Peoples Daily Newspaper, Wednesday 17, July, 2013

www.peoplesdailyng.com

Vol. 11 No. 43

. . . putting the people first

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Ramadan 8, 1434 AH

Ramadan Timings 50 homosexual, 618 for Abuja prostitution spots in MAGRIB

ALFIJR

6.57 p.m.

5.03 a.m.

Anambra — Govt

N150

Polytechnic lecturers end strike >> 7

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FRONT PAGE COMMENT

Dragging Nigeria to the abyss

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or quite some time now, it has been a stream of unhappy news coming from Rivers state. If it is not the House of Assembly members quarrelling among themselves or making moves to impeach the state governor, or the security agencies openly defying the governor and undermining his authority, or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disowning the governor and scheming with other forces to isolate him as a prelude to getting him removed, it is the

First Lady, Dame Patience, using the security forces to establish temporary control and ownership of the state.

But of all the many disturbing spectacles from that state in recent times, none beats what happened there last Friday in the hallowed chambers and premises of the state’s House of Assembly.

That day, in broad daylight and with every bit and step of the ugly scenes fully captured by television cameras, Nigeria and the rest of the world were treated

to what, by whatever standards viewed and measured, was a show of shame that turned the state into what many now call Rivers of Shame. The legislators engaged themselves in a free-for-all brawl, tearing into each other and hitting to kill, fighting fiercely to get control of the mace, destroying any and every equipment in their path, and generally behaving as if the Assembly was a mental asylum and they were its inmates.

Contd. on Page 12

Northern elders to Jonathan

Nigeria sliding into anarchy From Muhammad Ibrahim and Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

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rominent northern elders have expressed dismay over the alarming desperation of politicians scheming for vantage positions ahead of the electoral contests in 2015, saying Nigeria is sliding towards anarchy in a manner that has never been seen in the history of the country.

The elders, who gave this warning yesterday in Kaduna comprise representatives of six distinctive groups in the North, including the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Code Group (CG), Arewa Reawakening Forum (ARF) and Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP).

The elders lamented the uncontrolled abuse of power by the Presidency, alleging its involvement in various crises in the country owing to the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to retain power in 2015.

Contd. on Page 2

L-R: Governors Rabi’u Kwankwaso of Kano state, Sule Lamido of Jigawa state, Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers state, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger state, and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state, during the Northern governors’ solidarity visit to Governor Amaechi, yesterday in Port Harcourt.

Photo: NAN

Anti-Amaechi protesters heckle visiting northern govs >>2

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

News CONTENTS News

2-10

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

19-22

Stockwatch

23

S/Report

24-25

Property

26-27

Motoring

28

Arts

29-30

Whither Nigeria’s recovered looted funds?

Page 4

Anti-Amaechi protesters heckle visiting northern governors

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam, with agency reports

A

mild drama ensued yesterday in Port Harcourt when protesters, alleged to be acting the script of the opposition in the state, heckled the motorcade of four northern governors who visited Governor Rotimi Amaechi, agency reports said.

The reports indicated that the protesters had prior knowledge of the governors visit as they besieged the airport before the arrival of the governors at the Port Harcourt International Airport.

The governors included are Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano).

According to the reports, the protesters who were said to be “uncomfortable” with the visit, chanted anti-Amaechi slogans and berated the governors for allegedly intervening in Rivers state’s internal crisis.

Sources also said that the three governors remained at the VIP Lounge of the airport for about an hour waiting for Niger state Governor, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, to arrive.

Shortly after the arrival Aliyu, they drove out of the airport in a waiting motorcade and headed to

31-34

Strange World

35

Digest

36

Politics Newsxtra Sports

37-38 39 41-46

Leisure

47

Columnist

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the e Government House.

However, the governors did not have a smooth ride. While some sources said the violent protesters pelted their motorcade with stones, water bottles, sticks and other items, a BBC Hausa service news report monitored last night said other sources revealed that the governors were not pelted with any item.

Instead, the BBC source further revealed, Governor Amaechi personally drove his guests to the Government House, Port Harcourt, where they met yesterday.

Sources said the visit was not unconnected with the recent crisis in the state’s House of Assembly.

Also yesterday, reports indicated that the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who was accused of championing the campaign sneaked into Port Harcourt.

The visiting governors in a statement before the meeting demanded the removal of the Rivers state Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, over what they described as his unprofessionalism and political partisanship in the multiple crises rocking the state.

The statement explained that the governors interacted with

stakeholders in the state and that it was clear that Mbu was being used to persecute Amaechi.

According to the governors: “We wish to call on the Inspector General of Police to hearken to the voices of reason and immediately redeploy and discipline Commissioner Joseph Mbu. “His action smacks of unprofessionalism and political partisanship which is unbecoming of his office,” they stressed.

The governors threatened that they would reconsider their earlier commitment to contribute part of their federal allocations towards the funding of the police if the Rivers police boss was not removed and sanctioned.

“With the way the police is being used and abused, and with officers like Mbu in the bus, we do not see the need for state governments to fund an antagonistic police and may be forced to reconsider our position on the financial contribution of states towards the funding of the Nigerian police,” they said.

They also resuscitated the issue of the desirability of state police for the country, saying it had become a necessity since the federal government was now in the habit of

using the federal police to persecute political enemies.

“Arising from the action of the police, and Joseph Mbu in Rivers state, the call for state police as a constitutional provision has become a necessity.

“We note that the events in Rivers state have again brought to the fore the issue of true federalism and the need for institutions derived from the Constitution to be allowed to function without undue interference.

“As federating units, we must be allowed the space to guarantee our people’s sustainable development as provided by the Constitution,” the statement said.

The governors commended Amaechi for his “maturity and calm even in the face of apparent persecution.”

They also praised the House of Representatives for its proactive leadership in resolving the Rivers crisis and the Senate for its thoroughness in addressing the matter.

They called on political actors in Rivers state to “defuse tension and stop all actions capable of overheating the polity and derailing our nascent democracy”.

“We must all work together to build one united and indivisible nation and strengthen our democracy,” they said.

50 homosexual, 618 prostitution spots uncovered in Anambra

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

Int’l

Aliyu, others want Mbu removed

D

espite serious condemnation against the activities of homosexuals in the country by religious organisations and other interest groups, the Anambra state Government yesterday revealed that the state currently has about 50 homosexual and 618 prostitution

spots.

It described the areas as HIV and AIDS high-risk targets in the state.

The Director of the state’s AIDS Control Agency, Dr. John Ndibe, who disclosed this to newsmen in Onitsha, said that the government would use its limited funds to target such spots and ensure that the operators were educated on the

need to protect themselves and their clients against the deadly scourge.

Ndibe said, the agency, as a co-ordinating agency on HIV and AIDS activities, was committed to making sure that it gets the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS to zero level in the state as directed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He further disclosed that the agency had conducted a survey of high-risk factors and spots for HIV and AIDS in the state in order to effectively cut the transmission of the deadly virus.

“Now that we have their statistics and where they operate, we can reach out to them so as to educate them on the effect on the virus”.

Nigeria sliding into anarchy Contd. from Front Page Professor Ango Abdullahi, who addressed newsmen on behalf of the groups, after a joint conference yesterday, insisted that the North has the electoral might to return power to the region, if votes would count in 2015. He however declared that the North is “not power hungry”.

He said: “We have the voting power to win election and return the Presidency to our region come 2015.

If our votes would count the North has the power to continue winning elections in this country.”

Professor Abdullahi, who is secretary general of the NEF, disclosed that the five groups have all agreed to work together in the interest of the North, saying they are all ready to make sure that come 2015, power returns to the region through legal means.

Commenting on the State of the Nation, the ACF chieftain noted that: “The clumsy and embarrassing conduct and fallout of the election

in the (Nigeria) Governors’ Forum, the engineered crisis in the ruling party, the role of the spouse of the President in Rivers state, are all signs that Nigeria is descending into anarchy and lawlessness rarely seen in our history.

“The hands of the Presidency are clearly visible in all these events that appear to draw inspiration from the ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan to stay in power in 2015.

The most recent developments in Rivers state represent a new low in the shameful conduct of political office holders at the highest level, and they should be condemned by all Nigerians.

“It is a great pity that those who swore to defend our Constitution and to uphold the rule of law are the same people who use violence as a political tool and serially abuse the power entrusted in them.

“They have abandoned the responsibilities entrusted in them in pursuit of more power and unending persecution of imaginary

enemies. They endanger our democracy and national security.

They must be called to question and asked to stop now.

“We join millions of Nigerians in raising our voices against tendencies and actions by highly-placed people to plunge the nation into crises in blind pursuit of political ambition.

We call on Nigerians to remain vigilant and resist all attempts to engineer conflict as a means to attaining political power in 2015”, he further urged.

Commenting on the subsisting emergency rule in three Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, the groups stated that: “We call on President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to assess the impact of the State of Emergency imposed on Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states on the civilian population and take measures that will reduce the suffering of the people and the decline in economic activities of communities and the region at large.

“We further call on the President to evaluate the continued imposition of the state of emergency in the affected states and bring it to an end as soon as possible”, Professor Abdullahi added.

The northern elders futher raised alarm on the activities of the current leadership of National Population Commission (NPC).

“The utterances and body language of the Chairman of the Commission and erstwhile chairman of Nigerian Breweries, Mr Festus Odumegwu, indicate clearly that he intends to conduct affairs of the Commission in such a manner as to victimize certain sections of the country. This is totally unacceptable,” the groups’ spokesman said.

The ACF was represented at the conference by its officials, including Colonel Mohammed A. Abdul retired, Bukar Zarma and Barrister Bitrus Gwamda. Malam Sani Zangon Daura was there for NEF, among others.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 3

Constitution review: Senate votes against LG autonomy

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Senate during its voting session yesterday upturned a number of the critical proposals made by its Committee on Constitution Review.

The Senate also declared every married woman as matured regardless of age.

The Senators threw over board, recommendations made by the committee such as direct payment to local government councils from the Federation Account, six years single tenure for President and governors as well as mayoral status for the Federal Capital Territory s they voted against the clauses.

They did not also spare clause 16 which sought for conferment of powers on the Attorney-General to direct investigations in certain cases, clauses 14 and 20 which sought for separation of the offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation from that of the Minister of Justice and also that of Attorney-General at the state level from commissioners of Justice as well as clause 31 which sought for the removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria and other serving Judicial officers as chairperson and members respectively of the Federal Judicial Service Commission.

Also among the 16 clauses rejected by the Senate were clause 22 under section 214 of the 1999 Constitution which sought for the removal of the word “Force” from the Nigeria Police Force as well as clause 27 of Section 315 of the Constitution seeking the delisting of NYSC, the Land Use Act, the National Security Agencies Act and clause 29 where Labour and Railways, among others, were voted against from remaining

Dumps six years tenure Decentralises Labour Unions in the Exclusive List.

In rejecting financial autonomy for the local government councils, only 59 out of the required 73 Senators voted “yeah” while 38 voted against.

For the six years single tenure proposal, 86 Senators voted against it while only 14 voted yeah.

It was virtually the same pattern of voting for the other clauses.

However the Senate voted for financial autonomy of state Houses of Assembly.

Similarly, the Senate voted in favour of the office of the AuditorGeneral of the Federation, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and that of the National Human Rights Commission, to be on first line charge of funding from the Consolidated Account of the Federation as recommended in clause 7.

But what the Senate earlier rejected through a bill on its floor, some months back, concerning remuneration for past leadership of the National Assembly, got 86 majority votes as against 13 votes on the recommendation of clause 8 as an addendum to section 84 of the 1999 Constitution that deals with remuneration of the President and certain other officers.

According to the clause, “any person who has held office as President or Deputy President of the Senate, Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, shall be entitled to pension for life at a rate equivalent to the annual

salary of the incumbent President or Deputy President of the Senate, Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

The climax of the voting session Senate had on all the clauses recommended for vote was clause 4 of the section 29 of the Constitution which deals with Child Rights/ Protection, earlier voted for at the beginning of the session but was later opposed by Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima (ANPP Zamfara) for allegedly running contrary to Islamic law.

Senator Yerima in his contention, specifically said clause 4(a) which defines full age as the age of eighteen years and above was contrary to Islamic law as far as marriage was concerned, making him to demand for another round of voting on the clause as done to some other clauses where explanations were entertained.

Although the Senate President, David Mark, initially ruled him out of order but the persistent calls for revisiting of the said clause

by Senators Danjuma Goje and Abubakar Yardua made the Senate President to change his position.

But when the Clause was revisited, subsection b of the clause which says any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age was the one put to vote to counter the subsection A aspect of the clause defining full age as 18 years and above, meaning that any married woman in Nigeria regardless of her age, is considered to be of full age.

ASUU protests as Jos varsity conducts post-UME examination From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

U

niversity of Jos began the 2013/2014 post Universities Matriculation Examination (UME), yesterday under tight security as all gates and halls of the examination were stationed by security personnel. .

Peoples Daily gathered that as the academic staff are currently on strike, the examination was conducted by non-academic staff.

David Jangkam who is the ASUU Chairman of the institution lamented that the conduct of the examination would demoralise the efforts of ASUU members who have embarked on strike for the good of all members of the association.

According to him, “ASUU dissociates itself from the PostUME and we are passing a vote of no confidence on the exercise.

“We condemn the exercise and call for its outright cancellation and

congress is calling on the university authorities and Senate to rise up to its task of defending and preserving the academic integrity of the university system.”

The chairman further blamed the Nigeria Universities Commission (N U C) for letting the examinations to take place.

He said it was a breach of agreement to conduct any examinations when ASUU is on strike.

120 rebels killed in eastern DR Congo clash

M

ore than 120 rebels have been killed in the latest clash in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), according to the Central African country’s Media Minister and government spokesman Lambert Mende.

The government forces FARDC also captured 12 others in the fighting with the rebel March 23 movement (M23), Mende told reporters in the capital, Kinshasa.

“This is not the final death toll

from the fighting, but until now, FARDC has responded with bravery and efficacy to the aggression on our national territory by inflicting the heaviest loss of lives to the rebels,” Mende said.

“The dramatic developments did not surprise us at all because for several weeks, the M23 rebels and their Rwandan allies were reinforcing their positions around Kibati, not far from Mutaho, causing fresh displacement of the population who feared the escalation that was

witnessed yesterday (Sunday),” the minister added.

Since the M23 emerged in April 2012, the rebellion has been a source of tension between DR Congo and Rwanda, with the Congolese government accusing its Rwandan counterpart of supporting the rebel group and the latter denying the charges.

Mende also blamed the M23 for causing the current fighting by first firing at FARDC, leaving 10 of them dead.

News Ramadan Timing Day 8 TOWNS Aba Abakaliki Abeokuta Abuja Akure Argungu Ankpa Auchi Azare Bama Bauchi Benin Bichi Bida Birnin Gwari Birnin Kebbi Biu Calabar Damaturu Daura Dutse Enugu Funtua Gombe Gwoza Gumi Gusau Gwadabawa Hadejia ` Ibadan Ife Ilorin Jalingo Jere Jos Kabba Kafanchan Keffi/Nasarawa Kaduna Kano Katsina Kontagora Lafia Lagos Lokoja Maiduguri Makurdi Malumfashi Minna Port Harcourt Ringim Shagamu Sokoto Warri Yola Zaria Cotonnou-Benin Ndjamena-Chad Niamey-Niger Younde-Cameroun

MAGRIB 6.52 6.50 7.09 6.56 7.01 7.10 6.49 6.57 6.48 6.33 6.47 6.58 6.56 7.01 6.59 7.13 6.36 6.46 6.41 6.57 6.52 6.51 7. 00 6.41 6.34 7.08 7.01 7.10 6.50 7.06 7.05 7.06 6.39 6.55 6.50 6.59 6.53 6.56 6.57 6.55 7.01 7.04 6.49 7.07 6.56 6.34 6.49 7.01 7.00 6.51 6.52 7.07 7.10 6.57 6.35 6.56 7.10 7.25 7.23 6.31 4.55

ALFIJR 5.03 5.05 5.22 5.03 5.14 5.02 5.04 5.10 4.45 4.32 4.51 5.15 4.52 5.08 5.03 5.08 4.33 5.06 4.38 4.49 4.50 5.06 4.58 4.45 4.34 5.05 4.58 5.02 4.44 5.19 5.16 5.17 4.46 4.59 4.54 5.10 4.58 4.53 4.59 4.52 4.53 5.08 4.58 5.22 5.22 4.33 5.00 4.52 5.05 5.11 4.50 5.20 5.02 5.15 4.42 4.57 5.27 4.26 5.15

Source: Society for Propagation of Islam Kaduna

Page 4 Record

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Whither Nigeria’s recovered looted funds?

By Evelyn Okakwu

I

t is a well-known fact that the international community regards Nigeria as a wealthy nation, despite its prevailing economic travails. This conclusion is borne out of certain realities, one of which is the fact that Nigeria, despite the harsh economic state of affairs, is also known internationally as the home-base of some of the world’s greatest culprits in financial crimes.

Although Nigeria is gifted with an overwhelming amount of natural resources and a breathtaking privilege of being free from natural disasters, the effect of the deadly cankerworm, a.k.a “corruption”, in the country has left the nation to become only a shadow of its true worth.

With the margin between the rich and the poor in Nigeria ever increasing, just as the necessary facilities to ensure a better quality of life for the poor remain persistently inadequate, yet, a critical analysis of these policies reveal that those responsible for providing these amenities for the masses divert the funds meant to provide such amenities and unfortunately, practically get away with it.

Even the situation of Nigeria’s polity is such that stakeholders who would have been at the forefront of the war against financial crime are somewhat allowed to meddle with the country’s funds and get away with it. Public officers backed with constitutional powers are immune from certain degree of probe into their activities, which more often than not, carry with them traces of financial misappropriation.

The menace of corruption and financial misappropriation in the country is so bad that for years, since Nigeria’s independence, past leaders have repeatedly been investigated with some found guilty of diverting public funds for their private use.

More so, in few cases where these crimes are uncovered, an even greater cause of worry emanates in the form of information withdrawal or denial; such that Nigerians who reserve a right to full and accurate information about such monies or national asset are denied knowledge of the whereabouts of such recovered funds.

Recent reports have indicated that, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has made a formal request asking the Goodluck Jonathan - led administration to try tracking down and putting into good use a whooping amount of four hundred billion dollars ($ 400bn) siphoned from Nigeria’s treasury by past leaders.

In the report, which was signed by the party’s spokesman, Osita Okechukwu, CNPP noted that the request followed a report by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mohammed Bello Adoke SAN, that the Federal Government had recovered about N5.5 billion looted fund. Also according to information disclosed

AGF, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN by the AGF, negotiation had reached advanced stage to recover N36.7 billion fund looted by the Sani Abacha lead administration.

In the report, the CNPP urged President Jonathan to ``utilise the window opened by the United Nations Convention against Corruption, which bound countries to render mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence’’.

Chapter five of the Convention explicitly makes asset recovery a fundamental principle of the convention. As stated by the CNPP, ``The looted funds if recovered will be needed to invest in critical infrastructure, revamp our decayed social services and stem gross unemployment.’’.

It could be recalled that, on Thursday July 10, reports in various national dailies indicated that the Delta state government was demanding the recovery of 15 million dollars ($15m)used by the James Ibori-led administration to bribe the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stating that the money belonged

“

The question of application of stolen national wealth is a question of utmost sovereign importance.

The Nigerian people must therefore champion a cause that would compel an Act of parliament on this matter.

Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to the state government. Not a few Nigerians would also recall that in 2008, quite a number of Nigerian governors were accused by the EFCC of being involved in financial fraud.

According to EFCC, in a report delivered by its then chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, it was found that about fifty billion Naira worth of assets were recovered from the investigations on the activities resulting from financial misappropriation by the impeached Governor of Bayelsa state, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. If the reports forwarded by the CNPP are anything to go by, then there is a great hope that the nation’s monies presently in foreign treasuries as a result of financial misappropriation may well be recovered.

The question however is: what will become of this huge sums of Nigerian people’s money? Will it be used indeed for revitalising the economy as expected? Or will the fate of such funds become another case of the missing ship that disappeared into thin like in a Banana Republic like Somalia?

Suleiman Abubakar Gene, a legal practitioner with Sabi Abubakar and Co Legal Chambers in Utako Abuja, while speaking on the rights of Nigerians regarding such funds, says “the Nigerian legal system does not provide an avenue for Nigerians to exclusively have a say on such issues, either legally or otherwise”.

According to him this is not the first case of similar discoveries, noting that it is difficult for the Nigerian populace to have proper access to the whereabouts of such monies because of the complex hierarchical setting of the country’s civil service, which has not provided Nigerians with the legal framework for the free flow of such data.

Suleiman stated that until the Freedom of Information (FoI)

bill is passed and it fully becomes law, Nigerians cannot make any head way on such cases and unfortunately, many others like that.

He explained that the FoI bill is such that, if fully implemented, any Nigerian with the adequate level of education can write to stakeholders in any Nigerian ministry or parastatal and request for information on the use of certain public funds without undue bottlenecks hampering the disclosure of such information, saying the whole detail will be made available to the person in question, explaining to him or her what such monies was being used for and how it was expended from start to finish.

However, Suleiman lamented that at present, what is contained in the Nigerian Constitution is just a mere un-enforceable statement on the issue, as such what the average Nigerian can do is nothing but mere speculations, in which case there are no proof.

Although barrister Suleiman noted that and indeed the Nigerian Senate have the legal capacity to ensure the full accountability of the executive on such issues but noted that the senate is more or less unserious for reason best known to them because most of these people at the houses of Assembly do not have the interest of the Masses at heart.

Barrister Suleiman noted that the average Nigerian can use the Senator or House of Representatives representing his or her district to ensure accountability of public officers regarding such funds, noting that members of a constituency can come together and request certain details from the government through the Senator representing them instead of “Suffering and Smiling”, apologies to the late music legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.

Speaking further on the

reasons why it is somewhat difficult to ensure accountability, the barrister stated: “the reason is that even our Constitution has some defects. For example was it not just recently that the evidence act was amended in 2011. Until then we were using the evidence act of 1966 or so. Does such a law correspond with present trends?

There is there need for our criminal law investigation process to be overhauled and it is the National Assembly, that is the Senate and the House of Representatives, which have a major role to play in that regard”.

He urged the masses to speak up in the event where they come across cases of corruption irrespective of their Minute Nature, stressing that any refusal on the parts of Nigerians to keep quite in the event of an identified financial crime, would amount to a criminal act committed by them in form of aiding and abating such financial crimes.

For Nigeria to effectively combat corruption, experts say there was the need to increase the allocation of funds to antigraft agencies within the country, adding that it would be difficult for someone earning a meager amount to conduct a clean investigation on someone who is alleged of huge financial misappropriation.

As some analysts have advocated, government should enact a National Policy pooling all stolen monies into a separate Sovereign Fund, to be administered and applied by proven men of integrity in the building of the urgently needed infrastructure at state and federal levels.

In a nutshell, the question of application of stolen national wealth is a question of utmost sovereign importance.

The Nigerian people must therefore champion a cause that would compel an Act of parliament on this matter.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 5

News

Reps task Finance Minister over economy, constituency projects

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he House of Representatives yesterday queried the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala on the performance of the 2013 budget as well as the level of implementation of the N100 billion constituency projects approved by the National Assembly.

The Minister faced barrage of questions from a joint committee on Finance and Legislative Compliance co- chaired by John Eno and Moroof AkinderuFatai over a recent comment attributed to her that the nation’s economy may crumble if the National Assembly fails to pass

the amended appropriation bill before it.

Responding, Okonjo-Iweala refuted the reports that she raised the alarm insisting instead that it is not doing any badly.

She however disclosed that the nation is facing certain challenges owing to the shortfall in its daily crude production and the inability to meet the nation’s projected daily crude production.

According to her, the nation is losing about 400,000 barrels of crude daily translating into a loss of N160 billion monthly. She warned that the country must be proactive in dealing with oil theft and anything that may cut

crude production projection in order to avoid unsavory financial consequences.

Okonjo-Iweala also called the attention of the lawmakers to the recent discovery of Shea oil by the Americans. This, according to her, would translate to low demand of the nation’s sweet

crude at the international market and a fall in global oil price.

Although she stated that adequate measures have been put in place to cushion the effects of this development, the Finance Minister insisted that the nation must diversify its economy.

Commenting on the

implementation of the lawmakers’ constituency projects, the coordinating Minister of the economy said the President is passionate about the projects and had mandated the Special Duties Minister, Barrister Taminu Turaki, to take over the supervision of the projects.

ASUP suspends strike

By Maryam Garba Hassan & A’isha Biola Raji

A

fter a three months nationwide industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), the union has finally rested the strike with a proviso to resume another one in the next one month if promises made by the government are not fulfilled.

ASUP President, Dr. Chibuzo Asomugha in a telephone chat with Peoples Daily yesterday in Abuja said the union after much deliberation has decided to suspend the strike from today.

The decision, he said, was to give the federal government some times to enable her implement the agreement reached by the duo.

He said, “We have temporarily suspended the three month old strike starting from today. We are resting for the next one month believing that the issues we have with the government would be resolved but I can assure you that the union will go back to the trenches should government fail to keep her part of the bargain in the next one month”.

It would be recalled that some

...Gives FG one month ultimatum of the reasons for the industrial action after the expiration of the 21-day ultimatum that expired on April 22 and the subsequent one-week warning strike that dovetailed into an indefinite strike on April 29 are - the need to constitute the Governing Councils of Federal Polytechnics; the migration of the lower cadres on the CONTISS 15 salary scale; the release of the White Paper on the visitations to Federal Polytechnics; the need for the commencement of the Needs Assessment of Nigerian Polytechnics and the worrisome state of state-owned polytechnics.

There is also the issue of preference being accorded to NBTE (National Board for Technical Education) as a regulatory body for Nigerian polytechnics against the creation of a national polytechnics commission (NPC) and the slow progress associated with the amendment of Federal Polytechnics Act amongst other grievances

Again, FG pleads with ASUU to call off strike

By Maryam Garba Hassan

T

he Federal

Government has again pleaded with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call of its strike and return to classes.

Minister of Education, Prof.

Ruqayyatu Rufa’i made the call on yesterday when she spoke to journalist at the Workshop on the World Bank Initiated Africa Centres of Excellence (ACE) Project in Abuja.

The minister said, “We are still pleading with them, let them

d o all they can to make our students return to classes”.

“We are talking, and we will continue to talk, we are also meeting with all stakeholders to resolve the crisis and we are confident that very soon, the strike will be called off,” Rufa’i stated.

Besides, the Minister said, government was making concerted efforts to restructure the university system, which is the main demand by the Union, adding that the ACE project was a higher education

L-R: Legal adviser, Arewa Consultative Forum, Mr Bitrus Gwadah, former Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura, and Spokesman, Northern Elders Forum, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, addressing news conference, yesterday in Kaduna.

Jonathan wades into Tukur, Gana feud

By Lawrence Olaoye

P

resudent Goodluck Jonathan yesterday waded into the disagreement between the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, and the Chairman of the party’s Special Convention Committee, Professor Jerry Gana over the conduct of the party’s special congress.

The feud between the two party officials, which had remained within the realm of rumours, came to the fore on

Monday when the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) chaired by Tukur overruled Gana’s committee over the announcement of dates for the convocation of congresses in the South West and at the national levels.

Gana’s committee had last week announced August 24 and 31 respectively for the conduct of South West and National congresses respectively.

The South West zonal congress is supposed to elect the zone’s officials while the National

congress is expected to fill the positions of members of the NWC whose elections were voided by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for flouting g due process.

But Tukur’s NWC ordered a halt in the process alleging that the Gana led committee breached certain provisions of the PDP constitution in the process leading to the announcement of the dates for the congresses. The party also accused Gana of running a parallel Exco without consultation with the party’s NWC.

al-Bashir: ICC mulls UN sanction for Nigeria Abdulkadir Isa with agency report

S

equel to the suit filed by the Nigeria Coalition For The International Criminal Court (NCICC) and call by Human Rights Watch (HRW) a to arrest visiting Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, The International Criminal Court in the Hague is considering asking the UN Security Council to sanction Nigeria for allowing al-Bashir attend the AU summit in Abuja.

The ICC said it sent the Nigerian government an official decision through three of its judges trying President alBashir on Monday, demanding that it arrest Mr Bashir, who

has faced international arrest warrants since 2009 on multiple charges related to the genocide in Darfur.

The court’s spokesman, Fadi El-Abdallah said “The judges have asked the court’s registry to prepare a report on Mr Bashir’s visit to Nigeria,” and “After that it is up to them to decide whether to refer it to the Security Council.”

This conflict highlights increasing tensions between the ICC and African states, and the tremendous difficulties the court faces in bringing to trial political leaders who are still in power.

Mr. Bashir arrived in Nigeria on Sunday to attend

an African Union (AU) summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, but left abruptly on Monday a day ahead of schedule.

Since being charged by the ICC, Mr Bashir has found it difficult to travel within Africa. He has made trips to neighbouring Chad and nearby Djibouti, and one-off visits to Kenya and Malawi.

The minister of foreign affairs had defended Nigeria’s stance on Monday, saying that Mr. Bashir attended the conference in the capital Abuja at the invitation of the AU, which decided in 2009 not to co-operate with the ICC over Mr Bashir’s warrant.

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

News LEADERSHIP newspaper: Court summons Jonathan

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

n Abuja High Court yesterday summoned President Goodluck Jonathan to appear before it to give evidence in the case of alleged forgery of presidential directives’ bromide published in LEADERSHIP newspaper of April 3, 2013.

The summons was issued by the trial Judge, Justice Usman Musale, on July 15, 2013 through the office of the Federal Ministry of Justice headquarters, Maitama, Abuja in response to the request of the lead counsel to the LEADERSHIP journalists, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), stated that the President should appear before the court, to produce the purportedly forged document.

