Peoples Daily Newspaper, Wednesday 12, June, 2013

www.peoplesdailyng.com

Vol. 11 No. 18

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

. . . putting the people first

Sha’aban 4, 1434 AH

S/West demands compensation for victims of June 12 violence

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How we captured 30 insurgents — Borno youths

6,000 refugees lee to Niger Republic, says UN From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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ome youths in the troubled city of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital who formed a vigilante group hunting for the suspected Boko Haram insurgents, said yesterday that they have so far captured over 30 insurgents in their seperate operations.

This is coming as the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR has refuted claims by government officials that only about 120 Nigerians have fled the country to neighboring Niger Republic as

a result of the state of emergency declared in the affected states of the North East.

The UN agency disclosed yesterday that the military offensive against insurgents in the region has forced more than 6,000 refugees - mostly women, children and the elderly - to flee to neighboring Niger.

Peoples Daily had earlier reported that young men in various areas of Maiduguri metropolis comprising of Hausari, Gwange, Pezzan and Bulumkutu, among others have formed a vigilante group, patrolling streets of their Contd. on Page 2

Yobe state Governor, Malam Ibrahim Gaidam, alighting from a tractor after test-drive, during the launch and distribution of tractors, fertilizers and farm implements to farmers, yesterday in Damaturu,

N11.35bn flood relief pledges

Dangote c’ttee blows hot

Committee vowed that it would “ ...the expose those who have not turned in their cheques by publishing their names in the national dailies in the next three weeks

”

By Aminu Imam

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ix months after some prominent Nigerians made financial pledges at the Special Appeal Fund for victims of the 2012 flood disaster across the country before President Goodluck Jonathan, such pledges are yet to be redeemed by some of them, investigations have revealed.

A Presidential Flood Relief and Rehabilitation Committee,

co-chaired by business mogul, Aliko Dangote and frontline lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba, which put the fund-raising together has therefore read the riot act to the defaulters, threatening to publish their names should they fail to remit their pledge on or before June 30, 2013.

The 34-man Presidential Committee, targeting a sum of N100 billion, held a fund-raising dinner at the Presidential Villa, during which donations and pledges made by prominent

CBN warns depositors of fraudulent wonder banks >>5

Nigerians amounted to N11.35 billion.

Some of those who pledged but are yet to redeem it have gone ahead to enjoy the tax incentives attached to their pledges. Advising the defaulters to respect themselves and maintain their honour and integrity, the Committee vowed that it would expose those who have not turned in their cheques by publishing their names in the national dailies in Contd. on Page 2

APC fails to produce interim leadership >>3

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

News CONTENTS

Dangote committee blows hot

News

Contd. from Front Page the next three weeks.

Dangote and the Federal Government topped the chart with the donation of N2. 5 billion apiece, while Chairman of Visafone, Jim Ovia and Chairman, Heirs Holdings Co. Ltd, Tony Elumelu followed suit with N1 billion each.

Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke and her telecommunication counterpart, Omobola Johnson had pledged to mobilize the Indigenous Oil Companies (IOCs) and other telecommunications firms, who were invited but were conspicuously absent at the dinner, to respond to the donation.

To motivate and encourage the audience to donate bountifully, President Jonathan had announced tax incentives for all corporate organizations that would donate into the Flood Relief Fund meant to alleviate the sufferings of Nigerians who were affected by flooding in the

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Editorial

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Op.Ed

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Letters

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Opinion

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Metro

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Business

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Stockwatch

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S/Report

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Property

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Motoring

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Arts

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country that year.

Obviously miffed at the continuous refusal of the pledge makers to redeem them, even when the Committee is about to move to the next stage of its assignment, which is to implement the rehabilitation of the victims, the Committee therefore, decided to make the appeal open.

A statement issued by the Committee in Lagos and signed by the co-chairmen said it would publish the names of pledge defaulters in the newspapers and other social media blogs if by June 30 they refused to redeem their promise.

The statement, titled: “Public Notice: Redemption of Pledges” read in part: “The Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation expresses its profound gratitude and appreciation to all who answered the clarion call to be our brothers’ keepers through their generous donations and pledges at its Fund

Raising Dinner in November 2012 for the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims in Nigeria. We thank you immensely.

“As we proceed to the implementation stage of the planned rehabilitation projects, we hereby call on all those who have not redeemed their pledges to please do so on or before June 30, 2013, as a mark of honour and integrity as names of defaulters will be announced in all national dailies and social media blogs.

Once again we thank you and look forward to receiving the proceeds of all pledges made.”

Meanwhile preparatory to the fund raiser, the committee had divided itself into groups and visited the victims in all the states affected by the flood to ascertain the level of destruction and distortion to the victims as well as the destabilization of their farming and aquatic endeavors.

It could be recalled that the

nation witnessed the worstever flood disaster in the fourth quarter of last year when flood swept through many states putting millions of Nigerians in danger as 59 communities were reportedly sacked, 38, 228 displaced and about 160 people feared dead.

The President undertook a tour of some of the affected areas and promised that government would help them in the provision of reliefs and rehabilitation.

Also, the President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, went round some of the affected states and made a personal donation of N430 million, through his Dangote Foundation.

He had earlier made a donation of N50 million each to Lagos and Oyo states, to assist in the rehabilitation efforts after flood in the two states rendered many homeless and with their properties running into several billion of naira destroyed.

How we captured 30 insurgents — Borno youths Contd. from Front Page

The police and risk of securing Nigeria, Page 4

Int’l

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Strange World 35 Digest

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Politics

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Newsxtra

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Sports

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Columnist

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respective wards, hunting for the suspected Boko Haram members.

Our correspondent also reported that the gallant youths, aged bewteen 20 to 25 years, in a quest to apprehend the insurgents, now move with dangerous weapons comprising cutlasses, daggers, knives and sticks, among others.

Eleven of the youths, who are now popularly referred as ‘civilian JTF’, were spotted by newsmen, wielding dangerous weapons along Damboa road, saying they resolved to go after the insurgents to complement the efforts of the security forces and express total support in the restoration of peace to the state.

Abubakar Mallum, who claimed to be chairman of the youths, spoke to newsmen after intensive persuations, saying they decided to volunteer themselves into such dangerous job in order to bring an end to the lingering bloodshed and destruction of properties occassioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Mallum expressed dismay over the violent campaigns engaged by the insurgents, which he said had claimed the lives of their parents, brothers, sisters and other relations, vowing that “there will be no more hide-outs for the Boko Haram members.”

He said the exercise has yielded fruitful results as over 30 insurgents were arrested and handed over to the operatives of the Joint Military Task Force, (JTF) and even as he vowed that the youths would continue with the manhunt until all gunmen are wiped out from the state in particular and the country in general.

The chairman of the youths added that besides arresting the suspected insurgents, the volunteer group is equally engaged in assisting the security forces with the clues on the hide-outs of the gunmen.

Asked how they are able to identify the Boko Haram members, Mallum said: “ You know most of the gunmen are living in our midst

Youth calling themselves ‘Civilian JTF’ engage in hunting Boko Haram insurgents, yesterday in Maiduguri.

and they always move freely with their arms, so we easily fish them out even if they don’t carry arms during the arrest.So whenever we sight an insurgent in a particular area, we hurriedly mobilise our members to apprehend him and hand him over to security forces, but when a suspect attempts to resist arrest, we beat and tie him up”.

He said most of suspects they have succeeded in arresting live in Mafoni, Hausari, Bolori, Gwange and Ruwan Zafi Wards, adding that they have been getting support from the JTF and the general public.

He stated that presently, the group has over 100 members spread across various areas and are recruiting more youths just as he expressed optimism that the way things are happening, the crisis would soon come to an end.

On how they dared armed suspects to apprehend them, added:”Well, if we realize that our target is carrying rifle, we don’t confront him directly but rather devise another strategy where we divide ourselves, with one group throwing stones at him, as he concentrate on dodging the stones, the other group will then approach

him with dangerous weapons. So this is how we will chase him away and in sensing defeat, he will throw away the rifle in order to sneak into public, before then, we quickly apprehend him.”

He called for support from government and other relevant stakeholder to enable them offer meaningful contributions in the fight against insurgency.

Meanwhile, more corpses of suspected insurgents, killed in a gun-duel with security forces are being dumped inside a ditch along Biu road bridge in Maiduguri metropolis.

Our correspondent who visited the scene yesterday reported that besides the already decomposed eight deads bodies dumped last week, additional 20 were equally dumped at same area.

The indiscriminate dumping of corpses, it was gathered, may not be unconnected with the new policy introduced by some public hospitals in the state for ultimate rejection of corpses brought with gunshot injuries.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR and other agencies have raised the fears that the longer the emergency

goes on in the three affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, the more the North East’s vulnerable local population, which includes some of the poorest people on earth, will suffer.

“Those UNHCR has spoken to say they escaped for fear of being caught in the government-led crackdown,” notes from a UNHCR briefing in Geneva said, adding that they had reported air strikes were continuing near Lake Chad, where Nigeria borders Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

The military was not immediately available for comment, but in a statement on Friday defense spokesman Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade denied a report that Nigerian refugees were “pouring into” Niger.

The UNHCR said Niger had received 2,692 Nigerian citizens, with another 3,544 originally from Niger but who were living in Nigeria, and 94 people of other nationalities, mainly Chadian.

They are “putting a strain on meager local food and water resources. Niger ... itself struggles with food insecurity due to years of drought,” the U.N. agency said.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

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News Benue flood victims accuse govt of misappropriation of relief funds

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President Goodluck Jonathan (4th right), Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (4th Leftt), who are chairman and vice-chairman of the National Space Council (NSC) respectively in a group photograph with other members of the council after their inauguration by the president, yesterday at State House, Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

Interior Minister decorates new Immigration boss

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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he Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, yesterday decorated the new Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) boss, David Shikfu Parradang, urging him to restore integrity and discipline in the service.

This follows his appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday.

Moro said the choice of Parradang at this critical moment of the service was necessary to restructure the service of certain irregularities that beclouded it recently.

“Because of the insecurity in the country, it became imperative that a new pragmatic, disciplined, hardworking committed thorough bred Immigration officer should be appointed to restructure and re-

engineer the immigration service, in order to deal effectively with contemporary Immigration matter”.

“Any officer who acts in disregard for extent regulations guiding the service will be dismissed” In line with regulations guiding the service, the Minister announced the retirement of five Deputy Comptroller Generals.

Meanwhile, Chief Whip of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Golu Timothy yesterday thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for addressing what he called the marginalization which the state had been made to go through by appointing their son, as the new Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, saying the president should be rest assured of the totality of plateau votes come 2015.

In a statement, Golu who described Jonathan as a listening

leader who is sensitive to the plight of his people, commended the president for his excellent performance in the last 2 years as reflected in his performance report which he presented on May 29.

Urging all Nigerians to support Jonathan in his on-going bid take the nation to the next level, the chief whip said, “The appointment of Nde paradang has lifted the spirit of the people of Plateau and raised their confidence in the federal government as the state seems to have been forgotten and marginalised in federal appointments.

“President Jonathan has demonstrated objectivity and merit by this appointment. Plateau people are happy and proud of the PDP led government and it is for this reason that we will stop at nothing to ensure that the president continues with his transformation agenda which is

basically people oriented.

“While we have also noticed with dismay the antics of opposition in the country geared at distracting the Jonathan administration from delivering all the deliverables his economic team with in stock to achieve and fulfill his electoral promise to the people of Nigeria, we urge our dear president not to be deterred by the evil machinations of those who vowed that the country would not forge ahead in its present state as big brother of Africa.

“Apart from this kind gesture extended to the people in the Plateau by the appointment of one of its illustrious sons, we believe strongly that four years will be too small for the president to turn the fortunes of this country around for good; hence, we are also by this statement endorsing for a second shot at the presidency come 2015.”

ictims of last year’s flooding in Benue State have appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in the release of the N500 million relief fund meant for the affected people.

Some of the flood victims, who spoke in Makurdi on Tuesday, said they were dissatisfied with the way the state government handled the fund and accused the government of misappropriating the funds.

The victims hoped that the Federal Government would intervene and ensure adequate disbursement of the fund.

One of the victims, Comfort Iorvihi, said: “The Federal Government is our only hope; the President, out of pity, gave us the money but the state government has decided to use it for different purposes.

“We must change from this kind of thing; if we really have the interest of our children at heart.

We would pray so that God will change the minds of our leaders and they would release our funds.

“In other states, the state government had released additional funds to be shared out to the victims, but in my state, the government officials have decided to keep us in the dark,” she said.

The victims expressed dissatisfaction over the delay and in-action by the state government over their plight.

After the victims were forced out of the camps on November 24, 2012, majority of them had converted uncompleted buildings and makeshift tents as temporary homes. (NAN)

APC fails to produce interim leadership, applies to INEC for registration

By Ikechukwu Okoforadi

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fter weeks of discussions, which culminated in concessions and sacrifices among its members, the All Progressives Congress, APC, has finally submitted application to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, seeking its registration as a political party.

After a four-hour long meeting in Abuja with other members, a member of the Joint Inter-Party Merger Committee, JIMC, of the association, Tom Ikimi, who briefed journalists on its outcome, said the application signed by the national chairmen, national secretary, and the national treasurer of the three parties, was submitted to the Commission last Friday.

He, however, said consultations on the membership of the interim executive of the association are still on, an indication that the parties are yet to reach a common position on the issue.

APC is the merger of five opposition political parties, namely the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Congress for Progressive Parties, CPC; All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP: the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP; and a section of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. Mr. Ikimi explained that only the officials of ACN, CPC and ANPP signed the document sent to INEC because they are the only ones that have done their national conventions where the plan to merge into APC was endorsed by their members in line with the Electoral Act 2010 (as

amended).

“The document sent to INEC was signed statutorily by the national chairman, the national secretary and national treasurers of each of the merging parties and for now only three parties have done conventions – ACN, ANPP and CPC and these are the ones authorised to have those documents signed. That is they are nine people who have signed those documents.

“The request was submitted, I understand, last Friday. The request for the approval of the merging parties has been submitted and signed by the three signatories that are authorised to sign,” Mr. Ikimi, who heads ACN Merger Committee, said.

Ikimi, who was flanked by the chairman of the CPC Merger

Committee, Abubakar Gadi; and that of ANPP, Ibrahim Shekarau; said the JIMC could not conclude discussion on the membership of the interim management committee of APC, because of the need to make further consultations on the issue.

“That is being discussed, that is being worked out,” he said. And we need to consult further with our various parties in order to agree to those names.”

The former foreign affairs minister denied claim that there was disagreement among the parties on the sharing of positions.

He said, “There is no disagreement. We as merging committee, we are through and we had a hitch-free meeting this afternoon and have made some very fundamental decisions and one

of the decisions is that we should consult further with our various parties.”

He explained that the JIMC has worked assiduously for more than four months and has achieved remarkable progress towards the merger of the parties to form the APC. According to him, the committee was able to conclude work amicably on the choice of name, logo, slogan, symbol, a constitution and a manifesto, adding that this permitted the merging parties to hold hitch-free conventions in Lagos, Abuja and Gusau, respectively.

He added, “I am aware that millions of Nigerians await the final registration of our new party the APC so that they can avail themselves the opportunity to take up its membership.”

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

The Page 4 Report

The police and risk of securing Nigeria Like never before in the history of maintenance of civil peace and security in Nigeria, efforts by the Nigeria Police at curtailing insecurity ravaging the country have recorded huge casualties, as some officers in line of duty have paid the supreme price of death. This, Chijioke Okoronkwo, of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) examines the police and risk of securing Nigeria.

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n the past few weeks, no fewer than 70 policemen have been killed in the line of duty, a development that observers describe as worrisome.

They were killed in various circumstances ranging from mob attack, ambush by cult members, Boko Haram sect activities and armed robbery, among other means.

Reports about killings of policemen are also frequently pronounced in the media, the most recent being in Bayelsa, Benue, Borno and Nasarawa.

For instance, reports show that 12 policemen were killed by suspected militants in Bayelsa, 22 were also killed when a prison, a police base and other buildings in Bama, Borno were attacked.

More worrisome was the news that more than 30 police officers were killed in an ambush by a cult group at Alakyo village, Lafia in Nasarawa State, while five policemen were killed by a mob in Benue.

Observers say that while the police have the statutory role to protect lives and property, it becomes bothersome when such security agents face challenges such as this.

They, therefore, note that it is high time the police found other lawful tactics to maintain law and order in the society.

However, the police authority insists that the current security challenges are being curtailed, assuring the citizens of optimal protection against attacks.

CSP Frank Mba, the Deputy Police Public Relations Officer said the authority had directed field commanders and special units, irrespective of ranks in the police, to ensure an end to acts of terrorism, violence, killings and lawlessness.

Quoting the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Abubakar in a statement, Mba said the authority considered the attack as against the collective will of Nigerians to protect and preserve the country.

Analysing the roles of security agents, Mr Lawrence Alobi, a security consultant, said self-preservation was the first law of nature, hence policemen should protect themselves to protect others.

He said that although an attack on the police was against the sovereignty of Nigeria, the police should upgrade necessary operational strategies to be effective.

He said the police had the constitutional right to effect arrests and

Police officers were killed in an ambush by a cult group at Alakyo village, Lafia in Nasarawa State

“

observers note that although attacks on security agents are not peculiar to Nigeria, efforts should be made to make the Police efficient.

IG, Mr Mohammed Abubaka

called on Nigerians to have a change of attitude towards the force. ``They should properly be equipped to repel attacks and the citizens owe it an obligation to cooperate with the police by providing useful information. ``Look at what happened during Boston marathon bombing in the U.S recently, how all the citizens joined hands with the police in tracking down the culprits,’’ he said.

Alobi called for the introduction of democratic education in schools to educate citizens on the values they could derive in a democratic protected society.

In the same vein, the Minister of Police Affairs, retired Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade, said the police needed to

be repositioned and well equipped to confront the spate of insecurity in the country.

Olubolade said that President Goodluck Jonathan summoned an emergency security meeting recently to address the security challenges and the spate of killings.

Sharing similar sentiments, retired Col. Abdullahi Mohammed, a one time director-general of the defunct National Security Organisation, called for more support for operatives of the country’s security agencies.

He said this would help the agencies to effectively combat acts of terrorism and criminality in the country. ``The operatives must be given all the support, moral and whatever, and they should be allowed to take action when action is necessary,’’ Mohammed said.

Giving the reason why the police should enjoy the support of the public, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin, the President

of Campaign for Democracy, said the vulnerability of security agents to attacks could reduce citizens’ confidence in governance. ``One of the key characteristics of a failed state is the lack of capacity or unwillingness of the state to secure the lives of its citizens. `` It becomes critical when the forces which the state uses for protection becomes preys in the hands of miscreants,’’ he noted.

However, Gov. Tanko Al-makura of Nasarawa State reassured the citizens that the group and its sponsors involved in the killings of security agents in the state would be found and punished. ``The state government will deal decisively with those fanning the embers of crisis in the state, including their sponsors because we have had enough bloodshed in Nasarawa State. ``Those that are bent on sabotaging our efforts will not go unpunished; it is unfortunate that some people still perpetrate evil against their fellow human beings. ``There is no hiding place for unpatriotic individuals; there is no cause that can justify the killing of innocent souls,’’ he warned.

Nonetheless, observers note that although attacks on security agents are not peculiar to Nigeria, efforts should be made to make the Police efficient.

They note that it is a paradox that the force which has received accolades for its gallantry in global peace efforts, should become a vulnerable outfit at home.

They, therefore, recommend the provision of equipment for efficient information gathering and training, as well as citizens’ involvement, to guarantee security of lives and property.

Source: NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 5

South/West demands compensation for victims of June 12 violence From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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wenty years after the annulment of June 12 election, the South West region is demanding compensation for victims who were killed during the June 12 1993 elections protest.

South West self determination group, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) said that government should immediately begin a compensation plan to include victims of June 12, “especially the ordinary Nigerians who were killed while protesting the

annulment of the 1993 elections.”

Speaking at a press conference in Lagos to mark the June 12 20th anniversary OPC founder Dr. Frederick Fasehun, also asked the federal government to proclaim June 12 as Nigeria Unity day.

Fasehun recalled that as part of events marking the last Democracy Day, “President Goodluck Jonathan announced the payment of N5.7 billion in compensations to victims of the 2011 post-election violence. Some governors have made similar gestures in the past.

“What is good for the

goose must be good for the gander. We, therefore, urge the Federal Government under President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately work out a comprehensive compensation plan for Nigerians who died in the struggle for democracy.

“We demand that government should immediately expand the scope of the current compensation plan to include victims of June 12, especially the ordinary Nigerians who were killed while protesting the annulment of the 1993 elections.

“Those who died for June 12

must not die in vain. Victims of June 12 must be compensated.”

Fasehun said that June 12 gave birth to May 29. “the intensity and internationalizing of the June 12 struggle by democratic elements finally culminated in the termination of Military rule on May 29, 1999.

“Those in the current civilian regime are beneficiaries of the June 12 struggle. Those in position today owe their relevance to everyone who made sacrifices towards the establishment of this Republic; and those are the heroes of June 12.”

News

Sokoto PDP holds grand reception for Wamakko

From Mahmoud Muhammad, Sokoto

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o douse tension, arrangement has been completed by Sokoto State Chapter of the PDP to received their Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wammakko, who was allegedly suspended by the party’s headquarters.

The party coincidentally, suspended the Governor last week alongside with his State party scribed Aminu Bello ACY, over what they allegedly described as anti party activities on the side of the Governor, while Aminu Bello was over allegedly replying the party on the latter received by NWC of the party.

Beside, the suspension of the Governor which has triggered the whole party supporters in Sokoto, who however, assured its will come out em mass and received their leader tomorrow at the Sultan Abubakar III International Airport, Sokoto.

$1.69m fraud: Court remands Fred Ajudua in prison From Matthew Irinoye, Lagos

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R-L: Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, receiving legal publications from Director General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Professor Epiphany Azinge, during the latter’s visit to the speaker, yesterday National Assembly, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

CBN warns depositors of ‘fraudulent wonder banks’

By Abdulwahab Isa

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned the banking public to be circumspect of financial institutions that offer fantastic returns on investment (ROI), saying such organs belong to booby - trap banks that defraud unsuspecting customers of their deposits.

Director, Corporate Communications of CBN Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor gave the warning yesterday in Abuja at a briefing by Bankers’ Committee that deliberated on crucial issues of importance to finance sector and economy.

The Bankers’ Committee is a platform for Bank’s CEOs where they congregate bi-monthly to discuss issues affecting the banking

sector in particular and economy at large. It is superintends by CBN Governor.

The apex also clarified that its regulatory functions of oversighting conventional banks do not cover ‘wonder banks ‘, warning that any gullible customer that falls prey to their tricks of will bear the brunt.

“Wonder banks are not regulated

by CBN and therefore, anybody that tangles with them do so on his/her own. Any institution that claims to be a deposit-taker and offers fantastic return on investment should be reported to Police or to the Consumer Protection unit of the Corporate Affairs department of CBN. The wonder banks are not regulated by the CBN”, Okoroafor warned.

CBN warning came against the backdrop of imminent launch of the

second phase of cash-less policy, tagged: ‘Cashless Nigeria’, which is expected to kick-off on the 1st of July in other states of the federation as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), after Lagos state was used by the CBN to pilot the scheme from the beginning of the year.

Giving an update on the envisaged cash-less policy to be introduced in five major cities of Abuja, Kano, Abia, Anambra and Port-Harcourt next month, CBN’s Acting Director (Banking Supervision) Mr. Fakunle Benjamin said the apex bank was impressed by the success recorded in Lagos state’s cashless policy, stating that it is poised to launch the next phase of cash-less policy in the afore-mentioned five states, reputed for high volume of cash transactions.

ustice Joseph Oyewole of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, yesterday ordered that notorious fraudster Fred Ajudua be remanded in prison over a fraud charge filed against him by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) since 2003.

Fred Ajudua, has been standing trial before the court over an alleged fraud of $1.69m but has refused to attend the trial since four years ago after been granted bail by the trial judge.

The Judge issued a warrant for his arrest since then but police authorities has not been able to produce him in court since then prompting an unending adjournments in the matter.

Building collapses, kills 3 children in Sokoto

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building has collapsed, killing three children of same parents in Adarawa area of Dange town in Sokoto State.

The structure caved in as a result of wind and rainstorm that occurred in the early hours of Sunday.

The victims of the disaster are: Zahara’u, Yusuf and Zainab Abu-Malam , aged 15, 9 and 7 years respectively.

The Chairman of DangeShuni Local Government Area, Alhaji Magaji Bodai, told NAN in

Dange yesterday that two of the children died on Sunday while the third one died on Monday at a hospital following injuries sustained from the incident.

He said he had since visited the area and condoled with the family of the victims.

The chairman described the incident as an act of God and prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased and for the family to bear the loss.

Bodai said he had ordered the immediate rehabilitation of the collapsed building. (NAN)

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

News Wamakko suspension: Civil society groups berate PDP

By Stanley Onyekwere

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coalition of twenty prodemocracy and Civil Society Organisations (CSO), including Transparency in Nigeria, Center for Policy Advocacy and Leadership Development (CPALD), Save Nigeria Group, Electoral Reform Project Initiative among others has berated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over the party’s recent suspension of Sokoto state governor, Aliyu Wamakko.

The group said the allegation of not picking the PDP Chairman’s phone calls, as raised by the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) against the Governor was baseless.

Speaking at a joint press conference led by Executive Director of CPALD, Comrade Joe Mesele, Emeka Nwana of Electoral Reform Project Initiative, Shaibu Abib of Save Nigeria Group, in Abuja, the coalition said it was saddened by the rising wave of

pull-down syndrome in the polity, describing it as “unfortunate and callous” since after the election of Nigerian Governors Forum where Rotimi Ameachi emerged victorious.

Th e c o a l i t i o n t h e r e f o r e called on the leadership of the party to as, a matter of urgency, rescind the suspension because “Wamakko is an asset that should not be toyed with.”

“We have found out that

the allegation making the rounds over the suspension of the Gov. Wamakko is meant to ridicule him and cow him.

“This is most unfortunate and wicked and it should be condemned in all its entirety.

“The Governor has laboured so much to ensure victory for the party at all levels since and has also demonstrated it in Sokoto by catering for the masses, hence such an allegation cannot sail,” the coalition said.

Dutse residents groan under abandoned FG road From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

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esidents of Dutse and its environs have decried the neglect of the construction work from Shutting - Kwanar Huguma road by SETRACO construction company.

The residents complained that the abandoned road work is causing untold hardship to both inhabitants and motorists plying the road.

A resident, Malam Hamisu of 3 Star quarters along the road told Peoples Daily that the deserted road work has caused series of damages to peoples vehicles apart from several accidents it is causing.

He said accidents occur when motorists attempt to use the paths that are motorable at the same time while the pot-holes and gravels along the road would either damage vehicles or even break vehicle windscreens.

Investigation by our reporter revealed that the dual carriage road that would traverse through the township of Dutse was abruptly discarded by the company.

The work was awarded by the Federal Government of Nigeria to Setraco Nigeria Ltd but was abandoned as a result of alleged threats on the expatriate workers lives after some of their colleagues were abducted at a nearby town of Azare recently.

Ex-Kaduna LG boss empowers youth with cars, motorcycles L-R: Chairman, Merger Committee of Congress of Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Garba Gadi, Chairman, Merger Committee, Chief Tom Ikimi and Chairman, Merger Committee of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, during the meeting with Merger Committee of Alliance of Progressive Change (APC), yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Azinge urges NASS to abrogate death penalty

By Umar Muhammad Puma

D

irector General of Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof.

Epiphany Azinge (SAN), yesterday called on the National Assembly to commence the process of repealing the death penalty in Nigeria’s laws.

Azinge also called on the NASS to legislate for the justiciability of chapter two of the 1999 Constitution so as to ensure that all the rights

enshrined in the chapter for the citizenry are guaranteed.

The NIALS team made their proposals at a courtesy call on the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, yesterday.

“We the Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies seek an abrogation of the death penalty in all our laws. It’s a matter of despair to hear that people still clamour for death penalty in the states”, Azinge

said.

He however noted that the National Assembly despite its efforts in the direction of lawmaking in the last two years, needed more capacity building in the area of legislative drafting.

He acknowledged that though “there is an National Institute of Legislative Studies”, the NIALS, also has as part of its mandate to build capacity on legislative drafting.

He also regretted that though the

House is prolific with bills, “Some of the legislations are not evidence-based”, as he disclosed that “The institute has done extensive work on chapter two to make it justiciable” and that “We only want to add our voices to what the National Assembly is already doing”.

Tambuwal told the visiting team that the House was already in the process of abrogating some “archaic laws” and has even “restructured the Committee on Justice” to carry out the assignment.

Zamfara House sacks primary education chairman From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

F

ollowing a recent report submitted by the Special Committee on investigations into Zamfara Universal Basic Education Board’s (ZUBEB) operations and financial activities, the Zamfara State House of Assembly has unanimously resolved that the embattled Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Murtala Adamu Jangebe, should no longer serve in any capacity in Zamfara state

government again.

In its 184th resolutions which was also copied to all security agencies in the state, the state house of Assembly resolved that the ZUBEB Chairman and anybody found to be a party to the excessive misappropriations of public funds should be arrested with immediate effect through the office of the Attorney-general and the Commissioner for Justice of the state for prosecution.

The statement, which was signed

by the House Acting Clerk, Isah Abdullahi Bayero, noted that the State House of Assembly has unanimously resolved that the Chairman of ZUBEB must return the sum of N1.061 billion against the initial figure 797.2 million naira earlier discovered to be misappropriated from the seven accounts operated by the Board.

The House contended that going by the discoveries made by the house, it was satisfied that it no longer has

trust in Jangebe to administer the affairs of the Board and he therefore should with immediate effect vacate the office.

The resolution made it necessary for all the recovered funds to be used to boost employment of graduates and teachers throughout the state by the Zamfara state government. The Assembly said this was in line with the efforts of government to battle the rising number of unemployed youths across the state.

From Mohammad Ibrahim, Kaduna

F

ormer interim Chairman of Kaduna North local government area, Hon. Usman Ibrahim, has distributed 10 motorcycles and six cars to unemployed youths in his immediate constituency of Kaduna north to empower them to be self-reliant.

At ceremony where beneficiaries were given keys of the cars and motorcycles, Ibrahim challenged the recipients to use the gifts judiciously to improve their welfares and that of their dependents.

“It unsettles me each time I look out through the balcony of my house and see youths roaming the streets aimlessly without being engaged in one vocation or the other.

“I have therefore resolved to assist them in my little way within my capability so that they could be productive to the society.

If you are blessed by God there is need to extend such kind gesture to people in need and I call on other wealthy individuals to follow suit as with that they can curtail the rate of unemployment going on in the country,” he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 7

News

Briefs

L-R: ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Mrs Salamatu Suleiman, pioneer member, AU anti-corruption advisory board, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, and AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, during the technical meeting of the African governance architecture and platform, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

NGO donates boreholes to Kaduna communities

A

non-governmental organization, Simon Peter Life Enhancement Foundation (SPLEF), has donated 13 boreholes to needy communities in Kaduna state.

The Managing Director of SPLEF Mechanical Construction Company, Simeon Opara, disclosed this during a courtesy call on the Chairman of the Chikun local government council, Hon Usman Aliyu Waziri.

Opara described the NGO as an initiative of his construction company to give back to the society.

