Peoples Daily Newspaper, Friday, April 13, 2012

Alleged extra-judicial killings: Police summons Rights Commission Board chairman PAGE 4

Vol. 8 No. 16

Friday, April 13, 2012

Jimadal Ula 22, 1433 AH

N150

SWF: Govs are spendthrifts — Finance Minister

By Aminu Imam & Abdulwahab Isa

T

he Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday blamed the 36 state governors for the massive depletion of accruals into the Excess Crude Account in the pre-economic depression years.

Speaking on the various components of the current reform agenda of the government at a one-day interactive session with civil society organisations, yesterday in Abuja, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala blamed the voracious apetite for funds of the governors for the depletion of the Excess Crude Account, “from about $20 billion in 2003 to about $3.6 billion now", stressing that the governors' insistence that the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) account is illegal, led to the ultimate sharing of about $16.4 billion of the excess crude oil savings.

Okonjo-Iweala explained that in view of the recent developments in developed Contd on Page 2

NYSC Dance and Drama Community Development Service (CDS) group, performing during its Creativity Week, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Boko Haram dares Jonathan

Military, SSS assure of improved security

By Mohammed Kandi, with agency report

F

ollowing the protracted battle between members of Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lid Da’awati Wal Jihad popularly

known as Boko Haram and the government, the sect has dared President Goodluck Jonathan to carry out his threat to route it out in three months just as it boasted that Nigeria's security agencies cannot contain it by the June

2012 deadline set by the President recently in South Korea.

The leader of the sect, Sheik Abubakar Imam Shekau, in a new video posted on Youtube yesterday, further bragged that the nation's security agencies

cannot end its terror campaigns

by June.

This is coming at a time when the security agencies are also claiming to have successfully reduced the level of insecurity in the country to a minimal level.

Shekau, who appeared agitated throughout his video recording, was surrounded by some bodyguards while delivering the message via a Youtube video which lasted for 14 minutes and Contd on Page 2

Kano earmarks N2m dowry for widows

Nigeria invests N2.2tr in free trade zones

INSIDE

Groups begin Jonathan 2015 campaign >>PAGE 3

Senate denies Curfew: We’re dying of heat, Borno bribery allegation residents rell JTF >>PAGE 4

>>PAGE 7

WWW.PEOPLESDAILY-ONLINE.COM

>>PAGE 7

>>PAGE 19

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Islam

26

Newsxtra

29-30

Government’s underfunding of culture sector is unfortunate, says Dr. Ayakoroma (II), Pages 27, 28

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

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

You can send your news and pictures to: letters@peoplesdaily-online.com pictures@peoplesdaily-online.com contact@peoplesdaily-online.com

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

PENGASSAN, NUPENG threaten 3-day warning strike

T

he PENGASSAN and NUPENG have threatened to embark on a three-day industrial action if the issues between the unions and the Federal Government were not resolved.

The unions made the threat in Abuja yesterday when they met with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu and other stakeholders over grievances they had against the Federal Government.

They hinted of a nationwide industrial protest and road show would begin on April 16, adding that the action would be based on a 21-point trade dispute with government.

According to President of PENGASSAN, Babatunde Ogun, some of the issues include: unjustifiable mass disengagement of workers/members in the Downstream Petroleum Sector (DPS).

Other include: the poor monitoring and enforcement by BPE of privatisation agreement with core investors in the petroleum marketing sector, government’s insensitivity in the handling of petrol subsidy reinvestment programme.

Also raised was the gazetting of or proper legislation on contract staffing and outsourcing guidelines, among others.

Ogun said members of the union were recently downsized by their employers ``who are also circumventing the law and the Nigerian system.’’

He alleged that the companies “sack in thousands and convert the same employees to casual staff.’’

He said the ministry was aware of the grievances of the association but nothing had been done and that past meetings had been unproductive.

“As a union, we are not happy to be here, we just came out of sheer respect for the minister and other stakeholders because meetings we’ve had in the past yielded minimal results.

“But we strongly believe that this meeting will not go the way of the past.’’

NUPENG President, Mr Igwe Achese, protested against the state of insecurity in the country,

saying it had had adverse effect on his members.

Achese warned that the union would not give any more notice on industrial action but would embark on strike if all grievances and issues were not addressed.

“I hope this meeting is going to find a lasting solution to all these problems because we have had series of meetings that have failed after intervention.’’

“For us in NUPENG, we are not giving any other further notice when we want to go on strike.’’

He, however, appealed to the minister to enforce some of the solutions offered so that they would not embark on the industrial action.

Wogu described the meeting as “conciliatory and mediatory,” promising to look into all the issues because PENGASSAN demanded for “quick resolution of the issues.”

Wogu noted that some of the issues were not new while some had been deliberated upon in the past.

“I have to quickly intervene in the issues that are raging,” he said, pointing out that government had been sincere in its interactions with labour unions and associations.

“One thing that is clear is that this government has been sincere and honest in its approach to industrial issues; we may not have met all your expectations.

“But we met you more than midway and there is no perfection in life but I believe that the support you’ve given us in the past will remain and the government on its own part will reciprocate.”

Wogu urged the unions to be patient saying, “there is no need causing havoc in a fragile economy like our own because we all know the relevance of oil and gas in an economy.” (NAN)

New Nigerian loses 3 workers to strike - Chapel

T

he New Nigerian Newspapers chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) said the company lost three workers since it began a strike on Feb. 7.

Malam Ibrahim Adamu, the chairman of the chapel disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), yesterday in Kaduna.

He said the affected staff included an Electrical Manager, Yanki Istifanus, who collapsed and died before he could be taken to hospital.

The Union urged the Northern Governors' Forum (NGF) to settle the workers' outstanding salaries to reduce their hardships.

Adamu asked the Forum to source funds to settle their

entitlements to enable the company to reopen.

He said the non-payment of the salaries had caused untold hardships to the company's workers and their families.

The chairman said the arrears included 11 months’ salary, sundry entitlements and the implementation of the N18, 000 minimum wage. (NAN)

Boko Haram dares Jonathan Contd from Page 1 two seconds.

In the video message titled “Message to Jonathan,” Shekau vowed that the sect would not only destroy Christians and Christianity in Nigeria, particularly those killing Muslims, but it will also kill all Muslims aiding the arrest and harassment of its members.

The message which was conveyed by the sect’s Principal, Abubakar Shekau, was mainly in Arabic and Hausa language.

Shekau further said, “You Jonathan cannot stop us as you boasted, instead we will devour you in the three months like

you are boasting. If death is your worldly gain, for us, it is eternal victory to die working for Allah. Our joy is to die in Jihad for Allah against infidels like you….

“We are also aware of some Muslims using our name to make money, we will say nothing but let them continue, and they will meet Allah on the last day.

“We are not serving man, but doing Allah’s work and it is clear your aim is to kill us. Let me assure you that by Allah we will triumph over you and your men in hundreds. We are not boasting; rather, we're keeping quiet and serving Allah.

“Allah that finished Pharaoh and other wicked rulers that you are not even up to will finish you and end your government. We are not afraid because we are not serving man but Allah. And we will see who will carry the day,” Shekau concluded.

In the meantime, three strategic security agencies in the country jointly addressed a press conference at the Defence headquarters, yetserday in Abuja, where they re-assured Nigerians that the days of Boko Haram are numbered.

Led by the Defence spokesman, Col. Mohammed Yerima, the security agencies said "relative

success" has been achieved in the fight against the Boko Haram sect and other criminals and forms of criminality in the Land.

Those who addressed the press briefing along with Yerima were spokesperson of the State Security Service (SSS), Ms. Marilyn Ogar, and Nigerian Air Force spokesman, Commodore Yusuf Anas.

They urged Nigerians to exercise patience, refrain from taking laws into their hands and also volunteer useful information that would further enhance efforts by the security agencies to contain the high level of insecurity in the country.

SWF: Govs are spendthrifts, says Okonjo-Iweala Contd from Page 1 economies, there was need for the country to continue to create safety nets in form of savings in order to cushion potential negative effects of the volatility of the international oil market on the domestic economy.

While recounting the recent developments in the global economy and implications for the domestic economy, the minister said:“The only time we have some semblance of fiscal balance in our economy is from 2003 to 2007 and that was when we developed Excess Crude and started saving up to about $20 billion worth of savings. When the crash came in 2008, what happened? Oil prices fell from about $147 per barrel to about $38 overnight. Exactly,

the type of difficult situation we are predicting,” she said.

“But we were able to go to that pool and use to smoothen our expenditures so that we were able to pay salaries and continue to pay for our capital investments in those two or three difficult years – 2008 to 2009. And that is why we need civil society to understand this – why the Excess Crude Account and its successor are very important.

“But we have the governors saying, 'No, we will only allow $1 billion'. In fact, it was a fight to get even one billion dollars into it. We managed to save $20 billion during the last time. But now they say it is illegal, this and that, and so the country is not able to save.

In the Excess Crude Account today

is eft only about $3.6 billion. We can announce to you every month what is in this Excess Crude. I believe there is nothing to add.

“Every month we have been dipping hands into it because they say it (SWF) is illegal. And instead of moving that money into the Sovereign Wealth Account it is being shared until it is at the rock bottom. What does that mean?

Should the oil price crash today, what does it mean? It means we have no cushion because $3.6 billion for this economy is nothing that can take us for any length of time.

“And that is what I told them at the National Economic Council the last time when people were panting over, saying this thing is illegal and that they want the money to be

shared to everyone. Everyone there has been insisting it is illegal and we must dip and share to everybodys. How many of you have heard your state governors announced what they have spent or they have saved? I know that many of them are saving so I’m not saying they are not prudent. I know some of them are saving and so I want to congratulate them on that”, she however said.

Okonjo-Iweala said there was increasing challenge for the country to control expenditure and maintain fiscal discipline with a view to having enough money for the development of crucial infrastructure and other needs that can help position the economy on sustainable path of inclusive growth.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 3

2015: Group begins campaigns Jonathan

By Umar Mohammed Puma

A

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu (middle), during a meeting between PENGASSAN and identified stakeholders over an impending three-day nationwide industrial protest and road show, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Boko Haram: De-emphasize military force, US counsels FG …as JNI wants perpetrators of Kaduna Easter bombings fished out

By Lawrence Olaoye, Abuja and Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

T

he government of the United States of America has counseled President Goodluck Jonathan to deemphasise the use of military force in its handling of the Boko Haram insurgency in the country.

It also recommended that the government should immediately create the Northern Development Commission to address the problem of development in the northern region.

A release by the country’s Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, and prepared by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, the USA noted that the activities of the

dreaded Boko Haram group in the country was to cause disaffection between the Muslims and the Christians with a view to causing chaos in the society.

While noting that the Boko Haram group is being generally reviled, America noted that the group offered no practical solutions to northern problems.

The release stated: “Boko Haram capitalises on popular frustrations with leaders, poor government service delivery, and the dismal living conditions of many northerners. Boko Haram seeks to humiliate and undermine the government and to exploit religious differences in order to create chaos and to make Nigeria ungovernable.”

“While more sophisticated and targeted security efforts are

necessary to contain Boko Haram’s acts of violence and to capture and prosecute its leaders, the government must also win over the population by addressing the social and economic problems that have created the environment in which Boko Haram can thrive.

Meanwhile, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to bring to book the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday car bomb explosion which killed scores of people in Kaduna.

In a press statement yesterday signed by the group’s SecretaryGeneral, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, the JNI also said the Muslim community should be more prayerful to curb what it described as the menace bedeviling the

nation.

The statement said: “The JNI having gathered the necessary information on the Sunday, April 8, 2012 bomb blast that rocked Kaduna, leaving many innocent lives dead and many more injured, makes this statement to commiserate with the bereaved families and the Kaduna state government.

“Similarly, information so far collated reveals that Muslims were worst hit, therefore we say may Allah’s forgiveness and mercy be showered on all the deceased.

“The JNI commends some of the families of the deceased for upholding the teaching of Islam, that is, that is the spirit of pardoning and forgiving the perpetrators of the ungodly act.”

body known as the National Coalition Group for Jonathan/Sambo (NACOJP), yesterday, opened campaign for the continuation of President Goodluck Jonathan beyond 2015 as it described Jonathan/Sambo administration as a symbol of peace, unity and progress.

Speaking at the lunching of a book “Jonathan/Sambo Presidency: A symbol of peace, unity and progress in Nigeria” Prince Arthur Eze said the rotation of the presidency is the best for Nigeria, adding that when President Goodluck Jonathan finishes his eight years in office, the presidency should rotate to the North and thereafter to the South East.

Eze who was crowned the grand patron of the group at the occasion, said he has identified with the achievement of the Jonathan’s administration that engender peaceful coexistence and unity.

This campaign is coming barely a month after President Jonathan placed a ban on all 2015 campaigns by any members of his cabinet as well as those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

At a recent National Executive Council’s meeting, Jonathan had warned party members and his appointees against 2015 campaigns as he said such constituted a distraction to his government.

Meanwhile, the national coordinator of the group, Anyanwu Darlington, in his address said the body was partnering with the Presidency towards moving the country to a greater height. “We are nation builders, unity enhancers, peace ambassadors and unrepentant believers in the transformation and development of Nigeria”.

The chairman of the occasion, Prof. Jerry Gana tasked President Jonathan to give Nigerians power, infrastructure, security for him to achieve his transformation agenda.

Jonathan wants top FG vacancies advertised We are working on rescue

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

A

s part of measures to ensure that qualified persons are appointed to government positions to ensure quality service delivery, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday directed that vacant Federal Government positions which require professionals must be advertised.

The President specifically directed the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, as well as her Health counterpart, Prof. Onyebuchi Okechukwu, to advertise the vacant posts of the chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

YouWin Presidential Award was designed to reward one beneficiary from each of the six geo-

political zones, whose business plan was adjudged the best by a panel of distinguished entrepreneurs, within that zone under the YouWin programme.

The six wardees, who were part of the 1,200 youths that won grants of between N1 million to N10 million, went home with N500,000 cheque courtesy of First Bank (Nigeria) Plc for their outstanding business ideas.

President Jonathan explained that the idea of advertising the jobs was to ensure that all qualified Nigerians have equal opportunity to be considered for the jobs without having to be connected in high places.

The President noted that his administration was working hard to ensure regions or states of origin were de-emphasised in political appointments in the country as a way to ensure progress.

According to him, "we are

beginning to demonstrate that even in our political appointments, some of the political offices have to be advertised for all Nigerians to compete so that we select the best.

Also speaking at the occasion, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, revealed that following the launching of YouWin

by President Jonathan in October last year, 1,200 persons, being the first set of beneficiaries, were selected after several months of hard work and commitment by the implementation team.

Dr. Okonko-Iweala disclosed that About 24,000 Nigerian youths submitted entries for the first stage of the competition, and to ensure widespread participation across the country, the YouWin team went around all the geopolitical zones to create awareness amongst the youths and get the eligible people to apply through the online portal.

of kidnapped Spaniard — Enugu police spokesman

T

he Enugu State Police Command has announced that it is working round the clock to rescue the kidnapped Spanish doctor working with Niger Foundation Hospital in Enugu.

Its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview yesterday in Enugu that the command had made the rescue a top priority in its operations.

“We will not disclose our plans for the rescue of the man.

The security of the citizenry is

one of our top priorities,” he said.

According to the spokesman, the 58-year-old doctor, identified as Joe Machinberrena by hospital workers, was kidnapped from his home in Independence Layout, Enugu, on April 4 to an unknown destination.

When NAN visited the Niger Foundation Hospital, the receptionist on duty said the director of the hospital had travelled out of town and that nobody had the permission to speak on the issue. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 4

Gunmen kill trader in Maiduguri From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

A

yet-to-be identified trader was killed yesterday afternoon when gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect, stormed the Maiduguri Monday Market, Borno state capital.

Our correspondent reports that the Boko Haram members have turned the market into a target of attacks in the recent times as the latest incident came a week after 11 persons were killed, forcing the management of the market to shut it down for three days.

It was gathered that yesterday’s attack happened at about12.45pm when two gunmen raided the market and fired several shots in the air before heading to the shop of their victim to shoot him.

The shooting caused pandemonium in the area as everyone scampered for safety, while the market was immediately closed down.

Witnesses said the assailants walked to the market, disguised as normal customers.

Spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force, (JTF) Lt –Col. Sagir Musa, who confirmed the incident, said the hoodlums sneaked into the crowded market when innocent persons were conducting their business activities.

“It is true that one person was shot to death by gunmen in Monday Market Maiduguri city at about 12.45 pm today (Thursday). The general area where the incident happened has been cordoned and searched. Foot patrol has been intensified. To avoid stampede, troops assisted people to get out of the market while efforts are on to get the culprits”, Lt-Col. Musa explained.

Gen. Abdulsalami decries bomb attacks in Nigeria

F

ormer Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, yesterday decried the spate of bombings in the country, saying such attacks were impeding development efforts.

Abdulsalami made the remark when the newly appointed Commissioner of Police in Niger, Mrs. Diseye Nsirim, paid him a courtesy visit at his residence in Minna.

He said that anything that would disrupt the peace and stability in any community should be avoided at all costs.

He said the state had enjoyed an enviable status as a peaceful state in the country until the spate of bomb attacks in Suleja and its environs which disrupted the people’s way of life.

The former head of state noted that the security situation in the country had over-stretched the police, and called for the provision of adequate logistics and equipment for the force.

He said this would enable the police to deal with the security challenges and enhance their performance generally.

Nsirim solicited the support of the former head of state and other prominent sons and daughters of the state to achieve effective policing of the area. (NAN)

Alleged extra-judicial killings: Police summon NHRC chair T

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

he Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mr. Chidi Odinkalu has been summoned to appear before the Force Criminal Investigation Department of the Nigerian Police Force for interrogations for allegedly accusing the Police of extra judicial killings.

According to on-line publication, the Premium Times, a letter dated Wednesday, April 11, 2012 and signed by Dan Bature, a Deputy Commissioner of Police directed the NHRC Board chairman to appear before a Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department today by 11: 00 a. m.

The basis of the summon, according to the letter, is that the police are, “investigating complaint of damaging remarks allegedly made by the NHRC Board Chairman against the Nigeria Police Force.”

The remark by Mr. Odinkalu, which has drawn the ire of police authorities, was made on March 5, 2012, while making a presentation at a programme organised by the National Association of Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC) in Abuja.

In the presentation titled: “plea bargain and the administration of justice in Nigeria,” the human rights chief stated that, “the response of law enforcement to the incapability of the legal system to ensure convictions is an epidemic of third degree policing, torture and extra judicial executions. By some estimates, the police execute well over 2,500 detainees summarily every year.”

The latter part of the statement is what the police authority, including the new Acting Inspector General of police, Mohammed Abubakar, is angry about as the police boss, in the letter dated March 16, 2012 accused Mr. Odinkalu of stating that, “the police execute over 5,000 detainees summarily, every year.”

The police said the statement, “is viewed seriously by the police high command as vexatious especially against the backdrop of its grave and negative implications on our

National and Corporate image.”

Mr. Abubakar, who also accused Mr. Odinkalu of stating that, “guilty police officers are hardly brought to justice,” requested the human rights chief to “provide evidence or facts to support your (his) assertion.”

In his response, received by the police boss on April 5, 2012, the human rights commission chief cited a report titled “Criminal Force: Torture, Abuse and Extra Judicial Killings by the Nigeria Police Force”, issued in 2010 by the Network on

Police Reform in Nigeria.

It was learnt that Mr. Odinkalu also forwarded a copy of the report to the police IG alongside his letter but the police hierarchy still invited him for interrogation.

Efforts to reach the police spokesperson, Olusola Amore (DCP), for comments were unsuccessful as he neither answered nor returned calls to his mobile telephone.

When contacted, Mr. Odinkalu appeared reluctant to discuss the invitation.

L-R: Country Director, ActionAID Nigeria, Dr. Hussaini Abdul representative of Director General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr. Emmanuel Alhassan, and Director, Butterfly Works, Netherland, Miss Emer Cronin, during a workshop, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Curfew: We’re dying of heat, Borno residents tell JTF

R

esidents of Maiduguri in Borno yesterday appealed to the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order to allow them sleep outside their houses at night because of heat.

The JTF had on January 12, imposed a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in parts of the state to checkmate suspected Boko Haram militants attacks.

A cross section of residents who spoke in Maiduguri said the curfew had resulted in great hardship on them.

Malam Bukar Mala, a resident of Hausari, said he had not been

able to sleep at night due to the prevailing hot weather.

“Sleeping outside the houses during hot weather has been an age-long tradition, as most houses are congested and without ventilation”, Mala said.

He said that the situation had changed with the curfew as everybody is forced to sleep inside no matter the condition.

Alhaji Baana Kolo, a resident of Kasuwan Shanu, supported Mala’s claim, saying that the situation had caused him untold hardship.

“For the first time in my life, I

have been forced to sleep inside the house together with my four children and wife… find it difficult to sleep until around 5 a.m. when it is time for early morning prayers,” Kolo said.

Malam Hamza Imran, a resident of Bula-Bulin, added that poor electricity supply by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria made the situation worst.

“You can imagine individuals cramped in small houses without proper ventilation when the temperature is high; we pray that the rainy season will begin soon so that the heat will reduce,”

Imran said.

He traced the congestion in the houses to an ancient belief that smaller houses were better protected in terms of security.

“Our grand parents decided to construct small windows in the houses for fear of cold, because the cold in those days was severe.. we cannot sleep outside (now) because of the curfew,” Imran said. “ A group of boys decided to test the military by trying to sleep outside last week, but were beaten when a patrol team discovered them,” Imran said.(NAN)

Nigeria tops list of 5 countries with high malaria deaths, says expert

P

rof. Jennifer Tyndall of the American University of Nigeria (AUN), yesterday said that Nigeria topped list of five countries with high rate of deaths on malaria.

Tyndall disclosed this in a paper on “Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) Holds the Key to Solving Africa’s Healthcare Crisis”, delivered at the ongoing African Conference on Infectious Diseases and Emergency Response in Owerri, Imo.

She said that Nigeria shared 49 of 100 per cent of deaths caused by malaria in the five countries, while DR Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya, shared the remaining percentage.

Tyndall, a Professor of Health Education, quoted World Health Organisation (WHO) as saying that there were 216 million cases of malaria with approximately 655,000 deaths in Africa in 2010.

According to her, malaria accounts for over 22 per cent of

all childhood deaths in Africa, while 1.8 million deaths were due to HIV/AIDs. “Of the estimated 1.8 million deaths due to AIDs in 2010, over 70 per cent occurred in Africa alone. Almost 90 per cent of the 16.6 million children orphaned by AIDs live in sub-Saharan Africa.

“These are all preventable diseases and conditions that low cost interventions can significantly reduce the mortality and morbidity levels in Africa. ”

“Due to the overwhelming burden on health system in most African countries, the most reliable solution would be the backing and support from private enterprises.

“Therefore, CSR holds the key to solving the health crisis in subSaharan Africa…whereby private enterprises channel their contributions to charitable and philanthropic programme for the benefit of social, medical and environmental causes. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

NGO solicits support in fighting Boko Haram insurgency

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

Non Governmental Organisation, Social Responsibility Network Initiative (SRNI) has solicited the cooperation of corporate organisations in the fight against the insurgency of the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect in the country.

"The spate of bombing by members of the Jammatul Sunnah Walid Jihad otherwise known as Boko Haram has become so alarming and we consider it unacceptable for a country known for its peaceful co-existence", a statement by the Executive Director of the NGO,

Taidi, Olanrewaju Yahaya has said.

The statement said that Nigeria cannot be threatened by a negligible number of dissidents and called on the Federal Government to ensure peaceful dialogue with the Boko Haram group to avoid further killings of innocent Nigerians in resolving these incessant bombing, we call on corporate organisations to It further added that the involvement of corporate organizations in the fight against these acts of terrorism is a way of showing how socially responsible the corporate organisations are in Nigeria.

BASA violations: Senate summons Ashiru, Oduah, foreign airlines

By Richard Ihediwa

T

he Senate has summoned the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah and her Foreign Affairs counterpart, Ambassador Olugbenga Asiru over allegations that some foreign airlines operating in Nigeria were violating the Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) they entered with the Federal Government.

Also summoned to appear before the Senator Hope Uzodinmaled Senate Committee on Aviation on Monday are the managements of all the foreign airlines including the British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.

The summon is in line with the resolution of the Senate in March empowering the committee to conduct a three-day public hearing on the matter.

Briefing newsmen in Abuja yesterday, Senator Uzodinma said that the Senate would not join issues with British Government over its recent outburst that Nigeria does not have the right to sanction the BA over the alleged sharp practices but assured that the committee will leave no stone unturned in getting to the root of the matter.

He said the Senate has been inundated by petitions from stakeholders alleging certain sharp practices by the foreign airlines, adding that the committee will look at the issues critically.

Stating that the committee will be thorough with the investigation, Uzodinma noted that any airline found wanting would be recommended for

sanction.

The lawmaker said the committee will examine all transactions by the airline and ensure that if by any means they in anyway shortchanged the country by not paying necessary fees, they will be sanctioned accordingly.

T

he Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Engr.

Omar Suleiman, has stressed the need for collaboration between Nigerian Ports Authority and Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority with a view to combating piracy, terrorism, pollution and other maritime vices in the West African sub-region.

Engr. Omar Suleiman disclosed

FG appeals against Akingbola’s discharge

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he Federal Government yesterday filed an appeal against the decision of a Federal High Court in Lagos which discharged the former Group Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc Mr. Erastus Akingbola from the corruption charges preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The Federal Government noted in the appeal that the April 2, 2012 decision of the Federal High court, Lagos sitting before Justice Charles Efanga Archibong was perverse.

The appeal was filed by the counsel representing the antigraft agency, Chief Godwin Obla at the Registry of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division and disclosed to journalists in Abuja.

In the appeal, the Federal Government asked the appellate court to set aside the entire decision of Justice Archibong

which dismissed the 26-count criminal charges against Akingbola before setting him free.

The Federal Government also sought for order of the Court of Appeal to remit the criminal case back to the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta for re-assignment to another judge for retrial on merit.

In the four grounds of appeal, the Federal Government claimed that the trial Judge erred in law when he proceeded to dismiss the criminal charge without affording it opportunity to be heard.

The appellant also claimed that the decision of the lower court on the dismissal of the case did not emanate from any of the applications pending before the judge.

Government also claimed that the Judge failed to invite parties in the case to address him and that the decision to strike out the criminal case constituted a

violation of its rights to fair hearing.

In the particulars of errors raised against the Judge, the Federal Government claimed that it had September 2, 2011 asked Justice Archibong to disqualify or excuse himself from the case on the fear of likelihood of bias The appellant said that rather this disqualifying himself, the Judge went ahead to hear the case even when a notice of appeal had been filed against him for refusal to stay out of the case.

Government also faulted the claim of the Judge that the case was not diligently prosecuted, adding that the record of the court did not show anything like that.

It was also argued that at the time the Judge struck out the case against Akingbola, an appeal case was also pending in the court of appeal.

No date has been fixed for hearing of the appeal case.

President Goodluck Jonathan (middle), in group photograph with the award winners of the Youth Enterprise with Innovations in Nigeria (YOU WIN), during the presentation of N500.000.00 cheque to each winner, at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin t least three students of the University of Benin, Edo state are on danger list at University of Benin Teaching Hospital over burns

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Nigeria, Ghana to partner against piracy within ECOWAS From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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this in his office yesterday while receiving the Acting Director General of Ghana Ports and Habours Authority, Engr. Richard Anamoo who paid him a courtesy visit.

The Managing Director pointed out that insecurity, pollution and other maritime challenges know no boundary, nor speak any language, adding that their presence have negative effects on shipping activities in the subregion.

Hostel fire burns 3 UNIBEN students sustained yesterday morning from an inferno that razed one of the femal e h o s t e l s i n t h e school.

The fire incident was said to have occurred at about 1am at hall two girls' hostel

located inside the main Ugbowo campus of the university.

It was gathered that each of the three floors of the three-storey hostel building is occupied by 200, 300 and

400 students respectively.

The immediate causes of the fire incident could not be ascertained at press time, but it was however gathered that the fire started from the last floor of the building before spreading to other floors.

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

mourning the immensely charismatic hero of Algerian Independence who served as President of the country from 1963 to 1965.

The President believes that Ahmed Ben Bella's immense courage, gallantry and valour in the pursuit of freedom and liberty for his beloved people have assured him an eternal place in the pantheon of heroes of African liberation."

The statement continued:

"President Jonathan finds it immensely fitting that the late Ahmed Ben Bella's heroic fight for his people's freedom from colonial oppression and exploitation have continued to attract tributes from all over the world.

As the late President's remains is set for burial today, "President Jonathan joins the government and people of Algeria in praying that God Almighty will grant his brave soul eternal rest."

Jonathan salutes late Algerian President

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resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday extended condolences to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria on the death of the first postindependence President of the country, Ahmed Ben Bella.

A statement signed by Presidential Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati said: "President Jonathan and the people of Nigeria join all Algerians in

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Jonathan has abandoned Lagos,Oba cries out From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he paramount ruler of Lagos state and Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, has decried the neglect of the state by the President Jonathan led Federal Government, and demanded an urgent redress of what he described as ''injustice''.

The Oba made this known

while receiving the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, in his palace while on a two-day visit to the state.

Dame Jonathan was accompanied by Senator Florence Ita-Giwa and wives of both Katsina and Bayelsa state governors.

Oba Akinolu described Lagos state as a "mini-Nigeria" as it hosts every tribe from across the

federation, noting "there are a lot of pressures on the infrastructural facilities available in the state, owing to the daily influx of people from the six geo-political zones."

He further urged the President to fix all the federal roads in the state, which he described as eye sores.

Oba Akiolu also enjoined the President to release all the

property and money due to the state for development admonishing the President to halt the Boko Haram threat before it spreads to other zones.

Oba Akiolu also advised the President to see Governor Babatunde Fashola and his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as partners in

progress, instead of members of the opposition.

The First Lady told the Monarch that she was in Lagos for a two-day visit to thank Lagosians for voting for her husband in the April 2011 presidential election and to mobilise women to pray against the menace of Boko Haram in the country.

FG owes Lagos pensioners N11.2bn From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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L-R: Permanent Secretary, Lagos state Ministry of Health, Dr. Femi Olugbile, the State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, and Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Mrs Yewande Adesina, during the free state-wide hypertention and diabetics screening and awareness programme, yesterday in Lagos.

Photo: NAN

Pension probe: Senate denies bribery allegation 37 escape death

By Richard Ihediwa

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he Senate has denied allegations that its members were bribed to influence the outcome of the ongoing probe of the management of pension funds in the country, describing such as a pack of lies.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, in a statement yesterday in Abuja said there was no truth in the allegation and challenged those making the allegation to

mention the names of the lawmakers that were said to have received the bribe.

Abaribe's statement is coming on the heels of counter allegations by the Senate Joint Committee on Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration that the chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, attempted to bribe its members to halt the probe.

The statement reads; "The allegation that members of the Senate and the House of

Representatives were bribed to influence the outcome of the ongoing probe of the management of the pension funds in Nigeria is a pack of lies with no iota of truth with regards to the Seventh Senate.

"We suspect that the individuals that made the allegation deployed the unfortunate tactics as a desperate ploy to blackmail the National Assembly and hoodwink the Nigerian public as an odious cover in the light of the sad revelation made in the course of hearings even no report had been turned in.

New cement factory to create 5,000 jobs

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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-Block Cement Limited, an indigenous cement factory has disclosed plans to establish 2.5 million metric tonnes capacity cement plant in Ogun state.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Segun Jawando who disclosed this on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to the Minister of state for Trade and Investment, Dr Samuel Ortom in Abuja, said when completed, the factory would create at

least five thousand jobs.

He added that the company intends to export cement to other countries in West Africa, thus increasing foreign the earnings of Nigeria as well as enhancing its status as the industrial hub of the subregion.

The CEO therefore sought the cooperation of the Federal Government in making the dream a reality.

The minister appreciated the investor for heeding to the call of Mr President to come and invest in the country, stressing that the

cement was key to the development of the country's economy He said that 12 million metric tonnes is being presently produced and it is not enough to meet the demand of about 18 million metric tonnes, stressing that the ministry is ready to assist the investors to accomplish the task of setting up the new plant.

Ortom added that government would give the investors the necessary tax relief on any equipment imported for the purpose of setting up the plant.

from collapsed building in Ilorin From Olanrewaju Lawal,Ilorin

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bout 37 site workers yesterday in Ilorin escaped death as a two storey building along Coca-Cola road where they worked, suddenly collapsed and injured three people.

Our correspondent learnt that the incident occurred at about 12:30 pm when the workers inside the building.

Eyewitness who claimed that no life was lost at the site, said some people were critically injured and are receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospitals.

An eyewitness, Mr.Gabriel Omokpo,who confirmed that three people were trapped under the building still under construction, disclosed that the prompt intervention of State Fire Service rescued them from the rubbles.

