Peoples Daily Newspaper, Thursday 08, August, 2013

www.peoplesdailyng.com

Vol. 11 No. 59

Thursday, August 8, 2013

FMC Yola saves baby born with 4 legs >> Pg 2

. . . putting the people first

Breakfast: I respect Jonathan, says IBB >> Pg 5

Shawwal 1, 1434 AH

N150

Cultists kill student in Nasarawa Poly >> Pg 3

Police protest salary cuts ...As vigilante nabs vandal constable

By Lambert Tyem, Abuja & Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

P

olicemen across the country have raised alarm over what they described as, “arbitrary deductions from their salaries”,

and called on the Minister of Police Affairs and the National Assembly to intervene on the situation.

The personnel alleged that the Mechanised Salary Section of the police made deductions of N5,000 each from their salaries

without notice so as to enable the authorities to procure shares of Fokas Savings and Loans Limited.

Some of the policemen who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that the scheme was “dubious”, because they were

not informed about it prior to the salary deduction.

They added that it was after the first cut that some of them were informed by some superiors who explained that the amount would be deducted monthly until further

notice.

An Inspector narrated that: “Last week I received a text message from my bank notifying me that my salary had been paid.

However, I found out that N5,000 Contd. on Page 2

Today is Eid-el Fitr Police, Civil Defence beef up security From Mohammed Mahmud, Sokoto

M

uslims in Nigerian are today joining their counterparts in most parts of the world to mark the festival of Eidel Fitr, which is referred to in most parts of northern Nigeria as Karamar Sallah.

This followed the formal announcement, last night, of the sighting of the moon of Shawwal by the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of the Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III. Earlier in the day, Saudi authorities had also announced the sighting of the moon in various parts of the Kingdom, thereby making today Eid day there too.

In a short special broadcast to Nigerian Muslims at about 9.45pm yesterday, the Sultan who is also leader of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) said: “In line with the laid down rules and regulations, I have the Contd. on Page 2

L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan in a chat with Lagos state Governor Babatunde Fashola, yesterday at the governor’s residence in Lagos, when the president paid a condolence visit to Fashola over the death of his father.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Anambra Guber: Confusion in PDP over party chairman >>Pg 4

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

News CONTENTS News

2-10

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

19-22

Stockwatch S/Report

23 24-25

Earth

26-27

Update

28-29

Baby with four legs: Doctors carry out successful surgery From Umar Dankano, Yola

A

two months old baby girl born with a rare congenital defect called “dipygus,” (small extra legs between the normal legs caused by the body axis forking in the dipygus condition) has been given a hope of survival in life through a rigorous surgery by doctors at Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Yola.

The baby was born in Konkol village with four limbs a situation that sparked off anxiety and fear in the community of Maiha local government area of Adamawa state, with some residents calling the baby ‘spirit.’

The baby was later moved

to the FMC for examination and treatment. Checks by our correspondent in Yola revealed that doctors are optimistic about her chances of survival while the mother, Ramatu Mani is said to be traumatized.

Dipygus is a congenital distal abnormality defined as the presence of one or more arms or limbs between the two normal arms or buttocks of the individual and it is an extremely rare malformation.

After surgeries to give her new life, the team of doctors led by a renown pediatric surgeon, Prof.

Awwal Abubakar, said that, “we are happy to report that the baby is doing well.”

Abubakar said that the surgery

which lasted about two hours involved a team of other doctors, surgeons, and nurses, and was an accomplishment for FMC efforts.

“The infant is recovering but will require periodic monitoring as she grows,’’ he noted.

While advising people to report such birth defects to medical experts and not to attach superstition, the surgeon explained that dipygus is a birth defect involving limbs (a type of dysmelia) in which the affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs or arms and the extra limb is most commonly shrunken or deformed.

“We need to actually sensitise our communities to accept that this problem will be tackled and

those babies are going to live normal life. So there is no need to deny them access to good medical care,’’ he said.

Abubakar commended management of the FMC for shouldering the surgery expenses.

Father of the yet to be named baby, Malam Mani Ladu Margi, praised Almighty Allah for saving the life of his first child as according to him, “I am short of words but praise be to the Lord for saving the life of my only baby.

Earlier, the FMC Chief Medical Director, Dr. Aliyu Danburam, said that in a bid to assist those in need, the centre introduced social welfare unit and many had been assisted.

Police protest salary cuts CAF Awards: Ikpeba tips Emenike, Mikel, Page 41

Int’l

31-34

Strange World

35

Digest

36

Politics

37-38

Newsxtra

39-40

Sports

41-46

Leisure

47

Columnist

48

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Contd. from Front Page had been deducted. It was a few days later that we were given forms and we were then told that we had to buy shares compulsorily.

“How could the deductions have been made before I even filled the form? The police authorities are leveraging on the fact that policemen cannot openly protest. The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, must look into this”, the Inspector said.

Another policeman also alleged that the scheme was not well planned, saying some of the officers and men approaching retirement “should be left out”.

According to him: “I have been a policeman for 34 years and I am

close to retirement. People like me should have been left out from this scheme. I am already a member of the Nigeria Police Cooperative Multipurpose Society. Who is forcing people to buy shares that are unclear?

“N2,000 was deducted from the salaries of senior police officers while N1,000 was deducted from the rank and file as compulsory contribution towards the World Police and Fire Games in which Nigerian policemen will participate. Why can’t the Federal Government pay from its own purse?”, another officer who said he would be retiring in November this year queried.

Responding, Police Spokesman Frank Mba confirmed the cuts but

said it is legal and in order.

“We are indeed deducting salaries of every service personnel and it will continue for two months.

It is legal and for the best interest of the members of the Force. We have documents backing up the deductions”, Mr. Mba said.

He promised to show our reporter the backup documents any time required.

Meanwhile, a Vigilante Group in Kebbi state has arrested a police constable among five cable thieves in Kardi/Ambursa Development Area of the state.

Narrating the incident, the Deputy Commandant, Operations, of the Vigilante Group, Mohammed Lawal , told journalists in Birnin Kebbi that his men caught the

cable thieves “red-handed”.

The DC confirmed that among those in custody was a police constable arrested along with four others and that they seized his identity card and other bank documents found in his possession.

“We arrested five of the vandals including a police constable on the spot; we have his identity card and bank documents in his possession as our evidence. We have handed them over to the police for further investigation’’, the commandant said.

When contacted,the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer in Kebbi state, Inspector Bala Sule said he would not comment on the matter because the commissioner of police was not in town.

Today is Eid-el Fitr Contd. from Front Page pleasure to inform you that the new moon of Shawwal has been sighted today, Wednesday, 29th day of Ramadan, 1434 after hijra of the holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which is equivalent to the 7th August, 2013”.

According to Sultan Abubakar III, “Reliable reports of moon sighting were received from Muslim leaders and organisations across the country, which were duly verified and authenticated by the National Moon Sighting Committee”.

He stressed that: “Subsequent upon this information, and in line with laid down Islamic rules and regulation, tomorrow (today), Thursday, the 8th day of August, 2013, becomes the 1st day of Shawwal, 1434 AH, and day of Eid-el Fitr.

“I congratulate all Muslims for the successful completion of the Ramadan fast. May Allah (SWT) accept all our religious deeds and reward us with paradise, amin”, the nation’s Islamic leader concluded.

Meanwhile, news reports that Muslims in some parts of Kebbi state marked the Eid yesterday following the reported sighting of the moon in various areas.

For instance, reports from Argungu showed that in one of the Juma’at (Friday) mosques at Sabon Garin Kanta, the Imam of the mosque Malam Abubakar Isah led some faithful to observe the two raka’at prayer which started at about 9.00am.

Chairman of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a wa Ikamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) in Argungu local government area, Dr Muhammad

Abubakar Wali, while speaking to newsmen after the prayer explained that their observance of the Eid was “not because we are not loyal to our leaders, but we must follow the instructions of Allah and his prophet”.

He quoted the prophet as saying:“You fast at the moon sight, and you go for Eid-el Fitr at the sighting of the moon of Shawwal by two trustworthy or many people”.

Further justifying their action, he said: “We learnt that the moon was seen in many parts of Kebbi state. Therefore, we have no reason to disobey the teachings of the holy Prophet”.

Dr Abubakar said the misunderstanding on the issue of moon sighting occurs from time to time, and that possibly the Sultan of Sokoto did not hear about the

moon sighing in Kebbi.

In the meantime, reports from Saudi Arabia indicated earlier yesterday that the Supreme Court confirmed the sighting of Shawwal crescent by reliable witnesses.

According to the Arab News, the Supreme Court, congratulated Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, Crown Prince Salman, other members of the royal family, Saudis and all Muslims on the advent of Eid-el Fitr.

Similarly, reports indicated yesterday that Kuwait, Jordan and Palestine will also mark Eid today. However, Oman announced that Shawwal moon had not been sighted and Eid-el Fitr would be marked tomorrow (Friday).

Some other reports indicated that in Japan, the Shawwal moon had also been sighted.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 3

News Borno: JTF intensifies security checks From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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L-R: Governor Umar Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa state and Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), during the NCPC boss’ visit to the Nasarawa governor, yesterday in Lafia.

2015: Jonathan has right to second term - Enang Says Senate to revisit Section 29(4)(b) vote

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

W

ith regards to the rotational debates that has dominated who becomes president ahead of the 2015 general elections, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, has insisted that President Goodluck Jonathan has constitutional rights to seek reelection in 2015 polls.

Enang (PDP/Akwa Ibom) said this when he hosted soon-to-be called to bar Akwa-Ibom students in the Nigerian Law School, Abuja campus, led by Udeme Ekott.

According to him, all arguments being canvassed by people wanting President Jonathan not to seek for re-election come 2015 in respect of rotational presidency between

the Northern and Southern axis of the country and alleged agreement to that effect, are not as strong as the constitutional qualification the President has to re-contesting for the election .

“Section 135 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, stipulates 4-year tenure of office for President of the country which can be renewed once through electoral contest by any president in office as obtainable in the United States of America, the country Nigeria models its democracy after.

“President Jonathan is just serving the first 4year of such constitutional provision, having the other one there available for him to activate at the appropriate time, if he so wishes to contest for

the 2015 Presidential election”, he explained.

Stressing his point further, Enang declared “Without being biased, God has ordained at this time, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to be the president of the country.

Therefore we need to give him all the support he desires and deserves until he seeks another term.

“I am praying that if Jonathan seeks a second term, we should all rise up and support him because it is his right to seek a second term. It is provided for in the constitution and when he seeks, we will encourage the party (PDP) to support him, he will win and then he will go ahead to win the national election.

“But how do we support him, it is by appraising, criticizing what he is

doing right or wrong and drawing his attention to it because government is built by people criticizing what government is doing and what government is not doing right”, he said.

On the controversial section 29(4)(b) of the 1999 constitution otherwise known in the polity now as Child marriage, Enang reiterated that the senate votes on the section would be revisited, with a view to deleting it from the constitution.

He said the public grossly misrepresented the Senate on Section 29(4)(b) vote, saying the contentious Section has been part of the 1999 Constitution.

“Lawmakers only sought to delete the discriminatory Section and not in any way introduce or created it”, he explained.

peratives of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) in Borno state yesterday intesified stop-and- search operations on motorists and pedestrian in Maiduguri metropolis.

This followed the security alert issued to by the JTF on an alleged plan by the Boko Haram insurgents to launch bloody attack during the Sallah festival.

Our correspondent observed several security check points were mounted in various roads and streets of the capital city, leading to long queue of vehicles.

Similarly although residents were conducting their normal activities unhindered, soldiers were seen patrolling major areas of the city.

Spokesman for the task force, Lt.Col. Sagir Musa, disclosed that the security forces are determined and working towards a peaceful and hitch-free Sallah celebration in the state.

According to Lt. Col. Musa JTF had deployed its personnel to all the nooks and crannies of the state capital in order to guarantee the lives and properties of law abiding citizens.

“Although we now enjoy relative peace, we will leave no stone unturned to provide adequate security before, during and after the Ed-el Fitr festivities.

Members of the public are urged to conduct their religious worship and other lawful businesses peacefully and cooperate with the security agencies”, he urged.

Our correspondent also reported that Youth Volunteer Vigilante Group popularly known as civilian ‘JTF’ have embarked on massive search in the metropolis.

Both male and female passengers were made to line up and were searched by the youth.

It was observed that female passengers and pedestrians were thoroughly being search by female civilian JTF.

Cultists kill student in Nasarawa poly Jonathan’s leadership excites From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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oodness Ogochukwu, a pre-National Diploma in Accountancy student at the Nasarawa state Polytechnic, was Tuesday afternoon shot and killed by suspected cultists while the deceased was out taking his lunch within the vicinity of the institution, with the dead body deposited at the mortuary of the Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH).

Several other students sustained various degrees of injuries, when the suspected cultists, armed with a gun and machetes, stormed the restaurant where late Ogochukwu was having his lunch, with two other students still receiving treatment at the hospital from machete cuts.

Confirming the incident to journalists in his office, Rector of the polytechnic, Emmanuel Jatau, blamed the recurrent trend of cult activities in the vicinity of the school to the lack of hostel facilities in the institution, which he said, would allow the management of the polytechnic to properly monitor the conduct of the students.

Jatau noted that the issue of cultism is not peculiar to Nasarawa Polytechnic alone, stressing that the institution has, in a bid to nib the ugly trend in the bud, liaised with the police to arrest the situation, adding that the situation is further compounded with the students living in the larger community and are capable of being influenced.

He disclosed that following the development, the police have

instructed the hospital authorities not to release the students in their care, pending further investigations, warning that any student found to be involved in cultism, will be expelled.

The rector stated that as part of its effort to check cult activities in the institution, management, in conjunction with the House committee on education, has sponsored a bill on the floor of the state assembly, seeking to empower the institution to expel any student found engaging in cult activities, with the bill said to have already passed second reading.

On the fate of the five students of the institution already confirmed to belong to different cults, Jatau was emphatic that the students would soon be suspended pending further investigations.

APC, says Presidency

T

he Presidency said yesterday that the invitation by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Goodluck Jonathan might not be unconnected with the President’s leadership qualities.

Describing the invitation as a compliment, Presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, told State House correspondents that the Presidency sees the call made by the APC’s interim Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, as a pointer to the fact that the leaders of the opposition party recognise Jonathan as the best man for the job.

He ruled the possibility of Jonathan joining the APC as according to Abati, “I think it the

APC’s invitation is a compliment.

“What Chief Akande has said in essence is that President Jonathan is the best man for the job.

“They formed a party only to realise they don’t have a candidate. We thank him for his acknowledgment of the President’s leadership qualities, but he (the President) is happy where he is.

“We thank Chief Akande for his expression of confidence in President Jonathan’s credibility but the President is happy where he is, as a member and leader of the PDP to which he remains loyal, and under the umbrella of which he is leading a transformation agenda for the betterment of the lives of Nigerians.”

PAGE 4

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

News Anambra Guber: Confusion in PDP over party chairman ...disqualifies three aspirants

By Lawrence Olaoye

C

onfusion now reigns in the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) over the authenticity of its Anambra chapter’s acknowledged chairman as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has a different idea over the matter.

Investigations revealed that while the National Secretariat of the Party named Chief Ken Emeakayi as the recognised State Chairman of the Party in the State,the Independent National Electoral Commission,INEC was insisting on Chief Ejike oguebago as the authentic state Chairman based on Congress organised by the party in the state and monitored by the commission.

There is also a raging controversy among the members of the PDP National Working Committee,NWC over a letter discovered at INEC headquarters in Abuja reportedly given recognition to Oguebego as against Emeakayi earlier recognised by the party.

INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega had told news men in Abuja that there was no controversy on who was the the chairman of the PDP in Anambra state since there was a Party Congress in the state and that they would continue to recognise the person who emerged as the state Chairman from that Congress until there was a valid court order to contrary.

Jega who pointed out that though the party claimed that there was a court order that had sacked Oguebego, he said the Commission was not aware of such a court and threfore could not act on hearsay.

Sources at both the National Secretariat of the Party and INEC headquarters in Abuja disclosed that worried by development and its implications on the forthcoming governorship election in the State,a delegation of the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PDP yesterday reportedly stormed the INEC headquarters with relevant documents to show that Oguebego had allegedly been sacked by the Court and should be replaced with Emeakayi.

However, it was gathered that the NWC delegation was stunned on getting to INEC only to discover that there was another counter letter from the National Chairman of the Party,Alhaji Bamanga Tukur which actually gave recognition to Oguebego who was also being recognised by the Commission.

A competent source at the INEC disclosed in confidence that based on the development the commission received the documents as well as the earlier letter from Alhaji Tukur and passed same to its legal department for further action to guide it on what to do.

It was gathered that as a follow up,most of the governorship aspirants who were taken aback by the strange development at the INEC reportedly met for several hours behind the closed doors to deliberate because of its implications on their aspirations if not resolved on time.

In a swift reaction to the development, the INEC yesterday declared that the Commission has not changed its earlier position on the matter but that it had received a presentation from the party and was studying same.

Meanwhile, Chief Press Secretary to INEC boss,Mr Kayode Idowu, confirmed that the Commission actually received fresh representation from the Party and that the Commission would look into it and take approprate decision.

In a related development, the Senator Aminu Wali led Screening Committee for Anambra Gubernatorial Aspirants has cleared 14 of the 17 aspirants and disqualified three on sundry grounds Those who were not satisfied with their disqualifications have the choice to appeal before an Appeal Committee which would sit tomorrow(Frday) in Abuja.

Eid-el Fitr: Jonathan congratulates Muslims, reaffirms commitment to national transformation

By Etuka Sunday

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday congratulated all Nigerians of the Islamic faith for the successful completion of the long period Ramadan fast, reassuring Nigerians of his administration’s firm believe in the transformation of the country.

The President also specially thanked those who responded to calls by him and other leaders

for special prayers during the Ramadan for greater peace, security and progress in Nigeria.

The President joins them and all other patriotic citizens in the pious expectation that God Almighty would hearken to the supplications of the faithful and bless Nigeria even more abundantly with peace, political stability and national prosperity.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Jonathan

seizes the opportunity of the Eidel-Fitr celebrations to reassure all Nigerians of his resolute commitment to overcoming all distractions and delivering on his promise of good governance and national transformation.

Goodluck assures Nigerians that his Administration will continue working tirelessly to build on the firm foundations for sustainable national development which it has already established in key areas such as public infrastructure, power

supply, roads, transportation, aviation, agriculture, education, healthcare, youth employment and electoral reform.

He also urged other elected officials at all levels of governance to avoid overheating the polity with unnecessary ethnic and political intrigues, and give the highest priority to fulfilling their promises of better living conditions for the electorate first, before turning their minds to plans and permutations for future elections.

Former Minister of FCT, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, signing the register during his condolence visit yesterday to Gov. Babatunde Fashola on the death of his father, Pa Ademola Fashola.

Sultan urges Muslims to pray for peaceful co-existence

By Halima Mohammed

T

he Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has enjoined the Muslim community to pray fervently for peaceful coexistence in Nigeria.

He also asked them to pray

against all manners of conspiracies and destructive plots fashioned against Muslims and Islamic values.

In a press statement signed by the JNI Secretary General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, the Sultan thanked Allah for sparing the lives of the Muslim um-

mah to have observed the act of worshiping through fasting this year.

He advised Muslims to always cast back their minds to the good virtues of the month of Ramadan and adhere to its teachings all through their lives and above all, to keep to

the ordinances of the Glorious Qur’an, for the dignity of the Ummah and humanity.

The statement also urged Muslims to prepare for the Sittah-Shawwal which is the sixday fasting recommended by the Prophet which comes after the Ramadan.

Tambuwal calls on Nigerians to close ranks for peace

S

peaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has urged Nigerians to promote attributes that unite the country, rather than laying emphasis on seemingly divisive tendencies among the various ethnic and religious groups in the country.

In a message to commemorate this year’s Eid-el Fitr celebration issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal appealed to leaders at all levels to close ranks and work for the unity and progress of the nation.

He said the devotion and sacrifices made by Muslims in the last 30 days should be replicated in our every day lives, adding that the month-long eriod of self-restraint should serve as reminder of our commitment to our Fatherland

and humanity.

“The same way we all remembered the less fortunate and those afflicted by poverty and disease during Ramadan, I implore us to carry over those attributes to our

engagements after Ramadan. Only by so doing can we truly say we have imbibed the teachings of the Holy month into our every day lives,” the Speaker stated.

While congratulating Nigerians,

especially Muslims, for witnessing this year’s Eid-el Fitr, the Speaker said the House of Representatives will at all times strive for the unity, peace and development of the country.

Eid-el Fitr: Prevail on insurgents to lay down arms, says ACF From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

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rewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on Muslims to prevail on the insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace the offer of constructive engagement offered by the Nigerian government in the interest of peace, the Muslim faith and for national unity.

A statement signed by ACF, National Publicity Secretary, Anthony N Z Sani, and made

available to newsmen in Kaduna facilitated with Muslims ummah as they celebrate Eid-el Fitr. “ ACF enjoins Muslims to make the spirit of purification, forgiveness and mercy that are associated with the fasting and deprivation in the month of Ramadan to outlive the period and prevail in the daily lives of the faithful for the glory of God and for humanity now and for eternity.

“This is because the spirit of purification, forgiveness and mercy that gives rise to generous disposition to the needy among us

are essential ingredients for peaceful coexistence needed for meaningful socio economic development of any society and nation, Nigeria not being an exception”.

“Where that being the case,ACF appeals to all Nigerians, especially Muslims, to help prevail on the insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace the offer of constructive engagement offered by the Nigerian government in the interest of peace, interest of the Muslim faith and for national interest,” the statement said.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 5

News

Breakfast meeting: I respect Jonathan, says IBB

By Halima Mohammed

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ormer military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has said that he holds President Goodluck Jonathan in high esteem, and

Boko Haram: WAEC withholds results for N/East From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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oko Haram insurgency in North Eastern part of Nigeria has hampered the release of full result for this year May/ June examinations, Head, WAEC National Office (Nigeria), Charles Eguridu said.

Eguridu speaking at a press briefing to announce the result said the Council is unable to declare full result for the May/ June exams because of insurgency attacks which led to misplacement of examination scripts and the loss of three of its staff.

“We are unable to provide statistics of candidates who obtained credit and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics at this time, because many candidates in the North Eastern part of the country have partial results at the moment, due to security challenges encountered there during the conduct of the examination, particularly loss of scripts,” Eguridu said.

The WAEC boss further explained that while the attacks lasted, it was discovered that some vehicles conveying the examination scripts were raided by insurgents and the missing scripts are not found yet.

“Where the totality of the candidates examination scripts are missing, there is nothing we can do about that but we would afford them the opportunity of re-writing the exams at no cost.

We decide to release the result because we are aware that some candidates want to use it to gain admission to tertiary institutions,” Eguridu said.

also reckons with the enormous challenges of before the incumbent president.

In a statement issued from the former leader’s office in Minna yesterday in which Babangida denied turning down President Jonathan’s request for a breakfast meeting, the retired general said he “will be more than willing to have unconditional breakfast meeting or any other meeting for that matter”.

According to the statement, “former President IBB had visited President Goodluck Jonathan more than twice since his

assumption of office, meetings which afforded the two leaders the opportunity to brainstorm on the challenges confronting the country”.

Emphasizing that “there was no time that the President (Jonathan) requested for a breakfast meeting with General IBB, let alone turned down by the former president”, the statement which was not signed stressed that: “As a trained officer of the Nigeria military, the former President is equipped with discipline and patriotism to constituted authorities at

different levels of government”.

It will be recalled that Peoples Daily reported in its edition of Tuesday that former President Babangida politely turned down a request by President Jonathan for a breakfast meeting at the Uphill residence in Minna.

This was denied in a statement issued swiftly by presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, who said “Although President Jonathan participates in the Ramadan fast every year in solidarity with Nigerians of the Islamic faith, he has never as vice president or president of the

country visited the residence of any individual to break his fast”.

We stood by our earlier story in our yesterday’s edition in our believe that our source was credible.

But Abati in his statement said: “As much as he (Jonathan) holds General Babangida in high regard, President Jonathan has never indicated any interest in visiting him at Minna during the current Ramadan.

“Therefore, there could not have been any “turning down” of a visit by President Jonathan by the former president”, he stressed

A man hawks chickens at the Abubakar Gumi Central Market in Kaduna, yesterday

Sallah: IG orders security beef up nationwide

By Lambert Tyem & By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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T

he Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, yesterday ordered officers in charge of zonal and state commands to take measures to ensure “water-tight security’’ before, during and after the Sallah celebrations.

Contained in his goodwill message to Muslims, Abubakar directed Assistant InspectorsGeneral of Police in charge of the zonal commands to ensure increased surveillance, patrol and tactical police presence on the highways and places of worship.

According to him, such surveillance and high police presence should be extended to recreation parks, strategic and other vulnerable areas.

Abubakar also directed the commissioners of police in charge of states to adequately deploy personnel to guarantee free flow of traffic and safe passage of travelers through their domains.

“Highway patrol teams working in conjunction with other law enforcement

agencies are equally directed to take adequate measures in preventing road accidents and rendering assistance to travelers, particularly those in distress,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the IGP as saying in the message.

The IGP congratulated all Muslims who participated in the Ramadan fasting and prayed

for the peace and security of the country.

He urged them to imbibe the principles and teachings of Prophet Muhammad.

He assured Nigerians of adequate security throughout the celebration, adding that the police were working round the clock to ensure that.

…As Civil Defence deploys 30,000 personnel

A

lso, as part of measures to further ensure successful and peaceful Sallah celebrations, the Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin, said yesterday that the corps had deployed 30,000 of its personnel.

The NSCDC in a statement by the Corps Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Okeh, added that the those deployed include specialised units such as the special forces,

Counter-Terrorist Unit, Nuclear, Biological Chemical and RadioActive Squad and sniffer dogs.

Abolurin also directed the zonal and state commands of the Corps to adequately deploy their personnel to strategic places such as praying grounds and critical areas.

He said the deployment was necessary to avoid situation where disgruntled members of the society capitalise on festive moods to perpetrate their evil activities.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 6

News Teacher training: Adamawa collaborates with FCE From Umar Dankano, Yola

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n an effort to address problem of unqualified teachers in Adamawa state, the state primary education board (ADSUBEB) has entered into collaboration with (FCE) Federal College of Education Yola.

Chairman of the board, Dr. Halilu Hamma made the disclosure during an interactive session with journalists at his office in Yola yesterday stressing that the board has trained 5000 teachers last year but was able to fund another 6000 unqualified teachers and decided to engage FCE Yola for their professional training.

On the early child education programme in the state, he said the board has on its drawing board to establish the programme all over the state but has established over 400 centres in the state.

He said, “Early child education is in place in the state, we are establishing the programme in almost all the schools and our target is to establish in all the schools in the state. So far we have established over 400 centres across the state.” He explained that, the idea is to have a smooth transition from home to school so that, 5 year old child can get through the centre and get prepared for the primary school education, with solid foundation for the task ahead in pursuit of education in life.

On the federal government’s almajiri schools programme, Dr. Hamma said two out of the five almajiri schools situated across the state have been completed while the remaining three are at various stages of completion.

According to the chairman, eighty almajiris will be admitted for each of the schools with feeding and provision of uniforms and instructional materials for their academic activities.

He pointed out that the state has been doing a lot in trying to identify the alamjiris and how much it will cost to train and provide all the necessary needs for them. “So far, the Board has identified about 11,000 of such almajiris and have been earmarked for the programme in the state,” he added.

