Peoples Daily Newspaper, Thursday, May 03, 2012

Vol. 8 No. 29

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Jimadal Akhir 12, 1433 AH

N150

CBN accepts blame for capital market collapse

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday accepted institutional responsibility for the near collapse of the nation’s

capital market.

Deputy Governor in charge of Financial System Stability, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, admitted this before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee

investigating the market’s dismissal performance in recent years. “CBN accepts blame as an institution”, he told the lawmakers.

Moghalu, however, said that

the N620 billion stabilization fund given to some banks was justifiable, explaining that the money has been returned to government coffers.

The CBN deputy governor

admitted that manipulation took place in the market which breached the Investments and Security Act, adding that there was the possibility that the Contd on Page 2

Subsidy scam

Presidency dismisses House report as shallow

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

T

he Presidency, under tremendous pressure to implement the report of the House of Representatives ad

hoc Committee on the subsidy fund scam that indicted several public officers, may not have received it after all, Peoples Daily learnt yesterday.

Even so, it has dismissed the

report as shallow and selective.

Since the House adopted the report a fortnight ago, pressure has been mounting on President Goodluck Jonathan to act on it to demonstrate his sincerity about

the war on corruption.

However, Special Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak, told newsmen yesterday in Abuja that contrary to reports that the president was

reluctant to act on the report’s recommendations, he was yet to get any report from the National Assembly.

He lamented that some Contd on Page 2

L-R: Director General, Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, and CBN Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability (FSS), Dr. Kingsley Moghalu, when they appear before the House ad hoc Committee investigating the collapse of the Nigerian Capital Market, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Pilot escapes as Air Force Man attempts drowning jet crashes in Kaduna 8-year-old stepdaughter >> PAGE 2

>> PAGE 4

Bomb detectors flood Kaduna fair

Nigeria’s total debt now N6.88 trillion, says DMO

>> PAGE 5

>> PAGE 19

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Earth

28

Newsxtra

29

Pilot escapes as Airforce jet crashes in Kaduna

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Nigerian Air Force F7-Ni single seat fighter jet, on a routine training exercise, crashed yesterday close to the Kaduna International Airport.

This is contained in a statement by Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, Director, Air Force Public Relations and Information.

The statement said the pilot on board the aircraft ejected safely.

A search and rescue team from the Nigerian Air Force 301 Flying Training School, Kaduna, immediately rescued the pilot who is in a stable condition, the statement said.

The statement said the pilot

was receiving treatment at the Nigerian Air Force Aero Medical Hospital, Kaduna.

It further said that no fatality was reported on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Umar has ordered an investigation to ascertain the

cause of the accident.

The statement also announced the death of retired Air Vice Marshal John Yisa-Doko, Chief of Air Staff from 1975-1980.

He died on Tuesday after a brief illness, the statement said, adding that burial arrangements would be announced later. (NAN)

Jonathan denies Okah’s allegations Gunmen attack

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday made an express denial of allegations by ex- militant, Henry Okah, which linked him to the Independence Day bombing of the Eagels Square in 2010.

The President who spoke through his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, said, “these allegations are false in their entirety and without any factual foundation”.

“The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to reports in the media of allegations made against President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in an affidavit said to have been sworn to by Mr. Henry Okah who is facing trial in South Africa for his involvement in terrorist acts against the Federal Republic of

Nigeria.

“As the case of Mr. Okah’s involvement in the plotting and execution of terrorist attacks in Nigeria is already before a court of competent jurisdiction in South Africa, the Presidency does not intend to say anymore on the matter for now and will, in accordance with due process and international law, make a full representation on the matter to the court when the trial opens,” he said.

The President also appealed to the Nigerian media, “to respect the sanctity of the legal and judicial processes in this matter and avoid becoming willing tools in the hands of Mr. Okah and his agents in an entirely diversionary trial by the media aimed only at falsely impugning the character and integrity of the President and officials of his administration.”

Potiskum cattle market From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

G

unmen yesterday attacked the largest cattle market in Potiskum, Yobe state but were repelled by the traders.

Reports indicate that the attack started at about 5.45 p.m. and did not cease until about 6.30 p.m.The attack is believed to be a reprisal by a group, which lost a member recently from machete cuts inflicted by the cattle traders who foiled to rustle a cow.

Earlier yesterday, gunmen had attacked the market, snatching a dealer’s money and one cow, but luck ran out on them as they were apprehended by the cattle traders.

One of the robbers was beheaded and his body burnt while another remained in the traders’

IGP M.D. Abubakar custody.Later that evening, the market came under fire followed by a huge explosion.Witnesses say six people were killed in the attack, but when contacted, the office of the Yobe state commissioner of police in Damaturu said it was not aware of the incident.

Presidency dismisses House report as shallow Yakowa dumps postelection violence probe report, says recommendations not implementable, Page 3

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU The Peoples Daily wants to hear from you with any news and pictures you think we should publish.

You can send your news and pictures to: letters@peoplesdaily-online.com pictures@peoplesdaily-online.com contact@peoplesdaily-online.com

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

Contd from Page 2 prominent people had started calling for civil unrest based on the notion that President Jonathan did not want to act on the report.

Gulak said: “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been given the mandate to go into the matter and you will recall that not too long ago, Mr. President approved the appointment of Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, former EFCC Chairman to help sanitize the oil

and gas sector.

“The president is determined to do more if he is given the necessary support by Nigerians.”

The aide appealed to the House to endeavour to get to the root of the subsidy regime as it would add to the credibility of its committee’s assignment, saying “it looks like the probe is targeted at some individuals.”

He wondered: “Why did they not invite Rilwanu Lukman? He was the minister of petroleum resources during the period

covered by the probe. Where is Mohammed Barkindo who was the Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at the time?

“Where are the other key actors who were at the vanguard of the subsidy regime?

The House of Representatives must probe these individuals before we can truly say they are doing the right thing, otherwise the report will lack credibility. What is worth

doing at all is worth doing well.”

Furthermore, he said: “Yes, money has been stolen in NNPC and we have to get to the root but in doing that we must go back to when it all started.

“At what point did things go bad? Mr. President is even the one that is saying no more stealing with the subsidy regime and that it must stop. How can he then turn around and sit on something that will help him sanitize the sector?

“People should not allow themselves to be used to promote the political agenda of some selfish individuals.”

CBN accepts blame for capital market collapse Contd from Page 2 regulatory agencies at the time failed to supervise the market.

Although he said that the capital market crash, especially in the banking sector, was a consequence of a global economic meltdown, Moghalu admitted some banks manipulated their shares to reflect liquidity even when they were financially insoluble.

He particularly mentioned that those banks involved in share buy-back included Afribank, Intercontinental Bank and Finbank which engaged stockbrokers to mop up their shares to give a false impression of financial solubility.

Moghalu also admitted that the CBN, as an institution, failed in its responsibility to supervise the banks, submitting, however, that the CBN and other

supervisory agencies have learnt a lesson from the experience. He announced that a committee consisting of the CBN, SEC, PenCom, AMCON and other related agencies has been formed to coordinate activities in the banking sector to avoid a repeat of the mistakes of the past.

The House Committee, however, rejected Moghalu’s claim that the N620 billion bailout fund has been repaid by the banks, insisting on having documentary evidence. The lawmakers equally asked why the failed banks were nationalized.

Responding, Moghalu insisted that the CBN never nationalized the eight banks that were financially distressed, noting that what the apex bank did was to bridge them in order to protect depositors’ money.

He added that if the CBN had

failed to rescue the banks, the nation’s financial system would have collapsed totally. “This was a systemic crisis that required systemic intervention or else the entire financial system would have collapsed”, he explained.

Moghalu argued that the central bank all over the world has a responsibility to print currencies to inject into the banking sector in order to rescue recessive and collapsing banks.

He clarified that it was not all the banks in Nigeria that were guilty of the infractions that negatively affected the capital market, insisting that only the eight banks that were later bridged by the CBN were involved in the sharp practices that weakened the market.

Moreover, he explained that the apex bank’s primary responsibility was not to regulate

the capital market, and so should not be held accountable for any regulatory failure in the market.

He also stated that it was not the statutory responsibility of CBN to bail out the capital market in time of distress.

Regarding the high interest rates charged by the country’s commercial banks and the adverse consequences for investors, Moghalu promised that the CBN would issue a new guide on bank charges to ensure that customers are not frustrated out of business.

He said the creation of the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) was a major step in stabilizing the financial system, adding that the intervention of the company made it possible for all the nation’s banks to enjoy less than 5% nonperforming loans.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 3

SSS nabs alleged supplier of bomb making chemicals in Kano From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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peratives of the Department of the State Security (DSS) in Kano state have apprehended a middle aged man for allegedly supplying combustible chemicals used to prepare improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Parading the suspect identified as Malam Ayuba Usman at the

state headquarters of the SSS in Kano before newsmen yesterday, the State Director, Mr. Bassey Etang, disclosed that the suspect was arrested following information they gathered from some suspects in the custody of security personnel.

Etang said preliminary investigation indicated that Usman who was arrested from a market in Kano had been

supplying the highly inflammable chemicals mainly used to prepare IEDs used for the recurrent attacks on military and civilian targets mostly in the North.

The SSS chief added that his men are carrying out investigations aimed at unraveling the chain of the suppliers of such high caliber chemicals that have been used to produce bombs connected to the

killing and maiming in Kano and across the country.

The state director of SSS paraded a total of 35 drums of the high explosive materials seized from the suspect along with white powdery but deadly combustible substances adding that Usman’s store in Kano has been seized and sealed off by the SSS, while some high profile suspects linked to purchases in the shop are being

trailed..

“This suspect we are parading today, we gathered from our investigations that he has links with some extremist elements whom he provides these explosive making chemicals to.

“In fact the suspects confessed to us, they gave us vivid description of the suspect, his shop number and that is how we went to apprehend him. Investigations are ongoing and I can assure you, we will get to the root of the matter, because we are carrying out a detailed investigation”, he said.

CBN amendment bill passes second reading

By Umar Mohammed Puma

T

L-R: Abe 1 Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom of Delta state, His Royal Majesty Emmanuel Sideso, Lamido of Adamawa, Dr. Muhammad Barkindo Aliyu Mustapha and Head of Bassa, Plateau state, His Royal Highness Adamu Adiwu Utu Ugokiche, during the 5th National Development Summit of Traditional Rulers, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Yakowa dumps post-election violence probe report From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

S

everal months after it received findings of the judicial commission of inquiry which probed the postApril 2011 presidential election riots, the Kaduna state government may have resolved to dump the report, according to a competent government source.

The source quoted Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa as describing the recommendations as un-implementable.

Government had empanelled

the Justice Mohammed Lawal Bello commission after the riots which claimed several lives in various parts of the state.

Leading other members of the Commission, Justice Bello had submitted the report to Yakowa on September 13, 2011 and urged government to implement the report as it may check recurrent violent upheavals in the state.

The source hinted that the report indicted a number of prominent politicians and religious leaders and recommended their immediate

arrest and prosecution.

Further investigations also indicated that the report also urged government to give monetary compensations to victims of the violence.

It was also said to have estimated the cost of compensations of the affected persons to be in excess of about N14 billion.

The source explained government’s “deliberate” decision to ignore the report, arguing: “How do you expect government to go about ordering

the arrest and prosecution of these people? Such action is most likely to spark off another round of violence which may even be greater than the original one.

“These are people you cannot touch even though it is quite clear that they might have in one way or the other contributed to the violence…”

“I think the idea is that government may be trying to avoid a situation where a section of the people would feel that they are being persecuted and you know the damage that can cause.”

he House of Representatives yesterday passed the bill to amend the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act 2007 No. 7 through second reading.

The bill which provides for the appointment of a person, other than the Governor, as the chairman of the board of the bank, excluded deputy governors and directors as members of the Board of Directors. It also seeks to divest the board of the power of consideration and approval of the annual budget of the bank. The bill will bring transparency, check and balances in the day to day administration and operations of the bank.

Rep. Adams Jagaba (PDPKaduna) while contributing on the debate, said the amendment was necessary giving the appointment of chairman and members of the board, who are responsible for policy formulation in the bank. He noted that out of the 12 members of the board, only the Accountant General of the Federation and the representatives of the Ministry of Finance were from outside the CBN. The lawmakers unanimously agreed that the bill was timely because of the lacuna discovered in the Act. Members who contributed to the debate said the amendment would restructure the salaries and wages of the staff of the bank inconformity with the Salaries and Wages Commission.

The bill was referred to Committees on Banking and Currency, and that of Justice.

Man, 18, gets 10-year jail over counterfeit currency Kaduna Police College sacks 234 recruits over fraud

By Lambert Tyem, Abuja & Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

J

ustice M.T. Salihu of the Federal High Court, sitting in Bauchi, yesterday, sentenced 18-year-old Adamu Abubakar, a.k.a. Damina Suruku, to 10 years imprisonment.

According to Wilson Uwujaren, Ag. Head, Media and Publicity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abubakar was found guilty on all the fourcount charges for dealing, altering and being in possession of fake Nigerian currency notes, which are charges brought against him by the EFCC. He was however given an option of N365,000 fine.

Adamu was arrested on March 19, 2012, at Darazo market in Bauchi state while trying to spend a fake N500 Nigerian currency with an orange seller in the market.

In a submission, counsel to the accused, Sarah K. K. Peters, prayed the court to be lenient with the accused who had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him by the EFCC. She told the court that the convict is a young and promising youth, who was ignorantly lured into the crime by his uncle now at large. She urged the court to take cognisance of the fact that Adamu was repentant and remorseful; the breadwinner of his family with aged parents.

T

he Police College, Kaduna says it has discharged 234 recruits for failure to meet the basic entry requirements of the institution.

Commandant of the college, Mr. Sunusi Rufai, a Commissioner of Police, disclosed this while addressing newsmen in Kaduna yesterday.

Rufai said the college had discovered that some of the students were “lepers; some had sight problems”, while others had no basic entry requirements for the 15-month training.

He said that 234 of the 5,000 recruits had been expelled for being lepers, partially blind, falsification of credentials and several

inimical acts, which contravened police training requirements.

“Someone that you will train to become a police officer and to trust with a gun you caught him with knife stabbing his fellow trainees; it shows he is not fit to be a policeman.

“We found some of them stealing their fellow trainees' luggage and we caught them but we did not take them to court. We just allowed them to go”, he said.

He said some of recruits absconded and returned and “we said no, training school is not like conventional university.

“Some of them were caught smoking Indian hemp, while some others were found too short in terms of height. ’’

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 4

Kaita LG distributes N6m drugs From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

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aita local government council in Katsina state has procured drugs worth N6.3 million and distributed them to health facilities in the area under its free-drug programme.

Caretaker chairman of the local government, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankaba, who disclosed this while launching the distribution of the drugs in Kaita, explained that 50 health facilities comprising comprehensive health centres, primary health centres and health clinics across the area would benefit from the drugs.

Similarly, the chairman said N3.3 million worth of the drugs were for the treatment of malnourished children and pregnant mothers so as to reduce

infant and maternal mortality and morbidity in the area, adding that other drugs worth N3 million were for the treatment against other diseases, he added.

The caretaker chairman also distributed food items and sewing machines worth N160,000 to HIV/AIDS patients whose husbands died in the area.

He assured that the local council would continue to assist such HIV/AIDS clients so as to ensure the up-bringing of their children.

Dankaba who expressed the council’s continued commitment to effective healthcare delivery, urged health workers in the area to ensure judicious use of the drugs, saying, “We will not condone act of abusing the freedrug programme.”

Zazzau Emir tasks community leaders on peace From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna

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he Emir of Zazzau and Chairman Kaduna State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Shehu Idris has called on community leaders to do everything possible within their domain to ensure that peace prevailed among their subjects.

He gave the advice during the installation ceremony of Malam Ismaila Bello Akogun as the Wakilin (Gago) of Bassa-Nge Community in Kaduna, where he said there cannot be any meaningful development in the absence of peace.

Represented by the Hakimin Doka, Alhaji Bala Tijjani Muhammed, the traditional ruler said peaceful co-existence should be the business of all and urged that all hands must be on

T

he Kwara State University, Malete, (KWASU) has been closed down over protest by aggrieved students of the institution against the ViceChancellor, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah for not heeding their request.

Peoples Daily gathered that the aggrieved students, who set bonfire in and outside the campus, wanted the VC to allow them to participate in the forthcoming examination despite not completing the payment of their school fees.

The students who had dialogued with the ViceChancellor on many occasions without any result, resorted to protest and public disturbances.

But the school management in a statement signed by the registrar, Mrs. Modupe O. Akinrinmade stated that the management of Kwara State University had orderd all students of the university to proceed on break.

She added that the

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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middle-aged man, simply identified as Mr. Monday is in police net at the Airport road police station in Benin City, Edo state for allegedly drowning his eight year step-daughter, Favour Monday in a well located at Oko Agricultural Development Programme, ADP, forest at the outskirt of Benin on Tuesday.

The eight-year-old pupil of Ukhegie Primary School, Owina in Benin City, who was clad in her school uniform was said to have been lured away by her step-father under the pretence of buying confectionaries before

accompanying her to school.

Peoples Daily gathered that Mr. Monday rather took the victim to a far away neighbourhood and allegedly pushed her into a well.

Mr. Festus Aimebinomo, a good neighbour, who claimed to be passing by, said that he heard an indistinct voice and was shocked to discover the dastardly act which prompted him to jump into the well.

Aimebinomo quoted the little girl as saying: “I dey die Oh…Immediately I just made a u-turn and came back, I saw this young girl…I just lifted her out and laid her on the ground. Water was gushing out from her eye,

nose, mouth and everywhere’, He said, Miss Favour’s school bag turned the life jacket that prevented her from dying before his intervention, Miss Favour and her mother, Christiana Monday who could not mutter much words, said they are at loss over the dastardly act.

State Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Inumidun Idehen, said, the alleged culprit has been handed over to the police for prosecution.

Mrs. Idehen disclosed that, the victim has been taken to an undisclosed hospital for medical examination but did not rule out witchcraft allegation.

deck to ensure peace in their various communities.

He lamented the spate of violence and insecurity in the country and called for prayers from all and sundry for peace in our nation and touch the hearts of evil doers.

Emir Idris further charged all to be more security conscious in this trying times, adding that the movement of suspected individuals should be reported to the appropriate authorities.

The newly installed Gago of Bassa-Nge community, Kaduna, Malam Ismaila Bello Akogun in his vote of thanks, assured of the corporation of his subjects and to do all within his powers to ensure that peace reigned in Kaduna state and the country at large.

KWASU closed down over student unrest From Olanrewaju Lawal,Ilorin

Man attempts drowning 8-year-old stepdaughter

resumption date would be communicated later saying “Students are therefore, advised to vacate the hostels latest by 2p.m. today, Wednesday, May 2, 2012.”

The Vice-Chancellor in an interview with journalists explained that “We have to do that unfortunately because we want to make sure that there is peace in the campus. There are some students who did not register for this academic year.

As you know in any university, when you come in, the first two weeks or so are for registration.

And if you register then, you take courses. We have students who have not registered. We however, continued to reopen registration many times. I also opened communication with them and encouraged them to register.

He disclosed that the school would not be closed too long stressing that the management would decide when to call them back for the examination which they were supposed to take on May 5, 2012.

L-R: Bauchi state Commissioner for Rural Development, Alhaji Ubati Mohammed, Commissioner for Special Duties, Alhaji Bappah Azare, and the state Governor, Malam Isa Yuguda, during official visit to the new Muslims burial ground, yesterday on Kangere Road in Bauchi.

Photo: NAN

FEC endorses river port for Lokoja

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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he Federal Executive Council (FEC), has awarded three major contracts in the transport sector aimed at generating about 400 professional and non-professional jobs.

According to the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku who briefed State House correspondents after yesterday's meeting, the projects were approved sequel to memo brought to Council by the Minister of Transport, Senator Umar Idris.

They are to be executed by the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

The first project is the construction of Inland River Port at Jamata near Lokoja, which Maku noted was one of the key commercial centres along the Lower Niger. It was awarded in the sum of N4,112, 346, 572.26 billion and is expected to be completed in 57 weeks.

"The project when completed

will open up the hinterland to the coastal ports and ease the process of evacuation of agricultural produce, petroleum products, bulk cargoes and also distribution of essential imports," the minister said.

FEC also approved the dredging of the channel along Orashi River from Oguta Lake in Imo state to Degema in Rivers state in the sum of N2, 028, 600, 000.00 billion.

The dredging which will cover 205 kilometres length, is expected to be completed in 12 months.

"This will aid transportation and commerce in the area. The project will generate 90 professional and non-professional jobs", the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris who briefed along Maku added.

The last project is Shore Protection/Dredging Reclamation of land along the Niger. The communities affected are in Delta, Edo and Kogi states.

The contract is in favour of Evomec Global Services Limited in the sum of N2, 128, 466, 655.00 with a completion period of 8 months.

According to Senator Idris, "the project when completed will prevent continuous erosion of community lands and destruction of properties; ensure the restoration and reclamation of degraded berthing areas and community markets, create fresh employment opportunities; and enhance the effectiveness of Inland Water Transportation and promote socio-economic activities in affected communities".

It is also expected to generate 282 professional and non professional jobs.

Council also ratified Nigeria's membership of African Tax Administration Forum, which the Minister of Finance, Ngozi OkonjoIweala who presented the memo noted would create room for crossfertilisation of ideas on tax management.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Al-makura inaugurates contract verification committee From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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committee to verify contracts in Nasarawa state awarded between 2007 and 2011, has been inaugurated by Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura.

Inaugurating the 13-man committee yesterday at the Government House, Lafia, the governor stated that it has become necessary to set up the committee considering that local contractors owe the state government to the tune of N10bn and there is the need to verify such claims.

While observing that some of the claims by contractors may seem bogus, “with some of the contracts hastily reviewed hours to handing over”, he however stated that the exercise is not a witch hunt aimed at punishing anyone in particular but a necessary step towards ascertaining claims by contractors and service providers.

“The volume of debts owed by local contractors, if not carefully verified, is enough to push the state under.” Al-makura warned.

He urged the committee members to discharge their duties selflessly, without fear or favour, adding that members were selected based on their records in their various fields of endeavour.

Responding on behalf of the appointees, Engr. Sule Danladi, chairman of the committee, thanked the governor for considering them fit to undertake the task and promised that the committee will do a good job and leave a legacy behind for the future, stressing that while it is only right for government to have true value for all claims, it is also appropriate that the committee remains fair to all contractors and claimants.

The committee which has one month within which to submit its report, has its terms of reference among others to include; to appraise all contracts awarded with a view to determining those already awarded for the purpose of construction or for the purchase of goods and services on a benchmark of N50 million and above between 2007 and 2011.

PAGE 5

Bomb scare causes traffic gridlock at Lagos airport From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

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ravellers and workers had difficulty getting access into the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos yesterday as operatives of the anti-bomb squad, the police and security personnel of BiCourtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) managers of the MMA2 Terminal put all vehicles to check with metal detectors as a result of a bomb alarm raised at the facility.

Some passengers, especially those who had flights to board in the early hours had to trek some

meters to the terminal in order not to miss their flights.

Our correspondent who was caught up in the gridlock observed that the anti-bomb squad attached to the local wing of the airport had to rely on the BASL security metal detectors to carry out their checks on the hoard of vehicles that plies that route especially when work resume yesterday after the May Day celebration.

A passenger who simply identified himself as Chukwuemeka, decried the crude manner the anti-bomb squad carried out the exercise when they left the bulk of the work to the Bi-

Courtney security.

He said “this is most absurd, the anti-bomb squad who were supposed to actually check the vehicles themselves did not take the bomb scare seriously otherwise they wouldn’t have allowed the Bi-Courtney security to carry out the checks. It is even pathetic that they don’t have their own working tools as you can see they rather choose to look into the booths of the cars, this is a crude method of carrying out checks when they are supposed to be fully equipped.”

However, in a telephone interview, the Police Commissioner

in charge of the airport, Mr. Olatunji Caul Crick, said the exercise became imperative due to security reports received by the command which indicated a possible bomb attack at the busy facility.

Crick said it is a normal routine as the police will not leave anything to chance in ensuring a seamless travel experience for airport users affirming that the police have been ordered to carry out checks whenever the need arise.

The checks led to a vehicular holdup that stretched up to about a kilometer into the Ikeja axis of the airport.

Metal, bomb detector traders flood Kaduna fair

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L-R: Minister of Environment, Hajiya Hadiza Mailafiya, Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yarima Ngama, and FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Nasarawa workers to be promoted after passing exams From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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orried by low productivity among civil servants in the state, the Nasarawa state government has adopted the Federal Government’s policy on promotion, compelling workers in the state seeking elevation to higher levels must pass qualifying examinations.

Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura, disclosed this in a speech he delivered on Tuesday on the

occasion of this year’s Worker’s Day celebration, held at the old parade ground, in Lafia, the state capital, adding that the head of civil service has already been directed to work out modalities for the implementation of the policy.

Al-makura stated that the measure has become necessary because some public servants in the state have continued to exhibit poor attitude to work with consequent low productivity, stressing that such negative attitudes manifest in late coming,

early closure from office and general lack of commitment to duty.

The governor stated the resolve of his administration to reinvigorate the public service for enhanced productivity and service delivery, by evolving a robust training and retraining programme for civil servants in the State that is intended to expose workers to new trends in administration and management techniques in consonance with global best practices.

etal and bomb detector traders at the ongoing 33rd Kaduna International Trade Fair are enjoying a boom in view of the security challenges in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some institutions and security outfits were seen at the trade fair purchasing metal scanners and bomb detector machines.

NAN observed that over 23 people have so far visited the metal and bomb detectors' pavilions, while some were ordering for various gadgets that were not readily available at the fair.

Prices of the materials vary from N4,000 to N120,000 depending on make and sophistication.

A cross section of visitors to the fair told NAN that the high demand for the materials resulted from the security situation in the state.

Mr Felix Agwo, said at one of the pavilions that the detectors were necessary to assist security operatives adding that this was part of the social responsibility packages of the organisation to protect its members.

Mr. Dabot Kamal, of the Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC), told NAN that the recent spate of terrorism had contributed to defending and protecting the various organisations.

“Most customers go to where they would be secured and we are ensuring our best to secure our customers.” (NAN)

How we killed killers of Katsina FMC director, by Ali Kwara From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

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popular robber-hunter, Alhaji Ali Kwara, has given a graphic account of how he tracked down and killed two daredevil robbers suspected for the recent killing of an assistant director, finance of the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, Alhaji Kabir Yahaya.

Ali Kwara who made the

disclosure in an Interview with our correspondent yesterday in Katsina, noted that he worked on intelligence provided by a prime suspect to trace the assailants along Katsina-Charanchi road, where he said after a shootout with the police and his team, the two robbers were killed.

“His family gave us the serial number of the gun owned by the late director carted away by the assailants during an attack on his

house. And when we killed these armed robbers we found them in possession of the gun and that was why we concluded they are the ones who killed him. We killed them none of them was captured alive”, he added.

According to him, this gang was the one terrorising the people of Katsina state, adding that one of them now in captivity had confessed to be responsible for multiple robberies in Batsari, Dutsin-ma,

Mani, Karofi and Yandoma.

He said: “The first robber now in captivity who is from Zamfara state has given us information that his gang was responsible for over 50 robbery incidents in Katsina state. They have also disclosed to us those assisting them with arms and we are on their trail”.

The popular hunter lamented that 80 percent of those facilitating the release of arrested armed robbers were Hausa-Fulani,

stressing that the government must be steadfast in checking the indiscriminate release of armed robbers.

He similarly advised governments at all levels to monitor closely the huge funds they release in the name of improving security, stating “if governments would not monitor the money it releases in the name of security then it should stop bothering itself on the issue of security”.

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

NASS members blamed NAFDAC to re-certify for poor dev in Tangaza food companies I M From Sadeeq Aliyu, Sokoto

embers of the National Assembly representing Tangaza local government area in Sokoto state have been blamed for their inability to make any positive impact in the lives of the people they represent at both the upper and lower chambers of the federal

legislature.

Sokoto state council chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Labaran Lumo Dundaye who made the remarks when a team of journalists visited the area on assessment tour, observed that the legislators have failed to bring about any federal project in the local government which he described as inimical to democracy.

Dundaye challenged all political office holders in the area to have a rethink and focus on development of their locality.

In his brief remark after the visit, the local government chairman, Mohammed Sahabi said he had so far constructed 25 mosques and 13 cemeteries while equipment for community development worth N5 million were purchased.

n a bid to safeguard the health of Nigerians, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says it plans to re-certify food manufacturing companies in the country.

The Director-General of the agency, Dr. Paul Orhii, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday that the essence was to ensure they adhered to high quality hygiene practices.

“We are inspecting food facilities all over the country, we will recertify them, we will make sure they conform to good hygiene practices.

“And I think we will try to make sure that they are properly fortified with macro-nutrient, so that we safe guard the health of Nigerians.

