Peoples Daily Newspaper, Monday 15, October, 2012

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 9 No. 46

Monday, October 15, 2012

. . . putting the people first

Gunmen kill Borno EFCC to arraign former NBA kingmaker, 3 others as chieftain for fraud JTF escape bomb attack >> PAGE 2

>> PAGE 3

Zhul-Qadah 28, 1433 AH

NYSC workers threaten to down tools nationwide >> PAGE 3

Why gunmen killed Muslim worshippers From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

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unmen suspected to be an armed robbery gang in the early hours of yesterday invaded Dogon Dawa village, near Birnin-Gwari, some 100 kilometres from Kaduna metropolis in Kaduna state and killed at least 20 persons including Muslim worshippers who were leaving the mosque after performing their early morning prayer.

This is barely two weeks after about 30 students of Mubi Polytechnic in Adamawa state were massacred by yet to be apprehended gunmen.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers embarked on a house to house search for some victims after which they started shooting indiscriminately resulting in the high death toll.

Some of the victims were also stabbed to death by the

– Residents

Contd on Page 2

PD INDEX

14th Oct., 2012

CBN RATES $ £ EURO CFA RIYAL

BUYING 154.7 248 200.6 0.2854 41

SELLING 155.7 249.7 201.8 0.3054 41.5

PARALLEL RATES EURO £ RIYAL $

BUYING 202 257 40 158

SELLING 204 259 42 160

N150

L-R: Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Sokoto state Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, and Minister of Youth Development, Barrister Inuwa Abdulkadir, during the wedding fatiha of Engineer Mujittaba Kware and daughter of the governor, Raliya Magatakarda Wamakko, on Saturday at Gidan Kara, Wamakko, Sokoto state.

Bauchi Parley: We’re committed to peace in N/East, says Gov. Shettima

By Lawrence Olaoye

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orno state governor, Kashim Shetima, yesterday said his government is committed to peace and security not only in his state but in the entire North East and the country in general.

The governor who spoke through his Special Adviser on Communication, Isa Umar Gusau, said the security situation in Borno state has remained a top priority of his administration and that he would not hesitate to work with credible Nigerians to find a lasting solution to the challenge in the region.

Gusau while answering questions on why the governor was absent at the botched inauguration of the North East Forum for Unity and Development (NEFUD) at the weekend said “I honestly do not know if an invitation reached him or not regarding the Bauchi meeting and I will beg not to speak further on that.”

He however added “But what I do know is that Governor Kashim Shettima regards the security situation in Borno State as his top most priority and he has been doing everything humanly possible to find a lasting solution to the challenge.

The Governor is equally very worried about similar concerns in other parts of the northeast.”

“Governor Shettima has consistently been advocating the need for stability in the northeast and rest of Nigeria. In Contd on Page 2

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

18-19

S/Report

24

Law

26

Education

27

Health

29

EFCC to arraign former Nigeria’s unity: Emir urges NBA chieftain for fraud Christians, Muslims to be

By Richard Ihediwa with agency report

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he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said yesterday that it is set to prosecute the immediate past first vice president of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Barrister Blessing Ukiri, over charges of fraud, stealing and money laundering.

Sources at the commission said Ukiri is alleged to have converted a N35million judgment amount paid by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to his client, one Samuel Onowighose, to his personal use. The source said the NBA former top brass, will be docked today (Monday) on a 3count charge before a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

Ukiri allegedly used part of the money to purchase 150,000 units of First Bank of Nigeria Plc shares and thereby commits an offence punishable under section 14 (1) (a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act. Ukiri was arrested on Friday October 12, 2012, at his office on

12 Ohaeto Street D/Line, Port Harcourt, Rivers state. The arrest followed a court order issued on Thursday October 11, 2012, by Justice U. N. Agomoh of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.

The Senior lawyer is a 1984 graduate of the University of Benin and holds a Masters degree in Law. He was called to the Nigerian bar in 1985. He lost the July NBA presidential election to the current president, Okechukwu Wali.

Meanwhile, former governor of Bayelsa state, Timipre Sylva, has denied ownership of two buildings in Abuja reportedly valued at over N1 billion.

The EFCC had accused Sylva of acquiring choice property across Nigeria including the two houses in Abuja using cronies.

But the former governor in a statement by his media adviser, Doifie Ola, denied ownership of the Abuja houses. The former governor claimed that he is being tried in the media and is not guilty of the allegations against him.

brothers’ keeper

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he Emir of Daura in Katsina state, Alhaji Umar Faruk Umar, has called on Christians and Muslims to be their brothers’ keeper to enhance national security.

He made the call in his palace when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday.

Umar urged the religious faithful to strengthen the bond of unity between them and live in harmony.

He said that unity among the faithful was vital to the growth and development of Nigeria, stressing that without peace, no meaningful development would take place in the country.

The emir specifically commended Katsina state’s governor, Ibrahim Shema for ensuring security of lives and property in the state.

He noted that the peaceful atmosphere in the state had provided the state government the opportunity to take development

to the doorsteps of the people, irrespective of their various affiliations or ethnic backgrounds.

Umar lauded the efforts of the administration for providing skills training for youths in the state, adding that the gesture had discouraged the beneficiaries from engaging in anti-social activities.

He also applauded the Shema administration for fulfilling its campaign promises in the last five years, adding that available records showed that the governor had redeemed more than 98 percent of the promises he made to the people of the state when he came to power in 2007.

The emir, who is the deputy chairman of the state’s traditional council, restated the commitment of the traditional institution to continue to support the state government’s vision of moving the state forward.

Umar also urged his people to continue to live in peace and to respect constituted authority.

(NAN)

Why gunmen killed Muslim worshippers 2013 budget: Timely presentation, uncertain implementation, Page 4

Inter’l Digest

31-34 36

Politics

37-39

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

Contd from Page 1 attackers.

A resident who pleaded anonymity said that the attackers had stormed the house of the man they believed tipped the police off and killed him and his two children after which they cut the hand of his wife. He said most of those killed by the gang were just coming from early morning prayer.

According to him, “this morning (yesterday), the criminals went to the house of the man they suspected to be responsible for identifying them, killed him and two of his children and cut the hand of his wife.

“They also killed 17 other people in the village. Those people they killed were just coming from the early morning prayers. I can confirm to you that it was not a robbery

operation, it was the criminals who went on a reprisal because the people have been identifying them”, he said.

Though police authorities have yet to identify the killers, there were reports that the gang had earlier written a letter to the community in which they threatened revenge by attacking the village.

A resident said due to the incessant attacks by armed robbers, the community had set up a committee to help fish out the culprits, a decision that yielded dividends as they were able to identify some of the criminals.

“A former hakimi (village leader) in Dogo Dawa was in charge of the committee that was responsible for sanitizing the area and that is why in the last three months, there has

been less incidents of robbery in the area as the people were able to identify the criminals and they were being eliminated silently one after the other”, he said.

In the same vein, a traditional ruler in a neighbouring community told newsmen that he suspected that the attackers were armed robbers on revenge mission.

“We are suspecting a reprisal by gangs of armed robbers who lost some of their members after a recent exchange of fire with the villagers and the vigilantes. The village had been terrorised by an armed group operating from camps in the forest. These armed men mostly attack villages and motorists along the busy Kaduna to Lagos highway.”

Kaduna state Commissioner

of Police, Olufemi Adenaike, who confirmed the incident said he could not confirm the number of those killed in the attack and who were responsible.

According to him, “some people are saying the attackers were Fulani herdsmen who were probably on reprisal attack but the question is; what reprisal attack?

“So, my men have moved to the scene to get details of the incident. We could not get immediate information from the area because the network there is very poor but as soon as we get the details and number of people killed, we will let you know.”

The situation has heightened fears in the area as residents have started fleeing the villages around Dogo Daji for fears of further attacks.

Bauchi Parley: We’re committed to peace in N/East, says Gov. Shettima Contd from Page 1 particular, he has regularly spoken against the prevalence of under-development indices in the northeast and the need for a collective approach to transform the region,” he stressed.

He said the governor had at different fora, both within the country and abroad, established the nexus between poverty, underdevelopment, unemployment and insecurity in the North-East zone.

Gusau stated further “He indeed established a correlation between poverty and other related indices in the northeast and the security situation in the

region to the obvious agreement of the BNC. From the foregoing, Governor Kashim Shettima no doubt welcomes and support whatsoever effort initiated by any credible person or group to address the problems in the region.”

Several efforts made to get reaction from Bauchi and Yobe state governors through their aides proved futile. While Yobe state governor’s media aide, Abdullahi Bego could not be reached on phone, text messages forwarded to the Bauchi state governor Special Adviser on Media, Rilwan Shehu, were not replied.

Meanwhile, it was gathered that the North-East governors boycotted the meeting because they suspected a hidden agenda from the convener. This was however betrayed when a notable convener of the meeting, Alhaji Bello Kirfi, a retired Federal Permanent Secretary, was quoted as saying that the North should break away from Nigeria ‘if need be’ for the region to take its destiny in its hands.

Kirfi was however prevailed upon to withdraw the statement

by Gen. Theophilus Danjuma and Malam Adamu Ciroma who promptly dissociated themselves

from such position.

Danjuma nevertheless suggested that the inauguration of the NEFUD be suspended until when the governors, who are the Chief Security Officers of their states, are ready to be part of the summit. He told the gathering that “One of the governors told me that all of them had resolved not to come and even advised me to stay away, that there is a hidden agenda.”

The retired Army General however counselled that the group should persuade the governors in the region to participate and, in fact, be made to convene the summit in future.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 3

Gunmen kill Borno kingmaker, three others as JTF escapes bomb attack From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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nknown gunmen, yesterday afternoon carried out separate attacks in Maiduguri, killing a kingmaker of the Borno emirate council, Shettima Ka’ami and three others.

The incident came five hours after a moving military patrol vehicle escaped a bomb blast along Bama road.

Late Ka’ami who was the district head of Gwange ward and holds the traditional title of Shettima Kanuribe of Borno, was reportedly shot and killed by two young men.

The incident occurred in Shehu South ward at about 1pm when the kingmaker was performing ablution for the zuhr prayers behind his house.

The gunmen had reportedly driven to the area in a tricycle and fired several shots at the traditional

ruler, killing him on the spot.

The assailants fled the scene before security forces could arrive while the incident caused confusion as residents were forced to stay indoors with everyone scampering for safety.

A member of the emirate council who declined identification confirmed the incident.

“This is yet another sad moment for the entire emirate council and people of Borno as Shettima

Kanuribe was the fourth among individuals related to the emirate killed by unknown gunmen”, the traditional ruler said.

Our correspondent also reported that earlier in the day, three members of the same family including a seven-year-old boy were killed on their way to church in Gwange ward.

Although the identity of the family members could not be ascertained as at press time, they

were reportedly shot dead upon being accosted and attacked by three gunmen.

Spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), Capt.

Musa Salihu, confirmed the killing of three persons but said was not aware of the murder of the kingmaker. He also explained that JTF patrol van escaped being hit by a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) which went off around 8am along Bama road.

ICT is key to Nigeria's transformation, says Sambo

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (2nd right), going through notes with Minister of Communications, Mrs. Mobolaji Johnson (right), during the opening of the International Telcommunications Union (ITU), Telcom World Conference, yesterday in Dubai.

PRONACO calls for urgent action on Bakassi From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he Pro National Conference Organisation (PRONACO), yesterday, in Lagos, said it will deploy a team of lawyers and experts to give support to the Bakassi people displaced by Cameroon in the light of the controversial ruling of the International Court of Justice, ICJ in 2002.

Speaking through its spokesperson, Veteran Olawale Okunniyi, PRONACO said given the current plight and dilemma in which the people of Bakassi found themselves after the decision of the Federal Government not to appeal

for revision of the 2002 ICJ ruling, PRONACO has come under intense pressure to undertake a strategic intervention on side of the masses of Bakassi.

Okunniyi said the caucus of the coalition has met in the last one week, with several stakeholders and indigenes of Bakassi, including chiefs and leaders of the Bakassi people, who demonstrated overwhelming concern for a popular resolution of the matter, claiming they were not legally part of the 1961 plebiscite which resolved to cede Bakassi to Cameroon.

PRONACO however stressed the need for both Nigeria and

Cameroon governments to immediately attend to the socioeconomic, humanitarian and security needs of the displaced and homeless people of Bakassi, and warned that it would mobilise its forces in the Niger Delta region against any further demarcation process of the territory if the questions around the rights and settlement of the Bakassi people are not first resolved.

“The caucus of PRONACO at the weekend also received a report, which identified the urgent resettlement of most of the displaced people of the oil rich island as uppermost in the heart of some of the leaders of Bakassi. We

therefore find it disheartening that the Bakassi people are today rendered homeless given the gestapo manner in which Cameroon gendarmes flushed them out of their natural habitat following the Greentree Agreement.

Okunniyi also disclosed that a legal team has been mandated to approach both national and international courts on the matter and that a stakeholders’ and experts’ national colloquium on the burning issue of Bakassi has been slated for Tuesday 23rd October in Lagos to mobilise a broad synergy on the best way to help the dislodged people of Bakassi.

ice President Namadi Sambo has stated that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is key to the transformation of the country.

The Vice President made this statement yesterday while answering questions from journalists at the International Communication Union (ITU) World Forum holding in Dubai, UAE. Sambo stated that Nigeria is participating in the conference in recognition of the great importance of ICT to the realisation of the administration’s transformation agenda of making it one of the most developed economies of the world by the year 2020. He stated that it was in line with that objective that the administration went to the extent of establishing the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, which would be responsible for the formulation and implementation of government policies and programmes in the ICT sector.

Arc. Sambo stated that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the major areas of job and wealth creation and therefore it is essential that Nigeria continue to have cooperation at the international level so as to continue to expand and open the ICT sector in the country to create jobs for the teeming Nigerian populace.

NYSC workers threaten to down tools nationwide Jang sues for peace in Plateau From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

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orkers of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), have threatened to down tools nationwide at the end of the 21day ultimatum given the management within which to effect improvement in their conditions of service.

This is the outcome of the justconcluded meeting of the NYSC National Coordinating Committee of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational

Services Employees (AUPCTRE), which has been negotiating with management on the issues at stake.

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, which was jointly signed by Comrades Olufemi Wahab and Isaac Maikur, chairman and secretary respectively, lamented that the NYSC Director-General, Brig. Gen. Nnamdi Okorie-Affia was yet to respond to the series of letters from the union, in which they had catalogued their grievances, particularly as regards the welfare of the workers.

Notable amongst their

grievances, according to the communiqué, include the subsisting NYSC conditions of service which they alleged was defective; the continued nonpayment of 28 days in lieu of hotel accommodation for officers on transfer; short-payments of transfer claims of some officers; the slashing to 50 percent of the passing out allowances to staff during the last passing out without any previous negotiation or information; as well as the demand for an upward review of the camp allowance for subsequent orientation programmes.

From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

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he Special Adviser to Governor Jonah Jang on special duties, Mr. Yakubu Jang has appealed to Plateau people to shun violence of all sorts and embrace peace regardless of their political, religious and ethnic affiliations as peace is the bedrock of development and if Plateau must develop the people must embrace peace.

Speaking to newsmen in Jos yesterday, the SA urged Plateau people to choose the path of

dialogue in resolving their differences rather than always resorting to violence to settle scores between them.

Mr. Jang noted that from the facts on ground, everybody is tired of crises in the state which seem to have defied all solutions as a result of the activities of conflict merchants who continue to fuel the crisis for their selfish benefits.

He appealed to all those fuelling the crises in the state to leave the state and the people alone to contribute to the development of the state.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

2013 budget: Timely presentation, uncertain implementation

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udgeting – a forecast estimate profiling expenditure in relation to available resources is one exercise that ought to be taken seriously by all at all times.

At the level of individual, a monthly income earner sketches out his needs in relation to his disposable income, likewise corporate organizations. Same goes for nations. Budgeting is a serious business, and should therefore be treated accordingly.

Unfortunately, in Nigeria, budgeting is often a mere annual ritual haphazardly undertaken by government of the day.

However, the world’s sixth largest oil producing nation may have latched on to the culture of doing the right thing going by the timely presentation of the 2013 N4.92 trillion budget.

Considering the history of delays, buck-passing and unnecessary face-offs that hallmarked previous budgets, the sort of ovation that greeted President Goodluck Jonathan’s sense of timeliness in taking 2013 fiscal budget to National Assembly at a record time remains a major boost to an administration whose performance record is about the worst in recent memory.

Nigeria grapples with a lot of problems concerning budgets.

Untimely presentation is just one of several hurdles against efficient budget system. The most critical factor that rendered past budgets un-impactful on Nigerians has been lack of diligent implementation by the executive arm.

The current 2012 budget of N4.7 trillion is a victim to the twin problems of late presentation cum passage and a dismal level of implementation, a development that has pitched the National Assembly against the Presidency.

Members of National Assembly had on several occasions, summoned cabinet ministers and heads of MDAs to explain reasons for non-availability of funds to execute capital projects that were captured in the budget.

The 2013 budget, which has an estimated expenditure of N4.92 trillion, represents an increase of about 5% over the N4.7 trillion appropriated for 2012.

It is made up of N380.02 billion for Statutory Transfers, N591.76 billion for Debt Service, N2.41 trillion for Recurrent (Non-Debt) Expenditure and N1.54 trillion for Capital Expenditure.

Similar to 2012 budget thrust, the 2013 budget among others seek to promote continuity of 2012 pillars. 2013 budget was designed with the theme: fiscal consolidation with inclusive growth.

Given the history of shoddy implementations that have characterised past budgets, the leadership of the National Assembly wasted no time in telling the executive the home truth about budget implementation.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, was poignant in his

For the first time in recent times a budget has been presented in good time for the consideration of the National Assembly. For the timely presentation of the 2013 budget, President Goodluck Jonathan has received a pat on the back. But experts are however of the opinion that important as timely presentation of budgets is, faithful and timely implementation as passed by the National Assembly is even more important. Abdulwahahab Isa in this analysis presents experts’ opinions on 2013 budget.

President Goodluck Jonathan closing remarks on Wednesday during presentation of budget proposal to the joint session of the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan.

In an unambiguous language, he told President Goodluck Jonathan that reports coming from the House committees currently on oversight function to ascertain the level of implementation of the 2012 budget were unimpressive.

“As I speak, interim field oversight reports from House Committees on the 2012 budget implementation are clearly unimpressive both in terms of releases as well as utilization and this is a great challenge to all of us.

“It is important to state at this point the clear provisions of Section 8 of the Appropriation Act to the effect that approved budgeted funds shall be released to MDAs “as at when due”. This is sadly observed more in breach”, said the Speaker.

Experts’ reactions have continued to trail the budget proposal. Leading financial expert, Khan Razia in her official reaction to the budget said the 5% rise in spending was relatively modest, and compares favourably with the magnitude of spending increase witnessed in 2010.

“In real terms, it signals the ongoing attempt to achieve fiscal consolidation. This is also reflected in the Budget deficit, which falls to a projected 2.17% of GDP, from an estimated 2.85% in 2012, largely

Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as already indicated”, she observed.

She said the share of recurrent spending which falls to 68.7% from 71.47% previously was a further step in the right direction, and indicative of the authorities’ desire to gradually boost the share of capital expenditure – providing a firmer platform for future growth.

However, Razia expressed concern in respect to suggestion that there might be an attempt by the House to raise this to USD 80/bbl.

“In our view, given global risks, and Nigeria’s ongoing fiscal and export dependency on a single commodity, the priority for Nigeria has got to be increasing its rate of saving. Were oil prices to fall, Nigeria would currently be left very vulnerable, with no sound mechanism for being able to smooth spending, let alone provide a counter-cyclical boost to the economy. The Sovereign Wealth Fund, while encouraging, is not yet sizeable enough to create a sound buffer against external shocks). It cannot be assumed either that the debt markets currently comfortably open to Nigeria, would be unaffected by any fall in the oil price. There is therefore a need for much more fiscal conservatism, and the signals from the House are a considerable concern”, she concluded.

In its reaction, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry commended the early presentation

of the 2013 budget to the National Assembly, saying the timely presentation would afford the legislature sufficient time for deliberations and passage of the budget.

The association President, Chief Goodie Ibru said the timeliness of the presentation would also enhance implementation performance.

Other critical areas of the budget that caught the attention of the association include none inclusion of monetary policy content by President Jonathan in his speech.

“The budget speech has no monetary policy content. It would have been useful for the President to highlight the thrust of monetary policy as this is critical to the realization of inclusive growth and fiscal consolidation. This is even more so at a time when businesses are facing severe challenges with regard to access and cost of credit.

“The banking system currently has zero tolerance for risk and this is stifling private sector growth and the capacity of entrepreneurs to create jobs. Collateral demands for loans are as high as 200%. This is a negation of the objective of inclusive growth and a real threat to financial intermediation. Additionally, the government is progressively crowding out the private sector in the credit market.

“These are fundamental issues that need to be addressed to stimulate growth and create jobs”,

Chief Ibru observed.

On the structure of the budget, the leadership of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce notes that the 2.7% reduction in recurrent expenditure from 71.43% to 68.7% and the increase of 2.8% in Capital budget from 28.5% to 31.3% are not prefund.

It also raised concern on the country’s debt profile, which it says, remains a major source of concern.

“We are concerned about the growing level of domestic debt and the high cost of debt servicing.

Domestic borrowing is proposed to reduce from N747 billion in 2012 to N727 billion in 2013, a mere 2.3% reduction. A staggering N591.76 billion is earmarked for debt servicing. However, the provision of N100 billion sinking funds for the repayment of maturing debt obligations is a welcome development”, LCC states.

Regardless of lapses that characterised previous budgets such as late submission and low level of implementation, it was a general consensus of stakeholders that the executive arm needs to demonstrate a high sense of commitment towards budget implementation.

It is only when budgets are faithfully implemented by the executive arm, that transformation in its practical terms could be felt by Nigerians.

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Nigerians in UK condemn ‘senseless’ killings

By Adamu Saleh

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he Central Association of Nigerians in the United Kingdom (CANUK), has condemned the recent killing of students and innocent citizens in some parts of Nigeria.

A statement signed by its chairman Bimbo Roberts Folayan, said the news from Nigeria is very discouraging and negates the

Insecurity: FG has abandoned us -Borno elders

image our organisation seeks to paint to the international community, noting that no serious investor will like to invest in an unstable environment characterised by strife and mob actions.

The statement said the manner in which four university students were killed in Aluu, over 30 students brutally murdered in Mubi and not less than 14 people massacred in Riyom local government of Plateau state, has

portrayed Nigerians as uncivilised and primitive people in the eyes of the international community.

"We commiserate with those that have lost loved ones and property in the course of these senseless killings of defenseless citizens and call on the government of Nigeria to do more to provide security for lives and property".

CANUK warned that if urgent steps are not taken to address the problems, Nigeria will become a land where 'anything goes'.

"While we condemn the senseless, criminal, disgraceful and mindless killings of human beings in Nigeria in the strongest possible terms, we also call on the government at all levels; local and state governments, houses of assembly, the House of Representatives, the Senate and the Federal Government to wake up to their responsibilities and boldly confront the social issues that lead to anger, mob action and anti social behavior".

CANUK is the umbrella body representing the interests of about three million Nigerians, and Nigeria-related organisations in the United Kingdom.

From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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he Borno Elders Forum over the weekend, said the Federal Government has abandoned the people of the state to their fate, declaring that the government failed to listen to advice that the Boko Haram insurgency cannot be solved through the use of force.

Secretary of the Forum, Bulama Mali Gubio, stated this while briefing newsmen after a meeting of the elders with the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi.

According to Gubio, "It is clear now that the Federal Government is not interested in solving this problem, there is no part of the world where the use of force has crushed an insurgency like this".

He further said the meeting was at the instance of Shehu who summoned all the elders so that they can put heads together and discuss how to solve the insecurity problem which the state has been facing for three years now.

Gubio also said it was time the people of the state said enough is enough to the security problem which has crippled social and economic activities. He said hopefully, result of their deliberations would start manifesting in the next two weeks.

Earlier while addressing the gathering, the Shehu of Borno, appealed to every resident to continue praying for peace to return to the state. The royal father also sort for the people's understanding since the emirate is not in a position to give orders to the Joint Task Force (JTF) it would only advise the operatives to keep to their professional codes of conduct.

Kwara govt to distribute N25m to flood victims From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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wara state government has disclosed that it would distribute N25 million worth of relief materials to flood victims in the state by Wednesday this week.

The Special Adviser on Emergency and Relief Matters in the state, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, in a statement issued at the weekend, said this was sequel to the N25 million released by Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed for the purpose.

It would be recalled that over 7000 people have been displaced in six local governments areas of the state.

He said the relief materials would go a long way to assist the victims and appealed to them to relocate from river banks, stressing that the floods are yet to subside according to information received from NEMA.

Mob lynches necklace thief in Warri

By Stanley Onyekwere with agency report L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri and Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, after the signing of key performance agreement between the minister and directors general, recently in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Hajj 2012: Zamfara Hisbah warns state pilgrims From Salisu Zakari Maradun, Gusau

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ntending pilgrims from Zamfara state, particularly women, have been cautioned to perform their pilgrimage in accordance with the teachings of the Quran and Sannah of the Prophet while

being reminded of the need to respect all rules and regulations of the Saudi authorities and those governing the Hajj exercise.

Chairman of the state Hisbah Commission, Malam Aminu Aliyu, gave this admonition during one of his weekly special preaching organised by the state Ministry for Religious Affairs.

He said Hajj, being one of the five pillars of Islam, has its own rules and regulations which must be known and taken into consideration by any intending pilgrim as failure to know them could make the exercise useless and meaningless.

According to him whatever a Muslim does, whether good or bad, will be recorded and shown to him in the hereafter.

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arely two weeks after four University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) students were lynched by the Aluu community in Rivers state, another incident of jungle justice in the country, happened in Warri, Delta state at the weekend.

According to an online portal, the incident happened on Saturday, when the victim who is yet to be identified, was alleged to have stolen a neck chain in one of the popular markets in the area.

"But this time, the police were quick to arrest the suspects as there was video evidence showing the burners; the faces of the lynchers were also clearly shown in the video (but Youtube has pulled it down)", the report said.

NUJ implores Kano govt to resurrect Triumph newspapers From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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he national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Mohammed Garba has appealed to the Kano state government to rescind its decision and re-open the state owned 32-year-old Triumph Publishing Company.

Garba, who made the appeal while delivering a welcome address at the maiden annual lecture/role model award, organised by the Kano chapter of the Correspondents Chapel of

the Nigeria Union of Journalists yesterday, pleaded that Triumph, which is the only surviving government newspaper should not be allowed to die overnight.

According to him, Triumph, which has produced top outstanding journalists across the country, like Halilu Dantiye, the incumbent Director of Press to Governor Kwankwaso, former NUJ national president, Sani Zoro, himself, (Mohammed Garba, as well as Garba Shehu, spokesman of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar should be bailed out for posterity.

Despite the odds, Garba, urged Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso not only to refinance but to re-open the publishing firm, which he noted gainfully employed hundreds of Kano indigenes and the nonindigenous community.

Besides, he acknowledged that Governor Kwankwaso has transformed Kano into a mega city and will go down in history as the first governor of the state who created three new cities, far flung from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

He noted that Governor Rabiu

Musa Kwankwaso deserves the award bestowed on him by the the NUJ state council.

Responding, the deputy governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who represented Governor Kwankwaso on the occasion, pledged that the state government would re-invigorate the publishing company.

According to him, “troubled Triumph has for a pretty long time been standing on one leg”, pointing out that Kwankwaso is uncomfortable with the situation, hence its sudden closure.

“Triumph would be re-

invigorated, it’s just a matter of time, the governor is not comfortable with Triumph standing on one foot”.

However, he thanked the Correspondents chapel for bestowing two awards on the governor, which he noted would spur him to work a lot more to transform Kano to a mega city of his dream, where everything works, pointing out that any first time visitor to Kano at night would accept that it is a mega city, as all nooks and crannies of the city is illuminated.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 7

Low budgetary allocation for agriculture regrettable – Sen. Bwacha The 6th National Agriculture Show Stories By Mohammed Kandi

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hairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha has expressed dissatisfactions over recent pronouncement by President Goodluck Jonathan while presenting the 2013 budget to the National Assembly, describing the N81.41 billion proposed as budgetary allocation for the agricultural sector as “sad story” to the development of the sector. ”Recently the President, Dr.

Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2013 budget for national assembly consideration. When I heard the budgetary allocation for the agric sector, I was downcast. I was demoralised. Inspite of the fact that there appears to be outward movement, yet it fall short of what is expected to make an impact in the agric sector,” Bwacha lamented.

Addressing the press during a seminar organised by the National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN) to kick-start the 2012 National Agricultural Show in Tudunwada, Nasarawa State, Bwacha regretted that the Federal Government had failed to stick to the Maputo Declaration, which hold that all

its signatories allocate at least 10 percent of member nation budgetary allocation to the finance the agricultural sector.