“Our activities are aimed at bringing peace and unity across ethnicity, religion and geo-political differences and curbing of youth restiveness through reorientation, reorganization and disabusing their minds of negative perceptions,” he said. From Femi Oyelola

Gaidam disburses N76m to farmers

T

o support farmers to commence the 2013 farming season on time, Yobe state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam, yesterday launched the sale of fertilizers to farmers and also, commissioned 40 new tractors,as part of measures to boost agricultural productivity.

Speaking during the occasion, the Governor said that a bag of fertilizer which cost the state government of N7,312.50 would be sold to farmers at a 70 per cent.

He equally disbursed over N76 million to Fadama 111 farmer groups.

The Governor said that the 40 tractors and implements were procured at the total cost of N320 million adding that the aim is to boost agricultural production in the state in addition to serving as a source of enhancing revenue generation drive of government.

From Uche Uche, Damaturu

LASAA relocates to new head office

I

n a bid to expand it scope of operation and effectively serve the people well, the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LASAA) has relocated from its former office complex at Alpha Plaza Ikeja to a new office complex at Eleganza Plaza, Ikeja.

Speaking on the relocation, the Managing Director of LASAA, Mr. George Kayode Noah, stated that the head office offers better outlook for the agency’s expanding operations.

“From our new location, we will be able to serve our clients better and more professionally.

“We can now concentrate on our statutory function of regulating outdoor and signage displays in the state,’’ he said.

LASAA was established in 2006 to regulate and control the display of signs and outdoor advertising in Lagos State. The LASAA model is currently being replicated in some states in the country.

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

Abuja varsity: No time frame for medical college accreditation, says Okojie

By Maryam Garba Hassan

E

xecutive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) Prof. Julius Okojie, has said that there is no time frame for the accreditation of the Medical College of the University of Abuja which has over the years generated so much controversy.

Okojie said this yesterday in Abuja while fielding questions from the press at the end of a three-day stakeholder’s meeting of the Nigerian Research and Education Network.

Okojie who expressed disappointment with the action of the aggrieved medical students said their action would not make the

process of the accreditation speed up but assured that the accreditation will definitely happen someday.

He said some of the students who disrupt smooth flow of academic activities in the university do not have the five credits requirement to gain admission into any of the Nigerian universities.

Okojie said the process of transferring some of the students would commence after due process is followed while the accreditation exercise is ongoing and those who cannot be transferred to other universities and wish to remain in the University of Abuja and are qualified will continue with their studies in the institution.

Dana crash: “Compensation for victims is per passenger” From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he Ministry of Aviation yesterday reiterated that compensation for victims of the Dana air disaster in 2012 is paid to their families of the victims per passenger as against per family, as alleged in some quarters.

The Ministry debunked reports and allegations by some of the family members of the victims that the airline is reluctant and unwilling to pay the

mandatory compensation to legitimate victims’ families per passenger.

A by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation on Media, Mr. Joe Obi, said compensation for air crash victims is per passenger, not per family.

According to the statement, “in situations where several family members are victims, as is the case with the Dana crash, compensation is to be paid according to the number of persons involved and not per fam-

Jonathan inaugurates national space council

By Halima Mohammed

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Abuja inaugurated the Council for National Space Centre, charged with the responsibility of developing policy guidelines and monitoring the implementation of the nation’s space programmes.

Speaking at the occasion, the President charged the members of to evolve ways of enabling the country to get optimum benefits from the huge investments in the development of space technology.

He also emphasised the importance of space technology in the areas of national security, communications, industrialization and sustained socio-economic devel-

opment.

According to Jonathan, “we must evolve clear cut initiatives that will not only fast-track our industrialization process but one that will also see us, within the shortest possible period, able to build our own motor vehicles, our own boats, and our own aircraft and of course, launch our own satellite manufactured in Nigeria from a launch site in Nigeria on a launch vehicle made in Nigeria.”

The President is also Chairman of the Council with the Vice-President as Deputy Chairman while Minister of Science and Technology, Minister of Communication Technology, Minister of Education and Minister of Defence are some of the other members.

ily, as is being alleged against Dana Airline in some media reports.

“Neither Dana nor any other airline for that matter can alter this rule.

“Specifically, Section 48(3) of the Civil Aviation Act of 2006 provides that, in any case of aircraft accident resulting in death or injury of passengers, the carrier shall make advance payments of at least US $30,000 within 30 days from the date of the accident to the natural persons or such natural persons entitled to claim compensation.

“Additionally, Article 17 of the Convention For The Uni-

fication of Certain Rules For International Carriage By Air, under the Second Schedule to the Civil Aviation Act of 2006, holds the carrier liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger”.

Obi said, “Article 21 of the Modifications To The Convention.

The Ministry of Aviation, he explained, is working vigorously with the airline and the insurance companies to resolve all lingering issues and expedite the process of payment of full compensation to legitimate family members and next of kin of the victims.

Gombe plans to upgrade airport to international standard, says Commissioner From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he Gombe state government is to up-grade facilities at the Gombe airport to international standard, the Commissioner of Works and Infrastructure, Alhaji Shehu Ahmed has said.

He said that the government would key in to the current efforts of the Federal Ministry of Aviation to access funds for the project.

According to him, the funds would be utilised to remodel the airport’s terminal building, provide an operational cargo terminal and cold stores for preservation of

perishable goods for export.

“We want what will give Gombe the status of truly being an international airport; not a mixture of arrival and departure but things you see in an international airport in terms of character and design.

“Our aim is to make the state a real commercial and tourist destination, considering its central location in the North East sub region” he said.

Ahmed said the focus on air transport was because of its safety and reliability as well as timely movement of people and goods for enhanced economic services.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12 2013

PAGE 10

News Briefs

Illegal arms: Court remands Kogi lawmaker

A

n Abuja Chief Magistrate in Wuse Zone 2 yesterday granted a member of the Kogi state House of Assembly, Friday Sani a.k.a Makama, bail to the tune of N5 million, with a surety who must reside in Abuja and must be a grade level 15 officer and above.

The court also granted Sani’s co-accused, Job David, bail in the sum of one million naira and one surety in the like sum.

The matter was adjourned to July 15, 2013 for further mention.

Chief Magistrate Usman Shuaibu, however, ordered that the Kogi lawmaker be remanded in police custody following fresh allegations against the accused.

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

Livestock production: Experts converge on Abuja

A

gricultural experts from in and around Nigeria have converged on Abuja for a workshop on meat and milk production, to improve and bridge the shortage of these commodities within and outside Nigeria.

The programme is jointly organized by the ECOWAS Parliament, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) with support from the Ministry of Agriculture.

The FAO in its livestock review noted that, “there is 1.7 million tons of unmet demand for meat in the West African region and about 1.2 million tons of this figure is Nigeria.

By Muhammed Kandi

Jigawa trains traditional leaders on dispute resolution

N

o fewer than 1,350 traditional rulers across the Jigawa state have started receiving trainings on the alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

The chairman, Justice Sector and Law Reform Commission, Justice Tijjani Abubakar, in his speech explained that the ADR is a formation by the commission for settling disputes outside the formal court system.

He noted that the system is free from technicalities of court process and proceedings and at the same time less time consuming.

From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

L-R: Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, Commandant General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin, representative of ICPC Chairman, Mr. Isa Salami, and Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde, during the inauguration of Customs and EFCC collaboration platform for the fight against corruption, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Dutch companies intervene in Nigeria’s comatose textile industries

A

t least 50 Dutch companies have indicated interest to either start or expand their businesses in Nigeria The initiative is expected to generate about 1000 direct and 10000 indirect jobs for Nigerians.

Moreover, at the just concluded Business and Investment Forum in Netherlands, textile giant Vlisco Group, said it was ready to acquire not less than four of the ailing textile factories in the Lagos axis of the country even as the company is also

set to establish tailoring academies to train Nigerians.

The developments may not be unconnected with efforts of the Nigerian Ambassador to Netherlands, Dr. Mrs. Nimota Akanbi, to attract Direct Foreign Investment (DFI) to the country in line with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

At a meeting with the Minister of Trade and Investment Dr. Olusegun Aganga and Akanbi during the Business Forum, the Managing

Director of Vlisco Group Netherlands, Hans Oujendendijk, said besides sourcing of cotton locally to stimulate the economy, Woodin brand fabrics would be printed in the Nigerian factory while Vlisco would acquire and revamp some factories in Nigeria.

“It is a catalyst to kick starts the Nigerian fashion industry,” he said adding that, “we are also to establishing Vlisco regional office in the country and 50 retail stores.”

The Minister and the

Ambassador also held a meeting with top management of APM Terminal Netherlands, led by Christian Moller Laursen,who said his company would be constructing a multi-billion Naira multipurpose port in Badagry while expansion work on Apapa would cost more than $100 million.

Dozen other companies also indicated their interest to invest in Nigeria at the Business and Investment Forum which attracted hundreds of investors from both counties.

UN House bombing: Absence of prosecution materials stalls trial

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he inability of the Federal Government prosecution team to tender necessary material evidences and witnesses before a federal high court in Abuja, yesterday stalled the trial of the four alleged masterminds of the August 20, 2011 suicide bombing of the United Nation’s House in Abuja.

The four accused persons, Salisu Mohammed, Inusa Mukailu, Danzumi Haruna and Abdulsalami Adamu, who were all based in Kano when they were arrested are standing trial on a four-count charge, bordering on terrorism.

No fewer than 23 persons lost their lives as a result of the attack that took place at about 10:25 hours at the United Nation House Diplomatic drive Abuja.

The prosecution is relying on the exploded Honda CRV Jeep, its registration number plate Kano AV 38 NSR and photograph of the suspects as exhibits which were said to be under police custody.

The matter which came up for hearing before Justice Gladys Olotu of the Federal High court Abuja after series of attempts to prosecute the four suspects had failed, was subsequently adjourned to the 9th and 10th October, 2013 for hearing.

The prosecution counsel who

pleaded that her name should not be mentioned, had pleaded the court for the adjournment on the grounds that she could not provide all the needed materials to prosecute the case.

“My Lord, I am a little bit handicapped because we were unable to put our house in order.

“The letter we wrote to the police

requesting the materials and other exhibits could not get to them on time.

“In view of this little constraint, I ask for a short adjournment to enable us put our house in order” the prosecution counsel prayed the court.

Though, she was able to bring

one witness, Mr. Ibrahim Agu, the prosecution further told the court that the other one being expected to come and testify is a Divisional Police Officer in Jos. “We are bringing two witnesses in this case, one is here but the other one is in Jos and we have sent signal to him” the prosecution added.

Lagos building collapse: 12 months old baby killed, six injured From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

A

three-storey building at 38 Amu Street, Mushin area of Lagos yesterday collapsed yesterday, killing a 12-months old boy and injured six others.

Confirming the incident, the information officer at the National Emergency Management Agency

(NEMA), Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, and the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi OkeOsanyintolu, said that the building collapsed at about 1:00 pm.

Farinloye said, “the six persons injured by the collapsed building including the mother of the baby have been admitted at the Mushin Hospital for treatment.

NSCDC trains staff on counter terrorism

T

he Commandant Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Ikemefuna D. Izuka, yesterday said that the corps had its officers and men to fight terrorism and insurgency across the country.

Izuke told reporters in Minna that, “a total of 462 officers and

men of the NSCDC were recently trained nationwide in counter terrorism and insurgency to help other security agencies in the country tackle internal security challenges.”

He said the officers completed the three weeks training which was conducted by the Nigeria

“For now, we cannot ascertain what led to the incident but immediately after the incident, we embarked on a headcount to determine if anyone was still trapped under the rubbles.

“The baby and his mother were on the last floor of the building when it caved in on them and while the mother sustained injuries, the baby died in the process.”

Army Training Centre, Kontagora, on Friday.

He noted the training has made the officers and men to be better civil defenders who can take up their statutory duties including counter terrorism and insurgency anywhere.

“They are now well equipped to carry out their duties including counter terrorism and insurgency anywhere,” he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 11

Money Sense

How to handle financial fallout after death of spouse

W

e tend to shove u n p l e a s a n t possibilities into the back of our minds. But the truth is, you can’t afford to assume you’ll never have to deal with a true worst-case scenario.

So today I’m asking you

Money Tip:

Ways to save money The three-for-two trick Now, there’s a lot to be said for buy-one-get-one-free deals, especially if they pass the ‘Do I really need this?’ test. Then there’s three-for-twos; a particularly cynical way of stores to entice shoppers to buy an extra item they would not otherwise buy.

The ‘offer’ is always priced into the deal so do your sums and shop around.

Buy clothes and presents in the sales So you need a new suit and the one you like comes in at a cool £300. Wait! The chances are that you can pick it up in the sale - and there’s always a sale just around the corner - for £150.

The same applies for birthday and Christmas presents. Buy in bulk in the sales and you not only save money, but you enjoy stress-free pre-Christmases and no lastminute birthday worries.

The Christmas lottery Instead of trying to buy a present for every relative in your family, consider getting together beforehand and picking one name from the hat. You then buy one thoughtful gift for that one person rather than attempting to please everyone at considerable cost.

Everyone gets a present, everyone saves money.

The National Lottery - it won’t be you!

The odds of winning the Lotto jackpot are stacked 14m to 1 against each ticket. Some highly organised syndicates buy 14,000 tickets a week, which reduces the odds to 1,000 to 1 - but that’s no guarantee of a win. For the rest of us, the difference to the odds between buying, say, 10 tickets and one is so insignificant that you should limit yourself to the one and save the extra money in a Cash mini Isa.

Quote “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.”

- Oprah Winfrey: Iconic TV personality, businesswoman

to ask yourself the toughest question of all: “What if my spouse dies unexpectedly?”

Some of the first questions to ask yourself are logistical. In a crisis, you don’t want to find yourself scrambling from the start. Your kids and your family depend on you. To help you prepare, get the answers to these important questions today.

For starters, could you find all of the crucial documents vital to your family’s financial future and security? Do you know where they are? Do you even know what they are?

Perhaps your family’s financial papers are littered about the house in various locations, or in someone else’s house or office. Are they in a file cabinet, in a box in the attic, in a safe deposit box at the bank?

Find them and put them in a central location that you, your spouse and your adult children can easily access.

How difficult would it be for you to create an inventory of your assets? Track down the deeds and titles to automobiles and real estate as well as personal income tax returns and life insurance contracts — the whole gamut.

Do you have a will? Is it updated? Having a will and knowing where it is can save you a lot of the needless hassle of going through probate.

If your spouse leaves no will or you simply can’t find one, your spouse would have died “intestate,” which means that

all assets not jointly owned will be probated. Probate is the legal process of transferring assets in an estate. The process includes paying final funeral expenses, estate debts and taxes, creating an inventory of assets owned at death, and finally, disbursing remaining assets to heirs as specified by state law.

Closely examine beneficiary designations on your family’s assets. This is an often-overlooked step.

Many survivors are shocked to discover that beneficiary designations on financial assets — checking, savings, retirement funds, etc. — trump any will.

Planning a sustainable building? Do site investigation

A

lmost always, the excitement in, and joy of building a house becloud the sense of prospective homeowners to a point where they fail to consider some critical steps that need to be taken to ensure that the building/housing they want to erect is sustainable.

Building experts advise that before embarking on any building project, there is need to conduct site investigation to determine surface and subsurface water condition of the site.

According to them, this is very critical especially with the high incidence of building

collapse in major cities of Nigeria.

Akindele Apata, director, Engineering Services, Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory, says that in order to erect a sustainable building, builders need to understand the behaviour of the soil, pointing out that moist clay is completely different from dry ones.

Apata explains that moist clay is a material of many moods, advising that builders should “understand the underlying structure more closely in the right way in which case it can be a faithful servant, while understanding the wrong clay and making wrong use of it can

turn it into an exciting tyrant.”

He said at a housing fair in Lagos that a lot of money could be saved if explorations are made before a site is purchased, explaining that such explorations which could be made through visual inspection or geological survey may reveal foundations undesirable for the type of structure to be erected. “For a building to be sustainable, all the component materials have to be tested, explaining that the aim of the testing is to ensure that the workman does not fall below a certain specified standard thereby limiting the overall variation in the quality of the

materials used,” he said.

The basic ingredient used in construction, he informed, is the concrete which is a combination of water, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and cement, advising that “before mixing concrete, water should be tested for salinity, hardness, softness and purity; fine aggregate should equally be tested for salinity; coarse aggregate should also be tested for abrasion, compressive strength, and cement should be tested for initial and final setting time and also for fitness”.

This year’s edition of the Lagos Housing Fair, which opened Monday, April 30 with strong emphasis on home-grown technology for the manufacturing of building materials, had as theme ‘Indigenous Technology and Housing Delivery’. It was jointly orgainsed by Eko Radio FM and Beachland Resources Limited.

Also, in her speech at the fair, Apata explained that the fair was intended to direct the nation’s attention to the need to promote technologies that are home-made.

“We are convinced that Nigeria should look inwards and take advantage of its rich natural resources, adding that the Fair is also meant to allow stakeholders take stock of all issues of housing development, particularly as they relate to indigenous technology. Among such critical issues are construction methodology, building design, usage of materials, human capital development, and research and development,” she said.

PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

EDITORIAL

Boko Haram, Ansaru proscription events leading to the proscription and the legality, if not efficacy, of the presidential action. First, the president empanelled a group of eminent Nigerians to look into the possibility of amnesty for Boko Haram. Then following the skirmish in Baga and other places, the President clamped down a state of emergency in three

“

T

he federal government on June 4, 2013 proscribed two groups unleashing mayhem on the polity, describing their activities as illegal and acts of terrorism. The outlawed groups are the Jamaatu Ahlis-Sunna Liddaawati Wal Jihad, otherwise known as Boko Haram, and the Jama’atu Ansarul Muslimina Fi Biladis Sudan also known as Ansaru.

In proscribing the sects, President Goodluck Jonathan authorized the gazetting of “an order declaring their activities illegal and acts of terrorism.” This was contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati. The statement entitled, “President Jonathan approves order proscribing Boko Haram and ANSARU; members, supporters, collaborators now face prosecution under the terrorism prevention Act.” Abati said that the order which had already been gazetted as the Terrorism (Prevention, Proscription Order) Notice 2013 was approved

by President Jonathan pursuant to Section 2 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011 (as amended).

We appreciate the President’s candour, inspired by his patriotic zeal to end the terrorism nightmare that has threatened the corporate existence of the country in the past three years. However, we are concerned with the sequence of

Our position is that the committee should be disbanded now that its assignment obviously has been overtaken by the proscription order to prevent public money being wasted on it states in the North-east. And now we have a proscription order.

We wonder on what legal grounds the President proscribed a group like Boko Haram. This is a group that has not hidden its distaste and lack of respect for the Nigerian legal system.

There is no evidence anywhere to show that the group applied for, let alone got a registration certificate. So, how do you proscribe a group that is not in the first instance recognized in law?

Secondly, even if the proscription has a legal grounding, what if the order

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

drives the group underground and makes a solution to the problem more intractable? Won’t the government lose whatever is left of its credibility?

Worse still, by proscribing the group the government has raised serious questions about its sincerity in enforcing the amnesty agenda.

The same government that raised the Turaki committee on amnesty is the one invoking the provisions of the terrorism Act which provides a twenty year jail term for all those who collaborate with terrorists. Do members of the amnesty committee, working to get a soft landing for the terrorists not stand the risk of a twenty year jail term as provided for by the anti-terrorism act? What is the basis of its existence, now that Boko Haram has been proscribed, meaning that the government will no longer have anything to do with it, not even holding talks through “backdoor channels”?

Our position is that the committee should be disbanded now that its assignment obviously has been overtaken by the proscription order to prevent public money being wasted on it. Even before the President’s latest action was taken, the committee had not demonstrated that it was really on top of its assignment. It had been crisscrossing the Northern states affected by the Boko Haram insurgency without meeting any significant leaders of the sect.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 13

Opinion Political engagement- A new approach

By Nuhu Ribadu

M

y commonsense understanding of engagement in a democratic polity is the realisation of one’s rights, having studied and understood the deficiencies inherent in a system from which expectations of satisfaction have been unsatisfied. Political engagement is inspired or justified by one’s decision to discharge his or her constitutional responsibilities in an attempt to either react to an unpopular reform or policy or merely embark on a personal quest to contribute one’s quota to a government found wanting.

In our response to the dynamism of present politics, the traditional engagement that tasked the civil societies and opposition parties with engaging incumbent governments and their reforms or policies, we must pander to the non-violent form of citizenship mobilisation popularised by Bouazizi Effect. Mind you, I do not mean setting oneself ablaze to register a grievance. I mean exploring the power of our numbers, from the internet to the physical landscape, to investigate and challenge a political injustice; I mean defying attempts by exclusionists to tear us apart in our campaign for an ideal candidate; I mean understanding that for achieving impact, an engagement in cyberspace is not enough until it is propounded and taken to the actual world. Here again, we have a task before us: citizenship mobilisation.

In 1999, we welcomed a democracy with a hope of

building a civilian government in which every citizen is an active participant. A decade later, our democracy was led into chaos where the “who” and the “what” of our identification are colourfully worn to pronounce our differences and divides. This is a masterfully orchestrated bang that opened the Pandora box we have tightly secured since the unfortunate events of the Nigerian Civil War—in fact, since before then! We have existed as a nation struggling to forgive itself of the mistakes of yesterdays, but while we struggled with this, our democracy has become modelled into an avenue where sentiments are highlighted by pro-exclusion politicians to corner the votes of their kinsmen because they cannot do so on grounds of their individual reputation or records. This careless stratagem is a pathway to self-destruction begging for our collective, and very immediate, effort at snatching our future from the hands of those who ride on such ethnic and religious and regional sentiments towards self-

“

enrichment.

The challenge ahead is enormous. The challenge is for us to form networks that will engage and destroy the evil missions of the exclusionists and agents of anarchy among us. In a time of anarchy, everybody is a politician.

This is a time of anarchy. In a time like this, we should have no identities other than ordinary Citizen. We are citizens of a world challenged, a people confused and abused, a nation whose resources is misused by leaders whose major worry is the amount of dollars in their bank accounts. The situation is one of psychological abuse, existential abuse. My antidote for this monstrous reality is also psychological: First, while it has become really difficult to set aside our ethnic identities in discharging our civic responsibilities, we must know that in a democratic space, our only identity especially when we gather around ballot boxes and in the service of the nation is our citizenship: “Nigerian”. We must be conscious of this identity, it defines

a patriot.

Second, always have in mind that politics is not magic. And that people are responsible for the governments that happen to them. If the electorates wear their patriotism to vote in a popular candidate, the electoral officers too must know that their manipulation of figures is a betrayal of trust and their fellows awaiting them at home. No candidate can rig an election without complicity of the people. Third, offline and online political engagements are compulsory ventures of every citizen of a troubled country.

Though, I have always maintained that Nigeria is a Third World country and, for this, we must not be carried away on the social media. A percentage of Nigerians who have no internet access is important. In every decision, and agenda, we aspire to pursue, they must be in the know.

Fourth, membership of social and political groups and networks including community volunteerism is the surest way of fixing our weakened bonds and salving

let us have in mind that we are now in a sinking ship in which we alone understand, and can reestablish, the hydraulics of our statecraft. Let us have in mind that we are all politicians in this storm. The reality of modern Nigeria is one that challenges us to drop any other identity aside from that of Citizen in our effort to rescue the ship of state from this stormy sea of chaos

our rivalries. The more we meet to discuss personal and public issues without pandering to the designs of the exclusionists, the more we understand and forestall propagandas fashioned against us.

The new Nigerian, irrespective of his origin, must be a part of any network that analyses and tries to influence public policies or government.

Lastly, let us have in mind that we are now in a sinking ship in which we alone understand, and can reestablish, the hydraulics of our statecraft. Let us have in mind that we are all politicians in this storm. The reality of modern Nigeria is one that challenges us to drop any other identity aside from that of Citizen in our effort to rescue the ship of state from this stormy sea of chaos. All the destructions in the guise of inter-ethnic, interreligious and inter-regional clash are traced to politics and this supports my earlier declarations that every citizen of a troubled country must become a politician.

A politician is a conscious citizen of a country, a politician is first known by his citizenship, a politician is young and old, a politician is poor and rich, a politician is a thinker and volunteer, a politician is employed and jobless, a politician is a humanist and patriot, a politician is a teacher and student, a politician is you and I. This piece is excerpted from a speech by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, a former Chairman of Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to students of his alma mater, Ahmadu Bello University on June 8.

‘PDP power’ and the power we don’t have

By Jibrin Ibrahim

T

he late BBC commentator, Alistair Cook, transformed the famous dictum about power corrupts. In his own rendition, “power corrupts and absolute power is absolutely delicious.” For those of us who are students of power, watching Nigeria’s ruling party, the PDP, is a rolling semester on how to use power because you have the power to use and using the power is delicious.

The ultimate way to use power for a political party is to sack all your members. After all, why should a party need members?

That was exactly what a former PDP Chairman, Col Ahmadu Ali did in 2005 when he went on NTA news to declare that the “People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is full of members who fraudulently obtained their party membership cards” – (Tribune, 23/11/2005).

The party therefore dismissed all its members in November 2005 and requested that they all apply for new membership. For weeks, the PDP enjoyed the distinction of being the only ruling political party in world history without a single member. Subsequently, after a thorough process of screening, the right types of people were re-admitted back into the party.

Among those denied re-entry visa were the Vice President of the country and numerous state governors elected under the platform of the ruling party. An alarmed Vice President Atiku Abubakar led protestors in a national campaign insisting he was a foundation member of the party and must be re-registered. In a rare moment of magnanimity, President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the party to register the Vice President.

They obeyed.

Power is defined as the ability to cause or prevent an action and the PDP has certainly not been shy in using its power. The newspapers today are full of reports on how the PDP suspended, can you imagine, only suspended, Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers Sate and Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto State. These cheeky Governors only got what they deserved and they will no doubt get more. If a powerful vice president can be sacked from the party, who do they think they are to do what they did and expect to get away with it.

What they did was incredible. We all recall the little embarrassment of two beautiful brides fighting to be close to President Jonathan – Yuguda versus Shema. The party which is always alert on such issues deployed its vast conflict resolution

mechanism and forged out a compromise, the two stepped down for Governor Jonah Jang.

The party obtained signatures that all targeted members will go to the Governors Forum and elect Governor Jang. To Anenih’s shock, they went to the meeting and voted Amaechi as Chairman and he had the temerity to accept.

It was incredible rudeness to the bosses that had power. The fact of the matter is that the PDP is forced to use its power. The other rebels such as Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, Babangida Aliyu of Niger, Sule Lamido of Jigawa, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano and Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara States will all get the punishment they deserve. They must know that the PDP has 23 Governors so after getting rid of the bad eggs; it will still have enough left to continue exercising power.

It is well known in political science that the concept of the party whip was invented to force party members vote according to instructions and NOT according to their conscience. Moving forward, special punishment is being designed for Aminu Waziri Tanbuwal who in a moment of senseless belief in democracy convinced honorable members of the House of Representatives to vote for him rather than the

candidate the party had chosen. To add insult to injury, he has been caught on camera on numerous occasions chatting and smiling with enemies of the party.

Of course, all these people are in the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party which by the party Constitution must meet at least every quarter.

The last time NEC met was July 2012. Contrary to rumours circulating, there is no effort to stop NEC meeting. According to my sources, the only reason for the delay is the shortage of hotel rooms in Abuja. As soon as the situation improves, I believe NEC will be called. Of course the meeting will be orderly, obedient and productive because by then anti party elements would have been flushed out and the wonderful proposition from the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Tony Anenih that there would be an automatic ticket for all well behaved leaders seeking a second term will sail smoothly.

With all democrats flushed out of the party, victory in the 2015 elections will be assured.

Some people feel that political power could be used differently.

For example, it can be used to channel resources to produce electric power. I believe that the PDP leadership is thinking

along similar lines. Indeed, Vice President Namadi Sambo has just assured the Nation that the PDP Government will be producing 20,000 megawatts of electricity

by December 2014. The Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo has assured us that we will have 10,000 mega watts produced daily

by December this year which is very comforting. I was however disturbed by two statements from the junior minister for power, Zainab Kuchi. She claimed that only 40 million Nigerians are connected to the national grid which means the other 120 million are not connected. Her second statement was that the 40 million connected have not been enjoying electricity because the power companies were supposed to have been sold in 2012 so no provisions were made for maintenance in 2013 which accounts for the total breakdown of electricity supply in the country. I checked the electricity production figures for last Monday it was 3,869 megawatts. In 1999, we were producing 2,000 megawatts and we have not doubled production in fourteen years. This does not mean that we cannot have 20,000 next year, after all a promise is a promise.

Jibrin Ibrahim resides in Abuja, FCT

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

Letters & Opinion The coming implosion of the PDP

By Bayo Oluwasanmi

T

he political parties are a carbon copy of each other.

They do not adequately represent or address the needs of Nigerians who are at a great disadvantage when choosing a party that will fight for them. The choice before them is between Satan and Lucifer. Really, they have no choice. The opposition parties will not be responsible for the ultimate collapse of PDP. After all, they have never been a credible alternative or effective opposition.

The PDP is its own worst enemy.

The party lacks the refreshing resolve to steer the nation’s drowning ship safely ashore. Under the PDP central administration, freedom decays as material acquisition and corruption of the ruling class expand.

The danger of political amnesia is that the PDP’s failure to govern in the present is often a direct link with a failure to remember the lessons of the past. It may sound like alarming exaggeration to say that the witch hunting and persecution of real and imagined enemies of President Jonathan and the PDP will prove a fatal plot at a fateful moment. No one therefore, should be surprised about the withering opposition and seemingly insurmountable absurdities that have literally drenched the party.

The close minded attitude that excludes any possibility of learning,

By Iliyasu Dantani

A

n article with the above title, credited to Godwin Onyeacholem, was carried in some of our national dailies about a fortnight ago. I was shocked beyond measure and words by the level of ignorance and irresponsibility the author displayed, as well as by the deliberate distortions, outright lies he served the reading public in the name of an analysis of the serious crisis situation in Nasarawa state.

Godwin is without doubt a stranger to Nasarawa state; a total stranger its diverse ethnic nationalities and their cultural and social set-ups, their politics, their demographics and the complex social imperatives that define the relationships between these groups. Obviously, Godwin’s mission is to politicize the most grisly and dastardly mass murders.

To portray Eggon people as victims of official policy of discrimination is a gross disservice to the truth, for nothing on earth can justify this well planned and clinically executed annihilation of an entire unit of a police force and a score of state security service personnel on an ostensible mission to arrest an outlaw, a self-proclaimed shaman who had fermented several crises within Nasarawa state, threatened its peace and security, and caused incalculable losses of lives and inestimable damage to properties.

These incessant terrorist acts went on unabated, and with impunity, confirming people’s fears that Ombatse, contrary to its claim that it’s a spiritual revivalist movement, is, in fact and in reality,

need of reasoning forms the with themselves, bane of PDP’s because they undoing. I’m have a common persuaded Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, purpose and that there is text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written trust which are absolutely no not remote. The limit in the contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters means to the absurdities - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your realization of we’ll continue name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be their purpose to witness. I addressed to: are not difficult have said it to understand. elsewhere and But if the captain I would like The Editor, were dishonest to restate it Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, and full of lies, here again that 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. in order to prove the PDP has his commands been fooling Email: opinion@peoplesdaily-online.com wise, the ship the majority SMS: 08134607052 would sink before of Nigerians his lecture was to believe that finished. Nigerians don’t trust the two and two are three, that water party, its demise is assured.

