Friday 03 May, 2013

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Vol. 10 No. 90

Friday, May 3, 2013

. . . putting the people first

Jimadal Akhir 23, 1434 AH

ACF opposes single term for president, govs

N150

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N5.9trn oil blocs

Reps to probe Diezani, NNPC, Shell, others

By Umar Muhammad Puma

T

he House of Representatives yesterday said it would investigate the allegations of

N59 trillion in the award of seven oil blocs involving the minister of petroleum resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

In a motion under matters of

urgent national importance raised by deputy chairman, committtee on media and public affairs, Hon. Victor Ogene (APGA, Anambra), he urged for prompt

action on the issue.

In his lead debate, Ogene said his motion was based on the petition by protesters from Delta state oil producing areas,

regarding the alleged secret and arbitrary farm-out of the oil mining leases (OML)4, 26,30,34,38,41 and 42 to Contd on Page 2

L-R: Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, Canada High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Chri Cooter, Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, and President, CEO Canadian Council on Africa, Mr. Lucien Bradet, during the opening ceremony of Canada-Nigeria Investment Conference, yesterday in Toronto, Canada.

Land tussle: Turai floors Patience in court

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he legal battle over the ownership of land No. 1347 Cadastral Zone AOO,

Central Business District, Abuja between the former first lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’adua, and the present first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan was yesterday legally

brought to an end. An Abuja High Court voided the revocation of the statutory right of occupancy on the land by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT),

Sen. Bala Mohammed.

In a judgement delivered on the suit instituted by the Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF), an

organisation founded by Turai, while her husband was in power against the African First Ladies Peace Centre, which the current Contd on Page 2

I’m alive, says Gov Chime

Malaria kills Baga report 311 in Borno shabby - ACN

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

CONTENTS News

2-10

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

19-22

Stockwatch

23

S/Report

24-25

Religion

26

I'm alive, says Chime T

on for an undisclosed mission.

According to Ugwoke, "the Governor is hale and hearty," and that Chime had no business whatsoever to travel to India.

He said that government would use its machinery to get to the root of the rumour and to unmask those behind the "incessant posts of such baseless reports on the internet."

"It is a taboo among the Igbo for people to wish one dead even if the person is your enemy," Nnaji said.

he Enugu state government has denied the rumoured death of Governor Sullivan Chime in India.

The Commissioner for Information, Chuks Ugwuoke, described Chime yesterday as being in good health, contrary to the widespread insinuation that the Governor had died.

Ugwoke sid the report of the rumoured death was baseless attributing it to the handiwork of mischief makers.

There was anxiety in Enugu yesterday as in other parts of the country as reports posted on the social media announced Chime's demise.

There were indications

From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

ACF opposes single tenure

T

he Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) yesterday kicked against the proposed constitutional provision of single tenure of six years for President, governors and senators describing such a provision as counterproductive.

Reacting to the recommendations in a statement signed by the its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, the ACF said there would be no incentives, motivation and reward for excellent performance in a single tenure.

According to the statement, "such a provision is counterproductive because it cannot further the cause of good governance that comes with purposeful leadership, especially when regard is paid to the fact that it lacks the basic elements of motivation and incentives needed in any management of human affairs.

"In the single tenure system, there are no incentives, motivation and reward for excellent performance because the

yesterday that security personnel have launched a manhunt for peddlers of the rumour as they were said to have obtained the Personal Identification Number (PIN) of the perpetrator on Facebook.

The governor, who was seen in Enugu on Wednesday, was said to have travelled to Abuja same day

good, the not-so-good and the feckless are grouped together without any distinction.

"Such practice cannot deliver on good management and that may explain why most countries in the world practise multiple tenure systems which enable leaders to aspire for excellence in the hope of reward by way of reelection.

"That is to say that there is allowance for motivation and incentives that inspire excellent performance and for fresh blood

into governance in multiple tenure.

"As to the fear of abuse of incumbency prevalent in our clime, it is to be noted that countries device their own ways of curtailing such abuses.

"While developed democracies have mobilised their citizens to make judicious use of their democratic rights and ensure their votes count, some developing countries have sand bags placed on the path of abuse of incumbency."

Reps to probe Diezani, NNPC, others Adamant Adamawa Governor, Page 4

Int’l

27-30

Strange World 31 Revue

32

Digest

36

Politics Sports

37-40 41-45

Leisure

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 1 Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Ltd and Septa Energy Ltd. He said the minister, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), and Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation (NPDC) were accused of complicity in the alleged shady deal.

According to Ogene, $800 million would have been earned by the Nigerian

government if the process of award was open and transparent, instead of the $50 million that was received.

He said: "The alleged resultant part sum of $750 million in the entire racket or fraud scheme became posssible.

Through a mischievious process of hinging the transaction on the strategic alliance agreement-an action, which was deliberately designed to circumvent due process and transparency in contraventionn of section 3 of the

NEITI Act, 2005, the Procurement Act and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act, 2010" The lawmaker therefore called on the leadership of the House to step into the in compliance with section 88(2b) of the 1999 constitution by constituting an ad hoc committee to investigate.

In approving the motion, the House presided by the deputy speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha urged stakeholders, authorities or

bodies to cooperate and assist the ad hoc committee in the course of the investigation.

It will be recalled that protesters from the Delta state oil communities had last week stormed the National Assembly and threatened to shut down the parliament should the lawmakers fail to probe allegations of fraud against the minister within 30 days.

The minister has been accused of fraudulently awarding the oil blocs without due process.

Land tussle: Turai floors Patience in court Contd from Page 1 first lady is believed to be a sponsor, Justice Peter Affen held that the claims by the FCT Minister that the land was revoked in an overriding public interest was not supported by any evidence before the court.

The court further held that the initial letter of offer issued Turai's organization by the Minister remains valid and subsisting as the statutory right of occupancy of Turai’s organisation was not properly revoked before being allocated to the present first lady for building of the African Ladies Peace Center.

"The defendants failed to adduce any shred of evidence before this court to support their claims that the allocation of the land was revoked on overriding public interest. There is no overriding public interest in this issue. The revocation is therefore invalid and it is hereby set aside", the court held.

The court faulted the FCT Minister's exercise of his powers in revoking the plot of land allocated to Turai's organization, noting that the exercise of that power

must come within the confines of the law.

Justice Affen however held that the plaintiff is not entitled to the monetary reliefs sought in its suit.

It would be recalled that the disputed land, plot No. 1347 Cadastral Zone AOO, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT, was allocated to WAYEF, while Turai was first lady, but the FCT Minister revoked the allocation for what he described as “overriding public interest” and reallocated it to Mrs. Jonathan for the building of African First Lady Peace Mission Headquarters on November 2, 2011.

Turai complained that the land allocated to WAYEF on February 19, 2010 was being trespassed upon by Mrs. Jonathan and got a court order in 2012 restraining the first lady from affecting WAYEF title and interest over the land.

Those joined as co-defendants in the suit are the FCT Minister, the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

Turai, on behalf of her organisation, WAYEF sought for N1.5 billion as general damages, N100 Million as exemplary damages, N100 Million as aggravated damages in addition to N261 Million already paid for Certificate of Occupancy as well as N454 Million paid for building designs.

It would also be recalled that judgment in the matter was shifted several times to pave way for out of court settlement between the parties in the matter and the court went ahead to deliver its judgment since the out of court settlement had failed.

WAYEF's lawyer, Mr. Adamu Ahmed Ibrahim, had earlier observed that while it appears that the Ministry of Justice may be interested and committed to a settlement, their terms and what they offer says otherwise.

According to the lawyer, the land been offered by the FCTA was a much smaller parcel of land than the one purportedly acquired from WAYEF for Mrs. Jonathan.

Head of the legal unit of the FCT Administration, Mrs. Ima Akpongete, while reacting to the

decision of the court indicated that the FCT will appeal the decision of the court and argued that the minister exercised the power of his office accordingly in revoking the allocation and reallocating it to First Lady's Peace Mission.

Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Administration has said the case for which the ruling was given was not between Turai Yar’adua and Patience Jonathan, but with the FCTA. The statement, signed by the spokesman to the FCT Minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, said yesterday that “the FCTA wishes to clarify that the judgment delivered pertained to the process followed in the revocation of the said plot of land that the court case was between the FCTA and Hajiya Turai Yar’adua’s NGO, WAYEF.” According to the statement, “the FCTA wishes to restate that the litigation was an affair between it and Hajiya Turai’s NGO, and that neither the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), the original allottee of the land, nor Dame Patience Jonathan... was party to the suit.”

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 3

FG to fund 31% investments in infrastructure

By Etuka Sunday

I

Jigawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido (middle), inspecting a burnt car at the scene of a recent attack in Ringim local government area of the state, yesterday.

Photo: NAN

n a bid to ensure infrastructural development in Nigeria, the Federal Government has announced that it can maximally fund only about 31 per cent of the total required investments in infrastructure.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Ayim Pius Ayim, disclosed this yesterday at a forum hosted by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in Abuja.

According to Anyim, states and local governments can fund only 28 per cent but the balance of 41 per cent must inevitably be funded by the private sector.

According to him, "it is government's desire to upscale infrastructure development and the inadequacy of resources that has necessitated the recourse to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

"To address the huge national infrastructure deficit through empowering Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to utilise the PPP model as procurement method of choice to rapidly turn

Balarabe Musa wants Jonathan to probe Obasanjo From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

A

s the feud between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck gets messier, National Chairman of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has called on President Jonathan to probe and prosecute the former President

Obasanjo, for what Musa called “national interest.�

Speaking in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna yesterday, the Former governor of old Kaduna state pointed out that there was a popular demand in Nigeria that the government should investigate Obasanjo's tenure.

He noted that CNPP had filed a case at the Federal High Court urging it to compel on the EFCC to

investigate and prosecute Obasanjo for number of credible reasons, adding that the case was filed about two years ago and still in court.

According to Musa, "many other organisations have called for the investigation and prosecution of Obasanjo.

"So, I think the President has to do the right thing. If EFCC cannot investigate and prosecute Obasanjo, let Jonathan do it

because he would be doing a national service.

"All these problems happening between Jonathan and Obasanjo is because of the way Obasanjo is criticising and undermining the present government.

"Already Obasanjo has called this government a corrupt government even though there is no government as corrupt as Obasanjo's government.

Domestic refining of PMS reaches 10.2m litres per day - NNPC

T

he combined domestic refining of petrol (PMS) from refineries in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt has reached 10,231,000 litres, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said on Thursday.

Mr. Anthony Ogbuigwe, the Group Executive Director (GED), Refining and Petrochemicals, NNPC, made the fact known at a media briefing in Abuja.

He said that the Kaduna refinery was currently running at

65 per cent installed capacity, Warri Refinery, 63 per cent, and Port Harcourt Refinery, 66 per cent.

Ogbuigwe also said that the refineries were currently producing 5.3 million litres of kerosene and 8.01million litres of automotive gas oil (diesel) daily.

"I can tell you with every sense of responsibility that contrary to the news making the round, all our refineries are doing very well.

"The major components and various units of Fluid Catalytic

Cracking Units, (FCCU), Crude Distillation Unit (VDU) and Vacuum Distillation Unit (DDU) of all the refineries are working well.

"In fact, these refineries have been running consistently for over three months now," he said.

Ogbuigwe attributed the stability that had characterised the supply of petroleum products in the country to the good performance of the refineries.

He said the scheduled Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) for the refineries was on course and that already, the Port Harcourt Refinery had taken delivery of

some of the components for its rehabilitation.

"I can tell you that five shipments for the TAM PHRC have arrived," he added.

Ogbuigwe, however, decried incessant pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft in communities and described the activities as a menace and big threat to the oil and gas industry.

He called on all stakeholders in the petroleum sector and Nigerians to team up with NNPC in finding a lasting solution to the menace caused by the activities to enable the refineries to run without shutting down. (NAN)

Alleged Christmas day bomber returns to SSS custody

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday ordered that the alleged mastermind of the 2011 Christmas Day bombing of St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Madala, Niger state, Kabiru Sokoto, be returned to the custody of the State Security

Services (SSS) to enable him access to his counsel.

The court's directives followed the submission of the counsel to the suspect, Adamu Ibrahim, that the was not allowed access to the suspect by the authorities of the Kuje prison in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

When the matter came up

yesterday, counsel to the SSS, Chioma Odimegwu, told the court that the security which had been beefed up at the Kuje prison because of the renovation work going on there was the reason why the counsel could not get access to the suspect.

The court then ordered that the suspect be returned to the

custody of the SSS and adjourned the matter till May 6, 13.

Kabiru Sokoto, who speaks through a Hausa language interpreter having claimed not to understand the English language had pleaded not guilty to the amended two-count charge bordering on terrorism against by SSS.

around the country's infrastructure as it drives, catalyses and facilitates the effective and efficient engagement of the privates sector.

"The aim of initiating the contract disclosure framework is to fast track the process of initiating, developing and implementing PPP projects in a transparent, competitive and sustainable manner that would both ensure value for money for the economy, while putting in place world class infrastructure for the citizens.

"The arduous task and responsibility of creating enabling environment for the private sector to partner with government in the financing, operation and management of infrastructure and allied services."

Anyim directed the ICRC to develop and issue policies and guidelines on PPP as well as develop a market through promoting a harmonized framework for infrastructural development.

Also speaking, the ICRC Director General, Dr. Ghali Bello, disclosed that it has, with the assistance of World Bank Institute (WBI), developed a guideline for the disclosure of PPP contracts.

He said that it was designed in the spirit of enhancing transparency and accountability in the sustainable implementation of PPP projects.

Malaria fever kills 311 in Borno From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

B

orno state recorded a total of 178, 000 malaria infection last year with 311 deaths, according to the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Salma Anas Kolo.

She spoke yesterday at a press briefing to mark the celebration of World Malaria Day and noted however that government achieved a lot last year in its effort to control the disease.

Among the achievements, according to her, is the training of 810 health care providers on malaria commodity logistics system.

Salma also said that the state was nominated as the best malaria performing state last year as well as its nomination as one of the 12 states as sub recipients to global fund to fight malaria.

She said that the state had from last year till date distributed over 30,000 insecticide treated nets to pregnant women, to control the disease.

According to her, the major highlights of this year's celebration with the theme, "Invest in the future: Defeat malaria," include to ensure sustained political commitment for malaria prevention and control, donors to form global partnership against malaria for research and academic institutions to flag off scientific advances to both experts and public, among others.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Adamant Adamawa Governor Politicisation of the appointment of substantive Chief Judge puts the state on edge, our correspontent reports

T

he general consensus in Adamawa state, according to stakeholders, is that the Judiciary has been the worst affected by the onslaught of the executive arm of government in the state.

This is as a result of the perceived meddlesomeness of the executive arm of government which is believed to have politicized the issue of succession in the state's judiciary following the retirement of the Former Chief Judge of the State, Hon Justice Bemare B. Bansi on 15th July, 2011.

Since the retirement of the former CJ, a vacuum was created in the leadership of the judiciary in the state and this was attributed to the insistence of the state government to have its way in who succeeds the former CJ as an expediency to ensure the emergence of someone whose loyalty to the state government could be guaranteed.

Following the lacuna created, a war of wits has ensued between the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Adamawa State Chapter and the state government with the latter threatening to down its tools if the executive continues to be adamant to its demand of ensuring that due process is followed in the choice of a substantive CJ in the state.

Barrister Sunday Joshua Wugira the Secretary of the NBA, Mubi branch is of the opinion that the judiciary has been raped through a premeditated plan by the executive to compromise its sanctity by circumventing the natural processes by which a substantive CJ is appointed which is by virtue of seniority in the hierarchy of the state judicial officers. If this trend was followed, the substantive CJ will have been Justice Bathalomi Lawi, who

by NJC's provisions, ought to be appointed the substantive CJ by virtue of his position as the most senior High Court Judge in the state after Bansi's retirement. But because the governor was allegedly averse to his appointment, he was not immediately sworn in as the CJ as envisaged by the law until after the NBA stood its grounds that it would down tools three months after the retirement of Bansi after a lacuna had been created. It was only then that the governor acceded to appoint Lawi in acting capacity, Wugira noted.

In the first instance, it was alleged that the governor was rooting for the emergence of Justice Abubakar Talba who recently passed a controversial judgment in favor of the pension thief, John Yusuf because of the belief that he will be amenable to the whims and caprices of the state governor. But many commentators were of the opinion that the government refused to appoint the then most senior High Court Judge because of the fear that he will not be amenable to the whims and

Governor Murtala Nyako caprices of the state government.

It appears that despite the initial resistance of the NBA, the staunch stance of the government at ensuring that it had its way in who becomes the new CJ in the state has continued to render the Judicial Arm prostrate. This has culminated into the appointment of four successive Acting CJs since Bansi's retirement.

The appointments of the successive acting CJ's in the state started with the swearing in of Justice Batholomi Popolawi who served as the acting capacity twice, followed by the appointment of Justice Ishaya Banu who served in acting capacity for three months, And then Justice Bobo Umar who served in acting capacity for three months then the current acting Chief Judge, Justice Nathan Musa, who was sworn in acting capacity making the number of judges who served in acting capacity a record four within one and half years.

The legal luminary said the appointment of the acting Chief Judge has contravened the provisions of the

law because section 271 subsection 4 and 5 of the constitution says "if the office of the Chief Judge of a state is vacant if the person holding the office for any reason is unable to perform the functions of the office then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding the office has resumed these functions the governor of the state shall appoint the most senior Judge of the High Court to perform those functions.

Except on the recommendations of the National Judicial Council on appointment pursuant to subsection 4 of this section shall, cease to have effect after expiration of 3 months from the date of such appointment and governor shall not reappoint a person whose appointment had lapsed".

Joshua added that by law, the state governor is given the powers by the constitution to nominate a CJ and forward his name to NJC for recommendation after which the governor will take the name to the state House of Assembly for confirmation.

“

It was alleged that the governor was rooting for the emergence of Justice Abubakar Talba who recently passed a controversial judgment in favor of the pension thief, John Yusuf because of the belief that he will be amenable to the whims and caprices of the state governor.

But as simple as this provision is, the governor has adamantly refused to follow this procedure which is a bad omen to democracy, he said. Joshua added that "the most unfortunate thing is that we professionals decided to allow politicians to temper with our hard earned integrity which will set a bad precedence in the annals of the profession. If not addressed the incursion of politics into the profession will kill the spirit of hard work and all the profession is striving to achieve."

Joshua said by its actions, the government of Adamawa state seemed to have declared war on the Judiciary, having subdued the civil service and the legislative arm to some extent. He added that the State is currently witnessing the emergence of a nihilist. " I am not a prophet of doom but with the latest development in Adamawa State, we are sure to harvest a doomsday", Joshua warned.

The latest swearing in of Justice Nathan Musa as the acting CJ in the state was greeted with disquiet as many people will swear that the action was a premeditated one by the state governor at ensuring against all odds the emergence of someone who will do the bidding of the state government in the raging power tussle between Governor Nyako and the National Chairman of the Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) Alhaji Bamanga Tukur onshore controls the party machineres ahead of 2015.

The surreptitious swearing in of Justice Nathan Musa was believed to be ensured by Governor Nyako in order to have an upper hand in the power tussle that ensued between him and Tukur. This is especially more manifest from the first assignment of he acting CJ who granted a court order which suspended the conduct of the PDP Congresses by the Umar Damagum led Caretaker committee appointed by the NWC of PDP to superintend the conduct of fresh congresses in the state following the dissolution of the Umar Mijin yawa Kugama led faction.

If the state government’s refusal to appointing a CJ has stirred disquiet in the state, its action to forward the name of the wife of the governor, Justice Binta Nyako, to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for clearance as the CJ of Adamawa state was greeted with utmost consternation because even after it was rejected, the issue has reverberated in the Adamawa political firmament with a lot of condemnation by stakeholders in the polity. They argue that the action was an attempt to further the Governor’s hegemonic grip on the state following rumors that the governor was poised to anoint his son to succeed him come 2015.

Joshua pledged that if the governor refuses to appoint a substantive CJ for the state, the NBA will go to court to seek an Order of Mandamus to compel the governor to do the necessary so that th state will be done with the problem.

"It seems that from all intents the governor has wicked intentions against the judiciary," he submitted.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 5

Baga report shabby, says ACN From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has rejected the preliminary report on the Baga tragedy, and demanded an independent investigation of the matter.

The ACN in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that, "those who carried out that investigation apparently discountenanced the fact that in today's world, nothing is hidden.

"Thanks to the satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, the world is now aware of the massive devastation that occurred in Baga.

"The satellite images support the conclusion by the rights group

that 2,275 buildings were destroyed in the clashes.

"They also seem to support the statements credited to the Senator representing the area, Lawan Maina, who put the death toll at 220.

"This is contrary to NEMA's conclusion that far less than 1,000 homes were destroyed or the military high command's finding that only 36 people were killed and it becomes glaring that something is wrong somewhere.

"The Nigerian media, now the favourite whipping boy of an increasingly edgy administration, has come under fire for reporting the massive killings and devastation.

"But those criticising the Nigerian media should endeavour to follow the international media's

reportage of the events in Baga to see that the local media is not just crying wolf."

ACN said Nigeria would have been spared the global opprobrium resulting from the Baga tragedy had the government and the military carried out a more diligent investigation of the incidents instead of acting in a defensive manner and trivialising the destruction wrought in Baga.

The party said while it would ill not conclude that all the destruction and the killings in Baga were carried out by soldiers, the truth is that the military, an embodiment of state power, bears more responsibility anytime it is involved in a situation similar to that of Baga, or Odi and Zaki Biam before it.

"There is no doubt that Boko Haram, with its scorched earth

tactics, may have engaged in actions that put the lives of civilians in jeopardy in Baga.

"But these insurgents have no rules of engagement like the military and definitely do not value human lives.

"Therefore, the military, in engaging the insurgents in builtup areas, must strictly adhere to its rules of engagement to avoid or minimise the death of innocent civilians or destruction of their property," the party said.

It reaffirmed its earlier statement that the killings in Baga may constitute crimes against humanity hence the International Criminal Court (ICC), which opened a preliminary investigation of the Boko Haram crisis last year must include the Baga tragedy in its investigation.

L-R: Chairman, Council of Ministers of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, Mr. Issoufou Issaka, Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs II, Dr Nuruddeen Muhammad, during the 58th session of the Council, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

World Press Freedom Day: Nigeria's media operate under near-economic strangulation, says NGE

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igerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has described the media as worthy allies in nurturing the nation's democracy and the quest for a greater country.

According to a press statement from the Guild on the occasion of the 2013 World press Freedom Day today, the ceremony provides another opportunity to reflect on the state of the media in Nigeria.

The statement signed by the NGE President, Femi Adesina, said that, "successive administrations in Nigeria have always treated the media with suspicion, if not as some sort of adversary. This is a regrettable mindset which a day like today can help correct.

"Nigeria's robust and vibrant media has a worthy history of commitment to noble causes, and played key roles in the struggle for independence, democratic rule, social justice, freedom of speech,

human rights and the like.

"Today, the media are still in the vanguard of upholding all that is noble, just, fair, and, indeed, all that would redound to the progress and development of our country.

"Recent developments in the country have however reinforced the uneasy relationship that often exists between government and the media.

"But we urge the government to stoutly resist anything that might bear the slightest semblance to a curtailment of the freedom of the press, either overtly or covertly.

"The media parade professionals who are passionate and committed to the growth and development of the country on all fronts, and they do not deserve to be hounded, repressed or harassed in any form.

"If there are inadvertent infractions of the rules, we expect

nothing but the strictest conformity to due process and the rule of law in addressing such.

"There are certain approaches that are incompatible with democratic norms.

"We do not expect that our governments at various levels will still resort to such, 14 years into unbroken democratic rule.

"The media industry today groans under high cost of production inputs.

"Let the government use the occasion of World Press Freedom Day today to appraise how it can make life easier for the press.

"An industry that operates under near-economic strangulation due to unfriendly policies from government cannot be said to be really free.

"Nigerian editors will always give their best to engender cohesion and harmony in the polity. It is our sacred duty and calling.

"We will always uphold socially responsible acts and practices, and play to the hilt our roles as partners in progress, towards building a country where no man is oppressed, intimidated or harassed.

"Free press means free expression, and our country needs such to develop, and to hold its own in the comity of nations.

"Freedom is a bulwark against tyranny but freedom is also fragile and World Press Freedom Day is an opportunity to reflect on this.

"The line between press freedom and repression is quite thin and eternal vigilance is needed at all times, lest we find ourselves at the wrong side of the divide.

"Nigerian editors will continue to stand for ethical practices in an atmosphere free of any foreboding or apprehension. That is the essence of World Press Freedom Day.

Audu wants EFCC charges against him quashed

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he former Governor of Kogi state, Prince Abubakar Audu, yesterday told an Abuja High Court to quash the 36count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Audu is standing trial on charges bordering on criminal breach of trust as well as misappropriation of public funds to the tune of over N10 billion when he was governor.

Charged alongside Audu, is former Director-General of the Directorate of Rural evelopment, Alfa Ibn Mustapa.

Though, the trial judge, Justice A.O Adeniyi, had adjourned the case until yesterday for trial to begin, this was not to be, as the former governor, who is the 1st accused person, brought a preliminary objection, praying the court to quash all the 36-count charge against him.

Audu's counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), told the court that his client will be subjected to "undue trial" as well as suffer "double jeopardy", if full-scale trial was allowed in the matter and contended that justice will be served, if his client is prosecuted in Kogi where the alleged offences were committed.

Ozekhome wondered why the anti-graft agency would initiate fresh criminal proceedings against Audu in the face of his trials "running simultaneously" before a high court of Kogi state and Code of Conduct Tribunal, Abuja.

According him, the charge against Audu is an abuse of court process and that the court sitting in Abuja has no jurisdiction to entertain the case.

The trial Judge consequently adjourned the case till June 18, 2013 to enable the prosecution sufficient time to study it and also file appropriate response.

Earlier, prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), had frowned at the filing of the preliminary objection, pointing out that counsel had an understanding to avoid encumbrances and let trial begin in earnest.

Audu said in the preliminary objection that he will be "greatly prejudiced and would suffer severe inconvenience, wastage of time, energy and funds should his trial be conducted in the Federal Capital Territory, a constraint that would undoubtedly deny him a fair hearing."

He further noted that all the documents and exhibits to be relied upon for his defence are in Lokoja, Kogi state hence the need to try him there.

While accusing the EFCC of "forum-shopping," he also submitted that the commission "is not legally competent in the peculiar circumstances of this case."

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Judges' absence stalls ruling on Lawan's request for case quashing

L-R: Lord Mayor of City of London, Mr. Roger Gifford; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; and Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Peter Carter; during the visit of the mayor to the governor, yesterday in Lagos.

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

Photo: NAN

Strip Oshiomhole of national honours, PDP urges Jonathan

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he Edo chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to strip the state governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, of the national honours conferred on him for allegedly committing perjury by deceiving the people over his age.

Edo state PDP chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, made this call yesterday while briefing newsmen at the party's National Headquarters in Abuja.

Orbih in a statement said "Governor Adams Oshiomhole has been parading himself before

the world as a saint and labeling others rogues, but he has spent all his life living a lie and deceiving the entire country ."

The PDP chairman recalled that Oshiomhole celebrated his birthday on April 4th when he claimed to have attained the age of 60 years whereas official documents with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicates that he was actually 61 on that date.

According to him, "It is on record that on November, 12, 2008 at the official inauguration of Governor Oshiomhole for his first tenure, his citation which stated his date of birth as April

4th, 1953 was read in his presence and the presence of the Edo state Chief Judge. In a similar event at his inauguration for his second term in 2012 his citation with April 4th, 1953 as date of birth was also read in his presence and the presence of the Edo state Chief Judge."

The PDP chieftain also alleged that the same date of birth was maintained by the Edo state governor when the National Honours of the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) was conferred on him by the President.

Not satisfied with Oshiomhole's explanation which blamed the

mistake recorded on his INEC forms on his aide and printer error, Orbih stated: "A man who spent months announcing his upcoming 60th birthday to the world, only to turn ar o u n d f e w h o u r s after the ceremony to announce a "shocker" that he is actually 61, is an unstable character that cannot be worthy of anybody's trust."

But in a swift reaction, Oshiomhole, in a statement released on his behalf by h i s Special Assistant, Media a n d P u b l i c A f f a i r s , P r i nce Kassim Afegbua, described Orbih and his party as political jobbers who should find better use of their time.

Welfare insurance: Court awards N200m to FIRS

By Abdulwahab Isa

A

presiding Judge of Federal High Court, Justice Adeniyi Ademola yesterday in Abuja in a case involving Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS) and NICON insurance, awarded more than N200 million against NICON. He also granted the claims of the FIRS of 10 percent interest from February 2008 to date and 10 percent post judgment sum in addition to the awarded cost of N50, 000 each against NICON Insurance and National Insurance Commission(NICOM).

FIRS in a statement by its Director of Public Commuincations, Emmanuel Obeta confirmed the court ruling.

The Service had through a Writ of Summons, signed by Idrissa Kogo of the Legal and Prosecution department deposed to by Omofoyewa Taofeek Laide, claimed the sum of N99, 917,061.80 against the defendants as a balance of its claims under the Staff Welfare Insurance Scheme with the NICON

Insurance.

The Service sought a 10 percent interest per annum from February 2008 till judgment is entered and 60 percent interest on the judgment sum until it is liquidated.

Also, FIRS sought for N100 million as general damages against the defendants for wrongfully holding onto the Service's N99.9 million despite repeated demands for the said amount.

The dispute between FIRS and

NICON Insurance arose when FIRS noted that NICON was unable to meet its financial commitments to FIRS beginning from about 2007/ 2008.

FIRS told the court it contributed a total of N220 million to the scheme- from staff entitlements and benefits, designed to mortgage the funds of the scheme for the benefit of FIRS contributing workforce.

The scheme kicked off in 1997, when FIRS paid the sum of N10

million to NICON. At a reconciliation meeting between FIRS and NICON on February 27, the sum of N155, 417,061.80 million was established as NICON's indebtedness to FIRS. NICON paid an installment of N23 million in March 2008 and another N15 million in May 2008.

Between 2008 and December 2010, a total of N17. 5million was paid to FIRS, leaving a balance of N99, 917,061.80, that led to FIRS' suit.

he absence of Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi of an Abuja High Court yesterday stalled the ruling on the application to quash the charges slammed against former Chairman of the House of Representatives' Ad-hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy Regime, Hon. Farouk Lawan and the committee's Secretary, Mr. Boniface Emenalo.

Justice Oniyangi was said to be bereaved and could not deliver the anticipated ruling yesterday.

A new date, May 10, 2013 was slated for the court to rule on the pending application brought before it by Lawan and Emenalo, seeking to quash the 7-count charge preferred against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).

ICPC alleged that Lawan and Emenalo collected the sum of $620,000 as bribe from chairman of Zenon Oil and Gas, Mr. Femi Otedola, to delete the names of Zenon Petroleum and Gas as well as Synopsis Enterprises Limited, belonging to Otedola from the list of companies allegedly found to have defrauded the Federal Government of billions of naira.

The accused persons have argued, through their counsel, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN) that the commission has not established any prima facie case against them, to necessitate or warrant their trial and urged the court to discharge them on the ground that the prosecutor failed to comply with Section 155 (1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC).

Tarfa also challenged the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter. The development had stalled commencement of trial at the last adjourned date, as defence counsel had persuaded the court to hear the aforesaid application first, before going into trial proper.

In opposing the motion, prosecuting counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the application, saying it was a calculated attempt by the coaccused to waste the time of the court.

NBA faults NJC over Justice Talba's suspension

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday faulted the suspension of Justice Abubakar Talba of an Abuja High Court by the National Judicial Council (NJC) for allowing an option of fine to a pension thief, John Yusuf.

The convict, a former assistant director in the police pension office pleaded guilty to a

three-count charge and was sentenced to two-year imprisonment but with an option of a fine of N750, 000, which he paid and walked away a free man.

According to the NBA, Justice Talba should not be blamed for using his discretion to jail or free Yusuf.

NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN) revealed the position of the association yesterday when the management of the Nigerian

Institute of Advanced Legal studies (NIALS), led by its director general, Professor Epiphany Azinge (SAN) paid him a courtesy visit at the NBA national secretariat, Abuja.

