Peoples Daily Newspaper, Wednesday 10, July, 2013

www.peoplesdailyng.com

Vol. 11 No. 38

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

. . . putting the people first

Ramadan: Pastor Fracas ‘frees’ 8 Muslim in Rivers convicts >>7 Assembly >>3

Ramadan 1, 1434 AH

N150

CB introduces CBN biometrics on bi ATMs >>6 AT

1 conviction for Boko Haram st

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

F

or the first time since the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Iid Da’awati wal Jihad, commonly called Boko Haram started its campaign of violence

in 2009, an Abuja High Court presided over by Judge Bilikisu Aminu yesterday convicted five of its members for acts of terrorism.

While the four sect members were sentenced to life imprisonment, a fifth one was lucky to bag only ten

years jail sentence, while one Musa Adams was freed.

Judge Bilkisu Aminu, in her judgment, convicted the five Boko Haram members on three of the five-count charge slammed against them by the Department of State

Security (DSS).

Those sentenced to life imprisonment include Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana-Umar, and Mohamed Ali; Umar Ibrahim bagged 10 years, while Musa Adam was freed for lack

of evidence.

The six were arraigned in 2011 and charged with the April 8, 2011 bombing of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Suleja, Niger state, Contd. on Page 2

Taraba Ag. Gov sacks SSG, commissioners From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos and Yusha’u Alhassan, Jalingo

T

he Taraba state Acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar, last night sacked the Secretary to the State Government, Emmanuel Njiwah, four commissioners and two special advisers, following their alleged complicity in the mismanagement of N400 million relief fund for last year’s flood victims in the state.

The affected commissioners are Anthony Jellason (Agriculture); Jonah Anguy (Works); Rabo Usman (Water Resources); and Charity Green Jonathan (Women Affairs). Also sacked along with them are two special advisers in charge of Revenue Generation and Land Borders.

The Taraba governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Kefas Sule, disclosed that a fifth commissioner, that of Health, Mustapha Hamman Gabdo, voluntarily resigned from the cabinet.

The sacking of the officials, according to Umar’s spokesman, followed the recommendations of an ad-hoc committee set up by the Taraba state House of Assembly to probe the disbursement of the fund, which was donated by the Federal Government in the wake of last year’s flooding in some parts of the country.

The House of Assembly had indicted the SSG, who headed the Flood Relief sub-Committee Contd. on Page 2

A member of Rivers state House of Assembly, Hon. Evans Bapakaye (middle) arguing with security operatives, after an attempt to impeach the Assembly’s Speaker, Hon. Otelemaba Amachree by some lawmakers caused commotion in the Assembly complex, yesterday in Port Harcourt.

Photo: NAN

Erratic power: Reps slam Nebo, Okonjo-Iweala >>7

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

News CONTENTS News

2-10

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

19-22

Stockwatch

23

Property

26-27

Motoring

28

Arts

29-30

Senate okays autonomy for state Assemblies

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Senate yesterday approved the recommendation of its Constitution Amendment Committee for financial autonomy for state Assemblies and the 774 local governments of the federation.

This is coming as the lawmakers opposed the six-year single term, which the committee that reviewed the 1999 Constitution recommended.

Following their approval of the local government financial autonomy, the Senators called for measures to be put in place to not only ensure that their funds are

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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rejected by majority of the Senators, even though Senator Mohammed Magoro, from Kebbi argued for its approval.

According to Thompson Sekibo, PDP Rivers state, the six-year single term proposal could cause crisis in the polity, if it is approved. He said “There must be adequate supervision to avoid abuse of the funds. The states take federal allocation for local governments and nobody is talking about the states Internally Generated Revenue.

“I agree with Mayoral status for FCT, but there must be a way of treating their budget as a state before

Jonathan meets President Xi Jinping P resident Goodluck Jonathan arrived Beijing, China yesterday to begin a state visit to that country during which several new agreements will be concluded and signed to boost bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and China in areas such as defence, finance, trade, agriculture and communications.

President Jonathan who was accompanied by the First Lady,

A new face for Nigeria Police? Page 4

protected from the states, but that the third tier of government gets its own share of the internally generated revenue in the states.

Moreover, they accepted the committee’s recommendation that the current federal police be upheld, arguing that Nigeria is not ripe for state police.

Another issue which the lawmakers considered were retention of the National Youth Service Corps, Land Use Act and devolution of powers.

Importantly, the issue of pension for ex principal officers of the National Assembly which has generated a lot of controversy, was

it is approved by the President.

On the issue of concurrent list, the states should be allowed to make contribution to power generation and distribution”, he added.

Also speaking, Abdulmumini Hassan, PDP Jigawa, observed that the single term proposed by the report shows that the recommendation did not indicate the interests and views of Nigerians.

He said it will make the presidents and governors autocratic, and loot public funds with audacity.

“State police is not good for Nigeria. We are not mature for it.

Traditional rulers should be given a role in the constitution”, he said.

Meanwhile, debate on the recommendation by the committee which continues today will terminate on Thursday when the lawmakers are expected to vote clause by clause on the recommendations by the committee chaired by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.

Dame Patience Jonathan, was received at the Capital Airport in Beijing by China’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Li Yucheng and Nigeria’s Ambassador to China, Alhaji Aminu Wali.

A statement by presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, said that Jonathan would be formally welcomed to China today

by President Xi Jinping at a grand ceremony scheduled to hold at the

Great Hall of the People.

According to the statement, “thereafter, the two leaders and their official delegations will hold bilateral talks at the end of which new agreements and memoranda of understanding will be signed.

“These include an agreement on defence cooperation between Nigeria and China, and an agreement on economic and technical cooperation.

“Others are agreements on finance for the Zungeru Power Plant and airport terminal and Mutual Visa Exemption for holders of diplomatic and official passports.

“At the conclusion of the signing ceremony, President Jonathan and the First Lady will attend a state banquet to be given in their honour by President Jinping and his spouse.”

1st conviction for Boko Haram Contd. from Front Page where 16 people died and several others were injured.

They were also charged with the July 10, 2011 explosions at the All Christians Fellowship, Suleja, killing three and injuring others; the March 3, 2011 explosion at a political rally in Suleja, where three people died; and the May 23, 2011 explosion in Dakwa Village, Bwari, Abuja, killing three policemen.

They were equally charged for engaging in illegal training in weapon handling and unlawful possession of weapons for the purpose of engaging in terrorism.

The convicts were charged under Section 15(2) and (3) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act.

The judge however discharged the convicts on charges relating to the explosions at the All Christians Fellowship and the killing of policemen in Dakwa on the ground that the prosecution failed to provide convincing evidence to support the charges.

In relation to the other charges, the judge held that the prosecution led sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of the convicts and freed Adam on the ground that the prosecution failed to link him with the offences.

In relation to the four sentenced to life imprisonment, the judge noted that they, “used explosives meant for blasting rocks for mining purposes, to kill human beings who had done nothing against them.

“Human life is sacred. There is

no human life that is more sacred than the other. The convicts have shown lack of respect for human life. They deserve to be removed from the society,” the judge held before pronouncing the sentence.

In respect of Umar Ibrahim, who got 10 years jail term, the judge observed that by the evidence led by the prosecution, he merely served as errand boy for others, who engaged in the illegal weapons training.

She held that Ibrahim was culpable for aiding the illegal trainees as he could have refused to run errand for them if he was not in support of their activities.

It would be recalled that in January this year, a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, found Edmond Ebiwere, one of the four

persons arraigned for the October 1, 2010 bomb attack in Abuja, guilty of terrorism charges. The court also sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Mr. Ebiwere and three others, including Charles Okah, brother to Henry Okah, the alleged mastermind of the 50th Independent Anniversary bomb attack on October 1, 2010 at the Eagle Square Abuja, were arraigned for the crime.

Two months after, a South African court also convicted Henry Okah for13 offences, including the setting off of two bombs in Abuja and Warri, Delta State, on October 1, 2010. He was also sentenced for threatening the South African government after his arrest.

Taraba Ag. Gov sacks SSG, commissioners Contd. from Front Page in the state and his committee’s members for mismanaging the funds and non-distribution of relief materials to victims of last year’s flood disaster.

The Information Commissioner, Emmanuel Bello, who was also a member of the flood relief committee, was however spared the acting governor’s hammer. No clear reason has been provided for the decision to retain Bello in the cabinet in spite of the indictment of the committee by the House report.

In the eleven-point recommendations on the probe, the Chairman of the House committee who is also the Deputy Speaker, Tanko Adamu Maikarfi, said that

all members of the committee, most of them members of the state executive council had failed to account for over N100 million of the amount released to the state by the federal government for the flood victims.

In the recommendations, the committee therefore urged the state government to recover the missing N100 million from members of the committee.

According to the report, the SSG, Njiwah and Gabdo are to account for over N12 million, Jellason is to account for over N8 million, Bello is to account for over N2 million, while the other members of the committee will account for various sums that make up the balance.

The committee also recommended the dissolution of the state Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, for not going round the state to obtain first hand information on the disaster, and failing to account for N30 million given to it for logistics.

The report also described the flood committee as “barbaric, in human and criminally minded” for its failure to sympathise with the victims of the flood.

Effort to speak with the SSG proved abortive, even as the state information commissioner, Bello, insisted when contacted, that only the chairman of the committee would speak on the report.

However, one of the affected

commissioners who spoke with one of our correspondents but pleaded not to be named, said their sack was “political”, and related to the politics of ailing Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai’s expected return. “When the time comes we (the affected commissioners) would speak; it’s too early to talk now but I want you to know it’s politics. They believe we are anti-Umar, because the report is shady. Who set up the investigating committee? When was the investigation done? Why is it now that Governor Danbaba is about to return we were sacked on phantom probe?We would talk very soon; for now we are studying the politics”, he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 3

I’m proud of my “successful mistakes”, says Obasanjo From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

F

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday declared that though his administration made some mistakes between 1999 and 2007, he was still proud of those errors because, they were ‘successful mistakes’.

Speaking in Ibadan, Oyo state at a lecture to mark the 50th Anniversary of Chief Afe Babalola’s Call to Bar,

Obasanjo said: “When I was looking for somebody to take the leadership of UNILAG and I picked Babalola, some people said I made a mistake, if it was a mistake, it was a successful mistake”.

The former president said while it is true that some people go through life without making any tangible mark, the luminary made a great difference. “Part of the gains of the ‘mistake’ was Chief Afe’s making UNILAG the best while piloting the

affairs.

“During his tenure, the ViceChancellor was adjudged the best, while the Pro-Chancellor himself became the best in the country. The mother of all the ‘mistakes’ was that the exposure and involvement of Babalola in the affairs of UNILAG led to the establishment of Afe Babalola University of Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) “If you have not seen ‘instant wonder’, go to ABUAD. I have been

there on several occasions. Babalola used the Pro-Chancellor of UNILAG experience to decide to build what today is the best and fastest-growing private university in the country,” the former President said.

He listed some of his past achievements which some consider as blunders: “There are many Nigerians but there are not many good Nigerians. I ended the civil war; I drew up a successful programme for

L-R: Chairman, Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) Kaduna State, Malam Danjuma Akuso, Kaduna state Governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero Ramalan, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olufemi Adenaike, and The Deputy Governor, Ambassador Nuhu Bajoga, during the commissioning of 23 vehicles for divisional police stations, yesterday in Kaduna.

Photo: NAN

Dangote Cement hits 30m tonnes From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

D

angote Group of Companies is set to increase its cement production capacity from the present 20 million metric tonnes to 30 million by 2014.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday, at a business luncheon organised by the NEPAD Business Group-Nigeria, President and Founder of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, said that expansion was on-going at all cement plants across the county.

“An expansion is ongoing at Obajana cement plant to increase production to 16 million metric tones, Ibeshe has also been doubled of its current capacity to six million and expansion is also on-going at our Gboko plant in Benue, by next year we would have increase our production to 30 million,” Dangote said.

Dangote who was represented by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Dangote Group, Joseph Makoju, spoke on the topic, “The growth and challenges of

the manufacturing sector.”

According to him, with new investment of the company, the group’s target is to become the highest contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

As he put it, “we are investing $17.8billion in the next four years to build fertiliser plants and petrochemical refinery.

“With this investment, Dangote will be contributing about half of manufacturing contributions to the GDP.”

Justifying the increase, Dangote pointed out that Nigeria has no business importing cement, considering the vast amount of raw material deposits in the country, and the massive expansion plans of Dangote.

He said that the Federal Government had played a very good part in putting in place measures to checkmate the importation of cement and also ensure that the backward integration policy becomes a success story.

News Fracas at Rivers Assembly

R

eports said that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state yesterday allegedly foiled an attempt to impeach the Speaker of the House of Assembly.

According to the reports, the Speaker, Otelemaba Amachree, had convened a session of the Legislature in order to amend certain portions of the state budget.

The session followed a prolonged crisis in the state caused by alleged schemes by President Goodluck Jonathan and the ruling People’s Democratic Party to impeach Amaechi, who is deemed an impediment to the President’s ambition to seek a second term.

Two lawmakers loyal to Amachree said that the Speaker sensed there was trouble in the air after he sent letters summoning members to yesterday’s session.

According to a legislative source, “the Speaker sent a message to the Commissioner of Police and the Brigade Commander and leader of the Joint Task Force to ask for security to enable the house to sit,” said one of the lawmakers.

“When we arrived at the state assembly, we were surprised to see a huge number of military men and well armed policemen.”

The report said trouble started as a member of the House, Evans Bapakaye Bipi, representing Ogu/ Bolo constituency arrived with thugs, pounced on the house leaders, Michael Chinda and Chidi Lloyd while the police and the military kept their distance.

When Governor Amaechi heard of the fracas and the refusal of the police and members of the JTF to intervene, the report said, he rushed to the house with his aides and armed escorts and succeeded in rescuing members of the House loyal to him.

As the governor and majority of the legislators were leaving the site of the mayhem, they discovered that five members of the House empowered by President Jonathan had seized the mace.”

Egypt names El-Baradei Deputy President

By Abdulkadir Isa, with agency reports

E

gypt’s Defence Mnister has warned against any attempt to disrupt the country’s “difficult” transition.

His statement comes almost a week after the Army deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and appointed top Judge Adly Mansour as interim leader.

Supporters of Mr. Morsi have been holding demonstrations against his ousting.

Meanwhile, Mansour has been trying to shore up his position by appointing Hazem el-Beblawi as Prime Minister.

El-Beblawi served as Finance Minister during the period of

military rule in the aftermath of Hosni Mubarak’s overthrow.

Supporters and opponents of the Army’s move have been amassing on the streets of Cairo.

Mansour has also appointed liberal politician, Mohamed ElBaradei, as deputy President with responsibility for foreign affairs.

He has issued a temporary Constitution and a timetable for transition leading to new elections early next year.

The ultra-conservative Nour party said it was still studying the nomination of ElBaradei, a former Head of the UN nuclear agency.

His candidacy as Prime Minister foundered earlier in the week when Nour objected.

The party withdrew from talks to

form a new government, but reports on yesterday suggested it was back on board.

Too important In a televised speech, Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, said the “future of the nation is too important and sacred for manoeuvres or hindrance, whatever the justifications.”

He said that neither the Army nor the people of Egypt would accept “the stalling or disruption” of this “difficult and complex” period.

Egypt has been in turmoil since Morsi was overthrown last week, with protesters both for and against the ousted President massing on the streets.

On Monday, at least 51 people -

mostly pro-Morsi supporters from his Muslim Brotherhood movement - were killed outside the barracks where he is thought to be held.

The families of the dead have said they have been told they will only be allowed to have the bodies returned if they accept official post mortem examination reports.

The Muslim Brotherhood has rejected the interim government’s new timetable for elections, saying it is illegitimate.

In the aftermath of the ousting of Mr. Morsi, Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said, “it is unacceptable for a government which has come to power through democratic elections, to be toppled through illicit means and, even more, a military coup.”

Late on Tuesday, Egypt summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Cairo to complain about what it saw as Turkish interference in Egyptian affairs.

Egyptian officials have asked Ankara “not to take sides”, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, like Mr Morsi, has his roots in political Islam. He, too, has faced sometimes violent street protests in the past few weeks.

After voicing initial concern at the dramatic events in Egypt last week, the US said on Tuesday that it was encouraged that Egypt’s interim government had “laid out a plan for the path forward” in its transition announcement.

The Page 4 Report

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

A new face for Nigeria Police?

By Lambert Tyem

I

n a move that has not been seen in the contemporary history of the Nigeria Police, the Force headquarters on Monday announced it was investigating some members of its top hierarchy of misconduct, and sundry matters. Specifically, the Force headquarters said through the Deputy Inspector General in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr. Suleiman Fakai, that it was investigating four assistant inspectors general, 17 commissioners, two deputy commissioners, six assistant commissioners, and several other lower ranking officers.

Fakai, who is the chairman of a disciplinary committee of the Force, revealed that over the past one year, the Service has dismissed a commissioner, an assistant commissioner, a chief superintendent, among others for various offences, mostly bordering on misconduct.

Naturally, in view of the rarity of such probes in a Force that has a very negative reputation in the eyes of not only Nigerians, but global citizens, this piece of news from the Nigeria Police attracted big headlines in the nation’s newspapers.

No doubt, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) is the foremost government institution shouldered with the constitutional role of checkmating crimes and prosecuting criminals in the Nigerian society. The institution has lived with this responsibility since before Nigeria become a Republic in 1963. That was when policing was still under the supervision of the nation’s colonial administration.

The police had done tremendously well in those early years and up until about two decades ago. During those good old days, a policeman was seen and identified as “a friend to all”.

But all that has changed with the passage of time. Policing in the Nigerian society has been enmeshed in controversies as those who profess to be Police are perceived differently especially by fellow citizens.

Many believed that the police who are supposed to by law to check crimes as well as maintain order in the society abdicated their enormous tasks; hence their reputation went on a downward trend.

In fact, the Police Force has come to be synonymous with everything but crime prevention. It became a symbol of extortion, exploitation, brutality, bribery, corruption and many other ills, to the extent that some Nigerians derisively liken officers and men of the Force to the colour of their current uniform: Black.

Much worse, the Police’s

Mobile Police officers on parade at the Police College in Kaduna image came crashing heavily when on March 29, 2005, its then Inspector General, Mr. Tafa Balogun was summarily dismissed from Service, and subsequently arrested and charged for corrupt practices by the nation’s gangling antigraft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), then under Nuhu Ribadu, a serving officer of the Force.

And that was not the end of the story as far as the unenviable activities of officers and men of the Nigeria Police is concern. This is probably why many Nigerians have hailed as a welcome relief, Monday’s piece of news that the Service is on its own, working to remove some bad eggs from its fold.

This is for the very obvious fact that the top hierarchy of the Force has often been accused of shielding many of its own that has been fingered in one form

of criminality or the other.

For instance, it is common to hear of a trigger-happy police personnel shooting an innocent citizen over silly disputes over amounts, as low as N20.

And worse still, such weighty allegations would often be swept under the carpet as a case of “accidental discharge”. Such instances have contributed in no small measure in whittling public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force.

This is not to suggest that all Nigerians do not sympathise with the near hopeless state of the Force in terms of operational tools. Many other reasons have been advanced as to the inability or inactivity of the Nigeria Police to live up to citizens expectations over the years. Yet, what many Nigerians deride most in the officers and men of the Force is the seeming incurable propensity for graft that has

“

Cheering as the current efforts

by MD Abubakar to change the battered image of the Force, many citizens are still skeptical about the current IG’s capacity to make a dramatic change, what with the deep-seated corruption that has permeated it.

come to symptomize officers and men of the Nigeria Police.

However, since the emergence of the present leadership of the Police headed by Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar, Policing in Nigeria appears to be changing.

Most of the professionals tend to have a rethink about ethical and moral conducts.

They tend to now go back to the drawing board where the citizens enthroned the institution. They tend to also strive to give account as well as hold accountable for their stewardship to the citizenry.

This can be judged by the resolve of the Force to put inplace a disciplinary committee to deal with reports and allegations arising from the public concerning the dissatisfied conducts and behaviour of members of the Force.

The current leadership of the Force had explained that the new Force Disciplinary Committee (FDC) comprises of all Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) and the Force Secretary as the Committee’s secretary.

The Committee is shouldered with the responsibility of trying and recommending appropriate punishments/sanctions for misconduct involving officers from the ranks of Assistant Superintendents (ASP) and above to the Police Service commission for ratification.

This is in line with extant provisions and a rule guiding the Force, and is geared toward checkmating excesses

of the professionals as well as upholding professionalism, respect for rule of law and observance of Human Rights among Police and restoring confidence in the citizenry.

The Chairman of the Force Disciplinary Committee had while commencing his briefing on Monday said any officer found wanting in the performance of official duties will be tried and appropriate sanctions like reprimand, interdiction, reduction in rank, forced retirement and out-right dismissal as the case may be, would be metted.

From the foregoing, the about 195 officers standing trial before the FDC risk any of the punishment stated above even though the names and particulars or type of offences committed by the erring officers were not disclosed but we learnt that the erring officers may have committed offences ranging from misconduct, excessive use of power, abuse of office, misuse of firearms, aiding and abetting criminals, corruption amongst others.

Cheering as the current efforts by MD Abubakar to change the battered image of the Force, many citizens are still skeptical about the current IG’s capacity to make a dramatic change, what with the deep-seated corruption that has permeated it. How far he goes in working to give the Force a better image from what he found on his assumption of duty at the Louis Edet House remains to be seen.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 5

News

Remember the less privileged – Gov Ahmed

Ramadan

From Olanrewaju Lawal,Ilorin

T

he Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has charged Muslim faithful to use the holy month of Ramadan to do more for the less privileged in order to close up the wide gap between the rich and the poor.

Gov Ahmed in a special message to Muslims through his Chief Press Secretary, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba, urged them to intensify prayers for the continued peace and unity of the

country especially with the security challenges across the country.

The governor recalled that fasting was made compulsory for all able Muslims by Almighty Allah, as a golden opportunity to move closer to God and desist from all forms of wrongdoings.

He enjoined family heads to make adequate provision for their households during the fasting period, pointing out that bountiful blessings from Allah awaits such family heads for doing so in the holy month.

Ex-LG boss tasks Muslims on prayers From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

F L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan, First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan being received by Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, Mr. Le Yucheng, during the President’s arrival at the Beijing international airport, China for State Visit yesterday.

Jonathan urges Muslims to pray for peace

By Abubakar Ibrahim

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan has urged Muslims to pray for peace, security and progress of Nigeria as they begin Ramadan fast today.

A press release issued by Reuben Abati, Special Adviser to

the President (Media & Publicity) also said:“The President calls on all Nigerians, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to strive to imbibe in greater measure, the virtues of piety, selfdiscipline, tolerance, equity, fairness and sympathy for the less privileged which the Ramadan fast promotes.

“President Jonathan also urges

all persons of the faith who may have been misled by extremists and agents of international terrorism into taking up arms against their fellow countrymen, women and children to re-open their minds, during this Ramadan season, to Islam’s true lessons of love and peaceful coexistence with others”, Abati stated.

Tambuwal: Leaders should serve responsibly

S

peaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has said the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in the country today, should be used to pray for peace, unity and progress of Nigeria.

He said that in accordance with the virtues of the month, Nigerians should increase their worship by abstaining from the physical pleasures of this life,

seeking blessings from the Almighty God and sharing with neighbours and the needy.

In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal said the ideals of service and good governance could only make meaning when those in authority see themselves as leaders with responsibility to serve.

He said the Holy Month provides opportunity for Nigerians, especially the Muslim faithful, to rededicate themselves to the pursuit of justice for the common good of Nigerians.

Tambuwal equally urged Nigerians to “love one another, sacrifice for the overall growth and development of the nation, and cooperate with constituted authorities for the attainment of our national goals.”

Sultan calls on Muslims to monitor children From Mahmoud Muhammad, Sokoto he President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has called on all Muslims in the country to intensify efforts toward ensuring the discipline of their children during this crescent month.

The Sultan made this call during his goodwill message to the Qur’anic graduation ceremony of students

T

of the Madrasatu Tahsinul Qira’atil Qur’an, Runjin Sambo, Sokoto.

The monarch, who was represented by Professor Sambo Wali Junaid, described the recitation and graduation of Holy Qur’an as one of the best ways of propagation of Islam, encourage youths to be knowledgeable about their religion and fear of Allah.

He said, parents should use the Islamic knowledge to improve discipline and fear of Allah in children

for the development of society.

At the occasion over 51 students graduated in Holy Qur’an with Ikleemat Yusuf Dingyadi becoming the overall winner of this year’s graduation ceremony.Ahmed Abubakar Yaldu and Asmau Ibrahim came second and third respectively.