PDP. freezes when it gets hot and boils PDP is fast becoming the PDP policy makers are not men when it gets cold, and with other largest redundant and persecuting and women of exceptional talent. nonsense that might seem to serve party in Africa. If the PDP can They lack the emotional attitude, the interest of the PDP-led federal claim superiority in anything, it is the empathy to connect with the government. Of course, when not in moral values but in morass. sufferings of Nigerians. The old these beliefs were distilled, bottled, Everything the PDP claimed it mechanism of hatred against packaged, and sold to Nigerians by has done to improve the lot of those critical of its inept policies the army of PDP image makers and Nigerians is at present, totally and and barren programs outside the publicists, the people still won’t put utterly false and futile. Examine PDP, renders the party backward Mr. Jonathan’s midterm score the pot in the refrigerator when and primitive. Because of its card. PDP’s spending habit is they wanted it to boil. Against the ruthless and harmful. Last week it bankruptcy of ideas, the pursuit prayers of the PDP, Nigerians will was widely reported in the media of personal political ambitions, continue to reject PDP’s Sunday that the Federal Inland Revenue internal acrimonious rancor, the truth being peddled in sacred, Service (FIRS) collected N1.5 PDP has submitted the nation to mystical, and in awed tones that trillion in four months. Nigerians long years of unspeakable anguish cold makes water boil. Because of can’t see the visible proof of what like children who are compelled PDP’s bizarre and eccentric strong the PDP led federal government to look on while their mothers are arm tactics, political persecution of did with the money. In a shipwreck being raped. individual liberty, intolerance, and There have been pestilence of disrespect for dissension within the the crew obeys orders without the

WRITE TO US

violence, raging poverty, famine of insecurity, misery, and folly for all of the 14 years the PDP has been in power. These morbid miseries have been fostered by gloomy creeds of the PDP. All these and other tyrannical and repressive policies have led Nigerians in profound inner discords that made all outward prosperity of no avail.

I find the PDP central government to be in love with misery. The party grows angry whenever hopes are suggested to them. The PDP enjoys declaring social and economic wars on the people provided their immediate family members are not victims.

The PDP is indifferent to Nigeria’s problems. It is remarkably astonishing that PDP remains calm and urbane and humorous to the torments and hardship our people go through. The party is dishonest and sophistical in arguments why things remain the way they are after 14 years in power. There is something smug and unctuous about the PDP: the treachery to the truth. The PDP needs a long residence in a moral and ethical purgatory. When a wounded bull has spent all his last energy, he’ll often scrape at the ground with his horns. The PDP sensed it is doomed, shows agony of defeat.

This is the pathetic picture of a defeated party with its head buried in the dust!

Bayo Oluwasanmi is reachable on olu@aol.com

Re: Genesis of Nasarawa crisis a deadly terrorist organization with cells embedded in every corner and cranny of Nasarawa state, its primary objective being the militarily take- over of the entire Nasarawa state, by force.

This assertion is backed by the fact of the many violent attacks by the Eggons against other ethnic groups. A few examples: the attack on Gidan Mai Akuya in 2001;the invasion of Assakio and Agyaragu in 2012;the killing of the chief of Burumburum, the invasion of peaceful people by nature. kwandare and the genocidal attack on the Fulani in Bassa and some parts of Doma LGA-all initiated by the Eggon militia groups. These bellicose and intractable activities by the Eggon terrorists are not consistent with the characterization

by Godwin that Eggon people are a very peaceful lot.

Godwin should be told that his claim that Eggon people are the most populous ethnic group in Nasarawa state is mere fiction, although, of course, being mainly farmers they are more widespread geographically than any other group. In any case, the supposed Eggon numerical superiority was proved to be false in 2007.

That year, as we may all recall, Senator Solomon Ewuga, perhaps the most popular and powerful Eggon politician, contested the governorship election in the State against former Governor Aliyu Doma, on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party. Perhaps up to 99% of the Eggon voting population voted for him, as one.

He got nowhere near winning the election, as we all know. If the claim is that he was rigged out, then we must ask the question, how come the ‘numerically superior’ Eggons, so bent as they were on putting one of their own in the Government House, allowed their most beloved son to be so humiliatingly beaten in that election? Isn’t rigging a function of the numerical strength and political ability of a group or political party? Did all the Eggons go to sheep when the election was being stolen?

Being largely farmers, the Eggons move around looking for land to buy or rent for farming, much as the Fulanis move around looking for grazing land. But this migratory aspect of the Eggon farmers’ economic life has helped to create in the state a complex set of relationships that are largely charcterized by conflict.

This, in addition to their extreme territorial acquisition tendency, has always pitched them against their neighbours and host communities. .Most importantly, however, Godwin’s claim of political marginalization of Eggon people is pure mischief. It is claim that’s not supported by any shred of evidence. On the contrary, evidence abounds that Eggon people have always been adequately represented in governance. In Lafia federal constituency, an Eggon man was elected to the House of Reps in 1999-2003, and in the 2011 election, Lafia people rejected their own son to elect an

Eggon candidate. His victory was not based on the preponderance of Eggon votes, but it was an act of deliberate political choice by the people because the candidate contested on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change CPC, which the ethnicity-neutral Lafia electorate overwhelmingly supported. Secondly, the Eggons have variously held high level positions in the state which include two deputy governors; secretaries to the state government; commissioners; high court judges etc.

If, therefore, there has been a systematic policy of discrimination and oppression put in place by this or previous governments, the present structure of power in which the Eggons seem to enjoy more than their own fair share of appointments will be absent. The problem, really, is that, generally, the average Eggon man suffers from ethnic myopia, a disabling cognitive impairment that doesn’t allow him to see beyond the tribe.

Nothing beyond the Eggon tribe and its interests appeals or makes sense to him. Not even religion, philosophy, ideology, or personal or social relationship matters. This primordial attitude has reduced the Eggon people to almost a herd of ethnocentric, inward-looking people. It also renders them vulnerable to an egregious ethnic programming that has made them not only myopic but highly superstitious.

One of the greatest losses the Eggon and people of Nasarawa

state have suffered in recent times was the death of Chris Abashi. The late Chris was one of the few most charismatic leaders the state has ever produced. He was the most detribalized, highly progressive, ideologically polished and whose commitment to the common good transcended the base ethnic parochialism. If Chris were alive today, Ombatse would most probably not have sprouted out and the present irresponsible crop of Eggon cultural leaders and political neonates who now pose as leaders would hardly have become so prominent and influential among even the tribe, and the state and the nation would most probably have been saved all the killings and bloodletting being witnessed in recent years.

The objective or goal of Ombatse is simple, though terribly shortsighted, parochial and extremely dangerous: “it is time to produce a governor in Nasarawa state by all means, come 2015”.

But in their foolishness they fail to grasp the simple logic of history, that no matter what, an Eggon will one day become the governor of Nasarawa state, just as one day, and who knows how soon, a Christian will become a governor in the state. So my advice to all us is simple: the way to get to the Government House in Lafia is not by genocide, banditry, intimidation and terrorism, but by the ballot box.

Iliyasu Dantani resides in Abuja, FCT.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 15

Comment

June 12 1993: A historical necessity for Nigeria

By Joe Igbokwe

A

lhaji Bashir Tofa, the Presidential candidate for the National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 Presidential Election who lost to the late Chief MKO Abiola was in the news recently concerning that historic election. Tofa said that “the June 12 1993 Presidential election was a fiction and its anniversary not worth celebrating”. According to Bashir Tofa: “Only those who don’t have anything to offer to this country to move forward can still be talking about June 12 Presidential Elections…. I am not one of those people that celebrate fiction that is more reason I don’t like to be talking again on June 12 presidential elections” Reading through Tofa’s scurrilous drivel and political dishonesty, my mind at once ran away with this thinking that Tofa cannot get it. The crushing, humiliating and debilitating defeat Alhaji Bashir Tofa suffered on June 12 1993 is still hunting the amateur politician the way that historic election is still hunting Nigeria 20 years after.

June 12 1993 presidential elections may not mean anything to Bashiru Tofa because he has no sense of history, he remembers nothing and hears nothing, but the world knows about June 12 1993 presidential elections in Africa’s most populous country, the crisis, the pains, the agonies, the tears, the killings, the deaths, the chains of events that followed the

annulments of that election, and the price Nigeria has paid for this mistake for 20 years.

Tofa and his likes may not know this but the trouble of June 12 will ever continue to hunt us until we come to terms with what transpired in those years of locusts.

June 12 1993 will continue to remind us of how IBB and Abacha used the full weight of the Federal Military Government and the instrumentality of state power and to destroy Chief Abiola, his wife, his business and nearly five thousand other Nigerians between 1993 and 1998.

June 12, 1993 presidential election was symbolic in many ways: it was the most peaceful election ever held in Nigeria since independence; the man who won the election and his deputy are

“

both Muslims. It was the freest and fairest election in Nigeria since independence. It was celebrated and extolled by local, national and international observers. For the first time in the history of this country Nigerians jettisoned ethnic and other primordial sentiments to elect leaders of their choice; there was no record of violence, intimidation, snatching of ballot boxes, multiple voting, rigging etc.

Twenty years after June 12 and 14 years of democratic rule, Nigeria is getting into deeper troubles everyday. Militant organizations have been putting knives on things that held us together and the center cannot hold. But of all these ethnic organizations: OPC, MASSOB, MEND, BOKO HARAM etc only OPC was historically thrown up by the forces of history to defend

their people when IBB and Abacha decided to decimate Yoruba leaders for refusing to accept the annulment ofJune 12 Presidential elections won by their illustrious son Chief Moshood Abiola. We may not remember this but IBB and Abacha descended on first class Yoruba leaders, sending some to their untimely graves, put some in jail and chased others to seek asylum abroad.

At a time Abacha planted bombs in various locations in Lagos, had them exploded and many were killed and property destroyed. The ploy was to blame the Yoruba leaders for planting the bombs and then get them arrested.

Abacha did it. It was in the peak of this intimidation and humiliation that OPC came on stage. Today we may never know the names of

Fraudulent Nigerian politicians and destroyers of our history books will continue to make mockery of themselves by denying that the June 12 1993 ever existed but those who know the facts will continue to set records straight for posterity and generations yet unborn. June 12 1993 will not go away until Nigerians learn to live a decent life and do things properly. June 12 1993 will not go away until the rulers of Nigeria recognize the monumental, awesome, fearsome and maximum sacrifice made

by Chief Moshood Abiola, his wife and hundreds of others to earn democracy for Nigeria

hundreds of South West youths killed on the streets of Lagos and Ibadan who fought Nigerian soldiers deployed by Abacha with bare hands. I saw many of them cut down in Mushin, Lagos. These were the real heroes of democracy some of us are bastardizing today.

For MASSOB, MEND, Boko Haram these are cowards and lilly-livered opportunists who did not raise a voice during the dictatorial reign of General Abacha. The moment Abacha died these opportunists rose up to distort history. Today others can take MEND, BOKO HARAM or MASSOB seriously, I do not. They are historical cowards and people looking for five minutes to fame.

Fraudulent Nigerian politicians and destroyers of our history books will continue to make mockery of themselves by denying that the June 12 1993 ever existed but those who know the facts will continue to set records straight for posterity and generations yet unborn. June 12 1993 will not go away until Nigerians learn to live a decent life and do things properly. June 12 1993 will not go away until the rulers of Nigeria recognize the monumental, awesome, fearsome and maximum sacrifice made by Chief Moshood Abiola, his wife and hundreds of others to earn democracy for Nigeria. Until wise Nigerians advice our leaders to look back and put things in order, peace will continue to elude us. Case rested!

Joe Igbokwe lives in Lagos.

Automatic tickets: Before you crucify Anenih

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

O

n Thursday, May 30, 2013, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Tony Anenih, stirred the hornet’s nest with a proposal: PDP should reward incumbent presidents and governors who perform well in office with an automatic second term ticket. Speaking in Abuja, at a dinner organised by President Goodluck Jonathan for select group of the party’s top leadership, Anenih said his proposal would position the PDP to come out of its present challenges stronger and more united. If accepted by the party, his advocacy will, naturally, make those who fall within his categorization, “skip” the usual rancorous party primaries.

Prominent among the beneficiaries will be President Goodluck Jonathan whose perceived interest in the 2015 presidential contest has already generated heated arguments, especially after an Abuja High Court, presided over

by Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, last year declared him eligible to contest for a second term if he so wishes.

Ever since, Anenih has received unfair knocks from different quarters, especially from people who have either not fully digested and reflected deeply on it, or have opposed it for their selfish ends. Some have also wrongly

interpreted it as a plan to undercut the democratic process. No doubt, Anenih’s proposal is borne out of his genuine concern for the PDP which has been weighed down in recent times by internal problems.

His reasoning is that while party primaries are unavoidable, especially for incoming chief executives, it is definitely an unnecessary distraction for incumbents aspiring for a second term, especially when they do well.

Besides, as he argued, energies and financial resources could be reserved for the bigger battle against the other parties in the general elections.

Though the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and other opposition groups have criticized the suggestion, the strongest of them has come from former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who has threatened to drag the PDP to court if the policy is adopted.

While the ACF, the socio-cultural umbrella organization of the North and obviously a meddlesome interloper in PDP’s internal affairs, condemned the suggestion on the grounds that it would violate the provisions of the Electoral Act on internal democracy, Atiku, an interested stakeholder and leading member of the party, said he opposed it because it amounted to a “consensus arrangement” and an “adoption” which would be equal to a “travesty of democracy.”

But then, Atiku’s utterances

are most surprising, going by his political antecedents. For a man who contested the PDP primaries of 2011 as the North’s “consensus” candidate, it is an irony that he has chosen to attack Anenih’s proposal on the argument that “consensus” arrangements are undemocratic.

When did Atiku, who gleefully celebrated his adoption by the Adamu Ciroma-led group of 17 Northern Elders, develop such a strong allergy to adoption and consensus? As his democratic credentials have usually been criticised, the recent utterances are seen as one of those contradictions in his politics since his desperate quest for the presidency started in 2006. The question to ask is: is Anenih’s suggestion really undemocratic? The answer, of course, is no, especially if reference is made to practices in other democratic presidential systems?

One must never tire of making reference to the United States of America, not only because of her democratic history but because our present practice was directly lifted from there.

The inescapable conclusion that must be arrived at is that over the years, it has become the convention in the US that an incumbent president is accorded sole candidacy of his political party at the party’s convention, so long as he is willing to run for a second term. Even in advocating this practice, Anenih went further to

suggest that the automatic tickets should go to incumbents who, by their performances, merit them.

So why then would anyone quarrel with the suggestion that such a practice is adopted in Nigeria where primaries for the president and governors are even more divisive and threaten national unity?

In fairness though, Nigeria which has been experimenting the US model of presidential democracy, both in the Second Republic and the present dispensation, has not deviated from this practice either. Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who had, at those eras, sought re-election as sitting presidents, were obliged by their parties. In 1983, Shagari was largely unopposed for the ticket of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) while in 2003, Obasanjo prevailed against candidates like Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Barnabas Gemade to get the PDP re-election ticket. The difference is that unlike in the second Republic when Shagari’s re-election ticket was automatic, members of the ruling PDP have increasingly bickered over such issues.

What the present proposal seeks is simply to institutionalize it in the PDP and remove the uncertainty and unnecessary divisions that are associated with it. The party will simply go to the nomination primaries with

the candidatures of the lucky sitting presidents and governors as fait accompli, even if genuine opposition or prearranged opponents are encouraged to enter the race in order to give the processes a semblance of democracy through the stamp of voting. The party machinery would have been properly driven to seamlessly achieve the agenda.

The likes of Atiku may have chosen to ignore the fact that while the choice of who becomes President ultimately rests with the people, the party in a presidential system has a duty to grant the sitting President the right of first refusal. Besides, it is difficult to fault any proposal that reduces the rancor, disaffection and threats to national unity that are, these days, associated with the ruling party’s presidential primaries. Automatic tickets for re-elections are therefore not only the practice in developed democracies, its adoption by the ruling party will certainly signpost increasing maturity in the nation’s democratic journey. After all, this is better than the process adopted in the opposition parties, especially the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) where some political godfather and quasi-political godfathers sit in the comfort of their mansions to select and impose candidates on the people for elective positions in their states.

Sufuyan Ojeifo contributed this piece from Abuja.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 16

BRT: FCTA gives transporter 6 months to withdraw ‘one-door buses’

T

he FCT administration through its Transport Secretariat has given Shaansi Ltd., one of the intra-city high-capacity bus mass transit operators in the territory, six months to withdraw its one-door green buses from the roads.

According to Secretary of the Secretariat, Mr Jonathan Ivoke, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday, said the marching order followed the rejection of use

of one-door buses for Bus Rapid Transit operation.

He said:“I have instructed them (Shaansi) to clear them, we have written to them and given them six months; we have shortage (of buses) that is why we allowed them; as we do not use one- door bus for mass transit.”

Ivoke however maintained that the FCT had not commenced the operations of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) scheme.

He said that was because the

roads had not been demarcated adding that ``what we are doing now is big bus capacity transit.’’

When contacted on the safety implication of the onedoor bus, the FCT Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Mr. Kayode Fanola, told the news agency that it was too early to comment on it.

Kayode, however, said that the commission would observe the new mass transit system

Cultural troupes performing during the ongoing 6th African Arts and Crafts Expo, yesterday in Abuja.

for a while to be able to advise the administration on safety implications, particularly on the one- door bus.

It would be recalled that the FCT administration began a new mass transit system of high capacity buses in the territory on June 3.

The new system put an end to the operations of mini buses shuttle across the city centre and restricted them to satellite towns and area councils.(NAN)

Photo: NAN

Agony as water scarcity hits Gwagwalada residents

By Usman Shuaibu

T

he residents of Gwagwalada Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been hit by acute water scarcity in the area.

It was observed that the rainfall that turned drinking water to muddy colour contributed to the scarcity of water.

A water vendor Mr. Yahaya Ali, said that he had increased the price of the water to make up for the long journey he had to go, in search of water in the area.

According to Ali, water vendors in the area now spend averagely two to three hours to get the product at the water board because of the long queue Another water vendor, Mr. saleh Lawal, also said that they used to sell 6 to 7 trucks a day, “but now one would hardly sell three or four trucks because of the number of people waiting to get the commodity from the water board.”

On his part, a resident, Mr. John Peter who told Peoples Daily, said for the three days he had to endure the hardship of going to some streets to get water from the vendors at a very high cost.

“My problem is not the cost of the water, but getting the product when you need it; and though the water vendors are selling one jerrican of water for N30, as we do not bother because we want the product for domestic uses”, he stressed.

When Peoples Daily visited the water board in the area, one of the officers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the leadership of water board was undertaking some repairs at the water board, while assuring the current water scarcity would be over this week.

Constitution Review: FCT indigenes hail inclusion of ‘Mayoralty’ system

By Stanley Onyekwere

A

n indigenous group in the Federal Capital Territory, Original Inhabitants Development Association of Abuja (OIDA) has commended the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution for adding breath to their aspirations through the inclusion of a mayoralty system of governance for the nation’s capital, in its recommendations.

The group said the development gives credence to the indigenous people’s quest for democratization of governance in the territory,

as contained in its memoranda submitted to the National Assembly and as earlier proposed by the Barrister Solomon Ewuga-led ministerial committee on FCT Indigeneship, Land and Political Administration in Year 2000.

In a statement yesterday, jointly signed by the President of the group Pastor Danladi Jeji and Mr. Emma Ezeazu of the Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE), OIDA noted that the recommendations of the Senator Ike Ekweremadu-led Committee is in tandem with the people’s desire for a democratic system that allows Abuja indigenes and other Nigerians

resident in the city to freely elect leaders that can be directly held responsible by them.

“If passed into law, it would pave way for a democratically elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor, which will aid good governance and accountability to the FCT electorate unlike the present ministerial system that lacks transparency and accountability to the people.

“It will also put Nigeria on the global map as one of the nations with an elected mayor that runs the capital city in accordance with the aspiration of its residents and the nation”,

statement maintained.

While urging the House of Representatives to make public the results of the Peoples Public Session conducted in the two constituencies of the territory, the group called on the green chambers endeavour to tow the line of the Senate committee, in order to “dismantle the military contraption that presently serves as administrative system in the nation’s capital.”

It however expressed hope that both arms of the Federal legislators will pass the bill as proposed, while calling on the 36 states Houses of Assembly

to expressly vote for the amendment when presented to them.

Furthermore, it called for two additional Senatorial districts and four more House of Representatives constituencies to be created, as “the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and National Assembly prepares for constituency delineation across the country.”

“Because of population explosion in Abuja, in addition to more legislative seats in the National Assembly, we also want ten additional local government areas created in FCT”, OIDA emphasized.

… As ALGON scribe applauds inclusion of LG autonomy

T

he National Publicity Secretary of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Mr. Danladi Zhin, has applauded the inclusion of local government autonomy as part of recommendations in the ongoing constitutional review process.

The ALGON scribe, who made this point in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, described the inclusion as a move in the right direction, which would bring the government closer to the residents of the FCT. In his words: “For a long time,

we have been asking that local governments be given full autonomy to operate just like state governments; which commend the committee for.

“When the bill is passed into law, residents of FCT will have the opportunity to exercise their civic right by voting their leaders.

“The powers of the local government chairmen and councillors will be exercised to the fullest when given the autonomy to operate; and dividends of democracy will be felt by the people when the government is closer to them.”

The Senate Committee on Constitution Review has been

commended for including local government autonomy in its recommendations.

Mr Danladi Zhin, Zhin said the inclusion was a move in the right direction as it would bring the government closer to the residents of the Territory. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 17

Metro

Fear grips Fulani community over killing of chief by unknown gunmen C

By Usman Shuaibu

onfusion as chief of Fulani herdsmen at Dobi community, in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT, Alhaji Madara Burgu was stabbed to death by unknown persons in the area.

A source disclosed that the Chief of the late Fulani herdsmen said that the deceased was killed in his house at night around 2:30am.

Meanwhile, the killing was said to have thrown the area into pandemonium as other Fulani herdsmen scampered and

vacated the area for their safety.

It was however, gathered that the deceased had prior to the unfortunate incident had survived several attacks, for some years before he was finally assassinated.

Also sources revealed that the son of the deceased was

also stabbed by unidentified persons; and was admitted at the Gwagwalada specialist Hospital for treatment.

Reacting to the incident, the chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council, Hon. Abubakar Jibrin Giri had pleaded with Fulani herdsmen and Gbagyi people

in Dobi, to live in peace with each other regardless of what happened in the area.

It was also learnt that Giri, who held security meeting with the traditional rulers over the incident, advised monarchs to be security conscious in their respective domains.

Counsellor link human trafficking to lack of education

A

counsellor, Rev. Sr. Laurencia Daniel, said on Monday that the quest for riches and the lack of education had contributed greatly to trafficking in women and children.

Human trafficking involves the use of force or fraud to exploit human beings for some type of labour or commercial sex purpose.

Daniel, who works with St Louis Ville Girls’ Secondary School, Gwagwalada, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), that if everyone was educated, they would know the right thing to do at every given period.

She said that without education, one would be vulnerable to anything, including prostitution.

“The danger is that it takes away the human dignity; you become vulnerable to diseases, especially HIV”, she explained.

Daniel stressed that trading in persons was wrong; noting that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God and should be protected.

“Human trafficking can only stop if people are contented, avoid being over ambitious and also by ensuring that everyone is educated; but sometimes it is quest for riches that lures people into crime and things like trafficking.

“Riches are not only measured in monetary terms, everyone should endeavour to identify one’s potential and harness them.’’

The nun said that human trafficking made the affected persons to lose hope in life and live just to survive.

Explaining further, she said trafficking business was a network and the agents involved were strategically positioned; and those involved in the campaign had come up with a counter networking strategy to ensure that it stopped.

While urging parents to stop giving out their children as servants, as no one could take care of children better than their biological parents, Daniel however noted that human trafficking was a crime against humanity and encouraged everyone to be part of the campaign against it.

Also she appealed to governments at all levels to make education accessible to all, especially for the rural dwellers. (NAN)

Old women spinning wool in Bwari, Abuja.

Photo Justin Imo-Owo

Secretariat trains women on empowerment skills

By Usman Shuaibu

S

ome grassroots women of Gwagwalada Area Council as well as those from other area councils in the FCT have been trained on empowerment acquisition skills by the leadership of the FCT Social Development Secretariat.

Participants were taught how to make hand soap, hair creams,

detergents, liquid soap, tie hats, dye and beads, amongst others.

The coordinator of the programme, Mrs. Chioma Igwilo Ify, said the workshop was organised to empower the women, in order to make their lives better at the grassroots level.

She explained that the workshop was organised to ameliorate the difficulties faced by the women in

the society, as according to her, the training will empower the women to fend for themselves as well as take care of their families.

She advised participants to make use of the knowledge acquired during the training to empower the less privileged ones in the society.

The coordinator pointed out that after the workshop some

materials and chemicals would be given to participants to encourage them to actuate their skills acquisition programme.

Earlier while declaring the workshop opened, the council chairman, Abubakar Jibrin Giri, said that his administration would support any programme that would be of beneficiaries to the residents of the council.

Association condemns confiscation of substandard building materials in Dei-Dei

T

he National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) has condemned the confiscation of sub-standard building materials at the Dei-Dei building materials market, Abuja, by the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

Speaking with newsmen yesterday, NANTS President, Mr Ken Ukaoha, alleged that Christabel International Ltd., a consultant engaged by SON to carry out the seizure, but the company did not have the no technical ability to carry out the assignment.

He said that the iron rods worth N50 million were not sub-standard and demanded the return of the goods carted away ``illegally’’ by the consulting firm.

“NANTS has no dispute with SON. The dimension of using court order in a matter that deliberation is ongoing is

unacceptable; and through self-help, we have has done a great work to rid the market of sub-standard products.’’

He appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the matter so that peace would be maintained.

Earlier, Mr Edozie Ugwu, the

Chairman of NANTS, Abuja Chapter, said that the association had been in the forefront of sensitising traders on the negative implication of substandard products.

He stressed that NANTS had met with SON on the need to help sensitise and educate traders on the

implication of sub-standard products and registration of traders.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that SON had obtained a court order on May 10, to destroy sub-standard iron rods belonging to Kendo Builders and Bamas Ventures at the market. (NAN)

UniAbuja: No time frame for School of Medicine accreditation - Okojie

T

he Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, says there is no time frame for the accreditation of courses for the University of Abuja School of Medicine.

Okojie made this known yesterday, at the opening of a three-day National Stakeholder’s meeting on the Nigerian Research and Education Network in Abuja He said although the students had been clamouring and protesting for the

accreditation of the courses, the NUC must ensure that it followed due process to ensure a credible accreditation.

The executive secretary reiterated the commission’s commitment to ensure that graduates were well equipped and could compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world.

Okojie had in the wake of the protest by the university’s medical students blamed the university’s former Vice Chancellors, Prof. Nuhu Yaqub, for initiating engineering and medical

programmes without approval.

The university had been embroiled in crisis following the suspension of Engineering, Veterinary, Agriculture and Medical students in April 2012 by the Federal Ministry of Education over non-accreditation.

Meanwhile, Okojie says the latest development followed NUC’s inspection visit which discovered that the university has failed to equip its community clinic, a basic requirement for medical examination. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 18

Metro INSIDE FCT COURTS

Butcher in court for stealing a puppy

A

19-year-old butcher, Buhari Mohammed of Rugau Madaki, in Mararaba, has appeared before a Mararaba Senior Magistrate’s Court, for allegedly stealing a puppy.

Prosecutor Samuel Okoro told the court that one Matthew Abraham, who lives near the City College of Education in Mararaba reported the matter at the Sani Abacha Road Police Station on June 5.

Okoro said the accused allegedly stole Abraham’s puppy valued at N100,000 from the front of his house.

“When the accused was caught, he confessed to the crime’’, the prosecutor said, adding that the offence of theft contravened Section 287 of the Penal Code.

The accused person, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The senior magistrate, Mr H. A Abundaga, later asked the accused to relate what happened and what led him into stealing a puppy.

Police arraign employee, 2 others for leaking company’s information

T

he police on Monday arraigned Umar Shanuna, a staff of a telecommunication giant, MTN, Gombe office, in an Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court for allegedly giving out private information about the company.

The accused was arraigned alongside those whom he allegedly disclosed the said information to, Godswill Sunday and Bright Nnamdi.

The police prosecutor, Mr. Babajide Olanipekun, told the court that the matter was transferred from the Department of State Security Service to the FCT Police Command, on May 20 for prosecution.

He said part of Shanuna’s duties was to protect the interest of the company but “instead, he conspired with two others to leak the company’s information to the public.’’

Olanipekun said the accused persons committed the offence of criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust, contrary to sections 97, 312 and 314 of the Penal Code respectively.

However, the accused persons pleaded not guilty.

The senior magistrate, Mr Anthony Ogboi, granted the accused bail in the sum of N50, 000 each with one surety each who must reside within the court’s jurisdiction.

Ogboi said the accused persons and the sureties must deposit their passport photographs with t he court registry.

He adjourned the matter to June 25 for further hearing. (NAN)

“I did not steal the puppy; when I was passing the front area of Abraham’s house, the dog followed me and I carried it; but I later dropped it,’’ Mohammed said.

Abundaga granted bail to the accused in the sum of N50,000 with one surety in like sum.

He said the surety must be a responsible person who must reside within the court’s jurisdiction, and must deposit his passport photograph with the court’s Registrar.

The judge, however, warned that the accused would be remanded in prison if he failed to meet the bail conditions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Abundaga later adjourned hearing in the case to July 8. (NAN)

Stranded Luthansa passengers, on Sunday at Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Taxi driver jailed 10 months for stealing laptop A

n Abuja Grade 2 Area Court in Kado has sentenced one Musa Mohammed, 32, to 10 months imprisonment for theft of an apple laptop.

Mohammed, who resides at Kagiri village, Abuja, was convicted after pleading guilty to the charge.

The Presiding Judge, Alhaji Ahmed Ado, however, gave the convict an option to pay N12, 000

fine.

Ado ordered that the Taxi Drivers’ Association should disassociate itself from him since he was not showing any good example.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr. Friday Idi, had told the court that one Maryam Adigun lodged a report about Mohammed at the Gwarimpa police station on March

2.

Idi said the complainant boarded the convict’s taxi from Gwarimpa to Wuse but on reaching First Bank, Gwarimpa, she stopped the driver to get money at the ATM machine.

He said the convict zoomed off in his car with her apple laptop, whose value was not yet known.

The prosecutor said that the

convict was arrested just at the point of trying to sell the laptop on May 13.

He said the offence contravened the provision of Section 287 of the Penal Code.

The offence carries a maximum of five years or be fined or both.

The convict then pleaded for mercy promising not to steal again. (NAN)

Theft: Man bags 2 months imprisonment

A

Kuje Area Court in the FCT has sentenced a 19-yearold poultry worker, Godwin John, who admitted guilt of theft of a chicken, to two months in prison for theft.

The police prosecutor, Cpl. Ocheche Samuel, had told

the court that the matter was reported at the Kuje Police Station by one Simon Mangu of Dansarki Farms in Kuje on May 30.

Samuel said that the accused, a staff of Dansarki Farms, residing at Anguwar Lado in

Kuje, stole a chicken valued N700 from the poultry.

He said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 286 of the Penal Code.

The prosecutor said that during investigation, it was discovered that the accused had

sold the chicken in Kuje market.