A visit to the hospital at Coca-Cola road, where the victims were rushed to, the doctor in ch a r g e , J a m e s O m o n i y i - F a g b a y i , confirmed that three people were rushed to the hospital and are responding to treatment.

he Lagos state government has said the Federal Government is yet to reimburse the N11.2 billion pension it owes pensioners in the state Lagos Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs. Florence Oguntuase at a ministerial news conference said that since 2005, the amount the Federal Government owed Lagos state had accumulated to N1.1 billion for state pensioners and N10.1 billion for local government pensioners.

"The Civil Service Pensions Office is responsible for processing and forwarding to the Federal Government the applications of pensioners who are entitled to be paid a part of their pension benefits by the Federal Government; referred to as the Federal Government share.

"The non-payment by the Federal Government over the years has caused anxiety for such pensioners. To date, a total amount of N1, 107,267,537.95 and N10.1 billion was verified and approved as reimbursement to the state and local governments respectively.

"We are hopeful that the outcome of the pension's investigation by the Senate Committee on Establishments and Pensions would be favourable to the state and local governments," she said.

Oguntuase aldo disclosed that the Civil Service Pensions Office, in the last one year processed 232 files for terminal benefits of prospective pensioners, saying that N119.7 million was paid as gratuity to 145 pensioners, while N1.7 billion was paid as pensions to 9,000 pensioners.

The commissioner further disclosed that since inception, the state government had remitted N29.4 billion to the various Pension Fund Administrations, PFAs as staff contributory pension scheme.

On staff training, Oguntuase stated that the government spent N400 million to train 6,102 staff in the last one year.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 7

100 divorcees, widows: Kano earmarks N2m for dowry From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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he Kano state government has set aside the sum of N2 million for the payment of dowry for the first set of 100 divorcees and widows to be given out in a planned group marriage soon.

Special Adviser on Religious Affairs, Alhaji Ali Baba Fagge who dropped the hint yesterday while chatting with some newsmen, said the government is ready for the exercise. ”The state government is to pay no less than N20, 000 as dowry for each of the 100 widows and divorcees who have been selected for the mass marriage”.

According to him, state government had planned to marry off 1, 000 widows and divorcees through the state Hisbah Board as part of effort to

check prostitution and other immoral acts among them in the state.

Fagge further added that the state government had earmarked substantial amount of money for the purchase of beds, beddings and room furniture for distribution free to prospective brides.

“The state governor has given approval for the release of the money and as soon as it is released, the marriage will be solemnized” “All the 100 widows and divorcees as well as their prospective grooms have been screened in accordance with the set conditions and any moment from now, the marriage ceremony will be conducted” He attributed the delay in the planned marriage to non-release of the funds earmarked for the project by the state government.

Doctors donate N.3m drugs to Kaduna bomb victims From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna

L-R: Nasarawa Sector Commander of FRSC, Mr. Tuma Dalok, receiving enlightenment stickers from Director of Programme, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Nasarawa state, Mr. Richard Audu, during the wise men ministry road safety campaign ahead of rainy season in the state, yesterday in Lafia.

Bomb blast: We’ re undetterred, says Yakowa From Mohammed Adamu, Kaduna

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he Kaduna state government has vowed to remain undeterred in tackling the security challenges facing the state despite last Easter Sunday’s bomb blast in the state capital which claimed over 30 lives.

Addressing traditional rulers at a workshop on peace and security in Kaduna yesterday, the state Governor, Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa reiterated that government would not compromise its determination to ensure peace and tranquillity. “we have of recent been facing challenges of peace and security occasioned by some misguided individuals who tried to no avail

to destabilise the polity”, he said.

The governor who was represented by the Acting governor, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero stressed that peace and security formed the bedrock for the development of any society and warned that development would be compromised whenever peace and security were challenged.

“I wish to assure you and all citizens of Kaduna State that government would continue to do all it can to not only protect life and property but to ensure that we enjoy harmonious coexixtence in the state through peace and reconciliation efforts”, Yakowa said.

The governor express delight that the state Peace and Reconciliation Committee was

making progressive in its assignment and prayed that the state would put behind all the negative things that divide the people and focus on the positive things that unite the people.

In his address, the State Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Gayya Haruna, explained that the workshop was conceptualized in view of the recent events threatening the peace and unity of the state.

The Commissioner admonished the workshop to come up with resolutions that were not only workable but would help the participants, security agencies and government in enhancing peace and security in the state.

Music and films, tools for promoting peace, says Maku

By A’isha Biola Raji he Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku has called on Nigerians to deal with rising security challenge with music, films and other forms of creative arts which are apparatus for endorsement of peace.

The minister said this in Abuja yesterday at the yearly Creativity Week in line with the Creative Africa Initiative programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) with the year’s theme “Creativity and National Development”.

He said Africa, especially

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Nigeria, has a lot to show the world in terms of creativity which can be seen in our traditional music.

“The world is looking up to us to promote Africa,” he said.

The minister further stressed the need to recreate programmes like FESTAC which now replicates in Abuja and Calabar carnivals.

He called on private sectors to join hands with government in promoting creative industry through what he termed “critical reforms.”

He listed government plans for the Nigerian Motion Film Industry (Nollywood) which includes five promotional bills from the National Assembly and

allocation of credit that has lower interest rate than commercial banks.

In his welcome address, the minister of culture and tourism, Edem Duke who was represented by the permanent secretary, Mrs. A.M. Daniel Nwaobia said Nigeria was yet to fully harness its potential in creative arts.

According to him, arts and craft, culture and other forms of arts are good sources of revenue if fully tapped.

He said, this year’s creativity week targeted children and youths in order to catch them young so that the country will not continue to dwell on past glories.

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aduna state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has donated essential drugs and medicaments worth N300,000 to the victims of last Easter Sunday bomb blast receiving treatment at the St. Gerald Catholic Hospital and Barau Dikko Specialists Hospital in Kaduna.

Chairman of the Association, Dr. Solomon Avidime told newsmen that the consignment of drugs and other essential medicaments worth N150, 000 each were given to supplement needs of the patients who suffered various degrees of injuries.

He expressed appreciation with the manner in which the disaster was handled by the medical personnel adding that the number of the dead had been

curtailed by the expertise shown from the members of the Medical Association.

Responding in separate statements after receiving the consignments of drugs, the Medical Directors of the two Hospitals, Dr. Benjamin Tosin Oluwojebutu and Dr. Hussaini Yahaya, St. Gerald Catholic hospital and Barau Dikko Specialists Hospital respectively, appreciated the efforts of the NMA and disclosed that many of those affected had been treated and discharged while others with severe cases had been referred to other tertiary medical institutions like the ABU Teaching Hospital.

According to them, about nine people were admitted in the two hospitals- two at St. Gerald and seven at Barau Dikko Hospitalsresponding to treatment at the time of the visits.

Nasarawa moves to curtail communal clashes From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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ollowing the outbreak of hostilities involving suspected Fulani herdsmen and Mighili tribesmen in Duduguru town in Jenkwe development area of Nasarawa state, as well as Yalwa village in Doma LGA, the Nasarawa state government has taken steps to curtail further occurrence of the clashes.

During the clashes scores of lives were reportedly lost while property worth millions of naira were destroyed as well as multitudes displaced as they fled the trouble spots to find succour in safer climes.

In a release made available to newsmen yesterday, shortly after the meeting of the state executive council, the state commissioners for information and orientation, Victoria Titi Monde, and that of lands, survey and town planning, Sonny Agassi, stated that in order to

restore peace to the area and prevent re-occurrence of the skirmishes, the state government had requested for security reinforcement from the federal government, with three detachments of mobile policemen now in place to beef up security in the area.

On the internally displaced persons, who fled the trouble spots to two refugees camps in Lafia, the state capital, the council disclosed that over 50 vehicles were mobilised to return the IDPs back to their homes following the return of peace to the area.

The release also stated that the council, having reviewed the progress made in the massive construction of roads in the state capital, as well as headquarters of the three senatorial districts, explained the decision of the state government to procure 100 pieces of Keke Napep in order to create employment as well as improve transportation.

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Leader of Qadiriyya Sect of Africa, Sheikh (Dr.) Qaribullahi Nasiru acknowledging greetings from crowds during the 61st edition of the Annual Maukibi (Waliyyai) festival in Kano, recently.

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L-R: Bauchi state Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sagir Saleh, with Arcbishop Nemial Babba, during the Arcbishop’s sensitisation on selfsponsorship of Christian pilgrimage in states in the north-east, yesterday in bauchi. Photo: NAN

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R-L: Sokoto state Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wammako, with Emir of Damaturu, Alhaji Shehu Hashimi II, during the emir visit to the governor, at the Government House, on Wednesday in Sokoto.

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L-R: Kaduna state acting Governor, Malam Mukhtar Yero, Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, Chief of Kagoro, Mr. Ufoi Bonet, and Emir of Ja'ama, Alhaji Isah Muhammed, during a peace and security enhancement workshop for traditional rulers, yesterday in Kaduna. Photo: NAN

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Mali: Ekweremadu hails ECOWAS, AU on collapse of junta

By Richard Ihediwa he Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu has commended the

ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Government and the international community for the restoration of constitutionalism in Mali.

Ekweremadu, in a reaction to the swearing of Speaker of the

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

community policing.

The commissioner in an address, said his leadership welcomes constructive criticism, noting that the ex-policemen should be bold enough to correct any officer that is found wanting in the cause of discharging his duties, no matter how highly placed.

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Edo CP solicits support of retired officers

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n a bid to tap from experience of retired police officers, Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Olayinka Balogun has formally opened a communication link with retired officers in the state for effective

national Parliament of Mali, Dioncounda Traore as the nation’s interim President, expressed hope that ECOWAS had finally put a stop to any form of unconstitutional takeover of government in the sub-region. ”This is good news for democracy and

constitutionalism, not just for Mali, but for West Africa and the African continent in general as it demonstrates for the umpteenth time the determination of the Community and its citizenry to ensure that power permanently flows from the ballot box in the sub-region and Africa, and never

again from the barrels of the gun”, the Speaker said.

“While the first part of this struggle for the protection of democracy has been won, the onus is on Hon. Dioncounda Troare, ECOWAS, AU, and indeed members of the international community to ensure a peaceful and transparent election within the stipulated timeframe and to ensure an end is put to the insurrection in Northern Mali to keep the country one”, Ekweremadu reiterated.

Over 100 million children roaming streets worldwide From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

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he secretary of Gombe state Child Protection Network, Mrs. Lucy Usen has said that over 100 million children are roaming streets worldwide.

She disclosed this during the press briefing in Gombe to mark the International Day for Street Children commemorated by the International Insurance Group Aviva.

According to Mrs. Usen,

“There are no known statistics for street children in Nigeria, but the children under 18 years of age make up about 48 percent of the country’s population of 150 million people.

She said that the UNICEF reported in May 2005 that over 7.3 million Nigerian children of school age were not in school, adding that this ugly trend has its own social consequences one of which is the spiraling proportion of street urchins in the country.

NNPC to intensify indigenous participation in upstream sector

By Muhammad Nasir

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o guarantee national security and ensure that the country derives more benefits from the exploration of the nation’s hydrocarbon resources, Nigeria would continue to intensify efforts to encourage indigenous participation in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

Making the declaration when he received in his office on Wednesday, a 23-man delegation of faculty staff and top ranking military officers of the National Defence University in Pakistan,

the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Engr. Austen Oniwon said it was in line with this commitment that two oil wells from which Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) recently divested were ceded to indigenous companies to manage.

Engr.

Oniwon said developments around the globe dictated that nations encourage indigenous capacity in their upstream sector as international political developments might cause foreign upstream players to abandon their post, leaving an unprepared nation in a lurch.

NEMA trains JNI volunteers on disaster management From Blessing Tunoh, Yola

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he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is training at least 105 volunteers of the Jama’atul Nasril Islam (JNI) drawn from 25 states in the country, on disaster management in Yola, the Adamawa state capital.

In a paper titled “Role of Volunteers in Disaster Management” at the opening ceremony of the exercise, NEMA’s Director-General, Muhammad Sani Sidi noted that it was not the duty of the government or emergency service workers alone to ensure the effects of disasters are cushioned but a collective effort of all and sundry.

The DG who was represented

by Alhassan Nuhu, said the training would open a new dawn of collaboration and cooperation with the volunteers to reduce vulnerability in times of disasters.

He therefore implored concerned authorities to improve the coping capacity of their people from the impact of the risks associated with the annual floods, road accidents, fire outbreaks, conflicts and other forms of disasters.

“In 2010, at least 30,000 people were displaced by flood in the country. That is why we are stressing the importance of coordination in the management of flood in the country; coordination itself is key in the management of floods.

L-R: Representative of Emir of Zazzau, Wakilin Rayakasar Hausa of Zazzau, Alhaji Aminu Yakabu, FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, chairman of the occasion, Professor Jerry Gana, and Coordinator of National Coalition For Jonathan /Sambo Presidency (NACOJP), Mr. Anyanwu Darlington, during the public presentation of book, titled "The Jonathan/Sambo Presidency in Nigeria", yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Nigeria is ripe for change, says Muslim stakeholders

By Muhammad Sada he Muslim community in Nigeria is ready to promote a forum for collective engagement with Nigeria’s political process and institution so that Muslims, as citizens, can play the role their number entitles them in a democracy.

This was contained in a statement issued during a maiden press conference on “Nigerian Muslims and Democracy”, a coalition of Muslim groups from different geo political zones of the country chaired by Professor Ibrahim

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Naiya Sada yesterday at the National Mosque, Abuja.

The committee described the conference which is the first of its kind since the enthronement of democracy in 1999 in Nigeria as a medium through which the Muslims wish to achieve their desired objective of seeing that Muslims who are almost 70% of the country’s population ensure that effective and efficient leadership is provided in Nigeria.

According to the chairman, “in the face of the gloomy atmosphere in our nation, Muslims as the largest single

group in the country cannot afford to be mere on-lookers or spectators in the degeneration of our values and quality of lives.

We have a stake, we must act and be active participants in attempting to reverse the degenerating trends in our nation; trends in loss of our values, insecurity, pervasive injustice, etc. This necessitates our calling the conference”.

The conference will be held for two days – April 14th and 15th and will be addressed and graced by several clerics, elders and dignitaries.

UniAbuja crisis: Students agree to FG’s terms

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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he lingering crisis over the suspension of nonaccredited courses of the University of Abuja may soon be over as the protesting students have agreed to the Federal Government’s terms.

The students have agreed to government’s conditions that they wait for at least three months for the outstanding issues to be resolved or be distributed to other schools to complete their courses.

In a meeting between representatives of the students, stakeholders and officials of the Ministry of Education led by the Minister, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i,

yesterday in Abuja, the students said they had agreed to government’s terms after due consultations.

The student representatives were led by the President of University of Abuja Medical Students’ Association (UAMSA), Mr. Uchenna Anyanwu.

“After widespread consultations with our parents, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Management, University of Abuja Management and senior colleagues in the medical profession on the two options: “Firstly, that the students wait for the six months proposed by the

Vice-Chancellor to provide all the necessary accreditation of the courses and secondly, those students who want transfer to other accredited medical schools put up their names.

Anyanwu said if the management of the University could put the necessary requirements in place within six months as proposed by the Vice Chancellor, Prof James Adelabu, the best option for the students was to wait.

He said the students were aware that the process for inter-university transfers could take some time and urged the Minister to give the Vice Chancellor the necessary support to ensure the accreditation of the courses within the time frame.

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From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he Lagos state government has berated its doctors for embarking on a warning strike describing their action as blackmail aimed at protecting their personal investments in private hospitals.

Special Adviser to the governor on Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Raji, who spoke on behalf of the government in an interview with newsmen, described their demands as unfounded pointing out that the state government was the first in the country to implement the CONMESS which

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Doctors strike: Lagos govt says it’s a blackmail the doctors are now complaining about.

Raji said the doctors were also demanding that House Officers on grade levels 10 and 12 be paid teaching allowances, a provision which, according to him, is not part of CONMESS. He added, however, that government asked the doctors to provide the evidence that it was part of CONMESS provisions for government to pay.

“When you complain that

somebody who is on Grade Level 15, is not on step 04, that his entry point should be Grade Level 15 step 04, I mean Lagosians are wiser,” the special adviser said.

Raji said the government and people of Lagos state would soon see the truth of the doctors’ action as the real reasons for the strike would unfold as time went on.

On what the government plans to do to keep the hospitals working while the strike lasts, the Special Adviser disclosed that

several doctors would not join the strike because they are unhappy with how the executive of the Medical Guild called the strike.

Declaring government’s readiness “to meet with the doctors when they shelve their recalcitrant position,” the Special Adviser urged Lagosians to prevail on the doctors to return to work as the Lagos State Government has put everything in place more than any other government in the country, to ensure that the doctors

stay on their jobs”.

“Lagosians should know that doctors in Lagos State earn the fattest salaries in the whole of the country; that the doctors have no reason to go on strike and therefore, Lagosians should mount pressure on them to go back to work because what they are asking for are administrative issues that government has met,” Raji said, adding that government was ready to correct any avoidable errors in the implementation of the CONMESS.

Sympathisers throng Gusau as IG buries mother

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Anambra state Governor, Mr. Peter Obi (left), in a handshake with a retired USA Supreme Court Justice, Laura Blackburne (right), when Archbishop Valarian Okeke (middle), led her group from Holy Family Parish, Brooklyn, who are on pilgrimage to Onitsha Archdiocese, to the governor's lodge, yesterday in Amawbia, Anambra state.

undreds of sympathisers from all works of life yesterday thronged Gusau to commiserate with the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, over the death of his mother, Hajiya Aisha Ba’u Saidu.

The late Aisha died on Wednesday at the age of 80 at an Egyptian hospital after a protracted illness.

Alhaji Mustapha Isyaku, one of the nine children left behind by Hajiya Saidu told NAN at the Kanwuri, Gusau family residence, that the deceased died of cancer.

The late Hajiya Aisha was buried at the Gangaren Kwata cemetery at about 10.15 a.m. after a short prayer by the Chief Imam of Gusau Central Mosque, Alhaji Liman Dan-Alhaji Sambo.

In his sermon, Sambo prayed for the repose of her soul and for God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss.

He said that death was inevitable to all living souls, and urged people to fear the Almighty God in order to secure eternal rest.

Among early sympathisers who witnessed the burial are Gov. Abdulazizi Yari of Zamfara state, his deputy, Ibrahim Wakkala, and the Speaker of Zamfara state House of Assembly, Sanusi Rikiji.

Also at the burial were Assistant Inspectors-General Mamman Tsafe, Hashimu Argungu and Muntari Ibrahim as well as the commissioners of police in charge of Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi states.

In a brief remark on the life of the deceased, her son, Isyaku said that Hajiya Saidu would be best remembered for her consistent admonishing on her children to be God fearing and upright.

“She always told us to be God fearing and upright in whatever circumstance we might find ourselves,” he said. (NAN)

once occupied such exalted position will condone illegality. If he keeps coming to the office by next Monday 16th of April, 2012 without the Honourable Minister of Education ratifying his reappointment, we will be left with no other choice than to forcefully eject him from the office”, the union threatened.

He stated that Prof. Okpala has added no value to NECO and thus should not hang onto the job or elongate his tenure because of so many corrupt practices associated with him.

Earlier, the Registrar, Prof.

Promise Okpala, had in an interactive session with journalists at NECO headquarters declined to

make any comment over his alleged reappointment.

He said “what I can tell you now is that I came into NECO on April 27, 2007 and my tenure expires on April 9, 2012, that is how the issue stands for now and I cannot make further comments apart from what I have just told you”.

Prof. Okpala further stated that his appointment was genuine and had expired saying “whatever you hear is what am hearing it too, so please, let’s forget that issue. At the appropriate time, I will talk on it.

Meanwhile, entrance to the headquarters of the commission in Minna has been taken over by over 300 anti-riot policemen in the early hours of yesterday.

SGF stirs controversy in NECO From Iliya Garba, Minna

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he Non-Academic Staff Union of National Examination Council (NECO) has alleged that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, has secretly signed a letter of reappointment for Prof.

Promise Okpala as the registrar of the organisation despite alleged scandal associated with his first

tenure.

In addition, the union has threatened to forcefully stop the embattled registrar from entering his office by Monday next week as his tenure had expired since April 8, 2012 and has not been officially renewed by the Federal Ministry of Education.

Making the position of the Union known in a press briefing held at the IBB Pen House in Minna, the Niger state capital yesterday,

Jonathan mourns late Majekodunmi

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan has described the death of First Republic Senator and Minister of Health, Dr. Moses Adekoyejo Majekodunmi, as a great loss to the nation.

The President said that Dr. Majekodunmi's wisdom, immense patriotism, dedication to work, commitment to national service and excellence will undoubtedly be sorely missed by his family, friends, associates and the whole country.

According to a release signed by President Jonathan’s spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, “Dr. Majekodunmi distinguished

himself not only during his brief sojourn as a federal minister and administrator of the old Western Region, but also as one of the pioneers of high quality private health care services in Nigeria.”

The President paid tribute to Dr. Majekodunmi’s uncommon courage and willingness to answer the call to national service even at a period of political uncertainty.

He extended sincere condolences to members of the Majekodunmi family and urged them to take solace in the fact that the eminent physician lived to a grand old age and has bequeathed worthy legacies to his offspring and the nation.

Malam Abdulrasheed Lawal Rabana, alleged that noncompliance with the council’s condition of service which stipulates that he should handover to the most senior Director in the council, has grounded all officials activities in NECO. “The tenure of Prof. Promise Okpala expired with the National Examination Council on 9th of April, 2012.

No official pronouncement has been made on his reappointment and he has refused to hand over to the most senior director. We were reliably informed that he is hanging onto the job because of a letter given to him by a former senate president.

It is worrisome that someone who

PHCN workers suspend planned strike

T

he Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) yesterday said it had suspended its strike action scheduled for yesterday.

President of the union, Mr. Bede Opara, disclosed this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said that the suspension followed the outcome of last

Friday's meeting with Chief Emeka Wogu, the Minister of Labour and Productivity.

The union had announced plans to embark on the strike to protest the recent sack of three top officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria and the PHCN. Opera said that the minister had scheduled another meeting with all PHCN unions

on Friday to fashion out ways to address the crisis in the power sector.

“The proposed strike has been put on hold pending the outcome of the Minister of Labour meeting with all the unions.

“That the strike has been temporary put on hold does not mean it will not hold, but we have to obey the appeal of the minister of labour,” he said. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Kebbi communities plan Zuru Uhola festival From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

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he chairman of Zuru Uhola Committee, Alhaji Isa Sami, has said arrangements have been concluded for this year’s Zuru Uhola Cultural Festival.

Speaking to newsmen yesterday, the chairman, who is also the Chief of Dabai, said the festival would hold on April 20th and 21st adding that it will commence with agricultural show and archery competition on Friday 20th April, while the second day will feature cultural dances and wrestling among others.

The chief added that prominent personalities including the Minister for Culture and National Orientations, Chief Edem Duke, Governors from the neighbouring states, and political office holders and well wishers of the emirate were expected to grace the festival.

He explained that the programme was sponsored by the state government with assistance from the four local governments within the emirates- Zuru, Sakaba, Danko-Wasgu and Fakai.

PAGE 11

Nigeria, US roll out 5-year strategic plan on HIV/AIDS T

he Ministry of Defence and the US Department of Defense have begun a fiveyear strategic plan on HIV and AIDS. This was made known by Mrs. Olusola Obada, the Minister of State for Defence, in Abuja on Wednesday.

Speaking at a workshop, Obada said the plan, which is to run from 2012 to 2017, will provide guidance and policy direction on the treatment of the virus.

She said the plan will also

incorporate and coordinate the activities involved in managing other diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis as well as other infections seen in the defence ministry's clinics.

Obada explained that the strategic plan was an important road map for the attainment of organisational goals for the programme.

“As you are aware, the mutual collaboration between the Nigerian Ministry of Defence and

US Department of Defense in the fight against HIV and AIDS dates back to 2005 when the programme was established,'' she said.

The minister noted that the programme was established to provide care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS in the armed forces as well as the neighbouring civilian settlements around them.

The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terrence McCulley, said since the inception of the programme,

the US government had spent more than 44 million dollars to support the Ministry of Defence.

McCulley, represented by Mr. James McAnulty, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy, said the money was spent on capacity building and treatment facilities.

He said the number of people receiving care in these centres had reached 25,000 and the US government was proud of the collaboration in the fight against the virus. (NAN)

Power outage lulls business in Kebbi From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

B

usiness in Birnin-Kebbi, the Kebbi state capital has been paralysed due to the total blackout by Power Holding Company of Nigeria and shortage of portable drinking water for over 20 hours following a fire out-break which coincided with the industrial action embarked upon by the staff of Kaduna Zone of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The PHCN staff who spoke with our correspondent, explained that the blackout which caused the state capital to loom in darkness was not as a result of industrial action but a consequence of fire outbreak which occurred on Tuesday around 6:00 pm at the electricity distribution centre in Birnin-Kebbi.

“There was fire outbreak at our distribution centre which has affected some of our gadgets and as such electricity supply was interrupted. As I am talking to you now, we are working hard to address the situation in spite of the strike,” he said.

L-R: President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs. Asabe Baba, President, West African Union of Journalists, Malam Garba Mohammed, and Coordinator, Garba Women Support Group and former NAWOJ president, Ms. Evelyn Onyilo, during a solidarity visit by Ms. Onyilo, on Wednesday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Aagboko community honours Pilgrims’ commission sets aside General of Aagboko Community 80% seats for first-timers Runsewe Development Association, Chief

By Miriam Humbe

I

n recognition of his contributions to tourism development in Nigeria, the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), has been awarded the special chieftaincy title of “Odejo of Aagboko” by the Idoma nation.

The chieftaincy title, which translates to ‘philanthropist’, ‘giver’ or ‘benefactor’, was bestowed on Runsewe during the 2012 edition of the Aagboko cultural festival held in Otukpo, Benue state.

In his address, the President-

Jonathan A. Ocheibi observed that the community was excited about hosting the NTDC having earlier secured the endorsement of the annual Aagboko Day festival by the corporation.

In his words, “Today, this community is hosting the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, the epitome of culture and tourism. The 2012 edition of Aagboko Day Festival is being sponsored by the NTDC. Adding, “We as a community are lucky to have friends out there as the community has also invited the Director-General, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe as a special guest.”

I

n line with government directive, Niger State Pilgrims Welfare Commission has set aside 80 percent of its 4,357 seats for those performing Hajj for the first time.

Alhaji Sani Awwal, the commission’s public relations officer, said this in Minna on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the remaining 20 percent would be sold to those who had performed the pilgrimage before and staff of the commission who would be on official duty for the exercise.

Awwal said the commission had constituted screening committees in

all the 25 local government areas of the state to be headed by part-time commissioners of the commission.

He said that areas’ pilgrims’ officers would serve as secretaries of the committees.

According to Awwal, the committee will ensure that only those who understand the tenets of Islam, especially Hajj rites, will be given consideration among those performing pilgrimage for the first time.

“All intending pilgrims must face the screening committee to answer questions before they are cleared and issued with forms as no proxy will be allowed,'' he said.

(NAN)

Nigeria should emulate China in use of traditional medicine – herbalist From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

T

owards ensuring total health care delivery to the people, the Federal Government has been urged to emulate China in the use of traditional medicine practice in its health care programme.

A traditional medicine

practitioner and the chairman of Kiniun Adini Herbal Clinic Ilorin, Kwara state, Alhaji Abdulrazak Jimoh (aka Baba Alakuko), stated this yesterday while speaking with journalists in Lokoja, Kogi state capital.

He noted that the government of China and some Asian countries gave recognition to their

traditional medicine practitioners even as Nigeria government could do same for their health care delivery system.

The herbalist averred that his clinic had handled many terminal diseases that have defiled orthodox medicine saying that drugs from licensed traditional practitioners are

more effective in the treatment of ailments that are peculiar to the tropical region.

He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the attention he has given to National Agency for Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in regulating fake drugs and unwholesome foods in

the country adding that the agency had done well in fighting the menace of fake drugs.

He added that NAFDAC should intensify their regulation to both traditional and orthodox medicines to checkmate the influx of fake and substandard medicines flooding the market.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

A

That botched hostage rescue mission

bout a month ago, Nigerians and the rest of the world, woke up to the news of a botched rescue mission in Sokoto, organized by Nigeria, with British support. The objective of the mission, which was not achieved, was to free two Europeans, a Briton and an Italian, who had been abducted and kept in captivity since May last year, by unknown criminal elements.

The mission was, according to both President Goodluck Jonathan and the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, organized and ordered by the authorities which gave them reasons to believe that the hostages' lives "were under imminent and growing danger."

That "credible information," as became clear from media reports, came from suspected criminal elements arrested after a three-hour raid on a compound in Zaria by a combined team of policemen and soldiers, staged just a day before the botched mission in Sokoto.

It is obvious from the few facts cited above that the decision to order the rescue mission was rash, just as the execution of the mission was rushed. The authorities had only one day within which to plan and undertake the rescue mission in a terrain and involving a group of abductors they know very little, if anything, about. Only by a miracle or divine intervention would such a venture have succeeded.

Wherever rescue missions have succeeded, they have been preceded by reliable intelligence gathering, good and painstaking surveillance of the environment and exact location of the place to be raided, careful planning and surgical execution. There was none of these in the Sokoto mission.

We grant, of course, that the authorities found themselves faced with

a big dilemma, especially given the fact that the intelligence they received showed that the lives of the two hostages were "under imminent and growing danger."

This meant that the situation was very urgent and they needed to act fast.

Still, given the paucity of reliable information and good intelligence about the environment and nature and structure of the big compound where the hostages were held, the number, history and methods of operation of the

“

The whole affair didn't show our country and leaders in a good light. It is, in fact, almost a study in incompetence and planlessness abductors, and knowledge of the exact room where the hostages were kept, the dilemma, in our view, ought to have been settled in favour of a more promising and less risky approach than a raid on the compound.

Afterall, media reports have shown that months before the botched mission, there had been negotiations about ransom payment and about when, where and to whom the hostages were to be released. If the authorities did not know this, then there was a failure of intelligence that can only be said to be inexcusable. If they knew this but failed or refused to pursue it as a more promising angle, then they cannot excuse themselves from blame for

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the failure of the mission.

But shoddy planning and failure to exert muscles in more promising directions apart, the manner of the execution of the mission itself made failure almost inevitable. The rescue team comprised a helicopter that kept hovering overhead, and 100 soldiers who almost immediately engaged the ruthless and well armed hostage takers in a fivehour gun battle. How would anyone expect, in such a situation where, for the kidnappers, the options were death or arrest, that the hostages would come out alive?

As it turned out, and not unexpectedly, the abductors, facing imminent death or arrest and with any hope of a ransom completely lost, simply shot and killed the hostages.

The whole affair didn't show our country and leaders in a good light. It is, in fact, almost a study in incompetence and planlessness. And if ours were a country with strong institutions through which the public could hold leaders to account, the president and all the top officials involved in this failed mission would have paid a price for their failures in this affair.

Lastly, it beats our imagination that neither President Jonathan nor David Cameron thought it fit and proper to inform and involve their Italian counterpart in the planning and execution of the mission. Why so? Was this lack of involvement intended to put Italy in the debt of both Britain and Nigeria if the mission had succeeded?

Whatever the reason, it is important that our leaders draw the right lessons from this failed mission. And at the very top of these lessons is the fact that there is no alternative to, or substitute, for good intelligence and careful planning. No mission succeeds without these.

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 13

Nigeria’s seventh secret: Mundane materialism is the basis for Nigeria

By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

T

his is the last in a series of four essays on Nigeria’s seven secrets and the inevitability of a sovereign national conference.

To some readers, those “secrets” are not quite secret as they may be to other readers. But it is one thing to know about something, and quite another to recognize their effect on you and your society.

Nigerians need to know about the important facts about their country and how negatively those have impacted on the journey towards growth and development.

Our children need to know about their country and how its history has contributed to its sad story today. If Nigerians will change their country, the majority of her opinion and executive leaders must act like they feel the burden to make a nation out of the strange

creation. But what can push them to?

When the basis of any relationship is mundane materialism, such will not stand the test of time. When a lady, for instance, “falls in love” with a man only because he is wealthy, it is a matter of time before relationship tests cause severe strain on that relationship until it snaps. What does 865,000 British pounds at 1900 purchasing power value mean to you today? How would you value this amount over a century ago? Suppose that your family was lent this amount of money by a bank more than a century ago on a premium, what do you think the cumulative interest would be today on the principal if it is compounded?

Sir George TubmanGoldie founded the United African Company (UAC) in 1879 to

comprise British traders whose activities were along the River Niger, to protect themeven as they faced aggressive competition from the French. The company signed many treaties with local chiefs and kings thereafter, and imposed their ownership of those territories. His vision was to add to the British Empire territories of the middle and lower Niger. In 1881 Sir Goldie requested British Prime Minister, Sir William Gladstone for a charter to secure protection from Royal forces, more so when the French operated at the lower Niger (By this time the UAC was renamed National African Company (NAC)). Sir Gladstone declined; but after the Berlin conference (188485) where Africa was partitioned among colonial powers such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Portugal, and the consequential acquisition of the

lower Niger from French forces, the prime minister conceded, and so in July 1886 a charter was granted, thus changing the name from NAC to the Royal Niger Company, which equally changed the leadership of the company; the Governor of the Royal Niger Company became Baron Henry Austin Bruce the same year while Sir George Goldie was his deputy.

