Saturday - Sunday 8-9th March, 2014 Weekend Edition

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Special Report

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Boko Haram: How Dangote, Alakija, How well Adenuga spent $6.5bn equipped is on private jets —Report >>Page 6 the military?>>P 4,5,23 >>Pages 42,43

Alleged terrorism: Court refuses to grant Nazeef>>Page bail11

>>Page 11

weekend.peoplesdailyng.com

. . . Pu ttin g th e people first Vol. 3 No. 81

SATURDAY — SUNDAY, MARCH 8-9, 2014

JIMADAL- ULA 7-8 1435 AH

N150

North East

Continued extra judicial killings is genocide -ACF Benue: 20 killed in renewed farmers, herdsmen clash >>Page 6

Threatens mass protest

Says Army not combat ready

Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar (middle) in a group photograph with students of Political Science Department of the University of Abuja, after the Peoples Media 2nd Conference on Nigeria: The 2015 Question which held in Abuja on Thursday PHOTO: Justin Imo-Owo

Cover

Fuel scarcity: Mounting anxiety, panic over imminent price hike >>Pages 7,8,9

Couple in trouble for fighting nude in public

>>Page 14

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Interview

How APC will beat PDP in the 2015 presidential election – Bukola Saraki Y

or you will still ….?

ou are a local politician and you go home all the time to interact with your people. That philanthropy that you do every Ileya that causes problem in Kwara, what are you going to do about it to ensure that the processes are better, that there is no death?

First of all, it is wrong to say it causes problem all the time. It is unfortunate that it did happen in some few instances. We have been looking at how to improve on the method, and how to improve on the facility. It is unfortunate really. A lot of people came up with sincere recommendations which we have looked at. Majority of the people who lost their lives are not just strangers, they are people that I know personally. We have become a tight family unit in the set up, so I feel it more than anybody else. These things used to run smoothly. What happened last time was because it was the festivity period and there were a lot of things on the table. We are now looking at how to get it better organised and avoid the unfortunate incident of last year.

Can you tell us in clear terms if our economy is in danger.

I ask this because the Minister of Finance has stated repeatedly that our economy is healthy.

Let me give you both the good and bad sides. In today’s global economy, we are growing at about 6. 7%, inflation is down, currency is stable; these are good things happening. But we should always remember that is happening at a time we have oil at $107 per barrel. At this amount one should see an increase in our Excess Crude Account and increase in Foreign Reserve. Unfortunately that is not happening.

For some of us, it is more frustrating because the revenues are down.

It should be much higher than that, but because there are lots of leakages. I am sure even the Minister of Finance will agree, even when she was talking about what she has been able to achieve. She was saying that the budget under her supervision is detailed. Those are the good things we have achieved. How can you have a budget when the oil finances that account for majority of the revenue is not transparent? You cannot say leave oil finances and look at my budget because oil finances is your budget.

So if oil finances is the way it is, when expenses are incurred and the Minister of Finance has not signed off to it. Or you are incurring something which the Minister of Finance has said I don’t want it done! She has on several occasions said that kerosene subsidy is not okay for payment, meanwhile payment is being made. So how can you say such

Sen. Bukola Saraki finances are satisfactory?

The Minister of Finance is saying I want to carry out forensic audit. Forensic audit! Money is gone, why? If we tighten all these leakages, there will be more money coming into the system; there will be more money for capital expenditure; deficits will be less; and foreign reserve will grow. But at the moment, our foreign reserve is low, and our currency is very vulnerable.

We are also having low production level of less than 40% and so that too is impacting on our economy. We can do much better.

What do you miss most about Oloye (Mr. Saraki’s late father, Olusola Saraki)?

I think, it is largely his capacity to continue to be there for the people and the ability to absorb all the pressure. He had this indefatigable personality about him to be able to continue and continue. That is huge, and having been able to do that by being in the Senate, party leadership, that is tasking. I think it will take time to build that capacity. Being a good leader goes beyond whatever position you are holding. You must have the ability to be there for the people. It takes time to acquire it because that is what makes you a good politician. Many politicians today are seasonal politicians who only go to the people six months to election. After winning their election that will be it again until the next round of elections.

Being there for the people is not

just about money, which is the mistake some people make. They think that it is about money. But people just want to feel you and know that you are always around. They sit down with you and discuss, may be even watch TV and generally do stuff together. People should be free to discuss their problems with you and get your advice.

You can’t say for three years, you can’t do that until election period.

How do you know how the man or woman you expect to vote for you lived their lives in the last three years? That is what makes a good politician and I think that was one of the strength of Oloye – having to do that and combine with other responsibilities.

Are you playing that role at the moment?

I am trying because I don’t really have a choice because that is the way we run politics in Kwara. People in Kwara wonder how it is possible for this man or this family to continue to be so relevant. It is because we work hard. Election or no election I am always at home. The others go away as soon as they finish election. Like now, one year to election you will see them arriving. People are not fools.

When you are there for them year in, year out, they too will be there for you when the time for election comes. They know that your care for them is not just about winning election.

So are you still going to run for the office of the president,

Why are you not asking me if I am running for the Senate again?

Well, whenever people ask me this question, I always say I am not going to answer that question because there is something I have noticed.

When you stand for what is right; or you take a position on what is right; people will easily blackmail you to say the only reason why you are doing what is right is because you want to aspire. That, therefore, belittles what you are fighting for. The issues that I am talking about to me are so germane and crucial to the sustainability of our economy and the growth of this country.

Let me focus on these issues now. We are just forming a party and if we can get all these things done…..

The only reason why you aspire for a position is so that certain things are done properly. Once things are done properly, you don’t have to insist that you take that seat. I remember in 2011 when I raised the fuel subsidy issue, that propaganda came that it was because I want to run for president in 2015 – an election that was three and a half years away.

Just because they don’t want to address those issues, the people who were benefitting from it would always find a way to blackmail it. They said there was nothing in it, that the facts were not right. They said the figures I was quoting on the floor were not right, not until Ngozi and former MD of Access Bank formed their committee and they confirmed and informed the president that this thing is real. I know what I went through. So some of these things when you say them, they try to bring politics into it and it is frustrating. These things are the easiest o! It doesn’t take sacking of people.

It just needs the political will to say no, stop it! By this time tomorrow N700 million has landed, you don’t need any difficult decision to achieve that. It’s too early to talk about my political future.

But does your party stand a chance in 2015?

Stand a chance? I like the question. PDP today has 18 states, and two other states that I will say are in alliance with the PDP. APC has 16 states. First of all, if you take these 18 and 16 states, you realize that this is the first time that PDP will go into an election with an opposition party that has as much as 16 states.

If you go back to the time of President Yar’adua and President Jonathan’s last time, you will notice that they have never had that number of states. You know in our politics, it is the states that drive the process. So let’s assume that each party will hold their states and in our own 16 states, we have Kano, Lagos and we have Rivers. That is if you look at the numbers.

Even in the PDP states, there are six states that the PDP has never won in presidential election since 1999. PDP has never won in Bauchi, Gombe, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa and Niger. I am calling them PDP states because they have PDP governors, but they have never delivered for the party.

So, take them out of that 18? The reason people are saying PDP might win is because of the incumbency factor, and that they have security and the likes. That is nothing, but a mental psych that people have.

Going by the party registration that we just had, people will be shocked. Just wait for the result.

Take Kwara for example – as of last week when they were compiling, because they have not finished yet, but we had 387,000 registered members. Hear my figure o! 387,000! In the last election that we had, Governor Abdulfatah (Ahmed) won by 256,000 voters o, not party members. So if today I have 387, 000 APC members, what do you think will happen?

What I found out from this registration exercise, and I urge you to also go and find out, is that there is a desire for things to be done differently. What is happening is a movement. It is a movement for change in the country. That is where Nigeria is today for whoever doesn’t want to deceive themselves.

So whether APC can win is a non issue. All what we need to do, which is also a challenge for us, is to really present ourselves as a true alternative and that we stand for something different from the PDP. We should carry out our internal processes democratically and I am sure, Insha Allah, APC will win because the numbers are there.

You should be asking, how does PDP think they can win? Because first of all, their states do not have as many voters as our states, and if we now assume that six of their states have never voted for the party in the presidential election, then how?

Just wait and see the total number of registered members of the APC when the numbers are collated; I am sure it cannot be anything less than 16 million.

In the last election, Buhari only scored 12 million. So if as a party, my members are already 16 million, how many votes would I get when we go to voters? I definitely believe that our party is in a very strong position to win. The performance also of some of our governors is going to make it easier.

I know we have work to do in the sense that we have a strong competitor and there are people with ambitions, but we just have to make the necessary sacrifice for collective interest.

The elections are actually for us to lose. I honestly believe that we can win the election.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 3

News

Ethnic crises claim over 534 lives in Nasarawa state – Commission

M

ore than 534 persons, including security personnel, were killed during different ethnic clashes in Nasarawa between December 2012 and September 2013, the Justice Joseph Gbadeyan Judicial Commission of Inquiry has said.

Gbadeyan is the Chairman of the Judicial Commission into the Killing of Security Personnel at Alakyo village in Lafia in May 2013.

Submitting the commission’s report to Gov. Umaru Al-Makura, Gbadeyan said properties worth over N2.3 billion were destroyed during the crises, adding that 40 persons sustained various degrees of injury.

According to him, the casualties included members of the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS), adding that there were

no available evidences on 143 others who were allegedly killed.

He said that the commission received 22 memoranda from individuals, groups and communities and took evidences from 89 witnesses during its public sittings.

He also said that 65 exhibits were tendered and admitted by the commission during the sittings.

Gbadeyan commended the support of the state government and all stakeholders to the success of the assignment.

He expressed hope that the findings and recommendations of the commission would ensure justice and peaceful co–existence among all ethnic groups in the state.

Receiving the six-volume report, Al-Makura thanked the commission for a job well done, and assured that the report

would be studied with a view to implementing its recommendations.

Al-Makura explained that the setting up of the commission became imperative following the killing of scores of security personnel and the incessant clashes in the state.

He said that the aim was to bring perpetrators of the killings to book to serve as deter-

rent to others, and to also dispel the aspersion being cast on the image of the state. ``No stone would be left unturned in the implementation of the commission’s recommendations,” he said.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nasarawa State Government inaugurated the nine-member Judicial Commission of Inquiry on

June 26, 2013 The commission was to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the crises that led to the killing of scores of security personnel in Alakyo village in Lafia on May 7, 2013.

The commission conducted its public sitting between July 22 and Nov. 11, 2013. (NAN)

Police in Borno alert residents on increasing rape of minors

T

he Police in Borno on Friday alerted residents on the increasing rate of rape and other sexual abuses of minors in the State.

This is contained in a statement issued by the spokesman for the command, DSP Gideon

Jubrin in Maiduguri.

“The command wishes to bring to the attention of the general public the activities of some individuals who engage in luring or seducing minors.

“This command has received reports of criminal activities of

some people, who lure minors into homosexuality, rape and other related offences’’, it said.

It said that five persons had been arrested and that all cases would be charged to court at the end of ongoing investigations.

It called on parents and guardians to keep an eagle eye on the activities of their children and wards.

The statement appealed to citizens to report any suspicious activities in their neighbourhood for immediate action by the security agencies.

Taraba rated 2nd in HIV/AIDS prevalence From Yusha’u Alhassan Jalingo.

T R-L, President/CEO Dr. Ejike Oji Community Development Foundation Dr. Ejike Orji,Managing Director/CEO Bank of Industry and special guest of hounor Ms. Evelyn Oputu and Director-General Security Exchange Commission Ms. Arunma Oteh joitly presenting gift items to representative of Federal Government College Kubwa dancing Group Abuja, Nwemeh Nkechi to mark this year’s International Women day with the Theme; Inspiring Change For Women’s Economic Development held at head quarters Security Exchange Commission Abuja yesterday.

Photo Joe Oroyo

Kidnappers of President Jonathan’s uncle reject N30 million offer

K

idnappers of President Goodluck Jonathan’s uncle and foster father, Inengite Nitabai, have reportedly rejected N30 million offered by the family.

The 70-year-old was abducted by unknown gunmen 13 days ago in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

A PREMIUM TIMES report said that the president’s family members have resorted to prayer sessions to seek divine

intervention.

Perhaps seeking to supervise the release of his uncle, President Jonathan arrived Otuoke, his hometown, on Thursday.

Prior to Mr. Jonathan’s arrival and since the kidnap, there has been a heavy presence of security operatives in Otuoke.

There are rumours in Otuoke that Mr. Jonathan’s presence may facilitate the release of funds to pay the kidnappers.

Mr. Inengite reportedly

played a vital role in funding Mr. Jonathan’s undergraduate and post-graduate studies.

The gunmen had earlier established contact with the family and demanded for a ransom of N500 million to free the victim but were offered N30 million by the family, family and security sources told PREMIUM TIMES. The kidnappers reportedly dismissed the offer which they described as a joke. They

warned the family to meet their demand.

The police spokesperson in Bayelsa had told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday that the police was doing its best to free the victim.

Kidnapping has been on the rise in Bayelsa despite a law that punishes the crime with the death penalty.

Many victims’ families secretly pay ransom to the kidnappers to free the victims.

araba state is rated second in the spread of HIV and AIDS in the country.

Director General, Taraba State AIDS Control Agency, TACA Simon Ambita stated this at the opening of a two days workshop Organized by a nongovernmental Organization, Great Gender Grassroots Foundation in Zing local government area of the state to sensitize youths on HIV prevention, selfreliance and politics.

Represented by the Communication Officer of the Agency, Anthony Garba Dorofi, the DG said the state was rated fisrt in the northeast sub region adding that the NGO had done the agency proud through its activities which he said had changed the mindset of the youths in the state.

Earlier, the Executive Director “ Great Gender Grass root Foundation”Leah Olusiyi Solomon said the Foundation is an independent Organization working directly with Women, youths, comprising Christians, Muslims, politicians, Workers and traders among others.

Solomon said a divine mandate is required to nurture many generation through awareness and re-orientation and urged participants to acquire skills that will help them to be selfreliant.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 4

Special Report

Boko Haram: How well equipped, motivated is the military?

In the face of increased Boko Haram successes in dare-devil attacks in the North-east, questions are being raised on the capacity of the military to defeat the insurgents. News Editor, Abubakar Ibrahim examines whether the combination of new technology, physical combat and crossborder diplomacy has changed anything in the war or other options.

Soldiers on patrol

W

ithin the last two weeks or more, Boko Haram insurgents struck several towns and villages in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States with the ease most people have consider to be a clear revelation of the doubts over the Nigerian Armed forces preparedness to tackle the menace of the group. The three states have been under a state of emergency since last May when the military launched a major offensive to quash the uprising.

It is also clear from the changes made in the top hierarchy of the military recently that synergy and morale may be deeply lacking. In the character of President Goodluck Jonathan to sometimes shoot from the hips, he revealed how leaders of the military were at crosspurposes with the overall objective of defeating the sect principally due to ego contests. As a result, the foot-soldiers were either left illequipped to carry out their shores or left at the mercy of highly ideologically motivated youth of the Boko Haram.

Dissatisfied with their performances, Jonathan sacked the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS),Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim and Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, erstwhile Chief of Army Staff. To make it a clean sweep, he also sacked the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral

Dele Ezeoba. While Badeh replaced Ibrahim, Ihejirika, and Ezeoba were replaced by Maj. Gen. Kenneth Minimah and Rear Adm. Jibrin Usman respectively. Air Vice Marshall Adesola Amosu slid into Badeh’s old seat as the Air Force’s Chief of Staff.

Following that, Badeh vowed to end the Boko Haram menace in the country before the end of April this year. Before long, the sect revved up attack on hitherto untouched places, particularly the recent destruction of lives and properties at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe State. Heart-rending was the loss of over 50 students of the college mowed down in their prime. While worldwide attention was once again recalled to the gory activities of the insurgents at the college, Konduga, Bama, Maiduguri, Kawuri, Izge; and Madagali in Borno and Adamawa states were attacked in quick succession and intensity incomparable to the overall average of destruction since the battle commenced in 2009. In all these attacks, eye witnesses tell of how they drive into town in convoys of 10 or more Hilux trucks mounted with machines guns and sometimes led by small armoured vehicles.

At least 74 people have been killed in three weekend attacks in the restive north-east The last two weeks have been particularly bloody with nearly 250 people killed in attacks

blamed on Boko Haram before the three weekend attacks.

On Saturday, two blasts in a crowded district of Maiduguri left at least 35 dead, while another 39 were killed in the nearby village of Mainok by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram fighters.

“We are still counting. So far we have counted 35 bodies”, Borno state police commissioner Lawal Tanko said of the explosions in the Gomari area of the city.

Witnesses said the final death toll could rise and as many as 50 people may have been killed and dozens of homes razed in the blasts.

One resident who did not want to be named said soldiers, police and volunteers took 50 bodies to a local hospital.

“The bodies included men, women and children. There is so much panic in the area, which is mostly deserted. Most people have fled their homes,” he added.

A Red Cross volunteer said he had “succeeded in evacuating 51 dead bodies” after working all night. Children are most affected,” he said, adding that nearly 60 people were injured.

Hassan Ali, a leader of a vigilante group in Gomari, said many people remained buried under rubble.

He said many food sellers and children

hawking in front of a cinema hall in the area were killed while more than 20 houses and shops were destroyed.

Mallam Mohammed Buba, a witness, said the blast happened when most residents were preparing for evening prayer.

“Only a few people were injured by the first blast but while people were trying to rescue the victims of the first blast the second one took place, killing many people,” he added.

Most of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition and many families were seen searching for the remains of their loved ones.

In a separate attack on Saturday, dozens of gunmen dressed in military uniform stormed Mainok, 30 miles from Maiduguri, firing rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs and killing 39 people.

“They came in around 7.00pm and opened fire indiscriminately with RPGs, explosives and AK-47 rifles,” resident Yahaya Umar said.

Another resident, Abdullahi Gana, gave a similar account of the incident.

“We were just lamenting the twin blasts in Maiduguri … when the Boko Haram gunmen arrived and started firing volleys of RPGs and guns,” he said.

The insurgents have repeatedly attacked

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 5

Special Report Boko Haram: How well equipped, motivated is the military?

Contd from Page 4 Mainok in the past two years. In July, a separate raid killed 25 people.

The attacks seem to have bared the impotence and inadequacy of the military given the timing of the attacks sometimes in stark daylight and for hours unchallenged. This Boko Haram tactics is regular after grandstanding by commanders who see propaganda as the biggest weapon of war than the physical battle itself.

It would be recalled that the former Inspector General of Police Hafiz Ringim declared war on the Islamist group Boko Haram vowing to fish out its members who have gone underground to fight guerilla battle with the government. fter receiving 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) on June 14, 2013, from the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima in Maiduguri, Ringim said during a visit to the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Garbai Al-Amin ElKanemi that “no stone will be left unturned, until the menace of Boko Haram is unravelled.”

Within a week after the comment, a powerful bomb ripped through the car park of the Nigeria Police Force headquarters in Abuja, a suicide attack apparently targeted at the Inspector-General.

The bombing was the third in eight months in Abuja after October 1, 2010, where 13 persons were killed in twin bomb blasts near the Eagle Square. On May 29, 2011, three men died after being seriously injured in an explosion at a local pub in a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, Zuba.

Apparently, it was the Boko Haram menace that led to the early retirement and exile of the former IG in London.

A

Angry governors lash out On a Monday in February, an angry and frustrated Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state came to the State House where he

Boko Haram insurgents

briefed the president on the previous Saturday’s attacks by insurgents on Izghe, a community in Gwoza local government of Borno State. After the meeting, he told State House’s correspondents that Nigeria is in a state of war with the military struggling to defeat Boko Haram which seemed better armed than them.

“I don’t blame the Nigerian military. Honestly, we the leaders should be held responsible for our failure in leadership. In a nutshell, what we are being confronted with is that we are in a state of war. It is what I came to update Mr. President.

The sooner we stop playing the ostrich and rise up to the challenges of the day, and marshal all resources towards neutralising the antics of Boko Haram, the better for all of us.

“But the bottom-line is that we need more resources, more vote on the ground. In all fairness to the officers and men of the Nigerian Army and Police, they are doing their best given the circumstances they have found themselves in. Have we ever succeeded in thwarting any of their plans? They went to Konduga and did what they wanted to do; they held sway for several hours before they left. They were in Kauri, Izghe.”

“I made it emphatically clear to Mr. President that the Boko Haram members are better armed and better motivated than our own troops.

Anybody who is following events in this country can attest to the fact that they have a very smooth sail overrunning communities, killing people.

I am an eternal optimist as I have always said but I am also a realist.

Given the present state of affairs, it is absolutely impossible for us to defeat Boko Haram”.

A week after, Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, on Thursday, February 26 said the Boko Haram crisis was getting out of hand and new strategies are needed to tackle it.

Reacting to the latest attacks by the sect in Madagali and Michika, in Adamawa, he said the state of

emergency slammed on Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States had been defeated and criticised the federal government, which controls all Nigeria’s security agencies, for failing to foil Monday’s attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi, Yobe State. He said the attack was predictable since school children had previously been murdered in the same way in Yobe state.

“There is no excuse whatsoever.

We want to know more from the authorities. By now, the authorities should be able to know what is happening. We should be able to know where these arms are manufactured and even the signatures of the weapons. We ought to know who ordered it, who paid for it, how did it come to the country, from where were they shipped, through which port in Nigeria they arrived and who cleared it.

“President, Vice President, Governors and the military – they are the only groups that pass checkpoints without being searched and which of these groups are conveying these arms to the scene of the action. We want to know,” he stated. e alleged negligence on the part of security officials in preventing several attacks including that on the school and in the death of a retired army general, Mamman Shuwa in 2012,adding that the army often failed or delayed in responding during attacks by the outlawed sect.

“The other aspect is that army withdrew from the checkpoint, before the attack in Yadi –Buni, who ordered the withdrawal. We also have a case where General Shuwa was killed by so called Boko Haram.

There are army unit there but they didn’t respond during the incident, who told them not to respond, when Shuwa was being attack?

“The air force base was being raided, there is unit of army nearby, who gave them order not to response until all the aircraft were destroyed?

“These are questions that need answers. So either this thing is controlled by unknown fellows or

H

Defence minister, Gen. Aliyu Gusau unknown Boko Haram strategic commanders in the defence system or staged-managed. We have reached a point to come out and tell them our displeasure over the way the situation is escalating,’’ he said.

Depleting population, ravaged economy Reports from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that over 6,000 people have fled the northeast to neighbouring Cameroon and Niger in the past 20 days in addition about 15,000 who had earlier fled as well as unspecified number of internally displaced persons(IDP).

Exact number of IDPs cannot be ascertained although the Red Cross stationed in nearby Gombe ascertained through an anonymous source who is a staff, that there are 30,000 IDPs on record beside those migrated straight to friends and relations from the conflict zone.

The toll on the economy is unquantifiable. Apart from the huge loss of business and livelihood by victims, the movement of goods and services to the northeast has attracted extra cost. Citizens from the relatively peaceful parts of the country have stopped business activities there. Not only that, prices of goods and services have quadrupled.

UNHCR in its reports made available at the UN Headquarters in New York, reported that several people had been killed, their villages bombed and at least two villages burned to the ground.

“We continue to urge states in the region to keep their borders open for Nigerians who are fleeing their country and may need international protection.

“We are also advising against any forced returns,’’ the report quoted the UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards, as saying.

“Of the more than 4,000, who fled to Cameroon since mid-January, most are in the Logone-et-Chari area of Far North Region.

“With this new influx, there are now 12,428 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon, according to local Cameroonian authorities. Of that number 2,183 have so far been moved to a UNHCR camp at Minawao, 130 kilometres further inland.

“Together with partner agencies we are providing refugees with shelter, health, sanitation, education, food, and other help,’’ UNHCR said.

The agency noted that its team in Cameroon’s far North region had spoken with refugees from the area

around Banki, a town just across the border in Nigeria’s Borno State.

“The refugees said their villages were bombed, that several people had been killed, and that at least two villages were burned to the ground,” it said.

According to UNHCR, in Niger, 1,500 new refugees, mostly women and children, arrived in the Diffa region of south-east Niger.

Since Boko Haram resumed its operations in 2010, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria has plummeted, owing to the political instability the country has faced.

According to the World Investment Report (WIR) 2013, FDI flows into Nigeria dropped by 21.3 percent in just one year — from $8.9 billion in 2011 to $7 billion in 2012.

This substantial loss in FDI over a short period of time will have many further consequences for the country. First, FDI into Nigeria has a direct impact on trade, assuring progression of economic growth.

Second, FDI inflow supplements the available domestic capital by stimulating the productivity of domestic investments. And lastly — but most worrisome — is the high codependency ratio between the inflow of FDI, the Nigerian oil sector, and the country’s GDP. A scientific study found that a unit increase in FDI into the Nigerian oil sector will increase the country’s GDP by approximately 16 units. This shows that the Nigerian oil and gas sector, which is the mainstay of the economy, has a high rate of exposure to foreign direct investment.

North abandoned he mass emigration of Nigerian citizens non-indigeneous to the major conflict cities, is the second formidable threat posed

by Boko Haram to the Nigerian economy.

The rush to escape from the north is already affecting the profitability of business establishments in that region. For example, blogger Okoronkwo notes that banks have begun closing down their business outlets due to a decrease of economic activities in the area. Also, employees of these institutions are increasingly demanding postings to less volatile branches.

The consequences of this can be imagined. A massive departure from

T

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

News

SSS arrest suspected fire arms trafficker with 15 AK47 riffles in Bauchi From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

T

he Department of State Security Service (SSS) in Bauchi state has arrested a 32 years old suspected fire arms trafficker with fifteen Ak 47 riffle.

Parading the suspect before newsmen at the SSS headquarters in Bauchi on Friday, the State Public Relation Officer of the Service, Kabiru Abdulsamad said the suspect,Bello Dankogol was arrested on 28th February in Bauchi with the support from Army and Police in the state He said security intelligence carried out by the SSS led to the arrest of Dankogol who hailed from ,Kwalla village in Quan-Pan Lo-

cla Government Area of Plateau state saying “ his arrest followed the intelligence the service has been working on Dankogol who specialists in arm trafficking.

According to the PRO, the suspected conceded the fire arms in the boot of Navy blue colour of Toyota Solara with reg no HM 605 EKY saying “ we arrested the suspect during initiated operation by the service. During a search on his vehicle, 15 Ak 47 riffle was conceded in the boot compartment”.

Kabiru disclosed that the suspects was able to supply 47 AK47 riffles between July 2013 to January 2014 to members of his criminal groups “ and the whole syndicate has been clamped down by the service but for

security reasons, the details will not be disclosed since investigation on going.

He said during interrogation, the suspect confessed that he used to supply the arms to criminal groups in Jos adding “the suspects confessed that he transported such fire arms from Gambaru town in Republic of Cameroun via Maiduguri -Bauchi road to Plateau state.

“The suspects further confessed that this is the 6th time of transporting the fire arms from Maiduguri to Plateau state, he said”.

He called on general public to support security operatives in its fight aginst criminal activities saying parading the suspect before

you is to make Nigerians know that crisis rocking most of the part of the country has nothing to do with religion or political coloration.

Speaking to the suspect, Dankogol who confessed that this is the sixth run from Camaroun to Plateu to some people he claimed to be running errand for said he used to receive N100,000 per each successful run.

When asked how he was able to beat security checks, he said “ I used to load the fire arms under the boot, so when I get to security check points, they only check the surface of the boot while some will pass me without conducting any check.

2 killed, 3 injuried in Bauchi autocrash From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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wo people were killed and three others sustained injuries yesterday in an ghastly motor accident that occurred at magama Gumau Village along the bauchi-jos road Bauchi state.

While confirming the incident, The state FRSC commander, Mr.Sunday Henry olatunji said that two people driving on motorcycle were killed instantly while three other people sustained injuries in the autocrash.

According to him, “all the victims of the crash are men. From investigations, the accident happened as a result of a head collision which led to the death of the two people on the motorcycle.

Those that sustained injuries were

the victims in the Honda civic vehicle”.

He said when officials of the commission received the information, they went to the scene of the crash and conveyed both the dead and injuried persons to the Toro General Hospital.

Our correspondent gathered the accident, it was learnt that happened around 2.37pm and it involved a honda civic vehicle with registration number AA 786 NFD and a Jincheng motor cycle with registration number NA 3-NA.

An eyewitnesses account revealed that the two people on the motorcycle died instantly when they collided with the honda civic vehicle which was on a very top speed.

Taraba: “Lack of depot cause of fuel scarcity” From Yusha’u Alhassan Jalingo

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uel scarcity in Taraba State has been attributed to inability of Nigerian refineries to meet up with the standard of operation and lack of fuel depot in the state.

Chairman National Union of petroleum and National Gas, NUPENG Taraba state chapter, Abubakar Ibrahim stated this while speaking with our reporter in Jalingo.

He said due to low level of operation of the refineries Tankers drivers stayed for a month or more before their tankers are loaded at the depots.

Ibrahim said fuel meant for the state had to be taken to Yola depot in Adamawa state for dispatching, pointing out that diversion of the commodity are done within the period.

Speaking on the oil scarcity and the increase in the price of fuel in the state, the chairman dispelled the insinuation that its members created artificial fuel scarcity resulting in increase in the prices of fuel in the state.

Ibrahim said the Association has no control over the operation of independent marketers except major marketers which are Oando, Mega station and Con Oil. When contacted the chairman Association of Independent Petroleum Maketers of Nigeria, IPMAN in the Abubakar Liman said the Association is making efforts towards reducing the prices of fuel in the various filling stations in the state.

Liman called on motorists in the st5ate to be more patient as fuel would be available in the state very soon.

People collecting their permanent voters card at Osogbo, yesterday in Osun.

Photo: NAN

FRSC advises motorists to acquire new driving licenses, number plates From Yusha’u Alhassan, Jalingo

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araba state Government is Collaborating with the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC to ensure Motorist acquire new driving licenses and new number plates without hitches.

The Executive Chairman Taraba state Board of Internal Revenue Yusuf Galadima made this known while speaking with News men in Jalingo.

He said the FRSC was mandated through the joint Tax Board to issue the new drivers license and number plates on behalf of states i8n the federation for uniformity as facilities for producing them are not available at the state levels.

Galadima debunked insinuation that there were duplications in the production of new number plates in the Jalingo metropolis and promised through investigation on the matter.

He advised Tarabans to come forward to renew their driving license and obtained new number plates to enhance road safety in the state.

Meanwhile Civil servant in the state has been advised to

obtain their tax payers identification number, TIN. The Executive chairman, Taraba state Board of Internal Revenue, Yusuf Galadima gave the advice while speaking with newsmen.

He noted that registration for TIN was free and expressed concern over low response by civil servants in Taraba state.

Galadima said the tax payer identification number was a National programme from the National Joint Tax Board to enable every state develop a data base that would help to reduce tax evasion.

The chairman said the policy was meant to ensure that every taxable adult in Nigeria has a tax number just as it was in the developed world which according to him wo9uld be easily accessed on line to enhance economic growth of the state and the country.

Galadima emphasized that for now only one registration center was available at the Taraba state Board of Internal revenue in Jalingo saying plans were underway to decentralize the registration with a view to reaching out to local government areas of the state to bring the programme closer to the people.

20 Killed in renewed farmers, herders clash in Benue From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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o fewer than 20 persons were yesterday killed in Kwande local government area of Benue State in a renewed clash between Tiv farmers and Fulani herdsmen.

An eye witness told our reporter that the suspected Fulani herdsmen ambushed the people and burnt

down houses and destroyed several property at Anyiase near Kashimbila hills which borders Benue and Taraba States.

He said the marauders were also heading for Jato Aka, the home country of former minister for Steel, Wantaregh Paul Unongo.

Similarly, there was another reported incident at Anyilamo in Logo

local government area of the State where the entire village was sacked though there were no deaths.

“The villagers have all fled. The attackers carried out huge destruction of houses and property but we thank God nobody was killed. We are now leaving in fear”, Mr. Emmanuel Ujah, Nation correspondent who hails from the area told peoplesdaily Weekend.

Governor Gabriel Suswam who lamented at the latest killings, regretted that it is coming at a time when efforts are being made to resolve the feud between the Tiv farmers and the Fulani herdsmen.”I have been making frantic efforts to stop these crises.