The judge, Mr Nuhu Ibrahim, sentenced the accused to two months in prison with the option of paying N6, 000 as fine.

Ibrahim ordered him to pay N700 compensation to the complainant. (NAN)

Police arraign 2 men for allegedly stealing 2 jerricans of honey

T

he police have arraigned one Aliyu Mohammed, 27, and Ibrahim Inuwa, 28, all of Tipper Garage, Mararaba, in a Grade 1 Area Court, for allegedly stealing two jerricans of honey.

Prosecutor Inuwa Maigida told the court that one Salisu Idris, reported the matter at the ‘A’ Division, Police Station, Mararaba on June 1.

He told the court that Idris kept two jerricans of honey in the office of a transport company, the Adamawa Sunshine Transport Company, located in the motor park, opposite Tipper garage, Mararaba.

“Inuwa and Mohammed conspired among themselves and stole the two jerricans of honey valued at N32, 000; and afterwards the accused persons escape to an unknown destination, until on June

1, when they were again sported at the park and were arrested”, he said.

Maigida said that the offence contravened Sections 97 and 287 of the Penal Code.

If convicted, the duo shall be

punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or with fine or with both.

The accused persons pleaded guilty to the charge.

The presiding judge, Mr Alfred

Maga, convicted the two men and adjourned the case to June 20, to sentence the accused persons.

Maga, ordered that the convict be remanded in Keffi prison, until the next adjourned date. (NAN)

Police arraign two security guards over alleged theft

T

he Police have arraigned two security guards, Godwin Sabo and Elijah Sabo in a Kado Grade 2 Area Court, Abuja for alleged joint act and theft.

Sabo, 38, and Sabo, 31, are both security guards at Plot 474 Wuye District in Abuja.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr Sani Yakubu, told the court that one Mr Obiora Obeagu, of Plot 474 Wuye District, Abuja, wrote a petition to

the DPO of Wuye Police Division on May 15, reporting the matter.

Yakubu said the complainant discovered that on April 8, his blue Yamaha generator, valued at N75,000 had been stolen.

He said the complainant clearly stated in his petition that the accused persons were his prime suspects.

According to the prosecutor, the offence contravenes the provisions of sections 79 and 287 of the Penal

Code.

The accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Presiding Judge, Alhaji Ahmed Ado, granted the accused bail in the sum of N20,000 each with one surety each in like sum.

He said the sureties must be residents within the jurisdiction of the court.

Ado adjourned the case to June 24 for further hearing. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 19

INSIDE

NLC to picket domestic airlines that refuse union activities - Pg 20

Anambra state Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Professor Chinyere Stella Okuna (middle), addressing participants at a public financial management workshop organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), yesterday in Abuja.

With her are Ogun state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mrs. Oluwande Muoyo (right), and Imo state Commissioner for Planning and Economic Development, Professor Chima Iwuchukwu (left).

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Nigeria risks Internet shutdown U nless urgent infrastructural and devices upgrades are carried out soonest, the country’s internet space may be shut down denying Nigerians access to the information superhighway because her Internet protocol (IP) is legacy.

In simple words, the internet protocol 4 (IPv4) on which most connectivity in Nigeria are channeled through is on the verge of extinction.

The Internet Protocol (IP), according to experts, is the principal communications modus operandi in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagram across network circuits. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.

IP, as the primary protocol, Wikipedia writes, in the Internet layer of the Internet protocol suite, has the task of delivering packets from the source host to the destination host solely based on the IP addresses.

Engr.

Otunte Otueneh, chapter officer, Internet Society Nigeria Chapter, said that the IPv4 is almost finished, warning that, “by the time the IPv4 finishes most PC cannot be connected to the internet”.

Otueneh, who spoke at the sidelines of the IPV6 roundtable organised by DigitalSENSE Africa Media said that “we need to create

awareness to tell Nigerians especially that version 4 is almost finished and we need to move on to the new version” The exhaustion of the IPv4 pool and the inevitable transition to IPv6 has been the talk of many national and international meetings, particularly during a Sociétés de l’Information dedicated to the AfNOG, AfriNIC and INET meetings held in Abuja at the beginning of May 2007.

With IPv4 exhaustion looming and IPv6 taking a slow start, debate heated up at the conference.

According to Alain Patrick Aina, special project manager for AfriNIC, the company incharge of internet protocol in Africa, stresses the total expiration could be extremely rapid, depending on the rates of consumption.

In Abuja, Bill Woodcock, Board member of ARIN, the North American Regional Internet Registry (RIR), warned that RIRs should get rid of old ways of thinking and start planning their next step.

AfriNic managing the end of IPv4eith less than 1% of the distributed IPv4 address space, AfriNIC is by far the smallest RIR. However, it has anticipated the end of IPv4 at an early stage.

It is foreseen that its current IP address space will run out in no distant time. Two last requests for further allocations to IANA, the global pool’s steward, should

allow delaying IPv4’s regional exhaustion until April 2014.

Nevertheless, if IPv4 consumption rate accelerates critically before AfriNIC is able to justify its last request, there could be a major concern to ensure a smooth transition before IPV6 is fully implemented.

IPv6 and IPv4 are two completely separate protocols and IPv6 is not backwards compatible with IPv4.

IPv4 hosts and routers will not be able to deal directly with IPv6 traffic and vice versa, unfortunately, there will be extreme difficulties with address allocation and routing if the Internet is to continue be run indefinitely using IPv4 and it is impossible to switch the entire Internet over to IPv6 overnight.

Asked when IPv4 will be exhausted, Otueneh said that developed countries have started implementing IPv6, “but we are yet to do that in Nigeria. Meanwhile, we have a very minimal time. Very soon, AfriNIC may stop allocating version 4, because they told us that it is almost out. So, if there are a lot of demands for IP addresses today, it can get exhausted today”.

In his contribution, Benedict Othello, head, Information Systems, Phase 3 Telecoms, said that, “it is like being warned there is going to be flood, the question is: how do I get prepared so not to be affected or survive it”.

On the implication on mobile phone market in the country, he said, “before the danger loaming takes place, we are creating awareness. It is a two way thing. The service provider will be on version 6, the smartphones should be version 6 enabled. When that happens, they will flow seamlessly.

“Now, those on IPv4 platform cannot be accommodated by the service providers at a point. For instance if telecom operators in Nigeria roll out Sim cards and fail to expand their modules for more subscribers it will affect their businesses.

It is all about upgrading to that new version to accommodate more customers”.

(Source: Nigeria CommunicationsWeek)

N384bn PHCN severance package: PFAs in hot chase of staff pension - Pg 21 Nigeria’s cocoa set to beat world record - Pg 22

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY

Define the playing field before entering a new market

W

hen you’re on the hook to launch a new product or service, you need to answer a critical question: How many customers will buy it?

It’s tempting to jump right in, assuming everyone will want your fantastic new offering.

But before you put the resources into building, marketing, and launching a product, it pays to research just how big the market is. Your gut feel may be directionally correct,

but double-check it against hard data about potential customer groups. And don’t do this in a vacuum.

Be sure to have an objective conversation with the people on your team about exactly where this product will play and how big that market might be. Defining the specifics will help you clarify your product’s competitive advantage.

Source: Business Review

Harvard

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 20

Aviation Company News

DHL Global Forwarding

S

enior vice-president for Ocean Freight EMEA vice-president, DHL Global Forwarding (DGF), Dominique von Orelli, has stated that Nigeria with its large population size and its growing potential is a boost to every prospective investor.

Orelli, who made this disclosure, said the future of freight forwarding in Nigeria looks promising, especially for genuine operators.

He noted that the boom in the telecoms industry and the expected transformation in the power sector gave an indication that the nation’s freight forwarding business and indeed the economy would witness a flip.

Calabar FreeTrade Zone

A

sian nations led by China, the world’s second largest economy, with investment appetite in Nigeria’ Africa’s second largest economy with a 6.7 percent GDP growth

by Q1 2013, have been flooding the Calabar Free Trade Zone, (CFTZ), which was inaugurated in 2001, and is said to have generated over N50 billion to the Federal Government.

Two different Chinese business delegations have visited the free zone in the last three weeks, each seeking trade and investment expansions into Nigeria.

Two weeks ago, a Chinese trade delegation from Changchun City, China, announced its decision to establish a truck manufacturing plant at the CFTZ, Calabar.

Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc

M

obil Oil Nigeria Plc has attributed the decline in its 2012 profit after tax to four key factors which include loss of sales in January as a result of the protests which followed the fuel subsidy reduction and security issues which affected its business in some parts of the country.

The company’s profit after tax declined by 29 percent to N2.9 billion, compared to N4.1 billion in 2011, while turnover rose 30 percent to N80.8 billion, mainly due to premium motor spirit (PMS) price increase which did not provide for any margin increase.

Other factors said to have contributed to the drop in profit were supply constraints and stock-out of key lubricant products as a result of change in formation and closure of its Apapa Terminal PMSpipeline for scheduled maintenance leading to loss of the depot margin.

NLC to picket domestic airlines that refuse union activities D omestic airlines in Nigeria are in for another round of fresh crisis as the president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Omar Abdulwaheed has hinted that workers union in the aviation industry may be forced to pickets airlines that disallowed their workers from joining union of their choice.

He said such action is tantamount to depriving the workers their fundamental right of freedom of association as enshrined in the Nigeria

constitution and no efforts would be spared to ensure that workers are allowed to free themselves from the shackles of slave drivers in the aviation sector.

Speaking at the 9th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the NLC leader described as disgusting how domestic airlines in the country, not allowing its workforce to freely join the union and association of their

choice as guaranteed by the constitution and even the revised Trade Union Act. “it was an affront and utter disregard to refused to abide by the country’s laws, adding, if foreign airlines such as British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM and others that are flying into the country can respect our laws, it is shocking that our own-Nigerian airlines are infringing on workers freedom of association”. He said.

The NLC President, who vowed that labour was ready to

put an end to this, hinted that picketing of the airlines would be embarked upon in no distant future saying “We shall start with the big one among them after which we will move to others”.

Also while pledging the total support of NLC in the fight against acts by airlines or management of agencies in aviation to trample on workers inalienable rights, he urged the leaders and their members not to allow any management agencies infiltrate their ranks.

Etihad Airways offers free UAE tourist visas for Nigerian travellers

E

tihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates said it is offering free 30-day tourist visas to Nigerian travellers who choose to fly to the UAE beginning from June 10 to July 10, 2013.

The airline’s General Manager, Nigeria and West Africa Maurice Phohleli said “With this offer we hope to support and assist Nigerian visitors in gaining their visas for the United Arab Emirates, so that they can visit

many of the UAE’s popular attractions, and experience for themselves the renowned Arabian hospitality the region is so famous for.”

He affirmed that the promotion only applies to travellers who

have purchased tickets at Etihad Airways’ standard published fares, and a period of seven days is required for processing the visa while all outbound travel from Nigeria must be completed by July 10, 2013.

According him, passengers submitting their visa applications must hold a valid international passport, a confirmed Etihad Airways ticket issued at least 24 hours prior to visa application, one colour passport photograph with white background, and confirmation of hotel accommodation in Abu Dhabi and those under 40 years of age will also have to present a birth certificate and or marriage certificate where applicable.

Safiyanu wins NUATE election for a second term

L-R: Director, Consumer Protection Directorate, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Malam Adamu Abdullahi, CEO/MD, West Link Airline, Capt. Ibrahim Mshelia, and Chairman, League of Airport & Aviation Correspondents (LAAC), Mr. Chucks Iwelumo during the 19th annual seminar of the LAAC, last Thursday at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Arik Air rolls out on-line check-in Stories from Suleiman Idris, Lagos

A

rik Air said it has introduced a new online check-in service to further boost its passenger experience.

The airline said the service is aimed at customers who want a streamlined travel experience by reducing queuing times at the airport, especially for those travelling without check-in baggage.

The new service also, is designed to provide

customers with the ability to check-in from 24 hours to 3 hours before their flights select their seats and print a boarding pass.

Passengers with baggage to checkin can still check-in online and proceed to the check-in counters at the airport for baggage drop and standard security checks.

The service has been introduced in Arik Air’s international locations-

Johannesburg, London and New York- as well as the key domestic locations of Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, with full network coverage of domestic and regional locations to be progressively rolled out in the coming months.

The addition of an online check-in service is part of a raft of online initiatives that Arik Air said it is introducing to enhance its online offering and customer experience.

Arik Air’s Managing Director/Executive

vice-president, Chris Ndulue said, “We believe that the addition of the online check-in service will offer greater flexibility for our guests and is just one in a long line of upgrades to our technology offering we will be releasing over the coming months.

“As the number one airline in Nigeria we have an obligation to our guests to ensure we utilise all forms of technology to improve our customer experience”.

Ndulue told journalists.

T

he National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has again reelected its outgoing president Mohammed Safiyanu for a second term of four years.

The union leader won by landslide margin at the election conducted on the third day NUATE 19th Quadrennial Delegate Conference held at Ibro, Hotel Abuja.

Safiyanu, who is the first president to be elected to run the affairs of the labour body in it 40years establishment for the second time defeated his closest rival by garnering 155 voted as against Aliu who scored 71 and another contestant Awolowo Okobo who polled 31.

Other elected officials of the body include Uka Williams, Osunkwo Chibueze, Gabriel Fabunmi, Adewale Adekoya, and Weje Adewale. The rest are Okadare Tunji, Fatai Afolabi, Usman Abdulrahaman and Nuraini Abdulkareem among others.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 21

Pension&Insurance

Consultative committee, new insurance platform debuts From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

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new amalgamated platform for the insurance industry, known as Insurance Industry Consultative Committee (IICC), has debuted.

The platform will enable the industry to speak with one voice, according to the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) which spearheaded its birth.

The IICC, according to CIIN, is a platform that offers different arms of the sector the opportunity of coming together to plan for the way forward of the sector as well resolve issues be-deviling the

industry.

Out-going president of the governing board, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Dr Wole Adetimehen told Peoples Daily, in chat in Lagos, that it had always been part of his agenda while in office to ensure that industry be united under one body that will serve as its mouthpiece. ‘’When I was coming to office, I saw the need to establish a platform or body that will constitute the mouthpiece of the industry, such that issues bordering on the growth and development of our industry can be channeled to that course; and I am very happy that it has

come to stay. It will be inaugurated anytime from now. All the ground work, all that is needed to be done to actualize this dream had been perfected”, he said.

Adetimehen recalled that what was obtainable in the past was for any arm of the sector that had issues to lay its complaint before the sector’s regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

“In the years back, before now, what we have been having are various arms, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), and the Institute of Loss Adjusters, where members

channel or sort out issues directly out with the commission or the regulator.

Under this new body, the NIA will sit, NCRIB will sit, ILAN will sit, CIIN will sit and our regulator, the Commissioner for Insurance will sit as chairman and we can table issues and resolve issues.

“If any new development is coming up from the commission, he will brief us and we will be opportune to make inputs before it becomes a regulation or a guideline. So I am glad that is coming up in my tenor”, he further said.

Adetimehen said he had also during his tenure, set a platform

to reward professionals that have contributed towards the growth of the industry. ‘’ I saw a need, as an industry player to a institute a platform where professionals in the industry can be recognized and celebrated to serve as an inspiration to upcoming generations, because you must distinguished yourself before you can be recognized for celebration”.

9 yrs after, Premium Pension leap-frogs its customer base, assets

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Pensioners queuing up to be verified at a recent verification exercise in Lagos.

N384bn PHCN severance package: PFAs in hot chase of staff pension Stories by Abdulwahab Isa

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head of payment of severance package by the Federal Government to workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), various Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) have deployed their marketing staff on pension deposit hunting.

Some Staff of PHCN who spoke to Peoples Daily said they are under intense pressure from various PFAs since government made it public of its readiness to pay PHCN staff their severance package, as part of the condition for the privatisation of various Transmission and Distribution companies.

A technical staff mounting one of PHCN Maitama’s distribution lines, who spoke to our correspondent in confidence, expressed his frustration coping with countless PFAs marketers that besieged his office with forms on a daily basis.

Another PHCN staff who shared his experience with the PFAs told our correspondent he is confused making a choice out of the hordes

of PFAs agents that come to their office daily.

A senior staff with PHCN told Peoples Daily that the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employee (NUEE), the organ protecting the interest of PHCN staff has issued out warning to their staff to be wary of filling forms with PFAs. The staff, who pleaded for his identity be protected because he was not authorized to speak to the press on the matter, said NUEE leadership is insisting staff entitlements be paid in whole while PHCN staff are given the choice to do whatever he wants with his money.

Our correspondent could not confirm this position from the leadership of NUEE yesterday, but a source said NUEE had promised to carry out a thorough due diligence on existing PFAs to determine viable ones to guide staff in taking decision on PFAs of choice.

But he said that a temporary list, comprising key PFAs such as IBTC Pension, Premium Pension,

and SIGMA Pension and a host of others, top the list of PFAs that are being considered.

Efforts by Peoples Daily to get the comment of NUEE President, Mansur Musa were futile. He told our correspondent on phone that he was in overseas for official event and could not respond to the enquiries sought by our correspondent.

The Federal Government had said it would commence payment of the N384bn severance package to workers of Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN on June 17.

The payment is targeted at removing roadblocks in the privatisation of 15 Electricity Generation Companies, GENCOS and Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, which have been sold to private entities and require labour issues to be resolved before final payments are be made.

The Minister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo dropped the hint during his official inspection to Egbin Power Station.

“Very soon your severance

package or entitlement will hit your various accounts by June 17, and I want to promise that nobody is going to find anything less than what has been agreed”, he said.

Meanwhile, PFAs have so far paid out a total of N198.86bn to ex-workers under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

No fewer than 71,518 retirees had emerged under the new pension scheme and were being paid their pensions by the PFAs and insurance companies.

Records showed that while the PFAs paid out N183bn to retirees between July 2007 and September 2010, the figure only increased by N10bn between September 2010 and May 2013.

Section 11(1) of the Pension Reform Act, 2004 states that every employee shall maintain a Retirement Savings Account in his name with any PFA of his choice, while section 4(1) states that the account credited to the balance of the worker at retirement should only be assessed either through programmed withdrawal or annuity.

he customer base of Premium Pension Limited has increased to 566,000 as at December 2012 with 444,631 fully funded and active nine years after the firm began operations.

Similarly, the company assets have grown to over N268bn by end of May, while it has paid out over N12.7bn to its active Retirement Savings Account holders and over N3bn to retired clients.

These facts were contained in a statement issued recently by the company’s Executive Director, Business Development and Investment, Mr. Adamu Mele.

“Our asset as of May ending is over N268bn, and we have been paying dividends consistently. We have paid surplus of over N12.7bn to our active RSA holders and over N3bn to our retired members in the last one year.

“Our target, in the next one year, is to increase the industry size from the current 10 percent share to 30 percent share. We are targeting over 100,000 fresh customers. The growth is achievable given the level of pension awareness now in the country.”

He expressed hope of the company embarking on future expansion as only about five million had actively keyed into the scheme out of about 44 million workforces.

“As the Executive Director, Business Development and Investment, I will be responsible for initiating policies of expanding the market share in order to improve the profile of the company.

“We are taking the company to the next level by increasing the number through fresh membership and also taking advantage of possible transfer windows in the future.”

On the non-remittance of pension deductions by some registered organisations, Mele said there was a constant dialogue among the various stakeholders to ensure that they delivered what they had deducted to the PFAs as and when due, adding that they could not continue to toy with the welfare and future of their workers.

He also commended the National Pension Commission (PenCom) for its regulatory stance, saying the positive profile of the Contributory Pension Scheme could only be attributed to the administrative style of the regulator.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

Economy

Nigeria’s cocoa set to beat world record

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he cocoa industry in Nigeria is re-positioning to compete favourably in the world market. This was disclosed by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, at the 23rd partnership forum organised by the World Cocoa Foundation in Washington, DC, USA. At the forum, titled: “Meeting Tomorrow’s Demand: Productivity, Quality, and Farmers’ Livelihoods,” Dr. Adesina told the stakeholders how Nigeria, is “developing a sustainable vehicle built on a public-private partnership platform to coordinate the whole

cocoa sector that will be public sector-enabled but private sectordriven with all stakeholders playing active role.”

To demonstrate the commitment of Nigeria in developing the cocoa industry, the minister disclosed the plans on rehabilitation of “200,000 hectares over the next four years through an aggressive plan developed in partnership with private sector to provide employment for skilled professionals, called: ‘Professional Cocoa Doctors and Grafters’ over the next five years, who would be able to deploy their skills to earn a decent living and

rehabilitate at least 200,000 hectares of cocoa farms in Nigeria”.

He said, “With the support of MARS Incorporated, some personnel were sent to Indonesia to study Indonesia’s impressive cocoa plantation rehabilitation strategy.”

Explaining the Nigerian Cocoa Investment Plan, the minister said that the theme of the partnership was to consider how to improve productivity, quality and livelihood to meet the growing demand for cocoa products estimated to reach some 5.0 million metric tonnes in 2020.

The minister highlighted major problems, which have militated against the progress in cocoa business in Nigeria to include practices, productivity, environment, labour, youth engagement; poverty issue; access to credits; market exposures; price volatility; land tenure; environmental issue; social issues such as labour and migration.

Peter Aikpokpodion, team leader for the Nigerian cocoa transformation agenda, observed that “entrepreneurship in cocoa programme, hitherto lacking in Nigeria, is now being emphasised, as government is working

towards facilitating stakeholders to recognise agriculture and cocoa production as business.”

Director and head of cocoa at the London-based Armajaro Trading Limited, Nicko Debenham observed that “what the minister said was important: guarantee funds, finance at farm level, provide enabling environment for private sector, removal of volatility caused by subsidy. If everyone in the supply chain management in Nigeria is working to move and engage in commitment, we will be able to move up to the level of 500,000 metric tons the minister talked about”.

Nigeria Customs Service generates N19.8bn at Apapa port

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L-R: Senior president of Alternative Risk Solutions Practice, Willis, Canada, Mr. William Chan, President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, Laide Osijo and Senior vicepresident of Willis Canada, Mr. Joe Beesack during the 2013 International Business Visit of NCRIB members to Canada, recently.

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importation.

“A breakdown of the revenue figures showed that the Federation revenues stood at N8.37 billion, while nonFederation revenues were N8.55 billion in the month under review,’’ it said.

The statement said that the Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC) stood at N2.65 billion in May, while the seven percent levy on the NDCC was N196 million.

It said that the Federation revenues consisted of Common External

Tariff (CET), Import duty, fees and others.

Non-Federation revenues are the five per cent VAT, seven per cent Port Levy, one per cent Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS), five per cent Sugar Levy and 0.5 percent ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Levy.

The statement said that other components of the non-Federation revenues were wheat flour levy, wheat grain levy, 20 percent rice levy, iron levy, 100 percent cigarettes levy. (NAN)

Minister reconstitutes tax appeal tribunal

he Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Hon. Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has approved the reappointment of the Chairmen/Commissioners and reconstitution of the Tax Appeal Tribunal (TAT) members.

The Minister approved the reappointment of all the immediate past Chairmen and Commissioners who had not attained the statutory disengagement age of 70 years.

It could be recalled that the FIRS

(Establishment) Act 2007 empowers the Minister to appoint the Commissioners of the TAT, in line with Paragraph 2 (1) of the Act which states that “A Tribunal shall consist of five members (hereinafter referred to as ‘Tax Appeal Commissioners’) to be appointed by the Minister”.

Consequently, in order to ensure continuity, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy & Hon. Minister of Finance equally approved the reappointment and posting of the TAT Commissioners to the

zones where they served previously.

Also recall that the first tenure of the immediate Tax Appeal Commissioners expired in February 2013. Paragraph 4 of the 5th Schedule to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2007 states that: “A Tax Appeal Commissioner shall hold office for a term of three years, renewable for another term of three years only and no more, from the date on which he assumes his office or until he attains the age of 70 years whichever is earlier”.

Nigerians snap up beach houses

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he Apapa Area 1 Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), on Monday said it generated N19.8 billion in May, in contrast to the N20.3 billion recorded in April.

A statement issued in Lagos by the Public Relations Officer of the command, Mr. Emmanuel Ekpa said that the figure was, however, lower than the monthly target of N39 billion.

It said that the fall in revenue in May was due to continued low

he weak South African Rand has spurred African property buyers to snap up high-end homes on Cape Town’s luxurious Atlantic Seaboard and the City Bowl.

Ian Slot, managing director of property and real estate company Seef, said the shaky currency has revived “foreign buying activity”.

Slot said his company has sold 75 properties for almost R566million since January. These include nine sales above R20million, four of which were to African buyers. The company’s total sales for the whole of last year were R570-million.

“African buyer activity has more than doubled with 12 property sales to the value of just over R142million compared to about six property sales in 2012,” said Slot.

“Nigerian buyers top the list with four properties, [including] an apartment at the V&A Waterfront for R25-million and a luxury home in Bantry Bay for R30-million. An Angolan buyer also paid R30-million for a home in Camps Bay.” The company has sold 10 properties to buyers from India and China for a total of more than R61-million.

“While foreign buying activity

has improved over the last few months, overall volumes are still down since 2009, when 435 properties with a combined value of over R1.5-billion were sold to foreign buyers,” said Slot.

“The positive foreign buyer sentiment in the lead-up to the 2010 World Cup [was] stifled by the continued uncertainty in the UK and European economies. ‘’The upside of this is that many UK and European buyers have looked to shift their funds into South African property and the weak Rand has served as a significant incentive.”

(Source: BBC News)

The Tax Tribunal, which replaced the defunct Body of Appeal Commissioners (BAC) and the VAT Tribunals, was established in 2010 to adjudicate over disputes arising from the operations of all the tax laws and regulations as specified in the 1st Schedule to the FIRS (Establishment) Act 2007.

The Tribunal is located in eight zones namely: Lagos Zone, Abuja Zone, South West Zone (Ibadan), South South Zone (Benin), South East Zone (Enugu), North Central Zone (Jos), North East Zone.

JASCO spends N12.5m on seeds for Jigawa farmers

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he Jigawa Agricultural Supply Company (JASCO) said it had released 77.4 tonnes of assorted improved seeds worth N12.5 million to farmers for the 2013 planting season.

The General Manger of the company, Alhaji Hassan Girbobo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Dutse.

Girbobo explained that the seeds were distributed to farmers at affordable rates with 50 per cent subsidised.

“Our farmers will enjoy about N6.2 million discounts on the improved seeds we released.

“And all these seeds are high breeds that grow within short period and are also resistant to pests and diseases,” he said.

According to him 27,205 kg of sesame seeds and 32,540 kg of rice seeds were released to farmers across the state.

Others include 17,290 kg of maize, 17,740 of millet, 4,100 kg seeds of groundnut and 225 kg of cowpea.

Girbobo assured of the commitment of Governor Sule Lamido’s administration to boost agriculture to ensure food security in the state.(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 23

Stock Watch

Report as at Tuesday, June 11, 2013

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Special Report

As JTF closes in on Boko Haram insurgents... many people ever stayed on the site.

An initial security briefing said there was no fight for the camp - Boko Haram members set fire to the vehicles they could not move and fled before the military moved into the area.

Journalists were later told the militants were preparing to leave when the air force and ground troops struck.

“Some of them have been able to withdraw to Chad and we are making efforts to pursue them,” said Lt Col Danladi Hassan who was the commander in charge of the operation to retake the camps.

Was he surprised that

By Will Ross

“It was like a military coup here two months ago when all the government officials ran away,” said a white-bearded elder in Kirenowa, as he described how his village in northerneastern Nigeria came under the control of the Islamist group known as Boko Haram.

“We were in real difficulty when Boko Haram were here; life was terrible - they extorted our money,” he told the BBC in the village which lies just 40km (24 miles) from the porous border with Cameroon.

“They were moving around in the village with their cars - they went to [nearby] places like Chikunguldo and Wulgo as well as inside Chad.”

A short distance along the sandy road within the district of Marte there are the hallmarks of the militants; the burnt-out church and the remains of the village police station which was also gutted by fire.

In front of the roofless, blackened building is the carcass of a burnt car.

The Nigerian military offered to take journalists in a protected convoy to these areas of Borno state in an effort to highlight what it describes as key gains in the fight against Boko Haram.

Just over three weeks ago President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the north-east.

He announced a renewed military offensive after making the somewhat

they had managed to establish bases? It seems not.

“We’ve been hearing about the camp for some time and we’ve been planning for it,” said Lt Col Hassan.

“And that’s why we came in and ensured they were dislodged.”

You might wonder why, if the army knew about the Boko Haram camps, they took time before targeting them, seeing as the nearby villages were steadily sliding out of the government’s hands and the Islamist militants were starting to hold territory. A teacher in Marte who did not want his name revealed said they were forcing changes on the

“

You might wonder why, if the army knew about the Boko Haram camps, they took time before targeting them, seeing as the nearby villages were steadily sliding out of the government’s hands and the Islamist militants were starting to hold territory

village back in January.

“Boko Haram are the ones who told us to close the school because they don’t want to see any western education,” he said.

“We are now preparing to re-open the school with the arrival of the army and we are now free.”

When we visited Kirenowa with the army, the entire village had gathered and applauded on cue as the Nigerian military was lauded - it may have felt like a publicity stunt but people I spoke to said they were glad the military operation had dislodged Boko Haram.

But dislodging is not the same as defeating and

so far there has been little evidence to suggest many fighters have been killed in the offensive - they have been disorganised and dispersed.

“The next stage is to consolidate and ensure miscreants and troublemakers in the form of terrorists don’t have access to civilian areas where they can cause problems,” says military spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade.

Members of the Islamist group are known to live among the civilian population so the military faces a tough challenge.

“Do you think there

Fact file • • • • • • • • •

2002: Founded 2009: Hundreds killed when Maiduguri police stations were stormed; leader Mohammed Yusuf captured and killed Dec 2010: Bombed Jos, killing 80 people; blamed for New Year’s Eve attack on Abuja barracks Jun-Aug 2011: Bomb attacks on Abuja police HQ and UN building Dec 2011: Multiple bomb attacks on Christmas Day kill dozens Jan 2012: Wave of violence across north-east Nigeria April 2012: Deadly Easter church attack in Kaduna; ThisDay newspaper offices bombed February 2013: French family kidnapped in Cameroon May 2013: Heavily armed incursion into Bama town

Kirenowa villagers gathered to welcome the visiting military delegation

surprising announcement that Nigerian territory had been seized by Boko Haram.

Earlier this year Boko Haram’s black flag replaced Nigeria’s green and white one in several villages of

Borno state, including Marte - a sign that the insurgents were under little pressure from the Nigerian armed forces.

These areas close to the shrinking shores of Lake

The Nigerian flag is flying again in villages which Boko Haram has fled

Chad are extremely remote and poor.

Travelling by road northeast from the state capital, Maiduguri, the crumbling infrastructure is evident.

Sections of the tarmac

Abubakar Shekau

road look as though they have been hit by an earthquake and drivers are forced to take to the sand which is steadily swallowing the concrete, cable-less electricity poles.

It is no surprise that decades of neglect by successive governments and the biting poverty played into the hands of the jihadists looking for recruits.

“Some of them join because they are interested in handling guns because that’s new to them, and some are aware that it is a way of getting some money,” said a young man in his early 20s, who pointed to the lack of job opportunities in the area.

“All we do is fishing and farming, although some of us engage in the black market selling fuel or petty trading.”

We were driven to a former Boko Haram camp north of the village of Kirenowa.

The presence of items such as medical gloves suggest there may have been a small clinic there, although it is impossible to know how

could be any Boko Haram members amongst the assembled villagers here?” I asked one man sitting on the ground.

