroy than to rebuild.

•Udoh Calistus, Ikorodu, Lagos.

15

opinion

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Tough times, tougher Nigerians?

L

AST year, the All Progressives Congress (APC), on whose broom President Muhammadu Buhari rode to become the first citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, uttered a statement. The words that were spoken for the party and invariably PMB’s administration via the mouth of its National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, sent millions of sanctimonious Nigerians running to mountain tops, valleys and river banks as if a reversal, that could serve as an antidote to the foretelling of doom was embedded in the bosom of nature.

The elites and intellectual minds simply laughed it off as another shallow figment of a stuffed up politician’s imagination while the spirituals tagged Oyegun as an emissary of quietus whose words evoked fumes with obnoxious stench over the national atmospheric. Their verdict was a deep cleansing of the four cardinals to rid Nigeria of looming plagues that were like exorcised fiends, released into the national atmosphere by the chairman’s words.

Nigerians at home and even those in the Diaspora certainly would have not developed short time amnesia since October, 2015. This implies that the utterance made public by Oyegun yet hovers over the nation’s atmosphere and lingers in the labyrinths of our hearts.

National dailies went awash with various headlines culled from Oyegun’s words. “Be prepared for hard times,” “Brace up for hard times,” “Nigerians should prepare for hardship….” These and many more were such headlines that flooded the both print and online media outlets last year.

In October last year, while receiving the management and Alumni Association of the University of Ibadan (UI), Oyegun had stressed that the duty before the Federal Government had gone from building roads and infrastructure to rebuilding the psyche of Nigerians, going further to act clairvoyant, he threw these words into the air “These are going to be interesting times. There are going to be difficulties ahead because of the state of the economy.” His words provoked a cocktail of emotions from recipient Nigerians. While some Nigerians adopted the mantra of a certain religious body and simply sent them “back to the sender”, others swept them under the carpet and we all moved on.

veracity with Vera Onana

veraonana@gmail.com 08054680688

The first quarter of 2016 is just about to come to an end but the reality that stares Nigerians in the face is in total compliance with Oyegun’s supposedly obnoxious or flatulent words as the case may be. Perhaps, his words can be likened to the voice of the prophet in the wilderness, calling out to oblivious Nigerians or maybe he was simply just psychic but we do not need a Sangoma to decipher the writings on the wall- for as dusk turns into dawn and another dawn dissipates to usher in darkness, the tough times come sprawling in.

It is no longer news that most government workers and retirees are singing death songs due to delayed salaries and in some outlandish cases, no payment at all.

However, as the legendarily happy people that we are, we put on our masks of smiling faces and carry on with our lives but mostly in frugality.

All hell was let loose in a south western state months ago for the state government declared a clamp down on its employees. Lectures and non-academic staff of polytechnics are literally being bathed with an acidic rain of mass retrenchment while doctors are being consumed with abhorrent fear of the unknown as their employment statuses remain uncertain.

What is happening in and to our Nigeria? When we were younger, our parents motivated us to study hard, get good grades and secure government jobs so that we could have a secure job life, not only as fulfilled workers, but as happy retirees. Young people with morbid hatred for the modern day slavery that depicts private establishments, especially banking, ran for their dear lives in thousands

to serve the government. They erroneously believed working for the government meant a life time job security.

Alas, they goofed on that assertion! The government that used to be some sort of fortress and strong tower in which any worker could run into and be safe is fast becoming a dangerous place to pitch ones tent.

Surely, the going has got tougher- the incredible increase in fuel pump price, scarcity of the product, inflation, convulsing state of electricity, unemployment, poverty…..the list of woes is inexhaustible, but we must ourselves get tough to survive in today’s Nigeria. Enough of bickering about the government, enough of protesting, chanting the cliché “all we are saying.” We must get look within us to change our situation and quit the endless, fruitless waiting on a government whose forte is playing the game - ‘absenteeism’.

I would thereby posit that the time has come for Nigerians to look inward and create something out of cloud of nothingness. These desperate times call for innovations and creative ideas that would make almost every Nigerian an entrepreneur. Yes, white collar jobs have long stopped being the fairy tale dream we dreamt and government jobs are fast becoming a night mare.

For us to weather these storms, we need to unleash our creativity on the adversities besieging us so we can break into affluence.

Sometime ago, Femi Adekanmbi, Ondo State Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Special Duties, said “we have told our people, the civil servants and everybody that they should start bracing themselves up for the challenges ahead; they must start looking for alternatives to their incomes.”

If entrepreneurship becomes every Nigerian’s Holy Grail, collectively, we will break the chains that hold our economy captive, but until then, we may continue to languish, pointing the proverbial accusing fingers at the government we consider as our bane while in reality, we are the custodians of our own woes. China and her Yuan cannot save us now.

•This piece has been modified and is being republished due to its relevance at this time.

For a more constructive opposition

By Raymond Oise-Oghaede

LOOKING closely at the present socio-political and economic situation in Nigeria, it will be an understatement to say that the growth and image of the country have been greatly battered by the mismanagement of the past. It is therefore, not surprising to see the pervasive and alarming rate of insecurity, unemployment, corruption, infrastructural decay, political intolerance, moral decadence and other societal vices that have eaten deep into the system.

Though, the present administration is battling tooth and nail to tackle the problems head-on, it will require the highest level of patriotism/commitments and contributions of all and sundry to make headway and positive impact.

However, misplaced priority and irrational criticisms on the part of those who form the opposition are major issues capable of throwing spanners in the wheel of progress.

You will agree with me that it will be very difficult (if not impossible), for any government to achieve much progress if the opposition adopts unpatriotic and inconsiderate tendencies in their desire to take over power.

In a democracy, the common priority of the opposition is to replace those in government. Therefore, they employ different types of tactics and measures in the course of achieving their aim. Though, there is nothing wrong in forming an opposition to a sitting government if this priority is reasonably, objectively and patriotically pursued; it becomes a problem and undesirable if dubious, criminal, unreasonable, wicked and unpatriotic tendencies are devised in their pursuits.

In other climes, the people in opposition put the interest of the country and citizens foremost in their criticisms and other activities against the government. They constitute themselves as checks to forestall the ruling party from derailing in governance. They study the policies and programmes of government and devise ways of improving on them and presenting same as manifestoes to swerve the electorates’ votes in their favour in subsequent or future elections.

In the Nigerian context, opposition is seen as an avenue to pull down the ruling government and take-over governance. The politicians are known for pursuing their selfish interests, not minding the negative effects such actions will have on the country and the masses. Every step and policies of government are condemned or made to look worthless and appalling in the eyes of the electorate, just to justify their sentimental and selfish aims. This trend is synonymous with our democracy and it has persisted since independence which explains the numerous military interventions in the country’s politics. The efforts put-in by all patriotic and well meaning Nigerians and the international community before democracy was eventually restored cannot be quantified. With the coming of the Fourth Republic, one would have expected that the people must have learnt their lessons and handle things more naturedly by drastically curtailing, if not permanently eradicating the trend, but the reverse is the case as the situation is getting worse by the day.

Misplaced priority is not an ideology of a particular party, ethnic group or religion; most politicians are guilty of this anti-democratic and progress-killing activity. In as much as this review recognises the fact that, in politics, there are no permanent friends or foes but, permanent interest; our politicians have misconstrued this principle to mean personal and selfish ambitions/interests. As a result, the permanent interest of the people in opposition is to pull down the government in power at all cost, not minding the damage or pains it will inflict on the innocent masses and the growth of the nation. The people in government also

see the opposition as enemies of the nation who should not be trusted come rain or shine. The situation is so bad that even if it is obvious to the whole world that something is white; the opposition will always see that thing as red, blue, black, green or any other colour (but not white), so as not to be perceived as giving credence to the policies and activities of government in power. In such situations, it will be difficult (if not impossible), for a nation to progress because mutual suspicion will pervade the polity.

It is very important to mention at this juncture that, when the issue of Boko Haram started, the government and opposition played politics to the gallery until it got out of hand. If the issue had been handled with all sincerity and patriotic zeal most of the deaths recorded would have been, averted. No wonder, the whereabouts of the Chibok girls is still a mystery.

Today, a lot of sensitive issues are springing-up and our people are still handling it with levity and in the usual mannerisms. The ongoing anti-corruption war; secession agitation in the East; soldiers-shiites’ clash in Zaria; persistent fuel scarcity; election violence and numerous others deserve unwavering commitments and co-operations of all well meaning Nigerians to tackle. Expectedly, the masses continue to suffer endlessly and instead of the opposition to join hands with the present government to fighting the problems and finding lasting solutions, they are trading blames and accusations. Their relationship is still that of cat and mouse.

From the aforementioned, it is obvious that the people seem not to have learnt any lessons from the past and are gradually walking into another tight corner. We must not allow this to happen again for the sake of the nation’s survival. Consequently, the aim of this review is to prick the conscience of those concerned and remind them that there is need to have a rethink and embrace national interests in place of misplaced priorities which have done us greater damages than good.

•Oise-Oghaede lives in Surulere, Lagos.

16

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

agriculture Agric economist warns FG over acceptance of GMO

‘Biotechnology key to food production’

Collins Nnabuife -Abuja

D

IRECTOR General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Rufus Ebegba, has identified biotechnology as a veritable tool for economic advancement.

He made this assertion recently in Abuja, while inaugurating a six-man technical committee charged with the responsibility of reviewing the application dossier for

the release of genetically modified cotton for on farm trial and maize for confined field trial.

According to him, “with biotechnology we can feed our population, we can attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with this modern technology we can create employment in line with the goals of the federal government, with biotechnology we can grow our economy beyond mere sustenance to existential strat-

Collins Nnabuife -Abuja

egy to the point of becoming a global major player in food importation.”

Speaking further, Ebegba said it became imperative to set up the Committee in order to ensure the safety of the products both to human health, animal health and the environment.

First of such applications to be presented for consideration since the establishment of the Agency in 2015, the Director General stated that when correctly used the

modern technology have the potential of reducing pest problems with economic and environmental benefits.

“Though the best technology is used in the production of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)but this can only be done within the confines of the law to ensure that the GMOs have no adverse effects,” he said.

He, therefore, charged the committee to be thorough and diligent in the consideration of the applications

IFAD to invest N300m into Benue farming

As 9.2 million people benefitted from IFAD-supported programmes Johnson Babajide and Collins Nnabuife

INTERNATIONAL Fund for Agricultural Production (IFAD) is to invest over N300million to boost rice and cassava production in Benue State this farming season.

Benue State IFAD Project Coordinator, Emmanuel Igbaukum, made this known at the weekend in Makurdi at a two day Partnership/Alliance and Business Transaction Meeting between farmers and investors in the agricultural sector said the fund was intended for small scale farmers.

He explained that the IFAD in collaboration with the Federal Government would invest the amount through its Value Chain Development Programme, VCDP, to enable more than 3,500 profiled farmers access the fund.

According to him, “this meeting is therefore an innovation that is geared towards linking farmers

to markets and is also intended to ensure that all key stakeholders come to a round table to discuss their constraints and at the end of the day come out with a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU.” He noted that the collaboration between the IFAD and the Federal Government through the VCDP was pivotal in the quest by the federal government to boost the non oil sector of the economy.

Speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Judith Hinyam said the state government had already approved over N166million as its counterpart fund to the VCDP. Meanwhile, IFAD in Nigeria has said that 9.2 million Nigerians had benefitted from its programmes out of the 14.2 million targeted across the country.

Oscar Garcia, the Director of IFAD Independent Office of Evaluation, made this known at the National workshop on IFAD Country Programme Evaluation in Abuja.

He said over the last 30 years, IFAD had supported 10 projects in Nigeria at a total cost of $795.3 million of which IFAD had provided $317.6 million.

The director said development projects supported by IFAD in the country had been effective in improving the livelihood of rural dwellers and strengthening food production.

“IFAD-supported programmes reached 9.2 million beneficiaries out of the 14.2 million targeted.

“Beneficiary outreach was less than what we planned but the concentration of investments in limited number of villages had enable activities to be delivered successfully,” he said.

and take decisions that will promote the wellbeing of the country bearing in mind that the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) has the responsibility to create and monitor the biosafety standards that must be met in order to prevent any accidental release of potentially harmful biological materials.

He maintained that as regulators, the NBMA will not compromise standards stressing that the role of the Agency is not to promote GMOs but safety of genetically modified organisms.

“I will only defend what I know is safe, I will only sing the song of safety,” he added.

In his remarks, the representative of the African Biosafety Network of Experts (ABNE) an affiliate of NEPAD, Samuel Timpo commended the Federal Government for the holistic approach adopted to ensure safety in the use of modern technology.

He also lauded the initiative to involve other national experts with diverse expertise in the process.

According to him, as giant of Africa, once Nigeria gets it right, it will change the face of Africa in the area of GMOs. He, therefore, charged the committee to borrow copiously from established global best practices in the consideration of the applications.

AN agriculture economist, Dr Thaddeaus Thompson, has warned the Federal Government over acceptance of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) for food production security in the agricultural sector will be a great mistake.

Thompson made the assertion while considering the food politics played by some agricultural multinationals that are seriously luring some African countries to accept GMO seeds for food production and security in order to make huge financial gains at the expense of the health and environment of the people.

He cautioned the Nigerian government to consider gray facts left out in the GM seeds offered by agricultural giants from America and Europe before making any decision to accept it or not, and said Nigeria lacks the finance and technology to handle the negative side of GM seeds.

“A decision to accept GMO in Nigeria will be a huge mistake, especially at a time when most citizens in developed countries are rejecting them and turning back to the natural way of food production. The consequences of GMO outweigh its benefits and undeniable raises the concerns that it could harm humans.

“Given that some GM foods are modified using bacteria and viruses, it is advisable for the Nigerian government not to undermine the concerns that new diseases could emerge and create a health cost that the country cannot handle.

“Developed countries are financially and technologically better prepared to manage a health risk that develops from GMOs than Nigeria could afford. Because genetically modified food production is more focus on financial gains rather than feeding populations, the government must exercise precaution engaging in any contractual deal with the big biotech companies whose interest is making money,” he said.

17

Nigerian Tribune

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Soil Bill passes second reading in NASS Collins Nnabuife -Abuja

THE Bill for Act to establish the National Soil Institute has passed a second reading in the National Assembly.

The sponsor of the Bill, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha from Taraba State, said the institute, if established would address all challenges facing the management of soil.

Leading a debate on the bill last Thursday, Senator Bwacha noted that the absence of a regulatory body to manage the soil had led to the destruction of the nutrients required for agriculture production.

UI alumni call for innovative agricultural policies

By Ronke Sanya

THE alumni of the department of Agricultural Extension, University of Ibadan have called for innovation in developing and implementing agricultural policies in the country.

Deliberating on agricultural production and its effects on Nigeria’s economy, as part of the line-up of events to mark the 40th anniversary and homecoming ceremony of the department, the alumni, in their various presentations noted that agricultural policies had to be well thought through if the nation was to be self sufficient.

Director General of Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Dr Yemi Akinbamijo, who was guest speaker at the event held on Saturday, emphasised the importance of innovative policies in agriculture to bring about wealth creation, food security and youth employment.

“If we must exploit the potentials in this country, science and technology and innovation must be fully utilised. This will boost agricultural productivity in Nigeria and aid the emergence of Nigeria as a food self-sufficient nation,” he said.

On the importance of innovation in agriculture, Akinbamijo added, “innovation is not the end. It is a means to an end. We are not short

From right: guest speaker and Executive Director, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), Dr Yemi Akinbamijo; chairman of the event andDirector-General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships (OEDP), Osun State, Dr Charles Akinola; Head of Department, Agricultural Extension, University of Ibadan, Professor Adegbenga Adekoya and Professor Janice Olawoye, at the 40th anniversary and public lecture of the University of Ibadan Agricultural Extension Department, held at the University of Ibadan. of science and technologies, and farmers. All we have to do is make these things gel.

We have to translate these innovations into wealth creation, food security and youth employment.”

He also called for the joint efforts of the private and public sector so as the drive the policies.

Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships (OEDP), Dr Charles Akinola, called for innovation in developing and implementing agricultural policies in the country.

Akinola, in his address, on agricultural policy and its implementation, harped on the need for stakeholders and concerned Nigeri-

ans to critique existing policies with a view to coming up with strategies and policies that meet today’s demands of agriculture.

“Concerning agricultural policies and implementation, we need to reengage and restrategise. For change to occur in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, innovation and technology should be introduced. With this, we will have great opportunities working with youths. Young people should be encouraged to embrace agriculture as this will boost agricultural production in Nigeria,” Akinola said.

The Head of Department of Agricultural Extension, Professor A.E Adekoya, appreciated the alumni

for honouring the call and contributing in building and sustaining the department.

He particularly outlined the wrong application of chemical fertilizer, which negatively affects nutrients in crops thereby causing illnesses.

Senator Emmanuel Bwacha said the institute, when established would regulate the practice of agriculture and produce profes-

sionals that would serve as extension officers to guide farmers on best practices in agricultural activities.

Supporting the bill, Senator Adamu Aleiro, from Kebbi central said the establishment of the institute would earn international accreditation and patronage of Nigeria foods.

