25th August 2016

nigeria’s most informative newspaper no 16,575 THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST, 2016 www.tribuneonlineng.com

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Economy: Buhari must avoid Jonathan's mistakes —Emir Sanusi —P7

2017 budget: FG okays $42 oil benchmark •Pegs exchange rate at N290 to $1 •Naira sells for N402 per dollar at parallel market

—P4,6 One feared dead, 6 vehicles burnt in Edo tanker explosion —P35

Ondo guber: APC shifts primaries —P34

120 dead in Central Italy earthquake —P37

A dust-covered man trapped in the rubble of his home being pulled from a hole by rescuers in Amatrice, Italy, on Wednesday. PHOTO: REUTERS.

We lost 560,000 barrels of crude to vandals in 5 months

—NNPC —P36

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2017 budget: FG okays $42 oil benchmark •Pegs exchange rate at N290 to $1 Leon Usigbe-Abuja

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HE Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved the 2017 to 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), which recommended that the 2017 budget be predicated on oil price benchmark of $42.5 per barrel and N290 exchange rate to a dollar.

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, who stated this while briefing State House correspondents after a regular meeting of FEC, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, said the document would consequently be transmitted to the National Assembly for necessary legislative action, as the next three years budget would derive from it.

According to him, the MTEF, which was adopted after wide consultation with important stakeholders, highlighted the need for the Federal Governnemt to sustain its efforts at diversifying the economy, as well as creating the enabling environment for business to thrive.

“The Federal Executive Council meeting approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (SFP) for 2017 to 2019.

“As you know, the Fiscal Responsibility Act requires the executive to prepare the MTEF and send it to the National Assembly for consideration and it is on the basis of the MTEFF

that the next budget will be fashioned.

“So, in short, we have started the process of preparing the 2017 budget.

“Before the MTEFF was presented to FEC for consideration, there was an extensive consultation with the private sectors, governors, NGOs. “In the 2017-2019 MTEF, the government intends to

intensify efforts in pursuing manpower-driven economy.

“So we intend to intensify effort to diversify the economy, we intend to go on with the implementation of ongoing reforms in public finance, we intend to enhance the environment for ease of business, so as to generate private sector and private investment.

“Let me share with you some of the key parameters and assumptions which will be underpinning the 2017-2019 MTEF. “Oil price benchmark: We intend to use $42.50 as a reference price in 2017.

We are projecting $45 in 2018 and $50 in 2019.

“So we are keeping to the very conservative in terms of the reference price of

From left, Zamfara State governor, Abdulazeez Yari; President Muhammadu Buhari and the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima, at the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday.

My relationship with Alison-Madueke purely professional —Bank executive director Jacob Segun OlatunjiAbuja

The Executive Director in charge of Public Sector at FirstBank, Mallam Dauda Lawal, on Wednesday, disclosed his roles and what he told the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on his relationship with the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, over alleged looting of the nation’s treasury by the former minister In a statement in Abuja, and made available to newsmen on Wednesday, Mallam Lawal confirmed that he was actually queried on his relationship with a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, by the operatives of the commission.

According to him, “it is true that my name has featured prominently in the EFCC investigations of Mrs Deziani Allison Madueke, the former Minister of Petroleum Resources under the government of President Goodluck Jonathan.”

Lawal also revealed that he was “questioned by the EFCC over his alleged role or complicity in the alleged $25 million acquisition of the Le Meridien Hotel in Port Harcourt.”

He, however, denied the allegation that the former minister channeled the funds for the purchase of the property through him.

According to Lawal, “this allegation is malicious and without substance in any particular material. It must be stated clearly that Lawal is completely oblivious of the ownership status of the said hotel neither is he directly or remotely aware of any transaction involving the former minister on this hotel.

“The truth is that this rumour must have been fueled by Mallam Lawal’s close association with Mrs Madueke, which is based purely on professional pursuits.

“As the Executive Director in charge of public sector of the bank, it is incumbent on me to build the necessary bridges to attract all the benefits the bank can muster from the financial operations of the public sector.

“The former minister, given the influence she wielded within the government and operations in the oil sector was certainly an asset to any corporate organisation, especially the banks.

“All the banks in Nigeria and abroad actively sought to have banking relationships with her because she

sat atop a sector which is the prime revenue spinner for the country.

It is to Mr Lawal’s credit that the First Bank group participated actively in offering financial services to the oil industry under Mrs Madueke.

“It must be emphasised that this relationship was purely professional and no laws were violated in the pursuit of it. We were bound by strict professional ethics and we never jeopardised the name of the bank while transacting in the oil industry or any other industry for that matter.

“The danger in the current narrative is the unfortunate tendency to misinterpret every relationship to be based on fraudulent foundations, especially where the verdict of guilt has been pronounced on one of the parties, in advance of a formal trial.

“It is difficult for one to state his side of the story where the long knives have been drawn to hack down anybody connected to the “guilty” party. This attitude is not only poisonous to the concept of liberty, but also inimical to the universallyaccepted principles of presumption of innocence until one is convicted in a free and fair trial.

“The implication of this

mob mentality on the career of professionals is the limitation of their productive energies for fear of vilifications so such as this.

Mallam Lawal has had a distinguished banking career rising from the very base to the pinnacle of the profession.

“His accomplishments have attracted recognition in the global banking network. He is viewed as one of the shinning stars of the industry who is looked upon to entrench the reforms put in place to strengthen the sector. He is experienced enough to know the consequences of any unethical behaviour.

“He is also conscious of the huge responsibilities that lie ahead as he advances his baking career.

He is, therefore, not that myopic as to willfully engage in a scheme that will tarnish his name.

“He remains a banker with impeccable records of integrity, innovation and performance in the industry and he considers challenges like this to be one of the thorny paths to success. He remains undaunted and is prepared to perform even better in his present and future responsibilities “For the purpose of emphasis, Mallam Lawal

Dauda has never been a conduit for movement of illicit funds neither has he been involved in the purchase of any hotel either here or elsewhere. This much was told to the EFCC during his interrogation “The future is better assured when we apply the principles of fairness rather than the haste to crucify, especially when based on unfounded rumors simply because they fit our prejudices.”

crude oil, though we are expecting it to go higher than this, but we are keeping to an extremely conservative price scenario.

“In terms of oil production, we are keeping to the same level of this year for 2017 and that is 2.2 million barrels per day; for 2018, 2.3 million barrels per day andfor 2019, 2.4 million barrels per day.

“In terms of the currency, we are using the exchange rate, we are using N290 to $1. We believe that the naira will stabilise and we believe that N290 to $1 is a fair estimate from the Central Bank of Nigeria of what the naira is worth,” he said.

The crude oil benchmark in the current budget is $38, while the official exchange rate is N290 to a dollar.

Speaking further, the minister said government intended to continue to pursue gender sensitive, pro-poor and inclusive social intervention schemes similar to what it was doing in the current fiscal year.

“Our social intervention programmes is going to be sustained. We intend to devote even more resources to critical infrastructure projects just as we did this year.

“So we will continue to spend more on roads, rail transport infrastructure, ports and so on. We intend to focus on plane governance and security and we intend to maintain the zero-based budgetary approach,” he said.

On the projected growth rate of the economy, Udoma noted that government was targeting “in 2017, a three per cent growth rate; 2018 a 4.26 per cent growth rate and in 2019, a 4.04 per cent growth rate.”

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Petrol tax: Lagos, oil marketers crisis imminent Ajibola Abayomi - Lagos

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risis may ensue between the Lagos State Government and Major Oil Marketers Association on the 3 kobo per litre tax on Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), listed as part of the state’s wharf landing fee.

In 2009, the Lagos State House of Assembly had enacted a law that empowered the state government to set up a collecting authority, charged with the responsibility of collecting levy tagged as wharf landing fees on goods transported through any sea port into any local government in the state.

On Monday, the chairman of the Lagos State Wharf Landing Fees Authority, Joe Igbokwe, stated the intention of the agency to fully implement the law at a stakeholders’ meeting with the captains of industries transacting businesses at the Apapa seaport.

He explained that the financial burden of maintaining and rehabilitating infrastructure like road and other utilities facilitating movements of goods and services from the port is taking a toll on the finances of the state, hence, the need to tax the business operators.

Igbokwe who lamented the attitude of some companies towards the agency and pleaded for cooperation said that: “We addressed a press conference on May 26, 2016 to announce our presence.

Since we came on board, we have issued 240 invoices to various companies and got 81 responses in terms of payment, representing 34 per cent.

“This is not a good advertisement of what is supposed to be a cordial and symbiotic relationship. The Lagos State Wharf Landing Fee is very clear and we had availed all stakeholders’ copies in the past. It is when appeasement fails that force

and coercion become inevitable.”

But in a reaction to the development at a separate interview, the Executive Secretary of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Obafemi Olamore, claimed that his association had submitted a protest let-

ter to the agency as regards fee charged on PMS. “We would obey the state government on taxes on other petroleum products but not on the PMS. The PMS is not deregulated.

“What we are saying is that if Lagos State government is insisting on the three kobo

Barely 24 hours after news broke that nine banks are withholding $2.1 billion belonging to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), naira fell to an all-time low of 402 units to the United States dollar.

This according to traders, was even weaker than 397 it traded on Tuesday previous session as dollar shortages gripped the official market.

The naira, which hit fresh record low since the central bank floated the currency on the official interbank market in June, first touched 400 on the black market this month.

On the interbank market

“Lagos is asking us to add the additional tax to that.

Where do they want our members to add the cost?

We will comply with other taxes on other deregulated products, but on PMS that is not possible. Please help us to appeal to the government,” Olamore pleaded.

U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry (right) in a hand shake with the Executive Director, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, Adetokunbo Mumuni, during his meeting with anti-corruption non-government organisations (NGOs) at the U.S. Embassy, in Abuja, on Wednesday. With them is the Chief Executive Officer of Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), Seember Nyager. PHOTO: NAN

Suspended banks blame forex scarcity for non-remittance of NNPC funds •FBN, Fidelity deny concealment, meet CBN •UBA readmitted to forex trading Chima Nwokoji-Lagos Following the suspension of their banks from the foreign exchange market, bank executives on Thursday met with officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), even as some of them blamed the development on lack of foreign exchange availability and the prevailing fall in oil prices rather than concealment or willful non-compliance.

Some of the banks had on Wednesday sent emails to their customers to clarify the suspension and how it would affect their bank accounts, as well as steps taken to resolve the impasse.

The suspensions from the interbank market were imposed after the banks failed to remit $2.1 billion which is the government’s share of dividends from Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) that they

Naira sells for N402/US$ at parallel market Sanya Adejkun with Agency Reports

per litre charge, it will affect the pump price. Bayelsa State and some other states are already asking for taxes similar to the Lagos wharf landing fee, where do we go from here?

There is fix price of N145 per litre on PMS by the Federal Government.

on Wednesday, no trades were posted until three minutes before the end of the session, when the central bank which has been reducing its dollar sales, intervened, traders said.

Only three deals worth $0.75 million were traded at 305.50 per dollar, a level the market has closed at since Monday.

The currency hit an alltime low of 365.25 per dollar on the interbank on Thursday.

On Tuesday, news broke that nine banks have been suspended from foreign currency trading for not paying money owed to the government, a central bank source has told the BBC. An official at one of the

affected banks told the Reuters news agency the nonpayment reflected the “dire macroeconomic situation”, rather than deliberate noncompliance.

Nigeria has suffered severe economic problems because of the relatively low price of oil, which provides most of the country’s foreign currency earnings.

The ban will be lifted individually as each bank transfers the money it owes. Each institution is also likely to face a further fine.

The forex trading ban was triggered after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) complained to President Buhari about the missing money, an NNPC spokesman told the BBC.

were due to pay into the Treasury Single Account at the CBN. One of the nine banks, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), said it was working with the apex bank to resolve the issue, which was a function of illiquidity in the currency markets and the weak economy rather than willful noncompliance.

A statement issued the FCMB read: “For our bank, this scenario is based on our non-payment/transfer of the remaining $125 million NNPC fund with us to TSA. As a financial institution with strong corporate governance rules, we have always fully disclosed the outstanding TSA funds in our books and have continued to work assiduously to fulfill our outstanding obligations.

“The members of the NNPC management team have been kept fully in the picture on the funds. This development is really because of lack of foreign exchange availability and the prevailing fall in oil prices rather than concealment or willful non-compliance

by FCMB. “It is actually a widespread industry issue. In conjunction with the other institutions, we are working closely with the Central Bank of Nigeria for

an amicable and mutually beneficial resolution of this scenario. As an institution, our fundamentals remain strong, our franchise is still growing and we remain firmly committed to our professional values.”

First Bank, on its part said it remits government funds when due but was discussing with the central bank and state-oil firm on ways of retaining the dollars to help solve forex shortages and meet its obligations.

Fidelity Bank said the deposits were duly reported to the CBN in line with the extant TSA requirements contrary to the erroneous view in certain media reports that the funds were concealed from the regulators.

The bank said it had advised NNPC and the regulators with a schedule of repayment for the NNPC/ NLNG Dividend dollar deposits, and has repaid over $288 million of the funds in line with the advised repayment schedule.

UBA also denied it had withheld any government funds as its spokesperson, Charles Aigbe said the bank “completely remitted all NNPC and NLNG dollar deposits.”

But the bank, on Wednesday, readmitted into the forex market by the CBN.

Nigerian Tribune

Electricity: TCN, Discos trade accusations Adetola BademosiAbuja THE Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has accused electricity Distribution companies (DisCos) of deliberate rejection of load on assertion that it (TCN) is the weakest link in the power value chain.

It claimed that most DisCos load-sheds on 11kv fidders for two to three hours due to their inability to pay market operators.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at a briefing organized by the TCN, the Managing Director MD/ CEO, TCN, Dr Abubakar Atiku said so far, the highest energy recorded in the system since February, 2016 was 5,074MWs. He explained that the company has the capacity to transmit up to 5,500MWs noting that it can also transfer such to distribution companies.

“On the issues of DisCos rejecting loads on assertion of weakest link, let me make it very clear that we don’t that believe in TCN that we are the weakest link.

“So far, the highest energy that was recorded in the system since 2nd, February, 2016 is 5,074MWs and TCN was able to take it from generation to distribution companies and we have the capacity to transmit up to 5,500MWs and like I said in our expansion plan, we are working towards being on top of generation at any given time.

“So even with the anticipated increase in generation, we still have the capacity to transfer this energy to distribution companies. On the issue of rejecting load, I will say yes, it is still happening. I don’t want to mention the distribution companies that are doing this but they know themselves.

“Most of them are loadshedding 11kv fidders for two to three hours simply because they cannot pay to the market operators, the invoice given to them that they consume.

So they use that system to deny customers power.

“So I want to make it clear that we know because the system operator monitors on 24 hours basis and it does the allocation. So he knew those distribution companies that are rejecting loads and we have records for that.”

Meanwhile, the Distribution Companies DisCos have as a matter of fact, insisted that the TCN is the weakest link in the power value chain adding that this had often led to their shortfall records.

Thursday, 25 August, 2016 7 news Why Buhari must avoid Jonathan’s mistakes on economy —Emir Sanusi

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HE Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi, on Wednesday, attributed the current economic recession in the country to inability of the past administrations to diversify the economy, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

He made the remark while delivering a lecture on “Nigeria in search of new growth model,” at the ongo-

ing 15th meeting of the Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development Planning in Kano.

He said there was an urgent need for the country to return to the drawing board and expand the economy through wise investment for the economic growth and development of the country.

“If we do not expand the economy through wise investment, we can end up in classi-

cal Malthusian situation.

“If this government continues to behave the way the past government behaved, we will end up where Jonathan ended,” he said.

He said in a situation, where one sat with a telephone call and made one billion Naira without investing a single Kobo, that system was wrong and unsus-

tainable.

He lamented that in spite of the past experiences we had on our socio-economic challenges, the country was still making the same mis-

takes.

“In a situation, where we cannot process tomato and tomato paste is being imported from China is sad,” he said.

Zakzaky needs a doctor —Shi’ite Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna THE Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has said its spiritual leader, who is currently being detained, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, urgently needs a doctor because of his deteriorating health condition.

They made their stand known on Wednesday, when hundreds of the sect members took to the street, calling for immediate and unconditional release.

Addressing newsmen at the end of the protest, a leading cleric of the movement, Sheikh Abdulhamid Bello, condemned the continued detention of the leader of the movement as illegal and a violation of his fundamental human rights.

The cleric added that the IMN would not compromise its call for the release of its leader, describing the massive protest as just the beginning.

He said the detention of

Sheikh Zakzaky by the Nigerian government and also denying him the right to medical attention, despite his deteriorating health condition was an outright violation of the tenets of democracy and civility, and must be condemned by all rightthinking persons.

Members of the IMN, men, women and children stormed the Kaduna metropolis, carrying placards, posters and banners calling for the release of their revered leader, chanting “Free Our Leader! Free Sheikh Zakzaky! A very prominent banner carried the inscription “Zakzaky needs a doctor.”

It will be recalled that the Kaduna State government had set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry (JCI) to investigate the wanton killings of the IMN members by the Nigerian Army in December 2015, the report which had since been submitted to Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai and recently made public.

From left, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Ayotunde Adesugba; Director-General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Ishaq Modibbo Kawu and the former chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, during the annual lecture of the NBC, entitled ‘Broadcasting, democracy and the challenge of the new Nigeria,’ in Abuja, on Wednesday. PHOTO: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI

NIS recruits: Attend Monday fresh screening or forget job —FG Sunday Ejike - Abuja THE Federal Government has advised the dispersed 2000 recruits of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) to attend the fresh screening exercise scheduled for next week Monday or forget the job opportunity.

Comptroller-General of NIS, Mr Muhammed Babandede, who said this on Wednesday, while briefing newsmen in Abuja, insisted

that such screening was not strange to the law enforcement agency like immigration service, all over the world.

He reiterated government’s earlier position that their recruitment process was illegal, adding that it was the intention of the government to ensure that the right thing was done in order to place them appropriately.

The service had earlier announced in a statement that the decision to re-screen

Sultan is an ambassador of peace, national unity —Saraki Ayodele Adesanmi - Abuja SENATE President, Dr Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday, described the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, as an ambassador of peace, promoter of national unity, champion of national development, embodiment of tradition and culture, and a source of inspiration to many Nigerians.

Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, on the 60th birthday anniversary of the Sultan, said he was specifically delighted to identify with the royal father in view of his worthy lifestyle, egalitarian leadership, compassionate support for the downtrodden and acting as voice to the voiceless in society.

According to him, “I am delighted to congratulate you on this epoch anniversary of attaining the age

of 60. Your legacies as the Sultan of Sokoto, head of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) are visible to all.

You have continued to diligently serve humanity, both in your immediate domain and the country at large.

“You remain a great source of blessing and inspiration to the entire

country, especially your quest for peaceful coexistence, religious tolerance, fight against insurgency, free and compulsory education for the less privileged and the holistic development and unity of the entire country. I pray that the Almighty Allah will continue to grant you perfect health, long life and more wisdom in the discharge of your duties,” he said.

The Senate President also wished the Sultan more fruitful years of service to the nation in particular and humanity in general.

While also congratulating the Government and people of Sokoto State on the occasion, he called on the entire country to continue to pray for the Sultan for more wisdom and strength.

the dispersed recruits was reached in the aftermath of an emergency meeting of the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration, and Prisons Services Board (CDFIPB) on August 11.

The 2000 dispersed officers were expected to go through necessary security clearance, undergo drugtest, certificate verification, as well as the implementation of CDFIPB policy on “age on rank.”

Reacting to various protests against the decision of the government by some of the affected persons, the NIS boss, however, said the aggrieved recruits should realise that those who recruited them did that beyond the instruction of the former president, adding that “those who committed the offence had been punished.”

He said: “The only condition we gave them is to pass through certain test and they don’t want to pass through that test. Do you blame government for that? I think we

should commend the president for approving this kind of procedure.

“It is very commendable, as we could have started fresh recruitment with other people, but we said we want to take them alone; when we screen them and they pass the screening, they will get their jobs.”

He noted there was no ulterior motive behind the said screening, saying “the assurance I will give is that first, we are going to follow the due process. What kind of sinister motive will be when, for example, if we find somebody, who is over 40 years and want to start government work as regimented officer?

We say ‘no, you can’t, you are not qualified to be there’.

“What sinister motive do we have if we find out that you have a fake certificate or if we find out that you test positive to drug? We can’t give riffle to someone who is a drug addict, such will kill people with stray bullets,” he added.

Kidnapped Kaduna lawmaker’s wife, children relocate Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna WIFE of Kaduna lawmaker, Hajiya Fatima Ismail, whose husband, Ibrahim Ismail, a member of Kaduna State House of Assembly was kidnapped from his residence Tuesday morning has relocated with her four children, to an undisclosed destination.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the mother of four, witnessed the kidnap of her husband from their residence at No 18A, Abdullahi Road, Abakpa GRA, Kaduna.

One of the lawmaker’s personal aide, Aliyu Mohammed, described the scenario as shocking, as the lawmaker was friendly and wondered why he was

kidnapped.

Although he said he was not around when the incident occurred, he said he was told that the his boss was kidnapped by gunmen around 9.00 a.m. that fateful day.

Also speaking in an interview, one of the neighbours of the kidnapped lawmaker, Mohammed Abubakar, disclosed that he witnessed

how the lawmaker was kidnapped.

“They came in two vehicles, wearing army camouflage and fired gunshots to disperse the people around before they took him away.

“In fact, it was when the incident happened that I was told he was a lawmaker,” he said.

Briefing newsmen on the progress made by the po-

lice to ensure that the lawmaker is free, the police imagemaker, ASP Aliyu Usman, remarked that the police was on top of the situation.

Also speaking, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Aminu Shagali, condemned the incident and asked his abductors to release him unconditionally.

8 news APC will win Edo poll —Odigie-Oyegun

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ATIONAL chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on Wednesday, expressed optimism that the party would win the September 10 governorship election in the state, on the basis of performance.

He told journalists in Benin City, the state capital, that the credentials the party had for believing that it

would the election was good performance of its administration in the state.

Odigie-Oyegun said people in the state knew what they wanted, adding that his party’s campaigns had been issue-based and quite successful.

He said the party had performed creditably in its almost eight years in government as against the over 10 years the opposition Peoples Democratic Party

Why we dumped SDP for PDP —Momoh Banji Aluko -Benin City A leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Edo State and former National Assembly member representing Etsako federal constituency, Honourable Abubakar Momoh, has said, along with some others, he would move the structure of SDP in the Edo North district for the gubernatorial aspiration of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

This, he said, was because of their conviction that Edo would fare better under IzeIyamu’s leadership.

Momoh said he had faith in the PDP, under which platform he served two terms in the state House of Assembly, and in IzeIyamu, who he said he had known since 1987.

Momoh spoke at a campaign rally in Auchi, on Wednesday, where he led hundreds of SDP leaders and members to resign en masse from the party and

Edo needs a technocrat, not a politician —Edo monarch Banji Aluko -Benin City Traditional ruler of Ogwa kingdom in Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State, His Royal Highness Victor Ehizogie, has said Edo people do not need a politician as governor but a technocrat, who is capable of solving the nation’s problem.

The Okogiebe of Esanland disclosed this when the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Godwin Obaseki and his running mate, Honourable Philip Shaibu, paid a visit to his palace, before the APC ward-to-ward campaign in the area.

While commending Governor Adams Oshiomhole for building roads, schools and providing water to the community, the monarch described the confidence and support reposed in Obaseki by people of the state as not misplaced.

join the PDP. “We decided to join the PDP because it has a candidate that will help Edo get out of where it is today. He is a person I believe will help move Edo forward,” he said.

Accepting the new entrants into the party, Edo State chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, assured them of equal status with old members, charging them to go back home with the message from Momoh that they must all work to make Ize-Iyamu governor.

CHANGE OF NAME

I formerly Batholomeu Pharbaris Abidemi Sunday now BATHOLOMEW PHARBRIS SUNDAY . All former document remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Olayemi Bukola Esther am the same person bearing Olayemi Oluwabukola Temitope. Now, I wish to be known as OLAYEMI BUKOLA ESTHER. All documents bearing these names remain valid. Wema Bank Plc, GTBank Plc and general public take note.

(PDP) was in charge in the state.

“Our campaign has been very good, there was a period of drama but all that is behind us and the arguments are very clear, irrespective of whatever individual issues there must be and there have been,” he said.

On the fears that the prevailing economic downturn under APC federal administration could sway voters towards the PDP, OdigieOyegun said “again, if you stretch it down, it is the same argument.

“One thing that pleases me today is that Nigerians and the ordinary voter are more perceptive than we think they are.

“Yes, the APC at the national level has been in office for one year plus but everybody knows that the problems we have today could not have been created in one day.”

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Olufunmilayo Deborah Adejoke now MRS OLUFUNMILAYO DEBORAH OLATIGBE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

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Nigerian Tribune

As Lagos becomes an oil-producing state

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HERE is a lot to celebrate about last week’s announcement by the Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, that the state is now officially an oil-producing one. The announcement makes Lagos the first oil-producing entity outside the states of the Niger Delta, and it means that Lagos can begin to look forward to a significant boost in internallygenerated revenue. Also worthy of celebration is the entrepreneurial resilience that has made this a reality. It has taken 25 years of dogged prospecting (and an estimated $400 million) for the Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company to get to this point, and Governor Ambode was right to salute the company’s persistence and fortitude. And for those who place a premium on such things, it is also worth noting that the Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company is a 100 percent indigenous firm.

There is a bit of irony in the fact that it is Lagos State and not some other relatively impoverished state in the country that now stands on the cusp of amassing the windfall from oil revenue. This is because if there is one state that has shown that it can manage without the revenue from oil, it is Lagos. Africa’s seventh biggest economy according to several expert estimates. Under the tutelage of a succession of progressive governors since the return to civil rule in May 1999, Lagos has raised its game and established itself as a model for the collection and astute management of internally generated revenue.

It has a large and dynamic population (between 18 and 25 million depending on your source), and continues to leverage its coastal status to the hilt. Lagos is Nigeria’s Uber-state, the land of opportunity which every Nigerian fights to call their home.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Lagos state has achieved its undisputed economic preeminence without the pabulum of oil revenue. We say this because of history’s lesson that the blessing from oil’s windfall is often a dubious one. Nigeria is a telling example. As is commonly noted, the country was on its way to putting in place the structures of a diversified modern economy when the spike in oil revenues distracted, and eventually derailed, it. Today, Nigeria continues to struggle to wean itself off dependence on oil money, even as the political economy of oil places its federalism under severe strain.