"The problem with Justice Talba's judgment was the law, not the judge. Yusuf was initially charged on a 18-count charge but later reduced to 3count under aplea bargain arrangement. He was charged under section 309 of the penal

code, which is approaching 100 years. So, it is not the fault of the judge but the law. We will make the position of the NBA on NJC's decision known in our NEC meeting in Yenegoa", Wali declared.

The NBA boss added that the pension funds thief was at the court of appeal challenging the judgment.

"So, why is the NJC in a hurry to suspend the judge in question", Wali said.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 7

A STATEMENT BY THE FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY ADMINISTRATION TURAI Vs FCTA Land Judgement:

Our Position The attention of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has been drawn to the judgement by an Abuja High Court regarding the suit between the FCTA and the NGO of the immediate past First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF) over the plot of land allocated to the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), an international institution affiliated to the African Union (AU).

The FCTA wishes to clarify that it is currently undertaking a preliminary study of the judgement while awaiting the Certified True Copy (CTC) before further processes.

In the meantime, the FCTA wishes to clarify that the judgement delivered pertained to the process followed in the revocation of the said plot of land and that the court case was between the FCTA and Hajia Turai YarÁdua’s NGO, WAYEF. The FCTA equally wishes to inform the general public that it moved to revoke the purported reallocation as a legitimate action to rectify the anomaly in reallocating a plot meant for public institution to a private organization. We wish to state that the former First Lady, Hajia Turai challenged the action of the FCTA in court after turning down several offers to secure an alternative plot in Phase One of the Federal Capital City for WAYEF, her NGO. For the avoidance of doubt, the FCTA wishes to restate that the litigation was an affair between it and Hajia Turai Yar’adua’s NGO, and that neither the African First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), the original allottee of the land, nor Dame Patience Jonathan, who is the incumbent First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and President of the African continental body, (AFPM), was party to the

suit at the Abuja High Court.

The FCTA further wishes to clarify that the land in question was FIRST allocated to the African First Ladies Peace Mission during the tenure of Hajia Turai Yar’Adua as the First Lady of Nigeria and President of the AFLPM. The records show that the said plot of land was wrongly re-designed and reallocated to WAYEF, Turai’s NGO in her twilight days as the First Lady in 2010. The FCTA found the action of reallocating a public land to a private NGO inappropriate and therefore took proper action to revoke the reallocation and restore the land to the original allottee, the AFLPM. The revocation was done based on the powers conferred on the Hon. Minister of FCT by the Land Use Act. Thus the action was taken in the overall public interest and for that reason alone.

The FCTA wishes to point out that a former Minister of FCT who made the first allocation of the said land to AFLPM, Dr Aliyu Umar Modibbo had publicly clarified that the disputed land was actually allocated by him, as the then FCT Minister to the AFLPM and not to Hajia Turai’s NGO, WAYEF. In view of the foregoing, the FCT Administration wishes to state categorically that the judgment by the FCT High Court is squarely on a case between the FCT Administration and Hajia Turai Yar Ádua. The FCTA will make further statements on this matter after going through the certified details of the judgement.

The FCTA remains committed to the rule of law and the development of FCT in line with the provisions of the Abuja Master Plan.

NOSIKE OGBUENYI Special Assistant, Media, to the Hon. Minister of FCT Thursday, 2nd May, 2013

PAGE 8

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Adamawa Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Halima Hayatu (middle), inaugurating a Women Development Multipurpose Centre established at Central Development Area, yesterday in Yola

L-R: President, Galilee International Management Institute, Israel, Dr Joseph Shevle, and Director, Finance and Administration, Nigeria Governors` Forum (NGF) secretariat, Alhaji Mohammed Jimbia, after signing an MOU on capacity building for states in Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja.

English language teachers displaying their Nokia packs, during the launch of UNESCO-Nokia project on Mobile Technologies and Teacher Development, yesterday in Abuja

L-R: Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Malam Muhammad Sani (l), presenting a set of books on Emergency Management in Nigeria to the Minister of Social Affairs, Humanitarian Action and Solidarity, Republic of Congo, Mrs Emilienne Raoul, yesterday in Abuja

Osun state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (2nd right), displaying the plaque at the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE) 2012 Special Presidential Merit Award conferred on him by the President of NSE, yesterday in Osogbo. With him are NSE President, Mustafa Shehu (2nd left), and other personalities.

Photos: NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

NAFDAC destroys N400m fake drugs in Benue From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

N

ational Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) yesterday in Makurdi destroyed substandard, fake and adulterated drugs, food and other regulated products worth over N400 million.

The NAFDAC Director General, Dr. Paul Orhii, who conducted the destruction of the goods, explained that the products were seized by different NAFDAC offices in the north central zone of the country as well as expired medicines voluntarily handed over to NAFDAC by state ministries of health and other stakeholders.

Orhii described drug faking an act of economic sabotage and terrorism against public health and urged Nigerians, religious and community leaders and traditional rulers to join in the fight against counterfeit drugs.

He reiterated the commitment of the agency to be proactive in tackling issues of fake and substandard drugs in the country.

According to him, "our cutting edge technology, deployed in the fight against counterfeiters are yielding tremendous result as we can boldly say that we are the first medicine regulatory authority in the world to deploy the use of the TRUSCAN equipment to identify counterfeit medicines on the field.

"The deployment of Mobile Authentication System, Minilab and Black Eye have also greatly contributed to a significant drop in the percentage of fake and counterfeit medicines in circulation in our country."

Ringim attack: Lamido cuts short annual leave From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

J

igawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, has suspended his 11-day annual leave and pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia following last Sundays attacks at Ringim which also affected the residence of a former InspectorGeneral of Police, Hafiz Ringim.

The Governor who commenced his annual leave last week with the intention to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser hajj unceremoniously suspended the trip after six days.

Lamido visited Ringim and paid a sympathy visit to the Emir of Ringim, Alhaji Sayyadi Mahmud.

According to the Governor, "lack of modern working equipment by the police to combat the might of the criminals made the attackers to have easy escape.

"From the look of what actually happened, it was clearly an armed robbery case because they attacked a bank, and the attack on the police station is a decoy to prevent police from countering them.

"Had it been that the Nigerian police has enough and modern working facilities like some other countries, the armed robbers would not have escaped."

PAGE 9

May Day: Wada pledges to motivate workers From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

K

ogi state Governor, Idris Wada, has pledged to strengthen the collaborative ties between the government and organised Labour, to enhance the welfare and productivity of the workforce.

He made the pledge at Lokoja Township Stadium on the occasion of the May Day

celebrations, stressing that his administration has inception in January, 2012, evolved several measures aimed at motivating the workforce for higher productivity.

Wada commended Labour for the theme of this year's celebration tagged, "100 Years of Nationhood: The Challenges of National Development". He lauded the organised Labour for the sustained industrial

harmony in the state.

The governor assured that government was committed to ensuring that workers are comfortable by providing them with working tools, prompt payment of their salaries and allowances as well as gratuity of pensioners.

Chairman of the state’s branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr. James Odaudu, had earlier in a joint

speech with the Trade Union Congress (TUC) commended Governor Wada for his "numerous achievements" in enhancing the welfare of workers.

"We equally commend the Governor for his courage and trust on Nigeria medical professionals by refusing to travel overseas to receive medical treatment which confirms his transparency and honesty in piloting affairs of the state affairs.

L-R: Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, and Vice- President, Global Peace Foundation (GPF), U.S.A, Dr. Tony Devine, during the latter’s advocacy visit to the Corporate Headquarters of National Orientation Agency, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

JNI set up committee to monitor Muslims cemeteries in Kaduna From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

T

he

Kaduna state branch of the Jama'atul Nasril Islam (JNI) has expressed concern on the state of Muslim cemeteries within Kaduna metropolis as it set up nine man committee to manage a mosque located at Kaduna trade fair complex layout at Igabi local government area of the

state.

Addressing members of the committee at the JNI headquarters in Kaduna yesterday, the JNI Chairman, Malam Jafaru Makarfi, who also doubles as Chairman of the JNI Cemeteries Management Board Chairman said most of the Muslims cemeteries were in poor state.

According to him, "we all know that Muslim cemeteries

are badly neglected.

"Animals are allowed to go inside and do whatever they feel like doing on people's graves.

"Also people with doubtful characters go there to dig out human parts for their dubious reasons.

"Since we know the importance of cemeteries, we feel we should set up this subcommittee to monitor the new cemetery and a mosque located

at the trade fair complex layout.

Jafaru explained that members of the committee were selected from names submitted by the Izala and Fityanu groups within in the state.

In his remarks, JNI Secretary General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, advised the committee to take their duties seriously and to ensure that the cemetery under them is kept under good condition.

Nigeria is most dangerous place for journalists in Africa after Somalia - Report

By Stanley Onyekwere

F

ollowing increasing antipress violence and prosecutions, especially by government officials and security agencies, Nigeria has emerged as the most dangerous place in Africa, after Somalia, for journalists, a survey released on Thursday morning by global media advocacy organisation, the Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ), has revealed.

The survey shows that this is perhaps the darkest time for journalists in the country as this is the first time Nigeria will

appear on the CPJ's Global Impunity Index which calculates unsolved murders of journalists as a percentage of each country's population.

The report said Nigerian journalists had experienced a decade of relative security before the recent targeting of journalists.

"Rocked by militants in the north and politically inspired aggression nationwide, Nigeria has become one of the worst nations in the world for deadly, unpunished violence against the press," the survey said.

With five journalists

murdered in relation to their work since 2009, the survey said Nigeria "has the second worst impunity rating in Africa, behind Somalia. Those covering the activities of the extremist Muslim group, Boko Haram, are particularly vulnerable.

"In 2012, assailants shot and killed Enenche Akogwu of Iindependent Channels TV as he reported on the aftermath of terrorist attacks in the northern city of Kano."

"Investigations into these killings are usually carried out with sloppiness, and no real culprits are caught," said Ayode Longe, a senior officer with the

Media Rights Agenda, a press freedom group in Nigeria, who was quoted in the report.

"That has emboldened others to assault journalists, believing nothing would be done to them," Mr. Longe added.

Journalists and media houses have come under direct threat, intimidation and physical violence in the past year from the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan as editors and reporters have been harassed and beaten up by soldiers and policemen.

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

BRIEF NEWS Edo SSS parades suspects of slain official

E

do State command of the State Security Service (SSS), has paraded three suspected killers of one of its officials, late Amenaghawon Ogbeide-Ihama.

The suspects, Boro Aibuehi, Moses Idaro and Kenneth Obaogie, were said to have shot and killed Amenaghawon while attempting to rescue a kidnap victim from kidnappers den last year.

Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, witnessed parade of the suspects conducted by the Edo state Director of SSS, Mr. Bello-Tukur Bakori.

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

Sierra Leone adopts Nigeria's FRSC model

A

s a prelude to the establishment of a road safety outfit modeled after the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), a three-man team from Nigeria has undertaken a capacity review of road safety administration in the Republic of Sierra Leone.

A statement by the FRSC Public Education Officer, Jonas Agwu, explained that the visit was in line with the collective drive to promote regional co-operation in Sub-Sahara Africa to actualise the Accra declaration of 2015 and United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011 -2020) which seek 50 per cent reduction in road accidents.

The statement noted that the team, led by Deputy Corps Marshal, Operations, Boboye Oyeyemi, was in Sierra Leone at the request of government of that country for Nigeria to provide technical assistance for developing the capacity for entrenching sustainable road safety management in Sierra Leone.

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Cultism: Taraba VC cautions students

V

ice Chancellor, Federal University Wukari, Geoffrey Okogbaa, has warned students of the institution against vices capable of undermining the credibility of the school.

Okogbaa gave the warning on Wednesday at the matriculation of over 400 students of the University in Wukari.

He particularly warned the students against cultism, examination malpractices and indecent dressing stressing.

Okogbaa said the university had procured state of the art classroom furniture, laboratory and library equipment and books and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities for the use of students.

From Yusha'u Alhassan Jalingo.

R-L: Director General, Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo; Director General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Dr. Gbaji Bello; Guest Speaker, MR. Joe Gadzama (SAN); and former Minister of Justice, Dr. Kanu Akabi, during ICRC Contract Disclosure Forum on Public- Private Partnership Projects, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

DSS investigates death threat on Kano journalists From Edwin Olofu, Kano

T

he Department of State Security Services ‘DSS’ has launched an investigation to unravel the

death threat message on the executive members of Correspondent Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalist, Kano.

The decision followed a formal petition titled "Threat to

life,'' and signed by the Secretary of the Chapel, Alhaji Ibrahim Garba Shuaibu.

In his response, the Director of SSS in Kano, Mr

Bassey assured the leadership of the Correspondents chapel that the Department will do its best to unravel those behind the death threat with the view of bringing him to justice.

"We pay their salaries, leave allowances as at when due, promoted 12,211 teaching and non-teaching staff in secondary schools, we have reviewed upward the housing loans by 100 per cent, trained about 13,000 workers and provided free transportation service for them, among others.

"We will not stop there as we are ready to provide low cost housing for them through the construction of workers' estate. "We will also increase the buses meant for their free transportation.

"We have not left our artisans, market men and women out as government has already finalised arrangements to give them loans to help grow their businesses as they are all contributing to the socioeconomic development of the state."

He stressed that the objective of his administration was to leave Oyo state better than he met it, pledging that he will always execute projects that would suit the yearnings of the

people of the state.

"We are improving the state for the future generation and to attract investors that will improve the economy of the state. With improved economy, everybody will be happy.

"At the inception of our administration, we promised to work with the Labour and the entire Oyo state artisans and traders as partners in progress.

"Our objective is to restore, transform and reposition Oyo state and in doing so, it is not going to be easy.

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

government meant well by introducing Kwara workers to the purchase of Zenith Bank shares through loan.

"It is on record that the said loan had been fully repaid by the workers yet those affected are denied their share certificates, divideds and bonuses over the last four years.

"Whatever the issues are between the state government and Zenith Registrar, they had better be resolved on time such that an average worker does not feel defrauded and deprived of his or her legitimate entitlement.

"While we continue to acknowledge and appreciate the

fact that Kwara was one of the states to adopt the N18,000 new minimum wage, our salary table remains low when compared to a number of states in the country.

"After all, beyond being workers, we equally constitute a larger part of the electorate and even party supporters.

"We feel encouraged by the on-going dialogue in the Public Service Joint Negotiating Council.

"It is our prayer that this will be conducted with dispatch in the spirit of guaranteeing industrial harmony as workers cannot be made to wait endlessly."

Ajimobi raises bar for graduate teachers From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

G

overnor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has announced the raising of the bar for graduate teachers in public schools from Grade Level 14.

Addressing workers on the occasion of the May Day celebrations, announced the removal of the bar with effect from May 1, 2013.

"Teachers, particularly the graduates among them, had their promotion pegged at Grade Level 14 but effective from today, May 1, we have removed the stagnation bar and they can now move above Level 14 by writing promotion examinations," he said.

The Governor also promised that his administration would provide low cost housing for workers in the state through the construction of workers' estate.

Ajimobi who is the state’s first governor to attend the May Day rally since 2006 also promised that government would provide free transportation for the people of the state for a week after which government would begin to charge "minimum and bearable fares."

While urging civil and public servants to be more dedicated to their duties, the Governor said, "we have done a lot for our workers in the state.

Workers Day: Kwara NLC demands share certificates, full minimum wage

K

wara state chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the state government to release its members' shares certificates bought through the government a few years ago and also review minimum wage of the workers.

Addressing workers on May Day, the NLC Chairman, Comrade Farooq Umar Akanbi, said that failure of government to give the workers their shares certificates would amount to defrauding them.

According to him, "we remain convinced that

PAGE 11

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

I

grew up during that period when an employee could expect a job to last for decades: when most jobs contained an included medical insurance; when most consumer loans were at fixed interest rates that couldn't be raised.

Someone who came of age in the mid-1990s or later would not be shocked and in fact, they'd probably be pretty puzzled that anyone was surprised. Younger workers know perfectly well that their job will disappear if there's a 15-minute period in which there's no work for them to do.

They have no personal memory of the days when the whole point of a "layoff" was that it was temporary - that laid-off workers could expect to be called back when production started up again. (They quite likely have no personal memory of production ever starting up again - their experience is of production moving overseas.)

Because of this division, I want to present the strategies for making your household economy a bit less fragile in two pieces.

Twentieth Century Strategies First, the ordinary strategies that have been the core of household security for most of my lifetime, the ones you can read about in any standard book on personal finance. I call them twentieth century strategies, although their heyday was really from about 1945 through 1990.

"Emergency fund Have an emergency fund with six months minimum expenses. (Keep at least a little of it in cash.)

The main purpose of this money is to tide you over if you lose your job. It's also there so that you're not forced to take on debt to cover an unexpected expense.

Money Tip: Thank your best customers

I

t turns out that Thanksgiving's not quite over. Take this opportunity to determine who your best customers are and reach out to them. Sounds simple, but how will you identify your best customers?

Each business "has a different definition of what best means," said McBean. This exercise "forces you to define what best is," he added. You may find that it's not the customers who spent the most but the ones that sent more business your way.

McBean added "at end of the day, you have to keep your customers." Letting them know that you appreciate their business is one way to accomplish just that.

Quote In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfills your potential... it's no different in the financial realm.

-Suze Orman

How fragile are your finances?

In addition to a fund of cash, keep enough basic supplies on hand to see your household through a blizzard or a flood or a power outage that shuts down the ATM machines. (If you buy the supplies for this stockpile at a discount, you can also score some huge tax-free investment returns.)

"Avoid debt I've written before about how debt makes your finances fragile.

When you have specific dollar payments that you need to make, you're utterly bound to the money economy.

Especially avoid credit card debt. Although things are a bit better now thanks to a couple of new laws that restrict banks from changing the terms and conditions of a debt, credit cards

M

ay be you've heard of that seven-year rule?

It says that you should keep all your receipts and records for at least seven years. That's not true in all cases, but knowing what you should keep, and how long you should keep it, can be confusing and complicated.

According to the IRS website, there are no hard and fast rules on how long you should hang onto documents. Nor are there rules for how you should keep them (paper copies, online, or scanned and stored to a hard drive). You will just need to have access to them if you should ever get audited or need them for other purposes.

The tax-review period The basic period for IRS tax review is three years. Yes, that means that even if you filed your

remain a risky way to borrow money. If you really think borrowing is the right move, consider doing what people used to do: taking out a loan. Borrow money for a specific purpose at a specific fixed rate, with a specific fixed repayment schedule.

"Limit fixed expenses It's not only debts that crush you when there's an interruption in your income. Every recurring expense makes your finances more fragile. If you've never had to resort to emergency belttightening, you'd probably be surprised just how low you can get your spending on a temporary basis. But every fixed expense: rent utilities, cell phone contract, and fitness center membership, is a fixed-naira amount that you'll need to pay

out, even if you have a sharp drop in income or a sharp increase in expenses.

"Buy appropriate insurance If you can possibly afford it, you need to insure yourself against the risks that would otherwise ruin your finances.

That means health insurance and liability insurance in particular.

If you own a home or a car, and you don't have cash to replace them, you need to insure them as well.

In the United States, for example, health insurance is a huge problem. If you're old or sick, the only way to get health insurance is to work for a large company that provides it as an employee benefit.

Nineteenth and twenty-first century strategies

These additional strategies weren't so important during the decades of the New Deal and the Great Society. But they once again become important in today's world, just as they were in the early decades of the last century and before.

"Improve your employability Keep your skills up-to-date.

Keep your documentation of them up-to-date. Stay in contact with your network of former coworkers, former managers, and former employees. Don't depend on your employer to do anything beyond paying you for the work you've already done. Take responsibility for your own career management.

"Make the things you need This used to be ordinary, but fell by the wayside as cheap shipping and specialization enabled much higher standards of living for people who worked for wages or a salary and bought everything they needed. Fullblown self-sufficiency was always a hard way to live, but a little strategic partial self-sufficiency can make your household much less fragile. Each little thing that you can provide directly (rather than buying it in the money economy) is one more area where your household doesn't have to depend on anyone but yourselves.

Have another source of income The idea that a single breadwinner following a one-job career path could provide a stable source of income for a family has been dead for a long time. Most households have long sent a second (or even a third) family member into the workforce.

I recommend having a little capital deployed to earn money: stocks, bonds, rental property, etc.

How long to keep your tax records? taxes this year, got your refund or paid your taxes due, the IRS can audit you for up to three years. If it is suspected that you filed a fraudulent claim, or you owe more taxes, there is a chance you could be asked to show some documentation. So a good rule of thumb is to keep everything related to your taxes for at least three years.

Special circumstances Outside of the three-year tax review window, there are other reasons that you could be audited or asked to show your tax documents. The length of time the IRS has to ask for these documents varies. Here are some examples: " If you goofed on reporting your income by more

than 25%, the IRS can audit you and ask to see proof of income for up to six years. So it's a good idea to hang onto your tax-related documents if you think you may have under-reported your income in any way. " If you didn't file a return but should have, you need to keep your tax records indefinitely. " If you amended your tax return to get an additional refund, you should keep your tax records for three years from the date of your amended return. " If you filed a fraudulent return, there is no limit on how long you should hang onto your tax records. " If you claimed a loss from a worthless security, then

you need to hold onto those records for seven years.

Other reasons to keep records Even if you don't need some of your records for IRS purposes anymore, you may want to consider if you need them for another reason before tossing them. For instance, you may need documents related to your home for insurance purposes. If you own an item or piece of property, it's a good idea to hang onto any documentation related to those items. You could find yourself needing them for a warranty or return.

It's also a good idea to hang onto your past income tax returns. There are so many programs that require proof of income, such as food stamps and medical aid assistance, and usually furnishing a past tax return is all the proof you need.

It's also helpful in having past tax returns to prepare future returns.

When we decided to build our first home a few years back, our bank was a stickler about having proof of income, primarily because I had recently transitioned to the realm of the self-employed. I had to provide both proof of income as well as a recently filed tax return.

In any case, it's a good idea to hang onto all tax records for at least the three-year period that you could be audited.

Share your Money Tip: do you have a business/money idea, and you want to share it with our dear readers? Then, send it to: ikabirsule@gmail.com or (text it to 08091904890)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

May Day and workers' plight

W

orkers in Nigeria, on May 1, joined their counterparts the world over to mark the 2013 Workers Day, led by their umbrella union, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Public and private sector workers celebrated the day dedicated to their cause. Given the less than inspiring condition of many a Nigerian worker in a land crippled by unprecedented inflation, insecurity, decaying infrastructure and the like, this year's May Day was anything but joyous. On the contrary, lamentation, recrimination and reflection marked the occasion.

The reason, needless to say, is not difficult to find. Never before has the average worker's fate been so dismal. His take-home-pay can hardly take him home for a couple of days, never mind weeks. Even as the costs of transportation, accommodation and feeding continue to skyrocket, workers have more or less been abandoned to their fate. To put the matter in perspective, consider the rate of thousands of teachers in many states across the federation. As disclosed by officials of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) and NLC penultimate week, their state governments simply overlooked this vital class of workers while paying their civil servants the national minimum wage.

Frustrated by this inhuman treatment, teachers in the states concerned have resolved to down

tools with effect from next month.

Elsewhere, indiscriminate sacking of workers, often without payment of their entitlements, is the order of the day. This is even as maltreatment by some employers, notably foreign firms operating in the country, and casualization or contract employment, are on the increase.

Unemployment remains at a worrisome level. As pointed out by

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Indeed, as workers of the world mark the 127th anniversary of May Day, there is little or nothing for the average Nigerian worker to cheer about the NLC President, Abdulwaheed Omar, recently, government's oftrepeated plan to create more jobs has remained just that - a plan still stuck in the pipeline. The private sector, which would normally have made a significant difference in this regard, remains largely helpless, assailed by many challenges such as epileptic electricity supply, treacherous roads, oppressive tax regimes and insecurity.

Caught in the midst of this potent mix are Nigerian workers and their

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large army of dependants. Indeed, as workers of the world mark the 127th anniversary of May Day, there is little or nothing for the average Nigerian worker to cheer about. Were the authors of the "Communist Manifesto", Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel, to address Nigerian workers today, they would no doubt intone: "Workers of Nigeria, unite; reflect on your predicament and fashion out the best strategy to make officialdom listen to your cry."

It is against this backdrop that we wish to urge your labour leaders to be a little more proactive in their struggle for the common cause. The impression must not be created that the leadership of nowadays is too lillylivered and/or too compromised to fight for workers' rights. A leadership that abdicates its responsibility on the altar of government crumbs is as lousy as it is ungodly. On their part, the federal, state and local governments on the one hand, and the private sector on the other, should endeavor to live up to their responsibilities vis-à-vis workers' welfare. Since no state or organization can do much without its human resource, conscious efforts should be made to put smiles on our hewers of wood and fetchers of water, as opposed to the prevailing situation whereby an unproductive, pampered elite keeps feeding fat on others' sweat like the proverbial baboon.

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 13

'Hausa-Fulani', the Nigerian scapegoat

By Umar Bello

R

ecent happenings in Nigeria have again necessitated the need to look into our peculiar circumstances and see the factors that may hinder the emergence of a strong united Nigeria built on the ideals of humanity and democracy. Part of the problem is the deliberate promotion of stereotypes against certain people which robs us of essential truth and leads to the gradual erosion of harmony and mutual coexistence. As usual with stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination against the stereotyped group gradually set in. The target group is 'externalized' as out-group and tagged negatively in all representations. This is done with a simultaneous creation of a very positive in-group and the establishment of superiority complex.

This article is aimed at viewing how the 'Hausa-Fulani' is made to be the 'externalized' negative entity that bears all the blame and brunt. First, the construction of the term, in itself, is a sociological aberration for no any tribal entity in Nigeria has been merged like this even where neighbourly and interactive circumstances that exist between the two groups i.e. Hausa and Fulani exist a lot elsewhere in Nigeria but without the tribes being lumped mischievously

together. The fusion of the tribes and the use of a hyphen, innocuous as it may appear, show a complex ideological manipulation. That little hyphen instead of an 'and' (to show distinctiveness) has chiselled out history and sawed smooth two distinctive cultures to create a single uniform ethnic identity that could be easy for blanket attacks.

The use of this terminology may have started erroneously in the colonial era, but has chiefly been given wide currency and nuance by the southern media for political and ideological reasons. When you lump two groups together, it is easy to visit the crime of one on another or to refer to one as another or just to serve as a nebulous general reference of people who happen to share a geographical space.

Politics of identity and ethnic reference carries serious freight in third world countries like Nigeria where ethnicity can be important for electoral victory.

We have seen, for instance, how presidents from the North that have ruled Nigeria in the past are all ubiquitously referred to as 'Hausa-Fulani' , denying them their distinctive ethnic identities and subtly indicting the Hausa and Fulani for their collective iniquities while in office. Based on this wrong notion, the 'middle belt', another highly arbitrary political creation, cries of political marginalization by the 'Hausa-

Fulani' even though a sizeable number of presidents coming from the Northern part of Nigeria are from there.

While the South-South, South-East and South-West have gained currency as geopolitical entities in their own rights, the North which divides constitutionally into North-West, North-East and North-Central , has always been treated as one people or two (core north and the middle belt, depending on which context the analyzer wishes to exploit or manipulate. When politics of divide and rule is the context, the middle belt is separated from the north or the 'Hausa-Fulani'. When it is that of jostling for economic advantages by the south, all are lumped together as one. Senator Ita Enang recently announced to the senate that the 'North' possesses over eighty percent of the oil wells in the South-South.

Though this blatant misrepresentation of realities was quickly rebutted and clarified by people like Femi Falana, the truth remains that the North is treated as one whole in this context; while the same Itas and Enangs (under climes of divideand-rule) may speak about a distinctive Middle-Belt with Southern political and even ancestral ties.

In the media, the Fulanis suffer a lot of alienation much more than their 'twin' brothers, the Hausas.

Apart from being always in the

news for the wrong reason, they are always treated in collectives.

Headlines always modify them by their ethnicity and profession. In a random Google sample, such headlines appear: "Fulani herdsmen, farmers clash in Delta" , "Tension as Fulani herdsmen kill two in Delta", "Fulani herdsmen rob on Lagos-Ibadan highway", "Fulani herdsmen, menace in Idoma land" etc. By using their tribe and profession as their permanent modifiers, you are bringing their livelihood and ethnic affiliation into trial by the actions of a few individuals. In essence, you don't only focus on their crime but on their ethnic identity and livelihood as if those are also faulty. This can be gauged if we ask (for instance) why are we yet to have such expressions in our headlines as "Igbo kidnappers…", "Yoruba armed robbers…" or "Igbo cultists…." Other ethnic groups have the fortunes of having their members treated based on their individual actions or crimes rather than overall ethnic indictment.

The 'Boko Haram' is yet another case of clear misrepresentation and blanket accusation. The 'Hausa-Fulani' is blamed even where the overall top hierarchy of the group, right from the late Muhammad Yusuf down to Shekau and others, there is neither Hausa nor Fulani. This group is a combination of different ethnic groups drawn from all the corners of Northern Nigeria and even the South-west.

They are also the only 'terrorists' because the term 'terrorism' is only used for Muslims and not used for other terrorist activities that take place in the Southern part of Nigeria and even in the North involving other faiths. The violent activities of others are even rationalized and seen on their individual or positive group basis. The Niger Delta 'militancy' is an example. Parenti (1995) speaks of the 'demonization of a whole by proxy' in cases where the crimes of a few are visited on a whole religion, people or race as in this case. Issues that should merit deeper investigation of psychological, social and economic factors that may breed such attitudes are all brushed under the carpet in a prejudicial pursuit of only Islamic culprits.

When you close all other potential leads to the real causes of crises like this, you simply make them defy viable solutions.

Nigeria can go a lot forward if we try to shed mutual stereotypes and open our minds to view people as individuals who should be responsible for their individual actions. Many a time, grave security factors are simply sacrificed on the altar of blanket assumptions. When you create easy scapegoats and sacrificial lambs you naively overlook your own human faults and live in feelings of false superiority that can be self-destructive.

Umar Bello is reachable on bello.umar@gmail.com

Boko Haram amnesty and dearth of ideas

By Elias Courson

I

n contemporary times the state of Nigeria has witnessed monumental challenges from regional groups that have questioned the basis of the federation. These agitations and state responses to them have led to the death of millions, several internally displaced and unquantifiable property destroyed - in the extreme communities have been annihilated. Unfortunately most conflict analysts, commentators and even our leaders have all explained the various conflicts confronting the Nigerian federation without regard to her emergence. Nigeria is the conception of an imperial power whose primary interest was resource accumulation to the exclusion of other world powers at the time. Until we come to the realization that we possess differences that cannot be ignored but must be managed after extensive consultations, there will always be crisis. The colonial masters realized these facts hence they ruled each section of Nigeria based on an appropriate mode of governance some regions that resisted colonialism were coerced, others were ruled in proxy through traditional institutions, while warrant Chiefs were imposed in acephalous territories. This explains how complex and complicated the country was at inception and even now.

The proposed amnesty for the Boko Haram sect that has rendered sections of northern Nigeria ungovernable is a wrong step proposed towards resolving a wrong action. Of recent,

respected northern monarchs and elites have proposed and suggested amnesty as a way out of the quagmire. It is high time we knew that every section of Nigeria is aggrieved concerning the foundation of the Nigeria nation, but the manifestations therefrom are distinct and distinguishable. The question we need to ask ourselves is, whether or not amnesty is adequate and sufficient in addressing the metademands of various sections of the country directed at the foundation of the Nigerian nation? There is the urgent need to distinguish those who want the agitations resolved and those who want to make gains out of every ugly situation in the country. In the light of this, the proposed amnesty proposal is not only selfserving but also designed to enrich certain elements within the elite group, and is not an antidote to the Boko Haram dilemma.

First, it should be noted, there is discontent in every section of Nigeria (North, East, South, West). The manifestation is expressed in the form of Boko Haram in the North, Bakassi Boys in the East, MEND in the South and OPC in the West.

Unfortunately, when these manifestations are expressed (violently or otherwise) analysts ascribe them regional discontents. The Nigerian nation from exception is flawed and until this imperfection is exhaustively tackled irrespective of its outcome, regional/sectional demands or agitations will remain recurring phenomena.

Thus, the need for a holistic analysis of conflicts is paramount in Nigeria.