FG calls for affordable credit for farmers Collins Nnabuife -Abuja

THE Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has challenged African leaders to strategise on ways smallholder farmers on the continent will have access to credit facilities.

The minister, who spoke at the 29th Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Regional Conference for Africa in Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire, said loans availability does not automatically translate to affordability in Africa.

Commenting a topic “Strengthening Partnership for Resource Mobilisation” at the conference, Lokpobiri noted that high interest rates on available loan facilities were anti-progress such that, rather than reducing the burden on the African farmer, reverse has been the case.

He said the theme of the conference, Transforming Africa’s Food Systems for Inclusive Growth and Shared Prosperity’’ cannot be more apt, adding that “These are not just interwoven but complimentary issues because as a country, Nigeria has clear message to all African leaders on food security.”

Lokpobiri added that the current realities on improved productivity and enviable value chain in the agricultural sector across the continent have shown that government alone cannot fund this project of food-for-all by the year 2030. ‘’For Africa to feed Africa, it therefore means that the private sector has to be an integral part of this challenging process. Governments alone cannot do it,” he stated.

He lamented that “funding incentives for our farmers and interests on loans are high stressing that loans might be available but they are not affordable where interest rates are flinging between 10 and 30 per cent in most countries.”

He pointed that a common interest rate for the African farmer was the beginning of the journey to food sufficiency in Africa.

How to start poultry farming business

By Ruth Olurounbi

THE poultry industry is one of the profitable businesses in agriculture. As profitable as it is, it is also a large industry with several niches.

Some of the sub-sectors in the poultry industry include meat and egg productions, chicken breeding, equipment manufacturing, egg and meat processing, packaging and processing, feed production, consultancy, etc.

To start this business, therefore, it is advisable that you know your area of strength

and more importantly, have a knowledge of how your prefer sub-sector works.

But before going into the business, you must a n -

swer the question regarding the type of bird you want to focus on. As the farmers said, there are different types of birds with several considerations before starting your poultry business. Some of the birds include guinea fowl, pigeon, duck, turkey, goose, quail, chicken, etc.

Once you’ve got that covered, as with any business, you must conduct a feasibility study and you must write a business plan, to serve as a guide for running the poultry business.

To be continued.

18

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016 With Tommy Adegbite 0811 695 4631 tommyabijo@yahoo.com

From left, the Lukotun of Ibara Kingdom, Chief Mutiu Ayinde; donor and a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr Lanre Laoshe; Bishop of Ifo Diocese (Anglican Communion), Right Reverend Nathaniel Ogundipe and the Principal, Anglican Grammar School (Private) Okenla, Ifo, Mr Lawrence Ojewale, during the commissioning of science laboratory equipment by Laoshe to Anglican Grammar School (Private) Okenla, Ifo, recently.

GMD/CEO, Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Mr Adewale Raji (right), congratulating the “staff of the year 2015,” Mrs Idowu Adeola Sam-Aliu, after the presentation of award at the company’s headquarters, Ibadan, recently. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

The Oluomo of Obaagunland, Alhaji Ganiyu Makanjuola and his wife, who is also the Yeye Oluomo, Alhaja Rafat Omolayo, after their installation ceremony, recently.

From right, Honourable Ayoola Makanjuola (Makenson), the Odofin of Ago-Are; Dr Bolaji Ojo-Oba, former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF); Mr Rasaq Mojoyin of National Population Commission (NPC); Reverend Matthew Bolanle Ojetunde and a female guest, at the coronation of Aare of Ago-Are, Oba (Dr) Kofoworola Abodunrin Oyetunji, at Ago-Are, recently.

From left, Marketing Executive, Invivo Health and Beauty, Ann Ogunsulire; Head of Operations, Mr Grant Beyers; Director, Mr John Onyeoguroro; Dr Israel Akpan and Dr Funto Ogundapo, during a facility tour of Invivo Health and Beauty, a subsidiary of Smartmark Limited, in Ibadan, recently. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE

From left, Chairman, Ewebe FADAMA Users Cooperative Group, Mr Mufutau Oyelekan; Area head, Legal and External Affairs, West and Central Africa, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN), Freddy Messanvi; a representative of the Commissioner for Agriculture, Lagos State, Mrs Abiola Ayoade and the Baale of Ajara Topa, Chief Samuel Owolabani, at the presentation of the certificate of handover, during the kick-off and commissioning of irrigation facilities donated by the BATN to the Ajara Vegetable Enterprise Development Project, Ajara, Badagry, Lagos State, recently.

Pastor Sunday Omokoje Jaman and his wife, former Miss Oluwaseun Moyosore Adeniran, after their wedding held at Divine Counsel Holiness Church, Arolu, Ibadan, on Saturday.

Mr Ajibola Jolaosho and his wife, former Miss Olabisi Muraina, after their wedding held at Archbishop Akinfenwa Hall, St Mary’s Anglican Church, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan, recently.

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

19

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

leadership &

management with Sulaimon Olanrewaju

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

The 60-second

business coach

PAGE 20

Quote LEADERSHIP

PAGE 22

“Never give an order that can’t be obeyed.”

—General Douglas MacArthur

Leaders’

forum

PAGE 22

Innovation, imitation as tools of organisational growth

By Sulaimon Olanrewaju

T

HE staying power of great organizations is the quest to beat their own accomplishments, no matter how astonishing they are. Like champions, the hunger of great organizations for new conquests is insatiable.

They never rest on their oars. They don’t allow complacency to dull their thirst for more success.

They don’t give any chance to the current level of achievements to blur their thinking about future prospects. Great companies keep tweaking with the process; they keep pushing the frontiers; they are never satisfied with the status quo. They realize

that they have to keep winning to remain relevant; therefore, they keep increasing their capacities, attempting new things, exploring all opportunities, upping their game and getting into uncharted waters. Great companies never stop innovating.

Continues on pg20

Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Founder TW Magazine

20

21

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

leadership&management BOOK

Innovative leaders never believe in impossiblities a number of strategies.

Continued from pg19

They always stretch their goals In organisations where innovation is a way of life, goals are always on the stretch. Leaders of such organizations are conscious of the fact that the best of an individual comes only when he is taken out of his comfort zone. Taking people out of their comfort zone inspires them and enables them to think in a different way. When thought changes new possibilities arise.

So, innovative companies never stay on the same spot; they keep stretching their goals yearning for more and seeking what new fields they can veer into.

But that is not the only thing they do.

Sometimes when competition beats them to innovation, they simply imitate and position themselves for the benefits arising from such innovations.

Those who are left to freeze in the cold are those that fail to either innovate or imitate because they eventually go into liquidation.

Extreme Ownership: How US Navy SEALs Lead and Win

By Jocko Willink and Leif Babin THIS is a book written by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. These two gentlemen served the United States as U.S. Navy SEAL officers. They participated in the Battle of Ramadi in Iraq, which will go down in history as some of the toughest urban combat SEAL teams have faced to date. Both of these guys were not only SEALs but leaders within the SEAL teams. They also basically rewrote the book on SEAL training and leadership development and then went on to form their own company Echelon Front where they pass these lessons down to us civilians.

So, not only have they served the United States in the war on terror, they are also serving the US by helping businesses become more effective and efficient.

Let’s look at that for a second right from the book, “Extreme Ownership: Leaders must own everything in their world. There is no one else to blame.”

This book is about leadership and the team and has three parts; Winning the War Within, Laws Of Combat, and Sustaining Victory. The 12 chapters in the book outline 12 key principles of leadership.

Keep in mind, a principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.

So at this point, from the very beginning of the book, you realize that it (leadership) all starts with you. You, regardless of your rank, position in the company or status in society ARE a leader. How do you lead you?

Then they go outward. Now, how do you lead in a group setting?

Finally, how much are you doing to continue winning?

Reminds me of Grant Cardone’s Formula For Success: A3. Attitude, Approach and Action.

In fact, there’s an entire chapter in The 10X Rule dedicated to this very concept. Assume Control For Everything.

And just so we’re clear - control is a good thing. Because of a few certain weirdos like Sadam and Hitler and probably a few ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends people can get weirded out about that word. Control is a good thing. You want to be in control of your life, your car, your situation. Right?

So here’s how this book rolls out: It takes their experiences as SEALs and as SEAL leaders and the principles they learned and then plugs them into real business settings.

Every one of the principles can be applied to business - but as you look closer, you will find that there are some major life lessons here that go way beyond the battlefield and the boardroom.

What is innovation?

Innovation is turning the dreams of yesterday into today’s realities on a continuous basis. It is a shift in the assumption of what is possible and what is not. However, it is not always about the introduction of new things; it could be improving what already exists.

Innovation is basically about improving life. This is why it never fails to thrill customers. The craving of every customer is convenience. Hence, any organization that makes innovation its primary concern will never be in want of patronage.

It is innovation that brought man to his current level of development from trekking over long distances to domesticating animals and converting them to beasts of burden, to riding bicycle, to going on motorcycles, to driving cars, and to flying. This cycle is repeated in other human endeavours. Life on earth has improved because man goes from one level of innovation to another.

The import of this is that man’s quest for making life easy for himself is legendary. He never stops looking for ways to improve his lot. This is at the heart of innovation. Now, if the world cannot survive without innovation how can any organization imagine it can make it without championing or imitating innovation?

Types of innovation Oslo Manual, the foremost international source of guidelines for the collection and use of data on innovation activities, identifies four innovation types; product, process, marketing and organizational.

Product innovation is introducing a product for the first time or improving on an existing product. Every attempt to add new features to a product, increase its speed or generally upscale its deliverables is an exercise in innovation. The person that introduces a product for the first time and the one who improves on that product are both important and are celebrated. Bill Graham gave the world the telephone but that achievement does not rob those who continually improved on the quality of the telephone to the point that it is currently of their credit.

Process innovation is achieving a significantly enhanced production or delivery method through the introduction of new technology. This is important because when the process is improved, the product gets better and both the producer and the consumer are satisfied.

Lydia Idakula Sobogun, CEO Gbagyichild Entertainment

Ini Onuk, CEO of ThistlePraxis Consulting Limited

Marketing innovation is devising better and improved ways of getting the end users to buy into the product using the means of packaging, pricing, promotion and product placement. Marketing is critical to the survival of any organization. So, for-

ward-thinking organizations always devise means of removing any obstacle to the potential buyer’s access to the product.

Organizational innovation is a change that results from a shift in underlying organizational

Modupe Ozolua, CEO of Body Enhancement Ltd assumptions and is manifested in an improvement in the organization’s relationships with its publics, both internal and external.

How organizations promote innovation Organizations promote innovation by deploying

They encourage questions Innovation is possible only when the status quo is questioned. If the status quo is so sacred that it cannot be interrogated, nothing new can be accomplished. Some organizations are so set in their way that their lingo is “We don’t do such here.”

Any organization that has such as its credo can never be a pathfinder. The best it can be is an imitator.

What great companies do is to create a culture that encourages questions from all categories of employees. The more the product, process, marketing and organizational assumptions are interrogated, the better the chances of the organization coming up with answers that will result in an improvement of its activities. That is innovation.

They encourage creativity Innovation is an outgrowth of creativity.

An organization that allows its people to imagine, dream and visualize is preparing the ground for creativity. With creativity people are able to think outside of the

box and imagine a possibility they had hitherto not thought about. When that happens, the organization will reap the fruit of its investment in innovation.

To encourage creativity, leaders neither tell their people what to think about nor shut them down when they speak about their thoughts no matter how seemingly unrealistic. They encourage them to dream and come up with solutions or ideas that may ordinarily appear mind-boggling.

They encourage healthy rivalry Innovation thrives in an environment where healthy rivalry is encouraged.

According to Mark Little, Director of General Electric’s Global Research Group, creating an atmosphere of healthy rivalry has made a difference in his company’s efforts to develop better aircraft engines, composite materials, and power generation equipment. However, this is done without destroying the culture of collaboration. To get the most out of this, what leaders do is to give different groups the same task and same deadline. Knowing that other groups are also working to achieve the same goal stimulates uncommon and unusual thinking that produces uncommon result.

However, in organizations where this method is deployed to encourage innovation, while the group that gets the result is celebrated, others are not ignored.

They never believe in impossibility Organisations that encourage innovation never believe in impossibility. They encourage their personnel to think about possibilities. They are propelled by the understanding that whatever the mind can conceive the hand can achieve, it

THE 60-SECOND business coach

5 things new leaders should know

By Tine Thygesan NOTHING has more impact on your business than leadership skills. Despite that, it’s an underrated discipline that people are often expected to pick up without appropriate training.

Leadership is a tough job; half art, half science. Especially the first time you step up as leader or CEO it’s a daunting challenge. Here are five elements for becoming a great first-time leader: 1. It’s the mental game that’s the hardest.

You can read all the books you want about the hard disciplines of leadership—the goal setting, managing budgets, executive reporting, etc.—but once you start in your first leadership job you’ll realize that is the easy part. It’s the human side of leadership that’s tough. The insecurities will eat at you. Are you doing a good job? Do your employees like you? Do they respect you? Why does no one sit next to you at lunch anymore?

The thing is, a leader gets no feedback and has no one to ask. As an employee, your manager tells you how you are performing and how to improve. But as a leader, you’re supposed to just know that. This means you end up in a feedback void. On top of that, you feel like you’re always

supposed to know what to do and have a clear answer on hand. That feels lonely and is the hardest part. What you need to know is that this is normal and a good thing. It shows that you care. If you don’t feel this when you first start out, you don’t care enough to become a good boss later on.

2. You’re no longer a player, you’re the coach.

Sometimes it feels so much faster to run towards the goal line yourself, rather than explain the rules of the game to someone else. But that’s not scalable. You’re not a player anymore, you’re the coach. This is especially tough for owners and entrepreneurs who are used to having their hands in everything.

If you want great people to work for you, you need to give them space to do great things. Talented people require autonomy so your most important job is to set the scene, make sure the objectives are clear and then get out of the way. You need to delegate responsibility, not tasks. This means things will not be done exactly as you would have done them, but that is the price of growth and freeing up your time.

3. Focus means saying “no.”

Imagine this. CEO Emma is approached by a global player. They are offering her company a partnership

where they promise to spearhead the company’s entry into a new market. Emma is excited about the opportunity, and though the particular market is not part of the current strategy, the opportunity feels too good to decline.

This is where you as a leader need to show what you’re made of. “I can resist everything except temptation,” said Oscar Wilde, who made a valid point—you’ve chartered a strategy which is the best direction for the company.

If that can be altered by randomly occurring external factors, then it’s not worth the paper it is written on. Discounting for life-changing opportunities, Emma should decline and keep the company on track.

4. Candid honesty solves problems before they arise.

A team member comes to you excitedly with a suggestion for a new initiative. You can see he’s excited and motivated by it. You want your team to be proactive, yet you don’t think this is an initiative worth prioritizing over the current plans. What to do?

You say no. If this is not the right project for the company right now, you need to say so. It can be said in a supportive way which explains why it is not right, so the employee leaves the conversation with a deeper understanding of which initiatives to consider in the future.

The No. 1 thing your employees need is not for you

to agree with them, but for you to provide clarity and direction. People deserve a clear framework where it is obvious what is expected and appreciated. The downside of modern leadership is that many leaders have lost the courage to be candidly honest, and that makes direction unclear, which is stressful for people to work in. So by trying to be nice, you end up creating stressful unclarity, something much worse.

5. Be humble.

If you’re good at your job then you don’t have to flaunt it. You don’t have to demonstrate unnecessary power and you can afford to give people space to shine. As a leader, it is your fault when something goes wrong, and your team’s credit when something goes right. That brings with it a sense of humility, which is important for keeping the balance of power.

See your employees as holistic people with complex needs. As a company, we’re always in a race to beat the market; this requires great urgency. But neither you nor your team can give it 200 per cent all the time. If you want to be able to rely on your team to deliver exceptionally in times of need, then you need to show them some flexibility at other times. Otherwise your best people will burn out or quit.

is just a matter of time. So, apart from encouraging their personnel to knock off the limits concerning their thinking, they also encourage them to find ways to put wings to their dreams by deploying means of turning such dreams and imagination to realities.

Between the difficult and the impossible The fact is that nothing is impossible, absolutely nothing. It may not be realizable at the moment but it is certainly not impossible. A difficult thing is that which can be accomplished at the moment although it may be costly in terms of resources both material and time. The impossible is that which will take a while.

It cannot be immediately achieved but it is something that will eventually be accomplished.

When the Wright brothers came up with the idea of building an aircraft, people thought they had lost their minds.

But can we imagine a world without flying planes?

Imitation As pointed out earlier, no matter how creative an organization is, there are times when others will beat it in the game of innovation. When this happens the best thing to do is to imitate and follow the new trend. Many organizations are reluctant to imitate a trend they did not initiate because they often do not understand the new thing. But that is almost always costly to their organizations because they are left behind by those who embrace the change early.

What every business leader should understand is that customers are always looking for new things, if they can’t get these from one company they will try another. So, when the innovation is not fully understood, wisdom dictates that an organization should study it while cautiously waddling through the path blazed by others.

