22nd May 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 2,047

SUNDAY, 22 MAY, 2016

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Deadly Zika virus now in Africa — WHO

Pg23

Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

N200

Nigerian Tribune

Herdsmen kill 2, injure many in Ekiti

Parallel PDP conventions sack Sheriff

Pg43

Why I stayed in

Saudi Arabia

pg4 •Makarfi takes over as caretaker chairman •Sheriff: Port Harcourt convention has been suspended for 9 years —Okunnu Aftermath fuel price hike:

Food prices skyrocket

•Thieves burgle shops, steal tomatoes, pgs5&45 rice in Ibadan Food Rice Garri

Lagos

Before: N7,500/bag Now: N12,200/bag Before: N250 Now: N500

Port Harcourt

Ibadan

Before: N9,000/bag (medium grain) Now: N15,500/bag (medium grain)

Before: N9,000/bag (medium grain) Now: N14,500/bag

Before: N3,000 (yellow) N2,800 (white) Now: N3,500 (yellow) N3,200 (white)

Before: N100/kongo (Oyo) Now: N250/kongo (Oyo)

Pipeline vandals hike price of stolen fuel pg6

Abducted Kwara APC chieftains pg42 regain freedom •Traditional ruler, naval officer kidnapped in Kogi

From left, Senator Ben Obi ; Senator Ahmed Makarfi and Prince Dayo Adeyeye being sworn in as Caretaker Committee members of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2016 National Convention held in Port Harcourt, River State, on Saturday.

52 million active Nigerians jobless — NBS

pg4

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life&living

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

MASSOB, Bakassi Boys may return

Umu Ada group protesting the Uzo Uwani attack

Governor Ayo Fayose, Ekiti State

Continued from pg 2 many ordinary Nigerians face on a daily basis at the hands of Fulani herdsmen.

The audacity of the herdsmen had become so brazen such that they could take their cattle through major roads of Nigerian cities and virtually anywhere without any care in the world. This is not to talk of what local farmers in isolated villages face from herdsmen who daily attack them and rape their women.

As the problems of the herdsmen became unbearable and with the Federal Government seemingly finding it difficult to contain them, even with the deployment of soldiers, a group of young men in the North-Eastern part of the country have decided to come together to provide security for their immediate communities,

Governor Samuel Ortom, Benue State since the military could not be everywhere at the same time. They call themselves ‘Ciilian Joint Task Force’, just like those who work with the military to tackle insurgency in the North-East.

In fact, the governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, ruffled not a few feathers recently at this year’s celebration of the World Press Freedom Day, which was held at the Press Centre of the Oyo State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists when he suggested poisoning sources of water that the Fulani cattle might drink in order to prevent further damage to farmlands in his state.

Even traditional rulers in Enugu State who attended a meeting with Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi at old Government Lodge, Enugu recently, made an appeal to the state House of Assembly to enact a law that will enable them strengthen vigi-

lance groups in their communities. They stressed that local people will be more secure if members of Neighbourhood Watch responsible for the security of local communities are allowed to carry arms.

Following the recent killing at Ukpabi Nimbo, Uzouwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, allegedly by Fulani herdsmen, other people had made bold to decide on very strict measures to defend themselves against the onslaught of the herdsmen.

One of such proposed drastic decisions was the indication that the Igbo may revive the quasi ethnic militia called the Bakassi Boys to strengthen security in Igboland and to contain further attacks from herdsmen in the future.

The communiqué of a supposed meeting of the Ohanaze Ndigbo on Sunday, May 1 was said to have concluded that:

“Our people should learn and imbibe the culture of being ready to defend themselves, at least to offer reasonable defence in the event of any impromptu attack, as we the Igbo are vulnerable and are grossly endangered.

“That the national executive council of Ohanaeze Ndigbo must set up as a matter of urgency a security and strategic endurance committee, and a central coordinating security sub-committee on town unions, vigilance groups and neighbourhood watchers.”

Another group, who call themselves Concerned Militant Leaders, said it would declare war on herdsmen after two weeks if they failed to leave the South-East and South-South areas of the country.

“After two weeks starting from today, Tuesday, May 3, we are going to search for Fulani herdsmen. Since the Federal Government cannot tell us who they are till now, we are going to look for them,” said one General Bem who identified himself as the leader of the group.

“The Fulani herdsmen have indirectly challenged us, asking us ‘what can we do?’

But we promise them that we will not allow them to go without taking revenge. It is an insult and we will give them back,” he stated.

Sunday Tribune learnt that leaders of the Bakassi Boys met recently in Abia, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi states. A MASSOB leader, Comrade Uchenna Madu, was reported to have said: ”We have started making consultations. This is not an issue MASSOB and other positive groups in Igboland will leave for the governors and police to decide.”

Sunday Tribune spoke to a cross section of people in the South-Eastern part of the country on the recent attacks by herdsmen and how they hope to be best secure in their communities.

Chinedu Adonu, a businessman, believes that self help is the best approach in this circumstance, since, according to Continues pg 9

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news

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Parallel PDP conventions sack Sheriff •Makarfi takes over as caretaker chairman in Port Harcourt •Another convention holds in Abuja FromDapoFalade-PortHarcourt and Leon Usigbe - Abuja

TWO parallel conventions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held in Abuja and Port Harcourt on Saturday sacked the Senator Ali Modu Sheriff-led national working committee of the party.

The attempt to conduct the national convention of the party in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday, started on a controversial note.

The convention, held at the Shark Football Club Stadium, Port Harcourt and via voice vote, set up the national caretaker committee, following a motion by Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, which was seconded by the Gombe State governor, Dr Ibrahim Dankwambo.

This is just as a rival convention in Abuja failed to elect new national leaders but ratified a 57-member steering committee earlier set up by a group known as Concerned PDP Stakeholders to oversee the party’s affairs.

The caretaker committee, which would be in office for not more than 90 days, would conduct a proper convention for the party and it has Senator Ahmad Makarfi and Senator Ben Obi as chairman and secretary respectively, while Senator Odion Ogbesia, Senator Abdul Ningi, Mr Kabiru Usman,

Prince Dayo Adeyeye and Alhaja Aisha Aliyu are members.

Both Makarfi and Obi are members of the Concerned PDP Stakeholders and had been named in the 57-man steering committee.

The motion for the removal of members of the NWC was moved by former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Austin Opara and seconded by the immediate past Deputy Speaker of the House, Honourable Emeka Ihedioha.

Another motion for the zoning of the party’s presidential candidate to the North in 2019 was moved by former Niger State Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu and seconded by the Delta State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.

In his acceptance speech, chairman of the caretaker committee, Senator Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, called on all aggrieved members of the party to give peace a chance in the interest of the party’s growth.

“I humbly accept the challenge and I do so on behalf of other members of the committee. I assure you, you have no cause to worry. None of us is contesting for any office.

“Please, give peace a chance, so that we can rebuild our party for the benefit of not only Nigerians and Africans, but the entire black race,” he said.

The convention and

eventual sack of Sheriff and other members of the PDP NWC came less than one hour after the acting national chairman announced the suspension of the national convention, citing orders of two Federal High Courts.

“We have suspended the convention. We have three different court cases in Lagos and Abuja and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have also said they will not supervise the election.

“We will be contravening the court and we will be charged for contempt of court. We went to court, but we were denied permission. We will do it as soon as we get them (the court cases) vacated. We have told all delegates to go home. There is no space for election”, he said.

Interestingly however, none of the prominent leaders of the party, including any of its governors, was present during the briefing by the embattled former acting national chairman.

Earlier in the day, the leadership of the party, present at a press briefing by Governor Wike, on Friday, were engaged in a closed-door meeting at the state Government House, in the midst of the uncertainties that trailed the conduct of the exercise.

It was learnt that a late night court order, on Friday, destabilised the party leaders as they were said to have been left confused on

how to avoid contempt of court, should they proceed with the convention.

An earlier report on Saturday had it that the party might cancel the national convention as one of its officials was quoted to have said that Ali Modu Sheriff planned to set up a caretaker committee that would oversee the affairs of the party.

“The governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike and Sheriff are at loggerheads now over the chairman’s decision to cancel the convention. Wike told the chairman that he was trying to destroy the party by his decision, but Sheriff is bent on having his way”, the source said.

During the Abuja convention, the 57-member steering committee was ratified through a voice vote after Senator Ibrahim Mantu had put the question to the delegates.

Mantu explained that rather than an elective convention, the stakeholders decided to make it non-elective in deference to a court order stopping the national convention.

Mantu made it clear that the stakeholders had not left the PDP but keen to ensure that the right thing was done in the party.

He left open the possibility of a reunion of the two factions if they were able to sort out their differences.

“Before I say anything, may I make this very im-

portant statement. Our brothers in Port Harcourt are still in PDP. We are also in PDP. “We only disagree on certain principles and I do hope that by the time we finish what we are doing, we would meet again to jaw-jaw and perhaps by the grace of God, reunite when they understand what we want them to understand and we understand what they want us to understand,” he said.

In his opening address to the delegates, Mantu observed that the former ruling party made mistakes in its 16 years in office, culminating in its loss of power; but the party elders were determined to correct that.

He gave reasons the group had to embark on the course of action it had taken.

“Mindful of our role as elders and conscience of our great party, we, in reviewing recent events, have come to the painful conclusion that the culture of impunity, disdain for democratic norms and utter disregard of our party constitution, behaviours that brought us to the 2015 loss, are rearing its ugly head again.

“First, we view the purported extension of the tenure of the current National Working Committee of the party as null and void as the National Executive Committee of our party cannot grant any such extension under the

52 million able-bodied Nigerians out of jobs —NBS Sanya Adejokun - Abuja

THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that a total of 52 million citizens within the economically-active population of Nigeria between 15 and 64 years were jobless by the end of March 2016.

This figure consists of 27.5 million people who are “not willing or able, or not actively looking to work” and 24.50 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 that were willing and able to work and actively seeking work but were either unemployed or underemployed.

NBS put the number of economically-active population or working age population (persons within ages 15 and 64) at 106.0 million by the end of quarter one of 2016 as against 105.02 million in the last quarter of 2015.

The agency recently recategorised an unemployed person as one who “did absolutely nothing at all or did something but not for up to 20 hours in a week,” whereas “underemployment occurs if you work less than full time which is 40 hours but work at least 20 hours on average a week and or if you work full time but are engaged in an activity that underutilises your skills, time and educational qualifications.”

In the report posted on its website on Friday, NBS stated that “with an economically-active or working age population of 106.0 million and labour force population of 78.4 million in Q1 2016, this means 27.5 million persons within the economically-active or working age population decided not to work for various reasons in Q1 2016 compared to 28.06 million

in Q4 2015.

“The number of underemployed in the labour force (those working but doing largely menial work or jobs not commensurate with their qualifications or not fully engaged and merely working for few hours-less than 20 hours) during the quarter in review however, increased by 607,613 persons resulting in an increase in the underemployment rate to 19.1 per cent in Q1 2016 (15.02 million persons) from 18.7 per cent (14.41 million) in Q4 2015.

“Within the same period, the number of unemployed in the labour force, increased by 1,449,18 persons (increase of 518,000 between Q3 and Q4 2015) between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016, resulting in an increase in the unemployment rate to 12.1% in Q1 2016 from 10.4 per cent in

Q4 2015, 9.9 per cent in Q3 2015 and 8.2 per cent in Q2 2015.”

Giving a breakdown of the figure, the agency explained that between January and March 2016, labour force population (i.e. those within the working age population willing, able and actively looking for work) increased to 78.4 million from 76.9 million in Q4 2015, representing in an increase in the labour force by 1.99 per cent.

“This means an additional 1,528,647 economicallyactive persons within 15 and 64 entered the labour force; that is, were able and willing and actively looking for work between January 1 and March 31, 2016.

This consisted of newly qualified graduates, new entrants into the economically active population (became 15 in Q1 2016) actively seeking work and

previous members of the economically active population that choose not to work for whatever reasons in earlier periods.”

On the other hand, the number of those in full time employment between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016, within ages 25 and34 increased by 0.22million.

Nigeria was therefore unable to create the 1.5million jobs required between Q4 2015 and Q1 2016 to keep the unemployment rate constant at 10.4 per cent in Q4 2015.

The agency said if its previous methodology was used, unemployment rate would have been 31.2 percent on March 31, 2016, from 29.2 percent in December 31, 2015, 27.3 percent in September 2015, 26.5 percent in June, 2015, 24.2 percent in March 2015, 23.9 percent in 2011 and 21.4 percent in 2010.

party constitution.

“Therefore, all actions of the Ali Modu Sherriff-led executive including the purported congresses and convention in Port Harcourt are null and void and an exercise in illegality.

“The action of the National Executive Committee of the party in selecting Senator Ali Modu Sherriff as Chairman of the party was in gross violation of the established procedure for the selection.

“The selection of the chairman for the unexpired term of the North East zone started with nominations from the states in the Zone. Senator Sheriff was not nominated by any state caucus, hence, not qualified to be selected.

“The decision to go ahead with the illegal convention in Port Harcourt in disobedience of a valid court judgment stopping the convention signals a worrisome trend that would further weaken the party to the delight of the fifth columnists working hard to truncate the historic role of the PDP to provide viable and constructive opposition to a rudderless government.”

Mantu also called on those who persisted in flouting court orders and returning to the culture of impunity to have a rethink and return to the original vision of the PDP. In her goodwill message at the convention, former National Woman Leader of the party, Inna Ciroma, said Borno state PDP suffered under Sheriff for 16 years and they were therefore not prepared to accept him as national chairman.

“We won elections and he scuttled it. Is PDP going to repay our suffering by imposing him on us?

We will not accept it,” she declared.

Hajiya Mairo Habib from Kaduna state frowned on the labeling of PDP politicians as corrupt, noting that corrupt people existed in every group and therefore, PDP should not be singled out for condemnation.

“We are not looters in PDP. In every association there are corrupt people.

Not just PDP,” she said.

In her message, Mrs. Remi Adiukwu pointed out that since inception of the party, the south west had not produced its national chairman and therefore demanded that the next party boss must emerge from the zone.

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news

Aftermath fuel price hike: Food prices skyrocket Tola Adenubi - Lagos

H

IGHER and higher go food prices across the country in reaction to fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government, findings by Sunday Tribune have revealed.

The prices of food items surveyed went up by as much as 100 per cent, while the increase was marginal in others.

The exchange rate of naira to the dollar had earlier skyrocketed food stuff prices, before the prices

further jumped as a result of increase in transport fare caused by petrol subsidy removal .

At Igando Multipurpose Market, in Lagos State, five litres of vegetable oil, which sold for N1,650 before subsidy removal, has increased to N2,000, just as a bag of baking flour, hitherto sold for N6, 000, has gone up to N9,200.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune, the head of the market, popularly called Iyalaje, Alhaja Latifah Mustapha, said a medium bag of rice, which used to

be N7, 500, had jumped to N12, 200.

“A kongo of gari used to sell for N250, but now goes for N500. A big tin tomato, which used to sell for N1, 100 is now N1, 500. A keg of kerosene, which earlier cost N250, now goes for N650, while a packet of spaghetti rose from N120 to N180.

“For some commodities that experienced 100 percent increment in their prices following the removal of the fuel subsidy, it is due to attendant increase in transportation fare.

“Some come as far as the Northern part of the country while some are sourced from neighboring towns and states. This affects the prices of the commodities because they are mostly brought to the market with vehicles that consumes fuel.

“Since they are mostly brought by vehicles that use fuel, many of our suppliers have increased the cost of foodstuff because the money they use in buying fuel has gone up, compared to what was obtainable prior to the removal of

From right, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele; Deputy Governor, Enonomic Policy Directorate of the CBN, Dr Sarah Alade; the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET), Mr Rumundaka Wonodi and the acting Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr Tony Akah, during the fourth batch disbursement of the CBN loan to the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility, at the CBN Conference Room, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Friday.

CBN disburses N55.46bn to 24 power firms Chima Nwokoji - Lagos THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Ministry of Power have pledged to partner to reduce challenges being faced by power generating and distribution companies in Nigeria.

To this effect, the apex bank has disbursed a total of N55.46 billion to 24 electricity distribution and generating companies as part of its N213 billion Nigerian Electricity Stabilsation Facility to the power sector.

This came as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, expressed hope that all direct and indirect problems of the sector would be solved.

Among beneficiaries of the latest fund are: three distribution companies (Discos); 14 generating companies (Gencos); one service provider and six

Sunday Tribune

22 May, 2016

gas distribution (Gascos) to further address the challenges of the sector.

The earliest beneficiaries of the special CBN power sector intervention facility are the Eko Electricity Distribution Company Plc and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company Plc, which received cheques

valued at N5.16 billion and N11.36 billion respectively.

CBN governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, at the signing ceremony in Lagos, on Friday, said the latest deal brought the total disbursements to the Discos to N49.73 billion (91.7 per cent); Gencos N54.29 billion (62.5 per cent), gas

companies N15.73 billion (36.9 per cent) and service providers N0.46 billion (1.7 per cent).

“With today’s event, the total disbursements under the initiative will be N120.2 billion, representing (57 per cent) of the total amount earmarked,” Emefiele disclosed.

fuel subsidy.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a bag of medium grain rice, is now N15, 500 from the N9,000 it was before last week. Prices of other staple food items have also gone up.

Prices of food items have

also shot up in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, with the basic items mostly affected.

Forty tubers of yam, which earlier cost N15,000, now sell for N20,000, while the price of rice increased from N9,000 to N14,500.

My son wasted his God-destined glory —Father of murdered cultist

By Oluwatoyin Malik THE father of the suspected cultist, Taiwo Martins popularly called Is Taiwo, who was murdered by suspected rival cultists on Wednesday, has said that his son deviated from the path he was brought up to tread.

Fifty-six-year-old Mr Martins Ayinde spoke with Sunday Tribune on Saturday, during a visit to his house at Papa area of Apete, a suburb of Ibadan, Oyo State.

Is Taiwo, who was said to belong to Eiye Confraternity before his death, was murdered by suspected members of Black Axe Confraternity also known as Aye at Akere area of Apete last Wednesday.

A reprisal was carried out the following day with the killing of two members of Aye Confraternity at Ijokodo-Agbaje area of Ibadan,

He added that the Intervention has enabled the Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) to provide bank guarantees to Nigerian Electricity Bulk Trader (NEBT), purchase of over 171,071 units of meters comprising both maximum demand and single phase meters.

about a kilometre to the spot where Is Taiwo was killed.

According to Mr Ayinde, “I brought him and his twin brother, Kehinde, up in the way of the Lord, but they deviated. I tried all my possible best but they refused to yield to voice of reason.

“There was a time I suspected the twins of being engaged in Yahoo (internet fraud) and I went to report them at the police station. At a point, I had to leave my personal house in 2010 and went to rent an apartment for a year as a result of the embarrassment their behaviour was causing me.

“I had always warned them that no good would come out of their criminal acts. When I retired from the Nigeria Police Force in 1993, as a corporal, I had only N80 in my account. I never had anyone’s property added to mine.

“The twins were born in 1992. There was a time I called them that they should not allow one of them to be sacrificed before the other would learn.

“About four years ago, the twins left home and went to rent a room somewhere.

Till Taiwo died, I didn’t know where he lived. They have a very good mother, and I also tried my possible best for them.”

Youths recover body of drowned soldier, hand over his rifle YOUTHS from Kalaba community, Bayelsa State, have recovered the remains and arms of a soldier who drowned while on escort duty at Taylor Creek.

Mr Samuel Oburo, Youth President, Kalaba community in Okordia, told the New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday that the rifle of the dead soldier was recovered by local divers, on Friday.

Oburo said the unidenti-

fied soldier was escorting oil workers from an oil spill site when he got drowned near an oilfield operated by Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Okordia, Yenagoa.

He said that residents recovered the remains of the soldier before the arrival of his colleagues from Elele Barracks.

“Some soldiers from Elele Barrack came around after the remains of the soldier were recovered and asked

me to mobilise local divers in search of the rifle of the soldier.

“We went in search of the gun and we recovered the rifle and handed it over to them, and another senior officer came to show appreciation to the community,” Oburo said.

A community source told NAN that the soldier on escort duty was drowned when a boat conveying oil workers across the Taylor

Creek capsized.

“The boat conveying the crew from Agip’s field capsized on their way back from the site at the oilfield and before help could come, the soldier got drowned.

“They were using a hand paddled canoe to transport the workers one at a time.

“The soldier was washing his boots when water entered that boat and it capsized and the rifle fell into the creeks. The other mem-

bers of the crew had crossed and were waiting for him to cross,” the source said.

The source also said that the attention of the fishermen operating along the creek was drawn to the distressed soldier and canoe driver of the ill-fated boat and they attempted to rescue him.

Spokesman of the Joint Military Force in the Niger Delta, Colonel Isa Ado, could not be reached on telephone for comments.

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22 May, 2016

crimereports

Sunday Tribune

edited by Oluwatoyin Malik 0807 889 1950, 0811 695 4633 praiseboy01@gmail.com

Aftermath of fuel price hike: Pipeline vandals increase price of stolen petrol As police arrest 6, recover 100 kegs Stories by Oluwatoyin Malik

A

S the federal government removed fuel subsidy and increased the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N145 per litre, those involved in vandalism have decided not to be left out as they have also increased the price they sell each 25-litre keg to their buyers. From N2,000, the price has been changed to N3,000.

This was the revelation when the Oyo State Police Command intercepted and arrested two different syndicates of suspected pipeline vandals in different parts of the state. While two suspects were intercepted at Mokola area of Ibadan on Thursday, May 19 by the Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS), Ibadan, at about 5a.m., four others were arrested at Ajaawa along Oyo-Ogbomoso highway by the SARS operatives in Oyo/ Ogbomoso annex.

Speaking with Crime Reports on the arrest on Friday, the state Commissioner of Police, Leye Oyebade gave the names of the Ibadan suspects as Abideen Olagunju (37) and Adewale Bello (41) while Moshood Jubril, Olasunkanmi Akanni, Sarafa Tajudeen and Yisa Popoola were arrested at Ajaawa.

Recovered from the Ibadan suspects were 100 kegs of 25-litre kegs filled with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and a Toyota bus with registration number KTU 748 XN. A Mazda bus with registration number BDS 176 XA, 100 25-litre kegs, an unregistered Mitsubishi car and a sum of N728,610 were also recovered from the Ajaawa suspects.

The police commissioner said that the Ibadan suspects confessed that the products were illegally siphoned from the NNPC

pipeline at Ida Vilage, along Akala Way, Elebu area, Ibadan, just as he decried the sabotage acts.

During Crime Reports’ interview with the Ibadan suspects, Olagunju said he was invited into the business by one Shobowale who is currently at large.

According to him, “Shobowale called me that he wanted to give me kegs of vegetable oil. I went with an empty bus. He took the vehicle from the driver and took it inside the bush.

When he brought the bus out, it was loaded with

kegs filled with petrol. But there was nothing I could do at that moment. We were conveying it when the police intercepted us. I became afraid when I called him after my arrest and he switched off his line.

“I knew him at Aba Ada Village where I have some friends. I saw him with kegs and when I asked him whether he was selling vegetable oil, he replied that he used to buy vegetable oil from drivers of tankers conveying such. He added that he also used to get petrol from tanker drivers.

We left the city centre at about 8p.m. We got to Ida community at about 9p.m. and Sobo took over the vehicle. He returned it about 3 a.m.”

Bello, who drove the intercepted bus also said: “The bus was given to me by its driver to convey goods to Iseyin/Saki axis but Olagunju approached me that he needed to use the bus to convey some kegs of vegetable oil. When we got there and we saw that it was vandals at work, we could not turn back because many of them

were armed with guns.

Shobowale took the bus from me and drove it inside the bush.”

Also speaking, one of the Ajaawa suspects, Moshood Jubril (38), who was reportedly released from detention over similar case less than three months ago, told Crime Reports: “Last Saturday, a friend, Oyewole, invited me to come and buy petrol, asking me to get a vehicle to convey them. I got the vehicle and waited for him at Onigaari along the OyoOgbomoso highway. Oye-

Some of the suspected vandals

wole came around 2a.m. and said that the pipeline was no longer flowing with petrol, asking us to leave.

“I am aware that he was getting the petrol from vandalised pipeline but he said he was getting the petrol from a leaking pipeline.

I started the illegal business in 2015. I had bought from some vandals in Lagos State. The goods were delivered to me at Ibafo area. I bought in Ogbomoso twice in 2015 before I fell sick then.

“I had once been arrested and paraded by the police in Lagos State.

I went to bail a man who was arrested by the police with kegs of petrol. It was a friend who asked me to go and bail him. It was when I got there that the police said my friend was a wanted man. Since increase in fuel price, Oyewole now sells a 25-litre keg for N3,000. I appeal to Nigerians to forgive me. I promise not to be involved in such a business again.”

Another suspect, Akanni, also confessed that he was invited by Oyewole to come with 100 kegs to buy fuel. “I knew the petrol was from vandalised pipeline.

I did the business once before now,” Akanni said further.

Maritime police intercept container with 801 expired used tyres, undeclared vehicle WITH the way road crashes attributed to tyre burst claimed lives in the recent times, importers of expired used tyres seem unbent in their drive to make more money, as it had been business as usual.

This was discovered by the Maritime Police Command in Lagos State recently when a 40-foot container on an Iveco truck with registration XG 509 ENU (ENUGU) that was

reportedly cleared at Apapa Port was discovered to be conveying 801 expired used tyres and some undeclared goods.

Disclosing the discovery to Crime Reports in Lagos on Thursday, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Maritime Police Command, Muhammad Musa Katsina, said that the container was shipped in from Dubai, in United Arab Emirates into

Nigeria’s territorial space.

According to AIG Katsina, “my men on surveillance duty somewhere in Lagos on May 6, 2016 at 12 midnight, intercepted the container, having been reliably informed, through our intelligence corridor, of the offensive materials being conveyed by the container.

“I ordered the stoppage of the container and it was brought to us. On a closer

examination, we discovered a red Toyota Camry 2010 model which was declared as 2001 model.

Inside the container, we found a Mercedes SUV 2014 model which was not declared at all. We also saw 801 used tyres which were all expired.

“If we had not intercepted the container, we learnt that the tyres were to be taken to an illegal secret processing area where

they would be subjected to re-treading and presented to the public as new ones.

This means that you and I would have unknowingly bought our own coffin by purchasing those tyres.”

“With the under-declaration, the government had been robbed of more than N2million. If you use the container as basis for generalisation, from Continues pg 7

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crimereports

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Man beats teenager to death over attempted defilement of daughter

By Oluwatoyin Malik

A

32-year-old man, Saheed Oladimeji, has been arrested by the Oyo State Police Command for allegedly beating a 14-year-old boy, Matthew Ohiosumuan to death over the accusation that he attempted to defile his sixyear-old daughter, Solia.

The incident occurred on May 5, 2016 at Adagbada area, Arola Community in Ido Local Government Area of the state at about 5p.m.

According to the information gathered by Crime Reports, Oladimeji allegedly kicked and rained blows on the deceased until he became unconscious and finally died. But the suspect claimed that he only used a rope to whip

The suspect, Saheed Oladineji

the boy, in addition to a slap on his buttocks.

Giving an account of what transpired prior to Matthew’s death, Oladimeji said: “Matthew was the son of our next-door neighbour. On May 5, he called my daughter, Solia, to run an errand for him, but shortly after, I heard my daughter saying ‘Brother Matthew, leave me alone’.

“I called out to her to come back home and as she came, her looks were hard and she was holding her underpants. I asked her what went wrong and she said it was Matthew who removed her pants and slept on her. Immediately Matthew saw me questioning my daughter ,he ran away.

“When Matthew’s brother, Seun, came from school,

I reported the former to him. Later, I asked one Abdulahi to call Matthew for me. When he came, I asked him why he did what he did to my daughter, but he denied it in the presence of his brother, saying that he only asked her to buy rice for him. I called my daughter and she repeated what she told me.

“I took a rope and used it to whip Matthew and in the process he ran away.

As he ran, he fell face down and fainted but I thought he was pretending. People poured water on him but he was just moving slightly. I took him to a nearby private hospital but as the doctor wanted to set drips for him, he discovered that he had stopped breathing.”

Oladimeji swore that he never hit the deceased’s head, but only slapped him

Maritime police intercept container with 801 expired used tyres, undeclared vehicle Continued from pg 6 what we have gathered, if 10 of these containers escape our watch in a day, then we would lose up to N20million per day.

“Multiply this by 30 days. The N600million would be enough to sink boreholes in guinea worminfested areas in the South East and fight desert encroachment in the North by buying trees and planting them,” the AIG analysed.

He said that the tragedy was that those responsible for this always smiled to the banks, purchasing mansions all over the world and using blood money to buy unmerited chieftaincy titles, adding that the Maritime Command was investigating how some of the items which were contraband found their way into Nigeria’s territorial space.

The AIG pointed out that the offence had international connection, saying that the Maritime Police Command would rely on INTERPOL to bring the principal actor who is residing in Dubai to Nigeria to face justice.

“Maritime Police Command under my watch will never spare any effort until we clean the environment and territorial waters of any act that has the capability of inflicting pains on

AIG Mohammed Musa Katsina showing journalists some of the expired tyres inside the container the people,” he stated.

He also advised members of the public to always approach credible companies and outlets for the purchase of tyres, saying “life has no duplicate.”

He promised to work with the Nigeria Customs Service to cut sharp practices by unscrupulous importers, pointing out that crime prevention is the duty of all security agencies.

Katsina stressed his determination in ensuring that the maritime environment is not only secured but aquatic criminals are identified, investigated and prosecuted.

In an interview with Crime Reports, the agent who cleared the container at the port, Okechukwu Ndubuisi, disclosed that the contents of the container stated in the documents were used

auto parts and a Toyota Camry 2010 model.

“I paid for the used auto parts and the Toyota Camry. But I don’t know of other things in the container. In my 30 years in this business, this is my first time of experiencing this kind of a thing. What is in the Bill of Lading is 2001 model but the chassis number reads 2010 model and what I paid for is 2010.

“There was physical examination at the Apapa port and the Customs tried their best but some of the things were hidden under the Toyota vehicle. The Customs officials told me there was under payment of N250,000 and I paid.

The importer paid the duty from Dubai. All I want to say is that I am sorry of any perceived wrong doing,” Ndubuisi said.

on the buttocks as he ran away. “I never intended to injure the boy, as I always encouraged him to face his studies or learn a vocation, so that he would be a responsible boy. He was close to me and I used to advise him a lot. I also used to give him clothes that had become tight on me.

“I am so pained by his death because it was unexpected. I pray that God should save me from this problem. If God should get me out of this, I would never beat any child, even my own child,” the murder suspect said.

Crime Reports also visited late Matthew’s father’s house and his brother, Seun, explained what transpired between the suspect and the deceased thus: “Oladimeji told me that my brother attempted to sleep with his daughter and showed me a rope that he intended to use to tie him down so that he could discipline him. When Matthew was called, he denied the allegation but the suspect did not believe him.

He first whipped him with a rope and I told him that the reprimand was enough but he did not listen to me. He started raining blows on his head, and two sides. This made Matthew to fall down but this did not deter Oladimeji. He started kicking the deceased so hard that passersby had to caution him not to kill him. But he replied that if Matthew died, he would go and bury at Powerline Cemetery at Apete.

“Unfortunately, Matthew could not get up.

But Oladimeji said he was pretending. When we noticed that he was gasping, we tried all we could to resuscitate him but all to no avail. That was when the suspect rushed him to a nearby hospital but my brother died before reaching the hospital.”

The father of the deceased, Mr Femi Ohiomasuan denied writing any letter of withdrawal from the case. He confirmed that Matthew was the only child his mother had for him.

When contacted, the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, Adekunle Ajisebutu, confirmed the story, saying that the suspect had been charged to court and remanded in prison.

8

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Traditional wedding ceremony between Jude Awani and former Miss Ose Tosan Ibru

PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA

From left, Professor Grace Alile Williams; the groom, Jude Awani and bride, former Miss Ose Ibru, during their traditional wedding ceremony at Landmark, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Saturday.

From left, co-chairman, African Newspapers of Nigeria (ANN) Plc, Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu; Mrs Cecilia Ibru and Mrs Kemi Davies.

From left, Mrs Ibru, Mrs Victoria Gowon, bride’s mother and chairman, The Guardian Newspapers, Mrs Maiden Ibru; former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon and Mrs Caroline Sodeinde.

From left, General Alani Akinrinade (rtd), Chief Femi Olopade and Chief Ayo Adebanjo.

Dr Olatokunbo Awolowo Dosumu (left) with General and Mrs T. Y. Danjuma.

From left, Mr Alexander Thompolous; Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Lagos State representing the governor of Lagos State, Mrs Lola Akande; representative of the bride’s father, Olorogun Oscar Ibu and Mrs Maiden Ibru.

From left, former governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, Mrs Maiden Ibru and Mrs Derin Osoba.

From left, Monsignor Christopher Boyo, Chief Kofi Cartey and Chief Felix Esisi.

Mrs Gbemi Shasore (left) and wife of former Lagos State governor, Mrs Abimbola Fashola.

General Akinrinde (left) and Chief Arthur Mbanefo.