According to him, “If there is any sector begging for a rescue, it is agriculture. And I think the main function is left for those who are passionate about the sector.

It is now a project for us to manage.

N81.41 billion including recurrent expenditure is very small. It cannot do anything and that is why we must call on all who are interested in the project Nigeria to give agriculture the necessary support.”

In his remarks, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi

Adesina, expressed his readiness to comply various developmental programmes, saying “Nigeria is a member of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).

Represented by the Chairman, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) Sen. Abdullahi Adamu said, “The ministry will commit all resources and seek for international supports to ensure success of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA)”.

Speaking further, Sen. Adamu expressed his grievances that despite the country’s huge population, it still struggles to feed its people and noted the nation lacks the means and strategy to

rescue its teeming populace from poverty.

“Today with our population of not less than 167 million people, we have not as of today get the right means and formula to feed ourselves. As I’m talking to you our import rate is close to $3 billion which makes the nation so vulnerable to food insecurity,” Adamu added.

Meanwhile, Prof. Tunji Arokoyo, while delivering his paper titled “The Challenges of Integrating Small-Scale Farmers into the Agricultural ValueChain” attributed the sector’s major misfortune to lack of adequate resources, climate changes and lack of capacity building.

Flood: FG may compensate farmers

M

inister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the Federal Government may the affected farmers of various flood disasters across the country via its proposal to set-up an Area-based flood insurance schemes that would enable farmers hit by floods and drought in their communities.

The scheme, according to the minister, would ensure disaster payments to farmers and communities from floods and droughts that occur over vast areas and well beyond individual farmers.

Adesina, who disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the 2012 National Agricultural Show at the weekend, said that already the government was developing policies that would protect farmers from the impact of climate change.

He also stressed the need to scale up weather-index crop insurance schemes for farmers, and move towards small scale water management systems, that are cost effective and which empowers farmers to “The flooding is a wakeup call, with changing weather patterns; we must now develop policies for protecting farmers from the impacts of climate change, especially droughts and floods,” Adesina explained.

He said as part of the flood recovery food production initiative, the Ministry of Agriculture is distributing 1,000 pumps to farmers to be able to use for flood recession food production in the dry season.

The minister assured that there won’t be food crisis in the country, that as the flood water recede, government will embark on a flood recession food production intervention to support farmers in the flood affected areas.

Adesina further stated that in the past one week, government have mobilized from within and outside Nigeria, over 20,000 MT of rice seed, enough to plant 400,000 ha of rice farm lands in flood affected areas, that would allow the production of 1.2 million MT of rice grain.

L-R: Benue State Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Prince Andy Uwouku, Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, inspecting agric produce at Benue pavilion, during the opening ceremony of the 2012 National Agricultural Show, on Saturday in Tudun Wada, Nasarawa state.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

We will not have food crisis, famine, says Adesina

F

ollowing the recent incident of flooding that ravaged various farming communities across the country and in a bid to pursue rapid agricultural productivity growth, policy and institutional reforms that will rapidly unlock the great potential of agriculture, Federal Government has assured citizens that there would not be any food crisis or famine.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, disclosed this at the National Agricultural Show ground, Nasarawa state, during the weekend.

Declaring open the 6th National Agricultural Show on behalf of the President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Adesina said, the government has put in place “Flood Recovery Food Production Plan” to support farmers in the flood affected areas.

He noted that his ministry will distribute 1,000 pumps to

farmers so as to enable them use for flood recession food production in the dry season.

According to him, “the federal government had already 100 MT of seed of extra-early maturing maize, which matures in 60 days, to plant 5,500 hactres of farm lands in affected areas, and this will allow affected farmers to have a crop and feed themselves quickly before the next planting season.”

He added that, “the ministry will also produce 11,000 tons of maize also which will be complementing with an additional 500,000 tons to be produced under irrigation in the dry season.”

“In the past one week, we have mobilized from within and outside Nigeria, over 20,000 MT of rice seed, enough to plant 400,000 hactres of rice farm lands in flood affected areas. This will allow the production of 1.2 million MT of rice grain. We will also provide planting materials

for cassava and yams for affected areas and government is also making available food from the strategic grain reserves to them,” he stressed.

“The flood is a wakeup call.

With changing weather patterns, we must now develop policies for protecting farmers from the impacts of climate change, especially droughts and floods. We need to scale up weather-index crop insurance schemes for farmers. Areabased insurance Schemes must be put in place to ensure disaster payments to farmers and communities from floods and droughts that occur over vast areas and well beyond individual farmers,” he explained. ”Together, we can make Nigeria a food basket for Africa and the world. I can see an agriculture power house arising for Nigeria, for agriculture was Nigeria’s past, and agriculture is Nigeria’s

future”.

Meanwhile, the Chairman Board of Trustees of the Agricultural Foundation of Nigeria (NAFN), Senator Abdullahi Adamu, while speaking at the event said that “We are helping through the Show, to promote debate and disclosure over new developments and policy directions in the sector, for we must face and seriously address the fact that a lot is wrong with our agriculture.”

“The aggregate production of Nigeria’s agriculture comes from small-scale resource- poor rural farmers. In most parts of the world, most rural people are relatively disadvantaged and lack adequate opportunities to exchange information and learn about, text, adapt and replicate environmentally and socially appropriate that would improve their livelihoods, and achieve sustainable agric and rural development,” he said.

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Kano govt closes 2 private hospitals T

he Kano state government has sealed up two private hospitals in the state, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer

of the state Ministry of Health, Malam Isma’ila Gwammaja.

It named the two hospitals as Taimako Nursing and Maternity Home in Tiga and Rahama Nursing and Maternity in Chiromawa, saying they were

sealed for inefficiency.

The statement said the Special Adviser to the state Governor on Private Hospitals, Dr. Salisu Ibrahim, expressed dismay over the state of the hospitals.

He noted that it was worrisome

to see that some private hospitals employed the service of just one medical doctor.

“The present administration has placed high premium on effective health service provision and it will not condone any

violation regarding effective healthcare services”, Ibrahim said.

NAN reports that the Special Adviser had been monitoring the state of private hospitals in the state, an act which had led to the closure of some of the hospitals. (NAN)

Budget performance: House committee lauds NOTAP

By Joy Baba

T

Members of the Nigerian Baptist Convention Girls Association (NBCGA), reciting Bible verses during the maiden coronation ceremony yesterday at the Faith Baptist Church, Lugbe, Airport Road, Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Lawmaker advocates category ‘A’ flood status for Lagos From Bimbo Ogunnaike, Lagos

T

he lawmaker representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, has derided the Federal Government for classifying Lagos as a Category ‘B’ state in the Flood Relief Fund recently announced by President Jonathan.

He described the development as ‘absolutely unacceptable to the good people of Lagos state and using this medium to send a strong clear message to the Presidency that

Lagos state deserves to be placed in Category ‘A’.

Ashafa in a statement made available to the press, noted that long before the recent incidents of floods caused by excessive torrential rains, “I have clamoured repeatedly and extensively that due to the fact that Lagos state is about 5m below sea level and surrounded by lakes, creeks and rivers, it is extremely prone to flooding”.

He added that “In addition, due to the heavy rains, excess water

from the Oyan Dam is regularly released so that the dam does not give way. This displaces thousands of families each time and floods places such as Ketu, Ikosi, Mile 12, Owode, Isheri, Agiliti, Ikorodu, Itokin areas, etc. There have also been confirmed reports of loss of life”.

He said to worsen the situation, the excess rains consistently cause the Atlantic Ocean to “surge causing the commercial heart of Nigeria to be at a standstill and crippling commerce causing the

World Bank calls on nations to support ‘End Poverty’ campaign

W

orld Bank President, Jim Yong Kim has called on all countries to join the bank to support the campaign on ‘End Poverty’ to help the poorest of the poor in the society.

Kim made the remark at the on-going annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at the weekend in Tokyo, Japan.

“For me, that message ‘End Poverty’ is what I think about every day on my job as president of the World Bank Group.

“I think of that message and the message of boosting shared prosperity so that families or young people can have hope for a brighter future that includes a good job, access to health care and good education.

“The economic environment

today is tough and very disconcerting, so I believe that the World Bank Group has a role to play in all countries around the world.

“Also, all countries of the world can work with the World Bank to find solutions to some of the most difficult issues in development today”, he said.

He added that he would want the bank to transform from a knowledge bank to a solutions bank that will be a clearinghouse of ideas from the north and the south on how to, most effectively, deliver services to those who need them the most.

He emphasised the importance of keeping developing countries in the forefront adding that over one million people still live in absolute poverty.

“We must all work to make sure that the impressive gains in Latin America, Africa, and Asia over the past generation are not lost now.

“In just the last few years, growth from developing countries accounted for more than half of global growth. It is in everyone’s interest that these countries continue to grow and continue to be such strong contributors to the global economy”, he added He commended the Japanese government for effectively hosting the annual conference.

“I want to thank the Japanese people and the government of Japan for a truly outstanding meeting.

“The Japanese government, I think, demonstrated to all of us the character of the Japanese people by responding to the great tragedy of March 11, 2011”, he said.

(NAN)

loss of millions of naira. This has happened four times this year alone”.

The Senator recalled that the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), had earlier in the year predicted that rainfall this year would be more in the South, putting the volume at between 1200 and 2700mm as against 300 and 1100mm in the north.

“We should then expect more rains and more floods. I therefore appeal to the Presidency to change the flood relief status of Lagos state to Category ‘A’, he said, stressing that “Lagos state government has put in so much time and resources before the rainy season for the dredging/desilting of estuaries that lead into the lagoons. These are reasons why floods in Lagos state have been reduced”.

he House Committee on Science and Technology has commended the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), for its budgetary discipline and performance.

The committee gave the commendation when it visited NOTAP headquarters in Abuja as part of its oversight function.

Chairman of the committee, Hon. Abiodun Akinlade, said the House members were highly impressed with the detailed presentation on the budget performance of the office as captured in a document presented to each member of the Committee during the visit. In his words “this is the only organisation that has given us detailed information as to the budget releases and expenditure since we started this oversight visits”.

The Committee members unanimously expressed satisfaction with the projects and monetary performance of NOTAP and promised to support the agency in realising its mission and mandate which they described as crucial to the development of the nation.

Earlier in his presentation, Director General of NOTAP, Engr.

Umar Buba Bindir, briefed the committee members on the 2012 budget performance pointing out that some of the projects of the office were not fully implemented due to inadequate funding from the budget lines. He said NOTAP has so far established over 41 Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs), in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and research institutes.

Kaduna FRSC bans use of Peace Ambassador vehicle number plates From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

T

he Kaduna sector command of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has outlawed the use of the “Peace Ambassador” vehicle number plate.

A statement by the FRSC Sector Commander, Olumide Michael Olagunju, warned that violators would face appropriate sanctions and urged those involved to use properly registered number plates.

It also noted that it is illegal to cover a vehicle number plate with transparent blue plastic sheet.

According to the statement, “it is important to note that a number plate is the vehicle identification mark which has unique reflective properties to improve visibility at night.

“All motorists are hereby advised to remove such blue plastic covering on their number plate in their own interest”.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 11

Be your own fund manager

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ad idea: Cut surgical costs by taking out your own appendix. Not such a bad idea: Cut costs by acting as your own global fund manager.

Funds that invest abroad tend to be expensive. Instead of buying one, you could put together your own portfolio of one or two dozen individual stocks. That would spare you fund fees. It would also give you the opportunity to capture thousands of dollars in tax benefits that funds cannot offer.

Not so long ago the barriers to foreign share ownership were forbidding: strange languages, currency conversion costs, stiff commissions.

Now a proliferation of American Depositary Receipts, English-language corporate websites and online trading deals make Frankfurt and Tokyo almost as accessible as New York. Charles Schwab has ratings on 4,000 foreign stocks.

Fidelity Investments has lots of research plus a recently expanded system that allows investors to send online trades directly into 17 foreign markets.

Many of the biggest foreign companies, like Vale, HSBC and Toyota Motor, have ADRs that trade, in large volume, on the Big

Board. That means you can get in for a commission of $5 to $9 plus a trading cost (half the bid/ask spread) of a penny a share or so.

For other stocks the trading costs are somewhat higher. In many cases you have two choices: use dollars to buy shares or ADRs in the U.S. over-the-counter market or else convert your dollars into foreign currency and then trade overseas. If the ADR is illiquid or nonexistent, the latter route makes sense.

Schwab offers a combo deal to investors who want to trade on a foreign bourse. You pay 0.5% (with a minimum of $100) to cover the cost of both converting your dollars and executing the foreign trade.

Fidelity's arrangement is attractive for investors who do a lot of trading and/or want to keep some cash in foreign currencies because they don't like the dollar.

You pay a sliding fee to convert a lump sum into another currency and then a separate fee for each trade. You can, for example, convert $100,000 into Euros at a cost of 0.75%, then use those euros to place trades in France, Germany and so on. The flat online commission varies by market between $14 and $38.

Jeffrey Power, a 64-year-old

psychotherapist in Houston, uses the Fidelity platform to get his hands on shares of foreign companies that, despite large market values, are not at all known in the U.S. He says, "I want exposure to natural resources, energy, agriculture and precious metals, and a lot of the bettermanaged companies are headquartered outside the U.S." In December Power used 13,260 of his Australian dollars to pick up 1,000 shares of Origin Energy, which explores for oil and gas in Australia and New Zealand.

He could have bought the shares o-t-c in New York but was put off by the thin volume there (1,200 shares a day on average) and larcenous bid/ask spreads. In Sydney the stock does 2.7 million shares a day at a one-penny spread.

The decision to be a do-ityourself international investor is an easy one for a cheapskate. The average expense ratio on an actively managed fund buying foreign stocks is 1.49%, according to Morningstar. Over a decade that adds up to 14% of your money.

A passive index fund is cheaper. The Vanguard FTSE AllWorld ex-U.S. ETF owns a little of everything (2,329 stocks) and costs 0.22% a year. But even this product costs more than individual shares, at least for an investor with a six-figure sum to commit.

Suppose you have $120,000 you want to invest abroad for a decade. The Vanguard fund will set you back $2,640, assuming no growth in share prices.

Alternatively, you could find 12 big foreign companies with ADRs on the NYSE. Your entrance fee for the portfolio, in commissions and spreads, would be $130 or so at a discount broker.

You could sit tight, spending nothing on maintenance other than the tiny fees built into some

ADRs by ADR custodian banks ( i s s u i n g companies often pick up these expenses).

Alternatively, you could milk the portfolio for tax losses.

L o s s harvesting hinges on having your foreign equity investments in a taxable account.

That's where they belong, for another tax reason: You can claim a U.S. income tax credit for foreign taxes withheld on your dividends only if the stocks (or stock funds) are in your taxable brokerage account.

Harvesting means you periodically cull losers from your portfolio and stay out of the offending stocks for 30 days. Over a decade you could easily harvest $20,000 of capital losses out of a $120,000 portfolio. Capital losses can be used, at a rate of $3,000 a year, against ordinary income like salary.

The value of those writeoffs would depend on your circumstances but might come to $7,000. You'd spend maybe $600 in additional trading costs in order to capture them.

Why can't Vanguard do this dirty work for you? Because funds are not permitted to flow through capital losses to shareholders.

Would it be risky to own only 12 stocks instead of a diversified fund? Yes, but not as risky as you might think. We did an experiment, using an electronic dartboard to pick 12 stocks at a time out of the 50 largest holdings in that Vanguard FTSE fund. We did

1,000 of these minifunds. Their average return over the past year was exactly in line with the composite return of the 50 stocks.

The standard deviation of the 1,000 returns was 3.4%.

What this means is that, in a year when the FTSE returns 20%, your amateur fund might do 16.6% or 23.4%. If the market is down 10%, you might be down 6.6% or 13.4%.

If you can't stand 3.4% swings around a stock index, maybe you shouldn't be in stocks at all, since the index itself is going to have an annualized volatility of something like 18%. Or maybe you'd be happier parking your money in an ETF until you have $240,000 and can create 24 positions of $10,000 each.

The table steals ideas from high-performing international funds offered by First Eagle, GMO, Oakmark and Tweedy, Browne.

See if you can beat these pros.

Taxes and costs give you a head start.

The following story appears in the March 12, 2012 issue of Forbes magazine.

Entrepreneurship: Why it's good to start your own business

W

e live in a very difficult economic climate. This is a global trend, with the exception of perhaps China and everybody has to face the fact that we have less money to buy more expensive things. Unfortunately, the economy has had far more devastating consequences than simply having to watch what we spend a bit more. Many people have lost their jobs because of companies either going under or having to make people redundant.

Finding a new job is increasingly difficult, with as much as 100 people applying for the same jobs. However, there has been some light at the end of the tunnel, as an increasing number of people have started up their own business. Starting up your own business is very risky, but it can also be incredibly satisfying on a number of different levels.

Hopefully, if you are one of the unlucky many that has either lost their job or is about to lose their job, the following information may help you in considering what

entrepreneurs do. Maybe, it is something that you could consider yourself.

What it means to be an entrepreneur Being an entrepreneur basically means that you are starting your own company. This can be something very large, or very small. Small is usually the best way to start if you want to set up your own business. This is because you will reduce your overhead costs by having a oneman enterprise and you will also not be responsible for other people's livelihood. You would need to start with a good idea. Don't be discouraged by the fact that there may already be many other people doing the same thing.

If there are many of a certain type of company, this generally means that there is also a high demand. For instance, gardeners, painters and decorators or dog walkers seem to be a dime a dozen, but that is because the demand is there. There aren't very many shrub shapers, so if you want to

become one of these you are likely to be the only one in your area.

But how likely is it that you will get any employment in this?

Working hard at being an entrepreneur Entrepreneurs don't have an

easy life. Finding a good idea is only the start, it then has to be turned into reality. This can be really difficult. You may need specific licenses, insurance and capital behind you and perhaps you even need training and education.

Working in the food industry, for instance, which is a strong favorite new business idea, does mean you have to have food hygiene certificates. However, don't be discouraged. If you don't like hard work, working for yourself is not for you. Starting up with a good, solid, business plan is a great place to start. Templates for these can be downloaded for free from the internet and you can use these to really figure out whether or not your idea may be profitable.

Furthermore, should you require any type of loan; you will also need this plan as evidence of your ideas.

A lot of help is available for this as well, with many charities doing work to support those who are trying to make it on their own. One thing is for sure: if you are thinking of making a go at it by yourself, you will have a whole lot of support available around you. Charities and other companies will be more than happy to help you, and you will probably get some fantastic support from family and friends as well.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

A

Jonathan, don't just moan, lead

t an interdenominational church service to mark the 52nd Nigeria's independence anniversary, President Goodluck Jonathan declared what he called a prayer project lasting last one year.

The aim apparently is to seek God's intervention in the nation's myriad problems most of which, it must be said, are manmade. The call for the special prayers is an attempt by the president to involve all Nigerians in seeking divine intervention in order for us to find our way out of the woods. To buttress this point, Jonathan, at the service, reiterated his oft made assertion that he hat alone cannot end the nation's woes.

No doubt, some of the problems facing the nation are not President Jonathan's creation. In fact, some of them date as far back as the colonial times. But the point must be made that he now bears responsibility for them as our leader and for this reason, it is incumbent on him to inspire the nation by leading the way in finding solutions to them. We, however, doubt if this prayer project is the right way to go. We certainly do not have anything against prayers; after all, our creator has enjoined us to turn towards Him in prayers with a promise to answer.

We make bold to say that if prayer were the antidote to our problem, we would have been among the leading nations of the world instead of

languishing at the bottom rung despite the enormous resources we have been blessed with.

Researches over the years have shown that Nigerians are the most prayerful people in the world.

However, the irony that always stares us in the face which makes a mockery

“

No doubt, some of the problems facing the nation are not President Jonathan's creation. In fact, some of them date as far back as the colonial times. But the point must be made that he now bears responsibility for them as our leader of our prayerfulness is the fact that we as well rank among the most corrupt nations of the world. Because of our penchant for religiousness, some dubious minds amongst us have taken advantage of that to drive a wedge between the people to achieve their own selfish ends. The point, therefore, remains that prayers like the one being proposed by the president are not the only thing needed at this point

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

in time for us to overcome our difficult challenges. More than prayers, we need a committed and farsighted leadership to help us out.

This is what we feel is lacking now.

We are few years away from the end of the so called Vision 20: 2020 but we doubt if the president himself still believes that vision is achievable. Clearly, this was not a well thought out strategy hence it is no wonder that we are not likely to actualize it. As it is, no amount of prayer will help make his dream come true.

However, we believe that all hope is not lost as we may yet reverse and take a turn for the better. This reversal should start with the president who we expect to show leadership by outlining a workable plan of action that re-launches our transformation into the great nation that we all know we are capable of becoming.

As daunting as the task may seem, we believe that if the president leads the way by providing the right leadership, especially in dealing with corruption, then we can be said to be half way towards getting our problems solved. The Nigerian people have always demonstrated their desire to see a change in the current bad state of affairs but have not been fortunate enough to have leaders who are ready to make the necessary sacrifice and lead the way.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE DIRECTOR/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM EDITOR, DAILY ABDULAZEEZ ABDULLAHI

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND JAMILA NUHU MUSA

MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, LAGOS BUREAU ADESOJI OYINLOLA

“To be a reputable, profitable, innovative and technologically reliant media company offering world class services and products”

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 13

Budget of fiscal consolidation and inclusive growth

By Boniface Chizea

T

he President presented the details of 2013 Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and inclusive growth before a joint session of the National Assembly on Wednesday, October 10, 2012. It will be recalled that the President had given notice of his intention to present the details of the Budget before this time but the House requested that it should be delayed to enable it complete work on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and to complete its visits to various projects to ascertain the extent of implementation of Budget 2012.

We cannot actualize the budget without implementation and it remains a fact that budget implementation has not been one of our forte as a country. But it will seem to me that the issue of implementation is now being politicized. If budget 2012 was signed into law at the end of April, 2012 and the capital programs of budget 2011 were carried forward to the first quarter of 2012 and we are at the beginning of last quarter of the year, how much implementation should we realistically expect?

One is not saying here that we do not have issues with implementation; we do. Sometimes the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will perennially talk of lack of cash backing and for some of us outside, it is difficult to

By Andrew Obinna Onyearu

O

n Friday 5 October 2012, the Aluu Community in Rivers State acquired for itself the dubious distinction in Nigeria’s history of playing host to one of the most brutal examples of butchery that this country has experienced. It is now common knowledge that some of the villagers killed 4 students of the University of Port Harcourt, allegedly for stealing phones and laptops from an off campus hostel of the institution.

In a sustained attack that lasted several hours involving a large number of participants, 4 young men lost their lives in circumstances that were indescribably horrific.

Most Nigerians, who became aware of this incident disseminated mainly through social media, where first dumbfounded into shock, soon replaced by the intensity of anger and bitterness. The revulsion showed as Nigerians, in one voice, collectively rejected its occurrence and raised the profile of its disgust such that the usually docile enforcement authorities swung, unpredictably quickly, into action.

This is the most recent in a series of outrageous, jungle-justice type of vigilante law enforcement the likes of which Nigeria has not seen since the 1980s pre-democracy periods when armed robberies pervaded every state in the country. In those times, for those with slightly longer memories, Nigerians sometimes resorted to self-help, ostensibly to cleanse a society overwhelmed by the ease with which armed and violent robberies occurred, often resulting in the mindless demise of innocent people and, even worse, remaining both unchecked and undetected in huge proportions. This happened largely out of a sense of exasperation given the failings, at the time, of the law enforcement agencies in arresting violent crime that was spiraling out of control in geometric proportions.

Putting aside any historical anecdotes, what happened in Aluu represents a most savage, shocking

understand why that should be so because we are selling our oil at a price above benchmark and one would not expect that delays in realization of the proceeds from sale should be serious enough to warrant the delays being passed on. And one more thing that causes delays in budget implementation is that for most MDAs the payment process is overly slow and not streamlined and here I am talking from personal experience.

But this President has served good notice that he appreciates the importance of implementing the budget. Hear him, ’Today, in the face of critical resource constraints, the defining moment of our work is in actualizing our promises to Nigerians.’ And he continued;’ We are determined to use the instrument of the budget to improve the welfare of Nigerians.’ And therefore one hopes that the National Assembly will be quick off the mark to work on the budget to get it ready for the President’s approval so that implementation can commence on the first day of 2013 as it is the case with most advanced economies of the world.

Also, the on-going muscle flexing with the National Assembly is not in the best interest of this country.

The Senate President in his remarks after the presentation made so much of the fact that the budget details are mere estimates. Of course the entire budget process is all about estimates.

It is unheard off that any budget anywhere in the world is

implemented as crafted, this is why budget variance is very much part of the budget process. But the Presidency has the responsibility of preparing the budget even if what is happening now would seem to cast some doubts regarding this observation.

If as claimed by the President the details of the 2013 budget are a product of extensive consultations with critical stakeholders, one would expect the remaining process of approving the budget ready for implementation seamless and rancor free. The Leader of the House in his remarks observed immediately that the House believes that the benchmark price of oil should be 80 dollars to reduce the budget deficit and therefore the need for borrowing. You might be inclined to ask why not 85 or even 90 dollars per barrel. After all the price of oil has for some time now been in excess of 100 dollars? The President, as if in anticipation did observe in the text of his presentation that the benchmark has been determined following a rigorous process using moving averages of oil. And the budget deficit in fidelity to the Fiscal Consolidation thrust of the budget has been reducing progressively. It currently stands at 2.17% of GDP down from 2.85% in budget 2012 and by the same token the borrowing requirement has been reducing progressively. It is therefore in order to caution that all effort must be made by concerned

parties to ensure that delay is avoided in the approval process so that for once we can commence the implementation of the budget for the first time on the first day of next year.

One of the landmarks of the budget is its focus on gender issues.

And I think the women folk have never had it so good as under this President. In the first place when it was time for the President to fill the ministerial slots, he promised that he would reserve 35% of the positions for women and he delivered on that. And one-third of women living with V.V.F have been targeted for corrective surgery during the budget year and the ministry of works has been mandated to reserve 35% of works under FERMA for women! One expects the womenfolk to be massively appreciative of this President for prioritizing their interests in this manner.

While a boost is expected with the activities in sugar sector with the fiscal incentives; zero duty on machinery and spare parts importation which should also be impacting the unemployment situation positively. And if the projected growth rate of GDP of 6.5, which has been scaled down because of the effect of the floods on agriculture is made more jobs friendly, the unemployment situation is expected to be positively impacted.

The targets in the budget in my opinion are mostly realistic. The benchmark of oil at 75 dollars up

from 72 dollars used for the 2012 budget is realistic. In budgeting the received wisdom is to err on the side of conservatism as it is eminently easier to manage surplus that deficit.

On sectoral allocations, for once a lion share is almost given to education, as if remembering the UNESCO requirement that 26% of the budget should be allocated to this sector.

Defense has continued to enjoy its dominant position pandering to the prevailing state of insecurity which must be brought under control for any meaningful development to take place.

We are all excited regarding the current improvement being witnessed in the power sector. The expectation is that the effort to privatize generation and distribution of power for which preferred bidders were recently announced will be seamless so that desired progress would continue to be made in this regard.

Developments in many sectors of the economy are so far impressive; rail network for instance with modern systems that would make it possible for one to go from Lagos to Abuja in five hours reducing demand for air travel particularly for those who have phobia for flying.

In summary, this country is in for exciting times if only we can muster the will to implement this budget faithfully.

Dr. Boniface Chizea is the MD/ CEO BIC Consulting based in Lagos.

and incomprehensible response to a situation in which the perpetrators, bystanders and any other type of participants stood woefully, legally, morally and spiritually guilty of the most profane kind of ill conceived and misguided assumption of the duty to enforce justice. Whatever concocted criminal persuasion convinced the participants to act as they did, the real facts have demonstrated that these conclusions were scandalously wrong, morbidly distorted and driven by nothing other than a vampire-like, undisguised – and misplaced – thirst for blood. As it was, it has now been established that the deceased’s antecedents were anything other than that the assailants’ twisted minds thought they were, making this situation even more indigestible. Sliced any way, there is no rationale that can support this action and Nigeria, in one voice, roundly deprecated this tragedy whilst commiserating with the families of the deceased.

Unfortunately, ours is a society where high levels of violence have led to the consideration, in some quarters, of self help violence as a sort of response to high crime. Security structures in the country have, over the years, failed to provide the peace and serenity that should positively influence a better appreciation of the balance between crime and punishment.

The sustained prevalence of increasing crimes of violence against innocent Nigerians compounded by poor protection by the law enforcement agencies; poor medical facilities for post-incident treatment and non-existent postincident support all combine to imbue Nigerians with a high sense of anxiety. This belief, heightened by limited crime detection encouragement, has made Nigerians less receptive to the traditional methods of crime solving such that many consider that the actual process lets more criminals escape than are penalized. Many consider that the

path to criminal justice is slow, riddled with corruption and, thus, entirely ineffectual in combating crime. This, sadly, is supported by visible evidence, unfortunately borne out even by the fact that this incident ran such a long course without disruption even by law enforcement agencies as it is understood to have lasted over 4 hours!

