Peoples Daily Newspaper, Tuesday, July 18, 2012 by Peoples Media Limited

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 8 No. 83

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

. . . putting the people first

Shaaban 28, 1433 AH

N150

Excess crude account: FG, states to resolve dispute out of court By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

he National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday agreed to resolve the grey areas in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) litigation between the

federal government and and state governors. Briefing State House correspondents after the NEC meeting, CBN Governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said the Council directed both tiers of

government to harmonise their positions in order to arrive at an out of court settlement. The NEC comprises the 36 state governors, the Ministers of Finance, National Planning, the Attorney General of the

Federation and the Central Bank Governor. The Governors had dragged the federal government to the Supreme Court, challenging the latter’s decision to transfer one billion dollars from the Excess

Crude Account to the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF). The apex court had given both parties up till September 2, 2012 to resolve the grey areas and report back to the court, following Contd on Page 2

Jonathan blasts PDP . . . says electoral defeats its own doing By Lawrence Olaoye

resident Goodluck Jonathan yesterday attributed the failure of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win most of the

elections held so far on unresolved internal crises in most of the 36 states. Speaking against the background of the party’s loss in the Edo state governorship election to the opposition Action

Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the President at the PDP’s 60th National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at its headquarters in Abuja, said members of the party “are the ones voting the opposition into

offices in states where it has lost elections.” To stem the tide of losses to the opposition, the President said the party would have to formally adopt its amended constitution in order to make

all its recommended organs work to reduce internal friction and tension. However, Jonathan noted that the present republic would have collapsed but for the PDP Contd on Page 2

Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (left), displaying his Certificate of Return after its presentation by the National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Colonel Mohammed Hammanga (rtd) (right), yesterday in Benin City, the state capital.

Reps urge FG to review Tokunbo policy >> PAGE 4

At least 3 killed as militants deploy RPGs in Jos >> PAGE 3

Tax board slashes number plates prices >> PAGE 6

Rift between Bauchi govt, parents of boy who lost sex organs >> PAGE 7

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

Op.Ed

Letters

Opinion

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

Motoring

Property

Arts

We’re winning war against Boko Haram, says Army Chief From Agaju Madugba

he Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieut-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, says the Army is winning the war against Boko Haram though he admits its insurgency is still a challenge. He spoke in a message he sent on the occasion of the Nigerian Army’s 2012 Combat Support Arms Training Week (COSAT) which opened yesterday at Kachia, Kaduna state. Chief of Policy and Plans at the Army Headquarters, Major-Gen. Olakunle Akinyemi, represented him. Ihejirika said “the threat posed by the Boko Haram terrorist group is a challenge

we all must come together to overcome. “Though the battle is gradually being won, we must remain focused and proactive at all times. The “Nigerian Army of the 21st century must have the capability to respond effectively to the growing number of new military missions and tasks, such as internal security, disaster management and peace support operations. “Above all, we need to transform in order to adjust to our own internal situations.” In his own message, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of Gombe state praised the Nigerian Army for intervening

to check the Boko Haram insurgency in his state, noting that terrorists would have “demolished Gombe, the state capital if not for the quick and timely intervention of the Nigerian Army. “The terrorists were well armed, strategically placed, highly equipped, highly mobile and highly communicative. “We witnessed that when they were bombing our police stations in the heart of Gombe; on the streets you will not know when somebody will just use the gun, shoot you and get away with it. “But when the army flooded the town, with troops, courtesy of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Chief of Army Staff,

these attacks have been brought under control.” Earlier in his opening remarks, Commander of NACA, Major-Gen. Amnon Kalayi Kwaskebe, noted that the asymmetric nature of today’s threats and their implications underscores the need for training to enable the army brainstorm on how best to wage the current war against terrorism. With the theme “The Changing roles of the Nigerian Army Combat Support Arms in the face of Contemporary Security Challenges,” Kwaskebe said that “these challenges demand that we train continuously so as to attain the highest standard of professionalism.”

Jos as different from that sectarian insurgency just as he assured that “stakeholders are working hard to resolve the problem in the Plateau.” Jonathan told the PDP NEC members that members of his cabinet would take turn to address the stakeholders, beginning with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki. According to him, key ministers including those of Finance and Agriculture would be made to address the next NEC about the performance of the government. Speaking earlier, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, who presented his agenda to the NEC, stated that the party

needed to “accept ideological norms explicitly” to change Nigerians’ wrong perception about political democracy. He said, “Power acquisition and struggles for succession within the PDP has become a source of worry as a result of deliberate strangulation of the party’s constitution to suit some personal agenda. “Lack of disciplinary actions has been identified as the genesis of the disregard of the party’s constitution while resistance to internal democracy cannot be ruled out as another phenomenon experienced in the management of party affairs and all of us have agreed to respect and protect the party’s constitution.”

Jonathan blasts PDP

Again, Kaduna reviews curfew, Page 4

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

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Contd from Page 1 which he said was being criticized for its robustness. According to him, the PDP provides the necessary political pedestal that stabilizes the polity. He said “We believe that if we do not have a party as robust as the PDP, probably, the republic would have collapsed. “We witnessed what happened in the first republic. Because we witnessed what happened in the first republic, we know the circumstances that led to the collapse of the first republic, and the second. “We know what is happening in other African countries. If the ruling party over intimidates and over

imposes, using the weight of the federal government and the citizens’ revolt, it weakens the political system and creates confusion and instability. “But the PDP, even though we control the federal government, we operate a system that even the opposition, even flies higher than us. “They abuse us more, but we allow it. And it is the PDP that is handling the affairs of the country; that is stabilizing the democracy in the country.” While pointing out that insecurity remains the major challenge facing the country, the President noted that the activities of the Boko Haram sect have been brought under control. He isolated the crisis in

Excess crude account: FG, states to resolve dispute out of court Contd from Page 1 the federal government’s request for out of court settlement. Sanusi said a sub-committee set up to work out the modality for the out-of-court settlement has submitted an interim report which was discussed by NEC. The major issues in contention, according to him, included the excess crude account, the signature bonuses, collection cost, waivers, concessions, dividends and internally generated revenue (IGR). Other issues, according to Sanusi, are, CBN charges, NLG dividends, proceeds on sale of government properties, privatization proceeds, establishment and operation of federation account and incidental matters. “The decision of NEC is that within two weeks, the lawyers should finalise the positions and the Ministry of Finance and the Governors should sit and agree

and at the next NEC meeting, we should be able to get a solution. “This solution is important because the Supreme Court has given us till September 2 for an out-of-court settlement to be reached. If it is not reached then, the trial will continue. But from all indications, both parties are willing to arrive at an understanding of what is due to each party and also an understanding of how the indebtedness of any party to the other will be settled,” Sanusi said. The NEC also justified the federal government’s preference for borrowing from international institutions, saying such loans are good to grow the economy as they attract zero percent interest. Governor Peter Obi of Anambra state told State House correspondents that Nigerians should encourage borrowing for production. “If you borrow for production, you will be able to help the

economy and create jobs. So we should encourage borrowing for production. What people are complaining about is that it should not be used for consumption,” Obi said. Minister of State for Finance, Alhaji Lawan Yerima Ngama added that the country’s debt profile is not too bad since it is below the international benchmark of 40 percent of the GDP. According to him, the country’s debt is 17 percent of the GDP, the loans are offered virtually at zero percent interest. “Actually, Nigeria indebtedness is not a problem. Currently, domestic and foreign debts put together constitute only 17 percent of our GDP.” He continued: “If you look at our total debts, only about $5billion is foreign and the debts are 100 percent concessional. “These are loans on which we pay actually zero interest, these

are loans that we get for 40 years. The bulk of our debts are domestic debts. Our only problem is the interest rate which is about 17 percent.” Ngama said the finance ministry will provide information about the facilities that state governments can access, especially those under the International Development Agency (IDA) as well as the borrowing plan for the next three years. “A state will now apply for whatever project it wants to finance with the funds and this will be articulated and a meeting will be called with the National Assembly for the defence of these facilities and after approval then, the state will access”, he explained. According to him, the Federal Government is determined to reduce the domestic debts because of the high interest rate.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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At least, 3 killed as militants deploy RPGs in Jos From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

nknown assailants fired a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) yesterday at Nurul Islamiya High School in KeranaBukuru near Jos South local government council secretariat, killing a nine-year-old boy identified as Rufai Umar and injured three other persons. Peoples Daily gathered that the incident occurred at about

10:30am when the attackers targeted the school, ostensibly missed their target and hit the boy. Speaking to our reporter on the incident, the secretary of the Bukuru Elders Committee, Bala Baba Mohammed, confirmed that two adults identified as Yusuf and Waje were found dead in the vicinity a few minutes later. He said one of the victims had bullet wounds while the other was

harked by a sharp object. In another attack last night, a widow and three of her children were killed by unknown gunmen in Sabon Gida kanap in Bukuru, Jos South LGA. Barely six hours after the school attack, two other attacks involving the use of RPGs were again launched in Bukuru. One of the targets of the attack, Captain Salisu Mustapha of the STF in Jos told our reporter, was

the STF Sector 5 headquarters while the other was the clerks’ quarters. He said in both cases, no casualty was recorded as the grenades exploded mid air. Both targets were close to the Bukuru market in Jos South LGA. He added the STF had commenced investigation as well as cordoned the area. Explaining what an RPG is, Capt. Mustapha said “It is an anti tank weapon used against earth surfaces, buildings and even vehicles”. He said there was tension in Bukuru following the incident but the situation was calming down.