Only recently I led a State delegation to the President to make our position on these incessant crises. I want to

continue to appeal to you not to take the laws into your hands but allow the law enforcement agents to do their duty. But I urge you all to be vigilant”, he said.

Meanwhile, the State Police Public Relations’ Officer DSP Daniel Ezeala said several houses were burnt down in Kwande local Government.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

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Cover

Scarcity: Mounting anxiety, panic over imminent fuel price hike

By Patrick Andrew

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ince 1973when the Gen. Gowon’s administration increased fuel price by 40% from six kobo to eight point four-five kobo (6 kobo - 8.45kobo), the trend has become recurrent as successive administrations- both military and civil- had adopted it as the quick-fix for whatever fiscal challenges they may have had.

It would seem that at the slightest economic hiccoup, successive governments had resorted to fuel price hike as if that alone is the magic wand for resolving whatever the problem is.

The fear is confirmed by the yesterday’s International Monetary Fund’s recommendation in respect of both removal of the existing partial subsidy and the hike in fuel price.

IMF The fear of possible pump price hike is further heightened by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advice to the Federal Government to increase the prices of petrol by again reducing the oil subsidy.

This was contained in the recommendations by the multilateral institutions in this year’s ‘Article IV Consultation with the Government of Nigeria’, which was available in a statement yesterday from its Washington DC Head Quarters.

The IMF had previously urged the Nigerian government to remove subsidy stressing that the recommendation is one of the several fiscal options government should pursue for the Nigerian economy to sustain its momentum.

According to the IMF, this option, when implemented in concert with other of its

“

counsel, will inexorably ‘ensure macroeconomic stability’.

This option, the IMF says, when implemented in concert with other of its counsel, will inexorably ‘ensure macroeconomic stability’.

The Bretton Wood institution advised the government to improve non oil revenue by broadening the tax base and ensuring there are no sacred cows in the tax system.

“Efforts should be geared towards boosting non oil revenue by broadening the tax base, improving tax administration and curtailing exemptions”, it said and urged that adoption of a rule based reference oil price in fiscal projections and further strengthening public financial management should help the authorities achieve their consolidation objectives.”

Well, the coincidence is hardly missed. How come the IMF choose to release its recommendation in the midst of biting scarcity of the fuel products in the country? It seems there is the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob in the whole exercise.

This isn’t new. Though the IBB government repeatedly hiked the price of fuel, two regimes stand out as the most notorious in the vexed matter of pump price hike: the Obasanjo and Jonathan’s administrations.

Firstly, Obasanjo became the first President to increase the pump price by 70% in 1978 from nine kobo to fifteen point three kobo (9 kobo - 15.3kobo) as a Military Head of State and as civilian President, he increased the pump price six times and only reverted just once in 2000.

Jonathan’s New Year gift on January 1, 2012 must go down in history as the most obnoxious government policy in the last decade. It left sore taste in many mouths not with the sheer size of the masses that embarked

While the scarcity lasts and people hardly find fuel at the filling stations, just beside these stations, as the case may be, the black market thrives, vigorous and enjoys huge patronage.

It raises many questions which were never answered in the past and are still without logically answers.

President Goodluck Jonathan on strike, the untold hardship therefrom, the number of deaths and the quantum of losses in the economy. Occupy Nigeria led the charge joined by the civil societies and organised labourthe Nigeria Labour Congress and its counterpart the Trade Union Congress (TCN), students unions etc, in protest against the Greek Gift.

It was indeed a black New Year for many travelers who could not fund their return journey not so much for lack of planning, but simply because of the sudden hike in the pump price of petrol from N65 per litre to about N140. The change in price of petroleum products totally rubbished whatever meticulous calculations anyone had made and dug a nearcesspool in their pockets.

Researched data claimed that the nation may have lost N144.64 billion daily for the period the strike lasted.

That amount was premised on the gross domestic product (GDP) – the total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year, which equals the total consumer, investment and government spending, in addition to the value of exports, minus the value of imports.

Then, the GDP of the country stood at approximately $270 billion or N43.2 trillion. The data showed though that the informal sector of the economy also accounts for $60 billion

or N9.6 trillion. This brought the country’s combined GDP, according to Bismarck Rewane, chief executive officer of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited was in the neighbourhood of $330 billion or N52.8 trillion.

When the total market value of the economy is divided by 365 days, it then means that the country would lose about $904 million or N144.64 billion daily.

It meant then that for the five days of protest, the country’s economy would have lost the sum of N720 billion. overnment eventually budged but not without huge casualties. The bone of contention then was subsidy, it has always been and it remains till date. As if the incident of two years ago provided no lesson to glean from, early this year, the major news item that caught the attention of many was the sustained rumour that the government was seriously considering hiking the fuel price. In other words the subsidy palava returned in full swing.

Government, whose words on the subsidy thing is no longer a bond, responded by dismissing the strong rumour that it had concluded arrangements to adjust its price regime- from the present N97 per litre to something higher.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Mr Danladi Kifasi, dismissed the growing fears

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and rumours in some quarters of impending possible increase in the pump price of petrol by assuring that the NNPC has sufficient product to last for months even if the product is not imported in the next few months. He said the growing fears were unfounded and regretted, as usual, that it has led to panic buying.

“We would like to appeal to oil marketers to refrain from hoarding of petroleum products and the general public from panic buying in anticipation of any increase in pump price. It is equally important to state that neither the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources nor any of its parastatals is under any instruction to activate a new pump price regime as being speculated,” he said in a signed statement, then.

Besides, Kifasi said government was not treating the matter with kid gloves as he warned petroleum products marketers to desist from creating any artificial scarcity just to induce panic in the system with the aim of exploiting unsuspecting members of the public.

“The relevant agencies of government including the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have been directed to deal with Contd on Page 8

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Cover Contd from Page 7

offenders,” he said stressing that the government was determined to apply the full weight of the law to deter those who are in the habit of inflicting unnecessary pains on Nigerians.

Specifically, the permanent Secretary revealed that the Department Of Petroleum Resources, (DPR) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have also been directed to deal with those engaged in the hoarding of petroleum products. ell, it seems that did the magic. Sanity was restored.

Motorists freely drove into filling stations and with minimum hassles filled their tanks. But that luxury was not to last for long.

Penultimate week, the long queues at filling stations across the country re-occurred, and have continued unabated.

Expectedly, excuses have been made by the NNPC, which said the corporation has enough products to wet the country and that the public should not resort to panic buying because it had made enough arrangements to guarantee the availability of petroleum products.

Well, fine comments this. But there are still queues everywhere and that is even where there is fuel at the filling stations. Many are less bothered about the amount of man-hour lost queuing at the stations for the product.

Although the DPR has not officially owned up to fears that the current situation had been created prelude to a possibly fuel price hike, there are obvious fears that the present ordeal has been necessitated by underground work to hike the pump prices of petroleum products. he Zonal Operations Controller of DPR, Abuja, Mr Aliyu Halidu, claimed midweek that neither the Ministry of Petroleum Resources nor any of its parastatals had been given any instruction to activate a new pump price as speculated.

Accordingly, he revealed that the DPR has sanctioned more than 58 marketers for various offences in Abuja and its environs this year, and that 55 of them were sanctioned over sharp practices in the sale of kerosene ``We have sanctioned over 55 marketers over kerosene and we have told the Petroleum Pipelines and Marketing Company (PPMC), to charge those sanctioned the commercial value of the products they supposed to bring to Abuja. ``In addition to the sanction, some of them have been suspended for one year because they are yet to account for how they dispensed the products. ``However, if they are able to account for it, then, we will tell NNPC to charge them the

...Mounting anxiety ...over imminent fuel price hike

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Chief Olusegun Obasanjo

“

Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke

With this unpleasant development, there is anxiety across the land. People fear for the worse. They have reasons to. Of course, experience has shown that whenever government wants to hike pump price of petroleum products, it creates artificial scarcity giving outlandish arguments justifying the action.

commercial value of the products.

This is because the products are not supposed to go to where they will be diverted.’’

Halidu said that the agency had put on ground a solid surveillance team to monitor the lifting of products from depot to the discharge at various fuel stations in Abuja zone and added that the agency monitored the marketers every day to discourage hoarding of products.

“We have the checks and balances to know if the marketers are hoarding or not, and if we catch anyone we report to PPMC.’’ However, on Tuesday, the DPR had at its budget defence before the Senate Committee on Petroleum (upstream) put the blame of the current scarcity squarely on the shoulders of the federal government. The Department attributed the biting scarcity of the products across Nigeria to the federal government’s non-payment of subsidy to marketers.

Of course, because the

marketers are not paid, it is difficult for them to import the products and then pay for other requisite services.

DPR’s Abuja Zonal Operations Controller said apart from non-payment of subsidy to the marketers, some were removed from the list meaning that the number of those currently importing fuel into the country has been reduced, a development that obviously has far reaching implications because fewer marketers now import the product while the corresponding volumes of domestic needs have increased.

Secondly, Halidu told the committee that marketers have for sometimes now been complaining that they are facing hard times because of increased challenges in the production processes of the products.

According to him, the marketers are uncomfortable because of the rise in their operational costs and other incidentals, which they cannot pass on to the consumers, instead are compelled to bear

such cost. They don’t breakeven any more, according to Halidu.

It implies that to address these challenges, the federal government must come to their rescue by adjusting its price regime. When the senate committee sought to know the likely implications of all these, the answer was obvious: “Just what we are seeing now, and may be much more,” Halidu said.

The response was clear to discerning ones. Were government to budge to this implied pressure the aftermath inevitably would be fuel price hike. Also implied therein is the removal of subsidy on petroleum products. Already, subsidy on kerosene, and by extension all other products, was raised by the Ahmed Makarfi led committee investigating the missing $20bn. o far, the subsidy regime has come under fire on account of its tardiness. Many have expressed no little reservation and the amount involved is mindboggling.

According to the NNPC,

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“With a maximum crude oil production capacity of 2.5 million barrels per day, Nigeria ranks as Africa’s largest producer of oil and the sixth largest oil producing country in the world.

Nigeria produces only high value, low sulphur content, light crude oils – Antan Blend, Bonny Light, Bonny Medium, Brass Blend, Escravos Light, Forcados Blend, IMA, Odudu Blend, Pennington Light, Qua-Iboe Light and Ukpokiti.”

Nigeria, according to report earns over $100m in a day from oil exports, yet she ranks among the 30 poorest countries in the world. At the end of 2011, over 70 percent of Nigerians were living below US $2 per day, a situation which recent estimates from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate has worsen. conservative figure of N1.426 trillion was paid on fuel subsidy between January and August, 2011 alone. In five years, the subsidy beneficiaries or oil-cartels and cabals have received N3.655 trillion, according to one report.

Since subsidy regime is stiffed in corruption allowing a handful of persons to feed fat in the guise of importing the essential products: private businessmen importing fuel and yet Nigerians are paying for demurrage, custom duties and all those things, many fear that a further removal of subsidy will amount to no good for the ordinary Nigerian.

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Contd on Page 9

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

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Cover

...Panic over imminent fuel price hike Contd from Page 8 Again, the actual figures of imported products have remains a matter of conjecture since even the NNPC seems not to have accurate record. The corporation has been enmeshed in controversies, as is currently the case over the subsidy on kerosene.

The present happenings: return of long queues at filling stations simple rise fears and anxiety across the land. And going by the DPR’s position before the Senate Committee last week, the queues are not about to disappear soon. In fact, it might linger longer than would be expected. t present, the effect has been felt by all because many have had to sleep at filling stations. Add this to the confirmation from the DPR that some fuel marketers were only given the import allocation from the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) only last week. Recall that Halidu had confirmed that the federal government had delayed in the payment of the marketers for the first quarter of the year and even these are uncomfortable with what they are getting. All this add up.

So, despite its afterthought denials of the likely adjustment in pump price and, as usual insistence that the scarcity is artificial, Peoples Daily Weekend checks reveal that the scarcity is real. The few available quantity cannot go round, hoarding by ‘smart’ marketers becomes inevitable.

Little in so many places, a litre of fuel cost as much as N220 in Kano, N250 in Yola, N178, in Owerri, N145m in Uyo, Ikot Abasi, N125m in Keffi and its environs, N110m in some places in Kaduna.

Though the price has remained steady in Abuja, only a few filling stations boast of having the product and of course, you can’t drive in and within minutes fill your tank and go.

With this unpleasant development, there is anxiety across the land. People fear for the worse. They have reasons to.

Of course, experience has shown that whenever government wants to hike pump price of petroleum products, it creates artificial scarcity giving outlandish arguments justifying the action.

Panic buying though discouraged by the NNPC, DPR and PPPRA, has continued rightly so for so long as the essential product is unavailable so long will people resort to desperate efforts to lay their hands on it.

This naturally means corresponding upsurge in demand with the resultant

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Long queue at a filling staton as scarcty of fuel persist, recently in Abuja. PHOTO Justin Imo-Owo increment in price to response to the natural law on economic of supply and demand. The peoples’ experiences as a result of scarcity, sudden increase in transport fares, rise in the prices of foodstuffs and the inevitable apprehension of hike in fuel price and other petroleum products.

True, the event of January 2012 when President Jonathan gave Nigerians a black New Year message is still fresh.

Government simply removed subsidy on the products. Yes, the SURE-P was created. Nothing new in that either because late Gen. Sanni Abacha created the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), before then there was the Directorate for Food Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DIFRRI), which was the offshoot of IBB’s incessant pump fuel price adjusts.

Except for the PTF, Nigerians have not ripe any windfall as had been canvassed. So, as always, rather than address the core of the problem: arresting shortfall in availability of petroleum products, the Jonathan government, like its predecessors, has tended to apply palliative: considering pump price increase.

The current agony imposed on Nigerians only gives force to the persistent rumour of imminent fuel price increase.

Except for few instances, every sustained scarcity of petroleum products has almost always resulted in pump price

increments.

Yet, while the scarcity lasts and people hardly find fuel at the filling stations, just beside these stations, as the case may be, the black market thrives, vigorous and enjoys huge patronage. It raises many questions which were never answered in the past and are still without logically answers. ronically, whereas Nigeria is the sixth largest crude oil producer, for years it has remained an importer of the finished products. The four refineries are perpetually sick. In spite of billion of naira invested on the Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of these refineries, they have remained a mirage. Nigeria has gone from refining 445,000 barrels per day, to importing almost all of her product needs.

That’s sad. And it is not about to be reversed because the right thing is not being done. Bright Ejidemadu said the solution to the perennial threat of hike in fuel price is for Nigeria to refine its products.

That way subsidy regime and its resultant creation of cabals in the system will be eliminated.

“The shortcomings exist because we are importing the products. We are at the mercy of greedy mafias. Once the products are available who cares about black market that now thrives! Besides, the country is losing a lot of money on the importation of Petrol. It hurts the economy,” he said.

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History of fuel price increases in Nigeria

Gowon, 1973: 6k to 8.45k (40.8%) Murtala, 1976: 8.45k to 9k (0.59%) Obasanjo, October 1, 1978: 9k to 15.3k (70%)

Shagari, April 20, 1982: 15.3k to 20k (30.71%) Babangida, March 31 1986: 20k to 39.5k (97.5%) Babangida, April 10 1988: 39.5k to 42k (6.33%) Babangida, January 1, 1989: 42k to 60k Private vehicles.

Babangida, December 19, 1989: moved to uniform price of 60k (42.86%) Babangida, March 6, 1991: 60k to 70k (16.67%) Shonekan, November 8, 1993: 70k to N5 (614%) Abacha, November 22,1993: petrol price drops from N5 to N3.25k (-35%) Abacha, October 2,1994: N3.25k to N15 (361.54%) Abacha, October 4,1994: price drops from N15 to N11(26.67%) Abubakar, December, 20, 1998: N11 to N25 (127.27%) Abubakar, January 6,1999: N25 to N20 (-20%) Obasanjo, June 1, 2000: N20 to N30 (50%) Obasanjo, June 8, 2000: Petrol price reduced to N22 (-10%) Obasanjo, January 1, 2002: N22 to N26 (18.18%) Obasanjo, June to October, 2003: N26 to N42 (23.08% Obasanjo, May 29, 2004: N50 (19.05%) Obasanjo, August 25, 2004: N65 (30%) Obasanjo, May 27, 2007: N75 (15.38%) Yar’Adua, June 2007: N65 (-15.38%) Jonathan, January 1, 2012: between N138 to N250 (112.31 to 284.62%)

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

News

Continued killings, destruction in North/ East is genocide - ACF T

2015 elections: INEC to partner only with credible observers

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

*Threatens mass protest *Says Army not combat ready From Yakubu Mustapha, Minna

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hairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum, (ACF) and former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie has raised alarm over the continued massacre of innocent lives and destruction of properties in the north eastern part of the country.

He said that the continued killings of the defenseless would soon lead to genocide and annihilation of the people of the region.

Alhaji Coomasie expressed grave concern over the apparent inability of the federal government to squarely contain the insurgent forces, and added that the Army Division established to fight the insurgents do not seem to have the combat ability and readiness to

checkmate the insurgents and stop the wanton killings of defenseless persons.

Coomasie spoke during a courtesy visit by members of the ACFtotheChairmanoftheNorthern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu in Minna.

He noted that the continuous massacre of innocent lives and the destruction of the economy of the region, if left unchecked, would lead to total annihilation of the entire people of the affected states.

The ACF Chairman, who led other members of the Forum on an SOS mission to Governor Aliyu on behalf of the people of the North-East, lamented that bread winners of several hundreds of households were being killed. He added that hundreds and thousands of women have turned widows, and several hundreds of girls raped and ab-

ducted while many villages have been razed by the insurgent forces since 2009.

He stated that members of the Forum would soon storm the streets on mass protest rally over the pogrom in the north-eastern parts of Nigeria even as he urged the northern state Governments to stand up to the huge security challenge that is now threatening the region.

He said governors in the northern region should collectively stand up and fight the ugly development or risk their relevance in the eyes of their people.

Chairman, Northern state Governors’ Forum and Niger State Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu while acknowledging the gravity of the crisis in the region, bemoaned the continuous killing of innocent, defenceless people and the wanton destruction of properties.

BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO (OFFICE OF THE REGISTRAR) March 6, 2014

He noted that there was now an urgent need for more concerted efforts to tackle the sad development in the region.

Governor Aliyu attributed the genesis of the crisis in the region to the growing poverty and continuous neglect of the impoverished down trodden just as he acknowledged that leadership failure was the latent factors that fuelled the challenges now bedeviling the entire northern region.

He assured that the Northern State Governors Forum; (NSGF) would galvanize support from within to help in arresting the sad development.

Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the Army have been challenged to take the Boko Haram issue seriously.

They have replaced all the eight sector comamnders and their deputies in 7 Div. New ones appointed will take oath Monday, it was gathered.

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed readiness to partner with only credible election observers in the 2015 polls.

Speaking when he received a delegation from the Nigerian Institute of Legislative Studies (NILS), led by the Director General, INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, said the decision was to ensure that only observers who would be able to produce reliable reports and recommendations on how to improve subsequent elections are accommodated.

According to him, “we are looking for credible observers who we can work with, who will give us credible reports and recommendations we can work with. Previously, many Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) lacked the capacity to give reports we can work with”.

He said this is part of the plans by the commission to make the 2015 general elections better than previous ones, and to provide solid guidelines for future elections.

Jega also told the delegation that INEC has a legal requirement for election monitoring, which it does by advertising and accrediting Civil Society Organi-

… Retrains staff for 2015 elections

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

INVITATION FOR TENDER FOR ZONAL INTERVENTION/ CONSTITUENCY PROJECTS TO BE CARRIED OUT AT BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO 1.

2.

i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. x.

3.

4.

5.

Bayero University, Kano intends to undertake the under-listed projects on its New and Old Campuses.

Tenders are to be purchased by capable and competent suppliers/contrac tors who are currently registered with the Federal Ministry of Works in relevant category. When completed the tender documents are to be returned with pre-qualification documents containing the following: Evidence of Registration with Corporate Affairs Commission.

Evidence of Category of Registration as Contractor with FMW. Tax clearance Receipt/Certification for the last three (3) years.

List of Plants/Machinery and Equipment.

List and type of personnel working for the Company with their CVs. List of verifiable and similar projects completed within the last three (3) years with evidence.

Evidence of Compliance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act (2007) as they relate to Pensions.

List of on-going projects with their cost(s) and evidence of award.

Relevant information concerning means of contacts, e.g. Telephone, E-mail addresses etc. of the company.

Photocopy of receipt as evidence of payment of tender processing fees.

The tender and pre-qualification documents are to be submitted within Fourteen (14) days from the date of this publication to the Registrar’s Office by 12:00 noon.

Late submission will not be considered.

The projects and their tender fees are as follows:

No. Projects 1.

Furnishing of Senate Building

Tender Fee (N) 50,000.00

2.

Furnishing and Equipping Centre for Bio-Technology Research

20,000.00

3.

Partition work in Senate Building

50,000.00

Signed Sani Ibrahim Amin Registrar

zations (CSO).

“To send monitors into the field we need to train them and provide adequate logistics, they need to know the difference between being an Election Observer and a Monitor”, he said.

In addition, Jega urged the Director General of NILS, Ladi Hamalaiat, to assist the commission in furthering its mandate by using its close relationship with lawmakers to intimate them on what the commission is doing, what challenges is facing the commission and what needs to be done to deepen democracy in Nigeria.

Speaking earlier, the Director General of NILS commended Jega for being the first chairman the commission to mandate the Institute to monitor elections, even as he said the Institute does not have the capacity to embark on full-fledged monitoring now do to some constraints.

She further acknowledged and appreciated INEC’s commitment, through the Electoral Institute, in training her institution’s staff ahead of 2015 General Elections.

Hamalaiat canvassed for more support in terms of funding, even as she assured the INEC boss that her Institute is willing to expand its scope, such as to work closely with the commission.

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would organise a capacity building programmes and training for its staff in the bid to ensure a hitch free polls in the 2015 general elections.

Speaking when he declared open the one-day workshop organized for Alternative Dispute Resolution Officers of the Commission, the INEC chairman said “the workshop is part of the commission’s preparations towards 2015 general elections, that is to say, continuous capacity building for staff of the Commission”.

Jega, eho was represented at the workshop by the National Commissioner in charge of the Legal Services Committee, Thelma Iremiren, further underscored the significance of the workshop towards the next year elections.

He noted that the ultimate goal of the workshop was to be able to manage and resolve disputes that the commission faces in carrying out its mandate as provided by law.

While reflecting on the theme of the workshop, which was “Skills Acquisition, and Implementing Principles of Alternative Dispute Resolution”, Jega urged INEC officials to be ambassadors of the Commission by educating and reminding the public about their civic duties.

He further pointed out that the staff of the commission, by their natural roles, is dispute resolvers in their efforts to deliver electoral services to the general public.

Meanwhile, the Secretary to the Commission, Augusta Ogakwu, commended the accomplishments of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directorate of the electoral commission, even as she charged them to ‘keep the flag flying’.

Boko Haram Attack: Adamawa constitutes assessment committee From Umar Dankano, Yola

T

he Adamawa State government has constituted a 10-man committee to assess the extent of destruction recorded when Boko Haram insurgents launched attacks on Shuwa, Kirchinga and Michika Communities of Madagali and Michika Local Governments.

The Committee is to be headed by a seasoned retired administrator Alhaji Mohammed Ajuji Jimeta as chairman while the permanent secretary (administration) government house Yola will serve as the secretary of the committee.

According to a press release signed by the Director of Press and Public Affairs to the governor, Mallam Ahmad Sajoh, the committee was given two weeks to submit its report from the date of inauguration.

The committee’s terms of reference was to assess the level of casualties’ in terms of death and injuries, assess the extent of destruction of properties and identify victims, find out the number of displaced persons, identify areas of immediate needs of affected communities for immediate intervention and to provide recommendation for government consideration.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

News

Terrorism: Court denies Nazeef, others’ bail

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

Federal High Court in Abuja Friday refused to grant bail to an Islamic scholar and a university lecturer, Dr. Muhammed Nazeef Yunus and two others, who are standing trial for their alleged involvement in terrorism activities.

The Federal Government had slammed an eight-count count charge against the university lecturer in the Department of Islamic Studies, Kogi State University, Ayingba, Salami

Abdullahi (a.k.a Asta) and Musa Umar, bordering on alleged act of terrorism, an offence that ran contrary to section 17 of the terrorism Prevention Act 2013 (as amended).

The trial Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole in huis ruling on the bail application said he would niot grant the accused persons bail considering the gravity f trhe allegation and the security challenges posed by the Boko Haram insurgents, especially the recent murder of school children in Yobe state.

Patent medicine dealers sue FG over unlawful guidelines

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

M

edicine Dealers, operating under the aegis of the Nigeria Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED) have sued the Federal Government, challenging the issuance of another guidelines alleged to be inhibiting their business operation.

The drug sellers are asking a Federal High Court in Abuja to nullify the 2003 guidelines for issuing patent medicine vendors’ license.

Joined in the suit as defendants are the Health Minister, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria and the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation and Minister of Justice, NAPPMED, in an originating summons filed by its counsel, Mr Val Igboanusi, accompanied by an affidavit by its national chairman, Mr Vincent Mamah, wants the court to nullify and set aside the said guidelines for being unlawful, illegal and of no effect.

The Medicine Dealers sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Minister of Health and Pharmacists Council of Nigeria and all their agents from issuing patent and proprietary medicine vendors’ license under the 2003 guidelines.

The plaintiffs also prayed the court for a perpetual injunction restraining the Pharmacists Council

of Nigeria (second defendant) and its state branches from intimidating, harassing, arresting and/or closing its members’ shops or stores across the country.

The association claimed that the issuance of guidelines on patent and proprietary medicines license in Nigeria was already enshrined under section 51 (2) of the Pharmacy Act, and covered by a court judgment.

“The Medicine Dealers are claiming that Pharmacists Council of Nigeria cannot prescribe any condition for the grant of any license, just by making some guidelines and cannot repeal or amend the provisions of Sections 51(2) of the Pharmacy Act”.

The plaintiffs are also claiming, that the action of the Health Minister in issuing the offending guideline is null and void and the conditions prescribed by him or delegated to the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria to do is null and void and ultravires his powers, having been earlier voided by Federal High Court in Abuja.

NAPPMED in the originating summon said it had gone through a protracted legal battle with the defendants on the issue and judgment was delivered in its favour on September 24, 1996 by Justice Ibrahim Auta of the Federal High Court.

The case was therefore, adjourned to April 15, 2014 for mention.

Boko Haram: Army repels attack, recovers weapons, says spokesman

T

he Nigeria military said yesterday that it recovered some weapons while repelling an attack by the Boko Haram insurgents on Nigeria’s border with Chad.

The Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, said in a statement yesterday that the Multi-National Joint Task Force, MNJTF, attacked the insurgents as they tried to overrun markets in communities on the outskirts of Monguno and NNPC at New Marte, Borno State.

Mr. Olukolade said that over 50 assorted grenades and 11 AK 47 rifles were recovered from the fleeing terrorists. He said that more assaults and encounters

were in progress as intelligence sources confirm the routes being used by the fleeing terrorists. He noted that the military troops have been directed to sustain aggressive patrols in certain areas where terrorists’ actions are anticipated. He added that cordon and search operations were ongoing and patrols have been increased.

“Meanwhile, interrogation of captured terrorists from various locations has been yielding useful information as to their mode of operations. Among those in custody is a lead specialist in butchering human beings who insists he does not use firearms but daggers and cutlasses for his assignment,” Mr. Olukolade said

Consequently, the Judge held that: “the baill application by the accused persons failed” and ordred accelerated hearing in the matter.

According to Kolawole, the duty of the curt is to assist law enforcement agencies in the efforts geared tyowards the prptectin of lives and properties of the people, while being m9ndful of the fundamental rights of the accused.

He ordred that the accused persons be remaded at the Kuje prison and adjourned the matter till April 19.

Arguing the bail application at the last hearing of the matter for Dr. Yunus, his counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN) urged the court to grant him bail that he (Yunus) will not interfere with the investigation and will be available to face his trial accordingly.

Liman added that Dr. Yunus is a responsible citizen of the country, with a good job as a university

lecturer and a family man.

Chief James Ocholi (SAN) who moved the bail application for Salami Abdullahi, the second accused person in the matter prayed the court to grant his client bail on health ground.

Ocholi told the court that his client is hypertensive and had, at a time collapsed and went into coma before been revived in a foreign hospital.

According to the SAN, there is nothing in the charge that linked his client with the alleged offences as contained in the charge sheet, adding that the testimony of the other accused persons has not establish a prima facie against his client.

Ahmed Mohammed, representing the third accused person, Musa Umar aligned himself with the arguments of the counsels representing the first and second accused persons,

adding however that his client will not jump bail and will also not interfere with investigation.

While opposing the bail application of the accused persons, the Chief State Counsel, Mrs. N. B. Jones-Nebo urged the court to take judicial notice of the gravity of the offence for which the accused persons were arraigned to dismiss the bail application.

She told the court that the accused persons will constitute security threat to the country if granted bail, adding that the prosecution had established a prima facie case against the accused persons.

Jones-Nebo submitted that the criteria for granting bail as enunciated in the case of Asari Dokubo verses the Federal Government are against the accused persons and urged the court to dismiss the application for lack of merit.

Justice Joseph Fola Gbadeyan (Rtd), Chairman, Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Alakyo killings in Nasarawa State presenting a 6 volume report into Alakyo killing to Gov. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura in the Government House, Lafia.

Jonathan’s administration not probing me-Baraje From Olanrewaju Lawal,Ilorin

F

ormer Chairman of Nigeria Railway Corporation(NRC) and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje has denied rumours in some quarters that he is being probed by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Baraje according to some rumours, was being probed over the award of some contracts when he was the chairman of Nigeria Railway Corporation.

The former Acting National Chairman, also debunked rumour about his ill health, saying that “I’m hale and hearty”.

Speaking in a telephone interview from Medina in Saudi

Arabia where he is performing (Umrah) the lesser Hajj, Baraje said the rumour about probed was not only untrue but unfounded.

He described the development as a calculated attempt by his detractors to tarnish his name.

Bareje who said that he did not award any shady contract during his tenure as Acting Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chairman of the NRC and Chairman of the Nigeria Airspace Management Agency(NAMA) said the general public should discard the rumour.

The APC Chieftain also said he was hale and hearty and disclosed plans to visit London and United States of America (USA) to attend crucial meetings before returning back to Nigeria.

Reacting to the removal of Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi as the Minister of Sports, Baraje welcomed the former Minister back home and described him as a gallant son of not only Ilorin, but a pride of Kwara being one of the best Sports Minister Nigeria ever considering his achievements while in office.

According to him, it would permanently be on record that during Abdullahi’s tenure, Nigeria won the Nations cup for the third time, won the under 17 World Cup for the fifth time, won laurels in basket ball and badminton, revitalize the National Sports Commission and repositioned the domestic league in line with global best practices.

PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Photo Splash

Senior special advisers to Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe state taking their oath of office, yesterday in Gombe.

L-R: Wife of Lagos state Governor, Mrs Abimbola Fashola, beneficiary of Sen. Oluremi Tinubu empowerment programme, Mr Sunday Adesina, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu and Information Minister and Supervising Minister of Defence, Mr. Labaran Maku (r), another beneficiary, Mrs Qudirat Adamson, at the 10th Lagos Central Town Hall handing over to the minister of Defence, retired Gen. Aliyu Gusau, yesterday in Meeting, yesterday in Lagos.

Abuja.

L-R: Chairman, Finance Committee, Lagos House of Assembly, Mrs Funmi Tejuoso; wife of the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Pamela Schmoll, former Vice President, World Bank (Africa), Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, creative artist of the future 2012 award winner, Bayo Omoboriowo and Wimbiz chairperson, Osayi Alile, at the launch of 100 unsung heroines project in commemoration of International Women’s Day, yesterday in Lagos .

Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, Mr Eze Onyekpere (r), speaking during the Annual General Meeting of Financial Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) yesterday in Abuja,with him is FICAN chairman, Mr. Nsa Coham.

Photos: Justin Imo-Owo and NAN

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 13

News

UN tasks Nigeria on unity in diversity

By Clem Khena-Ogbena

T

he United Nations (UN) has tasked the people and government of Nigeria to embrace unity in diversity, in the face of current challenges in the country.