After the death of Bruce in 1895 Sir George Goldie (whose grave has been in Lapai, Niger state since 1925) again assumed the leadership of the company. It was during his leadership of the Royal Niger Company at this time that Frederick Lugard was sent to sign numerous treaties with chiefs in the Borgu area (presently, part of this area is in present Nigeria in north western area, and part of it is in Benin republic. The AngloFrench convention of 1898

resolved this partition of Borgu between the French and English powers).

It was about a year before1898 that Flora Shaw (the future wife of Lugard) wrote in the London Times of January 8, 1897,suggesting the name Nigeria, which, “applying to no other part of Africa, may without offence to any neighbours be accepted as co-extensive with the territories over which the Royal Niger Company has extended British influence, and may serve to differentiate them equally from the colonies of Lagos and the Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territories of the Upper Niger.” In 1897 Frederick Lugard was commissioned by the British government to raise a native military force to protect British Continued on page 14

Is Nigeria a knowledge based society?

K

By Bukhari Muhammed Bello Jega

nowledge and skills have become the global currency of 21st century- economic… if you really want to know how a country is going to do in the 21st century don’t count its oil reserves or gold mines, count its highly effective teachers, involved parents and committed students- Thomas L. Friedman Knowledge is sacrosanct to the development of any society.

Education no doubt nurtures, preserves and widen the horizons, creativity, talents and potentials of its members, visa-vie their contribution to societal development. Under normal circumstance, knowledge also promotes social change. The role of functional knowledge based educational system in fast-tracking development over the years in some countries attested to the facts that, education is a cornerstone and cardinal pillars to societal rejuvenation. Countries that have pursuits an indigenous educational system informed by their cultural and religious persuasion, are today in the zenith of developmental ladders. While does that relegated such as crippling for development.

The development of any society is premise on the level of development of its educational system. Knowledge is the foundation of progress and development. A nation with high level of knowledgeable, educated and well informed citizens are easy to governed, mobilize, conscientise, and energies in the same direction of transformation with the spirits of patriotism. While nations that have high degree of ignorant and uneducated people are often easy prey to manipulation, exploitation and destruction by the elite in and out government. In such society’s chaos, confusion, despair, ethnoreligious crisis and conflicts, poverty and underdevelopment are the underline factors of engagement due to the general apathy and

mutual suspicious among the various nationalities.

Interestingly, societies that get addicted to their natural resources seem to develop parents and young people who lose some of the instincts, habits, and incentives for doing hardwork and learning skills. In contrast with a countries with little in the way of natural resources – Finland, Singapore, or Japan – education has strong outcomes and a high status at least in part because the public at large has understood that the country must live by it knowledge and skills and these depend on the quality of education.

Every parents and child in these countries knows that skill will decide the life chances of the child and nothing else is going to rescue them.

So they build a whole culture and education system around it. This is the hallmark of a knowledge driven society.

Scholars and researchers have continued to examine the crisis of nation building facing the Nigeria state. While some argued that, leadership failure has being the major impediments to Nigeria development; others believed that, the failure of well inform citizens have being the major factor to hold leaders accountable for their stewardship. However, it is safer to say, that, a blend of the two are at the centre of the crisis of national development. Interestingly, the kind of educational system in the country is primarily responsible for the docility and nonchalant ant attitude of Nigerians towards holding and mobilizing themselves against the unproductive elite in government. An educational system that alienates the students from their socio-cultural and environment realities; thus inculcating the culture of imitation and inferiority complex in the minds and souls of her citizenries, which has an advance effects on their psychological and physiological balance. It is the knowledge that is acquired that

propels people into positive or negative action towards their society.

Then the question is with all the vast network of educated people and institutions, can we regard Nigeria as knowledge based society? The answer is No! The reality is that, you can be educated in certificate form but, not knowledgeable.

Education is the ability to read and write; but, knowledge nurtures the culture of creativity, humility, and critical thinking, understanding, logical, reasoning. A knowledge base society is never prisoner of any theory. What guided such society are reason and reality. Therefore, Nigerian state is not a knowledge based society, rather a certificate awarding society. A society which places more emphasis on paper qualification, instead, of individual competence, creativity, hardwork, geniuses of individuals visa vie their expected contribution to their society.

The certificate awarding nature of our society, has made the tertiary institutions vulnerable for manipulation and abuses, due to calibre and population of men and women of different creeds, seeking for one paper certificate or the other, not with the mindset of contributing to the development of the Nigeria state, but, with the intents of ravaging the already ravaged system for their selfish advantage. The educational system and failure of sincere leadership are two factors that delay the development of this country.

However, we have seen a country where the leadership is hopeless but the societies are well informed; which triggers the followers taking their destiny in their hands; changing their hopeless government with a better one. Our educational system has no propellers that will energies, conscientise, mobilize, motivate and radically change the mindsets of students to change these historical injustices, hopelessness

and confusion. This is a deliberate policy of government in order not to threaten their power based.

A Knowledge based society integrates the fabrics of its cultures and religion into its curriculum, for effective building process of a virile human engine for development. A system that is imbued with culture of co-operation instead of competition, honesty and dedication, patriotism and wholesale building of a virile human personality that think and dream about his country and her various problems, with the, mindset of providing solutions to such. A knowledge based society, is mostly informs by the environmental and historical realities of their coexistence.

Ironically, most of the knowledge acquired these days in various schools in Nigeria, only makes us more of imitators rather than inventors, half intelligent and smart, arrogant rather than humble, individualistic instead of co-operative, greedy rather than piteous, promote immorality instead of morality, unpatriotic citizens instead of patriotic ones, corrupt desires and lacking enzymatic followers.

Our failure over the years to scientifically domesticate the colonial educational curriculum, mindset and heritage immediately after independent has been the greatest misadventure and policy flip-flog. This only affirmed the argument of Alan Burn, a former Deputy Chief Secretary in the Colonial administration of Nigeria, when he was quoted to have said “The worst effect of British style education in Nigeria had been the manufacture of bad imitations of Europeans instead of good Africans”.

This is the hallmark in which our educational system banqueted to us had been built upon all this while.

The colonial education made Nigerians more of imitators to the Western culture than being Nigerians themselves.

Today, Nigerian Engineers enjoys packaging or assembling foreign products rather than the inventors themselves. The lawyers look so clownish in their British borrowed whips instead of having well tailored Nigeria lingerie. The judicial system in Nigeria seriously alienated Nigerians from having access to justice, thus the shyness of the people to report cases in courts, due to the cumbersome nature and processes and the amount involves in hiring lawyers and time frame before justice is been disperse. No wonder, people still prefers traditional ways of settling whatever crisis instead of going to court. The political scientists have failed to come up with a viable political system; instead they keep insisting that there is no alternative to democracy, who said there is no alternative to democracy?

Years in, years out, economists continues to bamboozle us with economic statistics and theory without any economic miracle.

Some theories are so alien to the environment called Nigeria. I believe what our economist have succeeded in doing is surrendering our destiny to international financials and monetary agencies.

These agencies are not interested in the transformation of the country, except deepening poverty, inequality, exploitation and underdevelopment.

These economists without pity and the fear of God partake in the crippling of their country to further their position and selfish gains in the organization they represents. All these factors are product of our educational system without local contents. How can you have an educational system that seriously alienates the minds of its subjects to its religious, social-cultural and environmental realities? An educational system that has no direct linkages between what is been taught in primarysecondary- Tertiary and the Continued on page 15

PAGE 14

By Raheem Oluwafunminiyi

S

ince the return of the opposition to the political ladder of the South-West, all has not been well most especially between the so called progressive party which holds sway and all those who present themselves as Awolowo apologists, sympathizers and adherents on the other side of the opposition. The reason for this forthright statement could be seen in the tug of war, hostile comments, ill-talk, bad blood, counter accusations and criticisms which trail any event or occasion which had to do with the Awolowos, most especially when such is organised or convened either by the Ooni of Ife or those who had lost in the political equation of that region.

Many were however surprised when sometime last year, a PanYoruba Summit convened by both the Awolowo matriarch, Mama H.I.D Awolowo and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade, was shunned by all the Action Congress of Nigeria leaders, governors and those whose political leanings were progressive in nature. Among the reasons given by one Ropo Sekoni was that the summit was not properly called, was shrouded in secrecy, the invitation to the meeting was not inclusive and lastly, that the

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Is Yoruba unity threatened? meeting did not seem to have solutions to the myriads of fanfare came up recently in Lagos, derived from wide consultations problems confronting the society. which was tagged the 2012 with the sub-ethnic groups which That was exactly what had Obafemi Awolowo Memorial make up the Yoruba nation. happened during and in the lecture. One would have thought As an avid follower of political aftermath of the Ikenne all governors within the Southevents in the West region and South-West, their political one would affiliates were agree that the going to be in strict Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text Pan-Yoruba attendance Summit held simply because of messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written at Ikenne was their ideological contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 one sided and affiliations with words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and only tilted the late sage. a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed towards vested However, only to: interests, if the traditional rulers calibre of and politicians The Editor, individuals obviously from Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, a n d the main 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. personalities in opposition party Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com attendance were present. was anything It is such an SMS: 07037756364 to go by. irony that the However, this present crop of writer is of the opinion that with conference. If the ACN felt not politicians who hold sway in the all the ranting and criticisms that much was done to persuade them political ladder of the South-West trailed the Ikenne path to Yoruba to commit themselves towards the lay claim at all times to be unity meeting, most especially meeting, they would have patched adherents of the late Chief from the other side of the divide, up the communiqué with their Awolowo, who they believe laid a nothing was said or done thereafter own idea which they are known proper foundation for the region, yet to effect a change in the for but none of this was promoted. turn their faces in anger when his communiqué issued. It is quite easy Having said this, yet another of person and all he stood for is being to castigate, yet hard to proffer this obvious boycott of the Awolowo celebrated by either his family or

WRITE TO US

die hard followers.

The event which was organised

by The Awolowo Foundation saw both the Oyo and Ekiti state governors refusing to attend, though later giving reasons as ‘attendance to pressing state matters’ as excuse, while the governors of Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Edo states where conspicuously silent on their inability to grace the occasion. This action by the ruling party, its governors and leaders in the zone goes to show how far the crisis between the Awo legacy and the ACN adherents continues to deepen.

Not long ago however, Ibadan was agog with the progressive hue and leading lights of the SouthWest, who for three days deliberated on how the region could be returned to its heyday of development and sustainability (which surprisingly began with Awolowo). The event was the “Legislative Summit for Regional Integration” which was tagged “Achieveng Regional Collaboration for Rapid Development”. The event saw in attendance the old and new in the zone which included Continued on page 15

Nigeria’s seventh secret: Mundane materialism is the basis for Nigeria Continued from page 13

interests in the region, thus resulting in the West African Frontier Force, which Sir Lugard commanded until December 1899. In 1900 the Royal Niger Company SOLD all its territories to the British Empire at the sum of 865, 000 British pounds!

Considering the inflation-related fact that 100 British pounds in 1900 had the purchasing power of about 9636 British pounds in 2011 (check on www.aboutinflation.com), we can conclude that the British Empire paid to the Royal Niger Company more than 83 billion British pounds in present pound value for more than half of present Nigeria.

It was then that the Southern Protectorate was formed, which comprised the Lower Niger Protectorate that fell to the British after the Berlin conference, and all former Royal Niger Company territories, very much below the Niger (The Lagos colony was joined in 1906, and the Igbo lands after that by threat of force by Governor,Sir Walter Egerton).

The Northern Protectorate (formerly, Royal Niger Company Territories) was also formed in 1900, with Frederick Lugard (the mercenary, who had been governor of Hong Kong and was sent on colonial assignments to Kenya, Uganda, and Nyasaland— present Malawi) as its first governor, who presided until 1906 when he resigned; he was brought back six years later in 1912 as governor of both Northern Protectorate and Southern Protectorate, and to coordinate the amalgamation of the two protectorates, which he successfully accomplished in 1914, and became the first GovernorGeneral of the new Nigeria in 1914 until 1919. All colonial successors after Frederick Lugard (from 1919-October 1, 1954) bore the

simple title of Governor of Nigeria.

Of the seven successors of Frederick Lugard ( Hugh Clifford, 19191925; Graeme Thomson, 19251931; Donald Charles Cameron, 1931-1935; Bernard Henry Bourdillon, 1935-1943; Arthur Frederick Richards, 1943-1948; John Stuart MacPherson, 19481955; and James Robertson, 19551960) only the last two colonial governors of Nigeria, John MacPherson and James Robertson carried the title Governor-General, with MacPherson using the title only for eight months and two weeks (October 1, 1954-June 15, 1955).This narrative provides a brief historical appreciation to young Nigerians and to not so young, and hopefully, it shines the light on the battle ahead.

Was Great Britain going to just give up on its more than 83 billion pound-investment (with compounded interest) without significant returns? If the answer was No, as it was, what arrangements did Britain make to recoup its investments?

Barely eight years after purchasing large territories of present Nigeria at 865,000 British pounds of 1900 from the Royal Niger Company had it become necessary for the British Empire to start the process of recouping her investments. This, she did by commissioning the British colonial petroleum to explore for oil. Thirty years later Shell D’Arcy was given license to explore for oil in any part of Nigeria. About a year after the last Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir James Robertson took office, the company’s name was changed to Shell-BP Petroleum Nigeria Limited in 1956; this coincided with the company’s discovery of oil in commercial quantities at Oloibiri. The rest is now history as this company presently controls about 60 per cent of Nigeria’s daily crude oil production, and is at the

forefront of opposition against the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), whose passage shall free this natural resource (crude oil) for the full benefit of host communities, who have suffered for so long because the British feel they are yet to reap fully their 865,000 pound-investment, which today is worth more than 83 billion British pounds and counting.

Nigeria was not designed to become a nation; she was designed for mundane materialism.

Although some efforts were made in 1963 by Nigerian nationalists to build a nation, this attempt was frustrated just three years after.

Since then, Nigeria has only known persistent invasion by greedy people and corporate bodies that only exploit Nigeria for their gain. How many of the people that hold political power in Nigeria truly care about good governance?

The sustained policy to corruptly appropriate and sabotage what is for public benefit is a deliberate one that cannot be overcome except through a sovereign national conference whose outcome shall be owned by all Nigerians, whose benefit shall be shared by all Nigerians, and whose liabilities shall be offset by public will.

The corporatocracy, epitomized by Shell BP (the British Empire’s proxy), has fastened its teeth too deeply into the flesh of Nigeria to be dislodgedwithout mortal consequences to a few cowardly Nigerian rulers, who themselves are too attracted by the crumbs to sacrifice for the people so that they can have a bite of their natural pie. The fear of the prospect of carefully choreographed and externally-instigated assassinations benumbs them,; and unfortunately, those rulers have worsened the situation through the sad aping of this colonial exploitation of the commonwealth. While those

rulers fear a national revolt, I fear that is the only way for national redemption and true statehood in the face of their incapacitation to act on behalf of the people.

I am disappointed when supposedly enlightened Nigerian scholars belittle the potential of scholarly writings by Nigerian opinion leaders to cause great awakening in the Nigerian, and would derisively say that we have had “enough of grammar”.

They seemingly do not understand the precedence of history. Every generation has a unique calling, and there can be no redeeming action without proper communication of the state of tragedy of the people. Just because a particular generation is impervious to the mission of words communicated in their time does not mean such mission is lost; another shall definitely arise out of the ash of inaction and find a transforming purpose in those seemingly impotent words. Not all writers write to seek attention or official ingratiation; and even if some do, at least the truth in the words they have dispensed must be enough consolation to a generation that seeks inspiration.

The words they pen down are timeless. Yet, every generation that despises the mission of those words and rather indulges in the banal obscenities of mockers only confirms its identity and delays its healing.

Young men and women of Nigeria, every month that passes bye sucks up your hope. Eight years from now and the population of Nigeria shall exceed 200 million. The future is gloomy for you because you are too cowardly to stand up for your country. The tools, infrastructure, institutions, and the promise that builds up are all absent. But this is then your mission—to initiate a struggle for

a second independence of your country and to build it into what kind of nation you may. The crop of rulers we have today lacks both the capacity and boldness to act. I cannot deny they know what is best for your country; they know and have eloquently crafted this in too numerous vision documents to recount here. But they have no heart. From your president to the senate president, there is not heart, the heart of statesmen who are ready to die for what they believe in. From your governors to your local government chairmen, only few have the courage and compassion to lead. What then can you do? You can do nothing if that is a convenient choice for you. But there is another choice you can make. You can choose to ponder and awake. NOTHING short of a national sovereign conference for Nigeria can do; and nothing short of unprecedented mass action, anchored by Nigerian youths, shall expedite its convocation. You have no better choice for instigating a better future. We have prayed without works. We have hoped without faith. We are a bundle of religious contradiction.

But it is time to break our fallow ground. It is time to build a nation.

For some of us writers, what we truly need at this defining hour is that you help hold up our hands.

Why have we called and there is silence? Why have we received assurances of words and there is no evidence of assurance? The ruler understands only mass action.

Have you forgotten the prelude in the last mass protests? That constituted a heralding of the inevitable, projecting what is possible.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics with the American University of Nigeria and chairman of the Middle Belt Alliance

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Continued from page 14

politicians, technocrats, university dons, captains of industries to mention a few.

At the end of the event, a communiqué was released and among its agenda was that regional integration and collaboration will not only translate to national economic prosperity, it will afford such regions the opportunity of benefiting from economy of scale.

This show of political wit in Ibadan, however, would certainly not be the first time such was held, for in the last seventeen years, several of it held was aimed at uniting the people and zone against regional imbalance as a result of the annulment of the June 12 election and its aftermath, the Continued from page 13

realities of life after studies in the real world of opportunity, hopelessness and confusion in today’s Nigeria today.

It is interesting to say, that, the essence of knowledge is to liberate and expand the horizons of intelligence of the people. It’s aimed at mobilizing, energizing, concretizing the people towards a patriotic zeal to transform their country. But, our educational system have alienated the majority of it inhabitants. Instead of patriotism, dedication, national pride, determination towards our dear country; students and leaders are all head on collision on how to get the spoiled of office. Poverty of spirits has pervaded the landscape of Nigeria. On a normal circumstance, access to knowledge and education shouldn’t be for monetary gains, but, to expands and nurture the souls and bodies of people to understand their environment and contributes to its development. Unfortunately, our parents and society sees knowledge from monetary points of view.

Knowledge is not seeing in this part of country as a liberating instrument, but, as the only arbiter for social wealth and social status; a kind of investment that is requiring profitability in the future. This is not only misleading and unfortunate, but, has been the major contribution to corruption and hopelessness in the country.

Knowledge and education are fundamental human duty, requires to free man from primitivism, bondage; thereby, nurturing and rediscovering his self, potentials, and mission visa via his contribution to national development.

The Nigerian tertiary institutions used to be the centre of research and development; a centre of mobilization of revolutionary vanguards in the past due to quality of lecturers and their methods of impacting knowledge to the students. Unfortunately today, the institutions are shadows of its former self; nothing seems to be happening except disco dancing youths and half crazy Nigerians.

These youths, are not in-tuned with the realities of their society.

Students, that are not conscious of the crumbs that are falling from the tables of their disgruntle elders and Lilliputian leaders. Students that waste their precious time discussing and attending to frivolous activities such as football matches, latest musical, films and cars; instead of

PAGE 15

Is Yoruba unity threatened? critical examination of the predicament of the Yoruba race which led to the convergence of the first Pan-Yoruba National Congress in 1993, the second in 1994, third in 1998 and fifth in 2000. The aftermath of all these congress led to the setting up of the Odua Development Council, ODC with several committees to look into past deliberations.

Today, however, all calls to unite the Yoruba through a reengineering and reconstruction agenda have led to the setting up of two different fronts, each proclaiming its own idea, yet

failing to understand that their ideas are all but the same. These two fronts—the Pan-Yoruba Summit organised on the one hand by the Awo matriarch and Ooni of Ife and the Integration formula for the South-West on the other hand, by all governors and leaders of the ACN (except Ekiti) speaks of the same goal which is to actualise the authentic demands of the Yoruba within the Nigerian federation.

Failing to articulate these ideas into one and criticising each other gives the impression that all the past congress held were nothing but a farce which of course dents the

pragmatic ideas of those years.

This writer does not claim to be an Awolowo apologist as many might wont to believe and therefore cannot impose the Awolowo persona on the ACN, neither does this writer believe the ACN must attach itself all the time to anything that has to do with Awolowo. But the salient issue remains that if the Yoruba must progress and develop in a fast failing nation like Nigeria, they must forget their differences, most especially when the issue of political affiliation comes up. If we all claim to have come from

Oduduwa and chant the name of Awolowo at all times as an epitome of political, economic and social progress, then it is imperative to sheathe our swords and claim our rightful place among the comity of ethnic groups struggling to outwit the other. In a nation where oil wealth, derivation and revenue sharing formula is fast becoming an issue between North and South, the West must unite and forge ahead as the champion of democracy which she has always been even though many would disagree. creativitysells@gmail.com

Is Nigeria a knowledge based society? discussing, crying and regrouping to challenges the ills of their society and the disgruntled leadership. The way and manners in which these youngsters discuss and analysis football matches with accuracy and objective commentaries; I often wonder if they can do same to the historical, political and economic problems and development of the Nigerian state from independent to date and offers strategies that will ameliorates the problem as students of research and intellectualism in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

1970s and 1980s represent the most memorable moment for students of intellectualism. This was a golden era of educational development; where the tertiary institutions were the centre of academic excellence, revolutionary vanguards and change. This was due to the calibre of men and women who provided the much needed consciousness and motivation for their students to partake in actions and struggle against visionless elite in power.

Unfortunately, today, the tertiary institutions across the federation are populated by men and women who are appointed by accident as lecturers; when in the real sense they need to be taught themselves; because of moral and intellectual deficiencies. These were men and women who demand for gratification in cash and in kind to award degrees to un-deserving students. These unqualified graduates were later employed into the system, what do you think will happen? Your guess is as good as mine! Although, the long years of military rules seriously affected the educational sector. This was the period that brightest and articulates tutors, teachers, mentors and lecturers were weeded out of the educational system. These men and women of intellectual prowess, not only conscientise, energized, motivated and impacted knowledge but, provide the parading shift and opposition against the dictatorial rule and economic thieveries by the men and women in the uniform The failure of our educational system to be a catalyst for national development, reminded me about the warning by the 20th century Islamic revivalist and the leader and guardian of Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhula Mustapha Musawi Khomeini when

he was quoted to have said that “when a nation is heading towards doom, it compromises its educational sector”. Nigeria failure to build a knowledge and educational system is the by product of forceful divorce engineered by past colonial administrators and contemporary leaders, between knowledge and faith. No doubt; we are people of faith, so, any education and knowledge that alienated the role of faith in its curriculum will lead to what Arthur Wellesley observed as “Educate people without religion and make them nothing but clever devils….

Universities are turning out highly skilled barbarians because we don’t provide framework of values to young people… who are searching for it.”

The role of these two most especially religious teachings is sacrosanct to the development of a morally upright person and society.

Remember the Missionary schools and religion teachings in schools in northern Nigerians: that was a period of spiritual and moral uprightness of pupils and students who passed through these schools system; but, as they say, everything is history.

The role of both faith and knowledge in building societies cannot be romanticizes from the facts that they play complimentary role in building societies and pious human engine of development and patriotism over the years. Historical experience has shown that separation between knowledge and faith has caused irreparable losses.

“Faith should be identified in the light of knowledge, which saves it from being mixed up with myths.

Faith without knowledge ends in stagnation and blind prejudice, and can achieve no purpose. Where there is no knowledge, faith of the believer becomes a tool in the hands of the clever hypocrites” Interestingly, Late Murtaza Mutahheri (1997:16) an Iranian philosopher gave us a graphic and symbiotic relationship between knowledge and faith in his book “Man and Universe”. He argued that; Knowledge gives us light and power; faith gives us love, hope and warmth. Knowledge helps make implements and appliance and accelerates progress; faith determines the purpose of human efforts and gives direction to them.

Knowledge brings about outer revolution; faith cause inner revolution. Knowledge makes the world man’s world; faith makes life

the life of humanity. Knowledge expands the existence of man horizontally; faith lifts it up vertically. Knowledge trains man’s temperament; faith reforms man.

Both knowledge and faith give power to man; but the power given by faith is continuous, whereas the power given by knowledge is disjointed. Knowledge is beauty; faith is beauty too. But knowledge beautifies reason and thought; faith beautifies spirit and feeling. Both knowledge and faith give man security. But knowledge provides outer security, whereas faith provides inner security. Knowledge gives protection against diseases, floods, earthquakes and storm.

Faith provides security against restlessness, loneliness, sense of insecurity and low thinking.

Knowledge harmonizes the world with man, faith harmonizes man with himself.”

Therefore, we must individually and collectively embark on value reorientation, to change our psyche from colonial imitators and pretenders to ethics and values that improve and transforms ourselves and our society. Our educational system must provide a platform where we discuss our problems and provide a curriculum that is a product of Nigeria society, so that our children will grow up in an environment where each will have the freewill to contribute his best and potentials towards the development of the country. We must discourage the over insistence of certificate as panacea to job recruitment, but, emphasis should be places on individual ability and competence.

Creativity schools and vocational schools should be established for smarts and creative people to expand their geniuses.

Government must encourage research in various fields of endeavour in order to challenge the lecturers to come up with farreaching recommendations on how to re-invert this country. The government must empower the tertiary institutions with credible, energetic and competence tutor, teachers and lecturers, with high moral and spiritual acumen. The current crisis between ASUU and the Federal Government should be amicably settled for the development of the tertiary institutions. The welfare of the teachers/lecturers in primary, secondary and tertiary

institutions’ should be a major concern to the government. Until the teachers and lecturers are stable both physical and spiritual before they will be able to impact knowledge. The government must see the teachers and lecturers as partners in progress, not enemy that need to be crushed at all cost.

Failure to provide these services will portents dooms for this country which the leadership and their supposed well trained children from oversee schools will not escape from.

The silent revolutionary sounds and dance steps in Niger-Delta, Boko Haram in the north, kidnapping in South East, and Area boys in South West, will be a child play if an army of disgruntle unemployed, frustrated youths decides to voice their angers against the Nigerian state, I hope we will survive it. The society must encourage what is right and discourage what is wrong. We must encourage reading culture as first step to acquisition of knowledge. Let our leaders past and present develop the habits of writing memoirs to share their experiences, challenges, successes and regrets in life.

It is interesting to conclude with a quotation from Lee Kuan Yew, the architect of Modern Singapore and development in South East Asia, when he advise his country men and women and leaders with this wise counselling which I believe is also important to our contemporary challenges as a nation and people.

Lee was quoted to have caution, that “The future is as full of promise as it is fraught with uncertainty. The industrial society is giving way to one based on knowledge. The new divide in the world will be between those with the knowledge and those without. We must learn and be part of the knowledge –based world. That we have succeeded in the last three decades does not ensure our doing so in the future. However, we stand a better chance of not falling if we abide by the basic principles that have helped us progress: social cohesion through sharing the benefits of progress, equal opportunities for all, and meritocracy, with the best man or woman for the job, especially as leaders in government” This is the hallmark of a knowledge base society. I still believe building knowledge base society remain the panacea to the vertical and horizontal integration and development of Nigeria in 21st century.

Bukharijega2015@yahoo.com

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Dear readers, Metro welcomes human interest stories in your neighbourhood. Please call or send SMS to 08065327178 or e-mail jomarch4@yahoo.com to inform us about happenings in your area. Share your experiences or those of your friends and neighbours with fellow readers.

Court strikes out case of grievous hurt

A Local baber, at work at Nyanya Abuja.

FCTA kicks off new policy on land for infrastructure swap

By Josephine Ella

T

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration has kicked off a new policy called “land for infrastructure swap model”, in a bid to ensure speedy provision of basic engineering infrastructure to the Federal Capital City.

As pilot for the scheme, the administration has already commenced the experimentation of the policy in which Messrs Plethora Realty & Facility Managers Limited was granted 222-hectare of land in Caraway Dallas District.

Under this arrangement, the company is to provide an integrated infrastructure worth N26 billion in the Caraway Dallas District, the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, who disclosed this

Road construction Gwagwalada, Abuja.

Photos: Mahmud Isa

in

•••signs N22bn pilot project said.

According to him, the FCT Executive Committee in its last sitting at Gwarinpa I District, Abuja has backed the new policy and that the Economic Management Team (EMT) in its meeting at the Council Chambers on 3rd April also supported it.

He said this initiative was for the development of districts in Phase IV of the Federal Capital City, using the FCT land as resource for infrastructure development.

He further explained that the policy, tagged “Phase IV Transformation Agenda Project” was a real property development framework in which the administration is collaborating with private sector, to deliver

qualitative houses with primary infrastructure in identified Greenfield districts in line with the government’s transformation agenda.

According to him, the FCT Administration, using its normal powers under the Land Use Act, will grant land to investors for real property development; adding that in exchange, the investor is to provide specified infrastructure in the affected district.

He also disclosed that a Framework had already been developed to ensure effective delivery of the project within the transformation period and to avoid any land speculation, land freezing and distortion of the Abuja Master Plan during the implementation of the scheme.

Part of the framework, Senator Mohammed pointed out, was a request for a comprehensive business plan to show the technical competence, financial capability and managerial skill of the developer as well as the methodology for the comprehensive development of a district.

“A stipulation that 15 percent of the total project cost will be transferred into project account before the Agreement commences and a provision that sale of real property in the district will not be allowed until the developer achieve 35 percent of infrastructure works’ would ensure effective delivery of the districts,” the minister said.

n Abuja Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday struck out a case of grievous hurt preferred against Christopher Francis, 26, and Adede Augustine, 33, due to lack of interest by the complainant.

The case was thrown out by Senior Magistrate Omolola Akindele, following the submission of the complainant, Mr Otu Kennedy, that he was no longer interested in continuing with it.

When the First Information Report (FIR) was read, the first accused person denied some of the allegations leveled against him.

The Police Prosecutor, Sgt. Mohammed Ahmed, told the court that Francis, Augustine and one other now at large, stabbed the complainant on the head with a broken bottle while quarrelling in Gishiri Village, Abuja on April 6.

He said the complainant sustained a deep cut on his head and was rushed to hospital for treatment which cost N7,500.

Ahmed explained that the complainant decided to withdraw the case due to the pleas from the accused persons and neighbours.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the case was instituted against the accused persons, having contravened Sections 79 and 247 of the Penal Code. (NAN)

Court jails two men for theft

A

Gwagwalada Upper Area Court has sentenced two men, Mohammed Ahmed, 25, and Onyemadu Chizoba, 26, to one-year imprisonment each for housebreaking and theft.

The convicts, who were given an option to pay a fine of N20, 000 each for the housebreaking, were however ordered to serve six-month terms for theft.

Alhaji Babangida Hassan, the judge of the court, sentenced the two to six-month imprisonment each for the two offences.

Police prosecutor Illya Maji told the court that the convicts had on April 6 broke into a

house belonging to one Hajara Dodo who travelled out of Abuja for the Easter celebration.

Maji said the convicts, who made away with properties valued at N700, 000, were arrested on April 6 following police investigation after complaints lodged at Gwagwalada police station.

He said the convicts were arraigned on a three count of conspiracy, housebreaking and theft, adding that during police investigation, they admitted committing the offence.

The convicts, who pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them by the police, and begged the court for leniency.

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 17

Praise singers, rushing to stop a politician, after a public function, yesterday, in Abuja

Beggers at Mararaba, Nasarawa state, near FCT.

A street hawker out for business at Kubwa, Abuja.

Wheelbarrow pusher trying to cross the road at Karu, Abuja.

An accident scene involving a commercial bus along Galadima junction on Wednesday.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

ABUJA DIARY with Josephine Ella Jomarch4@yahoo.com 08065327178

On fuel hawking in Abuja

F

or too long, illegal peddling of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), has been allowed to thrive at the precincts of petrol stations, along busy roads and at other open places in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This has been the order of the day within the city centre-at strategic places like the Area 11 junction in Garki District- right under the nose of the police authority at the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters and the office of FCT, minister.

Other areas that have gained notoriety in this illegal business include the Mabushi Bridge, near Banex plaza in Wuse and the Area 1 junction in Garki.

Though, a major menace that portends even greater danger to Abuja residents, than any other trading activity, surprisingly, a lot of people seem, not to give so much thought to this serious issue.

Critics have been more concerned about the activities of street hawkers, traders who take over the walkways, road shoulders and corridors to trade their wares and the waste management issue, arising from indiscriminate waste disposal.

One would wonder, why, even on the part of the relevant authorities, the police, Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR), little or no serious attention has been paid to this menace.

Glaringly, the army of audacious youths making a living out of the illegal business has multiplied in recent time, no thanks to the nonchalant attitude of these government establishments that ought to check their activities.

A few observers, who have bothered to comment on this issue, have as usual blamed the Abuja Environmental Protection (AEPB), which is responsible for riding the city of nuisance of this nature.