“The only problem we have in the food industry is that, there are food products that are very cheap, for example, a package of biscuit that cost just about N10, and you want to verify and the verification

may cost about 15 naira, most people will not pay for that because it will raise the cost of that biscuit to 25 naira.

“So, we are trying to explore how to use the same technology in protecting the food industries without re-curing this extra cost. " Speaking on the importance of water to life, the NAFDAC boss said the agency had already begun the re-certification of water packaging factories.

Orhii also said the agency was taking adequate measures to ensure that packaged water factories met the minimum Nigeria Industrial Standard (NIS) for producing portable water.

He noted that the consumption of contaminated water could cause diseases such as diarrhoea and typhoid fever, among others.

The NFDAC D-G urged Nigerians to verify the expiry dates and NAFDAC registration number on products before buying them. (NAN)

Kebbi pilgrims agency prepares for 2012 Hajj

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L-R: Nigeria Police officers, ASP Mayowa Ojerinde, CSP Rex Dundun, CSP Zainab Pembi, and SP S.C. Mbali, who arrived at the operations headquarters of the AU Mission in Somalia (Amisom), yesterday to inspect facilities for possible deployment of a Nigerian police force contingent to Mogadishu, Photo: NAN

Election violence: People, govt are both losers, says don From Lawal Sa'idu Funtua, Katsina

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rofessor Shehu Dalhat of the Centre for Democratic Studies, Mambayya House, Bayero University, Kano has observed that the people and government were the major losers of the electoral violence that followed the 2011 general elections.

The don made the observation yesterday, in Katsina at a workshop on voter education organised for some selected principals of public schools in Katsina state by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. According to him, "if government structures

are destroyed or if people's property are destroyed and government has to be made to pay compensation, ultimately it is the people that are suffering from their own actions".

Professor Dalhat stressed that with good voter education, violence would be over, adding “we should try to impart information, knowledge about voting activities and the voting process. With this people would be better informed".

He similarly said that with voter education clubs in public schools, they would greatly assist in enlightening the students and the neighbouring environment on democratic practices which he

argued would minimise ignorance which translates into voter apathy and violence.

In a remark, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner for Katsina state, Alhaji Abubakar Wara, stated that the voter education was aimed at creating a climate of knowledgeable participation by all potential voters in an election as well as casting their votes with confidence.

Wara disclosed that a total number of 103 secondary school principals were selected for the voter education workshop which he said was the first phase as according to him, attempt would be made to cover the remaining schools later.

Overbloated workforce worries Tureta LG From Sadeeq Aliyu, Sokoto

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he Chairman of Tureta local government in Sokoto state, Alhaji Bello Sarki Ibrahim, has explained that the major challenge facing the administration of his council is over-staffing and redundant workforce.

Speaking to newsmen who toured the area yesterday, Ibrahim said in the last eight months, his council had received statutory allocation of N548.8 million out of which N222 million

went for salaries and allowances paid to 2,600 staff he inherited from the previous council.

He said he initiated a verification exercise to ascertain genuine staff at local government level but had to stop it when the state government came up with similar exercise to trim down the work force.

The chairman however said he was able to execute developmental projects worth over N228 million which include purchase of hospital equipment at N9.8 million, repairs of boreholes

at N8.5 million and construction of Tureta-Bella bridge at N29 million among others.

Earlier, the chairman of NUJ Sokoto council Labaran Lumo Dundaye told the local government chairman that his members were out to exercise their constitutional responsibility of reporting what council chairmen did with their money.

Dundaye called on anti graft agencies to organize seminars and workshops for local government staff on how to handle public fund and instill financial discipline.

he Kebbi Pilgrims Welfare Agency has secured accommodation for the state's 6,000 intending pilgrims expected to perform this year's Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

Alhaji Usman Suru, the Executive Chairman of the agency, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi yesterday that accommodation had been secured close to the two holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina.

"This would reduce hardship of distant movement to the Mosques faced by pilgrims in the past."

Suru urged intending pilgrims to remit N500,000 as deposit for their Hajj fares to the agency,

pending when the National Hajj Commission would announce the official fares.

He said the release of funds to the agency had facilitated timely arrangements, pointing out that logistics and preparations for the exercise had been concluded.

He called on intending pilgrims to always await further announcements on how the religious endeavour would be conducted.

Disclosing that the agency recently received some luggage, Suru appealed to the pilgrims who performed the 2011 Hajj but could not receive their luggage, to visit the agency with proof of ownership and claim their property. (NAN)

Boko Haram has no political connection, says CAN

By Abubakar Ibrahim with agency report

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he Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) yesterday called on the Federal Government to use all resources available to it to end the current spate of bombings in the country which he said, is rooted in radical religious ideology rather than poverty and politics.

The CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritisejafor, who made the call at a news conference in Abuja, said that the violence was designed to instill fear in the people and undermine religious and democratic freedom.

"I will now make a final call to the Nigerian government to use all resources available to it to clearly define and neutralise the problem as other nations have done.

"We have persistently pleaded with government to take courage and act to stop the surge of terror.

"The Church leaders had hitherto put great restrain on the restive and aggrieved millions of Nigerians but can no longer guarantee such cooperation if this trend of terror is not halted immediately".

Asked what CAN would do if government failed to heed the call, Oritsejafor said Christians would resort to prayer on the next step to take.

He said the insecurity was rooted in "radical religious ideology" and not because of poverty, political or ethnic differences.

Oritsejafor said the violence was targeted at innocent citizens with the Christians and the Church suffering the greater loses.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

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Lagos NUJ tasks workers on security From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos he Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos state council, has urged Nigerian workers to be security conscious and alert as they celebrate this year’s ‘Workers’ Day’.

In a statement issued to mark this year’s May Day by the Council chairman, Comrade Deji Elumoye, and Secretary, Comrade Sylva Okereke, the union also urged workers to be mindful of happenings within their environment and not be carried away by the euphoria of the celebration in view of recent bomb attacks on media houses and other working places.

“On this occasion of Workers’ Day, we ask you to enjoy every bit of the celebration. It will also not be out of place to implore you to be security conscious on this joyous occasion.

“We have all seen that workers are now been targeted.

They’ve bombed media houses and universities, where workers have been maimed and killed.

“So, we urge you to be very conscious of your surroundings and be vigilant in your neighborhood as you enjoy the razzmatazz that accompanies the Workers’ Day activities” the union said.

Lagos NUJ however did not fail to admonish the government over the insecurity problem in the nation.

It reiterated its earlier call on President Goodluck Jonathan to live up to his office as Commanderin-Chief and rid the country of activities of the Boko Haram sect and other crimes.

The council also prayed for the repose of the soul of departed workers and spared a thought for those alive, praying that their labour shall not be in vain.

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R-L: Abia state Governor, Chief Theodore Orji, welcoming Acting Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Abubakar, during the IG's visit to the governor, at the Government House, yesterday in Umuahia.

Suswam Ogun lawmaker commissions laments ICT centre, berths cassava workers’ processing hub nonchalance From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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overnor Gabriel Suswam of Benue state has lamented the gradual erosion of public service delivery by workers in the state, saying that the high degree of corruption amongst public servants is not acceptable.

Suswam who made this lamentation at the celebration of workers’ day in Makurdi on Tuesday, maintained that politicians cannot be corrupt without the active participation of civil servants, adding that political appointees of his government have failed to live up to expectation.

He noted that organised labour is central to the growth of any government because they are the initiators and implementers of government policies, contending too that they are the stabilising factor of any government.

The governor challenged labour to exhibit maximum sacrifice in order to achieve maximum satisfaction, pledging that his administration will continue to give top priority to labour issues.

“There must be commitment and change of attitude by civil servants to work. Workers must live their social contracts with government”, Suswam said.

High point of this year’s celebration was the presentation of awards to the governor, Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, Minister of State, Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, General Manager/CEO Benue River Basin, Engr. Adah Chenge amongst others for their labour friendly posture.

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member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade, representing Yewa South/Ipokia constituency, has urged government at all levels to enhance the mechanisms of agriculture in order to make the sector attractive to youths and prospective farmers, saying that the mechanisation of the sector is the fastest way to create jobs.

Speaking at the official foundation laying ceremony of the International Cassava Processing Center, Ilashe, Ipokia LG in Ogun state, the legislator affirms that

his decision to facilitate the multimillion naira project was borne out of the conviction that the constituency and the state could create wealth and achieve its objective of food security.

“At the completion of this cassava processing center, standard processing plant would be put in place such that this center would put our local farmers and their products in the limelight and through this massive employment would be generated and the economy of our state will become more robust.”

In his welcome address, the Onipokia of Ipokia, Oba Rauf Adeole, commended the legislator

and appealed to all stakeholders and those with interest in cassava production and processing to support the project so as to enhance the effort of small and medium farmers in the state.

Earlier, the legislator had commissioned a fully equipped Information Communication Technology (ICT) center in Ilaro, Yewa South, urging youths in the zone to take up the challenges being thrown by the present day reality on research and knowledge, which according to him can be found in the center.

The 35-seater ICT center which was facilitated by the legislator was commissioned by the Paramount Ruler of Yewa Land and Olu of Yewa, Oba Olugbenle Gbadebo Kehinde.

Kwara NLC, TUC want new minimum wage implemented From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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he Kwara state chapters of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have appealed to the state government to implement the new minimum wage of N18, 000 at parastatals, including regular payment of emolument of local government pensioners among others.

The state chairman of NLC, Alhaji Faruq Umar Akanbi,

while addressing workers at the state stadium on Tuesday also declared that there was need for the state government to pay the remaining 50% balance of CONHESS in the state.

“We will be appreciative if these categories of people can also be paid promptly like other workers on the payroll of the state government. I must however reiterate here that the primary school teachers in this state always suffer loss of annual increment whenever the government awards this to

the workers. We wish to plead passionately with the authorities of SUBEB to address this and the outstanding promotion of its teachers.”

The congress while appealing to the state government to reconsider the 900 staff of SUBEB laid off due to alleged breach of process of employment, said “rather than lay them off, they could be re-absorbed after submitting evidence of registration with KWABES secretariat or data base”.

Sokoto records new wild polio virus cases

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wo new cases of the type 1 wild polio virus have been recorded in Sokoto North local government area of Sokoto state.

Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril, the Special Adviser to Gov. Aliyu Wamakko on Primary Healthcare, disclosed this to the

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto on Tuesday.

He said with this development, the state has recorded five cases so far this year, with earlier cases recorded in Sokoto South local government.

Jibril said that all the

children, aged between five years and below, were never immunised against the polio virus.

“A community dialogue had been conducted in the affected areas, all located within Sokoto city, to resolve the problem of non-compliance.

In his address, TUC chairman, Comrade Isreal Adebisi, said the congress also used the opportunity to make strong case “for the government parastals in the state; the policy of ‘little allocation’ is seriously affecting a good number of them most especially in terms of payment of staff salaries”.

He added that the congress would appreciate if that policy will be reviewed stressing that it would impact positively on the state economy.

“We had also conducted a mop up polio immunisation in these areas while Gov. Wamakko has approved the convening of a high powered meeting between traditional rulers and stakeholders on the matter.’’

Jibril said the state government was fully committed to totally eliminating the wild polio virus on or before the end of 2012 (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

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World Bank urges Nigeria to speed up job creation T

he World Bank yesterday advised the Federal Government to ensure that social safety programmes create jobs for the participating communities.

The bank’s Vice President for Africa, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the Spring Meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary fund yesterday in Washington DC. Ezekwesili is expected to return to Nigeria in early May after serving her term

as the bank's Vice President for Africa since 2007.

To this effect, the World Bank on Tuesday announced the appointment of Makhtar Diop, a Senegalese, as its new Vice President for Africa.

Diop, the World Bank’s Country Director for Brazil since 2009, will take up his new position on May 6th.

“In the case of the government of Nigeria, I think they’re really getting to design safety net programmes in ways that the citizens in communities really own those programmes and see those programmes as programmes that are supposed to enable them

migrate into productive jobs”.

According to her, inclusive growth will be achieved once the citizens see themselves as the beneficiaries of the programme.

She noted that an effective and efficient social safety net policy had helped some countries improve the living standards of their citizens at the grassroots.

Ezekwesili said in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya where the social safety net was used to empower the poor, the citizens had become the codesigners of the programme. (NAN)

Ex-NASENI boss, sachet water innovator win excellence award

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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wo Nigerians, Prof.

Olusegun Adewoye and Chief George Ekeh, have been awarded the Excellence in Innovation Award by the Nigerian Association of Science Journalists (NASJ).

They duo were given the prestigious award at the end of a two-day conference organised by NASJ in Abuja.

Adewoye, University of Cambridge trained professor of metallurgy and materials

science, is the immediate past Director General of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

According to the organisers of the award, he was honoured for his efforts in initiating the Nigerian Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) and also the design and optimisation of a 100kg Rotary Furnace for Ductile Iron Production invented by Engineering Materials Development Institute (EMDI), Akure in 2002.

"This product is now a household equipment in

several universities and polytechnics where they use it for metal casting and foundry education.

Ekeh, although an economist was honoured for introducing sachet water popularly called “pure water” in Nigeria in 1 naira annually to the Nigerian economy.

In 2001, Chief Ekeh was also said to have designed and conducted the first ever world internet trade fair, anchored by his company, Omimi Communications Ltd, owners of www.omimi4u.com.

Media practitioners urged on fight against malaria From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

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edia practitioners have been urged never to relent in their effort at enlightening and educating Nigerians on the need to stay healthy in order to win the war against malaria.

The Minister for Health, Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, who made the call at the 5th World Malaria Day (WMD) commemoration dinner with media executives held in Lagos, regretted that Nigeria has the highest cases of malaria in the world.

Chukwu who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Hajia Fatima Bamidele, stated that the theme and slogan of this year’s WMD, “Sustaining Gains, Saving lives: Invest in Malaria”, was timely stressing that investments in malaria control have created unprecedented momentum and yielded remarkable returns in the past.

According to the minister, in Africa, malaria related deaths have been reduced by one third within the last decade adding that malaria household survey conducted

in 2010 in nine states of the federation showed 88 percent increase in the number of households with at least one ITN and long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) from its original 2.2 percent, an increase in the percentage of children under five years with fever treated with an effective antimalarial within 24 hours from onset of symptom from 0.0 percent to 5.8 percent and increase in the percentage of pregnant women who received two or more doses of IPT from 9.0 percent to 16.6 percent in the present time.

Also speaking, the National Coordinator, National Malaria Control Programme, Chioma Amajoh, stated that the purpose of the event is to brainstorm with the media on how best to fight the dreaded disease.

According to her, “Malaria is preventable and curable but delay can cause hazard'', she said.

She warned that non-use of appropriate drugs or right combination of therapy can cause serious health havoc, adding that use of chloroquine which simply brings down fever but cannot guarantee absolute cure is discouraged.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

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EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

World Press Freedom Day T

oday is World Press Freedom Day, which is observed on May 3 annually to inform the international community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights. The occasion gives people the chance to recognise and pay tribute to media professionals, including photojournalists, who risked or lost their lives in the line of duty.

The World Press Freedom Day was established by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in December 1993 as a fallout of the seminar on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press which took place in Namibia in 1991 and the subsequent adoption of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), "May 3rd is a date which celebrates the fundamental principles of press freedom so as to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.

"It serves as an occasion to inform citizens of violations of press freedom a reminder that in dozens of countries around the world, publications are censored, fined, suspended and closed down, while journalists, editors and publishers are harassed, attacked, detained and even murdered. It is a date to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom, and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.

"It serves as a reminder to

governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics. Just as importantly, World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets for the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the exercise of their profession."

This year, UNESCO is partnering with

“

For the avoidance of doubt, the media's role is to serve the larger society, not the narrow interest of a minor fragment of the whole. This is why even in battle fields newsmen are protected and given due regard by both warring sides. The Nigerian media must not submit to this blackmail the African Development Bank (AfDB) to celebrate the event in Tunisia May 2-5, 2012 under the theme: "Media freedom has the power to transform societies."

Sadly, here in Nigeria, the occasion could not have come at a more inauspicious time. Although fatal attacks against media houses and practitioners are by no means a novelty in the country, this is arguably the darkest and most dangerous moment for the Fourth Estate of the Realm and journalists in

OUR MISSION “To be the market place of ideas and the leading player in the industry by putting the people first, upholding the truth, maintaining the highest professional and ethical standards while delivering value to our stakeholders”

Nigeria. At no time in Nigeria's life as an independent nation have the media and, especially, practitioners in the country come under such deliberate physical assault and threat of more of same as this very material moment when, ironically, the rest of the world is celebrating PRESS FREEDOM DAY. On Thursday last week, the militant group, Boko Haram, simultaneously bomb-attacked the Abuja and Kaduna offices of ThisDay newspapers, resulting in the death of eight people.

The Kaduna office also houses Sun and The Moment newspapers. And two days ago, the group posted a message on YouTube threatening to visit the same fate on most local print media houses in the country, the Hausa services of the Voice of America and RFI and the New York-based online site, Sahara Reporters.

We find this attempt to gag the media not only an affront to the fundamental principles of press freedom and free speech, but also a threat to the corporate existence of the Nigerian nation. This must not be allowed but must be fought against by people of conscience and lovers of a free society.

We want to state that the Nigerian media will never be cowed by any selfserving group from performing its duty of informing, educating, entertaining and generally serving the nation dispassionately, regardless of whose ox is gored. For the avoidance of doubt, the media's role is to serve the larger society, not the narrow interest of a minor fragment of the whole. This is why even in battle fields newsmen are protected and given due regard by both warring sides. The Nigerian media must not submit to this blackmail.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE EDITOR, DAILY AHMED I. SHEKARAU

DIRECTOR/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND RICHARD IHEDIWA

GM PUBLICATIONS ABDULAZEEZ ABDULLAHI MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

By Salihu Moh. Lukman

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siwaju Tinubu and Gen. Buhari are the shining lights both on account of their history and contributions to processes of party development. On account of history they are leaders in their own rights arising from past roles as public servants. In the case of Asiwaju Tinubu, being former Lagos State Governor and leader of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) and in the case of Gen. Buhari being former Head of State. This has enabled these personalities to emerge as the most influential leaders of the two parties.

Asiwaju Tinubu started his career as private sector practitioner and opted for public service in 1992 when he was elected as Senator of the Federal Republic representing Lagos West. He is described as pragmatic, charitable, grassroots person who uses communal services as veritable tools for social development. Following the June 12, 1993 annulment of the election of late Chief Moshood Abiola by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Asiwaju Tinubu was among the group of Nigerians from the South West that formed NADECO to campaign for the actualization of the June 12 election.

Asiwaju Tinubu’s activities under NADECO, coupled with his grassroots orientation facilitated his election as Governor of Lagos State in 1999 under the banner of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). In 2003, out of the six governors of the South West that emerged on the platform of AD in 1999, only Asiwaju Tinubu was successful in returning as the Governor of Lagos State for a second term. The remaining five states were taken over by the PDP. It is to the credit of Asiwaju Tinubu, that he was able to use his control of Lagos State to build the foundation for reclaiming the rest of the South West.

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2015 manifesto of Nigerian opposition politics (IV) In the case of Gen. Buhari, he had a successful career in the Nigerian army, rising to the position of Head of State between January 1984 and August 1985.

He was the Governor of the old North East in 1975, comprising present North East geo-political zone. He became Federal Commissioner (Minister) of Petroleum in 1977 under General Olusegun Obasanjo. As Head of State, he was known for his tough campaign against corruption and indiscipline. This attribute is what endears him today to most ordinary Nigerians, especially in the Northern parts of the country who nurse the hope that Gen. Buhari could, with his tough stance, sanitise the governance environment as President of the country.

With the return to civil rule in 1999 and given shrinking democratic space as a result of what can be referred to as Obasanjo’s garrison politics, which virtually muscled and trampled all opposition to his government, Gen. Buhari joined politics and emerged as the presidential candidate of the ANPP in 2003. Since then, he has been the leading opposition presidential candidate, contesting in 2003, 2007 under the ANPP and in 2011 under the CPC. Both Asiwaju Tinubu and Gen. Buhari are today acknowledged as the leaders of the two leading opposition parties in Nigeria – ACN and CPC. Unfortunately, these two leaders have been unable to work together as a united opposition during any election. This inability to work together partly strengthens the ruling party, PDP and guaranteed

its ‘victory’ during the 2007 and 2011 elections to a large extent.

A major problem that has arisen in the process of negotiating unity of the two opposition leaders is reconciling personal aspirations.

Perhaps on account of the fact of the political psychology of regional zoning and the emergence of President Obasanjo as President between 1999 and 2007, Asiwaju Tinubu’s political aspirations are not evidently manifest as compared to that of Gen. Buhari. They are however a subject of public speculations and a major reference in the assessment of factors that blocked the alliance of the ACN and CPC before the 2011 elections.

In the case of Gen. Buhari, since 2003, he has been a presidential candidate and his aspiration is the major factor driving his politics and sustaining his support base. It is also his aspiration that is the CPC’s live wire. The major drawback of this is the fact that political opportunists control the administrative and organizational structure of the CPC and Gen. Buhari’s presidential campaign.

This is further facilitated by the poor resource base of Gen. Buhari’s politics. Poor resource base nurture a situation where politicians from PDP and other parties who should be potential spotlights in Gen. Buhari’s effort to cleanse the polity if elected as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria – these same people have wrapped themselves into the Gen. Buhari’s political structure primarily to win elections at other levels.

Unfortunately, since Gen. Buhari has been unable to win

election, he is unable to command the needed authority and influence to control the party leadership. This was partly the dynamic that pitched Gen. Buhari against the ANPP leadership and led to the formation of CPC. Sadly, the formation of the CPC so far has not produced a shift in the control structure of the party especially in Nasarawa state where the party is in control of government.

So far the new CPC has not produced an independent resource base.

As for the ACN, it is following the dominant practice of governmental structures controlling the party. This is the main reason why structures of the party in the South West and Edo are stronger on account of state government patronage.

The process of evolving a national strategy for the development of structures of the party has been very slow. Like the CPC, the absence of independent resource base outside state governments is a contributory factor. But unlike the CPC, ACN has an Asiwaju who provide inspirational leadership not as a candidate for any public office.

This inspirational leadership needs to be animated beyond the cycle of elections. Specifically, it needs to be domesticated and embedded as primarily party organizational, development and re-orientation agenda.

Can ACN and CPC produce aspiring party leaders that can reposition them? Both the ACN and CPC can achieve this only if the personal aspirations of the two leaders – Asiwaju Tinubu and Gen. Buhari are properly

directed towards principally development of the structures of the parties. These two leaders need to develop the aspiration of building institutions, starting with their primary political constituency – ACN and CPC. The objective should be to transform the parties into superior political organizations, capable of directing and regulating the conduct of all members, including elected government officials.

At that level, it will then be possible to have a situation where the leadership of these two parties are able to raise the profile of the parties, which can then makes it possible to command greater influence and authority, more than any of the governments they produced. To be fair to the ACN, it is acknowledged that its leadership at national level, represented by Chief Bisi Akande, who himself was a former Governor of Osun State under the AD between 1999 and 2003, commands high measure of authority and influence within the party.

In his own right, Chief Akande definitely commands good measure of influence and authority that is greater than any of the state governments produced by the party. Debatable as it may be, the fact of his being an independent minded leader and to that extent, being able to regulate activities and conduct of functionaries of government produced by the party cannot be faulted. Internally within the party, he is also able to moderate the positions of Asiwaju Tinubu.

Salihu Moh. Lukman can be reached through slukman45@gmail.com

PDP Boko Haram and their 2015 succession politics

By Obinna Akukwe

T

he revelation by the National Security Adviser at a recent South-South Economic Summit in Asaba, Delta state that the PDP politicians are responsible for the Boko Haram insurgency in the north has become a bone in the neck for the PDP. Ever since there has been pressure on President Goodluck to sack Patrick Azazi.

The comment of Azazi is nothing new because many people who are monitoring the activities of Boko Haram from a discreet distance including the writer have already made all these observations between the time of UN headquarterbombings and the Madalla Christmas Bombings. It was the frustrations at how government was footdragging on the issue of naming and exposing the sponsors of Boko Haram inside the PDP that led to the above article first published on the 2nd of February by thenigerianvoice.com.and by other media organisations. Azazi

only reiterated what all informed sources including the PDP,CPC,ACN chieftains are aware of .By the time you are through you will understand that the ruling party actually has a syndrome of perpetual deception of which probably the Mountain of Fire Ministry (MFM) need to be contacted to conduct proper 21 day deliverance on them from the spirit of lies,pretentions and deception.

Below is the replication of the article.

The Boko Haram as presently constituted has three wings. The pro-sharia Boko Haram which is the offshoot of the one led by late Alhaji Yusuf, the All Queda Boko Haram which is sponsored by Arab support and the Peoples Democratic Party Boko Haram which wants to prevent President Goodluck from contesting for a second term in 2015 or stifle his seven year tenure elongation bid.

My analysis is to dissect the PDP Boko Haram and the lies they have fed Nigerians.

This party called the PDP is a bundle of deceit. The name

Peoples Deceptive Party actually depicts them. When a criminal is in a locality and visits theft on the unsuspecting locals, the only way to avoid detection is to point in another direction as the search for the criminal ensues. The criminal blames the stranded traveler who lodged in a nearby motel or the stranded trader who slept in the market square or even the mentally deranged who lives near the sewage pit. This is the formula the PDP have used to make Nigerians look the other way while seeking for sponsors of Boko Haram.

Senator Ali Ndume is PDP, Inspector General of Police Ringim that supervised the escape of principal suspect bomber in Suleja on Christmas Day is perhaps PDP, Zakari Biu, the Commissioner of Police who executed the escape plan is PDP, the Christmas bomber is PDP registered in his village. PDP governors pay tithe to Boko Haram. The gun runner, Comrade Nuhu Mohammed , arrested for supplying arms to Boko Haram militants is PDP. His

phone contacts revealed affinity with members of the Federal Executive Council, National Council of State and other PDP chieftains. The list is endless and it all points to the same source, the ruling party.

The opposition, especially Congress for Progressive Change and Action Congress of Nigeria, have asked the ruling party the umpteenth time to unmask those behind Boko Haram. It is common knowledge within the opposition parties that the ruling party is using the Boko Haram to get at each other. The problem is that it gets far deeper than meets the eye. The PDP cannot afford to expose their Boko Haram members for fear of political recession. The entire nation is fed with lies while the bloodletting continues.

Immediately after the bombings of the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, intelligence reports indicted high level friends of government in the executive, legislature, senior party officials, elder statesmen and security officers

including retired ones. It is expected that President Goodluck will seize the opportunity of the uproar and outrage against the bombings to confront the indicted senior members of the party.

Instead he chose to appeal to some of them to turn a new leaf.

Emboldened by presidential timidity the murderers recruited more high level personalities, hitherto sitting on the fence, into the murderous chess game.

Their strategy is to make the nation state unsafe, ungovernable for president Goodluck until he forgets his ambition of either a second term in office or the seven year tenure elongation plot. The PDP politicians in the North merely tolerated President Goodluck during the months and weeks to the presidential elections. There was so much funds to be shared in 2011 that they elected to stuff their pockets first before thinking of 2015.

With hundreds of billions of naira used to purchase the northern PDP and with their Continued on page 15

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

An open letter to Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-jihad (Boko Haram)

By Ibrahim Garba Wala

O

n behalf of the Northern Summit Group, I humbly wish to communicate the views of the majority of the citizens. The entire people of Northern Nigeria are crying out for mercy and pleading with you.

In my position as a Muslim, I must confess that we are totally disturbed and thrown into confusion; we all wish we have answers to most of the questions being asked! Therefore, we seldom speak for fear of making unguarded comments publicly.

However, we are pleading with you in the name of ALLAH, the exalted, to kindly listen to the voices of the helpless, kindly sheath your swords and allow peace to reign. None of us is happy with the whole situation from the beginning to this moment we are

in today, we are frowning at the appreciate the fact that you have say disproportionately. attitude of the authorities even as been wronged severally by the law However, we implore you to we condemn the manner the issue enforcement agents and kindly to show a bit more is being restraint, stop all handled. I attacks and offer believe you yourself again for are also in a cease fire and r i g h t dialogue. We are Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text position to also openly messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written understand declaring here that contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 our worries the government words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and and cries. acted in bad faith a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed T h e by breaking the to: commitment terms as claimed you have by the Dr. Ahmed The Editor, shown for Datti’s committee.

Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, your belief As you can see, 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. leaves no one Arewa (the North) in doubt as to and her subjects Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com the sincerity are now being SMS: 07037756364 towards ridiculed, thus achieving providing an your mission. A mission which politicians. The anger which these opportunity for the region’s probably resonates with many in wrongs have generated is also traducers to have a field day! northern Nigeria. We also understandable but we have to May I relate that the level of

WRITE TO US

panic and fear induced onto the citizens as a result of your activities is unimaginable! We lose concentration at places of worship because our minds are no more at peace. It has confirmed that statement that says the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom. OAs a consequence, many of our youths that have agreed to join us to call the government to dialogue with your group, have all opted out for the fear of your attacks.