The call was made by the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues, Ms Rita Izsak, who also noted in a statement issued in Abuja by the UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner that good and inclusive governance was essential to ensuring minority rights, equality and peaceful coexistence for all Nigerians citizens.

While urging the Nigerian Government “to strengthen measures to fully implement the constitutional guarantees of equality, unity and belonging, in order to protect minority rights”, Izsak stated: “I found evidence that in States where inclusive governance prevails and communities placed trust in their leadership, there are fewer communal fractures and concerns about minority rights.

“However, the exclusion of some groups, existence of partisan politics, corruption, and the reality or the perception of bias and favouritism along ethnic or religious lines, fuel distrust, suspicion and anger.

“Political parties must play their role in reaching across ethnic or religious divides.”

The statement further added

that with over 250 ethnic groups and even more languages spoken in the country, the UN expert acknowledged the complex ethnic, religious and linguistic make-up of Nigeria and that, for the most part, minority and majority communities coexist in harmony, adding that Nigeria had just celebrated its Centenary and its rich ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity.

She, however, highlighted concerns that threatened unity in several states add that this development called for serious attention.

“In States that I have visited,

including Plateau State and Kaduna State, today there are new divisions where once was relatively peaceful coexistence,” she noted, adding, “I have been saddened to learn that violent attacks perpetrated against both Christian and Muslim communities have heightened suspicions and in some locations created a climate of fear.

“I have been deeply moved by meeting victims of violence from different communities. Those who incite or perpetrate violence, including extremist elements, must be held to account for their crimes and must not be allowed

to succeed in creating divisions between communities.”

The Independent Expert urged the authorities to enhance the capacity, training and resources of the security forces in regions where violence has broken out, but stressed that “sustainable solutions to communal violence require more than a heightened security response alone.”

According to her,”Some of the tensions and conflicts that have erupted in Nigeria’s northern and ‘Middle-Belt’ states have been framed as religious or ethnic conflicts.

Free education started in Sokoto since 2007 - Wamakko

G

ov Aliyu Wamakko has revealed that the Sokoto State Government started free education at Primary and Secondary school levels to all residents of Sokoto State since 2007 irrespective of their states of origin.

Wamakko, in a statement by his Commissioner For Information, Malam Danladi Bako said his administration abolished the indigene /non -indigene dichotomy as well as delete the nomenclature from the official language and communication in the correspondences within the service.

The Governor was reacting to comments credited to Gov Babangida Aliyu as advising Northern State governments to introduce free education for its citizens to further educational development in the region.

Gov Wamakko who has been recognized by various local as well as international organizations for his tremendous development in Education, restated his firm belief that the fastest and most assured route to a nation’s growth and development is through the provision of quality education from

primary to the tertiary level, according to the statement.

Responding to reporters question, the Governor who is also a former school teacher revealed further that school enrollment increased by 300 per cent in the last five years , while JAMB and NECO registration rose by 500 percent leading to huge increase in the number of undergraduates studying in Nigeria and overseas in countries like Malaysia, UAE, England and Sudan, the statement said.

NYSC renews partnership with NIM on entrepreneurship training

By Albert Akota

T

he National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has vowed to renew its three years partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) on the entrepreneurship programme for prospective Corps Members (CMs).

The Institute since the inception of the partnership, has trained over 250,000 corps members in the areas of entrepreneurship and skills acquisition for self reliance.

Speaking during a courtesy call on him by NIM delegation, in Abuja, the Director General of NYSC, Brig-General Johnson Olawumi said the scheme would in addition to renewal sought for the expansion of MoU to accommodate more corps members.

Olawumi noted that since the beginning of the skills acquisition programme by NYSC, the scheme had put all necessary effort to empower young Nigerians economically, promising that they would not relent in their effort.

The President of NIM, Dr Nelson Uwaga explained that the MoU which was signed in 2011 would expire by June this year.

This he said was in addition to other NIM-NYSC strategic partnerships.

L-R: Minister of State for Power, Hon. Mohammed Wakil, Benue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam and Chairman, National Council on Privatisation, Mr. Atedo Peterside, during the Financial Bid Opening for Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited Generation Companies yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

CPC to partner NCC on telecoms operators’ poor service delivery

By Clem Khena-Ogbena

T

he Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has declared its readiness to partner with the Nigeria Communication Commissions, with a view to addressing permanently the perennial and intractable problem of poor service delivery by telecommunications operators in Nigeria.

The director-general of CPC, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, who made the declaration yesterday, during a meeting with chief executives of all telecom companies in the country, at the Council’s headquarters in Abuja, noted with regret that drop-calls, unsolicited messages, high tariff charges, among others, often suffered by subscribers had deprived them of enjoying quality service for their money worth.

While calling on the telecom service providers to improve on their service delivery, Atoki stated that the purposeful synergy between the CPC and the NCC would ensure that telecom consumers or subscribers had value for their money.

The meeting was a followup to a joint press conference addressed in December 2013 by the Minister of Communication Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the CPC boss and the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah on poor telecom services in the country.

At the joint press conference, Atoki vowed that erring operators risked prosecution and jail terms if found to have committed consumer abuses, in addition to fines that might be imposed by the Sector Regulator, the NCC. She stated, “The CPC can make orders in the interest and protection of consumers, and disobedience is also criminalised by law.

“While the NCC can impose fines or even revoke the licence of an offending operator, the CPC can, in addition, commit such recalcitrant offender to jail term for contravening any consumer protection enactment”.

South East govs tasked on good governance From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he South East Forum.

(SEF) a pressure group has charged governors from the region to leave lasting legacies by delivering dividends of democracy to the people like the late Sam Mbakwe, a former governor of Imo state.

Mbakwe, the first Executive Governor of Imo, died 10 years ago.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos ahead of the 10 years remembrance of the late Mbakwe,

SEF Chairman, Mr Austin Nnorom said that there was need for governors of the South East to emulate him.

“The 10 years memorial of late Sam Mbakwe calls for reflection on Governance in the South East and clearly throws aspersion on today’s South East leaders.

“Mbakwe left so many legacies as a Leader and governor. What we have now is the inability of some South East leaders/governors to deliver democratic dividends to the people. “ The South East region today

suffers clear infrastructural underdevelopment and high level of unemployment, which is evident from the exodus of its youths to other parts of the country.

“Our survey which shows that over 10,000 youths of the South East Nigeriia, migrate daily to other parts of the country and overseas calls for more responsive Governance” Nnorom said.

He said that South East Governors should as a matter of urgency commence youth and women empowerment programs.

“The empowerment is part of

the human capital development goals responsible for the huge success of the late Sam Mbakwe’s administration” he said.

According to him, It is so worrisome that the South East region today has the largest baby factories globally as a result of outright neglect for teenage females.

“As we are approaching another election year we call on the good people of the south east to vote in visionary leaders like late Sam Mbakwe that had people oriented programs” he added.

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Crime Cycle

Stanley Onyekwere pmlcrimecycle@gmail.com 08138559513

Couple docked for fighting nude in public A

man and his wife were arraigned in an Abeokuta Magistrates’ court sitting at Isabo, for allegedly fighting nude in public over alleged infidelity, reports the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

The accused, Kehinde Soetan, 37, and Aderinsola Lawal, 28, were arraigned for breach of public peace.

The duo, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Police Prosecutor, Augustine Ozimini, said that the offence was committed on Tuesday at 2.30 p.m. at Obada Oko area of Abeokuta.

He alleged that the couple fought and tore their clothes

Man in court over withdrawal from brother’s account

O

ne Okenzi Okeke, 28, has appeared before an Ojokoro Magistrates’ court, in Lagos, charged with theft.

Okeke is facing a twocount charge of felony and theft before Magistrate Taiwo Akanni.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Lugard Ahonle, told the court that the accused was arrested while trying to withdraw N25, 000 from his brother’s account, without authorisation.

Ahonle, said that the accused committed the offences on February 13, at Zenith Bank, Kaso Bus-Stop, Lagos/ Abeokuta Expressway.

Ahonle explained that the offences contravened Sections 285 and 390 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The accused however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Magistrate granted the accused bail in the sum of N50, 000 with one surety in like sum, and adjourned the case till April 10, for mention. (NAN)

in public.

“Soetan claimed that he saw his wife with another man and enquired from her, who he was, but her lack of answer caused the fight,” he said.

Ozimini said that the wife also hit her husband with a stone causing him serious injury on the head.

The prosecutor submitted that the offences contravened sections 83 and 355 of the Criminal Laws of Ogun, 2006.

The Magistrate, Mr. Emmanuel Adekunte, however granted the accused bail in the sum of 50,000 with one surety each in like sum.

He adjourned the case till March 19 for mention.

A

CJN Mariam Aloma Mukhtar

2 drivers jailed 6 months for reckless driving

A

n Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ court has sentenced two truck drivers, Segun Akinbinu, 28, and Rasaq Sanusi, 53, to six months imprisonment each for driving recklessly on the highway.

The convicts, apprehended after their trucks ran into the convoy of the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone 11, Osogbo, admitted to the charge when read out to them by the prosecutor, Insp Solomon Oladele.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr. Adebayo Lasisi, convicted the accused based on self-admittance to the one-count-charge and the facts provided by the prosecutor.

Lasisi, however, gave the convicts an option of N5, 000 fine each.

The prosecutor had earlier told the court that the convicts committed the offence on Monday at about 5.30 p.m. on the Gbongan-Ibadan highway.

Oladele said the convicts, who reside in Ibadan, were driving two trucks in a manner dangerous to other road users.

He said due to their recklessness and speed on the road, they failed to stop when a police officer signaled them to stop and give way to the convoy of the AIG. According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the prosecutor said the offence contravened the provision of section 18 of the Road Traffic Act and was punishable under 81 Cap 115 Vol.6 Laws of Osun, 2003.

Housewife bags 2 years imprisonments’ for burning husband’s house

A

30-year old housewife, Rashida Buhari, is to spend two years in prison

by Kontagora Magistrates’ court, for burning her husband’s house following a family quarrel.

Rashida, of Phase II GRA, Kontagora, had pleaded guilty to the one count charge of willful destruction of property.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the prosecutor, Insp. Abdul Abu, told the court that Rashida had on Tuesday, March 4, vandalised the personal belongings of her husband, Alhaji Musa Alhassan, after a disagreement.

He explained that after a quarrel the husband decided to divorce her, saying that the husband then organised a vehicle to

72-year woman old charged with N1.8m theft

convey the personal property of Rashida to her father’s house in Sokoto.

The prosecutor explained that the wife later returned to her husband’s home at Phase II, GRA, Kontagora, on the pretext that she had forgotten something.

He said the convict used the opportunity to set the house on fire, the incident which led to her arrest and arraignment in court.

Abu urged the magistrate to go ahead with the summary trial of Rashida, since she had pleaded guilty to the charge against her.

In her judgment, Magistrate Aisha Bawa, sentenced her to two years imprisonment and equally ordered her to pay a fine of N10, 000 to her former husband.

72-year-old woman, who allegedly conspired with a housemaid to steal money and jewellery to the tune N1.8 million, has appeared before a Somolu Magistrates’ court.

Folasade Lawal, who lives in Somolu, is facing charges of conspiracy and stealing.

The Prosecutor, ASP Akinlabi Adegoke, told the court that the accused conspired with Joy Bulus to steal jewellery and N300, 000 from the housemaid’s employer, Alhaja Aleshinloye Williams.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Magistrate, Mrs Bola Osunsanmi, granted her bail in the sum of N200, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

Osunsanmi adjourned the case till March 19 for mention.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, if found guilty, the accused may be sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Student remanded pending sentence

A

Gudu Upper Area court, Abuja, has ordered a 32-year old student, Ameh Abba, to be remanded in prison until March 26, pending sentencing.

The presiding judge, Mr Abdullahi Abdulkareem, gave the order after Abba, who resides in Abuja’s Kaura District and is charged with theft, pleaded guilty to the charge.

Abdulkareem therefore adjourned the case to March 26.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Mr. Ambi Ayuba, had told the court that Odinaka Peacemaker of Durumi 2 in Abuja had lodged a report against

the accused.

Ayuba said the complainant reported the matter to the Durumi police station on February 26.

He said Abba had pretended to be a customer and stole six pairs of jeans from Peacemaker’s shop.

“This had happened while the complainant was in his shop at Durumi, near Savannah estate, on the said date,’’ the prosecutor said.

He said Abba was caught by neighbours when the complainant shouted for help.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provisions of section 287 of the Penal code.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 15

Politics

2015: Kwara PDP, APC set to redefine political space From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

A

head of 2015 general election, politicians in Kwara State have started working against their political enemies while others are pitching tents with new-found friends to avenge old wound and settle scores.

Presently, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state has gathered old grassroots politicians who have one grudge or another with the Dr Bukola Saraki- led APC faction and National Executive of All the Progressives Congress party.

Similarly, the defection to new PDP led by Dr Bukola Saraki, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and Alhaji Kawu Baraje, into APC has disintegrated old and pioneer members of the party. Because of the ceremonial taking over of the APC in the state, some senior stakeholders, including Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN), have decided to relocate to the PDP. Also, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who lost the gubernatorial election in 2011 because of her brother and opted to support Ahmed, has also joined the PDP fold. The reason for that is obvious: to settle scores with her brother.

Speculations in Kwara indicates that Senator Gbemisola Saraki has decided to throw her personal ambition at the back of car seats and follow the common goal of the people of Kwara State which is: “freedom from Political bondage”.

Besides, the son of Late Mohammed Alabi Lawal, Mr Akkem Lawal, former Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) gubernatorial candidate in 2011 general election, Abdulrahaman Abdulrasak, Rev Bunmi Olusona and a large number of their supporters have decided to follow the blue print of PDP. Besides, the National Secretariat of PDP led by Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu and President Goodluck Jonathan has agreed to support the state chapter of PDP to actualise the “political freedom” sought for by many Kwarans. In the camp are Senator Simeon Ajibola, a third timer at the upper house in Abuja, Senator Sulyman Ajibola, Prof. Oba Abdulrahmann among others have political points to settle with their perceived “political foes Speaking at the Unity Rally in Ilorin while receiving decampees into PDP fold, President Goodluck Jonathan, who had issues to settle with Dr Bukola Saraki politically, condemned dictatorship in Nigerian democracy. Buttressing his argument that he does not dictate even to his state governor, Seriake Dickson, he challenged anyone to come up with remote evidence that he controls the governor despite the enormous powers at his disposal as the President of the Country.

President Jonathan, who was evidently delighted with the mammoth crowd that turned up to receive him and were also present at the rally, said the time has come for Kwarans to liberate themselves from the apron string of enslavement. “ Kwara is PDP. Kwara truly believes in PDP because for now, it is only PDP that can bring liberation,” he said.

Senator Bukola Saraki

Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmad

Gbemisola Saraki

Barr. Dele Belgore

“We ask ourselves why do you get yourself into politics? It is your people that matter in politics and not yourself. If you get involved into politics, you have to think about your people, not yourself. People who think about the people follow the people’s party and PDP is the only people’s party.

“PDP is the party that even if you go outside Nigeria and you ask people from all over the world which are the political parties we have in Nigeria? They will say, ‘PDP and others.’ Because you know it is only in PDP that every voting unit you have in this country, you have members of PDP. “It is only PDP people that can take this country to where we want it to be. I say it without any contradiction because it is only in the PDP that people like me can come from low level and stand here as the president of this country. PDP is not owned by any individual.

“It is not owned by any group of people, we do not have dictators in PDP. We have leaders who believe in people. That’ s why in PDP, we talk about one man, one vote, one woman, one vote and one youth, one vote. No more imposition. No more godfatherism. If you are elected to do your work as a governor in PDP, we give you the freedom to do your work without any molestation.

“I am a president now, I have a governor in my state and I have never controlled him because he was elected by Bayelsans. He has to serve Bayelsans. He does not need to serve Goodluck Jonathan.

“Though we may monitor the activities of the governors, but we give them the freedom to work. That is PDP. It is only PDP governors that can do that. We do not own the country. We are all serving the people. “The National Assembly serves the people of Nigeria, we do not dictate to them. The governors serve the people of the state, the president serves the people of Nigeria and that is PDP. PDP is the only party that can liberate everybody and also like Kwara State, it is only PDP that can give you what you want.”

The Senate President, David Mark, who commended the large turnout of members of PDP during the unity rally said it has shown that the State is home to PDP and PDP is the party of the people. he National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu in his remark appealed to defecting former members of PDP in Kwara state to “return home”, a plea which was unconditionally rejected by the crowd. While Mu’azu was calling them to return, the mammoth crowd that gathered at the Metropolitan Square, Ilorin, simply retorted “no,no,no!!

The PDP insisted it won’t depend on federal might but free and fair election to overcome Dr Bukola Saraki, Gov. Ahmed and the APC. In attendance at the rally were Chairmen of the 16 Local Government Areas of the state, some prominent traditional rulers in state and old politicians with considerable political machineries. This, perhaps, gave the PDP confidence that it might just reclaim the government in 2015.

However, the Interim Publicity Secretary of the APC, Kwara State chapter, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, in a sharp reaction to the comments made by the PDP at the Unity Rally, dismissed the campaign of the PDP stressing that the leadership of the PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan have again demonstrated to Nigerians and the whole world their high level of insensitivity and callousness to national tragedy.

He regretted that rather than mourn the loss of innocent lives in Borno and Adamawa as a result of the increased activities of Boko Haram insurgents in which no fewer than 150 persons were slaughtered within 48 hours, the PDP was solely concerned about elections in 2015. The scribe felt had the PDP the interest of the larger society at hearts, its leadership would be thinking how to end the insurgency and show by their comportment the sober mood of the country.

APC chieftan, retired Gen

Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement issued in Ilorin condemned the presence of President Jonathan in the rally saying it was wrong for all the government functionaries to abandon Abuja just to attend a wrongly timed political rally while Boko Haram was hard at work killing innocent Nigerians in some parts of Northern States.

“This attitude indeed confirms the APC’s position that apart from rhetorics the president and his party have nothing new again to offer Nigerians. While the people of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa were still in shock and trauma occasioned by the unabated bloodletting that has almost become a daily occurrence in their various domains, our President and his Vice with entourage from across the country choose Kwara state for an un-patriotic rally where they were busy singing and dancing on the graves of these innocent Nigerians, whose future were abruptly brought to an end, through no fault of their’.

If our president fall victim of this attack, will he be celebrating at dead party rally? Of course, not.

As a leader and party, one would have expected the President and the leadership of his party to use the precious time to either visit the troubled and traumatised families in these areas of Northern region, not only to condole them but to give them hope and sense of belonging, instead, president Jonathan has told Nigerians that political rally, at this time, is more Important to him than the lives of the wasted future leaders of our dear country”.

Buhari argued that the socalled decampees in whose honour the rally was organised and at which occasion the PDP and the president chose to exhibit their insensitivity and lack of visionary leadership, were politically of little or no value and clearly known members of the oppositions in the state. He asserted that they had never had any history of electoral victory in Kwara State.

“This is a fact President Jonathan too has confirmed. While then abandon these helpless Nigerians

at this critical period when they so needed the attention and care of the person they voted into office as President to attend a political rally that is of no consequence to the traumatised families of the victim of Boko Haram bullets?

Many observers in the state readily agree that the 2015 general elections would bring a lot of political changes. A son of late Governor Mohammed Lawal, Akeem Lawal, who is among the decampees, while speaking at the unity rally said God will use Jonathan to liberate the people of the state from dictatorship.

Others like Mrs Sarah Jibril, Senator Simeon Ajibola, believed that with the support of federal power, the Kwara State will be delivered to PDP in 2015.

A former PDP acting National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bode Ojomu said that PDP in the State were making attempts to frustrate the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan and other PDP national leaders to the state on Monday.

Several APC members see in the development a hope for a drastic change in kwara politics. They believe the rallies organised by the PDP and that held by the mega party clearly indicated that the state is heading towards a new political orientation. oing by the quality of persons present at the rally held by the PDP and the eminent persons behind the APC, it seems clear that in ideology, presence of political heavyweights in both parties, Kwara electorates will have options for better choices come 2015.

“Several other booby-traps to frustrate the rally for Monday also include threat to burn down the PDP secretariat, treat to life of our commissioned lead artiste for the rally, Saheed Osupa, who now pleads with PDP to refund money paid for his appearance on Monday.

“To deny our members from easy transportation, the government suddenly woke up to an empowerment programme for Road Transport Workers Union on that same Monday,”Ojomu said.

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Politics

Centenary celebration: It’s 100 years of chequered history, says Akpabio After one year in office, the Akwa Ibom state governor Godswill Akpabio took a cursory look at his appointment and performance as the Chairman of PDP Governors Forum.

In an interview with some journalists and our Reporter, Mike Etim, the governor spoke on the defection of five former PDP governors to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Centenary celebrations and other issues.

Excerpts…

A

year ago, you were appointed chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum.

What are your achievements have?

You cannot talk about achievements as such because the intention of the forum was to reposition our party, to ensure peer review mechanism so that the PDP governors can learn from one another, compare notes and ensure full implementation of manifesto of the PDP. I want to say that one year after, the forum has lived to it responsibilities. We have been able to create a synergy between the members of our great party and national Assembly and then the Governors of the PDP. We have been able to get a better understanding, a working relationship with Mr. President who is the leader of the PDP. We have managed to work and understand each other now better.

We held meeting with National Assembly- something that has never happened before- the Working Committee, the PDP Governors, and the leadership of the National Assembly as well as members of the PDP in the National Assembly. You have seen that we have worked together to ensure a mini convention that repositions our party and brought in new hands to ensure the vibrancy of the PDP and reposition the party to win in 2015 general elections.

Despite the crack in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, the PDP Governors’ Forum has remained steadfast, together and stable and is a major stabilizing factor even for Nigerian Governors in general. We are very happy that that Forum has come to be. I have enjoyed robust cooperation from my colleagues, the Governors of the PDP and I thank them so much for reposing confidence in me and for always standing by me.

A leader without followership cannot claim to be a leader. I am so happy that my colleagues are supporting me. Mr. President has stood behind me and the Working Committee of our party has been wonderful.

How are we going to perform in 2015? So far we have sent jitters and shivers to even the opposition party. They try to change names

but that couldn’t work. The next thing they could do was to attempt a merger to see if they can rival the PDP. It is not in the change of name, it is in the content. PDP is the only national party in Nigeria.

It does not belong to anybody; it belongs to all Nigerians. Nobody can lay claims to PDP. We are very happy with the party and all Nigerians because this is the only party that has confidence in giving all Nigerians a sense of belonging. That is why they could come to the South-South of Nigeria, a minority part to pick a President in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan. This shows that Nigerians are detribalized in nature. The idea of division only comes from political leaders, who want to corner the wealth of the country.

In one year as chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum, what has been your greatest challenge and perhaps regret?

I don’t have regret. You can talk about challenges. The challenge is the idea of people thinking that the only way they can aspire is through the opposition. The loss of some of my colleagues who decided to defect to opposition could be something that posed a lot of challenge because no party would like to lose a state Governor.

But then what has happened is democracy in action.

The reality is that most of them, their deputies did not go with them and over 90 per cent of their supporters say ‘no we are not going there’. Look at the rally the party is doing everywhere – supporters have come out in large number to say we are not going anywhere because this is the only national political party. Every person in this country craves for a sense of belonging and it is only PDP that can give Nigerians that sense of belonging.

So, the joy of it is yes the followers are still intact. The main challenge the Forum has been the issue of defection of those few Governors. You know doors are still open, we are hoping in the next few months some of them will see the need to come back and join their kids and kins because it is not easy to go and line up in another political party when you had attained the level of a Governor.

Akwa Ibom played a major

Governor Godswill Akpabio role in 1914 amalgamation of Nigeria, yet the state was excluded from the centenary celebration list. What is by our reaction to this? have seen that we have Amalgamation House, which was built by Lord Lugard. And I understand he was living there.

It is clearly written there- the Amalgamation House built in 1914.

Well, I wasn’t there in 1914, so I wouldn’t know if Amalgamation Agreement was actually signed there. I think historians have to do a lot of work. I don’t know whether it was signed in Lokoja or whether it was signed in Ikot Abasi. At least, we have the Amalgamation House. It is evident that that was where Lord Lugard decided to build his Amalgamation House. I will invite the Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation to visit the Amalgamation House and try to include it so that we can have a complete history.

We should celebrate Nigeria for

I

“

being together for 100 years and not necessary where the structures of amalgamation are located. I don’t want us to reduce the issue to where it was signed. If you look at it very well, there are people who even argued that Lord Lugard made a mistake by calling us Nigeria.

People also insist that why must he bring us together, why didn’t he allow us to be two countries. The important thing is that we should celebrate the fact that 100 years after we are still together.

Hundred years after as a country, how will you assess of our journey?

A chequered history. We should learn from Egypt and the Nile River.

People from all over the world came together and lived there because the land was fertile and the first civilization in the world was born from there. So, Nigeria in spite of our large size and differences (since we are together), we have come together, we can make it work. My impression of Nigeria is chequered

The loss of some of my colleagues who decided to defect to opposition raises a lot challenges because no party would like to lose a state Governor’

history in the sense that if we had democracy all along without military intervention the country, we would have been better.

We have achieved a lot in the last 14 years than we did in 35 years of military rule. That is my opinion and now we have opportunity to build. We should look forward to the next 50 to 100 years- what would happen to Nigeria, we should start today.

If we look backward, we will have regrets. We must go back to the basis; we must love one another, and every Nigerian must feel free in any part of this nation. We must de-emphasise tribe and religion, emphasise our ‘Nigerianness’ and give everybody equal opportunity. We should promote our ‘Nigerianess’ and give everybody equal opportunity from 2014.

A London-Based NEWSAFRICA Magazine has voted you as Man Of The Year 2014. What does the award portends to Akwa Ibom People? congratulate Akwa Ibom people for that and I dedicate the award to them, particularly the children who never had hope but who today are in schools especially those at the Divine Children Home, Uyo. I dedicate the honour to them because with the free education policy and the policies of government today, tomorrow they have hope and can reach anywhere and achieve anything in life in spite of the circumstances of their birth.

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE17

The budget defence is still on. Many committees have been very busy. There were no fewer than 14 of such. It was difficult keeping track of all. But we took interest in some, got these excerpts.

FCT Ministers bans suya spots, braces up for litigation

S

enator Bala Mohammed painted a sad figure when he appeared before the Senate Committee on the FCT. No, he was not being harassed.

Again, it was not because he had difficulty explaining himself. He was, as usual, loquacious.

At some point, he took exception to comments made by a senator, which he thought was an insult to his person. “I feel insulted by your comment. I see it as an attack on my integrity and I take exception to it. You cannot tell me that it is the absence of leadership that brought all the vices you are alleging”, Bala charged.

A member of the committee senator Nurudeen Abatemi Usman, representing Kogi Central, had accused the minister of failure in his responsibility to provide effective administration in the nation’s capital city.

The senator insisted that the minister’s ineffective leadership had brought back the city’s gory days in the past “I want the public to note that I make no attempt to attack or talk about your integrity. I am only bringing to your attention issues that have been going on and I hope that this is a wakeup call,” Abatemi-Usman explained.

Well, the Minister apologized, “I apologize for reacting because I felt insulted but whatever, I am your servant and the servant of Nigeria, I would take anything”.

Thereafter, he became sober and told the legislators that FCT Administration has decided to remove Suya spots in Abuja because of the high risk the spots now pose. The spots, he said, now habour criminals, and therefore huge security risk to the lives and properties of residents.

That means the gardens are

likely to be affected because suya spots at night are mostly located there. So Abuja residents may have to look elsewhere for relaxation, a drink and suya meal after a hard day’s work. Goodbye to night life in Abuja, you may say!

That was not his only concern.

Bala Mohammed was almost in tears when the issue of envelop came up. Mohammed said he had 17 crucial projects to execute during the year 2014. Now, some will not only be abandoned but the problem basic infrastructure they were supposed to address will remain unabated.

And because the appropriated budget are not rolled over unlike projects, each time the paltry envelop is made available he hardly meets contractual obligations. And so he felt sad.

The reason for the sadness?

“I have to brace up for litigations.

We are underfunded and because of this envelop thing each time we are unable to meet financial obligations to contractors, who have completed their projects or are suppose to be paid, they sue us,” he said quite emotional.

Though Sen. Adeyemi serious reservations in respect of the projects executed, he took reasoned with Bala and again took a swipe at the envelop regime. This year the FCT administration will have to make do with N30. 4bn.

Yes, the figures kept on dwindling. A sign of lack of interest in the FCT by the Federal Government? May be!

Adeyemi said, “The demands of the FCT is ever increasing but the allocations cannot be sufficient for the FCTA to develop the city and take care of infrastructural demands of the satellite towns. In fact, apart

. . .On beggars, prostitutes

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ell, Bala came under fire for his seemingly inhumane treatment of beggars and women of easy virtue.

Again, he took exception.

“My predecessors managed Abuja with 500,000 people but I am today managing Abuja with over 5 million people,” he claimed stressing that the daily influx of some elements that have constituted a nuisance won’t be tolerated.

The Committee blamed the minister for what it described as the resurgence of beggars, destitutes and prostitutes in the nation’s political capital, reminding him that his predecessors had tackled these vices.

In defending himself, the

minister claimed that the continuous influx of people into the capital city, contrary to expectations of its planners, was largely responsible for the increase in social vices, revealing that the FCT Administration lacked the power for enforcement of laws.

He said that the FCT Administration made use of police for enforcement, but lamented that the numerical strength of the Police in Abuja could effectively tackle the problem.

Further, Mohammed said that the FCT Administration had on several occasions, contemplated making use of the military in enforcement of laws but had to exercise restrain because it has its repercussions.

FROM THE GALLERY With Patrick Andrew owoidoho_ng35@yahoo.com

08136531513

Again, Senators attack envelop T FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed from ending up with abandoned projects scattered all over the place, they would not even be able to pay contractors for jobs done, so far.

“The federal government must show commitment to develop the FCT by providing adequate funds that would impact the lives of the residents, especially, those in the satellite towns,” he stressed.

The FCT minister told the committee that FCTA required N470.3 billion for payment and completion of 17 key projects in the National Priority Budget.

He said the FCT 2014 National Priority Budget was given a budget ceiling of N30.4 billion, which was inadequate for the FCTA to operate optimally.

His words: “the paltry sum of N30.4 billion budget ceiling given to the FCT by the Budget Office, may not allow the FCT operate at the required capacity, let alone providing world class infrastructure.

he envelop system- the amount released by the budget office- to ministries and agencies irrespective of whatever was budgeted and appropriated for them. This has continued to attract searing criticisms, and indeed fury of the senators.

There hardly is any ministry and parastatal that is not a victim of the envelop system. It has been detrimental to most ministries as it affects their annual performances.

Several ministries have had less than 45 percent of their total appropriated budget released to them. That justifiable means less than 50 percent performance as well.

One would have thought that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would be spared the ordeal of paltry releases considering its

position as the seat of power. No, the FCT is not spared. It got N32 bn out of N57bn and looks forward to the balance of N24 bn.

“Sadly it won’t come. That’s the balance will not be paid to the FCT because the budget unlike some of its projects, is not rolled over. Any hope in that regard is a mirage.

Smart Adeyemi, who chaired the committee, cried out just like he did previously. The senator detests the envelop system. So does Ajogu Eze, Bassey-Otu Ewa, Ahmed Lawan, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Abdul Ningi and several others who at various times on the course the budget defence spoken against it.

They had voiced their objections in sympathy with ministries and agencies whose paltry envelop hardly leave enough for basic infrastructure.

Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Yet another sum from NNPC....mere $2.4bn

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ell, the first time I heard of missing sum, it was from the Ayo Arikefe revelations of a missing: $2.8bn. It was a heavenly figure. In fact, I was in primary 2 and paid attention only because my father constantly talked about the figure as if the whole world could not contain it.

It was far too mind-boggling to me, still is.

That was then. Not anymore.

Now steal a billion naira and nobody bothers to question you because it’s just groundnut money.

So, when there was another revelation that the NNPC again could not account for $2.4bn payment for third party financing, not very few paid attention. It was not reported despite that the fact there were a battery of reporters present at the event.

Group Managing Director of NNPC, Andrew Yakubu, sought to explain thus, “in view of the

confusion, there is need to further clarify and align figures. So, we will withdraw the submission and present it again.”