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Aviation, Mrs. Ann Ene-Ita, Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, and Director, Infrastructure, African Commission, Mr. Baba Moussa, during the opening ceremony of Ministerial Conference on Aviation Safety in Africa, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

N32.8bn pension scam: Court to rule on suspects’ application Oct. 9

n Abuja High Court has adjourned to Oct. 9 a ruling on an application to quash the criminal charges against three civil servants accused of stealing N32.8 billion from the Police Pension Fund. The accused who filed the motions are Atiku Kigo (a former permanent secretary), Mrs. Veronica Onyegbula (cashier) and Sani Zira (ICT officer). The three, who are charged along with Esai Dangabar (director), Ahmed Wada (director) and John Yusufu (assistant director), are members of staff of the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, but currently on suspension. They were arraigned by the EFCC on a 16-court charge bordering on conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. EFCC said the alleged fraud was perpetuated between January 2009 and June 2011. It will be recalled that the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) on April 14 suspended the six civil servants over the

allegations, with effect from March 29. At the resumed hearing of the case before Justice Mohamed Talba of the FCT High Court yesterday, Kigo (second accused), asked the court through Ricky Tarfa, his counsel, to quash the charges. Tarfa told the court that his client wanted the court to quash the charges on the grounds that the said offence for which he was standing trial happened before he was seconded to the Office of the Head of Service. He said the EFCC could not charge him for something he knew nothing about because he was transferred to the Office of the Head of Service in May 2011. Also in her application, Onyegbula (fifth accused), through her counsel, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), asked the court to quash the charges against her on the grounds that there was no evidence against her. In his submission, Fagbemi told the court that his client was not a signatory to any pension account

and that the EFCC could not prove to the court that she signed any document from the pension office. He also argued that his client was just “an errand girl” who got trapped and that since she was not in position of authority at the pension office, she could not have influenced any decision on money. Mr. John Chindo, the counsel to Zira (sixth accused), in his submission, insisted that the EFCC did not have sufficient evidence to convict his client. Chindo insisted that there was no nexus linking him to the commission of the alleged offence. In a counter affidavit, EFCC counsel Rotimi Jacobs, urged the court to dismiss the application filed by the three accused. Jacobs told the court that the accused were just “employing delay tactics” to frustrate the quick disposal of the case before the court. Consequently, Justice Talba adjourned the case to Tuesday, Oct. 9 for ruling on the applications to quash the charges against the three. (NAN)

Ibadan flood: 3 dead bodies recovered, 2 still missing, says police From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

gainst the statement that no life was lost during the last Saturday's heavy downpour, the Oyo State Police Command yesterday confirmed that three dead bodies have been recovered from Dandaru river bank in Ibadan while two others are still missing. The state police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Bisi Ilubanafo who disclosed this to newsmen, said on Sunday afternoon, the case of five people missing had been reported at Ikolaba Police Station by their relatives. She said two men of the state police command from 'SARS' department were among the victims of flood disaster. The police spokesperson identified the victims as Sergeant Ojo Adelusi, Sergeant Sunday Ijebo, Mr. Ope Ogungbemi, Mr. Sunkanmi Iyiola - 21 years old, and Mr. Wole Iyiola- 24 years old who was said to have had his wedding introduction 11 days earlier. Peoples Daily gathered that both Sunkanmi and Wole Iyiola are of the same parents while the two officers were just friends. Further investigation revealed that, late on Saturday, the five victims visited a popular night club spent few minutes and changed their mind for another popular joint around Ring Road in the city before the flood caught up with them around Awolowo junction and washed them into Dandaru river.

Lagos moves to imortalise Fela From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

he Lagos state government has concluded plans to rehabilitate the popular Kalakuta Republic at Pepple Street, Ikeja, into a museum to honour and immortalise the late Afro-beat Icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti like other musical giants such as Jamaican legend, Bob Marley and the Great Beatles. Speaking at his Alausa office, the Lagos state Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Oladisun Holloway, said government decided to immortalise Fela because he remains one of the greatest musicians of Africa. He added that though the Afro Beat legend was not from Lagos, the present administration is determined to honour him because of his immense contributions to the growth and development of Afro Beat music all over the world. Disclosing that work had since commenced at the proposed museum site, Holloway expressed hope that the opening of the museum would coincide with the celebration of the annual

Felabration Festival slated for October this year. Reiterating government’s determination to open up new tourist destinations in the state, the commissioner explained that the proposal to turn Kalakuta into a museum was initiated by the Kuti family and sent to government for support and implementation. Holloway revealed that the museum, when completed, would serve as a reference point and a database for the late icon’s life and times. Holloway stressed that government has no commercial interest in the project, but to make the museum serve as a major tourist destination in the state. On plans to create other tourist sites and the rehabilitation of existing ones, the commissioner said government had completed the rehabilitation of the Freedom Park in Lagos Island, adding that attention was being paid to the preservation of the Slave Relics in Badagry. He added that the ministry would not relent in its determination to make Lagos the preferred tourist destination in West Africa.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 4

$620,000 subsidy probe: Police detain Peoples Daily’s crime reporter

he Special Task Force Unit (STF) of the Nigeria Police investigating the case of alleged bribery case to members of House of Representatives Adhoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy, yesterday, detained Peoples Daily Crime Correspondent, Lambert Tyem for about six hours. The police who had invited the reporter to their office claimed the reporter had committed an offence, alleging that he had conspired to obtain privileged information on Hon. Farouk Lawan case. The reporter who was detained from 11.30 am yesterday was later released on bail at about 5.30pm to report back on Monday 23rd July by 10am to face criminal case of conspiracy and divulging of official secret. The police however said they worried over how Mr. Tyem was getting privileged information on every step of investigation into Lawan case.

By Richard Ihediwa

draft law seeking to impose property tax on house owners in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) yesterday passed through second reading in the Senate with the upper house assuring that checks will be put in place to ensure that the new tax regime does not result in increase in rents in the territory. Also passed through second reading was a bill seeking to establish the FCT Board of Internal Revenue to enable the FCT administration collect taxes from Abuja residents. Senators at plenary yesterday backed the two bills with lawmakers saying they would help drive development in the city. Presenting his lead debate on the property tax bill, its sponsor,

Abuja landlords to pay rents ...As Senate mulls tax board for FCT Senator Smart Adeyemi said the tax will be drawn annually from property owners and not from tenants adding that revenue generated will be directed to the provision of services that have direct bearing on residents of the city especially in the areas of security, education among others.

On the bill seeking for the establishment of the Federal Capital Revenue Board, Adeyemi said there was need boost the generation of internally generated revenue for the FCT especially in the face of dwindling federal allocations adding that the board will help streamline the administration of the taxes and

eliminate multiple taxation and activities of tax and levy cartels already operating in the city. The bill, he said seeks to remove the responsibility of collecting taxes in the FCT from the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), which collects revenues for a four percent fee and vest it on the proposed board.

Obey court order, FG tells Okorocha By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

he Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, has asked Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state to obey a court order and reinstate the sacked local government chairmen. The AGF, in a statement said: “The attention of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to the lingering controversy that has trailed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Owerri Judicial Division in Appeal No. CA/OW/ 215/2011, Barr Enyinna Onuegbu & 26 Ors v. Attorney General of Imo state & 3 Ors dated 5th July 2012 which declared as illegal and unconstitutional the action of the Governor of Imo State, purporting to dissolve the democratically elected Local Government Councils in the State before the expiration of their constitutionally guaranteed tenure. “It is apposite to note that section 7 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, guarantees the existence of a system of democratically elected Local Government Councils throughout the federation. The judgment of the Court of Appeal aforementioned has only confirmed this position... “In the light of the foregoing and in consonance with this administration’s avowed commitment to the enthronement of the rule of law in the federation, I hereby call on Imo state government and all relevant agencies of government to abide by the judgment of the Court of Appeal and ensure that the judgment of the Court of Appeal is given its full effect”, the chief law officer added.

L-R: Katsina state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, Rivers state Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Ekiti state Governor, Chief Kayode Fayemi, Oyo state Governor, Senator Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, Minister of State for FCT, Chief Olajumoke Akinjide, Gombe state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, and Anambra state Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, during the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

AU supports Nigeria’s candidature for ICAO By Muhammad Sada

he aviation ministry has expressed delight and appreciation on the decision of the African Union (AU) to endorse Dr. Bernard Olumuyiwa Aliyu, a Nigerian representative at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) as president of the body. This was disclosed by the Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren

during an African ministerial meeting on aviation safety, which kicked-off yesterday with ministers of aviation and DG’s of civil aviation authorities. The AU, represented by its director of infrastructure, Baba Mouss, who expressed appreciation to the group that has been contributing to safety in Aviation on the continent, noted that it is the first time that Africa has attained this candidacy. The event, with the theme:

Mark mourns Attah Igala, commiserates with Etsu Nupe By Joy Baba

enate President, David Mark has sympathised with Kogi state government over the demise of Attah of Igala, Alhaji Aliyu Obaje, describing his death as the end of a fulfilling reign. Mark in a condolence message to the government and people of Kogi state, the State Council of Traditional Chiefs as well as the

royal family of Attah of Igala, said the late monarch was fair and equitable to all Igalas. In the same vein, the senate president commiserated with the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, over the death of his mother, Hajiya Gogo Bantiga, urging the traditional ruler and members of his family to take solace in the values for which their mother was known for.

“Assessment of aviation safety performance in Africa”, scheduled to hold from the 16th to 20th July is aimed at ensuring that the best methods and principles guiding the delivery of excellent services in Africa are abided by and that all resolutions that are relevant to the development of the sector are tabled.

While speaking, the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah noted that safety should always be the first item put into consideration in aviation and said that at least around 50 million passengers have flown in Africa successfully until the recent tragedy that struck Nigeria last month, leading to loss of lives and property.

FCT minister appoints new chief of staff By Josephine Ella

he Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed has approved the appointment of Malam Ya’u Mohammed Gital as his new Chief of Staff. A statement yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the minister, Muhammad Hazat Sule said “the new Chief of Staff is an avowed team player, civil servant and strategist who would

be bringing to the job, a rich track record of political organisation, mentoring and public service”. Malam Ya’u replaces Alhaji Musa Yashi, who resigned his appointment early July on health grounds. The statement said that in accepting the resignation, the Minister noted that by quitting the job when he could no longer cope, Alhaji Yashi had demonstrated uncommon patriotism and selflessness.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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Ogun to outlaw child hawking by November

Again, Kaduna reviews curfew From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

he Kaduna state government has further reviewed the curfew imposed in the state in the wake of recent upheavals arising from the bombing of three churches in Zaria and Kaduna, on June 17, 2012. A press statement by the Governor’s Special Assistant (Media), Reuben Buhari, yesterday said that “in line with improved security situation of Kaduna state, the curfew hours have further been reviewed with the freedom to move around starting from 5 am to 10 pm with effect from today (yesterday) in all the 23 local governments. “His Excellency commends the people of Kaduna state for the sustenance of peace in the state and further urges them to continue to be law-abiding.” Meanwhile, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa in a separate statement yesterday congratulated the Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole over his “overwhelming victory” in last Saturday’s governorship election in that state. The statement noted that Oshiomhole’s victory was an indication of his achievements during the first term of his administration and described the Edo Governor as a man of the people. According to the statement, “you have always been a man of the people right from your days inthe labour movement and as a man of the people; you must be magnanimous invictory and carry along all those who contested the election with you in theoverall interest of the people of Edo state.”

