Peoples Daily Newspaper, Tuesday March 6, 2012

INEC v oter rre egister can antee voter can’’t guar guarantee cr edib le polls ys REC credib edible polls,, sa says

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Vol. 7 No. 88

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Rabiul Thani 13, 1433 AH

N150

INSIDE

Gunmen kill 2 guards at CPs residence

Supreme Court upholds Death toll in Fulani, Tiv Yuguda, Suntai’s elections clash rises

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>>> PAGE 3

>>> PAGE 4

13 AIGs, 10 CPs, others to go

By Lambert Tyem

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arring any last minute changes, top echelon of the Nigeria Police Force, especially 13 Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) and over 10 Commissioners of Police (CPs) will go on compulsory retirement.

Impeccable police sources said the sack, which will be announced soonest, is sequel to the new promotions which did not include some very senior officers, some of which were adjudged to be incompetent.

Of note in the new promotions, was the elevation of some junior officers ahead of their seniors which by procedure would automatically send the superseded seniors on compulsory retirement to pave way for the new bosses to work effectively.

Our reporter gathered that some of the officers still have up to three to four years before retirement with many of them unwilling to retire.

Our sources also revealed that Contd on Page 2

RMAFC to North’s govs: You too can get 13% derivation

By Abdulwahab Isa

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he Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Engineer Elias Mbam has assured states in the North that they too can begin to enjoy the benefits of the 13 percent derivation principle currently being enjoyed by the 11 oil producing states.

The RMAFC boss who gave the assurance while receiving Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state, in his office, yesterday in Abuja, said the law has guaranteed the disbursement of 13 percent derivation to all solid minerals producing states, like their oil producing Contd on Page 2

L-R: Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Engineer Elias Mbam, in a handshake with Nasarawa state Governor, Alhaji Umar Tanko Al-Makura, during the governor's visit to the commission, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

WWW.PEOPLESDAILY-ONLINE.COM

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Newsxtra

26

Defence

28

Agriculture

29

Injustice is the cause of terrorism in Nigeria, says CPC chieftain, Page 37

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

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

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

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

US to Nigeria: Develop North, beat Boko Haram

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nited States UnderSecretary for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman official yesterday tasked the Nigerian government to initiate viable programmes that would bring development to the North thereby creating jobs in the region to tackle the seeming intractable Boko Haram insurgency.

Sherman also announced that her country was committed to helping Nigeria address its security threats as it deals with scores of attacks mostly blamed on Boko Haram.

“I think the United States wants to support Nigeria in every way that is appropriate from Nigeria’s point of view, to deal with any threat here in this

country,” Sherman told newsmen shortly after a meeting Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Onwuliri.

The US Under-Secretary also said that the US was looking to establish a consulate in Kano, as apart of ways to help fight Boko Haram.

The top US official, who is on a visit to three African countries, spoke of a “holistic approach” to addressing the security challenges in Nigeria, including assisting in the areas of developmental projects and job creation.

“And together we will do whatever we can, from intelligence sharing to

assistance, to development, to security training, as we have done, given that Nigeria is one of the leaders in peacekeeping forces throughout the world,” she said.

Sherman was in Nigeria for a 24-hour visit during which she was also meeting civil society organisations and other top government officials, including President Goodluck Jonathan.

The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Terrence McCauley had said late last month that his country’s government was committed to assisting Nigeria address its security challenges, especially in the North where Boko Haram has terrorized the citizenry.

13 AIGs, 10 CPs, others to go Contd from Page 1 the purge was contingent on government’s resolve to implement the new Police Reform Document which pegged promotions in police on performance, diligence, competence, integrity, amongst others.

The Police Service Commission (PSC) had earlier announced the promotion of seven Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) and 14 Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs), where some very junior Commissioners of Police (CPs) were promoted to the ranks of DIGs and AIGs respectively.

The promotions generated a lot of controversy among the senior officers

in the Force resulting in petitions filed against the promotions by some of them.

The aggrieved senior officers that were not promoted had expressed serious concern and dissatisfaction over the development.

PSC Chairman Parry Osayande had replied the senior police officers who complained about irregular promotions during an interview in a national daily, saying that the officers concerned did not merit further promotion.

He said that the complaining officers have not shown enough capacity to bring new innovations that would improve the performance of the police.

When contacted yesterday on

the planned purge, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer (DFPRO), Yemi Ajayi said the police have no clue yet on the officers going on retirement but would have clearer picture of the purge by today.

Speaking in a telephone chat with our reporter, he said “Really, we have no information yet on those going on retirement but I think by tomorrow (today) we will get information and I will let you know appropriately”.

Spokesman to the Police Service Commission (PSC) Chairman, Fedinard U Ekpe could not be reached last night as several calls to his cell phones were not answered.

Gunmen kill 2 guards in CP’s residence in Kano From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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unmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram yesterday attacked the Kano residence of the Imo state Police Commissioner, killing two policemen on guard.

Our correspondent gathered that the policemen who were killed were on guard in the commissioner’s residence when the gunmen who were on a motorbike struck.

Two of the police men on duty sustained injuries during the gun duel that ensued. The scenario caused panic among residents.

Confirming the incident, Kano state Police Commissioner Ibrahim Idris said: “On Monday at about 1325hours, a group of armed men on motor-cycles attacked policemen on guard duty at the residence of a senior police officer at Dorayi Quarters. During the gun duel two policemen were killed, two injured while the hoodlums escaped with bullets wounds after a hot chase by members of the public.”

Meanwhile, the state’s Commissioner of Police has debunked reports published in a national daily that Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau escaped arrest in Kano while his wife was arrested.

“The Kano state Police Command observed with dismay a report carried by a national daily of Monday 5th March, 2012 and wishes to state that no such operation or raid was conducted by the command; and also wishes to state that the report was faulty as no such incident happened in the state”, he stated.

RMAFC to North’s govs: You too can get 13% derivation Contd from Page 1 counterparts.

Most of the solid minerals producing states in the country are in the North.

Section 162 of the Constitution empowers the National Assembly to determine the formula for the distribution of funds in the Federation Account while subsection (2) provides that “the principle of derivation shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula as being not less than thirteen per cent of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from any natural resources.”

Although Engineer Mbam did not expatiate on this, the ability of the solid minerals producing states to benefit from 13% derivation is subject to their contributions to the Federation’s revenue pool through the natural resources that abound in their areas.

Under the constitutional arrangement as Mbam tried to explain therefore, states like Nasarawa which are blessed with deposits of several solid minerals would be entitled to the 13 percent derivation from the proceeds realised from such deposits, as they are statutorily entitled to it under the Constitution.

He further assured the Governor Al-makura that the 13 per cent derivation principle will be applicable to solid minerals producing states as applicable to oil producing states, once they start to extract such minerals and the revenue accrues into the Federation Account.

The 13 per cent derivation was introduced in 1999, as part of measures aimed at redressing historic grievances of oil-producing states of the Niger Delta.

Currently, the revenue allocation is based on a sharing formula which cedes 52.68 per cent to the Federal Government; 26.72 per cent to states and 20.6 per cent to local governments.

Thirteen percent is also given to the oil-producing states as derivation.

To actualise the derivation principle cause for the solid minerals producing states, Mbam said the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAFG) has opened a special account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the purpose of receiving deposits of revenue accruals from solid minerals.

He tasked states on the imperatives of expanding their internal sources of revenue away

from the monthly allocations from the Federation Account, if they were desirous of meeting the quests of their citizens for improved service delivery.

On the new revenue formula, Mbam promised that the commission will be just, fair, objective, but said the allocation will be proportional to responsibility and cautioned against politicising the revenue formula as doing that “will not help the process but will over heat the polity”.

Mbam advised Nasarawa state to take the advantage of the opportunity provided by the ecological funds to address the challenges posed by erosion in the state.

Earlier in a remark, Governor Al-Makura painted a devastating picture of the impact of erosion in his state.

He added that Nasarawa state was vulnerable to erosion causing the state huge losses both in properties and lives and requested that the state be assisted with ecological funds.

The governor equally drew the attention of the Commission to the overstretching of its infrastructural facilities by the mass of workers in Abuja, the

nation’s capital who, he said, reside in parts of Nasarawa state due to its proximity to the city centre. He requested for special consideration in the allocation of resources in this regard.

He said while FCT enjoys 1 per cent development funds from the Federation’s purse, Nasarawa state where he claimed over 50 per cent of FCT workers reside is neglected in terms of such special allocation.

He said the state was blessed with large deposits of solid minerals and solicited the support of the commission to help it in its revenue diversification quest.

It would be recalled that penultimate week, the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu called for a review of the revenue sharing formula by kicking against what they called uneven distribution of the nation’s wealth. At the inauguration of the Advisory Council of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, Aliyu, on behalf of the 19 northern states, argued that this had made some states to do better than others.

They, therefore, demanded a review of the formula “to reflect current realities”.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

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Annual subsidy revenue drops to N426bn

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (middle), his wife, Mrs Bola Obasanjo (3rd left), former Imo state Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim (left), former Oyo state Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala (2nd left), Delta state Governor, Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan (4th right), Chairman, Board of Trustees, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Hon. Carl Masters (3rd right), and others assisting the former President to cut his 75th birthday cake, yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

We are not ganging up against Jonathan - Gov Akpabio

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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overnor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state has denied reports in a national daily that governors elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are scheming to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan’s preferred candidates are embarrassed in the forthcoming PDP national convention.

The governor insisted that Jonathan, being the national leader of the ruling party had the loyalty and support of all PDP

governors in whatever direction he chose to take the party.

Speaking with State House correspondents after yesterday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Akpabio said: “PDP is a democratic party and as far as I am concerned, the President is the leader of the party, so there is no way we the followers can gang up against our leader. The President is our leader and we will go with our leader.

There is no issue because the President will like to see a democratic process emerge and as far as PDP is concerned, the PDP

recognises his leadership”.

Asked to respond to criticisms against the President for ‘over celebrating’ Ojukwu’s death, Governor Akpabio noted that President’s Jonathan’s active involvement in the late Ikemba’s burial would serve as a unifying factor for Nigeria and help heal the wounds of the past.

“The celebration of Ojukwu’s death was a way of reminding us of the need for us never to toe that part again, that we must do things that will bring justice to all section of the country so that never again shall we have to kill one another,

never again shall brothers rise against one another and as far as I am concerned I am saying that there are more of Ojukwus within the population of Nigeria today than what we have in the 1960s . so it is important for those of us who are leaders in the country today to continue to do the right thing and continue to ensure fair play and transparency and to deliver on the dividends of democracy to our people and above all to ensure that we take actions that will generate love amongst Nigeria,” the governor opined.

he Federal Government has reiterated its plans to leave out some aspects of its original Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment (SURE) document due to the partial withdrawal of fuel subsidy which has caused its expected annual subsidy re-investment fund to drop from N1.134 trillion to N426 billion.

From the new figure, Federal Government is now expected to earn about N180 billion as its share of the revenue which according to the Minister of state for Finance, Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama, would force it to prioritise maternal and child health, public works programme mass transit and the technical skill acquisition scheme in the new SURE document.

It would be recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan had indicated at a recent meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that his administration would review the content of the SURE document following the failure of government to achieve full deregulation of the downstream of the petroleum sector as planned.

The Minister, who briefed State House correspondents after yesterday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting said: "If you look at SURE document, the estimate of the re-investable fund was N1.134 trillion but with the partial deregulation, the computed total reinvestable fund per annum came to N426 billion and that is what is available to the Federal Government, the states governments and the local governments.

The share of the Federal Government came down from N478 billion to N180 billion. So, the document you have seen was based on an expectation of N478 billion every year for four years but now that we are getting N180 billion every year for four years, we have to prioritise.”

Supreme Court affirms Yuguda, Northern govs meet over security, derivation Suntai’s elections

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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he Supreme Court yesterday affirmed the victory of governors Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state and Danbaba Suntai of Taraba state at the April 2011 gubernatorial election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the two states.

Delivering judgement in the appeal filed by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and its governorship candidate in Bauchi state, Yusuf Maitama Tugar and that of Taraba state, challenging the victories of Yuguda and Suntai which was affirmed by their state’s election tribunals.

In a unanimous decision of the-five man panel of justices of the apex court, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, the court agreed with Yuguda's counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi that it lacks the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the appeal since it is incompetent and invalid.

Fagbemi had submitted that since it is common ground between all parties that the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on January 7, 2011 is a, "nullity" having been delivered without the reasoning adduced, no appeal can arise from an act or

judgement that is a nullity.

But Tugar's counsel, Wole Akoni asked the court to reject Fagbemi's submission and invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court's Rules to hear the appeal on its merit. Ruling on the preliminary objection, Justice Musdapher agreed with Fagbemi that the court cannot do anything to remedy the blunder of the Court of Appeal as it lacks the jurisdiction to do so.

"The judgement of the Court of Appeal is a nullity and no appeal can arise from a decision which is a nullity. Therefore, the court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the appeal and cannot invoke Section 22 of the Supreme Court Rules to hear the matter", the court held.

"Accordingly, the appeal fails and is hereby struck out. The judgement of the Bauchi state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal is further affirmed", he declared and decried the hardship litigants go through to pursue their case.

In a related development, the Supreme Court also threw out the appeal, seeking to unseat Governor Suntai as the Taraba state governor, on the grounds that the appeal against him was invalid since the judgment of the Appeal Court is a nullity having not contained the reasoning in line with Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

By Lawrence Olaoye, Abuja and Iliya Garba, Minna

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overnors of the 19 northern states under the aegis of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF), are billed to meet in Kaduna on Thursday to discuss issues bordering on the security challenges facing the region.

In a press statement signed by the Secretary to the Government of Niger state, Mr. Daniel Clifford Shashere, who is also the coordinating chairman, forum of secretaries to the governments of Northern states, the forum disclosed that the meeting would look into issues relating to the development of the region.

Shashere also disclosed that the governors would discuss the communiqués issued by the Northern Traditional Council and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).

He added that the governors would also touch on the gains of Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF) as well as the progress made on the restructuring of Kaduna Textile Limited (KTL) and other moribund textiles industries in the northern states as well as discuss status of implementation of the national minimum

wage in the Northern states.

Shashere added that the forum would discuss the modalities for the emergence of its new leadership; review the presentations made by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and organise a 2-day national capacity building workshop for the 19 northern states.

According to him, the NGF meeting will be preceded by the meeting of the forum of secretaries on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th March, 2012 by 10:00 am, at Gen. Hassan Usman Katsina House, Kawo, Kaduna and a communiqué will be issued at the end of the meeting.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Niger state governor, Mr. Danladi Ndayebo, when contacted however added that the governors would discuss the issue of the New Nigerian Newspapers and review the progress of polio eradication in the states of the north.

But independent source close to the forum told our reporter that the governors would examine the ongoing debate on the review of nation’s revenue formula.

It was gathered that the forum had begun moves to ensure that northern states with solid minerals deposits are considered for the 13% derivation fund as currently being enjoyed by the oil producing states of the states from the South-south region of the country.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

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INEC voter register can’t guarantee credible polls, says REC

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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he newly sworn-in Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Edo state, Austine Okojie, has stated that the current Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voters register can never guarantee credible election in the country, faulting the achievements of the commission on voter’s education.

Okojie, who made this observation yesterday at the headquarters of the INEC during the swearing-in ceremony of five new RECs in Abuja, also argued that the process of updating the voters’ register is not flexible enough, and that credible election start with credible voters’ register.

The REC, who had served in Rivers, Benue, Bayelsa, Imo, Enugu and Abia states also submitted that the present democracy is not only being threatened by voters’ apathy, but also invalid votes.

According to him, “Now as I speak with you I cannot really agree that the Nigerian voters register is up to date. For a voter register to be up to date, you have to have what is called regular inclusion of eligible voters and also regular exclusion of illegible voters.

“So, until we have a process of which we can remove or include those eligible voters continuously and to remove the illegible voters (those who have died) our register cannot be said to be up to date”.

While advising INEC leadership to do more on voters’ education and the process of updating the voters’ register, Okojie also advocated for a standardisation of the voters register to the international level, saying it is a measure capable of changing the attitude of Nigerians towards election results.

“The voters register has to be comprehensive; it has to be inclusive; it has to be accurate and above all it has to be up to date”, he stated.

“The international level of voters register is that the voters register has to be comprehensive; it has to be inclusive; it has to be accurate and above all it has to be up to date.” He stated.

Chairman of the commission, Attahiru Jega, while swearing the new RECs, reminded them that their appointment came at the appropriate time when INEC is drawing a lot of praises from the Nigerian public and the international community over the conduct of the 2011 general elections.

Meanwhile, five new RECs were sworn in and they include: Prof. Jacob Jato, Nasarawa; Olusegun Agbaje, Ekiti; Austin Okojie, Edo; Nasir Ayiba, Kogi; and Baba Abba Yusuf, Borno.

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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ore than 30 persons have been murdered in a renewed invasion by suspected Fulani marauders on Gwer West local government area of Benue state.

The president, Tyosin Youth Association, Engr. Joseph Mom while briefing newsmen in Makurdi yesterday, said the invaders stormed the area early on Sunday morning killing people and burning down houses and other properties.

Engr. Mom added that the herdsmen came from areas bordering the local government with the River Benue to carry out

30 killed in renewed communal clash in Benue the attack, maintaining that the whereabout of most inhabitants of Tse-Ayande, Chille, Mma-Kpe, TseGboku, Tse-Kpar and several other areas affected is still unknown.

“They usually cross from the River with speed boats to carry out this premeditated attack. We have been hospitable to the Fulanis but they have continued to attack us on issues bothering on grazing

areas. They are usually heavily armed living us always on the defensive. Maybe they felt what happened last year was not enough so they have come back to continue from where they stopped”, Mom lamented.

He therefore called on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency deploy a special security task force to protect and guarantee

the safety of the people who now live in grave panic and fear.

Meanwhile, the State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Ejike Alaribe confirmed in a telephone interview with our correspondent that only 16 persons were killed, intimating that security operatives have been deployed to the area to forestall more destruction.

L-R: Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, Deputy Corps Marshal, Policy, Research and Statistic of Federal Road Safety Corps (RFSC), Mr. Adeyemi Omideji, and National President, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, Chief Abubakar Sadiq, at a one-day sensitisation campaign on the dangers of drug abuse for road transport owners, employers workers, motorcycle operators and road users, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Mark curses corrupt pension administrators

By Ali Alkali

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enate President David Mark yesterday cursed the various administrators of pension funds in the country for enriching themselves with the legitimate entitlements of retirees.

“These people, the administrators stealing pension funds, can never live in peace because the prayers of these old men and women who have diligently served the country will hunt them and their children’s children”, Senator Mark said while declaring open a public hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Service and Establishment on the administration of pension funds.

Mark said further that: “You can’t take away the money of those old people and think that it will not follow you; it will follow even your children’s children, because it is blood money.”

The Senate President, who was represented by the Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor NdomaEgba (Cross River), said it was evident that those saddled with the responsibility of managing pension funds were among the richest in the country; and called on the committee to fish out all culprits sucking the blood of the nation’s

elder citizens.

“I implore the committee to unravel all the issues pertaining to the mismanagement of pension funds in the country and bring the perpetrators to book. Let me assure you that this committee has the full backing of the Senate on this,” Mark said.

The Senate President added that the moral strength of a nation is determined by the way it treats its elder citizens, saying no nation can be great until it shows proper appreciation to its pensioners for serving their nation faithfully.

“Government must be there for those who need it the most; and usually, those who need government the most are those who are retired and old,” he said.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Aloysius Etok (Akwa Ibom), said his committee would discharge its duties diligently, “to ensure that corruption, embezzlement and misapplication/diversion of pension funds are exposed, the perpetrators brought to book and all necessary legislative remedies provided to bring to an end, the agonies and pains which pensioners have been subjected to.”

Senator Kabiru Gaya (Kano), co-chairman of the committee,

assured that the committee will do a thorough job and come up with appropriate recommendations.

Other members of the committee include Senators George Akume (Benue), Ibrahim Musa (Niger) and Adegbenga Kaka (Ogun).

Speaking to Senate correspondents after the opening of the hearing, Director General of the National Pension Commission, Muhammad Kabir Ahmed, said his commission was glad that the

Senate was investigating the pension administration and management in the country.

“NPC is just a regulatory body; we don’t handle workers’ pension remittance or payment. But, unfortunately, whenever any fraud concerning pension is mentioned, people think of NPC. We hope this Senate investigation will enlighten people about the way pension fund is being administered”, he said.

JTF kills 3 Boko Haram arsonists in Maiduguri From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri hree suspected members of the Boko Haram sect, who attempted to set ablaze a public primary school in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital were gunned down by operatives of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF).

Spokesman of the JTF, Lt- Col. Hassan Mohammed, who disclosed this to newsmen yesterday, said the incident took place Sunday night when five gunmen stormed Lamisula Primary School with gallons of petrol and attempted to set it on fire.

According to Mohammed, two

T

other members of the group who sustained gunshots injuries were apprehended at the scene of the incident, saying the suspects met their waterloo when they raided the school with gallons of petrol.

He said: “JTF has carried out another successful operation Sunday night when our operatives in secret vigilance over the school sighted a group of armed men driving inside with gallons of petrol; unknown to them, some officers were deployed to guard the school”.

The corpses of the suspects, the spokesman said, were evacuated from the schools and several arms and ammunition were recovered from them.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Jigawa partners NGO on nutrition From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse The Jigawa state government has entered into a partnership with a non-governmental organisation known as Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) with the aim of overcoming the nutritional challenges in the state.

The technical coordinator of the NGO, Mrs. Maureen Gallagher who gave indication when they paid an advocacy call on the state Ministry of Health said they were in Jigawa in March 2011 for the purpose of carrying out a 6-year community based management of acute malnutrition in Birniwa, Guri and Gwiwa Local Governmentt Areas.

She said the program was jointly sponsored by the state government, local government and the communities with the objective of reducing child mortality rate in the State.

The permanent secretary pledged to give the group all necessary support that will enable it realise its goals.

PAGE 5

7 die in Jos auto accident From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

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even people lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident yesterday, which occurred along Bukuru expressway of Jos south Local Government Area (LGA) in Plateau state when a trailer truck crushed a commercial station wagon.

The accident occurred at about 1:21 pm in front of the Jos South local government council (LGC) secretariat in Bukuru, while a 406 Peugeot which was coming out from the Jessy Royal was badly damaged.

The diesel truck with registration number XA 847 BLG rammed into the said 504 saloon car with registration number AH

762 KUJ and killed the seven passengers including the driver of the car.

Peoples Daily gathered that 5 of the victims died instantly while one died on the way to a nearby hospital and the other gave up the ghost while receiving treatment at the Plateau Specialist hospital in Jos. Further investigation revealed

that the corpses of the seven victims had been deposited at the Plateau Specialist Hospital mortuary.

The Plateau state Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), ASP Samuel Dabia confirmed the incident to newsmen, saying that some angry youths gathered the scene and burnt down the said trailer.

HIV victims protest disbursement of World Bank fund From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

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he Oyo state chapter of People of Living With HIV/ AIDS (PLWH) yesterday faulted the disbursement of World Bank fund by the state agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS (SACA) and called for transparency and accountability.

The state network chairman of PLWH, Mr. Ogunmade Matthew stated this during the official launching of the second World Bank assisted HIV/AIDS Project in Oyo state.

He alleged that the World Bank fund has been politicized by SACA saying this is not the first time government announced the arrival of the money usually diverted to another project more personal to politicians.

Ogunmade explained that over 30,000 certified people were living with the virus out of millions who are yet to know their status in the state, adding that nobody can tell the figure of people living with HIV. In her response, the state chairperson of SACA who is the First Lady, Mrs Florence Ajimobi assured of transparency and accountability in disbursing the fund.

According to her, “we will follow World Bank's directive on the fund.

We are going to be very transparent to experience appreciable impact on the reduction of the epidemic in the state.”

In his welcome address, the project coordinator, Mr. M.A Ganiyu also assured of attaining zero level of HIV/AIDS related deaths in Oyo state by the year 2015.

L-R: Yobe state Governor, Ibrahim Gaidam, Taraba state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi, Sokoto state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Muktari Shagari, Plateau state Deputy Governor, Mr. Ignatius Longjan, and Oyo state Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, during the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

CJN, Attorneys-General tasked on plea bargain

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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articipants at the two-day Capacity Building Workshop on the issue of plea bargain have called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher and the body of Attorney-Generals to provide judicial policy guidelines on the administration of plea bargain in the country.

They also called for the abolition of interlocutory appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to ensure quick dispensation of justice.

While agreeing with the CJN that the concept of plea bargain had been abused in the past in favour of white collar criminals, Speakers at the workshop unanimously endorsed the concept saying its application would assist in ensuring quick disposal of criminal cases.

In his keynote address at the workshop organised by the National Association of Judicial Correspondence (NAJUC) in collaboration with open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and Settlement House, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Dr. Chindi Anselem Odinkalu who lamented the abnormalities in the criminal justice sector with a position that some of them can be corrected by

proper application of the concept of plea bargain.

Dr. Odinkalu submitted that: “We have a criminal justice sector system that is unable to catch those who violate its rules; unable to ensure accountability even for the most basic crimes; detains those whom it cannot convict often for longer than it can hold them if it were to convict them; and, without consequences, kills many on whom it can’t even pin any charge of criminal conduct. In one sentence, our criminal justice system has normalized abnormality.”

The apostle of plea bargain identified poverty, confusion and lack of co-ordination in the allocation of roles among the law enforcement agencies; lack of thorough investigation and the holding charge which allows the police to secure indefinite pre-trial detention orders from Magistrates courts as factors responsible for the crisis of injustice in the judicial system in the country.

Dr. Odinkalu’s position was adopted by the Abuja branch Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Maxi Afam Osigwe who called for the regulation of plea bargain and for the accused persons to be made to honestly declare his assets.

He further canvassed for shifting of the Prison Decongestion Programme of the Federal

Ministry of Justice to the Legal Aid Council.

The CJN, in his address at the workshop, explained that his earlier position on the issue of plea bargain was in respect to the sneaky motive behind the introduction of the concept into our legal system.

It would be recalled that the CJN had described the plea bargain as a dubious origin and that it should be abolished.

Speaking through the Deputy Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Ahmed Gambo Saleh, Justice Musdapher hit back at politicians whom he accused of subtle blackmail against Judges in paid advertorials on the pages of newspapers whenever a judgment of the court did not go their way.

He made particular reference to the case of Imo state governorship appeal wherein a newspaper advertorial by unknown persons “purporting to offer Supreme Court Judges a contrived sermon on judicial righteousness in a language laden with threat, blackmail and contempt for the judiciary and the judicial process. This is very sad indeed!”

Justice Musdapher therefore called on journalists to educate the public to know that notwithstanding any judicial imperfections, or system-default, citizens have a constitutional

obligation, ab intio, to respect the decisions of the constitutionally established courts of the land.

Justifying the application of the plea bargain, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the concept has assisted it to successfully prosecute high profile cases including DSP Alamieyeseigha, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, and Cecelia Ibru among others.

The EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde who spoke through the Director of Legal, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayodele said plea bargain permits resolution of criminal proceedings with all the benefits that the result from final disposition and avoids delay and the uncertainties of trials and appeals.

The Commission said it is empowered under section 14 [2] of its Acts to “ compound any offence punishable under the Act by accepting such sum of money as it thinks fit not exceeding the maximum amount to which that person would have been liable if he had been convicted of that offence.”

Earlier, Chairman of NAJUC, Mr. Joe Nwankwo explained that the workshop was to acquaint journalists covering the judiciary with the necessary skills to enable them discharge their duties effectively through training and re-training process.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Drug lab: Reps commend NDLEA over discovery, promise adequate funding From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he House of Representatives Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Financial Crimes has commended the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), for the giant strides recorded in the antinarcotic crusade.

The committee chairman, Jagaba Adams Jagaba in a letter to the agency stated that the arrest of three Bolivians and discovery of a secret laboratory for the

production of methamphetamine in Lagos is commendable.

According to Jagaba, "I, on behalf of the committee, wish to commend the chairman, officers and men of the agency for this rare feat recorded in the fight against illicit drugs in the country.

Meanwhile, I urge you to continue with your investigation in order to get to the root of the crime and secure conviction. The committee on its own part will continue to make sure that your agency is adequately funded in this

year's budget in order to help you tackle your challenges".

Reacting, chairman of the NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade thanked the committee for the commendation and assurance of improved funding describing it as inspiring. "We appreciate the commendation by the House of Representatives. It is inspiring and will continue to encourage us to give our best. Particularly, the promise to ensure that the agency is adequately funded is important.

This will enable us confront the

enormous challenges of drug control", Giade stated.

Three Bolivians and a Nigerian were recently arrested in connection with a secret laboratory for the illicit production of methamphetamine at Satellite Town, Lagos. The laboratory was detected by operatives attached to the Lagos state command.

Items recovered at the production area include 41.150kg of ephedrine, 4.8kg of methamphetamine, other chemicals and sundry gadgets used

in the laboratory. Three vehicles, a Honda Accord Saloon car, a Honda CRV Jeep and a Toyota 4-runner Jeep were also impounded.

Apprehended in connection with the laboratory include three Bolivians Yerko Artunduaga Dorado, 19; Ruben Ticona Jorge, 21; and Hugo Chavez Moreno, 39. The fourth suspect is a 23-year-old Nigerian, Uba Ubachukwu Collins.

However, Solomon Azuka Uzoka and Basil Ikechukwu Uzoka are wanted for questioning by the NDLEA.

Gombe distributes 2500 JAMB forms

By Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

G

ombe state government has distributed 2500 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) forms to qualified students in the state.

The Commissioner for Higher Education, Dr. Isah Muhammad Wade who disclosed this while flagging off the distribution exercise in Gombe, stated that the gesture was to encourage students desiring university education.

He added that 1,000 of the forms

would be given free to the 500 remedial arts students, 500 science remedial students of the University of Maiduguri, remedial students at Government Arabic College Gombe, and the ETF Education Resource Centre Gombe, while the 1,500 forms would be distributed to other prospective students in the 11 local government areas.

Dr. Wade urged the students to be committed to their studies and read hard to get the requirement of UTME scores that will help them gain admission into the university of their choice.

Enemies are instrumental to my success, says Obasanjo

By Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

T

he former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday celebrated his 75 years birthday with kudos to his adversaries for contributing immensely to his success.

Our correspondent reports that the ceremony took place inside the multi-million naira conference hall located inside the Obasanjo Presidential Library, along the Presidential Boulevard, Abeokuta, Ogun state capital.

Speaking at the occasion, the celebrant acknowledged the negative and positive effects of his adversaries, pointing out that, their actions had remained instrumental to his success in all ramifications. He noted further that for anybody to be successful

in life, one of the criteria is to have adversaries, stressing that their actions eventually turn to blessings. Hence, there is need to have them in one's life.

"I want to thank my adversaries for contributing to my growth, and I want to tell you, if one doesn't have adversaries, one cannot succeed", Obasanjo emphasised.

The celebrant in company of his wife, Bola, revealed he told his child not to condemn his enemies, but rather to acknowledge their own adversaries to be able to survive and be successful in life.

The famous octogenarian musician, Fatai Rolling Dollars rounded off the ceremony by entertaining guests to a melody of tunes as they wined and dined with the celebrant.

L-R: Governors Peter Obi of Anambra state, Isa Yuguda of Bauchi state, and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe state, exchanging pleasantries during the meeting of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) on polio eradication and progress on implementation of State Peer Review Mechanism (SPRM), at Rivers state Governor's Lodge, on Sunday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

National Grazing Reserves Commission Bill: Herdsmen hail NASS

By Miriam Humbe

A

Fulani socio-cultural association, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore has commended the upper chamber of the National Assembly for initiating the National Grazing Reserves Commission Bill, saying the bill if passed into law will foster peaceful co-existence between the Fulani pastoralists and the farmers in some parts of the country.

Speaking to newsmen in Abuja yesterday, the national chairman

of the association, Alhaji Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, described the sponsor of the bill, Senator Zaynab Kure (PDP, Niger South) as a mother of peace in the society.

He said the establishment of the bill has come at a right time when the association is campaigning for town hall meetings with both the Fulani and the farmers to engage in productive dialogue that will end crises.

"We commend Senator Kure for her initiative that will bring about a lasting solution to our grazing

problem. We also want the leadership of the Senate to speedily pass the bill into law so that the Fulani herdsmen would know how to carry on with their traditional trade without encroaching into the farmlands of other communities", he said.

Bodejo urged all the Senators not to allow the bill die down, as it is all about life and properties, adding that Miyetti Allah would do all it could to support the move by the Senate.

Agencies blame road accidents on abuse of drugs

By A'isha Biola Raji

T

he National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC); National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), have blamed multiple road accidents in the country on the abuse of prescribed and non-prescribed drugs used by motorists.

This was made known yesterday at the official flag-off

of NAFDAC's sensitisation campaign on dangers of drug abuse for road transport employers and workers, an idea initiated by Miss. Shifau Bello, a corps member serving with NAFDAC, which held at Jabi Park, Abuja.

