Peoples Daily Newspaper, Tuesday, April 17, 2012

World Bank presidency not clinched by merit, says Okonjo-Iweala as Kim wins

PAGE 3

Vol. 8 No. 18

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Jimadal Ula 26, 1433 AH

N150

INSIDE

2015: Buhari’s Kano’s mass Senate uncovers chances ever bright, wedding may hold N26bn pension says Buba Galadima May 16 funds in 5 banks >>PAGE 4

>>PAGE 5

Police kill prison warder, DPO, others arrested

>>PAGE 7

Nigeria’s banking crisis over, says AMCON

>>PAGE 11

>>PAGE 19

194 eminent elders declare . . .

North prepared for SNC  Urge FG to re-engage Boko Haram  Sect members not ready for dialogue, says VP

By Umar Mohammed Puma, Abuja and Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

T

he Arewa Elders Forum yesterday disclosed that the North was prepared to engage other regions of the country in a peaceful dialogue to determine the future of Nigeria.

Receiving the harmonized reports of its committees on the state of insecurity and socio-political issues in Northern Nigeria yesterday in Abuja, the Forum in a veiled reference to the agitation for Sovereign National Conference (SNC), said: “The North shall no longer shy away from any dialogue or conference to negotiate the future of a united Nigeria, or even a divided Nigeria if that is the wish of its various component parts.”

The Forum under the chairmanship of former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mamman Nasir, also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to resume dialogue with the Boko Haram sect even as it raised fears that the bombings and destruction by the sect’s insurgency are beyond the capacities of local militants.

The Forum, in a communiqué read by the former Minister of Power and Steel, Dr. Paul Unongo, condemned in strong terms, Contd on Page 2

L-R: Sheikh Ahmed Lemu, former ICPC chairman, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, and Danmasanin Kano, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, during the meeting of Arewa Elders Forum, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Oronsaye c’ttee asks FG to scrap EFCC, ICPC, FRSC, others

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

T

he continued existence of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Federal Road

Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), has been thrown into doubt.

This followed the

recommendation of the Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Agencies, Commissions and Parastatals, which queried their separate existence.

The committee headed by former Head of Service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, submitted its report to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, noting that some of the agencies which had

WWW.PEOPLESDAILY-ONLINE.COM

taken on the roles of existing federal outfits were created for selfish interests without regard for extant laws.

Mr. Oronsaye said that in the Contd on Page 2

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Newsxtra Defence Agric

26-27 28 29-30

Borno PDP scheming to reverse ANPP’s Supreme Court victory – Party chairman, Page 37

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

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

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

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

North prepared for SNC Contd from Page 1 the bombings that are becoming regular in the North and have claimed several innocent lives.

The elders argued in the communique, however, that the sophistication of the bombs as well as the selective choice of targets were beyond the expertise of local insurgents, urging the government to come up with a lasting solution to the menace.

“The sophistication in the professional way targets are chosen suggests a deliberate attempt to broaden the insurgency's effects with a view to creating widespread disaffection within and outside Nigeria.

“Mr. President himself suggested in a declaration that

Boko Haram elements have infiltrated his government, including the security agencies of the nation. Our country and people deserve to know who these infiltrators are and the appropriate actions taken”, the group demanded.

According to the elders, “it is unfortunate that a mere skirmish that began in Maiduguri has been allowed to escalate to a level that it now threatens the corporate existence of the country. It allowed criminals like armed robbers, kidnappers and assassins to now hide under it to cause more havoc in the country".

The Forum lamented that Nigeria’s democracy remains very shaky because its operators at all levels have failed in its policy

implementation due to corruption and indolence, just as it craved for a change from the current trend.

It also posited that the bottomline of all the skirmishes is the pervasive poverty level in especially Northern Nigeria, as, according to it, the country now ranks among the poorest nations of the world and youths being most affected, have become the fodder being used in stimulating all the crises.

Other prominent leaders from the North at the meeting include Alh. Yusuf Maitama Sule, Dan Masanin Kano, Alh. Falalu Bello, Sani Zangon Daura, Shehu Malami, Dr Paul Unongo, Justice Mustapha Akanbi, Alh. Bello Kirfi, Amb. Babagana Kingibe, Mrs. Hannatu Chollom, Amb.

Yahaya Kwande, Amb. Yerima Abdullahi, Dame Pauline Tallen, among others.

Meanwhile, Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has said that the Boko Haram sect has failed to embrace the opportunity for dialogue being offered by the Federal Government in order to resolve the group’s face-off with the government.

He said: “Till date these people have refused to come out to talk with government so that an agreement can be reached,” Sambo said in a programme of the Hausa service of the VOA, monitored yesterday in Kaduna.

According to the VicePresident, “even the President came out to say they should name the people they wanted so that there can be dialogue.

Throughout the world there is nothing you can do to resolve Contd on Page 3

Oronsaye c’ttee asks FG to scrap EFCC, ICPC, FRSC, others Contd from Page 1 course of the committee’s assignment, it discovered duplications and overlaps in the mandates of many agencies as successive administrations established some of them without regard to existing laws and, in some cases, outrightly replicating extant laws.

According to him, "One case that stands out clearly in this regard is that of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), which should not be in existence in its present form".

While acknowledging that the body has been quite active, the Committee observed that what the FRSC was set up to do is a replication of the mandates of two existing bodies namely: the Highway Department of the Federal Ministry of Works with respect to the maintenance of safety and orderliness on our highways and the role of the Nigeria Police Force in ensuring law and order on our roads.

"Indeed, it is a fundamental breach of acceptable practice of good public sector governance to create a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming failure or poor performance of an existing agency in order to suit political or individual interests.

"Such a practice has proved eventually to precipitate systemic conflicts, crises and even collapse at a substantial but avoidably high financial cost to government," the Committee chairman said.

He added that on the one hand, other bodies have their mandates intact as the relevant provisions of their enabling laws have not been repealed.

Similarly, he said it was noted that the functions of the EFCC and the ICPC were the traditional functions of the Nigeria Police.

He said, "the committee observed that even though the two commissions were established separately to address corruption, which the Police appeared to have failed to do, successive administrations have ironically continued to appoint the Chairman of the EFCC from the Police Force, while the methodology adopted by the ICPC in conducting investigations as well as the training of its personnel in investigation procedure are carried out by the Police. One wonders if it was really expedient to dismember the Nigeria Police rather than allow it to evolve as a vibrant and effective agency."

Mr. Oronsaye said the point that must be reiterated was the fact that that an institution was inefficient and ineffective should not be a basis for the creation of new ones, saying "the officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force have been reputed for performing exceptionally and winning laurels while on international peace-keeping and other missions. This implies that the problems of our Police are not incurable."

The committee found the same problem with the Nigerian

Communications Satellite (NigComSat) Limited, which was established as the commercial arm of the Nigerian Space Research Development Agency (NASRDA), with a sunset clause, but has now expanded its scope and is in rivalry with its parent body.

"In this austere time, Nigeria cannot afford to sustain the funding of multiple space research institutes, when in fact other more technologically advanced countries of the world, where space research is a priority, have only one," he observed.

While noting the case of Nigerian Broadcasting agencies which the committee believed focus more on structures rather than acquisition of broadcasting software, the chairman similarly pointed out the case in the environmental sector where the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) was created to perform a function already assigned by law to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

He said besides being a clear case of latter-day overlapping of functions of agencies, the continued existence of NOSDRA was tantamount to paying huge salaries to persons who do nothing but wait for spills to occur, adding "this is despite the fact that there is a standard operating procedure for oil companies in Nigeria to clean up oil spill whenever it occurs."

The committee also looked at

the education sector where it noted that three different agencies: the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), the Nomadic Education Commission (NEC), and the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NCMLA) all perform functions related to the provision of basic education.

"The question then arises as to why they continue to function as separate bodies. Our committee is of the view that the functions of all the other agencies should be taken over by UBEC as there is no economic gain in having the three bodies as separate entities," it said.

The committee also suggested reduction in the number and size of the governing boards of parastatals and linking the budgetary system to deliverables and output as part of ways of reducing the cost of governance.

It also called for the implementation or vacation of some decisions taken on past reports; and removal of all professional bodies/councils from the national budget.

President Jonathan while receiving the report, thanked the committee for doing a thorough job. He assured that it would be studied with the aim of taking decisions which would lead to the reduction of cost of governance.

The President also promised to set up a white paper committee, which he said, would present the document within two months.

Cut corruption, not wages, NLC tells Govt

By Muhammad Nasir

T

he Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has criticised the Federal and state government’s intention to cut salaries of workers or reverse the N18,000 minimum wage in the name of dwindling state finances and asked them to rather eradicate which depletes the nation’s funds.

In a statement signed by Joe Ajaero, Acting President of the Nigeria Labour congress, NLC

said it will not accept Nigerian people’s continued impoverishment by the lack of vision and planning by our leaders, adding that Nigerians have been made to suffer for too long due to the extravagance of our rulers.

The Congress maintained that the Federal and State governments have the duty and responsibility to pay wages as and when due without any cut warning that If these were to occur, Labour and its allies would

have no choice but to resist.

The Congress also advised the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration to stop toying with the lives of Nigerians by seeking to further increase the price of fuel as evidenced by its endless and wasteful campaigns to remove so called fuel subsidy.

It noted that the Presidency should reduce the high cost of governance as it promised and to ensure more devolution of power including resources to the states

and not to take steps that could worsen the political and security situation in the country.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government on Thursday, March22, 2012 in Abuja inaugurated a 12-man committee headed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bello Sali, to harmonise the salary structure of federal public servants. The move was aimed at reducing high wage bills incurred by the government annually.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 3

North prepared for SNC Contd from Page 2 crisis except dialogue. Whatever the crisis either between soldiers and soldiers or between countries, whatever years it would take, at the end, it has to be resolved through dialogue and agreement, to cease fire.

“Therefore, I would like to use this opportunity and still appeal for dialogue. Some people had given names of so and so but till now no one has come out for talks in order to find ways for lasting peace.

“May the Almighty Allah bring an end to this because without peace, nothing will be possible.” Sambo further urged the group to emulate leaders of the Niger Delta militant groups who gave up their arms to embrace amnesty.

Responding to a question on why the President has not deemed it fit to visit Yobe state where about 200 persons have been killed during terrorist attacks, Sambo said “the President cannot be everywhere. This thing is

happening but the most important thing for all of us to do is to continue praying to Almighty Allah to bring an end to this crisis.

“Secondly, we should cooperate; everybody should endeavour to contribute towards bringing an end to this crisis. Just as the President has said, you cannot compare this with what happened in Niger Delta because all those who are leaders of the crisis in Niger Delta, everybody knows them”, he said.

Enlarged meeting of Arewa Elders Forum held on Monday, April 16, 2012 Attendance list 1.

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Apostle Emmanuel Nuhu Kere Dr. John Danfulani Sheikh Ahmed Lemu Yusuf Maitama Sule Dr. Umaru Dikko Mohd Kabiru Umar Sen. Ahmed Muktar Aruwa Joseph D. Bagobiri Engr. Al-Ameen Y. Lukman Ibrahim Zakari Isa Dr. Isuwa B. Dogo Shehu Nuhu Tamburawa Sheikh Umar Mika'il Sheikh Mouktar Suleiman Sheikh Hashim Tahir Sen. Ahmed M. Makarfi Moh'd Abdul Sheikh Amir Ahmad Tijjani Ladan Malam Falalu Bello Rev. Emmanuel N. Diggan Dr. Haruna R. Karam Eyam Mathew Owojane Professor Ango Abdullahi Rev. Bitrus Dangiwa Rev. Dauda Ajimu Col. T.K. Zubairu (rtd) Col. Habibu Idris Shuaibu (rtd) Kawu Idris Hansara Dr. Habibu Mun Gwarzo Barr. M.B. Wali Malam Ibrahim Shekarau Sen. U.K. Umar Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau Alfa S. Wali Col M. Aliyu CON M.S.A. Magani Hon. Ghali Umar Na'Abba Bashir Albasu Professor Awwalu H. Yadudu Alhaji Gidado Muktar Qaribullahi Sheikh Nasiru Kabara Bashir Danmusa Sen. Umar I. Tsauri Capt Bashir Sodangi Alhaji Ahmadu Kurfi Hassan Tanko Aliyu Gambo Hon (Dr.) Iliya Dan Mohammed H. Sa'adu Sani Ahmad Daura Alhaji Ismaila Isa Funtua Mustapha Bukar Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura Hon. Aminu Bello Masari Hon. Justice Mamman Nasir Gen. Lawrence B. Onoja Dr. Yima Sen Alh. Mohd Bawa Rijau A.B. Umar Gen. Suleiman Barau Said Dr. Sheikh Ahmad Sen. Nuhu Aliyu Col. Sani Bello

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Col. Aminu Isah Kontagora Major Gen. Idris Garba Alhaji Mustapha Bello Mrs. Hannatu Chollom Saga Audu Alhaji Sale Hassan Amb. Bagudu Hirse Barr. Solomon Dalung Dame Pauline Tallen Haj. Fatima Abdul Kyari Hon. Paul Ukwenya Hon. Idris Yakubu Gen. Teldi Sheidu Lasisi Mohammed Aliyu Yakubu Rtd. Brig. Bello W. Labaran Shehu Malami Justice Mustapha Akanbi Dr. Amuda Aluko Ambassador J.T. Kolo Bishop D. Bakare Alhaji Musa Gwadabe Bashir Baballe Dr. Ayuba Z. Musa Isa Tijjani Hon. Musa Tanko Abai Amb. Moh'd Ahmad Air Marshal Al-Amin M. Daggash Alh. Moh'd Goni Baba Gana Kingibe (CFR) Malam Kalli Gazali Dr. Shettima Mustapha Lt. Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi Nasir Isa Abubakar Col. Jibrin Bala Yakubu, Rtd Dr. Hassan Mohd Lawal Abubakar Hussan Hon Rakiya Haruna K. Idris Dr. Umar Ardo Gen. Paul Tarfa Capt P.M. Thodal Jibril Amir Gen I.B.M. Haruna Gen M.B. Marwa (rtd) Ibrahim Ahmad Barankowa Justice Tijani Abubakar Mustapha Bako Aliyu Maidanma Bashir Mohd Dalhatu M.T. Adamu AVM Abdulrahman Garkuwa Tijjani Inuwa Dutse DIG Uba B. Ringim Shuaibu Maigida Isa Mayana Lawal Abubakar Suleiman Umar Alh. Abdul Kura Tukur Mohd Umalwa Gen. Mohammed Ali Gusau Mohd Aliyu Shinkafi Amin Nahuche Ibrahim A. Kofa Alh. Ahmad Iliyasu Dr. Safiya I. Mohd Prof. Isa B. Mohd Haruna Adamu Dr. Ibrahim Y. Lame

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Alh. Sanusi Maijama'a Mohd Bello Kirfi Amb. Adamu Aliyu, mni Alh. Ahmadu Shuaibu Abdulrahman Abubakar Tunau Amb. Mohd Adamu Jimba Dr. Mohd Shata Alhaji Moh'd Babangida Wambai Aishatu Mohd (Mrs) Buba Yaro Mafun Col. Musa Mohd (rtd) Prof Idris Mohd A.G. Abubakar AIG (rtd) Hajiya Aisha Aukku Gen. (Amb.) Timothy Shelpidi M.A. Wakili Ahmad Yarima Abdullahi Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar Sen. Adamu A. Waziri Prof. B.G. Bajoga Khalifa Hassan Yinu Air Cdre Ibrahim Alkali, OFR Malam Adamu Ciroma Adamu Maina Waziri Engr. Buba Galadima Justice U.A. Kargo M.M. Abdu Murtala Aliyu Usman Sen. Ahmad Baba Zuruq Dr. Hassan Mohd Amb. Yahaya Kwande Sen.John N. Shagaya Rev. Yakubu Pam Col. Lawal Ja'afaru Isa Maj. Gen. Bashir S. Magashi Sheikh Sanusi Gumbi Dr. Paul Unongo Sen. Kanti Bello Alh. Lawal Kaita Yusuf Bello Mai Aduwa Col. U.F. Ahmad A. Rufai Othman M. Bashir Aliyu M/fashi Zanna Hassan Bojuma Fidan Muhammad Rabiu Abubakar Aminu Ibrahim Yusuf Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmad Saudatu Usman Albashir Sen. John Wash Pam Pastor Joshua Iosaa Hon. Bulus B. Nyam Sheikh Abubakar Paul Babale Eng Namai M. Musa Alhaji Umar Gana Ibrahim Adam Ibrahim Ahmad Tijjani Ado Halidu Adamu Maishanu Aliyu Usman Mustapha Salihu Sharif Suleiman A. Paschal Bafyau Joel R. Binalli

World Bank presidency not by merit, says Okonjo- Iweala

By Abdulwahab Isa

A

new president of the World Bank emerged yesterday in the person of Dr. Jim Yong Kim after Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for Economy/Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala was pressurized by United States and its allies to withdraw from the race.

Kim’s selection was more of concession which forecloses an open, transparent process.

The minister of finance while congratulating Dr. Kim on his emergence said she looked forward to working with him, staff and stakeholders of the World Bank Group for the benefit of poor people around the world.

However, she called for a transparent process in the selection of the World Bank president noting “with regard to the selection process, it is clear to me that we need to make it more open, transparent and merit-based. We need to make sure that we do not contribute to a democratic deficit in global governance”.

Flanked at the press briefing by Nigeria board representative at the World Bank and her campaign coordinator, who was also former minister of finance, Dr. Mansur Mukhtar, Ngozi said Nigeria’s participation had won her important victories.

“We have shown what is possible. Our credible and meritbased challenge to a long-standing and unfair tradition will ensure that the process of choosing a World Bank president will never be the same again. The struggle for greater equity and fairness has reached a critical point and the hands of the clock cannot be turned back”, she affirmed.

She had, earlier in the morning of yesterday while exchanging views with media representatives on her chances for top job confirmed the pressure mounted on her to withdraw from the race.

“There are pressures that I withdraw, but I’ve to stay to the end unless they officially announce their rules that require that I withdraw, but if they don’t announce it, I won’t withdraw because I don’t know on which basis. If you are to elect a candidate by consensus, that means that at some stage the last person must leave so that they can do that.”

The minister congratulated her partner in the race, Dr. Jose Antonio Ocampo for his decision to withdraw his candidacy in her favour and appreciated President Goodluck Jonathan and other African presidents for their resolute support.

President Jonathan was among the first African leaders to congratulate Dr. Jim Yong Kim on his election as the new President of the World Bank.

In a a statement signed by his spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, restated the readiness of the Federal Government of Nigeria to continue to build on the existing cordial relationship and cooperation with the global institution.

Meanwhile, the new World Bank president has promised to seek a new alignment of the World Bank Group with a rapidly changing world.

Kim made the commitment yesterday in his acceptance speech.

He said: “I am honored to accept the Executive Directors’ decision to select me as the next President of the World Bank Group. I am delighted to succeed Robert Zoellick, who has served with excellence and distinction during the last five years, and I am grateful to the Bank’s member countries for the broad support I have received.

I have spoken with Minister Okonjo-Iweala and Professor Ocampo. They have both made important contributions to economic development, and I look forward to drawing on their expertise in the years to come”.

‘We have made history’ Full text of statement by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala following the announcement of Dr. Jim Yong Kim as President of the World Bank Group I would like to congratulate Dr Jim Yong Kim on his emergence as President of the World Bank Group. I look forward to working with him, staff and stakeholders of the World Bank Group for the benefit of poor people around the world. Their plight is at the heart of the mandate of the institution and we must never lose sight of that.

With regard to the selection process, it is clear to me that we need to make it more open, transparent and merit-based. We need to make sure that we do not contribute to a democratic deficit in global governance.

Nevertheless, by our participation we have won important victories.

We have shown what is possible. Our credible and merit-based challenge to a long-standing and unfair tradition will ensure that the process of choosing a World Bank president will never be the same again. The struggle for greater equity and fairness has reached a critical point and the hands of the clock cannot be turned back.

I congratulate Dr Jose Antonio Ocampo for being a worthy participant and for his decision to withdraw his candidacy in my favour.

I am proud of Africa for displaying great unity in supporting my candidacy. I am proud of my country Nigeria for standing by me. I want to thank all the African leaders, but particularly President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for his resolute support, along with other leaders President Boni Yayi of Benin Republic, President Alassane Ouattara of Cote d'iVoire, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Chair of the African Union, Mr Jean Ping. Africa has stood for the right principles throughout these processes. I am proud to be African.

I want to thank other developing countries who supported my candidacy. I also thank the Nigerian public, the National Assembly and the Nigerian and international media for their analyses and support. I am deeply grateful to the numerous groups and individuals in different parts of the world that worked so hard and so passionately in my support.

It was a worthwhile battle. Now it is time to move on and contribute to the search for solutions to the many developmental challenges that confront the world.

PAGE 4

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

2015: Buhari's chances ever bright, says Galadima

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam, with agency report

A

s the 2015 Presidential election continues to gather momentum, attracting reactions and counter reactions on the various candidates who have indicated interest, National Secretary, Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Malam Buba Galadima, has said that the leader of CPC, retired Maj.-Gen Muhammudu Buhari's

chances to run again as its presidential candidate in 2015 general elections were ever bright owing to his integrity, patriotism, incorruptibility and competence.

Galadima who stated this yesterday in Abuja, added that genuine politics should go with realistic policies geared toward providing succour to the majority of the electorate in the true spirit of democracy.

He said that Buhari's

involvement in politics was for life to enable him exercise his right to push the Federal Government into catering for the basic needs of Nigerians yearning for a new lease of life.

CPC's scribe said the government should demonstrate more commitment toward alleviating poverty if it must continue to enjoy massive support, noting that poverty, disease and ignorance were issues that cut across sections, tribes and religion

in the country.

“All hands must be on deck to make Nigeria a place where everything works for the overall well-being of the citizenry yearning for constant supply of electricity, good roads, affordable healthcare and qualitative educational system.

“It does not matter who provides these basic needs, where the man comes from or which religion he professes, “the CPC scribe said.

L-R: Managing Director, FMBN, Mr. Gimba Yau Kumo, with Minister Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Amal Pepple, during the commissioning of FMBN staff buses, yesterday in Abuja.

Gunmen kill 2, set schools on fire in Maiduguri From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

G

unmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect yesterday evening raided the Maiduguri railway quarters, in the Borno state capital, killing two yet-to-be identified persons.

It was gathered that the incident occurred at about 5.30pm when three young men, armed with AK47 rifles stormed the area, firing several shots in the air and chased away some neighbors who

By Aminu Imam

U

nity Bank has reported a growth in key balance sheet items in the full year results for the 2011 financial year just released.

The bank’s overall balance sheet size, including contingents, grew significantly by 64% from N309bn in December 2010 to N506bn in December 2011.

Accordding to a press statement issued by the bank yesterday, this growth is in line with the Bank’s overall objective

were said to be chatting outside their houses, before sneaking into the house of their victims.

Although details of the attack were not immediately available as at press time, witnesses said the assailants took everyone unawares as they disguised as strangers after arriving in the area in a tricycle.

The deceased were said to be brothers who have recently moved into a newly built house in the area.

A resident who simply identified himself as Malam Bulama Shettima said that the

gunmen did not hurt all those present at the scene of the incident and that they might have trailed the victims, saying “they simply directed us to enter our houses and that when I peeped from the window, I saw them walking straight to the house which was few meters from mine”.

Personnel of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), who had arrived the area after the assailants had fled, took away the corpses.

Sources at the Borno state Specialists Hospital told newsmen that some plain cloth policemen

attached to the task force have deposited two bodies at the hospital’s morgue.

Spokesman of the state police command, Mr. Samuel Tizhe confirmed the incident, saying no arrest was made Meanwhile, some gunmen also set two schools on fire yesterday.

The affected schools were Kulagorma Primary School and Gomboru II Junior Secondary, all in Maiduguri metropolis.

The gunmen were said to have carried out the attack shortly after the schools were closed for the day.

Unity Bank grows balance sheet by 64% of significantly increasing its market share.

The Bank’s final year result for 2011 showed that the bank also grew its customer deposit by 20% from N222billion as at December 31, 2010 to N267 billion in December 2011.

According to a submission to the Nigerian Stock Exchange these positive growth indicators reflected the bank’s customers continued and growing confidence

in the brand.

Unity Bank further grew loans and advances by 3% from N118bn to N122bn during the same period. The percentage growth would have been much higher but for the sale of assets worth about N20bn to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) during the year in line with the need to tidy up the books and put the bank on the path of sustained profitability.

On the Income Statement, the bank’s operational income grew by 27% from 24.2bn to N30.9bn while operating expenses remained relatively flat.

However, both Gross Earnings and Profit Before Tax(PBT) showed declines of 27% and 77% respectively, being that the previous year’s figures were boosted by shuge recoveries from bad loans which were mainly oneoff transactions.

Civil Defence Corps sued over sack of 260 staff

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

bout 260 sacked staff of the Nigeria security and Civil defence Corps (NSDC) has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to make an order reinstating them back to the services of the Corps as permanent staff.

The plaintiffs listed the NSDC, its commandant general, the attorney general of the federation, minister of the interior ministry and the director/secretary of immigration and prisons service board as co-defendants in the suit.

The 260 laid-off staff of the Civil defense Corps said they are all of Benue state command who were already in service as at 2002 when the Nigeria security and civil defence corps Act 2003 came into force.

They asked the court to hold that by virtue of section 26 (5) of NSCDC Act, 2003 they are entitled to automatic transfer of their services from the dissolved corps to the present corps under the 2003 Act. They want the court to direct the civil defence corps to pay them all their accumulated arrears, salaries, allowances and other emoluments with held since June 28, 2003 to the date of judgement by the court.

The 260 men and women laid off corps members said they were paid N30, 000 across the board when they were disengaged as individual’s emolument or salary in lieu of their entitlement.

The trial Judge, Justice Gladys Olotu fixed April 18, 2012 for hearing in the matter.

DFID funded firms linked to Ibori

B

ritain’s Department for International Development is accused of allowing tens of millions of pounds in UK aid to be invested in Nigerian money laundering fronts, BBC Newsnight has learned.

An equity fund backed by DfIDowned subsidiary CDC Group is being investigated by Nigerian officials.The accusation is that the private fund invested in companies linked to convicted moneylaunderer James Ibori.

DfID says CDC carries out thorough checks before investing in funds.

Ibori, a former governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta States, who looted millions from state coffers, is due to be sentenced today by a UK court having pleaded guilty to 10 counts of money-laundering and conspiracy to defraud.

As his trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court was about to begin in February 2012, Mr Ibori changed his plea to guilty and admitted stealing money from Delta State and laundering it in London through a number of offshore companies.

DfID spent £5m investigating the case, the world’s biggest moneylaundering scam ever brought to justice, and Ibori’s network – which spanned four continents.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 5

FG owes N80bn judgement debts, says Minister

By Abdulwahab Isa

T

he Federal Government has raised alarm over high judgment debts it incurs through court cases by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

As at last count, the proliferation of judgment debts have hit N80 billion with only N12 billion provision in the 2012 budget to offset it leaving a backlog of N68 billion.

The Coordinating Minister for the economy and Minister of finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed government displeasure on judgment debt proliferation and threatened that henceforth MDAs that incurred reckless judgment debt shall be compelled to pay from their budget allocations.

Iweala expressed government worry yesterday in Abuja during question and answer session at a public

‌decries rise in domestic debt

presentation of 2012 budget.

She noted that" we are disturbed that N80 billion of these judgment debts are not paid. We observed that judgment debt is mounting, we will no longer be providing provision for judgment debt, the MDAs will have to pay out of the budget" she said.

The Minister while providing general perspectives on 2012 budget assented last Friday by President Goodluck Jonathan decried mounting rate of domestic debts.

She cautioned that the trend if unchecked, may have a negative consequence on the banking sector.

Nigeria's total debt currently stands at about N6.8 trillion or $ 44 billion with local debt accounting for the highest proportion of N559.6 billion.

However, she said, the country was in a reasonable debt status but expressed strong reservation on unrestrained appetite for incurring huge domestic debt.

She said part of her plan was to bring the domestic borrowing down to N500billion in the medium term plan.

In 2012, the Federal government proposed to spend an aggregate of N4, 8777.21billion, which is made up of the regular budgetary expenditure of N4, 697.21 billion, and N180 billion budgeted for the

implementation of the programmes and projects under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program (SUREP).

She urged the public to take critical interest on budget implementation just as she assured that government through the National Planning Commission was putting monitoring and performance mechanisms in place to gauge budget implementation by MDAs. The Minister stressed the imperative of imbibing saving culture adding that as a nation

that relies on mono product for 90 per cent of its finances, any volatility in the world oil prices was bound to have negative consequences on the economy.

"With the budget in medium term, Nigeria economy has taken a god shape and it has the potential to bring performance.

The economy is robust, growing at a reasonable rate. However we have to watch the down size of the global risk. We need to save during high price in the event that oil price crashes. We need to be mindful of global downs size risk as we did in 2008 and if we adhere to this we would have economy that is performing for the majority of Nigerians" she affirmed.

Civil defence boss laments insecurity From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

T

he Plateau state Commander of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Desmond Chukuma Agu yesterday said they are determined to end the insecurity confronting the country.

Speaking at a two-day training of trainers on conflict early warning organized by by Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP), he expressed concern over the security challenges confronting the country saying it was seriously affecting the economy of Nigeria and should be addressed.

Agu said the country, states, local government areas and communities are in seriously need of peace-building urging all and sundry to preach peace and tolerance in places of worship, public gatherings, schools, motor parks and markets.

According to him, security was everybody's business and that quelling the circle of violence in the country requires the support and cooperation of all irrespective their differences.

The coordinator of Operation Rainbow, a state-owned security outfit, Air Commodore Bala Danbaba appealed to people to always alert security agents of any threat to peace saying early prevention would reduce the cases of violence in the country.

Danbaba represented by Group Captain Danladi Yesufu Baltu (Rtd) called on Plateau citizens to cooperate with government and security personnel in the state advising all and sundry to work and contribute their quota towards the restoration of lasting peace in the state and the country

atlarge.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of CAPP, Kyauta Giwa said the NGO seeks to empower communities to take active role in the democracy and develomental process because every body is important and as such people should be given the opportunity to contribute their quote towards of the sustenance of peace.

She expressed regret that perpetrators of violence and the victims are not engaged in the peace building process rather the state actors assemblied elites to dialogue and discuss the process of peace building.

L-R: President Goodluc Jonathan, receiving the report from Chairman of Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, Mr. Steve Oronsaye, at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Forced marriage: Girl, 19, takes case to human rights commission

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

19-year old girl, Hafsat Sambo who was withdrawn from the Vocational Secondary School in Wase, Plateau state and forced into marriage against her consent has approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Abuja for the enforcement of her fundamental rights.

Hafsatu, in a letter dated April 10, 2012, addressed to the Executive secretary of the From Bala Nasir, Kano

T

here are indications that the upcoming mass marriage of 1000 widows and divorcees sponsored by the Kano state government will hold on May 16,2012 to correspond with the International Family Day. A source at the Kano Hisbah Board confided in Peoples Daily that though a tentative day for the ceremony was yet to be announced by the state government, there were indications that the state government might arrive at the May 16 date set aside by the United Nations to celebrate family day.

human rights commission on her behalf by a human right activist lawyer, Kevin Okoro, asked the commission to help in restoring her right to dignity and liberty of human person as enshrined in Sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 constitution.

The teenager who, on her own enrolled in a secondary school until she was overpowered and forced into marriage, wants the commission to claim N10 million as compensation from the purported bridegroom and the

Inspector General of Police for the role the police played in the saga.

The petitioner also asked the commission to intervene urgently because she is in captivity in the groom's house so that she could be allowed to make her own choice of life and marriage.

The girl who was said to have resolved to either kill herself or kill the said bride groom, had a suitor named Yusuf Yahaya until she was forced on a 50 year-old man by her father, Sambo.

She had earlier approached the

Magistrate Court in Wase that agreed with the girl's parent to withdraw the matter for settlement out of court.

Incidentally, the parent connived with the police who caused her arrest as she emerged out of court and consequently detained her for some days just to coerce her to accept the groom.

After her release from police custody in Wase, the marriage was conducted forcefully into the man's house.

Kano: Mass wedding may hold May 16 Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Kano Hisbah, Malam Musa Tanko however, told our correspondent that the day is not decided yet but would soon hold.

He stated that while screening of potential suitors have already been completed, the exercise is still being conducted on female applicants.

He attributed this to the failure of the female applicants to come out during the screening exercise, adding that while their male counterparts came out en masse for

the screening, the women did not follow suit.

But with the extension allowed for the female applicants to continue with the screening exercise, they are now turning out on daily basis to be screened, he added.

According to the PRO, committee is available throughout the working hours of the day to carry out the screening.

It will be recalled that the Kano state government planned to marry off 1000 women mostly

divorced with a view to stem the anti social problem bedeviling Kano society.

In an interview with Peoples Daily recently, Commander General of Kano Hisbah, Malam Aminu Ibrahim Daurawa stated that most of the societal problems in Kano state could be traced to broken homes and as such, the state government, was trying to do something against these problems.

He stated that at the flag off of the scheme, 100 women would be married off.

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Daniel re-arraigned over 38 count charges, get N500m bail which lasted for over four hours, where he was also alleged by the crime commission of receiving kickbacks, estimated to be N200million.