From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan, with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, after the meeting of Presidential Committee on Education, yesterday at the State House, Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

ffective from November 2012, child-hawking will become a punishable offence for parents in Ogun State just as the authority also disclosed plans to enact an equal opportunity law to assist the womenfolk in the state. The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Elizabeth Sonubi made this known yesterday adding that criminalizing child hawking throughout the state was to ensure that parents take full advantage of the state governments free primary and secondary education policy. She disclosed that a bill outlawing the social vice has already being passed by the State House of Assembly, adding that the government intends to embark on an aggressive enlightenment campaign for the next three months to tell parents of the evil in not allowing their wards to attend school. The commissioner insisted that every child of school age must have early education “especially with the free education policy of the state government” and warned parents not to toy with the future of their wards.

Environment, Customs and Road Safety to investigate the environmental impact of such policy and report back to the House within four weeks. In a motion read by Rep. Beni Lar, PDP (Plateau) said the policy has received various criticisms from the general public, dealers and stakeholders in the local auto

manufacturing industry, adding that the Federal Government in November 2010 increased the age of imported vehicles from 10 years to 15 years. According to her,” if the policy is not reviewed, the local auto manufacturing industry will be greatly affected, while the environmental problems

associated with vehicle emission will increase on the local and global level”. Rep. Lar, further said that “the world over, including countries like the U.S.A and Great Britain have lowered age restriction to 5 years on the vehicles, while Nigeria on the other hand has increased its age restriction of imported used vehicles from 10 to 15 years, and this is responsible for the poor standard of vehicles being imported into the country”. The motion was unanimously adopted by the House.

committee, Lanke Odogiyan, declared Emeka Obegolu as the Association's General Secretary, having polled a total of 527 votes to beat E.A Haruna and O.O Olowokure, who came second and third with 322 and 292 votes respectively. The post of the first Vice President was won by O.J Irabor with 372 votes while that of the 3rd vice president was won by Francis Ekwere with 734 votes and the position of the 2nd vice president was unopposed.

Also, the post of Assistant General Secretary went to U.F.O Nnemeka with 507 votes while the position of the Welfare Secretary was won by Kelvin Ezelonu with 600 votes. The post of the treasurer goes to Joyce Odu pulling 929 votes while Afam Obi was elected as the Publicity Secretary with 626 votes. Earlier, the outgoing president of the association, Joseph Daudu had called on the new elected officers to keep to all their promises.

The swearing in comes up on August 31, 2012. In another development, the NBA has named its new national secretariat in Abuja after one of its former national president, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu. Akeredolu served as the NBA president between 2008 and 2010. Commissioning the building, the outgoing NBA president, Joseph Daudu, said Akeredolu deserved the honour for serving the bar meritoriously.

Reps urge FG to review tokunbo policy By Umar Mohammed Puma

orried by the increase in the age of imported used vehicles, which has led to the influx of poorly maintained vehicles into the country, the House of Representative yesterday mandated the committee on

Kano judicial workers begin strike over new wage NBA gets 26th president, names secretariat after Akerodolu From Edwin Olofu, Kano

ano state chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria [JUSUN] has directed its members to commence an indefinite strike action, today following the inability of the union to reach an agreement with the state government over salary increment for judicial workers. In a statement jointly signed by the union’s chairman, Comrade Mukhtar Rabi’u Lawan and the union’s Public Relation Officer, Comrade Sule Aliyu directed all members to remain at home until further instruction from the leadership of the union. The statement reads: “Sequel to the congress meeting held at the Shari’a Court of Appeal, complex Kano as regard to seven day ultimatum, the congress has agreed that no member/staff will be in the office after the expiration of the seven day notice which will be effective on the 18th day of July, 2012 [today]”.

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

he Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday in Abuja, elected the former Attorney General of Rivers state, Okechukwu Wali (SAN) as its 26th national president. Wali won with total votes of 688 to defeat Emeka Ngige (SAN) who pulled 449 votes and Blessing Ukiri with two votes. Declaring the results at about 8:15pm yesterday, the chairman of the electoral

‘Nigeria destination for international tourism partners’ By Miriam Humbe

he Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) has achieved another international recognition for Nigeria with the acceptance of the country as a destination member of the International Council of Tourism Partners (ICTP), a US-based international tourism body.

The development has been hailed by many as a laudable step in the marketing and promotion of Nigeria as a preferred destination for business and leisure. ICTP President, Prof. Geoffrey Lipman stated this at the Tourism Village, Abuja where he described Nigeria as the biggest market on the continent. “Nigeria is the biggest market

in Africa with significant ‘travelism’ promise, as a member of ICTP, the Tourism Development Corporation will have a great opportunity to build environmental management at the heart of its development strategies. We look forward to working with them and Nigeria’s aviation and tourism community”, Lipman said. Corroborating Lipman, the

Chairman of ICTP, Juergen T. Steinmetz described Nigeria’s membership as a laudable initiative by the NTDC. “We could not find a better representative to be our first destination member from Nigeria than the NTDC itself. It has a long history of commitment to and passion for the tourism industry in its country”.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Robbers Mark assures on HYPPADEC bill kill cop in Kwara S From Iliya Garba, Minna

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

o fewer than 15 armed bandit on Sunday took over the Share-Tsragi road in Ifelodun local government of Kwara state, robbing motorists. A policeman was reportedly killed in the course of the robbery operation at about 12 noon. Narrating his experience, a victim, Nureni Adisa, said the armed robbers saw the identification card of the policeman while ransacking passengers' bags. Using the ID card, they searched out the policeman from the frightened passengers and shot him dead. Adisa said he lost his mobile phone and N56,000 meant for a contract job to the hoodlums. Other cash and items carted away by the robbers were worth N2 million. The victim, who lamented that the armed robbers operated at the spot where members of the local vigilante group always stood, said they were nowhere to be found during the robbery. However, Kwara Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Olufemi Fabode, who confirmed the incident, insisted that no policeman was shot dead at the spot.

enate President DavidMark has assured that the Hydro Power ProducingAreas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) Bill will soon become operative in the country. Mark stated this yesterday at Katcha, Niger State where Senator Zaynab Kure launched her Poverty Eradication and Economic Empowerment

intervention programme for Niger South Senatorial District. Also at the event, Niger state Governor, Mu'azu Babangida Aliyu, commended Kure for initiating the programme to eradicate poverty in the state and asked others to emulate her, saying: "We need to come together to help Niger State and Nigeria as a whole". Aliyu said Kure had done well by establishing a maritime institute at IBB University Lapai

and charged the people to always demand quality leadership from public officials. In her address, Senator Kure said that she was pleased with the constituency project mechanism, as it has become a veritable platform "to reach out to our constituents and enhance development in the rural areas." Kure said: "I am determined to continue, over time, with progressive increase of effort towards economic empowerment

Vet doctors raise alarm over abattoirs By Mohammed Kandi

L-R: President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Joseph Daudu, former NBA President, Chief Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, former Minister of Justice, Chief Akin Olujimi, and Ms. Etso Umole, during the commissioning of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu NBA- House, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Minister asks Nigerians to protect forest resources By Adeola Tukuru

he Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Mailafia, has advised Nigerians to safeguard the nation's forest resources for economic growth. Mailafia made the call during a one-day validation workshop on the "National report on the preparation on the convergence plan for sustainable management and use of forest ecosystem in West Africa." The convergence plan is a unifying framework in which member-states agree to use their national and regional policies to achieve sustainable forest ecosystem By Abdulwahab Isa

ollowing a directive by the Senate, the Joint Tax Board (JTB) yesterday approved a downward review of vehicle number plates from N15, 000 to N12, 500. The JTB, which took the decision at its 126th meeting, approved N12,500 for new registration of vehicles number plates and put revalidation of old ones at N10,000. New motorcycles plates would not cost N2,500 while revalidation is N2,000, according

and development initiatives for the good of my people in line with my conviction of human development approach. "I will also avail myself to other stakeholders within the senatorial district so that together we could produce a synergy to drive home more development packages for the benefit of our people". Kure donated farming implements to farmers at the event.

management and utilisation. The minister argued that the forest ecosystem was capable of lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty by adding value to the economy. Her words: "Safeguarding our biodiversity will contribute to improvement of food security, primary health and poverty reduction among local communities by providing a broad range of products and services to current and future generations. "It will also guarantee the resilience and the sustainability of the ecosystem balance under threat of increasing

deforestation, desertification, erosion, floods and the harsh reality of climate change that greatly affect our region." Mailafia added: "Our subregion is a pathway area and strategic haven for migratory birds, where the value of wild life and numerous other non timber forest products are poorly reflected in economic trade. "It is also reflected in national income, in spite of their contributions towards food security, nutrition and human health of an estimated population of over 253 million people." In his remark, Representative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature

(IUCN), Prof. Aime Nianogo, said the national convergence plan study for Nigeria was effectively contributing to the process of consolidating practices in forest and wild life management. Nianogo said the goal of achieving best practices in the forest and wild life governance was being pursued in an opportunistic and sporadic fashion without the benefit of experience gained on similar interventions. He identified uncoordinated cultivation, illegal logging, inappropriate charco a l and firewood production as well as bush fires as threat to the forest ecosystem.

resident, Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA), Dr. Gani Enahoro, yesterday said that the terrible state of abattoirs in the country was spreading diseases nationwide. Enahoro, who stated this at the opening of the 103rd regular meeting of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN), observed that several abattoir and slaughter houses in Nigerian were in appalling conditions, falling short of international standards. He called on the government to intervene at the abattoirs even as he charged slaughterhouse operators to embrace hygienic practices. Enahoro said the NVMA had already contacted all the relevant authorities for swift action, so as to improve the state and standard of the Nigerian abattoirs. His words: "We have met with all the relevant authorities and stakeholders on the issue of our slaughter houses which most times are responsible for various diseases associated with lack of hygienic environment." Enahoro said the problem might also be addressed when the National Assembly enact laws to regulate abattoir operations in the country. Similarly, Director, Kaduna State Veterinary Services, Geoge Jimem, expressed mixed feelings on the state of Nigerian abattoirs and stressed the need for more public enlightenment on the issue.