This is the backdrop to our anxieties about Lagos’s newfangled status as an oil-producing state. Despite the inpouring of hundreds of billions of Naira, Nigeria’s oil-producing states remain economically backward, held back by a combination of elite larceny, primitive physical infrastructure and a seething youth demographic.

As a cohort, these states illustrate the worst aspects of the ‘oil curse’ whereby oil-dependent economies are progressively drained of individual or institutional initiative. While being mindful not to be dragged into the kind of social morass in which the Niger Delta states have plunged themselves, Lagos can borrow the proverbial leaf from other societies (Norway and Botswana immediately come to mind) where natural resource, oil and diamond respectively, has been used to stimulate genuine socio-economic development.

In short, Lagos State can teach Nigeria and other oil-producing states that oil does not have to be a curse; that, on the contrary, it can be a prodigious blessing, used to create new opportunities for democratic participation and economic prosperity for all and sundry.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

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SEND YOUR SHORT MESSAGES TO: 08054005323 08055001746

Kogi govt, fix OkoroAyeh Road I want to appeal to the Kogi State government to help us rehabilitate the OkoroAyeh-Ayegunle Road in Ijumu Local Government Area of the state. The said road is in a terrible condition and it is affecting residents economically, as a lot of farm produce perish every year because vehicles that can transport the produce have abandoned the road due to its condition.

I, therefore, want to call on the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, to come to our aid by rehabilitating this road, as it will contribute to the economic development of Ijumu and the state in general.

•Chief Owoyomi F.C, 08056538044

Oyo govt, Oluyole-7Up Road needs attention PERMIT me to use this opportunity to call on the Oyo State government to rehabilitate the Oluyole-7UP Road in Ibadan South West Local Government of the state. This particular road leads to the industrial section of the area, and therefore, it is always very busy since there are many companies sited there.

One of the reasons the state government should rehabilitate this road is that it is generating revenues from these companies through taxes.

•Ibiyemi Ayoade, 08065199894

•The face of fun at Ilese Day Carnival. PHOTO: TOMMY ADEGBITE.

Bronze medal: Kudos to Olympic Eagles IF one should look at the stress members of the football team to the last Olympics in Rio, Brazil went through, before and during the competition, then one should commend them for the feat of winning the bronze medal at the competition. One funny thing is that this is also the only medal we won in Brazil. Before the start of the competition, our sports ministry did not treat our athletes well; there were no preparations,

and many of the athletes were left to their fate. Despite this, the football players gave their best and they won bronze. Although we could have won the gold if

of money. Corruption is our biggest problem in the country, and if we don’t tackle it head-on, then we will not achieve anything.

Some people see President Muhammadu Buhari as a disciplinarian, but what of when he leaves office? We should get things right, now.

In China, anybody who involves himself/herself in financial crime against the state is sentenced to death. The Chinese know

years ago, we didn’t win any medal in London, and many people felt we needed to do better in Rio, Brazil, but nothing much has changed.

What will happen in the

next four years can then be imagined, unless we have a serious sports ministry.

•Jimoh Mumin, 08034435211.

Sports: Let’s catch them young SINCE the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when Nigeria won two gold medals, we have not been performing well in subsequent games.

The London 2012 Olym-

How to tackle corruption IF we are serious about tackling corruption in this country, then we should ensure that convicts serve their jail terms without any option of fine. If a public official steals N25billion and after trial, he is asked to pay N5million as fine, then this will not deter others from committing the same crime. In fact, I know many people will go this route if they have the opportunity of stealing such a huge sum

the government had treated them better, but even with the bronze, Nigeria became the first team to win all the medals in the football category at the Olympics. Four

that corruption would derail their progress if it is not tackled, and today, the country is prospering. Nigeria should tow the same line too. We may not be giving such corrupt people death sentences, but they must serve their jail terms, which should not be fewer than 15 years. This is the only way to save the country from being ruined by corruption.

•Mobolaji Alaka, 08136449554

pics was the most disastrous for the country as we didn’t win a single medal.

What is shocking is that many other countries that are on the medals table are not as blessed as Nigeria, but what we are lacking is administration. Why can’t our sports administrators

in the state and local governments organise competitions among primary and secondary school students?

In fact, one of the medal winners from South Korea is a 15-year-old high school gymnast. Why can’t the Swimming federation focus on the youth in the Ni-

ger Delta by honing their skills in swimming? Our problem is that we have a defective sports development programme, and we will continue to lag behind at international sporting competitions.

•Vincent Akadiri, 08030461538.

OAPs not helping upcoming artistes ONE of the fastest growing industries in the country today is the music industry, which has given many youths financial breakthroughs. That is why there are many youths going into the industry, but if the truth must be told, On Air Personalities (OAPs) and media personalities

are not helping upcoming artistes at all. Most of these OAPs are not ready to render assistance to struggling upcoming artistes by playing their songs without demanding for outrageous sums of money. Most times, if the struggling artistes cannot come up with the money being demanded by

OAPs, then their songs will not enjoy airtime. In fact, the OAPs will prefer to play songs of already established artistes. They even go as far as playing the songs of dead musicians, while abandoning the efforts of struggling upcoming artistes.

•Slim Jay, 08091437352

opinion Police welfare and national security 15

By Ikeogu Oke

A

T no time is having an efficient Nigerian Police more critical than under a government which, like that of President Muhammadu Buhari, has chosen security as one of its top priorities. At no time may seeking ways of making the force more efficient be more pertinent than after the appointment of a new Acting Inspector General of Police, such as Ibrahim Idris, who awaits confirmation as the number one police officer in the country. For such a new helmsman would likely be open to new ideas for improving the performance of the force.

And though the Buhari government may have prioritised security in response to the terrorist threat posed

by Boko Haram, it is clear that keeping a nation secure involves far more than dispensing with such threats. Terrorism is only one of the causes of insecurity known to man. At a more fundamental level, ensuring security entails fighting crime – including such that may be perpetrated by terrorist groups, like murder and kidnapping – which directly violates the security of its victims.

Also, fighting crime – related as it is to maintaining law and order, which the police are basically charged with – is a multi-faceted activity. It can take the pre-emptive form of crime prevention. It can take the form of combating violent criminals while actively engaged in armed robbery, for instance. It can take the form of investigating crime and prosecuting the culprits. Each of these situations may involve a security threat to individuals and groups in society, but more so the activities of violent criminals of all sorts. It cannot be gainsaid that the Nigerian police can play a critical role in all such situations in relation to the country. There is also a general consensus that they need to be far better equipped and motivated than they currently are in order to play that role effectively.

A very important component of motivating them better is improving the welfare of police personnel so as to eliminate or reduce the temptation of those unethical practices, such as extorting money from commuters at checkpoints, which compound their inefficiency and give them a bad image.

A friend once told me a story that illustrates this. He said two policemen were posted to guard a fenced yard belonging to the company where he worked. The yard served as a storage facility for sundry scrap items and spare parts. Not long after the guards assumed duty

it was noticed that some of the items in the yard were missing. A report of the missing items was lodged with the company’s head of security who conferred with the head of human resources on the best way to deal with the issue. They resolved that the head of human resources should handle it, a rather unconventional decision since it was essentially a security issue. Afterwards the head of human resources invited the two guards to her office.

But rather than interrogate them about the missing items as anyone would have expected, she asked them how much they were paid as salary. Following their reply, she asked them how much they were paid as allowance by the company. She asked them to leave after they responded to the second question. At the next management meeting, she recommended a monthly allowance for both guards, which doubled what they had been receiving as salary from the police and allowance from the company, but was still a fraction of what their counterparts were paid monthly as staff of the company. Her recommendation was approved. A few days after the guards received the new allowance, all the missing items resurfaced in the yard. Afterwards, no further case of missing items was reported while they kept guard at the facility.

What the head of human resources did through her creative and humane intervention was link improving the guards’ welfare to improving the security of the items under their protection, as we must link the welfare of men and officers of the Nigerian police to improving national security.

Even before I heard the story, I disagreed with the notion that the Nigerian police are inherently or irremedi-

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

ably corrupt. But the story helped to justify that disagreement.

Rather, I believe that a country gets the type of police force it cultivates. A country cannot have the most poorly paid and inadequately motivated police personnel in the world and expect them to perform as satisfactorily as their counterparts in other countries who are well catered for by their governments.

To underpay and under-equip the police while charging them with maintaining law and order is to show contempt for law and order. It is to identify indirectly with the enterprise of crime because such frustrating conditions would necessarily impair their capacity to fight crime which they can only do effectively under working conditions that inspire efficiency and patriotism.

My recent observations while cooperating with the police in investigating a criminal case as the complainant show that their condition of service leaves much to be desired and needs to be improved exponentially.

And while not making an excuse for corruption, I would insist that most of the corruption attributed to Nigerian police personnel is a reaction to financial insecurity and would not exist under a regime of adequate welfare. So we ought to view the moral inadequacies of our police personnel with humanity, as something forced on some of them by desperate circumstances.

Incidentally, the slogan of the Nigerian police – namely, “Police is your friend” – seems to have a bearing to their bad reputation, especially the type that arises from the collusion of some of their personnel with criminals, like the case of George Iyamu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, and Lawrence Anini, the notorious armed robber, which shocked the nation in the 1980s. It means “Police is your friend” even if you’re a lawbreaker. It should be modified to change this negative impression and discourage those in the force who may see it as a justification for accepting to be collusively befriended by criminals. The police should not be your friend regardless of who you are or what you do.

In all, it is apparent that the Nigerian police are confined to trying to achieve so much with so little. Their situation can be compared to being given a cutlass to cut down an iroko tree by a country that can afford a chainsaw. This situation requires that we empathise with them rather than judge them harshly for their failings.

•Oke lives in Abuja.

The mystery behind incessant jailbreaks

By Michael Ogunjobi

OVERTIME, prison breaks have proved a major bane of the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS). The lacuna in the NPS was brought to limelight by the incident at the Kuje Medium prison in Abuja, which led to the escape of two inmates. But the rot in the NPS is unbecoming with the latest reported jailbreak of 13 prisoners, comprising 10 pre-trial detainees and three convicts, escaping from Koton Karfe Prison in Kogi State in the early hours of Saturday, July 30, 2016. And not forgetting the inmates who escaped from Nsukka Prison in Enugu State a fortnight ago.

How else can one rationalise the surprising serial jail breaks at the Koton Karfe Federal Prisons in recent time; firstly in 2013, the second incident being in 2014 and then this recent one. There are innumerable reasons for this recurring decimal; the prime of the calculated proximate causes being congestion, carelessness and conspiracy. This mockery of the Nigerian Prison system is clearly demeaning and an indictment of the judiciary as an institution of solace for victims of injustice and also the legislative arm of government since they are the ones who decided that victimless crimes deserve prison time.

Succinctly, merely investigating the cause with no action taken only smirks of recklessness of the highest order where some persons trade in escape of criminals.

The era of not mapping out in clear terms the security measures to be put in place in checkmating the excesses of inmates and incessant jail break has to be bade farewell and sanctions enforced against any public officer found to have connived with the convicts.

The legislative arm of government appear set to depart from the lackadaisical approach adopted over the years by successive legislative regimes since 2001 that have failed to pass the Bill seeking the amendment of the extant

prison law last reviewed in 1972. Currently, the Nigerian National Assembly is considering an Act to repeal the Prisons Act Cap. P29 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and enact the Nigerian Prisons and Correctional

Of note, the prison structures across many parts of the nation are eyesores. Prisoners are groaning and even prison officers are complaining.

Service, to make provisions for the administration of Prisons in Nigeria; the Awaiting Trial Persons and for Related Purposes, 2016.

Of note, the prison structures across many parts of the nation are eyesores. Prisoners are groaning and even the prison officers are complaining of unfair conditions of service due to poor remuneration, absence of job schedules and career pattern, among others. While it is hoped that Nigerian Prisons and Correctional Services Bill 2016 will provide the respite at this critical period, foot dragging could spell doom, making the Bill suffer same fate as that of an ‘abiku’, as was the case during previous administrations since 2001.

In the interim, the Ministry of Interior, currently supervising the Nigeria Police, the Prisons Service and other paramilitary services like the Fire Service, the Immigration Service and the Civil Defence Corp, must brace up to provide immediate solution.

Succinctly, the reforms in the NPS definitely must transcend change of name as envisaged by the Bill to comprehensively address the failings of our criminal justice system and rehabilitate the prisons in line with global best practices. And also eventually introduce programmes in the prison systems that actually rehabilitate convicts to be successful and patriotic citizens when released back into society!

As a subtle reminder, considering that a good number of legislators are padding and paddling their boat gently to the gallows, there is no better time than now to reform the prisons service. This will be a great delight to their new constituents in future.

•Ogunjobi is a Lagos-based attorney and public affairs commentator.

16

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Why we intervened in Wuye market crisis —Police Chris Agbambu-Abuja THE FCT Police Command said its intervention in the crisis among the stakeholders of the Wuye Market in Abuja was to allow peace to reign and groups involved in the crises to go about their lawful businesses and see to the re-opening of the said market for the economic good of all the parties.

The police said: “It is factual to state that the Command’s intervention was to restore peace and forestall the breakdown of law and order in the market.

The Command, in a statement, said that it did not act in disobedience to any court order as there was no court order received by the Command stopping the police from intervening in the market to maintain peace, law and order.

It lamented what it described as campaign of calumny sponsored in the media by a group called Association of Wuye Ultra-Modern Market Allottees (AWUMMA) to cast aspersion on the effort of FCT Police Command in ensuring sustainable peace, law and order in Wuye Ultra-Modern Market and other areas in the Federal Capital Territory.

It said: “The Command is conscious of the disagreement among factions in the market that can lead to breach of the peace, and that is why the Commissioner of Police, FCT, on Saturday 30th July, 2016, held a meeting with all stakeholders at the Command Headquarters and which was attended by the Developer, FCDA market managers, Abuja Investment Company and the allotees.

“However, Association of Wuye Ultra-Modern Market Allottees (AWUMMA) neither attended the meeting nor send a representative.

“Suffice it to say that the Police had initially partially allowed Association of Wuye Ultra-Modern Market Allottees (AWUMMA) into the market, but when the clear facts emerged after the Saturday stakeholders meeting that the true occupants certified by the Developer, FCDA market Managers, Abuja Investment Company and the allotees (the true allotees with authentic documents), were allowed into the market.

FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello (middle), Acting Chairman, Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Kefas Musa Magaji (left) and FCT Solicitor General, Yusuf Wodi Hulegi, when the duo paid the minister a courtesy visit in Abuja.

Why I stopped demolition of illegal structures —FCT minister Christian Okeke-Abuja

M

INISTER of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello, has narrated how he was forced to abandon a style of demolishing illegal structures in Abuja in a manner that gave much pain to defaulters after an incident where the FCT Development Control Department was dragged to Human Rights Commission in the course of enforcing development control laws.

NGO to support FCT pupils with instructional materials Christian Okeke-Abuja A Non-Governmental Organisation based in the Federal Capital Territory, Divine Virtuous Shunamite Ministry, is to provide instructional materials for over 200 pupils across the six area councils of the territory as part of its efforts to boost teaching and learning in the area.

It has also rolled out its 2016 palliative plans for widows and orphans in the nation’s capital.

Speaking in Abuja at the weekend, founder of the organisation, Uduak Dondon, disclosed that new school books, bags, uniforms and sandals would be provided for the pupils upon resumption in September.

“It is common knowledge that a lot of families, especially widows and orphans, will not be able to provide these items for their wards when schools eventually resume,” she said.

She said further: “We have taken it upon ourselves to provide these basic items for these kids who cannot afford them by

themselves. We will also conduct free medical check-ups for these kids in order to keep them fit for school.

“So on September 3, 2016, our organisation seeks to empower 200 kids with 1,200 pieces of note books, 200 pieces of school bags, 200 pieces of uniform, 200 pieces of Mathematical sets and one cartoon of biro and pencil.

Dondon urged both Christians and Muslims to give priority attention to issues bordering on the less privileged in the society.

She said: “Instead of caring for the vulnerable in the society, we see them becoming preys living among predators.

Most times they are victims of the same people who ought to have been their first line of solace.

“Knowing full well that they are very close to the heart of God, we, at the Divine Virtuous Shunamite Ministry, have been privileged to stand in the gap for them through prayers and various methods of operations.

The minister disclosed that the Commission cautioned that the administration needed to apply human face in the process and make sure Nigerians appreciated why they were taking those actions, saying that since the incident, the FCT Administration adopted new approach in removal of illegal structures in the territory to give the exercise the desired human face.

Speaking while exchanging views with a delegation from the Commission led by its Executive Secretary, Professor Bem Angwe, in his office, the minister said the incident was an eye-opener as it eventually forced the FCT Administration to abandon its previous style of demolishing illegal structures and allowing affected residents to salvage any useful material in the process.

“That for me was an eye opener and since then, I have insisted that whatever we do, it is very important that we do a lot of advocacy and explanation to the people.

Even if there is going to be demolition or relocation of people, there is a clear instruction now that no more destruction; give people reasonable time and notice and also encourage them to do the dismantling by themselves. That way, you reduce tension and more importantly, you allow them to salvage what has economic value. That’s what we have been doing and it has worked,” he said.

Bello disclosed that owners of such property were currently duly carried along in the process and even allowed to carry out the exercise to enable them retrieve some useful material that could be taken away.

The minister noted that the new approach had really paid off as it encouraged understanding and reduced lots of friction

associated with demolitions.

He appreciated the role the Commission played in making the FCT Administration to adopt the new procedure and described the Commission as a reputable organisation that told the people when they were wrong, irrespective of their status.

According to him, the Commission, as an institution of government, gave hope to the people and served as their dependable voice.

He expressed concern over the lingering controversy at Wuye Market.

According to him, “several places we go now, we show them the law, tell them their infringement and we say to them, we will not come and remove anything.

You do it yourself; salvage what can be salvaged and at the end of the day, everybody is better off for it.

“You are not supposed to waste things that ordinarily could have been used elsewhere “Economic activities bring about employment; it raises business transactions and overall welfare of the people.

“So, each time facilities are built and developed and are not put to use due to some sort of impediments, I think everybody loses out and above all, the entire community and society lose out.

“Even though the matter is in the courts, I do hope that all the parties involved will show understanding on the matter,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the National Human Rights Commission, Professor Bem Angwe, promised to continue to partner with the FCT Administration in the overall interest of Nigerians, particularly those resident in Abuja.

17

Thursday, 25 August, 2016 With Adewale Oshodi tribunearts@yahoo.com 08054005323

Learning from the life of a social worker par excellence A review of Febisola Okonkwo’s book, Roses of My Passion,

by Ademola Akinbola.

THIS book is made up of 16 chapters, with the first focusing on the early life of the author. This chapter delves into her lineage, giving us valuable insights into both paternal and maternal families. It also gives a vivid account of the writer’s birth and upbringing, telling the reader the meaning of the name “Febisola”, which, as explained by the author’s father, was derived from the fact that she born among many siblings and relations.”

In the second chapter, the author takes the reader on an interesting journey into her childhood and early years in school. She relives fond memories of life as a student and a chorister. Her early childhood experience of grief, especially at funerals, were recalled by the writer in this chapter. She also recalls the salient core family values that were imbibed into her, even at that tender age. The chapter also talks about the author’s relationship with her father.

The third chapter focuses on marriage and family life. Just like the two previous chapters, this chapter talks about the personal and family life of the author; how she met her husband, Lawrence, his support for her vision, support from children and siblings, among others. She takes her time to eulogise her departed heroes, explaining significant roles each played in her life. In the fourth chapter, the writer reminds us of the vanity of life, as she shares some of her experience as volunteer at various homes, orphanages, rehabilitation centres, etc. She concludes by stating that “true happiness is neither in physical possessions nor material wealth, but in interactions with loved ones, friends, people who genuinely care and are able to identify with us.” True happiness is also “when we learn how to die that we learn how to live.”

Subsequent chapters focus on her social work. She leads us into the days of little beginning of Help Initiative and Tabitha Home. The vision, mission and core values of Help Initiative were explicitly explained by the author. The fact that Tabitha Home is dear to the heart of the author has never been in doubt, and she uses the opportunity presented by the book to talk about the vision of the Home which is to “to erase the stigma attached to orphans and vulnerable children, thereby creating a leverage of equality for the children among their peers irrespective of their circumstances and situations.”

The author talks of how the Home has steadily grown from having just three occupants in 2014 to 25 as at today. The author captures her joy and satisfaction in these words: “Today, what I feel about Tabitha Home can be compared to a woman who had been heavily pregnant, subsequently in labour and eventually delivered of a healthy bouncing baby! Tabitha Home is the satisfaction for all my years working for Help Initiative.” According to her, the concept of “love in raw form” is fully in practice at Tabitha.

The impact that Tabitha has created in the society has not gone unnoticed, as evidenced by the various letters of commendation and goodwill messages that the author published in this chapter.

However, another chapter is dedicated to the challenges in social service, as attempts

to reform the society, revamp certain norms, values, and turn things round always attract criticism, whether they are fair or not. The author, in this chapter, shares some of her challenges and frustrations with the reader, not with a view to discouraging other social reformers, but as an early warning signal that change, in any form and at any level, is usually greeted with initial resistance.

Some of the challenges the author highlighted are the increasing number of women and children who are in need of support, the societal belief system, ignorance of the work of social services entrepreneurs, civilization, negative perceptions of NGOs, funding, etc.

But, the author has not allowed these challenges to kill the vision. She writes: “On several occasions, there were instances of discouraging moments; periods of lack and urgent needs of funds for important and official needs like paying salaries, school fees, feeding, medicals and other running costs for our projects. There have been periods that could have prompted my giving up but the vision led me on. Interestingly, no matter how tough, stressed, challenging and fierce these situations appear, it has never occurred to me to give up”.

There is also a tribute section for Chief (Mrs) Victoria Oni, who was one of the influential figures in Ile-Oluji and who positively influenced many people’s lives, including that of the author who deservedly devoted this Chapter to acknowledging the leader-

•Chido Onumah

ship and motivational qualities of Mrs. Oni, a renowned educationist who served meritoriously as the Principal of Holy Saviour’s High School, Ile-Oluji, while her husband, Dr Olumide Oni held sway at Gboluji Grammar School, also in Ile-Oluji.

The author appreciates the role Mrs. Oni played in her life and traced her early belief in the ethos of hard work and her conviction that success is for women, as much as it is for men. In the section on Giving, the author opens this chapter with this powerful anonymous quote: “‘Love never reasons, but freely gives like a thoughtless prodigal.

Love is giving, yet it fears that it has not given enough”. Indeed, it could only have been selfless love that has motivated and sustained the author in her social services entrepreneurship projects. Although giving is usually associated with physical donation of cash or material items, the author observes that giving is much more than that.

According to her, “Quality giving is much more than what can be seen with the eyes. It is embedded in qualities like commitment, responsibility, desires, considerations, and many more. Giving does not have to involve your wallet but it is a conscious effort to put in your time and energy and get involved in things for a worthy and noble cause”. She advocates for selfless giving and goes ahead to list renowned personalities such as Mama Ekundayo, Bill and Melinda Gates, Mother Theresa, Andrew Foster, Mary Slessor, etc.

•Zainab Sule

who gave their all. She refers to them as “angels of mercy, men and women, dead and alive who lived for humanity.”

In Success Stories, the reader is given an insight into the inner workings of the mind of the author, in terms of her personal philosophy, value system, and world view.

While success is narrowly defined by many as attainment of material wealth or a status in life, she sees success as “the ability to add value and make worthwhile positive difference in other people’s lives.”

However, the author strongly believes that every child, no matter his background, situation, circumstance and status, deserves a home and all other forms of child protection support. This is the crux of her campaign and the fulcrum of Help Initiative’s activities culminating in the Tabitha Home project. The author also discusses parenting, emotional intelligence, teamwork, health and safety, the myth and reality of child adoption and the place of compassion and empathy in social service.

The book, Roses of My Passion, is a well written book; a commendable effort by Mrs. Febisola Okonkwo to give the reader an insight into her background, and the factors or influences that define her personality today as a celebrated social services entrepreneurship. The book is recommended for both the young and the old, irrespective of educational background. It is a book that teaches various aspects of care giving.

•Dr Musa Okpanachi

Three to set Abuja literary scene alight THE August 27 edition of the Guest Writer Session will feature Chido Onumah, Musa Idris Okpanachi and Zainab Sule, at Abuja.

Chido Onumah , whose latest book “We Are All Biafrans,” is stirring a lot of public interest, is a Nigerian/Canadian journalist, author, blogger and rights activist. He worked for over two decades as a journalist, rights activist and media trainer in Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, India, the US, the Caribbean and Spain. He sees his book as…“ not a call to action; it is not a call to support the Biafra agitation, it is just a reminder that we have so many problems in Nigeria and that time has come for us to sit at the table of nationhood to address these problems.”

Onumah studied at the University of Calabar and received an MA in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario.

He is a doctoral candidate in communication and journalism at the Autonomous

University of Barcelona, Spain (UAB) and has won a number of journalism related awards.

His other publications include Nigeria is Negotiable (2013) and Time to Reclaim Nigeria (Essays 2001-2011) 2011.

Onumah is coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AFRICMIL), and interim chair of the Pan-African Alliance for Media and Information Literacy (PAMIL).

A multiple award-winning poet and scholar, Dr. Musa Idris Okpanachi, who hails frpom Kogi State, teaches at the Federal University, Dutse, Jigawa State.

Okpanachi’s new volume of poems, “Music of the Dead”, can be regarded as continuation of the exploration of power and its abuses, which characterise his two previous collections, “Eaters of the Living” and “From the Margins of Paradise.”

According to Eugenia Abu, Okpanachi’s verses are deep, trenchant, jolting us to the reality of our times …(and) he uses all

the words in his literary jaw juxtaposed with themes of today, philosophers of old and themes of yesteryears to get us to listen. For lovers of poetry, it is an incredible collection…. For the uninitiated, it is an education.”

Zainab Sule is a Nigerian musician, fondly known to both friends and fans as the Queen of Soft Rock.