Peoples Daily reports that both the accused counsels led by Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) and the prosecuting counsel led by Rotimi Jacobs for over three hours engaged themselves on argument on bail application for the suspect.

While Daniel lawyers argued that he should be granted bail for personal recognition and

having not committed any crime, within and outside Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission {EFCC} lawyers argued that he may likely interfere with the trial.

The EFCC further argued that, information at its disposal has it that, Daniel allegedly keep killer squad, who have been threatening some of the witnesses in the case, hence the need for the court to consider the lives of the witnesses In his application for bail,

Former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel at the Ogun High Court IV, in Abeokuta, during his trial over allegations of stealing, bribery, fraudulent conversion of public funds to his personal use, yesterday.

Photo: NAN

Daniel,s lead counsel, Tayo Oyetibo told the court he has filled a 27 paragraph affidavit in support of bail application for his client. He further told the court that a counter affidavit as well as written address were also filled, seeking adoption of the written address and rely on the affidavit.

In his oral submission, Oyetibo said the most important criteria was to ensure that the accused appear in court at his trial, promising the court that his client will not jump bail if granted.

Reacting to EFCC's counter affidavit on the bail application, Oyetibo described the counter affidavit as a "gross abuse of court process", saying the action was premeditated and organized vendetta on his client. Oyetibo alleged that Ogun state government is collaborating with EFCC to prosecute Daniel.

However, opposing the bail application by Daniel's counsel, EFCC's counsel, Rotimi Jacobs said he has filed a 22 paragraph counter affidavit deposed to by Danladi Yata, a police officer and as well filed a written address in opposing the bail.

In his ruling, Justice Olanrewaju Mabekoje granted the accused bail in the sum of N500million, with two sureties, who must be resident in the state, with evidences of owing landed properties; failure which may landed the accused in prisons detention until next hearing. He also ruled that his passport should remain in custody.

Meanwhile, the case for further hearing was adjourned by the judge till May, 7, 2012.

Magistrates' Court, Lagos.

They, however, pleaded not guilty and were each granted bail in the sum of N100, 000 with two sureties in like sum.

The prosecutor, ASP Akinlabe Adegoke, said that the duo allegedly stole one refrigerator, a television set, a standing fan and a DVD player from Akpan's apartment.

He added that the accused also stole the cash sum of N100, 000 on Sept. 15, 2011,

and broke into the house and packed out Akpan's luggage without his consent. ``When the complainant came, he discovered that the missing items were no longer among the properties he left inside his apartment,'' he said.

Adegoke said that the alleged offences contravened Sections 278, 305 and 409 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos state.

Magistrate Bola Osunsanmi adjourned the case till May 6 for substantive trial. (NAN)

From Dimeji Kayode-Dedeji, Abeokuta

F

ormer Ogun state Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel was yesterday re-arraigned in court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on 38 count charge bordering on stealing, failure to declare assets, corruptly obtaining properties among others.

He was docked at the High Court 3 located in Isabo area of Abeokuta, Ogun state capital,

Father, son in court for alleged burglary From Iliya Garba, Minna

T

he police in Lagos yesterday arraigned a father and his son for allegedly burgling the apartment of one Issac Akpan and stealing items worth N175,000.

The accused, Wilson Eka, 60, and his son, Anietie Ekanem, 28, are facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, burglary and stealing before the Somolu

from Akpan's house at No. 1, Humani St., Somolu, Lagos.

He said that Eka of No. 18, Agati St., Fadeyi, was the caretaker to the complainant's apartment, where Ekanem was also living.

Adegoke said that the first accused, Eka, had given Akpan a quit notice before they allegedly broke into the complainant's apartment. ``Without waiting for the quit notice to expire, the accused went

Kwara Muslims, Christians resolve to dialogue From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

he Kwara state Muslims and Christian leaders have resolved to continue to live together in peace and resolve any misunderstand that may ensued between them through dialogue.

The assurance was given by Chairman of the Kwara State InterReligious Committee, Alhaji Mohammed Shaaba Koro at a meeting with the Kwara state government officials in Ilorin on Sunday evening.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor, Media and Communications Dr. Femi Muyideen Akorede in a statement issued yesterday stated that the meeting was chaired by the Secretary to State Government, SSG, Alhaji Isiaka Gold, who convened it on behalf of the state government following a petition to the Kwara state Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, by Christian Association of Nigeria (Kwara State Chapter) over alleged destruction of the property of Living Faith Church, Sango, Ilorin, by yet unidentified youths.

He quoted Alhaji Koro to have said that "Christian and Muslims in the state will continue to live together in peace and harmony as both Islam and Christianity advocate peaceful coexistence. All parties to the dispute over the construction of a Church on the piece of land in question to maintain the peace as all petitions on the issue have been referred to the committee by the state government for an amicable resolution".

The statement added that the SSG, Alhaji Gold stressed the state government's determination to promote and defend the religious harmony in the state as development could only take place in an atmosphere of peace.

Gold according to the statement expressed confidence in the capability of the committee, which he said comprises respected religious figures and people of integrity from both religions, to come up with an enduring solution to the dispute.

He therefore warned that the full weight of the law will be brought to bear on any group or persons who disturb the peace or otherwise take the law into their hands under any guise, stressing that government will do all it in its power to promote religious tolerance and harmony for which the state is traditionally renowned.

Fuel subsidy: ‘Reps under pressure to implicate NNPC GMD’

By Abdulwahab Isa and Lawrence Olaoye

F

ew hours to the submission of the reports of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee that investigated the nation's fuel subsidy regime, fears have been raised that the panel has been placed under intense pressure to sanction the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation

(NNPC), Austin Oniwon.

Peoples Daily learnt that some disgruntled officials of the Petroleum Ministry who are not happy with the disposition of the GMD are hell bent on implicating him in order to get him out of office.

It was gathered that most of the panelists who are averse to the plot are insisting that the reports must conform to the available facts presented to the Committee.

Those kicking against the

implication plot are of the view that since most of the atrocities in the oil ministry were committed before Oniwon's appointment, it would be unjust to get him punished for a sin he never committed.

But it was learnt that the lobby group was very desperate to punish Oniwon for his perceived stubbornness, uncompromising stance and adherence to rules on all issues.

Our source declare "The action of this lobby group might not be unconnected with the indictment of several individuals and companies for uncompleted or non-delivery of fuel allocations and the recommendation of the report for them to refund of monies collected.

"If the report is allowed to be presented in its uninfluenced form, then this group of people would not only be exposed but

prosecuted because these frauds predated Oniwon," she said.

But in a swift reaction, the Chairman of the probe panel, Rep Farouk Lawan who was contacted through text denied ever being under any pressure to indict anybody.

He said "No, we are not under pressure to indict anybody, we shall present the facts as they are and try to be as fair and objective as possible." al Government.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 7

EFCC urged to probe Adavi LG finance clerks From Sam Egwu, Lokoja n appeal has gone to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and investigate finance clerks in Adavi local government council of Kogi state for allegedly embezzling the sum of 155

A

million naira in the last eleven months.

This came up from the preliminary report of the staff audit exercise initiated by the local government chapter of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) which was made available to journalists in

Lokoja.

It was discovered that about 443 ghost workers were on the payroll of the local government, while some people were discovered to have presented fake letters of appointment to the screening committee during the exercise.

In a press statement issued by

the Dynamic Wheelers Club, (DWC), yesterday and signed by the President, Mr. Isah Asimole called on all relevant anti-graft agencies to show interest in the event going on in the local government council with a view to rescuing the local government of massive corruption in the council

L-R: Managing Director, FMBN, Mr. Gimba Yau Kumo, with Minister Housing and Urban Development, Ms. Amal Pepple, during the commissioning of FMBN staff buses, yesterday in Abuja.

Meteorologist urges adherence to building code

A

meteorologist, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, yesterday urged government at all levels to ensure adherence to building code to enhance flood control.

Ologunorisa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the presence of illegal structures compounded the flood problem in some coastal communities.

“One major cause of flooding in some major towns and cities in Nigeria today is the increasing number of illegal structures blocking the free flow of water.

“We cannot continue to lose lives and property worth millions of naira to preventable flood-related disasters within and around our environment.

“We need to go back to the drawing board and ensure that structures are erected not on flood plains, but built in line with the government approved building codes.’’

Ologunorisa, , who is also the Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Studies, Osun State University, Osogbo, advocated for the demolition of illegal structures and the relocation of those living in

flood-prone areas.

He urged governments to embark on the construction of drains and the channelisation of rivers to enhance the free flow of flood water from communities.

The meteorologist also urged residents to desist from dumping refuse into drains.

“To avert flood-related emergencies in our communities, environmental law enforcement agencies must ensure that illegal structures are pulled down and such places

declared disaster risk areas.

“We need to be proactive now to ensure the safety of lives and property, especially now that we are still expecting more rains,’’ he said.

The meteorologist urged inhabitants of flood-prone communities to take proactive measures to checkmate disasters.

He appealed to relevant government agencies and environmental NGOs to sensitise inhabitants on the dangers of living in such areas.

(NAN)

UNICEF prepares kids as (CPiE) organized problem solvers Emergencies

by UNICEF D-field office Bauchi From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

U

nited Nation Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has said that children need to learn life’s emotional and practical lessons to strengthen their ability to solve problem and achieve their goals.

This was said during the fiveday training for 40 Child Protection Partners from Gombe state on Child Protection in

in collaboration with Save The Children UK, in Karu local government area of Nasarawa state.

Speaking while presenting a paper titled: “The Core Developmental Needs of Children” Mr. Daniel Istifanus Bisu from Save the Children UK said: “Unconditional care also plays a part in a child’s religious upbringing such as in saying that God loves you but spiritual love by itself is not enough.”

We need agric university in North-West, says Emir of Gwandu From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

T

he Emir of Gwandu and chairman of Kebbi state Traditional Rulers, Alhaji Mohammed Eliyasu Bashar has made an appeal to the Federal Government to establish a University of Agriculture in the north west.

He made the appeal when members of the Federal Government Polytechnics visitation panel who visited the Waziri Umar Federal Polytechnic in the state, paid him a courtesy visit in his palace yesterday. The Monarch added that the major occupation of the people from north west was agriculture.

In his remark, the chairman of the panel, Dr. Waheed Qadeer said the members visited the monarch to get royal blessings in their bid to foster good relationship with the staff and students of the institution.

According to him, they have no doubt in the ability of the body headed by Mr. Emmanuel Icha to come out with a result that will be clearly different from the various past mock screening exercises in the council stressing, “we are worried greatly that the constant and unending presence of ‘Ghost workers’ syndrome in Adavi local government council has negatively affected its growth and development, to such extend that the council has merely become a “pay center” rather than development oriented body which a local government council is meant to be.”

Also speaking on the matter the chairman of the screening committee, Mr. Emmanuel Icha confirmed to journalists that some of those who presented fake employment letters, confessed to the screening committee that some top officers at the local government issued the fake letters to them.

The committee discovered that the education department had the largest ghost workers of 100 people, works department, 96 ghost workers, Personnel, 74 ghost workers, Health, 63 ghost workers, Budgetary, 31 ghost workers and Agric department, has 25 ghost workers.

All efforts to reach the DLG of Adavi local government area proved abortive as his cell phone was switched off, even as his PRO absolved his boss of any culpability in the matter.

NOA to compile list of traffic offenders

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

I

n view of the rampant cases of traffic offences by motorists, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has said that it will partner the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to compile the list of traffic offenders across the country in order to guarantee safety on the roads.

The Director-General of the agency, Mike Omeri, who stated this during a visit to the Chairman of Daar Communications, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi in Abuja, added that the fight against social vices required the active involvement of all Nigerians.

He called on Nigerians to forward the vehicle registration numbers of erring drivers to the agency for compilation and publication, saying the list will also be forwarded to the relevant law enforcement agencies to assist them track offenders and bring them to book.

A statement issued yesterday by the Assistant Director, Press in the agency, Fidel Agu stressed that the agency was determined to bring about moral re-orientation that cuts across all the strata of the society, adding that the new approach will involve a comprehensive sectoral approach and collaboration with relevant agencies.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 8

2015: Jonathan’s hurdle to Presidency

President Goodluck Jonathan

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

B

esides the clamour from the Northern extraction of the country that president Goodluck Jonathan is not eligible to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015, another strong force within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has gone to court, in an effort to thwart Jonathan's chances of participating in the election come 2015.

Perhaps, Jonathan's declaration early last month that he is serving his first term in office as a duly elected President of the country is angered the chieftain of the party, Mr. Cyriacus Njoku, who, on March 20, 2012 filed a suit before an Abuja High Court asking it to stop President Jonathan from contesting presidential elections in 2015.

Njoku who viewed President Jonathan's statement made earlier in March as an indication of expression of interest to contest for the Presidency in 2015, premised

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar

his action on the grounds that he (President Jonathan) is already in his second term in office as the President of the country and cannot be a candidate in 2015.

The Plaintiff who joined the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the second and third Respondent said, President Jonathan cannot swear to an Oath of Office thrice in the light of Section 137(1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution.

The suit filed on behalf of the PDP Chieftain through his counsel, Mr. Osuagwu Ugochukwu, raised two questions for the court to determine.

These issues are: "Whether Section 135(2) of the Constitution which specifies a period of four years in office for the President is only available or applicable to a person elected on the basis of an actual election or includes one in which a person assumes the position of President by operation of law as in the case of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan "Whether Section 137(1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution which

provides that a person shall not be qualified for election to the office of President if he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections applies to the 1st Defendant who first took an Oath of Office as substantive President on May 6, 2010 and took a second Oath of Office as President on May 29, last year".

The present legal action by Njoku makes the second time he is dragging President Jonathan to court over the seat of the president of the country.

He had in August 2010 attempted to stop PDP from allowing Jonathan to participate in the PDP presidential primaries of January 2011.

Njoku, from Zuba Ward in Gwagwalada Area Council and with PDP registration number 1622735, had urged the court to ask the PDP to respect its principle on zoning formula in line with Article 7. 2(c) of the party's Constitution.

He said the declaration of Jonathan, who was the third defendant in the suit then, to contest the presidency on the platform of the PDP, was contrary to Article7.2(c) of the PDP 2009 Constitution (as amended).

The Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Justice Lawan Gummi who handled the matter dismissed the zoning suit instituted

by Njoku.

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan, in a strong objection to Njoku's suit against him, asked the court to discountenance it, describing it as an academic exercise meant to make the court labour in futility.

He also told the Court that he is currently doing his first term of four years in office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as provided by the 1999 constitution.

Jonathan also seized the opportunity to say that he has not indicated or announced anywhere that he would be contesting for the presidential elections in 2015.

A 15-paragraph counter affidavit deposed to by Mr. Osahon Okeaya-Inneh, a lawyer in the law firm of President Jonathan's counsel, Mr. Ade Okeaya-Inneh (SAN) described the suit as frivolous and vexatious that failed to disclose reasonable cause of action.

The deponent said, "I am a counsel in the law firm of Ade Okeaya-Inneh and co. counsel to the 1st defendant in this suit, by virtue of which I am conversant with the facts of this case "I have the consent and authority of the 1st defendant/ respondent to depose to this affidavit. When my law firm was briefed by the 1st defendant to represent him in his action, I, together with Mr. Matthew Aikhionbare (Senior Special Assistant to the President) and Dr Reuben Abati (Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President) meticulously went through the 11-paragraph affidavit of the plaintiff in support of his originating summons", the affidavit stated.

He further added also that President Jonathan is currently

General Muhammadu Buhari doing his first term of four years in office as the president of Nigeria as provided by the 1999 constitution as amended, a status and position he said is formidably backed by the 1999 constitution of the country.

According to the affidavit, "The constitution of Nigeria only makes provision for a president to contest for not more than two terms of four years each. The constitution recognizes the Executive President's tenure of office to be four years.

"I was informed by Dr Abati on April 4, 2012 at about 5.30 pm in his office and I verily believe that the 1st defendant has not indicated or announced anywhere whether in words or in writing that he will contest for the presidential elections to be conducted in 2015.

"Late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua contested and won the presidential elections conducted in 2007 for a one term of four years. He was the president from May 29, 2007 until sometime in May 2010 when he passed on.

Yar'Adua's four years was to end

Vice- President Namadi Sambo

in 2011".

Jonathan further averred that on May 6, 2010 he was sworn in as the president after the demise of the Late President Yar'Adua thereby completing Yara'Adua's 12 months of the four years tenure.

He declared that this is the first time he is coming to power as the president of Nigeria through a conducted election wherein he was voted as the presidential candidate of his party, PDP. Besides, the President told the court that the plaintiff did not attach copies of his recent tax clearance certificate from Federal Inland Revenue service commission and his PDP membership card as proof of who he claims to be.

The trial Judge, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi however fixed April 18, 2012 to hear Jonathan's application for an extension of time within which his counsel can file his memorandum of appearance and counter affidavit in response to the plaintiff's suit dated March 20, 2012.

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Loyalists welcome NECO registrar’s reappointment with peaceful rally From Iliya Garba, Minna

S

ome selected staff loyal to council NECO, Prof. Promise Okpala, yesterday staged a peaceful rally to express their support and appreciation over his extension of tenure for the next three years.

Our correspondent reports that the demonstrators converged at

the premises of the conference hall before embarking on a peaceful proceeding to the administrative block as early as 8am in the morning with placards reading “We say no to division in NECO”, “NASU, stop distorting facts about NECO”, “PROF. Okpala has been reappointed we want to give him a chance”, as well as “Who is sponsoring the so called union?”.

In his remarks, the officer in charge of NECO at the FCT, Abuja, Alhaji Abdul Mustapha pointed out that power comes from God and He gives to whomsoever He desires without making consultation with any body.

He appealed to all those who were against the reappointment of the registrar to take solace on, the fact that it was destined by God,

stressing that, “as employees of the organisation we cannot dictate the government on who to be appointed as head of the organisation ”.

Also contributing, Mrs. Kofo Adesina urged all warring factions in the organisation to have a change of mind in the interest of the Nigerian child, adding that, “lets give peace a chance in order

to move NECO forward”.

Reacting to the procession by some staff, the caretaker committee Chairman of NASU, NECO branch Malam Abdulrasheed Rabana condemned the procession, saying, “it is all part of the intimidation tactics been hatched by the management against members of the union as well as other staff with integrity”.

Customs reverses goods declaration benchmark From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

L-R: Former Enugu state Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Chuka Ayogu, with Director, Science Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Prof. Christian Nwajagu, addressing a news conference on the activities of the institute, yesterday in Enugu. Photo: NAN

Social crusader seeks release of detained Nigerians abroad A

concerned Nigerian and a crusader against illegal detention of Nigerians abroad, Engr Joseph Oyekanmi has appealed to the Federal Government to commence negotiations for the release of all Nigerians detained by various foreign governments.

Speaking while addressing reporters at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Mohammed Airport Ikeja, Engineer Oyekanmi, regretted that some innocent Nigerians abroad were subjected to undue hardship and illegal detentions in those countries.

He noted that some of them were detained as a result of expired visas, which also needed the intervention of the Nigerian High Commission in that country by

issuing them travelling certificate to enable them come home.

According to him, in Malaysia, most Nigerians have been allowed to suffer in prisons there since last year following their detention in camp by the country’s immigration officials and appealed to the Federal Government to rise up and ensure the release of those Nigerians in order to come home

and contribute to the development of the nation.

He wondered why Nigerians could be treated without dignity outside the shores of this country adding that non Nigerians in Nigeria were given opportunity than Nigerians.

“I want the Nigerian High Commission in Malaysia and other countries to commence negotiations for the release of those

Nigerians in the detention camps and appeal to the Federal Government not to allow its citizens to be subjected to untold hardship in foreign countries as various foreigners here are well treated.”

Oyekanmi also called on the chairman House Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri Erewa to carefully look into the matter with a view to ensuring justice.

Suswam warns against extra-budgetary expenditure From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

G

overnor Gabriel Suswam of Benue state has warned that government would not tolerate extra-budgetary expenditures by ministries and extra-ministerial departments.

LOSS OF DOCUMENT This is to notify the General Public the loss of passport issue to MR. CHADI ANTONIE EL GHAZAL with Serial No. RL0947596 and Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and ALLIEN SCHEME (CERPAC) Serial No. AO 0939156 issue to him by Nigeria Immigration Service is declared missing.

All effort made to trace the said documents prove abortive.

If found, please contact the nearest police station or Nigeria Immigration Service.

The Governor, who gave this stern warning yesterday at the signing of the state's 2012 Appropriation bill into law, promised that his government will ensure speedy implementation of the budget by accessing enough funds to meet all it stipulations.

Suswam commended the legislature for the thorough manner it handled the budget just as he advised implementers of the budget to be conversant with it.

“If you look at this year and what the State has received within the last three months, it is clear that the State would be able to implement the budget to the latter and I promise you that I will submit the 2013 Budget proposals earlier than before”, he said.

In the same vein, Suswam signed into law 5 other bills including; the Benue State

Independent Electorate Commission, BSIEC law which borders on appointment and tenure of members of the Commission, reviewed local government law that has reduced the tenure of council chairmen as well as councilors from three to two years, a bill for law to make provision for recurrent expenditure year 2012, another bill for a law to make provision for capital expenditure year 2012 as well as bill for a law for the amendment of the State Electoral law year 2012.

While lamenting over the delay in conduct of local government elections in the State, he attributed this to the anomalies noticed with the law establishing BSIEC but assured that a date would soon be fixed for the conduct of the election as soon as a new State electoral Commission is constituted.

he Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has suspended the bench mark initiative which was introduced last January for goods valuation and reverted to the old order which allows importers and agents to under-declare their consignment and face the consequences.

The suspension of the initiative which has pitched the Service against importers and clearing agents was informed by the desire

by Customs to ensure full compliance with extant laws.

In furtherance of the change in approach, the Area Controllers have been directed to invoke Sections 46 and 47 of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) which stipulate outright seizures for goods involved in cases of under declaration, followed by prosecutions of the offending importers and/ or agents of such consignments.

The Comptroller-General Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, has also given approval for setting up of a broadbased committee comprising the Customs, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), importers, freight forwarders (agents) and the media as a transparent body to manage a new Container Inpection Concession programme.

He said Customs will, however, continue to encourage importers and their agents to focus on honest declaration, pointing out that the controversy surrounding bench mark model was not on the issue of value but that of quantity.

“As an encouragement to make importers and agents embrace the virtue of honest declaration, incentives will be given to importers and agents who bring in goods five consecutive times without any discrepancies in their declarations,” the CGC declared, stressing that their consignment will be granted fast track concession, and their goods could be taken into their warehouses before Customs will examine it.

He explained that benchmarking was meant to be an administrative convenience to help importers, and highlighted that since the importers and their agents have indicated a low capacity to manage it, the NCS has therefore decided to suspend it.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Former NTA staff dies at 56 From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna

T

he death has occurred of veteran journalist, Alhaji Hussaini Baba Ahmed, aged 56 years.

Late Hussaini Baba Ahmed worked with the Nigerian Television Authority,NTA, in Sokoto and the national headquarters, Abuja as well as the Kaduna State Media Corporation (KSMC), Kaduna. During his career as a journalist, Alhaji Baba won the best cameraman award for “Cock Crow at Dawn”, a popular NTA programme.

He left behind his wife, five children and brothers, Mahamoon Baba Ahmed and Dr. Hakeem Baba Ahmed, a seasoned civil servant.

He has since been buried according to Islamic rites in his Zaria home.

PAGE 11

Police kill prison warder in Bayelsa, DPO, others arrested T

ragedy struck in Yenagoa Sunday evening when an Inspector with the Nigeria Prisons Service, Mr Erezidor Ugo was allegedly killed by a policeman during a scuffle.

The incident, according to an eyewitness, occurred opposite Wisdom Estate, along Nikton Road in the Kpansia suburb of Yenagoa, Bayelsa.

It was gathered that the deceased, was shot in his house while entertaining two of his colleagues, who came to felicitate

with him for buying a new car.

A police patrol team, led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ekeki Division, Mr Nemi Iwoh, was said to have arrived the area in response to a distress call from the area, which reported gunshots being fired in the vicinity.

The police team was said to have noticed one of the Prison Warders carrying a gun and tried to disarm him, but he allegedly refused to hand over the gun and in the ensuing scuffle it went off and killed Ugo.

However, wife of the deceased, Mrs. Binafegha Ugo claimed that her husband was shot dead by the police in her presence and that of her six-year-old daughter.

Ugo, who was said to have been shot in the abdomen, was immediately rushed to the Glory Land Hospital, Ovom, where he died.

When NAN visited the hospital, the body of the deceased was found covered on a hospital bed with his relations and friends wailing.

The Police Public Relations

Bauchi uses meager resources for citizens, says Commissioner

Katsina Pension Board pays N70m monthly

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

B

T

he Executive Secretary, Katsina State Local Government Pension Board, Alhaji Yusuf Barmo, says the board is paying more than N70 million monthly to pensioners.

Barmo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Katsina yesterday that since the state government settled the pension arrears of N721 million in 2010, the board had continued to pay pensions as at when due.

According to him, from 2011 to date, the board does not owe any pensioner in all the 34 local government areas of the state.

He said: “The board will continue to pay retired officers pensions between 22nd and 23rd of every month, while gratuity of every retired officer will be settled one month after retirement.

“Gratuity for January was settled in February and that of February was paid in March while the March gratuity would be paid this month.”

L-R: Director, Land Warfare, Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), Brigadier-Gen. Johnson Oladeinde, Director of Air Warfare, Air Commodore Godwin Ekagbo, and Director, Joint Studies, Brigadier-Gen. Nsor Ojiji, during the closing ceremony of AFCSC Security Training Workshop, at the weekend in Jaji, Kaduna dtate. Photo: NAN

2011 budget recorded 80% implementation, says minister

M

inister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, said in Abuja yesterday that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) achieved 80 per cent implementation of the 2011 budget.

Yerima made the observation on the occasion of the public presentation of the 2012 budget, which was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday.

Officer, ASP Eguavoen Emokpai confirmed the incident, saying all parties involved in the incident, including the DPO and a Prison Warder had been arrested.

The family of the deceased had at about 7 pm retrieved the corpse from the hospital and placed it at the entrance of the Police Command Headquarters, demanding for ‘justice’.

Security had been beefed up in and around the police headquarters to avert any break down of law and order. (NAN)

Jonathan assented to the N4.6 trillion budget, which had an additional 180 billion naira for special programmes, based on the oil benchmark of 72 dollar per barrel.

Ngama said the 2011 budget, passed in June 2011, was loaded with many new projects, which forced the government to go into virements.

Notwithstanding these challenges, he said the MDAs achieved

a record budget implementation of 80 per cent by December 2011, up from below 40 per cent in November of the same year.

He lauded the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for coming out with a report on how to galvanise efforts to implement the budget.

The minister said OkonjoIweala encouraged the MDAs to study and follow up on the report.

“It was like a magic that in 30

days when we called all the heads of the MDAs to come and explain why they were below 40 per cent implementation, it turned out that in 30 days most of them had achieved 80 per cent budget implementation.

“This is because we already had works completed, certified and waiting for payment but we had a budget last year which allocated most of the funding to works that we have not yet started.” (NAN)

auchi state Commissioner of Information, Engr.

Mohammed Damina has said that the Yuguda-led administration in the state has been utilizing its meager resources for the benefit of most citizens.

The Commissioner, who was speaking while receiving the State Public Enlightenment Committee on programmes, activities, and achievements of the Yuguda administration during a courtesy visit, observed that the committee came at a time when tongues were lashing government’s actions and inactions.

Engr. Mohammed Damina while assuring the Committee of his Ministry’s support and cooperation, said the two organs would work together to build a credible image for the government.

Damina urged the committee to challenge or respond appropriately to any person or group of persons hell-bent on dragging the state government into the mud.

The Chairman of the 12-man committee, Alhaji Bappah Haruna Disina described as appropriate the setting up of the committee especially when adversaries are hurling stones on the government, saying, “We will return fire for fire with those sabotaging the efforts of Yuguda administration”.

Disina enumerated various achievements of the committee which, he recalled, was set up in 2008, stating that his committee was always ready to accept any responsibility assigned to it.

South-South govs plead with NASS to pass Petroleum Industry Bill

T

he governors of states in the South-South zone have appealed to members of the National Assembly to expedite action in the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill.

Gov. Liyel Imoke of Cross River made the appeal yesterday in Uyo at the end of the Governors’ Forum with members of the National Assembly from the zone.

Imoke, who spoke on behalf of

the forum, said that the delay in the passage of the bill had impacted negatively on the SouthSouth states.

According to him, the forum decries the long delay in the passage of the bill but commends the Federal Government for its effort in presenting the bill to the National Assembly.

“On the Petroleum Industry Bill, while we note the long delay

in its passage, which has impacted negatively on the states, we commend the recent effort by the Federal Government to reintroduce the bill.

“We therefore call on the Federal Government, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the various committees drafting the bill, as a matter of urgency, to finalise the passage of the bill.

“We also urged members of the

National Assembly to ensure the speedy passage of the bill as submitted, so that the nation at large can benefit from the resources,” Imoke said.

He said that the governors also agreed to put together ideas for the benefit of the South-South people and the country in the proposed constitutional amendment.

He said: “On the proposed

constitution amendment, the meeting agreed that it was necessary to put together ideas and appreciates the commonality of our people to speak with one voice during the process.”

The forum appealed to those, who are aggrieved in the country, to utilise the constitutional process to seek redress rather than embark on the destruction of lives and property. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

E

Malawi’s commendable political succession

ven though the former VicePresident of Malawi, Mrs. Joyce Banda, has since been sworn in as president, following the sudden death of former President Bingu WaMutharika, the palpable tension and anxiety that was generated across the country over succession may yet trigger a crisis with unpleasant consequences. Former President Mutharika, who fell out with his vicepresident as he was ending his second and final term in office, had expelled Mrs. Banda from the ruling party, and plucked out his younger brother, Peter Wa-Mutharika from his teaching job in the United States, positioning him to take over at the end of his term.

Peter was serving as attorneygeneral in his brother's cabinet, while waiting to become president. The near perfect arrangement for a political coronation was however punctuated in South Africa last week following a fatal heart attack. Even with the president's sudden demise, his inner circle kept it secret for two days, manoeuvering how to push the president's brother to the presidency.

The Supreme Court which had earlier stopped the seemingly desperate president from pushing the vice-president from office intervened again, confirming that only the vicepresident could constitutionally succeed the late president, party affiliation notwithstanding. Mrs. Banda has earlier founded her own party, the Peoples Party, after she was expelled from the ruling party. The Supreme Court by declaring Mrs.

Banda the legal successor to the late president halted what would have been a dirty political infighting. But nobody expected the inner circle of the late president to go to sleep, as political defeat in Africa does not necessarily mean a mere political sabbatical to reinvigorate and restrategise as in advanced western democracies.

Political defeat means a life-long consignment to political irrelevance.

“

Working with Banda and expanding the democratic frontiers of their country through upholding constitutionalism would in the end be in the interest of all Malawians Fighting back dirty and even with desperation to disrupt the entire system is usually the rule of the game.

Joyce Banda, now the president, undoubtedly suffered political persecution but must now, in our view, eschew vendetta. The easiest thing President Banda could do now is to round up the inner circle of the former leader who orchestrated her humiliation out of the ruling party and inside government, but we urge her not to do the easiest thing. We are not

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”

asking the president to sleep with the enemy, who may never be done with intrigues and manoeuvres but must reassure Malawians that their young democracy threatened by the heavyhanded antics of the late president and his henchmen is more sure-footed under her guide and care. Banda's litmus test would be the forthcoming elections, and whether she would keep the political space and playing field level for all eligible voters.

We in the Peoples Daily use this auspicious moment to salute the unwavering courage and indomitable spirit of Mrs. Banda. Facing down an unremitting political persecution with nothing but the Constitution and refusing to buckle or opt out when that would have been the safest thing is a legacy of political struggle in the continent.

We also counsel the supporters of the late president to eschew bitterness and see the unfolding scenario in their country as a triumph of constitutionalism and take pride that their country is beaming the crucial light of enlightenment on the continent. Working with Banda and expanding the democratic frontiers of their country through upholding constitutionalism would in the end be in the interest of all Malawians.

For Peter Wa-Mutharika, the crown prince that did not become, we counsel that his day might still come under the sun. In spite of anxieties and tension following the president's demise, we rejoice that Malawi managed a smooth transition of power.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE EDITOR, DAILY AHMED I. SHEKARAU

DIRECTOR/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND RICHARD IHEDIWA

GM PUBLICATIONS ABDULAZEEZ ABDULLAHI MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

By Sufuyan Ojeifo

I

have, for a long time, been very worried about the Almajiri phenomenon in the northern part of the country. My sensibility is always touched whenever I take my children to school in the morning in Abuja and I see these children swarming round vehicles that have been stopped either by the traffic lights or traffic wardens, begging for alms, when they should be in school.

The modus of begging is diverse, depending on location and/or environment.

The almajiris operate on the streets.

They also move from house to house to beg for alms. A majority of them parade one disability or the other. But begging is not all about the almajiris. Quite a number of them, in some other locations, especially in the northwest of the country, attend informal Islamic schools. In fact, not a few of them engage in some form of manual labour to eke out a living.