Finally, we sympathize with all the innocent souls that died in the course of this engagement and may the powerful words of ALLAH thus be patient, be patient, be patient! make pliable your minds and allow peace to reign.

Ibrahim Garba Wala is the President, Northern Summit Group, Abuja, Nigeria.

Why Patience Jonathan’s Lagos visit was important

By Adamu Muktar

I

have read with utter disgust the recent comment by one Kunle Fadipe on the visit of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to Lagos for her peace rally and some questions came to my mind hoping and believing there is no ulterior motive or an unseen hand in the series of publications.

Did I hear you say why? His opening statement “I detest women who always want to make it obvious that they are more powerful than their husbands.

Even if a woman is more powerful than her husband, it is unacceptable to make a show of it.”

I am of the opinion that Kunle

Fadipe may not have taken into account what operates elsewhere regarding movements of VIPS, otherwise he forgot to mention that anywhere in the world such a situation as he painted cannot be totally avoided.

Suffice it to say that people may have to be inconvenienced temporarily.

I recall the temporary inconvenience I suffered in New York last year, when US First Lady, Michelle Obama was to attend a Tea Party at Mrs. Ban KiMoon’s house. Adjoining streets were closed for about 30 minutes to allow for the movements of the First Ladies attending the function.

Incidentally, Mrs. Jonathan attended that function. It was then

that I realized that even though we may tend to overdo ours, it is not totally out of place to accord little respect to whom it is due.

I think what we should have done is to focus on the relevance and importance of that visit. The question should be: What is the basis of that visit; how relevant is it to us as a country?

I am told the purpose of the visit was to advocate for peace and mobilize women not to abdicate their responsibilities as mothers, wives and sisters in ensuring that peace reigns in Nigeria.

If this is so, then, that was a commendable thing to do, especially in her position as the current President, African First Ladies Peace Mission. In view of the

current situation in the country every hand must be on deck to ensure that the nation overcomes the security challenge facing the nation.

As charity must begin at home, Mrs. Jonathan cannot be preaching peace in Africa when her own home is boiling, which is why I think the peace advocacy campaign is commendable.

The woman should be encouraged to intensify her effort at peace building, just the way she mobilized the Nigerian women to fully participate in the last elections.

I believe that if the Nigerian women rise up to address the issue of security facing the nation, we might be moving closer to

overcoming the threats of Boko Haram and other security challenges.

As a woman, I know our capacity as peace makers and bridge builders. We should therefore not discourage the First Lady from this noble cause by attacking her person or her office.

I think we should appreciate the efforts and initiatives of the First Lady in mobilizing women for peace and support of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Mr. President has a lot on his hands and the support of his wife will not be out of place.

Fatimah Outhman wrote from Constitution Road, Kaduna.

An open letter to Nigeria’s news media

By Francis Adewale To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the … public- Theodore Roosevelt 1918.

L

et me start out this letter by asking all Nigerian news media if they believed that Nigeria exist to cater to the interest of People’s Democratic Party or the Nigerian people.

Recent reports about the comment made by the National Security Adviser, General Owoye Azazi (retd) at the “South South” Conference and the attendant reports and comments

by Nigeria’s news media prompted me to write this missive. Most of the print and electronic media in Nigeria reports that the NSA chief states that the Peoples Democratic Party undemocratic “zoning” clause should be partly blamed for the increasing destruction

visited on Nigerians by the “Boko Haram” sect.

It is now almost a week after the conference and no news media in Nigeria has been able to print or post online the full text of the speech delivered by the NSA. Rather, Nigerian media has participated in an orgy of condemnation of the NSA chief, all without any balance.

Some of the comments printed by the news media excoriating General Azazi range from the ludicrous to the insane. For instance, virtually all news report that carried responses to the General’s comment starts out “General Azazi (retd) on Saturday came under fire over his claims…”

No serious attempts were made to evaluate or analyze the comment made by the General.

Not even an ounce of efforts were made to publish the entire text or audio online or in print. The press joined in the demonization of the security chief who is hired to analyze Nigeria’s security situations. Most of the reports

seem to conclude that the primary duty of the National Security Adviser is to the president and his party, not the entire the country. Of course most of these media couched the response in form of reports of other people’s comment such as the one attributed to Olisah Metuh, the national publicity secretary of PDP. Some reports seem to have gone out of their way to solicit acidic comments of politicians from the northern part of the country.

One commentator, a former commissioner of police, Abubakar Tsav states “The remark … could be true based on intelligence available to him, but the public utterance by the NSA is irresponsibly faulty. The only honourable option left for him is to throw in the towel and resign. He has no business in government. He even appears not interested or dedicated to his job.” Here, is a call to sacrifice truth on the altar of violence by a former police chief and no reporter bother to challenge Mr.

Tsav. Another commenter, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, said that “to begin with, the Boko Haram insurgency began in Yobe state in 2003 and later spread to Borno and Bauchi states under ANPP.” Here, I expect the reporter to ask the Alhaji if he had listened to the speech or read the full text.

This is because the security chief dissertation is not on the origin of Boko Haram sect but its profligacy.

Another comment attributed to Governor Yuguda excoriated Gen. Azazi for making a comment capable of smearing the name of PDP, to him “Azazi ought to have used his experience in moulding his statements, adding that any matters that affected the party should first of all be discussed internally before any public pronouncement”. Again, I expect reporters to ask the governor if Azazi’s allegiance should be to PDP or Nigerian people who pay his salary, sadly the reporter simply let it slide.

My query to the Nigerian news media is this: If Nigerian politicians appears on your news broadcast or editorial board interviews to make comments that were outright lies or such that will endanger the safety of the country, won’t you take a moment to halt the conversation and correct them? At least, I’d like to think so.

Don’t you think it is apposite to direct such politicians to some indisputable fact stated in the speech? For instance, in the speech the General states “Today, if you arrest all the leaders of Boko Haram, I don’t think the problem would end, because the situation that created the sect has not been tackled e.g. poverty and the desire (of some people) to rule Nigeria. These issues cannot be isolated unless they are handled comprehensively”. One could of course, conclude that most journalists in Nigeria are too lazy to challenge insinuations, Continued on page 15

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

By Peter Claver Oparah

I

t is not difficult to fathom why the PDP and its allies feel so uncomfortable with the public posture and indeed the personage of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the Governor of Osun state.

He is hewn in the mould that is radically different from those of the people that populate the PDP. He does not mince words. He does not prevaricate or equivocate on any issue he deigns to comment on. He does not harbour any traits of Janus or a double faced personality that says the opposite of what is on his mind. He does not label the spade differently than its real name. He is a straight talker, who suffers fools gladly. He sees diplomacy and such other arts that mask the real intents of man’s heart in demeaning lights and takes none of it.

These attributes are alien to the rank and file in PDP who take politics as duplicity, deception and guile; all packaged into one seamless take-away pack. For a party that delights in subterfuge and grand obfuscation as means of careering off and on an irresponsible power route, the person and image of Aregbesola is unfathomable. Not for their members alone, but also outside their enclave where all is fair in battle. The PDP brooks no such attributes as Aregbesola has come to personify.

Aregbesola leaves you in no doubt where he stands on any issue. He is not afraid to take on any issue or anybody so long as he feels the need to address an issue.

He is not one that goes to a parley with a dagger hidden in his clothes but who before any meeting, brandishes his weapon and dares you to get yours and meet him in an open battle. He does not stalk on his assumed friends or foes and strike the dagger when they least

PAGE 15

Aregbesola and his traducers expect. He gives you sufficient warning of any impending attack and dares you to get prepared for it. He does not know how to back stab but knows how to publicly excoriate when he feels an issue is not going right.

Being a governor and with his known penchant to shoot straight, Aregbesola constitutes a potent threat to the PDP’s own maniacal desire for untrammeled power. His knack for provoking issues that so many people feel uncomfortable about marks him as a red hot threat to the suzerain empire the PDP easily dreams of.

His boisterous and bonhomie mien adds pep to his well expressed desire to ensure that every issue is brought on the table and not hidden under the rug. As governor, Aregbe adopts unorthodox style that gives him quick result. He has unruffled many with his style, which has however endeared him to the hearts of Osun people. Not for him is the culture of sitting idly on the waiting room of bureaucracy while things could be done in quicker ways.

We all know that Aregbesola ran an electrifying campaign in 2007 against an incumbent and his political party that spared nothing to beat down the tsunami, which Aregbesola provoked with his campaign. A glimpse into how he scared the living daylight out of the PDP was how Ebenezer Babatope, a PDP chieftain, tried to explain the questionable victory that was awarded the PDP in 2007. He claimed that indeed, Aregbesola scared them to the extent that he beat them hands down in the urban areas of Osun State, while the PDP claimed the state with votes from the rural

areas. But this story did not jell with Osun electorates who pretested loudly that in both the urban and the rural areas, they voted Aregbesola and no one else.

The history of his determined and roiling battle to reclaim his stolen mandate was historical, as it was tasking. Every hell was levied against Aregbesola as he fought the power soaked vandals for his mandate.

So it is easy to understand why the South West, and by extension the national PDP feels that Aregbesola is one hell of an object on its reckless way that must be put out of circulation for them to enjoy their unimpeded way to unearned power.

So it is easy to understand why the PDP had to resort to the kind of brash tactics it went for recently when it fabricated and caused to be leaked a specious and outlandish cocktail of fairy tales, with high puerility content and routed through the ubiquitous security agencies of Nigeria that have excelled in deepening the security crisis and taking up the dirty fights of the PDP against every other Nigerian. I strained my eyes to see the treasonable and secessionist contents of the juvenile hack the SSS passed as ‘security reports’ on Osun state. I needed no soothsayer to know that the entire thing was a tissue of forgeries, intrigues and fables the badly hurting gang of electoral rouges that constitute the South West PDP employed to create confusion and tension in a sedate agrarian state that is far removed from the concocted picture the so called reports painted. The generous back up the PDP threw to this widely condemned attempt to sow tension and crisis where there is

none, clearly demonstrated the asinine intent behind that tissue of lies and negative conjectures.

Heaven, they say, know no greater fury than that of a woman scorned and I dare add that heavens know no greater fury than that of the disgruntled, disoriented, dislodged political jobbers and free loaders that were rusticated from governance in the South West recently. It is in this maze that we locate the spurious security report that was firmly anchored on fiction and laughable reasons. What we saw were mere fictional projections of how the PDP feels it can steal power again in Osun, the South West and consolidate its tenuous hold on power in Nigeria. Aregbesola is a potent threat to this dream that has wrecked almost everything in Nigeria. So the plot is allege secession and religious manipulation, even when these are founded on baseless grounds, provoke an insurrection and employ this to levy security take over of Osun State. This stems from a primitive and raw concept of power, as the PDP has found so attractive employing these past thirteen years in power. The feeling is writ large in the diarrhead power laboratory of the PDP that once the recalcitrant Aregbesola is taken out of the way, it would be easy to take on other more restrained ACN governors in the South West.

The tragedy is not that those that scripted this baloney believe so much in its practicability and potency. The real tragedy however is that the present federal government invests so much faith in this infantile political jeremiad. But when we understand that what passes for

a federal government in the past two years is no more than a highly impressionable, shallow agglomeration of clueless mandarins that see themselves more as PDP wayfarers, we will understand why the nation is tottering so aimlessly on the watch of these partisan enforcers.

It is the same tragic mess that a national security that has excelled in allowing Nigerians to be used as punching bags by so many fonts of state violence is the one being used by political layabouts and rent seekers to widen the circle of violence and religious war all in the name of offering services to an amoral political party and its bestial interests.

I believe that this monumental misstep will work to steer Aregbesola aright as he braces to face the infantile fury of the PDP, which will manifest in several ways as his re-election battle approaches. It is good his traducers have shown their hands so early in the day, and in an embarrassingly puerile manner. It will allow him and his strategists enough time to plan containment strategies that will leave the PDP with a bloodier nose than he has inflicted on it so far. He should count himself lucky that his traducers are so inflicted with raw bile, frustration and the attendant fury that they let themselves out so cheaply. I believe that he will emerge much stronger and more fortified to deal with his opponents and continue on his laudable mission to leave indelible positive impressions on Osun, as he is doing at present.

Peter Claver Oparah wrote from Ikeja, Lagos peterclaver2000@yahoo.com

An open letter to Nigeria’s news media Continued from page 14

conjectures and suppositions with facts.

The dangers posed to our polity and democracy by such jejune extrapolations and censorship is real and present. In a time when we are trying to make equally difficult security decisions against a backdrop of homegrown terrorist and

complex corruption problems, it is incumbent on the news media to play a role in helping Nigerians obtain the best, most accurate information available.

Without it, the odds that we will not make the right decisions at this perilous time are greatly are greatly increased.

Perhaps it’s easier to allow our media to pass along a distorted

version of history. It is always easier to pile on and precipitate the removal of an honest security chief for political gain. Vultures are already waiting in the wings; those who want the job will stand at nothing to use their friends in the media to push the president to remove the NSA chief. Nigeria will be the worst for it at the end.

But being complicit in the

twisting of Nigerian political history isn’t just lazy, it’s dangerous. It has consequences that will affect the health, wealth and lives of all Nigerians. It lessens the chance that our children and grandchildren will ever get to see true democracy enthroned in our nation.

Please, the print the full

report of the General’s speech and asked Nigerian politicians who are drawing umbrage from the comments what they think is the root cause of the intractable security problem we are facing.

History will remember you for doing so.

Francis Adewale Spokane, WA, USA Tioluwanimi@yahoo.com

PDP Boko Haram and their 2015 succession politics Continued from page 13

pockets filled to the brim, they decided to start where they left off. Where did they stop? They stopped when they sensed that the failure of President Goodluck to win the party ticket will likely result to his being non-partisan and thereby conducting a free and fair election at all levels. With the political realignment and discontent in the core north, a free and fair election will favor the opposition CPC. This will drive them into political oblivion and irrelevance and as such the option of free election is not desirable. Secondly the PDP politicians are not sure yet of what a Buhari presidency will do

to the thieving elites. The only safe option was to swim or sink with Goodluck. Having secured their position, relevance and offices, they have resumed the zoning battle with a new coloration. The agenda is that this ‘Goodluck should not be given a breather until he wipes off any ambition beyond 2015 from his Ijaw mind’. They are yet to come to terms that a shoeless Nigerian would lord over their aristocratic birthright.

The Nigerian security forces especially the State Security Services and the Directorate of Military Intelligence have shown rare professionalism in tracking and monitoring the sponsors of

Boko Haram. The problem is that the number of high profile personalities involved is such that only a presidential order would close up the matter. The President is yet to give the much awaited orders because of fear or religious, ethnic and sectional twists and propaganda. In such cases you cannot blame the monitoring agencies when the authority to enforce is not appropriately delegated. The escapist option is to blame the opposition parties.

Governors Babangida Aliyu and Rabiu Kwakwanso of Niger and Kano respectively deserve commendations because they have refused to accept Boko Haram insurgents hanging

around their political space. Part of the attacks on these two states was to hit back at the intransigence of the duo over what others are condoning.

Their 2015 succession politics is not my headache because only God knows what would happen in 2015. The problem is that their succession chess game is leading to the death of numerous shoe and shoeless Nigerians and creating a pathological hatred between the Christians and Muslims of this country and the north and south of Nigeria, a trend which if not arrested, will lead to a civil war.

The Sharia Boko Haram could be checkmated by security

agents, the Al-queda Boko Saram is containable by foreign military collaboration but the PDP Boko Haram could only be checkmated by northern elders or the leader of the party itself, President Goodluck. Feelers from the state House suggests a presidential helplessness and as such I deem it fit to suggest that PDP elder statesmen like Olusegun Obasanjo, Atiku Abubakar, Shehu Shagari, Alex Ekwueme, Joseph Wayas, Theophilus Danjuma and others who came to his rescue during the Yar’adua cabal face off should be invited to talk sense into their party men before they drag us all into armaggedon.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Stakeholders urged to invest in health of FCT youth

By Josephine Ella

T

he Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Demola Onakomaiya, has appealed to charity organisations (CBOs), n o n - g o v e r n m e n t a l organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders to invest in projects targeted towards promoting the health of young people in the territory.

Onakomaiya, who made the call, while reacting to the recently commissioned Youth Friendly Clinic in Kuje General Hospital at Kuje Area Council, commended the efforts of the hospital management in establishing the clinic.

The secretary also commended the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Action Health Incorporated (AHI) for facilitating the provision of the model youth friendly health services provision site in the hospital.

Lamenting the wide spread neglect of the health needs of young people, he observed that these needs are not being adequately catered for in the conventional hospital set up.

According to him, “various survey reports have shown that many young people lack the right information and

education about reproductive health and as such, are faced with several sexual and reproductive health challenges which put them at risks including early sexual debut, drugs and substance abuse, unplanned teenage pregnancy, unsafe abortion complication, STI such as HIV/AIDS”.

This was as he noted that the clinic would go a long way in improving young peoples’ access to high quality, youth friendly health services, as the youth who are generally, shy, require confidentiality, privacy and trust in the handling of their issues.

Onakomaiya, who seized the occasion to solicit supports

from the private sector, therefore, “called on all relevant CBOs, NGOs and other stakeholders working to support young people to invest in projects that will promote the health of this vulnerable group to enable them have easy access to reproductive health information and services”.

A

rrangement has been concluded by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and a private developer, to build affordable houses for staff of the FCTA in Karshi town, near Jikwoyi.

The FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed made this disclosure in his remarks at the 2012 Workers Day Celebration at Eagle Square, Central Business District, Abuja on Tuesday.

According to him, this idea was conceived in line with the one of the agendas of his administration, which is to

By Adeola Tukuru

A

fatal accident yesterday, killed two unidentified persons along Abaji/ Lokoja road, in the FCT. Peoples Daily authoritatively gathered from the spokes person of the FRSC in Abaji, Moses Audu, that the corpses have been deposited at the Gwagwalada specialists Hospital.

Audu who lamented the high death toll recorded along the axis, blamed it on over speeding, and disregard for traffic rules and regulation.

He blamed yesterday accidents which he said occurred at about 2am on yesterday, on poor visibility and speed limit, appealed to drivers to always apply caution when driving.

Man, 31, sentenced to 1month in prison for theft

A

A welder getting down to business at Gudu market yesterday, Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

FCTA unveils plans to build affordable houses for staff

By Josephine Ella

Accident claims two in Abaji

ensure welfare of the workers.

“This is a project we hope to achieve as soon as all the details are worked out with the developers to ensure that workers are given opportunity to own a decent and affordable house,” he reiterated.

Sen. Mohammed noted that this year’s May Day Celebration is unique because of its theme: ‘Right to Work, Food and Education as it also falls in line with the transformation agenda of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, who has demonstrated profound interest and commitment to workers’ welfare.

He emphasized that the theme is another indication

that Nigerian workers are always proactive towards issues that touch the heart and soul of every Nigerian; stressing that there is no doubt that the right to work and education are cross cutting weapons guaranteed to provide food, fight poverty and eradicate diseases.

He also assured that the FCT Administration is working very hard to provide employment to many jobless youths since the past one year, to fill existing vacancies in the critical areas of health, education, traffic management and environment, among others.

On the issue of transportation, the minister

said adequate attention is being given to the full realization of the Abuja rail transport system, adding that the Department of Rail Transportation in the FCT Transportation Secretariat will be reorganized and repositioned for effective service delivery.

Similarly, Senator Mohammed said work is progressing satisfactorily at the on-going 10-lanes Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (Airport Road) and Murtala Muhammed (Kubwa Road) Expressways respectively, which he said when completed would end the problem of traffic gridlock along the roads.

n Abuja Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Wuse Zone 2, yesterday, sentenced a 31-year old man, Samuel Oladele, to one month in jail for theft.

The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Mohammed Ahmed, had told the court that Oladele, a resident of Bwari, FCT, stole a laptop computer from Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja The prosecutor added that Mr David Ikepe of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, reported the theft at Maitama Police Station on April 19.

The prosecutor said the computer belonged to a guest who attended a seminar at the hotel.

He added that during investigation, the police recovered the computer and eight empty bags of laptop computers.

Ahmed also said Oladele, who claimed to be a photographer, confessed that he had earlier stolen two laptop computers from the hotel.

The prosecutor added that the accused committed an offence which contravened section 288 of the Penal Code.

The accused pleaded guilty to the charges.

The Senior Magistrate, Khadijah Mustapha, sentenced him to one month in prison without option of fine. (NAN)

FCT HOTELS GUIDE POLICE HOTLINES IN FCT Abuja Sheraton Hotel & Towers Ladi Kwali Way, Transcorp Hilton Hotel P.M.N 143, Abuja Maitama District, Tel: 09-5230225-224 P.O. Box 51, Abuja, Fax: 09-5231570-1 Tel: 09-5231811-40 Chelsea Hotels Plt 389, Cadastral Zone A Central Area, P.M.B 487, Garki, Abuja.

Tel: 09-2349080-98 Fax: 09-2349074

Maitama - 08038485123 Central Police Station - 08033568389 Lugbe - 08077657371; 08037882321 Wuse - 08053088102 National Assembly - 08065777706; 08045317637 Asokoro - 07028134449 Nyanya - 08046115181 Utako - 07055888119; 07038621264 Karshi - 08023565354

Wuye Karu Gwarimpa Karmo Garki Life Camp Kubwa Gwagwa Zuba Dutse Alhaji Bwari Kuje

- 08023314440 - 08036249825 - 08059113555 - 08033773129 - 08033560903 - 08058036613 - 08036134478 - 08035537989 - 08075804475 - 08053089999 - 08075804475 - 07030800531

Kwali Ruboci Gwagwalada Abaji

- 080 33062496 - 08060568342 - 08057467369 - 08037209328

FCT HOTLINE AEPB 09 - 4603600-9

08065560315

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

FCTA requires N401.2bn to complete on-going projects, says Minister

By Josephine Ella

T

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration, has for the umpteenth time, lamented the inadequate budgetary allocations of the FCT. This development, the FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed lamented at a public function, is posing great challenge to the realisation of the dreams of the founding fathers of the FCT. Sen. Mohammed, who admitted that paucity of funds and the ever-recurrent influx of people into the FCT in search for

greener pasture has been a challenge to the administration, added that the development put so much pressure on the existing infrastructure.

“I must confess that we are still far from achieving the goals we set for ourselves. This is because of the challenges that have dogged our path to progress.

There has been a decline in funding FCT, a situation that is posing a big challenge in the implementation of the vision of our founding fathers.

“In the 2010 fiscal year, for instance, a total of N138.3 billion was proposed by the FCTA

for its National Priority Projects, but only N96.3 billion was approved. Out of this figure, only N68.2 billion was actually released to the FCTA,” he lamented.

In the same vein, the minister recalled that in 2011 fiscal year, the sum of N44.6 billion was approved, but only N26.0 billion had been released so far(as at December 2011).

He added that: “This is a far cry from the total sum of N401.2billion that the FCTA requires to complete some ongoing projects that were slated for completion in 2011”.

Hence, he emphasised the need for an enabling legislation for the FCT to benefit from multilateral loans, assistance from donor agencies and private sector funding for its mediumterm expenditure framework and infrastructural development.

He equally, expressed optimism that the bills bordering on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the FCT, which are still pending at the National Assembly, when passed into law would reduce the FCTA’s dependence in federal revenue allocation

Man in court for alleged breach of trust

A

26-year-old man, Thomson Idigwe, was yesterday, day arraigned before a Senior Magistrates’ Court, Abuja, for alleged breach of trust.

The police prosecutor, Mr Emmanuel Adikwu, told the court that the case was reported at the Maitama Police Station by one Mr Olalekan Philips of 31 Kumasi Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja, on April 27.

The prosecutor said Philips entrusted his official HP laptop, valued at N180,000, to the care of the accused who, however, converted it to his personal use, a offence which contravenes Section 312 of the Penal Code.

The accused, however, denied the charge.

In his ruling, Senior Magistrate Tony Ubani granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000 with a surety who must be living within the jurisdiction of the court.

He adjourned the case till May 24 for further hearing. (NAN)

Court jails gardener for stealing phone

A

n Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court yesterday, sentenced one Idris Yusuf, 22, to three months in jail for stealing a BlackBerry phone belonging to a Mr Umaru Ndanusa of Baze University, Abuja.

In the alternative, Senior Magistrate Emmanuel Iyana asked Yusuf to pay a fine of N5, 000.

Police prosecutor Paul Anigbo told the court that the case was reported at the Lugbe Police Station by one Ahmed Usman, a student of the university.

The prosecutor said the accused committed the crime three weeks ago and that the phone was worth N130, 000.

Anigbo added that the accused was caught with the phone, adding that during police investigation, the gardener confessed to stealing it. (NAN)

What a man can do, a woman can do even better as this lady painter was caught painting a house at Karu, Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Tribunal case muzzles my manifesto, says Abaji chair

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he Chairman of Abaji Area Council, in the FCT, Hon. Yahaya Mohammed Musa, has said that his lingering case in the tribunal was a major setback to fulfilling his manifesto to the people of Abaji, noting that the people have not felt the impact of his administration.

Speaking yesterday at a press

conference in Abaji, Hon. Musa promised to create more job opportunities for the unemployed youths, women and farmers in the locality.

The chairman who was recently declared winner of the chairmanship of abaji after years of tribunal case, said his attention will now be focus on human and capital development for the council, while assuring them that their needs will be adequately

provided.

As a means of boosting agricultural produce in the community, he said that the Agric Department has been directed to ensure adequate machinery which would ensure equity distribution of fertilizers and other farming input to farmers in the council.

Musa, further commended his supporters and party faithful for standing by him during the time of his trials.

Man, 28, arraigned for alleged assault, theft

A

28-year old man, Moses Abia of Karu Village in the FCT, was yesterday, arraigned before an Abuja Magistrates’ Court at Karu for joint act, defamation of character, assault, criminal force and theft.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr Umar Mohammed, told the court that one Efe Egudgie of the same address with the accused, reported the case to the police on April 29.

Mohammed said on the same date, Egudgie, who was coming

from Jikwoyi in the FCT, alighted from a bus at Karu where he found the accused lying down.

According to the Prosecutor, the accused became angry and started beating the complainant.

Mohammed added that while confusion ensued, the accused dispossessed the complainant of his Tecno mobile phone valued at N12, 000, a wrist watch valued at N12,000, a necklace valued at N16,500 and a rosary valued at N7,500.

He said that the complainant’s

wallet containing his office Identity Card and N3,000 cash were also missing.

The Prosecutor said that during police investigation, the accused confessed to the offences, contrary to the Penal Code.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges and Senior Magistrate Nkamdimi Buba granted him bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.

She adjourned the case till May 21. (NAN)

Gun men attack supermarket, shoot one

•••cart away undisclosed amount of cash

By Josephine Ella

G

un men Tuesday night, stormed Bomas supermarket, located at Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II, near Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mega Station, shooting an unidentified man in the arm.

Peoples Daily, gathered from a sales boy at the supermarket, who pleaded anonymity, that the incident, is the third to be recorded in the supermarket since it was set up.

The three-man robbery gang, armed with AK47 riffles, according to eyewitness account, stormed the shop at about 8.15pm, ordering both staff and customers to lie down face down, while they carried out the operation which lasted for five minutes.

“I had just bought fuel from the NNPC mega station near the supermarket and decided to pick an item before I go home. While I was trying to park in front of the supermarket, power supply was cut and the whole place was pitch dark, so I waited for the supermarket to put on their power generator before I could go in.

“I got into the shop and had not even walked to the department where I could pick the item I wanted when I heard commotion behind me and heard one of the sales boys shouting armed robbers,” the victim, who preferred anonymity said.

According to her, one of the robbers walked up to her and demanded for money and direction to the cashier’s room.

“He kicked me and ordered me to bring the money and I gave my bag to him. He also asked me for direction to the cashier’s room but I said I didn’t know that I was a customer. When he left me, he shot a man who was also in the shop,” she said.

Giving her own account of the incident, another eyewitness, who also preferred anonymity, said the robbers came in a car. Two of them entered the shop while one of them stood outside, ordering people around the vicinity to go away.

“There is a police post by the NNPC filling station here and there was no police man around while the robbery incident lasted. Even the ones who mount check point near the filling station were nowhere to be found at the time of the incident,” she added.

Meanwhile, all the shops in the area were said to have hurriedly shutdown, when they heard the gun shots.

It was also gathered that it took the police, despite being called, surprisingly showed up about 40 minutes, after the robbers had successful carted away an undisclosed amount of money from the super market.