9

life&living

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘All of us should prepare for self-defence’

Chief Gani Adams

Continued from pg 3 him, government seems to have failed to provide necessary security cover for the people.

“In my own point of view, in this kind of situation, the Igbo should understand that these people called Fulani herdsmen are heartless and the rearing of cattle is a private business. When Ndigbo go to the North, they buy land to build their shops to do their businesses. Therefore, the Fulani herdsmen should ranch their cattle to avoid the wrath of Igbo youths. The best form of defence is to attack. It is clear government can no longer protect us. We should be allowed to carry arms to defend ourselves,” he said.

Samuel Aniegbo, a trader, speaking on the issue, said: “The best way is what my brothers have said. That is for the herdsmen to leave Igboland because we have checked history and found out that they are not amenable to peace.

If we decide to give them another chance, with time they will still show their real character. Their religion which is Islam is different from our own. Arming ourselves is not the best solution.”

However, an Abia politician, Mazi Christopher Isiguzoro, did not agree with the above views. To him, Nigerians should avoid giving the attacks any ethnic or religious colourations.

“As far as I am concerned, what happened at Nimbo community and other places like Awgu, Umuchigbo and Aghatu were acts of criminality. I do not think it has ethnic or tribal colouration. I still see those who perpetrated those heinous crimes as criminals and should be handled as such. It is not about one saying Fulani herdsmen or pastoralists, it is one seeing the activities running contrary to express provisions of the law. Therefore, I will not say the Igbo should defend themselves; Hausa should defend themselves and Yoruba should themselves.

“I will rather say governments at different levels must protect lives and properties of citizens because that is the primary responsibility of any responsible government.

If you look at the issue critically, you will discover that these criminals have not only unleashed mayhem on residents of South-East zone, they have continued to destroy lives, properties and valuables across states in Nigeria.

Days back, 12 persons were killed in Zamfara State and Zamfara is not in the South-East. A few days ago also, farmlands were invaded, lives lost in Kaduna and Kaduna

is not in the South-East. In the case of Plateau, Benue, Nasarawa, it is in the public glare and these states are not in the South-East. Therefore, it will not be in the best interest of the unity of Nigeria and Nigerians to give the condemnable acts of these criminals ethnic, tribal or religious colouration. They should be seen as criminals and should not be spared under any guise,” Isiguzoro said.

Pastor Dan Obinebo, Founder/Spiritual Leader of Christian Victory Prayer Ministry, Enugu, did not agree with Mazi Isiguzoro. As far as he is concerned, religious and ethnic undercurrents could not be ruled out of the attacks.

“The activities of Fulani herdsmen are not different from Jihad. They want to Islamise Igboland and the rest of Nigeria. We will defend ourselves with prayers. God will not allow it to happen. How we will defend ourselves is a security issue which should not be discussed on the pages of newspapers. The wicked will not go unpunished.

Nigeria is a secular state and it will remain so,” he said.

‘Yoruba should be ready for self-defence’ The national coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress, Chief Gani Adams, while lending his voice to the debate on the rampaging herdsmen in an interview with Sunday Tribune, called on every community in Yorubaland to be “prepared for self-defence” by creating a complementary security arrangement to what the law enforcement agencies are providing.

He said this was necessary in view of the uncompro-

One of the important laws in heaven is self-defence. We are not asking the Yoruba people to attack the Fulani people as long as they are law-abiding in our community

mising stand of the Fulani herdsmen who have refused to be law-abiding and live in harmony with their host communities.

“It is advisable that the Yoruba people and every community should put their house in order. When you have a property and you realise that the government and the law enforcement agencies cannot protect you, it is your duty and responsibility to make provisions to protect yourself.

“One of the important laws in heaven is self-defence.

We are not asking the Yoruba people to attack the Fulani people as long as they are law-abiding in our communities, but in a situation where they invade your territory and kill innocent people and destroy your properties, I will appeal to our people to be prepared for self-defence to complement the activities of the security agencies,” Adams said.

He also added that “our organisation lost one of our coordinators in Ondo State recently and till now, the law enforcement agencies have not arrested the culprit. In a situation where an important personality such as Chief Olu Falae, a former Minister of Finance, former Secretary to the government of the Federation, an elder statesman of high calibre could not be protected, it is very paramount for the Yoruba to defend themselves.

“Nigeria is for all of us. Our people in the northern region comport themselves. They respect the cultures and traditions of the northern people. We want the Fulani herdsmen to reciprocate the gesture from our people,” Chief Adams stated.

State police There were also those who are arguing for the establishment of state police. To them, the state police could have done a better job in preventing the Uzouwani attack.

Many of them, including Governor Ugwuanyi, were angry because despite an intelligence report that the herdsmen were coming, well before they actually struck, they were still able to strike and with such viciousness. They were also angry because the police authorities had to wait for instructions from the Presidency before taking actions against the attackers.

The pro-state poice agitators believe that if state police had been in place, the state governor who was already aware of the intelligence report would have been able to give prompt approval to any security measure taken to combat the herdsmen.

10

interview

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Herdsmen carrying arms are beneficiaries of Arab Spring, not Fulani —Saleh Bayeri Alhaji Saleh Bayeri is an activist and a former National Secretary of Meytti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, an umbrella body for Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria. The activist who is presently the Secretary Board of Trustees of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria a new Fulani umbrella body speaks with ISAAC SHOBAYO on the killings by Fulani herdsmen in some parts of Nigeria. Excerpt:

I

N the past few months, the Fulani herdsmen have been on rampage killing innocent souls, what is your association which is the umbrella body of herdsmen in the country doing to arrest this situation?

I remember vividly in 2013, I was then the protem Secretary of Maiyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, we were invited to the National Assembly specifically at the House of Representatives under the Agriculture Committee headed by Hon. Mongunu for a public hearing on the bill called the National Grazing Reserve and cattle route Commission sponsored initially by Senator Zainab Kure and also by one Sunday. As of that time the National Grazing and Cattle route Commission bill had scaled second reading but we thought that with the public hearing within three months that we are going to have a National Commission on Grazing Reserve and Cattle commission bill to help us demarcate either on local government basis, either on state basis, zonal basis or on National basis and to help us to demarcate how we are going to monitor the movement of herdsmen in this country and out of the country.

Because we fear that the people like herdsmen that are often refer to as those who are boarder blind, because they don’t bother about boundaries, what they take as boundary could be either river or desert.

Once there is grass from here to South Africa, from here to Algeria they would move there, they don’t mind for how long they would be outside the country they call their own. The people that are screaming that farmers are being eliminated and genocide are being wage against farmers that the federal government should provide solution But the general impression or belief is that grazing method is becoming outdated all over the world, why is it difficult to embrace this in Nigeria?

There is nowhere people culture is banned, except you do not agree that cattle rearing is a culture of people. I still believe that we have animists in this country, we have people who go to the shrines despite our many years of adopting both Christianity and Islam, and there are people who still wear their traditional costumes.

First of all, our people have been migratory, it took us seven years to persuade them to accept grazing reserve with cattle route so that if it is convincing and convenient to you, you stay, if not you have an exit out and that exit might be used by another herdsman who may have been moving from one place to another or he want to relocate and the person going out would be registered out and possibly the commission will hand him over to the next place he is going to ensure foreigners do not have access to this gracing reserve and it is only in this grazing reserve that you find herdsmen. Gradually, if you have grazing reserve, you will finally end up having ranches.

What is the way out?

There is no way you can stop herdsmen

defend yourself, you will be no more. What we are saying is that if we have grazing reserve there are lot of benefits, if you come in as foreigner, you register; every state in Nigeria would have grazing reserve. Through grazing reserve your exit and coming are monitored, if you are a foreigner they would ask what are you looking for, how long are you staying, are you staying permanently, is that allow by ECOWAS and Nigeria constitution, the commission will be given the responsibility of monitoring activities of herdsmen where ever that are in the country

Alhaji Saleh Bayeri

from going to another West African country because they have brothers and sisters there. So these people as far as I know they are people in Nigeria, if you go to Cameroon there is no way you will not find Fulani herdsmen there but the atmosphere in Nigeria has not been herdsmen friendly that is why there have been movement. Until these people are arrested and identified before we can conclude that they are foreigners, identification has not being made whether they are Nigerian or not because of the ECWAS protocol free movement because if somebody is caught and is not carrying identity card of Cameroon or Niger, there is no way you will know but those ones grazing animals in the bush know but they are handicapped because some of those people have more arms than our people because

Every human being is an animal and every animal has an instinct for survival, the instinct is to defend yourselves, knowing that if you don’t defend yourself, you will be no more.

they are beneficiaries of the Arab Spring, they are from Mali, Chad, Niger, Senegal, Mauritania and so forth. These are places that are inhabited seventy percent by the Fulani. Somebody was telling me that if you take five bags of maize to Niger Republic you will get five AK 47s and I believe him because these arms are coming in on camels, donkeys, horses and so on. So it is not the way Nigerians see this thing, so that is why we are saying we should think first as Nigerians, and love one another, if all these exist among our people, the local Fulani will co-operate with their Nigerian brothers to identify the foreigners coming to cause confusion.

Are you calling for the arrest of herdsmen who are not from Nigeria?

What I am saying is that if we have grazing reserve, I don’t know if you have seen National Grazing Reserve Bill , it is one of the fines document I have ever seen in my life because there are checks and balances for everybody both for the farmers and the herdsmen and of course there is nothing that would be done that there would be no negative aspect, it is not meant to dispossess anybody of his farm land anywhere, these land belong to Nigeria and it is time we realize that these herdsmen are Nigerians too and that is why they would fight with their last blood because they have no country to run to and there is no tribe in Nigeria that would be attacked and said leave Nigeria that would not fight back. Every human being is an animal and every animal has an instinct for survival, the instinct is to defend yourselves, knowing that if you don’t

Quite a lot of people are crying and want the attack on herdsmen to cease. What is your association doing to tame the ugly incident?

I have three hundred of places where Fulani herdsmen are crying, you wouldn’t know that everywhere you mentioned that farmers are crying, I can tell you that for the last fifty years the Fulani have been crying, the herdsmen have been losing human lives, we have the inventory that we said we are ready to give. Within a period of twenty years we had lost a total of 50, 000 herdsmen in Nigeria between 1999 to date. So if there is National Commission of Inquiry, if the herdsmen decide to bring out their victims a lot of these people that are screaming today they may be jailed, some may even be sentenced to death because it would be discovered that they are responsible for what has happened. The unfortunate thing is that the Fulani man is like the Jews, he suffered the same thing with the Jews, like the Jews when the Palestinian kill one they would killed one hundred, may be to serve as a deterrent or to have aggregate figure vis viz an aggregate of majority and minority. What happen is that Fulani person if you killed one when he realizes that if he does nothing, you see him behaving like it is 1000 that had been killed, may be what he is doing it to serve as deterrent or may be if he didn’t do it, he might be wipe out from the surface of the earth.

Are you saying they are on revenge mission?

The truth is that the Fulani is not the first aggressor in any given situation I know of.

I have been with Fulani people, I am their product, I have gone to school to a reasonable level, I have not lost touch with them. I have identified with their lawful cause based on what they do for a living. I will talk without sentiment that wherever you find a Fulani man he is a peaceful person. The fight with the farmers is not in every state, then why is it not happening in some states?, in the entire northern state with the exception of Benue state there is semblance of grazing reserve, there is one grazing reserve in Ogun State, there are two in Oyo, they were functioning until recently the whole thing become ethno religious, there are two in Oyo gazetted. It has been there at Obudu cattle ranch, that is why Benue becomes number one problem area in the entire north and even in the north central because for one day they never tolerated any peaceful relationship with the herdsmen.

11

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

specialreport Beauty pageants or sexual abuse?

The attraction… the intrigues Fifteen years ago, Agbani Darego, then an 18-year-old Computer Science student became the first black African Miss World. The infamous gaffe by Steve Harvey at the Miss Universe pageant that beauty pageants were phasing out notwithstand, beauty pageants are here for good, especially with the inclusion of various categories, including, men, fat women, children and its adoption by the traditionally strict Islamic world. RITA OKONOBOH in this report examines the peculiarities associated with pageantry.

B

EAUTY pageants, within Nigeria and beyond, trace their origins to the power play between the gods and village maiden parades, many of which involved defining beauty as it relates to the female folk. In traditional settings, maidens were invited to parade themselves, in the form of dances and general celebrations, depending on the practice. Some of these traditions are still in existence today.

Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola, Miss World Muslimah 2013

A beauty parade of women.

Photo:www.fadan.ng

Why pageantry?

Some historic accounts link beauty pageants to outdoor parades in which wives were chosen, or as mere forms of entertainment. A few accounts have also linked the emergence of beauty pageants to biblical times, with the example of Queen Esther. In Nigeria, beauty pageants saw a major reckoning with Daily Times organising the first Miss Nigeria pageant in 1957. Today, Miss Nigeria is one of the most popular pageants as it showcases positive attributes of Nigerian women. The winner is expected to

portray exemplary qualities and serve as a role model for young women.

Of note among popular pageant organisers are the Bruce brothers—Ben, Guy and others with their Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria show.

Abuse of the female anatomy?

Despite the popularity it has gained over the years, many people have wondered why beauty pageantry should be encouraged, as it is usually perceived to be an abuse of the female anatomy. Isaac Brown, a pageant organiser while acknowledging this notion, clarified that that is why the pageants he organises discourage nudity.

“Our society seems to have a certain view about pageants. Some see it as a debasement of womanhood, because of the exposure. That’s why our pageants do not promote nudity. That’s why we do not have bikini paContinues pg 12

12

specialreport

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘Sometimes, even contestants offer sexual favours for the crown’ Continued from pg 11 rades. Our pageants have three basic appearances: casual, traditional and evening,” he explained.

Miss Onyinye Ezenneka, a former pageant contestant, posits that such insinuations that beauty pageants are debasing to the womenfolk are a short-sighted perception and absolutely false. In her view, “beauty pageants serve as a platform to empower young ladies and awaken their consciousness. It has helped create awareness and reduce poverty. A few benefits of beauty pageant that counter the perception of exploitation of the female anatomy include: helping participants overcome shyness and stage fright and raising better public speakers and effective communicators.

“Also, it is lucrative and serves as an avenue for employment for the youth. It has acted as a springboard for bringing out a number of young women to the limelight, which is the dream of any average young lady in the country. Beauty pageants also serve as a platform for them to exhibit their talents, make money to take care of their immediate families and also give back to the society.”

“These young women have projects tailored towards benefiting the society positively. Beauty pageants also create programming and serve as a way of promoting our rich cultural heritage. It’s an economically positive venture for the organisers and the society, especially with those who are involved. It is also a platform to discover talent. In the past years, we have also used the platform to create awareness of HIV/AIDS.” In the opinion of Miss Mariam Yusuf, a former beauty pageant, “pageants help in giving back to the community. You may not have the money to carry out the project, but your position as a queen can give you access to those who can help develop your society. As a queen, you can create acquisition centres for boys and girls to learn skills like tailoring, baking, makeup, e.t.c. That is a viable means of reducing unemployment.

For Ezenneka, “beauty pageants are not only entertaining, but educative and innovative, contrary t o

Benefits For Isaac Brown, the benefits are many. Beauty pageants add value, create entertainment and give young women opportunities to affect the society.

popular beliefs. I think there is a great misconception and stigma about the people that organise and participate in beauty pageants. I have come across the most articulate, business savvy, goal-oriented young females that partake in beauty pageants.

Fraud, sexual harrassment But do contestants really suffer sexual blackmail and abuse from the male organisers Brown speaking on the issue: “We know that there are organisers who are involved in shady deals as it relates to beauty

A few benefits of beauty pageant that counters the perception of exploitation of the female anatomy include: helping participants overcome shyness and stage fright and raising better public speakers and effective communicators

Mariam Ashley Yusuf, Miss Ambassador for Peace, South-South Nigeria

Isaac ‘Brown’ Ogini

Miss Evangelista Onyinye Ezenneka, Miss Olokun 2010

pageants, but, like every other business, what determines how long a person stays in that business is credibility and integrity.

Organisers who thrive on fraud and sexual harassment should know that with women, the news will spread. They will share it with their friends and once such news gets out, such an organiser will lose credibility and such pageants will phase out.”

“Like every business, shady moves may get you instant reward, but will bring long term sorrow. The pressure is there. There is also the issue of bribery. In fact, some beauty pageant organisers are under pressure of sexual harassment from the contestants who want to win at all costs. So, it goes both ways.”

Ezenneka, in her own reaction, said “I won’t deny the fact that I have occasionally heard ladies complain of being harassed by their agents or pageant organisers, but I have not experienced anything of such.

I think the way you carry yourself sometimes commands respect from others. I will never accuse a victim of being responsible for harassment. But I also feel you send the wrong message to people when you present yourself as willing to win at all costs.

The greatest fun in the process is participation and meeting people, so you can learn from them as they learn from you.

Ensuring you are focused, and surrounding yourself with people of similar values, guarantees that you are never exposed to ridicule or harassment. I encourage victims of such fraud and harassment to speak up so their voices can be heard and we can begin to sanction, and in adverse cases, file police reports against these perpetrators,” she stated.

Future of pageantry As long as people appreciate beauty and would love to celebrate it, there would always be pageants.

“As long as we keep having women, people will celebrate women. It may seem that interest in beauty pageants is dwindling and ratings have plummeted, especially with women becoming more assertive, however, the audience is still there. With the parade of women on social media and music videos, that may also have contributed to the reduced interest. In spite of that, beauty pageants have come to stay,” Brown said.

In Miss Ezenneka’s view, “young women have strong opinions about public policies, value systems, aspirations and community engagement so they can always champion causes for the underprivileged and for those without a voice or platform.

I guess there is a correlation between pageantry, modelling, fashion design, public speaking and communication.

I feel there has to be an opportunity for a pageant participant to transition into other career paths. Modeling for the most part is defined as a passing phase on the journey of life, but I disagree. I feel we can continue to be models and spokespersons for products and services for upstanding organisations that drive the concept of people before profits.

Hence a model can be young, old, short, fat, tall, whatsoever. I think people should not be defined based on their physical attributes alone but by the character of their hearts. Beauty contests should encompass not only the physical, but also aptitude test to ensure our brightest, smartest and most beautiful end up as the winners and ambassadors of the industry.”

13 Continued from

I

22 May, 2016 last week

T includes the reorganization of the rural areas into optimum communities or opticoms which will be supplied with all the modern amenities that are provided for town dwellers, like pipe-borne water, electricity, decent housing, roads, and of course modernization of farming methods with a view to enhancing considerably the incomes of farmers.

3. Free health care - both preventive and curative - for all. Other things being equal, the productivity of everyone of us, in any sphere, depends on the degree of health each of us enjoys. And if our aim is to develop every Nigerian in order that Nigeria may become developed, then it is the duty of the Government of the day to ensure that everyone of us is as healthy as modern medical science can make him. Our emphasis is going to be on preventive health care because we realize that prevention is not only better but also cheaper than cure, and that, in the words of the World Health Organization: Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

4. Full employment. From our point of view, one of the worst contributories to economic underdevelopment is under-employment or unemployment of human resources. If man is the prime mover of any economy as we have rightly identified him to be, no stone should be left unturned - first to develop him, and then to employ him.

Certain issues have emerged, especially with reference to our educational programme, two of which deserve attention in this statement. They are the issues of feasibility and electioneering relevance.

As regards feasibility, three points call for explanation: (1) cost in relation to revenue; (2) provision of classrooms; and (3) availability of teachers.

With reference to cost and revenue, Table 8.2 sets out our cost projections for education, showing: Recurrent, Capital and Total Costs and in particular shows what the National Education Budget would look like when by the Grace of God, we come to power on October I, this year.

The figures speak for themselves. -But it is necessary to point out that the total projected Budgets for 1979-80 (our first year of office) and 1982-83 (our last year of office in the first term) are respectively N 2.421 billion and * 4.845 billion. As against these costs the projected revenues as disclosed in Table 8.7, are N 12.70 billion for 1979-80, and: N 22.75 billion for 1982-83.

It will be seen that the projected cost of education is 19 percent of the projected revenue for 1979-80 and 21.3 percent for 1982-83. I want to reiterate, with all, the em-

Sunday Tribune

Concerning additional classrooms, these will not be required until September, 1980’. In our experience, the dry season of October, 1979 to April, 1980 is more than enough to build the number of classrooms required.

Awo’s thoughts

Table 8.1 Revenue raised by each level of government YEAR

PATH TO NIGERIAN GREATNESS

On the campaign trail Fundamental issues in nigeria’s economic development

phasis at my command that, if the need arises, the UPN is prepared to spend one-third of our total revenue on education.

ALL LOCAL

TOTAL

FEDERAL

ALL STATES

GOVERNMENTS

NIGERIA

N MILLION

N MILLION

N MILLION

N MILLION

1970 -71

758.1

91.0

50.9

900.0

1972 -73

1390.0

142.4

85.6

1618.0

1973 -74

2171.1

225.6

105.3

2502.0

1974 -75

5177.1

335.9

122.6

5635.6

1975 -76

5856.2

451.8

135.0

6443.0

1976 -77

5057.2

710.3

152.6

7920.1

1977 -78*

7966.2

810.4

210.8

8987.4

1978 -79*

9995.0

920.8

224.0

11,140.0

* Estimates. Actual figures up to 1976 -77. Estimates in 1977/78 and 1978/79.

Sources: All Government Budgets - Federal, State and Local Governments.

Table 8.2 The National Education Budget (N) TOTAL

ADMINISTRATIVE

RECURRENT

CAPITAL

TOTAL EDUCATION

YEAR

RECURRENT COSTS

COST

BUDGET

BUDGET

BUDGET

1979/80

1,610,209,313

126,816,745

1,739,026,058

628,143,881

2,421,169,739

80/81

2,117,773,486

169,421,879

2,287,195,365

665,782,475

2,925,977,840

81/82

2,760,419,146

220,833,532

2,981,252,678

859,421,608

3,840,674,286

82/83

3,589,056,887

287,124,551

3,876,181,438

969,214,868

4,845,396,306

83/84

4,557,445,480

364,595,638

4,922,041,118

1,034,563,798

5,956,604,916

84/85

5,637,637,270

451,010,982

6,088,648,252

554,372,713

6,643,020,965

85/86

6,463,399,496

517,071,960

6,980,471,456

533,081,572

7,513,553,028

86/87

7,298,536,973

583,882,958

7,882,419,931

423,083,091

8,305,503,022

87/88

8,153,514,653

652,281,172

8,805,795,825

499,498,688

9,305,294,513

88/89

9,154,843,299

732,387,464

9,887,230,763

631,898,983

10,519,129,750

89/90

10,392,010,330

831,360,826

11,223,371,160

322,351,356

11,545,722,516

To be continued

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feature

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Recruited as sex slave…

Ladies rescued on the way to Burkina Faso

By Oluwatoyin Malik

L

OOKING at Naomi Aiyamakhue, one would put her age at between 12 and 14. Her frail figure and baby looks say nothing else. But whether it was the tutorial she was given before embarking on a journey to Burkina Faso or she was saying the truth, Naomi gave her age as 16 years.

Naomi was one of the five girls rescued by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Oyo State from human traffickers when the bus conveying them was intercepted at Iseyin area of Oyo State on Saturday, May 14, 2016.

Even as the Comptroller of Immigration, Mrs Victoria Isang, spoke with journalists on how the girls were intercepted, it was hard to guess the thoughts running through their minds, as they kept placid faces. Even one of them, Ella, was very snappy when Sunday Tribune sought to have an interview with her.

Speaking on how the girls were rescued on Monday, May 16, the Comptroller said they were on their way to Saki with their traffickers, one Frank Osifo and Kolawole, with the intention of transporting them to Burkina Faso for prostitution, when they were intercepted by her men at Iseyin border axis.

She added that Mr Osifo, in his confessional statement, mentioned other members of the syndicate including Mr Eghe a.k.a Superstar (syndicate leader), Chris, Andrew and Kola - all indigenes of Edo State residing in Benin.

“According to the girls, the gang forcefully and illegally recruited them without the consent of their parents and had performed some initiation rites on them with the marks seen on their foreheads, tongues and the nape of their necks,” the Controller told Sunday Tribune.

The rescue of the girls has, however, shown that there are still many recalcitrant traffickers in spite of efforts by the federal government through the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) to curb the illegal activities of those who use the young ladies as sex slaves after deceiving them into believing that they were going abroad to seek greener pastures and earn foreign currency.

The comptroller, who decried the activities of the traffickers, advised parents and guardians to be wary and careful of persons they give the custody of their children and wards to.

“The danger in this practice far outweighs the supposed advantages usually proposed to parents More often than not, we have realised that the greener pastures usually end up in death and abuse of these girls,” Isang added, enjoining them to assist the Nigeria Immigration Service in the efforts to rid Nigeria and Oyo State of unscrupulous people such as members of the syndicate.

Sunday Tribune spoke with some of the girls and the suspected trafficker. Below are the excerpts of the interview: Iyamu Mary (20) On Friday, May 13, one man called Andrew came to my house to ask me whether

I would like to travel and I said yes, but not now. Andrew was my neighbour. I was living with my mother. I told my mother but she said I should not go. When I told Andrew he said he would take me to a man’s house. But he never told me I would be going for prostitution.

Before I knew it, he took me to the man called Superstar who made marks on our heads, tongues and back of our necks in a shrine with needle and rubbed a black substance into the marks. When I told him I wanted to go back home, Superstar said I could not go, insisting I would stay with him. That was how we embarked on a journey to an unknown place until we were intercepted by immigration officials. I feel so bad and I don’t want to travel again.

Naomi Aiyamakhue (16) I am from Benin, Edo State and I am in SSS2. I was at home when one Uncle Chris came to call me that a man wanted to see me. I lived in the same area with Chris in the past so I was not afraid to follow him.

He took me to the house of a man called Superstar. When I got there with other girls, the first thing Superstar made were marks on our foreheads with needle.

We were surprised and when we expressed surprise, Superstar said we should not be worried, saying he was taking us somewhere. One of us overheard them discussing that they were taking us

to Malaysia. When we heard this, we went to Superstar to tell him that we were not interested in going to Malaysia, expressing our desire to return home. But he replied that since he had already given us marks, we could not go back home.

We heard them speak in Bini language that they could not allow us to go back home again. They took us to a hotel same day and locked us in a room. We wanted to run away but the window of the hotel room had burglary proof. The following morning, Saturday, we were given black clothes and trousers to put on. We were taken to the motor park on Saturday and tutored to tell security agents on the way that we were going for our father’s burial. They didn’t tell us that we were being taken somewhere.

Bridget Aideyan (16) I am a Bini girl and in SSS2. I was taken to Superstar by Chris who said the man wanted to see me. I went to the man and he asked me to sit down. After a while,

One of the important laws in heaven is self defence. We are not asking the Yoruba people to attack the Fulani people as long as they are law abiding in our community

Superstar asked me to follow him to the backyard of his house. It was there he used needle to make marks on my forehead, tongue and nape of my neck.

I enquired about what he was trying to do to me but he said I should not worry. It was a friend who was among us, Orobosa, who heard them speaking in Bini language that we were to be taken to Malaysia. I said it is not possible to go to Malaysia without passport but the man said we should not worry, that we would go when we get to Lagos. I said I have not informed my parents, but Superstar discouraged me, saying that there was no need for that.

From his house, they took us to a hotel and locked us up in a room. The next morning, they took us to the motor park and we boarded a cab to Ibadan. In Ibadan, we boarded a Saki-bound bus but on the way we were stopped by Immigrations officials. We told them we were going for our father’s burial.

We were tutored on this by Mr Osifo after we were given black blouses and trousers, black bead and earrings. But after much interrogation, we told the officials the truth.

Frank Osifo (41) I am from Benin. This is the first time I’m participating in such business. On Friday, I was washing when Eghe a.k.a.

Superstar called me and said his friend, Kola, was taking the girls to Saki, asking that I should escort him and the girls to Saki before returning to Benin. He promised to pay me N15,000, out of which he gave me N1000.

It was Kola who suggested that the girls and I should put on black tops, but he did not put such cloth on. That was why he was able to mix with other passengers and run away without the officials knowing that he was one of us. I was outside of the shrine so I didn’t know what was done to the girls inside.

15

22 May, 2016

children’sarena of C th hil ew d ee k

pr ov e rb “A hungry wolf is fixed to no place” • A desperate person will go from place to place in order to satisfy their needs.

Sunday Tribune Olaide Sokoya ollydesanmi@yahoo.com 0807 449 7425

Words from the kids

What I prefer between foreign, traditional outfits

Compiled by Temitayo Iliasu

Adediran Umar

Ayoola

clocks 10 Many happy returns

Vulture

•Vultures are nature’s garbage men. They might not have the cleanest job, but without them the earth would get pretty stinky.

•Vultures eat animals that have died in the wild. Without them, these animals would rot and smell.

•Their heads and necks are almost bare so they stay clean

while feasting on rotten meat.

Vultures also have strong immune systems so they don’t get sick.

If you ate rotten meat, you’d probably get pretty sick, but vultures do just fine.

•Vultures have wide, strong wings. They can glide in the air for hours looking for a meal.

•Vultures eat as much as they can at one meal. They never know when the next meal will come.

•These big birds sometimes attack sick or dying animals.

•Vultures live in every part of the world except Australia and the Antarctica.

•Some vultures are endangered.

•Vultures have sharp hooked beaks and talons.

•Vultures sometimes drop eggs to break them or hit them against rocks.

•Egyptians and Native Americans used vultures in burial ceremonies.

Fa mo u s I n ve n tion Brief history of the wall clock

A

clock is a mechanical or electrical device for displaying time. A clock is a machine in which a device that performs regular movements in equal intervals of time is linked to a counting mechanism that records the number of movements. All clocks, of whatever form, are made on this principle.

The oldest surviving clock in England is that at Salisbury Cathedral, which dates back to 1386. A clock erected at Rouen,

France, in 1389 is still there and one built for Wells Cathedral in England is preserved in the Science Museum in London. The Salisbury clock strikes the hours, and those of Rouen and Wells also have mechanisms for chiming at the quarter hour.

These clocks are large, ironframed structures driven by falling weights attached to a cord wrapped around a drum and regulated by a mechanism known as a verge (or crown wheel) escapement.

Their errors probably were as large as a half hour per day.

The first domestic clocks were smaller wall-mounted versions of these large public clocks. They appeared late in the 14th Century, and few examples have survived; most of them, extremely austere in design, had no cases or means of protection from dust.

—Afolabi Malik, Jss 1, 12 yrs

—Princess Dairo, Jss 1, 11yrs.

I am more comfortable in foreign wears because I discover that they always fit my body. They also make me look smart whenever I wear them. I wear them to every occasion. You can never see jeans tearing anyhow like traditional wear.

I am very comfortable in foreign wears. I love wearing them because I alway feel free unlike when I’m in traditional wears. Foreign wears are more beautiful than traditional wears and they are also suitable for all parties. A lot of people prefer foreign wears to traditional clothes.

—Eguagie Destiny, Jss 2, 13 yrs.

I am more comfortable in foreign wears. The reason is that the clothes are cut in a way that it will look straight, neat and smart on the body. Moreover, that is what is in vogue now. Virtually all persons wear them on a daily basis.

For example, it does not look formal when a banker is in traditional wears rather than being in suit.

—Obakhume Helen, Jss 2, 12 yrs I am comfortable in foreign wears because they make one look reasonable, beautiful and attractive. They also portray one’s profession. Another reason is that they make one looks smart. The last reason is that they are generally acceptable as formal clothes, for example, you wear suit to business meetings, not traditional clothes.

—Ogunniran Emmanuel, Jss 3, 13 yrs

—Bamgboye Yinjesu Eunice, Jss 3, 13 yrs.

I like traditional wears and I am always comfortable whenever I wear them. My traditional clothes are designed into attractive, smart and creative styles. They depict our culture and traditions and show that I am a bonafide Yoruba child and I am not ashamed of my roots. By my dressing alone, one can tell where I come from and I am always lively whenever I put them on.

I am more comfortable in foreign wears because they make me look attractive and cute, they are always beautiful whenever I put them on; be they skirts, gowns or anything. They also have the tendency to make me look unique whenever I put them on and they also make me look responsible.

All students are from Dominion Int’l School, Apete, Ibadan, Oyo State.

16

22 May, 2016

W

HILE penning this tribute to doggedness Friday morning, Canadian-Nigerian Fadesola, was taking off from Okene enroute Lagos.

As you are reading this, by God’s grace, the 25-year-old should be in Owo, Ondo State. Fade, as we fondly call the tenacious, strong-willed jolly fellow, is doing a 17-day cross-country race from Abuja to Lagos. He is not running for President Muhammadu Buhari, though his medical doctor father, Dr. Adesola Adedayo, is a chieftain of APC and two-term chairman of Apapa-Iganmu LCDA in Lagos.

It would be more like running away from Buhari now for any energetic young man, with the unprecedented hardship in the land. But my spirit isn’t writing this administration off.

