Peoples Daily Newspaper, Tuesday, August 07, 2012

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 8 No. 97

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

. . . putting the people first

JTF alerts Maiduguri Gunmen kill 16 residents of car church worshippers snatchings in Okene >> PAGE 2

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Ramadan 19, 1433 AH

N150

Nzeribe challenges Clark on Boko Haram

Ramadan Timing for Abuja

>> PAGE 5

See other towns on Page 3

Magrib 6.51

Alfijr 5.09

Tension in Jos as STF demolishes market From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

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he atmosphere in Jos, the Plateau state capital, was tense yesterday as the Task Force on Jos City Renewal embarked on the demolition of illegal shops at the Terminus market.

The taskforce headed by General Musa Gambo (rtd), aided by men of the Special Task Force and police personnel, commenced the demolition exercise at 7:30 pm on Sunday, which lasted till 5:00 am yesterday.

The traders unknowingly resumed at their shops only for them to discover that their structures have been pulled down while security was tight in the market to avert any break down of law and order within the market and state in general.

Our correspondent gathered that most traders lost property as a result of the exercise though a few of them who came early were able to salvage some of their goods.

The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Yiljap Abraham, said the traders were given notice since last year. He added that government is working towards the implementation of the Jos Master Plan saying a lot of sensitisation was undertaken by Contd on Page 2

L-R: Secretary to Sokoto State Government, Alhaji Sahabi Isa Gada, the state Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, Commissioner for Information, Malam Danladi Bako, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Information, Alhaji Bello kware, during the commissioning of ultra modern broadcast van by the governor yesterday at Government House, in Sokoto.

NAICOM revokes licences of 3 insurance firms

By Aminu Imam and Abdulwahab Isa

T

he National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) yesterday announced the suspension of Alliance and General Insurance Company Ltd, A&G Life Assurance Plc and Fidelity Bond Insurance Brokers from transacting further insurance business for a period of six months with effect from yesterday, August 6, 2012.

In a statement issued by the

Commission’s Deputy Commissioner, Technical, Ibrahim Hassan, announcing the sanction, it said the measure followed the failure of the respective companies to comply with relevant provisions of the National Insurance Commission Act 1997 and the Insurance Act 2003.

Specifically, the offences of the companies include non-rendition of accounts, misrepresentation and non-disclosure of liabilities, non-remittance of premiums and

commissions and corporate governance abuses.

According to the statement: "The commission, in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by the enabling laws also stated that the suspension order may further be extended at the end of six months until such a period when the Commission was satisfied that the violation of the provisions of the National Insurance Commission Act 1997 and the Insurance Act 2003 has been addressed and “the method of

transacting business is no longer hazardous to the policy holders and potential clients”.

The Insurance Act 2003, stipulates that underwriting firms which failed to file financial returns and accounts before June 30 deadline, is liable to pay a fine of N5,000 per day of default.

NAICOM had last month sent warning signals to operators of insurance firms that the issue of unethical practices would not be tolerated in the insurance sector.

Specifically, the Commission

has vowed to wield the sledgehammer on operators (underwriting companies, insurance brokers, loss adjusters Contd on Page 2

The affected firms 1. Alliance and General Insurance Company Ltd 2. A&G Life Assurance Plc 3. Fidelity Bond Insurance Brokers

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Editorial

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Boko Haram: JTF alerts Maiduguri residents over car snatching

Op.Ed

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From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

Letters

14

Opinion

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he Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in Borno state, yesterday, alerted residents of Maiduguri, the capital city to be more security conscious especially regarding their vehicles as terrorist have now begun

CONTENTS News

2-11

Metro

16-18

Business

19-20

Discourse

26

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Health

29-30

The statement reads in part: “Information available to the JTF in Maiduguri indicated that there have been desperate moves by Boko Haram terrorists to steal/ snatch vehicles to be used for terrorists’ activities by implanting improvised explosive devices (IED) in vehicles and for suicide bombing.

“The taskforce wishes to alert members of the public, particularly those whose vehicles have been stolen, to immediately report such incidents to the nearest police station or to the JTF as such vehicles if used for terrorism acts, would lead to owners of such vehicles being treated as collaborators and accomplices”.

Police arrest specialised robbery gang in Kogi From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

Education 27-28

snatching of cars to be used for suicide attacks.

A statement signed by the Field Operations Commander of the JTF, Col. Victor Ebhaleme and issued to newsmen, alleged that as parts of their desperation for bloody suicide attacks, members of the Boko Haram sect are snatching vehicles at gun point.

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he Kogi State Police Command made a major breakthrough yesterday when it swooped on a gang specialised in using high caliber explosives in robbing banks in the state arresting four of its members.

The gang were said to have been responsible in the series of bank robberies and bombings of police stations in recent times in the state with no fewer than 10 different banks in different locations in the state invaded.

While briefing newsmen

yesterday, the state police commissioner, Mohammed Katsina, said his men also impounded a “mobile armoury” where all sorts of arms and ammunition including 19 antipersonnel locally made bombs were discovered.

He said the armed robbers were on their way to rob a commercial bank in Akure when his men acting on a tip off intercepted them along Okene- Ogori high way, stressing that on interrogation the men of the underworld confessed to killing two policemen when they went to

rob an old generation bank in Iyara, in Ijumu local government areas of the state.

Also arrested was one James Ogunporisa who claimed to be a medical doctor and the medical director of Charity Clinic, Okene.

He was said to be using his medical facility to treat some of the robbers who sustained injuries during the exchange of gun fire with the police without reporting to the police.

Also paraded were another eight- man gang who specialised in robbing innocent passengers

along the ever busy Abuja- Lokoja - Okene highway with the gang leader identified as a popular shoe maker in Okene.

The police commissioner said his men carried out nine successful operations in different locations of the state within the weekend arresting no fewer than 30 hoodlums with 12 exotic cars and buses recovered.

Other items recovered include 21 single barrel guns, two locally made pistols, one Mark-4 rifle, four units of AK 47 rifles and 1,501 round of AK 47 ammunition, among others.

Akume alleges plot to remove him as Minority Leader

By Richard Ihediwa

Mecca for the rich: Islam’s holiest site ‘turning into Vegas’, Pages 24-25

International 32-34 Digest

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Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

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

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S

enat e Minority Leader, Senator George Akume (ACN Benue) has alleged plots by some political elements to destabilise the current stability of the Senate and truncate its leadership structure for their selfish gains.

Akume, who disclosed to some newsmen in Abuja, said some treacherous elements were targeting to destabilise and weaken the minority leadership in the Senate, which he currently heads.

He said the forces are sponsoring certain unfounded political issues fabricated to pave way for his removal as Minority Leader but noted that the minority groups was united and would resists such attempts.

“I do believe treachery and conspiracy are at work. There are certain people who are sponsoring this thing. Somebody is going round mobilising malicious fabrications against me. This is politics and we have a situation of anomy where norms and values appear to have broken down. I

have said that human history is replete with people with inordinate ambitions. They will criticize you until they achieve their objectives. I think this is nothing new. It is part of our political culture here. Unless you are there, the person who is there can never be allowed to operate”, Akume said.

He said one of those behind the plot called him recently and wished him a happy recess, which he saw as a height of treachery.

Asked if he has any problem with members of his party or the

party leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Akume said there was no crack in the ranks of the minority in the Senate adding that he was also in good terms with his members as well as the party leader.

“Our party is a highly disciplined party. We are united. I don’t have any problem with the leader of my party. I have no problem with Asiwaju. We have no problem whatsoever. This thing has nothing to do with Asiwaju.

Asiwaju is at home with virtually every Nigerian,” he said.

Tension in Jos as STF demolishes market Contd from Page 1 the state government through radio and television announcements asking the traders to relocate to Rukuba Road Market.

Yiljap said adequate security measures have been put in place to secure the lives and property of the traders and their prospective customers irrespective of their religious, ethnic and political affiliations.

However, some of the traders

who spoke to our correspondent said the Rukuba Road Market is not suitable for business as most people are familiar with the terminus market.

One of the market women, Mama Grace, also faulted the state government for not giving adequate time for the traders to raise money to rent shops at the Rukuba Market.

Another trader, Sani Adamu said as a Muslim, the Rukuba Road Market is not safe for.

Giving further explanation on why the demolition was carried out, Pastor Yiljap said: “We needed to bring sanity and serenity into the city; we are reducing congestion and bringing orderliness into our city. It is part of our plan toward a cleaner, greener, healthier and beautiful city under the Greater Jos Master Plan. “’Before we got to this point of demolition, the taskforce had held meetings with stakeholders

from January when it was set up; undertook radio and TV enlightenment campaigns and other sensitisation programmes. It's being done in phases, and pretty soon, you will see illegal motor parks, animal markets and other places that offend the master plan being relocated from the city centre.

It will continue. So we ask people to take relocation and quit orders quite serious so as to avoid losses”.

NAICOM revokes licences of 3 insurance firms Contd from Page 1 and agents) who fail to comply with the 2010 code of conduct guidelines in the course of doing insurance business.

Apparently to consolidate on the current reforms taking place in the industry, the regulatory authority hinted that its search light would be focused on the observed unethical practices

such as inadequate rating, withholding of premium/ commission, claims falsification, falsification of returns to the regulators, bribes and inducements, the under-current ploys by operators to win business in the industry.

These measures is contained in the 2010 code of conduct guidelines released by the

Commission which set out the business practice that would be strictly adhere to by every insurance operator in Nigeria effective January 1, 2010.

The guidelines which stipulated stiff sanction for noncompliance, however, warned operators that would continue to behave as if anything and everything is possible, that

NAICOM would deal decisively with aberration and will also collaborate actively with other regulatory and security agencies to curb market misbehaviour.

Last year, NAICOM sanctioned more than 19 licensed underwriting firms for failure to submit their 2010 financial report within the stipulated June 30 deadline.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 3

Beggars storm Lagos Assembly over ejection from roads

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undreds of beggars on Sunday staged a peaceful protest to the Lagos State House Assembly over been ejected from the streets in the state.

President, Association of Physically Challenged, Alhaji Jubril Hassan, said the government was wrong to have asked beggars off the streets where they were enjoying their social rights.

Hassan also said it was illegal to deny them their fundamental freedom of movement.

“We adopted this medium to

express our displeasure and unhappiness with the actions taken and the one to be taken by the Lagos State government.

Hassan explained that in most cases, all their belongings had been seized, while they were also maltreated by the management of the camp.

He, therefore, appealed to the government to rescind its decision of denying the beggars the right to move freely within the state as the policy will further aggravate their suffering, instead of alleviating it.

He called on the media, the

NGOs and human rights activists to come to their aid.

Hassan urged the state government to look into their plight and allow them to continue with their daily activities in the state.

The protesters were received

by Mr. Babatunde Panox, Special Adviser to Gov. Babatunde Fashola on Security as the assemblymen were on recess.

He advised them not to take the law into their hands, promising that the government would find solutions to their problems. (NAN)

Boko Haram claims attacks on Gombe, Borno,Yobe

By Stanley Onyekwere, with agency report

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am a’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad, better known as Boko Haram, has claimed to have killed many soldiers in last weekend’s attacks against security operatives in Gombe, Yobe and Borno states.

According to an agency report Sunday, Abul Qaqa, the purported spokesperson of the sect, said that the security operatives were killed in Kaleri, Maiduguri, Damaturu, and Gombe.

In an email sent to reporters, Qaqa said, “on Saturday at about 6 o’clock in the evening, our warriors and Allah’s followers on a mission

were attacked by security operatives of the JTF at Kaleri in Maiduguri. As Allah’s grace is on us, we succeeded in killing and sending many of them to their graves” It would be recalled that on Sunday, a suicide bomber attacked a military checkpoint in Damaturu, killing nine soldiers and two civilians.

Jigawa CP deploys strategy Daylight robbers cart to combat crime away millions from Kantin Kwari From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

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From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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rm ed robbers riding on motorcycles stormed Kantin Kwari market in Kano yesterday and carted away millions of naira in a broad daylight.

Eyewitness accounts said the robbers numbering six stormed the popular market around 2.30pm on motorcycles and one Golf car and raided a shop belonging to Sampa Investment LTD where they made away with huge amounts of money said to be running into millions of naira in a sack.

The account added that the gunmen came out of the market after they took away the money and started shooting sporadically a situation that caused panic in the market as people scampered for safety.

Some policemen on duty in a nearby bank were said to have opened fire in response as the gunmen took to their heels and abandoned their car before snatching a Honda Civic car at gunmen point as they fled the area.

Kano state Police Public Relation officer (PPRO) Rilwan Muammad Dutse, confirmed the incident saying that the robbers carted away unspecified amounts of money in three Ghana-must-go bags.

n an effort to combat crime, the Jigawa state police command has employed effective strategies to curtail activities of criminals especially the menace of armed robbers and feud between pastoralists and farmers.

The state commissioner of police Mr. Kayode Joel Theophilus stated this at a press briefing held at the command’s headquarters yesterday.

He said the strategies have yielded positive results, adding that "this would not have been possible without the commitment from the officers, men of the command and sister security agencies and the citizen of the state.

Mr. Kayode noted that the command expects each Area commander, DPO and HOD to take the lead in changing the attitudes of officers and men to work and totally curb all corrupt tendencies.

Osun inaugurates Swift Action Squad From Inumidun Ojelade, Osogbo

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overnor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State yesterday said the state is no longer a safe place for crimes and criminal activities with the inauguration of a Joint Security Outfit called the Swift Action Squad (SAS) in Osogbo.

In a speech entitled: “The Security of Our people is Nonnegotiable,” Aregbesola said the primary responsibility of a

responsible government as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution was the security and welfare of the people.

He vowed that the state was henceforth a ‘no-go area’ for criminally-minded people either within the state or across other states.

He said there was need to impose peace and security in the state so that people would have freedom to go about their honest businesses without fear, let or hindrance.

Gunmen kill 16 church worshippers in Okene

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nk nown gunmen on Monday night invaded the Deeper Life Church at Otite area in Okene, Kogi state and killed 16 worshippers and wounded many others.

The Commander of the Joint Military Task Force in Lokoja, LtCol. Gabriel Olorunyomi, confirmed the incident.

He said 15 worshippers died instantly in the attack while another

died on the way to the hospital.

The commander said that many injured persons were rushed to hospitals in Lokoja, a distance of 40 minutes drive on the road from Okene.

He said the casualty figure might rise considering that some sustained heavy injuries.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as yet.

(NAN)

RAMADAN TIMING Day 19 Towns

Magrib

Alfijr

Aba Abakaliki Abeokuta Abuja Akure Argungu Ankpa Auchi Azare Bama Bauchi Benin Bichi Bida Birnin Gwari Birnin Kebbi Biu Calabar Damaturu Daura Dutse Enugu Funtua Gombe Gwoza Gumi Gusau Gwadabawa Hadejia Ibadan Ife Ilorin Jalingo Jere Jos Kabba Kafanchan Keffi/Nasarawa Kaduna Kano Katsina Kontagora Lafia Lagos Lokoja Maiduguri Makurdi Malumfashi Minna Port Harcourt Potiskum Ringim Shagamu Sokoto Warri Yola Zaria Cotonou-Benin Ndjamena-Chad Niamey – Niger Younde – Cameroun

6.48 6.46 7 . 05 6.52 6.56 7 .07 6.48 6.53 5.44 6.30 6.43 6.55 6.52 6.5 7 6.55 7 .09 6.32 6.43 6.3 7 6.52 6.48 6.48 6.56 6.39 6.30 7 .04 6.5 7 7 . 05 6.46 7 .03 7 .02 7 .03 6.35 6.51 5.46 6.56 6.49 6.46 6.53 6.51 6.56 7 . 00 6.46 7 .04 6.53 6.32 6.46 6.56 6.56 6.48 6.40 6.51 7 .03 7 . 05 6.54 6.31 6.53 7 .07 6.35 7 .1 8 6.29

5.09 5.09 5.26 5 . 07 5.18 5.10 5.08 5.14 4.50 4.3 7 4.56 5.19 4.58 5.12 5.08 5.13 4.38 5.10 4.43 4.55 4.55 5.10 5.03 4.50 4.39 5.10 5.03 5.08 4.50 5.23 5.20 5.19 5.00 5.04 4.59 5.14 5.02 5.02 5.04 4.5 7 4.59 5.13 5.02 5.26 5.11 4.38 5.04 4.59 5.09 5.15 4.48 4.5 7 5.24 5.08 5.19 5.22 5.02 5.31 4.41 5.19 4.58

RECOMMENDED DU’A FOR DAY 19 Pray a 50 Raka’at, after Nawafil. In every Raka’ah, after the recitation of Al-Faatihah, recite Sura Al-Zilzaal. After the Salaam recite 100 times: “ALLAAHUMMA SWALLI ‘ALAA MUH’AMMADIN WA AALI MUHAMMAD”. Then say this DU’A: Allahumma waffir feehi min barakaatihi wa sahhil sabeelee ilaa khayraatihee wa sahhil sabeelee ilaa khayraatihee wa laa tahrimnee qabuula hasanaatihi wa haadiyan ilal-haqqil mubeen.

Meaning: O Allah multiply my share, in this month, on account of its abundant blessings, make easy and smooth my means and ways to reach its mercy and bounties, and do not prevent me from getting its good, O He who guides unto the unto the clear truth.

Source: Mafatihul Jinan

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

THE PAGE 4 REPORT

Between NASS, Okonjo-Iweala and budget (non) implementation The ‘noise’ between the executive and the legislative arms of government over the implementation or otherwise of the national budget around this time of the year is an all too familiar sound to the ears of most Nigerians; there is always a feeling of déjà vu about it. On August 13, 2002, the Honourable Umar Ghali Na’Abba-led House of Representatives gave then President Olusegun Obasanjo a two-week ultimatum within which to resign or be impeached.

The House’s grouse against President Obasanjo was his alleged failure to implement budgets as passed by the Parliament, among other abuses of office. However, the lower chamber’s resolve was allegedly tampered by the intervention of some eminent Nigerians, among them former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) and Second Republic President Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari.

Therefore, to what extent the present House of Representatives will go to express its angst at President Goodluck Jonathan-led EXCO’s failure to successfully implement the 2012 budget as passed remains to be seen.

In this special report, Abdu Labaran Malumfashi takes a look at some of the issues behind the battle of wits between the First and Second Estates of the Realm.

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efore they went on break on 19 July, 2012, members of the House of Representatives had condemned the poor implementation of the 2012 national budget by President Jonathan and resolved that the government must achieve 100 per cent implementation by September 18 or face impeachment proceedings, alleging that the implementation of the 2012 appropriation was less than 30 % to date.

The impeachment debate on budget implementation was kickstarted by the Minority Leader, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) who suggested that if the economy was not given the proper impetus by the executive by September then the House may not have any option but to start impeachment process against the President.

In his submission, the lawmaker from Surulere Federal Constituency in Lagos state, argued that “the President had come to the floor of the House with a budget which he called transformation budget but it is a budget of abracadabra and voodoo.

“The president is not doing anybody any favour as constituency projects are done all over the world.

“I have met the President, he is a fine man and I like him. But I like my country more, because when the budget is not implemented, our constituents suffer and it leads to lack of infrastructure; so come September, if the budget is not 100 per cent implemented, we will start to throw articles of impeachment at the president” However, mid way in his submission, he was interrupted by Hon Nado Terembe from Bayelsa state, who observed that Order 9 Rule 61 was being violated.

According to him, “Gbajabiamila’s contribution is not in alignment with the first motion

or bill on the floor so impeaching the president is not relevant in this issue”.

But the Minority Leader quickly countered by pointing out “a superior Order which is Section 143 of the constitution. For avoidance of doubts the President may be removed in accordance with the law whenever he is found guilty in the performance of his duties.”

Then a motion tagged “the nonimplementation of the 2012 budget” by Honourable Albert Sam-Tsokwa of the majority Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Taraba state, supported by 20 others on the low implementation of budget by the Executive, was adopted by the entire House.

Describing the budget as an annual national failure, the lawmaker stated that only 30 per cent of the 2012 budget was implemented on average. To Hon. Tsokwa, there was a cause for alarm given the fact that seven months into the 2012 fiscal year, reports from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) indicated that the recurrent expenditure had been wellimplemented while the capital expenditure suffered low implementation.

According to him, the budget, which was passed and signed into law by the president, reflected the application of the highest degree of fiscal responsibility by the National Assembly.

He lamented that seven months into the 2012 fiscal year, capital budget implementation by various MDA’s was far below expectations.

However, no sooner was the position of the lower chamber of the NASS made public by its spokesman Hon Zakari Mohammed than the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala came out to claim that the level of

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal budget implementation was 56% and not less than 30% as alleged by the Reps.

But the lower chamber stuck to its gun with Representative Zakari Mohammed insisting that the resolution on impeachment proceedings against the President if budget implementation was not up to 100 per cent by September 18 still stood.

He stressed that it was “a resolution of the House, not a resolution by one person. There is nothing that can be done to change that resolution before September 18.The House is on break; we are not working now. We cannot continue to respond to the same old issue.”

But in an apparent volte face, the Minister of Finance on Thursday last week confessed before the Senate that in the course of executing the 2012 budget, monies were moved from one area to the other without recourse to the National Assembly.

Reacting to the interrogation of the Senate Joint Committee on Appropriation, Finance, National Planning and Public Account, the minister put the implementation of the budget over the entire year at 13.7% and not the 56% she has earlier claimed.

Explaining the performance of the budget further, the minister pointed out that though N446 billion out of the capital allocation of N1.3 trillion ought to have been released from April to July, only N404billion had been released, N324billion cash-backed, N184billion utilised.

The N184billion, according to her, represents a budget execution of 41.3 percent from April to July 2012.

“Out of the total capital budget of N1.3 trillion, we’ve so far released N404 billion, cash-backed N324billio out of which 56 percent has been used meaning that there is still 44 percent of resources not used. We’re working to see that even the 44 percent left, is used.

“We’ve released all the monies available. If we look at the pro-rata for those four months, N446billion should have been released for capital expenditure, but we’ve released N404billion, and you look at the cash-backing, the utilisation as a percentage of that, that will be a proper way of looking at the budget.

“If you look at that ratio, you’d see that we should have released N446bn from April to July, we cash-backed N324bn, N184bn has been utilised and this gives you, if you want to look at the execution part of the budget, 41.3 percent. I have not talked about budget implementation before, I only spoke about the utilisation of the resources, but now, in terms of the budget, this is the way we will present it,” she stated.

The Minister further said that, ‘’N1.3trillion was appropriated for capital projects outside of SUREProgramme (SURE-P), but if you if you add SURE-P to it, you get N1.5 trillion. If you pro-rate that amount months by months, because budget execution is supposed to take place month by month, you get a figure of N113billion each month. If you want to measure it (budget execution) over the entire year, that means measuring it over 12 months, you get a figure of 13.7 percent. But we have been implementing for four months and we have been releasing like that because our money comes in every month, not in bulk,’’.

On the contentious constituency projects, the minister said: “We absolutely have no problem with constituency projects, the projects are there, and neither the president nor any one has said that (there is a problem with the constituency projects).”

But as some analysts point out, since the advent of the current administration in 2007, there has been a constant bickering between the Executive and the lawmakers over the serial failure to implement budgets wholly. While the National

Assembly blamesthe ministries, departments and agencies of government for poor budget implementation, the MDAs on their part often blame the Federal Ministry of Finance for not releasing funds as and when due, and the Bureau for Public Procurement whose Due Process Office allegedly delays approving proposals for contractors.

Since the return of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, budgets have consistently been submitted late to the legislature by the executive for approval and the legislature always approves the budgets in the last month of the first quarter of the year.

C o n s e q u e n t l y , implementation suffers not only because of the delayed approval but also on the account of the disparity between the amounts appropriated and the estimated revenue. There is always allegation of tinkering with budget proposals at the NASS with the connivance of benefiting MDA’s.

As Mr. Idumange John, the Deputy President of Niger Delta Integrity Group points out in an article published in an on-line publication, The Will, “Two factors distort budget implementation in Nigeria; late or non release of allocations and also expenditure indiscipline”, with the weakest link in the budgeting implementation process being, according to him, “the lack of political will on the part of the Executive to do the right thing.

The second critical flaw is the inability of the NASS to carry out its oversight functions”.

But beyond the issue of low budget implementation, there are other perceived offences of the president, for which some members of the House of Representatives are allegedly drawing a list. Some of these offences include, (1) the state of insecurity in the country, (2) renaming university of Lagos to Moshood Abiola University without getting the National Assembly to amend the law establishing the institution, (3) the president’s alleged biased preference to develop his south south region, in terms of carrying out capital projects in the 2012 budget and (4) the extra budgetary expenses incurred by the executive, contrary to section 80 (2), (3) and (4) of the 1999 constitution. All these amount to a gross misconduct punishable with impeachment.

So, whether members of the lower chamber will walk their talk in the event of failure of the Executive to step up the tempo on the performance of the budget, only time will tell. But if experience is any useful guide, then Nigerians should prepare for a disappointment, because on these shores, the executive arm of the government seems to always find a way of reaching an “accommodation”, which is often not unamenable to the opposition.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Commissioner assures constituents of development From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

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he new Commissioner for Water Resources in Kogi st ate, Ba rris ter Adi za Onotu, has promised to use her ne w po siti on t o b ring abo ut un ity and ac cele rat ed development to Kogi Central and the entire state.

Th e c omm issi one r w ho made this promise in Okene during a ceremony in honour of Alhaji Yahaya Karaku who wa s r ecen tly ap poin ted a Sp ecia l A dvi ser, the state governor, Ca pt Id ri s W ad a, sa id with out un ity the re ca nno t be an y m eani ngf ul de velo pmen t.

She said tho ugh, min dful of he r p osit ion as a co mmis sio ner for the who le state, Adiza stressed that the recent violence and disunity among the peop le of central calls for serious concern.

According to her, the area ha s dr ift ed f rom the rig ht part for too l ong, which she said wa s responsible for the near zero development in the area, calling on all the leaders to close ranks for a better fu tu re .

Again, Bakare lampoons Mrs. Jonathan

By Stanley Onyekwere with agency report

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astor Tunde Bakare's bracing criticism of the state of Nigerian politics under President Goodluck Jonathan continued last Sunday, with his spotlight turning on Mrs.Patience Jonat han.

A report by Sahara reporters states that before delivering his latest salvo in a series that began on July 22, Bakare reviewed his previous sermon titled "How to Change the Government Peacefully."

He remarked that "whether anybody likes it or not, we are not waiting for time to tell. The time is already telling.

However, Bakare in his sermon titled "Personal Insecurity/Inferiority Aborts Your Destiny (Part 1)," lampooned the First Lady's recent 'covetous behaviour', describing her as person suffering from a psyche of characteristic inferiority.

The activist pastor, who was a vice presidential candidate to General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), asserted that the first lady's background which he described as 'a stark pauper' caused her to seek "aggressive compensation."

PAGE 5

Tell us all you know about Boko Haram, Nzeribe challenges Clark

By Lawrence Olaoye

M

averick Senator Nzeribe,

politician, Arthur has

challenged Ijaw leader and elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, to tell Nigerians all he knows about the sponsors of the Boko Haram sect instead of casting

R-L: Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, and Deputy Chief of Staff State House, Alhaji Abubakar Kachalla, walking back to VP's office after their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

aspersions on some Northern leaders.

Answering questions on the state of the nation especially on the general insecurity in the country and the Boko Haram menace, Nzeribe condemned the measures being taken by the government to tackle the activities of agents of terror and sundry issues.

He said "I don't seem to agree with the way the President is handling the matter. The President once said the Boko Haram people have penetrated the government, why has he not made any arrest? We should know who they are beyond the President telling us that they are in his government.

"On Clark's statement that Babangida and Buhari should openly condemn the sect, I thought Clark has a platform to say what he has in mind. He has been the spokesman of the government for quite sometime now. Why is he throwing the balloon in the air for it to burst?

He should tell us what he knows.

"Clark did not go the full hog.

If he has fingered one or two persons, then we would have known where he was going. " Nzeribe berated President Goodluck Jonathan for failing to heed to National Judicial Council (NJC)'s recommendation that Justice Ayo Salami should be reinstated as the President of the Court of Appeal after being

cleared of any wrongdoing in the prolonged battle with former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Katsina Alu. He said such flagrant abuse of the law by the President is being copied by state governors like that of Imo state who now ignores court orders at will.

He also described as an effort in futility the threat by the House of Representatives to impeach President Goodluck Jonathan, stating that high level of corruption in the system makes it impossible for any serious-minded legislature to successfully carry out an impeachment process.

"I don't think that the House has the right to summon the President, but there is nothing wrong with the President walking across the road and say 'I have come to brief you'.

You can't continue to threaten to impeach the President all the time"', he cautioned. Nzeribe, who spoke at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja on Sunday night, said he was concerned about the political developments and in his home state, Imo. He said the state is not only groaning under a rudderless leadership as evidenced in the activities of Governor Rochas Okorocha but may also sink deeper with the 'cowardice' being exhibited by those who should ordinarily speak against the 'democratic ap athy .'

Court restrains Lagos musician from organising carnival From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

J

ustice Ibironke Harrison of a Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere, yesterday restrained a popular Fuji musician, Alhaji Saheed Osupa and five others from organising any form of carnival, show or programmme tagged ''1st Ever Ijeshatedo Day (One Love Carnival)''.

The judge gave the order in a suit filed by Oba Lateef Abayomi Dauda, Chief Tajudeen Ishola Odubiyi, Chief Buari Abu Oloto and Chief Yahaya Idris on behalf of the Onitire Chieftaincy family of Itere, Lagos.

Others restrained by the court include Chief Adio Mustapher, Hon. Akeem Adisa Bangbola, the Commissioner, Ministry of Local

Government and Chieftaincy Affairs , Lagos state and Prince Ade Oshin (respondents) respectively.

The applicants had through their lawyer, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN) in a Motion Exparte brought pursuant to Order 39 Rule 3 of the Lagos High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2004 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court prayed the court to restrain the respondents either by themselves, their agents, servants from organising, hosting or commencing any form of carnival, show or gathering tagged ''1st Ever Ijeshatedo Day (One Love Carnival) pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.

The said event is to hold on August 26, at Imam Shuaib Street

by Ogunlana Bus-Stop, Ijeshadedo, Lagos.

In a 35-pragraph affidavit deposed to by one Chief Yahaya Olaseni Idris, he stated that by virtue of the Supreme Court judgment in Suit N0-SC 151/ 1974 delivered on April 30, 1975, the applicants are the traditional owners and persons entitled to the statutory right of occupancy of vast area of land situated at Itire and Ijeshatedo area of Lagos state.

He stated that the respondents by virtue of a poster tagged ''1st Ever Ijeshatedo Day (One Love Carnival'' where the photograph of Alhaji King Shaeed Osupa was conspicuously displayed and the Chief Adio Mustapha (1st respondent) was represented as the royal host of the event.

The deponent added that the

1st respondent by describing himself as ''Royal Father'' of Ijeshatedo land has by implication taken over the title to the land of Ijeshatedo which the Supreme Court has adjudged to belong to the Onitire chieftaincy family.

He stated that the 1st respondent was also represented in the said poster as the Adele of Ijeshatedo and Baale in Council, a position which is unknown to the governing body for chieftaincy affairs and to the Itire Community.

He stated further that the only royal house recognised by law in the entire Itire Ijeshatedo and its environs, is the Onitire Chieftaincy family.

Justice Harrison adjourned further hearing till August 8, 2012.