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

FAAC allocation for the month of March 2012 S/N

BENEFICIARIES

SUB-TOTAL (N)

1

FG (52.68%) States (26.72%) L/govt Councils (20.72%) Derivation (13% of Mineral revenue-oil/gas) Value Added Tax (VAT) & Transfers

NGO urges FG to diversify economy

T

he Executive Director of an NGO, International Centre for Energy and Environmental Development (ICEED), Mr. Ewah Eleri has stressed the need for the Federal Government to diversify the economy.

Eleri made the suggestion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja.

He stressed the need to improve on other sectors of the nation’s economy, to reduce overdependence on the oil sector.

Eleri said other sectors such as agriculture and solid minerals would boost the generation of employment opportunities and increase the nation’s revenue base.

He, however, added that the problems of climate change were among the

phenomena contributing to the socio-economic and environmental challenges in the country.

According to him, ICEED is ready to assist the government at all levels in tackling the problems of climate change, ensuring that its effects on the economy, environment and livelihood are being controlled.

“With so many of our people, millions of Nigerians engaged in agriculture, climate change becomes the most important threat that they face; in that way, climate change is a daily challenge felt by ordinary Nigerians and it affects our economy in many ways.

INSIDE

- Pg 20

Dangote offers automatic job to KUST First Class graduates

Mob: 08033644990

Nigeria’s total debt now N6.88 trillion, says DMO

By Aminu Imam

613.7 billion

PAGE 19

T

he total debt profile of Nigeria now stands at $44.28bn (N6.88tn), according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).

Statistics obtained from the DMO revealed that the domestic debt component of the total indebtedness stood at $38.37bn (N5.97tr), while the external debt stood at $5.91bn (N919.44bn) as at March 31, 2012.

Details of the external debt balance showed that multilateral financial institutions accounted for 83.28 per cent of the country’s total debt with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development-a member of the World Bank Group-is owed $6.31m.

Another member of the group, the International

Development Association is owed $4.29bn while the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is owed $70.25m.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is owed $43.55m, while the African Development Fund is owed $387.23m.

Non-Paris Club debt sources account for 8.26 per cent of the nation’s external debt, which includes European Development Fund, $110.08m; and the Islamic Development Fund, $14.56m.

Bilateral loans account for $433.84m, while commercial loans contribute $54.63m.

The $500m, which Nigeria borrowed from the International Capital Market in 2011, accounts for the remaining 8.26 per cent of the external debt.

Details of the domestic debts, on the other hand, showed that FGN bonds accounted for

N3.67tn or 61.44 per cent of the money borrowed by the Federal Government from internal sources.

Nigerian Treasury Bills account for N1.95tn or 32.63 per cent, while treasury bonds account for N353.73m or 5.93 per cent.

As at March 31, 2011, the nation’s external debt stood at $5.23bn, while the domestic debt stood at N4.87tn.

This means that within a oneyear period, the external debt stock rose by 13 per cent, while the domestic debt stock rose by 22.59 per cent.

The Federal Government had recently disclosed to the National Assembly its plan to borrow $8bn from external sources for infrastructure development.

If the loan request is approved, the country’s foreign debt will grow to $13.91bn.

Flight schedule AIR NIGERIA (MONDAY - SUNDAY) LOS-A BJ: 07.15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.30, 17.00, 17.20, 18.30 ABJ-LOS: 07.00, 09.30, 10.30, 11.15, 16.15, 19.15, 19.35 ABJ-KANO: 18.40 KANO-ABJ: 08.35 ABJ -SOK (MON): 09.35 ABJ-SOK (FRI): 10.10 ABJ-SOK (WED/SUN): 11.20 SOK-ABJ (MON): 11.35 SOK-ABJ (FRI): 12.00 SOK-ABJ (WED/SUN): 13.20

AEROCONTRACTORS (MON - SUN) LOS-ABJ: 06.50, 13.30, 19.45 LOS-ABJ (SUN): 12.30 LOS-ABJ (SAT): 16.45 ABU-L OS: 07.30, 13.00, 14.00, 19.00 ABU-LOS (SUN): 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 ABU-LOS (SAT): 18.30

DANA AIRLINES (MON - SUN) LOS-ABJ: 07.02, 08.10, 12.06, 15.30, 17.10 ABJ-LOS: 07.20, 09.36, 13.05, 14.40 ABJ-LOS (SAT/SUN): 13.05, 18.00 LOS-KANO : 08.10 KANO-LOS: 11.25 KANO -ABUJA: 11.25 ABUJA-KANO : 10.08

IRS AIRLINES

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke flanked by the PDP National Chairman/President, African Business Roundtable, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, Group General Manager, Corporate affairs, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, Managing Director Annabel mobile, Mr. Nicolas Okoye, Director-General DPR, Mr. Augustine Olorunsola during the opening ceremony of Nigerian stands at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC 2012) taking place at the Reliant Park in Houston Texas, yesterday, United States of America.

N

igeria’s leading fixed wireless and CDMA mobile telecoms firm Starcomms yesterday said its pre-tax loss widened more than

three fold to N15.61 billion ($99.24 million) in 2011, from

CBN CFA • £ RIYAL $

LOS -ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

30th Apr, 2012 BUYING 0.2926 204.5134 251.4958 41.2478 154.7

SELLING 0.3126 205.8354 253.1215 41.5145 155.7

PARALLEL RATES • £ RIYAL $

BUYING 210 254 40 157

SELLING 212 256 42 158

N5.16 billion in the previous year, the company said in a

statement through the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Turnover also dropped to 20.10 billion naira, from N29.03 billion in 2010. (Reuters)

Management Tip of the Day

EXCHANGE RATES

ABJ-LOS: 11.30, 3.45, 4.45 LOS-KANO: 6.15 LOS-KANO (SAT/SUN): 16.30 KANO-LOS: 07.30 KANO-LOS (SUN/SUN): 10.30

Starcomms pre-tax loss triples

M

ost of us are taught to defer to authority. As a result, we tend to disregard our internal compasses. But your instincts are often right. Here is how to counter your conditioning and question authority: “Listen to your inner voice. Take a moment to breathe

Trust your gut and consider what is going on.

Ask yourself, "Are there other ways to approach this assignment?"

“Constructively question. Ask your boss, customer, or client: Why do we do it this way? Would you be open to different ways? Can we experiment?

“Reflect. Whether you've followed along or pushed for an alternative, think about what happened. Remember what it felt like to go against authority and think about how you might handle it differently in the future.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS Govt to wrestle saboteurs as new electricity tariff begins

T

he Federal Government has vowed to exercise political will in a new attempt to deal with saboteurs, who have allegedly truncated moves to revitalize the comatose power sector.

Corruption, multiple taxes top challenges of SMEs in Nigeria, S/Africa

A

new research carried out

by Light Africa Group, a consultancy firm based in South Africa has identified cost of finance, corruption and multiple taxes as some of the challenges militating against the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

‘Nigeria can still meet MDGs targets’

I

f various sectors and agencies continue with the tempo of project delivery and collaboration, Nigeria could meet the eight targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs) by the United Nations, within the next four years.

Yuguda seeks ban on importation of science equipment

B

elieving that Nigeria has huge relevant skills and indigenous technology potentials, Bauchi state governor, Malam Isa Yuguda, has called on the Federal Government to place a ban on the importation of science equipment.

CITN links economic growth with efficient tax system

T

he President of The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), John Jegede, has hinged the nation’s economic growth on an efficient tax system.

Oshiomhole’s four-year development plan to gulp N80bn

E

do state governor, Adams Oshiomhole has released his government’s fouryear development agenda as he seeks re-election in two months’ time. The 4-year plan is expected to gulp N 80 billion.

FG plans hydro power plants for SMEs operators Stories from Ayodele Samuel, Lagos he Federal Government has commenced the process of establishing hydro power plants in strategic areas in the country as part of efforts aimed at improving the business operating environment and reducing the operational costs of Small and Medium Enterprises in the country.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, that the Federal Government would get entrepreneurs to build small hydro power plants, as quickly as possible, in areas where they could serve the SMEs. He said this during a working visit to the Bank of Industry (BoI) in Lagos last week.

The Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Ms. Evelyn

T

Oputu, while briefing the minister said that the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) had done a survey of the country and identified all the sites where there were hydro potentials for the generation of electricity.

She noted that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and BoI would help the potential entrepreneurs in capacity building, adding, however, that the Federal Government would need the buy-in of the state governments, as well as the communities involved to implement the small hydro power plant projects.

Aganga said, “The importance of BoI in the economic development of Nigeria cannot be over-emphasised, and its management team has done a

Dangote offers automatic jobs to KUST first class graduates

T

he pan-African conglomerate, Dangote G r o u p , has offered automatic employment to all first class graduates of Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil according to its chairman Alhaji Aliko is the Chancellor.

Seven students of the university who graduated with First Class in the last academic year will benefits from the offer.

Dangote Group in a statement signed by the Group Head, Corporate Communication Anthony Chiejina, said the gesture was part of the contributions of the company to the development of education and to motivate the students to be serious with their education.

The statement quoted the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Ibrahim Garba, who visited the Northern Office of Dangote Group, as expressing the appreciation of the university to the Group, which he also noted had donated N100million to the university,

while at the same time helping to launch an appeal fund to give the school a facelift.

The indicated that the ViceChancellor com-mended Dangote Group for its support in the provision of electricity in the school, construction of a 1000-bed space hostel and the establishment of the Dangote Skill Acquisition Centre, among others.

However, the Dangote Group’s Regional Representative (North), Alhaji Isa Tata Yusuf, explained that the N100million donation showed the deep concern of the Group’s President, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, about the state of education in Nigeria.

“The N100million donation to the school is meant to support the effort of President Goodluck Jonathan and state government in the development of education in the country. Last year the conglomerate spent about a billion in the rehabilitation of some of our universities across the country,” Yusuf said.

good job in aiding the industrialisation efforts of the country. Now that we have embarked on the Industrialisation Revolution Plan, the role of BoI becomes more important.

“On hydro power plants for SMEs, we want to get this done as soon as ‘yesterday’. If there is no infrastructure, mainly power, the SMEs find it difficult to succeed. So, we must make the hydro power plant project successful. We will look at the locations and link them to industrial development centres.

We will find a way of scaling this up, as quickly as possible, so that we can reduce the operational costs of our SMEs.” According to the minister, when the Federal Government’s efforts on industrialisation become fruitful, the industries will not only create jobs, but will also generate tax revenue for the government.

He noted that the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment would focus on areas where the country had comparative and competitive advantage, link research, development and innovation as

N

operational efficiency which enables the company to eliminate waste, increase efficiency and effectiveness, and improve quality in all operations.

He said the company was able to maintain the positive momentum towards sustainable, profitable and capital efficient growth because of the mix of short –term performance with longterm thinking. This enabled Nestlé to deliver improved top and bottom-line performance whilst also investing in longer-term growth platforms.

Commenting on the economy, Chief Osunkeye noted with delight the stability in the Nigerian banking system to stimulate growth and development of the

part of enhancing productivity, while institutionalising industrial skills development.

“We intend to remove the barriers to increased productivity, based on a research of failed/ailing industries already carried out by my ministry, with assistance from the private sector, and, like I have always said, we will develop backward integration policies in critical sectors of the Nigerian economy,” Aganga noted.

Nigerian farmers, others to benefit from N1.12bn project

F

armers in six African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania will benefit from the second phase of the Commercial Products (COMPRO-II) project, says Dr. Bernard Vanlauwe, Director for Natural Resource Management and Central Africa with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

The COMPRO-II project is a US$7m (about N1.12 billion) grant from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation that aims to institutionalise quality assurance mechanisms and facilitate the rapid dissemination of top quality agricultural commercial

Nestlé posts strong 2011 results estlé Nigeria, a leading Nutrition, Health and Wellness company and the industry reference for financial performance, achieved strong growth in 2011, as the company posted a turnover of N 97.961 billion and an increase of 22 per cent over N80.109 billion recorded in the previous year.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nestlé Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye disclosed this while addressing the shareholders at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the Company held at MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos recently.

Chief Osunkeye said the results reflect Nestlé Continuous Excellence – an initiative in

Managing Director, Bank of Industry, Ms. Evelyn Oputu

economy. He lauded government effort to reform the nation’s tax system.

Chief Osunkeye also urged government to look into the controversial issue of double taxation, among others to create a competitive base for the private sector to thrive and attract foreign direct investment to the country.

Looking forward and ahead, Chief Osunkeye said that with nearly four months already passed in 2012, he predicted that the Company will continue to deliver strong performance for which Nestlé has become known despite the daunting challenges and uncertainties ahead.

He added that sales

products to increase yields and improve the food security of smallholder farmers in the region.

IITA will lead the project, and will work with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa – Soil Health Program (AGRA), Farm Input Promotions (FIPS), the Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Research Area of the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (TSBF-CIAT), the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International (CABI), and universities, national research organisations, extension organizations, and quality control entities in the different target countries.

“The plan is to raise awareness among over two million small-holder farmers on effective and profitable commercial products by 2016 through public-private partnership,” according to IITA Director-General, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga.

Of these households, 420,000 will have tested at least one effective commercial product and at least 50 percent of these will have adopted the technology and achieve a 15-30 percent yield increase with substantial impacts on food security and income.

“The key expected outcome of the project is the institutionalization of screening and approval of commercial products,” says Senior Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Prem Warrior.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 21

Kaduna Trade Fair aims at revamping Nigeria’s economy This year’s long delayed Kaduna International Trade Fair eventually kicked off last Saturday with excitement amongst local and international exhibitors as well as visitors in spite of the security challenges facing the North, Aminu Imam reports.

T

he 33rd Kaduna International Trade Fair opened on Saturday with a pledge by the organisers to ensure that it facilitates flow of investments into the country.

For the next days during the fair, all eyes will be riveted on the Kaduna metropolis, as prospective investors, stakeholders in b a n k i n g , telecommunications, transport and manufacturing sectors among many others gather at the Kaduna Trade and Investment Centre, the permanent site of the fair by Km 4, Kaduna - Zaria Road, Rigachikun.

The President of the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture (KADCCIMA), Alh. Umar Yahaya said in an address at the occasion, that the Fair would contribute towards the revamping of Nigeria’s economy.

Yahaya said KADCCIMA was determined to help sharpen Nigeria’s competitiveness in the global market and said six foreign companies from Poland, Hungary, India, Egypt, Senegal and Mali were participating in the fair, which has as its theme: ”Reawakening Nigerian Enterprises for Global Competitiveness’’.

Alhaji Umar Yahaya said the trade fair is aimed at attracting investors into the Nigerian economy, strengthen local industries and facilitate interaction between local and foreign investors.

He said some of the participating countries include: Thailand, Malaysia, Poland, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Mali, Chad, Egypt, Niger, Senegal and several other countries and commended the Kaduna state government for providing electricity transformers at the complex and the security arrangement made to ensure a hitch-free event.

The National President, Association of Chambers of Commerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture, Mr. Herbert Ajayi noted that the n a t i o n ’ s h a r s h

business environment has limited the capacity of local investors to compete with their counterparts from developing nations.

H e challenged theorganised private sector i n Nigeria to reposition itself to face the emerging challenges of global competitiveness by taking the lead in t h e economy.

“If our economy is to speedily recover and enhance her sustainable business and economic growth, Nigeria and their foreign business partner, must be reminded that the expected growth of the economy would not happen without imbibing the spirit of good business ethics.”

Considering its vantage position as the home of Africa ’s most famous fair, the Kaduna International Trade Fair usually attracts an impressive crowd and publicity. And so it was last weekend as the city hosted several local and international companies at the 33 rd edition of the fair.

This year’s fair has all the attributes of being unique and is expected to remain memorable, not because of the much expected influx of foreign investors into the country with the attendant impact on the country’s economy, but because the increased participation of local

Visitors at the Kaduna trade fair

p r o d u c e r s , especially the small and medium scale industries.

Kaduna International Trade Fair is the most important annual event in the Calendar of Kaduna Chamber of Commerce. For every trade fair organized, an

“

Today, firmly rooted in its permanent site, valued at over 2.2 billion naira, the Kaduna International trade Fair is a testimony to providing viable investment opportunities in the nation’s money-spinning vast economic potentials.

appropriate and suitable “trade fair theme” is chosen in accordance with the country’s economic and environmental situation and this theme accompanies the event through its duration.

Moreso, a day is usually set aside within the period of the event, where exhibitors, participants, prospective investors and policy makers are invited to listen to experts, who present papers and disseminate information about prospects and endowments of the country.

The organiser, KADCCIMA was established in 1973 and is the first Chamber to be established in the northern part of the country. The Chamber has over the years advised state governments a n d potential exhibitors worldwide to take advantage of the trade fair to showcase t h e i r various potentials in areas of agriculture, mineral resources, arts and culture among others, so as to attract investors to the states.

The event which was first of its kind started as domestic fair, emphasizing on agricultural sector in 1974 on a biannual basis, the event continued until 1978 when three (3) domestic fairs were carried out in 1974, 1976 and 1978, respectively.

In 1979, the Trade Fair became International, organized on annual basis. The first Kaduna International Trade Fair was held in February, 1979, at Murtala Mohammed Square where a total of 205 exhibitors participated.

From that period, the event continued to grow bigger, providing avenue for the promotion and encouragement of development of industries and industrial inputs; the promotion of all aspects of economic sectors through national and international cooperation; the provision of access to research findings, new technologies and ideas for actualization by industrialists and policy makers through face-to-face interaction; creation of conducive atmosphere between Nigeria and other nations for joint venture project in all facets of

the economy and the provision of channel through which the government policies and programmes are made known and consequently attract international and local investment.

These trade fair events have assisted in contributing to socio-economic development and growth of this country.

Many industries and other business have been established as well as the government and the entire citizenry have benefited tremendously from this information concerning all sectors of the economy.

This has resulted to several indigenous companies throughout Nigeria showing interest in this year’s fair.

Today, firmly rooted in its permanent site, valued at over 2.2 billion naira, the Kaduna International trade Fair is a testimony to providing viable investment opportunities in the nation’s money-spinning vast economic potentials.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has commended the sponsors of the Kaduna International Trade Fair.

Speaking through his representative, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna state, the president said Dangote Group, Unity Bank and others who are partnering with the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCIMMA) have shown sincerity in gingering economic activities in the country.

He described the Kaduna Trade Fair as one of Africa’s most famous one, urging participants to maximize the comparative economic advantage of the state and Nigeria at large. These, he said, included agriculture and tourism.

He also urged foreign participants to partner Nigeria’s Organised Private Sector and invest in Nigeria. He said his administration is committed to wooing foreign investors.

Meanwhile, participants who thronged the Dangote pavilion said they were thrilled by the branding and several innovative products of the Dangote Group.

In the same vein, the Director-General of the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCIMMA), Malam Usman G. Saulawa, said the trade fair opened successfully with participants thronging various pavilions.

Present at the opening ceremony included the wife of the Vice-President, ministers, wife of the deputy governor and several other investors and dignitaries.

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Cash-less policy boosts activity in money market T

he Nigerian money market witnessed increased activities in April with the take-off of the pilot stage of the cash less policy of the CBN. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the full implementation of the policy across the country has been scheduled for Jan. 1, 2013.

However, the take-off of the policy in Lagos was not without hitches as some traders complained about nonavailability of the Point of Sales (PoS) machines.

Some operators also complained that poor infrastructure in the country was affecting smooth operation of the new system.

The Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) said that it had connected a total of 30,000 PoS to its central switch service in 2011.

Its Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Niyi Ajao, said that the organisation planned to add additional 20,000 machines by the end of May this year.

Ajao also said that the

organisation had overcome the connectivity challenge among banks, adding that merchants could now lodge money into their accounts real time.

He also disclosed that although banks were increasing the purchase of the PoS terminals, but its effect had not been felt because majority of them had not been connected to its network.

The CBN, however, said that in spite of these hitches it would go on with the implementation of the policy.

The apex bank, on March 26, announced the enforcement of prescribed limits on cash deposits and withdrawals as stipulated by the policy.

The policy stipulates that cash deposits and withdrawals above N500, 000 for individuals and three million naira for corporate accounts would attract charges ranging from three to five per cent from Monday, April 2.

During the month, the CBN sanctioned the Stanbic IBTC Bank.

The bank was fined N47.71 million for allegedly contravening some provisions of the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS).

The CBN alleged that N470 million was withdrawn from Stanbic IBTC Bank by one of its customers which contravened the CACS guidelines.

Another major development in the market in April was the release of audited result of some banks for their financial year ended Dec. 31.

Fidelity Bank declared profit after tax of N5. 36 billion for the year against N6.11 billion it posted in 2010.

Its profit before tax stood at N7. 67 billion compared to the N8. 65 billion declared in 2010, a decrease of 11.3 per cent, while its fixed assets rose by 6.9 per cent to N27.03 billion from the N25. 27 billion recorded in 2010.

The bank’s net assets increased to N137.48 billion from N136. 18 billion recorded in 2010.

It proposed a dividend of 14 kobo per share to its

shareholders.

Skye Bank’s profit after tax for the financial year dropped by 50.3 per cent to N5.18 billion from N10.43 billion posted in 2010, while its gross earnings stood at N104.8 billion against N83.9 billion in 2010, an increase of 19.9 per cent.The bank proposed a dividend of 25 kobo per share to shareholders.

The General Manager, Regency Assets Management Ltd., Mr. Wole Olowu commended the CBN for the implementation of the cash less policy.

He appealed to the Federal Government to provide adequate infrastructure for the success of the policy across the country.

Olowu said that the sanction on StanbicIBTC Bank would ensure stability in the financial system.

The manager also commended the impressive results declared by the banks, “especially now that many companies find it difficult to pay dividends to shareholders’’.

(NAN)

Microfinance banks repositioned for efficient service delivery Association

T

R-L: CEO, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyeama, presenting a souvenir to GMD/CEO, UBA Plc, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, during the visit of UBA management to NSE for the presentation of the bank's ‘facts Behind the Figures,’ recently in Lagos.

Samsung overtakes Nokia as leading mobile phone maker

A

fter 14 years as the world’s leading mobile phone maker, Nokia has finally lost its number 1 position to electronics giant, Samsung — according to research firm, Strategy Analytics.

Nokia took the top spot in 1998 from Motorola, but in the first quarter of 2012 Samsung shipped 93m phones compared to almost 83m by Nokia.

Samsung also reported its highest quarterly profit since 2008.

“We cautiously expect our

earnings momentum to continue going forward, as competitiveness in our major businesses is enhanced,” said Robert Yi, head of investor relations at Samsung.

The firm said its IT and mobile communications division, which manufactures the smartphones, made an operating profit of 4.27tn won during the period, as revenues in the division surged 86% from a year earlier.

Samsung will unveil the latest version of its Galaxy range of phones today.

The Galaxy range has been

very popular and helped Samsung overtake Apple to become the world’s biggest seller of smartphones.

“The smartphone market has almost only two players, Samsung and Apple,” said Lee Sei-Cheol of Meritz Securities.

“Since its Galaxy3 phone is being unveiled this month, Samsung will keep enjoying sales growth in its mobile phone division.”

Samsung is also the world’s biggest TV and flat screen maker.

(Source: BBC)

he National Association of Microfinance Banks (NAMB) says the subsector has been repositioned to ensure efficient service delivery to Nigerians.

The President of NAMB, Mr. Mathias Omeh, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday that the sub- sector had focused on advocacy, capacity building and information sharing through ICT in the last one year.

The president stated that the association had undertaken exposure tours to Germany, Bangladesh and India in order to improve the sector.

According to him, more tours will be planned for members at all levels to Ghana, Kenya and other countries that have recorded successes in their micro-finance banking industry.

Omeh said the sub-sector would continue to collaborate with other stakeholders, especially development partners, in order to attract more funds into the sector.

He assured Nigerians that the executives of the association would continue to work hard to ensure that the micro-finance banking in Nigeria met international standards.

“There is now better stability, less occurrence of failure and a significant reduction of unethical behaviour in the micro-finance banking industry.” (NAN)

First lady commends Airtel over role in health care information From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

F

irst Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan has praised the effort of telecommunication giant, Airtel over the company’s role in providing a platform for health-care awareness and information centre in Nigeria.

Speaking during the commissioning of the National Call Centre on HIV/AIDS and Related Diseases of the National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA) donated by Airtel, the First Lady said the growth of telephony in Nigeria provides a strong platform for increasing information dissemination on health challenges such as HIV/ AIDS. Dame Patience said, “I believe that the establishment of this National Call Centre will go a long way in strengthening our national response to HIV/AIDS, as is the case in other countries of the world, such as South Africa, the Philippines and India, who have used help lines and Call Centres successfully in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.”

While commending Airtel Networks Limited for its lead role in providing toll-free lines for subscribers to call the Centre and access information on HIV/AIDS, Dame Jonathan, who was accompanied by the wife of the Vice-President, Hajia Amina Sambo, the wives of Rivers and Bayelsa states governors observed that the growth of subscriber base of telecoms firms in Nigeria provides a strong platform for using telephony to drive health awareness.

In his remark, Airtel’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rajan Swaroop affirmed that, “As far as this partnership is concerned, we are totally committed to ensuring the success of the National Call Contact Centre.

It is our role to ensure effective public enlightenment and education through firm commitment in scaling-up existing efforts and concrete partnerships that will help millions of Nigerians access better information and referrals to service provision in health-care delivery.”

He said “At Airtel, we will also work with the NACA to send short messages concerning the deadly scourge to our subscribers nationwide.”

Represented by Airtel’s Regional Director, North, Mr. Femi Oyewole, the CEO said the National Call Centre is commencing with 30 agents ready to provide information, guidance and counselling to callers to a toll-free Airtel line: 6222.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Addressing the problem of malnutrition among Nigerian children approach,’’ he said.

John suggested that nutrition education should be reintroduced in the country and given the necessary seriousness it deserved, adding that “prevention is better and cheaper than cure.’’

Dr Davis Omotola, UNICEF Chief of Nutrition, argued that no responsible parent would like to witness the death of his or her child due to avoidable factors.

He noted that the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate in the area between Sokoto State to Borno State was quite high.

Omotola stressed that assistance from the international community would, however, be required to tackle the malnutrition crisis in states sharing border with Niger Republic, adding that the problem was endemic in Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

The UNCEF expert noted that In Katsina State alone, more than 45,000 children who were suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) had received treatment at designated stabilisation centres.

Omotola said that 141,043

others were rehabilitated in 11 states across the country last year.

He, nonetheless, bemoaned the non-existence of a specific ministry in charge of development to handle nutrition and allied issues.

“The issue of nutrition is a developmental issue. But where is the Ministry of Development?” he quipped.

Omotola noted that the SAM affecting some Nigerian children could evoke memories of malnourished children in Somalia, Ethiopia and India, in spite of the vast economic resources of Nigeria.

Dr Ibrahim Jimoh, a

medical practitioner at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Zaria, said that of all the childhood killer diseases in Nigeria, “malnutrition account for more than 50 per cent of under-five infant mortality.’’

He, nonetheless, stressed that the menace of malnutrition could be reduced appreciably if tangible support was given to the various State Committees on Food and Nutrition across the country.

Jimoh underscored the need to adopt the preventive approach in efforts to reduce the mortality and morbidity rates among children below

“

The first 1,000 days of a child — from pregnancy to 24 months after delivery – have been identified as the period which presents a unique opportunity to prepare the child for whatever it would become later in life

Malnutrition contributes to 2.6 million child deaths

By Shittu Obassa

T

he World Food Programme (WFP) defines nutrition as “the sum total of the processes involved in the ingestion and utilisation of food substances by which growth, repair and maintenance of the body are accomplished.”

Nutritious foods are those food items, including fruits and vegetables, which contain nutrients such as vitamins, protein, carbohydrates and minerals that are required to sustain the body and healthy living.

Conversely, malnutrition is the condition that results from the ingestion of unbalanced diets, in which certain nutrients are deficient.

Health analysts say that malnutrition crops up whenever a child is not getting enough food or eating balanced diets.

The consequences of malnutrition can be dire, as the United Nations (UN) Standing Committee on Nutrition asserts that malnutrition is the largest contributor to noncommunicable diseases in the world.

The physiological manifestation of malnutrition at an early age can induce reduced physical and mental development during childhood.

The fifth report on World Nutrition Situation states that “stunting affects 147 million pre-school children in developing countries’’,

while Nigeria is believed to be home to 10 million of such children.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), domesticated in Nigeria since October 2003, states that access to good nutrition is a fundamental right, particularly for children under five years.

The growing emphasis on the need for good nutrition has somewhat turned nutrition into a development issue and experts say that no normal child can grow into a healthy, strong and happy adult without the intake of dietary diversification.

In specific terms, dietary diversification for children include exclusive breastfeeding for six months, complementary feeding for

24 months and consumption of some food nutrients, such as Vitamin A, iodised salt and zinc supplementation.

Experts insist that these nutrients must be given to a child in the first 1,000 days, including the period of its conception.

Mr Uruakpa John, an Assistant Director in the Micro-nutrient Deficiency Control/Nutrition department of the Federal Ministry of Health, emphasised the need to expose a child to these nutrients in the first 1,000 days.