In a his address, the Director General of NAFDAC Dr. Paul Orhii commended Shifau for her brilliant idea, he said the agency has also identified the need to work with other relevant agencies in combating the rise

in the abuse of drugs in the country in respect to the alert received from the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

He explained: "There is a high incidence of abuse of cough remedies containing codeine particularly by okada/achaba riders, sniffing of solutions in cold patch used by vulcanizers, inhalation of petrol and nail polish, sniffing of sand scooped from filthy gutters and pit latrines and mixing monosodium glutamate (white

seasoning) with cola drinks which are all dangerous to health if misused". He said the use of such products without proper prescription can lead to decline in economy as people suffer its consequence.

In their various speeches, the Chairman of NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, representative of Corps Marshal FRSC, and Deputy Corps Marshal, Planning and Statistics, Mr. Adeyemi Onigidan and representative of the DG, National Youth Service

Corps (NYSC), Mr. Emmanuel Obi all pledged their support for the need to sensitise commercial road users on the dangers associated with drug abuse especially among motorists.

In his address, the president of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), said the menace of drug abuse is not limited to road workers alone as it cuts across all classes of life and should be dealt with objectively to curb all the social vices associated with it.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 7

Jigawa legislator trains 100 youths From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

T

he member representing Kaugama in the Jigawa State House of Assembly, Alhaji Shehu Liman, has expended about N500, 000 to sponsor the training 100 youths in various skills.

The lawmaker said his aim is to complement the Sule Lamidoled administration in providing job opportunities to the teaming youth in the state.

Liman said this is in line with his determination to improve the economy of the people through empowerment programmes for youths to be self

reliant.

He added that the cardinal is to alleviate poverty among the people especially those in the rural area.

The lawmaker explained that “this effort coincides with the manifesto of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and our able leader Alhaji Sule Lamido who established the ministry of economic empowerment and to give the dividend of my election”.

He maintained that creation of job opportunities and empowerment for the people will also contribute reducing of political thugger

Kwara CJ resumes work From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

Osun state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola (middle), presenting an award to one of the best corps members in the state, Mr. Adeleke Olatunji (right), during the visit of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members to the governor in his office, recently in Osogbo. With them is the deputy governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori (left).

Northern governors eulogise Obasanjo at 75

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he Northern Governors Forum (NGF) has paid tribute to former President Olusegun Obasanjo who attained 75 years of age yesterday, saying the former leader has lived a fulfilled life of service to Nigeria and humanity.

Chairman of the Forum and governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, said at 75 former President Obasanjo has remained the reference point on good governance, statesmanship, diplomacy, conflict resolution and prudent management of resources.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Malam Danladi Ndayebo, Governor Aliyu said the former leader had a distinguished carrier in the military and went on to preside over Africa’s most influential country, first as head of state and later as democratically elected president, during which period he showed rare vision, courage and exemplary leadership.

“It is no longer news that in 1976, destiny beckoned on General Obasanjo to become Nigeria’s Head of State; an era that ushered in huge developmental drive in our journey to nationhood and in

the exercise of greatness, he voluntarily relinquished power and handed it over to a civilian administration in 1979. He returned to the presidency in 1999 from the verge of death to the flourishing tree of democracy he planted, this time as the gardener and the nourisher,” the statement said.

Aliyu said Obasanjo has left legacies in all sectors of the

economy including nationbuilding, national reconciliation, the Niger Delta issue, national security, pension reforms etc.

The Forum said it was proud to be associated with the achievements of the former leader, especially his contributions to the deepening of the nation’s fledgling democracy.

Niger gov urges ICAN to fight corruption From Iliya Garba, Minna

T

he governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu has advised the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), to help to fight corruption which has dragged the image of our country to the mud.

He made this known yesterday while receiving members of the institute who paid him a courtesy visit in Government House Minna, saying they should create awareness of the sanctions of corruption so that people would know when they have derailed.

Governor Aliyu advised them to always help government to review every 10 years the revenue formula, adding that

this would help to correct certain things in government.

He however allocated two plots of land for the association to build their office and have a permanent study centre for the state so that according to him, ‘sons and daughters of Niger state would have the chance to be chattered accountants’.

The president of ICAN, Prof.

Francis Ojaide in his address, applauded the governor on the milestones and developments recorded in this state.

Prof. Ojaide said there is also a remarkable change in education and graduate employment scheme, which shows that the government is actually utilising the money given for the development of the state.

T

he reinstated Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Raliat Elelu-Habeeb resumed at her office yesterday, about three weeks after the judiciary workers in the state embarked on industrial; strike to protest against the Supreme Court which reinstated her as the Chief Judge of the state.

Our correspondent who went round the High Court complex noticed that workers were busy dusting their offices and those of the judges and the court rooms early in the morning. The office of the CJ was also being dusted as at about 2.45pm when our reporter went round again.

Though the reinstated CJ refused to speaks with journalists, a staff who spoke to journalists under anonymity

confirmed that she saw two policemen at the waiting room of the CJ’s Conference Room where the CJ herself was supposed to be sitting while the cleaning work in her office was on going.

Reacting to the development, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), welcomed the resumption of activities at the court and the resumption of Justice Elelu-Habeeb as CJ and appealed to members of the judiciary to continue to work for the peace and progress of the judiciary in the state.

The state chairman of the NBA, Ilorin, Mr. Rafiu Balogun in an interview with journalists, said his executive council was scheduled to meet with the CJ to discuss with her on how to move the judiciary forward after the crisis.

‘FG will avenge South Africa’s deportation of Nigerians if…’

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

T

he Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro has said that the Federal Government hads commenced investigations into the recent deportation of Nigerians from the Republic of South Africa to ascertain the reasons behind the move.

The minister told State House correspondents after yesterday’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting that he believed South Africa as a friendly country would not send Nigerians back if their documents were genuine. He however added that if the investigation reveals that the whole exercise was carried out

in bad faith, Nigerian government retaliate accordingly.

“South Africa is a very friendly country and we hope that they have done what they did in good faith but like you know about our relationship with other countries, we believe in reciprocal diplomacy. If it is found out that South Africa has deliberately frustrated Nigerians who want to travel to the country, certainly Nigeria will reciprocate appropriately…”

The minister added: “I want to assure you on one thing that the Federal Government has the capacity to reciprocate appropriately if it is found out that it is not done in good faith.”

Taraba intensifies awareness on Lassa fever From Yusha’u Alhassan, Jalingo

T

he Taraba state government says it will continue to create awareness and intensity sensitisation on Lassa fever as measures to mitigate its spread.

The Commissioner for Health in the state, Mustapha Hamman Gabdo, stated this at a one-day advocacy workshop

on Lassa fever for health workers in the state.

Gabdo said the workshop was imperative as it is aimed at acquainting health workers with the best practices of preventing themselves from infection in the process of saving lives.

He noted that the key to any control of disease outbreak was the awareness of the disease

and preventive measures by those in direct contact with infected patients.

The commissioner called on participants to pay close attention and be informed so as to reduce the spread of the disease in the state.

The workshop which was organised by the state Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Health and other

partners drew participants from the Federal Medical Centre and the Specialist Hospital.

The project director, Centre For Disease Control, Federal Ministry of Health Abuja, Abdulsalami Nasidi who spoke on the title: “Upsurge of Lassa Fever in Nigeria”, said the outbreak of the disease has been recorded in about 15 states of

the federation stressing that this was the first time there was outbreak in 50 percent of the country.

He said the local governments in the state with the outbreak included Ardokola, Jalingo, Wukari, KarimLamido, Sardauna and Gassol adding that there was a decline in the spread and urged people not to exaggerate the situation.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 8

Don traces militancy, social ills to illiteracy

20,000 men die of prostate cancer in Nigeria, says Don

From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

he chairman, Committee of Provosts of Colleges of Education in Nigeria (COP), Prof. Isa Ochepa has identified high level of illiteracy among Nigerians as the root cause of militancy in the Niger Delta, prostitution, child trafficking as well as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North.

He said that having 50 million Nigerians as illiterates, has to a large extent impacted negatively on all facets of national development efforts and goals.

Prof. Ochepa made the observation while delivering his welcome address at the 2nd national conference of COP, which began yesterday, at the College of Education Akwanga, Nasarawa state,titled: “Transformation of education; Enlarging access to qualitative tertiary education.”

The don lamented the inability of the country to streamline various developmental plans put forward in synchrony with reality, while also calling for a paradigm shift for a sustainable transformation by enlarging access to quality education.with adequate space for higher education, and urged the government to increase the budgetary allocation to education.

A

Consultant Urologist with the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery, University of Ilorin, Dr. Ademola A. Popoola, has revealed that not less than 20,000 men die of prostate cancer every year in Nigeria.

Ademola who made this

revelation while speaking on “Prostate Cancer: Awareness, Prevention and Screening” as part of the third edition of Health Education Seminar of the University of Ilorin, organised by the University Board of Health in conjunction with the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, noted that the death rate has shown a steady decline all over the world.

He noted that men of any age

could get prostate cancer but it was often found in men over the age of 50 adding that more than 80 percent of men with prostate cancer are over the age of 65.

To reduce the risk, the university don suggested that Nigerians should be exercising and eating a healthy diet, choosing a low-fat diet; eating more fat from plants than from animals and increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables

taken each day among others.

Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, who was represented by the Dean of Clinical Sciences, Prof. Wahab B. Johnson, appealed to the participants not to allow themselves to manage what could be prevented.

He said that scientific studies have shown that many cancers could be cured if detected.

Twins in court over unlawful ejection of tenant

A

set of twins were yesterday charged before a Yaba Magistrates’ Court over alleged forceful evacuation of their tenant and damaging properties valued N1.7 million.

The 38-year-old twins, Kehinde Ogunmola and Taiwo Adeyemi, are facing a two-countcharge of unlawful ejection and causing breach of the peace.

The prosecutor, Insp. Philip Ugbodu, told the court that the accused persons, who reside at 14 Popo St. Surulere, were joint owners of a bungalow in the premises and had let out two rooms to Mrs. Olubukola Ajetumobi, the complainant.

He said that Ajetumobi converted the rooms for use as a restaurant, based on an agreement with the owners.

Ugbodu told the court that the complainant paid the sum of N360, 000 for 18 months and started renovation of the rooms to suit her purpose.

He said that the renovation, however, took such a long period that the complainant could not finish till the expiration of her tenancy, upon which the accused persons requested her to vacate the premises.

Ugbodu said that the complainant requested for more time since she had invested so much in the house, but the accused refused.

L-R: Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke welcoming US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Amb. Wendy Sherman to her office, yesterday in Abuja.

US commends Minister’s leadership of oil and gas industry

By Aminu Imam

T

he United States government yesterday expressed confidence in the Nigeria oil and gas industry under the stewardship of the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

The Minister had in the last two months established specialised task forces/ committees in the petroleum industry, saddled with the mandates of fast tracking ongoing oil sector reforms and providing value addition in Federal Government’s drive to ensure that Nigeria reaps bountifully from the proceeds of God-given hydrocarbon resources.

Speaking at the end of a breakfast session with the Minister at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, the US UnderSecretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador Wendy Sherman, while describing Alison-Madueke as a visionary leader stated that the United States will continue its

partnership with Nigeria in the oil sector as well as other areas of common interest.

“We had an excellent meeting with the Minister; she is a visionary who is looking ahead to a sector that will bring great benefit to the people of Nigeria and I know she is working very closely with the Nigerian President to ensure a very bright future for all Nigerians,’’ Ambassador Sherman stated.

The US Under-Secretary, who was accompanied to the meeting by the Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs, Carlos Pascual and the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence Mc Culley pledged continuation of the US/Nigeria bilateral trade relationship .

“The United States looks forward to continuing with a strong partnership both here in Nigeria, in the region and throughout the world,’’ she said.

Welcoming the US delegation, Mrs. AlisonMadueke described the US as a worthy partner in the oil and

gas industry noting that the Federal Government is determined to sustain the relationship.

Also yesterday, a two- day National Refineries workshop convened at the instance of the Petroleum Minister to seek integrated solution to the challenges confronting the nation’s traditional refineries got underway in Abuja.

The Day-1 of the session which had in attendance all the downstream stakeholders within the NNPC Group as well as officials of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources is seeking to galvanize all options in the drive to increasing the nation’s refining capacity through the rehabilitation and upgrade of existing refineries.

The workshop comes to a close today, with participation expected from all major interest groups as well as trade unions in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.

Also extra succor came the way of some communities in Bayelsa state believed to have been impacted by the recent

gas fire incident at the Chevron Nigeria operated gas rig with the arrival of additional relief material over the weekend courtesy of the Minister.

The material, which includes about 4,000 cartoons of table water arrived the Yenagoa waterfront over the weekend for onward distribution to the affected communities of - Koluama 1, Koluama 11, Ekeni, Foropa, Fishtown, Ezetu 1, Ezetu 11 and Sanga, all in the Southern Ijaw and Brass Local Government Areas of Bayelsa state.

Before now the Minister, through the NNPC, had despatched bags of rice, beans, antiseptic soaps, toiletries, cloths vegetable oil and dairy products to the communities.

Christopher Tuodo, Chairman of the Keffes Rural Development Foundation who received the items on behalf of the eight communities under the Keffes umbrella thanked the Minister for living up to an earlier promise during her visit to the communities few weeks ago.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Adamawa, Taraba customs set to generate N120m From Blessing Tunoh, Yola

A

damawa and Taraba states command of the Nigeria Customs Service has said it will generate N120 million in the ongoing nationwide custom duty verification exercise on vehicles.

Speaking to journalists at the command headquarters in Yola, the Comptroller, Mr. Sambo Tom Ipreye said the target which is in line with the directive issued from the national headquarters of the organisation would be an improvement over last year’s over N36 million generated.

Sambo however noted that the verification exercise has become necessary to checkmate the rising rate of car smuggling owing to the porous nature of the country’s borders adding that it would go a long way in tackling car theft and other related crimes.

“Any person that has paid R-L: President Goodluck Jonathan, with Sierra Leone President, Ernest Bai Koroma, during the latter's state visit to the President, at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Zamfara people protest against Yariman Bakura Likeminds Association

Commuters stranded as long queues resurface at petrol stations in Oyo A

From Salisu Zakari Maradun, Gusau

From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

T

housand of commuters in the ancient city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state were yesterday stranded and subjected to long distance trekking as fuel scarcity entered its second day.

Fuel scarcity resurfaced in Ibadan and its environs with

motorists queuing up for hours before buying the commodity from the few petrol stations willing to sell to the public.

The worrisome situation started on Sunday with long queues of vehicles disrupting traffic flow on the first working day of the week in some filling stations in and around the city.

Motorists including

commercial vehicles and motorcyclists popularly called Okada queued up to one or two hours before buying fuel in petrol stations that opened for business.

While some filing stations were closed for business within and around the city, the few petrol stations selling witnessed unprecedented turnout of motorists.

Dangote helps Benue communities with water supply

T

he N50 million earth dam constructed by the Dangote Group in Gboko, Benue state is timely as it is one of the major sources of water supply to the communities.

Speaking to newsmen in Gboko, assistant general manager in charge of special duties in Dangote Cement Company, Dr. Bem Melladu said the construction of the earth dam was necessitated by the collapse of the previous dam.

He described the construction of the dam as a giant stride and part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the Dangote Cement Company.

“Upon realising the need, we decided to give back to the community what we get from our factory. We take our social responsibility very serious. We have done a lot, and we are still doing more”, he said.

According to a statement from the Dangote Group, over 1,000 direct jobs and about 10,000 indirect jobs have been created in Gboko factory alone.

The statement said Dangote Cement in Benue gives host communities N10 million annual education scholarships.

It said 15 villages were electrified at the cost of N115 million, adding that 14 blocks of classrooms have been constructed for the community around the company at the cost of N84 billion.

The statement said 19 boreholes were constructed for the communities.

“We have also donated N15 million to the community’s development foundation, and we are helping through the community empowerment scheme, while our 100 bed hospital has been approved for construction within the

community”, it said.

It said that in addition to N78million compensation paid during the takeover of the company, additional N60 million inconvenience allowance has been paid to families.

the customs duty in the past should come to our office and crosscheck with us because if you’re caught you will be made to pay with a penalty but if you come willingly the duty will be normal”, the comptroller stated.

In the same vein, he advised members of the public intending to buy cars from dealers to confirm the duty documents with the customs before making any transaction as according to him, “if you are caught with a car that doesn’t have duty and you fail to pay the penalty when due, it would be converted to seizure which could lead to forfeiture if you lose the case in court.”

Our correspondent learnt that so far about 400 motorists have showed up for the exercise just as the men of the Adamawa state command today launched collection of duty at border towns in Toungo, Kojoli and other cattle routes in the state.

battle line has been drawn between some communities and the Yariman Bakura Likeminds Association, a nongovernmental organisation based in Gusau, Zamfara state.

The association which is headed by Alhaji Kasimu Kaura, was on several occasions accused of diverting funds and other items meant for the people, particularly the less privileged and women.

Checks by our reporter had shown that several attempts were made to destroy or burn the building of the association, but for the intervention of some elders.

Yariman Bakura Likeminds is an association, through which any assistance coming to the electorate from Senator Ahmed Sani, the former governor of the state is disbursed to the beneficiaries.

Recently, according to the checks, some people including women, protested against the leadership of Alhaji Kasimu Kaura, complaining that he is not

an honest follow.

They called on the Senator Ahmed Sani to hasten the removal of the said Kasimu and replace him with honest person so that they can move forward.

Some of them who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, expressed their sadness over the situation, describing it as total betrayal against the senator.

They also lamented that should Kasimu remains as the head of the association, all the political ambitions of the former governor would be dashed.

When contacted for a comment on the accusation leveled against him, Alhaji Kasimu Kaura, told our correspondent that all the accusations are not true and baseless.

Kaura said there was never a time he took a single kobo belonging to the organisation, “in fact whatever we do here, I spend on it from my own pocket, so you leave them, to hell with them there is nothing they can do to me”, he said.

NUJ lifts suspension on six Kwara members From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

S

ix members of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kwara state council suspended by national secretariat of the union over anti-union and other offences have been pardoned with a warning that they should avoid any action that could jeopardise the integrity of the union.

The union in a statement issued and co-signed by the state chairman, Elder Stephen Oni and

assistant secretary, Evang.

Asonibare Albert, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Ilorin, stated that the affected members had written apology letter to the national secretariat.

The statement said that “the Kwara council of the NUJ has been directed by the national secretariat to lift the suspension order placed on six of its members in the state with effect from Monday, 5th March, 2012”.

The affected members include Abdullahi Olesin of the Leadership newspaper, Ali Mohammed Rabiu of New Nigerian, Mustapha Abubakar of Daily Trust, Hammed Shittu of ThisDay, Demola Akinyemi of Vanguard and Hakeem Olatidoye of The Herald newspaper.

The union added that they have shown remorse and formerly regretted their actions, “therefore have their suspension lifted with immediate effect”.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Delta approves N150m ‘SEEFOR’ counterpart fund From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan (middle), With Chief Physician to the President, Dr. Fortune Fiberesima (right), and Chief Consultant Surgeon, State House Clinic, Dr. Dike Obalum (left), during the First Lady’s visit to accident victims who are staff of the State House, at Aso Clinic, on Sunday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Soldiers deny beating 14-yr-old girl to coma From Iliya Garba, Minna

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he Artillery Brigade in Minna, Niger state over the weekend denied beating a 14-year-old girl, Umaima Mohammed, to coma when she tried to go over barriers put in place.

The Public Relations Officer, Lt. F.P. Daniel said soldiers only dispossessed the girl of her bag in

the encounter, adding that a scuffle however ensued when she refused to release the bag in the first instance.

According to him, “the young girl carrying a small bag went over a security barricade which was manned by prison staff against repeated orders for her to go back. The barricade which is the first line of defence in the security arrangement of

River basin projects to benefit from subsidy funds, says minister

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he Federal Government said that part of the subsidy re-investment fund will be channeled to river basin development projects across the country.

The Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yarima Lawan, gave this indication in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Maiduguri.

“We have identified the lack of funds as one of the major problems facing agriculture. That is why government has penciled down river basin projects among those key areas to benefit from the subsidy reinvestment fund.''

Lawan added that dam projects across the country would also benefit from the funds.

“All dam projects, as well as about 12 river basin projects will benefit. The projects are located in Borno, Yobe and about seven other states”, he asserted.

He said that team, made up of state Directors of Finance, would visit Indonesia this month on tour of agriculture projects which was packaged by the Islamic Development Bank to show-case

the various projects that had succeeded in changing people's lives in that country.

“We are trying to see how we can replicate those projects in Nigeria.”

He added that a team of experts from the bank would also visit Nigeria on March 16, to explore the possibility of assisting farmers.

The minister also made it known that Nigerian farmers and other interested stakeholders had been invited to come and see how they could benefit from numerous packages offered by the bank. He added that officials of River Basin Development Authorities would also attend the meetings to see how they could access additional funds for their projects.

According to the minister, the Arab world is looking for places with favourable climate such as Nigeria, to grow wheat.

“They have already started this kind of project in countries like Senegal and Sudan. I believe Nigeria needs this kind of investment because it will generate employment opportunities for our teeming unemployed youths,” he said. (NAN)

the prison infrastructure, was used to completely block the road as visible depiction of nothorough fare. She defiantly got clear of the first defensive layer and strolled into the second and final defensive area thereby presenting her as a potent threat to the prison and inmates”.

Lt. Daniel insisted that if not for the intuition of the guard

commander, the rule of engagement handed over to the soldiers permits them to respond to the threat by firing, but he only ordered his men to dispossess the girl of her bag.

“It is her refusal to release the bag in the first instance and the scuffle that ensued between her and the soldier that resulted in her falling and feigning fainting”, he said.

elta state government has approved the sum of N150 million as its counterpart fund for the take-off of the International Development Association (IDA) assisted State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) project.

The SEEFOR Project coordinator for Delta state, Benson Ojoko disclosed this yesterday at a meeting of stakeholders while calling on the IDA to examine the readiness of Edo and Delta states on the SEERS but failed to say what delayed the funds from reaching IDA. Ojoko at the meeting attended by state project coordinators, members of the steering committees, key project staff and heads of committees from Edo and Delta states said that the government has also approved office accommodation and has appointed key project officers.

Leader of the IDA team, Dr. George Larbi explained that the essence of the meeting apart from assessing the level of preparedness, was to streamline bidding documents to minimize bureaucratic bottlenecks.

He said the projects could only be executed under the scheme as funds were approved adding that the signing of the financial agreement between the Federal Government and IDA would ensure effective take-off.

Meanwhile, the Edo State commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Chris Ebare also added that the SEEFOR project would boost youth empowerment through the provision of skills and creation of job opportunities though he did not reveal when the state would pay its counterpart funding.

MDGs adviser highlights need for graduate self-employment Ban on siren and craft, noted that it was the From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, still in force, duty of every political office holder Abeokuta to put the interest of the people at says CP nemployed youths in heart.

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Nigeria and corps members have been advised to be creative and make use of their talents to create employment rather than wait for white-collar jobs The Special Adviser to Ogun state governor on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mrs. Hafsat Abiola-Costello, gave this advice in her office in Abeokuta during an exhibition on beads making organised by a National Youth Service Corps member, Miss Oluba Fisayo.

Mrs. Abiola-Costello, who sponsored the exhibition, added that the present administration in Ogun State would continue to alleviate sufferings of the people through the creation of empowerment programmes in line with the MDGs. The Special Adviser, who had earlier sponsored a training workshop for 25 indigenes of the State on entrepreneurship in arts

While handing over various bead-making instruments to the trainees, she advised them to apply the skills acquired to maximize their potentials and earn a reasonable living.

In her response, Miss Fisayo, a graduate of Computer Science from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko in Ondo State, expressed profound appreciation to the Special Adviser for the opportunity given her to showcase her talent.

She pledged to continue sharing her talent with other corps members and youths with a view to making them self reliant.

In another development, Ogun state Commissioner for Education Science and Technology, Barrister Segun Odubela has expressed government’s readiness to pay the second term running cost to public primary schools and secondary schools across the state.

T

he Commissioner of Police in Enugu state, Mr. Danazumi Doma has warned members of the public, especially banks operating in the state that the ban on the use of siren is still in force.

The warning in a statement signed by the Police Public Relation Officer, Mr. Ebere Amarizu, was made available to newsmen in Enugu yesterday.

It stated that the commissioner had directed all banks operating in the state to educate their special escort drivers on the development.

The statement explained that the security operatives of the command had been empowered to arrest escort drivers caught violating the order and impound the vehicles involved.

The statement called on the public to be law abiding, as this was the only way to maintain peace in the society. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

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NHRC calls for prison system reform

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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he National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called for the reform of the Nigerian Prison System to conform to the International Minimum Standard Rules for the treatment of prisoners.

Executive Secretary of the Commission, Prof. Bem Angwe, in his speech while flagging off the 2012 Prison Audit programme in Kuje Prison, Abuja stated that prison institutions should be

designed and managed in a manner that upholds human dignity and internationally acceptable standards.

A statement by the Director, Public Affairs & Communications Department, Muhammad Nasir Ladan decried the high number of awaiting trial inmates in prisons across the country which he described as a reflection of the challenges still facing the criminal justice system in Nigeria.

NHRC boss said, the special

prison audit exercise is focusing on access to justice, which was identified as one of the greatest areas of need for detainees during previous exercises conducted by the Commission.

The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, in his speech called on the National Assembly to hasten action on the Prison Service Act (Amendment) which according to him has taken too long to be passed into law.

The Minister who was

represented by the Director, Paramilitary Services of the Ministry, Mr. Fuso Oluruntola, said the Amendment Bill when passed into law will assist in reducing prison congestion across the country.

The Controller General of Prisons who commended the efforts of the National Human Rights Commission noted that the 2009 Prison Audit Report presented by the Commission has assisted tremendously in the improvement of the Nigerian

Prisons.

According to him, the report facilitated the rehabilitation and expansion of prison cells from 40,000 capacities to 50,000.

Similarly, he disclosed that payment of fines of indigent convicts by the Commission has contributed immensely to prison decongestion.

As part of the flag-off exercise some inmates who could not pay their prison fines had gained freedom through the assistance of the Commission.

SERAP wants African Rights Court to consider effects of corruption on poverty in Nigeria From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

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Lagos based non-governmental organisation, SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has filed a suit before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, asking the court to consider what it termed the effects of corruption on the poverty level in Nigeria, and whether rising and systemic poverty violates specific human rights under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

SERAP is among other things asking the court to assess the legal and human rights consequences of poverty including whether increased poverty breaches the right to equality and nondiscrimination, right of the people to socio-economic development, and their right to natural wealth and resources.

The request for advisory opinion dated March 1, 2012 was signed by SERAP’s executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni and sent to Dr. Robert Eno, acting registrar of the court.

The request followed the disclosure last month by the Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Yemi Kale, that 112.519 million Nigerians (about 70 percent of the country’s estimated 163 million population), live in ‘relative poverty conditions.’

Although the 26-page report puts the 2010 poverty measurement rate at 60.9 percent, the NBS stated that the figure might increase to 71.5 percent when the 2011 figure is computed.

The report also shows that income inequality had risen from 0.429 in 2004 to 0.447 in 2010.

The request brought under article 4 of the Court Protocol asserts amongst others, that: "The Court possesses jurisdiction to hear the request because SERAP as an African organisation within the meaning of Article 4 is duly recognised by a subsidiary of the African Union, that is, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights having been granted an observer status by the Commission.”

Some participants from Queen Amina College, Kaduna, during their registration as members of National Emergency Management Agency Disaster Risk Reduction Clubs, recently In Kaduna.

Photo: NAN

Yobe train state-owned media staff in modern broadcasting From Godswill Uche, Damaturu

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five-day in-house workshop for staff of Yobe Broadcasting Corporation was recently conducted to train studio managers, producers, newscasters and news reporters to improve their productivity.

Organised by the management of the corporation in collaboration with the Department of Mass Communication,

University of Maiduguri, it was aimed at building the capacity of the staff as well as keeping them in touch with modern trends in global journalism practice.

The general manager of the corporation, Ibrahim Dachia, noted that one of the greatest assets of any organisation is its human capacity especially in the media outfit which is dynamic.

He said such in-house training would enable the participants to

acquire modern knowledge in the profession especially considering that the digitalisation of the station is in the pipeline according to the promise of the state government.

Speaking during the workshop, Alhaji Mohammed Babe, Director Information Services in the Ministry of Information, said the workshop came at the right time as journalism profession in currently undergoing changes.

In his remarks during the occasion, the Special Adviser to the state governor on Press Affairs and Information, Malam Abdullahi Bego, while stressing the importance of training as well as the challenges before media practitioners in the state and the country at large, restated the determination of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam to reposition the state owned media to meet modern digital broadcasting.

Jama’are police division moves due to accommodation shortage From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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he Bauchi State Police Command has moved Jama’are police division in Jama’are local government area to the zonal area office headquarters in Azare because of lack of office accommodation.

The police commissioner in charge of the command, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, disclosed this to news men in Bauchi, saying the movement of all policemen from Jama’are to Azare is due to lack of office accommodation.

It could be recalled that Jama’are Divisional Police Station

was burnt during the post election violence which forced them to operate in a temporary accommodation which was last week Monday also attacked by gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members.

Commenting on the development, the chairman

Edo court workers suspend 27-day strike From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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he over three-weeks-old strike embarked upon by Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Edo state chapter over wage disagreement between the union and the state government was at the weekend suspended.

State chairman of JUSUN, Mr. Kayode Egbaragbon who announced the suspension, said, members of the union have begun useful discussions with the state government.

“We saw the need to adjust the basic salary, transport and utility.

But because the government has

given us light on some of them, we are calling-off the strike.

The Commissioner of Information and Orientation, Louis Odion who confirmed the truce, said: “We agree in principle to resolve the issue because government has the interest of the people at heart.”

Caretaker Committee of Jama’are local government, Alhaji Adamu Aliyu, told newsmen that “the local government had provided the police with a temporary accommodation at old Afribank building after the post election violence, and we provided them with another accommodation in a place where we built veterinary clinic but the policemen in the area told us that they want us to repair and construct temporary offices in their burnt divisional police station because they have a cell in that place and it is more convenient for them”.

“We are working out modalities to see how we will overcome the situation so that the police can have befitting office accommodation”.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

Let’s be sure of SURE, Mr. President

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ast week, President Goodluck Jonathan told a stunned nation that his administration was reviewing the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE) programme which was conceived in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy early this year. The Federal Government had said it expected the total sum of N1.134 trillion to accrue to it from the money saved from the subsidy removal. Out of the amount, N478.48 billion was to go into the coffers of the Federal Government while state and local governments would receive N411.03 billion and N203.23 billion respectively.

The President also went ahead to inaugurate the SURE committee headed by Nigeria's former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Chief Christopher Kolade, on February 13 to begin implementation of the palliatives promised by the Federal Government after the subsidy withdrawal.

However, at the last National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Jonathan declared that the SURE programme was no longer realistic. According to him: "As I came in, I saw this SURE document being distributed, we are withdrawing it.

This is the old one. We developed this with the expectation that we are going to completely deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry.

You know we could not achieve that

though there was an increase in the pump price. I don't want this thing distributed, it will give a wrong impression".

It has been over two months now since the Federal Government removed fuel subsidy which led to an increase in the price of the product from N65 per liter to between N140 and N200 across the country. This action led to mass protests organized by Labour and civil

“

Nigerians are tired of President Jonathan's flip flops and we therefore urge him to be more focused in delivering the good life he promised them society organizations that led to a near total shut down of the country. After nine days of the unrelenting protests, the Federal Government soft pedaled by reducing the pump price to N97 per litre. Beside the launch of mass transit buses in the Federal Capital Territory by the President, a number of other palliatives aimed at cushioning the effect of the subsidy removal were also

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

promised. None of these other promises have so far been met.

Instead, the nation suddenly woke up to fuel queues owing to the unavailability of the product at filling stations around the country. Although the situation has eased a little bit, fuel is still not sufficiently available. As expected, the scarcity brought untold hardship on Nigerians some of whom were compelled to buy the product at over N140 per litre. This led the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to declare that the scarcity was engineered by major and independent oil marketers in cahoots with government agencies to blackmail Nigerians into supporting the total deregulation of the downstream sector.

We are appalled by the slow pace at which the Federal Government is going about the implementation of the palliatives it promised Nigerians. Even if the SURE document is to be reworked as clarified by the presidency after its initial faux pas, we are at a loss as to why it has taken this long for any sort of relief to come to Nigerians from the money so far saved from the partial removal of the subsidy.

It is ridiculous that the President went ahead to inaugurate the Kolade committee when the government has resolved to rework the existing SURE document. Nigerians are tired of President Jonathan's flip flops and we therefore urge him to be more focused in delivering the good life he promised them.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

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

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

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND RICHARD IHEDIWA

GM PUBLICATIONS ABDULAZEEZ ABDULLAHI MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA HEAD, SPECIAL PROJECTS ABDU LABARAN MALUMFASHI

“To be a reputable, profitable, innovative and technologically reliant media company offering world class services and products”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

By Godspower Douglas

E

ven as the nation is confronted by new challenges to its survival as a united multi-ethnic and multireligious country, older demons still lurk around like a second line of offensive onslaught. One of such is what is notoriously called the “Nigerian factor”, a deplorable combination of negative attitudes and malicious actions of some Nigerians aimed at promoting petty primordial sentiments at the expense of the much needed patriotism and brotherhood for progress and development of the country.