DANA Crash: Smoke frustrates hearing into inquest From Francis Iwuchukwu, Lagos

C

oroner's inquest into the Dana Air crash of June 3, 2012, was yesterday frustrated due to an electrical fault that caused smoke in the court room.

The Coroner, Magistrate Oyetade Komolafe said, he was rising because of the safety of the people and also that the technical crew of the court could make

amendments.

Magistrate Komolafe had earlier requested that the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) to tender an extract of the technical Log book of the ill fated Dana air craft.

At the resumed hearing of the matter, Engineer Emmanuel Dilla said the technical log book of the aircraft is in the custody of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB).

While being cross -examined by

Funmi Falana, Dialla told the court that the technical log book contains the records of the aircraft on a daily basis.

He also informed the Coroner, that the Deferred Detected List (DDL) are information contained in the technical log book.

Dilla explained that there are two black boxes, the flight recorder and the copy voice recorder and they are located at the tail end of the aircraft.

He said, the Flight recorder was not recovered due to over heating but the copy voice recorder was recovered.

"The copy voice recorder (CVR) had temperature burning but we were able to download all the necessary information needed for the investigation, "Dialla said.

He also explained that the captain of the air craft had made a distress call about the two engines that failed.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Nasarawa police command decries poor logistics From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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he Nasarawa state Police Command has lamented the lack of operational vehicles, saying it is making it difficult for the force to tackle the rising spate of crime across the state.

This is in addition to the fact that Governor Umaru Tanko AlMakura is yet to fulfill the promise

he made six months ago, to supply vehicles to the command.

Following incessant armed robbery attacks, particularly along Akwanga-Andaha road, commuters have raised alarm over the issue, citing the inability of the police to squarely address the challenge.

However, investigations by our reporter revealed that in the

Akwanga division of the command, not less than 400 policemen have only one operational vehicle, despite having to cover at least four roads, with the entire command only able to rally seven vehicles from across the state to confront an emergency that occurred some months back.

Sources further disclosed that

many of the local governments and all the development areas lacked operational vehicles to facilitate the work of the police force.

It would be recalled that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan voted over N900b as security vote in the 2012 budget, yet the police remained incapacitated by the lack of logistics, insufficient manpower and a conducive working environment, making the security challenges across the country to continue to deteriorate daily.

Zamfara emirate distributes N4m Ramadan welfare From Salisu ZakariMaradun, Gusau

A

s the holy month of Ramadan enters its finishing phase a number of well-to-do persons, including the Zurmi Emirate Council of Zamfara state have continued to donate to the less privileged ones among them.

Speaking to our reporter in his palace shortly after the distribution of the materials, the Emir of Zurmi, Aihaji Abubakar Atiku, said the emirate single handedly expended the sum of over N4 million to purchase the already distributed materials.

Atiku explained that the Emirate, being one of the biggest in the state, decided to assist 2000 people within the emirate, who were drawn from the 16 districts under his leadership.

He also disclosed that the gesture is meant to get the blessing of Allah , calling on other emirate councils and wealthy people to follow suit.

He further stated that the gesture has been the tradition of the Emirate for over 50 years, since his father was alive.

Assisting needy better than going to Umrah - Cleric L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Dr. Danladi Kifasi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Mr. Nebolisa Emodi, and Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Captain Adamu Biu, during the sub-regional workshop on Single Window, organised by NSC, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Lawmaker calls for prayers against Boko Haram in Kogi From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

A

gainst the backdrop of the Boko Haram resurgence in the country, a member of Kogi State House of Assembly representing Omala constituency, Hon Aliyu Akuh,

has called on Nigerians to embark on fervent prayers to curtail the menace.

He said that when all approaches have failed, prayers and fasting have been known in all ages as weapons against the machinations of the wicked.

Hon. Akuh gave the admonition over the weekend at Ofejiji, in Omala local government area of the state during the interment of an uncle of Dr. Moses Atakpa, the state head of service.

He reiterated that both Christians

and Muslims in this month of Ramadan should close ranks to give useful suggestions to government on how to curb the menace, stressing that the new dimension has shown that the enemies of the country are waging war against the unity of the nation.

NASENI partners Bauchi government on innovation

By Joy Baba

T

he National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), has concluded plans to use modern tools in science and technology to jumpstart efficient growth of the economy of Bauchi state.

The partnership is envisaged in the transfer of technical know-how, technology skill acquisition and

capacity building.

This was contained in a press statement issued by Chief Information Officer (Media and Protocol) of NASENI, Mr. Segun Ayeoyenikan.

According to the statement, "The MoU includes the resuscitation of the near moribund Heavy Machinery and Equipment Development Institute (HEMEDI) located in Bauchi by the Federal Government

since 2004 which is yet to take off."

Specified areas of collaborations as stated in the MoU include: foundry technology, energy, science kits production, glassware/wood technology, computer aided design/ manufacturing, electrical equipment and power management, electrical/ electronics, advanced materials, including nanotechnology, advanced Manufacturing

Technology (AMT) facilities, joint evaluation of entrepreneurs among others.

The agreement was signed by the Acting Director-General of NASENI, Engr. Mohammed Sani Haruna and the Bauchi state government, represented by the Commissioner for Science and Technology, Alhaji Bala Abdullahi, who led the Bauchi government's delegation to NASENI headquarters.

NEMA seeks closer collaborations with UN-OCHA

By Mohammed Kandi

T

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is seeking stronger partnership with the United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in addressing disaster related challenges ravaging socio-economic

activities in countries of the Sahel region.

NEMA's Director-General, Muhammead Sani-Sidi, who made the request while receiving the new Regional Humanitarian Coordinator on the Sahel's mission to Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja, also appealed that Nigeria should be designated the hub of its humanitarian activities

within the West African subregion.

Sani-Sidi said: "The Sahel region is characterised with fragile ecosystem which is highly vulnerable to climate change due its geographical location in the southern edge of the Sahara Desert coupled with the strong dependence of the population on rain-fed agriculture and livestock

as a means of livelihood," the DG explained.

He said a combination of natural and human induced disasters were making life difficult for those living within the region but informed that "most climate models predict that the Sahel region will experience lower than average rainfall in the 21st century."

From Salisu Zakari Maradun, Gusau

A

n Islamic scholar based in Gusau , capital of Zamfara state, Shekh Tukur Jangebe, has observed that majority of those going to Umrah (lesser Hajj) are only going there for funfair, saying that anything done for fun will not be rewarded.

Sheikh Jangebe, who was preaching at the Muslims Foundation Center along GRA area in Gusau, stated that trip to Umrah is unnecessary to majority of the people in so many definition of the Quran.

According to him, instead of such an unnecessary journey, the money should be used in assisting the needy especially in this holy month of Ramadhan.

The cleric said Allah frowns at those who are in the habit of extravagance. According to him, "This is extravagance.

When your brother or neighbour is in need of assistance and you have the means to do so but you, just smartly arranged and left for Umrah, it is better you give those in need at home than to go to that Umrah", he said.

Preaching further, Sheikh Jangebe revealed that the month of Ramadhan is one of the 12 Islamic months, "but God has given much priority to this month. In it, there is no violence, and everybody is expected to redouble whatever he is doing as far as the worshiping of Allah is concerned."

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 7

Railways commence haulage of cassava for export From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

E

fforts to achieve the goal of exporting cassava products by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has begun on a bright note as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) commences the haulage of cassava chips from Western part of Nigeria to Lagos ports for export to Asia and other countries.

The exercise is said to mark the beginning of the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Nigerian Railway Corporation and Federal Ministry of Agriculture with the corporation recently running the first train of 160 tonnes of cassava chips from Ilorin, Kwara state to Lagos seaport for onward movement to Asia.

Managing Director of NRC, Engr. Adeseyi Sijuwade expressed optimism that the corporation would take more market share of freight haulage as soon as Lagos Kano rail services begun.

Police nab alleged killer of STF operative From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

P

lateau state police command yesterday arrested one Adullahi Abubakar in connection with the murder of a mobile police officer attached to the Special Task Force (STF) popularly known as Operation Safe Haven deployed to restore normalcy in Plateau state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Dipo Emmanuel Ayeni, said the STF member was killed at his duty post at Filin Ball Area of Jos North local government area in the state and one Adullahi Abubakar was arrested in connection with the murder.

Ayeni disclosed that the suspect has been charged to court for murder of the STF personnel.

The suspect was arrested alongside four members of syndicates of armed robber alleged to be terrorising people in Mangu local government area of the state. The bandits were caught with five empty shells of 5.5mm and two empty shells of 7.62 mm ammunition.

The police boss said following a tip off in Langtang North division of the police, four armed robbery suspects who caused havoc and terrorised innocent people were arrested with one locally made pistol and one live ammunition.

Ayeni also isclosed that girls between the ages of 12 to 16 were prostituting and dancing naked at Pleasure Hotel and Mandala Hotels situated at Shendam Street and Rwang Pam Street and men and officers of the command raided the hotels and arrested the girls who are currently with the state Ministry of Social Development for rehabilitation.

L-R: Director-General, Budget Office, Mr. Bright Okogwu, Minister of Environment, Hajiya Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia, and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, after their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on the state of the economy, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye.

Bauchi needs N7bn to settle displaced persons From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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he Bauchi state government needs about N7 billion for the re-settlement of displaced persons coming from neighbouring states like Plateau, Yobe, Taraba, Kaduna and Gombe.

The Permanent Secretary,

State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Alhaji Mahmoud Garba, said in Bauchi yesterday that the money is to provide enabling environment for the displaced persons in 13 camps in the state.

The permanent secretary added that over one million people have already been re-

settled, yet about 862 families are to be re-settled in Toro, Tafawa-Balewa, Bauchi and Dass local government areas of the state with a charge on the Federal Government to complement the state’s effort through financial support.

Among the 13 IDP camps are Wuru-Jauro, MarrabanLiman Katagum,Wuro-Magaji,

. . . sets up 13-man c’ttee to overhaul state poly From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

B

auchi state government has set up a 13-man committee to separate the School of Agriculture from the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) and to facilitate the smooth take off of the newly established College of

Agriculture.

The State Commissioner of Education, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed Aminu, stated this while inaugurating the Committee in Bauchi saying the move to split the school followed the resolution passed by the State House of Assembly that ordered the government to demerge the

school from ATAP, to enable the state establish an autonomous college of agriculture.

According to him, when the college is established, it would play a significant role in the training of farmers on modern farming techniques and create job opportunities to the teeming unemployed youth.

Lere, Zabir and Magama Gumau, Road Block, in Bauchi state.

Alhaji Mahmood said that from 2001 till date, the Yuguda administration has released N50milion for the resettlement of IDPs through procurement of building materials, construction of schools, health institutions and provisions of social amenities like water and electricity.

Mahmood reiterated that United Nations stipulates only six months with an option to leave where normalcy has returned to the trouble area, saying most of the IDPs had vowed to remain in Bauchi state due to relative peace and government have since provided jobs to them.

Group advocates ICT in school curriculum

JUTI issues 21-day A ultimatum to Almakura T

By Muhammad Sada

From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

he Nasarawa State Joint Unions of Tertiary Institutions (JUTI), has given Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura a 21-day ultimatum to meet their demands or they will embark on an indefinite strike.

In a press statement jointly signed by the chairman and secretary of the union, Umaru Ibrahim Bako and Danlami Rabiu Yaro respectively, the body wants the governor to among other things, to pay the 18 months arrears of the

Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure which commenced on January1, 2009, but was implemented in Nasarawa state in January 2011.

JUTI had met with their respective unions and agreed to accept 12 months arrears and to forfeit six months for the development of the state, according to the statement,pointing out that up till date, no reply have been received from the government.

Peoples Daily gathered that the unions want the government to tackle some of the

problems which include the attempt by the government to withhold the balance of the personnel cost for the month of July 2012 and its resultant effects on some services in the institutions.

It is also observed that the Ministry of Education issued a circular to all secondary schools requesting their staff to submit their credentials for recruitment into the College of Agriculture, Lafia, saying “the development came as a surprise because this institution was established by an edict which provides for the employment, promotion and discipline of staff”.

nongovernmental organisation has pledged to provide necessary support for the successful implementation of the proposed Federal Government Rural Information Technology Centres to be built across the country, just as it advocated the inclusion of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in primary and secondary schools curriculum.

The group, identified as Basic Information and Communication System (BICS), disclosed this through their General Manager of BCIS-NIIT, Halima Umar, who spoke on the organization’s 13th scholarship programme in Abuja.

Umar noted that skill acquisition was the only antidote to youth unemployment which could be acquired through ICT.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Guns, ammunitions and motor-cycles recovered from armed robbers displayed at a news conference, yesterday at the police command headquarters, in Jos.

L-R: Gombe state deputy governor,, Mr Tha’anda Rubainu, executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius Okojie, and Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, sitting in a classroom at the federal university, Kashere, Gombe state, during the matriculation of its pioneer students, yesterday.

Photo: NAN

Photo: NAN

Home at the verge of collapse, yesterday at Agwuagune, Abi local government area of cross river due to flood.

Photo: NAN

Former stall owners scavenge after demolition of what used to be their shops at the railway terminus market, yesterday in Jos.

Photo: NAN

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Boko Haram: Jonathan talks tough, vows not to resign

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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resident Goodluck Jonathan, has described the call by the

No plans to abandon UNEP report on Ogoniland- FG

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

I

n reaction to the recent declaration of independence by elements in the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), the Federal Government yesterday declared that it has not abandoned the implementation of the 2011 report by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), which recommended action for the cleanup of decades of pollution in Ogoniland.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents after briefing President Goodluck Jonathan on preparations for the 2013 budget and policy thrust of the ministry, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Mailafia said the implementation had been interrupted by the nationwide protests which followed the January fuel subsidy crisis.

“You will recall that just after the presentation of the UNEP report, the country fell into some kind of unrest due to fuel subsidy issue.

For quite a number of weeks, all of us were not doing what we should have been doing at that time.

Having said that, it is not true that government is not doing anything. The UNEP report, if you google it and if you have the copy of the summary, had highlighted some immediate issues that needed to be addressed; finding potable or alternative supplies of drinking water, such as marking out the wells that were too polluted and doing other strategic framework activities that needed to be in place before the implementation,” she said.

She noted that the National Oil Spill Remediation Agency with the support of Governor Ameachi of Rivers state, had carried out all those tasks that the UNEP report carved out for immediate attention.

She continued: “A place where pollution has taken place for a very long time requires a very formidable approach and we have been working on it through the petroleum ministry.

Boko Haram sect for him to convert to Islam and resign his position as sheer blackmail.

Reacting through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President said he will not resign as far as he was in power based on the mandate given to him by Nigerians in the 2011

T

he Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Istifanus Gbana, has assured academic staff of various institutions of learning in the state of the legislature’s readiness to support them in carrying out research in the state.

Gbana gave the assurance when he received the members of

for any individual or group to ask the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to convert to Islam. The President cannot be intimidated by any group or individual. The President will never resign. He has the mandate of Nigerians to serve his fatherland and nobody should imagine that he will succumb to

blackmail,” Abati said.

The group had on Saturday, in a half-hour video made in Hausa and posted on YouTube, called on President Jonathan to resign, and also accept Islam.

The sect also claimed it is not negotiating with any government representative and has no plans to do so.

Aregbesola signs N17.8bn Osogbo – Ilaodo road project

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

O

sun state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has signed a N17.8billion contract agreement with Sammya Nigeria Limited for the dualisation of the 45kilometres Osogbo-Ikirun-Kwara state boundary road.

A statement issued yesterday disclosed that the contractor

Flood destroys crops, properties in Taraba From Yush’u Alhassn Jalingo ash crops, farmlands and other property estimated at millions of naira have been destroyed by flood in Akwento-Boko ward, Kurmi local government area of Taraba state following a torrential rainfall in the area.

A victim of the flood, Johnny Gbakah told our reporter in a telephone interview that over 200 farmers were affected.

He said most of the farms affected were those of cash crops such as cocoa, groundnuts, coffee, palm trees among others covering about 1000 hectares of land.

Gbakah appealed to the Taraba state government to come to the aid of the victims by providing relief materials to them to cushion their hardship.

He also appealed to the Kurmi local government stakeholders to make a strong submission on the issue to the state House of Assembly for necessary action.

In another development, a middle aged woman was reported dead while two other person were declared missing when a pickup van in which they were travelling was swept away by flood at a stream in Malale village in Yorro local government following a heavy downpour.

financing approach for infrastructure development was designed by the Infrastructure Bank Plc (TIB – A Development Finance Institution), working in conjunction with Sammya Nigeria Limited (SNL- an indigenous construction company), for the execution of the project, while Infrastructure Bank Plc, the Transaction Advisor, Fund Arranger and Financier, working in collaboration with other

stakeholders, would provide fund for the project.

It added that the “landmark project” was a giant leap by the Osun state government to close the infrastructure deficit in the state and help transform the state into the South-Western regional hub for agricultural production and commercialisation in the country.

Speaking further, the Special Adviser to the Governor on

Works and Transport, Engineer Oladepo Amuda, said, “in line with the pact, the project will be completed within 24 months”.

On his part, the MD/CEO of The Infrastructure Bank, Mr. AbdulRazaq Oyinloye, said, “Infrastructure financing in Nigeria has received a significant boost with the innovative financing brought to bear to ensure the Osogbo-Ilaodo Road Project is well-funded and completed on-schedule.

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Taraba Speaker vows to support schools on research From Yush’u Alhassan, Jalingo

presidential poll.

Abati said it was laughable for any group in the country to hand down such a condition to a President who was elected by both Muslims and Christians in last year’s election even when it was not in contest that he was a Christian.

“It amounts to sheer blackmail

the Editorial Board of the Nigerian Journal of Science, Technology and Environmental Education, College of Education, Zing.

He said the House would assist the board in their subsequent editions aimed at improving the standard of science education in the state and assured that the copies made available would be properly studied by the members.

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate (left), administering oral polio vaccine to his child, Mahmud Pate, during the opening ceremony of a six-week immunisation exercise yesterday at Asokoro District Hospital, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Holiday jobs: Students turn wheelbarrow pushers in Osun

S

ince public and private primary and secondary schools across Osun state commenced their long vacation on July 27th, many students have engaged themselves pushing wheelbarrows in market places.

An investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo showed that majority of the students visit sawmills and major markets with their wheelbarrows in search of loads.

Male students between the ages of 12 and 18 years now

stand at strategic locations in major markets and sawmills in Osogbo waiting for traders and plank buyers who may require their services.

Some of the students, who spoke at two sawmills located at Oke bale and Alekuwodo in Osogbo, said they were in the business to assist their parents fi nanc iall y.

A 12-year-old boy, Joseph Kolade, who has just completed his primary school education said, “I need to save money to assist my mother for the upkeep of my junior ones.”

Kolade, who claimed to be

the first child of his family, said his father died when he was 10 years old and his mother was a petty trader.

“I have two younger brothers and what my mother made from her trade cannot feed us, so I have to assist her, so that it will be possible to begin my secondary education by next session,’’ he explained.

Another student, Muideen Ajagbe, 16, said he has been in the wheelbarrow pushing business since 2010 when he lost his grandma he lived with after the demise of his biological mother. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Resentment over Al-Mustapha’s absence at mother’s Fidau prayers From Edwin Olofu, Kano

S

ympathisers at the family house of the convicted former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to late Gen. Sani Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, visibly showed their anger and frustrations during the three days Fidau prayers for late Hajiya Fatima AlMustapha over the absence of AlMustapha at the sessions.

The Fidau prayers held at the family house located at Lamido Cresent, Nasarawa GRA Kano attracted leading politicians,

religious clerics and artisans and nearly degenerated into spontaneous protest as the absence of Al-Mustapha absence dominated discussions.

Hajiya Fatima, the matriarch of the Al-Mustapha family died at the age of 70 last Wednesday at the Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, following the deterioration of her health after the verdict of Lagos High court which sentenced her eldest son to death by hanging early in January.

The atmosphere at the family compound was charged as

sympathisers most of them in tears could not understand why the authority failed to release AlMustapha to pay his respects to the departed soul.

The subject of discussion was that when his father died in 2009 before he was convicted, he was denied participation in the burial rites by the authorities.

Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer CSO to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, was condemned to death by hanging by a Lagos High Court in January over his alleged role in the

assassination of Kudirat Abiola, wife of presumed winner of June 12 presidential election in 1993.

The condolence register at the family House further captured the mood of several Nigerians over the plight of Major Al-Mustapha with inscriptions like “free AlMustapha, he has paid enough sacrifice”, amongst others occupy the pages.

The spokesman of the family, Hadi Al-Mustapha was seen pacifying well-wishers to “seek refuge with the Lord at a trying period like this”, adding that “we

must not forget that destiny is playing its full role now”.

Hadi Al-Mustapha in tears, reminded the crowd that the family had since filed an appeal contesting the verdict of the court, adding that “I am confident that my brother, my family, and all of you here shall overcome this nightmare in a not too distant future”.

Among the people weeping was the 118 year old maternal grandmother of Al-Mustapha, who was crying and pleading for the authority to allow ‘Hamza’ home for once.

Jobs not for sale, says NSCDC

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

L-R: Zonal Coordinator North-East, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Usman S. Adamu, Director, Head, Procurement Unit, Dr. Ibrahim A. Umar, Zonal Coordinator South-West, Dr. Oladimeji Olayinka, and Chief Medical Officer, Head of Disease Control Division, Dr. Adamu Nuhu, during the sensitisation workshop on the system review organised by NPHCDA in collaboration with ICPC, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Gov’s wife commends NIPOST From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

W

ife of the governor of Benue state, Mrs. Dooshima Suswam has acknowledged the quality and reliable services the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST )render to the nation.

Mrs. Suswam who made the acknowledgment while commissioning the renovated General Post Office, Makurdi and

a branch office at High-Level, said the agency have tremendously served Nigerians in the past and expressed optimism that the new NIPOST was better poised to render improved services to the people.

“I urge the people of Benue state and every Nigerian to develop confidence in the new NIPOST; it still remains the most fastest, reliable and cheapest means of communication”, she noted.

Dooshima who is also the

chairperson, Northern Governors’ Wives’ Forum, regretted the usage of text messages by Nigerians, noted and that such has crippled the art of letter writing among the present generation.

The Postmaster-General of the Federation, Malam Ibrahim Mori Baba, said the renovation of the Makurdi General Post Office is an ongoing process by NIPOST aimed at restoring public confidence and patronage of its services and

Dentist urges women to pay attention to oral hygiene during pregnancy

A

dentist with the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Umuahia, Mrs. Olayemi Iwegbu, has called for an “exceptional care” of the teeth during pregnancy.

Iwegbu said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Umuahia.

She said that pregnant mothers faced risks of severe teeth

complications due to unhealthy practices.

“The increased level of progesterone in pregnancy makes it easier for certain gingivitis causing bacteria to grow as well as make the gum tissue more sensitive to plaque,” she said.

NAN reports that gingivitis is a gum disease caused by the presence of bacteria in between the teeth.

This leads to an inflammation of the gum around the roots of the teeth.

Iwegbu said the hormonal changes at pregnancy were due to an exaggerated body response to the germ that results from the plaque causing the disease.

She said that children and the aged were more prone to this dental condition if not given attention by care-givers. (NAN)

products by Nigerians.

The Area Postal Manager, NIPOST, Benue Territory, Mrs. Mmayen Ujong, said the Makurdi post office which was built since 1958 by the colonial administration, became dilapidated, hence the need to renovate it to meet modern challenges.

he Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has disclosed that its jobs are not for sale, contrary to reports credited to some national dailies alleging that jobs at the NSCDC go for 250,000 a slot.

The publication which further alleged that the corps recruitment exercise was marred with fraud, also said that the corps was clouded with ghost workers.

Debunking the reports over the weekend, the Corps Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Emmanuel Okeh, denied knowledge of any recruitment, saying such publications were meant to dent the image and reputation that the corps had built over the years.

He challenged anybody with factual claim as published by the media to come forward with their claims or desist from making caricatures of the corps.

“Nigerians can attest to the fact our vacancies are always advertised when we want to recruit. The report is frivolous and baseless as the corps is not recruiting but replacing some vacancies that are necessary. And the chances were given to the volunteers we have in the 36 states of the federation”, he said.

Lawmakers, others for Lagos Isese festival From Ojebola Matthew, Lagos

M

ember of the House of Representatives, representing Ikosi Federal Constituency, Mr. Dayo Alebiosu and Lagos House of Assembly member, Mr. Bayo Oshinowo among other dignitaries are lined up to receive honour at the next Isese festival in Lagos.

According to the coordinator of the event, Mr. Ibrahim Bakare while speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the purpose of the Isese festival is to encourage love and unity among Africans and Yorubas in particular.

Bakare stated that the festival gives due recognition to culture and unity and will serve as an umbilical cord to bring governance at all levels to a greater consciousness of the masses.

Also speaking with newsmen, an honoree and elder of the community, Chief Adeoye Ogundunmade, noted: “people must not be lost by neglecting their culture and tradition, we have seized the initiative to evolve our own community of Isese Alliance and will use this occasion to honour distinguished members of the community.”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

H

ave you ever wondered why so many young adults across the nation have monstrous credit card debt?

The reason is the lack of having a proper and well-disciplined budget and financial life. People often make the indiscreet use of credit cards and do not pay bills on time. They do not adhere to their budget and spend money beyond their limits. All these lead individuals falling into overwhelming debt and making a get out of debt plan. To avoid such a precarious situation, it is wise to follow some money management strategies that can help them insure a healthy financial future.

1. Avoid credit card debt: Credit card debt is one of the most common financial obligations in the U.S.; millions of individuals have thousands worth of credit card debt. Credit card debt has been known to kill more savings plans than any other known financial cancer. So, try not to make the indiscreet use of credit cards. Pay the bills on time in order to avoid accruing huge interest rates and wasting money on them. It high time to realize that credit cards are a trap that takes a long time to come out of it.

2. Buy used: One of the most effective money management tips for young adults is to buy less expensive and used items. If you’re planning to buy cars, furniture or any other expensive items, consider buying used ones.

Finding one that is couple of years old can save you a good amount of money. Also, for fashion enthusiasts, it is advisable to buy

PAGE 11

MONEY SENSE 6 tips on money management for young people designer clothes from consignment shops at a much lower price. They might take you a long time to find, but will help you save big bucks.

3. Start a retirement plan as soon as possible: With the recent economy, when there is no guarantee to your financial future, it is important to start making a retirement plan on the very first days of your employment. Find out if your company provides you with the benefits of a 401(k) retirement plan. If yes, grab them. A 401(k) retirement plan is a special type of account to which employees can make contributions on a post tax/pre tax basis. Even employers offering a 401(k) plan can make contributions matching the plan on behalf of the employees and can add a profit sharing feature to the plan. So if you start now, you will be amazed by how much money you will have saved in as little as 5 to 10 years.

4. Set up an emergency account: Setting up an emergency fund is extremely important, especially when there is no certainty in life or career. Put a fixed amount aside each month after meeting your daily routine expenses. Make sure you use this account only when an emergency situation arises, like ill heath or

accident. This can also be used for some occasions, such as starting your own business.

5.

Personal savings account: No matter which bank you choose, it is important to start your own interest bearing savings account. Do not let your money sit in your drawer or checking account, you will spend it.

Instead, put some amount in the savings account each month.

Doing this, you will save a good amount of cash over a period of time. You may even ask your employer to delegate some amount of your paycheck directly into your savings account. This way, you can save effortlessly.

6. Earn extra: Find out some ways to earn extra cash, with which you can pay off your debt, if any and meet household expenses. If you have writing skills and knowledge on a particular subject, utilize it by writing web articles and earning money. You can also try things like babysitting, selling goods on Craiglist and ebay, tutoring, walking dogs and others.

In conclusion, following these above mentioned money management tips, young adults can expect to be able to manage their finances and have a stronger financial future.

Considering a startup? Think again I

t has been a banner year for startups. With the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, the rise of international accelerators, the upcoming Facebook IPO and the mind-blowing $1 billion Instagram acquisition, you can be sure that droves of ambitious founders will be jumping on the startup bandwagon.

The refrain is all too familiar: If you want to change the world and get rich in the process, then just go for it. Startups featured prominently in several stories in the book I co-authored, “Passion & Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business

Leaders.” Still, the problem isn’t what that familiar refrain says, but what it doesn’t: that the startup life isn’t for everyone.

In “The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses,” Eric Ries wrote about vanity metrics – numbers that create the illusion of success rather than validate actual progress. In the same way, vanity entrepreneurs have deeply held illusions and misconceptions about the realities of startup life.

Vanity entrepreneurs start new ventures for the wrong

How to respond to the unexpected

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ost people prepare for the future by predicting what will happen and then acting accordingly. But what do you do when the unexpected happens – you get laid off, your project is killed, a new competitor upends your industry?

In the face of uncertainty, you need to act immediately.

Start by identifying what you want. Then take a smart step toward that goal as quickly as you can, using what you know,

who you know and any other information that’s available.

After you act, ask: Did those actions get you closer to your goal? Do you need additional resources to draw even closer? Do you still want to obtain your objective? Pay close attention and you’ll learn something.

Then it’s time to act again.

(Adapted from ‘’What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do’’ by Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer and Paul B. Brown.)

reasons. They start companies because it’s the cool thing to do.

They’re hypnotized by the enormous mythmaking apparatus of modern mainstream media.

They overestimate the glamour and underestimate the grind.

And as ubiquitous stories of success spread in social media, these illusions become powerful self-delusions. All founders have this vanity within them, to varying degrees. In a way, it’s what drives them to succeed.

What matters is the extent to which it takes hold of their judgment.

As founders can attest, what

you encounter deep in the startup trenches will be far from your mental projection and expectations of the future. The harsh reality is that being a founder is more an exercise in psychological readiness.

So how do you know if you have a vanity entrepreneur in you?

You are attracted to titles.

If you were always concerned about being “Managing Director,” you’re probably not ready to dive into a path that requires you to worry about everything from closing a deal to taking out the trash. A simple way to verify: See if the

internship you had freshman year had an over-the-top title.

You need constant affirmation.

As Daniel Gulati, a co-author of “Passion & Purpose,” pointed out, the typical corporate job is filled with variable rewards in the form of promotions, praise from peers and publicity. In startups, you lose the vast majority of these positive reinforcement mechanisms.

Validations of progress aren’t as clear-cut. You need to be ready to endure the complexity when some pieces of data tell you that you’re wrong while others say you’re doing a great job.

You believe a startup is “good for the resume.”

In a recent TechCrunch article, Geoff Lewis talked about the MBA who felt a startup stint would be a good addition to his growing list of achievements.

“Even if the startup ends up going nowhere, graduating from Y Combinator would be such a great credential,” the MBA supposedly said. Think twice if your resume means more to you than building great products does.

QUOTE There is a recognition that there is no such thing as ‘quiet wealth’ anymore.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 12

EDITORIAL

John Evans Atta Mills (1944-2012)

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n July 21, it was announced that Ghanaian President, John Evans Fiti Atta Mills, had died, shortly after taking ill. The news came as a shock, even as the demise of the well-mannered leader and former law professor did not cause any political rupture or provoke a succession crisis as it did in Malawi, when that country’s President, Bingu Wa-Mutharika, suddenly died earlier this year. The near panic that gripped Nigeria in the days when former President Umaru Musa Yar’adua was taken ill and later died did not, thankfully, happen in Ghana. In fact, the death of President Mills was quickly followed by a seamless transition in which the vice president, John Dramani Mahama, was sworn in as president barely hours after the demise of the man he succeeded, in accordance with the constitution of the country.