The Federal Government had on June 27, 2013 re-arraigned the journalists, the Group News Editor, Mr. Tony Amokeodo, and Senior Correspondent, Mr. ChibuzoUkaibe on 11-count criminal charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery.

Although the journalists were granted bail having pleaded not guilty to the charges, the lead counsel to the government, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), yesterday told the court that he is ready to go on with the trial but informed the court that the summons was served via the Ministry of Justice.

Falana who asked that the case be suspended indefinitely to enable the president appear in court, also cited section 36 (b) of the 1999 Constitution, while defending arguments from Chief Adegboyega Awomolo on the need for the accused to be availed with necessary facilities to defend themselves, saying that there should be a level playing field before the court.

L-R: Former Head of Service, Mr. Steve Oronsaye; CBN Deputy Governor Policy, Mrs. Sarah Alade; and CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, during the first meeting/inauguration of the Financial Literacy Steering Committee (FLSC), yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

FG to strengthen partnership with UN Population Fund

By Albert Akota

M

inister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdul-Kadir, has expressed government’s determination to consolidate the existing partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) and all stakeholders in the youth sector towards making Nigerian youths self-reliant.

This was disclosed by the minister during a courtesy visit

to his office yesterday, by the Executive Director of the UNPF Prof. Babatunde Oshotimehin.

He reiterated the importance of such a robust partnership with the UNPF adding that his administration is resolved to further explore new possible areas of cooperation and engagements effectively develop the teeming population of our youth roaming about the streets.

Stressing the need for the UNPF to help the youth rediscover

their potentials, he noted that his Ministry has increased the scope of activities in the NYSC to achieve the same objective.

Constitution review: Reps reschedule debate

By Umar Muhammad Puma

T

h e H o u s e o f Representatives yesterday put-off till

AU summit: Leaders to battle HIV, malaria, tuberculosis

By A’isha Biola Raji

A

frican leaders under the umbrella of Africa Union, (AU) have renewed commitment to Abuja declaration of 2001 as they are set to battle HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

As some of the leaders struggle to keep their promise (2001 Abuja Declaration), they are confident that the outcome of AU+12 Special Summit on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which was concluded

in Abuja yesterday are feasible.

Part of the earlier commitments requires that leaders of each nation on the continent dedicate 15 per cent of national annual appropriation to boosting health on the continent, and, according to World Health Organization’s report, only one country has achieved the goal.

At a briefing at the end of the summit, the leaders said that they realised that over a decade after the earlier declaration, the agreed objective of taking ownership and

improve financing of the fight against killer diseases, most of which are widespread and have burdened the continent are yet to be fulfilled.

President Goodluck Jonathan, Chairperson of the African Union, Dr. Hailemariam Dessalegn, Chairperson of the African Union Chairperson Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma, spoke on behalf of AU member countries to in a bid to scale up the implementation of the earlier “Abuja Commitments.”

Another issue is review of

Earlier in his remarks, Osotimehin said that the agency was willing to improve on its efforts towards youth development.

relevant laws and policies at national and regional level to strengthen rights-based protection for all vulnerable and key populations in the context of the three diseases.

There were also discussions on increase access to prevention programmes targeting the youth, especially young women, to ensure an AIDS, free generation, strengthening national, regional and continental monitoring and evaluation system for better implementation of commitments.

today the consideration of report on the Constitution amendment on the bill for an Act to further alter t h e p r o v i s ion. of the 1999 Constitution of the federal.

This, according to the House, came on the grounds that some members were yet to receive copies of the report.

The report, which was to be considered yesterday, was deferred as most members were said to have got the copies of the report late at the plenary.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal who presided over the plenary ruled that there would not be any debate on the report but that members would be allowed to make comments, reactions and observations on any clause that they deemed necessary.

Nigeria, Kenya sign joint cooperation agreement

N

igeria and Kenya yesterday in Abuja signed an agreement for the establishment of a Joint Commission for Cooperation.

Speaking at bilateral talks between the two countries, a Kenyan delegation led by President Uhuru Kenyatta before the signing ceremony at the Presidential Villa, President Jonathan Goodluck said that key countries in Africa

such as Nigeria and Kenya must collaborate more to achieve success in implementing the continent’s agenda of greater economic integration.

According to Jonathan, “the key countries in Africa must work together to create larger markets for our products and boost our national economies.

“We must cooperate more, boost cross-border investments

and encourage our private sectors to participate in economic development across the continent.”

He expressed the hope that the Nigeria-Kenya Joint Commission for Cooperation will quickly develop a blueprint for greater trade and economic relations between the two countries for the benefit of their citizens.

A Protocol on Consultations between Nigeria’s Ministry of

Foreign Affairs and Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade was also signed after the talks between the two Presidents and their delegations.

In furtherance of the agreement to strengthen bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Kenya, President Jonathan accepted an invitation from President Kenyatta to undertake a state visit to Kenya at his earliest convenience.

Also yesterday, Jonathan received the President of the Gabonese National Assembly, Mr. Guy Nzouba-Ndama, who brought him a special message from President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

Mr. Nzouba-Ndama who led the Gabonese delegation to the Abuja+12 Summit, was accompanied by the country’s Minister of Health, Prof. Leon N’zouba.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 7

News

PDP faults Lai Mohammed’s bore-hole project From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

he Peoples Democratic Party in Oro, Ward Two in Irepodun local government area of Kwara state has described the purported commissioning of a borehole in Lakele Square, Otun Oro by the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Lai Mohammed as untrue.

The PDP Oro ward 2 in a statement signed by its Chairman, Mr. Joe Ibitoye said the said borehole was sunk by the PDP-controlled federal government nine years ago.

The party added that the people of the ward had been drinking water from the borehole before what it called its purported commissioning.

The PDP noted that the purported commissioning thus amounted to Lai Mohammed and his party’s desperation to seek relevance.

50 homosexual, 618 prostitution spots uncovered in Anambra despite serious condemnation against the activities of homosexuals in the country by religious organisations and other interest groups, the Anambra State Government yesterday revealed that the state currently has about 50 homosexual and 618 prostitution spots.

It described the areas as HIV and AIDS high-risk targets in the state.

The Director of the state’s AIDS Control Agency, Dr. John Ndibe, who disclosed this to news men in Onitsha, said that the government would use its limited funds to target such spots and ensure that the operators were educated on the need to protect themselves and their clients against the deadly scourge.

Ndibe, said the agency, as a coordinating agency on HIV and AIDS activities, was committed to making sure that it gets the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS to zero level in the state as directed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He further disclosed that the agency had conducted a survey of high-risk factors and spots for HIV and AIDS in the state in order to effectively cut the transmission of the deadly virus.

“Now that we have their statistics and where they operate, we can reach out to them so as to educate them on the effect on the virus”.

L-R: Mozambique Prime Minister, Alberto Maquina; President Goodluck Jonathan; Ethiopia Prime Minister and AU Chairman, Hailemariam Desalegn, and Chairperson, AU Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, during a breakfast meeting at the AU special summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo:JoeOroye

2015: APC’ll ‘dethrone’ PDP, says El-Rufai From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

T

he Deputy National Secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Malam Nasiru el- Rufai has reaffirmed the commitment of his party towards unseating the ruling party come 2015.

El-Rufai said this while receiving the leadership of the Congress for Progressive Change CPC who paid him a solidarity visit in his house at Kaduna yesterday.

He said the coalition of the opposition party is determined to retrieve power from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which he said has failed to meet up with yearning and aspiration of the common man as well as abuse of the rule of law.

El- Rufai said, “APC is a political party that has ideology aimed at bringing total transformation into our land considering the terrible experience meted on us.”

Expressing his optimism that the new political party will take Nigerian into the promise land, he disabused the minds of some

Army disowns Al-Mustapha’s ‘decoration’

By Joy Baba

T

he Nigerian Army has said it has nothing to do with a publication being circulated all over the country about the purported decoration of the Chief Security Officer to the late Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, Maj. Hamza Al-Mustpha with the rank of a Brigadier General, following his recent acquittal by an appeal court.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Director

of Army Public Relations, (DAPR) Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru in Abuja yesterday.

The director said in the Nigerian Army as a professional Force, administrative procedures are guided by extant administrative rules and regulations such as the Armed Forces of the Harmonised Terms and Condition of Service amongst others.

Attahiru urged the media to cross check their facts before going to the press to avoid misinforming the public.

Nigerians who are calling on him to run for the presidency come 2015.

According to him “I did not join politics with the ambition to run for presidency, I joined politics to change the bad system we are witnessing today as a result of bad leadership and what is important to me is to build our party first and then any other issue can follow.”

He commended the virtues of General Muhammadu Buhari whom he believed is the messiah to Nigerians and the man with the capacity to run in 2015.

He also assured supporters that the registration of APC as a party has been concluded and they are hoping in the next few weeks, the party will be fully registered by INEC and will enjoy all the responsibility of the full-fledged political party.

Earlier in his remark, the Kaduna state Chairman of CPC, Alhaji Ahmadu Yaro Coca Cola, said they were in his house to pay him a solidarity visit as well as to assure him that, he has the backing of the Kaduna State Congress for progressive Change.

He said, “we are very much confident in you looking at your track record of achievement and your performance in the nation’s building and with new appointment as the deputy national secretary, we have a strong conviction that APC will play a great role towards enhancing the nation democracy which is now in derail.”

Another group that has joined the leadership of CPC to visit includes Northern Political Movement headed by the secretary General Abdullahi Risky Kawo.

Kebbi Poly begins academic activities in 2014, says commissioner

T

he Kebbi Polytechnic located in Dakingari in Suru Local Government Council of the state will begin academic activities in January 2014.

The Commissioner for Science and Technical Education, Alhaji Muhammadu Ruwa, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Birnin Kebbi.

Ruwa said that although the corps members posted to the state currently used the polytechnic

premises as orientation camp, certain structures needed to be put in place in the campus.

“The NYSC had requested for extension of time within which the construction of the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp would be completed.

“We are now in July and before the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp is ready, the state government needs to upgrade the polytechnic structures to meet standards.

“The laboratories need to be

upgraded and the state government will construct more workshops to meet the required standard,” the commissioner said.

On the compensation for the polytechnic site, Ruwa said payment of compensation had commenced to the land owners.

He said that the ministry and traditional rulers in the area had cautioned farmers against planting on the land.

He did not, however, disclose the amount paid as compensation to the land owners.(NAN)

FCT awards: We won by improving health standard of rural dwellers, says minister

By Adeola Tukuru

F

CT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed has attributed the feat of winning UN Awards by the administration to the upliftment of health programmes of rural dwellers.

The Minister yesterday recalled that, the Mailafiya

Programme recently won the 2013 United Nations most prestigious award of excellence in public service under the category of ‘Improving Public Service Delivery’ for Nigeria in Manama, the capital of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Senator Bala pointed out that, prior to the UN Award, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of

Health gave the award; ‘Best Rural Health Practice’ to the FCT Mailafiya programme in 2011.

He also recalled that the Mailafiya Programme was recommended for adoption in all the 36 states of the Federation at the 55th Session of the National Council on Health in 2012.

PAGE 8

Photos Splash

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

L-R: Chairman, BUA, Alhaji Abdulshamad Rabiu, Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama; Chairman, ASD Motors, Alhaji Sani Dauda, and Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters, Dr. Sylvester Monye, during a dinner for African leaders and ministers after the African Union Summit on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, on Monday at the Banquet Hall of the State House, in Abuja.

L-R: Kaduna state Deputy Governor, Ambassador Nuhu A. Bajoga; representative of Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Nyam Leo; and Kaduna state Commissioner for Agriculture, Hon. Bashir Sakadadi, during the launch of fertiliser distribution through GSM, yesterday at Giwa local government area of Kaduna ztate.

Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) officers, during the 2013 promotion examination exercise, yesterday in Abuja.

NYSC Batch ‘B’ members during the passing out ceremony, yesterday at Tsafe, in Zamfara state.

L-R: Deputy Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka; Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta; and Vice-Chairman, UBA Plc, Ambassador Joe Keshi, during a luncheon organised by UBA Plc in honour of the Kenyan President on Monday in Abuja.

Photos: Mahmud Isa, Joe Oroye and NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 10

News

Fuel subsidy protest: DPO shot at protesters, witness tells court From Matthew Irinoye, Lagos

J

ustice Akinlade of a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, was yesterday told by the two prosecution witnesses, Kunle Alabi and Alimi Abubakar that the dismissed Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Pen Cinema, Agege Police Station, Mr Segun Fabunmi, actually shot at subsidy protesters.

It would be recalled that Fabunmi, was arraigned on May 5, 2013, for shooting Adedamola Daramola to death on January 9, 2012 during the protests.

He was also accused of attempted murder and causing of grievous bodily harm on Alimi Abubakar, Egbujor Samuel and Chizorba Odoh.

While being led in evidence by the Director, Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Olabisi Odugbesan, the witness said that he saw Fabunmi snatching the gun from another policeman and shooting straight at the protesters.

He said the deceased, who was a tailor, was among the boys that were injured after the alleged shooting.

Alabi, who simply identify himself as sound engineer told the court that he was standing in front of his house when people were running around due to the sporadic sounds of gun shots by police men.

He said after the policemen left, he saw a bullet which he gave to the Baale of the community.

Also, the second witness Alimi Abubakar told the court that himself, and some other persons were at Yaya Abatan Junction, Agege, reading newspapers when the policemen arrived in the patrol vehicles.

Alimi said the team which was led by the defendant arrived at about 8: 30am and one of the officers started shooting in the air and towards the ground to scare away people.

According to him, Fabunmi snatched the gun from the officer and started shooting at the people in the junction including the deceased, Daramola.

He said: “I can’t tell how many times he fired but I was hit by a bullet on my leg.

“Daramola was standing by my side and the bullet also injured him. He ran towards Abeokuta St., while I ran into a nearby mosque.”

Abubakar added that he saw Fabunmi chasing Daramola and some other persons towards Abeokuta St. from where he was hiding inside the mosque.

The witness admitted that he did not see Fabunmi shooting Daramola because he was in hiding.

He said he was rushed by some boys, alongside the badly injured Daramola, to the Ifako General Hospital after the police had left.

The witness said Daramola later died due to the bullet wounds he sustained while he was referred to another hospital for treatment.

The matter was adjourned till October 25, 2013 for continuation of trial.

Benue state Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam (middle), briefing journalists on government efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in his state, after his official visit to President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at the House State, in Abuja. With him are the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Orduen Abunku (left), and the governor’s Principal Secretary, Mr. Eugene Ivase (right). Photo: Joe Oroye

Lawmaker drags Ecobank to court over statement of account

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

member representing Kokona West constituency in the Nasarawa state House of Assembly, Jatau Danladi Angbo has dragged the Keffi branch of Ecobank Nigeria Plc, before a Federal High Court, Lafia for allegedly allowing a third party, one Abubakar Obere Kana access to his statements of account without his knowledge.

The plaintiff, in his statement of claim averred that he maintained a robust relationship with the bank until Abubakar Kana, who is also the 3rd defendant in the suit with whom he contested the primary

election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and won, challenged his emergence as the party’s flag bearer for Kokona West constituency using the statement of account issued by the bank as evidence.

He also averred that the 3rd defendant, armed with the statement of account issued by the bank and its branch manager, Mr. Yususf Isah, the 1st and 2nd respondents respectively on his account number 2160001016690, accused him of defrauding the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication by collecting salaries after his resignation.

He said in the statement that the court in its judgment delivered

on April 7, 2011 exonerated him of any fraudulent acts, adding further that, even after the Federal High Court exonerated him of any wrong doing, the 3rd defendant, relying on information obtained from the bank appealed against the judgment at the Court of Appeal, Makurdi, Benue state.

The plaintiff is asking the court to declare that the procurement of the statement of account without his consent and authority was contrary to the law and therefore illegal among others.

He is therefore seeking N100 million as exemplary damages from the defendants and another one million naira as general damages for psychological trauma

and inconveniences inflicted on him and for the violation of his fundamental right.

Responding to the plaintiff’s averment, the 1st and 2nd defendants said, at no time did they unlawfully allow the 3rd defendant or any person access to the plaintiff’s account details nor did they issue same to the 1st defendant or any other person.

They averred that the only time they ever disclosed the plaintiff’s account details was pursuant to an order of the Federal High Court vide a notice in suit No: FHC/LF/CS. 5/2011, ordering the production of a statement of account.

Demand for same-sex marriage not human right, says NOA boss

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mike Omeri, has advised human rights activists not to upset national values and aspiration through advocacy for issues that are not natural to the society.

A statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary of the DG, Paul Odenyi, said, Omeri gave the advice yesterday in Abuja, while in audience with members

of the Inter-ministerial committee on Human Rights Education in Nigeria, saying the call for the legalisation of gay marriages in Nigeria is against national values and natural aspiration of most Nigerians.

According to him, advocacy for same-sex marriage cannot fall within the demand for human rights in the country.

The committee set up under the World Programme for Human Rights Education (WPHRE) is to implement measure for massive

enlightenment on several human rights issues in the country.

Members of the committee were drawn from ministries, department and agencies (MDAs), including NOA, National Universities Commission (NUC), the Ministry of Education, National Planning Commission (NPC), among others.

Omeri, urged the National Human rights Commission and the committee to keep up its good work while pledging the willingness of the Agency to partner with them, to ensure that the objectives of setting

up the committee are fully met.

Speaking, Head, Human Rights Education and Linkages, at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Mrs Ifeoma Nwakamma disclosed that the committee derive its role from the United Nations declaration and has the mandate to advance the course of Human Rights Education in Nigeria, putting in place, specific strategies to implement the world Programme for Human Rights Education.

on tour of five local government ministry offices in Mangu, Barkin Ladi, Shendam, Langtang North and Pankshin local government areas.

The commissioner explained that the state government was making effort to ensure development in various communities of the state and that layouts had to be created to avoid illegal erection of

buildings.

Gomwalk said, “As area officers and our eyes in the local governments, you must rise to the challenge of ensuring that erection of structures, no matter what kind, is properly done.

“This is more reason why you should ensure that you create layouts in all the communities in your area of jurisdiction”, he said adding that government is

of the belief that, “when this is done, flood can be controlled, development and growth could be attained”.

He further promised to look out the problems of the area offices, especially vehicles and working equipment, which would enable them to work efficiently, advising that land officers should be sincere while discharging their responsibilities.

Plateau government to create layouts in communities From Ado Abubakar Musa

T

he Government of Plateau state has authorized local government land officers to create layouts in the communities of all the local government areas in the state for rapid development.

The go ahead was given by Mr. Yilji Gomwalk, Commissioner for Lands and Survey, when he was

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 11

Money Sense

Prepare now for natural disasters N atural disasters are inevitable, unpreventable and often come without warning. No part of the world seems to be spared, whether it’s a hurricane, earthquake, tornado, drought or flood. Even though such catastrophes can’t always be predicted, their likely aftermaths often can, including property loss, power or water service disruption, scarcity of food and supplies or overtaxed relief organisations.

The Superstorm Sandy in the United States was a powerful reminder of why it’s vital to develop a family disaster plan.

By planning ahead and knowing what you might need under dire circumstances, you can save yourselves a lot of time, money and grief.

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers great suggestions for developing a family emergency plan, building an emergency supply kit, and learning what to do before, during and after emergencies – even a plan for family pets.

Once your physical safety has been assured, you’ll inevitably

need to access important financial and legal records, whether to file insurance claims, apply for loans or simply withdraw cash. Taking these few steps now will make accessing such information much easier when the time comes: Create a log of all account numbers, toll-free emergency numbers, contact information and passwords for your bank and credit card accounts, loans, insurance policies, utilities and other important accounts. Update it regularly and save copies in secure, offsite locations such as a safety deposit box or with a trusted friend living in another area.

You can also email the list to yourself in an encrypted, password-protected file, save it on a CD or USB drive, or use a cloud-based storage service like Dropbox that will let you access it from any internet connection.

Make PDF copies of tax returns, insurance policies and legal documents and save offsite in the same manner as above, in case your files or computer are destroyed by fire or flood. Also make digital copies of invaluable family photos, documents and

memorabilia that money can’t replace.

Document your possessions.

If you should ever need to file an insurance claim or claim a tax deduction for lost, stolen or damaged property, it’ll be much easier if you have an inventory of everything you own – photos or

videotape are even better.

Make sure you fully understand what is and isn’t covered by your insurance policies for natural disasters. You may need additional coverage for damage associated with hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes and other weather conditions. Also:

Ways to reduce your personal debt

D

ebt has become equivalent to a fourletter word. Paying off debt frees up income to invest and save, reduces stress and aids you in becoming financially independent. Yet paying off the minimum on your credit cards each month isn’t going to get you where you need to be. Reducing

debt takes research, planning and strategic implementation.

Create a budget: Account for your monthly income and expenses. Subtract the total amount of expenses from your income, and evaluate what you have left over. This is considered your disposable income.

Cut out things that are not

necessities: Consider cutting down on variable expenses like gas, groceries, and entertainment.

When paying off debt, it’s important to evaluate what you need and what you don’t, and use that saved income toward a debt repayment strategy. Be honest with yourself. Chances are, there are multiple areas of

your financial world that can be cut down and cut back. This increases your disposable income and income that can be applied to paying off debt.

Write down a list of all of your debts: You can do this with pen and paper, a spreadsheet or any number of financial planning advice software. Include the minimum monthly payment, the balance and the interest rate.

Sum up all of your debt: If a budget isn’t enough of a wakeup call about the current state of your finances, a list of debts will most likely be the catalyst that helps you realize the true state of your money. Take a look at all of the money you are throwing away on interest, and consider what you could be earning on that money if it was being put into investments and savings.

Pay off the credit cards and loans with the highest interest rates first: This is a common sense approach to debt reduction.

Using your list of debts, begin paying off the credit cards or loans that carry the highest rate of interest.

Write in an apportion amount for this loan into your budget each month. Pay the minimum balance on your other cards while concentrating your focus on that high rate card until the balance hits zero. Rinse and repeat this strategy with subsequent cards and loans from the highest interest rate to the lowest interest rate. This is the best way to be debt free now and for many years to come. Think of it like a disease: cut the worst parts out first and quit using your credit cards for normal monthly expenses.

Document any damage with photos or video before you start cleanup or repairs.

Keep track of expenses you incur to prevent further damage, for temporary housing or to move your possessions for safekeeping, as they may be reimbursable under your insurance claim.

Don’t delay submitting your claim, since insurers often settle claims in the order filed.

Bottom line: Develop a family emergency plan now and make sure everyone knows what to do when disaster strikes.

Money Tip

Shop online The Internet is gradually taking over. On-line grocery shopping is getting better all the time and there are plenty of comparison websites to help find the best prices for bigger items. Give it a try, unless of course you like fighting your way through supermarket crowds.

Do you need all those TV channels?

Britain is switching to digitalonly television and time is running out for you to choose your new digital TV provider. The choice is already bewildering and with telephone-based services now being launched it’s going to get more complicated. Packages range, including every sports and movie channel costing around N12, 500 a month, down to Freeview, which is free. Choose wisely.

The three-for-two trick Now, there’s a lot to be said for buy-one-get-one-free deals, especially if they pass the ‘Do I really need this?’ test. Then there’s three-for-twos; a particularly cynical way of stores to entice shoppers to buy an extra item they would not otherwise buy. The ‘offer’ is always priced into the deal so do your sums and shop around.

Quote “The world is full of people who have come up with spectacular ideas and failed to do anything about them.” - Deborah Meaden: Entrepreneur

PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

EDITORIAL

Dragging Nigeria to the abyss I

n legislatures all over the world, there are times when tempers flare, sometimes leading to fights, fisticuffs and howling of insults and/or chairs at each other by the members. But even by our own low standards in Nigeria, what happened in Port Harcourt was in a class of its own, a world record in absurdity. Tension had been building in the state, and there had been definite hints of trouble for quite some time, but what provided the necessary spark was the attempt that Tuesday morning by only five-yes, only five –of the state Assembly’s thirty-two members, who had preceded their colleagues to the House that morning, to set in motion the process of impeaching the Speaker and installing one of them as his replacement.

The absurdity of the five members’ action was matched only by the daring with which they approached their task, a daring that must have been informed by and based on nothing other than the firmest assurances of support and cover from the highest quarters and authorities in the land, and which showed, in fact, that the five members were acting a script authored by higher forces from within and outside the state. This must be why the police, doubtless acting in line with the script, at first chose to merely watch to see which way the fight would go, and then later openly took sides with the five members against the majority.

The imperative dictated by the crisis or fracas in the Assembly that Tuesday morning was for the police, paid and maintained by Nigerian tax payers and required by the Act setting it up to maintain law and order and to be neutral in doing so, was to stop the brawl, ensure a return to order, fully secure the Assembly and provide all necessary security cover for the members to meet and the House to perform its function. This, the police simply refused to do. The police and other security agencies in Rivers have for a long time now been acting funny, slighting the state’s governor and making impossible the regular security meetings in the state to hold. But what these agencies, especially the police, did last week Tuesday at the Assembly premises clearly went over the top, and added an alarmingly new dimension to

the unfolding crisis in the state, for which the Rivers Commissioner of Police must be made to face the music.

As usual, the presidency has denied having a hand in, or being behind, this recent crisis in Rivers. This is only to be expected. But the presidency’s writ is too obvious in almost every aspect of the crisis for its denials to hold water.

In any case, the denials fly in the face of basic truths known to all of us. Who in this country isn’t aware of the fact of the running battle between President Jonathan and Governor Amaechi of Rivers? Or of the fact that the First Lady herself has now waded into the quarrel,

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Contd. from Front Page

But the presidency’s writ is too obvious in almost every aspect of the crisis for its denials to hold water if she is not originally partly the cause of it? Or of the fact that only about two weeks ago she had invaded Port Harcourt and made a show of force and power obviously intended to provoke the governor? Or of the fact that the entire security outfit at the Government House in Port Harcourt has now been withdrawn, which could only have been done on clear and express orders from the highest quarters in Abuja? Or of the fact that Jonathan has been supporting a faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum opposed to Amaechi who had won the April 24 chairmanship election of the forum? Or of the fact that Amaechi has been suspended, for no clear or good reasons, from the PDP, of which Jonathan is the leader?

The Inspector General of Police has sent a fact-finding team to Rivers headed by a DIG. We do not want to prejudge the report of the team. We, in fact, believe that the fact-finding mission is a good idea. But the IG and the authorities in Abuja must keep in view the fact that what the whole world saw and believed because it was all too obvious, was that there was a willful dereliction of duty by the Police

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Commissioner in Rivers, the type that can neither be tolerated nor go unpunished, and severely too, in any decent society. It was a dereliction that calls not just for his transfer from Rivers state to another state or to headquarters in Abuja, but a court martial.

And this is what we in Peoples Daily strongly recommend as an appropriate response to this kind of failure of duty that could easily have plunged the state into a much deeper and violent crisis that may spread across the country.

The National Assembly is Itching to take over the Rivers Assembly. The House of Representatives has already passed a resolution to that effect. Peoples Daily sees this as both a bad and dangerous move. We are aware that Section 11 of the 1999 Constitution empowers the National Assembly to take over the functions of a state House of Assembly, when and if the House has been unable to perform its normal functions for a long period of time. It is our view that no such condition or situation exists yet in Rivers. Did the majority not meet that Friday immediately after the fracas?

What we believe both chambers should do is to work together to pass joint resolutions to force the hands of President Jonathan to ensure that the necessary security and adequate cover is provided for the majority of the members in the Rivers House of Assembly to meet and perform their legislative and oversight functions. Equally important, they should pass a joint resolution calling for the court- marshal of the Police Commissioner in Rivers. Taking over the House on flimsy excuses will send wrong signals and encourage a situation whereby those who lose out or do not have their way in their states but have the necessary support and connections in Abuja will instigate crises in states to get the National Assembly take over the state Assemblies to enable them achieve dubious purposes.

Finally, we call on the President to tread carefully in such matters and to try always to read in advance the implications as a leader.

His quarrels with some of the governors, and many of the actions he takes as a result, do not show him in a good light. They show him, rather, as a vindictive leader, one who seems to be in a deliberate haste to run his own country aground.

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PAGE 13

Opinion Almajiri: Disadvantaged by choice

By Katch Ononuju

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he almajiri phenomenon represents the biggest factor standing against the progress of young people in Northern Nigeria. Founded during the days of the transSaharan trade to teach traveling men the ways and tenets of the Islamic faith, it holds little or no benefit for the young in today’s Nigeria. Sent away from home to almajiri schools at a very young age, most of these children of poor peasant families are victims of the economic realities of polygamy on the poor. Unable to pay for proper education, most poor families send their young away to teachers known as Mallams who provide religious instructions while also abusing these children by encouraging them to beg for alms on the streets which they in turn preach to followers to patronize.By age 14, the children are lost on a road to nowhere as they are listed amongst the largest pool of children without access to formal

education by UNESCO. Northern Nigeria is home to Africa’s largest concentration of poor and economically disadvantaged persons. Nigeria is listed as one with the highest number of children out of school in the world. Nigeria is followed on this list of shame by Pakistan where the same practice is replicated at the madrasahs.

Madrasah is the Pakistani version of Nigeria’s almajiri schools.

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If Northern Nigeria is to be saved from the cultural philosophy that rejects western education, we must start now by not only defeating the Boko Haram ideology , but by also nudging northern leaders to show courage by availing their young, the tools required to succeed and win in a democratic Nigeria. The market will demand education and a psychological understanding of the workings

of a market economy for those who intend to succeed in the new NIGERIA, pandering to the emotions of the clerics will not help in this matter.

The position and language of Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger state in regard to this issue underscores the problem with Northern Nigeria – a failure of leadership that has also, to a larger extent, undermined our quest for progress as a country.