The Boko Haram demands: (1) Islamization of Nigeria and (2) eradication of western systems of thought, cannot be resolved by the granting of amnesty to some almajeris that would be packaged as Boko Haram militants in a few days to come. The Niger Delta amnesty now used as a paradigm for every crisis-ridden region of Nigeria is nothing but a wrongheaded solution to the Boko Haram saga. Is the Niger Delta crisis resolved with the declaration and implementation of amnesty? No. As we speak the fundamentals that led to armed struggle in the Niger Delta are yet to be addressed environmental despoliation continues unabated, oil extraction is ongoing to the detriment of communities, lack of amenities is still evident and oil companies and government

collusion in people and communities' repression is a daily routine in the region. The fragile peace and rise in oil production recorded could be attributed to the dexterity and knowledge of the Chairman of the amnesty programme who is doing everything possible to stem the ugly situations in the region.

Except the internationally recognized post conflict reforms political, economic and military, and I will add in the case of the Niger Delta ecological reform are properly implemented the crisis is bound to relapse.

I am alarmed by the dearth of ideas from Jonathan's aides who have made him a laughing stock before Nigerians. Nigerians expect new ideas proffered on existing and new problems, rather what is thrown back at society are antiquated solutions used during Obasanjo and Yar

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If the Boko Haram upheaval is poverty induced, as some elites have posited, then it should be noted that poverty is without borders. The government could take a cue from other nations and embark on a holistic social security reform in the country.

Since poverty is not region specific, what is required of the Government is a comprehensive analysis of the poverty situation in Nigeria towards the articulation of a catholic social security policy directed at the reduction of poverty

'Adua years that yielded next to nothing. First, there was fuel subsidy, what Jonathan's lazy minded men did was to dust the Obasanjo hand-book on fuel subsidy - increase the pump price of fuel locally as recommended

by IMF and World Bank. Again, when the Boko Haram brouhaha emerged on the scene, rather than critically examine the demands with regard to the historical emergence of Nigeria with a view to bringing visionary ideas/solutions to regional conflicts, these mentally barren aides and their civilian collaborators merely plagiarized the Yar 'Adua textbook on amnesty in the Niger Delta.

If the Boko Haram upheaval is poverty induced, as some elites have posited, then it should be noted that poverty is without borders. The government could take a cue from other nations and embark on a holistic social security reform in the country.

Since poverty is not region specific, what is required of the Government is a comprehensive analysis of the poverty situation in Nigeria towards the articulation of a catholic social security policy directed at the reduction of poverty. Piecemeal implementations of social security measures to the exclusion of deserving individuals in any society engender conflicts of various proportion/dimension. Such farreaching social security policy measure will check eruption of conflicts from other poverty stricken region/corners of Nigeria.

Elias Courson is a PhD candidate at University of California, Berkeley, USA

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 14

Lessons from our nascent online retailers

By Ifeanyi Uddin

T

he emergence of the online retail business in Nigeria was always going to upset a few established practices. One big question centered on how online retailing would play in the faceoff between traditional retail outlets (our not so "supermarkets", and corner shops) and the discount shopping malls that are increasingly a central feature of our large urban centres. Whereas the discount malls appear to have found a killer application in their huge volumes and lower prices, there is still considerable worry over the prospects for the online retail market here. Ease and convenience of use, along with lower prices from virtualisation of shelf spaces should see them eat into discount retailers' market share. That is, if they can address some of the infrastructure challenges associated with this.

Can they, however, go headto-head with the existing (largely foreign-based) online retail competition? Depends, it would seem, on several factors. Off Amazon, for example, one can only buy books to a Nigerian address. A variety of concerns over contract integrity, and original equipment owner restrictions apparently forbid other kinds of transactions. So the foreign online challenge will be restricted to books alone? Even on this narrow base, none of the local online shops is ever likely to rival the depth and breadth of Amazon's book store. But, beyond this, there is the customer service challenge. A challenge, which an encounter, last week, with Jumia, purportedly Nigeria's largest online retailer, underscored forcibly. With

Amazon, the expected standard despatch from response to nonAmazon receipt of a book arrived. In a Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text purchase is an world in which offer to send a even knockoff messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written new one mobile phones contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 (apparently, have bar code words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and because the readers, it is a a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed transaction was big wonder that to: insured) or to our post offices refund fully the do not have cost of digital records The Editor, purchase. of their mail.

Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, Invariably, Often, it is 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. because argued that Email: opinion@peoplesdaily-online.com Amazon can failures of this SMS: 08134607052 trace its type in the despatches up delivery of to the Nigerian public services are not so much the consequence retailer was set up just for you. border before it vanishes, and of incompetence, but that they At this point, you wonder why having them resend any such are tailor-made to avoid the institutions in Nigeria and the book is an invitation to activate levels of accountability consistent relationships that describe them the very same black hole into with efficient service delivery. do not work as these do in other which the first order climes. At the General Post Office, Service failures in the private disappeared; I have always opted sector are, however, less for example, you scour through for a refund. This is paid with amenable to easy justification. I impressive alacrity. You leave an huge hard-back registers found this out most painfully last online experience feeling that the searching for evidence that an week, when I placed an order with jumia.com.ng. Because it was a big-ticket buy, I made sure I called to confirm the availability of the item I was I have had Amazon do a number of refunds for about to order. I'd done dry runs of their service offerings using orders that were not fulfilled. I never had to do a the "pay-on-delivery" method. fraction of what Jumia requested before my However, I was not about to keep large amounts of money waiting account in Nigeria was credited. No "source at home for this delivery. So, against my better judgment, I codes". No "branch details". I did get my refund used my debit card to pay. Then, ultimately from Jumia, but the clearest lesson from began the long wait, even though I'd received mail to the last week is that against the natural scepticism of effect that "customer service was our people for transactions of this nature, our going to get across to me quickly".

I called Jumia's fledgling online retailers will need stronger service Eventually, contact number, only to be told that the item I had paid for was propositions if they are not to go the way of no longer in stock. Bizarrely, the previous such innovations last one was bought just as I clicked the "order" button. It got

WRITE TO US

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more preposterous. I was offered a "store voucher" for the full value of my order to enable me buy any other "thing" that I might be interested in. Aghast, I demanded full recompense: either I got what I paid for; or a refund in full for the money I had paid.

Contrasted with the service value proposition of the foreign online retail outfits, this was quintessential "Idumota trader" mentality. Once paid, do everything to frustrate cash from going back into the customer's pocket. I did all I could to persuade "service people" at Jumia that the Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBAN) scheme adopted by banks in the country in August, 2010 included digits that uniquely identified my bank branch. They would have none of that and insisted that I either provide a "source code" (usually valid for cross-border transfers) or send the name, both of my bank and the branch I bank with. The to and fro was as amusing as it was amazing.

I have had Amazon do a number of refunds for orders that were not fulfilled. I never had to do a fraction of what Jumia requested before my account in Nigeria was credited. No "source codes". No "branch details". I did get my refund ultimately from Jumia, but the clearest lesson from last week is that against the natural scepticism of our people for transactions of this nature, our fledgling online retailers will need stronger service propositions if they are not to go the way of previous such innovations.

Ifeanyi Uddin is a financial services strategist and economic historian.

How to make universities' part-times courses credible

By Chukwuemerie Uduchukwu

E

xperience has shown that contrary to the objectives for which they were established, the part-time programmes have become destroyers of standards. This is due to the fact that many of those admitted lacked secondary education. It is very ridiculous to expect a man or woman that has been a full-time trader for over ten years to sit for Senior School Certificate examination (SSCE) which is a basic requirement for admission into these part-time programmes. Such a person can easily register with a SSCE magic centre and obtain distinctions.

Moreover, it is educationally suicidal to control these programmes which held most of its lectures outside the main campus of an institution, thus giving room for the recruitment of unqualified and ineffective personnel as teachers. Also, looking at the academic performance of these part-time students, one can easily conclude that 90% of them are primary school pupils. These eventually lead to the production of emptyheaded individuals as graduates

thereby leading to an increase in the rate of unemployment because no good company or organisation will like to employ ill-skilled graduates.

Relief came to many education-loving Nigerians when the National Universities Commission (NCC) announced the suspension of all part-time programmes in all the Universities across the federation. This is because many, including the government now understand that most of these part-time students do not know what it means to be undergraduates because with their academic performances, they forced people to conclude that tertiary education is mere formality and that there is no need to bother about quality.

Also, many of the part-time students seemed to think that tertiary education certificate can be easily be bought with money.

Furthermore, as we commend the NUC for its decision to suspend the part-time programmes, it is important for the commission to employ more measures that will enhance the quality of the programme whenever the ban is lifted. Any

person that wants to be admitted into part-time programme must be interviewed just like regular students. That way, those who do not have the aptitude for conscientious learning would be discouraged from applying. Also, apart from the entry interview, an academic standard should be set for attainment by all parttime students within two years of their admission. Any one that failed to meet such standards should be advised to withdraw.

In addition to these, all satellite campuses should be permanently shut down and all courses should be taught within the main campus of each institution and part-time students should be thought by the same lecturers that teach regular students. Also, the students should be enlightened on the goals, rules and principles of part-time education. This will guide them on how to be serious with their studies. Besides, the

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The NUC should create a part-time programme department within the commission's office. The department will be in charge of supervising the activities of all part-time programmes to ensure that they are effective. Education is the key to a nation's development. If we joke with our education sector, it simply means creating a formidable obstacle to development and our country will be the worse for it

National Assembly should also enact a law that will officially recognise part-time programme as a system of tertiary education in Nigeria. Such a law should also stipulate the basic aims, objectives and principles of parttime education.

The National Universities Commission should also conduct a nationwide accreditation in all tertiary institutions in order ascertain the ones that have the necessary facilities to run the programme. Any tertiary institution that was found wanting after the accreditation should be prohibited from running the programme.

The NUC should create a part-time programme department within the commission's office. The department will be in charge of supervising the activities of all part-time programmes to ensure that they are effective.

Education is the key to a nation's development. If we joke with our education sector, it simply means creating a formidable obstacle to development and our country will be the worse for it.

Chukwumerie Uduchukwu is on www.facebook.com

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 15

Oil: Why proposed EU anti-corruption law is good for Nigeria

By Felix Ayanruoh

T

he European Union (EU) recent decision to enact a law that will make oil, gas, mining and logging firms declare payments to governments, as part of efforts to end poverty in resource-rich nations is good for our country. The EU law mandates companies to report payments at project as well as country level, beginning at a threshold of 100,000 Euros ($130,600). The new arrangement establishes rules ensuring that these companies disclose payments to governments (e.g. taxes on profits, royalties, and license fees) on a country and project basis where payments have been attributed to specific projects.

Oil and gas resources are often located in countries with high disposition of corruption.

Revenues from the sector are too often vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement, the oil and gas industries have the potential to bring great wealth to countries if they are managed properly. It is a known fact that the Nigerian oil and gas industry in particular, had acted in ways that were inconceivable, corrupt and embarrassingly inefficient

for much too long. For example, Nigeria scored 27 out of a maximum 100 marks and is listed 139 of 176 countries on Transparency International's corruption perceptions index of 2012. The nature of the petroleum industry makes it a natural focus for enforcement authorities from developed economies. Perhaps, this law may act as gradation to complaints of weak transparent regime in the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

The EU agreement goes further than the U.S. law (DoddFrank Act) in that it includes the logging sector and covers large unlisted EU companies, as well as

listed firms.

In July 2010, the U.S. Congress passed Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, a measure requiring companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to publicly report how much they pay governments for access to oil, gas and minerals. It is a powerful tool that allows investors to properly assess risk and citizens to see the value placed on their natural resources. Together with the U.S. rules, the EU rules will cover 90 percent of the world's major international extractive companies. The disclosure requirements will act as catalyst for change in developing

countries. Citizens and local communities in resource-rich countries will finally be to know what their governments are being paid by international oil companies for exploiting oil and gas fields, mineral deposits and forests. The agreement will bring in a new era of transparency to an industry which is far too often shrouded in secrecy and help stem the tide of tax evasion and corruption as well as create the framework so both companies and governments can be held accountable on the use of revenues from natural resources.

Existing EU Accounting Directive regulates the information provided in the

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Existing EU Accounting Directive regulates the information provided in the financial statements of all limited liability companies which are registered in the European Economic Area (EEA). The same disclosure requirement has been incorporated in the proposal to revise the Transparency Directive in order to include all companies which are listed on EU regulated markets even if they are not registered in the EEA and incorporated in a third country

financial statements of all limited liability companies which are registered in the European Economic Area (EEA). The same disclosure requirement has been incorporated in the proposal to revise the Transparency Directive in order to include all companies which are listed on EU regulated markets even if they are not registered in the EEA and incorporated in a third country. The proposed law will in conjunction with the UK's anti - bribery act, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Section 1504 of the Dodd - Frank Act have serious consequences for corporations carrying on business in the hydrocarbon industry globally.

Corporations involved in bribery committed by persons performing services for or on their behalf and gas industry.anywhere in the world will be mandated by these laws to report such payments to the relevant reporting authorities.

This reporting requirement may in some circumstances apply to joint venture relationships which are of course commonplace in the oil industry.

Felix.ayanruohlaw@gmail.com

Pax Americana and its discontents

By Chris Ngwodo

T

rends in the domestic politics of the United States have implications for the world. On major issues requiring bipartisan consensus for progress - welfare and social security reform, gun control, cutting the deficit and immigration recalcitrant Republicans and Democrats are locked in an ideological impasse. The only area in which the US president has real latitude is in foreign policy.

Presidents shackled by the restrictions of stalemated domestic politics can still look impressive and act imperiously on the world stage. Nowhere is this more evident that in the president's power to conduct wars.

The notion that an American president could stage an international incident for domestic political gain is not outlandish. We could yet see the assassinations of foreign nationals whether terrorists, rogue scientists or dissidents strategically timed to provoke an uptick in pre-election polls. This would simply be a logical advancement from the George W. Bush administration's use of colour-coded terror alerts to frighten the American public into acquiescence.

Foreign wars conducted by special ops units and Predator drones can enable presidents to exorcise the "wimp factor" that comes from being unable to push their agenda through an implacable congress. Bitterly divided at home between Liberal secularists and conservative religionists, war-making may become a logical means by which a president conjures patriotic

paroxysms and rallies his people to the Star - Spangled Banner.

During the 2012 elections, Republican efforts to tar Obama as weak on national security as they typically do to liberal presidents simply failed to stick against the man who took out Osama Bin Laden and ordered more drone strikes in his first year than his predecessor did in his entire eight years. With presidents rendered impotent at home but virile abroad, thanks to the exigencies of the "war on terror", the world has ample reason to fear American militarism. Because drones largely eliminate the need for boots on the ground and therefore the spectacle of flag-draped body bags arriving from foreign lands to public outrage, they offer a politically cost-effective way of waging war and attaining the tough guy image that reassures Americans that the president is keeping them safe. With their disregard for the niceties of sovereignty and international law, drones are the new symbol of US imperial omnipotence. It is worth noting that the debate in the US over the droneassassination of Anwar al Awlaki, an American citizen, was about whether the president can order the termination of a US citizen. It is taken for granted that he can order the killing of foreign citizens.

Indeed, the US can kill foreign citizens in their own countries as drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen indicate. The toll in "collateral damage" - civilians, men, women and children - is deemed an "acceptable loss."

The international media, so often exercised about Arab

terrorists and African warlords, its favourite pantomime villains, has little to say about the serial misdeeds of the biggest warmaking power on earth. The very viable case for hauling US officials (Bush and Dick Cheney would be great) before the War Crimes Tribunal is simply laughed off. It is the most pungent indication that the international community is an unfair constellation and that might is still right. While western pundits fulminate over the election of Uhuru Kenyatta who is billed to appear at the Hague for alleged crimes against humanity, they side-step the fact that US and British officials are responsible for far more deaths of innocents in Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that wearing a suit and sitting in White Hall or the White House while ordering a war on the basis of fabricated evidence (as in Iraq), confers immunity from justice.

As is so often the case,

technology has a way of democratizing power and will do so yet again in this brave new world of imperial presidents and drones. It was when China and Russia joined America in the club of nuclear nations that she began to advocate nuclear arms control treaties. American officials will start preaching restraint in the use of drones once China and Russia carry out drone campaigns of their own. The Bush administration's doctrine of pre-emptive war undermined America's customary selfrighteous sermonizing to other countries. US officials bleat tamely about the need for dialogue and restraint when China and Russia carry out bloody campaigns in Tibet and Chechnya, because they recognize that it is hypocrital to do so. Vladmir Putin gamely defined Russian operations in Chechnya as a "war on terror", appropriating Bush's terminology and implying moral

“

The problem with Pax Americana is that its imperial character cannot make the world more peaceful. After witnessing the EuroAmerican intervention in Libya which ousted Gaddafi, other nations took note. They watched as western nations violated a country's sovereignty, aided an internal insurrection, bombed the country into submission, and saw to the killing of the country's leader

equivalence between the two nations' militarisms.

The problem with Pax Americana is that its imperial character cannot make the world more peaceful. After witnessing the Euro-American intervention in Libya which ousted Gaddafi, other nations took note. They watched as western nations violated a country's sovereignty, aided an internal insurrection, bombed the country into submission, and saw to the killing of the country's leader. They learned that Gaddafi had signed his death warrant when he signed away Libya's weapons of mass destruction. This is why Iran and North Korea are unlikely to give up their nuclear aspirations; because they fear a power that has arrogated to itself the right to determine who rules other nations. Despite the war weariness in the west stemming from the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, the potential for conflict in the Persian Gulf and the Korean Peninsula is quite high.

Thus, Pax Americana, by default, if not design, can only generate conflict in the world. It will continue to do so until two things happen - until the US resolves the contradictions that have paralyzed its domestic politics which in turn prompts her presidents to play "Captain America" and engage in imperial overreach. More importantly, there has to be a common plumb line for global justice that targets war criminals of every hue‌Yes, including those that are to be found in White Hall and the White House.

Chris Ngwodo is on LinkedIn

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

CP tasks NSCDC, others on partnership to curb insecurity

By Stanley Onyekwere

T

he Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police (CP), Femi Ogunbayode has stressed the need for improved synergy between the Police force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), including other security agencies, in order to promote peace and public safety in the territory.

The Police Commissioner who made this point yesterday, when he led his teamon a courtesy call to the FCT Command of the Corps, noted the nation is in very difficult times, “insurgency here and there, the target is not only the police but includes all security agencies, because we are agents of government.”

According to him, security service agents should not look at areas that they have conflicts in responsibilities but should look better at areas where they can synergize and work together as one for the betterment of the country.

In his words: “There is the need for us to bridge the gap between our junior officers, and the only way we can bridge that gap is for us to continuously practice what we stand for by sharing security information among themselves ; because we have no choice than to synergize.

“Most importantly is the area of economic sabotage, in which civil defence has a huge responsibility, not only of complimenting the police but also of totally safe guarding critical public infrastructures.

“We have no choice than to work together; we must complement one another because all of us are endangered species; we face common enemy; we face common challenges; and I know there are areas of conflicts but we must find ways to work together, so as to serve the public effectively.”

While commending the FCT command for the good work it is doing, he said there is still much work to be done; “it is part of the transformation agenda of the present IGP that area of synergy between security services must be up held, and we at our level must make sure that whatever it takes to we must achieve .”

Responding, the FCT Corps Commandant, Aminu Abdullahi Kofar Soro assured the CP of the corps cooperation to continue working with the police and other security agencies towards the quest for improved public safety in the country.

He commended the CP, who is also the Chairman of the Joint FCT security committee, for promoting peace and synergy between the two agencies and among other similar agencies in the territory.

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry Federal Capital Territory, John Obinna Chukwu, Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, Deputy Secretary, Police Cooperative Society Limited, ACP Moronkeji Adesina, and Liaison Officer of Police Cooperative Society Limited, Kalu K. Mba, during the handing over of social/affordable housing allocation to the Nigeria Police Cooperative Society Ltd, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

FCTA approves commencement of feeder route mini buses for June 3

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he Chairman Feeder Route Implementation Committee, FCT and the Secretary Transportation, FCT, Engr Jonathan Ivoke yesterday announced that the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed has approved June, 3rd, 2013 as the recommencement date of the feeder route mini bus services.

Engr Ivoke revealed this yesterday at the stakeholders press conference in Abuja ,adding that it means that only licensed high capacity buses will provide mass transit services in the Federal Capital

Territory (FCT),while the mini buses will operate at the satellite towns and other area councils.

According to him, tricycles transit operations will also be at only designated Housing Estates and satellite towns, adding that the Minister has also approved and issued taxi and high capacity Bus Licenses to Self Employed Commercial Drivers and Association, Painted Abuja Taxi Ltd and RTEIN Mass Transit Ltd in fulfillment of the committee recommendations.

In his words: “The FCTA will soon take delivery of 300 brand new Taxi Vehicles out of the 1000 earmarked for the licensed

operators in the FCT in addition to mass transit subsidy for commuters and operators”.

“The Transportation Secretariat is about to conclude the Biometric data capturing of all drivers belonging to licensed operators in the FCT. This is compulsory for security and safety of commuters. It also qualifies licensed operators to benefit from the numerous palliatives of the FCT Administration”, he said.

He said the Mini buses will ply through the Nyanya through AYA to Eagle Square / Wuse market, Giri junction through Airport Road to City Centre , Zuba junction through

ONEX to City Centre , Ring Road one circulation connecting Wuse Market and Eagle Square ,Gudu market junction through Ahmadu Bello way to Gwarimpa ,Shehu Shagari way through Federal Secretariat to Ring Road 1 junction. “ Area 1/Area 3 through Moshood Abiola way/Tafawa Balewa way, Harbert Macaulay- Utako –Jabi, Jabi through Ring Road 2, Galadimawa junction to Apo mechanic . Commuters and operators should note that passengers are only to be picked and dropped at these service terminals, bus stops and taxi routes only”, he said.

Yoruba community passes vote of confidence on its president

By Usman Shuaibu

T

he Yoruba Community Council ( YCC) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has passed a vote of confidence on its President , Adewale Adelabu for his transparent and accountability in handling the issues of the association.

The President-General of Yoruba Community Council in the Northern states, Alhaji Ganiyu .I. Oguntoyinbo in an interview with newsmen during the general meeting other association in Gwagwalada, said that the administration of prince Adewale Adelabu had contributed a lot to the development of Yoruba

Community in the area.

The advised the FCT president not to relent in his effort in providing the needed serves for the association saying that his good work was known by some members of the association.

The President – General said that his leadership would continue to fight for the welfare of Yoruba people in the country and called for the unity of Yoruba’s in anywhere they found themselves.

While speaking on the financial misappropriation against the FCT president of Yoruba Community Council, Oguntoyinbo said that he was not aware of any financial fraud in the association.

Speaking at the occasion,

the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Yoruba Community Council in Niger State chapter, Hon. Abdul-Azeez Salaudeen, said that he would continue to be an instrument of enlightenment for the Yoruba community in the Northern states for the purpose of misinformation within the association.

Salaudeen appealed to Yoruba people in the FCT and beyond to shun rumor which could hinder the progress of Yoruba Community.

The President of Yoruba Community Council ( YCC) in the FCT, Prince Adewale, Adelabu, said that his administration would continue to unite Yoruba people as well as provide an enabling

environments for them in territory.

He pointed out that his leadership had trained a lot of youths in computer schools to enable them complete favourably with outside world, adding that his administration was able to provide revolving loans for some women to improve their financial status.

He further said that his leadership was able to pay – off the money owed by the association as well as put- off the legal cases before the association.

Community on his achievement so far, Adelabu pointed out that his administration had distributed free drugs and reading eye glasses to some units in the territory among others.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 17

Traditional ruler harps on Gwagwalada fruit sellers urge community sanitation Chairman-elect to control gully erosion

C

hief John Kure, Chief of Kuduru, a suburb of Bwari in the FCT, has called on residents of the area to imbibe community sanitation to prevent outbreak of diseases.

Kure made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Bwari yesterday. ``Hygiene is paramount to ensure a healthy living. If we must strive for development, we must make the environment conducive for dwellers.''

The traditional ruler commended the environment department of the council for the house-to-house inspection exercise

initiated and carried out on daily basis.

Kure said the exercise had been very beneficial to the community, stressing that it had greatly reduced flies which carried all manner of diseases.

The chief said that community sanitation would help reduce the rate at which people in the area patronised the hospital for treatment of various diseases associated with unhygienic environment.

Kure said that cleanliness would fast track development in the area, and promised to partner with environment stakeholders in the council to achieve that. (NAN)

40-year-old married man denied bail for duping woman of N2.9m

A

Karu Upper Area Court, Abuja, yesterday denied a 40-year-old married man, Godwin Ochapa, bail for allegedly collecting N2.9 million from his lover with a promise to marry her.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Bulus Samuel, said the case was reported at the State CID by one Miss Nebo Ogochukwu.

The accused was arraigned before the presiding judge, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, on a four-countcharge, which Samuel said were

committed in 2010.

The prosecutor told the court that the accused approached the complainant and indicated his interest to marry her, and that based on the promise Ogochukwu believed that the accused was seriously in love with her.

He said the accused went ahead to introduce the complainant to his elder sister as his wife to be, and fixed a date to enable them travel to the complainant's home town in the east for introduction. (NAN)

By Usman Shuaibu

T

he Chairman of Nigeria Fruit Sellers Association Zuba branch in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Haruna Nura Beji – Beji, has called on the Chairman – elect of the area council, Hon. Abubakar Jibrin Giri to control gully erosion in

the market .

He said that the gully erosion had been one of the major problem confronting the Zuba fruit market for so long now.

Beji - Beji, who made this call in an interview with Peoples Daily in also urged the chairman – elect to fence zuba fruit market whenever he takes the mantle leadership of

the council.

He also called on the chairman to build more shops during his term so as to fast tract revenue generation in the market.

He said that his administration would join hands with the chairman – elect to focus on the developmental needs of the market.

NTDC urges FCT youth, others to embrace moral values

By Miriam Humbe

T

he Director General of the Nigerian Tourism D e v e l o p m e n t Corporation, NTDC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe has called on youths in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and beyond to embrace the moral values of discipline, decency, tolerance, hard work, patriotism, and respect for constituted authority and the sanctity of the human person which appear to be fast fading away.

The DG said this while speaking on the topic: The Youth and Social Transformation in Nigeria, when over 1500 youths from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and environs

converged on the Old Parade Ground for a Youths Summit organised by the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG)in Abuja .

Otunba Runsewe said the near breakdown of law and order in our societies today is due largely to the social disorientation of our people arising from the internalisation of negative values which are manifesting in unwholesome characters and habits and admonished them to “fear not, for God is with you in the pursuit of your legitimate dreams”.

“The youths have a critical role to play in this regard because the future belongs to them. It is in the light of this that a sustained re-orientation programme needs

to be mounted so as to inculcate in our youths social values, habits and norms necessary for a healthy Nigeria”, he said.

While speaking earlier on the topic: The Youths in Politics, former minister of information, Prof. Jerry Gana who described the programme as well targeted, harped on the need to train the youths for the leadership roles they are to assume in the near future.

He told the youths to march boldly into the political waters and have confidence, courage, and strength of character and be transformed, and above all, have faith adding that “the penalty you pay for avoiding leadership is to let evil men rule”.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Two men docked over alleged public nuisance

T

he police has arraigned two men, Chukwudi Obi, 25 and Jagudu Alli, 30, both of no fixed address, in an Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court for allegedly constituting public nuisance.

The accused persons are standing trial for public nuisance before Senior Magistrate Zubairu Mohammed.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr Friday Idi, said the matter was reported by a team of policemen on patrol led

by Mr John Nanjing of the Nigeria Police attached to Gwarinpa police station, Abuja, on April 23.

Idi said that the accused persons were arrested while parading along the streets of

Gwarinpa Estate by a police patrol team.

He said that Obi and Alli could not give a satisfactory account of themselves when they were arrested.

According to him, the offence contravenes Section 183 of the Penal Code.

Both accused persons, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Senior Magistrate Zubairu Mohammed granted them bail in the sum of N50,000 each and one surety each in like sum.

Mohammed said the sureties must live within the jurisdiction of the court and must have evidence of good means of livelihood.

He adjourned the matter till May 6, 2013 for hearing. (NAN)

Man bags 6 weeks imprisonment for attempting to commit theft, hurt

A

Grade 2 Area Court in Kado, Abuja, on Tuesday sentenced one Obinna Okezea, to six weeks imprisonment for attempting to hurt one Chris Okoye.

Okezea, 25, of Karmo village, Abuja, was tried on a two-count charge of attempting to commit theft and causing grievous hurt.

The Judge, Mr Ahmed Ado, however, gave him an option of N2,500 fine.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr Simon Ibrahim, had told the court that Okoye, of

No.16, Aguru St., Dawaki, Abuja, reported the matter to the Utako police station on April 27.

Ibrahim said the convict was caught coming out of the complainant's Mercedes Benz car with the number plates. ``When confronted, you turned violent and inflicted injury on him.''

He said the offences contravened the provisions of sections 79 and 247 of the Penal Code.

The convict pleaded guilty to the charges, but urged the court to be lenient with him. (NAN)

A teenage girl patronizing her mate that hawks sugar cane, in Nyanya, Abuja.

David Mark hails FCTA on Land Swap design

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he Senate P r e s i d e n t , Senator David Mark has commended the FCT Administration under the FCT Minister, Senator Bala

Man, 31, arraigned for alleged criminal trespass

T

he police on Tuesday arraigned 31-year old man, Eze Benking of Mabushi, before an Abuja Grade 2 Area Court for alleged criminal trespass and attempt to commit an offence.

Police prosecutor, Sgt. Christopher Roko, told the court that the case was reported at the Utako Police Station by one Mr Ibrahim Umar of Jabi on April 28.

Roko alleged that the accused person criminally trespassed into Umar’s welding workshop with the intent to steal working tools.

Roko said that the accused was caught in the act.

The offence, according to him, contravenes

sections 342 and 95 of the Penal Code Law. According to Section 342:“Whoever enters into or upon a property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of such property, or having lawfully entered into or upon such property, unlawfully remains there with intent thereby to intimidate is said to commit criminal trespass.’’

Section 95 states that “Whoever attempts to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment or to cause such an offence to be committed and in such attempt does any act toward the commission

of the offence shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one half of the longest term provided for that offence or with fine as provided for such offence or with both.’’

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge levelled against him.

The prosecutor thereby asked the court for an adjourned date to enable him bring his witnesses.

The presiding Judge, Mr Ahmed Ado, granted the accused bail in the sum of N10, 000 and one surety who must reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

He adjourned the case to May 15,2013 for further hearing. (NAN)

Mohammed for coming up with the Land Swap Initiative designed to use land as exchange for capital in the efforts to fast track infrastructural development in the territory.

Senator Mark said: “I am aware of the Minister’s efforts to open up 10 more districts: a development which was bolstered by the

huge interest the Land Swap initiative has generated both within Nigeria and internationally.

It deserves our confidence and benefit of doubt, if not our complete t r u s t .”

The Senate President, who was represented at the occasion by Senator Ahmed Lawan, Senate Committee Chairman on Public Accounts, reiterated that this

approach profits from the pitfalls of policies of former administrations where FCT played Father Christmas with land.

He emphasised, that past experience led to speculation and stalled development, as some beneficiaries of land allocations were unable to develop their properties due to absence of primary and s e c o n d a r y infrastructure.

Two businessmen in court for alleged joint act, criminal trespass

T

wo businessmen, Ebuka Ayanwu, 33 and Eze Chikwaze, 23, both of Life Camp, Abuja, were on Tuesday arraigned in an Abuja Magistrates’ Court on a three-count charge.

The duo were charged with joint act, criminal trespass and attempt to commit an offence.

The Prosecutor, Mr Philip Apollos, told the court that Salihu Mohammed, of Life Camp Extension, Abuja, reported the matter to the Life Camp police station on

April 22.

Apollos said that on the same date, while Mohammed was driving home, at about 8.45 p.m, he sighted the two accused persons suspiciously walking along the street with an intention to commit an offence.

He said the complainant decided to pullover at the corner of the street and suddenly, Anyanwu and Chikwaze jumped into his neighbour’s residence where they were eventually arrested.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge.

The Magistrate, Mr Abdullateef Abolaji, granted them bail in the sum of N20,000 each and one surety each in like sum who must live within the jurisdiction of the court.

He said the sureties should provide recent tax clearance receipts and deposit either their driver’s licences or international passports as he adjourned the matter to May 6, 2013. (NAN)

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Email: aminuimam@yahoo.co.uk

Mob: 08033644990

PAGE 19

INSIDE

- Pg 20

Dangote Cement plans to double output to 55m tones by 2015

U.S. foreign investment in Nigeria increases to N1.28 tr - Ambassador T

he U.S. Foreign Direct Investment flow into Nigeria has increased from $5.2 billion (N800 billion) in 2000 to $8 billion (N1.28 trillion) in 2012.