Indeed, the peaceful, rancour-free succession has further cemented the position of Ghana as a real shining star in Africa’s democratization process. In effect, Ghana’s political institutions have gained tremendous credibility across the globe.

Former President Atta Mills, himself, helped to solidify Ghana’s reputation as an emerging democracy. Prior to his sudden demise, he had earned a reputation as the first Ghanaian president to have been re-nominated through a primary election of his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, against his chief rival, former Ghanaian first lady, Mrs. Nana

Rawlings. Before winning the presidency in 2008, he had previously contested in 2000 and 2004, losing on both occasions to former President John Kuffour of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). In 2008, he contested against the ruling party and in an election that stretched over three rounds, he defeated the candidate of

“

Had he resigned the presidency to concentrate on the management of his health, perhaps he would have lived longer. However, Atta Mills left Ghana’s democracy healthier than he met it, as evidenced by the seamless transition that followed his death the former ruling party by a razor thin margin of 50.23 percent to the 49.77 percent recorded for his opponent.

In the run-up to the election, he had railed against the ruling party’s claim that Ghana has become a model of economic development following wide ranging economic reforms. Atta Mills said that “people are complaining.

They’re saying that their standard of

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living has deteriorated these past eight years. So if Ghana is a model of growth, it’s not translating into what people can feel.” He fought the election and won on the platform of “A better man for a better Ghana”.

While Atta Mills’ tenure was remarkable for initiating Ghana’s first oil production, he is said to have been dogged by ill health, a claim that gave rise to unending rumours of his death.

His close association with a Nigerian Pentecostal pastor, T.B. Joshua, is widely believed in Ghana to be part of his search for a cure for a terminal throat cancer. But the law professorturned president told Ghanaians that his association with the pastor was on account of his accurate prediction that he would win the presidency after three strenuous elections. Curiously, the late Malawian leader was also said to have been an associate of Prophet Joshua.

Atta Mills denied his terminal ailment, at one point jogging at Ghana’s international airport upon his return from a foreign trip. Had he resigned the presidency to concentrate on the management of his health, perhaps, he would have lived longer. However, Atta Mills has left Ghana’s democracy healthier than he met it, as evidenced by the seamless transition that followed his death. On this occasion of the monumental loss of their leader, Ghanaians are urged to take heart and find consolation in the solid legacy he has left of a reliable, working democracy.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 13

Olympics and Nigerian athletes

By Ose Oyamendan

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oor Bolaji Abdulahi. I don’t think I’ve met a more optimistic person than the honourable minister of sports.

He’s one man who doesn’t think a bottle is ever half-empty. He’s the apostle of half-fullness.

He must have looked at sports the same way when the President asked him to do the impossible – bring sanity to Nigerian sports. He must have arrived in London dreaming of a fistful of gold, a bucket of medals and watching a few Nigerian athletes taking a victory lap with the Nigerian flag. In a nation of almost 200 million, that shouldn’t be a pipe dream.

But, this is the Olympics and these are Nigerian athletes. The best part of the Olympics for Nigerian athletes is the opening ceremony where they march in flowing Nigerian attire. After that, most of them fully embrace the Olympic spirit of participation is good enough. I mean how do you explain the Nigerian table tennis team.

Some of the competitors have been failures at the Olympics since I was a child. Yet, they got

a return ticket to London!

Nothing encapsulates Nigeria’s Olympic misadventure than watching the American team maul the Nigerian basketball team. It was so bad you felt the United Nations should step in and stop one country from massacring the other.I didn’t even know it was possible for one country, even America, to beat another country by almost a century of points in an Olympic sport. This would be like Brazil beating Nigeria 12 – 0 in a football game!

This was the same American team that struggled to beat Lithuania a few days later. This is the same team people back in America think is not even the best Dream Team ever. And, the Nigerians were not exactly area boys and molue drivers rounded up from the streets of Lagos.

They are the cream of Nigeria’s phantom professional basketball players, the same guys who have more press in Nigeria than on the team sheets on the clubs they play in abroad. The better Nigerian player, Andre Iguodala, was playing for the dream team and sinking Nigeria.

A friend who knew some of the

Nigerians play American collegiate basketball asked if the Nigerians had anything resembling a coach. Good point, I replied, maybe the coach had a cold, couldn’t make the game and asked a four-year old to fill in for him. Maybe, the four year-old got buried in a game of Lego and forgot he should switch between zonal marking and manmarking to slow the Americans.

Anything else would be treason.

You can knock the basketball team all you want but they did make it to London. Aside the humiliation, being at the games would have been victory enough.

But, what do you say about the other sports and planning?

Most athletes would kill for an Olympic medal. But, most Nigerian athletes will kill for a bonus and limp through their events. There is no sense of national pride in most Nigerian athletes. It seems the athletes, for the most part, take one look at their pot-bellied officials on a shopping jamboree through the Olympics and decide, “Why bother?”

Most countries have a sports plan, Nigeria hold conferences about a sports plan and worry

more about which friend gets the contract for staging the seminar.

Most countries with the topography of Nigeria would take one look at the Niger Delta, yank the kids out of the rivers, build a swimming centre in Port Harcourt and get some of the best coaches in the world to nurture the kids. Other forwardlooking countries will raid the Nigerian Defence Academy, pinpoint the best marksmen and train them for the shooting events. You can go on and on but this is Nigeria. It’s so simple a plan there is no money to be made from it so why bother.

You can blame the government for everything.

But, the simple truth is, the most successful Nigerians in all walks of life are successful, not because the government pushes them, but because they have that never-say-die Nigerian spirit that propels them to success.

And, in sports, you don’t have to look too far from the National Football coach, Stephen Keshi.

When the football federation tried to curtail him with a suspension, he went abroad and opened the floodgates to the glory years of Nigerian football.

I always laugh when athletes complain about lack of government support. It’s true the government can do much more constructively but what country really throws money at sports like Nigeria? What, for instance is the difference between a Nigerian athlete and the American athlete in America? They eat the same food, sometimes go to the same schools, have the same coaches and attend the same track meets.

They even have complimentarily derided track and field federations. I think the difference is, the American athlete knows glory for country translates into personal riches later. The Nigerian athlete knows making the team is enough because a bonus comes with it.

It’s always easy to blame the government for Nigeria’s problem. The funny thing is, the government is made up of Nigerians. And, sometimes, Nigerian athletes are like their president, they don’t give a damn.

Ose Oyamendan wrote at www.facebook.com/OseOyamendan

Between Aso Rock and Osu Castle

By SOC Okenwa

T

he sad news came to me as a rude shock when I first read about it online last week. That President John AttaMills of Ghana was dead! The demise announced officially by the Ghanaian Presidency reminded us about our mortal status in this life.

The solemn democratic lessons from Ghana for Nigeria are many in this period of grief in Kwame Nkrumah’s country.

One: the news of the exPresident’s passing was received across Ghana with genuine shock and grief; people wept openly on the streets as if their relative was the one that died. They remembered Atta-Mills for his modesty, patriotism and compassion for the poor. That shows that when a good president dies his subjects mourn him with out-pouring of affection. Two: Vice-president John Dramani Mahama, an academic, was swiftly sworn in by the Chief Justice as new President in a dignified ceremony that bore the hallmark of cardinal respect for constitutional supremacy.

Three: no military movement and intimidation from any quarters. The system was allowed to function majestically without any iota of military grandstanding or hubris.

The openness in Atta-Mills’s death as displayed by the swift Ghanaian Presidency announcement of his demise brought a lot of relief to the democratic system in Ghana and positioned it as one in steady progress with strong institutions.

When one compares that to the Yar’adua’s

health saga in Nigeria one cannot but lament Nigeria’s continuing political quagmire.

The smooth swearing-in of the Vice President (John Dramani Mahama) as President in accordance with the constitutional provision made headlines across the world.

Remember Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General hails from Ghana like our own Emeka Anyaoku of Commonwealth.

It would be recalled that the first African black country the then newly-elected US President Barack Obama visited with his family was Ghana. It was in Accra that the charismatic intellectually-grounded son of a Kenyan immigrant declared that Africa did not need strongmen but strong institutions of democracy.

Obama’s visit to Ghana was a testament of the quality of the Ghanaian democracy and that re-inforced the status of a deepening democracy in the eyes of the world.

Before Atta-Mills took a medical leave of absence he reportedly sent an official letter to the National Assembly intimating them of his absence and empowering his Vice to act on his behalf. The late Yar’adua never did that or was too weak to do that before he went permanently silent! Soon after the late Yar’adua was buried it was reported in some media outlets back home that he had written the official letter of leave of absence but one northern official charged with delivering same to the National Assembly confiscated it!

Just compare the simple way and manner things post-

Atta-Mills were organized in Ghana with the Yar’adua mysterious sickness and even more mysterious death and you would conclude that Nigeria is indeed a mysterious country of mysterious people! The VP then and now President Goodluck Jonathan was kept in the dark!

And when the president eventually died officially a subtle power tussle ensued which eventually led the Senate to intervene by invoking the so-called “Doctrine of Necessity” to empower Jonathan to assume that office.

Between the late Presidents Atta-Mills and Yar’adua there is something they shared even in death: they were both suffering from a debilitating ailment before mounting the throne as Head of state. They both died in office too! But the comparison ends here and there.

While Atta-Mills ran an open government in consonance with the democratic tradition Yar’adua oversaw a government with many secrets; remember when the press leaked a memo in Aso Rock and the real Yar’adua emerged directing everyone working in the Villa to undergo an oathtaking ritual that forbade anyone from divulging any information from the Villa?

Between Aso Rock and Osu Castle there seems to be a mystique surrounding their very existence. While Yar’adua had died officially in the Villa Atta-Mills died in office even though he was not living and working from the Castle.While Osu Castle in Accra, the official presidential palace, is a modest edifice last occupied by ex-

President Jerry John Rawlings Aso Rock Villa in Abuja remains an impregnable fortress, an edifice once described by the former BBC Correspondent in Lagos, Sola Odunfa, as “breathtaking”! Aso Rock seems to be a place of power myth where dictators and hitherto ‘shoe-less’ leaders reside and work in all imperial majesty. It ‘transforms’ leaders and rulers turning them into glorified ‘prisoners’ suffering from what one may call here a ‘disconnect syndrome’, that is, a ‘disease’ that manifests itself when a leader disconnects with reality as a result of a power bug.

Ever since the strongman, Jerry Rawlings, left Osu Castle, no successor has had the courage to move into the palace for reasons best known to them (superstition or whatever).

Before Rawlings left graciously after losing the presidential election as incumbent to former President John Kuffour he was reportedly said to have used a sharp object to tear up one of his fingers from where blood sprinkled upon an opened page of the constitution of Ghana placed before him on a table!

Rawlings might be occultic or fetish but we recognise his great effort to rid Ghana of corrupt Generals and politicians. ExPresident Kuffour, a darkcomplexioned big man of moderate taste, worked and lived in his private Villa for the eight years he presided over the Ghanaian affairs. The late AttaMills followed in that tradition.

Former dictator turned President Jerry Rawlings and his wife’s factor may very well play itself out in the political power

calculus in the ruling NDC party. Mr Atta-Mills had just been nominated by the National Democratic Congress to stand for a second term after subjecting himself to a bruising primary election. But his nomination had illustrated a split within the ruling party, with Nana Agyemang-Rawlings (who contested the primaries against him and lost) leading a vociferous faction critical of AttaMills’ management of power.

The presidential poll coming up in December in Ghana will be very hotly contested between the ruling party and the opposition led by the fire-brand Nana Akufo-Addo who lost narrowly to Atta-Mills in the last presidential contest. If Addo squares off against the incumbent interim President who has been made the national leader of Rawlings’ NDC party then it will be an explosive event given the two men’s intellectual capacity and political pedigree.

If, on the other hand, Rawlings manipulates things and allows his wife to contest against the opposition then it will be no less interesting given that Ghana may join, in the event of the NDC candidate prevailing, the league of African countries being commanded by high-profile women: Liberia (Ellen JohnsonSirleaf) and Malawi (Joyce Banda).

Fare thee well John Evans Atta-Mills! May your gentle soul be accepted by the Host of Heaven!! And may your kind (in spirit, flesh and faculty) visit my giant of a country with the feet of clay!!!

SOC Okenwa is reachable on soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

PAGE 14

Sulaiman Muhammad Ayagi

A

n average pensioner under the tutelage of Trustfund Pensions Plc, and since the coming on board of the Pension Act 2004 are bold enough to say without fear of contradiction that our chosen PFA, Trustfund Pensions Plc has kept to its promise in spite of early misgivings by ensuring regular payment of monthly pension to its members, including those retired under the erstwhile NSITF scheme as at when due. Precisely, between 25 th and 27 th of every month fairly all pensioners smile to their banks! In some instances, the referenced PFA paid us, though surprisingly, arrears of over 1½ year’s entitlements at their own volition. What a good work to compensate the senior citizenry!

However, members of the scheme have noticed with dismay unnecessary delay in the payment

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PENCOM’s rigidity of their peanuts for the past 3 months.

Enquiring further on the reason(s) behind this ugly development, one is privileged to be informed that the almighty PENCOM has taken control for the disbursement of the monthly pensioners’ entitlement resulting in staying longer than necessary.

Of the 3 months under reference, that is, April to July, members of the scheme could not be paid until 2nd week of next month. Information at our disposal confirmed that a number of retirees were NOT paid their June pension. As at date, July allowance is still awaiting PENCOM blessing.

Allowing this trend to manifest in the operation of the pension regulatory body will be

WRITE TO US Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed to: The Editor, Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja.

Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com SMS: 07037756364 tantamount to sabotaging the basic fundamentals of crafting the Pension Act in 2004 and its subsequent implementation. The

best legacy of former President Obasanjo for the working class is the deregulation of the country’s pension administration,

especially as it affects civil servants.

Whereas one is not privy to PENCOM operation and reasons behind excessive use of its regulatory authority and power as confer by the Pension Act 2004, it is imperative to note that the Commission should not turn itself to be yet another core-civil service parastatal where senior citizens funds will become target of misapplication as publicly admitted (or discovered) in the case of the Police Pension funds.

Operating in accordance with ethical practices and prudent management of resource will, invariably avoid noticing loopholes in operations – and delayed pension payment.

It is our expectation that PENCOM will implore its personnel to work timely and efficiently so as to drive the transformation agenda aright.

Sulaiman Muhammad Ayagi can be reached on 0802 334 0986

Nigerian Muslims and the sweetness of difficulty

By Muhammad Jameel Yusha

F

ive years ago an elderly brother, Hajj Omar, who was originally from Somalia, invited me to his house in Sheffield.

After enjoying the Somali dishes, one of them actually an equivalent of what the Hausa people call “dafa duka” or jollof rice, he handed me a gift. And believe me the Somali jollof rice is superb, apart from the exceptional spices it contains, it is cooked with large portions of lamb to the delight of every guest unless he is a vegetarian. So, understand that Somalia is not just about AlShabab as the media would like us to believe. Before you accuse me of making “santi” (another Hausa word that describes the comments that normally follows from eating a sumptuous meal), I am actually fasting while writing this short piece.

The gift that Hajj Omar gave me was a book called “La Tahzan” in Arabic, translated in English as Don’t Be Sad, written by Sheikh Aaidh ibn Abdullah Al-Qarni. Don’t Be Sad is an important treasure

that should be on the bookshelf of every person who cares to be content and live a peaceful life. In fact, as the Sheikh mentions in the preface of the book, it was not meant for Muslim readers only, but for everybody, and I can guarantee that whoever reads it, irrespective of faith, will definitely enjoy the admonishment it contains.

One of the most captivating parts of the book is a sub-section entitled “Convert a Lemon into a Sweet Drink”. In this section Sheikh Aaidh states that “an intelligent and skilful person transforms losses into profits; whereas, the unskilled person aggravates his own predicament, often making two disasters out of one”.

If I were to summarise the content of that book in few sentences I would mention that no matter the state of difficulty, whatever the level of hopelessness, no matter the level of hardship or how far the solution might appear to be, you can always get something of benefit out of a bad situation.

When you critically look at the situation of Nigerian Muslims today there are those who have lost hope

completely, and there are those who remain hopeful and working to bring change. For too long Muslims in Nigeria have been deceived by the fact that there were Muslims at the helm of affairs even though they did very little to address the concerns of not only the Muslims but also the entire citizenry. The loss of political power created a huge vacuum and made some to become spectators and others to follow the existing tide. But there are still those who are working hard to produce Moses in the house of Pharaoh.

Two factors here are important; the outcome of the 2011 elections and the current state of insecurity in the country has created some form of consciousness that was hitherto unheard of. It created a desire for people to be responsible for themselves and guide their people, using the limited resources available. The effort made by some individuals within Nigeria to collect donations and distribute relief materials to the victims of disasters, both natural and man-made, as we have seen in Plateau state with the military ultimatum against a

section of the population, and the flood that followed is encouraging.

The spirit of brotherhood and compassion exhibited is very sweet even though it was created by a difficult circumstance. And part of this difficult circumstance was created by our own hand.

As suggested by a friend who sent an email in response to my article last week, if the Muslims had done their home work properly, perhaps we may not have the large population of Christians in northern Nigeria as we do today.

And the fact that we do does not provide an excuse for either section of the religious divide to take the law into its own hands.

From the spirit shown by people, there is hope for a light at the end of the tunnel. Those who started this charitable work should not stop there. It should carry own, for I couldn’t see a better chance of salvaging our people than through community spirit. The people who collected the donations and those who contributed may not be rich, but the outcome of their work is what provides a foundation for a

successful society.

Muslims, especially from northern Nigeria, can learn a lesson from Muslims in southern Nigeria. They have faced so much difficulty to the extent that at a point they could not name their children with names that are clearly identified as Islamic. They faced forceful conversion and discrimination in work places. Yet they endured and developed a community spirit. They established schools and worked hard to send their kids to study away from Nigeria. Gradually, they are growing and becoming powerful forces that are intellectually and economically cogent to withstand any challenge that comes their way.

Sheikh Aaidh Al-Qarni reminds us in Don’t Be Sad: “If you are afflicted with a misfortune, look at the bright side. If someone were to hand you a glass full of squeezed lemons, add to it a handful of sugar.

And if someone gives you a snake as a gift, keep its precious skin and leave the rest.”

Muhammad Jameel Yusha can be reached at ‘umjyushau@yahoo.com

Still on the free books for Nigerian children (II)

By Simeon Nwakaudu

J

im-Nwoko, because of his parochial interest chose to ignore the fact that the Federal Government in conjunction with the Universal Basic Education Commission has flagged off the free distribution of the books to the five other geo-political zones. The flag off ceremonies have been held in Akure for South West, Katsina for North West, Uyo for South-South, Onitsha for South-East and Gombe for North-East.

In all these zones, the Education Commissioners, State Universal Basic Education Board Chairmen, Education Secretaries of Local Government Education Authorities, school head-teachers and security agencies have played prominent and direct roles in moving the books to the rural communities and urban poor where they are needed. State Governors have also been involved.

The Minister of State for Education, Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike has at every stop met with the teams selected to monitor the distribution of the books at State and local government levels. Separate meetings were held with security agencies to ensure that anyone found diverting the books is arrested and prosecuted.

For the avoidance of doubt, every single book has clear security features and they are localized to individual states. Therefore, if a book meant for Abia State is found in Sokoto State, the person who diverted same can be easily traced by the relevant security agencies that are already part of the distribution mechanism.

Transparency has been the watch-word in this books distribution exercise. For this year, a wide spectrum of stakeholders has been involved right from the planning stage to the public distribution of these books. Like Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State said during the

Onitsha flag off of the South-East Distribution of the books, this is the very first time the books are being distributed with all stakeholders deeply involved. It was the same view that the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio expressed in Uyo after the flag off for the South-South.

It is not enough to make sentimental generalization not backed with facts. Privileged Nigerians who enroll their children in private schools get supply of books at the beginning of every academic session. This leaves the less privileged children at a disadvantaged position.

All the mechanisms that have been put in place are geared towards ensuring that no poor parent is compelled to pay a kobo for any of these books. Like the Minister of State for Education reiterated at all the venues of the zonal flag off, any parent requested to buy any of these books should approach law enforcement agents. It is a collective

goal.

To allege that there is fraud in the distribution of the books to less privileged Nigerian children is a disservice to the less privileged Nigerian children and their parents who have come to appreciate this genuine intervention of the Federal Government. The books are in all the 774 local government areas of the country and by the resumption of the next academic session in September, the books will be visible across every locality of the nation.

It must be stated that the interventions of the President Jonathan administration to ensure that the children of the less privileged access quality basic education is now public knowledge. At the risk of repetition, the administration has made very practical investments in Almajiri, girl-child, boy-child and general adult mass literacy programme.

These are programmes that the

less privileged are already reaping from.

The entire write-up of Mr JimNwoko never outlined any fraud committed at any point of the free book distribution chain of the Federal Government aside the fabrication of the imaginary N68.6billion, which only exists in the mind of the writer.

To attempt to attain cheap recognition by disparaging worthwhile government programmes is no longer fashionable. All a patriotic Nigerian is obligated to do is to contribute his/ her quota in surmounting noticed challenges in a public programme or indicate areas where improvements should be made for the good of the people. There is no gain cooking up non-existent data to satisfy undeclared interests.

Concluded Simeon Nwakaudu is the Special Assistant (Media) to Minister of State for Education.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 15

Chief Clark and his moral icons (I)

By Femi Fani-Kayode

W

hen I challenged Chief E.K. Clark’s assertion that there was ‘’nothing wrong with placing soldiers on the streets of Lagos’’ last January during the oil subsidy crisis at a conference of the Political Summit Group in Lagos I knew that I was heading for trouble. I was given the floor to speak just a few minutes after the former Minister of Information and elder statesman had stirred the audience with his words and to say that he was infuriated by not only what I said but also the thunderous applause that I received for daring to say it would be an understatement.

The old man screamed at me from his chair even as I had the floor; he accused me of all manner of unspeakable things there and then simply for daring to disagree with him to his face.

Naturally I continued with my speech and acted as if he wasn’t even there but I knew that he would take his time and eventually hit back at me. Yet even with that expectation nothing prepared me for the

virulence and sheer ferociousness of his counterattack. And that counter-attack was launched during a public lecture on August 1, 2012, when the elder statesman, during the course of his lecture, passionately proclaimed that I was holding myself out as a ‘’moral icon’’ after ‘’embezzling funds’’ that were entrusted to me when I was Minister of Aviation that were meant to be used to ‘’stop planes from crashing and to reform the aviation sector’’.

That was live on television, watched by millions of Nigerians from all over the world.

Chief Clark added many to his hit list that day from former Heads of States, former Presidents and Vice Presidents, former Governors and Federal Ministers and so many more. If he was not accusing the northern leaders and governors of being behind Boko Haram and claiming that the problem began under President Obasanjo’s watch, he was daring Generals Babangida and Buhari to come clean and condemn Boko Haram or stand the risk of being counted amongst those that were behind it. He also had very harsh words

for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the northern Governors, the Governors Forum, Senator Joshua Dariye, Pastor Tunde Bakare, former Governors Alamesighya, Peter Odili, Orji Kalu, former Minister of Aviation Professor Babalola Borisade and so many others. This was quite a show and the elderstatesman was very much in his element. He was having a wonderful time kicking all his enemies in the pants without exercising any sense of restraint or decency. It was just slander all the way.

There has probably never been a greater public display of defamation of character and the impugnment of the integrity of former public office holders that were not there to say a word in their own defence in the history of Nigeria. Everyone that had ever been accused of a crime was pronounced guilty of that crime

by Chief Clark on that day. That is anyone that is not part of the present administration and that is not part of the Jonathan cabal which our elder statesman merrily presides over. It was quite a show with more than enough razzle dazzle,

sensationalism and wondrous allegations to go around. I was a little surprised that my former colleague in the Obasanjo government Professor Jerry Gana was left out of the list of those that were being lampooned until I saw him grinning like a Cheshire cat and clapping so eagerly and with such enthusiasm as our elder statesman was spitting fire and defaming those that he once worked with and worked for.

Such loyalty. And of course the erstwhile gathering loved Clark’s performance and cheered him on passionately even though the organisers of the event went to the podium as he spoke and advised him to stop mentioning names and saying such things about people that were deemed innocent until proven guilty and that were not there to defend themselves. Yet Chief Clark, in his characteristically brazen manner, brushed their concerns aside and proclaimed that he would continue his epistle regardless of all because he was ‘’already in the waiting room before leaving this life’’ and he didn’t care about the consequences f what he was

saying. It was all very exciting and dramatic but, needless to say, his assertions were mostly completely false.

Though I have little doubt that the man hates me with the biblical ‘’perfect hatred’’ I still found it extraordinary that someone of his sheer standing, magnitude and gravitas would seek to pronounce guilt on me on a matter in which he clearly knows nothing about. It is a sad testimony to his excitable nature and his penchant for making unsustainable and irascible assertions that he should, on that occasion, have turned himself into a prosecutor, a judge and a jury in a matter that is before a duly constituted court of law. Let it be on record that not only did I not embezzle any public funds but also that I was cleared of doing so by the Senate Aviation Committee who conducted a public hearing into the whole matter in 2008. Even the EFCC, after initially charging me in July of that same year, dropped those charges one month later for want of evidence.

Femi Fani-Kayode is a former Aviation Minister.

Are security forces overwhelmed?

By Bisi Olawunmi

T

hese are trying times, security wise, for Nigerians. House Nigeria is tilting at a crazy angle and prayer warriors are in fervent supplication to the Almighty that this house must not fall.

However, the people are getting wearied given the seemingly unanswered prayers for peace in the land as the nation wakes up to a daily nightmare of bombings, killings, kidnappings, robberies and widespread mayhem, with rampaging Boko Haram being the poster boy of the nation’s insecurity.

And to counter putative islamist terror, hitherto peace and forgiveness preaching pastors are turning into firespitting evangelical militants.

In spite of the palpable insecurity, the Nigerian spirit of resilience endures - for now.

But the portents are that things have to start turning the corner for the better before the situation unravels. And recent pronouncements by three top security chiefs are enough to give anyone not just the jitters, but a sense of foreboding. The security chiefs’ statements were reported in the media within a period of three days – between July 29 and July 31, 2012 – signaling a potentially scary security situation for the second half of the year 2012.

Starting from the most recent, the Yobe state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Patrick Egbuniwe, in a July 31, 2012 media report had lamented the non cooperation

of members of the public in volunteering information to the police. He impliedly accused the public of aiding and abetting the Boko Haram insurgents.

“The problem we have here is that the residents shield the Boko Haram men by hiding their identities.

If they had cooperated, we would have finished our job here since”, Egbuniwe remarked. He was reacting to suspected Boko Haram gun attack on a bus carrying the police command staff to office the previous day in which a woman was killed.

Pointing out that the people know the homes of the Boko Haram men but would not disclose to the security agency, the police commissioner, in plaintive frustration, declared “The boys attack the police and disturb everybody’s peace.

Then they go back to their homes. The people in this area have refused to help the police”.

The poser for the police is: What level of confidence has it built with the people? And how can the people put the safety of their lives on the line when the police cannot save its own officers?

On July 29, 2012, a newspaper story captioned ‘Northern communities shielding Boko Haram – SSS’ had the director of the State Security Service in charge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Mr. Little Okojie, alleging community cover up for Boko Haram militants. He had regretted non cooperation from the public in the fight against violent crime when Abuja chapter executives of the Nigeria Union of Journalists visited him.

Apparently

admitting lack of synergy among the security agencies, Mr. Okojie pledged that the agencies would work towards effective coordination of the campaign against crimes in the country. What Mr. Okojie would perhaps not admit is the seeming unhealthy rivalry among the security agencies to score points, sort of upstaging each other. For instance, the SSS used to enjoy a dreaded reputation as an invisible, ruthlessly efficient security machine that operates in the shadows. This shadowy nature of its operations had created a fearsome myth about the organization. Today, the SSS has come into the open and seem to be in competition with the police in terms of public visibility with its frequent media briefings. The SSS needs to return to the shadows as an undercover intelligence agency. If the nature of a particular job requires anonymity to enhance its efficiency, its staff must be willing to remain anonymous.

It is one of the steps needed to enhance cooperation and effectiveness of the security agencies.

However, considered most worrisome of the statements from the three security chiefs was that published on Sunday, July 29, 2012, in which a national newspaper carried a front page teaser headline : Boko Haram, others over-stretching military – Army Chief. The story, which ran on page four of the newspaper, credited Major-General Usman Abdulkaldir, Chief of Army Standards and Evaluation, as

stating that the deployment of the military to various flashpoints in the country was over-stretching the resources of the army. Gen. Abdulkadir, who was delivering the Ramadan lecture of the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria in Abuja on July 28, 2012, had listed inadequate logistics and lack of expedient procedures and laws to bring criminals to justice as some of the factors impeding restoration of law and order.

But what is most telling in his lecture is the critique of lack of coordination among the security agencies and the implication of widespread, intractable violence for the survival of democracy in the country. On coordination among the security agencies, the General had observed: “Most agencies pay more allegiance to their respective services to the detriment of the operation they are supporting.

Therefore, most internal security operations in Nigeria become problematic to manage and coordinate while synergy is lost”.

What, perhaps, is the most weighty aspect of the lecture is his foray into the political.

General Abdulkadir had noted the high-level insecurity in the country and admonished : “The present situation has bred an atmosphere of political insecurity, instability, including declining confidence in the political leadership and apprehension about the system.

Invariably, continuing escalation of violence and crises across the country interrupts the

survival of democracy”. The import of this is that an army compelled to perform police duties over an extended period could become fatigued and frustrated, consequently even posing a threat to the polity. It is a reality that must be faced.

The General’s critique of the nation’s insecurity has drawn its own critics. One is The Nation newspaper August 1, 2012 editorial titled : ‘Overstretched military ?’ with the rider : Gen. Abdulkadir’s complaint is unwelcome surrender. No doubt, the pronouncements of the three security chiefs, particularly the General’s, could, as pointed out in the editorial, be interpreted as a surrender and at the worst a “testing the waters” in opposition to which the paper declared : “Nigerians say no to any rude prospective military intervention in power”. A perceived surrender of the security forces could further embolden criminal elements.

However, the General’s statement could also be a timely wake up call to the political leadership to sort itself out. When some other people have to clean up after a mess created mainly by politicians, it can be resentful. So, the political class, like the security agencies, must embrace synergy to effectively tackle the nation’s pervasive violence-induced insecurity that has created fear in all.

Bisi Olawunmi, a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun state, can be reached on olawunmibisi@yahoo.com

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PHCN warns consumers to resist extortions in Gwagwalada

By Adeola Tukuru

T

A scene of an accident along Mabushi road, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

FCT assures of adequate fertilisers for 2012 farming season

By Josephine Ella

F

armers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been assured of the availability of adequate fertilisers for this year’s farming season.

The FCT Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS), told journalists in Abuja that 14,800 metric tons of assorted fertilisers are in its stores for peasant farmers who wish to purchase the commodity.

Chairman of the FCT GESS, Alhaji Ifa Ademoh, who

was reacting to fears by farmers that they may not get fertilisers to buy, explained that the present programme, meant for small scale farmers, was being handled by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in all states of the federation including the FCT. However, he disclosed that the FCT administration has concluded arrangement to purchase fertilisers which would be sold to large scale farmers in the territory.

Ademoh admitted that the present distribution of fertilisers

was facing some challenges especially in the areas of communication.

“You know that this is the first time the federal government is embarking on this laudable programme. The issue of getting in touch with the rural farmers is a bit difficult because of the fluctuation in network services.