“No, I’m not aware of any,” he replied in a whisper.

The Nigerian army tried to crush the Islamist militants in 2009 but the group came back stronger with more deadly attacks. So do people think Boko Haram can return to the area?

“We don’t know,” a man in Marte tells me.

“We are in the hands of God. We don’t know what is going to happen. Only God knows.”

Source: BBCNews. com

Residents of Baga picking through the rubbles after exchange of fire between JTF and Boko Haram insurgents recently.

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

Property

Land Reforms: Changing the way we live in Nigeria

PTCLR Chairman, Prof. Peter .O. Adeniyi

By Udenna Orji

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and is probably the most important economic resource in the world. It is a critical factor in the social, political and economic life of every nation and an indispensible factor of production. It supports a wide range of agricultural, industrial, housing and mining activities as well as infrastructural development. Availability of land is a critical factor for human existence and its distribution and use are of vital importance. Access to land is therefore essential for sustainable human settlement, food production as well as national socioeconomic development.

This is why many Nigerians were elated when President Goodluck Jonathan reconstituted the Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform (PTCLR) on November 29, 2011. At the inauguration of the reconstituted PTCLR Jonathan had reiterated the enormous wealth creation potential of land and its resources and expressed his desire to witness the day the ordinary Nigerian farmer and all other desiring Nigerians will be enabled with considerable ease to access credit for their businesses, using the title documents to their landed properties.

He therefore mandated the committee to work hard to achieve effective and efficient land governance system for Nigeria.

Under the Chairmanship of Emeritus Professor, Peter O Adeniyi, the PTCLR has earned the confidence of stakeholders for its thorough approach to providing the much needed solutions to Nigeria’s land titling problems. The Committee is successfully carrying out pilot schemes in some states which will be used as a model for Systematic Land Titling and Registration (SLTR) in Nigeria. The committee’s work when completed will positively change the way Nigerians live and transact businesses.

The PTCLR has received the vote of confidence of stakeholders because of the efficient work it is doing and the pedigree of members of the committee.

Land administration process in Nigeria

Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ms Ama Pepple has largely remained opaque, slow, cumbersome and expensive making it difficult for most Nigerians, especially the rural population and the urban poor to derive greater benefits from their landed properties.

Although formal land registration started in the country in 1863 using sporadic land titling and registration approach, not more than 3% of the land in Nigeria has been surveyed and registered, nearly 150 years after. Since the promulgation of the Land Use Act in 1978, there is scarcely a state in Nigeria that has issued up to 10,000 Certificates of Occupancy. Nigeria is ranked 180 out of 183 countries assessed by the World Bank on the difficulty of registering a property.

In carrying out its work, the committee has had to contend with the problems that

“

The PTCLR is developing all necessary regulations to advance the course of land governance in the country.

PTCLR Secretary, Ven. A.N Ukaejiofo

engender the persisting poor title recording system which include ignorance, illiteracy, conflict of interest, inadequate regulations, abuse of processes, inadequate skilled manpower, and absence of essential infrastructure. There are also problems of poor policy guidelines, function overlap among related land institutions, dysfunctional.

The problem of land administration in Nigeria is not only caused by the cumbersome, time-consuming and expensive process of land titling and registration in the country, it is also caused by the lack of functional land registries in most states and local governments in the country as well as the failure of nearly all states and local government areas to establish Land Use and Allocation Committee (LUAC) and the Land Allocation Advisory Committee (LAAC) respectively.

The PTCLR is developing all necessary regulations to advance the course of land governance in the country.

At a workshop on the review and validation of the draft regulations aimed at advancing some key provisions of the (Land Use Act) as well as enhance the implementation of Systematic Land Titling and Registration in the country, Prof. Adeniyi had noted that “One of the major pitfalls of the Land Use Act is the fact that none of the key pieces of regulation envisaged to enhance its implementation have been developed and passed by the appropriate authority since its inception. In addition, the absence of information on the spatial extent of most land rights makes it difficult to enforce several of the provisions of the law.

According to Prof. Adeniyi, among the key recommendations of the PTCLR is that “all land in Nigeria as a matter of urgency be duly documented using the SLTR model and that the regulations that would make this happen should be developed for the consideration and passage of the National Council of States. This recommendation was further strengthened by the recommendation of the National Council on

Land, Housing and Urban Development that PTCLR should develop all necessary regulations to advance the course of land governance in the country”.

The outcome of this committees’s work is therefore a critical success factor for the transformation of housing delivery, agricultural modernization and good land governance in the country and has a great potential to make significant input into the transformation of Nigeria and Nigerians. The committee is perfecting land regulations as they pertain to Possessory Rights,Tenure Security, Assignment of Rights, Land Registries, Lease Devolution of interest, Mortgage, etc.

It has also recommended the setting up of a National Land Reform Commission as lasting platform to national land reforms. It has presented a draft regulation on SLTR which stakeholders say government should expedite action on.

Housing sector operators are eagerly waiting for the final recommendations of the PTCLR because of the positive effect they will have on housing development and reducing Nigeria’s estimated deficit of 16 million housing units. According to the United Nations Habitat, in Nigeria, over 80% of the population lives in informal settlements in both the major urban areas and traditional villages. Average level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) invested in housing declined from 3.6% in the 70s to less than 1% in 2002. Currently, it is less than 0.5% compared with 25% - 30% average in Emerging Markets and 50% in matured markets. This is despite the fact that Nigeria has an annual population growth rate of 5.9%. Consequently, slums are springing up everywhere in the country.

The federal government should fully support the work of the committee to forestall an epidemic of unmanageable proportion as the committee’s work will help bridge the housing deficit through the mortgage development that will follow land reforms in Nigeria.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 27

Property

El-Salem boss lists problems of the housing sector

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ass Housing Developer and Managing Director of El-Salem Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Ben Gbade Ojo has called on the Federal Government to develop infrastructure in all areas designated for mass housing as a way of achieving government’s target of reducing the nation’s deficit of 16 million housing units.

Mr. Ojo who made the call in a chat with Peoples Daily in Abuja on Friday stated that “without prejudice to the find-

ings and recommendations of the various committees set up by the Housing Minister to identify problems and solutions to Nigeria’s housing sector, including efforts of professional associations and other stakeholders on the way forward for the sector, I wish to call on the Jonathan administration to please tackle Nigeria’s housing problems through concerted development of infrastructure like roads, electric power and pipe-borne water in sites des-

ignated for mass housing. Our experience in developing mass housing has shown that the absence of urban infrastructure and escalating cost of building materials have been the bane of estate developers and have effectively stunted efforts at housing development especially on mortgages. While the country waits for the development of the bond market to finance urban infrastructure, we urge the government to create a temporary and targeted in-

tervention fund that will provide infrastructure for serious private sector estate developers and come up with some other measures that will bring down the cost of building materials in the country”.

He said “as the nation gets poised to provide adequate housing for her citizens, it has become necessary to carry out a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s mortgage sector and mortgage institutions in Nigeria”

Mr. Ojo appealed to the Honourable Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Ama Pepple “to pursue with her legendary commitment, the issues of reviewing the Land Use Act to make land more accessible and to tackle the delays and difficulties associated with acquisition and transfer of property rights” adding that “El-Salem is committed to providing high quality and affordable housing for the generality of Nigerians”.

Tata banks on developing India’s Cheapest Housing Units

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ata, the Indian company that made worldwide headlines with its $2,000 (about N300,000) Nano car plans to build 1,000 tiny apartments outside Mumbai that will sell for $7,800 to $13,400 each. The company plans to roll out low-cost projects outside other major cities. Tata’s housing division is targeting a segment of the market that was largely overlooked during the housing boom. India’s builders were concentrating on building shiny new high rises after profits, but they were also trying to justify their fast-accelerating land costs, especially in and around Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) and other major cities.

But some business consultants (most prominently renowned management expert, C. K. Prahalad) were arguing that companies would profit handsomely if they target the “bottom of the pyramid” where the bulk of consumers are. It looks like Tata is taking that advice.

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 , 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 lo-

cal 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.

Analysts forecast bullish market for Nigerian real estate

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new World Bank report says Nigeria has the potential to become Africa’s foremost economic power, with an average GDP of six per cent per annum, buoyed by a young and growing population of 160 million. Morgan Stanley, an investment banking institution, has also predicted that Nigeria’s economy would outperform South Africa’s by 2025 to become the biggest in Africa.

Both institutions say Nigeria’s macroeconomic outlook is favourable. With an expected stable inflation rate, five per cent rural to urban immigration, and three per cent population growth, the financial institutions say Nigeria is a huge real estate market by all standards.

Concurring with the statistics, Mohammed Jibrin , Managing Director of mortgage banker, Sun Trust Savings and Loans Limited noted that “in the highly

developed economies, the average contribution of the real estate and housing sectors to the GDP is 40 per cent. In every economy, there is an engine room for that economy. The Nigerian housing sector can serve as that engine room as we seek to diversify our economic base. The sector has the potential to generate and create huge economic activities. The housing sector needs to consume other building materials and products such as electrical equipment, furniture, paints, roofing, cement, etc. The sector can help in developing small and large scale production of these key inputs thereby generating employment and increasing the level of national income. Addressing the housing sector problem is the same as addressing the unemployment problem and one avenue to diversify the economy away from dependence on the oil sector”.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 28

Motoring

Ford Explorer provides a more comfortable ride

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ike all modern crossover SUVs, the Ford Explorer has adopted carlike unibody construction in lieu of older models’ truck-based underpinnings.

The advantages are many, as today’s Explorer offers more interior space, better fuel economy and a more comfortable ride, all of which are desirable in a family vehicle. The Ford is also pretty upscale inside, with seating for up to seven passengers and a comprehensive list of convenience and safety features. The latter includes advanced options you won’t find on many other similarly priced crossover SUVs, such as second-row seatbelt airbags as well as lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist.

The standard 290-horsepower V6 will meet most buyers’ needs, but the Explorer’s turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine is a viable option, too. It actually costs extra to get this engine, but we’ve found it’s still suitably powerful and its fuel economy numbers are best-in-class. In theory, the fuel savings will also pay for the engine upgrade in just a few years. On the performance side of the spectrum, there’s the Explorer Sport model, which comes with a turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 that generates 365 hp.

In addition to that potent engine, the Sport also comes with firmer suspension tuning and special interior and exterior trim details.

There are a few drawbacks to the 2014 Ford Explorer, depending on your priorities. Taller families may not be happy with the second- and third-row seating,

which isn’t as roomy as in other crossovers. It’s the same with total cargo capacity. We’re also not fond of the MyFord Touch interface’s frequent glitches, or the way that the Explorer feels bigger behind the wheel than it really is -- even with all the available tech features onboard, it’s not an easy vehicle to maneuver in tight spaces.

As such, it’s a good idea to shop around a bit. Possible alternatives include the roomier Chevrolet Traverse and Mazda CX-9; the refined Dodge Durango, which also gives you more versatility for towing; or even the Explorer’s more wagonlike sibling, the Ford Flex.

If you’re drawn to the upscale look and many comforts of the 2014 Ford Explorer, however, it still stands as a respectable choice.

The 2014 Ford Explorer is a large crossover SUV available in base, XLT, Limited and Sport trim levels.

Standard equipment includes a V6 engine, 17-inch steel wheels, automatic headlamps, rear privacy glass, integrated blind-spot mirrors, roof rails, cruise control, full power accessories, air-conditioning, a 50/50-split third-row seat, a six-way power driver seat (manual recline), a tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, a trip computer and a six-speaker sound system with a CD player and an auxiliary audio jack.

The XLT adds 18-inch alloy wheels, foglamps, rear parking sensors, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a keyless entry code pad, Bluetooth, Sync (Ford’s

voice-activated phone/entertainment interface), a six-way front passenger seat, satellite radio and a USB port.

With the XLT trim, Ford offers the Equipment Group 201A package that adds a rearview camera, dual-zone automatic climate control, a nine-speaker sound system and the Driver Connect package, which includes an auto-dimming rearview mirror, MyFord Touch electronics controls (includes three configurable displays, two USB ports, SD card reader and audio/video input jacks) and upgraded Sync functionality. The 202A package includes all of the 201A equipment, plus leather upholstery, heated front seats and an eight-way power driver seat with power-adjustable lumbar.

The Limited bundles all of the above items and adds 20-inch wheels, heated outboard secondrow seats, remote engine start, power-adjustable pedals with memory, a 110-volt power outlet and a 12-speaker Sony sound system with HD radio. Optional for the Limited is the 301A package, which includes a power liftgate, a power-folding operation for the third-row seat, an eight-way power passenger seat, ventilated front seats, a heated and power tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a navigation system.

To this, the 302A package adds xenon headlamps, automatic high beams, an automatic parallelparking system, adaptive cruise control with collision warning and brake support, lane-departure and lane-keeping assist, a blind-

spot warning system and inflatable seatbelts for second-row outboard passengers.

The Explorer Sport is equipped similarly to the Limited, although it lacks the leather upholstery, 110-volt outlet and power-adjustable pedals. It also comes with different 20-inch wheels, a sport-tuned suspension, front sport seats (with extra lateral bolstering) and unique interior and exterior trim details. The Sport’s 401A package adds the power liftgate, navigation system, blind-spot monitoring, cross-traffic alert, inflatable seatbelts, power-adjustable steering wheel and pedals, heated and ventilated front seats, leather upholstery, driver seat memory, power front passenger seat and 110-volt outlet. The navigation system and adaptive cruise control can also be purchased as stand-alone options.

Some of the features in the XLT and Limited’s optional packages can be added as individual options, too. These include a dual-panel sunroof, second-row captain’s chairs and a rear seat entertainment system with dual headrest-mounted displays.

All 2014 Ford Explorers, except for the Sport, come standard with a 3.5-liter V6 that produces 290 hp and 255 pound-feet of torque along with a six-speed automatic transmission. With this engine, you have your choice of front-wheel drive or optional four-wheel drive (there is no low-range gearing). Four-wheel-drive models have Ford’s Terrain Management System, a selectable four-mode system that optimizes traction electronically for different conditions. Hill descent control and hill start assist are also included.

Source: Edmunds.com

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

By Grareano Kori Adiga

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he billing promised to be a thriller of an event and some of the heavyweights of the Abuja literati turned up at the Banquet Hall of Nanet Suites,venue of the May 25, 2013 Guest Writer Session of Abuja Writers Forum (AWF).

Christy Makut, guitarist and songwriter, had the unenviable task of setting the tone for the evening.

The On-Air-Personality with the Abuja-based FM Station, Nigeria Info, strummed and sang her soul-lifting songs with a captivating dexterity.

On hand too to fortify the musical interludes was Tokunbo Edward with his unique style of rendition which left the audience asking for more.

As is usual with the Guest Writer Session which is not just about reading, the medley also of presentations also included a mini-salon. Ndubuisi Ahanonu better known as Nduwhite, stepped up to exhibit contemporary Nigerian paintings reflecting artistic perspectives of current events in the country. According to Nduwhite, who is also Executive Director of the International Institute for Creative Development was represented, it is the responsibility of artists to preserve the age they live in by capturing events in their works. His exhibitions included a depiction of the anti fuel subsidy removal protest rally of January 2012 and an impressive array of used soft drink cans he personally picked on streets to create an intriguing collage.

Winners of the April Creative Writing Challenge received their prizes. The winners were Azizat Mohammed, Oye Ololade and Sadan Kalid, who came first, second and third respectively in the fiction category. There was a tie for the first position in poetry, held by Lolade Oye and Amina Aboje and the third prize was won by Didi Nwala. Azizat Mohammed was the only winner for the drama category. Most of the winners had recently completed the introductory phase of the AWF Creative Writing Workshop.

The writers took their turn to add gaiety to the delightful evening.

First up was Umari Ayim, who is also a lawyer, fashion designer, gender rights activist and blogger, and she was making her second appearance at the Guest Writer Session. Last year she had read from her debut awardwinning novel, Twilight at Terracota Indigo, but this time she read from her maiden poetry collection, Inside My Head which recently won a Poetry prize. The enthralling poems she read reached a climax with a poem based on the little publicized mass suicide of igbo slaves. Nt surprisingly, during the Q and A session, she was asked about her interest in history.

PAGE 29

Arts & Culture

Trio Thrill Abuja Literati

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

ANOTHER AUDIENCE

I Tokunbo Edwards

Gerald Ibe

Umari Ayim

The man with a deep interest in history and author of Road To Biafra, Gerald Oluchi Ibe, read from his new collection of short stories, After The Tears. His story about a randy state governor ended on a hilarious note that drew a warm applause from the audience.

ElNathan John took his turn with his short story, “Bayan Layi”, which had just been shortlisted for this year’s edition of the Caine Prize for African Writing, along with three other Nigerians and a Sierra-leonean. The literary prize is named in memory of the late Sir Michael Caine, Chairman of the Booker Prize management committee for almost 25 years.

Not unexpected, the news of the nomination had triggered interest in the story and the organizers seemed to have deliberately saved it for last.

In the official announcement of the shortlist, the Chair of judges, art historian and broadcaster, Gus CaselyHayford had described the five stories as interrogating “ aspects of things that we might feel we know of Africa – violence, religion, corruption, family, community – but these are subjects that are deconstructed and beautifully remade. These are challenging,

arresting, provocative stories of a continent and its descendants captured at a time of burgeoning change.”

As John read his story, which he later revealed was inspired by a friendship he had cultivated with an almajiri years back in Zaria, the audience could not be but agree with Casely-Hayford’s assessment. Some members of the audience hoped John or any of the other three Nigerians would the winner of the £10,000 prize to be announced at a celebratory dinner at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, on Monday 8 July.

The President of Abuja Writers Forum, Dr. Emman Usman Shehu in his closing remark congratulated El-Nathan and expressed optimism that the body, and indeed a new generation of Nigerian writers will soon dominate international literary awards.

He pointed out that interventions by groups like the Abuja Writers Forum are beginning to bear fruits.

The literati at the event included Dr Musa Opanashi, Dr. Kazura Zakama, Mrs. Chineyere Obi-Obasi, Mike Ekunno, Prince Abiathar Zadok, Dike Chukwumerije, and Mr. Ibe , a onetime governorship aspirant in Imo state.

Women are purveyors of culture, says culture expert

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culture expert, Mr Godwin Osele, said yesterday that women were the major channel for transmitting culture from one generation to another.

Osele told the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Abuja that women had the responsibility of inculcating the culture of respect, brotherhood and peace in their children and wards.

He attributed the culture of hard work, good habit and cleanliness in the society to the

FROM THE LIVE STAGE

role of women in training their children. ``Taking cognisance of the above facts, we can rightly say that women hold the lead for creating stability in different localities.’’

The expert stated that the kind of personality formed by anyone was virtually informed by culture, explaining that culture was often acquired through interactions with people in the environment. ``We know that women are not far from the children’s environment.

``Women are largely responsible for providing the first basic orientations at home and it it at this point that they inculcate whatever culture into their children.’’

He, however, said that it was whatever culture a child learnt from a woman that he or she extended into adult society.

Osele said that the culture of a people, be it family, ward, village or country, were basically moulded by women through children as ``leaders of tomorrow’’. (NAN)

t was one of those productions that you never really believe will give you a standing ovation. It was a production you think and believe and question whether the audience will understand the message you are trying to convey. In the end you get a standing ovation, in the end the audience understands the play so well to the point that you are almost embarrassed by their analysis of the play. Yet it is not our play. It is one of those plays that tell you so succinctly that you should never take your audience for granted. They are sophisticated. They are urbane and above all you get another lesson of a lifetime on the universality of human emotions and experiences.

This and more was the reaction to our performance of Vaclav Havel’s Audience which was performed at the Transcorp Hilton on Friday 7th June 2013.

Courtesy of the Embassy of the Czech Republic, it was a full house with a very respectable mix of the local and international crowd. Then the actors hit the stage – we see the brewery Foreman played by Sunny Adahson on his table snoring with bottles of both empty and full beer in front of him.

Then there are loud knocks on his door. In comes Vanek played by Mark Ibrahim Musa who is the alter ego of the playwright, the poet, politician, dissident and former President of Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. The Foreman offers Vanek a drink and many more drinks were to follow but Vanek declines on the condition that he is not much of a beer drinker. They talk and there is a lot of repetition of words and lines. Bottom line of all the talk which we get to know after the Foreman has gradually become very tipsy and drunk is that he has been given a very difficult assignment by the secret police. They want him to report every week on the activities of the writer in his brewery, Vanek. It was the era of communism.

The only challenge is that he does not know what to write! He has been observing him rolling empty barrels in the brewery, he sees him mix with the guys from the bottling plant, he knows that one of his colleagues, a fellow writer Kohout comes to visit him, he knows that the guys from maintenance have helped him fix his home appliances but beyond that nothing else. So he gives him a deal – he will give Vanek a better job in the

warehouse with his own office and space to think and write but he will report on himself.

The way the system will work is for him to write weekly reports on his activities and pass it to him and he passes it to his friend who works with the police and everyone will be happy. Vanek according to the Foreman is an intellectual so he will know what to write. As is expected, Vanek refuses as it is an assignment that he finds repulsive to all that he has ever believed in. The Foreman gets angry, rants and raves about how intellectuals look down on the rest of society because they think they know it all and are better than other people.

It was a very brilliant performance by the duo of Sunny Adahson and Mark Ibrahim Musa. The spontaneous standing ovation was a testament to hard work and an unrelenting ability to prove that all plays have a universal lesson to tell. It does not matter where one is from or where the experience has taken place – if it is done well, the people will understand and they will be appreciative.

At the end of the day, there was another strong lesson for us and the audience – the lessons of cultural diplomacy.

It is one that says this is who I am, this is what I have been through and these are my experiences. I want you to know more about me so that we can talk and relate like human beings who should take a delight in their humanity.

If it is done well, within a space of two hours, one can learn so much about a people – their culture, their thoughts and their humanity.

We left the performance wiser, better educated and more knowledgeable about the Czech and about our own people.

I also learnt another vital lesson – our arts organizations must as a matter of course begin to get more adventurous and more ambitious. Let us continue to seek to perform plays from other climes and have a healthy mix of these with our own experiences.

The audiences will get better and they will appreciate our vibrancy and this is one of the conditions to earn their trust and support.

Thank you to the Czech Embassy who put up the play with the support of Diamond Bank, Julius Berger Plc and Transcorp Hilton. It was a most memorable evening.

PAGE 30

Arts & Culture

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

A man who dared Book Review

By Odia Ofeimun continued from last week n the prologue to the eight chapters and 336 pages of this book, the author writes that Udo Akpabio had twenty nine wives, a good number of them married into the family by Nne Eyen Mboho, his first wife. Some were daughters or sisters of associates or friends given to him to further engender goodwill, and others were those who had invariably caught the distinguished sage’s sharp and knowing eyes….Through these twenty nine wives, Udo Akpabio begat a large family whose offspring would later form nearly the entirety of Ukana Ikot Ntuen Village”. Obviously, the concubines are not to be counted. The sons identified in this book run into twenty one. It can be imagined that the daughters and grandchildren, if a census had to be taken ,would make a dwarf of the population of some towns. However, beyond the sheer celebration of the prowess of Udo Akpabio’s loins, is the manifestation of leadership qualities in a man who, through the development of personal efficacy of a rare kind, acquired wealth and power, navigated the colonial political firmament without formal education but with a sure-footedness deserving of every emulation.

Udo Akpabio had the organizational acumen of an empire builder, able to make the land speak the language of tended crops, becoming a long-distance trader as much as he was involved in community work. A zealous hard worker, adept at mobilizing men and materials for tasks that needed to be done, he proved to be immeasurably insightful in reconciling the differences around him. He was a straight-out frontiers man who, moving from farming to long-distance trade, built up a reputation for integrity and forthrightness in the very dangerous times in which he lived. In the light of his quick-wittedness in virtually all situations, it could be explained why, although he was not in line to become the Okuku after his father’s death, the people had clamoured for him to be crowned. Being the Okuku meant that he had to lead his people to confront the many untoward circumstances of the day. It was a time when slave hunters and random bandits waylaid legitimate trade across much of his part of the world. Many frontiers men in his day were lusty slave traders. As the author explains, slave-hunting, after it was banned by Europeans, became attractive in the way that illicit undertakings tend to promise higher profits than the legit. But Udo Akpabio was committed to normal trade. It is important to emphasize this aspect of his life as it proves that traditional African societies were not so through and through in an anomic state as to have embraced the inhuman traffic with the glee painted by colonizers. Udo Akpabio’s resistance to slavery may be termed a legacy that he inherited from his forebears. But the mode of his resistance was all his own. Slavery was part of a general African malaise that had been planted by the trans-saharan and transatlantic head hunters who

I

disaggregated communities, shattered and despoiled ancestral shrines and generally created so much distrust between near and distant neighbours in a way that disallowed the pooling of resources to resist the colonizers when they came. The slave wars, mis-described as inter-tribal wars had weakened and exhausted the people.

The kingdoms, one after the other, were annihilated by the mercenaries and conscripts of the royal Niger Company. Udo Akpabio led his people into war against the British and lost.

But smart, and prescient, he was able to seize the moment.

When the British spotted his leadership qualities and first offered to make him a leader, a warrant chief to be precise, his people initially opposed it. It was a case of how could they give away their best to the strangers? They hid him away because they could not afford to lose a leader that they cherished so much to colonizing hordes. Eventually, they relented . And, so began a reign that turned out to be quite exemplary .

As the author narrates, Udo Akpabio “was first enthroned as village head and then clan head, from where the British made him a warrant chief, a judge, president of the customary court, and later paramount ruler” of the Ikot Ekpene District. Okuku Udo Akpabio was one of the few among the warrant chiefs who lived to a very ripe old age and never had to be over-heckled by the demonology of the anti-colonial struggle. His special grace came from never over-reacting to new situations. He seized the most valuable aspects and turned them to his and his people’s advantage. Given his background, he was happy to team up with the colonial officers to fight against the murder of twins and the ostracism of their mothers. He turned his closeness to the colonial officials into a means of resistance to human sacrifice, which was quite rampart.

In particular, education was a core issue for him. It was where the

colonizers held the advantage with which they had colonized his people.

He went for it with a vengeance that soon reversed the head start that neighbouring communities already had over the Annang. Even girl-child education, frowned upon and resisted by a majority of the population, needed to be granted a leeway: he enrolled his daughters. The harvest in the end was paltry, but it set a pioneering basis, a precedent, that remained a challenge. Udo Akpabio became a moving vehicle of modernization who enjoined communities to provide lands for schools, markets, churches and reconciled differences across communities with his especial power of suasion. He worked hard ever after, it might be said, to be on the side of the people even when it was clear that he had to do the unsavoury work for colonizers whose tax policies, as far as the people were concerned, proved the reality of colonial perfidy.

Taxation of the natives turned out more than just a sticking point occasioning truly perturbing moments. The colonial tax policies were harsh and improperly managed.

In many parts of the country, they were left in the hands of unscrupulous and rapacious self-servers who saw the role of warrant chiefs as a license to tyrannize over people. It so happened that many of the people, on their own, would never have chosen them as leaders. It sparked violence of varying intensity across much of southern Nigeria - in Owerri and Calabar axis and in the Benin Delta. The riots overcame the fiction and pretense that Warrant Chiefs were the ones responsible for taxes.

Especially with the plan to tax the women folk , colonial officials were literally taking off their gloves. Plain colonial stupidity, it was. It led to the Aba women’s riots in the late twenties, and yielded a format for local anticolonial struggles . Readers of Sir Udo Udoma will recall this as a factor in the formation of ethnic unions in this

part of the world. And, with ethnic Unions, the Annang/Ibibio entered a period in which African resistance to colonial skullduggery climbed to a higher pitch and a stirner interface with neighbours and the colonizer.

All along, Okuku Udo Akpabio, as the narrative has it, helped his people to weather provocations without resorting to violence. His evident charisma, and the trust that his people had in his good sense at all times, saved the British, so to say, wherever he exercised his legendary influence.

He was lucky of course that he had a long life in which to place his people on a footing that we might say proved the measure of the man in the sense that his direct offspring, and their offspring have not absconded from the path he threshed.

In this connection, it calls for some emphasis that Offonbuk Akpabio does not underrate the beholdingness of the Okuku to the British in matters of his people’s development. She is painstaking in memorializing the leadership style that made Akpabio so successful. Although not educated, the Okuku was in a monumentally good rapport with the Methodist Missionary, Reverend Groves, whom the author gives quite a hand as a pioneer biographer of sorts. Truly memorable pictures are to be found throughout the book of how tense moments were doused and potentially tragic occurrences were normalized by the respect and shared camaraderie between Udo Akpabio and Reverend Groves. Friendship with the Methodist Missionary, a man with whom he had many a leisurely walk, helped to shape and reshape policy. They found common cause especially in the days when the Spirit Movement erupted in violent strains across his domain. Warrant Chief and colonial authorities came together to seek an end to the violent irruptions intent on exorcising wizards, witches and all sorts of diabolical forces within traditional religions as well as in the burgeoning Christian sects of the day. Sorely, the spirit Movement tested the nerves of their compact. Its fervid members deployed Christian motifs with grand superstitions not too different from the indigenous spirit forms that they railed against.

They roughed up Akpabio’s love for Western education. But his penchant for educational entrepreneurship remained unshaken. It soon helped his Annang/Ibibio people to outstrip neighbours who had a headstart in education. He willed this love of education to his children who, incidentally, have played quite seminal roles over the decades in helping establish scholarships and building colleges. With many of them acquiring higher education at home and abroad, his profile as a performer of legendary feats has been much upheld. It is not surprising therefore that, as the author posits, he was “so readily accepted and celebrated “ that in his prime “fathers and mothers readily presented their children to the Okuku for blessings and adoption as Okpong…Subsequently all those named “Essien’ gathered to celebrate their adopted stock and literally “put Udo Akpabio on a demi-god pedestal”.

Concluded

POEM OF THE WEEK Land of lava and volcanoes

By Ebele Chizea

It’s nice out, sunny even While dark clouds gather – If it weren’t dangerous I’d Walk around the church With my father.

For too long now I have used Being and nothing as a crutch.

Waking, feeling prehistoric I can feel the lightness in you – It’s a soft love light.

I sit and write about mummy And daddy, tears that came and Went like a cold waterfall Staring right through me as it Floods my mind’s eye.

A child’s fists painted with Mud pies, adults with their bleak Smiles swimming out of reach – Moon people do not have to speak Of the volume of their loneliness.

If only loss were pintsized.

If only a brother was not locked In the mists of rehab – childhood Has no walls only infinite space.

Watch me detach myself From that thing, that skin Of a telescope, its core’s pulse – Why are you sullen, something Flawed on the other end of the Line leaving me an uninvited Guest like dark to fathom You out, the sun of your rare Soul-pieces – a deluge is Wrung out, washed out pale Like mysticism’s shroud.

When you went away When you left this world turned on me, Crippled me and left my heart in a frail knot– Tangled in the mirth of obsession towards Possession, form, force, a waking flame, the Arrows of a being of light.

They were contagious as a rolling shift in Tides, as I progressed towards you lost in the Land, shades and country of Jane Austen.

I basked in the glory of her elements, sampled Incandescence, fragile quiet.

If fish could only live on air like I do– Instead they breathe the juice, the veil of fire On an expedition from sea to land before They’re completely erased from sight like you Have been, leaving me quite Ill, inconsolable against invincible cosmic You. I searched this house, turned it upside down Until all my thoughts were black, impoverished– How can I banish the song in my clothed hunger, My still, patched, dark thirst.