Chief Imam of Sabon Garin Kanta Juma’at Mosque, Malam Abubakar Isah, leading other Muslim faithful for Eid-el Fitr prayer, yesterday in Argungu, Kebbi state.

Eid-el Fitr: Shettima asks Borno citizens to sustain peace From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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orno state Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday urged residents of the state to pray and work hard in order to sustain the emerging peace being witnessing presently, so that Borno will regain its name as ‘Home of Peace’ Governor Shettima who made the call in a Sallah messege signed by his Special Adviser on Communication Isa Umar Gusau,

also congratulated Muslims on the completion of the Ramadan fast and marking of Eid-el Fitr.

The governor said there was urgent need for the general public to use the Sallah festival through extensive prayerd for the sustenance of peace and nornalcy that are gradually returning to the state.

The statement quoted Shettima as saying that his administration was determined, more than ever before, to continually working with relevant stakeholders to ensure that

normalcy returns to the state.

He however noted that this could only be achieved when citizens plays their own roles that are crucial to the stability of the state.

“Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah for the successful completion of the Ramadan fast and for the Eid festival. We also thank our good citizens who must have devoted their times to offering prayers for the attainment of peace in Borno and and the country at large”, the statement declared.

US to make visa application process easier for Nigerians

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

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he U.S. Consul-General, Mr. Jeffery Hawkins, said yesterday that the American government was determined to make visa application process easier for Nigerians.

Hawkins said this in a paper he presented at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA),

Lagos, on ‘U.S and Nigeria Bilateral Relationship’.

He said the move is part of the government’s effort at promoting ‘people-to-people’ relationship between Nigeria and the U.S. According to him, the consulate had recruited additional staff and installed new equipment in order to facilitate visa processing for Nigerians.

“My goal is to make visa application process painless and pleasant for Nigerians.

“I am happy to say that the wait time for Non-Immigrant Visa appointment is now just a fraction of what it once was.

“We can always improve more; but I am proud of the work we have done to serve our Nigeria visa applicants,” he said.

Unsung African heroines tipped for awards – Nomdeni

By A’isha Biola Raji

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ilent women achievers drawn from various African countries have been slated to receive awards in the upcoming prominent women award event which is to take place in South Africa come September.

The Founder, Prominent Women in Africa, Nomdeni Changetta, mentioned this

It further added: “Their prayers are insha Allah being answered because peace is evidently returning to the State even though we have had some recent incidents” “The Government is encouraged by the fact that citizens have remained undaunted despite the incidents as they are speedily returning to hitherto deserted areas, insha Allah, we will remain rooted in our commitment to work for the attainment of peace in our dear Borno state and Nigeria at large,” the statement concluded.

yesterday when she paid a courtesy visit in company of Hajia Fati Ibrahim, President Africa Fashion of Fame, to Peoples Media Limited. She said the awards will target women that have impacted on the lives of women and children. “We want to honour only women that must have impacted on fellow women and girl child.”

According to Nomdeni, six women have been nominated in

Nigeria for the award which is going to be an annual event. “It is an annual project that will be hosted by different countries,” she declared.

Hajia Fati however solicited for media support in order to achieve success in the upcoming project describing it as a laudable course. She said, “The project is in search of silent achievers.”

In his response, the General Manager Abdulazeez Abdullahi

pledged the organisation’s support for the project by giving it necessary publicity. He said, “We in Peoples Daily hold women issues dearly. “Though they are a bit disadvantaged but those that have made their mark deserve award and recognition.”

He however commended the organization for looking beyond women with political appointment in the selection of the awardees.

The envoy also restated the commitment of the U.S. to creating opportunities for young Nigerians to visit the U.S. Hawkins said that the government had concluded an arrangement to invite “very special set of Nigerian guests” to the U.S. in 2014.

The Consul-General said that the U.S. government will continue to sustain its bilateral relations with Nigeria in the years ahead.

Hawkins said that a U.S. delegation, led by UnderSecretary of State for Political Affairs, Amb. Wendy Sherma would be in Abuja on August 15, for the U.S. and Nigeria Binational Commission.

He said the visit would afford the delegation, Nigeria government representatives and the civil society, to deliberate on security issues, as well as other critical aspects of U.S and Nigeria’s bilateral relations.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 7

Sallah: Atiku advocates selfless leadership as Ekweremadu preaches peace

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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n the spirit of Ramadan, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has urged elected leaders and other public office holders to let the fear of God guide their conducts.

This is even as the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, urged the Muslim umar to pray for peace, unity and development of the country in the period of the ed el fitri.

In a Sallah message to mark the end of the 30-day Ramadan fasting period by Muslims, Abubakar noted that the increasing greed and selfishness by leaders has compounded the challenges of poverty, unemployment and

other social crises in Nigeria.

According to him, “democracy is not meant for overnight personal enrichment at the expense of the voters but a means to offer honest, patriotic and selfless service to Nigerians.”

The chieftain of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also observed a missing link between external religiosity and what leaders do in practice.

He therefore posited that if religion had any influence on the conduct of leaders, most of the problems confronting the ordinary people would have been solved.

At this point, he regretted that oath taking before assumption of office by political leaders, had been

reduced to mere empty ritual, adding that this has desecrated the sanctity and respect for the exercise.

He recalled that in other societies, politicians seek power out of the passion to offer honest and patriotic service to fellow country men and women.

“In our own case, however, leaders see politics as a gravy train, and with this culture, democracy cannot make any real positive impact on the lives of the ordinary people,” he said.

In a related development, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has charged Muslim umar to pray for peace and unity of Nigeria.

In a sallah message signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, he also congratulated the Muslim Umah on the successful conclusion of the Ramadan Fast.

Ekweremadu urged the Muslim Umah to carry over the lessons and virtues imbibed during the holy month of Ramadan to every aspect of their lives in order to move the nation forward.

“We are blessed as a nation for having religious and cultural orientations that teach us to place general good above personal interest, forgive and reconcile when we are hurt, show love and kindness to all, live holy, and to be our brother’s keeper.

Ikenya congratulates Muslims on Eid-el Fitr

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former governorship candidate of the Action Congress of National (ACN) in Adamawa state, Senator Joel Ikenya, has congratulated the Muslim Ummah for the successful completion of the Ramadan Fast celebration of Edel-Fitir.

The Senator hope that the peace and unity enjoyed during the fasting period would be sustained as the country matches towards a new phase in its political development.

In a statement in Abuja yesterday, the former governorship candidate also congratulated the leaders of the 3 defunct political parties, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) for their commitment and doggedness that has given birth to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Ikenya specifically commended the leadership style and maturity of political stalwarts

like Asiwaju Tinubu of ACN, General Muhammadu Buhari of CPC and that of Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff of the ANPP that oiled the wheels of transformation to the new party, for their huge sacrifice in the quest to install a new political culture in the country.

The former lawmaker also saluted the commitment and unalloyed support of the teaming members of the 3 defunct parties even in the face of intimidation

and blackmail while the struggle lasted.

He said “now that a truly national progressive party has been formed all members should remain united and focused so as not to disappoint Nigerians.

“For Tarabans, a change has come for emancipation and to deliver them from their woes and as such they should identify with the laudable goals of the party.”

Ikenya stated that the APC is

bringing hope and succour to all Nigerians and would really give them a new lease of life than what they have now.

The lawmaker assured members of the new party that against the backdrop of the National geographical spread and egalitarian nature of the party, all the members would have a true sense of belonging since accountability, transparency and service is the watch word of the party.

Eid-el-Ftri: ‘Be peace ambassadors’, FCT Minister urges residents

By Adeola Tukuru

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CT Minister, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has urged residents of the Federal Capital Territory to be peace ambassadors as exemplified by all during the month of Ramadan.

Senator Mohammed emphasized that peaceful conduct of all residents during the Ramadan should transcend beyond the holy month by creating atmosphere that would promote unity in diversity across the country.

The Minister who gave this advice in his Eid-el-Fitr Message on Thursday in Abuja also congratulated Muslim faithful across the country, especially those residing in the Federal Capital Territory on the auspicious occasion of this year’s Eid-el-Fitr celebration.

Senator Mohammed reiterated that it is only through peace and stability that Nigeria can achieve sustainable development in all spheres.

He also called for prayers for the success of the country’s lead-

Eid-el Fitri: Kwara Speaker urges Muslims to adhere to Ramadan lessons From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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he Speaker, Kwara state House of Assembly, Barrister Abdulrazak Atunwa has urged Muslims in Nigeria to let the numerous lessons of the Holy month continue with them after the expiration of Ramadan.

He said they should allow the lesson the holy month taught them to ensure a worthy and peaceful co-existence in the country.

Atunwa who gave the advice in Ilorin while felicitating with the Nigerian Muslims on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr sallah celebration in a statement by his Special Assistance on Media, Alhaji Abdul Rahman Sanni.

He noted with delight that Muslims had imbibed the virtues of tolerance, love, benevolence, perseverance, sacrifice and peaceful co-existence during the holy month and enjoined them to sustain the virtues to fast track the restoration of peace, stability, and transformation of the nation.

He counselled Muslims not to use the Eid-el-Fitr celebration for mere merry making but for reflection on issues impeding on the stability, peace and progress of the nation.

The Speaker who described Islam as a religion of peace advised Muslims to continue to be shining examples to other faithfuls noting that the nation had witnessed turbulent period within the last few years of her nationhood due to intolerance, political, and ethnic religious bigotry as well as inordinate ambition of some individuals.

ACF felicitates with Muslims on Eid-el Fitr

Tailors trying to meet deadline for Sallah celebration at Kasuwan Waya in Bauchi yesterday

By Etuka Sunday

News

ership under President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for Allah to continue to guide, protect and give him the wisdom to steer the affairs of the state and actualize the Transformation Agenda.

Senator Mohammed guaranteed the residents of the Territory adequate security of their lives and property; noting that that all security outfits in the Federal Capital Territory are effectively prepared to be on top of any unexpected security breach during and after the festive period.

By Etuka Sunday

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rewa Consultative Forum felicitates with Muslims and Nigerians over the celebration of the Eid-el Fitr that marks the end of the fasting in the month of Ramadan.

ACF enjoins Muslims to make the spirit of purification, forgiveness and mercy that are associated with the fasting and deprivation in the month of Ramadan to outlive the period and prevail in the daily lives of the faithful for the glory of God and for humanity now and for eternity.

“This is because the spirit of purification, forgiveness and mercy that gives rise to generous disposition to the needy among us are essential ingredients for peaceful coexistence needed for meaningful socio economic development of any society and nations, Nigerian not being an exception. Where that being the case, ACF appeals to all Nigerians, especially Muslims, to help prevail on the insurgents to lay down their arms and embrace the offer of constructive engagement offered by the Nigerian government in the interest of peace, interest of the Muslim faith and for national interest”, it said.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 10

News

Minister condoles NUJ, says journalists are indispensible

By Etuka Sunday

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he Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo yesterday paid a condolence visit to the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja, over the unfortunate death of 3 Journalists from the South West Chapels of the Union.

The Minister said that the prompt condolence visit was informed by the indispensible role of journalists as professionals in the nation’s history and development.

Nebo acknowledged the immeasurable supports of practitioners especially those on specialized beat like Energy, in the dissemination of factual often technical information about the power sector – often times misunderstood by laymen.

Since assumption of duty, he said journalists have paid very useful role in “capturing in clear terms, enormous challenges, I met on ground, hence in so doing they have made my job much easier”.

He expressed satisfaction with their level of dedication to duty, punctuality to assignment and their thorough understanding of the power sector as exhibited

by Energy Correspondents in particular, therefore was moved by the loss of these professionals that died at their prime.

In a statement by the Deputy Director/Head of Press, Timothy Oyedeji, he tasked the NUJ family to take heart, while appreciating the event as an act of God, which should make the leadership offer more patriotic services to the nation.

“May the God Lord grant these compatriots eternal rest, and to those still in the hospital, he prayed for their quick recovery” he said.

The Minister later made personal donation as financial assistance of an undisclosed amount towards the defrayment of the hospital bills for the injured persons.

It would be recalled that the 3 Journalists were involved in a ghastly motor accident in Ilesa, Osun State, on their return leg to their stations after an official engagement in Abuja.

Katsina LG chair escapes assassination

From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

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he Chairman of Dutsi Local Government Council in Katsina State, Alhaji Sa’idu Abubakar, escape death as thugs invaded the local government secretariat when the chairman and his council members were preparing for the distribution of fertilizer to farmers in the area.

Reports from the area indicated that the thugs in large numbers carrying dangerous weapons mobilised themselves and waited outside the council secretariat until the chairman begun the process of distribution before they attacked.

Eyewitness in the area, told

Our Correspondent that the invading thugs begin their attack by indiscriminately hauling stones into the gathering which forced the council chairman, other officials of the council and potential beneficiaries to run into different directions looking for cover.

The source also disclosed that some of those fleeing the trouble spot had to scale the council fence to nearby bush to avoid the wrath of the rampaging thugs who smashed anything on their way.

As the ensuing confusion lasted, the source noted that the council’s chairman office, other offices at the secretariat and a lot of vehicles parked at the vicinity of the

secretariat had their windscreen smashed.

However, the state commissioner of local government and chieftaincy affairs, Alhaji Sani Hamisu Makana, who embarked on a rescue mission to save the situation had his official car windscreen smashed by the angry thugs.

When Our Correspondent called on the council chairman, Alhaji Sa’idu Abubakar confirmed the incident but was quick to point an accusing finger at his Vice-Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Yahaya Karawa whom he accused of master-minding the attack.

He said “ I strongly believed

Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) embarking on special Eid-El-Fitr patrol of Abuja-Lokoja road yesterday

Northern youth dying of poverty, says Al-Mustapha

By Stanley Onyekwere

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ormer Chief Security Officer to late General Sani Abacha, Major Hamza AlMustapha, has decried the level of ignorance and poverty that have bedeviled majority of the youths in the northern part of the country.

Speaking when he received a delegation of Arewa Christians Political Forum (ACPF) in his residence in Abuja yesterday, Mustapha lamented that, what he has seen since his release from prison was disheartening and painful.

“I have gone round to some

states in the course of thank you tour and honestly the kind of the poverty and hopelessness confronting majority of our youths in the north makes my heart bleed.

“It is shocking to me that, 14 years of the democratic rule in the country have not really changed the fortunes of our youths.

“Majority of them live in abject poverty with no hope for the future,” he stated.

He said he would do his best in mobilising the Nigerian youth to stand up and fight for their proper place in the scheme of things in order to secure his future.

He also expressed regret at the

way some northern leaders have employed religious and tribal sentiments as tools for achieving their political interests thereby causing disunity and disaffection among the once united people of the north.

He said, he would do his best in mobilizing the Nigerian Youth to stand up and fight for his proper place in the scheme of things in order to secure his future.

Al-Mustapha, who was full of praises for the youths, particularly those in the north, who, while he was in detention prayed and fought for his release; assured that, he was ready to contribute

Religious leaders blame FG for security challenges From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

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he Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Benjamin Kwashi, on Tuesday evening blamed Nigerian government for the lingering cases of insecurity in the country.

The Arcbishop said this at a breaking of fast event between Christains and Muslims,

that my Vice-Chairman was behind this attack”.

Reacting to the allegation of master-minding the attack, the Vice-Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Yahaya Karawa, told Our Correspondent that he had no hand in it as according to him, “ it was the chairman’s move to manipulate the sharing formular earlier agreed that ignited the crisis”.

Similarly, Our Correspondent gathered that although no life was lost in the ensuing violence but a lot of people hit by the missiles thrown by the thugs and those running for cover sustained various degree of injuries.

organised by Awareness for Educational Development Initiative (AWEDI) , at Sharna Hotel in Jos. The breakfast was meant to unite the two religious groups.

The event which was organised

by AWEDI had in attendance the National Secretary of the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) , Dr Khalid Aliyu, the Anglican Arcbishop

of Plateau State , Benjamin Kwashi, the former minister for Information, Alh Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande,the chief of the Jos Central Mosque,Shiekh Balarabe Daud among others.

Speaking at the occasion,the JNI National Secretary, said it is important for the adherents of the two religions to open and embrace one another as all

human beings eat and think the same way, stressing that christian and muslims need each other to accomplish their everyday affairs.

Also at the event, the Jos Anglican Archbishop, Benjamin Kwashe, said for peace to be achieved on the Plateau and Nigeria at large, people must be remembering “ histories and values” which were basically

positively for the development of the country.

Earlier, spokesman for the delegation, Victor Babbai, said they decided to visit Al-Mustapha to celebrate with him and his family, his freedom and urged him to use his wealthy experience to contribute to the on-going efforts aimed at funding a lasting peaceful and secured environment in the north.

He said, for years now the area called North has continued to slide into despairing anarchy, abject poverty, insecurity, underdevelopment and increasing marginalization, especially to the minority ethnic groups. formed on tolerance,forgiveness and forbearance, adding that without these the society will be confronted with problem of crisis.

The Archbishop further thank AWEDI for it initiative toword building the society.

In his remark the chairman of AWEDI, Shiekh Suleiman, who was represented by Alh. Sani Bala, said the event was organised to strengthen relationship among the people of Plateau state.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 11

Money Sense

How to create wealth: What the poor and middle class do wrong

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ow to create wealth is not some mysterious unknown secret that is kept from people.

It’s actually a pretty simply formula. The reason more people do not create wealth for themselves or their family is because they don’t know how.

It’s not because they are unable to, but because they never learned how to create wealth

or possibly did learn how and simply chose to not apply the formula to attain their wealth.

To get a better understanding of the “How to create wealth formula” it’s helpful to review some finance/accounting terms. I have an extensive background in finance but this will be simple and easy to understand.

• Income is defined as

money you that you bring in, such as your monthly paycheck • Expenses are defined as money you spend, such as your rent • Liabilities are things that cost you money, such as a car lease • Assets are things that pay you money. This is a bit of a non-traditional definition, so people in the finance industry

or accounting field might think it a bit odd. They generally use the term asset to define something you own.

Now let’s look at what the poor and the middle class do wrong when it comes to creating wealth. There are specific differences you will notice between these two groups and the wealthy, but the amount of money they have or earn does not dictate their wealth potential. Wealth actually is not the same thing as money, we just interrelate the two, because money is a means to measure wealth.

How to create wealth: Why the poor stay poor On payday poor people take what is left after they pay their necessary expenses and go buy “stuff.” Generally they buy lower end items and random trinkets that they might find along market road. They justify their buying of all this stuff, because it didn’t cost them a lot of money. Usually you even feel better after you get something new, but that lasts short-term. I’m not criticizing this group and there’s nothing wrong with this group at all; I used to belong to this group years ago. The problem is that their income never produces or creates more income, so they can’t escape from the cycle of being poor. This is not how to create wealth.

How to spend less on clothes and still look fabulous

How to create wealth: Why the middle class are mistaken for the wealthy The middle-class is often mistaken to be the wealthy, because they usually earn a sixfigure income. The issue with the middle-class, however, is similar to the poor. On payday they spend their money on what we earlier defined as liabilities.

The money they earn from their high paying job is immediately spent on items like a car, house, vacations, etc. They wind up spending equal to and in some cases more than they make, so they must continue to work to make enough money to pay off their new shiny liabilities. This is also not how to create wealth.

Another issue with the middle-class is that usually their income is dependent on their own efforts, because they are providing a service of their knowledge and experience to someone in exchange for money. For example, a financial planner provides people insight about how to manage their finances to achieve certain goals, so people pay them to share their knowledge about financial planning. The problem is that if they are not sharing their knowledge and meeting with clients, they are not making any money. Their stress levels actually wind up being pretty high and they rarely enjoy any free time, since that time they take off costs them money as they are not meeting with clients. Again this is not how to create wealth.

Things seem great and hence people assume they are the wealthy, but in reality they are not. The difference between the Poor, the Middle-Class and the Wealthy is that the Wealthy Buy Assets.

Money Tip

F W

ith the credit crunch biting, it is time to get smart about shopping. So here are some tips to maximise your budget.

Think wardrobe: When next you go shopping, buy things that will go with at least 3 things you already own. Match the top to the jacket, the veil to the atanpa etc. This is easier if you have had colour analysis done.

Think shoes: Buying a hot pair of shoes is a very easy effective way to revamp your existing wardrobe.

Hire a personal stylist and find out what shapes and colours you should be wearing, in the long run if things go together this investment will quickly save you money.

Try old fashion and second hand, you can often pick up really good quality brands for a fraction

of the cost.

Accessories jewelry: These complement your outfit, buy good jewelery and you will have it for years. Add a chunky great piece of costume jewelry and a cheaper black dress will look chic.

In the weeks prior to the seasonal sales visit decide what you love and on the day of the sale go and buy exactly what you want.

Try it on beforehand, that way in the stampede you will come out

with what you love but cheaper.

Mix and match designer with cheaper brands, this way, a great jacket is an investment buy and will add chic to a relatively cheap blouse.

Use a personal shopper since we only wear 20% of what we buy, this is an investment that will pay dividends you will only buy what you love and most importantly you will wear it.

reeze your leftovers.

Have you ever opened a can of tomato paste only to use 1 tablespoon? What are you supposed to do with the remainder? Don’t throw it away, freeze it. Keep a container of the tomato odds and ends in your freezer.

Recipe calls for 1 ½ cups of tomato sauce but the can holds 2 cups? Freeze the rest. Chop too many tomatoes for last night’s sauce? Freeze the rest.

Use the same technique with leftover vegetables. Freeze them until you have enough for vegetable soup. Add beef soup, a little thyme and rosemary and you have a quick, healthy and inexpensive soup and you have saved some money too!

Quote In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product and profits.

Unless you’ve got a good team, you can’t do much with the other two. -Lee Iacocca

PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

EDITORIAL

Happy Eid-el Fitr Hope of a better world than the one we now inhabit is what makes the faithful different from the faithless.

Although, the Eid-el Fitr is usually marked here in Nigeria, and even in other parts of the world, with durbars, exchange of gifts, visits and other festivities, we enjoin our Muslim brothers and sisters across the country to also engage in sober reflection and pray for complete reformation of our nation. We further ...we enjoin our Muslim brothers and sisters across appeal to all Muslim faithful to imbibe those lessons that have the country to also engage in been learnt during this period sober reflection and pray for of fasting all through the rest complete reformation of our of their lives as enjoined by Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be nation Upon Him).

Beyond the call to the Muslim faithful to thoroughly imbibe Ramadan came at a time of the spirit of Ramadan, we utmost trial for our nation, as seize this opportunity to urge the spate of violence and other our leaders at all levels of security breaches are rising governance to eschew all forms in frequency and magnitude of corruption and injustice with bombings across the that have smeared Nigeria’s country. These challenges are image globally. While calling enough to seriously put one’s for self-restraint among all and faith to the test. However, our sufferings, we are told, “produce sundry, we wish our Muslim brothers and sisters in Nigeria perseverance, perseverance happy Eid-el Fitr celebrations. character and character hope”. needy and wayfarers, whether or not they belong to the same faith. This, in effect, shows that Ramadan is a month of periodic lessons for Islamic adherents, which serves to teach and inculcate in them the virtues of sharing, forgiveness, patience and tolerance etc.

Incidentally, this year’s

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

“

T

oday is Eid-el Fitr, a day when hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world engage in festivities to mark the end of the month-long obligatory fasting in Ramadan. On Eid-el Fitr, which is also a day that signifies the beginning of the Islamic month of Shawwal, Muslim faithful indulge in feasts and merry-making, symbolising the official breaking of the Ramadan fast.

During Ramadan, all mature Muslim males and females who are sane are compelled to abstain from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse from sunrise to sunset until the beginning of the month of Shawwal.

Much more than this, all sane and mature faithful are commanded to engage in complete self-restraint by avoiding all forms of vice and immoralities such as stealing, corruption, fornication or adultery, backbiting, and other misdemeanours harmful to others. Besides, Muslims are enjoined in this period to be nice to fellow human beings, most especially the poor,

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM MANAGING EDITOR ABDUL-AZEEZ ABDULLAHI

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

EDITOR, DAILY AHMED I. SHEKARAU

MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

DEPUTY MANAGER, PRODUCTION ABDUL-RAUF MUSA

EDITOR, WEEKEND HAMEED M. BELLO

HEAD, LAGOS BUREAU ADESOJI OYINLOLA

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 13

Opinion Remaking the Nigerian party system

By Jibrin Ibrahim

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ast week, two things happened that have the potential to significantly remould our party system for the better. The first is the recognition of the merger of some opposition parties into the APC and the second is the court judgement that INEC cannot re-register political parties. Both are very positive developments.

The fourth republic was initiated through the 1999 Constitution. For its first elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recognised only three political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the All Peoples Party (APP) and the Action for Democracy (AD). Following a Supreme Court judgement on the case Balarabe Musa v INEC, conditions for registration of political parties were liberalized.

The Supreme Court ruled that INEC acted illegally by imposing conditions that were not known to the Constitution for party registration and declared their action illegal. Subsequently, Nigeria’s political space witnessed an unprecedented opening with the emergence of 63 registered political parties by April 2011. Prominent among the new parties are the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Political Change (CPC) and the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA). In addition, many small parties took advantage of the liberalization of the political space to register parties that have proven to be largely unviable. It appears that some of them were established

to access INEC’s funding support or as fall back mechanism for political heavy weights who lose out in power struggles within their parties.

The National Assembly intervened in the matter through Section 78(6) of the 2010 Electoral Act, which provided INEC with the power to de-register any political parties that failed to win any executive and legislative seats in elections. Only ten parties won seats in the 2011 elections. On 18th August 2011, INEC de-registered seven parties that did not contest for any election office in the 2011 elections. Two more de-registration exercises were carried out reducing the number of parties from 63 to 25.

As I had argued previously in this column, INEC was wrong to jump at the opportunity provided by the Electoral Act because the Supreme Court judgement was clear in upholding the principle of freedom of association and had rebuked INEC severely for creating difficult conditions for party registration.

It was therefore not surprising that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja before Justice Gabriel Kolawole nullified the deregistration of political parties by INEC. The court also declared Section 78 (7) (ii) of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, which said parties must win seats in the state and National Assemblies election as null and void. Justice Kolawole made the declaration in a suit filed by Fresh Democratic Party (FDP) and its presidential candidate in the 2011 general elections, Rev. Christopher Okotie. With this judgment INEC cannot deregister any party except

in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. In his judgment, Justice Kolawole sealed the argument by declaring that: “The concept of deregistration of political parties is strange to the 1999 Constitution.”

Since 1999, Nigeria has operated as a one party dominant political system in which the PDP held sway and controlled enormous resources compared to the other parties. The President of the country has emerged as the leader of the dominant party although a party chairman exists and state governors are the leaders of their party at that level. The dominant party has therefore evolved to be an expression of executive power. The dominant party and indeed most other parties are mainly controlled by godfathers and barons rather than party members. These parties have clientelist networks that are used by the party barons to “deliver” crowds for rallies and party congresses. Indeed, parties tend to treat their members with disdain and utter disrespect. Consequently, the political relationship within the parties is essentially one between patrons and clients and the clients are mobilised on pecuniary, religious, ethnic or regional basis.

INEC has always shown concern for a party system that expressed scant regard to democratic rules in their internal affairs. INEC, I believe, has also been concerned about the high number of nonfunctional parties that only serve to clog the ballot during elections, which explain their eagerness to sanitise the party system by reducing

their number. When I served in the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee, the overwhelming opinion of Nigerians was that they wanted a party system with between two and five parties. We understood this sentiment but took the wise decision that it is wrong to use administrative fiat to reduce the number of political parties.