“Our network provider has agreed that scratch cards be used in sending text messages t farmers in the rural areas that have either deleted their voucher numbers or were

unable to do a welcome back to retain their original numbers , having loss their handsets,” revealed.

He said the FCT has 17 centres were farmers could purchase either NPK, Urea and improved seeds of rice and maize at government approved prices.

According to him, before the commencement of the exercise, they embarked on an enlightenment campaign in the 6 area councils, informing farmers of the new federal government policy on purchase of the fertilisers which is designed to eliminate middlemen from hijacking the business.

Police docks driver, 30, for stealing

T

he police yesterday arraigned one Ezeani Elochukwu, driver, 30 before an Abuja Senior Magistrate’s Court for allegedly stealing N50, 000 belonging to one Emmanuel Okon of Galadimawa, Abuja.

The Police Prosecutor, Jeremiah Elijah, told the court

that the case was reported to the Lugbe Police Station by Okon on July 28, 2012.

Elijah said that the accused and another, now at large, of Area 1, Garki, Abuja, stole the N50, 000 from the complainant he parked his car under Dantata Bridge, Abuja, to ease himself.

The prosecutor added that the

offence contravened Section 79 and 287 of the Penal Code.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

His counsel, Gabriel Egule, prayed the court to grant his client bail.

The Magistrate, Ann Akobi, granted the accused bail in the sum of N30, 000 with one surety in like

sum who must have a reasonable source of livelihood.

Akobi said that the surety must affix a passport photograph with that of the accused on the bail bond and that his address must be verified by the prosecutor.

She adjourned the case to Aug 17, 2012 for further hearing.

(NAN)

Village head task FCT minister, chairman to build school in Chukuku

By Usman Shuaibu

T

he Village head of Chukuku in Kuje Area Council, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Mallam Jibril Sarki has called on the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and also the Chairman of the area council, Hon. Danladi Etsu Zhin to build a

Secondary school in Chukuku in order to ease the suffering of students who attend the schools in neighboring area councils.

The traditional ruler, during an interview with our reporter also decried that their farmlands were seized by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), urging

the FCT Minister and Zhin to look into the matter.

He further alleged that their farmlands were being sold to the people outside the Kuje Area Council by the Government without consulting the traditional rulers in the area.

Mallam Jubril also noted that some people at Chukuku were

arrested and detained by the men of police in Kuje over the farmlands, saying that the case is before the court now.

While speaking on the state of social amenities in Kuje, the Monarch urged the council boss to redouble his efforts to provide basic amenities to the neglected villages in Kuje.

he Manager, Gwagwalada Business Unit of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Alhaji Aminu Bello, yesterday called on its consumers to resist any form of extortions in the ongoing prepaid metre installations.

Alhaji Aminu, noted this at a consumers’ consultative meeting organized by the unit in Gwagwalada.

He said the call became necessary following the increasing number of complaints of extortions from consumers arising from the supply and installation of prepared metres.

In his words: “Gwagwalada Business Unit is not directly involved in the entire project except to provide data on our territorial boundaries and ensure that we provide or switching off power where neces sary.

“Since we have limited control over the project awarded by the World Bank, I encourage consumers with complaints of extortion to report to the police,” he said Bello who blamed poor power supply to the unit on its distance from the power source called for patient among consumers adding that government was doing its best to improve supply in the uni t.

He therefore urged consumers to support the efforts of government towards ensuring constant power supply especially in the areas of prompt settlement of bills and protection of installations.

He further cautioned against sharp practices among consumers in the use of prepaid metre adding that PHCN would not tolerate any form of power theft.

Some of the consumers who spoke to our correspondent at the meeting had expressed dismay over failure of PHCN to provide transformers for its consumers especially in the rural communities.

Mr Martins Ibe, a consumer commended the business unit for putting up the meeting adding that the interactive session of the meeting had cleared several contradicting issues bordering on power in Gw ag wa la da .

He therefore called on Federal Government to strengthened efforts to complete ongoing projects that would boost power supply in Gwagwalada.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Young men selling phone's accessories on roadside, yesterday in Nyanya.

Two middle-aged men buying fura da nono, yesterday at Federal Secretariat, in Abuja.

Two young men providing local manicure service to a customer, yesterday in Garki 2, Abuja

A young man hawking coconut, yesterday in Garki, Abuja.

Two young men taking dangerous ride in an overloaded truck, yesterday along Area 1AYA Road, in Abuja.

Photos: Justin Imo-Owo

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 19

BUSINESS Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

INSIDE

- Pg 20

Amnesty, others link N’ Delta oil spills to corrosion

Mob: 08033644990

Lack of records hamper Nigeria’s rating in international trade – NEXIM’s MD

By Abdulwahab Isa

T Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, addressing delegates during the high-level trade and investment summit on Nigeria, on Wednesday in London.

Photo: NAN

CBN to mop up N142bn from circulation

By Aminu Imam

I

n line with its monetary tightening stance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is expected to mop up a total of N142 billion through the sale of treasury bills at its weekly Dutch auction tomorrow.

The bank, in a notice revealed that tenor for the bills would range between three month and one year. Specifically, the CBN said it would issue N32.057 billion 91day paper, N50 billion in 182day bill and N60 billion in 364day bills at its Dutch auction.

It said: “Each bid must be in multiple of N1, 000 subject to a minimum of N10, 000.

Authorised money market dealers are allowed to submit multiple bids. A bid may be

authorised for money market dealers own account, non-money market dealers or interested members of the public. The bank reserves the right to vary the amount on offer in line with market realities prevailing as at the period of auction of the Nigerian Treasury Bills.”

The banking sector regulator issues treasury bills to reduce the volume of money supply in the system, a bid to control inflation.

The Nigerian Interbank Offered Rates (NIBOR) rose sharply to an average of 18.41 per cent on Friday, as against the 15.16 per cent it attained the preceding week as banks adjusted rates due to the hike of the cash reserve ratio (CRR).

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), had at its last

meeting, raised the CRR to 12 per cent from eight percent. But it had left other monetary policy tools unchanged and banks were compelled to adjust their rates so as to accommodate the new CRR. Also, data made available by the Financial Market Dealers Association (FMDA) showed that various tenors of the NIBOR edged higher last week.

While the call (overnight) tenor climbed to 17.50 per cent on Friday, from 14.08 per cent the preceding Friday, the 7-day tenor also jumped to 17.96 per cent as at Friday, from the 14.42 per cent the preceding week.

Similarly, just as the 30-day tenor rose to 18.21 per cent on Friday, from 14.96 per cent, the 60-day tenor also stood at 18.50 per cent, from 15.17 per cent the

week before. The Open Buy Back (OBB) rate also closed at 17.04 per cent, from 13.62 per cent.

Some dealers, however, said that the CBN’s latest guideline on repurchase transactions could have also drained liquidity from the market last week.

The performance of the Naira against the dollar last week was mixed. For instance, at the interbank segment, the local currency fell by 40 kobo to close at N161.60 to a dollar on Friday, lower than the N161.20 to a dollar it closed the preceding Friday.

Similarly, at the CBN’s biweekly auction, the Naira slipped by two kobo to close at N155.86 to a dollar, over the N155.84 to a dollar it closed the preceding Friday.

Brazilian investors visit Nigeria on business mission

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

A

team of Brazilian investors from the country’s third largest conglomerate, Querioz Galvao Group has visited Nigeria seeking opportunities to put money in various sectors of the economy.

Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil, Vincent Okoedon, who introduced the investors to reporters at a meeting in Abuja yesterday, said the event was an outcome of President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent visit to Brazilwhere he took advantage of

the UN Earth Summit to also meet the country’s leading businessmen and gave them many reasons to invest in Nigeria.

He disclosed that more than seven different big companies from Brazil will also send representatives to Nigeria to assess the country’s business climate in a matter of weeks, adding that the investors’ visit was also part of preparations for the President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil’s visit to the country later in the year.

According to him, the

CFA € £ RIYAL $

2nd August, 2012 BUYING 0.2709 190.5088 241.3029 41.2916 154.86

SELLING 0.2909 191.739 242.8611 41.5582 155.86

PARALLEL RATES € £ RIYAL $

BUYING 207 258 40 165

SELLING 209 260 42 169

advancement and other areas of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga added that Group contained 50 companies with 50,000 staff strength.

He reiterated Federal Government’s resolve to fast track the inflow of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to the critical sectors of the economy, saying President Jonathan’s visit to Rio De Janeiro was a very fruitful one.

Management Tip of the Day

EXCHANGE RATES

CBN

company is interested in all areas of infrastructure including transportation, energy and housing while they already operate in 42 countries having existed for 60 ye ar s.

The company’s Managing Director for West Africa, Marcus Silva told the gathering that the Group was interested in long term partnership with Nigeria, pledging to contribute significantly to the growth of the economy in the area of job creation, technological

Introverts can still innovate

N

ew ideas are only valuable if they’re shared with others. If you’re an introvert, you may not feel comfortable talking about your creative ideas. But you can still be a smart innovator by trying these three things: • Seek out the right space. You may find that you’re most

creative while working in silence by yourself. Exploit your full creative potential by finding an environment that is conducive to generating ideas.

• Prepare to speak up. You may need an extra push to put forth your good ideas. Plan for brainstorming sessions in advance, so that you’re ready to

suggest ideas at the right moment.

• Try to adapt to the context.

If you’re in a group that tends to be very quiet, try to adapt to a more extroverted style. You can be the one asking questions so that others feel comfortable offering their own ideas. Source: Harvard Business Review

he Managing Director, NEXIM Bank, Robert Orya has attributed the poor rating of the country in international trade to improper/total absence of statistical record keeping.

Orya said that for over 30 years the country had participated actively in international trade, “there is no record to show the statistics of how the performances have been so far,” saying that already he had firmly corrected the unfortunate trend “and Nigerians will soon begin to feel the impact.”

Orya, who made this disclosure in Makurdi, bemoaned a situation where a country its products were found in virtually every market, especially in the West African sub region, was abysmally rated, stressing that NEXIM under his leadership “is doing everything within its legitimate powers to correct the anomalies.

“We have a situation today that in this sub region of about 300 million population, Nigerian products can conveniently take care of 50 percent, but in terms of rating, smaller nations are rated higher than Nigeria.”

According to him, his dreams for the bank in the next two to three years is to make Nigerian economy to be the most competitive in the entire African region, saying when all these are achieved, the bank will be in the position of giving money to potential buyers of Nigerian products without fear of possible absconding.

“If you are producing yam flour here, for instance, and a Ghanaian or Senegalese comes over to buy the product and he has no money, I, NEXIM Bank should be able to give that Ghanaian or Senegalese money. This can only be done if such trader(s) is making all payments through the banking system,” he said.

As bank that is interested in both import and export, it is not enough to provide both exporters and importers with finance and sit back in the office, but to follow them to the market to know what is happening there, he stated.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS Berger Paints appoints acting MD

B

erger Paints Nigeria Plc has announced the appointment of Tor Nygard as its Acting Managing Director and put new management team in place to achieve better performance, a statement from the company’s headquarters in Lagos has said.

The appointment came on the heels of the successful completion of the companies’ 52nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Tuesday, July 3, 2012.

Nigeria, Jamaica to resume oil, gas trade Stories by Muhammad Nasir

N

igeria and Jamaica would re-visit their interests in the multi-million dollars oil and gas trade with a view to boosting bi-lateral ties in the trade of the commodities which was first suspended under a cloud of controversy in 2007.

This was part of the outcome of the two-day visit of President Goodluck Jonathan’s state visit to Jamaica, which coincided with the celebration of the country’s Golden Jubilee, last week.

According to a communiqué issued on Friday after talks between President Goodluck

Jonathan, and Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, “President Jonathan and Prime Minister Simpson Miller expressed concern over the status of Jamaica-Nigeria technical cooperation in oil, as the Jamaica-Nigeria Oil Facility had been suspended. They agreed that both countries would explore cooperation in this area once more, as well as in the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG).”

The prime minister refused to add any details at a press conference at Jamaica House Friday.

The first oil deal between Jamaica and that African country was negotiated in 1978

and was motivated, according to local energy expert Dr Raymond Wright, “by security concerns” and the desire to “lock in a steady supply of crude from a trading partner” which Jamaica considered friendly.

Following a change of Government, Nigeria cancelled the deal in December, 1993 and decided that Jamaica and other benefactors would have to negotiate new agreements. PCJ tried to renegotiate the deal for some seven years without success, until Obasanjo returned to power in 1999 and a new deal was concluded a year later.

PCJ immediately sought a new trader, settling with

Power outage: Supply restored to Bayelsa community 2 years after

MultiChoice increases access charges

P

C

iting increases in the company’s operational and ancillary costs in the country, MultiChoice, Nigeria has announced an upward review of its subscription fees for its DSTV subscribers.

The new subscription fees, according to the PayTV company are: DStv Family, from N2, 800 to N3, 000; DStv Compact, from N4, 800 to N5, 000; DStv Compact Plus, from N7, 000 to N7, 500 and DStv Premium, from N10, 000 to N11, 000.

It however informed that subscribers who renewed their subscription before it expires stand to pay less on the old tariffs.

Dangote Cement begins S/African plant production 2013

D

angote cements, Nigeria’s biggest company by market capitalisation, has announced that its South African subsidiary, Sephaku Holdings would this week start producing cement from late next year.

The company said funds from its parent company Dangote Cement, would enable it benefit from new technology and plant, while competitors had to replace older facilities.

Dangote Cement owns 64 percent of Sephaku Cement, which would be the first new entrant to the South African cement production market to open its own new plant since 1934, the company said.

Trafigura for a US7.5 cents per barrel commission, which was later increased to US12 cents. The profit was used by PCJ to finance research on oil exploration, renewable energy, conservation and the possibilities of LNG. However, the contract with the Dutch firm, Trafigura, ended in controversy in 2007 over a $31 million payment made to the then ruling People’s National Party (PNP). The contract was put to tender and the PCJ selected Glencore as the new trader. But, Jamaica has lifted no oil from Nigeria since the contract was awarded to Glencore Energy Limited.

(Source: JamaicaObserver)

Jamaican Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller and President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife Dame Patience Jonathan, after a joint press conference at Jamaica House last Friday.

Amnesty, others link N’ Delta oil spills to corrosion

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fresh report has blamed external corrosion for the oil spills in the Niger Delta, as opposed to the position of Shell, which attributed them to sabotage.

Amnesty International disclosed at the weekend that a report by a United States company Accufacts identified corrosion as the source of the Niger Delta oil spills.

A statement, which was made available by Amnesty International at the weekend, noted that the examination of

evidence from the latest oil spill from Shell’s maintained pipelines in the Bodo Creek area strongly indicated that the leak was due to corrosion of the pipeline.

Amnesty International said, however, that Shell appeared to be ignoring the evidence of corrosion.Besides, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is to collaborate with other Federal Government agencies to bring to an immediate end crude oil theft in the nation’s maritime industry.

The Group Managing

Director of the Corporation, Andrew Yakubu stated this when the Inter Agency Maritime Operation Committee paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja at the weekend.

Nigeria recently fined Shell $5.0 billion over an oil spill late last year at an offshore field, but the company said there was no basis for the fine.

Shell was forced to halt operations at the Bonga oilfield in the Gulf of Guinea following the December 20 leak of some 40,000 barrels of crude.

NNPC to partner Trinidad and Tobago company on gas processing plant

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he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Trinidad and Tobago are to strengthen the existing collaboration in energy, technical, cultural, educational and scientific cooperation.

This was disclosed recently by the Ministry of Energy Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, together with other stakeholders on a proposed gas processing plant under the

technical energy assistance project with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to harness the country’s huge gas reserves.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, who spoke on other areas of cooperation between the countries, noted that the island nation will continue to collaborate with Nigeria in energy and other related projects, adding that she looks

forward to welcoming delegations from Nigeria to visit Trinidad and Tobago for exchanges in this area.

Meanwhile, 57 young Nigerians have been trained in shield maintenance, power welding, automotive service and industrial mechanical maintenance as well as other related courses from the National Energy Skills center at the Point Lisas Industrial Port Development Corporation.

ower supply has been restored to Azikoro community in Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa, two years after supply to the village was disrupted.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that electricity supply to the community was cutoff when the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) could not repair or replace a damaged transformer in the town.

Residents of the community had two weeks ago, embarked on a peaceful protest to the PHCN office in Yenagoa, over the lingering power outage in the town.

Announcing the restoration of power to the community, its Deputy Paramount Ruler, Chief Napoleon Ike, told NAN in Yenagoa, that it was made possible by the intervention of the state governor, Chief Seriake Dickson.

He disclosed that the governor provided five transformers to the community and ensured that they were installed and made functional.

“Our new governor is God-sent.

He has removed us from the darkness we have been experiencing in the past two years.

“It was an agonising period for our people and the condition remained so in spite of several appeals and representations we made to the local and state governments before the new governor emerged,’’ Ike said.

He commended the governor for giving attention to rural development and pledged the community’s support for his administration’s transformation agenda.

A resident in the community, Mr. Ngo Charles, recalled that the people had suffered much inconveniences while the power outage lasted.

Charles said that some people spent an average of N500 daily, on fuelling generators to enable them to preserve food, adding that the power restoration was a great relief. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 21

Heritage Oil launches N59.2bn rights issue to pay for Nigerian oil assets Stories by Muhammad Nasir

H

eritage Oil has launched a $370m (N59.2 billion) rights issue to help fund its move into Nigeria as the London-listed explorer’s interim loss widened more than fivefold.

The fully underwritten

rights issue will provide the backing for Heritage and its Nigerian partner, Shoreline Power, to buy a 45pc share of an onshore oil producing block called OML 30from oil majors Shell, Total and ENI for $850m.

The remaining stake is owned by the Nigerian National

Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The rest of the deal will be funded by $550m in bridge finance loans from Standard Bank of South Africa and JP Morgan, while FTSE 250 group also said it could raise additional capital via a bond or placing of ordinary shares.

The acquisition will see Heritage, which is led by chief executive Tony Buckingham, a former mercenary; radically increase its net production from 567 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to 11,320 bpd.

The company said it would transform its production

L-R: Chairman Redbricks Consultants Company, Dr. Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo, Senior Marketing Manager, Ms Dupe Tokan, and Lead Consultant, Mr. Niyi Afolabi, during a sensitisation forum on direct house ownership scheme, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

JTF orders tight security at oil installations

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uthorities of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) has directed its personnel on oil installations and drilling platforms in the Niger Delta region to tighten security following the threat by contractors handling the oil pipeline protection job for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to abandon work and leave the pipeline at the mercy of oil thieves in the region.

The directive of the JTF followed the breakdown of talk with the company known as the Oil Facilities Surveillance Ltd (OFSL), and the company issuance of a three month ultimatum to the NNPC and the Federal Government for the renewal of the contract to ensure absolute safety, security and surveillance of oil facilities, installations and other related property in Delta state.

In a statement issued at the weekend by the company, Oil Facilities Surveillance Ltd (OFSL), argued that though they were able to invade and destroy over 80 illegal refineries in the Niger Delta and apprehended some illegal owners and operators of the illegal Refineries, the Federal Government and the NNPC have failed to appreciate them and have considered stopping work.

In the statement signed by the company’s General Manager, Mr. Kestin Pondi, since the contract was awarded to them in March 2011, NNPC has only paid them seven months salaries, adding that for the past five months they have not received any payments from NNPC. “We want to seize this opportunity to appeal to the NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum

Resources to give active support and backing to the activities of OFSL”, he stated. “ We wish to highlight some areas like the prompt payment of salaries, renewal of the contract agreement, and increment of budgetary allocation from N30,000 to N100,000 for personnel and N36,000 to N120,000 for supervisors”, he added.

Pondi noted that so far, over 80 illegal refineries in the state have been destroyed by the surveillance group, adding that some persons involved in illegal oil refining have been arrested and handed over to the JTF. With more systems currently put in place, the organisation is aspiring towards a complete prevention of illegal oil activities in Delta state.

Conoil plans to build 4 LPG plants in Abuja

C

onoil Plc has completed the state-of-the-art bottling plant, setting the company ahead in the provision of services that are of worldclass standards to consumers, in keeping with its reputation as Nigeria’s frontline petroleum marketer.

The plant will engage in the production and distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), better known as cooking gas, or CONGAS. Conoil’s brand of cooking gas comes in standard cylinders with exceptional propositions and guarantee of safety, quality, quantity and reliability, which address key issues confronting customers today.

The multi-million-naira

LPG bottling plant, located in the sprawling industrial area of Oregun, in Ikeja, Lagos is fitted with high-tech equipment supplied by French firm, Siraga that conforms to industry regulations and international safety guidelines.

The plant has the capacity to bottle 5,000 cylinders a day, to boost supply of cooking gas in the country, which at 0.5kg/ person, is currently the lowest per capital LPG consumption in Africa.

CONGAS bottles come in two types.

In keeping with its objective of becoming not only the leading gas supplier in Nigeria, but also the only company that guarantees safety, quality, quality and reliability, Conoil

plans to build four other similar LPG plants in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Kano.

. . . H1 profit slumps The company yesterday said its half-year pretax profit fell 81 percent year-on-year to N663.14 million ($4.1 m) compared with N3.5 billion a year earlier.

Turnover also declined to 76.2 billion naira during the period, from 79.9 billion naira last year, the fuel marketer said in a filing with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Conoil did not provide any reason for the fall in profit.

(Reuters)

capabilities. It will also provide a more than fivefold increase in its “proven and probable” reserves to 408m barrels. OML 30 has proved and probable reserves of 1.1bn barrels of oil, worth up to $3.8bn.

It is producing 35,000 bpd, but there is the potential to increase production in the short term by improving the existing infrastructure.

Mr. Buckingham said, “OML 30 is expected to provide significant production and be cash flow generative immediately, thereby de-risking Heritage’s financial profile.

Heritage , which has interests in Russia, Kurdistan also revealed that last month it had taken on a $30m loan to refinance the acquisition of a corporate jet. The company bought a second, bigger corporate jet for $43m in 2010, after the old one was deemed too “small and cramped” for its management.

NNPC signs gas supply pacts for power stations

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he Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC recently signed agreements with Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corporation for the supply of natural gas to the country’s power stations.

This was disclosed to newsmen by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke in Abuja, who argued that the two agreements, which cover the supply of more than 70 per cent of the total gas requirements to the domestic power industry, serve as a framework for future agreements.

“We are now in a position where we can very rapidly replicate these agreements across all other power plants.

Although it has taken a while to close the negotiations, the knock-on effect in terms of other agreements that can be immediately executed is phenomenal.”

Nigeria, holder of Africa’s largest gas reserves, wants to expand transmission and processing facilities to deliver the fuel to power plants in order to increase generation more than fourfold to about 14,000 megawatts by 2013.

Most of the gas currently pumped with crude oil in the nation is flared off due to inadequate infrastructure to process it.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 22

National Planning Commission flags-off domestic GDP computation in the South-West

By Muhammad Sada

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he Federal Government has flagged off the computation of the states Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) for the SouthWest region, a programme which is an initiative of the National Planning Commission (NPC) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), with support from the Governors’ Forum.

Mr. Shamsudeen Usman, the Minister of National Planning, who inaugurated the programme at the Government House, Ikeja on Friday, said the computation was part of Federal Government‘s strategy at stimulating the economic development of the states.

The Federal Government had flagged off the SGDP of states in other south political zones.

Usman said the computation of SGDP and its inclusion in the

Group advocates for ICT in school curriculum

national data framework would enhance the data‘s comprehensiveness and promote the predictability of the national economy.

According to him, “The computation and the inclusion of state`s Domestic Product (SGDP) in the national framework data will also promote accountability and create awareness of the outcomes of efforts at the subnational levels.

“With the disaggregated data and information on economic activities available, it will give room for improved management of both the sub-

national and national economies, as well as generate healthy competition among states.’

Usman said the published data of states GDP would also serve as a basis for effectively benchmarking the economies of such states and facilitating their rating by rating agencies and added that, a road map had been put place for the implementation of the SGDP project which would be done in two phases and would be completed in June 2013.

He said the government had already completed the listing and updating of establishments

in all the 774 local government areas preparatory to the data collection exercise to be held in pilot state.

“The key message from the exercise is that over 1,000 new firms were identified and listed and the next set of activities in the first phase includes development of instruments and the training of statistical officers and data enumerators.

“The estimated financial cost of the GDP computation project is N1.044 billion, which is to be borne by the Federal and state governments and development partners. In this wise, 36 states and FCT are contributing the

sum of N522 million or N14.1million each, while the Federal Governments’ contributes N313.3million and development partners givingN208.9million,” he said.

Usman noted that 14 states have already fulfilled their financial obligations to the project. He then appealed to the remaining states to fulfil their own obligation and commended the Lagos State Government for propelling the state to an economic giant.

He said the high volume of economic activities in the state had impacted positively on the national GDP.

Swiss banks now guard against deposits of stolen funds, says envoy

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witzerland says it has put some measures in place to safeguard its financial system from the transfer of stolen wealth.

Outgoing Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Andreas Baum, said this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.

He said that Switzerland’s financial system had improved

since the controversy surrounding the loot of the late Nigerian ruler, Gen. Sani Abacha.

“It is an area we have put a lot of work in. We realised that there was a problem; the measures we have taken will prevent the transfer of stolen wealth to our country.

“The Nigerian case is very important to us because the Abacha case helped us to improve

our laws.

“We have put in place measures to ensure that the Swiss financial system is not abused with the transfer of such assets.

“We have returned around 500 million dollars (about N80 billion) of the Abacha loot to Nigeria. That was done during the time of my predecessor.

“But there is still one ongoing case involving the son of

Abacha,’’ Baum, however, added.

The envoy, who described bilateral relations between Switzerland and Nigeria as excellent, nonetheless, bemoaned the low volume of their trade, which currently stood at 500 million dollars.

Baum attributed the low level of bilateral trade between the two countries to “informal and unaccounted trade’’. (NAN)

By Muhammad Sada

A

non-governmental organisation has pledged to provide necessary support for the successful implementation of the proposed Federal Government Rural Information Technology Centres to be built across the country, just as it advocated the inclusion of information communication technology (ICT) in primary and secondary school curriculum.

The group, identified as Basic information and communications system (BICS), disclosed this through their General Manager of BCIS-NIIT, Halima Umar, who spoke on the organization’s 13th scholarship programme in Abuja, also noted that skill acquisition is the only antidote to youth unemployment in Nigeria and it could be acquired through ICT. According to her, “already the organization was providing scholarship for over ten million Nigerians across the federation on ICT, to enhance the government’s initiatives on job creation.” Umar expressed readiness of the body to partner with government to improve the capacity of its workforce, especially the Ministry of Women Affairs to ensure more participation of female in ICT programme across the country.

According to her, “What we are doing is to support and encouraging government in setting up the capacity building centers and Rural Information Centres, to bring ICT education to the grassroots. We know that the future of tomorrow lies in technology.”

Project manager, Federal Housing Authority, Apo extension estate, Malam Ibrahim Shua’ibu (middle), briefing an engineering regulation monitoring team, during their inspection of the site, recently in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Naira gains on Shell, Exxon dollar sales

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he Naira strengthened against the U.S. dollar on the interbank market yesterday, supported by dollar sales by energy companies Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil to some lenders.

The local currency closed at 161.70 to the dollar on the interbank market, firmer than

the 161.90 to the dollar it closed at last Friday.

Traders said Shell sold about $100 million and ExxonMobil sold about $45 million to some lenders, boosting greenback liquidity in the market.

“There was strong demand for the dollar ... but for the

inflows from the oil companies, the naira would have weakened today,” one dealer said.

The central bank two weeks ago raised the cash reserve requirement for lenders in Africa’s second-biggest economy to 12 percent from 8 percent and reduced net open

foreign exchange positions to 1 percent from 3 percent to support the naira.

Traders say its impact has been limited because of high dollar demand.

“We expect that the naira will depreciate again in the coming days because of the prevalent strong dollar demand in the market, unless there are more inflows from oil companies,” another dealer said. (Reuters)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Mecca for the rich: Islam’s holiest site ‘turning into Vegas’ Behind closed doors – in places where the religious police cannot listen in – residents of Mecca are beginning to refer to their city as Las Vegas, and the moniker is not a compliment.

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ver the past 10 years the holiest site in Islam has undergone a huge transformation, one that has divided opinion among Muslims all over the world.

Once a dusty desert town struggling to cope with the ever-increasing number of pilgrims arriving for the annual Hajj, the city now soars above its surroundings with a glittering array of skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels.

To the al-Saud monarchy, Mecca is their vision of the future – a steel and concrete metropolis built on the proceeds of enormous oil wealth that showcases their national pride.

Yet growing numbers of citizens, particularly those living in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have looked on aghast as the nation’s archaeological heritage is trampled under a construction mania backed by hardline clerics who preach against the preservation of their own heritage. Mecca, once a place where the Prophet Mohamed

insisted all Muslims would be equal, has become a playground for the rich, critics say, where naked capitalism has usurped spirituality as the city’s raison d’être.

Few are willing to discuss their fears openly because of the risks associated with criticising official policy in the authoritarian kingdom.

And, with the exceptions of Turkey and Iran, fellow Muslim nations have largely held their tongues for fear of a diplomatic fallout and restrictions on their citizens’ pilgrimage visas. Western archaeologists are silent out of fear that the few sites they are allowed access to will be closed to them.

But a number of prominent Saudi archaeologists and historians are speaking up in the belief that the opportunity to save Saudi Arabia’s remaining historical sites is closing fast.

“No one has the balls to stand up and condemn this cultural vandalism,” says Dr Irfan al-Alawi who, as executive director of the

Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, has fought in vain to protect his country’s historical sites. “We have already lost 400-500 sites. I just hope it’s not too late to turn things around.”

Sami Angawi, a renowned Saudi expert on the region’s Islamic architecture, is equally concerned. “This is an absolute contradiction to the nature of Mecca and the sacredness of the house of God,” he told the Reuters news agency earlier this year.

“Both [Mecca and Medina] are historically almost finished. You do not find anything except skyscrapers.”

Dr. Alawi’s most pressing concern is the planned £690m expansion of the Grand Mosque, the most sacred site in Islam which contains the Kaaba – the black stone cube built by Ibrahim (Abraham) that Muslims face when they pray.

Construction officially began earlier this month with the country’s Justice Minister, Mohammed alEissa, exclaiming that the

project would respect “the sacredness and glory of the location, which calls for the highest care and attention of the servants or Islam and Muslims”.

The 400,000 square metre development is being built to accommodate an extra 1.2 million pilgrims each year and will turn the Grand Mosque into the largest religious structure in the world. But the Islamic Heritage Foundation has compiled a list of key historical sites that they believe are now at risk from the ongoing development of Mecca, including the old Ottoman and Abbasi sections of the Grand Mosque, the house where the Prophet Mohamed was born and the house where his paternal uncle Hamza grew up.

There is little argument that Mecca and Medina desperately need infrastructure development.

Twelve million pilgrims visit the cities every year with the numbers expected to increase to 17 million by 2025.

But critics fear that the

desire to expand the pilgrimage sites has allowed the authorities to ride roughshod over the area’s cultural heritage.

The Washington-based Gulf Institute estimates that 95 per cent of Mecca’s millennium-old buildings have been demolished in the past two decades alone.

The destruction has been aided by Wahabism, the austere interpretation of Islam that has served as the kingdom’s official religion ever since the al-Sauds rose to power across the Arabian Peninsula in the 19th c e n tu r y .