Though these

FCT Minister, Sen. Bala Mohammed individuals are entitled to their opinions, but the truth remains that the current AEPB administration, under Mr. Isah Shuaibu has since his assumption of office late last year, taken some notable steps to put an end to these illegal activities of these economic sabaouters.

Aside the threats of shutting down petrol stations which permit fuel peddlers to operate around their vicinity, arrest of peddlers, the board had also resorted to the dialogue option with managers of petrol stations in Abuja for collaboration in the fight to rid the city of this menace.

The most recent of such meetings, held a couple of weeks ago with the director, ended up with more empty promises from representatives of the oil marketers to the effect that they would ensure that peddlers do not operate anywhere around their vicinities.

Yet, we see these daring youths, milling around petrol stations and running after vehicles with containers of fuels.

This is one issue that is raising suspicion in the polity. The undeniable fact that people hawking this petroleum product are still found operating at close proximity to the filling stations raises questions on the commitment of the oil markers in this fight.

Something is wrong somewhere! It is possible that the petroleum marketers are conniving

with these black marketers on this illegal deal.

Opinion are rife that, black marketers buy these products at prices higher than the official pump price from the petrol stations, while others reason that they pay certain commissions to the petrol station as part of the deal.

While motorists face a lot of difficulties in getting fuel especially when the country, including the FCT is hit with acute fuel shortage, these black marketers are hardly ever short of supply.

This further gives credence to the belief in certain quarters of possible connivance between oil marketers and these black marketers.

If this is not the case, what convincing explanation can they present to justify why black marketers are allowed to operate within their premises and get their supplies steadily even when the product becomes scarce?

Without any iota of doubt, they must have gotten their supplies from petrol stations since they certainly did not get it from the refineries.

It makes no sense that a marketer operating in a legitimate filling station, is allowing others to sell outside their premises, which raises more suspicion on the culpability of the marketers and pump operators.

The only way, filling station operators can disprove this, is by way of taking measures towards ridding their premises of these black marketers because so long as they continue to operate freely within their premises, so shall Nigerians continue to hold them culpable.

Aside the danger of fire outbreak that could result from the open sales of petrol, an enormous quantity of this product which should have been made available to citizens at the official pump price are continuously diverted to these black marketers, who later sell to buyers twice and sometimes thrice the official pump price.

This has also sabotaged the efforts of the government towards making petrol available to residents.

The police, DPR and operators of petrol stations, must of necessity, collaborate with the AEPB, if the FCT must be freed of this menace. Where petrol stations refuse to play the part that is required of them, the AEPB should get tough with them by sealing them off.

This will put others on their toes.

Displaying hand kerchiefs for sale at Nyanya Bus stop.

Photo: Joe Oroye

UniAbuja hostels remain shut after Easter break

T

wo days into resumption of work after Easter holidays, students of the University of Abuja are yet to resume as the institution's hostels have remained closed.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who visited the institution in Gwagwalada, reports that few students were seen on the campus checking admission lists.

Staff members were however in their various duty posts.

The university had on April 4 directed students to vacate their hostels for Easter break, saying resumption date would be communicated to them through the media.

Some of the students, who spoke with NAN,

expressed dismay over the strategy used by the university management to send them out of campus after a protest against the suspension of some faculties.

A 200-level Economics student, who wished who spoke unde r condition of anonymity, called for urgent resolution of the crisis, adding that the students were suffering because of the problems caused by the university's management and the government.

The student said their evacuation from the hostel without the authorities taking bold steps to address the challenges facing the intuition would compound the problems.

An official of the university, who also

pleaded anonymity, said the students were evacuated from the hostels to enable the management address the problems that led to the protest.

“Representatives of students whose faculties were suspended are to meet with the Minister of Education on Thursday.

“The meeting is for them to take decision on whether to wait for six months to enable the university to provide the facilities required for accreditation or to be moved to other universities.''

The official, who expressed optimism that the students would resume, studies by next week, called on students from other faculties to be patient with the university. (NAN)

AEPB to establish community sanitation clubs in Abuja suburbs

T

he Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEBP) will soon establish c o m m u n i t y environmental sanitation clubs in the suburbs of Abuja in the Federal Capital Territory, an official has said.

Hajia Aishat Adebayo, the Deputy Director, Environmental Health and Safety, said this in Abuja on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

She explained that the introduction of the clubs within communities would help to sensitise residents as well as help to enforce sanitary rules within the nation's capital territory.

Adebayo maintained that it would be difficult for the board's officials to cover most of the settlements in the suburbs of the FCT, hence the need for the sanitation clubs.

The senior official said the board had started opening environmental sanitation clubs within Utako and Kpadume, adding that the next target was Lugbe. ``We have started opening sanitation clubs within Utako and Kpadume and our next place of target is Lugbe. ``We are about to give them identification and as well as collaborate with them to ensure full environmental sanitary measures in those

communities they live.

“These clubs will assist us to sensitise residents against living in unhealthy environment, because if you defecate in an environment, you will not know that it will turn to affect your child or any of your relations.

“We are also collaborating with them to sensitise villages on the danger to harbour rats so as to avoid the spread of `Lasa fever' in FCT.'' Adebayo also decried the lack of NGOs which would partner with AEPB on sensitisation against dirty environments and called on such organisations to assist in the fight against unhygienic environments.

(NAN)

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE

- Pg 20

NAICOM settles 17 disputes, pays N617.8m claims in Q1

Mob: 08033644990

FAAC allocation for the month of March 2012 S/N

BENEFICIARIES

SUB-TOTAL (N)

1

FG (52.68%) States (26.72%) L/govt Councils (20.72%) Derivation (13% of Mineral revenue-oil/gas) Value Added Tax (VAT) & Transfers

620.7 billion

Nigeria has invested N2.2tr in Free Trade Zones

By Muhammad Nasir

N

igeria has so far invested a l m o s t

N2.2trillion (USD13.9bn) in Free Trade Zones (FTZS).

This was disclosed recently by the Managing Director of Nigeria Export Processing zones Authority (NEPZA), Adesina Agboluaje during a conference in Lagos.

Agboluaje noted that that with 25 FTZs now registered in the country, while the Onne Oil and Gas FTZ, which is partly Faederal Government-owned, has also attracted around N800bn and the private investments in the other FTZs have reached over N1.3 trillion while the private sector now accounts for 80% of businesses in the country’s FTZs. He also noted that the enabling legislation for Nigerian FTZs came into effect in 1992, and their tax

incentives, which have been improved since then, include a tax holiday from all federal, state and local government taxes, rates, customs duties and levies, and the duty-free, tax-free import of raw materials and components for goods destined for re-export.

He maintained that the reason for the conference was to educate investors on the attractions of the FTZs, where companies may also be 100% foreign owned with a right to repatriate 100% of capital profits and dividends.

Agboluaje added that the benefits of the FTZs to Nigeria were also substantial, including the generation of employment opportunities, and the federal government has confirmed that all their tax and regulatory benefits will be continually reviewed to attract investors.

LOS-A BJ: 07.15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.30, 17.00, 17.20, 18.30 ABJ-LOS: 07.00, 09.30, 10.30, 11.15, 16.15, 19.15, 19.35 ABJ-KANO: 18.40

M

rs. Ifueko OmoiguiO k a u r u , e x E x e c u t i v e Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Because Okauru’s era lifted

KANO-ABJ: 08.35 ABJ -SOK (MON): 09.35 ABJ-SOK (FRI): 10.10 ABJ-SOK (WED/SUN): 11.20 SOK-ABJ (MON): 11.35 SOK-ABJ (FRI): 12.00 SOK-ABJ (WED/SUN): 13.20

AEROCONTRACTORS (MON - SUN) LOS-ABJ: 06.50, 13.30, 19.45 LOS-ABJ (SUN): 12.30 LOS-ABJ (SAT): 16.45 ABU-L OS: 07.30, 13.00, 14.00, 19.00 ABU-LOS (SUN): 10.30, 14.30, 19.30 ABU-LOS (SAT): 18.30

DANA AIRLINES (MON - SUN) LOS-ABJ: 07.02, 08.10, 12.06, 15.30, 17.10 ABJ-LOS: 07.20, 09.36, 13.05, 14.40 ABJ-LOS (SAT/SUN): 13.05, 18.00 LOS-KANO : 08.10 KANO-LOS: 11.25 KANO -ABUJA: 11.25 ABUJA-KANO : 10.08

IRS AIRLINES

Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

Nigeria’s tax system, putting the FIRS in a position to generate more revenue than ever for government.

Because during her tenure, the FIRS recorded a quantum leap in both oil and non-oil revenue to over N4.6trillion in 2011 from a low tax collection rate of less than N1trillion in 2004.

Because she successfully rolled-off an integrated tax administration automation system expected to come to fruition in the next three to four years.

Because she single-handedly made possible the launching of the National Tax Policy as well as the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) system shows Okauru’s commitment to transforming the system and leaving indelible footprints on the sands of time.

EXCHANGE RATES

CBN CFA • £ RIYAL $

LOS -ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

BUYING 0.2954 202.8106 245.501 41.3034 154.9

SELLING 0.3154 204.1199 247.0859 41.57 155.9

• £ RIYAL $

BUYING 210 255 40 155

SELLING 212 257 42 157

wo months after its commissioning, Dangote Cement Plant in Ibese, Ogun state, has hit its expected daily production capacity of 16,000 metric tonnes.

The development, which may signal an end to the importation of cement into the country was disclosed yesterday by the Group Chief Executive, Dangote Cement, Mr. Daijeet Ghai during a facility tour of the Dangote Ibese Cement plant in Ogun state.

The Ibese Cement plant, which was inaugurated on the 9th of February, 2012, commenced production with a daily production of 12,000 metric tonnes, but designed with an installed capacity to produce 16,000 metric tonnes per day.

Dangote Cement, Ibese is a modern plant with an installed capacity of six million metric tonnes of cement per annum and currently ranks as the largest cement plant in sub-saharan Africa.

The plant consists of two production lines of 3 million metric tonnes per annum each and currently provides jobs for

about 7,000 Nigerians.

The Dangote boss, explained that the feat recorded by Dangote Ibese plant remained a remarkable achievement considering the fact, which the plant only came into operation in February and is now producing at full capacity.

“Ordinarily it is expected that a new plant cannot begin to produce at optimal capacity in two months. Production activity, especially for a new plant takes time before it begins to produce optimally,”he said.

Ghai explained that, a number of factors were responsible for the remarkable achievement in little time. And this, he attributed to the independent gas turbine power plant of the factory, which makes it non-dependent of public power supply.

It should be recalled that the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Mr. Aliko Dangote in February at the commissioning of the Ibese plant had said, that, all its Nigerian cement plants have a combined figure of 20 million metric tonnes per annum, far above the 18 million annual estimated figure needed for local consumption.

Management Tip of the Day

10th Apr, 2012

PARALLEL RATES

ABJ-LOS: 11.30, 3.45, 4.45 LOS-KANO: 6.15 LOS-KANO (SAT/SUN): 16.30 KANO-LOS: 07.30 KANO-LOS (SUN/SUN): 10.30

Dangote finally stops cement importation T

C E O of the Week

Flight schedule AIR NIGERIA (MONDAY - SUNDAY)

L-R: Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Dr. Harold Demuren, Secretary General, Airline Operators of Nigeria, Captain Mohammed Joji, and Aviation Consultant, Captain John Obakpolor, during Aviation Stakeholders' Forum, on Wednesday in Lagos.

S

Develop a strategy the smart way

trategic planning fails when it has fuzzy objectives, too many people, and a rushed schedule. When your company faces uncertainty and needs to develop a strategy fast, do it the right way: Define the challenge. Your leadership team can’t settle on a

path forward unless everyone agrees on the problem you’re trying to solve. Once you are aligned, focus on core questions and avoid meandering discussions.

Identify the destination. Define the future state and how to get there. Don’t try to please everyone; make the

hard choices that lead to a clear strategy.

Develop options. Changes in the marketplace are inevitable. Come up with alternative approaches that let you to respond to uncertain events.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS Oando issues profit warning, pledges better earnings in 2012

O

ando Plc has announced plans to declare a decrease in its profit forecast for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Agency warns petroleum marketers against malpractices

T

he Department of Weight and Measures, Ministry of Trade and Investment, has advised petroleum marketers to desist from sharp practices.

Lagos partners with Bank of Industry on funding SMEs From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he Lagos state government has concluded arrangements with the Bank of Industry (BoI) to provide funds for small and medium scale enterprises in the state.

Speaking at a meeting at the headquarters of the bank in Marina, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Olusola Oworu said that the matching fund arrangement, or collaboration, became necessary since funding is one of the major factors militating against the growth of SMEs in the state.

She explained that the meeting would create a forum for both parties to work together to devise a means of controlling fraud, especially in connection

with government money.

She noted that the state government and the bank should be prepared for sophisticated challenges in the course of promoting SMEs in the state, stressing that there was the need to correct the impression that government money should be shared or used for private needs.

The Commissioner emphasised that the state government was keen on developing SMEs, particularly non- oil export products, such as fish, coconut and other agricultural products that require reprocessing to meet international standards.

Mrs. Oworu declared that the state government would do everything within the limit of its constitutional powers to ensure

that the problems of funding and infrastructural development became a thing of the past in the various Small and Medium Scale Enterprise Zones and Industrial Estates in the state.

She appealed to the Managing Director of the bank, Mrs. Evelyn Oputu, to shift focus from provision of plant and equipment to infrastructural development, adding that the state government believed that partnership in this area would boost SMEs and create a favorable business environment in the State.

She assured the state government that the bank was ready to work with the government to identify and solve most of the challenges militating against the growth of SMEs in the state.

CITN seeks improved tax practice, administration in Nigeria

T

he Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has called on the government to develop appropriate fiscal policies needed for achieving its objectives.

Diamond Bank reports N7.5bn pre-tax profit in first quarter

D

iamond Bank’s repositioning drive and the conclusion of its balance sheet clean-up has begun to yield profitable results as the bank announces a profitbefore-tax of N7.5 billion for first quarter 2012.

Kenyan business woman now president, panAfrica agric body

P

an-Africa’s small scale agriculture financing organisation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), has named a Kenyan woman as its new president.

Cashless economy: Role of banks tops discourse at forum

E

xperts in resource management are set to discuss the role of banks, chief finance officers (CFOs) and commerce ahead of the full implementation of cashless regime being driven by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

L-R: Presenter of Maggi products, Mrs Foluso Ogunjimi, Regional Sales Manager, Nestle Nigeria, Mr. Isaac Adegboyega, and Maggi food demonstrator, Mrs Iyabo Lawani, during the launching of Maggi Fast Food Association of Nigeria, Ibadan branch, yesterday in Ibadan.

Photo: NAN

Traders in Lagos complain of shortage of PoS terminals

S

ome traders in Lagos yesterday complained that shortage of Point of Sales (PoS) might hinder the smooth takeoff of the cash-less policy of the CBN. They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews that the aim of the scheme might be defeated if the CBN did not address the shortage immediately.

Correspondents of NAN, who visited some major markets in Lagos, reported that many traders were yet to key into the pilot scheme, 10 days after its commencement, due to non- availability of the terminals.

President, Association of Alaba Traders, Mr Uche Ugochukwu advised CBN to deploy more PoS terminals, adding that this was necessary to remove any hurdle that might hinder the implementation of the policy.

The association president said that the PoS terminals were still inadequate in major markets in

Lagos.

He said that the charges for using the terminals ranged between two per cent and three per cent, depending on the service provider.

Ugochukwusaid that the remittance of money to traders’ accounts “is real time as it is online process’’.

He also said that network connectivity was sometimes a major challenge to the efficiency of the system.

Ugochukwusaid that the deposit and withdrawal limits under the policy were impacting negatively on their businesses as “it slows down transactions”.

The Vice President, Ladipo Auto Central Executive Committee (LACEC), Mr. Justice Mbila said there was the need to create more awareness on the new policy to enable more traders to key into it.

He recalled that some officials of banks visited the market early in the year to educate traders on the

policy and teach them how to use the PoS terminals.

Mbila, however, said that majority of Ladipo traders were illiterate who needed more enlightenment to enable them to understand the benefits of the policy.

A spare part dealer, Mr. EmakaObina said that he did not understand the new system.

He said that he had not seen a PoS terminal, but he believed that it would not be difficult to operate, just like the mobile phones.

A beverage seller at Apongbon market, Mrs. Shukurat Adekunle told NAN that she had only seen the demonstration of the PoS on television, but that she had not seen it physically.

She admitted that there were enough enlightenment campaigns on the scheme, but that the apex bank should have extend the campaign and ensure that enough PoS terminals were made available.

NAICOM settles 17 disputes, pays N617.8m claims in Q1

By Abdulwahab Isa

T

he National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), through its compliant bureau has resolved no fewer than 17 insurance related disputes translating to claims pay out of N617.8 million in the first quarter.

A statement issued on Wednesday by NAICOM said for the first quarter of 2012, its Complaints Bureau resolved a total of 17 disputes involving policy holders and insurance companies resulting in claims settlement of N617.8 million.

In all of 2011, the bureau resolved a total of 107 disputes out of 347 that were brought before it while a total of N519.08 million claims were settled.

“At this rate, the bureau may well handle over N1 billion claims settlements by the end of 2012”.

The statement, issued by issued by its spokesperson, Lucky Fiakpa quoted Dr. Okoh Agharighom, a Senior Registrar, Urology at University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) expressing gratitude to NAICOM for resolving dispute between it and his insurer.

In a letter of appreciation to the Commission, Dr. Agharighom wrote: ”My faith and confidence as well as those of my colleagues at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku Ozalla, Enugu in the insurance industry and in your efficient regulatory oversight has not only been restored but elevated to a new plateau”.

Yet another happy member of the insuring public with activities of the bureau is Ambassador M. O. Kuforiji. “I am delighted to inform you that the insurer has now settled my claim in full. I wish to express my profound gratitude to you for the efficient and effective manner you resolved the matter. All is well that ends well”, he wrote.

These are coming on the heels of recent activities of the Commission, the bureau in resolving disputes involving policy holders and insurance companies.

The Complaints Bureau deals largely with policy holders, beneficiaries of insurance contract, and third parties to an insurance contract.

Others include insurance companies, insurance brokers, insurance agents, re-insurance companies, and government agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC), Public Complaints Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Ministry of Finance, among others.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 21

TAX ALERT

How to pay estimated tax

By Muhammad Nasir

Y

ou need to make estimated tax payments if your income withholding tax will not fully cover next year's tax liability. This applies mostly to self employed people, landlords, and investors, and is because your income withholding tax from your employment may not be sufficient to pay your federal income tax in full by the end of the year.

Here is how to pay your estimated taxes: 1.

Get out your most recent tax return.

2.

Look at two crucial lines on your tax return: your total tax and you are withholding. On Form 1040, this would be lines 62 (total tax) and 63 (withholding).

3.

Subtract the two figures.

Total tax minus withholding, and the result is your unfunded tax liability.

4.

Divide this figure by four if you want to make quarterly payments or by twelve if you want to make monthly payments.

5.

Estimated tax payments are due by April 15th, June 15th, September 15th, and January 15th. Please note, even though estimated taxes are often referred to as quarterly payments, the deadlines are not three months apart from each other.

6.

If you expect your income to increase or to decrease significantly, you may want to calculate your estimated taxes using your projected total income.

I provide some tips on how to go about calculating how much to pay in estimated taxes.

7.

If you are self-employed, don't forget to estimate both your regular income tax and yourself employment tax.

8.

Mail your estimated tax payment to your IRS Service center using form 1040-ES (PDF format). The form 1040-ES is a payment voucher and helps to ensure that your payment is processed correctly by the IRS. The payment voucher should accompany your check for payment. Make your check payable to "United States Treasury" and be sure to put your Social Security Number and the tax year for which you are making payment in the memo area of the check. For example, you might write "123-45-6789 Year 2011 Form 1040-ES" in the memo area.

9.

Better yet, make your estimated tax payments via the electronic federal tax payments system or EFTPS. 10.

EFTPS is online bill

pay for your federal taxes. What I like most about EFTPS is the ability to set up recurring monthly payments, so paying estimated taxes becomes part of the monthly budget. Also, you can print out a report of all estimated tax payments, which comes in handy at tax time.

11.

Be sure to keep a copy of your canceled check, or print out the canceled check (both front and back) from your bank's Web site. Keep this along with your tax records as proof of payment.

Tips: 1. Try paying your estimated taxes monthly, instead of quarterly. You will find that the payments are smaller and more manageable.

2.

Try using EFTPS instead of mailing in your payments and make sure no checks to get lost in the mail.

3.

Keep track of your estimated tax payments, and save this information for next year's taxes.

What You Need: " Copy of your most recent tax return.

"Calculator.

The benefits of paying taxes by credit or debit card

By Muhammad Nasir

I

t's convenient for taxpayers to e-file or paper files early and makes a payment by credit or debit card later, to delay out-of-pocket expenses and payments can be made by phone, Internet or when e-filing.

Taxpayers can also use standard, commercial card networks because it is safe and secure. This is because the Internal Revenue Service does not receive or store card numbers.

It is important for taxpayers to know that electronic tax payment options are available through service providers.

There is a fee charged by service providers and the fees are based on the amount of the payment and may vary by service provider.

Taxpayers should have it in their mind that payment information will not be disclosed for any reason other than processing the transaction authorised by the taxpayer.

However, a confirmation number is provided at the end of the phone or Internet transaction.

L-R: Programme Manager, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Chinedu Eke, capturing the data of President Goodluck Jonathan, during the launch of the National Tax Policy, at the State House, recently in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Former FIRS boss thanks staff, stakeholders ‌..says FIRS netted N7.5 trillion in non-oil tax in 11 years

By Aminu Imam

T

he former Executive Chairman of the he Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs. Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, realised a total of N7.53 trillion as nonoil revenue in eleven years.

Okauru, who disclosed this in a thank you message titled: "The End and Beginning of a New Era", said the Service also contributed a total of N13.036 trillion from the national till from oil sources, bringing the cumulative earning in taxes in 11 years to N21.7 trillion.

The former FIRS Executive Chairman, whose second tenure ended April 9, 2012 was appointed on May 3, 2004, and re-appointed for a second 4-year term on April 10, 2008.

In the thank you message, Omoigui was full of thanks for multilateral agencies, members of the Study and Working Groups, her peers at the subregional and continental levels, with who FIRS shared ideas, her colleagues in the global tax body, Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators, tax authorities in the states for the successes she recorded in his tenure.

She noted that over 6,000 FIRS staff enjoyed multicoated training during her tenure, while several modernisation projects were embarked upon to position the Service as a 21st century agency.

According to her, five of the nine bills presented to the National Assembly were also

passed, including the Personal Income Tax Amendment Act and the Federal Inland Revenue Establishment Act (FIRSEA) 2007, one stop- tax shops were created to ease the burden of taxpayers, while the FIRS collaborated with states, agencies and countries to share data to enhance revenue collection.

Said Okauru: "With respect to our core mandate of tax collection, tax revenue grew astronomically from slightly below N1.2 trillion (about $7.9bn) in 2004, to over N4.6 trillion (over $30bn) in 2011 (over four times the collection figure of 2004). This represents

growth in both oil and non-oil revenue. Within the period, FIRS consistently surpassed the revenue targets set for the Service.

"I have always regarded this journey as a relay, in which my goal was to use my best effort to run my segment of the race. As I hand over the baton, I encourage you to continue the race and surpass all that has previously been achieved. I urge complete support for the incoming Acting Executive Chairman - Alhaji Kabir Muhammad Mashi - an experienced and distinguished public servant", she further stated.

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Islamic finance spreads in Nigeria H

ome to some 70 million Muslims, Nigeria has stepped-up efforts to capitalise on the growing popularity of the one of the world’s fastest-growing financial sectors: Islamic banking.

In 2011, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced a final set of regulations which introduced Islamic banking to the country.

CNN’s Christian Purefoy discussed the sector’s potential

with Hajara Adeola, managing director of Lotus Capital, one of the groups helping to pave the way for Islamic finance in Nigeria.

Adeola says there is a growing appetite for this form of banking. “t is working in Nigeria and there is a lot of interest in doing Islamic banking, in West Africa in particular,” she says.

Spread across the Middle East and other parts of the world, a slew of Islamic financial

institutions have been offering interest-free services that advocates say can provide a more sustainable alternative to conventional banking practices.

The industry, which exists in more than 50 countries, is estimated to be worth around $1 trillion and has the potential to eventually be worth $5 trillion, according to ratings agency Moody’s.

Charging and paying interest is not allowed in Islamic finance

Experts call for effective supervision of non-interest banking

S

ome financial experts have called for effective supervision of non-interest banking to ensure its success and integration into the Nigerian economy.

They said in separate interviews in Lagos on Tuesday that its implementation should be properly monitored to forestall a recurrence of banking sector crisis of 2008.

They said non-interest banking would accelerate expansion of the banking system in Nigeria if well embraced.

Jaiz Islamic Bank, the first to be given licence, started operation in February in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.

A former President of Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), Mr. Eddie Osarenkhoe said that non-interest banking would make more Nigerians to embrace banking since the bank would not charge interests.

He advised that Nigerians should not be biased on the new banking system, stressing that it would re-orientate conventional banks to be more efficient.

Osarenkhoe said that noninterest banking would bring about competition among the banks and force conventional banks to cut down their interest rates.

“There is nothing wrong with non-interest banking if its introduction is to enhance economic development and make business easier for customers since no interest is charged on loans,’’

he said.

Osarenkhoe said that the noninterest banking would promote entrepreneurship in the country since its concept was based on the principle of profit and loss sharing.

He advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to create links in the Arab countries to facilitate the establishment of more of such banks as a way of diversifying the economy.

The General Manager, Cash Craft Assets Management Ltd., Mr Ayodeji Fagbenle said that non-interest banking would enable banks to render more result-oriented services to customers.

He said that bank would encourage decision making on profitable businesses.

Fagbenle said that the new banking system would make it easier for manufacturers to source for loans to stimulate their production.

He, however, said that the CBN should not only be interested in introducing non-interest banking system , but should put in place appropriate infrastructure to monitor its implementation.

The General Manager of Standard Alliance Insurance Ltd., Mr Olumide Adegoke said that the CBN needed to be careful in the implementation of non-interest banking to prevent religious crisis in the country.

He said that the non-interest banking had the capacity to galvanise small and medium enterprises and boost employment generation if properly implemented.

Adegoke also said that it would make conventional banks to be careful in charging interests on loans granted to customers.

“It is a good development for the economy because it will create more competition among the banks and boost the economy,’’ he said. (NAN)

Managing Director of Lotus Capital, Hajara Adeola because it is prohibited under Sharia law. Instead, if a bank is providing finance for an infrastructure project, for example, the bank and customer agree to share the risk of investment and divide any earnings.

“One of the most well known (principles) is the lack of interest or usury, so you can’t own a return simply for having money — which is what interest is,” Adeola says. “You would have to somehow employ that money into productive use and then you can earn a return on that money.”

In June last year, Jaiz Bank International became the first group to be allowed to open a Shariah-compliant bank in Nigeria after gaining an approval in principal from the CBN. The bank has already opened three branches in Abuja, Kano and Kaduna this year.

Adeola believes Nigeria has the potential to become one of the largest Islamic banking sectors in the world.

“It is a huge market,” she says.

“There’s about 70 million Muslims in Nigeria. Research shows approximately 30% of the Muslim population typically would be interested in Islamic finance and

if you look at the projection they made for the size of the market, it is really quite tremendous — and that’s just the domestic.”

But the CBN’s decision has met opposition from some Christian leaders in Nigeria, who argue that the move could increase religious violence in a country whose population is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.

According to a VOA news report in mid-July last year, the Christian Association of Nigeria said the introduction of Islamic banking could stir up religious tensions at a time when security forces are fighting Islamic fundamentalists who want an independent state in northern Nigeria ruled by Islamic law.

But Adeola says that Islamic finance is not a threat and can appeal to the country’s Christian community as well its Muslims.

“Islamic finance is universal,” she says. “There is nothing about it that offends anyone or offends their faith or their principles. If anything, there are many Christians who like to invest with us because it’s also in line with their own ethical values.” (Source: CNN)

Al Baraka backs annual islamic banking forum Russian-led development bank l Baraka Banking Group as well as the growth of Islamic government officials to discuss

A

(ABG) will be taking part as a platinum sponsor in the Annual Islamic Banking and Finance Conference. Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions is organising the event in Bahrain on May 7 and 8.

The conference will be attended by distinguished Islamic banking personalities, in addition to researchers and experts in financial affairs and executives from Islamic financial institutions inside and outside Bahrain.

The procedures of Sharia supervisory, development of Islamic finance, treasury operations and some legal issues in Islamic financial institutions

banking industry and other issues related to the banking sector will be discussed.

“Al Baraka Banking Group has for many years been supporting and sponsoring these specialised conferences because they are closely linked to the objectives of the strategies of the group in serving the Muslim communities in the countries ABG units operate,” said president and chief executive Adnan Yousif.

“Furthermore, the conference has now become an important platform that brings together all those concerned with or interested in the Islamic finance industry including scholars, bankers and

major issues related to the Islamic financial industry.

“The conference, as such, provides a suitable forum for addressing challenges and identifying new opportunities in all markets.”

The group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in 15 countries, which in turn provide their services through more than 400 branches.

Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Jordan, Tunisia, Sudan, Turkey, Bahrain, Egypt, Algeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Indonesia, Libya, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

plans to expand Islamic financing

E

urasian Development Bank, a Russian-led lender backed by six former Soviet republics, wants to expand Shariah-compliant financing after helping arrange a deal last year, Chief Executive Officer Igor Finogenov said.

“Islamic finance is an opportunity for us to enter new credit markets,” Finogenov told reporters in Moscow today.

“We hope it will allow us to diversify our liability base.”

The bank is looking to boost lending that complies with Islam’s ban on interest after serving as mandated lead

arranger for a $60 million syndicated Murabaha facility for Kazan, Russia-based AK Bars Bank in September. The Almaty-based development bank was founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in 2006 and also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

“We’re a Eurasian bank, and many of our member countries are in areas that are traditionally close to Islamic culture,” Finogenov said. That raises “the possibility of finding projects that meet the criteria required for Islamic finance.”

(Source: Arab News)

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Need for full integration of ICTs in Nigerian Universities

By Haziel Japheth Roy

O

ne of the issues generating concern in our country today is the slow pace of developing administrative excellence in Nigerian Universities on the use of Information and C o m m u n i c a t i o n Technologies (ICT).

It is clear that administrators must develop world-class thinking initiatives, thereby and start delivering world class services. Indeed, “worldclass” means being digital, getting connected, networked and rendering standard services that are equivalent to what we see and experience in universities elsewhere.

U n i v e r s i t i e s ’ administration requires skilled and competent management aimed at making the system work effectively and dynamically.

The administrations are expected to be the managers and drivers of the system to ensure that the universities remain focused and also survive in the changing times with increased relevance to the Nigerian

environment and the world at large considered as a “Global Village” in the words of Marshall Meluhan.

Daily, the universities are expanding in all ramifications with increasing challenges in all aspects of administration and management. Thus, relevance in the contemporary world entails being connected and fully equipped with the right skill and competence i n c o n t e m p o r a r y management procedures that must necessarily entail access to, and full usage of the ever changing Information and

C o m m u n i c a t i o n Technologies.

ICTs are broadly defined to cover all aspects of the acquisition, analysis, manipulation, storage and distribution of information; and he design and provision of equipment and software for these purposes. The validity of this assertion is quite visible in many institutions particularly in the economic sector and generally in the private businesses.

Institutions in the public sector in Nigeria appear to be slow in embracing the ICTs with severe consequences on the quality of the services

“

ICTs are broadly defined to cover all aspect of the acquisition, analysis, manipulation, storage and distribution of information; and he design and provision of equipment and software for these purposes

and operational performance. The truth is that, the great development in information technology (ICT) sector has exceedingly simplified this process of managing and sharing information, ideas and thoughts in our university setting and indeed, the general society.

Despite all the limitation and challenges in the universities, we can testify to the visible impact of ICTs on activities of the institution in recent time.

Universities like the University of Nigeria Nsuka (UNN) have gone farther than many others in computerizing and digitalising their campuses.

However, positive attitude of administrators alone will not be enough in serving the system without the complementary support of a positive environment and effective working tools like proper office arrangement, equipments, communication gadgets, and modern tools are required for optimal administration. The world is now in the era of information explosion, standard are getting higher globally and

interested players must invest heavily in being able to remain on the radar and work efficiently to be credible in the eyes of their peers. Why is it that none of our universities has been to make it on the list of top rated universities in the world for some years now?

Could that be partly due to the inability of our institution to fully integrate and apply ICTs in all of the operation from teaching, research, administration to financial management?

Why do many of our universities still perform the basic services through inefficient and laborious modes when they can simplify their operation using ICTs? Basic tasks like admission, transcript processing, accommodation provision, validation of O level result and intrauniversity communication have still remained huge areas of challenges on many of our campuses because of poor utilization of the ICTs. Many of our libraries have not been able to digitalize fully for easier access to virtual materials.

In some offices in our universities, you can still find secretaries struggling with old rickety typewriters in the absence of computers and internet connectivity.

The world has become so information-conscious that people are no longer satisfied with paper and print-based library service.