“The first 1,000 days of a child — from pregnancy to 24 months after delivery – have been identified as the period which presents a

unique opportunity to prepare the child for whatever it would become later in life,’’ he said at a recent review meeting of State Committees on Food and Nutrition in Ilorin.

John underscored the wisdom in adopting preventive health care approach, saying that if such approach was adopted, government would spend less in providing curative health care measures, including health facilities, drugs and equipment.

“It has been realised that the only way to reduce mortality and morbidity rates among our children and women of childbearing age is by adhering to the rules of good nutrition which entail the preventive

Women and children in an outpatient nutrition programme

Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

the age of five and women of childbearing age.

On his part, Dr Abdullahi Balarabe of the Department of Biochemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira, emphasised the need to step up nutritional activities, particularly in the northern parts of the country.

“Nutritional activities should be increased to eradicate malnutrition in northern Nigeria, considering the fact that the northern part of the country has the highest incidence of malnutrition, if compared to the southern part,’’ he said.

Balarabe, however, commended UNICEF and other donor agencies for their v a r i o u s contributions toward efforts to eradicate or reduce the incidence of malnutrition in Nigeria.

John also lauded UNICEF for its anti-malnutrition campaign in the country, adding, however, that State Committees on Food and Nutrition should work

harder in efforts to promote good nutrition among Nigerian children.

“Our lackadaisical attitude must change if we want to be at par with other countries that have nutrition matters topmost on their national agenda.”

However, Dr Florence Oni, a UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, commended Kebbi State for its achievements in efforts to address the problem of malnutrition, pledging that the state would start benefitting from a special nutrition fund in October.

She recalled that in 2011, Kebbi spent N130 million on the rehabilitation of 20,000 malnourished children in different stabilisation centres.

Oni urged other states to emulate Kebbi in efforts to address malnutrition issues, saying: “It is the child that rises up its two hands that the mother lifts up.’’

Source: NAN

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

EMERGENCY UPDATE

4 die in an auto crash in Calabar F

our persons are feared dead in a motor accident involving a taxi and a trailer at 8 miles, an outskirt of Calabar Metropolis.

The accident which occurred at about 9.am today (28/4/12) created a traffic hold up for about an hour.

An eye witness account said the taxi which was heading to Calabar ramed into a stationary trailer while trying to avoid a head on collision with two trailers loaded with cement trying to overtake each other thereby occupying the entire road.

The four occupants of the vehicle including the driver died as a result of the crash.

Our correspondent who

visited the scene of the accident reports that an Audi Salon car with registration no: XA 635 BRA lie shattered under the trailer with the entire roof cut off and seats in disarray.

The report also stated that the Federal Road Safety Commission officials who arrived the scene shortly after the incident hacked off part of the vehicle to remove the victims.

Accessing the disaster, the Director General Cross River State Emergency Management Agency Mr. Vincent Aquah described the incident as disheartening.

Mr. Aquah advised motorists to be cautious on the road to avoid accidents that could maim or cause loss of lives.

Scene of the auto crash in Calabar, Cross River state

Disasters: Governor Imoke lauds NEMA for quick intervention

T

he Cross River state Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke has expressed gratitude to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for its commitment towards intervening in disasters in the state.

Governor Imoke who gave the commendation during the distribution of relief materials sent in by NEMA for victims of the recent windstorm disaster in Calabar Metropolis said that the leadership of the Agency has lived up to its statutory obligations.

The Governor who was represented by the Director General, Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Mr. Vincent Aquah lamented the spate of man-made and natural disasters spreading across the state stating that it was mounting undue pressure on the economy of the state government.

He sympathized with the victims of the disaster and promised that government would continue to partner with the Federal government and NGOs to promptly intervene in any form of disaster in the state.

Governor Imoke however advised that residents should abide by the regulations governing the construction of building so as to avoid the effect of windstorm and other related environmental hazards.

He noted that most of the houses affected were those needing rehabilitation and restructuring and advised Landlords to pay maximum attention to the upgrading of their houses to meet the precarious climate change.

Responding on behalf of the victims, Etinyin Lawrence Asido recalled that the windstorm that

occurred in February this year in Calabar was unprecedented as it not only pulled down houses but ornamental trees planted to check such storms.

He commended the State Governor Senator Liyel Imoke for his concern for the people of the State by the passionate way he had intervened in all areas of needs.

Etinyin Asido promised that the materials would be judiciously put to use to enhance their living standards shattered during the storm.

The windstorm disaster victims who were in their hundreds were given building materials such as cements, roofing sheets, wood and roofing nails.

DG, SEMA, Mr Vincent Aquah (left), addressing victims of a recent windstorm disaster in Calabar metropolis.

Kaduna blast: NEMA updates findings

I

n the wake of the bomb explosions that rocked parts of Kaduna city last Thursday, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it has discovered about 30 victims were affected.

The report said only one life was lost in those incidents while the rest 29 victims were receiving treatment in six hospitals in the state.

“NEMA North West Zonal Office received a distress call at about 11:50am of an alleged attack by a suspected suicide bomber in a cream colored Honda Accord (Academy) car with registration number AL 306 MKA driven into SOJ Global Communications and Investment Limited Plaza, situated at R9, Kontagora road off Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna which houses offices of the correspondents to The Sun,

ThisDay and The Moment newspapers,” it stated.

The Acting Zonal coordinator, NEMA North West Zone, Alhaji Musa Ilallah, the report disclosed, promptly directed the agency’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) and other officers to the scene of the blast; having arrived, the team met on ground other relevant stakeholders conducting their mandated tasks.

The team, however, condoned the area immediately, evacuating the victims to various hospitals within th city metropolis via ambulances belonging to NEMA and the Nigerian Red Cross.

Other victims with severe cases, according to the report, were later referred to ABU teaching Hospital, Shika in Zaria for intensive treatment.

NEMA officials visited all the

hospitals to ascertain the number and condition of the casualties.

Having concluded evacuation of victims, NEMA discovered that a total of 27 people were affected by the blast at SOJ complex which as a result, one Bashir Lawal, 20 years of age and residing at Benin Street, Kaduna lost his life on the spot.

Twety six others are receiving treatments in the six hospitals in which three has since been discharged but still placed on routine medical checks and treatment.

Similarly, NEMA responded to the second blast at about 5pm which occurred along Ungwar Mua’azu/ Nnamdi Azikwe Way, Kaduna bye pass express way.

It was learnt that three victims who were critically injured are presently receiving intensive treatment at the 44

Army Reference hospitals.

Meanwhile, NEMA is still gathering facts and figures from professional point of view and other reliable sources to ascertain the damages recorded and will updates the public on new developments as situation unfolds in order to avoid wrong information dissemination.

As usual, NEMA will reaffirm its commitment in monitoring the state of condition of the victims in the hospitals through regular and routine checks.

Right now, four victims are receiving treatment at ABU Teaching Hospital, Shika, Zaria, Barau Dikko Specialists Hospital, Kaduna (6), 44 Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna (9), St. Gerards Hospital, Kakuri Kaduna (2), Rakiya Hospital, Doka, Kaduna (5), and Yusuf Dantsoho Hospital, T/Wada Kaduna (3) respectively.

PAGE 27

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

EMERGENCY UPDATE YOUTHS FOR PUBLIC SAFETY

By Abubakar Jimoh abujimoh01@yahoo.com

Mitigating the hazards of Lake Nyos’ collapse

R

The scene of the recent twin bomb blast in Kaduna cordoned off by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and security agencies after the incident.

An Official of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) at the Barau Dikko Specialist and 44 Army Reference Hospitals, Kaduna assessing the condition of victims of the recent twin bomb blast in Kaduna.

Another scene of the twin bomb blast in Kaduna cordoned off by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

ecently, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) drew the public attention to the imminent collapse of the Lake Nyos by 2015. This according to the agency would pose a negative socio-economic effects to some states in Nigeria including Benue, Taraba, Katsina, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Kogi and Cross River, Delta, Akwa Ibom states in the event of the eruption.

Geologically, Lake Nyos is located in western Cameroon and adjacent to Nigeria in the elbow region of West Africa. It lies close to the axis of the Cameroon Volcanic Line, which extends for nearly 1,500km from the gulf of Guinea Islands through southwestern Cameroon and goes into northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon.

Hitherto, the emission of Carbon dioxide from the lake in August, 1986, had claimed 1,800 victims; while a lethal gas burst originated from the neighbouring lake Monoun, in the same remote area of Cameroon killed 37 people in 1984.

Both lakes occupy the crater of a supposedly extinct volcano in a region known by geologists for its numerous gaseous water springs and a common feature of old volcanic areas.

In both cases, without prior notice, a cloud of dense gas erupted from the lake, covering the surroundings under a deadly blanket several meters thick, decorating the skins of the victims with burns.

The fact that both disasters occurred at night remained mysterious and had caused dreadful natural catastrophe in the area.

Also, NEMA’s accounts showed physics and chemistry of the lakes still contain huge amounts of carbon dioxide (10 million m3 and 300 million m3 in Monoun and Nyos, respectively) and that this gas is being added at such a rate that saturation could be reached within years in the deep layers of the lakes. This may result to the collapse of the Lake Nyos which is also a volcanic dam that could release up to 50 million cubic metres (1.8 billion cu ft) of water into Katsina-Ala River.

Consequently, the agency has conducted technical study on the situation and developed various measures which is classified under absorption, mitigation, and elimination depending on the location.

Absorption measures involved preparing the threatened areas to absorb the initial effects of the event, considering the prediction of possible collapse of the Lake Nyos Dam and flood arrival time. This include flood inundation mapping, emergency preparedness planning and containment of flood by a buffer dam. Mitigation measures, nonetheless, include reinforcement of the Lake Nyos

dam, control of the dam seepage, control of potential rock- fall into the lake, as well as venting of gas from the lake bottom. The elimination measures were aimed at removing completely the dangers posed by the lake such as draining and de-gassing the lake.

The study also it observed that preventive measures is the best option required to manage socio-economic effects that disasters of Lake Nyos may pose to man and his property.

Besides, geologists have further confirmed that the natural hazards presented by these lakes are unique in that remediation is possible before a disaster occurs. It has been recommended that lowering the density of the gas-water mixture by pumping of gas-rich bottom waters to the surface of the lakes will help to remove the gas currently in the lakes, and possibly prevent future gas that may build up using a pipe that continuously flushes bottom water out of the lake.

Reducing the danger of these hazards is very vital just as residents of the area must be educated about risks involved and the level of danger posed to people living around the lakes.

In this case, there is a need for adequate alert system that will be coded in several languages of the communities to be affected.

This will help to inform the residents about the impending flood and forewarn them to vacate the river banks.

There is an instant need for the states to construct buffer dams in addition to the ongoing construction of buffer dam project across the Benue communities by the federal government to hold the excess water; while the state governments must collaboration with their respective State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to put in place some palliative measure against the impact of the impending disaster. Also very vital is efficient means of transportation and communication to facilitate emergency operation by officials.

Effective collaboration among stakeholders on disaster management such as Fire Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Police, medical services, Federal Road Safety Corps, private, Nigerian Red Cross Society, the Disaster Reaction Units of the military, Search and Rescue and Epidemic Evacuation Teams must be encouraged to provide adequate emergency response, and assist NEMA with its ongoing proffered technical measures against the anticipated Lake Nyos collapse. Besides, if necessary workable evacuating systems should be provided for the population living around the danger zone; and facilities must be sufficient provided in the alternative environments chosen for them.

Repeated

PAGE 28

Hashimu Jibrin Gurku, Chairman, Karu Local Government Council, in Nasarawa state but sharing boundary with the FCT, has decided to join the rest of the world in efforts to contain environmental degradation in his area.

In this interview with Mohammed Kandi, he throws light on his plans.

Excerpts:

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

We’ll ensure strict compliance with sanitation regulations in Karu, say Council boss

W

hat plans do you have for the people of Karu Local Government Council?

First, I want to consolidate on one of the priority areas of my State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, which is ensuring environmental cleanliness in the state. I believe one of the greatest service that people of this great community require more than ever is healthy living. This of course is in line with the demands of the Federal and state governments including the United Nation as part of efforts required to meet up with international or globally acceptable standards of creating a healthy environment.

How do you intend to achieve this considering the huge population of traders in the area?

I am fully aware of enormous challenges that might arise when we commence operations. We also know that there are individuals who definitely would not want to comply. But, believe me; they must be made to be law abiding citizens. They must adhere strictly with the rules of engagement which obtain in their community whether you are indigene or settler. The most important thing is that we are all citizens that are bound by common law which stipulates that our environment should be kept clean and that defaulters should get certain sanction for non compliance.

What extra effort are you making to ensure strict compliance?

Very good question and I will say yes. I have already set up a committee that is looking into that. The committee is expected to move around to supervise the sanitation. We are also trying to co-opt the law enforcement agent, that is the police and other stakeholders like the health worker and men if the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSDC).

I am also part of the committee. So, you can see that we are not joking about this our new approach to environmental sanitation in Karu Local Government Council.

You see, I believe that to whom much is given, much is expected. The Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state is one of the best governors in the country, and everyone

Some members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) engage in sanitation knows this. He is an exemplary, visionary and outstanding leader whose leadership qualities should be emulated by all and that is exactly the foot steps we are trying to follow.

All we need is for him to provide the enabling environment, leadership role and the necessary backing and believe he has done that for us.

Karu Local Government Council has one of the most littered environments in the state including some other parts of the state, is the state government really doing enough to change this?

I will disagree with you that Karu Local Government Council or Nasarawa state is one of the dirty states in the country. But, I will agree with you if you said the area is one of the most environmentally challenged.

You see, a lot of commercial activities take place in Karu, especially, somewhere around Mararaba, Nyayan and so on but we are still doing our best to instill discipline among residents as well as ensure strict compliance with the laid down rules.

We must also not forget the fact that we are dealing people with entirely different orientation and perception to judging issues. Most of this people have their individual attitudes, behavior and believe and this to a large extent affects their way of life just it informed their attitude towards the environment.

But then, these people come

to agree or comply with the existing rules and regulation when they are asked to do so or when they do not have any choice than to comply.

Honestly, it may seem as if we are blowing our own trumpet but the truth is Nasarawa is probably the cleanest state in Nigeria. I advise you visit the state capital,

Hon. Hashimu Jibrin Gurku

Lafia, you will see the wonders my governor is performing not only in environmental sanitation but other areas or sectors of development. He has change the face of Nasarawa state completely and I have confidence that he transform the entire state in eight years, so I am calling on the people of the state not allow

themselves to lose such a magnificent leader after his first tenure. He should be made to continue because he deserve to.

Again, I want to reiterate that there is no going back on our mission to embark on aggressive environmental sanitation in Karu.

What is your advice to the people on sanitation?

I urge all residents of Karu Local Government Council to be law abiding. They should turn out in their mass to carry out that which compulsory on them every weekend. It is to their own advantage, especially in terms of healthy living. This is very important because health, they said, is wealth and priceless.

Let’s work together harmoniously to ensure that Karu Local Government becomes the best and possibly the cleanest place for people to live in.

There need for people to give emphasis to personal hygiene by a way of ensuring they eat uncontaminated food, drink potable safe water, take their bath frequently and encourage others to so too. This way, our communities will be free of some dread diseases which have become very pronounced in most of our societies. We must learn to change our attitudes as much as we need to emulate communities that have succeeded in adopting such system and it had worked for them. This are my candid advice for my people and the entire Nigerian populations and by extension, Africa at large.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 29

‘I’m the most allergic woman in Britain’ U nlucky Vicki McNamara is the most allergic woman in Britain – she is even allergic to herself.

The 41-year-old suffers lifethreatening violent reactions to almost everything, including her own sweat.

Her devastating condition — triggered by a wasp sting 15 years ago — has left her a virtual prisoner in her own home. When she does venture out, she has to wear a protective mask and gloves.

Last night single Vicki, from Dumfries, said: “I’m scared one day my allergies will kill me.

“It’s too dangerous to let anyone in my house, as even the slightest smell of perfume, smoke or aftershave will leave me ill for days.

“I’m allergic to hundreds of things — it’s easier to tell people what I’m not allergic to. I’m allergic to modern life.”

A sign on her front door says “Callers by appointment only” to warn off unexpected guests.

Even family and friends have to stand outside and talk through the window.

Vicki said: “Even at home I’m at risk. I have to keep my windows shut most of the time in case someone walks past smoking a cigarette. I’ll immediately start feeling sick and dizzy.”

Food poses another problem, since almost everything she eats gives her a rash or makes her sick. She survives on fruit and veg grown in her garden and eggs from her hens.

And she has to use prescriptiononly toothpaste, soap and deodorant free of formaldehyde.

Vicki’s rare condition means any one of her allergies can trigger a deadly anaphylactic shock — and it is getting worse.

She has already been rushed to

hospital twice this year.

In January she ended up in A&E after reacting to anaesthetic while having a filling at the dentist. Last month an ant bite triggered another attack.

Ironically, being in hospital can make Vicki feel even worse because she is allergic to the detergents used to wash the bed linen.

She said: “The sheets make me burn and itch. I feel like I want to rip my skin off.”

Describing a typical reaction, she said: “The fumes from perfume can hit me in seconds and I feel so sick it’s like glass moving around in my stomach.

“My blood pressure drops, by head feels heavy, my heart starts racing, I struggle to breath, then I collapse. I feel like I’m suffocating, like someone is crushing all the air out of my chest.

“I usually wake up a few days later. But I’m frightened one day I might not come out of it.”

Vicki lived a normal, allergy-free life until a seemingly minor incident when she was a student at university.

She was hanging out washing when a wasp stung her left foot.

She recalled: “There was a terrible burning feeling and I started to feel ill immediately.

“I crawled into bed crying and three days later I woke up. During those three days I remember I kept opening my eyes, looking at the clock, then bang! I was out again. It was frightening.

“It felt like flu. My foot was hugely swollen and throbbing.”

Vicki went to see her GP, who said she had had a severe allergic reaction to the sting.

Then came the terrible news.

Experts at Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary revealed the sting had inflamed her immune system, making her allergic

Facing her fears ... Vicki McNamara refuses to let her allergies beat her.

A child weighs in at one of the emergency stations set up to try and combat starvation that is sweeping across Burkina Faso.

Safe distance ... Vicki talks to The Sun's Lisa through a window.

Swollen ... Vicki's foot after sting

to a vast variety of everyday things.

She said: “It turned out I was allergic to almost all chemicals.

“Have a look around at labels and you’ll see there are chemicals in almost everything.”

At first Vicki had no idea how badly her life would be affected — until she ate an ice-cream.

She said: “I started sneezing, which went on for about an hour until my eyes were swollen shut.

Then I just lay down on the floor and passed out.”

After years living with her condition. Vicki has turned to TV doc Dr Hilary Jones. He will tell her story on ITV1 show Daybreak tomorrow.

Last night Dr Hilary said: “It’s extremely rare to be allergic to as many things as Vicki. She has a very hypersensitive immune system. No one fully understands why this happens.

“But allergies are on the increase.

It is thought that, because we now live in such a hygienic world, our immune system turns on things that are not really harmful.

“Most allergies are simply mild

and inconvenient. In the rare instances where severe allergies cause life-threatening reactions, adrenalin will be required.”

Vicki always carries a life-saving EpiPen adrenalin injection, which can stop her body shutting down during severe reactions.

Yet despite the permanent threat hanging over her, she remains surprisingly upbeat.

She refuses to give up her love of horses — even though she suffers severe nose bleeds every time she goes riding. That is nothing compared to the agony of hot weather.

Vicki said: “It’s so difficult in summer. I’m allergic to all sun creams and sweat makes me come out in agonising blisters.”

But she says the most painful aspect of her allergies comes from other people.

Vicki is subjected to constant taunts from strangers when she goes out in her protective gear.

She said: “Someone the other day was so busy staring at me that they walked into a lamp post.

“An elderly couple laughed at my face mask. I had to tell them I have a life-threatening condition.

“I went home and cried. It really upset me. But I refuse to live my life as a prisoner, which is why I still go outside.”

Vicki’s parents, Veronica and Joseph, and a small group of close friends are the only ones who understand her condition.

Romantic relationships are out of the question.

Vicki said: “I like being on my own, which is just as well.

“It would be almost impossible to live with all my allergies and have a family or partner.

“I’ve never felt the need to find a partner. Despite everything I’ve been through, I’m happy. It’s made me stronger.

“But it does help to know I’m not alone and that there are other allergy sufferers out there.

“What’s happened to me I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but it has made me change my life for the better.”

Source: TheSun.co.uk

PAGE 30

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

The twin sisters who share a husband and he’s also married to their cousin T win sisters Vicki and Valerie Darger share more than just their looks as they are both married to the same man.

The 42-year-olds are in a polygamous marriage with Joe, 43, who is also wed to a third woman their cousin Alina.

The Dargers, who are fundamentalist Mormons from Salt Lake City, Utah, live together in a large family home and have 24 children between them.

Vicki, currently a stay-at-home mother, has been married to Joe, who runs a construction company, for 22 years.

Valerie joined the family as his third wife in 2000.

In the eyes of their Fundamentalist Mormon religion, all three women are equally married to Joe. They each have their own bedroom, and Joe alternates between the three rooms each evening.

Valerie, who works in the family cleaning business with Alina, 43, said: ‘The fact that Joe was married to Vicki didn’t bother me at all. I took it as a sign he would be a good husband for me as well.

‘As teenagers, Vicki and I liked some of the same guys. I thought it might even be good if we married the same man.’

Vicki added: ‘I know that some people are uncomfortable at the thought of two sisters sharing a

Awful lot of offspring: The quartet have 24 children (pictured) between them, from one-year-old Victoria to 18-year-old Tavish.

'I was attracted to both girls': Joe with Alina (centre) and Vicki (right) while courting together a year before they were married at a joint wedding ceremony in 1990.

A child weighs in at one of the emergency stations set up to try and combat starvation that is sweeping across Burkina Faso.

Mutiple marriages: Joe Darger poses with his three wives, twin sisters Valerie (centre) and Vicki (right), and their cousin Alina (left)

husband.

‘But there’s a good chance if a husband is compatible with one sister, he’ll be well matched with another.’

Brave Joe was just 18 when he began dating Vicki and her cousin Alina at the same time and married them in a joint Mormon ceremony in 1990.

The following day, Alina became his legal wife when they married again at a ceremony under state law, while Vicki acted as witness.

‘Even in our community joint courtships are rare,’ said Vicki. ‘We knew we were taking on a huge challenge and responsibility.

‘The accepted pattern in our culture is for a couple to prove themselves first in a monogamous marriage, before taking on the challenges of a second wife.’

Describing their joint dates, Joe said: ‘Since Alina and Vicki were close friends and were interested in pursuing me together, the best thing I could do was to nurture that combined friendship.

‘I was attracted to both girls and knew that individual relationships would develop in time.’

Vicki and Alina had been married to Joe for ten years when they both encouraged him to start pursuing a relationship with Vicki’s twin Valerie.

Valerie had just gone through a divorce after her marriage to an older man Donald, who had six wives, broke down due to his gambling and abusive treatment.

One evening, while Valerie and her five children were staying with the Darger family, she felt a sudden spark of chemistry with Joe. Joe admitted: ‘I had a connection with Valerie, but the fact she was Vicki’s twin was weird - they both had the same mannerisms. But Vicki opened my mind to it.’

Alina added: ‘I was excited at the prospect of Val becoming part of our family. I had a genuine love and concern for her and wanted her to be the happiest she could possibly be.’

Joe and Valerie married in another Mormon service in their home, with Vicki and Alina standing beside them, and celebrated with a family meal.

The Dargers were investigated by state authorities several years ago for their beliefs and attempted to keep their plural marriage secret for many

'Vicki opened my mind to it': Joe smiles for the camera after his marriage to Valerie (centre) in 2000, which was happily attended by his other wives Alina (left) and Vicki (right)

years.

But two years ago, they decided to talk about their relationship to raise awareness, and to try to overcome prejudices against their religion and lifestyle.

Although polygamy is generally illegal in all 50 states, practitioners are almost never prosecuted unless there is evidence of abuse, statutory rape, welfare fraud, or tax evasion.

The three wives and their husband have co-written a book ‘Love Times Three’, and some of their adult children also contributed to the story.

‘We hope that by talking about our way of life, polygamy will step closer to being an accepted lifestyle and the laws that criminalise it might change,’ said Joe. Joe admitted: ‘I had a connection with Valerie, but the fact she was Vicki’s twin was weird - they both had the same mannerisms. But Vicki opened my mind to it.’

Alina added: ‘I was excited at the prospect of Val becoming part of our family. I had a genuine love and concern for her and wanted her to be the happiest she could possibly be.’

Joe and Valerie married in another Mormon service in their home, with Vicki and Alina standing beside them, and celebrated with a family meal.

The Dargers were investigated by state authorities several years ago for their beliefs and attempted to keep their plural marriage secret for many years.

But two years ago, they decided to talk about their relationship to raise awareness, and to try to overcome prejudices against their religion and lifestyle.

Although polygamy is generally illegal in all 50 states, practitioners are almost never prosecuted unless there is evidence of abuse, statutory rape, welfare fraud, or tax evasion.

The three wives and their husband have co-written a book ‘Love Times Three’, and some of their adult children also contributed to the story.

‘We hope that by talking about our way of life, polygamy will step closer to being an accepted lifestyle and the laws that criminalise it might change,’ said Joe. Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 31

Is journalism in crisis?

ANALYSIS

By Kevin Anderson

L

ondon, United KingdomJournalism is in crisis! It's a cry you hear often from journalists in the West, and it's easy to see why.

A 2010 study in the UK estimated that between 15,000 to 20,000 journalists had lost their jobs since 2001, and the cuts have continued over the last two years.

In the UK, the cuts have not just been at newspapers as the BBC has been forced to cut thousands of staff, many of them in its news departments.

Its funding has been frozen and it has had to absorb the costs of funding World Service, which used to be funded directly by the British government.

A 2010 study found that between 2007 to 2009, newspaper circulation dropped precipitously in many developed countries, including down by 20 per cent in Greece, 18 per cent in Japan, 17 per cent in Canada and most dramatically by 25 per cent in the UK and a staggering 30 per cent in the US. A recent report by the professional networking site, LinkedIn, found that of 30 industries, employment in the US decreased most in newspapers during the recession.

Paradoxically, while newspaper circulation might be down in the developed world, audiences are up.

Jack Matthew, Chief Executive Officer for Australia-based Fairfax Metro Media, said over the last five years that although print readers are declining, "thanks to digital media, the overall audience grew 30 per cent over the past five years".

The most recent State of the News Media report found in the US that audiences grew for every news platform in 2011 except newspapers. TV, radio and news website audiences were all up, with online audiences growing by 17.2 per cent.

Audiences are growing online. Advertising is growing, but journalism isn't necessarily taking advantage of that growth market. The bulk of the growth in digital advertising has benefited search engines, such as Google, and more recently social networks. In 2011, advertising on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn increased by 75 per cent in the UK, increasing eight-fold since 2008, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Journalism itself isn't in crisis in the developed world,

Print newspaper circulation in the United States dropped by 30 per cent between 2007 to 2009 but the business of journalism definitely is. A report by the Pew Research Centre's Project for Excellence in Journalism found in the US that for every dollar that newspapers have gained in digital revenue, they have lost $7 in print revenue.

One executive interviewed for the study said, "There's no doubt we're going out of business right now."

The future is digital, but print journalism has to reinvent its business if it wants to have the resources to continue to provide the news, sport and other information that are vital to communities and democracies. This is as true in the Global South as the Global North. The wave of disruption crashing over the US and European newspaper industries is spreading and nowhere will be immune.

It's one of the reasons that I've just joined the Media Development Loan Fund, a mission-driven investment fund for independent news

outlets in countries with a history of media oppression. It provides low-cost capital and business assistance to help news media become financially sustainable in places where the press isn't free. MDLF is launching the Knowledge Bridge project, to help independent news outlets in countries like Nepal and Guatemala make the digital transition.

I want to make sure that news organisations don't just do good but do well. Financially weak journalism institutions are easily pressured by governments and business interests to toe the party line.

There is a huge opportunity and challenge to help independent news businesses serving the vast majority of the world's populations to thrive in the digital future.

Newspapers might be in decline in the developed world, but elsewhere, in many areas where MDLF works, newspapers are still booming.

“

Newspaper circulation and advertising revenue have been rising across South America, Africa and Asia. A recent report by the Economist showed circulation up 5 per cent in South America, up 13 per cent in Asia and up a stunning 30 per cent in Africa.

However, news organisations cannot become complacent, focusing only on protecting their profitable broadcast or newspaper businesses in the face of the digital revolution. This is a time for experimentation and innovation.

Technology, especially the mobile revolution, is spreading rapidly around the world and news media need to take advantage of it.

Social networking is booming in the rapidly developing economies of Asia and Latin America. Last year, the use of Facebook exploded in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia as well as Chile, Peru, Argentina and Venezuela.