For the past five years, Zainab has slowly but steadily won new fans and gained audiences in and outside Nigeria, firmly engraving her music in their hearts with her intense, yet laid back style.

Zainab points her early influences to Bryan Adams, Coldplay, Prince and more, while she has been compared to acts like Natalie Imbruglia, Dido, and Tracy Chapman. She has also been featured on several national dailies and other local newspapers.

Asides music, Zainab holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of Jos, and 3 CIW Certifications in Web Design.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

SRGE: Towards developing strong organisations A review of Olaoye Rafiu Abiola’s book, Strategy, Risk, Governance and Ethics.

IN the world of management, there is the need to give extra attention to certain issues, and these will go a long way in determining if one will achieve success in one’s assignment. The issues, strategy, risk, governance, and ethics, are so important, even in other spheres of human existence that Olaoye Rafiu Abiola decided to write on them.

According to the author, the four major components of his book, Strategy, Risk, Governance and Ethics (SRGE), are captured in the title.

While tracing the concept of Strategy, the author says it is derived from the Greek word, Strategia, used in the military to mean all comprehensive plans and tactics deployed in distinguishing battles within and prosecuting those battles, leading to victory at the wars.

However, in the case of this book, the author is not using the word in the context of warfare, but of management.

According to the author’s definition, Strategy can be defined as the contemporal perspective to management which tends to analyse management activities

and issues from the viewpoint of uniqueness and long-term effects to the achievement of an overall objective.

The author goes further to list the levels of Strategy, as well as the Vision and Mission of organisations.

For Risk, which is the second focus of the author, the word is defined as the chance exposure to the adverse consequences of

uncertain future events. It further refers to the uncertain and unpredictability of a future event and a range of different possible outcomes of a current event, with the author explaining that Risk falls into two broad categories — pure and speculative risks.

However, one of the benefits of Risk is that it is used by individuals or organisations to envision the future, while preparing for any eventuality.

Another area of focus of the book is Governance, where the author highlights the core process of corporate governance.

This aspect also takes critical look at the composition of a corporate entity, especially the make up of an organisation.

The final focus of the book is on Ethics, which the author describes as a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of what is good and right what for human beings. The author further lists three dimensions of Ethics to be personal ethics, business ethics and professional ethics, and these guides the individual in his dayto-day behaviour.

Although the book is majorly on management, public office holders can also use it in the management of their political duties.

The author, Olaoye, a seasoned business development strategist, consultant and chartered accountant, has written several other books majorly on management.

Blessed Body: A peep into the lives of LGBT people A review of Professor Unoma Azuah’s edited book, Blessed Body: The Secret Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender Nigerians by Steve Aborisade.

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HAT stronger narrative poignantly, yet fluidly but powerfully espoused the lived realities of individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) in Nigeria than ‘Blessed Body’, a rare, compelling, even racy peep into what it means to be a sexual minority in a country that officially denies this reality and which shuts its doors as it criminalises the very notion of the plausibility of any other sexual orientation aside heterosexuality?

Blessed Body: The Secret Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Nigerians, edited by Unoma Azuah, produced and published in collaboration with Queer

Alliance, a Nigerian non-governmental LGBT advocacy organisation in Nigeria, is a cogent collection of 38 personal narratives by 36 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Nigerians who laid bare their struggles of contemplating, discovering, accepting and living their identities as sexual beings in their families, immediate communities, in their country, and within the contexts of their faiths and culture.

This book provides a context to better understand and appreciate the erroneous, but often reflected notion of homosexuality as contentious through individual stories about discovering the meaning of their sexuality as human beings, and es-

Udiroko festival: Ekiti Speaker hails Ewi, Fayose on cultural development THE Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Right Honourable (Pastor) Kola Oluwawole, has described the commitment of the state governor, Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose, to cultural development and exploitation of the tourism potentials of the state as legendary.

He also described the reign of the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba (Dr) Rufus Adejugbe, as that which witnessed unprecedented development of the state capital, particularly, the promotion of the annual Udiroko festival for which the state is now getting more notable on the world’s tourism map.

These eulogies were contained in a congratulatory message sent to the monarch and the governor on the celebration of the Udiroko Day 2016, a week-long cultural/ tourism festival that climaxes on Tuesday, August 23.

According to the message signed by the Speaker’s Special Assistant (Media), Stephen Gbadamosi, “Governor Fayose has displayed uncommon commitment to the development of the diverse cultures of the Ekiti people, as well as the enormous tourism potentials of the state. The Ud-

iroko festival is a very apt instance.

“The governor has invested a lot in the promotion of our cultural heritage. And that is why the Udiroko festival has now become one that corporate organizations are taking serious interest in and people all over the world look forward to. That, to me, is worthy of applause.

“Besides, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba (Dr) Adejugbe’s tenure has witnessed remarkable development, not only in the celebration of the annual festival, but also in the overall development of the state capital.

“It is on that note that I, on behalf of myself and the entire members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, felicitate with His Royal Majesty, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba (Dr) Adejugbe, and the entire sons and daughters of Ado on the celebration of Udiroko Festival 2016.

“I also congratulate the Eyesorun, other oloris and all the chiefs of the monarch for witnessing yet another edition of the cultural fiesta.

May our monarch celebrate many more of it on the throne in good health.”

pecially being Africans in the light of the expressed impression that Zethu Matebeni of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, described as ‘‘common version of Africanness that denies different forms of sexualities.’’

On offer are testimonials of 19 gay men, 12 lesbians, four transgender persons, and two bi-sexuals, who are based here in Nigeria and abroad, some having fled in search of refuge as a result of the harsh realities which a mere suspicion (rightly or wrongly) of being LGBT portends to individuals, and now made worse with a 2014 anti-LGBT law that has brought about increased targeted persecutions and blatant abuse of rights of LGBT persons by both state and none state actors alike.

This collection of stories is particularly outstanding when considered against the intrigues, passions, fears, shame and shaming, the grip of pretences, barriers and boundaries, and the uncertainties in the quest to be true to self and the triumphs of her narrators, which captures the pain and joys and the sufferings in an effort to discover the self and of exploring the meaning of those identities in a geographical space with a linear and rigid construction of what sexual identity entails.

Without doubt, Blessed Bodies punctures our denial as a people about this group of Nigerians. It provides a roadmap to exploring what it means to be different while offering personal narratives of the challenges of being misunderstood, loathed, rejected and despised from nothing but ignorance which has fuelled and as well entrenched a somewhat deep rooted negative coloration of diversity.

Unoma Azuah presents the themes of the anthology under eight compartmentalisation of: Discovery: Coming of Age; Blurring Lines; Facebook Fantasies; Homo-sexing; Unwanted Marriage; Secret Lives; The Church and Unapologetic, Blessed Bodies offer Nigerians a chance at remorse and an opportunity to renegotiate our understanding of sexuality within a cultural context heavily influenced by imposed religions.

A poet’s love for Obama

By Adewale Oshodi OLUMIDE Sowunmi has fallen so much in love with the United States president, Barack Obama, that he recently released three collections of poems for the world’s most powerful man. One of the collections, Obama’s Bravura, sees Sowunmi celebrating the US president with poetry.

One of the poems, Dance, Dance, Dance, details how the US has reached the promise land with the election of Obama as president.

The chorus of the poem, in Yoruba language, however, laments the fact that one of the greatest black activities in the country, Martin Luther King Jnr, is not around to witness what he has only dreamed of.

Martin Luther da?/ Where is Martin Luther?

A o ri/ We can’t find him Nibo lo lo, a o ri/ Where did he go, we can’t find him A o ri , a o ri o, a o ri/ We can’t find him, we can’t find him, we can’t find him.

Sowunmi, in another poem, describes Obama’s emergence as president to the collective effort of all Americans. He says: This is victory Is your victory His victory Her victory Their victory My victory Our victory Everyone’s victory So let no one boast of personal victory In another poem, America, Hear Me, the author uses the messages of great American leaders to pass a message across to the citizens.

America, your freedom is here, Martin Luther Jnr speaks America, your value is here, Bill Clinton speaks America, Segregation is gone, Rosa Parks says America, all is new for good, dawn of a new era.

This poem focuses on past American leaders and their messages, and how Obama has shattered all the negative stereotypes about the country’s minority people.

In Destined Head, the author likens Obama to Chief Obafemi Awolowo as one tree that made a forest, while saluting the US president saying: O kare/ Weldone Omo Afrika rere/ A good child of Africa O kare, o kare/ Weldone, weldone.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

education

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

Admissions must comply with national policies —JAMB registrar Kola Oyelere - Kano

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HE registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has said that admission into tertiary institutions must comply with national policies, and that no candidate must emanate from any other source (JAMB inclusive) outside the list prepared and recommended by the institutions.

This is just as the Vice -Chancellor, Bayero University Kano,(BUK)Professor Muhammad Yahuza Bello, said 64,224 are applicants seeking admission into BUK. Professor Oloyede disclosed this on Monday during the first technical committee meeting on admission to first choice institutions, held at the Bayero University, Kano.

He said, however, that the senate of each university has the prerogative of admitting candidates, but this must be in adherence to the national policies.

According to him, the national policies include the use of the 2016 JAMB UTME results printouts for all candidates who scored 180 and above.

Others that must be strictly adhered to, he said, are that tertiary institutions must adhere to subject combinations of various courses as specified by their senate and academic board.

Kogi Poly bursar appointed BURSCON president

The state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who spoke through the deputy governor, Professor Hafiz Abubakar, pledged the readiness of the state government to assist JAMB. The governor noted that education is the

only legacy good parents can bequeath to their children, hence the need for wealthy individuals to complement the effort of government towards providing qualitative education.

Earlier, the vice chancellor, Professor

Muhammad Yahuza Bello, had disclosed that out of 64,224 candidates that applied for admission into the Bayero University, 21,000 made the cut-off mark, and that only 6,500 would be offered admission after the screening.

From left, former Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Peter Okebukola; Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Rahamon Bello, and former Minister of Education, Professor Chinwe Obaji, during the maiden Education Summit entitled: Integrity of Public Examinations and Admission in Nigeria, at the UNILAG, Yaba, Lagos on Thursday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Calls for innovation as TASUED, Cape Coast varsity hold interdisciplinary confab

Yinka Oladoyinbo - Lokoja

By Laolu Harolds

BURSARS Association of Polytechnics, Monotechnic and Colleges of Technology in Nigeria (BURSCON), has appointed the bursar of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Dr. Abel Ujiyah Adamu, as the president of the association.

Adamu, who was appointed president during the association’s conference that took place in Lafia, Nasarawa State, was until his appointment the vice president of the association.

The constitution of BURSCON provides election for the post of vice president, who automatically becomes president at the expiration of the tenure of the president.

Speaking after his appointment, Adamu said he was ready to build on the achievements of the last administration and take the association to a greater height.

He tasked members as chief financial officers of their various institutions to key into President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption to enable them maintain the good reputation the accounting profession is known for.

He also solicited the support of heads of institutions in the resolve of the association to engender professionalism and develop the various institutions.

Adamu also thanked members of the association for the confidence reposed in him.

THE need to adopt and deploy innovative technology in education not just for the development of Africa but for academies on the continent to emerge as a global knowledge hub is a central theme at the Interdisciplinary Conference jointly hosted by the Tai Solarin University of Education and the Cape Coast University, Ghana.

The three-day conference, which started on Tuesday at TASUED, Ijagun, Ogun State, is co-hosted by the vice chancellor of TASUED, Professor Oluyemisi Obilade (chief host), and her counterpart from the University of Cape Coast, Professor Donwini Kuupole.

The theme of the conference is ‘Integration, Innovation and Technology Education for Rural Development’.

According to the pro-chancellor and chairman of council of TASUED, Professor Olufemi Bamiro, who declared the conference open after delivering his speech, speakers are expected to deliver papers on nine sub-themes; namely, Technology, Education and Innovation in Africa; Gender, Youth Technology and Education; Policy, Politics, Quality Assurance and Innovation in Education; and Innovation and Technology in Specialised Areas of Education.

Others are Innovation and Technology in Arts and Humanities Education; Innovation, Technology and Inclusiveness in Peace Education; Innovation and Technol-

ogy in Vocational Education, and Technology, Innovation and Information Resources.

The keynote speaker at the opening ceremony was Professor Joel Babalola of the Department of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, who spoke on ‘Education, Technology and Innovation for Global Competitiveness: Evidence from Ghana and Nigeria’.

In her opening address, Professor Obilade said part of the goals in TASUED is to make the university “a one-stop shop for all matters of education.”

She said, “We must be willing to look at new innovations in our fields; we must be able to learn from those practices and we must be willing to implement what we have learnt so that we are not people who see and hear alone, but people who do what we see and hear.

“If we want to develop the continent, we must harness those resources that are latent and unutilized in our continent so that people from other continents can come and look at what we are doing.”

On the choice of Cape Coast University for the collaboration with TASUED, Professor Obilade said she believed that the two universities share the same vision.

Professor Bamiro in his address spoke of an increasing need to rethink the focus of education with the mind of creating a paradigm shift that will recognize the use of innovative technology tool in the education delivery.

“Impacting qualitative education can no longer be achieved through the traditional idea of an instructor-lead approach to teaching. The focus has to change to education that is hinged on personalized learning,” he said.

He noted that contemporary innovative technologies like the webinar, podcast, blog, mobile applications, social media platforms that leverage on the internet can be deployed to deliver qualitative education that can impact on human development.

In this regard, Bamiro expressed his delight at the increasing deployment of technology into the academic and administrative functions at TASUED. He said he expected that speakers at the conference would discuss models and means of integrating innovative technology into the education and training process to produce human capital with requisite skills to drive socio-economic development.

The Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Modupe Mujota, whose address was read by Mrs Olufunmilayo Dada, also stressed the importance of technology in advancing the cause of development in all facets, education inclusive.

Mrs Mujota acknowledged and commended the management of TASUED “for brilliant initiatives in different directions,” which she said has relaunched and reinvigorated the TASUED brand, making it a pride to all.

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education

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Government can end insurgency by educating vulnerable children Professor Rashid Aderinoye was the immediate past Executive Secretary, National Commission for Nomadic Education. In this interview with KEHINDE ADIO, he shares his experience on the job, among other sundry issues. Excerpts:

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HAT did you meet on the ground when you joined the commission?

I met a situation that could simply be described as stagnation and abandonment. Right from inception, nomadic education programme had been faced with the challenges of infrastructure such as inadequate classrooms, shortage of furniture; the learning environment was not conducive enough to guarantee quality education; teaching, in most cases, was conducted under the tree shades and in public places. Worse still, staff productivity was at zero level for marginalisation in the areas of training, welfare and promotion, What was your priority projects agenda?

Initially, I was not well received by stakeholders in the commission and even the staff. They were very skeptical about my personality as a non-Fulani or Hausa. However, I was able to raise their hope when I unfolded my developmental project agenda for the transformation of the commission in all its ramifications.

My first assignment was the collection of data that reflected the number of children to work on; how many of them were in school and how many were out of school. The data also showed the number of teachers on the ground, the state of infrastructure in the commission, the staff strength and the instructional materials availability.

What were your other challenges?

Funding was a big problem, and not until the government considers the commission as a factor in the Education For All development programme process, especially among the nomads, there will continue to be imbalanced development. One can imagine what will be the consequence of the situation where some children in some parts of the country have access to quality education while those in another part of the country are denied the same opportunity. If Nigeria wants to address the problem of insurgency in the North and in some Niger Delta areas, it must take good care of the vulnerable children in terms of education.

Another challenge we experienced in the course of our services was that people were still skeptical about western education. We

found it very difficult to convince them to send their children to school. I made bold to say that if these people are properly educated, the development will go a long way to ensure peace and economic stability in this country.

Can you list some of your achievements?

To the glory of God, my transformation and change agenda brought about the provision of standard modern classroom blocks with all amenities across the country. Nomadic schools became more child-friendly, thereby improving student enrolment to an appreciable level. Teachers were trained to improve their teaching service delivery. During my tenure, I was able to resuscitate and develop the collapsed Information Communication Technology of the centre. Now, every member if staff is computer-literate.

Moreover, I made efforts to forge partnership collaborations with some national and international educational agencies in the country, such as UNICEF, Korea Agency, and UNESCO, to ensure the provision of instructional materials and textbooks to all

the nomadic schools in the country, construction of more classroom blocks, professional development workshop for nomadic teachers across the country.

Is there any project that you wished you had completed before your tenure ended?

One of the projects is the introduction of uniform for nomadic schools. I made an attempt but I could not complete it. I hope that my successor will make it possible.

One other project I would have loved to have see its fruition is the African Development Bank project intervention. It will interest the public to know the intervention of African Development Bank in the area of technical and vocational education. Out of the 10 centres being supported by the bank, two of them are directly under the commission. The centres are located in Laduga in Kachia Gracing Reserve in Kaduna, and in Kilometre 26 AbujaKaduna expressway. The centres are focusing on garment making, bee farming and honey processing, dairy and shea butter processing.

What do you think Nigerian government can do to make the commission more efficient to achieve its set objectives?

Adequate funding and prompt release of fund is essential. It saddens one’s heart that not many people understand and appreciate the nomadic commission as a body saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the nomads have equal access to qualitative education. If we train them, they have a lot to contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They need literacy, skilled development and socialization education for them to be relevant in the society.

Secondly, the Federal Government alone cannot shoulder the funding responsibility of the commission; the state and local governments have roles to play in the nomadic education programmes in their domains. Moreover, there is need to relocate the headquarters of the commission to Abuja. The development will go a long way to enhance the productivity of the principal officers of the commission.

Now that you have left the commission, what is your next plan?

I am now back to my teaching profession at the Department of Adult Education, University of Ibadan.

perspective AAUA: A veritable change agent in Akokoland

By Modupe Balogun

IT is an incontestable fact that universities across the world are created to fulfill three purposes: learning, research, and community service. There is also no gainsaying the fact that higher institutions, especially universities, are veritable change agents wherever they are located, as they invariably over time transform the social and economic lives of their host communities. The influx of both academic and nonacademic staff and thousands of students has always led to a sharp upward turn in all facets of the community.

Examples abound across the world of how locating a university in a rural and agrarian community led to a boom in land appreciation, market value of goods and services, rent appreciation, a boom in the transportation sector and lots of money being pumped into the local economy by staff and students. These, in addition to both direct and indirect employment generation in the locality and beyond make higher institutions veritable change agents.

Akungba Akoko, the immediate host community of Adekunle Ajasin University, along with neighbouring towns and communities, is no exception to all the above-stated facts since the relocation of the then Ondo State University. What was hitherto a rural and largely agrarian community has since become the fastest growing economy in Akokoland. It must be emphasized at this juncture that no public university in Nigeria boasts of adequate hostel facility for all its students; thus many students seek accommodation in the host community.

So, prior to the coming of AAUA, accommodation was a kobo a dozen in Akungba and other neighbouring towns. Most buildings had vacant rooms that were inhabited by goats and other domestic animals as no one was renting them. The few that were rented out were given out virtually for free.

Since the take-off of the university, however, house owners have been smiling to the banks as practically every house has students or staff members of the institution living in it. The time-honoured law of demand and supply has also ensured that rooms given out for pittance in the past now attract good money. This ‘bumper harvest’ is not limited to Akungba alone;

neighbouring towns like Ikare, Oka, Supare, Oba, and IwaroOka are equally ‘reaping’ bountifully.

Also, hitherto barely existing commercial motorcyclists now come thick and fast. They are everywhere in all the nooks and crannies of Akungba town and its environs, ferrying around passengers, made up mostly of students and staff of the evergrowing institution. The ripple effect of the increase in population is also felt in the markets where the number of buyers has grown astronomically with the coming of the university.

Even artisans like barbers, hairdressers, tailors, food vendors, shoe repairers and traders, and small-scale industrialists like cassava processing plant owners, electronics dealers, and gas plant operators have all grown in number as there are now more and eager customers to cater for. They now get good returns on their investment, while farmers also get better prices for their produce as there appears to be ever-increasing mouths to feed. The university has also brought lots of value to the community. For instance, the medical laboratory health services rendered by the university’s Health Centre are rated second to none in the entire Akokoland.

According to the Director of Health Services of the institution, Dr Babatunde Aiyejumo, the university’s Medical Laboratory renders invaluable service to the populace through reliable medical diagnosis.

The AAUA Medical Centre also admits members of the public desiring competent medical and health services. The Centre exists to cater for both staff and students just as it is open to outsiders from the host and neighbouring communities.

The university also has a well-equipped sports gymnasium that is not only open to both staff and students but also to select members of the public. Stocked with modern and multi-million naira equipment, the gym boasts of treadmill, body massager, gym balls, exercise mats and inflatables, bells, and various weights.

The Director of Sports, Mr. Bolanle Babalola, said, “We have four-seater machines that are good for reducing body fat, toning muscles and helping to ensure good blood circulation.

There are machines that will massage your aching joints. We have ergometer machine. If you want to gain muscles, we

have machine for that. If you are watching your weight, we have machines for that.”

With all these transformations and more that Adekunle Ajasin University has brought to its immediate community, there is therefore no doubt that the Institution has changed the face of its host communities. Any wonder then that it has been kudos and applause all the way for the multiple-award winning institution?

The Olubaka and paramount ruler of Oka Akoko kingdom, Oba (Dr) Yusuff Adebori Adeleye, OON, agreed that Adekunle Ajasin University has brought tremendous positive changes to Akokoland. The first class monarch said, “Going down memory lane, you will see that Akungba has developed and grown rapidly in terms of economy since the siting of the university there.

Several new houses and hotels are springing up everywhere and the land appreciation is growing in leaps and bounds. Akungba has more or less become the centre of socio-economic development and the fastest growing economy in Akokoland today.

“Apart from Akungba, Oka-Akoko has benefitted. Many of the students and staff are staying in parts of my community here, especially in Iwaro. Some are staying in Ikare too. In fact, the institution has a hostel in Ikareland. Some students and staff are staying in Supare and as far away as Oba-Akoko. So, the multiplying effect is glaring across the entire Akokoland in terms of social and economic development. I’m of the firm belief that the university has brought a lot of development to Akungba in particular and Akokoland in general.”

Need we say more when the traditional ruler and custodian of the culture and tradition of the land has spoken?

Indeed, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, has brought tremendous and positive changes to the land and its people. One can therefore say with all boldness that AAUA has been a veritable change agent in Akokoland in particular and Ondo State in general. *Balogun writes from the Information, Protocol and Public Relations Unit of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Stop griping over Oloyede’s appointment, UNILORIN ASUU tells national exco

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NIVERSITY of Ilorin chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday told the union’s national executive council to stop griping over the appointment of Professor Ishaq Oloyede as the new registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

It also advised the apex body of the union to desist from further foisting its unpopular leadership on members if it wants to improve students’ academic excellence and members’ welfare.

“What the ASUU NEC is lamenting is its serial failure to foist unpopular leadership on the branch of UNILORIN,” it said, adding that “majority of our members had insisted (and are still insisting) that ASUU NEC will continue to fail woefully and sulk until it embraces the elementary democratic principles in the election of leaders.

“We advise the executive of the union to retrace its (steps) back to the dreams of our founding fathers – Mahmud Tukur, the late Festus Iyayi and Attahiru Jega – and embrace democratic norms and meritocracy.”

It said it considers the recent negative observation by ASUU-NEC, “as published in some sections of the media, on Professor Oloyede’s well-deserved appointment as baseless, reckless and illconceived.”

“It is yet another evidence of the meddlesomeness of a union (leadership) that has lost track of the laid down objectives of its cherished founding fathers. Otherwise, what kind of reasoning will produce such an outburst

over, has yielded positive result in terms of academic productivity, integrity and stable calendar in UNILORIN. “These have been widely acclaimed and appreciated

by Nigerians and non-Nige-

rians. This feat has become the envy and goal of many higher institutions in Nigeria. Professor Isiaq Oloyede’s achievements and antecedents in other areas are iconic, intimidating, as well as outstanding”.

From left, Efe Obiomah, Public Relations Manager, MultiChoice Nigeria; Yobo Christian Onyemaechi, winner of Cartoon Network Imagination Studio Art Competition (Story Category), 2016 and Uche RoselineAlisiobi, proprietress RosyLand School, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Lagos, during the presentation at the school’s premises on Monday.

Niger gov approves special school to promote teacher education Adelowo Oladipo - Minna NIGER State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, says he has approved the establishment of a special Senior Secondary School

NUC, COREN lauded for monitoring roles in tertiary institutions TERTIARY institutions in Nigeria would have become comatose, but for the monitoring processes by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and professional bodies such as the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).

The vice chancellor of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Professor Samuel Oye Bandele, made the remark during a visit to his office by the COREN accreditation team led by Mr Reuben Okeke.

The COREN team had been on accreditation visit to the Department of Computer Engineering in the Faculty of Education of the university.

Professor Bandele said the NUC and COREN should be appreciated by all and sundry for their roles in improving standards in Nigerian universities. He commended the COREN team and promised that all the observations they made in their report would be addressed.

He also promised to provide facilities for the engineering department to make

over a well and widely acknowledged appointment?,” it asked.

The union stressed further that the purging of UNILORIN of anarchy, academic idiocy and laziness, which the ASUU NEC is grieving

it one of the best in Nigerian universities.

Earlier, the leader of the team, Okeke, explained that they were in the university to conduct an impartial assessment of the department.

The visit, he said, included looking at the syllabus, the curriculum, staff and student ratio. He then expressed appreciation for the co-operation the team received from the university, staff and students of the department.

in each of the three senatorial zones of the state for 9th grade pupils who want to make teaching a career.

Niger State consists of Niger East, Niger North and Niger South senatorial districts.

The governor disclosed this in Minna, the state capital, during an interactive session with the Committee on Revival of Teacher Education in Niger State, which took place at the Government House, Minna.

The committee is headed

by Hajiya Dije Bala.

Governor Sani Bello said the three special Senior Secondary Schools would be for graduates of junior secondary schools who have passion for teaching and are ready to pursue their ambi-

tion.

The special schools, to be fashioned after the Nigerian Military School (NMS), Zaria, will produce candidates for both college of education and faculty of education of any university of choice of the students.

“Teaching is a career you must be passionate about.

The profession should not be seen as a last resort for jobless people. This special school will be built basically for those that have passion for teaching.