Fade isn’t running because of faith in his father’s ruling party, Buhari or the system. He can be harsh in his commentaries on Nigerian politics, with his heavily-accented delivery. What do you expect from someone domiciling in a society where nearly everything works? But he isn’t giving up on the nation and her people, though he is running with a lot of personal pains to save humanity in his fatherland.

The fantastically-corrupt Lagos health sector killed his only doctor-brother, Dr Adeyosola Adedayo. The March 2012 tragedy left a gaping hole in the heart of the closely-knit family. After qualifying as a medical doctor in UK, Yosola was in Nigeria to serve his fatherland via the NYSC scheme. While treating a patient with HIV at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), he had a needle-spike injury, which got him exposed to the infection.

He had post-exposure prophylaxis, (excessive reaction to the drugs used in treating him). He developed the muchdreaded Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (excessive allergy which hits all organs of the body with boil-like symptom).

He became an emergency case. Yosola was on life-saving Ventilator when the generating set suddenly packed up.

No back-up. The parents rallied but poignant moments had been lost to mismanagement, poor leadership, deepseated corruption, government insensitivity and general lack of value for life.

And Yosola, a father of an eight-month old boy, died. He was just 28 years. 2007 University of Birmingham graduate; MBA from Cranfield, UK and doing his specialty in pediatrics. Lost irretrievably to a society that consumes its best and celebrates its dregs.

Efforts at justice were thwarted by the government of Raji Babatunde Fashola. And to think Dr. Adedayo was

THE rising wave of crime and criminality in the country has brought to the fore again the issue of state police. Kidnapping, armed robbery, ritual killing, gang wars have lost their shocking effect because they have become an everyday affair. Although those in power are averse to this, I am of the persuasion that it is the way to go to ensure that the security situation in the country does not get out of control.

During the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, a group of former inspectors general of the Nigeria Police met with him and expressed their opposition to the establishment of state police, saying it would constitute a threat to the continued existence of the country. Their premise was that the misuse of local police during the First Republic precipitated a series of crises that threatened the corporate existence of the country. So, the ex-police chiefs said introducing state policing would be a replay of the country’s inglorious past of abuse of the police by the political class.

According to them, “We are of the opinion that the clamour (for state police) is not in the best interest of this nascent democracy and would be a recipe for a state of anomie...The establishment of state police will bring us back to the days of ethnic militias where the OPC, MASSOB, Egbesu, ECOMOG and Yankalare held sway.”

The former police chiefs added, “Putting into consideration the political climate operating in our country, a state police would only be a tool in the hands of political leaders at the state level.”

Since then, a number of commentators have also submitted that given the mismanagement of the state independent electoral commissions by governors, allowing states to run their own police would be synonymous to ceding to state governors the powers of life and death. Their argument is that governors have pocketed their state electoral bodies such that only the ruling party in the state ever wins any election conducted by the state electoral commissions.

These commentators aver that if allowed to control the police, state governors would, rather than use the police to protect the people, turn same to a terror machine for the liquidation of political adversaries.

0811 695 4647

olanreade@yahoo.com

Nigerians, hail Fadesola, your hero

part of that administration! You can see through Dr. Adedayo’s pains and frustration. He says the battle for justice is for those without capacity to even raise a whimper when done in, by the wonky system. I had been down the road too at UCH, Ibadan.

Time heals wound but Fadesola wasn’t ready to while healing time away. He took to running in Canada. Then, his rejuvenated mind struck gold for humanity. Why not run a marathon to call national attention to this devastating syndrome and raise money to establish a foundation and a specialist centre in Nigeria, to be managed by eminent Nigerians?

Fade became agitated and excited. The plan became the

With Sulaimon Olanrewaju 08055001708

lanresulaimon@yahoo.com

A vote for state police

Others have come up with different arguments against the establishment of state police.

The fears about the abuse of state police are real and the concerns genuine. Our politicians have repeatedly demonstrated their incapacity to manage human and material resources. They have given us cause to conclude that they cannot be trusted with power of any sort.

Sunday Tribune

focal point of his existence. Every other plan could and must wait for this Turn-Around project; turning family tragedy to national celebration. But is the nation celebrating this heroism? Maybe, the Canadian society. A former Toronto Mayor David Miller got involved. Canadian media feasted on his story. Toronto Star particularly did a memorable piece. Social media buzzed for Fade.

Friends, school mates and strangers enamoured of his plan, poured a few dollars they could muster into the online account.

The benefitting Nigerian space had been relatively quiet but it won’t be fair not to mention yeoman efforts of certain individuals and government officials. The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole and Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Mr Boboye Opeyemi of FRSC, John Momoh of Channels, Toyin Akanle and Fade Support Team, cut out of the pack. Arase packaged total security for him for the trip, Adewole ensured medical safety and LM was just the Dad that he is to Fade. For Pastor and Mummy Adedayo, here is your Abiyamotooto diadem.

The briefing by the minister last Friday before Fade took off, was almost bungled by the media, but the marathoner can count them his allies.

But whether the nation is clapping or not, Fade is far too gone to notice. He was frighteningly too determined before the race began. You would get him smiling like a jackpot winner when you encouraged him. But days of uncertainty would get him saying with finality that he would just do it, irrespective of the conditionality. Not even a mother’s emotions for an only son would deter him.

While only encouraging words, celebration on social platforms and prayer, appear the only contributions Nigerians can make for now, the planned fund-raiser postmarathon in Lagos, is what would make Fadesola’s sacrifice meaningful. Nothing should be too small while the societal deep-pockets are expected to walk their philanthropic talks. When a newspaper reported the syndrome as a new disease in Nigeria, everyone expectedly got jittery until the Ministry of Health clarified the mis-reporting.

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome isn’t new in Nigeria. Many have died from this fatal syndrome that kills within hours.

Fade wants to save humanity. Nigeria, this young man is your hero, please, stand up for him.

Many of them have failed to rise above mundane considerations in the discharge of their duties. They have proven that their major reason for seeking power is empire building and personal aggrandisement, not for public good. Political leaders have raped the country and betrayed the people.

However, does it make sense for us to attempt to correct a wrong by emplacing another wrong? If politicians have mastered the art of manipulating the system for their own benefit, should we as a result act contrary to the dictate of our constitution? Nigeria operates federal system of government, but is a centralised policing system in tandem with the spirit of federalism?

The point raised by those opposed to the establishment of state police that politicians would abuse it is malodorous. The reason is that a system cannot improve until it is allowed to run. Let us have state police and keep interrogating the system. That is the way forward.

The most pessimistic among us will be quick to admit that there has been an improvement between 1999, when the current democratic experimentation commenced, and now. Then, the level of impunity among political leaders was so high that they conducted themselves in a manner suggesting that they were doing the people a favour by looting the treasury. Back then, they easily rode roughshod over us. But that has since changed. Events have taught the political leaders that they cannot continue to take the people for a ride.

Again, between 1999 and 2007, results of elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not, in many cases, reflect the people’s wish as the electoral body had a reputation for manipulating figures in favour of the ruling party. Did we because of that stop the electoral process? No, we kept at it and as we continuously interrogated the process, it kept improving.

INEC has been improving with every election.

If impunity of politicians has reduced, if electoral fraud is declining, how are we sure that despite our fears, having state police will not turn out for the good of the country if we keep taking the leadership of the institution and politicians to task? Only those who dare have a chance to win. If we dare to have state police we cannot but win.

17

22 May 2016

Sunday Tribune

‘No contract extension for Adekunle Gold’

The types of dress I can never wear —Obembe

Why I stayed in

Saudi Arabia for 9 years—Okunnu

18

22 May, 2016

Segun Adebayo tegbollistic@yahoo.com 08116954644

Sunday Tribune Seyi Sokoya seyi_sky@yahoo.com 08075166585

Harrysong takes over with ‘Baba for the Girls’ FIVE Star Music act, Harrysong, sure knows how to get his fans attention through his songs. The singer has released hit singles back to back and even promised to do more.

His single, Reggaeblues which featured label mate, Kcee, Olamide, Iyanya and Orezi, came at a time when many people were already asking questions about his relevance in the music industry and the justifi-

cation of his endorsement deal with MTN, which was later renewed for the second time last year.

The song also earned him a mouth-watering deal with Gala and positioned him as one of the hottest Nigerian musicians. Away from Reggaeblues, the Delta State born songwriter released another hit single, Baba for The Girls, which is said to be one of the tracks in his yet-to-be released album and tongues have kept wagging.

Speaking on his new song, which was produced by Dr Amir, Harrysong said he loves to give his fans something special and different. According to him, he could not go below the standard he had set for himself as a consistent hit maker.

“You know I have been very consistent with my songs and the acceptance has always been massive.

Five Star Music has been very supportive and things have been going on well. My new single, Baba for The Girls, is another pointer to the fact that we are taking over this year.”

Script conference on Kiriji War movie holds in Ibadan A script conference on the Kiriji War movie will be held on Monday at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

According to the convener of the conference, Chief (Mrs) Bola Anike Obot, Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Anob Film Productions Ltd, the objective of the conference is to harmonise the account of each warring group during 1877 Yoruba nation’s internecine feud with a view to properly documenting their roles to avoid misrepresentation.

A statement said that the movie was expected to mobilise support for an enduring unity in the Yoruba nation.

Participants at the script conference include traditional rulers from the concerned states, descendants of the heroes of the war, community leaders, acade-

micians and filmmakers.

The royal father of the day is the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola, Adeyemi III, while the facilitator of the conference and special guest of honour is the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II. The royal host is the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji, Aje Ogungunniso I.

No contract extension for

Adekunle Gold —Olamide

Stories By Segun Adebayo

F

ACTS emerged on Friday as to why YBNL boss, Olamide, will not be extending Adekunle Gold’s contract when it expires in June.

Just last month, YBNL’s biggest act, Lil Kesh, announced his exit from the record label, saying he was ready to stand alone and test his popularity in the music industry.

News broke out on Thursday

that Adekunle Gold might soon follow Lil Kesh out of YBNL with his fans urging him to stay and focus on his career first before thinking of walking away from YBNL. Olamide later came out to clear the air on the issue as he maintained that he had told Lil Kehs at inception of their contracts that he would not exceed his contract beyond two years.

According to Olamide, “I have said it several times that I don’t pray to extend Lil Kesh’s contract.

After two years, I believe he should be able to stand on his own and start grooming other acts.

“The same thing applies to Victor, Adekunle Gold and others. I don’t believe in keeping any artiste under me for long. I want them to grow and be successful so that they can start grooming others too.”

Since the arrival of YBNL’s first female act who was signed less than a month ago, it was gathered that Olamide was already planning for life after Lil Kesh and Adekunle Gold who have become household names in the music industry with their popular songs.

Solagbade back in studio for new album GOSPEL singer and songwriter, Solagbade Sola, has resumed work in the studio for another album which may be released before the end of the year.

The songstress, in a brief chat with R on Friday, said she was impressed by the success of her last album, which sold across Nigeria and other parts of Africa,

adding that it was necessary for her to return to the studio to do another album.

The new album, according to her, could be dropped this year or early next year. “I am working on my new album and I am trusting God that it will be another successful one. My last album gave me so much confidence that mu-

sic is my calling because it moved beyond my expectations.”

The latest album will take Solagbade’s albums to five and the singer said she was not losing sleep over her success.

“I am not slowing down. God has given me the talent to sing and win souls for Him through music, so if He’s putting the songs in my heart, the next thing for me is to push them out through another album,” She said.

19

razzmatazz

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Tiwa Savage, Rita Dominic, others to star in ‘E!VIP’ series

By Segun Adebayo AFRICAN superstars, Tiwa Savage, Rita Dominic, Diamond Platnumz, Mafikizolo, D’Banj, Cassper Nyovest and more are getting ready for another calling.

The stars who have done well in their various fields are set to star in E! entertainment’s all new ‘E!VIP’ series that is aimed at showcasing the celebrities of the African continent.

The show will give viewers an insight into the life of Africa’s most notable and loved celebrities, giving them a taste of what it’s like to live life in the limelight.

The first episode will feature Mavin first lady Tiwa Savage. Savage has already said she was looking forward to a great moment as she continues to develop her acting career.

The show will have in-depth interviews hosted by Dolapo or MzzAbby.

Why I quit Choc City secretly —Ice Prince

By Segun Adebayo

AFTER weeks of speculations about Ice Prince’s contract with Chocolate City, the rapper has come out to explain why he didn’t make his exit a noisy affair.

The ‘Aboki’ rapper, who also announced that he would be floating his label company, Super Cool Cat, said his relationship with Choc City ended over two years ago.

He said he did not make his exit public because of his love and respect for Choc City, a record label that brought him to limelight.

According to him: “You heard it right.

I left Chocolate City two years ago. I refused to make it public because I have a

good relationship with the management of Chocolate City.”

Currently, Ice Prince is busy promoting his new single ‘Chike’ that featured Mavin’s Korede Bello. He made the revelation that he is now independent.

It will be recalled that the rapper was last year named the Vice President of the record label after label boss, Audu Maikori, handed over reins to M.I Abaga.

Ice Prince, who has released singles back to back in recent times, has left out the Chocolate City logo from his work. He has been flaunting his new record label, ‘Super Cool Cats’.

Wizkid, Yemi Alade, 4 other African artistes get BETAwards2016 nominations

By Seyi Sokoya NIGERIAN stars, Wizkid, Yemi Alade and four other African artistes have been announced as some of the nominees for the 2016 ‘BET Awards’ slated to hold at Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California, United States, on Sunday June 26.

This development could be signs that the African music has finally have its place globally, as eight of African artistes grabbed nominations in the BET Awards this year.

Leading the pack for South African music are hip hop acts AKA and Cassper Nyovest and dance/house star Black Coffee, while Nigeria is represented by Wizkid who was the winner of the award in 2012 and Yemi Alade.

East African sensation, Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania), Ghana’s dancehall/ R&B queen Mzvee and Cote d’Ivoire’s Coupé Decalé star, Serge Beynaud, wrap up the nominees for Africa.

Partner Mobile collaborates with 2Baba

By Segun Adebayo PARTNER Mobile has made a bold entry into the Nigerian mobile devices market with a partnership with singer, 2Baba.

During the unveiling at Four Points Sheraton, Lagos State, on Wednesday, the mobile company said it was proud to be associating with one of Nigeria’s greatest singers.

At the launch, the brand unveiled three android-based mobile phones – PS1, E15 and KS1 – to members of the press, trade partners and others in attendance.

The Chief Operating Officer of the company, Simon Klepper, who spoke about the products, stated that the company would be launching advertising campaigns across all mediums to reach the country.

“We will use local languages and sponsor, support local festivals and events, spreading the word that Partner Mobile has arrived

and ready to meet the needs of the country. We believe that our relationship with 2baba will go a long way,” he said.

He also said that Partner Mobile put the needs of the consumer first; hence the company has made sure that its Nigerian brand stores are

equipped to cater to all the demands of its customers.

Klepper added that “Dealerships around the country will also have customer service facilities, the company’s website will offer customer support and we will have dedicated contact numbers to help solve any issues that our customers may encounter.

Ashflame storms airwaves with ‘Sekosi’

By Seyi Sokoya BUDDING afro-pop artiste, Olugbenga Samuel a.k.a Ashflame, is set to stake his claim on the Nigerian music scene with his new single, ‘Sekosi’.

Blessed with raw stage energy and vocal prowess, the act who was born into a family of music lovers has been actively honing his musical skills since he turned 18 years old and later decided to go professional at the age of 23.

Ashflame, who signed a music contract with international platform, Desbor Heartbeat Empire (D.H.B.E), took his musical career to the next level when he officially dropped his much anticipated debut single entitled: ‘Sekosi’ on the 5th of May, 2016, to the acclaim of industry critics and music buffs.

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22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune With Segun Adebayo &Seyi Sokoya tegbollistic@yahoo.com seyi_sky@yahoo.com 08116954644 08132577840

Wale Akorede Okunnu is a popular name in the movie industry.

He’s known for his comic roles that have earned him recognitions within and outside the country. In this interview by SEGUN ADEBAYO, Okunnu shares the story of his over 30 years acting career.

Y

OU have become very popular in the Yoruba speaking movies with your comic roles, how did the journey begin?

I have always been fascinated by acting since I was young. I don’t even know how it happened, but the man who inspired me into acting was late Ishola Ogunsola, also known as Isho Pepper. When I was young, I always watched his television programmes when he was alive. From there, I started developing my love for art. It got to a point that I couldn’t think of anything else but acting. It was not that I set out to join any acting group, but some of my friends who saw the talent in me encouraged me to step it up. So, after some time, my friends went into stage theatre. So, one day, they invited me to their rehearsals and I started taking part in theatre from there. That was how we started taking stage theatre to different places.

What year was this?

That was in 1983. In 1984, I appeared in my first movie.

We did a stage play at Aroro Community Grammar School in Ojoo, Ibadan, Oyo State. After the event, they started sharing money and I was paid. I was surprised to have been paid, because I never believed one could be paid for acting on stage. I never expected it. It was really shocking. So, I decided to stick to acting since then because I wanted to keep making money from my passion.

You have been an actor since 1984, but you started enjoying much popularity about five years ago.

What do you think was responsible for the delay?

Nothing was responsible for the delay. I think it was just a matter of time. I have always known that when one’s time

Why I stayed in

Saudi Arabia

for 9 years —Okunnu

to be known has not come, there is nothing one can do to make oneself shine. If you try it, you will regret it later. What I know is that anything you are doing, you have to do it very well. It does not matter whether people are talking about you or not, just keep at it. Don’t get tired. One day, your time to shine will come and your name will be known everywhere because you have paid your dues. When you are playing a particular beat and people are not dancing, don’t be discouraged. Keep beating your drum. Don’t look at others whose drums are being heard everywhere. When people are tired of dancing their beats, they will dance to yours because you have been consistent. So, what I am saying is that time plays a big factor in the affairs of man. I waited for my time, even though I wished it had come earlier.

Now that your time has come, how are you maximizing every opportunity that comes your way?

I have not been doing anything special. I have continued to stay truthful to my craft while I work on myself so as to

Comedy has been part of me for a very long time. I think it is genetic.

I got my comedy gift from my late mother.

get better at every new opportunity I am given to showcase the talent God has given me. I believe in God’s plans for my life and I will continue to grab every opportunity that comes my way.

Talking about talent, your comic roles have placed you on a different level now, how did you discover the comedy aspect of your career?

Comedy has been part of me for a very long time. I think it is genetic. I think I got my comedy gift from my late mother.

When I was young, when my mother came back from the market and described what happened to the people at home, everybody would burst into laughter. I used to wonder how come my mother could make people laugh so loud through ordinary explanation. There was a time I was asking myself where I got the gift of comedy from, then I later found out it came from my mum. It was not as if I learnt it from anybody; it was inborn.

There was a time when you were said to have left the movie industry because things were not rosy for you, what happened to you in those trying moments and how did you manage to come out of the situation?

I have faced many difficult moments in life and I thank God that I am standing strong today. The truth is that I have never seen any challenge as one that could throw me off balance or put me in a condition that I don’t want to be. I welcome everything that happens to me as the will of God. I don’t allow any difficult situation to affect me. Yes, there was a time that I ran away from the job when the challenges Continues on pg21

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glitz

22 May, 2016

Continued from pg20

were so overwhelming. I left acting completely and travelled out of the country.

I had to travel to Saudi Arabi for nine years.

What were you doing in Saudi Arabia?

I was working.

What kind of work were you doing?

I worked with a company that imports cars from the United States (US) to Saudi Arabia and I was with them for nine years. From there, I was able to gather some money that I invested in my own business. So, I started importing wrist watches, shoes, clothes and other things from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria. I was shuttling between Nigeria and Saudi until one day when I started importing movie equipment to Nigeria until 1994. I was advised to return to acting by some of my friends and fans, but I insisted that I was not ready to come back then until 2003 when I bought another set of equipment and I decided to return to acting. Things were so bad then that I would go to locations for more than 20 times, but I would not get to act in a scene. I felt I could not cope with this, so I ran to Saudi Arabia. Anytime I came back to Nigeria, I was always going to locations with Muyiwa Ademola, Ojopagogo, Adekola Tijani. I would shoot few scenes and run back to my base in Saudi Arabia. I returned to acting fully in 2007.

‘I’ve never dated any actress’

Why did you decide it was time to return to acting?

My love for the job forced me back fully.

Since 2007, have you not felt like returning to Saudi Arabia again?

No. When I came back in 2007, I said I was not going back again. I wanted to concentrate on acting alone and I am happy that I have never had any reason to go back. In fact, I have had reasons to travel again, but I couldn’t go because of my engagements in Nigeria.

There are a number of comedians in the industry that you are currently eating from the same pot, how do you intend to sustain this momentum?

I do tell people that in acting, comedy is the most difficult role to play for any actor. So, If you are not ready for it, don’t even go into it. I respect all the comedians in the movie industry and I wish them well. I don’t want to think about sustaining any momentum; I am only concentrating on craft and making sure that I stay on top my game. If there is one comedian that I respect so much because he cracks me up each time I see him on TV, he is Babatunde Omidina, Baba Suwe. I have a very cordial relationship with him and we talk on the phone every time.

It was reported that comedians in your industry are not united over what some of your colleagues perceived as marginalisation. It was said that Sanyeri gets more roles than any of you and it has destroyed your relationship with him?

I have never believed in such rumour because it is not true.

I don’t know about others, but for me, if I am not invited to a particular location, it means I don’t have a role to play in the movie, the same way they won’t invite any other person to the one that is meant for me. Even if another person is invited to a role I am to take, that person will end up not taking that role because it is mine. The truth is that I always believe in destiny. No man can sleep in two rooms at a time.

Whatever is mine will not pass me by. When they say there is a job and Sanyeri was called to the job, that means the job is meant for him. Sanyeri won’t take any job that belongs to Okunu.

How true is the claim that producers demand for

sex from up-and-coming female artistes in the Yoruba movie industry to feature in any movie?

I don’t like to dwell on this issue because it has no basis.

When I hear people saying that producers are harassing them, I ask them if it is by force to be an actor. Nobody is going to force you to sleep with him if you don’t want to. Having said that, in any industry or organization where men and women work together, you can’t rule out claims like this. For me, personally, I don’t like to mix pleasure with work. So, I can only speak for myself. If you want to work and you can do it very well, come and do it.

Why does anybody need to ask you for sex if you know you have got what it takes?

As popular as you are, is it difficult for you to take your eyes away from any beautiful lady who approaches you for work?

First of all, don’t forget that I am human. I have blood that runs in my veins. I am not an angel or a prophet. But I am a man of choice. I was once asked how come people don’t read any scandal about me, especially one that has to do with being in a relationship with any actress in the movie industry? I told those who asked me to go and find out before coming to me. There is no holy person anywhere, but we all have our choices to make. But you can never hear that Okunnu has eight girlfriends or he’s running after one woman somewhere. It has never happened and it will never happen. There is nobody is this industry that can lay claim to any lady that I have dated before. I make bold to say it today that I have never dated any lady in the industry. In this industry today, let any lady that I am dating come out to say it publicly.

Is it that you don’t want to have or you don’t trust any of the ladies in the industry?

I don’t feel like having any girlfriend in the industry. It is not in my style. When you want to play such games, you can always get one outside the movie industry. If I see any lady in the industry that I like, I will not only date her but also marry her. I have not seen any lady that appeals to me in the industry. That brings us to the matter of choice that we talked about earlier. I have not seen my choice among them. When I see one, I will marry her. I am not going to condemn any lady, but the problem with our people is that they don’t choose well, that’s why they always end up having problems at the end of the day and the whole Nigeria will know what transpired between them.

So you have been playing your game cleverly?

I have not said that. I am responsible for what I am saying now, not what you understand it to be.

But you are married?

Yes, I am married and I have kids who are doing fine.

Some of your colleagues have been diversifying because they said acting alone can’t pay their bills, what other things do you do to make sure funds keep coming in?

I don’t have any other thing I do aside acting. I am an entertainer; if I am not acting, I will be handling events as an MC. No matter how much you earn, if you are not cautious, you will never have financial stability. You have to watch your mouth and your pocket because there is no free food anywhere.

Why have you not been appearing in English movies?

I have been in English movies. I have appeared in a couple of them this year and I am still considering a few scripts before me as we speak.

Sunday Tribune

Nnenna and Friends Children’s Day is back Stories By Segun Adebayo FINISHING touches are currently being put on the upcoming Nnenna & Friends Children’s Day show .

This yearly event, hosted by Nnenna, is the largest gathering of children in Nigeria for the purpose of wholesome family entertainment, games and spending quality time with their families and members of their peer groups.

The expected 5,000 attendees of the event would be treated to musical performances by Afro Juju maestro; Sir Shina Peters; Oshadipe Twins and Pefti Band; ribcracking stand-up comedy by Elenu, Jimboi, Bukunmi Preacher, Osas Moses and MC Funnyman; dance steps by Xplicit Dancers and N-Stars; and as always, Papa Ajasco and Company will be on stage.

According to Nnenna whose real name is Olayinka Ademo, “everyone is sure to go home w i t h unforgettable memories as well as attractive prizes and gifts.”

I will still drag Obesere to court —Solidworth Chairman IT was reported last week that all was not well between fuji musician, Alhaji Abass Obesere Akande and the chairman of Solidworth Entertainment, Alhaji Taofeek Abefe Bello, who financed the video of the Ebelesua, a track Obesere just released on you-tube featuring Olamide Baddo.

The rift between them stemmed from the unauthorised release of the video to various social media platforms by Obesere, an action which Alhaji Bello claimed thwarted his plans to make millions from the project.

It was learnt that all efforts to resolve the matter between both parties as promised by Obesere failed as the promoter insisted on taking Obesere to court if he fails to pay him some money in millions.

According to Bello: “Don’t “Dont let anybody tell you that all is well or we have settled the matter. No we have not. I still insist that he fails to ask me before releasing the video on YouTube and other media outfits, so he has to pay me my money. The court will settle it my brother.

Otumemine opens FlagshipStore ALL is now set for the opening of fashion label outfit, Otumemine, which will formally open its Ikeja flagship store today at Rumours in Ikeja GRA, Lagos State.

The outfit, owned by Otumemine Nelson Moore, who has been designing for over 10 years, will be opened in style to their waiting fans. The fashion house which designs couture, luxury bridal, and ready-to-wear pieces is leaving no stone unturned for a successful opening.

The new outlet is the third store for the brand, the other two located on Oduduwa way, Isaac John, GRA, Ikeja.

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Sunday Tribune

22 May, 2016

makeover

Rita Okonoboh 08053789087 rosarumese@gmail.com

Different t-shirt sleeve styles A traditional T-shirt has shorter sleeves that fall about halfway down the wearer’s upper arm.

However, there are many different T-shirt sleeve lengths available.

Photo:www.fashionpheeva.com

Korede Bello

By Rita Okonoboh

the main colour of the t-shirt.

hatever the age, many people, male or female, own at least one t-shirt.

For some, especially women, a t-shirt may be the most boring item of clothing in a person’s wardrobe. However, there are many ways to spice up the look.

T-shirts come in various designs, styles and sizes, and are usually a reflection of the wearer’s mood, status or personality. Types of t-shirts include: v-neck, off-shoulder, cropped, round neck, oversize, graphic, among others.

It takes the right pairing, the right shoes and accessories and a bland t-shirt can be a major player in the classy look game. Below are some ways to dress up a t-shirt:

Tucked in To achieve the casual, yet sensual look, tuck in the tshirt, pair with jeans, and go for a fitted jacket or loose long-sleeved shirt. You could also take the tucking in up a notch by tucking in just the front, leaving the back free.

For shoes, go for heels (for women), flats or sneakers.

W

With a jacket The interesting thing about t-shirts is that they can work with as many textures of jackets as possible. Leather, silk, jeans, among others, are just a few of the textures that can combine well with t-shirts. Tshirts come in single colours, especially white, black, ash, etc., and multiple colours.

The plus side is that you can go for colourful designs for the jackets, keeping in mind

Photo:www.ghanacelebrities.com

Tips for tees With ankara Plain coloured t-shirts, or graphic t-shirts with minimal designs, can go with Ankara pants, shorts or skirts (take a hint from Korede Bello).

Depending on the size of the t-shirt or as a person desires, it can be tucked in fully, halfway, or left free.

Go short T-shirts look wonderful over mini-skirts, shorts, and even pencil skirts. They give skirts a decent, yet alluring outlook.

The trick is right pairing.

With jeggings Depending on the length of the t-shirt, they go well with jeggings, and if you would dare, leggings.

With a hat If you’re looking for casual, yet classy, finish your t-shirt look with a hat. Go for hats with minimal brim.

Photo:www.aliexpress.com

Long Sleeve Long sleeves, for both men and women, extend all the way down the arm to the wrist. The most common style of this sleeve is cut in a straight line down the arm with some ease but no bagginess. These sleeves can end in a cuff that is tighter around the wrist, or they can have a looser, open wrist. Most men’s styles of long sleeve T-shirts have some sort of wrist cuff. Women’s styles are more likely not to have a cuff, and some styles even have long sleeves that bell out at the wrist. The long-sleeved T-shirt is great for colder weather, but since the T-shirt is traditionally made from a single layer of fabric, they are still not very warm.

Source: www.ebay.com

Photo:www.woodinfashion.com

3/4 Sleeve The 3/4 sleeve style, like the cap sleeve, is primarily used on women’s T-shirts. This sleeve usually falls just below a woman’s elbow although the length can very slightly and may range from just above the wrist to just above the elbow. These sleeves can be fitted, but they are also seen in a regular, somewhat loose style. A variation on the 3/4 sleeve is a dolman sleeve, which is very loose and flowy at the upper arm but then becomes snug around the elbow. This style is also referred to as a batwing sleeve. This style is great for slightly cooler weather and for layering over shorter-sleeved Tshirts.

Rita Dominic

John Dumelo

Photo:www.pinterest.com

Cap Sleeve The cap sleeve is only seen in women’s T-shirts.

This sleeve covers the top of the shoulder but then does not extend around and under the arm. The shape of the cap can be puffy and exaggerated, giving the T-shirt a very feminine look. These sleeves are usually paired with a fitted bodice that shows off a feminine silhouette. While women with broad shoulders may feel that this style emphasises their shoulders’ width, other women appreciate the slim fit and comfort of T-shirts with cap sleeves.

Short Sleeve The short sleeve is the most common and traditional type of T-shirt sleeve. It covers about half of a person’s upper arm, but this can vary slightly. It can also be more or less fitted; usually, more fitted short sleeves are seen on women’s styles of Tshirts. This is a universally flattering sleeve that most people wear regularly. For women’s styles, the short sleeve can be seen with a regular, boxy Tshirt, but this type of sleeve is also used with more fitted shirts.

Uti Nwachukwu

Photo:www.fashionpheeva.com

Funke Akindele

Photo:www.africamagic.dstv.com

Sleeveless Sleeveless T-shirts are also often seen as a type of tank top. The style leaves the shoulders bare and has straps over the shoulders. These straps can vary from thin to almost covering the entire top of the shoulder. These tops are best for warm weather or for layering with other T-shirts. For men, sleeveless T-shirts are also called muscle Ts because they leave the upper arms completely exposed. This style is also seen in many sports jerseys. For women, tank top styles have a wider range of variations.

Tops with very thin straps and thin fabric are also called camisoles and are primarily used for layering. Other types of women’s sleeveless T-shirts are often worn alone and can be plain or decorated.

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22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

foreignfeatures Deadly

Zika

virus has spread to

Africa,

WHO confirms T HE Zika virus which has infected more than 7,500 people in an island nation off the western coast of Africa is the same strain spreading through the Americas.

On Friday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed the virus in Cape Verde is the same as the one behind an explosion of cases in the Americas.

Three babies have developed microcephaly - the same devastating condition that has left babies in Brazil and elsewhere with undersized brains and skulls.

“This is the first time that strain of Zika which has been showed to cause neurological disorders and microcephaly has been detected in Africa,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa regional chief.

The so-called Asian strain of the virus has infected some 1.5 million people in hardest-hit country Brazil alone, and was detected in Cape Verde through the sequencing of Zika cases in the island nation.

“It is the same genetic material as the virus in Brazil,” WHO spokeswoman, Marsha Vanderford, told the Agence France Presse (AFP).

“The findings are of concern because it is further proof that the outbreak is spreading beyond South America and is on the doorstep of Africa.

“This information will help African countries to reevaluate their level of risk and adapt and increase their levels of preparedness,” she said.

The news comes days after experts said it was only a matter of time until Zika hit parts of Europe in late spring and summer.

Overall, a third of countries in Europe have a ‘moderate’ risk of an outbreak of the virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects in babies.

Madeira and the Black Sea are on high alert - but popular tourist destinations including France, Italy and Spain are also at ‘moderate risk’.

The large and spreading outbreak of Zika that began in Brazilhas caused global alarm, after thousands of cases of microcephaly in babies were linked to women who become infected with the virus while pregnant.

Experts agree that Zika is behind a surge in cases of the birth defect microcephaly - babies born with abnormally

small heads and brains -after their mothers were infected with the virus.

Cape Verde, which reported its first Zika case in October, is a former Portuguese colony like Brazil, where the mosquito-borne virus emerged last year before spreading to nearly 60 countries.