For all that is said, Nigerians, of the sort, that participated in this lynching are in the considerable minority. That this exists at all is a depressing acknowledgment that this warped minority retains the capacity to cause the kind of enduring mayhem which serves as a continuous reminder of the need for leadership to ceaselessly prioritize and pursue the security of its citizens as a sine qua non to its governance obligations Whatever lack of confidence we have in the capacity of our security services to offer us protection from crime, this very depressing incident will remain a painful reminder of exactly why many countries have abolished the death penalty.

Digressing slightly, the penalty of death for criminal activity has its roots in both historical and religious antiquity but its benefit in the punishment value chain has so diminished that there now is, in many parts of the world, no sustainable justification for its continued retention, even for the

most gruesome crimes.

Most commonly, in the US, the death penalty is challenged as a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which says that the U.S. cannot use “cruel and unusual” punishment.

Opponents of the death penalty point out that there is a possibility of wrongly executing an innocent man. Of course, there is a possibility of wrongly sending an innocent man to prison, or wrongly fining an innocent man, but they contend that because of the finality and severity of the death penalty, the consequences of wrongly executing an innocent person are much worse. On that day in Allu, the deceased were not even afforded audience not to mention opportunity to offer an explanation.

As it turned out, they did nothing wrong. Therein lies the flaw in this most crude form of jungle justice. If there is a more compelling case for the exclusion of self-help vigilante justice, such an example does not exist in our country.

Where do we go from here?

Justice will and should take its course. Those responsible must be quickly and completely apprehended, tried and punished within the laws of the land. The penalties, when guilt is determined, must be significant and deterring, exemplary and designed, for the future, to ensure that participation for others is diminished or extinguished. True, this will offer

limited consolation to the families of the deceased but it will, at the very least, demonstrate that ours is not an entirely lawless and hopeless society.

As far as is possible, various responsible authorities must provide direct support and counseling to the parties not just temporarily but over time. In a piecemeal fashion, the security structures must be reviewed, revamped and reorganised to ensure earlier responses to crisis spots like this because, clearly, the gestation period of these mob-lynching incidents usually afford sufficient time from the formation of the common purpose to its implementation for law enforcement intervention to occur.

More generally, there are huge gaps in the provision of security in Nigeria that must constrain leadership to actively review service delivery objectives and issues starting from the grassroots levels. Inadequacies of internal security – terrorism apart – of the enforcement structures like poor service conditions, underfunding, obsolete law enforcement techniques, poor technical support and corruption must be confronted more purposefully and determinedly.

On any view, vigilante justice is plainly wrong. For all that may be urged in its support, it could never be properly motivated. Frequently dictated by instant, red-mist anger, this usually quickly mutates into mob action. Generally uncoordinated and irrational, it seeks to replace a social order system of justice – however deficient – with a more unsuitable barbaric response that is usually hijacked by individuals with deepseated vicarious anger. In truth, it solves nothing other than quenching a blood-seeking, usually temporary thirst for reprisals for distant crimes.

The price, when this rationale is wrong is way too much to pay or consider.

This must never happen again.

Andrew Obinna Onyearu resides in Abuja.

Aluu tragedy: Pitfalls of flawed vigilante justice

“

Opponents of the death penalty point out that there is a possibility of wrongly executing an innocent man. Of course, there is a possibility of wrongly sending an innocent man to prison, or wrongly fining an innocent man, but they contend that because of the finality and severity of the death penalty, the consequences of wrongly executing an innocent person are much worse

PAGE 14

By Yunusa Aliyu Babando

T

he Nigerian Ummah, defined here as the community of Muslims where ever they reside within the country, is today afflicted by a malaise that is at once imposed and self-inflicted. As a consequence, the Ummah in Nigeria, unlike its counterparts in other parts of the world, and against the grain of its rich heritage is not anywhere contention, it has systematically disappeared from the landscape it once skillfully mastered spiritually, socially, economically, culturally and politically.

Not only that the Nigerian Ummah account for the poorest of the population (over 72% poverty incidence against the national average of 65%), they are also the most educationally disadvantaged in terms of educational enrollment, retention, examination performances, etc. For the Muslim women, of the 80% who are already poor, 71% cannot read and write and only about 3% have either attended college or university. In the Muslim North, over 10 million children of school age practically out or excluded from educational opportunities. It’s the same story with health care, employment and overall living standards.

In the meantime, the Ummah population keeps growing and consistent with the demographic trends, younger. A Muslim woman on the average bears 7 children compared to 4 on the average according some estimates. It is estimated that the population under the age of 15 years is expected to rise to 65% in the next 20-30 years. Rapid urbanization characterized by high unemployment is on-going, providing the fertile ground for the emergence of youth criminality and in many cases youth mobilization for violence by unscrupulous politicians. There is, of course, a

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

What future for the Nigerian ummah? much bigger problem related to the and purpose, the Qur’an and the which has transformed itself to continuous deterioration of small- Sunnah has enjoined believers to become one of the most productive, holder, peasant agriculture, projected uphold; decline in morality; self-reliant and technologically to decline by 50% in 2050, a leadership deficits and corruption; and advanced in the world today. It could development made more complicated the absence of an intellectual also learn from the Ummah from by the phenomenon of Climate movement; to lack of a modernist the former Soviet Union, who it is Change and the associated natural Islamic reform initiatives and the said, is better equipped than the rest disasters, diseases, foods, drought and absence of a framework for the of all the Ummah combined in the institutionalization of Shari’a that field of scientific and technical desertification.

In addition, the Nigerian Ummah would serve as a cementing glue for knowledge. Most recently, an is afflicted by sundry existential the Muslim community across the emerging Ummah in Azerbaijan is witnessing rapid challenges, to do and dynamic with total lack of development that unity and is compatible with sectarianism; the developed misunderstanding Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text countries. Worthy and suspicion; messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written of note also, is the spiritual and contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 Diaspora Ummah c u l t u r a l words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and in the United disorientation.

States and Europe, All these have a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed who have excelled lent themselves to to: in all fields of p o l i t i c a l h u m a n manipulation, The Editor, endeavour in the evident in Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, last couple of years. ravaging ethno35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja.

In this context religious conflicts what would be in the northern Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com responsibilities of parts of the SMS: 07037756364 the Ummah with country, and in a purpose and recent times, the 2011 post-election protests. The country. It is not any surprise, that as mission? The first is to break the Ummah also has to contend with recompense, the Ummah is barrier that stands between the Ummah and the media bias against it, both globally experiencing many difficulties today. Muslim and nationally, the stigma and images Valid points all these are; they, “Knowledge Society” that is the of violence and terrorism; and the however, lack the organizing, holistic defining future of the twenty first ideology of the “New World Order” perspective towards the search for century. Only recently, the Sultan and “Clash of Civilization” that Alternative Futures for the Nigerian of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ed underpin these biases. There is equally Ummah in or more practical, Abubakar lamented that millions of Muslim children are already outside the seeming inability of the Nigerian directional and systematic way.

What are the critical options for the school system and queried “what Ummah to come to terms with the already fractured nexus of Muslim- the Nigerian Ummah? In the first kind of society can we build in the Christian relations, all resulting in place, to confront squarely the 21st century when our youth turn unnecessary misunderstanding and situation it finds itself, the Nigerian their back on science and technology Ummah need not re-invent the wheel and are unable to produce the next conflict.

It has been advanced by a number in many areas, in its quest for generation of doctors, engineers and of scholars that the Nigerian Ummah revitalization. It can, for instance, other specializations necessary for has found itself in this sorry state due learn from the experiences of the sustaining the socio-economic to a number of factors that range from Ummah living under similar socio- development of the society.”

Secondly, there has to be a deviation from the focal point of unity economic conditions like Malaysia,

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decisive shift of mindset and a redefinition of priorities among the Ummah. Rather than being preoccupied with the status-quo, the past and unnecessary doctrinal altercations it is time the Nigerian Ummah embraces the path of collective preparation for ameliorating the situation the Ummah finds itself. In this regard, the Nigerian Ummah needs to adopt the new knowledge economy mindset which seeks to prepare it for the challenges of contemporary existence to create new opportunities by sharing with the people a vision for better future, harnessing positive energies of youth and women, building strong ethics and values, safeguarding the environment, and remaining united.

To accomplish these goals, the Ummah needs to develop its vision in line with the values of its community.

There is a need to, therefore, key into the vision 20:2020 of the federal government which is aimed at transforming the social, economic, institutional, and environmental landscape of the country. To achieve this, the Nigerian Ummah should begin a programme of developing a leadership capacity at all levels of society to groom change agents that are forward looking; investing in the education sector, particularly in science and technology; empowering women and youth through financial support, upgrading of skills and cooperative/social enterprises to lay the foundation for self-reliance; developing capacities and techniques for mediation, dialogue and other peace building tools and initiatives, to enable the Ummah stay in touch with the complexities of the modern age.

Yunusa Aliyu Babando is reachable on babandone@yahoo.com

Senator-elect Pwajok: The journey, victory, challenges

By Chris Gyang

O

n October 6, 2012, voters in Plateau North Senatorial Zone filed out to fill the huge vacuum left by the tragic death of Senator Gyang Dantong, which occurred on July 8, while in the line of duty. Events in the run-up to the by-election generated a lot of interest both within and outside the state; even internationally. This is because Plateau North, and Jos in particular, have in the past ten years witnessed series of crises that attracted world attention. Therefore, the election was seen as a litmus test for the prevailing peace in the state. It was also keenly watched by the entire world to see if an election could be held in this area following the violence that greeted the 2008 Jos North local government election.

Quite interestingly, the short campaigns were largely peaceful and issues-driven, although not lacking in the usual pettiness and mud-slinging that most times go with politicking in Nigeria.

However, the overriding concern was how the in-coming senator would use his office to contribute towards bringing lasting peace to the area and state as a whole. Clearly, the most focused candidates such as the ultimate winner believed in the urgent need for a return to permanent peace, from which meeting all other needs of the people would naturally flow.

In view of this, there is no doubt that the challenges before Senator-

elect Gyang Pwajok will be relatively above those of most of his other colleagues. Not only will he be contending with the peculiar problems that the cosmopolitan nature of the area pose, he must be able to withstand the pressures that will come from the different interests that are ever struggling for dominance, which is one of the causes of the crises in Jos especially. While doing all these, he must also work hard to unite the people and lobby for development to be brought to this area.

Obviously, the task ahead is enormous and seemingly insurmountable. But, thank God, Gyang Pwajok knows his way round the very circuitous ethno-religious and political terrain of Plateau North, especially. Above all, his greatest asset is that he is vibrant, bold and articulate; he is one that can stand tall on the floor of the Senate and tell the true story of Plateau North while at the same time winning the hearts, support and respect of fellow senators.

Surely, Plateau North Senatorial Zone deserves no less a personality as its voice in the hallowed halls of the Red Chamber.

It is therefore commendable that the voters and other citizens obeyed both electoral and other laws set out by law enforcement agents which ensured a free, fair and peaceful conduct of the election. No doubt, this conferred on Plateau State and its people as a whole a very positive image in the eyes of the world, enhanced the process of peace

building and went a long way in enhancing the growth and quality of our democracy. It is noteworthy that, for the first time in about ten years, the people used that senatorial by-election to tell Nigerians and the world at large that, indeed, mutual love and respect, irrespective of ethnic, religious and political differences, are still very possible here; that we are gradually moving towards reclaiming our near lost glory of being the true Home of Peace and Tourism.

Most Plateau people celebrated that victory of Gyang Pwajok of the PDP so profusely for the deeper meaning it holds for the much sought after peace, unity and well-being of the senatorial zone and, by extension, Nigeria as a whole considering the nature, consequences and ripple effects of the Jos crises. This is because the outcome of the election broke all pre-existing barriers of mutual suspicion, hatred and distrust, based on religion and tribe, in the hearts of the various communities in Jos North most especially, which have always served as some of the catalysts for conflicts in the area.

For instance, it was inconceivable only a few months ago for a Christian to even attempt to campaign in a Muslim dominated part of Jos North, and vice versa, not to talk of even winning an election there. But that is what exactly happened in the runup to the elections and the election proper as the PDP candidate, Gyang Pwajok, a Christian, and Berom for that matter, secured a convincing

win in wards such as Gangare, Ali Kazaure, Ungwan Rogo, etc.

To those well aware of the deep political, religious and ethnic divides that have polarized Jos North in the last decade, this is nothing short of a miracle. And we must never allow the significance of this be lost on us.

As such, we must work together with open minds and, mark this, without extraneous influences, towards entrenching sustainable peace in Plateau North Senatorial Zone. This window of rare opportunity and hope for peace building must be consolidated upon without delay by both the senator-elect and all groups and individuals of good will. Herein lies the greatest challenge for SenatorElect, Gyang Pwajok.

Fortunately, as an indigene of Jos North who possesses a practical understanding of the social, ethnic and religious mix of the area, he is well equipped to consolidate on the present move towards unity and peace. As a matter of fact, being the man on whose behest this new quest for peace has been ignited, he must seize the moment by, first, building bridges of understanding and trust among the Jos North communities.

Second, he must provide a platform for both Christians and Muslims, irrespective of political differences, for them to continuously dialogue on ways to further strengthen the present move towards peace. In addition, because of the diversity of Jos North and the senatorial district as a whole, the senator-elect must give all peoples a sense of belonging

by carrying them along in all he does as politician and their representative.

It is worthy of note that one tragedy that has consistently plagued leadership in Nigeria is the negative propensity of people who vote leaders into office to turn round to strictly look at them as means of solving their personal problems rather than tackling the much larger, collective needs of the generality of the populace. In this wise and considering the myriads of problems before the senator-elect, the people must allow him the much needed time and space so he can be clear headed and focused. Also, rather than the usual sycophancy, cynicism and blind castigation, we should be forthcoming with the kind of constructive criticisms that at once correct and inspire.

Lastly, the victory of SenatorElect, Gyang Pwajok, was obviously a victory for democracy. In which case we call on those who contested along with him and their followers to dissolve their differences and support him as he confronts the onerous challenges ahead. This is very necessary because Gyang Pwajok’s victory was also an unequivocal vote for peaceful co-existence and a rejection of the odious tendencies that tended to divide and cause conflicts amongst the people of Jos North and the northern senatorial zone as a whole.

Chris Gyang is the Personal Assistant to Plateau state Governor.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

T

he victory of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the election of last Sunday by 54 percent of the vote is significant in many ways. First and foremost, it was a major personal victory for the 58year-old president who staged a remarkable recovery from cancer. His widely predicted imminent political and biological waterloo was proved wrong on Monday, October 6.

Here is the story of a former army paratrooper who first came to prominence as the leader of a failed coup in 1992. He was caught and slammed into jail. Six years later, he caused a seismic shift in Venezuelan politics, riding a wave of popular outrage at the traditional political elite to win the presidency.

But his victory in 1998 was shortlived. On April 11 2002, an American inspired coup ousted him from power and installed Pedro Carmona for 47 hours. He regained control in the wake of massive demonstrations of popular support that rendered the coup plotters impotent. The coup was publicly condemned by Latin American nations (the Rio Group presidents were gathered together in San Jose, Costa Rica at the time, and were able to issue a joint communiqué). Other international organizations also condemned the putsch.

Ironically, the United States, the global policeman of democracy and Spain quickly acknowledged the de facto pro-US Carmona government, but ended up condemning the coup after it had been defeated.

Chavez has remained one of the most popular, visible, vocal, informed even if flamboyant leaders in Latin

By Baba Aye

S

ince September, 27 of the 36 states and the FCT, Abuja, have been ravaged by what President Goodluck Jonathan aptly described as “unprecedented floods”, in his October 8, 2012 nationwide broadcast. Characteristically, there is now plenty of motion, presented as movement, to ameliorate the dire situation. But several questions remain unanswered. What led to the floods? What has been and could be the costs of the floods for the common man, woman and child in the affected states? Was the extent of the floods impact on poor working people one that could not have been avoided?

Can the measures now proposed by Mr. President take the country out of this catastrophe?

The impact of the floods has been devastating, to say the very least.

About five million citizens have been rendered homeless, representing some 25% of the entire population, according to the presidency. The floods have also claimed over a hundred lives. At least two of these were suicides by poor persons in Kogi state who had lost all they had, as well as hope. The immense majority of Internally Displaced Persons being not rich enough to fend for themselves have been quartered in the most despicable of camps, jampacked like sardines. The likelihood of renewed spread of water-borne and air-borne diseases’ epidemics is rife.

Eighty seven persons had earlier died in Nigeria from the cholera outbreak that has wreaked havoc on slums in the West African sub-region.

The floods, most likely, are a harbinger of famine in the very near future. Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state who described the flood as “a tragedy of monumental and unimaginable proportion” identified this when he noted that the state government would have to contend with the challenge of famine in no distant time. But the fact of the matter is that the worsening of poor people’s hunger has already started.

Presently in the same Bayelsa state for example, a cup of garri, a staple

PAGE 15

Hugo Chavez: A vote for Cuba America. He never misses an opportunity to address the nation on the fundamental issues affecting his people. He once described oil executives as living in “luxury chalets where they perform orgies, drinking whisky”. His fiery rhetoric’s often promises “revolutionary” social policies, and constantly abuses the “predatory oligarchs” of the establishment as corrupt servants of international capital.

He does not even spare the clergy and has frequently clashed with church leaders, whom he accuses of neglecting the poor, siding with the opposition, and defending the rich.”They do not walk in the path of Christ,” he once charged.

He emerged from the 2002 coup attempt and became more strengthened two years later in a referendum which gave a pass mark to his leadership. He then went on to victory in the 2006 presidential election.

Apart from his popular appeal, Mr Chavez’s government has tackled substantial problems of his country by implementing a number of “missions” or social programmes, including housing, education and health services for all. But poverty and unemployment are still widespread, despite the country’s oil wealth.

Chavez is determined to fight mass poverty in his country but his ideas on how to do this are decidedly anti neoliberal and have always put him on the war path with his powerful neighbour, the United States. In 2007, he gave a defining speech of his

constitutional reform programme to managed from Washington, through eradicate poverty in the country. the International Monetary Fund as He argued, for instance, for the the financial and political arm of removal of the autonomy of the Central North American imperialism.”

Bank and placing it under the control Chavez declared, “The reserves of the of the executive. This he explained country do not belong to the Central would strengthen Venezuelan Bank, they belong to the people of independence and could be used to Venezuela.” transfer power to the people.

“We have 30 billion in reserves, The idea of the autonomy of the we will finish [the year] with 32 Central Bank and control of billion; I at least consider, based on international studies, that reserves, he said Venezuela does not “Is part of the need 32 billion dollars imperialist in reserves, this figure project, how the places us [on the same global capitalist level] as one of the dictatorship developed countries managed to in Europe, now it won’t impose its be the Central Bank norms, its laws, that decides over these on almost the reserves.” whole world.”

The reserves In the would be used to give Emmanuel Yawe United States, power to the people, 08024565402 China and some through social and royawe@yahoo.com European e c o n o m i c countries, the reserves are not development projects Chavez said. managed in total isolation from the His socialist anti neoliberal stand state Chavez argued. since he came to power in 1999 has He pointed out that although the adversely affected relations between Central Bank is formally constituted the United States and Venezuela as a public institution, it is not which were strong under accountable to the any of the conservative neoliberal constitutional public powers including governments in Venezuela. Tensions the legislature, the judiciary, the between the countries increased after electoral power, the citizen power or Venezuela accused the the executive. “Who is it accountable administration of George Bush of to then?” Chavez asked. supporting the failed coup attempt in In reality, Chavez continued, the 2002 against Chavez. Venezuela Central Bank in Venezuela has never broke off diplomatic relations with the been autonomous; “rather it was U.S. in September 2008 in solidarity

food across the country, which used to cost N350.00 before the flood now goes for upwards of N1,250.00!

It is however rather unfortunate to have heard President Jonathan define the period of the flood as being “the past few weeks” of late September/early October. This period was merely the high point of a disaster that did not come out of the blues. The flood had started in July, sweeping through Lagos, Oyo and Plateau states with vengeance.

More than forty persons were killed at that point in time by the flood in Jos alone, with another 35 declared as missing, while almost five thousand persons were displaced.

Further, there had been warnings by the meteorological agency since March 2011, of impending flood like none seen for decades. But no concrete action was taken to prevent the calamity which the state and its representatives now shed crocodile tears over. Thus when the Senate President, David Mark who described the flood as an “unimaginable situation” claimed that it caught everyone by surprise, one cannot but heave a sardonic sigh.

This catastrophe was avoidable, pure and simple. But then, avoiding it would have meant that the socialeconomic and political situation in Nigeria is not what it is. To understand why this is so, a closer look at the root cause of the flood would be necessary.

Several reasons have been adduced for the flood. President Jonathan expressed his sadness that “this global phenomenon of devastating floods has time come to Nigeria at this”, but is not explicit on the causes globally and locally.

At the heart of the problem, we are made to understand, is climate change, caused by global warming.

This is very true, but makes us only grasp a half truth.

The other half of the truth has to do with the cause of global warming itself. While there are still a number

of climate change skeptics, the blows that global warming is dealing the planet are quite visible for anyone to see. It takes the shape of heightened extremes of natural phenomena.

Floods, hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, and tropical storms have generally become “unprecedented” in their severity. But the rate of desertification in arid zones has also increased. Drought has equally claimed so many lives, across several countries in West and East Africa.

The present drought which started some two years back is the worst since 1969, the same year Nigeria had an experience of flooding of a similar proportion to the current disaster.

The devastation mother earth and working people face from global warming is not limited to the tropics.

The spate of hurricanes and typhoons that the United States has faced in recent years is common knowledge. But winters have become worse in Europe too, being longer than they used to be and much more severe.

What is that critical half of the truth about global warming and

with Bolivia after a U.S. ambassador was accused of cooperating with violent anti-government groups in that country. They have been reestablished in June 2009.

Despite Venezuela’s stated desire for improved relations with the U.S. and its appeals for mutual respect, tensions between both nations are still high as of 2012 due to continuity in U.S. foreign policy under Bush and Obama.

On the other hand, relations between Cuba and Venezuela have significantly improved under Chavez who has formed a major alliance with Cuban president, Fidel Castro and established significant trade relationship with Cuba since his election in 1999. Venezuela under Chavez has become a strong ally of Cuba. Hugo Chávez has described Castro as his mentor and has called Cuba “a revolutionary democracy”.

The bilateral relation includes development aid, joint business ventures, large financial transactions, exchange of energy resources and information technology, and cooperation in the fields of intelligence service and military.

After decades of American domination in the Caribbean, several governments in the region have started to reject United States’ path of capitalism. This is the major plank on which America’s anti Cuban policy since the revolution of 1959 is based; the fear that socialism will spread in the hemisphere. The victory of Chavez in this year’s election, a clean victory conceded to by his opponent is an indication of victory for Cuba.

The menace of spreading floods

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At this point in time, what is to be done? While we must insist on answers from the government on the why it allowed the flood to cause such havoc, and continue to fight for system change to save the earth and emancipate ourselves from the exploitative shackles of capitalist development, ameliorating the conditions of the millions of Nigerians affected by the flood is of utmost significance

climate change, one might ask? It is what Gareth Dale describes as “the growth paradigm”. As he rightly puts it, this model of human “development” “refers to the proposition that economic growth is good, imperative, essentially limitless, and the principal remedy for a litany of social problems.”

Essentially, this paradigm is at the heart of capitalist development. The various owners of capital are driven by competition to expand production, and accumulate for accumulation sake, at the pain of being driven to ruin by other owners of capital.

Neither the wellbeing of the billions of poor, working people nor the sustenance of the earth is the concern of the capitalist.

This general reality of the capitalist system has decidedly grown worse over the last four decades of neoliberal globalization.

While growth has increased tremendously, poverty and avoidable deaths have increased even more. A cost of such mindless growth is global warming. But unfortunately, those who pay the price for this senselessness are those that benefit the least, if at all, from such unsustainable growth.

The challenge of saving the earth and avoiding such terrible sufferings as that which millions of Nigerians affected by the floods are facing is inextricably tied to the task of the working class’ selfemancipation. The reversal of climate change trends on the basis of capitalism is inherently impossible.

It is part of the broader general crisis of capitalism, in the mould of the ongoing long-drawn “global economic crisis”. There is the need for a revolutionary system change which will lead to and as well involve the enthronement of a new, socialist, paradigm of development.

Essentially, this model of development, resting on the democratic control and management of economic and political life by the working people,

would involve the subordination of growth to the sustainable development of humankind and the safeguarding of mother earth. This would have to be a global system.

Climate change’s global character is one of the clear pointers to the fact that the greatest questions this generation has to find answers to are international even as the struggle to win such answers rage within our different countries.

It is however pertinent to point out that, while the broader picture of climate change cannot be resolved on the basis of capitalist development, it was very possible to have saved lives and livelihoods resulting from such disasters as the tragedy of the flood, even in the present period we live in. The Federal Government of Nigeria has to provide answers to some pressing questions beyond now throwing N17bn around, supposedly to salvage the situation. Why were no plans made since last year when forecast of the flooding was made?

Why has Nigeria not been able to build a dam to capture waters released by the Cameroonian Lagdo dam since 1982 as earlier envisaged?

At this point in time, what is to be done? While we must insist on answers from the government on the why it allowed the flood to cause such havoc, and continue to fight for system change to save the earth and emancipate ourselves from the exploitative shackles of capitalist development, ameliorating the conditions of the millions of Nigerians affected by the flood is of utmost significance. The establishment of the National Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation is a welcome development. But this is not enough.

The mass organisations of working people, including the trade unions and community-based associations must be involved in the committee’s work.

Baba Aye, a trade union educator, is the National Chairperson of the Socialist Workers League

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

School shut down as school bus killS pupils, injures others

By Josephine Ella and Adeola Tukuru

S

urestart Private Schools, Abuja located along Gado Nasko road in Kubwa, has allegedly, been shut down indefinitely, following, the tragic involvement of the school’s bus in a ghastly road mishap last week Wednesday while conveying pupils to their respective homes.

Our reporter gathered that the 14-seater Toyota Hiace bus which was loaded with school children of between 6-7 years, rammed into a commercial motorcycle along Diamond bank in Phase, killing the rider instantly before running into a ditch.

Unconfirmed reports has it that an unspecified number of the pupils in the bus and the bus driver also lost their lives, while other pupils sustained varying degree of injuries.

A resident of Kubwa, Mrs. Jane Akaba, who witnessed the incident, recounted that the tragic incident occurred at about 1.45 pm last Wednesday, along Diamond bank at Phase 4, Kubwa.

She told our reporter that she saw the lifeless bodies of some pupils of the school of the age of 6 -7 lying lifeless on the ground, while other pupils were trapped in the school bus.

“It was a very gory site, because I saw some pupils of the school lying lifeless on the floor

The school, whose bus was involved in an accident last Wednesday under lock and key. Photo: Adeola Tukuru in the pool of their blood, while the rest were trapped in the school bus that rammed into a ditch. It took the intervention of some people around to pull some of the pupils and driver out,” she narrated.

Another witness at the scene and also one of the motorcyclists that helped the

pupils said the school bus driver died instantly.

“In fact we had to break the door of the school bus before we dragged him and other pupils out. Some of these students were unconscious while some had already died. One of our member, who is a motorcyclist also died in the process because

the bus crushed him before it rammed into a ditch.

“We can’t really say if the driver was drunk or the brake of the school bus failed or it was as a result of over speeding. We were all surprised,” the motorcyclist, who pleaded anonymity, told Peoples Daily.

A senior official of the Kubwa

Divisional Police, when contacted, confirmed the incident to Peoples Daily.

The officer, who pleaded anonymity, however, said that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), who was not on seat was in the best position to give the details.

In the same vein, a security man at the school premises, who does not want to be named, confirmed the incident, saying that the Head Teacher of the school, one Mr. Chris could give details of the incident.

When contacted on phone, Mr. Chris also confirmed the incident, but refused to answer question on the death toll and number of casualties involved in the accident.

“I’m really very busy and stressed up. In fact, I have been receiving calls from parents of the victims who were involved in the accident, some are even threatening me. I don’t know what to say to you right now,” he said.

Meanwhile, our reporter, who visited the school premises the following day, observed that the school was under lock and key, a development some residents attributed to the tragic incident.

However, the head teacher claimed that the school had proceeded on its midterm brake.

Peoples Daily recalls that primary schools in the FCT resumed their academics after their long vacation, barely a month ago.

Orphans celebrate with minister’s aide, receive gift items

By Josephine Ella

O

An accident scene at the Minister's Hills in Maitama District, last Thursday.

Photo: Miriam Humbe

rphans at the Kings and Priests Orphanage located at Efab estate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were at the weekend treated to a party organised by an aide to the minister of the FCT. The event was the birthday party of the Special Assistant to FCT Minister on Security Matters, Prince Shield Nwanzuruahu.