Democratic political systems have traditionally used one clear method to reduce the number of parties contesting elections. They have developed regulations that make it impossible for parties without significant support to be on the ballot. Rather than de-register the parties, they allow them to exist but insist they must show their support through signatures from a large number of citizens of elected representatives before they can get onto the ballot. This is the path we should take in Nigeria.

Traditionally, competition in Nigeria’s party system is very intense within the ruling party and less so between the opposition parties. This is due to the fact that since 1979, Nigeria has developed the tradition of major blocs of the political elite coalescing into a single political party conceived as a hegemonic party. In elections that are relatively free and fair, namely, the 1959, 1979 and 1999 elections, the parties that had the highest votes, the Northern Peoples’ Congress, the National Party of Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party failed in their desire to be hegemonic or dominant through the polls. In the subsequent elections of 1964, 1983 and 2003,

they all abused their incumbency powers to transform themselves into dominant parties. In essence, they used electoral fraud to boast their control of the political process and weaken opposition parties.

This has been the reason why competitive party politics has been weak. The ruling parties have too often falsified the electoral game while the parties in opposition hove had too narrow a political base and insufficient resources to effectively compete for power.

It is in this context that the emergence of the APC could be a life changer in the party system we operate. The new party would have sufficient spread and resources to contest for power at the national level. This means the cream of the political elite who is focused on access to power have an alternative platform to realise their ambitions.

This is the possibility that has frightened the ruling PDP that appeared to have used surrogates to frustrate the emergence of the APC. INEC was principled and brave in going ahead to register the party. With the APC, it will now be possible to evolve towards a two party dominant system, a new paradigm that will make alternation of power possible. Of cause all this will depend on the capacity of the new party to get its act together, show respect to its members and practice internal party democracy.

Meanwhile, many thanks to Professor Jega’s INEC and Justice Kolawole for inducing change in our party system.

Jibrin Ibrahim resides in Abuja, FCT.

Time to amend Fiscal Responsibility Commission Act

By Benson Ilor

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ne of the instruments put in place by the government to ensure prudent management of the nation’s resources is the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007. The essence of the FRA-2007 is to bring about sanity and order in the public sector financial management, instil fiscal discipline in budget execution and ensure accountability and prudent management of national resources and macroeconomic stability. This is aimed at bringing control and caution in the fiscal matters. Therefore, the establishment of FRC was necessitated by the urgent need for order and discipline in the management of the nation’s resources in this wise, every machinery should be put in place to make the commission a workable tool in our nation, as this will ensure 100% budget implementation, rather than rendering the Commission a toothless bull-dog The Fiscal Responsibility Commission came into being after the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 by the National Assembly and the subsequent signing into law and inauguration of its members by the late President, Umaru Musa ‘Yar’adua in 2009. The Act, among other things, empowers the Commission to monitor and enforce the provision of the Act in order to ensure accountability, transparency and prudence

in the management of the nation’s resources by the Federal Government, Government-owned corporations or companies and agencies.

However, despite the clear mandate given to the Commission as regards the implementation of the provisions of the FRA, the Commission seems incapacitated by lack of powers to prosecute erring individuals or organisations that contravene the Act. In other words, the Commission is rendered helpless by the same Act that brought it into existence and empowers it to see to the implementation of provisions of the Act. And this lack of power to prosecute can be said to be why the Commission is nowadays seen as a toothless bull dog.

Section 2 (1) (a) and (b) of the Act gives power to the Commission to “compel any person or government institution to disclose information relating to public revenues and expenditure; and cause an investigation into whether any person has violated any provisions of this act,” while section 2 (2) of the same Act requires that “the Commission shall forward a report of the investigation to the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation for possible prosecution.” This is like empowering the Commission with one hand and restricting or withholding that power with the other. This notwithstanding, it is on record that the Commission has been doing its best, since it inauguration, to ensure that

all government agencies and departments comply with the provision of the FRA which generally require financial prudence and discipline in conducting government business.

The Commission, immediately after inauguration, swung into action and mapped out strategies for the discharge of its functions. And since then, the Commission has been monitoring the MDAs in the course of the implementation of the provision of the FRA in order to achieve the objectives for which the Act was enacted. It is therefore not surprising that many MDAs have been flouting the FRA, 2007 with reckless abandon, knowing fully-well that they cannot be sanctioned. Recently, Federal Government ordered the closure of bank accounts of errant Government Agencies that have failed to remit their internally generated revenues to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CFR) of the federation as stipulated by section 30 0f the 1999 constitution, as amended , and re-echoed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act—2007.

According to the coordinating Minister for the Economy and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, the agencies have been conspiring with some banks not to remit the stipulated funds into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) which they are obliged by law to do. She said that this unwholesome practice has persisted despite the efforts of the Office of the Accountant

General of the Federation (OAGF) to encourage the agencies and the affected Banks to do the right thing.

The minister ought to have known better that the onus of compelling the MDAs to remit the operating surplus is on the Fiscal Responsibility Commission and not the Office of the Accountant General of Federation (OAGF). Specifically, section 22 (1) and (2) of the Act provides that each government agency must remit the balance of its operating surplus into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) at the end of each financial year. And this, the FRC is supposed to supervise and make sure is being done.

The Commission is heavily handicapped in the execution of its mandate. It is of importance that the National Assembly ensures the speedy Passage of the current bill before it that seeks to amend the FRA Act which among other things will give more powers to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to enable it execute its mandate diligently and effectively. The National Assembly should consider the strategic importance of the Commission and the role it plays in checking corruption and ensuring fiscal prudence and discipline in our polity. In doing this, the National Assembly will only be giving teeth to the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy in the constitution.

Though, these objectives are

not justiciable the national assembly is given ample power in the constitution to promote and enforce the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. The enactment of the FRA, 2007 is an important step in endowing some measure of justicability in the provisions embedded in economic objectives. However, the National Assembly needs to do more by way of amendments to strengthen the FRA, 2007 and its implementing agency in order to ensure compliance by the Budget Office and MDAs. By and large, for proper and effective operations, Fiscal Responsibility Commission needs to be given the power to prosecute the erring individuals and agencies that flout the Fiscal Responsibilty Act, 2007. The Commission should be made to receive it proper funding through the statutory allocation instead of through the Federal Ministry of Finance. Fiscal Responsibility Act should be equally applied to State Governments since we operate the same economy. There is also need to study countries like Brazil, Canada and others who have adopted the fiscal regime in their governance to enable us know how FR Act should be structured and operated to ensure best practices of the regime of fiscal responsibility. A stitch in time saves nine Benson Ilor is communication officer, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Abuja

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Opinion VP Namadi Sambo must hear this

By Abdullahi Yusuf

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our Excellency, we appreciate your kind gesture of appointing Tahir Umar Tahir as your special assistant on Islamic matters and the National mosque, an office that is newly created in this present political dispensation. It is said that “charity begins at home”, this you have practically displayed by appointing someone from kaduna state to occupy the position of special assistant on Islamic affair to the office of vice president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

However, we are constrained to highlight the negative developments that have come to shadow the appointment of Tahir as your special assistant.

Sir, there was a publication in a national newspaper on 28th July 2013 titled “Re: why i am yet quit pilgrims boards by Tahir”. The report said that 53 days after Tahir collected the appointment letter, he was yet to fully assume duty - an indication that at present, Tahir is both the Executive Secretary of Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board and your Special Assistant on Islamic matters and the National Mosque.

The sensitive nature of religious issues in this country entails that whoever will be saddled with the

To buttress responsibility my point, of serving as a Tahir departed bridge between Nigeria on the office of the Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, 28th July Vice President text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written for Saudi and the Muslim contributions should be concise.

Word limits: Letters Arabia under Ummah should Kaduna state be someone of - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your government unquestionable name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be umbrella as loyalty and addressed to: executive integrity, an secretary of upright, honest, The Editor, Kaduna State knowledgeable Pilgrims and most Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, Welfare Board. importantly 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja.

While in Saudi a God fearing Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com Arabia he was fellow. With the SMS: 08134607052 alleged to have inconsistencies appeared on and controversy television in that have trailed the National mosque. His action Madina as a special assistant to the him so far, we cannot vouch has shown that his loyalty to Vice Vice President briefing the press for his loyalty and integrity to President is skeletal because, no on preparations to receive the vice efficiently pilot the office of Special loyal servant will refuse to heed the president. Sir, as at now is Tahir Assistant on Islamic Matters and direction of his boss.

WRITE TO US

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Tahir departed Nigeria on 28th July for Saudi Arabia under Kaduna state government umbrella as executive secretary of Kaduna State Pilgrims Welfare Board. While in Saudi Arabia he was alleged to have appeared on television in Madina as a special assistant to the Vice President briefing the press on preparations to receive the vice president. Sir, as at now is Tahir the Executive Secretary of Kaduna state Pilgrims Welfare Board or Special Assistant or both?

The North-South delusion

By Chris Ngwodo

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s 2015 draws closer, politicians are ratcheting up their use of polarizing rhetoric in their pursuit of power.

The favoured clichéd binary of a “North” ranged against a “South” is already being circulated.

These wearisome terms, so often promoted by politicians and media elites as a frame for understanding Nigeria, have to be challenged.

The “North” as anything resembling a monolith died with Ahmadu Bello in 1966 and was speedily interred when General Yakubu Gowon’s regime dissolved the regions into states in 1967 to accommodate restive minorities as well as to break the Biafran secession. What remains of that North is merely the ghost of a dream. The term ‘Northerner’ can be justifiably used to bracket people who inhabit the same socio-cultural universe above the Niger but the ‘North’ as a monolithic political entity with uniform political goals and values is a fantasy.

Since 1967, and most recently since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, that simplistic notion of Northern identity has frayed further with the resurgence of ethnic nationalism. Communities hitherto subsumed in the Arewa collective are now culturally reasserting themselves as a result of the lease of political expression created by democracy. Where previously some people might have self-identified as ‘Northerners’, they are now more likely to identify themselves as Kanuri,

Bachama, Tangale or Igala, or even more generically as Middle Belters – an identity often used synonymously and inadequately with ‘Northern Christian.’ Even the Hausa-Fulani construct is now frequently clarified by those who rightly point out that this hybrid identity is more of a political simulation than an anthropological fact. Hausa and Fulfulde do not even belong to the same language group. This trend illustrates the difficulty of typecasting what are in reality fluid conceptions of identity that correspond with the shifting dynamics of power.

In truth, the North has never been a monolith. The most intense ideological rivalry of the First Republic was in the old Northern Region between the ruling conservative Northern People’s Congress and the opposition Northern Elements Progressive Union. The Middle Belt was the site of vociferous resistance against the NPC which was seen as a vehicle of Hausa-Fulani Islamic hegemony.

To this day, voting patterns in Northern Nigeria reflect the diversity and complexity of political allegiances in the region.

The problem with the continued use of rhetorical redundancies like “North” and “South” is that they automatically seed a polarizing dynamic into public debate. In fact, there has never been a cohesive Southern political consciousness.

In the First Republic, Southern Nigeria was made up of three regions – East, West and Midwest.

For that reason, the term ‘Southerner’ has never had the

same political resonance as the term ‘Northerner.’

Since the demise of the regions almost a half century ago, the terms ‘North’ and ‘South’ merely conjure up a false contest that squanders our mental and emotional energies for the benefit of those who stand to gain materially and politically by claiming to represent these fictitious constituencies. It also freezes public debate at the level of infantile polemics while the material conditions of the majority of Nigerians, both Northerners and Southerners, continue to degenerate. For the poetry of a “North” requires an opposing concept in a “South” to sustain the melodrama.

Two groups benefit from continually projecting the idea of a monolithic “North.” First, a coterie of failed Northern politicians, contractors and expublic functionaries, who are in many respects, responsible for the region’s impoverishment, uses emotive appeals to a fictitious Arewa solidarity to rally the faithful in order to negotiate more concessions for itself.Secondly, there is a clique of Southern media and political elites for whom continually scapegoating the Big Bad North sells papers and guarantees relevance. One understated fact is that 90 percent of the Nigerian media is headquartered in Lagos. Thus, the dominant perspective on Nigeria is mostly both one-sided and oneeyed, supplied by a media that is limited by geography, lamentable ignorance, and not inconsiderable

prejudice.While the Arewa champions and the Southern elites are theoretically opposed, in reality, they feed off each other.

Failed Northern politicians are played up in the Southern media as speaking for the “North” and they themselves become the hate figures and exemplars of “Northern villainy” that inflame Southern paranoia while gaining national relevance as a result. Having set up a Northern straw man, some Southern elites then make a career of standing up to the “North” or resisting “Northern domination” or “Islamization.”

An ironic symbiotic relationship has evolved between these Northern elites and the Southern media. The latter highlights the elites that validate the popular caricature of Northern politicians as a perpetually scheming cauldron of slothful parasites.

The same politicians, having fed this stereotype, then purport to be offended on behalf of the “North” and then proceed to issue even more cretinous quotes to a gleefully appreciative press. It is a farcical pantomime. In truth, elites like Adamu Ciroma and Ango Abdullahi who have made a public career of speaking for the “North” are politically inconsequential and are relevant only to the extent to which their words are broadcast in the Southern media.

The saddest thing about some of the Northern politicians now saber-rattling about 2015 is that they have eschewed cogent critiques of the present administration, of which there

the Executive Secretary of Kaduna state Pilgrims Welfare Board or Special Assistant or both? By allegedly talking to the press in a foreign land on the visit of the Vice President, he has clearly demonstrated his ignorance of the protocol that goes with the high profile office of the Vice President.

An official statement pertaining to the visitation of Vice President of Nigeria to Saudi Arabia should have emanated from either Saudi ambassador in Nigeria, Consular General of Nigeria in Saudi Arabia or spokesman of the vice president.

Secondly, his commitment and capacity to function effectively as special assistant on Islamic matters is questionable. There is no plausible reason for his failure to assume duty other than lack of self-confidence and a clear case of disloyalty. Sir, the reluctance of Tahir to report for duty is proof of his unsuitability for the new job. It is high time you removed the garb of a soft father and directed Tahir to report in office or give way for you to replace him. Kaduna state cannot afford to lose this important position. We shall continue to pray to Almighty Allah who alone can elevate and devaluate to continue to guide you in life.

Abdullahi Yusuf wrote in from Sabon Gari, Zaria are many, and have settled for the basest one – that it is the turn of the North. This plays into the hands of their kindred cads on the opposing side who will simply counter that it is not the turn of the North. And with the media in attendance, what should be a debate over leading this country with distinction in this century will be reduced to a brawl over whose turn it is to share the national cake.

The fiction of the “North” also feeds a faux discourse in Northern Nigeria that is marked by self pity, elegies to a mythical lost golden age of Arewa, and most dangerously, the self-exculpatory rhetoric of blame that portrays Northerners as victims of a Southern conspiracy.

The reality of the “North” today is not of a geopolitical leviathan but of 19 states with varying economic and political priorities. Benue has different needs from Sokoto; Kano from Kogi and Adamawa from the Plateau. Leaders like Ahmadu Bello were shaped by the exigencies of a different time when Nigeria was a federation of regions. There will never be another leader of his stature to rally the ‘North’ because that ‘North’ has long ceased to exist.

The same goes for those who futilely dream of reincarnating Obafemi Awolowo in the Southwest. Rather than trying to channel long dead regional avatars and to simulate their charisma, politicians should focus on building credible national platforms for gaining national power or stick to developing their states. In today’s Nigeria, a politician can no more speak for the ‘North’ or ‘South’ or any other region, than I could speak for the Eskimos. Nigeria has grown beyond such reductionist tomfoolery.

Chris Ngwodo is on LinkedIn.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 15

Comment Recipe for survival

By Olugu Olugu Orji

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ay 30, 1999 was a Sunday. An event happened that day at the International Conference Centre Abuja. A Christian Thanksgiving Service held to celebrate Olusegun Obasanjo who had been sworn in 24 hours earlier as Nigeria’s President. In attendance was an intimidating array of ‘men of God’ brandishing all manner of titles and accoutrements. This was supposed to be their day and they left no one in doubt of that fact.

There were two in this illustrious company that, for me, stood out. Archbishop (as he was at the time) John Onaiyekan of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja and Pastor William Folorunsho Kumuyi: General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church.

Onaiyekan was one of the few who did not shy away from using the pulpit to condemn the excesses of military rule especially during the dark and dangerous days of General Sani Abacha. The broad smile he wore that day hinted at how personally he took the unfolding events in the polity.

Kumuyi on the other hand was probably the most apolitical pastor

of his time. Since he burst of the stage of national reckoning in the 80s, he had been singularly focused on minding the welfare of his ever-increasing flock. This man had successfully avoided controversy and everything with even the slightest hint of the political. His presence therefore was evidently a huge but welcome surprise.

For me, seeing the two men rekindled hope that Nigeria was once more on the path to recovery.

Having hope makes me feel really good and our romance dates right back to the events leading up to the Biafran War in the later 70s.

Though I was but a little child, I knew something was amiss when my kid brother was born in the last quarter of 1966 in Ikot Ekpene.

When you see elders withdraw to speak in hushed tones, you know it is no longer at ease. My suspicions were confirmed when the family had to make a dash to Aba at night. A few weeks later, we were again bundled off to Ohafia where it became abundantly clear that war was imminent. Then the talk of Aburi filled the air. I did not even know that Aburi was a place in Ghana because I saw it as a possibility of avoiding war.

Even before full-scale hostilities, the family already recorded monumental losses so it was easy to imagine what the real thing would entail. No, I did not want war like millions of other Nigerians so Aburi presented huge hope. That hope was dashed and we have 30 months of needless orgy to show for our failure to pull away from the brink.

Hope again came calling in 1993 when Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, despite his dubious past, helped galvanize Nigerians in his convoluted bid to become president. Hope ’93 held the possibility that Nigerians were ready for the arduous task of nation-building in spite of ethnic and religious differences. Abiola never became president and our hopes were dashed: mine was crushed.

Standing on the foyer of the International Conference Centre Abuja that fateful Sunday morning, I was compelled to remold hope; desperately praying that Obasanjo will not make my efforts to end catastrophically.

Catastrophe is a dignified word to describe Obasanjo’s 8-year ruthless rigmarole. Hope was now indescribably mangled. You

would say I lost hope but what I actually did was to cast her away.

Now rid of her, I meant to live life as normally as I could manage. It did not take long to discover that without hope, life and sanity are imperilled.

Without hope, I suddenly discovered that my life was ebbing away and my sanity was becoming severely strained.

Frantically, I sought her out once more and went through another grueling session of reconstruction.

Afterwards I made a radical decision to remove my focus from politics and economics.

Now I invest heavily in family, music and a unique form of literary evangelism, and trust me, investing in these areas hardly bring disappointment and frustration. The Good Book says in very contemporary English, “Unrelenting disappointment (hope deferred) leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.”* As a veteran of hope and the heartbreak of hope, I can affirm the truth of this scripture. When your hope is constantly and consistently dashed, you put your sanity and very life at grave risk.

Here is a survivor’s honest

counsel: stop investing in the possibility of political and economic miracles. You only make yourself a certain target for heartbreak. If some politician has promised you fresh air, go immediately and buy a gas mask.

If fresh air does come, you can sell the mask to a Syrian or Israeli even at a profit. If the fresh air does not materialize, you are going to die a very slow and painful death. Trust me; asphyxia is not the prettiest route to the hereafter.

Maybe an economic shaman is peddling the certain imminence of a national and global boom that will usher in a regime of peace and prosperity, and you are buying. If I were you, I’ll be familiarizing with tips for surviving an impending economic holocaust. Don’t lose hope: just find something enduring to invest it in. Maybe this is the best time to find God in a very personal way: not the commercial version that resembles an ecclesiastical supermarket.

You can rediscover family life and the thrills of belonging.

Watch your boy become a man and your daughters transform into delectable maidens. Keenly observe as your spouse gracefully ages. Monitor a seed you planted in your garden grow to bear many more seeds.

Olugo Olugu Orji via nnanta2012@gmail.com

Growing right type of democracy in Africa

By R.A.Ipinyomi

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any years after gaining independence, our impetuous spirit ought to have been dissolved so that we see the true strength of western democracy, and the need to adapt models that are suitable and practical to Africa environment, culture and practice for development. We don’t have to fear our colonial masters or indeed any section of the international community who themselves should be looking up to us for a working socio-economic model.

We don’t have to even please or embarrass anyone but be true to self governance even with African flavour. This is why the one party system in Russia, in China or in many Arab countries (until the ongoing Arab Spring) might be tolerated. Events in Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and many other places have indicated to the fact that not every part of the world needs the softly approach of the western democracy to maintain social order and development of the community. The characteristics of each community should form part of functional relations of their political system, provided it ensures one-man one-vote, and good governance.

The idea should not encumber and constrain us if a democracy practiced in Africa is slightly different from models from other places provided it ensures freedom of choices and expresses majority wishes. So far we have merely followed western democracy with the sole objective to please foreign

donors, colonial masters and other friendly nations but leaving no emphasis on development, nation building and accountability to under developed rural Africans.

The results have been very disastrous and counterproductive in many parts of Africa both on our ancient inherent cultures and the dignity of citizenry. The nonworking of democracy in Africa has led others to castigate us as corrupt, inept, and mediocre too often whereas if allowed African have first class socio-political systems that could be used to provide full employment for its citizenry and grow a competitive healthy economic society. Africans should henceforth learn and practice political models that will be most suitable to themselves and not merely pleasing donors.

We must first jointly fully recognize the weaknesses in the America presidential democratic system as adopted and practiced here in Nigeria and in other places in weak economy countries. First

“

it is too expensive, cumbersome and given room to only the rich and affluence in the society to get involve. It is none inclusive therefore. Secondly African politicians, like here in Nigeria, have never been able to put the society and its development as their first priority before personal comfort. In the western democracy the people came together and fashioned a system to put their society in order for both security and economic growth. It has been working well for them because it was home grown for their use.

In Nigeria who has adopted the system, as in many parts of Africa, the focus is raising local lords who at the end would be looking for self comfort. We can see this in Nigeria in the monthly take-home of presidents, senators, governors etc. The paper take-home alone for these officials are exponentially different from their own legislated minimum wage for civil servants; yet to be approved or implemented by many governments.

A truly good democratic system should guide and develop its people rather than just to practice it. It must be people friendly, less cumbersome and its people could build their economic lives based on its hints. I reiterate herewith therefore that the American presidential democracy is alien to African, too expensive to practice and has been only thoroughly been abused by African politicians and used for self aggrandisements.

African politicians still prefer to bury their minds and thinking in the colonial settings and only lording themselves over the people they are supposed to care and cater for. Politicians here are insensitive to African needs, welfares, development goals and future projections. The political systems they claim to run, in combination with western governments insisting on setting up only governments they can control, have set Africans against their rulers and only impoverished our society the more.

To be or not to be only reminds us

A truly good democratic system should guide and develop its people rather than just to practice it. It must be people friendly, less cumbersome and its people could build their economic lives based on its hints. I reiterate herewith therefore that the American presidential democracy is alien to African, too expensive to practice and has been only thoroughly been abused by African politicians and used for self aggrandisements.

African politicians still prefer to bury their minds and thinking in the colonial settings and only lording themselves over the people they are supposed to care and cater for.

that our way of being is a choice, it is not forced upon nor naturally occurring, it is a conscious decision that we make. That conscious decision will not be adequate if it continues to ignore the current and future aspirations of the people.

The ongoing faceoff between pro and anti-Morsi in Egypt may be used here as relevant to Africans. In the one hand both the western democracies and many youths of Egypt were taken by surprise such that the Brotherhood emerged at the end of the first revolution last year. The Muslim Brotherhood’s crime is their running away as a winner takes all (western democracy styles) with little interest on the reasons for the revolution. Under Morsi Egypt soon found itself better off under the former long term maximum leader. Most societies now prefer to have a political system that will be inclusive, proactive, consisting of components of development parameters, being competitive in the community of nations, and people friendly. Religious states or strict communism, where you deny the freedom to the people, are going to be less acceptable henceforth.

Communism has failed in many nations; they will still fail in China, Cuba and other places. However, if we must adapt any of the western democracies, the adapted version must be less expensive, participatory in practice and accessible to all, inclusive and laying a good economic foundation for its citizens.

Prof. R.A. Ipinyomi via ipinyomira@yahoo.co.uk or/ and raipinyomi@unilorin. edu.ng

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

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Sallah: Akinjide calls for prayers among Nigerians

By Adeola Tukuru

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Shoppers buying clothes for Eid-el Fitr at Nyanya market yesterday, in Abuja.

Eid-el Fitri: Abuja foodstuff traders record high patronage as prices jump

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s the Muslim faithful make last minute shopping for the Eid-el Fitri celebration, a cross section of foodstuff traders in Abuja, say they are recording increased sales.

The respondents, in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja, said the forthcoming celebration had lifted the lull in trading activities occasioned by the Ramadan fasting.

Umar Faruk, a trader at Utako market, explained that besides other causes of the hike, most traders were exploiting celebration to increase the prices of food items just to make more profit.

``Celebration period has always forced prices of food items to rise and also lead to high patronage since people are in need of food to entertain their visitors. ``Majority of traders were concentrating on the fasting and as such, people could not travel to bring enough foodstuff to go round. ``But we are making huge sales in spite of the current rainy season.’’

However, a market survey by NAN showed that the price of a basket of tomatoes had dropped by about five per cent from between N1,800 and N2,000 due to the arrival of new produce.

Similarly, the price of the big old yam tubers had

dropped N3,500 for a set of five tubers to between N2,500 and N2,000 because of the arrival of new yams in the market.

At Wuse market, Mrs. Juliana Sunday, told NAN that five smaller tubers were sold at between N1,600 and N1,800 while a set of the new yams were also sold at N1,800.

The survey showed that the price of the brown and white varieties of beans remained stable at N350 and N250 respectively.

Mr. Adamu Sule, a trader at the popular Orange Market in Nasarawa state, which serves as a supply channel to the federal capital also attributed the increase in prices to the rainy season. (NAN)

Population explosion major hitch to keeping Abuja clean, says AEPB

By Stanley Onyekwere

U

nprecedented population explosion in the FCT, which puts Abuja as the third fastest growing city in the world; and the fastest in Africa, poses the major challenge against concerted efforts towards keeping a clean and healthy environment for all, the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) has disclosed.

The development, the board said is undoubtedly overstretching the existing infrastructure in the city, thereby making environmental waste management in the territory even more difficult.

According to AEPB’s Head of Information and Outreach Programme, Joe Ukairo, who made this point, the situation is further complicated during raining season when waste generation is high and heavier while evacuation is slower due to the bad road network to the landfill refuse dumpsites.

Ukairo, who was as a guest on Hot FM’s Dateline Abuja programme monitored yesterday, however said that the government is working hard to decongest the city centre and make infrastructure available for further development, by expanding the area council jurisdictions and also the land swap policy.

His words: “The economy planning department of the FCT did an in house survey, and found out that over a hundred thousand people who come into the city, ten thousand do not go back whether they have roof over their heads or not.

“This undoubtedly is over stretching the existing

infrastructure in the city; and therefore one of the major challenges is the unprecedented population explosion in the city; but it shows that Abuja is working because if everything isn’t working people won’t come into the city.

“And that’s why the government is expanding the area council jurisdictions and also the land swap issue; all geared to decongest the city Centre and make infrastructure available for further development.”

Also, he said related to the problem of population explosion is the attitude of street traders and hawkers; “because people do not understand that the environment is theirs, but the thinking is that the environment is the exclusive property of the government or something they can use to make ends meet.

“But as a citizen, that’s your right; it’s your children’s right but you ought not to keep quiet when somebody is abusing, raping and misusing the environment.”