But all of these engagements do not conduce to anything dignifying. They do not translate to westernization or modernization. They do not bolster civilization within the context of western education. The absence of western education has always made nonsense of the Islamic education (the study of Arabic language and the Quran) to which most, if not all, of the almajiris have always been subjected. We all know that Islamic education has built and consolidated the religious component of the lives of these almajiris. A good number of them have the incredible capacity to

PAGE 13

Now a world of opportunities for the Almajiris recite the Quran. But is recitation of the Quran all about life in a society that places premium on formal education qualifications?

The religious indoctrination, without the preponderating influence of western education, has unfortunately helped to build an army of zealots who have become ready tools in the hands of the political elite, nay powerseeking politicians, who use violence induced by religion to settle scores. These almajiris have wittingly or unwittingly lent themselves to despicable usage by these power mongers.

But for those who have been lucky to become Islamic scholars and leaders through the exposure to the study of Arabic and Quran, there is an understandable limitation: lack of western education. In recent times, due to the cosmopolitan nature of Islamic propagation, there has been the need to deploy the instrumentality of western education to assist the propagation of Islam. We live in a dynamic, ever-changing world and the almajiri system, within the context of socialization, is not an exception.

This is why there was a deep sense of understanding when on Wednesday, 9th April 2008, a Bill for the Establishment of National Commission for the Eradication of Child Destitution was introduced and read for the first time in the

Senate. The Bill was sponsored by Senator Umar A. Tafidan Argungu (Kebbi North Senatorial District) and forty other members. The Bill passed through the second reading and was committed to the Senator Eme Uffot-Ekaette-led Committee on Women Affairs for further legislative action. The Committee was to organize a public hearing on the Bill to receive input from stakeholders preparatory to third reading and passage. It never happened in the sixth Senate; but nothing could obliterate the record of the effort made by Argungu and his colleagues.

It is significant that credit should be given to the Argungu team for adverting legislative attention to the worrisome almajiri system in the north. In his lead debate during the second reading of the Bill, Argungu said the Bill was to provide for the establishment of a commission to serve as government intervention programme for eradication of child destitution from the society. He stated that, “It is also to harmonize the system with western and vocational curricular to give the destitute child a sense of belonging and purposeful future in the society.”

According to him, “…These are children who were let out by their parents/guardians to study Arabic and the Quran, which was later referred to as the Almajiri system…. Today, the Almajiri

system has been corrupted by the operators and turned millions of under-aged children into beggars who otherwise would have become useful citizens to themselves, the society, the nation and humanity. The fact, that there are millions of these under-aged children thrown into destitution, calls for concern of all of us.

“Undoubtedly, the problem of child destitution has brought about profound negative effect on our cities and it may have in one way or the other added to the huge statistics of crimes and illiterate population in the society.

It is very sad that the system has succeeded in inculcating negative traits and influence in those children who were shepherded into cities without proper upkeep to roam the streets begging for alms.

“This ugly scenario in most of our cities will convince any person that the menace of Almajiri system (child destitution) has eluded the social reforms of government, as multitude of under-aged children swarm shopping centres, motor parks, petrol stations, restaurants, night clubs, beer parlors and brothels looking for pittance and handout on which to survive…. Without basic education as a tool for survival, these children are readily willing tools of selfish leaders for the destabilization of any constituted authority….

“Therefore, the establishment of the National Commission for the Eradication of Child Destitution would facilitate the integration of the almajiri schools into western education while still maintaining their purposeful identity. The Commission should take a census of all almajiris in the country with a view to collating the necessary data to classify and integrate them variously into primary and secondary or vocational education….”

It is sad that the Senate could not push through the legislative framework for the eradication of the almajiri menace but it is heartwarming that without a legislative framework, the Executive arm of government has now moved to confront the menace head-on. On Tuesday, April 10, 2012, news filtered in from the seat of the Caliphate, Sokoto, that President Goodluck Jonathan had inaugurated the first Almajiri Model Primary School in Gagi area of the state.

Jonathan was reported to have said that the initiative was meant to provide the almajiris with conventional modern skills that would enable them to be productive members of the society. The project, according to him, was meant to change the future of the almajiris and tailored to be in tune with the technology and knowledge-driven world.

Contd. on page 15

Re-inventing the radical politics of the North: A tribute to Mallam Aminu Kano (II)

By Salihu M. Lukman

I

n many respects, the old political contours in the North have been seriously impaired.

Today’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is in control of all the states ruled by the old PRP and NPP, with the exception of Nasarawa State.

Again, with the exception of Borno and Yobe, it (PDP) is also in control of the states ruled by the old GNPP. Borno, Yobe and Zamfara states are today controlled by AllNigeria People’s Party (ANPP).

Nasarawa is controlled by Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

The big gap however is that even states controlled by parties other than the PDP, hardly presented any defining difference in the orientation of the governments. Many would today recall the progressive radical politics of the North with nostalgia – politics associated with nationalism, value and knowledge. This is the legacy of the late Mallam Aminu Kano. He used his nationalism and commitment to the common person (talaka) to fight against feudal and capitalist domination, which manifested itself by way of

the policy of abolishing Jangali (cattle tax) in Kano and Kaduna States during the Second Republic.

In addition, the two governments were known for implementation of populist radical policies such as mass literacy programmes, industrialization, etc.

This markedly distinguished the PRP governments of the second Republic. The two governments had a popular support base among radical intellectuals and trade unions in the country. The origin of May 1 as Public Holiday to celebrate the International Workers’ Day in Nigeria was the initiative of the two PRP governments in 1980.

This was what makes politics very stimulating and attractive in the North. Unfortunately, today, politics is reduced to selfserving vocation and political parties are at best electoral platforms. The consequence is high levels of injustice and anger in the land with no political leadership to inspire confidence and hope. We today live in a situation whereby on account of all indices, the North is backward and citizens from the North are being perceived as parasites by their peers from other parts of the country. Unlike the times of

Mallam Aminu Kano, we currently have political parties without meaning, politicians without value and governments without programmes. This reduced our political parties to assemblies of the rowdy, politicians, crowd of the un-godly and our governments, limited liability companies owned by socalled Chief Executives.

On account of this reality, our politics is highly unpredictable and prone to abuse by opportunists. A clear case in point is how opposition politics in the North is high jacked by sections of the establishment, in this case the PDP. This has aided a situation where even the old tradition of historical alliances during elections is made almost impossible. One of the reasons for this is narrow interests which limit the aspirations of opposition political drivers to static considerations.

Static considerations because they do not envision even post-election scenarios.

A practical case of opportunism is the recent case in Kebbi where opposition politicians after winning a major legal battle of getting a court verdict, which ordered the Independent National

Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize a re-run election for the Governorship, the two leading opposition candidates under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) decamped to the ruling PDP. This led to virtually a no contest situation.

A second reason is the absence of distinctive ideology. The drivers of opposition politics in the North today share the same governance philosophy as the drivers of the ruling party. On account of that, it is difficult to differentiate PDP government in Kano from the opposition ANPP government in the same state. Similarly, it is difficult to distinguish the opposition CPC government in Nasarawa with the PDP government it took over from. Or, can we in anyway distinguish the position of opposition legislators from ANPP, CPC, ACN, etc. with those of the legislators from the ruling PDP? The point is, for our democracy to have a meaning and command the respect of citizens, our politics must change. To what extent can the political teachings of Mallam Aminu Kano inspire us into doing the right things? Are we in anyway interested in going

beyond our lamentations of today? The dominant approach of citizens is to complain that things are not right and do next to nothing or even do exactly what they complained about when given the opportunity. Can we change this attitude and move forward by simply taking practical steps to do the right things no matter how little. For instance, as opposed to waiting for 2015 to throw up a Presidential candidate and we all queue behind him, can we organize a group that can start working on some minimum political agenda covering issues of defining value which should regulate conducts and practices of political actor whether in or out of office? These values must necessarily address issues of well-being of citizens.

In terms of addressing issues of well-being of citizens, a critical element is the issue of high levels of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy rates. With respect to poverty and unemployment, one of the tragic realities is that all our state governments, be they PDP, ANPP or CPC have poor response.

How can we in the first place elevate discussion of the realities facing the North to translate into Contd. on page 14

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Memo to Bamanga-led PDP

By Ahmed Rasheed Makarfi

A

lhaji Bamanga Tukur is the new national chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria. PDP is a concern to every Nigerian, hence the need to offer an unsolicited advice to its new leaders. I could vividly remember what the Kano state Governor, Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso told Bamanga Tukur and his entourage few days before the recent national convention of the party. In an emotion-laden voice, Kwankwaso, recalled how he was denied gubernatorial ticket by the PDP in 2007 just as he said the party did not fail the election.

According to him, plan to rob him of the hard-earned mandate to fly the party’s flag was hatched and perfected by a cabal of few individuals from Kano who out of self-centredness

refused to see anything good in dislike of him, the cabal carried pointing out that while on his him. His only offence was his all sorts of campaigns to way out of the meeting a administration’s stance on discredit him including that he sympathizer at the venue asked meeting the yearnings and will not win the election in the him what he was going to tell aspirations of the h i s down troddensupporters masses. That he who were secured the waiting to mandate to fly receive him Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text the party’s flag in Kano, but messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written t h r o u g h only to reply contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 transparent and him that ‘’ I words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and fair primary don’t know’’. a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed election held in He said to: front of the he was presence of all the directed The Editor, PDP stakeholders that he at Sani Abacha s h o u l d Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, stadium, Kano p r e s e n t 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. with about 95% of somebody’s Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com votes, pointing name to SMS: 07037756364 out that the said replace him, election was a n d adjudged the best even by state. He disclosed to Alhaji subsequently his running mate, political critics of kwankwaso at Bamanga campaign team that Ahmed Garba Bichi was picked. he was in a meeting in Abuja Even with the anger expressed that time.

However, he added, because when he was suddenly asked to by his supporters through of their political interest and withdraw from the contest, destroying their voters card

WRITE TO US

and refusal to participate in the elections, the margin between the PDP and the then ruling ANPP was not wide, pointing out had the result of Tudun Wada Local government been counted PDP would have won the election.

Kwankwaso told Bamanga that the cabal attempted to play the same game in the last election, but realised how dangerous it would have been, because he has die - hard supporters popularly called kwankwasiyya, an ideology which abhors dishonesty, lies and embezzlement of public funds.

From what Kwankwaso told Bamanga, let me use call on the new PDP leadership to be extra careful with the cabals, especially the so- called Abuja based politicians.

Ahmed Rasheed Makarfi can be reached through arasheedng2003@yahoo.com

Re-inventing the radical politics of the North: A tribute to Mallam Aminu Kano (II) Contd. from page 13 policy actions by our state governments? This is a matter of urgent concern by all citizens of the region and we must set aside our partisan differences and work for the survival of the North based on a determination to address problems of poverty, unemployment and high level of illiteracy.

Against the background of the fact that the source of high levels of poverty and unemployment is high levels of dependence on civil services as, perhaps, the only source of income and employment opportunities, can

we develop income earning and employment programme that would not be limited to civil service initiatives? This may lead us to considerations focusing on the agricultural sector. This is the sector where majority of our citizens in the North are earning a living. And this is a sector that requires initiative towards putting in place stronger regulations that would guarantee access to inputs including highyield seedlings, fertilizer, credits and markets. Market access should also focus on issues of price stability which was lost since around 1985 with abolishing of the marketing boards.

If we must tell ourselves the truth, unless we address problems of the agricultural sector, our industrial base in the North will continue to diminish and the revenue base of our state governments will remain low. It is no secret that today, without revenue from the federation account, mainly from oil, our state governments will not be able to pay salaries. While it is true that there are issues with respect to our national revenue sharing formula, which granted the federal government 52% of the shares of federally collectible revenue, we must, as Northerners, also acknowledge the need to

develop the productive potentials of the region. A situation where we are a poor region on account of poor management of resources and lack of initiative is unacceptable.

The task therefore is for us to develop a clear political roadmap. Such a political roadmap should take us back to our old radical Northern politics driven with clear values and programmes. As politicians, we have the responsibility of first organising ourselves and mobilizing our people. Organising ourselves may take the form of intra-party action or multi-party collaborative initiatives including alliances.

The

challenge however is to ensure that whatever line we choose is not driven by our selfish agenda of seeking for office.

The question, at this stage, would be how many of our politicians are willing to submit themselves both to intra-party actions or multi-party collaborative initiatives towards addressing the political problems of the North and restoring its radical political orientation? An answer to this will be a great tribute to Mallam Aminu Kano.

Salihu can be reached through slukman45@gmail.com Concluded

Pension scam and the faces of corrupt officers

By Yushau A. Shuaib

I

t is a moment of grief and sadness for the families of public officers caught and arraigned for stealing pensioners’ funds. The media have published their photographs as major culprits in Nigeria’s largest pension scam.

So far, their names have been disclosed, their offices mentioned, their positions revealed, their faces unveiled, their looted wealth uncovered, their image tainted and reputation shattered. What a disastrous way to end one’s career in the public service.

While they stole the funds, their victims, old pensioners live in abject poverty. In fact it is public knowledge that some pensioners die wretched while on queues to collect their meager retirement benefits. Although every corruption is condemnable, but the systemic looting of poor pensioners’ funds is abomination of the last order

which Senate President David Mark describes as accumulating “blood money.”

In their initial arraignment, an Abuja High Court remanded all the accused persons in prison custody for their alleged complicity in the illegal diversion of N32.8billion from the Nigeria Police Pension funds.

The accused include a Permanent Secretary Atiku Abubakar Kigo and top senior officers in the federal civil service: Esai Abubakar, Ahmed Inuwa Wada, John Yakubu Yusufu, Mrs. Veronica Ulonma Onyegbula and Sani Habila Zira.

The mindboggling scandals were revealed at a public hearing conducted by the Senate Joint Committee of Public Service and Establishment and State and Local Government Administration probing alleged corruption in the management of pension funds. Some of the disclosures are just unconceivable of how persons in

the civil service could amass so much wealth as if they would live forever.

It was alleged that the suspects had stolen N24 billions of police pension fund through falsified documents to siphon pensioners’ money. They were alleged to have withdrawn the amount from the Budget Office for a pension payment that required just N3.5 billion. It was also revealed that whereas N5bn was paid to the Office of the Head of Service monthly for the payment of pensions, only N1.9bn was actually required.

While 141,790 pensioners were registered and listed on the government’s payroll, only 70,657 were genuine pensioners.

The Police Pensions Office also collected a monthly N5bn as claims for its pensioners, while it actually needed N500m.

Illegal withdrawals were made by staff using multiple cheques in fictitious names in excess of 30 cheques per day to withdraw

cash from their bankers amounting to over N14bn.

So far in the recovery of the looted funds, a staff of the Police Pension Office turned in N1bn cash while another surrendered three luxury estates with about 27 blocks of deluxe flats he built in Abuja. A whopping sum of N2 billion cash was recovered from a house belonging to a suspect, while hotels and fuel stations belonging to other suspects have been confiscated by law enforcement agencies.

There was also a twist of event as fresh allegation was made against the leader of the taskforce, Abdulrasheed Maina that investigated the scam who also was accused of spending N240 million on a biometric exercise for less than 20 retirees in the Diaspora and another N220 million on the local bio data. The investigator was also alleged to have unilaterally opened three accounts in different banks without recourse to extant financial

rules and approval from relevant authorities. One of the accounts was domiciled in the account of his younger brother with a huge monthly interest of over N100 million. In his defence, the leader of the taskforce claimed that the money was spent on foreign trip allowances of 85 officials engaged for the exercise, including top civil servants, top police boss and top officers of EFCC. The national embarrassment did not stop there as the Chairman of the committee probing the pension sector, Senator Aloysius Etok and his members are also busy defending themselves on an allegation that they demanded huge bribe from the same pension taskforce.

Before this incident a similar shameful accusations and counter-accusations had been played out just recently when House of Representatives Contd. on page 15

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

I

am very sure that if a combined research team from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the National Mathematical center of Nigeria should conduct a scientific research among one million school leavers to gauge their performance in Mathematics, no one would be in doubt if virtually all but very insignificant percentage of those to be interviewed would have made a pass in Mathematics from the general certificate in education’s examination.

In the last four decades, the fear of mathematics among prospective school leavers in Nigeria has become the beginning of wisdom. I know too well that we were counseled while at the junior secondary school level that the best way to overcome the psychological phobia of mathematics is to develop deep interest in the subject of mathematics but this wise advise never worked magic for most of us any way.

The above short real life story brings me to the theme of my piece which emanated from the developing story that the Acting Inspector General of police Mr. Mohammed Abubakar is likely feeling the impact of what I may call “the mathematical virus of doubts” regarding the exact number of Nigerians that are killed yearly by trigger happy rogue police operatives while in police detention facilities all across Nigeria.

In his mathematical doubts, the Acting Inspector General is reported to have copiously written letters to the chairman governing council of the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu to challenge his assertion that police operatives routinely kill innocent detainees through extra-legal means.

The Acting Inspector

PAGE 15

Police and mathematical doubts over killings (I) General of Police in his mathematical dispute over the exact figure of Nigerians that suffer extra-legal killings in the hands of the police operatives stated that Professor Odinkalu exaggerated the figures when he reportedly quoted 5000 [five thousand] as the number of persons killed annually.

Professor Odinkalu, in his reply told the Acting Inspector General of police that he (Odinkalu) was misquoted because he never mentioned the figure of 5000[five thousand] but rather 2500[two thousand five hundred] persons.

The Acting Inspector General of police is still in mathematical doubt of the exact figure of Nigerians gunned down viciously by police operatives through unconstitutional method of summary execution. The police boss is not concerned about the bad public image that rogue police operatives have brought to the policing institution through their criminal tendencies to execute detainees, but he is more concerned about clearing his mathematical doubts surrounding the real figure of those killed.

This is the sorry state that Nigeria has found itself that the nation’s police chief rather than activate mechanism internally to fish out, prosecute and punish police operatives indicted in the dastardly killings of detainees is seeking to use his so – called “power” to harass and intimidate Professor Odinkalu into submitting that the Nigeria police Force do not kill up to 5000 [five thousand] persons illegally yearly.

April 18th 2012

(Wednesday) is the date that the chairman of the Nigerian National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has chosen to appear in person at the Force Headquarters Abuja to be “interrogated” on his claim that police operatives routinely kill detainees in violation of section 36(5) of the constitution which states that suspects are presumed innocent until proven otherwise by the competent court of law.

Section 36(5) of the Constitution states thus, “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty” even as section 33 (1) of the constitution provides that “Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria”.

The question that is imperative for which the nation’s police hierarchy must answer is why many detainees are killed by police operatives in police detention centers through extra-legal means in gross violations of provisions of the Nigerian Constitution.

The police as an institution charged with the constitutional task of institutionalizing a regime of strict respect to the spirit and letter of the principle of rule of law is empowered to inquire into areas that may require clarification with the fundamental objective of achieving law and order in the society for the promotion of public good/interest. The police are however not permitted to

Now a world of opportunities for the Almajiris Contd. from page 13 According to the president, “Statistics indicates that there are about 9.5 million almajiris in the country out of which the Northwest alone accounts for over 5 million-about 60 percent of the entire almajiri population…. We feel that we must modernize the almajiri system. The fact that a majority of these children do not attend conventional education makes it worrisome. It was in view of that that I directed the minister of education to design an intervention programme for the Federal Government and states to address the issue.”

Indeed, the Federal Government is constructing 35 Almajiri schools under phase one and is providing funding for the project while state governments would maintain the facilities and pay remuneration of teachers.

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) would provide 51 schools under the phase two. This, no doubt, is a massive and decisive intervention by government. Applause has come for the intervention from different quarters: for instance, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111 said it would provide fair opportunities to every child and equip school age population to lead productive lives and contribute their quota to national development.

The Sultan was right when he said the Almajiri School would provide fair opportunities to every child; in fact, that was understating the import of the reality. It would indeed provide the almajiris a world of limitless opportunities. Transformation is beckoning.

Civilization is beckoning.

Competitive advantage (bilingualism and

religiosity with a concrete mix of western education) beckons.

Indeed, the foundation of a new orientation has been laid and the nation stands to benefit a great deal from the boundless innate energies and capacities of these children which are henceforth expected to be properly harnessed and channeled into productive ventures as opposed to the hitherto atavistic violence. The manipulators of the nation’s socio-political and religious differences as well as the brainwashed and gullible almajiris will soon be out of business. Jonathan’s critical transformation agenda has received a booster with this intervention that will shear our polity of the almajiri nuisance.

Ojeifo, journalist and magazine publisher, contributed this piece from Abuja

seek to use coercive force to intimidate or harass public office holders who are simply discharging their duties in strict compliance with the due process of the law as is the case with the disclosure at a public forum by the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission that the police serially kill detainees through extra-legal means.

As things stand now, Professor Chidi Odinkalu has agreed to meet the Police in their own turf to provide some credible reports to support his claim that innocent detainees are wasted serially by police operatives. Bamidele Aturu, one of the nation’s bright human rights lawyers has written the Acting Inspector General of police to point the legal way to go about resolving the unnecessary mathematical doubts in the mind of the police chief regarding the extent of extra – legal killings of detainees by police in Nigeria.

Mr. Aturu, who is the legal representative of Chidi Odinkalu (a professor of law), told the nation’s police chief in plain language that his client had on March 5th 2012, at the annual conference of the National Association of

Judiciary Correspondents (NAJUC) in Abuja, Nigeria delivered a talk on the theme “Plea Bargaining and the Administration of Justice in Nigeria”.

Specifically, Page 5 of the presentation contains the following statement “The response of law enforcement to the incapability of the legal system to ensure convictions is an epidemic of third-degree policing, torture and extra extrajudicial executions. By some estimates, the police executes well over 2,500 detainees summarily every year”.

By a letter to Dr. Odinkalu dated 16th March 2012, the Acting Inspector InspectorGeneral of Police, Mohammed D. Abubakar, complained that Dr. Odinaklu had said that the Police execute over 5,000 detainees summarily every year”, and complained that this “statement is viewed seriously by the Police High Command as vexatious especially against the backdrop of its grave and negative implications on our National and Corporate Image”. * Emmanuel Onwubiko, Head, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA; writes from www.huriwa.blogspot.com.

Pension scam and the faces of corrupt officers Contd. from page 14 Committee on Capital Market led by Herman Hembe that was probing the cause of the dwindling fortunes of the Stock Exchange and the Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Arunma Oteh took themselves to the cleaners over misappropriation of public funds and bribery.

From all these Nigerians are increasingly distrusting of the probe panels, especially those constituted in National Assembly, that are fast becoming money-spinners. Not long ago there was a celebrated Elumelu-Power-Probe committee which was later engulfed in monumental financial scandals.

As the legislative chambers suffer credibility problem from their so-called probe committees, Nigerians are sufficiently distrustful of the judiciary that provides flimsy excuses for suspects on corrupt practices to go scot-free. The judiciary continues to clear suspects over corruption-related charges on the basis of legal technicalities and judicial jargons rather from incontrovertible evidences of recorded assets and wealth accumulated by the suspects.

Pertinent to this are cases

against former governors: James Ibori of Delta, Gbenga Daniel of Ogun and Peter Odili of Rivers States among others.

There are also judicial clearance of corruption against Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, Speaker Dimeji Bankole and Hon. Ndudi Elumelu of National Assembly.

The lukewarm attitudes of legislators and judges in the fight against corruption fuel public suspicion and negative perception on the two arms of government; legislative and judiciary, in checkmating the menace.

Deep inside me I feel sorry for the families of the accused suspects whose images were widely displayed in the media.

Their spouses, children and siblings may continue to live with this stigma of corruption by their bread winners. While no single top civil servant in Nigeria may publicly declare that he/she is corruption free, we should be wary of evil of bigger corruption and fight the cankerworm with sincerity without pretext. Though every corrupt practice is condemnable, fraudulent denial of hapless pensioners’ entitlement is grievous and bigger corruption.

Yushau A. Shuaib yashuaib@yahoo.com Finance Estate, Wuye Abuja

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

FCT fishing festival: Minister slams Agric Secretary over poor organisation

By Josephine Ella

T

he Secretary, Agriculture and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs Olvadi Bema Madayi, yesterday came under severe criticism from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration over the poor organisation of the just held 2nd Abuja fishing festival by the secretariat, Peoples Daily reliably gathered.

Feelers from the FCT Executive Committee meeting yesterday revealed that the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed was highly, displeased with the secretary over the outcome of the festival

which took place at Yankara Reservoir in Yaba, Abaji Area Council last Saturday.

He was said to have at the meeting questioned the outcome, demanding an explanation on why the organisation of the festival was poor.

The FCT administration had approved N21m for the organisation of the festival, aside other financial supports from the private sector including banks.

It would be recalled that the fishing festival, which eventually held after two postponements, failed to meet the expectations of both

spectators and visitors which included top government officials, traditional rulers, foreign and local tourists, who turned out en mass to witness the event.

Having received such a huge budgetary allocation, expectations were high that the festival would turn out a huge success, but the reverse was the case as spectators left the venue full of disappointment.

From the general conduct of the series of competitions as well as the grand fishing expedition, there were no rules to guide the competition; as a result, contestants were generally unruly.

Abuja cultural troupe entertain guests during the 2nd Abuja on Saturday fishing festival

This resulted in fights, with some participants sustaining injuries, as the few security operatives present, tried hard to contain the situation to no avail.

There were no eateries, water facilities at the convenience provided and despite the 1,000 fishermen, the secretary had assured would participate in the competitions, only less than 50 showed up.

To add to the poor showing at the festival, there were no exhibition of farm produce and fishing equipment as the Secretary of the Agric Secretariat, Mrs Madayi had assured earlier.

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

Civil servant, 25, docked for criminal force and assault

A

25-year-old civil servant, Jonathan Ikwulame, on Monday appeared before an Abuja Magistrates' court charged with criminal force and assault.

The Police prosecutor, Insp.

Jaremiah Elaye, told the court that the case was reported by one Patience Olofu, a female at the Lugbe Police Station on April 3.

Elaye said that the accused person, who resided in the same compound with the complainant had used her kerosene without her consent.

He added that when the complainant asked the accused why he used her kerosene without her consent, the accused was provoked by the question and in the process both parties had misunderstanding.

According to the prosecutor, the accused hit the complainant hard on her neck until she collapsed and was rushed to Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Hospital at Lugbe, Abuja.

Elaye said that the action of the accused contravened section 265 of the Penal Code.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge, and said that all the allegations made against him were false and asked the court to grant him bail.

Magistrate Bashir Alkali granted the accused person bail in the sum of N10,000 with a surety, who must must be a civil servant and must reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

Alkali adjourned the case to April 30, for further hearing.

(NAN)

An accident scene at Garki, Area II when a taxi veered off the road and hit a tree Photos: Joe Oroye and Josephine Ella

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 17

Participants waiting for the gourd race to commence at the 2nd Abuja fishing festival held on Saturday

Gbagyi traditional dancers entertaining guests during the flag-off of FCT community Winners of the wild duck hunt display their catch after the competition, during the Health Insurance Scheme in Karu, recently. fishing festival

A participant, who emerged from nowhere with two dead fish which was rejected Tourists patronising traders at the venue of the fishing festival. Photos: Josephine Ella by judges at the fishing festival.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Nyanya hospital gets new block •••records 276 births in one month

The new block of one storey building constructed at Nyanya General Hospital.

Photo: Josephine Ella

By Josephine Ella

A

s part of efforts towards tackling the problem of congestion in Nyanya General Hospital, the Health and Human Services Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has constructed a new block of one storey building in the hospital.

A d d r e s s i n g journalists at the weekend during a tour of the hospital facilities, the Secretary, Dr. Demola Onakomaiya said the new block would provide for more than 40 bed spaces.

He noted that it would no doubt go a long way address the nagging issue of space constraint, which has bedevilled the hospital in the past.

According to him, with the commitment of

the present FCT administration under Senator Bala Mohammed, towards the delivery of quality health services to Abuja residents, a similar gesture would be replicated in other FCT hospitals with similar challenges.

While commending the minister for the support in completion of the project, he said the secretariat would not relent in its efforts towards decongesting all FCT hospitals.

Also speaking to journalists, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Frank Idegwu disclosed that some wards and department, such as paediatric, pharmacy, gynaecology, obstetrics and administration would be moved to the new block, within week.

"Due to the

benevolence of the secretary, we have been receiving laboratory equipment," he said, adding that other sections that would not be moved to the new block would be allocated bigger spaces in the old buildings in the hospital.

"Moving into a place that is spacious will reduce the stress. As you can see over there, even the doctor consulting are not finding it easy and the patients too, but we believe coming here and being a place that is spacious enough, we will be able to attend to more patients, within a reduced time frame.

Besides, we are going to have quality services since the doctors will be relaxed, free enough, they will be able to attend to patients efficiently," he said.

Bank employee in court for defrauding customers

A

n employee of F o r t i s Microfinance Bank, Adewale Segun, was on Monday arraigned before an Abuja Chief Magistrates’ Court for defrauding some bank customers of about N2 million.

The accused was charged with “Criminal Breach of Trust and Cheating by Servant’’.

The police prosecutor, Sgt. Francis Tanko, told the court that on Dec. 12, 2011, one Olabode Adeyemi, of Fortis Microfinance Bank reported the accused at the Wuse Zone 3 Police

Station.

Tanko said that the accused had over a period of time been receiving money from different customers amounting to N2 million in order to deposit in their various accounts.

According to him, instead of depositing the customers money, he “dishonestly’’ converted it to his personal use.

Tanko told the court that during police investigations, N140,000 was recovered from the account of the accused.

The prosecutor also told the court that the offence was punishable

under Sections 314 and 322 of the Penal Code.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty when the charge was read to him.

Following his plea, the prosecutor asked for an adjournment to enable him present his witness to the court and continue with the case.

In his ruling, Chief Magistrate Okeagu Azubike ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody, saying it would be in the best interest of justice.

The case was adjourned to May 14 for further hearing. (NAN)

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE

- Pg 20

Nigeria to export 75 cargoes in May, as supply to Spain increases

Mob: 08033644990

FAAC allocation for the month of March 2012 S/N

BENEFICIARIES

SUB-TOTAL (N)

1

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

620.7 billion

Enterprise Bank improves money transfer process

By Muhammed Sada

E

nterprise Bank Limited (EBL) has made it easy for their teeming customers as well as prospective ones who do not have existing account with the bank to also enjoy MoneyGram and Western Union money transfer services.

With this latest process, which has been tagged Third Party Referral (TPR) allows a current account holder of another bank to reference a money transfer recipient who does not have account with Enterprise Bank. The TPR system enables the bank to establish the authenticity of the recipient and effect payment without further delay.

The implementation of the TPR system again gives the

Flight schedule AIR NIGERIA (MONDAY - SUNDAY) LOS-A BJ: 07.15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.30, 17.00, 17.20, 18.30 ABJ-LOS: 07.00, 09.30, 10.30, 11.15, 16.15, 19.15, 19.35 ABJ-KANO: 18.40 KANO-ABJ: 08.35 ABJ -SOK (MON): 09.35 ABJ-SOK (FRI): 10.10 ABJ-SOK (WED/SUN): 11.20 SOK-ABJ (MON): 11.35 SOK-ABJ (FRI): 12.00 SOK-ABJ (WED/SUN): 13.20

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

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

IRS AIRLINES

bank additional competitive advantage as the bank continues to explore the frontiers of tested customer service delivery options that will consistently delight its stakeholders and stand the bank out among other financial institutions as far as money transfer service processing is concerned.

A statement from the Corporate Communications department of the bank added that the development is part of Enterprise Bank's continual quest for improved customer satisfaction, which remains the core of the bank's vision statement that says: "to be the preferred bank for value creation."

Among other positive developments that are driven by the bank, which is led by Ahmed Kuru, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, the financial institution only recently unveiled a new model branch design that provides for an e-banking gallery with Automated Teller Machine (ATM), Internet banking facilities, among other possibilities, as a distinct area separate from the cash area.

Nigeria’s banking crisis over, says AMCON

By Aminu Imam with agency report igeria's banking crisis is over and the sector's earnings should see a substantial recovery when results come in for the first quarter of 2012, the chief executive of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) said yesterday.

Speaking to the Reuters Africa Investment Summit in

N

Nigeria’s forex reserves rises to $36.05bn – CBN

By Muhammad Nasir

N

igeria's foreign exchange reserves jumped by 3.63 percent on the month to $36.05 billion on April 12, their highest in more than one year, the latest Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) data showed yesterday.

The forex reserves stood at $34.47 billion a year ago and were at $34.74 billion a month earlier.

EXCHANGE RATES

CBN CFA • £ RIYAL $

LOS -ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

• £ RIYAL $

Though the reserves have seen declining in the past three years despite rising oil prices, gradual reduction in demand for dollars at the bi-weekly forex auction this year has meant the central bank spends less of its reserves to support the naira.

Nigeria relies on crude exports for more than 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings and investors watch reserve data closely to gauge the defences Nigeria has against a potential dip in oil prices. (Reuters)

BUYING 0.2911 203.562 246.8596 41.2767 154.8

SELLING 0.3111 204.877 248.4543 41.5433 155.8

BUYING 210 255 40 155

SELLING 212 257 42 157

Lagos, AMCON CEO, Mustapha Chike-Obi said earnings in the banking sector would recover well in the first quarter of 2012, after suffering last year because of write-downs on bad debt.

"The numbers we're seeing in the first quarter are very robust," he said, adding that three nationalised banks were all now profitable.

"We should wait to the second quarter of this year before passing judgment -- I will not tell you that nothing surprising can come up -- but the banking crisis of 2007-2009 is over".