Why imitation fails Sometimes, organizations that imitate others’ innovations fail to get the best of the innovation. This is because they imitate at the level of the initiator. As important as it is to imitate innovation championed by others, the onus is on the imitator to up the game and improve on the innovation. The market rewards value addition, not recycling of ideas.

It is when the original idea is improved upon that the imitator can have a hold on its own share of the market. Those who imitate an invention wholesale usually end up making poor sales.

Final thought It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” That is the spirit.

Organizations that keep making progress in the right direction never go into extinction.

22

leadership&management

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

TOPE POPOOLA is a Human Capital developement Consultant and Pastor. Please feel free to send questions, feedback comments on this column to

topheritage@yahoo.com or visit http//turbochargedforsuccess.blogspot.com

Innovate or ... (1) “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all...” - Jesus in Matthew 5:33-34 “One day, cars will run on water. At Bank PHB, we are already thinking about that” - defunct BankPHB commercial When the defunct Bank PHB began to roll out some of its unconventional, innovative but iconoclastic commercials a couple of years back, it made headlines, not so much because of the bank’s exceptional services or operations but for the sheer ingenuity and novelty of thought that produced the commercials. Unfortunately, the bank obviously was not living according to the tenets of its own mantra and so it was swept into oblivion by the avalanche of change and the complexities of a constantly evolving operating environment.

This is a clear demonstration of the fact that you can actually become a victim of your own philosophy, especially if not guided by its values.

Welcome to the age of innovation where yesterday’s mavericks can quickly become today’s dinosaurs. Have you ever heard the term “banana thinking”? It is a concept popularized

by Michael John Harrison in his book of the same title published in 1996. Most people regularly peel banana from the top side. We hardly ask questions about why this is so and if it could be done differently or if peeling it from the bottom could make the job easier. Banana Thinking challenges us to look at life’s “givens” from a new uncommon perspective.

What we have all accepted as norm or tradition need not always be. Harrison challenges us to learn a different approach to ‘peeling’ the banana in order to become more successful, innovative and more effective!

Did you say unreasonable thinking? You are right! It takes unreasonable people to change their world! True progress happens when boundaries are questioned for reasons of greater good. Iconoclasts started out as rebels. The very reason why they always stand out like a sore thumb. According to George Bernard Shaw, “the reasonable man adapts himself

to the world. But the unreasonable man adapts the world to himself. Therefore all progress is traceable to the unreasonable man.”

When the PC initially came out, computer gurus who had been raised on mainframe systems never gave it a chance.

They wondered how something so small could ever replace something so huge. The rest, as they say, is history.

Innovation begins with disruptive thinking that begins at the fringe of conventional thoughts and perceptions. It does not merely question status quo out of a mere rebellious streak that simply wants to ruffle feathers. It asks questions in the conviction that if today’s innovation came out of yesterday’s relics, it follows that there are future possibilities that the greatest advancement recorded today could not hold a candle to!

True to the prophecy of Bank PHB, the world is already producing hydrogen-powered vehicles whose fuel is produced by the electrolyses of water to produce hydrogen gas!

Recently I was in the San Francisco area of California. As my host and I picked up a discussion about the developments in the auto industry, we saw two models in the luxury category, a salon car and a Crossover SUV. Both bore the name Tesla. The cars run purely on electricity supplied by batteries stored in the chassis of the cars. One full charge would travel about 200 kilometres before requiring a recharge. Although there are other cars like the GM Volt and a few other electric cars, the Tesla ups the ante by being the first in the luxury range. Hitherto, we had thought that if it would be electrical, it would have to be small. I was so fascinated by the range that I decided to find out more about it. Behind it all is a 44-year old South African Canadian-American named Elon Musk, America’s 75th richest man, whose adventure in innovation, according to him, is geared towards enhancing the quality of human life. The Tesla vehicle range is just one of the several pies he has his hands in. His story recommends itself to compelling reading. A forthcoming model of Tesla which is supposed to be targeted at the middle class is slated for the market by the last quarter of 2017, by which time Musk envisages that there would be several charging points where own-

ers could just park and charge their vehicles, in the manner of buying fuel.

Do you also remember another Bank PHB commercial featuring a guy at the back of a driverless car having a conversation with the car and telling it where to go as well as receiving information from it on the position of the stock market for the day? Farfetched you would say. But that era is here. It is the age of Artificial Intelligence and it is, to say the least, scary.

Did you watch the film “Terminator”? Did you think that the idea of uncanny robotic intelligence portrayed there could only be in the realm of conjecture? It is already in the realm of reality.

As you read this, Google has developed a range of autonomous cars that require no driver. Some of the models have no pedals and no steering wheel. Developed in the quest for modern technology to power electric cars, the driverless cars have been tested significantly in California and a few other states in the USA. Washington DC and four states, namely Nevada, Florida, California and Michigan have passed legislation allowing testing of driverless cars on major roads! The first series to be released for public access should be in the market in 2020!

Toilets are now designed to auto-flush after use simply through the use of sensors that monitor body movement, which sends a signal to the appliance that the user is done!

In fact, even that is almost becoming obsolete technology in Artificial Intelligence. Recently, while waiting for my hosts to pick me up at the O’Hare Airport in Chicago, I decided to use the toilet. In the cubicle that I entered, I noticed that the seat had been stained with urine drops. I also noticed that the seat had a plastic cover that was wrapped around it and so it could not be manually removed. As I wondered what to do, since I could not use it in that dirty state, I noticed an instruction to wave your hand over the top of the seat at the point where the hinges are located. As I did so, the contraption simply sucked in the dirty cover and replaced it with a new one - all by itself! ...Continued.

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

How to put flesh on your vision

THIS week, I am so elated to speak to you on how you can transform your vision as a corporate leader into reality. I am sure this piece is going to add a great value to you and your organization. To start with, after having countless hours of discussion—working with the key stakeholders within the organization you are leading, your team has determined the organization’s vision, supporting core values and strategy.

Also, you have defined the company’s vision statement as “To be number one in the market we serve.” Your team is feeling positive about the work they have done to date, but they may not realize that the real work has only just begun.

Please understand me that it is not enough for leaders to define the vision of an organization that they are fortunate to be leading. Today’s leaders need to actively participate in the effort to make their vision a reality. Before implementation can begin, it is important for a leader to understand his or her role. This is very crucial. Following is an action plan to do just that: Executing strategy takes commitment from people at all levels. Leaders who can break down corporate strategy across the organization so it is directly relevant at each level—corporate, department, team and individual—help everyone to focus on the organization’s key activities. Companies that recognize and embrace this level of collaboration strengthen their chances of success.

Leaders need to clearly articulate the company’s vision in a way that motivates, inspires and excites employees to commit to their individual work. The key to success is to communicate the vision through multiple channels: Via hard copy Via the company’s intranet In speeches, interviews and press releases It is important to remember that leaders do not communicate with words alone. Their actions speak volumes.

For example: One beautiful company I know took some powerful action to showcase its vision. The CEO and his senior leadership team visited each location within the organi-

zation to conduct quarterly town meetings where they met with employees to share the vision, solicit ideas and celebrate successes.

In addition, the CEO and his team periodically spent a day assuming different roles within the organization—working the help desk, taking customer calls, going on sales calls…

As upper management walked the talk, they strengthened their connections with employees at all levels. They fostered a sense of camaraderie and accessibility and enhanced the company’s ability to make its vision a reality.

Business strategies and processes have lifecycles. In the wake of change, success can quickly turn to failure. The need for change can come from many different avenues—from a competitor, a new market requirement or a significant environmental shift outside of your business model. Even the best leaders cannot predict every change, but the best organizations are able to adapt rapidly.

Implementing the organization’s strategies requires a detailed, prioritized action plan. Change takes time. It does not happen overnight. To change a nation takes a long time too!

This is what our politicians need to understand. No leader can make an enduring change happen overnight. The change that Nigerians are panting for will take a long time. Let me get back to our business for today. To successfully implement change, you need to do the following: Establish priorities. Once you have established the organization’s objectives, prioritize them. Trying to do everything at once sets you up for failure.

Develop detailed action plans with accountabilities for each objective. Translate your strategy into operational terms through specific action plans, programs, budgets and procedures. Implementation involves successfully identifying and allocating the required capital and human resources and executing the necessary organizational changes. People will be more successful if they understand the objective and their accountabilities, deliverables and timeframes.

Identify risks and develop contingency plans. Every change

has risks associated with it. As soon as you identify a risk, develop a sound contingency plan to deal with it. Then don’t be afraid to execute the contingencies.

Conduct stakeholder analysis. Proactively seek the opinions of those affected by the change.

Measure, monitor and control. Establish appropriate metrics. Whether the news is good or bad, measure the performance and results and act accordingly. Weigh the project priorities, regularly evaluate the risks and implement contingency plans when necessary.

An operating model is a tool used to define how the organization will implement its strategic or tactical plan into its operating environment. It encompasses all core work, competencies, tools and technologies, organizational structure and processes needed to execute the organization’s strategies. It: Helps build capabilities and commitments to new ways of managing both change and operations work.

Helps align business objectives.

Helps an organization manage change that is vital to the enterprise, division or department.

Creates a well-defined, structured organization that achieves its objectives by aligning human capital and business needs to stated goals.

Allows the organization to be proactive and adapt to changes in technologies, in the marketplace, etc.

Creates a framework that serves as an enabler of processcentric, customer- focused and information-driven business models. Links organizational change with performance to create a framework for making change work.

Lastly, by communicating successfully, embracing change, developing implementation plans and creating operating models that make sense, your organization can take the loftiest of visions and transform them into a profitable, fulfilling reality. On the condition that you can follow today’s piece to the letter, your organization will certainly take a giant leap into success.

See you where great people are found!

24 thesouth-west Continues from pg23

Though deep in Yoruba history and those of other nations, his word, action and dressing style naturally stand him out as a unique king determined to make important statement in cultural harmony.

Given this reason, he is at home with attires that suit his desire and he does it with candour and a superior explanation that disarms his army of critics.

His ascension to the throne in November 16, 2015 and coronation two months after on January 16, 2016 followed a path severally described as manifestation of destiny.

This he often stresses to reveal the role played by God in the journey of his creatures.

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

If our forefathers had opportunity to wear suit, they would wear it —Oluwo

Is there any difference between the Oba of today and that of the past?

There is more information today. We tend to have more knowledge about other environment. Many Obas have come and some are not popular at all. It depends on your reign. If I am going to spend one day, I want it to be exceptional; that history will always talk about me. If it is 100 years, it must be beautiful and exceptional years of achievement. My era will sell Iwo to the world beyond your imagination.

This is my vision and it is already playing out.

I have a huge responsibility. I have set a high standard for myself and God willing I won’t disappoint in delivering the job because my people need transformation that will match their status as Iwoland. We are building an empire that is going to be famous not only in Osun State or Nigeria but also in the whole world. They will know that there is Iwo. They will know the rich history we have here. They will know how important we are. They will know we have a king. They will know we have an emperor.

What does culture mean to you as a traditional ruler?

Culture is something spiritual; something embedded in human existence. It is interwoven even with our religious beliefs.

Do you think it is right to call yourself an emperor?

Does government give anyone ‘his royal highness’ or ‘his imperial majesty’? No! Everybody picks what suits his dream. Emperor tallies with my dream and vision for Iwoland because I have a picture of an empire. The history of this town has not been told and I am telling it. I will continue to emphasise it that Iwoland is a special town of authority coming into existence since 10th century.

Kabiyesi, you always talk of your town as being special. What do you really mean?

Unfortunately, what I observe is that people have penchant for distorting history. The history of my town is very significant in Yorubaland. Our history is very beautiful and my pride. I am straight from Ile-Ife. I am not upgraded but born a king. The Oluwo was born a prince right from the source in Ile-Ife. There is a lot to Iwoland. The Oluwo is the only king that took the crown from Ife. The Oluwo is the only one that still has a ruling house in Ile-Ife.

Can you name some of them?

Oluwo of Iwo-Oke, Akire of Ikire-Ile, Olu of Ileigbo, Olupo of Oluponna, Olowu of Kuta,

motivated people. You can see the hope in them. You can see the enthusiasm in them.

I have a dream and I am happy the dream is coming to a reality gradually. Already, the National Open University (Study Centre) project has been completed. We are only waiting for the federal government to inspect the place. It has been equipped with computer, library and other equipment needed to operate. There is a revolution going on in Iwoland and I am very happy my people are taking note of it. They are appreciating the passion with which I mounted the throne when I was on the streets personally filling pot holes on the roads. Some were mocking while majority were sharing my vision.

What does public opinion mean to you, as regards recent comments on social media?

Positive comments and negative comments remain people’s right of expression. This life is all about two sides. Is it not interesting that varied opinions are expressed on me? Today, it is difficult to ignore Iwoland and for the right reason, regardless of few funny opinions. I have a job to do. I have a big task on my hand for my people than devoting time to any distraction. What is important to me is total concentration on my vision for my people and doing it right.

When it comes to chieftaincy title, I tell my chiefs that it must be based strictly on right and the truth. I tell them that they should, under no circumstance, compromise these two elements–right and truth.

It is believed in some quarters that an Oba must be seen in certain attires. Is an Oba actually restricted to wear certain dresses?

If you are not wearing rags, you are okay.

What you wear as a traditional ruler depends on what statement you want to make. I don’t wear anything without making a statement.

When I put on something, people should not rush to judgment but ask questions the way I ask questions on what is not clear to me. You see me in jalabia but you don’t ask me question. Is jalabia our dress? But when you see me in English dress, you make an issue out of it. If our forefathers had the opportunity to wear suit, they would wear it.

If, as a traditional ruler, who cares for development, you are invited to the United States during winter, the weather will force you to wear jacket. Is that jacket from here?

What is the name of the ruling house?

It is Lafogido ruling house. Mother of Oluwo Gbagida came from that ruling house.

Iwo did not emerge from nothing. It was predicted that we would settle at the land of Parrot. There is no other animal that speaks like human beings apart from the parrot. The same crown Ooni wears is what the Oluwo wears.

Iwo can still go back to Ile-Ife and join Lafogido ruling house to contest Ooni stool. I want you to note it well that Owodo ruling house in Ile-Ife under Okerewe falls under Lafogido. It is the next ruling house after Giesi. Oshikola, Ogboru, Giesi and Lafogido are the four ruling houses in Ile-Ife. I must also tell you that there are 27 traditional rulers under Iwo.

Nigerian Tribune

Can you expatiate on the health care scheme you earlier mentioned?

It may interest you to note that over a billion naira worth medical equipments have been shipped in from Canada in collaboration with Mr Sola Agboola. It is going to be here on May 23. It is a 40 feet container we have shipped in. We have healthy environment with stateof-the-art-machines and electrical beds and other medical equipments. Ile-Ogbo, Ogbaagba, Oluponna and other towns are going to benefit from this scheme. I am not dealing with sick nation.

Oluwo Agbowo of Ogbaagba, Olowu of Telemu, Adatan of Asa, Ola of Ajagunlaase, Olubode of Bode-Osi, Olu of Ile-Ogo, Oluwo of Adatan, Olu of Ile Ogo, Onikoyi of Ikoyi, Onifin of Ikonifin and Olowu of Ilemowu among others.

How can you describe your relationship with those traditional rulers?

It is fantastic. It is very, very good. We have a cordial relationship. We see often and go to functions together. We cooperate. We work together. I don’t say they are under me. We work together in greater Iwo Empire though I am the president.

Between January 16 when you re-

ceived your staff of office and now, what has the experience been?

It has been beautiful and I am extremely happy. We are moving forward. I am a working Oba. I think everyday on how to better the lots of my people. We started from the Palace and built a befitting Palace that my sons and daughters are proud of. You can see how beautiful the palace is now. But I cannot be in a palace like this and my people remain poor.

So we move to health care need of my people.

When my people are free from sickness, they have strength to carry on their daily jobs. Then we went for food. We have food and clothing bank for them. When you put these together, health, food and cloth you have happy and

The Sultan of Sokoto was here few weeks back. Have you any relationship with him?

Of course, there is a relationship in our faith.

The Oluwo first accepted Islam and officially spread it among his people. Till date, Iwo is a respected town of Muslims and Islamic scholars of note. When the Sultan came for the commissioning of the Palace he was impressed with what he saw in my people. We even took a ride round the town and he was very happy with the reception. There is a bond between us as Muslims. But we should not forget that there are also Christians in Iwoland. Baptist people found Iwo comfortable, hence their settlement here to the extent that they have Bowen University here.

I am repeating it, Iwo is going to reach its promise land soon.

25 thesouth-west

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

S/W roads:

Begging for attention...

Continues on pg26

Last week, we published “The good, the bad, the ugly aspect of South-West roads. Expectedly, the publication generated reactions. Many residents in the South West zone of the country also called our attention to bad roads in their area and good roads that they felt should have been part of the publication. We are obliging them today.

Continues on pg26

Ifoshi road, Ejigbo, Lagos State.

Ologuneru, Ibadan, Oyo State.

On-going Oba Adesoji Aderemi West By-pass road, Osun State.