Hon. Umar Mohammed Bature, member representing Sokoto South and North in the House of Representatives, Abuja donated N500,000.

ormer interim chairman of Kaduna North Local Government, Usman Ibrahim has tasked Muslims especially in Kaduna to use the Ramadan in seeking lasting peace in the country.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Kaduna, Usman disclosed that Almighty Allah answers prayers in Ramadan faster than in any other Islamic lunar month.

“Muslims must as a matter of exigency grab the once- in -a –year golden opportunity to tell Allah not just their individual problems but those of others particularly,” he said.

Usman Ibrahim lamented the poor spiritual zeal and ecstasy amongst Muslims faithfuls which he said was responsible for the declining social and political fortunes of Muslims in Nigeria.

Alhaji Ibrahim further called on wealthy Muslims to use the Ramadan opportunity to give alms to the needy because, rewards of generosity and charity in Ramadan are multiplied by Allah.

“Now is the time that Muslims must be selfless and consistent in their prayers towards achieving common goals for the country because we have no other fatherland than Nigeria. Therefore, we must put Nigeria first above ourselves”, he said.

Gov Shettima wants Allah to touch leaders’ hearts From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maidiguri

G

overnor Kashim Shettima of Borno state yesterday called on Muslims faithful across the country to use the holy month of Ramadhan fast to fervently pray for God to touch the hearts of leaders at all levels to be patriotic and committed to providing the basic needs of citizens.

Governor Shettima in a Ramadan message signed by his Special Adviser on Communications, Isa Umar Gusau, urged the Muslims to pray for their leaders so that they could get God’s guidance in uplifting the lives of the citizens in the areas of security, sound education, healthcare services portable water, job creations among others.

The statement quoted the governor as saying that what is much needed at different levels of the country was leadership with strong passion to better the lives of citizens.

He noted that with good leadership, most of Nigeria’s problems would be solved and the

country would be a better place.

“As citizens, we have no doubt have the individuals, group and institutional rights to make criticisms when we see things going wrong at any level of governance but we believe we also have an obligation to pray for our leaders at all levels to develop the passion where there is none, sustain the passion where there is and bring about positive changes in the areas they administer.

“Nigerians are desperate about seeing our barrage of problems solved, Nigerians deserve good leaders and once we have these in place, most of our problems would be addressed. Citizens have an obligation to pray for Allah to touch the hearts of their leaders, guide and give them wisdom and focus to have the right people around them”, the statement added.

“It is also important that as citizens we also begin show empathy to those around us, especially those with lesser privileges so that we will be doing our part by helping one another”, it said

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

News

Chinese construction firm to build 4 airports in 20 months From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

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hinese construction giant, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has said it will build four international airports across Nigeria during a period of 20 months as both countries signed Memorandum of Understanding MOU and other loan agreement in Beijing.

President of CCECC, Yuan Li told a delegation of Nigerian government officials on a facility inspection visit at the corporate headquarters of the company in Beijing as part of President Goodluck Jonathan’s five-day State Visit to the country.

Yuan Li said the quality of the work to be done at the airports will be of the highest international standard comparabletosimilarprojectsexecuted by the company in other parts of the world.

He said the airport terminals construction remains a special project to the company, stressing that the company’s imprimatur of unrivalled excellence would be brought to bear in the building of the terminals in Nigeria.

Aviation Minister, Princess Stella Adaeze Oduah said Nigerians eagerly look forward to the signing of the completion of the projects in the next 18-20 months, adding that the desire to have the best for Nigerian airports informed the decision to work with a reputable, world class construction firm like CCECC. The $500 million loan deal is for the construction of four brand new International terminals in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Also speaking, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe expressed satisfaction that CCECC has beenaveryactivefirminNigeria,saying he would want to have the company in the East-West and the Oron-Calabar road projects.

He said with the President’s State Visit to China, a new chapter is being opened in the bilateral and economic relationship between the two countries, and expressed the hope that the four international airport projects would be completed in good time.

Speaking further,Yuan Li said CCECC is the biggest Chinese company doing business in Nigeria, with a local staff strength of about 20, 000 and an expatriate quota of 1000 Chinese citizens.

He expressed gratitude to President Jonathan and the government of Nigeria for the support given to the company, adding that CCECC wants to establish a special friendshipbetweenNigeriaandChina.

Responding to concerns raised by another member of the Nigerian delegation and Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar that CCECC needs to make a paradigm shift from being a contractor to an investor in Nigeria, Li said the company has already made that strategic decision and has started investing in real estate development.

He added that the company intends to expand its investments in Nigeria to include manufacturing (cement), seaports, railways, highways development, steel, amongst others.

L-R: Former ICPC Chairman and Guest Lecturer, Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, representative of the president, Abdullahi Yola, and chairman of the occasion and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during a lecture on “The Future of Law in Nigeria,” to mark Chief Afe Babalola’s 50th year on the bar, yesterday in Ibadan.

Photo: NAN

Again, TI scores Nigeria high on corruption

By Aminu Imam with agency report

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ontrary to the claims by the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan that it is waging a committed war against corruption, a survey by Transparency International (TI) has revealed that majority of Nigerians see the government as merely paying lip-service to the menace.

The result of a TI survey, which was released on Monday,

tagged: ‘Global Corruption Barometer 2013′, said to be the biggest-ever public opinion survey on corruption, showed that 75 percent of Nigerians think that government’s effort at fighting corruption is ineffective.

Only 14 per cent of those surveyed said the government’s effort is achieving results. 94 percent of Nigerians think corruption is a problem with 78 percent saying it is a serious problem.

The report also showed that

political parties and the police are the most corrupt institutions in the country. About 94 percent said political parties are affected by corruption while 92 percent said the Nigerian Police is tainted with corruption.

Other institutions that performed abysmally in the survey are the legislature with 77 per cent corruption perception, the civil service with 69 percent, the judiciary with 66 per cent and the education system, 54 percent.

The military has 45 percent

corruption rating. Medical and health services are tied with businesses, with 41 percent corruption perception, while the media and non-governmental organisations have a perception rate of 33 and 32 percent respectively.

According to Nigerians, the least corrupt institutions are religious bodies with 24 per cent perception.

Transparency International had last year rated Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt country in the world.

Cash-less Policy: CBN to introduce biometrics on ATMs, PoS terminals

By Abdulwahab isa

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said it is going to introduce bio-metric authentication at Point of Sale (PoS) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country , to address the safety of customers funds and avoid losses through compromise of Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) by 2015.

This was disclosed in Abuja by

the CBN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at a stakeholders meeting on cashless policy organised by the bank in Abuja.

Represented by the apex bank’s Abuja Branch Controller, John Chukwudifu, Sanusi said the bank is awareoftheproblemsfacedbyNigerians since the introduction of the cash-less policy and assured that the Apex bank is doing all it could to mitigate them.

He said “No doubt, with the

introduction of cashless society, there would be prevalent use of credit card to perform transactions on ATM, POS and Internet banking, and these transactionswouldhavetopassthought thepublicinfrastructurewhichareprone to cyber threats as being experienced in developed economy of the world. Case of debit and credit cards cloning are another vulnerable areas that need urgent attention for the country to reap the benefits of cashless society.

Yobe killings: Rep urges FG to restore GSM services

By Umar Muhammad Puma

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ollowing the weekend killings of about 30 students of Government Secondary School, Mamudo in Potiskum local government Area of Yobe state, a member of the House of Representatives yesterday called on the federal government to restore mobile phone services to the area.

A motion under the matters of urgent public importance read

by Rep Ali Yakubu (PDP Yobe),

stated that the action would enable the circulation of useful security information and encourage community participation in the fight against the insurgency in the area.

He informed the House that the gruesome killings of innocent school children between the ages of 12 and 15 years preceded similar incessant killings in Damaturu and Maiduguri respectively.

He said, “the attacks were carried out at night during the imposed curfew between the hours of 6pm

and 6am, rendering the victims helpless in the hands of these perpetrators.”

“Following the turning off of the GSM services in the states under the emergency rule, residents of these areas were constrained to report suspicious and useful information to the security services. This inhuman and barbaric treatment on innocent school children and prospective leaders of this great country is capable of destroying the future of a generation of people,” he added.

“The CBN had taken a giant step to gain the confidence of ATM consumers, following the circular enforcing migration from Magstripe type of debit card to chip and PIN (EMV compliance) type of debit card. Statistics show that this effort has reduced the fraud incidences by 90 per cent.

“Many customers are now embracing these of electronic (ATM and POS) channels in their transactions because of near impossible efforts of would-be fraudsters in being able to clone debit cards to perpetrate fraud, as was the case during the pre-migration era”, he said.

Sanusi said that the Nigerian economy is heavily cashoriented in transactions of goods and services (especially retail transactions) which is not in line with the global trend, considering Nigeria’s ambition to be amongst the top 20 economies by the year 2029.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 7

News

INEC team visits APC office

*As rival APC kicks

By Umar Muhammad Puma

M

r. Ibrahim Shittu, Director, Department of Political Party Registration and Monitoring of the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) yesterday led a team on verification visit to the office of All Progressive Change (APC) in Abuja.

The team held a closed door meeting with the interim APC officials.

Addressing newsmen after the meeting, the Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, said its members had proved to INEC that the party has befitting accommodation.

He said: “Today, INEC came to visit us in our home, and the commission is happy that we have got a home.

“Through our attendance register, INEC discovered that we belong to a party of gentle men.’’

Akande expressed the hope that with the level of its preparation, APC would be registered as a political party.

He said that various conventions had been done by the merging political parties adding that they had also forwarded various joint applications to the commission for registration.

On his part, the APC interim National Secretary, Alhaji Tijjani Musa Tumsah, said that, “the commission came expecting to see some things which we were able to deliver, today, I think everything is in good shape.

“Our documentation is okay, near perfect, we are expecting INEC’s notification, telling us that we have been registered.”

When asked on the threats of litigation by rival APC, Tumsah said, “I am not aware of any other group and we have not gotten any court notice.

But the rival APC in a statement yesterday accused the INEC of a “midnight plot” to issue Akande’s APC with a registration certificate.

The statement signed by the National Legal Adviser, Kinsley Nnadi, warned that the move was capable of derailing the nation’s democracy.

According to the statement, “the attention of the African Peoples Congress (APC) has been drawn to the plot by the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission which from indications has effectively aligned with the Merging parties (All Progressive Congress, to plunge Nigeria’s democratic process into chaos.

“INEC is sufficiently aware of the fact that the African People’s Congress (APC) is legitimately pursuing a judicial review of the Commission’s decision to reject its application for registration in the court of law, yet its actions convey an outrageous aversion to the tenets of the rule of law.

“Beside the Commission’s secret maneuvers to fast-track the registration of the All Progressive Congress, INEC with its involvements and deployment of its staffers to private assignments of the merger party has descended even further to becoming emergency consultant to the All Progressive Congress on accelerated party registration.”

“The decision of the Commission to visit the proposed headquarters of the merger APC at Wuse today (yesterday) is part of the secret deal to ignore the rule of law and fast tract the registration of the merger APC to outsmart the court and the decision the court will arrive at.”

L-R: Chairman, Forum of Commissioners for Education and Cross River state Education Commissioner, Professor Offiong Offiong, Minister of State for Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, and Executive Secretary, Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC), Professor Godswill Obioma, during the consultative meeting on entrepreneurship education for senior secondary schools in Nigeria, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Ramadan: Pastor “frees” 8 Muslim convicts From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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astor Yohanna Buru of Christ Evangelical and Intercessory Fellowship Ministry has secured the release of eight Muslim convicts who were sentenced to various jail terms with options of fines by different courts in Kaduna state.

Buru while paying the option of fine for the convicts yesterday

at the Kaduna Central Prisons said he wanted the convicts to reunite with their families and participate fully in the Ramadan fast so that they can also benefit from the blessings that follow.

The Cleric said he paid the sum of N240, 000 as fine for the convicts who were sentenced to different jail terms ranging from six months to one year.

Speaking earlier, the Chief

Imam of Tudun Wada mosque, Sheikh Salisu Abdullahi Maiborota, challenged the released convict to be of good character and find for themselves a legal means of livelihood so as not to return back to the prisons.

“I am very delighted that a Christian has this passion to help in paying the imposed fine on the convicts who are Muslims.

“Today, they have regained their

freedom and it is not written whether they were assisted by a Muslim or a Christian.

“This is the lesson we have to learn in Nigeria. We have to be our brother’s keeper and don’t allow difference in religious belief to divide us but rather to unite us.

“This action is more commendable as we are going into the month of Ramadan and I pray Allah will reward him abundantly.”

Reps blame Power, Finance ministers for power outages

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he House of Representatives yesterday blamed the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and her Power counterpart, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, for the epileptic power supply across the country.

Chairman, House Committee on Power, Patrick Ikhariale, said the two ministers were responsible for the zero allocations to the power sector by the National Assembly for the 2013 fiscal year owing to their misleading assurances that the privatization of the power sector would be concluded as scheduled.

He said, “one does not need to be a rocket scientist to know that what we are experiencing today is a direct consequence of lack of funds in the sector and non allocation of funds to the sector in 2013 budget.”

According to the lawmaker, the committee had counseled the ministries that it would be dangerous to assume that most of the independent bidders for the Generation Companies (Gencos) and the Distribution Companies (Discos) in the country have the financial capacities to take over the companies as proposed.

He said, “even when we are privatising, like in China, India

and other countries of the world, they have not seized to finance the sector.

“You don’t have to stop the maintenance of your car because you want to sell it.

“The Minister of State who had promised to complete the privatisation process on a due date has since shifted the date tentatively to October.

“Last month, three states were thrown into darkness for

about two weeks.

The committee called on the two ministers to apologise to Nigerians for their failure to sustain the important sector just as it pointed out that the people have lost several lives and opportunities due to the power outages experienced across the country.

Responding, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Ambassador Godknows Igali,

who represented Nebo, allayed the fears of the lawmakers by assuring them that the challenges in the sector would soon be a thing of the past.

On possible loss of jobs by some workers in the power sector after the privatization, Igali said about 80 per cent of the workforce would be transfer their services to the private owners of Gencos and Discos.

Relocation of Tafawa Balewa LG headquarters: Communities, Rep at war From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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ommunity leaders of the non-Sayawa citizens of Tafawa Balewa local government area of Bauchi state under the auspices of Al’umma Unity and Development Association have expressed their dismay over the current move

by Hon. Yakubu Dogara, member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro at the National Assembly Federal Constituency, to challenge the validity of relocation of Tafawa

Balewa local government headquarters to Bununu.

The Al’umma community spokesman, Hon. Mahammad Aminu Tukur, at a press conference yesterday accused Dogara of selfcentredness.

“We neither support Hon. Yakubu Dogara as he does not seem to represent the interest of majority of the population of his constituency of which we constitute 80 per cent.

“We want to maintain the position of the law and it is obvious that the National

Assembly has no business concerning relocation of local government headquarters.

“Therefore, the Bauchi state House of Assembly rightly acted in relation to the issue at stake,” Aminu said.

According to him, Tafawa Balewa has been engulfed in series of atrocities and merciless killings allegedly planned and executed by the Sayawa minority in the area..

He said that the relocation of the headquarters of Tafawa Balewa was not only proper and timely but long overdue.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 9

News

Niger concludes arrangement for 2013 Christian pilgrimage

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rrangements have been concluded for the Christian pilgrimage to Israel for the 2013 pilgrimage in Niger State.

The leader of the delegation, Mr. Abraham Yisah, who made this known in a meeting with newly appointed members of government noted that that the exercise requires sacrifice from them.

He said that the state had an unflinching record of being the best in the country for the past three years which if not sustained must be improved upon in the interest of the state government.

According to him, the state government has continued to support Christian pilgrimage as well as sponsor certain number of residents to fulfill the religious obligations.

Yisah noted that in the last three years, the officials and state contingents have continued to conduct themselves in an orderly manner and urged the new appointed members to make sacrifice of their personal comfort so as not to betray the confidence repose on them.

He disclosed that, already forms have been sent to the 25 local government areas while

complementary seats were being in processed.

The leader frowned at the reported cases of sharp practices engaged by some disgruntle individuals who usually lobby for the seat and later sell exorbitant prices.

According to him, “if you get carried away with worldly materials during pilgrimage, you will miss the essence of the pilgrimage which is to fulfill religious obligations.”

L-R: Representative of Minister of Environment, Dr. Bukar Hassan, representative of Minister of State for Agriculture, Dr. Odeyemi Julius, and Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency, Professor Bamidele Solomon, during a forum on Agricultural Biotechnology in Africa, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Cut-off mark disparity: Reps urge ministry to call varsities to order

By Umar Muhammad Puma

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he House of Representatives has urged the Federal Ministry of Education to call to order, universities which apply higher cut-off marks for candidates during the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) other than the Federal Government’s approved 180 in their on-going post-UTME screening to order.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquayyat Ahmed Rufai, had earlier announced the government’s approved cut-off marks for admission into universities as 180 and that of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education as 150 for the 2013/2014 academic year.

The House however expressed surprise that some institutions including the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Benin (UNIBEN), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) had their post-UTME screening tests cut-off marks pegged at 200 and above while the Federal University of Technology, Minna and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (UNIZIK) put theirs at 190 and 200 for science and arts courses respectively.

In a motion under the matters of urgent public importance read by Victor Ogene, said universities and allied institutions, regarding ensuring strict adherence to government policy on education, especially when it is not in conflict with the provisions of the Nigerian constitution.

He argued that while the introduction of post-UTME examinations is part of admission requirements into Nigeria tertiary institutions in 2005 was designed to function as internal quality control mechanism in these institutions, such that the UTME alone does not guarantee admission, the UTME

was what normally grant candidates eligibility to sit for the post-UTME test of institutions of their respective choices.

He said the action of the affected universities is “blatant disregard of government directives” and specifically expressed concerns that several prospective candidates who have hitherto met the government approved ceilings would be denied the chances of participating in the universities’ screening tests if the new developments were allowed to prevail.

“The current admission requirements by several Nigerian universities especially the federal

NSCDC nabs 525 job fraudsters

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has said that it has so far arrested 525 persons who specialise in duping innocent members of the pubic under the guise of providing them employment in the corps.

The NSCDC Commandant General, Dr. Ade Abolurin, made this known yesterday when the Senate Committee on the Interior, led by its chairman, Senator Bagudu A. Abubakar, visited the

corps headquarters on an oversight function.

According to him, “we will never create save haven for those who operate fake websites to dupe innocent members of the public.

“So far, we have arrested them and handed them over to the Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC) for prosecution.

“Also, we have recovered about N8 million and returned to the innocent people who have been defrauded.

“We will continue to do that so as to restore the image of the profession.”

universities, founded and funded by the Federal Government, as published widely in the media, are in total disregard of this directive.

“Unless the government guideline of 180 marks for Universities and 150 for polytechnics and colleges of education are strictly adhered to by these federal institutions, many Nigerian youths who scored less than 200 marks but met the government approved cut-off marks of 180 and 150 respectively, for University and Polytechnic/Colleges of Education, will be denied possible admission into their chosen tertiary institutions he said.”

Responding, the leader of the delegation, told the NSCDC boss to sanitise the corps and rid it of those people who work to tarnish the image of the organisation.

Abubakar, said the corps should adopt a stringent measures to recruit credible people who would project the image of the corps.

He noted that the challenges faced by the corps were part of the challenge they must confront in their bid to standout among other services.

“These challenges are not new. Other services like the State Security Service (SSS) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also have similar experiences.”

Yobe killings: Military dispatches team to Mamudo

By Joy Baba

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efence headquarters Abuja has sent a team of senior officers on a fact finding mission to Yobe for an on-the, spot assessment of the deployment of troops of the Joint Task Force in the state.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen Chris Olukolade, yesterday.

The statement also said the team was to pay particular attention to the security circumstances around the incidence of the attack on the Government Secondary School, Mamudo near Potiskum during the weekend.

The statement further said the team was led by the Chief of Research and Development at the Defence Headquarters adding that they will be visiting troops deployed in remote locations in Yobe State to verify the effectiveness of patrols and cordon and search operations directed at forestalling any further breach of security and tracking down perpetrators of the weekend attack.

“The team is expected to brief the CDS in respect of any requirement for additional troops and logistics for the operation in Yobe state,” the statement also said.

‘Why fake drugs thrive in rural areas’

By Abbas Aminu Bamalli

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he Director General of National Agency For Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, has identified the high level of illiteracy in rural communities as a major challenge for the campaign against fake drugs in the country.

The director general, who made this known yesterday in Abuja when he received a team of four Pharmacists from Sierra Leone, said consumers at the rural areas do not know the quality of what they are buying or taking which sometimes resulted in death.

He urged the consumers to be more cautious in buying drugs to avoid increase in death as a result of taking fake drugs.

According to him, NAFDAC will soon provide modern equipment for detecting fake drugs.

Orhii noted that if consumers avoid buying fake drugs, the manufacturers will drop the business.

He commended the media for their efforts in enlightening the public on the effects of fake drugs.

In his speech, the leader of the team, who is the Head of Sierra Leone Pharmacy Board, Whitshire Johnson, said they were in Nigeria to see how NAFDAC operates in the fight against the circulation of fake drugs.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 10

News Briefs

NIM inducts 158 military officers

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58 military officers from Nigeria, and 14 other African countries as well as from South Korea have been inducted as associate members of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM).

The induction of the who are students of the Senior Course 35 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Jaji came after passing a one week NIM induction course.

Speaking at the induction ceremony, the President of NIM, Chief (Dr.) MikelOlawale Cole challenged the new NIM members to always read the institute’s code of conduct, commit it to practice and make it a way of life, as they have become agents of the transformation process required to take Nigeria to a higher level.

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

FERMA trains women on road maintenance in Kaduna

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ederal Roads Maintenance Agency FERMA has completed plans to train Girls and Women on technical principles of roads maintenance.

According to the FERMA, it has been working in collaboration with the Department for Internal Development (DFID) to map out strategies that wil improve productivity, promote sustainable growth, peace and skill of girls and women in the country.

Speaking at the flag off of the Girls and Women Project in Nigeria (G-WING) sensitization program held at the Federal Ministry of Works Highway Training Centre, FERMA’s North West, Zonal Coordinator Kaboshiyo D. Avongs, said that about 250 girls and women would be trained within a year.

From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

N230m money laundering: EFCC wants transfer of case

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ounsel to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Festus Keyamo, has sought the transfer of money laundering charges preferred against former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, to another judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos for trial.

The trial Judge, Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, on Monday adjourned the matter indefinitely, pending the decision of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, on the transfer request.

Keyamo told OfiliAjumogobia, that he wanted the transfer because she had questioned his chamber’s authority to prosecute the case.

From Matthew Irinoye, Lagos

L-R: FCT Chairman, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Chief Lukeman Obi, RTEAN National President, Alhaji Musa Shehu, RTEAN Secretary General, Alhaji Yusuf Ibrahim Adeniyi, and FCT Secretary, Alhaji Muhammad Zuba, during the flags-off of the distribution of Abuja taxi to RTEAN members, yesterday Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Arewa group lauds Abuja Geographic Information Systems

By Evelyn Okakwu

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he Arewa Professionals Forum (APF) has lauded the Director of the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS) for improving the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and building on the capacity of staff of the agency.

Speaking at a press

conference in Abuja yesterday, the forum’s Coordinator, Jamilu Abdullahi and Secretary Muhammed Muhammed described AGIS as undergoing serious transformation.

They explained that “all impediments to the registration of land deeds and other sundry land-related issues which fall within its mandate have been resolved.

The forum particularly commended the AGIS Director for spearheading the revolution in the agency, adding that on assumption of office early this year, she promised and assured that her tenure will witness new partnership that will further increase revenue coming into the coffers of the FCT Administration.

“The forum also notes that

her experience as a professional and journalist have contributed to her unprecedented success within this short period in office.

“We are happy to note that her transformation of AGIS has brought smiles to the faces of Nigerians wishing to engage in land issues, particularly the residents of the Federal Capital Territory.”

moment, he is on crutches my Lord,” Layonu said.

At the last sitting, the defendants through their various lawyers had asked the trial judge to quash the charges, alleging that EFCC, as a federal agency, lacked valid fiat to prosecute them in a state high court.

The defence further argued that the

fiat being held by EFCC to prosecute in the state court is no longer valid, having been obtained on May 12, 2004 under the Criminal Code Laws of Lagos State 2003 and Criminal Procedure Laws of Lagos State 2003.

“Since the fiat has been nullified, the defendantshave the right to insist that they cannot be prosecuted with

it and I urge the court to quash the charge against them”, they argued.

But EFCC’s counsel, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to dismiss all the applications, insisting that the prosecutorial powers of the Federal Government, through the EFCC, was governed by the constitution.