Ukairo, who further disclosed that the Satellite Town Development Agency’s designated contractors for waste collection in the six Area Councils have commenced operations since August 1st as scheduled, also hinted that AEPB is developing a win-win approach towards enduring management of street trading and hawking in the territory.

According to him, the Board’s acting director, Mrs. Aishat Adebayor, on assumption of duty made a passionate appeal to the FCT minister, for the commencement of occasional markets; just to give

the hawkers a better platform, where they can do their business in decent environment without paying anything.

He added that the committee working on the development of occasional markets has already submitted interim report, which the FCT minister has approved.

inister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FEC), Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, on yesterday urged Nigerians to remain fervent in prayers for the unity and peaceful co-existence of the country.

The minister, in her Eid-el-Fitri message to residents of the FCT, felicitated with Muslim faithful and enjoined them to uphold the Islamic tenets of obedience, love and peace.

She advised Nigerians to use the festive period to reflect on those societal values of humanity and selfless sacrifice that would enable them contribute meaningfully to the development of the nation.

She noted that Nigeria was making remarkable progress towards the fulfillment of its great potentials backed by the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda.

“As we celebrate, we must be ready to make sacrifices for the good of the country and join hands with the Federal Government in the efforts to make the country great.

“We must also continue to show genuine love and respect for one another and reflect on the ideals of unity, cohesion and mutual understanding, as well as be humane to the less privileged members of the society.

“The FCT Administration remains committed in its desires to positively impart on the lives of the residents and also actualize its vision for the territory. We are working towards a better and more prosperous future for everyone in the FCT,” said Akinjide in a statement issued by her Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Mr. Oluyinka Akintunde.

She assured that the leadership of the FCT Administration would continue to improve on the giant strides recorded in the territory in the areas of security, infrastructural development, agriculture, primary healthcare delivery, community based health insurance scheme and social development, among others.

She wished FCT residents and Nigerians Happy Eid-el-Fitri.

Kuje chairman urges Muslims to preach peace

By Usman Shuaibu

T

he Chairman Kuje Area Council in the FCT, Hon. Ishaku Shabam Tete, has called on Muslims faithful to always preach Peace and issues that will not polarise Nigeria along religious lines.

Hon. Tete in his Sallah (Eid – El – Fitri) message to the people of Kuje, asked Nigerians to brace up and stop breeding religiouss acrimony in the country.

He called on Nigerians to integrate thoughts and action for the sake of ALLAH and strengthening the mind

in His love and Service and charged the Muslims Ummah to establish an Endowment fund for vulnerable people.

The Council Boss added that, what Nigerians expect now is to address the issues tearing the country apart and to address monumental corruption and Fraud perpetrated with impunity by some few career office holders in Nigeria.

On the issue of Local Government Autonomy, the Chairman said, he is in support of the view of the Nigerian Populace on Local Government Autonomy.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 19

INSIDE

Isa_abdulwahab@yahoo.com, Isaabdulwahab@gmail.com 08033045613

CBN debits N1trn from banking system Abdulwahab Isa with agency report

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has removed an estimated 1 trillion naira ($6.27 bln) from the banking system yesterday , causing interbank lending rates to spike by 7 percentage points from Tuesday’s close, but failing to lift the naira, dealers said.

Interbank lending rates rose to around 19 percent on Wednesday,

up from around 12 percent at Tuesday’s close, after the central bank debited lenders accounts to meet a hike in the CRR on public sector deposits to 50 percent, from 12 percent previously.

The bank said it would impose the requirement two weeks ago to tighten liquidity and support the naira.

But the naira fell slightly against the dollar, closing at 160.10 to the dollar on the interbank market,

weaker than the 159.65 to the dollar it closed at on the previous day.

Dealers said this was because banks had already sold their dollar positions to meet the new requirement ahead of Wednesday, so the impact had already been priced in.

“The central bank finally debited our accounts today, draining the market of liquidity and the overnight rate went up to 19 percent,” one dealer said.

Gombe State Governor Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo (r) exchanging greetings with the Group Managing Director NNPC, Engr. Andrew Yakubu during an investments drive held at Beijing,in China...recently.

NIMASA reiterates Commitment to dock labour From Dapo Olawuni Lagos

T

he Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has restated its commitment to ensuring a decent environment and ethics for Nigerian dockworkers.

At a sensitization seminar organized for dockworkers in Lagos , Director General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi said that NIMASA is working assiduously to ensure that the perception of dock work as a job for the lowly in the society and unskilled individuals is changed.

Represented by the Executive Director Maritime Safety, Captain Ezekiel Agaba, the DG expressed the resolve of the agency to utilize part of the funds accruing from the 0.5% stevedoring earnings collected from dock Labor employers to train dock workers.

Akpobolokemi however regretted that terminal operators are yet to fulfill their obligations to Nigerian dockworkers in this regard.

“I wish to inform you of the agency’s resolve to utilize part of the funds accruing from the 0.5% stevedore earnings collected from dock Labor employers to train dock workers, unfortunately as I speak to you, some of the terminal operators are yet to fulfill this statutory obligation” “I therefore implore operators to partner with us in the interest of the maritime Labor industry and be assured of the agency’s willingness in ensuring operational efficiency at the ports” Akpobolokemi said.

Also speaking at the seminar, President of the Stevedore Association of Nigeria, Mr. Bolaji Sunmola commended NIMASA for bringing the dockworkers and their employers together to look at

providing proper work ethics at the ports.

“It is a right step in the right direction and I really commend NIMASA for it” He called on terminal operators to ensure adequate support for dockworkers in other to get the required training for the job.

“Skills are meant to be acquired and we need to be assisted to acquire the necessary skills for cargo discharge” Sunmola also lamented that many terminal operators and bonded terminals have jettisoned the need for dock Labor at their facilities.

“Terminal operators are doing the work of the stevedore, in the first place they are not supposed to be handling cargoes, they are supposed to be warehouse managers, the cargoes belong to the stevedores” he said .

Traders said many lenders had already sold down liquid assets and dollars to replenish their cash balances in preparation for the withdrawal.

“The market had priced the effect of the huge cash withdrawal since the announcement two weeks ago, while fresh dollar demand and lack of dollar flows are expected to push down the value of the naira next week,” another dealer said.

Analysts say Nigeria will need to attract back foreign inflows for the central bank’s move to have a sustained positive effect on the naira.

Africa’s top oil producer is a growing destination for foreign investors, but it remains vulnerable to capital flight. Efforts to defend the naira helped shrink foreign reserves to $46.96 billion by endJuly, from $48 billion in June.

On the bi-weekly foreign exchange auction, the central bank sold $248.45 million at 155.75 to the dollar, compared with $285 million sold at the same rate on Monday.

The bank has spent billions of dollars of foreign reserves over the past two months on keeping the naira within its target corridor of plus or minus 3 percent around 155 to the dollar.

The secured Open Buy back (OBB) rose to 18 percent from 11.5 percent on Friday, six percentage point higher than the central bank’s benchmark interest rate.

Overnight placement edged higher at 19 percent from 11.5 percent, while call money closed at 20 percent, eight percentage points higher than the 12 percent it closed on Friday.

Dealers expect interbank rates to rise further early next week after the market reopens from a 2-day Muslim holiday but should moderate toward the end of the week on the back of additional cash flows from matured treasury bills. (Reuters)

IPMAN faults claims of kerosene scarcity

- Pg 22

N100bn textile fund: BOI targets 4m jobs 2013 - Pg 20 Exchange Rates CBN

as at 7th August, 2013 Selling Buying

$

154.75

155.75

€

239.24

240.78

£

205.95

207.28

Riyal

41.26

41.53

Parallel Rates Buying

Selling

$

161.5

162.5

€

212

214

£

247

259

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY

Good leaders build trust first

M

ost leaders today emphasise their competence, strength, and credentials, but none of that matters if people don’t trust you. Win people over with warmth. Here’s how: Use the right tone. Speak with lower pitch and volume.

Aim for a tone that suggests that you’re leveling with people and being completely honest.

Validate feelings. If you show your employees that

you hold roughly the same worldview they do, you demonstrate not only empathy but, in their eyes, common sense. If you want colleagues to listen and agree with you, first agree with them.

Smile—and mean it.

Smiling is contagious. When people see you beaming, they’ll likely smile too. But a polite grin fools no one. To project warmth, you have to genuinely feel it.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 20

Commerce&Industry Company News

Fire engulfs Kenya’s Nairobi airport

A

fire engulfed Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday forcing the closure of a vital travel and trade gateway to east Africa.

Flames from the inferno lit up the early morning sky, and the intense heat repeatedly drove back firefighters. A huge plume of black smoke billowed from the airport buildings, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or injuries.

SEC inaugurates committee to check financial crimes

T

he Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday inaugurated a new committee to prevent money laundering and other forms of financial crimes in the market.

The Committee of Chief Compliance Officers in the Capital Market, according to SEC, is to ensure that the operations of the capital market are undertaken in line with regulatory guidelines.

It said the move was specifically aimed at checking the injection of illegal funds or proceeds of criminal acts into the capital market with the intention of concealing or disguising its real origin.

Aganga visits Dangote, BUA sugar refineries

T

he Federal Government said it would provide special incentives for investors in the sugar industry, especially those that have keyed into government’s Backward Integration Policy in the sector.

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, gave the assurance during his assessment tour of existing facilities of major sugar refineries in Lagos recently.

The refineries are : Dangote Sugar Refinery, BUA Sugar Refinery and Golden Sugar Refinery.

However, Aganga noted that the incentives would be similar to what was given to investors who had keyed into government’s Backward Integration Policy in the cement industry, adding that the move would help the country

…promises special incentives to achieve self sufficiency in sugar production for both domestic consumption and export.

“We are fully aware that the processes of optimizing the whole value chain in terms of moving from sugarcane to sugar, take quite some time and requires huge investment.

That is why we have asked the operators of sugar refineries to provide us with their strategic and detailed action plans on backward integration in terms of what they want to do in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

In addition, we want to see the practical demonstration of their commitment to the implementation of the policy.

“So, based on their

demonstration of commitment to those things in their backward integration plans as it relates to moving from sugar cane to sugar production, we will give them special incentives. This is similar to what we did during the implementation of the Backward Integration Policy in the cement sector until we got to the point where we saw a significant increase in local cement production and we tied importation to production to bridge gap between supply and demand.

“By so doing, local production increased and importation was reduced drastically. That was how were able to move from a country that was producing about two million metric tons of sugar to a country that has the capacity

Ogun /BOI loan scheme: Govt. assures transparency

T

Severance package: FG begins payment of PHCN workers

T

he Federal Government has commenced the payment of the severance packages of employees of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria in preparation for the conclusion of the privatisation of the power sector.

It was also learnt that some workers of the power generating companies, which were carved out of the PHCN, had received alerts from their banks that their entitlements had been paid.

Telecoms companies, NCC disagree over number portability sanctions

T

elecommunications network operators under the aegis of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission have disagreed over the resolution of the regulatory body to sanction errant operators under the Mobile Number Portability scheme.

ATCON, through its President, Mr. Lanre Ajayi, at the second quarter industry forum on the MNP organised by ICT Publishers Alliance in Lagos on Tuesday, said imposing sanctions on the operators would only take away from them the money that could have been invested in building and expanding the networks.

to produce 28.6 million metric tons of cement. It is the same principle and approach that we want to apply in the sugar sector.”

Aganga, said that the development of the National Sugar Master Plan by the National Sugar Development Council, had opened the sector for fresh local and foreign investments, adding that the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment was committed to working together with the state governments and the private sector to ensure the successful implementation of the Backward Integration Policy in the sugar industry.

“Currently, Nigeria produces only about three per cent of our local demand but our objective is not only to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar production but to become a major exporter in the global market.”

L-R: Director General,Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Bature Umar, Special Adviser to the President on Youth Empowerment, Ambassador Obi Adim and the President, Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE), Mr. Agwe Amogu, during the SAGE media briefing, yesterday in Abuja Photo: Justin Imo-owo

N100bn textile fund: BOI targets 4m jobs 2013 Stories By Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

B

ank of Industry( BoI) Managing Director, Ms Evelyn Oputu, has said that the N100 billion textile fund approved by the Federal Government to revive textile sector was disbursed to 70 projects.

She also announced that about two million jobs have been created through BoI’s various interventions and hope to double the figure by the end of 2013.

Speaking at a forum in Lagos on ‘bridging the gap between manufacturing and the Bank of Industry’ Oputu said not less than N56.48 billion out of the funds had been assessed by textile manufacturers in the country.

Represented by Mohammed Alkali, Executive Director, Operations she said that the textile industry got the largest chunk to tune a of N38.66 billion, which was used to support 30 projects,

followed by cotton/ginning with N10.62 billion, used as support fund for 14 projects.

A total of 25 companies in garment sector were funded with N3.703 billion, while support and logistics gulped the remaining N3.5 billion.

She said the fund has increased capacity utilisation of 60 percent in the textile sector, as against 30 percent when the fund was launched in 2009, while a total of 8,070 jobs were saved as a result.

“Additional 3,472 jobs, comprising 2,197news jobs, 1,197 male and 1,027 female, were created, while 1,275 workers previously laid off were recalled.

There has been improved industry employees’ welfare because of improved salaries and improved industry efficiency and competitiveness as a result,” she stated.

Oputu said that out of N236 billion set aside for refinancing and

restructuring SMEs and the entire manufacturing sector, BoI has disbursed N232 billion to over 550 beneficiaries through commercial banks cutting across all key sectors of the economy.

“Out of the N300 billion CBN’s power and aviation intervention fund, PAIF, a total of N221 billion has so far been disbursed with N104 billion used to fund power sector projects, while the remaining N117 billion was used to fund aviation sector projects.

She said the N18 billion NAC Fund, established in 2003 to fund automobile industry has been utilised in funding 33 projects, adding that BoI has successfully funded not less than 730 corporative societies with N3.9 billion.

She identified scarcity of structured funds as a major problem facing the manufacturing sector, noting that the bank is working towards having a structured funding for different industries.

he Ogun State Government has assured that it would remain unbiased and transparent in the disbursement of loans to beneficiaries under the State and Bank of Industry one billion naira loan scheme.

The commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru gave the assurance at the inaugural meeting of the Ogun state council on Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises(MSMEs) held in Abeokuta.

Ashiru enjoined all MSMEs to follow due process in obtaining the loans facility, decrying the attitude of some of the operators towards the facility which was not in tandem with the laid down procedures.

He noted that Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) had become the main economic growth strategy globally, considering its high employment generation capacity, saying that State government focused on the SMEs development through the loan scheme.

“In the past, governments have been paying lip service to the issue of SMEs that is why things are not moving as it should. The major driver of any economy are the SMEs and the jobs they are creating now is still far below what we are expecting in this country”, Ashiru remarked.

The Commissioner projected that the State hoped to create over 100,000 jobs within the next two or three years through the MSMEs, charging entrepreneurs in the country to evolve good ideas and innovations that could lead to the expansion of their businesses and positively impact on the economic growth and industrial goal of the nation.

Ashiru said the council meeting was meant to look into The National Policy on MSME holistically and decide on the way forward.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 21

Analysis

A job-seeker completes an application at a career fair held by civil rights organization National Urban League as part of its annual conference, in Philadelphia recently Photo: Reuters

Hiring slows in July but jobless rate falls to four-year low

E

mployers slowed their pace of hiring in July but the jobless rate fell anyway, a pair of mixed signals that could make the Federal Reserve more cautious about drawing down its huge economic stimulus program.

The number of jobs outside the farming sector increased by 162,000 last month, the smallest gain in four months and below analysts’ expectations, Labor Department data showed on Friday.

The lackluster reading reinforced the view that the job market is only inching toward recovery from the 2007-09 recession and weighed on financial markets.

“We’re sort of grinding along here,” said Gordon Charlop, managing director at Rosenblatt Securities in New York.

At the same time, gains in employment were enough to push the jobless rate down to 7.4 percent, its lowest level since December 2008.

However, the report was full of details that cast the declining jobless rate in a poor light and raised doubts over whether the economy has improved enough for the Fed to begin reducing bond purchases at its next meeting in September.

Several Wall Street banks, in fact, pushed their forecasts for the Fed’s so-called tapering move toward year end from September.

Part of the drop in unemployment was due to a decline in the size of the U.S. workforce, which only includes people who have jobs or are looking for work. The workforce can shrink when more workers retire or go to school, but it also contracts when people give up the job hunt.

Also robbing some of the report’s luster, Americans on average worked shorter work weeks in July, while hourly wages fell. That

bodes poorly for future consumer spending, the engine of the U.S. economy. The construction industry shed 6,000 jobs.

The government also said 26,000 fewer jobs were created in May and June than previously estimated.

The darker side of the report gave direction to Wall Street.

Yields on U.S. government debt fell sharply, suggesting investors were less confident the Fed could soon begin easing its bond purchases, which are aimed at spurring employment. U.S. stocks were mostly flat.

The U.S. central bank currently buys $85 billion a month in bonds to keep borrowing costs low, and the stimulus program has helped the country’s beleaguered housing market and boosted car sales.

Fewer U.S. primary dealers now expect the Fed to start scaling back purchases in September than they did a month ago, according to a poll conducted by Reuters after the

payrolls figures were released on Friday.

Nine of 18 primary dealers - the large banks that do business directly with the Fed - expect it to reduce its bond buying in September, while two predicted a cut back in October, five said December, one said the fourth quarter of 2013, and one said the first quarter of 2014.

In a similar poll conducted July 5, 11 of 17 dealers expected purchases to slow in September, three said October, only two said December, and one said the first quarter of 2014.

“After today I am solidly in December rather than September,” said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America in New York.

“Today’s data do not necessarily lower the probability of a taper in September, but they don’t cement the likelihood of a taper the way a stronger payrolls figure would have,” said Dana Saporta, U.S. economist at Credit Suisse in New York.

“

The darker side of the report gave direction to Wall Street.

Yields on U.S. government debt fell sharply, suggesting investors were less confident the Fed could soon begin easing its bond purchases, which are aimed at spurring employment.

U.S. stocks were mostly flat.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said last month the U.S. central bank would likely reduce its monthly purchases by the end of the year if the economy progressed as much as policymakers expect.

On Friday, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said he believed the Fed should be careful about basing its decisions on forecasts and that policymakers should wait to see more data before deciding to taper bond purchases.

Other data on Friday showed a slight gathering of inflationary pressure, with the 12-month reading of the Commerce Department’s gauge of core inflation rising to 1.2 percent in June from 1.1 percent a month earlier.

That could allay some concerns at the Fed that extremely low inflation could hurt the economy by giving consumers more reason to put off purchases.

Policymakers also might take comfort in a pace of hiring that at least appears to be steady. The jobless rate has fallen eight tenths of a percentage point in the last year.

“While July itself was a bit disappointing, the Fed will be looking at the cumulative improvement,” said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. He reckoned the Fed was still on track to trim its stimulus efforts in September.

Structural Concerns Beyond the report’s implications for policy, a deeper question is whether the pace of job creation can be sustained, given weak economic growth.

Gross domestic product, a measure of the nation’s economic output, grew at a mere 1.4 percent annual rate in the first half of the year, down from 2.5 percent in the same period of 2012.

Most economists expect GDP will accelerate in the second half of this year, which would make it more plausible for the current hiring trend to continue.

But the fact that the jobless rate has fallen steadily despite weak output might point to a frightening possibility: perhaps the U.S. economy’s growth potential has fallen.

This would mean less output is needed to create jobs but that incomes would grow at a slower pace over the long run. The prospect of such a structural shift worries economists and investors.

Friday’s report could fan those concerns. The average work week declined to 34.4 hours in July, while average hourly earnings slipped 0.1 percent.

“The labor market remains stuck in quicksand,” said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York.

The report also showed 5.7 percent of Americans who had jobs in July could not get enough hours to qualify as full-time workers, the same percentage as in June.

While the unemployment rate has fallen steadily over the last year, the share of part-time workers who want more hours has barely dropped.

Also, the number of long-term unemployed, while falling, remains historically high. Bernanke has warned this situation could deal lasting damage to the economy’s growth potential.

That is because people out of work for extended periods might never work again. In July, 4.25 million Americans had been unemployed for at least six months.

(Reuters)

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Economy

IPMAN faults claims of kerosene scarcity

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

I

ndependent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has expressed concern on false alarm of kerosene scarcity by some mischievous marketers and Nigerians.

National Secretary of the union Mr Mike Osatuyi, faulted the purported scarcity at a press briefing yesterday in Lagos after IPMAN National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

Osatuyi said that the National Executive Committee of IPMAN noted with dismay a publication by

... lauds PPMC over petroleum products distribution some mischievous Nigerians calling for the removal of the leadership of Pipeline and Product Marketing Company (PPMC).

He said that IPMAN had investigated and confirmed that the mischievous Nigerians are paid agents planning to disrupt the serenity we have been enjoying for some period in the downstream sector.

According to Osatuyi, `` IPMAN controls over 85 per cent of Nigeria’s petroleum products retailing, which makes our association a

dominant player in the Nigerian downstream market.

“IPMAN is in a vintage position to talk authoritatively on the petroleum products supply and retailing chain in Nigeria.

“Nigeria has been enjoying consistent supply of petroleum products in the system for a long time arising from the activities of NNPC/PPMC largely and contributions from other marketers, ‘’ he said.

The scribe said that the National Executive

Committee of IPMAN commends the concerted effort of the management PPMC in sustaining steady supply of petroleum products to Nigerians.

He noted that upsurge in any market mechanism cannot be ruled out and the kerosene market cannot be an exception, while IPMAN has also confirmed that the current upsurge in kerosene market demand is being addressed by the Management of PPMC through innovative measures.

“IPMAN therefore urges PPMC not to be distracted by the ranting of misguided elements singing the tunes of their paymasters, but endeavour to sustain the current level of supply which IPMAN estimates at about 10 to 11 million litres of DPK daily to the system.

“We call on all relevant agencies in charge of petroleum products monitoring and policing to discharge their duties effectively. In the same vein IPMAN urges all her members to sustain the current retailing system

so as to provide quality services to Nigerians.

Osatuyi said that IPMAN NEC had confirmed that PPMC has successfully been monitoring vessel discharges electronically, while electronic tracking of kerosene vessels has made round- tripping of kerosene vessels impossible in the system.

According to him, `` some Marketers found to have diverted DPK vessels as were detected through PPMC’s electronic vessel tracking system have been sanctioned by PPMC.

PHCN Ijora district assures customers of quality service

T

he Ijora Business Unit of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) has assured its customers of improved service delivery to boost the unit’s revenue generation.

The business manager of the unit, Mr Uzoh Obialeri, gave the assurance during the official inauguration of two operational vehicles in Lagos.

Obialeri said that the business unit was

committed to improved service delivery, to the satisfaction of its customers, while assuring workers of improved welfare.

He said that the two operational vehicles and the staff social club welfare bus were commissioned to enhance customer service delivery and workers’ welfare, toward enhanced revenue generation.

“We have inaugurated a business and quality service

delivery team in the unit that will respond promptly to customers’ plight.

“Additional operational vehicles had been commissioned to enhanced service delivery, while a recreational centre had also been created for workers, to enhance efficiency,’’ he said.

“Today we want to recognise and reward staff who have made exemplary achievements within three

Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) months in boosting the unit’s revenue generation,’’ the business manager said.

Obialeri also assured the customers of accurate meter reading, prompt bill delivery and prompt clearing of electrical faults, in order to reduce the period of power outages induced by faults.

In his remarks, the Chief Executive Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Zone, Mr Oladele Amoda, lauded the unit for its initiatives and pledged to support the workers.

Amoda also promised to support the workers with N1 million, to improve

the unit’s recreational centre and social club, to enhance effective revenue generation and workers’ relaxation. “ want to use this medium to commend your workers because they were among the most hardworking and dedicated in the country.

Report on irregularities; FIRS, Customs accounts by banks ready in Sept. -- RMAFC

T

he Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), will release the report of the investigation to verify appropriate remittances by banks engaged by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in September.

The Chairman of RMAFC, Mr Elias Mbam, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Abuja.

He said that a team

of consultants, headed by J.K. Consulting Company had been hired to examine the books of all the 21 commercial banks used by FIRS and the NCS. Mbam said the aim of the exercise was to recover any excessive deductions and stop leakages, as well as to enhance transparency and accountability in revenue remittance into the federation account.

‘Part of our responsibility is to monitor the sources of revenue.

If we look at the books

and we see that their deductions do not conform to the books, then we can say that these are illegal deductions.

“We have sent consultants to the field to look at the books and report to us. “ The report is scheduled to be out by the end of August, but it is not yet ready, due to some challenges, but by September, all investigations should have been concluded,’’ he added. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 23

Stock Watch

Report as at Wednesday, August 7, 2013

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 24

Special Report

A kidney disease patient undergoing dialysis treatment

T

he increasing cases of chronic kidney disease across all age groups in recent times have been a major source of concern to medical experts.

The experts say that unhealthy lifestyles and other neglected health tips largely contribute to the growing occurrence of the disease, particularly among young persons.

A study by Prof. Afolabi Lesi and Dr Taiwo Ladapo, both paediatricians at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, indicates that kidney disease among children accounts

PAGE 25

for 8.9 per cent of the reported cases of the disease in the hospital between 2008 and 2011.

Observers, therefore, express concern about the worrying development, citing the case of Uchenna Emeka, a 13-year-old boy in Abuja, who was diagnosed of renal failure, as an illustration.

Emeka became ill when he was in class six of a primary school and a doctor pronounced that he had entered the end stage of kidney disease two years later.

The rising cases of kidney disease and trauma of dialysis Emeka says that dialysis -- the process of cleansing the blood by passing it through a special machine -- is quite painful, adding that it takes more than three hours a day for five days. ``I have to drop out of school because I could no longer cope, my parents sold all their plots of land to put me on the treatment, which is very expensive; I always cry for what I am going through’’ he adds.

Dr Dorcas Angbazo, a consultant nephrologist in Abuja, explains that some

of the factors that could lead to kidney failure in children include infections, congenital factors and ingestion of toxic drugs, especially herbs, among others.

She, however, says that kidney failure is in stages and could be managed before it degenerates into the ``end stage’’ where the sufferers would require kidney transplant or dialysis. ``Dialysis filters the blood and removes excess fluid; this is what the kidneys normally do when they are functioning; a catheter is inserted into one of the large veins in the neck or groin. ``The catheter is connected to the dialysis machine with tubing and blood is removed via the catheter and tubing, cleaned in the dialysis machine and returned to the patient via the catheter. ``This procedure is called hem dialysis but there is another type of dialysis called peritoneal dialysis, in which a catheter is inserted into the abdomen and special fluid is inserted into the abdominal cavity via the catheter. ``The fluid helps to remove toxins and is removed from the abdomen after several hours,’’ she explained.

Angbazo emphasises that kidney failure often occur when the kidneys partly or completely lose its ability to carry out normal functions.

She, however, advises parents against the indiscriminate use of drugs by their children,

saying that such practice predisposes them to kidney disease.

She also urges parents to desist from giving their children herbal medicines, stressing that that medicines should only strictly be given to the children, in line with medical prescriptions. ``A lot of parents do not follow the instructions given in administering drugs to children, while some do not consult doctors for diagnosis and drug prescriptions,’’ she says.

However, Angbazo says that uncontrolled high blood pressure as well as inadequate treatment of malaria and hepatitis could also cause kidney disease, adding that tobacco smoking is another causative factor.

The nephrologist, therefore, underscores the need for people to inculcate the habit of checking their blood and sugar level at least once or twice in a year.