We catch them young and we motivate them, prepare them and make them proud professionals.

“Like the NMS where all students, except very few, are prepared for career in the military, as almost all

Firm seeks partnership with UNILORIN to tackle unemployment THE chief executive of Abbacon Investments Limited, Mr Benson BabatundeAyetoro, has expressed the readiness of the company to collaborate with the University of Ilorin to tackle the challenges of youth unemployment and food insecurity in the country.

MrAyetoro stated this recently when he led some Chinese investors to a meeting with the university management to finalise agreement between the university and Abbacon In-

vestments Limited.

Other members of the Abbacom delegation, who are specialists in the production of farm seedlings and agricultural equipment in China, included Messrs Guan Gshun, Peter Wang and Tian Nua. MrAyetoro noted that his interests were born out of the desire to genuinely and speedily empower youths in the country. He said that his company was ready to collaborate with UNILORIN to facilitate transfer

of knowledge and technology, especially in the areas of agriculture and development of agricultural infrastructure.

This, according to him, would result in higher output, improved productivity, and more money to Nigeria.

The Abbacon team thereafter presented a short documentary film showcasing the agricultural value chain and operations carried out by the potential investors in China.

the products of the school move to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), the students of this special school will be psychologically prepared for the teaching profession while they also prepare for their West African Examinations Council and National Examination Council examinations.

“To this end, competitive entrance examination will be conducted for JSS III pupils who have passion for teaching. The best two from each of the 274 wards will be admitted to the school.

At the completion of their studies, they can go back and teach in their communities,” the governor stated.

Earlier, the chairperson of the committee, Hajiya Dije Bala, said the committee recommended the establishment of a Teachers Development Institute to conduct regular training and retraining of teachers as well as those in other professions but want to take teaching as a career.

The institute, she explained further, will provide a platform for qualified teachers to have refresher course that will update them in modern teaching methodology and practice.

She, however, lamented public perception of teaching profession and urged all levels of government to ensure an enhanced and we’ll packaged welfare for teachers.

Government alone cannot fund varsities

—LASU VC

Naza Okoli - Lagos THE vice chancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU), Professor ’Lanre Fagbohun, has called for a greater collaboration between institutions of higher learning and the larger society.

While describing the relationship between both sides as symbiotic, Fagbohun noted that an investment in higher education is a critical step towards securing the future.

While speaking last week at the maiden lecture of the university’s Directorate of Advancement (LASUDA), Fagbohun said the task of funding tertiary institutions should not be left for the government alone.

“This university is yours,” he said. “Government alone cannot fund the university. That is why we established this advancement office (LASUDA). It was set up to generate fund for the university. If we don’t have the funds to train our children, they will not become what we want them to be. They are supposed to be competing with their counterparts from Harvard and Yale, and the facilities are not the same.”

While delivering the lecture entitled ‘New Foreign Exchange Policy: Myths and Implications’, Mr Henry OlujimiBoyo, an economist and columnist, called for an urgent “restructuring” of Nigeria’s monetary framework.

“In truth, Vision 20:2020 will continue to be a mirage for as long as we retain the current poisonous monetary payment system,” he added.

The director of the newly established LASUDA, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, had during the official launch of the unit, the previous week, said LASUDA was inaugurated to secure philanthropic support for the university, formulate strategies for attracting donations, coordinate the university’s endowment and fundraising activities and interface with the alumni association.

“Students are the ultimate beneficiaries of these schemes, as this will enable the university to facilitate endowment payment to scholars, indigent students and sportsmen.

Facilities on campus will also be upgraded to stateof-the-art status. The benefits clearly outweigh the financial cost on the students,” she said.

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education

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Egypt ready to assist Kano through deployment of Islamic teachers Kola Oyelere-Kano

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HE out-going Egyptian ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Ashraf Salam has said that his country is willing to deploy teachers to assist in strengthening Islamic educational institutions in Kano, if the state government desires.

He stated this during his farewell visit to Kano State Governor, Dr bdullahi Umar Ganduje, According to him, Egypt has a lot to offer Nigeria, particularly Kano. We want to see how we can help you in manpower development, deployment of teachers and engineers as well as collaboration in the field of agriculture.

He therefore disclosed that Egyptian Cultural Centre in Kano would be upgraded and reorganised as part of efforts to improve Nigeria - Egypt relation, saying that the planned upgrade would make the center bigger and more efficient.

Ambassador Salama, therefore, explained that the Egyptian Cultural Center in Kano has played a proactive role in cementing the long existing relations between citizens of his country and Nigerians,

especially Kano people.

Mr Salama described his four-year tenure in Nigeria as eventful, noting that this is because he cherishes the rich culture and civilization of Kano.

He said he would miss Nigeria a lot, a country which he now regards as a second home.

In his remarks, Governor

Abdullahi Umar Ganduje expressed happiness that the Egyptian Cultural Centre would be revived for greater services to Nigerians and Egyptians residing in the country.

He noted that both countries have a long and strong history of relationship, common interests and similar challenges noting

that closer ties between the two entities would yield a lot of economic and social benefits.

Governor Ganduje added that at the moment, many students from Kano on government scholarship are pursuing degree programmes and post graduate courses in Egypt, pointing out that

this has gone a long way in consolidating the bilateral relationship.

“Our government would look at other areas where we can collaborate with your country and bring development to our people”, the governor maintained, wishing the envoy Allah’s guidance as he assumes his new posting.

Acting Vice Chancellor Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Professor Anthony Elujoba,flanked from left by Dean Faculty of Agriculture/Chairman Committee of Deans, OAU, Ile-Ife, Professor A.A. Amusan, President, Alumni Association, 1991 set, Mr Henry Ade Ojuoko and Welfare Officer, 1991 set Alumni Association, Ms Teju Olatawura, commissioning the lecture theaters of Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, renovated/refurbished by the 1991 graduating set of the Faculty, recently.

LASU launches advancement scheme, rolls out programmes Naza Okoli - Lagos THE Directorate of Advancement, Lagos State University (LASU), has outlined a series of programmes and strategic schemes to facilitate the university’s renewed drive towards endowment and advancement.

Addressing newsmen, the director of the newly established directorate, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, enumerated the programmes that her office has in the pipeline.

Part of the directorate’s planned programmes and schemes includes an annual colloquium which aims at celebrating and encouraging past and present benefactors of the university.

“We’ll also have a Hall of Fame, an avenue to showcase benefactors of the university through display on electronic scroll at the Senate Building. Categories of the Hall of Fame range from Bronze to Platinum, depending on the amount

of donation,” Olatunji-Bello said.

Meanwhile, “the directorate has held its first Advancement Lecture at the university’s main auditorium. Dr Henry Olujimi Boyo, a renowned economist and a columnist with Punch Newspapers has been carefully selected to deliver a lecture on the topic ‘New Foreign Exchange Policy: Myths and Implications’,” Olatunji-Bello said.

According to her, the directorate has secured the support of the vice chancellor to start the ‘Staff Check-Off Scheme/ Monthly Pay-Roll Contribution’, a scheme through which staff members will voluntarily donate certain parts of their monthly pay as they each can afford.

In the same vein, students will be required to contribute through the Endowment Fee, which will be charged on an annual basis.

While allaying worries that adding to the financial obligations of students

may not be favourable, Olatunji-Bello said “Students are the ultimate beneficiaries of these schemes, as this will enable the uni-

versity to facilitate endowment payment to scholars, indigent students and sportsmen.

“Facilities on campus

will also be upgraded to state-of-the-art status. The benefits clearly outweigh the financial cost on the students.”

Jafad College of Health Technology berths in Oru-Ijebu IN order to ensure academic excellence in Health Technology and raise it to an international standard in Nigeria, a privately owned college named Jafad College of Health Technology has been established in Oru-ijebu, Ogun State.

Speaking with journalists at a press cconference last weekend, Mr Gbenga Awolowo the coordinator of the institution, disclosed that the goal of the management of the college owned by US-based Nigerian couple, Mr and Mrs Durojaiye, is “to blend the strong academic innovations obtainable overseas with the rich Nigerian academic culture to produce the best set of

scientists with good morals.”

He said it was the decision of the management to start with the College of Health Technology and later introduce the School of Nursing, adding that the institution which is located at the former Refugee Camp, Oru-Ijebu has facilities to cater for the needs of students, including well-equiped laboratory and imported equipment that would make the college ready to compete with other institutions.

He said other facilities that are obtainable inlude, administrative block, with house the Provost office Reception, Registrar office, functioning School Clinic,

Laboratory buldings Lecture theatres Mosque, female and male hostels, Lecturer’s residence, Library, ICT Centre, Toilet facilities and dinning hall to mentions of few..

Mr Awolowo explained that the institution is starting off with about 2,000 students and that all academic staff, numbering about 40 have been employed. He disclosed that the school would also arrange trainning programme on modern method of teaching and provision of science teaching aids in order for them to practise what hass been taught.

The institution, he said, would take off next month.

Sapele council boss, scribe lauded for transforming education sector Ebenezer Adurokiya Warri T he member representing the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Sapele constituency, Delta State, Comrade Felix Igho Iweta has commended Mr Ejaife Omizu Odebala and Mrs Omamerhi Agbana for transforming the education sector in the area since assumption of office.

Comrade Iweta, who fielded questions from journalists in Sapele, said since Chief Odebala assumed the mantle of leadership as chairman, he had carefully made a good choice of an education secretary to the council in Mrs Agbana who has handled education-related issues well in such a manner that not only pupils are much more willing to learn, but the workforce is now desirous to teach for more hours in the class rooms because of her words of encouragement.

He commended Agbana for using her wealth of experience and humility to turn around the education sector in the area to a greater standard.

He said her ingenuity has led to smooth academic sessions, system, and a cordial working relationship among staff and management.

Iweta added that Mrs Agbana, a trained lawyer, attends to all teachers’plights accordingly as they come, making the public schools in the area at an advantage over private ones.

According to him, children in public schools now come out best in all external examinations due to the improvement in learning she brought about.

He also commended the head of personnel management (HPM) of the council, Mr Frank Okuejubola including the chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) in the area, Comrade Agboro Ufuoma for their immense contributions towards the growth of education in Sapele Local Government area.

He explained that the HPM’s wealth of experience and his cordial working relationship among teachers, management, staff and secretary of local government have also improved learning in the area.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016 Editor: Sade Oguntola sadeboguntola@yahoo.com 0805 506 9260

health

Maintaining mental health during economic downturn

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BOUT a month ago, Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, while addressing the senate stated that the country is technically in recession. Before this declaration however, it is an open secret that majority of Nigerians have been literally living from hand to mouth, finding it really hard to meet their varying financial obligations.

The Nigerian economy in recent times has gone from bad to worse and this is indicated in the increased rate of inflation as prices of goods and commodities continually sky rocket. Also, many Nigerians in the past few months have lost their jobs as a result of downsizing and retrenchments to keep companies afloat, resulting into an increase in the rate of unemployment in the country.

Relationship between recession and mental health Consultant Psychiatrist and Head of Clinical Services at Synapse Services, Lagos Branch, Dr Otefe Edebi, while establishing a relationship between the economic recession and mental health of Nigerians stated that the recession has led to threats and realities of losing jobs while also lowering purchasing capacity of several Nigerians.

“Threat and loss events have been established to be associated with anxiety and depression respectively. Periods of recession have also been associated with increase in alcohol and drug abuse in order to cope with the stress. Sometimes such periods have been associated with increased rates of suicide.”

Edebi added that what Nigerians are experiencing today is actually an escalation of an already existing situation. “The reduction in purchasing capacity for many can lead to a feeling of hopelessness, helplessness and their antecedent psychological consequences.”

The Psychiatrist also explained that mental illnesses are generally not restricted to any group of persons based on gender, age, race or social status. However, researches have shown that some people may be at higher risk of mental disorders due to unfavourable social, environmental and economic circumstances, like what obtains in Nigeria as this recession thickens.

Nigeria may be at the brink of increased cases of mental illness Another mental health expert,

VERA ONANA writes on the impact of recession on the mental health of Nigerians and how it can be combated.

Senior Lecturer, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Psychologist at the Department of Mental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University/Teaching Hospitals Complex, Dr Boladale Mapayi, also declared that based on the current recession, the nation may be at a brink of an increase in cases of mental illnesses, instability and suicide.

“If there is an increase in stressors associated with mental disorders, then more vulnerable people will fall ill and more people living with mental illnesses will

function less adequately. Unfortunately, we might not have evidence to document this increase because our record keeping system is inadequate,” she said.

Mapayi stated that unfortunately in Nigeria, the law still maintains within it attempted suicide as a crime that is punishable by imprisonment, hence, the abysmal record for suicide.

While linking cases of mental disorders to the current state of the economy, the psychiatrist said: “There is a definite relationship between economic recession

Social welfare and other policy measures to help people through the recession will help keep an optimal mental health.

SEX, SEXUALITY&YOUR HEALTH

Menopause and your emotions Page 26

and people’s mental health and this finding is supported by global literature but the relationship is more indirect.”

“According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), poverty is the leading factor associated with ill health (including mental health). Poverty goes hand in hand with unemployment/ underemployment, harsh living conditions, hopelessness, increased stress levels which inadvertently leads some people to increased use of psychoactive substances as a maladaptive coping mechanism and an increase in violence. All these factors will lead to an increase in the prevalence of mental disorders, especially depression, suicidal behaviour and psychoactive substance abuse,” she emphasised.

However, Mapayi noted that though inflation and retrenchment have since escalated, there may not be available statistics to indicate a relative upsurge

NATURAL HEALTH

Mistletoe tea good immune booster, but...

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of cases of mental illness in the country. “As noted earlier, our record keeping system is still very inadequate to capture any difference.

We must also remember that about 70 per cent of people living with mental illnesses in Nigeria do not receive evidencebased care because of the stigma associated with these disorders, also because of preconceived cultural and religious notions of the cause of mental disorders.

So, getting a base line assessment of prevailing burden is difficult enough and the difference by projection is much more so.”

She added however that preliminary studies indicate that suicidal behaviour is prevalent in Nigeria, even much so among the young and is likely to get worse given the prevailing situation.

Experts advise on tackling recession-induced mental illnesses On combating recession induced mental illnesses and for Nigerians to keep sane under the difficult economic realities, Edebi, who lauded the ability of Nigerians to find humour in almost every situation, declared suggested that people should become more aware of their personal stressors and learn to address them in healthier ways.

He urged Nigerians to get better informed about emotional health and see a professional if the need arises.

Mapayi encouraged individuals to restructure their lives with cognisance to the existing recession by cutting expenses, reducing unnecessary spending but ensuring also to make space and time for rest and leisure to avoid burn out.

The psychiatrist advised people to stay away from psychoactive substances, stating that though they give temporary relief, they have more adverse effects.

She also charged Nigerians to take care of their emotional health, smile, ventilate, use your social networks, ask for help but if all else fails, visit the nearest mental health professional.

The society also has an integral role to play in this Mapayi asserted.

“Social welfare and other policy measures to help people through the recession will help keep an optimal mental health; help people to retain jobs; support families that are struggling with debt relief; and communicate to people on efforts being made to reverse recession.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Dr. Ben Ajayi 0805 400 5447

you-and-eye@gmail.com

The most modern eye clinic in the world

I

arrived in Utopia after a 16-hour nonstop flight from New Orlando feeling unbelievably fresh. During the flight, I had slept, watched videos and even used the internet. I would have made phone calls but for the cost which was a bit prohibitive. In any case, I had received emails through my notebook and replied as if I was in my office.

What else was left for me to say? Now I was looking forward to the most traveller friendly international airport in the world.

I wasn’t disappointed as I passed through the fastest, most pleasant and most friendly immigration desk I have ever encountered in any country. I have ever visited.

Even though this was my second visit to Utopia, I saw considerable improvement since my last visit.

I was held spellbound as I went through identification and immigration formalities all within two minutes. About 15 minutes later, I was in the comfort of my hotel room. I arrived to find my luggage already delivered and neatly stacked in the appropriate luggage compartment of my suite. It was an overwhelming experience.

The words of the pilot came rushing to my ears again, “You are one of the last set of passengers to fly in this aircraft to Utopia.

“From the next excursion, this time next month, we shall be flying in a new type

of aircraft called the Jet-2Space liner.”

The journey from Utopia to New Orlando will take less than one hour. I had asked through the pilot communication module how this would be achieved. His reply was, “You wait and see.” I simply thought he was bluffing! The Concorde had been scrapped and to my knowledge nothing new had been developed to take its place.

Maybe I was wrong! I would take his advice and wait. After all one month was only 30 days away!

The following day, I decided to visit my

I couldn’t help but thank God for giving me eyes to see and appreciate the beauty of nature and how it can be manipulated to create a most exquisite environment

your mental

colleague who had an eye clinic in the city.

It was just three blocks away from my hotel. I decided to walk. I saw the beauty of technology in full display. What a marvel to behold! I couldn’t help but thank God for giving me eyes to see and appreciate the beauty of nature and how it can be manipulated to create a most exquisite environment. Have you been to Paradise before?

This is Paradise!

As I got to the entrance of my friend’s eye clinic, “Come in Dr. Ben,” a voice from nowhere commanded and the door swung open. I knew the secret, Iris recognition system at work again! There were no patients in sight and I ask the receptionist, “Where are the patients?

My friend told me he ran a very busy clinic, seeing about 50 patients a day. Today is supposed to be his very busy day.” A door swung open, “Good morning Ben. Come inside and let me show you the secrets and beauty of technology in my clinic,” my friend, Dr. Klee said cheerfully, announcing himself. We exchanged pleasantries.

I wanted to have a feel of some of the imposing gadgets in his office so I asked, “May I have a comprehensive eye examination,” He took me to the Computobiometer and asked me to look into it with both eyes. I had hardly spent two seconds staring down this awesome gadget when I heard the hissing sound of a printer.

health you &

He reached out for the long printout and handed it to me. It bore my name and a lot more surprises! My visual acuity, corneal measurements; refraction with the corrections needed for distance and near were displayed.

Also, on display were anterior chamber depth and intraocular pressure measurements, pupil size, and colour photograph of the inner chamber of my eyes. Below, I could read the interpretation of the comprehensive examination. “Ben’s eyes are essentially normal.

However, he needs to have a pair of glasses for both distance and near. Please, press this button if you want the glasses dispensed. I did. I was directed by a voice prompt to the frame section. I chose a pair of frame and punched another button.

In less than five minutes, I collected my brand new pair of glasses. I looked at my watch. From the beginning to the end, the whole process took less than seven minutes! No wonder the reception was empty.

The waiting time was zero! To cap it all, Dr. Klee informed me that the records of all findings had been stored electronically and could be accessed anywhere in the world.

“Including Nigeria?” I asked. “Yes,” he replied if you have 24-hour electricity to run the system. My face fell! I asked for my bill.

“It has been debited to your credit card,” he replied.

With: Jibril Abdulmalik (Consultant Psychiatrist) jabdulmalik@gmail.com

Suicide: A preventable human tragedy (Part 2) LAST week, we discussed the increasing awareness about suicide and the risk factors that may lead some individuals to consider death as the best outcome in their circumstances. Chief among these factors was depression; with other risk factors including negative life events such as financial or job losses, loneliness, mental illness, chronic physical illness, alcohol and drug abuse, male, and social pressure.

We also covered the significant emotional turmoil that family and close friends/colleagues of individuals who have committed suicide, often go through. Emotions such as feelings of guilt, shame and embarrassment, as well as feelings of not having done enough are very common. Thus, they need our support, understanding and empathy, rather than being further blamed or scorned – for an event that probably took them by surprise and have left them devastated too. This week, we will be considering suicide prevention.

Suicide Prevention The very first step towards suicide prevention is identifying the warning signs of suicidal behavior. Statistics show that 80 per cent of those who eventually commit suicide would have given some signs of their intentions before they eventually carry it out. These signs include expressions such as “I am not good enough”, “I simply can’t cope” and “Everyone will be better off without me”.

Other signs may include expressing hopelessness, giving out valuables or talking about what to do if they are no longer alive, loss of interest in planning for the future, social with-

drawal and isolation, turning to drugs and alcohol to drown sorrows, history of impulsiveness or previous suicide attempt. Access to means should also be a source of concern – such as owning a gun. When several of these signs are present in an individual, the risk of suicidal behavior is high.

What should we do if we recognise these warning signs? i). Individuals: At the individual level, if you recognise these signs and suspect the individual is at risk, do not dismiss your suspicions. Do not leave them alone, but ensure someone is with them at all times. Talk to them about your worries about them, but be ready to listen to them rather than you giving lengthy sermons and admonitions. Do not show alarm or exhibit judgmental behaviour.

Ask specific questions to find out if they are actively planning to do something and if they have any plans. Presence of specific planning is an indication of serious intent and should instantly be a red flag to take action. Even if you cannot do all of the above steps, simply recognising that the person is going through emotional pain and providing a listening ear, is quite helpful.

It is also important not to agree that you will keep it a secret. Please, ensure that you are firm about stating that they need help urgently and you will do all in your power to ensure that they get the help they need. Reassure them that there is no need to be ashamed or embarrassed, as it is not a sign of weakness or cowardice.

Lastly, please, go the extra mile to ensure

they get professional evaluation from a qualified mental health professional (psychiatrist or clinical psychologist). Do not limit your assistance to organising spiritual support and prayers alone. This will ensure they are helped to navigate through the maze of emotional pain they are going through, and receive adequate treatment for any underlying medical condition such as depression. ii). Community: At the community and public level, public awareness and education to understand suicide and other mental health challenges as well reducing the pervasive stigma associated with it, should be helpful. This should lead to an increase in help-seeking behaviour and the utilisation of mental health care services, which are readily available in most teaching hospitals as well as the Neuropsychiatric Hospitals.

It is an error to imagine that it is only people who are completely ‘mad’ that needs to see a mental health professional. Improved access and availability of mental health professionals in all health care facilities should be a government priority iii). Media: The media also has an important role to play in suicide prevention. Glamourising details should be avoided as much as possible. While it is necessarily important news, such sad occurrences also provide an important avenue to immediately pass across information to those who may be similarly going through life difficulties. Such messages should convey the fact that they may be depressed and with professional help, they can recover and turn things around in their life. The privacy of

the family members should also be protected, while also recommending that they should be offered support and encouragement. iv). Schools: The school environment should also be made conducive, and free of bullying and other unhealthy peer pressure behaviours. It is also helpful for schools to appreciate how devastating it can be for young persons to be publicly humiliated and shamed-- especially for those already struggling with low self-esteem problems.

While some individuals can cope and endure such experiences, others may be vulnerable and especially deserving of protection. Schools should ensure a mentally healthy and promoting environment for all the students to flourish, learn and develop – regardless of their individual temperaments or dispositions. vi). Social Support Network: Lastly, having a support network such as well-integrated neighbourhoods, with friendly and caring neighbours; religious support groups; close circle of friends and colleagues at work; and involvement in social activities such as sports are also helpful and protective.

In conclusion, your mental health is in your hands. Let us all watch out for our emotional well being, as well as that of everyone we interact with at home, in the neighbourhood and at work. Times are difficult and frustrations are rife, but as human beings, everyone appreciates a helping hand when they are down. Let us cultivate the habit of being there for each other – thus promoting our mental health and reducing the tendencies towards suicidal behaviour.

Thursday, 25 August, 2016 25 healthnews stakeholders Yellow Fever : Health workers urge FG on strengthened surveillance NGO, advocate separate Gbemi Solaja - Lagos

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EALTH workers are seeking a mass campaign and vaccination process amid imminent threat of yellow fever.

According to President, Nigerian Academy of Science, Professor Oyewale Tomori, being the only country in West Africa that is yet to conduct a preventive mass campaign and vaccination across the country, serious danger looms for the country should there be a breakout of the disease.

Tomori who noted that a large number of people in the country were suceptible, stressed that government at all levels must strengthen survellance.

According to him, no case should become an epidemic if promptly addressed.

“It is very essential and with early detection in good place, good laboratories and an effective awareness campaign,” he said.

He, however, disclosed that the health sector was launching an immediate response to stretch surveillance and immunisation efforts.

According to him, the emergency campaign aims to reach 1.3 million children in the surrounding areas and five other vaccination campaigns are be-

ing planned for later in the month.

“Every year, we have about five to seven million children born in this country. If we dont vaccinate the children, they become the vulnerable adults.”

According to him, about 3.8 million children need to be immunised yearly.

This means about 15 million in the next 15 years.

In ansother five years, we are looking at a particular number of people that are susceptible to the disease.

He also added that countries like sGambia overcame the threat of yellow fever with mass campaign and vaccination.

In his own view, Managing Director, May and Baker Nigeria Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okafor reiterated the need

for policies and mechanism that would enable the private sector to come into the vaccine production.

He added that local production of vaccines was a fundermental public health security issue which the present administration must take seriously Okafor stated that the private sector should

be allowed to go ahead with the production while government should put in place regulations.

He said: “The government eyes more than 95 per cent of vaccines that are used in the country with no local capacity”, stressing the need for private sector involvement and capacity building.

From left, Programme Director of Naija FM, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi; Finance Director of Megaletrics Ltd , Okwui Ubosi; Dr. Pamela Ajayi, Managing Director of PathCare Laboratories?; and The Sole Administrator of Alimosho LCDA , Hon. Ganiu Quadri, at the 2016 Doctors On Air Medical Mission held over the weekend in Alimosho LCDA, Akowonjo, Lagos.

PCN seals up 46 pharmacies, 213 patent medicine stores in Lagos

by Sade Oguntola

THE Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has sealed off 46 pharmacies and 213 patent medicine stores in Lagos State for non-compliance with operational standards.

The Deputy Director and Head of Enforcement of the council in Abuja, Stephen Esumobi, made this known during a press conference in Lagos at the end of its one week monitoring exercise.

Esumobi said the 259 medicine shops closed down were among the 382 premises visited to assess their compliance to operational standards.

In addition, he said that another 28 premises were issued compliance directives for offences such as poor sanitary conditions, poor documentation and failure to display licences.

The medicine shops, he said, were closed for various offences including operating without registration with PCN, failure to renew premises licence, dispensing ethical products without the supervision of a pharmacist.

According to Esumobi, “There is the possibility

of drug-drug interactions, which could also result to death. That is why we are so hard on non pharmacists who sell ethical products.