N4.7b money laundering: Court to rule on Bi-Courtney application Sept 23 From Matthew Irinoye, Lagos

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ustice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja yesterday fixed September 23, 2013 to rule on the application to quash charges filed by the Chairman of BiCourtney Limited, Wale Babalakin, and his co-defendants.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Babalakin, Alex Okoh and their companies Stabilini Visioni Limited, Bi-Courtney Limited and Renix Nigeria Limited for allegedly transferring N4.7 billion on behalf of convicted former Delta state Governor, James Ibori.

At the resumption of trail on the matter, Tuesday, the trial judge, justice Onigbanjo who had since June 5 fixed the ruling on the application for July 9 informed both parties that the ruling on the four separate applications was not ready,and adjourned the ruling till September 23, 2013.

Earlier, Babalakin’s counsel, Dr. Abiodun Layonu (SAN), apologised for his client’s absence from the dock.

“It is extremely painful for him to endeavor to move as at the

Nasarawa CPC dismisses PDP allegations over MDG funds From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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he congress for progressive change (CPC) has dismissed allegations credited to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa state, suggesting that Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura has been deploying funds sourced from the Office of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to finance his development projects across the state.

Reacting on the matter, Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Alhaji Abdulhamid Kwarra, described as fruitless, the relentless allegations emanating from the leadership of the PDP in the state, adding that most of the ongoing development projects in

the state are either MDG sponsored or by Development Partners.

Addressing journalists at the Lafia Government House yesterday, Kwarra, noted that the state has not been able to access MDG funds because of the failure of the immediate past PDP administration to pay the necessary counterpart funds.

He disclosed that on inception, the CPC administration not only offset the backlog of the unpaid balance of the counterpart fund, but also ensureed prompt payment of the 50 per cent counterpart fund which has enabled the state to access the MDG funds.

According to Kwarra, “where are the projects executed by the previous PDP government from the MDG or was there no MDG as at the time of the immediate past PDP administration?”

He urged the opposition to commend the Governor for embarking on projects that have bearing on the lives of the people and for restoring MDGs in the state.

He explained that the MDG funds were being used in the state to rehabilitate and build new schools and hospitals and that all the ongoing road projects across the state are being financed solely by the CPC administration.

On the recent demolition of illegal structures in Lafia, the state capital, he said government was aware of a subterranean moves by the opposition to incite some of those affected by the exercise against government, warning that the CPC administration will not allow itself to be distracted by such cheap blackmail.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 11

Money Sense

Is loan for car really worth it?

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hese days almost everybody who buys a car takes out a loan to do it. This is not really a great idea. The problem is that when you borrow money to buy a car you end up spending far more than you realise.

This often leads to buying a car that you really can’t afford.

In order to understand why it is a bad idea to take out a loan to buy a car, you need to understand the difference between good debt and bad debt. Good debt is when the money that you borrow will help to increase your net worth.

The most obvious example of this is the mortgage on your house. You are borrowing money but that money is being used to purchase an asset that will increase in value. Other examples of good debt would be things like borrowing money to contribute to your retirement plan or business loans.

Bad debt on the other hand is when you borrow money to

spend on something that will not appreciate in value.

It is almost a given that your car will not increase in value, except in a few rare cases of classic cars you can not consider a car an investment. It is a consumer product; you buy it to use it knowing full well that over time its value will go down. This is not necessarily a bad thing, after all if need a car then spending the money to buy one is entirely reasonable.

Where it becomes a problem is when you are borrowing money to buy a car.

The problem with borrowing money to buy a car is that the interest on the loan is going to greatly increase the amount that you spend. Generally speaking the interest rates on car loans are pretty high and this really costs you a lot of money.

If you take out a loan at ten percent interest that takes seven years to pay it back the price you paid for your car has just doubled. Given that at the

end of the seven years the value of the car will be a fraction of the initial cost this is not really

good money management. You would be far better off waiting until you had saved the money

Revise your fitness resolutions to save money

I

f you’re in the get healthier camp, I have a few tips to help you revive your resolutions and set realistic goals — all while saving money.

Seven fitness goal revisions that will save you money •. Don’t renew that gym membership.

If you’ve stopped feeling enthusiastic about working out, or if you’ve been finding excuses to skip heading to the gym, save your money. Start small at home, where fitness is free. Going for a walk or a jog is also free.

Once you start seeing results and become motivated again, a gym membership may be a good

investment.

•. Don’t buy exercise equipment.

Those late night infomercials may seem like they have the perfect product to get you on track with your fitness goals, but how many of those things do you have serving as clothes racks already? Isometric exercises are often challenging enough for the average person, and they don’t require any special equipment.

Soup cans can serve as hand weights, and a kitchen chair can help you perform more advanced exercises. If you’re going to purchase anything, an inexpensive set of exercise bands

is adequate for most people to improve strength, range of motion, and flexibility.

• Invest in fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.

Stop buying processed and convenience foods; spend that money in the produce section instead. If you’re not a fan of dieting, simply eliminating the junk from your meals and snacks will help you lose weight.

• Drink water.

Not soda pop, not tea, not coffee — water. One serving of coffee, soda, or tea per day is fine, but the rest of your liquid intake should be water. You not buy table water. Get a filter

for your kitchen tap, or a water filter to keep in your fridge.

Better for your wallet — and the environment.

•Enlist the help of a friend to help keep you motivated.

If you’re serious about getting healthier this year, make it happen. Don’t waste money on getting fit, then turn around and slouch on your commitment just because no one was there to cheer you on and ask how you’re coming along. Have a friend keep you accountable to the goals you’ve set.

•Try setting smaller, more realistic goals.

Start with something like, “I will not eat processed foods at supper, and I will drink eight glasses of water today.”

When you reach each goal, celebrate your accomplishment to build your confidence and motivation.

•Don’t buy weight loss supplements.

The sad truth is that fitness takes hard work. Consume less junk and more fresh foods.

Move your body more. There are no pills that will allow you to sit on the couch with a bag of potato chips and lose weight.

There are no shortcuts, so don’t waste your time or money.

If you have a medical condition that contributes to your poor fitness, talk to your doctor about what can be done to manage your health better. It’s not worth it to reach for overthe-counter fixes and empty promises. (Source: monyng. com)

to buy the car.

The other issue with borrowing money to buy a car is that it makes it easy to spend more than you can really afford on the car. When you see the cost of a car it is usually listed as the monthly payment.

They tell you how much you have to pay each month not what the car actually costs. If you save up and pay cash for the car you will know exactly what you are spending and you won’t buy a car that you can’t really afford. Off course there’s also a second option, which is the purchase of a second-hand car.

(Source: Forbes)

Money Tip Ask yourself: Do I really need this?

Imagine the scenario. It’s lunchtime and you’ve got an hour to kill. You find yourself in a department store and there’s a sale on. You pick up a beautifully packaged selection of barbecue tools and associated garden paraphernalia. And it’s half price.

Now, stop! Ask yourself: Do I really need this? Exactly; now, put it down and walk away.

Walk/cycle to the station/ work It maybe a bit of hippie notion to many people but it’s free.

Pack up smoking Never mind the health implications, the guilt and the smell, your 20-a-day habit is costing you nearly N500,000 a year. Pack it in.

Quote “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” Michael Caine Actor

PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

EDITORIAL

t is one of those paradoxes in politics that barely two weeks after Egypt’s first elected postMubarak president, Mohamed Mursi, directed the closure of Egypt’s embassy in strife-torn Syria, he himself was booted out of office on the anniversary of his one year in office. What days of street protests drawing thousands couldn’t do, the military did within 48 hours. President Mursi, whose political platform is the Muslim Brotherhood, founded 80 years ago by the Islamic thinker Sayed Qutb, rode to power on the crest of a wave of Arab Spring that drove the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak out of power. The resilient Muslim Brotherhood, a most persecuted group in the country (its founder Qutb was hanged), formed the Justice Party which contested and won the presidential election last year.

However, since coming to office, Mursi courted one controversy after another. The most serious was the draft constitution which he rushed through a parliament dominated by his political faction and shoved down the throats of Egyptians in a hurried referendum.

The question of fixing the economy, perhaps the urgent one on the minds of many who rallied to overthrow the Mubarak regime,

was not on thefront burner for the Mursi government, more committed to reconstructing Egyptian society based on Islamic puritanism.

From the beginning, it was obvious that Mursi’s presidency would not enjoy a smooth sail what with his very narrow victory in the poll; his was not a popular mandate.

However, in spite of the regime’s

on the streets in their thousands last week, after 22 million had reportedly signed a petition calling on the government to step down. Few days earlier, the army had warned Mursi to reach an understanding with the opposition or be sent packing. In a democracy, it is abnormal for the military to act as the referee in a face-off between a sitting government and the opposition. However, in the case of Egypt, the fear that the street protests could turn bloody was genuine. Whether kicking out It is important that Egypt an elected government altogether returns to constitutionalism as was the best way to address that quickly as possible because concern was right is another matter. That it was not can be seen of its strategic place as the in the thousands of the overthrown leader of the Arab world regime’s supporters who have been massing in the streets to demand a restoration of the Mursi presidency. It remains to be seen unpopularity, no one expected that how the military would solve this the military would kick it aside and puzzle. so soon. The best anyone hoped for However, we pin much hope was its rejection in the next elections.

But Egypt’s secular liberals including on the road map for a return to constitutional rule which its best known opposition leader, the military appointed interim Muhammed el-Baradei, the former director-general of the international president, Adly Mansour, a top constitutional court judge, has watchdog, IAEA, would have none announced. It is important that of the democratic niceties whereby regimes, whether inept or corruption Egypt returns to constitutionalism as quickly as possible because of its ridden, are allowed to run their full strategic place as the leader of the terms.

A disenchanted population massed Arab world.

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Egypt: A revolution out of gear

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 13

Opinion Ansaru: Who are they?

By Jacob Zenn

A

nsaru is not a grassroots organization like Boko Haram, the more prominent Islamist militant group in Nigeria.

Nonetheless, recent evidence shows the groups may be merging.

Boko Haram members are mostly Nigerians, or Cameroonians, Nigeriens, and Chadians from the border region. They include many from the almajiri schools, or madrassas, of northern Nigeria.

Nigerian Ansaru members appear to be mostly foreign-trained Nigerian militants. They include founders Khalid al-Barnawi and Abu Muhammed, who operated and trained in Algeria with alQaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Nigerian militants have roots in Algeria dating back to at least 2007 and in Mauritania as far back as 2003. Al-Barnawi fought with AQIM, kidnapping mastermind Mokhtar Belmokhtar in Mauritania in 2005. Other AQIM members reportedly trained Nigerians who later became Ansaru militants.

Ansaru imported AQIM’s kidnapping operations to Nigeria, taking foreigners hostage in Kebbi, Kano (which was claimed

by AQIM), Katsina, and Bauchi.

They may also have coordinated the kidnapping of a French family of seven in northern Cameroon in February 2013, although it was claimed by Boko Haram.

As Ansaru is not a grassroots group, it would not be surprising if many Nigerians did not know about them. However, according to Navanti, a strategic communications group in Washington, DC, a survey showed that a fairly large number of people in Kano, Kaduna, and Maiduguri– more than 80 percent–have heard of Ansaru (although some may have mistook the group for Ansar Dine of Mali). Articles about

“

Ansaru operations also recently appeared in mainstream Nigerian newspapers, so Nigerians may have read about the group.

Certainly, the United Kingdom took notice of Ansaru when, in November 2012, it proscribed Ansaru as a terrorist organization that is “anti-Nigerian government, anti-Western, and broadly aligned with al-Qaeda.” Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan also so proscribed Ansaru and Boko Haram in June 2013. The U.S. government has designated alBarnawi a “global terrorist” along with Abubakar Adam Kambar, who trained under al-Barnawi at an AQIM camp in Algeria.

Ansaru’s amorphous nature is likely related to its lack of a geographical base beyond the “Lands of Black Africa.” Some even question its existence. But if Ansaru does not exist, who can explain the spate of kidnappings of foreigners in Nigeria; Ansaru’s claims via jihadist forums (which have administrators to filter out fake messages); the British and Nigerian terrorist designations of Ansaru; and the Ansaru propaganda found at Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s base in Gao after he fled the city in February 2013? Nonetheless, more research should be done to examine the historic and current operations of Ansaru as well as its ideological

Ansaru’s amorphous nature is likely related to its lack of a geographical base beyond the “Lands of Black Africa.” Some even question its existence. But if Ansaru does not exist, who can explain the spate of kidnappings of foreigners in Nigeria; Ansaru’s claims via jihadist forums (which have administrators to filter out fake messages); the British and Nigerian terrorist designations of Ansaru; and the Ansaru propaganda found at Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s base in Gao after he fled the city in February 2013?

twin–Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA).

We physically saw MUJWA control Gao in Mali for almost a year in 2012, but before that MUJWA was amorphous like Ansaru, carrying out kidnappings and suicide operations in the Sahel in 2011. In 2012, MUJWA filled a power vacuum in Gao, and its existence is now almost impossible to deny. If the above analysis is correct, Ansaru took root in the Sahel a decade ago when few people in Nigeria were focused on events in that region, and AQIM’s ability to establish a presence as far south as Nigeria appeared remote.

It highlights the importance of monitoring transnational linkages and regional events that seem relatively benign now, but years later can come home to roost.

In addition, one reason for the difficulty in understanding Ansaru may be that it is unlike any group in Nigeria in the past because of its distinctly foreign element, which Maitatsine, MEND, and even Boko Haram never demonstrated to the same extent.

Jacob Zenn, an analyst of African Affairs for the Washington D.C.based think tank, The Jamestown Foundation, and acontributor for the West Point CTC Sentinel.

ASUU: Why strikes are uncalled for

By John Igoli

I

t is difficult albeit painful not to support ASUU’s present strike action. Their press release will compel any concerned person to shed tears over the standard of university education in Nigeria.

Compared to universities abroad, Nigeria’s should be closed until we are ready to start all over again.

However, strike actions will not help towards reaching the Eldorado of academic excellence. The truth is that universities are businesses and when a business closes and opens at will that business is endangered. True, there is the compelling issue of government’s insensitivity and snail speed action towards the demands of ASUU and the lawlessness and injustice meted out on the various campuses. Our university administrators seem to have become lawless, enforcing injustices. Certainly someone must cry out and ASUU is the only beacon of hope in the university system.

A Nigerian sage said long ago “educated people are easy to lead but difficult to oppress”. The slightest oppression perceived by lecturers is like an opposing force applied to a turning wheel. It just stops turning. Governments at the state and federal levels want to prove that they own the universities and can run them as they wish.

This is a dangerous mindset. As a business, the customers of the universities are governments, students, parents, industries, research funding agencies and charities. On the other hand, what the universities must offer are a stable timetable, competent manpower, research and facilities,

degrees, extension, innovative ideas and continuity but the greatest of these is continuity, which must come from within and not from without. We must develop survival instincts by producing pure breeds of academics. Quality control assurance should be our watch word. Democratic ethos and wide consultations have helped ASUU to consistently produce quality and high calibre national leaders. This feat is, however, not reproduced in selecting or appointing our university administrators hence the problems we are having. Our problems are obviously more within than without.

The rape of university standards by politicians is only possible because some of our colleagues accept to be agents provocateurs. These lecturers do not believe in university autonomy.

They do not accept that university authority emanates from the senate or governing council but from

“

politicians and powers without.

They do everything to promote tribalism, nepotism, corruption and democratic appointment or promotion of professors. They feel university monies should not go into the wrong hands while they expect these same “wrong hands” to do the hard work while they enjoy and politic. Yet these wrong hands cannot be appointed into university administrative positions.

We must sanitise ourselves of such members and former politicians who have taken refuge in our campuses and conduct their academic affairs based on personal feelings and political expedience.

These are the people who benefit most during strikes as it gives them time for their political adventures and businesses. They go further and pretend to be negotiators or peacemakers. We should stop giving them these opportunities to score cheap popularity.

We must repackage ourselves

The rape of university standards by politicians is only possible because some of our colleagues accept to be agents provocateurs. These lecturers do not believe in university autonomy. They do not accept that university authority emanates from the senate or governing council but from politicians and powers without.

They do everything to promote tribalism, nepotism, corruption and democratic appointment or promotion of professors.

to our patrons or customers and ensure continuous service delivery. Our major focus now should be how to re-join the comity of Universities worldwide.

We should be able to participate in international staff and student exchange programmes not just attending conferences abroad. We must rejuvenate or rekindle our laboratories and conduct world class and cutting edge research. We must address our problems with neutrality and expose the bad eggs amongst us. We should welcome the private universities, help them to grow and make them part of our dreams, aspirations and realities.

A situation where private universities advertise or promote themselves based on lack of strike actions in their campuses (just because their staffs are emasculated) is totally unfair and disingenuous. We should not give them further opportunity for this. We must strive to restore our Universities to their expected glories from the funds available and those we can obtain from research outputs, patents and spin off companies. There is enough money in the system to meet all our needs and we must humble ourselves to address the various ills stated in the press release. The people perpetrating or benefitting from all the injustices stated are academic staff of those universities.

These are usually people who should not have been appointed or promoted to these positions in the first place. The error is ours and we must accept them for who they are or what they have become.

No amount of strike actions will change them or curb their excesses.

They actually relish our strikes,

feedon and grow from them.

The criteria for appointments and promotion to senior and higher academic positions must be strict and include possession of research grants and evidence of an active laboratory complete with MSc and PhD studentships and postdoctoral staff. The idea of graduate assistants should be abolished; professors may appoint them as their research fellows in training and pay them from their research funds. The salaries and allowances we are receiving today could be termed “satisfactory” thus we should work towards refocusing the vision of our Universities. We should as a matter of urgency institute a six month compulsory training abroad for all our staff that have not had any international exposure. We should also pursue staff and student exchange between the federal, state and privately owned universities to help equilibrate the system as one bad university can spoil the others. We should encourage the NUC to use its powers to help sanitiseprogrammes and degrees awarded via accreditation exercises and monitoring.

While the government may be slow in meeting our needs or honouring agreements it entered into freely, we should be accumulating goodwill and attracting a good name through innovations and actions to keep our universities open, attract global patronage and source for research grants. Our internal and academic members should lead by example and stop receiving sitting allowance, funds or monies from their universities.

John Igoli is on LinkedIn.

PAGE 14

Letters & Opinion

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

When question becomes an answer

By Abdullahi Yusuf

I

t was Japanese business strategist, Kenichi Ohma, who said that in order to achieve positive result from a failing system, the best strategy is to challenge the prevailing assumptions with a single question: Why? And to put the same question relentlessly to those responsible for the current way of doing things until they are sick of it. It was based in this context that recently I made some observations about this year’s hajj and the preparedness of Kaduna state Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board. What is clearly a harmless opinion, freely given to its Executive Secretary, Tahir Umar Tahir, attracted venomous aggression from one DanlaminMaidabara.

I had raise three fundamental questions: first, I had sought to know the rationale behind the transfer of local government pilgrim officers less than two weeks after Tahir assumed duty, especially when the officers in question had sold 50% of hajj seats to intending pilgrims. Secondly, I reminded him of his previous conceited posture of claiming to be “oga at the top” ahead of Executive secretary of the board and Permanent Secretary, Bureau for Religious Affairs (Islamic matters),

headed by elder racketeering?

BalarabeJigo This is where my then. Thirdly, I questions become advised him to an answer. Once Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, stop divulging again, is it right to text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written his conversation transfer problems contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters with the from one location - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your governor of the to another within state to the staff the same house name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be of the board as it or to identify addressed to: runs contrary to those who are administrative involved and The Editor, principle. punished them Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, Instead accordingly? of answering Administratively, 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. the question what he could Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com I raised, have done was SMS: 08134607052 Danlamin to constitute an Maidabara investigative committee to investigate the permanent secretary for Bureau posited that I was sponsored, allegation. If the result of the for Islamic Affairs. All official but he failed to tell the public investigation confirmed the correspondence to the governor his relationship with Tahir or allegation, then he could use laid goes through the permanent KSPWB. Tthe most ludicrous of it down civil service procedure to secretary and there has never been all is his claim that Tahir’sspecial punish them. Do you need to any misunder-standing except the adviser position contributed transfer an officer before you one created by Tahir and co. I am to the success recorded during conduct an enquiry into his worried whether Tahir will not the administration of Barrister ridicule himself at the national level wrongdoing? By admitting that AbdullahiMukhtarMuhammed. he transferred them based on now that he has been appointed to Poser: Was Tahir, as Special an allegation of racketeering, he serve as special assistant to Viceadviser, part or a member of the President NamadiSamboon Islamic vindicated my stand about his state Executive Council meeting or administrative incompetence. matters and the National Mosque, part of Security Council meeting?

Secondly, Danlamin did the Abuja.

If not, how could he supervise worst public relations hatchet On why the executive secretary the permanent secretary who is a job by saying that his position had to transfer pilgrim officers, member of the Security Council as former president of Muslim Danlamin said that they were meeting? Since its creation, the Student Society qualified him to transferred because of their state’s pilgrimboard has been head the pilgrim board. It is true alleged involvement in hajj seat under the direct supervision of the

WRITE TO US

that MSS has produced many people who have excelled in their various endeavours. That does not mean that all its past presidents are automatically programmed to succeed. There are those who have not managed any known public or private organisation as chief accounting officers of such establishments- and I am afraid that Tahir falls in this category.

He also claims that Tahir’ssix-year MSS presidency was the longest.

He could have done a little research to know that there were those who spent a decade in that position.

Danlamin assured Kaduna state people that Tahir, as executive secretary, would not secureaccommodation too far away from haram during his tenure but will refund to pilgrims any money so designated by NAHCON. It goes to show that previous administrations secured accommodation far away from haram. My question is this: if it is true that previous administrations (which Danlamin claimed his boss was part of and even contributed to their success) secured accommodation far away from haram; is that not self- indictment?

Was Tahir as a board member and as a special adviser on Islamic matters not part of a team sent annually by the state government to secure accommodation for pilgrims?

Abdullahi Yusuf wrote in from SabonGari, Zaria, Kaduna state

2015 guber race: Is Mustafa Bello the man to beat in Niger?

By Ibrahim B. Hassan

W

hat kinds of pedigree and credentials should we expect from those aspiring to positions of leadership in the Nigeria of today? The aspirant must be highly knowledgeable, skilled, experienced and widely connected, with an excellent track record of unblemished public service.

These requirements are even more critical for a state like Niger that is a repository of leaders and is one of the largest States in the Northern Nigeria, the part of the country currently reeling in an unprecedented economic downturn.

The variety of Niger’s cultural heritage is only rivaled by its reservoir of limitless natural resources. So, beyond the need for self confidence, these attributes are what is required to robustly diversify the economies of states in this part of the country to boost internally generated revenue. For a region that almost exclusively relies on paltry sums as monthly allocations from the national treasury, a foundation for a reliable and self-dependent economy is imperative to wipe away the tears of poverty from the faces of the poor.

Mustafa Bello, Executive Secretary and CEO of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), fits the billing. His accomplishments at NIPC are legion, unarguably the

highpoint being the creation of the NIPC investment fund. The now fully active fund is supporting the NIPC to fill funding gaps and undertake massive investment promotion, training of staff in the best institutions of the world.

The Kontagora-born and son of the soil has friends in no less than 86 countries -- from presidents to PMs to ministers to CEOs to leaders of successful private sector operators. He has worked closely with all the presidents of Nigeria since 1999 and is known by nearly all past national leaders, governors, ministers, etc.

During his spell as minister, Bello was on the board of Eskom, the electricity corporation of South Africa and is challenging his opponents to deploy their energies on telling the people of Niger state what they are up to in terms of providing the needs of the populace instead of dissipating them on vilifying his person. In any case, his adversaries have a big job on their hands trying to discredit him because, his very impressive CV apart, according to analysts, “there is no village where Mustafa Bello is not known in Niger state.”

“

Looking at the political scenario in Niger state it is clear that the gubernatorial race in 2015 is gathering steam.

Although Mustafa Bello has not gone public on his intention, he is very likely to give it a shot in 2013. If he shows up for the contest, the race course will be a familiar turf. He was in there in 2003, as flag bearer of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).His CV is as intimidating as they come, and he relishes the belief that his perceived opponents, according to an informed source, “cannot near hiscredentials nor match them.”

The source goes a little further to add: “In any case the weight of all of them put together cannot match his, so they believedistributing lies may be the best option.”

According to associates of his, theAhmadu Bello Universitytrained civil engineer initially ignored negative media reports about his person, preferring to nurture the belief that “giving out our qualities and values may tell the difference” between the negative image of him that his adversaries were striving to portray and the real Mustafa Bello, a thorough-

bred professional, administrator, politician and internationally acclaimed achiever.

He, in fact, initiated the process for the development of sectorspecific investment policies for Nigeria, as a vehicle to accelerate inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the nation’s economy.