Nwanzuruahu, who used the occasion to reach out to the orphans in the home also donated assorted food items, beverages and cash to the less privileged in the society.

He told journalists after the event, that celebrating with orphans is the best time in a man’s life, stressing that putting smiles on the faces of those who cannot pay back is the best service of humanity.

“Celebrating with orphans is the best place to be because it reminds me of God’s mercies in my life. It also reminds me that while some of us are having abundance, others are in need. These kids are

orphans for no fault of theirs.

Anyone of us could have been like them but for the mercies of God we are who we are today.

“Birthday to me is not fun fare, but a moment of sober reflection of what God has done in my life and to remember those in need,” he noted.

He therefore, called on privilege members of the society to always demonstrate love and care towards the needy in the society, saying, it would go a long way in checking crime in the society.

According to him, “most of these children could become harden criminal if not for the effort of those who manage orphanage like this. With little effort from each members of the society, Nigeria will be a better place for us all”.

Reacting to the gesture, the Matron of the home, Mrs. Chinwe Agulefo described the move by Prince Nwanzuruahu as uncommon gesture.

She maintained that those who remember the orphans have cultivated in the vineyard of God.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 17

An elderly Gbagi woman sets out to farm, at the weekend in Apo village, Abuja.

An elderly man hawking clothes, yesterday in Bwari , Abuja.

A man eking a living with his wheel barrow, at Garki market, in Abuja.

Tiv traditional dancers entertaining guest at a public function, yesterday in Garki, Abuja.

Abuja Environmental Protection Board cleaners relaxing under a tree, on Saturday in Wuse 2, Abuja.

Photos: Justin Imo-Owo

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE

- Pg 20

Governors storm ICAN conference

Mob: 08033644990

CBN to stop selling cash to bureaux de change – Sanusi

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L-R: Zamfara state commissioner for Finance, Mu'azu Nakado, Niger state Commissioner for Finance, Mohammed Bawa, and Yobe State Commissioner for Finance, Kaigama Umar, during Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FACC) meeting, on Friday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

BN governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said in Tokyo yesterday that the bank would soon stop the selling of cash to bureaux de change.

“70 per cent of the dollars that people buy from bureaux de change are not for transactions outside Nigeria, they move dollars from one part of the country to the other, in fact, from one “In a briefcase, you can carry 100,000 dollars, that’s N50 million.

“We are coming up with policies; we are going to have to stop selling cash to BDC and credit their accounts.

“If you want to pay for medical bills abroad, you give hospital account; if you want to pay school fees, do transfers like everybody else; if you want to travel do travelers cheques or get money on your card.’’

He said that at the moment, the dollar was becoming Nigeria’s second national currency, and the development is a source of worry to the apex bank and even to the President Goodluck Jonathan.

(NAN)

Excess crude to hit $10bn 2013 – Ngozi Iweala

By Abdulwahab Isa with agency report

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oordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi OkonjoIweala, said in Tokyo yesterday that Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account would be built up to 10 billion dollars by early 2013.

Okonjo-iweala made this known while briefing newsmen on the Nigerian economy at the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the IMF. In the same vein, Chairman, finance commissioners’ forum and Ebonyi state commissioner of finance, Barrister Timothy Odaah said the Excess Crude Account (ECA) should be kept as buffer for rainy days as its o u t r i g h t share could signal danger for the economy.

He counseled over the weekend against the backdrop of agitation by state governors pushing for outright share of accruals in to the account. ECA is set up to warehouse excess oil revenue above the budgeted benchmark. It has netted $8.46 billion.

Iweala said “I strongly feel and I have shared with the governors, with Mr. President and vicepresident who fully support that the Excess Crude Account must be built up to 10 billion dollars.

“We should strive to do that in the next few months and we keep that as buffer.’’

According to her, if the

…… Ebonyi Commissioner for finance appeals against scrap account is built up to 10 billion dollars and it is not touched form a while, it will serve as buffer.

She noted that there was the need to increase the nation’s external reserve, considering the population of the country. “our reserves are not huge, we are just building backup; it’s not my place, it is the monetary policy that manages it, but I have discussed with the CBN governor that we need to build up our reserve to 50 billion dollars, if we can.

“That will be the desires of the fiscal authorities, so I don’t consider us with the size of the economy and population we have.

“Look at Algeria, their reserve is nearly 200 billion dollars, for a country much smaller than Nigeria,’’ she said.

The contentious account has locked the state and federal government in a legal suite with

governors querying its legality.

Speaking to finance correspondents over the weekend in Abuja shortly after Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) session, Odaah applauded the wisdom in ECA. “The most important thing is: Is it our money? Is the money there? Nobody has taken it and it is kept for us. Let’s not share the cake just at ago. The fact that you are hungry, must not push you to go and put fire on entire bag, so we must save for the rainy days”, said Odaah.

The Ebonyi state finance Commissioner also advocated for resources integration by states as way of deepening available resources for share by three tiers.

He said: “The most important thing is to look inward for backward integration. Recently, a policy came up that we make states to go back to backward

integration. What it entails, is for states to look at various mineral resources buried in their land.

What we read here is not as impressive in terms of what is being contributed to the federation accounts. The advice for states is trying as much as possible to do something so as to bring up their latent mineral and derivation formula is going to be applied”.

Meanwhile, for September allocation, three tiers of government are sharing a total of N566.5 billion comprising funds from Statutory, Value Added, SURE-P and refunds from the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a meeting of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) ratified over the weekend.

The Excess Crude Account (ECA) now stood at $8.46 billion, the Minster also confirmed Minister of State for Finance,

Management Tip of the Day

Money Isn't the only motivator for top talent

M

any managers worry about how to retain top talent without breaking the bank. The good news is that even with the most sought after A-players, research shows nonmonetary rewards can be more appealing than high salaries.

Here are three things you can provide that often rank equal to

or higher than compensation: Flex time. Offer employees flexible arrangements, such as remote work options, staggered hours, or condensed workweeks.

Recognition. The best people want to feel appreciated for their hard work. Whether in a private email or a public venue, acknowledge your

peoples' good work.

A culture that values results, not face time. Set the example: Take time out during the day to go to the gym or see your child's play, and encourage employees to do the same.

Source: Harvard Business Review

Dr. Yerima Lawan Ngama who chaired FAAC session confirmed the amount approved for share to newsmen in Abuja at the end of FAAC meeting.

He said there was gross revenue of N594.7 billion for the month higher than the N564.884billion received in the previous month by N29.6billion and attributed the increase to a rise in crude oil production and an increase in the price of crude oil in the international market.

“Income from oil rose by 52.4 billion naira to 504.2 billion naira in September from the previous month.

The distributable statutory revenue for the month is N453.9billion and that due to the shortfall, there was augmentation of N13.008 billion, VAT was N56.3billion.

“In addition, the sum of N35.5billion is also proposed for distribution under the SURE-P Programme. Also distributable is the N7.6billion refunded by NNPC. “The policy government is pursuing is to raise the balance in the account to a certain level of not less than $10billion. This is to ensure that at any time the government has enough revenue to take care of the allocations for at least two months”, Ngama said.

The rise in the ECA to $8.4 billion, up from the $8.03 billion accrued as at the end of August 2012 was due to the transfer of N1.24 billion to the account in September.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 20

Governors storm ICAN conference

By Abudlwahab Isa

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tates’ Governors have indicated interest in attending the 42nd session of the annual Accountants conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) due to the sensitivity of its theme.

A statement by ICAN Assistant Director, Public Affairs Dayo Ajigbotosho confirmed interest of state

governors.

The 42nd Annual ICAN conference opens on Monday, October 15 to Friday, October 19, 2012 in Abuja with theme, “Building Enduring Institutions for National Development”.

It will be declared open

by President Goodluck Jonathan While Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State and

Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State will present papers on, “Governance and sustainable Development: addressing the Leadership Challenges”. Also at one of the workshop sessions, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, the Executive Governor of Gombe State will be discussing “Financial Reporting And Value Creation In The Public Sector: Issues, Challenges And Prospects”.

Access Bank boss urges investors on business growth strategies From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

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financial expert has urged local and foreign investors to fully take advantage of business opportunities in Nigeria to grow their business portfolios.

Addressing investors in Lagos at the recent Nigeria International Investment Forum, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank plc, Mr Aigboje AigImoukhuede advised investors to seek more investment in country even as he enjoined them not to underestimate Nigeria’s economic

potential and the profitability of the nation’s business.

According to him, Nigeria cannot be ignored in the global business and economic scene for four major reasons, which include an extensive market; a rapidly growing economy; a stable political environment and a vibrant media and civil society sector.

He, however, projected that Nigerian banks, by the end of the year 2012, would post a total profit, which would be equivalent to about 10 percent of the aggregate profit to be garnered by all the banks

in the European Union.

Speaking on the comparative trend in profit in Nigeria and Europe, the Access Bank boss argued that about five years ago when the total profit posted by all European banks was about $60 billion, all the Nigerian banks posted a combined profit of $386 million.

He noted that in 2011, the tally changed significantly with the combined profit of all Nigerian banks climbing to $1.6 billion compared to an aggregate profit of $52 billion recorded by the European banks.

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

NSE records N2.1bn shares last week From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

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rading activities on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) last week recorded a turnover of 2.184 billion shares worth N17.495 billion traded in 27,786 deals against a total of 4.759billion shares valued at N40.472 billion that exchanged hands previous week in 20,364 deals.

The report showed that the NSE All-Share Index increased by 845.18 basis points or 3.20 per cent to close at 27,287.85 points.

Also, the Market Capitalisation of the listed equities increased by N

275.586 billion to close at N8.695 trillion.

The weekly result showed that five of the NSE sectoral indices appreciated during the week while one depreciated.

An analysis of the trading revealed that the financial services sector of the equities market recorded the highest volume of activities, accounting for 1.736 billion shares valued at N12.268 billion traded in 16,453 deals.

The consumer goods sector followed with 166.772 million shares valued at N3.570 billion traded in 5,443 deals.

The volume in the

Financial Services sector was largely driven by activity in the shares of Access Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc which accounted for 569.875 million shares,

representing 40.02 per cent , 32.82 per cent and 26.09 per cent of the turnover recorded by the subsector, sector and total turnover for the week, respectively.

D

angote Flour Mills Plc has incurred N1.2 billion loss for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012 as its gross profit showed N3.913 billion as against N5.174 billion achieved in the comparative period of 2011.

Accordingly, the company’s revenue depreciated from N34.140 billion achieved in the preceding year to N25.585 billion

T

at the end of June this year, The unaudited second quarter financial result submitted to Nigerian Stock Exchange showed that the company post loss after tax of N815.205 million during the period under review against profit after of N177.642 earned in the preceding year while its net assets of declined from N27.047 billion to N25.955 billion The total assets on the other hand went up from N90.2 billion

in the comparable period to N92.061 billion while loans and borrowing grew to N2.676 billion from N2.016 billion in the previous year.

Meanwhile the company for the financial year ended December 31, 2011 posted turnover of N66.281 billion against N67.601 billion achieved in the corresponding period while gros profit dipped from N13.202 billion to N9.698 billion.

Profit before tax within the period decreased to N396.709million from N4.911billion made in 2010 while profit after tax went down from N2.722 billion in the preceding year to N677.714million But fixed assets surged to N44.443billion to N41.229billion while working capital rose from N9.848 billion in 2011 to N11.920 billion in 2012.

negative aspect of the market when the market suffered a precipitous decline in 2008. As we move to a sustained recovery stage, it is necessary for investors to see the setback of the past as a lesson and get back into the market to participate in wealth creation. However, investors should take to heart certain lessons.

Nothing can beat education.

So, they must educate themselves better about the dynamics of the market. They must also cultivate the habit of investing in research either by themselves or from independent analysts. They should define their investment policy, understand what risks they can bear and stand true to their research-based positions and not band with the wagon. Not all investors will be able to do this on their own hence the need for them to seriously consider the

Collective Investment Schemes”, he said.

He further stated that investors should not lose hope rather make investments for future opportunities and returns.

“I will not rehash the challenges that we have all faced in the Nigerian Capital Market, either as investors or as Capital Market professionals, rather I prefer to look forward and we have good cause to cheer”, he assured.

Olushekun stated that in view of the challenges confronting the nation’s economy presently, the theme of the conference, “Appraisal of the Nigerian Economy” was apt as it would provide an opportunity of focusing the intellectual resources of the stock broking community, financial experts in various economic sub-sectors and other seasoned capital market operators on the central economic issues of

today.

He noted that the recent and sustained recovery in the market opened once again, an avenue for wealth creation for Nigerians urging that all must embrace the development and contribute to the virility of the market and the overall economy. “ On our part we are proud to have contributed to measures that underlie the recovery of the market. Our Institute introduced a Code of Ethics to guide the activities of our members as a market discipline mechanism.

Other operators in the market are encouraged to adopt the prescription in the Codes to shape their conduct in the capital market. In addition, we have strengthened our disciplinary and surveillance mechanisms by which we sanction our members whose conduct are called to question by clients and/or colleagues”, he said.

Investors admonished on research From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

A

n economist has enjoined investors in the nation’s capital market to focus on research as a way of promoting and sustaining their business.

President and Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers Mr. Muritala Olushekun who made the observation at the 16th Stockbrokers Annual Conference held in Lagos noted that investors should define their investment policy, understand what risks they can bear and stand true to their research-based positions and not band with the wagon.

According to him, the harsh economic environment witnessed by investors in the last four years should be seen as a lesson adding that there is need for investors to educate themselves on the dynamics of the capital market.

“Investors experienced the

Reform Is Tough but No Alternative – Okonjo-Iweala

Dangote Flour incurs N1.2bn loss in Q2 From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

INVESTORS NEWS BEAT

he Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, has said that undertaking economic reforms in a country like Nigeria is very tough but there is no alternative if the nation is to witness the rapid socio-economic development that is the dream of Nigerians.

Speaking on her new book, "Reforming the Unreformable", on the side line of the on-going Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, in Tokyo, Japan, she said she decided to write the book in which she shares her experiences in the effort to reform the Nigerian economy and put it on a firm footing for growth to spread the message of hope.

Commissioner fingered in NCC crisis

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ongues are wagging in Abuja in the wake of the escalation of what began as personal attacks on the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah.

The attacks on Juwah have now shifted to attacks on some top members of the Jonathan administration who have been accused of complicity in the N1bn waiver to MTS. They have also dragged the Ministers of Communications and Finance into the fray.

The arrowhead of the attacks has been fingered as an NCC executive commissioner who lobbied for the EVC position but lost. The commissioner has consequently made the NCC ungovernable for Juwah.

Court approves MCSN N5.2bn lawsuit against Multichoice

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Source:Pro-share Nigeria

Lagos State Federal High Court has dismissed the preliminary objection filed by media Company Multichoice Nigeria Limited against a N5.2bn counter-claim brought against it by the Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) for the alleged illegal use of its works from 2006 till date.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 22

Pre-paid meters ready for distribution in Anambra rural areas - PHCN

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he Public Relations Officer of PHCN in Anambra, Mr Frank Nwachukwu, has said that prepaid meters would soon be distributed to rural dwellers in the state.

Nwachukwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka over the weekend that the meters would ensure even distribution of electricity.

He said the company had earlier created awareness to rural dwellers in the state on the workings of pre-paid meters which had replaced the former one.

“We are also embracing the new technology, hence taking the functionality of the PHCN to a standard level where supply of electricity would be made easy and safe for both literate and illiterate members of the society,’’ Nwachukwu said.

He called on all rural dwellers in the state to visit any

of the PHCN offices in their locality to pick up the registration form for the distribution of the meter when in stock.

Nwachukwu said plans for the distribution were almost concluded and that it would be given to those who filled the form.

He said the process was free of charge as well as the meter itself.

He said electricity supply was one of the cardinal points of the present administration.

Nwachukwu assured the people that proper and unbiased distribution of the meter would be done, adding that people should always protect PHCN equipment in their areas.

He said that vandalism of PHCN equipment was not in the interest of any person and urged them to shun such act and report to the police any suspect in their area. (NAN)

UAE telco Etisalat rules out exiting foreign mkts –CEO

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tisalat, the Gulf’s No.2 telecommunications operator, will not completely sell out of any of its foreign markets, the company’s chief executive said yesterday.

The United Arab Emirates firm, which operates in about 17 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, sold a 9.1 percent stake in Indonesian mobile firm PT XL Axiata for $510 million in September, but retained a 4.2 percent holding.

The Indonesian sale, which followed Etisalat’s exit from India, was seen by some analysts as part of a broad push to trim back underperforming foreign units. But chief executive Ahmad Julfar insisted on Sunday that the company would retain its current footprint.

“We are not going to exit any markets,” Julfar told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai. “We are very happy with our international operations, even Africa.”

In Africa, Etisalat owns 66 percent of Egypt’s Etisalat Misr, 40 percent of Etisalat Nigeria and 65 percent of Tanzania’s Zantel, plus Atlantique Telecom, which has mobile licences in six countries, and a majority stake in Sudan fixed line operator Canar.

In the UAE, du ended Etisalat’s domestic monopoly in 2007, with the smaller operator claiming a 46.5 percent share of the country’s mobile subscribers by the end of June this year.

The two operators, both majority-owned by government-linked institutions, are still at loggerheads over a network-

sharing deal that would allow them to compete on fixed-line services.

Both offer fixed-line voice, broadband and television services but not in the same districts of the UAE, and an agreement was slated to be finalised by the end of 2011.

“It’s the commercial pricing between us and du only,” said Julfar. “That’s in discussion now. It could happen this year, it could happen next year. We have not reached commercial terms yet. It could happen in one month, but it could take three to four months also.”

(Reuters)

L-R: Enugu state Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Dr Chukwuemeka Ujam, Executive Director, African Institute for Applied Economics, Dr Ifediora Amobi, Ace Comedian, Chief Chika Okpala, and Mtn specialist, Progressive Segment, Mr Joseph Ogbuka, during MTN link forum, on Saturday in Enugu.

Photo: NAN

Kebbi state to recoup millions from cashless policy From Ahmed Idris, Brinin Kebbi The cashless payment system introduced by the kebbi state government to checkmate fraud related cases rampant amongst Kebbi civil service has attained 80 percent completion , the state Head of Service, Alhaji Halidu Buhari Jega said.

He said a preliminary report at the possession of the state government indicates it will realize a lot of money out of difference in payment of salaries.

Briefing newsmen over the weekend, the Head of Service said that the exercise has gone

a long way because people will go to their Banks and collect their salary after the verification.

“Different committees have been setup to ensure that the workers will not suffer, we have verification committee , and capturing committee to ensure that things go on flawlessly . We’re making progress and this screening is the first of its kind in the state’’ he said.

Jega further pointed out that the exercise is not to witch hunt anybody and remove any staff but rather to work a modality towards the implementation of the new

minimum wage for the workers across the state. “ What they are looking for, is to get a scientific data: how many civil servants are there in the state, and how much will be the total salaries and now we’ve reached the final stage because some teams have started summiting their reports’’ he said.

He thanked the permanent secretaries; leaders of labour unions and all the committee members for making the exercise successfully and also expressed gratitude to the state government for supporting them in terms of logistic.

U.S. lawsuit is likely to be dependent on the ruling in the Kiobel case, legal experts have said.

Turkcell said in a statement it welcomed the decision, adding it believed U.S. courts had clear jurisdiction over the case.

MTN said it expected Turkcell’s claim to be disposed of after the Supreme Court issues its decision in Kiobel.

It was not immediately clear for how long the suit would be put on hold. Turkcell said the suit would be pushed back by several months, while MTN said a decision in Kiobel was likely to happen by the end of June 2013.

Several U.S. legal experts have told Reuters that Turkcell may not get much further with the suit because the case

has only tenuous links to the United States.

Turkcell was originally awarded a mobile licence in Iran in 2004 before a disagreement over the terms of the deal prompted an aboutface by Tehran, which awarded MTN the licence in 2005.

Turkcell says MTN lobbied the South African government to support Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for winning the contract, and bribed officials from both governments.

MTN has denied the charges.

MTN now draws nearly 10 percent of its revenue from Iran, although it has been unable to get money out of the country for months due to tightening U.S. sanctions.

The company has said it is in talks with South African and U.S. officials about moving money out of Iran. Washington is putting increasing pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.

(Rueters)

U.S. court delays ruling on MTN $4.2bn Iran suit

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United States court has delayed ruling on a $4.2 billion suit by Turkish mobile operator Turkcell against South African rival MTN Group, pending a Supreme Court decision on a separate case, the two companies said.

Turkey’s largest cell phone operator sued MTN in a U.S. federal court in March, alleging the Johannesburgbased company used bribery and attempted trafficking of political influence to win a mobile licence in Iran that was first awarded to Turkcell.

MTN has asked for the case to be dismissed, saying the suit has no legal merit and a U.S. court does not have jurisdiction over the case.

The court has put the suit on hold, the two companies said in

separate statements late on Friday, to await a Supreme Court decision on a different case using the Alien Tort Statute - the human rights law on which Turkcell’s suit is based.

This month the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell, a high-profile case where 12 Nigerians accuse the Anglo-Dutch oil company of complicity in human rights abuses in the African country.

The Supreme Court will decide in the Kiobel case whether the Alien Tort Statute - an 18th century law that has usually been reserved for human rights abuses - can be used to sue foreign corporations in U.S. courts.

Whether or not the Turkcell can proceed in its

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Why Nigeria’s minerals sector is a oneshop investment centre, says Minister Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada, recently took the campaign for foreign investment in the solid minerals sector in Nigeria abroad where he made a presentation on investment opportunities in the country’s minerals and metals sector. In this interview he granted to Peoples Daily’s team of Editors, he says Nigeria is endowed with a variety of minerals found in more than 500 locations, and that all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territor (FCT) have more than one mineral type. Excerpts: What has the ministry been able do to its own credit? ne of the major potential advantages we have in this sector is the facilities we have that can help us a great deal but unfortunately, they are dispersed at different locations across the country and it makes things a little bit difficult. As a result, there are people who exploit this situation to make brisk business, and, unfortunately, we don’t get any return out of it.

Sometimes when we go round the locations and we find out that they have been shortchanged, somebody is getting rich at their expense.

It is difficult for us to get to the locations, and that is why we seize any opportunity to let people know what is happening. This has been the process we have been building. It is a bit slow because of lack of funds; we hardly get enough. I think we are one of the lowest funded sectors; take a cursory look at the budget breakdown, you find we are always at the bottom. But we are never bothered because one thing about natural resources is that people out there are willing to help you simply because you are producing material that will service their industries; they are willing to help you to move forward. Just last May, the World Bank did a programme for us during which they spent about 120 million dollars. They started in 2005 and within that period they did quite a lot for us. They established a mining institute for us; it is for practical work. You can have a degree in mining, but if you come to our institute to get a diploma, you will learn all the processes of mining: Shortly after I took office, I said we must start to admit students; we took the first 40 students, and they have just graduated. They do all the practical training.

The whole idea of what we are doing is we want Nigerians to own the sector. We don’t want

O

to keep going outside to invite Australians, South Africans, Canadians and you wake up in the next 10, 15 years and find all the businesses have been taken over by them. Look at what is taking place in South Africa now, they are talking of nationalizing their mines, that is why all those riots are going on. If we don’t learn from things like that it means we are not doing the right thing.

The crowning thing that we did recently was we developed a roadmap; we did not want to do it the way many sectors did; we wanted to have structural implementation with timelines; we said for this set period of time this is what we have to achieve.

What strategic minerals with potential for economic development exist in the states for prospective investors?

We have identified seven strategic minerals with potential for economic development. They include coal with an estimated reserve of over 2.7 billion tonnes; bitumen with over 27 billion barrels of oil equivalent; and iron ore, with an estimated reserve of about 10 billion tonnes. Others are limestone, with estimated 3 billion tonnes reserve; barytes, with estimated 20 million tonnes reserve. There is also gold, with proven reserves 620,000 ounces in Osun state and estimated reserve of 200 million ounces located along the schist belt as indicated by Airborne Geophysical Survey (AGS),

and lead/zinc with estimated 35 million tonnes reserve.

There are two broad types of iron ore resources in Nigeria: banded iron formations in folded bands in the Precambrian rocks, for example, Itakpe, Tajimi, and Sedimentary (oolitic) iron ore deposits. Still on iron ore deposits, Itakpe is ready for exploitation with a mine and processing plant in place once a few legal hurdles are cleared. Several other iron ore occurrences located in the north western and north eastern areas of the country on-going projects on iron ore in Itakpe, Kogi state, and north western and north eastern part of the country.

Coal also exists in 13 states.

Current exploration results indicate over 2.7 billion tonnes. The development of coal for power generation is a priority for government.

Nigeria also has gold reserves in several locations. There is a primary belt stretching from Ondo and Osun states in the south west to Niger, Kaduna Zamfara, Kebbi states in the North-west. Nigeria has lead/zinc as on-going projects located along the northwest – southeast belt.

There are also three belts with high prospectivity which have been identified. Also, there are new findings in several other parts of Nigeria especially in the northwest belt (Zamfara). There are also ongoing projects of Tar sand, Gemstones and Dimension stones. He concluded his presentation with a passionate. Currently, we have three of our projects

“

The development of coal for power generation is a priority for government.

Nigeria also has gold reserves in several locations. There is a primary belt stretching from Ondo and Osun states in the south west to Niger, Kaduna Zamfara, Kebbi states in the North-west

Arc. Musa Mohammed Sada listed on the Australian stock exchange, one is iron ore and the other is gold and one is also about to be on the London stock exchange.

How can illegal mining in this country be eradicated or, at least, reduced to the barest minimum?

A long time ago, the mining sector was doing well; that was the time when the colonial masters took care of the mining locations. Nigeria then was the best tin producer in the world as well as the leading producer of columbite but when we got independence and because of subsequent certain government policies,

specialization and the rest of it, they just dropped everything and walked away and that was when illegal mining started. But now, things have changed; we have new ways of doing things, we said, ‘let business men come and take charge of this place’, in short, all we need to do is to ensure that the rules and guidelines of mining are taking place and this is something we take very serious, to see that investment in any sector is the protection of someone else’s investment is what is foremost; so, these are some of the things that we are really worked hard on. We have an Act of the National

Assembly , that is regulations that we need to operate the law and we have institutional restructuring whereby we look at the situation on the ground, for instance, all this talk about illegal miners, when you go to the locations you will find out that these are people trying to eke out a living in order to survive, and the more you try to chase them the deeper they go, they try to find locations where they cannot be found and we cannot afford to start looking the other way, that is using the stick to chase them; so, what we try to do is we say they are not illegal they are informal, and saying: let us now educate them and try to

bring them to a situation where they can do things better, just like they do in the agricultural sector.

What incentives are you giving for people to invest in the sector?

A typical investor should find Nigeria attractive because investors from across the world are already in Nigeria. They include investors from UK, Canada, China, and others, who are involved in some exploration in Nigeria. Quite a lot of incentives are carefully packaged to make sure that they are in tandem with the requirement of the sector; some investment incentives include capital allowance of

up to 95% of qualifying capital expenditure. Nigeria also has custom waiver and import duties for plant, machinery and equipment imported for mining operations. Also, there are three to five years tax holiday as applicable and 100% foreign ownership of enterprises for foreign investors. Also, there is transferability of funds and permission to retain and use earned foreign exchange. The Federal government approves of deductibility of environmental cost, and there is annual capital cost indexation.

There are also local investors that are willing to partner with any foreign investor. Nigeria is indeed, a one- shop investment centre to ease business registration and we have promised to support any foreign investor who takes up the opportunity.

What problems have you identified as militating against that vision?

We have been able to surmount quite a number of them generally. One of the problems I met on the ground is that we lack good operational framework, when it comes to certain things, you will see that the operators do not know the dos and don’ts which is very essential; but if you are able to work hard, that was how we came out with the mining regulations last year and other issues are institutional; like I said, the dearth of manpower in the sector led us to establishing the institute so, we are addressing that and we are moving forward.

We are getting quite a help from other mining nations like Australia; we have an MoU with them and we have sent about 15 staff members to the Department of Mines in Australia for two to three months to learn one or two things and I think currently, the major problem that we have is funding; not just to get money and start doing one or things, we need funding to generate quantitative geo-scientific

data, why, because currently what we have is the primary data and we need to go deeper and learn about what we have in details before approaching prospective investors, so that if you are approaching an investor, you should be able to give him that data with confidence, and this data is very very expensive.

What we are doing now, is we are issuing of mining titles to people to finance the acquisition of that data themselves, the acquisition, business-wise has no returns basically, because we are investing to get that information; so, every

Abuja because of the present security and logistic challenges we thought it was better and easier to work with Zamfara state government, so I wrote a letter and based on subsequent discussions we had with the team of ‘Doctors without borders’, the Zamfara state government decided to continue with the treatments and the treating of the environment. At the same time, I wrote a letter to the health minister to make provision for that in the budget to cover that and he has established a treatment unit at the federal medical centre in Zamfara and he has assured me ; so there was

“

Whoever is coming to invest in Ajaokuta henceforth is expected to come and work with us based on our terms; unlike in the past whereby anyone who wanted to submit any proposal on Ajaokuta brought his own due diligence, this time around, we are going to do the due diligence by ourselves country that is involved in mining has at least all the relevant data concerning their mineral resources.