The climb has been a cold one to bear– night Has ravaged me senseless so that I’ve taken to Medicine which has transitioned me from Ancient death to the tree of life, made me march To the sound of cars and dogs Barking in bursts, the background of the vein Of rain, the symmetry of stars, the silence of a Planet when the night falls–if only you were Here within reach, smelling of roses, my prize Poem, kind, alive, not in flight.

I can more or less feel the sea now that you’ve Gone away, promised to write, exchanged addresses– The hours give me courage, there’s a home for Love in my blood, the silence in profound madness, Even in my weeping for my loss.

QUOTE As I said earlier, there are no writers who could create a literary vision of the new reality.

Andrzej Wajda

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

DIPLOMATIC

UN commends Nigeria on security, warns of human right abuse

By Abdulkadir Isa

T

he United Nations has commended Nigeria for the role it is playing to check insecurity, protection of lives and property and promoting peace within the West African sub region.

This commendation came when the UN Secretary General for West Africa and Chairman Nigeria/ Cameroon mixed commission; Mr Said Djinnit paid a courtesy call to the minister of foreign affairs yesterday in Abuja.

Mr Djinnit applauded the role of the Nigerian armed forces, particularly in peace keeping missions it had successfully carried out in the past in Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia and even Mali.

The UN envoy said the United Nations was behind Nigeria in its quest for peace within and outside its shores as it has sent delegations on counter terrorism to help the nation strengthen its’ security capacity.

Commending the efforts of the Nigerian Navy in curbing piracy around the gulf of Guinea, Mr Djinnit said, “What is being done at the seaside should be extended to the mainland”.

However the visiting envoy emphasized that, the Nigerian armed forces should be wary of

PAGE 31

CIRCUIT Sierra Leone refutes Lebanese arms link

By Hassan HarunaGinsau

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Minister of Foreign affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru (2nd right) with the visiting UN Sec-Gen for West Africa, Mr Said Djinnit (3rd left). human rights as they battle to restore peace in the North Eastern part of the country where state of emergency have been declared, adding that Nigeria must reactivate regional integration to support the military effort.

In his vote of thanks, the host minister – Olugbenga Ashiru said the Nigerian armed forces have learnt their lessons and will not trample on innocent civilians as earlier promised before commencement of the campaign.

He added that the federal government is ready to take the military men off the streets of the affected states as soon as normalcy returns to leave behind fever personnel in case of bounce back from the insurgents.

he Sierra Leone high commission in Nigeria has denied any links with the arms cache discovered from a Lebanese-owned house in Kano.

This comes as a response to reports in major media platforms on allegation that the house where the cache of arms was discovered is a Sierra Leonean – Lebanese Consul.

In a statement released by the High commission, the Sierra Leonean government reaffirms that the government and people of Sierra Leone would continue to distance themselves from any form of violence against their sister republic of Nigeria and would vigorously investigate the suspects claim to Sierra Leonean citizenship.

It said, “The Sierra Leonean government vehemently condemns any act of violence inferred by the purported ‘Sierra Leonean- Lebanese’ citizen harbouring Hezbollah weapons”, calling on all Sierra Leoneans to distance themselves from violent activities.

Japanese Government provides boreholes for Benue community

By Hassan HarunaGinsau.

T

he Embassy of Japan announces the completion of 8 newly constructed boreholes in Gwer East local government area of Benue State. The 8 boreholes will be handed over to 8 communities in the local government on 18th June, 2013.

The Japanese government granted the project the amount of $93,663 under the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP). Youth, Adolescent, Reflection and Action Centre (YARAC), a local NGO to assist in carrying out the project.

The project for “water supply and sanitation” is designed to contribute to the improvement of the rural water situation and sanitation in the communities of Gwer East local government Area, and to strengthen the amicable relationship between Nigeria and Japan it said.

The Japanese government under the GGP has implemented 131 projects throughout Nigeria since 1998, projects which will help Nigerians in meeting diverse needs and bringing a direct impact on the wellbeing of grass root

communities.

The GGP is designed

to provide financial grant assistance to non-

profitorganizations and local governments implementing

development projects at the grassroots level.

Peter Ainsworth at the interactive session with civil society groups on anti-corruption in Abuja, organized by the US Embassy in collaboration with Transition Monitoring Group (TMG). Photo credit: US Embassy

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 32

International

Egypt warns Ethiopia over Nile dam

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gypt’s president has warned Ethiopia that “all options are open” in dealing with its construction of a Nile dam that threatens to leave Egypt with a dangerous water shortage.

Speaking in a live televised speech before hundreds of supporters on Monday, Mohammed Morsi said Egypt was not calling for war, but it is willing to confront any threats to its water security.

“If it loses one drop, our blood is the alternative,” he said to a raucous crowd of largely Islamist supporters that erupted into a standing ovation.

Ethiopia’s $4.2 billion hydroelectric dam, which would be Africa’s largest, challenges a colonial-era agreement that had given Egypt and Sudan the lion’s share of rights to Nile water.

Experts estimate that

Egypt could lose as much as 20 percent of its Nile water in the three to five years needed for Ethiopia to fill a massive

reservoir.

Morsi’s speech reflected the importance of the Nile River to Egypt. It provides

President Mohammed Morsi

almost all of the fresh water to a country that is otherwise largely parched desert.

As much as 85 percent of the Nile’s water comes from Ethiopia.

“We are not calling for war, but we will not allow, at all, threats against our water security,” Morsi said before adding, “all options are open.”

“The great Nile is that which all our lives are connected to. The lives of the Egyptians are connected around it ... as one great people,” Morsi told the crowd.

Shiftin g h i s t one lat er i n the speech, Morsi said that E gy p t c ons i d ered E t h i op i a a “friend” and noted he had visited the country twice s i nc e t ak i ng offi c e.

H e s a i d h i s administration was in continuous dialogue with Ethiopia and Sudan to d i s c us s w at er ri gh t s .

UN prepares for Mali force deployment

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he UN is preparing to start deploying a new peacekeeping force in Mali on schedule in three weeks, even though the security situation in the north remains “complex and volatile”, the UN chief has said.

Ban Ki-moon’s statement on Monday came amid reports that a Malian government delegation and Tuareg MNLA rebels had reached an agreement “in principle” that would allow planned elections in July to go

ahead in the disputed northern Kidal region, according to a senior mediator in the talks.

Negotiations in the capital of neighbouring Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, opened on Saturday, after Mali’s army last week began advancing towards Kidal, the MNLA’s last stronghold in the remote northeast, in the first direct fighting in months.

In late April, the UN Security Council authorised a UN peacekeeping force comprising

11,200 military personnel and 1,440 international police to replace a 6,000-member Africanled mission in Mali on July 1.

It said the date could be delayed if security conditions deteriorate. The council is expected to make a final decision on deployment of the UN force at a meeting on June 25.

Mali fell into turmoil after a March 2012 coup created a security vacuum that allowed secular Tuareg rebels to take over

half of the country’s north as a new homeland. Months later, the rebels were kicked out by fighters linked to al-Qaeda.

In the report to the Security Council, Ban said major combat operations have largely ceased, and the increasing presence of Malian, French and African troops in the north “has helped stabilise the situation and significantly hamper the movement and actions of armed groups”.

of Timbuktu, away from Islamist rebel forces.

They have been taken from airconditioned rooms in Timbuktu to the capital, Bamako.

“We are entering the rainy

season”, he said, “and there is a lot of humidity there. So we will need to intervene as soon as possible to put them in boxes that can resist the humidity.”

From 28 May to 3 June, the team

carried out extensive investigations in Timbuktu and consultations with the local community.

The results will be used to finalise an action plan which will include extensive reconstruction.

…Timbuktu damage ‘worse than thought’ - UNESCO

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eanwhile a team of experts in Mali says damage to Timbuktu’s unique cultural heritage from recent fighting is much worse than was first estimated.

The team from UNESCO travelled to the city for the first time since systematicattacksbyrebelforces who occupied it until early this year.

They say Timbuktu is completely degraded and that more of its famous mausoleums than previously thought are damaged.

Many more manuscripts are also missing.

The mission of the Unesco team was the first step towards reconstruction of Timbuktu and the safeguarding of its heritage.

“From the information that we received during the occupation, we thought only nine mausoleums from the World Heritage List were damaged,” the head of the mission, LazareEloundouAssomo, said.

“But actually, when we arrived on the site, we had 14 mausoleums damaged.

“What we also noted is that not only 2,000 to 3,000 manuscripts were lost. The estimation, today, is of 4,203 manuscripts that were completely lost,” he said.

Mr Assomo said the emblematic El Farouk monument at the entrance city had been razed to the ground.

He also said he had fears for thousands of manuscripts that had been successfully smuggled out

R-L: Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, in a handshake with Australian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Jonathan Richardson, during the envoy’s visit to the speaker, yesterday National Assembly, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Sudan counters accusation of moving into South Sudan’s territories

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udan countered South Sudan’s accusations that the Sudanese army had moved into the South’s territories, official SUNA news agency reported.

“The Sudanese armed forces are completely committed to the international borders as stipulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” the agency quoted Al-Sawarmy Khalid Saad, Sudanese army spokesman, as saying.

“These claims tend to cover the violations of South Sudan’s army of the cooperation agreement between the two countries,” Saad said, pointing out that at the time when Sudan completed its withdrawal according to the agreements signed by the two countries, South Sudan’s army is still present in six Sudanese areas.

Earlier on Monday, S o u t h S u d a n e s e Information Minister Barnaba Benjamin reportedly accused the Sudanese army of encroaching on the south’s territories, saying “the troops moved about 10 km into Upper Nile state.”

He added that South Sudan would protest to the African Union and the United Nations regarding Sudan’s decision to halt the exportation of its oil.

On Sunday, Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Service chief Mohamed Atta accused South Sudan of violating the cooperation agreement signed by the two countries in September last year.

Source: Xinhua

PEOPLES DAILY , WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

North, South Korean governmentlevel talks on hold

PAGE 33

International

China sends three ‘taikonauts’ into space

an experimental space lab.

The Shenzhou 10 spacecraft, atop a Long March 2 rocket, was launched on Tuesday from a

remote site in the Gobi desert.

The event that was carried live on state television.

Once in orbit, the craft will

dock with the trial laboratory Tiangong [Heavenly Palace] 1.

The crew - two men and one woman - will then carry out tests on the module’s systems in the latest step towards the development of a space station.

They are also set to give a lecture to students back on earth.

China successfully carried out its first manned docking exercise with Tiangong 1 last June, a milestone in an effort to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space station that can house people for long periods.

Pres i d e n t X i J i n p i n g oversaw the latest launch.

He addressed the crew before blast-off and hailed the mission as “glorious and sacred”, according to state media.

This mission will be the longest time Chinese have spent in space, and marks the second mission for lead crewmember NieHaisheng.

It is China’s fifth manned space mission since 2003. China also plans an unmanned moon landing and the deployment of a rover, as a pretext to sending a man to the moon after 2020.

areas of Lebanon.

Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from Lebanon, said the victim was reportedly killed while driving when about 10 rockets hit the town.

“It appears that the person who died was driving through the city of Hermel when one of these rockets fired from across the border

from Syria hit the car,” our correspondent said.

Attacks on the northern Lebanese area have escalated since Syrian troops backed by fighters from Hezbollah, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, retook the central Syrian town of Qusayr last week.

“It is the first time since

the fall of Qusayr that Hermel was hit,” Abdel Hamid said.

Lebanon is sharply divided along sectarian lines, which have been emphasised by the conflict in Syria.

The Sunni-led March 14 opposition supports the Sunnidominated revolt against Assad, while Hezbollah and its allies back Assad’s forces.

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outh Korea has said highlevel talks will not take place as scheduled with North Korea in Seoul on Wednesday.

The two sides agreed on Monday to the two-day talks, expected to focus primarily on joint economic projects.

But on the eve of the meeting, the two sides remained unable to agree on the composition of their delegations, officials in Seoul said.

The planned talks would follow months of tension in the region, after the North’s third nuclear test in February.

“There will be no talks tomorrow,” a spokeswoman for South Korea’s Unification Ministry told Agence-France Presse news agency.

It was not immediately clear whether the talks, scheduled to take place at a hotel in Seoul, had been postponed or cancelled.

The two Koreas had exchanged undisclosed lists of their five representatives late on Tuesday, but could not reach a consensus, reports said.

A South Korean official was earlier quoted by AFP as saying that the North had an issue with one of Seoul’s delegates.

It was previously reported that Unification Minister RyooKihl-jae would lead South Korea’s team. But when Seoul asked Pyongyang to send his counterpart, Kim Yang-gon, North Korea refused the request.

The last time the two Koreas held high-level talks was more than five years ago.

The agreement to hold the talks - seen by analysts as a major development in itself - came in the early hours of Monday after lengthy preliminary discussions in the truce village of Panmunjom.

The Kaesong joint industrial zone, which was shut down by the North in April as tensions escalated on the peninsula, was expected to be a main talking point.

Kaesong, seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation, had run successfully for more than eight years. It is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to interKorean trade.

About 53,000 North Korean workers are employed at the factory complex by more than 120 South Korean factories.

But Pyongyang withdrew its workers from Kaesong in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions after its 12 February nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills.

Aside from Kaesong, the reunion of separated families and the resumption of tours to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang were also up for discussion.

From left, Wang Yaping, Zhang Xiaoguang and NieHaisheng prepare for blast-off [AP]

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hina’s latest manned spacecraft blasted off with three “taikonauts” onboard on a 15-day mission to

Asia & Middle East

Rockets from Syria hit northern Lebanon

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everal rockets launched from Syria have hit the eastern Lebanese town of Hermel, a bastion of the Shia group Hezbollah, reportedly killing at least one person and wounding several others.

Tuesday’s incident was the latest in a series of crossborder rocket attacks on Shia

Austria starts withdrawal from Golan Heights

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ustria has begun withdrawing some of its 378 UN peacekeepers from the demilitarised zone on the ceasefire line with Syria and the Israel-occupied Golan Heights.

Tuesday’s decision comes after opposition rebels briefly seized the Quneitra crossing late last week in an incident that injured two of the peacekeepers.

The crossing lies in the demilitarised zone on the Israel-Syria armistice line and is monitored by about 1,000 UN peacekeepers, including the Austrians.

Sue Turton in the Golan Heights witnessed armoured personnel-carriers transporting the Austrians to the main UN base on the Israeli side of the ceasefire line.

She said that the troops were from the logistics unit, and not from the main body of the peacekeepers.

“There isn’t a large number of them but it’s a significant that they’ve already started to come out,” Turton said, adding that Austria was expected to remove the rest of its force later

Vladimir Putin said last week that troops from his country could replace the Austrians.

this month.

Japan and Croatia have also withdrawn their troops in recent months, as battles between the Syrian government

and opposition forces spread into the ceasefire zone.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that troops from his country could replace

the Austrians, but under the terms of the 1974 accord that created the force, members of the UN Security Council are not allowed to take part.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 34

International

Police clear Istanbul’s Taksim Square

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urkish riot police have cleared Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which has been occupied by anti-government protesters for close to two weeks.

Police deployed water cannon and fired tear gas and rubber

bullets, causing many protesters to flee the square into adjoining Gezi Park.

Some activists hurled fireworks, fire bombs and stones at police.

The unrest began after a

crackdown on an environmental protest over Gezi Park’s redevelopment.

The protests then widened, with demonstrators accusing Prime Minister RecepTayyipErdogan’s

Turkish police fired teargas at protesters.

US spy leak source goes into ‘hiding’

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former US intelligence worker has apparently gone into hiding a day after revealing himself as the source of leaked details of widespread US spying on private internet and phone records.

Edward Snowden, 29, was reported to have checked out of a Hong Kong hotel on Monday after the publication by the Guardian newspaper of an interview about his motives and actions. His whereabouts are now unknown.

In the interview, Snowden stated that he might be a target for extrajudicial abduction by the CIA, or the target of violence by one of the organisation’s allies or third parties.

Snowden, who was working as a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) in Hawaii, travelled to Hong Kong after leaking details of the Prism spy programme, which harvests data from millions of private communications and phone calls.

The White House has said that an investigation is underway into the leak. It has, however, refused to discuss its scope.

Snowden’s full interview has been watched by hundreds of thousands of people.

“I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded,” Snowden told the Guardian. “That is not something I am willing to support or live under.”

US politicians on Monday reacted with fury to Snowden’s actions.

Peter King, senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said: “I believe he should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I consider him right now to be a defector.”

Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused Snowden of committing an “act of treason” and demanded his prosecution.

President Barack Obama, the director of national intelligence James Clapper and other officials have insisted Prism has been authorised by Congress and is subject to strict supervision of a secret court.

US authorities face legal hurdles

government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.

Mr Erdogan defended the police intervention on Tuesday, saying that an environmental movement had been hijacked by people who wanted to harm Turkey.

In a speech that was frequently interrupted by applause, he asked: “What did the protesters expect? That we would kneel down before them?”

And he appeared to contradict Istanbul Governor HuseyinAvniMutlu, who had earlier said the police had no intention of breaking up the protest in Gezi Park.

“I invite them to withdraw from the park and I ask this as prime minister.

“I am sorry but Gezi Park is for taking promenades, not for occupation,” Mr Erdogan said.

Police have removed protesters’ banners which had been hung from a building overlooking Taksim Square, replacing them with the national flag and a portrait of the father of the Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk. if they attempt to extradite Snowden.

Hong Kong has a treaty but the document has some exceptions, including for crimes deemed political.

Snowden also told the Guardian that he may seek asylum in Iceland.

Snowden said in his interview that the public of the United States should decide whether Prism was justified.

Pro-Snowden protesters.

Russian Duma passes law banning ‘gay propaganda’

Orthodox believers demonstrated their support for the new law.

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ussia’s lower house of parliament, the Duma, has passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18.

The measure was passed unanimously and will become law when approved by the upper house and President Vladimir Putin, a virtual formality.

Gay rights campaigners clashed with anti-gay activists outside the Duma.

The lower house also passed a bill imposing up to three years in jail on those who offend religious believers.

The law comes in the wake of the imprisoning of members of the punk band Pussy Riot for performing an anti-Putin protest in an Orthodox cathedral in February 2012.

Two band members, NadezhdaTolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, are currently serving twoyear jail terms.

The new law on “offending religious feelings of the faithful” will also take effect after approval by the upper house and the president.

Violence between rival protesters spread onto Moscow’s central street on Tuesday, reports the BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in the capital.

Gay rights campaigners were attacked and there were no police to stop the violence, says our correspondent. When one group ran into a shop to take refuge, their attackers waited and then ran in to find them.

Under the new law, private individuals promoting “homosexual behaviour among minors” face fines of up to 5,000 roubles (£100; $155) while officials risk paying 10 times that amount. Businesses and schools could be fined up to 500,000 roubles.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment is high.

A recent poll found that nearly half of Russians believe that the gay and lesbian community should not enjoy the same rights as other citizens.

Europe and Americas

Colombian peace talks to resume in Cuba

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embers of Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, will resume peace negotiations with representatives of the Colombian government on Tuesday.

The talks are restarting in Havana, Cuba, a fortnight after the two sides reached agreement on land reform.

They will now discuss how the FARCwill join in politics if a deal is reached to end the five decades of conflict.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said he wants the talks to be wrapped up by the end of the year.

On 26 May, negotiators announced that after half a year of talks, they had struck a deal on agrarian reform, the first of six issues on their agenda.

On Tuesday, they are set to start discussing how the rebels can lay down arms and become a political force.

The government’s lead negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, said that this next phase would focus on “establishing rules which will allow the transition of the FARC to an unarmed political force”.

The rebels are expected to argue that Colombia’s political system, currently dominated by two major parties, would make it hard for them to get elected.

Rebel negotiator Andres Paris told Colombian newspaper El Espectador that they would demand “a broadening of the political scene for the opposition”.

“We have fought for a democratic opening and confronted Colombia’s restricted two-party system,” he said.

But the prospect of FARC members running for office - possibly as early as the 2015 regional elections - is strongly opposed by some sectors of Colombian society.

The president of the Colombian Federation of Cattle Ranchers, Jose Felix Lafaurie, said such a move would be unconstitutional.

“The constitution says that noone who has been sentenced can be elected.”

Many senior FARC members have been sentenced in absentia to long prison terms for rebellion and other crimes, including kidnapping, extortion and murder.

Their capture orders have been temporarily lifted to allow them to participate in the talks.

President Santos said on Friday he was “quite confident” a peace deal could be reached by the end of 2013.

“The guerrillas don’t have an alternative. It’s now or never,” he said.

The government estimates that 600,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in the 1960s, with some three million more internally displaced by the fighting.

The FARC is thought to have some 8,000 fighters, down from about 16,000 in 2001.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 35

Strange World

In Switzerland you can rent fake police cars to keep burglars away 2 W

Woman has worn corsets every day for the last three years to shrink her waist

ho needs an expensive home security system when you have a police car parked right outside your home? That’s what Swiss entrepreneur AndrasBirrer thought when he decided to rent out fake police cars to people who travel a lot or go away on long holidays.

It all started out as a gimmick ad for a local newspaper in AndrasBirrer’s home town of Sursee, near Lucerne. The owner of a local car rental firm, Birrer had the brilliant idea to paint a Hyundai i40 in the colours of the Swiss police, fit it with warning lights and advertise it as an effective way to discourage burglars. The newspaper ad read: “Don’t want your home broken into? Are you leaving on vacation soon? Rent our police car, we leave it parked outside your home the entire time”. It was meant to be a publicity stunt, but the ad got people so interested that the Swiss mechanic decided to actually provide the unusual service. Now he has a whole fleet of police car replicas available for 250 francs ($270) a week. Birrer is raking in a small fortune as his idea seems to have become a hit

with frequent travellers and summer vacationers who truly believe the fake police cars can keep burglars away.

Because driving police vehicles is illegal for anyone who is not a member of the police, AndrasBirrer’s cars

are delivered to the desired location by truck, where they must remain stationary until the end of the agreed rental period. The actual Swiss police say they are skeptical about the efficiency of these fake cars. “The question is whether

it really does stop thieves, especially if they see it is parked for weeks on a driveway and it never moves,” police spokesman Ulf Wigger said. Of course, they could just be jealous a car mechanic is doing a much better job than them.

Photo: Gianni Walther/20 Minutes News

World’s longest moustache measures over four meters

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Ram Singh displays his record setting moustache.

John Wright/Guinness Records

Photo:

am Singh Chauhan started growing his moustache in 1970, and hasn’t cut it since. Today it measures over 4.30 meters, and the proud Indian man from Rajasthan holds the Guinness record for World’s Longest Moustache.

The 58-year old says one of the secrets to impressive facial hair growth is starting early. ”As you grow old your hormones grow weak, so the speed slows down,” Ram says, but even now he still adds a few centimetres to his moustache every year. He stopped shaving his moustache back in 1970, after being inspired by a fellow moustache enthusiast from Rajasthan, resuming to trimming the split ends every once in a while. In the early years Chauhan and his wife Asha used to fight over his abnormally long facial hair, because he used to take a long time to wash and groom it, and people stared at them every time they went out.

But as soon as her husband started getting recognition for his efforts, she began to respect his commitment, and says she now considers the moustache part of the family and shares his pride in it.

Thanks to his long moustache, Ram Singh Chauhan appeared

in big movies like 1983′s ”Octopussy”, starring Roger Moore, as well as numerous Bollywood productions. He has also travelled around the world, to show off his amazing whiskers.

Ram’s moustache currently stands at over 4.30 meters, and taking proper care of it is no easy task. The Rajasthan state tourism official takes between one and two hours a day to clean and comb his precious facial hair. ”I massage it and oil it regularly and I wash it every 10 days which takes a long time,” he told BBC News. “My wife helps me.” Walking around with over 4 meters of hair hanging from your face is also pretty tough. When the moustache was shorter, Chauhan used to wrap it around his ears, but these days he has to roll both ends around his neck. But he knows there’s no gain without pain and he wouldn’t dream of getting rid of it. It’s what makes him special, and that makes everything worth it.

Ram Singh Chauhan’s biggest regret is that his son doesn’t share his passion for long facial hair. He doesn’t even have a tiny moustache.

Source: odditycentral. com

4-year-old Michele Koebke wants to set a new record for the World’s Tiniest Waist. To reach her goal, she has worn corsets every day and night for the last three years, taking them off only when she showers. Unfortunately this unusual fascination with corsets is taking a toll on her health.

Michele Koebke is a big fan of the 19th century wasp waist fashion silhouette, which had women wearing tight corsets to shrink their waists and attain a look similar to the wasp’s segmented body. Only she has taken her passion to the extreme by wearing a corset every day and night since the end of 2009, in the hopes that she might someday set a new record for the world’s smallest waist.

During the last 3 years, Michele has managed to shrink her waist from 64cm to 54 cm, which gives her hope that she may one day surpass her idol, Cathie Jung, whose 34cm waist is currently considered the tiniest.

Although she admits gradually squeezing her body into smaller and smaller corsets is like an extreme sport, which leaves her breathless and unable to consume a normal size meal, the young Berlin native says she loves her pretty deformed waist.

Wearing corsets for such a long period of time has weakened Michele’s abdominal muscles so much that she has problems standing up when she is not wearing them. Her stomach has been pushed out of its normal horizontal position and is now so constricted that she has to eat up to 10 tiny meals a day, instead of the usual three. During a Barcroft TV video report, Koebke went to see Dr. Rudiger Langer, an internal medicine expert, who told her “In time it won’t be possible to move without the corset, or in the worst case it won’t be possible to move in general.”

Michele Koebke

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 36

Digest

Is your job making you fat?

By Rachel Reilly

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ou might expect that being A chef puts you at the highest risk of putting on weight, but you’d be wrong.

New research has found that working as a teach or as an engineer puts you at greater risk of being overweight.

The poll also found that being a factory worker or a scientist made you less likely to be obese.

The survey, carried out by jobsearch company CareerBuilder, polled nearly 3,700 workers.

It found that found that 55 per cent of employees considered themselves overweight.

It also discovered that 41 per

cent gained weight as a result of their current job and of those, 59 per cent gained more than 10 pounds.

The jobs that make you put on the most weight Administrative assistant (69%) Engineer (56%) Teacher (51%) Nurse (51%) IT technician(51%) Legal professional (48%) Machine operator or factory worker (45%) Scientist (39%) Just under a third gained more than 20 pounds.

But earning a living didn’t always mean gaining weight: 16 per cent of all workers said they had lost weight while at their current job.

The poll found that those who had put on weight had done so because of they were exposed to high levels of stress and spent long hours behind a desk.

They also cited readily available junk food as a reason for their unhealthy eating habits and a main cause for their expanding waistline.

The survey also found that employees found controlling portions and counting calories especially challenging while at work.

More than half of employees admitted to going out to eat at least once a week, and a quarter ate out three or more times a week.

Just under 10 per cent reported eating lunch out of the vending machine at least once a week, while 70 The new poll found that scientists working all fields were the least likely to be overweight.

Factory workers followed closely behind and those working in the legal profession were also slimmer than average

Deskbound: Administrative workers such as receptionists were found to be the most likely to be overweight. Employees cited vending machines and communal biscuit tins as reasons behind their weight gain per cent of workers said they snacked during the day. ....and what people blame for piling on the pounds Sitting at desk most of the day (56%) Eating because of stress (35%) Eating out regularly (26%) The office sweetjar (17%) Skipping meals because of time(17%) Workplace celebrations (17%) Pressure to eat food colleagues bring in (9%) Happy hours (4%) Despite more than half of all workers feeling overweight, nearly 6 of 10 employees said they work out

on a regular basis.

Just under 50 per cent percent went to the gym at least three times a week.

Around 30 per cent said they did exercise, but not regularly, and 11 per cent didn’t exercise at all.

Getting a nudge from employers to stay in shape does seem to have some impact, however.

A third of survey respondents said their companies provided wellness benefits such as workout facilities or gym passes.

Of these, 36 per cent take advantage of them.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Tomatoes could ease night-times for prostate patients

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omatoes have already been credited with a host of health benefits – and now another one can be added to the list.

Lycopene, the antioxidant which makes tomatoes red, has been found to reduce age-related enlargement of the prostate and thereby pressure on the bladder.

The revelation will bring comfort to those men troubled by the need to visit the toilet frequently, especially at night.

Tomatoes – packed with vitamins, natural antiinflammatories and other goodies – have been previously identified as helping to combat cardiovascular disease, stroke and prostate cancer.

The latest benefit emerged from research in Queensland, Australia.

A three-month study was carried out into the effect of lycopene in combination with other natural compounds.

A total of 57 men aged 40 to 80 were given pills containing active ingredients or identical dummy tablets. They were not told which ones they were taking.

Researchers found that the number of night-time visits to the toilet was cut by more than a third

and overall bladder function was substantially improved.

Meanwhile, evidence has been growing about the benefits of a recently launched British supplement called Ateronon containing an artificial version of lycopene.

Research presented by Cambridge University at the

Having to visit the toilet repeatedly at night is a considerable nuisance to older men

prestigious American Heart Association showed it had a unique effect in improving blood vessel flexibility and reducing hardening of the arteries.

Ian Wilkinson, director of the university’s clinical trials unit, is confident that similar benefits will be gained in reducing the risk of prostate cancer and slowing the disease in men already diagnosed.

‘Ateronon could be more beneficial than natural lycopene because it is more easily absorbed by the body,’ Mr Wilkinson said.

‘We are designing a trial to prove that.’

Luis Vitetta, also a director at the university, said lycopene has a similar chemical structure to finasteride, the main drug used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate.

‘That may be the reason for the effect,’ he said.

A second newly-published study in Chicago has shown beneficial proteins in prostate cells were boosted when exposed to lycopene.

Project leader Richard van Breemen said a long-term study was needed on lycopene as it took time to have an effect.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

An antioxidant has been found in tomatoes which reduces the enlargement of the prostate caused by age

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 37

Don’t let 2015 be like June 12, Bamidele warns From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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hairman , House Committee on Legislative Budget and Research , Hon Opeyemi Bamidele, has warned the nation’s leaders against making inflammatory comments capable of truncating the country’s democracy .

Bamidele, in a statement yesterday in Ado Ekiti Said the warning became imperative following ding-dongs that have taken over the polity and desperation being displayed by some politicians as the country approaches the 2015 general elections.

He pointed out that it would be erroneous for Nigerians to think that military usurpation is no longer attainable in the country, even with bad governance and corruption .

Bamidele urged politicians to take a cue from the conduct of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) election, where losers were laying claim to victory in a transparent election to project that the 2015 election could be bloody, except Nigerians are watchful and careful.

“Of recent, the NGF conducted election and Governor Rotimi Amaechi won . But a faction loyal to Governor Jonah Jang were laying claim to victory and the heat of the intrigues nearly crippled Nigeria. So, this is high point of desperation and Nigeria must be watchful as we approach 2015”.

Bamidele described the late MKO Abiola as the icon of democracy in the country, urging the Southwest States to continue to celebrate his name to serve as impetus to the coming generations”.

...as CACOL berates the credibility of botched election

General Ibrahim Babangida Bamidele charged Nigerians not to give a chance to desperate and unscrupulous politicians, who are only concern with their electoral fortunes to derail the present democratic rule.

Meanwhile, the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL) has described the June 12 1993 election won by Late Chief MKO Abiola as a welcome aberration.