These have significantly removed distortions in the economy and made the business environment more stable since 2008.

On finishing his NYSC primary assignment with the Directorate of Quartering and Engineering Service of the Nigeria Army in 1979, the young engineer joined the Niger State Housing Corporation, Minna, in August of 1980, until March of 1983. Despite leaving the civil service, Bello, has remained in the public eye, holding committee positions as member of citizens debate committee on Biwater in 1986;task force committee on land administration in1986; task force on Renovation of Kontagora GeneralHospital in 1986; chair of Committee on Beautification of Minna Township in 1986; fact finding committee on intermediate and junior staff quarters in Minna

However, 2015 is bound to be a tougher proposition. He has many formidable opponents, including those enjoying the advantage of incumbency.Questions are bound to be asked about his fraternizing with parties other than the PDP. But Bello is fully ready for the battle ahead.

and federal low-cost houses.

He has also been an active player in the organized private sector, as managing director of Prime Pipes & Plastics Ltd, in Kontagora, as well as chair of Musty Digital & Security Systems Ltd, Minna. In politics, Bello was elected chairman of the Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN) in Nitate in 1997, running as DPN senatorial candidate for Niger north senatorial district in the 1999 elections. From 1999 to 2002, Bello was Minister of Commerce, and became Executive Secretary/ CEO of the Nigeria Investments Promotion Commission in 2003, a position he occupies till date.

Bello also brings an intellectual dimension to his aspiration. He is not one to promise classrooms, roads, water, fertilizers as the only indices of good governance. He believes that the world has gone past hearing that kind of rhetoric.

He would rather empower people to control their destinies and harness the natural resources (human and material) around them to transform their lives for the better.However, 2015 is bound to be a tougher proposition. He has many formidable opponents, including those enjoying the advantage of incumbency.

Questions are bound to be asked about his fraternizing with parties other than the PDP. But Bello is fully ready for the battle ahead.

Ibrahim B Hassan wrote from Abuja.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 15

Comment

The blind leading the blind

By TochukwuEzukanma

R

ecently, Ralph Uwazurike, the leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), called for a one day sit-at-home. I was deeply disturbed that people, especially at Onitsha, heeded his call. But then, the masses barely think, and consequently, are susceptible to political manipulation. No wonder, Adolf Hitler once told an aide, “never worry about what to tell the people because you can tell them anything and they will believe, and the bigger the lie, the more believable it is to them”. It also partially explains why the masses, irrespective of their number, strength and righteous anger, cannot get anything done, unless, they are directed strategically, that is, led. Ralph Uwazurike is an uninformed dilettante that is strategically misdirecting the Igbo masses.

Who is this upstart thrust into the limelight, prattling his neoBiafran nonsense? I am dismayed by his delusion of grandeur and false feeling of indispensability.

I believe that up till now, he still does not know what he is doing.

He needs to stop “talking about Biafra,” and first of all, endeavor to know what he is doing. He needs

to be tutored on the history of Nigeria and her social and political temperament, the strengths and weaknesses of the Igbo nation, and the principles of Nonviolence (which, according to him, informs his activism). And then, the absurdity of his neo-Biafranism will crystallize to him.

Nigeria is not breaking up because the generality of Nigerians, who despite their vociferous denunciations of Nigeria for her multiple woes, are committed to a united Nigeria. The early attempt to create Biafra was the pipe-dream of an arrogant, selfishly ambitious despot, who in his studied disdain for reason and caution scorned

“

the advice of his father and NnamdiAzikiwe and railroaded his self-appointed Consultative Assembly into assenting to his secessionist bid.

Unlike the masses that were whipped into a paranoiac frenzy by Ojukwu’s propaganda and falsehood, the politically perceptive Igbo were opposed to Biafra. Like Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu (before his death) and NnamdiAzikiwe, the Igbo political class was opposed to Biafra. However, intimidated by Ojukwu’s broad-stroke labeling and chastisement of anyone that disagreed with him as saboteur, they grudgingly conceded, “you

can declare Biafra at your earliest possible convenience” It was not a heartfelt, firm endorsement but the reluctant consent of an intimidated Assembly.

Since those nightmare days when the Igbo defeated, battered and tattered, stumbled out of the last vestiges of Biafra, we have made enormous progress across the whole spectrum of the Nigerian social life and gained the respect and confidence of other Nigerians.

Uwazurike is undermining the credibility of the Igbo. He is portraying the Igbo as subversive, unreliable and troublous elements and implacable, irredeemable rebels. Igbo land is landlocked with

Since those nightmare days when the Igbo defeated, battered and tattered, stumbled out of the last vestiges of Biafra, we have made enormous progress across the whole spectrum of the Nigerian social life and gained the respect and confidence of other Nigerians. Uwazurike is undermining the credibility of the Igbo. He is portraying the Igbo as subversive, unreliable and troublous elements and implacable, irredeemable rebels. Igbo land is landlocked with large tracts of infertile territory and a population density three times that of Yoruba land.

large tracts of infertile territory and a population density three times that of Yoruba land. But countervailing these disadvantages are the Igbo’s admirable qualities of courage, determination, hardedged work ethic and enterprising vigor. Our boundless resourceful energies and effervescent entrepreneur spirit are unyieldingly spilling beyond the confines of our regional borders, and have thus, driven us to every nook and cranny of Nigeria. Operating within an expanded frontier – one Nigeria - is to our advantage.

Although MASSOB operatives are sometimes armed and violent, Uwazurike professes that he is guided by the principles of Nonviolence Civil Disobedience in his struggle for the actualization of his Sovereign State of Biafra. To appreciate the incongruity of this method with the Nigerian political environment and his agitation for Biafra, he needs to read the writings of major proponents of nonviolent protest: David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The Igbo masses, like the masses, universally, are not politically savvy, and therefore need to be directed strategically. The man, Ralph Uwazurike, arrogating to himself the role of directing them, admittedly, does not know what he is doing. Is that not a classical case of the metaphorical blind leading the blind?

Tochukwu Ezukanmavia maciln18@yahoo.com

FCTA and UN excellence award

By Rogers Edor Ochela

A

ll over the world, awards in whatever form they come are usually given to individuals or corporate bodies that have made palpable transformational impact on their societies. And they are given as a mark of honour nay celebration of such individuals or bodies to serve as an impetus for them to do more and for others to emulate them.

So, when the news filtered in that the United Nations Organization has given an award of excellence on Public Service Delivery to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), I was not really surprised because the intercontinental award was occasioned essentially by the leadership qualities of the minister.

The minister is archetypal of the wise man that was given a room (read FCT) to manage and administer, and with skill and foresightedness is gradually turning the nation’s capital into a worldclass capital city, a development that caught the attention of the UN and the subsequent Award of Excellence in Public Service Delivery. It would be recalled that the FCTA won the prestigious award of excellence in a keenly contested competition that had 601 entries across the Universe as a result of the remarkable strides via the noteworthy performance of the FCT Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on its integrated mobile Primary Health Care

initiative (MAILAFIYA) that has not only been adopted by several other countries across the globe, but equally recognized at the just concluded 2013 United Nations Public Service Forum in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.

Mailafiya is a unique innovation of the FCTA to practically make health care accessible to the underserved that has problems of poor funding, poor access road as well as poor sanitation.Considering the low level to which the nation’s image has sunk in the international community, this award, the first of its kind to be won by Nigeria since the commencement of this global competition about 10 years ago by the United Nations Organization will encourage good governance and improve the standard of living

“

of ordinary persons Worldwide.

Of pivotal importance is that it has elevated FCT in particular and Nigeria in general to the front burner of developmental index.That the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria came second after South Africa, which came first, is a pointer to the commitment of the territory to service delivery in all ramifications. Speaking in Manama, the capital of Bahrain after receiving the award, Senator Balaexpressed gratitude to God for making the award possible and the FCT MDG team for its uncommon innovation in putting smiles on the faces of ordinary people through access to quality health services.

The minister, who said that the award was a certification of excellence and the highest given

by the United Nations in a bid to instill confidence in the donors and development partners, declared: “It is only a sick person that knows the true value of effective health care delivery and the FCT Administration will continue to improve on this achievement in consonance with the government’s Transformation Agenda.

“Our vision in creating the ‘MAILAFIYA programme’ is to establish a World Class model of Primary Health Care delivery through an integrated data managed mobile health strategy especially in the inaccessible areas of the 8,000 square kilometres that comprise the Federal Capital Territory”. The minister disclosed that the programme has afforded the FCT Administration the

This award is geared towards identifying and rewarding excellence, just as it is meant to encourage good governance and improved standard of living of ordinary persons; it is a certification of excellence by the United Nations. With this award, it is clear even to the blind that the ‘’FCT Administration has achieved a major landmark especially in policies that have direct bearing on the rural poor in the territory. The keen competition that saw FCTA emerge second had 43 winners in all the categories, with Africa accounting for only six, comprising Nigeria, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa.

wonderful window of opportunity to touch the lives of the rural poor, adding that MAILAFIYA, which has become a household name in the 336 communities of the Territory has positively affected the lives of over 85,000 patients since its inception over 4 years ago.

Not a person to willfully discountenance the positive contributions of any individual in a worthy project, Sen. Bala expressed his profound appreciation to the world’s number one civil servant, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki Moon for the special interest he has in Primary Health Care delivery, recalling his last visit to Nigeria where he commissioned the Primary Health Care in Dutse-Alhaji, a suburb of Abuja.This award is geared towards identifying and rewarding excellence, just as it is meant to encourage good governance and improved standard of living of ordinary persons; it is a certification of excellence by the United Nations. With this award, it is clear even to the blind that the ‘’FCT Administration has achieved a major landmark especially in policies that have direct bearing on the rural poor in the territory. The keen competition that saw FCTA emerge second had 43 winners in all the categories, with Africa accounting for only six, comprising Nigeria, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and South Africa.

Rogers Ochela contributed this piece from Wuse Abuja.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Retired civil servant in court for alleged assault, theft

A

Young girls selling groundnuts outside Federal Secretariat, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

retired worker with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Edith Uso, 68, of the Federal Housing Authority, Lugbe in a Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates Court for trespass, assault, mischief and theft.

The Prosecutor, Insp. Jeremiah Elijah, told the court that one Favor Agbongalia of the same address reported the matter at the Lugbe Division Police Station on Feb. 29.

Elijah said that the accused, a retired worker with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs entered Agbongalia’s room with a knife and a razor blade and tore her door net.

He alleged that Uso stole Agbongalia’s Laptop, a stabiliser, one black berry cell phone and some curtains all valued at N400,000 and also tore a land document.

Elijah also said that Agbongalia also discovered that her travelling bag which contained gold jewelry worth N400,000 and cash of N300,000 was missing from her room.

The prosecutor said that the accused equally inflicted injury on the complainant’s armpit, adding

that the offence contravened sections 348, 248, 327 and 287 of the Penal Code.

If convicted under these sections, the accused could be imprisoned for a maximum of 11 years.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Her counsel, Mr Ikechukwu Nnaemeka, prayed the court to grant his client bail on liberal terms.

Nnaemeka said that Section 36(5) of the Nigerian Constitution presumed an accused innocent until proven otherwise, adding that his client was a responsible citizen and would not jump bail if admitted to bail.

The Magistrate, Mr Tony Ubani, granted the accused bail in the sum of N300, 000 with a surety in like sum.

Ubani ordered that the surety must have an identifiable address within the FCT and produce evidence of receipt of rent payment for the past six months.

He adjourned the case to July 29, 2013 for hearing.(NAN)

Court remands man, Driver, 34, jailed 33, for raping 2 sisters for theft, forgery A

Mararaba Upper Area Court in Nasarawa State on Monday ordered that Godwin Success, 33, of Angwan Mission, Masaka, be remanded in prison for allegedly raping two sisters.

The presiding judge, Mr Vincent Gwahemba, ordered that the accused be remanded till Aug. 5, when hearing in the case will begin.

Gwahemba said the court was

using its powers under Section 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code to remand the accused to enable the police to conclude its investigations.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Insp.

Jospeh Ahwa, told the court that on Jan. 5 at Masaka, Nasarawa State, the accused called the victims aged 6 and 8 and forcefully had carnal knowledge of them.

The prosecutor said the victims sustained injuries in the process of the rape, and that the offence was

punishable under Section 358 of the Penal Code.

NAN reports that the punishment for rape under the section is life imprisonment.

Ahwa told the court that the offence was not bailable and that the victims were currently undergoing treatment in a hospital in Keffi in Nasarawa State.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the offence. (NAN)

Man arraigned for alleged theft

O

ne Mutaha Muji, 20, a resident of Aku Village, Mararaba was yesterday arraigned before a Grade 1 Area Court in Mararaba, Nasarawa State for alleged house-breaking and theft.

The Prosecutor, Cpl. Inuwa Maigida, told the court that the matter was reported at the ‘A’ Division Police Station, Mararaba by one Jeremiah Koji of Tudun Wada on June 29.

He said that on the same date at about 1.30 a.m., Muji trespassed into Koji’s compound and stole a Bajaj Boxer motorcycle, valued N110,000. ``After the theft, the accused escaped to an unknown destination. ``He was later arrested on the same date with the stolen motorcycle at Gutu-namu Village,a suburb of Abuja.

Maigida said that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 349 and 288 of the Penal Code.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused is liable to an eight-year jail term if convicted of the alleged offences.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.

The Presiding Judge, Mr Albert Maga, granted the accused bail in the sum of N150,000 with a surety in like sum.

Maga said that the surety must be responsible, possess a landed property and reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

He adjourned the case to July 18, 2013 for hearing. (NAN)

T

he Wuse Zone 2 Chief Magistrates Court on Monday sentenced a driver, Titus Akolo, 34, of Tundun-Wada Village, Mararaba in Nasarawa State to two years and six months imprisonment for theft, forgery and impersonation.

The Chief Magistrate, Mr Usman Shuaibu, convicted Akolo, after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Shuaibu, sentenced Akolo to one year imprisonment for forgery, another one year imprisonment for impersonation and six months prison term for theft.

Delivering judgment, Shuaibu held that the sentence would run concurrently.

He, however, gave the convict an option to pay a fine of N3,000 for forgery, another N2,000 for impersonation and additional N2,000 for the offence of theft.

The magistrate held that the punishment was to serve as a lesson and a deterrent to others.

Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Cpl. Monday Akor, told the court that

on June 26, one Etim Omonbude of River Patoka Close, Maitama, Abuja, reported the convict at the Maitama Police Station.

Akor said that on June 25, the convict stole a GT Bank cheque leaf belonging to Omonbude, who was his boss, and withdrew N50,000 from his account.

He said that the convict forged Omonbude’s signature, impersonated him and presented a fake ID card, bearing the name, Pastor Sunday Joseph, in order to make the withdrawal.

Akor told the court that he made the withdrawal at the Central Business District branch of the GT Bank, Abuja.

Akolo, in a plea for leniency, begged the court to forgive him. ``It was the handwork of the devil. I did not mean to do that.

I only needed money to treat my wife. ``I promise never to commit such crime again,’’ he pleaded.

(NAN)

Engineer docked for alleged criminal breach of trust

A

n ICT Engineer, Dennis Ediaya, 37, was on Monday arraigned before an Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court for alleged criminal breach of trust and cheating.

The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Uden David, alleged that the accused, who has a shop at Canopy Market, Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, committed the offence

sometimes in September 2012.

He told the court that Joseph Odoh of Gimbiya Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja, reported the case at the Wuse Divisional Police Headquarter, Zone 3, Abuja.

David said that the complainant alleged that he gave the accused one HP Laptop Computer valued N140,000 for repairs and an advanced payment

of N17,000 out of N25,000 charged.

He also alleged that the accused went ahead and sold the Laptop for N40,000, and converted the proceeds to his personal use.

David said the offence contravened the provisions of Sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.

The accused pleaded not guilty, and Senior Magistrate Folashade Oyekan granted him bail at N100,000 with two sureties.

Oyekan said the sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction with means of identification.

The case was adjourned to Aug 28, 2013 . (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 19

INSIDE

Ramadan, passengers to get special treatment on DANA flights - Pg 20

Representative of Head of Shared Services Office, Mr. Eme Eleonu(left), addressing participants during the FCT cashless policy sensitisation forum, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Telecom operators extend SIM card registration

By Chris Alu

D

espite the closure of SIM card registration by Nigeria Communications Commission, some major telecom operators have extended the registration exercise by two weeks, this is done just to ease out pressure from their subscribers who brainstorm there office with basket of complains and excuses, our correspondent reports.

Peoples Daily gathered that Glo, MTN, Etisalat and Airtel have continued with the registration exercise despite the expiration of the June 30th deadline.

Most of the registration centers visited by our correspondent saw telecom agents busy registering their subscribers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs such as Lugbe, Nyanya, Mpape, Kubwa, Karu, and Gwagwa axis, subscribers queued up to register their SIM cards.

At Area 10 shopping and printing plaza, one of the Glo telecom agents, who refused to mention his name, said that they decided to extend the time because of pressure from customers who give several excuses; according to him some have complained that their handsets were stolen while some said they lost their phone

••• May face sanction - NCC official and cannot remember their SIM card numbers and others said they were not aware of the closing date; he said many more reasons informed the company’s decision to extend the exercise by two weeks.

At Kubwa, Agnes James, an MTN agent, said she was called by her employer to continue with the registration for reasons she cannot explain; according to her, she was initially told to roundup the exercise on June 30th, but that while she was preparing to go and hand over her data and equipment to her employer the next day, a call came that she should continue with the registration for reasons she could not explained.

But Miss Nkechi Okoro, who came to register her SIM at this time that was extended by the telecom operators, said the agents are using the opportunity of the extension to extort money from subscribers; she claimed that any registration attracted 200 -500 Naira, depending on how you negotiate with the agent.

According to her, they give effective services now than before because you pay for the time extended for the registration and

called on the relevant bodies to quickly intervene before it get out of hand. Also, Bala Shehu told our correspondent that he could not register earlier because of the way and manner the agents were behaving but that now that he paid money the agents are more eager to do the job; when asked how much he paid he said 500 naira.

However, Mr. Eugene Adageri, a staff of Etisalat, said he was not aware of the agents collecting money before registration but that is aware of the grace time given to subscribers who could not met up with the registration to register quickly for their lines to be sustained. He however denied that the grace time given is up to two weeks but that rather, it was three days for Etisalat.

Peoples Daily gathered that the quest to woo more subscribers has attributed to the time extended by the operators; hence the expectation is that the last minute rush could add to their subscriber base. It will be recalled that NCC had fixed June 30th as closing date for registration of SIM cards by all networks in the country.

However, all our correspondent’s attempt to contact the NCC for their response

on the recent development proved abortive as the NCC’s director, Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojofor could not be reached and all phone calls and text messages sent to his phone was not responded to.

A staff of the department, who although said he was not authorised to speak on behalf of the Commission, however hinted that the NCC is likely to penalise the telecoms operators on their unilateral action.

Pension: New bill sets 3 employees as benchmark for informal sector - Pg 21 Exchange Rates CBN

as at 9th July, 2013 Selling Buying

$

154.76

155.76

€

236.30

237.82

£

200.61

201.91

41.26

41.53

Riyal

Parallel Rates Buying

Selling

$

157.50

158.40

€

250

253.00

£

206.00

210.00

Riyal

43.00

45.00

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY

Avoid unfriendly office competition

T

here’s one in every office: a hyper-competitive colleague who stops at nothing to get every advantage over his peers. It’s tempting to try to one-up him and put him in his place, but that’s only likely to fuel his ambition further.

Instead, don’t participate in the rivalry. Continue to do your best work and expect to be recognized for it. React coolly to any criticism he hurls your way.

If he says your report was subpar, for example, don’t take the bait.

Ask dispassionately, “What makes you say so?”

Invite others to offer their opinion, especially if you know they’ll back you up. If you don’t engage with the competition, it will soon become clear to others that he has some kind of agenda.

Source: Business Review

Harvard

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 20

Aviation Company News

Shell Petroleum Devt. Coy

T

he Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) operated Joint Venture has restated its determination to continue to operate safely and in an environmentallyfriendly manner, The company decried the sabotage and crude oil theft activities that led to the recent fire and explosion on the 28” Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP).

A joint investigation team comprising regulators, communities, independent observers and SPDC found that the incident occurred as a result of unknown persons installing a valve to steal crude oil from the line, the company said.

Ramadan: Passengers to get special treatment on DANA flights Stories from Suleiman Idris, Lagos

D

omestic carrier, DANA Air has announced the provision of a special in-flight service to its Muslim guests aboard its aircraft throughout the duration of one of the five pillars of Islam.

The airline’s Head of Commercial Operations, Obi Mbanuzuo told reporters that “All through the fasting period, we will include special fruits in

our in-flight catering, due to the numerous health benefits they bring. Also, nutritionists advise to break a fast with fruits before having any solid meal”.

He said the airline gesture is “to encourage our Muslim guests who are observing the daytime fasting to take along their in-flight meals while disembarking until they are ready to break their fast”.

Passengers who spoke to Peoples Daily commended the initiative, first introduced by the

airline in 2009, affirming that menu will serve as appetizer for them especially when caught in airport traffic or when airborne at the time of breaking their fast.

Meanwhile, DANA Air is set to re-launch its flight services to Uyo and Calabar which were hitherto put on hold due to operational reasons.

Head of Corporate Communications, Tony Usidamen said the decision to re-launch operations to both Uyo

Aeronautical Information Services automation nearing completion .. As assoc. lauds FG

Bank of Industry

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s part of efforts to create wealth and eradicate poverty, the Ogun state government is extending the N1 billion Bank of Industry (BOI)supported loan schemes to unemployed graduates, This will incorporate 1000 unemployed graduates in addition to already established Small and Medium-scale entrepreneurs.

The N1 billion SME loan scheme jointly financed by the Ogun state government and Bank of Industry (BOI), which was inaugurated last year had over N167 million distributed to 480 individuals drawn from 45 Cooperative Societies and two Limited Liability Companies at 7 percent interest rate with six months moratorium under its first batch scheme.

OPEC

T

he Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will boost shipments by 2.3 percent through late July as driving demand peaks during the northern hemisphere summer, according to research firm Oil Movements.

OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will ship 24.18 million barrels a day in the four weeks to July 20, up from 23.64 million in the period to June 22, the tanker tracker said in an e-mailed report.

The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador.

and Calabar is based on requests from the airline’s teeming guests to extend its services to the oilproducing states.

According to him, “Since resuming flight operations to Lagos and Abuja in January, we have had many requests from air travellers across the country to extend our worldclass services to more cities. The commencement of Port Harcourt operations was in line with the requests and, in a few weeks, we will commence scheduled flights to Uyo and Calabar too”.

“At DANA Air, we recognise the importance of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states in the socio-economic development of the country as oil producing states. With both states playing host to several multi-national companies in the oil and gas industry, we are confident that our new services from Uyo and Calabar to Lagos and Abuja will make the states even more attractive to investors”, Usidamen told correspondents.

T L-R: Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu; Director of Airworthiness Standard (DAS), NCAA, Engr. Benedict Adeyileka and NCAA Director, Consumer Protection Unit, Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, at an interactive session with Airline and General Aviation Operators at the NCAA Training Centre, Murtala Mohammed Airport International, Ikeja, Lagos.

NCAA DG upbeat on Passenger Bill of Right, safety rules

T

he new leadership at the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) appears to have hit the ground running, with the interest of passengers and airport users uppermost in its agenda, as its new Director-General, Capt.

Fola Akinkuotu is upbeat new measures will be introduced to ensure a seamless experiences for visitors to Nigeria airports.

The helmsman told a gathering in Lagos that the new administration has outlined new methods of engagement with stakeholders, which it believe will help synergize efforts aimed at revamping areas where the industry has lacked behind.

Among issues he addressed is the new Passenger Bill of Right (PBR), which Capt. Akinkuotu said will come into effect before the end of July.

He assured the gathering during his maiden official interface with industry experts that NCAA will put everything possible into motion to ensure that consumers were treated justifiably and that their rights

were not trampled upon either as passengers or as users of services provided by airlines and agencies of government.

Captain Akinkuotu also reiterated the need for compliance to safety and security measures by pilots and engineers to mitigate the frequency of agencies aborting flights due to non compliance to standard practices by pilots.

The country has witnessed 3 clear cases in recent time where pilots were either ordered to return or diverted to other aerodrome for alleged inability to follow recommended standard practices and procedures.

“The roles that engineers and pilots play are critical.

They know the rules and if they follow the rules, I believe we will have more peace because more often than not it is people who know the rules that break the rules.

“I appeal to pilots and engineers; you know the rules let us adhere and make it better”, he enthused.

According to him, in the

search for safety, the safety regulatory agency will continue to interact with stakeholders to make safety a priority.