What is the true picture of the Zamfara lead poisoning?

Yes, I think the confusion caused us to issue a press statement to that effect recently; no money was given to the ministry. I even wrote a letter to the President asking that the Zamfara state government have already started doing some things on the issue of the incidence and the ‘Doctors without borders’ team, who are largely treating the victims, wrote us a letter that they are winding up and we have to find a way to continue, so we thought the best way to treat that kind of thing is through the local governments and not here in

really no money given to anybody and from my investigations that I carried out I discovered that some of these NGO’s who want to access certain funds in your country all across the world, the only way most of them do that is by creating a very nasty scenario of what is on the ground; To tell you candidly, somebody came with a representative of the US ambassador and they wanted us to declare a state of emergency in Zamfara, that if we do that they will have chance to access some funds to tackle the problem and I asked them who gave the fund and how is it going to reach the people? The fact is that they are not doing it for the benefit of the affected people but for the world to accept that we have a

disaster. One of the major problems is that as I told you this thing is poverty-driven; we held a town hall meeting in Anka and an old man stated that if something has to kill someone it should not be hunger and we all laughed but we were sad because despite all the sensitization, in different languages, on the potential dangers of informal mining of lead, there are people who still do not understand it.

The Ajaokuta Steel Complex has gulped about N675bn without much progress so far; who and what are really responsible for the project not fully taking off?

Just two days ago, I met with the Minister of Finance on this very issue. The major problem the FG has with Ajaokuta is that inspite of funds spent on the project nothing positive seems to be coming out from it; You see, the fear of exploitation by prospective investors because of the tardy nature of the way the Ajaokuta project has been handled in the past. That is why the Minister of Finance, who is the coordinating minister for the economy, and I sat down and have taken a decision to appoint an internationally recognised body to inspect the plant and give us an independent assessment of the project.

Whoever is coming to invest in Ajaokuta henceforth is expected to come and work with us based on our terms; unlike in the past whereby anyone who wanted to submit any proposal on Ajaokuta brought his own due diligence, this time around, we are going to do the due diligence by ourselves. We are looking at what is going to give us the best rate of return on the investment. As you well know the little budget of my ministry cannot be able to sustain such an investment so we are liaising with the ministry of Finance to get competent prospective investors to come and revive the project on a profitable basis and they are doing that already.

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012 08028402920 sundayejike@yahoo.co.uk

Playing politics with Salami's recall The National Judicial Council (NJC), the body responsible for the discipline of any erring Judicial Officers in the country suspended Justice Isa Ayo Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA). Salami, according to NJC was found guilty of perjury, by lying under oath that former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu asked him to compromise the appellate Court's judgement of the Sokoto State governorship election petition. The council asked him to apologize to Katsina-Alu, an apology which Salami refused to do but insisted on his allegation against the former CJN. NJC, aside from suspending Salami, also recommended that President Goodluck Jonathan should retire him. Salami is before a Federal High Court in Abuja challenging his suspension and the same NJC made U-turn and lifted his (Salami) suspension and asked the President to reinstate him to his position as the President of the appellate court, but the President said he cannot do that as matters relating to the suspension are still in court. The council had recently, in an address in response to a suit instituted by a group of human right activists, where-in they asked the court to order NJC and the President to recall Salami back to his position, said the President has no power under the constitution to discipline or recall any suspended judicial Officer saying, it is only the NJC that has that sole power to do so. In this piece, Sunday Ejike Benjamin takes a look at the politics surrounding the recall of the suspended PCA.

J

ustice Umar Abdullahi handed over the mantle of the leadership of the Court of Appeal to Justice Isa Ayo Salami, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 years.

As the most senior Judge of the appellate court, Salami's assumption to the position of President of the Court of Appeal was in line with an existing standard of appointing the Appeal Court President.

As the President of the court, Salami constituted panel of justices of the court to serve on various election petition tribunals, including that of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.

Salami's problem, according to some observers in the judiciary started from when he sacked some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors from the South West. The ruling party, since then started nursing hatred for him as they accused him of working for the Ahmed Bola Tinubu led Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Shortly afterward, the then CJN, Justice Katsina-Alu recommended him for the office of the Justice of the Supreme Court.

Salami had the right to reject the offer by just transmitting a letter to the NJC, but instead of doing only that for the matter to rest, he addressed a press conference in his home state in Kwara and accused Justice Katsina-Alu of asking him to compromise the judgement in the governorship election petition appeal of Sokoto state which the CJN "arrested" and prevented a duly constituted Court of appeal panel from delivering.

Salami headed to a Federal high Court in Abuja with a suit challenging the decision of the then CJN to promote him into the office of Justice of the apex court.

The matter raised serious dust in the judiciary as it brought into public glare the rot in the judiciary. NJC waded into the matter and suspended Salami on August 18, 2011 following the recommendation by the Justice Ibrahim Ndahi Auta-led panel, which found him guilty of insubordination.

He was asked to go on an indefinite suspension pending when the President will approve the Council's recommendation for compulsory retirement.

Justice Dalhatu Adamu was consequently appointed in an acting capacity as the President of the Court of Appeal pending when the issue would be resolved.

It would recalled that NJC had directed Justice Salami to tender an unreserved apology to the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and the Council itself over his allegation against Katsina-Alu to the effect that he asked him to pervert the course of justice in the Sokoto gubernatorial election dispute.

Justice Musdapher, on October 14, last year, raised a 29-member

Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN stakeholders' Judicial Reform Committee, headed by a former CJN, Justice Muhammadu Uwais.

A sub-committee of the panel, including Justice Mamman Nasir, Justice U. Kalgo and Justice Bola Ajibola, asked the CJN and the NJC to reinstate Justice Salami back to his position.

The committee upheld the decisions of the sub-committee and recommended Justice Salami's reinstatement.

Salami is in court challenging his suspension. Both the NJC and other defendants have joined issues with him as they raised objections, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear it.

The approach taken by the defendants had ensured that the case had not made any appreciable progress. Except the case is settled out of court, it will be difficult for him to obtain judgment before his retirement next year.

Consequently, Salami filed a notice of discontinuance of the suit challenging his promotion to the Supreme Court by the CJN. In the said notice of discontinuance, Salami said: "Following the intervention of well meaning Nigerians and stakeholders in the justice sector, I hereby apply to discontinue this suit".

Salami's resolve to withdraw the case from the court is reportedly prompted by the progress made by the panel set up by the NJC to reconcile the warring topmost judicial officers as well as intervention of well meaning Nigerians.

Salami had, in an affidavit in support of the suit, which he deposed to personally, alleged that Katsina-Alu asked him to compromise the Court of Appeal's verdict on the protracted Sokoto State governorship election petition by either disbanding the original panel, which he (Katsina-Alu)

believed was about to give a verdict against the governor or direct the panel to give judgment in favour of the governor.

Nine months after his suspension, the NJC reinstated him following the recommendation of a three member panel led by a justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Aloma Muhktar, (now CJN) that Salami be reinstated immediately.

But The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN) said the Federal Government will not act on NJC's recommendation to reinstate Salami because the matter is subjudice.

"No responsible government will act on it in the present circumstances of the case. The matter is subjudice.

As soon as the judiciary put their house in order the federal government will make its position on the matter known" he stated, adding also that a lot of misperception has trailed the NJC recommendation. He recalled that on August, 2011 NJC forwarded a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan suspending Justice Salami at same time recommending his retirement.

"The Federal Government immediately approved his suspension and forwarded the aspect on his retirement to the National Assembly and put on hold the issue of retirement.

The government appoints an Acting President of the Court of Appeal.

"On 11th May, 2012, NJC recalled the suspended President of the Court of Appeal and forwarded its recommendation to the President.

There are several litigations by way of processes served on the President on the issue and until there are resolved, he cannot act", he noted and that put paid to further action on Salami matter by the federal government.

Recently, the imbroglio created by the consistent refusal by President

Justice Ayo Salami Jonathan to recall the embattled Salami appears set to be resolved following new tunes emanating from the NJC which said that it is within its vested constitutional powers to recall and reinstate Justice Salami and does not require the President's authority to do so.

This position was contained in a reply filed in a case instituted by some persons on behalf of the registered Trustees of a nongovernmental organization, Centre for the Promotion of Arbitration, bordering on the interpretation of the powers of the NJC, vis a vis the powers of the President as it relates to the exercise of disciplinary power over justices of the Court of Appeal as enshrined in the constitution.

The group asked the court to determine whether the President who is listed as the first defendant in the suit, by law, has powers over the President of the Court of Appeal under section 153 and section 21 of the 3rd Schedule of the Constitution and whether the President has any step to take within these sections, in relation to the recall of Justice Salami as recommended by the NJC. The court was also aked to determine whether NJC, listed as the 3rd defendant, solely has the powers to exercise disciplinary functions over the justices of the Court of Appeal as it affects Justice Salami.

They also want the court to determine whether NJC's recommendation for the recall of Justice Salami has not put an end to all disputes relating to his suspension and recall.

The plaintiffs contended that NJC has no power constitutionally to recommend the suspension of Justice Salami to the President for ratification to which the President acted upon ab initio, without any laws backing such actions.

They also faulted Jonathan's

reappointment of the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, on a permanent acting capacity without the constitutional approval of the NJC and outside the relevant laws in the circumstance of the case.

They argued that the non implementation of the recommendation for the recall of Justice Salami by the NJC is a breach of the constitutional function of the Council.

NJC, in their reply agreed with the registered trustees of the NGO that the exercise of disciplinary power and recall of a suspended justice of the Court of Appeal is exclusively vested in the NJC by the constitution in sections 153, 158(1) and paragraph 21(1) of the 3rd Schedule.

It also stated that the only instances where it exercises its powers in conjunction with the President is in appointment and removal of judicial officers which do not extend to its powers over reinstatement or recalling of suspended judicial officers, which according to it, is exclusively exercised by the Council.

The Council emphatically submitted that it is not required to have recourse at all to the President in exercising its power to reinstate Justice Salami and that it is within its vested constitutional powers to recall and reinstate Justice Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal.

Furthermore, the NJC posited that by virtue of section 238 (5) of the Constitution, the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dlhatu Adamu, cannot be reappointed after the expiration of three months without recommendation of the NJC and that his continued stay in office is unconstitutional and illegal.

The presiding judge, Justice Adamu Bello adjourned further hearing in the matter till Friday 4th December, 2012.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

AUN becomes first Nigerian member of integrity group

By Maryam Garba Hassan

T

he American University of Nigeria is set to join other universities from 17 countries in the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), an organization created to combat cheating, plagiarism, and academic dishonesty in higher education.

A statement signed by the University’s Deputy Director, Communications, Innocent Okorie Nwobodo, said, AUN’s Associate Vice President for Institutional Planning, Assessment, and Research, Ms. Gina Cinali, spearheaded the membership, which comes just in time for ICAI’s annual conference next month, at Princeton University where she will present a paper on plagiarism in democratic societies.

According to the statement, over the time, the mission of ICAI has expanded to include the cultivation of cultures of integrity in academic communities worldwide.

The statement further explained that, ICAI provides resources for faculty, students, and administrators at universities, high schools, and all institutions of learning that care about honesty, integrity, trust, respect, and responsibility as well as information on what academic dishonesty is and how faculty and students can adhere to honest practices.

“Academic integrity infraction is rampant around the world. It’s not that people are bad; they just need to get some education on what constitutes good academic practices and how they can avoid falling into the trap,” said Cinali.

“I was impressed when I showed up and saw an academic integrity code. I want to wave the AUN flag and brag about what we already have here. I want to show the world that we are instilling good values in our students,” she said. The University is undergoing reaccreditation from the National Universities Commission and is working with several associations of schools and colleges abroad to obtain international accreditation.

“Accreditation is really the tip of the iceberg.” Once you prove that you are good enough, there must be continuous improvement, quality assurance, curriculum review, and the ability to review. This new membership will definitely help score us points”, she said.

PAGE 27

50th anniversary: First bank donates N20m to ABU

By Maryam Garba Hassan

F

irst Bank Nigeria Plc has donated the sum of N20m to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, as part of its contribution to the institution’s Golden Jubilee celebrations slated for 23rd – 24th November, 2012.

Presenting the cheque to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, Friday in his office in Zaria, the Executive Director, Public Sector, North of the bank, Malam Dauda Lawal, said the donation was necessitated by the age-long partnership between the bank and the University.

A statement signed by the Media adviser to the ViceChancellor, Malam Waziri Isa Gwantu, said the Executive Director who was accompanied by top management staff of the bank in the Northern Zone, congratulated the institution for

its pace-setting role and contributions to manpower and socio-economic development in the country.

The statement further said that, the Executive Director who commended the Vice-Chancellor for successfully steering ABU to greater and enviable heights, promised to continue to support it in its drive towards achieving academic excellence.

In his address, the ViceChancellor, who thanked the Management of the bank for its support and interest in the University, described the donation by the bank as demonstration of its position as truly the first among Nigeria’s banks, the statement added.

He however assured the bank’s management that the University will continue to consider the bank

as the University’s main bank in view of its economic strength and reliability.

Mustapha called on all other institutions doing business with the University, especially banks and contractors who are among the major beneficiaries of the institution to emulate First bank by donating handsomely towards the successful hosting of the ceremony.

Katsina, development partners spend N500m on girls education From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

T

he wife of Katsina State Governor, Hajiya Fatima Ibrahim Shema, has disclosed that the state government and other development partners had spent the sum of N500 million in various girls educational welfare schemes.

The governor’s wife who made the disclosure at the 2012 Girl Child Day celebration, noted that UNICEF and MDG were the two development partners assisting the programme.

She added that the girl child programmes run by the state government include the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme for Girls Education, (CCT-GE) and the Female Teachers Training Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS).

According to her, the Conditional Cash Transfer which was implemented in some selected primary schools belonging to the State Universal Basic Education Board, has been quarterly assisting the selected beneficiaries.

Hajiya Fatima stated that to ensure girls and other female members of the society are given equal opportunity to catch-up with their male counterparts, the government according to her was ready to support NGOs with such vision.

She urged the society especially wealthy individuals to always assist the education of the girl child, adding that this would enable them to contribute their quota to the development of the society.

L-R: Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar, Minister of State for Education, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike and former President, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, during the minister's visit to the Sultan, recently in Sokoto state.

Donate towards realization of N50m endowment fund – VC

By Maryam Garba Hassan

T

he Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, has tasked Alumni, stakeholders, friends and all members of the University community to donate generously towards realizing the N50Billion endowment fund to be launched during the forth coming Golden Jubilee celebration of the University.

A statement signed by the Media Adviser to the Vice Chancellor, Malam Waziri Isa Gwantu, said Professor Mustapha made the appeal Thursday while briefing congregation members of the University on the level of preparation, of the 50th Anniversary celebration slated for 23rd – 24th, November, 2012.

The Vice Chancellor who appealed to the entire members of the University Community to see the Golden Jubilee celebration as a collective responsibility and not that of the Vice Chancellor or the

Management cautioned that “success or failure of the historic event would be attributed to all stakeholders of the University”.

Professor Mustapha clarified that launching of the N50 Billion naira endowment fund would be one of the central events of the Golden jubilee celebration which is aimed at generating funds to address the various key needs of the University that include commencement of work on the Institution’s site II to decongest the already choked up Samaru site I of the Campus.

“We are determined to open new sites, not far from the Main Campus, in line with our future development plan and coupled with the lack of available space for expansion at the present site” the Vice Chancellor informed the congregation.

He however revealed that the Acting Chairman and ProChancellor of the University, Arc Muhammed Dewu has mobilized a consortium of Architectural/ Building firms owned by ABU Alumni to produce an updated

Maser plan for the University as well as a site plan for the new site He said the consortium will also produce Proto-type designs for Faculties of Science and Architecture, School of Business Studies, Student’s Hostels and recreational facilities to be sited at the new site II across the University Dam. Mustapha who commended the in-house Unions of the University for their joint moral support and cash contributions towards the success of the event revealed that all members of the University Management have contributed 20% of their gross salary towards the fund raising drive.

He also commended the four affiliate Agricultural Institutes of the University which make up of National Agricultural Extension, Research and Liaison Services, Institute for Agricultural Research, Division for Agricultural Colleges and National Animal Production and Research Institute for donating a large sum of money for the anniversary.

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Zahra and Coco wins American children’s book award

By Jamila Nuhu Musa

Z

ahra and Coco Alphabet, a children’s book written and published in Nigeria, has won the 2012 prestigious Moonbeam Children’s Book Award’s Gold Prize in the Alphabet/Counting Book category.

The Moonbeam Children’s Book Award is presented by

W

hat is your opinion on the recent attacks on students in some tertiary institutions in the country?

The series of attacks on institutions of learning is a very sad situation. It has gotten to a level where we must begin to ask where we are going from here. Coupled with other problems we are going through, we can now see that security can adversely affect the education sector. We should not forget the recent killing of students and other individuals at Federal Polytechnic, Mubi and that of the University of PortHarcourt. Also, in the recent past months, the Bayero University, Kano was also attacked and some students, lecturers and other worshippers were killed. When we look at all these things happening in our tertiary institutions, we are forced to conclude that there is a problem because there is this fear in these institutions and it goes a long way to paralyze the academic programmes. It is a problem and we call on the Federal Government to ensure that much is done to safeguard lives and property of the citizens in institutions in the country so that teaching and learning can effectively continue.

Sometime ago, it was in the news that the Vice Chancellor of Enugu State University of Science and Technology was kidnapped. We want a situation where government can step up security around these institutions of higher learning.

Government has to be proactive because we cannot continue to have a situation where lives of students are endangered or a situation where they sleep and wake up every day with the fear of insecurity.

Generally, do you think that government pays adequate attention to the education sector, given the allegations of inadequate funding from these institutions?

I must commend the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan because as a teacher himself, he has shown much interest in the education sector to see that it moves forward. He has recently, instituted the ‘Teacher of The Year Award” to encourage teachers and he has also accepted that there is a problem in the education sector and that about 60 percent of lecturers in our higher institutions do not have doctorate degrees. This goes a long way to shown that he is interested in the situation and

Michigan, United States of America-based Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher magazine to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading.

Zahra and Coco Alphabet is one in the Zahra and Coco series of special illustrated books designed for three- to four-year-olds written

by Fatima Akilu and illustrated

by Mustapha Bulama. Other books in the series include Zahra and Coco Numbers, Coloursand Objects.

A statement made available

by Mockingbird Books, publishers of the series, indicated that another book from the author, Ashraf the Flying Saucer, got honorary mention at both the London and New York book

festivals. The company said it “specialises in the production of good quality inexpensive books for children aged 3 to 10 that cover universal themes, but are written

by Nigerians”.

According to the author of the book, Dr Fatima Akilu, said though she was happy, she still felt something was missing. “My children’s books are being recognised abroad while, sadly,

the Nigerian children’s book market suffers inactivity. I wrote those books with the Nigerian child in mind, but how many parents give their children books as birthday gifts? How do we nurture life-long readers when we don’t expose children to reading early in life? Some people don’t even know that good inexpensive books for kids are published in Nigeria.”

Government must secure lives of students – Consultant

Gideon Onyedi is an education consultant and President of Diamond-Crest for Youth Education Foundation, an NGO based in Kaduna. In this interview with Agaju Madugba in Kaduna, he talks about the country’s tertiary institutions that churn out half-baked graduates, the series of attacks on some institutions and the level of corruption and other misconducts at all levels of the education sector in the country among others. Excerpts

Gideon Onyedi ready to revamp the sector. But as a matter of fact, the main problem of education in Nigeria is not poor funding or inadequate funding.

The problem is corruption and insensitivity to the plight of the less privileged children and youth in this country. We live in a country where about 16 million of its children and youth are without education or qualitative education. They roam the streets because they do not have people to help them go to school. When you have such number of children and youth not in school, you are bound to have issue of youth

restiveness, violence and terrorism around the country.

People are not educated and those who claim to have gone to school are not properly educated. We believe that one’s behaviour in life has a relationship with the kind of education that person has received and that is why you see so many people who are not well educated taking up arms and bombing places. They do not care and don’t have value for human lives.

Government has to show concern for the plight of the less privileged children and youth in the society and when that is

done, everybody will know that something is happening. We have situations in this country where lecturers sell grades. So, the problem is not underfunding but corruption. There is corruption even in the classroom and unless we address this problem we will continue to have it. Many people are pointing accusing fingers at government but some of us are not better than those we call corrupt government officials.

How do you see the proliferation of tertiary institutions?

Let us take it this way. You

have 100 people to send to school but the school can only take 30 students. There is the need to either expand that school or build more schools to accommodate these other students.

The problem is that when you build more universities, how do you monitor the work they do? The NUC should step up their responsibility of supervision. A university should be properly equipped with facilities and staff and the caliber of students admitted should be properly examined so that we do not end up having too many universities producing more illiterate graduates. We learnt of a case of student who finished his HND and was about to collect his result but could not write “original result collected by me.” And he would go about telling people that he has an HND and would want to be employed accordingly. It is good for states to have universities but they should make adequate preparations before establishing such universities so that we will not end up having glorified secondary schools. But when you establish a university where you employ lecturers only from the state and push out lecturers from other states who may even be more qualified than your indigenes, you are not building a university in the real sense of the world. You do not restrict academic pursuit to a state or local government.

Establishment of more universities can help in accommodating more students but what caliber of lecturers do they have? What quality of knowledge do they give the students? We should be able to turn out graduates who will be able to handle state, national and global issues so that we know that we truly have educated individuals.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

C

offee tastes good - but is it good for you? More than half of Americans are java junkies, yet the average joe doesn’t know beans about the health effects of our daily brew. In fact, scientists say there are grounds to claim that coffee has many effects on health - some good, some bad. Keep clicking as leading coffee researcher Dr. Rob van Dam, adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health and an associate professor at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in Singapore, filters coffee truth from coffee fallacy - and be prepared for some jolts...

True or false coffee can cause high blood pressure True: Caffeine can increase blood pressure - but apparently mostly transiently. Long-term studies have found no link between regular coffee consumption and high blood pressure, a.k.a. hypertension.

“Still, for persons with hypertension it may be worthwhile to see if switching to decaf improves control of blood pressure,” says Dr. van Dam. True or false coffee can raise cholesterol True: Coffee beans contain a potent cholesterol-raising compound called cafestol. If you drink instant coffee or coffee that’s passed through a paper filter, your brew will contain only a negligible amount of cafestol.

But traditional Turkish, Greek, Scandinavian coffee and coffee that’s prepared via the French press method can contain high levels of cafestol. Studies have shown that drinking lots of these kinds of coffee can raise cholesterol levels and the risk of heart attack.

In contrast, a large body of research suggests that regular consumption of filtered coffee does not increase risk for heart disease or stroke.

True or false coffee can fight depression True: Preliminary studies have shown that habitual consumption of coffee is linked to lower risk for depression, at least among women.

True or false: Coffee can cause miscarriage True: Heavy coffee consumption during pregnancy has been linked to miscarriage and low birth weight. A

PAGE 29

Coffee and your health: Latest findings

developing fetus isn’t good at metabolizing caffeine, and research has shown that the stimulant easily crosses the

placenta. To limit the risk, doctors often urge women to have no more than one cup of coffee a day during pregnancy (or two cups of tea).

True or false: coffee contains lots of calories False: Coffee contains almost no calories - as long as you drink it black. But fancy brews sold by specialty coffee retailers are often loaded with sugar and fat - and oodles of calories that can contribute to weight gain. A single venti white chocolate mocha from Starbucks delivers 510 calories roughly 25 percent of an adult’s

normal daily calorie intake.

True or false: people that drink coffee on regular basis are at risk of type2 diabetes FALSE: People who drink coffee on a regular basis actually seem to have a lower-thanaverage risk for type 2 diabetes.

The reduced risk has been seen with both caffeinated and decaf, which suggests that it’s something other than caffeine that explains the effect. A compound known as chlorogenic acid is one possibility, as are other compounds like trigonelline and ligans.

True or false: coffee causes Parkinson’s disease False: Studies have shown that men who drink lots of coffee have a below-average risk for Parkinson’s, a brain condition marked by tremors and difficulty to coordinate movements and animal studies suggest that caffeine prevents the death of nerve cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is a core problem in Parkinson’s.

In women, the relationship between caffeine intake and Parkinson’s may be a bit more complicated. Recent research suggests that caffeine has a beneficial effect on women not using estrogen-replacement therapy, but not in those who do take hormones.

True or false: coffee causes liver damage False: Recent evidence suggests that coffee lowers the risk for both liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, though there’s no clear explanation of the apparent protective effect. Similarly, concerns that heavy coffee consumption can increase the risk for other forms of cancer have not been confirmed in recent, more rigorous studies.

True or false: coffee prevent against gout True: Recent studies have linked high consumption of both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee to reduce risk of gout, a painful condition in which crystals of uric acid accumulate in the joints. In addition to reducing levels of uric acid in the bloodstream, coffee may reduce the risk of insulin resistance.

That’s a condition that precedes diabetes and is considered a risk factor for gout.

Source: www.CBSnews.com

PAGE 30

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Polio immunization: Jigawa state focuses on non compliance

By A’isha Biola Raji

A

ccording to World Health Organisation (WHO) report, northern states of Nigeria experienced huge outbreak of polio in 2009 resulting from type 3 Wild Polio Virus3 (WPV3).

This outbreak, which recorded 258 cases as compared to 32 cases for the same time in the year 2008 spread to border-line of the neighbouring countries.

This alarming situation has however given rise to recurrent polio supplementary immunization activities based on the outcome of Expert Review Committee (ERC) meetings. This effort of ridden the country of poliomyelitis virus has so far continued as monthly routine.

With Jigawa state being one of the highly prevalent polio states, it fell on the states slated for the Supplementary Immunisation Plus Days (SIPDs) for the month of September 2012.

It is not the first time the state had been labeled ‘high risk state’, which is as a result of large number of children being missed during IPDs. However, during the last IPDs, the stakeholders saddled with the task of freeing all the children of the state from the dreaded disease that lives them limbless and helpless, have decided to hold the bull by the horn, rise to the challenges of realizing this singular goal.

The stakeholders have decided to resolve the issue of non compliance.

This was demonstrated in the last IPDs in the state with all their hands on deck during the immnisation plus days.

On the day one of implementation, immediately after the flag-off ceremony, vaccinators and focal persons were dispatched to their various vaccination points from where

A child suffering from Progeria they moved to various households for immnisation using the UNICEF initiated micro-plan, (a tool which makes it easier for vaccinators to access each household without confusion or loss of direction.

According to Peoples Daily Reporter who monitored the state, at the end of the first day exercise, a stakeholder debriefing meeting was held to identify areas where there were lapses, critical situations and how to resolve them in order to have an edge of success on the next day.

Present at the meeting in Dutse local government was Dr. Tafida Abubakar, the state Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Zubairu Garba Abaya, deputy Chairman, Dutse local government, Alhaji Ahmed T. Saidu, Director, Gunduma Health System Council Dutse and other health and local government officials.

At the meeting, teams and supervisors with lackadaisical attitude towards the exercise were identified and warned. They were discovered due to the determination of various polio individual stakeholders to monitor the success of the exercise. They moved from one unit to another monitoring the activities of the focal persons and vaccinators without their knowledge.

Those found wanting, were however shocked to realize they were being tailed by top government and nongovernmental monitors.

The slack noticed was however resolved with each focal person charged with the task of following each vaccination team to ensure complete coverage the next day as lot of children were missed on the first day. This however necessitated the need for mobilizing additional focal persons with provision of de-briefing

Elephantiasis

format made available to wards and local government by National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The de-briefing exercise is therefore; a welcome development as it showed commitment form all the stakeholders involved including WHO, UNICEF, immunisation officers, village Heads, community leaders and religion leaders.

At the end of each immmunisation day exercise, critical issues were discussed and solutions were proffered to avert re-occurrence of similar problem.

For instance, at Madubi and Baranga, there was high level of non compliance experienced by a team. This team was only able to immunize 27 children. The rejection was on the ground that, the immunization rounds are becoming too often and many or the parents, especially the fathers were not around. The good news however is those that refused the last round complied by allowing their wards receive the polio vaccine.

For those that rejected, the ward head promised to properly educate them more on the importance of the vaccine thereby promising the focal people to be assured of success during their revisit.

In Karci ward, non compliance was in 43 households with 78 children missed, in this ward, 12 houses were resolved on the first day with 16 children immunized.

This feat was recorded due to the cooperation of the ward counselor and the ward heads.

Another success worthy of note was in the area of nomadic population. It is important to commend group of Nigerians for their understanding of the need to get their children immunized.

They all agreed but there was however a hitch, it was difficult to cover them as they are mostly

on the move which resulted in missing children.

In Dadinkowa, 10 houses were missed with 22 children to be revisited, non compliance or what can be termed as outright refusal was 6 leading to 14 children having not been immunized.