Iyaganku Magistrate Court junction, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Completed Ijebu-Jesa road, Osun State.

26 thesouth-west

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Roads or death traps?

Continues from pg25

African Church Street, Owu-Totoro, Abeokuta.

Pipeline Road, Oke Odo, Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, Lagos.

The deplorable state of Ifoshi Road, besides Mosad Filling Station, Iyana Ejigbo. The road is adjacent to the popular Ikotun Egbe Road, a link to other places like Ejigbo, Idimu, Iyana Ipaja and Egbeda.

Pipeline Road, Oke Odo, Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area, Lagos. But for the deplorable state, the road should have linked Oke Odo with Ipaja, Meiran, Abule Egba and other adjoining communities.

Ikereku-Idan, Enugada, Abeokuta.

The road that leads to State Hospital, Oke Agbe in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

27 thesouth-west

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Agriculture is capable of solving our economic challenges —Aresaapa A frontline traditional ruler in Oyo State and the Aresaapa of Iresaapa, Oba Moses Olayiwola Ajiboye III, in this interview with GBENGA OPADOTUN, spoke on his ascension to the throne and ways out of the present economic downturn facing the country among other things.

Excerpts:

S

ir, can you explain the meaning of the name of the town, Iresaapa?

Aresa, the founder of the town, left Ile-Ife for Pasa. At Pasa, he gave birth to twins, both of them were men. They grew up together but when their father, Aresa, died, the two of them were battling to succeed their father. The kingmakers were confused on who to pick among the two as they were both men, born on the same day, time and place. In order not to be partial, the kingmakers called the two of them together and divided the land between them leaving a distance of 3km to the left and another 3km to the right. The fair one was given the title, Aresaapa while the dark one was given the title of Aresaadu.

Hence, the battle of succession was resolved amicably till today. We are co-existing peacefully and in harmony as brothers.

There is no rancor, disaffection on disharmony between us. We are brothers.

Who among you is the elder?

We don’t bother about that. We see ourselves as brothers. If we are to go by Yoruba tradition, Aresaapa as Kehinde should be the elder, but that does not bother us. We treat ourselves as brothers.

What is the nature of relationship existing between you and other traditional rulers in the area?

We love one another. There is no supremacy challenge here. Olugbon and Aresaadu rotate the chairmanship of Surulere Local Government Traditional Council among themselves, but, when they are not around, I hold sway for them.

How many ruling houses vied for Aresaapa throne and what is the succession to the stool like?

We have three ruling houses in the town namely Ajiboye where I came from, Oyewusi and Oyekunle. My immediate past predecessor came from Oyewusi and in that order. The rotation is simple and clear. There is no controversy in it.

What are the gains of your reign in the town so far?

We thank God that since 24 years ago when I was enthroned, we have good and pleasant stories to tell in Iresaapa. The Aresaapa throne was a minor title before, today, it has been elevated into a part two traditional ruler. We requested for a secondary school and today we are blessed with Aresaapa High School, we have a stadium to boost sporting and recreational activites in the town. Iresaapa can also boost

of a youth centre courtesy of the Federal Government.

There is a warehouse to store and preserve farm output as majority of our people are farmers. We have also built a town hall where meetings and communal programmes are held. We have also created bye-pass in the town to give us an image of an urban centre among other things.

Could you explain the rationale behind the new palace?

We need a befitting place to receive visitors and the traditional ruler of the town also deserves a neater and decent palace to live in with members of the royal family. It has added to our image within and outside the state.

What are some of the requests of your town?

Iresaadu is the headquarters of Surulere Local Government. We also deserve our own local government which we have been clamouring for since time immemorial. I am using this opportunity to reiterate our call for Irede Local Government Area as it would be unfair to deny us a council area.

Our brother got their own local government several years ago. Irede Local Government is long overdue for the people of Iresaapa.

This will speed up the rate of development in the town. We also want the Aresaapa to be made a member of Oyo State Council of Obas to accord us our rightful place in the scheme of things. My twin brother, the Aresaadu is already a member of that council. Our elevation in this regard is long overdue.

We need a befitting place to receive visitors and the traditional ruler of the town also deserves a neater and decent palace to live in with members of the royal family. It has added to our image within and outside the state.

Oba Moses Olayiwola Ajiboye III Can you advice your people both at home and aboard?

I want to advice my people to live together in peace and harmony for us to move forward. Parents should give priority attention to the education of their children while I appeal to well-meaning indigenes to contribute their quota to the development of Iresaapa.

How best do you think the economy could be revamped?

I think we should support the laudable farming project of our governor Senator Abiola Ajimobi. The government has

started a revolution in the agriculture sector by acquiring hectares of land for farming in about 28 local government areas across the state. Of course, Iresaadu in one of the benefitting council areas and we have acceded to the governor’s request. I believe that a bold step in that area will give employment opportunities to the younger ones. It will also make food abundant and cheaper than ever before.

This is a courageous step that deserves our support and accolade. I also believe it will impact positively on the economy as we spend a lot on food importation.

28 thesouth-west

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

As Ooni’s grandmother goes home

Who was Olori Ayeyemi Ogunwusi?

Yinka Olabisi

T

he ancient city of Ile-Ife regarded as the cradle of civilisation and the ancestral home of the Yorubas is agog for the final burial of Olori Agba Marian Ayeyemi Ododa Anipele Ogunwusi.

Olori Agba Ogunwusi who passed on in the early hours of February 8, 2016, is the mother of Prince Ropo Ogunwusi, the father of Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the current Ooni of Ife who mounted the throne of his forefathers on December 6, 2015. The burial ceremony will kick off on Friday with a service of songs at Oduduwa College ground in Ile-Ife on Saturday, April 23, 2016, her funeral service will take place at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Aiyegbaju, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

For some of the children of the late matriarch of the Ogunwusi Royal family, no amount of consolatory words and teary, heartfelt empathy can soothe the pain of the death of their beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Olori Agba Marian Ayeyemi Ododa Anipele Ogunwusi. The centenarian died peacefully in her sleep. Their grief is understandable. She was not a run of the mill mother. Mama was a cut above the rest, an epitome of venerable motherhood.

She was not just their biological mother; she quadrupled as their friend, confidante, adviser and role model.

Since mama lost her beloved husband, Prince Joseph Adefisibe Olaobaju Ogunwusi about 18 years ago, she had been the nexus of the vast, prosperous family. Though frail due to old age, she remained firm and decisive till her last days. The Ogunwusi children are especially conscious of the fact that with mama’s glorious transition, they have lost that singular person they could turn to in times of adversity or when they need direction through the labyrinth of life.

They know, more than the throng of sympathisers from far and near can ever imagine, that the only person on earth who knew them from the day they were born was no more and, in effect, whatever is left of their childhood was gone with her. It is a tough but bearable epiphany. The Ogunwusi children are consoled however by the fact that she lived a good life, impacted the people that crossed her path and was known to love God unconditionally. Given the peace and prosperity of her family and living to

the age that she did without losing a limb or experiencing senility, it would not be a misnomer to state that mama was one of those select few that God showed off with.

She was indeed an apple in God’s eyes.

In and around Ile-Ife, Iya Alaso as she was popularly known was a devout Christian who committed her time and resources to the service of God. While mama was alive, it was common knowledge that except due to circumstances beyond her control especially the occasional illnesses that came with old age, mama would never miss the daily morning prayer pronounced by her peers as ‘Piria’, a dialectal distortion of the English word ‘prayer’ in her church, St Paul’s Anglican Church, Aiyegbaju, IleIfe. She was an active member of the ‘Egbe Cornelius, Obinrin Moore’ and the Egbe

Mama was a lover of children who did not limit her caring disposition to her own biological children alone but also towards her step-children, children from her extended family and the community.

Ajumo Gbadura of her church. Also a redoubtable community leader, mama was very accommodating and was reputed for freely dispensing with whatever she had for the betterment of humanity. Nothing was too big for her to give out. Thus, till her last days, her house was always a beehive of activities as people trooped in and out. Everybody was her child. She never discriminated.

In the midst of this grief, however, is an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the Ogunwusis. Mama lived a fulfilled life. Apart from making peace with her creator, she lived long enough to see her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her offspring prospered and multiplied before her very eyes. And the culmination of her glorious life would be, unarguably, the crowning of one of her grandsons, Prince Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, as the Ooni of Ife few months before she joined her makers. To ensure a proper and befitting burial for their departed matriarch, all the Ogunwusis, particularly Prince Adetunji Adeyemi Ogunwusi, the chairman Primewaterview Holdings, a conglomerate of diverse companies based in Lagos, are leaving no stone unturned to accord mama a glorious passage. What a way to exit the world for mama!!

Born about 104 years ago into the family of late Pa Prince Joshua Omibeku Ishadipe, a prince of the lineage of Ogboru Ruling House, Alaka Compound in Ilode quarters of Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, Mama’s mother, Late Madam Tinuomi who hailed from Awiwa Compound, Ikogun, Ile-Ife, died when she was barely out of her diapers. Her father rose to the occasion and ensured thatthe vacuum created by her mother was not yawning. Mama’s childhood, therefore, was under the lov-

Nigerian Tribune

ing, disciplined tutelage of her father.

As she came of age, and with the need to become her own woman, Mama’s father committed her to the care of one of her aunts, late Màmá Sàágín, a renowned textiles dealer in Ile-Ife in the early 20th century. It was here that Mama was groomed in the business of whole and retail sales of textiles materials. Her enterprising skills were further honed under another aunt of hers, Late Mama Nírúnolá. Not long after, she became independent and her drive and entrepreneurial spirit combined to ensure that she soon cut wide swaths through the textile business where she became famously known as Iya Alaso.

As the years rolled by and her business and fame grew, it beggared no surprise therefore that she was soon attracting the finest and most successful young men around. Princes fell over themselves to woo her. So did young, urban professionals. But it was the late Prince Joseph Ògúnwùsì, a successful produce buyer, transporter and farmer from the Giesi Ruling House, and grandson of Oòni Òjájá the 1st that caught her fancy and made her heart race, flutter and palpitate endlessly. They were soon married and the couple, understandably, looked forward to a future together. That was not to be however as Mama’s inability to bear children rocked the boat of the young couple’s union. She cried herself through many nights because she could not understand why she would find it hard to give birth but she was consoled by the fact that God’s ways are not the ways of man. Still she held firm to God. And her beau was more than the clichéd Rock of Gibraltar. The couple stayed true to each other. Her wait lasted all of ten agonising years. While recalling that period of her life, Mama said she passionately delivered a threat to the memory of her Late Mother for whom she used to hold an annual remembrance feast and thanksgiving that if her misery continued, she would stop the practice.

The meaning of this is not farfetched: “If I will not have a child to celebrate my memory, why should I continue to celebrate yours too?” Just like the biblical Hannah, she cried her heart out to the Living God for divine intervention.

And God answered her prayers as she had kids in quick succession including a set of twins that didn’t however make it out of infancy.

She gave birth to her first child under the midwifery of a Cherubim and Seraphim Prophet Oretu, at the prophet’s popular worship centre known as ‘Ilé Àdúrà Bàbá Ládi”, in Wanikin compound, Ile-Ife. After about thirteen deliveries, Mama had two sons who made it to adulthood: John Oluropo and Isaac Oluwafemi. The latter, Prince Isaac Oluwafemi died in 1995, leaving five children behind. Indeed, Mama’s motherhood was a chequered reality punctuated with abundant grace and glory of God. Not surprisingly, Mama was a lover of children who did not limit her caring disposition to her own biological children alone but also towards her step-children, children from her extended family and the community. In return for her exceptionally good character and deeds, Mama was well respected by all and sundry including her numerous customers and neighbours, both in the secular and religious circles.

Olabisi sent this piece from Ikeja, Lagos.

29

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016 Taiwo Adisa - 08072000046 Group Politics Editor tai_adis@yahoo.com

PDP’s silence: Cowardice or tactical retreat?

Deputy Editor, LEON USIGBE, analyses the issues surrounding the silence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the face of an administration struggling to find its feet.

O

PPOSITION views are expressed these days by Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State. He did not just begin his strident criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari, and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) but has been consistent since the days before the 2015 general election. What is different now is that all those who were in the same boat with him have either chickened out or have disembarked, leaving him as the lone, though vociferous opposition voice in the wilderness.

Where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed to hold an opinion, despite the glaring missteps by the federal administration, he has taken up the gauntlet, making every error, flip-flop or inaction a living hell for the administration. Is it about President Buhari’s health condition, his frequent foreign travels, his perceived tendency to tread the path of despotism, reluctance to rein in the marauding Fulani herdsmen leaving deaths and destruction on their trail, spate of inconclusive elections, lingering fuel scarcity or even the president’s wish to secure foreign loans? Fayose has sought to drum it home to the administration that it does not possess the wherewithal to engender positive change in the country and to Nigerians, that they have been shortchanged by a deceitful “change” mantra which has resulted to a “one chance government.”

It would appear that Buhari has firmly resolved to ignore what his camp is increasing seeing as the rabble-rousing of the governor as disturbing as it may be because the president is apparently unmoved by the persistent jabs and, by himself, has largely refrained from publicly responding to any of the pungent claims by Fayose who has arguably successfully shaped his image as the storm petrel of Nigerian politics.

One man’s meat is another man’s poison, some people say. Therefore, the PDP does not care a bit about the damage the disposition of one of its governors is doing to the public perception of the president and his administration. Instead, it is wallowing in it and savouring every missile directed at the president for its ability to gnaw away at his reputation and present his party as incompetent or unprepared to govern.

The PDP has withdrawn into its shell, starting from when its spokesman, Olisa Metuh, was arrested and detained for allegedly being a beneficiary of the money diverted from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). His prosecution is ongoing and he finds himself in court almost on a daily basis.

He has explained his silence as not wanting to be caught saying anything that may be prejudicial to his case in court. But observers think that he may also be afraid of more vendetta from the APC government in case

Modu-Sheriff

Metuh

With a temporary national chairman and a looming national convention to elect new leaders, nobody is over committing him/herself in the defense, propagation or articulation of the party’s ideals. the ruling party witch-hunts him for his recalcitrant criticism of Buhari and his government.

Before his prosecution, the party’s national publicity secretary was considered a thorn in the flesh of the president and the APC. As he settled down in his role of the opposition spokesman after the election loss, Metuh became even more rasping in his criticism of the new government, not surprisingly a reflection of the despondency of a party that was yet to come to terms with its stunning election defeat. But the once vivacious Metuh is now much subdued, forced to tone down by the cold hands of the anti-graft institutions.

Where he speaks now or issues statements,

they are at best tepid and on routine party matters, rather than the mellifluous assault that once gave the ruling party much cause for concern. Some say he has been cowed, afraid of the fate the vicissitudes the murky Nigerian politics may bestow on him.

Unfortunately for the PDP, it is a party in transition. With a temporary national chairman and a looming national convention to elect new leaders, nobody is over committing him/herself in the defense, propagation or articulation of the party’s ideals. The national secretary, Professor Wale Oladipo, made a few feeble attempts to speak out earlier on but he too has retreated. The new party boss, Senator Ali

Modu-Sherrif, with all his fabled clout, can do very little as the megaphone of the party because, apart from not being fully grounded in its issues being a relatively new entrant, he is busy trying to reposition the opposition party and cannot be expected to constantly engage with the APC. All this gives prominence to the position of the chivalrous Fayose as the de facto spokesman of the opposition.

However, the PDP should count itself lucky that at this time of great economic trepidation, the government is unsure of how to move forward, drawing consternation of many Nigerians who have assumed the role of the opposition. Dissatisfied by government’s lameness to critical national problems, people have increasingly descended on Buhari, giving the PDP a pleasurable feeling of “I told you so.”

The opposition has even ventured to think that it is now in tactical retreat, leaving disgruntled citizens to seize the initiative and taking on Buhari and the APC. The PDP has all but ceded its role to Nigerians in its belief that when ordinary Nigerians chastise Buhari for his failures, their voices are credible rather than when it speaks out as a party on issues and is interpreted as playing politics.

30

politics&policy

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

When Ondo PDP held state congress The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has held its state congress, giving the new leadership of the party the confidence to predict victory for the party in future elections. HAKEEM GBADAMOSI reports events at the congress.

Mimiko addressing the delegates.

A

T a time when many thought that the Ondo State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would create another crisis, the party demonstrated its ability to rediscover itself through last week’s congress, which was devoid of rancour and mudslinging. According to party members, the congress has proved pessimists wrong, as members insisted that PDP had come to stay in Ondo.

The belief of the pessimists was hinged on the crisis that erupted from the marriage of the Labour Party (LP) and PDP in the state after the state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, dumped the LP with his cabinet members and supporters to join PDP, But the party seems to have put this behind it, with the turn of events at the congress. It is evident that PDP in the state has come together and is set for its 2016 national convention, while also seeking to maintain and retain the governorship slot in the state till 2021. Though the congress was the first after the marriage of the LP and PDP in October 2014, the beauty of the congress was that all the members spoke without any dissenting voice. The orderly and friendly manner in which the programme was executed indicated that a lot of homework had been done and that the congress was just a formality meant to fulfil the provisions of the party’s constitution.