This came on the heels of commemoration of the 20th anniversary of June 12. Speaking on behalf of the Coalition, its Executive Chairman, Debo Adeniran averred that though the June 12 election remains the only free and fair election ever

Late Chief MKO Abiola conducted in the country, but it is a proceed of corrupt practices.

“Though June 12 remains the only free and fair election ever conducted in this country, but the processes that preceded it marred the credibility of the election. Apart from the fact that it was not based on genuine constitutional practice, it was the military that foisted the rule that led to June 12. About 23 political parties were proscribed, several politicians who showed interest in contesting elections were banned in favour of what the then military government of General Ibrahim Babangida called the new breed, despite the new breed politicians

were not allowed to freely contest.

The military chose those they allowed to contest elections.

“Even the political parties Chief MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa contested on their platform i.e. Social Democratic Party and National Republican Convention were created by the then military government. From the standard practice, it is our belief that it is party that should create government, not government creating party. This means that those political parties upon which Chief MKO Abiola and Bashir Tofa contested were not a true choice of the people because parties are supposed to be established

by people of like minds not that somebody will impose his own party on the people.”

More so, the practice of a little to the right and to the left is fraudulent in form, function and orientation, so all those processes have been corrupted by the system that wanted to remain in power because the thinking of the military then was that election would become inconclusive, he would then have the opportunity of continuing in government, hence the annulment of June 23 election despite the fact that a preponderant of Nigerians voted for Chief MKO Abiola”, Adeniran said.

Aregbesola, Sagay kick against Local Govt autonomy From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he vexed issue of Local Government autonomy was again brought to the fore yesterday in Lagos at a forum organised by CMC Connect, in which majority of the speakers calls for a change in structure of the present federal system in Nigeria where so much power reside with the central government.

Lead speaker at the event and Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Raul Aregbesola described as disruptive and abominable legacy of the military the current system bequeathed by the military government that ruled the nation at some point in the history of the country.

The governor submitted that Nigeria has a foundational problem with its structure of federalism which has impinged negatively on the country’s development prospects saying that “there is a palpable illogicality in the 1999 constitution

that grants juridical autonomy to local governments and in the same breath renders same a nullity”.

The constitution, he said “confers power, appropriately, to create local government on states, but at the same time makes the local government so created legally invalid without the National Assembly endorsement”.

He affirmed that this is mainly due to tying the funding of the local areas to allocations its derives from the centre, which maintains an unhealthy stronghold on the wealth of the nation.

According to him, in a typical federal system, the federating entities are the states and the centre noting that autonomy makes sense only in the relationship between the states and the centre where it is viewed at a spectrum that runs on the two extremes of unitarism and confederation.

“In a federal system, there is no provision for local govts as a federating partner and to talk of one is to engage in peddling ‘Federalism Fallacy’. In a

true federalism, the issues relating to the creation, delineation and funding of local authorities are within the constitutional purview of the states, which have a political and judicial status that the local governments do not have. The states are federating units, while the local governments are merely administrative units”.

He maintained that only the decentralisation of the economic wealth of the country outwards and downwards from the centre

that will grant real autonomy to the local government authorities in the country.

In his contribution, Constitutional lawyer, Professor Itse Sagay added that the country cannot have federalism and local government autonomy at the same time proffering a loose federating system for the country.

The constitutional lawyer said the centre government does not generate up to 5% percent of the resources

of the country and condemned a situation where most governors have become subservient to the federal government in order to get allocations to run their states.

Other speakers at the event, the 2nd edition of the National Public Discourse with the theme ‘Local Government Authority: How Autonomous’ advocated for a review of the revenue sharing formula and a recourse to the former system of local administrations.

Osun Assembly confirms Justice Ojo as new chief judge

T

he Osun House of Assembly yesterday confirmed, Justice Adepele Ojo, as the new Chief Judge of the state with a charge to promote justice at all times.

The Speaker of the house, Mr Najeem Salaam, said her confirmation was based on seniority, adding her earlier rejection was because of the

pending legal action on the issue.

Salaam urged Ojo to ``promote substantive justice over technicality and to allow justice roll down like water and righteousness, like a mighty stream’’.

According to him, the judiciary must be united and act as one body to fight crime and corruption.

He advised him, to work as a team for enthronement of justice

and maintain the name of judiciary.

Salaam advised the new chief judge to digitalise the judiciary and cooperate with the state government to move the state forward.

In her response, Ojo pledged to discharge her duties with fear, affection or ill will as well as to promote justice and equality to all in the state.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 38

Politics

JUNE 12: Lagos lawmakers react

L

L-R: Senator Petr Bratsky, member, Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport, Parliament of the Czech Republic Senate; and Senator Jiri Uklein, Secretary-General, Parliament of Czech Republic Senate, receiving Senate President David Mark on his arrival at Prague airport on Monday.

Photo: NAN

APGA crisis deepens as factions inaugurate reconciliation committees

T

he All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) seems to be far from reaching a truce as the factions have inaugurated reconciliation committees and each claiming authenticity over the other.

The Victor Umeh-led faction inaugurated its committee three weeks ago, while the Maxi Ukwu-led APGA constituted a 14- member peace committee on Monday in Awka.

The development has set tongues wagging in Anambra on the authenticity or otherwise of these committees being charged with the same responsibility of

reviewing the existing crisis.

The Chieftains of the different factions, including the Deputy Chairman of APGA in Anambra, Chief Ifeanyi Udokwu, have reacted to reconciliation committees.

They can come to us and say, we know so many things are wrong but we want to come back so that we can work together. We need reconciliation. ``It is in the best interest of the party to put our house in order, especially as the elections are coming so that we can put forward the best candidates that can win elections against other

parties,” he said.

Another Chieftain, Mr Emma Nweke, said that there was only one leadership in the party and the authority to set up a committee to unify the members lies with it.

Nweke, who is also APGA governorship aspirant, stressed the need for the members of the party to make peace in order to move the party forward.

He urged members to stand by the truth in this trying period and look to God for directions as they played their roles in the peace building process. ``There is no ambiguity in the party leadership, Chief victor

Umeh, is the leader of the party in the eyes of the law and has set up a committee and people should not be misled. ``I don’t think any other committee is of any effect. ``I stand by the Umeh/ Kwentoh leadership but I want to advice that the crisis in the party should not discourage party followers,” Nweke said.

Recall that a faction of APGA on Monday in Awka set up a truth and reconciliation committee to unite the party after a similar committee was inaugurated by Chief Victor Umeh in Abuja.

(NAN)

Security: Oshiomhole bans commercial motorcyclists in 3 LGAs

G

ov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo in Benin yesterday announced a ban on the operations of commercial motorcyclists, called okada, in three local government areas of the state.

The governor, who announced the ban at the end of the State Security Council meeting, added that the ban would take effect from June 17.

He listed the local government areas affected as Egor, Ikpoba-Okha and Oredo and explained that the decision was in the overall interest of

members of the public.

The governor said that government had a responsibility to protect life and pointed out that more than 80 per cent of accident victims in hospitals were as a result of ‘okada’ crashes.

He said that government was compelled to take the decision having observed that more people were using them for criminality rather than as means of livelihood.

Oshiomhole said that with a similar ban on their operations in

neighbouring states, Edo had been witnessing an influx of okada and their riders, who had turned the state to their new safe haven.

He, however, said that government would monitor the situation in the remaining 15 local government areas of the state.

The governor warned that appropriate actions would be taken against offenders and added that government would conduct random checks on private guards to authenticate their places of origin.

He said proactive steps were needed to ensure the safety of all.

Oshiomhole said that after random checks, illegal immigrants would be dealt with according to the law.

He advised landlords and tenants to ensure that private guards in their homes were scrutinised properly before giving them jobs.

The governor stressed that most kidnap victims were abducted through information supplied by their employees. (NAN)

Assembly investigates alleged revenue diversion, under utilisation of Kaduna sports facilities

T

he Kaduna State House of Assembly has commenced investigation on alleged diversion of funds and under utilisation of sports facilities at the Murtala Square in Kaduna.

The House mandated its committees on Judiciary, Health, Sports, Works and Transport to review

the lease agreement entered between the state government and private operators running the centre.

The decision followed a motion by the Chairman House committee on Sport, Mr Bityong Yakubu, cosponsored by 12 other members. ``Following the provision of modern sporting facilities at the

Murtala Square, some are believed to be poorly utilised and managed following their lease to private operators under weak terms and conditions, thereby depriving revenue to government. ``No Kobo has been recorded as revenue to state government since the agreement was entered into in 2011,’’ he said.

Yakubu said N3 billion was spent by the state government to develop the facility, and urged the assembly to investigate the matter.

After exhaustive deliberations, the House, presided by the Speaker, Alhaji Muazu Gangara, directed the committees to investigate and report back its findings on July 2. (NAN).

agos State House of Assembly Committee on House Services and Special Duties, Mr Ipoola Omisoore, Chairman, has said that the multi-party system adopted by the nation was detrimental to its democracy.

Lagos State is preparing to mark the 20th anniversary of the June 12 1993 Presidential election, conducted under a twopart system.

Recalls that the 1993 election, which was believed to have been won by the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who contested against a candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC).

Omisoore (ACN-Ifako-Ijaiye I), added that the multi-party system presently adopted in the country would allow for ``political prostitutes``, which he said would affect the nation’s democracy.

He explained that only a twoparty system could bring “a replica of a free and fair election like that of June 12, 1993 presidential election”. ``If only the country can return to the two-party system, it will allow us to have the type of election we desire. ``Two-party system will eradicate ethnic coloration and religious sentiment, just like it did on June 12, 1993, `` he said.

Also, Mr Segun Olulade, Chairman, Committee on Information, Strategy, Security and Publicity, said that June 12 of every year was the genuine democracy day for Nigeria.

Olulade (ACN-Epe I) said that the importance of the June 12, 1993 presidential election could not be relegated in Nigeria. ``June 12 represents the collective will of Nigerians and a demonstration of the people’s preference for democracy in lieu of military dictatorship. ``All well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of truth will readily admit that June 12 takes priority over any other date in the history of democracy in Nigeria, `` he said.

Olulade also reiterated the need for the country to a adopt two-party system to advance democracy.

He said such system would proffer lasting solution to ethnicity and tribal problems in the country.

Another member of the house, Mr Bisi Yusuf (ACN Alimosho Constituency 1) said that the twoparty system would be the option for the present democratic system in Nigeria to grow. ``Two political parties would give this country the best we want in democracy. ``It will allow people to debate more on issues not on individual and it would also allow the best candidate to emerge, `` he said.

Mr Rotimi Olowo, Chairman, House Committee on Works and Infrastructures, urged both the leaders and followers to have the fear of God while carrying out their various duties. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

Edo bans Okada in Benin-city

By Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

T

he Edo State government yesterday announced a ban on the use of commercial motorcycles, popularly called Okada in three local government areas of the state with effect from next Monday.

The affected areas are, Ikpoba Okha, Oredo and Egor, all within Benin metropolis.

Explaining the decision after a meeting of the state Security Council (SEC), Governor Adams Oshiomhole noted that there were confirmed instances where the commercial motorcycle operators were involved in armed robbery and kidnapping.

According to him, “we have tried as a government over the years to take steps to counsel Okada riders to observe certain codes, to watch out and ensure that criminals do not infiltrate their ranks and hide under commercial vehicles to perpetrate crime.

“It is clear to me now that we have not been particularly successful as more Okada riders have been found to be involved in various acts of violent crimes.

“Also, because of the influx of bike riders, arising from the decision of some of our neighbouring states where bike riders have been prohibited, Edo state has become a safe haven for all manners of bike riders and because they do not get enough commercial patronage, some bike riders have to resort to crime in other to sustain a living while posing to be bike riders,” he noted.

“I am convinced that we cannot continue to allow this situation to continue.

“While I am concerned about the the level of unemployment in the country and in Edo state, we have our own fair share of unemployment and I am convinced that the long term interest of job creation requires that you attract investors and investment to the state.

“The law enforcement agencies have been informed accordingly and directed to strictly enforce this law.”

Oshiomhole also noted that government identified some houses used by kidnappers as hideout and vowed to demolish the houses in the next few days.

M

inister of Power, Prof.

Chinedu Nebo, yesterday in Abuja disclosed that Nigeria in its quest for new energy mix strategy would leverage on Turkish expertise in Thermal and Hydro power sources.

This was contained in a statement issued by the Ministry’s Deputy Director/Head of Press, Timothy Oyedeji.

The Minister who received the Bereket Energi Group led by its Deputy Chairman, Ali Yagli, and the Nigerian partner, Oral Energy Limited, commended the Group for the confidence it has in the Nigeria economy.

He described their visit as apt

News Extra

FG issues licences for additional 2,758 megawatts electricity I

By Etuka Sunday

n a bid to generate additional 2,758 megawatts of electricity under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP) the Federal Government yesterday issued licenses to seven

companies.

The Companies include Calabar Generation Company Limited, Benin Generation Company Limited and Egbema Generation Company Limited.

The others are Gbarain

Generation Company Limited, Geregu Generation Company Limited, Omoku Generation Company Limited and Omotosho Generation Company Limited.

Speaking at the occasion in Abuja on Monday, Chairman of

R-L: Director, UNIDO Regional Office in Nigeria, Mr. Mustapha Alhaji, Deputy Director, Energy Management, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Engineer Okon Ekpeyong, Director General ECN, Professor Eli Jidere Bala, and Mr. Imamudeen Talba, during ECN Multi Sector Development Partners Forum on Sustainable Energy for All, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, noted that the licensing process had faced some challenges among which was unavailability of gas supply to both licensees.

Amadi said that the standard regulatory practice demands submission of an executed gas supply agreement or a letter of commitment that the power plant will have the required supply of gas for thermal plants, adding it had affected several power projects.

He noted that Federal Government’s establishment of Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria Limited (GACNL) with the responsibility for developing mechanism for making gas available for power projects was enough demonstration of its commitment to support investors in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

According to Amadi, “let me emphasize the point once again that the entities being licensed today have a very critical role to play in the reform and growth of the sector.

“This additional capacity of 2758 megawatts to the grid will not only increase the electricity available to consumers and thereby improving their standard of living and businesses but at the same time it poses a challenge to the entities to make it sustainable.”

Emir calls on leaders to live by example From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

T

he Emir of Zazzau and Chairman, Kaduna state Council of Chiefs, Dr. Shehu Idris, has challenged Nigeria’s leaders to live by example in all their endeavours.

Idris spoke yesterday in Kaduna in a message he sent at the launch of Qua’ranic Recitation on CD, by Malam Al-Maran Ibrahim Mando.

The Emir who was

Energy mix: Nigeria to exploit Turkish expertise

By Etuka Sunday

PAGE 39

considering the shift emphasis on hydro renewable sources like wind, solar and coal to power, pointing to the enormous coal reserves that stretched from Enugu-Kogi-Benue and Nasarawa States.

On the Group’s request for more participation in Nigeria’s power market, the Minister assured the Turkish Company that other renewable like solar energy, wind are also available for exploration.

Responding on behalf of the Group, Tukur Modibo who represented, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, the Chairman of Oral Energy Limited, said that the Bereket Energi of Turkey has been a dependable partner in the on-going privatization of the power sector.

represented by the District Head of Barnawa who is also the Madauchi Zazzau, Alhaji Kabir Mohamed Mustapha, described leadership as a thrust for the people.

According to him, “today, you find people in leadership positions who carelessly display wealth in the face of the majority who do not know where their next meal will come from.

“This is one of the genesis of the problem in the country and that is the reason why everybody has made money is tin god.”

Idris called on religious leaders to always follow the dictates of their beliefs so that they do not mislead their followers because they (the followers) are kind of sheep entrusted to their care and must be tended to carefully.

“We as Moslems have the Qu’aran and other books to guide us and the Christians have the Bible.

“We should take time to study what these scriptures say concerning certain issues and not just what Mallams or Pastors say.

“And the only way to do this is to spend time to memorize and understand these scriptures.”

Slain UNIBEN student: Edo halts action on judicial panel

By Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

S

lain Ibrahim Momodu whose identity is being disputed by authorities at the University of Benin, yesterday suffered another setback as the Edo state government rescinded rescinded its earlier decision to setup of a panel of inquiry.

The 22-year-old 500 level Science Laboratory Technology student was reportedly shot and killed by Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Ogida police station on May 27.

According to a statement yesterday by the Chief Press

Secretary to the Governor, Peter Okhiria, government reversed its decision to avoid duplication.

The statement explained that the matter had been overtaken by events as the deceased‘s case file had already gone to the Director of Public Prosecutions by the Police for advice.

According to the statement, ‘‘government’s decision is premised on the following, whereas Governor Adams Oshiomhole had promised to set up a judicial panel of enquiry into the killing of Ibrahim Momodu, events have overtaken this pronouncement as the case file

on the late Momodu has since been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions by the Police for advice and further action.

“Government is therefore of the view that it is sufficient at this point to wait for the outcome of the investigation and advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions before any other step is taken by government. ‘‘It will therefore amount to a duplication of efforts by government to set up another panel of enquiry since the Director of Public Prosecutions is a government functionary in the state Ministry of Justice.’’

PAGE 40

Photos Splash

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

L-R: Chairman, Committee of Directors of Research Institutes (CODRI), Professor Peter Onwualu, Director, Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN), Dr. Hassan Ahmed, and Director General, Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) Zaria, Dr. Mohammed Jimada, during the CODRI meeting, recently at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

First Lady, Mrs.Patience Jonathan, testing locally made chair by a Cameroonian artist displayed during the ongoing 6th African Arts and Crafts Expo, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

L-R: Director –General of Nema, Malam Sani Sidi, United Nations Special representative of the Secretary- General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahistrom, VicePresident Mohammed Namadi Sambo, United Nations resident Coordinator and UNDP resident representative, Daouda Toure, and United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction Secretaiat Africa, Nairobi , Mr. Toucef Ait-Chllouche, during a visit by the un executive officers to the vice-president, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

L-R: Bayelsa state Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, and President, Dangote Group of Companies, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, after their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, on Monday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Kogi State House of Assembly Chairman, Committee on Public Account, Hon. Friday Sani (middle) was arraigned before Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone II, over allegation of gun running, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

PEOPLES DAILY| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 41

BON assures Nigerians on live telecast

T

Ogenyi Onazi, John Ogu, Mikel Obi, they will marshal Eagles’ engineroom,

World Cup 2014 final phase qualification beckons on Nigeria

By Patrick Andrew

T

he Super Eagles of Nigeria could be the first qualifiers for the final round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Africa if they beat the Brave Warriors of Namibia today in Windhoek. The match is 8pm Nigerian time.

Already, the Eagles are two points adrift of the Flames of Malawi and four points above the Brave Warriors of Namibia and could therefore secure the berth should they extend their lead especially if Malawi and Kenya pull a draw.

The AFCON champions have eight points, Malawi have six, Namibia four and Kenya two and only the group winners advance to the two-leg playoffs.

The Eagles, who were delectable against Harambee Stars last Wednesday in Kasarani, Nairobi where they ended Stars’ 2014 World Cup dreams, are expected to re-enact their sure-footed form in Windhoek.

That was a marked difference from their first leg performance in Calabar, where they struggled until the 80th minute to score a vital goal and just last week in Nairobi, it took all of 80 minutes for Ahmed Musa to nudge the Eagles in front.

The Eagles had to rely on Nnamdi Oduamadi’s last gasp effort on the 93rd minutes to secure a crucial leveler, and thus save the blushes of the AFCON champions. All this shows that the Eagles are potent in dying minutes, but Keshi could do with early goals to wrap up proceedings before then.

That much was what the technical crew emphasised on yesterday when Keshi said his charges would sparkle to earn Nigeria qualification before the last group games.

He adopted a 4-3-3 system that worked well against Kenya and could have similar effect as Mikel Obi in the centre of the midfield, Ogenyi Onazi on the left and John Ogu on the right graduate in understanding of themselves.

Efe Ambrose was in control of the

GROUP F STANDING Team P W D L GF GA GD PTS Nigeria 4 2 2 0 4 2 2 8 Malawi 4 1 3 0 2 1 1 6 Namibia 4 1 1 2 1 2 -1 4 Kenya 4 0 2 2 1 3 -2 2

right flank launching attacks and floating daring passes that inflicted pains on the Stars and should repeat the same while the pair of Kenneth Omeruo and Godfrey Obaobana, as usual, should provide the shield for Vincent Enyeama.

But it would be foolhardy to completely under rate the hosts. They may lack the Eagles’ pedigree and individual depth, but as a team they could pose no little danger especially if one considers their brave work against the Flames of Malawi last Wednesday in Blantyre.

The Namibians would be without the injured Rudolf Bester, Henrico Botes, Heinrich Isaacks and Ronald Ketjijere, but Oliver Risser and other are likely to give a good account pof themselves as they could still boost their chances of qualifying for the final phase should they beat the Eagles.

Though they are yet to score against the Eagles, but with the presence of Lazarus Kaimbi their highest goal scorer with five goals in 19 appearances, the Eagles’defence must be alive to thwart all incursions into their vital area as it did against Harambee Stars.

Notwithstanding the resignation of Roger Palmgren some 72 hours before this game, the Namibians under stand-in coaches Ricardo Mannetti and Ronnie Kanalelo must be respected to avoid complacency.

Meanwhile, the Flames of Malawi play Harambee Stars in the other group game conscious of the fact they too could boost their chances of qualification if they beat the visitors.

The Stars are depleted due to injuries to key players including Victor Wanyama

and others coupled with the suspension of Dennis Oliech who has issues with coach Adel Amrouche.

Namibia have been hindered by a blunt attack with only one goal in four group games and the continued absence of injured South Africa-based striker Henrico Botes and Rudolf Bester is a blow.

Malawi are also battling to score, finding the net just twice in 360 minutes, and the return of teenage striker Gabadinho Mhango after missing a 0-0 home draw against Namibia last week is a timely boost.

Having sacked Oliech, ‘Harambee Stars’ coach Amrouche was involved in more drama on arrival in Malawi, initially refusing to drive from Lilongwe to Blantyre because he said the distance was too far and the bus sub-standard.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

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Lazarus Kaimbi, Brave Warriors leading scorer

Abuja Football College impresses in Croatia

T

he Abuja Football College, currently participating in an invitational tournament in Croatia, have so far justified its invitation with impressive performances.

The academy team have played two matches against crack sides but refused to be intimidated by their more endowed opponents.

In their opening game, they were forced to 1-1 draw

by Vicenza a Serie C side while they fought gamely to the delight of the organisers against Dynamo Zagreb beating the top division side 1-0 yesterday.

Speaking to Peoples Daily Sports on ‘phone yesterday, the president of Future Africa Football Academy and member of the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF), Alhaji Aminu Balele Kurfi, said the performance of the Abuja college so impressed the organizers that they wondered why the team are

he Chairman, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa, on Tuesday assured Nigerians that they would be able to watch the 2014 World Cup finals live on their television sets.

Jijiwa, who is also the Director-General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), gave the assurance during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the Yankari Games and Holiday Resort in Bauchi State.

“Our stand is that definitely, Nigerians will watch the 2014 World Cup finals, including the FIFA Confederations Cup that is coming up in a few days.

Very soon, within the next one week, we will issue a statement on the issue,” he said.

He said there were plans to digitalise the television and radio stations in the country before January 2015, adding that all the electronic media whether government or privately owned, would be digitalised before the deadline.

Jijiwa said that BON was working with the Federal and State governments, as well as private media owners, to ensure that the country met the deadline. ``At our level as broadcasters, we will do our best to work hand-in-hand with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the Federal and State Governments, and the private media owners to tackle all the problems before then. ``We are also going to tackle the issue of the influence of the advertising agents on media content nowadays, especially as officials of the advertising industry are here with us today,’’ he added.

Nigerians were denied telecast of the AFCON matches and other Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers because exorbitant charges for broadcast rights.

not participating in the Nigerian National League.

Kurfi, who accompanied the Abuja team to Croatia to see two players from his academy that were admitted to better organised soccer academy in the European nation, said the skills of the Nigerian players awed several soccer coaches and organizers who have concluded plans to extend further invitations to other Nigerian academy teams subsequently.

Kurfi, who is optimistic that the Abuja academy side will return with a trophy when the tournament ends this weekend, said that the performances of the team have further convinced him of the quality of talents replete in the nooks and crannies of Nigeria.

Six countries namely Croatia, Italy, Montenegro Macedonia, Austria and Nigeria are taking part in the tournament.

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PEOPLES DAILY| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 43

Sports

Lewandowski inists on Dortmund exist

R

obert Lewandowski has said he still wants to leave Champions League runners-up Borussia Dortmund despite the club saying they would not sell him to Bundesliga rivals Bayern Munich.

He has also been linked with a move to

England Manchester United are reported to be interested or Spain Speaking at an event in Warsaw, Lewandowski said he still wanted to move and added: “He (Watzke) recently told me something different. He knows what I wish for.

“He has promised me that I will be allowed to leave, and now something different happens.

Bayern’s honorary president Franz Beckenbauer wrote on Twitter that he could understand Dortmund’s decision not to let Lewandowski leave but added: “I am curious how this can work for a year when he wants to join FCB.” Dortmund could offer the striker a huge wage increase to stay for the final year of his contract, almost trebling his current annual salary of €1.5 million.

Lewandowski

Galatasaray open to Sneijder sale

G

alatasaray president Unal Aysal has told suitors that Wesley Sneijder would be available for transfer if the club’s valuation is met.

Sneijder, 29, joined Gala in the January transfer window and helped them win the Turkish Super Lig and reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Chelsea and Tottenham are reportedly interested in the former Ajax, Real Madrid and Inter Milan midfielder’s services and will be encouraged by Aysal’s admission that he could be sold, although no firm interest has been registered.

Meanwhile, after losing the captaincy of the Netherlands to Manchester United’s Robin van Persie, Sneijder is intent on recapturing the form that saw him help Oranje to the 2010 World Cup final.

“It was a pretty painful announcement.

Not just because I never saw this coming, but also because I have always given my all in the role as captain. “I will have to accept this, though. It was a huge blow for me. The

coach told me that I should focus on myself for now and use my energy to regain top fitness.

Wesley Sneijder

Liverpool sign Aspas from Celta Vigo

C

Aspas

elta Vigo striker Iago Aspas will undergo a medical with Liverpool yesterday as he completes the formalities of a £7m move to Anfield.

Aspas arrived on Merseyside on Monday and has agreed personal terms on a deal that will see him become Brendan Rodgers’s second signing of the summer.

The uncapped Spaniard, 25, scored 12 goals in 35 league games for Celta this season as they avoided relegation from La Liga on the final day.

Liverpool has not received any direct indications, either from Suarez or his agent that the player wants to leave.

But sources at Anfield privately admit they are bracing themselves for at least one sizeable bid this summer, with Real Madrid the leading contenders for the 26-year-old Uruguay international.

Manchester City defender Kolo Toure, 32, has already agreed to join Liverpool on a free transfer.

Rodgers is also tracking highly rated Sporting Lisbon defender Tiago Ilori and Sevilla midfielder Luis Alberto, both 20.

Pellegrini to hit Manchester Sunday for City job

Gareth G arre a eth et tth h Ba B Bale alle e

M

anuel Pellegrini will fly into Manchester on Sunday ahead of signing a contract to take over as City’s new manager early next week.

The Chilean has left Malaga after being identified as City’s No.1 candidate to replace Roberto Mancini, who was sacked after the FA Cup final defeat to Wigan.

He will arrive in the north-west this weekend before taking in the club’s Carrington training base and meeting key staff on Monday, when he is expected to finally put pen to paper on a deal that will make him the third permament manager to serve under Sheikh Mansour since he became owner in 2008.

Mancini’s fourth season in charge was dogged by speculation linking other managers with his post, but the Pellegrini rumours gathered pace on the eve of the FA Cup clash with Wigan and the Italian’s departure was confirmed two days after the 1-0 loss

at Wembley.

Pellegrini, 50, guided Malaga to the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season despite a summer clear-out and crippling financial irregularities.

He went one stage further with Villarreal in 2005-06, and racked up 96 points as Real Madrid boss in 200910 only to be beaten to the Liga title by Barcelona and swiftly sacked.

City have already been preparing for next season, having announced the €40 million signature of Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho from Shakhtar Donetsk, while Jesus Navas

will be confirmed in the coming days.

The duo represent a third of City’s €140m summer shopping list, with a move for Napoli striker Edinson Cavani having stalled over a discrepancy in makeweight Edin Dzeko’s value, though the club are still confident of thrashing out a deal.

Isco has indicated that he will join Pellegrini at Eastlands, as revealed by Goal in May, while Thiago Alcantara, who is in action alongside Isco for Spain at the European Under-21 Championship in Israel, and Diego Novaretti complete the list of targets.

.... As City completes Jesus Navas signing

M

anchester City have completed the signing of Jesus Navas from Sevilla, the club have confirmed.

Sevilla announced the transfer last week, but City have now rubber-stamped a deal which sees Navas move to the Etihad Stadium for a fee of €25 million.

The 27-year-old, who has signed a five-year deal, is delighted to have moved to the Premier League runnersup and is eager to show what he can do in England.

The Spaniard joins Fernandinho in making the move to Man City, and will be given a short holiday following the Confederations Cup before linking up with the rest of the squad for preseason training.

Mourinho hints at move for Rooney

J

ose Mourinho has left the door ajar for Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney to make the move to Chelsea this summer.

Wayne Rooney

Rooney became increasingly unsettled at United as last season progressed and now departed Red Devils boss Sir Alex Ferguson revealed in the final throes of the campaign that the striker had asked for a transfer.

There has been no word from the Rooney camp on the subject, but he has been linked with moves to Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea.

At his opening Chelsea press conference on Monday, Mourinho’s transfer plans were put in the spotlight and he was

asked about the prospect of signing Rooney.

“I like him,” Mourinho said. “He is at a fantastic age. He has maturity, big experience and is still young. It’s up to him and what he wants, what makes him happy.

Mourinho has insisted there is no need for money to motivate Rooney and has called on him to make the right move for his career.

‘He’s a little bit like me,” Mourinho added. “He doesn’t need one more pound in his contract and one more cup won’t make a difference. Be happy.

PEOPLES DAILY| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 44

Sports

Akwa Utd banished to Rojenny, as Tenger laments

A

kwa United were yesterday banished to Rojenny Stadium Oba, Anambra state for the

rest of the season because of last Wednesday’s assault on centre referee, Henry Ogunyamodi, at the Uyo

Township Stadium.

The League Management Company (LMC) opted to punish the club after

Premier league action between Wikki Tourists of Bauchi and Enyimba of Aba (white),which ended 1-1

considering match reports submitted by the referee and the Match Commissioner and several others sought to clarify matters on what had transpired which eventually forced the referee to abandon the match.

The LMC upheld the match reports and other evidences and imposed the banishment as well as forfeiture of three points and goals on Akwa United who were leading Warri Wolves 2-0 at the end of the first half when the game was abandoned.

Meanwhile, Justin Tenger said the banishment of his side to Oba is a big blow to the side’s campaign in the ongoing league season.

“It’s a big blow to the team being banishing to Oba for their home matches. I think it’s very disappointing and terrible decision though I’m leaving comments and

reactions for the management.

“We’re told that the LMC will be meeting over the inconclusive match by 10am today (Tuesday) but before 9am their decisions are everywhere and we asked when did they met.

“As the coach of the side I’m disappointed but we’ll still go ahead to play in Oba waiting for the management position on the decision.

“It’s tough playing one’s home matches away from home. It puts us at a disadvantage but we’ll strive to make the best out of the bad situation,” said the former Niger Tornadoes coach to supersport.com.