AMCON was set up in 2010 to clean up the banking system in Africa's most populous country following a $4 billion rescue of nine lenders that came close to collapse.

The banking sector was the second worst performing index on the local exchange in 2011, falling 32 percent, with only oil and gas doing worse.

Seven out of 15 local lenders listed on the exchange have announced 2011 earnings, with most posting higher-thanexpected loan losses. FCMB has reported a loss while UBA issued a profit warning.

Diamond Bank also reported

a loss last year, but swung back to profit in the first quarter.

"Nigerian banks are now the healthiest banks in the world in terms of asset quality and capital," Chike-Obi said.

He said AMCON was now the largest institutional holder of Nigerian bank stocks "And we're happy to hold them. We're not selling."

AMCON plans to refinance its N1.7 trillion three-year bond with maturities of somewhere between seven and 10 years when the debt expires next year.

Chike-Obi said they were not yet at the stage of seeking investors for the bond, and that a preliminary roadshow in New York, Boston and London next month was more about explaining what AMCON is doing than marketing new debt issues.

Chike-Obi said that within four to six weeks AMCON would appoint advisors for the sale of three banks nationalised after a bail out, though it will six months before recommendations are expected.

He said AMCON's aim was to gradually reduce its operations and cut staffing in the next five years, as a full banking recovery makes it no longer needed.

Management Tip of the Day

13th Apr, 2012

PARALLEL RATES

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

L-R: President of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, in a handshake with Republic of Congo President, Sassou Nguesso, after a business meeting, at the weekend in the Republic of Congo.

M

Regain your focus

ultitasking may speed you through your to-do list, but it also makes you more likely to make mistakes and less likely to retain information.

Here are three ways to focus: Think good thoughts.

Positive emotions improve the brain's executive function and

encourage creative and strategic thinking. Improve your emotional balance by actively thinking about things that make you happy.

Ban distractions. Be aware of what steals your attention. When disrupted, make a conscious choice to return to the task at hand.

Leave things behind.

When you turn to a new task, part of your brain is still thinking about the last one. Before starting something new, go for a walk, climb stairs, or do some deep breathing to clear your head.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS South Africa counts cost of Wal-Mart merger appeal

A

n appeal lodged by South African authorities against the approved merger between local firm Massmart and American retail giant Wal-Mart has cost the government R4.1 million (N72 million).

Lagos Chamber bemoans late passing of 2012 budget

T

he Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has condemned in strong terms, the late passing of the 2012 Budget which is yet to be assented to by president Goodluck Jonathan, saying the delay has negative implications for the economy.

US Group to invest N8tr in crude oil refining, others

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

A

n American-based conglomerate, Amatex Technologies Corporation has disclosed its plans to put a whooping 50 billion dollars (about N8 trillion) investment in the country’s oil and gas sector as well as infrastructure.

The representatives of the conglomerate who met the Minister of state for Trade and Investment in Abuja yesterday, said they were ready to build two private, solely funded 250,000 barrels per day modular oil refinery and a dedicated sea port each in Tongeji and Itopo in Lagos and Ogun states respectively in the next one year.

The group, who came to the Nigeria on the invitation of President Goodluck Jonathan, said their company was ready to aid Nigeria in financing its developmental projects instead of the country constantly running

to World Bank for loans.

Speaking on behalf of the group, Gbenga Oladapo told the minister that they were ready to assist the government in building power plants, international airports, roads, health care facilities and schools under the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model or any other mutually acceptable model.

“We are also interested in the banking sector, agro-allied industries and tourism. We want to engage in pipe-borne water projects, especially in the coastal areas where potable water will be derived from purification of water from the sea and lagoons leading to salt production.”

He continued: “In the tourism sector, we want to build two fivestar hotels, resorts, amphitheatres, entertainment and theme parks as well as shopping malls.”

According to him, the group

had the technical competence and financial capacity to carry out the projects, once the terms and conditions of funding and executing them are agreed to by the Federal Government.

He therefore sought the cooperation of the Federal Government in the areas of import duty reliefs, tax holidays, security

Fuel imports: Nigeria loses N45bn annually to freights insurance

By Muhammad Nasir

I

ndigenous insurance companies have alleged that the country loses about N45 billion annually due to the preference given to foreign ship owners and their choice of insurers over the indigenous companies in the lifting and importation of fuel.

They further alleged that the Nigerian National Petroleum

Investors to tap into agricultural potential of 20 million consumers

T

he theme of the sixth edition of the Lagos state Economic Summit 2012: ”From BRICS to BRINCS: Lagos Holds the Key,” aptly captures the aspiration of Nigeria to join the league of the super-emerging BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which will now change the acronym to BRINCS (including Nigeria).

Niger Insurance targets N20bn GPI

A

t the close of business on December 31, 2012, the gross premium underwritten by Niger Insurance Plc would have hit N20 billion.

The Group Managing Director of the company, Mr Justus Uranta, who said this at the Niger Insurance 2012 annual management conference, held in Lagos, stressed that the company would leverage on opportunities provided by the nation’s economy to achieve the target.

L-R: Representative of Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr Haruna Lawal, High Court Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta, and Director, Institute of Air and Space Law, Mcgill University, Canada, Professor Paul Dempsey, during a seminar on aviation law for judges of the high court, yesterday in Lagos.

Photo: NAN

Nigeria to export 75 cargoes in May, as supply to Spain increases

By Muhammad Nasir

Sovereign Trust Insurance launches awareness campaign

A

s part of its contributions to the growth of insurance industry in Nigeria, and in support of the awareness campaign launched by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has launched its Market Development and Restructuring Initiative, (MDRI), awareness campaign.

The campaign commenced from the first day in the second quarter of 2012.

N

igeria’s oil export in May is expected to increase significantly, as the country plans to load about 69.3 million barrels in 75 oil cargoes, according to the latest loading plans.

The loading programme reported by Bloomberg, showed a total of 75 cargoes of 18 main grades, amounting to 69.3 million barrels or 2.24 million barrels a day, the highest since July last year.

The nation plans to export five 950,000-barrel cargoes of the new Usan grade in May, up from three for next month, according to the plan.

Production at the field, which has

the capacity to pump 180,000 barrels a day, started in late February, according to Total SA (FP), the operator of the project.

Nigeria will also ship 12 cargoes of Qua Iboe, eight Agbami, seven Forcados, five Bonny Light, five Akpo, five Bonga, four Erha, four Brass River, four Escravos, three Amenam, three Yoho, two EA, two Antan, two Okwori, two Okono, one Pennington and one Abo, according to the schedule.

Shipments are typically of 950,000 to 1 million barrels each.

Also, there are indications that Nigeria may stand to be among the beneficiaries of circumstances in the league of oil exporting countries, as its

of investment and full rights to repatriate investments if and when desirable.

Responding, the minister thanked the delegation for picking interest in Nigeria and promised the readiness of the Federal Government to aid their investment plans in all ways possible.

crude supply to Spain rose sharply in January, due to a supply drop from Iran, just as the European Union imposed sanctions on the nation.

The latest monthly bulletin, strategic hydrocarbons reserve board CORES estimated Spain had imported 279,000 tonnes of crude oil from Iran, a drop of 31 per cent from December.

Nigeria’s export to the country rose by 32.7 per cent, as it exported 836,000 tonnes of crude in the period as against 630,000 tonnes in December.

Spain, which needs to import virtually all of its crude, ramped up imports in January from Nigeria, Iraq and Libya, where production has been returning to normal.

Corporation (NNPC), deliberately sidelined insurance companies from participating in the insurance of imported fuel, both locally and internationally.

They maintained that the NNPC sets unnecessary bulwarks that made it impossible for Nigerian insurance companies to participate in the insurance of imported oil business, thus shortchanging Nigeria as the country loses as much as N3.7 billion monthly in freight insurance that it should be earning. This is happening despite the existence of the Cabotage law in Nigeria.

In a statement by the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel noted that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) would not permit risks to be underwritten offshore unless local capacity has been exhausted and that the Nigerian Oil and Gas Content Development Act 2010 desired that local insurers and reinsurers will be able to write a minimum of 45 per cent of oil risks in 2007, and 70 per cent at the end of last year, but lamented that only 33 per cent of the risks in the sector was retained locally.

He attributed the development to what he called absence of an enabling law in the past to back up the policy initiatives, adding that with the coming into effect of the Local Content Act, in accordance with Insurance Act 2003 and the National Insurance Act 1997, and the release of the guidelines for oil and gas business in Nigeria, 100 per cent, 70 per cent and 40 per cent of all life, non-life and marine insurance risks in the Nigerian oil and gas industry must be placed with insurers in Nigeria.

W h e n P e o p l e ’ s Daily contacted the NNPC spokesperson, Mr. Levi Ajuonumah, for comments, he denied the allegation, saying that all the vessels coming into the country were insured but refused to divulge if they were locally or internationally insured.

According to the Managing Director of Mainstreet Insurance Brokers, Paschal Egerue, insurance fraud include nondeclaration of transactions to NAICOM, fronting for overseas insurance companies, bearing uninsured risks or inappropriately reinsured risks, premium loading or premium under-declaration, round tripping, among others. Egerue stressed that all fuel importation ought to have been duly insured by the oil majors.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 21

E

ffective websites attract customers to your business online, generates sales leads and multiplying your profits in the process. Professional web designer must combine uniqueness and innovation in design with state-of theart technology and maintenance support to create a powerful website that produces results. Before hiring a web designer, consider the following ten factors: Website design budgets should be results oriented Effective web-design teams often combine the method of flat fees with hourly billing for software design and installation. It is never advisable to enter into open-ended billing relationships with Web designers until the maintenance phase of the project.

Effective web designers with excellent communication Experienced webdesigners support multiple means of communication for interacting with their clients. These include phone, email and live chat (if available). Depending on your requirements, you can use the communication method that suits you best.

Billing is made easy by smart web designers and developers Experienced web-design Company usually charges thirty to sixty percent of the total project fee in advance, and may accept payments through cheques / cash and major credit cards.

A web design company shares its work Professional design companies encourage their designers to maintain portfolios representing their best work, client information and testimonials. You can request portfolios to assess the effectiveness of the company's web design solutions.

Flexible website designers use time saving technology Quality web design teams support the use of inexpensive and time saving technology. This includes open source publishing and e-commerce tools like WordPress for handling Weblogs and corporate information pages, osCommerce for online shopping features and Zope for building customized content management and customer interaction tools. These tools enable businesses to achieve professional standards while saving time and money.

Efficient web design professionals blend stock and scratch sources Efficient website designers always maintain a set of stock templates and

ICT ESSENCE

with Bello Abdul’Azeez +234 805 113 0075 abdulazeez@ictessence.com

Most important ways to discover a quality website designer images to speed up work.

When designing a website for a client, they select an appropriate stock template and customize it from scratch to meet clientspecific requirements and ensure uniqueness and freshness in design.

Intelligent web

should comply with both web standards like standards for interface design and browser accessibility, and state and federal guidelines such as providing accessibility features for the visually impaired and people suffering with

p r o f e s s i o n a l s distinguish design and hosting Many website design firms offer complementary and low cost Web-hosting solutions, usually as part of their maintenance packages. Quality firms provide excellent uptime, reliability and service.

Compare the cost and benefits of an in-house hosting solution and an independent web-host before making your decision.

Creative website designers let clients handle minor updates Experienced Web designers develop architectures for Websites including publishing platforms that simplify the process of making changes.

These plans are so effective that they allow you to make minor updates in-house or with the help of a less expensive Web professional.

These web designers often save their skills for launching or re-launching websites and major revisions requiring considerable work on design, templates and graphics.

The best web developers understand standards and accessibility The designed website

other medical insufficiencies. Experienced Web designers should also ensure SEO optimization of your website and prevent it from become inaccessible and unusable.

A good web design company gets honest about rates and turnaround time Even the most efficient Web designers can combine only two of the three features (High quality, speed and low cost) when designing your web-site.

Professional web design teams will provide you accurate estimates about their rates, speed and turnaround time. Firms that are more expensive often have smaller waiting lists. If sufficient time is available, you can get a high quality website at a lower cost. Select a Web design firm that meets your requirements.

Focusing on results sets premier website design professionals apart Effective Web designers comply with all of the above-mentioned practices.

More importantly, they make clients feel comfortable about wading into unfamiliar waters. The right Web design firm can enable your business to save thousands of dollars and valuable time.

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Promo: FirstBank’s customers win all-expense paid trip to London 2012

T

he dream of being in London live for the 2012 Olympics Games became reality for 10 customers of First Bank of Nigeria Plc after they emerged winners of the star prize of allexpense paid trip to the Olympics at the quarterly draws of the Bank’s ongoing Save & Excel Promo in Lagos.

Drawn from various branches of the Bank across the nation, the 10 lucky customers’ prize includes a return ticket to United Kingdom, hotel accommodation, and allowances during the games in London. Three customers also won brand new Peugeot 307 Saloon cars at the draw which was monitored by officials of the National Lottery Regulatory Commission, KPMG Advisory Services Firm, and a representative of the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC).

A total of 197 customers of the Bank won various prizes as follows: 10 Olympic Package Winners, three Peugeot 307 Car Winners; 46 winners of N50,000

cash; 46 winners of LCD Television sets; 46 winners of Home Theatre sets; and 46 winners of chest freezer.

FirstBank’s Head, Consumer Banking, Mrs. Funke Smith said the leading financial institution was delighted at the opportunity to reward its customers’ unwavering loyalty and patronage through the promo.

“We are pleased to use our role as the Official Banker to the Nigeria Olympic Committee for the London 2012 Games to give the 10 winners a life-time experience at the event, whilst passing on a strong message to the public that saving is a virtue that must be embraced,” she said.

Smith explained that the Bank’s Save & Excel promo is a platform for enhancing a savings culture in the nation and encouraging the unbanked to embrace the financial services system.

She said the Bank had since held three draws for the Save & Excel Promo that have produced

565 winners, adding that customers who save more funds stand the chance of winning prizes in subsequent draws.

“Our customers have continued to make FirstBank ‘truly the first’ through their patronage and we are committed to rewarding our existing and prospective customers with innovative services and reward

initiatives like the Save & Excel Promo,” she added.

The promo, which runs till December 2012 still has nine Peugeot 307 saloon cars up for grabs during the quarterly raffle draws, while other prizes will be won at the monthly draws. To qualify for the quarterly draws, customers need to save a minimum of N20,000

incremental deposit for each of the three months consecutively.

Saving a minimum of N60,000 single deposit untouched for three months also qualifies customers for the quarterly draws.

To qualify for monthly raffle draws, the Bank’s customers need to save a minimum of N20,000 incremental deposit for one month.

Ogun assures genuine investors of smooth partnership From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta gun state government said its ready to partner with genuine investors willing to establish their businesses in the state and will leave no stone unturned to ensure bountiful returns The Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun gave this assurance in Abeokuta, while addressing members of the Board of International Cement Company Limited led by its Chairman, General Yakubu Gown (Rtd) paid him a courtesy call in his office.

Amosun said that government alone cannot engage in business, but rather partner with genuine investors willing to contribute to efforts to rebuild the state, adding that the present administration would continue to create an enabling environment to encourage and motivate investors.

He explained that the just concluded Investors’ Forum had successfully unleashed the inherent advantages of doing business in the state, through exchange of ideas and pledged that all issues raised would be looked into to ensure mutual gains.

Earlier in an address, a Director in the Company, Dr. (Mrs.) Abisola Akindeko disclosed that the company located in Makun, Sagamu had acquired mining site since 1994 and will create employment opportunities for about 7,000 people.

She pledged the readiness of the company to partner with the state government in the provision of health facilities, pipe borne water, schools, electricity and access roads among other socio-infrastructural facilities.

In a related development, in fulfillment of the promise to boost micro and medium scale

O

enterprises, create wealth and generate more employment opportunities, the state government will in the next two weeks, begin the distribution of cheques to the first batch of beneficiaries of a billion naira loan scheme it is facilitating in collaboration with the Bank of Industry.

The state Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru disclosed this while speaking in an interview in his office, located at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

The Commissioner explained that about five percent of the applications received were rejected by the collaborating bank due to various anomalies detected, urging those concerned to take necessary steps for correction.

Otunba Ashiru equally urged owners of small enterprises who are yet to be part of the process to take advantage of the loan package to boost their business adding that with the distribution to be done in 2 weeks, “Doubting Thomases “will now believe that the scheme is for real.

L-R: Business Manager, Ikoyi UBA, Ms Akpan Beatrice, being decorated with the special lapel pin as a Most Valuable Performer (MVP) by Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Plc, Mr. Philips Oduoza, during the recognition ceremony organised by the bank, at the weekend in Lagos.

FG sets up committee on export processing and free zones reform

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

T

he Federal Government yesterday inaugurated a committee on export processing and free trade zones which was charged with the responsibility to suggest ways of repositioning the sector.

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga who inaugurated the committee yesterday in Abuja, charged the members to, among other terms of reference, ascertain why the goals and objectives of the free zones have not been met and their economic benefits and losses to the Federal Government in terms of

levels of investments, jobs created, export earnings and EEG forgone, import substitutionforeign exchange savings to FG, contribution to industrialisation, income earned by Federal Government and income foregone by the government due to nonpayment of duty, port charges, VAT and others.

The committee, which was given 8 weeks to complete its task, was also asked to articulate a policy and selection criteria for evaluating and appraising applications for the establishment of free zones, export processing zones and special economic zones, revive, review and implement

the Presidential committee report of free zones as well as review and audit the 27 free zones already licensed to determine their efficacy.

The committee, led by Alhaji Yusuf Abdullahi, a retired civil servant, was also charged with the responsibility of preparing a 10year strategic plan for the free zones in the country.

Other members of the committee are Chidi Nzerem (secretary), Sunday Nwamma, Adewale Thompson and Gbenga Akuye as well as a representative each of both Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).

NTDC woos foreign investors at Arabian Travel Market

By Miriam Humbe

N

igeria’s main focus during this year’s edition of the Arabian Travel Market is to woo investors from around the world to invest in the tourism sub-sector of Nigerian economy.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Otunba Olusegun Runsewe who stated this recently said that his main emphasis in Dubai this year would be focused on how investors would come on board to take advantage of the enormous opportunities in the country.

Just last month, during the

ITB Berlin, several investors showed tremendous interest in investing in Nigeria’s tourism and hospitality sub-sector with eyes on resorts and sports tourism.

One of the investors particularly pointed at sports tourism, for which he said Nigeria has a clear advantage.

Otunba Runsewe, himself a golfer had always maintained that “sports tourism, particularly golf and football pose a tremendous advantage for Nigeria. Private individuals, corporate bodies are building golf courses around the country”, stating further that in

the last two years alone, 15 golf courses of international standards have sprung up around the country.

It is expected that officials from Nigeria, led by the DirectorGeneral would sensitise investors on opportunities in the eco-tourism area as well as Nigeria’s unparallel cultural assets which makes the country the centre of culture in Africa.

To attract more investors and make their trips memorable, the Federal Government has commenced the upgrading of at least 11 airports around the country. The international airports in Lagos, Port Harcourt,

Kano and the capital city of Abuja are being re-modelled to meet international standards.

“Work is at advanced stage in these four airports” Otunba Runsewe assured, and emphasised the need for countries to encourage their students to undertake excursions to Nigeria under the student exchange programme adding: “By this, countries will better appreciate themselves.”

According to Otunba Runsewe, Nigeria is a country with sunny conditions throughout the year and with unique hospitality and unequal leisure activities.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 23

Report as at Monday, April 16, 2012 Security

Price

77UP

41.75

ACCESS

5.30

AGLEVENT

Change Close

Price Open High Low Trades

Value

3

781.00

30,982.27

67

3,179,832.00 17,489,076.00

5.50

+

1.44

1.44

+

1

34,200.00

50,616.00

AIICO

0.50

0.50

+

1

20,000.00

10,000.00

ASHAKACEM

9.11

9.11

+

31

344,859.00

3,045,211.81

AVONCROWN

4.86

4.62

4.62

4.62

4.62

-

0.24

1

54,000.00

249,480.00

BAGCO

1.66

1.66

1.66

1.65

1.65

-

0.01

31

865,385.00

1,432,456.05

CADBURY

11.00

5.50

5.50

0.20

22

89,262.00

983,171.38

CAP

21.72

36

445,216.00

10,147,617.95

CCNN

4.78

CILEASING

0.50

CONOIL

23.22

CONTINSURE

0.95

0.91

0.91

0.91

0.91

-

CUSTODYINS

1.40

1.45

1.47

1.33

1.40

CUTIX

1.60

1.60

DANGCEM

116.00

DANGFLOUR

3.90

3.99

3.99

3.96

3.96

+

DANGSUGAR

3.65

3.67

3.67

3.60

3.60

-

DIAMONDBNK

2.50

2.46

2.50

2.45

2.50

+

ETERNAOIL

3.47

3.50

3.50

3.50

3.50

+

ETI

11.80

11.70

11.80

11.21

11.69

-

EVANSMED

0.50

0.50

+

FCMB

4.32

4.32

4.50

4.30

4.50

+

FIDELITYBK

1.42

1.41

1.45

1.41

1.42

+

FIDSON

0.92

0.91

0.91

0.91

0.91

-

FIRSTBANK

9.26

9.23

9.26

9.03

9.11

-

FLOURMILL

54.01

FO

10.60

GLAXOSMITH

20.01

21.00

21.00

21.00

21.00 +

GTASSURE

1.55

1.49

1.54

1.48

1.54

GUARANTY

14.52

14.51

14.62

14.50

GUINNESS

230.00

225.09

HONYFLOUR

2.09

IBTC

6.90

6.90

6.90

IKEJAHOTEL

1.34

1.28

INTBREW

5.98

5.69

IPWA

0.83

JAPAULOIL

0.55

JBERGER

30.99

11.00 + 22.80

0.50

0.55

Security

Price

Change

Price Open High Low Trades

Volume

Value

0.83

7

600,000.00

498,000.00

Close 41.75 +

5.50

Volume

22.80

22.80

22.80 +

1.08

LIVESTOCK

0.87

0.83

0.83

0.83

-

MAYBAKER

2.09

MBENEFIT

0.50

0.50

0.50

2.09

+

12

149,650.00

313,232.50

0.50

+

2

80,000.00

40,000.00

MOBIL

139.02

132.07

132.07 132.07 132.07 -

59

217,476.00

28,806,540.62

MULTIVERSE

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

+

1

1,317,700.00

658,850.00

NAHCO

7.94

8.19

8.20

8.10

8.20

+

55

1,386,853.00 11,306,104.42

NASCON

3.95

3.90

3.95

3.90

3.95

+

21

674,111.00

2,631,065.45

NB

98.00

98.00 +

124 740,620.00

72,846,058.85

NCR

13.01

13.01 +

6

5,675.00

72,771.05

NEIMETH

0.70

0.70

+

1

4,534.00

3,083.12

NEM

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

+

1

50,000.00

25,000.00

NESTLE

415.00

434.99

434.99 434.99 434.99 +

19.99

135

372,042.00

156,784,974.32

OANDO

18.40

18.15

18.15

0.70

141

1,523,661.00 27,348,708.91

OASISINS

0.50

50

25,000.00

12,500.00

OKOMUOIL

30.32

31.00

31.00

31.00

31.00 +

0.68

33

566,460.00

17,502,450.94

PRESCO

10.59

10.10

10.10

10.10

10.10

-

0.49

13

214,616.00

2,176,360.60

PRESTIGE

0.51

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

-

0.01

6

2,526,062.00 1,263,061.00

PZ

24.00

34

62,793.00

1,462,535.87

REDSTAREX

2.30

2.22

2.34

2.21

2.34

+

0.04

19

394,420.00

890,046.39

RTBRISCOE

1.05

1.10

1.10

1.00

1.00

-

0.05

29

1,024,992.00 1,062,641.87

SKYEBANK

3.85

3.85

3.85

3.76

3.85

+

33

1,719,275.00

STERLNBANK

1.20

1.26

1.26

1.24

1.26

+

47

31,755,825.00 39,892,339.50

TOTAL

139.69

13

27,081.00

TRANSCORP

0.50

0.51

0.52

0.50

0.52

+

0.02

43

6,924,377.00 3,464,431.50

UAC-PROP

10.50

10.57

10.57

10.56

10.56 +

0.06

35

1,434,626.00 15,237,690.22

UACN

31.56

31.04

31.11

31.00

31.00 -

0.56

40

4,945,208.00 153,818,938.35

UBA

2.63

2.65

2.65

2.56

2.63

+

117

8,161,564.00 21,102,035.18

UBN

2.82

2.96

2.96

2.96

2.96

+

0.14

61

5,083,940.00 15,048,462.40

UNILEVER

30.60

30.20

30.20

30.20

30.20 -

0.40

41

369,212.00

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

+

3

105,820,467.00 52,910,233.50

0.50

0.04

6.95

0.26

4.78

+

7

130,124.00

639,508.76

0.50

+

6

329,085.00

164,542.50

23.22 +

13

46,712.00

1,051,735.32

1

60,000.00

54,600.00

+

25

3,014,600.00 4,115,658.00

+

4

24,460.00

37,179.20

116.00 +

15

55,432.00

6,427,806.89

0.06

48

522,424.00

2,080,573.09

0.05

68

3,275,794.00 11,912,857.78

53

5,723,406.00 14,161,762.62

0.03

14

256,135.00

0.11

103

4,545,718.00 52,802,534.00

2

21,479.00

112

56,196,606.00 244,838,700.78

58

3,487,035.00 4,981,011.45

0.01

9

352,000.00

0.15

519

15,062,281.00 137,451,960.43

54.01 +

39

235,471.00

12,801,216.41

10.60 +

31

271,469.00

3,015,546.09

0.99

23

380,648.00

7,916,400.25

-

0.01

35

4,461,454.00 6,674,573.46

14.54 +

0.02

362 20,227,449.00 293,845,877.17

UNITYBNK

0.50

225.09 225.09 225.09 -

4.91

54

260,462.00

58,716,130.67

UNIVINSURE

0.50

0.50

+

1

35,424.00

17,712.00

3.50

+

8

48,422.00

161,245.26

0.50

+

15

1,004,000.00 502,000.00

0.50

0.50

0.04

0.18

892,395.85

10,739.50

325,010.00

0.50

17.70

17.70

-

0.50

+

24.00 +

0.06

139.69 +

6,559,406.79

3,634,120.50

11,049,981.30

2.09

+

5

69,750.00

145,835.00

UPL

3.50

6.90

6.90

+

25

372,551.00

2,573,234.91

UTC

0.50

1.28

1.28

1.28

-

10

246,000.00

314,880.00

VITAFOAM

2.95

2.95

+

13

169,777.00

513,385.23

5.98

5.69

5.98

+

23

1,912,505.00 11,346,169.45

WAPCO

40.00

40.00 +

21

117,790.00

4,570,839.10

0.83

+

4

12,000.00

WAPIC

0.53

0.55

0.55

0.55

0.55

+

11

4,018,812.00 2,207,697.80

0.57

+

91

8,148,792.00 4,599,972.21

WEMABANK

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.50

+

5

410,015.00

11

31,457.00

ZENITHBANK

12.91

13.09

13.09

12.81

13.00 +

0.57

0.54

30.99 +

0.06

0.02

9,480.00

947,556.45

0.50

0.50

0.50

0.02

0.09

205,007.50

283 46,246,713.00 600,988,482.37

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Sensitizing youths through drama on HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS has become a major challenge to the country's' development and this made Starwood UK in April 2010 to support the children and AIDS Section of UNICEF Nigeria with funds to implement a pilot project on HIV prevention/ intervention with young people out of school titled "intensifying HIV prevention to out of school young people. Auwal Ahmad who was at one of the seminars organized to sensitize youths on the danger of the epidemic captures the event in this write-up.

H

IV/AIDS epidemic has become a major challenge to Nigeria’s development and this has affected key sectors of the economy negatively, sectors such as education, agriculture and the industrial growth has been most hit which has in turn placed obstacles on human development in the country.

An AIDS patient

The first two cases of the dreaded HIV and AIDS in Nigeria were identified in 1985 and reported at an international AIDS conference in 1986. The Nigerian health sector established the National AIDS Advisory Committee, which was followed by the establishment of the National Expert Advisory

Committee on AIDS (NEACA).

History shows that Nigeria was reputed in 2008 as the nation with the 3rd highest number of young people living with the virus globally and the AIDS orphans stood at 2.23 million.

Only recently, the Bornu state Commissioner for

Health, Dr Salma Kolo disclosed that HIV and AIDS prevalence has risen to more than five per cent in the state as against the national average of 4.5 per cent.

In view of the growing trend of the epidemic, Starwood UK in April 2010, supported Children and AIDS Section of UNICEF Nigeria with funds to implement a pilot project on HIV prevention intervention with young people out of school titled “intensifying HIV prevention to out of school young people”. This project was conceptualized to focus on using radio drama programs and sports to provide comprehensive HIV prevention information, life skills and referral for services to reach out to young school people in 4 states namely, Gombe, Kaduna, Cross River and Akwa Ibom in 2010.

The intervention

Mr. Banbe further stated that education entertainment comes in many forms including serial drama broadcast on TV & radio, cartoons, interactive talk shows and football. It allows the audience to take decisions on their own without being preached to.

“Framing messages in a popular entertaining format helps create an environment where people of all ages can carry on conversations about topics discussed in the latest episode of their favorite education and e n t e r t a i n m e n t programme”he said.

The Coordinator said that education and entertainment have been found to have a wide range of public acceptance and the ability to reach wider audience.

It promotes interpersonal and group communication, thereby

“

In view of the growing trend of the epidemic, Starwood UK in April 2010, supported Children and AIDS Section of UNICEF Nigeria with funds to implement a pilot project on HIV prevention intervention with young people out of school titled “intensifying HIV prevention to out of school young people complements and builds upon the current national effort on HIV & AIDS prevention among in-school and out-of-school adolescents through the National Youth Service Corp Scheme.

Speaking to the People’s Daily on the project, shortly after the review meeting on the success of the project, the Project Coordinator, Mr. Paul Banbe confirmed that the intervention was to complement and build upon current national efforts on HIV&AIDS prevention among in-school and out-ofschool adolescents, adding that drama has been seen to be an effective medium for HIV education in African settings.

He added that education and entertainment has processes of purposefully designing and implementing a media message both to entertain and educate, in order to increase audience members’ knowledge about an issue, create favorable attitudes and change behavior.

enhancing learning and behavior change.

Also Speaking to Peoples’Daily, the District Head of Bolari, Alhaji Garba Abubakar said that the outof- school Youths (OSY) project has helped to sensitize the youths in the community on the dangers of HIV and how best to prevent it. “HIV infections are dropping in the community because of increased awareness.” The community leader said.

He added that because of awareness created by the OSY Project, prospective couples in Bolari Community have to submit a mandatory HIV status report before marriages are now contracted, adding that Religious leaders have been integrated into the project – Imams are encouraged to preach messages on HIV.’’ On her part, Joy Joseph, a 23 years old, told our Correspondent that ”I lived carelessly before, but now as a peer educator, I am responsible for the life of my peers and I have learnt to control my behavior; drug addiction, alcoholism among young people has reduced and unwanted teenage pregnancies reduced from 10 to 5 now”.

Three community members interviewed in Bolari East acknowledged the positive impact of the OSY project in their community which in turn encouraged the youths to refrain from drugs and womanizing.

Some community leaders at the review meeting

Peoples Daily investigation revealed that the communities were now more informed about HIV/ AIDS while Peer Educators were the main sources through which information and messages about the epidemic are passed to peers and older community members.

On the average, more than 75 percent of the respondents have accessed HCT services and received positive results ranging from 60 to 95 percent.

A minus for the programme, was the fact that it was noticed that half of the Youth in the communities did not readily agree to hear the radio drama during its 13 weeks airing on Gombe state Radio. It was also noticed that peers asked for incentives in order to participate in peer sessions, while pamphlets, manuals and other supplied IEC materials were in short supply in all the communities visited.

There was little or no demonstrated linkage between drama, sports and PEP, also there was any interfaces among the peer educators and peers.

Capacity need to be built among young people on utilization of the available multiple packages for lasting and cost-effective influence on behavior change to HIV risks and vulnerability.

Some youths that participated at the enlightenment campaign

Other community leaders at the review meeting

PAGE 26

S

outh Africa’s polygamist president Jacob Zuma is preparing to add to his trio of wives by marrying a fourth, his spokesman said today.

The statesman, who turned 70 last week, will wed fiancee Gloria Bongekile Ngema next weekend during a traditional ceremony at his rural home.

Mr Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj today confirmed the president was looking forward to formalising his relationship with the university graduate, with whom he has a three year old son.

Mr Maharaj said: ‘The president is to formalise his relationship with his fiancee Gloria Ngema.

‘They have been engaged for a number of years and will now make their relationship official at a traditional and private ceremony next weekend.’

South Africa’s Sunday Times reported that Mr Zuma’s forthcoming nuptials followed a lengthy relationship and prolonged engagement with Ms Ngema.

The devoutly religious business graduate has recently been seen at the side of the Zulu former goatherd, who is permitted to take multiple wives under South African law.

It was reported that last year Ms Ngema even joined her fiance on a diplomatic trip to France, an honour usually reserved for the First Lady.

The couple are believed to now be preparing to wed next weekend at the president’s homestead in Nkandla in South Africa’s KwaZuluNatal province.

The nuptials will take place under Zulu customary law and will leave Mr Zuma four current spouses.