Those who blame poverty and economic inequality as root causes of Boko Haram must recognize that the almajiri system has historically conspired to perpetually keep parts of northern Nigeria from attaining progress in human development in contrast to the reality in southern Nigeria. The picture of Yoruba Muslims who embraced western education reveals the difference education can make amongst persons of same faith but different cultural background.

The system that produces such quality of persons as leaders is the bane of Nigeria.

Those who blame poverty and economic inequality as root causes of Boko Haram must recognize that the almajiri system has historically conspired to perpetually keep parts of northern Nigeria from attaining progress in human development in contrast to the reality in southern Nigeria.

The picture of Yoruba Muslims who embraced western education reveals the difference education can make amongst persons of same faith but different cultural background.

Religion has served humanity well through generations and will continue to be with us going forward. We must remember that no religion abhors education.The fight against cultural adulteration should not be used as a reason for denial of the fundamental right of the Nigerian child to education funded with our Petrodollars.

Katch Ononuju is on LinkedIn

Zimmerman and mystery of African cowardice

By Ozodi Osuji

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rom the day that the trial of George Zimmerman for killing a black youth, Trayvon Martins, began, I made a bet that he would be acquitted.

I simply assumed that a white jury would find him not guilty.

Just as I had expected, last week he was not found guilty. The man killed a black boy and walks free.

Why not? He killed a person that has no social value and as far as white folks are concerned he did not do more than swat a fly to death. I also made a bet that while the man would be acquitted that black folks would make a lot of noise about it. They will talk about how unjust the American judicial system is. Their idle scholars would wax strong writing about how racist the American judicial system is, as if the world does not already know that fact.

Wasn’t it only last year that racist Republican governors and their legislators tried to disenfranchise black folks by preventing them from voting? The world knows about racist Americans shenanigans and do not need to be reminded about it. What is now salient is black folk’s response to the on going insults they receive from white folks; talk is no longer good enough.

My primary concern is not Zimmerman and his killing a black person. Why not concern myself with him? It is because for all intents and purposes he is no longer a human being; for as long as he lives he knows that he is murderer and will have to live with that fact; if there is life after death he will have to answer for

his assumption that it is up to him to kill another human being.

The man is a walking dead man.

Despite futile effort to seek refuge in the fact that his racist society exonerated his crime he must live with a guilty conscience for the rest of his life. Alcohol, drugs and addiction to food and sex are his only transient solace. No human being has a right to kill another human being and if you killed a human being you are no longer a human being. Therefore, George Zimmerman is no longer a human being and, as such, is not my concern. Look at him, at age twenty nine he looks as if he is sixty nine years old. Life has a way of catching up with murderers; no one kills a human being, rationalizes his action as he does, get away with it.

What concerns me is how black folks respond to these things. In the black ghetto black gang members kill each other for less than a pack of cigarettes.

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They kill their fellow black folks for no reason, really. It is as if they assume that black life has no value.In Africa, African politicians specialize in engaging in the modern version of slavery. Their ancestors captured and sold their fellow Africans to either Arabs or white men; these days Africans do not do anything to help their fellow Africans. They appropriate the money they should have used to develop their people and ignore their people’s needs.As long as Africans parade around as seeming big men they are satisfied. They do not live to help their fellow Africans. Their total disregard for their fellow Africans is like their ancestors disregard for the Africans they sold to foreigners. If black folks provided for and protected their own people would a sub-human being like George Zimmerman believe that it is up to him to kill a black boy?If black ghetto criminal gang members had racial consciousness

and killed any nonblack who killed a black person don’t you think that nonblack persons would think twice before they killed a black person?

We know that white folks are self-centered and are driven by desire to survive at all costs; as such, if they believed that black folks would fight back and kill them should they kill black folks they would stay away from black folks. As long as they believe that they can kill black folks and black folks would do nothing about it they would continue killing black folks with impunity. All of Western Europe gave their people publicly paid health insurance but because there are black folks in America and white folks do not want to do anything to help black folks they refused to provide all Americans with health insurance; they provide us with cockamamie economic reasons why they did so.

The British produced Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas

We know that white folks are self-centered and are driven by desire to survive at all costs; as such, if they believed that black folks would fight back and kill them should they kill black folks they would stay away from black folks. As long as they believe that they can kill black folks and black folks would do nothing about it they would continue killing black folks with impunity.

All of Western Europe gave their people publicly paid health insurance but because there are black folks in America and white folks do not want to do anything to help black folks they refused to provide all Americans with health insurance; they provide us with cockamamie economic reasons why they did so.

Malthus, John Stuart Mill and John Maynard Keynes and their free enterprise economics and yet they were rational enough to socialize their health care system but second rated American conservative economists who have not produced one world class economist provide us with idiot rationalizations why they should have 50 million of their people without health insurance. They do not feel shame that that number of their people is uninsured. They are beneath contempt.

I do not assume that nonblack folks should defend black folks.

In fact, I expect them to enslave and exploit black folks, as they have historically done. What I do not understand is why black folks do not protect their own people. By not protecting their people they give the rest of the world the signal to not take black folks seriously. All you hear about Africans is their stealing from their people, and their not caring for their people and killing each other in stupid ethnic wars.

In America’s black ghettos, the denizens kill their fellow black folks but do not organizing to fight those who discriminate against them and relegate them to the ghettos. If a people cannot protect their people who do they expect to protect them, outsiders? Africans are a mystery to me; I do not understand them at all! In fact, I do not even want to talk about them. Get them out of my face. A people who do not fight for their good are not worthy of other people’s concern.

Dr. Ozodi Osuji wrote in from New York, USA.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Why I can’t accept verdict on this administration

By Ifeanyi Uddin

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am persuaded that the incumbent administration at the federal level has not succeeded along as many dimensions of our national life as I would have liked. Even against its own promises, I think it a stretch to suggest that this administration’s performance passes muster. To begin with, there are the security issues, which speak fluently to this fact. Most times, under the rubric “security”, talk concentrates on the low-intensity war in key parts of the North, especially on the new national bête noire — Boko Haram.

But, truth be told, the broader security issues to which serious stewardship of this nation must advert its considerable resources, increasingly include our inability to stem the unprecedented theft from our oil infrastructure (and the huge costs associated therewith), the burden imposed on us by our new national crime industry (kidnapping), etc.

And in spite of the sundry evidence of macroeconomic consolidation — strong external reserves, growing balances on the two rainy-day funds, stable (?) exchange rates, “lower” inflation count, etc. — regularly marched out in support of government’s “efforts”, there are other less comforting (and arguably more tactile) economic statistics.

Unemployment: at abysmal, insomnia inducing, levels. Poverty: very high and worsening daily. Our ranking on any measure of human development: shameful. Our ranking on “ease of doing business” indices: in breach of trade and

commerce. quandary as Transparency a people, we International’s only look to the ranking of how failings of (and Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, corrupt we are as at) the centre. text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written a people. All of Undoubtedly, these talk about governments contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters innumerable failed at the federal - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your possibilities over level have name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be the last four to not helped addressed to: six years. On the the proper streets, the upshot evolution of is misery spread our federal The Editor, thick as baking fat structure.

Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, on a very thin slice Successive of bread. military 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja.

This is not interventions Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com to suggest that in the polity SMS: 08134607052 sub-national may carry governments some of the have performed blame for this. The military’s their governance of the states any better. Indeed, the fact that “command-and-control” instincts they control), it is clichéd. local a useful number of them are run evidently do not conduce to governments? Failure here is by parties currently organising in the “separation of powers” that recognisable by the screaming opposition to the party in power is essential, first to a properly absence of any form of governance. at the federal level is sufficient functioning democracy, and Feeder roads, primary health care cause for worry. The old saw about thereafter to a federal structure facilities, basic needs at the “local looking up a man’s accoutrements, in any such democracy. Still, the level”. All of these are decrepit-towho has promised a bequeath approach of our non-military nonexistent. to my wardrobe is so relevant leaders to their work has favoured Unfortunately, a quirk in when dwelling on the opposition’s command-and-control policies, to the way we have interpreted the current promises regarding their the detriment of all that we could concept “federal government” bid for federal power (vis-à-vis (potentially) hold dear. has meant that in discussing our

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This is not to suggest that sub-national governments have performed any better. Indeed, the fact that a useful number of them are run by parties currently organising in opposition to the party in power at the federal level is sufficient cause for worry. The old saw about looking up a man’s accoutrements, who has promised a bequeath to my wardrobe is so relevant when dwelling on the opposition’s current promises regarding their bid for federal power...

Burdened by all these, and at the point, very recently, of throwing up my hands in surrender, I run into compatriots who are just as persuaded that the country ought not to progress faster than the current government’s pace.

Although in conversation with folk who subscribe to my sense of our national underperformance, the tendency is to dismiss this category of nationals as “driven by ethnic, religious, and selfish interests”, I have come across partisans of the current measured pace of development whose honesty is unquestionable. Moreover, in some, their belief in the goodness of this country is as strong as (and often, stronger than mine).

So, why do we defer so fundamentally on matters so fundamental? I’m still working hard at a workable answer to this question. However, in the interim, a certain tendency runs through their arguments: the constant need to point to worse (previous) performers in mitigation of the current administration’s pathetic performance. Think through this position, and you’d end up gasping for fresh air. How is it an argument that my failure is admissible because my predecessors in office were no less competent?

Alternatively, which is another argument in their repertoire that we may well meet with evidence of similar underperformance in other climes? My worry is that (as an interlocutor recently put it) “50 years of walking this road hasn’t taken us very far, has it?”

Ifeanyi Uddin is an economic historian and analyst

Life of a Nigerian cultist in America

By Paul Omoruyi

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t is now glaring that secret cults and her members permeate the entire Nigerian society from high school students to Governors and law makers. Cultism has moved from who controls the campus to who controls the State and Federal Houses of Assemblies, Reps, Senators, Governors and other public offices.

Surprisingly enough, no Nigerian State or National leader past or present has had the political will or moral prowess to stop or at least decisively deal with the menace. Yes, cultism has become a menace to the Nigerian society. Cultism has been incentivized by Nigerian politicians and glamorized by lowlife members. These cult members are psychologically depraved, unconscientiously ruinous and emotionally bankrupt with no value for human life.

From Rivers to Edo State Houses of Assembly, we have seen again and again how cultists have hijacked the governments. It is no longer an intellectual law-making debates or supremacy of ideas that take place in our Houses of Assemblies or the people’s business in Government Houses. It is now about which cult group carries the day. What transpired in Rivers

State House of Assembly on July 9th and 10th is just a tip of the iceberg.

Sadly, it is only in Nigeria that these low-lives behave like emperors and warlords. Once they cross the shores of Nigeria, they become vegetative and useless to themselves. They cannot function productively. That is the case of a cult member (maybe former member(s)) I overheard in a restaurant in New York.For the sake of clarity, I will describe those discussing as friend 1 and friend 2.

Friend 1: “O boy, this America self, it dey slow man well wellooo.”

Friend 2: “My brother, no be small something.”

Friend 1: “Sometimes I go look myself and say na me be dis?”

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Friend 2: “Wetin we go do?”

Friend 1: “Before I leave naija, even wey I no dey work, I get reach 1.5 million naira for hand.

Then election just finish. We get money well well from the election from LEVELs matter to run show.

But for America you go work work you cannot even boast of $1,000 for account.”

Friend 2: “Man no dey get all those kind quick quick side money for America. Even the credit card runs wey boys be dey do don dabaru.”

Friend 1: “It get as it go be, man. I go just go back to Naija.

Some of my small boys deyride Pajero Jeep now for runs wey dem do for the last election. You know how much for tear rubber Pajero wey dem get?”

Friend 2: “I hear too oo. So that rumor na true?”

Friend 1: “Na true na. You be think say na lie? This my guy so we be room-mate for campus then.”

Friend 2: “Thank God you just remind me. How far for your school? You don fit finish the program?”

Friend 1: “Finish wetin? I no sure if I go even fit go back to the school again. My GPA too low so dem put me on probation”.

Since then, I no fit go back again.

I try make I jack jack I no fit my brother. Family wahala for Naija come join am. Bring money bring money na him dem know.”

Friend 2: “I understand brother. If naNaija now we for send MEN make dem go talk to the

Obviously, you can tell that these guys are frustrated because they cannot unleash their savage cultist activities in the US. Unfortunately, there are no professors for cultists to intimidate in America to pass their courses. You fail, you fail, you pass you pass. There are no politicians in America to give away cash and buy them guns and SUVs to kill and maim people. Any attempt or group of attempts or attempted attempts, America will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

lecturers na.”

Obviously, you can tell that these guys are frustrated because they cannot unleash their savage cultist activities in the US. Unfortunately, there are no professors for cultists to intimidate in America to pass their courses.

You fail, you fail, you pass you pass. There are no politicians in America to give away cash and buy them guns and SUVs to kill and maim people. Any attempt or group of attempts or attempted attempts, America will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

My question for young Nigerians that have taken to cultism and those want-to-be cultists is simple: Does it make sense to join a nocturnal group that will not add any value to your life and will in all likelihood shorten your life on Earth?If becoming a cult member will only provide temporary youthful exuberance and euphoria in Nigeria and cannot add value to your life outside that environment, then Cultism is useless and even more useless to Nigerians in the United States and those that plan to immigrate out of Nigeria someday.

God bless you and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Paul Omoruyi blogs at www.diasporascope.com

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 15

Comment Useful tragedy of Rivers state

By Bamidele Ademola-Olateju

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et’s not kid ourselves, the very stuff of the Nigerian tragedy is ethics. The drama in Rivers State is an encounter with ethical problems of native corruption, impunity and power grab. At the core of every tragedy is an ethical struggle and ethical encounters in communal tragedies take many forms. Its various forms are unfolding in all sectors of our national life. There can be no doubt as in this case, that tragedy occurs when desires conflate with ethics, plunging the protagonists and antagonists in turmoil. Nigerian political tragedy is a set of plays, a concentric circle of the most absurd - a theater where no law is inviolate, where the laws of numbers are perverted.

At the heart of our tragedies is an art form where practical politicians and law enforcement make cynical and unscrupulous use of power for their own ends.

We are a militarized society, a society steeped in violence, where violence is now a sport, it has become so common as to seem less outrageous. Unfortunately, our capacity for outrage is exhausted. We live in a country where politicians tell us what they want and induce how we think; a callous misappropriation of mass indolence.

How have we come to this as a nation? How can we understand how we have come to be at the brink of political catastrophes, educational dilemmas, lingering

energy deficits, religious upheavals, escalating terrorism, place-based kidnappings, progressive ecological crises and resource descents? To know how, we must take our citizenship more seriously. Civic misbehavior is ratcheting up into a set of cataclysmic forces going into 2015.

We should stop being deluded, praying instead of taking our destinies in our own hands. Our problems and actions are home grown and manufactured.

It is not initiated by any malicious outside forces or extraterrestrial elements, but rather, resulting from the inappropriate, selfish, corrupt and malevolent decisions of individuals and small groups, most often acting alone and sometimes in concert. The self-moralizing and misplaced response of Ayo Osinlu the chief priest, Order of St. Patience Bulldozer is a

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testament to this fact. He told us RotimiAmaechi launched into a river he had no skills to swim in. The subliminal message to us is; Rotimi launched into their river and can become food for crocodiles. We were advised to leave him to his fate, even Prof.

Wole Soyinka was given enough warning to cease and desist from questioning Jonathan’s rampaging “domestic appendage of power.”

I still believe in the goodness of man and in one Nigeria.

However, I cannot ignore the despair and despondency brought about by the destructiveness and unsustainability of our civic misbehaviour and mass complacency. We must be awake to the reality that our endemic despair comes from having years of unmet expectations, plunder of our resources by few and, most of all, the election of saboteurs into political office.

The apostles of greed can accuse of those of us who speak and write about their recurring malfeasance as taking far too narrow and pessimistic view of Nigeria and our politics but the infestation is no longer localized.

It is festering. I am taking the pessimistic view because there is nothing optimistic about Nigeria.

Collectively, we must never waver on the need to highlight, promote and elect leaders that are refreshingly honest, driven and patriotic. Jointly, we must commit to a commanding passion – a greater Nigeria and Nigerians outraged by oppression, corruption, stealing, conversion, impunity, cronyism, deplorable education, fatalistic health systems, and every dangerous adjectives of ”-isms”, “-sions” and “-tions” plaguing Nigeria.

In place of elected brutes and political thugs, we must elect a set

I still believe in the goodness of man and in one Nigeria. However, I cannot ignore the despair and despondency brought about by the destructiveness and unsustainability of our civic misbehaviour and mass complacency. We must be awake to the reality that our endemic despair comes from having years of unmet expectations, plunder of our resources by few and, most of all, the election of saboteurs into political office. The apostles of greed can accuse of those of us who speak and write about their recurring malfeasance as taking far too narrow and pessimistic view of Nigeria and our politics but the infestation is no longer localized. It is festering.

of leaders who know and believe that everyone matters, that we all are unique and entitled to a simple life of dignity, freedom and happiness. We must take our citizenship seriously and pay attention to small things, knowing small things lead to big things and small evils lead to bigger evils.

Again, another lesson in the useful tragedy of Port Harcourt is; this federation as structured leads inexorably to the unsustainable outcome of a disunited Nigeria. We are luxuriating in maladaptive behaviors viz. misappropriation, conversion, tragedy of the commons, resource over-consumption, ecological overshoot and many more.

Our current path can only lead to ruin. Is there a way we can behave more honorably and reasonably? I don’t know. I don’t know because I wondered if the assembly thugs of Rivers State were raised by savages. Everyday in this country, we deplore the loss of moral values, the extent of national decay, impunity, abuse of power, disorientation of youths, cultism, police brutality and arbitrary powers deployed by unelected spouses. The full list of ethical questions facing us today, would be much longer knowing who we are and how pathetic our rationalizations have become.

Pray, what kind of children can the Orangutans of Rivers sire? It is, what it is. God bless Nigeria.

Follow Bamidele Ademola-Olateju on Twitter @olufunmilayo

Is leadership really Nigeria’s problem?

By Akin Olukiran

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would like to turn the argument on its head and say that the trouble with Nigeria is not leadership but followership - the ordinary people of Nigeria. You and I! To attribute Nigeria’s problems to leadership is to accord the leaders – at least, post civil war leaders - the intelligence and ability that they obviously do not have. First, let us look at what leadership is. Put simply, leadership is organising a group of people to achieve a common goal.

Leadership involves establishing a clear vision; sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly; providing the information, knowledge and methods to realise that vision; and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders. The fundamental factor that balances the leadership equation is the followership. There can be no leader without followers. A leader can be bad or good. Hitler was an effective, but bad leader.

As the basis for my argument, a typical Nigerian family presents a fascinating microcosm of Nigerians’ docility and the age in which we live. The father is ostensibly the head of the family, hence the leader. The children

are usually very well behaved and docile – up to their teenage years.

By all account, most parents, especially Nigerians, are typically imperious and the children, docile and willingly accepting of their father’s leadership until they enter university. By the time they enter university, the father’s leadership and vision for the family begins to get questioned. A normal family holiday to the village or some other destination becomes an exercise in persuasion to get the children to go.

They are becoming young adults, with a mind of their own and a vision of the life they want to live.

To a discerning parent, this should hearten them because the reverse is sign of learning difficulty or an acute dependency symptom. If the children are still docile at this stage of their life, then it is due to one of three reasons, with their attendant outcomes: a) the father is abusive (physically, mentally or both) and is coercing the children to obey him without question; b) the father’s vision and policies are jointly agreed and shared and the children willingly agree to be carried along; or c) the children are mentally challenged and are incapable of making informed decisions for themselves.

I have concluded that the problem with Nigeria is that ordinary Nigerians, after fifty-

two years of independence, are still metaphorically, collectively, babies. To suggest otherwise is to assume that we have a mind of our own, just as the teenager in the direct analogy in the preceding paragraph. That we can defy our leaders and do what we think is right and fair for us as a collective; that the Civil Servants who are the engine on which any progressive and successful government runs, can be committed to their jobs and shun bribery; that the judges and the police will shun bribery and uphold the law, whatever the consequence; that the “government contractor” will deliver the right equipment or construct the roads with high grade materials; that the teacher will shun paedophilia and teach the underage children under his care and the university lecturer’s preoccupation will not be to sell hand-outs; that members of the faith community will open their eyes to the excesses and lies of their Pastors and Imams; that the ordinary voter will say his votes can not be bought. For students of philosophy and anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of deductive logic, it is not rocket science to deduce that in our case, the most applicable of the three docility outcomes above is currently, Option 3 – that we, the

followers, are mentally challenged and are incapable of making informed decisions for ourselves . There is a direct correlation between a people’s docility and the potential emergence of an ineffective and bad leader.

On a more practical level, we seem to be content with our lot. I was watching a nature documentary the other day when a pride of lions attacked a herd of wildebeests and managed to separate one from the herd. The large beast was brought down with the lions snuffing the life out of its lungs with the customary lion asphyxiation strategy. To my surprise and education, the wildebeests suddenly regrouped and charged at the lions. The lions left the partially wounded animal and ran for their dear lives. The beasts formed a ring around the wounded animal while it recovered.

The lions, though powerful, lost out to an organised opposition.

Sadly, we, the followers still seem to be individually agonising instead of collectively organising – just as the wildebeests did. Only two factors make people (followers) in our society act: greed or fear. In other developed climes, these two factors are there but there is a third driver which is acutely lacking in our followership development – the Y-Factor. The Y-Factor

is a higher level driver which could be any (or combination) of the following: principle, ideals, altruism. It puts the common good of all above the individual and destructive selfish ambition which has gripped our land. The presence and preponderance of the Y-Factor amongst the followership often leads to the emergence of an effective and good leadership.

These are ideals for which people are willing to lay down their lives.

Recent ignoble events in Rivers State highlight the problems of blaming the leaders of this country for our woes. To so do is to assume they are “philosopher kings” who know better. The truth is that they have risen from amongst the followership rank, who are guided and motivated by either greed or fear. People who are collectively mentally challenged, even at 52 going 53, still have the brain of 5 year-olds. People who are docile and willingly (out of greed) accepting of the incompetence, wickedness, excesses and mediocrity of their leaders and the resultant indescribable sufferings which are heaped on them. A problem once known is half solved! It is time we woke up as a people and take the blame for our problems.

Akin Olukiran via Olukiran@yahoo.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 16

Speak-up, director tells sexually abused teenagers

By Stanley Onyekwere with agency report

T

he FCT State Director at the National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Saleh Bello has called on teenage girls to always speak up when they are sexually abused by anybody, including their relations.

Bello said one of the reasons teenage pregnancies were rampant was because some of the young girls chose to remain silent in the course of being abused.

The NPC defines teenage pregnancy as pregnancy in a female child below the age of 20.

The director noted that another reason for the prevalence of teenage pregnancies was the absence of severe punishment for the perpetrators of the abuse.

He added that one out of every five teenage girls at a given period

had already given birth by age 18.

Bello advised that sexual education and enlightenment programmes should be encouraged among teens to create awareness on the dangers of teenage pregnancies. ``One of the reasons while the cases are rampant is because we have maintained the culture of silence; because more often than not, it happens within families. ``Because it is an uncle, or a brother sometimes in the family that is trying to abuse these young girls and they are afraid of telling their parents, maybe because of the fear of the unknown - the relationship in the family may be smeared. ``Another reason is the punishment; the punishment is not enough, it’s like there is no punishment at all, if people that are involved are properly punished it will serve as deterrent to others.’’

Bello advised parents not to

give their daughters out in early marriage as that could hinder their progress in future.

He added that education would do a lot of good because ``depriving a child of that age from continuing education will cause a lot of damages than good to the nation.’’

He said one of the consequences of teenage pregnancy was that the victim would stop school because ``one cannot be pregnant and be a student at the same time.”

He also said that apart from the stigma victims faced, some might decide to procure abortion, which could lead to death or other fertility problems in future.

Bello advised that government should improve on public education while parents should create more time for their children or wards and give them sex education.

He added that shying away from discussing such issues with children

could lead them to learning wrongly from their friends or peers.

The NPC reported recently that the rate of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria had declined since 1990 and that in 2008, about 23 per cent of teenagers aged between 15 years and 19 years had begun to bear children.

He said ``teenage pregnancy varies markedly in northern and southern zones, as well as urban and rural areas. ``They are higher in the rural areas of the northern geopolitical zone; one in every three teenage girls in the north has started child bearing in 2008, compared with one in every 10 in the south.’’

NPC also said that Katsina State stood out as the state with the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and motherhood at 65 per cent, while Edo recorded the least percentage at 2.9.

L-R: Chairman, House Committee on FCT, Hon. Emmanuel Jime, Minister of State for FCT, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, and Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Rafael Nnenna Igbokwe, during the committee’s oversight visit to the FCT, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Youth empowerment, veritable strategy for national development, says Akinjide

By Adeola Tukuru

F

CT Minister of State, Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, said the Federal Government had identified youth empowerment as a veritable strategy for national development.

Akinjide said this yesterday in Kubwa, near Abuja, at the closing ceremony of the 2013 Batch B orientation exercise of the youth corps members.

She said that the present administration’s Transformation Agenda on youth unemployment had identified the need to empower Nigerian youths so as to arrest the mass exodus of unemployed

graduates.

Akinjide, who was represented

by Alhaji Salisu Kallamu, Director, Finance and Administration, Social Development Secretariat, urged the corps members to be prepared to render selfless service to the nation. ``The skills acquisition training during the orientation is geared toward inspiring corps members to develop entrepreneurial spirit and thereafter pick up potential businesses of their choice after the service year,’’ she said.

Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman, NYSC Governing Board in the Federal Capital

Territory (FCT), Mrs Blessing Onuh, said the three-week training in the camp was adequate in preparing the corps members for any future challenge. ``The orientation exercise has actually re-groomed and fashioned you in a better perspective for the future task,’’ she noted.

She urged the corps members to improve on the foundation laid by their predecessors, adding that by so doing, ``you will be making appreciable impact on your host communities, thereby leaving behind a lasting legacy.’’

The FCT NYSC Coordinator in the territory, Mr Frank Ekpunobi,

said the skills acquisition programme was meant to mentor the corps members to be selfemployers instead of job seekers.

According to him, 2,321 corps members completed their orientation exercise and are expected to contribute their own quotas to the development of the FCT in particular, and the nation in general.

He said that the 40 years of the scheme had made positive impact on the lives of Nigerians in areas of education, health, infrastructure and other social aspects.

He said that the scheme had achieved a lot in the development of the country.

Minister tasks area council chairmen on good governance

By Adeola Tukuru

M

inister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Oloye Olajumoke Akinjide, yesterday charged the chairmen and councilors of the six Area Councils in the territory to embrace good governance and accountability.

She gave the advice in Minna, Niger State while declaring open a three-day re-orientation retreat organised by the FCT Administration for the chairmen and senior officials of the area councils on good governance and imperatives of compliance with extant rules and regulations on the operations of public service.

Residents of the FCT had on March 16, 2013 gone to the polls to elect or revalidate chairmen of Area Councils. The chairmen, who were sworn in on May 20, 2013, include: Hon. Yohanna Peter Ushafa of Bwari Area Council, who was elected under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Hon. Micah Jiba of Abuja Municipal Area Council (PDP) and Hon. Yahaya Garba Gawu of Abaji Area Council (PDP).

Others are: Hon. Abubakar Jibrin Giri of Gwagwalada Area Council (ANPP); Hon. Ishyaku Tete Shaban of Kuje Area Council (PDP) and Hon. Daniel Ibrahim of Kwali Area Council (PDP).

The FCT Minister of State, who was represented by her Special Assistant on Legal, Mr. Richmond Akpalanta, urged the chairmen and councillors to see their victory at the polls as a beginning but not an end.

“The electorate is very hopeful that your emergence will bring about positive impacts in their lives.

They want to see roads built to enable them bring their crops to the markets; health centres constructed, to heal them when they are sick; and their environment cleaned, to stem epidemics and make their communities livable, among others.

“All these can only be achieved when we embrace the principles of good governance which entails accountability, transparency and participation. It underscores the basic fact that governance is not a secret business, the rules of engagement must be clear and that the people must be taken along all the way,” said Akinjide, who oversees the Area Councils and Satellite Towns in the FCT. She urged the elected officials at the third-tier level of government to acquaint themselves with the relevant extant rules and regulations governing the conduct of government business.

“The necessity for the observance of the Procurement Act as well as other Fiscal Responsibility measures, are not choices but imperatives. These, of course, will determine how you will return to the people at the end of the day to present your score cards in the next round of elections,” she added.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 17

INSIDE FCT COURTS

Metro

Prayers for miracle ring lands man in court

O

ne Abdullahi Mohammed, 47, of Zuba, Abuja, was yesterday charged before a Grade 1 Area Court for alleged criminal conspiracy and cheating.

Police prosecutor Inuwa Maigida told the court that one Hadiza Shaibu of AYA, Asokoro, Abuja, reported the matter at the ‘A’ Division Police Station, Mararaba in Nasarawa State, on July 4, 2013.

``On July 4, at about 10.30 a.m. at AYA Roundabout, Mohammed and one other now at large, approached Shaibu and lured him to give him N10,000 and her Techno cell phone valued at N5, 500. ``After collecting the cash and phone, Mohammed asked her to go home and pray for a ring and come back. ``He told her that after the

prayer, she will get a ring that will assist her in her life endeavours,” he said.

Maigida also alleged that when Shaibu came back, the accused had absconded with the money and phone to an unknown destination.

He said the accused was arrested in the evening of the same day at Asokoro, trying to dupe another woman using the

same mode of operation.

Maigida said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 97 and 322 of the Penal Code.

The sections prescribe three years in prison for a convict, but provides for an option of fine.