There was an earlier memo written by the corporation which attracted the reaction of the Ahmed Makarfi-led committee.

The committee had pointed out that figures in the memo as read out during the hearing were confusing.

Moreover, in her submission to the committee at the investigative hearing, Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sarah Alade, stressed that the apex bank would ensure that the law was respected as it pertains to what fraction of the revenue generated by the NNPC should be remitted to the federation account.

Makarfi had asked the CBN boss to make the definite position of the apex bank known on what percentage of the generated funds of the NNPC should go to the

NNPC GMD, Andrew Yakubu Federation account.

“Look, the committee expects the CBN to provide details on the percentage that ought to be paid to the federation account by the NNPC. We should try to be as specific as possible if we are saying something. If you are not in a position to know, then it is wrong to assume”, the politician stated.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Interview

‘National confab should accomodate minorities’ interest’ Alh. Dr. Yusuf Mohammed Agabi, is a retired civil servant, from Lafia LGA of Nasarawa state. He recently announced his interest to contest the governorship seat of his state.

In this interview with selected reporters, he states reasons why he is the best person to occupy Government House in 2015, among other issues. Umar Muhammad Puma was there. hat informed your decision W to join the race?

It is true that I am gunning for

the governorship position and that is on the platform of my party, the PDP. Of course, I have the conviction that I have a lot to offer as a governor, if or when elected, come 2015. There are so many areas that have not been touched in the state, given my experience in the service, I have a lot to contribute, especially in the areas of education, being an educationist.

You can say that Nasarawa state is lagging behind in the area of education, there is no proper education both in the primary and secondary school level, not to talk of granting scholarships to indigenes of the state to study abroad.

So the state is left with what individual parents can do. There is no much assistance from the government. We are coming in to make a difference in that area of education.

Also in the area of health care delivery, you can see that in all the 13 LGA’s and the development areas that we have, health facility has been a problem. It is not sufficient for the masses. Even agriculture which is one of the most fundamental sector to the state’s economy, because virtually everybody is an agrarian in the state, they need a boost so as to give them the impetus to farm. Nasarawa state in the past was one of the states feeding this country, but you can say that as at today, we are importing food stuffs into the state, we need to correct this imbalance.

Also in the aspect of infrastrucral development, we are not going to concentrate provision of infrastructure to the state capital alone. As equally important the 13 LGA’s, all of these areas are yearning for development, so we should make a difference. This has not been done in the past, and that is why some of us who have the interest of the state at heart are now coming in to make a difference.

You seem to ascribe to the view that Nasarawa state in the past few years is being administered as somebody’s estate?

Very true, the state is being run by somebody who is not an administrator, somebody who is just commercially oriented and has only the interest of his estate at heart, but we are coming-in to make a difference because we have the interest of our masses at heart.

Nasarawa state has been in the news for its security challenges, how do you think the security situation can be addressed?

Everyone in this country knows that security is one of our greatest problems in Nasarawa state. This of course is happening because of the perceived imbalance that we have in the state, people are not being brought on board. People do not share the

idea that government is there to take care of the interest of the people. In a situation where people feel that they don’t have a future, they will definitely result to violence, but when you give people the hope that this state belongs to everybody, and we should have everything to share in common, we will allow everybody to have information of his table quite unlike what is happening at the moment. So everything that we are going to do will be laid on the table for everybody to see, so that together we will take decisions that will be for the benefit of the people.

Talking about imbalance, are you saying that resources of the state are being channelled to the wrong direction?

It is certainly being channelled to the wrong direction because we have somebody that is business oriented who has only the interest of his estate at heart, but if you make sure that you give scholarship to the sons and daughters of everybody in the state, not looking at the interest of the top class people, but also that of the lower group who do not have enough that you do not give more to those that have already but making sure that those that don’t have are given the larger share.

So there will be some balancing of equation in the state.

The Egan people were said to be the most friendly tribe in the state, what suddenly went wrong?

To say that there is something wrong fundamentally will not be out of place, all of us have Nasarawa state as the only state, all the Eggan people are resident in Nasarawa state like other tribes, they also have their aspirations and the interest of the state at heart, but this will take me back to the issue of insecurity I have talked about. The issue of unequal distribution of resources, so to that extent, we are coming to make a difference in the area of resource distribution, resource allocation and quality in the distribution of power both within the state and outside so that we can give everybody a sense of belonging and sense of equality.

How would you consider the chances of your party PDP in the forth coming election, given recent defection by politicians?

I have the conviction that both the PDP and non-PDP members have seen the difference between what has happened before and what is happening now. Majority of people in Nasarawa state know whom Alhaji Agagbi is, and they know that with the little resources God has given to me, I have been able to touch the lives of people, so by the time we come-in and with the knowledge people have about me, they know that there will be a difference when I come in and to that extent they will make sure that PDP is not only voted into power but it is voted into power overwhelmingly. Both at

Alh. Dr. Yusuf Mohammed Agabi the state and at the national level, I bet you, that will happen in 2015.

How would you then evaluate the strength of PDP in the state?

I admit the fact that we have some difficulties and challenges, but with recent happenings, we have been able to put things in order, everybody have been able to come-in and make contributions to the party, and the leadership is now becoming more intact and cohesive than ever before, so everybody is now looking at what more to do to make a difference. There was of course challenge of leadership and this challenge of defection, people are going out of the PDP, but more people are coming in that the people going out and this has shown that PDP is having a lead.

The state Governor Umaru Tanko-Almakura is undergoing impeachment threat, some political observers are saying that the Governor is instigating the impeachment so as to make him a hero, some are saying the House of Assembly is not comfortable with his performance. Where do you belong?

The issues is neither here nor there, because recent events in the state and the disposition of the Chief Executive of the state goes to confirm that he is more or less instigating his impeachment so that he can succeed in over heating the polity in the state that is already heated. So to that extent, one would say that he his using hidden hands to make sure that he is threatened to be impeached, because he knows that APC in Nasarawa state does not in any way have a future. And definitely they are going to be thrown out of government in 2015. That fear in him and so he is trying to everything possible to make sure that he becomes a hero.

Is it true that you have an alliance with the Alago’s and the Eggan people?

I am a man for the people, I am someone whose influence cuts across all ethnic tribes in the state,. I come from one of the minority tribes in the state, but the tribal issue is not what matters, what matters essentially is what you have to contribute to the upliftment of the state, what do you that can make a difference by making sure that you coerce the bringing on

board of everybody, whether majority or minority tribe, in making sure that you bring peace and tranquillity through equal distribution of resources to the extent that everybody will become contented and happy with the government.

Considering the array of aspirants within the PDP, do you think the party can remain united after the primaries, and what is your view about zoning of governorship among the senatorial districts?

I want to assure you that the PDP, unlike before is more united and stronger and we are certainly going to come out stronger. The issue of rotation, it is certainly a PDP affair, and so, it is within the purview of the PDP that if one senatorial zone governs the state for a period of eight years successfully, the next candidate should come from another zone. PDP in Nasarawa south senatorial district where I come from ruled for only four years, so we still need somebody to complete the remaining one term of four years and that is what informed my decision to run for the seat. On the issue of array of contestants, PDP, like I told you is a united organisation.

After the primary elections, we will become stronger, because we all know that power belongs to God, whoever gets it at the end of the day, it is not going to be a dictation from any quarter, it is a PDP affair and whoever triumphs will be supported by all other party members.

When you eventually become the governor, will you gracefully handover after four years, when you might have completed the eight years slot for Nasarawa south?

If that is the decision of the party, after the four years I will gracefully handover to whoever will come-in. But of course, this will not be handed over to anybody on a platter of Gold, from which ever zone the person will come from, he has to contest, no zone will be given the mandate on a platter of gold.

PDP has been facing series of challenges and recently a new national chairman emerged. Do you think Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Muazu can cement the cracks in the PDP before 2015 elections?

Alhaji Ahmed Muazu is a disciplinarian, he is a very good tactician

when it comes to politics. He has what it is and what it takes to bring the party together. He has started it, he is doing it successfully, and I am sure that at the end of the day, with the cooperation of all the members, he will definitely have his day. You can see that he is reaching out to all the people who opted of the PDP and most of the people are today coming back. He has started on a very good note, he his doing well and I am sure that if he continues in this manner, PDP will become stronger. It is not easy, the biggest party in Africa in the biggest black nation in Africa to be ruled by a party for 15 years, we are going to come-out more stronger, having crisis in a party is not applicable to PDP alone, you can see what is happening in South Africa too, a lot of other opposition parties are comingup.

What is your view on centenary celebration, is it worth celebrating?

For any country to stay together for a period of 100 years is certainly a great achievement. I agree that in the course of the 100 years, we have fought a war and today we are a united prosperous country, other countries, within and outside Africa are envious of the rate of our growth, so to me it is a very great achievement. A lot have come our way, I do agree that we have a lot more to do to bring this country together in all respects.

What is your opinion on the National Conference?

There are divergent views in the country about, not just resource allocation, but equality in terms of distribution of power. And Nigeria, as a country with many tribes, and so many traditions and languages, we should be able to come together and talk to ourselves on the best way we can move forward. That is essentially what the conference is all about, you see, each time we talk about the three major tribes in this country, we mention the Hausa’s, Igbo’s and Yoruba’s, but outside these three, there are so many other tribes in this country, and we have to bring their interest on board. We should take care of the minority tribes in this country, just as the majority are having their way, the minority should not be left out. So the conference is essentially to consider the interest of everybody in this country.

There have been such conferences in the past, what assurance do you have that this will be of any difference especially in an election year?

We should not lose hope in what is happening in our country, Nigeria is a praying nation, and we should continue to pray, one day we will definitely have it right. I agree with you that this is an election year, those previous conferences are going to be reference points for this very conference.

What are your planned programme for the youths?

I have always been an advocate of youth empowerment that is why I reach-out to students in Universities, Colleges of Education and even secondary schools. I give out scholarships every year. In all the tertiary institutions where we have Nasarawa state students, wherever they may be in this country, the least grant they get from me is N5,000 and the highest is N50, 000 per semester, depending on where the student is schooling, that is to show you that I have the interest of the youths at heart.

My dad used to say, “this too shall pass”

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 19

Tourism

Magnificent sites at Obudu Mountain Resort T

he resort has a helipad for access by air. At the base of the hills on which the ranch is located lies a newly built world-class water park with state-of-art swimming facilities and water slides for children, teens and adults.

The hilltop (cattle ranch) is about 11km of winded road from the base and can be accessed by either the cable-car or the road. The ranch has numerous pleasant mountain-area and country-side views.

Obudu is one of the finest and most magnificent tourist destinations in the world today. Deep in the tropical rain forest of Cross River State, presents an area of idyllic tranquility and enchanting scenery.

Indeed, it is a tourist heaven with its inviting natural endowment to be explored. Obudu has increasingly become popular amongst tourists, adventurers and event planners from all around Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

With over 160 accommodation categories, made up of standard rooms, executive rooms, huts and chalets to a presidential apartment, amidst its extreme eco-tourism potentials, there’s more than enough space for other activities.

Driving to the resort can be quite exhilarating, especially the last ten kilometres of winding road with its 22 bends, including the famous Devil’s Elbow halfway along.

In 2005 a state-of-the-art cable-car was built with 34 cars, each carrying eight people and covering a distance of four kilometres up through the clouds offering inspiring and dramatic vistas of green rolling hills.

Features: Obudu holds its annual mountain race in November for more energetic people with a cash prize attracting competitors from across Nigeria and internationally.

Although Obudu welcomes visitors all year round; the much best time to visit is October to February, when the flowers are in bloom, the sky is clear and the air is cool. This is the ideal weather for trekking over the high ground and enjoying the extensive views that stretch out across the plateau.

This is an African Sun resort, so expect the comfort and top-class service, which the group is famous for. Visitors can take the advantage of the fully equipped gym and floodlit tennis courts (there is also a squash court and 9-hole golf course), before relaxing at

the terrace restaurant complete with blazing log fire.

This may be tropical Nigeria, but remember you are at the top of a mountain!

Cable cars: This is the biggest attraction at Obudu and it runs from the entrance of the resort at the bottom of the mountain up to the ranch resort at the summit.

It is claimed to be the world’s longest cable car system.

Water parks: An ideal spot for tourists to take a dip in the cool and crystal clear waters. Here you experience the thrill of state-of-the-art water slides, or the relaxing effects of the Jacuzzi.

African huts: There are 10 each with two

apartments which gives the ranch the look and feel of being in the Safari.

Becheve Nature Resort: This nature reserve is home to 250 different species of migratory birds that have been observed at the ranch at different times throughout the year.

Tourists can trek on the 60KM canopy walkway built in the form of a ladder tree house unhindered, for breathtaking view.

Tourists simply get amazed at the extraordinary diversity of canopy life and breathtaking view from such height.

Other facilities at Obudu Mountain Resort include: Golf Course, Hotel, Waterfall, Cattle Ranch etc

Enchanting scenery

Standard huts

State of art swimming facilities Cable cars

World class ccommodations

PAGE 20

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Homes

Kitchen pantry design ideas

W

hat can be stored in a kitchen pantry?

Just what so ever you want like jams, pickles, pastas, sauces, cookbooks and all other kinds of food that can be stored without a fridge and household supplies. You can even put a washing machine, an iron and an ironing board there if you haven’t a dedicated laundry room.

There are many different approaches to the pantry design. For example if it is a separate room it can have doors that make it looks like built-in cabinet or it is simply separated by curtains. The

pantry can be part of the kitchen itself. It can even be a large cabinet with labels inside.

Built-in, butler's, walk-in, freestanding, or a combination? Storage is never in short supply when a well-designed kitchen pantry is just steps away. A pantry optimizes your kitchen layout by consolidating everything in one handy location.

Keep food items organized and on hand with the perfect kitchen pantry design ideas for your home.

Here are some pantry design ideas that can help you.

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Entertainment

Fashion

Beauty Tips

Kannywood

Hollywood

The beauty of purple fashion and accessories PG 29

Jide Kosoko escapes death

Relationship: Love him, but never do these before marriage

PG 37

PG 31

Bollywood

Womanhood

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Your Body Image & U

Must healthy living & body weight be a big task for Africans?

C

an we ever get tired or stop talking about being healthy and looking fabulous when it comes to our body shape/condition? Nope!! As long as we live, our body is all we have got and the way we keep and service it depends on how it looks and how long it inturn serves us before we say goodbye to life. Talking about our body shape and condition, there are a set of people who just find themselves having more weight than they should and this is very unhealthy. Such body condition has caused lots of premature ageing, death and depression, rejection, failure to most with such body condition. One good thing most people with weight problem keep resisting to understand is that, they can work comfortably on their body weight and have their life and desired shape back. Over the years in my career as a Body Image coach, I have been psychologically researching why people with weight problem get so impatient, withdrawn and indecisive to work on their overweight body.

Now, lets keep the regular issue of them complaining of not having money to register for a weightloss therapy.

Of course when the huge mass of accumulated fats/cholestrol gets out of hand, money authomatically comes out but sadly its always late to handle

Fat man

because lots of damage must have been done inside the body. How about those who also complain about not having time to work on their weight especially men?

Now let me tell you why most African men do not give a hoot about watching their weight. The African ladies are so desperate to hook men into marriage that they lose sight of making a choice of their heart desire. Desperate? Sure!

You read me right!!!! If wealthy slobs with protruding stomach like a woman with six months pregnancy gets rejected by pretty, healthy, ravishing young damsels for marriage and dating, our men will be keen to come out looking fit, trim and attractive before they think of proposing/dating pretty women.

You see a lady that has taken time to groom herself in and out accepting such men for marriage. What is the catch?

Money! Wealth! Societal Influence! As if am the only one who know this, most of these men cannot even perform their marital roles in the bedroom due to too much body fat. Heyyyy, you know what am talking about ladies ; don’t you? So how do such women who had husbands and partners that are overweight cope?

Ofcourse I do not have to spell it out for you folks. You damn well know how such women cope. Gimme a break..... they cheat! Yes women who have such men have extra marital affairs and let us not pretend about this. Such women play their love games very neatly and cleverly that their husbands hardly know. BIG TIME!!! With other men!!!!

Most women conceal their extra marital affairs so cleverly that their husband will have a heart attack if someone tells them their wives are cheating on them.

Shhhhhhh!!!! I should not talk about this? Why? Am I the only one who know this? Not at all!! Why hide it when such reckless attitude by such women has ruined their marriages and also created serious health problems for them and their husbands.

Let me keep the men aside a little and talk of women who are also carrying excess luggage around their waist, buttocks, hands, thighs every where... name it!! A whole lot of fat women out there have the money to register in gyms, therapies or get personal trainers at home to help them keep fit but fail to do so. Again, such ladies feel---‘’well, since I have kids and am the only wife of my husband, I have him under wraps completely.’’ Having kids for a man is not enough excuse for a woman to grow as big as a hippo , neglecting her entire body image. Your man is having a swell time outside with women that can move their body and look alluring in any dress they wear (even if its ‘bend-down’ wears..). Listen ladies, we all know that African men do not apologise for having

With Jacqui Iwu bwreforms@gmail.com 08184825606 (sms only)

mistress, lovers outside marriage. Make no mistake about this ladies. You make too much noise or try to trail him, you are out! So most of you keep getting fatter, miserable and unhappy with both your body and marriage. A house wife who does school run goes back to the house, eat a breakfast that can serve a conference meeting, sits down and watch home movies for the rest of the day. Infact women who do not work 9-5pm white collar jobs had more time to work on their body. Sadly, such women are among majority of women who complain of not having time to take care of their body. Hey, if you can lie down on a couch and watch T.V for 6hrs, why can’t you excercise at home for even 30mins? Difficult huh? It’s not! You can do it! Most of you are living in very decent quarters secured and you cannot wake up by 6am to jog/run for 20mins?

Or jog in the evenings/night? You can jog/run within your quarters and still come back to make breakfast and get the children ready for school. Sure, you can my dear ladies. The days when you feel because you are in a man’s house so, you are free to look any how are over.

Those days, our great grand fathers used to marry very fat women but that is not the case in our own generation.

Things have changed and if you do not

Woman jogging

flow with the generation you belong to, you are on your own. Most women who have weight problems will use their weight problem to extract money from their husbands and will never use the money to work on their weight. If you are among such women, do not feel that the fact your husband did not ask you about it means he did not know that you never used the money. Most men hardly talk but what they do is to look for cute, ladies who are not battling with weight problems.

You must not wait for your husband/ wife to force you to do something about your weight before you take action.

One life to live!

To be honest, healthy living(no matter you social status) must not be a huge task unless you do not know what you want from life.

Fat woman

Jacqui IWU is a BodyImage Coach A Stress Management Expert A Conference Speaker & Media Relations Personnel BLOG: http://bluntjacqui. blogspot.com FB: Facebook.com/ beautifulwoman.column

PAGE 23

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Special Report Boko Haram: How well equipped, motivated is the military?

Contd from Page 5 the northern region will not only constitute a depletion of economic affairs in the north, as happened in the Basque country of Spain but will also throw those leaving the area into financial and psychological pressures.

Moreover, the political insecurity in the north is already affecting the services industry, especially those that have a bulk of their operation in the region. The financial services sector is the most affected; banks are closing down their branches and insurance premiums are rising. his situation has become worse by the lack of insurance policies covering terrorist attacks in the country. At present, the Nigerian insurance industry is still trying to decide upon how to provide terrorism insurance policies that will meet the needs of the population.

A study of the impact of Boko Haram is relevant for various reasons: 1.

The economy of Nigeria, a country teeming with a population of 170 million, is of strategic importance to peace, order and regional security in sub-Saharan Africa; 2.

The wellbeing of the region’s economies in countries like Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Benin amongst others, are interlinked and dependent on the Nigerian economy; 3.

Within sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria is too big to fail, as its failure will mean hardship for millions of people and revert whatever developmental progress has been made in that region over the past few decades.

Summarising the challenges, Abiodun Ladepo, a Nigerian resident in Los Angeles, California, USA raised several questions and proferred solutions thus: “What is wrong in following the attackers to whatever hole from where they came - Cameroon, Chad, or Niger - and finishing them off there? What is wrong in following the attackers, capturing those we can capture and bringing them back to our bases for interrogation? Believe me, if we subject these Prisoners of Wars (POWs) to internationally sanctioned interrogation techniques – those authorized by relevant Geneva Conventions articles and guaranteed to preserve the rights and dignity of the POWs – we will obtain actionable intelligence from them that would aid in our execution of this war. Instead, we allowed the attackers to retreat and re-group so they can fight us another day. We tucked our tails between our legs, scampered back to our bases and declared victory. And a few weeks later, the commander whose Air Force Base was so ravaged - Alex Badeh; the one whose subordinate personnel’s wives were carted away by the enemies in that bold attack, was rewarded with promotion to Chief of Defense Staff.

“None of the senators who screened Badeh for the appointment had the good conscience to ask him where he was when the attack on the base occurred; what policies he had in place, as then Chief of Air Staff, to forestall the breach of his bases, and what policies he had since put in place to prevent another such attack.

If the senators (led by David Mark, himself a former senior military officer) had had the gumption to

T

Air Marshal Alex Badeh, CDS

AVM Adesola Amosu, CAS

Rear Adm. Jibrin Usman,CNS

ask the tough questions, they would have learned, for instance, that the Nigerian military is languishing in archaic war fighting equipment and doctrine. They would have learned that our Air Force did not have something as simple as upto-date maps of our own country - maps which would have come in handy when trying to locate the enemy’s possible fortresses; maps showing all of our man-made and natural terrains that the enemies and our forces could use for cover, concealment and mobility. The senators would have found out that our Air Force had very limited serviceable and air-worthy fighter aircraft. They would have learned that because of the paucity of aircraft, only very few of our fighter pilots are well-trained in their jobs. And those who have the training may not even retain much of these perishable flying-and-fighting skills due to lack of regular sustainment training.

Our senators would have learned that our Army still carries around moribund and often malfunctioning personal and crew-served weapons; that they move around in dilapidated Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs); that our Soldiers regularly run out of ammunition, petrol, food and other essential items in the middle of firefights. Our senators would have found out to their utter chagrins the nauseating fact that we are sometimes late in paying our Soldiers’ combat and deployment allowances; and that when they die in combat, we take forever in paying their gratuities to their families, thereby keeping morale at the lowest ebb.

“Our senators might also have learned that our senior military

officers do not understand the difference between conventional war (country vs. country) and CounterInsurgencies (COIN) (country vs. insurgency) war. And what they do not know, they could not teach to their subordinates or supervise.

The senators would have learned that we have probably been fighting an armed insurrection or an armed unconventional invasion (assuming these attackers are from neighboring Cameroon, Chad, or Niger) with the tools needed to fight a conventional war. Had our senators done their due diligence, they would have learned that our military and our intelligence agencies, especially the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), lack the technical knowhow to emplace and employ ground/ aerial, static/mobile, human/ electronic intelligence collection capabilities that would greatly complement the efforts of our gallant Soldiers. (For example, we acquired for surveillance a couple of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), otherwise known as Drones.

But with what and whom are we coordinating the images we receive from these Drones?) Gallantry without effective fighting weaponry is nothing but suicide. Only when our Soldiers encounter unarmed civilians do their egos swell to match their menacing muscles.

When faced with well-motivated hooded insurgents wielding RocketPropelled Grenade (RPG) launchers and vehicle-mounted 60mm machine guns, our soldiers scamper for cover. Had the senators asked the right questions, they would have known that without motivating and empowering our Soldiers with modern, up-to-date equipment,

quality training, and rewarding pay, it is as if we have consistently tied their fighting hands behind their backs and sent them to battle to die.

“This low-level war with insurgents has exposed the systemic rot in our military and we should wake up to our responsibilities.

Unless we are deluding ourselves, Nigeria may not survive a full-blown invasion from one of its neighboring countries. At the minimum, we would suffer great losses in the hands of a determined foe. Ordinary bands of rag-tag fighters probe and infiltrate our borders at will (daytime, nighttime and evenings); they conduct successful attacks and then successfully retreat with minimal casualties. A few days later, they repeat the attacks with slight changes to their modus operandi, throwing our soldiers into confusion.

Haba! These are textbook basic offensive tactics that have continued to make mincemeat of our so-called dreaded military. And any Nigerian Soldier worth his or her salt should be embarrassed to no end by this. hat is all one could expect of a civilian Commander-in-Chief – reinvigorating the military at the top with fresh hands in the expectation that the new appointees will inject the Force with a new sense of purpose, direction and motivation.

Jonathan should not be expected to understand the minutiae of military Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs). In fact, he is probably as angry and as surprised as the rest of us that we have not beaten this insurgency scourge.

Jonathan can only understand and approve what the military brasses put before him. And anyone with a scintilla of expertise in advanced military operations, not just rudimentary knowledge of how the military conducts successful operations, should know that the succession of military brasses have not served Jonathan well. They appear to me to have become either too obtuse and/or too impervious to designing radical changes to their TTPs. So, as a matter of urgency, Chief of Defense Staff, Alex Badeh should begin to earn his rank and salary by immediately setting up for himself a Command Post (CP) in Maiduguri and temporarily move his office there. If anything, this would signal to all his subordinate commanders that he means business and it is no longer business as usual. This is war and it should be treated as such. It would also boost the junior Soldiers’ morale to knowing their overall boss is on the battlefield with them, not

“

What the country is left with are profiteers who manufacture the drones, stinger missiles, aircraft and night vision goggles.

It will be more profitable to end the carnage or risk a broader conflict beyond the borders of North-east Nigeria.

The more politicians stop using Boko Haram as pawn in the chess game, the better. If the much tougher Taliban have people to talk with, then Boko Haram has ears. In this way, the country can plough the security cash to water, employment, roads, electricity and the like… if corruption doesn’t gulp it.

T

ensconced in Abuja drinking pepper soup. Badeh will now be able to see up-close what his Soldiers are facing and can effectively assess what they need in order to win the war.

When he orders them to face death, he would be doing so with moral authority, not just rank authority.

Badeh will see firsthand how a typical fellow Nigerian in Konduga lives his or her daily life and can then report same to Jonathan. Badeh will be able to go to the National Assembly (NASS) and to Jonathan to make a good argument why Nigeria needs to recruit more Soldiers. He would be able to convince the NASS to increase the defense budget, allowing for training in modern warfare, equipment, remunerations and emoluments for its personnel.

Finally, Jonathan will then be able to inform (not seek permission from) the leaders of Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic; the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN), that henceforth, Nigeria would deal decisively with anybody or group of persons that violates its territorial integrity. Jonathan will mandate Badeh and his entire military leadership to employ the Powell Doctrine of maximum force each time any part of Nigeria is attacked. And, of course, with credible and actionable intelligence, superior equipment and a motivated military, Nigeria will meet its threat of lethal force with precision and deadly overwhelming delivery. This will serve as an effective deterrence to would be aggressors and fomenters or anarchy. This practice of watching whole families slaughtered in cold blood; of survivors gnashing their teeth, wailing and throwing themselves on the ground; and of our military and politicians throwing up their hands in total helplessness will then come to an end. And we would have our country back”.

With military solution is seemingly elusive after trillion of dollars of spending, what are the cards available to the government and citizens. Other options including dialogue are ongoing but which areas according to scale of preference, should be pursued in their order or in tandem?

As it were, it certainly looks from the strategic point of view that Nigeria has to work assiduously with its neighbours to cut the flow of weapons and expertise to the sect. Some of these neighbours have little security than Somalia because of internal strife. From Darfur in Sudan to the South Sudan now at war, the list of insecurity mounts amidst lucrative deals in small arms by active and retired rebels.

The country had initially lost the regional security initiative in dousing the Libyan crisis by supporting the West. As a result, countries in the North, West and Central Africa are bearing the brunt.

What the country is left with are profiteers who manufacture the drones, stinger missiles, aircraft and night vision goggles. It will be more profitable to end the carnage or risk a broader conflict beyond the borders of North-east Nigeria.

The more politicians stop using Boko Haram as pawn in the chess game, the better. If the much tougher Taliban have people to talk with, then Boko Haram has ears. In this way, the country can plough the security cash to water, employment, roads, electricity and the like… if corruption doesn’t gulp it.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 24

World Kiddies

With

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS

Z

History Zaria, initially known as Zazau, was also the capital of the Hausa kingdom of Zazzau.

However, human settlement predates the rise of Zazzau, as the region, like some of its neighbors, had a history of sedentary Hausa settlement, with institutional but pre-capitalist market exchange and farming.

In the late 1450s, Islam arrived in Zaria by the way of its sister Habe cities, Kano and Katsina. Along with Islam, trade also flourished between the cities as traders brought camel caravans filled with salt in exchange for slaves and grain. Between the fifteenth and sixteenth century the kingdom became a tributary state of the Songhai Empire. In 1805 it was captured by the Fulani during the Fulani Jihad. British forces led by Frederick Lugard took the city in 1901.

The old part of the city, known as Birnin Zaria or Zaria-City, was originally surrounded by walls, which now have been mostly removed. The Emir’s palace is located in the old city. In the old city and the adjacent Tudun Wada neighbourhood people typically reside in traditional adobe compounds. These two neighborhoods are predominately occupied by the indigenous Hausa.

The neighborhoods of Samaru and Sabon Gari are predominately occupied by Nigerians of southern origin, such as the Ibo. The largest marketplace is in Sabon Gari.

Other more recent neighborhoods include: Danmagaji/Wusasa, PZ, Kongo, GRA-Zaria, Hanwa, Bassawa, Lowcost Kofan-Gayan and Shikka.

Transport and economy Zaria’s economy is primarily based on agriculture. Staples are guinea corn and millet, and cash crops include cotton, groundnuts and tobacco. The city is considered by some to be a main center of Hausa agriculture.

Not only is Zaria a market town for the surrounding area, it is the home of numerous artisans, from traditional crafts like leather work, dyeing and cap making, to tinkers, printshops and furniture makers. Zaria is also the center of a textile industry that for over 200 years has made elaborately hand-embroidered robes that are worn by men throughout Nigeria and West Africa.

Because Zaria is north of the rail junction at Kaduna, it has equal rail access to the seaports at Lagos and Port Harcourt.

However, currently only the railway to Lagos is functional, as the eastern line of Nigeria’s rail network is operational. This means that Zaria currently has rail access to Lagos and Kano to the north, but not Port Harcrout.

From 1914 to 1927, Zaria was the break-of-gauge junction station for the Bauchi Light Railway to the tin mines at Jos. Education Zaria is home to Ahmadu Bello University, the largest university in Nigeria and the second largest on the African continent. The institution is very prominent in the fields of Agriculture, Science, Finance, Medicine and Law. Zaria is also the base for the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology.

National Research Institute for Chemical Technology. Zaria is also home to Barewa College.

The school is known for the large number of elites from the region that passed through the school’s academic buildings and counts among its alumni, five of whom were at one time Nigerian Heads of State, including the late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

ABCDE

HIS AND HERS CORNER

Zaria city

aria is a major city in Kaduna State in Northern Nigeria, as well as being a Local Government Area.

Formerly known as Zazzau, it was one of the original seven Hausa city-states. The 2006 Census population was 408,198. The current Emir of Zazzau (Sarkin Zazau in Hausa language) is Shehu Idris.

Miriam Humbe

CARTOON

Mickey mouse in Dysneyland

Barney and friends taking a flight

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 25

Kiddies World

With

ABCDE

Miriam Humbe

MODEL OF THE WEEK

AFRICAN TALES

Why elephant has a long nose

L

ong ago, Elephant had a very short nose that looked a lot like the nose of a pig.

Though his nose was short, Elephant could smell very well, and he smelled smoke. Elephant looked all around him. He did not see fire. But, he did see a cloud of Bees.

“Bees,” called the Elephant.

I smell smoke. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. The Bees flew up high. There was fire to the North. There was fire to the East. There was fire to the West. There was a river to the South. Fire could not cross the river.

“Follow us,” said the Bees.

We will take you to the river where you will be safe. So Elephant ran South, following the Bees. He ran until he came to the river. Elephant would be safe in the middle of the river.

“Mr. Elephant,” called the Bees. “We saved you. Now you must help us. The smoke from the fire can hurt us. We cannot stand smoke. Open your mouth, and let us fly inside. We will be safe inside your mouth until the fire and smoke are gone.”