The NHIS, established by Decree 35 of 1999, became operational in 2005 but in 2006 was already bogged down by managerial as well as institutional and statutory problems culminating in the bold intervention of President Obasanjo who summarily swept away the beleaguered head of the NHIS and decisively set the stage for a new beginning, which today has proved fortuitous and corrective.

From the 2006 scenario of stalemated interaction with major partners like health maintenance organizations and health care facilities, disillusioned enrollees, unsatisfactory services as well as in-house crises, among others, the NHIS is today not only being increasingly appreciated by more Nigerians but is the recipient of favourable assessment reports from reputable international organizations such

PAGE 13

Why discredit the achievements of NHIS? as USAID, recognition as best in Africa by the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and even a privileged place on President Goodluck Jonathan’s Facebook page listing achievements of his administration!

This remarkable transformation of the NHIS from moribund to marvelous took place under the supervision of a certain Dr Waziri Dogo-Mohammed who was the human element in President Obasanjo’s epochal intervention in 2006 as National Coordinator and in 2007 earning appointment as substantive Executive Secretary, a testimony to his immense qualification and impactful leadership of the scheme. But he has been the target of numerous Nigerian Factor intrigues, including one that took judicial intervention to stave off, as the hatchet job in The Nation edition of January 23 where a writer sought to resurrect what he erroneously called “the forgotten Senate probe of NHIS”himself forgetting that it was the lower chamber that was being prodded to probe NHIS, not the senate!

The writer saw nothing but “rot, ineptitude and stagnation” in the NHIS. His article was

wholly devoted to showing absurdly that NHIS had its best outing prior to Dr Dogo’s appointment as its ES which is contrary to the facts in the history of the NHIS. The same issues of coverage of federal workers, NHIS efforts to widen the scope of its coverage to the poor, the NHIS/ MDG project and even the recent launching of the community health insurance scheme in Isanlu, Kogi State were rehashed and laced with wild allegations of mismanagement.

Professor Lambo as immediate past board chairman himself knows the objective criteria that preceded selection of the Isanlu scheme.

The NHIS has in fact been making steady progress in resolving challenges to the successful adoption and implementation of the health insurance‘ scheme for the first time in Nigeria. A cursory survey of the published activities of the NHIS shows that the NHIS has taken various initiatives, resulting in improved stakeholder commitment, appropriate amendments to the NHIS Act for mandatory participation of all Nigerians, increased partnership with relevant local and foreign institutions and above all, higher

number of participants through launching of new programmes targeting specific groups.

Its Formal Sector Programme launched in 2005 for federal employees and their families now has almost five million participants and this figure reflects the lukewarm response of state and local governments and private sector employers. Only two states have joined after advocacy and diplomacy by NHIS which has also netted 500,000 private sector participants. The NHIS programme targeting the mass of students in tertiary institutes is also making in-roads with about 250,000 students so far while arrangements with PENCOM will soon ensure NHIS coverage for our beleaguered retirees.

Progress is also reflected in the recent launching of the Community Based Social Insurance Programme aimed at the millions of unemployed and self-employed Nigerians residing mainly in smaller towns and cities and even villages where community health centres rather than public health facilities serve the people. Other innovative programmes for voluntary participants will further enlarge the scope of coverage and number

of participants in NHIS quest to ultimately cover all Nigerians.

The NHIS has also been addressing the task of instituting and maintaining standards and basic quality in the service delivery aspect and has accredited 61 Health Maintenance Organizations, 2711 primary health care facilities and 7839 secondary health care facilities with new guidelines on national, zonal and state based health maintenance organizations. A series of internal initiatives have also been resolving manpower and structural challenges in the operations of NHIS on a gradual basis in order to optimize efficiency of management, administration and logistics functions in accordance with best practice. To crown it all NHIS has been active in collaborating and exchanging experience with similar health insurance institutions and programmes across the world with a view to enriching its operation in Nigeria and earned acclaim.

These are more deserving of mention than the spurious attacks on the NHIS management just to bring one man down.

Godspower Douglas is a health worker in Calabar, Cross River state.

Dankwambo and the task of making Gombe state viable

By M. L. Ismail

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he need to stimulate the socioeconomic growth and development of Gombe state has been the cardinal objective of Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo right from the day he declared interest in the governorship of the state.

Accordingly, all the projects embarked upon since assumption of office on May 29,2011 have been tailored in that direction.

Therefore, it will not be out of place to say the man of the people in him is by the nature of these projects brought to bare because each one is conceptualized along the lines of job creation.

Justifying this is the proposed International Conference Centre.

This bankable project is designed to sit over 1,000 people in the main hall, with an exhibition hall, three syndicate rooms and several shops for lease. It would upon completion rank second to none in this part of the country, both in terms of aesthetic value and economic viability.

The project according to the consultant would also be finished with a 150 bed ultra modern hotel annexed to it. It would both serve as accommodation to guests to the centre and general hospitality needs of visitors to the state. the two-in-one fold venture is earmarked to attract the sum of N 3.2 billion out of which N 1 billion has already been set aside.

Other closely knit projects are comprehensive motor park and

petroleum tankers’ garage. The plan is to bring under one umbrella all the motor parks scattered about the state capital including the state transport corporation popularly referred to as Gombe Line to make for easy accessibility to all potential users, especially the commuters.

Dubbed the best in black Africa, the motor park which is to be completed with all the necessary ancillaries would be money spinner for government and source of employment to many. “And because there will be proper documentations of persons and movements, it will also take care of security risks associated with proliferation of parks across the metropolis in that the issue of missing persons and goods will not be there”, said Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo at the occasion of receiving the design from the Consultants.

The 150 truck capacity tankers’ garage on the other hand is mainly constructed for petroleum tankers that patronize Petroleum Products Marketing Company’s depot at the Gombe metropolis gateway. When it becomes operational, all the menaces and rowdiness caused by heavy duty tankers parking on the road sides would be history and the people would be better for it.

From the models and drawings presented to the governor coupled with the locations earmarked for them, each of these project will no doubt bring out the unknown aesthetic nature of the town. But

more importantly, the projects are aimed at employment creation for the teeming population of the state and revenue generation for government whose ultimate aspiration is to create alternative and lucrative source of income to augment what accrues the state from the federation accounts.

Needless to say the projects are equally self-sustaining – the type any investor would put his money on and go to sleep because of the assurance of security and quick returns on the investment.

Talking about their contribution to beautifying and enhancing the socioeconomic frontiers of Gombe state, the best of the beauty the conference centre, mega motor park and heavy duty trucks garage can radiate would be tantamount to wading eyes in the dark in the absence of good network of roads. It was on the basis this premise that a good number of roads have been awarded for either reconstruction or fresh construction in the state capital and beyond to further stimulate the economy of the state.

These multibillion Naira maze of roads cut across nearly 120 kilometres representing a total of 34 roads among the well over 40 that the Dankwambo-led administration intends to deliver to the state by the end of this fiscal year. Some of them have been completed and already put into use while others are in various stages of completion, with works yet to commence on a very negligible few. Interestingly, these roads

have been received as answer to prayers by members of the communities they pass through.

This is because they were carefully selected with due consideration for the population density as well as the business and agricultural viability of the areas.

Considering the fact that it is a holistic development strategy, Gombe state government is positive that leaving out the educational sector would both be suicidal and counterproductive.

To this end, efforts are being made to overhaul the academic staff of primary and secondary schools as well as renovate and reconstruct deserving schools across the state.

However, some schools have been selected for a complete turn around – to have old structures renovated and new ones constructed with the aim of making model schools out of them.

But on a general note, day schools under the present administration in Gombe state will no longer exceed students population of 1,500 students while the capacity of their boarding counterparts have been slashed down to 1,000 students per school. And by implication, some few more entirely new schools will be constructed.

As the saying goes, a healthy society is a wealthy society. And a society like Gombe state where the dearth of qualified manpower has from time immemorial posed a burdensome impediment to providing purposeful healthcare

services to the people, is not in anyway close a healthy one. But as a means towards ending this malady, the Dankwambo administration constituted a committee to facilitate the full accreditation of the State School of Nursing and Midwifery and the School of Health Technology.

The long list of inadequacies unraveled by the committee culminated in Gombe state government’s decision to relocate both schools very close to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in the state capital so that the advantages of the all encompassing healthcare facility can be fully exploited in the training of students, having obtained the necessary permission from the Federal Ministry of Health. But for the time being, engagement of the required quantum and quality of academic manpower as recommended by the National Board of Technical Examinations (NBTE) will soon commence.

“The task of making the state economically viable and investors’ haven is not an easy one, but we are committed to it and this we will demonstrate by beginning from somewhere” said Governor Dankwambo during a public function. True to his words and from the steps taken so far, the saying that ‘a blind man does not need to be told that there is celebration in the air’ sums it all up.

M. L. Ismail writes from Bolari Quarters in Gombe metropolis.

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Jos and the remaking of peace

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

M

iss Nwamaka Asuzu is one of my staff who recently graduated from the Imo State University and has a degree in political science. On Monday I gave her an assignment to do a research on the possibility of achieving peace in a society torn apart by conflicts and the outcome of the extensive research she conducted from a variety of online sources were unprecedented and were substantially in support of my fundamental belief that social justice and equity were imperative if peace must be achieved in a society torn apart by tumultuous civil/religious conflicts like Jos, the Plateau state capital.

Nwamaka Asuzu found out from her research that the greatest challenge that the human race has ever faced still remains: to live in a world free of the threat of violence. Violence is not restricted to times of war, it exists everywhere, in homes, schools and communities, where there is injustice there is conflict.

Some argue that much of the conflict in the world can be attributed to the existence of an oppressive social system of power that reinforces differences between groups and allows one group to have power or privilege

over another group, conflict at the directly with their communities findings. local and international level can to counter conflict with Experts believe that an stem from exploitation, poverty, preventive strategies through apology in this case, is a statement corrupt governance, resources educational campaigns as well as of regret that publicly scarcity, and dehumanizing belief support services for those acknowledges the occurrence and among other salient causative recovering from violence. severity of the act of injustice factors identified by the variety Whether individually or as a committed and reparations refers of experts she consulted while group, we as global citizens have to a practical action that has been doing the research which was a responsibility to promote a taken, such as paying money to basically set out to provide possible culture of peace, and resolve the victims, to remedy the wrong guide on how that has been done. to achieve She discovered transparent that apologies peace in Jos, however, can only Plateau state symbolically Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text and other address wrongs messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written N o r t h that have been contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 Eastern parts committed, while words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and of Nigeria. reparations are a valid location.

Letters to the Editor should be addressed S h e more tangible to: discovered representations of that one the offenders The Editor, popular willingness to Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, theory states begin repairing that as long the relationship 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. as the global between offenders Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com system relies and offended.

SMS: 07037756364 on exploitive, A number of oppressive conflict theorist and hierarchical relationships, differences without resorting to and practitioners, including Paul there will likely exist conflict and violence. These measures are Lederach advocates the pursuit of peace not possible to achieve. hereby recommended to the “conflict transformation” as Another prevailing conflict political, religious and ethnic opposed to conflict management. theory says that conflict is leaders in Nigeria so as to achieve According to him, “conflict inherent and constant, but when real peace in most troubled spots resolution” implies that conflict is positively managed it can be a in Northern Nigeria and all across bad-hence something that should the entire country. One way be ended. It also assumes that productive force.

My research assistant found people addressed atrocities in the conflict is a short term out that at a level, many past was through apologies and phenomenon that can be ‘resolved’ grassroots organizations work reparations, according to her permanently through mediation

WRITE TO US

or other intervention processes.

“Conflict management” correctly assumes that conflict are long term processes that often cannot be quickly resolved, but the notion of “management” suggests that people can be directed or controlled as though they were physical objects. In addition, the notion of management suggests that the goal is the reduction or control of volatility more than dealing with the real source of the problem.

Conflict transformation, as described by Lededrach, does not suggest that we simply eliminate or control conflict, but recognize and work with its dialectic nature; by this he means that conflict is naturally created by humans who are involved in relationships yet once it occurs it changes (i.e. transforms) those event, people, and relationships that created the initial conflict, thus it describes a natural occurrence.

According to Paul Lederach, he believes that peace making involves systemic transformation. The process of increasing justice and equality in the social system as a whole may involve the elimination of oppression, improved sharing of resources, and the non-violent resolution of conflict between groups of people; each of these actions reinforces the other.

Emmanuel Onwubiko is the Coordinating head at CDMIS.

Decay in Nigerian Universities: What is the way forward?

By Ubah Simplicius Chimezie

U

niversities around the globe as centres of intellectual development are so important that any nation that desires to make appreciable progress at the international community must not joke with them. This is so because universities are generators of ideas and these ideas contribute so much to the development and progress of nations.

Nigerian universities are having very serious challenges in their bid to see themselves as citadels of knowledge. One of the challenges they face is that of frequent interruption of the academic calendar through strikes. Such disruptions over the years have reached the extent that our universities now produce half-baked graduates. Due to the frequent interruption of school calendar by strikes, a student who has four(4) years programme will end spending more than five(5) years in the school. Because of that and the stress students are passing through in the school, some of them may engage in examination malpractices just to pass by all means or the popular saying “let me get the certificate first and every other thing shall be added unto it later”.

Some universities had been accused of rejecting some degrees awarded by some universities who seek to run post degree programmes in their institutions. It is worrisome that

none of the Nigerian universities fall among the best twenty(20) universities in the African continent. Yet, Nigeria prides herself as the “Giant of Africa”.

Another challenge that faces Nigerian universities over the years is the issue of funding. And this is one of the issues that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been fighting for since 2009. Our universities require adequate funding not only for payment of salaries and allowances but also for the provision of modern structures, adequate facilities and equipment.

Laboratories in most of our universities suffer from inadequate equipment. Some of these citadels of learning also struggle with insufficient lecture halls and inadequate furniture to accommodate students. And this has resulted in the students receiving lectures in over crowded halls, uncompleted buildings and even under tree sheds. Students also grapple with the problem of insufficient hostel facilities and even where they exist, they are not good enough for human habitation. Many of our hostels are over crowded as rooms made to accommodate four (4) people are occupied by ten to twelve people.

Another issue that needs to be addressed here is the issue of our libraries. Most of the libraries in our universities are stocked with outdated materials.

There are no recent books for students and lecturers to

consult. And the end product of this is inadequate database to carryout research in various disciplines. In the early 50s and 60s, anybody that finished standard six can teach very well. But today, some university graduates prefer to be starved for two days than to go and teach. To crown it all, some of them cannot speak good and simple English. This is sad and something must be done about it.

It is an incontrovertible fact that knowledge which comes from education is a veritable source of development for any nation. And this collaborates with the words of a British philosopher many years ago when he said that “knowledge is power”. The greatest thing any government can do for her

youths is to give them qualitative and uninterrupted education that will equip them for the challenge of tomorrow’s leadership.

The Federal Government however, deserves some commendations for releasing some grants to some universities for the upgrading of their infrastructure. And it is expected that other universities will be remembered in the next dispensation.

However, it is a well known fact that the government cannot fund the universities alone.

Therefore there is the need for federal and state governments to woo the multinational companies, telecommunication companies and private enterprises to partake in funding and equipping our universities as part of their corporate social

“

Nigerian universities are having very serious challenges in their bid to see themselves as citadels of knowledge. One of the challenges they face is that of frequent interruption of the academic calendar through strikes

responsibilities.

Wealthy individuals in the society should be encouraged to contribute meaningfully to a physical development of our universities.

Federal government should partake with the various university unions and other stakeholders in the university system to ensure that there is enduring peace, adequate infrastructure and strike-free calendar in the university system.

Finally, all the stakeholders must therefore work assiduously to resolve the disagreement that recurs between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), so that the issue of “two months lecture and four months strike” will be a history. The federal government and Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) should dialogue, understand and bear with each other for the benefit of the student, lecturers and the country at large.

If these recommendations are adopted, there will be stability in our university system and Nigerians will be proud of their universities anywhere in the world. Henceforth, Nigerian universities can produce vibrant and qualitative graduates and there will be development and progress in the country because knowledge is power.

Ubah Simplicius Chimezie.

A 300 Level Student Mass Communication Department University of Maiduguri, Borno state.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 15

The Police and media cover up T

he Bauchi Police Command, on Sunday, February 26, 2012, paraded seven Christian men it alleged were in possession of explosive devices with which they intended to use to destructive effect at the Church of Christ in Nigeria {COCIN}. The Police Commissioner, Ikechukwu Ayo Aduba, said the suspects were picked up in Miya Barakatai in Toro Local Government adding: “They are rival groups within the church, they have their internal problems and the other rival group decided to attack them…When we got the report, we sent our men, they have arrested about seven of them. They have something on them that was certified as locally made explosives that are manually ignited”.

While the Bauchi Command and indeed all Nigerians were celebrating the success of their men in foiling what could have ended in another tragic bombing incident, men of the Plateau Police Command and the Joint Task Force deployed to the state top help with security enforcement had nothing to celebrate as a bomb went off at a COCIN branch where the state Governor, David Jang, worships.

About six persons were reported to have lost their lives in that sad incident.

Perhaps as a result of the deaths and the fact that in a different circumstance, the governor himself might have been a target of the attack, many newspapers in the country led with that story the following day

{Monday, February 27, 2012} of the lead. Only Daily Trust gave Bauchi story some and buried the Bauchi near the mishap in the inside pages. In fact prominence by choosing it as its some newspapers effectively lead story while making the Jos ignored it completely – either story its second lead also on the because they did not have it or Front page. Peoples Daily they did so for other reasons best however promoted the Bauchi known to them. One can adduce story on its front page and had however that those newspapers the Jos incident in the inside that chose to tuck the Bauchi page. Surprisingly, Leadership, a story inside may have done so newspaper based here in the because the Christian would be North with presumably a bombers did not resonate with the northern target audience, did not predominant Christian press in the South.

One can also say without fear of with equivocation that had the suspects been Muslims, all the azizab40@yahoo.com newspapers 0805 100 0558 would have been awash with the story thus adding to the publish the Bauchi story even as deepening chasm between it led with the Jos story.

The point of this little content Muslims and Christians in the analysis is essentially to country.

Daily Sun, for example, did not highlight the role of the media even deem the Bauchi story in agenda setting. By this worthy of a mention on its front singular function, the media page even though it led with the sometimes arrogates to itself the Jos incident. It tucked the story power of determining the tone of on page 12 of the paper without national discourse and by so highlighting what in fact makes doing gives the latitude for the story significant: the suspects government and its agencies to being Christians. The Punch also determine the pace at which led with the same Jos story but certain issues affecting society unlike Daily Sun, it merged the are handled. It has been well Bauchi story with the lead but over a week since the Bauchi one has to be patient to read up to suspects were arrested for the 27th paragraph on page 14 to attempting to bomb the COCIN, get details of the Bauchi story. but no follow up stories have The Nation also led with the Jos been done especially by the story but buried the Bauchi story southern press. As a result, the way down in the 35th paragraph police themselves have not been

TUESD AY TUESDA

Abdulazeez Abdullahi

forthcoming with developments in their investigations of the matter. If history is anything to go by, one can safely bet that that is the end of the matter. A Christian was also arrested last year in Edo state dressed in a turban while planning to detonate an explosive at a place of worship.

Up until now, we still have not heard what has happened to that suspect.

If this turns out to be the case, it will have some implications for our security situation in the country. As things are now, the Police and other security forces have become utterly helpless in curtailing the deadly activities of the Boko Haram sect in many parts of the Northern states in spite of the supposed state of emergency put in place by the federal government.

Almost on a daily basis we are regaled with reports of bomb blasts or gun shots in the major northern cities of Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Bauchi or Gombe with Boko Haram soon afterwards claiming responsibility for the attacks.

What this suggests is that perhaps some of these attacks may not have been carried out by the dreaded sect but by other mischief makers who have been cashing in on the notoriety of the sect for their own ends. Because the sect has come to realize the importance of what media visibility can do for its misguided

cause, it is often quick to take credit for what it might not have done.

This much was evident after the attack on the Koton Karfe prison in Kogi state where some inmates allegedly members of the sect were freed. Although the sect claimed responsibility, the Comptroller of Prisons and the minister of Interior have said that there is no proof yet that Boko Haram did carry out the attack.

Earlier in the year also, an attack in Mubi, Adamawa state where an Igbo businessman was killed was later discovered to be as a result of a deal gone sour. This was after everyone believed it was carried out by Boko Haram and lavishly covered on the front pages of many Nigerian newspapers.

The arrest of the Christian suspects in Bauchi should provide an insight into the many dimensions of the security challenges facing the nation. If they had succeeded in their dastardly mission, chances are that Boko Haram would have been blamed for it – and they gladly would have taken responsibility, after all, it adds to their profile as a notorious gang that is winning its war against the Nigerian state.

No one in his right mind will attempt a defence of the atrocities of the sect and this is in no way an effort at that. Rather, a reminder for our security agencies to step up their efforts before they are overwhelmed by forces, not only Boko Haram, determined to cause chaos in the country.

Edo governorship and the gathering of tribes (I)

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

T

he stage is set for the July 14 governorship election in Edo State with the emergence of General Charles Airhiavbere (retd.) as the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The endorsement of Governor Adams Oshiomhole as the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the election is a fait accompli.

In essence, the governorship contest, from all indications, is a two-horse race. This is because the ACN and the PDP are the only parties with solid structures in Edo. Both dominate the sphere of power. The PDP has five members in the State House of Assembly by virtue of which it has produced the minority leader.

At the national level, the PDP has Senator Odion Ugbesia (representing Edo Central District) and the two members of the House of RepresentativesFriday Itulah and Patrick Ikhariale- from the district. There is, indeed, something significant about the PDP in Edo Central: the five members of the party in the State Legislature are from there.

The party lost the sixth constituency seat marginally to the ACN candidate, Festus Ebea, who is today the Deputy Speaker

of the House of Assembly. The central senatorial district holds special attraction: it is the enclave of the godfather of Edo politics and Iyasele (prime minister) of Esanland, Chief Tony Anenih. It took his sagacity and legerdemain to win the district for the PDP. What that did was to put the lie to the claim that Oshiomhole has taken absolute control of Edo politics. Indeed, the bottom-line of the last April general election in the state is that contrary to the theme song of his political propaganda, that he owns the land, “Oshiomhole, indeed, does not own the land.” The land belongs to Edo people.

Edo people are a complex diversity made of different tribes (in both plain or literal meaning and figurative sense). There are monolithic tribes of the Binis and Esans as well as the multifaceted Afenmai ethnic nationality comprising Etsako, Akoko-Edo and Owan people. This is plain meaning perspective to the issue under interrogation.

Figuratively, there is a tribe of students. There is a tribe of civil servants. There is a tribe of market men and women. There is a tribe of other self-employed people who have been at the receiving end of the harsh tax regime and other financially

draining policies of the Oshiomhole government in Edo. There is, on the political terrain, a tribe of godfathers, which Oshiomhiole has tried, in vain, to eclipse.

These are the elements that will coalesce to define a trajectory for Edo State on July 14. Will they bring about a leadership change or will they maintain the status quo? There is no doubt that the cloud is gathering. The wind is beginning to act gutsy while the prospects of a torrentially devastating rain are quite evident. The tribes are gathering as the governorship election beckons on Edo people.

For instance, will the tribe of students, especially those in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, who have been victims of Oshiomhole’s harsh policy of tuition fee increase from N18, 000 to N64, 000, invest their votes in the perpetuation of the policy? Is the tribe of students deceived by the recent N15, 000 slash in the tuition occasioned by the Federal Government-directed policy of palliatives for fuel subsidy removal?

Not a few see this as a Greek gift. Was the increase necessary in the first instance? Whatever Oshiomhole is giving back to the university is from the much his

government had taken from the students through the hike in tuition fee and not from the state’s share of the savings that accrue from the fuel subsidy removal.

Oshionhole did not need to wait for the savings from subsidy removal to abolish fees in primary and secondary schools.

He has capitalized on the socalled savings to turn his doubtful palliatives into a campaign gimmick in the governorship election year. But the deception cannot be sustained. The tribe of students is seeing through this chicanery. What of the tribe of teachers which has been unappreciated and traumatized

by Oshiomhole’s administration?

Have the teachers’ agitations for Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) and the minimum wage received an equitable recompense?

Will the tribe of workers under the platform of organized labour in the state, which joined in sympathy strike with the teachers to press home their demands, but was blackmailed and intimidated

by Oshiomhole who accused it of taking a sub-contract from the opposition party in the state to bring down his government, vote for a devious man who has been able to outsmart it in the engagements with government?

Will the market men and

women, whose shops were demolished on the reason of questionable road expansion and beautification of Benin City, consequent upon which they were impoverished, happily step out in the sun to vote for a man whose administration had meted to them a raw deal? The selfemployed and private businesses have continued to buckle under a draconian tax regime. Will they embrace an administration whose policies are bereft of human face?

I want to be convinced that those whose houses had been demolished by the administration without compensation will go to the roof top to proclaim support for the self-professed messianic mission of Oshiomhole. Has the government even thought it imperative to pay compensation to those whose houses were illegally demolished?

Where, among the tribes or ethic nationalities, have the people felt the implementation of the harsh policies of the Oshiomhole administration the most? Is it in Edo South as typified

by Benin City or in Edo Central (Esanland) or Edo North (Etsako, Akoko-Edo and Owan areas)?

What of the so-called road infrastructure development?

Ojeifo sent this piece from Abuja

PAGE 16

By Josephine Ella

T

he Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday, dispelled rumours making the rounds that the administration has shut down the Primus Super Speciality Hospital in Karu.

Rumours have been circulating that following an incident in which the hospital was said to have booked a woman for fibroid surgery, but after collecting the fees, refused to carry out the operation.

Surgeons in the hospital were alleged to have deceived the woman in question that the operation was carried out successfully, only for her to discover the truth when she visited

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Primus hospital not shut, says Health Secretary ...As FCTA rakes N40m per anum from hospital deal another hospital..

The Secretary, Health and Human services Secretariat of the FCT, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya, who dismissed the rumour to the effect that the hospital has been shut down, however admitted receiving the report of the woman, but declined further comments on the issue as according to him, the matter was already in court.

The secretary further disclosed that with the arrangement

entered into with the Indian medical institution, Primus Health Care Nigeria Limited, which is presently managing half of the Karu hospital, the FCTA stands to benefit a whooping sum of N40m per annum from the hospital.

The deal which has a15-years life span and signed secretly during the administration of Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero, will fetch the FCT N600m

during the period in question.

Although, the secretary disclosed that no collection has been made, he insisted that the first payment falls due April this year.

He explained that: "The leasing agreement with Primus Health Care Nigeria Limited was necessary in order to stem the migration of Nigerians requiring specialised medical care to India and also reduce capital flight from the country.

Blackmarket sale of petrol booms in Abuja

Police arraign two suspected 419 for assault, cheating

By Stanley Onyekwere

P

By Muhammad Nasir and Rukaiya Muhammad

T

he illegal sale of premium motor spirit (Petrol) is taking a toll on the sale of the product in most of filling stations in Abuja and leading to its scarcity hence the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has banned the sale of the product in jerry cans at fill-in stations across the country.

The Group managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Austen Oniwon said last week at the Oil and gas Conference that the NNPC it has 32 days supply of Petroleum Products and that the scarcity witnessed in the FCT was prompted by oil tankers in Ilorin who stopped loading the products.

It is worthy to note that jobless youth in Abuja use the opportunity to fill these jerry cans with petrol and sell them by the road at exorbitant prices.

Peoples Daily learnt that youth are getting more involved in the business as a result of unemployment in the country.

Speaking with Mr.Tunde Balogoun at one of the filling stations in wuse, he disclosed; "I am into selling petrol in the black market because am unemployed and I have children to cater for. We need the support of the government to assist with capital to start a business.

Dear reader, Metro welcomes human interest stories in your neighbourhood. Please call or send SMS to 08065327178 or e-mail jomarch4@yahoo.com to inform us about happenings in your area. Share your experiences or those of your friends and neighbours with fellow readers.

Huge Refuse dumps, at second gate of Jabi Motor park, yesterday, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Demolition: Gbagyi community appeals to Jonathan on arbitrary demolition

T

he Galadimawa Youth Forum in the FCT on Monday appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to halt the ongoing arbitrary demolition of houses in the community.

It will be recalled that the Department of Development and Control of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), had embarked on demolition of houses in Galadimawa village, a suburb in the FCT. Mr Timothy Enoch, leader of the group, made the appealed while addressing news men in Abuja. ``We are making this appeal to Mr President to save us from terrorisation of our lives and destruction of our houses as well

as livelihood by land grabbers with the official collusion of FCDA. ``The latest is the recent release of two bulldozers accompanied with arm policemen, pouncing on our community without any notice, resulting to the pulling down of over 25 houses, rendering the occupants homeless. ``They alleged that one Messer Messetto, a private developer, was allocated the land on which our houses are built and as such, will clear grounds for the development.''

Enoch decried the strategy implored by the FCDA to evacuate residents whenever there was need for development rather than proper resettlement of the people as decreed by

government in 1976.

He said that the strategy had further retarded the improvement on the living environment of the residents who live without basic amenities. ``We and our parents live in perpetual state of uncertainty, anxiety as well as fear. ``We have been unable to plan for a better future due to government policy of forceful eviction of our people from our homes and farm lands whenever development catches up with us.

The youth leader said that the community was depending on the president to intervene and address their plight, while lamenting the inhuman treatment of the residents by private developers.

olice have arraigned one Sarah Atuah,25 and Patience Adams,31, both of Kado village on suspicion that they belong to a 419 syndicate before an Abuja Chief Magistrate's court, on allegations of an attempt to cheat one Odey Dickson, along Jabi- Wuse axis.

The duo were charged along with two other suspects; Augustine Igwe and Stanley Chigozie, now at large, with criminal joint act of attempted assault and cheating contrary to sections 79, 265 and 322 of the Penal Code respectively.

Police Prosecutor, Inspector Sani Yakubu, told the court that Dickson, of Gishiri Village, Abuja, on February 25 reported at Wuye Police station, of how he boarded a taxi driven by two of the accused persons now at large, from Jabi heading to Wuse, when the gang assaulted him, in an attempt to defraud him.

According to the Prosecutor, on getting to Arab Contractors by Berger roundabout, the victim decided to alight from the taxi, when he heard them discussing about dollars, which they refused to allow him, and in the process assaulted him.

"Both of you are members of a 419 syndicate, who are specialised in duping people their money", he alledged.

Yakubu said it took the timely intervention of good Samaritans, who upon realising what was going on, came and rescued him from their hands.

Both accused denied the charges brought against them, and were granted bail by Chief Magistrate, Azubike Okeagu in the sum of N250,000 with one surety each in like sum, who must reside within the court's jurisdiction, The case was adjourned to March 23, for hearing proper.

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

Tel: 09-2349080-98

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

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

- 08023565354 - 08023314440 - 08036249825 - 08059113555 - 08033773129 - 08033560903 - 08058036613 - 08036134478 - 08035537989 - 08075804475 - 08053089999

Bwari Kuje Kwali Ruboci Gwagwalada

- 08075804475 - 07030800531 - 080 33062496 - 08060568342 - 08057467369

FCT HOTLINE AEPB 09 - 4603600-9

08065560315

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

By Josephine Ella

A

fter several months of controversies which trailed the Karu General Hospital, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), yesterday admitted that the delay in completion of the project was as a result of the non-challant attitude of the contractor it engaged to build the hospital, H& S Nigeria Limited.

The Secretary, FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr Demola Onakomaiya admitted this yesterday, while briefing the press on issues related to the hospital.

The FCTA had during the erstwhile administration of Senator Adamu Aliero, secretly privatised half of the hospital which was meant to provide affordable and quality medical service to Karu residents to an Indian medical institution, Primus

House-boy remanded for stealing N1.1m household items

A

house-boy, Nufi Mamur, 25, was on Monday remanded in prison by an Abuja Area Court for allegedly stealing household items worth N1,136,000.

The Area Court Judge, Mr Abdul Mohammed, said the accused should remain in prison pending the completion of police investigations.

Mamur had been arraigned on a one-count charge of theft, which the Police prosecutor, Insp. Egwu Clement, said contravened Section 289 of the Penal Code.

Clement told the court that one Silva Opusunju, of House 8, 23 Crescent, Efab Estate, Life Camp had reported Mamur on Jan. 1, at the Life Camp Police Station.

Clement alleged that the accused had stolen from the house a Panasonic stereo system valued at N250, 000, a video cassette recorder worth N150,000 and a 42-inch plasma television valued at N130,000.

Other items allegedly stolen are two standing fans; N78, 000, one industrial fan; N52, 000, kitchen pots; N68, 000, executive dishes; N170, 000, jugs; N68, 000 and N170, 000 cash.

Mamur, however, pleaded not guilty and the prosecutor prayed the court for an adjournment.

Clement also prayed the court not to grant the accused bail, stating that the case was still under police investigations.

He alleged that the items stolen by the accused were many, and needed to be recovered.