Its emergence near Africa raises new concerns because many of the nearby countries on the continent have very poor health infrastructure as was laid bare by the Ebola epidemic that ravished Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

The virus, which also causes the rare but serious neurological disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome, is mainly spread by two species of Aedes mosquito but has also been shown to transmit through sexual contact.

WHO believes the Asian Zika strain was imported to Cape Verde by a traveller coming from Brazil, before it began spreading locally.

The African strain of the Zika virus, which takes its name from Uganda’s tropical Zika forest where it was first discovered in 1947, has been widespread on the continent for decades.

But until recently, Zika sparked little concern, as it usually causes only mild, flu-like symptoms and Africans have generally built up immunity against the African strain.

It remains unclear what impact the Asian strain of the virus could have in Africa, said Bruce Aylward, WHO chief on outbreaks and health emergencies.

As of May 8, 7,557 suspected Zika cases had been registered in Cape Verde, as well as three microcephaly cases, WHO said.

No cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome have been registered in the country so far.

Dr Anna Checkley, a tropical disease specialist at the University College London Hospitals, said the Asian strain of the virus was responsible for the outbreak in Polynesia

in 2007, and it is also responsible for the current Zika epidemic.

T h e WHO confirmed it was the Asian, rather than the African strain, that is causing the current infection on the continent.

She said: “It is not known why the virus has become so much more aggressive since it was first described in 1947, and there are a number of possible explanations for this.

“It has probably been circulating at a low level in African countries for more than 50 years, so some of the population may already be immune.

“It is likely that the South American, Caribbean and Polynesian populations had no prior immunity to the virus, so a high proportion of people who are bitten by infected mosquitos caught the disease.

“It may be that the Asian strain of the virus is more infectious to humans, so it spreads from human (via mosquito) to human.”

She added: “The African strain is probably more infectious to primates other than humans, causing the occasional sporadic human case.

“Since human cases in Africa are so few and far between, we don’t yet know whether the African strain of the virus also causes Congenital Zika Syndrome – the form linked to microcephaly.

“For the same reason we do not know whether people who have been infected with the African strain are protected against catching the Asian strain. In fact, we do not even know whether individuals who have recovered from the Asian strain are protected against a second infection with the same strain.”

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Sunday Tribune

22 May , 2016

glamour The types of dress I can never wear —Obembe Osun State-born actress, Omodolapo Obembe, who suspended her acting career for academic pursuit, is fully back into the acting world. The graduate of Computer Science from the Osun State Polytechnic, in this interview with SEYI SOKOYA, speaks on her passion and fashion. Excerpts:

How I discover passion for acting

I

T is hard to explain how I discover passion for acting. It is what I love to do from my childhood.

To me, acting is life and it is what makes me happy. I think this is what I want to do for a living, because it is what I know best. I have been in the industry for the past eight years, but I would say that I started professionally four years ago, because I had to suspend acting to focus on my education.

Presently, I am back and better. This is what I have made up my mind to do and I derive joy in it.

Challenges I have encountered many difficulties, especially that of my mum. She didn’t want me to act.

Her worry was that it will affect my studies, but after convincing her, she later accepted.

How I was able to combine both without clash I go to rehearsals every weekend from Osun State to Lagos and return to school on Mondays, it was really challenging and stressful. But I thank God for the grace and divine favour all through this period.

I see that as a stage in life and now, I am free now.

People I have worked with in the industry

I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of experts in this field, and to mention a few, I have worked with the like of: Toyin Aimakhu, Rikado Agbo, Okunu, Sayenri, Niyi Johnson, Lola Idije, Yinka Quadri, Akin Lewis, Ayo Olaiya and Murphy Afolabi Films Omo eko, Afefe, Iku are the few

I have feature in Oruka aje, Saloko Alagbe, Ile, Farida, Darasimi. These I can remember at the moment.

On whether I would marry an actor Yes, I can marry an actor; he is also a human being like me.

My kind of man He must be God-fearing and hardworking. He must also be tall and handsome.

Why celebrities find it difficult to marry easily Basically, it is because of the fame and public affairs; once you get married as celebs, your marriage has to be kept in private.

Definition of style Uniqueness, Simplicity and a bit of African culture

What determines my mode of dressing It depends on the occasion; I can’t dress casual to a formal meeting; so the occasion matters.

Favourite designers Donatella Versace and Nigerian Wana Sambo.

Favourite perfumes Tom Ford, Bombom.

Favourite colours My favourite colours are white and lemon.

Fashion item I can’t do without Sun-shades.

Exercise I do exercise every morning for 1 hour 30 minutes.

How I relax I choose to relax in a cool and awesome environment with cool music, and at times I hang out with friends.

Plastic surgery I can’t do it because the side effect is too dangerous. So, I don’t encourage doing such.

Provocative dressing Something is provocative if it provokes me and it is usually a value judgment placed on someone’s clothing by someone other than the wearer and in this situation, I can’t judge, but it depends on the kind of lifestyle.

Nails and hair I love to keep my nails natural and I love human hair that is not too flashy. I love to keep them both clean and beautiful at all time.

Fashion item I won’t be caught wearing Bad clothes that will expose half of my body or wearing clothes that are against my culture.

Physical asset You mean you want to know my physical asset?

Well, that should be my shape and my face.

What I will like to change about myself Though, change is very constant in life, but to my personality, when it comes to fame and money, nothing will change about me, it will be same me.

Secret of beauty The secret of my beauty is natural, because it is God’s doing.

Words to fans They should work hard and I want them to realise that there is no short cut to any success in this life and they should go after their dreams.

Sunday Tribune

25

With Tayo Gesinde temiligali03@yahoo.com 08054727801

I started sewing clothes at 7 —Selemon Selemon Susan Funke is a young fashion entrepreneur who is currently among the last 20 finalists of the Nigeria’s Next Top Designer 2016. Beautiful, bold and talented, Selemon believes she has what it takes to be one of Nigeria’s successful fashion brands. In this interview with SEGUN ADEBAYO, the graduate of Educational Management speaks on her brand and what to expect from her.

T

HE journey so far...

I wouldn’t have come this far without God’s continuous guidance. So far, my journey has been smooth, though there had been hiccups, but the most important is how far I’ve come and how happy I am doing what I am doing. You know, the fashion industry is one of the very few industries where people can freely express themselves with their works. And so far, I’ve been able to express my thoughts, my talents, my designs and my craft through fashion.

I am most especially excited when I make new and mind-blowing designs and people ask “how on earth did you make that?” I just smile with satisfaction knowing I am doing exactly what I was born to do.

How it all started It started as a hobby. As a kid, whilst my mates listed out their hobbies as singing, dancing, swimming, mine had always been sewing, writing and designing. I’ve always loved sewing and joining pieces of material together as a kid. I grew up with a fashion designer mum, so I picked interest in sewing at an early age of seven. Then, I was fascinated at how the sewing machine was rolling round and round I just wanted to be able to do the same. And now my hobby has finally become my job. Most times it doesn’t even feel like a job, it feels like I’m just playing around with fabrics. I discovered my love for fashion at an early age. The decision to venture into the fashion industry is one of the best I have ever made. I remember when I made my first bag, it was a very small white bag and I was in JSS 3 at the time. I saw the design on someone, went home, took some of my mum’s pieces of material, and without prior knowledge, I made an exact copy of that bag. It was then I knew this wasn’t just going to remain a hobby. I knew one day I might turn this hobby into a job. And thankfully, that day came really quick.

What inspires me Well, I won’t limit it to a what factor, but also a who factor. The who factor here is my mum. She was the first person who inspired me to love sewing and designing. Whenever she made dresses for her customers, they always looked so gorgeous and I wished as a child I could do what she did. And thankfully to God, I cannot just only make dresses like my mum now, but I can also design and make bags, hats, rebrand shoes, draw my sketches and illustrations and even make patterns for both male and female.

Why fashion and not other well-paying jobs Who says fashion is not a well-paying job?

Believe me, when I say fashion is one of the top

paying jobs in Nigeria today. As a matter of fact, every job is a well-paying one, it just depends on the individual handling that job and on the strategy that individual employs to surpass others doing the same job or business. You just have to be very good at what you do, research into what people need, introduce that need into what you do, be the best at doing it and trust me, the patronage and money will definitely come. So fashion is also a well-paying job if executed appropriately.

When you find your perfect place, nothing seems appealing to you anymore. Everyone is born to do something, there is something everyone can do best, everyone has a gift, you just have to discover that perfect place.

How big I want to go Bigger than life itself. Fashion is my life journey and just like I’ve started this journey well, I intend to follow through till the very end and finish greater than I started. Without doubt, I know that in the next five years, I will become one of the fashion icons to be reckoned with in Nigeria. My plans are already in motion, and as you can see, God is my number one strategy to achieving these dream I envisage for my great future. I just have to do my part very well and allow Him to do His. Fashion designers in Nigeria that inspire me The list is quite long. First, I’m going to start with Deola Sagoe, she is just so inspiring. Her designs alone inspire more designs in you. And that is what fashion is all about. Fashion is all about inspiring people and getting inspired. I also have Toyin Lawani, Folake Coker, Duro Olowu, Zizi Cardow, Frank Oshodi, Adebayo Jones, Ade Bakare, Lisa Folawiyo, Soares Anthony, Lanre Da Silva, I have a lot of them, in fact I read and follow through the stories of all these designers so as to learn a thing or two from their craft.

Alright, I know you are probably wondering why all the names I mentioned are all big players in the industry, well I intend to be a big player in the fashion industry myself, and thus I read and try to adapt some of the tactics these fashion icons use.

Most of their life stories are inspiring.

Journey as Nigeria’s next top designer Life is filled with opportunities. And for those opportunities to come forth, you have to create them.

You have to search for opportunities. It’s always been my dream to become one of the big players in Nigeira’s fashion industry and beyond. When I came across this competition online, I just knew that this is one opportunity I am not going to let pass me by.

One never knows which platform God will use to let your light shine.

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22 May , 2016

With Akintayo Abodunrin akinjaa03@yahoo.co.uk 08111813058

Badagry agog as school holds maiden arts week There was a brilliant expression of creativity at the first arts and crafts week of Lagos State Junior Model College, Kankon, Badagry

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T was a case of my painting is better than yours between students and teachers of Lagos State Junior Model College, Kankon, Badagry recently when the school held its debut arts and crafts exhibition week.

Coming at a time players in the education/ art sectors have shouted themselves hoarse over the apathy to art education in schools, especially the public ones, it was a welcome development seeing both students and teachers expressing their creativity during the program that spanned about two weeks.

Fittingly, the program that began on May 2 with an interclass painting competition yielded beautiful artworks including paintings, sculptures, textile designs, coconut shell drafts, drawings and collages by the students and their teachers.

The works produced by the two representatives selected from each class were showcased at a preview for parents on the school premises on Sunday, May 8. Interestingly,

Guests admiring some of the craft works some 142 parents turned up at the occasion with most impressed by the talents of their children.

The main exhibition opened on May 11 with the principal, Mrs. Stella Mojisola

Ayo presiding over affairs. Also on hand to witness the occasion were Mr. Sunday Fadahunsi, principal, Lagos State Senior Model College, Kankon, Mr. Olude George, the principal of Kankon Senior Secondary

Biyi Bandele, Akin Omotoso, Stephanie Linus, others vie for AMAA prizes IT will be a clash of titans at the 2016 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) holding in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on June 11 as three Nigerian directors have been pitted against five of their foreign counterparts for the Best Director Prize.

UK-based Biyi Bandele, South-Africa based Akin Omotoso and Stephanie Linus were announced as contenders for the Best Director prize by chair of this year’s AMAA jury, Shaibu Husseini, at an unveiling held at Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos last Sunday.

The trio, who were nominated for ‘Fifty’, ‘Tell Me Sweet Something’ and ‘Dry’ respectively however have it all to do against their foreign colleagues who are themselves no pushovers.

Ghana’s Nana Obiri-Yeboah (The Cursed One), Burkinabe Sekou Toure (Eye of the Storm), South Africa’s Sara Blecher (Ayanda), Nigerien Moussa Hamadou Djingarey (La Pagne) and Morocco’s Mohammed Ahmed Bensouda (Behind Closed Doors) are those the trio will be contending against.

Interestingly, the films which got the eight directors the nominations are also vying for the Best Film prize.

Aside the interesting matchups thrown up in the Best Director and Best Film categories, film buffs that have been following the pan Africa awards now in its 12th year, have other interesting battles to look out for.

Popular Yoruba actor and Glo Ambassador, Odunlade Adekola, is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ‘Taxi Driver’ while Uti Nwachukwu is vying for same with ‘Breathless’. Others in contention for the prize are: Joseph Otsiman, ‘The Cursed One’; Abidine Dioari, ‘Eye of the Storm’; Kenneth Nkosi, ‘Ayanda’ and Thomas Gumede, ‘Tell Me Sweet Something’

Akin Omotoso

Stephanie Linus

Nigerians Oris Erhuero (The Cursed One), OC Ukeje (Ayanda) and Daniel K. Daniel (Soldiers Story) have also been nominated for Best Actors. Others vying for the same prize are Fragass Assande (Eye of the Storm); Masego ‘Maps’ Maponyane (Tell me Sweet Something) and Biuferi Yakoubi (La Pagne).

The quartet of Iretiola Doyle, Dakore Egbuson, Nse Ikpe Etrim and Omoni Oboli got the nod for Best Actress for their role in Mo Abudu’s ‘Fifty’ while Adesua Etomi also got nominated for ‘Falling’.

Others in contention for the prize are Zineb Odeib (Behind Closed Doors) Fulu Mugovhani – (Ayanda); Maimouna N’Daiye (Eye of the Storm) and Nomzamo Mbatha (Tell me Sweet Something).

In all, 26 categories were announced at the event which was the first time after eight years that the nominees would not be unveiled at a nomination gala outside Nigeria.

Revealing the number of entries received,

Biyi Bandele Husseini dislosed that over 420 films were received but that only 25 feature films made it to the nomination stage. He reiterated that AMAA is not a popularity contest but a jury based award hence nominees don’t need to start campaigning for votes.

Husseini, who also noted that the organisers don’t compromise quality as there are five stages of screening before the movies are nominated, expressed happiness with the quality of entries received. “We are very happy about the quality of works that came into the competition this year and it gladdens our heart that every year the objectives of the awards are being achieved with filmmakers in Africa and beyond upping their game.”

Founder of AMAA, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, said that though the ceremony will hold in Port Harcourt, organisers would never forget benefactors of the awards including Bayelsa State and the late DSP Alamiesigha and Oronto Douglas.

School, teachers and guests.

Declaring the week-long exhibition open, Mrs. Ayo praised her students and teachers, noting that the works are excellent.

Fadahunsi and George spoke in the same vein. While the latter disclosed that he was highly impressed by the works and prayed for more of such open expression of creativity in the school, the latter focussed more on the paintings, noting that they are “more of fine representation with brushes and paints.” Head of Fine Arts Department in the school, Mrs. Olaseinde P.C. noted that the works are wonderful and pleasing to the eyes. She charged the participants not to rest on their oars.

But it wasn’t all about the students as the academic and non academic staffers were also given the opportunity to show off their painting skills on May 14. In fact, more than 40 staff members including the principals of the junior and senior schools participated in the teachers’ painting competition. It was fun throughout the day as the students moved from one stand to another to see what their teachers were painting. For effect, the senior school principal, Mr. Fadahunsi placed his easel in the centre of the school and made a painting titled ‘100 percent is achievable’ while the junior school principal, Mrs. Ayo painted a work titled ‘A Seat’ Speaking on the arts and crafts week and its objective, the school’s Visual Art teacher, Nathaniel Hodonu, disclosed that he wanted to use it to effect a change in the way students, teachers and parents perceive art.

Art, he reiterated, is not all about drawings.

He disclosed that using found objects including bottle corks and coconut shells, himself and the school’s JSS 3 students made different art pieces. “We used coconut shells to make key holders, biro holders, table decorations and flower vases amongst others. As a boarding school, parents bring variety of soft drinks for their children every visiting day so I, members of the Baby Artists Club and students in JSS 3 used them to create art works.

This goes a long way to reduce plastic bottles dumped indiscriminately in the school compound and I have also succeeded in using this to let students, teachers and parents know that you can reuse found objects to make adorable artworks.”

Hodonu, a member of the Lagos State chapter of the Society of Nigerian Artists added that he is using his background and experience as a fine art teacher since 1996 to let his students know there is a career worth pursuing in art.

He said: “Teaching these young artists is easy for me because all they need is a teacher who can do what he/she teaches in their presence and I have been organising art weeks in schools since 1998. Through this, one has been able to produce award winning students in both local and international art competitions. For example, my students have been winning since the second edition of the Vision of the Child Painting Competition. Last year, two of my students were among the best six and presently, four are at the final stage of the 2016 edition. So, teaching and learning of art should be encouraged in schools.”

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thepolity I sell a smart governor, building a smart city —Ayorinde As a journalist, he made his mark. Now, a public officer, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde was smooth all through, selling his brand to LANRE ADEWOLE and CHUKS OKPARAOCHA and ultimately to the world out there.

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HAT was responsible for the slow start of the administration; was it down to inexperience, because in the first few weeks of this administration, it was like everything was in topsy-turvy for residents?

(Cuts in)..Like what Traffic, security, there were complaints all over....

In my opinion, they were not new. I don’t think they were unusual issues at the beginning of the administration. If there were, I wouldn’t think that they were different from other issues that other governors or other states were experiencing. The only reason in my opinion why it would look like it was a slow start would be because all eyes have always been on Lagos State, Lagos is seen and treated like a mini country and the media sometimes is guilty of focusing largely on Lagos, which is not a problem, because Lagos is unique without a doubt. And with an economy that is the second biggest in West Africa, after that of Nigeria, and the fifth largest in Africa, it only means that everything, sort of, happens here. So, if there was a bit of perception around slow start, even though, as I said, I wouldn’t think that was peculiar and I would imagine that if it was in the manner that you are saying it or that it was reported, I think they were largely orchestrated for untoward reasons. But if we agree that there was a little bit of slow start, certainly, it wouldn’t be that of inexperience. It wouldn’t be because the man at the helm of affairs in Lagos State has all the requisite experience.

He knows the state, and in particular, running of government, civil service, administration, in and out, having spent 27 years of his adult work life in Lagos State, rising first to the position of Auditor General for Local Governments, and then to the position of Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, and the state’s Accountant-General.

This is a man that was part of the great league in those days when former President Obasanjo withheld some of the finances meant for LGs. As the Accountant-General, he was part of the league that helped jump the finances of Lagos State from N600m monthly IGR (internally generated revenue) to N6bn that grew to N10bn and beyond to what we have today. When you have such a man as the governor, and when you have issues on ground, like you have all over the country, it wouldn’t be as a result of lack of experience. It would be those issues needed to be dealt with.

In any case, compare the traffic and other problems you had in Lagos then with those of other states, you will see that in more than half of the states, nothing was going on at all. 27 states, as of that time you were talking about were unable to pay salaries; they needed to rely on bailouts from President Buhari. Even the Federal Government from what we now know, from the days of Jonathan, was borrowing to pay salaries. But because we were used to a certain rhythm in Lagos as such anything that appears off-tune, people will react. But don’t let us dwell so much on that. If there was a slow start, there has been a rebound. Like people will always say, it’s been one hit after the other, back to back, and I think Lagosians are happy with where Lagos is right now.

So, where exactly is the state now?

It’s almost one year for the administration, and for me

Steve Ayorinde, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy it’s quite obvious, but we will say it loudly and shout it at the mountain top that this administration has not done badly at all. As a matter of fact, we have fulfilled most of our campaign promises, because what we want the public to benchmark us with are our campaign promises. And in specific terms, three areas stand out: security; roads and social infrastructure, and in the area of solid economy, job and wealth creation. That is the direction where the state is headed and from every analysis that you can find, the verdict, in my opinion, is that of A-rating.

In terms of security, there hasn’t been any state in the history of the country that has invested at a go and in one fell swoop, the amount that was put into reengineering the security of the state in November last year, and which we have maintained up till now. We are talking about the N4.7bn assets donation to the Nigeria Police which is a federal agency and the rebranding of the RRS (Rapid Response Squad). For the first time in the history of the country, there are three patrol helicopters being deployed for security functions. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, there are at least two gunboats. We had one under BRF (former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola) and two helicopters under BRF, but we campaigned on the basis of continuity and also on the basis of continuity with im-

provement. So what we are doing is to continue in the line of continuity what Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu started for eight years – building a solid foundation, which Governor Fashola improved upon, and which Governor Ambode has come to consolidate upon. So for the first time, we have two gunboats. Gunboats are necessary because the escape routes for most robbers are usually the waterways, and you can’t police the waterways without the use of gunboats. We have drones. Don’t forget what one of the (Ikorodu) kidnappers said, that he tried to warn his colleagues that with the state of security in Lagos now, it is almost impossible to get away with crime, and in six days, police in Lagos State, with assistance from Abuja, and support from the Lagos State government, were able to arrest the kidnappers who kidnapped those secondary school girls and rescue the girls at Ikorodu.

Again, the time you are referring to, we were just coming out of election period. It is unfortunate that things tend to slow down in an election period, and coincidently that period also happens to be the rainy season. What we did was to move in en masse to ensure that Lagosians see and that there is demonstrable evidence of massive road Continues pg 30

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interview

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Sunday Tribune

Fuel price co

Buhari has disappointed Nige Nigerians still have confidenc Mr Femi Aduwo, national coordinator of the Rights Monitoring Group, which is a coalition of 45 civil society organisations in Nigeria and Executive Director, Centre on Convention for Democratic Integrity (CCDI), speaks with DARE ADEKANMBI on the arguments in support of the subsidy removal, among other issues.

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HE Federal Government said that Nigerians had been subjected to untold hardship over fuel crisis in the last four months and predicated its hike of petrol to N145 on the argument that the marketers need to be empowered to end the suffering of Nigerians. Do you think this claim is justified?

The point I am making is that, during the campaign, Buhari and APC made a lot of promises. Which one have they done in the last one year? They told Nigerians that petrol would sell for N40 a litre and that the refineries would be back on stream.

On account of Buhari being a former minister of petroleum, Nigerians believed he has got the requisite expertise to turn around the sector and thus voted for him.

One year down the line, he has not done a single thing to the refineries. For crying out loud, Buhari is also the Minister of Petroleum Resources. What he is doing?

The man he appointed Minister of State, Ibe Kachikwu, told Nigerians a series of lies about the scarcity that eventually led to the hike in price. They deliberately allowed the scarcity of the last three months to persist so that they could justify the hike. Kachikwu said some people were diverting the products to neighbouring countries, a tale told many times by previous administrations and which has lost its alluring value. The fact that they have also asked marketers to source forex from the black market means government has agreed that it has turned our economy into a black market economy. By the time further pressure is put on the naira as a result of this ill-digested policy and N400 exchanges one US dollar, then Nigerians will have to buy petrol at N200 or N300 a litre. It is obvious now that the Buhari government can’t fulfill its basic duty to the masses, which is to look after their welfare. If government is contemplating increasing the minimum wage of workers, what percentage is the workforce to the larger population? What we are telling Buhari to do is to reinforce the naira and not further reduced it to mere sheet of paper. What measures are there to cushion the effect of this harsh policy on the masses? The government and its officials appear not to have knowledge on how to address the issues. They should own up.

They are not different from PDP people whom they sent packing from office. In fact, the difference between PDP and APC

Nigerian and he is also a mad man of sort.

I see the kind of June 12 spontaneous riots breaking out if nothing is done urgently to nip it in the bud. This is not the change Buhari and APC promised Nigerians.

They have failed the Nigerian masses.

Mr Femi Aduwo is same. Nigerians believed Buhari was Mr Honesty and I am sure that they now know the meaning of honesty.

The NLC and other trade union bodies are divided over the strike called to drive home the demand for a reversal of the increase of petrol.

What does this mean for Nigeria and the masses?

When some people were expressing confidence that something positive will result from it as it was in 2012, I laughed.

The 2012 protests were sponsored by the opposition parties against the Goodluck Jonathan administration. But now, PDP will not likely spend money to mobilise for protests. There will be noise in some states and the final result will be ‘To your tent, oh, Israel.’ The suffering will continue for Nigerians. It is very pathetic that this government can wake up one day and increase fuel price by about 80 per cent, the highest percentage increase in the world.

It is very embarrassing. We are not saying the price of petrol should be stagnant. But government ought to consider the cost of living and the standard of living of Nigerians. The hike in petrol price has increased the hardship already imposed on Nigerians by Buhari and APC. Electricity tariff was increased, placed restriction on forex.

Those in top echelon at the oil industry are part of the labour unions, particularly the Trade Union Congress whose members are top managers there. So, they are part and parcel of the rot in the sector. How did the decay start? What were they looking at? NLC, as far as I am concerned, is gone.

President Muhammadu Buhari should not take Nigerians for granted because he thinks they are not listening, at least, largely to the NLC. Nigerians are already pushed to the wall already and they can do and undo. He needs to move swiftly to address issues about the economy and reduce the petrol price because it is not justifiable. A hungry Nigerian is an angry

You seem to be saying that the civil society organisations too have failed Nigerians…

On the civil society organisations in Nigeria, people try to mix jobless Nigerians who establish politically inclined organisations with the genuine civil society leaders. There are also so many thugs and hooligans who claim to be activists. In our own organisation, we concentrate more in the areas of election monitoring, environmental issues, entrenchment of democratic integrity and so on. For over 10 years now, we have been in partnership with the IMF and World Bank on a number of development issues, including the campaign for strict monitoring of grants to states and countries in Africa. But a number of civil society organisations are not so. You will never see us on the streets like others do. When Jonathan removed subsidy in 2012, I called for the understanding of the economic environment and see if there was need to increase the price then.

Do you see any of those the NGOs and pseudo-prodemocracy groups that were mobilised against Jonathan on the streets now? As a result of the high level of unemployment, many have turned into modern day human rights activists.

Don’t you see any point in the argument of government that money meant for subsidy will be used to provide infrastructure?

Buhari claims money meant for subsidy will be spent on projects captured in the budget. But the same government, which has been clamouring that all loopholes should be plugged, is the same government engaging in waste of scarce money by setting aside N39 billion to search for oil in the North. Is it finding oil that is the matter? How much does the one we have already bring in for us as a country at the end of the month? The world is breaking through in its search for alternatives to fossil fuel. I agree with those who said Buhari’s economic policies are archaic.

The Minister of Finance said that in 2015, N64 billion was spent on travelling by the Continues pg 31

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controversy

erians —Aduwo ce in him —Rep member Honourable Akeem Adeyemi, representing AFIJIO/Atiba/Oyo East/Oyo West Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, speaks with MOSES ALAO on the necessity of the pump price, the need for the diversification of the economy.

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ARELY a week to the May 29 date, which will mark the first year in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, most Nigerians are complaining about the economic hardship in the country and especially the recent pump price hike. As a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the House of Representatives take?

We first have to appreciate Nigerians for changing a ruling party and voting for an opposition party without bloodshed. It was remarkable and everyone deserved to be commended for the role played a little over a year ago. By and large, Nigerians have reposed a lot of confidence in the APC government led by President Muhammadu Buhari. And I must tell you that the president has been doing everything possible to justify the confidence the people have in him.

However, with reference to what you said about people groaning, there will always be people that will oppose or support a government policy; that is how the policies and actions of government are always addressed. But the economic hardship being suffered by Nigerians is not limited to Nigeria; it is a global issue. The economic situation, as people know, was occasioned by the decline in the price of petroleum globally and the situation has forced many countries, even those enjoying more benefits from crude oil than Nigeria does, to jettison some policies. Qatar has removed subsidy; that country has lesser population and more oil than Nigeria. Qatar has jettisoned its health scheme and has even increased pump price by 40 per cent.

Saudi Arabia, for all you care to know, has increased pump price since December 2015/January 2016 by 40 per cent. That is Saudi Arabia, the number one oil-producing country in the world. If Saudi Arabia and Qatar could increase pump price; then it shows that it is a global issue. How can Nigeria be left behind? How can we survive this economic downturn without taking hard decisions? If they cannot effectively execute their budgets because of the global decline of oil price and developed nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia had to resort to increasing pump price, how can Nigeria survive?

But is that enough reason to put Nigerians in hardship?

You have to remember that Nigeria’s situation is peculiar; the subsidy thing is even being solely enjoyed by a cabal of

should have raised the standard of living of the people and by now that there is economic crisis, if pump price is increased realistically, the people would not have been in this kind of hardship. It was that failure to plan for the future that made Nigerians to kick out the PDP. When huge resources accrued to government, the PDP failed to raise the standard of living of Nigerians to meet the challenges of the future. Nigerians are now paying for what past leaders failed to do.

Honourable Akeem Adeyemi few individuals to the detriment of the masses. The EFCC has released the names of some companies to be prosecuted for subsidy scam. What does that mean? That we didn’t even benefit from the subsidy.

People claimed subsidy for the oil they did not supply; they cheated the whole nation and all the people of billions of dollars. In 2012, when oil was being sold for over 100 dollars per barrel, there was no economic hardship and Nigerians felt that if government had failed in fulfilling all promises, they [Nigerians] should still continue to benefit from the subsidy. Unfortunately now, if care is not taken and Nigeria does not join the rest of the world in realising that the decline in the price of crude oil meant that hard decisions needed to be

taken, many states will not be able to pay salaries anymore in the next few months.

I am not talking about owing salaries for five months; they practically would not be able to pay. Government activities will be completely paralysed. That is the reality; I don’t like it too, as I wish that the price remains N86.50. But the reality on the ground does not support that.

But the standards of living in those countries Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have always been different from what we have here, so they may not feel the effect like Nigerians will.

Successive governments have failed to raise the standard of living of Nigerians. When we had so much money, they

But some people are saying that provisions should have been made before the deregulation, making reference to how refineries should have been made to work and how other palliative measures should have been put in place by government.

What are you saying? In the last 16 years of PDP rule, it failed to bring the refineries to optimum level of performance. Are you now going to blame a government that is less than a year in office for the failure of the refineries to function optimally? A government was in power for 16 and it could not make at least one of the refineries to work optimally. But reality dawned on the new government under President Buhari to take a realistic decision and one that addresses what has now become a global challenge. And as you can see, Nigerians are even in support of the administration over the decision. It is the first time that Nigerians are supporting the government on the increase of fuel price; that is the reality. For the first time, Nigerians know that their president is not corrupt. He is not a saint; he is not an angel but give it to him, we know that Buhari will not steal our kobo. That is the first we can vouch for the integrity of the president of this country.

So, if that person approved a decision and told us ‘Nigerians, bear with us. At the end of the tunnel, there will be light,’ I beg Nigerians to give him the benefit of the doubt.

As one of the solutions to the economic crisis, the issue of diversification of the economy has been raised several times, as an elected representative have you sponsored any motion in this regard?

There is need for Nigeria to diversify its economy and the House of Assembly has taken the bull by the horn. We all agreed that there should be diversification of the Continues pg 31

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Sunday Tribune

‘Ambode is transforming Lagos State’ Continued from pg 27 construction that is going on. If roads are well tarred, and drainage [channels] are being cleared as we are clearing them on a daily basis, you will see that traffic will improve, and it has improved substantially.

You can see evidence of traffic management that we have put in place. We have recruited more personnel for LASTMA, which used to be a unit of agency for 2,100 people for several years, but this is the first time, we will be adding to the number of officers working with LASTMA. This is the first time you will see demarcations along Ikorodu Road, Ojota, particularly, along Ketu-Mile 12, ensuring that traffic on the expressway is free flowing. We are ensuring that no area is left behind in any of the three senatorial districts, or if you like, any of the five divisional districts in Lagos State.

In the area of wealth and jobs creation, which is the direction of this administration, we are maintaining our position in terms of the level of investments coming into Lagos State. The report of the first quarter says that about N50billion direct investments came to Nigeria, and more than half of those came directly to Lagos.

You will see that two of the new creations by the Governor – the Office of Commerce and Investment as well as the Ministry of Employment and Wealth Creation have justified the need for which they were created. Investment is still high up there for Lagos State, and the whole of these is designed to protect both local and international investments.

Locally Lagos has partnered Kebbi State for the production of rice. In about six months, 70% of the rice needs of Nigerians will be borne by the partnership between Lagos and Kebbi State. That is a demonstration of local investment.

In foreign investment, you will see that practically everybody comes to Lagos. Barcelona FC was here. They have announced that the first ever youth academy in Africa

by Barcelona FC will be sited in Lagos.

That is direct foreign investment that they will be bringing here. They have had 17 of such academies all over the world. This is the 18th one, and it will be the first time this will be coming to Lagos and Africa.

So, the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Youth Employment is fulfilling one of the campaign promises of His Excellency, which is to focus on job creation. We campaigned with N25bn employment trust fund. Not only has that bill been passed by the House of Assembly, the committee that will run it has also been instituted. The seed money for the first phase in this year, N6.3bn has been set aside for the full takeoff of that employment trust fund. This will be done in this manner: there are five divisions in Lagos. Throw N1bn each into those divisions – for start-up businesses, for youths, for young entrepreneurs, small businesses. Look at what N1bn in a year can do for hundreds if not thousands of such businesses, in Epe, Badagry, Ikorodu, Island, and in the Mainland. If you do one-one billion, that is N5bn you will still have N1.3bn, which means that we will be reflating the economy and injecting money directly to those who need to be walked out of the employment market. This will be done consistently for four years. That is a major campaign promise, so if you ask, “what is the direction?” I will say to you again this state is heading in a direction that rests solidly on the tripod of our cam-

Ayorinde paign promises, that we will ensure that lives and property are well safe in Lagos.