Two cases were discovered in Lemunawa and Randi, despite these cases, the head of the community declined having vaccinators immunize the children in the area.

In Zango, Mangada and Rigarsada, non compliance was 19 household with 34 children.

However, 1 household with 3 children was immediately resolved with the remaining households to be resolved the next day.

It was also discovered that, community clashes or misunderstanding can also hinder the success of IPDs, in Duru ward for instance, there was a clash between the community head and one part of the community. This led to, one part of the community which was against the community head to refuse to have their children immunized. The issue was also resolved the next day.

All these communities were critically analyzed and solutions were immediately proffered with all the important stakeholders present.

According to Alhaji Zubairu Garba, deputy Chairman, Dutse local government, there was improvement in the IPDs compared to the last recorded IPDs. He said all the issues of non compliance and missed children will be resolved without hitch as they were well documented.

In his words, the state commissioner for health, Dr. Tafida Abubakar called on the focal persons to be highly committed as they are the closest to vaccinators who determine if the exercise will be successful or not.

He said there is need for vigorous coverage so Jigawa state can be removed from the list of high polio prevalence states.

To get the message home to supervisors and down to vaccinators, it was agreed that, whoever did not participate would be remove from pay list.

This last IPDs has shown that, the people of Jigawa are battle ready as no stone was left unturned in making sure no single child was missed.

With all these initiatives and zeal to make state a polio free state, there is light behind the tunnel and one can only wish that, this vigorous had started some years back.

To minimize the risk and consequences of spread of the poliovirus, Jigawa should improve on its surveillance for missed children, the more they are properly documented, the more they are covered.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 31

Israeli policies of dispossession reminiscent of South African apartheid ANALYSIS

By Heidi-Jane Esakov

D

uring the forced removals of the South African suburb of Sophiatown in 1955, around 65,000 residents were moved and "dumped in matchbox houses" in black townships. Only a few years before that, in 1948, Bedouins of Israel's Naqab/ Negev region, who Israel had not expelled, were also forcibly moved "from their ancestral lands into a restricted zone called the Siyag (literally, 'fenced in')". And, just as Sophiatown was completely bulldozed, the Negev village of Al-Arakib was recently razed to make way for a Jewish National Fund forest.

As a South African it is particularly difficult not to see the stark parallels between the experiences of black South Africans under apartheid and of Palestinians today.

Sophiatown, a once vibrant, predominantly "black" residential area, was targeted by the apartheid government in its programme of forced removals. In accordance with apartheid-inspired segregation and settlement of whites on land previously inhabited by black South Africans, Sophiatown became the "whites-only" suburb of "Triomf" (Triumph).

In a haunting mirror, on September 12, 2012, the Bedouin village of AlArakib in Israel's Negev region was demolished for the thirty-ninth time despite tenure dating back to the Ottoman period. More recently the government won the right to build a Jewish settlement on the site of the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran. The planned Jewish settlement will become Hiran.

The villagers of Umm al-Hiran and Al-Arakib are citizens of Israel: Its Arab citizens that Israel prides - and parades as proof of its democracy. They are, however, not Jewish, a critical determiner of who is entitled to what land and how rights are allocated. If the state has its way, Al-Arakib will be forested over by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), and, with Umm al-Hiran, join the fate of around 500 Palestinian villages that have been wiped from the face of the "Jewish State" since 1947 (a process that started before the state came into being in 1948). Many of these villages now lie buried beneath Jewish settlements and JNF recreation parks and forests.

Like so many Jewish children, I had a JNF Blue Box (money box); "the small Blue Box and the Big Jewish Dream" that has become a symbol of JewishZionist identity. I had certificates representing trees planted in my name.

These were integral to my socialisation into Zionism: I was helping to make "the desert bloom" and enabling "my people" to return to "our" homeland.

What I did not know was that my "right" to the land was contingent on the dispossession of Palestinians from their land and rights. Discovering the truth was jarring.

The ruins in the JNF South Africa Forest in the Galilee enthralled me as a child visiting Israel; I believed I had stumbled upon an ancient archaeological site. I have since learnt that these ruins are the remains of the destroyed Palestinian village of Lubya.

The implementation of the Prawer Plan is expected to uproot around 30,000 bedouins from their homes Like many other South African Jews, I have sponsored trees in this forest.

The JNF, established in 1901 to acquire land for Jewish settlement, plays a critical role in socialising and educating Jews into Zionism, and institutionalising the belief that Jews have a right to land and rights at the expense of Palestinian rights. The JNF is also central to the state's ownership, and ongoing appropriation, of land. With the state's identity premised on "the land" (Eretz Yisrael), the JNF, a quasigovernmental organisation, arguably embodies the state.

The JNF owns 13 per cent of land and along with the Israel Lands Administration manages 93 per cent of all land. Its constitutive tenets are inherently racist, stipulating that only Jews may use or lease JNF land. Some of this land was purchased prior to 1948, but the larger part was transferred by the state post independence. This allowed the state to surrender its responsibility of equality to all its citizens by passing its authority to the JNF which could then openly practice exclusion.

The JNF unashamedly confirms: "It is not a public body that works for the benefit of all its citizens of the state.

The loyalty of the JNF is given to the Jewish people and only to them is the JNF obligated. The JNF, as the owner of JNF land, does not have a duty to practice equality to all citizens of the state."

In other words the JNF owes loyalty to me, but not to 20 per cent of Israel's population, its Palestinian citizens, not to mention Palestinians dispossessed by the Nakba. And according to its Jewish-only policy, I have more right to land - a South African of Lithuanian origin - than Palestinians who have lived on the land for centuries. And despite its racist policies, the JNF is still given authority to manage most state land.

The JNF further positions itself as an innocuous environmental organisation: "Over the past 109 years, JNF has evolved into a global environmental leader by planting 250 million trees... bringing life to the Negev Desert and educating students around the world about Israel and the environment."

To ensure that the villagers of AlArakib can never return, the JNF has begun planting a forest of environmentally damaging, nonindigenous eucalyptus trees to conceal evidence of its existence. Further

“

exposing the JNF's hypocrisy, in the process of forced removals, the state uprooted hundreds of indigenous olive trees.

Al-Arakib and Umm al-Hiran are but two of the many so-called unrecognised Bedouin villages targeted by the state; villages unrecognised despite the thousands who live in them - unrecognised to render the inhabitants powerless. As part of the Prawer Plan, the state plans to expel 30,000 Bedouins from their villages in the Negev, and forcibly move them to designated townships. This will devastate livelihoods, sever them from their land, destroy ancestral lifestyles, and corrode at their communal identity and sense of belonging. In close collaboration with the JNF, the state plans to settle 250,000 Jews in the Negev.

Simply put, the idea is to make the Negev Jewish and ensure that the nonJewish inhabitants live in manageable enclaves.

With our own history of apartheid, particularly disquieting was discovering the role of the South African JNF in enabling this displacement of Bedouins. Certificates are even available to support the project:

"Over the past 109 years, JNF has evolved into a global environmental leader by planting 250 million trees... bringing life to the Negev Desert and educating students around the world about Israel and the environment."

"[O]ur goal is to bring 250,000 new residents to the Negev... JNF South Africa is making a difference by assisting young pioneers to establish farmsteads... located in the Negev highlands between the Telallim Junction to the town of Mizpe Ramon... built on available sites in the Negev that are neither protected nature reserves nor army training areas. Most of the sites have been chosen for their scenic location and in many cases have been built on previously disturbed sites." [my emphasis] Would Sophiatown too be a previously disturbed site?

The UN/ICC definition of apartheid is "systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime".

For many Jewish South Africans the apartheid analogy that is gaining traction is painful and is being determinedly challenged. As South Africans we know apartheid, and it was brutal.

White South Africans, however, cannot know the pain and humiliation of dispossession and oppression. Rather, we can know what it means to be privileged at the expense of someone else's oppression.

It is not for the oppressor to decide how the oppressed should understand their oppression.

But, how is whites-only different to Jewish-only? And, if the forced removal of 30,000 Bedouins to make way for 250,000 Jews is not "systematic oppression... with the intention of maintaining the regime", what, then, is it?

Source: Aljazeera

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 32

Wounded Mauritania president flown to Paris Tunisia ruling coalition to hold elections next June

T

unisia's ruling coalition, led by the Islamic Ennahda Movement, said early on Sunday it had agreed to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on June 23 with the president being chosen directly by voters.

The coalition's agreement on a date for elections and the establishment of an amended parliamentary system come after widespread criticism from the opposition that Ennahda wants to control the government and avoid elections.

The Islamic Ennahda Movement won the country's first free elections last October following the Tunisia's revolution, which set off last year's "Arab Spring" uprisings. The movement heads a government that also includes two secular parties, the Congress for the Republic and the Ettakatol.

The ruling coalition said in a statement sent to Reuters that an agreement had been reached setting "June 23, 2013, as the date for legislative and presidential elections," with a presidential runoff scheduled for July 7.

"We agreed on the choice of a mixed political system where the election of the president of the republic will be directly by the people ... The political system will ensure a balance between authorities and in the executive authorities," the statement said.

The agreement must be approved by the Constituent Assembly, where the ruling coalition has a majority of the 217 seats.

The agreement will help speed the drafting of a constitution. The form of political system was a big contrast between Ennahda, which called for the parliamentary system, and the rest of the parties, which called for a dual political system.

The amended parliamentary system will have powers balanced by between the parliament and the president.

The announcement of a date for elections may dispel doubts of Tunisia's partners in the West and foreign investors who wish to enter the Tunisian market.

An Ennahda party member casts her vote during the election of the new leadership of Ennahda in Tunis

Mauritanian president appeared on state television before flying to France for further treatment

M

Abdel Aziz was shot late on Saturday as he returned to the capital Nouakchott from a weekend retreat.

The government played down the incident, saying the 55-year-old was only "slightly wounded" and that the shooting was an accident as the soldiers didn't realise that they convoy was his.

"This was an accidental shooting on the presidential convoy as it returned to Nouakchott. The army unit did not recognize the presidential convoy," Communications Minister Hamdi Mahjoub said in remarks on national television.

A security source had earlier told AFP that the president had been directly targeted.

The source did not specify where the bullet had lodged but said none of his vital organs had been hit and "his life is not in danger."

Unconfirmed media reports in Nouakchott said variously that Abdel Aziz had been hit in the arm or the abdomen.

Mahjoub had sought to reassure about Abdel Aziz's health in his televised remarks.

"The Mauritanian people can be reassured, the president is fine... He was slightly wounded, and he got out of the vehicle unassisted upon arrival at the hospital, where he walked in without difficulty," he said.

auritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz appeared on state television on Sunday, assuring his people that he was in good health following what he said was his accidental shooting by soldiers, before flying to Paris for further treatment.

"I want to calm all citizens. The operation last night was a success

thanks to the effectiveness of the medical team," he said in a statement broadcast on the state-owned TVM station.

"I want to reassure everyone about my state of health after this incident committed by error by an army unit on an unpaved road near Touela. Thanks to God, I am doing well," he said.

outh African police fired stun grenades and rubber bullets to break up a sit-in by protesters at a police station over the weekend and arrested more than 70 miners from a nearby Gold Fields mine, police have said.

As many as 600 miners from Gold Fields Kloof mines staged a sit-in at Westonaria police station, about 45km west of Johannesburg on Friday night, police said in a statement released on Sunday.

After failing to disperse the protest, police said they fired rubber bullets and stun grenades. The crowd responded by breaking windows and causing other damage at the station.

Police said they arrested 72 miners, one of whom was carrying a firearm.

"A total of 72 miners, one in the possession of a firearm with seven rounds of ammunition, were arrested," Brigadier Neville Malila said in a statement.

South Africa police arrest dozens of miners

S

"Public order police were called in to defuse the situation and break up the illegal gathering. Negotiations with the group failed and rubber bullets and stunned grenades were used to defuse the situation."

The miners were arrested on charges of public violence and malicious damage to property, he added.

Tania Page, reporting from Johannesburg, described the number of arrests as "extraordinary", citing a higher figure.

"They arrested the bulk of them in a group of 72 who were arrested Friday night after illegal march and protest sit-in."

The protesters had arrived on buses earlier in the day to demand the release of 13 miners who were jailed on Friday afternoon. According to Al Jazeera sources, another five miners

Following his statement, Abdel Aziz flew to Paris for medical treatment on Sunday, local media reported.

This second operation comes after an operation at a Mauritanian military hospital to remove a "bullet from his body," a security source told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

were arrested on Saturday morning.

"There were 90 miners arrested in total over the course of about 24 hours. Most were charged with assault, attempted murder and suspicion as well," said Page.

In a separate incident, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters hurling petrol bombs after a march on an Anglo American Platinum mine in Rustenburg turned violent late on Friday.

No miner in picture is carrying firearms contrary to police report

Ghana’s former first lady to run for president

F

ormer Ghanaian first lady Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings announced on Saturday she has split from the ruling party that her husband founded to run for president under a new banner.

The move, backed by her husband former president Jerry Rawlings, threatens to split support for incumbent John Mahama, who is seeking re-election against his main opposition rival Nana AkufoAddo on December 2.

"I stand before you today because I chose to become bolder and braver, and together we are going forward," Agyeman-

Venezuela"s President Hugo Chavez (R), former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings (C) and his wife, Nana Konadu AgyemanRawlings

Rawlings said in a speech broadcast on the radio.

She had tried to win the ruling NDC party's nomination last year, but lost to then-President John Atta Mills, who died in July and was replaced by Mahama.

Ghana, a cocoa, oil and gold producer, is one of West Africa's most stable countries, with more than 20 years of political transitions through elections following a flurry of coups.

Jerry Rawlings, who still enjoys broad popularity, said his wife left the ruling NDC because of bad governance.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Asia and Middle East

I

ran said it would seek to cut imports of non-essential goods and urged its citizens to reduce their use of foreign-made mobile telephones and cars, as the country struggles to cope with Western economic sanctions.

The policies suggest the government is moving the

PAGE 33

Iran says it will cut imports of non-essential goods economy onto an austerity footing to resist the sanctions, which have been imposed over Iran's controversial nuclear program and have slashed its income from oil exports this year.

Authorities have divided

imports into 10 categories based on how essential they are, and will provide importers with dollars at a subsidized rate to buy basic goods, Deputy Industry Minister Hamid Safdel was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Meanwhile, importers of goods in two non-essential categories will have to obtain dollars at much more expensive rates on the open market, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted him as saying.

Goods in these two categories

include cigarette papers, wallpaper, mobile phones, luggage, clothing and cars, ISNA reported. It said about $10 to $12 billion was spent annually on importing luxury and non-essential goods into Iran.

Industry Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari urged Iranians on Saturday to limit their use of such goods and turn to domestic manufacturers to help the government cope with sanctions.

Syria and Turkey ban flights as ties plummet

S

Deputy Industry Minister Hamid Safdel

yria has said Turkish civilian flights are banned from flying over its territory after a similar move by Turkey on Syrian flights, as relations between the former allies continue to plunge to new depths.

A Syrian foreign ministry statement, carried by the state news agency SANA, said the ban would take effect on Sunday.

The decision, "in accordance with the principle of reciprocity", was in retaliation for Turkey's move to stop Syrian civil aviation flights over its territory, SANA said.

The announcement came after Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey foreign minister, said: "Yesterday we closed our airspace to Syrian civilian flights as we have previously done for Syrian military flights."

Ties between Turkey and Syria took a sharp turn for the worse when

they engaged in sporadic cross-border shelling last week.

Turkey intercepted on Wednesday a Syrian passenger jet carrying what it said were Russianmade munitions for the Syrian army.

Syria has denounced the interception as air piracy, while Russia said the cargo was radar parts that complied with international law.

Turkey has not yet announced a similar ban but said it will ground Syrian civilian aircraft again if it suspects they are carrying military equipment for the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Davutoglu, held talks with Arab and European leaders in Istanbul on Saturday.

He met Guido Westerwelle, German foreign minister, before the pair met Abdelbaset Sieda, the head of the Syrian National Council opposition group.

Japan security environment tougher than ever- PM Noda

P

Turkish national carrier planes- Turkish Airlines

rime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told his navy on Sunday that Japan's security environment was tougher than ever, underscoring tension with China over a territorial dispute and the threat of North Korea's weapons programs.

Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply after Japan in September bought from private owners some of the East China Sea islets that both Tokyo and Beijing claim. That sparked violent anti-Japanese protests across China and badly hurt trade.

"It is needless to say that the security environment surrounding Japan is getting tougher than ever," Noda told

about 8,000 servicemen and women, mostly from the navy, from aboard the destroyer Kurama.

"We have a neighbor that launches missiles under the pretence of satellite launches. We have various developments concerning territory and sovereignty."

Noda, supreme commander of Japan's military known as the Self-Defence Forces (SDF), was speaking during a fleet review off Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo.

His remarks were relayed to ships gathered in the area -- about 40 vessels, including the U.S. cruiser Shiloh, were present for the review. About 47,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan.

Israel-Gaza air strikes leave four dead

T

Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer Kurama (L), which is carrying Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, leads the MSDF

hree Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have left four people dead, including at least three militants.

One Palestinian was killed and three injured near Deir alBalah on Sunday, Palestinian medical sources confirmed.

Israel's military said they had targeted a "terrorist rocket squad".

On Saturday evening an air strike killed a Salafist Islamist leader and another militant in Jabalia and, a few hours later, another militant was killed in Khan Yunis.

The Salafist leader killed in Jabalia, Hisham al-Saedni, was

hit on a motorcycle. Israel said it was responding to a rocket attack on southern Israel.

Aged 43, Saedni is said to have headed the Mujahedeen Shura Council group.

On Friday, a rocket apparently fired by the same group landed in the courtyard of a residential building in the southern Israeli town of Netivot.

No-one was injured.

There has been a flare-up in violence across the border recently, with Palestinian militant groups firing rockets into Israel and Israel carrying out a series of air strikes against targets across the Gaza Strip.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Europe and Five British marines charged with murder Americas Russia holds first governor polls since 2004

H

R

ussians have gone to the polls to elect regional governors and mayors in key cities in the first such vote since President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin.

Voters went to the polls on Sunday to elect different layers of local and regional government in almost all the country's regions, with the largest cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg among the few not to be holding any polls.

The polls allowed voters in five different regions across the country to elect governors for the first time since Putin abolished such direct elections in 2004.

Reports said the arrests followed video footage found on the laptop of a British soldier

F Vladmir Putin

Brazil Police surge into Rio slums

ive of Britain's elite Royal Marines have been charged with murder "in relation to an incident which is alleged to have taken place in Afghanistan in 2011", the defence ministry says.

The five are among nine marines arrested - seven on Thursday and two in the past 48 hours. Four have been released without charge.

Officials have said the incident involved an "engagement with an insurgent" in Helmand, where the majority of Britain's 9,500 troops in Afghanistan are deployed.

They say no civilians were involved.

The five Marines "have now been charged with murder and they remain in custody pending court proceedings", a ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

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"Everybody serving in theatre knows the rules of engagement," Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, said, vowing that "any abuse will be dealt with".

The London-based Guardian newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying: "The Royal Military police has referred the cases of the remaining five Royal Marines to the independent Service Prosecuting Authority.

undreds of Brazilian police officers backed by armoured cars and helicopters have moved to take control of two Rio de Janeiro slums notorious for drugs.

Some 1,500 police and commandos took part in the operation in the northern favelas of Jacarezinho and Manguinhos.

The no-go areas are known as centres for the trafficking of crack cocaine.

Brazil has been trying to clean up its most dangerous regions ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

The raids are part of a policy known as "pacification" which was adopted in recent years to help the state establish a more permanent presence in shanty towns.

The drug gangs' gunmen apparently retreated ahead of the operation and there appeared to be little resistance.

Brazil is the world's largest consumer of crack cocaine, and the second largest consumer of cocaine and derivative drugs after the US, according to a study released last month by the Sao Paulo Federal University.

Up to 2,000 police, including elite forces supported by soldiers from the Brazilian navy, took part in the operation backed by armoured vehicles and helicopters.

PAGE 35

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBBER 15, 2012

US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2012

U.S. Catholics are deeply divided T

he two candidates for vice president of the United States are both Catholic and competing in an election year that has seen the Roman Catholic Church flex its political muscle more forcefully than ever.

Paul Ryan and Joe Biden - one a social-values conservative, the other a fierce advocate for social programs - represent the deep divisions among American Catholics, who have been an important swing vote for decades.

A Reuters/Ipsos Poll conducted last weekend reveals the divergent opinions in the Church and shows that Catholics are divided equally between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, with each winning just under 40 percent of voters. (bit.ly/Qfvay7) As America's largest religious denomination, Catholics have long been a bellwether, picking the winner of the popular vote in every presidential election since 1972.

In the 2008 election, Obama won 54 percent of the Catholic vote. But this time, Catholics are hearing stronger advocacy on the conservative side of some issues from U.S. bishops, particularly regarding same-sex marriage and contraception. This troubles liberal Catholics, who feel Church leaders are turning too far to the right.

"There's a profound wrestling going on in the Church right now over what it means to be authentically Catholic," said John Gehring, Catholic program director for Faith in Public Life, a liberal advocacy group. "I'm worried that the Church is becoming a less friendly place for moderate and progressive Catholics who believe in the social justice mission."

The two vice presidential candidates embody the conflicts: Biden has been criticized for his support of abortion rights, while some nuns and bishops have objected to the budget plan Ryan put forth earlier this year because of cuts to antipoverty programs.

Writer and former priest Robert McClory said the stance of U.S. bishops on issues such as same-sex marriage and contraception is partly to blame for the continuing exodus of non-immigrant Catholics from the Church: Lapsed Catholics have

become the nation's second-largest religious group, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The push on sexual morality comes as the Church leadership is still recovering from the child sex abuse scandal.

"You get the feeling that the Church is a ship and that somebody amongst the crew goes down every week and drills another hole in the bottom of the boat, and eventually it's going to be a very serious situation," said McClory. "People are leaving.

They're embarrassed."

Conservative voices say bishops are stressing sexual morality issues not because they don't care about poverty or immigrant rights but because church teachings are under attack.

Bishops were enraged over Obama's healthcare mandate, which required Catholic schools and hospitals to carry insurance that provides birth control, forbidden by Church doctrine, for free.

A Pew Research Center poll in August found that Catholics who had

heard of bishops' concerns over perceived restrictions on religious liberty share them - by a 56 percent to 36 percent margin. But just 22 percent of Catholics say they have heard a lot about them, and 51 percent of Catholic voters say Obama best reflects their views on issues such as abortion and gay rights.

In Illinois, Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki warned his flock in a letter last month of "intrinsic evils" in the Democratic platform's support of abortion and same-sex marriage and said a vote for someone who promotes such actions "places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy."

Archbishop John Myers of Newark, New Jersey, said in a September 14 pastoral letter that those who do not accept Church teachings on marriage should "refrain from receiving Holy Communion."

But Catholics don't always do as they're told.

Parishioners at voter registration tables after a Spanish-language mass

outside St. Procopius in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood said their faith doesn't play a big role in their vote. "I don't mix political with the Church," said Rafael Macias, 50, who attends daily Mass and thinks he will vote for Obama.

Reuters polls show a strong independent streak among Catholics.

Just 17.3 percent of Catholics think abortion should be illegal in all cases, while 16.6 percent thinks it should be legal in all cases. A total of 35.5 percent of Catholic voters favor same-sex marriage, 34.2 percent favor civil unions and 20.8 percent would allow neither.

Data on birth control is even more striking - a 2011 Guttmacher Institute study found that 98 percent of Catholic women who have had sex used artificial birth control.

Robert Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, said the Catholic vote may shift left because of the growing proportion of U.S. Catholics who are Latino - now nearly 40 percent, according to the Catholic

News Service. He noted that in 2008, Obama won the Catholic vote 54 to 45 percent - losing among white Catholics 47 percent to 52 percent but winning Latinos 72 percent to 26 percent.

Jones said Catholics don't follow bishops on all issues: "Catholics by and large say they can still be a good Catholics and disagree."

The bishops' growing focus on sexual morality issues comes as the Church celebrates the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, the Second Vatican Council, which started on October 11, 1962, and was intended, as then-Pope John XXIII put it, to open the windows of the Church and let in some fresh air.

Reforms included using the local language at Mass instead of Latin and greater participation by the laity. The changes also affected religious life, with nuns swapping habits for civilian clothes and protesting the death penalty and nuclear war.

Some now see a push back against Vatican II reforms. This year the Vatican rebuked U.S. nuns for focusing too much on social justice issues such as poverty and not enough on abortion and gay marriage.

Around one in four Americans are Catholics. The Chicago Archdiocese, the third-largest in the United States with 2.3 million members, reflects the diversity of the modern Church, both in style and in substance.

At St. John Cantius on the city's Near West Side, it still seems like the 1950s, with all the "smells and bells" - a priest chanting Latin with his back to the congregation, altar boys swinging censers and women covering their hair with lace veils.

But at St. Sabina's on the South Side, a gospel choir leads a mostly African-American congregation in hymns, and the sermon is interrupted by outbursts of "Amen!" from the pews. The sometimes controversial pastor, Father Michael Pfleger, leads protests against gun violence.

Some Catholics worship outside official venues. In the city's Boystown neighborhood, Barbara Zeman, a woman priest whose ordination is not recognized by Church leaders, celebrates Mass for a gay and lesbian congregation.

At St. John's, attendee Dan Crout, 75, said that unless you fight to make abortion illegal, you're not Catholic.

early voting is likely to play a bigger role this year than in 2008, when roughly one in three voters cast a ballot before Election Day. Voting is already under way in some form in at least 40 states.

Both the Obama and Romney teams are urging supporters to vote as soon as possible so the campaigns can focus their door-knocking and phone-calling operations on those who are still undecided or need more prodding to get to the polls.

Early voting was a big part of Obama's victory over Republican John McCain in 2008, and his campaign aims to repeat its success this year.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll indicates the campaign's efforts appear to be paying off, although its advantage could erode as Election Day approaches.

The Obama campaign says it is leading among early voters in Iowa and Ohio, and trailing by a smaller margin than 2008 in several other swing states. It expects its early voting efforts will help the campaign weather a blitz of negative ads expected to saturate the airwaves in battleground states in the final weeks before November 6.

"We've made early investments in battleground states - where we've been registering folks and keeping an open conversation going with undecided voters for months - to build a historic grass-roots organization that will pay off when the votes are counted," spokesman Adam Fetcher said.

The Romney campaign says it is leading or even with Obama among early voters in several closely fought battleground states, including Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, Nevada and New Hampshire. The campaign says

it has seen a spike in volunteering and voter enthusiasm among Republicans since Romney's strong debate performance against Obama on October 3.

"Not only are we keeping pace with the vaunted Obama machine, but we believe our ground game will put us over the finish line on Election Day," said Rich Beeson, the Romney campaign's political director.

George Mason University professor Michael McDonald, an expert on early voting, said it was difficult to tell how the results so far could affect the outcome of the race.

In North Carolina and Maine, Democrats seem to be voting in higher numbers than 2008, while Republicans seem to be voting in slightly lower numbers than four years ago, he said.

In Ohio, where voters do not

register by party, early voting appears to be higher than normal in both Republican and Democratic areas, McDonald said.

In Iowa, about twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans have voted by now - a potential warning sign for the Romney campaign, he said.

"Romney needs a change here.

The good news for Romney is day to day, incrementally, the numbers shift in his direction, so he may be able to catch up," McDonald said.

The accuracy of Reuters/Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. For the 6,704 people who were asked whether they had voted yet, the credibility interval was 1.3 points. For the 361 people who replied that they had already cast their ballots, the credibility interval was 10 points.

Rev. Michael Pfleger delivers his sermon at St. Sabina Catholic Church

Poll: Obama grabs wide lead among early voters

P

resident Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are neck and neck in opinion polls, but there is one area in which the incumbent appears to have a big advantage: those who have already cast their ballots.

Obama leads Romney by 59 percent to 31 percent among early voters, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling data compiled in recent weeks.

The sample size of early voters is relatively small, but the Democrat's margin is still well above the poll's credibility interval - a measurement of polls' accuracy - of 10 percentage points. (full graphic: bit.ly/RmeEen) With the November 6 election just more than three weeks away, 7 percent of those surveyed said they had already voted either in person or by mail (full graphic: bit.ly/SWm5YR).

The online poll is another sign that

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Good reason to avoid annoying people - they slow down your brain

I

t’s irritating enough being around someone you don’t like.

Now, to make matters worse, scientists have discovered that bad company could also affect your brain.

Whether you like someone or not can affect how your brain processes their actions, according to new research from the University of Southern California.

Most of the time, watching someone else move causes a ‘mirroring’ effect — that is, the parts of our brains responsible for movement are activated by watching someone else in action.

But being around someone you don’t like can send this process awry – you might think the person is moving more slowly than they actually are, for example.

Past research has shown that race or physical similarity can influence brain processes, and we tend to have more empathy for people who look more like us.

However this study took differences in race, age and gender into account – everyone who took part was a Jewish man.