Tax board slashes number plates prices to a communiquĂŠ issued after the meeting signed by the Acting Chairman of the JTB, Kabir Mashi and Secretary to the board, Mohammed Abubakar. However, the communiquĂŠ disclosed that the costs of other categories of number plates and drivers licence remain unchanged. It also set the deadline for revalidation of the number plate at July 31, 2013. The JTB also announced that

the Biometric Central Motor Registry or Electronic Central Motor Registry would no longer be a requirement for registration of motor vehicles. Old driver's licence would no longer be valid by October 1, 2013, the JTB said. The communiquĂŠ stated: "The JTB held its 126th meeting on July 16, 2012, deliberated on various issues and reached the following major decisions: "That tax authorities should

adopt strategies that will increase the internally generated revenue. State government should compile their revenue laws in order to minimise the menace of multiple taxation. "The board also resolved that state board of internal revenue should monitor all revenue from Ministries, Departments and Agencies for proper accountability and planning." It added: "The board approved downward review of the enhanced

vehicle and motor number plates with effect from August 1, 2012 as follows: standard plates revalidation, N10,000; new registration, N12,500; Motorcycle plates revalidation, N2, 000; new registration N2,500. "Prices of other categories of number plates and drivers licence remain the same and deadline for revalidation of the number plate is July 31, 2013. Old drivers' license shall no longer be valid by October 1, 2013."

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 7

ACF condoles Kogi govt over Attah of Igala’s death By Austine Aminu

he Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has condoled the family, people and the government of Kogi state over the death of the Attah of Igala, Alhaji Aliyu Ocheja Obaje. In a statement issued by the ACF, and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, the ACF said “It is with heavy heart that ACF condoles the family, people and the government of Kogi state over the death of their monarch, HRH, Alhaji Aliyu Ocheja Obaje at the ripe age of 102 years”. It further stated,” the Arewa Consultative Forum prays to God to provide all those who feel the loss the fortitude

to endure the inevitable demise of the Attah Igala”. According to the release, the late monarch was first among equal traditional rulers in his time , who brought his people together and enabled them live up to their collective challenges for themselves and for the larger interest. The ACF noted that the Attah of Igala may be gone but in a way, very much around, considering the scions and values he left behind thereby needing no tombstone to remind people of his legacies. While praying for the repose of his soul, the ACF added, “the best honour for HRH Alhaji Aliyu Obaje is for those he has left behind to reflect what he stood and worked for in their daily lives”.

. . . He was a leader extraordinaire – Atiku By Abubakar Ibrahim

ormer Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said one of the enduring legacies of the late Attah of Igala, Alhaji Aliyu Obaje was his commitment to education, modernity peace and unity. In a condolence message issued by his media office in Abuja, the former Vice President recalled that as one of the Northern leaders with early exposure to Western education, the late Attah had worked tirelessly to bring his people in tune with the challenges of modernity. He described the late Attah as a rare traditional ruler who embodied integrity and selflessness throughout his sojourn on earth. “The late Attah Igala was known to have held his kingdom together and it is on record that

L-R: Director General, National Agency Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr. Paul Orhii, FCT Coordinator, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr. Frank Okey, and corps member, Adesiyan Adesoji Adewuyi, during the official launching of NAFDAC-NYSC Community Development Service (CDS) Group, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Rift between Bauchi govt, parents of boy whose organ was cut off

there was no major crisis during his long reign which spanned over a period of 56 years,” Atiku said. The former Vice President noted that the late Attah of Igala had lived a dignified life, which earned him respect and admirers across the country. According to Atiku, the late Monarch had never mortgaged the interest of his people for private gain, a virtue he said, made him to tower above the ordinary standards of integrity in our society. The former Vice President also extolled Attah’s outstanding contributions to social harmony and peaceful coexistence among his people and other Nigerians. As a first generation member of Ministers in the First Republic, Atiku recalled his contributions to national unity, spread of education and modernity.

rift has developed between the Bauchi state ministry of health and the parents of a 12 year-old, Ayuba Halilu, over his medical treatment abroad. Ayuba had his throat and private parts slashed by a youth in his area recently which drew a sympathy visit by Governor Isa Yuguda to the family. The governor later sent the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Sani Malami, who pledged that the state government would foot the medical bills. Initially, the boy was admitted at the Federal Medical Center, Gombe but with the state government’s intervention, the boy was referred to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital where he

taking shelter in schools and community halls. The head of ICRC’s office in Jos, Julia Unger, said the “People left their homes and ran to safety with only the clothes they were wearing. They need everything to survive in this kind of situation, they have urgent needs in terms of food, water and basic household items since a curfew has been imposed in the affected areas to quell any further violence, and the security situation remains unpredictable”. According to Unger, “the

ICRC has delivered one month’s food rations (including rice, beans and cooking oil) along with blankets, buckets, soap and other essential items to over 2,800 displaced people. It has also installed 10 temporary sanitary facilities in places where the displaced are hosted, and it is in the process of installing two hand pumps to improve their access to water. This operation will continue over the next few days until all displaced people from both communities receive the aid they urgently need.”

From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

ICRC, NRCS to assist displaced people in Plateau By Etuka Sunday with agency report

ollowing the recent armed violence and clashes between Fulani nomads and the farming Berom communities in Riyom and Barkin Ladi near Jos, Plateau state, that recorded a lot of casualties and forced more than 5,500 people to flee their homes, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in cooperation with the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), is to provide essential assistance to people currently

...Doctors want boy turned to female spent 27 days on admission. However, Ayuba’s parents are accusing officials of the ministry of health of not taking the treatment of the boy seriously, demanding that he be sent abroad. The parents also alleged that they had to borrow money for the period at the Maiduguri Teaching Hospital because the N400, 000 provided by the state commissioner of health had finished during test and investigations in Maiduguri, while the initial N200,000 given by the government, was used to settle bills for the boy’s treatment at Gombe Federal medical center. In a swift reaction, the state commissioner of Health, Dr Sani Malami said parents of the boy were ungrateful to the government because he had to force them to take the boy to the teaching Hospital in Maiduguri after they had collected the N400,000. “I know the consultant there is capable of treating the little Ayuba”, he said. “When they reached Maiduguri, the parents of the boy said they were asked to go to Maiduguri instead of taking them abroad as directed by the governor”, he said, alleging that the parents refused to cooperate with the consultant. “There is no way I can advise the government to take you abroad when I know that we have good doctors that are capable of treating the boy here in Nigeria”. A copy of the medical report from the teaching hospital on Ayuba sent to the Dr. Malami, the state Commissioner of

Health gave insight into his medical condition. The report titled Re: Ayuba Halilu Liman12 year old male Hosp; No 280941stated thus: ”basic investigations were done including hormonal assay and the results were within normal limits except testosterone which was the lower limit, psychiatrists invited to review him made a diagnosis of depression for which he was placed on antidepressants, absence of the testes which is the primary source of male hormones enormously complicates the treatment options. These include 1. Reconstructing Male genitalia and placing him on testosterone replacement for life, this has serious drawbacks because of the need to use implant and the long term complication from the use of testosterone, and also uncertainty of the patient being able or willing to use it for life”. The report gave second option as “constructing a female genitalia and basically gender reassignment, this is an easier option and less challenging, however because of his age , he has developed a personality and already has friends males this is also a difficult option, I have discussed with our pediatric surgeons in light of their experience in managing cases of ambiguous genitalia and we agree on these options, all of the above have been explained to the parents, I also sought the opinion of Dr Raja Sabaphaty a world renowned plastic and reconstructive surgeon in India who strongly believes the gender reassignment is the best option”.

PAGE 8

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

L-R: Mrs. Hajara Adamu, SMOH, Niger, Dr. Olalekan Olubajo, Executive Director/CEO National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Muhammad, during the orientation course for the 5th batch of midwives service scheme in the North, yesterday at Shiroro hotel, Minna.

A relation of a victim of last Sunday’s flood in Ibadan, being consoled by a friend at Dandaru river where decomposing bodies of three victims were recovered by men of Oyo state fire service, yesterday in Ibadan. Photo: NAN

L-R: Registrar, Nigeria Library Association (NLA), Dr. Victoria Okojie, Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’I, and President of NLA, Professor Lanre Aina, during the NLA’s 50th conference, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Faria Foundation School’s cultural troupe performing at its Graduation and Prize-giving Day, yesterday in Bauchi.

Photo: NAN

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Encomiums as Unilorin sends forth pro-chancellor From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

Nasarawa state Governor, Alhaji Tanko Al-makura (middle) during the distribution of relief materials to victims of communal clash, yesterday at Assakio. With him are Administrator, Lafia East Development Area, Hon. Shuiabu Zanuwa (left), representative of Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Ibrahim Bala (2nd left), Executive Secretary, NASEMA, Alhaji Ibrahim Abu (2nd right), and an aide to the governor, Malam Nasiru Yakubu (right).

he authorities of the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) have described the tenure of the former ProChancellor of the institution, Alhaji Tukur Mani, as unforgettable in the history of the institution. Mani, the immediate past prochancellor and chairman of council of the university, was recently offered an ambassadorial appointment by the Federal Government. Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Is-haq O. Oloyede, who spoke at the send-forth ceremony organised in honour of Mani, commended him for serving the Unilorin with commitment, sincerity and devotion. Stating that the university took the news of Mani’s appointment with mixed feelings, Prof. Oloyede reasoned that Unilorin felt consoled that it was a movement to a greater service to the country and congratulated the ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran on behalf of the university.