Digital and mobile technologies open up huge opportunities to distribute news and information to a wider audience and can be a driving force for social and political change. But as we've seen in developed countries, they can also disrupt the business models that have supported journalism for decades.

The mobile revolution is fundamentally remaking not only communications but also the economies of rapidly rising African countries.

It is estimated that transactions accounting for 25 per cent of Kenya's GDP are conducted via MPESA, a mobile payments system. In Africa, fixed-line internet use is still growing slowly, but mobile data use is expanding rapidly. While Vodafone estimates that by 2015 there will still only be 3.9m fixed line broadband users in sub-Saharan Africa, there will be 435.1m mobile broadband users, double the figure from 2011.

Digital and mobile technologies open up huge opportunities to distribute news and information to a wider audience and can be a driving force for social and political change. But as we've seen in developed countries, they can also disrupt the business models that have supported journalism for decades.

In the countries where MDLF works, the stakes in whether news organisations successfully navigate the digital transition are much higher than in the West. If independent media go out of business in places like Russia or Zimbabwe, reliable news disappears as outlets supporting and supported by - governments or oligarchs take over. That's why it's time for me to take on a new challenge: to help independent media stay independent in a digital world.

Culled from Aljazeera.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 32

L

ibya fired the latest salvo in a legal battle over the trial of Muammar Qaddafi's son, officially asking world war crimes court judges to quash a surrender request and throw out the case.

"The Libyan government requests the Chamber to declare the case inadmissible and quash the surrender request," Libya's lawyers said in a document, filed before the International Criminal Court.

Tripoli and the ICC have been at loggerheads since Seif AlIslam's capture in November last year over where he should be tried, with Libya arguing it could put him in the dock before a local court.

But the ICC had issued an arrest warrant in late June last year against Seif and ex-Libyan security boss Abdullah Al-Senussi and it wants to see them tried in The Hague. A third warrant for the late Libyan strongman was nullified after Qaddafi was killed by rebel forces in October 2011.The new Libyan government said earlier it would file official papers by April 30 before the ICC to spell out reasons why Seif should be tried at home.

"Denying the Libyan state and its people the opportunity to carry out national proceedings, in accordance... with the Libyan law, would likely mean no state emerging from conflict could ever benefit from the complementary

Libya asks ICC to quash Qaddafi’s son case

principle," Libya's lawyers said in the document.

Libya is referring to the ICC's jurisdiction that is complementary to that of national courts, enabling it to act only when member states were unwilling or unable to do so.

Tripoli's stance also got support Monday from the Arab League which said in a statement in Cairo: "The Libyan government has repeatedly assured that all conditions ... would be met to organize a fair and impartial trial on its

territory."

Separately, Nuri Abbar, head of the Libyan electoral committee, told AFP that it has opened voter and candidate registration centers, in another step towards its goal of holding elections for a constituent assembly in June.

"Registration for voters and candidates opened today."

The vote will mark the first nationwide poll after decades of dictatorship under Qaddafi, who was toppled and killed in an uprising last year.

Abbar said there are 1,350 voter registration centers across Libya, including 220 in the capital Tripoli. Another 13 centers are tasked with registering candidates. Libya, with a population of 6 million, has 3.4 million eligible voters, he said.

The ruling National Transitional Council, which took power last August, has pledged to hold elections for a constituent assembly in June.

The 200-member assembly is to appoint a panel of experts to draft a constitution which will then be put to a referendum.

constitution.

People queued up outside, holding their national identity papers and centres for candidate registration also were opened.

However, in a stark reminder of the security concerns that persist in Libya six months after the conflict that toppled Gaddafi ended, the school centre in Tripoli was closed when the fighters mounted a protest.

The men called for militiamen who fought Gaddafi to be represented in the new assembly

and asked for the one-week deadline given to political parties to register to be extended, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

Nouri Al-Abbar, head of Libya's election commission, said the first day of registration showed Libya had begun to move towards a democratic path.

"We can see that a lot of people have come from the first hour and this can be seen as a positive beginning and everyone is very happy," he said.

In the new assembly, 80 of the

200 seats will go to political parties, with the rest reserved for independent candidates.

Dozens of new parties have sprung up offering a mix of democratic, Islamist, free-market and nationalist agendas and providing an alternative to established political movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

But there is still widespread insecurity in the country, with the interim government appointed in November struggling to impose its authority on several armed groups.

A mobile phone picture taken by one of his guards shows Saif alIslam Gaddafi with his captors, November 19, 2011.

‌Libyans register to vote in landmark elections

L

ibyans began registering on Tuesday to vote in June elections for a national assembly, as the country prepared for its first free polls following the removal of Muammar Gaddafi.

One registration centre at a Tripoli school was closed after armed former rebel fighters turned up in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns.

About 1,500 registration centres have been set up across the country for the landmark polls, after which Libya will have a new

T

he Horn of Africa nation Eritrea leads the world in imposing censorship on the media, followed closely by North Korea, Syria and Iran, a journalism group said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a report published yesterday that ten countries stand out as censors by barring international media, putting "dictatorial controls" on domestic media and imposing other restrictions.

Eritrea tops restrictive censorship report

Rounding out the ten worst censors are Equatorial Guinea, Uzbekistan, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Belarus.

The report by the committee, a non-profit organisation based in New York, was released to mark World Press Freedom Day on Thursday.

Many of the countries on this year's list also were on the committee's last list, published in

Myanmar's democratic reforms have seen the country, listed as second worst censor in 2006, fall to seventh

2006.

"In the name of stability or development, these regimes suppress independent reporting, amplify propaganda and use technology to control rather than empower their own citizens," Joel Simon, the CPJ executive director, said in a statement accompanying the report.

"Journalists are seen as a threat and often pay a high price for their reporting.

"But because the internet and trade have made information global, domestic censorship affects people everywhere."

In making its list, the CPJ said its staff evaluated the countries on 15 benchmarks.

They included blocking of websites, restrictions on electronic recording, absence of privately owned or independent media, and restrictions on journalists' movements.

The report said of Eritrea, that "no foreign reporters are granted access ... and all domestic media are controlled by the government".

It said that North Korea, Syria and Iran were "three nations where vast restrictions on information

have enormous implications for geopolitical and nuclear stability".

North Korea, which topped the 2006 list, "remains an extraordinarily secretive place," the report said.

It noted, though, that there have been "some tiny cracks" in its censorship, including the opening of an AP news bureau in the capital this year.

The CPJ said censorship "has intensified significantly in Syria and Iran in response to political unrest".

Syria has banned foreign reporters from the country and limited local reporters from moving freely as it uses its military and police to put down a civilian uprising.

Iran, meanwhile, has blocked websites and imprisoned journalists to limit publication and broadcast of information, the report said.

Myanmar, which had the second most repressive censorship regime in 2006, has fallen to seventh place in the midst of democratic reforms that have already led to a relative improvement in freedom of expression.

Remittances to Kenya jump to record high in March

K

enyans abroad sent home $106.2 million in March, the highest monthly amount since the central bank started releasing data on the flows in 2006, and 48 percent up from the same month last year.

Remittances are one of the main sources of foreign exchange for east Africa's biggest economy alongside tea, horticulture and tourism. The country got a record $891.1 million in remittances for the whole of last year.

The central bank said in a statement on Wednesday that North America accounted for 54 percent of the diaspora inflows in March, maintaining the top position as a source of remittances, followed by Europe with 26 percent.

Typically, Kenyans living abroad send money home to help their families and for investment in various sectors, including real estate.

In recent years, they have also started investing in specialist government securities targeted at them, such as infrastructure bonds and the Savings Development Bond, the central bank said.

The central bank's foreign exchange reserves rose to $4.6 billion last week, slightly above the statutory four months import cover, aided by release of funds by the International Monetary Fund to Kenya under a $750 million Extended Credit Facility.

A cashier counts U.S. dollar notes at a bank in Somalia, October 10, 2008.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 33

Chinese activist leaves US embassy in Beijing

C

hen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist who was believed to have been

sheltering in the US embassy in Beijing, has left the embassy to seek medical care and join his family, a

US official has said.

A senior US official said on Wednesday that "Chen

Guangcheng has arrived at a medical facility in Beijing where he will receive medical treatment and be reunited with his family".

The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chen did not ask for asylum and is staying in China after receiving assurances that he will be treated as a normal citizen.

The official said that the activist was brought into the US Embassy because he was in need of medical care and that Chinese authorities promised Chen will be relocated to a safe environment where he can study at a university.

Chen, a legal activist, had angered Chinese authorities by exposing forced abortions and sterilisations under the "one-child"

policy.

Beijing has demanded that the US apologise for sheltering Cheng in its embassy, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Liu Weimin, foreign ministry spokesman, said: "China is very unhappy over this. The US action is an interference in China's internal affairs and China cannot accept it."

"Chen Guangcheng, a native from Yinan County of eastern China's Shandong Province, entered the US Embassy in Beijing in late April and left of his own volition after a six-day stay in the embassy," he said.

Both the countries have broken their silence over the issue after avoiding public comment in recent days.

Optimistic Iran adamant about nuclear programme

Chen had angered authorities by exposing forced abortions and sterilisations under the "onechild" policy

I

ran is optimistic about progress in talks with world powers over its nuclear programme but it will never give up its right to the peaceful use of atomic energy, a senior Iranian official said yesterday.

Tehran reopened negotiations with six world powers over its uranium enrichment programme last month and they have agreed to meet again in Baghdad on May 23.

"We continue to be optimistic about upcoming negotiations," Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mahdi Akhondzadehhe said in a speech to a nuclear non-proliferation conference in Vienna.

But he added: "There should be no doubt that the great nation of Iran...will never abandon exercising its inalienable right to peaceful use of nuclear energy and technology,"

The United States and its allies say Iran's nuclear program is a cover for developing atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

They have imposed new sanctions against Iran's energy and banking sectors since the beginning of this year and the European Union is set to impose a total embargo on the purchase of Iranian crude oil in July.

The talks with the United States, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain resumed last month in Istanbul after more than a year - a chance for the powers and Iran to halt a deterioration in diplomacy and help avert the threat of a new Middle East war.

Separately in Tehran, an adviser to Iran's supreme authority Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Baghdad talks should lead to the lifting of sanctions, according to Iranian media.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei departs after casting his ballot in the parliamentary election in Tehran March 2, 2012.

Aerial protestor strikes at French nuclear site

G

reenpeace and energy officials say an environmental activist was arrested after dropping a billowing smoke bomb onto the roof of a French nuclear reactor from a motorized paraglider.

Video footage from the dramatic Wednesday morning stunt showed the airborne activist after he dropped the smoke bomb at the Bugey site 35 kilometers (22 miles) east of Lyon and began circling the reactor to

start his descent to the ground.

Greenpeace nuclear spokesman, Yannick Rousselet, told The Associated Press the spectacle by its activist was meant to "highlight the vulnerability of nuclear sites."

Plant owner EDF has defended the site's security measures, saying in a statement they "were strengthened in late 2011 (to) allow detection and immediate apprehension of the perpetrator."

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Several protesters killed in Cairo attack At least nine protesters have been killed by armed attackers near the Ministry of Defence in Cairo, Egyptian officials have said.

The unidentified assailants at dawn yesterday set upon

several hundred protesters who have camped out in the Abbasiya area for days to call for an end to military rule in Egypt.

In response to the clashes, military and riot vehicles were deployed to the area later

yesterday to quell the violence.

"Eight armoured personnel carriers from the military central zone entered the Abassiya area to disperse the fighting between protesters, and not to disperse the peaceful

Protesters have been camped out in the area for days calling for an end to military rule

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi sworn in to parliament

scuffles near the Defence Ministry in recent days but protests had been broadly peaceful.

Residents gathered around a police station in the vicinity after the clashes on Wednesday, demanding that police disperse the protesters, whom they also accused of being thugs.

Some of the protesters are supporters of an ultraconservative presidential hopeful, Hazem Abu Ismail, who was barred from the upcoming presidential election because his mother held dual Egyptian-US citizenship, in violation of eligibility rules. "[The sit-in] initially started off as one that was called for by the angry supporters of Abu Ismail, who was disqualified from the race; people gathered there to protest his disqualification," our correspondent said.

"But as with most protests over the past few months, it escalated into something bigger into a protest against the overall military practices and the way the ruling military council has been running the country over the past 14 months."

Rageh said that among those killed on Wednesday were

Riyadh airport to triple capacity after expansion

T

he capacity of Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport is expected to triple when expansion work that is set to begin in November will be

completed in three years, senior officials of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) said here yesterday.

GACA Vice President Faisal

A

ung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's prodemocracy leader, has taken the oath of office to become a member of Myanmar's parliament during a swearing-in ceremony in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Yesterday's event marks a historic development for the country and for the Nobel laureate who waged a two-decade struggle against its military government.

The oath, taken in front of lower house speaker Shwe Mann, states members will "safeguard and abide by the Constitution of the Union" and "hold always in esteem [the] nondisintegration of the Union, nondisintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereignty".

Speaking briefly to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony, Suu Kyi said her focus would be "to carry out our duties within the parliament as we have been carrying out our duties outside the parliament for the last 20 or so years".

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy [NLD] swept byelections on April 1, but its successful candidates initially refused to take their seats because of a dispute over part of the oath relating to the constitution.

The NLD had refused to take the oath to "safeguard the constitution".

Instead, it wanted to swear to "respect" it.

The party backed down on Monday and said its politicians would swear the oath, but said it still disputed the wording and wanted to amend a constitution that it says is undemocratic and gives wide powers to the military.

demonstrators," an army statement said. "However, protesters attacked the armed forces. The armed forces have orders to hold their ground."

Egypt's health ministry said dozens of people had been wounded in the dawn fighting with sticks, stones, batons and bullets. Low-level clashes continued hours after the initial attack.

The state news agency MENA said "thugs", some of them with guns, had assaulted the protesters.

The violence casts a shadow over the presidential election due to begin on May 23 and 24, with a run-off in June, and highlights the fragility of Egypt's transition to democracy which has been punctuated by violence and political bickering.

"This has been an ongoing sit-in for the past five days," Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reported from central Cairo, saying that the latest skirmishes began early on Wednesday morning in the neighbourhood near the Abbasiya subway station.

There had been some

GACA Vice President Faisal Al-Sugair tours an exhibition staged during the aviation conference in Jeddah.

Al-Sugair said preliminary studies and design work for the development and expansion of the Riyadh airport have been completed and the construction work will begin soon.

Opening the first specialized conference and exhibition on aviation services and logistic support at airports at the Jeddah Conferences and Events Center, Al-Sugair also disclosed GACA's plans to implement mega development projects in the near future to further expand its network of 28 airports that handle about 54.5 million passengers a year.

About 100 local and international companies in the aviation field are displaying their products and services at the exhibition organized on the sidelines of the conference.

The exhibition, titled

"Airports, Aviation and Logistic Services," provides a strategic platform for those who intend to invest in aviation, airports,and logistic services at airports.

The specialized conference, the first of its kind in the Kingdom, is organized at a time when Saudi Arabia has adopted an ambitious plan to develop infrastructure projects for communications.

"The new King Abdulaziz International Airport Jeddah is expected to be operational in 2014 and its capacity would rise to 30 million passengers a year with the completion of the first phase of the project," Al-Sugair said. The new airport is estimated to cost SR 27 billion.

The Saudi government is planning multi-billion dollar projects to expand capacity of its airports in the face of rising demand.

Car bomb kills 6 after Obama leaves Afghan capital

A

car bomb exploded outside a compound housing Westerners in Kabul yestrday hours after US President Barack Obama signed a security pact during a short visit to a city that remains vulnerable to a resilient insurgency.

Taleban insurgents claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on the eastern outskirts of the capital that killed at least six people, a Gurkha guard and five passers-by, and wounded 17. A young girl was among those killed.

The Taleban said it was in response to Obama's visit and to the long-term strategic partnership deal he signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a pact that sets out a long-term US role after most foreign combat troops leave by the end of 2014.

Obama's visit came a year after US special forces troops killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in a raid in neighboring Pakistan.

In a televised address to the American people from a base north of Kabul, he said the war in Afghanistan was winding down.

"As we emerge from a decade of conflict abroad and economic crisis at home, it's time to renew America," Obama said, speaking against a backdrop of armored vehicles and a US flag.

"This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end."

Nearly 3,000 US and NATO soldiers have been killed

in Afghanistan since the Taleban rulers were ousted in 2001.

The Taleban, ousted by USbacked Afghan forces for harboring Bin Laden and other

militants, quickly claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack at Green Village, one of several compounds for Westerners on the main road heading east out of the capital.

President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 35

‘I want to be with my mum’: Teenager commits suicide two months after his mother lost her cancer battle

L

iam Collier, 15, was devastated after the loss of his mother Deborah Thirty-five year-old died after a two-year battle with cancer Heartbroken teenager told friends 'I want to be with my mum' A boy of 15 is believed to have committed suicide two months after his mother died from cancer.

The teenager, named locally as Liam Collier, was found in a wooded ravine near his home and was pronounced dead at the scene.

He is believed to have died from hanging and a post-mortem examination is due to be carried out shortly.

His mother Deborah Collier, 35, tragically died on 24 February following a battle with cancer.

Friends said the teenager was heartbroken by her loss and told them 'I want to be with my mum'.

A neighbour on Liam's street

Tragic 15-year-old Liam Collier who is believed to have hung himself in woods in Barnsley

Liam is believed to have died from hanging and a post mortem is due to be carried out shortly

said her daughter was friends with the tragic youngster and had heard from another pal that Liam had hanged himself.

She said: 'I'm gobsmacked. His friends tried to pull him down but they didn't know he was going to do it.'

She said Liam's death may have stemmed from what happened to his mother.

She said: 'I've been told that he said 'I want to be with my mum'. I can see that being the only possible reason he's done it.

'His mum had been poorly for about two years. Then they found it had been terminal.'

She said Liam was 'cheeky' and 'mischievous', adding: 'He had a heart of gold.'

Friends are thought to have found his body at woods in Barnsley on Monday evening and tried to pull him down.

A man standing outside Liam's family home confirmed his father Alan had already lost his wife and was 'devastated.'

Numerous online tributes were made to the teenager.

Friends of the teen have been leaving tributes on-line. One read: 'You was so young and such a great boy Liam, we was close friends and always had a laugh, don't know what I'm going to do without you:( guess your where you wanted to be safe in heaven with your mummy:(' Another friend said: 'A heart of gold stopped beating, two shining eyes at rest, God broke our hearts to prove, He only takes the best. Rest in Peace liam you'll be safe with your mum now in heaven.'

In a message to Deborah on a tribute site in her memory, a cousin wrote: 'Not sure what to say today Debs, the bad news again but at least Liam will now be with you and your mum, bless you all xx' Tributes to Liam lay on the

Mother, 28, who was hooked on cannabis found hanged next to the body of her six-year-old daughter

Clare White,28, and Ayesha White-Mukumbira, 6, whose bodies were found at their home in Christie Way, Stratford

A

mother was found hanged in her flat yards away from the lifeless body of her sixyear-old daughter after spiralling into a severe depression following heavy cannabis use.

Clare White, 28, had been smoking the drug virtually every day despite suffering a 'drug-

induced psychotic episode' aged 17 which left her temporarily unable to speak, an inquest heard yesterday.

The child's father, Harry Mukumbira, fought back tears as he told the inquest how he had contacted social services in January last year, six months before the tragedy.

He said he became concerned about his ex-partner's ability to care for Ayesha after returning to her home in Stratford-upon-Avon to find Miss White asleep with their child entertaining herself.

An official noted his details and promised a social worker would be in touch but 'nobody ever contacted me', Mr Mukumbira said.

He said the couple had been in an on-off relationship since 2002 and he had realised Miss White was a 'heavy cannabis user' soon after they met. Mr Mukumbira moved out of the family home for the last time a month before the tragedy occurred in June 2011.

He said he discovered his

daughter and ex-partner's deaths after Miss White's mother Margaret called him at work and told him Miss White had 'done something horrible'.

In a statement, Margaret White told Warwickshire deputy coroner David Clark that she had first noticed a change in her daughter when she was aged around 17, after she dropped out of a beauty therapy course.

She said Miss White enjoyed a busy social life at the time, which led to her and husband Christopher, 60, having 'a conversation with her about the dangers of drugs'.

Mrs White, 59, added: 'Clare told us that cannabis was a natural substance and she admitted taking it.

'We strongly urged her to stop taking it. Shortly after that she was arrested for damaging a caravan.'

She said this 'drug-induced psychotic episode' led to her daughter, the youngest of four children, being hospitalised and

'unable to speak for a while'.

The inquest, at the Warwickshire Justice Centre in

Loss: Liam's mother Deborah Collier, 35, who tragically died on 24 February following a battle with cancer damp and muddy ground and against a downed tree in the wooded area where his body was found.

Around 25 bunches of flowers lay neatly together and one framed photo of Liam.

One read: 'RIP Liam 30/04/ 12 sleep tight big boy.'

Another read: 'To Liam. Am really going to miss you al (sic) never forget you, look after your mum and look after Zena, don't forget me.'

'To Liam RIP. Your with your mum now. Sleep tight,' read another.

A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: 'South Yorkshire Police were called at 8.30pm after an incident in a wooded area in Barnsley.

'Emergency services arrived at the scene and shortly afterwards a local 15-year-oldboy was pronounced dead.

Leamington Spa, heard Miss White recovered sufficiently to land a placement on a Prince's Trust project to build a children's playground, which her mother credited with 'helping her to value herself'.

Grieving father Harry Mukumbira leaving the inquest in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire

PAGE 36

F

or years, scientists and doctors have blamed illnesses on our parents, showing how conditions such as blindness and deafness can be passed down genetically, and bad lifestyle habits can put babies at risk of heart defects.

But medicine is increasingly pointing the finger specifically at fathers, with studies showing how male genes and even men’s diets and stress levels can create serious health problems for their offspring, including diabetes, depression and obesity.

It seems that the Bible warning holds true for health: the sins of the fathers really do plague their children — and this effect may pass on to their grandchildren, too.

The latest evidence in this newly emerging jigsaw comes from research that shows a common genetic flaw may increase a son’s risk of heart disease by 50 per cent.

Scientists at Leicester University who analysed samples from more than 3,000 men found that those with a common group of genetic traits (called haplogroup I) had a 50 per cent higher risk of coronary artery disease than men in other genetic groups.

This genetic flaw is at the centre of male genetic identity; it’s carried in the Y chromosome, responsible for determining that babies are born as boys (chromosomes are found in all cells and carry our genetic blueprint) — so it’s passed only from fathers to sons.

It is thought that as yet unidentified genetic flaws in men’s immune systems may cause chronic inflammation in their arteries, which can lead to heart disease.

The British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, said the findings could lead to new tests and treatments for coronary

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Why your dad’s bad habits may have wrecked your genes problems.

And while men can’t change their genes, they could benefit from learning if they have inherited this danger, says research scientist Lisa Bloomer, one of the study’s authors.

Indeed, while there are no tests for this haplogroup yet, if your father and uncles have had heart troubles, it is sensible to assume there is a strong chance you may be affected.

‘You can reduce your risk if you mitigate the effects of other dangers, such as your weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels,’ says Ms Bloomer.

This latest finding is part of a larger picture where scientists are starting to discover diseases passed from man to boy through the Y chromosome.

‘It has already been found genes on this chromosome can increase people’s risk of being born with autism and for contracting HIV,’ says Ms Bloomer.

‘We need to do more work to understand how these problems occur.’

Scientists are also learning how the bad effects of men’s lifestyle habits, such as their diet, stress levels, weight and smoking, can be transmitted through the genes in their sperm.

Just as disturbingly, it seems that men can pass on addictive behaviours and stress-related depression.

Here, it is not only sons who are affected but daughters, too, because these problems are passed on through genes that are not on the Y sex chromosome.

Early clues to this have been

This latest finding is part of a larger picture where scientists are starting to discover diseases passed from man to boy through the Y chromosome. found by Washington University researchers who studied the sperm of a group of male heroin addicts.

The men’s sperm contained genes that had been changed from normal and would affect the development of any children they had.

These changes are called ‘epigenetic’ — alterations to a person’s genes that are caused by their lifestyle habits.

Significantly, the researchers found epigenetic changes that boosted the activity of OPRM1, a gene that controls how the body responds to its own heroin-like feel-good hormones.

Obesity and delayed motherhood behind doubling of mums who die in labour

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ising numbers of women are dying in labour as obesity and delayed motherhood make births more risky.

There are concerns maternity units can’t cope with the increasing number of complicated and potentially dangerous labours.

A study of women giving birth in London, published in the Lancet medical journal, found the death rate has doubled since 2005.

In 2010/11 there were just under 20 deaths for every 100,000 births compared with just under ten deaths six years previously.

There are currently no comparable figures for the remainder of the UK as the Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries, which would normally investigate such cases, has had its work suspended to save money.

The researchers blamed the increase on rising rates of obesity and the trend for delaying motherhood which makes births increasingly complicated.

Additionally the higher numbers of women undergoing

IVF means they are more likely to have twins and triplets, which are riskier.

These trends may be more pronounced in London but it is likely similar problems are being experienced across the country.

Dr Susan Bewley, consultant obstetrician from Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London called for ‘urgent attention’.

‘We do know women are becoming pregnant when they are older and fatter and have more complex health issues,’ she said.

‘It could be that hospitals in London are actually coping surprisingly well against greater odds, or it could mean there are problems with the services.’

Professor Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: ‘Two factors are combining: maternity services are under pressure from a steadily rising birth rate while dealing with far more women with complex pregnancies.’

Since 2001 the UK birth rate has jumped by 21 per cent, up from 594,634 to 723,165 last year alone.

By contrast, the number of

midwives has only increased by 15 per cent over the same period, from 18,048 to 20,790.

The college estimates an extra 5,000 midwives are needed.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

A study in the Lancet medical journal says there are concerns maternity units can't cope with potentially dangerous labours (posed by model)

This change is believed to be a factor in making people more liable to develop addictions.

In a similar fashion, men may transmit stress-related diseases across generations.

Scientists at New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine say lab experiments on rats have found epigenetic changes in the semen of males who show signs of stress and anxiety after being isolated or threatened.

Their studies show that baby rats sired by these fathers show an increased vulnerability to stress, and become anxious and depressed more quickly than normal. They also have higher levels of stress hormones.

This is despite the fact that their mothers showed no such problems, according to the study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

This may offer one explanation as to why depression can run in families.

Even smoking when very young can affect men’s sperm — and surprisingly, this may make their sons prone to becoming overweight.

The discovery was made using survey results from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children — an investigation into the health of 14,000 mothers and their children in the Bristol area.

It began in 1991 and is the most comprehensive study of its kind.

Professor Marcus Pembrey, a clinical geneticist at the Institute of Child Health in London, found men who smoked before puberty had sons who were fatter by the age of nine, even when other lifestyle factors were taken into account. There was no similar effect among women.

‘It seems that before puberty, our genes are tuned to suit the environment we are living in. It is these genetic changes that are passed down the male line,’ says Professor Pembrey.

Perhaps the most important factor in determining a man’s

legacy to his children comes from his dietary habits.

This takes us into a newly emerging field of science called nutri- epigenomics — the study of how food can alter our genes.

‘Rather than “you are what you eat”, this science shows “you are what your dad ate”,’ says Anne Ferguson-Smith, professor of developmental genetics at Cambridge University.

She points to research that showed fathers who eat high-fat diets and are obese tend to have daughters with a high risk of developing diabetes.

These girls are born with low insulin levels and glucose intolerance — classic signs of the disease.

The research, published in the journal Nature, concluded that the problems seem to be transmitted through the father’s sperm.

Professor Ferguson-Smith warns in the journal Cell Metabolism that these studies show the problem of ill-health being passed from parents to children ‘is not only just maternal territory.

The father’s nutritional and metabolic status merits attention, too, if we are to optimise the health of his children and grandchildren’.

Parents must understand that having healthy offspring is a joint enterprise if their babies are to inherit healthy genes.

This is most starkly illustrated by a study that found obese mothers produced sons at risk of being morbidly overweight.

These boys grew up to father daughters who, in turn, had an inherited tendency to be perilously overweight.

The Biblical prediction turns out to be more complex than anyone thought: the lifestyle sins of both parents can be visited on their children and are passed on in ways we are only beginning to understand.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 37

Reps query agric ministry over N1.9 billion fertilizer fund

By Lawrence Olaoye

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he House of Representatives has queried the Ministry of Agriculture over the alleged diversion of the sum of N1.9 billion meant for the procurement of fertilizers to other use.

Acting on the 2008 Audit report of the Auditor General of the Federation, the House Committee on Public Accounts chaired by Rep Solomon Adeola Olamilekan, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry, Dr. Ezekiel Oyemomi was last week ordered to produce all documented evidences that the said amount was refunded as he claimed.