Speaking on the general aviation, the new DG said he believed the country has made a significant leap with increase in the number of both commercial flights and private jets operation across the aerodrome in Nigeria.

“That we are today witnessing far more flights, domestic and international in progress, that there are far more private jets and their operations in Nigeria today are evidence of progress; this progress was motivated by changes both at home and internationally.

This informs the need for the establishment of a Directorate of General Aviation, and creation of rules to play by for all”.

The former flight captain said, “General Aviation has been neglected over the years but has continued to grow and it has to be encouraged, but it also needs to be regulated and that is why NCAA created the new directorate”.

he drive to make Nigerian airspace to compete among the safest around the globe is said to be vigorously pursued by the Federal Government, as the automation project of aeronautical information services (AIS) by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is said to have reached 97 percent completion.

The AIS project, pivotal to communications among pilots, traffic controllers and rescue operation personnel according to NAMA has informed the installation of two antennae each at ii airports across Nigeria.

According to the Aeronautical Information Services Association of Nigeria (AISAN), the development would further boost air safety in Nigeria and enhance search and rescue operations as National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is incorporated into the project.

AISAN president, Babatunde Shittu gave the commendation when he led a delegation to visit the Managing Director of NAMA, Engr. Nnamdi Udoh in Lagos.

Aerodromes to benefit from the project are Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ilorin and Jos. Sokoto, Maiduguri, Owerri and Yola. Others are Zaria, Calabar Osubi, Minna, Kaduna and Enugu while Katsina, Ibadan, Benin, Akure, Kebbi, Bonny, Eket and Escravos complete the list.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Isa_abdulwahab@yahoo.com Isaabdulwahab@gmail.com

PAGE 21

Pension&Insurance

Contributory pension: Only Niger complied in N/Central, says PenCom Stories by Abdulwahab Isa nly Niger state in the entire North-Central Zone complied fully with Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), Acting Director-General of National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu has revealed.

She appealed to other states in the zone to adopt the scheme in order to avail their employees of its many benefits, adding that the Commission was currently exploring the possibility of allowing contributors to utilise part of their Retirement Savings Accounts balances to part-finance the acquisition of low-cost houses.

“It is our expectation that when they eventually come on stream, these facilities would be availed to states that have fully implemented the scheme”.

This comes as Kwara state declared its intention to join the Contributory Pension Scheme as soon as the Bill is passed by the state House of Assembly.

Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed stated recently in Ilorin, the state capital during the opening of Pencom’s North-Central zonal office located in Ilorin.

The office, which is located at Plot 1 Aderemi Adeleye Street, off Fate Road, GRA, Ilorin, was declared open by the governor, a statement issued by PenCom’s

O

T

Niger state Governor, Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu Head of Corporate Communica- country in a bid to decentralize its tions, Emeka Onuarah said. activities and bring it closer to the It was the second to be inau- contributors and retirees. gurated among the Commission’s With the Commission’s preszonal offices, in the six geo-politi- ence in the North Central zone, cal areas of the country. it expects all stakeholders to avail The first to be inaugurated themselves of its services by viswas the Calabar zonal office, for iting its office to make enquirthe South-South zone. ies, lodge complaints, and seek Governor Ahmed com- education to the Contributory mended PenCom for opening Pension Scheme and request for the North-Central Office, adding sensitization and awareness on that the initiative would remove pension and related matters. the need for the people from the Other zonal offices of the zone travelling to Abuja on pen- Commission are located at Awka sion matters. for South-East, Lagos for South PenCom embarked on the es- West, Gombe for North-East, tablishment of zonal offices in all Kano for North-West and Calathe six geo-political zones of the bar for South-South.

Shareholders laud Trustfund Pension on impressive dividend

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ajor shareholders of Trustfund Pensions Plc, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) have lauded the PFA on its impressive dividends pay out during 2012 operations of the company.

Trustfund Pensions Plc announced a dividend pay-out of N230 million for the year 2012 with shareholders receiving 23 kobo per N1 share compared to 15 kobo in 2011.

New bill sets 3 employees as benchmark for informal sector

Chairman Board of Director of Trustfund Pension, Mrs. Ngozi Olejeme announced the figures recently in Abuja, during the Fund’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) just as the board during the occasion announced confirmation of the appointment of the Acting Managing Director, Mrs. Helen Da-Souza as substantive chief executive.

Profit after tax similarly rose from N534.69 million in 2011 to N788.52 million in 2012. During the same period, total assets of the company grew by 30.8%

from N2.892 billion to N3.784 billion, while shareholders’ fund rose by 31.44% from N1.993 billion to N2.620 billion.”

Speaking at the occasion, NLC President, Mr. Abdulwaheed Omar, expressed optimism of the progress recorded by the Fund, adding “we are progressing and I hope that this trend will continue. I am expressing my views, both as a director representing NLC and shareholders.

This is a direct result of peace and harmony in the organisation.”

had been made in the bill for the expansion of permissible investment instruments to accommodate initiatives for national development, such as investment in the real sector.

The new Bill harps on the safety of pension fund assets. The investment guideline by PenCom, however, stated that without the Federal Government floating an infrastructure bond, the PFAs could not be allowed to invest the funds in infrastructure.

PenCom also noted the funds could not be invested in electricity without the issuance of government or private bonds, which must align with Pencom’s requirements for investing the pension funds.

Based on the current investment regulation, the commission said the pension funds could be invested in infrastructure bonds registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“No investment has yet been made on such securities largely because they are not available in the market,” it added.

he mandatory coverage of the contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for the informal sector may be lowered from subsisting mark of any organisation with five employees to that of an organisation with three employees and above, should proposed Bill seeking for amendment to 2004 Act before the National Assembly sails through.

In the memorandum submitted to the National Assembly by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), a copy obtained

by Peoples Daily, the regulator, among other items it sought an amendment of, requested that the mandatory coverage of CPS in the private sector be lowered from the current mark of organisations with five employees to three.

In a presentation before the National Assembly, DirectorGeneral of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu explained that the minimum number of employees was reduced in order to capture a wider number of employees in the informal sector and leverage on small and medium-scale enterprises for which Small, Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) had generated a database of over 12 million organisations.

The coverage, as she explained, includes partnerships and micro-enterprises that normally have less than five employees.

Also included in the new amendment, as proposed by PenCom is that Pension Fund Administrators will invest part of the growing pension funds in infrastructure after the Pension Reform Act 2004 must have been replaced with a new Act. Mrs. Amazu said the commission proposed that the funds should be utilised for national development.

“There is a consensus among stakeholders that the PRA should facilitate the optimal utilisation of pool of funds generated by the Contributory Pension Scheme towards national development.”

She explained that provisions

Ag. Director-General, PenCom, Chinelo AnohuAmazu

tional housing deficit, through mortgage bonds that were issued and guaranteed by their government.

According to him, Chile’s pension authority sets aside part of pension funds in a pool and people borrowed the money to build houses, particularly those that were contributors to the scheme; he said there was a government guarantee that the money would not be lost, suggesting that “pension fund can be invested in those kinds of

projects”.

He said situation analysis of sectoral contribution to the pension fund showed that public sector contribution was N1.5 trillion from July 2004 to March 2013 while private sector contributed N1.84 trillion representing about 55 per cent of assets of the total contributions.

Hussein put the total number of participants in the Contributory Pension Scheme at 5.56 million.

Deploy N3.34tr pension assets to fund infrastructure, expert urges FG

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financial expert and Chief Executive Officer , MHOA Consulting firm Malam Mustapha Hussain has advocated deployment of over N3.34 trillion pension assets towards funding decaying country’s infrastructures .

Canvassing the option in position recently that centers on utilisation of over N3.34 billion pension assets, he averred that pension assets remain integral players in Nigerian financial markets which if put in

judicious use could bridge the infrastructure gap in the system.

According to him, “Pension funds can go into infrastructure either through a bond – a dedicated infrastructure bond that is tied to a specific project.

“Take for example, LagosIbadan Expressway is a project that is adjudged to be viable because of the traffic on it. If the Federal Government says it wants to do the road and would give it to a project manager who is reputable, who

would employ a contractor, and the government says it wants to issue infrastructure bond of say N100 billion to finance the project, and we know that when the project is finished, there would be toll which would enable them collect the money; of course, pension funds can be deplored to such a project”, he stated.

Citing Chile’s case as an instance to buttress his view, Hussein said Chile used pension funds to finance the na-

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Economy

NNPC ready to acquire more assets divested by foreign oil firms - CEO

By Etuka Sunday with agency report

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he Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is prepared to take over and operate more assets in Nigeria sold-off by foreign oil companies, its Group Managing Director (GMD/ CEO), Andrew Yakubu said on Monday.

NNPC, through its

Exploration & Production (E & P) subsidiary the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), has taken over operatorship of four oil blocks sold by Shell since 2010, while US-based major, Chevron has announced plans to sell five Nigerian shallow-water oil blocks.

According to an NNPC statement, Yakubu was quoted as saying at a meeting of the board of the NPDC, “With the

divestment of Shell, NPDC is the top and the only option for indigenous participation that will replace companies like SPDC (Shell) and other companies that wanted to divest their equities”.

The NPDC, he said, has been repositioned to ensure that the acquired assets remain productive, to boost the company’s reserve base and ultimately ensure an increase in revenue for Nigeria.

FCT Area Councils share N2.2bn revenue in May

By Adeola Tukuru

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he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils’ Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) yesterday distributed N2,213,498,696.45 among the six area councils and other stakeholders in the FCT, being revenue that accrued for the month of May 2013.

The amount represents an increase of N52,966,708.99 (about 2.5 percent) over the N2,160,531,987.47 shared by the six area councils of Abaji, Abuja Municipal, Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali for the month of April 2013.

The Chairman of FCT Area Councils JAAC and Minister of State for FCT, Olajumoke Akinjide, who confirmed this during the Committee’s meeting in Abuja, said Value Added Tax (VAT) accounted for the bulk of the revenue from the Federation Account.

She gave the breakdown of the allocation as: N1.059 billion from VAT, N821.59 million from

Statutory Revenue Allocation, N250.35 million from Excess Crude, N56.77 million from Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and N25.54 million being refund by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The FCT Area Councils JAAC, according to the minister, transferred N905.89 million to the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) for the payment of primary school teachers’ salaries in the six area councils.

The Committee, in line with statutory requirement, also transferred N95.04 million to the FCT Area Councils Pension Board (ACPB) being 15 per cent pension fund, N89.93 million for LEA Teachers Entitlement, N59.32 million for FCT Immunisation Plus days, N48.92 million being contribution for health insurance, N36.87 million being contribution for sanitation in the six area councils and N22.13 million to the FCT Area Councils

Service Commission being one per cent training fund.

Abuja Municipal Area Council received the lion share of the revenue allocation of N199.85 million for the month of May 2013, while Bwari and Gwagwalada Area Councils got N169.12 million and N157 million, respectively.

The FCT Area Councils Joint Account Allocation Committee also disbursed N151.35 million to Kuje Area Council, N138.61 million to Kwali Area Council and N138.59 million to Abaji Area Council.

On SURE-P funds, Abuja Municipal got N16.77 million, Bwari (N9.28 million), Gwagwalada (N8.50 million), Kwali (N7.79 million), Kuje (N7.45 million) and Abaji (N6.96 million).

The Auditor-General for FCT Area Councils, Dr. Fred Omaka, told the members of the Committee that biometric audit of all the workers in the area councils would take off on July 29, 2013.

its 150,000 barrel-a-day Trans Niger Pipeline, totaling over one-third of all the oil spilled since January in the region, Shell wrote in a report on their website.

The oil thefts plaguing the region are also starting to do damage to the Nigerian government’s revenue due to frequent shutdowns of oil production sites. In the first three months of the year, lowered output due to oil theft cost the country an estimated $1.23 billion in lost revenue.

The problem is so immense that Shell Petroleum Development Co. announced in June that it would spend $1.5 billion to build a new pipeline that will bypass the section of the Trans Niger Pipeline that has been targeted intensely for theft.

The new portion of the pipeline will pass through a swampier area where it will also be further submerged, making it

a tougher target for theft. Shell also plans to install stronger intruder-detection technology to the area, along with hiring a military Joint Task Force (JTF) to catch the thieves.

However, human rights groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Nigeria are accusing Shell of displacing at least some of the blame that should be aimed at their aging infrastructure or on operational error. Even if the majority of oil spills are the result of theft, they believe Shell is too quick to place blame.

Last week, Amnesty International and the Nigerian group, the National Coalition on Gas Flaring and Oil Spills in Niger Delta (NACGOND) called for an inquiry into the June 19th incident to confirm exactly what was responsible for the spill — and in a joint investigation with NACGOND present, it was found that it was indeed caused by theft. (Source: AFP)

NPDC’s crude oil production has averaged 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) so far this year, according to NNPC data, while the company has set its sights on raising output to 250,000 bpd by 2015, bolstered by production from fields relinquished by foreign companies.

NPDC took over 55% equity in four on-shore oil assets divested by Shell, Eni and Total, including the promising block OML 30, which could be

producing around 300,000 bpd in the near future, up from 35,000 bpd now, according to NPDC’s partner in the block, UK-listed Heritage Oil. The Federal Government is cautiously promoting indigenous ownership of the country’s oil assets, prompting foreign oil majors to consider disposing of their smaller assets for reasonable returns, according to local industry analysts.

UBA launches exclusive World MasterCard

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nited Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has introduced the World MasterCard, which is the most exclusive card in the MasterCard staple.

Head, Cards, UBA Plc., Adédèjì Olówè, affirmed that UBA is the only bank offering World MasterCard for its debit product in Nigeria.

The introduction of the UBA World MasterCard, according to the bank, is consistent with the bank’s strategic focus of providing appropriate product to every customer segment, including but not limited to, the highly discerning customers who cherish rare and exclusive privileges.

According to him, the card program, which is available by invitation only, can be tied to any of Naira, US Dollar, Pounds Sterling and Euro domiciliary account.

He emphasised that the UBA World MasterCard offers a chockfull of benefits such as travel accident and inconvenience insurance; extended warranty; purchase protection; concierge services; and emergency cardholder services. The card, Adédèjì stated, is exclusively made from a rare alloy of Silver Nickel, only a few materials of which exist

in the world.

“The heft of the material is its signature. The recognition of the program has afforded it the highly coveted MasterCard premium hologram. In addition, there is a great security service protecting our esteemed customers everywhere they shop with Fraud Protection and MasterCard Zero Liability,” he added.

According to Adédèjì, UBA is the only bank offering debit cards in all the major currency range, stressing that the bank also offer a dedicated lounge for its premium cardholders at the Head Office supported by 24/7 private banking customer support.

The introduction of World MasterCard is coming after UBA Plc added MasterCard for Domiciliary Accounts to its robust bouquet of electronic products.

This variant of Debit MasterCard products is tied to domiciliary accounts instead of Naira Current or Savings account and offers the same flexibility of usage anywhere in the world, including Nigeria.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) is a leading Pan African Bank with presence in 19 African countries, New York, London and Paris thus able to effectively manage African businesses globally.

What is the impact of oil theft?

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n Friday, Royal Dutch Shell reported that a fire in June, resulting in the largest oil spill this year from facilities operated by its Nigerian joint venture, was caused by oil theft. The incident occurred on a major pipeline in the Niger Delta and nearly twothirds of the oil released from the pipeline burned up at the site.

Earlier this year, Shell said that oil theft in the region had reached”unprecedented levels,” and had asked the Nigerian government to take aggressive action to stem their growing concerns.

The economic and environmental consequences can be immense, as the most recent oil spill shows, and Shell explains that the vast majority of environmental damage in the Niger Delta is the result of attempted theft of oil by thieves.

The June 19 incident released almost 2,700 barrels of oil from

The new pipeline that will bypass the section of the Trans Niger Pipeline

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 23

Stock Watch

Report as at Tuesday, July 9, 2013

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Property

Kwara pays N86m compensation to land owners

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he Kwara state Government on Monday paid N86.3 million as land compensation to 145 beneficiaries for 5, 000 hectares of land, acquired in the Moro Local Government Area of the state.

The Director-General of the Bureau of Lands, Alhaji Yusuf Abdulwahab, made the disclosure at the presentation of cheques to the beneficiaries in Alagua/Elemere Community.

The Director-General said that

the land was acquired by the government for the establishment of an agro-allied factory.

Abdulwahab said that the company would use part of the land to establish a farm plantation and a syrup manufacturing company.

He said that establishment of the company would create huge employment opportunities in the next few years.

“A new value-chain is in the offing which is the production of cas-

sava on a scale yet to be witnesses in the state as well as other crops such as soya beans, maize and rice.

“This will create an opportunity for all and sundry who will be encouraged as out-growers of such crops on an improved scale.

“The company has the capacity to purchase all products produced by all partners.”

Abdulwahab urged beneficiaries to ensure that every family member benefited from the com-

pensation and to put the money into productive use.

He explained that the establishment of the company would generate economy development for the area and the state, thanking the beneficiaries for their cooperation and support.

“May I use this medium to encourage other communities to emulate Shao and Elemere in what is being witnessed today in the area of friendliness, accom-

modation and open-hand to investment so that development will spread fast.

“As the bureau has a long list of prospective companies for which we are in search of land for agriculture, commerce and real estate,” he added.

The Oro of Shao, Chief BamideleAdegbite, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, thanked the State Government for showing concern for the populace.

Accommodation: Sagay, others condemn discrimination Deputy against single women, physically challenged Speaker tasks “You cannot impose tenants on “There are various provisions of other citizen of Nigeria. Even interSenior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Prof. ItseSagay, on the law which are general and could national laws guarantee those rights. people. It is a matter of morality. It planners on “It is a fundamental right guar- is not an issue of law.

Tuesday in Lagos condemned be used appropriately to curb the “We only need to empower and rural devt anteed by Section 42 of the Constidiscrimination against physically discrimination.

“The constitution itself has a tution of Federal Republic of Nige- enrich our social institutions to acchallenged persons and single wom-

A

en by some landlords.

Sagay told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that physically-challenged persons and single women were entitled to accommodation like any other Nigerian.

He said: “Discrimination against them will definitely involve breach of law.

provision that protects against discrimination.”

Another lawyer, Mr Boniface Ohemu, described as an aberration, discrimination against physically challenged persons and single women seeking accommodation.

He said: “They should enjoy equal rights and relevance like every

ria, 1999.”

Ohemu canvassed enactment of special laws to protect the rights of physically challenged people.

However, the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association, Ikorodu Branch, Lagos, MrSaheedOwosile, said that giving of accommodation was a private interest.

commodate and live with those who are physically challenged.

“You do not legislate on attitude.

You leave that to social institutions to correct.

“The law must know its limits.

By the time we make laws for everything, we lose some values, and that is not good,” he said.

The MD/CEO of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr. Gimba Ya’u Kumo, Minister of Lands Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ammal Pepple, and the Chairman, Board of Directors, FMBN at the One day NHF Sensitization Workshop held at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on 1st July 2013.

Fire guts furniture factory in Magboro A

n early morning fire on Sunday gutted the main factory of Bedmate Furniture Company Limited in Magboro, Ogun State, and destroyed property worth millions of Naira.

The Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, who confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos, said that the fire started about midnight and raged for several hours.

According to Fadipe, the fire also damaged one of the company`s warehouses, staff quarters, machines and materials.

“We got a call about the inferno at about 12 midnight on Sunday

and swiftly moved into action, even though the location was far off the territory of Lagos State.

“By the time we got to the scene, the massive fire had consumed the company’s factory and had destroyed one of the warehouses, as well as the staff quarters.

“We battled the fire and we were able to save the other warehouses from damage, through reinforcements from our main office in Alausa-Ikeja.

“It was a tough situation, especially as the inferno endured for several hours; but thankfully enough there were no human casualties and we were able to at least

put the situation under control,” he said.

Fadipe, who said the fire was still not fully extinguished as at Sunday evening, however, did not provide details of the cause.

The Director noted that fire incidents were becoming one too many in the state, saying the fire service responded to seven emergencies on Sunday alone.

He warned residents against storing inflammable materials in homes and urged them to always fix faulty electrical installations as these accounted for most causes of the fire incidents.

Fadipe also advised organisa-

tions to always equip their offices, especially factories, with adequate fire fighting devices, saying that this would enhance swift response in emergencies.

“Residents should note that fire incidents can occur any time whether rainy or dry seasons. They should be on guard all the time and avoid things that could lead to disasters.

“Organisations should also be prepared for emergencies by regularly carrying out fire drills and simulations .This will help sharpen the response of workers and others around in the event of emergencies,” he said.

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he Deputy Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Mr Emmanuel Omebije, has urged town planning professionals and developers to extend their services to Local Government Areas to fast-track development of rural areas.

Omebije told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lokoja that he discovered that over the years, infrastructure and social development were lop-sided and limited to urban areas.

The deputy speaker said that activities of ministries and departments of town planning and their professionals were limited to urban areas, resulting to rural settlements getting little or no development.

He said that the situation motivated him to sponsor a private bill to harmonise developments at Local Government levels to bring development and social amenities closer to the rural populace.

Omebije, who is also a surveyor, said he would soon embark on sensitisation visits to the 21 Local Government Areas in the state to introduce the bill to the councils and town planners.

The legislator said he had moved over 20 motions on development in the last six years.

He said that these were efforts to improve the welfare of the people in areas of health, education and their socio-economic well-being through legislation.

The deputy speaker, who represents Dekina-Okura Constituency from 2007 to date, said he had built clinics in Acharu, Ogbogodo, Egbuje and Okagu to address the health needs of his constituency.

He said that he had also built in Anyigba, a replica of the State Government’s Skill Acquisition Centre at Lokoja to train youths in vocational skills.

Omebije said that he had donated two 4-classroom blocks with detached administrative offices at Olofu-Anyigba and Udama Primary Schools and had also trained widows in tailoring and bought sewing machines for them.

He said that he had also distributed over 200 helmets to motorcyclists in his constituency in addition to construction of a block of public toilets at Anyigba Market.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 27

Property

FMBN, REDAN meet on affordable housing

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eal Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), has called for a national strategy to boost the development of low cost housing and social housing in Nigeria. Among its proposed options is the need for governments at the various levels to compel estate developers in high brow areas like Ikoyi, Lekki, Asokoro in Abuja, Port

Harcourt to incorporate in their schemes, low cost housing for the workers that are serving residents and owners of high end properties in these estates. This means that ongoing and new developments in high brow areas must make provisions for the low and medium income groups with 10 per cent of houses in such estates set aside for the low

income group, another 10 per cent for the medium income earners and the balance of 80 per cent set aside for the high income group.

To achieve this, REDAN is facilitating a meeting of stakeholders, including the Minister of Housing, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN). According to a RE-

DAN official, Mr. Shola Enitan, the association is also canvassing support for social housing provision whereby people in distress can be temporarily accommodated in decent government houses before they are able to sort themselves out.

“Except for the destitute, there must be a place of temporary abode for a family, who may have accommodation crisis,

either with their landlords or by other means. No Nigerian should be allowed to spend all his earnings paying house rent to landlords, either private landlord or government for ever, and in a situation by which government is the landlord, the tenants must have the opportunity to buying off the apartment at the long run without much sweat,”

We’ll remove bottlenecks to land-titling – FG

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s housing development stakeholders continue to lobby for the repeal of the Land Use Act to make land more available for housing development, the chairman, Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform, Prof. Peter Adeniyi has said the Federal Government has no plan to repeal the Act. In several presentations to the Presidency and the National Assembly, housing stakeholders, including property developers, estate surveyors and valuers had called for the repeal of the Land Use Act saying the power it gave state governors to control land allocation in their states had politicized land administration and made it cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming to obtain land and title rights for housing development. They had argued that a repeal of the Act would enhance affordable housing development and drastically reduce Nigeria’s estimated deficit of 16 million housing units.

But while speaking with

newsmen at the weekend, Prof.

Adeniyi revealed that the Federal Government would not repeal the Land Use Act. According to him, “It is important at this point to state categorically that the land reform programme of the Federal Government is not intended to repeal the Land Use Act or usurp the powers of the state governors and local government chairmen in land administration or deny individuals or communities the right to their lands”.

While noting that land reform is critical in achieving President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda, he said the federal government’s land reform was focused on identifying and removing bottlenecks hindering land titling and registration process within the current land administration system in Nigeria. He said his committee was working on pilot schemes in Kano and Ondo states involving identification and registration of title rights that may usher in a new land administration system in Nigeria.

Experts identify obstacles to housing development in Nigeria

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state surveyors and real estate practitioners who concluded a two-day international conference on housing held at Lagos have identified the following as obstacles to housing development in Nigeria.