In the eyes of Wahabis, historical sites and shrines encourage “shirq” – the sin of idolatry or polytheism – and should be destroyed. When the al-Saud tribes swept through Mecca in the 1920s, the first thing they did was lay waste to cemeteries holding many of Islam’s important figures.

They have been destroying the country’s heritage ever since. Of the three sites the Saudis have allowed the UN

InsideView of Al Masjid Al Nawabi

The Grand Mosque in Mecca

to designate World Heritage Sites, none are related to Islam.

Those circling the Kaaba only need to look skywards to see the latest example of the Saudi monarchy’s insatiable appetite for architectural bling. At 1,972ft, the Royal Mecca Clock Tower, opened earlier this year, soars over the surrounding Grand Mosque, part of an enormous development of skyscrapers that will house five-star hotels for the few pilgrims rich enough to afford them.

To build the skyscraper city, the authorities dynamited an entire mountain and the Ottoman era Ajyad Fortress that lay on top of it. At the other end of the Grand Mosque complex, the house of the Prophet’s first wife Khadijah has been turned into a toilet block. The fate of the house he was born in is uncertain. Also planned for demolition are the Grand Mosque’s Ottoman columns which dare to contain the names of the Prophet’s companions, something hardline Wahabis detest.

For ordinary Meccans living in the mainly Ottoman-era

town houses that make up much of what remains of the old city, development often means the loss of their family home.

Non-Muslims cannot visit Mecca and Medina, but The Independent was able to interview a number of citizens who expressed discontent over the way their town was changing. One young woman whose father recently had his house bulldozed described how her family was still waiting for compensation. “There was very little warning; they just came and told him that the house had to be bulldozed,” she said.

Another Meccan added: “If a prince of a member of the royal family wants to extend his palace he just does it. No one talks about it in public though. There’s such a climate of fear.”

Dr. Alawi hopes the international community will finally begin to wake up to what is happening in the cradle of Islam. “We would never allow someone to destroy the Pyramids, so why are we letting Islam’s

history disappear?”

Under threat Bayt alMawlid When th e Wahabis took Mecca in the 1920s they destroyed the dome on top of the house where the Prophet Mohammed was born. It was then used as a cattle market before being turned into a library after a campaign by Meccans. There are concerns that the expansion of the Grand Mosque will destroy it once more. The site has never been excavated by archaeologists.

Ottoman and Abasi columns of the Grand Mosque Slated for demolition as part of th e Grand Mosque exp ansion, these intricately carved columns date back to the 17th century and are the oldest surv iv ing sections of Islam’s holiest site. Much to the chagrin of Wahabis, they are inscribed with the names of the Prop het’s comp anions.

Ottomon Mecca is now rapidly disappearing Al-Masjid al-Nawabi For many years, hardline Wahabi clerics have had their sites set on the 15th century green dome that rests above the

tomb holding the Prophet, Abu Bakr and Umar in Medina. The mosque is regarded as th e second holiest site in Islam.

Wahabis, h owever, believe marked graves are idolatrous.

A pamphlet published in 2007 by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, endorsed by Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, stated that “the

Jabal al-Nour in Mecca

green dome shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet’s Masjid”.

Jabal al-Nour A mountain outside Mecca where Mohammed received his first Quranic revelations. The Prop het used to sp end long spells in a cave called Hira. The cave is particularly p opular among South Asian p ilgrims

who have carved steps up to its entrance and adorned the walls with graffiti.

Religious hardliners are keen to dissuade pilgrims from congregating there and have mooted the idea of removing the steps and even destroying th e mountain altogether.

Source: Independent.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 26

By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

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fter his lifetime, his noble Companions conquered distant nations like Egypt, the Byzantine Rome, Persia, Central Asia and North Africa. God thus has fulfilled the promise He earlier made to the faithful: “God has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted those before them; that he will establish in authority their religion – the one which he has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived) to one of security and peace…” (24:55).

Whatever followed to date is our making.

This gift of Ramadan will never be forgotten. It remains indelible in our minds that whenever we hold fast to God by obeying His commands He will come to our aid.

Without attaining this level of faith, we should expect nothing.

Ramadan comes every year to remind us of this fact.

The Night of Power The fourth gift of Ramadan is a special night called lailat al-Qadr. (“The Night of Power”). The night is “better than a thousand nights.”

(97:2). This is a bonanza. Spending the night in worship will be rewarded with the reward of 1000 months. This is exclusively accorded, going some reported traditions, to the nation of Islam.

The Qur’an has conclusively fixed it in Ramadan while the most authentic of traditions have placed it among the odd days of the last one-third of the month. This is the reason why Muslims intensify worship during the nights of the last ten days. Some would travel for the lesser hajj and multiply the 1000 months with another factor of 1000 for praying in the Sacred Mosque or of 500 for praying in the Prophet’s mosque at Medina. Let’s look at the arithmetic. 1000 months x 1000 = 1,000,000 months! Dadi kashe ni. Come again: that is over 83,333 years.

And God will multiply further to whomever He wishes.

The Prophet used to stand in midnight prayers (Qiyam) especially during the last one third of the night since the beginning of revelation. Whenever Ramadan came, he intensified the night prayer particularly in the last one third of the month in order to ‘catch’ the lailatul Qadr.

The I’itikaf, or resort in the Mosque, is also most commonly observed during Ramadan and particularly during the last ten days.

Here, the entire world, together with its profit and loss, family and friends, business and office, is abandoned and sacrificed for worship of the Creator of the Earth to Whom we shall all return. The body and the soul take a leave from the agonies of the prevailing capitalist order that results in nothing but anxiety, high blood pressure and bad blood.

This indeed is a period that could be used to purge our souls and bodies from exalting the worldly at the expense of the Hereafter. A person that spends this time as recommended will definitely emerge with a soul free from stains of Satan. It is intended that this experience will likely linger

Ramadan (IV)

extent to which we conform to its teaching..

First, the fasting. It is intended to equip us for the remaining year with self-restraint. The logic is, as we said earlier, if we could sacrifice the lawful – that is food, drink and

Holy Kaaba, Makkah throughout the year to be expressed in the improvement of his relationship with God and other fellow beings.

Charity Charity during Ramadan is highly recommended. Islam lays a lot of emphasis on the society to take care of its needy. A form of charity, Zakat al-fitr – per capita Zakat – is given out to the poor by every family head for each member of the family.

Though not obligatory as the Zakat of wealth, people practice Zakat alfitr almost unfailingly. This means that at the rate of four rations of staple food per head, millions of tonnes are exchanged worldwide between the rich and the poor without any official protocol of the UNHCR or poverty alleviation officials. All this takes place within few hours in the morning of the Sallah Day. Festival Then comes the last offer, Eid el-Fitr or what we commonly call Sallah. It is a celebration that takes place at the end of the Ramadan.

Muslims congregate on the Eid ground, wearing their newest dresses. They would pray to God, expressing their gratitude for witnessing Ramadan with the hope that their worship has been accepted by Allah and that they will live long enough to witness another occasion next year – Allah maimaita mana.

The feeling on the Sallah day is that of intense happiness. It is one of the two summits observed by Muslims throughout the world. The smaller ones are the daily congregations at daily prayers. They offer the opportunity for people in the same neighbourhood to meet five times a day, pray together, greet

and ask about the condition of one another. If there is a problem with anyone, it is noted by his absence.

At a higher level, a weekly congregation takes place on Friday afternoon, drawing Muslims from many neighbourhoods, villages and settlements. Here also, God has created an opportunity for interaction and expression of solidarity in faith.

Then comes the Eids, when Muslims from many jurisdictions of Friday congregations converge in

us that cannot make it are annually offered the opportunity to observe another submit here at home, called Eid el-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice – a day after the Arafat.. This is the festival done in commemoration of the sacrifice of Ishmael by Abraham – the father of Monotheism. The same way he was ready to sacrifice his only son then – the most precious of his possessions – in obedience to the command of God, Muslims are supposed, by the animals they sacrifice that day, to

“

The Qur’an, the second lesson of Ramadan, is studied and recited more often during the month – in prayers and other forms of worship – than in any other month. Agreed. But the purpose of the Qur’an is guidance.

Have we made it our guide in our private and public affairs? one place twice in a year, remind themselves of their obligations to God after thanking Him for His guidance and His blessings that included Ramadan. These summits all finally culminate in a grand one, the Arafat, when during Hajj Muslims from various parts of the world congregate in one place to observe the rituals of hajj and discuss matters of common concern regarding their faith and in the spirit of universal brotherhood. But Hajj is meant for those who are able in terms of wealth, health and security, at least once in a lifetime. Those of

sacrifice also all their desires that stand between them and piety.

That has been Ramadan, a period that embodies other fundamental obligations in Islam: by it faith is strengthened, prayers are intensified, charity is given and a summit that culminates in Hajj is observed. It is a month that we always wish would return and find us among the living.

Application In the concluding part of our lengthy discourse on Ramadan, I would like to briefly examine the

sex – we can easily sacrifice the unlawful in terms of food, drink, sex and of course many other things.

To what extent have we achieved this? I am afraid to say that we are good at observing the abstention in the fasting, but little have we benefited from its lesson.

If we had, we would have solved most of the problems facing our society. Most prominent among these problems of looting the public treasury which is constantly undertaken by the leadership with active participation of the followers. What is surprising is that both sides do fast during Ramadan but even during Ramadan not a single kobo, where possible, is saved from the wrath of these kleptomaniacs.

The problems of alcohol, adultery, theft, slander and so on would also have vanished if Ramadan were taken seriously. But as soon as it leaves, these bad habits return, in many cases right on the Sallah day, to rule over our minds for the rest of the year. Thus we could hardly be said to have achieved the objective of selfrestraint.

The Qur’an, the second lesson of Ramadan, is studied and recited more often during the month – in prayers and other forms of worship – than in any other month. Agreed.

But the purpose of the Qur’an is guidance. Have we made it our guide in our private and public affairs? How much of self-restraint have we achieved that will prevent us meting injustice to ourselves as well as to others? How much have strived to fulfill the promise that we will extend its message to others?

Etc. Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde is a renowned columnist based in Jos

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Stealing food from the gods: Villagers offer gifts to appease the volcano H

undreds of Indonesians armed with nets trekked inside a giant volcano crater to get their hands on some of the annual offerings to the Gods made during a traditional festival.

The annual Yadnya Kasada festival, which takes place on the east side of the island of Java, dates from the 15th century and is always held on the 14th day of the Hindu festival.

The Tenggerese people of Probolinggo scaled the sides of 7,641ft Mount Bromo before entering the crater edge to take up pole position to grasp some of the rice, livestock, vegetable, fru it an d mone y, th ought to br ing goo d lu ck, whi ch a re di scar ded int o th e volca no caldera.

The origin of the ritual began where a princess named Roro

Anteng founded the principality of Tengger with her husband, Joko Seger. The couple were ch ild less an d c all ed o n t he assistance of the mountain gods.

The gods granted them 24 children but stipulated that the 25th child, named Kesuma, must be thrown into the volcano as hu man sac rifi ce. The god s’ request was fulfilled.

While human sacrifices are no longer used, the tradition of throwing other offerings into the volcano to appease these ancient deities continues today and is called Yadnya Kasada ceremony.

Though fraught with danger, some locals risk climbing down into the crater in an attempt to recollect the sacrificed goods that believed could bring them good luck.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Waiting eagerly: Net-toting villagers in the caldera within Mount Bromo await the offerings cast down by Tengger Hindus to express their gratitude to the Gods.

Ancient: The origin of the ritual lies in the 15th century legend where a princess named Roro Anteng started the principality of Tengger with her husband, Joko Seger. The couple were childless and therefore beseeched the assistance of the mountain gods.

Grasping: Villagers reach out with nets and outstretched arms to try and catch a bird during the annual Yadnya Kasada festival at Mount Bromo in Indonesia's East Java province.

Precarious: The massif area is one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java, Indonesia. The volcano belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. The name of Bromo derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.

Picturesque: Mount Bromo sits in the middle of a vast plain called the 'Sea of Sand'. The typical way to visit Mount Bromo is from the nearby mountain village of Cemoro Lawang.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 29

Farmer tasks Agric committee decries slow progress at sites Delta Govt. on security at fish farm

T

T

he Chairman, United Fish Farmers Association, Ekpan, Uvwei Local Government Area of Delta, Mr Richard Dafioghor, has called on the state government to provide security at a fish farm located in the area.

Dafioghor, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ekpan, said the local government area was known for fish farming but lamented that criminals sometimes attacked the farms.

He said that the state government had promised to provide security among otherfacilities at the farmsin the area, regretting however, that nothing had been provided.

Dafioghor disclosed that the farm, which currently had four phases, was producing about 10,000 tonnes of fish daily and had no less than 4,000 farmers.

“This farm has been a wonder in Delta and it has been in existence for the past 12 years. We have been trying to make sure that we eliminate poverty through farming.

“As you can see, in Uvwie, we are known for fish farming and we have done a lot to improve on that aspect of farming and by so doing, we have been able to empower a lot of the youths,” he said.

Dafioghor, a lawyer, revealed that in 2008, the state government constructed the road to the farm and gave each farmer a “soft loan” of N100, 000, adding that the farmers were expected to pay back only N50, 000 of the loan.

“The government didvery well with the provision of the loans to us but we are still waiting for the facilities they promised to give us in the farm, especially security.

“I am sure that if the government can actually intervene as promised, we can eradicate povertyin our community through job creation for our people,” he stressed.

He lauded IFAD-FGN Community Based Natural Resources Management Programme (CBNRMP) for training the farmers on better fish farming programme, saying it had impacted positively on them.

Dafioghor called on IFAD to further assist the farm through funding and building of fish feed mills and hatchery.

Speaking on the profitability of the fish farm, he said that the returns on investment could not be compared to any other “even in the oil industry.”

“I am a graduate ofLaw;I have done facility management course and I am a safety personnel and also a farmer.

“In all these my adventures, it is in this farming that I have been making much money.I started with just one fish pond but today I have more than 30 ponds, on a land covering more than half acre.

“My advice is that government should empower the youths so that they can get better.For me,Iwas empowered through thrift contribution with which I starting fish farming with one pond.

“The business is fabulous and cannot be compared to salaries of oil company workers. It is pay as you go and as you are investing, you are getting the returns and you can estimate your targets at the end of every day,” Dafioghor said. (NAN)

he committee charged with monitoring agricultural projects funded under the Special Intervention Fund for Agriculture (SIFA), has decried the slow pace of work on three project sites in Plateau.

The committee, led by Mr. Olawore Aderemi, made the observation recently in Jos, the Plateau State capital after inspecting projects at Heipang, Pankshin and Gakawara.

Aderemi, who was accompanied on the visit by the state Commissioner for Agriculture, MrStephen Barko, said that each of the “one-stop farmers’ market project was worth N420 million.”

A NAN correspondent who

covered the visit, reports that the site at Heipang was still at the foundation stage.

The situation angered Aderemi, who recalled that the contractor, Lukman Nigeria Limited, had received 15 per cent mobilisation fund in February 2012.

“The contractor was given 15 per cent mobilisation fund for the immediate commencement of work because all SIFA projects are to be completed before the end of the year.

“It is shocking that work has barely started on this site. We are giving the contractor one month, if there is no rapid progress, the contract will be revoked,” he said.

At Pankshin, however, another

location for the market, work had reached 65 per cent completion, while the job had reached 75 per cent at the Gakawa site.

Both projects are being handled by KDK Projects LTD, a Lagos-based firm.

It was learnt that Barko expressed displeasure over the non-involvement of the Plateau government in the execution of the projects.

“If the Federal Government had given us money to execute these projects, they would have since been completed because we are the direct beneficiaries and agriculture is our main source of revenue generation.

“We want the Federal Government to begin to involve us in the execution of such projects to enhance

supervision,” the commissioner said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gideon Dandam, the state Fadama III Coordinator, who was also on the inspection team, later told NAN that the projects, when completed, would provide training centres, storage facilities, improved seedlings, drugs for livestock and machinery to assist farmers.

He added that the projects would also provide farmers a conducive market for the sale of their produce without the interference of middlemen.

NAN reports that the SIFA committee comprised representatives of the National Economic Council, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and National Planning Commission. (NAN)

Baskets of mangoes on display at Zuba Fruit Market in Abuja.

Cocoa production: FG slams farmers over objection of agrochemicals

By Mohammed Kandi

T

he Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has demystified protest by some farmers under the aegis of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria (CFAN) that plans by the ministry to supply agrochemicals listed for cocoa production to its members was extraneous.

This followed some media publications, quoting members of the association as saying “the Federal Government should examine the purchase and supply of the agrochemicals” even as they expressed dissatisfaction with the entire procurement and distribution of substances to the farmers.

Addressing members of the press in Abuja, however, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Ezekiel Oyemomi condemned in totality campaign by the farmers, saying the misrepresentation that the agrochemicals are harmful had been made by a faction of the CFAN.

He remarked that the agrochemicals had not only been screened and registered by the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), but the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and approved by the European Union (EU).

While arguing on the contentious issue, Oyemomi further observed that, the agrochemicals listed on the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme for cocoa production, were neither unpopular or dangerous to the cocoa tree.

He recalled that the ministry had in 2008 set up a Ministerial Committee on pesticide usage on cocoa and the provision of the right agrochemicals to cocoa farmers to ensure compliance with EU safety standard.

“The ministry had decided that this year being the first year of implementing the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA), only tested, agrochemicals that farmers are familiar with will be used for the scheme,” the Permanent Secretary stated.

On their part, the farmers had contended during a news conference

in Osogbo, Osun State, that the approved agrochemicals were unsafe for their plant just as such was not required by the farmers.

In a statement credited to the association’s President, Alhaji Raheem Adeniji, the farmers insinuated that supply of those agrochemicals was politically motivated and appealed to the President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the issue.

Adeniji was also quoted as saying “On a number of occasions, we have written to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to urge them to follow our request but they have continued to ignore our demands.

“How do we explain the inclusion of three different brands of agrochemicals of the same work in a single box? And this box of cocoa agrochemicals is meant for the same usage for our cocoa.

“Apart from this, we wish to alert the Federal Government to the fact that the storage of the so-called agrochemicals in a box is very unscientific,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, Prof. Malachy Akoroda, the Chief Executive Officer of CRIN, stressed that cocoa

agrochemicals were always tested scientifically on cocoa trees before recommending it to farmers.

He added that some cocoa farmers had requested for the agrochemicals immediately after it was rolled out in Ibadan in April, 2012, but said that the agrochemicals were recognised as the best for cocoa production in Europe and America.

However, President of CFAN, Mr Sayina Riman, applauded the Federal Government for including the association in the Cocoa Transformation Agenda (CTA) saying that, “the private sector has never had it this good before. This is the first time that we are comfortable with a PublicPrivate-Partnership arrangement.”

Also speaking, Mr Peter Akpokpodion, the team leader of the cocoa value chain, expressed optimism that the agrochemicals had undergone several stages of tests before the ministry recommended it for use.

Akpokpodion therefore called on the aggrieved group to embrace the development by accepting the agrochemicals but urged them to stop sabotaging government’s effort and what he described as the “campaign of calumny”.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 30

US to boost agriculture in drought-stricken states

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early 220 counties in a dozen drought-stricken states were added recently to the U.S. government’s list of natural disaster areas as the nation’s agriculture chief unveiled new help for frustrated, cashstrapped farmers and ranchers grappling with extreme dryness and heat.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s addition of the 218 counties means that more than half of all U.S. counties — 1,584 in 32 states — have been designated primary disaster areas this growing season, the vast majority of them mired in a drought that’s considered the worst in decades.

Counties in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming were included in Wednesday’s announcement. The USDA uses the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor to help decide which counties to deem disaster areas, which makes farmers and ranchers eligible for federal aid, including low-interest emergency loans.

To help ease the burden on the nation’s farms, Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack has opened up 3.8 million acres of conservation land for ranchers to use for haying and grazing.

Under that conservation program, farmers have been paid to take land out of production to ward against erosion and create wildlife habitat.

“The assistance announced today will help U.S. livestock producers dealing with climbing feed prices, critical shortages of hay and deteriorating pasturelands,”

Vilsack said.

Vilsack also said crop insurers have agreed to provide farmers facing cash-flow issues a penaltyfree, 30-day grace period on premiums in 2012.

Asof thisweek, nearly half of the nation’scorn crop was rated poor to very poor, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. About 37percent of theU.S. soybeans were lumped into that category, whilenearlythree-quarters of U.S. cattle acreage is in drought-

affected areas, the survey showed.

The potential financial fallout in the nation’s midsection appears to be intensifying. The latest weekly Mid-America Business Conditions Index, released Wednesday, showed that the ongoing drought and global economic turmoil is hurting business in nine Midwest and Plains states, boosting worries about the prospect of another recession, according to the report.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the index,

said the drought will hurt farm income while the strengthening dollar hinders exports, meaning two of the most important positive factors in the region’s economy are being undermined.

The survey covers Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

Thursday’s expansion of federal relief was welcomed in rain-starved states like Illinois, where the USDA’s addition of 66 counties

Abia launches cassava enhancement support scheme with 100 beneficiaries

leaves just four of the state’s 102 counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane and Will, all in the Chicago area — without the natural disaster classification.

The Illinois State Water Survey said the state has averaged just 12.6 inches from January to June 2012, the sixth-driest first half of a year on record. Compounding matters is that Illinois has seen above-normal temperatures each month, with the statewide average of 52.8 degrees over the first six months logged as the warmest on record.

“While harvest has yet to begin, we already see that the drought has caused considerable crop damage,” Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said. In his state, 71 percent of the corn crop and 56 percent of soybean acreage is considered poor or very poor.

In South Dakota, where roughly three-fifths of the state is in severe or extreme drought, Vilsack earlier had allowed emergency haying and grazing on about 500,000 conservation acres, but not on the roughly 445,000 acres designated as wetlands.

Vilsack’s decision to open up some wetland acres in a number of states will give farmers and ranchers a chance to get good quality forage for livestock, federal lawmakers said.

“The USDA cannot make it rain, but it can apply flexibility to the conservation practices,” Sen. Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, said Wednesday. The USDA designated 39 of his state’s counties disaster areas.

Cows feed in a droughtdamaged pasture as temperatures climb over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) in Jasper, Indiana, July 24, 2012. (REUTERS)

New focus for Nigerian agriculture

By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta

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n a well calculated move, Nigeria is gradually but steadily stepping away from dependence on expensive and unsustainable food importation to feed its burgeoning population of about 170 million, to a future in which Nigerians will grow the food they eat locally. The carefully designed programme of going local in food production is gaining ground and wide acceptance in a country that is actually selfsufficient in the main stable foods.

The move became necessary after Nigerian leaders realized more than ever before that food security rooted in home-grown food products has many advantages, and the fact that it is also attainable. The magic wand for that is not so mysterious: it is in taking the agricultural sector more seriously and giving it a new focus.

An innovative agricultural researcher, academic and worldwide fame for contributing to the growth of agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and a US-trained agriculturist with an excellent record of success in implementing agricultural programmes that increased food production in the country, Bukar Tijani, are the reliable hands in which President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan entrusted the sector which is central to the country’s economy. The duo,

supported by a workaholic Permanent Secretary and an array of experienced staff, are working as a team in a focused manner with a determination to reinvigorate the sector.

Soon after taking office slightly over a year ago, the Ministers rolled out an Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) through which they intend to achieve the main objectives of curbing the rising food import bill, turning agriculture from its current peasant-driven subsistence outlook into agri-business orientation that could change the status of 20 million resource-poor small-holders for the better, and create jobs for Nigeria’s teeming youth through the Value Chains of a basket of crops One of the main planks of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda is increasing food production by 20 million metric tons per annum through a purposely selected clutch of priority crops. The first wave of the priority crops are cassava, rice, maize, sorghum, cocoa and cotton.

But the initial increase of 20 million metric tons of food will be attained by producing additional 17 million metric tons of cassava, one million metric tons of sorghum and two million metric tons of milled rice by 2015.

An important common characteristic across these crops, with the probable relative exceptions of cotton and cocoa, is that in addition

to being sources of nutritious basic food for many households, they are all tradable commodities and raw materials for a range of agroindustries. To add value to the crops, especially cassava, rice, sorghum and horticultural crops such as tomatoes and onions, advanced processing plants have been ordered from abroad.

The small-holders, who constitute an overwhelming majority of farmers in Nigeria, are getting support from the government to improve their productivity. Under a Growth Enhancement Support scheme (GES), they are encouraged to access government-subsidized fertilizers and improved seeds of their choice free of charge. In all, over N32.7 billion is being spent on subsidized fertilizers and improved seeds under the support scheme by the federal government. Some 4.5 million small-holders have been registered in the last six months and the remaining 15.5 million would be registered between now and 2015 to have the targeted 20 million smallholders in the farmers’ data bank.

A quick study of a document shows that 1, 293,000 bundles of improved cassava cuttings would be delivered in the next few weeks to cassava growers for planting in 28 states of the federation free of charge. Over 22,000 metric tons of improved Maize, Rice, Cotton,

Sorghum and Soybeans seeds are being distributed to the registered farmers. In Ogun State alone, 200,000 bundles of improved variety of cassava will be given to farmers: cassava farmers in Borno state are to receive 90 trailer-load of improved variety of cassava cuttings for planting on 150 hectares.

Another important aspect of the agricultural transformation thrust is the rejuvenation of extension and farmer education services. A new Department of Extension Services is about to take-off in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Most states of the federation have bought the idea and are set to strengthen their departments of extension services.

This is to ensure that farmers are equipped with the necessary skills of running their farms profitably on sustainable basis. They will be taught basic skills on land preparation, the difference between seeds and mere grains for sowing, soil management, reducing post-harvest loses, access to markets and agricultural credit.

One more important step taken to give the sector sharper focus is the decentralisation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by posting Directors of Agriculture to each state of the federation and a complement of officers who specialized in various aspects of agricultural services to avail farmers of their skills.

There are also six Regional Directors whose responsibilities include co-coordinating the activities of the state directors and developing a strong liaison with Ministries of Agriculture in the states. The decentralisation is already making coordination between the Federal and State governments in the efficient and harmonious management of the sector easier. State governments now comprehend and buy into innovative agricultural practices such as the crop value chain approach, guaranteed minimum prices for vital crops, ending direct procurement and distribution of agro-inputs by government and efficient delivery of joint support to smallholders.

With the steps taken so far by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as indicated in this piece, it is reasonable to believe that the expectations raised by the Agricultural Transformation Agenda to increase food production by 20 million metric tons, create 3.5 million jobs for Nigerians through agri-businesses and curb the food importation worth US$11 billion per annum, are likely to be met. Meeting these expectations is in the best interest of Nigeria.

Salisu Na’inna Dambatta wrote from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 31

CIA: KUBARK’s very long shadow ANALYSIS

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anta Barbara, CA - A 2011 FBI "primer" on overseas interrogations, which became public on August 2, 2012, as a result of Freedom of Information Act action taken by the American Civil Liberties Union, repeatedly cites the Central Intelligence Agency's 1963 KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation. KUBARK was the code name the CIA used for itself.

The FBI briefing also cites the CIA's 1983 Human Resource Exploitation Manual (Honduras version) which was compiled by sections of KUBARK to train interrogators in the art of obtaining intelligence from "resistant sources".

This was disseminated to the intelligence services of right-wing regimes in Latin America and southeast Asia in the context of the global "war on communism". In the mid1980s, these manuals became the subject of Congressional investigations into US-supported atrocities in Central America. Both became public in 1997 as a result of FOIA action by the Baltimore Sun. The FBI primer favourably invokes the KUBARK manual as a resource to illustrate the value of isolation "for several days before you begin interrogation" as well as during the "multi-session, multi-day process" as a means of prolonging a prisoner's fear prior to interrogation.

The encouragement of fearproduction through isolation is disturbing for (at least) two reasons.

First, it indicates that some elements of the CIA's psychological torture model continue to have currency, despite the scandalous record of US prisoner abuse in the "war on terror" and the Obama administration's pledge to end torture.

One of the many victims of the US extraordinary rendition programme, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was shipped from New York to Syria in 2002, responded to the FBI primer's advocacy of isolation with the following tweets: "That's called torture. I say this from experience.

Isolation 4 long time becomes worse than physical beating." "1 thing isolation inflicted on me is that my cognitive skills have been greatly & permanently diminished." And "If u want 2 know what solitary confinement does 2 humans try locking urself in the bathroom 4 only 24hrs. Please tweet about ur findings."

Arar's failed attempt to obtain justice in a US court for the abuses to which he was reportedly subjected by and at the behest of the US government is one of many markers of this nation's refusal to deal seriously with the legacy of torture.

No wonder, then, that the FBI section chief in the counterterrorism division who is understood to have written the primer would feel no compulsion not to craft current policy from this unaccountable recent past.

The second disturbing element is the primer author's apparent unawareness - or disregard - for the ignominious history of KUBARK, and the CIA record more generally. Did he or she never read Darius Rejali's Torture and Democracy, or Alfred McCoy's A Question of Torture, or Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine to name but a few of the many studies that detail and critique that history?

Since KUBARK continues to be an

A recently released FBI 'primer' revealed some of the 'advanced interrogation methods' in use [GALLO/GETTY] operable model, it is worth recalling some highlights (or lowlights) of that history in order to put the 2011 primer into context.

KUBARK was the product of the CIA's "mind control" research programme, which was prompted by the terrible mistreatment of US prisoners of war during the Korean War. Many soldiers who were captured by the North Koreans were beaten, starved, put into forced labour, marched to death, or summarily executed. China, which fought alongside North Korea, also committed war crimes against POWs, but added a new tactic to their repertoire of mistreatment: after starving prisoners into a weakened state, they subjected them to communist indoctrination. That history was immortalised in John Frankenheimer's (1962) political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate, which features a character who was "brainwashed" to become an assassin for an international communist conspiracy.

The CIA took a lesson from the Korean War. Fearful that a communist regime might achieve a breakthrough in the art of brainwashing, in 1953 the agency established the MK-ULTRA programme and invested in mindcontrol research. This began with experiments in hypnosis, electroshock, and hallucinogenic drugs - including LSD. The CIA programme evolved into psychological torture, which fuses tactics of sensory deprivation and self-inflicted pain (ie: stress position abuse). Unlike beatings and other

tactics that violently attack the body, this combination, as McCoy explains, targets the mind and "causes victims to feel responsible for their suffering and thus capitulate more readily to their torturers". The 1963 KUBARK manual explains the purposes and uses of various combinations of tactics - including isolation - that systematically attack all of the human senses to produce effects of "debility, disorientation and dread".

By the late 1950s, the US viewed the conflict in Vietnam as critical to the Cold War goal of containment and rollback of communism. The US started sending forces to South Vietnam in the early 1960s. To root out Southern guerillas (Viet Cong) who were allied with the North, the CIA trained more than 85,000 South Vietnamese police, who operated a network of interrogational torture sites across the country. The CIA developed the Phoenix programme, which typified terroristic torture in its combination of brutal interrogations and extrajudicial executions. Although the Phoenix programme was an intelligencegathering failure (and more than 26,000 prisoners were either tortured to death or summarily executed), the model lived on.

In the Western Hemisphere, US anxieties about the spread of communism spiked following Fidel Castro's 1959 victory in the Cuban revolutionary war and the installation of a communist government allied to the Soviet Union. The counter-insurgency

“

warfare models honed in Vietnam were transported to Latin America in the 1960s through Project X, a secret training programme of Army Intelligence for militaries and police.