Dr Ebun Bamgboye, a consultant nephrologist in Lagos, bemoans the growing rate of occurrence of end-stage kidney disease worldwide, saying that urgent medical action should be taken to reduce the rate.

She also expresses concern over the rising prevalence of kidney disease among the youth, noting that most of the patients with end-stage renal disease usually die due to paucity of funds to undergo regular dialysis, which is very expensive.

Nevertheless, Dr Olatise Olalekan, an Abuja-based consultant

physician, stresses the need for diabetic and hypertensive patients to go for regular check-ups to guard against contracting kidney disease.

He insists that diabetes

and hypertension are among the leading causes of chronic kidney disease, warning that the therapy of acute kidney disease is very expensive.

Olalekan reiterates

“

A lot of parents do not follow the instructions given in administering drugs to children, while some do not consult doctors for diagnosis and drug prescriptions

Minister for Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu

that people should make tangible efforts to control their blood pressure, stressing that uncontrolled blood pressure could damage the kidneys and other vital organs.

He, nonetheless, advises people to cut down their salt intake, warning that consuming raw salt increases the likelihood of developing kidney disease.

The consultant also stresses the need for people suffering from diabetes and hypertensive to desist from smoking

and drinking alcohol.

Assessing the impact of the disease on the society; observers say kidney failure does not just affect the patient alone, adding that it also affects the entire family members, friends and caregivers.

They, therefore, call on the Federal Government to integrate dialysis into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) because many citizens cannot afford the prohibitive cost of kidney disease treatment.

(NAN Features)

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 26

Mother Earth

E-waste export: NESREA hails verdict against two US companies

By Mohammed Kandi with agency report

F

ollowing the lingering combat against the importation of used electrical and electronics products into the country, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has applauded the conviction of two top executives in the United States for exporting e-waste to developing countries.

In a statement issued Sule Oyofo, the agency’s Chief Press Secretary, yesterday in Abuja, it said a US district Court, Judge William J. Martinez, handed the two executives of a US-based recycling company, Executive Recycling Inc, Tor Olson and Brandon Richter 14 and 30 months’ jail terms respectively for the act.

The Director-General of NESREA, Dr. Ngeri S. Benebo described the two convictions as “welcome development which could further strengthen punitive measures against defaulters and will serve as warning to other exporters of e-wastes”.Benebo, who warned against the importation of e-waste into the country by the businessmen saying anyone caught in the act will face the wrath of the law, also assured of her agency’s readiness to prosecute those found-wanting on importation of e-waste into the country. She urged importers of used electrical

and electronic equipment to ensure that they are duly registered with NESREA and adhere to the guidelines on importation of used electrical appliances.

The NESREA boss also recalled that before now, Nigeria was a safe haven for importers of e-waste who brought in containers loaded with end-of-life, obsolete electrical and electronics products

Flood: Nigeria-Chad Republic road cut- off

F

ollowing a heavy downpour last weekend in Wasu village of Michika Local Government Area of Adamawa state, a bridge on the Nigeria-Chad route along the village has been submerged and washed-off by the flood.

In a statement issued in Yola, the Adamawa state capital, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) warned motorists plying the route to be cautious of dangers of continued usage of the road.

The statement, the Sector Commander in the state, signed by Mr. Luka Ikpi, called on the general public, especially motorists using the road, to exercise caution while driving, saying, “Due to the heavy downpour on July 30, a bridge at Wasu village along Mararaba-

Michika road in Michika Local Government Area has collapsed.”

It said: “The bridge plays a vital role in linking the north-eastern parts of Nigeria and the Republic of Chad,’’ adding that, anyone that wished to travel from Adamawa to Borno and the Republic of Chad via Michika should divert through Yamwe village, also in the Michika Area Council. The statement noted that the diversion was only 19 kilometres.

When contacted, the Executive Secretary, Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Shadrack Barub, confirmed the development.

He said that the agency had sent a team of personnel to ascertain the extent of the damage in the affected areas.

into the country. She said: “With the advent of NESREA however, e-waste import has been brought to almost zero- level in the country.”

“Through the enforcement of the National Environmental (Electrical/Electronic Sector) Regulations, 2011, no fewer than fifteen vessels have been impounded for importing e-waste.

Such vessels were made to return

their offensive cargo to their ports of origin,” Benebo explained.

“Several litigations on e-waste importation into the country are still on-going in various courts and a vessel was made to post a bond of $500, 000 before it was allowed to sail back with e-waste which it had brought into the country,” she added. According to the DG, “NESREA has severally

held workshops and seminars to enlighten importers and the general public on the negative effects of e-waste on human life and the environment. It is known that electrical/ electronic products contain heavy metal which at the end of life of the product become toxic and are implicated in many chronic illnesses and environmental- related problems.”

River Niger: Investors seek construction of embankment

A

nambra state government and the Organised Private Sector in Awka, the state capital recently renewed calls for the construction of embankment on the River Niger in the state.

The call was made at an interactive session organised by the government and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). The industrialists, who were largely from the Onitsha Industrial Harbour, expressed regrets on the huge loss on investment due to the flooding.

The Group Managing Director of Krisoral Group of Companies, Mr. Oranu Chris, who spoke on behalf of the manufacturers, urged the Federal Government

to release the disaster funds to help mitigate the effects of the flood. He said the occupiers of the harbour, which employs no fewer than 25,000 people, had started to protect their investments through erection of embankment on the river bank.

In his remarks, the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, said the 2013 NIMET flood prediction was unfavourable to the state.

Obaze, who also heads the state’s flood management board, said that about 280,000 persons were envisaged to be displaced.

He said the state government has spent N500 million on management of 2012 disaster, and appealed to communities in

disaster-prone areas to create awareness on how to mitigate flooding on the citizenry.

He further appealed to the Federal Government to assist the state government in fully resettling the victims and cushioning the burden of affected industrialists.

Prof. Christian Mmadu, Director of Shell Centre for Environmental Management and Control, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, called for a more proactive approach to the problem.

Mmadu called on the government and communities in the flood-prone areas to constitute technical committees to work out a possible long-term solution to the global climate change challenge. (NAN)

Climate change: Agency counsels on NIMET 2013 predictions

F

ollowing the 2013 weather predictions released by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) recently, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has warned Nigerians and other stakeholders to heed the counseling to avoid disasters.

The agency also advised chief executives of the states’ emergency organisations and dam managers to use the predictions for effective planning and disaster management.

The North-West Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, Alhaji Musa Illalah, said this at a one-day sensitisation workshop organised for state executives of emergency management agencies and dam

managers in Kaduna.

Illalah said the country was still faced with the consequences of neglecting last year’s flood predictions, adding that the workshop was to review the effect of the floods and to strengthen contingency plans against the 2013 predictions.

“In 2012 we mapped out proactive strategies against flood but due to inefficiency in all sectors, we are all victims” he said.

He said NIMET had predicted that rainfall would be above normal in Sokoto and Kebbi states, while flash floods have been predicted in Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa and Zamfara states. “I wish to appeal to all of us not to make mistake of the past by turning deaf ears to NIMET

predictions,” Illalah counseled.

He charged the participants to make communities more habitable, safer and free of threats to lives, properties and the environment.

The coordinator stressed that climate change and the hazards it posed were real.

He urged all disaster stakeholders to make conscious efforts to plan, prepare, mitigate and respond effectively to disasters across the zone.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive of Katsina State Emergency Agency, Malam Hassan Suleiman, described the workshop as timely and promised that the state would embark on proactive strategies to curb possible disasters.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 27

Mother Earth

Study shows climate change aggravate disease

Ambrose Inusa Sule,

mnes

ENVIRONMENT WATCH globenviron@yahoo.com 0703-441-4410 (sms only)

A

ccording to an international team of leading disease ecologists, climate change is affecting the spread of infectious diseases worldwide, with serious impacts to human health and biodiversity conservation.

Writing in the journal ‘Science’, they propose that modeling the way disease systems respond to climate variables could help public health officials and environmental managers predict and mitigate the spread of lethal diseases.

The issue of climate change and disease has provoked intense debate over the past decade, particularly in the case of diseases that affect humans, according to the University of Georgia’s Sonia Altizer, who is the study’s lead author. “For a lot of human diseases, responses to climate change depend on the wealth of nations, healthcare infrastructure and the ability to take mitigating measures against disease,” said Altizer, an associate professor in the UGA Odum School of Ecology.

“The climate signal, in many cases, is hard to tease apart from other factors like vector control and vaccine and drug availability.”

Climate warming already is causing changes in diseases affecting wildlife and agricultural ecosystems, she said. “In many cases, we’re seeing an increase in disease and parasitism.

But the impact of climate change on these disease relationships depends on the physiology of the organisms involved, the location on the globe and the structure of ecological communities.”

At the organism level, climate change can alter the physiology of both hosts and parasites. Some of the clearest examples are found in the Arctic, where temperatures are rising rapidly, resulting in faster developing parasites.

A lungworm that affects muskoxen, for instance, can now be transmitted over a longer period each summer, making it a serious problem for the populations it infects. “The Arctic is like a ‘canary in the global coal mine,” said co-author Susan Kutz of the University of Calgary

Lakes’ sudden evaporation left children scouting for clean and safe water

and Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre.“ Climate warming in the Arctic is occurring more rapidly than elsewhere, threatening the health and sustainability of Arctic plants and animals, which are adapted to a harsh and highly seasonal environment and are vulnerable to invasions by ‘southern’ species -- both animals and parasites.”

A changing climate also is affecting entire plant and animal communities.

This is particularly evident in tropical marine environments such as the world’s coral reef ecosystems. In places like the Caribbean, warmer water temperatures have stressed corals and facilitated infections by pathogenic fungi and bacteria. When corals -the framework builders of the ecosystem -- succumb, the myriad of species that depend on them are also at risk.

“Biodiversity loss is a wellestablished consequence of climate change,” said coauthor Richard Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. “In a number of infectious disease systems, such as Lyme disease and West Nile virus, biodiversity loss is tied to greater pathogen transmission

and increased human risk.

Moving forward, we need models that are sensitive to both direct and indirect effects of climate change on infectious disease.”

Where human health is concerned, there is not only the direct risk from pathogens like dengue, malaria and cholera, all of which are linked to warmer temperatures, but indirect risks from threats to agricultural systems and game species crucial for subsistence and cultural activities.“ Earth’s changing climate and the global spread of infectious diseases are threatening human health, agriculture and wildlife.

Solving these problems requires a comprehensive approach that unites scientists from biology, the geosciences and the social sciences,” said Sam Scheiner, National Science

Foundation program director for the joint NSF-National Institutes of Health Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program.

“We need to transcend simple arguments about which is more important -- climate change or socioeconomics -- and ask just how much harder it will be to control diseases as the climate warms.”

Ostfeld said. “Will it be possible at all in developing countries?” To respond to that challenge, Altizer and her colleagues -Kutz, Ostfeld, Pieter T. J. Johnson of the University of Colorado Boulder and C. Drew Harvell of Cornell University -- laid out an agenda for future research and action.

One recommendation is to expand data about the physiological responses hosts and parasites have

“

to temperature changes to help develop early warning systems. “We’d like to be able to predict, for example, that if the climate warms by a certain amount, then in a particular hostparasite system we might see an increase from one to two transmission cycles per year,” Altizer said. “But we’d also like to try to tie these predictions to actions that might be taken.”

Such forecasting is well established in crop disease management and has been used to both preventatively close coral reefs and target areas at risk of malaria outbreaks. “We face a tough task in the oceans, where disease outbreaks can be out of sight and undetected,” Harvell said. “Because some coral disease outbreaks are predictable from warming events, we are developing forecasting programs to

Given the rising importance of infectious diseases, not only for human health but also wildlife conservation, it’s also a challenge for which we are in sore need of a solution.

We hope our work contributes to that.

help us respond before the outbreak begins.” The researchers also pointed out that certain human communities, such as those of indigenous peoples in the Arctic, could be disproportionately impacted by climatedisease interactions.“ A better understanding of the impacts of parasitism on wildlife health, and an ability to make accurate predictions of future wildlife sustainability, is particularly important to aboriginal people across the Arctic who depends on wildlife as a source of food, income and a focus of cultural activities,” Kutz said. Johnson continued, “Becausediseaserepresents the product of multiple interacting species, including hosts, pathogens and other members of the food web, forecasting responses to ongoing climate shifts is a tremendous challenge,” he said. “Given the rising importance of infectious diseases, not only for human health but also wildlife conservation, it’s also a challenge for which we are in sore need of a solution. We hope our work contributes to that.” The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation.

(Source: Science Daily)

PAGE 29

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Emergency Update SEMA or NEMA: Who is first responder?

By Sanya Adejokun

A

ccording to the website, wiki.answers, the first responder at the scene of a disaster is the local community. And then, Kalee Thompson painted a scenario in Popular Mechanics on “From bystander to Hero: How to be the First Responder to 10 Disasters”.

“It’s late, and you’re driving on a desolate highway. You see an orange glow in the distance‚ fire.

Soon, you arrive at the scene. A car with a crushed front end has

response skills and so rather than be of help, onlookers constituted themselves into barriers to responders.

In the last few weeks, both the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have been embroiled in a supremacy war over who is the first responder in times of emergency or who should speak during disasters in the state.

Put succinctly, who should take pre-eminent position during

agencies but are more concerned about who first comes to their rescue at the venue of a disaster.

“Rather than antagonise themselves, NEMA and LASEMA should complement each other in the course of their rescue operation(s). The essence of setting up the two agencies is for emergency management during unexpected disasters. Hence, working together mutually to save the lives of those in danger during emergency is more important than the trading of words between the officials of

to ravage parts of the country.

What Nigerians need is help from operators of government at the tiers and not a fight for relevance and supremacy. It is unfortunate that the Zonal Information Officer for NEMA had to be arrested and detained on the orders of Lagos State Government. It should however, be noted that what is happening in Lagos is only symptomatic of a national malaise, which should be halted in the interest of Nigerians.

Even on its own website,

Participants at the one-day workshop on flood awareness/preparation and developing of early warning systems for communities, states and relevant stakeholders held in Sokoto State recently. flames spilling from under the hood, and someone’s trapped inside. You dial 911, and then...

Create a safe zone. So, block the site with your own car and flip on the hazards. Arm yourself with a tire iron and, if possible, a fire extinguisher, and don gloves and protective clothing. Walk‚ don’t run‚ toward the crash. Running can cause an adrenaline and endorphin rush, and kill clear thinking. Fight the fire. Stand uphill and upwind of the flames and discharge your extinguisher along the base of the fire. No extinguisher? For a small blaze, scoop up snow or dirt to snuff the flames. Above all, be realistic.

“You don’t use a squirt gun to shoot an elephant.”

Teaching community members about emergency response like this should be the preoccupation of emergency managers and not quarrel over who takes precedence in emergencies. During the June 2012 DANA crash in Lagos, all passengers, crew members and even others perished because Nigerians lack basic emergency

emergencies?

To be very sure, none of the two agencies contending for relevance is a responder because they lack the capacity and capability.

They are both coordinators. As a reader contended in a letter to the Punch newspapers, “The warring parties need to be told the home truth, that people in dire need of rescue operation when in life-threatening situations do not give a hoot about the issue of supremacy between the two

NEMA and LASEMA, over which of them is a primary or secondary responder. They should get their act together and put a stop to the brinkmanship. It is a show of shame! They should both eat the humble pie and learn how to work in harmony.”

In recent times, cases of collapsed buildings have heightened in Lagos and other states while the much anticipated flooding predicted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency is about

LASEMA lists first responders as “Lagos state Fire Service, LASPHYDA, NEMA, LASTMA, RRS, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Ministry of the Environment, Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU), LASAMBUS and the Red Cross.

Others are KAI, LASEPA, and the PHCN. “The Secondary Responders are: Emergency Service Department of General Hospitals, Julius Berger Nig. Ltd, Nigerian

During the June 2012 DANA crash in Lagos, all passengers, crew members and even others perished because Nigerians lack basic emergency response skills and so rather than be of help, onlookers constituted themselves into barriers to responders.

Maritime Authority, Nigerian Air Force, Nigerian Army, Nigeria Navy and the Police Force.”

It is true that in a Federal state, an agency like NEMA should wait until it is invited by a federating unit for intervention in times of crisis but Nigeria is still an evolving federation and most states rely on the Federal Government for assistance and support for many things.

Over one year ago, a local government chairman in Nasarawa state placed a phone call to the Director-General of NEMA for assistance after a windstorm blew the roof of about six houses away. Ordinarily, the council should be responsible for this. Officially, councils should respond to emergencies but when it is beyond their coping capability, they will invite the state government.

It is only after the state is no longer able to contain the situation that the Federal Government ought to be invited.

In Nigeria however, because states and local governments are almost always unable to cope, NEMA has become to the people, the only organ responsible for emergency management.

During the unfortunate flood disaster of 2012 and through to current occurrences across the country, NEMA has provided over 80% of relief materials, which state governments distribute to victims.

It is understandable that the kind of bitter politics that is played in Nigeria is always a source of worry, especially where the Federal Government and the concerned state are governed by rival political parties such as is the case between Lagos and Abuja. However, the overall interest of Nigerians should also be considered when officials engage in rancour.

The NEMA establishment Act empowers the agency to coordinate emergency management activities in the country. What is practiced in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) should be copied and replicated in the states, where a body, known as Media and Information Committee on Emergency Management (MICEM), was formed to ensure cooperation and collaboration among relevant stakeholder agencies. Some of the agencies represented include Fire Service, Police, WHO, UNICEF, Red Cross, NEMA, Nigerian Army, NCDC, among others. Creation of such bodies in the states will surely engender a harmonious working relationship within the emergency management field.

Again, NEMA should hasten action on the proposed National Centre for Emergency Information. These will be avenues to process information and coordinate activities on disasters in such a way that Nigerians will be the better for it.

Adejokun is National Coordinator, Journalists against Disaster.

PAGE 28

Emergency Update

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Flood: COIRI build trainers’ capacities

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non-governmental o r g a n i z a t i o n , ‘ C o m m u n i t y Intervention and Relief Initiative’ (COIRI) in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has commenced a 3-day Training Of Trainers (TOT) for NEMA and stakeholders on flood prevention and management in Keffi, Nasarawa state.

The programme was intended to build the capacities of the state’s local emergency management committee (LEMC).

During the opening ceremony, Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, who spoke on flood awareness and sensitisation said, “Given the floods disaster of 2012 and its effects which were still being felt in areas worst hit, it was incumbent on all disaster response organisations to put efforts and resources together in order to be fully prepared to handle any eventuality so as to safeguard, protect and significantly reduce the negative effects of flood in the country.”

The NEMA boss also drew the attention of the participants to the 2013 NIMET Flood Predictions, saying it expressed concern over the possibility of high precipitation and its attendant consequences on the environment, the people and the country as a whole.

He added that the training programme was part of preparedness and mitigation measures of NEMA, which was expected to provide necessary information on mitigation measures and rescue operation.

“As part of our preparedness and mitigation measures, the National Emergency Management Agency is making this giant stride to reach the communities and localities already mapped out in our vulnerability map for 2013 floods.

“This singular act of training a crop of trainers for the flood sensitisation will go a long way towards bringing the necessary information on early warning system, mitigation measures, and volunteerism, response and evacuation procedures to the local communities,” he said.

Sani-Sidi said the trainers being trained would cascade the trainings to the six geo-political zones of the country which would also be replicated at the 13 most vulnerable states, as well as the over 90 flood-prone local government areas in the country.

He called on the participants to give their maximum concentration so as to be fully equipped in order to deliver the content of the training to the next level.

On his part, Chairman of COIRI Board of Trustees and a former Director-General of NEMA, Air Vice-Marshal Mohammed Audu Bida (rtd), said COIRI was a disaster management-oriented NGO that had been collaborating with NEMA to do all “humanly possible in order to mitigate the impact flood disaster in the country.”

NEMA official during the distribution of food items to cushion the effects of Emergency rule in Gashua and Macina local government areas in Yobe state recently.

Nigeria lost N2.6tr to 2012 floods, says NEMA Stories by Mohammed Kandi

T

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said Nigeria lost over N2.6 trillion to last year’s floods in 23 states.

The agency also said 5, 970 houses were submerged in 256 local government areas, adding that the floods displaced 2.1 million people and caused the death of 363 people. Seven million people were reportedly affected across the country.

NEMA’s South-West Coordinator Iyiola Akande, spoke at the South-West Zonal

Awareness Flood Campaign, titled: “Towards Early Warning and Early Action for MDAs, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs Level of Preparedness of States in the South-West”. The event was held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.

Stakeholders at the event brainstormed on how to prevent flooding by using the predictions of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).

Akande, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Adebiyi Babatunde, said the workshop was coming on the heels of a public announcement of NIMET’S Seasonal Rainfall

Prediction (SRP), held early in the year.

He said: “The prediction painted a more serious picture of what the nation is to expect this year, when compared to the devastating effect of the 2012 floods, which ravaged about 23 states of the federation.”

Declaring the workshop open, Oyo State Commissioner for Environment and Habitat, Lowo Obisesan, hailed NEMA for being pro-active through the workshop.

Obisesan, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Modupe Omonigbehin, added following the efforts by

stakeholders, flooding would not only be controlled but prevented.

“If we are all ready to give what it takes, if rivers and streams are allowed to go through their channels without obstruction, we can rest assured that flooding would be prevented.”

The commissioner explained that flooding could not be compared with earthquakes, hurricane or volcanic eruptions in scope, time and impact.

He noted that because flooding can be predicted, unlike the other natural disasters, the people should always prepare ahead.

NEMA tasks states on EVTs, disaster management

By Aliyu AbdulHameed

T

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called on the State Governments in the North-West zone of the country to encourage the Emergency Volunteer Teams (EVT) in their response to disasters at the grassroots level.

The agency made the call at a one-day workshop tagged “Role of Volunteers in Emergency and Disaster Management in North-

West” held in Kaduna and Kebbi states recently.

North-West Zonal Coordinator, Alhaji Musa Ilallah, also expressed NEMA’s readiness towards training new sets of volunteers who would engage all cycles of disaster management-preparedness, response, prevention/mitigation and recovery/rehabilitation.

He said: “This exercise will therefore geared towards mitigating the impact of disaster globally thereby channeling more resources

to development, strengthen the existing synergy amongst response agencies and grassroots volunteers and also monitor the state of preparedness of State Emergency Management Agency SEMA volunteers across the zone.”

In a statement from NEMA’s press unit, Ilallah also informed that the Grassroots Emergency Volunteer Corps (GEVC) was expected to serve as “first responders” in the event of emergencies and disasters in their

respective communities.

“It is against this background that I seek the indulgence and support of the state governments to put its full weight behind NEMA’s initiative to enhance the capacity of volunteers as the engine room of response to disaster at the grassroots level which can be done by making annual budgetary provisions annually for each LGA to train 1,000 volunteers in five stretchers in their domains,” he stated.

…Assists gun-shot victims with relief materials in Zamfara

T

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has distributed relief materials worth millions of Naira to victims of a recent attack by unknown gunmen suspected to be armed robbers in Kizara, Zamafara state.

Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, who presentation of the relief support to the victims, informed that then materials comprised of food items, building and other household materials.

Represented by the agency’s Zonal Coordinator for North-West,

Alhaji Musa Ilallah, Sani-Sidi presented the relief support through Muhammad Musa Kwatarkwashi, the Special Adviser on special duties to Governor AbdulAzeez Yari of Zamfara state.

“The relief items given to the victims are 100 bags each of rice,

maize and guinea corn, 100 bags of cement, 100 bundles of roofing sheets, 100 mattresses, 50 bags of sugar, 50 packets of zinc nails, 50 bags of roofing nails, 20 jerry cans of palm oil, 500 pieces each of blankets and mats, 300 wax and 200 shadda materials,” he explained.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 31

International Obama gets ‘personal’ as rift with Russia over Snowden grows ANALYSIS

By Danny Schechter

W

hen heads of state personally intervene in matters of espionage, and demand that alleged spies be released or extradited, it is unusual - and highly inappropriate.

It seems clear that President Obama violated that “old rule” by immersing himself so publicly, personally, and blatantly with White House pressure on Vladimir Putin to send the American whistleblower Edward Snowden back to the US, in the spirit of a Monopoly game: to “go directly to jail without passing go”.

With the announcement that the President may be, or is calling off, his planned trip to Russia, he has assured a return to the Cold War where tit for tat measures are common.

It also seems clear that he has taken Putin’s decision to grant temporary asylum to Snowden personally, after using all diplomatic channels, family pressure and even a bizarre promise from the Attorney General not to torture Snowden.

Noted Yves Smith on Naked Capitalism: If you look at the substance of his actions, it is clear the President is losing his famed poise, at least as far as Snowden and the surveillance state revelations are concerned... one sign that Obama is off balance is his unforced errors in dealing with Russia. The absurd assumption from the get-go seemed to be that Putin would cooperate and hand over Snowden once the Russian leader was prodded a bit. Given the status of US-Russian relations, that was borderline delusional.

Cold War parallel Significantly this calls to mind an earlier incident with Russia in the days of the Soviet Union.

When President John F. Kennedy demanded that the Russians release a Yale Professor who the Russians arrested as a spy.

Although a Harvard man, Kenney had high level appointees from Yale in his administration who pressed him to act in the case of Frederick C. Barghoorn, a Yale English professor, who was busted in Moscow on October 31, 1963. The Professor’s case led to rallies on his behalf at the Yale Campus. Barghoon protested his innocence.

According to the New York Times, on November 12, weeks before his assassination, “President Kennedy, in what would be his last White House news conference, denounced the action as “unjustified”. He declared that Barghoorn “was not on any intelligence mission of any kind” and called the detention “a very serious matter”. The President said American relations with the Soviet Union were “greatly damaged” and warned that impending wheat sales were jeopardized.”

That was the public story.

Another outlet reported that actually when the now freed “spy” returned to

The Snowden issue has further strained relations between Obama’s America and Putin’s Russia. the US, he was paged at the airport for an important call. It was Kennedy himself on the line who had one question after welcoming him home.

“Professor, were you working for us? he asked. Barghoorn’s alleged response: “I thought you knew, Mr. President.”

Click.

Kennedy then realised he had been set up. That led him to fire CIA people implicated in the affair.

Kennedy also suspended dealings with Russia but the deals were later consummated out of public view.

Shocked that JFK had made a global incident out of a mundane spy matter, the Russians released him to pacify the President.

In his book, The JFK Conspiracy, David Miller returned to the incident, reporting that a week later, a professor in Dallas, Willmoore Kendall. “who as a Yale Professor in the late 1940’s recruited William F Buckley Jr for the CIA, told the Dallas Times-Herald.

“From the Russian point of view, Barghoon was a spy, and I believe they had the goods on him.”

A week later, Kennedy made his final and fatal trip to Dallas.

The point is that when it comes to issues of espionage, however contrived, message points replace truthful reporting.

Media blackout Major media outlets look out for their own interests first, as when the NY Times and the Washington Post headlined Private Bradley Manning’s acquittal on one charge of “aiding the enemy,” a dubious charge had been tacked on, but could have impacted the press, to his conviction of 19 charges carrying a possible 136 years in prison.

This allowed media outlets to treat the story as a “mixed bag” rather than as carefully contrived maneuver to make the military judge appear fair and balanced.

Over a hundred media outlets that had, barely, if at all, covering the trial showed up for the verdict and reported the decision without context.

Few of the stories reminded readers of what Bradley Manning

“

had actually done in leaking information about “alleged” US war crimes, what his disclosures revealed, or the reasons he stated for doing so.