An information

resolution thus, threatened traditional library practices and service. Librarians must embrace this revolution and participate actively and effectively in it in order to remain relevant especially in universities.

It is necessary for all administrations, respective of nomenclature to upgrade their use of ICTs. Otherwise they stand the risk of lagging behind in responding to the demand of their office.

With technologies, things will be done easily, cheaply, and faster with greater satisfaction to everyone in the system. for example, using the internet, it is possible for the universities and their administration to link up both locally and internationally, to access online information on research, students, regulation and more accurate information of the university management.

However, most of our administrators are either computer literate or are in the process of doing so.

It is a gradual process but, it has surely dawned on everyone that there can be no alternative to being competent in ICTs. Mean while, challenges that are likely to affect the immediate and successful implementation of such moves are within the purview of the universities while others are external to them.

Specifically one can identify a common problem

Shell officials at an ICTS workshop organized for students

that affect the prospect of ICTs as follows; low budgeting allocation to ICTs on many campuses which may be a consequence of the competing demands in the midst of scarce resources.

Poor electric supply in most campuses; Universities are hit by the epileptic services of the Power supply by the Power Holding Company of

Nigeria (PHCN) forcing them to devote substantial portions of their meagre earnings to providing power, though insufficiently to their campuses.

High cost of ICTs; most of the ICTs are imported. Poor c o m m u n i c a t i o n infrastructure base; internal and external communication linkage on many campuses is weak.

Just as only few Universities have Radio FM Stations in their campuses. Analogue behaviour of some senior administrative officers and academic staff who are unwilling to change their mind to realities of the ICTs in the Universities.

Low and uncoordinated support for ICTs by donors and partners to Universities.

“

Analogue behaviour of some senior administrative officers and academic staff who are unwilling to change their mind to realities of the ICTs in the Universities Students at an ICT class

Students in a crowded classroom receiving lectures in the analogue style

Finally, some of the ways that these menace or challenges can be solved includes: the building and strengthening the capacity of the administrators in ICTs. Government should exempt ICTs equipment from customs and excise tax so that the prices of such equipment will be drastically reduced and affordable.

Government

should increase funding to Nigerian Universities in order to implement the National ICTs Policy and should encourage positive investors to intervene in the provision of ICT services on campuses.

Haziel Japheth Roy is of the University of Maiduguri, Mass Communication Department.

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

The seven most prosperous people on the resurrection day (V) Allah says: “Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, to Him will we give a new life, a life that is good and pure and we will bestow on their reward according to the best of their actions.” [an-Nahl: 97]

I

n the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All Praise is due to Allah, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own evils and our own bad deeds.

Anyone who is guided by Allah, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left astray, will find no one to guide him. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the Only One without any partner; and I bear witness that Muhammad, is His servant, and messenger. May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon His last and final Apostle, his Household, his companions and all his followers until the end of time.

The Apostle of Allah was sitting one day with his Companions discussing their affairs, and one of the issues deliberated was about the condition of the Day of Resurrection was on seven people that Allah will shade under his Throne from the unbearable heat of the sun, as it will be brought very close to the mammoth gathering, frying them. The hadith reads: It is related from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “There are seven whom Allah will shade with His shade on the day when there is no shade but His shade: a just Imam, a youth who grows up worshipping Allah, a man whose heart is attached to the mosque, two men who love each other for the sake of Allah alone, meeting for that reason and parting for that reason, a man who refuses the advances of a noble and beautiful woman, saying, 'I fear Allah', a man who gives charity and conceals it so that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives, and a man who remembers Allah when he is alone and his eyes overflow with tears.”

(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim) By the will of Allah, we will be discussing the fifth category of these fortunate people on the day of Recompense; that group is, a man who refuses the advances of a noble and beautiful woman, saying, 'I fear Allah! This category, my dear brothers and sisters, is the most difficult of all the categories, despite their steepness and slippery nature attaining each of them. I am particularly passing this judgment because we are living in the most temptations and enticement ridden period. The tribulation inherent in this tailend of the world has always remain a very steep challenge to surmount even by the most devout of all! Women have been turned into sexual gratification toys within the reach of all and sundry. They have been fashioned to destroy, destruct and completely devastate into obliteration. Great

men of virtues, devotion, grace marriage would become and honour have succumb to the commonplace, in fact marriage fitna of women throughout history, itself now seems destined to become and have themselves become obsolete; tragedy in history; women have *Fornication and adultery ruined them.

One can clearly see the wisdom in the words of Holy Qur'an.

Allah says: “...Behold! it is a snare of you

By Husain Zakariyya women! truly, Yawale mighty is your snare!” (Yusuf: +234-8052952900 (sms only) 28) islamexplained35@yahoo.com In fact, the snare of women in contrast to that of Satan, the would become wide spread and later is much weaker in accustomed, that, also appear to devastation. The Qur'an confirms: have already been fulfilled in a “...So fight ye against the friends of modern world in which virginity Satan: feeble indeed is the cunning and marital fidelity are becoming of Satan.” [an-Nis'i: 76] old-fashioned; In may authentic traditions of *Disproportion in balance of the Apostle of Allah, many types of men and women to such an extent

is the attainment of the fear of Allah in all our lives. People who do not read and ponder on the imports of each verse of the Qur'an cannot live the morality and decency of the Qur'an in its true sense. They will also not be able to comprehend the significance and entailment of fear of Allah well enough. This is because they possess insufficient knowledge of the Qur'an and would not know the factual meaning of fear of Allah.

Fear of Allah is not like some type of fears where one is filled with tremor and vibration of deadly animals or dreadful and dare-devil fellow human beings. It is not like the fear of terrorist attacks. Other people fall into the traps of fear of

tribulations that will engulf the world towards its end include the followings: Women would parade in public "dressed, yet naked", like that of 'Jagua Nana'; the young woman who when dressed, would expose all that was supposed to be concealed...' as is prevalent today!

This ordeal will persist until women become fully naked in public functions, and "donkey-like" sexual intercourse becomes a common public show. *“Men would dress like women,” and already this sign also has come to pass. Almost no one can tell that 'she', the so-called 'crossdresser', is really a man; *Homosexuality (and lesbianism) would become commonplace, and that is now happening before our very eyes.

Social acceptance and legal protection for this abominable sexual perversion is gaining ground. Indeed those who hold fast to the divine prohibition of such sexual perversion are now demonized as a people who suffer from a disease called 'homophobia'; *Children born outside of

future, growing older, being lonely, death, falling sick, being disgraced by fellow human beings, being unsuccessful, earthquake, and many other types of fear cause very miserable and gloomy lives; very stressful and nervously get into trouble any moment. Ibn Juzayy in his dictionary of terms defined fear of Allah thus: "Taqwa' means fear; clinging to obedience to Allah and abandoning disobedience to Him. It is the sum of all good."

However, the following are the cardinal steps towards attaining the stae taqwa: *Fear of punishment in the next life; *Fear [of punishment in] this life; *Not hoping of worldly reward only; *Hope of the reward of the next world; *Fear of the reckoning; *Shyness and bashfulness before the gaze of Allah, and this is the station of fearful watchfulness (muraqabah); *Showing gratitude for His blessings by obeying Him;

ISLAM EXPLAINED

that “one man would have to maintain (not marry) fifty women”, has already surface in many part of the world, today.

Women would become the commonest and cheapest commodity around, and can be bought even on credit! They are reduced into lowest abyss of human degradation, and abused to the shameless stage that can be found in the dust bins!

Allah, full of the knowledge of the past, present and future, made this category to come towards the end of the categories of "a man who refuses the call of a charming woman of noble birth for unlawful intercourse with her, and says: I am fearful of Allah!"

The leading secret of this category is ‘fear of Allah’ in both private and public places. Allah's Messenger, in a Hadith narrated Abu Dharr said to him one day, “Fear Allah wherever you are; if you follow an evil deed with a good one you will obliterate it; and deal with people with a good disposition.” (AlTirmidhi: No. 5083) The crux of the matter as far as we can understand from the hadith

*Exalting and honouring His majesty, and it is the station of awe.

I think and convinced that one of the reasons why Allah opened His great Book with this verses: “A.L.M. This is the Book; In it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah. Who believe In the Unseen, are steadfast In prayer, and spend out of what we have provided for them;. And who believe In the Revelation sent to thee, and sent before Thy time, and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter.” [al-Baqarah: 1-4] In fact, fear of Allah is the beginning of wisdom! That fear must be devoid of contradiction where one fears Allah only in public, and transgresses when he or she in lock and key. The love of the world should have little or impact in his or her relationship with Allah in all circumstances.

Allah says: “Leave alone those who take their Religion to be mere play and amusement, and are deceived by the life of This world. but proclaim (to them) This (truth): that every soul delivers itself to ruin by its own acts: it will find for itself no Protector or intercessor except Allah. if it offered every ransom, (or reparation), none will be accepted: such is (the end of) those who deliver themselves to ruin by their own acts: They will have for drink (only) boiling water, and for punishment, one Most grievous: for They persisted in rejecting Allah.” (al-An'aam: 70) Abdullah ibn Mubarak (R) once said about fear: “When night befalls, they endure it and see it through bowing in ruku (prostration in Salat). Fear has released their sleep, so they stand and acquire security in vigilance.”

Hasan ibn Hani (R) composed the following though it has been credited to Imam Shafi`ee (R)): “Fear Allah and hope for every good thing from Him; Do not follow your adamant self, lest you regret it; Remain in between hope and fear and you will rejoice with the Pardon of Allah if you submit.”

(Muajjamul Udaba: 17/303) These pieces remind me of a very of a man who was caught in a web of illicit sexual advancement, and when admonished, he immediately declined and repented.

“It has been related that a righteous Muslim's supplication was always fulfilled. When asked about the mystery of this endowment he replied: It was a year of drought when a very beautiful lady came into my house and asked me for something to eat.

I said to her: I will give you the food you need, after you give me yourself (i.e. to allow him to have the unlawful intercourse with her). She said: It would be better to me to die from hunger than disobeying my Lord, and went away crying. Then she came after few days and she was starving to death, and asked me for food. I said to her: I won't give you anything unless you give me yourself. She replied: It would be better to me to Contd. on Page 35

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

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f you go to Europe and Russia, for example, you see houses that project their unique cultural architecture. In Nigeria, it appears we are still building houses that do not project our culture. Is there any way Nigerians can be made to start building houses that are truly Nigerian?

Yes. Architectural designs, yes.

It is very possible. In the sense that if you go up north, if you go to a Tiv man’s house, you will know that this is a Tiv man’s house. Boys call it Channel O. I learnt that when I was going to Taraba and saw those houses and they said, this is Chanel O. I said which one is Channel O? They said ‘they are houses’ and once again, I laughed. One thing you realise is when you enter those houses you don’t need an air conditioner; they are very cool. It it is very possible for us to have our own architecture. I want to believe that building materials contribute to the natural cooling. The walls are mostly made of mud which absorbs heat. You know, in those days, as a young village boy growing up, we were used to the water pot. The water in the water pot is iced. You don’t need a fridge.

Our parents did not need refrigerators. Once you have clean water in a clay pot, it stays over night; the top of the pot will even be sweating. All these technologies, we have them here. When you take water from the water pot in the afternoon and drink it, it’s cool water. So we have things that we can promote. It’s just that our thinking is that anything cultural is not good enough. Actually, I enjoy eating my soup in a clay pot.

I am happy there are some African kitchens that are serving food in that manner. Just try it, you will enjoy it. I want to say that it is possible for us to have our indigenous architecture. We have the materials to build such structures that have a Nigerian touch. I remember the first time I went to Johannesburg I saw that everybody built in the same pattern. The roofing sheet was just orange-like in colour. Of course, when you look at the roofs, there is beauty and uniformity. But here in Nigeria, anything goes.

Somebody will come with a blue roof, another with a chocolate colour, and the next one with a red, black or wine coloured roof. It is high time we got thinking so that we can come out with structures that people will identify with us here in Nigeria.

Clearly, you have a very expansive mandate and quite challenging too. Culture, as they say, is a way of life. One critical factor in the realization of your mandate is funding.

How are you coping? Do you have government support or perhaps, as they say, is it from some foreign aid?

For now, no, we don’t generate any appreciable funding but we are looking seriously at the area of partnership. That informed our redesigning and media workshop for arts writers. Remember, we started on a small scale, but I reasoned that there was the need for us to think outside the box. And we are happy the FCT saw our vision and went along with us; then Gombe state government came in.

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Government’s underfunding of culture sector is unfortunate, says Dr. Ayakoroma (II) For now, we are waiting on AkwaIbom state government to confirm a date for us. Kwara state governor has agreed, in principle, to the hosting of our programme. So these are our ways of handling the programmes and making the necessary impact without totally funding. If we can do this with all the state governments, it means that we would be promoting the sector. Nigerians will get to know what is happening in such states culturally. The cultural sector has always faced the challenge of funding because government does not believe that money should be spent on the sector, which I think it is unfortunate because if we have to generate revenue from the sector, we will have to look in the area of funding. I will give you the example of Cross River state. With the inauguration of the Christmas Carnival, you know very that from October to December, if you don’t book your accommodation early enough, you will never get a place to stay. And of course, as these visitors are streaming in, what do you expect? They are going to ride in your taxis or okadas or Keke NAPEPs. So those people will be living fine for those days. They are going to your beer joints to drink if it is kunu or zobo even. If it is food, they are going to be buying and of course, if you have artefacts, dresses that are indigenous to you, they will buy. Because they will want to go back to their countries and say, ‘I went to Calabar and this is what I brought from there’. No, we do that when we go out. You go to Ghana and by the time you come back; you want to show that this is what you brought from there. We were in Indonesia and I bought a shirt because Indonesia is the home of batik. And they used the batik in different styles, even to sew suits.

As waiters in the hotel, they had on, batik shirts and a George wrapper and they are very happy wearing their own indigenous clothing. For us to look at this sector there is the need for us to attach some level of commitment to serving the country. There are several ventures we are going into but if we look the way of culture, we will solve some of these problems. Because, one thing I know of a truth is that even in our traditional society, during festivals, animosities are set aside.

You may have problem with somebody, you may not be greeting but most times, it is during communal festivals that you shake that person and that quarrel is forgotten so we have to know that such festivals are tools for national development. They are tools for social cohesion and social

Dr. Ayakoroma integration. And this is culture, culture is the vehicle that drives tourism and tourism is marketing of culture, so if you don’t have things for people to see, then, there is nothing for people to come to see.

If you don’t have places for people to see, then we are not talking about tourism. For us to talk about tourism, we should ask ourselves, what are we selling? What do we want to show to the outside world?

So that people, when they come, they will know that they have come to see something. Okay, now, we have Argungu Fishing Festival, we have Nwonyo Fishing Festival, we have Osun Oshogbo, there are very many festivals across the country that we can package. If we can help the various state governments to realise that if we package these things very well, once these festivals are taking place, the so-called militants including Boko Haram will forget about these things because they want to be involved, they want to celebrate. So culture is the key but until government realises that money could be made from culture, then we will be treating the sector with levity and it is very unfortunate. And that has really hampered our performance. We don’t expect to generate money for doing things. We are like providing social service to change the mindset of people. Let them

realise that as Nigerians, originally, we always tell people, originally, in those days, our fathers left their doors open. If the door had a covering, it could be a mat and any money the man had could be under the pillow. And it was safe. We were never afraid of armed robbers or even thieves though occasionally, people would want to go through the rag tag to come and steal fish or whatever, but not robbery. But what is happening? Our fathers, you travel to Lagos by boat, they used to call the boat creek mail, that could take you two weeks to get to Lagos and maybe after six months, you come back and say you are throwing money around, your father will call you outside and say, ‘come, tell me how did you make that money/ I know that they don’t plug money from trees like pawpaw. How did you make that money? If you don’t tell me, anything you buy in this house, I am not eating. What are you doing for a living?’ that was the kind of society we used to live in. But these days, things are changing. Just recently, in real life story, my Special Assistant has a house in his native Bayelsa; there was an Ibo chap who was a watchman. He was employed by a company to do security work in the house. And after a few months, the boy carried his master’s Jeep and ran away.

But thank God for modern technology. The police were able to trace where he was through his cell phone. And by the time they got there, he run away that morning. But at least, they were able to get to his house and arrested his father. And what did he tell his father? That he was in Gabon and he made money and bought the car. How many months? But if it were to be in those days, his parents would not celebrate him. They would throw questions upon questions at him until he would confess if he got the car by foul means. But we are living in a society where crime is celebrated.

Somebody goes to kill people and makes blood money overnight and he comes with that money and the next thing is the traditional ruler will give him a chieftaincy title and he goes about as a chief or high chief as the case may be. This was not what we grew up to know in our various communities. It may be Hausa, it may be Yoruba, and it may be Ibo. What I am saying is that we need to redirect and reorientate ourselves to make sure that, as our fathers believed, a good name is better than all the riches in the world.

You said something about changing Nigerians’ negative perception of our culture. Have you made any attempt to liaise with religious leaders to achieve this?

It is a gradual process. We have a programme we outlined for religious leaders. For now, the programme we are working on is with traditional rulers and local government chairmen billed for May 7th and 8th. We have a conference on culture, peace and national security, how culture can impact on building a peaceful society and the role traditional rulers can play in maintaining peace in their domains. That is what we are looking at. The next one is going to be with religious leaders. We are also looking at the cultural ethics in the banking sector. So it is a gradual process and I think by the time we finish with the traditional rulers, they will appreciate what NICO is doing. For we are into tangible and intangible cultural heritage, cultural practices, belief systems that used to identify us as a people, some traditions, with the new experience; these are the things that we are looking at. Probably, after that I will give you in a publication. We have “Living Human Treasures”. These are people into various practices, the UNESCO project. So we document Contd. on page 28

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Contd. from page 27 Living Human Treasures. These are people beyond 60s. They made it. They have been into weaving, they have been into carving, they have been into painting, and they have been into documents.

UNESCO thinks that these people, their work should be documented.

How they started and what they have done to pass these works to the younger generations should be documented. So that is one of our areas of interest here in NICO. And of course, apart from that, we also have capacity building programmes with UNESCO actually, as at now, we have something like counterpart funding. Somehow, UNESCO is very prudent with funds. For a programme that you think is going to need probably, 50 million naira to handle, UNESCO will tell you what they are going to bring is three million naira; so if you can get the money to do it you go ahead. We have that challenge but we believe that we will continue to do our best to ensure that all UNESCO programmes will happen accordingly. For example, May 21st is World Culture Day declared

by UNESCO and we are going to celebrate it in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.

Outside this country, some people do ask: in Nigeria, are you all fetish? In Nigeria, is it all about going to the shrine? I don’t know to what extent your organisation is interfacing with the Nigeria Films and Video Censors Board to influence the content of Nollywood.

This is a very interesting question. I agree with you that those conceptions are there about Nigeria. Incidentally, November, 2010, we were in Kenya for a UNESCO conference and the issues you just raised also came up. And I say if you go to Nairobi, there are two serious television stations. I can’t remember the other one but I remember the Citizens Television station. Now, that station has spoilt many Kenyans. It has destroyed homes because there in Kenya, housemaids no longer work at home because they are always glued to Nollywood. Their programming is such that in the morning, before 8’oclock they show the first film till 9:15 am; when the film is over, then from 9:15 to 9:30, they show part two till 10:45 am. Then for fifteen minutes they have a musical filler; so in essence, the housemaid only uses those fifteen minutes to quickly go and do some household chores and then after that she bounces back. So by the time madam or oga comes back, many things would have been left undone in the house. And, of course, we experienced that during the emergence of marathon transmissions; when NTA Lagos and Lagos state television started 24 hours television broadcast, NTA came up with a marathon television service. And in the night, housewives will keep awake watching films, they were foreign films anyway. Of course, oga will be angry because somethings were left undone. That was the experience I got. But the interesting thing is that you see a lady and you say we are taking you to Nigeria to marry you. She would

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

‘Government’s underfunding of culture sector is unfortunate’ say ‘no, Nigeria, I hear there are a so much witchcraft there’. I said, why did you say that? She said, ‘they show us on Nollywood’.

So that shows the impact of Nollywood.

It has made an impact on the African continent and among the black immigrants.

So we had a meeting with the DG of the National Censors Board and we talked about it; but everything boils down to funds because we know very well that for us to package a film there is the need for funds. But one thing we realise is that in Nigeria, most of the stakeholders, when you call them to a meeting, most of them will not want to spend their money. They will want the programme to be funded. But the paradox here is that while we ask for that in Nigeria, abroad people will pay their money to go. It’s just like the present Dr. Ayakoroma confrontation we are having in the aviation industry by Nollywood practitioners; hotels where somebody from Nigeria that would have been dead. I know going to London will a hundred very well that Presidential Hotel naira in fare while somebody from Enugu was virtually dead until Ghana will pay fifty naira but flight Nollywood started. So there are a hours are just the same. It is absurd. lot off persons that have been We are seriously concerned about provided jobs by Nollywood. These that. There is a paper I am working are people that for Nollywood, 30 on for a conference at the Benue per cent would have gone into State University; I am presenting oblivion. Secondly, Nollywood, as a keynote address. And what I’ll earlier mentioned, is defining the talk on is ‘Understanding the image of Nigeria abroad. Without appearance, reality and cultural sounding immodest, apart from confusion in Nigerian video films’. footballers, Nollywood are the next There is cultural confusion because ambassadors that we have in the we present certain things as if that country. If you go to some countries is the culture, which is not the case. and ask of Nigerian leaders, they It is not as for anything that don’t know, but they will tell you happens you have to run to the about the Nigerian film stars and witch doctor, but that is the they will ask whether you know so impression that has been given. We and so person. They know the stars; have many bright spots in the they can count them. They know industry but the idea of presenting about Nollywood films. They things in the ritual style is not watch them. Now, most Nigerians ideal; that is what we are looking don’t watch Nollywood films; but at.

Nollywood is telling the Nigerian There is the saying that four story from our own perspective out of every African is a identity. We identify with those Nigerian and there is the actors and actresses as our own. For problem of proliferation of poor me, for example, when I see a film movies; looking back, what do is promoted and I see that Rita you have to say?

Dominic is there, Bob Manuel is Nollywood has really impacted there, Monaliza Chinda is there or positively on Nigerians and the Julius Agu is there, among others, African continent because, one, it they are people that passed is providing a ready source of through me so I want to see what income for hundreds of thousands they’ve done, and whether they of Nigerians. Remember that the are doing it very well or not. If they people you see on the screen are have not acted very well, I’ll call just a little fraction of the people and tell them that this thing they that are feeding on Nollywood. did, they goofed, this thing they Apart from the actors and did was not good enough. So directors, you have people; the Nollywood has really impacted us, costumiers, production managers, providing a platform for selling studio managers, transporters, Nigeria in various ways, and of engineers, so many persons. If you course, business wise, people who go to Enugu for example, there are were waiting for spare parts buyers hotels that have been taken over to come and buy have left for

production of films and videos and they are doing very well. And I think for the industry, what is remaining now is for government to now really look in the direction of the industry and see how it can franchise its development because no matter what happens, one, because Nigeria is not definitely fit for Nollywood because the government is playing the part of an ostrich. But if government goes into it, even the fund that government will generate from the industry is something else. Like now, the FCT minister has introduced fees for packing space but I want to warn that as of now, it is like bringing toll gates to Lagos in those days. The people that are working tee will chop. Most of the funds coming from these car parks will not go into government coffers unless there is a method to check them because, when Lagos toll gate started, people were deployed to the toll gate for three months. After three months, a new set of persons were benefiting there. Within three months, you get as much as you want. That is Nigeria for you.

So why can’t we now, our leaders go outside. Why should we still be talking about giving tickets at the airports? Why can’t there be electronic payment systems? After all, you don’t know once they collect tickets and re-do it, the next time you are coming in, you get back that ticket; two tickets for the price of one. So the person then sells those two tickets to some other person and gets the money. Then that person goes out and none of that is going into government coffers. But if there is an electronic payment system, of course, the man, whatever he has generated

is going into government coffers.

So the Nollywood industry as at now, boasts of the artists. It is just maybe the little taxes; the COTs, those ones are going into banks.

What is government gaining from the income, the tax that is paid according to how you earn, what happens? Once you don’t know what is happening in a system, there is no way you can get it. So Nigeria will have to draw on the potentials of the industry, and we know very well that Nollywood can change the economy of Nigeria and we know very well that it is very possible, and that is a cultural product.

Looking back, is there anything you want to remember and what vision do you have for the cultural industry and then what call do you want to make on Nigerians?

Well, in the first place, if we have to score ourselves, in the last two years, I will say that we have performed above average though it is a starting point. I believe that if we were where we are now, we were at this level three years ago, I believe by now; the institute would have really affected the lives of every Nigerian. But with what we are doing and how we are going about it, I believe in the next five years, NICO would have passed the line and then we can sit back and say yes, we have achieved. For now, I can say we are trying, God willing. I want to advise Nigerians to realise that culture as our way of life needs to tally with our way of life that could give us our identity, could give us our national pride is something that should not be toyed with. In whichever way we can promote our culture, we should do it because that is what will differentiate us from other people as Nigerians and a people without a culture is a people lost. And I don’t think we will want to lose that term presently on Nigerians, we are happy. Some of our leaders, like I have not met her one on one but somebody like Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala; she is a Nigerian brand.

She is a true picture of the African woman and we are happy that by the grace of God, she is a front line contender for the World Bank seat. What more do we want? Why can’t we emulate people like her? Why can’t we emulate people like Dora Akunyili who was also in government office, a brand as far as Nigeria is concerned? So if we are talking about the Nigerian project, it has to start from us because we cannot reform others if we can’t reform ourselves. You have to be a model for somebody to want to follow you and I believe that parents could be role models to their children; teachers could be role models to their students, and pastors and traditional rulers should be role models to their followers. That way, before we know it, our orientation will change, that is the truth. Thank you very much.

Concluded

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

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Tourists given opportunity to walk rare lions... while holding their tails L

ooking relaxed despite holding on to a 16 stone rare white lion while walking through the South African bush, Joanne Mockford from Camberley in Surrey even smiled gamely as one mighty male brushed past her.

And these three white lions are special – with less than 100 surviving in the wild friendly but endangered 15-month-old male, Mohlatsi and his two one-year-old females have been raised from birth to be comfortable in the presence of humans.

Petite 30-year-old Joanne, who now lives in Polokwane, Limpopo Province, South Africa, was taking part in what sounds like one of the most dangerous wildlife tours walking with lions.

‘The experience was completely overwhelming,’ explained Joanne.

‘We all got together early in the morning, I was very scared but excited. We walked slowly towards them and off we went through the bush.

‘My heartbeat was insane - I even had to concentrate on breathing. I was just concentrating on where their mouths were.

‘But the longer I was with them the more confident I felt.’

Mohlatsi’s name means ‘Lucky One’ in the local dialect, which is fitting given that his wives are called Jay-Lo and Shakira.

The three were raised in captivity by staff at Protea Hotel Ranch Resort 25km south of Polokwane, South Africa.

The lions look the way they do because they each carry a rare gene, which causes their fur to be strikingly white, instead of the brown most people are familiar with.

In the wild they were almost entirely killed off by poachers attracted by their rare white fur.

Now their numbers are increasing thanks to breeding programmes like the one at Protea Hotel Ranch Resort.

In fact Mohlatsi is so popular with visitors, staff and locals that he has his own facebook page, where he is called Mohlatsi Lucky-One. ‘They have been trained since birth by some amazing staff at the ranch,’ said Joanne.

‘But we are told at the end of the day they are lions and you have to be aware of that.

‘There’s no chance would I go near them at dinner time, or on my own.

‘They were comfortable around people, but it was definitely better to keep them in sight than have one behind you.’

White lions were only first officially recorded in 1938 in the South African region of Timbavati where they originate.

Walking on the wild side: Joanne Mockford, left, and friends take the white lions for a stroll.

Since this time they have been targeted by hunters for their rare fur, and less than 100 individuals are thought to survive worldwide.

Joanne’s friends and family back home in the UK were shocked to hear that she had been walking with white lions in South Africa.

‘My mum and step dad were so proud when I told them what I had done,’ said Joanne.

‘But they also think I must be barking mad, although they know I like a good challenge.

‘I also put a memo on my Facebook and my friends couldn’t believe it, and said how jealous they were.’

The Protea Hotel Ranch Resort is situated on 1,000 hectares of pristine grass and woodland, also included is a 150 bedroom 4-star

hotel and golf course.

As well as lions visitors can see giraffe, zebra, warthog, kudu, impala, wildebeest and the rare and endangered sable antelope.

Eventually Jay-Lo and Shakira will become old enough to breed and if Mohlatsi is successful a new generation of white lions will be born at the resort’s lion park.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Fit as a fiddle: Mugabe returns from Singapore deriding claims he was at death’s door with cancer

R

eports that Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe was close to death were brushed off today as he returned home from Asia.

The African tyrant, 88, did not speak to reporters after landing in Harare, but his party insisted the claims were ‘a lot of hogwash’ spread by hostile Western media.

Mr Mugabe is said to be suffering from prostate cancer and has made 10 trips to Singapore in the past 16 months, where he is believed to have received medical treatment.

But this morning he was seen joking and laughing with cabinet members.

After he flew out by private jet almost two weeks ago, this latest trip sparked speculation that he was preparing to die - and had appointed feared right-hand man Emmerson Mnangagwa as his successor.

Military chiefs and party leaders were waiting to greet the president in Zimbabwe’s capital city this morning and he was due to chair a weekly cabinet meeting later today, two days later than scheduled.

Mr Mugabe, who has been in power for more than three decades, has called for elections this year and has been nominated as his party’s only presidential candidate.

His office said he left the southern African country on March 31 to supervise postgraduate studies

Still standing: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (left), 88, chats with State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi upon his arrival at the Harare international airport for his daughter Bona, 22, in Hong Kong.

Intense speculation on his health came after a popular Nigerian preacher predicted the imminent deaths of elderly, autocratic southern African rulers.

Malawi’s 78-year-old president then died on April 5.

Zimbabwe’s information minister Webster Shamu had

invited reporters to the Harare airport to witness Mr Mugabe’s arrival. He said the media had ‘spread rumours’.

‘As you can see, the man is fit.

Why do we lie and why do we panic?’ he said, chastising reporters.

Mr Mugabe landed in a private jet chartered by a diamond mining company. The state airline he routinely used was grounded by

debts in January.

Reporters said his arrival was brisk and businesslike. Mr Mugabe held the hand of his wife Grace and was dressed as usual in an impeccable dark business suit.

Mr Mugabe has appeared robust at recent public appearances.

In broadcasts marking his 88th birthday in February he said he was ‘as fit as a fiddle’. He joked then he

had been resurrected more often than Jesus Christ after detractors frequently pronounced him dead.

In the broadcasts, he also acknowledged he had not groomed a successor in his fractious Zanu PF party, a shaky coalition with former opposition leader prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed by regional mediators after violent, disputed elections in 2008.

Persistent reports of his failing health have intensified infighting in the party, between factions led by vice president Joice Mujuru and defence minister Mr Mnangagwa.

Should the president die in office, one of the two would be likely to assume leadership - although some party figures see Mr Mugabe’s old age as a potential weakness in the election and are pushing for this to happen sooner.

Ms Mujuru’s group has been weakened by the death of her husband, a former guerrilla leader and army commander seen as a major Zanu PF power broker.

General Solomon Mujuru was burnt beyond recognition in a mysterious house fire last year and though questions remained over how he died a court ruled there was no foul play.

Gen Mujuru’s family has demanded his remains are exhumed from a national shrine for independent forensic analysis.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

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V

ladimir Putin faced a walkout

by MPs as he was addressing parliament in the latest sign of growing dissent against the strongman.

It came the prime minister and president-elect, who mockingly refused to intervene in a hunger strike by a politician over an allegedly rigged mayoral election in the southern city of Astrakhan.

Dozens of MPs from the Just Russia opposition party left the chamber complaining of Putin’s ‘rudeness’.

The faction’s mayoral candidate Oleg Shein has been on hunger strike for 27 days and there are concerns over his health.

Two dozen supporters are also refusing to eat.

They alleged Putin’s party United Russia ‘stole’ the election by fiddling the ballots, an accusation that is denied.

The walk-out - unthinkable until recently - came when presidentelect Putin told MPs: ‘Your colleague Oleg Shein started the hunger strike but did not appeal to court. This is a bit strange. Why go on hunger strike?’

But Shein claims the authorities barred him obtaining key evidence to back his case in court.

His supporters also claim the city is run by a ‘mafia system’ and

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

MPs walk out of Parliament after Putin mocks politician on hunger strike in protest at ‘rigged’ election the courts are biased.

Putin also today called on Russians to have more children to halt a declining population.

‘For Russia every person counts today,’ Putin said.

‘A strong, happy family with several kids is what the state, society, religious, educational and cultural organisations should unite their efforts around.

‘We should realise that we will come face to face with a serious challenge - the demographic echo of the 1990s when Russia experienced its severest drop in birth rates.

‘We need new decisive steps when it comes to saving and caring for people.’

And he called on Russians to cut down on cigarettes, vodka and illegal drug use.