“What we observed in many parts of Lagos is that so many premises commence operations without fulfilling minimum requirements. Some of these premises store products in environments where the quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products cannot be guaranteed thus exposing the public to danger.

“There are some of these products that once exposed to unfavourable storage conditions, they transform to other products; they become toxic.

“At Obalende, we saw that people have very potent drugs in boxes, exposing them to the sun and are selling to members of the public. Most of them can’t even pronounce the names of these drugs.”

The exercise, which is not punitive, but was part of efforts to reverse this ugly situation, he said, was also to strengthen the enforcement operations of PCN state and zonal offices across the country.

“We are not out to de-

stroy anybody’s business; all we are trying to do is to encourage them to do the right thing to enhance public safety and public health,” he said.

In conjunction with other bodies like NAFDAC, Esumobi said PCN

was also working to eradicate medicine hawking on Nigerian roads.

He advised members of the public to purchase their medicines from licensed pharmacies and simple household remedies from licensed patent

and propriety medicines vendor shops.

Those intending to start pharmaceutical business, he urged to get in touch with the PCN head office or any of its state and zonal offices for proper guidance.

budget allocation for family planning

In a bid to improve the living condition of the less privileged in the country, a call has gone to governments at all levels to dedicate a separate budget allocation for family planning.

Speaking at the Advocacy Network of Nigeria (ANN), interactive session with stakeholders in Ibadan, the convener of the session, Sheikh Safadeen Busari maintain a separate allocation for family planningwas imperative to improves access tofamily planning services.

Busari called on stakeholders to prevail on those at the helm of affairs to support family planning advocacy as he urged Nigerians to embrace the campaign saying that it would help to reduce problems being encountered by many Nigerians.

In her own contribution, the Team Leader of Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI), Mrs. Stella Akinso, maintained that governments owe it to the people to make necessary consumable available to support foreign partners who are regulating funding of family planning in the country.

Also speaking at the forum, Dr. Monday Famakin called for the upgrade of health facilities, and increase in service providers to enhance service delivery across the state.

On her own part, Dr. Oyedunni Arulogun urged government to subsidise family planning instruments, drugs and consumables in a bid to allow the less privileged who may not be able to afford it have access to it.

Level of wellness in Nigerian prisons poor — Study

By Sade Oguntola NIGERIAN prison environment is poor and inimical to its inmates’ total wellness and reformation, a study has said.

The study was presented at the 11th annual scientific conference of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.

In the study, experts investigated the overall wellbeing of inmates in two prisons in North Central Nigeria, and found wellbeing experience was better in Bida minimum security prison by 40 to 60 per cent compared to Jos maximum security prison.

The study which took into consideration how the prison’s environment and characteristics of the inmates themselves affect their overall well being,

found lack of meaningful work or activity and social support as major factors contributing to their poor wellness.

The study’s participants were male, mostly above 35 years of age and all filled a socio-demographic questionnaire and a well being measure called PERMA scale. The scale measures dimensions of wellbeing such as positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning and life accomplishment.

Dr Tajudeen Abiola, a consultant psychiatrist, Federal Neuropsychiatric, Hospital. Kaduna, while presenting the findings of the study done in collaboration with Dr Aisha Armiyau and Dr Ladapo Adepoju described social support as a requirement for wellness and strength to move on in

life.

According to him, when this is lacking, it actually makes the person not to be healthy.

“The support they need to buffer the suffering they are going though is not available and thus cope less well,” he declared.

According to him, the environment in the Jos maximum security prison does not allow for more interactions and as such further exposes its inmates to more mental health issues.

“The study is showing that when there is no meaningful relationship, reformation cannot take place. Incarceration for long robs them of skills to live a normal life. When the person is released to go home, such cannot cope.

“Life in prison is regi-

mented; the only thing they had learnt is how to adjust to living the life of incarceration and how to be more disconnected from others.

“Reformation is not solely about teaching them skills while they serve their jail sentence and then go back to the community.

It is about helping them learn skills or asset that will help them.

“These assets help everyone, even those not in prison to live, survive and thrive in their environment. If the asset can be included in the packages for inmates, it will improve their reformative process.’’

Previous studies had put levels of wellness in Nigeria’s prison at between 40 and 50 per cent as compared to as low as 7 per cent in the general population.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Mistletoe tea good immune booster, but...

By Sade Oguntola GRANTED many people attest that mistletoe tea helps with control of blood pressure. Others drink the tea to improve blood circulation and prevent or manage stroke.

Leaves of mistletoe no doubt are medicinal and support good health.

Now, experts in a new study say that regular intake of mistletoe tea at high doses can help to boost body’s immunity against many infections such as flu but warned that its intake should be in moderation. Mistletoe is known as Afomo in Yoruba, Awuruse in Ibo and Bokondoro in Hausa.

In the study, experts compare the effects of mistletoe harvested from three different plants (Coffee, kola and cocoa) on blood samples of albino rats. The rats had taken extracts of the mistletoe for 14 days.

They reported an increase in the White blood count (WBC) in the animals, suggesting that mistletoe extract contains agents that could stimulate the production of leucocytes and so could serve as immune booster.

Immune boosters are usually recommended to strengthen and harmonise degenerative body systems and assist the immune system to fight invading agents such as bacteria and viruses.

However, they said findings of the study indicate the need to be cautious in its administration at high doses to prevent the risk of anaemia.

The extract of the leaves of mistletoe has been used for centuries in traditional medicine in many parts of the world. In some

Mistletoe on an ecucalptus tree. parts of Africa, the plant is used both in the traditional and complementary management of many diseases.

In Nigeria, the extract of the leaves of mistletoe is used in for the treatment of several ailments including hypertension; improve cardio-vascular functions; as well as the prevention and management of stroke.

A number of medicinal benefits such as cancer prevention, immune booster and antimicrobial effects have been reported for mistletoes. In fact, clinical studies reported changes in immune parameters in humans during and after mistletoe application.

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that grows as a hanging bush on branches of trees such as pear, coffee, kola, cocoa and chestnut to

Menopause is a normal part of aging

longer have to worry about having periods or using birth control.

In fact, many women confirm that they are happier after menopause.

For other women, though, the rapid hormone fluctuations and the physical changes that are associated with menopause can lead to mood swings, anxiety, irritability, feelings of sadness, difficulties with memory and concentration,

health

name a few.

According to the Director, Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories, St. Benedict Monastery, Ewu, Edo State, Revd Father Anslem Adodo, the mistletoe on guava, kolanut, cocoa and trees of the citrus family are the most potent kinds of mistletoe.

For instance, Revd Father Adodo said that for the treatments of cancer, the mistletoe of guava is the best because it contains the highest concentration of lectins, a kind of protein that science has discovered to destroy cancerous tumours and cells.

In addition, he said based on his practical experience, for the treatment of hypertension, nervousness and insomnia, mistletoe on kolanut and the citrus trees is best while the mistletoe on cocoa is best for diabetes.

This study was entitled “Comparative Study on the Effects of Aqueous Extracts of Viscum album (mistletoe) from three host Plants on Hematological Parameters in Albino Rats”.

It involved Matthew Ojezele of the Department of Biochemistry, Lead City University, in conjunction with Olusola Ladokun and Oluwatosin Arojojoye. It was documented in the 2015 edition of the journal, African Health Science.

For this study, the researchers used 65 healthy male Wistar albino rats weighing between 150g and 200g. The animals were divided into 12 test groups of five rats each.

The 13th group served as control.

Each sub-division was administered increasing doses of extracts of mistletoe from

Menopause and your emotions FOR some women, menopause is a welcome relief, but for others it can set off a variety of emotions, even depression.

In some women, menopause is associated with a variety of emotions, both positive and negative emotions.

At about menopause, some women experience exhilaration, relief, and release, since they no

natural

and even depression. Women have an increased risk of developing significant depressive symptoms after they enter menopause, even if they don’t have a history of depression.

We have all heard some of the classical portrayal of the menopausal women being moody, angry, and irritable. But after experiencing such distressing menopause symptoms as hot flashes, sleep disorders, and physical changes it is no wonder menopausal women can feel on edge.

The good news is that this won’t last forever.

Hormonal changes during menopause: Hormonal fluctuations are related to menopause.

Oestrogen – is the little hormone that makes a big difference. This hormone does not just control the female reproductive system; it also plays a part in the digestive system, skeletal system, nervous system, muscular system, and circulatory system. In addition, oestrogen affects the production of testosterone and progesterone.

Because of all of these roles and responsibilities, your entire body is thrown into the trials of menopause, not just the reproductive organs.

In addition to the many physical changes women suffer during menopause, emotional

different host plants. The rats in the test groups B, C, D and E were administered 400, 800, 1600 and 3200mg/kg body weight of the extracts respectively.

On the 15th day, blood samples were collected for testing. The extract caused reductions in Packed cell volume (PCV) and red blood cell count (RBC). An increase in white blood cell (WBC) was observed in rats following the administration of the extract.

According to them, “This reduction in haemoglobin concentration was concentration dependent and statistically significant in rats administered mistletoe from coffee at doses of 1600mg/kg and 3200mg/kg respectively. This implies that mistletoe from cocoa and coffee could disrupt haemoglobin production at high doses.”

Given the reductions in packed cell volume (PCV) and red blood cell (RBC) in rats administered mistletoe from the three host plants, they suggested that the extract when used at high doses and over a long period can suppress the body’s ability to manufacture blood and break down red blood cells.

They declared, “These results suggest that chronic administration of mistletoe extract may induce some level of anaemia.

It is therefore advisable that the use of this extract in herbal medicine should be with some cautious measures to avoid the risk of anaemia in patients treated with the extract.”

sex,sexuality

&your health With Monica Taiwo

strictly adult teenagers, adult & geriatric sexual well being

08187754992 (sms only) taiwomonica@gmail.com changes are also common. Read on to the next section to discover what emotional disorders during menopause are.

Emotional changes during menopause Many people associate emotional changes with menopause, more often they are easy to identify, but some women consider them as signs and symptoms of depression, although there are other symptoms related to emotional changes during menopause.

Mood swings explained Oestrogen, among its many jobs, increases the synthesis of serotonin in the brain, the chemical that works to regulate your mood. When you have extremely low levels of oestrogen, you could also be suffering a serotonin deficit as a result. If you suffer from hot flashes, night sweats, and the sleeplessness that they can cause, this only contributes to your bad moods.

Depression The direct effect of oestrogen on serotonin partially explains why menopausal women are prone to depression in addition

to mood swings. Also, researchers believe that cortisol, the stress hormone, may intensify depression. Oestrogen is undeniably linked to this hormone as well. When oestrogen levels are low, cortisol production goes into overdrive, resulting in high levels of it in the body.

Anxiety Like serotonin, the brain chemicals norepinephrine, dopamine, and melatonin play a part in your emotional well-being and are stimulated by oestrogen. An imbalance in these chemicals leads to anxiety, which causes people to feel like they are constantly unraveling. Anxiety also spurs panic attacks, or periodic episodes that manifest themselves in chest pains, accelerated breathing, hot flashes, and potentially even thoughts of imminent death.

Women are much more likely to experience emotional disorders than men, and this is due in part to the effects of fluctuating hormones and hormonal imbalance in the body.

Additional Report: WomensHealth

27

Thursday, 25 August, 2016 Taiwo Adisa - 08072000046 Group Politics Editor tai_adis@yahoo.com

The political atmosphere in Edo State is charged ahead of governorship election slated for September 10. About 14 days to the election, BANJI ALUKO examines the factors that may work in favour or against the two leading candidates.

Edo 2016: As things begin to take shape...

N

INETEEN political parties are contesting the September 10 Edo State governorship election. But in the minds of many in the state, the race is between two candidates. Expectedly, the two are Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). For the duo and their parties, only victory will be good enough on September 10 as anything short of that could send them into political wilderness in the next couple of years.

Fully aware of the desire of the PDP to reclaim power it lost in 2008, the APC will leave no stone unturned to hold on to power against a re-energised PDP. For the PDP as well, there is no better time to stage a comeback than now. After winning the presidential election and National Assembly elections in the state last year, the PDP leaders and supporters know that they only need to equal what they did on March 28, 2015 to reclaim Edo. On that occasion, the party got about 60 per cent votes in the presidential election, won two out of the three Senate seats and five out of the nine House of Representatives elections. They are unmoved by the results of the House of Assembly election that followed on April 12, where they won three out of the 24 seats. They are quick to say that the loss was as a result of the nationwide presidential election that did not go in their favour, something they have tagged “the Buhari effect.”

Even when the two results are put together, PDP’s performance was incomparable to the one recorded by the party the last time the state elected a governor. That was in 2012. In that election, the party lost in all the 18 local government areas of the state. But buoyed by the 2015 results, the PDP wants to take a step further by winning the governorship election.

The APC is however willing to knock out the PDP in this contest. Led by the forceful state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, the party has consolidated its rule in Edo and has become firmly rooted to withstand the advances of the PDP. As the party in control in the state and at the federal level, many think the APC should win the September 10 election. However, some political analysts in Edo seem to think that forecast for the election is 50-50 and that some factors may just hand any of the two parties victory. With the election only about two weeks away, the strengths and weaknesses of the two parties.

State of the nation’s economy This is largely a plus for the PDP and a minus for the APC. This factor has often been referred to as the Buhari factor.

Buhari government.

Realising this growing trend, Governor Oshiomhole and the APC have been doing a lot by insisting that the parlous state of the country now was brought upon it by the past PDP governments. Speaking at a rally in Afuze, Owan East Local Government Area, Oshiomhole said: “When a man comes to your house, burgled your store where you kept your food and in the morning, you find the store burgled, can you immediately feed your children?

“What President Buhari is doing now, when he found that PDP broke into the treasury and emptied it, is to rebuild the door of the treasury to secure it and recover the ones they have taken. The way PDP put fire on our economy, to rebuild it cannot be overnight. Today, my confidence about the future of our country is that Buhari is blocking all the leakages in our economy.”

Ize-Iyamu

Obaseki

Many believe that if the governorship election had been conducted in Edo in 2015, victory would have eluded the PDP. The reasons are not far-fetched.

The moment General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was declared winner of the 2015 presidential election of March 28, the PDP became an easy prey for the APC in the state. But how time flies! The about 15 months spent in power by the APC government appears to have devalued the party in Edo. The early ovation and expectations appear to have given way for dissatisfaction and anger. The impression that the APC brought negative changes upon Nigerians and that the government has spent enough time in power to effect positive changes is

quite popular in Edo. Many believe that this is the biggest problem confronting the APC as they argued that it could rob off on the election.

The PDP has taken advantage of the situation and has given impetus to the impression, turning it to songs. The party’s new slogan of change the change has gained popularity in Edo. Many even argued that the slogan started from Edo. This message has been taken to the Edo people through the mass media, while it also features prominently anywhere the party campaigns. The party is always quick to ask Edo people to compare the price per litre of petrol, transportation and foodstuffs, especially rice during the Jonathan administration and the present

For the duo and their parties, only victory will be good enough on September 10 as anything short of that could send them into political wilderness in the next couple of years.

Oshiomhole versus Igbinedion The belief that the PDP administration of former Governor Lucky Igbinedion performed poorly could be said to be popular in Edo. This is a big problem for the PDP. Conversely, it appears many in the state believe that Oshiomhole has performed well as governor and deserves to be supported in his next political move. The outspoken Oshiomhole has never wasted oppurtunity to remind Edo people of the state of public infrastructure when he assumed office and the turnaround he has given them.

In Benin City for instance, the governor has never wasted time to talk about some of his road projects such as the Airport Road, Siluko Road, 2nd East Circular Road, Constain-Isonorho Road and others. These projects have endeared him to the heart of many, who may likely give their votes to Obaseki.

Closely related to this is the connection many Edo people see between Igbinedion and Ize-Iyamu, who was Igbinedion’s Chief-of-Staff for four years. For those who considered Igbinedion’s government as not too good, Ize-Iyamu may not win their votes as the PDP candidate is largely seen as a member of the Igbinedion political family. To such people, as Oshiomhole put it, a vote for Ize-Iyamu is a vote for Igbinedion and his father, the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion. A vote for Igbinedion, they also argued, is a return to the dark days the state had left behind.

Taxation This is a minus for the APC. It is an area the PDP has intensified campaign and Continues on pg 28

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politics&policy

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Some likely deciding factors Continued from pg 27

awareness on. Most outspoken about the Edo State tax policy is the state chairman of the party, Dan Orbih, who has described the policy as punitive and repressive. According to the party’s candidate, Pastor Ize-Iyamu, it is wrong of the state government to demand high levies on the long suffering people of the state without providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive. While insisting that taxation is one of the areas governments generate money, he has repeatedly stated that he will relax the existing tax policy in the state. Candidates of other parties contesting the election have also said the same thing.

Away from the politicians, the tax regime could be said to be unpopular among many in Edo, especially in Benin.

Most affected are shop owners in the highly commercial areas of the metropolis and markets. Checks reveal that traders, who display their goods in open spaces in the markets, are not left out of tax payment. They daily complained of what they usually described as exorbitant sums they were made to cough out in the name of taxation.

The situation is not limited to traders and shop owners alone as bus and taxi drivers have continually wailed over daily collections from them by agents of the state government. The transporters are said to have shifted the burden of the levies on the commuters, who daily complain of high transport fares. Operators of hotels, eateries, night clubs, artisans and other forms of businesses are also among those in the long list of regular complainers of the Edo State tax policy. Even civil servants, who pay their taxes through direct deductions from their salaries, are not left out as they often complain of what they said was an unfamiliar deductions in their salaries.

Ironically, the state government argues that it deserves commendation and not condemnation over the state’s tax policy. According to Oshiomhole, his government has been able to raise the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from a paltry N300 million he inherited to figures oscillating between N1.8 and N2.2 billion. Much of this achievement is attributed to an upsurge in revenue accrued from taxation.

In February this year, the governor defended the tax policy of his government at a lecture organised by journalists in the state. He said: “The real reason we must deepen taxation is to make Nigerians more stakeholders, to have a stake in the governance of the nation. If you pay

Oshiomhole

While the PDP holds sway in the Edo Central, the APC remains the strongest party in the Edo North.

so much tax, you will worry about how it is spent. If we don’t change our attitude towards taxation then governance is far away. For us to get our people to pay taxes, government must demonstrate a high sense of responsibility and accountability in how we appropriate money and what we appropriate funds for.”

Sharing of political offices Of the three senatorial districts in Edo, the Esan people of the Edo Central are the most dissatisfied. The usual allegation that the zone has been greatly marginalised

by Oshiomhole in favour of his Etsako tribe in the northern senatorial district persists among the Esans.

To cap it all, the area is predominantly PDP, has never lost National Assembly or presidential election in the area since 1999. The alleged marginalisation of the area was compounded in May this year when the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, who is from the area, was impeached and replaced by a lawmaker from the Edo South (Benin).

The decision to pick a running mate to the APC candidate from the Edo North and not from Edo Central, some PDP faithful alleges, accentuated the marginalisation of the area by the APC government. A new political arrangement that returned the speakership to the area had to be worked out last month by Oshiomhole and the APC so as to placate the people. The governor has also initiated some projects in the area to demonstrate his love for the people, who gave him his late wife, Clara Oshiomhole.

Some PDP sympathisers however, believe that Oshiomhole’s move is too late in the day and that the Esans have already made up their minds to ‘punish’ the APC on September 10. According to them, APC will be fortunate to win one out of the five local government areas in Edo Central. Some APC supporters, however, are boasting that their party will win Igueben Local Government Area, where they are perceived to be strong, while they seem to have almost given up on the bigget councils such as Esan North East, Esan Wes and Esan South East.

While the PDP holds sway in the Edo Central, the APC remains the strongest party in the Edo North. Auchi, the headquarters of Etsako West Local Government Area, and Oshiomhole’s council is seen as impenetrable for the PDP. With three councils out of the six in the area, the Etsako are by far the largest group in the area. The Owans, with two councils and Akoko-Edo with one, complete the area.

The age-long-complaint that the Etsakos have always dominated the other groups in the area was brought to the fore when the APC picked the lawmaker representing Etsako Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon Phillip Shuaibu as running mate to its candidate. This is seen by some people in Owan and Akoko Edo as unfair. Their explanation is that if the APC should pick running mate from the Edo North, it ought not to go to the Etsako as an Etsako man is currently the representative of the area in the Senate. The PDP has picked up the argument from there. The party during their campaigns to Owan and Akoko Edo, called on the people to reject their continued domination by the Etsakos.

Avengers only trying to amass wealth A Calabar-based legal practitioner and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Chief Utum Eteng, in this interview with ANTHONY UBONG, speaks on militancy in the Niger Delta region, among other issues. Excerpts: HOW do you feel about the recent nomination of former Senate leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba as Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)?

I think it is an appointment well deserved. By all standards, the appointment is well deserved. Ndoma-Egba like you know is an accomplished person in Cross River and Nigeria in general. He has been the Leader of the Senate; he has been the leader of South South caucus, and has interacted with the people of the South-South very well. He knows their problems at that level of his interaction with members of the Senate and caucus of the South South, so he deserves the appointment very well. There is no better person than Ndoma-Egba to take that appointment for now.

There have been violent agitations by various groups in the South-East and the South-South, especially with the bombing of oil installations

to amass wealth for their private use. How has their agitation affected you; how has it affected Ibeno and other oil-producing areas? They are doing this for them to make money for themselves. Who are they fighting for? It is like we think that without oil, Nigeria cannot survive. We are getting to a stage whereby Nigeria can progress without oil. We should ask ourselves pertinent questions-are they fighting for us, or fighting for themselves?

Eteng by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA). Do you think their actions are justifiable?

It is not justifiable in the least. This is because the people who call themselves Avengers are doing this

Recently, Cross River State experienced an upsurge in crime what do you think about this?

I will emphatically say that Governor Ben Ayade, should ask himself so many questions considering what is happening. If he was ready for this position, he would have clearly outlined his plan as on how to give the people the comfort of life. He should apply the leadership style, exGovernor Donald Duke on how he was able to turn Calabar and Cross River State around. He should stop all this hypothesis and theories that are not working for him. You know as a fact that when Duke was governor, Cross River was a safe haven. People relocated from Port Harcourt to Calabar to enjoy the comfort of the place-it is no longer so. Tell me which investor would come to Cross River State without having clearance from his embassy on his mission in this place? I think he should ask himself those questions and tell Cross Riverians if he is truly ready to govern.

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

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Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Akinola gives out 2 buses, visits Ooni

The Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Dawud Akinola, in the course of last week, made two remarkable gestures. He presented two new buses to the Oyo State chapter of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN) and Akorede Central Mosque, Bola Ige International Market, Gbagi, Ibadan. He equally paid a courtesy visit to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in his palace in Ile-Ife.

The Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Dawud Akinola (second right), with the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheikh Abdul Ganiyy Abubakri Agbotomokekere (second left); the Grand Mufti of Ibadanland, Alhaji Fatai Alaga (right) and Imam Mogaji Abata during the presentation of two new buses to the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), Oyo State chapter and Akorede Central Mosque, Bola Ige International Market, Gbagi, at his residence in the Ikolaba area of Ibadan, Last week.

Alhaji Akinola with the Ekarun Olubadan of Ibadanland, High Chief Hamidu Ajibade and the Iyalode of Ibadabland, High Chief Aminat Abiodun, at the event.

The Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Alhaji Dawud Akinola (left), with the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, during his courtesy visit to the traditional ruler in his palace in Ile-Ife, Osun State, last week.

Alhaji Akinola and Oba Ogunwusi with some members of the Aare Musulumi-in-Council, from left, Alhaji Kamoru Aderibigbe, Dr Kola Hamed, Alhaji Muneer Ogundipe and Imam Abdul Rasheed Wale Azeez during the visit.

The two buses donated by Akinola to FOMWAN and the central mosque.

Akinola with members of Oyo FOMWAN, led by their Ameera, Alhaja Simiat Ogundiran (fourth right) and the Iya Adinni of Yorubaland, Alhaja Alhaji Akinola and Oba Ogunwusi with the king’s traditional aides.

Sekinat Adekola (to Akinola’s immediate right).

Akinola with traders/members of the Jamaat of Akorede Central Mosque.

Alhaji Akinola, Oba Ogunwusi, Alhaji Ogundipe and a traditional aide to the king.

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news

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

Kwankwaso petitions Buhari, others over police invasion of office Ayodele Adesanmi -Abuja

F

ORMER governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso has petitioned President Muhamnadu Buhari, the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and Police Service Commission (PSC) over alleged invasion and sealing off of his constituency office in Kano, on Monday.

Kwankwaso, in the petition written by his political movement, Kwankwasiya Amana and dated August 24, 2016, alleged that the state police command carried out the action at the directive of the state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Last Saturday, the state police command prevented the Kwankwaso group from holding its mass weeding programme for 100 couples, to avoid clash between members of the group and that of the state governor, who were billed to attend another function at the Government House, few meters away from Kwankwo’s office.

The police, on Monday, invaded the office and sealed it off for several hours, on alleged secret conduct of the

mass wedding by the group.

However, in the petition signed by Aliyu Sani Madaki and Yusuf Bello Suleiman and submitted at the office of the Police Service Commission, in Abuja, Kwankwaso called on President Buhari, the commission and the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim K. Idris,

to call the state police commissioner to order, in the interest of peace in the state.

Specifically, the petitioner urged the chairman of the police service commission, Mr Mike Okiro, to carry out a thorough investigation of the invasion and recommend appropriate sanction to those behind it.

Abuse of Naira: FG launches fresh deterrent campaign Christian Okeke -Abuja

THE Federal Government, through the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is to launch fresh grassroots campaign against abuse of the national currency.

Angered by what it described as high rate of abuse of the Naira by Nigerians, especially during social gatherings and in markets, the government said there was the need to deepen public sensitisation with regards to respect for the currency.

Already, the NOA Director-General, Garba Abari, had met with the Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele,

where they deliberated on proposed initiative on communicating government monetary and economic policies to citizens.

In a statement issued by the NOA Deputy Director of Press, Mr Fidel Agu, on Wednesday, the NOA boss hinted that the various narratives in the public space concerning the nation’s economic challenges and government policies in tackling them had informed the collaboration between the CBN and the agency.

According to him, the collaboration will enable NOA to communicate monetary and other economic policies more effectively to the public in accordance with its mandate.