A day later, even as the world press, for the most part, condemned the verdict and the “star chamber” nature of the one-sided proceedings, Edward Snowden walked freely out of his “cell” in the duty-free zone of a Moscow airport.

President Putin, who has been under attack for human rights abuses, suddenly looked good to the millions rallying to Snowden’s defense of freedom of information.

Ironically, a prominent Russian TV journalist told me he suspects that Snowden may still be working for American intelligence. He had no evidence.

Because of the Snowden disclosures, the US administration has now been forced to disclose its own secret surveillance to defendants in national security cases.

But even before it could

Kennedy then realised he had been set up. That led him to fire CIA people implicated in the affair. Kennedy also suspended dealings with Russia but the deals were later consummated out of public view.

celebrate its “victory” in blocking Congressional action against pervasive spying (by just seven votes) and convicting Manning in a Soviet style trial, there were major new secret surveillance revelations to cope with in The Guardian and world press.

No wonder “no drama Obama” is stressing out because of his inability to control the issue and its media framing. He has been pushed into a corner where he seems to be sulking openly.

To cite the old saying, “what a web we weave when first we practice to deceive,” Yves Smith writes about Obama’s sullen encounter with the Russian President at the G-20 meeting: “Putin…reminded the US that Russia had no extradition treaty with the US and in general did not extradite people. Packing Snowden off because the US asked for him was not on the table. Putin took the position that the Snowden wasn’t worth exploiting for his annoyance value to the US: “It’s like shearing a piglet: a lot of squealing and little wool.”

Obama then insisted, “that Russia was obligated under international law to hand over Snowden (funny how international law is operative when Obama needs it, and not in matters like (the Russian spy we hold) Kalugin, the force-feeding of Gitmo detainees, or drone murders of children in Pakistan).”

And so, this mostly covert drama continues with Assange and Snowden apparently next on the chopping block but, still at-large, and an upset White House looking more and more impotent by the day.

Source: Al Jazeera

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

International

Fire shuts Kenya’s main airport

A

fire engulfed Kenya’s main airport on Wednesday, forcing the indefinite suspension of international passenger flights and choking a vital travel gateway to east Africa.

The blaze lit up the early morning sky, the billowing clouds of black smoke engulfing the terminal buildings visible from miles away.

The intense heat repeatedly drove back firefighters who battled for five hours to put out the fire, the worst on record at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, east Africa’s busiest.

Michael Kamau, cabinet secretary for transport said an investigation into the fire would start immediately but that it was too early to speculate on the cause.

The blaze stranded thousands of passengers at the airport and exporters of perishable produce, mainly flowers, feared for their export-driven business, a leading source of foreign exchange for Kenyaalongsideteaexportsandtourism.

“This is disastrous,” Jane Ngige, chief executive officer of exporters association

Kenya Flower Council, told Reuters.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the fire, which started in the arrivals and immigration area.

Business travellers and tourists were diverted to other airports in the region.

Shares in Kenya Airways, which uses

the airport as its main hub, fell 2 percent.

Foreign carriers using the terminal include Emirates, British Airways, Qatar, KLM), Turkish Airways, South African Airlines and Ethiopian airlines.

Kenyan authorities said domestic flights and international cargo flights

Scenes during the fire that engulfed Kenya’s airport.

would resume later on Wednesday.

Plans for international flights would be announced later.

“Right now we’ve allowed the cargo to come in. Fruits, flower are coming in andarebeingprocessed.Wehopewewill be able to resume domestic flights,” Kamau said.

Some passengers searched for their luggage amid the charred ruins while outside, staff from Western embassies waved their national flags to attract passengers looking for a route home or a place to stay.

The fire coincided with the 15th anniversary of a twin attacks by Islamist militants on the United States embassy in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of neighbouring Tanzania.

But security analysts said there was as yet no indication of any link to Islamist militants that Kenyan soldiers are battling in neighbouring Somalia as part of an African Union force.

Foreign mediation has failed- Egypt interim Presidency

E

gypt’s interim Presidency says international efforts to resolve the political crisis which followed the deposing of Mohammed Mursi have failed.

Interim head of state Adly Mansour and his backers in the military have been talking to diplomats from the US, EU, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

More than 250 people have been killed in political unrest since Mr Mursi was ousted on 3 July after street protests.

The Egyptian presidency declared in a statement that the “phase of diplomatic efforts has ended today”.

“These efforts have not achieved the hoped for results,” it added.

The presidency said it “holds the Muslim Brotherhood completely responsible for the failure of these efforts, and for consequent events and developments relating to violations of the law and endangering public safety”.

Interim authorities have repeatedly asked Brotherhood supporters to end two major sit-ins in Cairo. Diplomats have voiced concerns about the possible use of force to break up the protests.

Wednesday’s statement said there was “full Egyptian government support” for the move to end the sit-ins peacefully.

But the sit-ins have lasted five weeks and the statement leaves people uncertain as to

Malawian President, Dr Joyce Banda, coming out of a mud house in a rural area in preparation for the launch of the Mudzi Transformation Trust (MTT), a rural transformation initiative, which will target over 25,000 villages across Malawi.

Senators Lindsay Graham (L) and John Mc Cain (middle), in what now seems to be unproductive talks with Gen. Fatah alSisi what will happen next.

The EU envoy, Bernardino Leon, and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, were in Egypt for several days for mediation talks.

“We will continue to do all we can to try and encourage people to get this inclusive dialogue going,” said EU spokesman Michael Mann.

Mr Burns left Egypt on Wednesday, Cairo airport officials told the Reuters news agency.

Clashes between Mr Mursi’s supporters and residents in the city of Alexandria have left one person dead and dozens wounded, Associated Press news agency reported.

Supporters of the former president have held daily street protests in Cairo and other cities.

Mr Mursi has been detained since he was deposed early last month. His whereabouts are not known. But the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton visited him last week and said he was “safe”.

In their talks with Egyptian officials, the US Republican Senators John McCain and

Lindsay Graham called for the release of political prisoners and negotiations between the Muslim Brotherhood - which Mr Mursi belongs to - and the authorities.

“Democracy is the only viable path to stability,” said Mr McCain. He called for “an inclusive political process in which all Egyptians are free to participate”.

Thousands demand Tunisia government’s ouster

T

ens of thousands of Tunisians have crowded the streets of downtown Tunis to demand the government’s ouster, in the largest opposition protests to hit the capital since the country’s political crisis began two weeks ago.

The protest marks the six-month anniversary of the assassination of leftist politician Chokri Belaid, one of two opposition figures to be shot dead in recent months.

It comes hours after the embattled Constituent Assembly suspended its work indefinitely. Mustafa Ben Jaffar, the head of the assembly and secretary-general of the centreleft party Ettakatol, announced the suspension.

“I assume my responsibility as president of the ANC [assembly] and suspend its work until the start of a dialogue, in the service of Tunisia,” he said on state television.

He was referring to a crisis sparked by another assassination of an opposition figure, which has already prompted many opposition members to boycott the assembly’s sessions.

The assembly was only weeks away from finishing a draft constitution and electoral law that would move the country closer to new elections.

The country’s secular opposition is trying to oust the Islamist Ennahdaled government and dissolve the transitional Assembly.

Protests have been held daily since the killing of leftist politician and assembly member Mohamed Brahmi on July 25, nearly six months after another leftist figure was gunned down.

More than 70 members of the assembly withdrew two weeks ago in protest at the two killings and organised a sit-in outside the assembly headquarters.

Ghana court to rule on election by August 29

G

hana’s Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will rule by August 29 on an opposition challenge to the result of December’s presidential election that was won by incumbent John Mahama.

Justice William Atuguba, presiding over the closing arguments in the case, told a packed court that he would issue the verdict 15 days after a further hearing due on August 14.

Opposition leader Nana AkufoAddo has challenged the outcome of the 2012 poll. He claims that the ruling NDC party tampered with

results to boost Mahama’s share of the vote to 50.7 percent, handing him a first-round victory.

Mahama

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 33

International Asia & East Saudi offers Russia deal to Middle Yemen says it foiled alscale back Assad support has Qaeda plot

S

audi Arabia has offered Russia economic incentives including a major arms deal and a pledge not to challenge Russian gas sales if Moscow scales back support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Middle East sources and Western diplomats said on Wednesday.

The proposed deal between two of the leading power brokers in Syria’s devastating civil war was set out by Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week, they said.

Russia has supported Assad with arms and diplomatic cover throughout the war and any change in Moscow’s stance would remove a major obstacle to action on Syria by the United Nations Security Council.

Syrian opposition sources close to Saudi Arabia said Prince Bandar offered to buy up to $15 billion

of Russian weapons as well as ensuring that Gulf gas would not threaten Russia’s position as a main gas supplier to Europe.

In return, Saudi Arabia wanted Moscow to ease its strong support of Assad and agree not to block any future Security Council Resolution on Syria, they said.

A Gulf source familiar with the matter confirmed that Prince Bandar offered to buy large quantities of arms from Russia, but that no cash amount was specified in the talks.

One Lebanese politician close to Saudi Arabia said the meeting between Bandar and Putin lasted four hours. “The Saudis were elated about the outcome of the meeting,” said the source, without elaborating.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, could not immediately be reached on Wednesday for comment about the meeting. A Saudi Foreign Ministry official was

also not immediately available to respond.

Putin’s initial response to Bandar’s offer was inconclusive, diplomats say. One Western

the hard-hit Jiangsu province’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told AFP news agency of the report that he co-authored.

“The transmissibility of this novel virus... was not so effective.”

Scientists have long feared the virus would mutate into a form that transmits easily from person to person.

In the new study, Bao and a team report on the case of a 60-year-old man who died in hospital after contracting the H7N9 virus, which he apparently transmitted to his daughter.

The 32-year-old woman, who had nursed her father for over a week, also died in hospital.

She had no access to potentially infected poultry, leading investigators to conclude that the “most likely explanation” for her illness was direct virus transmission from her father, who had regularly visited live poultry markets.

Genetic tests of virus samples from the two patients also revealed they were “almost identical”.

Despite this apparent evidence of direct transmission, none

diplomat in the Middle East said the Russian leader was unlikely to trade Moscow’s recent high profile in the region for an arms deal, however substantial.

Bin Sultan (L), in a handshake with Putin.

Bird flu in China spread between humans

C

hinese scientists have reported the first likely case of direct human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 bird flu virus that has killed over 40 people since March.

The development was “worrying” and should be closely watched, the team wrote in the British online journal, BMJ, on Wednesday, but stressed that the virus, believed to jump from birds to people, was still inept at spreading among humans.

“People should not panic,” epidemiologist Chang-jun Bao of

of 43 other people who had had close contact with the two patients, including hospital staff, contracted the virus.

H7 influenza viruses comprise a group that normally circulate among birds, of which H7N9 forms a subgroup that had never been found in humans until the Chinese outbreak.

Odd cases of human-to-human transmission had also been reported in other bird flu types like H5N1 and H7N7 - none of which has mutated into an easily spreadable form, and so to see it in H7N9 was not surprising.

South Korea calls North’s bluff on Kaesong zone

North Korea shut the factories in April, pulling out all 53,000 of its workers and banning South Korean firms from crossing the border.

I

mpoverished North Korea said on Wednesday it was reopening the troubled Kaesong industrial zone jointly run with the wealthy South just minutes after Seoul signalled its willingness to let it

close for good.

The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, which handles Pyongyang’s ties with Seoul, proposed talks aimed at normalising the project and

said the safety of South Koreans visiting the factory park would be guaranteed.

The committee was “prompted by its desire to bring about a new phase of reconciliation,

cooperation, peace, reunification and prosperity by normalizing operation in the Kaesong zone”, it said in unusually conciliatory remarks.

The comments were carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency about 90 minutes after South Korea announced steps to compensate its firms that operate factories in Kaesong for losses - a step widely seen as a move towards shutting down the rivals’ last symbol of cooperation.

Reclusive North Korea, for which Kaesong has been a rare source of hard currency, and the South, one of the richest countries in the world, are technically still at war as their 1950-53 civil conflict ended not in a treaty but in a mere truce.

The decision to pay 109 South Korean small and medium-sized manufacturers from a government insurance fund came after the North went for 10 days without responding to what Seoul said was its “final offer” for talks aimed at reopening the project.

South Korea had said it would not wait forever.

Y

emen says it has foiled an al-Qaeda plot to blow up oil pipelines and seize some of the country’s main ports.

Security remains tight and hundreds of armoured vehicles have been deployed to protect key sites.

Both the US and UK have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen, prompted by intelligence reports of renewed terrorist activity.

The US is reported to be preparing special operations forces for possible strikes against al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Suspected US drone strikes killed seven alleged al-Qaeda militants in Yemen on Wednesday - the fifth such strikes in less than two weeks.

The drones also destroyed two vehicles in the town of Nasab, in the southern province of Shabwa.

Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the plot involved blowing up oil pipelines and taking control of certain cities - including two ports in the south, one of which accounts for the bulk of Yemen’s oil exports and is where a number of foreign workers are employed.

“There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer,” said Mr Badi.

“This would be co-ordinated with attacks by al-Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city.”

Al-Qaeda members dressed as soldiers were to be outside the ports, he said. On a given signal they were to invade the facility and take it over.

Yemeni officials quoted by AP news agency said they believed the motive for the planned attacks was retaliation for the killing of senior al-Qaeda figure Said al-Shihri, who was critically wounded in a November drone strike and later died of his injuries.

Abdullah Ghorab, in Sanaa, says there are unprecedented security measures in the capital, with hundreds of armoured vehicles deployed around the city.

Tanks and troops have surrounded foreign missions, government offices and the airport, and senior officials are being advised to limit their movements.

Both the US, which closed 20 embassies worldwide on Sunday, and the UK have withdrawn diplomatic staff from Yemen and urged their citizens to leave.

The US embassy and consulate closures reportedly followed intercepted conversations between two senior al-Qaeda figures, including top leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, suggesting terrorist attacks.

Although the US has previously sent special forces to train counterterrorist units, there are now suggestions that the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), may be preparing units for strike operations sources said.

Yemen is the base of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and both the White House and the US state department have said the current threat comes from AQAP but have refused to divulge further details.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 34

International

Obama cancels Putin meeting over Snowdon asylum

U

S President Barack Obama has cancelled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s decision to grant asylum to intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, the White House said.

But Mr Obama will still attend the G20 economic talks in St Petersburg.

A White House aide said Mr Snowden’s asylum had deepened the preexisting tension between the two counties.

T h e f o r m e r intelligence contractor has admitted leaking information about US surveillance programmes to the media.

The decision to cancel the talks, announced during a trip by the

Obama

president to Los Angeles, comes the morning after Mr Obama said he was “disappointed” with Russia’s decision to offer Mr Snowden asylum for a year.

Mr Snowden, an American former National Security Agency (NSA) technical contractor and CIA worker, in June leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers documents and details relating to NSA programmes that gather data on telephone calls and emails.

Mr Snowden fled his home in Hawaii, where he worked at a small NSA installation, to Hong Kong, and subsequently to Russia.

He spent more than a month in a transit area of the Moscow airport as the US pressured other countries to deny him asylum. On 1 August, he left the airport after the Russian government

said it would give him asylum there for a year.

Speaking to chat show host Jay Leno, Mr Obama reaffirmed his commitment to attending the G20 talks in Russia.

But Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said on Wednesday Mr Obama would not attend planned one-on-one talks with Mr Putin in Moscow, nor on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

“We’ll still work with Russia on issues where we can find common ground, but it was the unanimous view of the president and his national security team that a summit did not make sense in the current environment,” Mr Rhodes said, according to the Associated Press.

Merkel plans to stand down in 2016 if re-elected

G

ermany’s Angela Merkel plans to step down as chancellor in 2016, a year before the end of a third term, if she is re-elected in a September 22 election, according to an unsourced article in Stern magazine on Wednesday.

In a column titled “Merkel’s last three years”, a senior editor of the magazine wrote that she aims to give up politics some 25 years after she became a minister in former conservative Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s cabinet. Merkel is now 59.

“2016 should be the date she stands down, the year before the federal election in 2017,” wrote Hans-Ulrich Joerges.

A spokesman for Merkel said the story was “completely unfounded” and referred Reuters to her own previous denial that she only intended to serve part of a third term, should she win.

When top-selling Bild daily reported in April that she might quit in 2015, Merkel responded that she fully intended to serve the whole four-year period.

In that report, Bild said that in 2015 Merkel would mark 10 years in power, making it a suitable point to step down.

But Merkel told Bild: “I want to continue the centerright coalition and work for our country and its people as chancellor for the full legislative period.”

In Stern, Joerges wrote he had heard it was a dream of Merkel, Germany’s first female chancellor, to drive the PanAmerican Highway which links North and South America with her husband. Merkel grew up in

Communist East Germany.

Polls show Merkel is likely to win a third term but it is

unclear whether she will be able to continue her centerright coalition with the Free

Democrats or will have to form a “grand coalition” with the main opposition Social Democrats.

Merkel

Europe and Americas

Italy ‘agrees to take migrants rejected by Malta’

A

tanker carrying 102 rescued migrants is heading for Italy after Rome reportedly agreed to take them, ending a stand-off between Malta and the ship.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat thanked his Italian counterpart Enrico Letta, saying the decision would “reinforce” ties between the countries.

Malta had resisted EU pressure to take in the migrants, insisting the tanker should take them to Libya.

It argued that to accept them would set a “dangerous precedent”.

The tiny island state receives thousands of illegal migrants heading to Europe each year.

The oil tanker M/V Salamis, which picked up the migrants en route from Libya to Malta, was heading for the Sicilian port of Syracuse as of Wednesday morning, according to the Marine Traffic website.

According to the Times of Malta, a new group of 86 migrants was brought to Malta on board a patrol boat on Wednesday morning, after being rescued off the coast.

On Sunday, 111 mainly African migrants arrived in a rubber dinghy at Delimara, on Malta’s south-east coast.

The European Commission told Malta on Tuesday it had a duty to admit the migrants - who reportedly include an injured woman, four pregnant women and a five-month-old baby - on humanitarian grounds.

Malta had told the captain of the tanker - the M/V Salamis - it did not have permission to enter its territorial waters and insisted its decision to deny entry was in keeping with international law.

Mr Muscat told EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy last month that the burden of immigration to the EU should not fall on its smallest member.

“Call us harsh, call us heartless, but we are not pushovers,” the Maltese prime minister said.

Outrage as Swiss move to segregate asylum-seekers

S

ome Swiss towns plan to keep asylum-seekers away from public places such as swimming pools, playing fields and libraries, in a move human rights groups say is racist.

The curbs are aimed at preventing tensions with residents, officials say.

Asylum-seekers are to be housed in special centres, mainly former army barracks, and the first one has opened in the town of Bremgarten.

Switzerland’s share of asylum-seekers is well above the European average.

Asylum laws were tightened in June.

Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the controversy reflects growing voter unease at the number of asylum-seekers in Switzerland per head of population, among the highest in Europe. Currently about 48,000 people are seeking asylum in Switzerland.

Roman Staub, mayor of the

town of Menzingen, said asylumseekers should be banned from “sensitive areas” such as the vicinity of a school. “This is certainly a very difficult area, because here asylum-seekers could meet our schoolchildren - young girls or young boys,” he said.

In Bremgarten a church will also be off-limits to asylum-seekers.

Human rights groups are outraged, calling the measures racist, our correspondent reports.

The government says the rules

are not formal bans on movement - but admits its own department of immigration agreed the restrictions with town councils.

In June voters overwhelmingly backed a controversial move to tighten asylum restrictions, amid a spike in the number of refugees in the country.

Switzerland counts one asylum-seeker for every 332 inhabitants. The European average is one asylum-seeker for every 625 inhabitants.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 35

Strange World

Skateboarding Mice

S

hane Willmott must have a lot of time and patience beyond the usual animal trainer.

Why else would he spend so much time trying to train mice to skateboard?

You read that right: Willmott, 42, has trained his crew of “radical rodents” to ride skateboards and even get “air.”

It’s perhaps the most amazing display of rodent athletics since the last Tom & Jerry cartoon, but Willmott, who hails from Australia’s Gold Coast, insists mice are natural shredders.

“They love it,” he said, according to Today.com. “Mice are built to surf and skatebecause their center of gravity is so low.

When they do fall off, they want to get straight back on board.”

Willmott actually started his bizarre animal training 10 years ago, by teaching mice to surf, but decided he needed to give them a hobby during the cold winter months.

He starts training his mice “before their eyes even open” by pulling them around on tiny skateboards with a string to acclimate them to the sensation,

One of the mice showing of his skills.

Metro reported.

Now they skate their lives away on a mouse-sized skate park in the backyard of his home, Orange

News reported.

It might seem dangerous for a rodent to fly in the air on a skateboard through a flaming

Chinese undergo plastic surgery to change their destiny

hoop, but Willmott insists his mice are perfectly safe.

“I love my mice and would never do anything to harm them

Police Chief tasers self, partner during botched arrest

A

According to Mian Xiang the shape, size, placement and color of each facial feature is believed to reflect an individual’s health, personality traits, luck and future career prospects.

I

n the Western world, most people undergo cosmetic procedures like rhinoplasty,eyeliftsandchinimplants in their quest for a youthful and attractive appearance, but in China they are considered sure ways of improving one’s fortune and changing fate.

According to Mian Xiang, the ancient Chinese Art of Face Reading, a person’s facial features compared to their date of birth say a lot about their future. For example,smallandsparseeyebrowsshow a lack of vitality and strength, whereas a hidden mole within the eyebrows indicatesasuccessfulbreakandmonetary gain.

A “double forehead” or a full prominent forehead means that person is very intelligent and has the capacity to retain a lot of information, while the bulbous end of the nose is called a “wealth palace” and its size and shape reveal

a man’s ability to store wealth, and a woman’s chances of finding a rich and supportive husband.

Basically the shape, size, placement and color of each facial feature is believed toreflectanindividual’shealth,personality traits, luck and future career prospects. In order to improve their chances of hitting it big in business, finding true love or improving their luck, many Chinese have their features altered according to the instructions of face reading masters.

In the United States and most other Western countries, people undergo rhinoplasty surgery to reduce the size of their nose, but a lot of aspiring businessmen in China choose to have theirnosesenlargedtobecomeevenmore successful.

Ahigh,straightandprominentnoseis considered the ideal feature for monetary gain. Unfortunately, according to face

reading experts, other facial faults may suppressaperson’sluckuntiltheageof41, but after that the nose takes over and they can expect an increase in riches.

Eye lifts to straighten the eyes and make them more aggressive are believed to increase a person’s authority and their ability to run big companies, while tattooing the eyebrows to make them look long and bushy inspires strength and vitality.

Although plastic surgery is also used for cosmetic purposes, many Chinese have procedures done for more practical reasons as having a Feng Shui face is considered a great way to change one’s fateandimprovetheirlife.ButtheChinese aren’t the only ones who believe changing their physical features also changes their destiny. In Japan, many believe altering theirpalmlineswillhelpthemextendtheir life, find love and gain wealth.

-- I’m not a cruel person,’’ he told the Courier-Mail. “I’ve never lost a mouse in 10 years of teaching them to surf and skate.’’

trailer home, but photos from Faith’s Facebook page indicate that he currently cares or has cared for at least 13 cats.

Accordingtothepolice,Faithbecame irate when officers question him. He told Rodriguez and Cruche that people had harmedandevenkilledhiscatsinthepast.

The police claim Faith used foul language, telling officers to leave his property. “Write me a ticket or get the f**k out,” Faith allegedly told Cruche.

WhenFaithwrappedhisarmsaround a wooden post near his trailer, officers struggled to remove him. Rodriguez, who had received Taser training earlier that day, decided it was time to put act. But it didn’t go well.

The chief writes: “I deployed the Taser to Faith’s left side arm. During the attempt to control Faith’s arm, I realized the Taser was not having a meaningful affect [sic]...”

Not deterred, the officer loaded anotherprobe,butsomethingwentawry: “As I was attaching [another] probe cartridge to the Taser, I had the sensation of falling backwards...

I recall the Taser discharging...aprobe had penetrated my right index finger...

I pulled the probe out of my finger and was going to reload with a second probe cartridge when officer Cruche told me he had been hit as well. I looked over and [he] was bleeding from the top of his head near A policeman holding a taser gun. the hair line.”

Wyoming “Cat Man” is suing Shoshoni police after he was stunned with a Taser in an argument over the “strong odor” of his large family of felines.

Inthearrest,apolicechiefaccidentally Tased his partner and himself.

According to a suit filed July 26 in U.S. District Court, acting police chief Andy Rodriguez and officer G. Cruche responded to a neighbor’s ongoing complaint about cats on the property of L.J. Faith in August 2012.

A police report obtained by The Huffington Post states that “several cats belonging to Faith were running around anddefecating”inaneighbor’syard,anda “verystrongodorofcaturine”filledtheair.

In a phone interview with HuffPost Aug. 6, attorney Charles Pelkey described his client, who is legally blind, as “the local catguy,”andsaidthatpeoplewould“leave cats” in his yard.

Pelkey could not provide an exact number of cats that reside around Faith’s

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Digest

How clean water and soap can make a child taller

By Simon Tomlinson

S

imply improving the quality of water and using soap could make children grow taller, according to the first study of its kind.

Researchers found that basic methods to maintain good hygiene could add half a centimetre to a five-year-old as poor personal care can increase the risk of infection in the gut, thereby reducing the amount of nutrients absorbed.

It could also reduce the prevalence of stunted growth, which irreversibly affects physical and mental development of an estimated 165million children worldwide,

by up to 15 per cent.

The study’s authors say the findings are key to tackling the ‘burden of undernutrition’ which causes 3.1million deaths annually and accounts for nearly half of all deaths of under-fives.

The study was carried out for the Cochrane Review and authored by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and charity WaterAid. It examined 14 studies conducted in low- and middleincome countries including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Chile and Nepal using data on 9,000 children.

Yael Velleman, one of the authors and a senior policy analyst at WaterAid, told The

Simple measures: Improving the quality of water and washing hands could make children grow taller, according to the first study of its kind (file picture)

Researchers found that basic methods to maintain good hygiene could add half a centimetre to a five-year-old child as poor personal care can reduce the amount of nutrients absorbed (file picture)

Independent that the link between disinfecting water, sanitation and nutrition could explain why children in some countries are shorter than others in equally developed nations.

Five years ago, the World Health Organisation estimated that 50 per cent of childhood malnutrition is associated with repeated diarrhoea or intestinal worm infections.

Professor Tim Wheeler, deputy chief scientific

advisor to the Department for International Development (DfID), which funded the research, said the report supports the use of soap and clean water ‘as one of the best ways to prevent contracting diarrhoea and stopping c h i l d r e n losing the essential nutrients vital for them to grow.’

Lead author, Dr Alan Dangour, who is also a senior research fellow at the DfID, added: ‘Providing clean water,

sanitation and hygiene is an effective way to reduce the incidence and associated deaths from diseases such as diarrhoea – which remains the third biggest killer of under-fives worldwide.

‘For the first time our analysis suggests that better access to these services may also have a small but important impact on the growth of young children.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

How documenting medical issues could help you get better

By Roger Dobson

W

riting about your problems could boost your immune system and speed up wound healing, new research suggests.

Skin healed three times faster in people who wrote about their traumatic life experiences, compared with those who simply documented daily activities, in a study by the University of Auckland.

The 50 participants, both men and women, were asked to write for 20 minutes daily, for three consecutive days.

Half the group wrote about upsetting experiences and expressed their deepest emotions, while the rest wrote about their plannedactivitiesforthenextday,without mentioning emotions.