‘Smoking, alcohol and drug abuse - without any wars or calamities - claim 500,000 lives of our countrymen every year,’ he

warned.

‘This is simply a horrific figure.’

During his address, Putin also called NATO a relic of the Cold War but said he supported letting the alliance use a Russian airport as a supply hub in support of its mission in Afghanistan.

Moscow is studying a request from the Western alliance for use of facilities at an airport in the Volga River city of Ulyanovsk as a transit point for shipments of non-lethal supplies to and from Afghanistan by air, rail and road.

Russia has allowed Afghanbound NATO transport through its territory since 2009 as an alternative to convoys through Pakistan, which have been subject to militant attacks, but no

permanent facility was involved.

‘I consider NATO ... a throwback to the Cold War era. It was created at a time when there was a bipolar system of international relations,’ said Putin, who has frequently criticised the alliance and its eastward expansion.

But, in his last address to parliament as prime minister before his return to the Kremlin next month, Putin dismissed fears that NATO’s use of the Ulyanovsk facility could represent a threat in Russia’s heartland.

‘There will be no NATO base there,’ he said, but only ‘a hop over pad’ for military cargo transit.

‘Therefore I assure you that nothing unusual, not corresponding to our national interests, is

happening there. On the contrary, everything that is being done in this sphere fully corresponds to the national interests of our people,’ he told parliament’s lower house.

In remarks that suggested Russia does not intend to decrease cooperation in Afghanistan, Putin said ‘in some cases NATO is playing the role of a stabiliser in global affairs’ and included the Afghan mission among such cases.

The Soviet Union fought a disastrous war in Afghanistan and Russia ruled out sending troops to aid the U.S.-led invasion after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but Putin president at the time - offered the use of Russian airspace and other support.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Empty seats: Just Russia party leader, Sergei Mironov, sits alone after the majority of his colleagues walked out

Glowering: Russian Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin scowls after MPs walk out of the Duma

Focal point: Astrakhan mayoral candidate Oleg Shein, who has been on a hunger strike for 27 days

Growing unrest: Russian opposition members with white ribbons form a human chain outside the parliament.

The scowling strongman: Despite the once unthinkable defiance by opposition MPs, Mr Putin continued to deliver an aggressive speech in which he also described Nato as a 'Cold War relic'

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 31

Surveillance of American Muslims: A tale of three cities ANALYSIS

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he flood of reports about the New York City Police D e p a r t m e n t ' s surveillance of American Muslims in mosques, restaurants, bookstores and even elementary schools in New York, New Jersey, New Orleans and beyond - has triggered a range of responses around the country. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have defended the programme, suggesting that such wholesale surveillance of Muslims is necessary to keep the City safe.

The NYPD certainly has a formidable task and has protected New Yorkers through times of high alert.

But the reactions of public officials in cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, which have also faced serious terrorist threats, suggest that effective counterterrorism does not require such a stark choice between our liberty and our safety.

Inside Story Americas - Is spying on Muslims legal in the US? Honest efforts to build partnerships with American Muslim communities present an alternative approach to terrorism that has proven to be both successful and respectful of our Constitutional values.

New York City is understandably sensitive to terrorism concerns. As both Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly have repeatedly acknowledged, keeping New York safe requires the police to build trust with American Muslim communities who may be best positioned to provide information necessary to avert a terrorist plot.

Indeed, studies show that up to 40 per cent of the tips that have been used to stop terrorists have come from American Muslims. But the NYPD's decision to monitor Muslim communities solely on the basis of their religion is not conducive to building relationships of trust.

The fraying of the fragile relationship between the police and Muslim New Yorkers has been vividly on display since reports of these programmes first emerged, with several Muslim leaders boycotting the Mayor's annual interfaith breakfast, declining meetings with the Police Commissioner and staging repeated protests outside City Hall.

These connections are vital not only to counterterrorism efforts, but also to ensure that Muslim communities feel comfortable enough communicating with local

Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the programme, suggesting that wholesale surveillance of Muslims is necessary to keep the City safe. police to help solve everyday crimes.

Decades of research show that perceptions of police legitimacy influence the willingness of communities to co-operate with officers. The FBI, which has faced its own challenges with respect to its treatment of Muslim communities, has publicly criticised the NYPD's approach because it has strained relations with American Muslims who have generally "embraced" law enforcement's counterterrorism mission.

NYPD's approach Public officials in other cities have rushed to distance themselves from the NYPD's approach. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city would never permit its officers to spy on Muslim communities as the NYPD has done, promising: "We don't do that in Chicago and we're not going to do that".

As reports emerged that the NYPD had spied on Muslim neighbourhoods in Newark, New Jersey, the Chicago Police Department, now run by the former head of the Newark Police Department, quickly issued an order prohibiting "bias based policing".

In Los Angeles, the Deputy Chief of the Police Department, Michael Downing, stressed that his department considered the Muslim community a key partner in fighting terrorism.

In his view: "There is no reason for us to survey Muslim students or where people buy their meat; that is not suspicious to us. That is how someone lives their life."

Indeed, in 2007, the LAPD considered and rejected a New York-style plan to "map" Muslim communities because of concerted opposition from both Muslim and civil rights groups.

But the difference between

“

Honest efforts to build partnerships with American Muslim communities present an alternative approach to terrorism that has proven to be both successful and respectful of our Constitutional values.

these police departments is not just one of attitude towards American Muslim communities. Los Angeles and Chicago conduct their counterterrorism work primarily in partnership with the FBI. The NYPD, however, houses a stand-alone counterterrorism and intelligence operation that costs taxpayers more than $100 million a year and employs 1,000 officers.

Anger at reports NY police spied on Muslims But unlike the FBI, which is overseen by an Inspector General reporting to Congress, the NYPD's intelligence operation is conducted without any meaningful oversight. If the NYPD insists on modelling itself as a miniFBI, then it should be subject to the same level of oversight - an independent Inspector General.

New Yorkers are grateful to the NYPD for its work in protecting the city. However, our nation's historical commitment to civil liberties and religious tolerance must not be brushed aside by talismanic claims of national security. An Inspector General could bring greater transparency to the murky world of intelligence gathering, serving as an honest broker to determine whether NYPD programmes comply with the law.

By developing and sharing credible information that would allow both our elected leaders and New Yorkers to better evaluate police programmes, the Inspector General could help break the

current cycle of accusations and denials. And such transparency would help restore the badly battered trust between the NYPD and minority communities and lead to a stronger, more effective police force.

Let us not forget that all Americans - Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and atheists alike - are committed to the security of our country and our country will be safest when we all work together towards this goal. Culled from Aljazeera.

Faiza Patel is Co-Director of the Liberty and National Security Programme at the Brennan Centre for Justice. She is also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries. Her articles have been published in the American Journal of International Law, the European Journal of Internation a l L a w , a n d t h e NYU Journal of International Law and Politics.

Michael Price is Counsel of the Liberty and National Security Programme at the Brennan Centre for Justice.

He was the National Security Coordinator for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where he p rovided legal assistance for the defence of detainees in the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. The views expressed in this article are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 32

F

S Sudan rejects UN appeal to withdraw troops

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outh Sudan's president has said his nation will not withdraw its troops that this week entered a disputed border region with Sudan.

Salva Kiir, president of South Sudan, spoke to parliament yestedday in the midst of escalating clashes along the border with Sudan and the bombing of a bridge outside Beintu in which one soldier was killed and two others injured. "[The UN Secretary General] gave me an order," Kir said. "He said I order you to immediately withdraw from Heglig. I said I'm not under your command."

Kir also said the country's military would also re-enter another disputed area, Abyei, currently occupied by Sudan if the UN does not urge Sudan to withdraw.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Juba, the South Sudanese capital, said that South Sudan wants an international mechanism in place before they withdraw from Heglig.

"The president of South Sudan is not going to budge on this," she said. "If bombardment continues, the South Sudanese will go into the tow on Abyei, and this is of extreme concern to the international community."

‌Sudan vows swift response to South’s oilfield grab

x

udan's government promised yesterday to deal "within hours" with South Sudan's occupation of a vital border oilfield and the southern government said it would not leave the area until the threat of attacks by the northern army had gone.

The stand-off follows clashes along the ill-defined border that have brought the neighbours closer to full-blown conflict than any time since the South declared independence last year.

Khartoum was demanding an immediate and unconditional retreat from Heglig, Sudan Foreign Ministry spokesman El-Obeid Morawah told satellite news channel Al Arabiya, calling the incursion "a blatant assault on Sudan's sovereignty".

Ahmed Haroun, governor of Sudan's South Kordofan province, said crude production had stopped in Heglig, which South Sudan claims as its own, but the army was "dealing with the situation".

ormer parliament speaker Dioncounda Traore took over as Mali's interim president yesterday from the leaders of last month's coup, promising to hold elections and fight Tuareg and Islamist rebels occupying half the country.

Traore, 70, a labour activist turned politician, was sworn in by Supreme Court President Nouhoum Tapily in the capital Bamako as part of a deal to restore civilian rule after army officers staged a March 22 coup in the West African state.

The coup shattered predominantly Mulsim Mali's image as one of the most peaceful and stable states in the region.

Triggered by army anger over the previous civilian government's failure to tackle a Tuareg-led rebellion in the north, it backfired spectacularly, allowing the rebels to advance and declare a northern separatist homeland. Al Qaedalinked Islamist fighters are among the occupying rebels.

With residents and U.N. rights experts reporting killings, rapes and looting on the rise in rebel-seized northern towns, there are fears of the vast northern territory becoming a lawless and destabilising "rogue state" in West Africa.

"We will never negotiate the partition of Mali," Traore said in his inauguration speech in which he promised to organise "free and transparent elections over the whole of the national territory".

Former President Amadou Toumani Toure, deposed by last month's coup, formally resigned to facilitate the transition deal with the coup leaders.

"I am president of a country that loves peace," Traore said, wearing the presidential sash over a dark suit.

But he added: "I will not hesitate to wage a deadly and implacable war against the rebels and the hostage-takers who discredit our country". This was a clear reference

Interim Mali leader promises vote, anti-rebel fight

Mali's interim President, Dioncounda Traore greets people at a news conference in the capital Bamako April 11, 2012. to al Qaeda fighters who have held Western hostages in northern Mali.

But despite his brave words, there are no immediate signs that Mali's army, weakened by last month's putsch, is readying any significant offensive against the rebels whose ranks were swelled by arms and Tuareg soldiers who had served slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The 15-state ECOWAS grouping of West African countries, which pressured the Bamako coup leaders to give up power, is preparing an intervention force of up to 3,000 troops. But it has said its mandate is to prevent any

further rebel advances rather than win back the lost territory.

Former colonial power France has offered logistical support but ruled out sending troops.

As Traore was sworn in in the southern capital Bamako, confusion reined over which factions of the diverse rebel movement were controlling what strategic locations in the fabled desert trading city of Timbuktu and the garrison town of Gao. There have been reports of Islamist rebels seeking to apply sharia law among the local population, shutting down bars and ordering women to cover their heads. Other reports have spoken of

looting and gun-toting, turbanwearing fighters roaming the streets, forcing many non-Tuaregs to flee the north.

The top U.N. human rights official, Navi Pillay, condemned reported serious violations being committed against civilians in Mali, and said the situation there risked worsening a grave humanitarian crisis already affecting the drought-plagued Sahel region, as thousands of refugees flee the rebels.

"Reports from the north of the country suggest that civilians have been killed, robbed, raped and forced to flee," Pillay said in a statement released by her office in Geneva.

Algeria's bravest leaders," said Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in a message of condolence read on state television as he announced eight days of national mourning.

Ben Bella's funeral is due to take place today, state media said.

A former soldier in the French army, Ben Bella was a key figure in Algeria's yearslong revolt against French rule, serving time in prison until his release as the North African nation gained independence in 1962, and becoming president in 1963.

But he was overthrown in a military coup in 1965 and kept under house arrest until 1980.

After a subsequent decade in exile in Switzerland, he was pardoned in 1990 and returned to Algeria.

Ben Bella was born in 1916 to a peasant family in Marnia, on Algeria's border with Morocco.

He joined the French army in his late teens, rising to the rank of senior warrant officer, and playing top-flight football for Olympique de Marseille.

He fought with distinction with the Free French Forces in Italy during World War II and won five French decorations including the prestigious Military Medal.

But Ben Bella turned against French rule after the war and was elected municipal councillor for the anti-colonialist "Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties".

When the movement was declared illegal, Ben Bella went underground. Arrested in May 1951, he was interned but staged a dramatic escape two years later.

He fled to Cairo where he was among the architects of the 1954 uprising which began Algeria's war of independence.

Despite being imprisoned by

the French, he was the acknowledged head of the independence movement throughout the revolution and became an icon for the global anti-colonial movement.

Elected president of the newly-independent nation, he ruled extravagantly and erratically for less than three years before being toppled by Colonel Houari Boumedienne, the head of the army.

Until Boumedienne's death 13 years later, Ben Bella became a "non person" in Algeria, as no public mention of his name was allowed in Algeria's state-controlled media.

Boumedienne's successor Chadli Bendje freed Ben Bella from more than a decade of detention without trial, ultimately allowing him to go abroad with his wife Zora and their two adopted daughters.

He headed the opposition Movement for the Democracy in Algeria Party, which competed in the aborted 1991 elections, winning just two per cent of the vote.

His party was banned in 1997, but he continued to live in Algeria, often condemning government policies.

Algerian founding father, Ben Bella, dead at 95

A

hmed Ben Bella, Algeria's first president and one of the leading figures in its independence struggle against France, has died at the age of 95.

Ben Bella, whose death comes just weeks after the 50th anniversary of Algerian independence, passed away at his family home in Algiers on Wednesday, Algerian state media reported.

No cause of death was reported, but Ben Bella had twice been treated for respiratory problems at the military hospital of Ain Naadja.

"Today we lost one of modern

Ahmed Ben Bella was known for his pan-Arabist, anti-colonial idealogy after World War II

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 33

Saudi defence minister in US for key talks

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efence Minister Prince Salman held talks with US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon here on Tuesday, soon after arriving here.

They discussed major regional issues as well as ways of strengthening bilateral cooperation.

Prince Salman was accompanied by Minister of State Musaed Al-Aiban, Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel AlJubeir, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Al-

Ayesh, commander of Royal Saudi Air Force, Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Al-Binayan, director general of Prince Salman's office, and other top officials.

In an arrival statement, Prince Salman said he would meet with US President Barack Obama and senior American officials. He thanked Panetta for extending him an official invitation to visit the United States.

He said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's visit to the US in 2005 had played a big role in taking the historic Saudi-American

relations to new heights.

"Our present visit comes as per the directives of King Abdullah to boost bilateral relations as well as to work jointly to reinforce peace, security and stability in the region," Prince Salman said.

Prince Salman was greeted on arrival in Washington by Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, assistant minister for petroleum affairs, other princes and senior officials including Al-Jubeir.

Prince Salman arrived here Tuesday from London where he was

seen off by Air Chief Marshal Sir Simon Bryant, deputy commander of the British Royal Air Force, Prince Muhammad bin Nawaf, Saudi ambassador to the UK and other senior officials.

During his visit to the UK, his first after becoming the defense minister, Prince Salman held talks with Prime Minister David Cameron, Defense Secretary Philip Hammond and Foreign Secretary William Hague on strengthening bilateral relations.

Prince Salman received Gen.

James Mattis, commander of US Central Command, and John O. Brennan, assistant to US president for homeland security and counterterrorism, at his place of residence on Wednesday.

They discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and issues of mutual concern.

Minister of State Musaed Al-Aiban, Saudi Ambassador to US Adel Jubair, US Ambassador to the Kingdom James Smith, and other Saudi and US officials also attended the reception.

UAE recalls envoy from Iran in row over Gulf Island

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he UAE has recalled its ambassador to Tehran for consultations after what it called a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who visited a Gulf island claimed by both countries.

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that Ahmadinejad visited Abu Musa Island, some 60 km (40 miles) off the United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday as part of a tour of Iran's Gulf coast.

Both countries claim Abu Musa and two other small islands, located near key shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf. The islands have been held by Iran since 1971, shortly before the seven Gulf emirates gained full independence from Britain and formed the UAE. UAE's state news agency WAM said yesterday the envoy had been recalled for consultations, without giving further details.

Ahmadinejad's visit "is a flagrant violation of the United Arab Emirates' sovereignty over

its territory and a transgression of efforts to find a peaceful settlement to end Iranian occupation of the three UAE islands," UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed alNahayan was quoted as saying

by WAM on Wednesday.

Abdullatif al-Zayani, head of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned the visit as "provocative" and a violation of UAE sovereignty, WAM reported.

The UAE also cancelled a friendly match with Iran's national soccer team which was due to be held on Tuesday in the Gulf Arab state, the UAE Football Association said on its website.

In Tehran, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein AmirAbdollahian rejected the protests and said Ahmadinejad's visit was an "internal Iranian matter", the semi-official Fars news agency said.

Amir-Abdollahian said Iran was determined to improve bilateral ties and was ready for a dialogue with the UAE to resolve "possible misunderstandings".

Defense Minister Prince Salman arrives in the US on an official visit.

Protests in Syria as truce ‘partly observed’

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n internationally brokered ceasefire in Syria is only being "partially observed", the opposition says, as state television reported that a roadside bomb had killed an army officer.

Heavy weapons and government troops remain deployed in cities, the main opposition bloc said yesterday, hours after the truce deadline at dawn.

"There is no evidence of a significant withdrawal," the Syrian National Council's spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani said.

"The ceasefire is ... only partially observed ... To us it clear that ceasefire implied withdrawal of all heavy weaponry from cities, populated areas. This has not happened."

Kodmani also said three people had been killed in the towns of Idlib and Hama since the truce, negotiated by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, was to go into effect at 6am (03:00GMT).

Meanwhile, the government said "terrorists" were trying to

sabotage the UN-backed peace plan.

State media reported that a roadside bomb in Syria's second city, Aleppo, killed an army officer.

"An armed terrorist group used an explosive device to target a bus transporting officers and non-commissioned officers to their unit in Aleppo. It killed a lieutenant colonel and wounded 24 other people" at 8am (05:00GMT), the official SANA news agency reported.

Activists reported antigovernment protests at universities in the southern city of Deraa, Aleppo in the north, and the eastern city of Deir elZor. A protest march was also held in the northern village of Tamanaa.

Annan said he was "encouraged" that Syria was realitevly calm yesterday.

"I am encouraged by reports that the situation in Syria is relatively quiet and that the cessation of hostilities appears to be holding," he said.

"Syria is apparently experiencing a rare moment of

L-R: Niger Republic President Issoufou Mahamadou, in a handshake with President Goodluck Jonathan, during Mahamadou visit to the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Anti-government protesters gathered in Idlib yesterday

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Obama looks to Americas’ summit to lift Latino support

U

.S. President Barack Obama takes his reelection campaign to Colombia this weekend, using the Summit of the Americas as a platform to tout his trade record and convince millions of Hispanic voters back home he cares about the region.

Spending time with leaders

in Cartagena, Colombia, is a way for Obama to fight an impression he has neglected Latin America since taking office in 2009 to focus instead on hot spots like Afghanistan, Libya and the Middle East.

Obama needs the support of Latino voters to win key states like Arizona, Colorado and Florida in

the November 6 vote. He will stop in Florida, whose large Hispanic population may be pivotal to his prospects, on the way to the summit on Friday to talk up trade opportunities with Latin America.

Though the Democratic president is polling well ahead of Republicans with Latino

voters, many have been disappointed by his failure to deliver on a campaign promise for immigration reform and by record deportation numbers during his presidency.

The Obama administration's push to deepen economic ties with Asia has further frustrated many Hispanics who would have liked the Obama White House to pay more attention to Latin America.

"It makes it seem as if it doesn't have a focus for the Americas," said Stephen Johnson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

The Colombia visit will be Obama's fourth trip to Latin America as president. He will also go to Mexico in June for a Group of 20 leaders' summit.

In Cartagena, Obama is expected to come under pressure to lift Washington's embargo on Cuba and rethink the war on drugs, both issues he is unlikely to delve into with his re-election campaign in full swing.

The president will seek instead to emphasize commercial ties that could sprout from U.S. trade deals with Colombia and Panama and potential energy projects with Brazil and elsewhere that could help boost hiring in the United States.

current World Bank president, Robert Zoellick, when he steps down. They are Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi OkonjoIweala and former Colombian Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo.

The job has traditionally gone to an American.

A decision on Zoellick's successor is expected to be made public by the time the bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, hold semi-annual meetings in Washington April 20-22.

Dartmouth College president Jim Yong Kim, U.S. President Barack Osama's nominee for president of the World Bank, reaches out to shake hands as he arrives for meetings at the bank's headquarters in Washington, April 11, 2012.

markets to come to his rescue, that is not in the country's interest," Hollande said on France 2 television.

"What is in France's interest is fighting speculation, not encouraging it under the pretext of helping him in the presidential election."

Sarkozy - whose main asset in a close-fought duel against the popular but inexperienced Hollande is his record of managing Europe's debt crisis has increasingly played on fears that France under a left-wing government committed to raising spending could lose investor confidence.

Unveiling his manifesto last week, he said Hollande would

lead France towards the fate of Greece or Spain.

Hollande is running on a taxand-spend programme which he says would bring France to a balanced budget a year later than Sarkozy's manifesto. Economists say Hollande's spending plans would need to be scaled back to keep France's efforts to reduce its deficit on track. The targets are seen as crucial to Paris retaining investor faith at a time when the euro zone debt crisis refuses to abate.

"If we start hiring civil servants, if we will start spending again, if we throw the pension reform into question, it's not a risk that interest rates will rise, it's a certainty," Sarkozy said on Wednesday.

US’s World Bank nominee heads to Russia, Peru

T

S

ocialist presidential frontrunner Francois Hollande accused Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday of encouraging market speculation for electoral gain, after the president said victory for Hollande could spur a crisis of confidence in France.

The exchange came as another opinion poll by the LH2 agency showed Hollande winning the coming duel with Sarkozy.

With tensions between the two rivals mounting 10 days before the first presidential election round on April 22, Sarkozy has warned that markets could take flight from French securities if Hollande wins power in a May 6 runoff.

"The people do not want to have some kind of diktat imposed on them from outside, so when Nicolas Sarkozy tries to call the

E

vo Morales, the Bolivian president, has said he was rescinding the contract awarded to Brazil's OAS to build a road through the Amazon forest, casting further doubt on a project that unleashed fierce antigovernment protests last year.

Morales announced the decision to "annul" the contract on Wednesday, seeking to ease tensions over the $420m project that sparked strong opposition from within the president's indigenous support base.

"We've started a process to annul the road construction contract, which was granted to OAS, because the company hasn't complied [with the terms]," he said, adding that the company had suspended work "without justification or authorisation."

Morales partially halted work on the most controversial stretch of the road in September.

The Andean nation's first president of indigenous descent said the decision would affect the two stretches of road at either end of the route.

The contract for the middle section - which passes through the Isiboro Secure indigenous territory and national park (TIPNIS) - lapsed last year after work was halted there, Morales said.

He did not say whether OAS would be compensated or how the road's construction might continue. OAS declined to comment.

BNDES, Brazil's state development bank, was due to fund about 80 per cent of the project, which has been at the centre of Bolivian politics for nearly a year.

Morales, a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has put the road scheme at the heart of his efforts to boost infrastructure investment.

But mass protests against road-building in the TIPNIS area have complicated his development push and raised questions about his commitment to indigenous rights and protecting the environment.

Colombian attorney Silvio Carrasquilla cleans a poster of U.S. President Barack Obama and his family which he hung on a wall inside his home in Turbaco, near Cartagena, April 11, 2012.

he U.S. nominee to take over leadership of the World bank, Jim Yong Kim, is heading to Moscow and to Lima, Peru, on April 12-17 to seek support for his candidacy, the Treasury Department said on Thursday.

Kim, a public-health expert and former president of Dartmouth College, has already been in Asia and parts of Latin and Central America to meet finance chiefs. On Wednesday, he was interviewed by World Bank directors.

Two other candidates also are vying to succeed the

Bolivia’s Morales ‘to annul’ road contract

French presidential rivals spar over markets

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) and Socialist Party presidential candidate hopeful Francois Hollande speak as they visit a sawmill in Tra-le-Bos, central France, April 28, 2011.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 35

The baby killed because it was a girl: Three-month-old Afreen gives up fight for life after being ‘brutalised by her own father’ for not being born a boy

F

or about a week, she tried hard to hold on and fight hard.

But allegedly brutalised by her father for being born a girl, she stood little chance.

Baby Neha Afreen died after a cardiac arrest in a government hospital in Bangalore on Wednesday morning.

The three-month-old baby was admitted to the Vani Vilas Hospital on Thursday night, April 5, with a severe head injury, dislocated neck and bite and burn marks on her body.

Her father Umar Farooq, a car painter, is accused of inflicting the injuries on her because he wanted a male child.

Though Afreen had showed signs of recovery on Tuesday, her condition deteriorated by evening because of repeated convulsions.

'She was in semi-comatose state since Tuesday evening. We had put her on life support system. Unfortunately, she could not make it,' said Dr Some Gowda, medical superintendent of the hospital.

The hospital authorities were awaiting a team of doctors from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences for assistance because the baby had suffered internal head injuries.

But Afreen could no longer fight. She had hurried respiration of 30-40 per minute against the normal 20-25 and also pathycardia, or increased heart rate.

She breathed her last at 11.10 am shortly after a cardiac arrest.

The baby's mother, 19-yearold Reshma Banu, was inconsolable when the doctors broke the news to her. Afreen was her only child and she had been in a state of shock since Thursday.

Reshma claims that her 37year-old drunkard husband used to beat her up since Afreen was born.

Last Thursday, he came home drunk in the evening and abused her again for giving birth to a girl.

When Reshma went off to sleep, Farooq is accused of stuffing clothes into Afreen's mouth to muffle her cries and hitting her

Baby Afreen: The three-month-old died at Vani Vilas Hospital in Bangalore after her own father allegedly beat her because she was born a girl instead of the son he desired

Devastated: Mother Reshma Bano wails as she holds the body of her three-month-old daughter Neha Afreen outside a hospital morgue in Bangalore. with a blunt object.

Reshma, who woke up in the middle of the night, saw the baby suffering convulsions.

She informed her husband, who appeared uninterested.

When the baby vomited blood, Farooq fled.

With the help of her neighbours, Reshma hospitalised Afreen. It's alleged Farooq had assaulted the child twice in the past but Reshma did not complain because she wanted to save the marriage.

Once, he had bitten the baby.

On another occasion, Reshma found cigarette burn marks on her forehead and back.

Reshma was initially afraid of approaching the police. The hospital authorities informed the

Child Welfare Committee, which prevailed upon her to lodge a complaint against her husband.

Farooq, who went absconding after the alleged assault of his own daughter, was arrested on Sunday and is now in judicial custody till April 21. He will now face murder charges.

The baby's death has outraged the civil society just weeks after the story of Baby Falak had shocked the country.

The Karnataka state commission for protection of child rights demanded that Afreen's death be treated as a murder case because the attack on the baby was intentional.

The state human rights commission has sent a notice to Bangalore city police

commissioner B. G. Jyothi Prakash Mirji to personally oversee the case and report in two weeks.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Shantha Sinha demanded speedy action against the father.

Killing of the female foetus and the girl child is rampant in India where even the educated and the rich are known to prefer male child.

According to the 2011 Census report, the sex ratio in India stands at 914 females per 1,000 males.

A Unicef report said sex selective abortion by unethical medical professionals has grown into a Rs 1,000-crore industry.

The seven most prosperous people on the resurrection day (V) Contd. from Page 26 die from hunger than disobeying my Lord, and went away crying.

I realized that she wasn't bearing the starvation, so I followed her and heard her reciting some verses from the Qur'an and praising Allah.

This strengthened the faith in my heart and the love to do good deeds, and I repented to Allah.

Then I called for her saying: come and take what you want for the sake of Allah. She took the food then raised her hands to the sky the direction of supplication and said: O Allah as you guided and enlightened his heart, make his supplication always fulfilled.”

The world that we live today is full of support and help for anybody who wants to disobey Allah for free! Disobedience to Allah is a deed heavily

recompensed by people who are always ready to pay any amount for the sinners to sin more. Today there are many local and international organization, governmental and private who are everywhere to protect and abate indecencies. It has been reported that the biggest industries in the world today are three; liquor, gambling and harlotry!

Adultery, fornication, sodomy, lesbianism and pedophilia have become the signs of civilization. Abstaining from indulging into one or more of these vices, is seen as a phobia of a sort. If you want to be respected, do not shy away from making your inclination public. In a gathering of the elites here in Nigeria some time ago, a former executive president also known for his chronic adulteration warned the gathering of a women

snatcher from amongst the new generation executive governors.

When it was the turn of the governor to address the crowd, he replied that he was a saint in contrast with some of the guests here; he was only chasing beautiful young ladies, he does not indulge in sodomy!

I remember another Hadith I read a very long time ago! The meaning was that a time will come when a father will commit adultery in front of his wife and children, a mother will engage in adultery before her husband and children, and the children will commit fornication in front of their parent! is it not this time when the whole family and their guest will be submerged and gripped into the suspense and the adult scenes of an American thriller movie? Who then amongst us is an escapee from

this big trap?!

This world is full of temptations which mostly come from women. Many a man has led his soul into destruction on account of the lure of a woman, perhaps that is why the Prophet warned his Ummah specifically about this in a Hadith narrated

by Abu Sa'id al-Khudri. He said: “The world is sweet and green and verily Allah is going to install you as successors upon it in order to see how you act. So avoid the allurement of women: verily the first trial for the Children of Isra'il was caused by women.” Muslim : vol.4, p.1432, no.6606] A person who fears Allah is the most honorable personality in well informed society. His or her fears Allah, would not allow him or her lie or display any behaviour unpleased by Allah.

One who fears Allah deep in his

or her heart, would oversee the interests of others and not his own alone, would think of other's relieve and security and would always try to show kindheartedness and favour to the people around him; low or high.

Finally, a person who fears Allah would have all attitudes belonging to excellent morality such as sincerity, honesty, cordialness, fidelity, commitment and dedication. in whole, the most important provision which we all need to help us guard ourselves from all temptations in life, and into that only shade is the fear (khawf/ taqwa) of Allah.

Allah says: “And as for him who feared standing before his Lord and restrained himself from impure evil desires, verily Paradise will be his abode.” [an-Nazi'at: 40].

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Bullying can actually damage your immune system, say researchers B

ullying can result in the immune system suffering, says a new study on monkeys.

Lead author Jenny Tung from Duke University in North Carolina studied rhesus macaques and found that when one was introduced to a new group, which results in it having the lowest status, it became stressed and its immune system dropped in efficiency.

The team believe that the social stress that moulds a monkey’s immune system could help researchers understand how stress affects humans.

Primate researchers can tell macaques’ social rank by watching them engage in

competitive interactions, such as grooming and accessing food and water.

Tung and her colleagues studied 10 groups of female macaques in which researchers could manipulate individuals’ social rank.

Before being placed into new groups, all of the macaques started out as middle rank.

‘In the wild, macaques inherit their social rank from their mothers,’ Tung said. ‘But in our research, the order of introduction determines rank. The newcomer is generally lower status. When some macaques’ status changed after a newcomer arrived, so did their patterns of immune system gene activity.’

Researchers found that being bullied is not good for your health.

Monkey business: Researchers found that rhesus macaques' social environment affected their immune system

The researchers used microarrays, a technology that allows them to scan thousands of genes and read the expression levels, to look at the macaques’ immune cells. The gene activity that changed the most depending on social rank was what controlled inflammation.

Previous studies have found lower status macaques have higher levels of inflammation and have changes in their levels of hormones that indicate they’re under more stress.

Based on the pattern of gene activity, the researchers could, without looking at a monkey’s

identity, predict whether that animal was high (rank one or two), middle or low (rank four or five) with 80 per cent accuracy.

Seven monkeys’ social ranks changed because other individuals were moved. When this happened, the researchers were able to take blood samples before and after the shift.

The gene scans revealed the pattern of immune system activity changed along with these monkeys’ social ranks.

Here, social rank post-shift could be predicted to 86 per cent accuracy (six out of seven).

‘There’s a concerning side to

this kind of research, in that an individual’s social environment probably partially determines health status,’ Tung said.

Her colleague Dr Mark Wilson added: ‘But there’s also a hopeful side. For the seven females that changed ranks, their gene status changed with them.

‘That they are not stuck in place says something more broadly about the capacity for change within human society.

With these studies, we are showing we do have the ability to advance from our roots and live more healthful lives.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Struggling to sleep? You’ll pile on the pounds H ave you been getting enough beauty sleep lately? If not, this might

encourage you to turn in a little earlier.

According to scientists, getting

Increase: It was calculated that when the volunteers slept for less than five and a half hours they burned off 120 fewer calories that day. Over the course of a year this would lead them to put on 12.5 pounds, just under a stone

less than five and a half hours of sleep a night could see you gain nearly a stone in a year.

They say that even if diet and exercise habits remained the

Sleepy: According to scientists, getting less than five and a half hours of sleep a night could see you gain nearly a stone in a year

same, the changes in the body’s metabolism can cause the pounds to pile on.