This sounded fair. The Bees helped the Elephant. The Elephant would help the Bees. He opened his mouth and let the bees fly inside.

Oh, my - there was a loud buzzing sound inside the Elephant’s head.

“Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.” The sound hurt the Elephant’s big ears. “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.”

When the fire was out, the Elephant said, “You must come out now Bees.”

The Bees just said, “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz. We like it in here. We will not come out. Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.”

The Elephant shook his head.

“Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.” The Elephant

flapped his ears. “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.” The Elephant jumped up and down. “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.”

Elephant was getting a headache.

“Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.”

Elephant knew that Bees hated water. He sucked up water in his nose and blew it out. “Errumph.” The Bees still buzzed.

“Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.”

Elephant sucked up more water in his nose and blew it out. “Errumph.” The Bees still buzzed.

“Buzz, Buzz, Buzz.”

Elephant blew his nose over and over. As he blew, his nose got longer and longer and longer.

Still the Bees went, “Buzz, Buzz, Buzz,” inside of his head. Then the Elephant remembered that Bees cannot stand smoke. He walked back on the shore where the fire had died out. He walked to where a tree still smoked from the fire. Elephant took a deep breath and sucked the smoke up his nose and opened his mouth.

“We hate smoke,” said the Bees. They came flying out of the elephant’s mouth. The Bees saw a hollow tree that had survived the fire. It had a hole in it that was as big as the Elephant’s head. They flew straight to that hole in the hollow tree. There they made their new hive and lived very comfortably.

Ever since, Bees still like to make their hives inside of hollow trees. Also, ever since then, the Elephant has had a long nose. Some Elephants still feel like they have bees inside their heads. They still suck up water with their long noses and squirt it out to make the buzzing stop.

CREATIVITY

How to make a paper town This article shows you how to make a paper town.

Steps ut 1 piece of paper in fourths. The 1st cut through the exact middle, the 2nd cut can be off a little bit.

Draw 3 lines evenly across the paper lengthwise across the paper.

Fold the paper along the lines.

Tape the sides together.

Tape two buildings together on top of each other to make a skyscraper.

Put a building sideways to make a cave or tunnel.

Cut a hole in the side almost the size of

C

the end of the tunnel to connect buildings and tunnels.

Tips •Try putting a piece of cello tape on the inside of the building and tape the inside, then the outside.

Warnings •The paper has to be standard printer paper. If it isn’t that type, it won’t work.

Things you’ll need • Paper • Scissors • Tape • Pen or marker

Miss Emmanuela Aondo

ACTIVITIES

Using the right colours, shade the image below.

Describe your action and show your work to your teacher for correction.

Cheers!

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 27

Beauty Tips

The message your lips send out

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

T

he lip is one of the sensual parts of the woman’s body and plays critical role in human sexual attraction. Lips are a visible part of the human mouth: lips are soft, movable and serve as the opening for the intake of food and articulation of sound and speech.

Primarily, the lip is an organ of speech.

Human lips are tactile sensory organ, and can be erogenous when used in other act of intimacy. Therefore, beyond its function as a speech organ it is sensual, appealing and evocative of feelings.

As a tool in the hands of women, the lip can be a powerful tool to send out message, demonstrate sensual hunger and manipulate feelings.

When you display them correctly, it passes discerning message to your mate or just anyone with a half a logical clue of the essence of this powerful organ.

In essence, your date, husband, friends and others are all susceptive to the influence your manipulated lips can play. Of course, the posture of your lips can either convey the message of anger, gloominess or joy and can be suggestive therefore inviting or repelling.

Add a touch of colour to the lips, the picture of elegance emerges and can alter the facial complexion of an individual. Little wonder a craze for glossary lip. Of course, your lips especially when you deliberately puff the lip into shape/s: putting the right lip glow or lip gloss, you stand out, and truly become attractive and adorable.

Occasions such as weddings, red carpets, naming ceremonies, beauty pageants and even at birthday parties, the shape and colour of your lips can tell a thousand tales about you: comportment, personality, sense of colour and dignity, making a statement that’s unique to you.

So, the way you wear the colours on your lips, how you display them, making them noticeable and adorable speaks volume of your social class, tasty and state of mind.

Do you know your lips types?

Just in case do not know, there are different kinds of lips shapes. Some are fuller, huge, large, small, thin, and plump, round, pink, among others. Knowing the shape of your lips enables you to adapt to colours.

That’s whatever shape your lips are can be made subject to befitting

You and your makeup tools

colours. Of course, for some, the lips offer a different world view such that it can be about the only very significant feature on their faces. To these persons and others, knowledge of the type of lip glow and lipstick that fits them matter a lot. Like the eyes, you just have to know how to make the best of what God has endowed you with.

Finding yours will give you the perfect method of taking care of your lips and applying the right beauty regime for it.

Most women today, cherished their lips that’s why they tend to spend a fortune on expensive lip gloss, coloured gloss, lip glow and permeate tattoo on their lips.

Celebrities go to the extent of having plastic surgery,injections on the lip or refilling their lips to have sweet luscious lips .some women tend to appreciate Angelina Jolie because of her plump lips, while others appreciate Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Hudson lips amongst others. Even one of our own, Abuja-based pop-star Mrs. Regina Adeola (aka Gina) had a plastic surgery to get a restructure lip to look like the famous Hollywood super star Angelina Jolie.

According to studies, women lips are the most attractive part of their body, especially if she‘s wearing red lipstick and pink which reflects light. While others use lip glow or gloss to create an illusion of plumber and fuller lips that appear soft, some delight in and indulge in bright colours with natural highlights and delicate iconic tenors. ut women are not alone in this indulgence. Some men spend seconds staring at a woman’s lips, sizing it up and trying to deduce whatever message it is sending out.

Some guess hard after meeting a woman for the first time seeking to gauge her personality: is she available, inviting and appealing or repulsive and therefore not reachable? The magic is simple, if she applies lipstick; he’ll find it difficult to look to look away. The dash of pink can transfixed him, holding his attention for several seconds. He is likely to remained to fix on her face and maintain the stare far longer than it would be been were there no colour on the lips.

Women, in our contemporary times, have different ways of taking care of their lips, to make their lips

B

Try this glossy and shinny lips colour for a change

“

Dark colour on equally dark skin lips

Women lips are the most attractive part of their body, especially if she‘s wearing red lipstick and pink which reflects light. While others use lip glow or gloss to create an illusion of plumber and fuller lips that appear soft, some delight in and indulge in bright colours with natural highlights and delicate iconic tenors.

attractive; some take it serious, while some don’t care about her lips. As the saying goes “different food for different folks”. Women have different stories to tell about their lips.

Miriam Ibrahim said a woman’s lip is the doorway to her mouth. So as a woman “I always make sure my lips are kept attractive. I use lipstick, lip gloss to maintain my lips and also to look good at all times. Also as a routine, I use the bristles of my old tooth–brush to scrub my lips, which makes them soft and increases blood flow. Using the old tooth –brush it removes dead skin and flakes on the lips.”

Jessica Alhassana said, “the lip is the most important part of a woman’s body from the first sight

view of her. After the face, the lips are what make a woman’s face very attractive to the opposite sex. As a woman, I maintain and keep my lips clean and make it looks natural by the use of lime and olive oil to scrub my lips or massage milk on my lip to have a natural pink lips or use lime orange on the lips to bring out his natural colour after scrubbing, then I use ordinary water to rinse my lips and use Vaseline to apply on it twice a day: in morning and before going to bed at night.”

Also, Mrs. Grace Musa, as a person “I don’t care oh, which death cells on the lip uh uh mmm, what I know is that I rob Vaseline on my lips. Believe me my lip is ok.”

Pamela Johnson observes,” for me I have a full lip, so I cherished it very much. If I want to go to my boy friend’s house I exfoliate my lip with sugar and vinegar oil, it makes it so soft, sweet and attractive for him and any opposite sex. Guys love soft, full lips. I love putting pink or purple colour, it’s so attractive, makes one to look sexy. I use my lipstick and lip gloss so often, than you can imagine. I don’t like to see my lip go dry ”.

Full lip wearing red lipstick

Mrs. Florence Billy, says taking care of one’s lip is very important, not just for your husband or boyfriend but for you own personnel hygiene. “If you don’t take care of your lips when you rob lipstick, lip gloss or lip glow you are likely to see some white cells peel. So taking care of the lip is important because as a door way to your body it must neat and attractive. To make it attractive, you can mix honey and milk and apply for 5 minutes and then rinse it with warm water before further applying balm, petroleum jelly and olive oil immediately. You can do this at bedtime to avoid sun damage. It relaxes your lip muscle; frame the shape of your lips. iss Dahlia James says,”I Iove my lips that is what is in vogue. Can you see ladies wearing different colours of lipstick to look beautiful and sexy?. With this new development of having attractive lips, go to Lagos there are fashion shops, which can give you any permeate colour of lips that you want. Women lips are especially sexy when you wear red or pink glows. Pinks and red look healthy and attractive.

There other things that can make your lips attractive as a women at home like using olive on the lips.

It helps soften the lips and keep it moist,” she added noting that it also brings out the desired colours, one looks forth to. In terms of lips maintenance olive is the best.

Lips are the most striking beautiful element of the facial feature. Women with attractive lips secure greater level of attraction.

I urged you to give yourself super soul lips maintenance this weekend.

You will not regret giving yourself a lip spa at home. Enjoy the weekend with attractive lips.

M

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

TIPS

L

et week, we turned our search light on pawpaw and its usages as food and beauty lotion. You may recall that we talked about the tasty fruit that is eaten both ripe and unripe. Need we remind you of the tasty taste of the delicious, tasty fruit that’s generously loved by people of all ages!

And like we pointed out then, beyond its delicious taste, its beauty application for skin is even more alluring. Pawpaw or papaya if you choose to call it so is richly endowed with lot of skin beautifying qualities.

Pawpaw can build your skin giving it the glow that you yearn for and makes you stand out because of your attractive refreshing look. Using pawpaw as food and cosmetics saves cost of buying expensive ointments and other chemicalised beauty lotions.

Pawpaw gives your skin that nourishing treat so it is heavenly beneficial to learn about how to use papaya in your beauty applications. All these beauty uses of papaya are so effective that you will be compelled to use them in your beauty regimen daily.

Here is what to do You can prepare an exfoliating mask with papaya pulp, oatmeal powder and sugar. Rub this mixture on the face in a circular motion. First wash off with milk, then with luke warm water. People with oily skin types should avoid milk as milk gives moisture to the skin.

Make a paste of papaya pulp, 4 spoons of cosmetic clay and one spoon of aloe vera gel. Apply to your face for 15 minutes and wash off with luke

Pawpaw tree

COMP OMPILED MPILED BY ANDREW PATRICK

warm water. This face mask makes your face glowing and spot-free.

You can prepare papaya vinegar at home. Cut papaya into thin peels and put 2/3 part of jar with papaya. Cover apple cider vinegar over it. Let it mature for 4 weeks and strain the mixture to get the papaya vinegar. Papaya vinegar is very helpful in treating age spots and sunspots. Papaya vinegar can be a boon to your rough and damaged hair.

Mix this vinegar with your regular shampoo to wash your hair or blend it with lemon juice and keep it on the hair 20 minutes before washing off.

This mix gives brilliant shine to your hair.

Take half cup of mashed papaya, one cup of pineapple, one spoon of honey and puree them toghether. Apply on your skin and rinse off after 20 minutes. Papaya and pineapple contain natural enzymes, alpha hydroxy acids and honey hydrates the skin. This mask is a skin-nourishing mask which keeps your skin young and charming for long.

Make a paste of papaya mash, yogurt, lemon juice and honey and egg white. Whip all ingredients well and apply on your face for 20 minutes. Wash off with warm water. This mask brightens the facial complexion and cures the suntan.

Papaya soap is also a very powerful skin lightening agent which gives fair, clear and flawless skin. Many people have benefitted from it.

Give it a try!

By now you are aware of the top 11 beauty benefits of papaya. When you know how to use papaya in your beauty applications, then it is time to put all beauty uses of papaya to practice! Get set to receive the complements!

Pawpaw fruit

A black beauty

A different variety common in Chicago, USA

COMPILED BY MIRIAM HUMBE

Fashion

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 29

The beauty of purple fashion and accessories

P

urple is the color of royalty but selecting makeup colorss can be difficult. One can match the lipstick to the ensemble, but there are other approaches to best complement yourr beautiful purple dress and accessories.

View your dress in natural light,, and in light similar to the light available where you will be wearing g the dress. Is the purple more reddish, or bluer? This will help you choose accessories and makeup.

Now take a look at yourself.

Note your hair, eye, and skin colors. Are there predominantly warmer or cooler colors? Some shades of deep purple look equallyy n good with silver or gold, which can d be useful for selecting makeup and accessory colors.

You could try to match the dresss with a lipstick color, but this can be tricky if you don’t have strong coloring. Neutral colors and tints d work well for most skin tones. Gold and a sheer, warm plum color flat-ter warm skin tones, while sheer, cool purples and berries work well for cool complexions.

With matching accessories, a nice flawless make-up and a good poise, you are good to go.

PAGE 30

Pots & Pans

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Creamy rice pudding

Ingredients: • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing pan • 3/4 cup white rice • 5 cups whole milk • 5 egg yolks • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 cup white sugar • 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch • 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg • 1 cup heavy cream • 1/2 to 34 cup raisins, optional Directions Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan with butter.

Using a double boiler over medium heat, cook the rice in the milk uncovered for 25 minutes, and then covered for another 25 minutes, until the

rice is thoroughly cooked. If the rice is still a little too firm, let it sit on the burner over low heat for another 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

While the rice is cooking, make your egg mixture by combining the egg yolks, vanilla and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Add the egg yolk mixture, dry ingredient mixture, 3 tablespoons butter and the cream to the cooled rice, mixing between each addition.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan. Add the raisins, if using. Set the entire pan in a water bath and bake for 1 hour. If you use raisins, halfway through the baking you have to stir the bottom by sliding a knife along the sides (this is so the raisins will not gather at the bottom) without disturbing the custard. Bake until the rice pudding is no longer liquid. It will have solidified and a slight caramel coloured crust will have formed on top. Cool and refrigerate until serving.

Pea and cabbage salad Ingredients: • 2 cups green cabbage, shredded or 2 cups green cabbage, chopped • 1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas • 1 green onion, finely chopped • 1/4 cup sour cream • 1/4 cup mayonnaise • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon yellow curry powder • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper • 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard • 1 teaspoon wine vinegar Directions: Rinse peas under hot water and drain well.

Put peas, cabbage & onion in serving bowl.

Mix remaining ingredients, except peanuts, in a separate bowl& pour over peas/cabbage/green onion.

Mix well & refrigerate.

PAGE 31

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Relationship

Love him, but never do these before marriage W

hen two people come together in a relationship, it is important that they make certain adjustments. This helps their bond to grow stronger and fonder. But, always remember that a healthy relationship is a twoway street.

A place where both partners are equal at all levels.

We say so because when you look around you find that it is the woman who makes more than her fair share of sacrifices and compromises for her men. Especially after marriage, she is the one who is expected to make all the adjustments and changes.

Ladies, while you might be doing some things happily, there are some crucial aspects in which you should never compromise even when you are in love. Here are some things that you should never do for your man 1. Ignore Your Dreams Just because he wants you to spend time with him or be around him always, should not make you feel guilty into turning down that big promotion or the chance to go for that prestigious conference abroad. He should never ask you to make a choice between your dreams and him.

There should always be a common ground to work on. Ask yourself, would you be happy in a relationship where you have to give up your hard-earned dreams? If he loves you, he will understand that your dreams and career are as important as his.

2. Modify your values All of us have our own set of moral values and principles that we believe in. These values form our identity and individuality to a good extent. Never try to change your morals just because your man wants you to.

Even if you two don’t share common values, he should always respect yours, rather than change them.

This is not just about moral values; it is also about religion and beliefs. Such things cannot and should not ever be changed just because someone else wants you to do so.

3. Change Your Look oman should never change her appearance or the way she looks only because her man desires so. Subtle changes are acceptable, like dressing and styling ones. But if he wants you to go for surgeries to change certain aspect of your appearance then never agree to it.

He should admire your natural beauty and not work towards changing it. Just because he doesn’t like the way your nose looks or if he finds your ears too pointy, it should not guilt-trip you into going for something as drastic as a surgery.

W

4. Sacrifice your personal space Even your family and

“

Never try to act what you are not. Do not show that you are less intelligent than him just to boost his ego or only because it will make him happy. Men like independent women, so acting stupid is not going to help at all.

friends need your time and attention, and this is something even you enjoy, right?

So, never sacrifice your personal space and time that you should be spending with them just because he wants you to.

Try to divide it and strike a balance. Just because you are in a relationship does not mean that you do not need anyone else apart from him.

And, he should understand

and respect that.

5. Forget Who You Are ever try to act what you are not. Do not show that you are less intelligent than him just to boost his ego or only because it will make him happy. Men like independent women, so acting stupid is not going to help at all.

Also, you should not change your likes and dis-

N

likes for him. These things make you unique. So, do not lose your individuality and identity for a man. At least, not when you are being forced to do so 6. Handing over the reins ever give him the access to be in control of you. No matter how much you love him, the decisions should always be mutual. He should never make the final decision of what you should and shouldn’t do. Always discuss with him, but make your decision keeping your own lifestyles and choices in mind.

N

Ladies, keep these things in mind. There are certain aspects of your personality that you should not change for a man, even when you are in love. If you are not true to yourself, you can never be true to your relationship!

Source: Bollywoodshaadis.com

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Fiction Mike’s endless sleep-walking habits T he calm sea breeze caressed our skins as we sat on the sand, our legs drawn in until our heels touched our bums. We sat so close together that from afar in the dark, we were one solid mass.

“You can only run run run pass Terry G when you run mad…”. She searched frantically in her hand bag besides us and brought out her ringing BB Q10, one of my latest gifts to her. She glanced at the screen, hissed, threw it back into her handbag and announced “…It’s Pete again…I wonder what his problem is this time…”

Ignoring her, I lifted my frame, stretched, flexed my muscles and stood to my full height, my hands in my hip pockets, I stared into the distance and the moonlight bounced off my face glowing like a million stars in the dark, my eyes glazing like the sun, steeled. I pulled my hands out of my pocket, my right hand forming a fist by my side, I slowly raised my left hand to my face and rubbed the tip of my exquisitely crafted nose, bringing the hand down slowly, a charming smile playing across my face, and the glint of my teeth was like a flash of lightning. I snapped my fingers once and Okwute, head of my security detail rushed to me while Osimiri, Akirika and Ulaga, other members of my security detail lurked in the shadows not far away. When I spoke, my voice sounded like notes off a flute, echoing sweetly across thousands of miles. “Call the Secretary, National Signal Control Bureau (NASICOB) and order him to suspend GSM network services in seven kilometres radius of this location pending my countering order”, I sang, my voice piercing the night’s sudden stillness like the voice of a nightingale. “Yes sir!” he smartly answered, holding tightly to the leash in his right hand with an elephant-sized Lion at its end.

Speedily he scrambled away to do as instructed, the Lion, his most favourite pet whom I’ve come to develop a personal liking for bouncing along.

Like an angel arising from atop a mass of golden cloud, she arose graciously, her hair flying in the soft wind like fluttering feathers, slowly, she turned to face me. Nkoli’s eyes, glazing like two balls of fiery flame bored into mine in the dark and I felt like a child caught in the act of ‘Kitchen-lifting’. As always, my eyes fell (never had I been able to hold her piercing gaze) but stopped abruptly at her chest region taking in the sight of her well and nicely positioned artificial breasts. Her voice, like the chanting of angels in heaven brought me back from my painful reverie, ” Obi m, please take me home”, she purred with an

enchanting smile dancing on her face. Once again, I snapped my fingers, this time thrice and within the minute, a jet with ICEDFIRE 01 scribbled in golden and glaring letters on its sides appeared from the sky and made a landing that will make even the most experienced and celebrated pilot of AIRFORCE 01 green with envy. The door glided open. I led her to the jet where we were welcomed onboard with a soul stirring number by THE ICEDFIRE FLOWS while Ikuku, who had just handed over to his co-pilot Agwo made to usher us to my cabin onboard, past the reception area where some crème de la crème of the society awaited me for a crucial meeting. As we passed, they arose and stood still, I acknowledged with a smile. Immediately three women, swooned and fell: they were dazed by the brightness of my smile; its charming intensity turned their brains to jelly and their knees to rubber, catapulting them into a world of fantasy where the heart most likely doesn’t need its beat. Omaba was the first to react as he rushed towards Sirleave’s form on the ground, knelt and brought his left ear to her chest, checked her pulse and proceeded to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation, two other men, Putton and Lucky moved also to help the other two women. Chilchinla was the first to come to, followed by Sirleave and then Milda. Relieved, we continued to my cabin.

On stepping in, Nkoli shut the door with a commanding finality and feminine bedroom emphasis with the heel of her right leg, discarding her pieces of clothing with the speed of light.

I went close to the bed, bent over, kissed her on her forehead, tip of nose, lips, necks, ignoring her artificial breasts. Abruptly, I stood up, by then, the weight in my groin was almost pulling me down. I excused myself to use the bathroom so I could wash off the sand from the beach all over my body.

I made my way to the bathroom and to my surprise, noticed that my king sized bath tub and gold crested shower were missing. Ignoring it for I had a more pressing task at hand, I carried the only available bucket of water to the centre of the bathroom and started bathing, having applied soap all over my body, I tried keeping the bar of soap on a louvre nearby but it fell to the floor, with my eyes still closed, I tried to locate my ”Ose Dudu” with my leg but unfortunately stepped on it. I slipped and fell into a pile on the floor and a sharp pain shot from my ankle through my spine to my brain. I had twisted my ankle…then I came to full awakening… “Hey Michael, you

“

I made my way to the bathroom and to my surprise, noticed that my king sized bath tub and gold crested shower were missing.

are still inside? You promised not to keep me waiting today!” A voice boomed from my corridor, it was Samson, my close friend.

“Please break down the door and come to my rescue, I am injured!”, I shouted in reply… I had been sleepwalking and dream-

ing.

Ose Dudu – Yoruba phrase meaning Black Soap. It is a local soap of Nigerian origin.

PAGE 33

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Romance

Today, Tade will propose, but I’ll give him a ‘no’ answer

A

s at the last time I checked, I was told you can’t really escape your DNA. My grandmother died from breast cancer. She was a young woman, only 35 at the time. My great grandmother, I later got to know, died shortly after she had my grandmother. That was at a young age of twenty two; from a tumor in her stomach, so big, that people on their way to the marketplace often stopped to say congratulations. They thought she was pregnant again. If only they knew. My aunts – they didn’t fare any better.

One by one, cancer took them to their early graves.

Some of them took ill and died, while still in their twenties; some, thirties. The very lucky ones – about two or three, got to see their forties.

But no one ever lived to celebrate the golden age of 50.

Forty-nine was the deadline.

But my mother – my mother was intense. She was quite different. Or so she thought.

She’d left Nigeria to live in the United States at a young age, and she’d bagged a PhD at age 31.

But success always has a downside; there was that rumor circulating in our village that she’d gone mad from all her learning. After all, she was the only woman, or person, from our small village who talked to plants, and played with dogs and cats like they were children. She drank her boiled urine, saying something about the acid in the urine killing the toxins in her body.

Mom took steps to make sure she didn’t end up with cancer as her predecessors.

Except for the urine which I labeled ‘eccentricity gone wild’, she ate all the right foods. No alcohol. No smoking. No unnecessary stress.

She jogged every day; refused to harbor bitterness in her heart towards anybody and anything; and also meditated a whole lot. Sometimes, I think she overdid it. But fate had plans. It always does. On her way to work that Monday morning, she stopped at the red light.

If only she’d broken the rules and gone past that red light, she’d still be alive. She’d have been spared from the journey to eternity at 48 –no thanks to the drunk driver

who hit her, just one more year before the deadline.

So today is my 34th birthday and I’ve not exactly lived a healthy life. I’ve lived every day, literarily, like it’s my very last. I drink, not too much, just occasionally, and I love my French fries and cholesterol-decadent burgers.

In my head, I’m thinking I have fifteen more years to go. At most, if I’m lucky. And look, Tade is here with that big, silly grin on his face. He has taken his sweet, precious time to throw this huge, fancy party for me. His parents – they love me like I’m theirs – are here. His siblings are here too. Same goes for all our friends.

They have this knowing, mysterious smile on their faces, like they’re privy to some secret. But what they don’t realize is, I already know. I’ve known since two months ago when Tade looked into my eyes and confessed his love to me, and I’d confessed mine for him; since that fateful night we’d dined at that classy Italian restaurant he loves so much, under the romantic ambience of the chandeliers, with sincerity shining in his eyes, as he said he’d never met anyone like me.

Tonight, after dating him for quite a while now, Tade Ajayi would like to propose, and he’ll propose right here at my party. He’s so sure I’ll say yes. But he’s in for a rude shock. I’ll certainly say no, just like I’ve said no to all the other four marriage proposals I’ve had in the past. He’ll ask why.

Of course, I have a well conscripted response for him; not because I don’t love him.

Deep down my soul, I hunger for him like a starving lion. If only things were slightly different, I would gladly throw my arms around him and give him a generous, grateful hug.

But as it is, the only sensible option is to let him go. So I’ll tell him exactly what I’ve told the others before him.

“I love you too much to make you a widower.”

I’ll break up with him because we’ve reached an impasse. Then, I’ll move on to the next man I’ll love, and who, unfortunately will fall for me. The vicious cycle will continue, until, well, my own destiny, so marked in my DNA overtakes me. laradanielswrites.com

“

I hunger for him like a starving lion. If only things were slightly different, I would gladly throw my arms around him and give him a generous, grateful hug.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Ho H o lly l ly wo wood T

he storylines of season four of BBC hit show Sherlock are already broadly mapped out, co-creators and writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatisstold reporters recently.

They said after season three of the detective series aired on the BBC early in the year, the fourth season is expected to be ready for 2016, but no official airdates have been announced.

Speaking at an event organized by the Royal Television Society, Gatiss said he and Moffat have mapped out “what will happen in the next season” of the show, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Doctor Watson. But he said those plans will “get more detailed” as production for the next three-episode season draws nearer.

Asked if they see the show continuing long into the future, Gatiss said: “The idea of growing older with it would be great.

But it is hard to get everyone back together, because they have become extremely famous -- except for us.”

Moffat, who is currently working on the first Doctor Who season with Peter Capaldiin the lead role, echoed that the writing duo sees enough material from the original Holmes stories that could be addresses and modernized.

While they dropped no specific hints about the fourth season, Moffat and Gatiss confirmed that Holmes’ arch enemy Moriarty (Andrew Scott), who was revealed to be alive at the end of the third season, would be featured in the new season.

They said his return was not added last-minute due to fan demand, but they had long planned it.

Meanwhile, the show is also likely to see increased roles for female characters, Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) and Mrs. Hudson (Una Stubbs), the creators said. They also hinted that new female characters could be added.

Gatiss said that as the show continues, “It’s about keeping it new” and introducing new characters, as well as continuing “Sherlock’s gradual humanization.”

During the event, entitled “Sherlock -- Anatomy of a Hit,” Moffat recalled that he didn’t have high expectations for ratings when he started the show. “I thought it would be a little niche show that would win an award in Poland,” he said.

Added Ben Stephenson, controller of drama commissioning at the BBC: “Did we know we had a phenomenal hit? No.” He recalled that when he and his team watched the original 60-minute pilot for Sherlock, they concluded: “There was just something about it. We actually controversially, according to newspapers, decided not to show it,” but wanted to reshoot a 90-minute version and do a three-episode first season.

Asked if they cast Cumberbatch to get a star, Moffat and Gatiss said he was a respected actor, but not yet a star at that time. They said the creators and BBC executives had Cumberbatch in mind and loved his performance when he did his first reading.

Stephenson said: “Nobody had a clue who he was. I did.”

He added: “Great shows are not about stars, but about great shows. And they make stars.”

The BBC executive said he has often been asked why the first season of Sherlock launched in the summer, explaining that this shouldn’t be seen as the U.K. public broadcaster not giving the detective series proper support. “The autumn is not better,” Stephenson said. “There are not more people available to watch.”

The role of social media, including Twitter, in the creative writing process for TV was also part of Tuesday’s discussion.

Gatiss and Moffat said that they used all the fan discussion -- on social media and elsewhere -- about Holmes’ fall from the roof of a building at the end of season two as inspiration to present different versions of what could have happened early in season three.

Steven Moffat

YamiGautam says humour touches more hearts

S

haron St S Stone has signed with Gersh, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. A former Gersh client, she was most recently with Paradigm.

The actress recently went to Vancouver to shoot the pilot for TNT’s action/adventure drama Agent X. Stone stars as Vice President Natalie Maccabee, the only individual with the authority to deploy the secret government operative known as Agent X. The project hailed from ‘The Bourne Identity’ screenwriter,William Blake Herron, who is executive producing alongside Armyan Bernstein (Air Force One, Children of Men, Castle).

Stone will next be seen on the big screen in writer-director John Turturro’s comedy Fading Gigolo, co-starring alongside Tur-

Sharon Stone

turro, Woody Allen and Sofia Vergara.

Her extensive film resume includes her Oscar-nominated star turn in Casino, which also generated one of her four Golden Globes nominations. The other three nods were for The Muse, The Mighty and, of course, her indelible breakout performance in Basic Instinct.

Stone won an Emmy Award for outstanding guest actress in 2004 for a threeepisode arc on ABC’s The Practice. Her other TV appearances include recurring stints on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Huff, Magnum, P.I. and Bay City Blues as well as roles in ABC’s Golden Globes-winning miniseries War and Remembrance and HBO’s Emmy-nominated telepic‘If These Walls Could Talk 2’.

F

or YamiGautam, to be a part of films that narrates a strong subject in a lighthearted manner isn’t coincidental.

Gearing up for her new film Total Siyapaa, a comic take on India-Pakistan romance, Yami returns after her applauded debut in ShoojitSircar’s Vicky Donor, a humoristic take on a subject as serious as sperm donation.

“Consciously picking the right script after a long period of wait, helped me grab a perfect film in the rom-com genre. The premise of both the films is extremely serious, but what makes them interesting is the humoristic manner in which they are depicted on screen,” the 25-year-old actor said.

During her visit to India Today Mediaplex along with her Total Siyapaa co-star, Pakistani singer-actor Ali Zafar, Yami discussed Bollywood’s take on India- Pakistan stories.

YamiGautam Y iG t

“Humour can touch the heart more closely but this genre demands a tight script and brilliant handling. India-Pakistan war and romance have always been sensitive issues for film-makers in both the countries.

No one ever thought of making a romantic comedy out it,” said Yami, who plays an Indian girl who is in love with a Pakistani boy and is trying every trick possible to convince her parent.

“Vicky Donor proved that the audience was waiting for well-scripted funny films,” said Yami.

“I intend not to do an item song ever. I find the term ‘item songs’ bizarre. I do not want to comment on its presence and its popularity but I would rather avoid it,” said Yami, who is excited to shed her girl-nextdoor image with her next, Action Jackson, starring Ajay Devgn.

PAGE 35

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Bollywood/Hollywood

L

eading Chinese filmmakers Jackie Chan, FengXiaogang and Chen Kaige were among delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People for China’s annual rubberstamp legislature, the National People’s Congress and its advisory body, Hollywood Reporter has said.

It added that the event was strictly choreographed parliament meeting in the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing, which is expected to approve efforts to keep President Xi Jinping’s economic reform plans on track.

The event was actually two political meetings, the ‘lianghui’, which combines the annual sessions of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a debating chamber that began on Monday, and the National People’s Congress (NPC).

The NPC gave rubber-stamp approval to policy drafts that have already been hammered out and approved by the Communist Party’s senior leadership in closed-door meetings.

Ensemble comedy from ‘Will & Grace’ creators lands TBS pilot order

T

he Turner-owned cable network has picked up an untitled comedy pilot (formerly known as Clipsters) from David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Kohan and Mutchnick will pen the script and executive produce the multi-camera comedy via their KoMut Entertainment banner for Warner Horizon. The comedy centers on a group of kids from high school who ran in different circles but now all work together at a local Charlestown, Mass., barbershop called Buzzy’s.

Their dreams may lie across

the Charles River in Boston, but for now, their work, their lives, their loves and their worries remain in the town they grew up in.