The Nigeria Ambassador to the U.S, Prof. Ade Adefuye made this known during a presentation on investment promotion strategies at the regional Seminar for Heads of Missions in the Americas held in New York.

According to him, the country has also witnessed a diversification of investments from the oil and gas sector to other key non oil sectors.

He identified the sectors to include Power, Energy, Agriculture, Hospitality, Housing, and Health Care among others.

The envoy said that Nigeria had witnessed a great deal of inflow of Foreign Direct Capital into Nigeria's agricultural sector under the platform of the Nigerian/U.S Bi-National Commission (BNC) working group.

Adefuye, however, quoted the minister of agriculture as saying that the six billion dollars of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow into Nigeria's agriculture was from the U.S.

He said that the BNC had injected fresh confidence into Nigerian economy, to the extent that Nigeria had become a new destination for U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs. ``During the past ten years, Nigeria's economy has expanded at an annual average rate of over 6.5 percent. This is well above the South Saharan Africa's average of 5.6 percent from 2001 to 2011. ``From 2009 to 2011, Nigeria has had an average growth of 7.5 per cent compared to the world's growth of 2.8 percent. ``Nigeria is an emerging market and for the past decade, 2000 to 2011, Nigeria's average growth rate has been the third fastest among the ten emerging market countries behind only China and India,'' he said.

In carrying out the mandate of attracting Foreign Direct Investments into Nigeria, Adefuye, said that the Embassy had been able to use the various institutional platforms already existing between the two countries.

He said the total U.S./Nigeria trade was valued at 38.5 billion dollars in 2011, a 12 per cent increase from 2010, largely due

Mobile Number Portability: Etisalat equip to absorb more subscribers - CEO

By Chris Alu

S

teve Evans, chief executive officer of Etisalat Nigeria, has counseled telephone users in Nigeria who desire better quality of services than they are currently receiving to take advantage of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) policy promoted by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to port into Nigeria's fastest growing and most innovative telecommunications company, Etisalat.

Evans, further declared that Etisalat is pleased with the MNP policy and the NCC's decision to flagoff MNP this April because it presents telecommunications services subscribers in Nigeria with a chance to port their numbers and enjoy better services with another telecommunications services provider of choice while retaining their telephone numbers.

"At Etisalat, we have been advocating for MNP and so, we are pleased with the NCC's announcement of a kick-off date.

MNP will empower customers and force operators to improve on quality of service. With MNP, the customer will be the ultimate winner," said the CEO. The MNP policy sanctioned recently by the NCC to take effect April 22, 13, allows telephone users to migrate from one network to another with the benefit of retaining their existing telephone numbers, via a simple registration process, a

move being applauded by subscribers for offering them liberty to seek value from the various telecommunications services providers.

Evans revealed that his company is poised for an influx of subscribers who would be seeking the high quality services and value that his company has become synonymous with in the Nigerian market.

to higher oil export volumes and prices.

Adefuye also explained that the U.S. imports from Nigeria were valued at 33.7 billion dollars in 2011 and that it consisted almost entirely of crude oil. ``The U.S. non oil imports from

Nigeria consisted primarily of agricultural products such as cocoa, tobacco, rubber, feeds, grains and nuts,'' he said.

The envoy also stated that Nigeria is currently the world's largest importer of U.S. wheat, valued at 1.2 billion dollars in

L-R: The President of the National Association of Banking and Finance Students (NABAFS), Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa, Mr. Isah Mutalib receiving NDIC publications from Deputy Director Research, Policy and International Department of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Dr. Usman Wali during an academic visit to the Corporation's head office in Abuja.

Canadian govt. signs investment treaty with Nigeria

By Etuka Sunday with agency report

T

he Canadian Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, Ed Fast, met with Nigeria's Minister of Industry, Trade and

Investment, Olusegun Aganga to mark the successful conclusion of negotiations toward a CanadaNigeria foreign investment promotion and protection agreement (FIPA).

This was contained in an announcement made yesterday by

Shell's Q 1 profit rises 3% on new projects, refining

R

oyal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe's biggest oil company, reported an increase in first-quarter earnings on new projects and refining.

Earnings excluding one-time items and inventory changes rose 3 percent to $7.5 billion from a year ago, Shell said today in a statement. That beat the $6.4 billion average estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser will retire

in 2014.

Shell plans to raise volumes to about 4 million barrels a day as soon as 2017.

Shell is the last of Europe's biggest oil producers to publish earnings; BP Plc (BP/) and Total SA saw their firstquarter profits drop on lower oil prices and a decline in output.

Shell last month shut the Nembe Creek pipeline and declared force majeure on Bonny Light oil exports for the second time this year because of

sabotage and theft in Nigeria. Its gas supplies to Nigeria LNG Ltd. were also disrupted in the quarter. Oil prices in Canada, where it runs an oil-sands project in Alberta, were about 12 percent lower than a year earlier.

"Shell's volumes are impacted by increased levels of bunkering in Nigeria," Oswald Clint, a London-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., said before the earnings statement. ( Bloomberg)

Management Tip of the Day

Use your on-line network to test ideas

M

ost managers today understand the importance of reaching out to colleagues through LinkedIn, following and being followed on Twitter, and actively participating in corporate social media initiatives - but fewer know

2011.

He said that other goods imported from the U.S. are vehicles valued at 1.1 billion dollars, machinery 270 million dollars, mineral fuel oil 597 million dollars and plastics estimated at 87 dollars million. (NAN)

how to effectively use these networks.

One way is to gather information by testing proposals and strategies, inside and outside your organization.

Float an idea and see how many "likes" or retweets it

gets. Or direct certain groups of people to an online survey.

The feedback might help you persuade a reluctant boss or client to come around to your point of view.

Source: Harvard Business Review

the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Nigeria's VicePresident, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, during a visit to Canada by Nigerian senior government officials and business delegates.

FIPA is a treaty designed to protect and promote Canadian investment abroad through legally binding provisions, as well as to promote foreign investment in Canada.

By ensuring greater protection against discriminatory and arbitrary practices, and by enhancing the predictability of a market's policy framework, a FIPA provides businesses with greater confidence to invest. Once implemented, the Canada-Nigeria FIPA will facilitate investment flows, contributing to job creation and economic growth in both countries.

It would be recalled that in January 2013, Minister Fast led a successful trade mission to Nigeria with nearly 30 companies and organisations from across Canada to open up new opportunities for Canadian investors and exporters.

Since 2006, annual trade between the two countries has more than doubled, reaching $2.3 billion by 2012.

Canadian direct investment in Nigeria totalled $36 million in 2011 and is expected to grow as a result of the FIPA.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS

NAMA’s Cooperatives

T

he savings of Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) cooperatives society rose to N130m in 2012 from N88m in 2011.

Also,the amount of loans disbursed to members was over 40 percent in the year under review.This was disclosed by Edino Amos, President of NAMA Staff Cooperatives and Investment Society at the 11th Annual General Meeting of the society.

Amos further disclosed that the cooperatives made a net profit of N11.2m.

The World Bank

T

he World Bank has said that it would restructure the $115 million adaptable programme loan granted the Infrastructure and Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) of Nigeria, on account of poor implementation.

In a report titled: “Implementation Status and Results, Nigeria Public/Private Partnership Programme (P115386)” and relating to the $115 million adaptable programme loan granted the commission in 2011, the World Bank declared that the commission’s performance was unsatisfactory, specifying that ICRC has failed in its implementation.

This has prompted the Bretton Woods institution to downgrade the project and order the restructuring of the credit.

Mortein Insecticide

A

s the world marked the World Malaria Day, the management of Reckitt Benckiser, the producers of Mortein insecticide took the opportunity to reassure consumers of the brands resolve to win the fight against malaria.

The Marketing Director, Reckitt Benckiser, Sanjay Kashyap while speaking at a special event to mark the year 2013 World Malaria Day which held in Ifako Ijaiye Local Government Area, Lagos state recently, emphasised that the company is doing all it can to ensure that consumers get value for using Mortein.

Kashyap noted that the Mortein brand is in partnership with the Lagos state Ministry of Health to implement health programmes and malaria control activities aimed at stopping the scourge of the deadly disease.

By Etuka Sunday

V

isa, the global payments technology company, has said that about 35 percent of Nigerians are aware of Mobile Money.

The research conducted by Visa Inc. and Fundamo, the Visaowned mobile money platform also revealed opportunity to grow customer awareness of mobile mobile in the country as it has the potential to be the leading mobile money market in the world.

Visa study reveals only 35% of Nigerians are aware of mobile money There are nearly 110 million mobile subscribers in Nigeria but only a 56 million people have bank accounts making it one of the most exciting mobile money markets in the world, according to the Visa Money Study for Nigeria.

Despite the staggering market potential, the Visa study

reveals that only 35 percent of respondents are aware of mobile money versus an average of 56 percent across all six of the emerging markets surveyed.

The Visa Mobile Money study analysed the financial services needs and expectations of mobile money among nearly 2,500 consumers, mobile money agents,

and merchants in Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

The global study highlighted that consumers’ needs for financial services are far more sophisticated than previously believed and go well beyond the established transaction set offered by mobile money services today.

Dangote Cement plans to double output to 55m tonnes by 2015

D

angote Cement, Africa’s biggest producer of the building material, said it plans to more than double annual total output to 55 million metric tons by 2015, more than the 51 million it forecast last year.

The target, up from current output of 20 million tons, is based on “visible projects in Africa,” Chief Executive Officer Devakumar Edwin said last week on a conference call from Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.

The company, owned by billionaire, Aliko Dangote, plans to start output in Cameroon, Zambia and South Africa in 2014, while it expects to produce in Tanzania, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015, Edwin said.

Dangote Cement expects steady progress on Africa from

this year and “an increase in volumes from Nigeria with sales nearly up 16 percent in the first quarter of 2013, more than the market’s growth rate.”

Dangote Cement’s net income for the year through December advanced to N149.6 billion ($941.8 million) from N120.9 billion a year earlier, the company said last week. Its revenue rose 24 percent to N298.5 billion.

Dangote expects exports to West Africa to boost revenue in 2013 and 2014 as its export terminals in Lagos and Onne in Rivers state become operational in 2014, Edwin said.

The company’s shares have advanced 25 percent this year, compared with an 18.6 percent rise in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index. (Reuters)

Chairman Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote

Nokia offers social experience with new device

By Chris Alu

S

martphone maker, Nokia has unveiled the latest device in its Asha family, designed to offer consumers more social experiences at an affordable price.

The Nokia Asha 210, available in Single- or Easy Swap Dual-SIM variants, features a distinctly Nokia design and smart imaging that sets it apart from the crowd. According to Nokia, it supports Wi-Fi to help people enjoy

more of the Internet for less and is the world’s first phone to have a dedicated WhatsApp button. The Nokia Asha 210 has a QWERTY keyboard for fast access to instant messaging.

To celebrate the Nokia and WhatsApp partnership, WhatsApp is offering their service for free on all Nokia Asha 210 devices with the WhatsApp button for their lifespan.

Combined with Facebook, Twitter and support for popular email accounts such as Gmail, the

Nokia Asha 210 is designed to ensure that people are never more than a few clicks away from their friends and family.

The device comes with a 2megapixel camera that can be accessed through a dedicated hard key even when the keypad is locked.

“The Nokia Asha 210 really stands out giving super-social consumers new ways to express their personalities through design, colour and innovations like the world’s first WhatsApp

button,” explains Timo Toikkanen, executive vicepresident, Mobile Phones, Nokia.

“It has been designed to allow people to easily update their social networks, stay in touch with friends and share user created content.

The new device also takes full advantage of the Nokia Xpress Browser, which uses Nokia’s cloud technology to reduce data consumption by up to 90 percent, helping people enjoy more affordable Internet access.

NAHCO grows profit by 55% in Q1 From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

T

he Nigerian Aviation Handing Company (NAHCO Aviance Plc) has announced an increase in its Profit after Tax of 55 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012.

According to a statement signed by the company’s Managing Director Mr. Kayode Oluwasegun Ojo, the Profit after Tax grew from N101million in March 2012 to N157million in March 2013.

The statement said the

turnover grew from N1.5billion to N1.795billion, which is a 15 percent increase in the unaudited result in the first quarter.

The MD said the statement is sequel to the company’s performance result released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), while attributing the performance to the general improvement in efficiency and cost containment of NAHCO. “The change in the bottomline reflects gains from our transformation programme, cost containment initiatives and long term strategy for

Nahco Chairman, Alh. Sulayman Yahyah investment in human resource development, equipment

renewal, cargo modernisation and process improvement,” the statement said.

When contacted on phone, the MD of the company stated that the result confirms that NAHCO Aviance was on track to achieving its strategic objectives of expansion, Africanisation and diversification which translates to higher and sustainable returns to shareholders.

Recently, NAHCO‘s board approved the payment of 25kobo dividend which represent a yield of 4.75 per cent in line with its plan to doubling its earnings in two years.

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

NIPOST ICT policy needs to be revisited - Director, Nigeria Postal Institute C hange, it is said, is inevitable in the current global matrix and technology is obviously a key driver and this is equally providing greater opportunities for operators of postal services globally to meet contemporary needs of today's customers; Nigeria can therefore not be an exception.

These opportunities are as divergent as the needs, according to the Director, stating that "what is simply required, especially in a third world country like ours, is to leverage on this and upgrade our infrastructure to meet the specificity of this new demand, in order to serve the customer better by giving him what he or she simply wants.

As the wind of change ushered in by developments in the information and communication technology (ICT) of the 21st century continues to blow, the postal services in Nigeria, and indeed globally, would have no choice but also continue to restrategise in order to fit into the tide of the moment. This was apparently the thinking and indeed some of the reservations expressed by the Director of the Nigeria Postal Institute, Mr. Ishaya Musa Diwa in a chat with Peoples Daily recently.

Service Delivery ccording to Dr. Diwa, "The modern customer is ever in a hurry and above all, desires fast and efficient service delivery with expected value for only kobo he parted with and guarantees his return for patronage of your goods and services or you may risk losing him or her to someone else with a better package", he stated.

A

ICT Policy he Director, in his usual characteristic manner did not pretend that all is well and that his job is simply without challenges. The era of deceit in the management of public affairs, he stressed, was over, given the level of technological advancement in the contemporary society, that enables A to cross check certain information at point Z with the tab of a button at a remote location with ease.

The knowledge to do this, he emphasised "was paramount in today's global operating business environment and modern managers must brace up, not only to acquire this, but equally make such the focal operating priority in the main stream operations of their businesses as well as ensuring that this knowledge permeates through the strata of their organisation for a robust, more friendly and efficient way of doing things especially in a service driven organisation like ours".

To this end, Mr. Ishaya Diwa called on the NIPOST management to revisit its ICT policy and ensure its implementation to the fullest, emphasising that the haphazard manner with which it is currently being implemented would not give room for full realisation of its potentials for overalls benefit of the system.

The policy, he recalled, was full of vigour and promising on initiation and therefore urged the management to sustain the tempo, in order to reap the dividends of this initiative. This, he believes, would reposition the

T

Mr. Ishaya Musa Diwa organisation to meet its aspirations in all spheres and provide the much needed services for its ever growing clientele and/or customers, most especially in the e-trand line of global business services of which the modern post plays a critical role.

He therefore pointed out that what the management need do was to enforce this policy by ensuring full compliance, but unfortunately, the management seems to have been lagging in this regard. "I must however, place on record the information technology acquisition remains the top priority of the current management, he said," noting that the installation of internet facilities in key offices is still in progress and that most major post offices counters across the country have been fully automated to enhanced delivery of e-related postal service to our esteemed customers.

Training Policy n the training policy, Ishaya Musa Diwa opined that the postal

O

institute offers specialized kind of training only peculiar to the industry, stressing that training times must be tailored towards specific training needs of the participants, in order to realize the intended goal(s) for the overall benefit of the organisation.

He recalled that before his ascension to office as the Director of the Institute, training was merely done as a routine thing and most often in a haphazard manner. At a point he said, course were done when a unit for instance audit or operations called for it before it was organized, it was simply not done in a straight jacketed manner and in many cases did not take into account the training peculiarities of the personnel involved.

"On assumption of office therefore, we had to restructure the training programmes, change the training curriculum entirely and focus, which means before embarking on any training programme, so many things have to be taken into consideration", he emphasised.

Training, the director affirmed, is for all categories of

staff and not restricted to any particular group on account of seniority or privileges. It is indeed a right to all and the responsibility of the management to ensure that everyone in the system benefits from this, stressing that, any organisation that fails to train its staff is preparing to go into extinction.

He however, revealed that a research conducted by the institute in 2011 indicates that about 40-45% of the well trained and experience staff of the organisation will be exiting the service in 2013 on account of retirement and that the only way out is to bridge this gap by training the middle-cadre personnel to take over from the existing staff, noting that more staff were also converted in the last two years and therefore require to be given appropriate training to enable them function effectively.

Challenges

O

n the evolutionary journey of the institute, he said that the institute has come a long way,

although he stated that, that is not to say without its own share of the upheavals associated with any growing concern.

He recalled that at a point in time, the institute had a deluge of instructors, very senior officers most of whom were redundant and completely out of tune with contemporary realities in the postal world. The result of which, he recalled, was petitions writing even on minor grievances that could have been resolved within the institute.

It was equally observed that most of these officers were grossly underutilized as courses were hard to come by then, largely because of funding related issues among others.

"What we therefore did on assumption of office was to restructure and re-strategise and put in place measures that addressed most of those issues and ushered in new lease of life for the institute. First, we realized that we don't need sitting instructors in the institute and so we overhauled the place", he stated.

Adding that training has now been systematized and tailored towards specific goals, stressing that postal officers now get core postal training relevant to their needs and that the newly converted postal controllers and casual staff whose appointments were normalized were also given ICT based training. He therefore appealed to the management to increase staff ICT. Challenges/solutions

T

he Director projected staff ICT literacy level to increase by 70-80% in 2013 and equally make it mandatory for every staff to be complaint, adding that with ICT training becomes much easier and the benefits quite enormous.

Part of the challenges the Institute has had in its evolutionary journey till date, the Director recounts, includes (but not limited to) funding, poor classroom environment, bad state of opening ceremony hall, irregular water supplies in the hostel and lack of standard standby generating set to augment the epileptic during sessions and for the comfort of the participants most of whom stays in the hostel.

Thank God, he said, the situation has improved tremendously and that the Institute would not rest on its oars until the situation is further enhanced.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 22

Chat app messaging overtakes SMS texts I

nstant messaging on chat apps, such as WhatsApp, has overtaken the traditional SMS text message for the first time, according to research firm, Informa.

Informa said almost 19 billion messages were sent per day on chat apps in 2012, compared with 17.6 billion SMS texts.

The shift is likely to have a big impact on mobile operators, for whom texts have been a key revenue source.

Pamela Clark-Dickson of Informa said some operators were already “seeing a decline in their messaging revenues”.

According to separate estimates by research firm Ovum, more than $23bn (£15bn) of SMS revenue was lost in 2012 due to popularity of chat apps.

‘Lot of life’ Informa said that it expected the messaging on chat apps to grow even further in the coming years.

It has projected that nearly 50 billion messages will be sent per day using these apps by 2014, compared with just over 21 billion traditional SMSs. However, it said that despite the growing gap between the two, SMS will continue to remain a key player in the sector.

“There is a lot of life still in SMS,” said Ms Clark-Dickson of Informa.

She explained that most of the chat apps were used by consumers who own smartphones. However, she said, there are a large number of consumers, especially in

Nokia has launched a phone with a button dedicated to WhatsApp

emerging and lesser developed economies, who use normal mobile phones and rely on SMS as the preferred messaging tool.

“They don’t have mobile data plans, so there is an awfully big base of mobile phone users who are going to still find that SMS is the best messaging experience for them for a while,” she added.

At the same time, she said that businesses were starting to look at SMS more seriously, as it can be used on all mobile phones and they do not need smartphones to use it.

“There are a few things that, I think, will keep the SMS alive for a few years yet.”

Informa expects SMS revenue to grow to $127bn by 2016, from $115bn last year.

(Source: BBC News)

Google acquires N4.8bn news stream service Wavii

W

avii, which was launched last year, offers customised news feed to users, summarising news stories, tweets and blogs related to their interests.

Apple had also been keen to buy the start-up. According to reports, it wanted to incorporate the technology in the Siri function of its devices.

Last month, Yahoo acquired a news summarisation app, Summly, for “dozens of millions” of pounds. Yahoo subsequently added the facility to its iPhone app earlier this week.

Neither Google or Wavii have revealed the price of the deal, but most reports say it was about $30m.

Wavii was created by engineers who previously worked for Amazon and Microsoft and offers services via the web or as a smartphone app.

It is closely integrated with Facebook. That may change since the social network competes against Google+.

‘Structured feed’ According to its website, Wavii claims that the basic idea behind its service is to summarise everything that users care about into a customised news feed on the lines of a Facebook wall.

“We knew that we really

liked what Facebook did… clearly summarizing everything our friends are doing into a simple, structured feed, and adding in related events and photos,” it explains.

“Wavii set out to solve this by making a similar feed that covers every topic in the news

you might want to follow… or as we sometimes describe it, to make Facebook out of Google,” it adds.

Its connection with Facebook does not stop there. Along with allowing users to select at least 12 topics of interest it also detects their likes based on their

previous Facebook activity.

It can process up to 1,000 articles per minute and then summarize the most important bits to the user via a personalized news feed.

“We do it by teaching computers to read everything that is reported or shared on the

Internet, and automatically produce interesting social content about it,” it says on its site.

According to some analysts, the technology could be used by Google to improve search results for news stories.

(Source: BBC News)

FG to fund 31% investments in infrastructure

By Etuka Sunday

I

n a bid to ensure i n f r a s t r u c t u r a l development in Nigeria, the Federal Government has announced that it can maximally fund only about 31 percent of the total required investments in infrastructure.

This was announced yesterday by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, at a Contract Disclosure Forum hosted by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) in Abuja.

Speaking, Dr Shoara, who represented the SGF, said states and local governments can fund only 28 per cent, but the balance of 41 per cent must inevitably be funded by the private sector.

According to the SGF, "It is

government's desire to upscale infrastructure development and the inadequacy of resources that has necessitated the recourse to the PublicPrivate-Partnership (PPP) model."

As a result, he announced that the Federal Government expects the ICRC "to address the huge national infrastructure deficit through empowering Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to utilise the PPP model as procurement method of choice to rapidly turn around the country's infrastructure as it drives, catalyzes and facilitates the effective and efficient engagement of the privates sector."

According to him, the aim of initiating the contract disclosure framework "is to fast track the process of initiating, developing and implementing

PPP projects in a transparent, competitive and sustainable manner that would both ensure value for money for the economy, while putting in place world class infrastructure for the citizens."

He said ICRC has the "arduous task and responsibility of creating enabling environment for the private sector to partner with government in the financing, operation and management of infrastructure and allied services."

He therefore directed ICRC to develop "and issue policies and guidelines on PPP as well as develop a market through promoting a harmonized framework for infrastructural development."

Also speaking, the Acting Director General of the ICRC, Dr Ghali Bello disclosed that "the ICRC has with the

assistance of World Bank Institute (WBI), developed a guideline for the disclosure of PPP contracts." This, he explained, was designed "in the spirit of enhancing transparency and accountability in the sustainable implementation of Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects."

On contract awards, he advised ICRC to "preserve confidential and/or sensitive information like trade secrets, commercial and financial information contained in the contracts."

Ghali Bello said the ICRC "has taken steps to collaborate with the World Bank Institute to design contract disclosure templates in various sectors of the economy which public officials in MDAs can use as a bench mark when it comes to disclosure of information on PPP contracts."

Goodbye, TV: 5 things your tablet is poised to replace

Y

ou can read, watch and do close to anything on this one handy gadget -- and pretty soon, it could take over your life. Here are five things that may get tossed aside in favor of the tablet: The TV Set ABC and FOX recently announced that they are working on tablet apps that will allow them to become the first big American networks to livestream shows. So get ready to watch the tube anywhere --

even while standing in line at Starbucks.

hymns and parishioners.

The Bible Churchgoers are opting to leave the paper Bible at home and power up their tablets instead. The pool of simple-tonavigate Bible apps is growing, and many people find it easier to read the Good Book on a tablet rather than on a printed page. And some houses of worship are taking it even further: St. Johns Church in England uses tablets to stream

Minimum-Wage Workers With minimum wages potentially rising, smallbusiness owners may find it cheaper to allow customers to use self-service tablets than interact with real-live employees. According to the Wall Street Journal, tablet price drops and affordable retailer apps could result in "May I take your order?" giving way to "Can you tap in your

prayers

for

order?"

hand it over."

The Babysitter More and more parents are turning to the tablet to keep kids under control. One study found that 41% of tabletowning moms and dads pass the device to their little ones when they're in a restaurant, for example. As one parent told the New York Times, "I don’t want to give them the iPads at the dinner table, but if it keeps them occupied for an hour so we can eat in peace....I often just

Device-Free Takeoffs According to AppNewser.com the US Federal Airports Authority will allow passengers to use tablets during take off. Reportedly there is no scientific proof that devices cause interference with the plane's electronic controls - and American Airline pilots are already using iPads throughout flights to review manuals.

(Source: Readers Digest)

PAGE 23

PEOSPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Report as at Thursday, May 2, 2013

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Beware; 'Big Brother' is set to eavesdrop Outrage spreads across the land as President Goodluck Jonathan allegedly awards $40million contract to Israeli company to monitor computer and Internet communication by Nigerians Ogala Emmanuel reports

H

ere is a very i m p o r t a n t information from PREMIUM TIMES for the 47 million Nigerian Internet users. Big Brother, in the form of the Jonathan administration, is watching you, and your communication is no longer safe.

It is one of the most farreaching policies ever designed in Nigeria’s history to invade the privacy of citizens.

The Jonathan administration secretly, and in open violation of lawful contracting procedures, has awarded an Israeli firm, Elbit Systems, with headquarters in Haifa, a $40million contract to help it spy on citizens’ computers and Internet communications under the guise of intelligence gathering and national security.

Elbit announced the contract award Wednesday in a global press release but was silent on the Nigerian destination of the contract.

Its general manager, Yehuda Vered, opaquely

announced that “Elbit Systems will supply its Wise Intelligence Technology (WiT) system to an unnamed country in Africa under a new $40 million contract announced on 24 April… for Intelligence Analysis and Cyber Defense,” but effusively claimed, in the statement, that his company is “proud to be selected to supply this unique system, which is already field-proven, fully operational and customisable.

“Elbit Systems is a world leader in the fields of intelligence analysis and cyber defense, with proven solutions highly suitable for countries, armies and critical infrastructure sites.

We hope that additional customers will follow in selecting our highly advanced and cutting edge systems in these fields as their preferred solution,” Mr. Vered added.

Multiple and very reliable sources in the administration confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Nigeria is indeed the “unnamed African

country,” and with details from the Elbit statement, our sources say the contract will now help the Jonathan administration access all computers and read all email correspondences of citizens in what is clearly, an infringement on c o n s t i t u t i o n a l l y guaranteed freedom of expression.

No single policy of this administration has so far affected, in one fell swoop, the lives of 47 million citizens, a third of the Nigerian population and about four times the number of voters who brought the president to power two years ago.

Nigerian netizens, the horde of active citizens that use the computer and Internet, are the 10 th in a global ranking that make them 27 per cent of Africa’s total Internet users, far ahead of Egypt [19 th global ranking] and South Africa [37 th in global ranking].

The growth path of the Internet in Nigeria has also been dramatic, rising from a mere 200,000 Internet users in 2002 to 47 million

this year, according to data from the Global Internet user, one of the Internet audit groups.

This development has not always gladdened public officials in Nigeria many who have expressed open displeasure at the use of the Internet by social media activists and the power of its possibilities as an empowering medium for popular communication.

The calls for regulation have been loud in both the administration and in the Nigerian legislature.

The earliest hint that the Jonathan administration had desires to invade privacy of citizens surfaced ealy April when researchers at the Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto alerted the world that Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya were deploying Internet surveillance and censorship technology developed by an American company, Blue Coat, which specializes in online security. Blue Coat’s technology will allow the government to invade the privacy of journalists,

netizens and their sources.

Its censorship devices use Deep Packet Inspection, DPI, a technology employed by many western Internet Service Providers, to manage network traffic and suppress unwanted connections.

Civic groups kick against DPI because, they say, it makes it possible for censors to look into every single Internet Protocol packet and subject it to special treatment based on content (censored or banned words) or type (email, VoIP or BitTorrent Protocol).

DPI not only threatens the principle of Net Neutrality and the privacy of users, civic groups say, it makes single users identifiable and, in countries that flout the rule of law and violate human rights, often exposes them to arbitrary imprisonment, violence or even torture.

While details of the Blue Coat contract appears to have managed to evade scrutiny up till this point, PREMIUM TIMES sources say the Elbit annunciation of the contract, opaque as it

President Jonathan allegdely plans “to monitor computer and Internet communication by Nigerians”

President Goodluck Jonathan

Isreali Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu

was, terribly rattled top administration officials – from the presidency to the National Security Adviser’s Office, and the National Assembly.

“The presidency had wanted this contract to be a top secret,” said one of our sources. “The presidency did not envisage that Elbit was going to make it public.

Monitoring computers and Internet use is a contentious issue and the National Security Adviser had tried to keep the contract secret.”

Elbit says it will take it two years to complete the project, by which time it claimed, the administration will have “a highly advanced end-to-end solution, [to] supports every stage of the intelligence process, including the collection of the data from multiple sources, databases and sensors, processing of the

information, supporting intelligence personnel in the analysis and evaluation of the information and disseminating the intelligence to the intended recipient…[that] will be integrated with various data sources, including Elbit Systems’ Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) solution and Elbit Systems’ PC Surveillance Systems (PSS), an advance solution for covert intelligence gathering.”

The administration had indicated in the 2013 budget that it would procure a Wise Intelligence Network Harvest Analyzer System, Open Source Internet Monitoring System and Personal Internet Surveillance System at a cost of N9.496 Billion ($61.26 million).

Now that the contract has been awarded to Elbit for about $40million, it is unclear if the National Assembly will raise questions as to what becomes of the extra $21million earmarked for

the project.

Investigations indicate that in awarding the contract to the Israeli firm, no tenders or calls for bids were made just as there were no public announcements.

The

“

The presidency did not envisage that Elbit was going to make it public. Monitoring computers and Internet use is a contentious issue and the National Security Adviser had tried to keep the contract secret

contract was awarded following a proposal from a single vendor who dictated the contract sum and the terms of the contract.

The procedure for public procurement of services as stipulated by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), the Nigerian agency charged with the duty of ensuring transparency in all matters concerning government contracts, were largely ignored.

In addition, there are no public records indicating that the BPP approved this contract.

The manner of award directly contravenes the 2007 Public Procurement Act. While the Act gives room for single source contracts, the Elbit contract met none of the requirements under which such special contracts could be awarded.

Section 47 (3) (iii) of the 2007 Act stipulates that single source contracts are to be awarded in emergency situations such as “natural disasters or a financial crisis”.

P r e s i d e n t i a l spokespersons, Reuben Abati, and Doyin Okupe were not available for comments Wednesday. They didn’t answer or return calls seeking comments.

Calls to Elbit’s headquarters in Haifa, Israel, were also unanswered.

Shari Clarkson, a spokesperson at the company’s subsidiary in the United States declined comments on the contract saying only Dalia Rosen, a spokesperson based in Israel, could comment. Rosen’s phone was unanswered.

Source: Times

Premium

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Muslim stand on polio vaccination Allah says; "And when I am ill, it is He who cures Me; Who will cause me to die, and then to life (again)" [ash-Shu'ara'i: 80-81] The Messenger of Allah said: "Allah has sent down both the disease and the cure, and He has appointed a cure for every disease, so treat yourselves medically, but use nothing unlawful." [Dawud: Book 28: Hadith: 3865] In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All Praise is due to Allah! We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our evils and bad deeds. Anyone who is guided

by Allah, is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and final messenger to mankind.

May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon His last and final Apostle, his Household, his companions and all his followers until the end of time.

"We'll be there to do just two things: first, celebrate the progress we've made in the decade of vaccines to reach all kids, everywhere, with the vaccines they need; and second, to share best practices and have some frank discussions on what still needs to be done," Bill Gates said, few days before the great vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Typical of a gentleman, it was exactly what was done. In his presentation, he captured the past, the present and the future efforts towards the total and final eradication of the polio virus on the surface of the earth.