Low Income Nigerians have a per capita income of about $1000, about half our National per capital income in 1975. Despite the high oil revenue of the last three decades, poverty has remained with us in Nigeria. Poverty in Nigeria used to be rural-based but between 1985 and 1992, the number of the poor in rural areas fell sharply from 25.3 million to 22.8 million while those in urban centers rose from 9.7 to 11.9. A low income is a big constraint in accessing affordability because mortgage

is all about the ability to service loan when due. For this reason the majority of Lagosians live in rooming houses (73 per cent) as tenants. Singapore which was our peer in the early sixties has managed to house up to 85 percent of its citizens in owner-occupied flats and houses.

Dearth of Long-Term Funds High rates of interest and inflation have been typical features of our volatile economy since the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986. The Naira has suffered extensive depreciation averaging 45 percent per annum between 1987 and 1993, from an exchange rate of N1.0 to $1.0 in 1987 to N120.0 to $1.0. Because most of our building materials have

traditionally been imported, the effect of this depreciation has been a rapid rise in cost of construction. Interest rate has been similarly high at times as high as 72 percent in 1995: became stable around 18 percent after conclusion of the banking consolidation; but now on the rise again as a result of current global financial meltdown. The combined effect of these has been a sharp rise on the price of homes. The inability of Nigerian banks to harness savings from the people has been a major reason for the lack of long-term funds in the economy. The commercial banks have traditionally served only the mercantile class and lately the oil and manufacturing sector.

The Primary Mortgage Institutions and microfinance

teams are recent efforts to harness savings from the masses but they are mainly urban based and operate more or less like banks with very high appetite for quick profit.

High Cost of Construction Our refusal to build houses with locally available materials has been a major cog in the wheel of housing delivery. A look at our urban centers will show that our houses are built mostly of imported materials (cement, iron rods, aluminum roof).

Low Level of Economic Activity Statistic recently release by Nigerian Insurance Commission indicates that only about 15 million Nigerians are in regular employment. The vast majority are still employed

in subsistence agriculture or in menial services like okada riding. The level of industrialization is low so also is commerce which is characterized by street trading. Though the oil industry is strong but it is unfortunately not linked to the local economy. The combination of these factors is that the disposable income of the average Nigerian is low to build a house or qualify for mortgage assistance.

Access to Land The main objective of the Land Use Act was to facilitate access to land by the generality of Nigerians. Unfortunately the act has had the opposite effect. Though it has made it easier for the elite to acquire land, it has made it much harder for the majority of Nigerians to access land.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 28

Motoring

Kia Sportage offers admirable balance

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ith its head-turning looks and long list of desirable standard features and options, the 2013 Kia Sportage offers an admirable balance of both style and substance.

While t h e

rience will want to check out the new 2013 Ford Escape and 2013 Mazda CX-5. Overall, however, the 2013 Kia

2.4-lite r four-cylinder engine under the hoods of lower trim levels is merely adequate, the firm standard suspension makes for responsive handling. The sportier SX model raises things to a new level, with its 260-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and sport-tuned suspension delivering above-average performance.

Despite these admirable qualities, the Sportage does have a couple of notable drawbacks, not the least of which is a ride quality that will undoubtedly be a little too firm for some buyers. The interior is also a bit short on passenger and cargo room compared to several of its competitors.

As such, crossover shoppers focused on practicality might want to compare the Sportage to other, slightly roomier crossovers on the market including the Chevrolet Equinox, 2013 Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4. Those looking for a similarly sprightly driving expe-

Sportage is a strong contender in this group thanks to its fun nature and value for the dollar.

The 2013 Kia Sportage is a compact crossover SUV with seating for five. There are a total of four trim levels available, including Base, LX, EX and SX. Standard features on the base model include 16-inch alloy wheels, air-conditioning, cloth upholstery, 60/40 split-folding rear seats, cruise control, full power accessories, a tilt-only steering wheel, a trip computer, Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity and a four-speaker sound system with satellite radio, a CD player, an auxiliary audio input jack and an iPod/USB audio interface.

Stepping up to the Sportage LX adds 17-inch alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, rear privacy glass and keyless entry. The available Convenience package adds a rearview camera, rear parking sensors, a rear spoiler, roof rack side rails, heated outside mir-

rors, a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a rear cargo area cover.

The Sportage EX includes all the goodies in the Convenience package along with 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlights, foglights, dual-zone automatic climate control, a power driver seat, upgraded cloth upholstery, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, an easier-folding rear seat, the Uvo infotainment system and an upgraded sound system with HD radio, digital music storage and a small touchscreen interface. The SX model adds a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, a sport-tuned suspension, keyless entry/ignition, upgraded gauges, leather upholstery and distinctive exterior and interior styling details.

Other options include a Premium package that bundles a pano-

ramic sunroof, leather upholstery (standard on SX), heated front seats, a ventilated driver seat, keyless entry/ignition (standard on SX), upgraded gauges and an auto-dimming rearview mirror.

A touchscreen navigation

system with real-time traffic info is available on all but the base model.

Power for the 2013 Kia Sportage comes from one of two inline four-cylinder engines. Base, LX and EX models come with a 2.4-liter that puts out 176 hp and 168 pound-feet of torque. Base models are only offered with a sixspeed manual transmission, while all other versions come with a sixspeed automatic with a manualshift feature. Front-wheel drive is standard, with all-wheel drive offered as an option on all but the base model.

In Edmunds performance tests, a front-wheel-drive Sportage with the 2.4-liter engine and automatic accelerated from zero to 60 mph in 9.4 seconds, an average time for this class. EPA-estimated fuel economy is 21 mpg city/30 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined with the automatic and

front-wheel drive; all-wheel drive drops those numbers to 20/27/23.

The SX model gets a more powerful turbocharged 2.0-liter engine that puts out an impressive 260 hp and 269 lb-ft of torque.

In Edmunds testing, it went from zero to 60 mph in a very quick 6.5 seconds. EPA estimated fuel economy is 21/28/24 with front-wheel drive and 20/25/22 with AWD, although we’ve found the Sportage SX struggles to match these numbers in real-world driving.

Standard safety features on all 2013 Kia Sportage models include antilock disc

brakes, traction control and stability control, as well as hill descent and hill start control. Inside are front-seat side airbags, full-length side curtain airbags and active front head restraints.

In Edmunds brake testing, an EX came to a stop from 60 mph in 120 feet -- a better-than-average performance for this type of vehicle. The sport-oriented SX was better at 117 feet. In government crash tests, the Sportage received an overall rating of four stars (out of five) for front-wheel-drive models and five stars for all-wheel-drive versions, plus solid five-star ratings for frontal and side impacts.

In Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash testing, the Sportage received the highest rating of “Good” in the frontal-offset, sideimpact and roof strength tests.

Source: Edmunds.com

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 29

Arts & Culture

‘Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,

FROM THE LIVE STAGE

the champion for women’

with

Book Review

Patrick-Jude Oteh 0803 700 0496, 0805 953 5215 (SMS only)

By Etuka Sunday

H

istorically in Nigeria, before now, women were not elected or appointed to hold key positions in the country. Even in the face of the famed 1995 Beijing Women Conference, where governments around the world pledged greater affirmative action to ensure that women assume greater leadership roles, nothing in Nigeria’s political firmament in the years ahead suggested a shift in attitude until recently.

Though a handful of Nigerian women have hitherto landed some top leadership positions in government, the number and quality of job portfolios pale into insignificance when placed side by side with the prevailing situation under the watch of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Today, a quiet but sustained revolution in women participation in national decision making processes has been initiated by President Jonathan with the deployment into critical positions of Nigerian women that have overtime displayed enduring leadership characters.

The roll-call includes 13 female ministers holding very key positions ranging from finance, petroleum, aviation, education, environment, defence and information technology among others. The list also includes equal number of Senior Advisers, Heads of Government Agencies and Departments etc.

The Federal Government, in fulfillment of its campaign pledge in 2011 to increase the number of women involved in the top echelon of national leadership has overtime tapped into the innate power, talents and moral virtues of women such as ministers of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Aloma Mariam Mukhtar and Aviation, Stella Oduah among so many others, to push forward implementation of its policies.

It is in recognition of this gesture

by President Jonathan that his female acolytes, spearheaded by AlisonMadueke launched a book aptly entitled: “Champion For Women”, to celebrate him.

The 313-page book celebrates President Jonathan’s pro-women disposition in flowing prose and chronicles the efforts as well as his success to change the balance of power, narrow extant gender gap and set aside deep-seated socio-political prejudices against the aspirations of women in Nigeria.

In her forward, on page seven of the book, Alison-Madueke, who is a beneficiary of Jonathan’s gendersensitive government, stated that the president’s process of change, which he had begun in 2010 moved into a higher gear in 2011 with 30 percent of his political appointments going to Nigerian women for the first time.

“I am honoured and proud to have been chosen as one of the 13 women in President Jonathan’s cabinet, commissioning this book is an opportunity for me not to only express my sincere thanks to our president but also to show, concisely, his robust

A mid year review

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and comprehensive articulation of the gender issue, in his historic and ground-breaking appointments of such a high proportion of women to his cabinet.

“This is indeed not just historic, but something special in the history of Nigeria. Half the world’s population is female, but the international average of women in elected office is only around 20 percent. Look at the top officeholders, and the figure is lower still; in Nigeria, however, one in three members of the federal executive cabinet is a woman. It is a fact of which all Nigerians, male and female, can be justly proud. And this is just not a job for the girls, there is much more here than just making up the numbers,” Alison-Madueke said.

In the preface to the book, VicePresident Namadi Sambo, who lent credence to the claims of AlisonMadueke, said of President Jonathan: “His willingness to take the risk and put women in charge of some of the most critical sectors of the economy demonstrates one of his outstanding qualities- bravery. He had the courage of his convictions and, more than that, a healthy respect for the ability of the Nigeria woman and was determined to give her, her due.”

The book contains five chapters; Chapter one, which is titled “Leading A Nation, Advancing Its Women”, traces the path of President Jonathan to power and the challenges of the new office as well as his calm strength in addressing some of Nigeria’s issues.

Chapter two of the book is devoted to the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan who is dubbed, the first lady who sets the pace and seeks greater empowerment of women while chapter three highlights Jonathan’s vision for

women with a caption; why politics needs women.

In chapter four, President Jonathan’s leading women, their portfolios, activities, vision and biographical details were detailed and it ran through from Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar who is the first ever female Chief Justice of the Federation to Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, the coordinating minister for the economy and minister of finance, down to Mrs. Diezani AlisonMadueke, Nigeria’s first female minister of petroleum resources.

Alison-Madueke in this chapter, talked of her strong advocate for local content and the empowerment of Nigerians in the oil and gas industry, as well as her current push through the National Assembly to revamp operations in the petroleum sector through the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

In summary, the book celebrates the achievements of President Jonathan’s with support gleaned from the driving force of the women in his government.

While a balanced account of the women in government with a wealth of information has been provided by the authors in the book, it however does not suggest that Nigerian women have reached their el Dorado in the lingering clamor for gender equality.

A well-packaged compendium of Jonathan’s faith in the womenfolk, the book has relevant, aesthetics and colourful pictures, maps and charts to illustrate extant interactions which point to one fact: that Nigerian women are seizing the stage and momentum to collectively make the changes needed in our society.

e are at that time of the year when we review our work and the way forward. The last two years have been tough years but we have been able to weather the storm and continue to work though our pace has slowed somewhat since the beginning of this year.

In 2009, our finances revealed that we were moving at such a pace that we will be able to work all year. We almost did. In 2010, we worked all year and it was an exhilarating experience. In 2011, we barely worked for six months due to the level of insecurity in the land and then in 2012, we worked eight months. We thought we had seen the last of such years but we were mistaken. We are now in 2013 and it is time to take stock again.

We opened the year with the 7th Jos Festival of Theatre within which we showcased five plays in seven days with record attendances and for the first time in the history of our company we extended the festival to Abuja where we had two plays with a landmark command performance of Barrie Stavis’ The Man Who Never Died at a highbrow private residence. We then had a break of sorts and in June we performed Vaclav Havel’s Audience in a performance commissioned by the Czech Embassy. We served as the local partners in Jos for the very successful Stephane Wrembel’s Jazz tour to Nigeria courtesy of the US Mission, Nigeria on July 1st and 2nd.

Altogether from January to June, we have performed nine plays with one major event bringing all to ten. This is about our yearly average of work since 2009 which we have accomplished in half a year. We are very proud of this fact. And we are extremely grateful to all those who made this possible!

We are on the verge of another long break. This is not to our making or that we are tired of work. Unfortunately we

have arrived at that sad point in the life of every arts organization when the expenses far outweigh the income! This is that period predicted by Economics Professors Baumol and Bowen in their book Performing Arts – The Economic Dilemma. Their thoughts then and now was that because the income of arts organizations is bounded and cannot increase even when costs go up as they are meant to, arts organizations cannot break even because of the very nature of the arts industry – plays cannot be decreased even as costs go up.

Ticket prices cannot be increased arbitrarily as this will cause a loss of a substantial number of cultivated audiences. We cannot also reduce rehearsal periods as the end product will make audiences feel short changed. It is a vicious circle which the arts organizations cannot win. The solution(s)?

Government intervention through an endowment for the arts or a substantial donor base that will be able to take care of the shortfall between expenses and income. We have arrived at that point.

We need help and we need it urgently if we are not to be reduced to merely waiting for commissioned plays or reduced to the level of arts organizations that only host one major performance in two years. It is the sad reality of the arts industry. Some of us have been known to close shop to scout or shop for funds, some have drastically cut operations, some have reduced artistic input while some simply wait for those elusive jobs to come from anywhere, some have gone to banks to borrow in the hope that somewhere along the line such funds will be written off as bad debts, but we will hang in there.

We will wait and continue working even as minimally as possible as we know that this situation will not last forever but the human spirit can overcome such adversities.

We are not afraid of the future.

That Stephane Wrembel Jazz tour

W

e recently had another chance to prove that the arts lift the human spirit beyond expectations. We have continued to emphasise that in a country like ours, it is the arts that have the capacity to lift us to lofty heights and make us dream beyond ourselves. The arts, beyond economics and statistics is one proof of the quality of life of a people. In Jos last week, we saw this happen. People of all shades and colours, people of different ideologies, people of different beliefs, came together in two evenings to listen to Jazz music. They might not all have been lovers of Jazz but there was a spirit of community in all the performances and the people responded to this.

Part of the building of a new community of people in Nigeria rests on the shoulders of arts organizations and artistes if it is done with sincerity. Thank you to the US Mission, Nigeria for making this possible.

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Arts & Culture

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

The Story of Philosphy

Book Review

By Ozodi Thomas Osuji

W

estern philosophy began at Athens, Greece. So, to Greece we go. Something happened in the little Greek city states between 600-300 BC to lead Greeks to produce thoughts that the entire world has not seen produced in acorner of it, again.

As if they drank some sort of wine that led to philosophic thinking, Greeks thought about everything in their world. Whereas in other parts of the world folks conformed to the religions of their people, individual Athenians questioned everything and sought to understand reality as it is, not as their culture or other people told them it is.

So, what is reality? What is the truth (Pontus Pilate asked the religious Jews asking him to crucify Jesus)?

Nobody knows what the truth is (religion gives people assumptions of the truth and folks go through their lives living with the unproven assumptions given to them by their religions and cultures).

Greek thinkers began from agnosticism and skepticism and then studied their world to see if they could figure out what the truth of things is.

Different individuals posited their views on reality. Democritus and others hypothesized that matter could be broken down into parts that could no longer be subdivided, and called that part atom.Democritus, Archimedes, Pythagoras etc. and their ideas gave rise to what we now call physics (the physical sciences).

(The Catholic Church’s interregnum that began with the fall of the Roman Empirein 450 AD banished physics and sentenced Europe to a thousand years of darkness until John Dalton rediscovered the idea of the atom in 1800. In 1911, Ernest Rutherford showed that not even the atom is the smallest part of matter; Rutherford discovered the nucleus, proton of the atom. In 1932 James Chadwick discovered the neutron of the atom; J.J Thompson discovered the electron in 1897. Today the atom is seen as having a nucleus with protons and neutrons in it and electrons circling it; there are other sub-particles of the atom.)

The sophists went around debating with themselves and whoever wanted to debate with them as to the nature of reality.

Socrates was the king of the sophists and insisted on people clarifying their terms. If, for example, you said that there is no justice in society he would ask you to tell him what justice means. An argument would ensue on the meaning of justice. Days, weeks, months and even years later it would become clear that the person talking about justice does not have clarity in his mind as to the meaning of justice.

What is justice? Is your opinion

of what justice is the nature of justice, if so what is it? Is justice of God? What is God, does God exist, and have you proved that God exists? How do you know that God exists, and if not how can you talk of the justice of God? Your wish that God exists is exactly that, your wish? You do not have proof that God exists. If all you have is faith that there is a force called God then are you willing to accept that other people have faith in different conceptions of God and if sowhy should folks fight over God if God is their ideas and not selfevident reality?

Many schools went about teaching their ideas of what life is.

Zeno propounded his stoicism. He said that we do not know what life is all about, that there is no knowing that life has meaning or not or that it was created by God. What matters is how one lives one’s life. You do not have control over what is happening in the world, what matters is how you respond to them. You can allow yourself to be disturbed by events that you do not have control over or be equanimoustowards them.

Seneca, Cicero, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius (Roman stoics) said that one’s anger or depression or fear (ones emotional state, cheerful or sad) is a function of how one thinks about the events of this world but not caused by the events of this world. You can choose to see things differently. It is all up to you how you react to what happens to you; you do not have one set way that you must respond in.

Epicurus taught that given the pointlessness of living that the best lived life is one that enjoyed

it. Horace said carpe diem, make the most of today, for you do not know what is going to happen to you tomorrow; you might be dead tomorrow. Have fun today and that is all there is to life. There is no point in depressing yourself about life, just make the most of it and leave it at that.

Epicureanism is often mistaken to mean indulging in hedonic life style; no, it does not mean eating too much food. One can find joy in intellectual pursuits and doing so is ones idea of living the good life.

Then there were the cynics and skeptics. Whatever you say from a positive perspective can be seen from a negative, pessimistic perspective. Life is good, right?Didn’t the volcano of Vesuvius erupt and bury the whole city of Pompeii and charred people to death? How then is life good?God loves his children, right?God so loves hischildren that he gives them diseases, suffering and death! The cynic does not believe in anything; moreover, he is a killjoy. (That would suggest that joy is generally predicated on ignorance of the nature of reality.

But then one may ask: what is reality, anyway?)

Good and bad are our opinions but not the verdict of nature, right?

Is nature impersonal and does not give a damn about human affairs?

How do you know that whatever your response is is the correct assessment of nature (and nature’s God, if there is one)?

Simply stated, many schools of thought were in Athens and each attracted followers. In this mix came Plato. Plato was a disciple

of Socrates but when Socrates was judged a corrupter of youth (teaching them not to believe in God), imprisoned and forced to drink the hemlock and die Plato continued Socrates teaching. He employed the Socratic Method; his books were dialogues supposedly between prominent members of the Athenian society. These gentlemen would gather and talk about issues, such as justice, politics, ideal society, God etc. Plato wrote on many subjects but he is famous for his idealism (explicated grandly in the Republic).

Plato’s idealism consists of his belief that what exists imperfectly in our world have perfect archetypes of them in the world of ideas (if you like, spiritual world). There are ideal things that we do not see; we are corruptions of those ideals. There are ideal human beings and ideal animals etc. and we are imperfect renditions of them. (Are there ideals or are ideals wished for perfect state of being?)

In his politics Plato sketched how to govern an ideal society. He said that all children from about the age of ten should be offered compulsory education (mostly physical education) for ten years.

At age twenty they are given examinations and a few pass and the rest are weeded out (and made to become farmers and laborers etc.). The few that passed the examination are given further ten years of instruction on the nature of things. At age thirty there is another weeding out examination.

Those that make it are thereafter taught philosophy. At age thirty five they are examined and thereafter told to go put what they learned into practice, to live in the world. At age fifty those who have succeeded are gathered together to rule society as its guardians, the philosopher kings.

The philosopher kings are to live communal life, share things, including wives and generally not have private property. Their function is to do what is good for society.

Plato was an idealist. He wanted to change people, change society and its institutions and bring about what seemed to him ideal society. His Republic delineated how he planned to go about getting guardians, philosopher kings’ rule his utopia.

He was a little, timid man with a wish to change himself, change other people and change social institutions, all by his self. This showed that he had wish for power to recreate the world.

He was teetering on delusion disorder, grandiose type. He was a dangerous lunatic.

His wish to replace god and recreate people and make them what he wanted them to be led him to justify infanticide.

He wanted to be more powerful than God and all people hence he was living in fantasy land.

Osuji is a professor based in United states of America

POEM OF THE WEEK The song of a choirgirl

By Abigail George

She dares not Speak of the mental illness That runs in her Family.

She has stepped Into a meadow (her guard down)– Her shell of pain Wet and bitter.

She’s exiled relationships, Lives like a nun and relishes prayer.

For her meditation although cold Is a delight to her senses.

Words only have Meaning for her when flat And licking the page– And once their Vision is dead to her She rises up–her tears, salt Meeting the life-lines Of skin and air.

She prefers the coolly Detached, lusts after marked Roads opened to her By her moods.

This is how this Choirgirl swings, flies– She abandons gaiety For snow falling In the nest of her Lovely skull–this is her Season, her feast-meal.

Her sky, her footfalls On the steps– her Frightening challenges that She never speaks of to Break away from death.

Cut to the heart I wanted a sunrise instead The moonlight pours into my cells So Helen Martin’s ghost has come for me She has bided her time well While India shatters at my feet Standing at the edge of it is an angel of water With wings made of ice–soporific vampire You landed like an avalanche I started off by trimming your icicles When you couldn’t keep your hands to yourself The pupil is radiant, so are the missing case studies A table has been set for me A forked tongue where my water glass should be I think in another life I might have been Virginia Woolf Rage is splashed against my childhood love Her name is ‘mother’ She tastes like cold plums I must be mad if I am having visions Of a woman sleepwalking in my house Wearing an alluring scarlet cloak Dripping blood where it Is not supposed to be like a vampire Bleeding into the fragile lines of being– The eternal that is love and death There is pain in the fire Of her belly not unlike the India of my sister’s travels My vision is formidable, dark and as serious as war She takes the perfume of wine, roses, And discontent wherever she goes The evidence of fear follows swiftly–she burns me Like lava and it is only the knowledge of childlike Innocence that keeps my mind far away from hers I become like a child once again In my dreams, the smell of rain in my hair Climbing over my parents thrones in the living room Already housing collections of darkness visible.

Source: Africanwriter.com

QUOTE

Wisdom finds its literary expression in wisdom literature Paul Ricoeur

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

DIPLOMATIC

PAGE 31

CIRCUIT

US Consul General to host 2013 future award nominees

By Abdulkadir Isa

T

he U.S. Consul General, Jeffrey Hawkins, is creating a platform for nominees of The Future Award (TFA)inNigeriatohelpbuildthenetwork.

The event which will hold on July 11, 2013 is to double as a motivational program for the TFA 2013 potentials among the Nigerian youth.

The program provides a rare and informalplatformforTheFutureAwards, oneofNigeria’spremiereawardseventfor Nigerian youths and selected nominees forthe8thsessionoftheawardtonetwork with U.S. Mission personnel. Over 100 people are expected to be in attendance.

Mr Hawkins will address the youth at the event, which is being planned to provide an opportunity for networking andsynergybetweenU.S.Missionofficers andtheyouthdoingextraordinaryworkin various fields around Nigeria.

Mr. Chude Jideonwo, head of The Future Awards also an International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) alumnus, whose company was recently cited by Forbes International as one of the dynamic businesses run by youths under 30, will also present remarks at the event. Several other dynamic co-heads, youth and alumni of the US Government

Turkish Foreign Ministry condemns Boko Haram attack

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

T

he Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the attack by the Boko Haram on a school in Yobe.

The ministry via a press release said theylearnedwithgreatsorrowthatabout 40 schoolchildren lost their lives in the terrorist attack perpetrated against a school in Yobe State on July 6th.

The statement wished God’s mercy upon those who lost their lives, expressingcondolencestotheirfamilies and hoped for the speedy recovery of the injured.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned any act of terrorism targeting the peace and security of Nigeria and aiming at internally destabilizing the country.

The statement went on to say that Turkey“believes that the people of Nigeria will overcome terrorism in unity and solidarity and wishes that the cycle of violence which has been escalating in recentmonthsrapidlycomestoanend”.

The Turks expressed their “strong” feelingsofsolidaritywiththefriendlyand brotherly State and people of Nigeria.

Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Pulat

Jeffrey Hawkins (L) with Tony Elumelu at the 2012 edition of TFA in Abuja. programswhoworkwithMr.Jideonwoto inspireyoungNigerianstoserveaschange catalysts in their communities will also be at the event.