The researchers split the men into two groups – half were

presented as neo-Nazis, with the aim of making them disliked, the others were presented as likable and open-minded.

When the men viewed someone they disliked, the part of

Research has shown we tend to have more empathy for people who look similar to us

Brain drain: being in the company of unpleasant people slows the rate at which the mind processes movement

their brain that was otherwise activated in ‘mirroring’ — the right ventral premotor cortex — had a different pattern of activity for the disliked individuals compared to the likeable ones.

But the difference was only spotted when the annoying

person was actually present – there was no difference in brain activity when the men watched videos of the people they disliked.

‘Even something as basic as how we process visual stimuli of a movement is modulated by social factors, such as our interpersonal

relationships and social group membership,’ said Mona Sobhani, lead author of the paper.

‘These findings lend important support for the notion that social factors influence our perceptual processing.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

With lung cancer, quitters do better than smokers

Y

ounger people with advanced lung cancer who quit smoking more than a year before their diagnosis survive longer than those who continue smoking, according to a new study.

It’s known that people who never smoked are more likely to survive the disease than those who light up. But whether former smokers do any better than current ones has been less clear.

“The findings do suggest there is some benefit to quitting smoking,” said Amy Ferketich of Ohio State University College of Public Health in Columbus, who

worked on the study.

However, quitters who were older or who had earlier stages of lung cancer did not have an advantage over smokers, she and her colleagues report in the journal Cancer.

Ferketich’s group used medical records from 4,200 lung cancer patients treated at eight cancer centers around the country.

Patients who never smoked were more likely to survive the less advanced cancers - stage 1, 2 or 3 - than were former or current smokers, the researchers found.

Among smokers with stage 1 or 2 lung cancer, for instance, 72

percent survived at least two years, compared to 93 percent of the never-smokers and 76 percent of people who’d kicked the habit a year or more before diagnosis.

Only 15 percent of smokers with stage 4 disease survived two years, while 40 percent of neversmokers and 20 percent of former smokers did.

After adjusting the numbers for factors such as age, race and radiation treatment, the researchers determined that quitters were just as likely to die from the early-stage cancers as were current smokers.

But for advanced cancers,

people under 85 who had stopped smoking more than a year before their diagnosis survived longer than smokers. Forty-five-year-old former smokers, for instance, were 30 percent less likely to die from stage 4 lung cancer within two years than were current smokers.

Smoking is the number one risk factor for developing lung cancer, and studies have shown that people who quit are less likely to get it than current smokers.

It’s not clear why smokers already diagnosed with lung cancer fare worse than nonsmokers, Ferketich said.

“In general, never smokers are healthier individuals, so they tend to, in a lot of trials, have better outcomes with disease than people who continue to smoke,” she said.

“Just the continued exposure to tobacco might make the disease progress more quickly in smokers compared to never-smokers who don’t have that exposure.”

Ferketich said it’s also possible that smoking could influence the biology of the cancer, and perhaps smokers get tumors that neversmokers are less likely to develop.

She added that it’s never too late to quit.

Source: Yahoo.com

Constitutional amendments: A Northern agenda Contd. from Back Page The basic question to ask, therefore, is how the constitutional amendment exercise improves the capacity of the state to provide greater security, and improve the economic well-being of citizens.

The answer can be found in the manner the state is restructured to achieve two basic objectives. One is to reduce the burden of governance, and move resources away from massive political structures and bureaucracies that merely absorb resources without commensurate output, and invest them in economic infrastructure and development of the human resource. The second is to address those issues which improve the quality of leaders, make them more accountable, and shield the political process from massive corruption, which directly feeds

most of our basic sources of insecurity.

These issues also affect all Nigerians, but they are more acute in the North, where deepening poverty and insecurity are isolating the region from the rest of the nation, and creating additional pockets of crisis and desperation. An enlightened approach by the North, therefore, should focus on its twin core problems of poverty and insecurity, and assess all issues and every element in the exercise towards reducing them. It could take up some of these positions in this regard: (a) The North and the nation do not need states. They are too expensive to maintain, and do not help to accelerate economic development of citizens. States should be collapsed into the six geo-

political zones to form six regions.

Six regions will reduce the cost of governance, improve mobilization and utilization of resources, and enhance the functioning of a federal system which has a healthy balance between a centre and federating units. This will entail a radical review of allocation of responsibilities and resources as well, and address core issues in devolution of powers and responsibilities. We should also have a unicameral legislature, with each region having representation reflecting its population. (b) Local government areas should have full political and economic autonomy under the six regions. They should have elected leaders, and regions should create their own L.G.As using the criteria of population, geography and

capacity to improve social coexistence. They should be fewer than they are now. (c) Fiscal federalism is more than just about the southwest. It is central to the manner all federating units feel part of a greater whole, while retaining some benefits and advantages unique to them. The north should encourage a thorough exposition of the various positions, and adopt a flexible and informed position on some of its elements, such as current disputes around resource control; devolution of powers; restructuring of the federal system and related issues. At all cost, the North must avoid rigid positions in negotiations with others, except the indivisibility of the Nigerian state. (d) Issues such as state police, Land Use Act, residency and

indigeneship provisions are matters which can be discussed with other regions and positions taken which should strengthen the federation, not weaken it. (e) The North should pursue improvements in the quality of our electoral process because it is paying a much higher price for rigged elections than other regions.

There are very important reasons why the North should put up a united front during these discussions on amending the constitution. It has unique problems which will not be taken up by other sections of the country, and cannot be resolved by bits and pieces of the North speaking across each other. If people of the North ever needed unity in the past, there need it more now and there is no better time than now to work for it.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 37

Senator to set up CDA for projects

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he Senator representing Plateau Southern Senatorial zone, Victor Lar, yesterday, disclosed that he has concluded arrangements to set up a Community Development Association (CDA) in his zone that would assist communities to identify a priority project to be executed for the respective communities.

Speaking during his constituency briefing in Shendam Local Government Area, Lar assured that he was willing to pay the mandatory 10 percent of the cost of each project

to be embarked upon while the CDA will pay the balance of 90 percent. He added that by this development, communities will identify projects that are in the priority lists for execution.

The Senator said he desired to sponsor quite a number of bills in the Senate on drugs, narcotics and financial crimes in the Senate in the next one year.

He pointed out that, like money laundry act, he desires to come up with a bill that will give independence to Financial Intelligence Unit and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council.

He stressed that there are quite a number of investment

laws that he intends to bring up just as he added that he intends to actualize and formalize the Institute of Social Worker of Nigeria as a precondition for making it a professional body that will now have people who will specifically take care of the aged and the elderly people in the society.

The lawmaker further disclosed that he would also roll out scholarship to students particularly in the professional courses like Medicine, Law, Engineering, Pharmacy, Accountancy, Architecture as the scholarship would be targeted at assisting indigent

students who do not have sponsors.

He reminded his constituents that they have the power to recall any of their representatives who under-performs relying on Section 69 and 110 of the constitution.

According to him, the essence of the constituency briefing was for him to adequately brief the constituents on what he is doing, the legislative activities of the National Assembly and then for him to be able to get feedback from them.

Lar said "You heard suggestions coming from the people like the revenue allocation

formula, the creation of ministry of religious affairs, to ensure the removal of immunity clause, autonomy for local governments and financial autonomy to state Houses of Assembly. These were suggestions that came out from the interactive session".

He disclosed that the suggestions would essentially guilde him in his legislative functions and for him to also share his vision and experience with the people. Lar said he was satisfied and overwhelmed with the turn out and the level of understanding and commitment the people displayed during the parley.

Lawmaker charges Jonathan on full 2013 budget implementation

By Lawrence Olaoye

A

L-R: Chairman, Conference of Speakers State Legislatures, Hon. Inuwa Garba, Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, and Deputy Speaker, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, during the Conference of Speakers visit to the speaker, recently at the National Assembly, in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

member of the House of Representatives, representing Eket/Esit-Eket/ Ibeno/Onna Federal Constituency, Rep Bassey Dan-Abia, has charged President Goodluck Jonathan to show uncommon political will in implementing the 2013 budget when passed by the National Assembly.

Dan-Abia in his comments on the budget proposals said if the 2013 budget is programmed to go the way of 2012 budget, which has been described as poorly implemented by the parliament, the common man on the street will be worse for it.

The Akwa Ibom legislator also charged the parliament to wake up to its responsibility of oversight in ensuring that the budget implementation is not left to

Okehi Liaison Officer to empower youths

By Muhamad Nasir

A

ppointed Liaison Officer for Okehi Local government in Kogi Central, Mallam Hassan Okehi Yusuf said his administration has developed a blue print to engage council youths on skill acquisitions while those already in schools are to be supported.

Yusuf while speaking with newsmen in Abuja over the weekend gave commitment of his administration to channel potentials of the Council's youths to productive areas that would boost its economy.

He said the Council's youths will shun violence if they were productively engaged, adding that his administration is coming out with a blue print to empower youths on acquisitions skills.

"We will soon engage our youths on a round table discussion that will center on various skills acquisition to see how to get them engaged. We will also offer assistance to those already in school- be it secondary school or tertiary institutions", he said.

He said his administration is looking inward to increase the

revenue sources aside from the monthly allocation from the federation accounts as he determines to take the council from its current status as an economic hub in Kogi central.

"We are really working round the clock to make sure that Okehi LG is transformed through available resource endowments.

His Excellency, Governor Idris Wada has given us the mandate that each local government should have 20 hectares of land cultivated. And, very soon, he will go round on inspection. Besides going in to mechanize farming as a

way of boosting our revenue to step up Internal Generated Revenue (IGR); we are going in to commercial transport business by having a transport company", he said.

As one of the candidates that would be contesting the council poll next year, Yusfuf said his priority remains bringing peace to the council which is why he constantly interfaces with youths in dialogue.

He applauded the state governor, Security officers and traditional rulers for their roles in bringing security challenges in Kogi central to normalcy.

INEC holds interactive session on four-year strategic plan

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission( INEC) has held a one-day interactive session in Sokoto on its 2012-2016 Strategic Plan meant to enhance the credibility of future elections.

The News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) reports that the session drew participants from the commission's

offices in Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states.

The INEC National Commissioner in charge of the states Hajiya Amina Zakari, said the session was to gather inputs from the staff to ensure the smooth implementation of the plan. ``We want to draw from your rich store of knowledge and

experience'', she said, adding that it was to aimed at making the staff proud owners of the plan so as to elicit its implementation.

Zakari maintained that it was of great importance to involve the staff in the planning process, as well as the subsequent implementation to enhance the credibility of subsequent elections in the

country. ``The strategic plan is aimed at giving proper and appropriate direction to the commission's staff in carrying out our statutory responsibilities in a way and manner that will add great value to our service delivery, and to the satisfaction of the average Nigerian," Mahuta, added. ( NAN)

the whims and caprice of the implementing MDAs to the detriment of Nigerians. “The President must prove his critics wrong by showing and displaying an uncommon political will to implement whatever the parliament might pass as the National budget at the end of the day. This he should do in the interest of the common man�.

He also noted that it is a bit worrisome that effort to shift dependence on oil revenue for financing of the budget seems not to be working as expected, as he noted that the proposed oil production output assumption of 2.5 million bpd, is a bit high, and look ambitious.

He said that meeting such production projection will depend heavily on the situation in the Niger Delta and the world oil market condition, saying that failure to meet output projection would negatively affect the funding of the budget, a situation he noted, the nation should guard against.

He, however, commended the Federal Government for increasing capital expenditure to 31.34% from 28.5% but noted that it could be better.

He pointed out that the makeup of spending signals good tidings for Nigeria as recurrent expenditure fell to about 68.7% from 71.47% previously.

According to him, this is a step in the right direction and an indication of the Federal Government’s intention to boost capital expenditure as well as maintain fiscal discipline.

He stated that the sectoral allocation of N83b to agriculture, which represents about 1.7% of the budget, is grossly inadequate as it would not provide the needed buffer against the effect of the flood currently being experienced in the country which has destroyed a lot of farmland across the country.

He also expressed hopes that the taxes placed on food importation, especially rice will galvanize local production of the staple food.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

CNPP warns against plot to cause political crisis Umar Muhammad Puma

T

he Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) warned the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, to stay within his brief and back down from his ongoing attempts to ignite a crisis among political parties through a phony summit purportedly being put together by his agency at his behest.

CNPP said it has informed its member political parties on the expediency of staying away from the “Two-day Political Parties Summit on Political Leadership, Security and Evolving Challenges of Democracy in Nigeria” which it said is an attempt to compromise parties’ leaders ahead of the 2015 general elections.

In a statement jointly released in Abuja by the Chairman of CNPP, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe-Musa and Secretary General of CNPP, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the Conference said Omeri exposed his true agenda and intention to cause mischief when he ‘summoned’ the so called summit without first consulting the leadership of the political parties before arriving at the form, content and substance of the meeting.

“Before his compensatory position as DG of NOA, we all knew Omeri was an arrow head in the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation prior to his removal for unbecoming behavior. Even the position he holds at NOA is held in trust for the PDP; so we are wary of this his surreptitious invitation to the leadership of political parties to a summit at which they can be compromised or induced. We have seen it happen before when leaders

of political parties were tricked into endorsing Jonathan for the 2011 elections.

“As humans with conscience, it is callous for NOA and Omeri to be talking of a political parties’ summit at a time that citizens are wallowing in pains from floods, extra-judicial killings and Boko Haram related violence. The resources of NOA and any discerning agency or individual for that matter should at this time be aimed at addressing the humanitarian crisis facing different parts of the country where citizens are in refugee and relief camps.

“Omeri’s invitation to political leaders also covertly indicted the opposition of being behind political violence in the land without admitting the role played by his party, the PDP, in the travesty that is usually the precursor to election related violence. NOA and its leadership are apparently playing the ostrich when they said in the invitation that ‘the recruitment of youths as thugs or militants by some politicians to intimidate and harass supporters of political opponents is against mentoring the youths for leadership and responsibility.’

CNPP also questioned NOA’s rationale of trying to pass off the so called summit as a serious business when its invitation clearly confirmed it as a jamboree that would have participants, who make the mistake of taking part, spend one day for arrival, one day for the summit and one day touring ‘Development Projects in the state’.

“NOA and its leadership should be bold to own up to any contract it entered into with the Imo State Government to run a PR campaign of showcasing its projects,” the statement added.

Kwara burglary: ACN petitions police, deplores conspiracy of silence From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

he Kwara state chapter of Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN) has petitioned the Nigeria Police over the September 22 burglary in the state ministry of finance, demanding full-scale probe into the carting away of sensitive documents and hard currencies.

Some of the documents stolen, according to reports include documents on government transactions between 2003 to date.

The state government has confirmed the burglary.

In the petition dated October 11 and signed by the party's chairman, Mr. Kayode Olawepo, ACN deplored the continued silence of the police on the burglary matter which was allegedly reported to the outfit while the break-in was going on right opposite the Police Command in Ilorin.

ACN stated "Given the sensitivity of the Ministry of Finance and the manner in which these incidents occurred, we are astonished that the Nigerian Police Force remained mute. This is a matter of public interest and we believe that it is the duty of the Police Force to investigate crime and charge whoever is found culpable to court.

"We are not asking the Police Force to delve into political issues;

rather as responsible members of this society we are fortified in the belief that it is proper that crimes are thoroughly investigated and should be investigated in a progressive society such as ours.

"We are particularly concerned that these incidents occurred right opposite the Police Headquarters Command in Ilorin. Even more irksome is the fact that a complaint was reportedly made to the Police Force as the burglary was ongoing on the 22nd September 2012.

However, the Police redirected the complainant to the Division C (Oja Oba) Police Station, Ilorin, thereby giving the burglars the opportunity to complete their dastardly act and escape.

"As this is a matter of public interest, we demand that the Police Force conduct a thorough investigation and make the outcome public. Failure to do so severely erodes the people's confidence in the Police Force.

"In the event that there is no action taken by the Police Force as demanded, we reserve our right to take the matter to court and urge the court to compel the Police to carry out its statutory duty to people of the state. We trust that you will do the appropriate thing and not let things get to that point."

L-R: Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment, Senator Dahiru Kuta, Chairman, House Committee on Public Procurement, Hon. Jumoke Okoya-Thomas, UNDP Country Director, Ms. Ade Mamonaye Lekoetje, Director General, Bureau of Public Procurement, Engineer Emeka Ezeh, and Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Owerri, (FUTO), Professor Cyril Asiabata, during the commissioning of Public Procurement Research Centre, FUTO, on Saturday in Imo state.

Bakassi: FG’s refusal to appeal ruling could lead to war, Group warns

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he Bakassi Support Group at the weekend warned that the refusal of the Federal Government to appeal the ruling of the International Court of Justice that ruled the Bakassi Peninsula in favour of Cameroun could lead to war.

While Nigeria’ had the opportunity to appeal the ruling till October 10, the Federal Government said it had no fresh facts to appeal the ruling.

Members of the Group, Senator Ewa Hensaw and Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo who briefed reporters at the National Assembly at the weekend expressed surprise that the Nigerian authorities had not considered the security implications of the ceding of the Penisula to the Republic of Cameroon.

“What is happening in the Bakkassi may turn out to be four times that of Biafra. Our interaction with the people of the Penisula has revealed that they are talking of self determination,” Henshaw warned.

According to the group, though the People in the Bakassi Peninsula have been jettisoned by

the Nigerian government, they have a right to seek for self determination as provided for in the Green Tree Agreement.

The Senator expressed disappointment over the manner the Federal Government handed the issue and wondered if Nigeria’s foreign policy was meant “to please foreign interests or safeguard its citizens’ rights.”

According to the group, the People in the Bakassi, having been jettisoned by the Nigerian government may seek for self determination as provided for in the Green Tree Agreement.

Henshaw said the passing of the October 10 window for the appeal for a review of the ICJ ruling raises a number of questions.

“Were they ( the Federal Government) supposed to prepare a brief? And if so, why not? Was it a case of the undermining the directive of the President and the National Assembly as well as the Nigerian Bar Association?

“The President called a meeting in which certain directives were given. A committee was set up and was told to prepare a brief for the review of the ICJ ruling.

Subsequently, the committee was not allowed to function. The

Attorney General and the Minister of Justice thought differently and said there was no evidence. They also said they could not get international lawyers. Long before now, we had prepared fresh evidence.

Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo in her own speech said she had been traumatized by the refusal of the Nigerian government to file for a review. “There are two Bakassis: one is in Nigeria and there is a Bakassi Peninsula which is now in Cameroon through the ceding of the Bakassi.

We have asked the Bakassi people and they are interested in self determination under international law.

“The last one week was the most difficult for me. I did not understand how government works. The AGF will have to transform his approach in line with the transformation agenda and the wishes of the people,” she said.

“People have become displaced persons in their own land and they are living in camps. There have been gory pictures of abuses of Nigerians by the Cameroonian authorities and no one has asked the people of Bakassi what is their condition. These are Nigerian citizens which our government swore to protect.”

Akume embezzled juice company funds - Suswam From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

G

overnor Gabriel Suswam at the weekend accused his predecessor, Senator Gearge Akume of embezzling funds meant for establishing a tomato juice factory located in Wannure, Tarka Local Government Area.

The governor, who made the allegation while receiving decampees from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) back to the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP), accused the Senate Minority Leader of deceit over claims that he paid for the machines when in the real sense he collected the money and pocketed it.

"I have deliberately refused to complete the factory because I want you people to know the level of deceit and siphoning of public funds by the Akume administration though I will not mention the amount", he lamented.

Governor Suswam said his

government is evaluating the project and has engaged some foreign expatriates to resuscitate it, while assuring that it would be completed before the end of his administration.

He vowed that PDP would clinch Tarka local government just as he reiterated that his administration will not tolerate any rigging.

While urging the supporters to remain steadfast with the party, Suswam assured the decampees of equal treatment in the ruling party in the state.

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Jonathan assures of free, fair election in Ondo Stories by Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

A

head of the forthcoming Ondo election, President Goodluck Jonathan has assured that there will be free, fair and violent free governorship election in Ondo on Oct. 20.

Jonathan gave the assurance on Saturday in Akure at a rally for the presentation of

...says thuggery will not work

the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) flag to its candidate, Chief Olusola Oke. The President urged the people of the state to vote for the PDP to enable the party utilise the state’s abundant natural and mineral resources to enhance the well being of the people.

“We are working to make Ondo State very rich, if you vote for PDP, we will work with your governor to make you rich because you are richly blessed with agricultural and mineral resources.

“What we can guarantee is that the country will remain

high in the committee of nations, and how you nominate your leaders remain our top concern, ’’ Jonathan said.

The president warned that the Federal Government would not allow the use of thugs during the election and advised parents to warn their children.

“We leant that some parties are bringing thugs into the state, don’t worry, they cannot have their way because we will not allow that rubbish,’’ Jonathan said.

He called on the people of the state to vote Oke as their governor for a better life and a

better state.

Vice President Namadi Sambo, who is also the Chairman, National Campaign Committee of the party, thanked the president for keeping his promise on the sustenance of democracy in the country.

“Jonathan has assured Nigerians and is going to ensure that there is free and fair elections in the country,’’ he said.

Senate President, David Mark said the government would provide an enabling environment for the election, adding that the president would

not allow rigging.

Oke promised that if voted to power, his government would industrialise the state, improve people’s welfare, create employment and make the state buoyant.

The PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, presented the party’s flag to Oke during the rally attended

by Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa.

Also present was former governor Olusegun Agagu and Minister of State for Defence, Chief Olusola Obada.

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan, at the weekend in Ondo state read the riot act to people planning to foment trouble and use thuggery towards the next governorship election in Ondo state.

Jonathan who was in the state to drum up support for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s governorship candidate, Chief Olusola Oke, at a rally reaffirmed the commitment of his administration to upholding the mantra of one-man-one-vote.

He said media reports had suggested that some politicians were planning to bring in thugs and foment trouble in the state but assured the people that the thugs would be useless on the day of the election. He said the Federal Government will not fold its hands and permit thuggery to thrive during the governorship election.

“I was told some people are mobilising thugs to this state; don't worry yourself, if they like they can bring thugs from anywhere, Federal Government will allow any thug to come that day. If you know you are a thug or your child is going to be used as a thug, please take them away from the state because Federal Government will not tolerate any rubbish.

"We want a free and fair election. Nobody will truncate the commitment of the Federal Government to project Nigeria's name. All you have to do is to work and win this election by voting for PDP".

Meanwhile, the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko has hailed Jonathan's decision to keep thugs out of the state during the October 20th election. His campaign organization, MCO said the President's comments only vindicated its warning to the effect that certain politicians were planning to import thugs into the state to rig elections According to MCO's Director of Publicity and Media Relations, Mr Kolawole Olabisi, stated "We are gratified by Mr. President's assurance that there will be free and fair election; that the election would be on the basis of one man, one vote; that nobody would be allowed to use thugs to rig coupled with the assurances of adequate security before, during and after the election.

L-R: Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, Kinsley Kuku, PDP National Secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Senate President David Mark, President Goodluck Jonathan, PDP Ondo state Deputy Governor candidate, Saka Lawan, PDP Governor candidate, Olusola Oke, and others, during the PDP Ondo state gubernatorial campaign, at the weekend in Akure.

Mimiko promises seaport in Ondo

T

he Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, has promised to provide a seaport at Igbokoda, the headquarters of Ilaje local government area in his second term in office. The seaport when completed, he explained, would serve the whole western part of the country and also provide jobs for thousand of people of the state.

Mimiko, who was in Ilaje at the weekend in continuation of his campaign tour for his re-election bid, disclosed that his administration had succeeded in bringing in a lot of foreign technical partners; some of whom he said had been short listed to partner with the state for the

execution of the seaport project.

The incumbent governor, who is also contesting on the platform of the ruling Labour Party (LP) for the October 20 Governorship Election enthused that the seaport would turn the economy of the riverine community and that of Ondo state around for good.

Mimiko who disclosed that the riverine area of the state was richly blessed also added that his administration would leverage on these vast resources to drive the state economy if re-elected.

The governor also disclosed that he had used the first three and a half years of his administration to put in place

indexes that would fast-track the development of not only the southern district of the state, which he disclosed would bring about massive industrial development, but the entire state saying that what remained now was for him to be given the opportunity to continue in office by the people so that he could complete all that his administration had put in place for a better Ondo State.

He told the people that his government in the last three and half years has brought more social transformation to Ilaje and its environs through the execution of many developmental projects which he noted had changed the

area for good. He also assured that he would make the area a reference point in Nigeria if reelected because the state is the most peaceful Niger Delta state in the country. This according to him is a factor which had assisted the government to woo a lot of investors into the area.

While criticizing the six years of Olusegun Agagu's administration as being wasteful, Mimiko added that his predecessor merely deceived the people as nothing tangible was done at Olokola Project. He, however, promised to continue to provide more social amenities in the oil producing area of the state to bring more development to the area.

Tinubu, Ribadiu ACN governors storm Akure for Redemption Rally

N

ational Leaders of Action Congress of Nigeria ACN, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is leading all ACN governors, National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, the Presidential Candidate of the party in the 2011 election, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and many others to Akure

for the grand rally of the Akeredolu Campaign Organisation (ACO) today.

A statement by the ACN Director of Media, Publicity and Strategy, Idowu Ajanaku , stated that the Akure Redemption Rally of the party will hold at the Democracy Park. He described the

rally as the mother of all rallies.

Ajanaku said "In fact, the rally will afford the people of Ondo state the opportunity to hear again the plan of ACN to transform Ondo state if the flag-berarer of the party in the October 20 election, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) is elected governor. The robust

manifesto of the party diligently implemented has transformed Lagos resulting in the massive and sweeping infrastructural development; Edo, Osun Oyo, Ogun and Ekiti have all become the flashpoint of sustainable development in Nigeria. The Ondo people cannot be left out."

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 41

Cape Verde ends Cameroon 2013 Nations Cup dream

T

he tiny Cape Verde Islands eliminated former World Cup quarterfinalists Cameroon yesterday to win a place at the African Nations Cup soccer finals for the first time despite losing 2-1 in the second leg of their final-round qualifier.

A country with a population of 500 000 pulled off one of the biggest shocks in the competition’s history with their 3-2 aggregate triumph after winning the first leg at home 2-

0 last month.

Cape Verde had expected a rampant response from Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions in Sunday’s return but was met instead with a nervy and muted showing, allowing them to extend their aggregate lead 22 minutes into the game with a free kick from Portuguese-based striker Heldon.

Cameroon were back level minutes later through Achille Emana but still needed three

more goals to overturn the deficit, a task that seemed beyond their dispirited performance.

The hosts got their second goal four minutes into stoppage when 16-year-old substitute Fabrice Olinga came on to score at the end of a cross from Samuel Eto’o.

The return of four-times African Footballer of the Year Eto’o and a change of coach ahead of the second leg did little to resurrect Cameroon’s

fortunes.

They now miss out on the Nations Cup for a second successive tournament, suggesting the era of a regular role as one of African football’s superpowers is at an end.

Cape Verde, with a team drawn from their extensive diaspora in Europe, toyed at times with their much-vaunted hosts, passing the ball around at pedestrian pace in the second half to waste time.

to go past the first round group that featured co-hosts Gabon, Tunisia and Morocco.

Ivorian coach Francois Zahoui will take a part of the credit for causing a major upset with the Mena after he failed to win the last tournament with star-studded Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.

Last year, Guinea had also upstaged mighty Nigeria to qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup

in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

However, they failed to fulfill the huge promise they showed in the qualifying tournament as they failed to go past the first round from a section that also had Guinea and next-door neigbours Mali.

French coach Michel Dussuyer, who has stayed on as coach, will now have to shift attention to the qualifying tournament for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Niger shock out Guinea

N

iger yesterday qualified for their second Nations Cup when they beat fellow West Africans Guinea 2-0 in Niamey.

The Mena of Niger thus advanced 2-1 on aggregate to the tournament proper after Guinea won the first clash 1-0 in Conakry last month.

The home side had to wait till the 74th minute before they

broke the deadlock through Mohamed Chikoto.

The tie then appeared to be heading for a penalty shootout before the Mena again produced another late strike by Issoufou Boubacar Garba five minutes from full time to ensure they return to Africa’s biggest football event.

Niger made their debut appearance earlier this year in Gabon even though they failed

Golden Eaglets squard

Mikel Obi

Eagles back to winning ways, says Mikel

C

helsea midfielder Mikel Obi has stated that Nigeria have turned the corner and will be a force to be taken seriously at next year’s AFCON. Nigeria secured the AFCON 2013 ticket on 8-3 aggregate after white-washing Liberia 6-1 on Saturday in Calabar.

This was a year when the Eagles were in shambles after they failed to reach the failed to reach the Nations Cup finals for the first time since the 1986 tournament.

Mikel returned to Nigeria action, scoring a goal from the penalty spot and helping out with an assist.

He said that there wills more coming from the two-time African champions.

“I am very happy that the Eagles have returned to winning ways in grand style. I am happy that we won the game in the manner we did, it was great.