The polygamist statesman, who is believed to have fathered more than 20 children, wed his longstanding first wife Sizakele Khumalo, 69, in 1973.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

As Jacob Zuma prepares to marry his fourth wife...

He married Nompumelelo Ntuli, 37, in 2008 and wed third current wife Thobeka Madiba, 39, in 2010.

The five-times married statesman has previously wed two other women.

He divorced from South African cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in 1999 and another wife, Kate Mantsho-Zuma, committed suicide in 2000.

Mr Zuma, who leads South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, lives with his three current wives at his rural homestead.

All three were at the politician’s side as he was inaugurated president in 2009.

The trio of spouses are now all officially treated as First Ladies and share Mr Zuma’s official engagements between them.

Last week all were on hand to cut the presidential cake during lavish celebrations for his 70th birthday in Durban.

Mr Zuma, who spent time as a political prisoner under South Africa’s apartheid regime, is also believed to have dated a string of other women.

The polygamist leader is believed to be engaged to at least one other woman and faced controversy two years ago after it emerged that he had fathered a love child with the daughter of one his close friends.

The president responded to media coverage of the affair by announcing he would rather take multiple wives than commit

Foursome: Mr Zuma with his three wives Sizakele Khumalo (right) Nompumelo Ntuli (left) Thobeka Mabhija (second left) in Cape Town, South Africa adultery.

His move to formalise his relationship with Ms Ngema comes after he reportedly paid a traditional ‘bride price’ lobola to her family.

Hundreds of members of Mr Zuma’s family and friends are expected to be invited next weekend to the couple’s lavish wedding, which is likely to also be attended by the president’s three other current

wives.

News of the forthcoming nuptials comes as the Sunday Times reported that Mr Zuma had recently hinted his marrying days were over.

The newspaper said the issue of the president’s private life was raised during a video montage about him which was played to guests last week at his birthday celebrations.

Asked during an interview

whether he was finished with marriage and children, Mr Zuma reportedly answered ‘I think so’ to the first question and offered a decisive ‘Yes’ to the second.

The next question apparently enquired about how the statesman liked his women.

Mr Zuma reportedly replied: ‘I like one with some body.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Traffic cop clings to bus windscreen wipers for nearly a mile to give driver a ticket

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raffic wardens are known for their relentless pursuit when it comes to catching those who break the law.

But this Vietnamese officer went beyond the call the duty when he risked his life by clinging onto the front of a moving bus for nearly a mile to give a driver a ticket.

Lieutenant Nguyen Manh Phan ordered Phung Hong Phuong to pull over the 39-seat passenger coach for driving on the wrong side of the road, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday.

After the 37-year-old refused to

produce his papers and jumped back on the bus, Phan grabbed the windscreen wipers in an attempt to stall him.

But that not stop Phuong speeding off with the warden precariously dangling from the front as oncoming traffic whizzed past.

Footage of the dramatic stunt has been uploaded on YouTube and has already become an internet hit.

The driver eventually pulled over and has been arrested and could now be charged with acting against public officials.

Brave: The Vietnamese cop was not going to let this driver get away with it and so clung onto his bus

According to Thanh Nien newspaper, he confessed that he was once convicted of fatally running over a person in the southern

province of Dong Nai, and served a four-year jail term until 2010.

Despite cheating death, Phan

reportedly followed the correct procedure.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Dangerous: Lieutenant Nguyen Manh Phan holds on for dear life to catch the driver of the bus

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 27

Spanish King, Juan Carlos, slammed for £27,000 elephant hunting trip as his country drowns in debt

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he King of Spain has come under fire for hunting elephants in Botswana as his country is being sucked back into the eurozone’s financial crisis and one in two youngsters are jobless.

Spanish media have slammed Juan Carlos for the reported £27,000 cost of the trip - and have published angry editorials alongside pictures of a previous ‘Big Game’ hunting expedition.

They are also angry at a ‘lack of transparency’ from the Royal Household, three months after it promised to disclose its income following a corruption probe linked to his son-in-law.

It comes as fears rise that Spain will become the latest member of the eurozone to beg for a financial bailout - as its 10-year yield’s creep perilously close to the 7 per cent level which saw Ireland, Portugal and Greece receiving a handout.

The royal holiday last week would have remained secret if the king had not tripped on a step, fractured his hip and had to be flown back urgently to Madrid to undergo hip replacement surgery on Saturday morning.

Juan Carlos called on Spanish leaders in his annual Christmas message to set a good example.

More recently, he said there were times when he could not sleep because of concern about Spain’s youth unemployment problem.

Last week he cancelled his regular weekly meeting with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy because he had already left for Botswana, several newspapers said.

El Mundo newspaper said in an editorial: ‘It was an irresponsible trip, taken at the worst possible moment.

‘The image of a monarch hunting elephants in Africa at a time when the economic crisis in our country creates so many problems for the Spanish people is a very poor example.’

Most Spanish dailies and TV channels yesterday showed a

picture of the king in front of a dead elephant, taken on a similar trip to Botswana in 2006.

The picture drew many internet and Twitter comments, some linking it to a Russian hunting trip in 2006 when the king was reported to have killed a bear which had been made drunk.

News of the King’s latest trip came at a time when Spain’s political leaders face growing social anger.

Support for Rajoy fell sharply this month after his government announced deep spending cuts and health and education reforms to fight the sovereign debt crisis, an opinion poll showed yesterday.

ABC newspaper said it was Juan Carlos’s ‘bitterest year’ since he came to the throne and became head of state shortly after the death in 1975 of dictator Francisco Franco.

The King, who oversaw the country’s tense transition to democracy, won respect from many Spaniards in 1981 when he publicly condemned an attempted coup.

He has remained very popular, though a poll in October showed that the Spanish people’s trust in the royal family was declining.

The monarchy was also criticised in December when Inaki Urdangarin, the husband of the King’s youngest daughter Cristina, was charged in a fraud and embezzlement case.

A separate accident also drew media attention to the royal family yesterday, when Felipe Juan Froilan, the 13-year-old son of the king’s eldest daughter Infanta Elena, accidentally shot himself in the foot with a shotgun during target practice outside a family home north of Madrid.

The incident reminded older Spaniards of a more serious royal shooting accident in 1956 when King Juan Carlos’s 14-year-old brother, Alfonso, died at the royal family’s home.

The palace said at the time that Alfonso was killed by a bullet in the

Under fire: Spanish King Juan Carlos (right), pictured during a previous elephant hunting trip in Africa, has come in for criticism.

Anger: Juan Carlos (left, on a previous trip) has been slammed for his upper-class pursuit as his country goes through the economic doldrums

Unlucky: The Spanish King was on trip hunting elephants in Botswana when he fell after returning to his bedroom in a lodge

head when a revolver he was cleaning went off accidentally. But historians have questioned the official version of events.

The King, a keen sailor, has had at least five hunting and skiing accidents in the past, some requiring surgery. He also had a lung operation in 2010 and knee and foot surgery in 2011.

Rajoy, who visited the king yesterday, said he would resume his duties gradually and would attend their weekly meeting next Friday.

He said: ‘I saw him being very upbeat. He will recover very soon and resume his usual duties.’

Physicians caring for the king of Spain say he is likely to be recuperating for the next six weeks, as he delegates his duties as head of state to his son, Prince Felipe, while he recuperates.

The accident occurred early on Friday while the king was on safari in the Okavango area of Botswana.

He was immediately flown home

by private jet.

Angel Villamor, a spokesman for the medical team caring for him, said he is recovering well.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

King Juan Carlos has had an emergency hip replacement after falling during a hunting trip

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

BY EMMANUEL IRIOGBE emmacopi@yahoo.com 08026125552

The Nigerian military, power and the rest of us

N

igeria is not the first country in the world where its military personnel whether serving or retired have found themselves holding political power.

The United States of America (USA), reputed as the bastion of democracy in the world, has witnessed the emergence of men with military background as past presidents. It even amounted to a crime against the state for an aspirant to the exalted position of the American presidency to have voluntarily omitted himself from the draft as veterans of the Vietnamese war of the 60s were later referred to.

Back home in Africa, Egypt under Abdel Naser introduced a form of government known as diarchy. This system involves a symbiotic hold unto power by both civilians and serving military personnel. It would be recalled that this system of government was once canvassed for the country by second republic vice President Alex Ekwueme, during the dark days of political instability that resulted from the 1993 annulment of the presidential election by the military under Ibrahim babangida.

The thinking then was that since the military was in firm control of power and had the gun, it would be very difficult to exit them from power hence the need to involve them along with civilians in the day to day running of the country.

Though the idea was roundly defeated especially by the so-called progressives, evolving trend in the country tend to portend a situation where retired military personnel have found themselves back in the saddle as political leaders along with politicians of civilian hue.

To chronicle men that have discarded the khaki for agbada in the country will throw up such names like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who must be given the credit of restricting the military to the barracks in this present dispensation. This he was able to do by giving a sense of belonging to officers and men of the Nigerian military long neglected by some of their own while they held fort as political leaders in the country. It is to his credit that the enhanced package that military personnel presently enjoy was came about.

In the present political situation, the number 3 man in the country in the person of Senate President David Mark has spent the better part of his life in the Nigerian army. To his credit as senate president is a rather stable upper legislative arm that witnessed rancor and instability in the past. He has fellow retired military officers in the senate just as we have them in the lower House of Representatives to add verve to his

administration.

I stand to be corrected that a retired military officer has ran for governor in any state of the federation and came out of it scathed except when running with a fellow military retiree.

Admiral Murtala Nyako has held on as governor of Adamawa state these last eight years just as Jonah Jang has stayed put on the Plateau like the rock of Gilbrata despite challenges from different quarters.

Rear Admira John Jonah has just resumed as deputy governor of Bayelsa state after leaving office as Commandant of the National Defence College (NDC) in 2010.

The immediate Director of Army Finance and Administration (DAFA), Major General Charles Airhiabvare (RTD), has thrown his hat into the ring as gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Edo governorship election slated for July this year. Though he has a formidable opponent in the person of Governor Adams Oshiomhole, his military background is already counting in his favour. There are allegations that his immediate constituency, the military are ready to do everything in order to ensure his success at the polls. His emergence has even made the incumbent governor jittery according to reports from the PDP. The governor’s comments as to the qualification of the retired general to contest the election have been interpreted by the opposition as panicky.

Though it has not been expressed in many quarters there are fears among many in the country, that a time will come when not having a military background will count against politicians vying for political offices in the land, after all, a serving political office holder with a military background was once quoted to have said; “A Nigerian graduate without a military background is not as intelligent as a Sergeant Major in the Nigerian army’

ECOWAS force for Mali soon ...Guinea Bissau too

A

fter years of meetings without concerted efforts to act and stem the incursion of military into governance in West Africa, the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff in the sub region has been given the go ahead to deploy a regional force that will assist Mali secure its territorial integrity.

The go-ahead came from the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council the adoption of a report to be presented to the ECOWAS leaders for adoption.

According to a statement from the commission' Director of Communication, Mr Sunny Ugoh, and made available journalists in Abuja on Sunday, the recommended report will be `` the deployment of the force is part of a strategic approach being pursued by the region to end the rebellion by separatist groups in Northern Mali,'' it stated.

It added that the council at an extra-ordinary meeting on Thursday in Abidjan, decided that regional force would be deployed if efforts to discuss failed.

``ECOWAS shall take all necessary measures to end the rebellion and maintain the unity and territorial integrity of Mali including the use of force.''

The council also insisted that the rebels must withdraw from all occupied territories as a precondition for negotiations.

The report of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff specified the form and mandate of the force, the modalities for deployment, proposals for designating the force commander and the contribution of troops and logistics.

The council further directed the transfer of the $3 million approved by regional leaders in February to address humanitarian issues to the legitimate government of Mali and another $1.5 million to Burkina Faso and Niger.

It recalled that European Union, France and the United States had indicated their willingness to support ECOWAS’ effort to end the rebellion and preserve Mali’s territorial integrity.

The ministers also agreed to dispatch a military contingent to

Guinea Bissau to ensure the effective implementation of the regional road map for the country's defence and security sector reform programme.

The military contingent is to replace the departing Angolan Mission, secure persons during the April 29 presidential run-off election and ensure the sanctity of the electoral process.

The council further agreed to send a ``mixed civilian-military delegation” to Guinea-Bissau under the auspices of the regional mediator, President Alpha Conde of Guinea, to meet with the key stakeholders within the political class and the military.

It stated that the move was aimed at dousing the political tension arising from the country’s inconclusive first round presidential election of March 18.

The mixed delegation is expected to include officials of the ECOWAS Commission, as well as Chiefs of Defence Staff and political officers from Cote d' Ivorie, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria.

The expanded meeting of the Mediation and Security Council was attended by representatives of Algeria, France, the European Union, Mauritania and the United States.

Executive Governor of Sokoto state, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko (centre), flanked by the CAS, Air Marshal M.O. Umar and other Air Force officers in a group photograph with members of the CAS delegation and Sokoto state Executive Council during their visit to Sokoto recently.

JTF not aware of attack on AGIP facility, says spokesman

T

he joint Military Task Force in the Niger Delta code named ‘Operation Shield Pulo’ said it was not aware of the alleged attack on the Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) facility in Bayelsa.

The Spokesman of the Task force, Lt. Col. Nwachukwu Onyeama, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Yenagoa that the force had not been informed of any incident by the Italian firm.

Onyeama said that men of the task force at Nembe Creek in Bayelsa said

they were not aware of any such attack, but promised to inform the headquarters of any development.

However, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had in an online statement by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo claimed that it had attacked and destroyed a wellhead belonging to Agip.

MEND said: “At 0210 Hrs on Friday, April 13, 2012, fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta attacked and destroyed one wellhead and one

manifold on trunk lines belonging to Agip Oil a member of the Italian ENI group.

“These attacks took place in Clough Creek, Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.”

The group concluded by saying that more attacks and a full statement would follow.

NAN reports that at the time of filing this report, it was not possible to get comments from the Italian firm since it had no office in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa capital. (NAN)

Navy warns personnel against being used for political gains

T

Minister of Defence, Mohammed Haliru-Bello

Dr.

he Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ola Sa’ad Ibrahim, has warned navy personnel against being used to achieve political gains.

Ibrahim gave the warning at the passing out of Batch 20 Trainees of the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School at Onne in Rivers on Friday.

Represented by Rear Admiral Jo Olutoyin, the Chief of Naval Staff said that Navy personnel should relate well with their colleagues and civilians.

“You must not allow yourselves to

be used mischievously by anybody for any unscrupulous or political gains.”

Ibrahim said that some of the graduating trainees would be used for internal security duties and operations.

“In this regard, I enjoin you to keep afresh in your memory the internal security training you have been given during your training at the school.

“This is because many of you will be deployed for internal security duties or operations.”

Ibrahim said that work was progressing on an Olympic standard swimming pool in the school and that

soon, swimming would be a prerequisite for graduation from the school.

He urged the personnel to remember that discipline, obedience and superior orders should be their watchwords.

“In the larger society, you should relate well with your colleagues and civilian counterparts.

“And as you go out of the school today, I urge you to always project the high standard of the training you have received and the good image of the school wherever you may be drafted to.”

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 29

Jigawa registers 60,000 farmers Nigeria seeks Australian investment in agriculture

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he Jigawa Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Alhaji Rabiu Isa, has declared that the state has registered 60,000 farmers in the ongoing Farmers registration Exercise.

Isa, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), yesterday in Dutse commended the prompt response of farmers to the exercise, adding that the state government was had indicated its readiness to partner with the Federal Government in the Agriculture Transformation Agenda.

The commissioner said the state government would purchase additional 6,000 tones of fertiliser, adding that farmers in the state required about 18,000 tonnes.

He disclosed that N1 billion had been earmarked for the procurement of fertiliser for 2012 farming season.

“In Jigawa, the issue of fertiliser diversion had been taken care of; there is nothing of such in this state, and we

have constituted committees at the state, local government and ward levels.”

Meanwhile, Mr Mujitaba Ubayi, ther General Manager, Jigawa Agricultural Supply Company, told NAN that the state government had budgeted about N30 million for the purchase of improved seeds and agrochemicals for farmers this year.

He said that the hybrid seeds were purchased from research institutes and distributed to farmers at subsidised rates.

In his remarks, however, Meanwhile, Alhaji Mohammed Godito, a large-scale rice farmer in Auyo local government area of the state appealed to the government to distribute fertilisers to farmers in good time so as to ensure bumper harvest.

“Though I have registered as required by the government, but I am yet to see the impact of the new policy,” Godito said. (NAN)

N

igeria government has urged the Australian investors to key into the country’s potentialities in the agriculture and mining sectors in view of renewed efforts to develop those areas.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, made the call when he received a special envoy of the Australian Prime Minister, Mrs Joanna Hewitt, recently in Abuja.

He said Nigeria was focusing on the private sector as the driver of both sectors, adding that “Our agriculture agenda focus on having a private sector led boards, the focus is to make agriculture a private sector business with no government

interference; already we have a lot of investors operating large scale farming in Nigeria.”

“As a government, we are concerned about food security, that is why we are making agriculture more mechanised and productive,’’ Ashiru said.

He acknowledged Australia’s expertise in those fields, saying that though both countries were far apart, the private sector could bridge the gap between them.

In her comments, Hewitt said Australia was concentrating on areas where its economic profile matches Africa’s potentialities and priorities, especially in agriculture and mining.

The envoy said Australia was willing to share its expertise and experience in research and technology to boost agriculture production in Nigeria and expressed the hope that more Australian investors would tap into the potentialities offered by Nigeria.

“We have an annual mining conference in Perth, one of our big mining cities, to encourage them to take advantages of opportunities in Africa”.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria and Australia established a Business and Investment Forum in 2011 to among others promote trade between both nations. (NAN)

Fadama programme disburses N256m to users’ group in Delta

F

armers who have been categorized under Fadama Users’ Groups (FUGs) among the 68 Fadama Community Associations (FCAs) across Delta state have received N256 million to be disbursed to 491 members, the Fadama III Coordination Office has said.

Communication Officer for the programme in the state, Mr Donald Ojebo, disclosed this to journalists in Asaba, the Delta state capital.

Ojebo said that the amount was disbursed to the benefiting groups and associations drawn from the participating 20 Local Government Areas in the state, since 2009 when the programme began in Delta.

He said that the total amount provided for credits to participating groups and associations in the state was $7.9 million, adding that 200 communities in the 20 LGAs were participating in the programme.

According to him, the effective date of disbursement of funds under the programme in the state was March, 2009 but actual receipt of initial credit

deposit of $600,000 was in August of the same year.

He said that the programme began in the state with 1,585 FUGs and 124 FCAs which had been registered as at Nov. 2009, when Gov Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta launched it.

Ojebo stated that the state government had paid its counterpart contributions to the programme to date, adding that although some local government councils had made commitments, there are still outstanding contributions to be made.

He further listed current projects implemented in the participating LGAs as 173 crops projects, 27 agroprocessing, 101 livestock, 106 fisheries, 46 agro-forestry, two marketing, 34 non-agricultural ventures and six community-owned infrastructures.

He called on all the participating communities and councils to pay up their counterpart funds to enable them to draw from the programme, adding that community empowerment was integral to sustainable rural development. (NAN)

FADAMA III coordinator faults local govts in Edo on counterpart contributions

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he Edo state FADAMA III Coordinator, Mrs Judith Momodu, has faulted the local government councils in the state over the non-payment of the FADAMA counterpart contributions.

It was learnt that currently, the World Bank is collaborating with the Federal Government, states and local governments to provide financial support for farmers and for rural developments.

Momodu, who noted that each local government was to contribute N2 million annually, said the federal and state governments had continued to contribute to the success of FADAMA III programmes and projects, but that the local government councils refused to comply.

“I want to use this medium to appeal to the local governments to honour the agreement by contributing their share of the counterpart fund so that the aims and goals of FADAMA III would be achieved,” the minister said.

“We are determined and committed to overcome all the challenges associated

with the FADAMA III programmes and projects,” he added.

“Since the government has resolved to channel more fund into the agricultural sector and rural development through FADAMA III, every stakeholder must comply to meet the Federal Government’s transformation agenda,” Momodu said.

She said that FADAMA III agricultural development programmes had been designed to improve the livelihood of the Nigeria‘s rural poor.

According to her, the programme specifically targets farmers who have come together to form community associations, farmer cooperative society and women and youths groups.

The coordinator said that the state FADAMA III had executed a lot of projects, including the building of market stalls, culverts, processing plants for cassava and rice, fishery and piggery.

Others are provision of boats and canoes, chemicals, fertilisers, herbicides, grinding machines, sprayers, and the rehabilitation of farm roads. (NAN)

Farmers planting crops

Delta disburses N1bn agric loan to 934 farmers’ cooperatives T he Delta state Government has disbursed the N1 billion Commercial Agriculture Fund to 934 farmers’ cooperatives in the state.

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta state, who launched the loan disbursement in Asaba, advised the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the fund for the intended purpose and ensure prompt repayment of the loan.

Uduaghan said that the process of securing the fund was tedious, but expressed delight that it was finally released and ready for disbursement to the approved cooperatives in the state.

“Let me assure you that as a government, we will monitor this loan and if there is an encouragement on your part as farmers, we will make provision for more loans. I want to appeal to you not to divert the funds into other needs rather than the reason for which it is given,” he said.

According to him, “this loan is meant for you to improve on your farming activities and boost food

production.”

Uduaghan urged everyone, irrespective of status, to own a farm, adding that if everybody could feed from his own farm, hunger would be reduced and the ripple effect would crime reduction in the society.

“I am a farmer, and I want everybody to become a farmer irrespective of your position in the society. If we can feed ourselves, then we have addressed the problem of hunger in our society.

“This is the underlining factor why we have agreed to take this loan to address the needs of the peasant farmers,” Uduaghan said.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Misan Ukubeyinje, noted that a total of 1,606 farmers’ cooperative societies applied for the loan out of which the 934 societies were selected.

He said that the sum of N21.7 million out of the N1 billion had been set aside as insurance cover to all the beneficiary farmers’ cooperatives.

The commissioner added that the loan was payable at nine per cent interest rate with seven years moratorium.

He noted that agriculture held the key to rapid economic development and enjoined the farmers to reciprocate the government’s gesture by promptly repaying the loan, while assuring that the ministry would monitor the use of the fund by paying surprise visits to their farms Responding on behalf of the farmers, Chief Fidelis Uba, thanked the governor, the Federal Government, CBN and Zenith Bank for facilitating the loan.

Uba pledged the farmers’ commitment to effectively utilise the funds and ensure prompt repayment of the loan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Government, through the CBN, provided N200 billion as Commercial Agriculture Fund out of which each of the 36 states and the FCT was allocated N1 billion for disbursement to farmers. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 30

Uganda to export fresh plantain to United States

W

ith the introduction of the banana value chain project by the Ugandan government recently, all is set for the country to start the export of fresh peeled plantain bananas (matooke) to the United States.

The Danish Development Agency (Danida) $2m funded project will be implemented under the Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI).

Winner of the Danida grant, Godfrey Atuheire said: “Under the new arrangements, quality matooke will be peeled and packed for export to the States and other European countries. The project is awaiting arrival of machines that will enhance quality of exports.”

He said that the project will also include the production of packaging made in an environmentally

sustainable way. The banana bags will be made from banana, rice, sorghum, bamboo fibres, maize, sisal and wheat, adding that the bag making machine has already been ordered from India.

The Chief Executive officer, Berteeen Business Systems and the LC councilor for Wakiso district, Herbert Kabafunzaki, who noted that such projects would help create employment for hundreds of jobless young people, said “I hail UIRI for training youths, some from as far as Kabale where they have left their families.”

He pointed out that the solution to unemployment is not squarely on the shoulders of government.

“Entrepreneurship is the way to go. It is the livelihood of improvement of man.”

Source: www.newvision.co.ug

Agriculture: Kenya uses GPS to tackle war against cattle theft

A

new system of tracking stolen livestock in regions prone to rustling will be launched this year, an Administration Police commandant, Kinuthia Mbugua, has said.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking device, Mbugua noted, will help not only fight cattle rustling but also recover stolen animals.

“The new device will be fixed on one animal in a flock. With it, we can be able to monitor the movements of the flock,” he said.

Speaking in Machakos when he opened the AP community offices in

Borno govt. to set up c’ttee on fertiliser distribution

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he Borno State Government is to set up a committee for effective fertiliser distribution, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Alhaji Usman Zannah, has said.

He told journalists during the weekends in Maiduguri, that the committee would comprise local government officials, security personnel, district heads, traditional rulers and representatives of farmers across the state.

“I doubt very much if there will be misuse of fertilisers because definitely, government will have a firm control and supervision over the distribution of fertilisers this year,” he said.

The commissioner said the state had in stock, more than 39

tonnes of fertiliser which would be distributed judiciously to farmers in all parts of the state.

According to him, “the fertiliser is further subsidised by 50 per cent and distributed to farmers while each of the 27 Local Government Areas got between 10 and 15 trucks of fertiliser for dry and rainy season farming.”

He said that government had paid more than N400 million as the backlog of counterpart funds for all the ongoing programmes on agriculture being assisted by donor agencies.

“The state government paid about N400 million backlog of counterparts funds for IFAD and FADAMA III food security programmes, and also purchased

200 tractors ahead of the rainy season,” he said.

He said Governor Kassim Shettima recently led a delegation to Egypt and Thailand to replicate their best practises in agricultural development, adding that some youths would be sent abroad for training.

“We are very impressed with the countries’ modern-day farming most especially in Egypt where we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government,” the Commissioner stated.

Zannah said that the government was working on plans to draw water from Lake Alo in the state to Jere in Jere LGA to assist dry season farmers for an all-yearround cultivation. (NAN)

Mua Hills and Kasinga, Mr Mbugua said fighting cattle rustling was becoming a tricky as it has become commercialised.

“Cattle rustling has been commercialised and stopping it through disarmament of communities had failed to end the criminal activity,” he said.

Mr Mbugua said experiments had proven that the GPS system can work, adding that several officers in his unit had undergone training locally and abroad on modern ways of fighting crime using the latest technology.

Sourse: CattleSite News Desk

Mozambique farmers benefit from US training

M

ozambique’s mango growers are now in a better position to preserve and market their produce thanks to training they are being provided with by a Mississippi State University Specialist.

An assistant research professor of food safety and microbiology with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, Barakat Mahmoud, recently spent three weeks in the African country training 13 agriculture agents as part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Farmer-to-Farmer program, implemented by CNFA. CNFA is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving economic growth in developing countries by training the private sector.

Mahmoud taught the agents how to dry foods, analyse the quality and food safety, natural preservation methods and how to process mangoes.

Mahmoud said: “Mangos are abundant in the marketplace and bring a very low price. Farmers in this area of Mozambique lose about 80 percent of their product every year after harvest.

They can sell only a small amount of the fresh product before it spoils.”

“We want to establish agents who can teach the farmers to produce a marketable product. The equipment to make jams, jellies, juices and dried fruit is not very expensive,” Mahmoud said.

The training, he said, was not limited to those involved with the mango industry and will also take in those involved in the production of cassava and beans, amongst other crops.

Meanwhile, Southern Africa Program Coordinator with CNFA, Lauren Day, lamented lack of access to technical support by African farmer saying, “farmers in developing countries often do not have access to the technical assistance they need.”

Source: msucares.com

Rwanda gets new cassava processing plant

A

10 million US Dollar new cassava processing plant set up by Rwanda Development Bank (BRD) in Kinazi sector, Ruhango district, will have it first product on market late next month, the BRD chief executive officer, Jack Kayonga, has said.

The BRD chief executive officer, who inspected Kinazi Cassava Processing Plant, said that the factory will have an installed capacity of 20 tons of flour per day, adding that, “in order to achieve full capacity, the factory will need a daily supply of 60 tons of raw the material, cassava.”

Though run by BRD, the bank plans to allow farmers acquire shares and ultimately enable cassava growers to own and manage it themselves just as the plant comes as opportunities that will benefit the local population by enabling them add value to their produce.

The mayor of Ruhango, Francois Xavier Mbabazi, said the facility which uses 15 cubic meters of water per hour and operates 10 hours a day, will make the people not only consume, but also exporters of good quality flour.

Source: Rwanda Focus

Manual system of farming in Kenya

Japanese agency plans to boost rice production, processing in Nigeria

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he Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said that it is embarking on a project to boost agriculture in the country through improved processing of rice to meet international standards.

The Project Formulation Officer of the agency, Ms Masako Yamamoto, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recently in Abuja.

She said the project with the theme: “Post Harvest Processing and Marketing Techniques”, which began in September 2011, was still ongoing in Nassarawa and Niger States.

Yamamoto added that the agency was implementing the scheme to complement the effort of the Federal Government in its quest for enhanced production of rice to boost food security in the country.

According to her, the project was to encourage the government to

achieve the National Rice Development Strategy, noting that “we do the project to support the Nigerian government and encourage them to meet the National Rice and Development Strategy presented in collaboration with the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA).”

She said the project would address the increasing local demand for the commodity and put an end to the importation of the commodity.

According to her, the agency will provide incubation plants for the states it is working with and train the staffers of the Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) on how to process the crop neatly.

She said once the ADP staffers were trained, they would in turn train local farmers on the international trend for rice processing and parboiled rice production.

“We want to introduce the rating of the rice, then we can meet

international quality, we are trying to improve the skills of the parboiled rice - how to steam the rice and how long is the best way to parboil it; so if we train them on those level, they can improve their skills on rice processing,” she said.

“Modern technology is not being used for the processing of rice in Nigeria. What people in Nigeria do is to dry the rice on the ground, and you find chickens running all over the rice,” she stressed.

Yamamoto explained that the project in Nasarawa and Niger states would end in 2015 after which the agency would partner with another set of states to promote the production of the commodity.

She gave the assurance that the project would be successful in Nigeria given the Japanese experience in the production of rice and the fact that rice was a staple food in the Asian country.

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 31

The hypocrisy of the USUK Extradition Act (II)

The Extradition Act 2003, signed by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W Bush, was designed and pushed through Parliament after 9/11

ANALYSIS

By Siobhan Courtney

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he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Why isn't the British government following the US' lead of ferociously protecting their citizens? Let us take the case of US soldier Robert Bales, accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians in Kandahar. He will not be extradited to Afghanistan, where the alleged crime took place, but will be tried in the US. That is a separate debate, but nevertheless, an example of how the US will do everything and anything they can to protect their own.

Referring back to the US constitution, why then is this coalition government not making sure the rights of the British people "are not violated" and that we are "secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures?"

Why are we cheerfully waving off British citizens at the US' first request? Surely, the UK is not frightened to stand up to the US, scared to risk ruining a "special relationship" between "friends"?

No extradition reform in sight In The Coalition: our programme for government, David Cameron and Nick Clegg promised: "We will review the operation of the Extradition Act and the US/UK extradition treaty to make sure it is even-handed."

Well, Prime Minister and Deputy PM, we are still waiting and wondering why it isn't even handed, two years after you made yet another promise that has not been fulfilled.

"Between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2011, the UK made 57 extradition requests to the US. In the same period, 134 incoming requests were received by the UK from the US." Our government, I'm sure will point to the Scott Baker Review as proof that they have acted, but the report concluded with the groundbreaking revelation that the "treaty does not operate in an unbalanced manner". Sir Scott Baker is wrong

and seems happy to stand in solitude over his muddled and deluded declaration. Liberty has led the condemnation stating: "We don't just disagree with this review but are completely baffled by it."

Figures requested from the Home Office show that between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2011, the UK made 57 extradition requests to the US. In the same period, 134 incoming requests were received by the UK from the US. The British public are deeply uneasy and uncomfortable with the fact that British citizens are permitted to be sent across the world under this grotesquely unfair and unbalanced treaty. This is further supported by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, who published a report, concluding the act does not provide effective protections for the human rights of those extradited from the UK. They urgently urged the British

“

government to renegotiate the treaty - that seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Last month, the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee expressed particular concern "that it is easier to extradite a British citizen to the USA than vice versa". In their report, they warned the government: "Such extradition arrangements are now threatened by loss of public confidence in the UK and there is a risk that, with time, that lack of confidence will translate into wider disaffection."

Cameron & Co would do well to pay heed to the recent public reaction over the extradition of 65year-old Christopher Tapppin whose life could end in an American jail. Speaking outside Heathrow airport in February, before being flown to El Paso, Texas, escorted by US marshals, Tappin said: I look to Mr Cameron to look after my rights and he's failed to do so. I have no rights. Abu Qatada is

The British public are deeply uneasy and uncomfortable with the fact that British citizens are permitted to be sent across the world under this grotesquely unfair and unbalanced treaty.

This is further supported by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, who published a report, concluding the act does not provide effective protections for the human rights of those extradited from the UK.

walking the streets of London today and we cannot extradite him. He has more rights than I have. If I was a terrorist I wouldn't be going to America. I think it's a shame, a disgrace.

The Conservative government, while in opposition, promised to reform the law and they failed to do so and they've let me down, they've let you down, they've let the whole country down.

Fate of Richard O'Dwyer David Cameron is now safely back to the UK after his recent fourday visit to the US. Watching the Prime Minister gush how "the special relationship is in a good place" and how "Barack tucked me up in bed" is not only extremely nauseating and cringe worthy, but incredibly insulting to Richard O'Dwyer, Christopher Tappin, Gary McKinnon and their loved ones.