The Judge granted the prosecutor's prayer and ordered the suspect to be remanded in prison till March 27, when the case would come up for hearing. (NAN)

PAGE 17

Karu General Hospital: FCTA accuses contractor of sabotage Super Speciality Hospital.

Eventually, the 15-years agreement took effect last April under the present administration of Senator Bala Mohammed while the other half of the hospital meant to operate as a general hospital was yet to be completed.

Fielding questions from journalists on the state of the hospital, the director said: "I can put it to you now, quote me and unquote me, the reason why the other part of the hospital has not been functional is due to the greedy and nonchalant attitude of the Nigerian contractor.

"A four weeks contract was given to the contractor but she didn't execute it until almost a year. If there is any form of sabotage there, it is the contractor and if you don't have the legal backing there is nothing you can do".

He disclosed that the secretariat had to call in the legal arm to decide how best to situate the contract, saying after following due process, the contract was finally revoked, December last year and awarded to another contractor two weeks ago.

"We have given them 18 weeks to complete the project and I was at the hospital

yesterday and I am not speaking for the contractor but based on what I saw, the work is progressing," he said.

Peoples Daily recalls that after the expiration of the elRufai's administration, which awarded the hospital project in 2005, on several occasions, successive administration had reeled out false promises to residents at intervals that the project would be commissioned at specified dates but, it never came to be.

An instance of this was in 2009, during the administration of Senator Mohammed Adamu Aliero, who kept on giving different dates until he was finally removed from office.

On August 6, 2009 his announcement of the planned commissioning of the hospital in October of same year, made the headlines in many national dailies.

Aliero, who disclosed this at the official commissioning and handing over ceremony of the FCT administration's Utility Vehicles at the Old Parade Ground, Area 10 in Garki, had at other instances, given other dates that were never honoured on the commissioning of the hospital.

Thereafter, precisely in January, 2010 the former FCT Minister directed the contractor handling the hospital project to complete the job within four months or face revocation of the contract.

The minister, who had made the threat while inspecting the hospital, declared that the inability of the contractor to complete the project has brought untold hardship to the residents of the area and was therefore not acceptable to the government.

"We are not impressed by the performance of the contractor, especially the pace of work at the hospital because the contract was awarded in 2005," he had said point blank.

Though his threats had appeared serious then, it never made any difference as the contractor continued with its' snail-speed progress in the execution of the project.

Thus, the minister's promises of commissioning appeared a deception to residents, who became sick and tired of the long wait for relief and the empty promises that followed.

Unfortunately, this trend

has continued to re-occur, up to the administration of the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed.

When he assumed office in April 2011, he kept on announcing different dates for the commissioning of the hospital which never came to pass until President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved his cabinet on May 30, 2011.

H e equally adopted the threat option, to get the contractor to act fast, to pave way for the commissioning, but the 'all powerful contractor', which a source in the FCT Health Secretariat said "does whatever it likes because they had a strong backing from the government", was apparently not moved by that.

Similarly, the former FCT Health Secretary, Dr. Precious Gbenoel, on several occasions, when asked by journalists, gave dates for the commissioning, which ended up being false.

An example was the one she gave in late January last year, when she told select journalists, that the project was billed for commissioning in March, which never happened until the FCTA administration finally revoked the contract.

The controversial Karu General Hospital, Abuja

AMAC disburses N50 million as scholarship to FCT students

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he administration in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) yesterday doled out scholarships worth N50million to FCT students in both Secondary and Tertiary Institutions.

The Supervisory Councillor on Education of the council who also doubles as the Chairman, Scholarship Scheme Committee,

Hon Jafaru Gwagwa explained that both indigent students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), out of which a total number of 800 students are beneficiaries of the 2011 scholarships scheme.

Jafaru further disclosed that it is the first time any administration in AMAC is giving out scholarships to students in secondary schools.

According to him, the criteria

used in giving out the scholarship was for such beneficiaries to be students; verifiable by the provision of their receipt for payment of school fees and also their school Identification Card.

In his words: "This scholarship is given out mainly to the less privileged. The council cannot afford to give everybody but we try our best to see that the less privileged are

catered for.

"The scholarship is not given only to the indigenes in Abuja, the majority are from the rural areas, where we have the less privileged, so we make sure that the indigenes have almost 75% of the share and the non indigenes have 25%.

"Those in tertiary institutions will be given N20, 000 each, while secondary school students will be given N10, 000 each".

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Nigeria’s battle for stability (II)

By John Campbell

O

ften referred to as "zoning," the arrangement was intended to keep sectarian identity out of presidential politics and promote an elite consensus in favor of a single candidate. Hence, the southern Christian Olusegun Obasanjo held the presidency from 1999 to 2007. He was succeeded by Umaru Yar'Adua, a northern Muslim, who was expected to hold the presidency until 2015.

Yar'Adua's death upset this rotation by restoring a southern Christian to the presidency before the North had completed its turn.

According to the Nigerian press, it was widely understood that Jonathan would hold the presidency only until the 2011 elections if Yar'Adua were to die. Then he would step aside for a northern Muslim candidate to preserve zoning.

Jonathan would then run for the presidency in 2015, when it would again be a southern Christian's turn.

Perhaps under pressure from members of his Ijaw ethnic group and other southern groups hitherto excluded from the upper reaches of government, Jonathan reversed himself and ran for the presidency in 2011. Employing the power of incumbency, he defeated the northern Muslim Atiku Abubakar for the PDP presidential nomination at the January 2011 party convention, which participants described as an "auction" for delegate support. As a result of Jonathan's decision to end zoning, the presidential election became a polarizing contest between the

incumbent and northern Muslim Muhammadu Buhari.

To secure victory, Jonathan's political allies spent large sums of money to win the support of incumbent governors who control the election process in many states.

In the North, they also co-opted certain traditional Muslim rulers, and the sultan of Sokoto openly supported him.

It is difficult to know how much public money was spent for political purposes during this period. The lack of transparency in official expenditures, such as from Nigeria's Excess Crude Account, creates the appearance that state resources could easily be used on behalf of incumbents. For example, the Excess Crude Account dropped from about $20 billion (in U.S. dollars) when Yar'Adua assumed the presidency in 2007 to $3 billion when Jonathan became "acting president," then rose to approximately $5 billion. There has been little credible explanation for the fluctuations. According to the central bank, foreign reserves fell from $34.6 billion in 2010 to $30.86 billion in 2011. They have since recovered to $32.8 billion.

(Throughout this period, oil prices have been high.)

The April 2011 elections, despite being hailed by international elections observers as better than the 2007 "election-like event," appear to have been rigged strategically in certain places to ensure Goodluck Jonathan's victory. To avoid a runoff, he needed a countrywide plurality of total ballots cast and at least 25 percent of the vote in two-thirds of

the country's thirty-six states. In the Christian Southeast, Jonathan's vote totals were in the range of 97-99 percent. This guaranteed that he met the first requirement. Twenty-six of the thirty-six governors were from the ruling PDP, and governors were deeply involved in the conduct of the elections. Two or three governors in the North likely ensured that Jonathan received more than 25 percent of the vote in their states, thereby meeting the second requirement. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the ostensibly independent body that conducts elections, reported Jonathan's share of the vote in Sokoto-Buhari's home state-as 35 percent; in Gombe, 38.5 percent; and in Jigawa, 38.7 percent. These numbers seem high for the sharia heartland.

While the president appoints the chair of the INEC, his authority over the state electoral commissioners is limited; they are often beholden to the governors. Jonathan appointed Attahiru Jega, an Americaneducated academic known for his integrity, as INEC chair.

Under Jega's leadership, the registration and voting processes improved, though they remained far from perfect. In more places than in the past, polling stations opened, ballots were available and securityservice intimidation declined.

However, in other areas it is widely believed that registration numbers were inflated, ballot boxes were stuffed and vote tabulation was manipulated sufficiently to ensure Jonathan's victory without a runoff.

If the mechanics at the polling places

in 2011 were an improvement, the outcome of the elections remained elite business as usual, albeit with more sophisticated methods than in the past.

Not surprisingly, in the southern half of the country people generally believed the election was credible and accepted Jonathan's victory. But in the predominantly Muslim North, Jonathan's national victory was widely viewed as fraudulent. The announcement of his victory sparked three days of riots in northern cities in which at least one thousand people were killed, making the 2011 elections the bloodiest in Nigeria's history. The private houses of the sultan of Sokoto and the emirs of Kano and Zaria were destroyed because they had supported Jonathan. What started as protests against the largely Muslim political establishment, which was believed to have sold out to Jonathan, degenerated into ethnic and religious violence. Today, many in the North continue to see the elections as lacking legitimacy.

The Abuja government appointed a panel to investigate the causes of the violence, informally called the Lemu Panel after its chairman, Sheikh Ahmed Lemu, a prominent retired Islamic judge.

The text of the report has not been made public, but Chairman Lemu's public comments on the report amount to an indirect indictment of Nigeria's current political economy.

He concludes that the postelection violence resulted from widespread frustration with Nigeria's poverty, corruption, insecurity and inequality, as well as with the

Niger Delta militants, before some of them embraced amnesty extended to them by late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua

inability of successive governments to address these issues.

Nigeria's vast oil reserves underpin its economy and its dysfunctional political culture.

Its oil comes from the Niger Delta and from offshore platforms in the Atlantic's Gulf of Guinea. Though these oil reserves constitute the source of much of Nigeria's wealth, the region is remarkably underdeveloped.

Fifty years of oil exploitation have led to numerous environmental accidents, hindering the traditional aquaculture of the indigenous people.

For example, some environmental NGOs estimate that the region suffers from oil spills equivalent in magnitude to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill each year. While there is a multitude of ethnic groups, the most prominent are the Itsekiri and the Ijaw, who in certain areas compete for turf and power.

Governance in the region has been particularly corrupt, fueled by oil revenue to state and local governments with little or no accountability. The line between politics and thuggery is thin.

The result of this witches' brew has been a low-level insurrection that has waxed and waned for years.

At times, insurgents have been able to shut down significant amounts of petroleum production, which has had a serious impact on international markets. At other times, federal and state governments have bought off militants-but never for long because the fundamental grievances that fuel the insurrection are never addressed.

As an Ijaw from Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta, Jonathan was widely expected to address Delta grievances, building on President Yar'Adua's 2008 amnesty for militants.

But the disarmament, education and reintegration included in the amnesty have been incomplete. Instead, the most salient characteristic of the amnesty has been payoffs to militant leaders. While the insurrection in the Delta has been relatively quiet, it will likely escalate as new militant leaders rise to replace co-opted ones.

Kidnappings and piracy are increasing; oil-production facilities have been attacked; and new militant leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the government's focus on insecurity in the North. In 2012, shadowy Delta groups are threatening the region's small Islamic community, ostensibly in revenge for Boko Haram attacks on Christians in the North.

The suicide bombing of the UN headquarters in Abuja galvanized international attention on Boko Haram, the violent radical Muslim sect centered in the Northeast that claimed responsibility.

John Campbell is the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 2004 to 2007.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 19

BUSINESS Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

FAAC allocation for the month of January 2012 shared in February, 2012 S/N

BENEFICIARIES

1 2 3 4

173,447 87.974 67.825

5 6 7

FG (52.68%) States (26.72%) L/govt Councils (20.72%) Derivation (13% of Mineral revenue-oil/gas) Value Added Tax (VAT) Augmentation for the month Refund by NNPC

8

Grand Total

614.604

T

he Naira strengthened marginally against the U.S dollar on the interbank market yesterday, but weakened at the official window as strong demand for the greenback built up at the bi-weekly foreign exchange auction, traders said.

The naira closed at 157.90 to the dollar on the interbank, firmer than the 158.05 a dollar it closed at on Friday.

Traders said the naira was driven up by surplus dollar liquidity from the previous week, partly helped by about $10 million sales by a unit of Addax Petroleum, which is owned by China’s Sinopec Group < 0386.HK >.

At the bi-weekly forex auction, the central bank sold $150 million at 156.01 to the

Flight schedule AIR NIGERIA (MONDAY - SUNDAY) LOS-A BJ: 07.15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.30, 17.00, 17.20, 18.30.

ABJ-LOS: 07.00, 09.30, 10.30, 11.15, 16.15, 19.15, 19.35 ABJ-KANO: 18.40 KANO-ABJ: 08.35 ABJ -SOK (MON): 09.35 ABJ-SOK (FRI): 10.10 ABJ-SOK (WED/SUN): 11.20 SOK-ABJ (MON): 11.35 SOK-ABJ (FRI): 12.00 SOK-ABJ (WED/SUN): 13.20

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

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

IRS AIRLINES

SUB-TOTAL (N bn)

T

Naira gains on dollar sales eroding the gains in the last three weeks,” one dealer said.

However, traders also said some oil multinational companies are expected to sell dollars soon, while offshore inflows to the treasury bill auction later in the week could provide some support to the naira.

Another dealer expected the naira to trend within the 157.60158.20 band in the near term if more oil companies sell dollars.

(Reuters)

who confirmed this development while speaking on behalf of the Chairman, Chief Agbolade Bolaji said the association organised the sale of N50 per litre of kerosene to consumers in Ilorin metropolis as part of the routine distribution of kerosene for all.

“The challenges are obvious and that is what the masses are crying for. The marketers we have a different opinion. We are not being given that is why we are not selling. Each time we are giving, we sell.

This one we are not compelled to sell it. It is just because we have the facilities and we are given the product that is why we are selling it. If we are given at N50 per litre, the marketers are willing to sell”.

The association insisted that it was possible to sell the product at the rate of N50 saying “It is very possible. It is not difficult at all. It depends on the central administration”.

While speaking on the duration the association would continue to sell the product at that rate, IPMAN said explained that its member all over Kwara, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Kogi and Niger state has started receiving the product and they would also sell it at the rate.

“Everybody is eligible and capable of selling as soon as it is given. So this time, we have given to some members of Ilorin depot.

Another time, we get to other areas. It is routine”, he said.

In his reaction, MD, Alyufat Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Yusuf Abdulfatah said he was satisfied with the exercise and said every member of IPMAN that received the product have started enjoy selling it at N50.

He appealed to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to join hands together with IPMAN so that they could make it possible to sell at the normal price of N50 per litre fixed by Federal Government.

MFBs & PMIs are excluded from cash withdrawal limit, says CBN From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has clarified that direct withdrawal/deposit

by Micro Finance Banks (MFBs) and Primary Mortgage Institutions (PMIs) are excluded from its N1 million unit policy limit for corporate bodies.

This is contained in a CBN circular released over the weekend tagged need for clarification on cash withdrawal limit for MFBs and PMIs, which was signed by the Acting Director Payments System Department CBN, G.1 Emokpae. This, according to the apex bank would enable them meet the legitimate demands of their numerous customers.

The apex bank stated that the clarification notice became necessary as deposit money banks apply cash withdrawal / deposit limits for corporate organizations to PMI and MFBs ”It is imperative to note that the aggregate withdrawals by the depositors of the MFBs and PMIs per day could exceed N1 million, thus necessitating those institutions to withdraw over N1 million from the corresponding banks in order to service their EXCHANGE RATES

CBN CFA • £ RIYAL $

LOS -ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

23th Feb, 2012 BUYING 0.2938 205.9396 243.4873 41.3023 154.9

SELLING 0.3138 207.2691 245.0592 41.5689 155.9

PARALLEL RATES

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

IPMAN commences kerosene sale at N50 in Kwara he Independent Petroleum Marketer Association of Nigeria(IPMAN), Ilorin depot, Kwara state has commenced the selling of kerosene to the general public at the rate of N50 per litre, to reduce the burden on the consumers.

The Secretary of IPMAN, Ilorin depot, Alhaji Mustapha Muhydeen,

dollar compared with $150 million sold at 155.90 to the dollar last auction on Wednesday.

Traders said dollar inflows from oil companies are gradually thinning out, so the naira could ease above the 158 naira to the dollar mark in the coming days.

“There was a noticeable build up in dollar demand at both the interbank and central bank’s window, and this could start

- Pg 21

Nigeria to host 5th African Conference......

Mob: 08033644990

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

38.940 51.111 187.090 7,617

INSIDE

• £ RIYAL $

BUYING 210 250 40 156

SELLING 212 252 42 158

customers,” it stated.

PMIs and MFB s are specialised banks as defined under the new banking models, which have

customers that maintain savings, demand and time deposit account with them. As deposit taking institutions, they

are obliged to honour the withdrawal request of their customers and other mature obligations.

L-R: Director-General National Pension Commission ( PENCOM), Alhaji Muhammad Ahmad, Commissioner, Technical of PENCOM, Princess Eyamba Henshaw, and Commissioner, Inspectorate of the commission, Dr. Musa Ibrahim, during the public hearing on comprehensive investigation of pension payment management and administration in Nigeria, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Management Tip of the Day

D

Overcome the awkward silence

iscussions during meetings can be feast or famine. Either you can’t get a word in edgewise or no one speaks up. Next time your meeting falls silent, try these tactics:Let it be. Wait a

moment before breaking the silence and offering a suggestion. The group may need time to reflect on an idea.Name it. Call out what’s happening, and ask the group about it, “It seems we’ve gone

quiet. Does anyone want to talk about what’s going on?”Take a break. Sometimes a short break gives people the chance to refocus.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS First Bank to host dinner for bank CEOs

F

irst Bank of Nigeria Plc has concluded plans to sponsor a special dinner for chief executives of banks tomorrow.

Experts advocate clear investment strategy on SWF

E

conomists and researchers from the African Institute for Applied Economic, Enugu, have asked the government to develop clear investment strategy to drive the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) and avoid losses and fiscal consequences.

‘Nigeria, other emerging markets face growth challenges’

Mass housing scheme for police underway- FMBN boss

By Abdulwahab Isa

T

he Nigerian police are to enjoy mass affordable housing under the initiative of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).

Under the plan, termed: “Police Social Housing Scheme”, FMBN, in collaboration with Nigeria Police is building a minimum of 150 housing units in each state of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory.

A statement by FMBN spokesperson, Simon Agada quoted the Managing Director of the FMBN, Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo as saying over the weekend while on courtesy visit to the acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Dikko Abubakar.

According to him, the bank

would execute the project in collaboration with a foreign partner, who will provide 70 per cent of the funding.

He said police officers will contribute the balance of 30 per cent as personal contributions while the FMBN will also assist in the process by providing NHF loans at affordable interest rates to enable police officers acquire the houses to be delivered under this arrangement.

Kumo remarked that beyond the affordable houses for the police, the Police Social Housing Scheme is expected to generate gainful employment for over 20,000 Nigerians nationwide.

“This project is therefore key to actualising Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda for the country”, the FMBN managing director noted.

Kumo added that the pilot scheme of the project will start in

Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt.

Kumo used the opportunity to urge the IGP to enforce compliance with the National Housing Fund (NHF) Act by employers of labour and other relevant corporate organisations like banks and insurance companies.

The NHF Act statutorily requires employers of labour to deduct 2.5 per cent of their employees’ basic salaries (those earning N3, 000.00 and above) and remit same to the NHF. It also requires banks to invest 10 per cent of their loans and advances at an interest rate of 1 per cent above the interest rate payable on current accounts by banks.

Insurance companies are supposed to invest a minimum of 20 per cent of their non-life funds and 40 per cent of their life funds in real estate development of which not less than 50 per cent

shall be paid into the NHF through the FMBN at an interest rate of not more than 4 per cent.

But the banks and the insurance companies are yet to fully comply with this requirement.

He implored the IGP to direct all police formations to adopt FMBN’s newly introduced ecollection platform for monthly remittance of National Housing Fund contributions.

Responding, the acting Inspector General of Police, Abubakar, assured the management of FMBN that as a law abiding organisation, the Nigerian Police Force will continue to abide with the Act establishing the NHF scheme and pursue the enforcement of the Act. He requested the FMBN to set up a committee to look at the Police housing needs and proffer solutions.

C

ompanies in the emerging markets, including Nigeria, will require new approach and motivation to redefine their growth strategy to be able to compete in the fast developing global economy, a study has said.

Ekiti raises monthly IGR to N617m

T

he Ekiti State government has said that the deployment of a robust Information Communication Technology infrastructure via the electronic payment has helped to increase its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from a meager of N109 million to N617 million.

NCAA seeks investors for aviation industry

T

he Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), has called on private sector operators to invest in the nation’s aviation industry, to promote the fortunes of the sector, currently being assailed by assessed fund paucity.

Rivers, Schneider Electric seal N6bn energy management deal

S

chneider Electric- global specialist in energy management and the Rivers State Government have signed an energy management contract valued at •20 million (N6 billion).

L-R: Chairman MTN Board of Directors, Dr. Pascal Dozie, receiving a plaque from the Chairman, Petroleum Development Company Ltd, Mr. Joe Obiago, and wife of late Chief Godwin Aret Adams, Mrs Izarene Aret Adams, during the 9th annual memorial lecture for the former, NNPC Managing-Director, Aret Adams, recently in Lagos.

Photo: NAN

Food security: World Bank earmarks N150bn annually for Africa From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

T

he World Bank yesterday said it has concluded arrangements for the annual commitment of whooping sum of US$1 billion (about N160 billion) to assist Africa in food security and production as well as freedom from hunger.

The Vice-President, World Bank (Africa), Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili made the revelation while delivering a lecture at the launch of ‘Feed Africa

Launch’, which was part of programme to mark the 75 year birthday of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo held at Conference Hall of the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

‘At the World Bank, we have put our shoulder well and truly behind Africa’s quest for food security and freedom from hunger. This support has been in line with the overall framework of the African Union’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development

Programme and the new partnership for Africa’s Development’ She further explained that, following the 2008 World Development Report on Agriculture for Development, with its cardinal focus on agriculture as a catalyst for development and economic growth, the authorities have doubled assistance to African agriculture to approximately US$ 1billion of new commitment annually.

The World Bank boss however,

noted that improving food security goes well beyond managing fluctuating costs of food imports, pointing out that significant barriers to intra-regional trade both physically and policy-wise remain key challenges.

Ezekwesili also informed that other challenges include: inadequate investment in irrigation, increasing exposure to climate change stresses and unavailability and unaffordability of social safety nets to assist the most vulnerable.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 21

Oil & Gas: Indigenous auditors should bring their expertise to bear – NEITI

By Muhammad Nasir he indigenous auditors in charge of carrying out the audit of the Oil and Gas and Solid minerals contracts have been urged to bring their expertise to bear on the assignment, in order not to jeopardise the trust reposed on them by the Nigerian public.

The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Extraction Industries Iniative (NEITI), Mrs. Zainab Ahmed gave the advice at the signing ceremony which took place at the NEITI Secretariat in Abuja on Thursday at the signing of the N363 million contract with two indigenous firms for the 2009 to 2011oil and gas & 2007 to 2010 Solid Minerals audit.

According to Mrs. Ahmed, the oil and gas audit is to be conducted by the firm of Sada

T

Idris and company while the second audit, the first of its kind to be conducted by NEITI in the solid minerals sector, will be undertaken by Haruna Yahaya and company. Both firms are wholly Nigerian and indigenous.

The signing ceremony signals the commencement of the much awaited audits and brings to four the number of audits by NEITI. The first two audits started from 1999, 2004 and 2005 and have been in the oil and gas sector alone.

According to NEITI’s Director, Technical, Mr. Tariye George the contracts for the oil and gas and solid minerals audits is to deliver the financial flows, establish cash calls, government crude lifting’s and petroleum profit tax validations among other assignments while the solid minerals audit aims at establishing the tonnage and

mined quarried minerals by major players as well as activities of entities in the manufacturing and construction sectors that derive their raw materials from mining and quarrying activities.

Ahmad further advised the auditors to abide strictly by the

terms and conditions of the contract. The solid minerals audit is to cost the sum of N137 million while the oil and gas audit is to gulp N226 million.

The audits are expected to be completed within nine months and will bring NEITI audits up to date, she added.

In response, the two audit firms promised to bring to bear their wealth of experience in the discharge of these important national assignments. They pledged to carry themselves with the utmost sense of responsibility, integrity and professionalism.

FG to fast-track issuance of export clearance permits

By Muhammad Nasir he Federal Government is to fast-track the new procedures for the issuance of petroleum products export clearance permit and for a stay of action on the new procedures until the third quarter, to enable its execution the second quarter, which was already at hand.

This was made known by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade & Investment, Mr. Dauda

T

Kigbu during the stakeholders meeting on the review of the procedure for issuance of the permit in Abuja, at the weekend.

Kigbu maintained that the move became necessary after due assessment of the current procedures in which the ministry observed quite a number of anomalies resulting in avoidable delays through bureaucratic bottlenecks and willful abuse of due process.

Accordingly, he said the ministry has resolved to completely overhaul the process in line with global best practices,

adding that government is conscious of the complexities of oil exports and was making efforts to ensure that all obstacles were removed.

Kigbu however noted that the new procedure was not intended to frustrate the oil and gas exporters and their businesses, and urged the exporters to adhere strictly to the new guidelines, in order to reposition and improve on the issuance process in Nigeria.

The issuance of the petroleum products export clearance permit will be effective from the second quarter of 2012.

Fuel import tenders expected in March - Traders

F

resh fuel import allocations are expected to be awarded in March, trade sources said, although a parliamentary investigation into abuse of the fuel subsidy regime is on-going.

Nigeria currently relies on exchanges of crude oil for fuel and other products as no new tenders have been allocated since the government’s attempt to remove the fuel subsidy in January. Now traders’ hopes are rising that a fresh allocation is imminent.

“We hear that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), will award some import allocations in March with the new funds made available in the budget, but it will be restricting the number of companies, and there will be closer monitoring of how the volumes are allotted and filled,” a West African-focused fuel trader said.

“Maybe we will see some second-quarter allocations but the whole subsidy wrangle won’t be resolved quickly. Certainly nothing is expected to be resolved before April,” said a fuel broker.

The fuel market has been awaiting clarity from Nigeria on

A typical oil rig offshore

N

igeria’s oil production is down by about 1 million barrels a day (bpd) because of violence and theft in the Niger River delta, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Bloomberg reported that total output fell to as low as 1 million barrels a day when armed attacks peaked in July 2009. At the end of 2005 deep offshore contributed less than 10 percent of Nigeria's oil, compared with about a third currently.

Output is yet to be restored at 40 onshore oil fields mostly operated by Hague-based Royal

how the new regime will work since it attempted to remove petrol import subsidies on January 1.

There was more than a week of mass protests against the ensuing sharp rise in fuel costs and the government then partially reinstated subsidies.

As a result of the reinstatement, Nigeria had to revise upwards its outlook for the budget deficit this year, with the subsidy expected to soak up 888 billion naira ($5.61 billion) of the 2012 budget.

The federal government will be giving up 309 billion naira for the subsidies, while the rest will be taken out of spending for state and local government.

“Some funds were found to cover the shortfall, which gives suppliers some security,” a trader said.

The Nigerian parliament is currently investigating abuse of the subsidy system, after uncovering a $4 billion discrepancy between the subsidy paid to importers and the amount of fuel brought into the country.

(Source: Reuters)

Unrest cuts Nigeria’s oil output by 1m bpd - NNPC Dutch Shell Plc, San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp. and smaller producers more than two years after a government amnesty led to the disarming of thousands of militants and a decline in attacks on oil companies, according to data obtained from the NNPC. "Security is still a major concern," Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives Co., a Lagos- based business advisory, Bismarck Rewane said in a

telephone interview.

"The security situation in the Niger Delta has its political as well as economic dimensions, and it's not going away soon."

NNPC operates Joint Ventures (JU) with Shell, Chevron, Total SA of France, Irving, Texas- based Exxon Mobil Corp. and Italy's Eni SpA (ENI) that pump more than 90 percent of Nigeria's oil.

Central government control of oil revenue is resented by communities in the region and

this has spawned unrest including armed attacks on oil facilities and theft from pipelines.

"We have been able to bring production back but it is still below pre-militancy levels," Ian Craig, Shell's vice president for exploration and production in sub-Saharan Africa, said Feb. 21 at an oil conference in Abuja, the capital. "The greatest challenge, however, is the massive organised oil theft business and the criminality and corruption which

it fosters."

At least 150,000 barrels a day of oil is lost to theft, resulting in increased production costs, reduced revenue and "major environmental impacts," Craig said. Shell on Feb.6 said rising crude theft along its Nembe Creek trunkline threatens daily exports of 140,000 barrels. The company has recorded over 250 incidents of theft and sabotage in its onshore operations since January 2010.

(Bloomberg)

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Nigeria to host 5th African Conference on free, Open Source software - Foundation

N

igeria will host the 5th African Conference on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) later this month, Mr Dele Ajisomo, the President, Open Source Foundation for Nigeria (OSFON), has said.

Ajisomo disclosed this recently in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the conference, which will hold in Abuja from March 19 to March 23.

He said that about 1,000 participants from Asia, Europe, U.S., Canada, Latin America and

Africa are expected at the conference, which will be declared open by Mrs Mobola Johnson, the Minister of Communication Technology.

The theme of the conference is “Open Source Solutions for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals.’’

“This conference is the continent’s rallying point for critical issues in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as they directly relate to the development of its people,

governments and business enterprises,’’ Ajisomo said.

He said the conference would also be an avenue to enhance the capacity building of Nigerians in ICT, as there would be training for all participants.

“International experts will be coming to Nigeria; there will be free training for people on how to write code, protect a website, how to configure and manage a website and create sourcing.’’

Also speaking, the Director General, National Information

Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Prof. Cleopas Angaye said the conference would be of great benefits to both the people and the government of Nigeria.

He said the conference would boost participants’ knowledge in the development and use of software through Open Source Software programming.

“The beauty of the open software programming is that there are lot of programming available; you can search for the basic programming short-code

that tells you about the programme techniques.’’

The Managing Director, Backbone Connectivity Network Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Ibrahim Dikko said the company would render necessary partnership to bring Nigeria to the global software market.

“For instance, we will provide free internet services throughout the period of the conference, to train Nigerians in order for them to develop solutions to our everyday problems.’’ (NAN)

Apple iPad event set for March 7

A

pple is inviting reporters to an event next Wednesday in San Francisco. An image on the invite showing part of an iPad screen suggests it’s to announce a new model.

The company has been widely expected to reveal the third version of the iPad soon, close to the anniversary of the launch of the iPad 2.

The invitation is for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, where Apple holds larger launch events.

Apple didn’t provide any details on the new device.

Various unconfirmed reports speak of a sharper screen and faster cellular broadband options.

It’s not known when such a new device would be available for sale. Last year, sales of the iPad 2 began in the U.S. nine days after the announcement. (AP)

By Muhammad Nasir

T

he Nigerian C o m m u n i c a t i o n Commission (NCC), has vowed to combat the rate of cybercrime in the society, which has risen dramatically in the past few years.

The vow was made by the Executive Vice-Chairman of the (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah yesterday, during a conference on "Regulatory Imperatives for cybercrimes and cyber Security in Nigeria, 2012", which held at the

L-R:Manager, Youth Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Idiare Atimomo; Winner of Raffle draw, Ganiyu Kushino receiving a laptop while Dean of Student Affairs, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Mr. Dele Showole and Specialist, Youth Segment, Etisalat Nigeria, Bukky Balogun during the cliqfest campus tour at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

NCC boss vows to combat cybercrime in Nigeria International Conference Center in Abuja.

The NCC boss maintained that cyber threats such as malware and attacks are becoming extremely sophisticated, especially with the increased presence of organised criminal groups online.

"The Commission is not only concentrating on the dissemination of inaccurate or misleading information, but also on malicious

content, fraud, theft and forgery that exist online just as they do offline", he stated.

Dr Juwah said criminal are invading homes and offices not by breaking doors or windows but by breaking into laptops, PCs and wireless devices through the Internet. As a result of that, millions of naira is lost every year due to cybercrimes and system repairs as a result of cyber attacks.

Eugene said that the Internet has ceased to be the domain of the technically competent as userfriendly software and interfaces have enabled all types of users, including children and novices, to interact remotely.

He pointed out that organised crime has been on the rise because the Internet has proved a low risk, lucrative business arena to the fact that loopholes in national and

regional legislation still remain, making it difficult to effectively track down criminals.

The NCC boss further said, in line with global trend in the fight against cybercrime, the Nigeria communication commission has created a new department called "New Media and information Security" with the responsibility to issue information system Security in modern Information society and capacity building in Information technology through ADAPTI program.

Africa offers promise, peril to telecom operators

P

oor infrastructure, fragmented markets and stiff competition mean Africa poses risks as well as potential rewards for telecom operators hunting for growth in some countries like postrevolution Libya and Tunisia, survey showed.

The fact that most people in Africa will use mobile phones to access the Internet and do

business have encouraged many operators to seek acquisition targets in the continent.

France Telecom and Vodafone now present on the continent could expand, but they’d have to compete with new emerging market players like Russia’s Vimpelcom, South Africa’s MTN or India’s Bharti Airtel.

Chinese companies, which already sell telecoms equipment in Africa, could move up the value chain by buying operators or licences.

In 2010, China Mobile lost a bidding war to Bharti that saw the Indian operator snap up telecom units in 16 African countries for 10.7 billion dollars.

But making money in Africa, one of the last remaining

emerging telecoms markets not yet sown up has proven very difficult, as some of the existing players have discovered.

The market is fragmented in 56 countries, some of which have dozens of operators.