The accused pleaded not guilty, and the presiding judge, Mr Alfred Maga, granted the accused bail in the sum of N150,000 and a

surety in like sum.

He said the surety must be a traditional title holder, possess a landed property and reside within the jurisdiction of the court.

Maga also ordered that the surety should write an undertaking promising the court that the accused would no longer commit any offence.

He adjourned the case to Aug. 8, 2013 for hearing. (NAN)

Carpenter, 32, remanded in prison for alleged assault

A

Traffic build-up at a military checkpoint on Abuja-Zuba outer Northern Expressway at Dei-Dei, on Monday in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Guard in court for alleged negligent conduct

T

he police yesterday arraigned a security guard, Muktar Ahmadu, of Covenant Ministry, Jabi, Abuja in an Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court for alleged negligent conduct.

The accused, 30, is standing trial before Senior Magistrate Zubairu Mohammed.

The Prosecutor, Cpl. Simon Emmanuel, told the court that the matter was reported by one Emmanuel Ajaka of Covenant Ministry, Jabi at the Life Camp Police Station on July 1.

Ajaka said that the accused was

employed by the complainant as a security guard at the ministry.

He said that the complainant entrusted the property of the church with the security guard but he negligently allowed thieves to steal one of the musical instruments, valued at N250,000.

The prosecutor said that the accused could not give satisfactory account of the whereabouts of the instrument, which he said, amounted to negligent conduct, contrary to the provisions of Section 196 of the Penal Code.

The section provides that whoever

does any act in a manner so rash or negligent as to endanger human life or property shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or with fine which may extend to N100 or with both.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty and the magistrate granted him bail in the sum of N100,000 and one surety in like sum.

The magistrate said that the surety must be living within the jurisdiction of the court and adjourned the matter to July 18, 2013 for hearing. (NAN)

Wuse Zone 2 Senior Magistrates Court in Abuja yesterday ordered that a carpenter, Ephraim Thaddeus, should be remanded in prison for alleged joint act, criminal force, assault and causing hurt.

Thaddeus, 32, resides at Kuchingoro Village in Abuja.

The Senior Magistrate, Mrs Binta Dogonyaro, ordered that the accused be remanded until the next adjourned date, pending the arrest and arraignment of the other parties to the crime.

Dogonyaro urged the police to conclude investigation into the case before the adjourned date for hearing.

The Police Prosecutor, Cpl. Paul Anigbo, said that on July 11, Festus Malu of Dubai Market, Kaura District, Abuja, reported the accused at the Lugbe Police Station, Abuja.

Anigbo informed the court that Malu had reported the accused alongside one Zachariah Bala who is now at large.

The prosecutor said that

Welder, 33, jailed for stealing wallet

A

n Abuja Senior Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday sentenced a 33-year-old welder, Abdulyekini Mohammed, to two weeks imprisonment for stealing a wallet containing N18,000.

The Magistrate, Mrs Binta Dogonyaro, however, gave the convict, a resident of Dagwa, Area 1, Abuja, an option of N2,000 fine.

Dogonyaro said the light sentence given to the convict was due to the remorse he showed during trial.

She said Mohammed had to be punished for the offence to serve as deterrent to others with like mind.

Mohammed was convicted

Court remands surety in prison as accused jumps bail

A

Kubwa Upper Area Court, Abuja, on Thursday, remanded a 41-year-old civil servant, Ituah Oga, in prison custody for allegedly ``screening an offender.’’

Oga is arraigned in the court for his inability to produce his

brother, James Oga, who was detained for alleged criminal breach of trust and cheating.

The police prosecutor, Cpl. Egusigo Charles, told the court that on May 30, the accused, a resident of Pipeline, Kubwa, allegedly stood surety for his brother, who was in police

custody at the Kubwa Police Area Command. ``He promised to produce his brother whenever he was needed, but failed to honour his pledge,’’ Charles said, adding that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 167 of the Penal Code.

on June 28, the accused had a misunderstanding with one Oneh when Malu came to intervene. ``In the course of setting the dispute, the accused and Bala, jointly beat up Malu, pushed him down and as a result, he had a fracture on his left hand’’ Anigbo said.

He added that during police investigation, the accused was unable to give satisfactory account of himself and he also confessed to committing the offence.

Anigbo urged the court not to grant the accused person bail, adding that the accused and Bala would jump bail. ``The accused person and Bala were earlier granted police bail but failed to appear at the police station for questioning, after which, Bala escaped and was now at large. ``The police are, however, still investigating the matter,’’ Anigbo stated.

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

(NAN)

The offence carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison or fine or both, but the accused pleaded not guilty.

The presiding officer, Malam Munir Lawal, adjourned the case to Aug. 15 for further hearing. (NAN)

after he pleaded guilty to the charge. `` I boarded the same taxi with the complainant and picked the wallet from the floor of the vehicle. `` I made a mistake by not looking for the owner of the wallet.

I am a married man and my daughter is sick and needs medical attention. `` I am begging the Almighty God and the court to forgive me, and I promise not to commit such an offence again’’, said Mohammed.

Earlier, the prosecutor, Sgt. Abdullahi Adamu, told the court that the matter was reported at the Wuse Police Station by one Anthony Sani of Garki, Abuja on July 6.

Adamu said Mohammed stole a wallet that belonged to Sani, which contained four ATM cards, an identity card, and complimentary cards on July 5.

Other items in the wallet included a DSTV card and N18,000.

The prosecutor said the wallet was discovered on Mohammed when he was searched by the police.

He said that the offence contravened Section 288 of the Penal Code. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 19

INSIDE

FG douses fuel crisis, pays N48bn to 25 oil marketers

By Abdulwahab Isa

I

n attempt to stave off a predetermined fuel crisis, the Federal Ministry of Finance has confirmed paying the sum of N48, 085,299,281.50 billion as oil subsidy payment to 25 oil marketers whose claims had been verified.

Confirmation for the payment to the 25 oil marketers came through a statement issued

by Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Paul C. Nwabuikwu.

The statement added that prior to the latest statement , a total of N192,502,279,966.50 billion in verified claims had been settled this year bringing the total payment paid so far in 2013 to oil marketers to N240,587,579,248.00.

The 2013 budget has N917 billion as oil subsidy provision.

The oil marketers paid in the latest batch of N48 billion subsidy payment include Aiteo Energy Resources Ltd, Ascon Oil Company Ltd, Conoil Plc, Dee Jones Petroleum & Gas Ltd, Dozzy Oil And Gas Limited, Forte

Oil Plc, Fresh Synergy Ltd, Gulf Treasures Limited and integrated oil and gas limited. Others are, IPMAN Investment Ltd, Masters Energy Oil And Gas Ltd, Mobil Oil Nigeria Nigeria Plc, NIPCO Plc, Oando Nigeria Plc and Rainoil Ltd. The rest are Sahara Energy Resources Ltd, Swift Oil Ltd, Techno Oil Ltd; Total Nigeria Plc, Bovas & Co Ltd Heyden Petroleum, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, Rahamaniyya Oil And Gas Ltd, Obat Oil & Petroleum Ltd, Shorelink Oil And Gas Services Ltd and Linetrale Oil Supply &

Trading Co. Ltd. Fuel marketers, under the aegis of Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) had made known its threat to halt commodity’s importation, over alleged non-payment of due subsidy on imported fuel in the first quarter of this year, amounting to over N50 billion.

MAMON, which issued the threat, said its members have already started considering reducing their workforce due to paucity of funds as a result of nonpayment of the subsidy arrears by the Federal Government.

R-L: Senior Manager, Banking Examination Department of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Bashir Yakubu presenting research publications to the President, National Association of Banking and Finance Students, University of Abuja Chapter, Ime Okon Asuquo during an excursion visit to the Corporation by members of the association recently.

Developing our terminals have multiplier effect – DG, - Pg 20 NAMA

Insurance practitioners hold maiden Ramadan tafsir - Pg 21 Exchange Rates

Jaiz Bank grows branches to 10, authorized capital hits N13bn

By Abdulwahab Isa

W

ith a new addition in Kastina on Monday, the Jaiz Bank plc, the first full-fledged non-interest bank in Nigeria has increased its branch network to ten and an authorized share capital of N13 billion.

The official commissioning of the branch was performed by the state Governor, Alh. Ibrahim Shehu Shema.

The non-interest bank commenced operations with three branches in Abuja, Kaduna and Kano states on the 6th January, 2012 having licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria on the 11th of November 2011 to operate as a non-interest bank.

Other branches of the bank are in Gombe, Maiduguri, Katsina, while Kano state has two branches. The bank recently added two branches in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The branches are located at the

National Assembly and Wuse District.

Kastina state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema pledged his support for the bank, adding that “Katsina state government is ready to partner with and support Jaiz bank and other financial institutions that are ready to invest in the real sector of the economy, to enable the state attain greater economic prosperity”.

He said “Today, we extend our unique hospitality to Jaiz Bank, as we say welcome to Katsina. There is no doubt that the people of Katsina and many other parts of Nigeria have been agitating for a financial service provider that operates based on rules of commerce and trade, in accordance with Sharia’h principles”.

Earlier, Chairman, board of directors of Jaiz Bank, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab thanked the governor and people of Katsina for their hospitality and promised

to help develop the real sector of the economy of the state.

He said: “Our vision is to be the dominant non-interest financial service provider in sub-Saharan Africa. We intend to achieve this by providing innovative, value-added, noninterest financial services to our clientele by employing the best people, supported by technology”.

He said there are plans to locate additional branches in Bauchi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Jigawa States and to open additional branches at Bayero University Kano, Federal Secretariat Abuja and Zaria, before end of year 2013.

“Our overall objective is to be at every state capital of Nigeria before the fifth year of our operation, In shaa Allah,” the chairman said adding that the bank now has an authorized share capital of N13 billion.

The Acting Managing Director of the bank, Hassan Usman, in his vote of thanks,

expressed gratitude to all the shareholders in the state “who, out of their belief in Islamic Banking and the faith and trust they have in the promoters of Jaiz, contributed enormously to our IPO way back in 2003.

CBN

as at 15th July, 2013 Selling Buying

$

154.76

155.76

€

233.42

234.93

£

202.89

204.20

41.26

41.53

Riyal

Parallel Rates Buying

Selling

$

157.50

158.40

€

250

253.00

£

206.00

210.00

Riyal

43.00

45.00

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY

I

Share the burden of your project

f you’re in a role where you’re responsible for a project’s success—such as project manager or team lead— it’s tempting to bear the whole burden alone. Sure, you may share regular progress updates with teammates or hint at possible roadblocks, but you might prefer to keep the telling, nitty-gritty details (especially if they’re not pretty) to yourself.

This is incredibly stressful and unnecessary.

Try an open-book system:

Every week, put key numbers for your project on a whiteboard to discuss at a regular team meeting. This will reveal difficulties lurking in the shadows, especially ones that could be easily addressed if people knew they existed.

Consistently sharing results will involve others in solving these critical problems, as well as reduce your own stress.

Source: Business Review

Harvard

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 20

Aviation Company News

NPA

S

ix ships are waiting to discharge petroleum products at the various oil terminals within Lagos ports, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has said.

The ``Shipping Position’’-- a daily publication of the NPA-which was made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Lagos, indicated that five of the ships would discharge petrol, while one would discharge base oil.

The NPA reported that five other ships would discharge general cargoes, bulk wheat, bulk fertilizer and vehicles. It said that 81 ships carrying different cargoes would sail into Lagos ports from July 16 to Aug. 18 and that 17 of those ships would arrive with petroleum products.

NTDC

T

he Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) said that 19,655 tourists from Ghana visited the country in 2012.NTDC gave the figure in a statement issued by Mrs Ibe Ijeh, its Lagos office spokesperson, in Lagos on Monday. It said that the figure was 8,425 higher than 11,230 tourists that visited Nigeria in 2011.

According to the statement, 13, 420 are males, 5,130 are females, while 1,105 are children.It said that the visitors were residents, principal immigrants, visiting immigrants, government officials and foreign diplomats.

The statement attributed the increase in visitors to the bilateral agreement between Nigeria and Ghana to maximise the tourism and cultural potential of both countries.It said that the corporation would continue to promote Nigeria as a tourism destination to attract more tourists to the country.

UBA

T

o the delight of its teeming customers and card holders, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has introduced a personalised debit card called the UBA “All About U” Card which allows Customers carry around their fond memories while using their Debit Cards.

The UBA “All About U” Card is an award winning customized Debit MasterCard which gives customers the opportunity to create a oneof-a-kind card with their favorite photograph or image – allowing them the privilege of branding their payment card.

Alternatively, cardholders can choose from a gallery of contemporary pre-selected images available at the specialized product portal and these designs can be adjusted to their satisfaction.

Developing our terminals have multiplier effect – DG, NAMA Engineer Nnamdi Udoh is the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA). He spoke to our Suleiman Idris on the various issues regarding the current administration since he came on board over two years ago. Excerpts:

I

t has been two years now since your current administration came into being; how has it been so far?

There is a lot going on in the aviation industry as a family; you will notice that in the various presentations we made in the industry in the last one year, we talked about airport re-modelling, the safety nets of NAMA, of Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the various regulatory functions of NCAA, customer’s bill of rights; then we narrow it down to the main attraction, which is customer satisfaction and that comes from the airports and the airlines. No matter how safe the airspace is and the passengers are not secure, safe and comfortable, it definitely becomes a thing of concern. All aviation issues are a chain of issues and we have to solve them link by link. So we’ve been going through the chain of issues in the sector as one big family. Though it’s been quite challenging but with the spirit of transformation blowing across the sector, we have so far dealt with it all together. Dealing with the technical issues l can tell you are not difficult as well the infrastructure; the most difficult aspect is the human factor; the soft issues, management issues, human factor issues; for us at NAMA, it about Air Traffic Control Towers (ATC), resource management, the synergy that is required to manage all the problems that arise in air traffic management. Outside that, l will say it has been a win-win situation; we have seen quick wins in the process and also successes on the long-term issues.

The recent radar deployment is your latest addition; what are the allied collaborations and the improvement in flight time

that has been reduced in the Nigeria airspace?

Firstly, as a chief executive of NAMA, l don’t believe l should tell my story; it is the users and customers that can do that better, but specifically, the area radar which came into effect about two months ago is the final result of the Nigeria Total Radar Coverage and you will recall also that we remained focused; we did persevere, in order to deliver that project, because there are so many communications, power, air traffic management and engineering capabilities that comes with it. All it point to now is that Nigeria’s airspace is as safe as any other airspace in the world and our air traffic management is the ultimate. Everybody looked towards a total radar coverage environment, a surveillance sort of, where communication between the pilots and the Air Traffic Controllers is seamless.

How does that affect the relationship between the pilots and the ATC? The Air Traffic Controller don’t need the pilot to tell him where he is or what he is going to do rather, he predetermines your route and give the pilots proper navigation, by vectoring them through various coordinates; that makes the airspace a seamless one; so, for a normal one hour, ten to fifteen minutes flights, it becomes a journey of 45 to 50 minutes flight. We are also working harder to further reduce the flight time between Lagos and Abuja and Port Harcourt and Lagos and create a more of no-talking environment for the Controller and the pilots.

The pilot, in this instance, get air traffic clearance even while he is taxing so immediately he gets airborne he already know at what point to descend, at what point to call and report his final

“

Though it’s been quite challenging but with the spirit of transformation blowing across the sector, we have so far dealt with it all together.

destination, because the ATC is looking at you. If he says: maintain flight level 210, the pilot is hearing him and will not say oh let me go to 220 or 230 because he knows someone is looking at him; that is why it is called surveillance, it is security and safety at its optimum level in the air.

How will describe the recent crash in San Francisco and the way we handle similar situation here?

Without prejudice to the American San Francisco’s recent crash, it is human factor; we don’t call it error, because the pilot there is a trainee who already had 45 hours flight experience flying that aircraft however, ordinary approach speed stalled the aircraft. Again, if the Iju crash of DANA had happened somewhere there, the story would have been different; but at the end of the day you cannot beat technology; you cannot beat the soft ends, which are the human beings that must operate these things. Nowadays, we have paper-less Control Tower.

We only use stylus electronically to write; it is the most efficient modern equipment anywhere in the world but those managing it must continue to receive training.

So, how has all these safety nets contributed to the economy of the industry?

Any airline coming into Nigeria must first come and do a survey and determine the kind of aeroplane they will be deploying on their chosen route. If you have a small runway, you don’t have a radar and other necessary things,

then why go and bring a jumbo 747 to do an approach into a runway that is less than 1700? However, with a runway that is more than 3 kilometres, British Airways can come with a Boeing 747 carrying 540 passengers. That was the figure taken out through Kano and Maiduguri recently during an Umrah exercise; because we have the infrastructure to cater for that volume of people. Many years ago, they would have flown an F-28; that is why we are extending the terminals and building more terminals, because the people will definitely be attracted to it.

How do we develop these terminals to attract the type of travellers we see trooping into places like Dubai?

Most people travel to Dubai because the shopping malls are within the airports and a comfortable immigration regime.

There was a time I arrived Dubai at 33 hours to my flight and they gave me a visa to go and stay in a hotel; that is economy, and we need to be doing that here to improve our own economy. Mr. President announced in China that Chinese investors coming to Nigeria should be offered up to 10 years visa; our visa to China is only three months. If tourists have a 5 year visa to Nigeria, they will love to come here for the next six months and spend their money thus adding value to oureconomy. When we look at the multiplier effect, it is enormous.

So you will see that at the end of the day, instead of well-wishers waiting for passengers outside our terminals, they will be made to come into those terminals and sit and spend money.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Isa_abdulwahab@yahoo.com Isaabdulwahab@gmail.com

PAGE 21

Pension&Insurance

Lagos pension fund hits N39.5bn From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he Lagos state Contributory Pension Scheme (LSCP) has hit N39.5 billion, catering for 3, 304 retirees of public service that are already benefiting from the retirement scheme.

Director of the LSCPS, Mr. Rotimi Hussain confirmed the figures recently in Lagos, during the 4th pre-retirement seminar held for civil servants of the state that are due for retirement from state public service between July and December 2013.

Hussein said “a sum of N18,

031,148,931.06k had been credited to the Retirement Saving Accounts (RSA) of the retirees between the said period” sating that, the seminar will, among other things, explain the procedures for processing their end of service benefits and how to ensure that their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA) are up-todate with the payment of their contributions.

He said that the increment is an indication that the contributory pension scheme is working perfectly in the state, adding that “the scheme is the best thing to

happen to Nigerian workers especially as it has come to douse tension and erase the fear usually entertained by workers about what the future holds for them in retirement with regards to their pension benefits”.

He said the new the CPS has come to put a hold to the challenges workers faced in accessing their retirement benefit under the Pay-As- You-Go (PAYE) scheme, thus making the retirement relatively easy due to the 7.5% of the basic rent and transport allowances from the salary of every worker and the 7.5% contribution

by the state government.

On the motive for the seminar, he said “the government decided to create the forum to help the retirees prepare for physical, emotional and financial well-being in retirement”, adding that the seminar would provide make them be in better position and right frame of mind to enable them build a vibrant post-retirement life.

It will be recalled that the state governor, Babatunde Fashola, last year announced that Pension Scheme Fund had hit N33 billion.

SA Life retains key officers, appoints 2 new directors

T

he Board of Directors of Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited, a member-company of Standard Alliance Group, has approved the appointment of Messrs. Bolaji Oladipo and Andrew Agbaga as Executive Directors of the company effective from June, 2013.

The approval comes as the board also its nod to the retention of seven directors including the Chairman, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor .

Also, the company has rewarded 38 staff with promotion to different cadres for their efficiency and exceptional inputs.

The firm’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Nelson Egboboh confirmed the fresh appointments, retention and reward of committed staff in a statement issued recently.

He said the fresh appointments bring total number of the company’s directors to nine, a decision he said was informed by the ownership spirit with which the two officers had continued to perform their duties as General Managers, Business Development and Operations respectively before now.

“Their result-yielding ownership spirits were noticed by the board which consequently deemed it necessary at its June meeting to elevate them to a much more strategic status where they could be better involved in taking the company to another level.”

Mr. Bolaji Oladipo who was the General Manager, Business Development before his appointment, holds a B.Sc. degree in Economics (1990) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from Lagos State University. He became an Associate member of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (ACIIN) in 1998.

He started his insurance career with Equity Indemnity Insurance Company Limited in 1993. He left to join SA Life in March 2000 where he has been in charge of the company’s Business Development.

Mr. Andrew Agbaga is the General Manager, Operations.

He holds an Advance Diploma in Management, University of Lagos and studied Financial Management in Masters De-

gree in Business Administration (MBA) Lagos State University.

He is An associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ACA), Fellow, Institute of Financial Management of Nigeria (FInstFM).

He has diverse working experience as an Accountant, Auditor, Financial Adviser and Insurance Operations at man-

agement level with over fifteen (15) years working experience in the Insurance industry.

Mr. Agbaga began his working career in 1985 with AIICO insurance Plc, International Standard Insurer Limited 1992, Ola Tijani & Co (Chartered Accountants) in 1996, Global Assurance Company Ltd (now International Energy Insurance

Plc) in 1998, until he moved to Standard Alliance Insurance Plc in 2000 as the Financial Controller. He was seconded to run Standard Alliance Properties Ltd as the company’s Managing Director upon its commencement of operations in 2007, and later moved to SA Life as head of the company’s operations.

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Henry Akpan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, and member, National Broadband Council, Chief Ernest Ndukwe, during the inauguration of Broadband Council, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Insurance practitioners hold maiden Ramadan tafsir

T

o avail the Muslim faithful of the moral lessons that abound in the holy month of Ramadan, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) is flagging-off an Annual Ramadan Tafsir, starting from tomorrow, Thursday, 18th July, 2013.

The Tafsir, which comes up at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Conference and Exhibition Center at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos captures the Ramadan mood for Islamic faithful in the insurance industry.

Speaking on the coming event, Mr. Shakiru Oyefeso,

CIIN’S Activities Committee Chairman, said the Tafsir was long overdue, noting that all members of the Institute, including the non- Muslims have a lot to gain from the Tafsir lectures.

Amongst the line-up of guest lecturers include notable Islamic clerics, Dr. Saheed Timehin of the Lagos State University (LASU) and Dr. Junaid Sirajudeen of the University of Lagos. The topic for discussion is: “Tolerance and inter –relationship in a multi –religious society”.

On the choice of topic, Oyefeso said the choice is apt and could not be better than now, a

time ripe to preach religious tolerance and co – existence in the light of the sad experiences of the nationhood.

In his remarks, CIIN’S Deputy Director – General, Mr. Kola Ahmed assured that the maiden Tafsir will be a huge success.

Ahmed, who said he attended the last Christmas Carol service along with other Muslim colleagues, urged CIIN members of other faiths to attend the Tafsir to share opinions with their counterparts on the critical topic.

Invitees to the Tafsir are to be hosted by the CIIN president, Mr. Fatai Kayode Lawal.

NAICOM galvanises insurance stakeholders on international conference on microinsurance

T

o deepen insurance culture at microlevel, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is rallying stakeholders of the sector to take holistic view of micro-insurance, with a view to evolving permissible implementation approaches.

NAICOM, in partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Making Finance Work for Africa (MFW4A) and the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and other insurance stakeholders is organising ‘International Micro insurance Conference’.

The conference will take place on September 10th and 11th, 2013, at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

The insurance regulator describes the forthcoming conference as “an incubator of new ideas where the key stakeholders of the Nigerian insurance sector and related parties discuss approaches for the promotion and practical implementation of micro-insurance”.

The sessions, it says, will be designed to focus on future developments and how issues, lessons learnt and international best practices can be adapted for Nigeria.

Other opportunities to be provided by the forum include: An opportunity for policy makers, private sector innovators, representatives from civil society and technical assistance providers to network with their peers, discuss their experience, exchange knowledge from good practices and discuss innovative approaches to promote micro insurance in Nigeria.

Other opportunities include a market place to showcase innovative ideas, tools, expertise and initiatives to support development of the Nigerian insurance sector and to match demand and supply as well as presentations of activities and achievements in the development of microinsurance in Nigeria and around the globe.

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Economy

Film industry to construct Nollywood Village to mark its 20 years anniversary

T

he President, Association of Movie Producers, Zik Okafor have said that plans were on by the film industry to build a Nollywood Village.

Okafor told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday that the gesture was to mark Nollywood’s forthcoming 20 years anniversary celebration. ``We want to set up the Nollywood house, build a magnificent edifice with the inscription `Nollywood’ on it as they have in other climes; so that when anybody comes to Nigeria, there is a place they can go and say this is Nollywood village and can get what they want in one place. We have been operating from our homes,

so we should have a base where we can be located,’’ Okafor said.

According to him, we want a place that can contain television actors, different guild associations, creative designers and so many others in the same environment.

The president said the place, where the village would be sited, would be announced during the anniversary.

Okafor said a Nollywood Foundation would also be set up to cater for veterans in the industry. We can’t keep on running to government for everything, even when the older ones are sick or any one of us; we have to do a lot by ourselves, but if help comes,

no problem. The foundation will still be in the same village, so that coordination would be easier,” he said.

Okafor stated that with the establishment of a Nollywood Village, the film sector would be bonded, thereby making it easier for artists and stakeholders in the

industry to meet and take quick decisions. ``It is about reconstructing the destiny of our industry for the youth to benefit from it, people talk about Nollywood but you can’t see it anywhere” he said.

He, however, said that there was still much to be done to move

the industry forward.

The 18-day event would hold between Aug. 9 and Aug. 26, adding that it would feature seminars, workshops, lectures, carnivals, clinics and training clinics.

He stated that the association would also visit the less privileged in the society. (NAN)

CBN sets to reduce financial exclusion to 20% by 2020, inaugurates steering committee

By Abdulwahab Isa

C

oming shortly after its foray to cash-less economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reaffirmed its commitment to reducing the present high level of financial exclusion to 20 % by the year 2020.

The CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi gave the commitment yesterday in Abuja, while inaugurating members of the financial literacy steering committee charged with the responsibility of attaining the objectives.

Sanusi , while acknowledging the presence of immense challenges in the quest to enthroning financial literacy, said the task is not insurmountable if given the needed cooperation.

“We plan to reduce the financial inclusion to 20 % by 2020.

With very high rate of incidence of illiteracy and poverty therefore, we have challenges but with the right use of technology, with the use of information; with the protection of consumers and with working with other arms of the government and we have the right economic development programmes, we should reduce seclusion and make a lot of progress”, he said.

Sanusi said the CBN was only responsible in driving the financial inclusion process and implored the stakeholders to work as a team to realise the mandate.

“The CBN recognises that is only has one part to play and that each and every one of you is equally important. Without you, we are not going to have the kind of massive growth of financial inclusion that we need to have “ noting that CBN had already recorded progress with cashless Lagos and cashless Nigeria, an aspect he said is just one band of financial inclusion.

As part of efforts to deepen financial literacy, he said plans are underway by Bankers’ Committee to set aside days to reach out to primary and secondary schools in form of advocacy camping on financial literacy.

Members of the steering committee and stakeholders are the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC); National Pension Commission(PenCom), Bankers’ Committee ; Ministry of finance and the Ministry of Education.

Earlier in her remarks, CBN Acting Director, Consumer Protection Department and the Secretary of steering committee on financial literacy Mrs. Umma Dutse recalled an effort initiated by the CBN in collaboration with other stakeholders which culminated to the launch of Financial Inclusion Strategy (FIS) in October 2012.

The ceremonial virgin lady carrying the ceremonial calabash during famous Arugba Osun festival witnessed in Osogbo recently Photo: NAN

NDIC pushes for amendments to existing Act

T

he Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has said that the proposed amendment of its enabling Act would provide a robust legal framework that will empower the Corporation to take prompt actions in protecting depositors’ interest and contributing towards the safety and soundness of the financial system.

The NDIC Managing Director/ Chief Executive, Alh. Umaru Ibrahim stated this in Lagos, during a retreat organised for the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions on the proposed amendments to the NDIC Act 2006.

Alh. Ibrahim’s assertion came on the heels of the pledge by the Chairman, Senate Committee on

Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Senator Bassey Edet Otu, that the Committee would work relentlessly towards ensuring the passage of the proposed amendments to the NDIC Act, given the importance the Senate attached to the soundness and stability of the nation’s banking system.

The NDIC Chief Executive said although the National Assembly had earlier repealed the NDIC Decree No. 22 of 1988 and enacted the NDIC Act 2006 to address some of the identified weaknesses in the Corporation’s law, a lot of inadequacies had since come to the fore in the implementation of the 2006 Act which now underscored the need for the proposed amendments.

Air Navigation Safety: NAMA gives 4-week ultimatum before dismantling illegal masts From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) yesterday raised concern over the danger posed by illegal telecommunication masts to air navigation in Nigeria, explaining that it is set to dismantle all such masts across the country.

The agency, which said the exercise forms part of its drive to enhance air safety in the country, has given a four-week ultimatum to owners of telecommunication

masts situated at several locations across the country to dismantle them or face appropriate sanctions.

NAMA’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Prince Supo Atobatele told reporters that the directive became imperative following the inherent danger posed by the structures to air navigation in the country.

“Consequently, the agency has engaged the services of Seas Electrical and Computer Services Ltd to effect the pulling down of

affected structures at the expiration of the ultimatum. The firm has been mandated to, not only identify and report, but also to reduce height or dismantle as applicable”, he stated.

Quoting from the Act establishing the agency, he said NAMA Act section 7(1) c and d of its Establishment Act no.48 of 1999 is empowered to “prohibit and regulate the installation of any structure which, by virtue of its height or position, is considered to endanger the safety of air navi-

gation” and also “prevent interference with the use or effectiveness of all apparatus used in connection with air navigation”.