Prior to the exercise, congresses had been conducted across the 203 wards in the state. The exercise was adjudged as one of the best in recent times by the party faithful. The party received commendations over the ward congress from the PDP national secretariat, Abuja. Honourable Tajudeen Yusuf, the member representing Kaba-Jumu Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, who led a delegation to monitor the congresses held at ward level across the 18 local government areas of the state, noted that PDP in the state had the depth and capacity to contest any election and come out victorious.

He called on other PDP state chapters to emulate the Ondo example.

The new event centre in the state known as The Dome where the congress was held was full to the brim. Though the congress was scheduled for won, delegates started arriving at the venue as early as 9 am. As expected, there were minor complaints of substitution of names during the accreditation of delegates of some local governments. But the matters were subsequently resolved by stakeholders.

The event, where officers that would run the affairs of the party in the Sunshine State were elected, was devoid of the mudslinging, pronounced accusations and counter-accusations that usually characterise political events of that nature.

In compliance with requirements and laid down rules, the event was supervised by national officers of the party, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ondo State, Mr Segun Agbaje, also led his team from the commission to the event and expressed satisfaction on the conduct of the congress. The affairs of the congress were directed by the national secretariat led by Honourable Mohammed Imam from Borno State, while Honourable Yusuf Modibo was the secretary. Other officials were Senator Abubakar Ahmed from Adamawas State, Mrs Adenike Soboyejo from Lagos State and Honourable Aminu Adama, while the leader of the PDP national delegation read the procedure and the positions to be contested for, in line with the party’s constitution.

At the end of the exercise, there were two ex-officio members for each of the

three senatorial districts, with Mrs Iyabo Olumowo and Mrs Orungbemi Foluke for the South, Mr A.O Odobe and Mrs Ojo CF for the North, while Honourable Olufemi Ofakunrin and Mrs Iyaboo Akinkuotu were returned for Ondo Central. Other officers are Abayomi Adebayo (Youth Leader), Mrs Esther Ebiwonjuni (Women Leader), Smart Aribigbola (Assistant Auditor), Yusuf Hamzat (Auditor), Moses Awofade (Asst Legal Adviser) and Abayomi Akinfemiwa (Legal Adviser). Also elected were Banji Okunomo (Publicity Secretary), Patrick Sekoni (Asst Publicity Secretary), Kehinde Asunmo (Asst Financial Secretary), Ganiyu Ogbeha (Financial Secretary), Kunle Akintan (Organising Secretary), Sunday Adeniyi (Treasurer).

The party also elected one assistant secretary and vice chairman for each of the three senatorial districts. The vice chairmen are Adebowale Ajimuda (South), Adeduro Charles (Central) and Lanre Adeleye (North), while the state deputy chairman is Fatai Adams, Chief Oyedele Ibine was returned as the State Secretary.

A former Commissioner for Community Development and cooperative services, Chief Clement Faboyede was also returned as the state chairman. The election of the officers was done by voice vote, as there were no counter-nominations that would have led to real voting. Though the umpire provided opportunities for delegates to make counter nominations for all the positions, there was none, and it makes the whole process less cumbersome.

The head of the delegation from the na-

A lot of our leaders have made a lot of sacrifices and I appreciate them for their faithfulness and belief in the unity of the members of the party.

tional secretariat, Honourable Imam, expressed satisfaction with the success of the congress and commended the delegates for their display of maturity and understanding. He described the event as one of the best political assignments he carried out in recent times. He said that “the delegates at this congress have exhibited unity, which is worthy of emulation by other states and the national body of the party.”

Imam pointed out that the delegates demonstrated their willingness to work and cooperate with the governor and leader of the party in the state, Mimiko, to ensure that the party wins future elections in the state, while the state REC for the tate, Agbaje, commended the organisers and members of the party for the peaceful manner in which the congress was conducted.

Speaking after the emergence of the party executive in the state, Governor Mimiko expressed delight with the way and manner the congress was conducted. He said the PDP in the state had become one big, indivisible, united family, saying a lot of sacrifices were made before the feat could be achieved. He said: “A lot of our leaders have made a lot of sacrifices and I appreciate them for their faithfulness and belief in the unity of the members of the party.

If it had not been God--we know where we are coming from, and we Bless Him for the unity of the party in the state.”

The governor however said for Nigeria to be ranked among the best nations of the world, its democracy must be sustained, pointing out that this could only be achieved through free, fair and credible elections. He called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to ensure free and fair elections in the country. He added that the best legacy he could bequeath to the nation’s democracy is to give room for free, fair and credible elections in the country.

Mimiko noted that the present administration had failed to conduct credible elections since it came to power last year, saying all the elections conducted were either cancelled or inconclusive. He said: “The greatest gift required from the president is to ensure credible, violence-free election and the future will be bright for our nation. In spite of our challenges today, this nation has manifested to be a leader of nations.

“Let’s continue to invest our faith in credible election. Credible election is the key to the future of this nation. There’s no alternative to this and there is no alternative to democracy. Without sounding political--- because the problem of Nigerians is that there is too much of politics than governance---I want to appeal to the president that the greatest gift he can give this nation is credible election.”

The governor said once democracy is entrenched in the country through credible, free and transparent electoral processes, all other things would follow and Nigeria would be great. He noted that one of the greatest legacies bequeathed to Nigeria by the immediate past Federal Government was credible electoral processes and which was appreciated by everybody in the country and outside world. “Credible election is the key to Nigeria’s greatness irrespective of the various challenges confronting the country. Once democracy can be entrenched through the principle of one man one vote, all the problems confronting Nigeria shall be a thing of the past,” he said.

However, while members of the party said the congress has opened a new page in the annals of the party in the state, the opposition party in the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), described the event as a manifestation of the “one man show” that characterised the PDP in recent times after its merger with the LP.

31

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

brands& marketing

anchor Akin Adewakun

m:08054683584 e:akadewakun@yahoo.co.uk

Skye Bank brand goes down memory lane in new campaign Stories By Akin Adewakun - Lagos

N

OT a few analysts believe that one of the factors that have continued to make the Skye Bank brand tick over the years, is its ability to effectively communicate its brand essence to Nigerians, through innovative brand campaigns.

In tune with this tradition therefore and as way of positioning the brand in the minds of Nigerians, especially the banking public for the second quarter of the year, the bank had quietly released another brand campaign, designed to highlight its antecedents, flaunt its achievements, while reiterating its commitment to quality services.

Interestingly, the new campaign provides the bank the opportunity to go down the memory lane, taking the audience into the tupsyturvy world of the nation’s financial sector, and how it was able to survive the turbulence to become one of the nation’s leading lenders and Systemically Important Banks (SIBs).

A source at the Corporate Affairs arm of the bank stated that the new campaign as designed to position the bank for ‘unlimited future possibilities’, represents part of the 360 degree communication one year-long plan, put in place to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the merger and evolution of the Skye Brand.

‘It is also meant to flaunt the impact of the financial institution on key sectors of the national economy and re-state its future commitment,’ the source stated.

The bank, whose success story began from the 2006 merger, has continued to confound and demystify several positions of scholars and literatures on Merger & Acquisition (M&A), by consistently showing resilience throughout its existence and eventually coming through unscathed and stronger.

Perhaps one of the highpoints of the new campaign is its story telling characteristics. For instance, the new campaign provides the bank the opportunity to tell its own stories, going down memory lane.

It digs deep into the bank’s ‘yesterday’; from its humble beginning, from an unknown brand, with no distinct identity, nor presence, an era it ranked 23rd out of 25 banks in the nation’s banking industry, using various success parameters.

Having acquainted the audience of the bank’s days of ‘little beginnings’, the campaign brings home vividly the magnitude of its new status as one of the Systemically Important Banks (SIB), occupying the position of the nation’s top 10

Mr Timothy Oguntayo, MD, CEO, Skye Bank lenders, and one of the top 50 in the continent.

Other areas of focus of the campaign include the Bank’s significant contribution and impact on the nation’s hospitality industry.

In 10 years, the brand supported the highest number of international hotels and hospitality chains in Nigeria, as well as several homegrown brands that have attained international standards.

In the area of the all-important agricultural sector, the bank is known to have rekindled national

enthusiasm towards farming and agriculture.

By 2013, over one million Agro-Allied and Small holder farmers had experienced significant yield in food crops across Nigeria.

In the area of SME, Skye Bank’s footprint is indeed bold, as the lender has supported and nurtured arguably the highest number of SMEs in all sectors of the economy, and in all the socio-economic zones.

“I believe at a time when it has

Nigerian Tribune

now dawned on us that the oil honeymoon is over and we need to diversify, nothing is more soothing than having a commercial that tells of a brand’s efforts at making Nigerians see beyond oil.

It is an eye-opener, an encouragement, especially for those still at a loss on how to key into this diversification thing,” stated Kehinde Ajunwon, a brand analyst.

Explaining the rationale behind the new commercial, the bank’s Group Managing Director and CEO, Mr Timothy Oguntayo insisted that there is that need for the bank to remind its stakeholders on how its activities had impacted individuals and corporate organisations in the society, through such campaign.

‘Having clocked a decade of our merger, there is the need to remind stakeholders and the general public how our Bank has impacted individual, groups, corporate, government and the society at large through creative and impactful intervention.

“You know it is very easy to forget where we are coming from, but through this new campaign, we are reminding the general public and every stakeholder of what the Skye brand has been able to achieve and the critical sectors we have impacted over the years.

Every claim made in those campaigns are real, have substance and not superfluous,” the bank’s chief executive argued.

We are here to democratise data tariff in Nigeria —Airtel Nigeria TELECOMMUNICATIONS services providers, Airtel Nigeria, has reiterated its corporate mission of democratising internet data services as it unveiled SmartSpeedoo.

The new offering, the company explains, allows customers experience real data while browsing at affordable tariff and enjoying free megabytes.

The company’s Chief Commercial Officer, Ahmad Mokhles, said the company is passionate about creating innovative mobile internet platforms, value offerings and opportunities that will help telecoms consumers in Nigeria stay connected and be fully empowered to fulfill their dreams.

“We are intensely interested in democratising data tariff and we have taken a huge step forward in this journey in line with our major objective of becoming the provider of first choice for mobile Internet services,” Mokhles added.

Explaining how the new offering works, the company’s Vice President, Data & Digital Services, Nitin Anand, stated that the more the Smart Speedoo customers browse, the more such customers enjoy low rate in addition to free data.

Fleet Technologies re-brands INFORMATION, Communication and Technology company, Fleet Technologies has announced a name change to Vatebra, to further position it as the backbone of Africa’s economy.

Unveiling the new identity, in Lagos recently, the company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Kunle Akinniran explained that the decision to re-brand was informed by the

need to creatively showcase the capability of the company and position it for innovation beyond the present.

The new name, he stated, defines the company as one enterprise that has begun to look beyond the present.

“It is a way of re-positioning us for the future. The new name is vibrant, powerful in meaning, original, simple and easy for brand

Giant Vitamin Water debuts

GIANT Vitamin Water has been introduced into the Nigerian market. The new offerings, produced

by Giant Beverages Limited, according to analysts, has the potential of re-shaping the non-alcoholic beverage market in Nigeria, since it is believed the new product will satisfy the yearnings of healthconscious consumers for healthy non-alcoholic beverage that will satisfy their thirst without the concerns of excessive sugar intake.

Speaking on the new product, in Lagos, the company’s Marketing Manager, Mrs Bose Ogunyemi,

described the new Vitamin Water as “the healthy, non-alcoholic nutrient-enhanced water beverage brand that actually satisfies thirst.”

She explained that the new product is made from demineralised water, infused with natural fruit extracts, vitamin and minerals, thereby free from chemical compounds and sugar.

“It does not contain artificial flavours, colours and preservatives.

Vitamin Water is a breakthrough product with a range of unique variants,” she added.

The new product comes in a

recall. It is a way of positioning us as the backbone of the African economy,” he stated.

In a paper titled: ‘Beyond Now: Nigeria Without Oil– Prospects For Technology and Innovation,’ Dr Doyin Salami of Lagos Business School, commended the company for raising the stakes of innovation in the nation’s ICT sector, noting that the country will successfully grow its economy and enhance the

500ml bottle size with six variants of Blackcurrant-Acai, Lingonberry-Boysenberry, Pineapple-Passion, Orange-Lime, Lemon-Balm and Prickly Pear-Kiwi.

Each variant, according to the Marketing Manager, has a blend of vitamins and fruit extracts.

The company’s Regional Sales Manager Lagos and South West, Mr Emmanuel Akpah, explained that Vitamin Water is designed to satisfy consumers’ thirst, while providing some health benefits through vitamins and minerals, which it contains.

lives of the people, if it pays adequate attention to technology and innovation.

According to him, technology remains the fastest growing sector of the nation’s economy, accounting for over 10 per cent of the economy, hence the need for the country to effectively harness the potential it presents.

He, however, lamented that poor quality of education had put Nigeria at a disadvantage to really leverage on technology.

“Technology is about practical application of knowledge and knowledge is about education. If we can not educate our own, how do we want to be part of such technology?

“Without knowledge, we are unlikely to do technology or innovation. Interestingly, this economy requires technology and innovation,” he argued.

The university don also called on the government to embark on massive infrastructure development to enable the country be part of the advancement happening on the global technology space.

32

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

infotech

Nigerian Tribune

anchor Bode Adewumi

m:08055001765 e:bodekafi@yahoo.com

Telecoms industry to create 2m jobs in 6 months —Minister Stories By Bode Adewumi

F

OLLOWING the increasing rate of unemployment in the country, the Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, has tasked telecoms operators to come up with ideas that will lead to the creation of a minimum of two million jobs in the next six months.

The minister who spoke at a special reception organised by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) in his honour in Lagos recently, said government would be ready to create the enabling environment and provide the necessary support that would help in achieving the task of creating additional jobs, if the telecoms operators could come up with workable ideas to address the country’s biggest challenge.

Adebayo who frowned at a situation where most Nigerians, including some government agencies still neglect government’s efforts for local content development, by patronising foreign products and solutions at the detriment of locally developed software and hardware prod-

ucts in Nigeria, said such action amounted to severe capital flight on the part of Nigeria. If the situation is not checked, it will continue to discourage indigenous entrepreneurs from producing local products and solutions, thereby increasing the rate of unemployment in the country, Shittu said, adding that Nigeria is

already losing $2.8 billion yearly to the continued importation of hardware and software solutions, which he described as a monumental loss of revenue to Nigeria.

He explained that if Nigerians and government agencies begin to patronise locally developed software and hardware, local entrepreneurs would be encour-

aged to produce locally, improve on standards and in the process, create direct and indirect jobs for the unemployed.

President of ATCON, Mr Lanre Ajayi, said the telecoms industry has contributed enormous tax to government coffer, created top quality jobs for Nigerians and would be ready to do more,

Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu

Smile’s Volte will enhance voice calls in Nigeria —Buitelaar THE Chief Executive Officer of Smile Communications Limited, Mr Michiel Buitelaar, has said that the introduction of Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) on its 4G LTE network, will not only give Nigerians the best of speed in voice and data connectivity, but will also offer voice clarity and call reliability.

Buitelaar, who spoke in Lagos recently, said Smile Communications is keen at making another impressive mark with voice as a new complement to the entire package, which it has for the rapidly growing Nigerian market.

“We are a bit more advanced in our operations than a good number of our competitors in all the market segments. The market is moving much faster in the broadband direction and we want Nigerians to embrace the broadband as the place to be.

“There are a lot of quality issues in the Nigerian market and there are a lot of opportunities for those that provide real quality, like breaking one’s call and getting immediate value from the network. The quality of our voice will definitely beat the existing benchmark in the Nigerian mar-

ket,” he said.

According to him, the major focus of his company is to continue to function as a broadband provider of choice that can take people away from low speed and low quality service in a new world that craves for speed.

He said the issue of quality must be upper-most in the company’s strategic plans because of the fact that there are lots of small trading outfits in Nigeria that desire very fast ways of getting to their clients before others.

He explained that the provision of huge digital speed could offer his company the leeway and the added leverage to reach their destination where people can enjoy data speed and talk with voice clarity and confidence.

Buitelaar who is optimistic that the Smile voice outreach will make another market impression that could vindicate the quality of the entire services provisions that emerge from the platform as a big basket of offerings, said the company would strive to create the Information Technology (IT) industry as a motor for digital economy, where all the other facets of Nigeria’s economy will use

to make their marks in business development and services.

He said because Nigeria has a lot of people with IT knowledge, those providing services for the industry must be completely equal to the task, both in terms of skills and right frame of mind. He believes that a lot of developers of e-commerce are still emerging and other companies are embracing that with high-speed connectivity service offerings.

Explaining how the Nigeria economy could leverage IT development, Buitelaar said the best way is to create a significant IT industry to serve the growing population of technology savvy Nigerians.

“Nigeria has good number of university graduates with lots of IT skills. You need to have a decent infrastructure, as well as common and reliable access to Internet connectivity. Nigeria needs human skill, infrastructure. The economy requires people that can move into e-business,” Buitelaar said.