He also lauded Mani as a versatile man who brought his rich background as a reputable administrator to bear on the governing council of the university through effective leadership. “He came in as the chairman of council almost three years ago but within his short term, it appeared as if he had spent a decade… Alhaji Mani has led one of the most credible councils any university can have,” Prof. Oloyede said. In his response, Mani noted that Unilorin was the most visible federal university in Nigeria today with its history of uninterrupted academic calendar, stressing that under his leadership, the university was ranked number one in the country.

FG disburses N30bn to new varsities

AUC election: Dlamini-Zuma T pledges to unite Africa From Ahmed I. Shekarau, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

he first woman to be elected Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Ms Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has assured that she would strive hard towards building unity in Africa. “My election should not be seen as a personal victory but it should be seen as a victory for the African continent in general,” she said while addressing newsmen in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, shortly before departing for South Africa. “We (will) continue to work in a way that tries to build consensus,"

she further assured, apparently alluding to the controversy that had trailed her contest against Dr. Jean Ping, the Gabonese incumbent who lost his bid for a second tenure. South Africa had been widely criticised for violating an unwritten rule that the AU top job should go to a candidate from one of the continent’s smaller countries, excluding the 'Big-5'Nigeria, Libya, South Africa, Algeria and Egypt. On his part, Ping issued a press statement yesterday in which he congratulated Dlamini-Zuma, while also thanking all heads of

government for their cooperation with him during his four and half years in office. “One man in his time plays many parts, I have played my part and I now take my bow,” Ping said at the closing ceremony of the 19th summit, obviously alluding to the tough and aggressive campaign for the election, which some observers believe will leave scars for a long time to come. For instance, Kenya's junior Foreign Affairs Minister, Richard Onyonka, who admitted that his country voted for Ping, told newsmen that breaking the sixmonth deadlock was healthy for

Africa, stressing that it should be "a kind of victory for Africa because we have moved forward.” He however emphasised his disapproval of South Africa’s tactics, which allegedly caused divisions within the AU. “I’m very uncomfortable with the methods and style of South Africa. They were entitled to bring a candidate ... but we felt that there was too much intimidation, armtwisting and threats,” he lamented. Some diplomats who pleaded anonymity even went to the extent of accusing South Africa of “buying votes”.

Gombe, Siemens sign 30mw solar energy MoU From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

he Gombe state government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Siemens Plc, a Germany company, to build a 30 Megawatts (MW) of solar power energy station in the state

Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo disclosed this while speaking at a workshop on renewable energy training for youth organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) in collaboration with Gombe state Ministry of Youth Development. Dankwambo, who was

represented by his Deputy, Mr. Tha’anda Jasun Rubainu, explained that renewable energy was necessary in order to drive socioeconomic activities for employment generation in the country. He observed that Gombe state was blessed with sunshine and biomass from agricultural and

animal waste, which, if utilised, would provide electricity as well as curb the menace of deforestation. Dankwambo urged the trainees to take the training serious so that they can teach others in their respective local government areas.

From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

he Federal Government has so far released over N30 billion as special grants to new federal universities to facilitate the take-off of academic activities on their campuses. Vice Chancellor, Federal University Kashere in Gombe state, Prof. Muhammad Kabir Faruq, disclosed this during a media briefing on the start of academic activities in the institution at Kashere. Prof. Faruq said each of the nine new universities had so far received N3.5 billion for the provision of basic infrastructure. He said the first instalment of N1.5 billion released to the Federal University Kashere was used to build three student hostels, two faculties, laboratories classrooms, library, clinic and Information Communication Technology (ICT) centre. According to him, the second instalment of N2 billion released for the university through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund would be used to for the construction of the Senate building, provide ICT facilities, among others. Professor Faruq stated that the school had recruited no fewer than 300 academic and non-academic staff to ensure smooth take-off of academic activities in the university.

Nasarawa gives relief materials to communal clash victims From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

uilding materials worth millions of naira were on Monday distributed by the Nasarawa state government to victims of the Assakio communal clashes involving Eggon farmers and Alago tribesmen. Several lives as well as over 375 houses were destroyed in the clashes. Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura distributed the relief

materials to representatives of the communities in the area at an event held at Lafia East development area secretariat in Assakio. Al-makura described the exercise as a sad reminder of an ugly episode in the lives of the people of the community and expressed deep sympathy for the victims of the clashes. He also commiserated with families and relations of the victims, praying that such

tragedy would never occur again. The governor disclosed that since the unfortunate incidence, he had held regular consultations with community leaders, security agencies and other relevant stakeholders, with a view to finding lasting solutions to the skirmishes, stressing that various contributions by them had assisted the government to understand the full dimension of the crisis and take far-reaching decisions that helped to restore

normalcy to the area. He assured the people of the commitment of his administration to ensuring peaceful and harmonious coexistence among various ethnic groups in the state. Al-makura stated that the state government was determined to create an enabling environment for all residents to pursue ligitimate socio-economic goals. Administrator, Lafia East development area, Hon. Shuiabu

Zanuwa, thanked the governor for caring for the people before, during and after the crisis. He said the gesture demonstrated an uncommon love for the people and the desire to achieve peace no matter the cost. Materials distributed includes 1,500 bags of cement,700 bundles of roofing sheets, 3,000 pieces of 3 by 3 wood, 2,000 pieces of 2 by 4 wood, 150 bags of rafter nails and 150 cartons of zinc nails.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Police deploys personnel to religious bodies on request, says spokesman

he Anti-bomb Police Command says it deploys its men to protect churches and mosques based on request by such organisations. The spokesman for the command, ASP Moronfolu Gbolahan, made the clarification in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos yesterday. He said that the command was providing protection to religious organisations, particularly in the northern part of the country based on “on special requests”. “We don’t have security challenges in the southern part as we have in the northern part. That is the reason our men are not seen everywhere here. “We guard almost every religious centre in some states in the north on Fridays and Sundays. Of course, it is not possible to reach all religious centres at the same time”, he said. The spokesman urged members of the public to be vigilant especially at their worship centres for improved security. (NAN)

PAGE 11

Forum blames Plateau govt over crisis From Adesoji Oyinlola, Lagos

group, the Arewa United Consultative Forum has condemned successive governments in Plateau state for the protracted crisis ravaging the state resulting in the death of thousands of people and destruction of colossal property. It also expressed hope that the recent incident where hundreds of people were killed in Plateau south and at a mass burial site, would be the last. A statement by the national cocoordinator of the forum, Ado Shuaib Dansudu, said the genesis of the unfortunate crises on the

plateau could be traced to a protest over the result of an election, which was not properly managed thereby snowballing into the present phenomenon in the state. He explained that successive governments in Plateau state have not been co-operating with the Federal Government to bring the situation under control. According to him, the government did not see it fit to implement reports of the various investigative panels of enquiry set up by the Federal Government to look into the remote causes of the crisis. By this, he said, people were denied the right to get justice,

thereby resulting in retaliatory attacks on perceived enemies by aggrieved victims of previous attacks. “Injustice is the immediate cause of the problems in Plateau state. If those found culpable in the crisis are been punished adequately for their involvement in the crisis, not only would it serve as deterrent to others, it will go a long way to placate families of the victims and some of the victims who may have managed to escape being killed”, he said. He added that the alleged involvement of the dreaded Boko Haram group has regrettably opened a new vista to the crisis.

Commission urges states to monitor Christian pilgrims From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

Traffic offenders face N50,000 fine, jail term in Lagos From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

otorists convicted of driving against one-way traffic in Lagos will henceforth pay a fine of N50,000 or serve a three-year jail term, following the passage of a new law by the Lagos State House of Assembly. The legislation, which comprised the newly amended traffic law, is now before Governor Babatunde Fashola for his assent. It also stipulates that bullion vans caught driving in a direction prohibited by the road traffic law would be forfeited to the state government while vehicles abandoned on highways would be fined N50,000. According to Schedule I, Section 2 of traffic offences and penalties as stated in the bill, first-time offender riding a motorcycle against traffic, on the kerb, median or road setbacks would paid N20,000 fine. A second infraction will attract a fine of N30,000 or the rider’s motorcycle be impounded. Operating a motorcycle in a restricted area or prohibited route attracts N20,000 fine or the motorcycle impounded. Schedule II, section 4 of the bill listed prohibited routes for motorcycles and tricycles on major highways. These are the LagosIbadan expressway, Apapa- OshodiOworonshoki highway, LagosIkorodu Road, Lagos–Abeokuta Expressway, Eti-Osa-Lekki- Epe expressway, Funsho Williams Avenue, Agege Motor Road.

“While we all know the Boko Haram to be fighting a cause that is not known to be supported by any of the religions, some people are bent to capitalise on the menace they are causing to dismember the country by ascribing their involvement to a particular tribe or group”, he lamented. “Some mischievous people are saying the involvement of Boko Haram has something to do with a particular tribe or religion. I don’t share that sentiment. What I know is that if justice is seen to be done by all parties concerned in this crisis that will form the basis for peace to return to the Plateau”, he counseled.

L-R: Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, presenting a condolence message to Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, during a visit to the emir over the death of his mother, on Monday in Bida.