Two weeks later, all participants had a 4mm skin biopsy taken from their arm and their healing rates were monitored and compared.

After 11 days, 76 per cent of the expressive group’s wounds had healed, compared with just 42 per cent of the others.

‘Our study helps demonstrate the

Blog yourself better: Just 20 minutes per day of writing about trauma sped up the healing process by three times, the study found

mind-body relationship and how we could use psychological interventions to improve physiological outcomes,’ says Dr

Elizabeth Broadbent, who led the study.

‘Future work needs to investigate whetherexpressivewritingcouldimprove

healing in people with chronic wounds or in patients recovering from surgery.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Healing words: The US study found that participants who wrote about emotional or traumatic experiences healed faster.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 37

APC can’t upstage PDP, says Junaid Mohammed Interview How would you assess the state of the nation? think in answering this question, one has to be very careful and humble, because there are so many aspect of the state of the nation. For example if I’m to assess the state of the nation security, it will take quite a while to fully assess the state of the nation at the moment. If you look at the state of nation’s economy you would agree with me that it is in a total mess and it gives an indication of how you can have an “economy growing” as it were.

The economy is growing but at the same time there is no creation of wealth; disposable incomes are becoming less and less; money in circulation is becoming worthless by the day and inflation figures that are being issued by the central bank are very dubious.

They are not reliable. There are also the issue of policies of the government as regard to national economy, can Nigeria continue to survive the way it has from 1958 or from 1960 to date dependent on foreign exchange earnings alone? There is the fundamental issue of diversification of national economy. Clearly, the oil we produce is not enough to maintain the living standard, sustain growth, employment of over 150 million people. For us to be dependent of our economy, that economy has to be diversified.

Again, of course there is the very important issue which is the security. Everybody knows that Nigeria is in a mess security wise; everybody knows that the government has not succeeded and cannot succeed in taming the monster of terrorism both in the Niger/Delta and lately Boko Haram. So what should be done and to be done how by whom and when? What would be the division of labour in fighting this issue?

And it is possible to fight terrorism without a comprehensive counter insurgency strategy; can we really fight crime by playing politics with it? If people start making trouble, you appease them by giving them money, or do you now make friends with terrorist in one part of the country while declaring the other terrorist in the other part of the country as enemies. It doesn’t make sense to me but that is how this government in power now behaves.

What is the way out?

That is the way out.

I itemized the problems for you by highlighting areas of national economy and security itself; the political situation in the country, lack of credibility and legitimacy in government and lack of mandate and you cannot govern people in a democracy without a mandate. Clearly, this government was not elected. The

I

Dr. Junaid Mohammed, former member of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic and former national chairman of the Peoples Salvation Party (PSP), in this interview with Edwin Olofu in Kano bared his mind on the state of the nation, including the chances of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC), amongst others. Excerpts: security issue cannot be handled in isolation. It is very closely tied up with kind of government and the type of governance we have chosen for ourselves. If you want to talk about security I would like to ask whose security? Is it the security of the political class? Is it the security of the people who are in power at various state capitals, local government chairmen? Is it the security of those who are in power or is it the security of the average man going about his legitimate business trying to earn livelihood for himself? Unless you really disambiguate some of these issues, you are going to find it difficult to talk about security generally.

Talking about security in this type of situation will be sheer madness because frankly speaking when you talk about a dastardly act you have to assign responsibility.

In assigning responsibility, it is presupposed that you do your homework. And if you don’t do your homework, there is no way you can identify those who are responsible for any act. And because of that general attitude from the government in Abuja, nothing has been found about those who have exploded other bombs not only in the Niger/Delta or those who sabotaged the oil installation or for those who have been throwing bombs at schools , churches at mosques in Borno and Yobe states.

The question to be asked is, what do we mean by terrorism?

And if we are interested in curbing terrorism, the terrorism by who?

And can terrorism survive without financing? Can it survive without publicity? And who are the people financing the actual terrorism operation of the people in Boko Haram and Niger/Delta and this Asari Dokubo organization. Who are the people that are financing them; who are the people giving them the training and who are procuring the arms for them?

Unless you are able to talk about them, any talk about terrorism will

Dr. Junaid Mohammed amount to nothing which means the people of Nigeria are being blackmailed.

What are the prospects of the newly registered APC? Well, I’m not a soothsayer.

I like to base my judgment on evidence before me and when the evidence is not there or is very scanty, it is very difficult to make a prediction. But let us look at the phenomenon of registering a political party, which claims that it is a progressive party and see whether it is truly a progressive party or that party is determined to pursue progressive policies.

Or is it just a mega party being registered to counteract with other major people who are fascistic; which is the PDP. We have to be very careful, because I chose my words with care; I want to make sure that when I call a spade, it is really a spade not something else.

My understanding of the APC is simply a party being brought about by some seriously concerned Nigerians that believe that the country deserves something better. But I also believe that a

“

We have had this fraud, coming out of the South-West throughout the history of Nigeria. Every day they have a fascist party clothed in socialist slogan, they say it is a progressive party

great majority of the people in PDP are there for what to get. Which means the purpose of the great number of the people in the APC is the same thing with the purpose of those people who formed and are now running the PDP. So, in other words, in terms of concrete policy direction, there will be no difference between the APC and PDP. I may be wrong and when I assess a party, I assess the party based on policies and programmes.

In fact, from what was leaked out of the so-called Constitution and manifestos of the APC, there are areas where the APC is even more rightwing, even more fascistic than PDP and I find that terribly more disturbing. Because this wholesale commitment to capitalism of the worst type, despite record of capitalism from 1999 to date, in my view is going to further destroy the country or what remains of the country economically.

If we are serious, we have to ask what the progressive policies are being touted in the name of the APC. I don’t know any. Yes, there has been noise about free education, which is a good idea, education is the most important investment we can do to our children. I believe in free medical services as far as possible. I also believed that certain things which cannot be done in terms of market economy like I mentioned education, health services, defense and security cannot be done on the basis of supply and demand because those who needs the services may not be able to afford to it. But beyond that, what are the comprehensive policies outreaches which will enable the government to use the resources

of the country effectively, sensibly and make sure that those who are least able to take care of themselves are in the position to benefit. Secondly, performance in government doesn’t make any country or anybody a progressive.

I can say with due respect my friend, the governor of Lagos state, Raji Fashola, is performing as the governor of Lagos today.

I can say also that my younger brother Kano state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, here is doing wonderfully well in terms of performance. But that performance criteria alone doesn’t make you a progressive. To be a progressive, you must subscribe to certain basic ideals about the relationship of the government and the national economy. The need for people to have certain basic needs met by government, no matter what it takes and the need for people as government to take it upon itself that extreme of poverty and wealth are not allowed to exist. Because when you allow the very rich and the very poor to co-exist, that is what breeds Boko Haram or militants and what have you. As far as I’m concerned, performance doesn’t guarantee you the appellation or the nickname of progressive.

We have had this fraud, coming out of the South-West throughout the history of Nigeria.

Every day they have a fascist party clothed in socialist slogan, they say it is a progressive party. But some of us have said no, that is not what is called a progressive party and I remember very well that late Professor Chinua Achebe has said several times, that the essence of the propaganda about progressive politics in the West is nothing but fraud. And he was not going to join them because he found everything they were doing were fraudulent. And he said this almost thirty years ago, so as far as I’m concerned slogans alone doesn’t make progressive but there must be sincere effort looking at the national economy at the starters of people who are living in that economy.

Over N1 trillion was spent here in Kano for the eight years of the so-called Sharia government and those elements in the so-called sharia government are now also progressive. If this is what you call progressive, I rather stay out for the rest of my life. There are also fundamental issues of human relationship given the treachery of former governor of Kano state, Ibrahim Shekarau and those elements who followed him in Continued on page 38

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Politics

Concede governorship to Onwan nation in Edo-Lawyer From Matthew Aramunde, Lagos

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Lagos based lawyer and human rights activist has called for a shift in the political arrangement in Edo State.

According to him, “it is the turn of the Onwan speaking nation in the state to produce the next governor of the state given the fact that the Onwan people have paid their dues beginning from 1963 when the MidWestern state was created through to 1991 when Edo State was created.”

This call was made over the weekend in a press statement issued by the Lawyer - Barrister Patrick Job Aigbovbioise in his office and made available to journalists.

The lawyer-cum activist noted that the Onwan speaking nation has in the past years played the “second fiddle position in the political entity called Edo state. The nearest we have been in power was during the tenure of Barrister Benson Alegbe under the then Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and Prof. Ambrose Alli between 1979 to 1983. There was also Rev. Obadan, who was Deputy Governor to Chief Odigie Oyegun during the aborted 3rd Republic.

“What have we done to merit this exclusion in the political calculation of the state? We as a people are tired of playing the supporters group in the political equation in Edo State,” Barrister Aigbovbioise said.

Continuing, the Principal Partner at Patrick Job Aigbovbioise & Co, Barrister & Solicitors said: “It is noteworthy however that the Onwan nation has never in the history of the state produced a governor in the “Heart Beat of the Nation” state.

PDP Convention: ‘Tukur removed Atiku’s name from delegates’ From Umar Dankano, Yola

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he national chairman of Peoples Democratic party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur has been accused of being responsible for the removal of the name of the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar from the Adamawa delegates’ list for the August 31st Special convention.

Alhaji Suileman Baba Jada, a

political activist in the state, said he was not surprised for the act of omission allegedly perpetrated by the National Chairman of the PDP stressing that with this development, there are fears that Governor Murtala Nyako, and his political associates may have been excluded from the list.

Jada, at a press conference in Yola, said that Bamanga Tukur, desperation to return President Goodluck to power by all cost in

2015 will make him to set aside PDP constitution and run the party with impunity.

The acting National Publicly Secretary of the PDP, Barrister Ceasar Okeke, had in a VOA Hausa interview monitored in Yola, yesterday denied the exclusion of the former Vice President from the list of Adamawa delegate insisting that if such thing happened, it was a missed up.

But state Secretary of the party,

L-R: Director, Groupe Prudencio, Guninea Conakry, Princess Philomena Desmond-Ogugua; President, Women Arise, Dr. Joe Odumakin and Public Affairs Officer, US Embassy, Dehab Ghebreab, at a lecture on US-Nigeria Bilateral Relations, yesterday in Lagos.

Mr P.P. Elisha loyal to governor Murtala Nyako,speaking to journalists yesterday in Yola, said that Atiku name was submitted to the National Chairman of the party but were surprised that his name was later removed after submission.” We submitted Atiku name to the National Chairman but we were made to know that he replaced our list with Madaki lists” He however blamed Atiku for giving support to Tukur’s illegal party state exco, which he claimed now turned around to scheme him out of the party leading to the present political predicament he found himself as his name is deliberately removed from the state delegates lists.

He expressed shock and disbelieve that the delegate lists submitted by Tukur’s state exco in the state could afford to omit the former Vice President.

“When we went through the lists of delegates submitted by Tukur backed exco, we were suprised that Atiku name was removed but based on circumstantial evidence, the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has given tacit support to the moves by Tukur to oust the present state exco headed by Alhaji Umaru Mijiyawa Kugama” He alleged that one of the loyalists of former VP confirmed that his principal who spoke from far away Dubai commended the conduct of illegal congresses that brought factional leader of Joel Madaki backed by Tukur as the state exco of the party describing it as the “best ever” conducted congresses of the party in the state”.

APC can’t upstage PDP, says Junaid Mohammed Continued from page 37 Kano here for eight years against Buhari. And the vicious campaign of personal vilification they carried out against Buhari. And for either of them now to come and tell me they are in the same party it means that either one of them is lying or both of them are lying. And yet it is happening today. Buhari is in the same party with Shekarau! And if I have to recall in public what Buhari told me about Shekarau..., but I will not. And how he has made up his mind never to have anything to do with Shekarau in his life and he is now in the same party with him.

Because you can see that the whole thing has been reduced to a farce; that is why nobody is excited and nobody is taking them seriously.

We should be very careful because many of the people who are now jumping into the APC bandwagon were ex-PDP. Do you think the APC can upstage the PDP? I have my doubt, because politics is war by another means.

If you want to be taken seriously and you believe some people are doing something wrong, don’t start by saying I want to do exactly

what they are doing. I believe by talking about zoning and rotation and committing yourself to that, you cannot upstage PDP. Besides many of the people who are now leading figures in APC came from the PDP, they benefited from the PDP they are multi-billionaires from the PDP. Who is fooling who? There are some people who believe that agitation by itself can give you power. But when you are in power, if you are agitating then you are agitating against yourself. The politics of the old Action Group, then later UPN, was nothing more than agitation with a mix of brigandage, terrorism and killing of people. Now that they are in power in the South West, Edo and Nassarawa states, will agitation alone be enough to appeal to Nigerians to trust them and give them power? Or will Buhari’s name per se, thrown in the air, be enough for Nigerians to say we believe in Buhari therefore we are going to give him power?

If Nigerians are so bloody, primitive about power they are prepared to give somebody power just because of his name, even though the circumstances which

he made his name in the past are no more there. A man with simple laptop now can steal the entire earnings of the Central Bank of Nigeria, so why are we deceiving ourselves? I appreciate what he did in the past but at the moment, leadership is not for Buhari I’m sorry. I hate to say it, and it pains me to say it, because I’m talking about a friend, a man I cherish dearly but he is not for Nigeria of this age. In fact he doesn’t get along with youths; he doesn’t understand them they don’t understand him. In that situation he is the same characters in the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and some of the other socalled northern groups. Of course in ACN they don’t even pretend they are democratic because they do not hold primaries. Whoever is appointed by the leader of the party is the person that will that contest.

There have been calls from some quarters for the National Assembly to commence impeachment procedures against President Jonathan over issues relating to constitutional abuses, what is your take on this?

I started demanding for the impeachment of Jonathan long

before now, and I believe Jonathan has committed impeachable offences but nobody in National Assembly, House or Senate, is sincere about it simply because they are benefiting from the incompetence, irresponsibility and corruption which is typical of what has been happening. If the structures provided by the constitution are adhered to and respected, this man will not last one week in government; he will be impeached. It is not just the question of Rivers state, Rivers was just a tip of the iceberg and that came about because his wife wants to be the Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa state and the governor of Rivers in addition to being the first lady of Nigeria. And it took the hell lot of some us to alert the nation on the Rivers state. Let me tell you, I’m not saying one state is more important than the other, but what I’m saying is that if we allowthe people in PDP to destabilize Rivers, Nigerian economy is going to go down the drain. So, whether you like Rivers or not, the fact is that at the moment you don’t have a substitute for Rivers, because the production in Bayelsa is

insignificant; the one Akwa Ibom is notional. But above all, there must be a time when Nigerians will stand and say enough is enough and as far as I’m concerned, we have had more than enough of Jonathan. It is about time we ask him to go; he should never have been President; he has no business being the President of Nigeria.

The Senate just voted on constitutional amendment, surprisingly they threw out the issue of local government autonomy. What is your take on that?

Yes, because most of them are former state governors, and if you know how state finances are run; most of the stealing that is done is done not from the funding coming from the federal government to the state. It is from the local government. For example all the state universities are run from local government funds. Which is illegal, most of the monies being stolen in the name of buying fertilizers, you can see why those people in the Senate today will not accept to have their cash-cow taken away from them. But sooner than later someday it will happen.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 39

News Extra DHL supplies solar light to Africa

By A’isha Biola Raji

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courier company DHL Express, as part of the effort to help people have access to light have provided light to thousands of people through its logistics expertise.

According to a statement signed by Lee Nelson, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications, Sub-Saharan Africa, DHL Express is supporting ‘Little Sun’ by moving 4,000 lamps to Ethiopia and South Africa from Germany as part of Deutsche Post DHL’s activities around the United Nations World Environment Day. According to the statement, DHL often uses its dedicated network to deliver hope for those in need.

“The company has recently been using its logistics expertise to deliver ‘light’ to thousands

of people in Sub-Saharan Africa. “DHL Express is supporting Little Sun by moving 4,000 lamps to Ethiopia and South Africa from Germany as part of Deutsche Post DHL’s activities around the United Nations World Environment Day.” The Head of Marketing for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa Sumesh Rahavendra said the company was partnering with two lightgiving organisations, Little Sun and Solar without Borders, on a pro-bono basis in order to provide the much-needed solar-powered light to people in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He said, “studies by organisations including the United Nations indicate that over 1.6 billion people still do not have access to light; 30 per cent of whom live in Africa.

“Using solar powered technology to give these people access to light is not just sustainable but also healthy, compared to

conventional fuel sources.

“We have therefore partnered with Little Sun which is a social business that produces Little Sun lamps and distributes them worldwide by establishing sustainable trade routes, allowing off-grid distributors to make a profit while bringing light to local users.”

Felix Hallwachs, CEO of the project added that Little Sun runs active projects in six African countries, and pilot projects are under way across Africa and in South East Asia saying DHL is bent on sustaining the gesture.

He said, “together with our partners we have brought 25000 solar lamps to users in Africa, in a trade-not-aid system that empowers all participants. “DHL is contributing to kickstarting long-term sustainable development opportunities.”

In a similar move, the courier company

has also partnered with Solar without Borders, a Belgian non-profit organisation after executing all kinds of solar projects from Guatemala to Mongolia.

Solar without Borders have combined their expertise and developed the ‘Solar Kiosk’, a central solar installation per village where 100 self-developed solar lamps can be charged.

Gilles Loobuyck, the project manager in Sierra Leone said, “After offering local training, the solar system and solar lamps can be made locally. “Beside ‘getting people out of the dark’, Solar without Borders aims to encourage the transfer of knowledge, creates employment and stimulates entrepreneurship.”

DHL is part of Deutsche Post DHL. The Group generated revenue of more than 55 billion euros in 2012.

Appeal Court sacks former Bauchi deputy governor From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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Travelers waiting to board vehicles at the Gwagwalada motor park in Abuja yesterday

Edo kidnappers review ransom money as newspaper donates N15,000 From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

K

idnappers of three Edo primary school teachers have reduced the ransom they demanded to N5 million from N50 million.

The female teachers were

abducted about 10 days ago at their Orhogbua Primary School in the Ekenhuan community of Ovia North East local government area of Edo state.

Sources close to the negotiators said yesterday that the abductors gave the families up to tomorrow,

Friday August 9, to pay the money.

The teachers being held were identified as Mrs. Patience Osadolor, Patience Oroghene and Aisha Momodu.

The abductors had on Tuesday demanded N50 million ransom from families of the victims.

Meanwhile, the Management of Bendel Newspaper Company, publishers of the Nigerian Observer has announced a donation of N15, 000 to the husband of one of the teachers who is on the staff of the company.

he Court of Appeal sitting in Jos has set aside the judgment of the Bauchi state High Court which reinstated the erstwhile Deputy Governor of the State, Muhammad Garba Gadi, asking him to pay the sum of N30, 000 as cost to the Appellants in the case.

The judgment which was delivered on 26th of July 2013 following an appeal against the judgment of the Bauchi state High Court delivered on the 25th of June, 2010 which declared the removal of the then Deputy Governor, Garba Gadi as unconstitutional, null and void.

The judgment said that, ‘three issues were placed before the Court of Appeal.

“The judgment of the Bauchi State High Court delivered on the 25th day of June 2010 is hereby set aside.

“Respondent, (Alh. Garba Gadi) shall pay costs of N30, 000 in favour of the appellants.”

The implication of the Court of Appeal is that all the orders made by the Bauchi State High Court at the end of the trial in Bauchi have been set aside; the seven-man panel and the process of the removal of Gadi have been declared to be valid, proper and lawful.

Ribadu mourns late journalists, Pa Fashola

Gombe LG spends N100m on infrastructure

By Evelyn Okakwu

From David Hassan, Gombe

A

ction Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presidential candidate during the 2011 elections, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has condoled with members and leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ over the death of three journalists in an auto crash.

Ribadu in a statement in Abuja, described the death of the journalists as loss not only to their employers and the union but also to Nigeria as a country “in view of the roles of journalists in shaping the direction of the nation.”

He described the deceased as hardworking and selfless, the virtues he said were proven by the circumstances of their deaths and the encomiums that trailed the incident.

Those who died in the accident are Adolphous Okonkwo, the National Financial Secretary of the

NUJ, Kafayat Odunsi from the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Lagos and the Chairman of the Radio Nigeria, Ibadan Network Centre of the NUJ, Tunde Oluwanike.

The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) also consoled the Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, over the death of his father, Pa Ibrahim Ademola Fashola, who died after a protracted illness.

Late Pa Fashola, according to Ribadu, lived an exemplary and modest life and strived to serve his people at all the time. He therefore enjoined the Lagos state governor to take solace in the public endorsements of the deceased’s good conducts.

Ribadu also called on Fashola to immortalise the late septuagenarian community leader by imbibing his community service credentials that earned the deceased respect.

T

he Shongom local government council Chairman, in Gombe state Hon. Peter Ishaya Pero, said that he spent N100 million for the construction of infrastructure in the area.

Pero made disclosed this yesterday while inspecting some projects awarded by the local government in the area.

He said the council had taken concrete measures to ensure that the projects reached citizens to enable them benefit from the dividends of democracy.

He reiterated government’s commitment towards the development of the area including construction of schools, clinics, drainages and boreholes for the people.

He said the N100 million budgeted by the council was expected to cover 10 wards.

The chairman expressed dissatisfaction with the level of revenue collection in area where only N15,000.00 is being collected monthly as revenue, adding that the local government council will set a committee that will oversee the activities of the revenue collections.

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

News Extra

Human Rights Commission T warns FG over Egypt

Briefs

Kerosene supply

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

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hairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, has called for a stronger position

by Nigeria on the Egyptian crisis than what is no more than mere condemnation of the overthrow of former President Mohammed Mursi.

Speaking at a lecture organized by the National Association of

Seadogs (NAS) in Abuja, Odinkalu warned that the crisis in Egypt contains grave potentials for what he described as “possible arms push inside Nigeria.”

“I believe in democracy, and I believe that as a democratically elected government, and as one that had spent over 50 years waiting for an opportunity to win a presidential election, the Muslim Brotherhood should be allowed to rule Egypt,” he said.

According to him, it may not be in the interest of Nigeria to ignore the Egyptian, pointing out that the “features of the insurgency in Egypt is the same running down the Nile, crossing Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Eritrea and most of Central Africa.”

He condemned the decision of the Africa Union to accommodate popular mass action in the process of changing democratically elected governments in Africa, warning that the ouster of President

Mohammed Mursi from office portend danger for the rest of Africa.

Welcoming Ambassador Ra’oufSa’ad, special envoy of the Interim President of Egypt, Mr. Adly Mansour at the State House, Marina, Lagos a fortnight ago, President Goodluck advised the interim government to do all within its power to return Egypt to democratic rule as quickly as possible.

Edo NUT accuses Oshiomhole of complicity in kidnap saga From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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cross session of teachers in Edo State on the platform of Nigeria union of teachers (NUT), on Tuesday, accused Governor Adams Oshiomhole of erroneously portraying teachers in the area as ‘well-paid’ thereby exposing them to insecurity.

This followed Monday’s total of N50 million ransom reportedly placed on three female public school teachers who were abducted by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers on July 29, at Orhogbua in Ovia North East local government area.

Speaking on Tuesday in Benin, the NUT zonal Chairman Comrade Edema, noted that “the recent statement by the Governor at a town hall meeting that teachers are now earning high wages may have led to kidnapping of our members.

Contrary to the impression created by the Governor, the NUT boss lamented that indeed, “teachers in Edo are now in bondage.’’

He explained that the nonpayment of salaries of primary school teachers in the state for three months has put a question mark on the future of education in the state.

He alleged kidnappers have unleashed terror on teachers in the locality, describing as unacceptable the N50 million ransom being demanded by the hoodlums.

Armed with placards and chanting solidarity songs, the teachers marched through major roads and also appealed the Commissioner of Police to look for their colleagues.

Gadzama on Nigeria’s legal system

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Majority Leader, Rivers House of Assembly, Mr. Chidi Lioyd (middle), after being granted bail at Rivers state High Court, yesterday in Port Harcourt.

Photo: NAN

NIMC assures on credible identity management system

By Adeola Tukuru

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irector General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Chris.

E. Onyemenam, has assured Nigerians’ of a credible and sustainable Identity Management System.

Onyemenam gave the assurance during an assessment training programme organised as part of the selection process

for the recruitment of new staff into the commission.

He stated that with the delivery of the multi-purpose smart card production mechanics and also the mobile enrolment service vehicle, the NIMC was ready to start the production of a chip- based National Identity Multi-purpose smart card that will contain personal features such as the biometrics and the National Identification Number (NIN) of

individuals.

According to Onyemenam, the product will help all the Nigerian businessmen and women to confirm the identities of people they transact businesses with on daily basis with just a touch of a button.

He explained that the mobile enrolment service vehicles will be used to reach rural areas and enroll the residents and provide them with NIN after successful enrolment.

Minister mourns death of youth brigade members

By Albert Akota

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he Minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir has expressed deep sorrow and anguish over the sudden death of 14 members of the Boys and Girls Brigade who were killed on Monday by vehicle at Barkin Ladi local

he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its downstream subsidiary, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), have assured Nigerians of adequate supply of kerosene beyond the daily national demand.

In a statement by its Ag. Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division,Tumini Green, NNPC said the clarification became necessary due to reports and fear of scarcity of the product in parts of the country.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the NNPC, through its subsidiary, the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) supplies between 10 to 11 million litres of kerosene daily which is distributed through allocations to licensed marketers.

“It is therefore a surprise to receive reports of scarcity in spite of the fact that NNPC/PPMC supply above the eight million litres national daily consumption.

By Etuka Sunday

Government area of Plateau state.

Abdul-Kadir who conveyed his condolences to the leadership of the Boys and Girls Brigade of the state and Nigeria over the incident noted that their lives epitomised genuine efforts of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to transform

the lives of the teeming youth across the country.

Describing the incident as avoidable, the Minister said that there was need for more stringent measures to be put in place by agencies such as the Federal Road Safety Commission to check reckless driving.

He therefore called on the

FRSC to ensure that drivers who drink and use drugs are given strict punishment to serve as deterrence to reckless drivers on our roads.

He re-assured that the Federal Government will continue to work with all relevant youth organisations towards promoting the development of the youth.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama has stressed the need for complete overhaul of Nigeria’s legal education system, to incorporate pupilage training, if the country must achieve the desired growth in law practice.

Gadzama who spoke as a guest lecturer at the 2013 state of the legal profession lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) held in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said that, “our legal practice is largely behind the times and finds it difficult to keep up with the pace set by other advanced jurisdictions as there is little innovations.”

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

Slain Kogi poly lecturer

T

hree months after the Kogi State Polytechnic shut its doors to academic activities, the Rector, Prof.

Matthew Ajibero, has said that the Lokoja Police Command was yet to nab the killers of Mr. Nathaniel Yahaya Abimaje, a lecturer of the institution whose dastardly murder forced the school to close.

Abimaje was murdered by rioting students on the campus as he attempted to pacify students through mediation which was not acceptable to the students Speaking to journalists in his office in on Tuesday, the Rector expressed confidence that the perpetrators of the heinous crime would soon be brought to book to account for their role in the death of a lecturer.

From Omale Adama, Lokoja

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 41

Lagos agog for CAF awards on January 9

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he Confederation of African Football has named Nigeria as the host country for the 2013 edition of the African Footballer of the Year award gala billed for January 9th , 2014.

For the second time in five years, Lagos will be hosting the Glo-Caf Awards, an event that rewards Africa’s football celebrities for the year under review.