The pilot marks writing duo Kohan and Mutchnick’s latest small-screen project which started a year after CBS canceled their semi-autobiographical comedy ‘Partners.’

Their credits also included; ‘My dad says’and ‘Four kings’.

TBS picked up the script for the comedy in March after the writing partners pitched the comedy to programming ChiefMichael Wright.

The NPC will be closely watched to see what changes it might introduce to help the entertainment industry. There has been much speculation about the possibility of the quota for foreign movies allowed into China being raised, although the Film Bureau has denied the reports.

However, the strong performance of Chinese movies in recent months plus pressure on Beijing to remove quotas to meet World Trade Organization rules has some insiders speculating that change may soon be afoot.

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

E n te rta inment Ente in me n t Xtr a

I last played guitar 17 years ago, says Sunny Ade

Phyno goes commercial with P-Square ‘The Headies’ winner, Phyno, is back again with another club banger, few days after the release of his ‘Parcel’ music video, Nigeriamusic.com has said.

It added that the artist is squaring up with the hottest twin in the game, P-Square, to deliver a fresh tune entitled ‘O Set’ which is set to rock the airwaves as soon as it drops.

K

ing Sunny Ade indeed is leaving a good legacy behind as he proved it at the Glo Evergreen show held at the exquisite Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The legend re-enacted his dexterity on stage with his guitar as he proved that he is still what his fans had known him to be ‘Ajonu Onigita’.

Further taking everyone by surprise, his 11year old daughter Toyosi, joined him on stage, strumming her colourful guitar much to the delight of the audience.

According to Sunny Ade, ‘It is the grace of God. In fact, the last time I played guitar was 17 years ago. But tonight is special, as I have promised my fans the best. You can’t but give your best to a company that has spent millions of naira to put a show like this together. In fact, Globacom has done well for celebrating us.’ subsidy is clothed with corruption and it is fraudulent. It is a situation where a handful of people are receiving so much money for importing fuel.

These are private businessmen importing fuel and yet Nigerians are paying for demurrage, custom duties and all those things. We do not even know the quantity they are importing that justifies all this.

Career more important than marriage now, says Sean Tizzle

N

Sunny Ade

Kcee visits Madrid stadium

P

opular Nigeria music artist, Kcee, posted on Instagram that he is presently in Madrid.

But when asked whether heis planning to be a footballer, the artist said he is in love with football but music is where his heart is. ‘’Not really, I thought I was going to be a footballer, I remember when I was in AJ I used to play for Julius Berger, I also played for Puma. So I thought it was

Kcee

igerian talented singer and entertainer, Sean Tizzle, would rather focus more on his advancing career than consider marriage.

The artist, who is appearing on the public scene again , disclosed in an interview, he’s committing energy into ensuring that his career remained in the top that think of raising a family.

He said to debunked rumours making the round that he is married he is a married man with children.

Those who are conversant with the music industry may have heard that Sean Tizzle is a married man with children, but the artiste has denied this in an interview. “I am single and focusing on my career,” he said.

The fast rising artist who is currently enjoying a five-star treatment, has had some issues in his career, as recently there was a controversy about who really owns him as a singer among Sound Sultan’s record label, Naija Ninja and Difference Entertainment, the record label on which he is currently signed.

going to be football for me but I always had this belief that I was definitely going to be in the entertainment industry because it’s my love, my heart, my everything. I needed to make sure I get my dreams; it was between music and football. At the end of the day, the God that always writes scripts has written mine, I was just acting in it; I thought I was going into football but I found myself doing music ‘’.

No crime marketing my body, says Sylvia Oluchy

N

ollywood actress Sylvia Oluchy is a different lady when it comes to modesty, she is not going to allow the African lifestyle determine for her what she is expected to do when on a screen which is why she has made it known that she can go unclad for a movie role.

The actress said; ‘’I don’t have any boundaries because my body is my laptop. Others have their laptops and files, what I have is my body and voice.

“Even the concept of n***ty, I don’t have any problems what so ever, but it has to make sense, if it enriches the story and is done tastefully, I mean sometimes you can see n***ty been done for a good reason, like in the west, they could take off their clothes to protest.

Like I said, I don’t have problem with n***ty, I just want it to make sense’’.

Sylvia Oluchy

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 37

Entertainment Flakes

With FUNSHO AKINWALE PHONE NO: 08051101191

Davido to launch skelewu album in UK

D

avido, a popular Nigerian act behind HKN Records has announced to launch his new album, Skelewu, on March 17, in the United Kingdom.

Davido, who is on tour in the UK, made this known on Sunday at a live programme, Live Batt Sea, in the United kingdom.

Also on the set was top actor, Alex Ekubo, who talked about his new movie titled Married To The Game, which was released on Saturday.

Popular comedian, MC Abbey, who was also on the programme talked about his upcoming comedy show which takes place later in the year in the UK.

... Signs new artiste, Danagog

D

avid Adeleke, famously known as Davido, has signed another artiste, Danagog, to his HKN Records label.

The new act was on Wednesday in Lagos, signed a four year management deal with the record label. Shortly after signing the deal, Davido, took to his Twitter, and announced the new development to his numerous fans and the public.

It was in 2004 that Danagog started his music career but didn’t get much attention until 2007 when he released a hit single entitled Who Be That Guy. He will be releasing his first track, Pelumo,soon.

Jide Kosoko

N

ollywood actor, Prince Jide Kosoko, on Wednesday escaped an accident unhurt in Ikeja area of Lagos State.

The former president of Association National Theatre Practitioners, was reportedly said to have escaped death in an auto crash that occurred in Ikeja, very close to the Ikeja Shopping Mall, Lagos State, following a brake failure.

Kosoko was said to have been saved by the quick intervention of Emergency Unit of

7-Up,and with a support from Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.

Prince Kosoko, who did not suffered any injury except his badly damaged car, has since released a press statement to the effect.

In the statement, Kosoko, thanked all the parties concerned in the road mishap that would have claimed his life.

The top veteran actor in his words said:”I’m in sound health after God saved me from the accident.” I thank God for my life”.

Olumide Bakare, Eniola Badmus storm Atlanta for movie shoot

N

Olumide Bakare

ollywood stars, Olumide Bakare, Eniola Badmus and Laide Bakare, are currently in Atlanta Georgia,United States of America for a movie shoot.

Further checks confirmed that they will be in the state for some weeks for the movie shoot before returning home.

This is a good news coming especially from Olumide Bakare,who was last year reported to have been down with a heart disease.

However, with this latest development, there is all indications that Bakare has bounced back and better from his heart problem.

Kcee drops new video, Hakuna Matata

A

Davido

Art Alade, Dede Mabiaku others named as Nigeria Idol judges

T

he organizing committee of Nigeria Music Idol, has announced Darey Art Alade, Dede Mabiaku and Nigeria-German singer, Nneka, as the judges for this year edition of the reality TV show.

The 2013 edition’s judges such as Yinka Davies, Femi Kuti and Jeffrey were dropped to pave way for the new incoming judges and basically to change the face of the show this year.

The much awaited reality TV show, sources said will kickoff any moment from now.

ward winning hit maker, Kcee, has released new video for another single of his latest album.

This one is called Hakuna Matata, a new video many adjudged as an action packed.

Kcee announced this days back via his Twitter page.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 38

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LETTERS Plateau youths kick against relocation of FRSC Academy from Jos to Enugu WRITE TO US

By Agabus Pwanagba

P

lease permit to report that following the relocation of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) Academy from Jos to Enugu, some Plateau youths have staged a peaceful demonstration, threatening a total mass protest in the entire middle belt zone if the decision is not reversed.

The Youths who were in their hundreds on Friday gathered at the Plateau State House of Assembly Complex, to demand that the lawmakers take up the matter.

The group’s spokesman, Friday Bako, said they gave the legislators a two-week ultimatum to reverse the relocation or face massive protest by youths from the middle belt region.

He noted that, the FRSC academy was established in 2007 by the then Corps Marshal General Haladu Hananiya for the training of its officers in Jos, but describing as unfortunate and criminal for the present Corp Marshal General, Osita Chidoka to order the relocation of all staff at the academy to Enugu, his home state region.

“Since Mr. Osita Chidoka has only about a year left before the expiration

Peoples Daily Weekend 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: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com of his second and final term in office, is he trying to justify his mostly lacklustre tenure to his kith and kin by taking away the FRSC Academy from Jos to his home region?” The group

“

wondered.

Bako further explained that, for former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Haladu Hananiya to have cited the Academy in Jos shows they knew it is

the best for the country.

“What advantage does Enugu have over Jos to host the Academy? Especially since it is an acknowledged fact that Plateau has the most conducive weather in the Country.

“Since the Chairman FRSC Board, Mr. Felix Chukwu also hails from the South-East zone as Osita Chidoka, it seemed he connived with the Corps Marshal General to perpetrate this illegality.” Bako lamented He called on the Federal Government to ensure the return of the academy to Jos, adding that youths from the middle belt zone will embark on Mass protest daily until it’s returned.

Pwanagba lives in Jos

“Since Mr. Osita Chidoka has only about a year left before the expiration of his second and final term in office, is he trying to justify his mostly lacklustre tenure to his kith and kin by taking away the FRSC Academy from Jos to his home region?” The group wondered.

PAGE 39

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Opinion

Boko Haram and a nation gripped by fear

By Zainab Usman

I

n most cultures of the world, a word exists for a frightening creature or the bogey man. In Hausa for instance, it is the dodo.

A fiendish entity, other-worldly, yet beastly in its aggression and human in its scheming prowess, the dodo lurks, stalks and terrorises.

Stories of the bogey man are used strategically by parents to whip misbehaving children back into line, because no one knows quite what the bogeyman is – it is everything and nothing.

In Nigeria’s North-East, the heart of the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency, the bogeyman may have traversed the realm of fantasy into cold reality. Boko Haram militants lurk at night, to murder school children while they sleep. In the last few days, we have been held spellbound by the brutality unleashed on defenceless school children in Borno and Yobe. 43 young people were killed in the attack on a secondary school in Buni Yadi, Yobe. About 20 female students were abducted by the militants from a school in Konduga, Borno.

Survivors have recounted spine-chilling stories of dormitories set on fire and of escapees gunned down. The few that evaded gun fire were chased, and slaughtered like cattle. Photos of charred remains of adolescents and of bodies drenched in blood from sliced throats and bullet wounds have flooded the Internet. The massacres occur daily.

The bogeyman has come to life – it spares no one in its violent wake.

Naked fear is firmly embedded into the spines of most. The fear in part stems from the realisation that regardless of class or economic status, no one is safe. The ‘unknown gunmen’ who routinely terrorise others are hardly ever caught and prosecuted. The murders of prominent citizens such as Bola Ige, Saudatu Rimi and Sheikh Jafar are yet to

By Ayegba Israel Ebije

A

fter the G-7 patriotic consultations across the country and the unfortunate decision of G-5 to leave for the All Progressive Congress (APC), torrents of comments continued to tumble in questioning the continued stay of the Chief Servant, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) in the PDP - after all wasn’t he the leader of the defunct G-7?

Interestingly, only the dramatis personae will attest to the position of the Chief Servant, which was to fight impunity in the party, systemic rot in governance of which defection was never on the agenda.

For a politician like the Niger state governor, maintaining political consistency is key to holding party structure in place.

His theory proved a resounding success as streams of problems spewed off from every conceivable orifice in the shaky structure of the opposition party as politicians became threatened, interest became a matter of personal estate and ambitions became coveted property of ambitious party members - a very serious twist that led to a slide show of defections following the G-5 party cross over.

For the G-7, the partnership will continue.

It may not be on party basis but will certainly endure through ideological interface which would be harnessed for greater use if they close ranks under the umbrella of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) free of faction, free of hate and full of love as prescribed by Dr. Aliyu.

Therefore for the sake of those who are either misguided, limited in knowledge or

be resolved years after, not to mention crimes against faceless and nameless ‘commoners’ in Bama or Baga. The Police, the Civil Defense Corps and the Army seem to be out-gunned, out-motivated and over-whelmed. In a country with massive economic and social inequalities, this collective insecurity is one area where all Nigerians are equal.

Mostly, this fear comes from confronting a deadly enemy which appears fluid, formless and extremely vengeful – a bogeyman.

Boko Haram is a rapidly changing, complex and fragmented movement. Its doctrine is as fast changing as it is contradictory – anti-democracy, anti-secularism, and anti-establishment. Yet it liberally employs internet enabled smartphones and other tools of modernity and western education to perpetrate attacks. Any criticism of the group’s approach by ordinary citizens, Imams or traditional rulers in the North draws a swift and vicious response.

The eccentric pre-2009 hermetic ragtag sect, avenging the death of their slain leader Muhammad Yusuf from 2010, have quickly metamorphosed into a highly sophisticated terrorist group with deep local and global networks. From laying siege on police stations and army checkpoints, they have attacked churches, brothels, prominent Islamic clerics, mosques, northern traditional rulers and now they’ve added the murder of helpless school children to a blood-drenched résumé. It’s difficult to project what tactics they will adopt next.

So little credible information about the group is available. Boko Haram itself thrives on secrecy. The Army bragged about the leader, Abubakar Shekau’s death in August 2013 only for his taunting videos to resurface shortly. Whenever an evident victory is proclaimed by the authorities, a more daring attack is perpetrated. The insurgency has become like the monster in Greek mythology, Scylla – when one head is sliced

off, three more sprout up in its stead. As the rise of the ‘yan Gora or the Civilian Joint Task Force – the youth vigilante fishing out suspected insurgents from the community – is celebrated, Boko Haram ferociously retaliates against such communities working with the authorities.

Where little information is available, speculation thrives. Where speculation is rife in the midst of unbridled fear about a formless enemy, conspiracy theories fill the gap. In Nigeria, these conspiracy theories are as numerous as they are destructive: Boko Haram is a creation of “disgruntled northern politicians to destabilise Goodluck Jonathan’s government”. “Boko Haram is a creation of the Federal Government in Abuja to destroy the North for political advantage”.

The group “is a creation of the West to fulfil their prediction of a disintegrated Nigeria by 2015″. Some of these toxic opinions neatly overlap with people’s innate prejudices particularly in the wake of the divisive 2011 elections.

While these conspiracy theories are mostly ludicrous, anecdotes of suspicious events give them weight. According to the Yobe state governor, the soldiers guarding the school in Buni Yadi were mysteriously withdrawn from their duty posts a few hours before. The traditional ruler of Bama bemoaned that while the town was sacked and torched over several hours in February, frantic efforts to call local Police and Army chiefs were futile as they were all mysteriously unavailable. Ground troops, whose courage must be appreciated, are known to be severely under equipped relative to the sophisticated weaponry carried by Boko Haram despite the over one trillion naira allocated to security in the national budget.

Most troubling is that recently, Reno Omokri, the President’s Special Assistant on New Media was identified as the author of a malicious article falsely alleging that

the ‘suspended’ Central Bank Governor Sanusi Lamido is a Boko Haram financier.

Many such unexplained events have planted suspicion in the minds of many in the NorthEast, and allowed for dangerous conspiracy theories to flourish.

The reality is that fighting such an entrenched insurgency anywhere will be a gruelling and bloody war of attrition. The difficult experiences of America in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, despite being a highly militarised super power are instructive. In this trying period, it is necessary to ensure that some semblance of national cohesion against the insurgency exists.

For a start, genuine efforts must be made at restoring the trust of residents in the NorthEast in the Federal Government. Symbolic gestures by the President to sincerely console victims of brutal murders would alleviate some of the widespread sense of alienation in the region. Greater efforts must be made to address lapses and incompetence by the security agencies in order to lay conspiracy theories to rest. Proper investigations of leakages in the security infrastructure must be made to understand why combat troops in the firing line are under-paid and underequipped. President Jonathan must as a matter of urgency, take decisive and punitive action against the despicable act of his aideReno Omokri, failure of which would send the message that the frame up attempt was sanctioned by the Presidency.

Finally, Nigerians must be commended for the resilience and the solidarity in expressing collective outrage in the wake of the recent escalation of violence in the entire North-East. Despite the prevalence of fear and the sense of helplessness, we have to Nigeria will somehow endure and emerge stronger from this all.

Usman was published on Premium Times

Aliyu, G-7, PDP and Niger state mischievous in desperately changing history, it is indeed instructive for posterity sake and comprehensive historic analysis to dissect the issues and properly delineate between patriotic championing of true democracy, patriotic emulsification of impunity and patriotic resolve to save Nigeria from a looming political implosion from selfpropelled intuition to change party platform.

The Chief Servant just like any other member of the G-7 had a mindset, a focus and predetermined agenda. His interest was primarily situated within the premise of the erupting political topography to engage dialogue towards saving the PDP and mitigate the raging tempest of disunity, vengeance and crave for blood to protect selfish cleavages.

Therefore the major reason the G-7 rose to the occasion when they did was to correct an era where state governors were treated like farm hands, where the sanctimonious position of governor was reduced to nothingness under the fiefdom of a very overbearing leadership at the center.

Unfortunately however, some members of the G-7 had their own agenda despite the exit of former chairman of the ruling party, Bamanga Tukur.

While no one is in any sanctimonious position to blame the aggrieved erstwhile PDP governors for taking the decision of crossing over to the opposition, it won’t be historically correct or analytically proper for some observers to conclude that the Chief Servant will soon join the APC or has stabbed

the G-5 in the back by choosing to remain in the PDP. Once again, the projected value worth of the G-7/ new PDP struggle was to force sanity back to the high-octane level in the polity reeking of all forms of impunity, which as at that time, had reached its critical mass just waiting to explode. The defection was the alternate idea of those whose only better political option was to leave the ruling party having felt marginalized.

It is therefore heartwarming that there are traceable results as the battle royale that characterized relationship in the PDP has proved.

The embattled party chairman was removed, replaced by Adamu Muazu who is presently building bridges, restoring immediate sanity to the PDP, also some executive criminals were shown the exit door from the administration at the center. Sadly, those who fought for the new improved PDP, who also fought against administrative impunity in government, will only have to savour their efforts from another party platform.

For President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, the task of rebuilding the PDP is now a lot easier on account of the sacrifice the G-7 made, regardless of what has become of five out of the whole bunch. At least the teething problems in the ruling party have been effectively dealt with and the party despite the Tsunami of defection is on its way up the cruising height of political prosperity.

In Niger state, PDP remains the symbol of democracy on account of the Servant Leadership style of government introduced by the Chief Servant. The PDP would have flaked off in the direction of the hot air before and during the 2007 election. Olive branches were extended, hatchets buried and the dying party restored to its most flourishing status.

The strength of the party however has a resultant negative on the opposition who are mostly operating in piecemeal as very uncoordinated factorized formation. It is therefore not possible for the Chief Servant to jettison his political family, with attendant goodwill he had so far enjoyed for a state opposition having slippery grip on its fragile strand that tie it as a fragmented group just to satisfy the calculations of some political mathematicians. Politics therefore isn’t a game of bandwagon syndrome but a game played knowing when to deal your card and when to count your cash prize.

It is therefore instructive to once in a while understand that even members of same family fight only to come back again stronger with better love, better understanding under same aspirations. Governor Aliyu has been able to achieve a struggle for change, a struggle that will forever set a roadmap for better democratic practice in Nigeria with exceptional results that has gone a long way in re-branding the PDP in Niger state and indeed Nigeria.

Ebije is the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Aliyu on Media Analysis

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Comments

The Albani’s case and the doubting Thomases

By Fatima Goni

W

ithin a week many developments occurred in a jiffy. From the arrest of the suspected killers of Islamic Cleric, Sheik Adam Albani to attacks in NorthEastern states and now to the recent warning signals from the Defence Headquarters on alleged sympathizers and backers of terrorist groups.

It is no funny especially for some of us who have relatives including spouses serving in the security agencies in the country. When members of the security forces are deployed to the dangerous zones, we wonder if they would return alive and in whole. On the other hand if they are in safer zones, the fear of anticipated redeployment can run shiver in our spines.

Going through some social media, one could easily read doubting Thomases on every actions of the security personnel on the ground. Reports quoting eye-witnesses are more regarded than statements from official spokespersons.

When the Department of States Security Service (SSS) in Abuja paraded seven arrested members of ‘Boko Haram’ over the killing of popular Zaria based Islamic cleric Sheik Adam Albani, yet some postings in social media expressed too much doubts.

It could be recalled that Sheik Albani along with his wife and son were killed in Zaria, Kaduna State, while returning

from a preaching session at Markaz Salafiya Centre, Tudun Wada Zaria.

The spokesperson of the SSS, Marilyn Oga, not only announced the arrest, she gave permission to journalists at the head office of the service to ask the suspects questions. From the countenances of some of the suspects one could easily read lack of remorse apart from the fact that most of them confessed to planning and killing their victims. Among the suspects was a graduate of English literature and a sub-regional commander of the sect in Kaduna/Niger states axis.

Meanwhile in another story, the Chief of Air Staff was reported to have led assaults against Boko Haram in North-East. It was reported that incensed by the rising number of deaths and galvanized by the barbaric acts of the insurgents and the need to lead by example Air Marshal Adesola Amosu, personally entered the battle zone when he flew one of the Alpha jets of the 75 Strike Group of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) to conduct air strikes against enemy positions along Borno-Adamawa axis. As refreshing as the report was, surprisingly some still doubted the veracity of the courageous efforts of Air Marshal Adesola Amosu by claiming that his aide must have flown the fighter jet.

Despite the air and ground assault by the military, the sect’s onslaught on North-eastern Nigeria continued unabated, while politicians and unknown

eye-witnesses were busy dishing out gory tales about the inability of security forces to do anything to curtail the excesses of the insurgents.

Concerned about the rising verbal attacks on the security personnel on the operation and some sensational angle from various credible and notcredible sources, the Director Defence Information, Major Geeral Chris Olukolade issued a statement to caution those causing disaffection by their utterance on the security situations.

General Olukolade disclosed that the Defence Headquarters has noted with grave concern the inflammatory pronouncements by some highly placed persons in government and some apparently sponsored commentators in and outside the country who have consistently given false and misleading remarks to describe the disposition of troops in the ongoing operations. He therefore pointed out that it has become clear that the sustained campaign is intended to demoralize the troops

“

and give impression that the military is overwhelmed by the terrorist group. “This tendency,” he echoed, “is unfortunate to say the least.”

So far the Defence Headquarters has restated that the Nigerian military cannot by any standard be overwhelmed by the insurgents neither will the devious antics of their sympathizers and sponsors demoralize the fighting spirit of troops.

Before the arrest of the suspected killers of Sheik Albani, some of the students of the late cleric were skeptical about the possibility and sincerity of security agencies to unravel the mystery and arrest the culprits.

It is heartwarming that the students are now singing new tunes over the arrest. Dr. Abdulganiyu Abdul-rafi’u, one of the frontline students of late Sheikh Adam Albani commended the security agencies for the speedy investigation and operation in apprehending the suspects. He added that since the suspects claimed to be Muslims and that they allegedly carried out the act

in the name of Islam, the SSS should take them to the Shari’ah Court where they could receive what they deserve.

While we should encourage our security personnel to abide by the rules of engagement where necessary, they should also be transparent and sincere in relaying information to the public. We should be receptive and responsive to official positions, especially from the designated and professional spokespersons who don’t play propaganda. We should discountenance the propaganda messages of the terrorists and their conscious and unconscious backers alleging the inability of Nigerians troops to handle the insurgency.

By the way, I always ask this question: Are our security personnel not like everyone of us who are human and deserves and support to put in their best?

Fatima Goni Fatimagoni1@yahoo.com Kofar Dukawuya, Kano

We should be receptive and responsive to official positions, especially from the designated and professional spokespersons who don’t play propaganda. We should discountenance the propaganda messages of the terrorists and their conscious and unconscious backers alleging the inability of Nigerians troops to handle the insurgency.

Please leave children out of the war

By Ada Stella Apiafi

I

n the two weeks, insurgents have caught global attention for killing over several people in the North -Eastern states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe.

On Monday the 24th of February, at least 90 people were mindlessly massacred in an early-morning raid on Izge. The following day, Tuesday, not less than 43 school pupils were callously bombed, shot, hacked, and slaughtered at the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi while they slept, with 16 other female pupils abducted.

On Wednesday, the wave moved over to Adamawa State, where the terrorists killed another set of 37 people across four villages.

In yet another attack along Maiduguri-Gombe-Adamawa highway, another 14 people were killed after the burning houses, and raiding of a Bank. It goes on and on.

Some accounts put the number of deaths from the Boko Haram insurgents and others yet to be properly identified in Plateau State at close to 500 in two weeks alone. Accounts now put it that no fewer than 15,000 pupils may have dropped out of school in the last one year in the affected parts, with Borno State topping the list.

Like every well-meaning Nigerian, we at I-Nigerian strongly condemn this dastardly targeting of innocent school children by terrorists. Under whatever guise religion, fundamentalism, ideology,

or even ethnicity - this is a most heinous crime against humanity, and to the good people of Nigeria, who daily preach non-violence in their daily endeavours, irrespective

“

of whatever provocations they are confronted with.

Defenceless people - have been maimed, harmed, and fatally brought down, in a manner that

We appeal to the sensibilities of these insurgents operating in the North East and Plateau State, and the various parts of the country to lay down their arms, and stop this bloodbath. Too many souls have been lost. Too many homes are weeping; our children are now afraid to go to school, for fear of their lives; and whole communities have either been wiped out.

goes against every form of religious tenets, or human understanding!

Why such carnage? What is the reason for all this? And why our children?

We at I-Nigerian join the call once again to appeal to the sensibilities of these insurgents operating in the North East and Plateau State, and the various parts of the country to lay down their arms, and stop this bloodbath. Too many souls have been lost. Too many homes are weeping; our children are now afraid to go to school, for fear of their lives; and whole communities have either been wiped out, or their inhabitants have all become “refugees” in their own country, as they flee from the onslaught of these dangerous terrorists.

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 41

Online Comments Yobe school massacre: A positive litmus test Bioseh says: The article is as strange as anything I have ever read and for the writer to be described as a leader, explains why the country has failed and will continue to be a failed state.

President Goodluck Jonathan

government to stamp out these useless Islamic sect (boko haram) you are there pointing accusing fingers on government.

Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Gaidam

…Pressure mounts on Jonathan to end insurgency Harold says: Abdul Waheed Omar, as the NLC president, ordinarily you are expected to be an unbiased umpire, in virtually everything, especially when it concerns government and her peoples, but your comments are sometimes hardly comprehensible. Instead of you to agitate for the complete displacement of the civilian governors to be replaced by the military in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno states so as to checkmate the spate of killings, you are there asking useless questions, if the recent attacks are prelude to 2015, or a ploy to unseat the civilian governors?.

Hope you are not taking Nigerians for a ride by your purported plans mobilizing Nigerian workers to protest in the streets of Nigeria.

I can assure you that you can fool some of the people some of the times, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Therefore you should stop making empty noise because, in this circumstance even your wife will not accept to follow you in this your purported politically motivated protest. In your capacity as the NLC president much is expected of you to collaborate with

Harold says: Though I sympathise with the situation especially the families of victims of Boko Haram insurgency in recent times but the hard truth is that some Nigerians were happy when some people were being slaughtered and bombed to ashes at will. Now that God has turned their wisdom to foolishness by making them to now kill their own, and the spate of killing has become so worrisome, the likes of NLC president is now calling for, street protests and all that.

The case against Sanusi Lamido Sanusi Don Cee says: This is a very dumb argument from someone

who genuinely wants to defend corruption. I will just engage you on the mint issue, his account said he paid NSPMC the amount and NEVER SAID HE PAID FOR MINTING. Paying to NSPMC is different from paying for, which means I paid Mr. A. x amount for minting is different from I used x amount for minting. So where is the foreign mint coming in from. On promotional spend, its shameful for any informed person to justify the so called media spend because even coca-cola that probably runs the best adverts cannot spend that amount. More so, if you are comparing CBN with NAFDAC, does that suggest that NAFDAC spent near that amount? Let us be reasonable and accept when we are wrong. Sanusi messed up big time and he knows it. You cant be part of a government for almost five years and suddenly you start seeing fraud but refuse to resign.

He got what he deserved for hypocrisy.

2. Don Cee says: This is a very dumb argument from someone who genuinely wants to defend corruption. I will just engage you on the mint issue, his account said he paid NSPMC the amount and NEVER SAID HE PAID FOR MINTING.Paying to NSPMC is different from paying for, which means I paid Mr A. x amount for minting is different from I used x amount for minting. So where is the foreign mint coming in from? On promotional spend, it’s shameful for any informed person to justify the so called media spend because even coca-cola that probably runs the best adverts cannot spend that amount. More so, if you are comparing CBN with NAFDAC, does that suggest that NAFDAC spent near that amount? Let us be reasonable and accept when we are wrong. Sanusi messed up big time and he knows it. You can’t be part of a government for almost five years and suddenly you start seeing fraud but refuse to resign.

He got what he deserved for hypocrisy.

Adamawa State Governor Murtala Nyako

is not part of Adamawa state

APC operates like a cult, says Fayose Adams Imonikhe says: Fayose, you have had your time. Forget about PDP winning Ekiti or you becoming a Governor in Ekiti State. Can u imagine him saying Fayemi has no human relations? This is the same Fayose who insulted the Ewi of Ado ekiti and Chief Afe Babalola.

Again, Boko Haram onslaught on Adamawa Jj says: Nigeria don’t need French support. We have seen their support in CAR. No thank you.

Fury at Nigeria’s military over Yobe deaths

IGP Abubakar

Harold says: The Nigerian populace sympathise with Yobe state especially the families of these innocent young future leaders whose lives were cut short by these blood thirsty demons called Book Harams.

When initially the killing was selective the leaders were applauding them. How many times did the so called leaders visit the sites.

Police stop protest march over failure to contain Boko Haram

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

Biokings says: If there are killings in Adamawa State, why not go there and show your anger instead of the Federal Capital Territory. You want to import your Boko Haram attitude to the Federal capital territory.

May I remind you that Abuja

COAS Lt Gen. Minimah

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Life style

How Dangote, Alakija, Adenuga spent $6.5bn on private jets —Report

Nigeria’s super-rich enjoy the sense of exclusivity provided by jets

N

igeria’s rich elite are increasingly buying private jets to avoid flying on commercial airlines, reports the BBC’s Tomi Oladipo from Lagos.

“There’s an average of nine aircrafts fixed here in the hangar,” says Peter de Waal of ExecuJet Aviation Nigeria, looking across at a line of sleek jets, as a team of engineers works on them.

ExecuJet provides a hangar and is authorised by major aviation companies to provide maintenance services for business aircraft, attesting to the rapid growth of the private aircraft industry in Nigeria.

“Maintenance was done in Europe and the United States, but our services here can help save time and an enormous cost,” Mr De Waal told the BBC. Travelling on Nigeria’s commercial airlines, even in business class, can be problematic, with frequent delays and rerouting causing an inconvenience for everyone, including those for whom time is money.

This, with the added exclusivity, has made the option

A luxurious executive plane seater

of bespoke air travel a popular one for the super-rich.

“It is difficult to estimate the exact number of private jets in Nigeria because the majority are under foreign registries,” says Rady Fahmy, the executive director of the African Business Aviation Association.

“Aircraft in Nigeria, and most of Africa, are owned

by individuals who are businessmen and women,” he says.

“This is in contrast to North America and Europe where the account is usually under corporate ownership.

“The choice to put it under individual’s name is due to financing requirements.”

‘To owner’s taste’

Most of the jet owners prefer to avoid the spotlight, especially when it comes to discussing their wealth, although within aviation circles it is common knowledge who owns what.

The long-range Bombardier Global Express XRS, worth about $50m (£30m), is preferred by those at the top of the rich list, including Africa’s wealthiest

businessman Aliko Dangote, oil baroness Folorunsho Alakija, and the mobile phone tycoon Mike Adenuga, who also own both short and long-range business aircraft.

Other common models ranging from about $57m to $39m - are the Gulfstream G550, Bombardier Challenger 605, and Dassault Falcon 900, with owners ranging from politicians to clergymen.

Mr De Waal makes a quick phone call to a jet owner and I am granted access to a sleek Falcon 900.

A polished dark wood trim sets the mini-bar apart from the rest of the cream interior with grey leather seats.