Where was the staunch declaration and reassurance that this contentious Extradition Act 2003 is a top priority for both leaders, and that it is to be overhauled to ensure "it is evenhanded" as promised?

"Obama cannot even pretend that the Extradition Act, and in particular, the case of Richard O'Dwyer is not on his radar."

Obama cannot even pretend that the Extradition Act, and in particular, the case of Richard O'Dwyer is not on his radar. The fate of Richard O'Dwyer is something that deeply concerns the US. In a recent Google online question and answer session, the number one voted question to be put to Barack Obama out of 135,000 submitted was concerning his extradition.

Michael Mozart, an anti-piracy critic and satirical toy reviewer from Connecticut, challenged the president with his question: Why are you personally supporting the extradition of British citizen Richard O'Dwyer for solely linking to copyright-infringing works using an extradition treaty designed to combat terrorism and to bring terrorists to judgment in the USA? Obama, clearly flustered, desperately tried to wriggle out of associating himself with the extradition, saying it had nothing to do with him and it was the decision of the Justice Department. He then evaded answering the question and attempted to wrap things up as quickly as possible.

The recent ruling in favour of extraditing terror suspect, Abu Hamza to the US could not be a clearer indication that the Extradition Act 2003, designed to deal with terrorism, should absolutely not be used to determine the fate of Richard O'Dwyer, Gary McKinnon and Christopher Tappin. This argument is not about anti-American sentiment, but an exposĂŠ of the abuse of a dangerous, chilling act which is exploiting the legal and human rights of innocent-until-proven-guilty British citizens.

Concluded Culled from Aljazeera.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 32

Guinea-Bissau moves towards transition deal Sudan denies bombing disputed oilfield

S

udan yesterday denied its warplanes had bombed an oilfield seized by forces from South Sudan and blamed the south for any damage to the facility during fighting that has raged since last week.

South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters in Juba on Sunday that aerial bombardment of the oil facility in the Heglig region had caused serious damage. "They are bombing the central processing facility and the tanks to rubble," he said.

The fighting in the border area has drawn widespread condemnation from global powers and raised fears the former civil war foes could resume full-blown conflict.

The Heglig field was vital to Sudan's economy, producing about half of the 115,000 barrelper-day output that remained in its control after South Sudan seceded in July, taking with it about three-quarters of the formerly united country's output.

"If any damage has occurred in Heglig it may have been on the part of the army of South Sudan.

The Sudanese government charges South Sudan with any damage to the oil wells and facilities," Sudan's Information Minister Abdallah Ali Masar said, according to state news agency SUNA. Production at Heglig stopped shortly after South Sudanese forces seized the area, officials say.

Any prolonged shutdown would be a further blow to Sudan's economy, struggling with high inflation and currency weakening on the black market.

Landlocked South Sudan shut down its own 350,000 barrels a day of production in January in a dispute with Khartoum over how much it should pay to export crude via pipelines and other infrastructure to the Red Sea terminal at Port Sudan.

Sudan's army said on Saturday it entered the Heglig region and was just kilometres from the oilfield. South Sudan said Sudan's forces were still at least 30 km away and were bombarding the South's positions with warplanes.

Both sides regularly make conflicting claims and limited access to the remote region makes it difficult to independently verify their statements.

South Sudan's military spokesman, Philip Aguer, said the South's armed forces (SPLA) had brought 14 prisoners of war to Juba on Sunday, the first to arrive in the South's capital since the fighting in Heglig began.

T

he Guinea-Bissau army and opposition parties have agreed to set up a transitional body to run the country, ahead of talks yesterday with West African bloc ECOWAS, which has denounced the recent coup.

The news came before shortly before coup leaders said on Sunday that it was closing all air and sea borders.

That move was prompted by former colonial power Portugal's announcement that it was sending two navy ships and a military plane for a possible evacuation of its nationals, which number between 4,000 and 5,000.

"Non-authorised Portuguese ships will not enter into our territorial waters. Guinea Bissau is a sovereign nation," said Fernando Vaz, spokesperson for the parties of the former opposition, following a meeting between them and the new coup leaders.

The "military command" said in a statement that it had decided to shut down all air and sea access, without saying how long the measures would remain in place.

On the political front, all existing institutions will be dissolved to make way for a National Transitional Council, Vaz said.

There have been several small protests since the military deposed the government in a coup on Thursday The size and composition of the council and the length of its mandate will be determined at a meeting on Monday between the political parties, which will then take their proposals to the junta, Fernando Vaz, a spokesman for the opposition parties, said on Sunday.

The junta set the terms of the new administration earlier this week and told opposition parties that it would keep the defence and interior ministries in any new government.

According to Vaz, all existing institutions will be dissolved to make

way for a National Transitional Council.

Two committees have been set up to run the country in the period leading up to the creation of the transitional council: one would handle diplomatic affairs and the other social issues.

been abducted.

A neighbour of the abducted woman, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the incident.

The kidnapped woman has been described as a missionary, and sources told Reuters that she was abducted in the neighbourhood of Abaradjou.

Tuareg separatists and armed religious groups took control of the town from the Malian authorities on April 1.

The woman, in her 40s, was very active in the local community as a missionary and did not leave when the town was taken over.

"She is very well known in the town. She would walk around the town trying to convert people [to Christianity]," a resident of the town told Reuters, asking not to be named.

A spokesman for the Swiss foreign ministry said his government was looking into the report.

Timbuktu was known for centuries as a key trading town in the Sahara and a seat of Islamic learning. It was also a top tourist destination in Mali, but insecurity in recent years, including the abduction of several foreigners there by al-Qaeda-linked fighters last year reduced the number of visitors to a trickle.

In the days leading to the capture of the town, most Westerners who were resident there had left, in fear of being kidnapped.

Swiss woman abducted in Mali’s Timbuktu

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Swiss woman has been abducted from her house in the northern Malian town of Timbuktu by several unidentified gunmen, witnesses and local officials say.

"Beatrice, a Swiss national, was abducted this Sunday at Timbuktu by armed men," local official Mohamed Ould Hassen told the AFP news agency on Sunday.

Yehia Tandina, a resident of the town, confirmed the identity of the woman and the fact that she had

Candidate cull dents Egypt’s election credibility

E

gypt's search for a successor to Hosni Mubarak is losing credibility.

A move by the authorities to bar 10 of the 23 candidates, including three top contenders, could reshape the presidential election just five weeks before the polls start. This will add to the concerns of investors who

should worry more about a timely, free vote than about who actually ends up in charge of the country.

Liberals won't mourn the loss.

The Muslim Brotherhood's primary nominee Khairat al-Shater, popular hard-line Salafi preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, and Mubarak's former chief spy Omar Suleiman

: Egypt"s President Hosni Mubarak addresses the nation on Egyptian State TV in this still image taken from video, February 1, 2011.

were among those kicked out the race, pending appeals, by the election commission.

Past criminal convictions, citizenship problems and some technicalities were given as reasons for disqualification.

But this mass ouster from the candidates' ranks is a mixed blessing for foreign investors. True, they may have some reason to rejoice. The election of Abu Ismail would stoke fears about the impact of ultraconservative Islam on the economy.

That of Suleiman would raise concerns of corruption from the old guard. A win by al-Shater, meanwhile, would consolidate power in the hands of one party, following the Brotherhood's dominance of parliamentary elections.

Their exit leaves room for more market-friendly moderates like Amr Moussa, a former Arab League secretary general, or ex-Brotherhood member Abdul Moneim Abol Fotouh, who was expelled from the movement for launching his own presidential bid last year. The

Brotherhood also has a reserve nominee who made the list, but he may find it hard to mobilise support for a replacement at such a late stage.

That's where Egypt's election risks coming unstuck.

These disqualifications, after nominations have closed, will deprive key factions of the opportunity or time to rally support for alternative candidates.

And it will leave a question mark over those, if any, that are reinstated.

Under the current timeline, the work on a new constitution is unlikely to be finished before the elections. Without it, no one can be sure of the ultimate balance of power between the president and parliament.

The Muslim Brotherhood is currently blocking much-needed financial aid from the IMF until the army hands over more power, something it has pledged to do by the end of June. Egypt's election turmoil increases the chance of a disputed vote, or of a delay that would prolong the country's financial uncertainty.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 33

UN monitors arrive in Syria as fighting rages

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he first international observers tasked with monitoring a tenuous United Nations-backed ceasefire have arrived in Syria, where activists said government forces were continuing to attack opposition neighbourhoods.

"They've arrived and they will start work tomorrow morning," said Kieran Dwyer, a spokesman for

the UN peacekeeping department, announcing that six unarmed military observers arrived in Damascus late on Sunday evening.

The six observers were part of an initial batch of 30 UN monitors due to enforce the ceasefire. The UN says the final observer mission will involve about 250 monitors.

Ahmed Fawzi, a spokesman for Annan, said the UN Security

Council would be asked to approve deployment of the full mission, assuming the ceasefire held, based on a report by UN chief Ban next week.

"The mission will include civilians, political officers and human rights experts in order to observe the full implementation of the six-point plan, which includes a lot more than the cessation of

hostilities," he said.

Earlier in the day, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's government shelled areas of the city of Homs that were mostly occupied by opposition fighters and activists.

Activists said that at least five civilians had been killed in Sunday's violence.

Ban Ki-moon, the secretarygeneral of the United Nations, said that he was "very much concerned" at the renewed killings, and he urged the government to ensure

that the ceasefire did not collapse.

The state-run SANA news agency said that the government welcomed the observer mission, and hoped that the monitors would document the "crimes" committed by "armed terrorist groups" in the country.

The Syrian government said that it would not be responsible for the safety of the monitors, however, unless it was involved in "all steps on the ground", Bouthaina Shaaban, a spokesperson and presidential adviser, said.

Gulf nations to meet over Iran island dispute

T Syrian refugees and local residents transport the bodies of Syrian refugees Fayyad, 25, and Mohammad, 22, during their funeral in the Jordanian city of Al Ramtha, near the Syrian border on Sunday.

he United Arab Emirates has summoned Iran's ambassador to Abu Dhabi to denounce a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a disputed island in the Gulf, the emirates' official state news agency said.

The UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, "summoned the Iranian ambassador ... and handed him a letter of protest, denouncing" Ahmadinejad's visit on Wednesday to Abu Musa, the Emirates news agency (WAM) reported on Monday.

Gargash called the visit a "violation of UAE sovereignty".

The move came after Abu Dhabi recalled its ambassador to Tehran last Wednesday and lodged a protest with the United Nations over the visit, stressing that the territorial dispute should be resolved in talks or at the International Court of Justice.

On Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, the UAE foreign minister, met ambassadors representing UN Security Council member states in Abu Dhabi to

convey the "UAE's condemnation of this provocative visit," WAM said.

"This will be an extraordinary meeting based on the UAE's request to discuss the Iranian president's recent visit to the island," a GCC official said.

Tehran has insisted that Ahmadinejad's trip, during which he said historical documents proved Iran's claim that "the Persian Gulf is Persian," was a purely "domestic issue".

Foreign ministers of the six Gulf Co-operation Council states are scheduled to hold a special meeting in the Qatari capital on Tuesday to discuss the dispute.

Both Iran and the UAE claim territorial sovereignty over Abu Musa and two other islands in the southern Gulf.

Iran, then under the rule of the Western-backed shah, gained control in 1971 of the islands of Abu Musa, Lesser Tunb and Greater Tunb, as Britain granted independence to its Gulf protectorates and withdrew its forces.

Israeli soldier suspended for gun-butt attack

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R-L: President Goodluck Jonathan with special envoy of the Australian Prime Minister, Joanna Hewit, during special envoy's official visit to the president, at the State House, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

UAE Foreign Minister, Anwar Gargash, summoned the Iranian envoy to denounce Iran's visit to Abu Musa

n Israeli soldier has been suspended after video footage showed him hitting a foreign pro-Palestinian activist in the face with his gun during a bicycle rally in the occupied West Bank, Israel's military said.

Footage of the incident posted on YouTube, was picked up by Israeli television on Sunday, prompting condemnation from Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.

"Lieutenant Colonel Shalom Eisner has been suspended until the conclusion of the inquiry which has been opened," a military spokesman said yesterday.

The assault took place on Saturday during a bicycle ride in the Jordan Valley near Jericho involving Palestinians and foreign activists.

The footage shows a soldier smashing a male demonstrator in the face with the butt of a rifle in an apparently unprovoked attack as soldiers confront protesters. The demonstrator, reported to be a Danish national, falls to the ground and is then carried away by others at the scene.

"Such behaviour is not characteristic of the soldiers and commanders of the IDF (Israel Defence

Forces)," Netanyahu said in a statement released on Sunday. "It has no place in the IDF and the State of Israel."

Benny Gantz, the Israeli military's chief of staff, also condemned the attack which he said would be "thoroughly investigated and treated with the utmost severity."

The military described the incident as "very serious" and said it was looking into "the circumstances leading up to this incident as well as on its repercussions," a spokeswoman said.

Quoting a military source, Israel's Channel 10 television said the officer apparently lost his patience as he and his troops tried to turn away cyclists shouting anti-Israeli slogans and waving Palestinian flags from an area defined as a closed military zone.

Meanwhile, Israel has barred nearly 80 foreign activists from flying into the country on grounds they were linked to a pro-Palestinian campaign, police said on Monday, with 60 of them still awaiting deportation.

As of midnight, police at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv had detained 78 people, more than twothirds of them French nationals, spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Americas summit ends in acrimony

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summit of nearly 30 leaders of Americas nations has ended without a joint declaration due to divisions over Cuba and the Falkland Islands which prompted the Argentinian and Bolivian presidents to walk out.

The two-day Summit of the Americas in the Colombian city of Cartagena, which ended on Sunday, saw the US and Canada at odds with Latin American nations calling for Cuba to attend future meetings and over Argentina's claim to the Britishcontrolled South Atlantic islands it calls Las Malvinas.

"There is no declaration because there is no consensus," said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at a closing news conference.

Washington, backed by Ottawa, rebuffed widespread demands to include in the meeting's final declaration language specifying that Cuba be present in future summits.

They also refused to back Buenos Aires' claim to the Falklands, prompting Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to storm out of the summit, followed by Bolivia's Evo Morales. "[Kirchner] was furious, we are told, because of the lack of

full, complete support for Argentina's claim of control of the Falkland Islands," Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman, reporting from Cartagena, said.

"We understand she was very, very angry that [leaders] didn't even mention the dispute over the islands with the UK." "She was overheard saying, 'This is pointless. Why did I even come here?'"

Latin America leftist leaders had been insistent that the meeting would be the last regional summit under the auspices of the Organisation of American States (OAS) unless Cuba, the communist island subjected to a US trade embargo since its 1959 revolution, was invited in the future.

"All the countries here in Latin American and the Caribbean want Cuba to be present. But the United States won't accept," Morales told reporters late on Saturday.

"It's like a dictatorship."

Santos, however, said the leaders had agreed to meet again in 2015 in Panama. "Hopefully within three years we can have Cuba'' at the summit, he added.

While US President Barack Obama faced public criticism over his country's objections to Cuban participation, a senior US

administration official told reporters that the matter had not been raised during sideline meetings with the leaders of Guatemala, El Salvador, Argentina and Peru.

The foreign ministers of Venezuela, Argentina and

Uruguay had said their presidents would not sign any declaration unless the US and Canada removed their veto of future Cuban participation.

The Cuba issue led Rafael Correa, the Ecuadorean president, to boycott the

summit.

Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's leftist president, also sat out the meeting, though he offered no explanation.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was also absent as he underwent further radiation therapy for cancer in Cuba.

The opening ceremony of the sixth OAS summit was marked by colourful cultural programmes

Karzai blames NATO Norway terrorist denies charges over Kabul attacks T

H

amid Karzai, the Afghan president, has said intelligence failure allowed the Taliban to carry out the latest attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in the country.

"The terrorists' infiltration in Kabul and other provinces is an intelligence failure for us and especially for NATO and should be seriously investigated," Karzai said in a statement yesterday.

The president however, praised the "bravery and sacrifice of the security forces who quickly and timely reacted to contain the terrorists".

In his first reaction after the series of attacks targeting western embassies and NATO bases, which continued till Monday morning, Karzai said that "Afghan security forces proved to the people that they can defend their country successfully".

Gun battles between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in the capital, Kabul, ended after almost 18 hours of fierce fighting, according to government and police officials.

"The latest information we have about the Afghan parliament area is that the attack is over now and the only insurgent who was resisting has been killed," Hashmatullah Stanikzai, the Kabul police chief's spokesman, said on Monday.

There were conflicting reports regarding the number of casualties in the co-ordinated attacks that targeted mainly western installations in Kabul, which the Taliban described as the launch of a "spring offensive".

Afghanistan's defence ministry said 32 gunmen and three Afghan soldiers were killed in the operation against the multiple assaults, Reuters news agency reported.

A team of U.N. monitors walk through a hotel in Damascus April 16, 2012.

he man accused over a bombing and shooting spree that left 77 people dead in Norway has acknowledged carrying out the killings but pleaded "not guilty" on terror charges, as his trial got under way in Oslo.

"I acknowledge the acts, but not criminal guilt," Anders Behring Breivik told the court yesterday morning, referring to the July 2011 attacks over which prosecutors accuse him of committing acts of terror.

Breivik arrived in court for the morning's opening session in Oslo amid tight security and massive media attention, with proceedings set to focus on whether or not he is legally sane.

If convicted, the 33-year-old

faces a 21-year sentence that could be extended indefinitely if he is still considered a threat to society. If deemed to be insane he would face closed psychiatric care, possibly for life.

Upon his entrance to the court, Breivik lifted his right fist in an apparent far-right salute.

"I do not recognise the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism", Breivik told the court, adding that he wished to be tried in a military court. "I do not acknowledge the authority of the court."

Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen, the lead judge responded, telling Breivik that he would have time to make statements later on in the

trial.

Breivik diplayed little emotion as the prosecutor read out a list of those killed and how they had died as well as his charges, but later appeared tearful as the court was shown a 12-minute film that he had posted online on the day of the attacks.

Breivik has confessed to a car bombing outside a government building in central Oslo which killed eight people and the subsequent killings of 69 people, most of them teenagers, during a shooting spree on the nearby island Utoya where Norway's ruling Labour Party was holding a youth summer camp.

Entering his plea yesterday, he said he had acted in self-defence. His lawyers had earlier said he would argue that his actions were "cruel but necessary".

Italian ex-PM, Silvio Berlusconi, ‘hosted nun strippers’

A

witness at the trial of Silvio Berlusconi has said strippers dressed as nuns performed for the former Italian prime minister at a party.

Model Imane Fadil said she had been given 2,000 euros (ÂŁ1,650; $2,614) by Mr Berlusconi the first time she attended a "bunga bunga" party.

She was one of several women who arrived at a Milan courthouse on Monday to testify in Mr Berlusconi's trial.

He is accused of paying for sex with an underage nightclub dancer.

The woman, Moroccan-born Karima el-Mahroug, was 17 when she allegedly had sex with the prime minister.

He is also accused of abusing his powers by getting police to release Ms Mahroug - better

known by her stage name Ruby The Heart Stealer - from jail when she was arrested for stealing.

Ms Fadil told the court she had attended several parties at Mr Berlusconi's villa outside Milan.

She alleges that the first night she went, she saw two young women in nun costumes stripping for the prime minister.

One, she said, was Nicole Minetti, now a regional councillor for Berlusconi's People of Freedom party in Milan.

Ms Fadil claimed that Ms Minetti and the other woman dressed as a nun stayed the night at the villa, and that women who attended bunga bunga parties were paid more for sex.

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported last week that

Mr Berlusconi had paid a total of 127,000 euros to three female witnesses, including Ms Minetti, since the trial began last year.

Mr Berlusconi's lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, denied the payments were an attempt to influence the women's testimony, saying they were legal and reflected the former prime minister's "usual generosity", AFP news agency reports.

This is one of three trials that the businessman and former prime minister is currently a defendant in. The other two relate to tax fraud and violating official secrets, while earlier this year an Italian court threw out a fourth case relating to bribery claims.

Mr Berlusconi stepped down in November 2011 over concerns about Italy's economy.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 35

Indian politicians place $2000 bounty on vampires ‘who have been sucking blood from cows in the night’

Horror: Christopher Lee as Dracula in the 1958 film. Indian politicians have offered a $2000 bounty to prove to terrified villagers that vampires don't exist

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ndian politicians are offering a $2000 reward for the capture of vampires which terrified locals claim have been sucking the blood out of their cattle.

Villagers around the town of Dharampuri in Tamil Nadu have been staying off the streets after sunset following the reports of strange goings on in the night.

Residents have painted holy signs outside their homes and written messages on doors begging the monsters, known locally as Ratha Kaatteri, to spare their lives.

However local politicians claim the rumours are being spread by criminals who do not want people disturbing their late night deliveries of bootleg booze.

(File picture): Villagers claim the mythical monsters have been sucking the blood out of their cattle To prove the whole thing is hoax they have offered reward of 100,000 rupees - almost $2000 - for anyone bringing in a vampire corpse.

Politician O. Jayaraman said: 'It is a big hoax. Anti-socials whose illegal night activities such as bootlegging and liquor brewing have been disturbed are spreading

rumours and killing cattle.

'Since people are not willing to believe us, we have challenged them with this reward.'

Although vampires are usually associated with Western mythology, many believe the stories have their roots in Asia and were carried along the silk

route to Europe.

Betails (or Vetalas) are supposedly evil spirits which inhabit the bodies of the dead and feed on the living.

Legends describe them as being half-bat, half-man, extremely similar to the western stories.

Lucky strike! Teenager struck by lightning twice says he survived because his novelty hat took the hit

thing in the field and the lightning probably would have hit me no matter what, so the fact the hat took the brunt of it probably saved me from being electrocuted.

Mr Wilks said he was embarrassed to 'think a fancy dress hat' saved his life.

'It wasn't until two or three hours afterwards that I started to feel dizzy, disorientated and my heart was racing.

'I went to St Mary's to be checked over, but they said I was OK. One of the doctors at A&E said I should buy a lottery ticket.'

believes the hat saved his life.

'I had gone into the garden to show my mum the hat, which had just arrived in the post, when it happened.

'It felt weird, like being hit on the head really hard,' said Matt, who lives in Ryde with parents Paul and Helen Wilks.

'There was this bright flash as a fork of lightning splintered

above us, and that's when I felt it hit me.

'There was so much static electricity in the air, it was really scary.

'Just before that, a bolt of lightning leapt from the metal garden gate and hit me like an electric shock.

'I'm 6ft 4ins, so I was the tallest

What are the chances of surviving when you have been struck?

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Lucky: Matt Wilks, 19, was wearing an umbrella hat, which cost him £3 from Ebay, when he was hit by two separate bolts of lightning during storms over the Isle of Wight on Thursday he chances of being struck £3 from eBay, when he says he by lightning once are high was hit by two separate bolts enough. But a teenager has during storms over the Isle of declared he was struck twice in Wight yesterday. an afternoon and only survived The storms knocked-out the because he was wearing a novelty power for 2,300 homes, while hat bought for a fancy dress pub lightning also struck a house and crawl. a riding stables.

Matt Wilks, 19, was wearing Miraculously Mr Wilks, a an umbrella hat, which cost him student, was unharmed and

T

Beacon: 'I'm 6ft 4ins, so I was the tallest thing in the field and the lightning probably would have hit me no matter what, so the fact the hat took the brunt of it probably saved me from being electrocuted,' said Mr Wilks

hey are struck by 'side flashes,' said Vladimir Rakov, electrical engineer and co-director of the University of Florida Lightning Research Group to Life's Little Mysteries.

'Lightning might strike a building near them, for example, and there's a side flash that jumps to them carrying a small fraction of the original lightning bolt's energy. In that case, they can survive and even walk away.'

Significantly less powerful than direct strikes, side flashes do still convey a massive amount of energy.

While it's extremely rare that someone survives a direct lightning strike, those who do have usually experienced a phenomena called the flashover effect.

This is when the full lightning current doesn't flow through the human body, because bodies have an extremely high impedance,' Rakov said to the website.

An electric arc will form from

the person's head to the ground, because their body essentially resists the flow of current.

Rakov said this means most of the current will flow along that arc over the body surface and usually only 5 amps will flow through the person that has been struck.

Five amps, is enough to power an electric heater, so it is a significant but usually a nonfatal amount of current.

Each year around hundreds of thousands of people across the world are struck by lightning, but they usually do not get hit directly.

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Don’t forget your toothbrush... it may be a lifesaver G

oing to the dentist is a chore, and a necessity if we want to keep our own teeth. But there may be more broad-ranging benefits.

Regular check ups, clean teeth and a healthy mouth could increase lifespan and lead to early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of a range of diseases from anaemia to heart problems.

Experts are increasingly discovering links between gum disease – which affects half the population – and dozens of other illnesses.

Studies are also showing that treating it can lead to improvements in many of the conditions.

The British Dental Association’s scientific adviser, Professor Damien Walmsley, says: ‘The good news is that most cases of gum disease are treatable and, more importantly, preventable.’

Here, we outline the ways in which good oral hygiene – brushing teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, restricting intake of sugary foods and drinks to mealtimes, stopping smoking and visiting the dentist once every two years (or more often if you have problems) – can boost overall health.

H E A R T DISEASE AND STROKE Gum disease usually begins with a build-up of plaque, a sticky coating made up of food and bacteria that can lead to irritation of the gums, bleeding and gingivitis.

Research at New York State University showed that treating periodontal disease

(swollen gums) with scaling and root planing and antibiotic gel significantly lowered the levels of C-reactive protein and fibrinogen, which are associated with a higher risk of heart disease.

In a second study at Sydney Dental Hospital, dentists removed teeth from about 70 patients with advanced forms of gum disease and found a big drop in the levels of the same compounds associated with heart disease risk.

One theory is that periodontal bacteria get into the bloodstream and travels to major organs to begin new infections. It has also been suggested that the bacteria causing gum disease could increase the rate at which arteries become blocked.

There may be a similar risk with stroke. Research based on 9,000 adults tracked for 15 years found that women with antibodies to P. gingivalis, the organism most associated with periodontal disease, were twice as likely to have a stroke.

HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE A report from cardiologists at the University of Athens says there is a link between chronic periodontitis and increases in blood-

Brushing teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, and restricting intake of sugary foods and drinks to mealtimes can boost overall health pressure levels and hypertension (high blood pressure).

LUNG DISEASE Links have been found between oral health and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, or COPD, a respiratory condition whose main cause is cigarettesmoking.

According to the American Academy of Periodontology, oral and other bacteria can get into the lungs to cause frequent bouts of infection in patients with COPD. DIABETES Gum-disease rates have been found to be threefold higher in people with diabetes.

A study by the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Disease found a link between

severity of periodontal disease and mortality in diabetes patients.

Researchers at Newcastle University say there is evidence of a two-way effect, with diabetes increasing the risk for periodontitis, and periodontal inflammation worsening bloodsugar control.

PREMATURE BIRTH Researchers have found higher rates of premature babies among women with periodontal disease.

Research at the University of Alabama is showing that gum infections trigger an increase in the levels of prostaglandin and other compounds that induce labour.

The researchers were able to reduce premature birth by up to 84 per cent in women who received scaling and root planing when

Eating nuts can help stave off obesity, says study D

ieters often dismiss them because of their high fat content, but research suggests that snacking on nuts can help keep you slim.

A study found that those who consumed varieties such as almonds, cashews and pistachios demonstrated a lower body weight, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference compared to non-consumers.

They were also at lower risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Experts are now recommending a daily intake of 1.5 ounces, or three tablespoons of nuts as part of a healthy diet.

Lead researcher Carol O’Neil, from Louisiana State University,

men and women participating in the 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES).

Nut consumers were defined as those who ate more than one quarter of an ounce a day.

Tree nut - almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts consumption specifically, was associated with higher levels of good cholesterol and lower risk of chronic diseases including heart disease.

In addition, it was also linked to a lower prevalence of four risk factors for metabolic syndrome: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels and low good cholesterol levels.

Dr O’Neil adds: ‘Tree nuts should be an integral part of a healthy diet and encouraged by health professionals—especially registered dietitians.’

Maureen Ternus, executive director of the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation (INC NREF), also congratulated the recent data.

She said: ‘In light of these new data and the fact that the FDA has issued a qualified health claim for nuts and heart disease with a recommended intake of 1.5 ounces of nuts per day, we need to educate people about the importance of including tree nuts in the diet.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

they were less than 35 weeks pregnant.

OSTEOPOROSIS In periodontitis, there is a loss of bone into which the teeth are rooted, and this, as well as loss of the soft-tissue attachment to the tooth, is a major cause of tooth loss in adults.

It has been suggested that in some patients gum disease could be an early indicator of the bonethinning condition osteoporosis.

EARLY DEATH Those with severe gum disease were twice as likely to die, of any cause, before the age of 64 than those with no disease, according to a study based on a nationally representative U.S. sample of 11,000 people aged over 30.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 37

Borno PDP scheming to reverse ANPP’s Supreme Court victory – Party chairman INTERVIEW

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he opposition PDP in Borno state has in recent times published some petitions against the ANPP over the 2011 governorship elections insisting that your party didn’t win the elections in fact, we learnt the party is going back to the Supreme Court to re-open the governorship case which the court had delivered judgment in favour of Governor Shettima in your party, the ANPP back in February this year, what is your take on the twist?

Thank you so much for this great opportunity to speak. First of all, let me reaffirm that Governor Kashim Shettima of the ANPP won the 2011 elections in a free, fair and credible elections. At least the PDP men themselves agreed that elections were held in Borno but because some of them are very naïve they claimed that in the areas or local government areas where the candidate of the PDP, our elder brother, Mohammed Goni won the elections by defeating the ANPP, the elections there were credible and should stand but in areas where they lost, which unfortunately for them made up for the ANPP, elections there were not credible whereas the elections in areas where the PDP won and the areas where the ANPP won were all conducted by the same INEC officials they are condemning, the same INEC that declared PDP winner of two Senate seats in Borno Central and Borno South, so they are just saying what doesn’t make sense at all.

Regarding their return to the Supreme Court, I think they are doing it for three main purposes, the PDP is not on ground in Borno and they have never been, they operate from Abuja while the governor here is a grass roots man, relates with the people come rain or sunshine, the ANPP’s structure is fully on ground in Borno and this means the party will always win the heart of the masses especially with goal oriented and kind hearted governor that virtually everybody in Borno likes including sensible key leaders of the PDP, they admire Kashim so much, they say it… (cut in) … You earlier said the PDP is returning to the court for three purposes, what are these purposes and then the PDP is claiming that 5 judges instead of seven, constituted the panel that tried the Borno matter?

Chairman of the ruling All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, in Borno state, Alhaji Mala Atuman, is one of the frontline politicians in the state. In an interactive session with newsmen recently in Abuja, the ANPP chairman decried what he called ‘desperate fresh moves by some persons in Borno PDP’ concerning the state’s governorship seat which was earlier decided by the Supreme Court in favour of Governor Kashim Shettima of the ANPP on February 17, 2012. Our man, Tobias Lengnaan was there. Excerpts: I was coming back to the three purposes, the fact is that the PDP is chasing shadows because many cases were tried by fiveman panel of judges in the Supreme Court even landmark cases were determined by a panel of five judges, PDP in Borno has other motives. The number one thing is that some people in the PDP in Borno are just too desperate for power because they shot themselves in the foot.

They are making new desperate from what we gathered, they have been going to Aso Rock to mount serious pressures on the President and the Vice President to interfere with the case, so in order to achieve that, they need to be in the court no matter how unreasonable their basis may be, all they want is for the President to abuse his powers and manipulate the Supreme Court so that the court will just bring in the PDP, they don’t even want election because they know that insha Allah the ANPP with a credible and likeable person like His Excellency, Kashim Shettima, will win the elections 100 times over and over again.

So, they are mounting extreme pressure on the President, there was even a time I learnt they thought of going to the international court of justice in Hague because of desperation as if Nigeria has no sovereign laws over political matters. But like our governor, Kashim Shettima has always told us whenever we are reviewing issues like this even before the Supreme Court gave us victory on 17 th of February, Kashim always say that he has confidence in the judges of the supreme court and the judiciary as a whole, he

Alhaji Mala Atuman knows that the judges consider their integrity as paramount which they displayed to us in February and the governor also tell us that he knows that the President and the Vice President will never succumb to pressures to interfere with the judiciary especially the supreme court, mind you the presidency was under the same pressure before the Supreme Court ruling in February but obviously the Presidency as well as the judges resisted the pressures which was why justice was rightly delivered in our favour and we believe this matter is over…

“

the supreme court is an institution whenever they deliver judgment, that judgment become laws that are used for reference and they can only be reversed by laws enacted by the national assembly

You said the matter is over but what about the fresh case?