The team of researchers believe this could explain why people tend to become larger as they get older and often struggle to get enough sleep at night.

They also think it could explain why night shift workers who struggle to sleep during the day are more prone to being overweight.

The academics from Boston compared the effects of sleep on 21 volunteers over six weeks.

They started off having ten hours of sleep a night but this was then reduced to just over five and a half hours at any time during the day.

Often volunteers were attempting to doze off during the day time when their body clock was telling them that they should be up and about.

The researchers found that when the subjects were deprived of sleep their metabolism rate dropped by 12 per cent.

This is energy needed to maintain the body’s normal functions such as the lungs

breathing and heart beating.

If this rate comes down, less energy or calories will be used up so weight will be gained – even if exercise levels and diets are unchanged.

It was calculated that when the volunteers slept for less than five and a half hours they burned off 120 fewer calories that day.

Over the course of a year this would lead them to put on 12.5 pounds, just under a stone.

The researchers said this could explain why people who work at night are more likely to develop obesity and diabetes. Their body clock or ‘circadian rhythm’ is disrupted so they are unable to sleep as well during the daytime and their metabolism slows down.

Dr Orfeu Buxton, whose study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, said: ‘Since night workers often have a hard time sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day.

‘Getting enough sleep is important for health, and sleep should be at night for best effect.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 37

Accord Party guber candidate testifies for PDP in Kogi

T

Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, addresses Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members that decamped to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), yesterday at Igarra, Akoko Edo Local Government, in Edo state.

Face governance and your health problems, PDP tells Aregbesola From Ayodele Samuel,Lagos

T

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest has admonished the Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola to face governance and his obvious health problems, instead of raising false alarm that there were threats to his life.

The PDP said the call became necessary following the governor’s admission in newspaper interviews last year that he was in India to do PET scan, adding that “If there is any threat to Aregbesola’s life, it must be from the health problems that took him to India last year.”

PDP Zonal Publicity Secretary, Hon Kayode Babade, said in a statement issued yesterday that

by Aregbesola’s confession in an interview published in the Leadership newspaper of September 11, 2011 that he was in India to do Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, no one should be in doubt as to health

challenges facing the governor.

“It is on record that Aregbesola said by himself that; ‘My local Medical Doctor had insisted that I need Medical check-up and I should do PET scan or clinical image and the only place in the world that is good is India.’

“In medicine, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging technology that allows physicians to visualize the body’s abnormal cellular activity. PET scans produce digital pictures that can, in many cases, aid the physician in identifying several forms of cancer, damaged heart tissue and brain disorders.

“The reality is that, if Aregbesola was asked by his own personal doctor to examine his body system, especially his brain, no one should be in doubt that something is wrong with him.

“Even his behaviour since he came back needs further analysis especially his utterances, and most importantly the burning of his bedroom in the Government House

with him locking the door and travelling to Lagos as the place was on fire.

“Therefore, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) should stop making noise about anyone planning to kill Aregbesola.

Rather, the party should show love to the governor by advising him to pay more attention to his health, which poses greater challenges to his life,” PDP said.

On the alleged ‘intelligence report’ referred to by the ACN, the PDP said “Our position is clear, we only called on security agencies in the country to investigate what we viewed as threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria, and we are not the one to teach the security people their job.

“However, from the ACN’s statement, it shows clearly that the party has something to hide and is afraid of the consequences of its sinister plots against Nigeria, which Aregbesola is coordinating.”

Election Tribunal fixes April 16 for Badagry LG chairman to open defence

T

he Lagos state Local Government Election Petitions Tribunal yesterday fixed April 16 for the Badagry Local Government Chairman, Mr Moses Husitode, to open his defence in the petition filed against him.

The PDP Chairmanship Candidate, Mustapha Adisa Dada, had filed a petition against the ACN candidate, Husitode, who was declared the elected Council Chairman, alleging irregularities and fraud in the poll.

Adisa, who also joined the Lagos state Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC) and 12 others, urged the tribunal to

declare him winner as he won 7,350 votes, as against the 6,383 votes scored by Husitode.

At the resumed hearing of the petition on Thursday, counsel for the petitioner, Mr Azeez Olagoke, told the tribunal that the DPO, Badagry Police Division, Mr Aliko Dankoli, was only served with his bench warrant today (April 12).

“It was only this morning that the Sheriff was able to serve the witness with the warrant, as ordered by the tribunal, to enable the respondents to cross-examine him.

“Unfortunately, he could not be here and the tribunal cannot continue to wait as this is an election matter that requires all urgency and

should be determined at the shortest time, so the petitioner will be closing its case,’’ he said.

Counsel for the respondents, Mr Ezekiel Afolayan, however, told the tribunal that he was not ready to waive his right to crossexamine the witness, saying that the rules of the court were clear that once a witness gives evidence, he should be cross-examined.

The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Francis Owobiyi, however, held that hearing of the petition would continue, while the issue of expunging the evidence from the tribunal’s records could be addressed at the counsel’s final written address.

he Accord Party Governorship Candidate in Kogi, Mr Fred Odiah, told the Kogi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Lokoja yesterday that the Dec. 3, 2011 governorship election was free and fair.

Odiah, who was among the witnesses who testified for the PDP at the Tribunal, said that Gov. Idris Wada won the election in most of the polling units in his ward under peaceful atmosphere.

The PDP called 26 witnesses as it opened its case in the petition filed by the ACN Governorship Candidate, Alhaji Abubakar Audu, who is challenging the election of Wada as the Governor of Kogi.

The Accord Party FlagBearer said under cross examination that he voted at Mammy, Otokiti village polling unit in Lokoja, adding that the election in his ward was free, fair and devoid of violence.

Odiah said that he polled 1,102 in the said election and had no reason to contest the outcome of the election.

He also told the tribunal that he went home after casting his vote and did not visit other polling units.

Odiah said that he could not get first hand information from other wards because there was restriction on movement of

people during the election.

Another witness, Baba Abdul, who registered and voted in Odu-Ogboyaga unit 001 in Dekina Local Government Area, said that 400 voters were accredited on the queue at the commencement of the voting but the total votes cast rose to 1,180.

Yakubu Achimugu, the Ward Supervisor for Ogegele Ward in Idah Local Government Area, said the election in the six units was free and fair.

He said that the ACN Ward Supervisor signed the election results (Forms EC8) and did not complain.

However, Ade Abubakar, the Ward Supervisor for Otutu Ward in Okene and Musa Sani of Okehi Local Government Area, could not say why the accreditation and voting spaces in the forms were not ticked.

The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Suleiman Ambursa, cautioned the Petitioner’s Counsel to refrain from asking questions on INEC documents.

Ambursa said the witnesses were not the makers of the documents and could not answer questions on the content.

Meanwhile, the tribunal has adjourned till April 13, for continuation of hearing on the petition.

Kaduna Assembly passes prerogative of mercy law

T

he Kaduna State House of Assembly yesterday passed the amended the Prerogative of Mercy Bill into law to make it more inclusive and effective.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this followed the adoption of a report submitted by the Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, Mr Irmiya Kantiok, at the plenary session in Kaduna.

The committee was mandated by the House to study and review the Kaduna State Cap No: 4 of 1991, otherwise known as the Prerogative of Mercy Advisory Committee Law of 1991.

Presenting the report, Kantiok told his colleagues that the law called for a review to ensure quick dispensation of justice in the state.

He explained that the review was necessitated by an executive bill submitted to the House by Gov. Patrick Yakowa.

According to Kantiok, a striking recommendation of the report is the appointment of one representative each from the three Senatorial Zones of the state.

The revised law also

empowers the governor to grant mercy to deserving inmates and remove any member due to mental or body incapacitation.

Kantiok explained that the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the State would chair the committee while the Police Commissioner and Commissioner for Information would serve as members.

However, the Minority Leader, Dr Shehu Danfulani, pointed out that such an open inclusion without specifying the calibre of the appointees could politicise the committee and jeopardise the intended justice delivery service.

Danfulani’s fears were allayed by other members on the grounds that the nomination and subsequent appointment into the committee would be approved by the legislature after a thorough screening exercise.

After members’ contributions, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Dr Mato Dogara, who presided over the sitting, announced the passage of the bill into law. He directed the Clerk of the House to communicate same to the governor

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Suswam bags socio-economic award in Washington

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

B

enue state governor, Dr. Gabriel Suswam has been honoured with the 'Nigeria SocioEconomic Award' by the Africa Leadership Magazine, in Washinton, the U.S.A. The governor, according to the magazine, was recognized for his contributions in agriculture, infrastructure, health and education.

The Magazine is published in partnership with the African Business Round Table, is chaired by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the new National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

The award which held at the Park Hyatt Hotel Washington was attended

by African diplomats, corporate executives and professionals of diverse backgrounds including Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof Adebowale Adefuye.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Special Adviser Media and Public Affairs to the governor, Dr Cletus Akwaya, indicated that the governor pleaded with the international community not to give up

on Nigeria irrespective of the country's challenges.

"I want to invite you to come to Benue state, come to Nigeria and please don't give up on us" he told the audience.

Speaking through the Secretary to State Government, Dr. David Salifu, Suswam said Nigeria has a lot to give to the world adding that progress was being made in spite of the security challenges in the country to make the country suitable for investment.

On his part, the Nigerian Ambassador to the US, Prof Adefuye, urged international investors to emphasize the positive side of Nigeria in making their investment decisions.

Former PDP chairman, youth leader, 40 others defect to ACN From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

F

ormer Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo state, Barr. Edward Sado, former Councilor and Youth Leader of the Party, Peter Ekun were among those who led over 40 others to defect to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in two separate rallies at Okpella and Akoko Edo yesterday.

Addressing the mammoth crowd, the former PDP chairman, who acknowledged the good works which the Comrade Governor was doing in the state said the people of the state have been emancipated under his leadership.

“Comrade Adams

Oshiomhole is an encyclopedia of good governance for the people of Edo State. I know him as a man that does not go back on his words. I have watched keenly and carefully while in PDP and I saw the good works, so I decided to join the Action Congress of Nigeria to be part of the development,” Osado asserted.

While receiving the defectors which also included members of the traditional council, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole assured that development will be accelerated in Okpella and the PDP will be pulled down in Edo State.

Besides, in Akoko Edo local government area of the state, a large number of PDP faithful across the ten wards were led by the PDP Youth Leader, Peter

Ekun to join the Action Congress of Nigeria.

At the carnival-like event were other PDP stalwarts, Monday Balogun, Chief Patrick Ashama and Madam Cordelia Iyobu who trooped out with their supporters to join the ACN. Peter Ekun said they were happy to leave the PDP because they were fed up with the lies of the leaders. According to him, they all decided to join the ACN, campaign and vote for Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to continue the good works he has started across the state.

On her part, Madam Iyobu, who is also the spokesperson of The Eagle Women, said the women in the local government have agreed to vote for the Action Congress of Nigeria.

“Those who are Christians,

wizards and witches have all agreed that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is coming back for the second tenure,” she added.

“In the last election, we won while you all were still in the PDP, but now that you have joined us, our victory in the next election is guaranteed. We would do justice to all persons without discrimination” he assured.

According to him, when the PDP was in government for ten years, they produced individual millionaires, privatized Okpella Cement which they closed down and built fake factories existing only on paper.

“It was a story of lamentation. From the local government councils to the state government they said it was zero allocation, civil servants were not being paid.

Yobe PDP defies INEC, inaugurates executives

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he National vice Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Northeast, Senator Girgir Lawan yesterday said that he will inaugurate the

party's executives at all levels in Yobe state on Saturday.

Speaking on the telephone Girgir said “Because I take orders only from the National Secretariat of the PDP and not INEC.” Gingir also said that he

was not aware of any latter from INEC to the PDP headquarters over the flawed congresses in some states including Yobe.

He further said that the PDP National secretariat did not stop or advise him on it

therefore he would go ahead with the inauguration as it was slated on Saturday.

It would be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had written a letter to the ruling PDP advising it

to reschedule the ward, Local Government Areas and state congresses due to non compliance with provisions of the PDP constitution and guidelines and the Electoral Act in some states.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 39

Kebbi ACN to challenge Dakingaris election at Tribunal

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he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Kebbi has concluded plans to challenge the election of Gov. Saidu Dakingari, at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, an official said.

Chairman of the party in the

state, Alhaji Aliu Bature, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday that the re-run election had violated several provisions of the electoral Act. Bature said the party would also challenge the decision of

the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to allow the ACN to substitute its governorship candidate, after its official candidate defected to another party.

He said that the ACN at the

national level had officially notified INEC of the situation and sought for permission to substitute its candidate, but ”to our dismay no official response was given by INEC”.

He said that democracy envisaged that every segment should be given

equal right and opportunity especially in electoral contest, “but what happened here was contrary to democratic tenets”.

NAN reports that the ACN candidate, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu, had defected to the PDP few days to the re-run election.

Rep bemoans high rate of unemployment

S

unday Adepoju, the member representing Ido/Ibarapa East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives has urged government at all levels to tackle the high rate of unemployment in the country.

Adepoju made the plea on Wednesday when he paid a visit to the Oyo State Correspondents’ Chapel office at Omitowoju, Ibadan He hinged the high unemployment rate on epileptic power supply which had negatively impacted on the real sector.

“Lack of power has crippled the efforts of many artisans and had thrown many proprietors out of business,” he said.

“Adepoju expressed worry over the energy problem in the country, saying the high cost diesel was taking a toll on industries as well as small and medium enterprises.

“Many of the big companies operating in the country have left owing to power problem,” he said.

Adepoju also said Nigeria must strengthen the railways , noting that it was best suited for the transportation needs of its citizens.

He said the National Assembly was trying its best through legislation to boost the transportation sector.

“We are spending much money on the roads first so that when the roads are good, we will record less traffic accidents,’’ he said.

Gov. Elechi declares public holiday to celebrates victories over opponents

T

he people of Ebonyi trooped out in large number in Abakaliki on Wednesday to celebrate Gov. Martin Elechi’s three victories over opponents.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the celebration, which disrupted commercial activities, culminated in a thanksgiving service at the Abakaliki Township Stadium.

NAN also learnt that the celebration was a demonstration of the people’s gratitude to God for ensuring the governor’s victories at the Election Petition Tribunal, Appeal Court and the Supreme Court.

Commercial banks did not open to their customers as the state government declared a public holiday.

Major roads in the town were barricaded between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., as stern looking mobile policemen and other security agencies prevented motorists from using the roads.

Speaking at the occasion, Elechi said that God enabled him to triumph over his adversaries at each stage of legal battle.

“We passed through a lot to achieve this victory including the large-scale violence witnessed during the elections and the trying periods of electoral litigation.

“I commend the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other religious bodies for their fervent prayers during the elections and litigation

processes,” he said.

The governor identified low level of education and poverty as factors responsible for the high level of violence during the elections.

“The opposition devised several antics to wrest power from us, including the use of embarrassing utterances and gimmicks on the clergy and members of the judiciary.

“They also wrote series of petitions to the Presidency, alleging that the state was ungovernable to attract the declaration of state of emergency,” he said.

In his sermon, a Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr Abraham Nwali, called on the state government to consolidate on its developmental projects in the state.

“I also urge the government to devise means of reconciling with the opposition in order to ensure peace and overall development of the state,” he said. (NAN)

R-L: Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, presenting garden eggs and kolanut to Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu- Waziri Tambuwal, during the latter’s visit to the country home of deputy speaker, recently at Mbutu in Aboh mbaise, in Abia state.

Group gives award to Political Adviser to President Jonathan

A

lhaji Ahmed Gulak, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Political Affairs, has been given the award of a “great mobiliser”.

The award was bestowed on him in Abuja on Wednesday by “Friends of Goodluck Jonathan’’, a pro-Jonathan group that canvassed for his election.

In a speech at the occasion, Mr Emmanuel Ekpeyo, the National Chairman of the group, described Gulak as a detribalised Nigerian, a lover of peace, a great defender of democracy, and a social and political mobiliser.

He commended the President for appointing Gulak, the former leader of the group, as his Special Adviser on Political Affairs.

Ekpeyo appealed to the Federal Government to convert the offices of the organisation in the 36 states to skill acquisition centres to train youths and reduce unemployment.

He also appealed to the government to involve more youths and women in decisionmaking.

He urged the government to use the savings from the removal of petrol subsidy to

provide infrastructure for the people.

In his remarks, Gulak urged members of the group to support government’s transformation agenda.

He stressed the need for Nigerians to maintain peace and unity for the nation to make progress.

“We must all come together to deal with the challenge of insecurity in Nigeria, particularly in the northern part of the country.

“This honour will mean nothing to me if Nigerians are not united to support President Jonathan.”

Anambra swears-in acting President of Customary Court of Appeal

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ov. Peter Obi of Anambra has advised the newly-appointed Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal of the state to build on the successes of his predecessor.

Obi said this in Awka recently during the swearingin ceremony of Mr Samuel Okoye as the Acting President of Anambra Customary Court of Appeal.

The governor assured that

his government was committed to building a new judicial system in the state.

Obi also thanked the outgoing president of the court, Mrs Chinwe Amaechi, who retired at the age of 65 on March 8.

Also speaking, Amaechi expressed happiness that she was able to contribute her quota to the growth of the judiciary in the state during her tenure.

‘‘I pray that the new president would build on the existing structures, carry all along and shun personal interests in order to achieve more than I did. I trust his capabilities,” she said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Registrar of the Court, Mrs Cordelia Chukwura, presented the newly-appointed Acting President of the court to the

governor and the state Attorney-General, Mr Emmanuel Chukwuma.

The oath of allegiance was taken by the newly-appointed president of the court who promised to work in line with the dictates of the constitution.

He thanked the state governor for allowing due process in the judicial system and assured that he would not disappoint him.

PAGE 40

Nyako vs Gundiri: Forensic counting begins From Blessing Tunoh, Yola

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equel to an order by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Yola that election materials be inspected with forensic and biometric devices, the exercise has finally commenced amidst controversial circumstances.

The directive was part of the prayers of the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Engr. Markus Natina Gundiri who challenged Governor Murtala Nyako’s victory and requested the tribunal to order for the conduct of manual/physical examination of all electoral materials and polling documents used for the conduct of the February 4th governorship election in specific polling units being challenged by the petitioner.

In the petition, Gundiri had challenged the results of eleven local governments which include: Maiha, Mayo-Belwa, Yola-North, Yola South, Girei, Madagali, Mubi-South, MubiNorth, Toungo, Numan and Demsa.

Part of the Court Order dated 4th April 2012 made available to Peoples Daily reads “Leave and order of this honourable Tribunal permitting petitioners’ forensic experts to take and inspect by way of machine/ electronic scanning, all ballot papers which were used for the conduct of the governorship election in Adamawa state on the 4th day of February, 2012 in the actual and specific polling units challenged in the petition.”

In another document made available to this reporter, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a letter dated 6th April had informed both parties concerned of commencement of the inspection exercise on 11th April.

But some chieftains of the ACN yesterday bitterly complained to Peoples Daily and alleged that INEC was deliberately creating administrative bottlenecks to frustrate the inspection process.

According to party source who pleaded anonymity, INEC deliberately delayed the 21 days long exercise under the pretext of observing the Easter holiday and even when the ACN pleaded with the commission to extend the exercise beyond working hours to cover up for the lost days, INEC declined.

“Out of the nine forensic machines we brought to the state to speed up the exercise, INEC insisted that we use only five even though the court order does not specify the number of machines to be used. INEC is bent on frustrating us and our forensic experts are not finding it funny,” the source stated.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

Al-makura harps on need for peaceful co-existence among Nigerians

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ov. Umar Almakura of Nasarawa State has stressed the need for people in the state and all Nigerians to be united live in peace with one another.

Almakura spoke on Wednesday in Agyaragu in Nasarawa State, when he paid an on the spot assessment visit to the crises areas in the state.

“We strongly need this unity if we are to continue to forge ahead as a united and indivisible entity,” he said.

According to the governor, without peace and unity, socioeconomic development will continue to elude any society.

Almakura said that there was the need for all Nigerians to continue to learn to live in peace with each other, irrespective of religious, tribal, political or ethnic differences.

“Nigerians must also be free to live in any part of the country. The nation belongs to all of us,” he added.

The governor said that as Nigerians, we should always be our brothers’ keepers, as well as continue to be patriotic.

“As Nigerians, we should always think of what we should do for the country, rather than be thinking of what we can get from the Nigerian state.”

He appealed to residents of the Jenkwe Development Area in the state and some other crises area in the state to remain calm as the state had evolved measures to forestall any crisis.

The governor condemned the clashes which led to loss of lives and property of residents of the area, and gave the assurance that government would adopt proactive measures to calm the situation.

Almakura explained that his visit to the troubled spot was necessitated by the alarming dimension the clash had assumed.

He said that it was

Chairman, INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega (left), condoling family of late Alhaji Shehu Bakauye Gusau who died on Wednesday at Gusau. With him are the son of the deceased Rep Ibrahim Shehu Gusau, (2nd left) and Speaker of Zamfara state House of Assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji (right).

Photo: Dingyadi Photos

incumbent on him to ensure that all communities in the state lived in peace and harmony.

While calling for calm among residents of the area, Almakura assured them that more security operatives would be deployed to contain the situation.

He also called for tolerance, and said that the crisis must not be mistaken for a crisis between two communities.

According to him, it should be seen as an activity of some misguided individuals who are bent on causing disharmony among the communities.

Almakura attributed the crisis to an act of retaliation by a community.

Also speaking, the Administrator of Jenkwe Development Area, Mr Wuduyamba Samuel-Agidi explained that the herdsmen acted on an earlier brawl.

According to him, the fight is between a Fulani herdsman and some tax collectors at Gidinye, which led to the hospitalisation of the herdsman.

He explained that another incident that led to the reprisal attack was the killing of a Fulani herdsman called Ibrahim Fulani and other unconfirmed incidents earlier mistaken for reprisal attacks.

He said that before the incidents degenerated into a crisis, several pleas for calm were made by a combined effort of both the Migili and Fulani stakeholders.

On his part, the Zhe Migili, Ayuba Agwadu, commended Al-makura for the visit and his attention on the wellbeing of the affected people.

Ekiti mourns as S/West leaders pay tributes to Omoboriowo ByLawrenceOlaoyewithagencyreports

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he ancient town of IjeroEkiti in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti state wore a mournful look as residents lamented the death of one of its prominent indigenes, Chief Akin Omoboriowo.

A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who visited the residence of the late deputy governor of old Ondo State early on Wednesday, reports that many residents wept uncontrollably. Others simply kept their calm, lamenting the difficulty in filling the vacuum he had left.

The news of Omoboriowo's death filtered into the community in the early hours of Wednesday just as Nigerians continued to pay tributes to the octogenarian who died a day before in Lagos at 81 years.

In an early reaction, Ekiti governor, Kayode Fayemi described Omoboriowo as a consummate and respected politician who defended the

state's interest during his tenure.

Fayemi, who spoke through his Commissioner for Information, Mr Funminiyi Afuye, said: " The government and good people of Ekiti State received with shock the passing away of Chief Akin Omoboriowo.

"Papa was a consummate and respected statesman and a great defender of Ekiti interests during his lifetime. In fact, he will be surely missed. '' The governor said Omoboriowo's death was a big loss to the state, the Yoruba race and the nation at large, adding that it had robbed the state of a father and adviser.

Fayemi recalled the prominent role played by the late statesman in the creation of Ekiti State on Oct. 1, 1996, expressing regrets that his death was coming at a time the state was yet to recover from the death of Prof. Sam Aluko.

His Ogun state counterpart, Governor Ibikule Amosun also commiserated with the governments and people of Ekiti

and Ondo States on the demise of the former Deputy Governor of old Ondo state, Chief Akin Omoboriowo.

Similarly, a former governor of the state, Mr Segun Oni, described Omoboriowo as an advocate of politics without bitterness.

Oni, in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr Lere Olayinka, said the likes of the late politician would be hard to replace.

Further paying tributes, a former governor of Oyo State, Chief Omololu Olunloyo, described Omoboriowo as a very honest and straight forward politician.

Olunloyo, who spoke to NAN on telephone, said Omoboriowo lived a low-keyed life, adding that he was contented with what he had.

Describing Omoboriowo as an "Awoist of the first grade,'' Olunloyo said many who claimed to be followers of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo were "fake. ''

Olunloyo called on politicians in Yoruba land to embrace politics devoid of violence, saying: "It is high time politics among Yorubas be seen as brotherhood politics rather than bloody politics."

In his reaction, Dr Olapade Agoro, the Presidential candidate of the defunct National Action Council, said the nation's political history would not be complete without a respectable mention of Omoboriowo.

He further said: "He was strong-willed, stubborn to convictions and principled to a fault Second Republic politician that for some time rode the landscape of Ondo State politics with respect.

"Good night to this great Ekiti man. He is gone to the world beyond where if the game of politics is played, Omoboriowo will be a notable striker. '' Meanwhile, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of Afenifere, the apex Yoruba socio-cultural group, has commiserated with the family of the late politician.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 41

PHCN disconnects National Stadium over N1m debt

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our months after the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) disconnected energy supply to the National Stadium Lagos because of N1 million debt, the sprawling but dilapidated facility has remained without power.

This was disclosed by the National Sports Commission (NSC), Liaison officer in Lagos, Mrs Tayo Oreweme, who said facilities in the stadium were fast degenerating because of lack of power supply to service them.

She lamented the paucity of funds which has hindered required maintenance of the stadium built in 1973 for the hosting of the second All Africa Games and added what had been made available was barely enough to maintain the athletics track.

She said the stadium complex had been using a generating set at a high cost since then, adding that efforts to get money from the commission’s headquarters had yielded no result.

Oreweme said the NSC’s Director-General and other dignitaries were being expected at the stadium from April 16 to April 20. They are to inspect the facility to see firsthand the level of rehabilitation works being done.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls the stadium was one of several facilities that erstwhile Minister of Sports, Professor Taeheed Addoja awarded several contracts for its rehabilitation and currently members of the House of Committee on Sports are touring the country to inspect and access the level of work being done.

“We did not pay the PHCN bill throughout year 2011 and when we got the bill in December, it had accumulated to N1 million, which was why we were disconnected. “We do not have access to electricity now. I am coming from Abuja now and they said there was no money,” she said.

Oreweme said the commission’s headquarters had promised to pay immediately the 2012 budget, recently passed by the National

Assembly, was signed into law by the president. But the budget has not been signed yet.

She also said that all cables vandalised by miscreants would be replaced as soon as possible, adding that the stadium authority had beefed up security to prevent a recurrence.

“We now have our security men posted to strategic places in the stadium to prevent further vandalism of government property,” the NSC official said.

Oreweme warned the vandals to desist, saying: “if they are caught, they will face the wrath of the law.”

By Patrick Andrew

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he Federal Government has directed all parastatals and other government agencies to henceforth advertised key professional positions so that qualified and competent persons would have the opportunity to apply for these posts.

President Goodluck Jonathan revealed this yesterday as part of the measures to ensure that qualified persons were appointed to government positions and thus ensure quality service delivery driven by visionary professionals.

The President, who disclosed this yesterday at the Presidential Award Ceremony of Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin) in the Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja, said such opportunity would de-emphasised political consideration, but focused on professionalism, competence and the capacity to meet required performance standard.

The president said once applicants were shortlisted that a neutral body would conduct the interview stressing that the presidency need not know the candidates provided they were eminently qualified and deemed competent to meet set expectation.

“We are going to do that for some of these sensitive offices that need professionals because that is the only way this government can put round pegs in round holes and square pegs in

Chief Patrick Ekeji

square holes. “And if we are able to do that, definitely we can then get Nigeria to where these young people want it to be.” “In fact even at the political level, this administration is committed to stop a situation where a Nigerian must know somebody before he gets something. This situation must end,” he said.

The National Sports Commission, its subordinate the Nigeria Institute of Sports (NIS) among others is one of such parastatals. The present Director General is on a four year contract.

It would recall that the government had with effect from January 1, 2010 made the positions of Director Generals of in the ministries and parastatals and government agencies political. It means that occupants of such offices who have to decide whether to career civil servants in which case they retire on the due retirement age or years or upon completion of the mandatory years of service.

However, those that accept such appointments based on political consideration are on contract and such appointments could be renewed or terminated at the expiration of the contract. Here career consideration is no priority.

Goodluck Jonathan

Falconets land in Harare, ready for Young Warriors showdown who had earlier informed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of the campaign of calumny against them by the coaches of Young Warriors.

It had been reported that on return to Harare following their 0-3 loss to the Falconents, the coaches had told Zimbabweans that they were maltreated by Nigeria FF, an allegation that federation quickly debunked.

However, choosing to be on the side of caution, the football federation’s director of technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, who is supporting Chief Dilichukwu Onyedinma the head of delegation

to the match, urged the players to set their focus on the match and nothing else.

“You must not be distracted, you have to concentrate and set your minds on the task on hand. You should be ready for everything including hostile crowd reaction and even some unfavourable calls from the referee,” he was quoted by the media officer to have advised the players.

He reminded the players of the situation in the Southern African country, Ikpeme advised them to make discipline their hallmark stressing that they must not rest on their oars until the mission to

book the Japan 2012 ticket is accomplished.

The team is lodged at the Cresta Lodge Hotel and would return to the country on Monday.

Desire Oparanozie

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igeria’s Falconets are leaving no stone unturned to gear up for Sunday’s showdown with the Young Mighty Warriors of Zimbabwe in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Championship.

The team, which arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe after connecting a flight from Johannesburg, have settled down for the task ahead according to the media officer of the team, Koloko Ejiro, who revealed that they had their first training session last night.

He said the team was received on arrival in Harare by officials from the Nigeria High Commission

Pillars good to lift NPL shield, will sign two more players, says coach

By Patrick Andrew

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hough the premier league is only half way through with his team leading with 32 points, Kano Pillars stand-in-coach, Baba Ganaru believes the team have what it would take to emerge champions.

His confidence is not only hinged on the sterling performances of the squad thus far, the commitment of the players coupled with the experience of 2008 season which came handy two years later when they narrowly missed being in the final.

“We have a good squad capable of winning the title and that is why we are on top now,” said Ganaru, whose performance has ruled out search for a substantive coach for Pillars.

He came on following Ladan Bosso’s sudden departure to Wikki Tourists, a development that left the Pillars’ management with no option but to assign huge responsibility to an interim head coach pending when a substantive coach would be appointed.

But now that may not be necessary because Ganaru has demonstrated competence, depth in technical suavy and the drive inevitable to reposition a serious team for glory.

“We met at the beginning of the season and gave ourselves mandate to win the trophy and we have been working towards it. I have bunch of quality and dedicated players and with them, we are good for the league title,” he said in an unveiled evaluation of the team.

According to the coach, the technical crew has resolved not to alter the complexion of the present and as such would only bring in two fresh players to beef up in areas where they have observed lapses.

“We won’t buy many players because we have good team on ground. We will add just two players, a striker and a central defender,” he revealed stressing the players had already been talked to long before the first stanza ended.

“We have started talking with the players but we won’t disclose their identities until we have reached an agreement with them.”

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

NPL first stanza, rich harvests of goals, stars The first round of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) has ended and the teams are on short recess which offers them ample chance to beef up where they have noticed obvious lapse. As usual not a few teams would take advantage of the break to evaluate their performances in the first stanza and realign strategies for the second and final phase which begins on April 21.

Before then though, Peoples Daily Sports and MTNFootball.com highlight some highs and lows during the first stanza and we thought our readers might be interested in some of these highlights.

Statistics hough Rangers and Kano Pillars leveled on 32 points apiece by the close of the first stanza of the league, but Pillars by virtue of their superior goals difference lead the pack. Neither though would want to concede grounds even as a pack of hungry teams seek to dislodge them.

In particular, defending champions Dolphins are on the prowl especially having been so early in the day edged out of the CAF Champions League race by Cotonsport of Garoua, Cameroon. Besides, if they make the most of their three outstanding matches, then Pillars may lose grip on the summit.

Celebration of Goals: Nothing excites in the game of football better than goals which is why the first of the 2011/2012 season is remarkable in terms of the number of goals: 346. Unlike the immediate past season, teams no fewer than 10 goals per week. Should the teams sustain the tempo, it’s most likely that they would surpass more than six hundred goals of last season.

The only goalkeeper to score in NPL so far is 3SC’s Dele Ajiboye, who scored a penalty against Dolphin in Week 6. The former Golden Eaglets and national U-23 – Olympics Eagles safe hand is one of the several foreign-based players that returned to the domestic league and whose presence have had colour and attraction to the domestic scene.

The first red card of the season was issued to Lobi Stars goalkeeper John Lawrence against Wikki Tourists of Bauchi in Week 6. There have been several red cards but the Enyimba versus Dolphins game in which the Port Harcourt team got two players sent off remains one of the worst case scenario during the first stanza.

The first hat-trick: Real Madrid and Barcelona aces: Cristiano Ronaldo and Leonel Messi have six and four hat-tricks between them. So it’s cheering news that a certain rave of the moment, Mustapha Babadidi leads the pack here with just one hat-trick.

Mustapha, who leads the NPL goal poachers’ chart, got his treble for Gombe United in a Week 4 game against Niger Tornadoes.