Apart from the African Footballer of the Year, there are twelve categories of the awards to be bestowed on outstanding football personalities which includes; African Player of the Year - Based in Africa, National Team of the Year, Women’s National Team of the Year, Club of the Year, CAF Fair Play Award, Coach of the Year, Most Promising talent, Women’s Footballer of the Year, Referee of the Year, CAF Legend, Africa Fines XI and the CAF Platinum Award set aside to honour some legends on the continent.

Manchester City and Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure is the current African Player of the Year having won the last two editions while Egypt’s Mohammed Aboutrieka holds that of the best player based in Africa.

Nigeria continues its 11 years wait for a successor to Kanu Nwankwo who last wore the prestigious crown for the country way back in 1999.

Eagles players in good mood

National teams not avenue to make money, Ikpeba tells players

Stories by Albert Akota

T

he Former Super Eagles striker Victor Ikpeba has called on national team players to re-consider it’s believe that national team is avenue to make money rather call to serve.

Ikpeba who voice his disappointment over the bonus row in Namibia that almost marred the country’s participation at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil,

said that the players should be happy of serving their fatherland.

The former Monaco FC striker who disclosed this to Peoples Daily Sports in Abuja said that such shameful acts should never be repeated in the interest of Nigeria.

Peoples Daily Sports gathered that the issue which generated wide debate prompted the Sports Minister Malam Bolaji Abdullahi to set up a panel to unravel the major causes and how to

eradicate such occurrences in future.

The member of 1994 nation’s cup winner in Tunisia refused to shift ground on the issue insisting that the present squad had no moral right and justification to threaten to boycott the Confederations Cup until their bonuses were paid.

“People have been very critical when I first voiced my opinion on this issue saying why I didn’t wait for the panel to conclude their

CAF Awards: Ikpeba tips Emenike, Mikel

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he 1997 Africa Footballer of the year Victor Ikpeba has tipped Emmanuel Emenike and Mikel Obi to be crowned the continent’s best player of the year.

He said with the performance of the Super Eagles at the 2013

Turkey club unveil Wikki Tourists star today

T

urkish second division side Samsunspor will present U-20 striker Umar Aminu to the public today afternoon.

The former Wikki Tourists star has been offered a three-year contract after he passed his medical and has been assigned jersey number 20.

The player’s Germany-based agent Hichem Sahili said “Aminu will officially sign his contract with Samsunspor today by 2pm local time, which is 4pm Nigerian time.

“He has been given jersey number 20 and the league will kick off on August 17.”

Aminu’s medical was conducted at the Medicana Hospital in Samsun, a beautiful city close to the Black Sea and with a population of 1.2 million people.

Aminu was Goal King at the 2013 African Youth Championship in Algeria with four goals.

He also fired two goals at the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup in Turkey.

Former international goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu, Ekigho Ehiosun and Simon Zenke are some of the Nigeria stars who have featured for Samsunspor.

Mikel Nations Cup especially Chelsea stars Victor Moses, Mikel Obi as well as Emmanuel Emenike and Sunday Mba will be among the top favourites to win the prestigious African gong.

“I think it’s time for Nigeria to win the Africa player of the year after our winning of AFCON 2013.

And I think four players Victor Moses, Mikel Obi, Emmanuel Emenike and Sunday Mba can win the title,” he said.

However, ‘The Prince of Monaco’, as Ikpeba was fondly called during his playing days, was quick to warn that the players must sustain the tempo at their clubs.

“Winning the Nations Cup is not enough for you to win the Africa footballer of the year, so ii must warn these players that they need to continue the good run in their clubs,” said Ikpeba, who is on the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Previous Nigeria winners of the CAF Award were Nwankwo Kanu, Emmanuel Amuneke and Rashidi Yekini.

The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) have fixed January 9 for the CAF Award gala.

Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure is the current Africa Footballer of the Year.

investigations before making comments on the issue.

“My comment was a personal opinion about the Eagles’ bonus row. If I say money is not important in our lives people will say Prince of Monaco is not serious.

“Yes money is important in our lives but when you represent your country, you have love and passion representing your country.

“I remember before we won the (Atlanta 1996) Olympics, about two to three weeks into camping we never had allowances, there was no money in the camp and generally most of us used our own credit cards in renting buses taking us to training sessions. Is that not patriotism,” he asked.

“But we ended up winning the gold medal of the football event in Atlanta. That is what I am trying to say. Yes you have the right to fight for your bonus but you must travel to honour the next assignment. It is wrong for them not to travel.

“Players should not think they are coming to play for our national team to make money.

The objective of the professional players is to make money in their respective club sides.

The pride of playing for your country is the most important thing. So whatever you get for playing for your country you should take it. That is what I am saying.

“Without Nigeria giving those players the opportunity to play in the national team, most of them wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to play for the clubs or showcase themselves for foreign clubs,” Ikpeba said.

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Sports

Sunshine target Dolphins for points Stories by Albert Akota unshine Stars defender, Emmanuel Olowo is positive his side will reclaim the three points lost in the hands of Gombe United against Dolphins.

The Akure Gunners were beaten 0-2 by the Desert Scorpions in the Glo Premier League Matchday 23 on Sunday and will face tough home challenge against former champions, Dolphins on Matchday 24 at the Akure Township Stadium on Sunday.

S

Olowo said it is very important his side recover the three points immediately so as to position the side strongly to contest for a good finish at the end of the season.

“It’s important we recover the three points we conceded to Gombe United immediately and we’ve set our eyes on the next match against Dolphins in Akure.

“Now we’re out of the Federation Cup, we must do everything within our power to amass points to better our position

on the log.

“The league is the only outlet for us to win silverware this season we must not leave any stone unturned towards achieving the laudable goal,” said the former Heartland strongman said.

Olowo said he remains upbeat that his side will clinch a continental ticket at the end of the season.

Sunshine Stars are 13th in the league log on 31 points from a possible 69.

NPFL clubs share N208m Glo sponsorship money

T

Emmanuel Olowo

NFF to launch Beach Soccer League, says coach

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he increase from four clubs to 16 in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Beach Soccer Challenge Cup, has forced the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to launch a national league.

Adamu Ejor, the Head Coach, Super Sand Eagles,told newsmen yesterday that the CBN Cup would hold between Sept. 6th and Sept.

8th .

The coach added that the league would take off in the last quarter of the year, and that the CBN Cup was scheduled to herald the league.

“The second CBN Beach Soccer Challenge Cup, billed for September in Abuja, will serve as a prelude to debut the national league.

“The two-day competition will act as a spring board for the proposed league. ``With the participating clubs increasing from four to 16, it is only ideal to commence the league later this year. We now have a sizeable number of clubs to kick-start the league,” Ejor said.

Ejor, however, added that another championship-- the 2013 Copa Lagos-- was also expected to hold before the league, to also prepare teams for the league.

The coach said that the CBN Cup had been in dire need of sponsorship, in spite of good performances exhibited by the national team at international competitions.

He urged CBN and other sponsors to bridge the gap that would eventually bring the long awaited beach soccer league to fruition and further strengthen the national team.

“If the league eventually starts before the end of the year as planned, it would serve as a veritable opportunity to select players to beef up the national side,’’ he said.

He appealed to the NFF to appoint credible hands to run the affairs of the anticipated league.

According to him, that will make the league to begin on a sound footing.

he League Management Company (LMC) has released about N208million to the 20 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs for the current league season.

The amount represents what was due to the clubs as sponsorship earning for the season.

Mr Bamidele Aluko, the Chairman of Kwara United FC of Ilorin, said that the LMC had released N10.4 million to each of the 20 premier league clubs in the country.

Aluko said the money was released to them before Monday’s N25million cheque presentation to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja by the LMC. “There was an agreement that whatever the LMC makes from Globacom, they will give NFF five per cent, they have given the clubs their own N10.4million each, so it is the turn of the NFF to take its own on Monday, and we can’t say no to it,” Aluko said.

He said the LMC appeared to be living up to the clubs’ expectation, but added that they (clubs) would not hesitate to act accordingly if they (LMC) go contrary to any of their agreement.

Chairman, Sunshine of Akure, Mike Idoko “By principle if the LMC agrees to work the way we want them to, we will have no other choice than to support them.

“From what we can see, they have the ability to get more money for the league and if what they do is what we have in mind it means there won’t be problem.

“The Chairman of the LMC Nduka Irabor said that they are the messengers of club owners and that they are not working alone.

“He also said that they are working in line with the yearnings and aspirations of NPFL clubs.

“That is the agreement we have and in as much as they

are doing that, there won’t be problem among us but if they do things without our consent, then, there will be disagreement.

“I want the LMC to remain the messenger of the club just as the LMC chairman has said.

The communication giant Globacom had in March sealed the sponsorship rights of NPFL, after confirming a N550 million deal with the LMC for the 2012/2013 league season.

The deal was completed after Globacom paid N100million to Total Promotions Limited as compensation for agreeing to an out-of-court settlement in the title sponsorship disagreement.

Kwara United striker out for 4 weeks

K

Alebiosu

wara United striker Segun Alebiosu has been ruled out for four weeks after he injured his ankle in a Nigeria league Week 23 game against Sharks.

Alebiosu was stretchered off the pitch after a collision with Sharks defender Gabriel Olalekan.

The 18-year-old striker will miss ‘The Afonja Warriors’ next

(Mandela), who had contributed immensely to the development of Africa.

“The game will be a very exciting one for both countries because they are playing in honour of a very great man.

“Mandela is a very great man of Africa and nothing is too big to be done on his behalf, because he fought not just for his country, but the African race in general.

“He is one man that deserves anything good and organising a football match against current African champions is a worthwhile event,’’ Hamilton said.

He said he believed that Coach Stephen Keshi would use the encounter to assess the team ahead of Eagles’ decisive World Cup qualifier against Malawi in September.

“The match against Malawi

five games as they battle to remain inside the top four spots on the league table.

“We will miss him,” declared Kwara United coach Samson Unuanel.

“He is a young enterprising striker, but this is football and these things happen. All we are hoping now is that he recovers quickly even though he would be out

Mandela Challenge: Hamilton urges Nigerians in South Africa to support Eagles

F

ormer Super Eagles Coach Paul Hamilton has urged Nigerians based in South Africa to maximally support the Super Eagles against the Bafana Bafana during the 19th Mandela Challenge.

The competition, in honour of the first South African indigenous President, Nelson Mandela, would hold on Aug. 14, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium Durban,

South Africa.

“I want to task Nigerians based in South Africa to come out massively and support the Eagles, even though there isn’t much at stake, it will still be important to have Nigerians at the stadium, so that the team can play better with their support,’’ he said.

He noted that the match would be significant for both countries as it would be in honour of a man

is more like a must win for us and the outcome of the Mandela Challenge will help Keshi know where to channel his training perfection on the players, he said.

Peoples Daily Sports gathered that this was the first time the Mandela Challenge would be played at Moses Mabhida Stadium Durban since its inception in 1994.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 43

Aneke joins Crewe

N

igerian-born Arsenal starlet, Chuks Aneke has joined English Championship side, Crewe Alexandra on a season-long loan The 20-year-old, who spent the majority of last season on loan at the club, is moving as he may likely find it difficult to break into the Arsenal first-team in the 2013/14 season.

Aneke, a powerful midfielder and a graduate of the club’s Hale End Academy, has found firstteam opportunities difficult to come by at Arsenal and spent much of the recent Asia Tour operating in the unfamiliar position of centre-back.

He has now returned to Crewe with a flourish, however, and scored as they progressed to the second round of the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night.

Aneke, who has been capped severally by England at junior level, is eligible to represent Nigeria at senior international level.

enerbahce have announced the capture of Nigeria forward Emmanuel Emenike from Spartak Moscow for €13 million.

It marks an unlikely return to the Istanbul club for the 26-year-old, two years after he left without ever playing a

Bayern opens door to Gustavo transfer Luiz Gustavo

B

ayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has revealed the European champions are considering selling Brazil midfielder Luiz Gustavo to Bundesliga rivals VfL Wolfsburg.

Bayern start the defence of their German league title on Friday at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach, but new

Chuks Aneke

Emenike returns to Fenerbahce

F

Sports

game following a match-fixing scandal.

Emenike had been accused by authorities of faking an injury in May 2011 when at Karabukspor, ruling him out of a match against Fenerbahce, with whom he signed a fouryear deal a few days later.

Barcelona bid for Chelsea defender

Let me leave, Suarez tells Liverpool Suarez

C

helsea has received a bid from Barcelona for their Brazil international defender David Luiz.

The 26-year-old, who joined Chelsea from Benfica for around £21m in January 2011, has been a long-term target for the Catalan giants.

Chelsea has insisted throughout that Luiz, who has played more than 100 games for the club, is not for sale.

The bid is thought to be cash only and does not involve any Barcelona players in part exchange.

Luiz played 30 minutes of Chelsea’s friendly against Inter Milan last Thursday but he has been withdrawn from Jose Mourinho’s squad for the Chelsea manager’s match against former club Real Madrid in Miami.

L

uis Suarez says he wants to leave Liverpool and join a side which is competing in the Champions League.

The Uruguay striker, 26, intends to submit a transfer request by the end of the week if a move is blocked.

Suarez told the Guardian and Daily Telegraph that the Reds “promised” he could leave this summer if they did not qualify for the Champions League.

Arsenal has made two bids, with the latest a pound more than £40m, in an attempt to trigger a release clause.

Liverpool, who finished seventh in the Premier League last season, have rejected the offers and insisted the clause does not force them to sell.

Postiga poised for Valencia Helder Postiga

V

Emmanuel Emenike

No bids for Baines, Fellaini, says Martinez

E

verton manager Roberto Martinez declared yesterday that his side has received no new bids for Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini, both of whom have been linked with Manchester United.

United had a £12 million offer for England left-back Baines rejected in June, while British media reports yesterday suggested former Everton manager David Moyes is keen for Belgium midfielder Fellaini to follow him to Old Trafford.

coach Pep Guardiola has a jampacked midfield in his squad with 10 full internationals to accomodate, including Gustavo.

Bayern won the league by 25 points last season and will be defending their Champions League crown while Wolfsburg cannot offer European football having finished 11th in May.

Luiz

alencia are to sign Helder Postiga from Real Zaragoza after the two clubs agreed a deal worth a reported €3 million plus €500,000 extra if the Portugal international scores at least 15 goals next season.

The deal was confirmed by Zaragoza’s director general Jesus Garcia

Pitarch, who said it would be completed once the player and his soon to be former club sorted out a few last remaining details.

Postiga, who turned 31 recently, scored 14 goals in 37 Primera Division games, even as Zaragoza struggled unsuccessfully against relegation last term, and was also

a reported target for Sevilla.

He has agreed a two-year deal with an option for a further season, and will now be given the stiff task of replacing former Los Che captain and fans’ favourite Roberto Soldado, who on Monday completed a €30 million move to Tottenham.

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Sports

T

Woods seeks 15th major trophy at US PGA Championship

iger Woods insists 2013 will go down as a great season even if he does not add to his 14 major titles at this week’s US PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

The world number one won his fifth tournament of the year in Ohio last week but is still chasing a first major victory since the US Open in 2008.

Woods has now won 79 career US PGA titles, three shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record, but his goal of passing Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors has stalled following a string of injuries, personal scandal and swing changes.

Woods, who has nine top-six finishes in the 17 majors he has played since last winning one, once judged a season on whether or not he had won a major, but he now seems to have relaxed his criteria.

Woods will begin his campaign with 2012 US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love and ex-US PGA champion Keegan Bradley at 13:35 BST on Thursday.

Tiger

Deaflympics 2013: Britain win five medals in Sofia

G

reat Britain enjoyed a late surge to claim five medals at the 2013 Deaflympics in

Sofia.

Cyclist Tom Smith, a former GB junior before a back injury hampered his progress, won silver

in the road race and bronze in the point’s race.

There are 20 sports at the summer Deaflympics athletics, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, road cycling, football, handball, judo, karate,

while Mel Jewett took bronze in the marathon.

The event, originally known as the World Games for the Deaf, was first held in Paris in 1924 and now includes almost 5,000 competitors from 66 countries.

Rogers Cup:Djokovic wins in singles as Nadal in doubles

N Novak

mountain bike, orienteering, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, freestyle wrestling and GrecoRoman wrestling.

In the athletics events, Lauren Peffers landed silver in the 400m

ovak Djokovic is through to the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal after a 6-2 6-1 win over Florian Mayer.

In his first match since losing the Wimbledon final to Andy Murray last month, the world number one Serb beat his German opponent in only 55 minutes.

Mayer, ranked 50 in the world, double-faulted to lose the opening set, and could find no way back in the second.

World number one Novak Djokovic won the Rogers Cup in 2007, 2011 and 2012. Having

received a bye in the first round of this year’s tournament, the Serb’s win Djokovic, who is aiming to win a third consecutive Rogers Cup title, hopes the Canadian tournament will prove good preparation for the US Open, which starts at Flushing Meadows in New York on 26 August.

Nadal, who lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Belgium’s Steve Darcis, is playing the doubles event to build up his match fitness after almost two months away from competitive tennis.

Bolt ready to regain 100m gold at World Championships

U

sain Bolt says it is very important to regains the 100m title at the World Championships in Moscow, which start this weekend.

The 26-year-old won the title in Berlin in 2009 but was disqualified in Daegu in 2011 for a false start, allowing compatriot Yohan Blake to take gold.

The Jamaican is overwhelming favourite to not only regain gold in the 100m, but also retain his 200m title particularly with a number of his usual rivals not competing in Moscow.

Blake will not get an opportunity to defend his 100m title after he withdrew from the championships with a hamstring injury.

Former world champion Tyson Gay and Jamaica’s ex-100m world record holder Asafa Powell both failed drug tests in July, and has opted to miss the event in the Russian capital.

And although Bolt was beaten

by American Justin Gatlin in June at the Diamond League meeting in Rome, Bolt recorded the quickest 100m time this year - 9.85 seconds at the Anniversary Games.

The six-time gold medallist has also posted of this year’s fastest time in the 200m after running 19.73 seconds in Paris in July.

The World Championships begin on 10 August, with the 100m final on 11 August and the 200m final taking place on 17 August.

Smith found Russia’s Ivan Makarov just too strong in the sprint finish at the end of the road race after the Welshman had battled back to rejoin the leading group with a kilometre left to race.

Nadal

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

PAGE 45

Sports P .I .C .T .O .R. I. A.L 2

1

1.

British Swimming’s national performance director Chris Spice and head coach Bill Furniss insist they can make the changes required to win medals.

2.

Kevin Pietersen denies reports claiming he may have used tape on his bat to prevent edges being detected by Hot Spot.

3.

3

Chris Coleman has saluted Gareth Bale but opined that the money Real Madrid appear willing to pay for him is “incredible”, and discussed players withdrawing from his Wales squad and Wayne Hennessey’s return from injury.

4.

Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy feels momentum has built towards the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow since last summer’s London Olympics.

5.

Welsh hurdler Dai Greene criticises “foolish” drug-takers who plead their innocence after failing doping tests.

4

5

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

Some Interesting Facts

P

ortion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3 •Portion of potatoes sold that are French-fried: 1/3 •Portion of US annual rainfall that falls in April: 1/12 •Proportional to their weight, men are stronger than

horses.

•Race car spelled backwards is race car.

•Rene Descartes came up with the theory of coordinate geometry by looking at a fly walk across a tiled ceiling.

•Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.

•Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

•Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.

•Sir Isaac Newton was an ordained priest in the Church of England.

•Smartest dogs: 1)border collie; 2)poodle; 3)golden retriever •Some biblical scholars believe that Aramaic (the language of the ancient Bible) did not contain an easy way to say “many things” and used a term which has come down to us as 40. This means that when the bible -- in many places -- refers to “40 days,” they meant many days.

•Some toothpastes contain antifreeze.

•Someone paid $14,000 for the bra Marilyn Monroe wore in Some Like It Hot. •Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray.

•Starfish have eight eyes--one at the end of each leg.

•State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska •Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is the great-

PAGE 47

great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young.

•Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.

•The “huddle” in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn’t want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.

•The “save” icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.

•The ‘y’ in signs reading “ye olde..” is properly pronounced with a ‘th’ sound, not ‘y’. The “th” sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied

Leisure

(present day) England use the rune “thorn” to represent “th” sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case “y”.

•The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the “American Pie.” (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

•The average bank teller loses about $250 every year.

•The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

•The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.

•The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland’s baby daughter, Ruth.

•The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.

•The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s “ItsA Wonderful Life.”

•The combination “ough” can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentencc e contains them all: “A roug ugh ghcoated, dough-faced, tho oug ughtfu ugh tfull ploughman strode thr hro rou ugh th ugh he streets of Scarbor borr ou oug ugh h ; aft h; fter er falling into a slo oug ugh gh,, he he co coug oug ghe hed d and hicco oug ugh gheed.² ed.²

Say what?

SUDODKU

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Schoolboy Sam Preston shows off his whopping size 18 feet — and he’s only 13. Source: TheSun. co.uk

www.peoplesdailyng.com

. . . putting the people first

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013

SPORTS LATEST

Bayern target 5 trophies for 2013/14 season

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reble winners Bayern Munich believe they can win all five titles they will compete for this season and become the first team to defend their Champions League crown, sports director Matthias Sammer said yesterday.

Bayern, who also won the domestic double last season, enjoyed a record-breaking campaign under former coach Jupp Heynckes, becoming the first German team to win the treble.

The club has spent more than €60 million on transfers in the close season under new coach Pep Guardiola and will be competing in the European Super Cup and the club World Cup in December in addition this season.

Bayern have brought in gifted Germany midfielder Mario Goetze from rivals Borussia Dortmund in a €37 million deal as well as sought-after Spain Under-21 international Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona.

A deal for Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski fell through with the Ruhr Valley club blocking the move repeatedly.

Bayern’s biggest transfer coup, however, was signing former Barcelona coach Guardiola on a three-year deal.

Bayern, who lost 4-2 to Dortmund in the German Super Cup two weeks ago, kicked off their domestic season with a 5-0 win over fourth-tier BSV Rehden in the German Cup first round.

Ajen Ruben

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QUOTABLE QUOTE Two years down the line the President presented to the Nigerian people what they have been able to do...we must make a distinction between politicking, fact and reality.

— President Goodluck Jonathan’s media spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati

How Asari-Dokubo became a ‘big man’ A

while ago, Mujahid AsariDokubo’s visceral defence of the Jonathan regime against all real and perceived enemies left many observers bewildered.

Is this not the same individual, it was widely asked, who had made a name for himself by his charismatic leadership of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and vocal enunciation of the cause of Nigeria’s oil-producing coastal minorities? How did Asari metamorphose from a feared warlord of the creeks (complete with the elaborate head gear) to a megaphone of state power?

To track Asari’s movement from the swamps to the corridors of the state is to apprehend a sociological dynamic: the particular mode by which social agents gain entry into the domain of the state, via, in this specific case, the instrumentality of violence. Analytically, there are two immediate targets. One is Asari himself, particularly the gradual but symbolic evolution in his personal profile and selfpresentation over time. Second, there is the theme of violence, its effectiveness as a means of negotiating access to material resources and social certification as a member of the political elite.

For a proper appreciation of this dynamic, in particular the latter idea of the social utilization of banditry, it is important to understand, first, an idea captured here as ‘violence entrepreneurship.’

As a framework, violence entrepreneurship avoids otherwise legitimate questions like how endemic insecurity threatens the short-term stability and long-term existence of the Nigerian state.

Instead, it prioritizes the need to make violence coherent as a political phenomenon, meaning that the most ostensibly unrelated acts of violence are understood and made meaningful solely in relation to politics and the dominant ethos of the political order- and not just the current political regime- in Nigeria. For example, the unusual spate of carjacking and armed robbery, the festering hostage-taking industry, prohibitive automortality, the insurgency in the northern half of the country, resource militancy in the oil producing region, and sundry examples of routine violence, all become perfectly explicable as effects of politics and political choices. Second, the notion

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GUEST COLUMNIST Ebenezer Obadare obadare@ku.edu

Mujahid Asari-Dokubo of violence entrepreneurship demands that violence be seen as an agential strategy, a currency of exchange between the state and agents within civil society. One implication (and Asari’s ongoing political evolution is a great illustration) is that even when the violence deployed is visceral, and the rhetoric of threatened exit from the state is prohibitive and inflationary, ultimately, violence tends to function as a means of negotiating access.

Access, of course, can be understood in various ways, but my basic concern here is to show how violence entrepreneurs enter into and become part of the orbit of the state. In this regard, particular attention must be given to how such entrepreneurs attain ethical equilibrium with state officials, eventually assuming the moral and material paraphernalia of the state. When examined carefully, it becomes evident that this is the sociological trajectory that Asari has assumed. This is not to say that the productivity of violence is always one-sided. Historically, the Nigerian state too has functionalized violence in various ways. One well-worn modality is through the development of relations of patronage between state functionaries and political godfathers, many of whom are

often surrounded by thugs and other individuals with a history of difficult relations with the law.

Think of the showdown between Rasheed Ladoja and the late Lamidi Adedibu, on the one hand, and that between Peter Obi and Chris Uba, on the other.

Following the same logic, the state can use the prevalence of violence in a particular region of the country to leverage both resources and moral sympathy from various international agents, a good example being the mobilization of external resources to fund the pacification of civil unrest in the Niger Delta. Last but not least, the state has been known to surreptitiously develop its own extra-judicial killer squad, either as an alternative to, but in most cases in simultaneous existence with, regular apparatuses of violence authorized by the law.

Here, think of revelations early in the year concerning the alleged use of killer platoons by the Obasanjo regime; and Sergeant Rogers’ testimony that the late General Abacha actively maintained a killer squad and that it, i.e. the squad, was responsible for the murder of Kudirat Abiola.

Be that as it may, the key point to be emphasized is the structure of engagement between the state and armed militias,

and the main idea I am trying to develop is how, in the long run, the threat or actual deployment of violence, one, transforms the relationship between the state and armed militias, and two, tends to eventuate in the incorporation of leaders of such militias into the orbit of the state. Mujahid Asari-Dokubo (and the O’odua People’s Congress’s Gani Adams no less) is a perfect encapsulation of this logic, precisely in his sheer transformation from radical revolutionary and purveyor of violence, to a more or less bona fide member of the state nobility, complete, as I claimed earlier, with all the conceits and appurtenances of the Nigerian political class.

Now, this is a very complex process, and yes, the last chapters have yet to be written.

Nevertheless, certain details in Asari’s transformation seem instructive for my analysis. First is his (Asari’s) emergence from a proper order of injustice: the crisis of oil exploitation in the Niger Delta. Second is his astute reading of the social mood and readiness to capitalize on a glaring leadership vacuum. Here, you have to go back to the hanging of Ken SaroWiwa in November 1995 by the Abacha regime, the emasculation of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOOP), and the overall tranquilization of opposition throughout the region.

Finally, there is his personal rebranding and self representation. For instance, the distinctly Islamic turban has been jettisoned, though the bushy beard (part Mohammedan, part Che Guevara) is still in place.

Furthermore, although there is a notional forswearing of violence, this is strategically counterbalanced by frequent threats to ‘return to the creeks’, as seen in the example with which I began this piece.

Finally, there is of course the desperation to undo the obvious disadvantages of class cum educational cum professional pedigree, often through regular appearance in social circuits (weddings, burial ceremonies, etc).

In short, there is an enactment of the whole ‘Big Man’ repertoire, complete, it goes without saying, with personal channels of patronage. The Dr. or Chief prefix is just a matter of time.

Ebenezer Obadare teaches Sociology at the University of Kansas, United States.

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