Nigerian Tribune

Thursday, 25 August, 2016 Nigerian Tribune 34 south-westnews Creation of LCDAs won’t hamper LG election, effective administration —Oyo govt Marahaj ji

By Wale Akinselure hief of Staff to the Oyo State Governor, Dr Gbade Ojo, has averred that the recent approval of the creation of 35 local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state would neither increase the cost of local government administration nor hamper the conduct of local government election.

Ojo, who argued that the

C

creation of LCDAs was not an expansion of geographical size of the state, said the newly created LCDAs would generate revenue to survive, coupled with the Federal Government allocation to local governments.

“We are not expanding the geographical size of the state. We are just increasing the number of local council areas so as to bring government closer to the people.

So, it is still the same terri-

tory that is being managed.

They are created out of the existing local governments.

“It does not mean that number of workers will increase automatically. No doubt they may have to recruit, but the local governments have their own allocation different from the state governments’.

“Administratively, government has the right to decide how best to manage the system and the creation of

LCDAs is not an abnormality. It is an experience that has worked in some other states. And the state government is following the extant law to the letter by mandating the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice to initiate an executive bill to the House of Assembly whereby the 2002 gazette would be amended,” Ojo said.

He also described as erroneous the notion that the cre-

ation of LCDAs was aimed at hampering the conduct of local government election, noting that the Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC) would advise the state government on whether it was prepared to conduct election into both the existing local government areas and LCDAs. Ojo maintained that the aim of creating LCDAs was to ensure more inclusive grassroots development.

Ondo 2016:

APC primaries now to hold August 31 Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure The All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in Ondo State to pick its candidate for the forthcoming governorship election in the state has been shifted.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the state’s Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, who said the election would now hold on Wednesday, August 31, 2016, According to him, the election was shifted due to logistics and said the decision was communicated to the state chapter at the end of the emergency National Working Committee meeting.

The primaries of the APC was scheduled to hold on Saturday, August 27, 2016.

No fewer than 25 aspirants have shown interest in picking the ticket of the party.

Ibadan North East LG boss tasks committee members on service Political office holders have been charged to see their appointments as call to serve and not for personal aggrandizement.

The charge was made by the caretaker chairman, Ibadan North East Local Government Area, Honourable Rasheed Afuye, while swearing-in the newly appointed caretaker committee members at the council’s secretariat.

Afuye advised the committee members not to pursue personal interest, but instead align with the All Progressives Congress (APC)led administration’s efforts at delivering democratic dividends.

The council boss also urged them to see governance as collective responsibility noting that they should make meaningful contributions to the development of the local government.

The secretary to the local government, Mutiu Kolapo Raji, pledged to remain focused, loyal and give their support and cooperation to the state governor and the caretaker chairman.

From left, Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi; Director, MTN Foundation, Mr Denis Okoro; Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms Nonny Ugboma and the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications, Honourable Saheed Fijabi, during the handing over of the maternal ward renovated by MTN Foundation, at the Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, on Wednesday.

Ajimobi commissions renovated Adeoyo maternity

By Wale Akinselure Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State commissioned the renovated maternity at Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Yemetu, Ibadan, on Wednesday.

The maternity is one of the four wards donated to Oyo State under an MTN Foundation and JNCI partnership with the state government.

Other beneficiaries of the MTNF maternity support project, costing about N78 million, are Ring Road State Specialist Hospital, Ibadan; State Hospital, Oyo; and General Hospital, Igbeti.

Ajimobi held that PublicPrivate-Partnership (PPP) had become more expedient than ever, in providing health care, education and infrastructure to the people, especially at a time when states grappled with dwindling resources.

Maintaining that provision of health was not free, Ajimobi said the state government was set to implement the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Chief Medical Director, University College Hospital, Professor Temitope

Alonge, who represented the Minster of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, said the Federal Government required support of individuals and organisations to reduce infant and maternal mortality in the country.

Describing maternal mortality as one of the most serious challenges that the country faced, Adewole charged well-meaning organisations to partner with tertiary institutions in providing requisite facilities.

Oyo State Commissioner for Health, Dr Azeez Adeduntan, said the state government was focused on reducing the 165 per 100,000 incidents of maternal mortality in the state.

Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms Nonny Ugboma, stated that the provision of maternity facilities was aimed at reducing the rate of infant and maternal mortality in the country.

Director, MTN Foundation, Mr Denis Okoro, reiterated the foundation’s

commitment to reducing maternal mortality in the country.

Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications, Honourable Saheed AkinadeFijabi and Chief Medical Officer, Adeoyo Maternity Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, Dr Adeyanju Olusoji, appreciated the MTNF gesture, calling on other corporate organisations and individuals to give back to the communities they operate.

Restructuring imminent in Pacesetter Transport —Ajimobi Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has said there would be a major shake-up in the Pacesetter Transport Services (PTS), operators of the mass transit buses in the state.

He said this was part of the state government’s efforts at restructuring and re-engineering the public service for enhanced productivity and increased revenue generation.

Speaking during an unscheduled visit to the Eleyele office of the transport company, the governor said the reorganisation became nec-

essary as a result of the sterile methods in managing the transport service.

While allaying the fears that the state government might intend to lay off members of staff of the company, the governor assured them of government’s readiness to utilise the manpower at its disposal, as long as they exhibit signs of honesty and diligence.

Ajimobi noted that the transport service company needed urgent re-engineering for better productivity and optimal performance, while urging staffers to

display better work ethics, honesty and integrity in the discharge of their duties.

Meanwhile, the state government has commended firms and industries in the state for their compliance to the state government’s tax drive.

Addressing the press after today’s Tax Enforcement, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Board of Internal Revenue, Mr Biyi Oloko, said the government was impressed by peoples’ compliance to the new tax drive and large turnout in remittance of revenue to the state coffers.

advocates free education up to tertiary level

By Nurudeen Alimi

THE acclaimed Living Perfect Master, Satguru Maharaj ji, has called on the Federal Government to make education free up to the tertiary level.

Maharaj ji made the call in Ibadan while addressing journalists recently.

He noted that education is the best legacy every Nigerian can have and pointed out that “life may not be that meaningful for a person who is not educated.”

“I want to use this opportunity to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to please make education free for every Nigerian up to the tertiary institution level. We are aware of the economic problem the country is facing at the moment, but I think Nigeria is a country which is blessed with human and material resources. So, I think making education free is realisable.

“If most Nigerians get educated to a certain extent, the country will definitely witnessed tremendous development. Therefore, I urge the president to make education free in Nigeria.”

Oriire LG boss swears in committee members CHAIRMAN, Caretaker Committee of Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, Jacob Abidoye Bamigboye, on Tuesday, swore in committee members in Ikoyi Ile, headquarters of the council area.

In his address on the occasion, the caretaker chairman harped on total loyalty to the Governor Abiola Ajimobi-led administration in the state.

He also called on members to make the welfare of the people paramount in whatever they do.

In his opening remarks, Head of Local Government Administration, Alhaji Bayo Raji, called on members to consider their appointments as a call to service.

He also thanked Governor Ajimobi for the approval to constitute the committee.

The newly sworn in secretary of the council, Alhaji Sheu Fasasi Anafi, lauded the chairman for running the affairs of the council with the fear of God and promised, on behalf of other members, to abide by the oath of office.

Other members of the committee are Olalore Gabriel, Saheed Isola, Waheed Jamiu, Aworinde Paul, Redukat Abodunrin, Ogungbile Solomon, Areo Samson, Akanji Oyedele, Odelabi Oluyemisi and Wasiu Jimoh.

35 news

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

1 feared dead, 6 vehicles burnt in Edo tanker explosion Banji Aluko - Benin City

A

T least, one person was feared dead in Benin following an early morning accident caused by an explosion of a fuel-laden tanker, while about six vehicles parked by the roadside and two blocks of shops were also consumed by the fire that accompanied the explosion.

According to an eyewitness, the fuel-laden truck

fell on the expressway at Upper Mission Road junction in Aduwawa area, at about 6:48 a.m, while the explosion occurred about one hour after the tanker had fallen.

It was learnt that immediately the tanker had fallen, some people including drivers and passersby started scooping spilled fuel from the tanker into jerry cans.

The situation created gridlock on the ever-busy section of the road even as

Students unrest: FUNNAB extends resumption date indefinitely Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

MANAGEMENT of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNNAB) has extended students’ resumption till further notice.

Nigerian Tribune recalled that students of the institution, last week Thursday, embarked on peaceful protest, which later turned violent, over incessant robbery attacks and rape cases on students leaving off campus.

The university management, on the fateful day, directed that all students should proceed on a sevenday mid-semester break, which lapsed today.

In a statement by the Head of the Directorate of Public Relations, Mrs Emi Alawode, on Wednesday night, the authorities said a committee had been set up by the school management during a special Senate meeting held on Monday.

Alawode said the extension of the resumption was to enable the committee to submit its report, after looking at the direct and indirect causes of the protest, in order to prevent such in the nearest future.

“Consequently, the earlier declared mid-semester break has been extended till further notice, pending when the committee’s report would have been considered by the university.

“Students are also enjoined to ignore any payment directives through the social media, as currently being circulated,” the statement read.

The spokesman said the university had not relent in its effort to protect lives and

properties of staff and students living within the university environs, saying the university had continued to partner with relevant security agencies to achieve this.

some officials arrived at the scene to divert traffic from the fallen tanker.

An eyewitness who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, at the scene of the inferno, said an explosion suddenly occurred when an Audi taxi driver, drove past the flowing fuel.

They said shortly after the tanker fell, some officials arrived at the scene to control traffic and cordon off traffic around the fallen tanker, adding that the explosion occurred when the driver of the Audi car, drove into the area of the fallen tanker while trying to manoeuver his way through the traffic jam.

An unidentified young man was described as the biggest victim of the explo-

sion, as many expressed doubts about his chances of survival due to the degree of his burns.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that his torso and hands were severely burnt in the explosion, before he was rushed to a hospital, while three others were said to have sustained varying degrees of burns in the accident.

Meanwhile, some shops and vulcanisers who were affected by the inferno have been counting their losses, while a shop owner, Mrs Deborah Afubeli, whose shop was razed, said she lost goods worth about N2 million to the explosion.

Some residents of the area, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, said

A welding gas explosion in Damaturu, on Wednesday, killed one person and caused panic that led to scampering of people for safety.

Lieutenant George Okupe, the Army spokesman in the state, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“It was an accidental explosion from a welding tank when a welder was working on a pipe for a soldier.

“The welder died instantly while the soldier and one other civilian sustained injuries and are responding to treatment at the Specialists Hospital Damaturu,’’ Okupe said.

The Army spokesman said the situation had been brought under control, but that investigation was ongoing.

He urged the people not to panic but to go about their normal businesses.

Okupe solicited the support and cooperation of the people, saying “the fight against insurgency is still on and requires collective responsibility.”

Flood destroys 350 houses in Yobe, Sokoto

Scene of the accident with the burnt tanker, on Wednesday. PHOTO: BANJI ALUKO

Police parade human head hawkers in Kwara Biola Azeez - Ilorin KWARA State police command has paraded two criminal suspects for allegedly hawking human head in Wobe Fulani camp, via Okuta in Kosubosu, Baruten Local Government Area of the state.

Parading the two suspects among six others before newsmen in Ilorin, on Wednesday, the state

Commissioner of Police, Olusola Amore, said they were found with a bag containing human head among other items such as a cutlass.

The police boss, said further interrogation revealed that the suspects had taken the head to an Alhaji (names withheld) to buy it, adding that the said Alhaji refused, but later raised the alarm.

“A search in the bush led to recovery of a headless body who had been declared missing earlier, and which the suspects confessed to have killed,” he said.

The state police command also paraded a Fulani man for allegedly killing his 65-year-old mother and wife of his elder brother, at Mamba Fulani camp in Patigi, Patigi Local Gov-

Troops repel Boko Haram, kill 2 senior commanders TROOPS of Operation Lafia Dole have killed two senior Boko Haram commanders and several other insurgents at Darul Jamel on the fringes of Sambisa forest in Borno.

Colonel Sani Usman, acting Director, Army Public Relations, said in a statement in Abuja that this was after the troops had success-

the appalling condition of the expressway was responsible for the accident, adding that the road is a deathtrap.

Speaking at the scene of the accident, the director of the Edo State Fire Service, Mr Franklin Agbonlahor, said the explosion was extinguished shortly after his team received a distress call at about 8:30a.m.

He blamed the driver of the Audi car for the accident, saying he refused to heed instructions when flagged down.

“The story is positive; the fire was brought under control. A vehicle defied instructions of people that were flagging vehicles down when this happened. Immediately he came across the tanker, fire was ignited.”

Gas explosion kills 1 in Damaturu

fully repelled an attempted attack on their location.

“The terrorists attempted to storm the troops’ location, but paid dearly.

“Prior to the attack, the troops of the same unit on routine patrol earlier cleared an ambush staged by elements of the suspected remnants of the terrorists desperate for food, near

Banki Junction.

“It is equally believed that the attack and ambush might not be unconnected to the fact that the terrorists were desperately targeting over 890 rescued herdsmen with their 5000 livestock being held captives by terrorists along Nigerian borders with Cameroon,” Usman said.

He said items recovered

from the insurgents included one Light Machine Gun (LMG) with Rrgistration number 56M-1101229 and one AK-47 rifle magazine.

Others, he said, were Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) bomb, one top cover of an AK-47 rifle, 395 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition and 15 rounds of 5.5mm by .45 ammunition.

ernment Area of the state.

The suspect was said to have carried out the dastardly act on August 13, 2016, while names of the deceased were given as Khadijat Usman and Ramatu Shagari aged 35.

The commissioner, who later inaugurated eminent persons forum to fight crime in the state, said security was not a business of police alone but that of all stakeholders.

“That is why the first time I came to the state, I said that my style of policing is community-oriented police.

That members of the community would be involved in the way they are policed, and it is for this reason that I asked all the District Police Officers and I to write their numbers in all the police stations and the police headquarters for the purpose of crime prevention and control,” he said.

ALHAJI Musa Jidawa, Executive Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), on Wednesday, said that over 300 houses, farmlands and livestock had been destroyed by flood in Jakusko and Adaya communities.

He made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu.

“We received report of over 250 houses destroyed in Jakusko and about 54 others in Adaya but no life was lost, the affected people are taking shelter with relations in the communities,” he said.

In a related development, no fewer than 50 houses were destroyed on Tuesday in Bachaka Village in Gudu Local Government area of Sokoto State by flood caused by an early morning rain.

Alhaji Sani Yakubu (APC) representing Gudu Constituency in the State House of Assembly, told newsmen of the unfortunate development, on Wednesday, in Sokoto.

Yakubu said the disaster was sequel to a downpour that lasted several hours in the village.

“The downpour affected no fewer than 300 households in the village.”

36

news

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

No arrest yet over Zamfara killings —Yari Leon Usigbe -Abuja

S

ECURITY agencies are yet to make any arrest over the alleged killing of a Christian student by his Muslim colleague and the burning to death of several other innocent citizens in Zamfara State.

Governor Abdulazeez Yari, who disclosed this while fielding questions from State House correspondents, at the Presidential Villa, on Wednesday, however, vowed to bring the culprits in the heinous killings to book.

He also contended the number of people killed in the riot that followed the killing of the said student and the suggestion that those burnt to ashes were mainly Christians.

The social media had reported that over 15 Christians were killed in the riot that trailed the killing of the Yoruba polytechnic student.

“I think what happened is unnecessary and it’s not supposed to be in place, if not for the act of the devil.

“From the intelligence I got from security agencies, they was a fight between two students and I think one of them injured the other and started shouting that he abused Prophet Muhammad and other students came and beat up the other boy, who is Yoruba from Kogi State.

“Some people are saying he is a Muslim and some say the boy is a Christian, they beat the student up until he collapsed and thought he was dead, then security personnel requested help from one shop owner who then took the boy to the hospital in his car.

“The students heard that the boy was still alive and in the hospital, so they went there. However, the boy was rescued by the army in the hospital, but I don’t know if the boy is alive or dead now.

“The students went back to the polytechnic and burnt the shop of the person who gave his car to rescue the boy and they came back to town again and you know the police in the division don’t have enough

INEC faults Alegeh on inconclusive elections

Describes NBA president’s statement as misplaced, undeserved Jacob Segun Olatunji - Abuja

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday, dismissed the claim of the outgoing president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Augustine Alegeh, on inconclusive elections in some parts of the country.

This was contained in a statement signed by the acting secretary of the commission , Mr Musa Adamu and made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Wednesday The commission said that its attention had been drawn to a statement credited to Alegeh in which he rebuked it for conducting 136 inconclusive elections in a year under the watch of Professor Mahmood Yakubu.

It quoted Alegeh making such remark at the 56th annual general conference of NBA in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on August 21.which it described as false based on the remarkable achievements it had made in conducing rerun in the country despite all the odds While acknowledging that Alegeh was highly knowledgeable and respected, the commission said that his statement at the conference of NBA in Port Harcourt, was unfortunate and grossly incorrect.

According to INEC, 163 elections, comprising 80 court-ordered elections in

the aftermath of 2015 general election, 70 end-of-tenure elections, 13 by-elections occasioned by death or resignation, have been conducted by the new commission.

It said that out of the 163 conducted elections, 118 were concluded at first ballot and 21 concluded after supplementary.

It explained that two cases were pending, while 22 suspended re-run in Rivers State due to violence, were to be concluded.

“This shows that 72.3 per cent of the elections were concluded at first ballot, 21.8 per cent of inconclusive elections were concluded after supplementary, 1.2 per cent pending, while 13.4 per cent were suspended in Rivers State.

“It is clear from the foregoing that Alegeh‘s pronouncement was ill-informed and his stern rebuke to the commission, was misplaced and undeserved.

“The commission remains unwavering and irrevocably committed to delivering elections that are free and fair as well as ensure that the vote of every eligible Nigerian counts,’’ it said It said the commission had maintained that inconclusive elections were caused by violence and over-voting, adding that the notion of inconclusive election was not strange to the laws.

men to contain the riot and before reinforcement came, the crowd threw tyres in the man’s house and burned the it down.

“That was how everybody in the house was killed. Everyone in the house were Muslims and not like the rumours doing the round in the social media that Christians are being killed in Zamfara.

“As of the time I left Zamfara, no arrest yet. Immediately the incident happened, the school authority shut down the school. The police and DSS are carrying out their investigation and soon, there will be arrests .

“The government will not take this lightly, definitely all the culprits will be brought to book,” he said.

NNPC lost 560,000 barrels of crude to vandals in 5 months Ademola Adegbite -Abuja

GROUP Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Maikanti Baru has lamented the activities of pipeline vandals and oil thieves, saying they are taking a toll on the operations of the corporation.

He bemoaned that the corporation lost 560,000 barrels of crude to the refineries as feedstock and 109 million litres of petroleum products between January and May. Dr. Baru made this known during a courtesy visit to the CommandantGeneral of the Nigerian Security Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Abdudullahi Gani Muhammadu, at the Corps Headquarters, Abuja, on Wednesday.

In a statement by the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the corporation, Garba Deen Muhammadu, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune, in Abuja, the corporation said it suffered 1,447 incidents of pipeline breaches in the same period.

Responding, the Commandant General of NSCDC, Muhammadu, said the mandate of the corps was to protect critical national infrastructure and assured the NNPC of its readiness to bring pipeline vandalism to an end.

More Nigerians patronise Health Insurance Schemes THERE has been a steady growth in Nigerians’patronage of Health Insurance Schemes (HISs), due to improved awareness on the benefits associated with such schemes in recent time.

The chairman of Healthcare International Nigeria Limited, Senator Olayinka Omilani, said this while addressing shareholders of the company at its 13th Annual General Meeting(AGM) On the occasion, the com-

pany announced an eight per cent growth in its gross premium in its 2015 accounts over its performance in 2014.

According to Senator Omilani, the introduction of innovative healthcare plans as well as the amendments to the existing ones, have helped to create increased awareness on the need for Nigerians to have one form of health insurance or the other.

To further deepen the market, the company in-

troduced strategies that ensured that managed healthcare services are made available to all Nigerians at affordable costs irrespective of their financial or economic status.

Also speaking after the meeting , the Healthcare International Managing Director, Mr Tosin Awosika, assured stakeholders that the company was primed to fulfill its vision to be the leading health management organisation in Africa.

From left, Mr S. D. A. Sobanjo; Managing Director, Healthcare International Limited, Mr Tosin Awosika; chairman, Senator Olayinka Omilani; Mr Larry Ademeso and Mr E. B. Wright, during the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held in Lagos, recently.

Oyo NIS honours oldest Nigerian surveyor

By Modupe George CHIEF Lekan Alabi has called on Nigerians from all human endeavours to honour icons in their life-time.

This, he said ,will encourage youths to give their best to the country.

He said this recently while speaking as a guest lecturer on the topic: “Integrity in professionalism”, at the first Surveyor L.L Ali Annual Lecture/95th birthday ceremony, organised by the Oyo State branch of Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) at NIS’s Plaza, Ikolaba, Ibadan.

He said that Nigeria could once boast of worldclass monuments and their creators in virtually every field of human endeavours, though, all of these may sound like fables to the youths of today.

“Late icons of the surveying profession, like Herbert Macaulay and Ali, typified integrity in professionalism

and public conduct”.

He said that even though, values and ethics are diminishing in the country, hope should not be lost when there are living icons like Ali. According to him, members of NIS and indeed, all parotic citizens owe it a duty to rekindle integrity and professionalism, adding that “we all must support the current drive for progressive Nigeria, where justice, integrity, accountability, security, peace, unity among others would be the beams.

Speaking on the occasion, the national president, NIS, Mr Akin Oyegbola, stressed the need to lay emphasis and bring to fore, integrity and professionalism as an institution.

He said that it is a dawn of a new era in NIS, as he promised that there would be rewards for excellence.

Also,the state chairman, NIS, Mr Olaribigbe Shiyanbola, on the occasion,

appealed to the state government to create database of all government acquired lands throughout the state so as to solve the problems of encroachment and preserve land for future development.

In the same vein, the chairman on the occasion, Chief Bayo Oyero, lauded the NIS, for the initiative and choice of topic; ‘Integrity in professionalism’.

Testifying to the high level of moral behaviour of Ali, he noted: “The honouree is a man of integrity, having being found upright in a profession for over six decades.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Honourable Isaac Omodewu, on the occasion, said that integrity in professionalism is a sermon to be preached in all the nooks and crannies of the state for the dwindling Nigerian economy to be revived and sustained.

From right, former NIS president, Mr M.A Laoye; chairman on the occassion, Chief Bayo Oyero; guest lecturer, Chief Lekan Alabi, NIS President, Mr Akin Oyegbola, Oyo State NIS chairrman, Mr Olaribigbe Shiyanbola and the former president, Surveyors Council of Nigeria (SUCION), Mr G.A. Agunbiade, during the NIS first annual lecture. Inset: The honouree, Chief L.L Ali , his wife, Mistura. PHOTO: MODUPE GEORGE

37

Thursday, 25 August, 2016

foreig naffairs with seyi gesinde

08116954632 foreignnewseditor@gmail.com

Two women lynched, set on fire in Congo as ethnic tensions flare TWO Hutu women were dragged out of a minibus, lynched and their bodies set on fire by a crowd in eastern Congo, the local mayor said on Wednesday, as inter-ethnic tensions in the region surge in the wake of

massacres that have killed hundreds of civilians.

The crowd in the town of Butembo, which is dominated by members of the Nande ethnic group, said the two ethnic Hutu women who were traveling

by minibus in North Kivu province were militants, mayor Sikuli Uvasaka Makala told local radio.

Dozens have died in titfor-tat killings by ethnic militia this year.

Ethnic rivalries, invasions

Congolese soldiers arrest a civilian protesting against the government’s failure to stop the killings and inter-ethnic tensions in the town of Butembo, in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo. PHOTO: REUTERS/KENNY KATOMBE

120 dead in Central Italy earthquake

An injured man covered in dust is carried out of a crumbling building on a stretcher by a team of rescue workers in Amatrice. PHOTO: EPA

A

T least 73 people have been killed in an earthquake that hit a mountainous area of central Italy, authorities say.

The magnitude 6.2 quake struck at 03:36 (01:36 GMT), 100km (65 miles) north-east of Rome, not far from Perugia.

Many of the dead were in Accumoli, close to the epicentre, and a short distance away in Amatrice, where three-quarters of

houses were destroyed, BBC said.

Many people are still believed buried under the rubble, and the death toll is expected to rise.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi paid tribute to the volunteers and civil defence officials who had rushed to the scene in the middle of the night and used their bare hands to dig for survivors, The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10km and its intensity was compared to that of the Aquila

earthquake in April 2009 in which 309 people died.

Some buildings in the capital shook for 20 seconds as the quake struck the regional border area of Umbria, Lazio and Le Marche. It was felt from Bologna in the north of Italy to Naples in the south. Some 80 aftershocks have been reported since.

Italy’s civil protection department said that at least 73 people were now known to have been killed.

While the full extent of casualties is still emerging, Italian news agency Ansa is reporting that it believes at least 35 people have been killed in Amatrice and 11 in Accumoli, and another 17 in the villages of Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto.

The mayor of Arquata del Tronto, Aleandro Petrucci, spoke of a disaster. “The village isn’t there anymore.

Almost all the houses in Pescara del Tronto have collapsed.”

by Rwanda and Uganda and competition for land and minerals among eastern Congo’s dozens of rebel groups have stoked conflict over the last two decades.

“I condemn the death of these two women,” Uvasaka said. “I insist: stop carrying out popular justice. Do you want to put the Nande community at risk?”

Migration by Hutu farmers from North Kivu through predominantly Nande areas towards Ituri province in search of more fertile land has fueled tensions, Otto Bahizi, a Hutu tribal leader from nearby Rutshuru territory, told Reuters.

US had no prior knowledge of Turkish coup —Biden

UNITED States Vice President Joe Biden has said the United States had no prior knowledge of the Turkish coup and would never support the treasonous behaviour of the military.

He spoke to the press after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara Wednesday. Biden said the U.S. will provide any assistance Turkey needs as it moves to strengthen its democracy and that the United States puts paramount importance on its relationship with Turkey, a crucial NATO ally.

VOA reported that Biden arrived in Turkey earlier in the day, as Turkish military forces launched their first offensive into Syria to target Islamic State militants and Kurdish fighters.

other NEWS France ‘burkini ban’: Images of police on beach fuel debate PICTURES have emerged of French police appearing to enforce the controversial “burkini ban” on a woman on a beach in the southern city of Nice.