Rangers were almost unassailable. The Coal City squad was unbeaten in 10 matches in the first half of the season, but Pillars stamp a dent on their near seamless surge in Kano and thus nudge closer to the apex of the pack.

Erasmus Onuh of ABS FC of Ilorin became the first coach to be shown the exit door in the 2011/2012 season. Well, there were others but Festus Allen’s suspension by the management of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) stands out.

Warri Wolves have the highest number of draws in the first round - two home draws and four draws away from home.

The Highest scoring side: For quite sometimes during the half, Gombe United led the pack but suddenly began to feel the heat of the pressure and could bear the weight. However, they had started well by scoring important goals and in good numbers. Now, it seems it may pay off well for them as the top the scoring chart with 24 goals. Pillars and ABS have each netted 23 goals.

The team with the worst defensive record is Jigawa Golden Stars, who have let in 24 goals.

Lowest scoring team are new comers Rising Stars with seven goals from 19 games.

Warri Wolves have the best defensive record having conceded 11 goals.

Hooliganism The league experienced a number of crowd troubles at some match venue and NPL sanctioned the culprits accordingly to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to tow the same line.

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Godfrey Oboabana

Mustapha Babadidi

In Kano, the fans attacked match officials and Heartland players after Pillars drew 1-1 at home. They were ordered to play their home games behind closed doors.

In Ilorin, the fans of Kwara United went gaga when they hosted Sunshine Stars.

The fans took the laws into their hands and their club paid for it. The match will now be replayed even though Sunshine, who were initially awarded the game, have protested this latest decision.

Heartland fans were not left out of this ugly trend as a handful of them went on rampage when they lost 3-2 to regional rivals Enyimba in Enugu.

Shinning stars There were a lot of players who showed class during the first round. They include Chikeluba Ofoedu (Rangers), Augustine Amutu (Warri Wolves), Sibi Gwar, Mustapha Babadidi and Sanusi Sani (Gombe United).

Others were Godfrey Oboabona (Sunshine Stars), Azubuike Egwuekwe (Warri Wolves), Mutiu Adegoke (3SC), Bala Mohammed (Jigawa United), Gambo Mohammed (Pillars) and Ejike Uzonyi (Rangers).

Mutiu Adegoke: The 3SC experienced left back has been outstanding since he returned to Shooting Stars during the Week 9 transfer window after he was released by champions Dolphin.

Apart from doing his defensive work well, the ex-ASEC Mimosa of Cote d’Ivoire ace has fired two match winners against Kwara United and Enyimba at home.

Augustine Amutu: The youngster who joined Warri Wolves from Mighty Jets of Jos is proving to be a good buy for the CAF Confederation Cup campaigners as he has scored two goals coming off the bench.

The youngster’s performances have warmed the heart of the Belgian tactician Maurice Cooreman, who threw him into

Azubuike Egwuekwe

the fray for the entire duration when they played a Confederation Cup tie against FC Kallon of Sierra Leone. He is one of the players to watch in only his debut season. Amutu’s physique, speed, urgency and shooting ability have unsettled opposing defenders.

Sibi Gwar: The 24-year-old Niger Tornadoes striker has been consistent in front of goal. He has been the driving force for Tornadoes with seven goals so far. He is strong and difficult to defend against.

Mustapha Babadidi: The striker has most certainly taken the NPL by storm. Babadidi has netted 10 goals and he may have scored more if not for a knee injury that kept him out of action for more than three weeks in the first round. It will not be long before this quick and business-like front man takes his shooting boots overseas.

Azubuike Egwuekwe: The towering Warri Wolves centre half has established himself as one of the best on the domestic scene. His imposing physique is enough to put fear in opposing strikers and the Jos-born player’s performance in the league has earned him a starting place in the Super Eagles. He is fast reminding fans of the great ‘Gentle Giant’ Uche Okechukwu.

Godfrey Oboabona: Sunshine Stars captain is unarguably the best right back in the country now. His ability to mark and score from the penalty spot as well as set pieces have underlined his quality. He has so far scored six goals in the NPL. Ejike Uzoenyi: The wing wizard mazy run on the left flank remind one of the days of Emmanuel Amuneke.

With his performances, he may well make that position in the Eagles his own for a long time in the Eagles.

CAF kicks out Ugandan team from Champions League

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Ejike Uzoenyi

Mutui Adegoke

Gambo Mohammed

he Confederation of African Football (CAF) has disqualified Uganda Revenue Authority FC from the 2012 Orange CAF Champions League for failing to honour the second leg tie against Djoliba FC of Mali.

Rogers Mulindwa, the Uganda FA spokesman told reporters in Kampala on Wednesday that CAF had sent a letter notifying URA about the disqualification.

“As the Federation, we shall write CAF to explain URA’s scenario and hope that the disqualification

can be reversed,” said Mulindwa.

The Ugandan champions had lost the first leg 2-0 but communicated to CAF last week that they could not travel to Bamako because of the insecurity there, following a coup.

The Ugandan government last week warned URA against travelling to Mali because of security reasons, in spite of Mali’s assurance of adequate security during the match.

Geoffrey Kyondo, the URA spokesman, said the club would communicate

the team’s position on the matter to CAF. Edgar Watson, Chief Executive Officer of Uganda’s FA said URA’s disqualification attracts a fine of 1,500 U.S. dollars plus a three-year ban from international competitions.

Watson also said the club could pay a heavy fine, after CAF’s committee computed the profit the Mali team would have made if the game had taken place.

The URA FC would have to focus on retaining the country’s premier league title.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

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PAGE 43

Bubba Watson: Golf’s new rave of the moment

ouis Oosthuizen had an historic shot and for a moment the golf world stood at awe applauding and dusting its history book set to register a new king. He made an albatross and took the lead at Augusta National Masters.

The South African was on his way to enlisting in the exclusive club of Gene Sarazen, one of the most famous in the game of golf.

Gene has the record: His most famous albatross at Augusta knocked in on No. 15 on the way to a playoff victory in 1935. If you recall it was the one shot that put the Masters on the map.

With Oosthuizen’s shot, the game was set for another legend.

Yes, Oosthuizen was the new legend on the tees.

He deserved it. Oosthuizen had holed out on the par-5 to post a double eagle 2, one of the rarest shots in golf and the first time it was ever done in that hole in the 76-year history of the Masters.

Oosthuizen was not to be.

Bubba Watson saw to that.

He had a longer shot, one that dwarfed even Gene’s and instantly knocked off from the pedestal Oosthuizen’s effort.

Yes, it sent golf’s historians scampering not though for safety but to ponder over the emergence of aces in a single tournament. Nothing was beyond imagination, incredible as it may have tended to be. They keenly awaited further moments of historic accomplishments.

They held their breath, yet nothing more stunning transpired. However, a single star had to emerge and it means the pair had to clash: Louis and Bubba.

Bubba’s playoff win at the Masters on the second extra hole stretched into early evening, and when he finally slipped on the green jacket during the trophy presentation, the flashes from so many cameras danced across his face like strobe lights.

And he became an instant rock star on a golf court.

“I’m not ready for fame,” Watson said. “I don’t really want to be famous or anything like that. I just want to be me and play golf.”

He might not have a choice. His style of play “Bubba golf” is what he likes to call it already made him one of the popular figures on the PGA Tour.

In the buttoned-up sport of golf, Watson is different. He hits the ball a mile, rarely in a straight line to where he’s trying to get. His driver is pink from the shaft to the head. When he’s not on the course, he is posting videos of his crazy stunts on Twitter.

His dream purchase was the “General Lee 01,” the original car in the TV series “The Dukes of Hazard.”

And now he is the Masters champion.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are the top two stars of their generation. Rory McIlroy is right behind them, carving his own niche around the world as a U.S. Open champion with the rawest skill of any player in his 20s.

And now there is Bubba, on a first-name basis everywhere he goes.

Perhaps it was only fitting that during his victory speech Sunday he found one downside to winning the Masters. He has been in the members’ locker room since he first showed up at Augusta National in 2008 and couldn’t break 70. The next time he drives down Magnolia Lane, he will walk through a different door, up the stairs to the locker room reserved for champions.

“I heard now that I leave the locker room,” Watson said. “It’s going to be sad. I’ve been there for four years. I know all the guys. They treat me real well. So, sorry.”

It’s time to move on, and move up.

Watson, with his fourth career win in his last 51 starts, is now No. 4 in the world, which makes him the highest-ranked American. He is virtually a lock to be at Medinah for another Ryder Cup. It was the second time in the last six majors that Watson has been in a playoff, losing to Martin Kaymer at the 2010 PGA Championship. He has earned more than $3 million in each of the last two seasons and played in his first Ryder Cup. How much better can he be?

“Major champion … I mean, can’t do any better than this,” he said. “I’ve won four times and won a major. Who knows? That’s the best part about history. We don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know the future. We don’t know anything. Hopefully, I keep crying. Hopefully, I keep having the passion to play golf and keep doing what I’m doing.”

Watson showed his emotions at the start of the week. Stopped under the oak tree after a practice round, someone asked him what it would mean to win, and he brought up the adoption of his first son, Caleb, two weeks ago. Watson got so choked up he walked away.

Winning the Masters? He was uncontrollable.

He sobbed on the shoulder of his mother, Molly. He hugged everyone he could find caddie Ted Scott, his trainer and players who stuck around to see him go two extra holes for a green jacket, such as Ben Crane, Aaron Baddeley and Rickie Fowler.

Watson is a self-described goof, yet he looked more determined than ever at the Masters.

Sunday at Augusta was a supreme test.

By Patrick Andrew with agency report

1. Louis Oosthuizen lost his legendary status sooner than he made it 2. Bubba Watson, delighted to wear the green coat.

3. Tiger Woods was a flop

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He started three shots out of the lead, and two holes into the final round, he watched Louis Oosthuizen make an albatross on the par-5 second hole with a 4iron that landed on the front of the green and rolled some 90 feet into the cup for a 2.

That put him four shots behind, though Watson knew he could make up ground, and he was right. The turning point came after his bogey on the par3 12th, when mud on his ball sent his putt behind the green off line and some 6 feet by the hole. Watson ran off four straight birdies, all of them impressive a 9-iron for his second shot on the par-5 13th for a twoputt birdie, a sand wedge to 5 feet on the 14th, another massive drive for a 7-iron onto the green at the par-5 15th and an 8-iron to 4 feet at the 16th.

Still, this Masters will be remembered for two wild shots

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in the playoff. One was an accident. The other was on purpose.

After he and Oosthuizen each missed birdie chances on the 18th in a playoff, Watson pulled his drive into the trees to the right of the 10th fairway. When he saw his ball deep in the woods, he immediately pictured the shot in his head.

Not many others could have seen it.

He used the crowd as a line for how he wanted to start the gap wedge from 155 yards straight to the fairway, low enough to stay under a large limb and then a wild hook toward the green.

“Hooked it about 40 yards, hit about 15 feet off the ground until it got under the tree and then started rising,” he said. “Pretty easy.”

It set up a two-putt par from 10 feet, enough for the win when Oosthuizen chipped 12 feet by the

hole and two-putted for bogey.

Where does Watson get the nerve to hit such a shot? It’s because that’s fun to him, whether he’s in a practice round with friends or playing for the prestige of a green jacket.

“I want to hit the incredible shot,” he said. “Who doesn’t?”

Who can?

That’s what makes Watson special. His father, who died after the Ryder Cup in 2010, was the only teacher Watson had, and there weren’t many lessons.

He showed his son how to grip the club and swing it, and the boy figured the rest out himself.

Watson still doesn’t have a teacher.

“Why do I want somebody to tell me what to do?” he once said.

“I’m still a kid. I’m hitting shots that I want to hit. I’m doing the things that I want to do. I play it my way.”

Bubba golf. It’s going to be fun.

PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 47

Match-fixing: What’s wrong calling in the police?

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hen the NFF Appeal Committee decided to call in the Nigeria Police in the obnoxious match-fixing allegation involving two prominent Nigeria premier league clubs- Dolphins of Port Harcourt and Sunshine Stars of Akure, the members never envisaged the kind of public outburst that would generate.

Now they know.

Many are hard put understanding the reasons the committee opted for the police after calling in all the individuals allegedly involved in the matter and having the benefit of debriefing each and everyone on its list.

The NFF’s organizing and disciplinary committee had, according to some members painstakingly explore necessary avenues to unravel the mystery surrounding the case and after eight months many felt that either a case had been established or there was nothing concrete to hold onto.

Recall that the disciplinary committee had placed initial sanctions on the clubs and persons allegedly implicated in the

case.

As expected, they appealed the sanctions which led to the intervention of the later committee.

Some have in dismissing the position of the appeal committee asserted that the members simply chose the easy part by washing their hands off the case. They reasoned that by inviting in the police the committee deliberately handed the probable culprits soft landing in a typically Nigerian factor kind of manner. Yet, others have argued that perhaps the appeal committee may have hard facts which requires superior authority with a legal structure better placed to act beyond the statutes of the football federation or even FIFA’s. Still, the contention of others is that members of the appeal committee are afraid of offending the powers that be as represented by the ownership structures of the clubs involved. Of course, these arguments or rather pontification and assumptions are borne out of genuine intentions, especially in an era where even FIFA has found reasons to adopt tough stance against match-fixers:

corrupt elements.

The world soccer governing sees match-fixing not just in terms of greedy desperation by elements hell bent on exploiting the popularity of the game to commercial advantage but the damage done the game.

Even in Italy where betting of all sorts enjoys religious sanctimony, incidences of match-fixing have never been taken with kid gloves. Juventus had its points docked and were even relegated, while several individuals were brought before the civil law.

Zimbabwe descended on several persons including very prominent former national team players not minding the fact that they were national figures.

So, one understands the dilemma of the appeal committee: they neither want to do a shoddy job nor sweep clear criminal cases under the carpet. It ‘s under this term that one appreciates the position of the committee according to its secretary, Barrister Okey Obi who said that they want to put a stop to this ugly development which has dangerously stalked the

Bolt returns to Monaco for Samsung Diamond League

U

sain Bolt will return to Monaco to run the 200m at the Herculis Samsung Diamond League meeting on 20 July 20, few days before the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The series of 14 meetings spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA which compose the 2012 Samsung Diamond League season gets underway in just under a month’s time in Doha, Qatar on May 11.

After last year’s success in the Principality over 100m (9.88 sec; 22 July 2011), Bolt is eager to return to Monaco for what will be his last race before the Jamaican superstar competes to defend his sprint titles at the London Olympic Games.

The reigning 100m and 200m Olympic champion and World record holder is scheduled to lineup in his favourite event at the Herculis meeting. Last year, following his now famous false start in the 100m, Bolt defended his World Championships title at 200m in an amazing time of 19.40 and later added another gold and

Yelena Isinbayeva

World record in the 4x100m relay.

Could the Herculis meeting record of 19.72 set by Tyson Gay in 2010 be in danger from the 25-yearold Jamaican who has recorded

nine sub 19.70 secs times for the 200m in his career topped by his World record of 19.19 (20 Aug 2009)? “Monaco will be my last race before the Olympics and I am

2013 Nations Cup: Four cities opt out of hosting rights bid

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here are now doubts over the South Africa Football Association’s (SAFA) commitment to host the 2013 African Cup of Nations as four cities withdraw their bids to host the championship.

Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg have notified the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the tournament of their intention to withdraw their bids and consequently did not sign the hosting contract.

There has been disagreement between the LOC and the cities over the organisers’ request for them to pay R20 million (about

WATCH DOG

league, and indeed every facet of Nigeria d o m e s t i c football.

Obi said, the a p p e a l committee has been forced to owoidoho_ng35@yahoo.com call in the police because matchfixing, if match-fixing. established, is a clear if any, they could see what Note that these allegations criminal case that should we were unable to and are common especially in not be treated with kid besides, they have all the situations where state gloves. Further, he averred apparatus at their disposal appropriates so much for that past punitive measures to investigate and bring a to a logical clubs but usually these funds adopted by the football house matter are diverted. The common has had little or no impact conclusion,” Obi said.

True, there are fears allegation is that club officials hence the need to resort a divert such funds for personal more legally empowered bordering on the police’s inefficiency or use and would stop at organization with the deliberate nothing to compromise capacity to apply the law of outright negligence of details eventually making match officials just to justify the land where criminal and shoddy work where they are the huge appropriations. case is established. concrete evidences. But it goes Many in the football circle, The appeal committee especially in the league, opted in its wisdom to bring without saying that serious would understand such in the police that have the matters such as match-fixing expressions as “‘tactical’, capacity, personnel and ought to be the responsibility ‘man no be wood allowance’ expertise to dig deep into such of the police to establish and ‘insurance’ ‘pr’, ‘welfare’ and matters and establish either the culprits made to face the all such nomenclatures used culpability or otherwise and wrath of the law.

A careful reading of Obi’s to describe bribes to match hence the veracity or statement shows clearly that officials. Pray! if these aren’t otherwise of the allegation. the committee has facts that criminal, what else is?

“We believe the police So, the committee was have the capacity and ways may border on criminality right to call for legal to establish criminal case and as such feels that only the assistance and in fact hand where there is one, could police would justifiably effect over the case to an easily established complicity punishment that may deter some with proclivity for appropriate body to handle.

N440 million) each for the privilege to host.

The city of Johannesburg confirmed to newsmen on Wednesday that it would not take part in the hosting of any match when the tournament starts.

“The city has indicated that it is not in a position to host matches and has, therefore, not signed a hosting agreement,” Gabu Tugwana, the council’s spokesman said.

He, however, did not give any reason for the city’s withdrawal, referring enquiries to the LOC. But Mvuzo Mbete, the LOC Chief Executive, told NAN that the city of Johannesburg has not pulled

By Patrick Andrew

looking forward to putting on a great show for the fans. It is going to be my second time racing in Monaco. I love the city and the weather is always good,” commented Bolt.

Today’s announcement of Bolt’s participation in Monaco follows earlier confirmations that he will also run in the Oslo and Rome meetings of the 2012 Samsung Diamond League. out. He said the council had merely asked the LOC to deal with the Gauteng provincial government on Johannesburg’s hosting status as it was the province that approached it on behalf of the city.

Nomazwe Ntlokwana, the Gauteng Sports Department spokeswoman, said they were engaged in talks with SAFA and was optimistic an agreement would be reached soon.

Ntlokwana said the province undertook to bid for the 2013 Nations Cup opening and closing matches at the FNB Stadium in Soweto.

Due to the disagreement with host cities, the LOC has delayed official announcement of the seven proposed venues for the tournament till April 20.

IAAF ratifies World records T

he IAAF announced yesterday that it has ratified World records in heptathlon men and women.

In the men, the record set by Ashton Eaton of the USA in Istanbul, Turkey last March has been ratified.

Eaton set aside the previous record which cumulative total was 6568 points that he established last year in Tallins, USA. He had (6.66; 7.77; 14.45; 2.01, 7.60; 5.20; 2:34.74)

But that has been consigned to the dust bin of history, and what’s fresh is the 6645 points mark that he made in Istanbul.

In total, he hauled (6.79; 8.16; 14.56; 2.03, 7.68; 5.20; 2:32.77) to set the new mark.

In pole vault, Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva mark of 5.01m established in Stockholm, Sweden set in February has surpassed her previous effort of 5.00m at the Donetsk, Ukraine since 2009.

Also in pentathlon, the 5013

points hauled by Natallia Dobrynska of Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkey last March has gone down as the new world record.

Natallia made the mark courtesy her 8.38, 1.84, 16.51, 6.57, 2:11.15 to beat the previous mark set by Irina Belova of the Unified Team from the former USSR. Her mark was made in 1992 in Berlin, Germany with a cumulative of 8.22, 1.93, 13.25, 6.67, 2:10.26.

Plateau sacks, coach for poor outing

T

he Plateau Government has sacked Plateau United, and other management staff of the state-owned team for alleged poor performance in the National League.

However, Bitrus Bewarang has been retained as General Manager of the club, while Patrick Mancha is the new coach.

In a statement, the Commissioner of Sports, Mr James Yakubu, on Wednesday in Jos, said the club’s Team Manager, Mr Patrick Awanga and Chief Coach, Taye Yusuf were also sacked.

“The removal of the officials is aimed at repositioning the team to enable it to gain promotion to the premier league at the end of the season.”

Yusuf, who joined the team in 2008, guided it to the Nigeria Premier League after two seasons while Awanga was appointed the Team Manager.

Awanga succeeded Bitrus Bewarang who was occupying the position before he was made the club’s General Manager in 2009.

Meanwhile the Commissioner has constituted a committee for the immediate screening and selection of Technical Adviser, Team Manager and Chief Coach for the team in acting capacity.

The committee comprises representative of the Ministry of Sports, Sports Council, Plateau Football Association, Football Coaches Association and the sports consultant to the Commissioner.

The government’s action came few days after the team was defeated 2-1 by its rival, Giwa FC, in local derby played at the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos. The Commissioner sacked the officials following the club’s failure to improve after the expiration of a three-match ultimatum given to it. The club is currently sixth on the Group B table of the national league. The leader in the 10-club group, will pick the ticket to the premier division, with just eight weeks to go.

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE The advice of friends must be recei ved with a judicious rreser eser ve; eceiv eserv we must not give ourselves up to it and ffollo ollo w it b lindl y, w hether ollow blindl lindly whether right or wrong — Pier Pierrre Char Charrron

FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

Eagles lose gallantly to Pharaohs

T

he Super Eagles of Nigeria were in delectable form yesterday against seven-time African champions, the Pharaohs of Egypt but suffered narrow 2-3 loss in Dubai The Eagles, made up players from the Nigeria Premier League, held their own and played a positive game against their more experienced opponents inside the El Nasri Stadium in Dubai.

It was coach Stephen Keshi's first loss since he took charge of the Eagles in November.

They took the lead in the 13th minute through Sunday Mba after he was set up by Uche Kalu.

Egypt restored parity on 25 minutes when midfielder Ahmed Temsah cashed in on a defensive mix-up between centre halves Azubuike Egwuekwe and Papa Idris.

The Pharaohs then went in front on 33 minutes courtesy of a penalty kick converted by Mohamed Aboutrika after full back Juwon Oshaniwa had upended an Egyptian player inside the goal area.

Nigeria were back on level terms on 42 minutes through a cheeky back-heeled effort by the impressive Enyimba striker Uche Kalu from an Ejike Uzoenyi corner.

It was a just reward for the Eagles as they piled on pressure after they went behind for the first time in the game.

Just when it seemed there would be no more goals in this game, Egypt grabbed the winner in stoppage time through Ahmed Hassan Mekki after an error in the Eagles defence.

Egypt paraded their top stars like Aboutrika, Hossam Ghaly, Hossam Ashour with Sunderland ace Ahmed Elmohamady starting from the bench after his English club released him to join his country’s team.

They made as many as six changes from after the interval.

Stephen Keshi

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Bauchi’s hopeless budget

A

s we explore the issue of Nigeria's missing federalism, we turn today to Bauchi as we focus on and analyze sub-national budgets, fiscal prudence and good governance. The state is one of the older states with the good fortune of being decently governed in the past - by people like General Sani Sami as military governor and, more recently, my former classmate Ahmed Adamu Muazu.

It is also one of the states that claimed to have enacted, in 2009, versions of the Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement Acts 2007. These served in sending the right signals, at least in theory about fiscal balance, financial prudence and accountability. The state governor can also lay claim to some political and experiential pedigree. Governor Isa Yuguda was educated at Ahmadu Bello University, had a long and successful career as a banker, and was federal minister twice under the Obasanjo administration.

Persuading the Buhari Organization and the ANPP into supporting his gubernatorial aspiration, then decamping to the PDP after the election, should add up to something of a character sketch for governance; depending on one's interpretation.

Bauchi state was created in 1976 by the Murtala-ObasanjoDanjuma administration upon acceptance of the Irikefe Panel on States' Creation. The panel recommended that the old NorthEastern State be split into Borno, Bauchi and Gongola States. In 1996, the old Bauchi state was split into the current Bauchi and Gombe States. With an estimated 5.7 million citizens, it is the seventh most populous state in Nigeria. If Bauchi was a country, it would be ranked 33rd out of 54 African countries, and about the population of Togo. Within the ECOWAS sub-region, Bauchi is bigger than Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in population. The state is more naturally endowed than the four West African nations mentioned. It has ample arable land, spanning the two ecological zones of Sudan and Sahel Savannah and serviced by two major rivers - Rivers Jama'are and Gongola, thus enabling all year round irrigated agriculture. Its vast fertile soil and hardworking farmers produce maize, rice, millet, groundnut, and guinea corn. Cattle and livestock are also reared in the state.

The state has several proven reserves of solid minerals like Barites, Gypsum, Granites,

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Bauchi state Gov, Isa Yuguda Potash, Bauxite, Sapphire and Mica amongst others. There is likelihood of oil and gas deposits existing in Bauchi, Gombe and Benue Basins as well. Bauchi’s Yankari Game Reserve is the largest in West Africa and is a leading tourism asset. Other similar but less publicized tourist attractions include Premier Game Reserve, rock paintings at Goji and Shira and the Tafawa Balewa Mausoleum.

The North-East zone of Nigeria is the poorest part of the country.

According to NBS Poverty Profile 2012 which studied poverty incidence nationwide using 2009 and 2010 data, 75% of the population of the region was relatively poor, 71.5% was absolutely poor, 51.5% could hardly feed itself (that is, food poor)

in an agriculturally-endowed region and a whopping 68.2% live on less than a dollar per day. The states of Yobe (58%), Borno (56%), Katsina (50%) and Bauchi (49%) have the highest poverty indices in Nigeria. All except Katsina are in the North-east zone.

Aggravating the absolute, relative and food poverty measures are very high levels of income inequality. Yobeand Taraba in the north-east recorded the highest increases in income inequality between 2003 and 2010 as measured by changes in Gini coefficients. Happily, Bauchi state recorded a decrease during the period due largely to the period of decent governance under former Governor Ahmed Muazu.

The North-east also has the highest levels of unemployment in Nigeria, with Yobe leading the pack with 39%, Bauchi (30%), Gombe (29%), and Borno (27%) following closely. These numbers should be compared with the 8% unemployment rate of Lagos State and the national average of 21%.

Bauchi was doing better in educational attainment, though things may have deteriorated since 2008. In that academic year 13,520 Bauchi students attempted WAEC and only 1,764 (about 13%) got five credits including English and Mathematics. Only about 850 Bauchi youths were admitted to universities that same year

“

Is the Bauchi state government securing the future of its citizens? No. Is its budget structure and spending priorities better than that of the Federal Government? Yes, at least slightly. But Bauchi state is not fiscally independent or viable unless it improves its IGR and slashes the size of its bloated government. Unless the government does that, it does not deserve the support of its citizens

compared with over 4,000 for Enugu. In healthcare, along with Kano and Sokoto States, Bauchi has the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in the country. It is clear that Bauchi, like most northern states have huge challenges in virtually every governance area.

Whichever way one looks at and compares these statistics, they confirm the continued economic and social under-performance of the North-east zone of which Bauchi state is a leading component. It is therefore not surprising that while the Nigerian political Sharia movement of the early part of this century started in Zamfara State of North-west, it was the North-east zone that gave birth to the anarchist movement generally referred to as 'Boko Haram'. Indeed, it was in Bauchi that the first state engagement with Boko Haram occurred, but was initially carefully handled by the state government. Things got worse soon after the more politically-savvy Shehu left the administration.

Things deteriorated after Shehu Gabam, Yuguda’s Chief of Staff that managed the first crisis left the administration.

Are all these ingredients of the birth and growth of insurgency there for all to see? Or was it aggravated by poor governance, misplaced spending priorities and incompetent security management? What should the Bauchi state government be doing to secure the future of its citizens?

Has state governance in the last few years delivered on social services and opened up economic opportunities for citizens? Let us look at the 2012 budget for answers to some of these questions.

In 2011, the State House of Assembly approved about N118 billion as the budget, to be financed with N53 billion from federation allocation (FAAC), N6.3 billion from internally-generated revenues (IGR) and a whopping N59 billion as loans from money and capital markets. The Bauchi state government budgeted N138.7 billion for 2012, an increase of about N21 billion over the amount in 2011.Yuguda intends to finance the 2012 budget with N69 billion from FAAC, a paltry N7.3 billion as IGR and another N58 billion as loans. In what should be a violation of any sound fiscal responsibility law, nearly 40% of the budget will be financed through borrowing for two years in a row. In 2011, Contd. on Page 45

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PEOPLES DAILY, FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012

PAGE 45

Bauchi’s hopeless budget Contd. from Back Page Bauchi state's domestic debt was about N91 billion, so by the end of the year, Bauchi would be in debt to the tune of some N150 billion.Public debt charges this year is some N6.3 billion and rising. It looks like Yuguda is determined to leave behind a debtridden, if not financially insolvent state!

Let us now look at the budget proper. The entire budget document is about 30 pages long, short on details and defective in organization. About N77.3 billion (53%) of the 2012 budget is earmarked for capital expenditure, while N61.4 billion (47%) is for recurrent spending.

The recurrent budget is made up of N27.5 billion (20% of budget) for personnel cost and N33.8 billion (24%) for overheads.

Yuguda's budget is therefore better than the federal 28% allocation for capital spending, but still falls short of the minimum of 70% needed to achieve real development. Only three states met this minimum in 2012 - Akwa Ibom (84%), Rivers (74%) and Imo (73%), and the first two may perhaps be easily explicable on the basis of excess oil revenue windfalls. And how can a state that could raise only N7 billion internally budget four times that amount for staff costs?

The sectoral breakdown of the budget showed the following structure; N36.2 billion (26%) for general administration, N25.8 billion (19%) for economic sector, N23.1 billion (17%) for regional development, N41.5 billion (30%) for what I will classify as social

services, and N12.2 billion (9%) as Consolidated Revenue Fund charges. The largest total departmental allocations went to Education (N19.4 billion), Security under the SSG's office (N17.6 billion), Health (N13.7 billion), Works & Transport (N7.7 billion), Rural Development (N7.1 billion), Agriculture (N7.6 billion), Power & Solid Minerals (N5.0 billion) and Water Resources (N3.2 billion). The bulk of the allocation for security is usually spent at the discretion of the governor, without any transparency, accountability or records for necessary audit.

The Judiciary including the Sharia Court of Appeal will cost N3.2 billion to maintain, while the Legislature was earmarked a total slightly above N2 billion. The political office holders in the executive branch along with 'severance gratuity' will cost over

N3.1 billionin 2012. Adding up the cost of political office holders in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Bauchi state government comes up to N8.3 billion - a billion naira more than the state's entire IGR!Thus, Bauchi state exists only because it collects monthly hand-outs from FAAC. Since the advent of this republic in 1999 to 2011, the state has collected some N347 billion from Abuja, about 2.7% of federation revenues. At least N180 billion of this total was spent under Yuguda's first four year watch. And what are the results? The people of Bauchi state are in the best position to answer that question. We will just draw attention to a few items of expenditure and leave the conclusions to the reader.

Bauchi state has budgeted nearly N5 billion for a ministry of power and solid minerals. These are essentially federally-regulated

“

functions best undertaken by the private sector. These monies will simply be frittered away. In 2012, about N19 billion will be spent to produce about 1900 students qualified to be admitted into University, while nearly N14 billion will be spent to improve maternal health and reduce infant mortality. Over N50 billion will be spent to open up economic opportunities and address the needs of vulnerable groups in Bauchi state, without a clear strategy to address value-chain issues and binding constraints in agriculture, livestock production, tourism and mining - sectors in which the state possesses relative competitive advantage. Similar amounts have been spent in previous years with nothing to show for them.

Bauchi was ranked as the tenth state in Nigeria in the overall lowest cost of doing business by the

Let us now look at the budget proper. The entire budget document is about 30 pages long, short on details and defective in organization. About N77.3 billion (53%) of the 2012 budget is earmarked for capital expenditure, while N61.4 billion (47%) is for recurrent spending. The recurrent budget is made up of N27.5 billion (20% of budget) for personnel cost and N33.8 billion (24%) for overheads. Yuguda's budget is therefore better than the federal 28% allocation for capital spending, but still falls short of the minimum of 70% needed to achieve real development

World Bank in 2010, but 21st inease of starting a new business.

Nearly three in ten working age persons in the state are unemployed, with over 43% of all employable females jobless.

Unfortunately, instead of addressing these issues with a slim government that directs its resources to building physical infrastructure and human capital, encouraging agriculture and mining, and delivering on basic social services, the government announced the appointment of 924 political appointees as 'aides' in September 2011.

These consisted of 20 special advisers presumably approved by the State House of Assembly, 94 senior special assistants, and 810 special assistants. He also appointed 24 directors-general of agencies, 20 local government deputy chairmen and 82 councilors. This is quite apart from some 20 commissioners and heads of executive bodies. Yuguda, like many northern governors is spending the state's resources on a very small circle of political jobbers while the general populace gets poorer, more hopeless, thereby constituting greater threats to the society.

Is the Bauchi state government securing the future of its citizens?

No. Is its budget structure and spending priorities better than that of the Federal Government?

Yes, at least slightly. But Bauchi state is not fiscally independent or viable unless it improves its IGR and slashes the size of its bloated government.

Unless the government does that, it does not deserve the support of its citizens.