Oyemomi in his explanation said the funds were used for the Garara and Azure waterfalls project "and the sum of N2billion was returned to where it was initially withdrawn."

Asked by Rep Olamikan to produce evidence of such a refund and why N2billion refunded instead of the initial N1.9billion, the Oyemomi could not give a convincing explanation because as at the time the money was diverted he was not the PS of the ministry.

The Committee Chairman asked the Permanent Secretary who was the Agric Ministry's Minister by 2008 when the alleged diversion happened but he said he did not know but an official quickly mentioned Mallam Adamu Bello as the serving minister then.

Olamikan immediately suggested that the minister should be summoned to answer queries on why the fund was diverted from the purchase of fertiliser to cosmetic work on a waterfall.

The Permanent Secretary at this juncture promised to make available all necessary documentations on how the money was transferred and refunded.

Not too convinced, Rep Olamikan demanded that only original copies of bank statements and memos raised during the transaction should be presented today by the Permanent Secretary.

Also, auditors are expected to produce documents to convince the committee on 3 tractors alleged to have vanished between Owerri and Ibadan storage facilities today.

R-L: Bayelsa state Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, and Director General of Nigerian Governors' Forum, Asishana B. Okauru, at the 2nd South-South Economic Summit, recently in Asaba, Delta state.

PDP berates advocates of Nigeria’s break-up

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur yesterday berated those who were criticizing the unity of the country through the amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates in 1914 by the colonialists.

Tukur made the comment while receiving the reports of the Nationla Congress and Planning Committee chaired by Chief Ojo Madueke at the party's headquarters in Abuja.

The Chairman said that the PDP was committed not only to the unity of the country but to that of the continent in general.

He added that the party was determined to give good life to the

people.

He said "people who should know better are now saying that they wish Nigeria is not what it is today."

"We may be of different ethnicity but our differences are our strength. Our diversity is our greatest strength. PDP is always working to ensure that Nigeria is one nation one people. We are not only thinking of oneness but Africaness. If Chinese are talking of being Europeans, we cannot do less," Tukur added.

While thanking the committee for doing a thorough job, the National Chairman assured that the recommendations made would be put to good use to serve as a guiding light for proper running of the party in the next four years.

Meanwhile, the Congress Planning committee chairman while submitting the report said before this current leadership, PDP was like an aircraft without radar.

Maduekwe said of Tukur "We now have a chairman with a global reach; a chairman who will take us to desired destination."

He however added that the committee owed the new National Chairman a duty to make suggestions alongside the appreciations, saying "This is the time to raise the bar at all levels.

This is the time to stop being complacence because of its obvious security implications."

Maduekwe called for the expulsion from the party of anybody whose utterances are not in consonant with the party's agenda, mission and vision.

"Reckless statements and utterances must be sanctioned by the party.

Those undermining the unity of the nation should be expelled from the party," said Maduekwe.

The committee also advised the PDP's National Working Committee to start regular meetings at all levels to discuss not only election matters but policy matters as well, insisting "We are not only a ruling party but a governing party."

On behalf of the National Chairman, National Executive Committee (NEC) and National Working Committee (NWC) the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, thanked the Maduekwe committee for "the best organized congress in the history of the party."

Rise above ethnic politics, Edo Assembly warns PDP From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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do State House of Assembly has warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rise above ethnic politics as it prepares for the July 14 governorship election in the state.

Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Uyi Igbe who gave the warning yesterday said the move should be curtailed in order not to continually desecrate the territories by the PDP

desperate thirst for power in the state by driving a wedge between the ethnic groups.

'It's acceptable and often respectable to disagree on issues of ideas but to play the ethnic card is clearly an indication of the 'drowning man syndrome', ahead of July 14 2012 governorship election in the State.

'I make no apology, it's criminal and barbaric to engage in bigotry or incite a group of

people against the other in the name of politics‌That is the PDP politics; the politics of the past.

According to him, 'Any attempt by a faction or a fraction of the Society to incite one ethnic group against another or hate mongering and perpetuation of fear will be deemed below our political standard and will be resisted and deemed unacceptable in its entirety', he said.

The Speaker therefore warned

that Edo people will not concede democracy to masters of falsehood having broken the chain of mediocrity in 2007 governorship election that victory to governor, Adams Oshiomhole on November 2008.

Hon. Igbe advised the PDP leadership to channel their energies towards a constructive debate based on issues that will benefit the people instead of engaging in tribal warfare and mudslinging.

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

May Day: governors assure workers of improved conditions of service

Chime asks workers to tow path of peace

ov. Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom on Tuesday announced the approval of immediate payment of a new consolidated salary structure for civil servants in the state.

In his May Day message, Akpabio said with the new salary regime, the lowest paid worker in the state would receive N21, 000 monthly as minimum wage.

The governor called the new salary structure: “Consolidated Akwa Ibom Enhanced Salary Structure.’’

He said he would also consider consolidated salary structures for medical and health workers, judicial workers and teachers.

“Those on Salary Grade Level 16 as directors will be entitled to promotions to Salary Grade Level 17 while those on Salary Grade Level 15 and 16 will be entitled to one and two domestic servants respectively,’’ he said.

Akpabio who also announced the review of uniform allowance for nurses from 250 per cent to 400 per cent, said the car loan for workers in the state had also been reviewed from N100 million to N400 million.

In Minna, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) urged the state government to implement the new minimum wage of N18, 000 to workers as agreed to between the government and organised labour in 2011.

Malam Yahaya Ndako, the NLC chairman in the state, made the remark at the May Day celebration, tagged: “Right to Work, Food, and Education: Panacea to insecurity.’’

ov. Sullivan Chime of Enugu state has called on workers in the state to always tow the path of peace and dialogue and also expose corrupt tendencies in their offices.

Chime made the call in his address to the workers at a rally to mark the 2012 May Day celebration at the Michael Okpara Square, Enugu, on Tuesday.

Chime, represented by the Head of Service, Mr. Dennis Eze, said the advancement of any society depended on the resourcefulness of its workforce; hence his administration was taking deliberate steps to improve on workers’ welfare.

He noted that whenever disagreements arose between employers and their employee, dialogue, rather than confrontation, should be followed to resolve the crisis.

The governor said that his administration had taken deliberate steps to improve on workers’ welfare and called on them to reciprocate the gestures.

Earlier in his address, the Chairman of TUC in the state, Mr. Chukwuma Igbokwe, lamented the high level of insecurity in the country and called on the three tiers of government to fight the menace by making job creation, provision of food and free education their policy thrust.

Igbokwe, who commended the governor for his giant strides, requested him to review the salary of Enugu State workers and come up with an acceptable chart for the state.

He called for the implementation of the Consolidated Health Employees Salary Structure (CONHESS), payment of September 2011 salary and arrears of salary owed workers in the state’s parastatal agencies.

Other issues raised by the TUC were the resuscitation of major revenue generating establishments in the state like the Star Printing and Publishing Corporation, Government Printing Press and ENTRACO. He also called for the reactivation of other state-owned ailing industries like the Sunrise Flour Mill, Niger Gas and Steel as well as the recruitment and training of workers following the mass retirement of workers.

The NLC did not present an address because of the leadership crisis in the state council. (NAN)

G

Gov. Godswill Akpabio

Gov. Babangida Aliyu

Gov. Tanko Al-Makura

“The NLC wishes to appeal to the governor to, as a matter of urgency, implement fully the new minimum wage of N18, 000 to workers as agreed between the government and organised labour early last year,’’ he said.

NAN recalls that during the signing of the memoranda of understanding between the government and the organised labour in the state in 2011, the government agreed to implement the new minimum wage in 2012.

In his remarks, Gov. Babangida Aliyu, said that his administration would continue to respect the rights of workers in the state by paying their salaries promptly.

He said his government would remain committed to the implementation of the N18, 000 minimum wage and all the salary packages for professional cadres across the state civil

service.

“This gesture also includes the prompt payment of pensions and gratuities, in spite of some challenges with the state local government pension scheme,’’ he noted.

The governor said that the N18, 000 minimum wage would be fully implemented “as soon as the state gets extra fund from the federation account.’’

Also in Lafia, Gov. Tanko AlMakura on Tuesday called on the workers in Nasarawa state to be dedicated to their duties.

In his May Day speech, the governor said: “my administration will ensure the training and retraining of civil servants for efficient and quality productivity within the civil service.

“I have approved the adoption of the Federal Government policy on promotion through examination with effect from January; and I have directed the

Head of Civil Service to work out modalities for its take-off.”

According to him, the May Day celebration provides an avenue to further deepen the synergy between government and labour towards ensuring effective service delivery.

In his remark, the NLC chairman in the state, Mr Asokoro Maku, called for the inclusion of pensioners in the 18,000 minimum wage.

Maku said that the gesture would go a long way in assisting the pensioners who had served the state diligently.

The chairman also pleaded with the state government to expedite action in paying arrears of pensions in the state, especially the outstanding gratuities of retired workers.

Mr. Gabriel Agbashi, the Chairman of the state Trade Union Congress (TUC), urged the government to implement the Teachers’ Salary Structure.

Jang is far sighted leader misunderstood by many - Yiljap

T

he Commissioner for Information in Plateau, Mr Abraham Yiljap, has described Gov. Jonah Jang as a great and far sighted leader that is misunderstood by people.

“People see him (Jang) from afar, people read him from afar and they pass all sorts of

Gov. Jonah Jang

comments and judgment on him but history will be kind to Jang,’’ Yiljap told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos on Tuesday.

“I agree Jang is not an angel; he can err, so no one expects 100 per cent perfection from him; he’s human which

means that there are times that where you expect him to go, he never goes.

“But the man is open and he tells us he can make mistakes and also wants to be corrected when he is wrong because he does not make those mistakes deliberately of out of arrogance,’’ Yiljap said.

Yiljap explained that the governor was “strong-hearted’’ but with a “father’s heart’’, and was building a team that would ensure continuity in the governance of Plateau so as to leave a lasting legacy.

The commissioner said that Jang was “the right person for Plateau at this time’’ that the state was facing daunting security challenges, especially with his experience in governance at different levels.

“Jang was twice a military administrator and is now serving his second term as a civilian governor; not many people have that kind of record in the country.

“When he was standing for re-election, the support he got was overwhelming and well beyond what he got in his first

tenure; that tells you very clearly that the people are with him.

“Plateau people are comfortable with him. We don’t want people from outside to think that they can decide for us. They cannot decide for the people of Plateau state who their governor should be,” he said.

According to him, Jang is a very prudent manager of resources, does not make much noise about his achievements and has remained focused since he knows where he is going.

He said that the governor had promised that he would not leave any project uncompleted at the end of his tenure in 2015, adding that the target was to put Plateau on a strong path of peace and prosperity.

“Jang is focused on his 10point agenda, he is focused on delivering and he is delivering.

“He has started another phase of development which has not been witnessed before in the state,’’ the commissioner said.

G

Gov. Sullivan Chime

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Democracy alone can’t guarantee good governance, says Fashola

G

ov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state said yesterday that democracy as a system of government could not deliver good governance, unless the leaders of government made it to work.

“Democracy has its own challenges and difficulties; it does not guarantee good governance or that the leaders of government will be Godfearing or truthful,’’ the governor told his audience while giving account of stewardship on his 1, 800 days in office at Alausa, Ikeja.

“We are determined to make the difference and that is why

we have instituted regular accounts of stewardship in Lagos state,’’ Fashola added.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor was reacting to a comment by a former Deputy Governor of the state, Sinatu Ojikutu, scoring state councils low.

Ojikutu had asked the governor to whip the 20 councils and 37 area development councils on line to discharge their constitutional responsibilities.

She said:“We (residents) are not happy with the local governments.

They have abandoned their responsibilities. Are they not

supposed to tar or repair roads as in the past?

“The governor should make them to work to complement the achievements of the state administration”.

Fashola, who “defended’’ the councils’ “non-performance’’, said paucity of funds had been the major challenge facing them.

“An elected president cannot tell me how to run my state under a constitutional government and I cannot tell the chairmen how to run their councils.

“After they have paid salaries of primary school teachers and council staff, they barely have little money to take care of capital projects and other things.

“That is why it is important to have another revenue sharing formula to give more money to states and councils to discharge their responsibilities. But we will continue to engage and collaborate with the councils,’’ the governor said.

Fashola promised that his administration would continue to enforce its laws diligently and with respect.

But he cautioned:“Any big man who fails to respect our laws will have the government to contend with.

We will enforce our laws diligently and will only respect those who respect themselves”.

L-R: National President, Usman Danfodio University Sokoto Alumni Association, Abuja chapter, Hon. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, Alumni Chairman, Alhaaji Lukman Muhammad, jointly presenting Exemplary Leadership and Outstanding Alumni Award to Speaker House of Representatives, Hon . Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, recently in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

EFCC can leave re-open case – Court

A

n Abuja High Court yesterday granted leave to the EFCC to re-open a criminal case against one George Ihejirika, who allegedly forged Certificates of Registration of some companies.

Justice Abubakar Umar, on Jan. 23, discharged Ihejirika and closed the case for want of diligent prosecution on the part of the EFCC.

Ihejirika was arraigned in 2009 on an eight-count charge of using the forged certificates of the Corporate Affairs Commission with the intent to defraud some unsuspecting businessmen in Abuja.

In his ruling on an application to re-open the case, Justice Umar recalled the reasons why he discharged the accused.

He said from his records, it was at the instance of the prosecution that an adjournment was granted on June 13, 2011 to enable them produce some documents.

“It was also the same prosecution that asked that the case be adjourned to Nov. 3, 2011 and I obliged them.

He said that justice was a three-way street; one for the

accused, one for the state and one for the society.

Umar charged the prosecution to show more diligence in the prosecution of the matter.

“The EFCC counsel must be careful and show more effort in prosecuting the case this time around. We must make progress.’’

He adjourned hearing to June 5 and ordered the EFCC to produce all witnesses in court on that day.

CNPP condemns Lagos doctors’ strike

T

he Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) on Tuesday condemned the ongoing strike by medical doctors in the employment of Lagos state Government.

The Lagos state Chairman of the CNPP, Mr Akinola Obadia, told a news conference in Ikeja that the doctors were in violation of their Hippocratic Oath.

He said by their action, the doctors have not show respect for the sanctity of lives and the oath that guided the medical profession.

“The oath states that a doctor must avoid the death of patients, irrespective of their grievances or socio-economic status,” Obadia said.

He noted that there was no justification for the strike to continue as those the doctors were expected to save were dying daily in the hospitals the medical personnel abandoned.

“From facts available to us, the doctors are the highest paid civil servants in the state.

“From our research also, as at today, fresh doctors who are House Officers earn N173,927 monthly.

“While Consultants earn N801, 985 monthly, excluding their teaching allowances.

“Our main concern is about the lives that were wasting away in the hospitals.

“So, the ongoing dialogue with the state must be sustained to resolve the crisis, and we advise the doctors to go back to work,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos Medical Guild last Tuesday embarked on an indefinite strike.

The medical guild was reacting to queries by the state government to them for embarking on a three-day warning strike earlier.

NAN reports that the queries were issued to the doctors by their hospital management and the Health Service Commission, for their involvement in what the government termed an “illegal“ warning strike.

The doctors’ warning strike was to express their displeasure with the state government’s failure to effect a downward review of what the h e a l t h w o r k e r s called “excessive“ taxation, and other salary related matters.

Edo Speaker condoles with NUJ over 3 journalists killed

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he Speaker of Edo of House of Assembly, Mr Uyi Igbe has promised to discuss the need for the insurance of journalists in Edo with the governor in view of current security challenges.

Igbe made the pledge when

he visited the NUJ Centre to commiserate with the union over the death of three journalists on Saturday along Warrake-Auchi road in Owan East Local Government Area.

The journalists, FidelisOhani of AIT; George

Okosun and Olatunji Jacob both of ITV Benin, were in the entourage of Gov. Adams Oshiomhole, which was involved in an accident with a tipper lorry Some other journalists and security personnel injured in the accident are currently receiving

treatments at different hospitals in Benin.

“I will discuss the issue of insurance policy with the governor,’’ Igbe said.

He expressed sorrow over the incident and prayed God to grant members of the union the

fortitude to bear the deaths. .

Earlier, the Chairman of the union, Mr Friday Obanor, assured the speaker that the incident would not deter journalists in the state from discharging their duties. He thanked Igbe for the visit.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 39

UPGA lambast INEC for rejecting its application

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he United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA) yesterday in Abuja, criticised INEC for failure to register it as a political party.

INEC had on April 24, written a letter to UPGA, stating the reasons why the proposed UPGA could not be

registered.

UPGA said the association’s acronym, the logo, composition of the party’s NEC, membership and its proposed name were not similar to that of any existing political party.

The National Publicity

Secretary of the party, Chief Dike Ogbuehi, made observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Ogbuehi said the leadership of the party had written a letter to the Chairman of INEC, Prof.

Attahiru Jega and President Goodluck Jonathan, complaining about the INEC’s rejection of UPGA. According to him, the reasons given by the Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, about the composition of

the party’s NEC, logo, membership and the name were not genuine He said UPGA had even started operating as a political party before INEC sent a letter on April 24 to close shop.

Ogbuehi said its National Executive Committee (NEC) comprised members drawn from the 36 states of the federation, including the FCT, representing more than two third of the entire states. “ So, there is no way somebody can come and tell us that our NEC is not properly

constituted. “ INEC gave us form which we duly completed and returned to them, so if INEC found us wanting in the form, the most reasonable thing to do is to write us and not by refusing to register the party (association).”

In his reaction, the National Director of Publicity of APGA, Mr Ifeanacho Oguejioforo, commended INEC for not registering UPGA, saying the association was out to create confusion in the polity.

He said INEC simply played the role of an unbiased umpire.

Former deputy governor decries poor performance of LG administrations

A

Prof. Attahiru Jega

Over-bloated work force worries Tureta LG From Sadeeq Aliyu, Sokoto

C

hairman of Tureta local government in Sokoto state, Alhaji Bello Sarki Ibrahim has explained that the major challenge facing the administration of his council was over staffing and redundant work force.

Speaking to newsmen who toured the area recently, Ibrahim said in the last eight months, his council had received statutory allocation of N548.8 million out of which N222 million went for salaries and allowances paid to 2,600 staff he inherited from the previous council.

He said he initiated a verification of workers to ascertain genuine staff at local government level but had to stop it when the state government came up with similar exercise to trim down the work force.

The Chairman however said he was able to execute developmental projects worth over N228 million which include purchase of hospital equipment at N9.8 million, repairs of bore holes at N8.5 million and construction of Tureta-Bella bridge at N29 million among others.

Earlier, the Chairman of NUJ Sokoto council Labaran Lumo Dundaye told the local government chairman that his members were out to exercise

their constitutional responsibility of reporting to public what council chairmen did with their money.

Dundaye called on anti graft agencies to be organizing seminars and workshops for local government staff to train them on how to handle public fund and instill financial discipline on them.

former Deputy Governor of Lagos state, Alhaja Sinatu Ojikutu, has decried the ‘abysmally poor performance‘ of local government administrations in the state.

Ojikutu spoke yesterday in Ikeja at the commemoration of 1,800 days of Gov. Babatunde Fashola‘s administration.

The former deputy governor said that the local governments had so far done nothing appreciable to bring development to the people.

She said the various developmental strides being recorded by the state government would amount to nothing if they were not complemented at the grassroots.

“We are really not happy with the performance of the local government administrations in the state.

“As the government nearest to the grassroots, they should be able to impact more on the lives of the people.

“But this is not the case as there is a total decay of local government infrastructure

across the state.

“For example, I grew up on the Lagos Island and I had always known the roads to be tarred, but now they are not motorable.

“I commend the efforts of the state government so far but this administration cannot really do well without complementary performance of the various local g o v e r n m e n t administrations“, she said.

Ojikutu urged Fashola to make it a point of duty to monitor the performance of the local government administrators to ensure they render purposeful leadership to the people.

Responding, Fashola said there was the need for residents to monitor and engage government at all levels to ensure they deliver on their promises.

Fashola said the challenge of poor funding of the local governments had hindered their capacity to fast track

LG Chairman calls for collaboration on erosion control

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lhaji Abdulkadir Muhammad, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Dandume Local Government Council in Katsina State has called for collaboration to combat erosion in the area.

Muhammad made the call in Dandume on Wednesday while disbursing interest-free micro credit loan to 200 youths in the area.

He said the threat of erosion in the area was increasing daily and called for collaboration between the council, the state and the federal government to tackle the problem.

The chairman explained that the council had awarded four erosion control projects in areas hard hit by the menace, where several livestock and houses were destroyed.

Muhammad emphasised the

need for collective efforts on environmental protection, and urged people to plant and nurse trees as well as desists from indiscriminate disposal of waste.

He said the council had embarked on the rehabilitation of bore holes and open wells, to enhance potable water supply.

According to him, the council will also recruit more health workers and teachers to augment existing shortage in its workforce.

The chairman enjoined the beneficiaries to ensure proper use of the funds through wise investment and urged them to pay up on time.

A cross section of beneficiaries expressed appreciation over the scheme, saying it will facilitate the growth of small scale businesses across the area.

Gov. Babatunde Fashola

development at the grassroots as most of their allocations were spent on salaries and overheads.

“The constitution did not grant the state government the powers to dictate to local government the way they should govern the people, they are an independent tier of government.

“I can only relate with the local government chairmen with persuasion. I cannot tell them how to run their governments just like the president cannot tell me how to run my state,“ he said.

The governor promised that his government would collaborate with the local governments, to ensure they make meaningful impact at the grassroots.

Fashola called for more political participation at the local government level, saying that the grassroots needed the services of experts and professionals for development.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 41

Eagles coach, Sunshine players to be evacuated from Mali, says Foreign Affairs Ministry

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Perpetua Nkwocha

he Ministry of Foreign Affairs has given the assurance that the Super Eagles assistant coach 10 Sunshine Stars players and officials, who are trapped since last Sunday in Mali, will be evacuated to Nigeria “ in the next available flight”.

Spokesperson of the ministry Ogbole Ode told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday that the ministry had been in contact with the Nigerian Embassy in Mali,

stressing that efforts were on to immediate ferry the team home once there is access.

“Right now, about 10 Nigerians, mostly officials, are still in Bamako. They were there for a football engagement last Saturday and became stranded as a result of the coup attempt; most have been evacuated while the remaining are awaiting their flight.”

However, he assured that those stranded were safe adding that the hitherto rowdy

situation brought about by sporadic fighting by rebel groups in the major streets of Bamako had been brought under control.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls that the players and officials of Sunshine Stars FC, who were scheduled to depart Bamako on Monday morning, were trapped in the Malian capital due to renewed violence in that country.

The first set of players and officials arrived in Nigeria on Monday.

Faith Ikhidi

Nkwocha, Ikidi, three other foreign-based Super Falcons to join camp

Lima friendly: Ehiosun, Oduamadi to join Eagles in Peru T T

By Albert Akota

he five foreign-based pros invited for a friendly against Peru on May 23 will join up with the rest of the Nigeria squad directly in Lima.

The players are Nnamdi Oduamadi, Gege Soriola, Nwankwo Obiora, Raheem Lawal and Ekhigo Ehiosun.

Coach Stephen Keshi allowed the pros to fly directly to Peru because some of them are still very much involved

with their various clubs.

“Some of them are in play-off games, some have difficult promotion or relegation games to play and they won’t finish the games until the middle of the month, so we have to respect them and the clubs who pay their bills,” said Keshi.

There was a slight hint that Ehiosun of Turkish side Samsunspor may make it to Abuja, but team officials are not banking on that and have asked

Ekigho Ehiosun

Nnamdi Oduamadi

all the players to report straight to Lima for the friendly.

It has also emerged that of the 26 home-based stars who will resume training camp on Sunday in Abuja, the coaches will pick 17 of them to join the foreign pros.

NFF officials have already firmed up the travel plans of the team as they are scheduled to depart the country on May 19.

Obiora Nwankwo

he Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) has disclosed that Perpetual Nkwocha, will lead the pack of the five foreign-based players to be invited to the camp of the female senior national team.

The Super Falcons are currently in camp for the African women Championship, (AWC) qualifying match against Zimbabwe later in the month.

According to the NFF, the five foreign based players, who performance has continuously been monitored and will be invited to join their home-based counterparts for the qualifier include Nkwocha, teammate Onyi Helen Ukaonu, Turkey based Onome Ebi and the duo of Faith Ikidi and Rita Chikwelu, who also ply their trades in Sweden.

However, coach Kadiri Ikhana will be counting on the understanding of their clubs to secure their release for at least 10 days before the match as the coach that much time to blend the home-based players and their foreign counterparts.

The AWC was gathered that it

was not recognized in the football calendar of world football governing body, FIFA, hence the clubs will insist on the non release of the players.

Peoples Daily Sports gathered that the letter of notification for their invitation to their clubs have been written by the Glasshouse.

To make sure the Falcons is not affected by this development; the technical crew is counting on four of them for the execution of the first qualifier in the event.

The NFF will need their clubs’ cooperation because it is not mandatory for them to release them beyond the stipulated time of between five to seven days of the day.

Also, Ikhana has revealed that only 18 players will be retained at the end of the weekend screening noting that they have started working on formation and tactics.

“By this weekend only 18 players will be left in the camp and with the invitation of four foreign -based players joining them, a semblance of the Falcons will possibly be ready to take up the challenges,” he explained.

Police Machine FC, FC Abuja qualify for Federation Cup final

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olice Machine FC and FC Abuja yesterday qualified for the finals of the FCT 2012 Federation Cup. The Police Machines defeated Supreme Court FC 2-1, while FC Abuja made it to the finals by beating Byazhin Soccer Academy 3-1 in the semi-final matches played at the Area 3 football pitch in Abuja.

Onuh Micheal opened scores for the Machines in the 11th minute but Agbor Emmanuel

equalised for the Supreme Court in a 36th minute strike.

Ndubuisi Nwayi however secured victory for the Machines through an 86th minute free kick to seal the game at 2-1.

In the second semi final match between FC Abuja and Byazhin FC, two quick goals in the 5th and 7th minute gave the Abuja boys an early lead.

The first goal was scored by Amara Ugwu in the 5th minute

with the second coming off the foot of Uche Ilo two minutes after, while Igenpo John completed the routing in the 58th minute when he increased the tally to three goals.

Byazhin’s consolation goal was volleyed into the net in the 79 th minute by striker Anyanruoh Pritchard.

Coach of Police Machines Mukaila Ali said in a post match interview that his team played to instructions.

“I promised my new IG, who has been very supportive, that when he gets his confirmation, he will go with his Federation Cup trophy which is what we want to achieve.”

On his part Coach of Supreme Court, Henry Agah attributed the loss to the inability of the players to attack. “I asked them to go out, but they did not, instead, they decided to play one man in the attack making jest of the technical crew.’’

Coach Friday Christopher of FC Abuja said team spirit and determination earned them the victory.

“It’s like people have written us off because they are expecting too much but it was not coming and we talked to ourselves, came together as a team and we’re seeing results.”

He was confident that the team will win the cup at the final to be played on Saturday at the Area 10 pitch in Abuja.

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Nations Cup Mali’s taekwondo champion invited 2013 draw for late October to London Olympics T D aba Modibo Keita, Mali’s heavyweight taekwondo world champion, will participate in the 2012 London Olympics, after the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF)

Biological passport claims first doping victim

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ortuguese long distance runner Helder Ornelas has been banned for four years by his country’s federation after becoming the first athlete to be found guilty of doping using the Athlete Biological Passport.

The suspension of the 38-year-old, who ran the 5 000m at the Sydney Olympics and the marathon in Beijing, marks a breakthrough in the fight against doping, IAAF president Lamine Diack said.

“Those who try to cheat within the athletics community should be warned that the Athlete Biological Passport is not merely a concept but rather an efficient method that is now being used by the IAAF Anti-Doping Department to identify, target and catch those who believe that doping is the only route to success,” he said in a statement.

“Cheaters should also be aware that, if they are caught, the IAAF will seek an increased four-year sanction whenever the circumstances so justify.”

The IAAF did not reveal what the banned substance was but said blood samples from Ornelas has been collected in the course of the Biological Passport programme during a 11-month period from December 2009.

Ornelas’s blood profile was flagged as being abnormal in May 2011, triggering further investigations in accordance with IAAF Anti-Doping Regulations.

“After examination by a panel of experts in the field of haematology, it was concluded that there was no known reasonable explanation for abnormalities observed in Ornelas’s blood profile other than use of a prohibited substance or a prohibited method,” the statement added.

The IAAF referred the case to the Portuguese Athletic Federation (FPA), recommending a four-year ban for a serious first-time doping offence.

Ornelas has declined his right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the IAAF said.

The Athlete Biological Passport will be used for the first time at an Olympics in London this year.

Helder Ornelas, allegedly nabbed for biological passport doping

sent him an invitation last week, PANA learnt from the Malian Taekwondo Federation (Femat).