The Phoenix programme model was incorporated into the curriculum of the School of the Americas.

Starting with Brazil in 1963, right-wing military leaders across Latin America seized power from democratically elected governments, with US encouragement and assistance.

Through the School of the Americas and other US institutions (including the philanthropic Ford Foundation), regional military and political leaders were educated about the free market theories of Milton Friedman, an economics professor at the University of Chicago.

Friedman and his acolytes, nicknamed the Chicago Boys, were opposed to any state involvement in the economy.

They believed that for the market to be truly "free", government regulation of industry, subsidies, and social welfare programmes should end.

The shock doctrine In The Shock Doctrine, Klein explains how Friedman's fascination with the 1950s CIAfunded research into electric shock therapy to turn individuals' minds into empty slates that could be inscribed with new information (brainwashing) inspired his theories about how whole societies could be shocked to accept (unpopular) free market policies

The FBI primer favourably invokes the KUBARK manual as a resource to illustrate the value of isolation "for several days before you begin interrogation" as well as during the "multi-session, multi-day process" as a means of prolonging a prisoner's fear prior to interrogation.

of privatisation, deregulation, and the termination of social programmes. In 1973, Friedman advised Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who had just seized power (with US assistance) from the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, to impose economic shock therapy while Chilean society was in shock from the coup. Thus, Chile became the first place where the Chicago Boys' theories could be applied in the real world.

Those economic shock policies instituted by the Pinochet regime and emulated by other Latin American military dictatorships were a disaster. In the short term, the gutting of public services and popular social welfare programmes sparked unrest as people protested the declining standards of living.

Over the longer term, national revenues diminished as multinational corporations bought up de-nationalised industries and transported profits to shareholders abroad. To defend their policies and subdue unrest, these military regimes embarked on national wars against domestic subversives and enemies, which they regarded as part of the West's war against international communism.

In these "dirty wars", the people targeted by the region's military regimes were depicted as traitors and communists, or guilty by association with leftist political movements. As Lawrence Weschler explains in A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers, the doctrine of national security guiding these military regimes was "a fearsome piece of work... The enemy - the International Communist Movement - is perceived as covertly operating everywhere, all the time, in all fields of human endeavour".

Although it is impossible to know exactly how many people were tortured by these military regimes from the 1960s through the 1980s, experts estimate the number between 100,000 and 150,000, tens of thousands of whom were killed. In some countries, following the collapse of these regimes, their records became the subject of investigations and published reports that took as their titles "never again".

Since 1990, a number of leaders of the former military regimes have faced prosecution for torture and other crimes committed while they were in power.

The US has not had its "never again" reckoning, neither for the historic role of aiding other countries in their torture nor for our own history of torture. The FBI, which distinguished itself during the Bush years for refusing to cooperate with the CIA when illegal (and ineffective) tactics were used in the interrogation of prisoners, has now, apparently, decided to embrace some of the measures it had repudiated not long ago.

Lisa Hajjar is a professor of sociology at the University of California - Santa Barbara. Her research and writing focus on the laws of war and conflict, human rights, and torture. She is the author of Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 32

Banned Tunisian protest leads to clashes

H Ex-Gaddafi spy chief al-Senussi ‘will not be extradited’

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auritania's president has said former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi must be tried there before being extradited.

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said Mr Senussi, who fled after last year's uprising, must first face charges of illegal entry into Mauritania.

Libya is seeking to try Mr Senussi for crimes committed during his time as Muammar Gaddafi's righthand man.

He is also wanted by France and the International Criminal Court.

Mr Senussi was held at Nouakchott airport after flying in from Morocco in March, five months after the capture and death of Gaddafi.

Two months later he was charged for illegally entering the country and for the use of forged documents, judicial officials at the time said.

"Senussi has problems with Mauritania's judiciary and has to face court for entering Mauritania under a false identity," President Abdel Aziz said overnight yesterday in the town of Atar.

"The passport Senussi used to enter Mauritania was not falsified but it presents him as Malian and under a fake name, which is why he must undergo trial in Mauritania," Mr Abdel Aziz said, according to AFP news agency.

He said the Mauritanian stance had already been made clear to Libyan and French officials.

In June 2011, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the spy chief for crimes against humanity which he was alleged to have carried out in Benghazi, the main base of the Libyan opposition during the revolt last year.

France has already sentenced Senussi to life imprisonment for the shooting down of a UTA airliner over Niger in 1989.

The interim government in Libya, meanwhile, wants him back on Libyan soil so he can stand trial for numerous allegations of murder and human rights abuses while he was Gaddafi's head of intelligence.

Mr Senussi was seen as late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's right-hand man

undreds of policemen prevented the protesters from gathering on Sunday, because the interior ministry had banned demonstrations in Tunis for the evening.

The civil society activists say that the objectives of the revolution in Tunisia have not been realised, and that the country is not on the right track.

They also argue that corruption and favouritism are still being practiced in the country's administration and ministries.

The protesters ended up marching up and down the crowded Habib Bourguiba Avenue, in the heart of the city, where many families had gathered to observe the breaking of their fast.

"We have the right to protest peacefully but the interior ministry banned all demonstrations," said Zied Hechmi, president of the association for young Tunisian medical doctors.

"It's like in the past. We don't

even have the right to express our opinion without being aggressed."

Ghada Ahmad, another of the protesters, said: "We have to claim the right for an

A

Soldiers killed in Ivory Coast attack

t least six soldiers have been killed in an attack by gunmen on an army base in Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan.

Gunfire was initially heard at

independent judiciary, an independent elections committee and to claim the right for better social and economic situation.

"We haven't been allowed to

gather and to protest. We've been aggressed physically and verba lly.

"The police have attempted to confiscate our cameras and dispersed us with violence."

Anti-government protesters in the Tunisian capital have clashed with police as they attempted to protest against what they term nepotism and corruption in the government.

around 04:00 (04:00 GMT) in the Riviera district of Abidjan, and

The army is conducting extra patrols after the attacks

broke out again sporadically several hours later.

This follows the killing of five soldiers on Sunday in an attack on a police station and an army checkpoint in Yopougon to the east of the city.

Shooting was also reported at the weekend in Abengourou in the east.

Four bodies were seen at the entrance of a building at the Akouedo military camp alongside blood-splattered floor and walls, an AFP correspondent reported. The door to the building had been knocked down. Two other bodies were seen at a sentry post and at another gate.

Residents living in the area

heard several hours of gunfire and there is now a heavily military deployment in the area, while UN peacekeepers have been posted at key junctions.

"Akouedo was attacked from 03:30 (03:30 GMT) in the morning. The guards were able to react. The situation is under control," said the head of the national assembly, Guillaume Soro, on his Twitter account.

"The attackers just want to give the impression that the security situation in Ivory Coast is precarious," he added.

Yopougon district suffered some of the heaviest fighting during the battle for control of Abidjan last year following the disputed elections.

Kenya judge Nancy Baraza should be sacked - tribunal Kenya's deputy chief justice should be sacked after she was accused of threatening to shoot a security guard, a tribunal has recommended.

Nancy Baraza allegedly pulled her pistol and pinched the nose of a female guard after refusing to be frisked when she entered an upmarket shopping centre on New Year's Eve. The tribunal agreed with the guard's account of events.

Ms Baraza was suspended while the investigation was carried out.

"A judge who engages in lawless conduct and thereafter tries to explain it away with misleading testimony should not continue in office," said the tribunal, according to the Reuters news agency.

She says the decision might help moves to reform Kenya's judiciary.

The seven-member panel was headed by Tanzania's former Chief Justice Augustino Ramadhani.

Nancy Baraza has 10 days to appeal to the Supreme Court

Ms Baraza now has 10 days to appeal to the Supreme Court - her lawyer told Al-Jazeera that she had not yet decided what to do.

Security has been stepped up in public places across Kenya since it sent troops into neighbouring Somalia last October.

The militant group al-Shabab has threatened to take revenge and there have been numerous grenade attacks in Nairobi and elsewhere.

It is now common practice in Kenya

Libya’s NTC sets date for power transfer

L

ibya's interim authorities say they will hand over power to a newly elected congress on Wednesday, less than a year after its fighters overthrew the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

"We affirm that August 8, 2012 will be the day that power will be transferred peacefully," Saleh Darhoub, spokesman of the outgoing National Transitional Council (NTC), told journalists in Tripoli yesterday.

Libyans cast ballots on July 7 in the country's first free elections following a 2011 popular uprising that escalated into a civil war and overthrew the regime of now slain

On Saturday, a car bomb exploded near the offices of the military police in Tripoli [EPA]

dictator Gaddafi.

They elected a 200-member legislative assembly comprising party and independent representatives, which will replace the NTC and lead the country until fresh elections are held on the basis of a new constitution.

But the transition comes against a backdrop of heightened insecurity.

On Sunday, unknown assailants attacked a compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Libyan port of Misrata with grenades and rockets, forcing it to suspend its work there and in the eastern city of Benghazi, the agency said.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 33

Ex-US soldier suspect in Sikh temple attack

W

ade Michael Page, a former US soldier, has been named as the suspected assailant in shooting in a Sikh temple in the mid-western state of Wisconsin that left six people dead.

Though police officials have not officially released the identity of the 40-year-old assailant, US media outlets and officials speaking on the basis of anonymity, said on Monday that Page had links to racist groups

in the US. Page was shot dead by police on the scene at Sunday's attack on worshippers preparing for religious services at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in the Madison suburb of Oak Creek.

Military sources, speaking to the Reuters news agency, said Page's sixyear tenure as a a psychological operations specialist and Hawk Missile System repairman in the US

military, came to an end in 1998 for "patterns of misconduct", including being drunk while on duty.

Page was never stationed overseas.

Page had been a member of the racist skinhead band End Apathy, based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2010, said Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty

A woman reacts with others as they await word on a shooting at a Sikh temple.

Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama.

He also tried to buy goods from the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group, in 2000, she said.

"That's all we know about Wade.

We are still digging through our files," she said.

Police searched Wade Michael Page's apartment on Monday looking for clues to his motive.

Authorities are treating the shooting

as a case of "domestic terrorism".

Based on Federal Bureau of Investigation guidelines, cases designated as domestic terrorism involve political agendas.

The FBI defines terrorism as "the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives".

Damascus explosion targets state television

Clinton to visit Turkey for Syria talks

A

Rebel-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo have come under heavy shelling and sniper fire in recent days [Reuters]

Clinton is set to arrive in Istanbul on Saturday to discuss the Syrian conflict [Reuters]

bomb has targeted the Syrian state television and radio headquarters in Damascus, injuring several people, the country's information minister has said.

Omran al-Zoabi said that the bomb on the third floor of the building caused severe damage, but only led to "minor injuries" to several people. No deaths were reported in the blast, and state television put the number of wounded at three.

"It is clear that the blast was caused by an explosive device," Zoabi said. "Several of our colleagues were injured, but there were no serious injuries, and no dead."

"We know who is behind this cowardly, desperate and deplorable act," he added, pointing the figure at an armed rebel opposition movement that has purportedly carried out similar attacks in the capital in the past.

"Nothing will stop the voice of Syria," Zoabi asserted.

The television building lies in the Omayyad district of Damascus, a highly guarded area surrounded by multiple security barriers.

Al-Ikhbariya, a progovernment private Syrian television station, broadcast images of the damage at the state TV building. The footage showed destroyed walls, overturned desks, blown-out cabinet doors, broken glass and dangling electricity cables. A few TV workers were shown tending to a wounded colleague.

Violence in the capital has continued, with fighters who are part of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad saying they are focusing on launching quick "hit-and-run" attacks against government targets, rather than taking control of districts.

The attack in Damascus came as Syrian government forces said they are ready to mount a "decisive battle" for the country's commercial capital Aleppo, even as rebels say they have made gains in the city's ancient centre under intense bombardment and strafing from warplanes.

The twin fronts reflect the rising stakes for both sides in an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's government that has so far claimed more than 18,000 lives, according to rights groups.

H

illary Clinton, the US secretary of state, will travel to Turkey on Saturday for talks over the worsening crisis in Syria, according to a state department spokeswoman.

"Clinton goes to Istanbul for bilateral consultations with the Turkish government on Syria as well as to cover other timely issues," the spokeswoman said on Sunday in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe.

Clinton, who arrived in Malawi on the latest leg of her Africa tour, has added trips to Nigeria and Benin before travelling to Istanbul, the spokeswoman said.

The conflict in Syria has claimed at least 18,000 lives since the uprising against the regime of President Bashar alAssad began in March last year, according to opposition activists.

Barack Obama, the US president, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, agreed at the end of July to accelerate political change in Syria, including Assad leaving power.

Ankara has become a champion of the uprising against Assad's regime and given refuge to large numbers of army defectors, who have formed a rebel army - called the Free Syrian Army - as well as tens of thousands of civilian refugees.

Violence continues and Syria's second city Aleppo has been the scene of fierce fighting since the rebels launched a major offensive on July 20 from rear bases across the nearby border with Turkey.

Turkey moved troops to its border with Syria in June after a Turkish Phantom F-4 jet was shot down by Syria over the eastern Mediterranean in what Erdogan called a "heinous attack" over international waters.

A month later Turkey deployed armoured combat vehicles, troops, ammunition and missile to strengthen the fortified border.

Obama has signed a secret order authorising US support for rebels seeking to depose Assad and his government, according to the Reuters news agency.

Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding", broadly permits the CIA and other US agencies to provide aid that could help the rebels dislodge Assad from power.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Syrian prime minister joins opposition

T

he former prime minister arrived in Jordan after being smuggled across the border, Jordanian authorities confirmed to Al Jazeera on Monday.

"I announce today my defection from the killing and terrorist regime and I announce that I have joined the ranks of the freedom and dignity revolution. I announce that I am from today a soldier in this blessed revolution," Hijab said in a statement read in his name by spokesman Muhammad el-Etri.

Etri also denied that Hijab had been sacked, saying that the government had made the announcement of his dismissal after officials realised that the prime minister had fled the country.

Etri said that the defection was planned "for months", and was executed in conjunction with the Free Syrian Army.

The former prime minister encouraged other Syrian officials to defect in the wake of his announcement, Etri said, adding that with his departure other, less senior, officials "have no excuse not to defect".

He cautioned, however, that the Syrian government was likely to "react haphazardly, in a hysterical manner. It will perpetrate more killings [and] any official willing to defect must act wisely. He must take care of himself and his family".

"The regime speaks only one language: the language of blood," Etri told Al Jazeera.

Hijab is to leave Jordan for Qatar

within days, following the example of other high-profile defectors, Etri told AFP news agency.

"Hijab will go to Doha, where international media are based. He will leave for Qatar tomorrow, the day after or after a few days," he said in the Jordanian capital.

A member of the Syrian opposition in Jordan said Hijab will travel to Qatar "in the coming few hours".

"We are currently coordinating to facilitate the departure of Hijab to Doha in the

coming few hours, most probably at 2200 GMT. Seven of his brothers will stay in Jordan," he told AFP, saying he had helped Hijab defect.

"We understand the sensitivity of this issue for Jordan.

We do not want to create problems for the kingdom, which already has tense relations with the Syrian regime," he said, on condition of anonymity.

President Bashar al-Assad appointed Hijab, a former agriculture minister, on June 23, following a parliamentary election

in May. Etri claimed that the former PM had not been given a choice, however, when appointed to the post.

"This defection has been being planned for more than two months.

He was given two options: to either take the office of prime minister or be killed. He had a third option in mind: to plan his own defection in order to direct a blow to the regime from within and today he is declaring his defection," he told Al Jazeera.

Riad Farid Hijab, the Syrian prime minister, has joined the opposition, he has announced, after state television reported that he was sacked this morning.

Eastwood said that he hoped Romney would be able to put a new tax system based on fairness into place

Greece to deport 1,600 immigrants arrested in Athens

G

reek police say more than 1,600 illegal immigrants will be deported following a major crackdown in Athens in recent days.

More than 6,000 people have been detained, though most were released.

Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias defended the crackdown. He

Greece is the first point of entry for 80% of immigrants reaching the EU

said Greece's economic plight meant it could not afford an "invasion of immigrants".

He called the immigration issue a "bomb at the foundations of the society and of the state".

"Unless we create the proper structure to handle immigration, then we will fall apart," he said.

Some 88 illegal immigrants were sent back to Pakistan on Sunday.

The Greek authorities have increased the number of guards at the border with Turkey amid fears there may be a sudden influx of refugees entering Greek territory as the situation in Syria deteriorates.

More than 80% of migrants entering the European Union do so through Greece, which is in the grip

of its worst recession in decades.

Some Greek politicians have called for the government to adopt a harder line on illegal immigration.

In the recent election, the farright Golden Dawn party won enough votes to enter parliament.

Last week the party distributed free food to needy people outside the Greek parliament - but only if they proved they were Greek citizens and submitted important personal information including their blood type, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported.

Greece has frequently come under criticism for its handling of immigrants.

Amnesty International accused it of treating asylum seekers like criminals and holding them in detention centres.

NASA’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars

T

he Mars science rover Curiosity landed on the Martian surface shortly after 10:30pm Pacific US time on Sunday (0530 GMT) to begin a two-year mission seeking evidence the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life, NASA has said.

Mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles said they had received signals relayed by a Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived a make-orbreak descent and landing attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact cr at er .

NASA has described the feat

as perhaps the most complex ever in robotic spaceflight.

The $2.5bn Curiosity project, formally called the Mars Science Laboratory, is NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes.

The landing, a major victory for a US space agency beleaguered by budget cuts and the recent loss of its space shuttle programme, was greeted with raucous applause and tears of joy by jubilant engineers and scientists at mission control.

In what the head of NASA's Mars programme called a "daring" operation, the space

agency landed its largest-ever rover, weighing 900kg, by carefully lowering it to the surface on cables from what amounts to a giant jet pack in a so-called sky crane manoeuvre.

NASA had promoted the dramatic landing in a video game and had invited space fans across the US to gather to watch the arrival live, including on the giant screens in New York's Times Square.

The landing will be followed by orbiting satellites already deployed around Mars.

The mission is also being streamed live on NASA's website.

Zooming toward the surface at 17 times the speed of sound,

after its nearly nine-month journey, the craft carrying Curiosity decelerated using thrusters and a parachute.

Along the way it jettisoned its cruising rockets, heat shield and outer shell - going through six different vehicle configurations before gently lowering the rover to the Martian surface like a spider on a thread.

The new routine involved Curiosity steering itself for the final phase of landing.

Due to the signal time lag between Mars and Earth (it takes about 14 minutes for a signal on Mars to reach Earth), Curiosity executed the landing autonomously.

Egypt military hunts for Sinai attackers

E

gypt's military has pledged to hunt down those behind the killing of its 16 soldiers at a checkpoint along the Sinai border with Israel.

It described on Monday the attackers as "enemies of the nation" who must be dealt with by force and suggested they were Sinai-based Egyptian fighters who received Palestinian support from the Gaza Strip.

Security and military officials said at least two helicopter gunships arrived in the border town of El-Arish on Monday to join the hunt.

Israel, meanwhile, stepped up pressure on Egypt to clamp down on the lawless border region.

Israel says its aircraft killed eight fighters who broke through the border after the killings.

Egyptian officials have said six attackers were killed.

A statement by the Egyptian armed forces said 35 armed fighters took part in the attack, suggesting that close to 30 of them may be on the run.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egypt and Israel say both Islamist fighters from the Sinai and Palestinian allies from the Gaza Strip are active in northern Sinai, attacking both Egyptian security forces and staging raids across the border into Israel.

The Egyptian armed forces' statement suggested that groups on both sides of the border may have been involved.

"The armed forces have been careful in the past months and during the events of the [Egyptian] revolution [in 2011] not to shed Egyptian blood ... but the group that staged yesterday's attack is considered by the armed forces as enemies of the nation who must be dealt with by force," it said.

In the first direct indication that the attackers may have had the help of Palestinian fighters, the military's statement said "elements from the Gaza Strip" aided the attackers by shelling the Egyptian-Israeli border crossing of Karam Abu Salem with mortars as the attack was taking place.

Earlier on Monday, Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian president, pledged that he will retake control of the Sinai.

"I have given clear orders to all of our security forces, the armed forces as well as the interior police, to move swiftly in capturing those behind this vicious attack," he said in a television address early on Monday.

"This incident will not go lightly. The security forces will implement entire control over all of these areas within Sinai and will ensure they are controlling it. Those behind the attacks will pay a high price as well as those who have been cooperating with those attackers, be it those inside or anywhere in

PAGE 35

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Pic-ass-o! Rescue donkey creates collection of paintings which sell for more than £100 and only take 10 minutes to complete • Patty the rescue donkey paints a variety of bold, vibrant canvases

Eeyore-some: Patty the rescue donkey poses for the camera with her paintbrush and red artist's beret

M

eet the rescue donkey making a name for herself by painting.

Complete with an artists' red beret, Patty wields her paintbrush with her mouth and creates her masterpieces one brushstroke at a time.

Her portfolio boasts a collection of vibrant paint strewn designs, which have so far fetched more than £100 despite only taking her up to ten minutes to complete.

Patty lives at HorseWorld Visitor Centre in Bristol and is known for picking up anything around her with her mouth.

After watching her handler Vicky Greenslade painting one day, Patty looked on intrigued so they gave her a go.

Amazingly, she was so skilled, Ms Greenslade decided to hone her talents and gave her an easel to try painting on.

Patty took just three weeks to perfect her talent by being taught to paint properly with clicker training - a positive reinforcement technique.

Ms Greenslade had used the training tool with Patty before

Patty's portfolio boasts a collection of vibrant paint strewn designs, which have so far fetched more than £100 to help her relax when they took her in at the rescue centre, so she knew it could work.

A paint-covered brush is put into her mouth and if she swipes it across a canvas, she gets a click in return to tell her she has done well.

Ms Greenslade, 26, assistant manager at HorseWorld, said: 'She's a very mouthy donkey so she was very keen to put the paintbrush in her mouth.

'I started by just getting Patty to hold the brush in her mouth but she soon learned to

paint - it only took her around three weeks to get the hang of it.

'This type of training is also a really good way to exercise and provide mental stimulation, and it's really strengthened the bond we have together.

'Donkeys are very receptive and eager to please animals so if they don't hear a click, they will try and do something else in order to be rewarded.

'I'm sure she gets cross if she thinks I don't like one of her paintings!'

Patty, who is now eight, was

rescued in an emaciated condition in 2005 from a UK auction where she was for sale, after being shipped from Romania with another donkey, Pixie.

She was very nervous to begin with as she'd had no contact with people except for at the auction. But, after some rehabilitation training, she is now leader of the donkey herd and quite a character.

'Patty is quite young to be the leader of the group so we have a very naughty, cheeky

Conceptual: Patty's paintings on sale. All proceeds go to charity

group on our hands!' Ms Greenslade said.

Patty loves her new-found painting skills and regularly demonstrates what she can do to crowds of people at HorseWorld.

Ms Greenslade said: 'Patty is a huge show-off, she loves people watching her paint she's not at all shy anymore.

'We can't ask her to do too many demonstrations in a week though, or she gets bored, throws the paintbrush down and walks off - what a drama queen!'

Patty's artwork is on sale in a gallery in the busy Bristol shopping centre, Cabot Circus, and buyers are asked to make a minimum donation of £60 towards her paintings.

Sixty horse shaped figurines have also been painted by Patty, using the same technique, to celebrate the charity's diamondanniversary this year.

And Patty's talents don't stop there - she's also been taught to kick a football and how to kiss.

HorseWorld is a leading UK equine charity that rescues, rehabilitates and rehomes up to 100 abandoned, neglected and mistreated horses every year and is now responsible for over 400 horses, ponies and donkeys.

Patty's canvases and brushes have kindly been donated by The Riverbank Art Centre and Volitation meaning all of the proceeds from the sale of her portraits go directly into helping horses at the charity.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Fizzy drinks, frankly they’re evil, says leading biologist (II) D

r Kubis believes that liquid sugars not only alter our bodies, but also foster addict-like responses.

‘The body absorbs liquid sugars so much faster because they are more easily taken into the stomach lining, and this rapid intake fires up the body’s pleasure responses,’ he says.

‘At the same time, your brain reduces its desire for the taste of nutrients such as vitamins or minerals,’ says Dr Kubis. This is what makes these sugary drinks so habit-forming.

‘There is a huge overlap between what is addictive behaviour with drugs and the use of sweet food,’ he adds.

‘In lab experiments, even rats who have been made addicted to cocaine will prefer to have a sugary drink instead of cocaine.’

He says sugary drink habits aren’t necessarily an addiction ‘because not all of us suffer withdrawal symptoms when we cut out sugary drinks’.

The story may be different with children, however. ‘With children, there is more evidence of addictive behaviour,’ Dr Kubis says.

‘You get tantrums, restlessness and distress if you stop their soft-drink consumption.’

This may be because children’s developing brains are more prone to developing sugar cravings, or because children’s desires are simply more transparent.

Sadly, there’s little point shifting from sugary soft drinks to ‘healthy alternatives’ such as fizzy real-fruit lemonades or fruit-juice drinks, says Dr Kubis, because the liquid sugar problem still remains.

Energy drinks such as Red Bull have boomed in popularity in the past ten years. The regular version contains seven teaspoons of sugar per 250ml ‘Posh soft drinks with real fruit might be marketed as healthy, but this may be rather cynical, as such drinks can be just as dangerous,’ he explains, adding that some fruit drinks contain more sugar than a can of fizz.

SUGAR: THE BIGGEST DANGER HIDDEN IN A CAN OF COKE Doctors are in no doubt - the biggest danger from cola doesn’t come from the hidden additives, flavourings or colourings, but from sugar.

Too much sugar leads to obesity, the major cause of cancer in the western world.

Coca-Cola in the U.S. has reduced levels of one of its ingredients following fears that it could cause cancer.

Dr Hans-Peter Kubis says he no longer touches soft drinks after his research.

It also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, causes heart disease and increases the risk of stroke.

The over-consumption of sugar has been linked to depression, poor memory formation and learning disorders in animal experiments. And it rots teeth.

Each regular can of cola contains eight teaspoons of sugar.

When you drink that much sugar so quickly, the body experiences an intense sugar rush.

The cane and beet sugar used in Coca-Cola is used up quickly by the body, which soon experiences a rapid drop in

energy, leading to cravings for more sugar.

Even when it comes to ‘healthy’ sports drinks, the evidence is that they’re not only a waste of money, because you don’t need them, but they could also be harmful.

An investigation by the universities of Oxford and Harvard warned that popular brands such as Lucozade and Powerade contain large amounts of sugar and calories which encourage weight gain, the British Medical Journal reported earlier this month.

On top of all this is the damage

fizzy drinks can wreak on teeth.

A study in the journal General Dentistry in June found that cola is ten times as corrosive as fruit juice in the first three minutes of drinking.

One of the chief culprits is citric acid, which gives tangy drinks their kick.

A study in the British Dental Journal found four cans of fizzy drink a day increased the risk of tooth erosion by 252 per cent.

The drinks industry, of course, has spent countless millions of pounds bombarding us with sophisticated and expensive marketing in order to weld their products in our minds to images of healthiness and fun.

Few who lined the streets of Britain for the Olympic torch procession could have failed to notice the role of Coca-Cola.

The company paid more than £100 million for the exclusive rights to be the official provider of soft drinks at the Games.

The late Coca-Cola chief executive, Roberto Guizueta, said: ‘Eventually, the numberone beverage on Earth will not be tea or coffee or wine or beer. It will be soft drinks — our soft drinks.’

Today, however, there is a growing backlash against soft drinks.

Earlier this month, a group of leading health organisations, including the American Cancer Association, the American Diabetes Association, Yale University’s Rudd Centre for Food Policy and Obesity, and the American Heart Association, called on the U.S. SurgeonGeneral to investigate the health effects of soda and other sugary drinks.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 37

Mark laments killing of soldiers, police in Damaturu

Beggars storm Lagos House of Assembly in protest over their removal from the streets yesterday.

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

P

Photo: NAN

South-west PDP warns over unlawful dissolution of council, ward excos From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

T

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest has warned members of the State Working Committee (SWC) in the zone against unlawful removal of duly elected members of local government and ward executives of the party.

The party in a release issued by its Zonal Publicity Secretary, Hon. Kayode Babade, the PDP said it has received reports on the removal of duly elected members of local government and ward executives of the party in some states in the zone, noting

that “such actions are illegal, null and void and of no effect.”

The party said it would no longer condone any act of indiscipline by its members just as it added that “PDP is nobody’s personal property and all our members must begin to act in accordance with the party’s constitution.”

The statement reads “The attention of the South West Zonal Working Committee (ZWC) has been drawn to the removal of members of the party executives in some Local Governments and Wards by their State Working Committee (SWC) without following provisions of our party

constitution.

“We wish to state that such actions are not only an affront on our party constitution, but also against the spirit of Reconciliation, Reformation and Rebuilding (3Rs) policy of the National Chairman of our great party, Dr. Bamanga Tukur.

“Dissolution and or removal of wards and local councils exco members carried out by the SWC in any state in the South West is therefore null and void.

“Therefore, any member of our party executive at the Local Council and ward levels that have been unduly removed from

office should disregard such removal and continue to carry out the functions of his or her office.

“Furthermore, report of any further interference in the running of the party at the grassroot level by the SWC should henceforth be made to the zonal office of the party for necessary action.

“Also, henceforth, any SWC that engages in unlawful removal of members of our party executives at the ward and council levels will be going against our party constitution, and shall be sanctioned in accordingly.”

ANPP urges FG to implement youth-friendly social security policy By umar Mohammed Puma

W

orried by the media reports about the increasing suicide incidents in the country, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has urged the National Assembly to make social security an enforceable right of the people and include a vibrant youth-friendly social security framework in the ongoing Constitution Amendment.

According to the party, the social security should be with particular emphasis on the education and employment contingencies of social security.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Hon Emma Eneukwu, the party stated "We believe this is a human right as well as an economic and political necessity; also an indispensable superstructure of national

consciousness, considering that the basic job of government is to carter for the welfare of its citizens".

"We understand that without social security poverty reduction and development are not possible, and the weak ones in our society will always be tempted to be sucked into the pervading sense of hopelessness by taking their own lives, not necessarily because they have psychosomatic or spiritual disorders but because they feel the government does not have a backup plan for them; in that event when self-help fails, they take the easy way out: suicide".

Eneukwu said the party based its request on reports in one of the national daily which reported that two farmers in Orom and MmiataAnam, both in Anambra West Local Government Area of Anambra State, committed suicide following the destruction of their crops by the recent floods in the area.

Also recently, he said a national daily reported that a student in Imo State committed suicide after discovering the loss of her thirty thousand naira school fees which she felt could not be replaced, as she was an offspring of indigent parents and had saved and scraped to raise the lost sum.

He added "Although we believe that suicide is a despicable act which is alien to our inherent African culture and we strongly condemn it and any individual contemplating such, our great party is also worried like other wellmeaning Nigerians that the upsurge in this social malady is a threat to the future of our great nation".

According to him, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 (male and female), and that although suicide

rates have traditionally been highest amongst elderly males, the rates among young people have been increasing to such an extent that they are now the group at highest risk in a third of all countries.

"Our party, the ANPP, wants Federal Government to look critically at the traditional causes of suicide and which up till now was identified with developed societies where extreme pride, unbridled individualism, social alienation, dwindling social solidarity and life of emptiness arising from material overabundance and decline in spirituality are the major causative factors. We believe that peculiarly, many Nigerians are living a secret life of torment because of deepening social-economic pressures and sense of hopelessness traceable to the absence of a solid government-driven social security programme to fall back on in situations of individual incapacitation," he submitted.

resident of the Senate, David Mark, has lamented the killing of six soldiers and two Police officers who were members of the Joint Task Force in Damaturu, Yobe State, describing their death as shocking.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, Mark said the action of the killer was "barbaric and inhuman", just as he added that their death was a painful loss as they died in active defence of their fatherland.