Akwa United are expected to confront Kwara United at their new ground, Rojenny Stadiun, Oba on Matchday 18.

The 18th-placed side in the 20team elite league log has picked up 20 points from a possible 51.

Mighty Jets cry out over Minna assault

M

ighty Jets have asked the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to bring to book persons that assaulted them last week in Minna where they played Nigeria National League (NNL) match against hosts Niger Tornadoes last weekend.

According to Jets’ Spokesman Mbum Ferdinand, the melee began

when they broke the deadlock through Moshood Kasali in the 87th minute, following which the home fans became furious and invaded the pitch. Further, he said the invaders resorted to beating players of Mighty Jets and their officials as well as the centre referee, Promise Uwambe and his two assistants.

“The security on ground was unable to contain the angry fans as they were overwhelmed thus leaving Jets players and officials at the mercy of the irate fans.

Ferdinand, who pleaded with the league authority to act speedily on the matter, added that the management of Mighty Jets have submitted their

complaint to the NNL board and eagerly awaits their verdict.

“This is not fair for our football as we were maltreated by the fans of Niger Tornadoes just because we scored them late in the game. The centre referee of the match is at present in the hospital receiving treatment.

“The match was abandoned and

we don’t want any foul play because we deserve the maximum points and we are waiting for the final verdict,” Ferdinand revealed to supersport. com. Mighty Jets have garnered 33 points from 23 games this term in the NNL and they will play their next game at home against Adamawa United this weekend.

NTF to create website to develop tennis

T

he Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) yesterday said plans were afloat to create website that would contain players’ data and other necessary information about the game in Nigeria.

The federation said the new endeavour was intended to boost knowledge of players and officials, and thus facilitates development of the game as it would be easier to access players’ data and reach out to them or serves as source for information on events.

The NTF’s Secretary, Ikana Mbora, who disclosed this in Lagos, said that the website was the initiative of the newly-elected board that wants the data of players to be at its disposal,

for reference and developmental purposes.

Mbora stressed that the information would provide the federation an insight into the spread of tennis across the country and added that the information from its affiliates should also include their calendar of events.

Mbora also directed that the calendar should include the names of board members, and added that organisations like the police, army, navy and the civil defence corps could also register. ``We are imploring them to send all their relevant data before the end of the month and failure to do so might result in not having their vital details on our website,’’ the secretary said.

Ogunbote urges fans to believe in Sharks

G

benga Ogunbote, the Head Coach of Sharks FC of Port Harcourt, yesterday appealed to the club’s supporters to keep faith in the team in spite of their uninspiring performance, in the league so far.

Though Sharks are currently 20th position on the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) standings with 14 points, the former Sunshine Stars handler believes that the Blue Angels have the depth to challenge for honours this season.

“I can assure the fans that we are working hard on making the team better, and we will soon get it right. It’s a work in progress, we are working on winning, and I am optimistic that we will leave the fans with something to cheer at the end of the season. ``Ever since we made some vital changes, the team is gradually hitting its stride and will definitely get better as the season progresses,’’ he said.

Ogunbote added that the team was looking at bouncing back in its next match against Enyimba FC; after it suffered a 1-0 lose away to Nasarawa United last weekend.

The coach stressed that the team was working hard to improve its tactical approach adding that the process has already taken shape. ``We’re trying to make do with the players we have at our disposal to achieve our objectives. ``We want to infuse in them a winning mentality in order to get the desired results; that will hopefully improve our situation,’’ Ogunbote added.

Peter Elgam Edibe, Nigeria’s only referee at the FIFA Confederation Cup. He and other referees can now sue clubs for assault

Referees can sue clubs for assault, says LMC H

enceforth, referees in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) can sue clubs over physical assault.

The power to seek legal redress was handed to them yesterday by the Chief Operating Officer of the League Management Company (LMC), Salihu Abubakar, who said authority to sue has become necessary because of the frequent cases of assault on them.

Further, Abubakar said with increased violence in the domestic league, the LMC feels that drastic measure needs be taken

to safeguard the referees against assault at match venues adding that it may serve as a deterrent to fans who might want to take laws into their hands.

Abubakar explained that clubs in the elite division face being sued by referees who get assaulted in the event of the teams failing to produce or identify fans involved in such act.

“Referees are free to seek legal redress in court for the assault through the normal legal proceedings. People need to be accountable for their actions. And we need more protection for the referees

because the clubs are responsible for security of the referees,” said the COO of the LMC. Abubakar also made it clear that the power given to the referees to seek legal action is purely “a civil matter” and does not breach football-related issues.

“It is a civil matter and personal matter (for referees to seek redress in the event of an assault),” he said.

In recent weeks, two referees, Henry Ogunyamodi and Audu Ahmed Ibrahim, have been allegedly assaulted at venues of NPFL matches.

PEOPLES DAILY| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

PAGE 42

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ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: EMMANUEL NWAGWU ESQ. 08037788519

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVES HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. BARR. SULEIMAN AHMED AKASAWUA 2. BARR. (HON) SIMON ARABO 3. BARR. TIMOTHY KYUGA 4. HAJIA LATEEFAH ADEITAN YUSUF AIMS: 1. TO PROMOTE JUSTICE AND PEACE THROUGH INTERFAITH PROGRAMMES AMONG DIVERSE RELIGIONS. 2. TO PROMOTE HUMANITARIAN SERVICES LAW, RELIGIOUS RIGHTS, MINORITY RIGHTS AND ALL FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. 3. TO WORK WITH ALL PEOPLE TO FACILITATE UNDERSTANDING AMONG FAITHS TO REDUCE RELIGIOUS MISUNDERSTANDING. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR. AMINA IBE HAMDALLA CHAMBERS (07080203700)

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

OMOYENI FOUNDATION

URBAN AND RURAL WOMEN/ YOUTHS INITIATIVE OF NIGERIA

TRADERS ASSOCIATION OF ISA KAITA ROAD KADUNA

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. DR. TAMUNOTONYE MUHAMMED OBA 2. BARR. STEPHEN MERE 3. HAJIA JUMMAI MOHAMMED 4. PRINCESS MARIAN TOLOFARI 5. MRS PEACE IBOJE 6. PATIENCE ALABI 7. BARR. OHIREIME EBOREIME AIMS: 1. TO PROVIDE AND ASSIST WOMEN AND YOUTHS IN RURAL AREA WITH LITERACY AND SKILLS ACQUISITION. 2. PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE SERVICE TO WOMEN AND YOUTH. 3. PROVISION OF ACCESS TO LOANS AND FUNDS FROM MICROFINANCE BANK TO WOMEN AND YOUTHS.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSOCIATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. AJAYI-ADENIRAN DANIEL SUNDAY CHAIRMAN 2. AJAYI-ADENIRAN NAOMI REMI SECRETARY AIMS: 1. TO PROMOTE SHELTER/HOMES FOR ORPHANS, WIDOWS, AGED, MOTHERLESS BABIES AND HOMELESS PERSONS IN THE SOCIETY. 2. TO RENDER FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, FREE MEDICAL SERVICES AND ALL OTHER FORM OF ASSITANCE TO WIDOWS IN THE SOCIETY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: E. A. ADEDEJI & CO 07035740641

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. EKPE CHIDIEBERE SAMUEL 2. NDUKWE OKECHUKWU 3. MADUBUIKE IKENNA CHUKWUNONSO AIMS 1. TO ASSIST MEMBERS FINANCIALLY 2. TO ENHANCE FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP AND DISCIPLINE AMONG MEMBERS

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ALHAJI MAGAJI HABIBU 2. ADAM NDUBUISI OKAFOR AIMS: 1. TO FOSTER UNITY, PROGRESS, PEACE AND HARMONOUS CO-EXISTANCE OF TRADERS PROTECT, PROTECT THE INTEREST OF ITS MEMBERS IN ALL MATTERS OF COMMON INTEREST.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

SIGNED: SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

REVELATION OF GOD EVAGELICAL CHURCH

HEBRON LAND DELIVERANCE AND HEALING MINISTRY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PASTOR OJO OLUSOLA 2. PASTOR OMISORE ABIOLA SAMUEL 3. PASTOR OLUKOJU RAPHAEL ONI 4. ELDER SEGUN ALADE 5. MR. OLAYIWOLA SOLOMON GBEMIGA 6. MR ADEMOLA OLADAPO ATILADE 7. JEWOLA OYENIYI MATHEW AIMS: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. 2. TO EQUIP PEOPLE FOR WORK OF EVANGELIST.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

WOMEN CARE AND LIVELIHOOD FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. EVANG. EBENEZER ACHEBE 2. ONYINYE EGBE 3. MRS IFEYINWA NGOZI OGBUKA 4. CHINECHE OGONNA NGINI 5. MR MADUABUCHI EZIKE 6. MRS CHINWE MARTINS AIMS: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION (CAC) ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1. MAIMUNA ONYECHE ABUBAKAR (MISS) 2. ELIZABETH ADA ABUBAKAR (MRS) AIMS: 1. TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO RURAL WOMEN FIGHT POVERTY. 2. TO ENHANCE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES IN ADDRESSING THE MANY DIMENSIONS OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INCLUDING HEALTH, HUMAN RIGHTS, ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT; WITH PRIMARY FOCUS ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: OBOH JOSEPH O. (08054991029)

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CHANGE OF NAME I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS RUKAYYA MUKHTAR, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESS AS MRS RUKAYYA ISAH MOHAMMED. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GOVERNMENT GIRLS COLLEGE, BAUCHI, FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION (TECHNICAL), GUSAU AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO TAKE NOTE.

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

YABA, TEJUOSHO AND SURULERE DEALERS ASSOCIATION

NWA JESUS FOUNDATION FOR THE POOR

SIGNED: BARR. ONUORA ODO 08035979574

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. OMEH CELESTINE NNABUIKE 2. OMEH LOVINA OGOCHUKWU 3. IDOKO SOLOMON EJIOFOR 4. NWANEGBO IGNATIUS 5. UGWU BONIFACE 6. EYA CHRISTIAN OLUCHUKWU AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO HELP IN ALLEVIATING THE SUFFERING OF THE POOR 2. TO PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL 3. TO HELP THE SICK, LESS PRIVILEGED 4. TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : BARR. ONUORA ODO 0803579574

CHANGE OF NAME

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS AISHA ABDULKARIM, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESS AS GRACE ALADE. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. EKYE DEVELOPMENT AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO TAKE NOTE.

JAM’IYYAT DA’WATUL ISTIJAABATIL FOUNDATION

LIFEWAY ASSEMBLY

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1.REV. UCHE KALU MBUH -SERVANT OVERSEER/CHAIRMAN 2.PASTOR MRS. FAITH UCHE MBUH 3.SISTER NMACHUKWU CHIZOBA UMEOFIA-MEMBER 4.BROTHER VICTOR L. OKPERE-MEMBER 5.PA CHIKEZIE OBIOHA-MEMBER 6.SISTER CHINEYE IKENNA OCHUBILI-SECRETARY AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST TO THE DIEING SOULS OF THE WORLD. 2. TO PRAYERFULLY CARRY OUT SEMINARS, CRUSADES IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON IN CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES, DISTRIBUTE PRINTED MATERIALS AND COMMUNITY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. ANY OBJECTIONS TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

CHANGE OF NAME I, OMOSIGBO OSAIGBOVO FATHER TO MISS IYORE OSAIGBOVO OSAGIEDE DECLARE THAT MY DAUGHTER DOES NOT HAVE ANY LANDED PROPERTIES IN REPUBLIC OF IRELAND & NIGERIA PLEASE TAKE NOTE

CHANGE OF NAME I, FORMERLY KNOWN AS LARABA MICHEAL, NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESS AS LARABA MUSA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. NIGERIA POLICE FORCE AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO TAKE NOTE.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC OF THE LOSS OF TITLE DOCUMENTS WITH FILE NO. MFCT/LA/94/OG/1635 IN RESPECT OF PLOT 30 LOCATED AT KADO DISTRICT (KADO KUCHI) BEARING PRINCE ADEYEMI LADEJOBI. ALL EFFORTS TO TRACE THE SAID DOCUMENTS PROVED ABORTIVE. IF FOUND, PLEASE CONTACT THE NEAREST POLICE STATION. SIGNED: ALHAJI SALIHU MAINA

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. ONOJA ANTHONY OSITA 2. OMEH CELESTINENNABUIKE 3. ONOJA SAMUEL OKORO 4.IDOKO OLIVER .O. 5. OJOBO JOSEPH ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

TRUSTEES: 1. OJULARI SHARAFA-DEEN JIMOH 2. MALIK ADESHINA TAJUDEEN 3. JIMOH RASHEEDAT ADUNNI AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PROPAGATE ISLAM ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

GRACE AND TRUTH EVANGELICAL OUTREACH OF NIGERIA

UNITED RIVERS DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED OUTREACH HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. MISSIONARY PASTOR EDWARD NWADINMA DAVIDSON 2. REV. DR. YONG MOK CHO 3. ELDER YOUNG HO KWON AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2. TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT REDEMPTION THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. PRINCE EMMA ANYANWU JP 2. MR GEORGE FINTON OKEYA 3. MR SOTONYE CHARLES IJUYE DAGOGO 4. MR EPHRAIM NWUZI AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PROMOTE THE PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INTEREST OF RIVERS PEOPLE. 2. TO SENSITISE AND MOBILISE RIVERS PEOPLE TOWARDS THE BUILDING OF A CONSENSUS OF LOVE, UNITY AND HARMONY. 3. TO ASSIST LESS PRIVILEGE PEOPLE OF RIVERS WITH A VIEW TO STRENGTHENING HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED FOLAKE OWOEYE ESQ 08034708305

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED BARR. ALPHONSUS OGAR EBA 08065806154

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

BAGUDU WAZIRI FOUNDATION

YOUTH TRACK MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. SALISU BAGUDU 2. IBRAHIM SIDI ALIYU 3. USMAN MOHAMMED NDAGI 4. UMAR ALKALI BAGUDU 5. ABUBAKAR IBRAHIM NDAGI 6. LUQMAN SALMAN AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO CATER FOR THE LESS PRIVILEDGE IN THE SOCIETY. 2. TO GIVE EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT TO INDIGENT CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 3. TO PROVIDE MEDICAL CARE AND SUPPORT TO INDIGENTS IN THE HOSPITAL AND PLACES OF NEED. 4. TO SPONSOR INDIGENT CHILDREN TO ATTAIN A BETTER LIFE. 5. TO PROVIDE FOOD AND CLOTHING TO THE NEEDY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SALISU BAGUDU

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. AMGBOJI JERRY ODEY 2. AMGBOJI JERRY CYNTHIA OLUCHI 3. ELOLO HAPPINESS 4. BENEDICT TIMOTHY EJIOFOR 5. OHALE NICHOLAS EDMOND 6. IGHODARO AUSTINE OSARETIN 7. EZEKWE CHINAE CHEREM ALEXANDRA 8. UYANWANNE AMBROSE 9. ISAAC AUSTIN AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1.TO INCULCATE IN YOUTH SOUND MORALS VALUES AND ETIQUETTES WITH A VIEW TO ACHIVING SOCIAL JUSTICE, EQUITY AND GENDER EQUALITY. 2. TO IMBIBE NIGERIAN YOUTHS WITH NECESSARY SKILLS IN THE AREAS OF AGRICULTURE WITH A VIEW TO ATTAINING SELF SUFFICIENCY AND SELF RELIANCE IN ALL SPHERES OF LIFE. 3. TO CAREFULLY TRACK SPECIAL NEEDS OF YOUTHS AND WORK TOWARDS ADDRESSING SUCH CHALLENGES. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED BARR. ALPHONSUS OGAR EBA 08065806154

PUBLIC NOTICE

WORLD PRAYER LINK MINISTRY THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1.EVANGELIST UCHE KALU MBUH -PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN 2.PASTOR MRS. FAITH UCHE MBUH 3.SISTER NMACHUKWU CHIZOBA UMEOFIA-MEMBER 4.BROTHER VICTOR L. OKPERE-MEMBER 5.SISTER DORIS CHIMA OGBOSO-MEMBER 6.SISTER CHINEYE IKENNA OCHUBILI AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST TO THE DIEING SOULS OF THE WORLD. 2. TO PRAYERFULLY CARRY OUT SEMINARS, CRUSADES IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON IN CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES, DISTRIBUTE PRINTED MATERIALS AND COMMUNITY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. ANY OBJECTIONS TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

PUBLIC NOTICE

CHIZAM FOUNDATION THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. OKECHI UCHECHUKWU ANTHONY 2. NWOSU ONYINYE LYDIA 3. LUQMAN SALMAN AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO TRAIN AND EQUIP POOR AND NEEDY. 2. TO CATER FOR THE LESS PRIVILEDGE IN THE SOCIETY. 3. TO EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT FOR INDIGENT CHILDREN AND YOUTH. 4. TO BRING HELP AND SUPPORT TO WOMEN AND YOUTH. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED OKECHI UCHECHUKWU ANTHONY PUBLIC NOTICE

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PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

FIRE FALLS ASSEMBLY INTERNATIONAL

CHURCH OF THE SAINTS TO ALL NATIONS

FADERERA AJANI FOUNDATION

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED ASSEMBLY HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1.STANDLEY OBIAJULU 2.BEATRICE NWAKAEGO AMAIZU AIMS: 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2.TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT REDEMPTION THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED CHURCH HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR. CHUKWU EMEKA OKOLI (SECRETARY)

TRUSTEES 1.BISHOP (BARR.) JOHN OGBANSIEGBE 2.DR. RAYMOND AGU 3.MR. MARTINS OKPUNO 4.EVANGELIST (BARR) WISDOM-WINNER NDUOMA OBJECTIVE 1.TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2.TO WIN SOULS FOR CHRIST. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1.AJANI RAUFU ADENIYI -CHAIRMAN 2.AJANI TITILAYO ARINPE-SECRETARY 3.OLAITAN SAMUEL OLAWALE-MEMBER AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.TO PROMOTE THE VIRTUES OF WOMANHOOD ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: KAYODE OYEDEJI ESQ. SOLICITOR 08033598319

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

LIBERTY REALM WORD MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL

ADVOCACY FOR INTER-COMMUNITY RELATION INITIATIVE

TAIMAKO HUMAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION OF NIGERIA

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1.JUDE OGECHUKWU ESENWA 2.YETUNDE OLUWASEUN FAGBEMI 3.EMMANUELLA NNEKA OWOEYE 4.VICTOR CHEKWUBECHUKWU UDUJE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 2.TO REACH OUT TO THE LOST AND RECONNECT THEM TO THEIR DIVINE DESTINY. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED INITIATIVE HAS APPLIED TO CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART “C” OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT NO. 1 OF 1990.

SIGNED: SECRETARY

SIGNED: P. O. NWANKWO ESQ.

TRUSTEES: 1.ONOCHIE OKIGBO 2.EMEKA AGAZIE 3.CHIKA OKIGBO 4.CHIJOKE NNAOJI AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1.TO ORGANIZE SEMINARS AND PROGRAMMES THAT WILL EDUCATE COMMUNITY LEADERS. 2.TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN SERVICES TO THE NEEDY AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVEL. 3.TO ASSIST THE COMMUNITY ELDERS, YOUTHS, WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN GETTING ADEQUATE HEALTH CARE. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420,TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA P.M.B 198, GARKI ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART C OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. HRH BRIG. GEN. ABUBAKAR GARBA MUHAMMAD 11 (RTD) OFR, MNI. 2. ALH. LAWAL IDRIS 3. ALH. MOHAMMED YUSUF LERE 4. ARC. OMONIYI ADEYEMI BILEWU 5. BRIG. GEN. MUHAMMAD A. UMAR (RTD) 6. HAJIA AISHA ALIKO MOHAMMED 7. DR AHMADU BELLO MNI 8. HAJIA BARIRATU JIDDAH MUTALLAB 9. DR AHMED MODDIBO MOHAMMED AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. PROVIDING PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL SERVICES TO ORPHANS AND CHILDREN OF LESS PRIVILEGE PEOPLE IN THE SOCIETY. 2. SPONSORING RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES IN THE AREA OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND COLLECTING RELEVANT INFORMATION THAT WILL SERVE AS A DATA BANK FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH AFFAIRS IN PARTICULAR. 3. TO PROMOTE SOCIO - ECONOMIC VALUES OF NIGERIAN SOCIETY THROUGH SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA, ADVOCACY AND COUNSELING. 4. PROVIDING ECONOMICAL EMPOWERMENT FOR WOMEN AND YOUTH THROUGH VOCATIONAL TRAINING, ADVOCACY AND COUNSELING. 5. PROMOTING SOUND VALUES TO THE CONSCIENCE OF INDIVIDUALS AND THE NATION IN GENERAL. 6. RAISING FUNDS FOR HUMANITARIAN COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES AND TO HELP SUSTAIN THE PROGRAMMES OF THE FOUNDATION. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION PLOT NO 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: ABU USMAN ABDULSALAM ESQ.

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LIFEWAY ASSEMBLY

WORLD PRAYER LINK MINISTRY

YABA, TEJUOSHO AND SURULERE DEALERS ASSOCIATION

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1.REV. UCHE KALU MBUH -SERVANT OVERSEER/CHAIRMAN 2.PASTOR MRS. FAITH UCHE MBUH 3.SISTER NMACHUKWU CHIZOBA UMEOFIA-MEMBER 4.BROTHER VICTOR L. OKPERE-MEMBER 5.PA CHIKEZIE OBIOHA-MEMBER 6.SISTER CHINEYE IKENNA OCHUBILI-SECRETARY AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST TO THE DIEING SOULS OF THE WORLD. 2. TO PRAYERFULLY CARRY OUT SEMINARS, CRUSADES IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON IN CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES, DISTRIBUTE PRINTED MATERIALS AND COMMUNITY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. ANY OBJECTIONS TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1.EVANGELIST UCHE KALU MBUH -PRESIDENT/CHAIRMAN 2.PASTOR MRS. FAITH UCHE MBUH 3.SISTER NMACHUKWU CHIZOBA UMEOFIA-MEMBER 4.BROTHER VICTOR L. OKPERE-MEMBER 5.SISTER DORIS CHIMA OGBOSO-MEMBER 6.SISTER CHINEYE IKENNA OCHUBILI AIMS & OBJECTIVES 1. TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST TO THE DIEING SOULS OF THE WORLD. 2. TO PRAYERFULLY CARRY OUT SEMINARS, CRUSADES IN SEASON AND OUT OF SEASON IN CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES, MISSIONARY ACTIVITIES, DISTRIBUTE PRINTED MATERIALS AND COMMUNITY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. ANY OBJECTIONS TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

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NWA JESUS FOUNDATION FOR THE POOR

JAM’IYYAT DA’WATUL ISTIJAABATIL FOUNDATION

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. OMEH CELESTINE NNABUIKE 2. OMEH LOVINA OGOCHUKWU 3. IDOKO SOLOMON EJIOFOR 4. NWANEGBO IGNATIUS 5. UGWU BONIFACE 6. EYA CHRISTIAN OLUCHUKWU AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. TO HELP IN ALLEVIATING THE SUFFERING OF THE POOR 2. TO PROVIDE A PLATFORM FOR SPREADING THE GOSPEL 3. TO HELP THE SICK, LESS PRIVILEGED 4. TO PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED : BARR. ONUORA ODO 0803579574

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED FOUNDATION HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. OJULARI SHARAFA-DEEN JIMOH 2. MALIK ADESHINA TAJUDEEN 3. JIMOH RASHEEDAT ADUNNI AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. TO PROPAGATE ISLAM ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: SECRETARY

THIS IS TO NOTIFY THE GENERAL PUBLIC THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, ABUJA FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

TRUSTEES: 1. ONOJA ANTHONY OSITA 2. OMEH CELESTINENNABUIKE 3. ONOJA SAMUEL OKORO 4.IDOKO OLIVER .O. 5. OJOBO JOSEPH ANY OBJECTION TO THE REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, PLOT 420, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA, WITHIN TWENTY EIGHT DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: BARR. ONUORA ODO 08035979574

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HE GENERAL PUBLIC GENERAL PUBLIC HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT THE ABOVE NAMED MINISTRY HAS APPLIED TO THE CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION FOR REGISTRATION UNDER PART ‘C’ OF THE COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT OF 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: SABO EMMANUEL – PRESIDENT MAIWADA SHAWELOH SUNDAY – SECRETARY RACHEAL YUSUF AHWABADA - TREASURER BITRUS YUSUF SULEIMAN - MEMBER PASTOR SAMSON ADESANYA - MEMBER AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: PROPERGATE THE GOSPEL. IMPACT THE TEACHING AND LIFE STYLE OF JESUS CHRIST. CREATING HELP TO THE LESS PRIVILEGE AND WIDOWS. ANY OBJECTION TO THIS REGISTRATION SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION, TIGRIS CRESCENT, OFF AGUYI IRONSI STREET MAITAMA ABUJA, WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED: MAIWADA SHAWELOH SUNDAY BIOLA OYEBANJI & CO J8AHMADU BELLO WAY KADUNA 07030085627, 08023748585

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2013

SPORTS LATEST

Brazil won’t win 2014 World Cup, says Zico

B

razil legend Zico has dismissed his nation’s chances of winning a World Cup on home soil next year.

Instead, the 60-year-old has backed Brazil’s neighbour and arch-rival Argentina to secure its third world crown.

Brazil, a five-time World Cup champion, has not won the tournament since 2002, failing even to reach the semi-finals in its past two attempts.

But despite football’s premier event finally returning to Brazilian shores for the first time since 1950, Zico, who failed to hoist the trophy as a player, believes the current Brazil squad is not yet ready to claim the grand prize.

“The main problem is that we are a year from the World Cup and we still don’t know who the first 11 is …it’s because there is no continuity.”

“The Brazil team is still very young. A whole new generation came in at once. So now you get all the responsibility on a player like Neymar, who is only 21 and has never played in a World Cup before.

“We need some players who have been there and done that so the spotlight is on them rather than the young, up and coming players.

The former Japan and Iraq coach also criticised Confederation of Brazilian Football officials for their decision to replace Mano Menezes with Luiz Felipe Scolari, a transition Zico believes could severely undermine Brazil’s chances.

“They switched at the wrong time; just as Menezes’s team was starting to come together. Now Scolari has to start all over again,” he said.

However, Zico does not see the trophy leaving South America next year, predicting a Lionel Messi led Argentina will prove too strong for the rest of the world.

“If (Argentina) win, I just hope it is not in the final against Brazil, or we will suffer just like we did against Uruguay in 1950. Then the Maracanã [stadium] will seem a cursed place.

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QUOTABLE QUOTE We are facing challenges of inequality and inclusion, meaning that even though the economy is strong, we have problems with jobs and unemployment — Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy, admitting that mass poverty is crippling the Nigerian economy

Amigo: Not all that glitters is gold T

he Amigo Supermarket in Wuse 11 area of Abuja is perhaps the busiest shopping place in the capital city. This was until a week ago, when security operatives took over the place following the alleged involvement of its owners in weapons trafficking. Their other business, the“Wonderland” is an exciting children’s park and is also the city’s best, attracting children on holiday from many parts of the country. Before I discovered Shoprite in Apo and their very competitive prices for groceries, Amigo was my family’s destination.

In a matter of two weeks, not only have the fortunes of these businesses changed but that the perception of Lebanese businessmen, some of whom have resided in Nigeria in two to three generations has radically changed.

The success of the Amigo investment in the new federal capital city had inspired a significant migration of young, ambitious Nigerians of Lebanese extraction from their hub in Kano to Abuja. There is no doubt that these arms dealing charges, scams and scandals involving these young entrepreneurs tumbling out of Amigo will harm, not only the public image of the Lebanese in Nigeria but also are, potentially damaging to relations between Nigeria and the Arab countries.

The Lebanese community in Kano, through their President, Mr. Tahir Fadlallah has been outspoken since the incident, explaining that the deeds of a few must not be mistaken as the deeds of all. What compounded matters the more for them is that the Kano Lebanese community has no less than three famous and prosperous Fadlallah families. Each of them is separate although they are linked through marital and business connections, which are to be expected in any setting like that. In case of his own person, Tahir, leader of the community and his prosperous hotel business in Kano were initially, mistakenly joined in the alleged arms business but following a protest, the newspaper involved retracted and offered an apology.

In a world in which everybody is hungry for money, where money is the only thing that matters to most, many would have assumed that the owners of successful businesses such as the one in question would be free of any such pressures to join the spree. Because nothing yet is

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MUSINGS By

Garba Shehu garshehu@yahoo.co.in

Arms cache recovered in Kano proven and that the subject of the closure of Amigo and the arrest of its owners is still under investigation, you cannot say they are guilty or not. One can however say that there is so much to worry about from the scale and sophistication of the weapons allegedly found in their possession. These items, as recovered inside coolers and hidden

“

underground inside Tala Roda’s house included: 1166 mm antitank weapons; 282 mm bombs; 4 landmines; 21 RPG; 7 bombs; 1 RPG 7 tubes; 16 RPG 7 chargers; 9 pistols; 36 hand grenades; 17 AK 47 rifles; I smg rifle; 44 AK 47 magazines; 1 pistol magazine; 2 SMG magazine; 1545 slab Tnt and 10,921 of 7.62m special ammunition.

The National Assembly, in my view, needs to make a more serious response to this major security issue, given that government cannot be trusted to do a good job of this investigation and the police, the Customs and other security services cannot also be trusted to do an honest job investigating themselves.

There are too many traitors in the police and the Customs. How did the weapons come into the country in the first instance? This is a clear show of greed, plain and simple

There have been speculations that they were not weapons intended for Nigeria but Hezbollah in Lebanon. This doesn’t impress me.

What are Hezbollah weapons doing in Nigeria? Where is the connection?

If anyone is planning attacks on Israeli or American interests in Nigeria, as earlier reports had said, where are those interests in Kano? If the weapons were for use or for sale in Nigeria, who are the recipients?

The National Assembly, in my view, needs to make a more serious response to this major security issue, given that government cannot be trusted to do a good job of this investigation and the police, the Customs and other security services cannot also be trusted to do an honest job investigating themselves.

There are too many traitors in the police and the Customs. How did the weapons come into the country in the first instance? This is a clear show of greed, plain and simple.

The police and the State Security Service, SSS, are tapping telephones left right and centre but have no clue about the massive smuggling of weapons that is going on.

Certainly all the wheeling and dealing are known to police and the Customs. They have ample evidence to nail and book the crooked businessmen involved in this and other illicit trades, only that their hands are tied so they maintains a studious silence.

Police and Customs know the exact whereabouts of weapons dealers. If they so wish, they can fish them out just as the United States did with Osama bin Laden.

If the government desires it, no area is beyond its penetration. The problem is that our political class is out to enrich themselves at any cost with no care for their poor brethren except lip service.

When the Amigo weapons smuggling scheme is thoroughly investigated, it may consume the careers of some top shots in the Police and the Customs. But if successfully carried out, it may give a clue to the nation on how to resolve the question of the massive weaponry that now floods Plateau, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Kano and Benue states. A diligent investigation may even establish shocking connections between these incidents and Boko Haram, in the event that any such links exist. This angle must be investigated by the National Assembly.

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Kano office: Plot 3, Zaria Road, Opposite Kano State House of Assembly. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: +234 814 292 9046. Cell: +234 802 443 2099; 803 7007 759. e-mail: contact@peoplesdailyng.com; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141