Also you will see that work has started on the two flyovers that were promised at Ajah and Abule- Egba. Roads are being delivered; you can see the light-up Lagos project. If the Governor promised a 24hour economy, this cannot start without the belief that you are secure and that there are facilities for you to move from one place to the other both day and night with adequate security in place.

What would you say is the signature policy of this administration?

Number one: Top-notch security for a megacity. In the constitution, the first responsibility of the government is to first and foremost secure the lives and properties of its citizens and the Governor is saying that “you will know me and appreciate me, because I will keep you safe.” In the first six months of this administration, the police declared crime went down by 65 per cent. As laudable as that is, that is not where we are going. We are entering an era where you will begin to see all over power bikes like we see abroad; power bikes with police officers using communication gadgets and public address system, whereby they can flag you down and you will be hearing them announcing to you to pull over. Crime is a near permanent feature of any megacity in any part of the world. Crime is everywhere, but how functional cities and smart cities distinguish themselves is the manner in which they confront and combat crime. Lagos, under Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, is saying that one of the signature projects, legacy project, that this administration will be known by and appreciated by will be the fact that you will see all over Lagos top-notch security equipment to combat crime.

Number two, he wants to run Lagos, not just as a megacity, but as a smart city.

The features of a smart city are essentially technological and technical. You will begin to see as from this year the investment that we are making in the collection and

acquisition of land use charge in Lagos State. How many buildings or structures do we have in the city? We can’t determine that by going from street to street; it is technology, so that the billing and identification of buildings can be precise, accurate, and accountable. These are the features of a smart city, and where Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s Lagos is going. You will begin to see evidence of this from this year. Another feature of a smart city is to have a 24-hour economy. Let the streets be well lit up; it doesn’t matter whether they are on federal roads, as you have on the Third Mainland Bridge. By the time we will be celebrating Lagos @50, or second anniversary of this administration, almost every part of Lagos, in terms of street lights, will have been well lit up. We will move the entire light-up Lagos project to the IPP (independent power project) – again we are talking technology, the feature of a smart city.

We are also saying that part of the smart city concept for Lagos is to de-emphasise usage of roads. In Brazil, traffic is so bad in Sao Paulo and Rio that there are more than 400 helicopter taxis in those two cities moving the rich and affluent from point A to B on air. We are not there yet, but we are saying that we can make good use of our waterways. We can make good use of our railways. We are happy that the Federal Government has Lagos-Calabar Rail project as part of the 2016 budget, but for Lagos State, we are also happy that we have been able to gain access to the third tranche of the $600m loan from the World Bank for infrastructural projects. You will remember that Governor Fashola started it, and we have access to the remaining $200m, which will be used to complete the Blue Line Rail, leading all the way to Badagry. Don’t also forget that there is also the Fourth Mainland Bridge. They are about signing the MOU with the consortium that will get that done. So, signature project, smart city, smart Governor.

Many people disagree with the choice of Professor Wole Soyinka,

as the Chairman of the Lagos @50 Planning Committee; they say he is not even a native of Lagos, why did Ambode choose a non-native to lead this group?

I am not aware that a lot of people have said that Professor Wole Soyinka shouldn’t have been the chairman. I am aware and the government is aware that there is a particular group in Lagos State that has expressed displeasure over the appointment of Prof Wole Soyinka. Honestly speaking, that does not amount to a lot of people complaining. Because this is democracy; the governor was selected by a whole number of people, not by a selected few, and his mandate is to please the generality of Lagosians. Lagosians that include youths, women, traditional rulers, civil servants, and everybody, therefore, the mandate that he has also means that he consults widely and will use his best judgement to make appointments as he deems fit after due consultations. In my opinion, the appointment of Prof Wole Soyinka has been widely applauded by the majority of Lagosians, by institutions in Lagos State and by the entire world, who feel that Lagos deserves a ball at 50. This is one of the most important city states in the world; this is where you have the largest concentration of black people per city in the world, and, therefore, if you have a global citizen, who identifies with Lagos, who is the only Nobel laureate in Literature in Nigeria, who we celebrate globally, serve as the co-chairman with another illustrious son of the soil, in Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, who is also another eminently qualified industrialist, and more importantly, a thespian and a writer, a novelist and a former chairman, of the Musical Society of Nigeria, who else would you want to use to chair such a committee? And by the way it is just a committee. It is not an appointment that comes with any remuneration, and it comes at the discretion of the man who has been elected to run the affairs of the state. I think we should allow him. My other response to this will be that the committee held a meeting in the residence of the co-chairman, Alhaji Rasheed Gbadamosi, where Chief Gbadamosi addressed the media to say that he is more than happy to serve as the co-chair with Prof. Soyinka who is eminently qualified to chair anything let alone the celebration of Lagos @ 50. It is just a committee; it is not an election really.

We have spoken with some of the personalities involved in this struggle. We have spoken with the president of the Eko Foundation, with Dr Banire and a couple of other leading indigenes whose main grouse is beyond the composition of this appointment. They accused the governor of being inaccessible, and that he is also weeding out Lagosians from governance structure in Lagos State. How do you react to this?

I really do not think it requires any reaction other than what I have said about the fact that the governor was elected and he has the mandate to lead. If there is an expression of displeasure from a particular group, I think that what is fair is to allow them to air their views and grievances.

But you know as we always say, ‘the minority will have their say; the majority will have their way.’ It is a democracy and in democracy you cater for the needs of the generality of the people not the ones of a particular group.

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opinion

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Ambode’s quiet revolution in Lagos

By Gbolahan Akintunde

I

N the heat of the campaigns for the gubernatorial primaries of the APC, Lagos State, in 2015, I had no doubt that Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, who was endorsed by Senator Tinubu, would emerge and this came to pass.

I voted for Ambode during the April gubernatorial general elections for the simple reason that, when Tinubu preferred his then Chief of Staff, little known Babatunde Fashola, to other candidates in 2007, there was disquiet from many quarters because the ability of Fashola to perform was in doubt, but we later discovered that Senator Tinubu saw what the rest of us did not see in Fashola. The rest is history today. Fashola performed beyond the imagination of many Lagosians including cynics. In fact, Lagos State became a reference point of what good governance should be.

So, when Akinwumi Ambode got the endorsement of Tinubu, I got a de javu feeling and I remembered that just like Fashola, another performer might have emerged.

Like many Lagos residents, I was a bit apprehensive in the first few months of Ambode in the saddle as everything seemed to be turning upside down in the state. In less than two weeks in office, about four major fire outbreaks caused by fuel tankers were recorded in different parts of Lagos State; there was upsurge in armed robbery, kidnapping and other sundry crimes. As if these were not enough, there was water shortage in the state for about one month due to a major fault in the equipment of the Lagos State Water Corporation and as the government was battling this, the gridlock in the state became horrific while traffic robbers had a field day. There were complaints in almost all sectors and Ambode received bashing left and right while he was accused of ineptitude and incompetence.

Like a workman ready with his tools, Ambode set to work and instead of being disillusioned with the myriad of problems and bashing, they became the tonic he needed to confront the problems head on. He gave succour to the victims of tanker fire incidents and took steps to prevent re-occurrence. He tackled the security problem of the state by purchasing and handing over security equipment worth

N4.8 billion to the security agencies. These include, 100 4-Door Salon Cars, 55 Ford Ranger Pick-Ups, 10 Toyota Land Cruiser Pick-Ups, 15 BMW Power Bikes, 100 Power Bikes, Isuzu Trucks, three (3) Helicopters, two (2) Gun Boats, 15 Armoured Personnel Carriers, Revolving Lights, Siren and Public Address System, Vehicular Radio Communicators, Security Gadgets including Bullet Proof Vests, Helmets, Handcuffs, etc, Uniforms, Kits and Improved Insurance and Death Benefit Schemes for officers.

Ambode’s effort yielded immediate result as crime was reduced to the barest minimum. One robbery incident that Lagosian will never forget in a hurry is the Ikorodu bank robbery where the robbers escaped through the waterways with a speedboat but were apprehended few weeks after the incident. Similarly, the prompt and professional rescue of the abducted Ikorodu school girls six days after was unprecedented. The kidnappers were apprehended and the girls were unhurt. This drew a lot of applause from Nigerians home and abroad. He also adequately tackled the problem of cultism and land grabbing which had become menace to Lagos residents.

The traffic gridlock in the state was tackled with all seriousness with the governor himself apprehending traffic offenders. The Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASMA) was overhauled and the officers re- orientated with a view to making the agency have a human

face and at the same time, ensure free flow of traffic. Major stakeholders such as members of various transport unions were incorporated as members of the task force.

Recently, mobile courts were inaugurated in the state to summarily try recalcitrant drivers and this has made the traffic situation in the state better.

Tackling the Apapa traffic bottleneck holistically, a task force was set up to ensure free flow of traffic while he personally monitored this. He called on the Federal government to mobilise the contractor awarded the Apapa road network to return to site.

Ambode, a civil servant of 27 years wasted no time in re-organising the civil service for more effective service delivery by realigning some ministries and scrapping others while appointing 19 new Permanent Secretaries.

In the area of Infrastructure, about 600 kilometres network of roads have either been rehabilitated or reconstructed across the 57 Local Council Development Areas including two new roads per LCDA under the Ambode road revolution. Under his “Operation Light Up Lagos State”, Ambode had rehabilitated and erected streetlights in 366 locations across the state while 37 rural communities around Seme border are to be electrified immediately.

In his bid to attract investors to the state and make it the foremost investors’ destination, he received the President of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob the second day he was sworn in, whom he had fruitful discussions with about the desirability of Lagos State as investors’ destination.

Since then, the Governor had met several groups of local and foreign investors including President of Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, investors from Dubai, United States of America, as well as envoys from several European and Middle East countries. The government has received approximately $43 billion investment proposition in the last one year.

Lagosians should expect more stellar performance from the Ambode administration in the remaining three years more so, that Lagos has now joined the enviable league of Nigeria’s oil producing states.

• Akintude, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Iyana Ipaja, Lagos.

interview ‘Economic reality compelled Buhari to increase fuel price’ Continued from pg 29 economy and the National Assembly started a sectoral debate on economic diversification, whereby each minister and ministry invited to tell members their plans. Lawmakers were asked to add inputs from the constituencies, which can be packaged as a framework to diversify Nigeria from a mono-economy.

The first minister to address us was the Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

How can we diversify our economy in terms of culture and tourism? Look at how Kenya has been enjoying tourism as its main source of income. Same thing happens to Ethiopia. There is no oil in Kenya, but they have packaged their countries to make money and they make millions of dollars. So, when Alhaji Mohammed came, as a prince of Oyo Kingdom, I know that culture can fetch Nigeria a lot of money. There is a festival that is peculiar to Oyo Kingdom, but is being celebrated around the world. The Sango Festival has attracted global recognition; it is being celebrated in Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Portugal and some countries in defunct Yugoslavia as well as the United States of America. Since we have a festival being celebrated in Oyo and it is already being celebrated in several countries already without our input, because of our ancestors’ ingenuity and history, I told the minister that the festival only needed Federal Government’s attention in terms of branding and packaging. All we need to do is to make the festival attractive such that tourists can come to Oyo to see Sango’s home, where he slept and the falsehood that he hung and all that. If I, as Hakeem, can go to Mecca to see where Prophet Mohammed prayed, where he threw stone at Satan and where Prophet Ibrahim got a ram in replacement of his son and if a Joseph

can go to Jerusalem to see where Jesus was born or buried; if they can attract us to those countries, we can also attract those in Cuba who worship Sango to come to Nigeria. Saudi Arabia has a Ministry for Hajj; after Hajj,

there is also Umrah, which one can go at any time of the year. That country is always busy making money from its religious and cultural heritage; why can’t we make money from Eyo Festival in Lagos and Sango Festival in Oyo?

‘Increase, highest percentage in the world’ Continued from pg 28 Federal Government. Nigerians ought to have asked for a breakdown of that amount and the months spent because Jonathan left government in May. Was she saying the money was spent during Jonathan’s five months? If the answer is no, it means with Mr Integrity in the saddle, wastage has not stopped.

What suggestion will you give the Federal Government?

It will do the administration a lot of good if it can plough recovered loot into the fixing of the refineries and the refineries work even if at half the installed capacity.

Officials of government should sing in unison and not give discordant tunes about issues and show they have understanding of issues. For many years, about 400,000 barrels of crude oil is allocated for local consumption. But about three weeks ago, the NNPC increased it to about 650, 000 barrels, even when refineries are said not to be working. Who is using or selling the crude? Since government has made the fight against corruption its watchword, it should not create another avenue of corruption in the system. If they think Nigerians will not rise, they are getting it all wrong because only a small spark is what Nigerians need and there will be chaos all over.

Governance at every level in the country is still deemed very weak and needs to be highly upgraded if any meaningful development is to be seen. What is your take on this should be done?

There is no way Nigeria can move forward without reengineering the political structure. Nigeria is a country where only a few states are working and viable. At the end of 30 days, all states fly representatives to Abuja share from the so-called national cake without sparing a thought on how to bake more cake. This can’t work and will not add up in the long run, even if it seems to be working in the short term. We are yet to see a leader who has the will to really tackle this peculiar mess. The problems with our incongruous federation are today manifesting in the form of Fulani herdsmen versus farmers clashes, renewed militancy, insurgency and so on. The pasture is undoubtedly no longer green in the North and consequently the herders have to move southwards to feed their cattle. But who are the owners of the cattle? They are the well to dos in the North. So, why does the APC government want to create a grazing reserve for a private business? Cattle are supposed to be ranched and not allowed to roam people’s farms. This is why there is a renewed call for the breakup of the country in some quarters. But I for one believe in the togetherness of the ethnic groups. However, staying together must be built on justice and fairness.

fortherecord Accountability and integrity capital as game changer (I) 32

22 May, 2016

By Tunji Olaopa

I

Introduction: Is Africa ready to rise?

T would seem that, to all intents and purposes, the days of Afro-pessimism is all but over. For many decades after independence, the African political and socioeconomic realities became so dismal and out of tune with the euphoria of independence that most scholars predict a very bleak future for the continent. Afro-pessimism is grounded on some solid empirical data of nonperformance: bad leadership, authoritarian political regimes, crippling poverty, wars, capitalist exploitation, ethnic rivalries, economic depression social anomie; the list of dysfunction is endless. Nkrumah’s prediction about the emancipatory necessity of seeking the political kingdom turned out to be only politically dramatic. All the other economic, cultural and social packages of post-independence luxuries were not added.

However, pessimism also has its limit. The democratic awakening all over the world has also caught up with Africa. Since the 90s, African governments have also been involved in series of processes, programmes and events that signal a concern over the African predicament and the future of the African people. The urgent call to open up the governance space and make economic participation more inclusive has led to significant policy initiatives on the continent. We have had the Lagos Plan of Action, The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) as institutional dynamics to monitor governance relationship between the government and the governed in Africa.

The result is what scholars and global organisations have called the ‘Africa Rising’ phenomenon, a situation in which many economies in Africa—Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zambia, Uganda, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Kenya, etc.— were achieving above 7.0% economic growth.

Given all this right moves in the right direction, it appears the right time to rescue the optimism that ushered in the first liberation from colonialism and the second one that enabled Africa do away with sighttight tyrants who took over at independence.

The third liberation seems like a wakeup call to get African states on to the democratic governance and development advocacy campaign all around the globe to make the citizens the centre point of decision making and policy development that are transparent and accountable to those to be affected by the policies. The third liberation argument, according to its proponents, is “the liberation from political economies characterised by graft, crony capitalism, rent-seeking, elitism and, inevitably, widening (and destabilising) social inequality.” This optimism about the third liberation of African economies is premised on three elements that give Africa an enormous edge in developmental terms—a human capital strength grounded in Africa’s youthful and highly educated population; a rapidly evolving and entrepreneurial private sector; and an enormous natural resource base.

The challenge is therefore straightforward: Can African states convert their ongoing economic momentum into governance frameworks for defeating unemployment, poverty and the infrastructural deficit that plagues the continent?

Institutions and the curse of underdevelopment In order to understand the significance of the preceding question, there is a need to subject optimism and theoretical projections to the test of empirical

evidence accruing from economic data.

This exercise reveals a certain paradox: Africa seems to be rising while still starkly underdeveloped. In spite of the optimism arising from the economic growth rate in the last few years, Africa is still third and not first world; Cameroon is still very far from Indonesia, and Ghana still lacks the governance stature of Malaysia. In comparative terms, how was it possible for Singapore and Nigeria, two erstwhile third world countries, to be so different in the space of thirty years? What explains the extraordinary difference in development level between the two countries?

There are two historical arguments that have been pushed to answer these questions. The first is the geography argument, which is as old as two European philosophers—Montesquieu and Kant. The argument is simple: geography is a determinant of prosperity and poverty. This is why the rich countries are concentrated in the temperate regions while the poor ones—Asia, South America and Africa—are to be found in the tropical regions, especially the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn. At first glance, this hypothesis seems cogent. According to Jeffrey Sachs, there is a sense in which the sun-baked tropical sun reduces the chance of productive agriculture while tropical diseases have a way of affecting the labour forces. However, the theory is falsified simply by identifying countries which are relatively highly developed and prosperous in the tropic; namely, Botswana, Japan, South Korea, China, South Africa, etc. The second argument is the culture hypothesis. This argument has a very strong advocate in Max Weber, the German sociologist. It states that prosperity and poverty are the function of cultural values and attitudes that are either conducive or resistant. For instance, the Protestant work ethic in the Western society says a lot about progress in those societies whereas profligacy, superstition and laziness undermine productive work in some other societies.

The third argument which has gained enormous ground in development studies has to do with the significance of institutions in the grounding of development and progress in any nation. A few years ago, while on his first visit to Africa, President Barack Obama made the famous statement that Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions. This argument makes

the important point that the evolution of strong institutions in Africa ensures that institutional procedures, values and regulations are enough to reduce the arbitrary behaviour of rapacious and corrupt individuals whose negative attitude are anti-developmental. Thus, once a state develops the political will to transform its various socioeconomic and political structures into sturdy institutions, then such institutions then carry the burden of facilitating development planning and national progress.

According to Acemoglu and Robinson, the authors of Why Nations Fail (2012), the prosperity and the poverty of nations around the globe are explainable in term of the type of institutions they allow to flourish. Thus, nations that develop inclusive institutions prosper, while nations whose institutions are essentially extractive remain poor.

Extractive institutions are those that exist solely to exploit the national resources for the benefits of the elites in the society. of course, there would be some meagre economic growth resulting from the elites’ desire to keep their economic base functioning to their gain. But in the final analysis, extractive institutions lead to long term impoverishment for the large populations.

On the other hand, inclusive institutions are founded on the democratic premise of opening up the governance space to enable political and economic participation of the citizens in the decision making processes of the society. in other words, such institutions facilitate the entrepreneurial and creative economic energies of the individual citizens and what s/he is able to contribute to the larger economic growth of the state.

There is no doubt that the institution hypothesis is central to the understanding of Africa’s third liberation. If the rhetoric of ‘Africa Rising’ must be squared with the evidence of gross underdevelopment in terms of literacy, poverty, inflation, income inequality, gender imbalance and unemployment, then we need a deep understanding of how Africa’s basic institutional dynamics have remained essentially extractive, and its political orientation has remained patrimonial.

Africa’s terrible postcolonial trajectory began immediately after independence with a statist political dogma inherited from the framework of the colonial state in Africa. The colonial state was perforce a violent state devoid of any of the positive, legitimizing mutual links and reciprocal dynamics of

Sunday Tribune

rights and obligations between state and society. The transition from the colonial to the post-colonial stateoccasioned, to a large extent, a direct carry-over and continuation of colonial attitudes, values and modus operandi by Africa’s nationalist elite. This inevitable consequence of this transition was the evolution of an authoritarian and centralized control over the polity and the eventual stifling of any democratic tendency. It is not therefore surprising that the immediate post-independence period was marred by the one-party ideology and the scourge of military rule which lasted well into the 90s.

The result of this approach is not only to stifle all opposition and the opportunity for more viable alternatives to development, it has also meant the use of the bureaucracy as a means of political intervention in the economy and society, thereby compromising its neutrality, impartiality and anonymity. In addition, it strengthens the bureaucracy’s power vis-à-vis other institutions, and also renders it immune from accountability, whether from the people or their representatives. A politicized bureaucracythat loses its neutrality and impartiality becomes dysfunctional in terms of having a highly compromised capacity to rationally and efficiently allocate resources for development purposes.

We therefore have a statement of how the institutions dominating the political and economic landscape of most African states were already compromised in terms of how the rules of the budding African states would be made, and in whose interests.

Furthermore, the patrimonial nature of the operation of these institutions ensures that they would be essentially extractive rather than inclusive. The reason for their non-inclusive nature is to be found squarely within the euphoria-induced neglect of the political leadership. Let me explain. The abundant literature on anticolonialism and nationalist protests against colonialism points at a vigorous attempt by the nationalist elites to wrest power away from the colonizers in other to establish a continental wide reconstruction of the national spaces of the African states.

Unfortunately, once political independence was achieved, it became the gateway not to an unfolding template of emancipatory politics but rather a path to untold postcolonial socioeconomic anomie and deprivation of all forms. The simple reason is the unwillingness of the nationalist elites to deconstruct the state and its apparatuses which colonialism left behind as a ‘legacy’.

But then, the institutional argument requires some serious readjustment. The preceding analysis demonstrates that institutionalism cannot be understood except in the light of cultural values and valuation which underpin elite behaviour and becomes eventually critical to development or underdevelopment. So, while we can outrightly reject the geography argument as not supported by empirical fact, there are abundant data to recommend that culture plays a very significant role in prosperity and poverty in any state. And furthermore, the kind of cultural values and attitudes that state’s elites favour serve as the template for understanding the difference between extraction and inclusion in institutional dynamics.

Being a lecture delivered by Dr. Olaopa, Executive Vice-Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), as the guest speaker at the 3rd Covenant University International Conference on African Development on Monday, 9th of May, 2016. tolaopa@ibsgpp. com tolaopa2003@gmail.com To be continued

33

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari and his strategists must be grinning from ear to ear at the Presidential Villa over their success so far in handling the fuel price hike protest thus far. For the first time in decades, the Federal Government increased fuel price and the earth is not quacking; just some feeble protests from a divided Labour. Buhari must by now be patting his men on the back for getting it right this time.

Fuel price increase has remained a contentious issue in this country. All the time the Federal Government jerks up the price of fuel, there have always been protests, with the Labour on most occasions grounding commercial activities.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo went through this seven times in his eight years on the seat and he was made to face a fiery NLC led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, now governor of Edo state. On each occasion, the Government was forced to drop a basket of palliatives which its mouth pieces would mouth for weeks.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan faced an angry nation when he attempted to remove fuel subsidy in January 2012. His government had calculated that the nation could make do with some N1.5 trillion being wasted on the average on fuel subsidy annually if it frees the sum for capital spending. The opposition party at the time gingered the Labour and the civil society into a protest that grounded the states. The government eventually dropped the price from N140 to N97 per litre.

This time however, the Buhari government is having a field day. Days after announcing the deregulation of the downstream of the oil sector, the streets are still pack full of commercial activities. Labour leaders are finding it difficult to mobilize Nigerians as the government has practically crippled the strike by ensuring the PENGASAN and NUPENG, the two most critical to a successful strike are out of the deal.

Rather than have a strike of monumental effect, and having the Government begging Labour to come to the table for talks, we are having the opposite. The Labour is not just pleading for the government to save face; it is also expressing readiness to dialogue with a government that has shown its lack of interest in talking with the Labour unions.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, who was with Senate President Bukola Saraki on Thursday, was practically calling the government to enter into negotiations. Meanwhile the government is more at home with the Joe Ajaero-led faction of the NLC, which is opposed to the strike.

Hear Wabba at the Senate: “Let me first thank you immensely for inviting us to try to get first hand information

“THE Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) should work in tandem with the Customs Service to prevent the importation of…” This is a meaningful phrase/ statement of fact and a good message to the FRSC. The policy is a good innovation, which unfortunately has come at a wrong time. The FRSC should please not add to the existing economic hardship of the people.

Lekan Oladeji. Ilora. 08053049443 Your topic for today, like the hike in fuel price, has serious effects on the well-being of Nigerians as well as life itself. Nigeria is a replica of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” where all animals are equal but some are more equal than the others. It is clear that most of our compatriots in positions of authority in Nigeria are the animals that are more equal than the others because they appear to be living in a world which is quite different from ours.

These few are living on our commonwealth and never feel where the shoe pinches. Otherwise, Oyeyemi would not have made such a comment at this time when living has become nightmarish for many Nigerians. He needs to come down from his high horse in Abuja to the grassroots, to experience the kind of life Nigerians are living.

He should experience firsthand, how past bad economic policies have impoverished Nigerians to the extent that they have resorted to buying tokunbo (i.e. second hand) goods for survival, including such personal items like ladies’ under wear. As you rightly said, how many motorists know that tyres expire? Besides, how many ‘aa sa jeun’ commercial vehicle operators could afford new tyres? The fact is that Oyeyemi is looking for ways to increase FRSC IGR and provide a means to enrich his boys on the road, period! Otherwise, he should know better that bad roads, more than expired tyres, cause most of the accidents in Nigeria. With this policy, Oyeyemi will effectively remove 90 percent of vehicles from Nigerian roads, thus giving his men and the police a holiday and thus grounding the nation. The solution is for the government to revamp the economy and also fix our roads; once this is done, no one will buy tokunbo tyres not to talk of expired ones.

Adewuyi Adegbite. 08066328387 Most of the policies in Nigeria only make life more unbearable for the poor. It becomes more so, when the of-

22 May, 2016

the lynxeye with Taiwo adisa

08072000046

PMB’s gain, NLC’s loss

on the issues that we are trying to engage government in negotiations essentially about the trade issue about the electricity tariff but importantly about the increase in the pump price of PMS from N87 to N145 and we have assured the senate president that at no point had we walked out on the government.

“In fact when those issues were presented and the position of government was made to us, we did not actually agree and they requested that we excuse them, which we did.

“We have not at any point walked out on government and we are still open to discussion and dialogue because we are

frontrow with Toyin Willoughby Muyi 0805 500 1769 toyeenz@yahoo.com

RE: The FRSC and my tyres

Sunday Tribune

also doing this in the best interest of all of us as working class and also the larger population of citizens.

“But as things are now, the strike continues until needed resolutions are arrived at in further negotiations with the Federal Government.”

It should not come as a surprise that the NLC is fast becoming a toothless bulldog in this era. The Union shut itself in the foot in 2015 when it could not organize a peaceful election and eventually slid into factions. Now the two bodies to critical to fuel price strike PENGASSAN and the NUPENG are also caught in the battles within the trade unions.

One belongs to the NLC faction, and the other is an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC). With both forces pulling at different directions, the centre will certainly not hold.

That being the case, the unions become a meal of the government at the centre.

The bad news is that the government is not offering enough explanations and no one really knows what we are going into. Is the country deregulating? Is price modulation? Have we removed subsidy? Will fuel sell above N145 per litre is marketers buy the US dollar at N320 to one Dollar? No one is clear as officials continue to speak from different sides of the mouth.

Unlike the 2012 scenario, when the Jonathan’s administration developed a huge template on what to be done with the oil savings, when they came up with the SURE-P programme, that gave 42 percent of its earnings to the Federal Government, while the States and local governments share the rest, the Government this time is not talking much. No one knows how the savings from oil sales will be applied. Will the states benefit as much as they did under the SURE-P regime? What are the percentages?

We understand that some states earned as much as N500 million monthly from SURE-P entitlements at the peak of oil’s majesty.

This time, no one seems to know more that the reality of buying fuel at N145 but the government appears to be pulling through. The Labour has offered itself on a platter and its spineless frame can hardly take the punches.

It is hardly a democracy can afford. A democracy without the voices of opposition cannot thrive. The NLC/TUC must wake up to the realty of the day. Cement relationship among its members across the board and give the workers a strong voice they deserve. The likes of Pa Imoudu and other leaders of the Labour Unions will be highly uncomfortable in their graves if they should discover that the Labour they left behind is helping to kill our democracy, slowly. depends on God to drive away its tormenting flies E.A.Rotimi.

TAC Olorunda, Lagos.

08033796044.

Thanks for the sensitive issue raised in this column.

The pronouncement of the Corps Marshal/FRSC is just to bring more hardship to the life of the masses.

Who does not know that any imported/smuggled used tyres have already expired? NAFDAC officials would raid pharmaceutical shops, seize and destroy expired drugs; the NDLEA would visit farms and destroy marijuana plantations. FRSC does not need to search for expired tyres, they are displayed here and there yet they do not touch them because they are friends to the sellers.

Why can’t the Corps Marshal lead his team to confiscate old/expired tyres on display? This will demonstrate his sincerity. If there is no such in the market, would people not adjust and buy new ones? It will be better for them to shelve their proposed plan of impounding vehicles.

Adepoju Ajibare. Ado-Ekiti. 08070777773.

It is on record that most fatal accidents are not caused by the usage of expired tyres alone, but mostly by the waywardness and the recklessness of the driver.

The FRSC should focus attention on continuous driver education to drastically reduce human errors and wrong judgments on our roads.

I. O. Shosanya. Amuwo-Odofin 08037092638.

ficers to enforce such policies see a glimmer of a chance to line their own pockets. May God help us as most of us, who in the first place cannot afford new tyres, obviously cannot afford to run off to a foreign land. The annoying thing is that government officials are also guilty of using expired and worn tyres yet they hardly get reprimanded.

Madam, let us hope in God; after all, a cow without a tail

All you said are correct concerning what they should have done first before they start enforcing the policy.

As you know, the first problem is the issue of foreign exchange as it determines our purchasing power, government should do something about it quickly to save our lives. I agree with you that no matter how, we should be properly educated about the dangers of using expired tyres before the policy is the enforced.

It is, however, sad that Nigerians being what we are will not comply easily even if we are educated for a decade. We should stop risking our lives and this warning is especially directed at commercial drivers. We commuters too need to watch carefully any vehicle we want to board because our life is precious to our dependants and us.

Hon. Ali Wasiu Olawale. Oyo. 08035819405

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22 May, 2016

ON THE

Sunday Tribune

With Bolanle Bolawole turnpot@gmail.com 07052631058

lord’sday Buhari: Go... Going...

If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together –An African proverb.

T

HERE is no denying the fact that these are really trying times for the All Progressives Congress as a party. It is at its wits’ end defending its records as the party in power. In a period of just one year, it has witnessed a dramatic turn of events, crashing from a dizzying height of public acclamation and support to a horrible pit of public disaffection. Its rehashed excuses of the past are no longer holding water with the people. We told them; if only they had listened: Honeymoons are not forever! For the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, May, which ecclesiastics refer to as the month of grace, has turned into the month of rage.

It did not just collapse on him; the tell-tale signs had always been there. As they say, little drops of water – of disappointments, of angst, of dashed hopes, of renounced promises, of tardy performance, of careless and loose talks – have combined into the mighty ocean of discontent now threatening not only to submerge but also sweep Buhari off his feet. Remove “g” from “grace” and Buhari has a race to run – it is a race against time. To succeed, he needs two other “Ms” associated with the month of May – the “mercy” of the heavens to wrought “miracles” for him.

Not the Ibe Kachikwus but vintage miracle workers, wonder kids with the Midas touch, are those needed for these times.

For the times, actually, earnestly yearn for miracles, signs and wonders.

Truth be told, neither APC nor Buhari are the architect of the misfortune in which Nigerians have found themselves.

Our problems have deeper roots but just like the ill-luck that trail many reformist governments, this government has come at the wrong time. To make matters worse, it is tardy and unsure of its steps.

Its ranks are broken and its strengths depleted so early in the journey that it is looking as if it has been in government for more than one year. The British laid the foundations for our misfortune as a nation. A faulty foundation carrying the gigantic edifice called Nigeria cannot but groan and croak; the edifice itself cannot sit pretty. A confederacy would have been best; if, by force, the various peoples making up be country must be cobbled together into “one nation”, to borrow the defunct National Party of Nigeria’s motto.

The federation the British bequeathed to us is one that promotes motion but arrests development. And as Sciptures say, “If the foundation be destroyed, what can (even) the righteous do?” Faulty foundations on which edifices have already been constructed are a nightmare. Reluctance to do the needful, as is the case with Nigeria, is awful. The more you patch it up, the more the cracks and cleavages appear.

The more time you waste propping it up, the more costly the eventual cost of facing reality.