Police appear to issue a fine to the woman, who is then seen removing a veil and baring her arms.

Nice’s deputy mayor said the removal of burkinis was a “necessity” after the deadly jihadist attack last month.

BCC reported that the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) expressed concern at the direction the public debate

was taking.

A bid to overturn the ban is due to come before France’s highest administrative court on Thursday.

The incident, which took place on Tuesday, happened close to the site of the jihadist attack on Bastille Day in July.

Rudy Salles, the deputy mayor of Nice, said: “It’s a necessity after... the 14th of July on the Promenade des Anglais.

“It is not the habit and the custom of the Muslims in Nice to wear [clothes] like this on the beach.”

The incident happened close to where more than 80 people died in an Islamist attack in July. PHOTO: VANTAGENEWS

Canada allows female mounted police to wear hijab THE Royal Canadian Mounted Police is to allow its female Muslim officers to wear hijabs, updating iconic uniform “to better reflect the diversity” in Canada’s communities.

“The commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police recently approved this addition to the uniform,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s spokesman Scott Bardsley told the AFP news agency.

“This is intended to better reflect the diversity in our communities and encourage more Muslim women to consider the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a career option.”

According to Al Jazeera, the policy was quietly enacted despite the fact that no officers had yet asked to wear hijabs as of earlier this year.

However, about 30 officers had asked for a relaxing of the rules for religious or cultural reasons over the past two years, the Montreal daily La Presse reported citing an internal correspondence between Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson.

The memo also said that the type of hijab was selected to be included in the uniform that could be removed quickly and easily if needed.

US Vice President Joe Biden

Turkey sends tanks into Syria to battle ISIS

Turkish tanks and allied Syrian rebels move along the border Wednesday. PHOTO: CNN

TURKISH tanks entered northern Syria on Wednesday to clear ISIS from a Syrian border town, Turkish state media reported --a move that follows recent attacks in southern Turkey that the republic blames on terror groups.

Turkey’s incursion into Syrian territory is part of

a larger effort to battle not only ISIS but also Kurdish fighters in northern Syria that Ankara opposes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “(Wednesday’s operation) started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like (ISIS) and

the PYD,” Erdogan said, referring to a Syrian Kurdish opposition political party, CNN stated.

The ground incursion is immediately focused on clearing ISIS from the Syrian town of Jarablus, according to Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu agency.

A Canadian metropolitan police officer. PHOTO: MVSLIM

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SHADOW 08087670776

2XXBK PLUS TWO OTHERS

Its payment after winning of N100,000 this week 07. No 2XXBK must draw this week 07 plus two others making 3 Nap draws. Just send to me N2,500 MTN recharge card for my own staking. You will be happy if you do so. Thanks

PETER NAP 3 PAIR 31, 3XX CBK. 08076546261

Congratulation to all those that will get my release this week as they Everton system that got 6xx, 25xx, 30xx 3/3 in week 5 (odd week current setting) will get it again this cost just N25,000.00 py to the saving acc No 3023114822 First Bank in person of Mr Onaolapo Peter G and call on 08076546261.

MORALE BOOSTER 36, 38, 39 08134496635

WK. 7=36, 38, 39. COST = FREE WK. 8 = NAP, NAP, NAP. COST = N15,000 CASH WK.9 = NAP, NAP, NAP. COST = N30,000 CASH CALL 08134496635 for Acct. details

CHARITY NAP

(08054325929) 20 HOT 02 Congratulations to our dear Customers who reached us on phone = 11x 41x 46x NAP = 27/31xx= 4/5. This is marvelous and we keep on moving as Doubting Thomas’s will not win.

Registrations as fans still in progress. Call for your Nap and registration details. Best of luck.

HERITAGE NAP

(08032428168) 39XX40 In our tradition and with unfolding trend in the current U.K /Scotish Football season, the pair above must supply with other fixed draws. Don’t be left out of this winning trend. The game goes for N25,000. Join the winning team now.

4 MEMBERS 4 BANKERS

- 08162705220 = NO 48XX 48X NAP

4 BANKERS COST N6000 WK 07 RED= 2013 NO 11X 24X 30X 48X KEY 4 BANKERS COST N6000 WK 07 RED= 2014 NO 17X 25X 34X 48X KEY 4 BANKERS COST -N6000 WK 07 RED= 2015 NO 10X 26X 39X 48X KEY 4 BANKERS COST N6000 WK 07 RED= 2016 NO NAP NAP NAP NAP 48 KEY 2016 ENGLISH SYSTEM BOOKLET COST: N50,000 CASH KEY: Every week 7 RED BANK NIGER NO 48X 48X PLUS 3 OTHERS N6, 000 Wk 07 gift 48. 48 plus 3 others cost N6,000 cash wk 06= 2014 No 12x 25x 30x 48 Key Wk 07= 2015 No 10x 26x 34x 48x Key Wk 07= 2016. No Nap Nap Nap NAP 48 key 31. 39 following week 7 to control 4 Special Draws at N6,000 send MTN recharge cards to 08162705220.

EDITOR’S PLACE 48XX 49XX

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE POOLS PAGE

THE WINNERS CHOICE WISE STAKERS DELIGHT GET A COPY AND WIN.

PLEAID DE MAXWELL - 09099968585 HARTLEPOOL AND HAMILTON =

All premiership teams has draw potential this week but 90 mins. encounter will judge the real draws. Many pools analyst favoured Chelsea against Burnley mind you in Premier ship these days, no underdog team. Last season Liechester gave all newly promoted team the soccur that nothing is imposible so these teams are to be watched for surprises Bournmouth, Watford , Middlesbro infact the newly Promoted teams are ready to demolished all the big names in the premiership. Likely draws at Crystal P, Southanpton, Tottenham, Wat ford and Westbrom . in championships Bristol C , Cariff, Ipswich, Newcastle, Nott forest and Wigan Sheff utd, Walsall, Barnet, Cheltenham, Doncaster, Hartlepool and Wycombe. Celtic is known as Unstoppable but Abedeen says No. Hamllton and Inveness City are Scottish tips.

Contact De Maxwell draws Clinic for your sure win .TOKEN MANAGER

FAITHFUL INTERVENTION - 07082899957

THE NEWEST HAPPENING IN POOLS HISTORY IN RECENT TIMES. BLUE —BLUE — BLUE. BOREHAM W — CHESTER = 26X 46X WEEK 18’ 2015 AND WEEK 6’ 2016 Starting of another 3 weeks directed naps – 13X 26X 46XXX. Week 18 2015 and wk.6’ 2016= 13X 26X 46XX. Week 19 2015 and wk.7’ 2016= X X X = 46/47 Week 20 2015 and wk.8’ 2016= X X X = 46 Week 21 2015 and wk.9’ 2016= X X X = 46 Watch Nos 46 and 47 as a free pair from week 18 to week 24 = 2015.Event makes history. Week 6 to 12 winning faithful win is undisputed as directed by our oversea draws manager – FAITH MISSION NAP N50,000 pin code 07082899957.

FANTASTIC OBINYAN African No.1 compiler, Prince Willy Ehi Obinyan was super last week as all his fortune papers destroyed promoters with naked draws, as earlier promised and 1 quote ‘No hidden place for promoters’ top on the performance chart was PoolsTelegraph which scored 4/4 on the from page dreamland with 13x 14x 36x 38. Whoa! Incredible undiluted win Figaro in his late new column scored 5/6 with 13x 14x 16x 18x 36x 38x and Murphy sports added to promoters woes, that left many promoters vaults almost empty. Almost all the column in his group of papers worked wonders.

The papers are Pools Telegraph,Shoot pointer, Zeters pools guild, Murphy sports, New dream and Final result. Prince Obinyan therefore advised stakers to watch the movements in his papers every week for them to win millions in the current U.K/ Scottish football season. EHI at work. It again.

MADAM DE MADAM - 080233291991 (08XX 02)

2WKS. LIVERPOOL AT NO. 1 IN WEKS 5 &6 = 19X 31X CRAWLEY = 38XXX = 11 XX FREE. PETER BORO ON DATE OF PLAY: Madams of Mr Joshua draw management office is now opened at 27A Opebi Plaza Ikeja. Congratulations to all our Lagos Clients, Aba, Abuja and Portharcourt Clients are to prepare for our door step services. RED coloured affair infact we don’t recognize Coupon coloured as the PPA did. With Peterboro on date of play. Bournmouth MUST Tottenham = 02 xx 08.

Reference to week 19 & 7 = 2015 & 2016.

Week 19‘ 2015 – 11x 31x 39xxx . BOURNMOUTH 6xx Week 07‘ 2016 – x x x - Bournmouth 02/ xx 08, Madams trips to England yielded positive winning dividends. To God be the glory.

We are fully back to enrich our clients. Call Mr Joshua for your winning details N50,000 = Good luck.

OLA – CITY 3 DRAWS FOR WEEK 7

BOAST TO GET ALL CORRECT ON SATURDAY WEEK 7 PAIR 5XXX 3XXX PHONE 08085005634, 08140575314 The compiler of Ola – City International and Publisher of U.K Wizard key for 2016/2017 English Season with 7 Genuine System key cost N30,000 cash which brings 3 draws with control key on current systems this week 7 the key is already at the hand of those who paid for it and for the UPS Express it reach the second day.

Ola –City 3 fixed draws for this week 7 cost N10,000 cash, while winnings club members registration fees remain N100,000 cash while N50,000 cash deposit accepted to pay your balance of N50,000 from your first winning. Pay to First Bank Plc in the name of Olafenwa R. Ola-City Account No. 3033318854 and collect your request after confirmation of your message.

Ola-City pairs in the Thursday Tribune supply in week 4, week 5 and got the 2 draws in week 6. Stay with Ola-City and Tribune for your Jackpot this U.K Season.

May God Bless You All. Amen.

FORTUNE DONOR DONATES 37/38 (08099111828) The selfless and hardworking Fortune donor happily offer coupon Nos 37- 38 to all Punters this week for a good draw come Saturday. The duo are red week special pair.

Add them to the IBK and smile to your bank on Monday morning. Our 1BK still sells for only N1,500,00, 2 draws cost N3,000,00 and 3 good draw sell for N10,000.00 on 08099111828. Best of luck !

ACHIEVERS INTER, 08034097902

WEEK 06: RESULT: 26X, 31X, & 38XX 3/3 WEEK 07 PAIR: 21 XX 28 We congratulate all our numerous customers and, those willing to register, with Achievers Inter for our week 06 performance as promised, our week ‘5’ to week ‘10’ operation live up to expectation as packaged by a team of pools Experts who compiled the ‘5’ weeks operation pick the naked draws. Customers who were lucky to purchase our weeks 5 & 6 current life draws can testify to our performance, which yielded fruitful dividends, as it was winnings galore with many turned millionaire overnight with Nos: 26xx, 31xx & 38xx. Score 3/3 and alternative: PAIR, 19xx 18f play 4/5 congratulating our yes is always yes and we are equally happy that we did not disappointed our teeming customers in week ‘5 & 6’ for one reason fill the gap as our weeks 7, 9, & 10, games are set to make you regain your past losses. The price is just only N25,000 cash.

Call (08034097902) 21X 28X plus ‘3’ others.

DR. M.M. PROMISE .... THE PAYMASTER...

08037174526 HOT PAIR 34,37. WK. 7 = NAP AND WIN BIG. Dr. M.M. promise, Nigeria’s foremost pool compiler has declared that this week 7 is a must win week for all his customers and teeming fans. Irrespective of the number of draws. Cost price is N30,000 cash. Also on sale now is his weekly one accurate banker draw cost N10,000 cash, while serious stakers are enjoined to register in his happy winners club with a minimum deposit of N30,000 cash. Meanwhile the erudite compiler and pools legend is appealing to all and sundry to get his week 7 Nap and win big, pay at UBA, to Dr. Maxwell promise, accts no. 1003610591. Call 08037174526.

MONEY DOLLAR - 08135637650 = 26 NAP 27XX

KEY ENYTIME CHARLTON CHESTERFIED. COVENTRY SET AT HOME BANK COVENTRY TO DRAW NO 26. Game under coventry to draw no 27x.

WK 04 release 18X 28X 34X 47X. Get 4 Special Draws for N25,000 Week 5 No. 10X 27X 28X 39X with. 31X 34X N25, 000 wk 06 NO 14X 26X 31X 38X= N25, 000 4 Special Draws for N25,000 Wk 7 No NAP! NAP! NAP! NAP!NAP!= N25, 00 2 Special Draws for N 10,000 Week 4 No: 18X 28X 18X 28X 2 Special Draws for N 10,000 Week 5 No 10x 28x pair 31x 34x wk 06 No 14X 38X Nap Congratulations! Our Week 4 Release No. 18X 28X 34X 47X WK05 NO 10X 27X 28X 39X WITH 31X 34X WK 06 NO 14X 26X 31X 38X WK 07 RED NO NAP NAP NAP NAP WITH 26. 27 4 BANKERS others cost N25, 000.

Two Bankers N10, 000 For your booking, send MTN recharge cards to 08135637650, and the message will be send to you.

MAITO NAPS - 08030785634/09081225091(40XX 41)

WEEK 7 – OPERATION TOTAL DEMOLISION Maito fixed draws are set again to enrich our dear stakers / customers cost N25,000 A promised week. Payment at WEMA Bank A/c no 0221601707.to Ishola sule good luck.

PATRICK THE ENGLISH MAN–08154836338

THE DRAW MANAGER= 44XX 49X. Week 5= Stoke, Sheff. Wed, Scunthrope, Stevenage Week 6= Burton A, Barnet, Brighton, Bristol. R. Week 7= X X X X – 44xx 49 Win with the Real English man with unequal winning contact.

Another winning galore at Patrick’s place sorry we give out draws on teams unlike other Experts on Numbers. Get an accurate coupon fixtures & win with Us= N25, 000 again.

ATTENTION ALL COMPILERS, OUR POLICY ON NO ADVERT NO WRITE UP STILL IN PLACE —MANAGEMENT.

Thursday, 25 - 31 August, 2016 MODUPE NAP (08033566694) 41x 44x 46 for 2 draws Wining galore at Modupe Nap. Call for details. Goodluck.

SOLOMON RESORT

09091111800 (02XX 07)

BURNLEY – BURNLEY AT N0 1

Burnley at home No 1 and away No 1 in week 6 and 7 to confirm our 2 weeks Nap in the 2 scheduled weks Wk 6 -11X 4X 38XXX – 02X 07 = 13drs.

Week 7 – X X – 02X 07 = 10drs Winners celebrates while losers growns Join the winning team in 2016/17 season. N25,000 = starting fee.

NEWS STAR NAPS 07069316463 26XX 37XX 40XX FREE NAP Stakers the above 3 games 26, 37, 40 must draw this week as key to another 3 accurate Nap in weeks 8 and 9 cost N20,000 cash…

Call 07069316463 for details of payment.

MAC – ANTHONY MUST DRAW 3/3

CALL 0806-904-8857 (PAIR 22X 32X) Congrats! Congrats!! Congrats!!!

I am using this medium to congratulate our few trials of last wk 06 who won 3/3 direct Nap on 13XX 19XX 35XX. Win week 07 again by God’s grace Nap Nap Nap = 3/3 cost N15,000 cash. U.K Season registration N200,000, while system book is available and affordable @ N40,000.

Pay @ U.B.A 2029382770, Engr, Michael Akam. Winning is 100%

EXPERT JOSHUA 08070464033.

36 XXX CBK. Congratulations, this is the right time for you to change your levels to highest level. With 3 gazetted draws for your winning delight cost N10,000 cash payable to ASmole Olukoyede. S at first Bank a/ no 3038613121 - Ibadan. Call for details and WIN .

CARMARK SUPER WEEK 7 TEL: 08186673842

Bankers of the week 7 (39X 38X 40X 41X) FOR 3 OVER 4.

This week 7, whatever DONCASTER appear home or away is to produce 3 NAP and permutation if you have interest in the games, its a new key of this season, payment at IBTC Stanbic Bank Acct 0001361916 to Acct name Mr. S.B. Odesola. God bless you abundantly. I am expecting your call. Goodluck.

SIR MICHAEL NAP 35 PAIR 37 09091874579 Congratulation last week release get 14xx, 16xx, 19xx, 3/3 the pair 11xx, 22f, 4/5. Another 3/3 and 4/5 this week cost just N15, 000. 00 call for acct no or mode of payment unfailing Nap & Pair.

SHORT – GUN 08050614477/ 08168241902 26 HOT 27

With the current season entering the fourth week with all the colours this week, the above pair is for stakers to win well without any doubt. The game will work as we have the confidence of the secret sequence. The game costs N25,000. Call for details.

AUTHORITY NAP – 09030084552.

02 MUST 08.

Bournermouth must Liverpool at away to form a super draws and other 3 fixed matches.callfor your winning details = N10,000 Goiodluck.

022 CODE (39 PAIR 46) 08059580326 Sale of my 3 Nap draws and 1 hot pair is now going on. Don’t allow doubting Thomas convince you from buying this week 07 release because it will play 3 over 3 correct and the pair will produce a draw cost N10,000 cash. Call me on my hotline above for my bank account number for payment. Don’t miss it.

YEWA GAME (12X 14) 07064660296 The above pair is a must and other 2 sure draws for your winning delight - call for details.

Call on 07064660296.

49 THE-LILIES 08086944309 (48 JACKPOTX 49) Little Ole Dime bring bigger dime call us now and win biggest dime for yourself with only N1,500 MTN Card the road to big jackpot will be widely open for you all 48 jackpotx 49

(4 SUPERX 12) MISTER-DRAW 08030415683

3 super draws for all our fans to grab send N2,000 mtn Card for 3 super draws winning on pools is assured.

3 WEEKS OPERATION

OLA-CITY INTERNATIONAL 3 FIXED DRAWS FOR WEEK 7, WKS 8, WK 9 COST N10,000 CASH EACH WEEK. BE SURE OF YOUR WINNERS. We got our pair in the Tribune in week 4, week 5 and got all in week 6 as KEY to our release. U.K. Wizard KEY for 2016/2017 cost N30,000 cash. Pay your cash to First Bank Plc in the name of OLAFENWA R. OLA-CITY. Account No: 3033318854 and collect your request after confirmation of your payment. May God bless you all. Amen.

PHONE 08140575314, 08085005634.

PORTUGAL

TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000

X02X X14X WK 07 RED NAP NAP

COROATIA

TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000 X36X X38X WK 07 RED NAP NAP

TURKEY

TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000 X16X X19X WK 07 RED NAP NAP

SEND MTN CARD TO 09038633666

IBUKUN OLU NAPS Every weeks 6 and 7 is always 3 over 3 for the past four season, 2016/17. Week 6 release scores 3 over 3 correct on Nos 13x 14x 19x. This week 07 release cost N10,000 cash. CALL 07026839837.

ISRAEL BAIL OUT REMAIN STAKERS CHOICE MODBURY BALCATTA WERRIBEE.C TWO BANKER TWO BANKER TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000

WK 06 N3,000

WK 06 N3,000

WK 07 RED

WK 07 RED

WK 07 RED

X13X X14X NAP NAP

X35X X36X NAP NAP

X19X F20F

NAP NAP

SEND MTN CARD TO 08162705220 PRAGMATISM THE ORACLE OF DRAWS

07036539499, 09085276689.

Week 6 congrats to members of the Pragmatism Int’l Club (P.I.C.) on their success in week 6 BETS. 02XX – 11XX – 14XX 38XX 41XX = 5/5.

WEEKS 7 AND 8 NAP = XX – XX – XX. Read Sporting News and Pools Telegraph for more details. Good luck.

TORQUAY

TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000

X11X X31X WK 07 RED NAP NAP

LINCOLN

TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000 X38X X41X WK 07 RED NAP NAP

TELFORD

TWO BANKER WK 06 N3,000 X14X X36X WK 07 RED NAP NAP

SEND MTN CARD TO 09038460009

NJOROGE MR NEW ASSURANCE (02 XX 36)

CRYSTAL PALACE & CARLISLE =C and C

ANNUAL WEEK 7 ASSURANCE WIN SINCE 2013 - 2016 = 4 YEARS Week 7 2013 = 14x - 22x - 31xxx = 02x 48x Week 7 2014 = 05x - 17x - 44xxx = 02x 48x Week 7 2015 = 10x - 26x - 38xxx = 02x 48x Week 7 2016 = X X X = 02X 48x At Njoroge your winning is always our PRIDE. Our trade mark is MR. ASSURANCE with the house hold name NJOROGE, the DON in Pools computation and compilation in Africa. We now operates with our sister’s office in Accra (GHANA) and South Africa.

So you are welcome to the Assurance winning family. N30,000= WIN! WIN!! WIN!!! Welcome.

39

tribunepools

AKIN MR AKIN –

07067202291 (07 MUST 10)

WIGAN – QPR NO 22.

OH Yes, another fantastic win at Akins place this week. 2 Experts in one.with Wingan - QPR in week 7. 2016/2017 winning dairy stated it as a MUST in week 7 and other 3 fixed draws. week 6 – WIN /NAP = 2 X 31X 36XXX 46. week 7 – WIN SURE NAP = 07 must 10.

The only permanent thing in life is ‘CHANGE‘ therefore you are advised to stay with your darling 2 in 1 , Experts.N25,000 = again .Good luck.

SUNDERLAND SYSTEM 09038460009= 26 NAP 28

WINNER MEMBERSHIP N50, 000.

ENGLISH SYSTEM BOOKLET N30, 000 4 Bankers N6, 000 Wk 04 No 5X 17X 27X 47X WITH 18X 24F 4. Bankers N6, 000 Wk 05 No 27X 28X 38X 39X WITH 28X 34X WK 07 NO NAP NAP NAP NAP WITH 20. 24 Two Bankers N3, 000 Wk 04 No 17X 27X PAIR 18X 24F Two Bankers N3, 000 Wk 05 No 27X 38X PAIR 31X 34X Two Bankers N3, 000 Wk 07 No Nap Nap Pair Nap Nap ENGLAND season release Sunderland system 4 special draws this week 7 RED cost N6, 000 two Bankers cost N3000 winner membership group A N50, 000 Hurry up to get your copy today. Send MTN Card= 09038460009

PRAGMATISM –

07036539499/090850276689

WEEK 6 – BETS= 02X 11X 14X 38X 41X= 5/5 WEEK 7 & WEEK 8 = NAP XX – XX – XX. Congrats to members of the Pragmatism International Club (P.I.C) on their success in week 6 with the above 5/5 NAPS. Read sporting News & Pools Telegraph for more details. Confirmed Draw Oracle. Goodluck

JOHN SUPER TIPS 34 CBK

Readers go all out with coupon No 34 CBK against our special 3 and 5 gazetted draws to be release next week 08 cost N10,000 and N20,000. Cash, call 09050512097.

MR BILLY – 08034970970

BANK – 34 OR 36 This week 7 and the first RED, number 34 OR 36 is a must as draws with other 2 bankers Cost N10,000. Don’t miss this golden opportunity. Good luck.

TOMMY NAP –

08035797661 (08 MUST 09)

Tottenham on watford at home on Nos 8 and controlled 3 undisputed draws as stakers relief. Welcome Nap = N10,000 Good luck.

LAST HOPE 2016=

08103222635= 36 NAP 39

WK 4 Purple No 14X 18X 28X 40X PAIR 44X 45F= N6, 000 Wk 05 BROWN NO 9X 10X 27X 38X PAIR 47X 48F= N6000 4. special draws N6,000 wk 06 No 2X 13X 14X 36X with. X X 4 SPECIAL DRAWS N6,000 WK 7 RED No NAP NAP NAP NAP with X X 4. Special Draw N6000 Wk 08 No. NAP NAP NAP NAP with X X wk 09 No NAP NAP NAP NAP with X X wk 10 No NAP NAP NAP NAP. Two Bankers N3000 wk 04 No 17X 18X PAIR 31X 35X Two Bankers N3,000 wk 05 No 9X 10X Pair. 38X39X N3000 Wk 06 2X 36X pair 14X 37F wk 07 No NAP NAP Pair xx Wk 08 No NAP NAP. Stakers try to get last Hope 2016. 4 special draws this wk 07 RED cost N6000 and two bankers cost N3000 following wk 08 RED to control 4. Special draws cost N6, 000 two bankers cost N3000 send MTN. card Card 08103222635.

SAM – AYO (25XX 32)

08109152433 14X 26X 38 NAP

Our week 6 success was the starting of our pronounced Nap for 3 weeks.

Call for another win spree this week 7.

Congrats again, call for details.

MALLAM BAWA MUSA TO SCORE AGAIN

08052506287 BET 36, 40

KEY: ROTHERHAM AT 11 AWAY UNDER THE BAR: WK. 5 = 42X, 43X, 45X. Stakers, my special key of Rotherham at No. 11 away under the bar is set again. In week 5, it brought and played 42X, 43X, 45X which I gave to all my customers. This week 7 Nap must draw 3/3 again. Cost N15,000 cash weekly, while membership of my winners club attracts a minimum deposit of N250,000 cash. This is your season to win. Do not be left out. Payments to Mallam Musa I. Bawa, accts No. 0042075587 Access Bank. Call 08052506287.

WEEK 7 STATUS

EKO – 08, 33 LKO – 04 , 20 SUNDAY MATCHES – 05, 10

VOID – 16

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE POOLS PAGE

THE WINNERS CHOICE GET A COPY AND WIN

MBA EXPERTS – 08104694618 PAIR – 27XX 48

Each of the 4 colours of coupon pool fixtures has one thing or ther other pinpointing naked draws . it is therefore , by accident of history that 48 is on board this week 07. 1st red as pair of 27. Peterboro maintaining its wk. 06 position the coast is crystal clear that the duo mean what it takes to ganner a draw. So far there had been mini clusters. That jinx MUST be broken Now .the sector being at leagues one / two for 3 weeks, back to back Carlislte on 36 is up to unravel intirrdating mysteries. Find out the clues Now via call/text on – 0810469468.good luck.