Supo said, in accordance with the Act, any person or organisation intending to erect telecommunication masts, hoist balloons, construct hangers or other highrise structures within the Nigerian airspace is required to obtain ‘Aviation Height Clearance’ certification and ‘No Objection’ certification from NAMA before commencement.

He listed some of the legal challenges confronting the Corporation in discharging its mandate, including excessive litigations on its role as liquidator of failed banks, lack of proper understanding of the distinction in the legal status of the NDIC as a corporate entity and its role as liquidator, execution of court judgements against the assets of the Corporation for the liabilities of failed banks and difficulties associated with the recovery of judgement debts owed to failed banks.

Alh. Ibrahim expressed concern, with regard to some of the legal challenges which had hindered the ability of the Corporation to promptly settle depositors’ claims: “The experiences garnered from previous bank closures were that the Corporation was unable to refund depositors’ fund trapped in some closed banks, not because there was no money to pay, but because the legal framework which enabled needless litigation by erstwhile owners of such closed banks underscored the need for further review of the Corporation’s enabling statute to facilitate prompt settlement of depositors”, he said.

He commended the two chambers of the National Assembly for their commitment towards the proposed amendments, saying that the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency had earlier assured their support towards the proposed amendments, to enable the Corporation discharge its mandate.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 23

Stock Watch

Report as at Tuesday, July 16, 2013

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Special Report

X-raying STF’s alternative avenues to peace in Plateau

By Ephraims Sheyin

A

Special Task Force (STF), set up to restore law and order in troubled Plateau, became necessary when the violence in the state got beyond the scope of the conventional security agencies.

Brigadier-General Henry Ayoola, the STF Commander, says that the personnel of the task force are drawn from the army, navy, air force and police, as well as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) and the State Security Service (SSS). ``It is a circumstantial creation to take care of a particular situation. We are mandated to make Plateau a safe haven and also ensure that the state remains so, long after our assignment is over,’’ he says.

Since its inception in 2010, the STF has been striving to enforce law and order in the crisis-ridden zones and observers agree that the security situation in the state has, indeed, improved, as there are only few occasional attacks mostly in the rural areas.

As part of efforts to promote lasting peace in the state, even after the STF’s departure, Ayoola says that non-military approaches were being introduced to ``promote mutual respect, love and trust among the people. ``We also seek to instill more confidence in the psyche of the populace to enable them accept each other and live as one. ``We want the people to value peace and work for it; we want them to see each other as brothers and sisters and work to protect each other, irrespective of their religious, tribal or political differences,’’ he says.

The general says that such measures are somewhat appropriate because the lingering crises in the state are essentially caused by some ``deep-seated animosity and mutual fear of domination. ``The crisis is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional; there is

A peace rally organised by the youth in Jos East, recently in Jos. a deep-rooted animosity, distrust and mutual suspicion among the warring communities,’’ he adds.

Ayoola explains that ``the violence is concisely centered on political issues and premised on the struggles and desire to control resources. ``There are perceived fears and threats of domination with the locals feeling that there is a deliberate attempt to dominate them. ``They have lived together for long with the herdsmen but they feel that the herdsmen are no more willing to subject themselves to the local authorities. That is why we have persistent clashes,’’ he says.

Ayoola insists that the STF intends to win the hearts and minds of the warring communities in efforts to encourage them to live in peace ``since no one can force them to do that’’.

One of the STF’s initiatives in that regard is the Plateau Youth Employment Scheme (Plateau-

Brigadier-General Henry Ayoola

YES), which is a quick impact scheme, involving vocational training, youth parleys, football tournaments and youth peace walks.

The vocational training aspect of the scheme entails skills’ acquisition programmes in catering, barbing, photography, dry-cleaning and laundry services, bead and hat making, car washing, soap/ cream/perfume making, music and entertainment.

The initiative also involves educational sponsorships, including scholarships, while some classrooms have been renovated.

Under Plateau-YES, many boreholes have been reactivated, while free medical outreaches were extended to communities in Jos North and South, Barkin-Ladi and Riyom local government areas.

Besides, the STF has initiated a scheme that would help people to manage post-crisis traumas, especially for those who physically witnessed the killing of their close relations.

STF records indicated that more than 8,000 people have benefited from its medical outreach scheme, while surgeries were carried out on 42 persons.

Under the scheme, a pregnant woman was delivered of a baby through a caesarian operation.

Ayoola says that the commonest surgeries carried on the beneficiaries include surgical operations in medical conditions such as hernia, appendicitis and lumps.

Dr Abdulaziz Longwap, who supervises the medical outreach scheme, recalls that many people, who were ill with high blood pressure, were treated and

given medications. ``We are also bringing psycho-therapists, sociologists, psychologists and other volunteers to help others,’’ Longwap says.

Another peace measure is the ``One-Plateau Peace Initiative’’, which involves the compensation of herdsmen and farmers to their cushion their losses during the protracted violence. ``Many cows were killed and several farms destroyed.

With more communities now resolving to embrace peace, we shall assist herdsmen with calves (baby cows), while farmers shall get seedlings and fertiliser,’’ says Ayoola. ``We also hope to provide building materials to enable people to rebuild their structures; these are symbolic healing processes that will usher in genuine reconciliation. ``It will also dovetail into a general disarmament programme whenever it reaches a time when people feel there is no need to fight again.’’

The STF is also using sports as a tool for promoting peace in Plateau, as it is organising some football tournaments in the state.

Capt. Salisu Mustapha, the STF spokesman, says that the teams that would compete for trophies are usually mixed so as to ensure that Muslim and Christian youths play in the same sides. ``The strategy is aimed at reducing tension and promoting oneness. ``We also make sure that they train together; there are slots for 16 teams and all teams have players from all sides of the divide. ``The teams are to receive monetary awards and jerseys, while a giant trophy will be

presented to the eventual winner,’’ Mustapha says.

Ayoola says that after the tournament, there will be a ``peace walk’’ round Jos, adding that this will culminate in a mass rally to formally welcome peace, with residents traversing areas hitherto considered as nogo areas.

But as the STF implements these strategies, Ayoola, however, bemoans the waning patriotism among the citizens. ``We have carried out some peace operations and found that most of the attackers were not even Nigerians; it is shocking that Nigerians could bring fighters from elsewhere to kill their fellow compatriots,’’ he adds.

He also moans that some unscrupulous persons keep on rustling cows, adding that the development is largely responsible for several of the herdsmen’s reprisal attacks.

Ayoola is also happy with the peace initiatives launched by Sen. Gyang Pwajok, lawmaker representing Plateau North, which have been yielding appreciable fruits.

He notes that the efforts have succeeded in halting attacks, which were hitherto common between the Fulanis and the

One of the participating teams pose for photo ahead of a match organised by the JTF in Jos as part of the Peace Cup Competition.

Berom.

The task force commander also notes with joy that the two ethnic groups, after various meetings with Pwajok, resolved to end their hostilities and embrace peace, while working to protect each other. ``The tones of the meetings were particularly frank and open; we shall continue to encourage that because such parleys will boost understanding, build mutual trust and remove fears,’’ he adds.

Incidentally, Pwajok is also impressed with the STF’s nonmilitary approach to peace, and says that it will heal old wounds

“

The STF is trying to make people focus more on issues that unite them rather than those that divide them. It is important to encourage people to see themselves as humans whose lives must be valued at all times

and open channels for better communication. ``The STF is trying to make people focus more on issues that unite them rather than those that divide them. It is important to encourage people to see themselves as humans whose lives must be valued at all times. ``We have spoken with herdsmen and farmers and it is sad to note they value their cows and farms more than human lives. This should not be the case and this is one area which the STF should continue to harp on. ``There are also allegations of complicity by some STF men. I have spoken with their commanders and they have promised to fish out such characters so that their negative attitude does not affect the people’s perception of the outfit,’’ Pwajok says.

All in all, analysts believe that the STF’s non-military approach to peace in Plateau is a worthwhile strategy, as the warring groups have been signing peace agreements and resolving to promote peace in the neighbourhood.

Source: NAN

STF officers patroling the streets of Jos with armoure tank.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Property News

FMBN tasks Ekiti govt The use of scaffold for on housing scheme building construction

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Board of Directors, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) has advised the Ekiti State Government to join the National Housing Fund Scheme because of its benefits to the people of the state.

The Directors were on advocacy visit to Ekiti State Government to sensitize them on the benefits of the National Housing Fund and the need for them to rejoin the Scheme.

Ekiti State pulled out from the Scheme in 1999 due to some misunderstandings and misconceptions about the scheme.

The Team lead by the Chairman, Chief BisiOgunjobi were received by the Deputy Governor, Prof ModupeAdelabu who represented the Governor of the state.

Present at the meeting were representatives of

Labour Unions and Chief S. B. Fadeyi, the first MD of FMBN and also Chairman of SUREP in Ekiti who incidentally is from Ekiti State and believes strongly that Ekiti State should be among the states at the forefront of NHF Scheme knowing what they stand to benefit from the scheme as a state.

The Chairman during his address told them that FMBN has in the past given the state about N500million Estate Development loan through Shelter View for construction of 220 housing units and also another N197 million NHF loan.

Currently, FMBN has approved N800million for Ekiti State Housing Corporation but they need to join the Scheme for them to be able to access the funds for the construction of houses for the state workers.

He also appealed to

the State Governor to issue the Bank the C of O to the land acquired for the construction of office complex.

At the end of his address, he said he believes that with the interaction and the visit, all the knotty issues have been resolved, therefore it’s hoped that the State Government will commence deduction and remittance of NHF contributions to FMBN. The Deputy Governor, Mrs Modupe Adelabu during her speech acknowledged that going by the State Governments Development plan of building 2 housing estates in each zone within the state; they will have to partner with FMBN for them to achieve that plan.

She also promised that with the ongoing sensitization, the State would commence deductions and remittance of the workers contributions.

By Etuka Sunday

S

caffold is mostly used in buildings that are high above the average specifications. In order words, it is used for storey buildings to aid constructions.

It has two main functions in construction: that is for working at a high level above the ground (plastering, painting the upper floors etc) or for supporting a slab that is been cast to allow it cure before removing the support.

One cannot actually construct more than two storey-buildings without the help of the scaffold. De-

pending on the type of scaffold you use, your costs will vary. You can use bamboo to build your scaffold or you can rent steel scaffold.

Whether steel or bamboo scaffold, the prices vary in relation with the environment. For a place like Lagos state, bamboo costs roughly N150 per length and for a 4 bedroom house single storey you would use between 600 lengths to 1000 lengths (N90, 000 to N150, 000) for the project.

And the project can be on for 6 months.

According to experts in Lagos State, if you are using steel scaffold/props you can rent it at a rate of

N5000 to N7000 per day to support the decking. Therefore, for the same single storey 4 bedroom houses the points you will need the props/scaffold is when you cast your slab and the slab would need 28 days to cure.

That would cost roughly N140,000to N196,00.

You would need scaffolding again when you want to plaster and also paint. The scaffold you would use is a different kind. This would be set or arranged around the building this would cost you roughly N250, 000 per week and the plastering and painting can take up to 4 weeks to complete.

estate sector.

Ike said, “If you look back to six years ago, you will find out that there has been a lot of improvement in real estate in the country, apart from the fact that it is the place to invest now, Nigeria is competing well.

“Investors are coming to invest in the real estate sector. Even if we have shortfalls in housing, there are still improvements. We aim to bring what has been done so far in the sector to the public.”

Also speaking on the current housing deficit in the country, he said developers should begin to consider investing in mass housing as a panacea for Nigeria’s housing shortage.

“I think what has to be done is for developers to provide low cost mass housing schemes. The theme of this exhibition is

luxury living, you can have luxury living in a one-bedroom apartment; it is about comfort. We are saying we can have luxury living in a low cost apartment; so, developers should provide low cost buildings that will still be attractive to live in,” he said.

The Director of Real Estate, Lagos State Ministry of Housing, Mr. KehindeAbayomi, who represented the Commissioner for Housing, Mr. BosunJeje, while commending the organisers during the opening ceremony, said the state government had identified real estate as a viable means of employment and income generation.

He said the recognition prompted the establishment of the Real Estate Transaction Agency to sanitise real estate agency and the activities of developers as well as real estate agents.

Developers urged to invest in mass housing

By Etuka Sunday with Agency report

P

roperty developers in Nigeria at the maiden edition of the Luxury Living Africa Property Exhibition were advised to invest mass housing provision as this will help in reducing the deficit in the housing sector.

The exhibition, which was held in Lagos at the weekend, was organised for trade promotion, investment opportunities and market development for all stakeholders in the industry.

It also attracted several exhibitors from Nigeria and other African countries.

Speaking, the Head of the Organising Committee, Mr. Steve Ike said, the exhibition was put in place to celebrate innovations and improvements in designs in the country’s real

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 27

Property

Demolition for regeneration of Lafia

Lafia the state capital in Nasarawa state still looks like a rundown camp of a defeated army, but our Ali Abare Abubakar reports that the current administration’s passion for development is already turning into a mission for the regeneration of the state capital where demolitions must be executed to achieve anything meaningful.

T

he major roads running through Lafia, the state capital look like market lanes of a village. The setbacks are completely taken up by street traders, who have extended their shops almost into the major Jos Road, Makurdi Road and Shendam Road – all federal roads. Suya spots, liquor joints, drinking shacks and all manner of make-shift structures stretch out along these roads, completely defacing the state capital.

The absence of development control, occasioned by lack of vision by previous governments, add up the lack of funding of, and commitment by Nasarawa Urban Development Board (NUDB) in tackling the steady decline in the urbanisation process in the state capital, only compounded the already worse situation. The result at hand now is that of a state capital without any character.

The government of Umaru Tanko Al-Makura initiated an urban regeneration in Lafia, in what has seen to the on-going execution of urban roads and accompanying drainages in the state capital and Akwanga, in the northern zone of the state. Lafia alone has over 60 kilometres of what has become Nasarawa’s first asphalt coated roads, which running through all sections of the town.

Popularly known as Project Shovel, the urban roads construction has seen Lafia having traffic lights in five different locations to add up to a perfect network of roads which provision is still ongoing. The new roads are: StanbicKurikyo Road with a distance of 4kms, 1.4km Alkali Street, and 1km Ministry of Information (Ado Mu’azu)-Kurikyo Road. There is the 900m Abdul Shitu/Ministry of Information-Kurikyo Road Junction, and 530km Abdul Kura Street.

Lafia-East-Government House-NADP Quarters with spur towards Makon Giji Shendam Road Junction at the distance of 4.8kms; and People’s Bank-New Market Road Junction running into 1.2kms, have been provided as Agwai Junction-Angwar Nungu Junction at the distance of 1.5kms.

Seventeen years after, the state is also having its first two dual carriage ways being provided by the state government. Ther are running from Lubona Junction off Makurdi Road, to Lafia-East Primary School through Lafia Modern Market, in the Lafia East section of the metropolis, and from Post Office Junction along Makurdi Road through the Timber Market, to Railway, in the UAC section of the metropolis, respectively.

No one section of the metropolis is not touched by Project Shovel, urban authorities have said.

The new infrastructure on ground so far, has more than tripled the quantum of infrastructure provided in the entire state, 17 years on.

A real estate consultant, Musa Adam had said, “It is the first time, ever, that Lafia and the whole of

The site plan of New Lafia City Nasarawa will be witnessing this kind of development. Nasarawa now looks like a construction site, with work happening at every corner. The ongoing construction work has improved the value of property in the state capital.

But all these provisions are drowned by unfriendly provisions of illegal motor parks, street traders, meat sellers and liquor and food joints that have defaced all of the state capital.

Sonny Agassi, state commissioner for Lands and Urban Development described the development as “a cancer that has attacked the body”, explaining that “for the body to survive and function optimally, this cancer has to be removed by a surgical operation.”

“

He said a demolition exercise which is being embarked upon in phases, will remove all illegal structures that have stood in the path of creating a decent state capital that Lafia is supposed to be.

“Already, we have succeeded in clearing illegal structures along Jos Road and Makurdi Road, to return the original setbacks of the roads, in what has decongested them for clear vehicular traffic”, Agassi said, adding that the exercise was embarked upon after several notices given to the occupants of such illegal structures.

Besides, Agassi said there are alternative arrangements made for them in various areas including the newly commissioned Lafia Modern Market along Lafia-East

The 24-month period project to execute Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Digital Aerial Mapping, as well as create cadastral zones; all expected to recover the state and create a twin city to Abuja, has already created the roadmap to achieving a miniature Singapore dreamt by Governor Al-Makura.

Raod. He also said the demolition exercise is coming with a mega urban regeneration which will see certain areas designated as Improved Business Area, naming an area between UAC Road and Emir’s Palace Road, as well as between Lubona Junction and Spare Parts Market, as the first two of such business districts for planning and execution.

By this arrangement, Timber Market along UAC Road, On The Move garage along Makurdi Road, Fortune Bank Motor Park along Jos Road, and the illegal trailer and tanker garage at Mararaba Akunza will move to places being planned for such use, to decongest the town and bring aesthetics.

“Parade Ground, a square designed to have all the facilities and aesthetics of Abuja’s Eagle Square, is also coming along Makurdi Road, to add beauty to what Project Shovel has already done”, Agassi said.

This is just as TPL the MD of NUDB, Adamu Sule, told this reporter that after recovering the setbacks on the major roads, the agency commenced planting of flowers and trees to secure them from further encroachment, in what will also create aesthetics.

He said electricity distribution lines, telecommunication lines, and all forms of public facilities are now secured with the demolition exercise, which he said, will come in phases.

“We have a design to sustain the setbacks and secure them continually from encroachment.

We at the board are happy that His Excellency, the governor has given us the full support to succeed in this exercise”, TPL Sule said.

This reporter recalls the Lands and Urban Development ministry, earlier in the year, acquired about 50 hectares of land behind Government house along Shendam Road for the development of a new layout in a bid to decongest the town. It runs in a curve behind Government House, and adjoins the slums of Lafia-East, and the highbrow Project Quarters.

The new layout is part of the design of the Nasarawa Development Platform (NDP), an initiation of Siraj Consulting Engineers, Aeroprecisa Limited, and GIS Transport, and Nasarawa State Ministry of Lands, on which shoulders have been added Urban Development - partners in the totality of a habitat project which execution is expected to phase out slums, and in their place, build liveable and sustainable cities.

The 24-month period project to execute Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Digital Aerial Mapping, as well as create cadastral zones; all expected to recover the state and create a twin city to Abuja, has already created the roadmap to achieving a miniature Singapore dreamt by Governor Al-Makura.

The consortium led by Siraj Consulting Engineers, which is executing the totality of conputerised land administration system called Nasarawa Geographic Information Systems (NAGIS), is handling the planning and design of 11 other districts which will address the growth of slums in major urban centres of Karu, Keffi, Akwanga, Nasarawa and Doma, to add up to what is already being executed in Lafia.

A tough-talking reformist and supervisor of the project, Agassi said the processes that will lead to actualize the birth of this baby - liveable cities project, where urban regeneration and renewal will feature in the overall plan to actualize the development control agenda of the administration.

There is an engineering design in place, he said, that has already planned plot sizes of 840 square metres and 1050, in a twoclass living environment. “We will provide prototype houses”, Agassi said, explaining that “so that there is no room for unplanned development.”

It will have its water treatment plant, a club house, over 10 kilometres of well designed network of roads and drainages. The new city will have schools, shopping and other commercial centres. “The facilities will be superb”, he said.

The financing of this habitat project will come easy, in a state where the monthly accruals from the Federation Accounts, is hardly up tom N3 billion. “Government has lean resources, yes, but we are comfortably going to execute this project”, he said of the about N1 billion mega city project.

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Perspective

A letter from a Christian to Muslim women

By Joanna Francis “...Most of us are not happy, trust me...’’

B

etween the Israeli assault on Lebanon and the Zionist “war on terror,” the Muslim world is now center stage in every American home. I see the carnage, death and destruction that have befallen Lebanon, but I also see something else: I see you. I can’t help but notice that almost every woman I see is carrying a baby or has children around her. I see that though they are dressed modestly, their beauty still shines through.

But it’s not just outer beauty that I notice.

I also notice that I feel something strange inside me: I feel envy. I feel terrible for the horrible experiences and war crimes that the Lebanese people have suffered, being targeted by our common enemy. But I can’t help but admire your strength, your beauty, your modesty, and most of all, your happiness. Yes, it’s strange, but it occurred to me that even under constant bombardment, you still seemed happier than we are, because you were still living the natural lives of women. The way women have always lived since the beginning of time. It used to be that way in the West until the 1960s, when we were bombarded by the same enemy. Only we were not bombarded with actual munitions, but with subtle trickery and moral corruption.

Through Temptation They bombarded us Americans from Hollywood, instead of from fighter jets or with our own American-made tanks.

They would like to bomb you in this way too, after they’ve finished bombing the infrastructure of your countries. I do not want this to happen to you. You will feel degraded, just like we do. You can avoid this kind of bombing if you will kindly listen to those of us who have already suffered serious casualties from their evil influence. Because everything you see coming out of Hollywood is a pack of lies, a distortion of reality, smoke and mirrors. They present casual sex as harmless recreation because they aim to destroy the moral fabric of the societies into which they beam their poisonous programming. I beg you not to drink their poison.

There is no antidote for it once you have consumed it. You may recover partially, but you will never be the same. Better to avoid the poison altogether than to try to heal from the damage it causes. They will try to tempt you with their titillating movies and music videos, falsely portraying us American women as happy and satisfied, proud of dressing like prostitutes, and content without families. Most of us are not happy, trust me. Millions of us are on anti- depressant medication, hate our jobs, and cry at night over the men who told us they loved us, then greedily used us and walked away. They would like to destroy

Some Muslim women praying your families and convince you to have fewer children. They do this by presenting marriage as a form of slavery, motherhood as a curse, and being modest and pure as old-fashioned. They want you to cheapen yourself and lose your faith. They are like the Serpent tempting Eve with the apple.

Don’t bite.

Self-Value I see you as precious gems, pure gold, or the “pearl of great value” spoken of in the Bible (Matthew 13: 45). All women are pearls of great value, but some of us have been deceived into doubting the value of our purity.

Jesus said: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7: 6).

Our pearls are priceless, but they convince us that they’re cheap. But trust me; there is no substitute for being able to look in the mirror and seeing purity,

innocence and self-respect staring back at you. The fashions coming out of the Western sewer are designed to make you believe that your most valuable asset is your sexuality. But your beautiful dresses and veils are actually sexier than any Western fashion, because they cloak you in mystery and show self-respect and confidence. A woman’s sexuality should be guarded from unworthy eyes, since it should be your gift to the man who loves and respects you enough to marry you. And since your men are still manly warriors, they deserve no less than your best. Our men don’t even want purity anymore.

They don’t recognize the pearl of great value, opting for the flashy rhinestone instead.

Only to leave her too! Your most valuable assets are your inner beauty, your innocence, and everything that makes you who you are. But I notice that some Muslim women push the limit and try to be as Western as possible, even while wearing a veil (with some of their hair

“

We Western women have been brainwashed into thinking that you Muslim women are oppressed. But truly, we are the ones who are oppressed; slaves to fashions that degrade us, obsessed with our weight, begging for love from men who do not want to grow up. Deep down inside, we know that we have been cheated.

showing). Why imitate women who already regret, or will soon regret, their lost virtue? There is no compensation for that loss.

You are flawless diamonds. Don’t let them trick you into becoming rhinestones. Because everything you see in the fashion magazines and on Western television is a lie.

It is Satan’s trap. It is fool’s gold.

A Woman’s Heart I’ll let you in on a little secret, just in case you’re curious: premarital sex is not even that great.

We gave our bodies to the men we were in love with, believing that that was the way to make them love us and want to marry us, just as we had seen on television growing up. But without the security of marriage and the sure knowledge that he will always stay with us, it’s not even enjoyable! That’s the irony. It was just a waste. It leaves you in tears. Speaking as one woman to another, I believe that you understand that already.

Because only a woman can truly understand what’s in another woman’s heart.

We really are all alike. Our race, religion or nationalities do not matter. A woman’s heart is the same everywhere. We love. That’s what we do best. We nurture our families and give comfort and strength to the men we love. But we American women have been fooled into believing that we are happiest having careers, our own homes in which to live alone, and freedom to give our love away to whomever we choose. That is not freedom. And that is not love.

Only in the safe haven of marriage can a woman’s body and heart be safe to love. Don’t settle for

anything less. It’s not worth it.

You won’t even like it and you’ll like yourself even less afterwards.

Then he’ll leave you.

Self-Denial Sin never pays. It always cheats you. Even though I have reclaimed my honor, there’s still no substitute for having never been dishonored in the first place. We Western women have been brainwashed into thinking that you Muslim women are oppressed. But truly, we are the ones who are oppressed; slaves to fashions that degrade us, obsessed with our weight, begging for love from men who do not want to grow up. Deep down inside, we know that we have been cheated. We secretly admire and envy you, although some of us will not admit it. Please do not look down on us or think that we like things the way they are. It’s not our fault. Most of us did not have fathers to protect us when we were young because our families have been destroyed. You know who is behind this plot. Don’t be fooled, my sisters. Don’t let them get you too. Stay innocent and pure. We Christian women need to see what life is really supposed to be like for women. We need you to set the example for us, because we are lost. Hold onto your purity.

Remember: you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. So guard your “toothpaste” carefully!

I hope you receive this advice in the spirit in which it is intended: the spirit of friendship, respect, and admiration.

From your Christian sister with love.

Joanna Francis is a journalist from USA

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 29

Arts & Culture

Author shares journey through longer hair care Book Review Briefs New book is a guide for setting hair goals and how to achieve them hat is the cost of beautiful hair?

According to a survey conducted by a major manufacturer of hair care products, the average British woman spends about £27,722.52 (about $42,000) on her hair throughout her lifetime.

This is not a small number but justifiable by the fact that more and more women regard their hair as their crowning glory. For Lola Akingbola, author of 8 Weeks to Longer Hair!: A Guide for the Afro-Caribbean Woman, hair care is more than just buying products or services; it became a personal

W

statement, her way of embracing her natural Nigerian kinks and curls and declaring to others that curly hair can be just as healthy, strong and long as other hair types.

Akingbola describes herself as a “born and raised” Nigerian woman who has “lived twentyodd years without knowing what her natural texture was.” She has always wanted to have longer locks but had no idea how to make it happen with her kinky and curly hair. Finally, in 2008, she started seriously researching about black hair care. This endeavor has extended to a personal blog devoted to chronicling her journey toward healthy and longer hair, her unique regimen and the products she finds effective. Currently, she is working on her own line of hair care products designed especially for African hair.

The time and effort Akingbola spent made her realize that learning

about one’s hair (especially AfroCaribbean hair) and setting hair goals is no small task. With 8 Weeks to Longer Hair!, she hopes to guide readers in the first steps of their hair journey. In it, she shares tips and techniques which she herself has tried and tested and dispels myths and fallacies about hair care.

“Many people have asked me questions in person and on my blog and it seems like there is never enough time to tell them everything. This book lays out steps in an easy to follow manner…

It is about building a daily and weekly plan for achieving your hair goals.” the author says.

A must-have hair care manual, 8 Weeks to Longer Hair! is ultimately about empowering readers to love, appreciate and make the most of what they naturally have.

Source: Hlibris

Songs for a Nationa in Agony “Songs For A Nation In Agony” urges readers to stand up and save Nigeria from the hands of tyrants y r a n n y a n d misgovernance persist to the extent that the people want it to.” This is poet Onyeka Dike’s message in his book entitled Songs For A Nation In Agony. In this eyeopening poetry anthology, readers are invited to partake in both visions and hopes and afflictions and woes of an oppressed nation as seen through the eyes of one inspired to give a voice and make a difference to the land he hails from.

Dike presents the challenges faced by his countrymen and inflames them to revolt against the bent status quo. Through the clever and effective use of humor, irony, and other rhetorical devices and literary techniques, the author puts his thoughts and contemplations across lines and verses to let readers in on the current socio-political and economic turbulence besetting Nigeria. Through his knack in tailoring fine hymns and poems, the lyrical expressions present concrete graphical presentations of the myriad of problems Nigerians are facing.

Instead of just watching helplessly, Dike invites the audience to help shape their destiny and invent the society of their dreams in Songs for a Nation in Agony.

Source: Hlibris

T

New poetry speaks to varsity of human emotions

C

ecil Cripwell looks at the lasting impact of feelings in moving collection Cecil Cripwell expresses a wide range of human emotions in his evocative new collection, “Poetry in Emotion” (published by AuthorHouse).

Inspired by his own experiences and those of the people he’s come into contact with over the years, Cripwell writes openly

and honestly about love, hate, pain, fear, hope, failure and the resilience of the human spirit.

His poems are simple and filled with memorable imagery, sure to resonate with readers from all walks of life.

The poem “Insanity,” featured below in excerpt: “Despair so deep The angle so steep No foothold to find

Out of this mind Round and round In circles I go Rocking slowly To and fro” “Emotion is like poetry to the soul,” Cripwell writes. “It impacts in places hidden, places unseen.

It translates out into the light and changes our appreciation of our reality.”

Source: Hlibris

FROM THE LIVE STAGE with Patrick-Jude Oteh 0803 700 0496, 0805 953 5215 (SMS only)

Shame of a nation

O

n Friday 12th July, a young girl just turned 16 addressed the United Nations.

Before and after her speech, she received a standing ovation from all the delegates and youths of nations gathered.

Her name is Malala Yousefzai.

You will recall that this was the activist for education rights for girls in Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban but who miraculously survived a bullet to the head. Her speech left many in her audience in tears.

She spoke about education.

She asked all the world leaders to ensure that not only girls but every child must be given an education.

There was a table of statistics of the many out-ofschool children all over the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are an estimated 29.6m children out of school. Nigeria is host to 10.2m of this number.