TFA which recognizes youth, who haveexcelledintheirfieldsofendeavour,is describedbytheWorldBankasequivalent to a Nobel Prize for young Nigerians.

National nominations are wide open and include celebrities, entrepreneurs, and media associates.

Well-known and dynamic keynote

speakers such as Finance Minister Ngozi OkonjoIweala,ProfessorPatUtomi,Tony Elumelu among other distinguished personalities have been future by TFA.

Obama wishes Muslims a blessed Ramadan

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

P

resident Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have extended their best wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world ahead of the start of the sacred month of Ramadan.

“For the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time for thoughtful reflection, fasting and devotion. It is also an opportunity for family and friends to come together and celebrate the principles that bind people of different faiths” he said He described the month as a time for commitment to the principles of peace, justice, equality and compassion towards fellow human beings, saying“These bonds are far stronger than the differences that too often drive us apart.”

“This month also reminds us that freedom, dignity and opportunity are the undeniable rights of all mankind”, this, coming at a time when many citizens across the Middle East and North Africa continue to strive for these basic rights and as millions of refugees mark Ramadan far from their homes.

“The United States stands with those who are working to build a world where all people can write their own future and practice their

faith freely, without fear of violence.”

He added “In the United States, Ramadan is a reminder that millions of Muslim Americans enrich our nation each day — serving in our government, leading scientific breakthroughs,

generating jobs and caring for our neighbors in need.”

President Obama expressed his honour at hosting an iftar dinner at the White House each of the past four years, and this year he looked forward to welcoming Muslim

Americans “who are contributing to our country as entrepreneurs, activists and artists.”

He ended by wishing Muslims across America and around the world a month blessed with the joys of family, peace and understanding.

The US Marines on colour parade with Deputy Chief of Mission James McAnulty (L), Ambassador Terence McCulley (behind) at the 237th US anniversary celebration in Abuja.

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

International Muslim Brotherhood rejects Mansour poll decree

S

enior officials in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood have rejected a timetable for new elections laid out by interim president Adly Mansour.

Leading Brotherhood figure Essam al-Erian says the plan for constitutional changes and a vote next year “brings the country back to square one”.

President Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the army last week after mass protests.

The decree came hours after at least 51 people were killed at a Cairo barracks where his supporters say he is in held.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s main Islamist movement, which MrMorsi belongs to, says its members were fired on at a sit-in for the ousted leader. The army says it responded to an armed provocation.

MrMorsi was Egypt’s first freely elected president. His removal last Wednesday followed protests by tens of thousands of people who accused him of becoming increasingly authoritarian, pursuing an Islamist agenda, and failing to tackle Egypt’s economic woes.

The Brotherhood has denounced the military’s action as a coup.

Mr Mansour’s decree, issued late on Monday, laid out plans to set up a panel to amend the suspended Islamist-drafted constitution within 15 days.

The changes would then be put to a referendum - to be organised within four months - which would pave the way for parliamentary elections,

possibly in early 2014.

Once the new parliament convenes, elections would be called to appoint a new president.

MrErian, deputy chairman of the Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said the declaration was “a constitutional decree by a man appointed by putchists” which “brings the country back to square one”.

Ahmad Abu-Barakah, a legal adviser to the FJP, said the decree was “invalid and illegitimate”, the private Al-Misri al-Yawm news site

reports.

The Brotherhood’s spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told AFP news agency that further protests and sitins would be held across the country on Tuesday, as funerals are held for supporters killed in Monday’s violence in Cairo.

Brotherhood supporters camping outside the Rabaa alAdawiya mosque in north-east Cairo also expressed their anger.

“No-one voted for this president,” Ashraf Awad told the Associated Press news agency. “He is illegitimate in being sworn in, so all decisions he

makes, people will not recognise.”

Another protester, Hamdi elSaid, said MrMorsi remained his president. “I will defend my vote which I gave to him until I become a martyr like the people who were killed yesterday,” he said.

The movement has described what happened outside the Presidential Guard barracks on Monday as a “massacre”, and has called for “an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks”.

It says the army raided a peaceful sit-in as protesters were performing dawn prayers, and that 53 people were killed.

The health ministry said at least 51 people were killed and 435 people wounded.

Essam al-Erian

Somali car explosion rocks Mogadishu market

F

ive policemen were wounded when their vehicle was blown up in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, a police officersaid, in an attack claimed by the Islamist militant group al Shabaab.

P o l i c e o f f i c i a l AbdikadirMohamud, who was in the area, said it was not clear whether the bomb was planted in the vehicle in the Bakara market or hurled at it.

Gunfire heard after the blast was from security forces, Mohamud said. “Fire was opened in the air to disperse the converging crowds to minimize casualties,” he said, adding that no civilians were hurt.

Somalia is attempting to rebuild after two decades of civil war and lawlessness, backed by international aid aimed at preventing it from becoming a haven for al Qaeda-style militants in East Africa.

Johnson

Z

imbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party has formed a coalition with two

other opposition parties in a bid to bolster their chances to challenge President Robert Mugabe and his party in the

The assault is the latest indication of the ease with which the Islamist rebels, ejected from Mogadishu by African peacekeeping forces about two years ago, have been able to organize and threaten the government’s fragile security gains. Last month al Shabaab attacked a United Nations base in Mogadishu, killing 22 people.

Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the spokesman for the group’s military operation, said the

device used in Tuesday’s attack was “a well-timed remotely controlled bomb.” He said three people were killed, but the police officer put the casualty figure at five wounded.

The government has said it needs more international training and other support to build up its security forces. For now, it still relies heavily on African peacekeepers to protect vital facilities.

upcoming general election, local media reported Monday.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) established the partnership with MavamboKusile Dawn (MKD) led by SimbaMakoni, a former ally of Mugabe, and Zanu-Ndonga, which was represented by its chairperson ReketaiSemwayo.

Zimbabweans will go to polls on July 31 to elect one

president, more than 200 law makers and nearly 2,000 local government councilors.

Among the five candidates registered for the presidential election, incumbent President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai are considered the serious contenders for the post. Both politicians have just launched their campaigns and unveiled manifestos.

U.N. urged to consider drones for South Sudan mission

CAR ‘abandoned’ since coup - MSF

T

he Central African Republic (CAR) has been abandoned to cope with a “humanitarian emergency” since rebels seized power in March, a medical agency says.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said most aid agencies had withdrawn to the capital, citing a lack of security.

As a result, the country’s health care system had collapsed, it said.

Seleka rebel group strongman Michel Djotodia captured power in March, ousting President Francois Bozize.

The MSF said it, along with UN and other international agencies, had been a “victim of robberies and looting” in recent months.

Malnutrition and preventable diseases are rife, with 33% more malaria cases reported this year then in the same period last year, it said in a report.

The coup followed years of unrest, leading to a “crisis on top of a crisis”.

“We are facing one of the worst years in terms of the impact of the disease,” said Ellen van der Velden, MSF’s head of mission in CAR. The international community had failed to do enough to end the crisis and “the people of CAR have effectively been abandoned just when they most need help”, MSF said.

In April, regional states said they would send 2,000 peacekeepers to bolster a 500-strong multinational force that was battling to help the interim government restore stability.

After seizing power, MrDjotodia pledged to hold elections after an 18-month transitional period.

CAR has an unstable history and is extremely poor, though it has large deposits of minerals including gold and diamonds.

Djotodia

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 33

International

Report says US Bin Laden raid ‘an act of war’ T

he unilateral decision by the US to launch a military operation to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani territory constituted “an act of war”, a Pakistani government investigation has found.

The report of the Abbottabad Commission investigated the circumstances around the raid and how the al-Qaeda leader came to live in the country for nine years without apparently being detected.

The report of the commission, formed in June 2011 to probe the circumstances around the killing of bin Laden by US forces in a unilateral raid on the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, had earlier been suppressed by the Pakistani government.

The raid illustrated Washington’s “contemptuous disregard of Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity in the arrogant certainty of […] unmatched military might”, the report concluded in its “Findings” section.

In the same section, the report

also details the “comprehensive failure of Pakistan to detect the presence of Bin Laden on its territory for almost a decade”.

The report draws on testimony from more than 200 witnesses, including members of Bin Laden’s family, Pakistan’s then spy chief, senior ministers in the government and officials at every level of the military, bureaucracy and security services.

The commission’s 336page report is scathing, holding both the government and the military responsible for “gross incompetence” leading to “collective failures” that allowed both Bin Laden to escape detection, and the US to be able to violate Pakistani sovereignty by carrying out an attack on its soil without the knowledge of the military or the government.

It singles out the military for particular criticism on this front, citing an “overall policy bankruptcy” amongst both the political and military leadership, when it came to securing the

country’s western border against possible violations of Pakistani territory or airspace.

The commission’s investigators were told by the Pakistani Air Force that low-level radars were on “peacetime deployment”, and hence were not active on the western border with Afghanistan.

It is through this lack of radar coverage, and the fact that the US forces carried out the raid in stealth helicopters, flying fast and low, they were told, that the US SEAL team was able to evade detection.

Pakistani Air Force jets were only scrambled in response to the threat after US forces had already left Pakistani airspace, after having spent approximately three hours in Pakistani territory and airspace.

It concluded that Pakistan’s defence policy was “outdated” and reactive, with major policy documents not having been updated since 2004 (the Defence Policy) and 2007 (the Joint Strategic Directive).

The report also makes

detailed allegations against HussainHaqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the US, regarding the procurement of an extensive number of visas, without proper authorisation, for US nationals.

The commission also found, based on testimony from officials from the ISI, that Pakistani intelligence had effectively closed the book on the hunt for Bin Laden after the CIA stopped sharing information on his possible whereabouts in 2005.

The ISI was provided with four telephone numbers in 2010 related to the hunt for Bin Laden, but they were not told the significance of the numbers.

The commission concludes that the ISI was “paralyzed by the CIA’s lack of cooperation”, and should have been able to track the al-Qaeda leader on its own territory more effectively.

The report also details “culpable negligence and i n c o m p e t e nce at almost all levels of government” in both the violation of sovereignty constituted

by Bin Laden’s stay in the country for nine years, and the US raid that killed him in 2011.

Syria’s ruling party shakes up leadership

President Assad

S

yria’s ruling Baath party, headed by the country’s embattled President Bashar al-Assad, has announced that its top leadership would be replaced, including Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa.

The party’s central committee “held a lengthy meetingat which “a new national leadership was chosen”, the Baath party website said.

It published the names of 16 members of the new leadership,

which included none of the party’s old chiefs with the exception of Assad.

The website said Assad would remain the party’s secretary general.

Sharaa, who has been Syria’s

vice president since 2006, will remain in office despite his removal from the party leadership.

Among those newly elected to the party leadership are parliament chief Jihad al-Laham and Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi.

Bassam Abu Abdullah, director of the Damascus Centre for Strategic Studies, said the overhaul was the result of deep-seated discontent within the Baath party.

“There has been a lot of criticism from within the base towards the leadership, which has been accused of being inflexible, both before and since the crisis,” he said, referring to the Syrian uprising.

“A complete change indicates the failure of leadership and the dissatisfaction from within the Baath party base,” he told AFP. The Baath party has been in power since March 8, 1963 and is the most powerful political party in Syria.

Meanwhile, Syria’s interim rebel prime minister GhassanHitto has announced his resignation.

Hitto quit nearly four months after his appointment and after failing to form a government.

Car bomb rocks Beirut suburbs A

car bomb has injured dozens of people in a stronghold of Lebanon’s Shia militant group Hezbollah in Beirut.

A Red Cross official said 37 people had been hurt in the blast, in the Beir el-Abed area.

TV pictures showed vehicles on fire and a cloud

of black smoke. No group has said it was behind the attack.

Rebels in neighbouring Syria have threatened to target Hezbollah, which intervened in the fighting there to support President Bashar al-Assad.

Two rockets hit south Beirut in May.

The explosion was caused by a car bomb in the car park of an Islamic centre, Hezbollah-run al-Manar TV said.

Dramatic footage broadcast by the station showed firefighters trying to put out the flames.

“This is a message, but we will not bow,” Hezbollah

official Ziad Waked told alManar, AP reports.

Hezbollah fighters were instrumental in Syrian government forces’ strategic v i c t o r y i n Qusair in early June.

A Hezbollah MP said that it was too early to speculate on who was responsible for the bomb.

Asia & Middle East Japan defence paper warns of China force

Abe

J

apan has warned that China is engaging in “dangerous actions” and attempting to change the status quo in the East China Sea “by force”.

The comments were made in Japan’s annual defence white paper - the first since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office late last year.

Both China and Japan have stepped up maritime patrols around disputed islands in the region in recent months.

The paper also expressed concern over North Korea’s missiles programme.

Maritime tensions between Japan and China increased last year after Japan nationalised three islands in a disputed grouping known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

Japan has control of the islands and bought three of them from their private Japanese owner in 2012.

Since then, China has sent government ships to patrol in what Japan says are its territorial waters, leading to fears of a clash.

“China has attempted to change the status quo by force based on its own assertion, which is incompatible with the existing order of international law,” the white paper said.

“Some of China’s activities involve its intrusion into Japan’s territorial waters, its violation of Japan’s territorial airspace and even dangerous actions that could cause a contingency,” the paper added.

Earlier this year, Japan said a Chinese naval frigate had locked fire-control radar onto a Japanese ship near the disputed islands - claims China denied.

Japan earlier this month also expressed serious concern over China’s construction of a drilling rig near a disputed gas field in the East China Sea. Mr Abe, who is viewed as a conservative, plans to update Japan’s defence policy over the coming year.

He is also pushing for Japan’s pacifist constitution to be revised in order to ease tight restrictions on the armed forces.

In January, Japan increased its military spending for the first time in over a decade.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

International Venezuela’s President offers Snowden a home V

enezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his government has received an asylum application from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and the fugitive must now decide if he wants to fly to Caracas.

“We have received the asylum request letter,” Maduro said from the presidential palace. “He will have to decide when he flies, if he finally wants to fly here.”

Over the weekend, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia all offered political asylum to Snowden, who has spent more than two weeks stranded at Moscow’s international airport while waiting for a country to give him sanctuary.

“We told this young man, ‘you are being persecuted by the empire, come here,’” Maduro said Momday, referring to the United States.

Bolivia, meanwhile, had earlier demanded France, Spain, Italy and Portugal explain why they refused permission for President

Evo Morales to cross their air space last week.

His plane was forced to make an unplanned stop in Vienna after four countries refused to allow it to fly through their airspace, apparently on suspicion that Snowden was aboard his aircraft.

Spanish newspaper has published what it alleges are documents showing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other top politicians received illicit payments.

El Mundo said it had original ledger entries handwritten by

the former treasurer of the governing Popular Party (PP), Luis Barcenas.

It said it had delivered the documents to the High Court.

MrRajoy and other PP members have repeatedly denied that they received illegal

“The Bolivian government has summoned the ambassadors of Spain, France, Italy and Portugal to explain what happened to the presidential plane and President Evo Morales,” Communications Minister Amanda Davila said on Monday.

Maduro

“It’s the first case of state terrorism against a president, against a nation, against a people.

That’s what we’re talking about now” she said.

She said the government had decided to “initiate all necessary actions until it has a clear explanation and a direct and unambiguous apology by those countries”.

Morales said on Saturday that he would grant asylum to Snowden, if the US whistleblower requests it.

He emphasised that his offer is a protest against the US and European nations whom he accused of temporarily blocking his flight home.

The offers have raised hope the US whisteleblower might be finally able to leave Russia, though it remains unclear how exactly Snowden could reach another country without legal documents.

The US revoked his passport after he fled to Moscow from Hong Kong.

Snowden apparently applied to 21 countries for asylum, but most of them have since declined to accept his request.

Documents implicate Spanish PM A

Rajoy

payments.

Another Spanish paper, El Pais, published similar documents earlier this year.

It is claimed that MrBarcenas ran a PP slush fund that took donations from construction magnates and distributed them to party leaders in cash.

MrBarcenas is in custody facing trial for corruption and tax fraud. He denies the allegations.

However, in an interview published in El Mundo on Sunday, MrBarcenas for the first time admitted that the handwriting in the ledger was his.

He added that the photocopies originally published

by El Pais were a fraction of the documents he had in his possession.

El Mundo said the documents it had seen showed that MrRajoy

received payments in 1997, 1998 and 1999 when he was a minister in the government of Jose Maria Aznar.

Spanish opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba in February called on Mariano Rajoy to resign over the allegations.

The PP has responded with a statement saying: “The Popular Party reiterates that it does not know of the notes nor their content, and it does not in any way recognise them as the accounts of this political organisation.”

This is another twist in possibly the most important corruption scandal to hit modern Spanish politics.

The allegations have caused anger among Spaniards already suffering a deep and long recession and biting austerity cuts.

be a fast-breaking event during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan every evening at the park.

The opening was scheduled for Sunday but had been pushed back to Monday due to tension and protests over the weekend.

Police fired teargas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters at Taksim Square in Istanbul on Saturday evening as they gathered to enter Gezi Park.

Gezipark has been closed for three weeks since a police intervention forced protesters out of the site on June 15 where they had stayed for nearly two weeks before the operation.

The crisis began when a sitin to save Gezi’s 600 trees from

being razed in a redevelopment project prompted a brutal police response on May 31, escalating into countrywide demonstrations against Erdogan, seen as

Europe and Americas Greece secures $8.7bn in rescue loans

G

reece has secured a muchneeded $8.7bn in rescue loans after an inspection by its international creditors who said that despite initial progress, more still needed to be done.

The IMF, European Central Bank and the EU - known as the “troika” - have demanded Greece fire thousands of civil servants and slash government spending in order to secure the loans.

Officials from the three organisations said on Monday Greece’s finances were improving, although they said the country was making reforms too slowly.

Greece’s economy has been in recession since 2007 and unemployment has spiraled to above 27 percent, in part because of the reforms and austerity measures it is implementing.

The troika recommended that the next loan payments be made.

The finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro agreed.

Belgian Finance Minister KoenGeens said the loans would be divided into three groups and disbursed in July, August and October.

“Greece is getting on track,” said Wolfgang Schaeuble, Germany’s finance minister, as he left the meeting in Brussels.

“It is not easy for them.”

After years of overspending, Greece nearly went bankrupt and is now surviving on rescue loans.

To ensure that the government keeps up with the reforms it promised in exchange for $309bn in bailout loans, its creditors turn over the funds slowly - and only after rigorous assessments of the country’s progress.

The troika said the country’s reform programme remained “broadly in line” with projections.

It also laid out the hope of a gradual return to growth next year.

However, it added that “the outlook remains uncertain”.

Turkish police evacuate Taksim Square

T

urkish riot police fired tear gas and water cannon to block demonstrators from entering Gezi Park in Istanbul, the birthplace of unrest that engulfed the country last month.

The police move came after protesters started to gather in Taksim Square to enter Gezi Park which was reopened to public by Turkish authorities earlier in the day but closed again shortly on Monday.

Clashes between police and protesters continued late into the evening in the Taksim area, as a spokesman for Taksim Solidarity Platform, the umbrella group of the protesters, told a news

conference police detained more than 80 people.

SerpilKaracan, reporting from Istanbul, said that after The Taksim Solidarity Platform called to gather at the area, police cleared people from the park and prevented others from entering.

Istanbul Governor HüseyinAvniMutlu announced the opening of the park earlier in the day, warning those who defy laws and state officials will face harsh response. “Gezi Park won’t be occupied again, isn’t the place for demonstrations, march without permit is illegal,” he said.

The governor also said there’ll

Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu

increasingly authoritarian.

Four people have been killed and nearly 7,500 people injured, according to the Turkish Medical Association.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

The harm Nigeria does to the North Contd. from Back Page One other factor that has worked against the North is its long years of ruling the country. There is a form of complacency that comes from the feeling of “We are in charge.” At such periods, you let your guards down; you don’t complain so as not to overheat the administration of your “kinsman”. But when your brother is not in charge, you feel left out and thereby complain the loudest of marginalisation. Those in charge bend backwards to satisfy you with different projects. The North should de-emphasise its focus on the presidency. Forty years of Northern presidency – civilian or military – have not offered the North any tangible advantage.

Those who hate the truth would rise in righteous anger, seeing this treatise as the work of an enemy rather than digesting the hard truth and finding solutions to a worsening problem. And those who love ethnic bashing will quickly see it as advantage to start shooting at the North. But the truth is that the progress of the North will serve both the interest of the North and South.

There should be a two-way approach to this problem. The North should set up a 20-year target to catch up with the South in education and entrepreneurship.

The Northern states must make it an offence for any parent to deny their child education. The state governors and local government council chairmen need to start a programme of sending as many Northern children as possible to Southern states for their secondary and tertiary education. The new Northern youth need to leave their comfort zone: compete with their Southern counterparts, interact with them and imbibe some of the ways of the Southern people.

The second aspect concerns the uneducated youth who may no longer want to go to school. Lack of education is no impediment to success. The Northern governors and local council chairmen should start an intensive skills acquisition programme for the youth. A labourer cannot train another, neither can he rise much in life if he continues as an unskilled labourer.

But someone who has learnt masonry, tiling, sewing, vehicle repair, generator repair, painting, plumbing, etc, can grow to a level where he will have apprentices.

Massive construction takes place non-stop across the federation.

Nigerians have an unquenchable appetite for cars and fashion. So, they need these services. That way, the number of skilled workers increases; the earning power of the people increases; and such people can afford a better life for their children, gradually changing the face of their community.

Quota system or federal character is derogatory and has worsened things for the North.

Every Northerner who loves the North must tell Nigeria to stop insulting the North with this federal character bait. The North must refuse anything offered it on a platter: it is either a Greek gift or a poisoned chalice. The North should save itself by rejecting this insulting Unity School cut-off marks that cut it off from development and modernity.

PAGE 35

Strange World

Athlete does cart-wheels over moving cars

A

aron Evans is a naturalborn athlete who can jump further and higher than most average humans.

His signature move is jumping over cars moving towards him at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour.

Milwaukee-based Evans says he was just five years old when he discovered his talent for extreme jumps. He was watching a Bruce Lee movie when he saw the legendary martial artist run up a wall and do a backflip. Curious to see if he could pull off the same stunt, he went into the backyard and nailed it on his first try.

He’s been pushing the limits of his incredible jumping abilities ever since, and today he holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest jump over three moving cars. That’s three vehicles coming at him at an average speed of 30 miles per hour.

Most people would just jump out of the way, but not Aaron, he

Aaron Evans cart-wheeling over a moving car.

flips over them. ”I pick a point as where I’m gonna meet it, and as soon as it gets there and I’m at

a certain point, I get ready and take off,” the 25-year old acrobat tries to explain how he manages

to clear the speeding obstacles every time. I just like to think of it as a real-life superpower.

copper coin has ever sold for at auction.” The coin was made at the Mint in Philadelphia in 1793, the first year that the U.S. made its own coins.

Heritage officials said in a news release that the name of the buyer was not revealed but that he was “a major collector.” One of the coin’s earliest owners was a well-known Baltimore banker, Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr. “Mr. Eliasberg was nicknamed, `the king of coins’ because before his death in 1976 he assembled a collection that consisted of at least one example of every coin ever made at the United States Mint, a feat never duplicated,” Halperin said in the news release.

The final bid for the coin last week was one of the largest sales at the Florida United Numismatists coin show and annual convention, which runs through Sunday. Halperin said

a five-dollar gold piece from 1829 also was sold.

Halperin said there remain a few hundred 1793 coins in different condition, but that the one auctioned off Wednesday night is rare because it wasn’t in circulation.

Officials say it shows no wear on its lettering, its Lady Liberty face or the chain of 13 linking rings on its back.

“This coin is known as a `Chain Cent’ because the central design on the back is a chain of 13 linking rings.

It represented the solidarity of the 13 original colonies, but some critics claimed the chain was symbolic of slavery, and the design was quickly changed from rings to a wreath,” Halperin said in the news release.

Halperin said the auction had $60 million in transactions. The show runs through Sunday.

Penny fetches $1.38M at auction

The 1793 penny from the earliest days of the US Mint.

A

once-cent copper coin from the earliest days of the U.S. Mint in 1793 has sold for a record $1.38 million at a Florida auction.

James Halperin of Texasbased Heritage Auctions told The Associated Press on Saturday that the sale was “the most a United States

Man found in septic tank spying on mother and child

Grandmother graduates primary school age 100

K

enneth Webster Enlow, 52, is accused of hiding in a septic tank and leering at a woman and her 7-year-old daughter in a park bathroom, KJRH reported.

The mother told police she and her child were using the woman’s restroom at White Water Park in Tulsa County, Okla., when she noticed “there was a man underneath the toilet looking up at her,” according to a sheriff’s report obtained by The Smoking Gun. The outhouse-style bathroom has a concrete floor that separates the toilet from the waste-filled pit below, the sheriff’s report said.