Muktar’s appointment will prioritise women, children issues – Minister By Maryam Garba Hassan

he Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina, has said that the appointment of Justice Maryam Aloma Muktar as the first female Chief Justice of the Federation, assures Nigerian women that the country’s justice system will accord priority to issues affecting the welfare and development of women and children. According to her, one of such

issues, include the enforcement of provisions of the Child Rights’ Act that seeks to protect the Nigerian child from forced labour, rape, hawking and trafficking as well as violence against women among others. A statement issued yesterday in Abuja, by the Deputy Director Press, Saghir el Mohammed, stated that the minister, who congratulated the new CJN, described the appointment as “an honour richly deserved”. Hajiya Zainab expressed the

gratitude of Nigerian women to President Jonathan, whom she said, is leading a gendersensitive administration that gives Nigerian women the desired opportunities to make significant contributions to nation-building. She also commended the efforts of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, for the actualisation of Affirmative Action target of the administration as well as women empowerment programmes in the country.

he Chairman, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims’ Commission, NCPC, Mr. John Kennedy Opara has called on State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Boards to establish a data base so as to monitor the attitude of intending pilgrims in their work places. Mr. Opara made the suggestion yesterday during a courtesy call on Governor Gabriel Suswam at Government House, Makurdi, disclosing that this year’s pilgrimage would extend to Rome and Greece with pilgrims on these routes expected to pay over N500,000 and spending 11 days while those travelling to Israel and Syria would pay N406,000, adding that the Commission would set up an indicator to assess pilgrims spiritual performance after the pilgrimage. “Pilgrimage to the Holyland is supposed to be for spiritual and moral upliftment of the pilgrim and not for just sightseeing or shopping”, he said, adding that his visit was aimed at sensitizing the private sector as well as local governments in the State to be involved in the sponsorship of pilgrims even as he frowned at the attitude of governments in NorthWest part of the country who refuse to sponsor Christians to the annual religious exercise. Governor Gabriel Suswam who had earlier inaugurated the reconstituted State Pilgrims Welfare Board, during which he warned the new board to guard against selecting pilgrims with questionable character, pledged that government would in spite of lean resources, continue to sponsor pilgrims to the Holyland even as he urged well-to-do indigenes to sponsor the less privileged for the yearly event. “We are faced now with lots of security challenges occasioned by terrorist attack and also the issue of drug trafficking is quite common. So, I urge you to screen the pilgrims thoroughly to ensure that their conducts do not dent the image of the State and country”, he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

The NYSC postings controversy

he nation, at present, is divided along regional lines over whether to post university graduates from the Southern part to do the mandatory one year of national service, under the NYSC, in states in the North considered not safe. There are five of them – Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Kano and Yobe. These are places where the violent Boko Haram sect has effectively established a reign of terror since 2009. Close to over 1, 000 people have been killed by the sect in its insurgency against the state, and public buildings, including places of worship, completely razed. While the Boko Haram bombs and shootings have not targeted corps members specifically, these young men and women have paid the supreme price in other conflict situations in the North. In 2008, three corpers were hacked to death in fighting provoked by election disputes in Plateau state. And post-April 2011 presidential election violence claimed the lives of 11 corps members, most of them from the South. Naturally, parents and guardians are worried. Over time sentiment has been building against posting corps members from the South to the North. As it is, the NYSC authorities have buckled under this intense pressure and modified the postings of some 2012 Batch ‘B’ members to those five Northern states regarded as too insecure. NYSC Director-General, Nnamdi Okore-Affia, an Army Brigadier-General, personally signed an order redirecting corpers posted to those states, but have not reported in orientation camps, to Benue and

Nasarawa states instead. The change, clearly, is in response to an appeal to that effect by the House of Representatives which had taken up the matter after prospective corps members held protests last month in Abuja. However, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir, has overruled the NYSC DG, insisting

“

If we believe these young men and women are making invaluable contributions to the development of the nation, the federal and state governments must take extraordinary measures to ensure their safety that all corps members must go to states to which they have been posted in accordance with the NYSC Act. According to him, any change in posting for reasons other than poor health and marital status prescribed by the law, is unconstitutional and therefore is voided. For good measure, he said many Nigerians gave their lives in defence of the nation’s sovereignty and if corps members must die to keep the country united, so be it.

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To be sure, both arguments are strong. On the one hand, to serve your country you must first be alive and strong; secondly, no parent, no matter how patriotic, would invest so much in a child’s education only to allow him or her to be put in harm’s way. On the other hand, those who want things to stay the same are right. In the 39 years of its existence, the NYSC has established a huge pool of middle manpower for state governments, particularly professionals in the health and education sectors. Besides, the postings of corps members outside their states have led Nigerians to a better appreciation of Nigeria’s cultural diversity, which is what the scheme is all about. However, as we noted in earlier editorials on the NYSC, the times have changed and the scheme must reflect this in the way it is run. It is true that the call to national service does sometimes demand personal sacrifices, including death but if that can be avoided, why not. If we believe these young men and women are making invaluable contributions to the development of the nation, the federal and state governments must take extraordinary measures to ensure their safety. Then there is the all important matter of the future of the scheme itself. It is our position that the National Assembly should hold public hearings to know how popular or otherwise it is with Nigerians. If publicly opinion is palpably for its scrapping, for goodness sake let’s do away with it.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 13

Oshiomhole: The ayes have it By Peter Claver Oparah

he way and manner the Comrade Governor, Adams Oshiomhole routed the PDP candidate in the just concluded Edo State governorship election showed that if they have a system that can be trusted to allow them make the best possible choice on who governs them, Nigerians can make a difference with democracy. It shows that Nigerians can still make the best of our wobbly and highly lacerated electoral system and the hugely mutilated democracy we have been saddled with since 1999. It shows that Nigerians still have a good grasp of their expectations from democracy and how it can best serve them despite the multifarious distortions and manipulations that have been brought to deface it. The resounding trashing Oshiomhole gave to the GANG of fixers, godfathers and shibboleths who have sat on the Edo politics for long and employed it not as a means of uplifting the people but satiating their ancient greed and rapacious tendencies. The victory came with a clear and cadent intent of retiring the recalcitrant godfathers and their minions, if only they can learn and decode the message of the people. It was obvious that the victory transcends Oshiomhole as a person but is a victory of not only determined Edorites but all Nigerians that desire for change, good governance and a facelift to By Ifeanyi Izeze

he declaration by the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) presidential candidate in the April 2011 elections, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, that fishing out the fuel subsidy thieves is not a difficult task and he could do it within one week if given the task is the most cheering news coming out from the corridor of power. The erstwhile chairman of the EFCC, who blamed the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) for all the malfeasance in the management of oil subsidy, said as the agency responsible for releasing the funds that were allegedly stolen, the PPPRA did nothing to enforce transparency and accountability in all the subsidy transactions. His words: “If I were to work on this subsidy, I would just arrest PPPRA officials, and through them I would bring out every single person who took one penny from government. I would get all of them because it is the gatekeeper that has failed so I would not bother myself with anybody else. No one can take money for product he did not supply except PPPRA allowed it. For every single person that benefited from subsidy I can assure you public officers gained three times. Look at the energy sector and see what we are talking about. Most of the problems we are

what we have at present. The victory belongs to Edorites and indeed Nigerians whose hopes for a credible democracy had serially been dashed by those who see democracy as a malleable tool in their sly hands. As the Edo election approached, it was very obvious that the PDP had anchored its hope for a miracle on its power and capacity to spin results from nothing. It had structured its obscene and loud intent to replace a performing governor on its notorious ability to forge electoral results in Nigeria from its expansive industry of electoral malfeasance. The Edo PDP and its fading godfathers were re-assured that it would be given the power to decide its own results, write its report card and divert the result of the election to favour it, even when it was obvious that it was facing a horrible hiding in the impending election. So it is within this prism that one locates its increasing confidence in the face of a withering political reality. It is within this negative mantra that one locates the wild boasts and loud affirmations that hit the PDP as an election it was clearly trailing badly approached. It was certain that the powers that be had assured the rank and file of Edo PDP that it faced no skin pain in its arduous task to upstage a performing incumbent. For a party that believes that an end justifies the means, it was so easy for the PDP and its few members and supporters in Edo to believe

that it would clearly upstage Oshiomhole and the ACN in a state the PDP had woefully failed and the later had performed to the admiration of all. So the sponsored viewpoints and patronizing media analysis that gave Edo State to the PDP, which were generously laundered on the media, as the election approached were merely efforts

the possible hope that such could influence or mutilate the views of the many who saw a landslide for Oshiomhole as the election drew nearer. Even with no known reality supporting the wild hallucination of the PDP for power in Edo, the party and its patronizing propagandists never flagged to rub it in that nothing would stop it from rebounding in

“

They denied his verifiable achievements. They misinformed on his standing with the people and formed a mass of naysayers to his return. But the people who feel it and know it feel otherwise. They feel Oshomhole has justified another term and on the day of decision, they had their way and with one loud and almost united voice shouted “Ayes” to the question of his return to the job. And the ayes have it in Edo put at the ready, to justify a possible electoral heist on July 14. The many unintelligent media efforts that parceled the state to one dying godfather or the other merely insulted the people of Edo State and saw them as robots to be employed by any besotted godfather for his fancies. The many media views that latched on groundless reasons to award Edo to the PDP were mere sponsored efforts to justify the well known notoriety of the PDP with

an Edo State it despoiled and laid waste for ten harrowing years. With Edo people showing open and unbridled hostility to such dream and with its members voting with their feet to ditch the party, its hierarchs, its enablers and speculators were sounding increasingly confident of winning the state back as the election drew near. On election day, the Edo people trooped out in unprecedented numbers with one

subsidy payment was made without approval from the Presidency? And by the way, who actually decided who brought what products into the country? Was it not the Presidency through its ministers? So if Ribadu was sincere, he should have outrightly hit the nail at the head. But he dodged that because he is canvassing to be appointed as executive chairman, Subsidy Probe Agency of Nigeria. You see the deceit? If as an intelligent chief (claimed), who already knew what to do as he would “simply check their (PPPRA’s) letters of credit and bill of landing to bring all those who benefited from the subsidy to justice,” then what else is President Goodluck Jonathan waiting to sign on Ribadu if for nothing at least to show government’s sincerity in fishing out the subsidy thieves and make them refund our stolen money? However, before the President engages Ribadu as canvassed, there is a serious caveat that needs to be thoroughly addressed. The Ribadu Nigerians knew: what he said in his past service as EFCC chairman were usually very different and most times directly opposite of what he actually

meant or rather was capable of doing and this is an area Jonathan should actually pay serious attention in dealing with the former ACN presidential candidate. The former EFCC henchman would never accept he could have behaved or rather done things differently. It is still fresh in our memories how he convicted almost all the 36 state governors for corruption during the Obasanjo administration without even making a single effort to build a credible case against any of them even when some genuinely had very serious cases to answer. Serious-minded people talk less and do more especially when occupying sensitive public positions of trust. Nigerians are still waiting for the report of the Mallam Ribaduled Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force constituted by Federal Government on February 28, 2012 which was supposed to address some of these things the Action Congress presidential candidate wants to do as the chairman of the canvassed federal government subsidy probe committee/ agency. Let him first deliver on this assignment before any other thing. The rationale behind the

mission in mind; to return the man they know and damn the recurrent forces of darkness that were lousily threatening to recaptivate them and herd them into a fresh regime of bondage. While it lasted and with the collaborative shenanigans INEC threw up on election day, the Edo people resolved not to take any chances in dealing a deep gash to the audacious godfathers and their minions. As the results poured in confirming their victory, the people, without prodding, trooped out in spontaneous gaiety to celebrate and all Edo became one huge carnival that attests to the supremacy of the people, as the ancient soul of democracy. One can imagine what the picture would have been if the dark forces had succeeded in stealing the mandate of the Edo people as they boasted. But it was obvious that democracy, even in the defaced and jaundiced form we have known in Nigeria these past thirteen years, would have suffered further degradation if Oshiomhole was displaced by the PDP. It would have been a direct blow to democracy for a performing governor to be replaced with a party that had not only failed woefully but has demonstrated the fact that electoral positions are for the grand satiation of the interests of the slave masters and free loaders that have parceled all the political spaces for their selfish interests. The Continued on page 14