Meanwhile, consumers in Africa tend to spend between one to 10 dollars per month on telecommunications, far less than in Europe or the U.S., but

still more than in India.

Operators have also realised that the cost of running networks is high due to poor infrastructure; executives told media this week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Operators, including France Telecom, are now looking at ways to share costs through network sharing deals.

(Reuters/NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Looking after widows in Nigeria M

rs. Margaret Toyyo, 51, is a clerk with the Gombe State judiciary. She became a widow about four years ago and has five children to cater for.

Apart from the pains of losing her husband, she contends with the task of caring for all her children from her meagre salary.

Her in-laws further compounded her problem as they have not been helpful to her and the children in any form.

“My in-laws came soon after my husband died and asked me to relocate to the village with my children for reasons I could not comprehend. I refused but they insisted for some time and later got tired,” Toyyo recalls.

Another woman, Mrs Sheba Joshua, 52, has been a widow for the past 18 years and her experiences all through those years have been harrowing.

“Being a widow is a very traumatic experience for a woman, especially when the late husband’s relatives are selfish, greedy and materialistic,” she says.

Sheba recalls that rather than allow her to mourn her late husband for a reasonable period, the relatives confronted her and demanded an account of the financial position and other properties of their deceased relative.

“Shortly after my husband died, rather than allow me mourn him, his relations came and asked me to tell them what their late

Iliya Habila in this piece believes that whether re-married or single, widows and their children require care, support and sympathy from the society instead of harassments, cruelty and abandonment, usually meted out to them by their late husbands’ relatives. brother left behind.

“I started crying and they persisted but I refused. So, when they were tired, they left me alone and since then, I have been managing what he left behind to educate our five children and pay other necessary bills,” she says.

No doubt, widows in Nigeria face enormous challenges from different fronts soon after the loss of their spouses.

In a recent report, a New York-based organization, Communication for Change (C4C), said that “in certain parts of Nigeria, the maltreatment of widows is common.

“In-laws and the communities subject widows to physical and emotional abuses such as being made to sit on bare floor for weeks to mourn their husbands; confinement from one month to a year and the shaving of their hair with razors or broken bottles.’’

In some cases, the report added, “women are not allowed to bathe; they are asked to routinely weep in public; while in extreme cases, they are made to drink the water used for washing the husband’s corpse, to prove their innocence over their spouses’ death.’’

No doubt, many Nigerians will attest to the prevalence of such obnoxious practices in different communities in parts of the federation.

While widows’ plight may not be as the extreme case in Gombe State, they, nonetheless, face challenges that are less than dignifying and with dire economic implications.

Death, it is often said, is a reality but how humans contend with the fallouts of the unfortunate natural phenomenon is another thing entirely.

Bereavement is always a period of grief, sorrow, psychological trauma and sometimes despair. How relatives and the society in general react to it, especially in relation to widows and orphans, calls for concerns from all.

The Gombe State chapter of the National Association of Widows (NAW), is one body that has continued to explore ways to minimise the hardships of widows and orphans in the state.

Recently, it organised a three-day conference, where participants brainstormed on ways to assist the state’s widows and orphans.

No fewer than 2,000 out

Bianca Ojukwu (C), and her children arrive to attend the national inter-denominational funeral rites at Michael Opkara Square, in Enugu on March 1 for her late husband, Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

Renowned NollyWood actress, Stella Damasus-Aboderin herself a widow in the film “Widow”

of the 4,000 registered widows in the 11 local government areas of the state took part in the summit held at the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Centre, Gombe.

Hajiya Adama Dankwambo, wife of the state governor, attributed the increased number of widows in the society to the unfortunate incidents of religious, political and tribal conflicts in Nigeria.

“You will agree with me that the increased number of widows we have in this state and the country at large is mostly as a result of violence motivated by religious, political and tribal conflicts, thereby raising the number of orphans and vulnerable children without adequate care given.

“I want to use this occasion to appeal to all and sundry that we must avoid violence and try to see ourselves as one family and be our brothers’ keepers, irrespective of religion, tribe and political affiliations’’.

Represented by her personal aide, Hajiya Hauwa Musa, the governor’s wife

donated N500,000 to the association, while pledging government’s continued support for the widows and their children.

On his part, Mr Habu Zarma, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Plateau, who was the special guest of honour, expressed concern over the plight of widows in the present times.

He urged Nigerians to do away with all cultural practices that were detrimental to the welfare of widows and orphans in the country.

Zarma reminded the people that no one knew when he or she would die, hence the need to show sympathy to widows, instead of adding to their sorrows.

“Now, these people did not pray to become widows but in the Almighty God’s wisdom, he felt that they should be widows. There are so many things, especially in our culture and traditions, which do not mean well or help women that are widows.

“We have to do away with them, especially now in Nigeria where everybody is claiming to be either a

devout Christian or Muslim.

“These two religions preach sympathy and support for widows and, therefore, we must do away with cultures and traditions that are not actually in support of what the Holy books are saying,” he said.

Zarma particularly called on husbands, especially those of Christian faith to write and update their will periodically since no one knew when he would die.

“This is imperative to forestall avoidable hardships for the family left behind in the event of death”.

In a paper entitled “The Widowhood Life and Self Sustenance”, Mrs Halima Bello, the Principal, ECWA Private School, Tudun Wada, Jos, said death was inevitable and should be viewed as an act of God whenever it occurred.

“Work hard to fend for yourselves and your children.

If you have not been working before your husband died, get something doing, even if it is a small business such as poultry, fish farming, making of earrings and necklaces, baking, hairdressing and tailoring,” she advised widows.

Bello urged those widows who wished to re-marry to carefully examine their desire and be sure that their would-be husbands were Godfearing and caring enough.

Mrs Lola Enoch, President of NAW in Gombe State, said that the conference, first of its kind in the state, was out to address problems facing the widows.

She called on Nigerians, especially those in the rural setting, to change their negative attitudes toward

A widow's head being shaved with broken bottle

widows and refrain from stigmatising them for whatever reasons.

“The society should welcome and embrace widows, while the government should start educating men to write their wills for their families.

“I think we are no longer in the Stone Age and so, maltreatment of widows must stop; widows should be counted among the beloved ones created by God,” she said.

Enoch implored government to create special credit facilities to assist widows who wished to engage in one trade or the other to sustain themselves and their children in the absence of their husbands.

She stressed that the

“

Women are not allowed to bathe; they are asked to routinely weep in public; while in extreme cases, they are made to drink the water used for washing the husband’s corpse, to prove their innocence over their spouses’ death

association, on its part, had rendered financial assistance to members to enable them to embark on small-scale businesses, while training and skills acquisition programmes were also organised for them.

Some sociologists, however, are quick to point out that under normal circumstances; a widow in the African context is entitled to two types of protection.

For instance, Fasoranti and Aruna, in their jointly published paper in the Journal of World Anthropology, examined cross-cultural practices relating to widowhood and widow-inheritance among the N’digbo and Yoruba in Nigeria.

“A widow can be remarried to the nearest male relative of her husband, in which case, she enjoys all the protection and care normally enjoyed by his wives.

“If she is not remarried, she can be given collective protection and care by the relatives of her deceased husband. In this case, help of financial and labour nature is rendered to the widow by the relatives of the deceased husband,” they said.

In contemporary times, however, many widows are quite hesitant to be

remarried to their late husbands’ close relatives for fear of the unknown and instead, choose to remain single, particularly those with grown-up children.

The younger widows, on the other hand, often choose to break off from the late husbands’ families to remarry elsewhere.

“It all depends on the choice of the widows themselves. In some cases, it is like jumping from fry pan to fire; you can hardly get the same kind of love from your late husband from any of his relations,” said Madam Mabel Danjuma, a septuagenarian.

Mr Peter Idachi, who described himself as a

A widow and her three children bemoaning their fate

traditionalist, said that practices differ in different communities, adding, however, that it was the prime responsibility of the deceased’s family to cater for the widow and children left behind.

He said that there had been instances where relations fought over the inheritance of their late brothers without even showing any concern for the welfare of the wives and children left behind.

“Some of these things we hear about ill-treatment of widows and their children are quite nauseating and the earlier men take measures to safeguard the future of their wives and children in the event of their death, the better.

“No one prays for death but it should be prepared for in case of unforeseen circumstances,” he said.

All said and done, it is obvious that certain traditional practices that are inimical to the circumstances of widows ought to be jettisoned in the present age.

Whether re-married or single, widows and their children require care, support and sympathy from the society instead of harassments, cruelty and abandonment, usually meted out to them by their late husbands’ relatives.

Analysts concur that it is the joint responsibility of all citizens to ensure the wellbeing of widows in the society since no one knows whose turn will be next.

Source: NAN

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

‘Torture’ video shows ‘Gaddafi’s black African mercenaries locked in a zoo cage and force-fed flags by Libyan rebels’

A

shocking video that appears to show Libyan rebels torturing a group of subSaharan African detainees has appeared on YouTube.

The footage shows a dozen or so men - presumably captured mercenaries suspected of fighting for the toppled government of Muammur Gaddafi last year - held in what looks like a caged zoo enclosure.

They each have their hands tied behind their back and are sat on the cage’s dirty floor.

More objectionably, each has the old Libyan flag stuffed into his mouth.

While a crowd of men gather round the enclosure jeering, their prisoners are made to hop on the spot.

The man filming the scene, who remains off-camera, can be heard shouting: ‘Eat the flag, you dog.

Patience you dog, patience. God is great.’

It is impossible to verify whether the video, which was leaked onto YouTube, is genuine and where and when it was filmed.

It has emerged as the UN last week said that the Libyan revolutionary brigades accused of torture still hold captive threequarters of detainees from the country’s civil war.

A lack of judicial police has prevented the government from taking control of more jails, the UN said last Wednesday.

Up to 6,000 detainees are estimated to remain in brigade facilities, while the Ministry of Justice has taken charge of eight detention centres holding 2,382 people.

The figures were revealed to the UN Security Council by Ian Martin, the UN special envoy for Libya.

Many of the detainees are subSaharan Africans whom their captors accuse of being Gaddafi mercenaries, based in some cases purely on the fact that they have darker skin.

The UN human rights agency and aid groups have accused the brigades of torturing detainees during Libya’s nine-month civil war.

Mr. Martin has urged the

Shocking: Video footage that appears to show Libyan rebels torturing a group of sub-Saharan African detainees has appeared on YouTube

Jeered: The men are likely captured mercenaries suspected of fighting for the toppled government of Muammur Gaddafi last year

Prisoners: The footage shows a dozen or so men held in what looks like a caged zoo enclosure, with their hands tied behind their backs and the former Libyan flag in their mouths

Racism? Rebel fighters hold captive a sub-Saharan African man suspected of working as a mercenary for the Gaddafi regime last August

Ministry of Justice to accelerate the process of asserting government control over detention centres.

But he said: ‘Progress continues to be complicated by insufficient numbers of judicial police.’

He added: ‘We will continue to work closely with the authorities and to encourage them to ensure that inspections of known facilities are undertaken, that secret locations are identified and brought under government control, and that abuses are investigated.’

Accusations of the mistreatment and disappearances of suspected Gaddafi loyalists are embarrassing for Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, which has vowed to make a break

with practices under Gaddafi and respect human rights.

It is also awkward for the Western powers which backed the antiGaddafi rebellion and helped install Libya’s new leaders.

Gaddafi’s 42-year rule collapsed when his forces fled Tripoli in August, and the last of the fighting in Libya ended in October when he was captured and killed by rebels.

Libyan Ambassador Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgham told the UN Security Council that detainees held by the government, including a number of former Gaddafi ministers and senior officers, were treated well.

Mr Shalgham said: ‘However, let me say that there are areas where the state has not been able to control.

There is not police or courts in those

areas.

‘We cannot be responsible for all excesses everywhere. We are against them, we object to them and we hold the perpetrators of such acts responsible.’

Mr Martin said that while the armed brigades lacked clear lines of command and coordination, they continued to perform important security functions often for long periods without payment.

He said: ‘Contrary to the impression given by some media reports, although they seek guarantees that the transformation for which they have fought is securely on track, there is little indication that they wish to perpetuate an existence outside state authority.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 27

‘Wolfman’ with rare condition that causes hair to grow over his face says he would not change it... and the ladies wouldn’t want him to either

W

hile many people might consider a face covered with hair debilitating, Danny Ramos Gomez - who has been dubbed the ‘wolfman’ would not have it any other way.

Gomez, who appeared on ABC’s investigative series 20/20 on Saturday, has a condition called hypertrichosis, which causes his body to produce an abnormal amount of hair.

But while some people in his native Mexico tease him for his unconventional appearance laughing and howling at him - the ladies love the extra hair.

He has a girlfriend named Hilda and a daughter from a previous relationship.

Before he dated Hilda, he was

with his ex-girlfriend Lucy for six years. She told ABC that she found his hair ‘quite sexy’ but that she had particularly loved his eyes.

She added that it was his personality that won him over: ‘He’s very noble. He’s very affectionate. He’s a very good person.’

But not everyone has been so accepting of Gomez and his brother Larry, who were exhibited in a circus side show as ‘wolf children’ when they were young.

Betty Tampa, one of Gomez’s closest friends, told ABC that people often insult him because of the way he looks.

‘They perceive him as a wolf — actually as a person from another world — and they insult him,’ she

Content: Danny Ramos Gomez, who has been dubbed the 'wolfman', has a condition called hypertrichosis, which causes his body to produce extra hair, especially on his hair and chest

Cruel: But Gomez and his friends have admitted he is regularly taunted by strangers who howl at him

said. ‘They say things to him and they howl at him.’

Of the teasing, Gomez said: ‘I don’t take it seriously. I know who I am inside.’

He insisted that he’s a normal guy. ‘I play football, I play video games,’ he said. ‘I go to the movies. I am the same as everybody, except what you see on my face, that’s all.’

Gomez still works in the circus, performing daredevil feats on the trapeze and trampoline.

Geneticist Dr. Luis Figuera, an expert in hypertrichosis, has studied people with the condition

for more than 20 years.

Figuera has collected blood samples from Danny’s family to map the hypertrichosis gene.

‘This kind of hypertrichosis as shown in this family is very rare,’ Figuera told ABC. ‘As far as I know, there are two or three families in the world [with it].

‘We believe that this is a gene which was functioning a long time ago in the evolution of man when primates were becoming men.’

He believes that as humans evolved, certain genes that were no longer required for survival were turned off.

But Figuera thinks that the gene for hypertrichosis was somehow accidentally turned back on in Gomez’s family - in which 20 people, both men and women are affected.

Aside from the odd trim, Gomez has not changed his hair, even though he could easily shave it.

‘I don’t think I will ever change it,’ Gomez told ABC. ‘That’s the way they love me. That’s how they will always love me. Imagine if I changed my face — who would know who I am?’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Attractive: Girlfriends, including Lucy, whom he dated for six years, and Hilda, say he is 'noble' and 'affectionate'

No change: Gomez said he has no interest in shaving or cutting his hair - bar the odd trim at the barbershop

Popular: Gomez, pictured with his girlfriend Hilda, says the condition has not put him off finding love

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

BY EMMANUEL IRIOGBE emmacopi@yahoo.com 08026125552

Military retirees deserve better treatment

T

he sordid plight our military retirees go through year in year out has gotten to a situation where a call for an emergency to be declared on the issue would not be out of place.

It is most unfortunate that these men and women that put their lives on the line to defend their mother-land against external aggressors are treated as lepers after leaving service.

The peculiar nature of soldiering requires the state to give these men of honour a decent retirement package seeing that they chose to fight to defend others.

In civilised climes, military personnel go through a debriefing process after service.

These processes include both external and internal reexamination of their psyche with an aim to re-orientating them so as to be useful to civil society after their service years.

The Nigerian military has a semblance of this re-orientating process by the establishment of the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), located in Oshodi, Lagos. At the centre, military personnel are trained in different vocations prior to their retirement. The amount of success recorded at the centre so far is a topic for another day.

What is of concern here is the way and manner military retirees are subjected to undue hardship before their entitlements are paid. Only last week, it was reported that a retired army corporal Yunisa Ademu from Ankpa Local Government area of Kogi state died while awaiting to be screened in the on-going verification exercise aimed to determine the genuine pensioners from fakes.

According to the report, the retiree had complained of exhaustion before leaving home but had to embark on the journey to the venue for the exercise because he had no other option.

In his reacting to the incidence, a colleague of the deceased is of the opinion that the verification exercise was a determined effort by the military authority to punish people who served the nation.

He noted that there was no need for the exercise since all documents were sent to the pensioners’ state of origin before retirement.

I am in tandem with this submission because when the new military pension board, (MPB) building was opened

sometime in 2010 by President Goodluck Jonathan; these retirees were made to believe that their problems were over. According to the then chairman of the MPB, Major General Bitrus Kwaji, the new pension centre located in Dutse-Alhaji in the FCT would capture the bio-data of these retirees which would in turn eliminate all other issues having to do with verification exercises at the state level. It is unfortunate that two years on, this process has not taken off.

With close to N500million spent in the building and upgrading of data at the centre, one is at a loss as to its usefulness considering the fact that the nation has to go through the agony of burying these heroes each time they go for verification exercises.

A source at the pension board confided that it would be difficult to put an end to verification exercises because that would automatically put an end to the corruption presently endrmic at the MPB. It is most unfortunate that in this era of computerisation, the military pension’s board has chosen to remain analogous in handling verification exercises.

The federal government must do something urgent to arrest this situation as we cannot continue to lose men/women who should ordinarily be celebrated as heroes for been awake in defence of the country while others were sleeping in the cosy confines of their bedrooms.

Attacks on JTF were not by MEND – security operatives

T

Parade suspected bomber

he Joint Security Information Managers Committee which comprise information managers of the military, police and SSS have come out to state that recent attacks on its personnel in the Niger Delta region were not

carried out by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) but by pockets of disgruntled criminal groups acting independently in the region.

This was disclosed at a press briefing yesterday where the

The suspect, Apudu Gole, paraded Monday by security operatives as one of those that killed JTF personnel in Bayelsa state

committee under its current spokesman, Commodore Kabiru Aliyu who is the Director of Naval Information also paraded a member of the group that allegedly killed some Joint Task Force members and policemen.

“It is instructive to note that the various attacks on JTF personnel within the last three months in the Nigerian territorial waters were actually carried out by a few different uncoordinated groups within the Niger Delta region.

“This has therefore exposed the lies and deceptions of the so-called MEND which strive to seek relevance by creating the false impression that the attacks have been carried out by loyal groups of militants of which it is the coordinating authority.

Parading one Apudu Gole, a member of the Shedrack Itokofuwei aka Mammy water that ambushed and killed JTF personnel last week, the Defence Headquarters warned that the fresh attempt by some misguided persons to orchestrate another round of violence and insecurity in the Niger Delta region would be met with decisive force.

Meanwhile the suspect in response to questions from journalists claimed to be a crane operator before he was recruited by the late “mammy water” to his group.

The Deputy Director of Media of the State Security Service Marylyn Ogar used the briefing to disclose that the group responsible for sending out text messages warning of an impending MEND attack before the AGIP bombing have all been arrested.

Military distances self from COCIN, Jos bombing

Defence Minister, Bello Haliru Mohammed

Boko Haram: Two arrested in Maiduguri

T

he Joint Task Force in Maiduguri yesterday morning arrested two persons for arson.

Disclosing this yesterday in Abuja at a joint briefing by security operatives information managers, the Director, Naval Information, Naval Commodore Kabiru Aliyu, said the men were caught setting ablaze a primary school in Maiduguri, with two jerry cans of

petrol.

Though the identity of the two men and their intent were not known, the military said investigation has commenced.

The Information managers used the briefing to disclose that three suspected members of the Boko Haram sect were caught by their own devices when a bomb they were assembling exploded in their faces and consumed them

On the marble

When the enemy begins to plot an attack against you, you first attack them, this is easy, figure the direction of the enemy’s plans and deploy your forces accordingly, attacking at the outset of their intentions.

—Master Sun, The Art of War

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

The $56m grant will make a lasting difference to local farmers in Africa, says AGRA Five years ago, the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a dynamic firm working across the African continent to help millions of small-scale farmers out of poverty and hunger, initiated its Programme for Africa’s Seed Systems (PASS)to produce disease resistant and higher yielding seeds for important food crops available.

The programme has already achieved significant success with majority of farmers, who accessed the new seed reporting dramatic increases in their harvests.

Recently, the AGRA received about $56 million fund from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help more smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa increase productivity.

In this interview with Mohammed Kandi, AGRA’s Programme Director, Joe DeVries, while fielding questions via the internet, revealed some of the organisation’s plans for agriculture in Africa. Excerpts:

B

eyond the core mandates of the AGRA, as partners willing to assist millions of small-scale farmers in the African continent out of poverty and hunger, what other goals do you want to achieve?

AGRA’s three main goals by 2020 are to: 1, double the incomes of 20 million smallholder families, 2, reduce food insecurity by 50 percent in at least 20 countries, and number three, to put at least 15 counties on track for attaining and sustaining a uniquely African Green Revolution – one which supports smallholder farmers, protects the environment and helps farmers adapt to climate change.

In the past, there are incidents where similar kinds of grants do not get to the right or target beneficiaries for reasons that has to do with diversion of the funds by some individuals, what makes this particular support different and how does the grant gets to the ordinary farmer?

AGRA is directed for and by Africans to help small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger. We work with local grantees and farmers organisations to ensure programmes are efficient and effective. The recent $56 million grant to AGRA’s PASS programme will make a lasting difference to local farmers and industry and is driven by transparent targets that ensure farmers are the ones who benefit.

By 2017, PASS will add 40 new private, independent seed companies to the 60 already established under the first phase of the programme. The programme will continue to support the education of local crop scientists ensuring that every major crop in 13 countries has at least one fully-qualified crop breeder. PASS will also fund

the training of an additional 5,000 agro-dealers to set up individually-owned and operated seed and fertilizer shops in remote areas. This grant will provide new agricultural opportunities for farmers in Nigeria and across the continent.

Most African farmers may prefer to get support in areas such as the aquaculture, skills acquisition, machanise farming etc.

Why do think the seed more than other areas of agriculture require more attention in the continent?

AGRA’s program works across the full agricultural value chain – from seeds to harvest.

Our integrated programmes address seeds, soils, market access, policy and partnerships and innovative finance to trigger comprehensive changes across the agricultural system. AGRA programmes also strengthen agricultural education and extension, address the issue of efficient water management, and strive to involve and train youth.

Good seeds lay the basis for farmers to double or triple their yields, but a comprehensive view is essential to inspire new and lasting change for Africa’s food future.

AGRA’s Program Director, Joe DeVries

PAGE 29

AFAN registers 30,000 farmers in Enugu state N o fewer than 30,000 farmers in Enugu State have been registered in the on-going national census of Nigerian farmers, the state chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria has said.

The Chairman of AFAN in the state, Chief Alfred Eneh, told the journalists recently in Enugu, the Enugu State capital that the extension of the registration from December 2011 to February 2012 enabled more farmers to be

registered.

Eneh, who said farmers in the state had cleared their farms in preparation for this year’s planting season, however, expressed concern that with just one month to the end of the planting season, farmers in the state were yet to receive inputs like fertilisers promised by the government.

He said the farmers had also not been able to access the N450 billion agricultural loan promised

by the government.

“For us in the South East, if fertilisers and other farm inputs are not distributed to farmers before the end of March, it will affect our yield during harvest,” he said.

The chairman expressed the hope that with the amount of rain so far recorded in the state this year, there was hope for a bumper harvest if farm inputs were distributed on time to farmers.

(NAN)

A man milking his cow

Some agricultural produce on display

Plateau Fadama III disburses N135m to 1, 215 farmers’ groups

T

he Fadama III Office in Plateau disbursed N135 million as grants to 1,215 farmers between 2009 and 2011, according to the state Coordinator, Mr Gideon Dandan.

Dandan told the journalists at the weekend in Jos that, the programme also funded 615 subprojects worth several millions of naira during the period.

“Fadama III has disbursed a total of N135, 421,950 million as at December 2011 to 1,215 Fadama Users Group in the 17 Local Government Areas of Plateau.

“The 1,215 Fadama Users Groups are made up of 18,077 farmers, who have benefitted directly from the programme, aside other household beneficiaries and generalised communities that are using Fadama projects such as roads, culverts and water,” he said.

He said that the grant was meant to address three major areas of the programme’s objectives, including assisting farmers in input support and advisory services, asset acquisition, and providing rural infrastructure.

According to him, the 615 subprojects were executed in those areas of crop production, poultry, cow fattening, agro-processing, fishery, piggery, bee-keeping and every aspect of agriculture that can give farmers income.

The coordinator explained that the programme delivered more than 24,000 bags of NPK and Urea fertilisers to farmers at half the cost and other farm inputs to farmers within the period.

He said that the fertilisers were delivered directly to farmers to ensure availability and prevent the control of middlemen.

“Fertiliser is a major input in

high yield. Apart from delivering the fertilisers directly to the farmers, we ensure that they get the commodity at a subsidised price of N2, 000 per bag as against N4, 500 in the open market,” he stated.

“The middlemen usually hijack fertilisers from the suppliers and transporters and sell to farmers at cut-throat prices, thereby making it difficult to get the commodity at the government-controlled price.”

The coordinator said that the programme also distributed improved varieties of rice and maize which led to bumper harvest for farmers in the State,” he added.

The World Bank-assisted programmes has recorded high participation because of its “demand-driven intervention in input support and assets acquisition”, he said. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 30

FG, cocoa producing states to double output by 500,000 tonnes

By Mohammed Kandi

I

n a bid to revive cocoa production in Nigeria, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina has said via the Cocoa Transformation Action Plan (CTAP), the Federal Government intends to double the national output of the crop to at least, 500, 000 metric tonnes by year 2015.

The minister, who stated this during his meeting with the commissioners of the cocoa producing states in the country, in Abuja at the weekend, noted that the main focus of the CTAP was to create “private sector-driven but publicsector enabling Cocoa Marketing and Trade Corporation”.

To achieve the goal of revitalizing the cocoa production, Dr Adesina said, there will be increase farm productivity, certification of at least

FG to privatise silos, says minister

T

he Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, has said that the Federal Government would privatise silos under construction across the country for proper utilisation.

Dr Adesina, who disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja, said that the privitisation would be implemented under the PublicPrivate-Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

He said under the arrangement, the ministry would undertake the responsibilities of planning, coordination, facilitation and monitoring.

It would be recalled that contract for the construction of seven new 100,000-tonne silos in each of the six geo-political zones of the country and the FCT, was awarded in 2009 at the cost of N47.2 billion The silos project also involved the completion of the facilities at Gaya in Kano State and Dutse-ma, in Katsina State.

The minister said that state governments that indicated interest to be part of the PPP arrangement would be considered, and that a few of the silos would be reserved for use as strategic grains reserves.

Adesina said the measure was part of government’s efforts toward revolutionising agriculture to make it respond to emerging challenges.

He noted that the privatisation of the silos would help to stabilise prices, provide alternative commodity markets for farmers and ensure national food security, adding that the existing silos located at Ibadan, Akure, Ilorin, Iruha, Minna, Lafiaji, Makurdi, Ogoja, Jahun, Jos and Gombe were underutilised.

Dr Adesina said more than 80 per cent of the silos under construction at various locations across the country had been completed and would be operational before the middle of March. (NAN)

25 per cent of annual cocoa production and sound environmental and social considerations in production activities.

According to the minister, under the CTAP, over 390, 000 jobs would be generated in the next four years, increase income for about 250, 000 farm households as well as creating a diversified revenue base for farmers through associated agricultural enterprises.

“Cocoa is the single largest nonoil foreign exchange earning commodity for Nigeria and it contributes some 35 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product and employs the largest share of the 22 million people engaged in cash production,” Dr Adesina explained.

“Currently, cocoa production is actually made on a total land area of 640, 000 hectares mostly in the South-west, South-south, Southeastern Nigeria. A few North-central and North-eastern also produce negligible amount, although, more than 800, 000 hectares land area,” he added.

The minister, therefore, called on all the cocoa producing states in the country to cat fast to restore the crop to enable Nigeria achieve one of the leading producers in the cocoa global

Cashew: Group seeks partnership with Oyo govt. on processing factories

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he Association of Cashew Growers and Buyers has called on the Oyo State Government to partner the body in establishing processing factories for the fruit.

The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Adebayo Sodiq, made the call recently in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

He said the association had already written the state government on the need to establish processing factories, adding that private investors should also be encouraged to embrace the initiative.

“If more processing centres are established by the private sector, many stakeholders are bound to benefit,” he added.

Ahead of the cashew harvest season, he said buyers in the state were putting in place measures to ensure maximum purchase for domestic consumption and export this year.

Toward this end, he said, buyers would meet with growers in Shaki, Oyo State on March 1, adding that another meeting would be held in Ilorin, Kwara on March 10.

On harvest expectation, he said the erratic pattern of rainfall at present made it difficult to predict an outcome.

Sodiq, however, said after comparing notes at the Shaki and Ilorin meetings of growers and buyers, the association would be in a safe position to predict the likelihood of a bumper or lean harvest. (NAN)

market again.

Dr Adesina, who regrets that Nigeria lost its position in the cocoa

global market to other African nations such as the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Indonesia that

belong to the 1 million metric tonnes club, vowed to register Nigeria in the club very soon.

A group of cocoa farmers formed a co-operative that would collect and sell its own cocoa for their member farmers own benefit at the Gagan Cocoa Plantations Ltd.

IFAD pledges $4m for Nigeria cassava initiative, says minister

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he International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has pleged to support Nigeria to realise the 40 per cent Cassava Flour Inclusion in Bread Initiative.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, told the journalists in Abuja that he had held intensive discussion on the importance initiative with the IFAD President, Kanayo Nwanze during the 35th session of the IFAD Governing Council in February in Rome .

Dr Adesina said that IFAD had promised to assist Nigeria to secure a four-million-dollar grant for a joint training programme of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on the cassava initiative.

He said that the grant had become imperative to enable the IITA to provide vital support to the initiative, especially in the areas of further research, modern technology, training and demonstration for bakers across the country.

The minister, who disclosed government was also negotiating with other institutions to obtain the required grant, said the Federal Government was exploring various strategies for the smooth

implementation of the initiative.

To this end, he said, a technical group comprising nutritionists, food scientists, researchers, master bakers and flour millers had been set up to standardise the recipe.

“The Ministry has just finalised a plan with IITA for massive training of all the small bakers that make up more than 80 per cent of the bakers in the country,” he said.

According to him, master bakers have pledged to ensure that cassava bread reached the market on a large scale as soon as the required flour was available.

Dr Adesina said that an international organisation had also completed the audit of 137 small and medium scale enterprises involved in processing flour.He said the audit was aimed at upgrading and empowering moribund enterprises to return to business.

According to Adesina, some countries have indicated interest to key into the 40 per cent composite cassava flour initiative.

“After my presentation at the IFAD session, several Ministers of Agriculture from a number of countries, including Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, and Kenya, approached me to say they will go into the cassava flour initiative in their various countries” he explained.

He noted that Nigeria was not only focusing on the domestic market for the initiative, but would also explore export.

Dr Adesina said that the government had concluded an agreement with the Chinese government for the acquisition of 18 high quality cassava flour processing plants that would process 1.3 million tonnes of the commodity.

He said government would encourage the acquisition of mills by the private sector, by allowing them access low interest concessionary financing, with a repayment period of 10 years to 20 years and at 2.5 per cent interest rate.

Dr Adesina added that under the initiative, cassava production would be expanded from the present 34 million tonnes to 51 million tonnes by 2015 by doubling the yields from 12.5 tonnes per hectare to 25 tonnes per hectare.

“If well implemented, it will create jobs for over 1.3 million Nigerians annually as more than 1.7 million tonnes of cassava will be required to produce 400,000 tonnes of 10 per cent composite cassava flour. The import bill of N63 billion annually on wheat will be used on meaningful projects,” he said. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Netanyahu, Iran and the fundamentals of policy ANALYSIS

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he tall, polished European diplomat spoke in impeccable English and in a soothing tone. Seated comfortably in the stately, hushed inner sanctums of the State Department’s seventh floor, he attempted to convey an empathetic understanding of his hosts’ concerns. “Of course,” he said, “we understand fully the trauma you suffered during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979”.

His words could hardly have had a worse effect on his senior American listeners.

Having come that day in 1993 to address the State Department’s frequently and insistently stated calls for coordinated action to address then-current Iranian behaviour, he seemed to suggest that what was really at the heart of American policy towards Iran was some sort of unresolved national psychosis.

In substance and tone, his message was taken as both condescending and insulting, however benevolently it might have been intended; the rest of the meeting, which did not last long, was palpably frosty.

I recall having seen - and having shared - a similar reaction to one of the many statements made by thenFrench President Jacques Chirac in early 2003, as the US was preparing its invasion of Iraq. Both a noted admirer of the United States and a vocal opponent of the use of military force against Saddam Hussein, the French head of state managed to strike a particularly grating note of Gallic hauteur on this occasion, when he attempted to explain the reason for his oft-stated advice to the Americans: When one sees an old friend about to make a great mistake, he intoned, one is obliged to speak out to tell him so.