The passenger area is divided into several parts, including a general area with four seats, a business meeting area also with seating for four, an enclosed area with a large couch that can be converted into a bed, and a small bathroom at the back of the plane.

It is all made to the taste of the owner, a billionaire Contd on Page 43

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Life style

How Dangote, Alakija, Adenuga spent $6.5bn on private jets —Report Contd from Page 42

businessman, who asks not to be identified.

The planes are also mostly registered abroad, mainly in the US, Bermuda, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Mauritius.

Some industry insiders think owners prefer such arrangements as aircraft lose their resale value if they are registered in Nigeria because of doubts over maintenance standards.

Luxury jet tax axed It is difficult to ignore the tens of millions of Nigerians who cannot afford commercial air travel, not to mention owning aircraft.

Nigeria is achieving steady economic growth but the general perception is that few are benefiting from this boom apart from its more than 500 people with estimated assets of above $50m.

For those who are not quite able to afford their own planes, Nigeria’s chartered flights business is also booming, attracting international companies such as Hanger8 and VistaJet. The growth of the air transport industry and the

“

economy has led business aviation manufacturers like Beechcraft Corporation into the African market, with Nigeria as a key focus.

“We have seen a large number of deliveries of business aircraft across the continent over the past decade,” say Scott Plumb, Beechcraft’s vicepresident of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“We fully expect this trend to continue as a greater number of entrepreneurs and corporate entities seek to take advantage of the benefits of business air travel on the back of Africa’s strong economic growth.”

Cultural peculiarities also make it to the runway, with huge entourages of friends and aides swarming around Nigeria’s larger-than-life VIPs. “You can sometimes see five or six cars at the same time to receive one person,” Mr De Waal says.

In October 2013, the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority introduced a luxury tax of about $3,000 for every departure of a private jet.

The jet owners responded by saying it was unfair and the Senate soon ordered a suspension of the levy - a sign of the political influence of Nigeria’s wealthy businessmen and women. (BBC)

A private plane is upholstered according to its owner’s tastes

Victoria Island is a commercial hub in Lagos

Nigeria is achieving steady economic growth but the general perception is that few are benefiting from this boom apart from its more than 500 people with estimated assets of above $50m.

Many Nigerians have never flown in their lives

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

From the Confab

Peoples Media Limited, Publisher of Peoples Daily Newspapers, organised its 2nd Conference titled “Nigeria: The 2015 Question�, on Thursday at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Abuja. Our Photographers Mahmud Isa and Justine Imo-Owo captured the event.

A Group of support Personnel whot served as ushers at the conference

L-R: Chairman, Board of Directors of Peoples Media Limited, Malam Wada R-L: Alhaji Ibrahim Usman, Col. Habibu Shuaibu (rtd), Senator Isa Kachako, Alhaji Musa Maida welcoming the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri M. Abdu, Engineer Hamza Ibrahim, Senator Ibrahim Ida and Professor Mike Kwanashi, Tambuwal. during the conference

R-L: Director of Peoples Media Limited, Malam Umar Farouk Musa with Special Adviser to Jigawa State Governor on Media, Malam Adamu Muhammad Usman, after the event.

L-R: Representative of Minister of information, Mr. Kingley Osadolor with Mallam Bukar Ayyanu, during the conference

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 45

From the Confab

Participants at the 2nd conference of Peoples Media on “Nigeria: The 2015 Question�, on Thursday in Abuja.

L-R: Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, representative of Emir of L-R: Head of Advert/Marketing of Peoples Media, Malam Hussaini Abdulrahman, Zazzau Suleja, Engineer Mohammed Sani Alhassan, Representative of Kano State Chief Operating Officer of Peoples Media, Malam Ali M. Ali and Deputy Director, Governor, Hon. Umar Faruk and Chairman, Bulet International Limited, Malam Ismaila Publicity of INEC, Nick Dazang, discussing after the event.

Isa, at the event.

L-R: Representative of the Israel Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Tony Obiechina R-L: Head Communication, and Public Affairs, Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation and Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs, SMEDAN, Mr. Levi Anyikwa, during (NDIC), Hadi Sule Bichi, Managing Director of Time Magazine, Alhaji Kabir Dangogo and Director operations, Blueprint newspaper, Malam Salisu Umar, at the event. the conference

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 46

International

The West and the Ukrainian misadventure

By Abdullahi Yelwa

B

lurry-eyed and ego-bruised, the West is again being challenged to match its hollow rhetoric with concrete diplomatic response in the Ukraine. In Georgia in 2008, at least the West had a convenient and ready excuse -it told the rest of the world that it had warned its protégé, the Georgian President Shaakashvilli not to dare the Russian bear, a warning it said he neglected. What then will the West now tell the world about Ukraine, where it had openly sponsored and meticulously midwifed a successful coup against a democratically elected pro-Russian Ukrainian President, Victor Yanukovych.

The new and fidgety Ukrainian government in Kiev, realisng that it had unleashed the dragon on itself, had asked for the West to live up to its diplomatic obligations of defending it against Russia. But what can the West really do? In 2008, Russian President Putin had allegedly declared that if Ukraine were to join NATO , Russia could contend to annex the Ukrainian East and Crimea.

Prophetically, Putin has just accomplished his threat.

Russia genuinely believes that fellow Russians in Eastern Ukraine and the Crimea are under threat from Neo-Nazi facists actively embedded in the new Ukrainian administration in Kiev. Western argument to the contrary cannot satisfy Russia, especially after the reappraisal killings that took place in Libya and Egypt under the watch of the West. Western sabre -rattling can neither save Ukraine nor really deter Russia from its existential obligations to defend itself and fellow Russians across the border. Talks of isolating Russia, imposing economic sanctions or other threats being bandied about by Western diplomats are as hollow as they sound.

Western predicament about events in Ukraine is a bi-product of Western failure to come to terms with the dynamics of Russo-Ukrainian history and the introduction by the West of a new culture of Western imperialism based on democratic gangsterism. This dangerous trend where the West finances and gives diplomatic cover to anarchists to occupy capitals of nations in a bid to oust democratically elected governments, had been seen at play in Egypt, Libya, Iran and now Ukraine.

Well, it seems that Western rascality has met its match in Ukraine.

Historically, Ukraine share with Russia cultural, economic and political ties in a way it can never do with the Western Europe. More than half of Ukrainians are ethnic Russians while the remaining have more in common with Russians than they have with Western Europe. Geographically domiciled in the Russian orbit, Ukraine was part of the Kievan Rus State, the predecessor of both Russia and Ukraine. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is indeed often referred

to as the mother of Russia cities or a cradle of the Russian civilization.

After limbo in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth Ukraine was again reunited with Russian state by the Treaty of Pereyslab in 1654.

By the late 18th Century Ukrainian was completely absorbed into the Russian Empire. In 1922 Ukraine and Russia were two of the founding members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and were the signatories to the treaty that ended the union in December 1991. hough relations between the two nations have been difficult since the collapse of the USSR, largely due to Western cold war mentality, Russia had continued to bankroll Ukraine, supplying her with cheap energy and loans. The west on the other hand had consistently engaged in ideological brinkmanship that seeks to polarize western and eastern Ukraine while openly preaching the gospel of a united Ukraine. Its strategy had been the dangling of the carrot of economic prosperity before Ukraine and promises of a watertight guarantee against perceived Russian aggression. As in all such Western overtures, they come with a high potential costs for Ukraine. The so called EU-Ukrainian pact that Yunukovych reneged on for instance, would have fallen apart on its own because of the stringent and self destructive reforms Ukraine must make to bring it to futility.

The other reason for Western helplessness is the rise of gangster democracy where thugs financed and supported by Western govern-

T

“

This dangerous trend where the West finances and gives diplomatic cover to anarchists to occupy capitals of nations in a bid to oust democratically elected governments, had been seen at play in Egypt, Libya, Iran and now Ukraine. Well, it seems that Western rascality has met its match in Ukraine.

ments use anarchy to oust legitimate governments considered to be in the bad books of the West. By this dangerous trend, Western democracy had come full circle. Despite claims that it is the best system of governance known to mankind, democracy in the West has returned to its barbaric origin. It had finally come to terms with its inherent capacity for anarchy. For years, even in the most democratic nations of the world, what had passed for democracy had nothing to do with the will of the people, but mass anarchy where a simple majority no matter how acquired became a licence for dictatorship in the hands of a few. In other parts of the world where the West act as merchants of democracy, the situation is even more obnoxious. In one country after another, we have witnessed instances where otherwise stable countries were infested with the vi-

rus of democratic anarchy to cause their destruction.

In Libya, under the pretext of the so called Arab Spring, Gaddafi was killed and his country destroyed, perhaps forever. Today Libya has exchanged a dictator that provided food, shelter and security for gunwielding anarchists without a clue.

A similar scenario is at play in Syria where Western sponsored rejects masquerading as gun for hire Islamist jihadists are engaged in a bloody and senseless war against the people of Syria. But the West might argue that Gaddafi and Assad are dictators who have no place in the modern world. But what about Morsi in Egypt and Yunukovych in Ukraine?

The two leaders were democratically elected by their people. (Observers of global diplomatic trends have always known that it’s a matter of time before the West became victim of its

own creation when it makes the mistake of taking its antics to the Russian orbit. The West had thought to do in Ukraine what it got away with in Egypt. Now it knows better.

The clear victim of the Ukrainian crisis however is the United Nations. Whereas the rest of the world see the ouster of Yanukovych as a coup sponsored by the West against a democratically elected government, Ban Ki- moon has chosen to play the Ostrich. He has again as he had done repeatedly brought the integrity of the Word body to disrepute, leaving no in doubt that he is a Western stooge. nce again Russia has shown that it remains the only buffer the rest of the World have against the West and its neo- imperialistic Cold War mindset. For instance, were it not for the refusal of Russia to support Western bid to destroy Syria and to kill Assad a la Gaddafi and Saddam, Syria would have been history. The lesson for Africa in all this is the need for our leaders to reconcile with their own people. Deadly contestation for power, polarization of peoples and issues, corruption and attack on the opposition must end. Seeing what happened in Ukraine, no one should doubt that one day a gay lesbian demonstration in Abuja or Kampala could be the trigger to oust a democratically elected government in Abuja or Kampala. If you think this is farfetched, ask the Ugandans.

Abdullahi Yelwa, an Abuja based journalist and publisher is on yelwaabdullahi@yahoo. com

O

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PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Feature

FUDMA: Where girls outshine boys in academic excellence

By Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

I

t is a popular saying that ‘what a man can do a woman can do better’.

And this popular saying is coming to reality at the Federal University Dutsin-ma, Katsina State where the female students of the institution are breaking all academic records and excelling in academic excellence far ahead their male counter-parts. Of all the students of the institution wearing the budges of the ‘University scholar’ majority of them were female students of the institution.

The Federal University, Dutsin-ma, Katsina state was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the approval given by the Federal Executive Council in the fourth quarter of 2010, together with eight other universities, for the purpose of increasing access to university education and ensuring equitable distribution of federal owned universities across the nation. The University commenced academic activities on 14th July, 2012, the day it opened its gates to the pioneer students for the 2011/ 2012 academic year.

The vision of the university is ‘ To be a top ranking, world class University, committed to excellence in research and the production of a generation of leaders with passion for service’.

Similarly its mission is ‘to create knowledge, impart it to transform the human being, deploy it to grow the economy and solve local and global challenges, and do so in partnership and with integrity’.

The Motto of the University is ‘Integrity and Service’.

The young university recently hold its 3rd matriculation for students admitted for the 2013/2014 academic year.

Speaking at the matriculation ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor of the University Professor J.O.I Ayatse told the matriculating students that ‘...this university places unwavering focus on

academic excellence, integrity and prompt service delivery’.

He noted that ‘the university values capabilities more than your origin or heritage’, Ayatse added ‘we value motivation. We value achievements, integrity and promise.

However the high point of the matriculation ceremony was when the Vice-Chancellor disclosed that ‘students who attain CGPA OF 4.50 and above at the end of any particular academic year will be crowned University Scholars and will benefit from University sponsorship in the subsequent year. They are also placed on the Vice-Chancellor’s honours list of academic excellence with all the privileges’. To this end it was the Vice-Chancellor’s list of honours that demonstrated the rising power of girls in achieving academic excellence. Going by the records of the list, it clearly shows that for the 10 students that received the honour in the 2011/2012 nine of them were all female students while only one male student makes the honour’s list. imilarly to show the girls dominance of academic excellence in the University of the 42 Students that makes the honour’s list girls dominated five of the first six slots on the list. These proud female students include, Peter Gift Chidera of the biology Department that made a CGPA of 4.95, others include, Nnana Anita Oluchi of Agric department with CGPS of 4.9, Andrew Chinonye Elizabeth of Accounting Department with 4.9, Onwundinjo Felicia Ifunanya of Mathematics Department with 4.88 and Salaudeen Rahmat Ganimahtou of Computer Department with 4.86. The recipients of the honours were equally presented with a badge that was expected to be worn on their chest to demonstrate that they are the brain of the institution.

Not only that each recipient of the award receives special treatment in accessing services provided by

S

Professor J.O.I Ayatse, Vice Chancellor Federal University Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State speaking at the matriculation ceremony

Recipients of the FUDMA award of academic excellence the institution.

Speaking with Peoples Daily Weekend, Peters Gift Chidera a female student who made the highest CGPA of 4.95 in the Biology department noted that hard work and perseverance were her secret in making a good grade.

She added ‘to me I approach my studies with prayers, regular studies. For me education is my measure priority’. On why girls are now taking the lead in academic excellence, Chidera noted ‘this is a new beginning as women are now being empowered and it is only natural we take over. Gone are the days when men were always at the top, women are not being empowered so we now take over’. Chidera added that her ambition ‘is to excel and take up appointment with the university as a lecturer’.

S

peaking further head of English Language Department of the University, Professor Olusola O. Omokore attributed the performance of female students to society’s understanding that women now play a central role in life generally.

She added ‘women are now been empowered and the society now understand their central role in the development of the society.

Women now play a huge role in the areas of education and governance’.

She therefore added ‘with this the women now feel challenged and tried to impress the society’.

However, the vice chancellor disclosed that ‘students that graduated with First Class Honours degree at the end of their study would be offered automatic employment by the University’.

Similarly Professor Ayatse added that students that attain a CGPA of 4.00 to 4.49 at the end of any

Professor Olusola O. Omokore, Head of English Department of FUDMA

academic year will have their names appear on the Dean’s Honours List of Academic Excellence. He also warned that students that obtains a CGPA of above 1.00 but bellow 1.50 at the end of an academic session is placed on probation for one academic year and will be withdrawn from the programme if they fail to get a CGPA of up to 1.50 at the end of the period of probation. o maintain high moral standards in the institution, the vice chancellor warned against indecent dressing by the students of the university, adding that students that engaged on such act will be banned from the institution’s activities. He also reaffirmed that the institution will not spare any student caught engaged in cultism. Professor Ayatse noted that the university will not condone act of stealing and mutilation of books.

T

Peters Gift Chidera, a 200 level biology student with 4.95 CGPA

PAGE 48

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Business Extra

Nigerian millionaires to Soar 47% in next four years, Study says

By Chris Kay

N

igerian millionaires will increase in number by almost 47 percent over the next four years as higher house and stock prices in the West African nation complement a booming economy, according to New World Wealth.

The number of people in Africa’s top oil producer with investable assets of at least $1 million will jump to 23,000 by 2017, after increasing by 44 percent over the past six years to 15,700 in 2013, Johannesburg-based New World Wealth wrote in a report published Tuesday.

About 26 percent of their $82 billion of wealth was held offshore last year, with the bulk of private-banking funds deposited in the U.K., Switzerland and the Channel Islands, the report said.

“Growth in the wealth of high net worth individuals is linked to a number of factors including the country’s GDP, the local real estate market and the local equity market,” Andrew Amoils, senior analyst at New World Wealth, said in the report.

Nigeria, where the economy expanded an average of 8.2 percent annually since 1999, has the third-highest number of millionaires on the continent after South Africa and Egypt, according to the

Alh. Aliko Dangote

Chief Mike Adenuga

Mrs. Alakija

report. Economic growth has increased per-capita income in Africa’s most populous nation by more than fivefold to $1,725 over that period.

Lagos, the commercial capital, was home to 9,500 millionaires, or 61 percent of Nigeria’s total. Next came oil industry

hub Port Harcourt with 1,300 and the capital Abuja with 600, according to New World Wealth. The oil and gas industry was the source of 24 percent of this wealth.

Nigeria is home to five billionaires, according to the report, including Af-

rica’s richest man Aliko Dangote, who’s businesses range from cement to sugar.

Dangote has a net worth of $25.2 billion, ranking him 24th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

(Bloomberg)

Nigeria’s economic indices slip to negative following Sanusi’s suspension

N

igeria’s economic indices fell to negative, the lowest level in 15 years, as the Nigerian Stock market reacted violently to the suspension on Thursday of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Lamido Sanusi.

Both the Minister of Finance, Ngozi OkonjoIweala, and the acting governor of CBN, Sarah Alade, moved to reassure Nigerians and the international community that there was no cause for alarm.

But since the announcement of Mr. Sanusi’s suspension by the Presidency, commodity prices and foreign exchange have nosedived to unprecedented low levels within hours, culminating in all economic indices in the system slipping to negative.

“Banking sector stocks went into negative since the announcement,” Chief Executive Officer, Trust Yield Securities Limited, Ola Yusuff, said on Friday. “Prices of other stocks are still down. Even Foreign Exchange went down. Maybe they would pick up next week.”

But Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala in her reaction had described the concerns in the market as nothing unusual, assuring players in the stock market of government’s resolve to pay attention to managing the economy.

She said government was committed to maintain macro-economic stability that would enable the administration continue the transformation of the various sectors of the economy.

“We will maintain tight fiscal policies,” the minister said. “We expect a continuation of the monetary policies that have been on at the Central Bank. We have confidence that this will pull through.”

In her maiden media briefing on Friday in Abuja, Mrs. Alade said that in spite of the change in the leadership at the CBN, its monetary policy

direction and pursuit of its primary mandate of maintaining price and financial system stability would remain unchanged.

The value of the national currency, the naira, has continued to fluctuate, stirring speculations that government might be compelled to consider devaluing the currency.

But the acting CBN governor said her administration at the bank would continue to tighten its policies to ensure that the value of the naira remained stable, pointing out that there were no immediate plans to consider devaluation.

Assuring stakeholders in the financial sector, including the international community, of the commitment the CBN under her leadership to sustain its achievements, Mrs. Alade said this would be realised through appropriate deployment of monetary policy tools to ensure price and financial system stability.

The CBN, she said, would continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market to ensure the stability of the exchange rate of the Naira and preserve the value of the domestic currency.

The bank would remain committed to monetary and price stability and the smooth functioning of the foreign exchange market, she added.

“I wish to state unequivocally that the Nigerian economy has remained strong, sound and resilient over time,” Mrs. Alade said, pointing out that the domestic economy has remained robust, with a growth rate of 6.87 per cent in 2013.

Noting that the exchange rate has also remained generally stable, with the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, data showing that inflation rate stood at 8 per cent in January 2014, while inflation rate has remained within single digit in the last 13 months.

With the current level of reserves at seven months of imports cover, as at end-December

2013, she said the CBN’s ability to intervene in the foreign exchange market was not in doubt.

Finance industry analysts have identified two major concerns in the market thrown up by the suspension of the CBN governor.

Apart from it signalling a threat to the autonomy of the Central Bank, observers are doubtful whether Mr. Sanusi’s successor, Godwin Emefiele, would continue with his policies in terms of defending the Naira, or allow easy money.

Mr. Yusuff said the suspension has created the impression to foreign investors that Nigeria is not a stable environment to do business if the head of the country’s financial sector regulator could be removed so easily by the President.

“The autonomy the Central Bank Governor is very important and key to investors and the market? If the foreign investors get hold of that impression, they may move out their investments from the market to other kore reliable destinations,” Mr. Yusuff said, Afrinvest, an investment bank in Lagos, said the suspended CBN governor succeeded in establishing some form of confidence in the market as depicted in foreign exchange and price stability; coupled with the cleaning up and stabilization of the banking system within the last four years.

The bank said this helped preserve the value of investments in Nigeria, despite threats posed by the situation in the U.S. economy.

“As a consequence of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s suspension of the Central Bank Governor, we anticipate a huge capital inflow reversal with monumental impact on the Nigerian Capital Market and the Currency. We also expect the stock market to assume a bearish trend in the near term, especially the banking stocks,” the bank said.

Afrinvest said Federal Government bond

yield should also cross the 15 per cent mark in the near term, as investors re-price Nigeria’s country risk, while the Naira is expected to come under intense pressure, hovering above N175 per dollar at the BDC (Bureau De Change) market segment” the firm said.

The bank, however, said the legitimacy of the president’s action might be called to question as events unfold, pointing out that the appointment of an objective and independent Central Bank Governor remained a daunting task if the decision was sustained.

Noting that this would negatively impact investor’s perception of the country, driving the Corruption Perception Index, CPI, further south of the 144th rank (out of 175 countries) in 2013, Afrinvest called for the insulation of the CBN governorship position from political pressures.

“This will ensure the independence of the Central Bank and facilitate sustained confidence from the international investment community.

We anticipate the administration will address this urgently to adequately nip these negative impacts in the bud,” the bank said.

A banking industry analyst, Nothando Ndebele, described Mr. Emefiele as very conservative and level headed banker with the qualities to make the difference.

Mr. Ndebele said Zenith Bank under Mr. Emefiele’s leadership has established itself as a leading, well-capitalised and stable bank with a high portion of asset sitting in Treasury bills and bonds.

“We believe he is likely to maintain a firm policy environment and would be inclined to tighten policy in the current environment of naira weakness,” Mr. Ndebele said.

(Premium Times)

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 49

News

Moro urges Oduduwa youths to tackle insecurity in North-east

By Clem Khena-Ogbena

A

L-R: Social Democratic Party(SDP) Chieftain, Chief Supo Shonibare, Party’s National Secretary, Dr. Sadiq Umar Abubakar, Chairman of the party, Chief Olu Falae and Senator Ebenezer Ikeyina, during the launching of party’s manifesto, logo and emblem at the party’s National Secretariat, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Military committed to ending insurgency, says CDS

By Joy Baba

T

he CDS (Chief of Defence Staff), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh has once again assured Nigerians that the military is committed to end the Boko Haram Insurgency in the North-

East adding that they are doing everything possible to bring the scourge to an end.

Badeh gave this assurance yesterday in Abuja when he played host to members of the House of Representatives from Adamawa state, led by Rep Anthony Madwatte.

The CDS urged the House members to give them legal backing while assuring them of making the home front comfortable for them to go back and do their campaign freely.

He called on anybody that has any information on the on-going

war against terrorists to do so adding that the military would use it without disclosing the source of the information.

Earlier in his address, Madwatte said they were in Defence Headquarters to congratulate him on his appointment as the CDS.

NUJ tasks environmental reporters on improved knowledge

By Abbas Aminu Bamalli

T

he President, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Muhammed Garba has called on the Nigerian journalists, especially environment reporters to ensure that they upgrade their knowledge to ensure comprehensive reporting of

environmental issues.

Garba made the call yesterday in Abuja at a book launch on “Essentials for Environment Reporting and Environmental media lecture organized by the NUJ in collaboration with Global Environment Out Look.

According to him, it is only through updating their knowledge of reporting that they

will be able to make the expected impacts of educating and enlightening the general public on environmental issues.

He said, the program came at the right time as environment is one of the most important parts in the lives of Nigerians, and assured that NUJ will continue to carry out such initiative for the benefit of the general public.

In his paper presentation, titled, “Awareness and knowledge of the Environment among media practitioners”, the former President of Nigerian Environment Society (NES), Uche Agbanusi said, many media practitioners did not pass through the school of journalism in other to receive basic training for its practice.

Lamurde communities accuse MDGs of slow implementation of projects From Umar Dankano, Yola

T

he Lamurde communities of Adamawa state has protested over the slow implementation of MDG’s projects in their localities, accusing state officials of the MDGs of short changing them in complying with the contractual specifications.

The communities alleged that, the officials vandalized roofing and carted away medical equipment of the Lamurde cottage clinic, a situation that brought healthcare delivery to stand still in the area.

Chairman, Lamurde Community Development

Mr Polycarp H. Faris, had on Thursday told reporters in Yola, that the roof, ceiling fans and other medical apparatus were removed by MDG’s officials to unknown destination as health service delivery halted for almost two years.

He confided that like other local government councils in the state, Lamurde as part of its counterpart- funding, has contributed millions of naira in the project towards actualization of the MDGs set goals in healthcare delivery.

“True situation is that due process was not followed from the initial stage. They should have work with technical and

planning committee at the local government level. That was not done; from nowhere we just saw contractors, came in the rainy season and started off-roofing the zinc, ceilings, fans on top of the clinic that we have. They removed every things.

“As I am talking to you now, nothing has been done, since that time, for over two years now.

While the contract money has since been paid.

The contract was awarded at the sum of N23 million.

“Waduku clinic the contract sum was N17 million,’’ he said.

He was emphatic that the MDG’s set goals could not be achieved particularly in the rural

areas, “In Lamurde it will be difficult with the dearth of Health Centres, our people are suffering. ‘’Nurses are using lamp and torch lights to attend to patients, no solar system, no drugs. People are resorting to taking their patients to the distance places like Numan.’’

To this end, he called on the state governor Murtala Nyako to as a matter of expediency to investigate the matter, ‘’ We are calling on the governor to investigate the way and manner the Lamurde’s contracts were executed. One it’s over inflated, two the work has not been done, three the work is very, very unprofessional.

s the North East flank of the nation continues to face security problems, due to the activities of insurgents , the Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has urged members of Oduduwa Youths Development Initiative Forum (OYDIF) to support the on- going government efforts in curbing insecurity in the north.

According to the minister, OYDIF could help bring lasting solution to the security challenges in that part of the country, through sensitisation and enlightenment programmes.

The Minister, who gave the advice in a statement issued yesterday by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister, Mr. George Ubong, also tasked members of OYDI, who bestowed on him an award of Excellence Oduduwa Leadership Award, to make conscious contribution towards nation building, unity, oneness and tranquillity of the country.

He added that this could be achieved through the counselling of Nigerian youths to do away with violence and other negative tendencies inimical to the growth and development of Nigeria as a country, as the nation was approaching another election year in 2015.

While commending the group for making cognisant efforts towards the promotion of peace and oneness of the nation, Moro reminded members of ODYIF, as future leaders, they needed to be imbued with qualitative leadership attributes for the transformation of the country.

He urged them to support the economic, social, educational, infrastructural and human capacity development policies of the transformation agenda of President Jonathan, geared towards moving the Nigeria forward and also aimed at meeting global growth and development of the country.

The minister also lauded the group for the award, adding that the award would further encourage him to offer more selfless service to the nation in particular and humanity in general.

Earlier, the National Chairman, OYDIF, Pastor Timothy Ademola, eulogised the nationalistic posture, non -tribal nature, selflessness and the bridge -building zeal and disposition of Moro, stressing that these attributes, among others, informed the choice of the unique award to the minister.

PAGE 50

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Sports Ahly, Enyimba fight for survival H

olders Ahly and former Enyimba are in danger of exiting the 2014 Orange CAF Champions League, unless they conjure magical performances in this weekend’s second leg matches of the 1/16th round.

While Ahly are favoured to overturn a lone goal defeat from the first leg against Young Africans of Tanzania on Sunday, two-time winners Enyimba will be threading a dangerous path in Bamako as guests of AR Real.

The Malians stunned Nigeria’s surviving club in the premier continental club championship, beating them 2-1 in Aba, to end the latter’s eight-year unbeaten spell at home that also put their chances of progress hanging by the slimmest of chances.

AS Real, the club that served the breeding ground for Mali legend, Salif Keita and losing finalists in the 1966 edition, are responsible for the exit of former winners, AS FAR of Morocco at the preliminary round.

Enyimba must score at least two unanswered goals to go past their hosts, a task that striker Mfon Udon reckons difficult but achievable.

“We have to believe we can go to Mali and do the same thing they did in Aba. We are

a team that wants to go as far as possible in this competition so we have to go there and prove ourselves,” he told the club’s website.

Another former winner on the brink of exit is Raja Athletic Club of Morocco, who need to overturn a lone goal deficit against Horoya of Guinea in Casablanca Cameroon champions, Coton Sport also find themselves in a similar dilemma as they host Flambeau de l’EST of Burundi in the northern city of Garoua.

Congolese duo, AS Vita Club and TP Mazembe will be at home to visiting Dynamos (Zimbabwe) and Les Astres (Cameroon) in Kinshasa and Lumbumbashi respectively. Vita pulled a barren draw in the first leg in Harare while Mazembe are tipped to scale over Astres, whom they held 1-1 in Douala last week.

Nigeria-born striker Stephen Worgu looks set to make his international debut for new club, Al Hilal against Stade Malien of Mali in Khartoum.

The striker, top scorer in the same competition in 2008 with Enyimba (scored 13 goals) was a pale shadow of himself during his four years with Merrikh, and is looking forward to prove he still has something to offer after crossing carpet to their city rivals.

Tunisia’s representatives, CS Sfaxien and Esperance are favoured to complete a double

Fixtures AS Real (Mali) vs Enyimba (Nigeria) (2-1) Esperance (Tunisia) vs Gor Mahia (Kenya) (3-2) Kampala City Council (Uganda) vs Nkana (Zambia) (2-2) Raja Club Athletic (Morocco) vs Horoya (Guinea) (0-1) ASFA Yennenga (Burkina Faso) vs ES Setif (Algeria) (0-5) Primeiro de Agosto (Angola) vs AC Leopards (Congo) (1-4) Liga Muculmana (Mozambique) vs Kaizer Chiefs (South Africa) (0-4) Enyimba players in happy mood. Will they upturn the table against their hosts to qualify? over East African duo, Dedebit (Ethiopia) and Gor Mahia (Kenya) into the next round.

Sfaxien won 2-1 in Addis Ababa while Esperance returned with a 3-2 victory in Nairobi.

Five-time winners, Zamalek of Egypt face a tough test in Luanda against Angolan champions, Kabuscorp after managing a lone goal win in the first leg.

Ahmed Hossam ‘Mido’ of the Egyptian side remains upbeat about their chances against Kabuscorp, who have former TP Mazembe captain Tresor Mputu

and former Cameroon captain Albert Meyong in their roster.

“We will play to win in Angola. Kabuscorp will be under pressure to score from the start.

Our players have the quality to survive,” Mido was quoted to Egyptian press.

AC Leopards of Congo and Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa travel to Luanda and Maputo with a fee each at the next round on the backdrop of huge wins from the first leg. Leopards won 4-1 in Dolisie while Chief triumphed 4-0.

Sunday, 9 March 2014 Al-Ahly (Egypt) vs Young Africans (Tanzania) (0-1) Ahli Benghazi (Libya) vs Berekum Chelsea (Ghana) (1-1) TP Mazembe (DR Congo) vs Astres (Cameroon) (1-1) Sewe Sport (Ivory Coast) vs BYC (Liberia) (3-3) CS Sfaxien (Tunisia) vs Dedebit (Ethiopia) (2-1) Coton Sport (Cameroon) vs Flambeau (Burundi) (0-1) El Hilal (Sudan) vs Stade Malien (Mali) (0-0) AS Vita Club (DR Congo) vs Dynamos (Zimbabwe) (0-0)

Tunisia, Cameroon get FIBA 2015 AfroBasket hosting rights

T

unisia and Cameroon have been awarded the hosting duties for AfroBasket 2015 and AfroBasket Women 2015 respectively, FIBA Africa announced on Friday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The continental basketball governing body made the awards after hours of deliberations and bid presentations by Angola, Central African Republic (CAR), Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and Tunisia.

FIBA Africa selected Tunisia as hosts of the AfroBasket 2015,

the 28th edition of the championship after bid presentations.

Tunisia, who were champions at AfroBasket 2011, will host the men’s competition for the first time since 1987 and the third time since the competition’s inception.

Angola and CAR also submitted bids to host the championship, but Tunisia, who are the continent’s third highest-ranked team and 23rd in the FIBA Men’s Ranking, were chosen.

Cameroon were also picked as

the host nation for the AfroBasket Women 2015, the 24th edition of FIBA Africa’s leading women’s national team tournament.

It will be the first time in Cameroonian basketball history that the country hosts the championship.