"They died in active defence of the people as well as their fatherland.

They will not die in vain because their acts of valour shall be etched on the conscience of our nation" he further said.

Commiserating with the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejerika and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), he urged them not to relent in their fight against Boko Haram and other forms of terrorism in the country, adding that the rank and file must also keep their obligation to the nation.

Mark also reiterated his call on the leaders and members of the Boko Haram sect to accept the dialogue option offered by the Federal Government in order to halt the spate of senseless killing in the country, particularly in the North.

He expressed condolences to the government and people of Yobe state as well as the families of the officers and men who died in the attack.

Kwara Assembly wants state television station repositioned

T

he Kwara state government has been urged to reposition the State Television Authority to enable the station serve as a medium for effective service delivery.

The Assembly made the call in Ilorin in its resolution on a motion tagged "Repositioning Kwara Television for efficient performance".

The motion, which was sponsored by Mr Ebun Owolabi, the member representing Ekiti Constituency, and seconded by Malam Kamal Fagbemi (OkeOgun), received the support of all members present at the session.

The Speaker of the House, Malam Razaq Atunwa, while reading the resolution, called on the state government to, as a matter of necessity, carry out the general overhaul of the equipment at the station.

He said this was the only way that the signal of the station could be received in all nooks and crannies of the state.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

RPN chairman denies N20m scandal

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he chairman of Republican Party of Nigeria (RPN), Shittu Mohammed, has denied the allegation made by Emmanuel Osita Okereke, former Chairman of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) that he collected N20 million meant for political parties as Ramadan gift from the Presidency.

Mohammed in a statement issued yesterday also denied the report that he has been expelled as IPAC Secretary,

saying that his tenure as the Secretary of the council expired in March 2012 while the Ramadan fast has just started.

He expressed shock over the allegation saying he has no capacity to collect money from the Presidency or anywhere for IPAC having left office since March.

“I am not aware that such funds are made available by the Presidency in advance to political parties through IPAC for Ramadan fast. The onus of proof is on Emmanuel Okereke and Chidi Chukwuani to justify their allegation against me,” he asserted.

He therefore called on security agencies including the ICPC, EFCC and SSS to thoroughly investigate the allegation for appropriate prosecution of any person indicted, so that the image of the government and President will not be in doubt as in the war against corruption.

Speaking over his expulsion as IPAC Secretary, Shittu said it is unwarranted since the tenure of the Emmanuel Osita Okereke-led Executive in which he served as Secretary expired since 31st March 2012. He argued that neither Okereke nor himself has any right or powers to

act on behalf of IPAC. According to him, “INEC has commenced the process leading to the election of a new executive. The Political Parties Code of Conduct which is the working document of IPAC is very clear on the term of office of any Executive. It stipulates that no elected Executive should stay in office beyond one year.”

Meanwhile, he has described the allegation as fallout of his opposition to the attempt by Emmanuel Okereke and his associates to illegally extend their stay in office in violation of the Political Parties Code of Conduct which they swore to uphold.

However, the former IPAC Chairman, Osita Okereke, was called twice for reaction on the issue, he but he kept promising to call back, which he never did untill the press time.

MRDD chairman urges govt to promote residency, indigene status

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L-R: Minister of State for Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, with Akwa Ibom state Governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio, during the minister's visit to the governor, recently in, Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Edo PDP, Airhiavbere differ over withdrawal of petition against Oshiomhole From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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do state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and its governorship candidate of the July 14th governorship election in the state have disagreed over the withdrawal of a petition challenging the declaration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as the winner of the election.

PDP state Director of publicity, Mr.

Okharedia Ihemekpen, said the party resolved to seek legal redress based on the alleged ineligibility of the governor co0nsidering his academic qualifications.

But the state Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih yesterday dissociated the party from the legal tussle, explaining that "The PDP has decided not to file any petition before the governorship election petition tribunal in the interest of the state.

According to him, "The PDP has fully

consulted the leadership of the party both within and outside the state. During these consultations, legal opinions were sought and it is the conclusion of the party that while we appreciate the effects the results declared by INEC will have on our teaming members, we are also mindful of the consequences which the state may run into with protracted litigation".

Reacting in a telephone interview, Airhiavbere denied knowledge of the party's position, adding that "Is it not Orbih that signed the statement? Why not ask him? When I come out, I'll address the press'.

PLSG works towards computer-literate workforce, says Commissioner

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he Commissioner, Plateau Ministry of Science and Technology, Prof.

Comfort Piwuna, said yesterday that the state government had taken steps to make its civil servants computerliterate. ``We have taken steps to ensure that Plateau civil servant have at least a working knowledge of Information Technology. All of them must be ITcompliant,'' she told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos.

Piwuna said that Gov. Jonah Jang had expressed commitment to the goal, and even made it a cardinal principle of the administration. ``Already, we are collating data from the ministries, parastatals and agencies to ascertain those who are already compliant. ``Once we have the entire data, we shall begin the training of those still behind so as to ensure a totally computer literate service and make governance

easier. ``Becoming computer-literate is very crucial because almost everything has been computerised globally,'' she said.

The commissioner explained that the ministry had begun installation of internet connectivity at the Government House, Rayfield, so that workers could connect to the world, learn more and interact with others easily.

According to her, the project will be concluded in two weeks.

he National Chairman, Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed, yesterday urged federal and state governments to promote residency and indigene status through legal provisions.

Mohammed made the remark yesterday while reacting to the debate on the review of the 1999 constitution in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

He said that status of indigene should not be a hindrance to people’s access to education, employment opportunities and land because they were fundamental human rights.

Mohammed also added that an indigene should be allowed to participate in politics as well as produce the chief or head of a community.

“The issue of indigene and settlers has turned Jos into a place for violence, which it was not before.

“During the military regime, the military governors were not indigenes but state administrator, and they had no vested interest other than ensuring effective administration,” he said.

Mohammed added that haven settled in a place for a long period, it was not proper to refer to persons contesting in an election as settlers, but rather as indigenes.

“If you have lived in a place for a long time, you should be allowed to participate in elections in that locality; if you are not popular you cannot win.

“If the election is rigged, there are consequences for rigging elections,’’ he said.

He said the implication of the current situation is that while one might enjoy some rights as an indigenes; such rights are denied to those referred to as settlers.

According to him, there are Constitution guaranteed rights for every citizen to enjoy irrespective of ethnicity, location or place of birth.

Mohammed said the provisions for settlers and indigene should carefully studied in order not to create problems in some regions.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 39

Rep. Hussein pleads with politicians on insecurity

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L-R: Speaker, Lagos state House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the state governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, and Chief Judge of Lagos state, Justice Ayoola Phillips, during the signing of a new bill on state road traffic into law, recently in Lagos. Photo: NAN

Achuzie backs state police R

etired Col. Joe Achuzie, President-General of Igbozurume, an Igbo sociopolitical organisation has thrown his weight behind the call for the establishment of state police to effectively check security challenges of the country.

Achuzie in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Aba yesterday said that state police had become imperative in the present state of insurgency that had caused serious damage to the country's image and economy. `` For somebody to say that Nigeria is not ripe for state police, is it when Nigeria is burgled, all people killed or kidnapped before you realise the necessity for the community policing?

``So, as far as I am concerned no sensible person that loves his community, state and so on will say that time is not ripe for local and state policing,'' he said.

According to him, bringing people other than policing in their state of origin is not solving the security situation in the country.

“How can you bring a Yoruba man into Abia to come and police, who does he know in Abia, have you considered the time it will take him to become friendly with Abians so as to be able to know who lives in the next house.

“First language barrier, secondly tradition and custom, it requires boys in an area to know who is who, recruit able bodied citizens and train them in the art of policing, he knows among his

group who is capable of doing what.

“These are genesis necessary for state and community policing,'' Ikemba Ahamba said.

Achuzie, also known as ``People's General'' blamed the Nigeria porous security system for the success achieved by insurgents in the killing of many innocent citizens in the northern part of the country.

“You see, just as we said that a people deserved the type of leadership they want, so also a people deserved the type of security they put in place. `` All I have for the issue of insurgency is sympathy for those that are losing their lives in the north, the insurgents are not spirit, they are human beings ,

they didn't come together by accident, they are packaged,'' Achuzie said.

He urged the government to stop Nigerian borders from being porous; stressing that it would help stop outsiders and foreign terrorists from penetrating into the country.

“If you know your border is porous, then do something to stop it from being porous, close all avenues to prevent outsiders or terrorists coming from outside, stop them from penetrating into your territory,'' he said.

He urged the Federal Government to continue to provide the military and police the logistics and weaponry to excel in their duties of external and internal aggression security policing.

No continuous voter registration before Ondo guber poll — INEC

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he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said yesterday that the nationwide continuous voter registration (CVR) has been scheduled to take place after the Ondo governorship election.

Mr Kayode Idowu, Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, made this known on Monday in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

“The voter registration will not be carried out in Ondo state with a decision that once the state gubernatorial election must have been over the voter registration will be done nationally by end of 2012.”

NAN recalled that the last exercise was undertaken between January and February 2011 and more than 73.5 million eligible

voters were captured.

Idowu said before the governorship elections in Kogi and Adamawa states INEC piloted the exercise and the updated register was used to conduct the elections in both states.

He said that similar exercise was carried out in Bayelsa but because of the electoral law that stipulated that the register you were going to use for an election must be displayed 30 days before the election, the time was abridged by the Supreme Court judgment that was given in F eb ru a ry .

He said for that the updated register was not used instead the 2011 register was used.

“Also as a result of the abridgement of time through the judgment of the Supreme Court, the commission cannot do the exercises in Sokoto, Cross

River, and Kabbi states before their elections.”

Idowu said the commission also wanted to do the exercise in Edo because there was enough time but the political stakeholders in Edo kicked against it with some acrimony.

He said they were alleging that some political parties were planning to use the exercise to falsify the register and given the acrimony that had dogged the registration the commission suspended the exercise.

Idowu said the process of election would have been further perfected after the completion of the registration.

He said the pattern that the commission had established was that every subsequent election was an improvement on the preceding ones as lessons were factored into the elections

to be conducted thereafter.

Idowu said INEC was restrategising its mode of operations in the conduct of the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo to ensure that people’s votes counted.

He said that had become so important as a result of the last Edo elections.

He said that various strategies which include creating a level playing ground and securing the polling arena in a way that the electorate would feel uninitiated by any party would again be factored into during the election.

“INEC had attained a measure of success in the collation of results, timely delivery of election materials and arrival of poll officials at their polling units, we are improving on this during all elections,” he added.

member of the House of Representatives, Rep. Ismaila Hussein on Monday appealed to politicians to shun party differences and come together to fight the problem of insecurity now tearing the nation apart.

Hussein told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja that the problem of insecurity should not be seen as a problem to be solved by the ruling party alone, saying that the task of overcoming it was the responsibility of all Nigerians.

Hussein, who was reacting to last Friday judgment of a Lokoja High Court which discharged and acquitted him of a three-count charge of forgery, impersonation and desertion levied against him by the Inspector-General of Police, urged politicians to embrace peace.

The lawmaker further called on politicians to forget about the conduct and outcome of the 2011 elections in the interest of the country.

The member representing Ida h/Of u/Ib aj i/Ig al am el a federal constituency said that many politicians were still nursing grudge over the 2011 elections, saying that the development had further aggravated the problem of insecurity in the country.

Hussein said he was charged to court based on a petition written by a fellow PDP member, who, he said, contested the primary election with him for the ticket to the House of Representatives.

The lawmaker said that it was time for everybody to come together to work for the unity and progress of the country. `` We have been working together as a people before and it is high time we realise that we have to continue to work together for the sake of the unity of this country. ``Our people who elected us are looking for the fulfilment of the electoral promises we made during campaigns,'' he said.

He described the court judgment as a welcome development and expressed delight that he had been vindicated at last.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Justice Seidu Hussein had while passing judgment on the case ruled that the prosecution failed to prove as required by law that the accused was guilty of forgery, impersonation and desertion from duty as an officer of the Nigerian Navy in 1986.

The judge consequently dismissed the charges without costs while the accused was discharged and acquitted.

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Co-ordinator, INEC Electoral Institute, advocates for autonomy

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he Co-ordinator, INEC Electoral Institute, Dr Frank Ozoh, yesterday advocated the granting of an autonomous status to the institute for better performance.

Ozoh, who made the call in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) added that if the institute was given autonomy the development would make it function effectively.

The coordinator further said that "if given the opportunity like the National Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS) which is an arm of the National Assembly, the institute would work better''.

He said the INEC Electoral Institute was established in July 2005 to build electoral capacity and professionalism in the administration of electoral processes.

"It was established to recommend policy measures that could help further the process of election administration in Nigeria and the training of civil societies and faith-based organisations that had on their part carried out much work in electoral administration.''

As part of the institution's achievement, the coordinator noted, that this year it commenced civic education in secondary schools in the FCT. "This is because the electoral institute recognises that democrats are not born but they are groomed. The idea is for us to catch them young so that by the time they grow, they will become

democrats.''

Ozoh also said that the institute was a training centre which carried out establishment and general personnel training, adding that participants were awarded diploma in election administration and also post graduate diploma.

"The centre runs the course in collaboration with three major Nigerian universities; the Political Science Departments of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

"We have written a proposal for us to commence certificate

programmes in election administration using our satellite campuses in Oghara, Delta, and Minna, Niger,'' he added.

Ozoh said the institute was governed by a board of electoral institutions with six national commissioners one for each geopolitical zone.

L-R: Niger state Governor, Dr Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, with GOC 1 Div of Nigerian Army, Major- General Garba Ayodeji Wahab, during the latter's visit on the governor recently at his residence in Minna.

Jang extols Suleiman's leadership qualities

G

ov. Jonah Jang of Plateau has extolled the leadership qualities of the former Military Governor of the state, retired Air Commodore Dan Suleiman.

Speaking at a thanksgiving service at the First Baptist Church, Abuja, held to mark Suleiman's the 70th birthday anniversary, Jang urged Nigerian leaders to emulate such qualities.

He said that Nigeria needed courageous leaders such as Suleiman, adding that he governed old Plateau State with the fear of God and the right vision.

Jang described Suleiman as

exemplary leader and ``great'' pilot and urged the present leaders to learn from his contribution to nation building.

Also speaking, the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, described the celebrant as a ``pillar of development of old Plateau'' which comprised Plateau and Nasarawa States.

Maku noted that Suleiman set a standard where ever he served the country and highlighted his ``tremendous'' achievements in area of education, youth empowerment and tourism development in the state.

The minister also described

Suleiman as great pilot who fought for the unity of Nigeria.

Rev. Israel Akanji, the presiding priest, urged the Christian faithful to always pray for God's guidance to complete their assignments on earth..

Chief Samuel Mafuyai, who served as Commissioner for Education during the Suleimanled military administration in Plateau from 1976 to 1978, commended the celebrant for the establishment of the Plateau State College of Technology, now called Plateau Polytechnic.

Mafuyai also noted that Suleiman was instrumental to the

establishment of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru, Plateau.

Rev. Oresoa Selo-Ojene, the Coordinator of the `Anawim' Motherless Home in Gwagwalada, said that the children of the home came to sing for Suleiman because of his simplicity and humility.

Selo-Ojene thanked the celebrant for contributing to the welfare of the children.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Suleiman enlisted into the Nigeria Air Force on July 12, 1962, as a cadet and retired from service on April 15, 1980.

Human rights organisation solicits proper funding of police

T

he Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence (FJHD) has called on the Federal Government to properly equip, re-train and fund the Nigeria Police Force for effective security.

The National Coordinator of FJHD, Mr Oghenejabor Ikimi, made the call in a statement given to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Sunday.

Ikimi stressed that the police

should be adequately equipped to enable it to discharge its statutory duty of protecting the citizens' lives and property effectively.

He said that if the police remained ill-equipped, ill-trained and ill-funded, it would never be able protect the people.

Ikimi, who condemned the incessant bombing of police stations in some parts of northern Nigeria, stressed that such actions would definitely degrade the Nigerian security system.

``I believe that a proactive and vibrant police should be able to protect its personnel and equipment first and foremost before it could protect the lives and property of the citizenry," he said.

He appealed to the Federal Government to devise means of enhancing the funding and supervision of the police.

Ikimi, however, reiterated that without adequate funding, all the strategies evolved and

adopted by the police authorities to address the current security challenges facing the nation would be futile.

He also said that efforts should be made to assuage the plight of policemen working in troubled areas across the country since their lives were always at risk on a daily basis. ``Perhaps, the creation of state police, as advocated by some state governors, is an antidote to such predicament," he added.

Lawmaker distributes rice, sugar to lessprivileged people

M

alam Gambo Musa, (CPCKatsina) has distributed 100 bags of rice and sugar to the less-privileged people in his constituency as Ramadan gifts.

Speaking when he distributed the items in Danmusa Local Government Area on Monday, Musa said the gesture was to enable the people to fast with relative ease in the ongoing Ramadan.

The lawmaker, who is representing Batsari/Danmusa/ Safana Federal constituency in Katsina state, said the distribution of items designed to make life meaningful to his constituents.

Musa, who is the Chairman, Ethic and Privileges Committee of the House, recalled how he had distributed 102 motorcycles to CPC supporters and officials to enhance the activities of the party in the area.

The lawmaker added: "Sixty motorcycles were distributed in Danmusa Local Government, while 27 motorcycles and 25 motorcycles were given to supporters in Batsari and Safana Local Governments of the constituency respectively. " He appealed to the beneficiaries to use the food items judiciously and gave assurance that more assistance would be provided to the people of the area.

Responding, Malam Muhammadu Danmusa, one of the beneficiaries thanked the lawmaker for remembering the people who gave him the mandate to be a member of the National Assembly.

Edo assembly orders Commission to employ physically challenged within 7 days

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he Edo State House of Assembly has ordered the state civil service commission to release the letter of appointment belonging to a physically challenged person, Mr Odaro Osemwengie .

This is contained in a resolution passed by the house yesterday in Benin.

The resolution followed a petition entitled "Refusal of the health management board to give employment," signed by Mr Odaro Osemwengie.

Considering the report, the Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Mr Bamidele Oloruntoba, said Gov. Adams Oshiomhole had graciously approved the appointment of Odaro in November 2011.

Oloruntoba said the health management board could not employ Odaro due to the lack of relevant qualification hence the civil service commission was directed to employ him.

He said the committee discovered that since December 2011 when the Head of Service gave the directive to the civil service commission for immediate action, it had not implemented the governor's approval.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 41

Keshi laments state of practice pitch as 22 Eagles kick-start training

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uper Eagles head Coach, Stephen Keshi, was a sad man yesterday. He feared for the health of the 22 Eagles that are in camp preparing for the August 15 international friendly duel against the Mena of Niger Republic.

The team had assembled as usual for training but not on the artificial turf at package B of the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium Abuja complex, but at the main stadium complex precisely on the Practice Pitch which has natural grass.

Keshi was worried that the lopsided nature of the pitch and its patchy nature would have adverse effect on the players: it easily causes ankle dislocation and therefore not conducive for them to train on.

But they was no alternative

because the mainbowl itself is in a terrible shape.

As a result, the team would be compelled to relocate to the FIFA Goal Project artificial turf which is in itself not particularly quite healthy more so since they are likely to play the Mena on natural grass in Niamey.

Nonetheless, 22 players trained last evening but without the Sunshine Stars players who were still being expected as at the time of going to the press. They are likely to join the rest of the squad this morning, according to Media Officer of the Eagles, Ben Alaiya.

Meanwhile, Keshi has charged the players to show the stuff they were made off and justify the confidence the technical crew

repose on them.

“Just show me what you can do on the pitch and leave the rest for us to do when time for selection of players for the games come”, he said adding that they should discountenance inferiority complex because everyone has equal chance of picking a shirt in the team.

Also, he anniunced that Obinna Nwachukwu, the Heartland winger who is reportedly injured, has been replaced by Crown FC Femi Ajani, who is already in camp and showed flashes of quality during last evening’s training session.

The 22 Players in camp GOALKEEPERS: Chigozie Agbim (Warri Wolves), Daniel Akpeyi (HeartlandFC)

DE FE NDE R S: Azub uike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves), Papa Idris (Kano Pillars), Juwon Oshaniwa (Sharks FC), Ezekiel Henry (Rising Stars), Francis Benjamin (Heartland FC), Umar Zango (Kano Pillars), Osuchukwu Ogonna (Enugu Rangers) M I D F I E L D E R S / FORWARDS: Ejike Uzoenyi (Enugu Rangers), Sunday Mba (Warri Wolves), Reuben Gabriel (Kano Pillars), Uche Kalu (Enyimba FC), Henry Uche (Enyimba FC), Femi Ajani (Crown Fc), Christian Ofili (ABS FC), Solomon Jabason (Akwa United), Kabiru Umar (Heartland FC), Chibuzor Onyekwelu (FAME FC), Sanusi Sani (Gombe United), Sibi Gwar (Niger Tornadoes), Philip Asuquo(3SC).

Awaited: Moses Ocheje, Gowfrey Oboabona, Izu Azuka, Kwambe Solomon (All Sunshine Stars)

Edith Ogoke was taken to the canvas by Torlopova Nadzada's devastating punch

More nightmares for Team Nigeria as D’ Tigers, Ogoke flop

By Patrick Andrew

N

igeria’s medal prospects have continued to dissipate following the failure of the Edith Ogoke-a female boxer to progress to the medal zone yesterday.

The middleweight boxer, who was representing the country for the first time at the Olympics Games, was outclassed by a Russian pugilist Torlopova Nadazda who used her longer reach and technical depth to

beat the Nigerian 18-8.

Though the Nigerian seemed stronger but she lacked the depth to counter her opponents tact and well-layed out punches that often connect on the jaw of Edith.

Similarly, D’ Tigers’ hope of sealing one of the four spots went awry yesterday as they lost gallantly to France by 73-79.

Nicolas Batum’s 23 points ensured that happened. Batum nailed a 3-pointer to put France up 65-62 and the French (4-1) never trailed again after Nigeria had battled back

from an 11-point halftime deficit.

The Portland Trail Blazers standout hit two more 3s down the stretch. His 3-pointer with 2:38 to play gave France a 7568 lead and he drained another for a 79-70 advantage. Batum also had six rebounds.

Boris Diaw, who plays for San Antonio, scored 10 points for France.

Spurs guard Tony Parker had seven assists in 21 minutes for France.

But the most outstanding performer was Chamberlain Oguchi who went 8 for 14 from 3-point range to finish with 35 points for Nigeria. It was the highest individual effort of the day.

Tornadoes promise to win last two games

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iger Tornadoes’ striker, Son Hingir has said his side’s last two matches of the season are must win games.

The Minna-based side have managed 45 points from possible 108 and would be hosts to domestic champions, Dolphins and Jigawa Golden Stars in the season’s last matches.

Hingir said both games are key to their stay in the Premier League next season.

“We’re keenly looking forward to those two matches against Dolphins and Jigawa at home, they appeared our brightest chances of escaping relegation this season.

“Anything short of convincing wins will spell doom for us and an express ticket to the lower division.

“Everybody knows that and that explains the renewed interest shown by the management in preparations for the two matches. Fans are being mobilise to come out enmasse on the match days to support the us to victory.

“Nothing will make Dolphins or Jigawa escape defeats, we’re taking our destiny in our hands and we’ll do our best to save the team from relegation,” he told SuperSport.com.

The former Lobi Stars’ forward blamed their poor showing in the league to biased officiating by the umpires.

“People can attest to the fact that we play good football but most of our defeats were caused by the referees.

“We’ve decided to keep the complaints low why we fight to survive relegation first.

“At the appropriate time we’ll make our views known with the aim of preventing a repeat because it pains for one to lose games you’ve no business losing,” he said.

RESULTS Fl ywe ig ht quarterfinals: Nicola Adams (Britain) beat Stoyka Petrova (Bulgaria) 16-7 Mary Kom (India) beat Maroua Rahali (Tunisia) 15-6 Marlen Esparza (US) beat Karlha Magliocco (Venezuela) 24-16 Ren Cancan (China) beat Elena Savelyeva (Russia) 12-7 Lig htwei ght qua r terfi na l s: S o fi a Ochigava (Russia) beat Alexis Pritchard (New Zealand) 22-4 Adriana Araujo (Brazil) beat Mahjouba Oubtil (Morocco) 16-12 Mavzuna Chorieva (Tajikistan) beat Dong Cheng (China) 13-8 Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat

Natasha Jonas (Britain) 26-15 M i d dl ew ei gh t qu a rt erf i na ls: Cl a r es sa Shields (US) beat Anna Laurell (Sweden) 18-14 Marina Volnova (Kazakhstan) beat Savannah Marshall (Britain) 16-12 Li Jinzi (China) beat Mary Spencer (Canada) 17-14 Nadezda Torlopova (Russia) beat Edith Ogoke (Nigeria) 188.

Wednesday’s Semifinals p a i ri n g s Adriana Araujo vs Russian Sofya Ochigava Mary Kom vs Nicolas Adams Marina vs Claressa Shields Football Results Japan 2 vs France 1

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Zanetti is first Brazilian gymnastics gold medallist

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rthur Nabarrete Zanetti flexed his bulging biceps to upset 2008 champion Chen Yibing and become the first Brazilian to win an Olympic gymnastics gold medal with victory in the rings final ye st er da y.

The 22-year-old gymnast, the last competitor to mount the rings, edged out Chen by 0.1 of a point with a score of 15.900 to win the s t r o n g m a n event. Ital y’s Matteo Morandi won the bronze.

World and Olympic champion Chen had been expected to retain his crown and seemed to have the gold in his pocket after a strong performance and solid landing. But Nabarrete Zanetti produced an inspired display to snatch the title away from one of the greatest rings specialists.

Bulgaria’s 39-yearold Jordan Jovtchev, a bronze medalist in 2000 and silver in 2004, bowed of his sixth and final Olympics by finishing seve nth.

Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti

‘I hit Bolt bottle thrower’ says Dutch judoka

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Dutch judoka has claimed she tackled a man who threw a bottle in the direction of Usain Bolt and his competitors at the start of the Olympic men’s 100m final.

Edith Bosch said a man in front of her became agitated and then threw the plastic bottle towards the sprinters as the starter called “set” in a packed Olympic Stadium in London on Sunday.

The bottle landed behind the blocks in lane five, a few metres behind Bolt’s fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake,

and came to a halt just as the sprinters set off.

The green plastic bottle could clearly be seen on TV pictures bouncing onto the track behind the sprinters.

Bosch, who had competed in the judo competition earlier in the Olympics, said she was furious after seeing the man throw the bottle.

“The whole time this guy was shouting ‘No Usain Bolt, no’ and he was very disrespectful,” the 32year-old told Dutch public broadcaster NOS. “He stood right in front of me and threw the bottle and

I could not stop him. I thought ‘what is this?’ I got furious and gave him a hard slap on the back,” said Bosch.

Security guards then took the man away and he was arrested by police.

Bosch, who came up just short of a bronze medal in the women’s -70kg competition, said she was especially annoyed because as a result of the incident she missed seeing the race in which Bolt retained his 100m title.

Local organisers LOCOG said they were investigating what happened.

Security dragging away the bottle thrower during the 100m finals in London yesterday

Algeria’s Makhloufi thrown out of Games for sloppy 800m race

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lgerian 1,500m medal c on t e nd e r T a o uf i k Makhloufi has been thrown out of the London Olympics for not trying in his 800 heat, the International Association of Athletics Federations said yesterday.

Makhloufi, who won his 1,500 semi-final in three minutes 42.24 seconds, had been forced to run in the two lap race after his team failed to withdraw him from it by Sunday’s deadline, an IAAF spokeswoman said.

The 24-year-old lined up at the start of heat five at the Olympic stadium yesterday but was already well behind the field at the start of the back straight before stopping running completely another 100 meters into the race and wandering back across the infield past the pole vault area.

“The Referee considered that he had not provided a bona fide effort and decided

to exclude him from participation in all further events in the competition,” read an IAAF statement.

Makhloufi stormed past Olympic and world champion Asbel Kiprop in a stunning to finish to his 1,500 heat on Sunday, marking him out as a possible title contender.

The IAAF spokeswoman said he could be reinstated for today’s 1,500 final if he could get a medical certificate from a local doctor.

Makhloufi, the African champion in the 800, has shown a marked improvement this year, bringin g his personal best down from 3.32.94 to 3.30.80 in the 1,500.

The exclusion is the latest in a string of incidents at the Games where athletes have not tried to win in order to manipulate results or draws in their ultimate favor.

The worst was the

badminton fiasco, where eight women from China, Indonesia and South Koreawere thrown out of the Olympics for playing to lose group matches in order to get a better draw in the knockout stages.

There have been other incidents which have not drawn any punishment, with organizers deciding that spectators had not been denied a competition.

French rider Mickael Bourgain quit the cycling road race after just a few kilometers as planned on the first weekend of the Games having been forced to take part in order to compete in his favored keirin track event.

Last Thursday, teenage c y c l i s t P h i l i p Hindes appeared to admit he deliberately crashed in cycling’s team sprint event to ensure Britain were handed a restart because they set off badly.

China’s Xu Lijia wins Olympic sailing gold

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u Lijia of China was so strong in the women’s Laser Radial that she won the gold medal yesterday despite having to do a penalty turn on the first downwind leg.

Xu, who won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, quickly rebounded from being penalized for rocking the boat and opened a comfortable lead sailing on the Nothe Course on Weymouth Bay. The medals race came

down to four sailors with a chance at gold. Xu, Marit Bouwm e es t er o f theNetherlands, Annalise Murphy of Ireland and Evi Van Acker of Belgium came into the final race separated by only one point. That meant that whoever within that group finished first would win the gold.

Xu finished nine seconds ahead of Bouwmeester, who took the silver. Van Acker took third for the bronze. Shortly after the finish, Xu stood on her boat

and waved the Chinese flag.

Murphy finished fourth and failed to win a medal after winning the first four races, including three in which she led at every mark.

American Paige Railey finished sixth in the medals race and eighth overall. She had no chance at a medal.

The 2008 gold m e da l i s t , A n n a Tunnicliffe of the United States, moved up to the women’s match racing for these games.

China play Japan for possibly 3rd tennis gold today

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hina are close to a third Olympic gold medal in table tennis as they face Japan today after defeating South Korea 3-0 in the team event yesterday.

The Chinese have already won two gold and two silver medals in the singles, showing lopsided superiority with some opponents saying they’re demoralized simply having to face China.

Today, they face a country that has never won an Olympic medal in table tennis, but the Chinese have won 22 of 26 gold medals in the games and are expected to run the total to 24 of 28 by taking both team events in London.

The Japanese women may pose the first real threat to China, led by gold medalist Li Xiaoxia, silver

medalist Ding Ning, and Guo Yue, who forms the top doubles pair in the world with Li. The pressure seems to be off the Chinese women, who are more talkative after finishing singles, which eventually pitted Li against Ding for gold.

Japan’s women upset Singapore 3-0 on Sunday, beating a group composed of all China-born players. The same three took the silver medal four years ago in Beijing.

Japan’s approach will be the same. A medal is already guaranteed, which will be a first in a sport that has deep roots in Japan.