Speaking on the strategy to achieve a true VoLTE service on the Smile 4G LTE network, Buitelaar said: “Our market

strategy is to be the voice provider of choice. We sell broadband data, and it is something we intend to own and we plan to capture the market in such a way that we take people away from what they are used to, which is a narrowband piece that comes with low quality, to a supper fast 4G LTE broadband platform. I think everything we do, whether data or voice, is built upon that and is a key selling point for us in the broadband market space.”

To Buitelaar, Smile is renowned for innovative practices and has on a consistent basis provided high quality 4G LTE broadband Internet accesses that is quite affordable. The company, he noted, launched the first 4G LTE network in West Africa in Nigeria in 2014 revolutionising the way people access the internet.

This, he reiterated, is inline with Smile’s transformative objective of using the best and most innovative technologies to provide its customers with high quality, easy to use and affordable communication services as well as enabling its customers to fully benefit from the internet world.

should the minister, in collaboration with government, make efforts to sustain and surpass the existing developments in the telecoms sector.

Our platform is built for Nigerian businesses —Voguepay NIGERIA online financial platform, Voguepay, has said it system handles a transaction of more than $10,000,000 a month around the world.

This was made known by Mr Micheal Simeon, one of the cofounders, during a media chat with newsmen in Lagos, recently.

According to him, “Voguepay is a Nigerian platform for solving the Nigerian problem. Since we started Voguepay in 2012, our mission has been to develop a platform that would serve the Nigerian people.

“We actually didn’t just wake up and gather people together. We looked at the challenges faced by Nigerians, small and large business owners and institutions, which through our research, we noticed that businesses are being affected by financial transactions here.

“So, we thought about helping them with their financial transactions as we noticed that transacting institutions who actually set up firms here, are basically ones that suit them, by making transactions from here to abroad easy, but strenuous for people who see and would want to a product from here, hard to get, due to some bottlenecks.

“We noticed that this actually put business owners here in disadvantage, as it put off outside interested customers in Nigerian products When we started, our aim was not about cost, but about excellence. Since we started, we have been going higher and have become one of the fastest growing financial district in the world with over 10,000000 business users of Voguepay and having over $10,000,000 in a month on our platform,” he said.

Simeon also said the company’s security is robust, as it is antifraud system and that it checks and stops activities of fraudulent people who may want to perpetrate crimes on their platform. The Digital Media Strategist, Mr Wole Ogunlade, said the platform was built to open Nigeria businesses to the international market.

33

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

property

Nigerian Tribune

anchor Chukwuma Okparaocha

m: 08038984495 e: chukscop2005@gmail.com

Architects to unveil new vista of opportunities at LAF 7.0 Stories by Chukwuma Okparaocha - Lagos

A

RCHITECTS in the country are set to be exposed to new vistas of opportunities that abound in the architectural profession which is said to be fast evolving and changing from what it used to be.

According to information made available to Tribune Property, the organisers of this year’s Lagos Architects Forum (LAF) 2016, the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), Lagos State Chapter, which has successfully organised six previous editions of the forum, will use this year’s edition to focus new ways of practising architecture, in line with the demands of the 21st century without comprising on standards and quality.

Speaking at a media chat in his office last week, the Chairman of the NIA, Lagos Chapter, Mr Ladipo Lewis, noted that like other professions, architecture was fast evolving and that any professional that failed to be familiar with the evolving trend in the profession might lose his relevance as the modern world emerges.

“People need to know that architecture is evolving and things cannot be done as they used to be

done. We all need to advantage of the evolving architecture,” he said.

When unveiling the focus of the 2016 edition LAF, which has been tagged: “Lagos 7.0: Evolving Architecture,” the Public Relations Officer of the chapter, Mr Samson

Akinyosoye, said the event would be held from May 4 to May 6 at a hotel in Lagos Victoria Island.

According to him, LAF is held to provide opportunities for participants to meet with the various stakeholders in the building and

construction industry; establish bilateral ties with companies; showcase their products and services; learn about best practices and update skills in current trends in design, development and construction; understand the current

Lagos HOMS allottees to get keys to their homes •As govt mobilises contractors back to site THE State Mortgage Board (LMB) has debunked claims in some quarters that the state government has reneged on its

promise to hand over the keys of the apartments to some allottees of the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos

HOMS) as promised.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Public Affairs Officer of LMB, Kayode Abayomi,

NMRC refinanced mortgages worth N1.8bn in 2015 Tunde Opalana- Abuja

AT the end of the 2015 financial year, an approximate sum of N1.

8billion worth of existing mortgage was refinanced by the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC).

As part of the effort to create mortgage refinancing window, the Company, a subsidiary of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) conducted its first bond by raising N8 billion in July, 2015.

Managing Director/Chief Executive of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji, who made this disclosure in Abuja last week while presenting the 2015 financial results of the Authority, said real estate is one of the five key infrastructure investment sectors embarked upon by NSIA last year.

He said the Authority was currently conducting due-diligence and negotiations on a number of large scale commercial and real estate projects.

This, he added, was aimed at partnering with institutional investors and other sovereign funds to create a real estate co-investment vehicle that would develop real estate projects in Nigeria.

Orji said despite the fact that the year 2015 was a very challenging one for the global market with

economic climate; discover innovative methods of development within the current economic climate and understand critical issues affecting viable developments.

“The theme of this year’s forum will highlight contemporary issues in new business frontiers of Architecture including the roles of local and international codes, adoption of design build for architectural business options, analysis of pre-design programmes, the economics of developments, international best practices and a host of others,” he said.

According to him, some of the expected speakers at the three-day event include: United States-based Dr Maurice Ngwaba; Arc. Fred Coker of ACCL, Arc. Ekaete Bassey Fujah of ATO; Arc. Umaru Karaye; and Sola Ige; among others.

“There will be project exposes from PERI Systems and Arbico Projects. The keynote address is to be delivered by Dr Olisa Agbkoba (SAN),” he added.

government financial instruments yielding negative results, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) was able to grow its total comprehensive income by 67 per cent and its investment income by 47 per cent.

“The volatile global investment

environment notwithstanding, at the end of the 2015 financial year NSIA’s total comprehensive income stood at N26.3 billion, investment income at N5.8 billion and total assets at N213.66 billion,” he said.

The Managing Director attrib-

uted these achievements to NSIA’s involvement in more strategic investments which he said were immune to market forces, saying that the Authority had invested in various private equity investment funds to tap into the high growth sectors across Sub-Sahara Africa.

Experts move to stop building collapse menace in Nigeria IN a bid to reducing incidents of building collapse in the country, thereby saving lives and property, experts in the built environment, under the auspices of the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), have come out with some pragmatic solution to end the menace.

Thus at a recent brainstorming session organised by the Building Collapse Prevention Guide (BCPG), Ikosi-Isheri Chapter, in Lagos, stakeholders wondered why despite the availability of building codes and professionals in the Nigerian construction industry, reported cases of building collapse has become very alarming and quite disturbing.

At the forum which brought together architects, builders, engineers, town planners, quantity and land surveyors, among other professionals, as well as artisans and real estate developers, it was

jointly agreed that the rate of building collapse in Nigeria has reached an alarming rate, and that it is often associated with structural failures.

“Their occurrence and the magnitude of the losses in terms of lives and properties are now becoming very alarming, to the extent that it has become a familiar occurrence, even to the layman on the street in Nigeria. Many lives and properties have been lost in the collapse of buildings, and this has to stop immediately,” they stated.

Failure to follow due process has been identified as one of the major reasons buildings end up being faulty which can eventually lead to such buildings collapsing.

This was one of the views of seasoned scholar, Professor Musbau Salau of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Lagos, who deliv-

ered a lecture at the event.

In his lecture entitled: “The role of developers in the prevention of building collapse,” Professor Salau said it was an unpardonable offence for any developer to venture into building construction without first conducting soil tests. But he insisted that sadly this was being practiced by some house builders who would jump into the construction of houses without first carrying out appropriate tests.

Professor Salau further identified what he deemed other probable causes of building collapse as hasty construction; use of blocks whose strengths have not been tested; use of ‘caked’ (re-bagged/ repackaged) cement in construction and addition of extra blocks to an originally approved building without adequately checking with the right authorities for approval.

and made by available to Tribune Property, last week.

Abayomi, in the statement, also noted that in line with Governor Akinwumi Ambode’s administration’s promise of ensuring “continuity with improvement,” the contractors handling the construction of the Lagos H.O.M.S Mushin Scheme, that were yet to complete their projects, had been mobilised back to site.

“This has thus debunked the claims in some quarters that the state government has reneged on its promise to hand over the keys of the apartments to the allottees as promised,” he said, in the statement.

Also, according to statement, the General Manager of Lagos State Mortgage Board (LMB), which is the custodian of the Lagos HOMS project, Mr Dehinde Tunwashe, noted that in a bid to ensuring speedy completion of the project, the state government had approved the release of mobilisation fees for the contractors.

Tunwashe further disclosed that four contractors were awarded the construction of Mushin scheme, noting that two of them were awarded the construction of the main blocks which had since been completed except for the external works such as test running of electrical installation and mechanical works which is yet to be pressure tested to ensure that there are no leakages and defects and also energise the buildings to make them fit and habitable.

34

news

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Fayose’s letter: Oyegun, Oni, Sagay, APC, others’ criticism hypocritical —Aide, Ekiti PDP Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State and the Special Assistant to Governor Ayodele Fayose on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, have faulted the criticism of a letter by Fayose, urging the Chinese government not to honour a loan request by the Nigerian government.

The Ekiti PDP, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr Jackson Adebayo, said they had chosen to ignore the message and attack the messenger, while also ignoring “the danger inherent in obtaining a loan that will again sentence the nation into another servitude or modern day slavery.”

Adebayo said the hatred for the Fayose’s person had made his critics to take him on, while reiterating that there was something wrong in the loan being sought from China.

“What is the essence of borrowing in the midst of plenty? After all, the Federal Government has announced the discovery of about $200 billion that belongs to Nigeria in United Arab Emirates (UAE), apart from the N1 trillion it said had been saved from the Treasury Single Account (TSA)? PDP believes that only a government with sinister motive will go and borrow even with this wealth,” Adebayo said.

Olayinka, also in a statement he made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti, described the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; deputy national chairman, Chief Segun Oni and others’ criticism of Governor Fayose’s letter as “brazen display of political hypocrisy.”

According to him, “President Buhari’s non-signing of any direct loan agreement with the Chinese government during his visit is a vindication of the governor’s position,” adding that “what Nigeria needs is the collaboration of the government of China in the area of technology transfer, rather than granting loan that will be mismanaged under the guise of building infrastructure.”

Olayinka said “people like Odigie-Oyegun, Oni and Professor Itse Sagay lack moral rights to complain, even if President Mohammadu Buhari is called whatever names, because they never complained when, as a sitting president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan was called unprintable names

by APC stalwarts and leaders.”

He said Governor Fayose only exercised his rights as a Nigerian, adding that “where were the likes of Oyegun, Oni, Professor Sagay and others when APC promoted crude politics and anti-Nigeria posturing to an unprecedented level

when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in power?”

The governor’s spokesperson said since the Federal Government claimed it had recovered and still recovering trillions of Naira allegedly looted from the treasury, there was no need to borrow

money from anywhere to finance the 2016 budget.

“With the $200 billion they claimed is coming from Dubai, $700 million raw cash they said was found in Diezani AlisonMadueke’s house, N3 trillion said to have been saved

from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and N4.5 trillion the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it will generate this year, what then is the rationale behind the Federal Government seeking any loan?” he queried.

Nigerian Tribune

Troops repel Boko Haram’s attack in Borno TROOPS of 113 Battalion in Borno State, on Monday, successfully repelled an attack by Boko Haram terrorists, after a gun battle at Kareto, Northern Borno.

The terrorists launched the attack against the troops, prompting a response since early hours of the day.

The development was confirmed by Colonel Sani Usman, the acting Director, Army Public Relations.

Usman said the timely response of the troops helped in repelling the attack, adding that normalcy had since been restored to the area.

Dasukigate: I received no money from Dasuki —PDP national secretary Jacob Segun Olatunji -Abuja

From left, Executive Director/CEO of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr Olusegun Awolowo; Head of EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Michael Arrion and the Head of Trade and Economic Section, Filippo Amato, during the working visit to NEPC, in Abuja, on Monday.

Tears as victims testify against military invasion of Rivers Continued from pg4

“First of all, call the army to order by telling them to leave Yeghe and Ndigbara’s property. His damaged property should also be repaired,” Odey said.

A victim, Sorbarinoi Dornubari Nwibani, a 27-yearold widow, said her husband was shot dead by soldiers at the Polytechnic Road/Hospital Junction, Bori, on February 23.

Nwibani, who said she was married to her husband in June, 2013, also asserted: “Who said soldiers did not kill? There was no crisis in Bori. It was when the soldiers came that people ran from Yeghe to Bori when the shooting was too much.

“Please, let us be factual.

The panel (the House Committee on the Army) should ensure justice. Autopsy report on my late husband revealed several bullets,” she said.

Justus Tombari Winka told a pathetic story of how his son, Joel, who was about to write the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB), was allegedly shot dead on February 23.

Several others also gave evidences indicting the military and the included Ledee Meakwe, who said

his pregnant wife was shot dead in Yeghe on February 22; Thomas Nwafor; Israel Ibaganali, who said he witnessed the killing of his elder sister’s husband, Kenneth Peter, on February 23.

Earlier in his opening remarks, the chairman of the committee, Honourable Kwemum, had said he and his 16 members present

were on a fact-finding mission to ascertain whether or not the soldiers truly invaded and killed the people of the affected communities.

Meanwhile, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, has said the reports of alleged massive insecurity and political killings before the last legislative rerun in the state were concocted by misguided politi-

Ex-bank director lauds Emefiele’s economic policies Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

A former managing director of the defunct Allied Bank, Chief Niyi Adegbenro, has lauded the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, over the management of foreign exchange policy of the bank.

Nigerian Tribune recalled that the apex bank under Emefiele had ban importation of goods that could be produced locally to boost the nation’s economy.

Adegbenro, who said this during an interview with the Nigerian Tribune in Abeokuta, at the weekend, noted that the current economic challenges confronting the country was as a result of drop in the price of oil

globally.

Adegbenro, a scion of the Premier of the defunct Western region, late Chief Dauda Adegbenro, said the CBN governor had been working with President Muhammadu Buhari to move the country forward by developing Small and Medium Enterprises, agriculture and manufacturing to sustain policy and action of diversifying from oil.

“The current forex situation is mainly the aftermath of the sharp fall in global oil prices by about 65 per cent.

Since Nigeria’s forex reserves accretion depends on oil for about 90 per cent of inflows, this fall has affected Nigeria negatively. Note that this is a global problem and not a country-specific.”

cians to mislead Nigerians.

He said this on Monday, when he granted audience to the members of the House of Representatives Committee on the Army investigating the military invasion of Ogoni communities.

According to the governor, after the rerun, the sponsored propaganda reports could no longer dominate the media, because there were no political killing in the state.

In his remarks, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Army, Honourable Rimamde Shawulu Kwewum, said the committee was in the state on a fact-finding mission following a petition against the army by the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) on the killings of Ogoni people in their communities.

The national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Wale Oladipo, on Monday. denied news making the round that he admitted receiving money from the former National Security Adviser NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (retd).

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Monday, the PDP scribe declared that “before and after the elections, I have no financial dealings with the Office of the National Security Adviser or any other government official.”

Professor Oladipo explained that the few monetary transactions he handled were within the ambit of his official duties as the national secretary of the party, adding that “at no point did he collect money from Colonel Dasuki or any other government official.

“The report is clearly politically motivated. I affirm that all my actions and communications are motivated by highest ideals of patriotism, transparency and commitment to national reformation.”

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Mr Vincent Linus now MR AFELUMO BUSAYO SAMUEL. All former documents remain valid.

EcoBank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and general public take note.

35

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016 36 south-westnews Ebenezer Lowo’s murder: Odumakin warns against attempt to Obey-Fabiyi pervert justice •Case adjourned till May 24 puts smiles on

By Wale Akinselure

H

uman rights activists, on the platform of Women for Change Arise Initiative, on Monday, stormed the High Court, Ibadan, to demand that the full weight of the law be brought to bear in the murder case against Yewande Oyediran, while warning against any attempt to pervert justice in the case.

Noting that the case was now 83 days old, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, speaking as head of the Women Arise group, called for a

speedy investigation and resolution of the case so as to serve as deterrent to persons who were wont to taking to domestic violence.

Odumakin said the group was resolved to counter impunity and ensure that Yewande, who allegedly killed her husband, Oyelowo Oyediran, on February 2, 2016, was brought to justice, as enshrined in the constitution.

While condoling with the Oyediran’s family, she decried the staggering statistics of domestic violence among others, taking laws into their hands, urging

the judiciary to live up to its role as the last hope of the common man.

“It is so sad that an issue involving husband and wife can aggravate into taking the life of another.

This is one clear murder too many. It was avoidable.