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) team estimates that global eradication will cost a whopping $5.5 billion over the next five years. This year alone,

$1.8 billion will be needed to was that they thought the achieve the set goals and vaccination was free and objectives. Dousing any hitch, without any financial Bill Gate announced to the implication. But, when they saw esteem summit that he pledged, how the campaign for the and redeemed 1/3 of the total estimated cost for the eradication of the virus, amounting to a colossal sum of

By Husain Zakariyya $600 million!

Yawale This was due to the past +234-8052952900 (sms only) experience in islamexplained35@yahoo.com the disruptions in funding that have slowed campaigns, donation was systematically resulting in lost of time, and carried out, they rested their resurging outbreaks. That was earlier position in support to the the main reason this time scientifically progressive one. around, they planned to raise Islam is full guidance and the full amount of money needed monishing. One of them is this before beginning the campaign narration by Usamah ibn vigorously. The success of the Sharik: I came to the Prophet summit was hinged on the (pbuh) and his Companions were prompt redemption of the sitting as if they had birds on massive $4 billion in preparation their heads. I saluted and sat for the mother of all polio down. The desert Arabs then eradication campaign by 2018, came from here and there. They in sha Allah! asked: Apostle of Allah, should we However, the president of make use of medical treatment?

Islamic Development Bank He replied: Make use of medical (IDB), promised to raised the treatment, for Allah has not balance of $1.5 billion needed to made a disease without complete the estimated $5.5 appointing a remedy for it, with billion through the capital the exception of one disease, market with interest free! But, namely old age. [Dawud: Book in a quick reappraisal, Bill Gates, 28: Hadith 3846] assured the summit of Poliovirus can be spread in contacting his friends especially several ways: direct person-toin Japan and Australia, and person contact, contact with around the world to get the infected mucus or phlegm or balance within the shortest contact with infected faeces. possible period.

While about 95 percent of people In fact, it was these responses exposed to and infected by the that changed completely the poliovirus do not develop wrong position of the Islamic symptoms, a small percentage scholars, especially from of those infected do experience Nigeria. The non consensus mild, flu-like symptoms, like position was that polio fever, and usually stiffness in the vaccination was a calculated neck and back. Less than one campaign by the West with percent experience a severe collaboration of some local foot infection. what the virus does is soldiers to harm innocent that it invades the nervous children around the world! This system. Severe infections more earlier position, one of us told me, often than not result in

ISLAM EXPLAINED

R-L: Husain Zakariyya Yawale, Sheikh Kabiru Gombe and Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau

permanent paralysis, and, where the poliovirus hits the respiratory system, the infection can result in death.

There is no cure for polio, but prevention.

It has been said that immunisation averts an estimated three million deaths y e a r l y , p r o v i d i n g protection from diphtheria, m e a s l e s , p e r t u s s i s (whooping cough or respiratory disorder), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus.

Despite all the efforts put towards the fight against this fearsome virus, an estimated 22 million infants around that world are not fully immunised with routine vaccines. There are various reasons to this situation ranging from lack of education campaign on the part of the donors, and extreme cases of suspicion which resulted in attacks on polio vaccine campaign workers. In December 2012 five women were killed, while on the April 9, 2013, a man working to protect campaign volunteers was shot and killed, all in Pakistan. In Nigeria, here, nine women were reported to been gunned down while working in February 2013!

It was Jonas Salk who produced the vaccine in 1955, and has since then it has become part of the routine childhood vaccination programme in the United States up till today.

Children typically receive four doses of the vaccine before enrolling into elementary school. While polio has been eliminated from most parts of the world, such as Angola, Congo and Ghana, unfortunately, it is still endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Nigeria has the highest number of new cases throughout the world!

Accordingly, while Afghanistan, despite its state of ravaging wars, recorded only two cases of polio this year, Nigeria recorded 35 cases so far!

Pakistan recorded only one case of last week! In a way, the larger part of the $1.8 billion budgeted for 2013, will be spent in Nigeria, with our government contributing a meagre $85m only!

According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), 'globally the transmission of wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) is at its lowest levels ever recorded. It, however, noted that over the past six months, only one of such case due to this strain was reported worldwide from Yobe State, Nigeria, with onset of paralysis on November 10, 2012! However, another ''new WPV case was reported in the past week (WPV1 from the same area, onset of paralysis on March 5, 2013, bringing the total number of WPV cases for this year to 12! The most recent cVDPV2 case had onset of paralysis on 24 November 2012, but this time from Kebbi, kebbi state.

In fact, what continues to perturb my mind regarding poliomylises generally, is that the most backward countries are all Muslim nations! Does that means Muslims today are at the receiving end, and last column of civilization? Why would that happen when our Islam taught us cleanliness and health practices unprecedented in any religion.

Does it means we do not understand our scripture as did the previous glorious generations who were the first to expound the science of medicine? Or we do understand but we chose to be reluctant in applying them for our benefit. Or again, we harbour and condone ignorance and illiteracy to such a level that threaten our cooperate existence?

These and many questions are troubling my mind.

The main reason, according to friend medical consultant, who visited me in my office yesterday, of all the fight against poliomyelitis, and the gulping of this massive amount of money in order to exterminate it once and for all, is because it is at its lowest ebb needing such an enduring fight. It is not because it is the most dreaded of life threatening problem at all! He went further to educate me that any softening or back-peddling on this vigour, will cost more time, more money and more lives!

After the summit, the Sultan gathered all the Nigerian delegations for a serious discussion on the way forward back home. It was indeed a frank and sincere discussion that will eventually lead to the final extermination of polio from Nigeria, the history will be written together; the Ulema' in the fore-front, in sha Allah!

Written by Husain Zakariyya Yawale

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 27

ANALYSIS

By Jillian C. York

O

ver the past few years, tech blogs have been rife with stories about social media companies banning users or removing their content. These companies have their own proprietary terms of service that allows them to regulate speech on their platforms as they see fit, and they do: A quick look at the rules of major social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Flickr show rules that go well beyond law in the US (where all three companies are based) as well as, in some cases, the principles laid out in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Though these companies do face legitimate challenges in grappling with legal requests from foreign countries, it is their own rights as companies - not the long arm of the law - that pushes them to go beyond the law in choosing what speech to allow on their platforms.

While examples of such overreaching corporate behaviour abound, the problem has been brought into sharp focus with the financial blockade of WikiLeaks, an extralegal decision by corporate giants Visa, MasterCard and PayPal that some say occurred in collusion with the US government.

Rebecca MacKinnon, is among those who have called out these social networking behemoths on their bad behaviour, referring regularly to Mark Zuckerberg as "the sultan of Facebookistan". In her book, Consent of the Networked, she posits that the sovereignty of corporate leaders like Zuckerberg challenges and even extends the sovereignty of the state when it comes to online speech.

MacKinnon's work has undoubtedly raised awareness of the issue. In a report just published by the Center for International Media Assistance, author Bill Ristow lays out the challenges of regulation faced by such companies, and concludes: It's not enough to tell users, in effect, "trust us". Without violating legitimate proprietary concerns, there is certainly room for a more publicly visible form of internal review covering how these corporations are interacting with countries around the world in making their gatekeeping decisions.

But despite a growing movement toward pushing companies to be more mindful of their role as the new gatekeepers of speech, the companies are able to draw support from sometimes surprising places. In a recent opinion piece for Privacy Perspectives, the blog of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Christopher Wolf - the National Civil Rights chair for the Anti-Defamation League argues that "internet intermediaries can play a role, in appropriate circumstances, to limit online anonymity in an effort to curtain online hate".

Acknowledging that the law is "a poor tool to deal with [hate speech]," Wolf stands on the graves of the victims of the recent attack in Boston to further his case for denying the right to anonymity (protected by the First

The sovereignty of corporate leaders like Zuckerberg challenges and even extends the sovereignty of the state when it comes to online speech [EPA]

How social network policies are changing speech and privacy norms Amendment) online.

Wolf's comments echo those of former Facebook staffer and sister to Mark, Randi Zuckerberg, who oncestated that online anonymity "has to go away". For his part, the sultan of Facebookistan has claimed that "having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity".

But why, exactly? While many activists will rightly argue that anonymity is not a strong basis for starting a movement, few deny its importance as a right. Anonymity can produce hate, but it can also produce creativity. It can hide criminal behaviour, but it can also protect dissidents from their evermore-tech-savvy governments.

Given that our anonymity is not truly protected when using these tools anyhow - one need only look to the Petraeus case to see how difficult it is to hide one's identity - the question must be asked: Why are companies, and their supporters, insistent that users provide their

"real" names publicly?

While companies often argue that it is a matter of promoting "civility" (an unproven idea), it seems just as likely that such policies are aimed at enriching the companies' data mining and advertising endeavours. The more information a company has about its users, the more able they are to market to them.

In 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stated that privacy is "no longer a social norm", claiming that it is "just something that has evolved over time" as a result of social networking. But although Facebook cannot take all the credit for that, the very infrastructure it has encourages its users to share private details about their lives: fields for "relationship status", "favourite television programmes" and all sorts of other details that would previously have only been shared amongst friends and family are hardcoded into Facebook's interface.

“

Similarly, Facebook's policy for acceptable images famously excludes images of mothers breastfeeding their children (although the most recent edition of the site's community standards claims that Facebook "aspire[s] to respect people's right to share content of personal importance, whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo's David or family photos of a child breastfeeding"). This has led to outrage from mothers in countries where breastfeeding in public is an accepted norm, and to accusations that Facebook's views on propriety are too American for a site with a global user base.

Facebook has also removed images posted by breast cancer survivors; in February, the site backtracked after removing a photo of a tattoo by a woman who had had a double-mastectomy, writing "Mastectomy photos don't violate our content standards and are permitted on the site". The statement is a positive step for the company, but

But despite a growing movement toward pushing companies to be more mindful of their role as the new gatekeepers of speech, the companies are able to draw support from sometimes surprising places.

complaints of similar takedowns persist.

Questions have also arisen over whether US companies should host content from terrorist organisations.

Among the questions involved in such a decision are the legal implications of an American company hosting speech from organisations on the US government's official list of "designated foreign terrorist organisations". US citizens are banned from most types of transactions (financial or otherwise) with organisations on the list, but those rules do not generally apply to citizens of other countries.

This is not merely a reference to the old adage that "one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter", but a serious question in an age when the US government designates as terrorist a group that, in another country, is a legitimately popular political party. Though Hezbollah in particular seems to be going strong on social networks, Twitter has been accused of removing the accounts of al-Shabab (a designated terrorist group) and the Syrian Electronic Army, for example.

Be it nudity or hate speech, banned groups or breastfeeding, our online speech is increasingly not ours. It is time to ask the question: Is the proprietary nature of online speech poised to change cultural norms?

Source: Al Jazeera

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Arrests follow Chad ‘failed coup’ S everal people including an opposition MP have been arrested in the Chad capital N'Djamena, in what the government has described as an attempted "destabilisation plot".

A government statement said a "small group" had been conspiring for more than four months.

Leaders of the alleged plot were

being investigated by prosecutors, it added.

Chad has a long history of coups and revolts. Current President IdrissDeby himself seized power in a coup in 1990.

Nathalie Magnien in N'Djamena says it is business as usual in the capital and no-one seems particularly concerned about the news.

There is no visible sign of increased security in the city or patrols on the streets, she says.

"A small group of ill-intentioned individuals attempted to carry out a destabilisation plot against the institutions of the republic," the government said.

It said that the country's security forces "neutralised" them, without specifying how many

PresidentIdrissDeby (R) who has won four elections since seizing power in 1990, is considered a key Western ally [AFP]

people were involved in the alleged action.

Police and opposition sources said opposition MP SalehMakki was among those held.

His party, the coalition Coordination of Political Parties for the Defence of the Constitution (CPDC), told the BBC it was confused by his arrest.

Mr Makki was arrested by police between 21:00 and 22:00 local time on Wednesday evening, his wife told the CPDC. The security services also carried out a number of arrests in the army, military sources told Reuters news agency.

Our reporter says it is not clear what charges they will face.

Since its independence from France in 1960, Chad's history has been marked by instability and violence stemming mostly from tension between the mainly ArabMuslim north and the predominantly Christian and animist south.

Mr Deby has survived two attacks on the capital - in 2006 and 2008 from rebels in eastern Chad.

These rebels were supported by Sudan's government, which was unhappy that Darfuri rebels were using eastern Chad as a base. But a rapprochement between Chad and Sudan in 2010 has helped bring peace to that region.

Earlier this year, Chad deployed some 2,000 troops to help oust Islamists who had seized large swathes of territory in Mali.

South Africa suspends protocol boss over wedding flight scandal

S

outh Africa suspended a senior foreign ministry official on Thursday after a charter plane carrying nearly 200 guests for the wedding of a family with close ties to President Jacob Zuma used an Air Force base without proper military permission.

The scandal over Tuesday's flight from India to the Waterkloof Air Force Base near Pretoria has dominated South African media, with newspapers and radio phonein callers accusing the wealthy Gupta family of influence peddling.

The defense ministry said it

had rejected a request from the Guptas to use the base but the Indian High Commission in Pretoria then went behind its back and sought authorization from the Chief of State Protocol at the foreign ministry.

"The clearance should be rescinded and that aircraft should immediately be removed," it said in a statement.

The foreign ministry said its protocol chief, Bruce Koloane, had been suspended to "allow the department to get to the bottom of this matter", adding that no "executive authority" was granted

for a civilian aircraft to land at the base.

Foreign ministry spokesman ClaysonMonyela confirmed that the flight carried some Indian state ministers arriving for the wedding.

The business empire of Gupta brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh covers mining, resources, aviation and technology. Two of Zuma's children have served as directors of Gupta firms, according to South Africa's companies database, and the family is a major financial backer of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

The Times newspaper labeled

the scandal "Guptagate", but the New Age newspaper - owned by the Gupta family - covered the incident under the headline: "Media 'wrong' on jet-set wedding".

The ANC also called for an explanation as to how the aircraft managed to land at the base, saying it would never allow "a situation where our ports of entry and national key points are penetrated with impunity".

Officials at the Indian High Commission in Pretoria were not available to comment. Koloane did not answer his mobile phone.

Lawyers appointed for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

T

he son of deposed Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, has briefly appeared in court to face criminal charges and has been appointed two local lawyers.

The case relates to a visit last year from a lawyer from the International Criminal Court (ICC) who was accused of passing information to Mr Gaddafi.

Mr Gaddafi has also been indicted for war crimes during the 2011 uprising.

Both Libya and the ICC claim jurisdiction for that trial.

When asked whether he was in good health, Mr Gaddafi said that he was and gave a thumbsup sign, the BBC's foreign editor, John Simpson, reports from Zintan.

Mr Gaddafi faces charges of complicity in exchanging information, obtaining

documents that threaten national security and insulting the national flag.

Evidence was briefly presented at the hearing, including a pen with a camera in it and a watch, which the prosecution alleges were used in passing illicit information.

Representatives from local and international human rights organisations were also present at the hearing.

The trial has been postponed until 19 September.

In June last year, ICC lawyer Melinda Taylor and three other ICC staff were arrested and held for the three weeks after visiting Mr Gaddafi.

Ms Taylor was accused of clandestinely passing Mr Gaddafi a coded letter from a fugitive former aide, Mohammed Ismail.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi The four were subsequently released to The Hague and are not expected to return to Libya to face charges.

The ICC said last year that it would investigate the allegations.

Mr Gaddafi has been held in

Zintan since a brigade from the town captured him in November 2011.

His British lawyer John Jones described the detention to the BBC as "Libya's Guantanamo Bay" and said he had no plans to visit Mr Gaddafi in Zintan.

Somalia famine 'killed 260,000 people'

N

early 260,000 people died during the famine that hit Somalia from 2010 to 2012, a study shows.

Half of them were children under the age of five, says the report by the UN food agency and the USfunded Famine Early Warning Systems Network.

The number of deaths was higher than the estimated 220,000 people who died during the 1992 famine.

The crisis was caused by a severe drought, worsened by conflict between rival groups fighting for power.

The UN first declared a famine in July 2011 in Somalia's Southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions, which were controlled by the militant Islamist group al-Shabab, which is aligned to al-Qaeda.

It denied there was a famine and banned several Western aid agencies from operating in its areas.

The famine later spread to other areas, including Middle Shabelle, Afgoye and at camps for displaced people in government-controlled capital, Mogadishu.

UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) senior economist Mark Smulders said the "true enormity of this human tragedy" had emerged from the study done jointly with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fews Net).

"By nature, estimating mortality in emergencies is an imprecise science, but given the quantity and quality of data that were available, we are confident in the strength of the study," said Fews Net official Chris Hillbruner.

"It suggests that what occurred in Somalia was one of the worst famines in the last 25 years," he added.

An estimated 4.6% of the total population and 10% of children under five died in southern and central Somalia, the report says.

"The report confirms we should have done more before the famine was declared," said Philippe Lazzarini, UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia.

"Warnings that began as far back as the drought in 2010 did not trigger sufficient early action," he said in a statement, AFP news agency reports.

In Lower Shabelle, 18% of children under five died and in Mogadishu 17%, the report said.

Somalia was worst hit by extreme drought in 2011 that affected more than 13 million people across the Horn of Africa.

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in search of food.

The UN declared the famine over in February 2012.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Asia and Middle East

N

orth Korea has sentenced a US citizen to 15 years of prison labour for "hostile acts" against the government, the official Korean Central News Agency said Thursday.

Pae Jun-Ho, known in the United States as Kenneth Bae, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason.

"The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labour for this crime," KCNA said.

Japan PM's 'stealth' constitution plan raises civil rights fears

S

hinzo Abe makes no secret of wanting to revise Japan's constitution, which was drafted by the United States after World War Two, to formalize the country's right to have a military but critics say his plans go deeper and could return Japan to its socially conservative, authoritarian past.

Abe, 58, returned to office in December for a second term as prime minister and is enjoying skyhigh support on the back of his "Abenomics" recipe for reviving the economy through hyper-easy monetary policy, big spending and structural reform.

Now he is seeking to lower the hurdle for revising the constitution as a prelude to an historic change to its pacifist Article 9 - which, if strictly read, bans any military. That would be a symbolic shift, loosening restrictions on the military's overseas activities, but would have limited impact on defense as the clause has already been stretched to allow Tokyo to build up armed forces that are now bigger than Britain's.

However, sweeping changes proposed by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a draft constitution would strike at the heart of the charter with an assault on basic civil rights that could muzzle the media, undermine gender equality and generally open the door to an authoritarian state, activists and scholars say.

"What I find strange is that although the prime minister is not that old, he is trying to revive the mores of his grandfather's era," said Ryo Motoo, the octogenarian head of the Women's Article 9 Association, a group devoted to protecting the constitution.

Japan PM, Shinzo Abe

PAGE 29

North Korea sentences US citizen to jail Pyongyang has not specified the basis of the crimes allegedly committed by Bae, who is believed to be a Korean-American tour operator.

KCNA said on Saturday when announcing his trial that Bae had "admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea]".

The United States has urged North Korea to free the detainee on "humanitarian grounds."

"The welfare of US citizens is a critical and top priority for this

department. We call on the DPRK to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds," deputy acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday.

Seoul-based activist Do Hee-Yoon has told the AFP news agency that he suspected Pae was arrested because he had taken photographs of emaciated children in North Korea as part of efforts to appeal for more outside aid.

US officials have pointed out Bae had entered the country on a valid visa, and admitted to concerns he

could be used as a "political bargaining" chip.

Tensions have been running high between the United States and North Korea since Pyongyang carried out a third nuclear test in February.

Several Americans have been held in North Korea in recent years.

In 2011, a US delegation led by Robert King, the US special envoy for human rights and humanitarian issues, secured the release of Eddie Jun Yong-Su, a California-based businessman, who had been detained for

apparent missionary activities.

In 2010, former US president Jimmy Carter won plaudits when he negotiated the release of American national AijalonMahliGomes, sentenced to eight years of hard labour for illegally crossing into the North from China.

On another mercy mission a year earlier in 2009, former president Bill Clinton won the release of US television journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, jailed after wandering across the North Korean border with China.

Election ink under scrutiny in Malaysia

T

he Indonesian army says members of the country's Kopassusspecial forces were behind the murders of four prisoners suspected of killing a soldier.

The four men were being held in a jail in Jogjakarta, Java, when nine masked men armed with AK-47 rifles stormed the facility at midnight on 23 March.

The army says the guilty soldiers are now willing to face the consequences.

The incident has called into question the extent of military reform since the transition to democracy began in 1998.

The army says the murders were carried out in retribution for the 19 March killing of a Kopassus soldier at a cafe.

Human rights groups say the involvement of members of the Kopassus unit in the raid on the jail is troubling.

Under former President

Opposition leader Anwar is hoping the ruling coalition can be removed from power for the first time since 1957 [AFP]

Suharto, who ruled the country between 1967 and 1998, Kopassus was accused of human rights violations and of carrying out forced disappearances.

The BBC's KarishmaVaswani in the the Indonesian capital Jakarta says that the army's decision to admit that special forces soldiers

were responsible for the killings is significant, but cautions that it remains to be seen what punishment those accused will actually receive.

India demands justice over 'spy' Sarabjit Singh's death

I

ndian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has demanded those responsible for the death in a Pakistani jail of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian man convicted of spying, be brought to justice.

Sarabjit Singh died after being attacked with bricks by other inmates in Lahore's KotLakhpat jail on Friday.

He had been sentenced to death by a court in Pakistan in 1991.

In a statement, Manmohan Singh called Sarabjit Singh "a brave son of India" and said the attack was "barbaric".

"It is particularly regrettable that the government of Pakistan did not heed the pleas of the government of India, Sarabjit's family and of civil society in India and Pakistan to take a humanitarian view of this case," he added.

Sarabjit Singh fell into a coma and died at 01:00 on Thursday morning (20:00 Wednesday GMT) in Lahore's Jinnah hospital.

He had been sentenced to death for spying and his role in bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Pakistan in 1990.

Sarabjit Singh's family, who had only just returned to India after visiting him in hospital, always insisted he was innocent and had strayed into Pakistan by mistake when he was arrested.

But mercy petitions were

rejected by Pakistani courts and former President Pervez Musharraf.

Sarabjit Singh's sister DalbirKaur called her brother's death "a murder by Pakistan", according to the Associated Press.

Ms Kaur said she would continue to fight for the release of other Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails.

India had appealed for Sarabjit Singh, 49, to be released or transferred to India over concerns about his treatment following his

attack. He had sustained several serious injuries, including a fractured skull.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said that Sarabjit Singh had received "the best treatment available" and that "medical staff at Jinnah Hospital had been working round the clock... to save his life".

Indian and Pakistani officials said they were arranging the repatriation of the body.

The issue risks stirring fresh tensions in relations between the

nuclear-armed neighbours and long-time rivals, correspondents say.

Strains had already increased in the past six months with the execution in India of Kashmiri Afzul Guru over the 2001 attack on India's parliament, and of Mohammed AjmalQasab, a Pakistani who was the sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Sarabjit Singh's lawyer Owais Sheikh said his client had received threats after Guru's execution.

Even before Sarabjit Singh's death, his case had sparked protests in India

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 30

Europe and Americas EU energy sector in funding 'crisis'

I

nvestment totalling a trillion euros (ÂŁ846bn) is required before the end of this decade if the European Union is to stave off an energy crisis.

That is the conclusion of an eight-month inquiry by the House of Lords into the EU power sector.

The Lords report says that a muddled Brussels energy policy is putting off big investors.

In addition, it says there needs to be greater support for Europe's Emissions Trading System (ETS).

The Lords EU sub-committee on agriculture, fisheries, environment and energy took evidence from a range of parties including the European Commission, power companies and environmental campaigners.

Their report says that there is an urgent need for investment in low carbon, interconnected and innovative energy systems. The committee agreed with the European Commission estimate that to achieve secure, green and cheap energy by 2020, a trillion euros will need to be spent on infrastructure.

The money is there from institutional investors for these energy projects, say the Lords.

But the lack of a clear policy about how to deliver secure and affordable power is holding them back.

"The value of energy companies has slumped since 2008, the public purse is severely constrained, but there is more than enough money around in the investment community," said Lord Carter of Coles, who chaired the committee.

"This should be a great time to invest in long-term assets such as energy, but clear policy is needed in order to release it," he said.

The Lords point to two core policies that they say need to be in place. The ETS needs urgent revision, they say.

In recent weeks, the price of carbon has crashed further after the European Parliament baulked at a commission proposal to overhaul the market.

"The ETS has failed but it is not dead," said Lord Carter.

"It needs to include a minimum price for carbon, providing governments and investors with the confidence to support innovation through investment."

Lord Carter of Coles

Athens police stop food hand-out by Greek far right P

olice in the Greek capital Athens have stopped the far-right Golden Dawn party from handing out free food only to Greeks on the city's main square.

Riot police used tear gas to prevent activists distributing food from a lorry on Syntagma Square, where the country's parliament is located.

Mayor GiorgosKaminis said no party could use the square for such purposes and vowed to prevent "thuggery".

Golden Dawn, once a fringe movement, is now Greece's fifth-biggest party.

It was staging the handout to celebrate Greek Orthodox

Easter, which falls this weekend. At past events, the anti-immigration party asked recipients to show ID cards proving they were Greeks.

Golden Dawn reportedly managed to hand out some food before police moved in, and it later continued the distribution elsewhere in the city.

The Greek authorities have been accused in the past of failing to take action against hate crime and attacks on immigrants.

Mayor Kaminis said Thursday's police action was a "victory for the democratic state".

Mayor of Athens,GiorgosKaminis

US justice department fights 'morning-after' pill case

T

he US justice department has filed an appeal against a judge's ruling that requires the "morning-after" pill to be available to all ages.

The government says the judge exceeded his authority, and has asked for a suspension while the case is decided.

The New York judge said the decision to limit Plan B without a prescription to those 17 and older was "capricious".

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the drug on Tuesday over the counter for those

aged 15 and above.

Reproductive rights groups welcomed the FDA's lowering of the age limit, but called for fuller access.

The deadline to comply with the judge's order is this Monday.

In 2011, the FDA said it

had concluded the "morning after" pill could be safely used by girls of child-bearing age.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was accused of bowing to social conservatives after she took the unprecedented step of over-ruling the agency.

US protests against Bolivia's decision to expel USAID

T

he US has expressed regret at Bolivia's decision to expel America's development agency, rejecting allegations made by President Evo Morales as "baseless".

A US official said the move against the US Agency for International Development (USAID) "harms the Bolivian people".

In a May Day address, Mr Morales accused USAID of seeking to "conspire against" Bolivia.

He linked the expulsion to a recent comment by the US secretary of state.

But US state department spokesman Patrick Ventrell defended USAID's work in Bolivia.

"We think the programmes have been positive for the Bolivian people, and fully coordinated with the Bolivian government and appropriate agencies under their own national development plan," he said.

USAID said it deeply regretted Mr Morales' decision.

"Those who will be most hurt by the Bolivian government's decision are the Bolivian citizens who have benefited from our collaborative work on education, agriculture, health, alternative development, and the environment," it said in a statement.

USAID has been working in Bolivia for almost five decades, and had a budget of $52.1m (ÂŁ33.4m) for the country in 2010, according to its website.

It cites as its main aims the strengthening of Bolivia's health system and the provision of "equal access to health care by eliminating social exclusion", as well as improving "the livelihoods

Evo Morales of economically and socially disadvantaged people by increasing income and managing natural resources".

On previous May Days, Mr Morales had announced the nationalisation of key industries, such as hydroelectric power and the electricity grid.

Speaking at a rally in La Paz on Wednesday, Mr Morales said he "would only nationalise the dignity of the Bolivian people".

He said there was "no lack of US institutions which continue to conspire against our people and especially the national government, which is why we're going to take the opportunity to announce on this May Day that we've decided to expel USAID".

He then turned to his Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca, and asked him to inform the US

embassy of his decision.

The president also linked the expulsion to a recent remark by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who referred to Latin America as "the backyard" of the US. Mr Kerry made the remark as he tried to persuade US Congressmen of the importance of the region, telling them that "the Western Hemisphere is our backyard. It's critical to us."

Bolivia's ABI state news agency reported that USAID was "accused of alleged political interference in peasant unions and other social organisations".

Mr Morales has threatened USAID with expulsion in the past, saying that its programmes have "political rather than social" ends. He has also accused it of "manipulating" and "using" union leaders.

Mr Morales, who heads his country's union of coca growers, has been critical in the past of US counter-narcotic programmes in Bolivia, repeatedly stating that the fight against drugs is driven by geopolitical interests.

In 2008, Mr Morales expelled the US ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for allegedly conspiring against his government.

Mr Morales became Bolivia's first indigenous president in 2005.

He was re-elected by a landslide in 2009, but has since faced protests from indigenous communities angered by the construction of a major road through their territory, and by police and army officers demanding better pay.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 31

Man sues airline after crew says he didn't flush

File photo

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man is seeking half a million dollars in damages after his flight from Philadelphia to the West Coast ended with him being detained for allegedly cursing at the crew and failing to flush a toilet.

Salvatore Bevivino, a manager for San Francisco, Calif.-based Genetech,

claims he was unfairly detained following a Virgin America flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco on April 28.

According to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by NBC10.com, it was about an hour into the flight when Bevivino tried to order a soft drink directly through a

flight attendant - instead of the plane's touch-screen entertainment system.

The attendant told the 52-year-old he needed to place his order through the touchscreen. Moments later, a second flight attendant came over to discuss the matter. Bevivino said he wished to order a drink

Florida man called 911 80 times asking for Kool-Aid and weed deliveries - authorities

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St. Petersburg man who called 911 about 80 times Sunday saying he wanted Kool-Aid, burgers and weed delivered to him instead got a trip to jail, police said.

Jarvis Su t t o n , 3 4 , i s facing a charge of misuse of the 911 system following his arrest Sunday, according to Pinellas County Sheriff's Office jail records. He was being held on $150 bond

Wednesday and it was unknown whether he has an attorney.

Police said Sutton admitted to making the calls.

"The defendant admitted to calling 911 because he 'wanted Kool-Aid, burgers and weed to be delivered to him,'" an officer wrote in an arrest affidavit obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

A

Johnny Mccoy, 56.

him, authorities said.

Johnny Mccoy, 56, told the deputy that the pants had been stolen from a church, according

Man fired for wrestling shark while on "sick leave"

On his way to jail, Sutton started chewing on foam attached to metal caging in the back of the police cruiser, the report said.

It was the second bizarre arrest in the past week in St. Petersburg for misuse of 911. Katrina Tisdale, 47, was arrested after police say shecalled 911 to tell officers she wanted $50 she had just given to a drug dealer for cocaine and marijuana back.

Man arrested for having drugs in pocket said the pants were not his - deputies

man arrested after crack cocaine was found in his pocket claimed the pants he was wearing did not belong to

directly through the flight attendant, like is done on other airlines, the lawsuit says.

A short time later, a third flight attendant brought over the man's requested soda.

According to a police r e p o r t , Bevivino went to the toilet a few minutes after the

alleged incident. He came back out some time later with a smile on his face while cursing to no one in particular, according to the report. "(A flight attendant) passed by the restroom and saw that Bevivino left the door open and did not flush the toilet," the report stated.

Once the flight landed, Bevivino was detained for his alleged actions.The pilot said that neither he nor his crew ever felt threatened by Bevivino, according to the police report.

In the lawsuit, Bevivino says he told the pilot that he didn't curse at the crew during the dispute over ordering a drink directly. He also denies leaving the toilet unflushed.

After being detained for an unknown period of time, Bevivino was released by the San Francisco Police Department Airport Division, according to a detention release certificate.

Bevivino is seeking damages for the embarrassment, humiliation, mortification, fright, shock, mental anguish and emotional distress he claims he felt during and after the incident.

Virgin America received the complaint last week. Spokesman MadhuUnnikrishnan told NBC10.com that "while we generally do not comment on ongoing litigation, we are aware of the incident in question, we have reviewed our internal crew reports and we are confident our teammates handled this matter appropriately."

to an arrest report obtained by TC Palm.

"As I began to search his pockets, he stated quickly that the pants he was wearing were not his," the arrest report said. "He claimed he stole them from a church."

After using a drug test kit, the deputy arrested Mccoy, and he was taken to the Indian River County Jail, according to the report.