Part of the fault also lay with our founding fathers. They were not forceful and push-

full enough; selfish interests did not allow them. They acquiesced to the shenanigans of the British simply on the altar of power take-over. Sectional interests were far too strong for the nationalistic fervour of the Independence struggle to surmount and obliterate; further confirming the view that this is one nation that should not have been a nation at all. It is to the fathers’ eternal credit, however, that they took giant developmental strides; but the gulf that separated their various peoples soon knocked the engine of the new nation. The military that took over made matters worse. One: The tiny air-hole that the British left for our “federalism” to breathe was firmly shut by them, turning an already imperfect federalism into the most unitary federalism on planet Earth.

Decades of military rule destroyed all vestiges and pretences at federal rule and, with it, the possibilities of meaningful development that was the hallmark of the First Republic. Two: The military was an awful bunch of wanton troopers, wasting our resources and failing to make the required investments into our future. They flared our gas; abandoned agriculture; starved the education sector; trivialised healthcare; and wasted the billions of dollars they collected as rent from foreign oil companies. One of them gleefully declared that our problem was not money but how to spend it! And how did they spend it? They wasted it! Three: The military institutionalised corruption on a scale never before experienced in this country. And this is very ironic in that the first military coup had been justified by its arrow-heads on the need to uproot the “enemies... making the country look big for nothing in the eyes of the international community” whom they identified as the “ten-per centres”. Had the margin of loss under the military remained mercifully at 10%, we would have counted ourselves lucky; but bribery and corruption became so entrenched, in fact, was elevated into an art, that one of their leaders became

known variously as “Maradona”, “evil genius” and “settlement master”. A whopping US $2.8 billion Gulf War oil windfall vanished into thin air under his watch.

A short period of civilian interregnum apart, the military-engineered and military-supervised merry-go-round continued many decades until the forced return to civil rule in 1999. By this time, the country was already in very bad shape.

Had we the good fortunes of a leader with the fear of God and love of people at that point in time, the ship of state would have been rescued and Nigeria, today, could have arrived in the comity of industrialised nations. How many years, for instance, did it take Singapore or the other “Asian Tigers” to shrug off poverty and underdevelopment and arrive as members of the Second, even First, World? But as if jinxed or cursed or both, we had, in 1999, a leadership intent on playing God and enjoying life to the hilt. But because oil money was flowing “yanfu-yanfu”, we were not quick to note this. To make matters worse, an awful combination of an invalid and a novice was thereafter imposed on the nation. The rest, as they say, is history! The truth of the matter is that this country was already gasping for breath when Buhari came into office. The patient was then quickly rushed into the emergency unit of the National Hospital and placed on life support. The lead doctor, Muhammadu Buhari, and other supporting doctors and care-givers have been attending to it ever since.

Will the “patient” survive? Buhari\APC gave every assurance that it will. The only condition they gave the people, to wit, sack the previous care-givers and put us in charge, having been met by the people, the onus lies with Buhari\APC to deliver on their promise. Unfortunately, they are having problems doing this – worse; they are not smart at explaining their situation to the people. We have heard different versions of why they are not measuring

up. One: The situation of the patient was worse than they had imagined. Two: The recovery of the patient would take longer period than they had earlier promised.

Three: Buhari himself had wished he were younger and had more energy to tackle the problems besetting the patient. Four: New issues had cropped up that were never before anticipated but which will have to be addressed all the same. They may be right. Nigeria, truly, is broke; everyone knows it but the people are reluctant to act by it because government itself is not acting by it. With the National Assembly members buying themselves new exotic cars; with government not making any conscious effort to drastically reduce the cost of governance; with the bureaucracy still callously and mindlessly padding the budget to the tune of trillions of Naira, why should the people be the only one being asked to tighten their belts? Why should the people not be expected to take up arms, as it were, against a patiently corrupt and anti-people bureaucracy and antiquated and unjust system? The other day, Gov. Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State accused Buhari of spending not less than one million US dollars on each of his foreign trips. The president denied that he spends that much on each trip but has not deemed it fit to open the books for all to see. And the foreign trips continue unabated! A Minister in this same CHANGE administration was reported to have gone to borrow\loan over N13 million from a parastatal under his watch to fund a foreign trip. Just imagine that!

Is this the new system of siphoning public funds – foreign trips under whatever guise?

I pity Buhari but he is the architect of his own misfortunes in some respect. One: He has not demonstrated that he is a good party leader. His party is in disarray.

The troops that brought him to power are no longer united under his command.

In other words, he has effectively lost his command. As a military leader he should know that you do not abandon the troops that won the battle for you on the battlefield because you will need them on your way back to base, or else you could suffer an ambush. Two: He should never have opened another warfront in the South-East and South-South. Sending armies to “crush” militants engaged in guerrilla warfare is, I dare to say, dumb.

This is not conventional warfare; it is not the Biafra civil war that Buhari fought in 1967\1970. It is hit-and-run. Now that the militants are destroying the economic life-line of the country, what can Buhari do about it? Deregulation or no deregulation; subsidy withdrawal or not, the militants will bring the entire nation on its knees in no time if Buhari does not review his analogue tactics. Three: Buhari has not effectively managed information on the fuel hike, which is the immediate cause of the anger in the land today. The aides speaking for him, and speaking at cross-purposes, could not have resonated with the people like Buhari himself would have done. The president should have addressed the people.

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22 May, 2016

tribunechurch

The Most Reverend (Dr) Joseph Olatunji Akinfenwa, Bishop of Ibadan Diocese (Anglican Communion), in an interaction with KEHINDE OYETIMI, speaks on his growing up years, how he feels clocking 60 and his thoughts on religious and national issues. Excerpts:

W

HAT was growing up like?

Looking back at that time, by the time I knew who I was, probably between class three or class four, in primary school, those times were very bad because I was a truant. I didn’t stay in school. I loved football so much and as a result, I was always at loggerheads with my parents. My punishment was sometimes following my father to the farm. I was not what I was expected to be. I was a dullard but God gave my parents the patience to guide me.

There were days I spent my school fees on other things. I became a hero with football and even became the school goalkeeper.

That was a setback for me academically.

However, with time, when it was time to graduate from primary school and there was nothing to show for it, the decision of the family was that I should become an omolanke (cart pusher). My father disagreed and insisted that I rather continued to work with him on the farm and that was how I was rescued. I sat for the common entrance examination and surprisingly, I passed, and got into a teachers’ college in Zaria. Teachers’ colleges in those days were viewed as second class institutions, and some people were still of the view that it was a waste of money but eventually, I went to the college.

After that, I went to a secondary school. Afterwards, I didn’t think it was necessary to further my education. I got a job as a clerk at the Nigerian Railway Corporation, while still featuring in football matches. With that, clubs were jostling for me, and eventually, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) got me and I started work as a goalkeeper for them. In fact, the first national league arrangement that was held in Nigeria, we were part of the team that came from ABU workers to Ibadan, with Mighty Jets, Standards of Jos, a team from then Bendel, among others. Unlike today when footballers make so much money, in those days, it was beating.

Once you do not win a match, there would be riots.

It was at ABU that I went back to my first love, that is my wife whom I met in secondary school, and after we got married, it was at ABU I received the call into the ministry.

I remember the day my mother threatened to kill me because of my attitude then. I had to run for my life. There was a downpour and the electricity cable fell in front of our gate and I had been sent on an errand, and it was my mother, who had threatened me not long before, who rescued me.

Now you’re 60. How do you feel?

The first thing that came to my mind as we

It’s time to roll out change ‘goodies’, Abidoye tells Pg 38 Buhari

I once played in Nigerian league as goalkeeper —Bishop Akinfenwa entered this new year was to appreciate God. If my mother were alive, and you asked her if I would clock 60, I don’t think she would have believed it. There have been several occasions that God has rescued me. I don’t feel old, because in my mind, I feel quite young. I feel happy and thankful to God for the privilege to serve Him. What is your testimony?

My wife.

If you could change something about your life, what would that be?

Nothing. Events in my life have a link. I look back at the period when I was a challenge for my family and I see it as a necessary period in my life in which God wanted to use me and transform me and teach me some lessons. Like my father would say, ‘ninu ikoko dudu ni eko funfun tin jade’ (it

Grazing bill:

PFN urges caution, Pg 38 vigilance

is from a blackened pot that white pap is made).

If you consider the present Christian realities, many who have failed in other careers venture into the ministry. The ministry has become a vital part of your life. How has the experience been?

I’ve had it very interesting. I grew up in the North and a large part of my ministry was in the North, I see a difference between what obtains here and there. The ministry as I see it today, the demand is to give the totality of oneself to the work of God, and not just in leadership, but by example. We have many ministers but we are not to judge. Only heaven knows those who are faithfully doing the will of the father. In those days, there was the fear of God, but the scenario is different today, especially self-propagation at

Start speedy implementation of 2016 budget, Pg 36 Okubadejo tells FG

Sunday Tribune

With Rita Okonoboh rosarumese@gmail.com 08053789087

the expense of service to God. Northern governors have come up with a proposal to licence preachers.

Do you see any merits in such move?

There are merits and demerits but the question is ‘who can we trust?’ They have come up with a proposal in the open but do we know if there is any sinister motive?

I lived in the North for years and while the proposal may look good in the open, it could be a terrible move against the faith. I thank God that our brethren there are living true to their faith and have continued to challenge the move. On another basis, one should also consider that because government has not been able to nip certain things in the bud, all sorts of preachers have arisen and are preaching hate. You won’t believe it but the scenario in the North is so horrible now. If that is what we want to curb, then it is fine. But again, how much can we trust leaders coming up with such a move? Look at the Boko Haram situation. It was allowed to fester over the years. If it had been nipped in the bud, we wouldn’t be in the situation we are now. Christians cried out, leaders cried out, especially on our porous borders.

Government should take decisive action.

Bills upon bills will only complicate matters.

This is a delicate and complicated issue.

Now the grazing reserves bill is being proposed. What should be the stand of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in all of this?

In the first place, these herdsmen are from nowhere and from everywhere. Some have settled down in various parts of the country.

It will be foolhardy if we begin to allocate grazing land. How much land is available?

Only God understands the agenda of the herdsmen who attack communities and now giving them ‘special treatment’ is not right. What Chief Obafemi Awolowo proffered many years ago may just be the way to go. Restrict them to where they are. The demise of our rail system is wreaking so much havoc. A lot of goods can be shipped to and fro via rail. That was the suggestion of Chief Awolowo. This issue of grazing reserves for herdsmen, the question is who owns the land? Besides, when did herdsmen begin to acquire arms? There is more to this than meets the eye.

You’re very vocal on national issues. When you look at Nigeria over the past years and what obtains now, are you satisfied with how far we have come?

How can I be satisfied? I wish after former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Muhammadu Buhari came into power to consolidate on President Obasanjo’s achievements. Now we can look back and not blame President Buhari for the present situation of things. If the All Progressives Congress (APC) and all those who struggled to take over the present administration of the country had known what was on ground, maybe they wouldn’t have dared. I sympathise with them. We need to be patient with this government. I think we can trust President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and the present administration. They were already comfortable before coming into administration so the question of greed doesn’t come in. I think we should patiently and prayerfully give them time. In future, we should be careful how we choose Continues on pg38

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22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

With Olaide Sokoya ollydesanmi@yahoo.com 08074497425

churchnews

Anglican Bishop urges Nigerians to embrace agriculture

B

ISHOP of Ilesa Diocese, Anglican Communion, Right Reverend (Dr) Samuel Sowale, has called on the three tiers of government to urge Nigerians to embrace agriculture.

He stated this in his charge at the third session of the 14th synod of Ilesa diocese, held at St. Peter’s Church, Ilesa, Osun State, with the theme, “When shall I provide for my household?”

The bishop called on the three tiers of government

to encourage Nigerians to return to agriculture for survival.

The charge also called on federal and state governments to encourage entrepreneurship in the curriculum of tertiary institutions, with the view to encouraging graduates to embrace the establishment of business ventures.

The cleric advised government to collaborate with neighbouring countries to bring lasting solutions to the threat of Boko Haram and other terrorist influ-

ences in Nigeria, and also advised on developing a synergy to urgently and decisively combat the threat of cattle rearers who kill farmers in their thousands as the issue is gradually becoming worrisome.

Bishop of Oyo Diocese, Right Reverend (Dr) Williams Aladekugbe, in his address, praised President

Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts at ensuring the release of the Chibok girls.

Speaking on the state of the nation, Aladekugbe gave kudos to President Buhari on the war against corruption and his efforts to rescue the Chibok girls, and urged Nigerians to join forces with President Buhari to see to the end of

Boko Haram.

He also counseled parents and guardians within and outside the church to take active participation in the progress of their children and wards with a view to making them useful citizens for Nigeria today and tomorrow.

While delivering a sermon at the end of the synod

Leaders cautioned against corruption

Start speedy implementation of 2016 budget, Okubadejo tells FG

By Kehinde Oyetimi A call has been made to the Federal Government on the necessity of speedily implementing the provisions of the 2016 national budget, considering the lingering unsavoury economic downturn and hardship in the country.

This was the submission of the diocesan bishop of Ibadan North/archbishop of Ibadan Province of the Anglican Communion, The Most Reverend Segun Okubadejo, at the third session of the sixth synod of the diocese of Ibadan North, Anglican Communion.

The cleric gave an appeal to Nigerians to be patient with the present administration, adding that if the budget was faithfully and carefully implemented, it would bring the needed relief.

“We strongly believe that a better tomorrow is fast approaching. We therefore appeal to all Nigerians to join hands with the Federal Government and offer support especially in the area of anti-corruption crusade.

“We urge the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, start the implementation of the 2016 budget. We are confident that with N6.06 trillion, relief is on the way to the suffering Nigerians.

“The epileptic power supply and the perennial fuel shortage which affect all aspects of good living must be arrested and permanent solutions found,” he said.

He condemned the killings carried out by herds-

men in some parts of the country, stressing that governments at all levels must combat “this menace and urgently and compellingly ascertain the sources of arms and ammunition carried about by these bandits.

“The moves by both the Senate and the House of Representatives to carve out any part of any state as grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen should be vehemently opposed. Do not make us prey for these criminals. Our traditional rulers should not cede any land in their areas for this unjust move by the Federal Government,” he said.

Speaking further, Okubadejo stressed the need to encourage agriculture and the enactment of policies that would encourage the nation’s drive towards self-sustenance.

“Let the government at all levels put up policies and sustainable action plans that will promote and provide enabling environment for all Nigerians to engage in agriculture,” he said.

Former governor of Ogun State, Chief Gbenga Daniel (middle), with clerics and dignitaries, at the 20th anniversary service of Livingstone Church of Zion, Chapel of Praise, Sagamu, Ogun State.

From left, Very Reverend Solomon Obaleye; Venerable Lawrence Fasola; Venerable (Dr) Sola Igbare, and Venerable Peter Ayoade, during the third session of the third synod of Egba West Diocese, held at St. David’s Anglican Church, Ofada, Ogun state, recently.

Glorifying God, essential virtue of true Christians —Ex Gov Daniel CHRISTIANS have been urged to always glorify and increase faith in God in their everyday lives as indispensable attributes of true believers.

Immediate past Governor of Ogun State and Asiwaju of Remo Christians, Chief Gbenga Daniel, made the call last Sunday, in a special sermon at the 20th anniversary service of Livingstone Church of Zion, Chapel of Praise, Sagamu, Ogun State.

According to Chief Daniel, who ministered at the

at the thanksgiving service last Sunday, the Bishop of Ijesa North Diocese, Right Reverend (Dr) Iwabiolorun Oluyamo, spoke extensively on the theme of the synod.

The highlight of the synod was a lecture delivered by Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, in which he warned the church on sole dependence on donations from members.

service, “the very purpose for which we exist is to give glory to God. This is the first mark of a committed Christian.”

Drawing an example from the lessons of the death of Jesus Christ, Chief Daniel urged all to live sanctified lives to experience God’s glory.

In his remarks, Reverend Malato Benson Ikuesan, President and Senior Pastor of Living Stone Church of Zion International, also enjoined Christians to do

whatever they do for God heartily.

While praising those who had contributed in one way or the other to the growth of the church, Reverend Ikuesan reminded the congregation that their service on earth was for God and not man and that such service should be in accordance to His will.

Highlights of the service included the investiture of Chief Festus Olabode Ikuesan as the Balogun Ijo, Living Stone Church of Zion

and special thanksgiving service for Chief Gbenga Daniel, the Olu of Igbokoda, Oba Fola Odidiomo and Dr Felix Ikuesan.

The service had in attendance Prophet (Dr) S.B. Ademosu, Founder, Mount Jieaworrar Church; Dr (Mrs) Tokunbo Awolowo Dosunmu, the Patroness of CAN (Remo Zone); Chief S.K. Onafowokan; Mr Oyeti; the Otun Alatunse of Livingstone Church of Zion, Dr Taiwo Ikuesan, among other dignitaries.

POLITICIANS and leaders in the country have been cautioned against acts of corruption which are fast undermining the nation’s development and image before the international community.

Prophet Mike Agboola, the General Overseer of Jehovah Power Miracle Tabernacle Church, stated this during the monthly programme of the church tagged “Power of Pentecost.”

According to him, corruption had not only undermined the image of the nation but had also hindered Nigeria from advancing alongside other advancing nations of the world.

The cleric wondered how Nigeria that is blessed with vast human and nat poverty, saying God can still heal the land of corrupt persons.

Prophet Agboola, who said Christians should always pray for the progress and unity of the country, urged Nigerians to pray fervently to save the nation “because it is our collective responsibility.”

He stressed the need for citizens to pray for the leadership for the desired change to happen in Nigeria, because the nation needs the hand of God to succeed.

He also advised the Federal Government not to introduce policies and programmes that will inflict hardship and suffering on the masses, stating that electricity, food, transportation, water, which are essential for living, should be made available to Nigerians.

37 tribunechurch

22 May, 2016

Anti-corruption policies will solve women’s social problems —Badejo As a special guest and speaker in a series of special pro-life events in the United Kingdom, Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo responded to questions on pro-life issues in Africa and Nigeria, as part of activities marking the March for Life event, which took place in London last week. Excerpts:

A

BOUT the pro-life movement in Nigeria Many heroic individuals and groups have been driving the pro-life movement over many years. The movement is relatively young needing support and reassurance. We are grateful that the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) was in Nigeria last year to offer such support, expertise and encouragement during the Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province’s Pro-life and Family Conference. Since then, more pro-life groups and NGOs are relating and working together. Such groups have successfully exposed and stopped anti-life policies and legislation through the courts, media advocacy and education. New groups are emerging through individual initiatives like the group called Family Life Project (FLIP) in my own diocese of Oyo. It seeks to help guide the youth in matters of love, sexuality and marriage matters. Priests and consecrated people also work more closely with the pro-life movement. There is considerable appreciation of these efforts by parents and the youth, including some Muslims because the movement is closely identified with the family.

The Catholic bishops at the national, provincial and diocesan levels are paying closer attention to supporting pro-life programmes and strategies as well. In Ibadan Province, the bishops have commissioned the publication of a Pro-Life/ Family Catechesis in three or four volumes. This is in the pipeline and I am involved with it. The idea is to present the cultural and Christian values along with the teaching of the church on the culture of life in accessible language and idioms for our people for a better appreciation of human life and dignity.

On Africans’ love for human life I speak only for Nigeria because Africa is such a huge reality of so many peoples, languages and nations. Nonetheless, we can identify Africans with some common cultural values regardless of particular exceptions. One of them is the respect for human life from conception to natural death. I think that this is closely connected to the African worldview that God is the author of life and of everything on earth. This is the worldview of the Bible and Christianity as well.

On Africa’s stand with contraception, abortion The idea that Africans have problems

The idea that Africans have problems which only contraception and abortion can solve betrays either ignorance or disrespect for the African worldview and values

which only contraception and abortion can solve betrays either ignorance or disrespect for the African worldview and values. It reduces Africans to mere sexual beings whose entire life reality can be reduced to sexuality-related solutions. It smirks of a bias that Africans are incapable of controlling their sexuality. It is an insult really. It is also based on the erroneous assumption that there are too many people in Africa and its population must be reduced by these anti-life, de-population strategies.

It is also a direct attack on the love of Africans for the family relationship of which our countries have been very protective. The truth is that only good administration, good maternal healthcare, good educational policies and institutions and support to rid African countries of corruption will solve the social problems of women, not contraception and abortion.

On the most serious threat to the culture of life in Nigeria The most serious threat to life is the combination of terrorism, ignorance, unemployment armed conflicts, corruption, etc. However, if I were to name one single, most serious threat, it has to be the aggressive encroachment of the culture of death promoting contraception, abortion, divorce and gay culture. These strategies are mischievously pushed in Nigeria to undermine faith, values and populations in developing countries to please powerful but selfish interests.

Is ‘cultural imperialism’ is at work?

Many Western individuals, organisations and governments ag-

gressively seek to impose their worldview on the peoples of Africa.

They no longer disguise this disrespectful and immoral action. Some governments have shamelessly declared that unless certain modernist practices are protected by the laws of developing countries, such countries will not receives grants and aids, read the U.S and the European Union. Unfortunately many African governments are so weak or inattentive to today’s secular humanist realities that they embrace such offers and endanger their cultures. If this is not cultural imperialism I wonder what is. The church and the Pope have declared this immoral and unacceptable.

Not even the United Nations approves of that in its basic principles, never mind its operations.

Encouragement for pro-life groups Please do not relent in the great job you are doing. You can save Europe by helping Africa. The hypocrisy of world organisations who should but do not protect the sanctity of life must be exposed. The Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, recently expressed this. The United Nations and the Western world agree that the formula called ABC: Abstinence, Be Faithful and Condom works excellently to reduce HIV/AIDS and preserve family life. The church approves and promotes only the A and the B. These organisations invest exclusively for ‘C’ and do nothing to promote A and B which work even better. Where is the sincerity of purpose? In spite of the great challenges, however, the world belongs to God. He only needs us as witnesses to protect the sanctity of his greatest gift to man - life.

Your Life Counts

Sunday Tribune

by Tunde Jaiyebo 0803 406 2013

Success, respect and favour THERE are many components that facilitate success which people tend to overlook as people give undue precedence to skill, ability and competence. Much as skill, ability and competence are critical tools that facilitate success we need to understand that to truly succeed in life and to have enduring success we need to meaningfully interact with people. Success in life cannot be complete without it going through the avenue of relationships.

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” Henry Ford Each of us needs one form of relationship or the other to succeed.

“When something is missing in your life, it usually turns out to be someone.” Robert Brault Businessmen need relationships with their staff and customers to make a success of their business. Spouses must know how to manage and maximise their relationships to make a success of their marriage. In a family relationship management is a must for there to be harmony. In the office co-workers need to relate to each other and with the management to ensure the smooth running of things. At the end of it all success will have no meaning if it is not shared and enjoyed with people we are in relationship with. Unfortunately the price many people pay for their success is lonliness.

Every relationship is a vehicle. Every relationship carries some things. Some transport pain, trouble, sorrow, sadness and shame. Others carry joy, peace, help, progress and love. Others transport both the bad and the good. . . a mixed grill.

One critical ingredient that will also facilitate and enhance success is respect. Respect is a critical door for favour to come through. Favour is a gift that accords preferential treatment. Favour makes us to be preferred above others. Favour is what opens the door for us to exhibit whatever skill or ability that we have. Favour gives us a voice and it gives us recognition.

Without favour a man is doomed to be restricted to the obscure corners of life. A man might have all the wisdom to make a difference and solve great problems but if there is the absence of favour he will not be reckoned with.

Favour can be released in many ways. Courtesy will always open the door to favour. Whenever we let courtesy go before us favour is bound to show up for us. People are more likely to help people who are courteous than people who are rash and rude.

“A little “thank you” that you will say to someone for a “little favour” shown to you is a key to unlock the doors that hide unseen “greater favours”. Learn to say “thank you” and why not?” Israelmore Ayivor Another great tool that unlocks favour is respect. Respect is an ideal that many people talk about but it is not a common trait.

“Most of us believe that respect is an important value and that it is good. We do not normally think of respect as an action but as a feeling or judgment about other people. To understand and distinguish respect it is important to recognize that language is fundamental to how we see the world.

Language both opens possibilities and empowers us, or it closes possibilities and limits us. For example, the word respect derives from the Latin word “respectus” which means “to look” or “to look back”. In thinking about this word, it also brings to mind the notion of “spectacles”, “spectator” and “spectacular”. In other words we can distinguish the term as having something to do with “looking” or “observing”. If we take the prefix “re” to imply “again”, then we have the notion of respect as meaning something like “looking again”. If we say we respect someone, we are “looking” at the other person in a particular way — usually suggesting we are open to listen and honor each other’s views even if we disagree.

If we say we don’t respect someone, we are generally closed to certain possibilities and conversations with them.” Paracomm.com

38 tribunechurch

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Grazing bill: PFN urges caution, vigilance

By Rita Okonoboh

T

HE Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has called for caution and vigilance on the proposed grazing bill, stating that the body will oppose any bill that seeks to cater for the economic prosperity of a few over others.

This was contained in a statement issued at the end of the statutory quarterly meeting of the National Executive Council of the PFN, held at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, recently.

According to the statement signed by the National President of the PFN, Reverend (Dr) Felix I. Omobude, a copy of which was made available to TribuneChurch, the PFN urged “caution and vigilance on the proposed grazing bill. We oppose any bill that seeks to put at a disadvantage others to cater for the needs or economic pursuit of only a few.

“We urge the government of states, where cattle rearing is a part and parcel of their culture, to build ranches and develop reserves where cattle owners can husband their animals without travelling long distances

where they stray into farms, destroy crops and constitute nuisance and threat to others.

“State governments can also explore opportunities for cooperation with other

states to develop ranches and reserves for their own farmers. The needless clash between herdsmen and others which often result in waste of lives and other resources has to stop.”

Also stating its position on the adjustment to the education curriculum as proposed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development council (NERDC), the PFN rejected the move and called

on those concerned to “engage more with all stakeholders and ensure that all areas of conflict are addressed to avoid a needless tension and suspicion over the curriculum change.”

Obasanjo, Ooni, Alaafin, Akala, others bag Methodist awards THE ancient town of Oyo will once again witness the turnout of eminent Nigerians as the Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Oyo, will honour distinguished Nigerians with meritorious awards today.

Prominent Nigerians set to bag the awards of the church included for-

mer President Olusegun Obasanjo; the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi; the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba (Dr) Lamidi Adeyemi III, and the Owa-Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba (Dr) Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran III. According to a release signed by both the chairman, planning commit-

tee and the Presbyter of the church, Mr Abraham Ogunjide, and Very Revd Felix Osanyingbemi, other awardees include, former governor of Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; the Rector, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Professor Tunde Fawole; a veteran theatre practitioner, Chief

Lere Paimo, among others.

The release added that the church was appreciating the contributions of the awardees to the socioeconomic development of Nigeria with the awards.

The award will take place during the church service at Methodist Cathedral, Oyo, at 10:00a.m.prompt.

From left, Venerable Olayinka Obadimu; Reverend (Canon) Gbenga Shotunde; Bishop of Lagos West Missionary Diocese, Right Reverend Akin Ajayi; Reverend (Canon) Reuben Oyedele; Venerable Olukayode Ilaju-Williams, and Venerable Emmanuel Abiola, all of Lagos West Missionary Diocese, The African Church, during the preferment of reverends and canons, held at Bethel Cathedral, African Church, Okorodu, Lagos. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA..

It’s time to roll out change ‘goodies’, Abidoye tells Buhari Muhammad Sabiu- Kaduna SPIRITUAL father and chairman of the conference of Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church worldwide, Most Reverend Samuel Abidoye, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to start rolling out its change “goodies” since the 2016 budget had been signed into law.

He stated this at the cer-

emony held for his 10th anniversary as head of the church, which took place at the gymnasium hall of the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna, recently.

Among the guests who graced the occasion were the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir elRufai; Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna chapter, Bishop Jonathan Dodo,

and His Royal Highness, Danjuma Barde, Sa Gbagyi I. The order of service started at 10:00 a.m. with scripture reading from 1 Cor. 3:6-15 by Lady Evangelist Ayo Adesanya and it was followed by special music session by Zumunta mata.

In his address, Most Reverend Abidoye, who thanked God for the grace to witness the day, thanked

the organisers of the event, members and elders of the church for their continued support and cooperation which has ensured the growth of the church.

On the state of the nation, he said looters of the treasury should be tried in order to serve as deterrent to others, saying, “we must do this if we want the toga of ‘fantastically corrupt nation’ to be erased from our

identity.”

Governor el-Rufai said difficult times being experienced by Nigerians would be overcome soon.

Represented by a director in the state interfaith bureau, Mr Iliya Kudan, elRufai said the religious bill had not been passed into law, saying it would not be passed until the generality of the people agreed with it.

The PFN called on Nigerians to support the anti-corruption drive of the Federal Government, and appealed to “Nigerians to show understanding and tolerance for one another and unite against all forces that seek to divide us, as a people.”

BSN Akoka/Ilaje Auxiliary ends 2016 Bible Week Akin Adewakun -Lagos THE Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), Akoka Ilaje Auxiliary, recently concluded activities marking its week-long 2016 Bible Week, in Lagos, with the Auxiliary bestowing ambassadorial honours to 14 of its members.

Explaining the rationale behind giving the recipients the Ambassador of Christ Awards, the Auxiliary Chairman, Pastor (Dr) Ola Afolabi, described the awards as a way of appreciating the recipients’ contributions to the growth of the Auxiliary since its inauguration in 2001.

He ascribed the growth the Auxiliary had witnessed since it was carved out of Shomolu Auxiliary to efforts of members, especially the awardees.

Some of the awardees included: Mr Ezekiel Oyeyemi, The Apostolic Church of Nigeria, Ariyo Street, Lagos; Mr Idowu Adelusi, The Apostolic Church of Nigeria, Osanyinpeju Street, Akoka; Peter Sunday Oluwasekan, TACN, Osanyinpeju, Akoka and Reverend (Dr) Julius Omomola of the New Heritage Baptist Church, Akoka.

‘My mum once wanted to kill me’ Continued from pg35

our leaders.

As a foremost cleric, many are of the opinion that the church has not contributed enough to national discourse. Some have even said the church is a culprit in the national disaster we have today. We find big churches, big preachers and poor members.

What is your take on that?

Who is the church? This thing started somewhere and many reasons can be adduced to this. It is unfair to say the church hasn’t contributed to national discourse. From what I’ve known over the past 20 years, sometimes when the church speaks, the press may not publish. And if the press publishes, a lot would have happened. There are many church leaders who have been very vocal on national issues.

See the like of Alaba Job, Olubunmi Okogie, Jasper Akinola.

There are cases too when the church should have spoken out but rather kept quiet. The strategy is not the same all the time. For instance, the Catholic bishops went straight to President Buhari, and I think it was out of respect for the president.

You are a husband, father, mentor, leader. How do you combine all these and not get overwhelmed?

I think somewhere along the line, God helped some people to contribute to the foundation laying of my life. The mission school I attended stored something in me which I didn’t use till later. When I got married, we had problems with children, such as they died immediately after birth. I lost three children. There was so much pressure and in fact, my people said maybe we weren’t meant for each another.

Eventually, God led us into his presence and that was a great emotional moment for my wife and me. We told God that even if it was one child, we would dedicate our lives to his service. And God did the miraculous. The week the result came out that I had been admitted to theological college, that same week, I got a letter of promotion at work to proceed on officer’s course at Kaduna Polytechnic. That same week, my wife put to bed our fourth child and that child did not die. We agreed to go with the ministry because of what we had promised God. We have three children now and by God’s grace, they are all Master’s degree holders. God has surprised us far beyond our expectations.

If you could make one request to God at 60, what would that be?

First of all, I would request to ask more than one thing.

But if I had to make just one request, that would be ‘Let God’s will be done.’

Should men of God play active roles in politics?

If they will be involved, they should be unbiased. One of my favourites is Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto Catholic diocese. He is balanced, forthright and vocal. We need to have more of such people. I think government has seen what God has deposited in him, and that is why government seeks his involvement. For our bishops to do that, they must be people who stand out for the sake of the gospel and truth. If there is anything that has taken Kukah to the height he is today, it is truth. I pray that more Christians become more involved in politics.

Personally, I think we should throw away the presidential system of governance. It is too expensive and too tolerant of so many evils. It’s hampering a lot. We should formulate that which will be useful to us. Imagine being elected to the house, all to say, ‘Aye’ or ‘Nay’ and I will collect salary and all sorts of allowances. It’s too expensive.

39 tribunechurch

22 May, 2016

theapostolicmessage

livingword

By Pastor (Dr) G.O. Olutola JP.

By Bishop David Oyedepo Call 7747546-8; or e-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

Preaching of the Cross FOR the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (I Cor.1:18).

This is not a parable, not indirect speech, it is direct.

If you don’t want to believe this, there are some people in your neighbourhood, Sunday is their working day, others say it is a day of rest; They don’t have time for God, nor would go to church, they will be drinking or playing game. When they are invited, they would ask whether you bring something for them. And on your return you still meet them, they ask for what you have brought for them. Because to them all that you are doing in foolishness, but to us that believe it is power of God. (I Cor.1:18).

It is important to stress on the Cross of Christ which is an indirect speech (a metaphor). What makes it to be substantive is article “the” which is a definite article hence The Cross of Christ.

There are three significant uses of the cross as established in the Bible.

(1) The wooden instrument of torture.