Their success was coming after the game’s visible growth and exposure in the country, including their best result --- a fourth-place finish at AfroBasket Women 2013 in Maputo in Mozambique.

The Cameroonians’ bid got the

nod over those from Angola and Cote d’Ivoire.

The winners of AfroBasket 2015 and AfroBasket Women 2015 will qualify directly for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The teams which finish second and third will compete in FIBA’s Olympic Qualifying Tournaments for Men and Women for the remaining three berths on offer.

Meanwhile, FIBA Africa has placed Angola on standby to stage any of the two AfroBasket championships should any of Tunisia or

Cameroon failed to meet up with the demands of hosting.

The body’s Central Board also approved the granting of hosting rights to a number of countries for FIBA Africa 2014 programmes.

Madagascar and Mali are to host the AfroBasket under-18 men and women championships respectively.

In the clubs category, Cote d’Ivoire will host the final round of the Africa Champions Cup for Men while Tunisia will stage the women’s version.

Obaseki says Abdullahi’s sack won’t affect Eagles World Cup plans

F

Vincent Enyeama, Eagles stand-in skipper

ormer chairman of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Oyuki Obaseki, has described as a “welcome development” the removal of the sports minister and chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi for the Super Eagles going to the World Cup in Brazil.

Abdullahi, who was appointed sports minister on March 23, 2012 by President Goodluck Jonathan served for two years, 11 months and 18 days received his surprise sack notice on Wednesday March 5a night the Super Eagles engaged El Tri of Mexico in

Atlanta, USA. Obaseki explained that Abdullahi’s removal will have no devastating effect on the country’s preparations for either the World Cup or the Commonwealth Games and other sporting activities in 2014.

“Abdullahi’s sack as Sports Minister and Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC) will not affect our World Cup preparations,” Obaseki was quoted by a wire service.

“Why should anybody be worried because of his removal? There was a sport minister before he was appointed. There is nothing to worry about,” he said.

PAGE 51

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Sports Chelsea host Spurs in crucial derby

C

helsea and Tottenham Hotspur will both be targeting maximum points when they meet in a crucial Premier League derby at Stamford Bridge today.

The Blues are currently at the top of the table with 63 points from 28 matches following last weekend’s 3-1 win over Fulham in another London derby.

Jose Mourinho’s side are unbeaten at home at this season but will need to do more than avoid a loss on Saturday with the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City breathing down their necks.

Spurs on the other hand registered a hard-fought 1-0 win over Cardiff City in their last league outing to remain in fifth place with 53 points, still within reach of the coveted top-four finish.

The Lilywhites have already recorded a historic away win over Manchester United this season and Captain Michael Dawson is hopeful that the result will inspire his side ahead of the trip to Stamford Bridge.

When the two sides met at White Hart Lane earlier this season the match ended in a 1-1 draw with John Terry cancelling Gylfi Sigurdsson’s opener.

Weekend Fixtures

CAF Champions League Coton Sport v Ahly Benghazi v Al Ahly v CS Sfaxien v Sewe Sport v BYC AS Vita v ASFA Y. v Esperance v Kampala C.C v AS Real de Bamako v De Augusto v Liga Muculmana v Raja Casablanca v Al-Hilal (Sudan) v

Dynamos ES Setif Gor Mahia Nkana Enyimba AC Leopards Kaizer Horoya Stade Malien

CAF Confederations Cup Zesco United v St. Michel United v ASEC Mimosas v

Ferroviario How Mine C.O. Bamako

AFC Leopards

v

SuperSport United

Bayelsa United MAS Fes

v v

FC Konzo Medeama

Barclays Premier League West B/Albion v Cardiff City Crystal Palace Norwich City Chelsea German Bundesliga B/Mönchengladbach FC Schalke 04 Hamburger SV Hannover 96 VfB Stuttgart weig VfL Wolfsburg 1. FC Nürnberg Sunday Sport-Club Freiburg FSV Mainz 05

Fernando Torres

Gov. Imoke fulfils land pledge to Eagles

T

he Players and officials of the Super Eagles were overjoyed in Atlanta, USA as President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Alhaji Aminu Maigari, handed over to them, Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) of plots of land promised to them by the Executive Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, CON for their triumph at last year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

“It is my pleasure to present to you the Certificates of Occupancy of plots of land promised you by Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State, a true lover and supporter of Nigeria football, for your victory at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

“Governor Imoke has once more demonstrated that he is a man of his words. He has also told me that he has something special for you all if you do Nigeria and Africa proud at the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil.

He will be there in Brazil to support you,” Maigari told players

Spanish La Liga

and officials at their W. Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta, following the impressive 0-0 draw with 19th-ranked Mexico in an international friendly at the Georgian Dome.

Sports-loving Governor Imoke made the pledge when he hosted the players and officials at the Government House, Calabar where the team had presented him with the glittering trophy. He also gave out cash reward.

The Certificates of Occupancy were collected from Governor Imoke and delivered to the NFF President in USA by NFF’s Director of Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme.

Most of the players invited for the friendly against Mexico were part of the 23-man squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations for Nigeria for only the third time ever last year. All the coaches and backroom staff present in Atlanta are also legitimate beneficiaries.

Italian Serie A Udinese Catania Sunday Juventus Bologna Chievo Internazionale Lazio Parma Sampdoria Napoli

Flambeau de l’Est Berekum Young Africans Dedebit

Manchester United

v v v v

Fulham Southampton Stoke City T/Hotspur

v v v v v

FC Augsburg 1899 Hoffenheim Eintracht Bayer 04 Leverkusen Eintracht Braunsch-

v v

FC Bayern München SV Werder Bremen

v v

Borussia Dortmund Hertha

v v

Milan Cagliari

v v v v v v v v

Fiorentina Sassuolo Genoa Torino Atalanta Verona Livorno Roma

v v v v

Barcelona Getafe Atlético Villarreal

v v v v

Elche Sevilla Levante Athletic Club

Friuli

Spanish La Liga Real Valladolid Real Betis Celta de Vigo Granada CF Sunday Espanyol Almería Real Madrid Valencia CF

Barclays Premier League

PAGE 52

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Sports Nigeria sports remain in safe hands, says new minister Stories by Albert Akota

B

arely 24 hours after being named Minister of Sports and Chairman of National Sports Commission, NSC, has Dr. Tamuno Danagogo assured Nigerians that sports in the country are in good hands.

Danagogo became Nigeria’s 30th Minister of Sports succeeding Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi.

Danagogo who was the former Chairman Traditional Sports Association of Rivers State assured that sports in Nigeria will experience a new lease of life under his control.

Abdullahi was appointed as the Minister of Youth Development by Jonathan in July 2011.

He was said to have performed above average since he assumed office and has been widely praised for his pro-active and youth-friendly approach before he was booted out of office by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking with newsmen at the Abuja national stadium, the former university lecturer stated that he would utilise all the resources within his power and his experience to ensure that sports in Nigeria advance to greater heights.

Danagogo, a former Commissioner of Urban Development in Rivers State declared that the task before him is not insurmountable as he is prepared to give his all to ensure that he builds on the success recorded by his predecessor.

The lawyer trained player of All Stars of Rivers further stated: “I’ll be consulting with my predecessor because there is no way I can throw away what I met on ground.

“He achieved a certain degree of success and it will be unfair of me to throw his legacy into the dust bin.

The former local government chairman insisted that he is prepared to revitalise sports in the country as his appointment is an opportunity for him to serve the country.

According to him: “Well, I thank God for the opportunity to serve the country, I know that sports is very dear to Nigerians, I look forward to bringing the sports forward and mobilise all Nigerians to galvanise and revitalise sports in the country.”

He also said that he would be excited should the Super Eagles win the 2014 World Cup holding later this year.

Valladolid eyeing Barcelona upset

R

eal Valladolid forward Jeffren Suarez says his side will try to exploit Barcelona’s weakness when the two sides meet in a La Liga encounter at the Jose Zorilla Stadium today.

The Catalans are currently placed second on the log standings with 63 points following last weekend’s 4-1 win over Almeria.

Gerardo Martino’s side will now look for a similar result against Valladolid in order to climb up to the top of the table, although Real Madrid will have an opportunity to regain their lead when they play a day later.

Real Valladolid have failed to win any of their last five league matches and are currently placed 18th on the table with 23 points from 26 matches.

FC Barcelona

However, they have collected a point from each of their last two matches, playing to 1-1 draws against Levante and Malaga.

Jeffren, who will miss the game against Barca due to a thigh injury, is confident that his side will put up a fight in their own backyard.

With FIFA international friendlies having taken place all over the world this week, Barcelona will be hoping that their international players will be in good shape when they report for duty ahead of Saturday’s clash.

When the two sides met earlier this season the match ended 4-1 in favour of Barcelona with Alexis Sanchez netting a brace.

•Tamuno Danagogo, new Minister of Sports

FCT clubs will soon consolidate on winning —FA chairman

T

he Chairman, FCT Football Association, Musa Talle, in Abuja said the high performance of FCT-based clubs in the Nigeria National League (NNL) would soon translate into wining momentum.

Talle said that football was not something to be equated with mathematics, as it involved a lot of hard work and patience.

“As we keep on making the necessary effort and sacrifice, it is only a matter of time and we will begin to record a lot of victories, both home and away’’ he said.

Talle however said officiating in the league was still a source of concern.

He said the level of officiating in league matches played in Abuja was far better than what was obtainable in other parts of the country.

“The FCT clubs’ away performances in the NNL have not been that bad, but poor officiating has robbed some of our clubs of picking up vital points.

“If you take the week one

Musa Talle

game in Minna between Niger Tornadoes and Supreme Court FC of Abuja as an example, the referee made a lot of funny calls against Supreme Court FC. “In fact, two goals out of the three the home side scored were through dubious penalty kicks,’’ the FCT FA chairman claimed.

He also claimed that the FRSC FC had been ``denied two clear goals’’ in their home and away matches against Adamawa and Plateau United respectively.

“I don’t like condemning referees because they are human beings, but I will like to appeal to the Referees Appointment Committee to always try to call defaulting referees to order.

“When a referee gets a decision wrong for a consecutive number of times, he should be punished or sanctioned as the case may be, and sometimes the FA has the power to rescind such decisions.

“This is what is done in Europe,” Talle said.

The FCT FA chairman said the Nigerian league would be better developed if the league organisers adopt the kind of disciplinary measures being adopted in Europe.

Tella praised Supreme Court FC for recording two wins in the league so far and expressed the hope that the other clubs in the FCT would soon follow in their footsteps.

“We hope that those victories will bring a lot more victories to our representatives, especially on home soil,’’ he said.

The four clubs representing the FCT in the NNL are Prisons FC, FRSC FC, Supreme Court FC and TEAP FC.

PAGE 53

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Weekend Digest

Moment zebra escapes a lion ambush after walking into den • Zebra narrowly escapes after nearly trotting in to a pride of lions • Footage shows lions watching and waiting for a seemingly easy meal • Travelers relieved to see the zebra’s hasty getaway

O

blivious to what’s going on, a zebra wanders across an African river and straight in to a waiting pride of lions.

Incredible video footage has emerged showing the moment a zebra escapes a lion ambush after happily trotting into their den, in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in the southwest of Kenya.The pride of lions waits and watches for what looks to be an easy meal as the zebra unwittingly crosses the river in a direct path to the big cats.

The lions get ready to pounce on their convenient lunch as the zebra reaches the bank of the river, just metres away from them.

In a crucial life-or-death moment, the zebra sees the lion in the nick of time and makes a hasty getaway towards the other side of the river.

Shot on safari in the famous Kenyan reserve, the cameraman can be heard excitedly talking to fellow travelers about the scene that unfolds and the probable kill they expect to witness.

Audible sighs of relief can be heard on the clip as the zebra manages to escape safely.

(Dailymail)

Watching and waiting: The pride of lions look on as the zebra unwittingly makes its way towards them

Disaster awaits: Zebra has no clue it’s heading towards a lions’ den on the other side of the river

Safari cam: Footage shows the crucial moment when the zebra becomes aware of the imminent danger and makes a hasty escape

Safety dash: The zebra makes a splash as it dives in to the water to make a quick getaway from the pride of lions

PAGE 54

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

Healthy Living

Mouth ulcers

I

spent the early part of the morning on the way to the surgery sulking about my perceived injustice involving Manchester city football club in the recent Champion League match involving the team and the Barcelona football Club. In my own opinion Barcelona football team were a decent enough side and did not need the assistance of a twelfth man, the official in playing a good soccer match. The referees decision to award a dubious enough penalty kick and compound it with an ill deserved red card was too much for me to bear. Despite the most spirited efforts of the 10 man Manchester city side, the game was literarily killed off leaving them a mountain to climb in the second leg.

Now to the matter of dentistry, my first patient was one with ulcers which brings us to today’s topic.

An ulcer can occur in any part of the human body. They are named after the part in which they occur. We have peptic, duodenum, gastric, skin, foot, oesophageal, mouth ulcers, etc.

The word ulcer is a descriptive word for a discontinuation (open) in the skin or mucous membrane. Its depth, diameter varies, it could be infected, inflamed, painful, painless.

Skin ulcers develop mostly in the extremities and hidden areas of the body whereas the mucous membrane ulcers are common in the mouth and the gastro intestinal tract.

In cases of venereal disease the ulcers can affect the mucous membrane of the mouth and genitalia for those that engage in adventurous sexual practices.

Ulcers can occur in the corneal of the eye.

Ulcers can be chronic or acute.

Recurrent apthous ulcers is a form collectively used by a wide group of conditions characterised by recurrent oral ulceration.

They may be classified into sub groups. They sometimes occur as part of a generalised condition involving other organs like the cornea and the genitalia.

Apthous ulcers are inflammatory in nature, these ulcers appear roundish and occur repeatedly. They are seen on the lips. Cheeks, soft palate. These ulcers can be very painful and they become reddened (erythematous).

The area may extend in size and the central region starved of minerals and becomes necrotic or dead. The ulcers can heal with or without scarring.

The ulcers could form a single lesion to several lesions. They could be classified As minor major and herpetiform.

Minor apthous ulcers affect a sizeable part of the population and could affect just about any age group. Symptoms may precede the development of ulcers.

Apthous ulcers could be as a result of stress, local trauma, lack of iron, vitamin B12 or even foliate

deficiency.

Major apthous ulcers are a more severe variants, the ulcers formed are larger from the descriptive characteristic They could be seen in HIV- AIDS affected individuals.

Herpetiform is a descriptive word, it has no direct relationship with the herpes simplex virus infection.

Whenever ulcers occur in the oral cavity, the duration, location and number determines the approach to be taken. Is it recurrent, is it preceded by a blister, immune suppression, illness,

With

Dr. Samuel Omodele Awosolu 08108155239 (SMS only) samawosolu@yahoo.co.uk (Text only) etc? The presence or absence of pain.

The dentist will ask a history of the ulcer and based on the response and investigation give the appropriate cause and treatment mode.

The dentist may use palliative treatment to prevent infection,

avoid peppery things and biopsy whereby part or all the part of the ulcers are taken for microscopy and histology in the laboratory.

This will assist in the diagnosis.

Should you be having any ulcers in the mouth please contact your dentist.

See you next week.

Could an HIV vaccine be on the horizon?

T

he injection of antiretroviral drugs gives monkeys 100% protection. It is set to be trialled in humans and could eventually be widely available. It would be most beneficial for uninfected people who are in relationships with people who are HIV positive A new HIV vaccine could protect people from the infection for up to three months, a study suggests.

Researchers believe the injection of long-lasting drugs could temporarily provide 100 per cent protection against HIV infection.

They say this could be a huge breakthrough which would be particularly important for couples in which one partner is infected while the other is not.

In two separate studies scientists found that the vaccine gives monkeys complete protection when it is administered monthly, The New York Times reports.

However, scientists think that having a single injection just once every three months month could be sufficient to provide complete protection.

They hope the results can be replicated in humans.

Currently, people who are in a relationship with someone who is HIV positive are given low doses of antiretroviral drugs to prevent them contracting the infection.

However, this can be problematic if they forget to take the drugs at the right times and, even if they do, it only offers about 90 per cent protection.

The researchers hope this vaccine could

eventually offer a safer alternative.

Human trials of the vaccine are due to start later this year according to experts at Columbia University.

However, if this is successful, a larger human trial will still be required before the vaccine could be widely offered.

This would take a number of years.

It is thought the vaccine could be particularly beneficial for women in Africa.

Many such women with an HIV positive partner already take the daily pills but some have reported that taking medication every day leaves them open to stigma by people who assume they are already infected.

As a result, they might benefit from being able to go for a regular protective injection.

Many of these women already receive longlasting contraceptive injections for fear that their partner would be angry he found a packet of The Pill.

As a result, offering the HIV vaccine as well could be relatively easy.

Dr David Ho, director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller University told The New York Times that these contraceptive injections give ‘a good analogy for how [the AIDS vaccine] might work in developing countries’.

One of the vaccine trials was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and saw six female monkeys given monthly doses of GSK744 – a long-lasting antiretroviral drug.

Another six monkeys were given a placebo

and then they were all exposed to HIV in a way that simulated having vaginal sex with an infected man.

The researchers observed that none of the vaccinated monkeys became infected while all of the unprotected ones did.

The second study was designed to establish whether the vaccine could be as effective in people having anal sex with someone HIV positive.

It was carried out at Rockefeller University, in New York, and involved 16 monkeys who were injected with the same drug.

During the study none of the monkeys who

were given the vaccine contracted the infection while all of the unprotected ones did.

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told The New York Times that the results are ‘very impressive for something in the animal model’.

‘This is the most exciting innovation in the field of HIV prevention that I’ve heard recently,’ added Dr Robert Grant, an AIDS expert at the Gladstone Institutes, a foundation affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco.

(New York Times)

The vaccine could be particularly beneficial for HIV negative people who are in relationships with people who are HIV positive. Image shows HIV in human tissue

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY 8 - SUNDAY 9 MARCH, 2014

PAGE 55

FROM THE PULPIT Becoming a habitual thanksgiver (II)

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raise the Lord! I started this message last week, and said thanksgiving should not be something you do towards the end of December or whenever something you consider important has happened to you. It is something you should do as a lifestyle. If you missed that edition, please ask your vendor for it or access it online. As I promised last week, I want continue from where I stopped.

Basic truths about thanksgiving Before one embarks on this important discipline, it is important to understand some basic truths about thanksgiving 1. Thanksgiving is an ordinance (a command) of God. In Lev 7:12 and Lev 22:29, thanksgiving offering is mentioned. The children of Israel offer this to God as a requirement. Ps 122:3-4 says, “Jerusalem is a well-built city, knit together as a single unit. All the people of Israel — the LORD’s people — make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the LORD as the law requires.” (NLT) God requires thanksgiving from His children. He says, “I don’t need the bulls you sacrifice; I don’t need the blood of goats. What I want instead is your true thanks to God. I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High.” (Ps 50:13-14 NLT) Therefore, not to offer thanksgiving to God is to act contrary to the ordinance.

2. Thanksgiving must be offered in an acceptable manner. God doesn’t accept just any thanks. “When you bring a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, it must be sacrificed properly so it will be accepted on your behalf.” (Lev 22:29 NLT) 3. Thanksgiving must start with right thinking. If you can think, you

can thank. The first Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. was established by American colonists in 1621 to thank God for a bountiful harvest. In 1789, U.S. President George Washington declared a national day of thanksgiving in honor of the new constitution.

Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national holiday, Thanksgiving Day, in the U.S as “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” That must have been the result of correct thinking, an appreciation of God. It’s being observed till today whether or not majority of the people actually thank God in an acceptable manner to God is a different matter because majority of Americans on that day only engage in self gratification - eating, drinking, entertainment etc. - rather than giving thanks to God. 4.

Thanksgiving must be heartfelt – it must not be mechanical, perfunctory or uttering words of thanks not based on a feeling of gratitude. You must really feel grateful not just saying, “Thank you Jesus” that you don’t mean.

God rejects some thanksgiving; He is discriminatory about the thanks he receives or rejects.

For instance, in Luke 18:9-14, there is nothing to show that God accepted the Pharisee’s thanksgiving. “Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector,

standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14 NKJV” The Pharisee’s thanks to God made no sense because he was a self-righteous proud man. He didn’t approach God with humility.

Importance of Thanksgiving • Thanksgiving helps you to show and convey your gratitude to God for who He is to you and for what he has done for you including salvation, blessings and miracles. (Ps 103) • It helps you to express your acknowledgement that God is the source of your blessings; He owns all that you have.

• Thanksgiving keeps you humble.

True heartfelt thanksgiving protects you against pride. It empties you of pride as you continually thank God. Because you are giving the credit to God, you remain humble. There is nothing to boast about.

• Thanksgiving keeps you focused on God and not yourself or your circumstances. Because you’re focused on Him, He keeps increasing in your life.

God takes you over. “But if God himself takes up residence in your life you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.” (Rom 8:9 The Message) • Thanksgiving invigorates you; it energizes you. Thanksgiving releases joy, and the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Neh 8:10) One who gives thanks habitually cannot be a captive of his circumstance. Thanksgiving is an antidote for depression or a sorrowful spirit.

• Thanksgiving enables you to gain

GREEN PASTURES

BY PASTOR T. O. BANSO cedarministryintl@yahoo.com GSM: 08033113523 heaven`s perspective especially in times of adversity. When you’re thanking God in such a situation, God will show you more than what you can see physically, something that will make you rejoice rather than sorrowful.

In Acts 5, the disciples saw beyond their suffering and were rejoicing after they had been beaten by the religious authorities. “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” (Acts 5:41 NKJV) Their persecutors must have been dumbfounded. 1Thess 5:18 says, “No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (NLT) • Thanksgiving delivers you from anxiety. In Matt 6:25-34, Jesus taught us not to worry because worry changes nothing. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.” (NLT) When you thank God for what He has done for you and for the requests you believe He has granted, you don’t get paralyzed by worry. Thanksgiving frees you from worry. Phil 4:6-7 says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (NKJV) Take note of that phrase: “with thanksgiving.”

Please I’ll have to stop this message here today; I’ll bring you the concluding part next week. I believe God has

spoken to you already. Don’t be a reader alone. Be a doer of the Word. Become a habitual thanksgiver!

TAKE ACTION! If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus. I urge you to take the following steps:*Admit you’re a sinner and you can’t save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start to attend a Bible-believing, Bible -teaching church.

There you will be taught how to grow in the Kingdom of God. Kindly say this prayer now: “0 Lord God, I come unto you today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and resurrected the third day.

I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour and surrender my life to him today. I invite Jesus into my heart today. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank you Jesus for saving me and making me a child of God” I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You will need to join a Bible believing, Bible teaching church in your area where you will be taught how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things becoming all God wants you to be.

Exhortation to right motives in prayer (II) 2.

THE RESPONSE AND RESOURCEFULNESS OF CONSECRATED MISSIONARIES Acts 11:19-26; 8:1-5; 17:6,1618; 19:10-12,20; Ephesians 3:8; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Acts 14:22; 15:19,20; 11:21-24; Ezra 7:6,10,28; Ezekiel 37:1-10; Matthew 28:1820. ow they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only” (Acts 11:19). From this point, the course of the history of the Church takes a new direction.

The narrative now goes back to the time of “the persecution that arose about Stephen”. Those who were “scattered abroad” “travelled as far as Antioch” “preaching the Word”. “Some of them spake unto the Grecians (Gentiles), preaching the Lord Jesus” (Acts 11:20).

Those who brought the gospel to Antioch were not Apostles. This was an important step in the forward march of the Church. Antioch was the third city of the Roman Empire and it has been called “the Paris of the ancient world”.

From here, Paul and his

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companions later went forth on their missionary journeys, taking the gospel to the Gentiles. These unnamed disciples who first preached the gospel in Antioch kept the salvation message free from the ceremonial laws of Judaism.

These unordained, unpaid evangelists and missionaries set a great example of missionary outreach during the triumphant period of the Church’s history.

If the early Church had committed the work of pastors and missionaries to only employed preachers and evangelists, their world would never have been evangelized. If they all had to be paid for their services, very few churches would have been established.

“And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord” (Acts 11:21). The expression, the hand, the arm, the finger of God or of the Lord, means, the power, the might, the supernatural miracleworking energy of God. The power of God which followed them and impressed their preaching on the hearts of the hearers, convicted and converted them. The Lord working with the ministers of the Word, caused “a great number” to believe that Jesus was the Christ, who died and rose again for their justification. Believing, they turned away from their sins, transgressions,

BY PASTOR W.F KUMUYI iniquities, vanities, idols, evil ways (Acts 3:26; 14:15; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; Jonah 3:10) and turned wholeheartedly to the Lord.

3. THEIR READINESS FOR THE RESPONSIBILITY OF A CARING MINISTRY Acts 11:27-30; 15:32; Ephesians 4:11-14; Matthew 7:15-23; 24:23-25; 2 Peter 2:1-3,18-22; 2 Corinthians 8:25; Acts 4:34; Romans 15:25-27; Luke 19:10,13; Romans 1:14-16; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23.

“And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.” In the New Testament, “prophets” were teachers, and instructors sent from God. To teach the people the doctrine of Christ and the way to heaven was a major part of the prophetic office (1

Corinthians 14:3; Mark 11:32; Luke 1:76; 7:28; 16:29-31; Acts 3:22,23; 15:32; Ephesians 2:20; 3:5; 4:11-14; 2 Peter 3:2). Foretelling the future by revelation and inspiration of the Spirit was also part of the prophetic office. “Agabus signified by the Spirit that there should be dearth throughout all the world.” A world-wide famine was prophesied.

So the believers “determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea.”

These Gentile believers felt compelled to send relief to the Jewish brethren. They had received immeasurable spiritual benefit from the Jewish church so they were willing to show gratitude and send material things to them to meet or supply their temporal needs. They sent the needed

help “by the hands of Barnabas and Saul”, the leading ministers in the Church. Responding to the spiritual needs of communities and nations in famine demands that we send the best of our ministers.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11,12).

The most grievous of all famines is the famine of hearing the words of the Lord. This is a period of severe spiritual famine in many countries all over the world. Many famished souls wander from place to place seeking the true way of salvation, seeking the nourishing Word of God but they are dying without hope of heaven.

We cannot keep to ourselves and act unconcerned. We must send “relief”, send “the bread of life” and “the water of life”, the gracious gospel of God, to perishing souls in other nations. And we must be willing to send the most faithful, the most effective and the most spiritual of our ministers and members to reach the unreached before they become unreachable.

BIG PUNCH There is no future for Nigeria without addressing the problem of insecurity.

Nigeria must be secured. Nigeria must be efficiently managed. The no. 1 problem of Nigeria is insecurity.

—Buhari at APC summit

PEOPLES DAILY WEEKEND, SATURDAY — SUNDAY, MARCH 8-9, 2014

Boko Haram: Why traditional rulers should do more T

he Boko Haram menace has certainly become a national calamity that deserves a more serious attention, not only from the security agencies but every Nigerian and more importantly the royal fathers, who are at a vantage position to nip the problem in the bud. This call became more imperative in view of what appears to be the failure of law enforcement agents and state apparatus to successfully tame this monster that is gradually turning the North-east states and perhaps, the nation into a death chamber. This wickedness has reduced the northern part of the country into a killing field and exposed the leadership ineptitude at the highest level. The latitude the terrorists now exude reiterates the sorry state of insecurity in the country, as there is hardly a day, without reports of citizens being maimed or killed!

Over the last couple of years, Boko Haram has been responsible for most of the violent death of Nigerians outside the civil war and perhaps, the worst threat to national security and unity. The Nigerian government may have allowed the menace to fester for too long now that the sect has graduated into a new daring stage that looks like a coordinated guerrilla warfare against the State. It would be recalled that when the Federal Government announced plans for a military offensive against the insurgents, the calculation then was that the Islamist fundamentalist group would be wiped-out and that peace would be restored to the troubled region. Regrettably, the increasing spate of destruction of lives and property in the region by the sect has clearly negated this position because there is virtually nothing our law enforcements have been able to eliminate this nagging problem. The military and police too, have been victims of this terror attacks in addition to the many children, school children, women and the aged that were eliminated.

But one thing I am sure of is that there is the very likelihood that the nation may experience a remarkable improvement in this fight, if the traditional rulers could be more committed.

This is going to be possible by virtue of the fact that the royal fathers are very close to their subjects. Not only are they

close – they are highly revered and accorded great respect – by virtue of African culture and tradition. The customary law, which governs the traditional institution sets out the procedures of ascension into a throne based on the principle of primogeniture – surviving first son succeeds his father on the throne, or it may be gerontocracy – where the oldest man in the kingdom occupies the throne, or a rotational system where the kingship rotates from one ruling house to another. In short, the beauty of this authority is that whoever emerges as the ruler should ordinarily enjoy the support of the people.

In the past, traditional leaders played the role of upholding the values and administering the affairs of their domain. They were saddled with the responsibilities of working with municipalities to identify the needs of their communities and getting involved in the shaping and participating in service delivery, even though some of these sacred attributes of our traditional leaders have been eroded over the years by the political class. By that, royal fathers understood the terrain, language, myths, respect and the psyche of their people without any difficulty.

It was not so difficult to isolate any troublemaker or infiltrators into their territories, using local and native intelligence, vigilante and communal loyalty. In actual fact, these are just what we need, more than ever before, to put a check on the insurgents. Therefore, government should try something new and reach out to traditional institutions by soliciting their intervention in finding a lasting solution to this crisis.

For instance, the Northern traditional council and Islamic leaders – where the attacks are more severe – the Emirs could hold the keys to accessing these people, who may not be faceless as some critics would want us to believe.

Afterall, they are human beings and not ghosts! To start with, these authorities and institutions have a sacred duty to broker peace by solemnly admitting that the continued killing by Boko Haram is no longer acceptable in their domains. They should come out to tell Nigerians that the Islam faith they practice is not the same as that, which the fundamental group is professing. Once this is done,

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GUEST COLUMNIST Adewale Kupoluyi adewalekupoluyi@yahoo.co.uk

Shehu of Borno, Alhaji (Dr) Abubakar Ibn Garbai El-Kanemi

the fight against terror attacks will significantly get the needed boost. At a recent joint meeting of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council and Northern Elders Forum, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, had accused political leadership in the North of slowing down the peace process and development by failing to implement various recommendations by traditional rulers on the way forward for the region. According to the Sultan, the traditional institution had been in existence long before

“

the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914, noting that it has a strong leadership and vision to ensure that their communities lived in peace.

“I want to assure all and sundry that the northern traditional institutions do not have a political party but we are the administrators of our people.

Not having a political party does not mean we will not tell our political leaders the truth when they go off the road. We will tell them where they are going wrong when we see it and tell them what

The Nigerian government may have allowed the menace to fester for too long now that the sect has graduated into a new daring stage that looks like a coordinated guerrilla warfare against the State.

to do to bring development to our people. When we give such advice, we will be very happy because we have done our responsibilities.

If we give them the advice, it is left to them to either accept our advice or not. While we are giving advice, we can always contribute rightly to the development and peaceful coexistence of people in our various places. Our political party is the welfare of our people wherever they are and that is our concern and nothing more”, he added.

In the North, where religion and tradition are interwoven, traditional and spiritual leadership are not only a simpler form of government, but are more accessible in the sense that they are closer to their subjects than any other system of government in the sense that they live in the same village and naturally, with the easy access to such leaders, decision-making process becomes democratic and consensus-based, which invariably creates greater harmony and unity. This is what is completely absent from Nigeria as a nation-state. It is a truism that getting new results from the old ways of doing things is almost a mirage. Hence, more emphasis should be placed on a new approach through grassroots intelligence gathering and monitoring to make the tracking of the insurgents more tactical.

In view of the transnational dimension of the sect’s activities, alliancesshouldalsobeformedwith neighbouring countries, to ensure that their territories are no longer used as bases and battlefields to launch attacks on the country. That is why the cross-border interactions between the authorities of both Nigeria and Cameroon, through the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC), is laudable.

Finally, while I am not really canvassing for the granting of a constitutional role for traditional rulers, they should, however, be made to contribute largely to the maintenance of peace, order and security in their jurisdiction by making them accountable. By this, we should certainly be winning the war on terror.

Kupoluyi writes from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, vide, adewalekupoluyi@ yahoo.co.uk, Twitter, @ AdewaleKupoluyi

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