Mccoy was initially stopped on April 1 while riding his bicycle in Vero Beach for not having visible lights.

After he was stopped, the deputy asked to search him and found a smoked marijuana cigarette and a small clear plastic baggie with the cocaine, according to the report.

Paul Marshallsea grabbed the dusky whaler shark (not pictured) by the tail and guided it to deeper waters.

A

Welsh charity worker on "sick leave for stress" was vacationing in Australia where he made headlines after wrestling a shark away from children, the BBC reported. While beach goers and lifeguards praised Paul Marshallsea for his bravery, his bosses disagreed.

Marshallsea, 62, and his wife, Wendy, 56, were in Bulcock Beach when 6-foot-long dusky whaler shark swam up to shallow waters.

A nearby local TV crew was able to film Marshallsea grabbing the shark by the tail and guiding it into deeper waters.

Marshallsea reportedly came home to a letter of dismissal from the Pant and Dowlais Boys and Girls Club where he had worked for 10 years as a project coordinator. The Club's trustees wrote, "Whilst unfit to work you

were well enough to travel to Australia and, according to recent news footage of yourself in Queensland, you allegedly grabbed a shark by the tail and narrowly missed being bitten by quickly jumping out of the way," the BBC reported.

The charity worker argued that he and Wendy, who was also fired from the charity, were advised by a doctor to take a break from work.

"I didn't have a broken leg or a bad back, I had work related stress," Marshallsea told the BBC. In a second letter, the trustee cited Marshallsea's termination with the charity as a "breakdown" of confidence and trust.

According to the BBC, the Pants and Dowlais Boys and Girls

By Spooky Club was advised not to comment on the matter.

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 2013 With Tobias Lengnan Dapam 07036990957

‘The Expendables 2’: What makes it different T

HR's Justin Lowe praised the Sylvester Stallone toplined action flick for giving the film's "major players and cameo actors their own often quite -humorous character traits and dialogue."

Expendables 2 is being billed as the perfect blend of big muscles and bigger explosions. With a solid A- CinemaScore, moviegoers seem to think it delivers on that promise.

The followup to Sylvester Stallone's 2010 testosterone-filled blockbuster sees action icons Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture team up to stop Jean-Claude Van Damme's villain from acquiring nuclear material.

Also featuring Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth and Chuck

Norris, the Lionsgate film is on its way to a No. 1 opening weekend, with a projected $27 million to $28 million haul.

Despite the achievement of the movie and its 66 percent Rotten Tomatoes score (the original scored 41 percent), most critics agree the sequel is an improvement.

The Hollywood Reporter's Justin Lowe praised Stallone and his co-screenwriter Richard Wenk for wrangling the expansive cast: "[The screenwriters] have generously given both major players and cameo actors their own often quite -humorous character traits and dialogue. When Schwarzenegger is onscreen, much of the banter is at the former, California governor's expense -though, much as ever, he gets some memorable lines himself

Lowe wrote that director Simon West, who took over helming duties from Stallone, deftly managed "the complexity of stunts, aircraft and vehicle pileups and frequent shootouts."

New York Times critic Neil had little good to say about the film, save for the cameo by Norris. "Mr. Norris arrives just as the blood baths and leaden dialogue are beginning to grow tedious, and his deadpan self-parody is pretty darn funny."

Genzlinger wrote. "More important, it gives you permission to laugh at the rest of this mindless movie, which is the only way to choke it down."

L.A. Times critic Betsy Sharkey wrote that "somehow all that testosterone-infused blow-'-em-up craziness turns out to be kind of a

kick." She added "what gives 'Expendables 2' its charm is the film's unabashed nostalgia for the genre's best B-movie moments. As Statham's character puts it so well while slipping on a pair of brass knuckles, never count out the classics."

However, USA based writer, Claudia Puig, mused the sequel succeeded in playing off the audience's fond memories of movies past.

"These movies are not meant to be anything more than silly fun, with an all-star cast of mature hunks engaging in shameless action flick clichés and capitalizing on audience

nostalgia," she wrote.

New York Post critic Lou Lumenick praised the film's wonderfully cheesy action oneliners.

"It's hard not to like a movie in which Bruce Willis' toupee-less CIA agent accuses Stallone's ragtag band of mercenaries of engaging in "male pattern badness," he wrote. "Willis actually picks up a weapon or two this time around, and hilariously shares a tiny mini-car with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who fires off a nonstop series of 'Terminator'-themed quips when he isn't plowing tractors through mountainsides."

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013 With Tobias Lengnan Dapam 07036990957

International actress, Keturah, dumbs Jim Iyke

N

igeriafilms.com has revealed that the famous Jamaican born actress Keturah Hamilton, who was in a romance with Jim Iyke has called it quit with the Nollywood 'bad boy'.

It added that the America based model/actress, whose relationship was so celebrated recently, to the extent that the two openly confessed their love on the pages of magazine, are now wearing cold feet.

As to what might have affected the relationship, Nigeriafilms.com said the leggy queen of beauty recently walked out on Jim Iyke over what she termed 'bad boy

behavior was just too overwhelming'.

It is recalled that Jim Iyke has dated several Nollywood divas in the past, and they all ended up on a sad note with him. Step Nora, Oby were some of the names on his list.

In a statement signed by Jenny Garcia, MsMedia, Public Relations to Nigeriafilms.com, "For the time being, Jim Iyke and Keturah Hamilton are no longer together because in reality, Jim's bad boy behavior was just too overwhelming for the reality star.

"Keturah has decided to move on to the bigger and better things that her heart

has long been looking to do. She quotes, "I wish Jim well on his show and hope that he matures into the man I always wanted him to be!"

Keturah is currently in a new, reality-based show called "Diamonds in the Rough". We will see more of Keturah Hamilton on the big screen and on other future projects on the works because as they say, "It's not over until the fat lady sings!"

A couple of days back, Jim was questioned on his relationship with Nadia Buari and he was quick to respond that, "I am not dating Nadia but Keturah for now".

AMAA may lose glory due to poor organisation

igeriafilms.com has reported that It is no doubt that Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) may lose its essence and credibility if urgent steps are not taken to address certain irregularities.

It noted that AMAA is Africa's Oscars, but if urgent steps are

not taken to check its 'disorganised' nature, very soon, it would only be an affairs of Nigerians alone as foreigners would totally ignore the event.

Nigeriafilms recall that last event held in Bayelsa State few days ago was marred with some shortcomings ranging from poor

travel arrangements, poor feeding, poor hotel reservations and others.

One of the most annoying things about the last event, according to the entertainment site, was that the organisers were quick to blame the government for their AMAA poor planning and 'dis-organised body'. The organisers were quick to say that problems experienced in the travel arrangements of guests were due to Nigeria being a developing country, which is expected to have such 'errors'.

However, during the AfricaMagic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) held in March in the country, participants rated it one of the best attended event.

It is of note that if nothing is done to check the shortcomings experienced in the 2013 edition of the event, AMAA may end up losing its glory and struggle to gain regain its glory.

A

driven production."

The elaborate show featured

15 dancers, backup singers and musicians as well as elaborate sets.

N

Keturah

Hulk Hogan wants Gawker punished for disobeying Court order

L

ast week, a Florida judge granted Hogan's request for a temporary restraining order against Gawker, Hollywood Reporter has said.

It added that Gawker was not only ordered to pull down a oneminute excerpt of a 30-minute sex tape, but also to take down all excerpts, clips, photos and transcripts.

In reaction, Gawker took down the sex tape but refused to remove a 1,400-word narrative of the video written by former Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio.

In addition, Gawker linked to another website that was hosting the sex tape. In a post that explained the move, Gawker blasted the judge.

"The Constitution does unambiguously accord us the right to publish true things

Rihanna to perform at L.A.'s Staple Center

merica's singer Rihanna is expected to perform in Texas cities to make up for concerts canceled earlier this month, Hollywood reporter has said.

It added that Rihanna will from there head to the Lone Star State after canceling dates in Dallas and Houston earlier this month.

The singer, who canceled the Texas concerts due to illness, will now bring her Diamonds World Tour to Dallas' American Airlines Center.

Tickets for the canceled shows will be honored, while refunds will be made available at the point of purchase for those unable to attend.

In reviewing Rihanna's April 8 stop at Los Angeles' Staples Center, the Hollywood Reporter's Emily Zemler called the concert "a two-hour barrage of hits and glossy, sex-

Rihanna

Jim Iyke

Hulk Hogan

about public figures," wrote Gawker editor, John Cook.

Gawker has appealed the ruling, and on Monday morning, it got a Florida appeals court to issue an emergency stay of the temporary injunction in regards to a description of the tape.

The two sides will soon be at the District Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit in Florida arguing the First Amendment issues at hand.

In the meantime, Hogan (born Terry Bollea) is advancing with a motion to show cause why Gawker shouldn't be held in civil contempt for openly disobeying Judge Pamela Campbell's instruction "to remove the written narrative describing the private sexual encounter."

The Hollywood Reporter has obtained a copy of the motion.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 33

GOvt host entertainment subscribers in a starry show

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

W

ell onto its 2nd birthday in June, GOtv brings subscribers, the best in entertainment for the whole family, With a great line-up of movies, current affairs, news and documentaries; superb award-winning series, music, fashion, style, and kiddies programming.

An interesting coincidence between the month of May and GOtv: both have the colour green as part of their identity. May's birthstone is the emerald - a vibrant and deep green stone believed to bring good fortune, healing and renewal. So this month, like the emerald, GOtv invites all to take a seat and tune in to catch programming that is vibrant, deep in quality and vast in quantity. With favourite celebrities, talk show hosts, sports stars and news reporters - all in superior digital quality.

For the delight, it sets various entertainment channels to join the party.

Repo Games (Channel Premiere): Imagine waking up to the sound of a knock on your door and when you ask who it is, the guests announce that they are repo men and are about to repossess your car. But they come with an interesting offer: if you can answer three out of five questions, your car will be paid off and it will be yours to keep forever.

Now ask yourself: how good is your general knowledge? This reality series features some excellent comic moments as owners desperately try to quiz and wrangle their way out of trouble - with hysterical results.

Tune in to Repo Games to see reallife repossession professionals Josh Lewis and Tom DeTone offer this challenge to desperate debtors and the funny and comic results that follow.

The smoking gun will present 'The world's dumbest on 6th May, 2013: Humans consider themselves to be the most evolved and smartest of all creatures in the world, but sometimes you have to wonder: are we really the smartest species in the world? Brought to you by the zany and wild people behind the infamous Smoking Gun website, you'll get to meet the world's dumbest criminals, daredevils, adventurers, drivers, party-goers and brawlers. Every week celebrity comedians ridicule and give satirical commentary on the selection of clueless fools caught on camera performing some of the dumbest acts.

Shoot the hero will be presented on 13th May, 2013: A young couple shopping for wedding rings witness a jewel heist gone wrong and they become the target of a vicious mob boss determined to get rid of any witnesses to the crime.

Meanwhile, two brothers find themselves stranded on the road and are hopelessly drawn into the fiasco when they accept a ride from the fleeing couple.

Amidst the panic, bullets and car

chases, the pressure of being on the run starts to become too much for the young couple and they start finding out new things about themselves and their relationship. Starring Jason Mewes, Danny Trejo and Samantha Lockwood, catch this action comedy about being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and trusting love to carry you through the difficult moments.

Lock down Will be presented on 27th May, 2013: An action thriller starring former footballer Vinnie Jones as Danny - a good cop who is framed and then jailed for a crime he didn't commit.

Inside prison Danny becomes involved with the underground cage fighting activities and he enlists the help of a tough fellow inmate to help him win the fights and also clear his name. Also starring mixed martial arts legends Kimbo Slice and Rashad Evans, catch this movie about fighting for justice and restoring

your pride - no matter the cost.

Sony entertainment television will present Cannibal the following day. The (Series Premiere): Cannibalism.

Murder. Trickery and mind games. These are some of things to expect in this highly anticipated original series based on the Oscar-winning movie, Silence of the Lambs and its prequel Red Dragon. Starring Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen and Laurence Fishburne, Hannibal explores the early relationship between renowned psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter and gifted FBI criminal profiler, Will Graham. Will is a brilliant and empathic FBI profiler who is able to mentally re-trace the twisted thoughts and methods of the agency's most wanted serial killers. He has the uncanny ability to see into the minds of evil and his heightened intuition is harnessed by his boss and mentor Jack Crawford. Jack encourages

a working relationship between Dr. Lecter and Will, and so begins masterful mind games set against the contrasting worlds of good and evil, and where nothing is what it seems. Catch this scintillating and well-scripted script.

Others are Leverage (Season Premiere): Starring Timothy Hutton as Nathan "Nate" Ford as the leader of an elite group of modern-day Robin Hoods, Leverage is about a group of con artists, professional thieves and computer geniuses who target the greedy, corrupt and unjust to right the wrongs done to innocent citizens. The fifth season of this stylish and slick drama sees the team exploiting a corrupt executive's obsession with a legendary engineer; infiltrate a cooking school whose owner is a smuggler; and pull out all their tricks to stop a terror attack. This season will also see the team embarking on

their riskiest and most personal con yet. Tune in every Tuesday to see these modern-day heroes use their criminal skills to balance the scales between right and wrong and be the voice for the helpless.

Fools rush in: Starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek, Fools Rush In is a starryeyed comedy about the cultureclash and its impact on love.

Overtaken by lust at first sight, Alex and Isabel spend the night together and go on with their separate lives the following day.

However, when the two meet again three months later, Isabel is pregnant and they decide to get married. With nothing but a new baby in common, in-laws that meddle and different personalities, Alex and Isabel try to juggle their new life together while learning how to "fall in love" over time. An endearing romantic comedy about making unexpected love last forever.

Alex Gibney to direct HBO's Frank Sinatra documentary

A

lex Gibney (We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks) will direct a four-hour documentary miniseries on Frank Sinatra for HBO -- what its producers call an "up close and personal examination" of the legendary singer and actor, Alcon Television president, Sharon

Hall, told Hollywood reporter.

The documentary will cover Sinatra's life, music and career, drawing on industry footage and home movies, some of which has never been publicly seen, as well as private and public performances.

"Alex's vision for this unique documentary is an exciting one,"

says Hall, "taking viewers into the singular and extraordinary world created by one of the greatest entertainers the world has ever known."

Producers include daughter Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, a joint venture of the Sinatra family and Warner Music Group.

Alex Gibney

The production team also includes the Alcon Television Group, Kennedy-Marshall Co. and Jigsaw Productions. Jeff Pollack will also serve as a producer. Executive producers, besides Nancy Sinatra, are Frank Marshall, Charles Pignone, Hall and Alcon co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

"Although our primary business at Alcon Television is to develop, finance and produce scripted series for broadcast and cable television," added Hall, "we were overwhelmed by the scope and depth of this incredible story, not to mention the opportunity to work with Alex and to partner with KennedyMarshall and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, on what is surely to be the definitive portrait of our era's greatest performer."

Gibney won an Academy Award for his 2007 documentary, "Taxi to the Dark Side".

His most recent documentary is Focus Features' Wikileaks movie.

'Pretty Little Liars' star, Tyler Blackburn heads to 'Ravenswood' Spinoff

T

yler Blackburn, who plays Hanna's (Ashley Benson) significant other, Caleb Rivers, is leaving Rosewood and heading to Ravenswood as a series regular. The offshoot debuts in October following Pretty Little Liars' Halloween episode.

Rosewood centers on a town not far from Rosewood, Penn., which has suffered under a deadly curse for generations. Five strangers find themselves connected by this fatal curse and need to dig into the town's mysterious and terrible history before it's too late for all of them.

Blackburn will be seen traveling to the new town in the Halloween hour, during

which Ravenswood is first introduced.

The actor -- who has been a Pretty Little Liars regular since 2011 -- still will be an integral part of the mothership's upcoming summer season before officially switching gears in October. How Blackburn's character enters into the Ravenswood equation and the future of the CalebHanna relationship remain to be seen.

Marlene King, Oliver Goldstick, Joseph Dougherty and Leslie Morgenstein are executive producing Ravenswood.

Alloy Entertainment and Warner Horizon Television produce Ravenswood and Pretty Little Liars.

Tyler Blackburn

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 34

Protecting the habitat and flyways of migratory birds

By Chijioke Okoronkwo

B

ird migration is the regular, seasonal movement of many species of birds, along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds.

This migration, which attracts some high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting by humans, is driven primarily by availability of food.

The migration occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere where birds are forced to take specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea. The timing of migration is controlled primarily by changes in day length.

Migrating birds navigate, using celestial cues from the sun and stars, the earth's magnetic field, and probably also mental maps.

However, humans have always been fascinated and inspired by the phenomenon of bird migration. In ancient Greece, for instance, the bird of Athena represented the renewal of life.

Besides, the Bible says that a dove, with an olive branch in its beak, returned to Noah's ark to announce the end of the flood that then ravaged the world.

And the dove has since remained a symbol of peace and hope.

During the era of the Pharaohs in Egypt, the notion was that falcon had protective powers and the bird was linked to royalty.

In dreams, birds embody fantasy, ideas and thoughts.

The image of a flying bird is immediately connected with lightness and freedom, hence the expression ``free as a bird''.

The social acceptance of birds as messengers of life is reinforced by the awareness that bird migration plays an important role in the functioning of the ecosystem.

The World Migratory Birds Day (WMBD) was initiated in 2006 as an annual awarenessraising campaign aimed at highlighting the need to protect migratory birds and their habitats.

Since then, every second weekend in May, people around the world organise public events such as bird festivals, education programmes and bird-watching excursions to celebrate the day.

The United Nations (UN) supports this global awareness campaign and the theme for this year's WMBD is ``Networking for migratory birds''. It highlights the importance of networks of sites for migratory birds along their migration routes.

Migratory birds connect all corners and almost every environment of the world along their paths, so the WMBD, as a global event, also hopes to connect the world.

It brings together

Minister of Environment, Hadiza Mailafia organisations, governments and other stakeholders to ensure the survival of birds and protect them for future generations.

The event also serves as a platform for stimulating public awareness about migratory birds and their importance, while connecting groups of people to celebrate, share knowledge and learn from each other.

Mr Fidelis Omeni, the Deputy Director (Wild Life Management), Federal Ministry of Environment, observes that the WMBD is being celebrated every year to draw the people's attention to the plight of migratory birds.

Omeni, who is also the Desk Officer of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) at the ministry, stresses that the WMBD is an event that provokes the people's consciousness as to the importance of migratory birds to the environment. ``It is an event that brings to the consciousness of people the importance of migratory birds in our environment. ``It also aims at ensuring that the public, from the standpoint of knowledge, begins to take measures to ensure the continued survival of migratory birds everywhere they exist,'' he adds.

Omeni notes that these birds cross international boundaries that they are not even aware of, adding that consequently, the birds become the property or symbol of many countries through which they fly and survive.

He says that this

demonstrates the fact that the continued survival of migratory birds is not the responsibility of one country, adding that it is the joint responsibility of all the countries - countries of origin, transit and destination.

Omeni insists that efforts to protect these birds start by ensuring the safety and suitability of their habitat and locations during migration. ``Due to the fact migratory birds find suitable habitats in Nigeria, many birds from Europe, North Africa and other parts of the world pass their winter in Nigeria. ``It, therefore, behoves Nigerians to ensure that the habitat is made continuously conducive for these birds to continue to use those habitats. ``If water becomes a limiting factor in a particular habitat or if the water contains unacceptable levels of chemicals, you will find that these birds will not survive in those places,'' he says.

Omeni frowns at a situation where people destroy the birds through trapping, poaching or seizure of their eggs.

He concedes that migratory

birds can be vectors of some diseases, adding, however, that if the environment is made conducive for the birds' survival, such diseases may not be transferred to domestic birds.

Besides, Omeni argues that the migratory birds could be indicators of the health status of the environment. ``Once the environment changes and becomes hostile to them, the birds will change direction and find other places that are more suitable. ``They have this biological clock within them which enables them to decipher the time to go back and then, they embark on their journey. ``But if the environment is not suitable; rather than come here, they will find some other places or they will perish and we will lose them completely. ``And remember that we have not discovered everything about many of these bird species by today's knowledge; they may become the cure for diseases of tomorrow; you can never tell,'' he adds.

Only a small number of birds are actually threatened by natural events. Experts

“

If water becomes a limiting factor in a particular habitat or if the water contains unacceptable levels of chemicals, you will find that these birds will not survive in those places,'

insist that human activities are the main source of virtually all the dangers facing migrating birds.

They add that the main threats to the survival of migratory birds include the loss of habitats due to pollution or exploitation induced by human encroachment, agriculture and grazing, among others.

Dr Gidado Muhammed of the Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, says that that Nigeria falls within the routes of migratory birds.

According to him, the East Africa, West Asia flyway and the North Atlantic flyway are the two migratory bird routes that pass through Nigeria.

Muhammed also notes that dams across the country also serve as roosting sites for wild birds, adding, however, that communities around these dams could be at risk of contracting diseases such as Avian Influenza (bird flu) with wild birds roaming around. ``We also have wetlands like the Hadejia and Nguru wetlands; birds migrate from Europe to these places especially around April and May. So these places can also be at risk. ``So these are the known risk areas as far as migratory birds are concerned. However, these are things one cannot control. ``They move from one country to another; they don't respect any border. Today, they may be in Nigeria, tomorrow they may be in Mali,'' he adds.

In terms of the diseases which migratory birds transmit, Muhammed says that the veterinary department of Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources is collaborating with state governments and laboratories to carryout targeted surveillance.

He says that samples of blood of domestic birds are periodically taken to determine if there is a transmission of any dangerous virus from wild or migratory birds.

Muhammed, however, stresses that there has not been any suspected bird flu infection in the country, vowing that his department has mounted a close surveillance across the country to check such infections.

He, nonetheless, warns people against caging wild birds; as the birds can be vectors of diseases that could harm or even kill human beings.

All the same, observers stress the need for designed cooperation between governments, NGOs and other stakeholders along the flyways of migratory birds in knowledge sharing and conservation efforts.

This, according to them, is because concerted efforts should be made to tackle all the perceptible challenges and threats facing migratory birds across the world so as to safeguard the ecosystem.

Source: NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 35

Boosting potable water supply via adequate funding

By Cecilia Ologunagba

B

y most accounts, the roadmap for Nigeria Water Sector, which was launched in 2011, is aimed at making potable water available to all Nigerians by the year 2025.

Speaking at the launch, President Goodluck Jonathan decried the inability of government over the years to make potable water available to the citizens.

He, however, pledged that his administration would redress the trend. ``Our target is to ensure that by the year 2015, 75 per cent of Nigerians will have access to safe drinking water and by 2025; the figure will rise to 90 per cent. ``No Nigerian child should in the next few years, trek long distances to carry water on his or her head before going to school,'' he vowed.

Dr Godknows Igali, the former Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said that the implementation of the roadmap would enable the country to meet the target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water supply. ``The overall impact of this roadmap will be the achievement of 75 per cent of national water supply access and 65 per cent national sanitation access by 2015. ``The impact will also be the achievement of 100 per cent coverage in water and sanitation by the year 2025,'' he said.

To bridge the funding gap for water projects across the country, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources recently organised the Presidential Summit on Innovative Funding for the Water Sector.

Dr Sanjo Bamgboye, the Executive Director, National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, said that over N350 billion was needed annually to meet the country's water and sanitation targets.

Jonathan, who declared the summit open, said that the Federal Government proposed N39 billion in the 2013 budget for its expenditure on water-related projects, in addition to the special intervention funds earmarked for that purpose.

He, however, noted that the funds so far spent on the water sector had not achieved the desired results. ``The situation in our rural and sub-urban areas as regards access to clean water remains unacceptable. ``Government is actually investing significantly in the water sector. On the average, only one in five rural households has access to clean water. ``Most families collect water from unsafe sources such as rainfalls, ponds, streams and rivers,'' the president added.

Participants at the 58th session of council of ministers of Lake Chad basin commission, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: NAN

As part of efforts to boost funding for small-scale water providers, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bank of Industry (BOI).

Igali said that the agreement was aimed at making funds available to small-scale water providers to enable them use modern methods of water distribution in their business.

The Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that the water roadmap would succeed as the government would receive additional N158 billion from donor agencies over the next five years to boost water supply and sanitation. ``This is about three times what we provided ourselves with our own resources,'' she said, stressing that the resources would be mainly used to fund water projects.

The minister stressed the need for Nigeria to sustain the funding of water sector projects, adding, however, that such finance should not be left for the governments alone.

Okonjo-Iweala noted that taxes on airline tickets and international financial transactions constituted a potent source of alternative finance for the water sector.

She emphasised that these two sources should be exploited, adding that slightly over 2 billion U.S. dollars (about N320 billion) had been generated through airline tax in the last five years.

However, Bamgboye specifically suggested that Water Tax should be introduced in the country to boost the funding of water-related projects. ``What we're asking for is what other countries have taken as basics; they don't take it as an issue to have

“

This will ensure better operation and management of the projects and thereby lead to increased production from such investments

water in any village in Europe. ``It is even not an issue to have water in most of the Asian countries, they are moving beyond us,'' he said.

Nevertheless, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, the Minister of Water Resources, said that with the current initiative of seeking additional funds, Nigeria would soon join the league of developing countries that had overcome their water supply challenges.

She said that the ministry had created opportunities for private sector participation in water projects via the establishment of a PublicPrivate Partnership Unit.

Ochekpe said that the unit was working with other relevant agencies to screen various water sector projects across the country for concessioning arrangements. ``This will ensure better operation and management of the projects and thereby lead to increased production from such investments,'' she added.

In a nutshell, stakeholders want the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to sustain the publicprivate partnership arrangement in the provision of potable water for the citizens.

They also urge the Federal Government to encourage the state and local governments, the private sector, civil society organisations and donor agencies to participate in the execution of water projects.

Source: NAN

PAGE 36

By Rebecca Morelle

N

ew drug-resistant strains of the parasite that causes malaria have been identified by scientists.

Researchers found parasites in western Cambodia that are genetically different from other strains around the world.

These organisms are able to withstand treatment by artemisinin - a frontline drug in the fight against malaria.

Reports of drug resistance in the area first emerged in 2008. The problem has since spread to other parts of South East Asia.

The study is published in the journal Nature Genetics.

The lead author, Dr Olivo Miotto, of the University of Oxford and Mahidol University in Thailand, said: "All the most effective drugs that we have had in the last few decades have been one by one rendered useless by the remarkable ability of this parasite to mutate and develop resistance.

"Artemisinin right now works very well. It is the best weapon we have against the disease, and we need to keep it."

Western Cambodia has been described by scientists as a hotspot for malaria resistance.

They do not understand why, but since the 1950s parasites there have developed a resistance to a succession of malaria drugs. The problem has spread to other parts of Asia and Africa.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Parasite 'resistant to malaria drug artemisinin' Now scientists are worried the same thing will happen with artemisinin. This drug is used widely around the world against the mosquito-borne disease and can treat an infection in a few days

when it is used in combination with other drugs.

To investigate, scientists sequenced the genomes of 800 malaria-causing parasites (Plasmodium falciparum)

collected from around the world.

"When we compared the DNA of the parasites in Cambodia, they seem to have formed some new populations that we have not really seen elsewhere," Dr Miotto

The malaria-causing parasites in Cambodia were genetically different from other strains

said.

The international team found three distinct groups of drugresistant parasites present in the area.

The researchers said they did not yet understand what genetic mutations had occurred that enabled the parasites to withstand artemisinin treatment.

But they said that understanding their genetic fingerprint would help them to quickly spot and track these strains if they spread further.

Dr Miotto said: "It could be a tool for detecting in real time the emergence of drug resistance."

The World Health Organization has stated that a major objective is to stop the spread of malaria parasites resistant to drugs.

According to its latest estimates, there were about 219 million cases of malaria in 2010 and 660,000 deaths.

Africa is the most affected continent: about 90% of all malaria deaths occur there.

Source: BBCNews.com

The power of prayer: Believing in Diabetes danger in just one sugary drink a day God can help treat depression

By Rachel Reilly

A strong faith in a higher power has been shown to improve mental health

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elief in God may improve treatment for those suffering with depression, says a new study.

Faith in a higher being has been found to significantly improve treatment for people suffering with a psychiatric illness, according to research carried out by McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Researchers followed 159 patients over the course of a year at the Behavioral Health Partial Hospital program at McLean to investigate the relationship between a patient's level of belief in God, expectations for treatment and actual treatment outcomes.

Each participant was asked to

gauge their belief in God as well as their expectations for treatment outcome on a five-point scale.

Levels of depression, wellbeing, and self-harm were assessed at the beginning and end of their treatment program.

Researchers found that patients with 'no' or only 'slight' belief in God were twice as likely not to respond to treatment than patients with higher levels of belief.

And more than 30 per cent of patients claiming no specific religious affiliation still saw the same benefits in treatment if their belief in God was rated as moderately or very high.

Researchers concluded that a belief in God is associated with improved treatment outcomes in psychiatric care.

The study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, said : 'Our work suggests that people with a moderate to high level of belief in a higher power do significantly better in short-term psychiatric treatment than those without, regardless of

Alone: Psychiatric disorders can be very isolating for the sufferer but a belief in God can help, say researchers

their religious affiliation.

Belief was associated with not only improved psychological wellbeing, but a decrease in depression and intention to selfharm, explained David Rosmarin, McLean Hospital clinician and instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical.

He added: 'I hope that this work will lead to larger studies and increased funding in order to help as many people as possible.'

Previous studies have highlighted the power of prayer on a person's health.

Research at San Francisco General Hospital monitored the effects of prayer on 393 cardiac patients.

Patients were asked if they wanted to take part in the trial but were not told whether they would be the subject of prayers.

Half were prayed for by a group of strangers who only had the patients' names.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

By Jenny Hope

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rinking one can of soft drink a day can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by a fifth, scientists warn.

A major study found the risk rose by as much as 22 per cent for every 12oz serving of sugarsweetened drink - a typical can consumed per day.

Soft drinks have previously been linked with weight gain and obesity - a well-known trigger for type 2 diabetes - but researchers say the effect goes beyond body weight and may be caused by an increase in insulin resistance.

The study of almost 30,000 people living in eight European countries, including Britain, follows US research which made nearidentical findings. Scientists at Imperial College London wanted to determine whether the link held good in Europe, where soft drinks are less popular than in America.

Professor Nick Wareham, of the Medical Research Council's epidemiology unit, who oversaw the study, said it was more evidence that people should be cautious about the amount of sugary soft drink they consumed.

He said: 'This finding adds to growing global literature suggesting that there is a link between consumption of sugarsweetened beverages, obesity and risk of development of type 2 diabetes.

'This observation suggests that consumption of these beverages should be limited as part of an overall healthy diet.'

Researchers found that the risk of type 2 diabetes rose 22 per cent

The risk of diabetes rose by as much as 22 per cent for every can of drink consumed per day for people having one 12oz (336ml) serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink a day compared with those not having any. For those having two soft drinks, it rose a further 22 per cent over those having one drink.

The number of Britons diagnosed with diabetes hit three million this year for the first time almost one in 20 of the population.

Type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle factors such as being overweight or obese, leading a sedentary lifestyle and an unhealthy diet.

It occurs when the body gradually loses the ability to process blood sugar, leading to high levels which can damage body organs and result in years of ill-health.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 37

Mimiko knows fate today as Ondo Tribunal delivers judgment ByLawrenceOlaoyewithagencyreports

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L-R: Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Chairman, House Committee on Human Rights, Beni Lar, and Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Hon. Ali Ahmed, during the stakeholders retreat on human rights, yesterday at the National Assembly, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Group to sponsor AlMakura's ticket for 2015 From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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group, Doma Vanguard for Good Governance, has vowed to sponsor the 2015 return ticket for Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura of Nasarawa.

The group made this known yesterday in a press conference, which held in Lafia, the state capital.

In a statement signed by Murtala Muhammad Loko and Mustapha Rabiu Ogoshi, secretary and chairman

respectively, the group said its decision to pay for Al-makura's ticket to contest again come 2015 is informed by the latter's "monumental achievements which were clear and sincere manifestation" of his campaign promises.

According to the group, the overall purpose of leadership, which is to champion the course of humanity by embarking on projects that has direct bearing on the life of the common man, has been fulfilled when Almakura, among other projects,

approved the implementation of the new minimum wage; constructed the 4 km St. John Bosco township road in Doma; revitalised the Doma dam, with the people now enjoying steady water supply and the location of the largest rice farm in Africa, owned by a foreign investor, in Rukubi of Ekye development area.