These two vignettes come to mind, as Washington prepares to receive Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week. We have all seen this play before: Both Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama are speaking before the annual conference of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) - the leading pro-Israel lobbying organisation in the US - and the two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting at the White House.

The topic on all three occasions: Iran.

Shaping policy The entire process is shaping up as yet another

Obama must make clear the adverse consequences for US relations with Israel if the Jewish state were to undertake uncoordinated military action against Iran [EPA] ordeal for Obama, as the Israeli prime minister, AIPAC, the US president’s prospective Republican rivals and the US Senate (32 of whose members are currently co-sponsoring a non-binding resolution calling, in effect, on the administration to bring its Iranian policy fully in line with Israel’s) work in concert to exert as much pressure as possible for the administration to toughen its approach.

Indeed, much recent commentary is focussed on the extent to which the current dynamic, to include domestic political considerations in all three concerned capitals, appears to be driving the US, Israel and Iran inevitably toward armed conflict. It is an unwelcome situation for Obama, but one which he seems powerless to control.

If one tries to look beyond the tactical drivers of current policy toward its more fundamental determinants, surely one of these is the Israeli government’s obsessive notion that a nuclear-armed clerical regime in Tehran would pose an imminent existential threat. It is hard to imagine

Obama escaping from the political maelstrom in which he is trapped without somehow addressing the touchstones of current Israeli policy.

It may be easy to suggest, as various commentators, including this one do, that Iran’s willfully ambiguous and bellicose (and in the case of President Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial, offensive) statements are not meant to threaten direct military action

by Iran against the Israeli state, which Iran would not undertake under any circumstances, but are rather meant as gloating descriptions of a future in which current trends, including demographic ones, will not work in Israel’s favour.

Nonetheless, the words are there, and they play, when taken at their face, directly upon the historical reasons for Israel’s creation.

It is completely unreasonable to suppose that Israelis will dismiss them.

More fundamentally, given this history, Israel and its most ardent supporters are not about to trust the fate of the Zionist state to comforting

“

It will simultaneously make both more difficult and more unavoidable a situation in which Israel will be forced to declare its true status as a nuclear weapons’ state and engage in regional de-nuclearisation talks

prognostications regarding the intentions of their enemies. When dealing with enemies, into which category Iran must fall, Israelis will look to those enemies’ capabilities only.

This accounts for the yawning gap between the Israeli government’s insistence that Iran be precluded from developing even the capacity to build a nuclear weapon, and the US administration’s alternative focus upon specific Iranian moves to develop one, irrespective of underlying capabilities.

Add to this, then, the individual background and psychology of Netanyahu himself, who has been publicly warning of the dire atomic threat from Iran at least since 1996. The son of an ardent and militant Zionist, who was for a time secretary to Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and the brother of the commander of the Israeli commando unit responsible for the 1976 raid on Entebbe to free Israeli hostages (who was also himself killed in the operation), the Prime Minister has been steeped in the view that only Israel can be responsible for its own security, and that only through strength and bold action can the tragedies of the Jewish past be prevented from repetition.

Just last month, Netanyahu addressed the Israeli Knesset on International Holocaust Remembrance Day to say, “Seventy years after the Holocaust, many in the world are silent in the face of Iran’s pledges to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. This is a day in which the leaders of the world must commit not to allow another genocide.”

Pressure from Obama From my own experience with well-meaning foreigners’ attempts to reduce my country’s policies to a form of irrational psychology, or to a colossal misjudgment of its true interests, it is fair to say that any attempt by Obama to directly address the psychological and judgmental drivers of Israeli policy on Iran - in the unlikely event he attempted to do so would be highly unlikely to succeed. In fact, only Israelis can do this.

If Netanyahu is to avoid a colossal misjudgment, his grasp of history cannot be only backward-looking, but capable of projection into the future - a future well beyond the shortterm unpleasantness which would predictably result from a strike on Iran. These consequences, including ship attacks, skyrocketing oil prices and terrorist reprisals will all pass.

What is more important for Israel to consider is that military action will make Iran far more and not less determined to acquire nuclear weapons over the longer term, and will quite likely lead to a de facto regional collapse of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in which other regional states, whose political future is uncertain, rush to nuclearise as well.

It will simultaneously make both more difficult and more unavoidable a situation in which Israel will be forced to declare its true status as a nuclear weapons’ state and engage in regional denuclearisation talks.

Right now, Netanyahu, trapped as he is in a backwardlooking perspective, sees only that strategic trends are not moving in his direction, which makes a blind throw of the dice seem enticing. He could not be more wrong.

No, outsiders’ attempts at empathy and reasoned persuasion will not work with Netanyahu - not with so much seemingly at stake for Israel.

For Obama to change the current political dynamic, he would have to address Israel’s demands head-on, forthrightly state the reasons for his administration’s alternative view, and make clear the adverse consequences for US relations with Israel if the Jewish state were to undertake uncoordinated military action against Persia. If this seems an improbable choice by the US president, it is only yet another measure of the likelihood that war with Iran is approaching a point of inevitability.

Source: Aljazeera

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 32

Malawiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s president lashes out at donors, critics

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No need for S.Africa inflation target debate: ANC

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outh Africa's Reserve Bank is aware that inflation targeting must be pursued with economic growth in mind so there is no need for a discussion of the central bank's mandate, a senior official from the ruling ANC party said yesterday.

A local paper reported on Sunday the ANC was mulling reforms to the constitution which would include changing the central bank's powers and its price stability mandate, with some party members calling for the inflation targeting strategy to be scrapped.

The ANC's powerful labour union allies have in the past accused the Reserve Bank of pursuing its target of keeping inflation within a 3-6 percent target, without considering the negative impact of relatively high interest rates on economic growth and subsequently unemployment.

On Monday Enoch Godongwana, a member of the ANC's decision-making national executive committee and head of its economic transformation committee (ETC), said Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan had made clear the Bank must take into account key issues like unemployment.

"The reason why within the ETC we have not pursued that discussion (on inflation targeting) is precisely because the Minister of Finance ... and the Reserve Bank have dealt with that matter to the satisfaction of everybody else," Godongwana told a media briefing.

"We have felt that there's no reason to pursue the discussion anymore, so it's not contained in any of our documents at the moment."

The ANC, which holds a policy-setting conference in June, is due to release draft policy discussion documents to its branches on Monday.

Proposals in the discussion papers would have to be adopted at another conference in December to shape government policy.

The Reserve Bank slashed rates by 650 basis points in the two years to November 2010 to help the economy recover from a recession. Analysts see rates remaining at three-decade lows this year to help growth, despite inflation having pierced the upper end of its target band.

alawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has accused Western donors of funding an opposition protest movement that is challenging his increasingly tight grip over the impoverished southern African nation.

In a speech broadcast on state radio late on Sunday, Mutharika also urged his supporters to "step in and defend their father rather than just sit back and watch him take crap from donors and rights groups".

"I want to tell you that this month of March they are preparing, with some money from donors, to stage demonstrations and vigils," he said at a ceremony to name a new road in his honour.

Historically, foreign aid has accounted for 40 percent of Malawi's budget. But much assistance is suspended due to a police crackdown on protesters in July that killed 20 people and a spat with Britain over a leaked diplomatic cable that called Mutharika "autocratic and intolerant of criticism".

Mutharika, a former World

African Union expresses sympathy with Republic of Congo

T AU Chairman President Mutharika addresses the media after closing the AU summit in Kampala Bank economist who was first elected in 2004, said if foreign aid suppliers were not happy, they should simply pack their bags.

"If any donor wants to withdraw from this country, let them leave and go. I know what they are doing and who is funding them," he said.

The aid freeze has brought a shuddering halt to more than five

years of pacey economic growth and sparked a dollar shortage that is causing imports such as fuel and medicine to run dry.

Malawi has one of the world's highest HIV/AIDS burdens, and the government has a $121 million hole in its current budget due to the suspension of an International Monetary Fund loan programme.

he Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping, has learnt with sadness the news of the explosions in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, on 4 March 2012, following the fire that broke out in an arms and ammunition depot. He deplores the significant number of deaths that were recorded, as well as the hundreds of people injured by the explosions.

The Chairperson of the Commission presents his heartfelt condolence to the bereaved families, the people and the Government of the Congo. On this sad occasion, he calls on the Member States and the international community as a whole to show solidarity with and provide assistance to the Congolese Government in the face of this tragedy.

Congo farm law seen hurting foreign investment

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law meant to breathe new life into agriculture in Democratic Republic of Congo risks scaring off needed foreign investment due to a clause calling for farms to be majority-owned by Congolese, according to investors and other sector players.

The Congolese Federation of Enterprises has written a letter to the government calling the law, which is set to go into effect in June, "discriminatory" and a

"catastrophe" and appealing for it to be amended.

"Everyone says to themselves, today they start with semi-nationalisation, and then one day we'll move to total nationalisation," said Paulin Mbandala, a Congolese lawyer specialising in agriculture.

"Look at Zimbabwe, that's the problem," he said, referring to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms in

the 1990s.

The Congo law, passed in December shortly after a chaotic presidential poll, aims to use tax breaks and other incentives to boost agricultural output in a country with enough cultivable land to cover Germany twice.

Only 10 percent of the land is in use and the country has been a net food importer since the 1960s due to decades of neglect, conflict and corruption.

Farmers and activists alike

had been pushing for years for the government to pass the first ever agricultural law to revive the sector.

Since the law's passage, however, agribusiness companies have expressed concern over an article that says farms must be owned by "a person of Congolese nationality or a Congolese legal entity whose shares, if applicable, are majority-owned by the Congolese state or by nationals".

UN-Arab League envoy Annan to Syria on March 10

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he joint UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, will travel to Damascus on March 10 for his first visit since being appointed to the post, the organisation said yesterday.

"Kofi Annan told me that Syria will receive him on March 10 and that he would arrive in Cairo on March 7," Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters at the group's Cairo headquarters.

Annan was appointed last

month as joint special envoy on the Syria crisis.

The United Nations says more than 7,500 people have been killed in an almost yearlong crackdown on demonstrators against President Bashar al-Assad that was inspired by other 'Arab Spring' uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa.

Nasser al-Kidwa, a

Two British journalists accused of spying in Libya

Kofi Annan

wo British journalists working for Iran's Press TV who were detained late last month in Libya are suspected of being spies, the head of the militia which is holding them said on Sunday.

Faraj al-Swehli, commander of the Swehli brigade, said his men had found among the journalists' possessions official Libyan documents, equipment used by the Israeli military and footage of them firing weapons.

"We believe they are spies," Swehli said in Tripoli. He said it was too early to say what country they were spying for,

T

Palestinian diplomat, was appointed yesterday as deputy to Annan and is expected to travel with him to Syria, Elaraby said.

Kidwa told reporters in Cairo on Monday that he is hopeful a political solution could be reached in Syria and described his new mission as "very difficult", according to the Palestinian News Agency WAFA.

but that this would be established by their investigation.

"After we have finished the investigation we are going to transfer them to the state authorities to pursue the legal process against them."

The two have been named as Nicholas Davies and Gareth Montgomery-Johnson.

They were arrested on February 22 in Misrata, about 200 km (130 miles) east of the capital. They are now being held in a Swehli brigade base in central Tripoli.

The commander, speaking at a news conference where he was flanked by subordinates in camouflage uniforms and sports

Kidwa, a nephew of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, is a member of current President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and has previously served as a foreign minister and an envoy to the United Nations.

Kidwa was appointed after consultations with Annan and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Kimoon, the League said.

shoes, said the two did not have Libyan entry visas in their passports.

He showed a grey plastic packet containing a field dressing with the words "Made in Israel," on it, which he said had been found on the two journalists.

"These are used by the Israeli military," said Swehli.

He said the two had in their possession Libyan documents listing members of a Tripoli militia killed in a clash with a rival group late last year, and lists of sub-Saharan African mercenaries who fought alongside the forces of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 33

Obama and Netanyahu set for Iran talks

U

S president Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet in Washington yesterday for a discussion that could help to subdue - or amplify - the growing calls for war with Iran.

The last meeting between the two leaders, in September, focused largely on the prospects for new Middle East negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, coming day after Obama promised to veto a Palestinian bid for full recognition at the United Nations.

But aides say Monday's meeting will be dominated by Iran, as Netanyahu pushes the US government to take a more aggressive stance on Tehran's nuclear programme. There has been widespread speculation, in the press and in public statements by Israeli officials, that Israel could attack Iran this summer.

The Obama administration has not said whether it would support such a move, and in

recent weeks has said it sees no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon.

Their meeting comes against the backdrop of the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful proIsraeli lobbying group whose members will fan out across Capitol Hill this week to pressure legislators in the leadup to this year's elections.

In an address to the AIPAC conference on Sunday night, Obama called for Israel to allow time for sanctions against Iran to work, but promised to leave "all options on the table" regarding Iran's nuclear programme.

"Iran's leaders should understand that I do not have a policy of containment," he said. "I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

Netanyahu's government, and AIPAC's leadership, wanted Obama to go further.

The Israeli prime minister wants Obama to lay down "red

lines" - a clear statement of when the United States would attack Iran over its nuclear programme. Netanyahu is scheduled to deliver his own speech to the AIPAC conference on Monday night.

AIPAC, meanwhile, is circulating flyers which describe an Iran with even the capability to build nuclear

weapons as "unacceptable."

Any country with a welldeveloped peaceful nuclear programme has a degree of "breakout capacity," the ability to quickly build a nuclear device.

AIPAC's position, which is shared by many in Netanyahu's inner circle, would call for a strike on Iran once its nuclear

programme reached a certain point, even if the Iranian leadership was not actively building a nuclear weapon.

James Clapper, the US director of national intelligence, testified before Congress in January that he believed Iran had not yet decided whether or not to build a bomb.

Bomb blast near Turkish PM’s offices

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bomb has exploded near the Turkish prime ministry building in the capital Ankara, lightly injuring one person, state-run TV reported.

The device, described as a percussion bomb, went off early yesterday, about 30 metres from the building in the central Kizilay district, about an hour before a cabinet meeting was due to be headed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister.

Police blocked access to the blast zone in the entrance to the parking lot of the supreme court of appeals, fearing a second explosion, the private NTV station said.

A court employee was injured in the explosion. Bomb experts, wearing protective gear, are searching the area to make sure that no other bomb has been placed.

Percussion bombs usually produce a loud bang, but do not cause major damage.

Kurdish separatists, al-Qaeda, as well as groups on the far left and right have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the

past, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's blast.

The blast followed a remotecontrolled bomb attack in Istanbul last week near the party headquarters of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which wounded 15 police officers and one civilian.

In September a powerful bomb rocked the centre of Ankara, killing three people and wounding at least 15 others.

A bomb blast in May last year injured eight people near a bus stop in Etiler, an upscale district in Istanbul.

A group connected to the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for a car bomb that killed three people in Ankara in September and threatened more attacks on Turkish cities.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) said at the time the capital was the "beginning of a series of attacks" and said it was behind a previous attack in Antalya, on the Mediterranean coast, where several tourists were wounded by a small explosion on a beach.

Obama and Netanyahu are due to meet for several hours for a discussion largely focused on Iran [EPA]

Kurdish rebels, fighting for autonomy in the southeast, as well as groups on the far left are active in Turkey

Top UN official slams inaction over Syria

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he president of the United Nations General Assembly has criticised the world body’s Security Council after its failure to agree to a resolution on Syria, as violence continues to escalate in the country.

Nasser Abdul Aziz Al-Nassir, Qatar’s ambassador to the UN who was elected as president of the assembly in 2011, told the UK-based Independent

newspaper that there was a need for a “more active and effective UN” and that the ability of just five countries to veto Security Council decisions was a system that could endanger international peace and security.

The UN General Assembly last month voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Syrian government over its crackdown, but action by the UN

Security Council has been blocked by Russian and Chinese vetoes.

“The world has changed; the UN should also reform itself to deal with the issues of today,” the Independent reported him saying yesterday.

“Because of disagreement from one or two members who have the right to veto, this sent the wrong message to the government of Syria; that’s why

they are not co-operating,” he told the newspaper.

“I am very upset (with Russia and China) because it sent the wrong message and people have suffered and we see it is getting worse every day,” he was quoted as saying. atar has consistently pushed for tougher UN-backed action against Syria and was a cosponsor of the proposed Security Council resolution that was

blocked by Russia and China. It has also called for Syria’s opposition to be armed and for Arab League troops to be deployed to the country.

Addressing a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland last week, Nassir said he was “deeply concerned” by the situation in Syria and called for the international community “to increase its mobilisation”.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

US voters get ready for Super Tuesday U S voters in 10 states will go to the polls on "Super Tueday," as the battle to fill the Republican Party's presidential nomination continues.

Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee,

Vermont and Virginia will all host primary and caucus nominating contests in what is becoming a protracted race to see who will take on President Barack Obama in November.

The sheer number of states in play Tuesday, with their diverse demographics and political

leanings, could break open a candidate's pathway to the nomination, or spell the end of a failing campaign.

Super Tuesday essentially ended the Republican nomination battle in 2008, when Mitt Romney capitulated and Senator John McCain went on to

become the nominee.

Four years later, Romney is the front-runner and could possibly seal the nomination on Tuesday. However, close behind is Rick Santorum who could pull off a stunning upset. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul are also still in the race.

Another likely scenario is that no clear winner will emerge.

"I'm not sure Tuesday means that much other than more of the same," said veteran strategist Neil Oxman, cofounder of The Campaign Group.

"What's going to happen is, Santorum is going to do well enough to continue," while Romney will emerge from Super Tuesday as "the favourite, but not the overwhelming favourite," Oxman told AFP news agency.

With some 437 delegates to August's Republican National Convention up for grabs -- nearly 40 per cent of the 1,144 needed to secure the nomination --

Romney and Santorum have been criss-crossing the country to stake their claim to the biggest sweepstakes of the 2012 campaign.

Romney got a boost going into Super Tuesday with a win in the Washington state caucuses, but that contest was non-binding. So Romney, Santorum and former House speaker Gingrich each spent the day stumping in Ohio.

They realize all eyes will be on the crucial battleground state, which for decades has served as a bellwether for the general election.

One important factor is Gingrich, who is hoping to catapult himself back into the race.

He is polling ahead in Georgia, the state he served in Congress for 20 years, and which has Tuesday's largest haul of 76 delegates.

Gingrich has been vying with Santorum to be the conservative alternative to Romney, but after a January win in South Carolina his campaign has faltered.

Observers slam Russian vote as Putin declares victory

Candidates have been campaigning across the country in preparation for Super Tuesday.

Many Yemeni soldiers killed in fighting

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cores of government soldiers and al-Qaedalinked fighters have died in clashes in southern Yemen, according to medical and military officials.

Officials yesterday raised the casualty count since fighting began on Sunday in Abyan province to at least 85 Yemeni soldiers and 25 al-Qaeda fighters.

According to the AP news agency, 106 people are reported dead on both sides, while 55 troops have been taken prisoner.

A military official, speaking to the AFP news agency, said dozens more Yemeni soldiers had been injured in surprise attacks on army posts on the outskirts of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial

capital, and described the clashes as a "massacre".

The official said the fighting was taking place west of Zinjibar. Al Qaeda-linked fighters seized control of the town in May, taking advantage of political turmoil linked to the uprising against former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The battle is the latest in a spate of attacks against security forces since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took over from Saleh on February 25 under a Gulf Cooperation Council brokered transition accord.

On the day Hadi was sworn in, vowing to carry on Saleh's fight against al-Qaeda in the south, a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle

outside a presidential palace in the southeastern province of Hadramawt killing 26 soldiers.

Late on Saturday, hours after a similar suicide attack killed a soldier in southwest Yemen, suspected al-Qaeda gunmen shot dead a police officer in Hadramawt.

Separately on Sunday, Abdullah Idris, the head of Saleh's General People's Congress party branch in Rada, a town southeast of Sanaa, was "seriously" wounded when his car exploded, a military official said.

His two companions were also wounded in the blast in Rada, which al-Qaeda briefly captured in mid-January, the same source said.

Heavy Yemeni troop losses reported in attack

S

cores of government soldiers and al-Qaedalinked fighters have died in clashes in southern Yemen, according to medical and military

Yemen troop on parade

officials.

Officials yesterday raised the casualty count since fighting began on Sunday in Abyan province to at least 139. Sunday's violence has killed

107 soldiers and 32 fighters.

The attack on army bases outside the provincial capital of Zinjibar also led to the capture of 55 soldiers by the fighters. The captives were paraded on the streets of Jaar, a nearby town that like Zinjibar, has been under alQaeda's control for about a year.

A military official, speaking to the AFP news agency, said dozens more Yemeni soldiers had been injured in surprise attacks on army posts on the outskirts of Zinjibar, Abyan's provincial capital, and described the clashes as a "massacre".

A health official in the military hospital in the southern port city of Aden, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "many soldiers died from wounds sustained in the assault" on army posts in the Zinjibar outskirts.

I

nternational observers blasted Russia's p r e s i d e n t i a l electionyesterday, saying: "The point of an election is that the outcome should be uncertain.

This was not the case in Russia."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin looked set to win Sunday's vote and return to the office he held until he was forced out by term limits four years ago.

But European monitors expressed disappointment and frustration with the way he won.

They said they observed ballot stuffing and other irregularities in about a third of polling stations they monitored, and an uneven playing field in the run-up to the election.

Sounding somewhat exasperated, the Council of Europe's Tiny Kox urged Russia "to have a fair election," saying "it's not that difficult."

Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was particularly critical of irregularities in vote counting because "what matters in an election is the counting," she said.

She declined to say whether the irregularities affected the outcome of the vote -- a landslide

for Putin by international standards, if not Russian ones.

And she praised incremental improvements such as web cameras in polling stations and transparent ballot boxes, as well as the "massive mobilization of civil society demanding fair elections."

Putin called for unity Sunday night as he appeared headed for a third term as president, declaring he had won an "open and honest fight."

But chess champion-turned opposition activist Garry Kasparov accused Putin's supporters of "massive fraud," saying early Monday they packed the polls with additional voters.

With better than two-thirds of the vote reporting early Monday, Putin led his closest rival by a nearly 4-to-1 ratio. His margin of victory was smaller than in 2004, the last time he ran for president, but appears well above the 50% needed to avoid a runoff.

"We have won an open and honest fight," Putin told the cheering and flag-waving supporters who had braved the cold in Manezhnaya Square for hours to hear his expected victory speech.

The results show "that our people are ready for renewal, and have only one aim."

Putin wins election amid fraud claims

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 35

Why did you lie to me, Daddy? Boy, 8, devastated to find his illness is terminal after going on Google

S

choolboy discovered progressive condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy would eventually kill him 'Since then he's had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle', says father An eight-year-old boy was horrified to discover his illness was terminal after he searched for it on Google while his parents were away.

Dominic Stacey knew he had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which has largely confined him to a wheelchair. But his parents had always been up beat about the condition to try and protect him.

But he found out the disorder would progress and eventually cause his death after searching on the internet while his parents were on a weekend away.

Dominic Senior, 33, and wife Caroline, 42, returned home to find their son demanding to know why they had lied to him.

The schoolboy, affectionately known as Lil Dom, has suffered from frightening nightmares ever since the terrible revelation and frank conversations about this mortality.

Duchenne's causes muscle degeneration, difficulty walking, breathing, and eventually death.

Mr Stacey, a youth worker, said: 'We've always drip-fed him information about the condition which he calls his 'tired legs'.What is duchenne's?

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness.

It usually only affects boys (around one in 3,500), although girls can carry the defective gene.

Although not apparent at birth symptoms appear in early childhood.

Boys with Duchenne's will have

Q

uite what the little chap had done to incur his mother's wrath remains a mystery.

But the chances are that he won't do it again.

This astonishing series of pictures illustrates how, in the world of the brown bear, there are no agonised disputes over corporal punishment of children.

First, the mother glares angrily at her son as he stands a few feet away looking guilty and sheepish.

Within seconds he is backed into a corner with a terrified expression as she roars her

'We explained everything': Dominic Stacey with his son Dominic Junior, who found out his condition was terminal on the internet difficulty with walking, jumping and climbing stairs.

The disorder is diagnosed via a blood test and muscle tissue sample.

Sufferers are likely to need increasing help and treatments from the age of nine. Walking becomes difficult and a wheelchair is usually needed by the age of 12.

As patients go through their teenage years they are more likely to suffer from complications such as chest infections.

Most most people with Duchennes survive well into their 20s and sometimes longer. The eventual cause of death is usually a severe chest infection at the stage when lung function is already

poor.

'He understands the effects of the condition but it's very hard to explain to someone so young.

'He has asked us in the past if it would kill him and we've always told him that no one knows when they're going to die.'

Dominic, of Holsworthy, Devon, said the aftermath of the discovery has been heartbreaking for the whole family.

He said: 'He came up to me and asked me why I had lied to him. He had looked up the disorder online and found out that it will eventually kill him.

'We sat him down and explained everything. It was one of the hardest

Dominic with his sisters Kate and Georgia: He has a progressive condition that wastes the muscles. Duchenne's is inherited but usually only affects boys conversations I've ever had. We were all in bits.

'Since then he's had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle.

'He just wants to know we're here for him. One night he asked me to find a cure for his condition and that hit me like a sledgehammer. I wanted to say yes, but it was so hard.'

Dominic said his son very rarely talks about his condition now and has received a lot of help from his palliative care nurse.

Lil Dom said he still leads a normal life for a young boy.

He said: 'I like history and maths at school and at home I enjoy drawing and playing on my Xbox.

'I like playing with my friends but I can't do it for too long because my legs start to hurt.

'Luckily my school let me have a Dominic, known to his friends sleep in the afternoons if I'm tired. I as Lil Dom, said he had a huge also have to eat a lot to keep my appetite and needed to eat to strength up. I'm an eating machine. keep his strength up

Discipline, mummy bear-style: Cub given roar of disapproval.... before finally getting a hug disapproval.

Shortly afterwards he finds himself airborne after she seizes him by the scruff of the neck and propels him from side to side.

However, the fierce encounter at Simferopol Zoo in the Ukraine comes to a peaceful conclusion when Mummy, who weighs the best part of 550lb, gently hugs him to her chest to reassure him that all is forgiven.

Perhaps this will teach you a lesson: She picks him up by the scruff of the neck and swings him around

A word in your ear: The crestfallen cub approaches his mother

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 35

Why did you lie to me, Daddy? Boy, 8, devastated to find his illness is terminal after going on Google

S

choolboy discovered progressive condition Duchenne muscular dystrophy would eventually kill him 'Since then he's had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle', says father An eight-year-old boy was horrified to discover his illness was terminal after he searched for it on Google while his parents were away.

Dominic Stacey knew he had Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which has largely confined him to a wheelchair. But his parents had always been up beat about the condition to try and protect him.

But he found out the disorder would progress and eventually cause his death after searching on the internet while his parents were on a weekend away.

Dominic Senior, 33, and wife Caroline, 42, returned home to find their son demanding to know why they had lied to him.

The schoolboy, affectionately known as Lil Dom, has suffered from frightening nightmares ever since the terrible revelation and frank conversations about this mortality.

Duchenne's causes muscle degeneration, difficulty walking, breathing, and eventually death.

Mr Stacey, a youth worker, said: 'We've always drip-fed him information about the condition which he calls his 'tired legs'.What is duchenne's?

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited disorder that causes progressive muscle weakness.

It usually only affects boys (around one in 3,500), although girls can carry the defective gene.

Although not apparent at birth symptoms appear in early childhood.

Boys with Duchenne's will have

Q

uite what the little chap had done to incur his mother's wrath remains a mystery.

But the chances are that he won't do it again.

This astonishing series of pictures illustrates how, in the world of the brown bear, there are no agonised disputes over corporal punishment of children.

First, the mother glares angrily at her son as he stands a few feet away looking guilty and sheepish.

Within seconds he is backed into a corner with a terrified expression as she roars her

'We explained everything': Dominic Stacey with his son Dominic Junior, who found out his condition was terminal on the internet difficulty with walking, jumping and climbing stairs.

The disorder is diagnosed via a blood test and muscle tissue sample.

Sufferers are likely to need increasing help and treatments from the age of nine. Walking becomes difficult and a wheelchair is usually needed by the age of 12.

As patients go through their teenage years they are more likely to suffer from complications such as chest infections.

Most most people with Duchennes survive well into their 20s and sometimes longer. The eventual cause of death is usually a severe chest infection at the stage when lung function is already

poor.

'He understands the effects of the condition but it's very hard to explain to someone so young.

'He has asked us in the past if it would kill him and we've always told him that no one knows when they're going to die.'

Dominic, of Holsworthy, Devon, said the aftermath of the discovery has been heartbreaking for the whole family.

He said: 'He came up to me and asked me why I had lied to him. He had looked up the disorder online and found out that it will eventually kill him.

'We sat him down and explained everything. It was one of the hardest

Dominic with his sisters Kate and Georgia: He has a progressive condition that wastes the muscles. Duchenne's is inherited but usually only affects boys conversations I've ever had. We were all in bits.

'Since then he's had several nightmares about it and always calls us in for a cuddle.

'He just wants to know we're here for him. One night he asked me to find a cure for his condition and that hit me like a sledgehammer. I wanted to say yes, but it was so hard.'

Dominic said his son very rarely talks about his condition now and has received a lot of help from his palliative care nurse.

Lil Dom said he still leads a normal life for a young boy.

He said: 'I like history and maths at school and at home I enjoy drawing and playing on my Xbox.

'I like playing with my friends but I can't do it for too long because my legs start to hurt.

'Luckily my school let me have a Dominic, known to his friends sleep in the afternoons if I'm tired. I as Lil Dom, said he had a huge also have to eat a lot to keep my appetite and needed to eat to strength up. I'm an eating machine. keep his strength up

Discipline, mummy bear-style: Cub given roar of disapproval.... before finally getting a hug disapproval.

Shortly afterwards he finds himself airborne after she seizes him by the scruff of the neck and propels him from side to side.

However, the fierce encounter at Simferopol Zoo in the Ukraine comes to a peaceful conclusion when Mummy, who weighs the best part of 550lb, gently hugs him to her chest to reassure him that all is forgiven.

Perhaps this will teach you a lesson: She picks him up by the scruff of the neck and swings him around

A word in your ear: The crestfallen cub approaches his mother

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Taking a daily vitamin pill could prevent skin cancer, scientists reveal A

daily vitamin pill could help prevent skin cancer particularly among women, it has emerged.

Scientists say taking food supplements containing vitamin A can make people less likely to develop melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease.

A study found that retinol - a key component of Vitamin A could protect against the illness.

The strongest protective effects were found in women and in sun exposed sites, suggesting retinol actually combats skin cancer.

However, there was no association between dietary intake of vitamin A, found in liver, eggs and milk, and a reduction in risk.

There was also no reduced risk seen by the intake of carotenoids, which are abundant in vegetables including carrots and tomatoes and soak up compounds that can damage the skin.

Previous research with mice has shown retinol and carotenoids can shrink melanoma tumours and improve survival.

Retinol is also good for the immune system and eyesight So dermatologist Dr Maryam Asgari and colleagues analysed the disease risk in 69,635 men and women aged between 50 and 76 who consumed vitamin A through either dietary or supplementary methods.

Their findings, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, found those who used retinol regularly were 60 per cent less likely to develop skin cancer, rising to 74 per cent among participants on the highest doses of more than 1,200 mg a day.

Dr Asgari, of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, said: ‘Our data suggest a possible interaction between supplemental retinol use and the anatomic site of melanoma, with sun-exposed sites showing a stronger

protective effect than sunprotected sites.

‘It may be that retinol’s effects may be mediated by sunlight exposure.

This intriguing possibility warrants further exploration in future studies.’

Retinol belongs to a class of compounds called retinoids that have been shown to stop cells dividing and spreading.

Dr Asgari said: ‘In summary, our data, which are based on a large prospective cohort, suggest retinol intake from individual supplements is associated with a reduction in risk for melanoma, especially among women.

‘Our findings suggest vitamin A supplementation may hold promise as a chemopreventive agent for melanoma.’

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer among white populations, in the UK and worldwide.

Most are easy to treat and pose only a small threat to life, but melanoma is difficult to treat unless detected early.

Over the past 25 years, rates

of melanoma in the UK have risen faster than any other common cancer.

About 1,800 people die from melanoma annually in the UK. Even so, nearly 80 per cent of men and over 90 per cent of women are alive at five years following treatment.

However, Dr Claire Knight,

senior health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘We don’t recommend people start taking retinol supplements based on this study, particularly as high doses can be toxic.

‘The result was based on a very small number of people with melanoma, and the authors didn’t account for other

important factors that influence the risk of skin cancer, such as the number of moles a person has.

“And crucially, when the authors looked at whether a particular dose was linked to risk, the link between retinol and melanoma disappeared.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Good news: The strongest protective effects were found in women and in sun exposed sites, suggesting retinol actually combats skin cancer

Smoking, drinking teens are the unhappiest of all

T

Hope: A daily vitamin pill could help prevent skin cancer particularly among women, scientists have revealed

Dangerous: Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer among white populations, in the UK and worldwide. Sun is one of the major causes of the disease

eenagers who smoke, drink alcohol and eat junk food are significantly more likely to be unhappy than their cleanliving counterparts, a study has found.