ISREAL BAIL OUT – 09085712800

STAKERS COMFORT = WITH BRENTFORD 3 WEEKS STARTING OF 2016/2017 U.K/SCOTTISH SEASON PERFECT KEY = BRENTFORD ON DATE OF PLAY IN WEEKS 4, 5 & 6 Week 4 = 31X 44X 14XXX ABERDEEN Week 5 = 31X 45X 28XXX ABERDEEN Week 6 = 31X 46X 41XXX – Wwek 4 addition 2 dates of play = 6+8 = 14XXX Week 5 the addition of 2 dates of play = 13+15 = 28XXX Week 6 the addition of 2 dates = 20+21 = 41XXX Winning continues at Bail out Naps. Our mission is to enrich all stakers for better deal in weeks 7, 8 and 10. Before we proceed on a brief recess, sorry for our last mis-interpretation on 31X 36X 38XXX. Lets do it together, winners celebrates, No need to change a winning team. Win to week 10 on our experts advice. Prosperity pay point N50,000.

ASSURES STAKERS OF BETTER DEAL IN 2016 NAZAR MASTER

The leading pools company in Oyo state and environs, NAZAR Master Pools Company Limited, Ibadan has unfolded its plan for 2016 with mouth – watering incentives and divided pay out top of the agenda. The company disclosed this in a statement made available to TRIBUNE pools during the week . according to the pools company ‘we have put in place huge dividend pay out on our Treble Change odd while winnings on our fixed odd shall be paid. Othe r incentives are in place for all stakeholders in the pools industry who are doing business with us. Therefore, stakers should continue to bet on our odds for bigger dividends.

BEST BARGAIN INTERNATIONAL 08092621480 WK 07 = 07XX 08XX 14XX

All stakers should say millions. Yes, that is our target in the next four weeks as the 2016/2017 U.K/Scottish football season continue to take shape. As the going get tough, only the tough gets going. If you need money, play the above game and start your journey to riches. Registration fee remains N250,000.

You must make use of this opportunity. The Bookmakers and the Pools Panel are just settling down. Stakers will see wonders when they are firmly on ground. This week game will be another disaster for promoters as we did in week 4. Call me on 08092621480 for further discussions and details.

NIDAS 08033510149

Wk 07 = 29 MUST 30, NAP, NAP, NAP=5/5 Stakers are welcome to the 2016/2017 U./K/Scottish season which promises to be a successful one with coded key at my disposal. The bookmakers have assured that from this week, promoters will be in trouble. The pair above will play with other gazetted draws making it 5/5. The game costs N25,000. Only deep can call to the deep and you should stop wasting your money. Contact only those with the current key. You are a millionaire already.

ADEOTI SYNDICATE 07051327960

BOLTON TO FORCE CHARLTON TO DRAW (24X Z-Z) Congratulation to those who come for our round one release week 06 . score 3 over 5. Nos 14X 19X 24F pair. 20F 38X. 3/5. I am sure that the remaining two weeks 07-08 will be better than the last week. With 4 others. The above banker CHARLTON – BOLTON on Number (24X Z-Z) with 4 others will give us good result. Send N10,000 cash each week to AHMED SHAFIRI A/C Nos – 2001788431 at ZENITH BANK and get your game after confirmation of your payment.

24XXXXXBK 24XXXBKZ-Z Draw must. Thank. Goodluck to you all.

AKANDE BANKS 33 SET FOR DRAWS IN WEEK 9

08025572554 BANKER 33XXX BK Akande Naps of Lagos State Nigeria assures stakers of his 3 draws on a special release in week 9 confirmed this after his arrival from Libya last weekend for my expert advice on my release this season. We promise to make our clients win heavy amount this current U.K season.

Mr Badmus from Ikare, Mr Femi in Lagos with Mr Sunday at Katsina and lost of others to vote as I got many calls since the beginning of the current U.K. season.

TRIPLE OFFER 39/40 (08035324990)

As the season kicks of, most teams are finding their feet. Some weaknesses are discovered and purchasing of players continues till the month end. We are glad to offer all lovers of pools coupon Nos 39/40. Add the pair to our 1Bk sells for N1,500.00 and 3 sure draws sell for N10,000.00 on 08035324990. Best of luck.s

HOPE NAPS & Co 08107128449 PAIR 12X22 MUST ON SATURDAY

HOPE WELCOME STAKERS AND ALL FANS TO 2016/2017 ENGLISH SEASON Please if you’ve never win Pool in life try Hope this week. Because, this is a blessing in pool history. That you must win big money in pools betting. Call Hope and pay to First Bank Plc Account No 3088328923 in person of Mr Gbadebo Stephen A. while the week release will be sent to you on phone (message). Remember wk 35. Please make sure your payments confirmed wk07 cost just N20,000.00 only. Please your winning pair is 22X 12 must on Saturday. God Bless. Thanks. Bye

GODWIN NAP – 08056829811 (08XX 02)

2016/2017 UK/SCOTTISH SEASON 2 – 2 WEEKS TABULATED Draws programe on Teams and Nos = 27X 28X Weeks 4 and 5 = X X X X = 4/4 Northampton, Fleetwood, Portsmouth and Aberdeen.

Weeks 6 and 7 = another 2 weeks Nap Must not on forcast but on newly unveiled draw management directives from our UK based Experts – N25,000 for wek 6 and N100,000 for week 7. Never miss this rear opportunity today. NB = played all the 4 teams and Nos last week. You are free to benefit from this week Nap with a regular fee of N25,000 in weeks 6 and 7 fixed draws on teams and Nos – Godwin and you will also win – stakers win – N25,000

COMFORTABLE HERITAGE INTERSCORE 3/3 WEEK ‘06’ RESULT: 26XX 36XX & 46X 3/3 WEEK 07:- (08065833138 = 19X 20 We congratulate all our members and numerous customers who have been patronizing us since the beginning of the current U.K Football season, we thank God that our week ‘6’ got 3 over 3 Nos:- 26XX, 36XX 46X 3/3 in blue colour system. In TROUBLE, as them The games are fully guaranted. We also congratulate you for week ‘4’ with GILHINGHAM at away no ‘22’ system which got nos 5XX, 17XX, 18XX, 43F SCORRING ¾. It is coming back WATCH out again. This week 07 grab Nos:21XX, 28XX, 19XX, 20X PLUS ‘3’ others Call = 09029416236 = 08065833138, Call DR. FEMI JOHNSON = 09029416236. Note ‘3’ draws this wk 7 cost N20,000 cash.

JACOBSON AGAIN – 07065292905 (22XX 02)

ANNUAL WIN WITH SHEFF UTD VS ROACHDALE = XX The two teams that controls our 3 weeks 5, 6, 7 Nap to welcome our clients back to England (2016/2017 UK Season) on Annual winning instruction = 2014/2015/2016 BROWN – BLUE = RED = WIN !!!

Week 9 – 2014 = 03X 20X 47XXX – 30X = 12drs.

Week 13 – 2015 = 02X 16X 40XXX – 32X – 8drs Week 5 – 2016 = 06X 27X 45XXX – 21X 34 = X Week 5, 9 and 13 fixed brown coloured coupon position of Sheff Utd in week 9 ‘2014 to draw in week 13 ‘2015 = 32XX and Sheff Utd position in 2015 to draw in 2016 = 29XX pair Sheff Utd and other fixed matches.

WEEK = 5, 6 and 7 Another confirmed NAP/WIN in scheduled for weeks 6 and 7 as stated and directed by our masters (Overseas Experts) WEEK 5 - 06X 27X 45XXX 34XX WEEK 6 – 19X 41X (36X) WEEK 7 – X X X = N50,000 – Goodluck.

AUTHORITY NAP – 09030084552 (02 MUST 08)

Bournermouth must Liverpool at away to form a super draws and other 3 fixed matches. Call for your winning details = N10,000 Goodluck.

Thursday, 25 - 31 August, 2016 ZENITH NAPS –

08146879314 (02 MUST 08)

REPEATED WINNING DIRECTIVE SUNDERLAND AND EVERTON Reference to week 7 2013 to 2016 FIRST RED ANNUAL WEEK 7.

Week 07’ 2014 = 03x 16x 41xxx 02x – 08.

Week 07’ 2015 = 10x 25x 36xxx 02x – 08.

Week 07’ 2016 = x x x - 02 MUST 08.

Its now your winning time to Zenith of wealth Week 7 = 1st Red coupon assured winning cost – N35,000. Good luck.

IKECHUKWU NAP –

08168157259 (48XX 44)

Another Annual week 7 RED Win= 10xx 11.

3 years cutting of Nos 10 and 11 in the premiership division and 22, 34, 46 in other divisions promotes 3 fixed draws and annual cluster draws.

Week 7’ 2014 = 11x 12x 13xxx – 44x 48x Week 7’ 2015 = 36x 37x 39xx = 44x 48x Week 7’ 2016 = X X X = 44x 48 Ikechucku is back to put smile on stakers faces. Trusted & Tested= N25, 000.

FANTASTIC MID – WEEK ON 2 DRS

ON 26XX – 31XX AS WE NOW OFFER 15/16 – (08087176217) The juicy Mid – Week International was really fantastically juicy last week in the 2BK series on 26XX – 31XX. This is a good omen as promised at the beginning of the season. Punters who really want to make it in pools are sincerely urged to pitch their tents with us. Our costs are moderate on N1,500.00 for 1Bk, N3,000.00, for 2 Bks and N10,000.00 for 3 draws. Call 08087176217 for details.

WINNER CODE 505= 08135637650= 41 NAP 46

U.K. SYSTEM TWO BANKERS N2000 WK 4 NO 2X 5X WK 5 NO 9X 10X WK

7 NO NAP NAP WK 07 NO NAP NAP wk 08 NAP NAP Wk 09 No Nap Nap Power x power two bankers N2000 wk 4 No 18X 28X wk 5 No 27X 28X Wk 07 No NAP NAP wk 08 NO NAP NAP wk 09 No NAP NAP Winner code 505 two Bankers N2000 Wk 04 No 17X 27X wk 05 No 3F 22F Wk 7 NO NAP NAP ADESURE Nap two Bankers N2,000 wk 4 No.17X 18X wk 05 No 34X 39X Wk 07 No NAP NAP wk 08 No NAP NAP wk 09 No Nap Nap. Stkers try to get winner code 505 Two Bankers this wk 07 RED cost N2, 000 cash winner code 505. Group 4. Special draws this wk 07 cost N25,000 wk 04 No 5X 17X 18X 27X= 4/4 wk 07 No Nap Nap Nap Nap we set for 5 wks operations wk 7.

8. 9, Send M.T.N. Card 08135637650.

DOSA 08072218844 36 PAIR 39

This is another week of good jackpot draws. With only N3,000 MTN recharge card, you will receive my 3 Nap draws and a pair this week 07. Dosa will prove himself as leader in the field of pool forecast again this week 07.

KING DAVID –

07069009601 (02XX 07)

02X 14X 41X 46XXX 30 Again King na King, our week 5, 6 and 7 Naps welcome to UK 2016/17 Season, Bitter Pills and Hammer blow. Welcome to the last round of our 3 weeks scheduled Naps to compliment our 3 weeks unstoppable Naps. Read our previous adverts for details. It pays to partnership with the Kings of draws the Associates Compilers on fixed matches as draws. Smile – Smile – Laugh = N50,000 = Goodluck

LEKE INTERNATIONAL – 09091798611

BANKER – NO 31 XXX CBK. Plus 2 others cost N20,000 cash call now for more details.

VIC – DESTINY U.K SEASON OPERATION

NAP/WIN ONGOING. CALL 09099813819 (03XX 49) WIN WK 5 NAP 10X 28X 30X PAIR 18F 31X = 4/5 WIN WK 6 NAP 10F 11X 26X PAIR 32F 33F = FAILED WIN WK 7 NAP NAP NAP = 3/3 PAIR 3X 49 = 100% WIN WK 8 NAP NAP NAP = 3/3 PAIR X X = 100% Please pardon me for week 6 failre. Get week 7 Nap/win 100% @ N20,000 weekly or receive weekly free Nap on registered with N150,000. Best of luck to you all.

NOTE – Please No Agent. Call or send SMS to 09099813819 to subscribe. God Bless you.

LABAEKA NAP – 36XX 34

Congrats our welcome Nap is set again and other 3 fixed draws.

Call for details on – 08053303522.

SAM–AYO – (25X 32) 08109152433 14X 26X 38 NAP

Our week 6 success was the starting of our pronounced Nap for 3 weeks.

Call for another win spree this week 7. Congrats again, call for details.

WINNING SOLUTION AS MOSES ELEVATE STAKERS 08072974729. TO ENRICH STAKERS IN WEEKS 4, 5, 6 AND 7.

WK 21 ’2015 — WK 04 ’2016 30X 27X 31X 28X ALT 27X31 ALT 27X31 WK 22 ’2015 — WK 05 ’2016 Shrewsbury —30x — 27x Scunthrope —31x — 28x Stoke —10x — 09x KEY = HAMILTON AT HOME 49=

WK 23 ’2015 — WK 06 CAMBRIDGE 37X 36X WEMBLEDON 33X 26X BURTON A 18X 11X FULHAM 08X 14X KEY — BROMLEY ON 48

LOVE BEST WK 05 X10X X30X PAIR X27X X28X

WINNING SOLUTION MOVE FORWARD

TWO BANKERS N4,000 WK 04 X18X X34X PAIR X02X X05X

WK 24 ’2015 — WK 07 ’2016 NAP — NAP NAP — NAP NAP — NAP KEY — ABERDEEN ON NO 47 = The above winning reference chat is to elevate all winning desired stakers.

NB: Last week winners are to pay = N100,000. New stakers to pay N50,000. Strictly on cash, No P.A.W. and much story. Welcome & Good luck. 08072974729

WK 06 X14X X36X PAIR X13X X16X

TWO BANKERS N4,000 WK 04 X17X X27X PAIR X31X F32F

WK 05 X34X X47X PAIR X25X F26F

WK 06 X19X X38X PAIR X02X F03F

SEND MTN CARD TO 08166222529, 08095602590.

NOW SET FOR WKS 7, 8, 9 AND 10.

KING OF CHAIN DRAWS= 08142362005= 08103222635= 11XX 12XX 7 NAP 24

Wk 05 BROWN No 25X 26F 27X 28X WITH 30X 31X Wk 06 BLUE No 35X 36X 37F 38X Wk 07 RED No Chain Chain Chain with Chain Chain Following wk 08. To control 3 Chain draws cost N7000= 08142362005, 08103222635= Wk 05= 2014 No 25 25X 26F 27X 28X PAIR 30X 31X cost N7, 000 wk 06 No 35X 36X 37F 38X WK 07 RED NO CHAIN CHAIN CHAIN CHAIN. Send MTN card= 08142362005= 08103222635.

JOSEPH INTER NAP – 08167278061

NAP 26X 36X 46XXX 06X16X - 2016 NAP 25X 35X 45XXX 05X15X - 2015 Week 33 ‘2015/16 and week 6 ‘2016 Following week Chelsea at home No 1 Week 34 ‘2016 and week 7 ‘2016 Tottenham at home No 8 and Southampton and Sunderland.

Wk 34’ 2016 – 20X 44X 46XXX 6X8X WK 07 2016 – X X XXXX 7X8X Check proof and call for your fixed draws of full payment as it was in week 33 2015/16. Your winning is crystal clear with us this week.

Congratulations – N25,000 = Goodluck.

DOUBLE SHUFFLE MAKES A DEBUT

ON 16 – 28 – 46 – 37/39 (09052942626) A grand welcome to all pools fans in this first red color week of the 2016/2017 English/Scottish Football season. We are welcoming you in style with 16 – 28 – 46 – 37/39 for good 4 super draws on Saturday. Same set sells for N25,000.00 next week. Join the winning team. Join double shuffle. Good luck! call us early next week on 09052942626.

NEW ERA AUTHENTIC WIN – 07088103080 (08X 25) WEEK 6 – 11X 19X 31XXX 38X= 4/4

BURTON A, BRIGHTON AND BRISTOL. C * BARNET Walsall on bar in weeks 6 and 7= Week – 6 – Wallsall vs Charlton= W + C= 23 + 3= 26xxx Week 7 – Walsall vs Bury= W + B= 23 += 25xxx Another fresh chilled edible served winning games awants you at New Era Authentic Win No story introduction to our old folks N30, 000= foundation win= Goodluck win= Goodluck.

MAGIC KINGDOM – 08056753098/07085060512

NAP – 17X 21X 38XXX PAIR 23 AND 26 In this week 7 (RED) coloured coupon as I promised before week 10. All my customers will / must be millionaire. With our special release in weeks 8 and 9 cost N25000 and all payments to Balogun Adesinan Kamoru. At Wema Bank A/C no- 0206965116 or FCM Bank a/c no 0279550010 and G.T.Bank a/c no – 0115505082. Registration as a member still in progress at N50,000.you may pay twice.

WEEK 06 XRAY

Congrats, another incredible win at Tribune pools page the winners choice. With excellent compilers. Last week our compilers promised good tidings and it was fulfilled. That is what makes a honest /reliable man. Bountiful winning dividends to all stakers that partnership with our pools Experts where draws are exposed freely for stakers. Our 2 free bankers Experts were Shadow and Olacity , Dr B4 Dr got his banker.and most of pair Experts got it right the likes of Luckyman, Acheiver, Godwin, Dr M.M Promise, Charity, Jackpot, Jacobson, Comfortable, Hope, 4member, Sir Micheal and Madam De Madam of Mr Joshua. fulfilled their pair promises. Our Compilers are ready to serve you better please appreciate them. Good luck.

FAITHFUL INTERVENTION - 07082899957

THE NEWEST HAPPENING IN POOLS HISTORY IN RECENT TIMES. BLUE —BLUE — BLUE. BOREHAM W — CHESTER = 26X 46X WEEK 18’ 2015 AND WEEK 6’ 2016 Starting of another 3 weeks directed naps – 13X 26X 46XXX. Week 18 2015 and wk.6’ 2016= 13X 26X 46XX. Week 19 2015 and wk.7’ 2016= X X X = 46/47 Week 20 2015 and wk.8’ 2016= X X X = 46 Week 21 2015 and wk.9’ 2016= X X X = 46 Watch Nos 46 and 47 as a free pair from week 18 to week 24 = 2015.Event makes history. Week 6 to 12 winning faithful win is undisputed as directed by our oversea draws manager – FAITH MISSION NAP N50,000 pin code 07082899957.

MAC – ANTHONY MUST DRAW 3/3

CALL 0806-904-8857 (PAIR 22X 32X) Congrats! Congrats!! Congrats!!!

I am using this medium to congratulate our few trials of last wk 06 who won 3/3 direct Nap on 13XX 19XX 35XX. Win week 07 again by God’s grace Nap Nap Nap = 3/3 cost N15,000 cash. U.K Season registration N200,000, while system book is available and affordable @ N40,000. Pay @ U.B.A 2029382770, Engr, Michael Akam. Winning is 100%

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH TEXT MESSAGE OF WRITE UP WITHOUT ADVERT IS REGARDED VOID . PLACE YOUR ADVERT FOR EFFECTIVE PUBLICATION OF YOUR FORECAST. THANKS POOLS EDITOR

PLACE YOUR ADVERT HERE

SIDELINES

NO 16,575

N150

THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST, 2016

I

T is a notorious fact that Nigeria has never funded its tertiary educational institutions properly and it never can, given the attitude of Nigerians to endowments, donations and gifts as well as the enormous social and economic challenges which the government is always faced with the limited and scarce resources which it has to apply and the attitude of Nigerians to donation or giving.

Two weeks ago I began a discussion of the principles and ideology behind the Rorary International and how the country as a whole can benefit if all Nigerians adopt the idea of selfless service which drives the activities of the group. Last week week I highlighted the numerous contributions of the group at the national and international levels. This week in order to place things in proper perspective as regards just why it is imperative that Nigerians imbibe this culture of giving I want to refer to a Lecture I delivered in 2010 at the occasion of the Alumni day of the Ibadan College of Medicine Alunmi Association tiled Philanthropy and Sustainable Development in which I stated as follows: “Government alone cannot reasonably be expected, particularly in the light of the world’s current economic realities, to improve the quality of life of everyone to the level which most people expect. Government alone cannot fix and repair every bad road or replace every worn out desk in every school or provide every single child or individual with the best medical facilities required. I must not be mistaken as saying that these are not objectives to which every government anywhere in the world should seek to achieve and surpass.

My contention simply is that our present realities make the attainment of such ideals difficult in the extreme. ..So what is the way out? The answer is Philanthropy.It is in recognition of this that philanthropy as a concept has been utilized by many, individuals and corporate institutions alike to help in wealth distribution or re-distribution as the case may be. ..To achieve this they have either set up foundations to carry out their objectives or chosen to be directly involved themselves in charity

OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D, D.Litt

afeonthursday

aareafe@gmail.com

An ideology worthy of emulation (3) work.”

Focus on education Rotary International operates one of such foundations referred to in my lecture. I will now discuss the work of ROTARY INTERNATIONAL in relation to qualitative Education.

Education is a serious business world over. Scholarships are giving to encourage the most brilliant minds. Funding is much an essential component of education as is training and research. In Nigeria, government educational institutions derive their income mainly from “government allocation” and in the case of private institutions, the Founder or other private institutions, grants, fees and donations from Nigerians. The problem with funding however is: that funding of education has always been extremely poor in Nigeria.

Nowhere is this challenge felt more than at tertiary institutions which include both government-funded and private.

The challenge of poor funding is indeed a formidable one as no tertiary educational institution or any educational at all can provide quality and functional education without adequate funding. Funding is at the heart of any serious academic enterprise and even when government is not able to fully support tertiary institutions, some institutions especially the private types have found alternative means of sourcing funds particularly through donations, endowments, and gifting. Universities have always utilized funding to pioneer research in existing and novel areas of academic enterprise.

In Nigeria, there are two main kinds of Universities, based on ownership struc-

Yobo signs for Kano Pillars FORMER Super Eagles skipper, Joseph Yobo has signed for Kano Pillars as an Ambassador of the League Management Company (LMC), and could make his debut during the Nigeria Premier League game against Sunshine Stars of Akure next Wednesday.

Four-time champions Pillars, FC IfeanyiUbah, Akwa United and Wikki Tourists were all in the race to sign the former Nigeria captain Yobo, who won 101 caps with

Deborah Faleke, 14, made two distinctions and six credits in the just released WASCE results, yet died after a high tension wire belonging to Ikeja Electric reportedly fell on her at Alakuko, Lagos, in May this year. For how long will Nigeria’s best and brightest continue to be wasted through criminal negligence?

the Super Eagles before he quit international football.

The Ex-Everton star signed a deal with the League Management Company (LMC), which will see him feature in the domestic league as a way of promoting and adding values to the competition.

The central defender has previously played for Turkish giants, Fenerbache, Olympique Marseille of France as well as Norwich City in the Premier League.

Mikel Obi celebrates his bronze medal with the Dream Team

ture; Universities could be Public or Private. Public Universities are practically founded by, and funded totally by allocation of funds from the government although grants and donations are not completely unknown. In the case of private Universities, the funding comes from the Founder which could be individual, churches or corporate bodies.

It is a notorious fact that Nigeria has never funded its tertiary educational institutions properly and it never can, given the attitude of Nigerians to endowments, donations and gifts as well as the enormous social and economic challenges which the government is always faced with the limited and scarce resources which it has to apply and the attitude of Nigerians to donation or giving.

The old saying is that nothing is big or small otherwise by comparison. Hence I will proceed to illustrate how and why universities in America and UK are ranked among the best in the world while our universities are ranked among the poorest.

FUNDING: FOREIGN AND NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES. Figure 1 2014 2015 UNIVERSITY TOTAL BUDGET ENDOWMENT/DONATIONS TOTAL BUDGET ENDOWMENT/ DONATIONS $ $ $ $ 1 Harvard University 4,369,900,000 1 , 6 9 1 , 2 5 3 , 0 0 0 4,463,089,000 1,735,151,000 2 University of Pennsylvania 6,610,522,000 1 7 5 , 5 8 0 , 0 0 0 7,119,997,000 193,417,000 3 Princeton University

1,566,267,000 8 3 , 8 7 3 , 0 0 0 1,621,075,000 88,023,000 4 Columbia University 3,842,982,000 3 4 6 , 9 2 8 , 0 0 0 4,020,887,000 353,242,000 5 Yale University 3,116,099,000 1,189,670,000 3 , 2 9 7 , 6 7 7 , 0 0 0 1,238,181,000 6 Brown University 771,305,000 2 2 8 , 5 0 6 , 0 0 0 808,665,000 241,417,000 7 Cornell University 3,514,366,000 3 8 1 , 1 3 6 , 0 0 0 3,636,631,000 320,956,000 8 Dartmouth College 866,743,000 1 8 8 , 5 4 6 , 0 0 0 876,247,000 214,225,000 9 Stanford University 7,924,146,000 1 , 1 8 1 , 3 9 6 , 0 0 0 9,051,276,000 1,291,747,000 £ £ £ £ 10 University of Oxford 1,174,400,000 3 0 , 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 1,429,300,000 25,200,000 11 University of Cambridge 1,504,000,000 2 5 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 1,638,000,000 25,500,000 12 University of London 151,030,000 3 , 4 5 7 , 0 0 0 144,264,000 3,820,000 The first column contains names of 12 universities. The second column contains the amount budgeted by each university in 2014 and the third column contains endowment and donations in dollars from public spirited people and alumni. The fourth column contains the budget in dollars for 2015. The fifth column contains endowment/ donation in dollars in 2015.

(To be continued).

Glo hails Dream Team over Rio 2016 bronze NATIONAL U-23 team ‘Dream Team VI’ has been commended for placing Nigeria on the medal’s table at the just-concluded 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil.

In a statement released on Tuesday in Lagos, the national telecommunication carrier, Globacom commended the team for making Nigeria and Africa proud in Brazil, as it was the only African football team which advanced to the semi-finals of the football event.

“We are d e -

lighted that the team recovered rapidly from their loss to Germany in the semi-final and rose to the occasion, winning the third place match, thus placing Nigeria on the medal’s table.

We cherish their fighting spirit which made Nigeria to earn the only medal at the tournament,” Glo said.

“We also congratulate the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on the moral support that propelled the team to victory,” Glo added.

The ‘Dream Team’ which defeated Honduras 3-2 in the third place match emerged as the third best team in the tournament after Germany which picked silver and Brazil which won the gold.

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: DEBO ABDULAI. All Correspondence to P.O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 25/8/2016.