For these reasons and more therefore, the Vanguard for Good Governance, "desire and yearn strongly for your continuity in office come 2015"

and to achieve this goal, Bilyaminu Abubakar Sawaba, spokesman of the group, told journalists that members are willing to sell their personal effects to raise money for the ticket.

While lauding Al-makura for leading the state by example, being innovative, purposeful and with a strong passion for development, as well as being transparent and accountable, the group restated its commitment to the task to ensure that he clinches the governorship ticket come 2015.

Group cautions rumor mongers over Bamanga Tukur

By Umar Muhammad Puma

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ational Association for Probity and Justice (NAPOJ) has cautioned those spreading rumors of the resignation of Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as National Chairman of the PDP to desist from peddling such unfounded and malicious propaganda meant to derail the democracy and throw entire polity into confusion.

Speaking to our correspondent at the National Assembly complex, spokesman

of the group, Babangida Isa Narabi, said those behind the mischief are not only out to derail democracy but to throw the entire polity into confusion and chaos to achieve a hidden agenda against the Goodluck administration.

According to him, for the past one year, Bamanga Tukur has been in the fore-front of correcting the ills bedeviling the PDP including indiscipline and disrespect to the supremacy of the party against the wish of a selected selfish few that

hitherto held the party to ransom as a personal estate. “It is those disgruntled politicians within the PDP that are sponsoring the malicious rumor of the chairman’s resignation as a political strategy. They have lost bearing and resorted to mischief to pull the national chairman down, forgetting that the party is supreme and Bamanga is determined to protect and project the interest of democracy as visibly seen”, he said

Narabi noted that despite the concerted efforts of the presidency to broker truce between the party leadership and some aggrieved members, mischief makers are still at work to scuttle the efforts for their selfish interest, “President Goodluck is doing his best to restore sanity but few individuals on the corridor of power in some States are all out to jeopardize the efforts. That should not be allowed in the interest of the democracy”, he added.

ndo state Electoral Tribunal handling petitions against the election of the Ondo state governor, Chief Olusegun Mimiko, will today deliver its ruling to either confirm or invalidate the election that brought him into power.

Some opposition parties in Ondo state had contested the legitimacy of the last governorship election in state at the election tribunal. The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and its Candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu; and Olusola Oke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; are contesting the result of last year’s governorship election declared in favour of the current governor of the state and the Labour Party, LP. The petitions of Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, and its candidate, Soji Ehinlanwo, faced some challenges leading to its indefinite adjournment.

The three-man petition panel headed by Justice Andova Kaka’n was inaugurated on November 22, 2012 and got 180 days to finalize proceedings. All parties involved have been served with a notice of judgment by the Tribunal.

Benue Assembly commences 4 week recess

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he Benue House of Assembly will commence a four-week recess on Friday to enable the members take adequate rest during the period, its Majority Leader, Paul Biam, has said.

Biam, who made the announcement in Makurdi yesterday during plenary session, said the recess would take effect from May 3 to June 4.

He, however, enjoined his colleagues to go and interact with their constituents in order to ascertain their plight with a view to proffering solutions to them.

Biam said that the recess would also give the members the opportunity of venturing into research that could be of immense benefit to their legislative responsibilities.

According to him, it will spur them to contribute meaningfully to debates when they resume for duties.

Biam appealed to them to always make themselves available to the House while on recess, adding that they could be called upon to attend to a pressing state matter any day. (NAN)

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

No conflict in Kogi Assembly, says Speaker INTERVIEW The Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Hon Momoh Lawal has ruled out any conflict in the House. Lawal who fielded questions from our Kogi state Correspondent, Sam Egwu, in Lokoja recently said the solidarity between the executive and legislature would be strengthened and made more purposeful in due course. Excerpts:

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ou are the Speaker Kogi State House of Assembly, what is the relationship between the executive arm and the legislature?

Left for people’s wish, we would have been at dagger drawn with the executive since I assumed office last year. But we consider the state bigger than any individual. That has been the guiding principle and what has sustained us till now.

The relationship between the House and Executive led by Capt Idris Wada, is cordial. It will remain for so long as the two arms exist in this dispensation.

This is because the Honourable members who are of other parties than PDP know that the party was a vehicle in which people came into government.

Since you came on board as the Speaker of the Assembly, what has been the relationship between G-12 and G-13, the crisis which brought you

to the seat of Speaker?

We are together, focused and united in partnership towards giving our people quality leadership and good governance. I don’t think there will be conflict either now or in the future. Let me tell you categorically that since my assumption of office as the Speaker of Kogi state House of Assembly, I have been presiding over one united House. It is true that before my election, we had groupings and we had our differences, but as democrats, those differences were resolved before I emerged as the Speaker. That was why my election as Speaker was unanimous. The House is united as ever, and I am relating very well with my colleagues.

How would you asses the level of security in the state?

The level of security in the state is quite appreciable compared to the past when there were killings

Hon. Momoh Lawal here and there by hoodlums.

This is where the House stands up to give Capt Idris Wada kudos for making life meaningful to all of us in the state today.The prevailing atmosphere of peace and tranquility being enjoyed in the state is due to the untiring efforts of the governor who has zero tolerance to crimes and criminality.The various security outfit would be known no less for sustaining peace and tranquility in the state.

As the Speaker, what efforts ere you making to ensure good road networks in Lokoja, the state capital?

In the House of Assembly, we have passed a number of laws and resolutions that can guaranttee good road networks in Lokoja. We have such law as Kogi Road Maintainance law; then the dualist ion of GanajaAjaokuta road and Hassan Katsina roads are results of House of Assembly resolutions.We mounted enough pressure

on the executive to give the state capital enough facelift which I am sure he currently doing. All said and done, in the 2013 budget that was passed by the House of Assembly, a number of township roads have been captured.

We are not generalising, what happens to Lokoja township roads?

I hope very soon you will see a difference in all.

How do you see the party and state interest?

Well, state interest is more important. For you as a party man to be relevant, you must make sure that the needs of the people of the state are met.

So, the state interest takes uppermost interest. In any case, it is not usual for party to be in conflict with state interest. Don’t forget, a party is there to build personality and officials to occupy the offices. So they go hand in hand in harmony with each other. If for any reason, there should be a consideration to be taken note of, and there is onflict between the state interest and party interest, naturally, state interest will take priority.

The LG election is here what do you expect?

The KOSIEC should bring the materials out on time so that the materials get to various locations at the right time and under a tight security. They should also ensure that accreditation and voting commence at the various polling centre at the stipulated time. They should also ensure absolute transparency in the process.

ACN, CPC allege plans to rig council polls in Kogi

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he leaderships of ACN and CPC, say they have uncovered alleged plans by Kogi Independent Electoral Commission (KOSIEC) to disenfranchise electorate in eight local government areas in the May 4 council elections.

Addressing a joint news conference in Lokoja on Tuesday, ACN chieftain and former Gov. Abubakar Audu of Kogi, alleged that the commission had concluded plans to rig the elections.

Audu alleged there was a reliable information from security reports that KOSIEC planned to provide inadequate electoral materials in the councils.

According to him, the local government areas are Ofu, Olamaboro, Dekina, Ijumu, Kogi-KK, Lokoja, Idah and Adavi.

The former governor said the council areas were the strongholds of the two political parties because they had overwhelming followership there.

“The state government should call the commission to order; If this plan is nurtured to maturation, it is capable of

undermining the election process.

“There is no citizen of this state that will like to be disenfranchised or be robbed of his civil rights.

“I want you to inform the government that it will not be in the best interest of the state and its citizenry to embark on such illegality.

“We don’t lend credence to speculations but when there is an iota of truth in it as in this case, we cannot treat it with

levity.”

The ACN Chairman in the state, Mr Haddy Ametuo, said the two political parties had lost confidence in the state electoral body due to alleged double standards.

He said the commission had turned its electoral guidelines upside down.

He urged the commission to withdraw its announcement that the election results would not be announced at polling units and collation centres but

at their headquarters in Lokoja.

The Chairman of CPC in the state, Mr Mohammed MaboKassim, said he expected the commission to work within the ambit of the local government electoral law of 2004.

“I am surprised to find out that the electoral commission is working at variance with the law, ” he said.

Reacting to the allegations, the state Electoral Commissioner in charge of Information and Public Affairs,

Mr Adejoh Idachaba, denied any plot to disenfranchise the electorate in any local government.

The commissioner, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), urged the two political parties to go back to the drawing board and work hard to win their elections.

He said that the commission was determined to conduct free and fair elections.

“We will not short-change anybody,” he said. (NAN)

Constituency delineation will not increase NASS seats, says INEC chair

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rof Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said yesterday that the planned delineation of constituencies would not increase the number of seats at the National Assembly.

Jega said this in Enugu while reacting to the position of members of the National Assembly that constituency delineation should conform with constitutional provisions in order to increase the seats.

The INEC chairman, who was

in Enugu to attend the National Retreat on Constituency Delimitation, said that the commission had no powers to increase the number of legislative seats, but to adjust them only.

“What we cannot do under the existing constitution is to increase the number of constituencies. For example, the constitution has limited the number of senatorial seats to 109 and it has also limited the number of federal constituencies to 360.

"So, we cannot increase any of this, but we can adjust them to

bring them in line with the population quota, so that the vote of every person in each constituency is as nearly equal to the population quota as possible.

"Also, we can use the existing constitutional provisions to address the issue of state constituencies because state constituencies can be adjusted by us in the context of the present constitution so long as they are not less than 24 and not more than 44.'

Jega said that the desire of the commission was to use the existing provisions to bring

remarkable improvements into the constituency delimitation.

Jega said that the exercise would be completed before the 2015 general elections.

He, however, explained that the retreat would afford stakeholders the opportunity to contribute positively towards the implementation of the exercise.

In a message to the retreat, the Senate President, Sen David Mark, said that the delineation of constituencies should come by constitution amendment. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 39

Abia Assembly passes two amendment bills

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L-R: Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Downstream, Senator Magnus Abe, Chairman, Senate Committee on Gas, Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, Chairman, Senate Joint Committee on the Petroleum Industry Bill, Senator Emmanuel Paulker, and Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Umaru Dahiru, during the joint Committee on Petroleum Industry Bill Workshop, recently in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

NEMA amendment Act passes second reading at Reps

By Lawrence Olaoye

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bill for an Act to amend the National Emergency Management Agency(NEMA) Act of 2004 yesterday passed the second reading at the House of Representatives The bill which seeks to amend the NEMA law and create a Department of National Flood Mitigation and Insurance Programme in NEMA was sponsored by Rep Emmanuel Jime.

Leading debate on the merits of the bill, Jime argued that the essence of the proposed legislation was to make NEMA more proactive in its activities.

According to him, information received from relevant agencies indicate that the country would likely witness more flooding within the year.

The lawmaker who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), stressed the need to have a department under NEMA that would be saddled with the duties of ensuring that standards of building were properly provided and strictly followed.

He pointed out hat proper ordinances are not put in place before buildings standing in the way of flooding are erected just as he added that the proposed

department which would be under NEMA would ensure that proper procedure was followed.

The legislator said that the bill would also address the issues of buildings on waterways.

Contributing, Rep Bimbo Daramola said that the bill was timely but Rep. Peter Edeh, opposed the bill, arguing that the proposed department would take away the functions of an agency already established.

The Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha, who provided over the plenary referred the bill to the Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness for more inputs.

Monarch urges peaceful coexistence

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he Mai of Kaltungo in Gombe State, Alhaji Saleh Mohammed, on Thursday called for peaceful coexistence among the diverse ethnic communities to speed up development.

He told newsmen during the maiden edition of "Tungo Hill Walk Carnival" at the Tungo hill, in Kaltungo Local Government Area.

Saleh said that the carnival was organised to bring peace and unity among the people of the area.

"The significance of the carnival is to bring peace and unity in our community.

"Our ancestors had lived here for years in peace with each other and their neighbours

and people seem to have forgotten all this.''

According to Saleh, it is a good idea to follow the historic footsteps of our ancestors to see how they lived, to see the activities they were engaged in.

He said that the event was also to showcase the tourism potential in the area so that wealthy individuals could develop hotels and resort centres around the hill for "honey moon" and other holiday periods.

"I think it is a beautiful site if you come up to the hill, you can see places and the atmosphere is good and peaceful.

"I think it is good for young couples to start their married life here."

“After the Tangle people left the hill and

settled around many villages, they kept going up to the hill for their meetings, where the white men met them and named it "Kaltungo", meaning where people went for meetings.

In a paper entitled "Peaceful Coexistence among tribes in Tangale Waja: A tool for Sustainable Development", Dr Salisu Rakum, of the Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State, said there was the need for peaceful coexistence among the people in the state.

Rakum commended the people for their contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and their leading role in literacy level among other issues. (NAN)

Gov. Akpabio frowns at widows treatment by kinsfolk From Mike Etim, Uyo

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kwa Ibom state governor, Barrister Godswill Akpabio, has frowned at the age long practice in some societies in which family members of the deceased dispossess widows of the properties of their husbands at death.

To address this, the governor hinted that there is a bill which will enable widows to enjoy all rights and privileges

of their deceased husbands in the State House of Assembly.

Governor Akpabio who stated this when the National President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Evelyn Shekarau paid him a courtesy visit at Governor’s Office, Uyo, stressed the need for the body to liaise with his administration in improving and bringing justice to less fortunate Nigerians, especially women.

He maintained that much as the body fights to protect women who are battered by men, the body at the same time should also provide free services for husbands who are battered by their wives for the sake of equity.

The Governor also advocated greater partnership with Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA) in the dispensation of justice for the less privileged Nigerians.

he Abia State House of Assembly has passed the bill to amend the Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission Law. The bill, to be cited as HAB Amended Law 44, went through the third reading and would provide legal backing to the commission to fund the Abia State Road Maintenance Agency.

Similarly, the assembly passed the bill on the Abia State Integrated Passengers Manifest Scheme Amendment Law 1, 2013, marked HAB 45.

It seeks to increase the state’s internally generated revenue.

The sponsor of the two bills, Mr Chidiebere Nwoke (PDPUmuahia East) explained that the passengers manifest scheme would empower the agency to generate revenue for accident victims. (NAN)

May Day: Ahmed, AlMakura, Okorocha urge workers to cooperate with govt.

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ovs. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara, Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa State and Rochas Okorocha of Imo on Wednesday urged workers to continue to maintain cordial industrial relationship with government.

The governors said in their May Day celebration messages that the calls were necessary in order to move the states forward.

In Ilorin, Ahmed said his administration was committed to moving the state from a civil servant economy to industrial one.

The governor, who was represented by the Head of Service, Alhaji Mohammed Dabarako, at the occasion, said workers in the country have a vital role to play in the nation’s development.

Earlier, the state chairman of the, Mr Farouk Akanbi, called for upward review of the N18, 000 minimum wages to civil servants in the state.

Akanbi, in his address entitled “100 years of nationhood: the challenges of national development’’, said Kwara was one of the states in the country to adopt the N18, 000 as minimum wage.

He lamented that the salary table of the minimum wage was very low compared to some states.

According to him, the current social and economic realities of the contemporary time made it expedient for the minimum wage table to be reviewed upward.

In Lafia, Al-Makura commended the state’s labour unions for the harmonious industrial relationship with his administration over the last one year.

Al-Makura gave the commendation while addressing workers at the 2013 Workers’ day celebrations in the state.

“It is gratifying to state that within the past one year, our state witnessed immense industrial peace and harmony,” he said.

In Owerri, Okorocha called for cooperation of workers, and promised to reinstate the Imo workers who were disengaged from service

by Abia government in 2011.

Addressing workers, the governor said he was not in a position to question his Abia counterpart on while the decision to dismiss all Imo workers, mostly female teachers, health personnel and local council staff was taken. (NAN)

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Benue FA Cup final: Apa Utd begs Mark for financial succour

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he management of Apa Utd have sent a Save Our Soul appeal to its proprietor, Senate President David Mark, to offer the team a financial lifeline and thus facilitate settlement of players' entitlements.

According to an official of the club who confided in Peoples Daily Sports yesterday, the Nigerian Nationwide League side has been hit by financial crises largely due to allege diversion of funds released to the club.

The official claimed that each time fund was released for the maintenance of the club, the bulk of it was usually channelled to the Mark D basketball club while the rest disappears into thin air.

He regretted that the club was struggling to murky waters of relegation because money meant for the running of the club is not being expended for that purpose and added that the players were depressed and lack the proper motibvation to excel.

"We are left with no option but to send a save our soul message to our proprietor and sponsor, Senate President, Senator David

Mark because his pet football club, Apa United is dying in silence. " The Senate President's commitment to the club is not in doubt but one of his aides who is the link between him and the club has not been sincere in his financial dealings with the club. " Each time money meant for Apa United is released, it is diverted to the Mark D basketball club being managed by a relation of the Senate President. " For several months now, we cannot pay players entitlements and it's been difficult for us to honour our home and away matches. If care is not taken we may be relegated and this will not do the image of the Senate President any good," the official in a sad tune.

He lamented what would be the plight of the team should it be relegated and wondered of what use the ultra-modern sports complex in Oturkpo being built for the team by the president.

Apa Utd are billed to play the Benue state Federation Cup finals against Lobi Stars of Makurdi.

PAGE 41

Yes, we’ve released Mba for Rangers, says Wolves official

By Patrick Andrew with agency report

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fter many months of horse-trading, claims, counter claims and denials, the management of Warri Wolves has finally conceded grounds and offered provisional release of Sunday Mba to Rangers.

The breather for Rangers and the player, who cried out

only penultimate day that Wolves were out to wreck his career, came yesterday after lengthy deliberations in which agreements were reached.

Accordingly, the 2013 AFCON hero, (Mba) who scored two crucial goals against the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire and the Stallions of Burkina Faso travelled with the coal city team for the CAF Champions League, reverse fixture scheduled for this weekend against

FIFA Confederation Cup: Keshi returns today

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fter a deserved two weeks holiday in the United States with his family, Super Eagles’ head Coach Stephen keshi is expected to return to the country today ahead of this month’s hectic fixtures for the team.

The Eagles are to play a couple of friendly games against Mexico, and two other countries before the double header against Kenya and Rwanda in the 2014 World Cup qualifier next month.

Also on focus is the FIFA Confederation in Rio, Brazil where the Eagles will seek global honours along with continental champions.

Already, Keshi has called up

30 domestic league based players who are to be joined by their foreign-based counterparts to begin preparations for the friendly matches as tune up for the competitive games.

The camping, which will first be held in Abuja before it shifts to Germany, will offer the tactician needed opportunity to critically evaluate the players especially the freshers, who were recently given the nod to enlist in the team in areas where he had observed some needs during the nations Cup fiesta in South Africa.

The Nigerian team are current African champions after dethroning Zambia at the 29th AFCON last February.

Sunday Mba

Clube Recreativo Desportivo (CRD) do Libolo in Angola.

An official of the side, Moses Etu said the management listened to pleas from wellmeaning Nigerians especially the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and decided to offer provisional release of the player for national interest.

However, he insisted that Mba remains a bonafide player of Warri Wolves stressing that all financial and federating rights remain with Warri Wolves. “Wolves approved of Mba so as not to jeopardise his flourishing football career and for national interest,” he said.

The letter signed by the club’s secretary, Lawrence Omowho copied to the NFF reads in part.

“The management of Warri Wolves hereby on national interest released its bona fide player, Sunday Mba to play for Enugu Rangers.

“The Nigeria Football Federation should note that hundred percent financial and federating rights of the player, Sunday Mba remain with Warri Wolves.

“Warri Wolves are doing this in the national interest and so that the player’s career would not be in jeopardy.”

However, it remains unclear how much transfer fee Rangers have finally agreed to pay to Warri Wolves in view of the initial rejection of the N15m tag and later N100m which the Wolves said was the real value for the player.

FIFA beach soccer, refereeing courses begin today in Abuja Euro flop forces La Liga calendar change

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he failure of Barcelona and Real Madrid to reach the Champions League final on May 25 has allowed La Liga to rearrange the penultimate round of matches, the Spanish league (LFP) said yesterday.

Leaders Barcelona were hammered 7-0 on aggregate by Bayern Munich in their semifinal while second-placed Real went down 43 against Borussia Dortmund.

“In line with a prevision made in the calendar... that if no Spanish team qualified for the Champions League final, the 37th round of matches, scheduled for Wednesday May 29, will be brought forward to Sunday May 26,” the LFP said in a statement.

Matches include the Barcelona derby at Espanyol, and a meeting between the La Liga’s surprise performers this season, fourth-placed Real Sociedad, who host Real.

La Liga is scheduled to finish on June 1.

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total of 60 coaches- 30 each from the beach soccer and conventional football are expected to begin one-week training programme in addition to a meeting of stakeholders.

This was contained in a release by the Nigeria Football Federation, which also indicated that FIFA has appointed Mr. Eddie Loewen from the USA the coaching instructor for the event, which holds at the Conference Hall of the National Stadium, Abuja.

Nigeria’s Sunday Okayi, a respected Refereeing Instructor in beach soccer worldwide, will

serve as Refereeing Instructor while Mr. Linus Mba, FIFA Advisor on refereeing, will be the Course Coordinator.

Since its first first participated at the African Beach Soccer Championship in South Africa in 2006, the Supersand Eagles have played at four World Cup finals, reaching the quarter finals at the last tournament in Ravenna, Italy in September 2011.

The Supersand Eagles have also won both editions of COPA Lagos Invitational Tournaments held in 2011 and 2012.

Sepp Blatter

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Burns unfazed by Gonzalez KO record

R

icky Burns has stated that he is not concerned over Jose Gonzalez’s knockout ratio, insisting he has what it takes to counter the Puerto Rican’s big punches.

Burns defends his WBO lightweight title against Gonzalez at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on May 11, and admits the only footage he could find of his

opponent was of knock-out punches that Gonzalez had administered.

Undefeated Gonzalez has scored 17 knockouts in 22 professional career victories, but 30-year-old Burns is confident that he can find enough to end the lightweight’s unbeaten streak.

“He (Gonzalez) is obviously a big puncher but I have been in

with big punchers before so I will just have to make sure my hands are up and I go out there and do what I have been training to do,” Burns said. “His knockout ratio doesn’t concern me at all.

“I am a good fighter but over my last few fights I have been getting a lot more aggressive. I have been going forward a lot more and can fight on the front.

“We have been struggling to get any footage of his fights, the only things we can find on YouTube is him knocking boys out.

“He switch-hits, he likes to hit you with a big left hook. When I have watched the footage it seems to be the big left hook he has been knocking everybody out with.

“Although when you look at my record I don’t really have a lot of knockouts, I do hit hard enough to make the guy think about coming in.”

C

quota toward the development of the sport. ``The physically challenged athletes in this country have for long been struggling to be recognised and I think the dearth of tournaments has discouraged many of them. ``If the sports administrators in the country can devote more attention to them, greater abilities can be discovered in their disabilities. ``I will personally suggest

that there should be nothing less than four national competitions annually for the disabled, who have taken sports as careers, '' he said.

Asaba said that the country had better chances of winning more laurels with attention paid to all Paralympic sports. ``These athletes are desperate to give all their best to their chosen sports, because they consider it their last hope for survival, unlike the able

bearing Julius Caesar’s famous phrase veni, vidi, vici – “I came, I saw, I conquered”.

Klitschko, looking for the 60th victory of his career, has put in 143 rounds of sparring in preparation for the bout, which will be televised live on SuperSport 2. The fight itself will be watched by a crowd of 13 000 and it will be broadcast in 150 countries.

“I’m as ready as I always am, but I will not underestimate him,” said Klitschko, who used to have Pianeta as a sparring partner. “It is the opportunity of a lifetime for him and he has already won his toughest fight, because he has defeated cancer.”

Klitschko wants a quick knock-out.

“I will give everything for a clear win,” he said.

Klitschko and Povetkin, both former Olympic Games champions, were due to clash twice before but Povetkin pulled out in 2008 because of an injury and then backed out a second time in 2010.

Klitschko refuses to answer questions about a possible fight against Povetkin because it would be “disrespectful to Francesco”.

The Ukrainian has said his dream is to fight at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

He won the superheavyweight gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games. He will have turned 40 by the time Rio Games begin, but the International Amateur Boxing Association has not ruled out the idea, even though he will be too old to fight under present rules.

“The AIBA has heard about Wladimir Klitschko’s dream,” spokesman Sebastien Gillot has said. “The AIBA looks forward to further discussions with Wladimir.”

Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, Minister of Youth Development

bodied athletes, who have other opportunities. ``We see this in their commitment to training. The sky will be their starting point with support from governments and the individuals,'' he said.

Asaba urged government to give attention to the challenged individuals, who had shown interest in sports as a better option than begging for alms on the streets.

WBA title fight: Wladimir to earn $23.33m tomorrow night

W

ladimir Klitschko stands to earn $23.33m if he beats Francesco Pianeta in Mannheim, Germany, tomorrow night.

If the Ukrainian wins against Pianeta, a cancer survivor, he could fight Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin in Moscow’s Olympic Hall on August 31.

A Russian promoter has already won the purse bid to stage that bout. Vladimir Hryunov bid

$23.33 million. As WBA “super” champion, Klitschko could get 75 per cent of the amount, adding up to $17 250 000; more than he has ever received for a fight.

Povetkin is the WBA “regular” champion. Klitschko became the “super” champion when he added the WBA title to his three others by beating David Haye in 2011. The two have to fight to leave only one WBA

champion.

Pianeta, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer three years ago, has promised to shock Klitschko.

“I will bust my backside to get those belts.

Everyone is beatable,” the 28-year-old said this week. He sports a tattoo

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TRUSTEES ARE: 1.MOBOLAJI OKUNOYE -CHAIRMAN 2.ADESOLA AROWOGBADAMU -SECRETARY 3.SEDOTEN AGOSA-ANIKWE (MRS) 4.OLUWATOYIN IDOWU (MRS) AIMS 1. TO PROVIDE A FORUM FOR THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS, KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES AMONGST THE OLD STUDENTS OF THE COLLEGE 2. TO PROMOTE SOCIAL INTERACTION AMONG MEMBERS AND THE COLLEGE. 3. TO ENCOURAGE THE MANAGEMENT, STAFF AND STUDENTS OF THE COLLEGE TO MAINTAIN THE IDEALS OF THE COLLEGE AND TO OFFER THE SERVICES OF THE ASSOCIATION IN THE OVERALL INTEREST OF THE COLLEGE. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: DAPO OWOADE & CO. (08093468126)

Wladimir Klitschko

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THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CENTRE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OLUBUNMI OLAMIDE ADEBIYI 2. ADEKUNLE AFOLABI ADEBIYI 3. ABIMBOLA OLUDAYO IBIDUNNI 4. OLAYINKA IBIDUNNI AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. INCREASE AWARENESS AMONGST LEADING ORGANISATIONS OF EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE DISABLED. 2. ASSISTING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY TO FIND JOBS IN ORGANISATIONS THAT BELIEVE THAT DISABILITY IS NOT A LIMITATION. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

M

r Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, the Minister of Youth Development, has assured the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) of his ministry’s readiness to partner with them on football tournaments.

Abdul-Kadir stated this when he played host to YSFON executive in his office, a statement issued by Mr Theophilus Agbagwa, Assistant-Director of Press of the ministry, says.

The minister was responding to the call for sponsorship of the upcoming under-16 football tournament to be organised by YSFON. He said that sports had been recognised to be good for personal health development and could also help to generate employment and income for the country’s teeming youths.

“Certainly, all of us are very much aware of our youths’ interest in sports,’’ he said, noting that the ministry and the organisation have common grounds for collaboration.

The minister pledged his commitment to the overall development of the youth sector.

Abdul-Kadir said that YSFON had invested in sports over the past two decades with the aim of weaning young people off social vices and criminality.

He charged YSFON to demonstrate greater commitment to the cause for youth mobilisation.

Abdul-Kadir commended Nigerian youths for their potentials to excel, not only in football but also in other sporting activities.

Earlier, Alhaji Hamidu Gaube, chairman YSFON, Abuja chapter said the organisation would organise the under-16 male football competition in June. (NAN)

Coach demands national competitions for physically challenged athletes

oach Pius Asaba of the Lagos State Para-Table Tennis Association midweek called for the staging of more national competitions for the physically challenged athletes across the country. ``It is only when they take part in regular competition that sports administrators can get the best out of them,'' he said.

Asaba said in Lagos that the programme would help the athletes to contribute their

Minister assures YSFON on partnership

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PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Countdown to Moscow 2013 IAAF Championships begins

T

David Rushida, Allyson Felix, among other stars for the Moscow meets

he 100 days countdown to the IAAF World Championships, Moscow, Russia, which is scheduled for August 10 to 18, began yesterday. The biennial IAAF World Championships are often trumpeted as being the largest sporting competition after the Olympic Games and soccer’s World Cup, and again the statistics from the last edition bore witness to that statement.

By the end of Daegu 2011, teams from 200 National Member Federations comprising 1849 athletes had

officially accredited, and in all 16 nations won gold medals, 41 took medals and 66 placed athletes in the top eight finishers, proving once again that Athletics is the most universal of all sports.

These figures were matched by the worldwide popularity of the 2011 IAAF World Championships which were watched by a 5 billion TV audience in over 200 territories, with more than 3000 representatives of the media travelling to Daegu to relay the competitions to the planet via TV and radio

Japanese teenager, threatens world 100m record, set to become fastest Asian A Japanese teenager, Yoshihide Kiryu, will this weekend bid to become the first native Asian to run 100 metres under the 10-second barrier, joining an exclusive world club dominated by black sprinters.

His record-breaking performance which ties Darrel Brown’s World junior record from 2003- came in the heats, and he followed it up in the final with a wind-assisted 10.03 (2.7m/s). He was pushed all the way by Olympic semifinalist Ryota Yamagata, who clocked 10.04 for second place, after running a wind-legal 10.17 in the heats.

Kiryu’s time makes him the fastest ever 17-year-old over 100m. It is also just 0.02 off Samuel Francis’s Asian senior record and 0.01 away from Koji Ito’s Japanese senior Yoshihide Kiryu, 17, is already the joint world record holder for juniors, having this week clocked 10.01 seconds at a meet in Hiroshima, making him one of only three men under-20 to have run that fast.

The high-school student says he is confident he can shave his time to become Japan’s quickest sprinter, but has his eyes on a greater prize taking on Usain Bolt.

He won the final in 10.03, beating London Olympic semifinalist Ryota Yamagata, 20, by one hundredth of a second.

With his time at the top of this year’s senior world list, Kiryu’s next chance to beat the 10second barrier will come on Sunday at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix, the third leg of the 15-round IAAF World Challenge series.

At Tokyo’s National Stadium, he will race against

seven others, three of whom have run under 10 seconds Americans Mike Rodgers (9.85) and Mookie Salaam (9.97) and Bahama’s Derrick Atkins (9.91).

Kiryu’s race up the ranks of the sprinting world has been rapid. He burst onto the scene last year, twice breaking the world youth (under-18) 100m best first with 10.21 in October, then with 10.19 one month later when he was 16.

But those around the precociously talented teen are keen on keeping his feet however fleet they are firmly on the ground.

An AFP request for a one-onone interview with Kiryu through his school in Kyoto was turned down.

Rakunan High School’s vice principal Junichi Iwasaki said Kiryu’s parents don’t want him

to be “distracted” by his newfound fame.

Kiryu’s junior world record performance on Monday brought him level-pegging with Trinidad and Tobago’s Darrel Brown, who logged 10.01 in 2003, and American Jeffery Demps, who clocked the same time at the 2008 US Olympic trials. Both were 18 at the time.

But dipping under 10 seconds is a tough ask.

It has been achieved by only about 80 male runners, nearly all of them of West African descent, since American Jim Hines clocked 9.95 at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

In 2003, Patrick Johnson, whose mother is an indigenous Australian and whose father is Irish, ran 9.93 to become the first runner without an African background to join the

sprint elite.

In 2010, Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre became the first white European to duck under 10 seconds, clocking 9.98.

But Kiryu’s eyes are fixed on multiple world and Olympic sprint champion Bolt, whose 100m world record of 9.58 has stood since August 2009.

Despite the present gulf between the young Japanese talent and his hero, Kiryu can take solace from the fact that at this stage of his career, he is already faster than the younger Bolt the Jamaican ran 10.03 when he was 21.

“I want to run alongside Bolt (at the worlds) and see how he is different from me,” said Kiryu, who stands 1.75 metres (5ft 9in), a full 20 centimetres shorter than 26-year-old Bolt.