“It was overwhelming the support from fans, it was heartwarming. They haven’t seen anything yet from me and the Eagles. They should wait till the Nations Cup and the remaining World Cup qualifiers,” Mikel said.

Mikel’s penalty goal was his third for his country since he made his full international debut in 2005 and he said it was for the fans.

There is no stopping the Golden Eaglets, coach boasts after hammering Guinea

By Patrick Andrew

M

anu Garba, the Head Coach of the Golden Eaglests believes the team have arrived and could be invincible especially the bashing of their Guinean counterparts 30 in the first leg of the CAF U-17 qualifying game yesterday at the UJ Esuene Stadium Calabar.

The victory came barely 24

hours following the Super Eagles’ heroic conquest of the Lone Stars of Liberia to secure their qualification to the 2013 Nations Cup finals billed for South Africa. Garba believes with the depth and tactical discipline replete in the Golden Eaglets it would difficult for any team to push them aside in any tournament.

Accordingly, the coach assured that the team has what it takes

to be champion and promised that the technical crew to work harder to improve on te quality of the squad to make it even deadlier than it is at the moment.

Although he believes the return leg would be difficult in view of the usual Francophone opposition but he was convinced his players would to the occasion.

“By our own high standard, we should have scored more goals but over all we are happy

that we have won the first leg,” Garba said during the post match interviews. ”Of course, we know that the further we go into the qualifiers, the tougher the opponents. The Guineans are a good side, we have seen them today because this is their own first game in the qualifiers but I’m confident about our chance when we meet them in Conakry.”

The Golden Eaglets could have

emulated the Super Eagles with an identical high margin win, but poor marksmanship as well as the heroic display by Guinea’s diminutive but smart goalkeeper, Ganaeka Ibrahima denied the Nigerian team of such opportunity.

Goals from Success Isaac, Kelechi Iheanacho and Alhassan Ibrahim saw off the gritty Guineans in front of the ecstatic home fans.

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Kwara to build football training pitches

G

ov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara says his administration will build football training pitches for the state’s elite teams featuring in the Nigeria Premier League (NPL).

Ahmed, in an interview with sportswriters in Ilorin on Monday, explained that the pitches would also serve as a venue for other football competitions that the state may bid for.

According to the governor, the project has been

captured in the 2012 supplementary budget and it is towards reducing the burden on the newly upgraded 18, 000 capacity Kwara stadium.

“It has been captured in our supplementary budget.

So work will get started before the year runs out.

“We understand the need for it and we are trying to put everything in place for the practicing pitches to come to fruition,’’he said.

The governor expressed delight at the successful

hosting of the Flying Eagles’ versus Amajita of South Africa African Youth Championship (AYC) second leg qualifier.

According to him, “we are very delighted with this. It feels great for us because we have designed this stadium to carry activities like this.

“So for what we are seeing, we are quite delighted that it’s coming up at this time and it is showcasing our capacity, and how well we are disposed to sporting activities.”

Ahmed also said that the state government had noted that maintenance was a critical part of any capital project like the stadium.

Love for foreign sports killing traditional sports, says Omoro

D

ickson Omoro, the Chairman, Nigeria Traditional Wrestling Referee Association, has observed that Nigerians love for foreign sports was detrimental to the growth of indigenous games in the country.

Omoro said in Lagos that lack of support from both government and corporate organisations also contributed to the general retrogression in indigenous sports.

“Nigerians do not appreciate whatever things that is indigenous; our love for foreign sports is killing our sports internally.

“We are not serious in this part of the world with anything that is ours. I do not think we should neglect our indigenous sports,” he said.

According to him, the love for foreign sports has made

most Nigerians to lose interest in sponsoring traditional sports, saying that the sports can only be promoted if they were well sponsored.

The chainman noted that sports like judo and taekwondo were traditional sports from Asia countries and which had being promoted into the Olympics

through promotion and sponsorship.

He said that Nigeria’s traditional sports like wrestling, Langa, Dambe, Kukawa, Ayo and others failed to find themselves into the Olympics due to lack of promotion.

“With adequate promotion and attention, our

traditional sports will go a long way in projecting Nigeria’s image to the outside world,” he added.

Omoro then urged the government, private organisations and spirited individuals to aid the development of traditional sports with sponsorship of competitions, seminars and

Koki signs to defend his title

W

BA bantamweight champion Koki Kameda will fight Hugo Ruiz in a title bout on December 4.

The two will meet in Osaka, Japan, Kameda’s handlers said in Tokyo on Tuesday. Ruiz, from Mexico, is the No 1 contender for the title.

The bout will be Kameda’s fifth defence since he beat

Alexander Munoz of Venezuela in December 2010 to win the vacant title.

The 25-year-old Kameda has been sidelined after fracturing both his fists in his fourth defence of the title in April.

“I’m in good form. I want to end this year by showing my best,” he said on Tuesday.

Kameda has 28 wins, 17 of them inside the distance,

to his credit. He has lost only once. The 26-year-old challenger has 31 wins,

symposia.

He said that his association struggled all to no avail to get notable individuals and corporate organisations to sponsor competitions for the development of traditional sports in the country.

The chairman noted that if promoted into the Olympics and other including 28 KOs, and one loss on his record.

Ruiz has also held the division’s interim championship, which he won in January last year.

T

almost a decade.

He said in Lagos recently that managing clubs was not the association’s duty, stressing that the football body would not run its own team.

“I don’t run a football club, I run an FA and my job is to create a structure and the government’s job is to create the infrastructure.

The government is doing that and I am doing that.

“In the past 19 months that we’ve been on board we have enabled the coaches of all these clubs we are talking about go to various coaching programmes from people that we’ve gotten abroad.

“From Brazil, from UK, from South Africa, in Germany to come and teach them, to come and give them coaching skills. That’s what we can do; we

Stationery Stores FC of Lagos, privately own club that went under

Female league is not functional, says Etim

F

Koki Kameda

Govt will not sponsor clubs, says Lagos FA boss he Chairman, Lagos State Football Association, (FA), Seyi Akinwunmi, has said that the association’s responsibility was to create the structures for football clubs to thrive and not run them.

Akinwunmi spoke against the backdrop of the state’s inability to produce a team in the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) in

international competitions, Nigeria can be sure of winning laurels at such competitions.

He said that Asian countries were sure of winning medals in their traditional sports at international competitions, saying that Nigeria too would be sure of winning medals in its traditional games if included.

wouldn’t just go to the premiership.

“Even with all of these lapses we almost had two teams that were promoted last year but what we don’t want is to run a team and we won’t run it that is what we believe that is killing Nigerian football.

“Government is involved intrinsically in football.

Government shouldn’t be running football they

should be supporting them as we are doing for example but not running football.

“So we would not do the same thing but we would give them all the support they can get and we believe that they can do it.’’

Akinwunmi said that there were private organisations capable of funding clubs in the state, and urged football teams to look for sponsors.

ormer Assistant Coach of the Super Falcons, Nnenna Etim, yesterday said the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) is not functional because of how it was being organised.

Etim , who lamented that the league had not been able to get the recognition of football enthusiasts, appealed to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to ensure that they assist the league so that it could help to develop the female football in the country.

“We do not have a league for now because it is not well organised like it should be. The girls are not well taken care of and matches are skipped by players due to welfare challenges such as inadequate funding for transportation.

“And it should cease to be, because a formidable league should have created a pool of talents to use in building the different national sides,” she said.

The former assistant coach added that the female national teams had so far made the country proud in the African continent and deserved better treatment.

Etim said that football had been able to positively engage the girls and stopping them from getting involved in societal vices like prostitution.

She said the National Sports Commission (NSC) should assist further by motivating female players, since they had lately performed better than the men.

“These girls are using football as an escape from the evils of the society like prostitution and other vices,” she said. Etim was Super Falcons assistant coach for about six years.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 43

Justin wins World Golf Final

J

ustin Rose captured the inaugural World Golf Final in Turkey with a one-stroke victory over Lee Westwood.

Rose, who beat Tiger Woods in the semi-final, led from the first hole against Westwood after a 25foot birdie.

The lead was two shots for much of the back nine but Rose missed a short putt at the 16th and the gap was cut to one.

Rose holed again from 25 feet to birdie the 17th, and though fellow Englishman Westwood birdied the last for a 67, Rose parred safely to finish with a 66.

Neither played dropped a shot in a high-quality final and Westwood birdied both of the par fives on the outward nine to match Rose at two under.

But his opponent rolled in a birdie putt from eight feet at the

par-three eighth and picked up another shot from a similar distance at the 10th to open a useful advantage.

Having holed a succession of putts during his magnificent course record of 61 in Thursday’s semifinal victory over Charl Schwartzel, Westwood was unable to find the same inspiration on the greens.

Opting for crisp white shorts in the Antalya autumn sunshine,

Westwood played a sublime approach from the light rough to three-and-a-half feet at the 13th but his downhill birdie putt missed the hole completely on the left and the gap remained at two.

After Rose, 32, missed the fairway at the next, Westwood sent another fine approach into the heart of the green but saw another birdie opportunity, this time from around seven feet, stay above ground, as his opponent calmly salvaged par.

The devilish par-five 16th saw

from the ring.

Price’s next fight will be against former British, Commonwealth and European champion Matt Skelton, who enjoyed a second-round win over Croatian Jakov Gospic on the undercard, on 8 December.

While Price was widely expected to win, few expected Harrison, a former Olympic gold medallist and European champion, to fold so readily.

Harrison turned professional

in 2001 but his repeated failures to deliver on his promises have led to him becoming a much criticised figure in Britain.

In 2010, the Londoner was knocked out in three rounds

by David Haye having thrown only one punch, after which he was expected to retire.

However, he returned to beat Ali Adams in May and said he had rediscovered his love of boxing ahead of his meeting with Price.

David knocksout Harrison in first round

D David Price

avid Price brought the curtain down on Audley Harrison’s career with a devastating first-round knockout at the Liverpool Echo Arena.

Harrison, 40, was wobbled by Price’s first punch in anger, a chopping right hand, before the referee stepped in with Harrison helpless on the ropes.

Harrison toppled to the canvas with one minute and 22 seconds on the clock before being booed

Djokovic beats Murray to win Shanghai Masters A

ndy Murray failed in his bid to make it a hat-trick of titles at the Shanghai Masters after losing a three-set thriller to Novak Djokovic.

In their first meeting since Murray’s win in the US Open final, Djokovic triumphed 5-7 7-6 (13-11) 6-3.

Murray edged the first set, which had seven breaks of serve, with Djokovic reacting angrily by smashing a racket.

Djokovic saved five match points in the second set before taking the tie-break and breaking Murray twice in the third.

In a top-class match, the British world number three showed plenty of the form he displayed in beating world number one Roger Federer in Saturday’s semi-finals but Djokovic - who had lost his last two matches against the Scot, at Flushing Meadows and in the Olympic semi-final at Wimbledon - threw everything at him.

The second set was packed with drama, with Murray breaking to lead 4-3 and serving for the match at 5-4. But having saved his first match point, Djokovic levelled the set and then saved four more in a tie-break lasting more than 20

minutes, sealing the set with a volley that led to fist-pumping celebrations.

With the momentum in his

favour, Djokovic broke to go 43 up in the decider and broke Murray again in the ninth game when the Scot went long

with a backhand.

It ended Murray’s winning run in Shanghai and gave Djokovic his fifth title of the year.

Novak Djokovic saves five match points in the second set to beat Andy Murray 5-7 7-6 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters final.

Westwood narrowly evade the water with both his tee shot and five-wood second but the 39-yearold made his birdie and surprisingly gained ground when Rose missed from inside three feet.

Sensing his opportunity, Westwood sent a majestic tee shot pin high at the 190-yard parthree 17th.

Rose was twice as far away on a similar line but he sank his putt first and in classic match play fashion Westwood could not do the same.

Lance Armstrong

Anti doping: Armstrong lawyer accept detector results

L

ance Armstrong’s lawyer says he would accept the outcome if lie detector tests were taken by witnesses who have accused the 41-year-old of doping.

A US Anti-Doping Agency report described Armstrong as a “serial cheat” and a “bully”, citing 26 witnesses.

Armstrong was stripped of the seven Tour de France titles he won between 1999 and 2005 after Usada concluded he had led “the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen”.

Herman maintains the information provided by some of the witnesses cannot be relied upon, identifying several as “liars” and he said he was “a proponent, personally” of lie-detector tests being used in the case.

“Lance had over 600 fellow riders, team members and trainers in his career racing in Europe.

“Of those, 11 came forward.

Many others would and have refuted many of the allegations.

Other than Tyler Hamilton, Frankie Andreu, Floyd Landis and Jonathan Vaughters I’m not calling anyone a liar but I am calling those four liars.”

Korean GP: Alonso set title target

F

Fernando Alonso

ernando Alonso says he is still “very optimistic” he can win the drivers’ title this year despite losing the lead for the first time since June.

Sebastian Vettel is six points ahead after leading team-mate

Mark Webber to a Red Bull one-two in the Korean Grand Prix with Alonso third.

Alonso pointed out that he would still be in front had it not been for his bad luck in being forced into retirementin Japan last

weekend after getting a puncture following a touch with Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen.

He also retired at the first corner of the Belgian Grand Prix last month in a multi-car pile-up caused by Raikkonen’s team-mate Romain Grosjean.

He admitted Ferrari were on the back foot following a clear step forward in performance from Red Bull in the last three races, during which the Italian team have suffered problems with planned upgrades.

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

Y

ou’ve been in charge for four World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF Zone. What have you learned about football in this part of the world?

I learn with every game. It’s very difficult here in CONCACAF, very tricky. I expected this. There has been incredible improvement in so many CONCACAF teams in the last 10 or 15 years, it’s a hard thing to imagine.

What does this mean for the US, where football has also grown dramatically in the last two decades?

All of our opponents are better than they were a few years ago. Central America’s teams are very technical and difficult to play against; there is great athleticism, speed and ambition in the Caribbean. And for every one of those teams, it’s a big deal to play against the United States. It’s the game of their campaign and it has great meaning. They do everything they can to beat us.

You drew a qualifier in Guatemala, conceding a late equaliser, and you lost to Jamaica on a bumpy pitch in Kingston. Can you talk about the particular challenges of playing on the road?

You have to be spot-on on the road in CONCACAF. There can be no mistakes, no mental errors. You also have to be ready to adjust to any environment because it’s unpredictable here. If you take a team too lightly and don’t adjust to the small things, you pay for it.

Did this happen in Guatemala and Jamaica?

Yes. In Guatemala and in Jamaica we gave away a stupid free-kick too close to our goal, instead of making them fight their way in. This is a certain crucial thing we did wrong. I sound like a broken record when I talk to the players about these things (laughs)!

What is it that you have to repeat to them?

Against Jamaica I told them ‘we need to match them physically.’ If we do, we will get our result. If we don’t, we won’t. In Kingston we paid for our mistakes. When you lose points on the road unnecessarily, it makes you angry and you have to repair the problem.

Not matching Jamaica physically was the main reason for the loss then?

Some of our guys matched up physically and some didn’t. It’s a hard lesson to learn. You can’t switch off.

Some people in Europe and South America think CONCACAF is easy, but it isn’t. I’ve always understood that. We were prepared, but we didn’t execute, and so we got our lesson. I think we are still the team to beat, but we have to give everything all the time.

You made many changes to the team that lost in Kingston in the return leg against Jamaica (a 1-0 win) in Ohio. Why? The circumstances were different. We came back to the States, to Columbus, to a gorgeous pitch and a great crowd. We needed to stretch the game wider. Some of the players didn’t play the way I wanted them to play in Jamaica, so I made changes. You need to make adjustments based on what the players give you.

What do you consider when picking your starting team?

All the players need to prove that they should be in the starting eleven. They have to prove it every day, from game to game. You have positions where competition is intense, and the players have to take the opportunities to show they want it. There are no guarantees. I rely on what I see right now, the last couple of games, not the distant past not last year. This is what a national team is about, internal fighting, competition.

Does this apply to the big stars too to the likes of Tim Howard, Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey?

We have a core of established players that are always there, but that’s not because they’re special in some way or treated differently. It’s because they always show it! They always prove it!

Great players want to play in every match, says Klinsmann In between planning tactics and carefully selecting his side for a crucial pair of upcoming qualifiers, Stars and Stripes coach and Germany legend Jurgen Klinsmann spoke to FIFA.com about the realities and stresses of playing in CONCACAF, points dropped on the road during 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualifying, and just exactly what it takes to win a position in his side.

Tangled on seven points with Jamaica and Guatemala, there is cause for concern, but Klinsmann the picture of optimism says he can handle the pressure.

Now might be a good time to discuss the friendly win over arch-rivals Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in August, the first ever win for the US at that venue.

What did it mean to you?

I was pleased for the players, coaches and soccer fans in America who were all waiting so long for that moment. I had so many texts and emails that I couldn’t believe it. That moment had just been hanging in the air for so long. It meant something big, and maybe I was less aware because I didn’t grow up here.

Things are tight now in qualifying for Brazil 2014.

There are only two games to go and you are in a three-way tie withGuatemala and Jamaica in your group. Do you feel the pressure of potentially missing out on the final Hexagonal round, missing out on the World Cup? There is pressure, but pressure is not a problem. I remember from when I was a player, pressure gives you a feeling of importance, an urgency which is a term I use a lot with my players. This is really necessary. It’s great that we’ve qualified for every World Cup since 1990, but it doesn’t give you a guarantee for tomorrow.

You have to get through the games, those nasty games especially. It’s not an automatic thing. I look at urgency, not pressure. You learn about your team at these times.

Is it difficult to balance the need to get results, qualify for Brazil 2014, and make the kinds of bigger, more systemic, changes you’re talking about?

Right now, we have a tricky balance because we need to get the points to go to the World Cup, but we also want to improve the way we play. The players are getting it.

We want every player to move up to a higher level, and you can see that with the likes of Michael Bradley (Roma) and Clint Dempsey (Spurs), playing at big clubs

System has nothing to do with style…

Style is how you want your whole team to move around the pitch, from back to front. It has nothing to do with a system. Look at Spain, they play in the other team’s half, and their line-up doesn’t matter at all. Whether it’s 4-42, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, it really doesn’t matter.

Let’s talk about your ace striker Dempsey, who just moved to your former club, Tottenham. Are you worried he won’t get as much playing time, and might get caught up in squad rotation?

Every national team coach wants his players to play as much as possible for their club. At some of the bigger clubs, the squads are larger and they rotate a bit more.

But all coaches, at big or small clubs, will choose the players that give them the most success.

Dempsey is one of these players?

Clint will fight his way in and become a constant starter at Spurs. Real players don’t want to rest. They want to be in every game; they are hungry. You can already see that Clint is getting a rhythm and Spurs fans see that he is a special player. He’s making history too! He scored at Old Trafford for Spurs’ first win there against Manchester United since 1989.

Some journalists and pundits have criticised you for not changing your formation enough. Can you clear the air about the difference between style of play and formation?

There is some confusion about this. System has nothing to do with style. I need to tell people this all the time. Style is how you want your whole team to move around the pitch, from back to front. It has nothing to do with a system. Look at Spain, they play in the other team’s half, and their line-up doesn’t matter at all.

Whether it’s 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-5-2, it really doesn’t matter.

What style do you want your US team to play?

We want to push the game higher. We want to have more presence in the other team’s half, instead of reacting to them. This is how confidence grows and it’s part of a long-term plan. We want to play with the best in the world some day.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 45

PICTORIAL 1/ Heather Watson believes her historic victory in Sunday's Japan Open final is a reward for her hard work.

2/ The Senegalese Football Federation has confirmed the "very sombre circumstances" that forced their African Nations Cup qualifier with Ivory Coast to be abandoned due to rioting.

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3/ Dawn Approach underlines his 2013 Classic credentials with a comfortable victory in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.

4/ Les Bleuettes lifted the coveted trophy at Azerbaijan 2012 as football pundits notice instant reactions from several of France's star performers, as well as coach Guy Ferrier.

5/ England will play without Chelsea duo Frank Lampard and Ryan Bertrand for their World Cup qualifier against Poland.

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6/ An inspired display from Danny Cipriani sees Sale fight back to edge out Cardiff Blues in a thrilling Heineken Cup tie.

7/ David Price retains his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles with a devastating 82-second knockout of Audley Harrison.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

PAGE 47

Say what?

Source: Reader's Digest

FACTS

* Homing pigeons use roads where possible to help find their way home. In fact, some pigeons Quick CrossWord (47) followed roads so closely that they actually flew around traffic circles before choosing the exit ACROSS that led them home.

1 Reappearance of the cast at the * A snowflake can take up to a hour to fall from the cloud to the surface of the Earth. * Only 5 percent of the ocean floor has been mapped in as much detail as the surface of Mars. * The only people whose likenesses adorn Pez dispensers are Betsy Ross and Paul Revere. * Pain is measured in units of "dols". The instrument used to measure pain is a "dolorimeter". * In a nod to astronauts, Texas is the only state that permits residents to cast absentee ballots from space.

Source: Weird facts

PHOTO OF THE DAY

end of a stage show (7,4) 9 Store up (5) 10 Suction instrument (7) 11 Puzzling Batman enemy (7) 12 Substantial (5) 13 Avoid committment (5,4,4) 16 May-flowering shrub (5) 18 Below freezing (3-4) 20 Subjugate (7) 21 Finger of fire (5) 22 __ with, express sympathy for (11)

DOWN 2 By your own effort (7) 3 Subject to ebb and flow (5) 4 Overbearing behaviour (13) 5 Speedy warship (7) 6 __ and General, insurance group (5) 7 Person who owns a portion of a company’s profits (11) 8 Minded, prone (11) 14 Cry out (7) 15 Stylish, sophisticated (7) 17 Cowboy rope (5) 19 Easily, without question (2,3)

Yesterday’s answer

Men use ropes to try and right a supply truck overloaded with wheat straw, used as animal feed, along a road in Dargai, in the Malakand district, about 165 km (100 miles) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad..

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

Ivorians warned against reprisals

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vory Coast interior ministry has asked citizens to desist from acts of reprisal on Senegalese living in the country following a stadium stampede on Saturday in Dakar that sparked rumours of attacks on Ivorian fans by local supporters.

Defence Minister Paul Koffi Koffi, who was representing the interior minister, said in a television broadcast yesterday that no Ivorian supporter sustained injury in the disturbances that spread to town from the 60,000 capacity Leopold Senghor Stadium, where the Teranga Lions were dominated by the Elephants on a 2-0 outcome realised by former Chelsea's talisman Didier Drogba.

"All our supporters and compatriots in Senegal are safe. I have word from Senegal interior and sports ministeries," Koffi said.

"So, I'm calling on all Ivorians not to attack, insult or provoke any Senegalese living in the Ivory Coast. We are all brothers and sisters. We can't allow a simple football match to break our historic ties," he added.

In an earlier statement released by Senegal's interior minister Mbaye Ndiaye, he said he had gone round to see what happened and realized nobody was gravely injured or attacked.

"I went round with the Ivorian sports minister and football federation president, visiting the players, the supporters and officials. We discovered that by the grace of God nobody was injured.

"Some fans who were fleeing the violence sustained light injuries from jumping and falling, but they were not victims of attack from opposite fans, I can confirm," Ndiaye said. Moments after the game was abandoned in the 76th minute, a group of irate fans stormed a Senegalese restaurant in the district of Abobo in the Ivorian commercial city Abidjan, forcing the sellers, who were Senegalese, to serve food and drink for free, which they did without hesitation.

No major incidents between Ivorians and the Senegalese Diaspora have been reported, although the photo of a bleeding member of the Ivorian supporters club at the stadium keeps fuelling grudges.

Afcon 2013 Qualifiers Cameroon 2 - 1 Cape Verde Ethiopia 2 - 0 Sudan Morocco 4 - 0 Mozambique Senegal 0 - 2 Ivory Coast Tunisia 0 - 0 Sierra Leone Nigeria 6 - 1 Liberia Botswana 1 - 4 Mali Uganda 1 - 0 Zambia Malawi 0 - 1 Ghana

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QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE We have to cause to regret what we did (crushing the Biafra secession).

— General Yakubu Gowon, Head of State ((1966 - 75), who crushed the secession bid by the old East Central state

Constitutional amendments: A Northern agenda When a lion becomes weak, he is a toy for little flies Ethiopian proverb

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f history is a useful guide very little will come out of the planned amendments to the 1999 Constitution. A lot of money voted for the exercise will be duly spent during hearings. Much heat will be generated around contentious issues, and most will cancel each other out as groups put forward conflicting positions and adopt unyielding postures.

Sectional and narrow interests will jostle for position with others who think it is time to subject the 1999 Constitution to a most rigorous scrutiny, and rid it of inherent and accumulated liabilities. The Senate and House of Representatives will itemize issues they want addressed. The President already has the report of the Justice Alfa Belgore Committee which he had charged with the duty to avoid settled issues in recommending amendments. Governors will wait to shoot down unpalatable options. In the end, we may end up with very little accomplished.

Virtually all organized interests will go through the motion of presenting and defending memoranda. In spite of the listing of "areas" and "issues" which the National Assembly will like addressed, the real issues which will capture attention are few, but profound. These will be the issues Nigerians will be told are vital to the health and survival of Nigeria. Broadly, the South-east will insist on one or more additional states to assure it of parity, equity and justice with the other parts of the nation.

The South-west will dangle the nebulous concept of fiscal federalism as its core demand.

Decoded, it will mean that it wants to organize Yoruba people into a more cohesive group with some distance and greater autonomy from other Nigerians.

The South-south will insist on stronger safeguards for retaining more and more of the benefits of oil and gas in a federation increasingly dependent on these resources.

Of course, all three zones will also adopt positions around some or all of the listed issues and areas, and they will use these to negotiate with, or avoid situations where other groups' positions harm their basic interests. The real question is whether the three zones in the

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FIFTEEN MINUTES with Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed drbabaahmed@yahoo.com

Chairman, Northern State Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Muazu Babangida Aliyu North recognize that they have common and unique interests to take common stands on some vital areas in the manner the Constitution may be amended.

There will be many voices which will argue that a political North does not exist anymore, as time, rising consciousness among its plural population and massive unresolved issues around religion and bitter competition around scarce resources such as land and political power, have destroyed the old fiction of a united North.

Others will argue that the imperatives of identifying the core interests of Northerners in relation to the rest of Nigerians

have never been more compelling. They will argue that only a common front, informed by shared challenges and the need to salvage a federal system which is fast disintegrating around cleavages erected around single ethnic groups, or particular resources, will do the interests of Northerners justice.

In the next few days and weeks, northern political groups, elites and politicians will run from pillar to post to adopt positions which they think will serve the interests of the North better. A useful starting point for all these groups will be the recognition that the planned constitutional amendment will not substantially affect the current state of the North, or alter its long-term position in Nigeria. A skeptic may even say it is a red herring which will expose the disarray and confusion of the North, as well as its lack of quality political leadership. A constitution, even a good one, does not guarantee good governance or rapid economic development on its own. It requires good politicians and leaders, and citizens willing to insist that elected people operate within the letter and spirit of a good constitution to have a decent

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The position the North takes must, therefore, be informed by the question: is the Nigerian state protecting the lives and property of northerners, and promoting their welfare?

The answer to this will not be difficult to find. All northerners, Muslim and Christian, all ethnic groups, all political affiliations have been getting poorer and more insecure. The reasons for this are less important than the objective reality that this is a fact

nation. Northern politicians also need to think strategically, and avoid walking into predetermined agendas and outcomes. The listing of issues or areas by the Senate or House of Representatives, or even the exclusion of issues from the exercise which President Goodluck Jonathan says are settled, should be treated merely as one agenda. The approach of the North to the amendment exercise should also be holistic, but focused. If the Constitution is to be reviewed, no one should tell Nigerians what they can ask to be reviewed, or issues which are no-go areas. Thirdly, the North needs to identify its priorities and core and secondary goals in this exercise, and engage other sections and groups in an enlightened interface that allows it to negotiate productively.

Finally, the north does need some forum which will marshal its basic interests and put them forward in the same manner as other zones have.

The Constitution basically assigns two responsibilities to the state: protect and secure the lives and property of citizens, and pursue their welfare. The position the North takes must, therefore, be informed by the question: is the Nigerian state protecting the lives and property of northerners, and promoting their welfare? The answer to this will not be difficult to find. All northerners, Muslim and Christian, all ethnic groups, all political affiliations have been getting poorer and more insecure.

The reasons for this are less important than the objective reality that this is a fact. There is no citizen, hamlet or city which has not felt the impact of the spreading insecurity in the North in at least the last three years. This state of insecurity and the specific nature of its source and dimensions have also polarized communities and triggered additional political problems for the people of the North. Security problems have also seriously crippled the northern economy and the capacity of the state to pursue the economic well-being of citizens. Poverty has been worsened by endemic insecurity, and a huge burden of the cost of supporting 19 states and the majority of the 774 local government areas in the country and their massive, parasitic paraphernalia.

The state, therefore, for the North, is neither a guarantor of peace and security for citizens, nor a facilitator of economic progress of communities and citizens.

Contd. on Page 36

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