The suspect was peering up from beneath the plastic toilet seat and “covered in feces”, the report said.

A

Mexican grandmother has graduated from primary school at the age of 100.

Manuela Hernandez, who was born in the state of Oaxaca in June 1913, left primary school after just a year to help her poor family with the household chores.

She only resumed her studies last October at the age of 99 at the recommendation of one of her grandchildren.

She has now been handed her diploma at a celebration held in the southern Mexican state.

Ms Hernandez resumed her studies at the age of 99 “I liked school very much, but I could not continue studying,” she told Uno TV. “By the next year I could already wash and iron.”

Ms Hernandez says she will

continue her studies in secondary school.

More than half of Oaxaca

state residents older than 15 have not completed their primary education.

100-year-old Manuela Hernandez (L) receiving her certificate.

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Digest

Why couples who don’t argue live longer

By Anna Hodgekiss

M

oney, the motherin-law, which TV channel to watch... the possibilities for rows between husband and wife are endless.

But while an argument might clear the air it is likely to be bad for your health, according to medical researchers.

A 20-year study of married life found that couples who do not argue as much are more likely to stay healthy and live longer than those who regularly row.

And among the most common subjects causing the

arguments that lead to bad health are finance and the inlaws, it revealed.

When it comes to the vows ‘in sickness and in health’, it seems to depend on how much friction there is in the marriage, said researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah.

They followed nearly 1,700 married adults over two decades, measuring both their physical health and responses to regular surveys on arguments, happiness and quality of life.

And they found that the more they argued, the worse their general health, suggesting

that being happily married is a key to long life.

The men and women were simply asked to rate their health on a scale that ranged from poor to excellent.

Two of the topics for argument mentioned in the surv e y a re f in a n c e s a n d in laws, which could be rowing over where to go for Christmas or having to put up with a nosy mother-in-law.

The link between happy marriages and health could be more to do with how it encourages both sides to look after each other, researchers told the Journal of Marriage Happy couples are more likely to cook and eat healthier meals together, the researchers found

While an argument might clear the air it is likely to be bad for your health. A 20-year study of married life found that couples who don’t argue are more likely to stay healthy and live longer than those who do

and Family.

Happy couples are more likely to cook and eat healthier meals together, for instance, rather than see one half of the partnership storm off to the pub or stay late at work eating junk food.

Less stress means they sleep better and if they get on they will encourage each other to ditch bad habits like smoking and to keep doctors appointments for instance.

And when couples get on they do other things together, which could include sport or other beneficial outdoor activities.

Lead researcher Rick Miller suggested that as the results show a link to happiness and health, going to counselling could be reflected in health insurance discounts for married couples.

He said: ‘This study also shows happy marriages have a preventative component that

keeps you in good health over the years.

‘The implication is that marital conflict is a risk factor for poor health.

‘Couples that fight or argue frequently should get professional help to reduce their conflict because it is affecting their health.’

He added: ‘When spouses have a bad day, in a happy marriage, they’re more likely to support each other and empathise with each other.

‘That support reduces stress and helps buffer against a decline in health.’

However, previous studies have linked unhappy marriages with depression, anxiety, eating badly, smoking and not sleeping properly.

The stress of being in a bad relationship may also raise blood pressure and weaken the immune system.

Source: Dailymail. co.uk

Can butter coffee give you more energy?

By Margot Peppers

The new breakfast smoothie?

‘Bulletproof’ coffee is an ‘energy-boosting’ blend of coffee beans and unsalted butter - but some health experts say it may actually promote weight gain, not loss

A

new craze is seeing coffeedrinkers blending their morning brew with up to 80 grams (twothirds of a stick) of butter, in a bid to boost energy levels and promote weight loss.

David Asprey, the creator of Bulletproof Coffee, claims that this concoction is full of healthy fats that will keep your energy levels up ‘for six hours

if you need it’, as well as ‘improving cognitive function’ and ‘shrinking your waistline’.

But some health experts, like Today diet and nutrition editor Madelyn Fernstrom, say the blend - which contains between 100 and 200 calories a cup - can actually promote weight gain, and that any extra energy experienced by drinkers is merely a placebo effect.

Mr Asprey says he discovered the power of butter-blended drinks on the top of Mt Kailash in Tibet, at 18,000 feet elevation.

‘I staggered into a guest house from the -10 degree weather and was literally rejuvenated by a creamy cup of yak butter tea,’ he recalls on his website.

He recreated the energy-boosting effects by mixing unsalted grass-fed butter with his trademark Upgraded Coffee - made from ‘low-toxin beans’ that make it ‘cleaner’ than Starbucks coffee.

According to Mr Asprey, butter contains ‘all the benefits of healthy milk fat with none of the damaging denatured casein proteins found in cream,’ making for ‘the creamiest, most satisfying’ cup of coffee.

The coffee also contains MCT oil - a

blend of coconut and palm oil - which Mr Asprey says is digested faster than other fats and therefore boosts energy and promotes weight loss.

Those who follow a ‘paleo’ diet, which consists of mainly animal fats and protein, are fans of the coffee since it falls in with their high-fat regimen.

Indeed, blogger The Paleo Mama

said she tried out the Bulletproof recipe and experienced a satisfying ‘high performance buzz’.

Others have pointed out that adding a pat of butter to your morning brew is equivalent to mixing in a few spoonfuls of cream.

And while butter and coffee may sound like an unlikely combination, it

Diet trend: Bulletproof coffee, which also contains MCT oil (a combination of coconut and palm oil) is particularly popular among paleo diet fans, who consume mainly animal fats and protein

Origins: Founder Dave Asprey claims he discovered the rejuvenateing power of butter when Tibetans gave him yak butter tea has actually been consumed around the world for years.

Aside from the Tibetans Mr Asprey encountered, who do indeed drink yak butter and tea at high altitudes, Ethiopians commonly add spiced butter into their coffee.

And in Singapore, coffee beans are often stir-fried with butter in a wok before being consumed.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PAGE 47

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Some Interesting Facts

R

efrigerated rubber bands last longer than at room temperature. So do apples, apples can last up to 10 times longer refrigerated.

•Regulation golf balls have 336 dimples.

• The Mona Lisa doesn’t have eyebrows.

• Honey Is the only food that doesn’t spoil.

• Thanks to you and others in various corners in all countries around the world, these Interesting Facts pages have now been viewed 2.4 million times. That’s awesome!

• Why are private sector psychiatrists in the U.S trading their cozy lives for 4 years in the U.S Army ? For the $272,000.00 Sign on bonus currently being offered.

• The automatic popup bread toaster was patented before the bread slicing machine. 1919 and 1928. That’s right, people sliced their own bread for the toaster for almost a decade before sliced bread was sold.

• Meteorites were very important to ancient Egyptians, they created jewelry from meteorites by hammering it into shape making beads and other designs. The jewelry was often buried with loved ones.

• After spending 17 years underground, 2013 is the year the Cicada bug is expected to emerge by the billions on the east coast of the United States. Some estimate trillions will arrive.

• The worlds largest yacht is 590 feet (approximately 197 yards) long and 94,000 horsepower.

• The restaurant ‘White Castle’ is Americas oldest and 1st hamburger chain.

• Mystery solved! 9 cases with 12 bottles in each case of 100 year old historic whiskey was found in the walls of a mansion during a renovation with the whiskey bottles still full.

The cases were stored in the living room but when later checked discovered 52 bottles appraised at over $102,000 were now empty.

DNA from the mouth of the bottles pointed directly to the 62 year old caretaker who has denied the accusations.

Leisure

• A Jet Blue flight was grounded and placed out of service after a woman spots a 4 inch scorpion between her legs. The scorpion reportedly crawled from between her legs to under the seat while the flight continued to it’s destination where it was then placed out of service.

• VaejovisBrysoni is the name given to the latest species of scorpion discovered by biologists. The scorpion was named in part after the individual who originally found the specimen in February 2013 (Robert Bryson Jr.) The scorpion was found in the Santa Catalina mountains of Arizona.

• In January of 2013 security officials at O’Hare

International airport in Chicago found 18 human heads still covered in skin.

In 2010 an Arkansas airport found 60 human heads and pieces of heads. Both were in route to medical facilities but had errors in the paperwork.

Weird!

• In February 2013 a komodo dragon said to be approximately 2 meters (6 – 6.5 feet) long wondered into an office and attacked two men with it’s razor sharp teeth leaving them injured with stitches and in the hospital.

• In 1938, Time Magazine chose Adolf Hitler for man of the year.

• Twelve people have walked on the moon.

Say what?

SUDODKU

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Safety in numbers: A line of children cross the river on their way to school in the remote village in Rizal province, east of Manila.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 41

SWAN says FCT lacks capacity to host youth festival

T

he FCT chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria ( SWAN) has appealed to the President Goodluck Jonathan through the National Sports Commission (NSC) to withdraw the hosting rights granted the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA) because the personnel therein lack the capacity to deliver on smooth organisation.

Specifically, SWAN said the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed lacks the enthusiasm and fervour for sports and would therefore make delivery of the fiesta.

Besides, the association said the current Director of Sports, Malam Alim Musa, is nonchalant and lackadaisical in the discharge of his mandate and would consequently be incapable of delivering on huge the project.

Accordingly, the association urged President Goodluck Jonathan whose commitment to sports development is unquestionable to compel the NSC to choose alternative venue where the essence of sports is appreciated.

“SWAN pleads with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, who has demonstrated his love and commitment to sports development in the country, to withdraw the hosting rights from the Federal Capital Territory so as to save the Nation of the pending disgrace.

“SWAN observes with regret that with just one month to the commencement of the Games, there are no activities to show that FCT would be hosting such an event,” and lamented that the territory lacks the facilities to be a good host.

Further, a release signed by the scribe of the association, Martins Odiete, said the Area 10 Sports Ground which has been under construction since the era of late Mammam Kontogora is an eye sore and notorious as the haven of unscrupulous elements.

Peoples Daily Sports observes that barely one month to the festival, no committee has been constituted even as the FCDA has continued to neglect the FCT Queens in spite the huge budgetary provisions for the team. The players are currently being owed 18 months salary arrears.

Only last month, the NSC said no fewer than 11,500 students are to participate in the Games, this SWAN fears might put enormous pressure on the barely existing ones.

Stephen Keshi as he speaks with State House Correspondents yesterday

Bonus row: Sambo, Keshi in close door meeting S

uper Eagles gaffer, Stephen Keshi, yesterday met with the Vice President Namadi Sambo to formally brief the number two citizen on the bonus row between members of the Super Eagles and the board of the Nigeria Football Federation.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls that the team had protested the disrespectful slashing of their bonus by the leadership of the NFF without recourse to wider consultation and the consent of the players.

As a result, the players opted to press home their refusal of the slashed bonus by refusing to proceed to South Africa from Windhoek, Namibia en route Brazil where they were to

participate in the FIFA Confederations Cup. The Aminu Maigari-led board had reduced by 50 percent the hitherto $10,000 and $5,000 for winning bonus and drawn game.

Against Kenya and Namibia they won and drew but declined to collect the $5,000 and $2,500 the NFF attempted to pay them.

The presidency came to their rescue by wiring the balance to the team. In Brazil, stand-in skipper insisted that the bonus row is yet to be resolved.

Yesterday at the State House, Keshi, who himself is being owed five months salary arrears and was clearly sentimental on the matter, said he was more concerned with the bo-

nus of the players than his salary stressing that it would seem the welfare of the players is being toyed with.

But Peoples Daily Sports was unable to confirm whether keshi was there to formalise the federal government's decision to take up the responsibility of paying him directly.

When the pronouncement was made, following Keshi’s decision to resign from the post allegedly because of undue pressure from the technical subcommittee and other elements in the board of the NFF, the government had intervened and promised to take up the payment of the coach's salary.

Garba screens over 100 players for Eaglets Stories by Patrick Andrew

C

Isaac

oach Manu Garba needs goalkeepers and some defenders to complement the present squad.

Consequently, he has started screening more than 100 prospective members of the Golden Eaglets ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

The coach kick-started the two-week exercise with the sole aim of discovering players that he would used to strengthen the team in areas where it was found wanting at the CAN U-17 championship in Morocco.

The exercise, which began on Monday prelude the final phase of the FIFA U-17 World Championship to be held from October 17 to November 1 8, is meant to select fresh blood for

the team.

"The number of players we will pick at the end of the day depends on the quality of players we get from this crop of boys. We can pick as much as ten, but depending on their quality and whether we can match them with the ones on ground,’’ Garba said.

It would be recalled that the Golden Eaglets finished as runner-up at the U-17 AYC in April losing to Cote d’Ivoire 4-5 on penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw at full time.

“We had problems in the goal keeping aspect and then three of our key players were dropped after the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test in Egypt. So, apart from the ones we need to strengthen the team, we have to get replacements for the three players

before the World Cup,’’ Garba said.

“Picking the players now is not the problem but seeing if they will pass MRI; luckily for us, there are some U-15 players here who have already done the MRI before.

“But we need more of the central defenders and left full back; we need to reinforce them because we have a lot of attackers on ground now,’’ the U-17 coach said.

However, he said that the players who participated in the championship did not disappoint Nigerians, in spite of the fact that they failed to win the trophy.

FIFA U-20 semi-final fixtures Matches today Ghana vs France Iraq vs Uruguay

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

Sports Talle lauds Obuh for resigning before NFF’s hammer

By Albert Akota

N

ational teams’ coaches have been advised to jettison the sit-tight attitude of some of their colleagues who would wait to be forced out of their duty posts.

Alhaji Musa Talle, the FCT FA chairman gave the advised following the decision of coach John Obuh to voluntarily resign from the post instead of waiting to be

Gambo Mohammed signs for Club Africain

P

illars striker Gambo Mohammed has joined Tunisian side Club Africain on a three-year deal, his club have announced.

“Gambo has agreed to join Club Africain on a three-year deal. He will leave for Tunisia within the week,” said Pillars spokesman Idris Malikawa.

“Two other clubs from China and Saudi Arabia wanted Gambo but after we studied all the offers, we agreed that Club Africain’s deal was best for the player.”

Meanwhile, club chairman Abba Yola believes Gambo’s move will enhance the player’s career. “This transfer is in the right direction for Gambo.

It will make him a better player,” said Abba Yola.

He enjoined the player to be a good ambassador of the club as well as Nigeria, while thanking him for his total commitment to the club while he was there. The Super Eagles player had previously attended trials in Turkey and Egypt.

Ezenwa Otorogu and Victor Ezeji are some of the Nigerian strikers who have featured for Tunis-based Club Africain.

axed by the NFF. Talle said though some coaches may not want to let go of their posts, he said urged them to do so as a mark of honour and thus avoid being disgracefully kicked out as had been the case in recent times.

Accordingly, he urged them to emulate former junior Eagles gaffer, Obuh, who he believes made the right decision by resigning after the FIFA U-20 World Cup exit.

He recalled that Obuh had an agreement with NFF to take the team to at least

the semi-final of the competition, which was not met, and so did not need linger on or lobby to be retained, instead chose to go.

Talle urged the NFF to employ a new coach to continue from where Obuh stopped adding that the federation should not wait until there are tournament before a coach is employed. It would be recalled that the junior Eagles were eliminated in the FIFA U-20 World Championship in Turkey by Uruguay courtesy 2-1 win.

Sani Toro, Okala, Okagbue mourn POC Achebe, Oliha

By Patrick Andrew

F

ormer Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ahmed Sani Toro has expressed deep regret over the sudden demise of two illustrious football persons P.O C. Achebe and Thompson Oliha.

Sani Toro, who described late Achebe as 'guru', said the two-time secretary general contributed immensely to the growth of football in general stressing also that Oliha was one of the shining light in the Super Eagles' USA '94 squad.

He condoled with the Nigerian football family and

the families of the deceased even as former goalkeeper of Green Eagles, Emmanuel Okala and former coach of Cranes of Uganda, Harrison Okagbue did.

Achebe, three-time Secretary-General of the then Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), died on March 9 in the U.S., aged 83 and will be buried this Friday in his home town, Ogidi in Anambra. Oliha collapsed and died about fortnight ago in Ilorin.

Okala, who described Achebe as an encyclopaedia of Nigerian football, said the deceased had contributed his quota to the development of football in the old

Anambra and Nigeria as a whole.

He noted that Achebe was associated with the country’s victories in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly the second All Africa Games in 1973 in Lagos where Nigeria won the football gold medal.

Also, Okagbue, who also coached Udoji United FC Awka and El Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri, lamented Achebe’s death, saying he would forever be missed in Nigerian football circle. ``He was administratively in-charge of Rangers International; it was during his reign that laurels were won by Rangers," he said.

Reps pledge support to Ultimate Commander, Bash Ali

By Umar Muhammad Puma

T

he House Committee on Sports yesterday pledged support to two Nigerians who are poised to defend their world wrestling and boxing tittles later in the year.

Chairman of the House committee on Sports, Rep Godfrey Gaiya (PDP, Kaduna) said this while receiving a team of Nigerian wrestlers including Guinness Book of record seeking Bash Ali. “Our role as lawmakers is to ensure that thriving environment for sporting activities in the country thrive. I can assure you that we will not only give you endorsement, but will also ensure that you go to all parts of the country and get support from Nigerians. We are really concerned about sports development in Nigeria to see that more progress is made.”

Gaiya said that the committee believes sports have a great role to play in our national development, and called on the private sector investors to contribute their quota in sporting activities across the country.

Leader of the delegation, which comprised World wrestling champion, Osita Offor, The Ultimate Commander, Tee Mac Omatshola, told the committee that he and his team were organizing fight of the legends in Nigeria, which is the first of its kind to be held in Lagos and Abuja in September.

Meanwhile, former Cruiser Weight champion, Bash Ali, said the Guinness fight of the legends would bring investment and employment opportunities to Nigeria as it would attract many people to the country.

Coach sure Kada Stars will make top four

C Mohammed

oach of Kada Stars Basketball team, Sani Turi, is convinced that the club will make the final top four in the DSTV/Premier League in spite losing 63-77 to Mark Mentors of Abuja on Monday. ``The loss was unfortunate, we played a more experienced team, but we will bounce back. This is a strong and experienced team who played at higher level than ours, but i appreciate the effort of my team even with the challenges we have at hand,” Turi said. ``We hope to make the final top four in the league; we hope to win our two home matches and one away match to get the final ticket.’’

Team Captain Timothy Kwoar attributed the loss to lack of fitness as the players had

Obi

No truth in Mikel’s ban speculation, says Alaiya

B

en Alaiya, the Media Officer of the Super Eagles, has denied speculations that Super Eagles midfielder, Mikel Obi, might be banned from the national team. ``There is no truth in such a speculation. Nothing of such is happening and people should confirm things before publishing. I am surprised and amazed at such a speculation.

“It baffles me how people just come up with such thoughts. Mikel is a good and fantastic player and there is no cause for him to be banned from the National team. His services are still needed in the team. A ban is far from it now,’’ Alaiya said.

Speculations had been rife in the online media on July 8 that Coach Stephen Keshi, the Eagles helmsman, wanted the player banned from the team over a comment he (Mikel) made in Brazil during the FIFA Confederations Cup. The comment was uttered in Hausa language, which was said to have been translated into English for the coach. The publications did not say exactly what was uttered.

The Super Eagles would play a friendly game against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in the Mandela Challenge, scheduled for the Moses Madiba Stadium, Durban, South Africa on Aug. 14.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2013

PAGE 43

Sports Plateau Utd, Police Machine ban for dubious 79-0, 67-0 results

By Patrick Andrew

P

lateau United Feeders FC and Police Machine, who sought to dubiously made the Guinness Book of records with scandalous 79-0, 67-0 score lines respectively are suspended indefinitely from further participation in football.

The two teams were involved in a promotion play-off

in which the winners would qualify to play in Nigeria Nationwide League Division 3- the lowest tier of Nigeria domestic League.

In a release yesterday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) suspended the four clubs involved in the matches, which the football federation thinks were dubious, scandalous, alarming.

NFF 1st Vice President and chairman of the NFF organising committee, Mike Umeh, said the federation was dumbfounded and indeed alarmed when it informed of the development and thus decided promptly to direct that the four teams be grounded, pending further sanctions on all involved.

“It is unacceptable. This is a scandal of huge proportions.

Europe best footballer: Messi, Ronaldo, battle 4 Bayern players

P

layers of European champions, Bayern Munich, dominated the 10-man list released by UEFA yesterday to decide the continent’s top player for the out gone season.

Bayern, who defeated rivals Dortmund have four players listed and they include Thomas Mueller, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

They will contend with the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Robbin van Persie among others.

The award will be handed out on August 29 in Monaco, the day of the Champions’ League group stage draw and day before the European Super Cup. Franck Ribery, Thomas Mueller, Arjen Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger made the list alongside Barcelona’s World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Tottenham’s English Premier League Player of the Year Gareth Bale.

Messi was one of only two Spainbased players alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, the man he deposed as World Player of the Year.

English champions Manchester United’s Robin van Persie is the only other Premier League based player while Zlatan Ibrahimovic represents Paris Saint-Germain and France with Borussia Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski ensuring Germany provided half the nominees, hardly surprising as Bayern and Dortmund contested May’s champions League final, won by the Bavarians.

It will be the third edition of the award won by Messi in 2011 and Andres

Iniesta last year.

A short-list of three finalists will be announced on August 6, after which the winner will be voted for by journalists from Uefa’s 53 member nations.

10-man shortlist Gareth Bale (WAL/Tottenham), Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Real Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (SWE/Paris SaintGermain), Robert Lewandowski (POL/ Borussia Dortmund), Lionel Messi (ARG/Barcelona), Thomas Mueller (GER/Bayern Munich), Franck Ribery (FRA/Bayern Munich), Arjen Robben (NED/Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (GER/Bayern Munich), Robin van Persie (NED/Manchester United).

Ronaldo

Federation promises medals at Deaflympic Games

G

ad Onumaegbu, athletics coach for the Deaf, has promised to win medals for the country at the upcoming Deaflympic Games slated to hold in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The coach was convinced that the team would strive to win as many medals as possible at the fiesta, which is scheduled to be held from July 25 to Aug. 5 in the capital of the Eastern European country. ``It is just like any other Olympic

The four teams involved are suspended immediately and indefinitely, pending further sanctions. We will investigate this matter thoroughly and get to the bottom of it,” Umeh said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the NFF director of competitions, Mohammed Sanusi, has assured that the organising committee would meet to deliberate on the matter and

warned that severe sanctions would be imposed on all persons and institutions that may be indicted in the investigation.

“For now, that centre is suspended. The teams involved, their players and officials, match officials, coordinator and anyone found to have played some role in this despicable matter would be severely dealt with,” Sanusi said.

World, Olympic champ Pearson beaten as Robles roars

A

ustralian Olympic and world 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson drew another blank yesterday as she failed again to impress since her return from injury when finishing third at a meeting in the northern French city of Rouen.

In contrast, Cuba's 2008 Olympic champion in the men's 110m hurdles, Dayron Robles, posted an impressive form and won the race to herald his return from injury.

Pearson clocked 12.76sec in finishing third behind American duo Yvette Lewis (12.72) and Kristi Castlin (12.74), far

from the 12.28sec she raced when winning gold at the 2011 world championships in Daegu.

It was at least an improvement on her seventhplace finish at the Lausanne Diamond League meet last week. Robles was left in a buoyant state after winning in 13.18sec "I'm very happy because my recent races have been really bad. I'm coming back into form and I've worked a lot for that.

Dayron's back!," said the Guantanamo native.

Robles added: "Now anything is possible, even going under 13seconds.

But I have to work. I need

Lewandowski

Games; we want to go and accomplish something for the country and win as many medals as possible. So, we are going to make sure we give a good account of ourselves, against the world’s best,’’ he said.

Onumaegbu, who doubles as coach of Sprint and Hurdles, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), said he was drafted by the federation to head the deaf sports in their preparation for the Olympics. ``We have spent over ten days in

to run and then run some more.

Meanwhile, Olympic long jump silver medalist, Mitchell Watt, has announced that he will miss this year's world championships in Russia, after a season interrupted by injury.

Watt said he would not be able to compete at his full potential in Moscow in August, and needed more time to get back to full fitness.

However, he hopes to be fully ready for the World Indoors early next year and the Commonwealth Games as well.

Messi

camp training very hard and would be leaving for Bulgaria on July 20. This is about the 23rd Olympics for the Deaf. We were in the last edition in 2009 at Taipei, China, and that was our first outing. ``We came back with two silver medals in the 100 and 200 metres. So, we are poised to achieve greater success this year,’’ he said.

The 2013 edition of the Deaflympic Games has been expanded to include football and table-tennis.