“We had nothing to lose, so we just went for it,” said Sayaka Hirano, who teams with Ai Fukuh a ra a ndK a sum i

Ishikawa. Japan has a vibrant mix.

Ishikawa is a 19-year-old left-hander in her first Olympics. At 23, Fukuhara is Japan’s best-known player, in her third Olympics.

Hirano is 27, playing in her second Olympics.

Fukuhara is one of Japan’s most famous female athletes, as popular as soccer star Homare Sawa, who led Japan to the World Cup title last year. Fukuhara also speaks Mandarin and is popular doing interviews on TV in China.

She knows Chinese ways and has trained in China. But that doesn’t matter to Ding.

Two men’s semifinals were later yesterday: China vs.

Japan and Hong Kong vs. South Korea. The winners meet in Wednesday’s final.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 43

Transfer The season is over. Clubs are counting their blessing as well as losses and would like to make amends and even beef up their squads where noticeable lapses exist. And the transfer market is agog barely 24 hours after major European leagues dropped the curtain.

And so to keep abreast with latest rumours, we begin daily doses of movements within the market both for players and coaches like.

Spurs yet to bid for Damiao Victor Moses

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Chelsea deal almost done — Moses

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uropean champions, Chelsea are expecting to wrap up a deal for Nigerian international, Victor Moses this week.

The Blues have been in the hunt for the 21-yearold attacking winger throughout this summer and appear to have struck an agreement with Wigan Athletic for a transfer fee of £8 million.

According to reports in England, the deal could

still raise up to £10 million due to add-ons in the agreement.

The Latics value Moses at £10 million and have had to reject previous bids from Chelsea, which fell below the valuation for their striker.

Chelsea is now expected to wrap up the deal for Moses before this Sunday’s Community Shield against English champions, Manchester City.

Rondon signs for Rubin Kazan

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alaga’s Venezuelan international forward Salomon Rondon has signed a four-year deal with Russian first division side Rubin Kazan, the Spanish club confirmed yesterday. The 22-year-old from Caracas will become the first Venezuelan to play in Russia.

“Malaga has reached agreement with Rubin Kazan for the transfer of Venezuelan forward Jose Salomon Rondon,” the club said on their website.

Rondon has scored 23 goals in 60 matches during his two seasons with Malaga, who qualified for the UEFA Champions League after finishing fourth last season.

Called up 11 times for Venezuela, Rondon arrived in Spain in 2008 from Aragua in his home country and played for Las Palmas in the second division for two seasons before joining top light side Malaga.

Dzeko hints at AC Milan move

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Edin Dzeko

din Dzeko has hinted at a move to AC Milan after declaring his ambition to play in Serie A - but Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said he believes it is “pretty unlikely” that the striker will leave the Etihad.

Dzeko is unsettled at City and complained last week that he had started too few games in the second half of the club’s title-winning season.

Mancini said: “He is right to say it’s no fun being on the bench - but when you join a big club then competition is normal.”

Speaking after his return to his former club Wolfsburg for Saturday’s pre-season win, Dzeko suggested he could move on before the August transfer window closes, with Milan who sold Zlatan Ibrahaimovic and Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germain - a possible destination.

Dzeko said: “I always follow the Italian league and one day I’d like to play in it. I also know that Milan has sold two of its best players.

Dzeko, who cost City £27 million, scored 19 goals last season including the injury-time equaliser against QPR on the final day of the campaign.

nternacional vice-president Luciano Davi expects offers to come in for Leandro Damiao after his Olympic success but says Tottenham Hotspur has yet to make a bid.

Damiao, 23, has been in impressive form at London 2012, netting four goals to take Brazil to the semi-finals, and there has been speculation about a move to Europe.

AC Milan are believed to retain an interest in the striker despite vice-president Adriano Galliani recently saying his €25 million valuation was “exaggerated”, and longstanding suitors Spurs are understood to have revived their interest in his services.

However, Davi says that, while his Olympic record is certain to attract attention, the Premier League club has yet to make an offer.

Despite having seen Oscar leave for Chelsea earlier in the transfer window, Internacional coach Fernandao remains upbeat about the club’s chances of retaining Damiao.

Leandro Damiao

Manchester City ponder Robin Emirates. captain for nothing next van Persie dealCity,at theManchester United summer.

M Robin van Persie

anchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said he does not expect Arsenal captain Robin van Persie to join the Premier League champions.

Van Persie, whose current contract expires next summer, revealed in July he would not be signing a new

Yobo makes Fenerbache move permanent

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enerbahce have completed the signing of Everton defender Joseph Yobo for an undisclosed fee.

The 31-year-old Nigerian, who has spent the last two seasons on loan at the Turkish club, has signed a three-year deal.

Yobo told the Toffees’ official website: “I would love to thank Everton and the management of Fenerbahce for reaching a deal.

My families have settled in Turkey and enjoy the life there, so I’m glad they will be reuniting with friends here.

“The permanent

switch is done and I am also switching to help the team do well on the pitch.

It’s been a long journey into achieving this dream and now is the time to pay the club and fans back with a great performance.”

Nigeria international

and Juventus have failed with offers for the Netherlands striker, 29.

The Dutch international is in the Arsenal squad that travels to Germany for the club’s pre-season training camp this week.

Arsenal will sell Van Persie if they receive the right offer, rather than risk losing their Yobo joined Everton from French club Marseille, initially on loan, in July 2002 as manager David Moyes’ first signing, making a permanent £3.5m switch the following summer.

He made more than 250 appearances for the club, the last of them in a 0-0 Premier League draw at Stoke City in May 201 0.

Joseph Yobo

Schalke hope on Huntelaar signing

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chalke are hopeful KlaasJan Huntelaar will sign a new deal but know the Netherlands striker is likely to have other offers.

Huntelaar, 28, scored 29 goals last season as Schalke finished third in the

Bundesliga, but his current contract expires next summer and it remains to be seen whether he will stay at the club.

Director of sport Horst Heldt believes it would be in the player’s best interests to

sign an extension.

“We want to extend his contract and I believe that it would make sense for both parties, but we need him to be 100% convinced. I cannot force any player to sign a new contract.

Afellay staying at Barça

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brahim Afellay’s agent says that the Dutch midfielder will not be leaving Barcelonathis summer.

A knee injury and excellent form of others meant the 26-year-old has struggled to break in to the first team at Camp Nou. Afellay has made just eight league starts since

signing from PSV for £2m in December 2010, leading to the player being linked with Arsenal and Inter Milan.

“People should not take all these rumours about an imminent transfer too serious,” agent Rob Jansen told Voetbal International.

“Leaving Barcelona is not an option at this point.

Ibrahim is feeling very well

at Barça and is getting playing time.

“It’s true that there’s plenty of interest, but that’s always been the case.

There’s absolutely no reason for him to leave the club.

“Can we completely rule out a summer exit? You never know in football, but it’s highly unlikely that he will leave Barcelona.”

Although City appears to have given up, Manchester U n i t e d and Juventus continue to pursue the player but have not increased their opening bids.

Privately, Van Persie is understood to have expressed a preference for the prestige and tradition of United and Juventus.

Rovers in pole for Rhodes

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lackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean believes he can beat Premier League sides Fulham and West Ham United to the signing of Huddersfield goalmachine Jordan Rhodes.

Turkey international Kazim-Richards, 25, are on trial at Blackburn and has impressed enough to be considered for a deal.

Indian owners Venky’s have backed Kean with a £4 million bid for the 22year-old Rhodes, with an additional £2 million bonus payment if Rovers are promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Rhodes, who scored 37 goals as Huddersfield were promoted from League One via the play-offs last season, is ready to sign a £35,000-a-week deal which will contain a release clause if Blackburn fails to make it back to the Premier League.

Blackburn’s summer spending spree includes Danny Murphy, Nuno Gomes, Dickson Etuhu and Leon Best, although Best is now out for several months with a knee in jur y.

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efending Olympic ch am pion Dawn Harper, American teammate Lolo Jones and world championSally Pearson cruised into the semifinals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles yesterday, then found themselves trying to console a longtime rival.

Jones and Pearson won their respective heats, while Harper eased up near the line and finished second in hers. Pearson had the quickest time in the six heats, covering the distance in 12.57 seconds the fastest first-round time in Olympic history.

Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster-Hylton, who had the second-fastest time in the world in women’s hurdles this season, failed to advance. She hit the fifth hurdle in her heat, veered toward the inside lane, got off stride and never recovered. She threw herself to the ground after crossing the finish line, slapped the track surface, let out a loud scream, started crying and then brushed aside Jones’ attempt to console he r.

“The emotions were just outpouring from her,” said Jones, who was in the same heat as Foster-Hylton.

“Even if she would have

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

Harper, Jones, Pearson clash in Olympic hurdles semifinals today punched me, I totally would have understood.”

Pearson wrapped her arm around Foster-Hylton as she left the track, but that did little to stop the

Sally Pearson

tears.

London was FosterHylton’s fourth Olympics, and the best female hurdler in Jamaica was hoping to end up on the

Lolo Jones

podium for the first time.

She finished eighth in Sydney and sixth in Beijing.

Seeing her Olympic quest end like that was difficult for fellow

Dawn Harper

Rudisha won’t break own world record, targets Olympic gold

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enyan athlete David Rudisha has ruled out an attempt on his 800 meters world record at the London Olympics after comfortably winning his heat yesterday. Instead, he aims at winning an Olympic gold in London.

Rudisha, whose world record stands at one minute 41.01 seconds, is the overwhelming favourite to take the 800m title in London after missing out on selection for Beijing four years ago through injury.

“The track is fast. It looks good,” the 23-year-old world champion told reporters through a translator.

“In this championship I don’t look at the record. It is a medal that I want. Once I get the medal, toward the end of the season I can think about the record.”

Rudisha took the lead in his heat as the athletes broke from their lanes and gently increased his long, loping stride over the final lap for a straightforward victory in one minute 45.90 seconds.

The only man to have beaten Rudisha over 800 since

competitors who expected her to make the final.

Foster-Hylton’s mistake was a rare one for Jamaican sprinters, who have done little wrong in L o n d o n . U s a i n Bo l t a n d Y o h a n Blake swept the top two

There was also plenty of home success in the morning qualifiers to keep the cheers rolling around the stadium. Lawrence Okoye sealed a place in today’s discus final with a throw of 65.28.

“The whole team is feeling pretty positive at the moment, the story’s going round about how the crowd is unbelievable and I witnessed it myself today,” said Britain’s 800 meters runner Andrew Osagie, who finished third behind Rudisha to make the next round.

2009, Ethiopia’s Mohamed Aman, also made today’s semi-finals, winning a pedestrian race in 1:47.34.

Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei won the title in 2008 but retired two years ago.

Algerian Taoufik Makhloufi’s brief appearance in the 800m heats appears to have dashed his medal hopes in the 1,500 after he was disqualified from all further events in the athletics competition because the referee considered that he had not provided a bona fide effort.

Makhloufi, who beat champion Asbel Kiprop in today’s semi-final of the 1,500, jogged for 200 meters before stepping off the track. He had been confirmed in the two-lap race by his team the previous day and so had to run, the IAAF said.

But there were tears for women’s 1,500 medal hopeful Genzebe Dibaba, younger sister of Ethiopia’s 10,000 champion Tirunesh, who was taken off the track in a wheelchair clutching her hamstring after struggling in her heat.

Lithuania men beat Tunisia 76-63 in Olympic hoops R enaldas Seibutis sparked a fourth-quarter comeback by Lithuania, hitting two consecutive 3-pointers in a 76-63 win over Tunisia yesterday that put Lithuania in the quarterfinals of the men’s Olympic basketball tournament.

Seibutis’ 3s gave Lithuania a 63-56 lead with 4:45 remaining in the game. Lithuania, which trailed 54-50 at end of the third quarter, outscored Tunisia 26-9 in

the fourth.

A gritty Tunisia squad had a chance to advance with a win but ran out of gas down the stretch.

Mantas Kalnietis helped put the game away with a 3pointer and a pair of free throws.

Darius Songaila and Sarunas Jasikevicius each finished with 13 points for Lithuania.

Amine Rzig led Tunisia (0-5) with 17 points.

spots in the men’s 100meter final Sunday night.Shelly-Ann FraserPryce took gold in the women’s 100, while Veronica CampbellBrown got bronze.

Even without FosterHylton and Britain’s Jessica Ennis who pulled out of the hurdles after winning gold in the grueling, two-day heptathlon - the field remains strong.

Britain’s Tiffany Porter and American rival Kellie Wells also advanced. Wells beat Pearson early this season.

In other preliminary events yesterday, worldrecord holder David Rudisha of Kenya and A m e r i c a n N i c k Symmonds were among those who advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 800. World champion Jenny Simpson of the United States needed a late push to advance in the women’s 1,500. Fellow American Morgan Uceny also advanced.

Simpson decided to avoid the bumping and banging near the front of the pack, but found herself out of position down the stretch.

David Rushida

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

PAGE 45

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1. South Africa's Oscar Pistorius makes history by becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics.

2. Great Britain flyweight Nicola Adams guarantees a medal after winning through to the semi-finals of the Olympic boxing tournament.

3. Tom Slingsby said he had fulfilled a "dream" by winning the Laser class and in the process doubling Australia's gold medal count at the Olympics.

4. Tiffany Porter reaches the 100m hurdles semi-finals, three Britons make the men's.

5. Andy Murray captures the biggest title of his career with victory over Roger Federer in the Olympic men's singles final at Wimbledon.

6. Show jumpers win gold after a dramatic jump-off with the Netherlands, Beth Tweddle wins gymnastics bronze, while sprint cyclist Jason Kenny goes for gold in the Velodrome.

7. A substitute during Japan's triumphant campaign at Germany 2011, goalkeeper Miho Fukumoto has played a starring role in their run to the semis at London 2012.

PICTORIAL

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6

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

US judoka expelled from London Olympics for doping

The IOC said it would ask the International Judo Federation to alter the standings in Delpopolo’s event. He beat opponents from Hong Kong and Belgium, then lost to fighters from South Korea andMongolia.

Delpopolo faces further sanctions as the IOC requested that judo’s governing body “consider any further action within its own competence.”

Delpopolo was born Petra Perovic in the former Yugoslavia in what is now the independent republic of Montenegro, the biography said.

He was adopted by an American family, who named him Nick, and he grew up in New Jersey.

merican judoka Nick Delpopolo was expelled from the Olympic Games yesterday after testing positive for marijuana he said he ate accidentally before arriving in London.Delpopolo is the first of the 10,500 games athletes to fail an incompetition doping test.

His case is the fifth positive test for a banned substance reported by the IOC since its official London Games testing period began in mid-

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July. The other four athletes were caught before competing.

The International Olympic Committee said it disqualified Delpopolo from the men’s 73kilogram class, where he placed seventh. Delpopolo tested positive for metabolites of cannabis after competing on July 30.

He apologized to the United States team in a statement acknowledging he was “embarrassed by this mistake.”

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US female boxer Taylor is first woman to clinch medal

o p - r a n k e d lig htweig ht Ka tie Taylor rode a dazzling swell of Irish fan support to a 2615 victory over Britain’s Natasha Jonas yesterday in the quarterfinals of the first Olympic women’s boxing tournament.

By securing a semi-finals ticket and being guaranteed of medal even if she does not proceed to the finals, she became the first female boxer to win a medal of any complexion at the Olympics.

F l ywe i g h t Ma r l e n

E s p a r z a a n d middleweight Claressa Shields also clinched the U.S. team’s first two boxing medals in London with impressive victories. Esparza patiently outboxed Venezuela’s Kar lha Magliocco, and the 17-year-old Shields closed impressively in a win over Swedish veteran Anna Laurell.

Women’s boxing pioneer Mary Kom of India and Britain’s Nicola Adams also secured medals in this brisk tournament, which only began Sunday with the historic first bouts.

Top-seeded British middleweight Savannah Marshall was upset

by Kazakhstan’s Marina Volnova, Shields’ next opponent.

Women’s basketball quarterfinals pairings United States vs. Canada he United States team enters the knockout stage riding high after beating the Chinese team soundly, 114-66. They have been undefeated in group play without being challenged beyond the first quarter of any game. They will look to continue their dominance against a Canadian team that has fought hard in group play, but have only come up with two wins. Canada played undefeated France extremely close, only losing by four, while knocking off Brazil and host Great Britain.

Australia vs. China Australia is in relatively unfamiliar territory, as they will be on the same side of the bracket as the Americans. After going undefeated in group play the last two Olympics, Australia was finally defeated by France. Australia will need their scrappy play and size to make it to the medal round again. Chinalimps into the quarterfinals after getting blown out in their last two games. They will need to play the game of their lives to beat the Aussies.

Turkey vs. Russia surprise team playing in their first Olympics, Turkey has only lost to the Americans in group play. Sporting a FIBA world ranking of 21, Turkey has exceeded all expectations in London. They play FIBA’s number two ranked team, Russia, who has lost two games in group play. After starting out with two losses, Russia has rebounded to win their last three games and secure a spot in the quarterfinals.

France vs. Czech Republic Two surprising teams for different reasons, France and the Czech Republic enter the quarterfinals heading in opposite directions. France enters the quarterfinals undefeated, having won all five of their games.

Their strongest victory came when they knocked off defending silvermedalist Australia. On the other hand, the Czech Republic came into the Olympics with high hopes, but instead find themselves losers of three games. The talent is certainly there to change their fortunes, but they will need a great game to take out France.

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South Korea beats Belgium 3-1 in women’s hockey

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outh Korea beat Belgium 3-1 for its second group win in women’s Olympic field hockey yesterday.

The victory lifted South Korea into the 7th-8th playoff against Germany. Belgium, winless in its Olympic debut, finished last in Pool A and will meet the United States to avoid the wooden spoon.

Kim Jong-eun was set up by Park Mi-hyun for the opening goal after eight minutes and captain Lee Seon-ok made it 2-0 by halfime from a penalty corner goal.

A diving Erica Coppey hit in the loose ball in front of the goal to halve the deficit, but Kim Jong-hee gave the Koreans the last say with another penalty corner score.

NZ women reach Olympic hockey semis for 1st time

N Bolt and country man Blake celebrate winning gold and silver in 100m at the London Games

BRIEFS GOLD MEDAL-Giovanni Cernogoraz, CRO (Men’s trap shooting) More drama down at the shooting, where Giovanni Cernogoraz takes gold in the men’s trap on a shoot-off over Massimo Fabbrizi.

GOLD MEDAL-Great Britain (showjumping team gold) An impeccable final round from Peter Charles on Vindicate ensures gold for Great Britain.

GOLD MEDAL-Yang Hak-seon (men’s vault gymnastics) Yang Hak-seon of South Korea wins gold in men’s vault with a score of 16.533.

GOLD MEDAL-Aliya Mustafina RUS (Uneven bars) Russian Aliya Mustafina takes gold in the uneven bars ahead of China’s He Kexin.

BRONZE MEDAL-Beth Tweddle, GBR (Uneven Bars) Britain’s Beth Tweddle wins a bronze medal in the uneven bars at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

GOLD MEDAL-Tom Slingsby AUS (Men’s Laser) Australia’s Tom Slingsby wins gold in the Laser class to depose Great Britain’s Paul Goodison as Olympic champion.

GOLD MEDAL-Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti, BRA (Men’s Rings) Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti of Brazil stuns China’s defending champion Chen Yibing to win gold in the men’s rings.

GOLD MEDAL-Niccolo Campriani, ITA (50m rifle) Niccolo Campriani of Italy wins Olympic gold in the men’s 50-metre 3 rifle positions.

Okoye’s emotion British discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, who qualified for the final with his third and final throw said, ”I let all my emotions out after my final throw, because it was difficult out there - the standard is so high. I believe I can throw a personal best in the final but the other guys are good and I know it will be hard work.”

GOLD MEDAL-Jason Kenny, GB (Men’s sprint cycling) Jason Kenny leads out from the front and beats Gregory Bauge to win gold in the men’s sprint.

BASKETBALL It’s victory for Great Britain! The men beat China 90-58 in the basketball to record their first win of the competition, which means they finish fifth in Group B ahead of the Chinese.

ew Zealand reached the women’s Olympic field hockey semifinals for the first time by knocking outGermany, and Britain advanced without hitting a ball w h e n C h i n a l o s t to Japan yesterday.

The surprising New Zealanders, who have come last three times in the Olympics, fought for a 0-0 draw, which ensured they

finished in the top two of Pool B, leaving Argentina and Australia to fight for the last spot in the last match of the day.

W o r l d champion Argentina could qualify with a win or draw over three-time Olympic championAustralia, which had no choice but to win. Britain joined the defending champion Netherlands in the semis from Pool A, rendering their pool finale late Monday to bragging rights only.

China, the Beijing finalist, beat Britain on Saturday to revive its chances and needed another win over winless Japan. But Rika Komazawa was credited with the only goal in a scramble after a penalty corner in the 53rd minute.

Germany, the 2004 champion, had to defeat New Zealand by three goals to have a chance of advancing, and had two goals disallowed on video review. Germany and coach Michael Behrmann were frustrated.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

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Quick CrossWord (1)

JOKES

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ACROSS 1 8 9 10 11 12 15 17 19 20 21

Narrow escape (5, 5) Thick root (5) Set of straps on a horse (7) Soap for hair (7) Oddball (5) Revelling (9) Stand-up joker (5) Pierced (7) Dummy pill (7) Popular card game (5) Climbing awkwardly (10)

CAMP CRISIS

DOWN 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 12 13 14 15 16 18

Scales sign of the zadiac (5) Poor fiddler (7) Pupils’ specified clothing (6,7) Pointing marker (5) Close of day (7) Pre-owned (4) Experiment (4) Clashing percussion instruments (7) Endanger (7) Lazily, without hurry or aim (4) Arrest (4) Shout of joy (5) _____ sole, edible flatfish (5)

his guy is setting at a bar, and he’s had a lot to drink that night; he asks the bartender for another drink, but the bartender says no.

The guy is pretty upset by this and persists, but the bartender keeps saying no. Finally the guy asks, “Well isn’t there anything that you can give me?” The bartender says, “I’ve got this parrot over there in the corner, sitting on a perch, with no legs.

The guy interested by this asks how the parrot stays on the perch with no legs. The bartender tells the guy that the parrot just raps his dick around the perch.

The guy is amazed by this and agrees to take the bird home. On the trip home he asks the parrot if he can talk. The parrot says, “Sure I can talk!”

The guy thinks for a second and then says, “I’ve got a job for you. I have to go to work tomorrow and my wife will be home alone all day long. I want you to watch her and tell me everything that happens while I’m gone. The only person other than my wife scheduled to be there is the milk man.”

The parrot agrees to watch the man’s wife.

The next morning the guy leaves for work, leaving only his wife and the parrot at home.

Later that evening the man returns home and asks the parrot what his wife did all day.

Parrot: “Within an hour after you left the milk man appeared. Your wife walked to the door, dressed in her bathrobe and let him in.

Right away they started kissing!”

PARROT WITH NO LEGS Man: “Then what happened after that?”

Parrot: “They started taking each other’s clothes off.”

Parrot with no legs Man: “And then what?”-getting more angry Parrot: “Your wife started jacking him off!”

Man: “What next?”-really steamed by this time Parrot: “She started giving him a blow job!”

Man:“And what then, did they do anything else?”

Parrot: “I don’t know by that time I got a hard on, and fell off my perch!”

Source: Jokesandriddles.com

Photo Of The Day

What causes it? One theory is that these sudden painful muscle contractions are caused by dehydration. The lack of water leads to a reduction in salts (such as sodium, calcium and potassium) which are needed for muscles to work efficiently, says Priya Dasoju from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. THE FIX: Gently re-stretch the muscle - ideally by walking. It's also important to rehydrate yourself, so drink water of a soft drink. A potassium-rich banana may also help.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Wrong side of town A child stands in front of shanty housing built in a slum on a hill above Luanda - now the most expensive city in the world

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2012

QUOTABLE QUOTE We are the first African team to have won a game at the Olympics. That is something good in our first attempt at the Olympics.

Other countries before us never won a game — Olumide Oyedeji, a member of Nigeria’s basketball team, D’Tigers

SPORTS 2012 London Olympics: Where LATEST

Sanchez regains Olympic men's 400m hurdles title

F

eli x Sanchez of the Dominican Republic won the men's 400m hurdles Olympic title on Monday in a time of 47.63sec, taking a title he first won at the 2004 Athens Games.

The 34-year-old beat home American Michael Tinsley, who ran a personal best of 47.91sec, while the pre-race favourite Javier Culson of Puerto Rico took bronze in 48.10sec.

Great Britain's world champion Dai Greene finished fourth.

Meanwhile, Mijain Lopez of Cuba beat Riza Kayaalp of Turkey to earn a spot in last night's 120-kilogram GrecoRoman wrestling final at the London Olympics.

The rematch of the 2011 world championship final, when Kayaalp stunned Lopez in Istanbul, was one of the most highly anticipated matches of the Olympics.

Lopez was the dominant wrestler in the rematch, handling Kayaalp 2-0, 1-0.

Lopez, a four-time world champion and the gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will face Heiki Nabi of Estonia in the finals.

Also, Ethiopia's Fantu Magiso, one of the favorites for the Olympic women's 800m title, has been withdrawn from the Games, team officials said yesterday.

Magiso was the only female 800m runner in Ethiopia's team and was highly tipped to win the gold after beating Kenya's Olympic champion Pamela Jelimo in the Rome Diamond League meeting in June and having another impressive win at the New York Diamond League.

On a more positive note, Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba has confirmed she will race in the 5,000 meters as she attempts to repeat her double from 2008.

Dibaba, who won the 10,000m in London on Friday, has been entered in place of Genet Yalew alongside Meseret Defar and Gelete Burika in a formidable team.

Football fixtures Results (women) Japan 2 vs France 1 Canada 3 vs USA 4 Japan to play USA in the final Men’s semi-finals matches today Mexico vs Japan Brazil vs S/Korea

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will the medal come from?

T

he London 2012 Olympics are now in their tenth day and should be finishing by the weekend. As at the end of day 9, China leads the pack with 30 gold, 17 silver and 14 bronze medals, a total haul of 61 medals; the US is not far behind with 28 gold, 14 silver and 18 bronze ( a total of 60 medals in its haul); and the host country, the United Kingdom, has garnered an impressive 16 gold, 11 silver and 10 bronze medals, making a total of 37 medals and it is still counting.

So far South Africa leads the African challenge with 3 gold and 1 silver medal, acquired mainly in swimming. The Ethiopians and Kenyans have been picking the gold and lesser medals since athletics- mostly the long distance races- kicked in over the weekend; even Egypt has picked a medal in fencing!

My worry, however, is that this may well turn out to be the worst Olympics for Nigeria in terms of medal haul- since I started monitoring the games at 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The way things are going, we may not win any medal of any description, not even one bronze. The traditional sprint events which Nigeria used to dominate, at least, in Africa, are now out of our reach. No male sprinter from the number presented for the sprints, including Obinna Metu, Ogho Egwero and Peter Emelieze- made it to the semi-finals of the 100 metres sprint event, not to talk of the finals, won by Usain Bolt again; 3 Jamaicans made to the 100 metres final event on Sunday, 5th August, 2012.

This is an event in which Nigeria had the highest number of finalists, along with USA, at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics won eventually by UK’s Lindford Christie, with Davidson Ezinwa and Adeniken Olapade making it to the finals.

In the women event, this time we were lucky enough to have Blessing Okagbere who was peaking at the right time, making her personal best of 10.92seconds in the semi-finals of the women’s 100 metres race, to make it to the finals, which again presented 2 or 3 Jamaicans. Lamentably, Ms Okagbare- with all the features of a world beater- suffered from a poor start, dwelling on the blocks longer than she did in the semis and was unable to catch up with a stronger field, unlike in the semis and posted a time of 11.02seconds, a far tenth/hundred of a second worse than her semi-final timing.

Our boxers are being pummelled for fun, with most of

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GUEST COLUMNIST Tony Ishiekwene tonykwene@aol.com

Minister of Sport, Malam Bolaji Abdullahi them, if not all, taken out in the first round. Our basketball team got hammered by the US team in an Olympic record of humiliation and the worst margin of defeat ever suffered in Olympics basket ball history. As for the other “minor” sports in water, field and other events, our team had either not registered or could not compete with the best of the world. Not even the traditional 4X100 metres relay was our men registered for the event, not to talk of winning a medal. Our football teams- male or female- did not even qualify from the African qualifiers to the Olympics never mind winning a medal at the event proper. This is an event in which Nigeria (for the male group) had won gold (Atlanta

1996) and a silver in the last edition of 2008 Beijing Olympics.)

What a disaster for a country as huge as Nigeria is with so much potential sport men and women if properly tapped and managed!

If a tiny country like Jamaica can keep churning out world beaters in the sprint events- both male and female categoriesNigeria with the largest amalgam of black young men and women should not have any problem producing at least sprinters from the large pool to choose from, if the motivation, proper management and adequate preparations are put in place. You don’t just wait till the Olympic year or few months to the Olympics before you start your knee jerk, fire fighting preparations and think you will achieve anything against more serious nations.

Like everything Nigerian, our sport is decaying and this decay cannot be removed from the general malaise of corruption plaguing the country. Sports are not adequately being funded but so much money is misallocated to bureaucracy or outrightly stolen by those in the helm of affairs.

Great Britain has shown that careful and proper investment in sports yields good results. Since 2006 when it got the rights to host the 2012 Olympics it started serious work on not just producing

“

Like everything Nigerian, our sport is decaying and this decay cannot be removed from the general malaise of corruption plaguing the country. Sports are not adequately being funded but so much money is misallocated to bureaucracy or outrightly stolen by those in the helm of affairs. Great Britain has shown that careful and proper investment in sports yields good results

a first class facility for the games, but also grooming and funding most areas of its sports including giving adequate grants to sportsmen to develop and excel in selected sports such as cycling, rowing, equestrian, fencing, boxing and general athletics. In other words, preparations started over six years ago are now yielding results such as the near faultless opening ceremony, but also its largest medal haul ever, including 16 gold medals so far and still counting. You cannot beat adequate preparation and funding.

With the massive unemployment in Nigeria I wonder why the country cannot train and motivate more sports men and women to compete in the Olympics against the best of the world every four years; I am surprised that Nigeria cannot produce swimmers that can beat the rest of the world despite toddlers in Rivers, Cross River and Delta states swimming at the age of 4 years. There are many fresh water rivers and most people in Bayelsa and Rivers states virtually live in water and swim very well from very young age. It baffles me that we cannot produce swimmers, canoeists and world beaters in other water-related sports at the Olympics or All African Games.

There are water sports including synchronized swimming, water polo, canoeing, diving, sailing and rowing at the Olympics. Why can’t people from riverine areas of Nigeria start their talents in these water-based sports? I am sure most of the militants and kidnappers in the Niger Delta could compete well if they are encouraged in their formative years in these sports.

Sports do pay and government can use these to create more employment from the individuals to the medical teams, coaches and administrators in each of these areas. And what is more government can use these to earn more foreign exchange.

Sport administrators must start to look at areas where Nigeria could have competitive advantage and develop those areas of sport. It is no excuse to say we can’t afford it or we can’t be compared with Britain or the US because those are rich nations, but what about poor Jamaica turning out male and female sprinters for fun? Perhaps our sports administrators need to go and study what Jamaica does to produce world beaters in sprints; I believe many Usain Bolts are wasting away in Nigeria, untapped, unrecognized and demotivated to deliver in sports at the highest levels.

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; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141