Like is explained earlier, there is no issue here, the supreme court is an institution whenever they deliver judgment, that judgment become laws that are used for reference and they can only be reversed by laws enacted by the national assembly. From the time the Supreme Court ruled on our matter, over five cases on governorship and other elective political offices were determined with Supreme Court judgment on our case mainly used as reference so is the PDP in Borno saying that all these cases should no longer be valid? Where do they want the courts to start? By asking the justices of the Supreme Court to reverse their own judgment, I think they just want to insult the collective integrity of the respected jurists and the highest court of the land because they want the judges to indict themselves, so that by the time they reverse themselves it will look like they don’t know what they are doing because if the supreme court can just afford to

make a mistake and decide on the matter in error like the PDP men in Borno want to mislead people to believe then there is a problem but we know there is no problem insha Allah. The PDP problem in Borno is that they shot their foot because the state has no representation even in the national exco of the PDP. About five of them came out to contest the seat of national chairman, no one was ready to step down for the other because of their usual ‘I too know’ attitude so at the end of the day, the two front runners where from PDP controlled states of Bauchi and Adamawa and ofcourse Adamawa got it, the PDP in Borno has nothing like it doesn’t deserve to have, so their focus is to get the governorship by hook or crook which they will never get insha Allah. Look at even the federal executive council, Borno as one of five states with highest population, with our proximity to three boarder countries, the state was former capital of the northeast, so much economic activities yet we couldn’t get a senior minister because of the division in the PDP men of wisdom in quote, ideally the state should have a senior minister of a key sector like Education, Agriculture, Works, Housing, Environment or so but we ended up having a state minister and we all know that a state minister can hardly enjoy the full political will to influence things in a setting like ours because whatever he is doing has to be first supported by the senior minister before it can cross to the executive council or president and the senior minister has interest in getting attention to his own state in addition to other parts of the country because he is there because of his state. This situation where Borno has lost out in the federal power sharing is caused by in fights between the PDP men. Remember there was a time Borno had the office of SGF under Yaradua, the state had the office of minister of works under President Jonathan but through intense fights amongst the PDP men in

Contiuned on page 39

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PDP Chieftain calls for LG chairmanship aspirant to focus on agriculture massive establishment of From Sam Egwu, Lokoja agenda for the area. stem the orgy of violence distribution of farm inputs such as fertilizers, Uduh averred that for in the region. skills acquisition centres s the race to local the nation to overcome The chairmanship improved seedlings and

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PDP Chieftain in Kano state, Alhaji Gambo Dan-Pass, has called for massive establishment of skills acquisition centres to address the high level of unemployment in the country.

Dan-Pass gave the suggestion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano.

According to him, empowering the youths through skills acquisition and training programmes would also reduce the current security challenges.

“Unless and until government at all levels realise the importance of youth empowerment, the country will continue to experience multi-faceted problems.

“There is no way any country can achieve greatness if its youth, who constitute a larger percentage of the population, are not contributing to its economic growth.”

He commended the Kano State Government for initiating various programmes aimed at empowering women and youths and called on other state governments to emulate it.

Dan-pass, who holds the traditional title of ‘Dan-saran Kano’, urged state governments in the country to work with the traditional institutions in the quest to tackle insecurity in their respective states.

“Before now, traditional rulers played a significant role in ensuring security in their domain; visitors must report to Ward or Village Head before they could be allowed to stay in a place.” (NAN).

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g o v e r n m e n t councils in Kogi state hots up an aspirant has identified agriculture and human capital development as the bedrock for rapid transformation of the nation.

Hon Isaiah Yusuf Uduh, an aspirant for the chairmanship of Omala Local government council, stated this yesterday while briefing newsmen in Lokoja on his

her security challenges, emphasis should be given to agriculture and agro allied industries to engage the teaming youths of the country.

He added that the issue of Boko Haram has become a national embarrassment saying that President Goodluck Jonathan should intensify human d e v e l o p m e n t programmes, especially in the North in order to

aspirant noted that his priority for the people of Omala local government area is to invest massively in agriculture, stressing that with the vast arable land in the area the people have no need to be poor.

To key into the transformation agenda of the federal government through agriculture, he maintained that his administration would assist farmers in the

insecticides even as the cultivation of cotton, cassava, beniseed, yams and Jathropha, a feed stock for the newly extablished biodiesel refinery in the state shall be a priority.

He however urged the state governor, Captain Idris Wada, to create a level playing field for the aspirants to enable the people to elect candidates of their choice during the LG polls.

NOA to introduce e-polling information collation process D irector-General, N a t i o n a l Orientation Agency (NOA) Mr Mike Omeri said yesterday in Abuja that the agency would introduce an electronic information collation system to enable Nigerians to express themselves about governance and developmental issues.

Omeri said at a forum

of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the system would entail voting on government's programmes and peoples' aspirations, using television promptings.

He told NAN that it would equally facilitate exchange of information between the government and the citizens on developmental issues and activities.

He said the information collation system, called e-polling, would be of particular interest and use for people in the rural areas as it would create a platform for them to participate actively in the communication channel that would be created between the government and the people.

Omeri said issues and programmes germane to development would be displayed on television screens and viewers would be requested to vote either in support or against the

issue.

The NOA, he said, would then collate the voting result and use same as a guide in advising the government or the people themselves.

“We are going to have e-polling arrangement; every morning we put a number on the television screen and people will be asked to vote on specific government policies, programmes and activities. ``And in fact even if there are not existing programmes, policies and activities, we'll ask people

to vote suggesting what they think government should do for them. ``Because this government wants to be a d e m a n d - d r i v e n government; that is the essence of the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n programme that President Jonathan is undertaking. ``So in the next one or two weeks specifically we will start the e-polling real time information collection from the people to enhance our `Pulse of the Nation' report.''

(NAN)

Lagos CNPP pleads with doctors on strike From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he Lagos state Chapter of The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) have expressed grieve concerns over the three day warning strike being embarked upon by Doctors in the state.

Speaking through a statement by the CNPP Chairman, Akinola Obadia yesterday, CNPP said “without prejudice to the right of the concerned doctors to seek a better welfare package, we wish to warn against any act that could seriously jeopardise and threaten the precious lives and health of our people, especially those whose state of health are in great danger at the moment. We totally condemn the strike actions in its entirety.”

According to them, the medical profession is the first and foremost humanitarian calling which ethically does not allow or give room for incessant strikes at the least provocation. They said whatever grouse

they may have with the government on the implementation of CONMESS and taxation of doctors must be weighed against the precious, irreplaceable lives that may be and will definitely be scuttled by their strike action. The moral imperative of their noble and humanitarian calling is to save lives.

They also appeal to the doctors to resist the temptation of being unduly influenced or incited to strike action by selfish politicians with the motive of taking political advantage of the situation.

The Lagos State CNPP, are of the humble view that the Administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) is enlightened and reasonable enough to listen to genuine and reasonable demands of the doctors, Lagos State being the first state of the Federation to implement the Federal Government negotiated Consolidated Medical

Salary Structure (CONMESS).

They maintained that the Government has given a public assurance to perfect whatever error may be involved in its implementation.

According to them, “we repeat that neither personal interests nor political motivation should be allowed to hold sway in this grave circumstance.

“We in the CNPP are great advocates of good remuneration for our doctors who are colabourers with God to save lives and relief pains but we strongly appeal to them to shun the method of going on strike to achieve better conditions of service considering their humanitarian and sworn moral obligation to protect and save lives. We therefore wish to appeal to our noble doctors to shelve the strike action, either warning or otherwise, and resume negotiation with the government immediately. We cannot afford to toy with the lives of our people.”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Ignore politicians who fail to perform, Kogi people told From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

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gainst the backdrop of absolute nonperformance of political office holders from the Eastern flank of Kogi state while in office,the Igala Cultural and D e v e l o p m e n t Association,ICDA, Lokoja branch, has called on the electorate to reject some of the non-performing legislators at both the national and state levels in future elections to avoid a repeat of the present predicament facing the zone.

The Lokoja branch Chairman of the association, Honourable Mathew Ajodo, who stated this yesterday in Lokoja at the annual festival of the association, lamented that the people of the zone have suffered untold neglect from their elected representatives for years.

The former councillor said Igalaland, which constituted the majority in the state population, has been greatly under-developed since the creation of the state, despite the fact that Igala people have been at the helm of the affairs.

He said until the people of the state particularly the eastern senatorial district

decide to vote with their conscience and ignore moneybag politicians,the development which they are yearning for will continue to elude them.

The tribal activist equally called on political appointees from the area to emulate their counterparts from the two other districts (Kogi West and Central), who have immensely attracted federal presence to their various constituencies through robust debate on the floor of house as well as on national issues.

Earlier, the state governor who was represented by the state Security Adviser,Rtd,Commodore Martins Onekutu, congratulated the bold initiatives of Igala residents in Lokoja for coming together to promote unity in a diverse setting like the state.

The governor while calling on all and sundry to support his administration, charged the people to be law abiding at all times, saying, “We are peace loving people where ever we find ourselves and you are enjoined to continue to leave in peace with our brothers and sisters as we are known for since the time of Kabba Province”.

PAGE 39

ACN to PDP: Stop using religion to destabilize the South-west

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has raised an alarm alleging that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was playing a religious card in its desperate attempt to destabilize the South-west, warning that the consequences of such a misadventure would be too grave for the nation.

ACN in a statement issued yesterday in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the concocted accusations against Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, that he was trying to Islamize the state and also engineer secession, were part of the PDP's grand plan to use religion as a destabilizing force in the South-west in particular and the whole country.

It said the fact that the PDP desperadoes and their collaborators in the security services could even try to link Governor Aregbesola with Boko Haram was an indication of how low they were willing to sink just to carry out their nefarious plot.

The party also expressed surprise that in its desperation, the PDP ensured that its collaborators in the security services - in routing their imaginary security report - bypassed the normal channel of communication on national security issues. ''The South-west as a region does not have a history of religious

Chief Bisi Akande

Alhaji Bamanga Tukuru

intolerance as, in most families; adherents of the various faith have co-existed peacefully through the ages. It is therefore curious that a party that prides itself as pan-Nigeria will seek to end the age-long religious tolerance in this region just for political expediency,'' the party said.

ACN further said any keen observer of the way the PDPcontrolled federal government has handled the Boko Haram crisis will not be too surprised that the party's goons in the South-west, backed by their clueless bosses at the federal level, are resorting to religion in their inordinate quest to 'recapture' the region they so mindlessly plundered in their first coming. ''The Boko Haram crisis has become the meal ticket for the PDP

and its chop-I-chop members, what with the huge chunk (about a quarter of the 2012 budget) allocated to 'combating' it. It is also the party's trump card for maintaining a stranglehold on the nation; hence its flame must be kept aglow at all costs – human or material. his eyes firmly set on another mandate even when he has not justified the current one, he and his party believe that his surest ticket to another mandate is to keep the flame of Boko Haram burning, and continue misinforming the international community that the crisis is rooted in religion, rather than in years of irresponsible governance, the type of which the PDP has foisted on Nigeria since 1999”, ACN said.

2015: CPC cheiftain warns party against “hasty zoning”

A

former CPC governorship candidate in Niger, Alhaji Ibrahim Shettima has warned the party against hasty zoning of elective positions in the state.

Shettima said the call became necessary to protect the fortunes of the party between now and the 2015 general elections.

“Zoning at this point in time will amount to indecent haste capable of causing disharmony at a time that calls for cohesion”, he said at the party’s stakeholders meeting in Minna on Sunday.

He called for aggressive membership drive in line with the party’s renewal agenda.

Shettima urged the party

members in the National and State Assemblies to fulfil their campaign promises, so as to stay connected to the electorate.

The CPC Chieftain said political parties in the country must join hands to tackle the rampart cases of electoral malpractice and ensure that INEC performs its constitutional duties effectively.

He challenged the party, which he said was the main opposition party in Niger, to provide credible alternative policies that would drive the state’s growth and development.

The former candidate advised Gov. Babangida Aliyu to ensure administrative and financial independence of local government

councils in line with Nigeria’s constitution.

The Chairman of the party in the state, Alhaji Umar Shuaibu told the stakeholders that the renewal drive was to ensure the success of the party in the 2015 elections, “as Nigerians are tired of PDP government policies and programmes”. (NAN)

Borno PDP scheming to reverse ANPP’s Supreme Court victory – Party chairman Contiuned from page 37 Borno, working against each other the state lost all these powerful seats even though I

Governor Kashim Shettima

like the current state minister, he was even at a flagging off ceremony for polio torch in Maiduguri about two weeks ago in solidarity with the state

government even when it was not his ministry’s event, I believe he is also impressed by Governor Kashim’s focus so far.

You earlier said the PDP was acting for 3 main reasons… (cuts in) I explained two, first they want to use their second coming so that the pressures they are mounting on the President can have room for the Presidency to use which will not work, they are desperate because they lost the national chairmanship to Adamawa and because they put all their eggs in one heavily punched basket, they have not even an ex officio seat. Secondly, they want to insult the integrity of the supreme court judges but the third one is that they are trying to cause intense instability in Borno. They have seen how the governor is inspecting on going projects, they have been reading papers and watching NTA network, they have seen him brought in Germans currently working aiming at generating 20 megawatts of solar electricity,

they have seen Egyptian agricultural experts coming to Borno as follow up to the governor’s trip there which they thought was not meaningful but now the Egyptians want to set up a vehicle assembling plant and supply agro machinery, they have seen him creating employment for hundreds of graduates and thousands of skilled persons, they have seen him driving Borno back to agriculture through partnerships with Songhai farms in Benin Republic and other establishments in Thailand and Egypt to revive rice milling, irrigation, fish farming and general mechanized agriculture so they want to divert the governor’s attention with the new case so that he doesn’t achieve anything thinking that will make them relevant in 2015.

The fact is that some of these PDP men are serious enemies of Borno, they do not want progress and stability at all other wise, any meaningful

Borno person should be thinking about peace and stability of progress now and not political litigations more especially when we all know that insha Allah, the case has already been decided since February and from that time, the governor has settled and people are seeing aggressive developments springing up. So, I join well meaning Nigerians to call on the President and the Vice President to ignore these desperate people that don’t even mean well for his government because they are the same people that will leak it out boastfully that he influenced things in their favour and rubbish him, above all, the supreme court judges should maintain their integrity like we know they will always do so that they remain ideal reference in our democratic experiments. I call on Nigerians to join in praying for peace, stability and progress of Borno and all Nigeria. These are what we want now more than ever before and not evil political machinations by few evils

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Olubolade’s governorship ambition is destroying Ekiti PDP – Group warns S/South was his desperation to win the "The immediate past National March 18, 2012, thus stakeholders From Adesoji Oyinlola, Lagos itparty governorship ticket that Vice Chairman (Southwest), rendering the congress invalid. pressure group in the Peoples made him teamed up with people, Alhaji Tajudeen Oladipo even "This same inordinate demand fiscal ADemocratic Party (PDP), Ekiti who were not members of the PDP caused an advert to be placed in ambition made Olubolade to state, the Ekiti Patriots (TEP) has yet. the Nigerian Tribune where it flout the zoning guidelines of the warned that unless the Minister federalism In a release issued yesterday was stated clearly that Fayose was party and also supported for Police Affairs, Navy Capt Caleb

By Lawrence Olaoye

S

takeholders from the South-South geo-political zone of the country, including the region’s governors, members of the National Assembly as well as House of Assemblies Speakers from the zone yesterday advocated for introduction of fiscal federalism in the country.

This was made public a communiqué issued after a day summit by the stakeholders in Uyo yesterday. The stakeholders held that enthroning the regime of fiscal federalism would enable every state of the federation to control its resources and develop in accordance to its capacity.

The communiqué read by the governor of Cross River state who is also the chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum urged the nation and the states to focus on agriculture which allows all states to contribute significantly to the national purse rather than the current overdependence on oil from South-South.

On the issue of revenue allocation, the Forum faulted the attempts by some governors in the Northern part of the country to link insecurity in the country to the current revenue sharing formula insisting that the call for review in the sharing formula was misplaced.

The meeting questioned the rationale of not exploiting other mineral deposits in different parts of the country while depleting the oil and gas reserves of the South-South.

The Forum equally noted that the delay in the [passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill into law has impacted negatively on Bayelsa, Riveers, Akwa-Ibom Cross River, Edo and Delta (BRACED) states.

The stakeholders noted the efforts of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s government to curtail the state of the nation’s insecurity even as it appealed to the aggrieved in some parts of the country to seek constitutional redress to their grievances rather than embark on destroying innecent lives and properties.

Explaining the purpose of the meeting, both the Chairman of the Forum, Senator Imoke and the host Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio said it was for the leaders of the SouthSouth to come together to deliberate on how to pull the huge resources of the zone to transform the region.

The meeting was attended by the Governors of Bayelsa state, Henry Seriake Dickson, Akwa Ibom state Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan and the Rivers state Deputy Governor, Engr. Tele Ikuru who represented the state Governor, Rotimi Ameachi, Senate Leader Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, The Minister for Tourism, Chief Edem Duke as well as south-south Legislators in the National Assembly and the Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly.

Olubolade is called to order over his gubernatorial ambition, there will be no peace in the party, insisting that the party risks total collapse.

TEP, which appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan and other well meaning leaders of the PDP to call Olubolade to order, said

and signed by the group Coordinator, Chief Adewale Ogundele and Director of Publicity, Comrade Kola Akeju, TEP said "by directives from both the State Working Committee (SWC) and Zonal Executive Council of the party, former governor, Ayodele Fayose is not a member of the PDP yet.

yet to be admitted into the party.

"However, because of his desperate bid to hijack the party to pave way for his emergence as the governorship candidate in 2014, Olubolade flouted the party's directives by allowing Fayose and other members of the Labour Party (LP) to take part in the botched congress of

L-R: Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Deputy Senate President Ike Ekwaramadu, and Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodima, during a public hearing on violation of aviation laws and practices by foreign airlines in Nigeria, at the National Assembly, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

members of LP that are yet to be admitted into the PDP as members of his own SWC of the party in Ekiti state.

"Also, it is worrisome that the same Olubolade, who during the Ekiti Central Constituency II House of Representatives byelection was at his Ipoti-Ekiti country home, eating pounded yam with Governor Kayode Fayemi could muster so much resources and security presence during the party congress.

"For instance, if half of the millions of naira Olubolade deployed into buying delegates and falsifying delegate lists during the party congress and the security personnel that invaded the congress venue were made available during the byelection, the story would have been different.

"But the minister in his selfish agenda to remain the only one in high political office in the party choose to be eating pounded yam with Fayemi when votes were being manipulated by Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) people and even votes belonging to the PDP were being destroyed by the party (ACN) thugs.

"It has therefore become necessary that Mr President and other leaders of our party, especially in the Southwest appeal to Olubolade to face his job as the minister of police affairs, and allow the PDP in Ekiti state to grow by having all aspirants work together to build the party."

PDP aligns with FG’s policy on appointments

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he Peoples` Democratic Party (PDP) said on Monday that it would join forces the Federal Government to ensure the return of merit as a major criterion for appointment into government offices.

The party stated this in a statement issued in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary Olisa Metuh.

The statement said that the party shared completely the vision of President Goodluck Jonathan in removing favouritism in job placement in the country.

It hailed and described the development as a critical step in government’s transformation programme.

It noted that the recent declaration by Jonathan that merit rather than favouritism would henceforth determine appointments into federal government positions was shared by the party.

It described ``as an arrow straight in the heart of corruption’’ the revelation by the President that

some heads of government agencies caught in budget inflation would be relieved of their positions.

The statement commended the decision and said “the move is an arrow straight in the portal vein of the monster of corruption’’.

It said that the decision tallied with the multi- pronged approach that had been adopted by the PDP new leadership which it had been advocating. ``We urge the President to go beyond the dismissal of these bad eggs to bringing them and their accomplices in other arms of government to book. He that must be corrupt must bear the full consequences of corruption,” the statement added.

It noted that the deliberate inflation of budgets by ministries, departments and agencies of government in the past had been a major drain on the nation`s resources.

It further stressed that the era where the nation`s budgets was to satisfy the greed of unpatriotic few must be stopped.

The statement commended the President; `` for his courage in frontally tackling national challenges ``without minding whose ox is gored’’.

It said that Jonathan`s recent pronouncement; `` has left no one in doubt of his political will as well as high content value of his transformation road map’’.

It added that the “the faithfulness of the President to his campaign promises has stunned and thrown opposition camp into confusion and disarray’’.

This, it said, was the reason for the current criticisms which it noted lacked deep reflection.

The statement said that “even though government`s transformation train has just left the station, the pace, tempo and result delivery, not withstanding well rehearsed distractions have put the opposition to shame’’.

It said that Jonathan deserved the commendation of Nigerians for his giant strides in the recent past. ``Just in the last one week,

he commissioned the first phase of hundreds of the Almajiri Model Schools in Sokoto as part of his campaign promises.''

He also commenced the empowerment of successful beneficiaries of the Youth Enterprise with Innovation (YouWin)- a job creation scheme. ``In the same week, he signed 2012 budget and therein made a definitive declaration on the redefinition of our planning and budgetary system,'' the statement said.

It, however, noted that the support of clergymen and various stakeholders was critical in ensuring the actualisation of Jonathan’s transformation agenda.

“For our transformation programme to succeed, the President must be assisted by competent acolytes who not only share in his vision of development but have the capacity to help translate this vision into reality for the good of the people,” the statement said (NAN).

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 41

NFF to inaugurate subcommittees tomorrow

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he Nigeria Football Federation will tomorrow inaugurate two standing committees and two ad-hoc committees.

According to a release yesterday, the football federation’s president Aminu Maigari, will inaugurate the committees to formally set off for the task onn hand.

The standing committees are the Organizing Committee and the Media & Publicity Committee, while the ad-hoc committees are the Committee on Roadmap for Sustainable Development and the Committee on Reconciliation.

NFF’s 1st Vice President,

Aminu Maigari, NFF president

...Unveils Ikhana as Super Falcons’ Head Coach

F

ormer U-23 National Team Head Coach, Kadiri Ikhana (MON) will be unveiled as Head Coach of the Senior Women National Team, nicknamed Super Falcons, on Wednesday.

Ikhana’s appointment as Head Coach of the Super Falcons was ratified by the NFF Executive Committee at its emergency meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, March 28. The 1980 African Cup of Nations winner will be on a four-year contract.

The Falcons remain Africa’s strongest team, with six wins out of seven African Women Championships since 1998, and having represented the continent in all FIFA Women’s World Cup since 1991, and at the Olympic Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

With the Falcons’ strangely failing to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, after a penalty shoot-out defeat

by Cameroon, Ikhana has a job to turn around the fortunes of the team and ensure that Nigeria not only qualifies for the World Cup, but starts to make appreciable impact at all global tournaments.

Chief Michael Okeke Umeh, a former Super Eagles’ Team Manager, is the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, which has the pioneer Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Premier League, Mallam Salihu Abubakar as Vice Chairman.

The members are former Leventis United FC supremo Mr. John Mastoroudes, former NFF Executive Committee member Alhaji Abubakar Ladan, Alhaji Maigari Joji and Barrister Jude Obikwelu. The secretary is Dr. Sanusi Mohammed, NFF’s Director of Competitions.

High Chief Emeka Inyama is the Chairman of the Media & Publicity Committee, while the members include Mr. Ibikunle Solaja, Ade Ojeikere, Mallam Ismaila Lere, Mr. Joseph Ighile and Mallam Yakubu Ibn Mohammed. NFF’s Chief Media Officer, Mr. Ademola Olajire, is the secretary.

Heading the ad-hoc Committee on Roadmap for Sustainable Development of Nigeria Football is former NFF General Secretary, Hon. Sani Ahmed Toro. Others are Shehu Dikko, Alhaji Mumuni Alao, Onochie Anibeze and Mr. Simeon Ikya as members, while former NFF Head of International, Mr. Charles Ojugbana is secretary.

The ad-hoc Committee on Reconciliation is headed by High Chief Emeka Inyama, with NFF Executive Committee members Barrister Olaleye Adepoju, Chief Felix AnyansiAgwu and Honourable Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande as members. The secretary is Mr. Ademola Olajire.

Blessing Okagbare

Chief Patrick Ekeji, DG, NSC

London 2012: Team Nigeria to hit Games Village July 18

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he Nigerian contingent to the 2012 Olympic Games in London will move into the Olympic Games Village on July 18, an official of the National Sports Commission (NSC) said yesterday in Abuja.

Alhassan Yakmut, who is the Chairman of the Ministerial Advisory and Coordinating Committee for the 2012 Games, revealed that the contingent, which is to camp first in Surrey, will arrive in the Games Village just after the opening ceremony.

“Our contingent will move into the Olympic Village from their pre-Games Surrey camp by the evening of July 18. This is about 24 hours after the official opening of the village.

“But more than anything, this will give Nigerian athletes about nine days to familiarise themselves with the village ahead of the Games’ commencement on July 27,” he said.

The Summer Olympic Games is scheduled to hold from July 27 to Aug. 12 and the Paralympic Games from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9, both in London.

However, some activities in

such events as men and women football and archery would be holding as from July 25.

Yakmut said the Nigerian contingent was being expected to arrive in Surrey in batches from the various off-shore camps which had already opened for the athletes at the moment.

“The Nigerian contingent will move to the Olympic Village in a batch, but movement to the Surrey camp cannot be the same as many members of the contingent all have different schedules. “For example, the athletics camp has already opened in Atlanta, U.S,” Yakmut, who is also the Deputy Director, NSC’s Federations and Elite Athletes Development (FEAD) Department, said.

“The other camps in Busan, South Korea for taekwondoists and all the special sports and Kohl in Germany for the boxers and some field events in paraathletics will open in due course.

“The basketball team will be the last to arrive the Surrey camp if they qualify, as its own qualifying competition is to hold from July 2 to July 8 in

Venezuela, and the team is being expected to join the camp immediately after.

“But there are no fears about when they will all arrive in the Surrey camp and the Olympic Village. Our committee has taken care of all the necessary details,” he said.

The committee chairman disclosed that the commission had also perfected plans about when to hand over the Nigerian contingent to the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC).

“What obtains is that the contingent should be handed over to the NOC not more than 21 days to the Olympic Games.

But we at the National Sports Commission (NSC) plans to hand the contingent over to the NOC as soon as possible.

“We are thinking of doing so between July 10 and July 12, and that’s about 18 days or less to the Games. “But, officially, the contingent is to be handed over to the NOC at a proper ceremony at a date to be chosen by the NSC leadership and approved by the government,” he said.

NIPOGA: Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria wins four gold medals in taekwondo

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he Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, has won the taekwondo event at the ongoing NIPOGA in Ede, Osun, with four gold, one silver and three bronze medals.

The results sheet made available yesterday showed the Federal Polytechnic, AdoEkiti, placed second place with three gold, one silver and two bronze medals, while the third place went to the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede,that had two gold and five silver.

The result sheet was signed by the taekwondo chairperson, Mrs Victoria Bedeteri.

Meanwhile, Lagos State

Polytechnic has qualified for the second round of the male football competition following the team’s 3-1 defeat of the Kaduna Polytechnic yesterday.

Ajayi Oluwasegun got a hattrick in the second, 23 rd and 49 th minutes of play while Jamiu Yusuf scored the only goal for KADPOLY in the 51th minute.

LASPOTECH had in its first match defeated Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic with 1-0 and played a goalless match with the host school Federal Polytechnic Ede in the second match.

The LASPOTECH coach, Joseph Ogunbowale,

attributed the victory of his team to hard work and discipline, adding that he was confident that his team would reach the final.

In the women’s football match, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, defeated Plateau Polytechnic by 4-0 with a hat-trick by Temitope Oyekunle being the highlight of yesterday’s match. She had the hat-trick in the 43 rd, 54 th and 65 th minutes of the match while Daye Okotie scored the fourth goal in the 47th minute.

The Yaba College of Technology in their first match on Friday defeated Federal Polytechnic Bauchi5-

0 and are expected to meet Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti on Wednesday in their third match.

The Federal Polytechnic Bauchi women’s handball team defeated Kogi State Polytechnic by 33-9 while the Auchi Polytechnic men’s handball team defeated the Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic 26-25.

In basketball, Kaduna Polytechnic women’s team defeated Yaba College of Technology by 24 points to 22 points while LASPOTECH defeated the host team by 18 points to 16 points. No fewer than 43 institutions are participating in the one week sports event.

PAGE 42

S

amuel Emehelu, a former member of the board of the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF), has called for the involvement of the Professional Golf Association (PGA) in nurturing the sport in the country.

Emehelu said yesterday that such a collaborative initiative would help to popularise the sport.

He said that the key step to achieving this objective was for sponsors to identify with open championships that would expose the country’s potentialities in the development of the sport.

The former board member reiterated fact thatBasketball emphasis he the Nigeria shouldFederation continue to be on the grass (NBBF) roots yesterday where emerging in Abuja talents said it could rise through the amateur would open its senior male cadre and the national team possibly camp this professional level. weekend to in place of the “Our involvement in golf cancelled All Stars Weekend investment has always been Game. about amateur golfpresident, to the The federation’s detriment of the professional Tijjani Umar, said that the arm of theopening sport. camp’s has been “Nigerian golf designed to fit intohas the always NBBF being towards board’s programmesustaining for the amateur team. golf which is not national terribly bad, but conflicts The 2012 All when Stars itWeekend with each other then it’s Game, a part of the 2011/2012 unacceptable,” the League golf DSTV Premier Basketball consultantwas said. calendar, earlier scheduled what 22 hisduring focus forWhen April asked 20 to April would be if he were to be in a the league’s mid-season break. position to implement “During our lastdecisions board that would foster the kind of meeting, it was decided that we scenario he utilise had our proposed, should rather money Emehelu said he would first on other programmes instead of embark on it a tour states of spending on of thetheAll Stars the federation to carry out an Game. assessment of thewhen available “Since 2010 we facilities on the ground. introduced it, we have been “I will so go much roundofthe to spending ourstate money promote the sport and possibly on the Game as the DSTV build a golf range at least get sponsorship money doesto not kids to practise and imbibe the cover it. rudiments of the “We then decided that game,” if none Emehelu said.

He stressed the of our clubs offers to host and need to attract from underwrite its youngsters expenses or no a tender age andsponsor to make golf company or any comes facilities accessible them round to easily pick the bills, wetoshould as well as making the equipment just leave it out of our more affordable to purchase. programme.

“Government should a “This is because we canbuild better small range like one holedisposal even if utilise the funds at our they can’t build ateams golf course; we as the national are there should start from attention somewhere at needing financial at all least,” the former NGF board times,” Umar said. member He saidsaid. the NBBF was already planning to open camp for the national team, known as the D’Tigers, ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games qualifying competition in Venezuela in July.

“The federation has long realised the need for the team to

T

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Ex-NGF board wants collaboration between amateur, professional golf

be in camp and this will be its first official camp and it is also going according to our schedule,” Umar said.

He said the team’s first official camping exercise, which is scheduled for April 19 to April 21 in Lagos, would offer a better alternative to the All Stars Weekend Game for the players.

“It is a pity we can’t hold the All Stars Weekend Game, but since most of the players to be at the game are the ones that will be in the national team camp, the players are not missing much.

“Rather, the camping exercise will give them room to prepare for something bigger in the 2012 Olympics qualifiers.

“This is because the next camp is scheduled for China in May when the team will go on a training tour and camping,” the NBBF president said.

Umar, however, gave assurance that the NBBF would not give up on the All Stars Weekend Game returning to the annual Premier Basketball League calendar.

“We are not giving up on the game. What we want now is that since we will soon go into discussion with DSTV on a new contract for the league’s sponsorship, we need to ensure the game’s inclusion.

“We have to put the game into part of our negotiations. We only put it in 2010 a year after the DSTV sponsorship started as a valueadded package. But now, we need it more and we will go for it,” he said.

NAN reports that DSTV started its four-year sponsorship of the Nigerian Premier Basketball League in 2009, and the sponsorship package will end at the end of the 2011/2012 season.

All Stars Weekend Game gives way to national team camp

D’Tigres in action

100 teams expected at Abuja Motor Treasure Hunt, organisers say

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o fewer than 100 motor teams are expected to participate in the Abuja Motor Treasure Hunt, scheduled for April 22, an official said yesterday.

The President of Automobile and Touring Club of Nigeria, Ishaku Bamaiyi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the event was a public safety programme.

He said it was designed to educate motorists on safe driving as part of the club’s annual safety programmes.

“Motor Treasure Hunt is a driving event on public roads to test the skills and ability of drivers to pay attention to detail.

This event has a lot to do with driving, hunting for treasures as well as creating awareness for road safety and it is intended to keep participants busy,” Bamaiyi said.

The club president said the event involved the formation of teams of a minimum of two persons and not more than 4 persons, including the driver.

“You have the driver who drives and the other person who is the navigator and gives directions and reads out the questions based on the map that was issued to the team.

“In the event where you have more than two people in a team, the other person or persons can

assist by answering the questions,” he said.

Bamaiyi said government agencies, such as the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and or the Directorate of Vehicle Inspection (VIO) would be involved in the programme.

“A map is given to teams after a brief address by the FRSC and or the VIO. Of course, the driver is expected to come with his or her car and team members depending on the number of people in the team,” he said.

The Automobile and Touring Club president said the programme which would be the third edition since its inception in 2008, would offer many gains

to the Nigerian public.

“We have realised the need to constantly educate Nigerians, and particularly the Abuja public on the needs for safe driving. This is what this event offers.

“It offers to make people imbibe road safety skills and also be able to drive with their environment in their minds.

“This is why we are bringing in the FRSC and VIO, and we hope that at the end of the day, the Nigerian driving public would have been better for it,” he said.

The Motor Treasure Hunt is to take off in the afternoon of April 22 from AbujaCity Park and terminate at the same point.