“I lack experience in competing on the big stage. I

Yoshihide Kiryu, the teenage rave of the moment, Darrel Brown, first set Asian record

stations, as well as online and in the print media.

Succinctly put, the 14th edition of the IAAF World Championships in Moscow will welcome the world.

Last summer, Athletics reaffirmed its place as the Olympic Games’ number one sport, and the stars of London 2012, including Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix, David Rudisha, Jessica Ennis to name but a few, will reassemble in Moscow to do battle for nine days of scintillating competition in the Luzhniki Stadium and on the streets of the Russian capital. must gain more experience,” said the youngster.

Kiryu takes five steps a second, compared with Bolt’s 4.6-4.7. But his stride is shorter Bolt’s step covers nearly three metres toward the finish line.

Winter training saw him working on this, with low hurdles placed at longer intervals than usual in an effort to stretch his stride. He also built up his lower body by squatting.

Hopes for the young man are high in Japan, where he is just a whisker away from the Japanese record of 10 sec flat, set by Koji Ito in 1998. Ito’s time was the Asian record until 2007 when Nigerian-born Qatari Samuel Francis streaked over the line at 9.99sec.

“There is a 100 percent chance that the time will dip below 10 seconds this year,” said Ito, now the sprint director at the Japan Association of Athletics Federations.

Kiryu ran 10.01 only in the process of peaking for the world championships in Moscow in August, Ito told the daily Nikkan Sports. “He will get better still if he experiences the worlds.”

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

Barca’s demolition fallout

Pique, Xavi laud Bayern

B

arcelona defender and midfielder Gerard Pique and Xavi Hernandez have lauded Bayern Munich’s depth and physical presence in Wednesday’s conclusive leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinals.

Both described the German champions as “extraordinary” and believe they thoroughly deserved their place in the final noting Barcelona were technically and tactically overwhelmed.

“Right now they (Bayern) are at an extraordinary level. They have been better and very much deserve to be in the final.

“Physically, we’ve been in bad shape with regards to players missing.

Busquets, Abidal, Puyol, Mascherano...they are important players. But neither is that an excuse.

Bayern have been better.

Mentally strong, physically extraordinary, Xavi said but refused to use his side’s numerous

absentees as a reason for their convincing defeat.

Barcelona were without senior players Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano,

Eric Abidal and Sergio Busquets through injury while Jordi Alba was suspended and Lionel Messi, who has been

Messi, Javi Mascherano, Sergio Busquets, were missing in Barca’s line up due to injury

struggling with a hamstring problem in recent weeks, was an unused substitute.

Former Man United defender, Pique added: “When a team is so superior you simply have to congratulate them.

“Maybe it’s my most bitter night at Barcelona.

We’ve tried, but they scored right at the start of the second half and that hurt us. The last 25 minutes were tough.”

He dismissed assertion that Lionel Messi’s exclusion from the team was largely responsible for their exit.

“It’s clear it’s not the same without Messi, but we went out with the intention of scoring a quick goal. We had a good first half, but the decision about him playing or not didn’t influence things. The result would’ve been the same.”

Heynckes reveals secret weapons against Barcelona

By Patrick Andrew

B

ayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes has revealed that his secret weapons against Rondo exponent-Barcelona were the depth of knowledge of the La Liga and his Spanish connections.

The Bundesliga champions demolished the La Liga champions 7-0 aggregate in an incredible routing of one of the most dreaded soccer sides in the UEFA Champions League.

The 67-year-old led Real Madrid to the Champions League title in 1998 during a single season at the Bernabeu, although he was promptly sacked afterwards.

He has also coached Tenerife and had two stints at Athletic Bilbao.

Even since the draw was made, he has been keen to promote his experience in the country, agreeing to answer questions in Spanish during media conferences and forego the services of simultaneous translations.

“I know Spanish football,” he told German television after Bayern won 3-0 at the Nou Camp in Wednesday’s semifinal second leg. I know the players, I know the

philosophy, I always watch Barcelona play Real Madrid because I enjoy it.”

Heynckes, who saw his side finish as runners-up in the Champions League, German Cup and Bundesliga last season, will be replaced by former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola when his contract ends at the end of

Jupp Heynckes

the season amid speculation that he is reluctant to give way.

G u a r d i o l a ’ s appointment was made public in January without the club having made any announcement on Heynckes’ future.

Since then, treble-chasing Bayern have won 21 out of 22 matches in all

competitions, the only slipup coming in a 2-0 home defeat at home to Arsenal in the Champions League.

They have already won the Bundesliga and reached the Cup final.

Heynckes, nicknamed ‘Osram’ after the light-bulb manufacturer because of the way his face turns red when he is irritated, has

Bayern Munich manager

been keen to blow his own trumpet since then.

Against both Barcelona and quarterfinal opponents Juventus, Heynckes, who is in his third stint at Bayern, was at pains to point to his meticulous preparations and knowledge of their opponents.

“This team really pulls together,” he said after Wednesday’s match. “We get through outstanding work together, and we’re tremendously hungry for success. Both games have shown we’re capable of football at a very high level.

“We’re playing extremely high-speed football, we’re very well organised, we’re tactically smart, we close down the space, and our transitions are functioning perfectly this season. We’re a real team, from the front to the back.”

To complete a perfect evening, Bayern managed to get through the match without yellow cards for any of the three starters who had been in danger of missing the final through suspension.

“I’ve always told me players that we can get through this sort of game without yellow cards,” he said after only Arjen Robben, who was not under threat, was booked.

We can’t afford to miss the cup now, says Robben

A

rjen Robben set his sights on lifting the UEFA Champions League trophy after helping Bayern Munich complete an “amazing” 70 aggregate semi-final drubbing of Barcelona.

Leading 4-0 from the first leg, Bayern stunned Barcelona with a comprehensive 3-0 victory in the return meeting at the Nou Camp thanks to second-half goals from Robben, Gerard Pique - who put through his own net and Thomas Muller.

The victory saw Bayern set up a mouth-watering Wembley final against Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund on 25 May - the competition’s first allGerman final - and Robben is hoping his side can go one better than they did in 2010 and last year by winning the showpiece.

The former Real Madrid winger told Sky Sports 2: “Now we’re in the final. It’s the third time in the last four years, but it’s time to win it now!

“It’s going to be a big one.

Dortmund have proven over the last two, three years that they are a very good side. It’s going to be a big game again which will be decided by the small details.”

The Netherlands international added of their Nou Camp victory: “I think it’s a terrific performance - a little bit of history maybe.

“You’re playing against a team who have dominated Europe over the last five years and there’s so much quality in their squad, and to win 40 at home and 3-0 away, especially this one away in their own stadium, it’s amazing.”

Robben refused to get too carried away with their success, though.

Asked if he felt Bayern were now the team to beat in Europe, he said: “I think we have to stay calm.

“At this moment we’re playing some great football. We have to enjoy this moment, just stay calm, play our football and try to improve over and over again.”

Arjen Robben

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 43

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TRUSTEES: 1. PASTOR EKEAGNES EFE 2. PASTOR BAR MARIA OMOROGIEVA 3. PASTOR JUBRI-ART OSUNDE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD 2. TO ORGANIZE REVIVAL ALL OVER THE WORLD 3. TO PROMOTE UNITY AMONG CHRISTIANS BODIES ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI MAITAMA ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: PASTOR EKEAGNES EFE

THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED FOR REGISTRATION WITH CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO: 1 OF 1990, CAP C20 LFN 2004.

THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS ARE ELECTED AS TRUSTEES OF THE FOUNDATION: 1. SHEIKH (DR.) HASSAN A. DIKKO 6. KHUZAIFA ISMA’ILA IDRIS 2. ALH. ABUBAKAR MAI HALI 7. KHUZAIMA ISMA’ILA IDRIS 3. SAFWAN ISMA’ILA IDRIS 8. SALMANU ISMA’ILA IDRIS 4. NIBRAS ISMA’ILA IDRIS 9. MAS’UD IBRAHIM TULU 5. HASSANU ISMA’ILA IDRIS 10. PROF. M.B.T. UMAR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS, MOSQUES, PROVISION OF SCHOLARSHIP, ORGANIZING SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS; 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF HOSPITALS, MEDICAL CENTRES AND DISPENSARIES; 3. PROVIDING ADEQUATE CARE, SHELTER AND WELFARE TO THE FAMILY OF LATE SHEIKH ISMA’ILA IDRIS; 4. RECEIVING DONATION, GIFT, ZAKKAT (ARMS) AND OTHER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM WITHIN AND OUTSIDE NIGERIA; 5. PROVIDING AID AND ASSISTANCE TO THE POOR AND LESS PRIVILEGED IN OUR SOCIETY, AND TO PEOPLE GOING FOR HAJJ AND UMRAH PILGRIMAGE; 6. ENGAGING IN ALL OTHER THINGS THAT ARE INCIDENTAL TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THESE OBJECTIVES AND TO ENGAGE IN ALL INVESTMENTS LAWFUL IN ISLAM. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION OF THIS FOUNDATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL OF THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: D. G. HASSAN ESQ., AN-NUR CHAMBERS, NO. O/E 3, ABBA ZADAWA COMPLEX, AHMADU BELLO WAY, BAUCHI.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CLUB HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1.EZEBUIRO ANDREW CHUKWUEMEKA 2.CHUKU, CHIKA CHARLES 3.ONWUEGBUKA, PAUL CHUKWUNENYE 4.UGWUANYI ANOTHNY CHUKWUDI 5.ONWUZU FRANCIS OKECHUKWU AIMS & OBJECTIVE 1.TO PROMOTE SOCIAL WELBEING OF MEMBERS 2.TO BE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL,CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT,AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED OUTREACH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1.EVANG. DENNIS C. OKOLI 2.EVANG. MRS. CHINYERE OKOLI 3.BRO. PETER EZEH 4.REV. M. C. EKEOBA 5.REV. MIKE OKOH 6.BRO. CHUKA EZEOGIDI 7.PRINCE BEN OSY NWOYE 8.EVANG. SOLOMON NWABUEZE AIM & OBJECTIVE 1.TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL,CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT,AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED; SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PLACE OF NEW THINGS INTERNATIONAL CHURCH

JESUS COVENANT & INHERITANCE MINISTRY

PRAYING PARENTS MINISTRY

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFY THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA, FOR REGISTRATION UNDER “PART C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. PASTOR JEDIDIAH UCHECHUKWU 2. PASTOR ROSEMARY AKAETTE DUAMLONG 3. WILSON OSEMERE UGBO 4. CHUKWUMA ONUOHA 5. ADEYEYE OBAFEMI SOLOMON AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST 2. TO CONVERT PEOPLE FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT FOR CHRIST AND MAKE THEM MINISTRIES OF GRACE 3. TO REPOSITION THE DESTINIES OF MEN BY THE TEACHING OF WORDS OF HIS GRACE THROUGH FAITH ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI MAITAMA ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR. EMMANUEL MBIDO

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1.MR. CHRISTOPHER OTI 2.PASTOR SONNY ILOANYA AIMS & OBJECTIVE 1.TO EVANGELIZE AND WIN SOULS FOR GOD’S KINGDOM 2.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 3.TO HELP THE POOR AND THE NEEDY IN THE SOCIETY. 4.TO CONDUCT DELIVERANCE, HEALING AND BREAKTHROUGH CRUSADES AND SEMINARS IN ORDER TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL,CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT,AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED; EMMANUEL ILOH PRECISION ATTORNEYS SUITE 302, ANBEEZ PLAZA, NDOLA CRESCENT, OPPOSITE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, WUSE-ZONE 5, ABUJA.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1.ADEBOLA ONESI-IAWANI 2.DABERUJE ONESI-IAWANI 3.PERO GBEKELE OLUWA AIMS & OBJECTIVE 1.TO PARENT THE LESS PRIVILEGED CHILD. 2.TO PRAY FOR GOD’S REVIVAL IN FAMILIES AND IN THE LIVES OF CHILDREN. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL,CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT,AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED; SECRETARY

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

LECAL NOTICE

ARRIVAL OF CHRIST MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL

AFRICAN YOUTH LEADERSHIP & POSITIVE GROWTH INITIATIVE

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1 BISHOP JULIUS AKANBI AKINDELE 2.FESTUS DOLAPO AKINDELE 3.EVELYN IRETIOLA AKINDELE 4.OLAMILEKAN TEMILOLA AKINDELE 5.JOSEPHINE OLUWATOSIN IGBINOGBU

GENERAL OVERSEER TREASURER WELFARE PRO SECRETARY

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE; TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. OLATUNDE BABS - OLUGBEMI 2. ADEWALE SANYA 3. DAVID ERINOSO 4. OLALEKAN OKEWOYE 5. HANNAH BABS – OLUGBEMI. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO MOBILIZE RESOURCES AND EMPOWERMENT SERVICES TO AFRICAN YOUTH 2. TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP VALUES IN YOUTHS AND ENHANCE THE GROWTH OF POSITIVE VIRTUES AMONG THE AFRICAN YOUTH.

Whereas the person/persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column.

And whereas the person(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the GRANT LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION of the personal property.

Notice is hereby that the said LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION be granted to such person(s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT” the grant thereof is field in the probate Registry of the above named court within twenty-one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME & ADDRESS INSP. BALA BAGUDU The Nigeria Police Force Kalgo Division, Kebbi State Command.

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT

FAHAD BALA Bayan Tasha Birinin Kebbi L.G.A. Kebbi State

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL,CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT,AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION

SIGNED; SECRETARY

SIGNED: OLATUNDE BABS- OLUGBEMI.

ABUBAKAR SIDDIQ BELLO Probate Registrar

PUBLIC NOTICE

LECAL NOTICE

SARO TIAMIYU TRUST

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED BODY HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. MURLI UDHWANI 2. MANOJ ADWANI 3 TONY SAJNANI 4. MANOJ CHUGANI 5. MOHAN LALCHANDANI 6. RAM CHATLANI 7. RAJEEV JOSHI 8. GHANSHAM UBRANI 9. JAI BHAGWAN GUPTA AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO FORM AN ASSOCIATION FOR SARO RESIDENTS. 2. TO PROVIDE WORKS OF CHARITY FOR THE COMMUNITY AND ENVIROMENT. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED DIOKA STAN & CO 46 DURBAN ST, WUSE II ABUJA 08037882086

Who died on the 9th of April, 2013 Dated at Birnin Kebbi on the 24th day of April, 2013

Whereas the person/persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column.

And whereas the person(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the GRANT LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION of the personal property.

Notice is hereby that the said LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION be granted to such person(s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT” the grant thereof is field in the probate Registry of the above named court within twenty-one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME & ADDRESS CORPORAL ISHAYA AUTA The Nigeria Police Force Ado Ekiti Ekiti State Command.

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT

SAMAILA ISHAYA Yarkanwa Area Ribah Local Govt.

Kebbi State

Who died on the 29th of October, 2018 Dated at Birnin Kebbi on the 30th day of April, 2013 ABUBAKAR SIDDIQ BELLO Probate Registrar

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

LECAL NOTICE

SALVATION & REVIVAL MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL

SALVATION & REVIVAL MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE

ASSOCIATION OF ESTATE AGENTS EKITI STATE, NIGERIA THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PRINCE OLABODE AYEOBA 2. CHIEF JOSEPH ADEFEMI ADETIFA 3. PRINCE ADEYEMI AKINOLA 4. ENIOLA OLUWOLE H. 5. OYEWOLE SEYI 6. PAST. JEPHTHAN GBENGA ALUKO 7. MR DELE OMOTAYO. AIM & OBJECTIVE: 1. TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN CHURCHES.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. APOSTLE UBANI KINGSLEY CHIBUIKEM 2. EVANG. HANNAH CHIBUIKEM 3. EVANG. FRANCIS EZEAKA 4. EVANG. NDUBUISI OKORO 5. EVANG. JOSEPH EMMANUEL 6. EVANG. VICTOR OBISIKE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO REACHOUT, TEACH AND PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2. TO WIN LOST SOULS TO JESUS CHRIST. 3. TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN CHURCHES. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: OSITA NWANJO 08037347839

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: S. A. ADUKWU ESQ

Whereas the person/persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column.

And whereas the person(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the GRANT LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION of the personal property.

Notice is hereby that the said LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION be granted to such person(s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT” the grant thereof is field in the probate Registry of the above named court within twenty-one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME & ADDRESS

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT

W/CORP. MARGARET ANIBUEZE CHIBUEZE ANIBUEZE The Nigeria Police Force Obimo Nsukka Local Govt.

‘A’ Department Kebbi State Enugu State.

Command.

Who died on the 9th of April, 2013 Dated at Birnin Kebbi on the 24th day of April, 2013 ABUBAKAR SIDDIQ BELLO Probate Registrar

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

LECAL NOTICE

THE ELEVEN RAYS MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

BEATRICE EZEAMAKA EDOZIEN FOUNDATION

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE PROBATE DIVISION BIRNIN KEBBI, KEBBI STATE

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANY AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1.CHIEF MARIA WARMALI 2.CHIEF (DR.) FRANCIS UNOKIWE EDOZIEN KSP 3.CHIEF JOHN DIKENWEIWE EDOZIEN OON 4.DR. (MR.) ELTRIDA URAIH AIM & OBJECTIVE 1.TO TAKE CARE OF THE POOR AND THE LESS PRIVILEGED 2.TO IDENTIFY SOCIETAL PROBLEMS AND PROFER SOLUTIONS TO THEM. 3.TO ADOVCATE FOR GOOD AND ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMANCE. 4.TO ESTABLISH SKILL ACQUISITION CENTERS FOR WIDOWS, THE GIRL CHILD, AND YOUTHS. ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL,CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION,PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT,AGUIYI IRONSI STREET,MAITAMA,ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED; C. F. EBU ESQ. 08033780708

Whereas the person/persons whose name is set out in the first column hereunder died intestate on the date and place in the said column.

And whereas the person(s) whose name and address is set out in the second column hereunder claimed the relationship of the said deceased and has applied to the above named court for the GRANT LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION of the personal property.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. DR. NNAMDI VICTOR OZOBIA (CHAIRMAN) 2. DR. PROMISE OKORO ONYEWUCHIM (SECRETARY) 3. DR. GRANVILLE ENYI AGHA 4. CHIEF EDOZIE NJOKU 5. HRH IGWE ANICHEBE 6. AVM(RTD) OSITA OBIERIKA. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PROMOTE AND ADVANCE PEACE BUILDING ACROSS AFRICA. 2. TO SERVE AS A PLATFORM FOR NATIONAL RECONCILIATION, TOLERANCE AND UNDERSTANDING. TO REIGNITE EMPATHY FOR ONE ANOTHER AMONGST THE GREATEST SOCIETY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

Notice is hereby that the said LETTER OF ADMINISTRATION be granted to such person(s) unless “NOTICE TO PROHIBIT” the grant thereof is field in the probate Registry of the above named court within twenty-one (21) days from the date of publication.

SCHEDULE DECEASED NAME & ADDRESS ASP SANI ABDULLAHI The Nigeria Police Force Augie Division Kebbi State Command.

APPLICANTS FOR GRANT

LAWALI SANI Bayan Kasuwa Area Birnin Kebbi Kebbi State.

Who died on the 7th of April, 2013 Dated at Birnin Kebbi on the 23th day of April, 2013 ABUBAKAR SIDDIQ BELLO Probate Registrar

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

PAGE 47

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

SPINAL CORD INJURIES WELFARE ASSOCIATION

MOBILE GOSPEL MINISTERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA-ABUJA

NIGERIAN TURKISH INTERNATIONAL COLLEGES FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. CAPTAIN SUNDAY MAKINDE BABAWALE 2. ENGR. TUNDE OLADIPO AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO CATER FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE OF MEMBERS. 2. TO CARE FOR THE WELFARE OF THOSE WITH SPINAL CORD INJURIES.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. IBEAWUCHI KINGSLEY CHIKADIBIA CHAIRMAN 2. ISREAL SULEIMAN MEMBER 3. TIMOTHY GAIUS SECRETARY AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF GOD. 2. TO ADMINISTER HEALING, DELIVERANCE, SALVATION, RESTORATION AND PROPHETIC DECLARATIONS. 3. TO WIN LOST SOULS TO GOD.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED: FEMI ADEDEJI

SIGNED: S. A. ADUKWU ESQ

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. DR. LONGY IHEJIRIKA OFOEGBU 4. MEHMET BASTURK 2. ISA ONDIN 5. SABRI UNAL 3. JALAL A. ARABI 6. HIKMET COBAN 7. FEYZULLAH BILQIN AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO FUNCTION SOLELY AS A CHARITABLE FOUNDATION. 2. TO UNDERTAKE CHARITABLE CAUSES FOR THE UPLIFTING OF PEOPLE REGARDLESS OF CLASS OR SOCIAL STATUS. 3. TO HELP PROMOTE PEACE AND PROSPERITY IN THE SOCIETY AND ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE SUPPORT, FINANCIAL OR OTHERWISE TO EVERYONE IN NEED OF SUCH SUPPORT. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: M. A. MAIRAMRI

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PAN DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION ABUJA BRANCH

KIZZITO CARE AND SUPPORT INITIATIVE

ISAAC MOGHALU FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. BABARA PEPOLI 2. ALDA GEMMANI (DR) 3. ALBA GIANFERRARI 4. NDIDIAMAKA NKEIRU NWOSU (DR) AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO ASSIST THE INDIGENT PATIENTS IN THE AREA OF HEALTH ETC. 2. TO CATER FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE OF MEMBERS. 3. CARING FOR ORPHANAGE HOMES. 4. ASSISTING THE WIDOWS IN THE AREA OF HEALTH

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES 1.ENGR. CHRIS OGEWAN 2.MR JONA DAMOEROEM 3.DR. PATRICK DAWAM 4.SABASTINE NALOK 5.LUCAS DAPAK 6.KADURA JOHN 7.PATRICK KYAUTA AIMS 1. TO PROMOTE UNITY WELFARE, PEACEFUL CO- EXISTENCE AND UNDERSTANDING AMONG ITS MEMBERS AND OTHER NIGERIANS. 2. TO REVIE AND FOSTER CULTURE VALUES PAN PEOPLE IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A FORUM FOR ITS MEMBERS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

CAC/IT/NO: 19012

SIGNED: ESTHER NAWUL DAKUP

SIGNED: BIMBO CHRISTOPHER AGBOGUN (TEL: 08055335519)

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR CHANGE OF ITS TRUSTEES AND AMENDMENT OF ITS CONSTITUTION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

OLD TRUSTEES ARE: 1. MRS VIDAH MOGHALU RETAINED 2. MARYANNE MOGHALU RETAINED 3. KINGSLEY CHIEDU MOGHALU REMOVED 4. CHRISTIAN EMEKA OFODEME REMOVED 5. CHARLES ONWUJUBA REMOVED 6. CHIKEZIE MOGHALU REMOVED NEWLY APPOINTED TRUSTEES ARE: 1. DR. MRS AJORITSEDERE AWOSIKA, MFR, MNI 2. DR. MRS TIMIEBI KARIPAMA-AGARY 5. CHIDI IZUWAH 3. DR. MRS TOJU CHIKE-OBI 6. MRS MARYAM UWAIS 4. MR ERNEST EBI 7. DR. AJULU UZODIKE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES REMAIN THE SAME THE CONSTITUTION IS AMENDED CLAUSE 7 (1) MEMBERSHIP IS AMENDED ANY OBJECTION TO THIS CHANGE SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: CHINAZA ORJI (08034416321)

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

GALADIMAWA-ALERAWA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION KONTAGORA

HOLYGHOST POWER REVIVAL MISSION INT’L

JESUS THE BREAD OF LIFE OUTREACH MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PASTOR SAMUEL AUGUSTINE 2. PASTOR DAVID AYODELE OYEWALE 3. SAMUEL OTOVWE 4. OKORAFOR DANIEL 5. PASTOR KENNETH NWEGEDE 6. MRS AFFIONG SAMUEL AUGUSTINE AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ALH. ABDULRAHMAN BUHARI- CHAIRMAN 6. HUSSAINI MANUGA 2. ALH. YAKUBU MUSA USMAN 7. JIBRIN UMAR 3. ALH. SHEHU YUSUF GALADIMA 8. MUSA IBRAHIM 4. ALH. ALIYU HALIDU 9. ALH. MU’AZU BARAU 5. HUSSAINI GAMBO AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO ENCOURAGE EDUCATIONA EMPOWERMENT OF THE YOUTHS IN GALADIMAWA-ALERAWA COMMUNITY. 2. TO HELP IN ERADICATION OF ENVIRONMENT HAZARDS IN GALADIMAWAALERAWA COMMUNITY. 3. TO ESTABLISH SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS FOR THE LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE COMMUNITY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR. AMINA IBE HAMDALLA CHAMBERS-ABUJA (08033137990)

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TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OLUGBENRO OYEKAN 5. DUMEBI ONWUFUJU 2. SOLA OLUFOSOYE 6. IBIJUWON SOFEKUN 3. MOBOLAJI S. OKE 7. SEMIU YINKA SOYINKA 4. BOLATITO LAWAL 8. TAYO ORISADARE AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. TO CREATE AN ALLIANCE OF INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANISATIONS COLLABORATING FOR THE PURPOSE OF FACILITATING RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT CONVERSATIONS ON EDUCATIONAL ISSUES RANGING FROM ACADEMIC DISHONESTY, EXAMINATION MALPRACTICES, CHEATING AND PLAGIARISM TO PEDAGOGY AND BEST PRACTICES. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: FOLUSHO AKINNIGBAGBE ESQ

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THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

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www.peoplesdailyng.com

. . . putting the people first

FRIDAY, MAY 3, 2013

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE Unfortunately, we, as a country and as a leadership, were not able to fully purge ourselves of the former dictatorial military culture and pervasive insidious corruption that fed it.

— Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, speaking on Monday in Geneva, Swtizerland

SPORTS INTRODUCING YOUNG VOICES LA TEST LATEST

Croatia’s goalkeeper found dead

C

roatia’s goalkeeper Ivan Turina, in Swedish topflight club AIK, was found dead in his Stockholm apartment yesterday.

“He was 32, it was suddenly died in his sleep and at the moment no crime is suspected.

Club chairman Johan Segui later added in newspaper Expressen: "We knew that he had a congenital heart problem but he was completely healthy.

AIK striker Henok Goitom, who lived next door to Turina, later expressed his sorrow to reproters at the club's training ground.

Turina joined the club, based in the Stockholm suburb of Solna, in 2010 from Dinamo Zagreb, where he had spent the majority of his career.

He soon became first choice at the club, and went on to make 65 league appearances for them.

Turina, who made his one and only senior international appearance for Croatia in 2006, is survived by his wife and two one-year-old daughters.

Bayern to renew Ribery, Alaba, Kroos contracts

B

ayern Munich wants to extend the contracts of Franck Ribery, David Alaba and Toni Kroos as they plan ahead following the destruction of Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals.

Bayern general manager Matthias Sammer intends to ensure that the trio stay at the club beyond the end of their current deals in 2015.

The Bavarians, runaway Bundesliga champions, have already signed Borussia Dortmund star Mario Gotze and FSV Mainz defender Jan Kirchhoff for next season.

They are also poised to sign Dortmund’s Polish star forward Robert Lewandowski and Eintracht Frankfurt's Sebastian Rode.

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The rising popularity of social media among young people has become such a nightmare for Nigeria's rulers that are afraid of openness and information symmetry, that the Jonathan administration is spending a whopping $40 million to read their emails, romantic exchanges and other 'subversive' exchanges.

Interacting regularly with young people on Twitter and Facebook gives the older generation both hope and concern.

'Dada Olusegun is one of those young people that have been making positive contributions in cyberspace. He is just 25 years old! He attended Awori Ajeromi Grammar School in Lagos and graduated from Ladoke Akintola

By Olusegun Dada

L

et me put it this way: I have seen many things in my life. I have seen certain people who treat passivity as some kind of heroic action. There are people who say, “I just want my job, my family, and my religion and I will leave politics out of my life.” Passivity isn’t heroic, it’s cowardly! It’s the lazy man’s easy way out. But I see it beyond laziness.

Let me say this to those people: you’re idiots! While you’re asleep in front of your own life, they are screwing you. While you shut your mind to national issues, they are mentally gang-raping you. While you’re living out your life, they are ripping you off; they’re pulling the carpet from under you, tripling national debts that your children and grandchildren will not be able to pay till they die.

You’re idiots for closing your eyes exactly when your eyes should be open. You’re morons for thinking that the present day government will take care of the people if not put on their toes and forced to do so. You’re blind for thinking that the corruptly rich will not do everything in their power to keep their stranglehold on you; you cannot be passive while the missiles of corruption fall on your head and the heads of your

NASIR EL-R UF AI EL-RUF UFAI ON FRID AY FRIDA elrufai@aol.com University of Technology Ogbomosho with an honours degree in Pure and Applied Chemistry! Yet like many of the multi-talented youths we have introduced on this column, Dada writes as if he studied humanities, the social sciences or even

literature.

Dada was very active along with Yemi Adamolekun, Japheth Omojuwa, Chinedu Ekeke, Seun Fakuade, Zainab Usman, Momoh Adejoh and Amina Saude Mohammed and numerous others during the #OccupyNigeria

These cowards

Olusegun Dada children. You cannot be passive while they destroy your life and the lives of your children. You cannot sit there and pretend to be neutral. You cannot be passive when people thousands daily die due to negligence of government.

You cannot be passive when the military sworn to protect your lives and properties kill and maim you and your children on the altar of the war against terror. You cannot afford to be passive. No you cannot.

Your destiny is in your hands,

“

the destiny of your generation and the generation after yours. Let me tell you this: it’s either you become politically active or you risk a complete destruction by those in power. You either become politically active or your unborn children and grandchildren will curse you even in your grave because politics is too important to be left in the hands of “the politicians”. It is even worse to leave it in the hands of criminals who know no difference between state purse and personal pocket. Who will loot the entire treasury, in the drop of a hat.

Our direct participation in politics both now and during and after every election is compulsory for the growth of the society and the welfare of the humans living in it. Our contract must never stop with voting anyone into power, but prevailing upon them to perform.

Only with our direct participation in politics will power truly belong to the people.

Enemies of Nigeria are on the prowl, only our combined voices can throw them out. The Edo and Ondo state gubernatorial elections have shown that it is possible for us

Your destiny is in your hands, the destiny of your generation and the generation after yours. Let me tell you this: it's either you become politically active or you risk a complete destruction by those in power. You either become politically active or your unborn children and grandchildren will curse you even in your grave because politics is too important to be left in the hands of "the politicians" 311 689 606 327 454

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movement that successfully resisted the imposition of the surreptitious Jonathanian tax called 'fuel subsidy removal'. He is a talented writer cum social change advocate. He is a regular political columnist on #EkekeeeDotCom and contributor on numerous online blogs and newspapers. He is a gifted public speaker who is also involved in youth empowerment and enlightenment.

Today, Dada issues a call to action and appeals for Nigerian citizens to end their lethargic acceptance of bad governance, looting and impunity by claiming to be neutral. Indeed, Dada thinks such people are simply cowards.

Do you agree? It is my honour and privilege to introduce another vigorous young voice, Mr. 'Dada Olusegun for your weekend enjoyment.

as a people to resist all forms of electoral malpractices.

I also understand that your ilk, the Mister-mind-my-business, didn’t participate in the Edo election. Your church and family and job and business and holiness and righteousness were all more important to you than the good of the society you live in.

When the vigilance of those you call fools now cause those in power to get responsible and build roads, you will want to drive past them.

When they build good schools, you will want to pull your kids out of the low-quality but unreasonably expensive buildings called private schools, to put them in the government owned ones.

We saw how your ilk in performing states pulled their kids out of those private schools when they saw that a responsible government can actually build good schools.

You sit under your religious leaders who enjoin you to honour thieves in government with their silence and you swallow such messages without thinking them through. What they fail to tell you however is that without the Reverend Martin Luther Kings' of yesterday, there could never have been a Barack Obama today.

You are an enemy of this country.

But the country must move on with or without you or your cowardice masked in passivity. We will defeat all the enemies and put our nation back on the path of growth and change.

Did I hear you say I insulted you? Well, whatever I say here will be better than what your great grandchildren will say on your grave, if this nation fails.

Wake up, my friend, wake up!

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Kano office: Plot 3, Zaria Road, Opposite Kano State House of Assembly. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 7007 759. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.com; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141