In the last couple of months, we have been treated to various ‘performances’ out of Rivers State. With the events of the last one week, it has become a fi ght to the fi nish.

If only half of the resources devoted to the battle for Rivers are devoted to the 10.2m children currently out of school to ensure that they go back to school, it would make a whole lot of difference.

The rumour is that our current Minister of State for Education, Ezinwo Nyesom Wike is fully involved in the war in Rivers. The other rumour is that the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan is also involved. The biggest rumour is that they all including the state commissioner of Police have the backing of our President and Commander In Chief, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who has been locked in a battle of wits with the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi.

ASUU has declared a strike and students are again out of school. ASUP has been waxing strong for the past six months and it seems the keys to the Polytechnics have been thrown into a river. In some states, teachers have been on strike for months and in Yobe, schools have been asked to proceed on an indefinite closure until the security of students can be guaranteed.

In the midst of all these and a damning 10.2m children out of school, our leaders are involved in a primitive struggle for power that benefits no one except themselves and their

lickspittle of followers who will do everything in their power to ensure that their principals remain in power. We are yet to see the beginnings of the struggle for 2015. What we are witnessing presently is simply a dress rehearsal.

Suppose we had leaders who are sincere in their dealings with us, we should have received a resounding and collective ‘NO’ to the figures reeled out in far away New York. If the figures are true, we should have seen a most robust attempt to try to ensure that everyone returns to school, we should have seen the attempts to ensure that every child gets an education but what do we have?, a most desperate struggle for power at all costs. I have this feeling that our leaders always believe that the voices people are finding currently in far away countries can never occur here. They believe that we are all too busy fi ghting ourselves on sundry issues. We should not forget that the current struggles in the Arab world were caused by the death of a simple fruit seller for the people to say NO MORE! The current struggles will end. But it will be at a most unforgivable cost. For now part of the shame we all have to bear is the grouping of Nigeria and Nigerians amongst a coterie of countries that ideally can never stand shoulder to shoulder with us. Talk of poverty, Nigeria is at the bottom of the rung of the ladder. We talk of dubious, dare devil people, we are found there. We talk of the tragedy of a people with vast resources but with the lowest quality of life, we are there.

We talk of countries highest on the corruption index, we are there. Forget that rubbish about us being the happiest people on earth. We are a most angry people. We are a people embarrassed by the very basis of our existence. We are a people long forgotten.

We are a people crying so silently for the misfortune that has befallen us. We are a people long lost and most of us are simply beyond redemption.

We are outclassed by a most devious set of people who smile for the cameras but plan evil and misfortune in the dead of the night.

And when we are slammed by the yet to be implemented visa bond, we shout that it is discriminatory and we should not be grouped with such countries. Says who?

PAGE 30

Arts & Culture

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

“Engendering progressive politics: Challenges of reforming Nigerian Politics” Book Review

By Idris Salihu Evuti

E

arly this year, my paths crossed with that of Mr. SalihuLukman- a patriotic Nigerian who has passion in contributing his quota towards making our society a better place.

He has written several books, articles and memorandums etc cutting-across social, economic and political issues Amongst other questions he raised, this is the one that drew my attention the most: “The key question that Nigerian opposition politicians need to answer is what difference will they make to the living conditions of Nigerians when they emerge as the ruling party?”

In the beginning the author identified the need for an all inclusive and participatory political process. Over the years the activities of both the partisan and non-partisan politicians have consciously or sub-consciously moulded the mindset of Nigerians towards seeing politics as a denof-cons. Politics, should not be left only to those perceived to be dubious and deceptive. This is because such a notion holds the propensity of widening the gap between the citizens and the government on one hand, politics and national development on the other hand. Therefore, the task before the merging opposition political parties (All Progressive Congress, APC) is to create a platform where Nigerians will proudly identify with, either actively or passively. The APC should recognise the fact that democratic government derives its legitimacy from the ballots, and as such, political mobilisation of the Nigerian populace across board have become imperative.

Furthermore, the author emphasised the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) and other organised labour movements/ groups as instrumental in the struggle for the entrenchment and sustenance of democracy. Against this background activism to a larger extent should be born out of deep self-conviction in relation to the situation of the society at every particular time. Consequently this justifies the need for the CSOs to always engage the political process.

The CSOs are to provide practical and realisticroadmapsand not idealistic blueprints needed for the breakaway of the Nigerian society from the rotten system of running the business of government to a more robust, rational and goal oriented national policies and programmes. The APC as a matter of fact should explore the CSO industry with the view of tapping the existing rich resources and ideas almost lying fallow.

It is in line with the above, that the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) conceived the idea of creating the Labour Party (LP) to serve as its political wing. The LP

primarily ought tomobilise people from all works of life and provide the common man with a platform build on the principles of fairness, equity and progressiveness. But unfortunately today these guiding principles have been betrayed.

The way and manner the party’s leadership emerged grossly contradicts the basic democratic tenets. And the blurred-rickety alliance between the Edo state arm of Labour Party and Action Congress in 2007 which eventually produced Gov. Adams Oshomiole as the governor of Edo;negatively projects the LP. There is an obvious disconnect between the opposition politics and the Nigerian youths of today.

Historically the Nigerian youths have significantly contributed positively to societal issues and nation building. The struggle for independence and the fight against military rule are very good examples. A case in pointis the formation of the Nigerian Youths Movements (NYM) in 1933 by H.O Davis, NnmadiAzikiweetc; which challenged the dominance of the National Democratic Party of Herbert Macaulay.In addition, the vibrant and radical National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) contributions in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

In Nigeria, those born between 1978 to date, i.e (the youths) “have not experience anything of a functional society.” The entrepreneurial and moral faculty of most Nigerian youths have been long lost, largely due to over dependence on government as source of easy and “free

money.”Youths have now been relegated to the background used only to rig elections, perpetuate religious, ethnical and social violence in return for stipends.

This is a challenge the APC should take upon itself- The youths are in need of attention, a convenient space should be created for them to realise their dreams. The APC should create an atmosphere where the youths will see their self as potential House of representative and House of assembly members. There is the need to clearly define who a youth is, and not the kind of Peoples Democratic Party’s youth leaders who are already in their 50’s.

The PDP has held itself onto power since the return to democracy in 1999, arguable through questionable means.

This however can be attributed to weak and unorganised opposition parties in Nigeria. But, with the level ofefforts channeled and achievements recorded so far in the merger process,there is hope for the Nigerian opposition.

Given the personalities involved in the APC-project many envisaged disagreement such as clash of interest. The commitment if maintained and build upon is capable of defeating the federal ruling PDP. However, it is incumbent on the APC to develop a party framework much more different from the ‘traditional’ political party of Nigeria. The party should have internal mechanism forestalling the sponsorship and loyalty syndrome.

It’s more democratically healthier to create a party based on rules and

regulations, than a party anchored on fund raising credentials and entrepreneurship,(a case in point is the Labour Party; where Dan Nwayanwu emerged as its chairman in order to generate funds for the party.)

No doubt, the Nigerian political arena is filled up by people with questionable characters with dented public scorecards. Especially, those who have at one time or the other associated and romanced with the ruling PDP. Now what becomes of some APC leaders who find themselves in this category?For instance, Chief Tom Ikimi - given his role as the foreign affairs minister when Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Abacha regime, and, as the PDP returning officer in the 2003 primaries between former president Obasanjo and Alex Ekeweume.

In as much as history will always beacon on our today and the future; it is equally necessaryto realise that everybody is important and deserves to be giving fair opportunity to contribute his/her own quota, beyond reasonable doubt.Moreover, APC needs the guidance, advice and presence of some high profile personalities and those who have the grounds to face and possibly confront the ruling PDP. By this, square pegs will rightly be put in square holes.

It is high time the APC begins to formulate and strategise practical ways of addressing problems bedevilling Nigeria. The APC leaders seems to have dwelled more on the merger formalities, even though commendable. The merger is largely to win the hearts and minds of the Nigerian populace; and thus there is the need to feed the public with feasible plans, policies and programmes aimed at improving the welfare of the citizens.

In view of the above, the APC needs to have a ‘unified’ policy thrust on governance and economy.

That is, programmes that will run vertically from the federal to states and local governments and likewise those that will horizontally run across the various states, for instance, the free education philosophy of ACN-led governments.

Nigeria is operating a federal structure where the central government creates the subordinating units. And,this implies that the country’s resources will be concentrated at the central pool. This practice discourages revenue mobilisation drive by states and also encourages weak economic programmes. Revenue mobilisation and allocation is at the heart of any government built on the principles of federalism. Thus, the APC should as a matter of National urgency and interest begin to bargain for a healthier relationship amongst the federating units.Where states will be encouraged to thrive economically based on individual state potentials.

Idris Salihu Evuti is a public commentator based in Abuja.

POEM OF THE WEEK If I was writing a prayer for peace

By Abigail George

If I can see from where I am Standing (next to my bedroom door.

This is ajar because I left it like That) through the window made of Lines of yellow light, shiny parts At my front door and stare into the Face of a stranger, what would I see There meeting their eyes, intent, Winter, my own washed-out or ill Reflection depending on what day Of the week it was, would I see a Vision or feel a change flicker and Dance within the usual outspoken Me, would we make commonplace Conversation, would I give my peace Of mind away as I make the stranger A cup of coffee so hot that steam rises In puffs almost like smoke in a glance– The stranger never smiles at me.

I am just a poet and a writer feeling The air near my hands, pushing those Buttons, dreaming a life half-lived in Silence with medicine–this is my Home, my fairytale ending, my lining.

In the cold, cold night when my skin Tastes like salt, when the street lamp Glows in the dark, when stripes of Shadows seem to win me over to sleep, To the light that hits falling angels and I think of bottles littered on a field, the Stamina they give a man, roads into Madness, softness and sanctuary and I am reminded of the stranger at my Door, the silver in his hair and beard, How we both are cast out into the Black, into loneliness to settle out there.

Like people of the moon If people lived on the moon how Would they ever begin to fathom justice If the tides didn’t turn?

Truths for me If the sun didn’t burn so bright In my eyes would I see angels falling From the sky wearing white robes?

Signs Could we stop the sounds of falling rain If we weren’t exposed to the song in it, if we Paid more attention to it like a dream?

Helen Lunch – a plate of cheese On a dusty New Bethesda table While mice ransack the place.

While I eat French toast As hard as air, poised yet fragile, you, Black beauty mapped with fragile lines – Make me weep rivulets like gems.

QUOTE Wisdom finds its literary expression in wisdom literature Paul Ricoeur

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

DIPLOMATIC

PAGE 31

CIRCUIT

ECOWAS urged to re-examine crises response mechanisms P

By Abdulkadir Isa

resident of the ECOWAS Commission, KadréDésiréOuédraogo has called for the reexamination of regional response mechanisms for effective tackling of the structural causes of instability in the region.

In a press statement by the ECOWAS commission, Mr Ouédraogo said “We must reinterrogate the structure of regional peace and security in relation to preventive diplomacy, sanction regime, and the response capacities and the transport strategies”.

He added that the complexity of emerging crises in West Africa, such as in Mali and Guinea Bissau, requires a critical look and more systematic approach.

The president at the opening of the 30th Ordinary session of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council (MSC) in Abuja highlighted the progress made in Mali, the most recent being the July 2013 transformation of the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA) into the UN Multi-dimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA).

President Ouédraogo equally recalled the protracted and difficult process of negotiations that followed the mobilization and deployment of AFISMA and expressed gratitude to the Chair of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President AlassaneOuattara of Cote d’Ivoire, the Regional

Ouédraogo Mediator on Mali, President BlaiseCompaore of Burkina Faso and the deputy Mediator, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Nigeria.

On Guinea Bissau, he said the presidential election fixed for 24th November 2013 marks the end of the first phase of the transition process being facilitated by ECOWAS in that country.

The president said the resolution of these crises, have also

made it possible to focus on the issues of extremism and terrorism, piracy and other maritime crimes, as well as drugs, arms and human trafficking in the region.

To this end, he recalled that the Council had adopted the ECOWAS Anti-terrorism Strategy at its meeting in Yamoussoukro last February, followed in June 2013 with the adoption of important strategic documents against piracy and other transnational crimes in the Gulf of Guinea by the leaders

of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in Yaoundé, Cameroun.

He also urged the council to deliberate on the legislative elections planned for 25 July 2013 in Togo and September 2013 in Guinea following difficult processes of dialogue encountered in bothcountries.

The Media and Security Council is made up of Foreign Ministers, chaired by Cote d’Ivoire’s Foreign

Minister, Charles KoffiDiby.

Present at the opening of the Council meeting, were the Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Mrs.SalamatuHussaini Suleiman, her counterpart for Administration and Finance, Mrs.KhadiRamatuSaccoh, as well as those for Human Development and Gender, Dr. Adrienne Diop and Macroeconomic policy, Dr. Ibrahim Bocar Ba among others.

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

areas including economic relations, trade, security and defence.

He thanked Mr. McCulley for his efforts to strengthen the already cordial relations between Nigeria and the United States and wished him success at his next post.

Mr. McCulleytold the President that the United States continues to regard Nigeria as a key strategic partner in Sub-Saharan Africa and will keep on working with Nigeria to strengthen and expand bilateral cooperation in all possible areas.

The commission has in the past held talks on security, particularly the Boko Haram crisis.

The Binational Commission was set up in 2011during President Barack Obama’s first term in office as the institutional framework for bilateral cooperation between the United States and Nigeria on issues regarding the entire African continent.

Its mandate rests on four broad themes of good governance, energy access, food security, and regional security and extremism.

Jonathan calls for greater Abidjan to host forum Nigeria- US cooperation on water and sanitation P A

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

High-Level Forum on Water and Sanitation organized by Water and Sanitation for Africa (WSA) and the Ivorian Government is to be held in Abidjan from 21 to 23 November 2013.

The forum whose theme is “To promote vibrant and effective South-South cooperation to accelerate access to hygiene, sanitation, and drinking water for all in Africa”, expects over 800 participants in attendance.

This is the third forum of its kind. The first two were held in Ouagadougou and Dakar.

Its objective is to provide a platform for various decisionmakers and stakeholders involved in this sector in Africa to exchange information and exert their influence.

The 2013 Forum intends to find the best way to take advantage of SouthSouth partnerships for the development of business opportunities in terms of financial cooperation.

The forum also plans to develop strategic alliances and partnerships to strengthen the technical and institutional capacities of southern countries in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector (WASH) sector.

In addition, it hopes to stimulate the sharing of experiences and know-how between southern countries in the WASH sector.

The third High-Level Forum targets African heads of state, ministers for water and sanitation issues in Africa, African finance ministers, as well as technical and financial partners from the North and South.

The institution has 32 member countries, and has been working for 25 years to develop solutions to address the problems of water and sanitation on the continent.

Its mission is based on the establishment of integrated systems combining the optimisation of technical and scientific approaches with innovative funding mechanisms.

Nearly 884 million people do not have access to clean and safe water. 37% of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In developing countries, as much of 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions.

400 Million out of the 1.9 billion children in the developing world don’t have access to safe water.

resident Goodluck Jonathan has called for the further strengthening of the NigeriaUnited United States Bi-National Commission in Abuja on yesterday.

Jonathan said he hope to make the commission a more productive platform for boosting bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

He made this known at an audience with the outgoing Ambassador of the United States to Nigeria, Mr. Terence McCulley.

President Jonathan described the Commission as a very laudable initiative which should be nurtured and built upon by both countries.

The President called for the maintenance of the regularity of the twice-yearly meetings of the Commission which is co-chaired by the United States Secretary of State and Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, saying that it will greatly help to further improve cooperation between the two countries in various

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

International

Algerian President returns home

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resident AbdelazizBouteflika of Algeria has flown home after nearly three months of medical treatment at a hospital in Paris.

The 76-year-old arrived at a military airport in Algeria after a twohour flight, officials say.

MrBouteflika, who has led the gasrich North African state for a decade, went to Paris after a mini-stroke in April.

Analysts say his health issues have all but ended his chances of running for another presidential term next year.

President Bouteflika (r) met ministers upon his return to Algiers.

After arriving back in Algeria, the president “will continue a period of rest and rehabilitation”, said a statement carried by the official APS news agency. A photograph was released which showed him meeting cabinet ministers.

The paucity of official information about his medical condition since his hospital admission in April has been a source of concern in Algeria.

After a period in the famous Val-de-Grace hospital, where many world leaders have been treated, MrBouteflika was transferred to the Invalides National Institution, a military hospital in central Paris.

Speculation had been growing that his condition had deteriorated.

Some opposition figures suggested that the Constitutional Council in Algiers ought to declare the presidential post vacant, and appoint an interim leader until new elections were held.

On 12 June, Algerian state media released images and video

of MrBouteflika convalescing. State television showed him meeting his prime minister, AbdelmalekSellal, and the army chief, General Salah Gaid, at the Invalides National Institution.

The footage - which was silent - showed him drinking coffee.

MrBouteflika has not said if he plans to run for another term in Algeria’s presidential election, which is due to take place in April 2014.

He became president in 1999 and is regarded as being among the last of a generation of leaders who fought in the 1954-1962 war of independence from France.

MrBouteflika was in hospital in France for nearly a month in 2005, for the treatment of a bleeding ulcer, the AFP news agency reports.

A leaked US diplomatic cable in 2007 suggested he might be suffering from terminal stomach cancer, and since being re-elected for a third term in 2009 he has rarely appeared in public or travelled outside the capital.

Egypt cabinet sworn in amid violence

T

he new Egyptian cabinet has sworn in along with the interim prime minister and his deputies.

Interim President Adly Mansour swore in the 35 ministers with three deputy prime ministers during a quick ceremony.

Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has put together a cabinet largely of technocrats and liberals after the army toppled President Mohamed Mursi on July 3.

El-Beblawi nominated five women for Cabinet posts, including the health, information and environment portfolios.

If confirmed, that would be the highest number of women to serve in ministerial posts in living memory.

Al Jazeera’s Nicole Johnston, reporting from Cairo, said that there were many familiar names

in the new cabinet, some of whom were in the same positions under deposed president Mohamed Mursi.”It does very much look like this is a government of experts - a government of technocrats - which is exactly what the opposition groups were calling for,” said Johnston.

On Monday, seven people died and hundreds more were injured as police fought running battles overnight with supporters of Mursi.

Egypt’s state news agency said 17 policemen were injured in the violence, and 401 people have been arrested in relation to the clashes.

Thousands of Mursi supporters were protesting to press their demands that Mursi be reinstated as president, because, they say, he was removed by a military coup that overturned democratic rule.

Police had reportedly fired tear

gas at the protesters on and around Ramses Square, who retaliated by throwing rocks back at them.

The unrest came just hours after Under Secretary of State Bill Burns - the most senior US official to visit since the army toppled the elected Islamist president - appealed for an end to the violence rocking the Arab world’s most populous nation.

Presidential spokesman Ahmed al-Muslimani urged all of Egypt’s political forces, including Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, to take part in national reconciliation efforts.

His comments echoed calls by the US envoy a day earlier for dialogue to replace the violence.

“The first priority must be to end violence and incitement, prevent retribution, and begin a serious and substantive dialogue among all sides and all political parties,” Burns said

after meeting the general behind the coup, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and the military-backed interim leaders.

He also urged the military to avoid “politically motivated arrests” amid growing international unease at the crackdown on the Brotherhood.

A US State Department spokeswoman confirmed Burns had not met any Brotherhood officials during his two-day visit.

The US envoy was also snubbed by the grassroots Tamarod movement which organised the mass protests against Mursi that led up to the coup, “because the United States did not stand with the Egyptian people from the beginning,” an official from the group told the AFP news agency.

Burns declined to comment on Mursi’s continued detention.

SADC urges Zimbabwe to hold credible polls

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he Southern African Development Community (SADC) Observer Mission has urged Zimbabwe to clear any obstacles that may hinder it from holding free, fair and credible elections on July 31.

Head of the observer mission Bernard Membe said Zimbabwean stake-holders must strive to clear the path to a clean vote.

“If there are any problems on the way, let us strive to resolve our difference not after the elections but during this time of preparations as we go down to 31 July,” he said at the launch of the 442-member observer team in Harare.

He said Zimbabwe was now under the watchful eye of the world as it edged towards the crunch vote, and called on Zimbabwean authorities to ensure people vote freely.

“The people will have spoken, they would have expressed their will and SADC will have no option but to accept the outcome,” Membe added.

The country held disputed

elections in 2008, resulting in SADC’s mediation to nudge veteran president Robert Mugabe and then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai into an uneasy inclusive government.

Zimbabweans go to the polls on July 31 to elect president, more than 200 National Assembly Members and close to 2,000 local councilors. The elections will also retire the four-year-old inclusive government.

Membe said as the world watched Zimbabwe preparing for the elections, they expect to see free, fair and credible elections.

Besides SADC, the African Union (AU) will also send observers for Zimbabwe’s upcoming elections.

The 60-member AU observers’ team is led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Zimbabwe says it will not allow countries that imposed sanctions on it, namely the U.S., EU, Australia, to send observers over concerns of objectivity.

“People don’t just come. They are invited,” said presidential

spokesman George Charambe, adding that foreigners now can only quietly “observe” an election in

Zimbabwe but not “monitor” it as in the early days of independence.

Source: Xinhua

L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan, and Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta, during the latter’s official visit to President Jonathan, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

African Union panel on Egypt holds inaugural meeting

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

T

he African Union (AU) HighLevel Panel for Egypt held its inaugural meeting at the AU headquarters, in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

The meeting which was in response to the political situation in Egypt provided the Commission with the opportunity to brief the members of the High-Level Panel on the mandate assigned to them and to discuss its work program for the coming weeks, including the organization of an introductory visit to Egypt at an early date to be determined following the installation of the Government that is currently being formed.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to discuss the modalities of interaction with international partners, notably the League of Arab States, to facilitate a coordinated and effective support for an inclusive transition leading to a rapid return to constitutional order The meeting was attended by of the Republic of Mali and former Chairperson of the AU Commission, Alpha OumarKonare, Chair of the Panel; Gontebanye Festus Mogae, former President of the Republic of Botswana; and DileitaDileita Mohamed, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Djibouti.

Egypt’s interim government has already begun forming a new cabinet, with its members chosen by the country’s military leaders.

AdlyMansour,headofthecountry’s Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in as interim president on July 4.

Hazem El-Beblawi has been appointed the interim prime minister, while reformer and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was sworn in as the country’s interim vice president for foreign relations.

Nabil Fahmy, former Egyptian ambassador to the United States, accepted the post of foreign minister.

Ahmed Galal, a liberal economist educated in the United States and a World Bank veteran, has been appointed as finance minister, and HishamZaazou will retain his post as tourism minister, the state-run MENA news agency said.

The appointments represent the firstphaseofatransitionthatisexpected to usher in presidential elections next year.

Following a meeting 2 days after Mursi’s ouster, The African Union suspended Egypt in line with its strict rules against unconstitutional changes of government.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 33

International

Pakistan Taliban sends fighters to Syria

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he Pakistani Taliban has said its first batch of fighters has arrived in Syria to fight alongside rebels battling the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Abdul Rashid Abbasi, the group’s spokesperson, said the fighters had set up a command and control centre to start operations in the war-torn country.

Speaking to local media on Tuesday, he said another batch of at least 120 fighters were expected to join the force in Syria later this week.

More than two years since the start of the anti-Assad rebellion,

Syria has become a magnet for foreign Sunni fighters who have flocked to the country to what many see as a holy war against the regime.

Operating alongside armed groups such as the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria and a US-designated terrorist organisation, they mainly come from nearby countries such as Libya and Tunisia.

Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said the Taliban claimed that “Arab fighters in Syria had requested their help, that hundreds of their fighters were preparing to

go there, or were already in Syria, through unfrequented roots”.

The announcement further complicates the picture on the ground in Syria, where rivalries have already been intense between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and groups seeking to implement Islamic law.

On Thursday, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an al-Qaeda linked group, assassinated one of the FSA’s top commanders after a dispute in the port city of Latakia.

It also comes at a time when Assad’s forces, with backing from Shia fighters from Hezbollah and

Iran, have been making gains on the Syrian battlefield.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban, operate mainly from Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun areas along the Afghan border - a long-standing stronghold for armed groups including the Taliban and their al-Qaeda allies.

Taliban fighters in Pakistan, who are linked to their Afghan counterparts, are mainly fighting to topple Pakistan’s government and to impose their version of Islam, targeting the military, security forces and civilians.

South Korea accuses North of cyber attacks

S

“No matter what beautiful words are used to package it, illegal is illegal,” he said.

“If someone is allowed to challenge Hong Kong’s law for political demands, this will create endless trouble and harm young people.”

Many lawmakers submitted letters about political reform or the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen

Square crackdown to Mr Zhang at the lunch.

One outspoken legislator, Leung Kwok-hung, wore a T-shirt calling for the release of jailed dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Formal meetings between top mainland officials and Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers are rare, and many

pro-democracy legislators have been banned from entering mainland China in the past.

“This is a v e r y h i s t o r i c event because there has never been mainland officials paying an official visit to the Legislative Council,” Emily Lau, chairwoman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, told Bloomberg last week.

outh Korea accused North Korea on Tuesday of mounting cyber attacks on the websites of its presidential office and other government agencies, saying it had identified signature malicious computer codes and an internet address.

The cyber attacks took place last month, on the anniversary of the beginning of the 195053 Korean War which left the peninsula divided between the rival countries.

North Korea has been suspected of masterminding previous cyber attacks on South Korea, including one in March that paralyzed tens of thousands of computers and servers at major broadcasters and banks.

North Korea has repeatedly denied responsibility for such attacks saying it has also been a victim of hacking.

South Korean officials said they had detected North Korean involvement in the latest cyber assault that shut down several sites including those of the presidential office and the conservative ruling party.

“An IP address within North Korea’s bandwidth was found,” Chun Kilsoo, an official at the state-run Korea Internet and Security Agency, told a briefing, referring to a computer’s internet protocol address.

The malicious computer codes and technique of the attack were similar to those detected in previous hacking attacks traced to the North, officials added.

The accusation comes as the two Koreas wrangle over the reopening of a joint factory park just inside North Korea that North Korea closed during a period of tension that began when it conducted its third nuclear test in February.

be ballistic missiles and other arms, Ricardo Martinelli, the country’s president, has said.

Martinelli said that the ship was targeted by drug enforcement officials as it approached the Panama Canal on the Atlantic coast of the country and was taken into port.

Javier Caraballo, Panama’s top anti-drugs prosecutor, told local television the cargo ship was en route to North Korea.

The vessel’s estimated 35-man crew also rioted when police stepped aboard, according to Martinelli, who said the suspicious cargo was found within a massive consignment of sugar.

Martinelli said on Tuesday that the ship was violating United Nations resolutions against arms trafficking.

“The world needs to sit up and take note: you cannot go around shipping undeclared weapons of war through the Panama Canal,” he told Radio Panama listeners.

“We had suspected this ship, which was coming from Cuba and headed to North Korea, might have drugs aboard so it was brought into port for search and inspection.

“When we started to unload the shipment of sugar we located containers that we believe to be sophisticated missile equipment, and that is not allowed.”

Panamanian authorities said the ship was being held and that they had detained the crew members.

“The captain has tried to commit suicide, and the crew rioted,” the

president said of what happened moments after the raid.

Martinelli said that the captain also had a heart attack.

He had earlier posted a photo on his Twitter account of what appeared to be a green tubular object sitting inside a cargo container or the ship’s hold.

The president, who did not name the boat, said it was headed back to North Korea when stopped and taken to Manzanillo, east of the Atlantic opening of the Panama Canal, which is a major cargo distribution centre.

North Korea defiantly carried out its third nuclear weapons test in February and then threatened to attack the US.

China official in first Hong Kong visit since 1997

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hina’s top representative in Hong Kong has had lunch with pro-democracy lawmakers, in what is being seen as an unprecedented meeting.

Zhang Xiaoming, head of the city’s Beijing liaison office, met members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council from across the political spectrum.

This is the first such meeting since Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.

Some pro-democracy legislators walked out of the lunch after raising concerns about the pace of democratic reform.

Speaking at the lunch, Mr Zhang said that China was sincere about introducing universal suffrage to Hong Kong.

However, it had to be implemented in accordance with Hong Kong’s Basic Law and the decisions of China’s National People’s Congress, he said.

Hong Kong’s Basic Law emphasised that Hong Kong was a highly autonomous region in China, not a country, he added.

Speaking to reporters after the lunch, Mr Zhang also criticised Occupy Central, a civil disobedience movement being planned to promote universal suffrage.

Asia & Middle East

Mr Zhang’s (centre) visit is the first formal visit by a mainland official to Hong Kong’s legislative council

Panama finds ‘missile cargo’ in N Korea ship

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anama has detained a North Korean ship coming from Cuba with what appeared to

The cargo found within a large consignment of sugar

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

International

Greek MPs approve prosecution of ex-Finance minister

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reek legislators have approved the filing of criminal charges against former Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou in a scandal over a list of potential tax evaders that sparked outrage among crisis-hit Greeks.

News of the existence of the “Lagarde list” of about 2,000 Greeks with money stashed overseas sparked a political scandal last year, with many Greeks angry that successive governments failed to pursue those on the list while heaping austerity cuts on everyone else.

Papaconstantinou, a US and British-educated economist who served under former Socialist premier George Papandreou in 2009-2011, was expelled from

Papaconstantinou

the co-ruling PASOK party after prosecutors last year found that the names of three of his relatives

had been deleted from the list.

Of 283 politicians in Greece’s 300-seat assembly

accord to be agreed by November.

But Mr Marquez warned against rushing into a settlement.

“It is possible [to reach an agreement by November]. But to achieve peace you need time. A bad peace deal is worse than war,” he said in an interview with Colombian network RCN. The first direct talks between Colombia’s largest rebel group and

the government were launched in November last year.

Chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said the aim was to get the rebels to give up their armed struggle and join the political process.

Agreement has already been achieved on land reform, but the negotiations are continuing on five other items on the agenda.

who voted in a secret ballot on Tuesday, 166 voted in favour of charging Papaconstantinou with tampering with the list, 208 in favour of charging him with misconduct, and 220 with breach of duty.

Under Greek law, ministers are protected from prosecution unless parliament lifts their immunity and decides to press charges.

A five-member judicial council is now expected to launch a new probe into the case. If found guilty, Papaconstantinou could face a prison sentence.

Papaconstantinou has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of an attempt to incriminate him.

Colombian conflict ‘nearing an end’- FARC negotiator

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he chief peace negotiator for Colombia’s FARC rebel group has said the armed conflict that has lasted more than five decades is nearing an end.

Ivan Marquez, who is taking part in talks with the Colombian government in Cuba, has called on left-wing parties and unions to join the effort to achieve peace.

The government wants a peace

Marquez

But in Bogota many people are still sceptical about Ivan Marquez’s statement, says Arturo Wallace.

They see the rebels’ participation in the peace talks as a pretext to gain time and regroup.

“No one can doubt that we are making a real effort to achieve peace.

That is why we are here in Havana,” Mr Marquez said.

“Wars are not eternal. We are certain that the five-decade long Colombian armed conflict is nearing an end.”

The FARC negotiator said recently that a Constitutional Assembly should be called to endorse the agreements reached in Cuba.

Ivan Marquez said the end of the left-wing group’s armed struggle was not being discussed with the Colombian negotiators.

The government estimates that 600,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in the 1960s, with some three million more internally displaced by the fighting.

The FARC is thought to have some 8,000 fighters, down from about 16,000 in 2001.

Europe and Americas Snowden seeks temporary asylum in Russia – lawyer

F

ormer U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who is wanted in the United States on espionage charges, has requested temporary asylum in Russia, a Russian lawyer said on Tuesday.

Snowden hopes to find refuge in Latin America after leaking details of U.S. government surveillance programmes but has been unable to get there since arriving at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport from Hong Kong on June 23.

“He reached the conclusion that he needs to write an application for temporary asylum (in Russia), and his procedure has just been done,” said Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer who met Snowden on Friday with human rights activists Kucherena, who says he has been advising Snowden, did not make clear how the American had filed his application or whether it had already reached the Russian authorities.

Snowden, who is holed up in Sheremetyevo’s transit area, said on Friday that he would seek refuge in Russia only until he is able to travel on to Latin America, where three countries have offered him political asylum.

He said he had to do this because the United States and its allies were preventing him reaching Latin America. The United States has revoked Snowden’s passport and urged nations worldwide not to help him reach an asylum destination.

Kucherena said he expects a decision on Snowden’s asylum request “soon”. The process for seeking temporary asylum is different from that for political asylum, which Kucherena said would require a decree from President Vladimir Putin.

Trayvon Martin inquiry to continue, says US attorney general

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merica’s top prosecutor, Eric Holder, has said an investigation into the “tragic, unnecessary” death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin will continue.

The justice department last year opened an inquiry into the unarmed black teenager’s death, then stood aside to allow Florida’s prosecution to proceed.

George Zimmerman, who said he opened fire in self-defence in February 2012, was cleared of murder on Saturday.

Civil rights groups have pledged further protests over the verdict.

Over the weekend, demonstrations across the country against the verdict have been mostly peaceful, with many demanding justice for Martin’s family and questioning the fairness

of the justice system.

US Attorney General Holder said that he understood concerns about the case.

“The justice department shares your concern,” he told a black women’s college alumnae group in Washington DC, to applause. “I share your concern.”

Mr Holder said he hoped the country would take the opportunity “to speak honestly about the complicated and emotionally charged issues that this case has raised”.

On Monday evening a member of the jury said in an interview she believed Mr Zimmerman had good intentions but events “just went terribly wrong”.

President Barack Obama has already acknowledged the case has elicited “strong passions”, but emphasised: “We are a nation of

laws, and a jury has spoken.”

The department has a long history of using federal civil rights

Holder

law in an effort to continue legal proceedings against defendants who have already been acquitted in

related state cases. But convictions are often tough to obtain in such cases, analysts say.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 35

Strange World

Body slapping – Thai alternative to plastic surgery

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f you’re serious about making some changes to your appearance but are afraid to go under the knife, you might want to book a flight to Thailand and give Khemmikka Na Songkhla’s government-approved slapping techniques a try.

I know what you’re thinking – yet another breast-enlargement scam, I was inclined to think that as well, but after doing some research on Khemmikka Na Songkhla’s slapping treatments I found the Thai Health Ministry conducted a six-month study on them and acknowledged her technique as a viable alternative to plastic surgery. The 44 -year-old Bangkok beautician is the only person in the world who knows the secrets of breast, face and buttock slapping, which she inherited from her grandmother.

Now, she’s planning to select 10 people to pass on her knowledge to, but not for free.

Khemmikka is charging 10 million baht ($330,000) for the body-sculpting course, 8 million baht ($260,000) for the breast slapping course, and 5 million baht ($165,000) for the face slapping course. Four people have applied for her courses, so far.

One of the most important moments in Khemmikka Na Songkhla, better known as ”KhunyingTobnom’s” career occurred a few years back, when a client developed breast cancer and blamed it on KhunyingTobnom’s slapping massage. Worried, the beautician asked the Thai health department to study her

The Thai Health Ministry conducted a six-month study on the technique and acknowledged it as a viable alternative to plastic surgery

techniques and find out if they could lead to cancer. After a thorough sixmonth study, officials of the Health Ministry announced test subjects were all cancer-free but showed significant growths in breast size. In 2003, breast slapping was officially approved as a natural alternative to plastic surgery.

But how does slapping help

Australian man marries his dog

improve women’s appearance?

Apparently the treatment involves kneading action that guides the fat from areas around the breast pushing it towards the breast, creating a fuller appearance and size. Khemmikka Na Songkhlaslaps, pinches and squeezes the fat and muscle on the upper chest, sides of the torso and belly of her clients in

six 10-minute sessions which those who have tried them say can be pretty painful. But the results are worth it. Clients range from young girls who want a more impressive chest, to women in their 70s who want to tone up their curves. Women from all walks of life have tried her slapping treatments and have seen significant results.

Pampered dogs live in $20,000 mansion

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othing says “I love my puppies to death” like spending a ton of cash on a small Victorian mansion, the pooches can call home.

Chelsea, Darla and Coco Puff can definitely brag to their barking friends, about having the most luxurious doghouse in the world. Featuring hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, central heating and air-conditioning,

this mini-mansion is literally fit for royalty. In terms of design, it has hand-made curtains, mini blinds, expensive wallpaper and ceiling fans.

And they all have to thank their owner, 42-year-old Tammy Kassis, who lavishly spent around $20,000 on this over-the-top dog mansion. She loves her two Yorkies and one Pomeranian to death, and she decided to give

Joseph Guiso(R) and his dog during their ‘i- dos’

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oseph Guiso has surprised his family and friends when he decided to tie the knot with his best friend, a 5-year-old labrador retriever.

The young Australian, from Toowoomba, describes himself as a “religious guy” and says he could no longer stand to live with his four-legged mate outside of wedlock. The couple decided to go through with the wedding while they were walking by one of the city parks. Joe saw another couple getting married and told his lab Honey “that could be us”.

Since she didn’t say anything, her owner took it as a “yes” so he made arrangements to have

their own wedding right there in Laurel Bank Park.

Thirty of the couple’sfriends were present at the emotional event, and one of them even played the role of priest. After reading his touching vow (“You’re my best friend and you make every part of my day better”), Joseph Guiso sealed the deal with a kiss right on Honey’s wet snout.

Now that’s puppy love for ya!

Guiso also assured onlookers that “it’s not sexual. It’s just pure love.”

After a German dude married his pet cat, a few months ago, something like this was to be expected.

But while Khemmikka Na Songkhla’s slapping can do wonders, she admits there are some women even she can’t help. If a woman’s breasts are too small, or if she is too skinny, she advises her to put on some weight before coming to see her again, because she doesn’t have anything to work with. So keep that in mind before flying to Thailand.

Chelsea, Darla and Coco puff outside their mansion.

them a home of their own, when an owl almost snatched one of them up.

She asked deluxe kennel builder, and owner of La Petite Maison, Alan Mower, to create a small replica of her own home, a beautiful Victorian mansion, for her adorable fur balls. Next on her shopping list is a small plasma TV, because the spoiled trio loves to watch Animal Planet.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Digest The cheapest way to diet? Drink at least a litre of water a day

By Suzannah Hills

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orget expensive gym memberships or ‘miracle’ diet pills, researchers have found the cheapest way to lose weight is by simply drinking more water.

A study has found that adults who drank two cups before a meal lost around

The cheapest way to lose weight: Drinking more water can help dieters to feel full and therefore consume less calories (stock image)

Calorific: But drinking fruit juices can help pile on the pounds as many are full of sugar (stock image)

4lb more than a group that didn’t drink the extra water.

The research was included in a review of 11 different studies looking at impact drinking water can have on diets - with three showing clear evidence that consuming more water helps increase weight loss.

Brenda Davy, a professor at Virginia Tech in the U.S. who assisted

in the review, said that water could help ‘squelch’ the feelings of hunger and help dieters reduce their calorie intake.

This is backed by another study which found that women who increased their water consumption while they dieted lost more weight than those who kept it below one litre a day.

Rebecca Muckelbauer, a researcher at the Berlin School of Public Health,

Charité University Medical Center Berlin in Germany, who led the new review of the water studies, agreed the feeling of fullness was the most likely reason for the weight-loss.

Butshesuggestedanotherpossibility - ‘water-induced thermogenesis’ - could be behind it.

Muckelbauer said the idea is that ‘drinking water itself increases energy

expenditure of your body. It has an energy consuming effect.’

But she admitted: ‘This is not very well studied.’

The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults consume around 2.5 litres of fluid a day, but this total can come through food, plain water or other drinks.

While the experimental studies suggest that drinking water may aid in weight loss, the surveys Muckelbauer examined didn’t always show that people who drink more water are slimmer.

In fact, some found that obese or overweight adults drank more water than people of normal size, Muckelbauer’s team reports in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

She said people in the U.S. typically drink about 400 to 500 calories a day from other beverages, and replacing them with water is not a bad idea.

One study found that women who drink water, rather than sweet drinks, had a slightly lower chance of developing diabetes. And women who don’t drink plenty of water have greater odds of getting kidney stones.

‘There’s not a lot of risk for recommending (increased water intake) for individuals,’ Davy said.

The review comes after research by supermarket Tesco showed that drinking fruit juice can help pile on the pounds.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Gang violence cause of high levels of mental disorders

Y

oung men in gangs are significantly more likely to suffer from a mental disorder and need psychiatric help than other young men, says a UK study.

It surveyed 108 gang members and found that half had an anxiety disorder, more than 85% a personality disorder and 25% screened positive for psychosis.

Exposure to violence was the likely cause of their mental health problems, it said.

Experts said opportunities to help young people were often missed.

The research team from Queen Mary, University of London, started by surveying 4,664 men aged between 18 and 34 in Britain.

Researchers included significant numbers of men from areas of the country with high gang memberships, such as Hackney and Glasgow East, from areas with high ethnic minority populations and areas of social deprivation.

From the total sample, 3,284 said they had not been violent in the past five years, 1,272 said they had assaulted another person or been involved in a fight and 108 said they were currently in a gang.

The gang members and the violent men were found to be particularly prone to mental disorders and more likely to access psychiatric services.

Prof Jeremy Coid, lead study author and director of the forensic psychiatry research unit at Queen

Mary, University of London, explained the likely cause.

“It is probable that, among gang members, high levels of anxiety disorder and psychosis were explained by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the most frequent psychiatric outcome of exposure to violence.”

He said the fear of future violence and victimisation led young men to experience extreme anxiety.

The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, said: “Readiness to retaliate violently if disrespected, excitement from violence, and short-term benefits from instrumental violence lead to further cycles of violence and risk of violent victimisation.”

The study also found that, of the 108 gang members surveyed, around a third had attempted suicide.

The authors said this could be linked “to the notion that impulsive violence may be directed both outward and inward”.

However depression was significantly less common among gang members and violent men, the study found.

Andy Bell, deputy chief executive of the Centre for Mental Health, said they had carried out their own research in this area and found very high rates of multiple health and social issues in both boys and girls in gangs.

“It is very clear they have numerous problems throughout

their lives, often related to drug, alcohol problems and maltreatment at home - and they all contribute to poor mental health.

“One vulnerability leads to another. The earlier they are dealt with the better - but sadly opportunities are often missed.”

Street therapy Prof Coid agrees that healthcare professionals should be aware of gang membership when assessing young men with psychiatric illnesses in urban areas.

The study reports that although

just 1% of 18- to-34 year-old men in Britain are gang members, in areas such as Hackney this rises to around 8.6%. Yet the average age of gang membership can be as low as 15, it adds.

MAC-UK, a charity based in Camden and Southwark, in London, targets the mental health needs of young people aged 16 to 25 involved in gangs and antisocial behaviour in a novel way.

Dr Charlie Alcock, chief executive officer of the charity and a clinical psychologist, says youth offending

is a public mental health issue which requires a different approach.

“We support young people by taking mental health on to the streets and working with them in a place which is convenient and comfortable for them.

“We believe one in three young people has an unmet mental health need,” she says.

These can range from stress and anxiety to hearing voices and more serious forms of psychosis.

Source: BBCNews.com

Gang membership is linked to psychiatric problems as well as drink and drugs, the study says

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 37

Jigawa 2015: Can a political dark horse emerge Lamido’s successor?

Analysis

A

s 2015 general election approaches, the political atmosphere in Jigawa is tense over who may likely be the successor of the incumbent Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

Many people consider some particular political bigwigs within the state ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as likely successor to the governor who is expected to serve out his two-term tenure by 2015. While some of the candidates have begun underground moves to clinch the exalted position ahead of the scheduled election, others are studying the situation, waiting with bated breath for the final whistle before they commence their campaigns for the coveted seat.

The emergence of many seasoned politicians who are eyeing the exalted seat, and those whose political godfathers were already canvassing support for them, appear to have thrown the governor into a dilemma on whom to back to succeed him.

Lamido is particularly obsessed about the one who would continue with his transformation programmes in the state.

He appears concerned about who would succeed him considering the antecedents of the state before he took over in 2007. His fears and justifiably too, is that the state may head back into retrogression if adequate care is not taken to screen his would-be successor.

Observers believe that no matter how much the incumbent dissipates his energies on trying to unite the Jigawa people, the average person in the state understands clearly that there are five existing Emirates and this would play a prominent role in who eventually emerges the governor of the state come 2015.

Again, there is going to be a bitter struggle for power between those considered to be old members of the PDP in the state and the new entrants who are equally formidable enough to gun for the number one position. This is more so when speculations are rife that Lamido’s predecessor, Saminu Turaki is billed to decamp into the ruling party from the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with the backing of the Presidency.

Findings indicate that amongst those interested in becoming the next governor of Jigawa state include the incumbent Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Alhaji Adamu Ahmad Sarawa. He has been around in the Jigawa politics since the days of Lamido’s predecessor when he served as a member in the state Assembly and later its Majority Leader on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

As expected Sarawa is a product of the two political gladiators in the state:

The Jigawa state political milieu is becoming interesting as politicians jostle to replace Governor Sule Lamido, who is expected to complete his two terms by 2015. Our Jigawa Correspondent, Ahmed Abubakar, in this pieces examines the situation and wonders whether the governor would not be succeeded by a political dark horse.

Governor Sule Lamido Lamido and Turaki. The Speaker, according to some political watchers, is currently playing a role in the expected defection of the former governor from the opposition ACN into the ruling PDP. Apart from this, he was among those members of the state Assembly who in 2007 supported Turaki’s handover to the then Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Lawan Ya’u Roni, while others counselled that power should be handed to deputy, Barrister Ibrahim Hassan, who had refused to join the bandwagon of those defecting into the PDP. Sarawa has also been seen as a committed loyalist to Lamido as he has often times stated that he is proud to be called ‘dan amshin Shata’, meaning a ‘stooge’ as he defends Shata for singing beautiful songs and sees no wrong when one choruses behind such a singer. This is just as he likened Sule Lamido to Shata and the lawmakers under his leadership, the choristers.

To demonstrate his loyalty, the Jigawa state Speaker has never been seen shaking hands with the governor in public but would rather bow down as mark of respect and servitude to him.

Already, some youths from Kafin Hausa local goveernment area, where Sarawa hails from, have gone ahead to print posters for the Speaker indicating his intention to contest the governorship election in the state by 2015.

Another speculated candidate for governorship is Alhaji Bashir

Former Gov., Saminu Turaki

Former Power Minister, Bashir Dalhatu Dalhatu (Walin Dutse). He is a former Minister of Power and Steel during General Sanni Abacha’s regime. He is an accomplished businessman; an aristocratic member of the royal home of Dutse, and a close associate of the incumbent governor.

Dalhatu, who is also a lawyer, is seen as one of the few persons that could be able to live up to expectations in sustaining the legacies to be left behind by Governor Lamido in the area of physical developments.

Dalhatu, from Dutse shares in Lamido’s passion in the physical and infrastructural development of the

state but he may have to work hard to be accepted by other Emirates.

His ctitics hold that Dalhatu does not have the interest of his people at heart because he rarely visits them nor does he have a place he could refer to as his family house in the state.

But recently, Dalhatu has been seen frequently at government functions, attending political rallies and even was reported to have supported in raising funds for the construction of Freedom Radio in Dutse.

Another formidable candidate for the exalted position in Jigawa state is the current Nigerian Ambassador to

Turkey, Alhaji Abdulhamid Ahmad Malamadori. Malamadori is rumoured to be enjoying the support of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the quest to succeed Lamido, who is considered to be very close to the former President.

The former President had recently endorsed Madori at the first Economic and Investment Summit held in Jigawa to succeed Lamido. Chief Obasanjo, who at the event explained how he forced Sule Lamido to accept to be the governor of Jigawa against his wish, also tactfully asked the Ambassador to Turkey to stand up from the crowd for recognition and just as he told the public that Lamido has a worthy son in Malamadori.

The two term deputy to Lamido, Alhaji Ahmad Mahmoud, is also on the list of those eyeing the governorship seat in the state. Mahmoud, fondly called (Kulikuli), is a grassroots politician who always tries to please everyone that comes across him.

Kulikuli whole-heartedly supported Lamido’s government, despite his role as finance commissioner during Turaki’s administration.

Unlike in other states where the deputy governors are at loggerheads with their “masters”, Ahmad has exhibited high level of restrain and loyalty to Lamido. His loyalty and political experience, coupled with Jigawa’s social and political homogeneity, may turn out to work in his favour if he strives to replace his boss in 2015.

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Politics

Sheath your swords, Tukur tells Rivers Assembly members

Lagos PDP crisis deepen as faction seeks fresh congress

By Lawrence Olaoye

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

N

ational Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has called on members of the Rivers state Assembly to sheath their swords for peace to return into the state.

The National Chairman who made this call in a statement released by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr Oliver Okpala yesterday also urged the state lawmakers to eschew overheating

the polity warning that mocracy would not thrive in an atmosphere of violence and anarchy.

He also denied he speculations making ha rounds the the ruling party was fueling the crisis in the state adding however that it was the desire of PDP to see peace returned to the Assembly in particular and in the state in general.

It said that the party was one big united family, stressing that no true member of the family would

like to pull down the family`s political structure and existence.

It stressed that it must be appreciated by all that a threat to peace in any part of the country was a threat to the peace of the entire country.

It, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to join hands to ensure that peace returned to the state assembly, adding that without peace the country`s much coveted democracy would be meaningless.

On the forthcoming special

congress and convention of the party, the statement assured that PDP leadership would ensure transparency and credibility in line with the dictates of true democracy.

It said the party`s national chairman has no special candidate and will not interfere in who wins at the convention. ``Any candidate who wins must have done so on his/her own merit based on performance and excellent service to PDP.’’

Assembly urges Edo SIEC to conclude Esan LG poll

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he Edo state House of Assembly has passed a resolution calling on the state Independent Election Commission (EDSIEC) to fix a date to conduct the local government election in Esan North-East Local Government Area of Edo without further delay.

The resolution was sequel to a matter of urgent public importance brought before the House at plenary on Tuesday in Benin by Mr Emmanuel Okoduwa representing Esan North-East constituency Okoduwa noted that EDSIEC conducted elections into the 18 local government areas of the state on April 20, 2013.

He said that the commission cancelled the election of Esan North-East on the ground that there was violence.

He said that a rescheduled poll in the local government conducted on April 24 and adjudged free, fair and credible by observers was also cancelled by EDSIEC. ``After almost three months of the cancellation, EDSIEC has not shown any willingness and readiness to conduct fresh election in Esan North-East Local Government Council,’’ he said.

The lawmaker said that the absence of a democratically elected chairman and councilors had hindered and stalled the social, economic and political development in the local government area.

In his contribution, Mr Kingley Ehigiamusor, representing Igueben Constituency, said that Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, was very clear on the conduct of local government election. ``The section clearly specify the number of days to conduct election in the event of violence; there is no room for aberration as far as the law is concerned; there is no discretion in this matter,’’ he said.

Mr Abdulrazak Momoh, representing Etsako West, described the alleged unwillingness of the commission to conduct the election as `oppression’. (NAN)

L-R: LEADERSHIP Newspapers Political Correspondent, Mr. Chibuzo Ukaibe, lead lawyer to LEADERSHIP journalists , Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), LEADERSHIP Group News Editor, Mr. Tony Amokeodo, and lead Lawyer to the Federal Government, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), during their appearance, yesterday at the Abuja High Court, in Kubwa.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Group commends FCT Minister on good governance

By Stanley Onyekwere

A

group known as the PDP Youth Network for Transformation has expressed its support for Sen. Bala Mohammed for bringing order and efficiency to the governance of the FCT. The group, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Friday Maduka , and its National Secretary, Ibrahim Lawal commended the minister for “his benchmark achievements in compassionate governance of Abuja, particularly in the critical transport sector in a manner

unprecedented and unequalled since the founding of Abuja, by the FCT enabling edict of 1976”.

The group stated that the comprehensive support for the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has set him apart from other well performing Federal Ministers, “given your scientific perception of the truism that for social justice and good governance to be more real than rhetorical, it must be anchored on solid economic foundations.

“The aforementioned has been clarified by the progressive programmes e.g. Abuja Taxi

scheme, housing scheme, improved power supply, and more, designed and executed by your visionary administration, which has positively impacted the good people of Abuja like no administration has ever impacted them.

“The PDP Youth Network for Transformation, on the basis of the extensive and intensive surveys that we have conducted, are particularly enthused that your phenomenal accomplishments in Nigeria’s microcosm, Nigeria’s centre of unity has resonated in your native Bauchi state,” it stated.

Nuhu congratulates Umeh over victory

T

he Kogi Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Alhaji Umar Nuhu, has congratulated the National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Umeh, over his victory at Appeal Court.

Nuhu, in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, described Umeh’s victory as a victory for democracy and justice. ``I want to use this opportunity

to congratulate Chief Victor Umeh and his Secretary over their victory at the Appeal Court. ``I also enjoin other members of the party all over the country to join the Kogi chapter to congratulate our leaders,” Nuhu said.

He expressed confidence in the judiciary and promised to continue to believe in the nation’s judiciary as the last hope of a common man.

Nuhu also expressed confidence in the leadership of the party and

called on other members of the party to do same in order to move the party forward.

The chairman, however, urged members of the party to conduct themselves as true democrats and eschew any act that was capable of portraying the party’s image in a bad manner.

He reminded Nigerians that the party was not in a merger with any political party or association in the country. (NAN)

C

risis rocking the Lagos state chapter of People Democratic Party PDPD yesterday thickens as some members under the aegis of the PDP Union Group yesterday urged the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party to speed up plans to conduct fresh congresses in the state.

Members of the Union Group at a General Assembly in Lagos unianimously agreed that fresh congresses be conducted for the state.

Addressing the meeting, Lagos PDP Chieftain and Oluyomi Finnih said that only an all inclusive election could reunite the party in Lagos.

“Indeed, the Lagos PDP remains factionalised and the only way forward is for fresh congresses that would be acceptable to all members and groups within the party.

“We sincerely hope that the NWC will call for quick congresses in Lagos as we do not recognise the existing executive structure in Lagos” Finnih said.

According to him, the congresses that brought in the existing executives were not conducted in accordance with the PDP constitution.

“A group in the party want to dominate everyone and we cannot agree to that.

“The series of congresses held in March 2012 were badly managed and was in fact hijacked by one group” he said.

Finnih noted that the continued factionalisation in the Lagos PDP had been the bane of its inability to win in major elections in the state.

He accused the present party machinery in the state of not caring for the feelings of other groups in the party.

“One main issuing bugging the Lagos PDP is the refusal of one group to bend backwards to accomodate others.

“Some members of the party are holding the party to ransome because of their over bloated connection” he said.

He also said that as a result, the Lagos PDP had remained dormant and static.

“Members of the party are gradually moving to other parties or just sitting at home and hoping for better days to come” he said.

“However, the South West Caretaker Committee of the PDP headed by Chief Isola Filani set up reconcillation committees all over the six states in the zone.

“Part of the recommendations of the committee was a harmonisation ratio of offices in Lagos state of 40; 40; 20, between the establishment (existing executive). Union and Non-Aligned group.

“The committee also recommended that patronages in the state be distributed equitable to cover all groups/factions in the party which is yet to be implemented” he said.

Finnih however added that the PDP could only win the 2015 elections in Lagos with an all inclusive party.

When contacted for reactions on the issue, the Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Taofik Gani said: “we remain one family in Lagos”.

“Our intra family affairs will treated without discomfort to any aggrieved member”

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 39

News Extra

Counsel’s absence stalls ruling on Useni’s suit

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

bsence of counsel representing former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), General Jeremiah Useni (rtd) yesterday stalled the ruling of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on whether or not it has jurisdiction to entertain Useni’s application, seeking an order of mandamus compelling the federal government to release the title documents of five of his property that were confiscated during

President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration in 1999.

Useni’s lawyer, Mr. Victor Odjemu had, in a letter he addressed to the Chief Registrar of the Tribunal asked for an adjournment in the matter that he travelled outside Abuja to attend to a sick brother.

The counsel who apologized to the three-member panel of the Tribunal, headed by Justice Danlami Yakubu Umar, begged that hearing in the matter be adjourned at his instance.

It would be recalled that the

former Minister had approached the Tribunal with a motion seeking an order compelling the federal government to release the title documents of his property that were confiscated between October 4 and December 14, 1999.

But, the federal government, through the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr. Simon Egede, opposed the application on the ground that the Tribunal lacks jurisdiction to grant such orders.

Egede said only a High Court can grant such orders Useni is

asking the Tribunal to grant and consequently advised the Tribunal to refuse the application.

But, in opposition to the preliminary objection raised by the DPP, Useni’s counsel said the jurisdiction of a court is determined by the reliefs of the claimants and that the court will look at whether there is a nexus.

The Tribunal frowned at Useni’s non appearance before the panel since the beginning of the case 13 years ago to answer to the charges preferred against him by the federal government.

But, explaining to the court why Useni was absent, the defence counsel, Odjenu told the Tribunal that his client was on a, “medical emergency,” and presented a medical document showing the health challenges of the former minister to the Tribunal,.

The former FCT Minister is standing trial before the Tribunal over an alleged gross abuse of office by acquiring choice property during his headship of the FCT as well as failure to disclose his assets on assumption of office.

EFCC nabs Bauchi officials over fraud From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

T

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested five staffs of the Bauchi state scholarship board over missing funds from the account of the board.

The chairman of the board, Alhaji Muhammad Kulloma Hardawa disclosed this yesterday while answering question from newsmen in Bauchi, saying that EFCC has commenced investigation. According to him, “sometimes back we noticed certain amount of monies were missing from our bank account, we set up investigation team and five staffers of the board were involved

Bauchi NAWOJ chairperson bags honorary doctorate degree From Ahmed Kaigama,Bauchi

T

he Chairperson of the Bauchi state National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Hajia Kaltume Abdullahi Shall has been conferred with an honorary doctorate degree award.

The award which was conferred on her by the Common Wealth University, Belzie was held in Arabian courtyard hotel Bur, Dubai on July 4, 2013.

Hajia Shall was conferred with the honorary doctorate degree in humanities by the prestigious common wealth university in recognition of her humanitarian service to NAWOJ and the society.

The chairperson expressed appreciation to Almighty Allah for the award conferred on her.

She also thanked all members of NAWOJ, both at the state and national level as well as other media practitioners for all the support and cooperation given to her since she assumed office as the Bauchi state chairperson of NAWOJ. She reiterated her commitment to continue rendering humanitarian services to the association and the country at large.

with some banks officials, we transferred the matter to the EFCC for further investigation and they have commenced investigation over the matter we are waiting for their findings”.

Hardawa who spoke through the Permanent Secretary of the Board, Alhaji Yusuf Yerima said, Governor Isa Yuguda has approved the sum of 425 million for payments of student’s allowances for year 2011/2012 and the board had already commenced payments of the student’s allowances within and outside the country.

He said over 500 students of Bauchi State indigenes were currently studying abroad and enjoying Bauchi state scholarship, adding that the board is making all the necessary arrangement to introduce electronic payment system (e-payment) to reduce malpractices by staff and students and to ensure more sanity by making the payments more transparent and easier.