Bolaji Abdullahi, Supervising Minister of Sports

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 43

Brazilian superstar, Ronaldo status’ as a lethal goal getter speak volumes: O Fenômeno’s as the all-time leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history, the proud owner of two FIFA World Cup winners’ medals, a three-time FIFA World Player and two-time Ballon d’Or winner. He overcome plenty of adversities in order to write his name large in the annals of world football, the prolific former front-man is currently a member of the Management Board of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Local Organising Committee (LOC). The man who plundered goals aplenty for the likes of PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid spoke to FIFA.com on issues including his glittering career, the pressure on today’s Seleção and their chances of success in 2014.

World Cup 2014: Brazil have the talents to be world champions again, says Ronaldo

aldo

of Br

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as p

laye

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now

Coming back to the present day, which team do you like most at the moment?

I’m Merengue and I really like the way Madrid are playing, but you can’t ignore Barcelona, who have a fantastic team. They may not be the most spectacular, but they make everything look so simple.

Every single player in every area of the side knows what they have to do at any given time, then you’ve got their ability to keep hold of the ball and the way they patiently

Ron

A

s part of the Brazil 2014 LOC, what are your expectations for the tournament?

We’re very proud to be hosting the World Cup in Brazil. We’re going to have a great opportunity for growth, which is what’s most important for the population as a whole, because there’ll be huge investment in infrastructure, airports, motorways, hospitals and hotels. There’ll be a legacy that will remain for the rest of our lives, one that only a World Cup can provide.

How ready do you think A Seleção are for the tournament?

There’s been a generational overhaul in the national squad, which definitely isn’t playing its best football yet. And I think it’s going to take more time still for it to peak.

But between now and 2014 there’s time to find a good level of consistency, competitiveness and become capable of being crowned champions.

Neymar, Alexandre Pato and Ganso would appear to be the standout players of this new Brazilian generation. What’s your verdict on this trio?

They’re three very young and very talented Brazilians who are shining for their clubs. I think Neymar is the most gifted and, at just 19 years of age, he’s already got incredible ability.

He scores loads of goals and has won Brazil over. The international experience he had against Barcelona [in Santos’ 4-0 final defeat at the FIFA Club World Cup 2011] wasn’t a good one, but I’m sure it’ll have taught him a lot. Pato, for his part, has already proven his talent in Europe, while Ganso is also very good he just needs better luck with injuries.

Do you think there’s still room for experienced performers such as Ronaldinho or Kaka?

They’re important players, of course. In terms of their role out on the pitch, it’ll depend on their form and if they’re playing their best football once the World Cup comes around. But they’ve also got an important role off the pitch, and their experience will be vital in a squad of such young players.

Where would you rank the current Brazil side in global terms?

We’re not in the top three right now, but I do think we’re among the world’s top five national teams, even though we’re not on fire at the moment. Making changes is never easy and these new young players need time to mature. There’s no need to panic, they must be given time to get good results.

If you had to pick out one player to tag as ‘the new Ronaldo’, who would it be?

Leandro Damiao, from Internacional de Porto Alegre. He’s tall, strong, a very good goalscorer, a threat in the air and skilful with both feet. He’ll play a big part in 2014.

Let’s look back at your own playing days. You played in Brazil, Spain and Italy, so where would you say are the fans most passionate?

I think that they’re all football-mad countries, though they enjoy the game in different ways. In Brazil the stadiums are very old and in a lot of them the fans have to stand, and support their team by jumping up and down and breaking a sweat.

Aside from the heat, it’s not as formal as in Europe and the atmosphere’s more passionate. In Europe, even though it’s colder, the spectators also really make their presence felt, particularly in big derbies, which are a great spectacle.

Based on your own experience, how would you compare European and Brazilian club football?

The European game continues to be faster, more competitive and harder-fought than in Brazil, where it’s still in our culture to play a slower and more controlled style of football. The game has changed everywhere and that’s something we’ve got to get to grips with. I think that the standard in Europe is better than anywhere else. However, I think that once the World Cup is over, and thanks to the new stadiums and improved infrastructure, this change will take place in Brazil too.

Of all the teams you’ve played for, which have remained closest to your heart?

I look back at my time at Real Madrid with a lot of affection, I think it was the best period of my career. I also really enjoyed it at Inter, I fell in love with the team and the city of Milan. But wherever I played I made a lot of friends and had a great time.

Looking back at your early career, how important was it for you to travel to USA 1994 at just 17 years of age?

It was very important. Seeing players of the calibre of Romario and Bebeto up close had a real impact on my future. I was able to learn from them, look out for the small details, how they trained, how they found their focus.

Romario used to boss me about, getting me to fetch his boots and his coffee, as if I was a youth-team player! But he’d always treat me with respect, that was just the pecking order in the side.

By France 1998 you had made a starting berth your own, though the team went on to lose in the Final against the hosts. What feelings does that experience stir in you?

I’ve got very good memories of 1998. We had a spectacular World Cup until the Final, when we played really poorly against France. But I prefer to remember the atmosphere that day.

I tried to play well in that match, we all did, but it’s very tough to play a World Cup Final against the host nation, particularly when (Zinedine) Zidane is enjoying an inspired evening. Later on when we were team-mates he’d wind me up about that, but of course I got my own back in 2002, when we won the title and they went home after the first round.

Tell us more about your experiences at Korea/Japan 2002…

I got injured and there were doubts as to whether I’d be ready in time. But as soon as I started playing our warm-up friendlies I knew we were going to have a great World Cup. We had a really top side, which was very solid, very united and ended up being very effective.

That was the best Brazil team I played in; we had quality to spare in every area.

Moreover, it’s my greatest memory, because you simply can’t describe what it’s like to win a World Cup.

work their way towards the opposition goal.

The great job that [Pep] Guardiola’s done shines through: it’s one of the best teams I’ve seen in my 35 years on the planet. It hurts to say that, since I’m Madridista, but I still think we can pip them to some titles this year.

Finally, which players would be included in your all-time Brazil XI? That’s a tough one, but I’d go with Taffarel; Cafu, Aldair, Lucio, Roberto Carlos; Junior, Zico, Rivelino; Pele, Romario and me, of course! It’s a very attacking team! Everyone would be bombing forward! (laughs)

“

Making changes is never easy and these new young players need time to mature. There’s no need to panic, they must be given time to get good results.

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Gelana becomes women fourth fastest Rotterham Marathoner

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iki Gelana became the fourth fastest woman of all time with a 2:18:58 victory at the 32nd edition of the ABN-AMRO Rotterdam Marathon to set up an Ehtiopian double following Yemane Tsegay Adhane’s victory in the men’s race in 2:04:48.

The ABN-AMRO Rotterdam Marathon is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race.

The 24-year-old Gelana clocked the fourth fastest personal best time ever run by a woman. It was her second win in a great Dutch marathon. Last year, on October 16, she won the Amsterdam Marathon in a then personal best of 2:22:08.

In the weekend race, Gelana was in a class of her own after five kilometres as she led the pack five seconds ahead of compatriot Merima Hasen, who eventually finished third in 2:25:48.

The Italian Valeria Straneo finished extremely strongly, the mother of two clocking 2:23:44 for second place, a personal best and a new national record.

In the men version of the race, Adhane beat compatriot Getu Feleke into second place two second back, while the pre-race favourite Moses Mosop of Kenya finished third in 2:05:03.

The two Ethiopians made their decisive move between 21 and 24 kilometres.

Yemane Tsegay Adhane At the half way marker a rather big group which included the pace makers Geoffrey Kipsang, Jonathan Maiyo and John Mwangangi (all Kenya) led Getu Feleke, Yemane Tsegay, the Kenyans Sammy Kitwara, Moses Mosop, Peter Kirui, Stephen Kibet and Stephen Chemlany in 1:01:38, six seconds inside the halfway time of Patrick Makau’s intermediate time during his world record race (2:03:38) in Berlin last year.

About four kilometres further (25 kms in 1:13:00) Feleke and Tsegay still paced by Kipsang had gained a gap of seven seconds on Mosop, Kibet, Kitwara and pace Mwangangi. The three leaders were at that point eighteen seconds faster the Makau’s World record split.

At 30kms all the pace makers were out and Feleke and Tsegay working together perfectly passed 35 kilometres in 1:42:33 but had lost the chance for bettering the World record which Rotterdam hoped for as they were then seventeen seconds back on Makau’s split.

Later the two Ethiopians said they never thought of a World record. “We went for a fast time,” said winner Tsegay through an interpreter. “Qualification for the Olympic Games in London is the most important thing.’’

At the 35 kilometres point Mosop was slightly struggling 25 seconds back. In between Kitwara and Tiki Gelana Kirui had left the race. Although Mosop tried to reduce the MEN distance between himself and the two 1. Yemane Tsegay Adhane ETH 2:04:48 PB Ethiopians he was still 23 seconds back on 2. Getu Feleke ETH 2:04:50 PB them - 1:58:19 to 3. Moses Mosop KEN 2:05:03 1:57.56 - at 40 4. Stephen Kibet KEN 2:08:05 PB kilometres. It was 5. Stephen Chemlany KEN 2:10:08 clear then that 6. Koen Raymaekers NED 2:10:35 PB Rotterdam after 7. Dylan Wykes CAN 2:10:47 PB many years would 8. Mariusz Gizynski POL 2:11:20 PB get a non-Kenyan winner.

WOMEN In final kilometre Tsegay made his move. He opened a gap 1. Tiki Gelana ETH 2:18:58 NR PB of some twenty metres 2. Valeria Straneo ITA 2:23:44 NR PB and won in 2:04.48, 3. Merima Hasen ETH 2:25:48 the second fastest time 4. Miranda Boonstra NED 2:27:32 PB of the year behind 5. Lanni Marchant CAN 2:31:51 PB compatriot Ayele 6. Heleen Plaatzer NED 2:31:51 Correct PB Abshero (2:04:23), the winner of the 7. Krista Duchene CAN 2:32:06 PB Dubai Marathon on 27 8. Wilma Arizapana COL 2:34:11 PB January.

Yohan Blakes

Blake clocks 9.90, pairs Bolt to set new world relay time

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urrent 100m world best, Yohan Blakes showed flashes of what to expect at the London 2012 Olympic Games when dashed a sub-10 seconds at the UTech Classic on Saturday.

The Jamaican, who had earlier combined with Olympic 100m and 200m champion Usain Bolt in a delectable relay race against top athletes, clocked 9. 90 seconds in a drizzling evening.

As usual, Blake’s last 30 metres, usually being the most impressive, he was all alone after 60 metres and crossed the line in 9.90 seconds. Blake took two youngsters, Harvey, who did 10.10 and Sheldon Mitchell 10.18, with him to personal best times. Oshane Bailey, the 2010 National champion, was fourth, also in 10.18sec.

After the race, Blake said the time was just a tip of the iceberg. “I am a bit ahead of schedule. I feel good knowing that I could run fast today, but given the condition I will have to work with it,” he said noting that he believes he could have gone faster if it wasn’t for the condition.

Blake clinched the season’s opener after teaming up with Bolt for what many believe would be the hottest 4x100m relay before this summer’s Olympic Games.

In the Racers Track Club vs MVP Track Club 4x100m, Bolt anchored Racers TC team to a world leading meet record at 4x100m of 37.82.

Lead-off man Mario Forsythe, left behind Britain’s /MVP Dwain Chambers, before handing off to Blake, who never gave Michael Frater any chance to get back on the backstretch.

Although Nesta Carter made up some ground on Kimmari Roach, MVP’s top man Asafa Powell was not going to catch Bolt running from behind, and it was no surprise when it ended the same with Racers in a world leading and meet record 37.82secs to MVP’s 38.27.

Bolt believes top clashes like these, which had the small crowd on its feet the entire race, are good for the spectators. “It’s always good to run with each other, it’s always good for the crowd because they always come out to see a good meet, so it was good.”

He commented on his first outing of the season. “It’s my first run, and I am happy, I got through it… It was a little bit chilly, because of the rain, but this is what we used to it Europe. I went out, just executed and I felt good.”

Powell, who watched as Bolt collected the baton, said it was always going to be

hard beating Bolt from behind. “It was a good race. I knew if Usain got the stick in front of me it would be hard to catch him, so I wasn’t really trying too hard to catch him.”

Powell said the baton changes weren’t the best and “I was expecting a lot more from the guys, but they did their best. I felt good coming down, I crossed the line healthy. I am still happy, I still have a lot of work to do.”

Meanwhile, Rosemarie Whyte delivered the evening’s other world season leading mark, 51.13 to win the women’s 400m race. She beat Anneisha McLaughlin 52.49 and Stephenie McPherson 52.98.

Former Jamaica national champion Oral Thompson of Swept Track Club, 45.95secs, was the only runner to dip under 45secs in the men’s 400m.

Carter ran 20.48 in the men’s 200m to beat Antiguan Daniel Bailey, who was representing Racers Track Club, 20.60secs.

Rushell Clayton of Mico University College ran a personal best 57.67secs to win the women’s 400m Hurdles while Jade Bailey of Barbados took the women’s 200m in 23.89.

UTech’s O’Dayne Richards threw a meet record of 18.89m in the men’s Shot Put to beat GC Foster College’s Raymond Brown 18.40m.

Asafa Powell

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

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PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

Bekele records year’s fastest 10km road race time

Knock outs galore in weekend of thrilling bouts D N

Albert Mensah

Miguel Soto

Tyson Fury

o fewer than half a dozen knock outs were recorded in almost about a 10 bouts fought last weekend in various places across the world. First, unbeaten Irish heavyweight, Tyson Fury, enhanced his credentials when he knocked out Martin Rogan in Belfast at the weekend.

Fury knocked the 40-year-old Rogan down in the third round before finishing the bout with a body shot right at the bell in the fifth.

With 13 knockouts in 18 professional fights, Fury should start looking for better opponents and more lucrative fights. Victory over Rogan, who dropped to 14-3; 7, gave Fury the Irish heavyweight title.

On the same bill, middleweight Chris Eubank Jr stopped Paul Allison on the fourth round. Eubank, the son of a former British crowd pleaser by the same name, has won two of his three fights by knockout. Allison’s record now stands at 5-1-1, with 1 knockout.

In Neuquen, Argentina, former welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir went another bridge too far when Billy Godoy beat the 40-year-old veteran on points over ten rounds in a middleweight bout.

Godoy, who remains undefeated after 25 fights, has stopped 13 of his opponents but had to settle for a points victory this time – 99-91, 97-93 and 98-93.

Baldomir’s record now stands at 48-14-6; 14.

Lima, Peru: Alberto Rossel improved to 28-8; 13 when he beat Jose Rodriquez on points.

The Peruvian won 118-110, 115-113 and 116-112 against the previously unbeaten Mexican, who holds the WBA interim light-flyweight title. Rodriguez now stands at 28-1; 17.

On the same card, junior middleweight David Zegarra was one of a number of young boxers who retained their unbeaten records at the weekend. He stopped Juciel Lima Nascimento from Brazil in the eleventh round.

Zegarra now stands at 18-0; 14 and Nascimento at 2213-1; 15.

In a featherweight bout, Carlos Zambrano remained undefeated at 14-0; 8 when he stopped Willy Condori in the third round.

Arandas, Mexico: Victor Terrazas improved to 34-21; 19 when he knocked out Colombian Jose Palma (15-62; 10) in the fourth round.

Terrazas, the No 4 super-bantamweight on the WBC list, finished the bout 57 seconds into the round to retain his WBC “silver” belt. Palma dropped to 15-6-2; 10.

Gilberto Ramirez also remained undefeated, improving to 21-0; 18, when he beat Jaime Barboza of Costa Rico on points over ten rounds. The Mexican retained his WBC youth middleweight title. Barboza dropped to 17-7; 7.

Chicago, Illinois: Edner Cherry moved his record to 30-6-2; 16 by beating Juan Carlos Martinez by majority decision in a lightweight bout.

The scores were 97-93, 99-91 and 95-95. Martinez dropped to 19-14-1; 7.

In a super-middleweight fight, Lamar Russ (10-0; 6) knocked out Jose Alonzo (13-1; 7) in the fourth round.

Hatillo, Puerto Rico: Super-featherweight Miguel Soto of Puerto Rico knocked out Leopoldo Gonzalez (12-7-1; 7) only 2 minutes and 16 seconds after the opening bell.

Unbeaten super-bantamweight Angel Pret (13-0; 10) stopped Eduardo Melendez (4-11; 1) in the fourth round.

Atlantic City, New Jersey: Garrett Wilson (13-5-1; 7) knocked out Andres Taylor (20-2-1; 7) in the twelfth round to retain his USBA cruiserweight title and take over the vacant NABF title.

Las Vegas: Junior welterweight Albert Mensah (20-31; 7) won by majority decision over ten rounds against Michael Katsidis (28-6; 23). The scores were 98-92 and 96-94 for Mensah and 95-95.

In a welterweight bout, Alan Sanchez (10-2-1; 4) knocked out Artemio Reyes (15-2; 12) after only 2 minutes and 8 seconds to avenge a previous loss to Reyes.

Kissimmee, Florida: Junior featherweight Jose Nieves improved to 20-2-3; 9 when he beat Alejandro Delgado (15-6; 7), whose corner threw in the towel in the eleventh round. The victory gave Nieves the WBO Latino title.

Junior middleweight Jorge Melendez moved to 22-2-1; 21 when he knocked out Marcus Willis (11-3-2; 3) in the fifth round.

Kangawa, Japan: Tepparith Singwancha (20-2; 13) retained his WBA super-flyweight title when he stopped Tomonobu Shimizu (19-4-1; 9) in the ninth round.

ouble Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele ran the fastest 10-km road race time of the year when winning the Great Ireland Run in Dublin in 27 minutes 49 seconds on Sunday.

The Ethiopian, who has struggled with injuries over the past two years and could manage only 11th at the Edinburgh Cross Country in January, crushed the field with a dominant display of front running, finishing almost a minute ahead of Spaniard Ayad Lamdassam.

Bekele, who has yet to decide whether to defend his 5,000 and 10,000 metres titles at the London Olympics, was keen to play down his performance.

“This is not meant to be a message to any of my Olympic opponents. We cannot start talking like this until we all meet on the track in the summer,” said the 29-year-old, who starts his Games build-up at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on May 11.

“I wasn’t nervous about coming here to run and I don’t have anything to prove about my condition,” added the 5,000 and 10,000 world record holder.

Donald surrenders world number one to McIlroy at Heritage

L

uke Donald surrendered his world number one ranking to Rory McIlroy after finishing the RBC Heritage in the United States in joint 37th.

Donald needed a top-eight placing in South Carolina to stay ahead of the Northern Irishman, but his second successive level-par round of 71 to end the week on two over, could not guarantee that.

The tournament was won by Sweden’s Carl Pettersson, with Donald never in contention after an opening-round 75.

Englishman Donald, who lost a playoff to Brandt Snedeker at the same venue last year, made a poor start to Sunday’s final round with a double-bogey six on the first, before birdies on the fifth and sixth helped him salvage some respectability.

Pettersson shot a final round of 69 to finish a comfortable winner on 14 under, five shots ahead of American Zach Johnson. Colt Knost was one shot further back in third after a disappointing 74.

US Open champion McIlroy briefly overtook Donald at the top of the rankings last month, and will now do so again despite sitting out this tournament.

The 22-year-old is not expected to play again until next month’s Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rory McIlroy

Luke Donald

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

PAGE 47

NFF says N221m UEFA Champions League: Feuding available for giants Bayern, Real rekindle rivalry today construction of technical centres

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he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has revealed that N221m ($1.4m) has been set aside for the construction of four newly approved FIFA technical centres in the country.

The secretary general of the NFF, Barrister Amadu Musa, who made this known in Abuja said the funds for the construction to be cited in Abuja, Anambra, Bauchi and Lagos has been approved.

He said part of the fund was from FIFA while the NFF would equally contribute to the construction of the centres.

“The fund for the project has been released by FIFA to us as part of support to it members for the round leather game development across the global. The football house has chosen four centres in Abuja, Bauchi, Anambra and Lagos where the befitting structure will be carryout.

“These technical centres are meant especially for football development because the idea of FIFA is to develop the game from grassroots and Nigeria is not excluded, “he noted.

Further, Musa said that the federation is working hard to ensure the glasshouse have the entire players database to avert age cheat in cadet competitions as require by the apex body.

Lack of funds may halt U20 invitational tourney

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lans for an eight-nation Under-20 tournament to be played in South Africa in May are in the pipeline but the competition has yet to be confirmed as going ahead.

Hosts South Africa have invited Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Brazil, Argentina and Japan to the event to be played in Cape Town between May 24 and June 3.

All participants have accepted the invitation, but organisers are still waiting to hear if their application for funds from the National Lottery to help pay for the event has been successful.

If the funds do not come through, organisers will approach competition sponsors SuperSport and SAFA to assist with costs. They are hoping to hear this week whether their application has been successful.

The tournament is the brainchild of SAFA Cape Town, who hosted a successful, smaller, four-nation event before the 2010FIFA World Cup that included South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Brazil.

Brazil are champions at Under-20 level and a major drawcard for the event, while Argentina have had great success at this level too. To have three of Africa’s big guns in the form of Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon is also a major coup for the organisers. They had tried to get Egypt as well, but events within that country earlier this year made their participation impossible. They have been replaced by Kenya.

The intention is to ultimately have an Under-20 tournament that is a junior version of the FIFA Confederations Cup, with at least one country from each of FIFA’s six confederations namely Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, North, Central America and Caribbean, and South America.

F

rom Juanito stamping on Lothar Matthaeus’ head to an entire team storming off the pitch in a friendly, there is no love lost between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, who resume their bitter rivalry today.

The luck of the draw has ensured a fiveyear truce between the two swaggering giants, who have been European champions 13 times between them.

But the peace will be shattered when they clash at the Allianz Arena in their Champions League semifinal first leg.

It will their fifth semifinal meeting in Europe’s top club competition and offers Real Madrid, well on course to win La Liga, the chance to bring Bayern’s season to a miserable conclusion.

The Bavarians have already seen their Bundesliga title challenge fizzle out and are now playing to keep alive their dream of playing the Champions League final in their own stadium.

There is an endless list of ingredients to spice up an encounter whose history of violence, slanging matches and red cards would not be out of place in South America.

Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes and forward Arjen Robben both have scores to settle, having left the Bernabeu through the back door after their spells at Real. Heynckes was the coach who ended Real’s 32-year wait for their sixth European Cup title in 1997/98 yet despite this was removed.

Dutchman Robben was booted out after being told he was not wanted by club president Florentino Perez.

The pre-match comments have been the usual banal fare with players and officials offering respect for the opposition and playing down rivalries.

“There are a lot of elements to take into consideration and the first of those is Bayern’s history,” said Real director Emilio Butragueno.

“They are a club with great pride and they know this is probably their last chance to end the season on a high, not to mention the fact that the final is at their stadium. “As professionals and as a team they will want to prove their mettle and they will try their hardest against Real Madrid.”

Yet Butragueno is all too aware of the bitterness between the two clubs, having played for Real during the 1980s.

The first meeting between the two sides, in the 1975/76 semifinals, set the

Angel Di Maria

Arjen Robben tone.

Real’s Roberto Martinez broke his nose in a collision with Bayern goalkeeper Sepp Maier and a fan known as “El Loco del Bernabeu” (The Bernabeu madman) ran onto the pitch and attacked the referee and Bayern striker Gerd Mueller.

Bayern went on to the win the competition for the third year in a row.

Their next competitive meeting, another semifinal 11 years later when Bayern again won, brought the infamous incident where Juanito stamped on the back and then the head of Matthaeus while a teammate kicked the German playmaker’s thigh.

Juanito, who died in a car crash in 1992 at the age of 37, was given a five-year European ban.

Even when the matches were supposedly friendly, there was trouble.

In 1981, Bayern’s entire team stormed off the pitch during a match in Real’s preseason Santiago Bernabeu trophy tournament after they had a player sent off for making obscene gestures to fans.

It got little better during Real’s so-called Galacticos era when Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn became public enemy No 1 among Real fans, while the Spaniards were seen in Bavaria as showboaters.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Franck Ribery Before a first knockout round meeting in 2004, Bayern’s Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro said: “We’re going to score five goals against those clowns.”

It brought a predictably furious reaction from Spain but Real had the last laugh, winning 2-1 on aggregate.

There was none of the trash talk from Bayern’s Bastian Schweinsteiger following Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Mainz 05.

Doubts hang over Eagles, Gabon friendly

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ext month’s friendly between Nigeria and Gabon is likely to be moved as it is too close to a busy month of qualifiers, officials said.

The friendly between the Eagles and the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations co-hosts was scheduled to be played on May 27 in Libreville at the instance of Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

But Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) general secretary Musa Amadu said that they are now having second thoughts over the game because it is too close to June, when Nigeria will play three straight important qualifiers.

“We are still not concluded with the Gabon game. We are having second thoughts over the game due to its nearness to the Eagles busy June schedule,” he said.

Musa though would confirm that all arrangements for another friendly in Lima, Peru, next month have been concluded. “But I can confirm to you that the May 23 game against Peru has been finalised,” he disclosed.

“We are putting these games together to ensure that the Eagles are in top shape because the three games in June would go a long way in determining our participation at the AFCON 2013 and the World Cup in 2014.”

Nigeria take on Namibia, Malawi and Rwanda in a busy three weeks in June.

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE Be faithful to that which exists nowhere but in yourself - and thus mak ey our self make your ourself indispensable — Andre Gide

TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

Muamba discharged from hospital

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olton midfielder Fabrice Muamba has paid tribute to the London Chest Hospital staff after being discharged.

The 24-year-old was technically "dead" for 78 minutes after suffering a cardiac arrest and collapsing in a game against Tottenham on 17 March and had been in hospital since then.

"There's a long way to go in terms of recovering fully. We don't know what the defibrillator means for his playing career," he said.

Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle said: "It is absolutely fantastic news that Fabrice has been discharged from hospital and everyone at the club is delighted.

Muamba collapsed after 41 minutes of the FA Cup quarterfinal tie with Spurs and was given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and 15 defibrillator shocks before he arrived at the intensive care unit of the heart attack centre at the London Chest Hospital.

The former England Under21 international was helped on the pitch by Deaner, consultant cardiologist at London Chest Hospital, who was at the game as a fan, and ran out of the stands to lend his expertise.

Van Persie heads PFA award shortlist

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rsenal striker Robin van Persie headed the list of nominees for the 201112 Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) Players' Player of the Year award announced yesterday.

The Dutchman, who has scored 27 league goals this season, is joined on the shortlist by the Man City trio of goalkeeper Joe Hart, midfielder David Silva and striker Sergio Aguero.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Scott Parker and England striker Wayne Rooney of league leaders Man United complete the line-up.

Aguero was also named on the shortlist for the young players' equivalent prize, alongside Spurs pair Kyle Walker and Gareth Bale, Arsenal's Alex OxladeChamberlain, Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge and United's Danny Welbeck.

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Otuoke: The height of impunity K

.O. Mbadiwe, now no longer with us, was, as many will recall, one of Nigeria's most colourful politicians in both the First and Second Republics. He was a self-styled “man of timber and calibre” who, with time, became, during the Second Republic, a "carterpillar, bulldozer and institution" in Nigerian politics.

As a federal minister under Balewa during the First Republic and Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary during the Second Republic, K.O., as Mbadiwe was popular known, played in the big leagues all through his political career.

K.O., was a man who, not unlike some of his Ibo political contemporaries, was fond of big words and long grammar. He fancied himself as a man who knew and was in full command of the English language. K.O. was particularly in love with puns and, with the gift of oratory he had, he never missed an opportunity to display his skills as a punster. This, in fact, was largely the basis on which he achieved popularity and built his political career.

At the end of 1965, having completed the large house he was building in his village, Arondizuogu, K.O. organised a grand opening ceremony, to which he invited the who- is- who of Nigerian politics and government and top diplomats, many of whom attended. Prime Minister Balewa and many of his ministers were personally in attendance. Some of the regional governors came with their entourages. The British High Commissioner to Nigeria also attended the ceremony.

The house was a three-story affair, complete with blue terrazzo walls, a big swimming pool and fountain, red carpets and gilt chairs. It stood prominently amid the mud and thatched houses of the village. It was built by an Italian construction company.

In his speech at the ceremony, K.O., ever the punster, stunned his guests, and the rest of the nation, by saying that the house being opened was built with money from sources 'known and unknown'.

As a pun, this statement must have earned K.O.above average marks with those in attendance at the occasion and with the general public. But it also caused quite a stir, and earned him a bashing from political opponents as well as the press.

Whether it was intended or unintended, and whether or not it was the result of his love for puns getting the better of him that day, K.O.'s statement had in it hints and intimations of foul play, shady deals and collusions between a high public officer and a private concern.

Our recollection of the First Republic is largely clothed in nostalgia, the result largely of the new heights to which the present

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FOR THE MASSES

By Rufa’i Ibrahim ruf585@hotmail.com crop of leaders have taken corruption and other ills in the society. This has engendered in us a tendency to see that period and the key operators of the time in angelic colours. The fact, though, is that no sooner had our new leaders taken over from the British colonial administration than corruption began to seep into the system and the sense of propriety and respect for the distinction between what is private and what belongs to the public became lost.

The line drawn between the private and the public in the conduct of state affairs was, along with independent courts and relatively uncorrupted civil services, among the more benign legacies of British colonialism. Most unfortunately, they were also among the first legacies to be dropped by the new rulers.

Whatever else it meant, K. O.'s statement was, in a way, evidence that only five years after independence, the rot had begun to set in, with official corruption, impunity and contempt for the ordinary man fast becoming a way of life among the country's top rulers.

Today, 47 years after Arondizuogu, we seem to be back where we were, and it is as if nothing has moved and nothing has changed in the country, except for the worse. Now we have a very similar case, with the same elements: a very high public officer (the president himself), an Italian contractor and self-induced admission of what can only be said to be an untoward deal.

The facts of this case are by now too well known to warrant a detailed rehash here. But, basically, they are: one, President Jonathan had, during the burial of his deceased father some years back, complained about the rundown state of the church in his village, Utuoke; two, he made the complaint to the Managing Director of Gitto Construzioni Generali Nigeria Limited; three, the president, in the course of the discussion, managed to extract a promise from Gitto boss to rebuild the church; four, Gitto boss delivered on his promise; and, five, Utuoke now has a small, glittering church befitting the village of a Nigerian president.

Since then, there have been strident efforts, in the form of public

statements, paid advertisements in and comments in the media, by the president's spokesmen, friends, kinsmen, members of the clergy and Gitto itself, denying any wrong doing on the president's part.

All this is to be expected. But all of these attempts at denial share two things in common. One is that they are all bunkum in that they fly in the face of one truth, which is that the president himself, without prodding from any quarters, volunteered the information about the new church. Two is that all the denials and cover-up attempts being made, which clearly assume the whole lot of us to have the mental age of ten, are evidence of impunity and the contempt in which those in power now hold Nigerians.

The simple fact is that bribe was solicited, and bribe was given. And in the process our constitution was transgressed.

All the talk about corporate social responsibility - a good thing in itself - is an afterthought, and hardly applies here.

The president didn't make a Freudian slip. He took his time during the service, giving a background to how the church thanks to him, his position and Gitto's good business sense - came to be. Of course what he did can hardly be said to be out of character.

Jonathan is, by nature, it seems, a man given to verbal missteps and incautious utterances, which call to question both his competence as a leader and his ability to govern a complex country such as ours.

But it would seem also that Jonathan said what he said the way he said it because he did not see much, or anything at all, that was wrong in or with the whole affair. After all, it is now a well established custom that contracting companies build for their benefactors in or out of government. Excepting Buhari and Shagari, for instance, there is most probably no former head of state, or a big ex-this, ex-that that Julius Berger and/or its affiliates have not, as a form of appreciation or pay-back, donated to or helped to build a big mansion.

The fact is, ours is a country where there are no standards of conduct in public life. It is country

of anything goes, where the politics bristles with corruption, impunity and lack of principled commitments - shortcomings which, unless checked, could easily lead to the hollowing out of democracy, leaving only its rituals.

Decades of military rule, which has arrested the development of well rooted political institutions through which people can hold leaders to account and which allow active and reasoned exercise by the people of their franchise and citizenship, is partly the reason for this state of affairs.

But the politicians are also largely to blame. Their countless inanities and tedious divagations apart, our politicians have also now abandoned ideology. This way, they have kept themselves loose, free to do their dances of opportunism without shame or qualms, and even freer to completely avoid mindful commitments and thoughtful convictions.

Another problem is the shacking of responsibility by groups and forces whose voices should otherwise carry weight and who should be the ones to call to order those who run our affairs.

The traditional institutions are too close to power to play this role and are, in any case, now part of the problem and therefore can't be its solution. The religious clerics, no less close to the mighty and powerful than the chiefs, have become too compromised to speak truth even to their followers, let alone to power.

And the masses of the Nigerian people themselves have been rendered, as a result of years of misrule and disempowerment, too economically and politically powerless and too disorganised to check the excesses of the powerful.

The culture of peaceful protests has yet to develop in this country. In the face of onslaughts on their rights by the rich and powerful, the Nigerian people almost always choose to turn the other cheek and resign to fate.

And, as we know, it is with the threads of resignation and fatality that the mask of impunity is woven. As they say, a society of sheep begets a leadership of wolves.

And our leaders have been worse than wolves.

Of course, things are changing and will continue to change. In fact the furore over the Otuoke church gift, just as the subsidy protests earlier in january, is itself a sign of a new awakening among Nigerians.

But what does it say about us as a country and as a people that Jothan is getting away with this kind of blue murder without even a whimper from the National Assembly, which ought to be serving as our collective conscience andv the guardian of our Constitution?

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