(2) A symbolic representative of Redemption. Redemption is a glorious sermon of joy.

(3) The death of Christ on the Cross – that is crucification. The English word cross is derived from Latin word Crux.

Sunday Tribune

Gateways to financial dominion! (4)

According to Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, a cross is an upright post with horizontal beam fastened across near the top of which convicted persons were executed in the Roman world.

The cross existed in four different forms.

Crux immissa or Latin cross - It means an art in which the object existed in vertical and horizontal form. It is the way in which the redeemer suffered and died. We talk about the very pole upon which Christ suffered and died.

The Cross in Greek and Latin as St Anthony’s, crus commissa or crus humilus, takes the shape of a tau or letter T. In Greek it speaks of that which has the same length and breadth size. In St Andrew, crus decussata, it speaks of a form like letter X. St George’s cross is formed with two pieces of equal length.

They use the cross to punish the offender depending on the degree of his offence. The Syrians used to have it as a pole. Whatever the form it takes, which of these crosses can be said to be very easy?

Because of crucification of Christ on the cross, Cross of Christ came into theology thinking especially as said in I Cor.3:17; For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

To be continued next week

SINCE this month began, we have been exploring how to access our heritage of financial dominion is Christ Jesus. We established that financial dominion is a covenant that anchors on the mystery of seed time and harvest which connotes giving and receiving. We also discover from scriptures that our giving is a spiritual transaction for provoking all-round favour from God (Genesis 8:22, 22:15-22; 2 Samuel 24:24-25; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11).

This week, we shall examine one of the Covenant Requirements for Walking in Financial Dominion, which is: Tithing: This is the covenant foundation for financial fortune. It is also the first fruit that makes the balance meaningful.

As it is written: Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Malachi 3:10; Leviticus 27:30).

It is also written: Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine (Proverbs 3:910).

All financial testimonies in the body of Christ are rooted in consistent tithing. For

instance, Abraham was a tither and he became possessor of heaven and earth. For us to access the blessings of Abraham, we must do the works of Abraham. Remember, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law to connect us to the blessings of Abraham. All we need is to walk in his steps to flow in the kind of blessings that he experienced (Genesis 14:19-20; John 8:39; Galatians 3:13-14, 29).

Thus, tithing remains a covenant obligation for financial fortune. We must understand that our tithe is not a donation; rather, it is part of our spiritual responsibility. The truth is, any believer who is not a tither remains a financial struggler. This is because it is impossible to be in command of financial fortune without being a tither. Furthermore, we discover that Christ became poor that through His poverty we might be made rich. However, being born again is the number one requirement to accessing haven’s order of financial fortune. Are you born again? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord. If you haven’t, you can say this prayer and you will be born again: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour.

Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!”

Govt should evolve policies on youth empowerment —Revd Badejo

By Rita Okonoboh REVEREND (Dr) Wilson Badejo, of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria has tasked government at all levels to evolve policies that will encourage youth empowerment.

He stated this at a press briefing of the Wilson Badejo Foundation (WBF), held last week in Lagos, as part of activities scheduled for the celebration of the birthday of the general overseer,Badejo, who

stressed the importance of engaging youths in self-empowerment programmes called for partnership with non-governmental organisations to also partner with the foundation.

According to him, “I have chosen to celebrate my birthday with members of my immediate constituency: the downtrodden masses in our society.

“It is heart-warming, however, that President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the 2016

Fathers charged to be dedicated in family roles Celestine Ihejirika -Umuahia AHIAZU Mbaise LGA TC Chairman, Chief Cletus Onwuegbule, has advised fathers to play their vital roles as pillars of families to build morally sound and formidable families.

He gave the advice at the 2016 Father’s Day Celebration of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Umuokrika, Abia State.

The LG boss represented by the Area Information Officer, Mr Damian Anyanwu, regretted that most fathers had not lived up to expectation as heads of families and urged them to brace up

the challenge for a peaceful world order.

In his homily, the Parish Priest, Fr. Kingsley Anyanwu, enjoined fathers to be good shepherds and Christlike.

He urged them to entrench undivided love in their families and be committed to the training of their children to inculcate good moral behaviour, cultural norms and ethical values.

In his opening speech, the chairman of the Father’s Day celebration, Chief Stev Ukah, called on fathers to live exemplary lives, unite and work together for unhindered progress.

budget which he said was tmeant not only to wipe out the groaning of Nigerians consequent upon the untold hardship in the land as

a result of the neglect of the past, but also to herald a new socio-economic order that will shift away from a mono-product economy to

a multi-product one.”

Acknowledging the plan of government on employment generation, the foundation sought partnership

with NGOs to implement the youth empowerment and employment generation component of the 2016 budget.

Nigeria needs prayers —Oke

Representative of Lagos State Governor and Commissioner for Establishment and Pension, Dr Benson Akinola; Bishop of Diocese of Lagos West, Right Reverend James Olusola Odedeji; his wife, Lydia; Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni and Chief Segun Oshunkeye, during the second session of the sixth synod of Diocese of Lagos West held at Archbishop Vinning Cathedral, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos State on Friday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

We must seek God for healing —Adima Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti PASTOR-IN-CHARGE of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke Itura, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Prophet Michael Adima, has charged Nigerians to return to God in repentance and seek His face for Him to heal the country.

Prophet Adima, who stated this in Ado-Ekiti in an interview with Tribune Church, said: “the Lord is willing to heal the land only if you can come to Him as

of Biblical times and refrain from sin.”

He said an opportunity had presented itself for the people to seek the face of God at a programme entitled “Total Deliverance” scheduled for Monday 23rd May to Friday, 27th May, at St. Paul’s CAC School grounds at Ajilosun in Ado Ekiti at 5:00 p.m. daily.

He said the hardship in the country, apart from the economic misdemeanour, in the Nigeria, also required

our seeking the face of God in prayer and repentance, just as the people also needed healing and deliverance.

“We should call on God in these hard times. Nigerians must refrain from sin and seek the face of God as done by the people of Israel of old.

We need repentance from sin, healing and total deliverance from all infirmities and iniquity. Men of God must also come together to pray for Nigeria,” Prophet Adima stated.

The Presiding Bishop of Christ Life Church International, Dr. Francis Wale Oke, has stressed the need for Nigerians to pray in the face of daunting economic challenges.

The cleric made this known in a statement made available to journalists through his media adviser, Mr Akinwale Aboluwade, on the forthcoming week-long family convention of the church with the theme, “The Praying Generation.”

The event will hold between Tuesday, May 24 and Sunday, May 29 at the Garden of Victory, Ibadan, Oyo State.

The convention, anchored by the Operation Christ Life Mission, is an annual festival celebrated by the church, and would feature special family Life breakthrough vigil, praise and prayer sessions.

Ace musician Onyeka Onwenu, Yomi Ajayi and Chioma Jesu, are expected to minister at the event.

40

22 May, 2016

language&style

by Samson Dare 0805 500 1770 samsonadare@yahoo.co.uk

Another harvest of errors (III)

A

GAIN, today, we present for analysis the same material that has served us in the last two weeks. The excerpt is offered as the first sample.

Sample 1: “Umar Midala, a schoolteacher and an indigene of Biu, was still enjoying his early morning sleep on that unfaithful day when he was roused from slumber by his sister as gunshots rent the balmy air, shattering the serenity of the somnolent town…Early on November 1, 2014, about 42 Boko Haram fighters were killed by the civilian JTF from Biu who saw about 50 Boko Haram fighters hiding under a truck conveying sheeps and goats…

The near decimation of its fighters who embarked on that unfaithful mission has sent shills down their spines…there is another factor accounting to non-conquest of Biu by the insurgents: spiritual…

Sadly, social and cultural activities have almost grinded to a halt in Biu. To forestall the insurgents from infiltrating Biu in the guise of being participants in cultural activities or detonating bombs in gatherings, the annual durbar have been kept on hold…”(Borno Town Where Boko Haram Saw Hell, The Sunday, April 24, 2016) Let’s note the word forestall and the particlefrom collocating with it, both of which occur in the following context: “to forestall insurgents from infiltrating Biu…” The verb forestall, let us note, does not take any particle at all. In other words, the particle from is foreign to the context.

Here are examples of the usage of the verb: 1) The police presence is to forestall any possibility of the wild boys harassing the girls. 2) To forestall the famous scorer penetrating the front easily, two strong defence players should be arranged to tackle him.

3) To forestall an epidemic, we decided to disinfect the house.

4) To forestall a breakdown of law and order, two teams of policemen were put on patrol. 5) To forestall the Governor refusing the application, two delegates were sent ahead to plead with him. 6) The government constituted a panel that would have a dialogue with the representatives of the labour union to forestall a nationwide protest. 7) He put another lawyer on standby to forestall a situation in which no lawyer would be there to represent him. 8) To forestall a fire disaster all bowls containing petrol should be removed far from the house.

The illustrative sentences demonstrate that the verb forestall does not take any all particle at all. It seems the writer confused the usage of the verb prevent, which takes the particle from, with that of forestall.

The following sentences illustrate the usage of the verb prevent: 1) Children were prevented from going out after 7pm every day. 2) Journalists were preventedfrom taking pictures of the gory sight. 3) Through pressure and blackmail, the president was preventedfrom taking decisions that could jeopardize the electoral process. 4) In Yoruba land, women are prevented from witnessing certain ritual practices. 5) The firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to the adjoining fuel station. 6) It was the presence of the chairman that prevented the complaints from degenerating into public riots.

In each of those sentences, the verb prevents collocates with the particle from.

Like forestall, the verb deny does not take any particle. Some Nigerian users of English have developed the habit of attaching the particle of to the verb, not realizing that it does not take any particle at all. Now read the following sentences: 1) Unfortunately, many departments were denied accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC). 2) People with suspicious appearance were denied access to the hall. 3) Freedom of Information Bill is to guarantee that members of the public are not denied vital information. 4) Having been denied his own share of the profit, he headed for court. 5) No bank has the right to deny anybody access to his money. 6) The lawyer complained that the suspect was sentenced unfairly because he was denied legal representation.

In none of those sentences is the word deny allowed to be fol-

lowed by the particle of or by any particle for that matter.

Now compare those sentences with the following in which the verb deprive is used: 1) People who are deprived of their rights are free to go to court. 2) It is wrong to deprive children of their meals as a form of punishment. 3) No child should be deprived of education simply because his/her parents are financially handicapped. 4) Children that are deprived of motherly care will grow up to become maladjusted adults. 5) The governor has promised that rural areas would no longer be deprived of the amenities available in the cities. 6) The lady is seeking divorce on the grounds that she has been deprived of love.

In each of those sentences, the verb deprive has been allowed to collocate with the particle of.

Some Nigerians also have the habit of allowing the particle on to collocate with the word consolidate. The verb consolidate does not take any particle at all. It would appear Nigerians habitually confuse the usage of the verb build with that of consolidate. Yes, the verb build takes the particle on; but consolidate does not.

Now read the following sentences: 1) Having spent the last four years building infrastructure, the Governor has promised to spend the second term consolidating his efforts. 2) Now in control of most of the seats in the national assembly, the party plans to consolidate its lead by gaining most of the governorship seats in the country. 3) What I need now is a fairly substantial loan to consolidate my business. 4) The team scored two goals in the first half of the match and consolidated by scoring another goal within the first five minutes of the second half. 5) The newspaper spent the first five years of its existence expanding its circulation; now it is consolidating its spread.

6) It is no longer our priority to increase the number of our customers; our concern now is to consolidate—to retain and continue to gain the confidence of those customers.

Now read the following sentences: 1) The Governor will spend the second term building on the efforts of his first term.

2) The mobilizing agency is now building on its initial enlightenment campaign. 3) Secondary education is planned in such a way that it builds on primary education. 4) Every good teacher should know how to lay a foundation and build on it later. 5) I am not sure the lady has agreed to my proposal; but I will try and build on my earlier discussion with her.

6) At the last class, we saw how tense functions in sentences; today, we will build on that by constructing sentences illustrating tense patterns.

Some users confuse the particle/preposition that should go with the verb prepare (or its noun preparation) with the one that goes with the adjective preparatory. They would say, preparatory for instead of preparatory to.

Read the following sentences: 1a) We are preparing for exams.

1b) We have bought materials inpreparation for exams. 1c) Materials have been bought preparatory to exams. 2a) We are preparing for the construction work. 2b) We have cleared the site inpreparation for the construction work. 2c) We have cleared the site preparatory to the commencement of construction work.

3a) INEC is preparing for elections. 2b) INEC has been procuring materials inpreparation for elections. 2c) INEC has been procuring materials preparatory to the elections. 4a) We are preparingfor the meeting. 4b) The hall has been tidied up inpreparation for the meeting. 4c) The hall has been tidied up preparatory to the meeting. 5a) I am preparing for resumption.

5b) I have bought new books in preparation for resumption. 5c) I have bought new books preparatory to resumption. 6a) The Super Eagles are preparing for the match. 6b) The Super Eagles have gone to the camp inpreparation for the match. 6c) The Super Eagles have gone to the camp preparatory to the match.

Note the following: prepare for; preparation for; preparatory to. Let us also note that the particle in usually comes before the noun preparation which is turn followed by the particle for.

Some users confuse the particle/ preposition that should go with the verb prepare (or its noun preparation) with the one that goes with the adjective preparatory. They would say, preparatory for instead of preparatory to

Sunday Tribune

line

life with

Niyi Osundare

Random Blues (Nuclear Blues) Chernobyl* nineteen eighty-six Three Mile Island** seven years before that Alas, Chernobyl nineteen eight-six Three Mile Island seven years before that There is a nuclear error in the past So hard to mend, so hard to fix

Haughty Science set our earth on fire Living rooms became a heaving furnace Alas, haughty Science set our earth on fire Living rooms became a heaving furnace Boiling waters roasted innocent shoals The playing field became a burning surface

Melt up, melt down The nuclear core exploded like a lethal ball Say, melt up, melt down The nuclear ball exploded like a lethal ball The catastrophe from foaming flames Left humanity entire in fatal thrall

“Do not play with fire”, The wary warned the heady expert Say, “do not play with fire”, The wary warned the heady expert “The heedless children of Experimental Physics Will bring us all incalculable hurt”

Never any winner in a nuclear race Temper heedless Science with cautious Wisdom Hear? Never any winner in a nuclear race Temper heedless Science with cautious Wisdom Murderous Math added up to furious frenzy Shall we spend our days in Folly’s kingdom?

* Chernobyl in Ukraine and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, USA, are sites of nuclear disasters in 1986 and 1979 respectively.

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22 May, 2016

Fire guts Oyo gov’s wife’s office

By Tunde Ogunesan

T

HE Information Communication Technology (ICT) office of the wife of the Oyo State governor, Chief (Mrs) Florence Ajimobi, on Saturday, went up in flames as valuables worth millions of naira were destroyed.

The fire, according to sources, was noticed by members of the MITV crew, who saw smoke coming out through the ceiling and alerted officers of the fire service.

Sunday Tribune, however, gathered that the fire, which started at 11:20 a.m. from the server in the office, was as a result of power surge when the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) allegedly restored power more than three times within five minutes.

The office, known as Florence Ajimobi ICT centre for female public and civil servants, was inaugurated by the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, on December 22, 2011.

Before men of the state

fire service came around, Sunday Tribune gathered that four fire extinguishers were used to douse the fire.

In an interview with journalists, the Senior Fire Superintendent, Omotayo Paul, who led firefighters to the scene, disclosed that they were alerted around 11:30 a.m. and arrived at the scene of the incident minutes later.

According to him, “we got a distress call about the incident around 11:30 a.m. and got here three minutes later. Under 10 minutes,

we were able to put out the fire because of the extent of the damage. We also ensured that we put off all traces of the fire.”

A representative of the Director of Fire Services, Oyo State, Mr O.J. Kareem, revealed that the fire was caused by the failure to put off one of the electrical appliances in the centre.

Some of the items destroyed in the inferno included computers, monitors, chairs, tables, air conditioners, photocopy machines and other ICT equipment.

Sunday Tribune

8 killed, 15 injured in multiple auto crash THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has confirmed the death of eight persons in a ghastly motor accident that occurred on Malumfashi-Katsina road in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The FRSC Sector Commander, Alhaji Abdu Bagadawa, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday, in Katsina that the accident involved three vehicles.

He said that two of the vehicles were heading to Katsina for the Maulud (birthday) of Sheikh Ibrahim Nyass, a leader of Tijjaniyya Islamic sect.

He said that the vehicles included a truck with registration number, JBY 92 XA; a Golf 3 car with registration number, BB 810 JJJ, and a Sharon bus with registration number, KNK 196 XA. He said that two of the vehicles had a head-on collision as a result of wrong overtaking.

Bagadawa said that eight persons died on the spot, while 15 other persons sustained various degrees of injuries.

He said that the injured persons were taken to Malumfashi General Hospital for medical attention.

The sector commander warned motorists to abide by traffic rules and desist from reckless driving.

Don’t relocate Mile 12 market, Kaduna gov appeals to Lagos gov Kola Oyelere-Kano

Information Communication Technology (ICT) office of the wife of the Oyo State governor, Chief (Mrs) Florence Ajimobi, destroyed by fire, on Saturday. Inset: Property removed from the office. PHOTOS: TUNDE OGUNESAN

Buhari to inaugurate projects during 2-day visit to Lagos Bola Badmus-Lagos PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari will, on Monday, pay a two-day working visit to Lagos State, being his first official visit to the state since he assumed office about a year ago.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, made this known in a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday, adding that this was the first time in about 15 years that a sitting president would come to the state on a working visit.

He described the scheduled visit as a testimony to the achievements in the last one year of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, as well as the good working relationship between the state and the Federal Government.

According to Ayorinde, President Buhari, during the visit, will formally inaugurate the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) Rescue Unit in Cappa, Oshodi, built by the state government to ensure prompt and swift response to emergency situations in the state.

He said the president would thereafter inaugurate the newly constructed Ago Palace Way in Okota, Isolo, after which he would pay homage to the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwanu Akiolu.

The commissioner disclosed further that the president would later in the day be hosted to a reception rally by the state government at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, where he would also commission and hand over security equipment and ve-

hicles contributed by the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration to security agencies to beef up security in the state.

Ayorinde also added that activities for the first day of the president’s visit would be rounded off with a state banquet in his honour at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island.

President Buhari would, on Tuesday, participate as the special guest of honour at a breakfast session with Corporate Lagos to be hosted by Governor Ambode at

the Lagos State House, Marina, after which he would have a short session with the public service at the same venue.

According to the statement, Lagosians were looking forward to receiving the president in the state, just as he urged residents to bear with law enforcement agents and traffic control authorities who would effect road diversions in some of the routes that the president’s convoy would pass through during the visit.

Akwa Ibom monarch’s wife gives birth in kidnappers’ den MRS Ubong Assam, the wife of the traditional ruler of Esit Eket in Akwa Ibom State, was delivered of a baby girl on Friday, May 13, while in custody of her kidnappers.

A family source, who pleaded anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Esit Eket, Esit Eket Local Government Area of the state, on Saturday, that the monarch’s wife gave birth to the baby in an unknown hide-

out of her abductors NAN recalled that the kidnappers abducted the traditional ruler’s wife and her four children in the Akpautong neighbourhood of Esit Eket on April 29.

The source said that the kidnappers quickly released the woman and her four children due to the birth of the baby in their den.

Reacting to the development, the Police Public Relations Officer in Akwa

Ibom State, ASP Cordelia Nwawe, said that the command expressed appreciation to God for the safe delivery of the monarch’s wife.

She, nonetheless, said that the command had yet to receive any information about the release of the kidnapped woman and her four children.

NAN, however, reported that the traditional ruler’s wife and her four children were released on May 14.

GOVERNOR Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has appealed to the Lagos State government to reconsider its decision to relocate the Mile 12 market because of the economic and social repercussions of such action on the Hausa community traders in the market.

This is just as he said that if the market is relocated, the entire people of Lagos State will be negatively affected, thereby harming the overall economy of the state According to him, the Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, “appears positive” after considering the implication of relocating the popular Mile 12 market in Lagos, to Imota, in the outskirts of the state capital.

This was contained in a statement signed by Alhaji Halilu Baba Dantiye, director general, media and communication, a copy of which was made available to pressmen in Kano.

The statement was said to have followed a meeting between the two governors last Tuesday in Lagos Governor Ganduje, who made the disclosure while addressing the traders, recalled that the decision to relocate the market was informed by a fracas last March, as a result of which the market was shut for days.

“I discussed with my colleagues, the Northern governors, and I initiated a letter to the governor of Lagos State to reconsider the proposed relocation of the market. The letter was copied to all the Northern governors and the Lagos State governor appeared positive after seeing the implication of relocating the market,” Governor Ganduje stated.

He noted that the Mile 12 market had similarities with Abubakar Rimi Market in Kano, because both were populated by traders from all tribes in Nigeria.

The governor urged the traders to continue to live amicably in the interest of national progress.

Governor Ganduje was accompanied by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Kabiru Alasan Rurum, who was once the Secretary General of Mile 12 Market Traders Association and one-time councillor in Lagos State; the state Commissioner for Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba; a Yoruba elder in Kano, Dr Jimpat Ayelangbe and the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Inter-Community Relations (in charge of Southwest), Alhaji AbdulFattah Bimbo.

RCCG programme THE Redeemed Christian Church Of God (RCCG), Jesus Liberation, Mokola, Sango, Ibadan., Oyo State, will hold its special programme with the theme “Easy Way to Own Your House” today at the church auditorium.

This programme will commence with a breakfast seminar at 8:00 a.m., while the children’s day programme will hold on May 29 by 8:00 a.m.

This will be followed with Paul and Silas fasting and prayer on Monday, May 31st to Wednesday, June l, with the theme “The God of Sowing, Increase and Harvest.”

Thanksgiving service and Lord’s banquets hold on Sunday, June 5, and Sunday, June 12, respectively, and will feature Youth Day. Special programme on teaching of the word, music and drama will hold on Sunday, June 19, and African Praise with deliverance, questions and answers will hold on Sunday, June 26th, at the church auditorium.

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Abducted Kwara APC chieftains regain freedom •As monarch, naval officer abducted in Kogi From Biola Azeez and Yinka Oladoyinbo

T

HE chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Mr Ishola Balogun-Fulani and the party’s secretary, Chief Bode Adekanye, abducted by unknown gunmen have been freed.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the APC chieftains were rescued by men of Kogi state Police Command at about 6.30 pm on Saturday.

Speaking with journal-

ists in Ilorin on Saturday evening, the state publicity secretary of APC, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, confirmed that the APC chieftains were rescued by men of the Kogi State Police Command.

He said no ransom was paid.

The APC publicity secretary also said that the freed men would pass the night in Lokoja and return to Ilorin on Sunday.

Alhaji Balogun-Fulani and Chief Adekanye were on Friday kidnapped along Okene-Lokoja road

while returning from Abuja.

In a related development, unknown gunmen on Friday evening abducted a traditional ruler of Elete community in Ajaokuta Local Government Area of Kogi State, Chief Ahmed Aminu Aku and a naval officer.

The third class chief was kidnapped at about 8.30 p.m while returning from Ajaokuta to his community.

The abductors were said to have accosted him as he was about to enter him home and whisked his

away to an unknown destination.

About 24 hours after the traditional ruler was abducted, the kidnappers were said to have contacted the family and demanded for N10 million ransom.

Also, an unidentified Naval officer who was passing through the state from the South Eastern part of the country to Abuja was abducted on Friday.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Willam Aya, could not confirm the abductions.

The celebrant, Deaconess Abigail Anike Durodola, flanked by her children (from left); Mr Banji Durodola; Dr (Mrs) Mofoluwake Olagunju; Chief (Mrs) M. Adegbite; Mr Akin Durodola; Pastor G.O. Adeyinka and others, cutting the 85th birthday cake at Chief S.I. Adegbite Hall, St Luke’s Compound, Molete, Ibadan, on Saturday. PHOTO: ALOLADE GANIYU

4 FUTA students die in crash Hakeem Gbadamosi-Akure

NO fewer than four students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, lost their lives on Saturday in a road accident in Ibule, Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The accident, which occurred around 8.00a.m, was said to be caused by an okada rider who crossed the road unexpectedly while the driver of the vehicle conveying the students somersaulted in the process.

The students were said to be heading to Ibadan, Oyo State, to attend a religious programme when they met their untimely death.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Femi Joseph, described the accident as unfortunate, adding that preliminary investigation revealed that the accident involved a Hiace bus conveying the students and an Okada

rider.

Joseph explained that the accident occurred when the bus conveying the students, somersaulted several times after trying to avoid an okada rider who

crossed the highway.

He, however, said his men and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officials rushed the injured to the hospital, adding that the remains of the four students had been deposited

at the morgue.

The Public Relation Officer of the Students Union of the school, Segun Oladele, confirmed the accident and said the injured are responding to treatment.

Smoke reported on crashed EgyptAir flight prior to crash —Investigators SMOKE was detected on the doomed EgyptAir plane shortly before it crashed over the Mediterranean Sea, the French air accident investigation agency, BEA, said on Saturday.

But the agency cautioned that no conclusion could yet be drawn as to what caused EgyptAir Flight MS804 to crash on Thursday with 66 people on board.

The BEA spokeswoman said that smoke was detected in a forward lavatory, according to the information sent via ACARS, or Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, which transmits

short condition updates to ground stations by radio or via satellite.

French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said reports of a smoke alarm onboard the Airbus A320 did not provide any concrete clues as to whether a technical error or terrorism brought down the plane.

The investigations would carry on in all possible directions, and no possibility would be ruled out, he added.

An official in the Egyptled investigation commission denied the report of lavatory smoke.

“In his last contact with air controllers five min-

utes before the crash, the plane’s pilot did not report anything unusual or a fire,” the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to media.

“It is too early to determine the cause of the crash,” he said.

Three French aviation accident investigators and a technical expert from Toulouse-based manufacturer Airbus, the manufacturer of the plane, are currently in Cairo to help with the investigation.

The airliner vanished early Thursday shortly after leaving Greek airspace en route from Paris to Cairo.

Sunday Tribune

Ex-militants call for end to pipeline attacks FORMER militants have called for a halt to a resurgence of attacks on oil and gas facilities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, saying it is an unnecessary distraction for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), a group of former militants who previously targeted the oil-rich region, made the call in a statement on Friday.

Buhari said on Friday he had increased the military presence in the region where attacks in the last few weeks - mostly claimed by a group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers - have driven the country’s oil output to a more than 20-year low.

“We should give President Buhari the opportunity to fulfil his promises to the Niger Delta people by maintaining peace in the region,” former MEND members said in the statement.

Communities list conditions for peace in N/Delta Chirstian Okeke-Abuja

OIL-PRODUCING communities in the country under the auspices of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSTCON) have given conditions for peace to return to Niger Delta region where members of Niger Delta Avengers have continued to attack oil facilities.

They, however, pleaded with all those involved in destruction of oil facilities to sheath their sword and give room for dialogue and described the call for the declaration of Federal Republic of Niger Delta as an evil call.

In a communique issued at the end of an national executive meeting of HOSTCON on matters of urgent national security, the communities called for the constitution of a National Peace Reconciliation Committee to stem the crisis in the Niger Delta to include representatives from the Niger Delta Avengers; immediate passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB); the immediate release of the total gas flared penalty money to HOSTCON; the establishment of a 13 per cent Derivation Commission in favour of HOSTCON as well as a new sharing formula for oil blocks in favour of oil producing states.

Others are award of pipeline surveillance contracts to the oil producing and impacted communities all over the country and 100 per cent increase of Amnesty budget for the empowerment of ex militants who had downed their weapons without empowerment.

LG launches new G5 smart phone

By Seyi Sokoya

ELECTRONIC giant, LG, has launched a new flagship mobile device, LG G5 into the Nigerian market.

The phone, was recently unveiled to the public by the management of the company at Excel Event Centre, Oregun, Lagos State.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr. S.H. Kim, disclosed that the new device recently won over 33 awards at Mobile World Congress, 2016, held in Barcelona in Spain, adding that the new phones product was first of its kind in terms of features and utility values.

Kim said: “we remember when smartphones were first introduced. We were so fascinated that we could download 5-6 apps a day. However, these days, we don’t see much excitement anymore, even when a new smart phone is released. It doesn’t mean people’s appetite for fun has disappeared. Today’s consumers are just looking elsewhere, such as action cameras or drones.”

Peak ignites ‘art of milk recipe’ in schools

PEAK milk, a premium brand on the stable of Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria, is rekindling the art of cooking in schools in Lagos State through its ‘Art of Milk recipe initiative’.

Tagged ‘Plan a day’s meal with milk’ which is a cooking contest, it requires selected schools in Lagos State to plan (and prepare) breakfast, lunch and dinner for a day using milk as the main food item.

The initiative is meant to promote a culinary culture of cooking with milk in Nigerian homes since milk is an important agricultural product. Milk contains various vitamins and minerals which are essential for the human body.

To participate, schools in Lagos are expected to create recipes using milk which they would send in for a series of evaluation. There would be 10 shortlisted from all recipes submitted and these schools would meet for a live face off on June 1st (which is World Milk Day).

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22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Herdsmen kill 2, injure many in Ekiti

•Tension as farmers abandon farms for fear of further attack

O

Sam Nwaoko-Ado Ekiti

KE Ako community in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State was on Friday night invaded by herdsmen with sources saying two people were killed in the incident.

Sources in the community claimed that the attack began before the community guards commenced their usual patrols at 8.00p.m., with the source saying that the attack had been in the offing.

A community member, who didn’t want to be named, said “four days ago, the herdsmen had an altercation with some of the hunters in Oke Ako after several warnings against the herdsmen’s continued destruction of maize farms.

“The community had been having a running battle with the Fulanis because their maize in their communal farms were being fed to their cattle. They had resorted to physical guarding of the farms until the Fulanis warned that they would attack them. The villagers then set traps in the farms, which caught about seven of their cows and that was the incident that ignited the trouble.”

A leader in the community and a former speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr Dele Olugbemi, said “from what we gathered, there were 14 of them and seven of them had AK-47 rifles while about four of them carried guns, apart from machetes and their usual bows and arrows.

“The community guards said they were caught unawares because the attackers invaded the community before they could start their normal routine and this was the cause of the level of damage to the town.”

Olugbemi alleged that the attack was “premeditated because we found that all the Fulani settlements in Ipao, Oke Ako, Irele, Iyemero, Itapaji which are all in the same area as Oke Ako had been evacuated along with their cattle and the settlers are nowhere to be found.”

He said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Ikole and his men had moved into the area after they were contacted and added that they all kept vigil in the community to forestall further attacks.

The DPO, who confirmed the incident in a telephone interview, however explained that he could not ascertain whether the incident was an armed robbery or Fulani herdsmen attack.

Some other members of Oke Ako, however, lamented what they claimed was “the poor and ineffective response of the police when they were informed of the attack,” and claimed

that the police failed to act swiftly when the case was reported to them during the attack.

They alleged that “it is one of our community members that we contact-

ed that mobilised them and had to buy N8,000 worth of petrol in each of their patrol vehicles before they could come.”

Also, Mrs Grace Olofin, another member of the

Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel (right); Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio (left); Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (second right) and Abia State governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu (second left), during the PDP National Convention 2016, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday.

From left, Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose; Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade; former governor of Kogi State, Idris Ibrahim and River State governor, Nyesom Wike, at the convention.

community alleged that the herdsmen had shot sporadically and killed one Lekan Arosanyin, while four others sustained various degrees of injuries and were said to be receiving treatment at a private hospital in Ado Ekiti, the state capital.

Another witness, Adebayo Ajayi, who said he escaped from the community, described the incident as a reprisal attack, saying that the villagers had been resisting the use of their farmlands as grazing fields by the herdsmen.

One of the residents, Muyiwa Olukosi, whose wife sustained machete wound, told newsmen that the case was reported to police in the area, alleging that there was no response from them.

According to him, the po-

Bishop begs for release of kidnapped Reverend father, 2 sisters THE Most Reverend Felix Ajakaye, the Bishop of Ekiti Catholic Diocese, has called for the release of two Reverend Sisters and a Reverend Father who were kidnapped while on official assignments.

Ajakaye, in a statement sent to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Saturday, said that Rev. Fr. John Adeyi, the VicarGeneral of Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, Benue State, had been in captivity since Sunday, April 24.

The bishop said that two Sisters of St Louis, Rev. Sr. Perpetua Apo and Rev. Sr. Bukola Familade, and their driver, Mr Zwugwa Zibai, were also kidnapped on Thursday, May 12.

Professors want History back in school curriculum SOME members of the academia have called for the return of History as a subject in the nation’s secondary school curriculum.

Speaking in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the professors of History identified the nonavailability of History in the school curriculum as partly responsible for the current challenges facing education in the country.

A Professor of History at the University of Lagos, Ayodeji Olukoju, told NAN that removing such a subject from the schools’ curriculum was an injustice to the nation and its people.

According to him, most influential countries today were able to achieve greatness because they aligned themselves with the study

of their own histories.

“So much has been said about this issue and now, we are beginning to sound like a cracked record.

“Many of today’s generation and even those of the older generations do not know who they are and where they are coming from.