In view of the invitation, the Malian athlete will not go through the playoffs to get his ticket to the Games.

Keita is enjoying the benefits of his good performance in the last two world championships in Beijing (2007) and in Copenhagen, Denmark (2009). He

also reached the semi-finals at the Beijing Olympics.

Apart from Keita, another Malian the technical director of the Femat, Mr. Alioune Badara Traoré will participate in the Olympics as an international umpire.

Overall, 128 fighters will compete in the Olympics. Only eight of the 128 fighters are invited by taekwondo world’s governing body.

The others will have to go through qualifying tournaments at either continental or global level.

Sharks dare NPL, say they won’t pay N3m fine S harks have said they would not pay the N3m fine imposed on them by the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) unless the Organising and Disciplinary Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) rule to that effect.

Sharks were fined the amount on Monday by the league body following alleged attack on Ocean Boys before their botched game last Saturday in Port Harcourt.

“We believe the last decision on this matter rests with the Organising and Disciplinary Committee of the NFF. So we will wait to see what they come out with. Sharks knew nothing about the incident but we will wait till the NFF committee takes a decision,” an official of Sharks, Okey Kpalukwu, said.

Apart from the N3 million fine slammed on the Blue Angels, the NPL ordered that the Port Harcourt-based club will pay the medical bill “incurred

by Ocean Boys” in the aftermath of an attack on the Yenagoa-based club.

“All medical expenses incurred by Ocean Boys FC shall be settled by Sharks FC in accordance with Article 4.3(1) and 4.3(2) of the 2011/2012 NPL rules and regulations,” part of the statement from the league board read.

Wikki Tourists and Gombe United

were also slammed with fines of N2.7 million and N2 million respectively.

The affected clubs will also play their subsequent home matches behind closed doors until the NFF committee sits on the matter.

O

Hamilton tasks Falconets coaches on tactics

A

Victor Baribote, Chairman of NPL

...Ocean Boys present Sharks with bill cean Boys have slammed an estimated N3.8 million bill on Sharks as alleged damages they suffered on Saturday during the prematch mayhem at the Sharks FC Stadium, Port Harcourt.

The Brass-based side alleged that they were assaulted in their dressing room by suspected fans believed to be that of the hosts, Sharks which forced the tie to be called off.

NPL has ordered Sharks to pay a fine N3m in addition to offsetting the medical and other bills incurred by Ocean Boys because of the alleged assault.

The Garden City landlords are to offset all the medical expenses incurred

by Ocean Boys in accordance with Article 4.3(1) and 4.3(2) of the 2011/ 2012 NPL rules and regulations.

Sharks are to play their home fixtures behind closed doors pending the determination of their cases by the NFF

he Confederation of African Football (CAF) have announced October 26 as the date for the 2013 African Nations Cup finals draw.

General secretary Hicham El Amrani did not, however, announce the venue for the function in which the 16 finalists for next year’s tournament in South Africa will be divided into four groups.

However SAFA officials have privately said they are looking at Sun City for the event, which will be televised across the continent.

SAFA have already said the tournament would be hosted from January 19-February 10 and the draw would be held in the third week of October.

CAF have now firmed up the date.

The qualifiers will be completed on the weekend of October 12-14.

They are still in the first round stage but are being held on a knockout basis this time because of the short period between the 2012 finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon and the 2013 finals in South Africa.

The Nations Cup is switching from every even year to every odd year.

Disciplinary Committee.

An official of Ocean Boys, Eddy Ohis said yesterday that aside the medical cost they lost valuables to the tune of N3.8 million to their attackers.

“We’ve sent a N3.8 million bill to Sharks to defray the cost of valuables we lost to the attackers. The attack on us lasted more than 40 minutes and in the ensuing mayhem, we lost cash, boots, jerseys, phones among others.

“Our programme was to finish the game against Sharks then move to Owerri for the rescheduled Week 20 game against Heartland. So for peace to reign and the matter to be fairly rested, Sharks should pay us the sum of N3.8 million,” he said.

Ocean Boys rescheduled game at Heartland in Owerri has been called off as the visitors are yet to recover from the bodily injuries sustained in the ugly incident.

former Super Falcons coach, Paul Hamilton, has challenged the technical crew of the Falconets, the national U-20 team on improved depth ahead of the final phase of the qualifying games for the FIFA U-20 World Championship.

Harping on Falcons preparations for the first leg of their encounter with their counterparts from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the final round of the qualifiers for the U-20 World Cup, Hamilton said that he expects the coaches to dwell on depth rather physical strength.

Also, he hopes that the Falconets would win the first leg of the match scheduled for the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta convincingly to make the second leg in Kinshasa a formality and thus qualify for the women’s World Cup, slated to hold in September in Japan..

“I know the girls are equal to the Congolese challenge, but I will want them to work hard and remain focused to be world champions.

“There is no doubt that bigger challenges await the team outside the continent, so let them work harder beyond victory over the Congolese team,” he said.

He advised the Falconets a g a i n s t relying on past glory or complacency, stressing that they must improve on their past performances, if they hope to e x e r t themselves at the global level.

T h e Coach Edwin Okon of Falconets are Falconets fighting for one of Africa’s three tickets to the event in Japan.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 43

Marathoner to guide ‘unsung heroes’ in Olympic torch relay

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Paul Tergat

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ormer world marathon record holder, Paul Tergat,will guide the four Kenyans and an Ethiopian to represent the East and Horn of Africa region in the London Olympic Torch Relay.

Kenya’s Asunta Wagura, Cecilia Mwangi, Atul Shah and Evans Wadogo, have been confirmed by sponsors Samsung Electronics East Africa as the regional Olympic Torch bearers at the forthcoming global event.

The confirmed Ethiopian was Mansur Abubekar.

Tergat, who won two Olympic silver medals in 10,000m at the

ne is the world’s fastest man. The other wants to be. Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt and his training partner Yohan Blake are the world’s best 100 metres sprinters. But who will wind up fastest this year?

Coach Glen Mills, is not yet ready to make the call.

Mills said although Bolt, 25, has run faster and won a bucketful of gold medals, Blake, three years his junior, was at the beginning of his career.

“So they are not at the same point in their career.

One is advanced and one is starting,” Mills said. “But they are two exceptional athletes.”

Bolt has spoken often about securing his status as a living legend, but Mills said that catchphrase is Bolt’s way of focusing on his main goals, defending three Olympic titles.

“He has set that ‘Living Legend’ theme as a motivation to maintain his high standard of training and level of performance,” Mills said. “He has set his criteria of defending his gold medals in London as his objective.

“That is his ultimate goal.”

Failing to crack a world record in London will not be a failure if Bolt brings home three gold medals, Mills said.

“The world records are what you call a bonus,” Mills

Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 editions, will lead the five on the 43rd day of the relay event.

The event is being marked globally as the torch passes through the English city of Birmingham.

The firm’s managing director in a communiqué on Saturday said that the nominees were deliberately non-sports persons.

“Our focus was to celebrate routinely unsung heroes who deserve gold medals for their outstanding contributions to social and economic development,” the director said.

Wagura, currently serving as the

Executive Director of the Kenya Network of Women With Aids (KENWA), is a leading light and inspirational personality.

She has selflessly worked to reduce stigma and provide a support platform for thousands of women and orphans.

Mwangi, former Miss World Kenya, has been nominated as one of the Torchbearers in recognition of her anti-jigger campaign.

Shah, supermarket chain Nakumatt Holdings managing director, has been hailed by the Financial Times of London as one of the top 50 emerging business leaders.

Wandogo, a 2010 CNN Heroes Award nominee, is renowned as the man who invented a way for rural Kenyans to replace smoky kerosene and firelight with solar lanterns.

Abubekar, Garad PLC Boss, also made it to the Olympic Torch Bearers list in recognition of his entrepreneurial capacity as a domestic sports promoter, electronics assembler in Ethiopia and a major formal employer.

The torch relay features 8,000 small cut-out circles, paying tribute to the 8,000 inspirational Torchbearers taking part in the Olympic Torch Relay.

Who is best, Bolt or Blake? Coach keeps mum said. “The objective is the title: If you break the world record in the process, great. But the goal is to get to the line and win the race, not to break the record.”

Mills said the pair were also different types.

“Bolt is more of a sprinter who has a wider range. He can run from 100 to 400 at any level,” said the coach.

“Yohan does not have that range.”

Bolt topped his record breaking 2008 Beijing Olympic performance by lowering the world record in the 100 to 9.58 seconds and the 200 record to 19.19 at the 2009 world championships.

Blake has bests of 9.82 and 19.26 seconds and grabbed the world 100 metres title last year in a race where Bolt false-started. Late in the season Blake then ran the second-fastest 200 ever.

The pair will get serious about their run up to the London Games at a May 5 invitational meeting in Kingston but they will not race each other.

Bolt will test his preparations over 100 metres while Blake will focus on the 200.

“I expect (Usain) to do well,” Mills said of Bolt, who has only run one relay this season. “He is in good shape.”

Bolt’s chronic back problems are a fact of life and are dealt with daily in warm ups. “The problem is not going away,” Mills said.

The lanky world record holder and his younger teammate are not expected to clash until the late June Jamaican Olympic trials where both are expected to run the 100 and 200 metres.

Whether Blake, like Bolt, will attempt to run both in London, Mills said will not be determined until after the trials. They will also follow different routes in preparing for the showdown.

After the race in Kingston, Bolt will be off to European competitions where he would focus on appearances at Diamond League races in Ostraca on May 25, Rome on May 31, Oslo on June 7 and Monaco on July 20 in his final pre-Olympic meet.

“Yohan had some problems in competitions last year leading up to the trials,” Mills said. “So we thought this being the Olympic year we would not make him travel too far (before the Games).

He showed the home life is agreeing with him with a blazing run of 9.90 seconds earlier this month. No man has ever run faster so early in the season.

Yet Blake’s greatest potential could be in the 200, where only Bolt has been faster.

PUBLIC NOTICE

INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT

Usain Bolt

This is to inform the general public that the Date of Birth on my Nigerian (International) Passport, which reads 10th December 1982, was an unintentional error.

My correct Date of Birth is 10th December 1981.

The general public and British High Commission to please note.

Signed: ONYE JULIA NKECHINYERE

Yohan Blake “His 200 metres is going to be a dominant part of his sprinting,” Mills said.

“Usain is an experienced campaigner in Europe. He has been doing it for the past six years. He can cope with different climates and etcetera,” Mills said.

However, Blake will compete mainly in North America during his run-up to the Olympics.

“When he came back last year, Yohan had some problems in his competitions leading into the trials. He was not in top condition and had some injuries. We thought in this Olympic year we would not make him travel too far.”

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Seven magic moments in Guardiola’s Barça reign

Pep Guardiola issuing instruction to players

The most successful coach in the history of FC Barcelona has announced that he will head for the exit door come the end of this season. During his short but historic reign, the team’s displays under Pep Guardiola have earned them respect and admiration across the world.

What’s more, though he first came to prominence as the masterful midfield organiser of Johan Cruyff’s 1990s Dream Team, his achievements as Barça coach have surpassed even those of his mentor. Victorious in no fewer than 13 competitions since he took the helm, El Pep Team are now the club’s new benchmark in terms of silverware, success and style of play.

FIFA.com takes a look back at Guardiola’s time in charge of Los Azulgrana, picking out a number of the most memorable moments.

Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley. “In my time as a

si i Mes

Pep with trophy

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p tip

s

1 7 June 2008: Guardiola is officially unveiled as the head coach of Barcelona, thus replacing the Dutchman Frank Rijkaard. The new supremo’s only previous experience in the dugout was his 361 days in charge of Barcelona B, who he guided to promotion into Spain’s Segunda Division B. 19 December 2009: Barça down Argentina’s Estudiantes de La Plata in extra time to win the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. Lionel Messi’s 110th-minute clincher meant that the Catalan giants had won six from a possible six trophies in Guardiola’s first 18 months at the helm. Overcome with emotion, the coach could not help but shed a tear during the celebrations out on the pitch of Zayed Sports City.

26 April 2011: Deep in the midst of a marathon series of clásicos against Real Madrid, spanning the Copa del Rey and the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, the heightened tension and intense media hype caused even Guardiola to lose his habitual cool. “In this press conference room he’s the boss, he’s the master. Off the pitch he’s won everything all year, I award him his own personal Champions League for that (...)

I don’t want to compete with him another moment here in this room,” he said, on his Real counterpart Jose Mourinho, in arguably his most controversial outburst as Barça coach.

20 April 2011: Barcelona are beaten

by Los Blancos in the final of the Copa del Rey, with Cristiano Ronaldo heading home the only goal of the game. It was, to date, the only defeat Los Azulgrana have suffered in a final during Guardiola’s reign. “Congratulations must go to Madrid, but I’m very happy with the way our fans behaved and how we played,” he said after the reverse. “Now we’ll have to pick ourselves up again.”

28 May 2011: Guardiola becomes the youngest coach to win the UEFA Champions League on two occasions, after the then 40-year-old supremo’s Barça side put in a splendid display to sink

manager, it’s the best team we’ve faced,” said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson a f t e r w a r d s . “ E v e r y o n e acknowledges that and I accept that. It’s not easy when you’ve been well beaten like that to think any other way. No one has given us a hiding like that. It’s a great moment for them. They deserve it because they play the right way and enjoy their football.”

9 January 2012: At the 2011 FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala, Guardiola wins the FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men’s Football award for the first time on the back of another incredible year, which featured victory in five of six competitions entered.

“This is a great source of joy, but you don’t become a player or a coach to win awards,” he exclusively told FIFA.com at the event. “You do so to enjoy the game, to put a certain philosophy into practice and work with the players.”

27 April 2012: Barcelona’s most successful coach tells his players that he will leave the club at the end of this season, having won no fewer than 13 trophies in his nearly four-year tenure. Guardiola could yet add another piece of silverware to that tally come 25 May’s Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, with a triumph making it 14 from a possible 19 titles won. Guardiola’s legacy also goes far beyond trophies, with the coach giving first-team debuts to 22 youth products of Barça’s fabled cantera, compared to just 14 signings from elsewhere.

Aniesta

Xavi

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 45

Barcelona legend Johan Cruyff has backed Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave Camp Nou at the end of the season but believes he will return to the club in the future.

Fernando Alonso records the fastest time on day one of the in-season testing session at his Ferrari team's track in Mugello.

British number three Heather Watson is out of the Estoril Open after a second-round defeat by Petra Cetkovska.

Ex-Arsenal defender Sol Campbell has announced his retirement after two decades in the game. He won two Premier League titles with the Gunners and played at six major finals with England.

Northampton Saints second-row forward Courtney Lawes will miss England's tour of South Africa with a shin injury.

Britain's women win their first competitive match on the London 2012 hockey pitch at the Olympic Park, beating South Korea 1-0.

England seamer James Anderson is given the all-clear following an X-ray on a thumb injury sustained playing for Lancashire.

PAGE 46

E

ko Football made a big splash at the European Forum of Soccerex, football’s premier business expo in Manchester last March.

Lagos State Football Association, which owns the EkoFootball brand, made a presentation at the event, one which served to persuade,

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

Ex-Liverpool coach, Benitez, others for Lagos Soccerex among others, international football heavyweights like

former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, amongst others, to

commit to the Lagos event.

LSFA chairman Seyi Akinwumi anchored the Eko Football presentation, which promoted Lagos as one of football’s fastest growing

RESULTS Rangers 5 Jigawa 0 ABS FC 1 Sharks 3 Tornadoes 1 Wolves 0 Kaduna 2 Pillars 0 Enyimba 1 3SC 0 Dolphins 3 Wikki 0 Gombe 2 Rising Stars 1

....Uche Kalu rocket dims Shooting Stars

E Rangers Ofoedu launches attack as Jigawa players struggle to checkmate him

Rangers rout Jigawa 5-0, as Pillars fall in Kaduna

R

angers consolidated their leadership of the Nigeria Premier League with a 5-0 drubbing of visiting Jigawa Golden Stars yesterday, even as their rivals Kano Pillars dropped maximum points in Kaduna. ·‘The Flying Antelopes’ have now recorded 40 points from 23 matches, but have to still watch over their shoulders as Enyimba have moved into second place on 38 points after a 1-0 home win over 3SC as Dolphins trounced Wikki 3-0 to climb to third place.

“We were prepared to win but we never really expected that it would be by such a big margin.

Jigawa were no match for my team even from the first clash at their home. They even played better today,” a delighted coach Okey Emordi said.

“From here, there is no going back for Rangers.

We only hope the government will be spurred on to further motivate the boys,” the coach continued stressing that the Coal City team were determined to break their 38-year trophy drought.

Hosts Rangers blasted four goals in an

entertaining first half at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.

Former Warri Wolves striker Efe Yarhere scored his second goal in as many games when he opened scoring after just four minutes.

New signing Ifeanyi Edeh doubled Rangers lead on 32 minutes, before Chikeluba Ofoedu increased the lead from the penalty spot after 36 minutes, when Bobby Waziri’s double-footed tackle inside the box was punished.

It was Chikeluba’s 10th goal of the season and he is now joint top scorer in the NPL alongside injured Gombe United young striker Mustapha Babadidi.

On the stroke of half time, fullback Ambrose Onyeama produced a 30-yard belter past a helpless goalkeeper Danlami Uma. After the interval, Jigawa did well in terms of damage control before Eagles left winger Ejike Uzoenyi finished off the team from Dutse with another long-range rocket with almost the last kick of the game.

nyimba took their pound of flesh with a 1-0 home win over Shooting Stars yesterrday in continuation of the Nigeria Premier League.

Shooting Stars stunned the six-time champions on the last day of the first round with a fantastic Mutiu Adegoke free kick goal. But yesterday, Enyimba paid them back in similar fashion when Uche Kalu also fired home the match winner from 25 yards.

Enyimba have thus shot to second spot on the table with 38 points from 23 matches, two points behind leaders Rangers.

3SC spokesman Jubril Arowolo lauded the efforts of the players but regretted that they failed to take anything away from this encounter. He also acknowledged the high quality of the game.

“It was a good game, both sides played good football to the admiration of the fans at the stadium,” said Arowolo.

“The winning goal was superb, just exactly like the one Adegoke scored in first leg.

“We are disappointed though that we did not get at least a point from the game despite our

World Cup qualifier: NFF to seek FG’s advice on Kaduna venue

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will seek advice from the Federal Government over the venue of the upcoming World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches of the Super Eagles.

The Super Eagles had been scheduled to face Namibia on June 3 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna and Rwanda on the weekend of June 15 and 17 at the same venue but a series of bomb attacks in that city raised uncertainty about the suitability of Kaduna to host such high profile games.

NFF officials quickly visited the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, (Ibadan), Dan Anyiam Stadium (Owerri) and the UJ Esuene Stadium (Calabar) on inspection

visits as speculation grew rife that the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna could be mooted as a possible venue for the games.

The NFF has now declared that no decision has been made in that regard with deliberations with the government planned ‘to decide on the way forward.’

Chairman of the NFF’s technical committee, Barrister Chris Green explained that the issue of security was a sensitive one which would require extensive and exhaustive amounts of consultations and deliberations before a decision is taken on the issue.

“The NFF can’t just decide on an issue with this because this is an issue of security. Obviously, we will be consulting the Federal

Government on this because the issue of security was a sensitive one which would require extensive and exhaustive amounts of consultations and deliberations before a decision is taken on the issue,” Green told SuperSport.com.

Spokesman of the NFF, Ademola Olajire also confirmed that the federation was yet to reach a decision on the issue.

“We (NFF) have yet to reach a decision on the issue but I can confirm that we will soon come out with a decision,” Olajire said.

The Super Eagles defeated reigning African champions, Zambia 2-0 at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna in a friendly international on November 15, 2011.

Supervising Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi

emerging markets.

Among visitors to the Eko Football stand were Manchester United stars Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov, Manchester City’s Football Development Executive Patrick Vieira and former Liverpool and Valencia coach Rafael Benitez.

Akinwunmi was pleased by the reception given to the LSFA “The LSFA was certainly welcomed as a bona fide member of the Soccerex Family. The attendance at our presentation of the Eko Football Vision and the number of visits to our stand at the Forum as well as the interest in the forthcoming Soccerex Lagos Seminar was truly humbling,” he said.

“We have no doubt that coming into the Soccerex Family and bringing the event to Lagos will prove to be inspired decisions that will kickstart major investment in our football.”

Lagos will be the next destination for Soccerex this September before the Global Forum in Rio de Janeiro in November. efforts,” he said.

Enyimba goalkeeper, Richard Ochayi said he was delighted with the home win even though they came up against a very spirited 3SC. “We really gave our best in the game and I happy that at the end, we won. 3SC gave us tough time, but we laughed last,” he said.

The real difference between the two teams was an Uche Kalu 61st minute free kick goal. The rocket from 25 yards caught goalkeeper Laide Okanlawon napping.

Haas claims Tsonga scalp

T

op seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crashed out of the ATP tournament in Munich yesterday, beaten 6-1, 6-4 by former German No 1 Tommy Haas in their second-round clash.

Haas, who was as high as No 2 in the world in 2002 but has slid to 134 in the rankings after suffering several injuries, tore into world No 5 Tsonga’s serve breaking him in both the second and fourth games of the first set.

Tsonga, who has not played since losing to compatriot Gilles Simon in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals, put up more of a fight in the second set but Haas made the break in the fifth game to go 3-2 up and held on to claim the win.

Haas, who is now a naturalised American, will play Cyprus’s 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals.

Tsonga for his part will move on to the Rome Masters to fine tune his preparation for the French Open which begins later this month.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

PAGE 47

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE

Lif e is ffar ar too impor tant Life important a thing e ver to talk ev seriously about — Oscar Wilde

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

Champions League final: UEFA rejects request to rule out suspensions for players

B

ranislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles of Chelsea and Luiz Gustavo, David Alaba and Holger Badstuber of Bayern will all miss the final in Munich on May 19.

This folllows UEFA's decision that ruled out changing its Champions League suspension rules regarding yellow cards for at least three years. The decision was reached following an appeal from sundry quarters that the rule should be reconsidered.

The European body also it says has no intention of bringing them in line with the rules used in the European Championship, officials have told players' representatives.

FIFpro, the international players' union, said in a statement on Tuesday that Uefa had rejected their plea for clemency for the six Chelsea and Bayern Munich players who picked up a third yellow card in last week's Champions League semifinals.

FIFpro had appealed to UEFA to adopt FIFA's policy for the European Championship, where existing yellow cards are waived after the quarter-finals, and should do the same for the Champions League.

However, Michael van Praag, the chairman of UEFA's Champions League competition workshop, told them: "We have just had three sessions with representatives of the ECA (European Club Association) and others, in which we confirmed the rule for the coming three years.

"We did not receive any request whatsoever concerning the yellow-card rule, not even from the representative of Bayern Munich, and so we will be continuing the rule for the next three years.

"Different rules can apply in different competitions. The current rules are the result of a careful, democratic procedure," he said.

The continental body had earlier accepted request that John Terry, who was red carded in the semi-final against Barcelona, be allowed to receive the trophy and medal if Chelsea win the cup.

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President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, servant-leader

S

aturday, May 5th 2012 will make it two whole years since the passing away of President Umaru Musa Yar'adua (August 16th 1951 May 5th 2010), Nigeria's 4th elected head of state. Just two years or 24 months - Yet it would be right to say that it feels as though he was our president, a lifetime ago. So much has changed since that Wednesday evening in 2010, when news of his death first filtered through, that it may be safe to say we are in another country.

President Yar'adua was unique among all the country's previous leadership. Yes, he was the first President with a university degree - a degree in Chemistry, a masters in Analytical chemistry and a teacher to boot. But that was not why he was different. We are today learning the hard way, that being 'certificated' as Dan Agbese would put it , is not as important as the quality or authenticity of such certificate.

A dispassionate assessment of today's highly educated Nigerian public officials advertises the lack of direct correlation between educational level and a good public service record. Rather, moral character (integrity) and intellect or ability to think, analyse and reflect rationally, in addition to education make all the difference.

Yar’adua was the exception President Yar'adua's distinctiveness came not from having 'a certificate' but rather from his unusual character and background.

Renowned columnist Sonala Olumhense describes the Yar'aduas as 'a distinguished Northern Muslim family'. Certainly, unlike our current President, Goodluck Jonathan, whose most memorable campaign refrain was that he had 'no shoes' as a child, Umaru Yar'adua never wanted for anything.

Trouble is that this Jonathan campaign motif was misleading.

The aim of the message was to paint Jonathan as different from the 'establishment /rulership' by virtue of his humble background: just one of the many towering fabrications erected to deceive and divide Nigerians along ethnic/religious/regional lines.

In reality it was Yar'adua who was the exception: No other Nigerian leader from Balewa to Buhari to Obasanjo came from a 'wealthy' home!

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CAR TEL OPIA CARTEL TELOPIA

By Aisha Yolah ayolah06@yahoo.com 08086296783 (text only please)

Late Umaru Musa Yar'adua Anyway. Despite his well known, family name, he as a person even as Governor of Katsina state, was not very well known at all. The story of how none of his peer governors had his telephone number, has been told to illustrate how isolated he was from the crowd of extravagant, globetrotting, self-promoting politicians.

Integrity and reformist credentials He was educated and privileged and yet exuded an ascetic and moral rectitude that stood him out. Given the depths to which the majority of our political class have sunk debauchery, cultism and systematic theft - the life and times of late President Yar'adua gives credence to the theory that really, leaders are made or groomed and not simply born.

Though his late elder brother, Shehu Musa Yar'adua was the one who overtly aspired to leadership , Umaru Yar'adua seems, also to have had a sense of mission and a strong sense of obligation to contribute to -rather than take from society. He was an idealist whose socialist leanings endured long after his undergraduate fascination with Marxism.

I believe the 7pt agenda actually reflected something of his populist, welfarist (socialist) out look -in its emphasis on Land

reform as a key focal point or in the notion that Critical infrastructure includes our long-neglected inland waterways as well as power, roads and rail. It was farsighted and too ambitious for our insincere times.

After the awfulness of the 2007 General elections Nigerians were indeed amazed to learn that in Yar'adua, they had a President who was not only modest and frugal, but also, to quote Olumhense again, 'known to be honest and principled, routinely declaring his assets ...forthright...and content to be self-effacing.' He publically declared his assets along with his wife's. Vice-President Jonathan did too back then...

Lack of material greed Compared to what Nigerians are familiar with President Yar'adua's character therefore, was revolutionary in and of itself.

His inaugural speech on May 29th 2007 and subsequent pronouncements gave substance to this idea of a tectonic shift away from a culture of bad governance and bottomless corruption. In retrospect, it was a quality enabled simply by his person - not his ethnicity or religiosity or region(ity).

Especially, memorable was his introduction of the concept of Servant Leadership to Nigerian politico-speak. He had demonstrated in practical terms what that meant during his stewardship of Katsina state building schools, roads and infrastructure, quietly, efficiently and cost-effectively.

We are reminded that no outside funding was sought throughout his eight years as Governor yet he still handed over six billion naira to his successor. This ability to be self-sufficient and his apparent lack of material greed set Umaru Yar'adua apart from his peers and those around him. It is a quality which lent special credence to the idea that Rule of Law might govern national life.

Personal suffering For an all too brief time Nigerians actually dared to aspire to such lofty heights, but it was not to be. Barely two years later he was gone, buried near his father and brother in Katsina on May 6th. On that 2010 night of May 5th , after the demise of the President had been publically announced, the National Television Authority (NTA) transmitted pictures of his activities as President from early on in his administration right up to the Davos meetings of the World Economic Forum of 2008. I sat transfixed, and flabbergasted as I watched a quietly intense, handsome, thoughtful and humorous President Yar'adua giving beautiful , insightful and frank speeches off the cuff ( without notes or written document). Time and again, at Chatham House in England, and back home, and elsewhere.

The fact of his personal suffering had always been obvious to me even from television pictures throughout most of the year 2009.

But seeing him as he had been, healthier and happier, and truly able to serve, was indescribably poignant. By mid-2009 and onwards, he was really a shadow of himself. Anecdotal evidence indicates that most ordinary Nigerians felt immense pity and compassion for him. Many, like me know, he would have made a great President, had things been different. Man can only propose, as they say.

Remembered by Niger Delta ex-militants In the days to come it would also become apparent that President Yar'adua had somehow earned the trust of the ordinary man, across the length and breadth of this country. He meant well. He was a good man, they would say. In contrast, less than a year after his demise most of the current ruling elite, including those he once appointed, refuse even to - dare not -mention his name. However, for a long time even up to the 2011 elections - one particular group of people always made a point of remembering and honouring this man of quiet courage: the Niger Delta exmilitants to whom he gave Amnesty in July 2009.

Today, such a (reverse) scenario, cannot not even be imagined. There are not many men left, like President Umaru Musa Yar'adua. We are truly a changed country, bereaved and transformed beyond recognition.

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos, Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 606 3308. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.com ISSN: 2141– 6141