Subsidy thieves: Jonathan and Ribadu’s one-week proposal having now came from the failure of those who would have regulated the subsidy scheme. If the PPPRA had performed credibly, it would have been difficult for anybody to steal the funds provided by the government for the scheme.” True to what Ribadu said, public servants benefitted more than the oil marketers from the corruption circle in the subsidy regime and “for every one person outside of government that benefited in this subsidy scam, public servants benefited three times.” At the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission in Abuja on Tuesday 10 July 2012, Ribadu was convinced that “all the regulatory irregularities in Nigeria are due to leadership failure.” This is true. However, for Ribadu to now start advising the federal government “to beam its searchlight more on the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and other relevant officials of government if it truly wants to get to the root of the contentious issue of subsidy payments,” was mere self- deceit by government and the government-people because we have passed that stage. Is Ribadu not aware that no single

setting -up the Ribadu-led conscription was one of the widely expressed fears on the sincerity of the federal government particularly the petroleum minister, Mrs Diezani AllisonMadueke to get to the root of the scam in the subsidy regime. Is it not funny that in less than 48 hours that the task force came up with a story that the report of its findings may not come out as at when due (end of July) and even if it does, will disappoint many Nigerians in its quality because it may not credibly answer most of the questions for reasons of lack of access to proper information as “the system (ministry of petroleum resources) runs like a close circuit,” the chairman of that same task force is telling Nigerians that he can fetch out all the subsidy thieves within one week? Ribadu’s task force, as reported in the media, has already raised alarm that it is being frustrated by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources insiders. As alleged, some vested interests in the ministry of petroleum are frustrating the committee’s work using “delay tactics” to buy time for the period given to the Contd. on page 15

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

What shall become of the young Nigerian? (II) By Abdulrazak B. Ibrahim

ften, the young Nigerian secures his first degree right from secondary school (yes, they do award degrees in corruption thereBSc Corruption) where teachers, principals, parents and police connive with examiners from WAEC, NECO and JAMB to perpetrate all kinds of examination malpractice. The pursuit of a university degree, if admission is eventually secured, is usually not propelled by any genuine desire to pursue a career in which he is interested enough to excel and do great things, but merely serves as a means of looting after securing a job, just like his parents. For a fee, the NYSC corps members gleefully thumb print stolen ballot papers to rig election or engage in prostitution. This piece addresses the bewildered, confused and oppressed young Nigerian who has been left with no purpose and lost in the ocean of hatred fueled by religious and regional prejudices, sustained by media not known for objectivity. Yes, the abusive, terrible English speaking, European football fanatic that explodes at the slightest provocation; the judgmental young Nigerian rendered nervous by raging hormones, poverty and frustration; the young Nigerian who is terrifyingly and overly religious that, whenever he is about to travel or is ill, writes on the social network “i need ur prayers pls”. That he can read this, is a measure of the conquest he has made and hopefully, may share the following words with others. It is time to wake up. It is humbly hoped that the

by the raw materials of change words may serve to touch the but never lose infinite hope”. The truth is, the young even in the eye of the Nigerian minds of as many young Nigerians as possible, and prepare them for Nigerian is lost in the great drift storm. But they are now crying whatever tougher days may towards decadence, sycophancy, out to be propelled and inspired. and human The cry out: we need great leaders indeed lay ahead for our ailing provincialism nation. If this piece merely serves idolization. In doing this, he ends and teachers. We need great to give direction, no matter how up destroying himself in the process examples and teachers, who can little, to the lost young Nigerian, of awarding needless “governor of stand before us and say, “I am a with which he may, hopefully, one the year” prize. He is deluded by Nigerian and I will do the right day promote a genuine peoples’ miracle makers, easy money and thing no matter what” and actually do so and movement teach so. We need that can teachers who can position his show us that even country on the Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text though the other path to true person professes a democracy, messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written different religion, then its purpose contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 he is our brother would have words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and in humanity and been achieved. a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed should be And so, to: e m b r a c e d what shall without any kind become of the The Editor, of prejudice or y o u n g Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, hypocrisy. We Nigerian? 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. need teachers Where does he Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com who will show us start and who the way to will give him SMS: 07037756364 freedom and hope? Should respect for he give up the dream of living in a country where Ponzi scheme. He forges certificates everyone, no matter how at least the basics of life such as and prefers the easy way. He is different their opinions may be. water, shelter and electricity are completely lost. But he is lost and We need those who will tell us not provided? Should he give up hopeless because he has never been to despair but to believe in pursuing lawful business in Aba, given any hope. Governments and ourselves; teach us to have selfKano, Nnewi, Onitsha, Lagos etc? their agents have successively esteem and understand that Should he give up rearing cattle failed him, corrupted the having money or degrees doesn’t across the River Niger and simplicity of his life and intoxicated make anyone a god we must pursuing a career in science or him with drugs, banditry, worship; those who will tell us to accounting? If, as is being nepotism and religious hypocrisy. lift our heads high because we are insinuated, the country is With amputated spirits, the young human beings like anyone and can eventually Balkanized, how does have become idolaters of politicians be as great as anyone else. Even as terror attacks are he pick up the pieces and move on and crooks by imitating their style in building a new country, of dressing and recognizing no unleashed on Nigerian Christians whatever its name may be? Where wrong in whatever they do, and Muslims alike, we have is his hope?; that emotional state of including theft, deception and reasons to hope. Even as we cope with incompetent governments mind, which brings about belief in terrorism. This must stop now. But the young Nigerians are from top to the bottom, we must positive and favorable outcome of events, about which Martin the great survivors of this century. not give up. Even as we are by a political are surviving the governed Luther King Jnr once said, “We They must accept finite disappointment, evolutionary pressures mounted establishment which has failed to

reform itself, let alone its people, we must summon the courage to act individually and collectively to inspire each other for a better future. We must strive and resolve to pursue great things and do good things as carpenters, drivers, farmers, laborers, teachers, tailors and traders etc. We shall sell our shoes and mobile phones and clothes and garments, to go to school because there, we shall be free and learn to create wealth without necessarily relying on pretentious governments in slumber. We shall “emancipate ourselves from mental slavery”, shun violence, laziness, half measures, sycophancy, and mediocrity. We shall feed our hopes by drawing inspiration from the shining examples of honest and brilliant young Nigerians like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jelani Aliyu, Segun Olugbile, Chidera Ota and Saleeha Ibraheem, to mention just a few; Nigerians who proved that there is no limit to the greatness anyone of us can attain (Google their names and get inspired). We shall feed our hopes by emphasizing on the flexible and reconciliatory ideals and teachings of our faiths, knowing that neither angry argument, nor belligerent bigotry of what we believe to be right will change a different belief held by another. We are not intimidated by the thieving Nigerian elite and his ill gotten wealth; nor seduced by his gluttonous and flamboyant life which leads to heart disease and sudden death. Let them build the houses in Abuja; buy the latest expensive cars, sponsor children to Pilgrimage and universities

elections and they put in their best but they did not have an answer for the raw determination of the people of Edo State to sever the sash of political masters and break the yoke of political slavery, which had ruined the state since the present dysfunctional democracy berthed. The exhausted the contents of their dictionary of electoral vice but these were not enough to still the well expressed resolve of the people not to cede grounds to these leviathans. They found it difficult to break through the impregnable determination of the average Edo man to shun the tasks of molten gods and irreverent slave masters who have ensured that the country’s political space is reserved for them and their anointed god sons and hirelings. They never reckoned with the expressed wish of a people to have for themselves a government that would attend to the general good and level the high mountains of ineffectuality that had been erected in Edo since 1999. So their efforts was primed to meet a collision with the determination and resolve of Edo

term. He should continue with the same pace or even greater pace than the one that secured for him this laudable victory. He should redouble his efforts to give Edo the best in the next four years for I understand that was the message Edo people sent with the resounding manner they returned him for a second term. All said, the naysayers have had their days in the sun. They have put in their best to stop the wind with their bare hands. They have done their best to corner what rightly belongs to the people. They denied that Oshiomhole was working. They denied his verifiable achievements. They misinformed on his standing with the people and formed a mass of naysayers to his return. But the people who feel it and know it feel otherwise. They feel Oshomhole has justified another term and on the day of decision, they had their way and with one loud and almost united voice shouted “Ayes” to the question of his return to the job. And the ayes have it in Edo. Peter Claver Oparah, who wrote from Ikeja, Lagos, can be reached at: peterclaver2000@yahoo.com