“We are currently faced with an identity crisis and that is why we do not see one another as people of a common identity, cut out to pursue and preserve our common heritage and goals.

Olukoju, who is the immediate-past Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota in Lagos, added that without adequate knowledge of the country’s history and language, there would be no meaningful progress.

“We all know that our history and language are

both windows to our culture, which bind us as one and without proper grounding on these, people are rootless.

In another interview, Prof.

Yomi Akinyeyi, also of the University of Lagos, said that Federal Government was currently making efforts to return the study of History in schools.

According to him, the removal of history from the schools’ curriculum had affected national development.

He told NAN that scraping of History as a subject had done more harm than good to the people and the nation in general.

Akinyeyi, who is a former Dean, Faculty of Arts of the institution, observed that abandoning one’s history was like throwing someone into the wilderness.

lice demanded for N12,000 before they could move to the scene as he said police complained of no fuel in their Hilux van.

Olukosi who maintained that things would have gone worst if not for the prompt response of a team of the Nigerian Army from Akure, even before the arrival of police in the area also noted that the attack would have been prevented had the police acted swiftly during the attack.

He called on the governments at all levels to beef up security in the area in order to avert the re-occurrence of such development.

Efforts to reach the Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti State Police command failed and he didn’t respond to a text message sent to his mobile phone.

He added that America was famous today because it had insisted on the study of history across all levels of its education system, irrespective of the discipline.

“The study of history will make it easier for us to attain the much-desired national transformation,’’ he said.

Also speaking, a former Minister of Education, Prof. Nora Obaji, advised that government must also step up efforts at preserving the country’s historical artifacts.

“It is not just enough for us to clamour for the return of this subject in our curriculum.

“Our priority should be to find out what efforts we have put in place in the past to preserve what is of great significance to us as a people.”

“For over three weeks, Rev. Fr. John Adeyi, the Vicar-General of Catholic Diocese of Otukpo, had been in captivity.

“According to the report, the humble Parish Priest of St Bernard Catholic Church, Okpoka, Okpokwu Local Government Area, Benue State, was kidnapped on a highway.

“He was returning from an outstation of the parish, where he had gone to celebrate the Holy Eucharist (Mass). He is the first Catholic priest from Otukpa,’’ he said.

Ajakaye said that since the abduction of Adeyi, there had been no information concerning his whereabouts.

“Last week, Thursday, May 12, two Sisters of St Louis, Reverend Sisters Perpetua Apo and Bukola Familade, and their driver, Mr Zwugwa Zibai, were also abducted.

“The three of them were travelling to Ijebu-Itele in Ogun State for a programme when their vehicle broke down at Kajola on Ore-Lagos road.

“They then called some Reverend Sisters in the neighbouring town for help. By the time the Sisters and others got to the scene, they found the vehicle but the occupants were nowhere to be found.

“It was later established that they had been abducted.

“These unfortunate incidents are not palatable at all. Indeed, apart from the two cases of abduction, there are other kidnap cases pending, both known and unknown,” he said.

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22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

FCT Minna VC inducted fellow, Academy of Science Adelowo Oladipo -Minna

From left, Ojuolape Amodu; Managing Director /CEO of JSK Etiquette Consortium, Mrs Janet Adetu; Olajumoke Orisaguna; Kemi Onadiran and Sarah Wusu, during a session, organised by JSK Etiquette Consortium, which recently sponsored Orisaguna for Etiquette & Personal Development Programme.

FG tackles foreign airlines on arbitrary charges on Nigerian routes Shola Adekola -Lagos

T

HE anger being displayed by Nigerians, especially air travellers, over the continuous exploitation by foreign airlines operating in the country may have finally caught the attention of the Federal Government.

Information gathered

by Sunday Tribune during the week indicated that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority

(NCAA) has stepped in to actually unravel what is responsible for the high fares the mega carriers often charge between the Nigerian routes and their home countries.

This is just as the affected foreign carriers have appealed to the government to give them time to raise the issue and others with their home countries and subsequently get back to the Nigerian government through the NCAA. Prior to now, the for-

eign carriers have been discovered to be charging the most expensive fares in Nigeria, which are a far departure from what they charge in other neighbouring countries.

According to investigations, while a first class flight ticket from Nigeria to London attracts as high as $10,070, Accra to London, which is almost the same distance, on the same class of ticket sells for as low as $4,943.

The same practice goes

My father was killed for rescuing kidnapped victims —Son of Ortom’s murdered aide JohnsonBabajide-Makurdi AS the Benue State police command spread its dragnet to catch the killers of Governor Samuel Ortom’s security aide, Mr Demen Igbana, the family of the deceased has called on the police not to look far, accusing one of the beneficiaries of the state government’s amnesty programme of being the killer.

Speaking to Sunday Tribune at the weekend, the first son of the deceased, Mark Igbana, said that his father must have been killed by a militant group as a result of the constant foiling of the group’s kidnapping business.

“You know kidnapping has become rampant in this state in recent times.

My father used to go and rescue the victims from the den of kidnappers and due to this fact, he seemed to have been marked,” he said, adding that his father kept calling the name of a leader of a gang (names withheld) until he died.

Giving details of how his father was killed, Mark said: “As my father drove in at 12.30 a.m., as usual,

he called me to come and open the door for him. But as I was opening the door, I heard a gunshot. By the time I opened the door, I saw my father running to the other side (pointing at the left side of the house) and I saw people running after him.”

“The killers were many and they positioned themselves round this area. As my father ran to that side; another person stopped him and shot him and he fell.”

But the state’s police spokesman, ASP Moses Yamu, who spoke to Sunday Tribune, said the police were still investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the security aide, just as he stated that the police would not rely on the name allegedly mentioned by the deceased, saying, “that is why I said we are investigating the matter.”

Sunday Tribune gathered that the deceased had received a threat to his life a few days before the incident and had confided in the governor, but the son said he was not aware of such development.

Meanwhile, former commissioner of police in Lagos State, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, has called on the police in Benue State to quickly unravel the mystery behind the death of the security aide.

Tsav said that with the killing allegedly perpetrated by one of the beneficiaries of the amnesty, he has been vindicated.

with the fares charged on the premium economy class on the Nigerian routes, which are also as high as $3,208 in Nigeria, whereas the same ticket on Accra-London route goes for $2,240.

The argument by Nigerians is that the high fares being charged by the mega carriers “is a deliberate attempt to specifically target the Nigerian travellers for exploitation,” which they claimed contradicts the huge markets and profits the airlines enjoy in Nigeria.

Despite the alleged unfair treatment of the Nigerian travellers by the mega carriers, the carriers have chosen to keep mum on the raging issue, as many of the foreign carriers contacted for reaction on the development by Sunday Tribune failed to respond to the questions posed to them on why they chose to specifically charge high fares on the Nigerian routes they operate into.

Ambode promises to create space for youths in governance Bola Badmus -Lagos LAGOS State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has said that the state will continue to be hub of prosperity for young people, promising that his administration would continue to ensure that young people find their place in governance to enable them assume responsible status for themselves, family and the nation.

The governor gave the promise while speaking at a summit, where a Lagos group, Ambode Youth Initiative (AYI), decorated him with an award of ‘Best Performing Governor’ in the country, in commemora-

tion of his one year in office.

The group had earlier undertaken a solidarity walk to Lagos House to express their solidarity for the governor.

Speaking at the event, the governor, represented by the Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mrs Husamat Akinbile-Yusuf, said the creation of Employment Trust Fund (ETF) that would disburse about N25 billion annually and Wealth Creation Ministry was to open space of opportunities for the youth to tap and prosper even in-spite of the current economic realities of the nation.

THE Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, Niger State, Professor Musbau Adewumi Akanji, has been inducted as a Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Science (NAS), the highest honour in the scientific field in the country.

The honour was bestowed on him at the weekend at Reiz Intercontinental Hotel, Abuja, where the academy inducted him as a fellow for his contributions to science.

At the event, nine other professors who have distinguished themselves in their areas of study were also inducted as fellows of the academy.

Among other contributions, the academy recognised Prof. Akanji “for demonstrating through his works that the source of extra-curricular enzymes can be traced to tissues compromised by chloroquine and for also establishing the potential and safety of Fadogia Agrestis, an aphrodisiac.

NANS South-West zone okays removal of fuel subsidy Olayinka Olukoya -Abeokuta THE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) in the South-West zone said it supported the removal of the oil subsidy by the Federal Government.

The leadership of the students’ body, which converged on Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Saturday, enjoined Nigerians to embrace the Federal Government’s decision on the development, saying the people must sacrifice for development to take place.

Speaking at a news conference, the students’ leaders led by its coordinator, Okikiola Ogunsolu, described fuel subsidy as a scam that has been the clog in the country’s wheel of progress.

Ogunsola said the removal of fuel subsidy would bring an end to perennial fuel scarcity Nigerians were experiencing, commending the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for taking the decision in the overall interest of the nation.

He said: “The Federal Government spends about N1.4trillion annually on fuel subsidy. This huge amount of money represents about 18 per cent of the 2016 budget and will go a long way in providing critical social infrastructure, if invested in the economy.

Strike: Stop harassing our members, TUC warns NLC •As NULGE suspends LG chairman in Kano From Hakeem Gbadamosi and Kola Oyelere THE Ondo State chapter of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has frowned on the harassment of its members by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the ongoing strike action in the state.

The TUC, which registered its displeasure over the development in a statement signed by its chairman in the state, Ekundayo Soladoye, called on the leadership of the NLC in the state to stop preventing its members from going to their offices.

But the state chapter of the NLC has said that the “withdrawal of the TUC from the struggle will not affect the strike action negatively,” noting that all its members had totally complied with the directive of the union.

Soladoye, who also doubles as the Secretary of the Association of Senior Civil Servants in Ondo State, said the NLC was not supposed to be harassing members of the TUC who have decided not to participate in the strike by resuming to their various offices The union called on the state government to provide adequate security for the lives and properties of its members during and after the ongoing strike action.

In another development, the Kano State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has suspended the chairperson of the union in Ungogo Local Government Area, Hajiya Husaina Ammani Maizare, over alleged failure to comply with the directive to observe the strike action over the increase in fuel pump price.

The chairman of state’s chapter, Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir, while speaking with pressmen at the weekend, said that following the failure to conform to the NLC’s directive, the body summoned stakeholders and fashioned out approaches to guarantee compliance, noting that the labour unions would not be hindered by propaganda and threats.

45

feature

22 May, 2016

Sunday Tribune

Thieves burgle shops, steal tomatoes, pepper, rice in Ibadan

The harsh economic situation in the country has brought in a new dimension of crimes as some individuals now go about breaking into shops to steal tomatoes, pepper and rice. TEMITAYO ILIASU reports.

T

HESE are certainly not the best of times for Nigerians. Ask both Mrs Muinat Ariyo and Rosemary Oluwatoyin Oginni pepper and foodstuffs sellers who have their shops at Awotan area of Ibadan, they would tell you that the situation in the country has become intolerable and is drifting dangerously towards anarchy, as people have now resorted to breaking into shops to steal foodstuffs like tomatoes, pepper, rice and beans.

Their reactions might look somewhat extreme but hearing their recent experiences would suggest that the poor economic situation in the country, which has forced hunger down the throats of many citizens, is taking a terrible toll on the lives of the people.

On Saturday, May 14, Mrs Ariyo’s shop was burgled and baskets of pepper worth over N63,000 were stolen in addition to 20 litres of palm oil. “They carted away three baskets of pepper – bawa, tatashe and rodo. I also lost a big container of fresh tomatoes, 20 litres of palm oil and a carton of tomato paste,” she said.

Interestingly, two days earlier, Mrs Oginni, who sells rice, semolina as well as other foodstuffs, a few metres from Ariyo’s shop, arrived at her shop to meet it empty. Some individuals had come in the night to cart away bags of rice and other items she just bought.

“The goods were supplied to me on Wednesday. You could imagine my shock when I discovered the following day that my shop has been burgled.

“The goods they stole; bags of rice, semolina, poundo yam, wheat and vegetable oil were worth about N160,000,” Mrs Oginni said.

But why foodstuffs? Why would anyone burgle shops to steal tomatoes, pepper, rice and beans? Could the crimes have been committed because of hunger or the rising costs of those items?

Mrs Ariyo could not understand the reason for the theft. Such an incident, according to her, has never happened before.

“Since I was born, I have never seen or heard of oil or pepper being stolen. However, one thing I know is that anyone who can steal such things must be battling with hunger and poverty and the person became desperate. Right now, I’m not in the right frame of mind; I feel so bitter because I’m in great debt,” she said.

She told Sunday Tribune how she borrowed the money to buy her wares and the shock she felt when she came back the following day to meet all the goods gone.

“I borrowed money from our thrift society for this pepper business, because I didn’t want to be idle, especially considering the current state of the economy. After I collected the money, I went to Shasha market in Ibadan, Oyo State, to buy tomatoes and pepper. As was my usual practice, I left the goods at my shop, but by the time I came to my shop the following day, which was on Saturday, I discovered that my shop had been broken into, with all the goods I bought the previous day missing. Even the palm oil, which was sold to me on credit, was missing.

Baskets of pepper in Mrs. Muinat Ariyo’s shop

Mrs Ariyo

Mrs Oginni

“Right now, I don’t know how I will pay back the money. In fact, the payment is expected weekly and I don’t think those who borrowed me money will understand. They took pity on me; that was why they borrowed me the money in the first place.”

But Mrs Ariyo said her sad experience was even beyond the debt she had been thrown into or the agony of repaying it.

What bothers her more now is the fear of another break-in.

“I’m even afraid to buy more goods, even if I see people who want to borrow me money because I’m not sure if the goods not be stolen again. My state of health is also affected and I don’t think I can handle a repeat of the theft of my goods. I don’t want to have high blood pressure. People around me are the ones comforting me and my children.

“Right now, my business is down. But for

the woman who loaned me some money to buy small amount of pepper and pay back as soon as I sell it, I wouldn’t have anything in my shop now,” she added.

Admitting that the current state of the economy could have led many people into crime, the mother of three said that should not be enough reason to cause sorrow for other people.

“I am very sure that those who carried out this act are aware of how much money is involved in the business. They cannot just decide to steal my goods without being aware of how much they cost. This act was not done for the purpose of consumption alone but for them to sell. Stealing in itself is terrible and for a person to steal food items is worse, because it means you are trying to make life unbearable for others. “ Though we all know that the economy is not doing very well, if you are not ashamed

to work, there is no way you will go hungry.

It is lazy people who seek shortcuts that will bear the consequences of their actions. If you go to Shasha or Bodija marketers, or any market, even if it’s to work as a labourer, you will definitely get money to eat, rather than resorting to stealing other people’s means of livelihood.

“I want people to hear my story and to know the new trend these thieves use now. I want people to know that they break into people’s shops and homes to steal foodstuffs and I also want people to be prepared so as not to be caught unawares. Those that carried out this evil act should know that even if they evade punishment here on earth, they will not escape on the Day of Judgment, so they should just stop when they still have hope. I want our governments to rise up for the sake of those of us who are suffering and put in place measures so that these people will be apprehended and not go scot-free,” she stated.

On her own part, Oginni said she had taken her case to God. According to her, reporting the matter at the police station would be counter-productive, as she said she was sure nothing would come out of it.

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22 May , 2016

sport

SUNDAY

Man U wins 12th FA Cup, equals Arsenal’s record

By Ganiyu Salman

A

109th minute goal by youngster Jesse Lingard on Saturday, at the Wembley Stadium gave Manchester United its 12th FA Cup title, following a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace after extra time.

The victory equalled Arsenal’s record in the prestigious FA Cup, as the Gunners emerged the first team to achieve that feat also from 19 finals.

Manchester United last won the FA Cup in 2004 at the expense of Arsenal, while its last final in 2006 ended in

a 0-1 loss to Chelsea.

The triumph of the Red Devils gave embattled manager, Louis Van Gaal some respite after missing the Champions League play off ticket at the just-ended English Premier League season.

It was also his first trophy since he took over from Sir Alex Ferguson two years ago.

Substitute Jason Puncheon fired Palace ahead in the 78th minute when he beat David De Gea at close range and the goal was wildly celebrated by manager, Alan Pardew, who resorted to ‘Skelewu dance’ from the sidelines.

Captain Wayne Rooney

started the redemption journey for Manchester United as he held onto the ball until he created a space to lob the ball which Marouane Fellaini first chested down for Juan Mata to complete the job barely three minutes after Puncheon’s strike.

The Red Devils finished the game with 10 men after Chris Smalling was sent off for his second bookable offence.

Lingard later during extra time ended the dream of the south London side to lift its first major trophy in its 111year existence, as his volley caught goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey helpless.

Manchester United players led by Wayne Rooney (with the trophy) celebrate after their FA Cup victory over Crystal Palace on Saturday at the Wembley Stadium. PHOTO: DAILYMAIL

Musa wins third Russian league title NIGERIAN international, Ahmed Musa on Saturday won the 2015/16 Russia Premier League title with CSKA Moscow, the third time in

his career.

CSKA beat Rubin Kazan 1-0 on the final day of the season to claim its 13th league title.

Alan Dzagoev scored the

Union Bank eyes laurels at ITTF Nigeria Open

By Nurudeen Alimi

THE coach of Union Bank of Lagos table tennis team, Samson Ajayi, has expressed optimism that his players will not leave the ongoing ITTF Premier Lotto Nigeria Open at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos without laurels.

Ajayi, while speaking with Tribunesport by phone on Friday said his players were fully prepared for the tourney and ready to spring surprises.

“We are in this championship to prove to the whole world that Union Bank’s table tennis team is a force to reckon with. No doubt, the ITTF Nigeria Open is a big tournament and there is the need for us to work

harder to show the stuff we are made of. I am confident that our fans that at the end of the championship will be proud of us as we will not disappoint them in any way. I commend the management for its unalloyed support both morally and financially for the team and I promise on behalf of the players that we will not let them down,” Ajayi said.

Also, the Secretary of Union Bank Table Tennis team, Bode Akinsola, while speaking with Tribunsport hailed the spirit of the players, just as he urged them to ensure that they come out with flying colours at the end of the championship.

decisive goal on 19 minutes in the tense game decided at Kazan Arena.

Musa who took part in the contest was eventually substituted in the third minute of second half stoppage time for Alexei Berezutski.

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner has enjoyed a hugely-successful season with CSKA as he netted 13 times in the league and 18 goals in all competitions for the club.

Musa, a former Nigeria top flight league highest goalscorer, also helped CSKA Moscow to reach the Russian Cup final where they eventually suffered defeat to Zenit St Petersburg as well as the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

The former Kano Pillars forward has now won three league titles with CSKA since he joined the Army Club from former Eredivisie outfit, VVV-Venlo.

CSKA Moscow also boasts another Nigerian, Samuel Aaron Olanare, in its fold.

Sunday Tribune

Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

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22 May, 2016

THE

Sunday Tribune

Fabio Lanipekun 08050498512 lanipekunfabio@yahoo.com

Olu Onagoruwa: The first among the greats

I

F Isaac Akioye was the first south westerner to keep the goal for the Nigerian national team in 1949, his successor, Olu Onagoruwa had to wait till independence year 1960 to earn that honour, amidst great rivalries provided by Carl O’Dwyer, Sam Ibiam, Emmanuel Omiunu and Clement Andre.

They have all passed on and the latest is OLU ONAGORUWA, who kept goal for the all conquering Port Harcourt team that ravaged all opposition to win the 1958 Challenge Cup at the King George Stadium, Onikan, Lagos. At 81 he left an enduring legacy which a member of his family, Odutola Onagoruwa captures in this tribute entitled ‘Patrick Olumuyiwa Onagoruwa: The first acclaimed and most notable’.

The late Patrick Olumuyiwa Onagoruwa, was born in 1934, and started his football career in Port-Harcourt, having been discovered at a tender age, as a talented goalkeeper at the St. Patrick Primary School and Stella Maris Secondary School both in Port Harcourt.

His late father, David ’Nonuga Onagoruwa (Baba Porta), was a Traffic Officer at the Nigerian Ports Authority, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and his Official Quarters, No.1, Victoria Street, Port Harcourt housed the late Olumuyiwa along with his brothers, uncles and cousins.

The news of his death came rather too shocking and disturbing, because it occurred one week after the death of his younger brother, Ayotunde, whose death threw the family off balance, at the age of 66 years.

Late Brother Olu’s health had deteriorated quickly, just after he lost his wife, Mrs. ‘Bopo Bamidele Onagoruwa, in 2014.

Brother Olu died on March 15, 2016 at the age of 81 years and is survived by Olufunmilayo, Adeola and Babatunde, his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In those days, before the commencement of professional football in Nigeria, Olumuyiwa and his old colleagues, played football for fame and nothing more. Footballers of yesteryears were less catered for in term of remunerations and incentives.

However, talented footballers like Olu were provided ample opportunities to exhibit their prowess not minding the son of whom they were or from where they came.

This position provided young Olu the opportunity to display his talent at the goal.

The age of God-fatherism in our sporting activities destroyed our past glories in the international competitions. The late Olumuyiwa ranked the first acclaimed and most notable amongst his peers in the family. In fact, he brought the name of the Onaguruwa family into limelight in late 50s. He was the first Onaguruwa I knew, to travel by Air. Notable members of the family included the late Baba Lawyer- Otunba Gilbert Ayodele Onagoruwa, the first Nigerian to obtain the AIB Final Certificate (the Professional Banking Certificate) and the former General Manager of Cooperative Bank Ltd, Ibadan (now Skye Bank Plc) the position he held for over 25 years immediately after the vacation

of the white management; Iya–Ibeji, the late Mrs S.T. Atinmo, a foremost trader and the number one wholesaler for the Nigerian Breweries’ products in the late 60s and Dr Gabriel Olusoga Onagoruwa, a constitutional lawyer and Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation.

None of the above mentioned personalities was more popular than Olumuyiwa in the family and in the country at large during his active days.

The late Olumuyiwa was always agile, very alert and admirable at the goal.

He was tall, light skinned and well built.

He was in fact a commander at the goal.

He tied his two immaculate white handkerchiefs, one on the neck and the other tucked neatly into the right hand side of

his jersey pants, while in goal. His ‘glued’ palm got hold of balls to the admiration of his opponents and attackers. The late Olu kept the goal for the Red Devils, WNDC and later rose to become the number one goalkeeper for Nigeria. He coached the IICC Shooting Stars (now 3SC), Ewekoro FC and Abiola Babes of Abeokuta. He also coached Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode to win the Thermogene Cup in the 1973/1974 Academicals football competition. Olu’s old colleagues in the national team include Dejo Fayemi, Thunder Balogun, Jide Johnson, Baba Ali, Elumelu, Olumodeji, Onyeama, Onyeador, Amusa Shittu, Adisa, Duru, Ezekwe, Kojo etc.

He retired from the Ogun State Civil Service, as the Director of Sports in 1989.

The late Olu was soft spoken and his smiles expressed his consents and acceptances. His silence generally expressed his disagreements. His weak emotions often times caused him wet and red eyes, when strongly disappointed. In the same manner, like his younger brother, Ayotunde, he never got himself entangled in controversies that yielded no good.

He was a devoted Catholic and democratic leader. His stewardship as the Head of the D.N. Onagoruwa family yielded good fruit and produced formidable successors. He united his siblings and half-brothers to the point of death.

Brother, may your gentle soul rest in perfect peace in the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Nigeria’s captain, John Mikel Obi

Nigeria’s lost birthright WHEN asked to assess Nigeria’s chances of qualifying for the 1986 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) the then NFA Chairman, Group Captain Anthony Ikazoboh puffed. “It is our birthright”. Zambia eliminated us and our birthright became our death certificate. 30 years on, we are back at it, as qualifying for the AFCON 2017 has become a mirage and harbinger of more disasters.

The NFF and erstwhile Chief Coach, Sunday Oliseh went into fisticuffs, both

emerged with bloody nose; NFF, to keep in shape, had no one to fight, picked upon itself and is currently nursing a black eye.

The supervising Ministry is going round in circles, unsure of its duties and splashing mud all over, with the sports media receiving rabbit punches.

Who will save Nigeria? Is it Shuabu Amodu who was used and dumped after qualifying Nigeria for the 2002 World Cup? Who will save the NFF, a house divided against itself and each faction swearing till

death do us apart. As the FIFA axe dangle over Nigeria’s continued participation in FIFA-organised tournaments, let us begin to prepare for the expected- a ban will see us out of the qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Moscow.

Our ouster from AFCON 2017 is bad enough, the struggle for Russia 2018 will be bitter. Nigerians should be looking forward to another contest Amaju Pinnick versus Chris Giwa with Solomon Dalung the match maker and referee.

SIDELINES NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER

22 MAY, 2016

NO 2,047

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The report that some Nigerians have started breaking into shops to steal tomatoes, rice and other foodstuffs should naturally be a cause for worry. Pray when people begin to steal tomatoes and even salt, what else remains? But the present harshness of the economy is certainly not a good reason to cause agony to others.

Yoruba Southwest: Wake up!

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HESE days, we Yoruba people of the Nigerian Southwest are going through intensely agonizing worries and fears about our condition and our prospects as a people in Nigeria.

Wherever one meets any group of Yoruba folks anywhere in Yorubaland, or in the large Yoruba diaspora in the wide world, the talk is often about how our Yoruba nation is slipping downwards in Nigeria. It is about how we Yoruba nation are constantly facing threats and anxieties in Nigerian affairs in spite of our strength as a nation – in spite of our leadership in education, our enormous strength in high caliber manpower, our outstanding record in modern development, and our frontline contributions to the growth and progress of Nigeria.

It is about the fact that our nation’s decline is continuous, comprehensive and unrelenting in the context of Nigeria, and it is about how and why this is happening to us. Some days ago, as I viewed the decline from direction to direction, I wondered whether we Yoruba of today are still the descendants of the Awolowo generation of leaders and public men, and two lines from an old English poem suddenly burst upon my mind:“The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar// The owl stands sentinel on the watchtower of Afrasiab”. How are the mighty fallen!

It is about how the quality of education in our schools has been wrecked, and how poorly educated the graduates of our schools, colleges and universities can be these days. It is about how a major part of even the most promising products of our educational system are being destroyed by years of unemployment, and how countless numbers of them are compelled to flee desperately abroadin order to be able to keep their heads up and to find avenues for work and for further advancement in life.

It is about how we, who built a great civilization on a culture of successful farming, have mostly lost our tradition of farming, and how we have become a nation that cannot feed ourselves, a nation that must depend on massive food importations from some other parts of Nigeria and from abroad. It is about how masses of people from more distressed parts of Nigeria have seized major parts of the business life of our nation and become the dominant beneficiaries and profit makers from the large market constituted by our large, educated and sophisticated citizenry. It is about how our people are experi-

encing a depth of poverty we have never experienced before in all our history.

It is about how our pauperized and desperately poor people are thoughtlessly and cheaply selling their homes and plots of land in our old towns, and thereby mortgaging the heritage of their descendants, while our state governments raise no finger to regulate the situation, impose some order, and stem the tide. It is about how unrestrained and unregulated trading and vending has degraded the order, the quality of appearance, and the quality of life, of our towns and cities while our constituted authorities take no clear and firm steps to reverse the trend. It is about how the new and fast growing urban expansions to our towns are allowed everywhere to spread out as chaotic urban jungles.

Most Yoruba people have no doubt or illusion about why all these disasters are dogging our nation in Nigeria. Most of the reason is that the Federal Government of Nigeria is ruled by certain destructive beliefs. One suchbelief is that the Nigerian nationalities, especially the foremost Nigerian nationalities, are a threat to the unity of Nigeria and need to be weakened and suppressed. Another is that the various sections and nationalities of Nigeria must develop at one uniform pace, and that nations that tend to develop faster are threatening Nigeria’s unity. But other reasons are that we Yoruba do not see, or respond to, the reality of Nigeria as clearly and as constructively as we should. Our elite do not pay the right amount of attention to our own home in Nigeria. For

diranapata@yahoo.com

It is about how our Lagos, our nation’s flagship city (first seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria), is robbed of hundreds of billions of Naira by the Federal Government every year, while the same Federal Government has chosen to neglect Lagos and let federal properties there decline and perish – after the removal of the Nigerian capital to Abuja. It is about how the most important federal highways through our part of Nigeria (including the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Nigeria’s most important highway) have been neglected for decades by the Federal Government and allowed to go to ruin.

It is about how, partly because of deliberate but subtle federal policy, and partly because of thoughtless neglect by our own state governments, the teaching of our Yoruba language and the history of our Yoruba nation have ceased to be taught to our children in our schools. In short, it is about how our nation’s culture, the foremost urban civilization in Black Africa throughout history, now faces destruction.

instance, today, while the governors of many non-Yoruba states are responding strongly to the widening menace of the socalled “Fulani herdsmen”, Yoruba people are left wondering how our governors will respond, or whether they will respond at all. That is not good for the Yoruba nation.

If a nation is having the kinds of troubles that the Yoruba nation is being battered and bruised with in Nigeria, it owes itself and its descendants the duty of devoting focused attention to sorting out such troubles. In fact, it needs to do so energetically, except, of course, if it has resigned itself and its descendants to the fate of becoming third-class citizens, or even slaves to others, in the country to which it belongs. It is a good thing that we Yoruba passionately desire to make a success of Nigeria; it is good that we are confident that we have the cultural capabilities, the constructive ethos and the tolerance of others, to help make a success of Nigeria; but it is foolish of us to let our own nation perish in Nigeria. “Love your neighbours” does not demand “Love not yourself”.

AYC qualifier: Flying Eagles win in Bujumbura

By Oluwabunmi Ajayi NIGERIA’S Flying Eagles on Saturday began their quest for qualification for the 20th edition of the African Youth Championship (AYC), on a good note, as they defeated their counterparts from Burundi 1-0 in Bujumbura.

The Emmanuel Amuneke wards after a goalless outing in the first half silenced the Young Swallows before their teeming fans

at the Prince Louis Rwagasore Stadium, Bujumbura, with the 64th minute strike from Agor Chukwudi.

The return leg tie is billed for June 11 at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar, while the aggregate winner will progress to the final round of the qualifying series for U-20 AFCON. Nigeria, it will be recalled, has won the competition seven times including the last edition staged in Senegal.

Accompanying official, Sunday Okayi told thenff.com that the reigning African champions played against ‘grown men’ and had to rely on skill and technical superiority to keep the hosts in check.

The Flying Eagles’ delegation is expected back in the country tomorrow to begin preparation for the reverse fixture in Calabar.

The 20th edition of the U-20 AFCON holds next year in Zambia.

Sure, with all the hostile and repressive air of Nigeria, there are still things that our states and leaders continue to manage to do with distinction in Nigeria. Within only a few days a couple of years ago, I counted many significant achievements in development in our six states. The Ogun State governor announced that Ogun State was embarking on a vigorous program of wealth creation, industrialization and job creation as his state’s response to the dwindling of federal allocations – a most commendable step indeed. And Ogun State’s Director of Industrial Promotion, Moji Dosunmu, announced that 68 industries had recently been opened and seven more were about ready to open.

The Governor of Ondo State declared open his state’s newly completed abattoir, a very welcome direction indeed in quality food processing and handling in our land.

Ondo State also, in recent years, has become the home of frontline medical services in Nigeria – even the place of healthcare tourism. Lagos State is hurrying to complete the construction of the Lagos Light Rail that is expected to dramatically improve transportation in a crucial sector of Lagos. Lagos State is also pushing hard with the construction of its Eko Atlantic City, potentially the most advanced and most beautiful urban creation on the African continent. And Lagos State is hurrying to catch up with road development in the new expansions to Lagos city. The news media continue to spot exciting advances.

Yes, the ancient national capability of the Yoruba people as civilization builders is still alive and well. But it is unbelievable what things we allow to happen to us in Nigeria, all in the name of contributing to the building of Nigeria. Contributing to the building of Nigeria ought not to demand or involve our giving up the health and strength of our own nation. It is definitely time for this sleeping giant, the Yoruba nation, to wake up, tighten his belt, and defend and rebuild his threatened house.

That, ultimately, is the most sensible way to contribute best to Nigeria’s progress and prosperity. The only sensible approach to building a healthy and strong Nigeria is obviously that Nigeria’s various nationalities should develop their homelands. If a large Nigerian nationality like the Yoruba – indeed, if any Nigerian nationality large or small – crumbles in poverty and ruin in Nigeria, Nigeria cannot possibly prosper and be healthy. Yoruba leaders and politicians need to think seriously.

NPFL fixtures

Sunday, May 22, 2016 Plateau Utd vs K/Pillars Warri Wolves vs El-Kanemi Wikki Tourists vs Ikorodu Utd Abia Warriors vs Sunshine Akwa United vs 3SC Lobi Stars vs Rivers Utd Enyimba vs Nasarawa MFM, Lagos vs Giwa IfeanyiUbah vs Tornadoes

POOLS RESULTS:

01, 04, 23, 39 — LKO 3, 5, 30 TODAY’S MATCHES — 2, 6, 15, 25, 27, 31 —33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 42, 43, 45 — 49

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: sundaytribuneeditor@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 22/5/2016 MANAGING DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR : SINA OLADEINDE. All Correspondence to P. O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712.