About 5,000 children were questioned on their appearance, family, friends, school and life as a whole, and had their happiness levels rated.

Researchers discovered that those who never drank alcohol were between four and six times more likely to have higher levels of happiness than those who did, while those who shunned cigarettes were about five times more likely to have high happiness scores than young smokers.

The authors of the study, based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at Essex University, used data from Understanding Society, a longterm study of 40,000 UK households, to analyse the home life and health-related behaviour of about 5,000 ten to 15-yearolds.

Their results found that unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol and not taking exercise were closely linked to substantially lower happiness scores, even when factors such as family income and parents’ education were taken into account.

Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables, and less eating of crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks, was associated with high happiness levels. Also, the

children who played a lot of sport were deemed happier.

Cara Booker, co-author of the research, said that children could be turning to damaging vices to cope with their unhappiness. She said: ‘Another explanation could be that youths who smoke and drink first fit themselves into certain groups that tend to be unhappier, and then they find themselves unhappy. It becomes a vicious cycle.

‘It’s probably a combination of both. Some will take up smoking because they want to feel more adult, but then find themselves hanging out with people who are less happy and then they become less happy.

‘But if you’re participating in sports and have a social group who are also interested in the same things, you’re happier versus not

doing much of anything.’

The study found that between the ages of 13 and 15, teenagers’ food consumption became unhealthier – only 11 per cent reported eating five or more portions of fruit and vegetables every day – and their participation in exercise fell. And the figures for alcohol consumption revealed 8 per cent of ten to 12-year-olds admitted having had an alcoholic drink within the last month, rising to 41 per cent among 13 to 15-yearolds.

Dr Booker added: ‘The message [to teenagers] is that you need to be as healthy as possible, and participating in more adult behaviour such as smoking and drinking is not necessarily going to make you happier.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Unhealthy habits: Researchers at Essex University have found that teenagers who drink tend to be unhappier (file picture)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 37

Injustice is the cause of terrorism in Nigeria, says CPC chieftain INTERVIEW Barrister Hussaini Garungabas is the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chairman, Jigawa State and the Senatorial candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) for Jigawa North-West in last Aprilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Assembly election. In this interview with our Correspondent, Ahmed Abubakar in Dutse, he insisted that injustice is the bane of Nigerian security and development.

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here is the hope for security in Nigeria with the spate of all the bomb blasts?

Well let me start by saying that security is intimately linked to justice. Every society that lacks justice will face insecurity and I think in Nigeria the situation is that there is no justice because people can do things and get away with them. The common man is always at the receiving end as he can not get justice anywhere. I think that is what is causing most of the problems.

There is insecurity because of underdevelopment in this country; there is incompetence on the part of the government.

It is not the matter of the security agencies alone but an overall picture of the laxity of Government towards the populace when there are no basic infrastructures, yet people loot the treasury and get away with it. Big men can steal billions of Naira and end up spending some few months in jail and they are set free with some getting apologies later on.

Yet a small man who steals some intangible item will end up spending years, sometimes up to ten years. Where is the justice that we should expect peace? It is not possible and that is the bottom line.

Why do you say there is injustice?

There is something that we do not want to discuss in this country and we must come back to it. You see, when Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) started their terrorist activities they were perceived as people fighting for their rights and therefore they were appeased and they got what they wanted. From terrorism they were seen as activists. In the same vein when the Niger Delta boys started their agitation against what they perceived as injustice in their

land, they were appeased and till now they are seen as activists; their new name is agitators. However months ago during the time of late President Yaradua there was this Boko Haram crisis. It was watched all over the world on Aljazeera Network on how the leader of the Boko Haram was arrested by the army and was allegedly handed over to the police and he was extrajudicially killed while nothing happened. We also saw on Aljazeera how alleged members of the Boko Haram were shot dead in the very eyes of the world because they were alleged to belong of the Boko Haram.

These things will have repercussion naturally because nobody wants injustice so the government has to face the reality. People have insisted

the crime. Look at the scenario, it is a very serious issue and today this is the person we call our President. It is a matter of people thinking that there is no justice in the land and justice must be brought back. People must be seen to be fairly treated before they can recognize the government of the day.

Now the important thing is you must provide for the people before you expect them to do their civic responsibility.

People have been into hardship in this country, no water, no light, no job, no security but it is life as usual with people looting the treasury as they want. We must address these first, to be able to understand the security implication, otherwise we would continue to have these problems. We must bring back to book those who did that dastardly act to the Boko Haram people. The Boko Haram people are Nigerians no matter what their crimes are; they entitled to be heard, they are entitled to be arrested taken to court and punished if they are found guilty. They are not to be extra judicially killed by the authorities.

Are you now saying the late President Umaru Musa Yaradua was selective in his amnesty and justice?

I am going back beyond the former President, in the beginning it was the IBB administration that gave OPC and the Niger Delta militants

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Without justice, there will be no peace. It is often said that it is not the absence of peace that is war but the absence of justice that is war. This country is at war because there is no justice in this country so we must address the issue of justice. that those that carried out the crime must equally be punished. Nothing has been done to those who killed him (Muhammed Yusuf) extra judicially without any remorse.

This was the beginning and Nigerians must understand that it is not a matter of the police incompetence but that of government. We have an incompetent President, with due respect, who after the October 1st bomb blast, came out to defend his people that they were not culpable in the incidence, but then a few days later the same people he tried to defend came out to own up to

the right to strike and do whatever they wanted and yet they would be appeased. It was a bad precedence; it is not a matter of Yaradua or Obasanjo alone neither is it a matter of IBB alone; it is about the nation. If somebody from the Yoruba clan can do things and go away with it and somebody from the Niger Delta can equally do anything and get away with it, of course one day somebody from the North will do things and will think he can get away with them.

What are you advocating for the security situation now based on all that have

Barrister Hussaini Garungabas happened?

Like I said, we must get justice. Without justice, there will be no peace. It is often said that it is not the absence of peace that is war but the absence of justice that is war. This country is at war because there is no justice in this country so we must address the issue of justice. There is total lack of concern by the government for the governed. Therefore we will continue drifting to this kind of insecurity and later anarchy which I don't pray for so we must address the issue. People want to be employed but there are no jobs and yet they know that we have a lot of wealth that is been looted by a few and nothing is being done to those that steal the money. People want to go to school; people are sick but the hospitals are mere consulting rooms, they are empty. How then can you have peace? How can you have security in this kind of situation? That is my view.

You are limiting the issue to either religion or ethnicity it is not, rather it is having a wider perspective we have to look at all the nooks and crannies of this country and see, what is happening in the north, what is happening in the Niger Delta, what is happening in the Southwest and the political areas. In the April election, was there an election? But most of the people feel there were no elections in this country even

though the people are made to believe that the elections were free and fair.

What is your view of the recent strike and the attendant protests?

Well I do not think the Federal Government had a case. They could have had a case if they are a serious Government; they could have a case if they have the interest of the people of this country in mind. Take the issue of the fuel subsidy removal, the timing, does it make sense to you? Look at all the problems this country is facing whether it was proper for President Goodluck Jonathan to make the increase at that time; and the answer is no.

As a lawyer, it is very sad that a President of a country like Nigeria can act illegally like President Jonathan has done. You know the salaries of political office holders is a regulated salary, it is a law he cannot change. It is only the National Assembly that can impact on that law, that is the fact; but he, in his speech, he spoke about cutting salaries of political office holders by 25% and secondly how long will Nigerians wait to benefit from the so called goodies in his speech which, in any case, was empty. I tell you Nigerians have never had an incompetent and an inept leader as Jonathan.

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Kaduna LG congress: Youths search party chieftainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house in Benue PDP

Y

outh in Guma, in Markudi local govt area of Benue on broke into the house of Mr. Tivlumun Nyitse, a senior administration official in the state.

Nyitse who is the Permanent Secretary in the Benue State Government House, Makurdi is also a top-notcher in the ruling party.

An eye witness said that some people were displaced while others sustained injuries but the police in the state said they had yet to be informed.

An eye witness, Mr Saondo Tykohol, said more than 15 youths suspected to be political thugs, came to the house at about 5 p.m.

He said that they attacked

the security guard, subdued him and went to the main building where they broke the windows.

Tyokohol said the youths alleged that electoral materials meant for Uvii ward in the area were diverted to the house for a purpose.

Though nobody died in the incident, the Police Relations

Officer in the state, Mr Ejike Alaribe, said he was waiting to be briefed.

"Something actually happened but I am waiting to be briefed to be able to speak with facts and figures to you so that the public is not misinformed.''

The congresses were held in all the council wards of the state on Saturday. (NAN)

L-R: Speaker, Gombe State House of Assembly, Hon. Inuwa Garba, Gombe State Surveyor General, Mr. Bakari Tella, and Chairman, Gombe State House Committee on Commerce, Hon. Sagir Hamma, looking at the plan of the abandoned Gombe International Market when the committee visited the site, recently in Gombe.

Photo: NAN

congress hitch-free From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna aduna state chapter of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said its last ward congresses were hitch free across the twenty three local government areas.

The state party Public Relations Officer, Alhaji Wusono Aliyu, in a statement in Kaduna said the party had put solid structure at the grassroots with the impressive turnout of its members for the exercise adding that it would remain united.

According to Wusono, the ward congresses did not hold on Saturday in three local governments Igabi, Kubau and Giwa due to Kaduna state House of Assembly bye elections slated the same day which later held on Sunday without hindrance.

"The ward congresses did not take place in three local government areas namely Igabi,Kubau and Giwa on Saturday because of the Kaduna state House of Assembly bye elections held on the same day.

We shifted it to Sunday (yesterday) and the whole exercise went on smoothly. Up till this moment we are yet to receive complaints from any member. Our Ward Congresses Committee will brief us later but based on the report we have at hand no problem," he assured.

Alhaji Wusono further noted that although aggrieved members had the rights to appeal, such may not arise in Kaduna.

K

Mark Authors urge Edo voters to shun tribal sentiments assures on creation of Apa state

By Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

A

uthors, under the aegis of Committee of Concerned Authors for Oshiomhole (COCAO) has urged the people of Edo State to shun tribal sentiments when voting in the July 14 governorship election in the state.

The authors in a statement signed by their President, Mr. Igbotako Nowinta' said they had resolved to pitch their tent with

Governor Adams Oshiomhole for the developmental projects in the state.

In the statement, Nowinta said "at the end of an enlarged meeting of the Committee of Concerned Authors for Oshiomhole (COCAO), it was unanimously agreed that given recent insinuations in some quarters in Edo State, we earnestly urge the people of Edo South Senatorial district to discard any form of tribal

sentiments for any other candidates in the July 14th governorship election, and instead pitch their tents with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, because he represents progress and light for the people of Edo State.

"As far as COCAO is concerned, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has earned his respect as the true leader of the masses of Edo State through the consistency of his pragmatic

efforts in fostering the common good.

"Comrade Adams Oshiomhole stands head and should above other candidates. No amount of tribal sentiments must becloud the progress that we see today in Edo State, Therefore, the people of Edo South Senatorial district must ignore yesterday's men and pseudo-democrats who are looking for any available opening to assuage their pursuit of vain glory."

Jigawa lawmaker trains 100 youths From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

A

member representing Kaugama constituency in the Jigawa state House of Assembly, Alhaji Shehu Liman, has expended about N500, 000 to train 100 youths in various skills.

The lawmaker said his aim was to complement the Governor Sule Lamido led administration

in providing job opportunities to the teaming youth in the state.

Liman said this was in line with his determination to improve the economy of the people through empowerment programme to be self reliant.

He added that the cardinal is to alleviate poverty among the people especially those in the rural area.

The lawmaker explained

that "this effort coincide with the manifesto of the ruling People Democratic Party (PDP) and our able leader Alhaji Sule Lamido who established the ministry of economic empowerment and to give the dividend of democracy to my people He maintained that creation of job opportunities and empowerment for the people will also contribute to the

reduction of thuggery in the state.

Liman idicated that he decided to engage the services of National Directorate of Employment (NDE) as partners in minimizing or even eradicating the level of unemployment and poverty among our people through creation of job opportunities for our youth.

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

T

he Senate President Sen. David Mark has assured the people of Otukpo that he would try his best possible to ensure the creation of Apa state.

The Senate President who expressed satisfaction with the conduct of last weekend's Peoples' Democratic Party, PDP, ward congress in his home town, Otukpo, also urged his people to remain loyal to the party.

Mark, who participated in the congress in his ward, observed the orderly and matured manner members of the party conducted themselves.

The Senate President equally assured the people that he would continue to attract the dividends of democracy to the people.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 39

Court of Appeal dismisses suit against Gov. Ahmed Umar Mohammed with Agency reports

T

he Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, yesterday dismissed a suit challenging the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary election in Kwara in

2011 that produced Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed as the candidate of the party.

The court ruled that the appeal was 'unmeritorious' and dismissed it for want of legality.

Chief Samuel Adedayo, a factional Chairman of PDP, had asked the court to set aside the

judgment of the Federal High Court, Ilorin, that declared its parallel congress and candidate, Mr Bashir Bolarinwa, illegal.

He said that the party's state executive, under his leadership, was authentic and that the primary election it

conducted be upheld.

Justice Ignatius Agube, leading two others, unanimously resolved two issues raised for determination against the appellant. He said that the respondents substantially complied with the PDP constitution and that ``the

Reps summon minister over deportation of Nigerians

By Lawrence Olaoye

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he House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs has summoned the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Gbenga Ashiru, before its Committee on Foreign Affairs to clarify issues surrounding the recent deportation of 125 Nigerians by South Adfrica's authorities.

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, said the lawmakers were disturbed by the diplomatic row brewing between Nigeria and other African countries.

She said the committee was worried by the series of negative attacks on Nigerians and its embassies, especially in Africa.

Elendu-Ukeje said the recent deportation of 125 Nigerians by South Africa was the height of insult and indignation Nigerians would be subjected to in the continent.

According to her, some months ago, the Nigerian High Commission was attacked in South Africa for no just reason and wondered why such action should be happening to Nigeria.

Elendu-Ukeje also recalled the recent detention of some Nigerians in Togo by the Togolese authorities without explanation to the Nigerian Government. ``We are indeed worried about all these indignation and scorn Nigerians are subjected to all over the world, especially by sister African nations, which calls for a review of our relationship with these countries. ``So, we have invited the minister of Foreign Affairs to a meeting on Tuesday (Tomorrow) to come and explain to us our relationship with these countries and why Nigerians are being subjected to ridicule all over the world,'' she said.

Elendu-Ukeje said it was high time the country put its act together and take its rightful position in Africa, which could only be done with Nigeria redefining its relationship with some African countries. ``The outcome of the meeting will shape our next line of action as a parliament in our foreign policy direction and relationship with these countries. We cannot allow these insults on our citizens and country to continue unabated,'' she said.

Newly Appointed Resident Electoral Commissioners, taking oath Office before the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, during their swearing, yesterday, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

article of the party gives no recognition to the appellants.

"The issues of whether the appellants are the authentic executive members of the party and compliance to the 2010 Electoral Law as amended are resolved against the appellants," he said.

The judge observed that the primary election conducted by the appellants was not supervised by the party's National Secretariat as stipulated by the party constitution.

"The appellant's congress was not supervised by the party's national secretariat as stipulated in their constitution.

The appellants also agreed at the lower court to have participated in the congress organised by the respondents. ``The appeal is, however, unmeritorious and should be dismissed in its entirety," the court declared.

Mr. Bola Gold, Counsel to the respondents, described the judgment as just and a victory for democracy.

"The judgement is a victory for democracy and attestation that Nigeria's judiciary signifies justice in all ramifications," he said.

Ibrahim Kareem, Counsel to the appellants, said he would brief his client to know the next step to take.

INEC chairman swears in 5 new RECs, urges them to be fair, non-partisan Umar Mohammed with Agency reports

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NEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, yesterday in Abuja sworein five newly appointed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), with a charge on them to ensure fairness and greater discipline in the discharge of their responsibilities.

Jega also warned the new RECs against partisanship in order to

improve and make the electoral process more credible.

The INEC Chairman advised them to make discipline and integrity as their watchwords.

'There are still enormous tremendous challenges ahead of us.

According to him, "we have raised the bar, yes there is room for improvement, in fact whatever indices you use to compare the elections we have conducted in April

and since April, I think, there are clear indicators that we have been improving but the challenges are enormous. ``I keep saying that with regards to electoral matters in this country we have left things to be so bad for so long that it will require a lot of efforts to be able to get out of the woods.''

Jega called for collective contributions to ensure that the

Interior minister frowns at poor conduct of congress From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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inister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, at the weekend expressed disappointment over the conduct of the PDP congress in his home town, Okpokwu local government areas.

Comrade Moro in an interview with newsmen regretted the disappearance of electoral materials meant for the conduct of ward congresses and charged the leadership of the party in the state to fish out and bring to book perpetrators of such evil act.

The minister however, observed that the exercise was

peaceful and orderly in other parts of Benue South district, assuring party members who were disfranchised that the abnormalities noticed in some wards would be corrected even as he urged them to remain loyal and calm.

Peoples Daily's investigation showed that enthusiastic party members who turned out in their thousands to elect their party officials went home disappointed as they were outrightly denied the opportunity to do so because hoodlums snatched electoral materials meant for the exercise to unknown destination.

In Ichama ward 1and 2, the

state PDP Chairman who hails from the area allegedly refused to release the materials for the election whereas in Ingle/Okpaile, results of the election were said to be ready early but the electoral panel on the instruction of superior powers left without collecting the result which was subsequently deposited at Okpoga police station.

Some of the council wards where voting could not hold due to diversion of materials include, Eke, Ojigo, Okpoga North, as well as Ichama 1 and 2.

The congress was however, said to be successful in Ogbokolo, Amejo, Okonobo, Okpaile/Ingle and Okpoga central wards.

April general election, which was adjudged a success by many Nigerians and international observers, was improved upon.

He told the RECs to keep an open door policy as well as maintain dignified relationships with their host communities and not be outrageously dependent particularly on state governments.

He then charged them to do what is doable, but should never ever compromise in terms of the processes and in terms of the legal frame work.

Responding on behalf of his colleagues, Mr Austine Okojie from Edo State assured of their determination to discharge their duties legally and with loyalty to the commission.

He said the RECs would acknowledge the attitude of Nigerians in not demonstrating the spirit of fair play during elections.

Okojie, who was reappointed, had served in various states including Benue, Imo, Enugu, Bayelsa, Rivers and Abia. Others include Prof. Jacob Jatau, Messrs Baba Yusuf, Segun Agbaje, and Nasir Ayilara. The newly sworn in RECs are yet to be deployed to their new places of assignments.

PAGE 40

Group drums support for Gambo as PDP chairman

By Lawrence Olaoye

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youth group, South West Youth Vanguard for Justice, has thrown its weight behind one of the contenders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s chairman contenders, Alhaji Gambo Lawan.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja at the weekend in Abuja, National Coordinator of the group, Mr. AkeredoluAle Akinkugbe urged PDP leadership to put into practice what it has preached and campaigned in recently years.

He said Alhaji Gambo, 53, a former National Chairman of the defunct Grassroots Democratic Movement was the youngest of the entire stock of contestants for the PDP chairman and, given his antecedents in politics and business, represent the reform the party has preached in recent times.

He said "Sentiment aside, some of us in the South West Youth for Justice Vanguard have worked closely with Alhaji Gambo Lawan. He is a man who knows his onions and a goal getter. His leadership qualities and experiences would no doubt make him the best candidate for the chairmanship position. I have no doubt in my mind that he will be the rallying point that the party so much need at this time of its history."

Akeredolu-Ale added "with all sense of responsibility, we members of the South West Youth Vanguard for Justice believe in the ability of the man, Alhaji Gambo to pilot the affairs of the national executive of the PDP. He is a man to be trusted and we hereby urge them to vote for him come 24th of March."

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Rep congratulates Niger governor on court verdict From Iliyasu Garba, Minna

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ember of the House of Representatives representing Lavun/ Edati/Mokwa federal constituency of Niger state, Hon. Mohammed Sani Idris Kutigi, has congratulated Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu on his recent victory at the Supreme Court.

Speaking to select members of the media in Abuja recently, he

described the victory as "a welldeserved one."

He called on all stakeholders in the state to join hands with the governor as he continues to position the state on its march towards becoming one of the top three developed states in Nigeria by the year 2020.

Commenting on the just concluded state congress of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, the lawmaker commended all the

stakeholders for closing ranks in the interest of stability of the party and the state.

"I commend the Chief Servant of Niger state, party elders and the entire stakeholders from ward to state levels for their maturity and sense of commitment. Politics is always about give and take," he said.

On the recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) poverty index report data which placed the state as the least in terms of poverty rate, he

said it was an indication of good governance in the state, calling on Nigerlites to close ranks irrespective of differences in political affiliations for the good of the state.

He also threw his weight behind the clamour for fiscal autonomy for the local governments, saying it was long overdue.

He said such autonomy was required at that level of government for there to be development at the grassroots levels.

No Ward Congress in Jigawa, says PDP chieftain

PDP celebrates Obasanjo at 75

From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

By Lawrence Olaoye

eputy Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Jigawa Chapter, Alhaji Sani Ahmed, has said that there were no congress elections at the state's 287 polling wards of the 27 local Governments in Jigawa.

Speaking yesterday to Peoples Daily at the state PDP headquarters, the party chieftain said the congress was characterized with a general consensus of the entire candidates fielded by the political party in their wards.

Danzomo said the consensus was targeted at minimizing enmity and confusion that usually arose during such elections adding that the state PDP as a family deemed it right to allow for talks and negotiations amongst candidates with a view to allow for the consensus.

The PDP chieftain added "We in the PDP are doing our politicking as family members are trying our best to minimize rancor and disharmony that usually usurp the coexistence of a people".

On his part the Chairman Congress Committee Alhaji Ado Datti said the Jigawa state PDP congress was the most organised and peaceful ever in the entire nation.

According to him, ''apart from the fact that there was a general idea of consensus agreements, however no one queried or petitioned the activity as it happened in some states of the federation."

he People Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday congratulated the former President Olusegun Obasanjo who attained the age of 75 years.

The party in a release made available to newsmen by its National Publicity Secretary,

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R-L: Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Emir of Kazaure, Alhaji Najib Adamu, and Jigawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, during the speaker's visit to Kazaure, recently in Jigawa state.

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Professor Rufa'I Ahmed Alkali described the former President as a man of destiny having had the opportunity to lead the country on two occasions.

The party wrote "No doubt, Seventy-Five years in the life of any man is significant. For Chief Obasanjo, a man who for the better part of the last SeventyFive years demonstrated

uncommon leadership in service to Nigeria, Africa and the World, the significance of these years of fearless patriotism beckons on the psyche of all Nigerians and that of those that wish her well.

"For a man whom destiny has twice enthroned to lead the nation at challenging times and twice, left no guesses as to his commitment and competence; leaving legacies

that will outlive him, the nation owes a lot to his conscience, foresight and undiluted belief in the unity and oneness of our dear nation.

From every stretch of imagination, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is a great Nigerian, African Statesman and a world citizen whose immense global contributions will be indelibly etched in history."

HURIWA lambasts South/East govs over muzzling of LGAs

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orried that local g o v e r n m e n t administration in the entire South Eastern States have not been run in compliance with the constitutional prescription of democracy since 1999, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has upbraided the South East governors for undermining democracy and the Rule of law at the grass root level.

HURIWA, a development oriented and democracy inclined non-Governmental body particularly criticized the Abia state governor Mr. Theodore Orji, for unilaterally and arbitrarily sacking local council executives last week following sporadic protests by the ordinary citizens in Aba during a prefuneral event for the late Statesman-Dim Chukwuemeka

Odumegwu-Ojukwu.

It described the action of the Abia State Governor as a serious rape of the democratic tenets of free speech and called it an illegal and unconstitutional conduct.

In a statement jointly endorsed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Director, Miss.

Zainab Yusuf, the Rights group further supported the reported move by the National Assembly to amend relevant sections of the Constitution of Nigeria to specifically compel the periodic conduct of democratic elections at the local council areas of the Country.

HURIWA said it would be beneficial to the rapid advancement of democracy if the relevant sections of the constitution are amended to

strengthen the operational and financial independence of electoral bodies at the state level to extricate them from the suffocating dominance and control of the state governors and allow for free, fair and peaceful elections at the grass root.

It further called for the creation of an independent commission to monitor operations of local government and maintain the constitutional independence of the Local Government area councils and save them from interference from either the state or federal political leaders.

The association stated "We are shocked that the local government administration in Nigeria over the past decade has suffered spectacular oppression in the hands of state governors

who have transformed themselves into political tin-gods and have made it a point of duty to always appoint their stooges to run the local government areas like 'Colonial District officers' at the whims and caprices of the appointing authority".

It cited section 7(1) of the constitution of 1999 as amended whereby the law recommends that the system of local government by democratically elected councils is sacrosanct even as it tasked the National Assembly to amend the relevant sections of the constitution to make it an impeachable offence for state governments that fail to respect the law specifying democratic administrators elected by the electorate at the various local government councils in Nigeria.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 41

Vitali announces fight against Haye

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Vitali Klitschko

he WBC heavyweight champion, Vitali Klitschko said in Düsseldorf said on Saturday that he would defend his title against David Haye, who quickly accepted to return to ring to face Klitschko senior.

“I can announce that my next fight will be with David Haye,” Klitschko told 50 000 spectators at the Esprit Arena immediately after his brother Wladimir had knocked out Jean-Marc Mormeck to retain his WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO titles.

Haye, who retired in October last year, had been wanting to fight Klitschko after losing his WBA belt to Wladimir last July.

He was also involved in a post-fight brawl with Dereck Chisora after the former Commonwealth champion had lost to Vitali on February 19.

Haye, who is still wanted by German police for questioning, said on Twitter: “Vitali has finally agreed to fight me … He told me I will be his next fight. Let’s get ready to rumble.”

Fights between the Klitschko brothers and Haye have been called off twice. If the fight does take place, it could be 40-year-old Vitali’s last. He announcing before beating Chisora that he would fight “a couples of times more” before retiring.

Haye, who turned heavyweight in 2008 after a cruiserweight career that started in 2002, could face problems fighting in Germany, where the Ukrainian brothers are based.

He left the country after the brawl with Chisora, who was briefly detained and questioned by police. The 31-year-old Haye, who has won 25 fights and lost two, said he fled Germany because of death threats he received from Chisora.

Golden Eaglets’ coaches confront Maigari

By Patrick Andrew

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he technical crew of the Golden Eaglets led by Head Coach, Manu Garba yesterday formally lodged their against what they termed ‘shabby treatment’ with the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation board.

Coaches Garba, Nduka Ugbade, Emmanuel Amuneke, Emeka Amadi and other officials met with the president of the board in a meeting where they were said to have complaint bitterly against being lodged at the uncompleted FIFA Goal Project hostel, their unpaid salaries as well as other logistics which would facilitate their work.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls that some members of the technical crew had publicly complaint about the “huge disparity” between their salaries and that of the head coach and had threatened to back out of their contract.

Only last week, they were said to have threatened again to down tools in protest against unequal treatement. Specifically, the coaches of the Eaglets were displeased that unlike the home-based Super Eagles and their crew who were lodged at Bolton White, they were

Nigeria's gold medal winner, Obioma Agatha Okoli

made to stay in an uncompleted accommodation.

According to them, this accommodation is not only demeaning but demonstrates a lack of regard to the team and coaches. “We are also national coaches and players too, so why the disparity?,” queried an official of the team.

But yesterday, after meeting with Maigari, they were advised to focus on their primary assignment as the football federation was working hard to make available necessary logistics including proper lodgment for the team.

“I’m very happy that Nigerians were happy over your appointments as coaches of the Golden Eaglets and you are all employed based on merit,” Maigari told his August visitors. “You have been carefully selected because we want a fresh start for our football and the good thing is that almost all of you passed through this stage before you eventually played for the Super Eagles,” Maigari charges.

He was to caution them later against unnecessarily going public with minor issues which should been sorted out with the football federation rather stirring public sentiment that could merely distract them from their work.

NFF holds CAF ‘B’ license coaching course

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he Nigeria Football Federation will hold the much-awaited CAF ‘B’ Coaching License course between from 11-24, 2012, according to the NFF’s Director of Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme.

Speaking in Abuja, Ikpeme said the programme, which comes five months after the much-applauded CAF ‘C’ License course, will involve 80 Nigerian coaches.

“We are happy to announce that the Confederation of African Football has given us the go-ahead to hold the CAF B License Course, which our coaches have been so eagerly awaiting. We are already putting finishing touches to our preparation to have the programme and all those who passed the CAF C License programme are duly qualified.

“Also, we have reached out to all those who will be serving as instructors for the programme, and I can tell you that everything is on course”, stated Ikpeme.

A total of 60 coaches will be taking part in the two-week course for the CAF B License programme, while 20 coaches will partake in the one-week CAF B Equivalent for senior trainers.

Nigeria’s FIFA Technical Advisor, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde and former NFF Technical Director, Dr Kashimawo Laloko are among the instructors for the course.

Among the Nigerian coaches expected to participate in the course are Austine Eguavoen, Stanley Eguma, Ben Iroha and several other national and some premier league counterparts.

PCN scribe applauds Para-Powerlifters for a successful outing

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he Paralympics Committee of Nigeria (PCN) has commended the Para-Power team for its successful outing at the justconcluded 4th Faza World Paralympics Power lifting Championship which held in the United Arab Emirates.

The committee’s secretary, Frank Thorpe, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that he was proud of the team for its brilliant performance at the championship.

He stated that the Para- Power lifters won total of 6 gold, 8 silver and 2 bronze medals, which placed Nigeria second on the medal table behind Egypt, The athletes were Yakubu Adesokun (48kg), Nnajioforl (60kg), Ether Onyema (48kg), Nwokorie lvory (44kg), Olufemi Ayo Folashade (75kg) and Grace Anozie who competed in the 82.5kg + class accounted for the 6 gold medals.

According to him, Nigeria also set two new world records in the 48kg weight category and 82.5+ kg classes, saying that Adesokun lifted 177kg in the 48kg weight division. “This record erased the former record of 175kg and set a new world record in the sport, an evidence that the athlete is progressing in his performance,” he added.

Grace Anozie set the second record in the 82.5kg + when she lifted 168kg to erase the former record, this stood at 167kg which she also set last year.

He disclosed that with the result, 20 Nigerian Para-Powerlifters had qualified for the London 2012 Paralympics Para-Powerlifting events, adding that it was a pleasing development.

The PCN secretary, however, urged the successful athletes not to relent in training but to be more committed as the Olympic Game battle was not yet over.

PAGE 42

El Kanemi on course for promotion, says Coach Emeteole

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

CAF Champions League

Dolphins to face Coton Sport, as Eguma foresees tougher ties

N Dolphins’ Isiaka Olawale

K

elechi Emetole, the Chief Coach of El Kanemi Warriors FC, of Maiduguri, says the club is on course to gain promotion to the elite premier league.

Emetole spoke on Saturday after his team beat Ranch Bees of Kaduna 3-0 at the El Kanemi Sports Centre, Maiduguri, in a Pro-league match.

“Like I said before, I came here to pick up the challenge to take El kanemi where they rightly belong. You can see that we are on course; we have 10 points from five matches which is not a bad result. If we continue like this we will attain our goal,” he said.

Emetole said that the team drew 1-1 in its first match against JUTH FC of Jos, in Jos, and walked-over FRSC FC of Abuja in the second match. “We beat the 36 Lions FC of Kogi 3-1 in the third match and lost 0-1 in the fourth match.”

He said that the 3-1 victory over the Ranch Bees of Kaduna would serve as a morale booster for the team before their next match. The coach said that he would resign if at the end of the season the club failed to gain promotion to the elite premier league.

“I am repeating it again that my stay here will be of no use if I cannot bring them to the Premier League,’’ he said.

The former coach of Heartland FC was optimistic that the club would triumph at the end of the season going by the enormous support it was getting from the management.

Emetole blamed his inability to win the CAF Champions League while handling Heartland to poor motivation by the management.

“I lost the Champions’ League because the management was not committed; the players went on strike due to nonpayment of their entitlements. At the final, the players lost commitment and zeal. I appealed to them but some stubborn ones were not convinced; at the end we lost, the rest is history now,” he said.

El kanemi Warriors, a former FA Challenge Champions, have been struggling in the pro league since they were relegated nine years ago.

Stanley Eguma

igeria’s CAF Champions League flag bearers, Dolphins of Port Harcourt have by their first round success drawn former semi-finalists, Coton Sport of Yaounde, Cameroon.

Dolphins qualified for the next round with a 6-0 goals aggregate having won the first leg 3-0 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea two weeks ago and the manager, Stanley Eguma believes the round of 32 would be tougher than the first round.

However, Eguma, says Dolphins are bracing up for the tougher challenges against the Coton Sport and any other opponents that would come their way in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League.

The former National U-23 assistant coach made the comments following his team’s defeat of Sony de Ela Nguema

of Equatorial Guinea 3-0 on Sunday in the return leg match in Port Harcourt. They had fortnight earlier won by the same margin on the road.

Eguma said his team would work hard to meet the challenges in the championship.

“I think, this is the beginning, I will say. It is not yet over. We have scaled the first round and we believe that this competition, the second round may be tougher because the higher it goes, the hotter it becomes.