L-R: President, Patriots for New Nigeria Initiative (PNNI), Abdulhakeem Mustapha, members of PNNI, Abubakar Nuhu-Koko, and Abubakar Timi Simpson, during the PNNI Dialogue on Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Ramadan: Senator distributes gifts From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau

S

enator Kabir Garba Marafa yesterday distributed Ramadan gifts, including assorted food items worth over N30 million to the people of Zamfara Central Senatorial district.

An aide to the Senator who is also the Chairman distribution committee, Usman Muhammad Sani told newsmen in Gusau, the

Zamfara state capital that the idea of sharing the assorted food items was to alleviate the prevailing hardship among the people of the constituency.

According to him, the assorted food items comprises of 1,578 bags of rice, 800 bags of Maize and 250 cartons of milk were already stored to be shared across the four local government areas, Gusau, Tsafe, Bungudu and Maru of the senatorial zone.

Sani also explained that, the beneficiaries of the gesture include orphans, team of religious preachers, males and females as well as Islamic schools, politicians, party supporters and other less privileged persons.

He further maintained that officials as well as supporters of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in the district would share N5.9 million cash as financial assistance.

“Each of the 43 wards that made up the Central Senatorial constituency would get N100,000 and the youth wing in five wards of Gusau would also have one million naira, and the state exco of the party will be given N200,000”, he said and urged people responsible for the sharing of the assorted food items and money, to be God-fearing while handling the assignment, as anybody found wanting would be paid back.

Olofa stool: Students protest dethronement of Oba Esuwoye From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

S

tudents across the six geopolitical zones, under the aegis of National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) and the National coordinator of Offa Student Leaders Forum (OSLF), Comrade Salahudeen A. Lukman have condemned the judgment of the Court of Appeal which dethroned Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II. The students said the judgment of the appellate court,

presided over by Justice Hussein Mukthar was as calculated attempt to destabilize the peace of the community.

The Senate President of the Union, Comrade Salahudeen A. Lukman, who made the position of the students known during a peaceful protest staged around Olofa Palace on Tuesday, urged the Kwara State Chief Judge to sanction the Judges that sat on the matter.

“The student leaders of Offa local government area of Kwara

state have identified the judgment of the Appeal Court as a calculated attempt to destabilize the peace of our dear community. It was a conspiracy between Justice Husseing Mukthar and the enemies of Offa progress in other to divide the good people of Offa”, he said.

The students called on the Chief Judge of Kwara state sanction justice Mukthar for the sake of the integrity and posterity of judiciary in the state.

“The judgment is delivered

out of self\personal opinion without considering the facts and evidences in the judgment of the High Court which had earlier upheld the appointment and the installation of Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II “, the students held.

They noted that during the reign of Oba Esuwoye, Offa town was turned into tourist attraction center stressing that he had completed Offa central mosque, encouraged investors as well empower youths in the state.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAGE 42

Sports

ITTF’s referee doubts Nigeria’s medal hopes in Rio 2016

J

ohn Peters, an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) badge referee, has expressed doubts over the possibility of Nigeria winning any medals at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Peters, also the Technical Director, Lagos State Table Tennis Association, said this in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

Italy-based player tasks NTTF board on sponsorship drive

G

aniyat Ogundele, an Italy-based Nigerian table tennis player, has urged the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) to focus more on securing sponsors to organise competitions.

Ogundele, who plays with Quatro Mori Club of Italy, said witho u t s p o n s o r s h i p programmes it would be difficult to develop the game since sponsorships are synonymous with regular competitions.

“The NTTF should wake up and look for sponsors to give these athletes the opportunity to showcase their talents; they cannot grow without participating in regular competitions. ``Competitions are very vital. They keep athletes in form and help them to assess their level of progress, as well as provide them the opportunity of socialising with other players,’’ she said.

The player urged young players in the country to be dedicated to training, stressing that it was `a road map’ for them to excel in their careers. ``It is only hard work and regular training that can catapult someone to greater heights. Success cannot come by mere desire or dreams.

They must be committed,’’ she urged.

Also, Ogundele called for an update of facilities in the `Knock-Up Hall’ of the National Stadium, Surulere, saying that the hall, as a training venue, was central and accessible to many athletes. ``What I am saying is that there should be modern and sufficient bats and balls at the entrance of the hall, where athletes will have access to them for training’’.

The Italy-based player said she was always glad to be in the country during her offseason, in order to train with upcoming players and to use the opportunity to pass on her experience to them.

She expressed delight at the turn-out of players for training, in spite of the dearth of competitions, describing it as a sign of seriousness on the part of the players.

According to him, the country has lost its continental leadership in the sport because of a lack of regular national competitions from which it identifies talents for grooming.

The referee attributed the country’s lowly p l a c i n g i n the sport to poor exposure for players and as well as the country’s failure to participate in major continental championships.

“This is my personal feeling, it is humanly not possible to

assemble a set of players now and expect them to win at the Olympic level. ``So what I expect is, we assemble talented players now, expose them, take them to play against the type of players that play in Olympics they may not be Chinese for now. ``But let them play against these other players that rub shoulder with China; by this I mean European players, some of them are already in that category with the Chinese.

``We do not expect that even if we were to play against the 20th team of China that we will beat them, no, but let us start from even African countries.’’

Peters said the country needed to secure its top placing in Africa by participating in all continental competitions. ``Egypt is ahead of us now whether or not we like it, because what they put in 18 years back, they are beginning yielding results. And the results

are clearly showing that Egypt is ahead of Nigeria as at today; so if we can raise a set of players that can beat Egypt to start with. ``And to get us to beat European players and how do we do they this. If we have African tournament and we do not take part in such tournament there is no way we can compare our standard with the Egyptian standard.’’

He said for the country to regain its pride of place, the hard work ought to begin now.

AFN will use Youth Games to discover new talents, says T/D

By Patrick Andrew

T

he Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) says it would use the forthcoming National Youth Games to search for fresh talents that would be groomed for subsequent use in

Irene Ekelund of Sweden, who won the female 200m gold

the future.

The Games, scheduled for September is the new innovation of the National Sports Commission (NSC), is meant exclusively for under 17 athletes.

The commissioned introduced it following its decision to throw open the National Sports Festival to both local and foreign-based athletes.

The NSC resolved to make the festival an all-comers’ affairs because it the is zenith of Nigerian sports fiesta and as such should parade the best talents available whether based abroad or within the shores.

Accordingly, Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, the AFN technical director, said that the forthcoming youth fiesta should serve as the breeding ground for fresh talents, and added that it is the intention of the federation to capitalize on it to generate new talents for the country.

Nesiama said the youth Games would serve the desired purpose since only green horns are expected to feature, even as he added that the federation would carefully scout for athletes with prospects and tenable potentials for growth and progress. ``We will immediately use the forthcoming National Youth Games to scout for replacements for the current ones, most of whom are advancing to the junior category,’’ he said.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls that the AFN had prospered from the maiden African Athletics Youth Championships for U-18 athletes. It was held in Warri, Delta state and

the country topped the medal table even as several new prospects were discovered.

The federation had thought the fresh talents would take the world by storm at the IAAF World Youth Championship in Ukraine, but they failed below expectation leading to Nigeria returning without a medal.

According to Nesiama, it appears they were in a hurry to reap hugely from the fledglings so soon after their discovery.

Their dismal performance, he

it, they don’t have it, they don’t really have it. ``You see, I will not come here and starts running down those athletes, it is not their fault, so many things are not right. Most of these athletes; they are going to that international competition for the first time, without international exposure, nothing, it is not magic. ``Someofthemaregoodbutwhen they get to that big stage, they just get scared and they chicken out; and you see they did not perform at their best because they have not been exposed, so that is the problem. ``If they had competed at other competitions with big athletes, it

would have given them this morale booster.’’

Aliu suggested that in subsequent world youth events, athletes should not allow themselves to fall prey to the gimmicks of the Americans, the British and others, saying that psychological pep up was important.

He said that opponents had a way of playing mind games and if their challengers were not psychologically up to the task, they could be intimidated into performing below their capacity. ``IfyouseemostoftheseAmerican athletes, if you see the way they behave, ordinarily, they do not behave like

said, has awakened them from their illusion as they intend to revamp their technical programmes to bring the green horns up to standard.

Nesiama said the federation observed that their peers were not necessarily better than them but had the advantage of better techniques, exposure and concentrated training directed at specific purpose.

Those discovered at the Games are to be assembled and groomed with a view to graduating them to junior category athletes.

Edidion Odiong (312) started well but failed to clinch any medal 400m at the World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine

Aliu says low confidence reason for Nigeria’s poor showing at WYC

D

eji Aliu, a gold medalist at the 2003 All African Games, yesterday attributed lack of confidence and exposure to Nigeria’s poor performance at 8th IAAF World Youth Championship.

Reacting to Nigeria’s dismal performance at the championships held from July 10 to July 14 in Donetsk, Ukraine, where Nigeria failed to win any medal at the end of the events, Aliu said inexperience may have robbed the country of medals.

“One thing I want people to understand is this, for you to be the best in your game, you have to have this thing, this self-confidence, look at

that off-track but all these things they do on track is just to psyche out their opponent. ``You see them, you think they are in super shape, whereas, they are in no shape and you fall for their gimmicks and they take the day. ``So, all these things are things we learn overtime; and I will tell you honestly, it took time for even I get to understandthethingstheyweredoing.’’

Jamaica topped the table with six gold and two bronze medals while Kenya placed second, with four gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

Ethiopia came third with three gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Sports

Wambach still idolises Mia Abby Wambach scores goals for a living. The breaking of Mia Hamm’s 158-goal record was “hanging in the air” for the tall, powerful striker, and in New Jersey late last month, she surpassed it with a towering header at the back post to become the top scorer in the history of the women’s game.

The reigning FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year and two-time Olympic champion spoke candidly to FIFA.com about her 160 international goals, her decade in the game, and the ambivalence she felt about breaking her hero’s record. She now looks ahead to “the big goal” of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the only major honour she’s yet to win, with a calm and measured focus that should keep opposition defenders shivering for the next two years.

Your team-mates seemed maybe more excited than you when the record fell. f you break an individual record it’s because of the greatness that comes before you. I can’t really put in to words the gratitude I feel toward every team-mate I’ve played with in my life, from way back when I was a kid all the way to Megan Rapinoe, who gave me the pass to score the record-breaking goal. I have never once dribbled the whole field and scored a goal by myself. I wouldn’t even have one goal to my name if it weren’t for my team-mates.

All the same, 160 is a lot of goals. What does it feel like looking back on them?

It’s daunting to think about scoring that many. It means I’ve been around the block a few times. There was a lot of sacrifice to get to the level I am right now, but I feel so lucky.

And the big moment came in front of 20,000 fans via a classic Wambach headed goal. What were your immediate feelings when the ball went in?

It was so intense and unbelievable. Everything just came flooding into my brain: family, travel, sacrifice, teammates. My family was there in the stadium too, and that just made it super special. Since I was four years old, my family has supported me in the game. A lot of times, they dreamed for me when I didn’t know how good I could be. They broke the record with me and I was able to celebrate with them on the field. It’s hard to put into word how special that was.

You and Mia Hamm were team-mates for about a year before her retirement. Did you talk to her after the game?

We were texting right after the game. She was, and in some ways still is, a huge mentor for me. I didn’t realise when I was young and we were playing together just how much impact and influence our relationship would end up having on me.

What does it feel like to have your name above hers in the scoring list?

When I look in the mirror I don’t see a person who’s made the kind of impact that Mia Hamm made on the game. She’s still my idol, the greatest player and the greatest team-mate. She achieved so much in so many different ways. What she did for women’s soccer can’t be measured. She was happy for me, and now I can’t wait for someone to break my record.

It almost sounds like

I

Abby Wambach there was a part of you that didn’t want to break it.

In a perfect world, and if I still didn’t have a World Cup to win, I would have retired the day I tied her. But she, more than anyone, taught me that there’s always another chapter to be written. It’s about the team and the game, not about me.

The women from the early years of the US national team talk a lot about a special harmony and responsibility.

Is that still alive in the team?

I learned from the best, from Julie Foudy and Mia and Kristine Lilly. They really hammered home the idea that you need to leave the game in better shape than you found it. We have a real responsibility as the US women’s national team. We were a top team from the start and we have to stay there, to take it seriously.

You still see the US women as pioneers pushing the women’s game forward?

Look around and you can see the influence in teams like Japan, Germany, Sweden, Canada.

There are a lot of teams who are

Mia Hamm achieving things now that they weren’t before. They are investing in the women’s game. In most of the top ten teams in the world, the players are all professional now, and that matters. Back in the day, you had players like Joy Fawcett, Mia and Julie Foudy having to wash their own jerseys.

The next FIFA Women’s World Cup, in Canada in 2015, will see the field of teams increase from 16 to 24. Is this the next step in the progression of the women’s game?

There will be eight more teams, and maybe, technically, they won’t be at the same level as the established teams, but that’s where they’ll start building. They can begin to move their way up.

We are the US women’s national team, but we’re also playing for the game all over the world. I talk to other national team captains from other countries and they always ask me: ‘how did you get your federation to start treating you better?’ We have a responsibility to show the way.

Looking ahead to Canada

2015, you’ll have to get there with a new coach. How has former Australia boss Tom Sermanni fared since taking over from Pia Sundhage last year?

He brings a different expertise, a different kind of knowledge than we’ve seen before. He’s still trying to find his feet and we, as a team, are trying to fit in with his way of doing things. Back in Australia he had a different talent level, a different budget, a different everything to what he has now here in the States. There’s a learning curve on both sides.

He’s been experimenting with line-ups, formations, and playing some players in unfamiliar positions.

He’s showing us that he’s confident in his own vision, that he’s interested in raising the level. He wants to play the game beautifully, just like Pia [Sundhage] did. But he also wants to add that tenacity and toughness that American athletes are known for.

A ninth Algarve Cup title in March seems to point to

things moving in the right direction.

He [Sermanni] used the Algarve Cup to assess players, and he was forward-thinking about it. He was asking big questions like: ‘Do I have players playing in the right positions?’, ‘Will my older players be able to go 90 minutes at the World Cup?’ or ‘Do I need to start thinking about younger players?’ He’s a big-picture guy.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is the one big trophy you’ve yet to win. How large does 2015, likely your last FIFA World Cup, loom for you right now?

I’m not spending every second thinking about the World Cup, but it’s always in my mind when I make choices and decisions.

It’s my big goal, and there’s a process, a right way to achieve it. I need to schedule myself. I’m going to be 35 in 2015, so I can’t be going a million miles an hour right now. I need to ebb and flow myself into the best shape of my life. I have to be smart about it and not stress about the what-ifs.

PAGE 46

PEOPLES DAILY| WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Sports

NCF commends senior team over victory

By Albert Akota

T

he Nigeria Cricket Federation, (NCF), says the success recorded by the senior team in their friendly matches in United Kingdom is an indication that the team is ready to take on their opponents when the World ICC Division Six league finally bowled off this weekend in London.

Victor Anichebe, yet to reconsider future with Super Eagles

Anichebe ignoring my ‘phone calls, says Keshi

T

he Chief Coach of the Super Eagles Stephen Keshi has vowed not to beg Everton of England striker Victor Anichebe to play for Nigeria He said yesterday at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) headquarters in Abuja that all his effort to speak to the former England youth international have proved abortive.

Anichebe had sevieral injury problems including a groin problem on his last appearance for Nigeria in a 2-0 win over Madagascar in 2011.

“Of course, Anichebe is a great striker. He is young, strong and he can give several options in attack. I plan to visit him in England and talk to him face to face but his not pinking calls.

“I have tried all means to reach him but no way, In the past” we talk on telephone but I feels it is better for me to speak to him one on one but his not willing to talk to me.

“I know he has recently put his international career on hold so he could concentrate more at Everton but we have to put his performance in national assignment into consideration that is while I am considering him.

“I can’t beg him to play for Nigeria. If he changes his mind and make himself available to the Super Eagles good but I can’t beg him because he’s not bigger than the country, he said.

Keshi is considering Anichebe’s inclusion for the Nelson Mandela Challenge match against South Africa next month.

Speaking in Abuja, chairman, NCF Media Committee, Kayode Adeniyi, said the Nigerian team has sent a signal to their opponents that their victory in April in Gaborone, Botswana, where they defeated their counterparts to win the Division Seven League, was not a joke.

“Our African Nations Cup victory in Gaborone is the first

of its kind for the country and this has clearly shown that we are destined to reach the top in the Cricket World.

“The board of the federation led by Emeka Onyeama has given the team every needed morale support to go and win the division six League”, Adeniyi stated.

The Victory on Sunday in Cheltenham over Herefordshire Cricket Club brings to three matches won since arriving in United Kingdom on the 5th of this month. Ñigeria Chased 184 runs in 44 overs

in a 50 overs game. The team won by 3 wickets, Herefordshire batted first and scored 184 runs all out.

“It is also on record that Nigeria defeated Brockhampton Cricket Club by 2 wickets in the first friendly match. They had also beaten Wiltshire Quarries Cricket Club by 3 wickets in their second match”.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian team will continue its preparations for other friendlies this week against Notterne CC and Free Forester CC, both in London Clubs.

Referee calls for stiffer sanctions for racism Real tops Forbes’ most valuable teams list

T

he referee who stopped play between AC Milan and Roma earlier this year due to racist chants from the crowd, Gianluca Rocchi, has called for greater action to be taken against offenders.

Rocchi stopped the match between Milan and the Giallorossi on May 12 after abusive chants from the stands were directed at Rossoneri trio KevinPrince Boateng, Sulley Muntari and Mario Balotelli.

The official has now been awarded with the Purple Card fair play award by Fiorentina and hopes that his actions will lead to a reduction in raciallyaggravated incidents in football.

“Several times [during the match] the players asked me to

suspend the game and understand their discomfort,” the 39-year-old was quoted as saying by La Repubblica.

“I knew that if there were problems, I could suspend the game. It was a small gesture that could also have an impact on the future.

“After suspending the game, I received appreciation for the gesture by both players and the leaders of both clubs.”

Rocchi then concluded by demanding stricter rules when it comes to dealing with individuals found guilty of racism in the sport, adding: “The world of football should do their best to isolate certain people.”

R

eal Madrid tops Forbes’ list of 50 most valuable sports teams, with Manchester United and Barcelona holding the next two spots.

Forbes says Real Madrid is worth $3.3 billion. The Spanish power moved up a spot from No 2 last year.

Man United, which was No 1 last year, is worth $3.17 million. Barcelona, Real Ma-

drid’s fierce rival and Spanish League champions last season, is worth $2.6 billion.

The New York Yankees are fourth with a value of $2.3 billion and the Dallas Cowboys are fifth at $2.1 billion.

Thirty of the 32 NFL teams made the list (onforb. es/15HuUAm ) , along with seven baseball teams and seven soccer teams.

IBF gives Moruti title defence deadline

M

oruti Mthalane has been given three months to defend his IBF flyweight title against Silvio Olteanu of Spain.

“Exactly when and where the fight will take place remains a mystery,” Mthalane’s trainer, Nick Durandt, said over the weekend.

The IBF’s purse bidding for the fight will be held in New York on Thursday. Only then will Mthalane and his handlers know which promoters will stage the bout.

“We’re ready to fight tomorrow if necessary,” Durandt said.

Johannesburg-based Mthalane has held the IBF title since 2009 but he has not fought since stopping Ricardo Nunes in the eighth round in Panama City last September.

He has become frustrated by the lack of action.

Rated as the fourth best flyweight in the world by Ring magazine, he has a professional record of 29 wins from 31 fights.

He has defended his title only four times in four years.

Durandt blames it on the reluctance of promoters “to make any decent offers”.

“Fighters of Moruti’s ability are not getting their just rewards,” the trainer said. “Ideally, he should be defending his title in South Africa but, mainly for financial reasons, three of his title bouts took place overseas.”

The champion’s opponents enjoyed “all the advantages that go with fighting in front of a home crowd.”

Durandt has had discussions with two SA promoters who had shown interest in staging the fight between Mthalane and Olteanu. “I believe two promoters have also expressed an interest to stage the fight in Spain.”

Olteanu, ranked No 3 by the IBF, lives in Spain but was born in Romania.

“We’ll take the fight wherever it is held. Moruti has shown he has the talent and nerves to hold on to his title, Durandt said.”

Moruti Mthalane, must defend title within three months

PAGE 47

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Some Interesting Facts

O

n December 16th 1811 the mighty Mississippi river began to flow backwards due to a powerful earthquake.

• Fires in the forest have been documented to move much faster up hill than down hill.

• Did you know that your brain has no pain receptors or pain fibers and the brain it’s self cannot feel? Your brain cannot even feel pain. Although headaches are still not all the way understood, one reason it’s believed you feel headaches is because the skull is surrounded by what’s called meninges or blood vessels which do have pain receptors.

• Human brains are estimated to be 70 – 75% h2o.

• Approximately 1 out of every 50,000 people who visit this website send us an email about interesting facts. We enjoy reading them and sometimes use them, thank you.

• Most people shed between 50 to 100 hairs every day. The question is, where do they go?

• With mammals, no animal has a longer pregnancy term than that of the african elephant which is documented at an average of 22 months.

• The Frilled Shark (Chlamydoselachusanguineus) may have a gestation period “pregnancy” of up to

3.5 years or around 42 months.

• Some sharks lose over 30,000 teeth in a lifetime.

• In 2008 the journal of Fish Biology confirmed through DNA testing the 2nd case of a virgin female aquarium shark having a pup. This is known as asexual reproduction or parthenogenesis.

• During world war 2 the Oscar award given out by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was made of wood because most common metals were very scarce.

• Breast fed babies score slightly higher on mental

Leisure

development tests than ones on formula.

• People who apply sunscreen to themselves generally apply 50-75% less than the recommended amount according to the Archives of Dermatology.

• The color of a hens earlobes will usually determine the color of the egg shell. Farmers know hens with red or darker colored earlobes are most likely to lay brown eggs and hens with lighter colored or white earlobes will usually lay white eggs.

• There are 722 miles of subway track in New York city.

• Hartsdale New York has a pet cemetery with

more than 12,000 pets buried.

• Abraham Lincoln died at age 56.

• Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th in the year 1809.

• Only one state in the United States contains only one syllable, the state of Maine.

• Everyone knows the dog in the movie “Wizard of Oz” as Toto, the dogs actual name given to it by it’s master was Terry.

• This conclud d e s t he he 105th fact on n you y o u r h om omee page off in intt e re rest stin in n g fac facts but do don n’t sttop p now, re read ad da coup co uplle mor oree page pagess iff you ca an. Ther here’ss a lot of cool stuf st ufff to uf to lea earrn.

Say what?

SUDODKU

PHOTO OF THE DAY

On fire: Kawika Singson was shooting in the volcanoes of Hawaii, which was so hot his tripod and shoes caught alight.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

www.peoplesdailyng.com

. . . putting the people first

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

SPORTS LATEST

Minister directs NFF to sanction clubs indebted to players

S

p o r t s Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, has directed the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), to compel all league clubs - professional or amateur - indebted to players to pay them or be sanctioned.

The minister gave the directive after a meeting with the leaderships of the League Management Company (LMC) and the other league boards yesterday in Abuja.

Abdullahi, who was angry after being told that several clubs - including premiership clubswere owing their players backlog of salaries said: “This has to stop. We cannot behave as if we live in a jungle.

Every kobo owed the players must be paid. Players must have proper contracts,” the minister said stressing that the NFF must made them play or impose sanctions on these clubs.

Peoples Daily Sports recalls 16 premiership teams are indebted to their players. As a result teams such as Rangers, Enyimba, Heartland, Akwa United, Sharks, Dolphins, among others had at one time or the other suspended training by embarking on strike actions. It yielded little or no dividends.

Affirming this development, LCM chairman, Nduka Irabor said: “I have pictures of the living condition of some of our footballers; it is shameful and makes mockery of the professional league. It is no wonder that our players keep going overseas to seek greener pastures.”

On the part of the LCM, he said several measures were being considered to improve the welfare of footballers including implementing a minimum wage.

“By the rules, no club should pay a footballer less than N100,000.

Although that may not be very sufficient with inflation, we will start by implementing that,” Irabor said.

The chairman of the LMC also spoke of the progress the LMC had made, including designing a corporate governance structure for the league administration, producing a guidelines for restructuring of clubs to function as legal, corporate and commercial entities, and ensuring that premier League clubs have feeder teams.

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QUOTABLE QUOTE I heard that some Christian groups were reacting negatively to the Boko Haram announcement of a ceasefire. Any Christian who reacts negatively is part of the group benefitting from this crisis situation.

— Bishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon of the Anglican Communion, Kaduna Archdiocese

Port-Harcourt: 1, Abuja: 0 A

racy editorial by the Sunday Trust headlined, “President, Call Your Men to Order,” caught my attention as one more in a long line of similar editorials written recently by a couple of newspapers such as The Guardian, Peoples Daily, ThisDay and The Sun, all of them saying “Mr. Jonathan, you are wrong on Rivers.” I could not but come away worrying about the future of the honeymoon between this government and the press.

Has the President lost touch with public opinion? Hear the Sunday Trust: “Many eminent Nigerians have condemned the events in Rivers State and President Jonathan’s complicity in them.

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze, former Bar Association President, Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, and prominent lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, all joined in the condemnations,” If the climate of opinion against the President in the mainstream media is bad, it is worse in the new media where Dr. Jonathan has effectively been chased out of the social media. He hardly tweets, if at all he does, these days.

Another leader would have paused to ask questions about why things are going wrongly for him.

A local proverb says that “the one who wants to come out of the hole must first of all stop digging himself deeper”. The President’s response to his abysmal showing in the battle for public opinion, a new report just said, is to have his strategists throw money into this problem.

This report says a good section of Minister Sama’ila Sambawa’s hotel, the Sigma Apartments on Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse, Abuja, is now housing tens or hundreds of internet-savvy young men who are being housed and fed there for the purpose of using the internet to manufacture public opinion in favour of the President.

A primary target of this internet war is Governor Rotimi Amaechi

“

311 689 292 327 454

MUSINGS By

Garba Shehu garshehu@yahoo.co.in

President Gooodluck Jonathan

Gov. Rotimi Amaechi

of Rivers state, who must be made to look bad. A lady who said she sighted the document behind the scheme to simulate or forge online public opinion said a hundred of such young men will be hired and housed in hotels for the same purpose, in all the 36 state capitals of the federation.

The problem with the strategy is that telling a lie one hundred times doesn’t make it the truth.

To convince Nigerians that they are safe, they must themselves feel safe at home and on the streets.

Nobody will believe you when you say you improved electricity when the bulbs don’t light up.

How can you make sense talking about job creation when we have our sons and daughters, cousins and near relations coming to ask for bus and taxi fares, roaming city streets looking for work to do?

Government can make outrageous

claims on these as a measure of the lack of accountability in our system but as the Yoruba say in one of their rich proverbs, “if the one being told the story does not know that he is being told a lie, the one telling the story knows that it is a lie”.

The Nigerian mass media, both old and new, must be held in justifiable esteem for their critical stance against the current engagement of the First Family against the democratically elected government of Rivers state. This is not the way to change a government in a democracy. The action of the police backed by the Presidency in Rivers state is capable of truncating the Fourth Republic if allowed to fester. Terrorists planning more attacks on our country need no more than watch the video aired by Channels TV in the evening that five emboldened members attempted to take control of a parliament of

The Nigerian mass media, both old and new, must be held in justifiable esteem for their critical stance against the current engagement of the First Family against the democratically elected government of Rivers state. This is not the way to change a government in a democracy. The action of the police backed by the Presidency in Rivers state is capable of truncating the Fourth Republic if allowed to fester. Terrorists planning more attacks on our country need no more than watch the video aired by Channels TV in the evening that five emboldened members attempted to take control of a parliament of 32 elected members.

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32 elected members. Terrorists have reasons to feel emboldened after seeing that ugly spectacle on TV. Terrorists strike when there is intelligence failure or as in the case of Port Harcourt, the government which controls the police shows the way.

I note that since the incident, the spectacular media showing of the Rivers State government has remained unmatched by the federal government. Dr. Doyin Okupe whose turf it is to respond to these matters could only muster words that are abusive.

He had my admiration when he served creditably as spokesman for President Olusegun Obasanjo.

At the time of his appointment, the media community felt much insulted that a medical doctor, not a professional journalist, had been appointed to such key government position. But Doyin steeped himself in the job, ignoring all criticism and in the end did a better job of it than most of those so-called professionals who held the job.

But on the dispute with Rivers, it is Ebim Semenitari, the information commissioner 1, Doyin Okupe 0.

Doyin doesn’t need to orchestrate an hypocrisy theory to explain media attacks against the President. Hausas say “if you eat mangoes, flies will follow: throw away the mango if you don’t want the flies”. No matter what the President says, the media will always offer criticism because that is their job. They will even twist his words and put meanings which were not intended.

The media will always blow up matters. The President is the President and this goes with territory. If citizen Babagana, Baba Karami or Baba Kekere speaks, the media will not even find it worthwhile to analyze. If Dr. Okupe doesn’t have any thing to say; no defence to offer, he should just remain silent. Another sad role in the whole of this crisis is that of Minister Nyesom Wike. Wike was the Chief of Staff to Governor Amaechi before he was appointed as minister. Now an Abuja man, Wike has realized that his seat could decisively tilt the balance in 2015, not only in Rivers but in the country as a whole. When he came to Abuja, it was very much in his capacity as Amaechi’s trusted lieutenant. Turncoats don’t impress Nigerians.

As for the continuing criticism of Abuja by the entire gamut of the media and public opinion, there is no better way to cleanse the country of criminal malcontents who, because they have money and muscle, think that they can throw out democratically elected state governments without going through an election.

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Kano office: Plot 3, Zaria Road, Opposite Kano State House of Assembly. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: +234 814 292 9046. Cell: +234 802 443 2099; 803 7007 759. e-mail: contact@peoplesdailyng.com; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141