Domestic violence is on the increase but this is a test of our resolve. Human life is sacrosanct. Nobody has the right to take another person’s life. For anyone that might want to pervert justice. This is a warning because we cannot encourage impunity.”

“The judicial process

must take its course and we will painstakingly follow the case as it unfolds.

We advise husbands, wives not to take laws into their hands. Where they live should be homes and not boxing rings. The law is no respecter of persons and the judicial process must always take its course as we are all equal before the law. We must think of the consequences of taking the law into our hands. Nobody has the right to take anybody’s life.”

“We are for justice. Women Arise stands behind the Oyelowo family and we will

Peaceful protest by the Women Arise for Change Initiative, led by its president, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, in Ibadan, on Monday, against the alleged murder of Mr Oyelowo Oyediran by his wife, Yewande.

Ondo govt slams opposition over ‘wicked lies’ The Ondo State government has taken a swipe at the All Progressives Congress in the state for its penchant for telling wicked lies against it, just as it warned the opposition which it described as hired hands for Lucifer to stop polluting the people with its ‘Luciferic’ anointing.

Berating the opposition party’s agents “for spreading wicked and petty lies in order get sympathy for their sinking ship” , the state’s Commissioner for Information, Kayode Akinmade in a statement on Monday said the failure of the APC is enough to make its agents sober and hide their heads in shame instead of trying to distract a working government like the Ondo’s with lies.

Warning the people to be mindful of what the APC in the state tell them, the government said if anybody would fault the Dr Olusegun Mimiko led government, it is definitely not the APC with its record of monumental failure and anti peoples antics.

Challenging the APC to

mention any state under its care that can match the Ondo government in terms of achievement and welfare for the people, the government said its attention has been drawn to a number of inciting and provocative statements credited to the APC against it in the media, submitting that its high time it realised that no amount of propaganda and falsehood will make them enslave the people of the state.

“We hold the record of the most peaceful state in the country with zero tol-

erance for satan and its agents. It has however been observed that the APC in our state has been manifesting the traits of Lucifer the author of confusion and destruction but they will fail in their bid to pollute the state with their ‘Luciferic’ anointing.”

Submitting that only the wicked will dish out the kind of deliberate falsehood the APC dish out against it on daily basis, the government said it has become obvious to the people that the party has no

agenda for the them other than to continue to inflict hardship on them, adding that the opposition should know by now that nothing built on propaganda, lies and deceit lasts.

Instead of looking for faults where none exists, the government implored the opposition in the state to appreciate and learn from the success of the Mimiko led government and encourage it to do more if their interest is actually the good of the state.

painstakingly follow the case to ensure that Oyelowo gets justice. This is a note of warning that no matter how highly placed a person is, such person must think about the consequences of taking actions.

“For Oyelowo that was killed February 2nd, a death that was avoidable, now that it has happened, we are saying that until justice is served, we will never rest. Until impunity is stopped, we will not be deterred. We remain firm in our resolve that the full weight of the law is brought to bear, the constitution must take its course.”

“We know the snail pace of our judicial system. Inasmuch as we agree that the case must be painstakingly followed, but we firmly believe that they should speed up the process of investigation to serve as a deterrent to others.”

The case, which also held on Monday at the High Court, Ibadan was adjourned by trial judge, Justice Munta Ladipo Abimbola, till May 24, 2016, consequent upon request by defence counsel, Mr Seun Abimbola, seeking time to study the response of the prosecution to a preliminary objection earlier filed to challenge the competence of the charge against the suspect.

The preliminary objection concerned the procedure taken by the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) which the defence said they were served in the morning.

Consequently, the trial judge adjourned till May 24, when all written addresses of counsel would be adopted.

Counsel to the family of the deceased, Mr Abayomi Aliu, expressed gladness at the pace of the trial thus far.

He said, “I don’t see justice being delayed in this matter. Justice is threeway traffic, one for the accused, one for the deceased and one for the state.”

Police read riot act to Fulani herdsmen in Ondo Hakeem Gbadamosi-Akure

Ondo state Police Command on Monday warned Fulani herdsmen who had been on rampage in the state destroying farm crops , killing and maiming, saying their activities will no more be tolerated in the state.

The state Police Commissioner Hilda Harrison who read the riot act in Akure, Ondo State capital, while meeting with stakeholders,

Hausa/ Fulani, farmers, traditional leaders, village heads and Miyyatti Allah said the bloodbath must stop.

Harrison who frowned on the atrocities of the Fulani herdsmen said the police command would no longer take it lightly with troublemakers in the state and warned against anybody trying to cause problem in the cause of discharging his responsibility.

A security guard and member of Oodua Peoples Congress, (OPC) Ayodele Ige who was working at the farm of the former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF,) Chief Olu Falae was allegedly murdered by Fulani herdsmen last week.

In what was suspected as a reprisal one herdsman Dan Bako was also reported missing in Ilara Mokin area of the state barely a week after Ige was killed.

The police boss said “ All of you are aware of the recent problem and challenges facing the state. I am almost a month old in the state, persons have been reported killed on farmlands, kidnapped, murdered on the road.

“There is no need for us to fight one another because we need one another to survive. We need to work together to achieve sustainable peace in our state.”

faces of the needy

By Seyi Sokoya

Part of his effort to make his 74th birthday memorable and also to give back to the society, especially to his root, the evergreen Miliki maestro, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, has concluded plans to put smiles on the faces of the aged and widows with a three-day ‘Outreach and Support Programme for Widows and Old People at Idogo’ in Yewa South Local Government Area, Ogun State.

According to the music icon’s manager, Mr Tunji Odunbaku, the three-day programme which would commence from today, April 19, is an initiative of the Ebenezer Obey Evangelistic Ministries in conjunction with the GIEAM Organisation.

The programme will kick start with foods support initiative for widows and old people in the town, while day two and three will feature free medical tests and distribution of essential drugs to people of Idogo town where the music legend spent his early life.

The free medical tests and distribution of drugs will be coordinated by a team of medical experts that will be attending to people from 10 a.m. each day at the town hall in Idogo.

Programme The Word Bible Church International, Palace of Healing, 1, Ganiyu Close, Ajelogo Ketu, Lagos, will hold its April 2016 edition of its all multipurpose prayer meeting themed, “THE MERCIFUL GOD.” The three days spiritfilled event will hold from Thursday, 21st to Saturday, 23rd April, 2016. Programmes are scheduled for 8am to 1pm at The Word Bible Church International Headquarters.

The presiding Pastor and Founder of the Church, Prophet Babatunde Kumoluyi and other anointed men of God will minister at the programme.

Prophet Kumoluyi

37

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

foreig naffairs with seyi gesinde

08116954632 foreignnewseditor@gmail.com

Corruption charge: Brazil president’s fate hangs on the thread 15 injured in Israel As Rousseff loses impeachment vote in lower house

By Victor Ogunyinka

B

ra z i l i an president, Ms Dilma Rousseff, has appeared in the news more than ever before in the last couple of days but all for the wrong reasons and she might need more than a stroke of luck to remain in office after proceeding for impeachment has since been favoured by members of the lower house of Congress.

In the face of what experts have described as Brazil’s worst economy recession in decades, Ms Rousseff, has come under attack for mismanagement of public funds and notably, bribery scandal at the state oil company, Petrobras.

According to the Associated Press, Rousseff was accused of breaking fiscal laws by shifting around government funds ahead of her 2014 re-election campaign.

Opposition parties alleged that sleight-of-hand accounting allowed her to boost public spending to shore up votes.

Rousseff has since denied any wrongdoing, saying she “didn’t do anything that was not common practice in all prior administrations,” accusing her rivals of mounting a coup.

Ms Rousseff, prior to her emergence to the most exalted democratic seat in Brazil, was head of the board at Petrobras between 2003 and 2010, with the opposition stating that that apparently informed her knowledge of the corruption scandal in the organisation.

Brazilian President, Ms Dilma Rousseff The former president of Brazil and predecessor of Rousseff, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, attained a cult hero after resurrecting the near-collapse economy of the country. Under his watch, Rousseff had also done quite a good job with the state oil company, Petrobras, which by providence earned her the presidential ticket.

Rousseff rode on the back of Lula’s success in her first term; it got worse during her second term when Brazil was preparing to host the World Cup. Hosting the world cup was under threat after a group of

Rousseff was accused of breaking fiscal laws by shifting around government funds ahead of her 2014 reelection campaign.

protesters alleged that a country without good health facility and failing economy shouldn’t commit several billions of dollars in hosting a football competition.

As the going got tougher for Rousseff, she had, in more than one attempt, tried to stop her impeachment process without success and also appointed her predecessor as Chief of Staff; a move many considered was to enable the respected statesman devise control damage to prevent Rousseff’s impeachment.

Unfortunately, Lula had also had a brief spell in police detention for corruption cases and his nomination into Rousseff’s cabinet is seen as a plot to provide some legal protection for him, which has also not helped the image of the president.

Members of the lower house of Congress have voted overwhelmingly to decide the fate of Rousseff. About 367 members have favoured an impeachment while 137 members voted against it, seven members abstained in vote to send motion to the

otherNEWS

bus explosion

Senate. Eighty-one members of the Senate would vote on whether to launch a trial.

There is a 180-day limit for the trial in which Rousseff would be suspended during the hearing, according to Reuters, implying that Brazil would probably be without a president when they host the rest of the world in the summer Olympics.

But the odds are also against the heirs apparent, as they have also come under fire for various degrees of corruption.

The Vice-President, Michel Temer, who Rousseff described as “the Judas in her cabinet” is accused of involvement in an illegal ethanol-purchasing scheme; Eduardo Cunha, the Speaker of the lower house, is going on trial in Brazil’s Supreme Court on charges of corruption and money laundering linked to the Petrobras scandal. He is accused of pocketing at least $5million (£3.5m) in bribes and Renan Calheiros, who heads the upper house of Congress, is also accused of receiving bribes related to Petrobras. He also faces accusation of tax fraud in a separate case. They have all denied the allegations, the BBC said.

The ongoing crossfire has led to overwhelming protesters, for and against, airing their voice on the future of Rousseff in front of the House of Congress.

While some are of the opinion that Rousseff should be allowed to complete her term, others have put their feet on the ground, stating that the president has overstayed her welcome.

Fire fighters trying to put out the fire. PHOTO: TWITTER Israeli police and medical officials say at least 15 people were wounded after a bus exploded Monday in the heart of Jerusalem.

It is not clear whether the blast was terror-related, although some reports quoted police officials as describing it as an “attack.”

According to VOA, Israel’s national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom, says 15 people are being treated for injuries, adding one was severely injured.

Pictures on social media showed a green bus engulfed in flames, with thick, black smoke pouring out. Parked next to it on the street was another bus.

Some reports said the explosion occurred on an empty bus and the injuries occurred in an adjacent bus.

The blast follows a series of stabbing attacks by Palestinians on Israeli civilians and security officials.

It was a reminder of the regular suicide attacks that occurred during the so-called Second Intifida, which lasted from 2000 to 2005.

Syrian rebels seek pause in Geneva peace talks The main Syrian opposition coalition has urged the United Nations to pause peace talks until Damascus “shows it is serious about political transition” as rebel groups vowed to strike back against alleged truce violations.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN mediator, said on Monday that the coalition delegation would

stay in Geneva, but postpone their formal participation in the negotiations.

They are pausing the talks “in order to express their own displeasure and concern on the humanitarian situation degradation and on the problems related to the cessation of hostilities,” said de Mistura.

“Their intention is to remain in

Geneva in their hotel and possibly at my own suggestion to pursue technical discussions with myself and my team.”

According to Al Jazeera, De Mistura said the talks still had time as the timetable for getting a new constitution and getting a political transition was up to August.

“We should not expect, and

no one should expect, that after five years of a conflict a political transition by miracle in one week is solved,” he said.

Riad Hijab, the head of the coalition, said that it was “unacceptable” for the talks to continue while President Bashar al-Assad’s forces carried on to “bombard and starve civilians” in Syria.

President Bashar al-Assad

Oil steadies as Kuwait strike offsets scuttled output-freeze plan

Kuwait President Sheikh Sabah IV

Oil prices steadied on Monday after a Kuwaiti workers’ strike slashed the country’s oil output by more than half, offsetting worries about a scuttled plan by major oil producers to freeze production.

The strike cut more than 60 per cent Kuwait’s crude

output, lending support to price benchmarks such as Brent and Dubai. Supply of refined oil product from the country also tightened due to scaled-back refinery runs and lower fuel exports.

Brent tumbled as much as 7 per

cent earlier on Monday after oil majors from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC Russia failed to reach agreement on a plan to freeze output.

The producers had gathered in Qatar, Doha at the weekend

for what was expected to be the rubber-stamping of a deal to stabilise output at January levels until October. The deal crumbled when OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia demanded Iran join the plan, despite Tehran’s repeated assertions it would not.

communitynews Ibadan community rallies indigenes to end underdevelopment 38

O

na-Ara community in Ibadan, Oyo State, has began mobilisation of its sons and daughters to end the community’s age-long development drought.

This was the submission made by stakeholders at a general meeting organised by Ona-Ara Development Forum (ODF), at Wesley College, Elekuro, recently.

They resolved that the community was still very poor in terms of development, despite the array of personalities it has produced and who ought to have turned it into an Eldorado.

They attributed the developmental drought to lack of love, unity and the effect of the Agbekoya crisis.

The community, according to the President, Alhaji Kola Bolomope, is hosting the Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State with its administrative headquarters at Akanran.

He added that it was shameful that the local government was still being regarded as the least developed local government area in the state.

“In the last couple of months, I have interacted with a cross section of our people, the elders, the young ones, politicians, civil servants, businessmen and women.

“The consensus is awareness that we have a

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

big problem in Ona-Ara. “When the only delicacy available to the son of a butcher is bones, it is aclear indication that something has gone wrong,’’ he said.

Bolomope said that the community has produced former ministers, since the 60s, national party chairman, special advisers to the president and governors, senate leader, commissioners and chairmen.

According to him: “We, have also produced secretary to the state government, head of service, many permanent secretaries, accountantgeneral and other top government positions and yet poverty is still endemic in our society.’’

He appealed that the meeting was another unique opportunity for them all to re-direct their efforts towards the rebuilding of the Ona-Ara of their dream.

“We have to mobilise the enormous resources available to us in the interest of the future generations,’’ he said.

Similarly, Mr Oladiti Oladapo, an ODF Board of Trustees member told the gathering that the meeting should be likened to a crusade organised to banish poverty and drought of development in a community.

He urged all and sundry to be more committed to the project and with the zeal they have exhibited at the meeting.

High Chief Owolabi

Ogun unveils world’s tallest traditional drum today olayinka olukoya-abeokuta

Ogun State Ministry of Culture and Tourism will today unveil the world’s tallest traditional drum.

This was disclosed by the state Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Chief Muyiwa Oladipo, at a news conference heralding the four-day event, which runs through April 19 and 22, at the Conference Room of the ministry, Abeokuta, on Monday.

Oladipo said the tallest drum, which is about 16 feet tall, was built around Yoruba history and religion and that the drum would be christened after.

He added that the drum was built by an indigene of the state, adding that festival is being packaged to revive the dying culture in the country.

He added that about 50 countries were invited out of which 10 African countries showed interest in

the programme.

The commissioner further informed that Minister of Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed would declare the programme open.

Oladipo said that 19 states from the federation would showcas their cultures at the festival.

He also added that there would be special appearances by notable female drummers, including Ara, Adunni, Aanu, among others.

“The essential thing about the tallest drum is that it is about 16 feet high. It is very important to Yoruba religion. We built the drum to that height because it has some direct coloration with Yoruba history.

“The festival is a novel one. We are not going to allow any foreign instruments asides traditional drums.

Awokulehin, the Balogun of Ibadanland, said he was happy that the people were coming together at a time he has just assumed a new status as Balogun in Ibadan.

He urged the people to eschew selfishness,

greediness but embrace godliness and the spirit of sacrifice in the new project.

Mr Sina Adeagbo, the caretaker chairman of the council, said the council has a lot of the potentialities, among which

was its residential and industrial estates at Olorunsogo in Ibadan.

He called on investors and well-meaning Nigerians to establish industries in the area, adding that they have all it takes to host them.

Also, Venerable Remi Afosi from Victoria Memorial Anglican Church, Olorunsogo, advocated the resuscitation of the Akanran market, saying poverty resides in any community without a market.

President of Ekpan Integrity Group (EIG), Pastor Innocent Adjenevure (middle), with other members of the executive, during the group’s inauguration.

Photo: Ebenezer Adurokiya

Group sues for peace in volatile Ekpan community Ebenezer Adurokiya-Warri A new group has emerged to tackle incessant violence, criminality and intimidation in Ekpan community in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.

The group, Ekpan Integrity Group. whose executive members were inaugurated recently at Ekpan, said it was formed to bring sustainable peace, security and development to Ekpan community and Uvwie as a whole.

President of the group, Pastor Innocent Adjenevure, in his maiden speech after being sworn in, said the group was poised to synergise with all security agencies to halt arms proliferation, violence, communal conflicts, killings and other vices that had almost turned Ekpan into a ghost town.