“And I believe that Cotton Sport, of Cameroon who is supposed to be our next opponents, they have a lot of experience in the continent.

“And, it will be an advantage to them but, I think, Dolphins have come to stay and we will do all within our possible means to see that we overrun them

and move to the next stage of the tournament.”

Isiaka Olawale scored the first goal for Dolphins in the second minute when he connected a pull-out from the left flank by Ifeanyi Egwim.

Egwim nodded in the second goal for Dolphins in the 35th minute, while ex-Flying Eagles Star, Jeleel Ajagun scored the third goal in the 67th minute.

Sony de Ela Nguema Manager Yelato Yao said the outcome of the match was a proof that Nigeria had a good league.

He said Dolphins currently occupy the second position on the Nigerian league table and the way they played was a credit to the domestic league.

Yao, an Ivorian, said the league in Equatorial Guinea was suspended because of the Nations Cup in January, cohosted by the country and Gabon and had not resumed.

Coach says 2 years, right age to begin swimming

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swimming coach, Adebayo Adeola said in Lagos yesterday that children could be taught

swimming from the time they became two years old.

Adeola told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that with ripe

age and right investments, the benefits would show within 12 years.

The coach, a former

Nigerian swimmers

Rangers FC promise strong showing to consolidate lead

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angers International FC of Enugu says it is planning to consolidate on its lead in the premier league with a strong showing against Niger Tornadoes in Minna on Saturday.

The club’s coach, Okey Emodi, told newsmen after a 1-0 victory over Lobi Stars of Makurdi in Enugu on Sunday, that the players would not disappoint their fans.

He said the team needed the support of the fans to put up a strong showing at the away match against Niger Tornadoes.

Rangers still maintain the top spot on the league table with 22 points, having won six matches, drawn four and lost one.

Emodi explained that the team did not perform well against Lobi Stars as expected, but promised to

correct the mistakes before the next match.

He said he was impressed that two players from the team, Chikeluba Ofoedu and Emeka Eze, had been called to the U-17 national team and commended the Nigeria Football Association for picking them.

“Of course, two of them have been called to the national team, Chikeluba and Emeka. It is a good omen as far as we are concerned.

They are going there to represent us and we hope that they will behave well when they get there.”

The technical adviser, who could not guarantee a victory over Niger Tornadoes, assured the fans that Rangers would do well in the match with their support.

Also speaking, Ofoedu said he

was happy that he had been selected for the kindergarten national team.

Ofoedu, who has scored five goals so far in the league, said he was still a new player and promised to strive to retain the club at the top position.

He said he would continue playing for the club even though he had been called for national assignment. “I am going to the national team does not mean that I will stop playing in my club side.

The arrangement is that when we have a match, they will release me to come and play the match, after the match, I will go back again.”

Ofoedu scored the lone goal in the 21st minutes after beating Lobi defender Bunde Moses from the right flank.

swimming coach at the University of Lagos, noted that children had the psychological attraction to water, which he noted always made them to want to play with water.

“If you take a child for teaching in two years and you teach that child effectively, by the time that child is 12 years, he or she will become at least, a state champion.”

Adeola told NAN that a child could be said to be performing well if he was recording between 25 seconds and 30 seconds timing over 50 meters freestyle and 30 seconds to 35 seconds over 50 meters backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly styles.

The coach, who authored a book: “Fundamentals of Swimming”, in 2010 noted that swimming was science, stressing that coaches needed both physical and psychological experience to train swimmers.

“Physical coaching is what we go to the swimming pool: do your hand like this; do your leg like this; name it. When it comes to the other aspect, it is psychological, to psyche up an individual to be able to say okay this man, all along he is been coming first, I am going to beat him, I am going him to get him out of the race.”

The coach also noted that poor administration, inadequate facilities and bad coaching were factors militating against the development of the sport.

He observed that if these were tackled, swimming would take its rightful position and noted that the country could regain its lost glory in swimming if talents were identified from nursery and primary schools and given the right training.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 43

Scolari predicts ‘hell’ for VillasBoas successor at Chelsea

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ormer Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari claims it will be “hell” for whoever succeeds Andre VillasBoas as manager of the Blues.

Scolari, now manager of Brazilian side Palmeiras, is not surprised the Portuguese was sacked so soon into his reign at Stamford Bridge because he thinks Chelsea are different to other English clubs.

“England has clubs like Arsenal, where Arsene Wenger has been for several years, yet has won only two or three championships. But Chelsea’s culture is very different, but this move is strange although it’s not so strange to

me because of what I went through there,” Scolari told reporters.

The former World Cup winner also feels the 34-year-old failed to adequately replace players that needed ousting from the team even during his time with the club but is confident Villas-Boas will go on to succeed elsewhere.

“Some things are known, like the relations with the chairman, who has the relationship with some players before the coach. Villas-Boas was a champion and he will continue to be.

He needed to replace at least seven or eight players, even since I was there, but he failed,” Scolari said.

Agent sends wrong boxer to fight feather weight champ

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Roman Abramovich, Chelsea owner

Filipino promoter says he is filing a complaint to the Mexican Boxing Commission against an agent who sent the wrong boxer to fight IBF international featherweight champion Rey Bautista.

ALA Promotions President Michael Aldeguer said yesterday his organization intends to sue the Mexican agent, Hugo Correa. Bautista was expected to fight Genaro “Poblanito” Garcia, who has a 38-8 record.

Instead, a heavier boxer with a poorer record called Genaro“Panterita” Garcia turned up.

The fight went ahead but ALA said beforehand that tickets would be refunded.

Garcia was knocked out in the second round.

FIFA Goal Project hostel not substandard, says Ikpeme

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irector of Technical at the Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme yesterday dismissed insinuations that the FIFA Technical Centre, otherwise known as the Goal Project, where the technical crews of the U-17 national team, Golden Eaglets, are being lodged is sub-standard.

“It is sheer falsehood to claim that the Goal Project is sub-standard.

There is nothing sub-standard about the playing turf or the accommodation where the players and officials are staying.

“The place hosted the screening programme of the U-17 women team (Flamingoes) and the screening programme of the U-20 women team (Falconets). There is absolutely nothing wrong with the place”, said Ikpeme.

He was reacting to a national newspaper reported yesterday that members of the technical crew had issued one week ultimatum to the NFF to accommodate in a better lodgment or risk their resignation.

Though Ikpeme did not confirm or deny receiving complaint from the technical crew, he said, “The players and officials are being kept at the Goal Project because they are only

Supreme Court set professional league target

NTDC to mobilise 1m Nigerians, provides materials for Team Nigeria

By Miriam Humbe

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he Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation says it has begun massive mobilisation of a minimum of 1 million Nigerians to rally support for Team Nigeria ahead of the Summer Olympics in London.

Also, the NTDC has revealed that it was working assiduously to provide needed logistic supports including banners, fliers, handbills as well as a raffle draw in an effort to ginger national consciousness for Team Nigeria contingent.

According to the Director General of the corporation, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, such massive mobilisation campaign and logistics support could only be compared with what usually obtains in the United States of America.

The DG said the promotional materials are meant to sensitize adding that winners of the raffle draw

would be granted the privilege of visiting any of the seven wonderful tourist centres in Nigeria and would have such tour captured in a DVD. Further, Runsewe said the inclusion of the tour of attractive centre is meant to promotion awareness of the joys derivable from visiting such places as well as boosts tourism in the country.

“It will re-awaken sports tourism consciousness of Nigerians home and abroad,” he said.

It will be recalled that the NTDC had earlier endorsed the submission of the committee on the project “Niaja 7 Wonders” headed by Mr. Ikechi Uko promising immense promotion of the 7 most enthralling sites in Nigeria as voted for by Nigerians.

Commenting on the mobilization aspect of the Olympics preparation, Mr. Uko pointed out that the essence of the project 7 wonders of Nigeria is meant to create economic benefits, increased aesthetic value and promote sports tourism and Nigeria as tourism destinations to both Nigerians and foreigners alike.

undergoing a screening programme for the players at the moment. This will last until March 18. When they return to camp, it will be a different ball game.

“The Flamingoes and Falconets stayed there for screening, and now the two teams have moved to Serob Legacy Hotel. Once the U-17 team finishes its screening, it will also move out to a hotel,” assured Ikpeme.

By Albert Akota

A

Dr. Patrick Ekeji, DG NSC

Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, DG, NTDC

n Abuja-based Nigeria Nationwide League club, Supreme Court FC of Abuja, have vowed to play their way back to the Nigeria National league, (NNL) by the end of this season.

The coach of the supreme court FC, Hadu Ilallah, who said in Abuja after his club walked over Jimeta FC of Taraba, asserted the club’s readiness to work to gain to the professional league.

Ilallah said the management of the club was not taking anything for granted as it has motivated the players and charged them to reciprocate their effort by achieving the dream of the sponsors of the team. He said that the players and officials of the club have been paid all their outstanding allowances and salaries as well made provision for match bonuses a situation.

“We will go a long way to motivate the players to do better this season. We are also looking for a comfortable camp where the players would be together so that they can be focused every match and work to end the season at the top of the table,” he said.

“If you take good care of your players, give all the necessary encouragements and support no doubt such players would always do better. So we have done that already to our players, they have been motivated so they cannot joke with anything they are doing now,” he concluded.

FIFA may abolish February, August exhibitions

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IFA wants to abolish international exhibition games in February and August in a move that will appease European clubs. This means that it will cut the annual number of international matches from the current 12 to nine.

FIFA has announced a proposed

calendar of exhibitions from 2015-18, although no specific dates were listed for such games.

The suggested calendar calls for national teams to play two exhibitions each March, September, October and November, plus June in odd-numbered years.

Clubs are obliged to release their

players for calendar matches. They have lobbied FIFA to abolish the onegame only exhibition dates.

FIFA’s executive committee must approve the calendar at a March 29-30 meeting and will discuss the proposals at the scheduled meeting.

In the meantime it drew up the main

points to be submitted to that meeting.

Those include releasing players to their countries on the Monday ahead of the nine double dates across a two-year cycle for a total 18 matches in that period plus one double date for nonEuropean nations during Euro 2016 albeit without recourse to specific dates.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

o m e n ’ s Pentathlon – Chernova

With just four days to go, excitement is in the air as athletics bluffs look forward to keen competitions among the top stars. Of interest is the lively head to head confrontation expected from quite a few of the stars.

Here, a few of such head to heads duel are highlighted.

vs Ennis Jessica Ennis is the reigning World Indoor champion and Tatyana Chernova the World champion in the Heptathlon after unseating the Briton in Daegu last summer.

On paper the pair are fairly close in the five-eventer: Ennis tallied a 4937-point career best when taking the World title in Doha two years ago while the Russian, the bronze medallist two years ago, brings a 4855 best. This one may come down to the final homestretch of the final event.

Men’s 60m Hurdles Robles vs Liu Xiang As the most recent Olympic champions and World record holders in the 110m Hurdles, Cuban Dayron Robles and Liu Xiang of China are without a doubt two of the greatest high hurdlers in history.

In Istanbul, Robles will defend his title from Doha but will have to fend off a resurgent Liu Xiang who, at 7.41, has been considerably faster this season and clearly illustrating he’s on target to reclaim the World Indoor title he won in 2008.

Women’s Shot Put – Adams vs Ostapchuk One of the fiercest rivalries in the sport will write its next chapter in Istanbul when defending champion Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus and New Zealander Valerie Adams square off in the Shot Put. While Adams, the 2008 Olympic champion, has often gotten the upper hand when the two have clashed over the past five seasons, Ostapchuk snatched the title in Doha and Adams will be eager to take it back. On paper, the two arrive virtually even: Ostapchuk leads the world with 20.70m while Adams has reached 20.67 outdoors in Sydney.

Men’s 3000m - Lagat vs Farah He may be 37, but that shouldn’t keep anyone from betting against Bernard Lagat’s quest for a second successive and third overall World Indoor 3000m title. Here the multiple U.S. record holder and brilliant tactician will face Briton Mo Farah who beat him to the line for the 5000m World title in Daegu last summer.

Meanwhile, they’ll both have to watch out for the Kenyan 1-2 punch provided by Augustine Choge and Edwin Soi, who’ll arrive as the season’s only sub-7:30 runners.

Mo Farah

Bernard Lagat

IAAF World Indoor Championships: Exciting head to heads expected in Istanbul 2012 Men’s Shot Put - Storl vs ‘The Old Guard’?

In Daegu last summer, David Storl produced one of the biggest surprises of the World Championships when at just 21 he upset the shot putting establishment by claiming the global title.

In Istanbul, at least part of that Old Guard will be

Jessica Ennis

looking to strike back. Among them will be Reese Hoffa of the U.S., a former World Indoor champion and two-time silver medallist, and 2008 Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski of Poland.

Hoffa will arrive as the world leader at 21.87m, more than 40cm better than Storl’s best of the season. But such statistics meant nothing in Daegu last summer.

Tatyana Chernova

London Olympics: Mary Onyali-Omagbemi tasks NSC, LOC on athletes on preparation

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ary OnyaliOmagbemi, a 1987 All Africa Games 200-metre champion, has urged the country’s track and field athletes to aim high as they step up their preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Onyali-Omagbemi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos on telephone, that they should work hard on their areas of weakness in their training sessions for better performance at the Olympics.

She added that preparations for a global sports fiesta of the magnitude of the Olympic Games should have commenced immediately after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and not left until the very last minute.

“Four years was enough time for the athletes, federation and the National Sports Commission (NSC) to do a thorough job on athletes seeking to represent the country in a major competition.

“For the country to record a successful outing at the Olympics, preparation ought to have commenced right away, by so doing, there will be adequate time to fine-tune our preparations,” she said.

Onyali-Omagbemi, who won a bronze medal in the 4x100 relay event of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, commended the appointment

of Innocent Egbunike as the head coach of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).

The former track queen stressed that Egbunike’s appointment would boost the country’s chances of doing well, through an improved training regimen for the country’s track and field team to the Games.

“It is high time we use our indigenous products to groom

Mary Onyali in action

and sustain the talents of our athletes, a full blooded Nigerian, talented, exposed and internationally recognised trainer,” the former 200m champion said.

Onyali-Omagbemi told NAN that the newly appointed coach would be able to analyse each athlete and prescribe peculiar training techniques for them, for better performance.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

Arsenal hope for miracles against AC Milan

UEFA Champions League

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A

C Milan’s progress to the Champions League quarterfinals at the expense of Arsenal looks a formality but the other two ties are nailbiters with Zenit St Petersburg and Olympique Lyon defending onegoal leads away from home.

AC Milan - still chasing a Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League treble - take a 4-0 first-leg advantage to the Emirates hoping to end their run of three successive round-of-16 eliminations against Premier League opposition.

Milan and Zenit are the only teams in action this week who currently top their respective domestic leagues.

Only three teams have ever overturned four-goal deficits in European competition and Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger effectively conceded the tie after the first leg at San Siro. If Milan were to net once in north London, Arsenal would need six and the Italian champions’ record of at least one goal in every Champions League game this season suggests they will get on the scoresheet.

However, one statistic which Massimiliano Allegri’s side will not want to be reminded of is the fact they lost 4-0 at Deportivo La Coruna in a 2004 quarterfinal having been 4-1 up from the first leg.

Arsenal’s probable demise would leave Chelsea needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit at home to Napoli the following week to keep alive the English Premier League’s interest in the competition. A Leverkusen exit would also leave the Bundesliga in danger of being unrepresented in the quarterfinals as Bayern Munich, the only other German survivors, trail 1-0 to FC Basle in a tie which will be completed on March 13.

The odds are piled up against Leverkusen for tomorrow’s visit to the Nou Camp with Barcelona unbeaten in their last 13 outings in the competition since their 2-1 defeat at Arsenal at the same stage last year. Pep Guardiola’s side are undefeated in their last 16 Champions League matches against Bundesliga opposition. Benfica’s South American blend was one of the highlights of the group stage but the Eagles have suddenly undergone a loss of form since their 32 defeat in freezing St Petersburg three weeks ago.

A five-point lead at the top of the Portuguese League has become a three-point deficit behind rivals Porto after a draw and two defeats in their last three league games. Success in Lisbon tonight would send Benfica into the last eight for only the third time since the Champions League replaced the European Cup in 1992/93 and keep them on course for a first semifinal appearance since 1990.

Benfica fielded eight South Americans in the starting lineup at Zenit and not a single Portuguese player. APOEL can claim to be the competition’s most Portuguese team with four - and only two Cypriots - starting the first leg at Lyon.

APOEL qualified for the knockout stages at the expense of Porto and Shakhtar Donestk but might have to pull off another first to oust Lyon as they have never won a Champions League match by a two-goal margin.

Roman Shirokov

CHANGE OF NAME I, FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MISS FLORENCE CHIKAODILI AJANA, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS. FLORENCE CHIKAODILI NWAORAH. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC BIDA, NYSC AND GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

Benfica look to end slump against Zenit

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Vyacheslav Malafeyev

Milan will not ease up against Arsenal

enfica sorely need victory over Zenit St Petersburg in their Champions League last-16 second leg at the Luz stadium tonight to end a poor run of form that started three weeks ago in the first leg in Russia.

Before their 3-2 defeat in chilly St Petersburg, the Lisbon club were five points clear of Porto at the top of the Portuguese Premier League and full of confidence. Now, they are second in the league, trail Porto by three points and long for a win to knock out Zenit.

Since Roman Shirokov’s last-gasp goal gave the Russian Champions the upper hand, Benfica have failed to win all their league matches, recording one draw and two losses.

The most devastating defeat was at home to arch rivals Porto last Friday.

Benfica lost the Classico 3-2, let down by an unusually fragile back four and by keeper Artur who, highly praised for his steady performances this season, was caught in noman’s land as Porto scored the 87th-minute winner.

An added concern for Jesus is the likely absence of Argentine centre back Ezequiel Garay due to a knee injury.

Still, the Eagles will take encouragement from the performance of striker Oscar Cardozo, the club’s top scorer in the league and Champions League.

Despite his unstylish approach to the game, the nononsense, lanky Paraguayan scored a brace against Porto and applied his famous left foot and sharp sense of opportunity to good effect.

Zenit have welcomed back influential goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev, who has fully recovered from a calf injury, and defender Domenico Criscito, who missed the first leg in St Petersburg because of food poisoning. Both the experienced Malafeyev, who turned 33 on Sunday, and Italy international Criscito played in Saturday’s top-of-thetable Russian league match against second-placed CSKA Moscow, which ended in a 2-2 draw to maintain Zenit’s sixpoint lead over their rivals.

Zenit coach Luciano Spalletti has lashed out at CSKA for turning down his request to play their match a day earlier so that Zenit could better prepare for tonight’s clash with Benfica. “Two years ago CSKA were in a similar situation and we had no problem with playing our match earlier because we all felt like being Russians and wanted to help a Russian club to do well in European competition,” Spalletti told local media.

“Now certain people feel like they are less Russians than we were then,” the Italian added. “I just don’t understand that.”

Zenit’s Portugal midfielder Danny is out after having surgery to repair torn knee ligaments last month, while forward Andrei Arshavin, who was loaned by Arsenal last month, is ineligible for the Champions League having played for the London club in the competition earlier in the season.

M

ilan still have hard work to do if they are to reach the Champions League quarterfinals despite the luxury of a 4-0 advantage going into tonight’s last 16 second leg at Arsenal, coach Massimiliano Allegri said.

“Tomorrow (today) may seem like an easy game, but only in appearance,” Allegri told a news conference in Italy before flying to London with his team. “In reality it is not. We must have great concentration, we must not underestimate the game.”

Allegri said Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored the fourth goal against Arsenal in the San Siro last month and bagged a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Palermo on Saturday, was playing as well as any striker in Europe.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would be unlikely to swap Robin van Persie for anyone, including Ibrahimovic, after the Dutchman’s 31 goals in all competitions this season.

Wenger said there is no chance that he could rest the striker against Milan, despite the odds being stacked heavily against Arsenal overturning the firstleg deficit.

“I would not be very credible to tell you we want to score five goals and then leave Robin van Persie out,” Wenger said at a news conference yesterday.

Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta are both doubtful for Tuesday’s clash, as is Yossi Benayoun.

Milan have included midfielders Alberto Aquilani and Urby Emanuelson in their squad with Massimo Ambrosini suspended.

Maxi Lopez, Alessandro Nesta, Alexandre Pato and Antonio Cassano are all still out.

Robin van Pierse

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

PAGE 47

Bad officiating, bane of Nigeria Premier League, says Cooreman

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aurice Cooreman, the Chief Coach of Warri Wolves FC, says poor officiating by match officials still constituted a major hinderance to the development of the Nigerian Premier League competition.

Cooreman, who made the assertion at the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium, Ibadan urged both the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) and Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to urgently tackle the issue.

He said this was necessary to redeem the image of the league and to enhance the development

of the game.

“The only big problem in the NPL is the referees. When we don’t have good referees officiating matches, then nothing meaningful will be achieved,” Cooreman said.

The Warri Wolves coach whose team drew 1-1 with hosts Shooting Stars (3SC) of Ibadan on Saturday in a 2011/2012 Nigerian Premier League week 12 match advised the NPL to sanction bad referees.

He said this would help to restore the confidence and interest of football fans in the

league.

Supporters of 3SC had nearly gone on rampage after the match to protest alleged bad officiating by the match officials.

The fans who besieged the exit gate of the stadium’s mainbowl alleged that two clear penalty kicks were denied their club by the centre referee.

3SC were able to secure a draw in the match after Kabiru Alausa equalised through a penalty kick in the game’s 71st minute.

Warri Wolves had taken a third minute lead through Ike ThankGod.

Nigeria can produce world class golfers, consultant declares

S Maurice Cooreman

6 NOCs apply to host 3rd Summer Youth Olympic Games

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he International Olympic Committee (IOC) says six National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have submitted applications for Candidate Cities to host the third Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

In a press statement issued yesterday, the IOC listed the NOCs as those of Argentina, Colombia, Great Britain, Mexico, The Netherlands and Poland. It would

be recalled that the third Summer YOG is billed to hold in 2018.

The IOC said the NOCs submitted the bids on behalf of the cities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Medellín (Colombia), Glasgow (Great Britain), Guadalajara (Mexico), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Poznan (Poland).

“We are delighted with the high level of interest shown in

hosting the third Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2018.

“It is a shining endorsement of just how successful the inaugural summer (Singapore 2010) and winter (Innsbruck 2012) editions were.

“This also reflects how the popularity, excitement and awareness surrounding the YOG continue to build at an impressive pace,” the statement

quoted IOC President Jacques Rogge to have observed.

The next deadline for the bid process is March 15, 2012 when the NOCs, Bid Committees and YOG Candidate Cities must submit the signed 2018 YOG Candidature Procedure.

The election of the host city of the third Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2018 is due for July 2013.

Lagos polo clubs emerge winners of DANSA, Lagos Low Cups

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lbert Esiri, the Captain of Ashbert Raiders II of Lagos has rued his team’s 6-5 loss to Ironclad-Mandarin

in the finals of the ongoing MTN Lagos International Polo Tournament in Lagos.

Esiri told the News Agency of

Nigeria (NAN) moments after the finals in Lagos that the Ironclad Mandarins proved a difficult nut to crack in the closely fought encounter.

‘It was quite unfortunate that we could not win the competition, in spite of our all our effort. Our best was not enough to overwhelm our opponents’,” the captain of the Asbert Raiders II team said.

NAN reports that the Lagos Low Cup finals of the MTNsponsored tournament, was one of the categories being contested for by teams in the competition, which saw the emergence of IroncladMandarins as champions.

Meanwhile, the captain of the victorious IroncladMandarin team, Bowale Jolaoso, told NAN he was very happy with the outcome against their hard-fighting opponents, “who were no pushovers”.

Jolaoso attributed his team’s victory to discipline and team work. “Before the match, I told my men that all we needed was to play as a team and the rest would be a success story. I thank God we were able to emerge winners at the end of the game,” he said.

Jibrin Ali, the captain of Decline & Fall, winners of the DANSA category of the tournament, said after their 86 triumph over Energy Polo Club of Lagos, that his team’s victory came through sheer determination.

“I am happy we won the DANSA Cup, we were determined to win the cup, glory be to God for crowning our effort,” Ali said.

The Lagos Open Cup and Majekodunmi Cup categories of the competition are scheduled to hold from March 7 to March 11 at the Lagos Polo Club, Ikoyi venue of the tourney.

am Emehelu, a consultant to the Nigerian Golf Federation (NGF), has said that the implementation of the federation’s developmental programmes would produce world-class players like Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. Emehelu said yesterday in Lagos that the major problem being faced by the federation was funding. “The sponsors have a perception that there isn’t much to benefit from this environment and investing in the sport will not yield returns,” he said.

According to him, attention needs to be placed on developing the sport and see more Nigerians play as professionals and not just at the amateur level. “Professional golf needs to be promoted in the country,” he said.

Emehelu said that the body’s strategy was to develop the game at every level.

“We can produce world class golfers earlier than we think if proper and adequate facilities are put in place. From my perspective, I would say golf in Nigeria is going in the right direction,” the golf consultant said.

Emehelu urged the NGF to create mini golf courses or golf ranges in different places and made them easily accessible to the populace.

Nigerian golfer, Christian Godfrey

18th NSF: Anambra directs associations to conduct trials

T

Albert Esiri, the Captain of Ashbert Raiders II

o step up its preparation for the 18th National Sports Festival (NSF), the Anambra State Ministry of Sports has directed its associations to conduct trials in their various sports.

The Director of Sports (Operations), Chidiogo Mbanefo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Onitsha, Anambra, that the trials were to prepare the athletes for the zonal elimination series.

The festival will be hosted by

the Lagos State Government from Nov. 27 to Dec. 10.

The director said the associations had been given between March and the first week of April to conclude their trials.

He added that athletes selected from the trials would feature in inter-state competitions to further prepare them for the zonal trials.

“The ministry has made adequate budget for our athletes to attend various competitions which will give them leverage

to prepare better for the forthcoming festival in Lagos,’’ Mbanefo said.

He said the best athletes would be discovered if they were exposed, adding that exposure usually built-up confidence in sportsmen at competitions.

Mbanefo assured the citizens that the state would perform better than in previous festivals, adding that the sports associations were correcting their lapses at the last festival in Port Harcourt.

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your lif e rrunning unning up and do wn life down the field and never score — Bill Copeland

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

SPORTS JAMB should defy Boko Haram LA TEST LATEST FIFA says SA duped by fixers before World Cup

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outh Africa were duped into allowing an Asian match fixing syndicate to provide them with referees for a series of warm-up games before they hosted the 2010 World Cup, FIFA security chief Chris Eaton said yesterday.

The outcome of friendly internationals against Thailand, Colombia, Bulgaria and Guatemala in the weeks leading up to the tournament are all in question after FIFA found the match officials had been provided by a Singaporebased company, fronting for match fixers.

Eaton said the South African Football Association had taken up an offer from Wilson Perumal, who has since been convicted in Finland on match fixing charges, to use his company for the procurement of referees for the games.

"It is clear that the convicted criminal and football matchfixer, Wilson Raj Perumal, was involved in convincing Safa to agree to a company then managed by him (Football4U) to select, fund and appoint referees to certain international matches played in 2010, which are now under investigation," Eaton said in a statement released on his behalf by the South Africans yesterday.

It follows a four-day trip by FIFA's outgoing security director to Johannesburg to interview those involved and investigate any potential duplicity.

Eaton suggested the South Africans were duped rather than complicit in any deceit.

"It should also be said that to date there is no information, suggestion or evidence that any player or team, including the national South Africa team, was in any way complicit with any attempt to manipulate a match outcome," he said.

South Africa usually invites match officials from neighbouring countries to handle home friendly matches but agreed to Perumal's offer that he fly in officials from Kenya, Niger and Togo for the four matches.

ADVERT: BUSINESS: NEWS: LAGOS:

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he News Agency of Nigeria yesterday reported the Registrar of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, saying that it will cancel the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in volatile states of Northern Nigeria if the Boko Haram attack on primary and secondary schools in Borno State continues. “The Board will be left with no option”, he said, “than to tell candidates to go elsewhere to write the exams if schools which serve as centres will be attacked.”

The report appears contradictory, making me believe that NAN did not get its facts right.

Consider another statement it reported from the Registrar: “When we reviewed the situation in volatile states, for instance Borno, we realized that some of the schools are being bombed but our investigations showed that only primary schools are affected and not secondary schools.”

By this statement, to my understanding, the Registrar did not rule out JAMB holding examinations in those states. After all, UTME examinations are held in secondary schools. Primary schools hardly have the large space facilities that JAMB needs.

I am not accusing NAN of crying wolf where there is none; after all, it is a reputable news agency on which our media houses depend as a veritable source of news on a wide range of domestic affairs. I only think the Registrar should be clearly understood on this important subject matter that will affect the future of hundreds of thousands of our children.

Despite the contradiction in the report, I still felt it is worth making a short comment on the matter.

I understand the concern of JAMB. As any prudent agency would aver, it does not want its indiscretion to result in the death of Nigerian children and staff of the Board. The Registrar deserves our commendation for this foresight.

In the event that the unexpected happens and attacks secondary schools in the next two weeks before the exams, I still feel that JAMB should not contemplate canceling the examination but go ahead to plan its execution and taking the necessary precautions.

The UTME examination is too important to be brushed aside for the scare of an anticipated attack

by Boko Haram. Canceling the examination will cause so much pain and complications in the learning career of the candidates

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GUEST COLUMNIST

By Aliyu U. Tilde aliyutilde@yahoo.com

JAMB Registrar, Dibu Ojerinde and compound the admission exercise of higher institutions to which the affected states are catchment areas.

JAMB should go ahead with its plan due to two reasons.

One, I am inclined to believe that Boko Haram will not attack these centres when the examinations are holding. To be fair to Boko Haram, the sect has always maintained that it does not target civilians but security and law enforcement personnel. It has repeated this time without number. And if we can remember, its leader announced in his second video broadcast on Youtube that the group will start attacking ‘boko’ schools after an alleged attack by JTF of a Qur’anic school in Maiduguri, an allegation that JTF quick to refute.

So far, Boko Haram has

attacked four primary schools. But in all the attacks, no life was lost because the group refrained from carrying out the attacks during schools hours when it will lead to deaths and casualties to the civilian pupils and staff. With this record, it is clear that Boko Haram is targeting infrastructure, not the pupils, of the primary schools.

Doing otherwise will contradict its claim that it is “working for the interest of the ummah”, as its leader Shekau would put it. JAMB examinations, therefore, are very unlikely targets of Boko Haram.

Relax your mind, my Professor Ojerinde!

Two, if I am proved wrong and Boko Haram attacks secondary schools during schools hours – something I still believe is not in tandem with its modus operandi – JAMB should still go ahead with the examinations but make adequate security arrangements for their safe conduct. A number of measures would be necessary.

First and foremost, JAMB should liaise with the JTF and the state government to study the situation and look into the necessary measures for safe conduct of the examinations.

Fortunately, the examination, unlike NYSC, is not protracted; it takes only few hours. The military and other agencies can mobilize a substantial number of personnel to each centre.

To ensure that the centres are not blown off a night or so before the examinations, law

“

I call on Borno state government to take this issue seriously. Its candidates and indeed the state cannot afford to miss UTME examinations. Boko Haram may be here next year also. Does that mean that my Kanuri brothers will continue to miss UTME and universty admissions indefinitely? So instead of running away from the problem, it must be handled now

enforcement personnel need to be posted there early enough. Then on the day of the examination, the schools or the neighbourhoods where the centres are located should be adequately manned. In fact, the entire state could be placed under curfew that Saturday for the period the examinations are conducted.

These measures are necessary especially for town like Biu, Bama, Uba, Gwoza, etc.

If it proves to be too difficult or risky to hold the examination at the various centres in Maiduguri town, there is still a better option than to “tell candidates to go elsewhere to write the exams.” The authorities should think of pooling the centres into one for candidates within Maiduguri town. The University of Maiduguri would be a suitable site. It has many theatres and lecture halls that can accommodate the candidates. The university community should make do with the inconvenience of few hours to enable its prospective candidates sit for the matriculation examination.

I think a combination of statewide curfew and shifting the examination to the university for candidates in the capital, which is the epricentre of Boko Haram attacks, will be the best.

If all the above fails and JAMB insists that the fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom, and only after having obtained a red card from JTF, then I would suggest that candidates from Borno state should be given a waiver by JAMB such that they can be admitted on the basis of postUME tests in the institutions they applied for in addition to their fulfillment of WAEC/NECO requirements. Skipping JAMB itself would not matter much since in most universities passing the post-UME test is as important, if not more important, than passing JAMB. Finally, I call on Borno state government to take this issue seriously. Its candidates and indeed the state cannot afford to miss UTME examinations. Boko Haram may be here next year also. Does that mean that my Kanuri brothers will continue to miss UTME and universty admissions indefinitely? So instead of running away from the problem, it must be handled now.

The government must do whatever it takes to ensure that JAMB is convinced on the security of its centres in the state. It must not sit back and see the twelve years it invested in its candidates washed away by the fear of a Boko Haram attack.

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos, Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 606 3308. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.com ISSN: 2141– 6141