He said the group would go on fact-finding missions to unravel what could be done on the short, medium and long term to bring about lasting peace and development in the area.

Adjenevure warned that the future of Ekpan youths is bleak, except like-minded natives of the area come together to reverse the trend.

He fingered leadership crisis, injustice, lack of courage of leaders of thought to act decisively and insincerity as some of the reasons there is a breakdown of law and order in the community,

warning that the group would give all it takes to restore normalcy to the troubled area.

To achieve this, Pastor Adjenevure, who is also a lawyer, said empowerment activities would be introduced to take idle youths off the streets, adding that the group might request from government amnesty for gun-bearing youths in the local government area.

He bemoaned a situation where the present values in the community have made school dropouts heroes because of ill-gotten wealth while graduates have been relegated to the background for lack of jobs.

Leader of the legislative arm of Uvwie Local Government Area, Mr Glory Etuedo and ASP Monday Owujohwo, who represented the DPO of Effurun

Divisional Police headquaters, pleaded for support for every effort made by individuals to rid Ekpan and the entire Uvwie of all forms of criminality.

It will be recalled that Ekpan, an oil-rich community, in recent times, is gradually becoming a ghost town as residents are fleeing in their numbers to safer places owing to activities of armed youths.

‘Don’t drag traditional institution into murky waters’ hakeem gbadamosi-akure

The Akure Division Unity Forum has appealed to traditional rulers in the Old Akure Division not to drag the traditional institution into murky waters.

The group, which made the appeal during the inaugural meeting of the Akure Division Traditional Rulers, held at the palace of Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, also charged them to work for unity and the development of the area, saying, the secret behind the progress and development of any nation lies in its unity.

The chairman of the group, High Chief Samuel Akintan, said the call became imperative because it was only through unity and cooperation that traditional rulers in the area could achieve the best for their people.

He called on the royal fathers to emulate the new Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, who has been moving round Yorubaland, calling for

unity and cooperation among the people both at home and in the diaspora.

“This is a clarion call that, in my considered opinion, all traditional rulers within Akure Division should domesticate and work towards actualising. Unity is globally acknowledged as the secret of progress and development,” he said While appealing to the traditional rulers to resolve all chieftaincy disputes in their domains, he said, “all existing cases in court should be withdrawn and issues resolved through our alternative means of traditional diplomacy. We need to promote peace, unity and swift resolutions of any emergent dispute without resorting to litigation.”

Akintan, however, explained that members of the forum were drawn from all the communities within the Old Akure Division and was put in place to promote the unity and oneness of the people of the division.

He also stated that the

forum since its formation, had been working towards stimulating useful ideas that are capable of engineering and promoting good representation of the division at all levels of governance, and facilitating projects that can shape the socio- economic life of the people of the communities.

He disclosed that the forum had made some moves to interface with the state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, where the needs of the people of the communities were tabled before the state government which include construction of roads, reticulation of Owena Dam and approval of the land for the College of Medicine of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) The group leader, who commended the state governor for the development of the division, disclosed that the state government had put machinery in motion to actualise some of the requests tabled before it.

39

Tuesday, 19 April, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

I want to play at Rio Olympics —Onazi Ogenyi Onazi (right) struggles for ball possession at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

By Ganiyu Salman

F

ORMER international, Daniel Amokachi has attributed Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations largely to the problem of mental adjustment on the part of foreignbased players.

The former Super Eagles assistant coach told FIFA.com that the syndrome is not peculiar to Nigerian players alone.

“The players when return to play in Africa on international duty forget to switch [mentally]. It’s something that we kind of struggle with – not only as Nigerians, but as Africans. You play in Europe and everything you get is professional from A-Z and then when you come to Africa, the likes of transportation and accommodation can seem a distraction.

“The players forget to switch to being an African when they come back and that always makes them perform less than what they do at club level. I’m sure that has contributed to Nigeria not making it to back-to-back champi-

Why Eagles missed 2017 AFCON ticket —Amokachi

onships. Not qualifying for the tournament is not good enough for a country like Nigeria, but that’s football. It makes you sit up and say: ‘We have a lot of work that needs to be done,” said Amokachi, who is head coach of second division side in Finland, JS Hercules.

The former Everton of

England star, lamented that working in Finland has become the greatest challenge of his coaching career owing to the climatic condition.

“The outdoor pitches are frozen and everything we do at the moment is indoor. You have a number of other teams using those facilities and it’s hard to get a full pitch to yourself,

which me can make the programme you’re trying to lay down difficult. But I am a Nigerian, an African. I’m used to challenges and I would love to see it through.”

“It is my first experience as an African manager coaching in Europe and there are not many Africans who are head

coaches in Europe,” said the former Club Brugge, Everton and Besiktas star.

“They are giving me a platform as an African to showcase what I can do and if I do well, it’s an open door for other African coaches,” said the 1994 AFCON winner and one of the Super Eagles scorers at the US ‘94 World Cup.

Tombim ITF: Nigeria’s Emmanuel upsets Swiss player Nigeria’s Sylvester Emmanuel on Monday advanced to the second round of the singles following his 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Luca Margaroli of Switzerland, as the the main draw of the 2nd Tombim Abuja Open ITF Futures served-off at the National Tennis Centre, Abuja.

Players from 18 countries are featuring in the main draw of the men’s only tournament which is in two legs.

Emmanuel, a wild card entrant ranked 1551 broke Margaroli, the world no 895 in the fourth and sixth game to seal the first set 6-3, but he was stretched to a tie breaker in the second set.

NFCA, Capital-3 set to launch Royal-Unity Cup

By Nurudeen Alimi IN a bid to contribute to the development of grassroots football in Nigeria and secure the future of players against unforeseen injuries that might cut short their careers, Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA) in conjunction with Capital-3 have concluded plan to stage the maiden edition of Royal-Unity Cup. The soccer tourney, according to the South/ West chairman of NFCA, Coach Michael Orok who is also a member of the Main Organising Committee for the event, is to unify the teeming Nigerian youths and would involve teams from all the 774 Local Government Areas across the country.

Unity Bank and Royal Exchange Insurance are expected to bankroll the national tour-

ney where every player participating would benefit from a health insurance scheme designed to help the Nigerian footballers at the grassroots.

Also, Otunba abimbola Davies Chairman Capital-3 and head of the MOC said Tuesday, April 26 has been fixed as tentative date for the public presentation and unveiling of the tournament.

He added that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and ex-internationals such as Christian Chukwu, Idowu Otubusen (Slow Poison), Chief Segun Odegbami, Garba Lawal, Tijani Babangida, Ike Sorunmu, Dimeji Lawal, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha and Edema Fuludu, among others have pledged to identify with the tournament when it gets underway.

With Margaroli looking to force a rubber decider as he led 6-5 in the second set, Emmanuel who enjoyed a huge home support, won the 12th set on his own serve to force a tie break decider to the delight of the fans, who had moments earlier seen a Swiss triumphed over a Nigeria on the same Centre Court as Simeon Rossier beat Joseph Ubon 7-5, 6-2.

“I trained hard for this tournament and I was determined to give my best performance and I’m happy I played very well and won.

Hopefully, I will do better in my next match,” Emmanuel said.

Youngster Ubon capitulated in the second set against Rossier having come very close to take the opening set.

The former Nigeria junior player broke Rossier in the seventh game of the first set to lead 4-3 but the European broke him back immediately to tie the match 4-4. Both players then won

the serves in the ninth and tenth game but it was it was Ubon who blinked first as Rossier broke him 6-5 in the eleventh game where at a point he double faulted at 30-30.He eventually lost his steam as he let slip a three-match point which would have taken the set to tie-break.

NIGERIAN international, Ogenyi Onazi, has revealed his dream to be part of the Dream Team to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Onazi, scored last Sunday in Lazio’s 2-0 win over Empoli at the Stadio Olimpico, more than 10 months after he last scored.

The midfielder who was part of the Super Eagles side which won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), said he has since made his intention known to the head coach of Nigeria’s U-23 team, Samson Siasia.

“I spoke with (the coach) and it will be another chance for me to represent my country to achieve something important, for my country and for myself as well. I will be glad to be part of the ‘Olympic’ team,” Onazi told Goal.

However, Onazi’s fate hangs in the balance like any other Nigerian internationals who are eyeing the Rio Olympic actions, as Siasia told media last week that he might have already decided on his three overage players for the tournament according to the Olympic rules.

“I already have in mind the three overage players that I intend using at the Games,” Siasia said after Nigeria was drawn to face Sweden, Japan and Colombia in group B of the first round.

Meanwhile, Onazi is hoping that his new found form ensures a positive finish to the season for Lazio who lies in seventh spot in Serie A and is now chasing a Europa League ticket.

“We’re doing our best to get the Europa League spot,” Onazi who featured at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil said.

NFF mourns former board member, Olaiya The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has expressed shock at the death last Friday of a former member of then NFA Board, Dr Thomas Adeleke Olaiya.

Olaiya, a former president of the Nigeria School Sports Federation, was a member of then NFA Board under the leadership of Brigadier– General Dominic Oneya (rtd), as a representative of inter-collegiate sports.

“We are very sad to hear about the death of Dr

Olaiya, moreso when it was only recently that he buried his dear wife. The NFF and the Nigeria football family feel the pain and grief of the children and close family members at this time,” said NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.

Olaiya according to thenff.com died at the Wesley Guild Teaching Hospital, Ilesa on Friday, less than two weeks after the burial of his wife, Adeola.

SIDELINES

no 16,482

TueSDAY, 19 April, 2016

By Itse Sagay

I

N this summary, I make comment on the important issues raised by the Supreme Court in that case.

1. On Card Reader The Supreme Court, in rejecting the use of the Card Reader adopted its earlier views on the matter in Okereke v. Umahi S.C. 1004/2015, that the use of the Card Reader would ‘dethrone’ and ‘depose’ the Voters’ Register “whose judicial roots are firmly embedded or entrenched in the self same Electoral Act from which it (Voters’ Register) directly derives its sustenance and currency” – per Nweze, JSC. The question may be asked, how does the Card Reader ‘depose’, or ‘dethrone’ the voter’s Register. After verification by the Card Reader, the voter’s name still has to be identified in the voters’ Register and ticked before he can vote. It must be noted that both the Tribunal and Court of Appeal emphasized that, the Card Reader was intended to and did strengthen the application and efficacy of the Electoral Act, by ensuring a credible election for the benefit of Nigerians. The Election Tribunal stated expressly that “the usage of the Card Reader was complimentary to the usage of the voters’ register. In other words, the two work hand in hand towards ensuring credible elections.

The voters’ Registers properly come to play where a prospective voter has been screened by the Card Reader. The sum total of the role of the Card Reader is that it is complimentary to the usage of the Voters’ Register.”

So where in all this did Nweze, JSC, discover the ‘deposition’, and ‘dethronement’, of the Voters’ Register by the Card Reader? Absolutely nowhere.

What Nweze, JSC, had simply done was to give the Card Reader a bad name in order to subject it to judicial execution. Has the Card Reader eliminated the voters’ Register? No! Has it brought integrity and transparency to the voters’ Register and the whole electoral process? Yes! All the Card Reader does is to act as a gate man for the voters’ Register. There was no dethronement and deposition here. There was only a step forward towards free, fair and credible elections – a procedure for sanitizing our elections and for eliminating fraud, dishonesty and rigging from our electoral process.

Should any Supreme Court anywhere in the world resist and reject such a beneficial development in the electoral process? No! The law as stated in Section 49 has not in any way been altered by the Card Reader. After being accredited through the Card Reader the voter still has to have his name checked in the Voters’ Register, and to have it ticked before voting.

Without the process of identification and recording by the Card Reader, the old system of free ticking of all names in the Voters’ Register followed by thumb imprinting in thousands to match the number ticked will continue and our elections will simply be fraud writ large.

So all this talk of superseding and dethroning, has no bearing whatsoever on Section 49 of the Electoral Act 2010.

There is no provision of the Electoral Act banning or prohibiting the use of Card Readers. It is wrong of any one to assert that the use of Card Readers is electronic voting. It shows that such a person cannot distinguish between accreditation and voting.

n150

A record 350 people were killed in Ecuador’s biggest earthquake that occurred over the weekend. These were people who nursed hopes and dreams but whose missions were suddenly cut short, silenced forever. Given the emptiness and vanity of life, why do some people still parade the earth as if they own tomorrow?

guestcolumnist A farewell to election petition: My review of the Supreme Court decision in the Rivers State governorship case

Sagay Section 15 of the Electoral Act clearly empowers the INEC to issue Regulations, guidelines and manuals for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of the Act and its Administration thereof.

Introduction of Card Readers is doing exactly that. By law, the guidelines thus issued are as potent as the permitting law, i.e., the Electoral Act itself.

Ultimately, on the Card Reader issue, the only valid questions a Court of Justice ought to raise are as follows: (i) Was the voters’ Register instituted in the Electoral Act to promote and ensure free, fair and credible elections? (ii) If this is so (and it necessarily must have been so) did the introduction of the Card Reader enhance the capacity of the Voters’ Register to produce clean, fair and credible elections? (iii) As all the Courts, even the Supreme Court,have admitted, the Card Reader has sanitized and brought transparency and integrity to the election accreditation process. The sum total of the usage of the Card Reader therefore is that it is complimentary to the work of the Voters’ register. “The two work hand in hand to ensure a credible election” – (The Tribunal) It follows that if all the Card Reader does is to enhance, improve and promote the capacity of the Voters’ Register to ensure or guarantee, free, fair, credible and transparent elections, the Card Reader

could NOT in any sense have ‘deposed’, ‘dethroned’ the Voters’ Register as Nweze, JSC, wrongly asserted in Okereke v.

Umahi. Helping and enhancing the Voters’ Register’s capacity and efficiency cannot be classified as ‘dethroning’ or ‘deposing’ it. It is still there as the ultimate source after the clean up of the process by the Card Reader. The Voters’ Register could only be regarded as having been dethroned and deposed if its purpose in the Electoral Act was to promote fraud, rigging and massive irregularities. In other words, it is only when its role and purpose is in conflict with that of the Card Reader, that it can be said to have been dethroned and deposed by the Card Reader, because the two would then be working at cross-purposes with each other. But in the circumstances of this case, they were working together towards a common positive objective.

It is really incredible that the Supreme Court threw in the towel to the existing and debilitating culture of election fraud, violence and rigging, when the Law and Justice were pointing in the opposite direction.

Apart from all the above, the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2015 specifically empowers the INEC to introduce innovations like Card Readers to promote the credibility and sanctity of an election.

By Section 52 of the Act, “voting at an election shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission.” This gives INEC separate and extra powers to introduce processes into the election process in order to enhance its accuracy, transparency and credibility.

2.

Substantial Non-compliance The Supreme Court also asserts wrongly that in order for an election to be nullified, the Petitioner has to establish that not only (i) was there a substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act, but additionally (ii) the Petitioner must show that the substantial non-compliance affected the result of the election. This is wrong.

By Section 139(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010,

Where in all this did Nweze, JSC, discover the ‘deposition’, and ‘dethronement’, of the Voters’ Register by the Card Reader?

Absolutely nowhere.

“An election shall not be liable to be invalidated by reason of non-compliance with this Act if it appears to the Electoral Tribunal or Court that the election (i) was conducted substantially in accordance with the principles of this Act and (ii) that the non-compliance did not affect substantially the result of the election: It is clear that the provision on substantial compliance in section 146 of the Electoral Act, 2006, is conjunctive in nature. For an election not to be invalidated, (i) it must comply substantially with the provisions of the Act and (ii) non-compliance, (whether substantial or insubstantial) must not affect substantially, the result of the elections.

In other words, any election has to clear two hurdles in order to be valid; (i) it must comply substantially with the provisions of the Act; (ii) where there was any noncompliance, no matter how insignificant, it must not have substantial effect on the result.

Therefore a petitioner will succeed if he can establish either of the following: (a) Substantial non-compliance with the Act, only or (b) substantial effect on the result by any degree of non-compliance, no matter how trivial.

I repeat, the petitioner need only establish one of these two situations in order for the election to be invalid, namely Substantial non compliance with 1. the electoral Act including the schedules and regulations: or 2.

Substantial effect on the election result of any infraction of the Electoral Act, schedules, regulations etc no matter how trivial the infraction.

Therefore, Kekere-Ekun, JSC, was absolutely wrong when she stated at page 67 of her judgment that in addition to establishing substantial non-compliance, the Petitioners were also obliged to also establish that the non-compliance also affected the result of the election. This is an error that some Justices of the Supreme Court have been repeating again and again inspite of corrections that have been offered several times.

The authority on this issue is Morgan v.

Simpson [1974] 3 All ER 722. This is what Lord Denning said in Morgan v. Simpson: “(1) If the election was conducted so badly that it was not substantially in accordance with the law as to elections, the election is vitiated, irrespective of whether the result was affected, or not.

That is shown by the Hackney case , where two out of 19 polling stations were closed all day, and 5,000 out of 41,000 voters were unable to vote.

Continues tomorrow

Professor Sagay is chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption.

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: DEBO ABDULAI. All Correspondence to P.O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 19/4/2016.