WRITE TO US

Continued on page 15

Oshiomhole: The ayes have it Continued from page 13

victory was particularly sweet for the way and manner Oshiomhole dealt all the notorious political manipulators in Edo State in their very backyards. It was a horrible hiding and marks the final interment of godfather and godson politics in Edo. It is a red card served those who arrogantly claim the political space of Edo to give as they please. By the spread of his victory, its overwhelming nature and the margin with which he routed his opponents, Oshiomhole proved what I wrote in my report preceding the election to the effect that his challengers are notorious commanders that lack battalions. They were generals without army and their political empires are products of arcane forgery and fiction, which could be demystified with the resilience of the people to stand by their real electoral choices. This they did on July 14, thus confirming the fact that those that had been threatening to take over Edo from Oshiomhole were empty political shells bereft of the critical support of the masses. It was not as if these ramparts failed for lack of effort. They did what they usually do in such

people to affirm a governor that has worked for and with them for four years and has demystified the jinxes and negative ennui that have been decreed on Edo State. The forces of retrogression planned a showdown with the people of Edo and wonder is how they thought they would have withstood the people in this roiling battle. What would surprise any keen observer of the intrigues that attended the just concluded election remains how these forces of Hades fancied their chances against the solid and impregnable determination of Edo people to return Oshiomhole. It is doubtful if they never saw or fathomed this grand collision but it is very certain they believed they would over run the people with the traditional brashness with which they force several electoral frauds on the Nigerian people. The victory of Oshiomhole, even with all the intentional bottlenecks brought on the process, is an eternal dedication to vigilance for were the people forced to slumber, they would have woken up on the laps of the lascivious godfathers that had already primed the state for

dinner. The people stood down the rage of shibboleths and political predators to claim their state and it is a wakeup call for all Nigerians to fight for their political space from those that have employed shrifts and electoral chicanery to politically dupe and short change them. The message is that Nigerians must fight for their political freedom from those that have placed them on bondage and the moment any political office holder knows that he must justify his mandate for him to expect more voter patronage, attitude and approach to political office would change with emphasis placed on performance and satisfying the people. So Adams Oshiomhole should see his resounding victory as a tribute to dedication to duty and a demand to do more and further banish the specters of disaster and woes his predecessors brought to bear on Edo. He should see his victory as a great approval rating and now, his eyes should turn to history’s placement. He should endeavor to script his name in the golden urn of Edo and Nigerian politics with greater stellar performance than he did in his first

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

hen writing about the web of problems that entangle Nigeria, I always find it difficult to locate the starting or finishing line. I suppose the best way is to start in an inverted pyramid style of news writing, thus from the most important to the less important. But what is not important to us in Nigeria? Stable electricity supply, security, healthcare, infrastructure or education? Pray, which is more important? I am, almost like Nigeria, entangled in a web of dilemma. As the Central Line tube from Stratford to Notting Hill Gate in Central London fed itself into the underground tunnel, we began chatting about Nigeria. Leaning against a lustre cradle next to me was my Nigerian friend, who is resident in UK. Overwhelmed by the smooth ride, I turned to him and asked: why can’t we have this train in Nigeria? Isn’t this good for Nigeria? Is it so much beyond the reach of Nigerians like peace, quality healthcare, electricity? Is establishing these train lines also guided by UN treaty as uranium enrichment? The inquest muse in me was at play during the 30minute ride. Rather than appease the inquisitive sense in me, the question sparked a fireworks of questions than answers. His answers also made me understand the depth of Nigeria’s problem. “If you have this train in Nigeria,” he said, “some people will board alongside their goats and sheep to market. A trader will enter with a large poultry cage full of birds. A daddawa (a kind of local seasoning) hawker will also force

PAGE 15

A clue for clueless her way into the train with her large bowl,” he said. Before I interjected, he continued: “And you know wearing nappies for children is exclusively for the privileged ones in Nigeria. So cases of children excreting in the train will be rampant, and it will cause a serious inconvenience to commuters. After all, Nigeria doesn’t have the electricity to power the trains.” He went on and on. M y f r i e n d ’ s explanation just left me in awe, seeing clearly the sense in his reasoning. He said again: “Most of the tracks here are open at the stations. And so children need to be properly guided. How on earth can a woman in Nigeria control, say five children, she commutes with everyday to her market stall? Here, you hardly see a woman with more than two children,” he said, noting that most people in the UK are literate enough to read the signs and operate a ticketing computer/ machine. But I argued that despite these challenges, Nigerians need the trains. To own the horse, according

to a witty Hausa adage, is better than to master the horse. The logic here is that when we get trains, we will ‘learn’ how to enter! We will also wrap a piece of cloth and nylon around our children. We can be educated if the state gives us the education. We can be reoriented if the state shows commitment to that. After all, we had exhibited some sense of orientation during the glorious days of War Against Indiscipline (WAI). So we can use the trains, I inferred.

Of course, establishing modern train line is an expensive project, but I believe Nigerian government can still afford the project. Thankfully, Lagos is about to blaze the trail by awarding contract for the first two lines at the estimated to cost $1.4bn. The line will be 30km long, and will run between Marina and Agbado. I salute Governor Babatunde Fashola for this but I rap the Federal Government for failure to do

similar projects in our major cities, or at least the Lagos-Kano transport artery. Less than five years ago Australia added another line in its rail transport lines. I gather that the new metro line in Perth, named Mandurah Line, cost $1.4 billion (same as Lagos) to build. The cost included a fleet of trains and other works. The line has 11 stations, two of which are underground. It took them only three years (2004-2007) to build. But since the coming of this democratic dispensation, s u c c e s s i v e governments put nothing in a pragmatic shape. However, if Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement is the snag, let us source the money from within. We can use the confiscated Alamiseigha, Ibori and Abacha loot to finance the project in at least our capital city. If the recovered loot was eaten by some predators, let us dip into our foreign reserves. As at June 27, our foreign reserves stood at $36.829 billion. If I were to give a clue, taking $1.4 billion from the $36.829 billion is, to me, nothing. We have no basis to starve with ‘reserve’ lying outside our shores. Since we have 36 billion dollars as reserves – and we have

36 states – the government can use the money for the projects in each state before the money fizzles away. At least Nigeria will have something different from that of the previous century. But before you accost me, let me give reasons for suggesting this pedestrian theory. When Olusegun Obasanjo left power in 2007, Nigeria’s foreign reserves were about 80 billion dollars. Obasanjo himself recently blamed his successors for squandering about 35 billion dollars from the reserves he left. More worrisome is the fact that these reserves seem to be depleting by the day owing to the “dwindling prices of crude oil in the international market.” Only between June 1 and June 27 this year, Nigeria’s reserves dropped by 857 million dollars. This amount can build at least 45km rail line with its accompanying infrastructure in Abuja. With hindsight, we should have made hay while the sun shone. Isn’t it? I know economists would laugh at me for this Kurmi Market economics. But the fact is that the foreign reserve is depleting by the day without building the rail line or improving our roads or healthcare system. Dear Mr economist, please tell us the best thing to do. To let the reserves deplete or use it to build infrastructure? To say fact, even if the dollars are reserved for foreign ‘economic fashion parade’, the inner ugliness of our economic situation cannot be concealed by the foreign reserve makeup. This is just a clue for the clueless.

Subsidy thieves: Jonathan and Ribadu’s one-week proposal Continued from page 13

committee to round up its findings to elapse. Is this not an interesting excuse? Is it not shameful for the task force/committee to even tell Nigerians that “Some people in some of the departments and agencies under the ministry were deliberately undermining its efforts to have access to the right documents? This is the committee’s complaint as widely reported: “When a particular document is requested for by the committee instead of giving them what was asked for, a muddled up document will be presented. Instead of giving you a proper document that will be useful for

the assignment, they will bring volumes that you can hardly make meaning out of and when you complain, they will plead and request for more time to bring it. Be sure they will not return to you in the next one week and when they do, it may not be exactly what you want or how you want it arranged.” For a taskforce set up for expediency by the Minister to claim it had difficulty obtaining relevant documents from departments and agencies under the same Minister means the investigator is disabled either by omission or outright design. Nuhu and his taskforce should be told in plain language that his

performance in the first assignment to probe and collect revenues accruable to the country from both the upstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry including those domiciled in the presidency would be the basis for further discussion and/or engagement. Maybe the President can pass this message to him in Izon otherwise his new party (the PDP) national chairman should do that in Fulfulde. It would be recalled that the taskforce was charged among other things: To work with consultants and experts to determine and verify all petroleum upstream and

downstream revenues (taxes, royalties, etc.) due and payable to the Federal Government of Nigeria; To take all necessary steps to collect all debts due and owing; to obtain agreements and enforce payment terms by all oil industry operators; To design a cross debt matrix between all agencies and parastatals of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources; To develop an automated platform to enable effective tracking, monitoring, and online validation of income and debt drivers of all Parastatals and Agencies in the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources; and To work with world-class consultants to

integrate systems and technology across the production chain to determine and monitor crude oil production and exports, ensuring at all times, the integrity of payments to the Federal Government of Nigeria. And the committee is expected to achieve all these in three months (May-July). Ribadu and his committee are still struggling with these mandates and yet he wants Nigerians to believe that he can fetch out all the subsidy thieves in one week. Haba Mallam! Let him first deliver and then we know how far! Ifeanyi can be reached on: iizeze@yahoo.com; 234-8033043009)

What shall become of the young Nigerian? (II) Continued from page 14

abroad; we shall do the right thing. We shall endure and be the best. Let them blow their silly siren to oppress and cause panic and accidents on traffic; we shall be patient because those days will soon be gone. The great Nigerian evolutionary process has reached a critical point and something has got to give. The reaction has started. We may not live long enough to overcome the enthalpy required to attain the point of spontaneity of this great reaction, but we can overcome the barrier by educating ourselves and those

willing to learn. In words and actions, we shall be part of the great movement that will build a free and prosperous Nigerian society where everyone, no matter from what religion or region, will have access to free education and opportunities, and end proliferation of religious hypocrites, fake miracle makers, self-hating, corrupt, lazy, and indulging citizenry, whose role models are crooks engaged in stealing public funds, with some preachers defending and justifying the theft and the society recognizing them as heroes and next to God.

We shall open our minds and read everything from Astronomy to Zoology; Chemistry and Economics. We shall read everything and know everything, and in your quest for knowledge, we shall question everything, including the existence of God. We shall improve our understanding of foreign languages and mastery of Mathematics, without forgetting our African languages. We shall not idolize anybody because they have been a Minister or Chairman. We shall expect nothing from anyone. We shall engage in dialogue with each other, rid ourselves of personal

prejudices and address issues that really matter, not trivialities or foolishness. We shall learn to pursue and believe in hard work and selfdetermination and every day, teach same to our younger ones. This is a difficult time and may even get worse, but it is no time to give up on our country; united or not, unitary or federal; regional or central. The great change is imminent even as we face crisis. It may take some time but then that’s no reason enough to give up. From an evolutionary point of view where one of the rules is “do the right thing or get extinct”; one after another, every agent of

government in Nigeria will come to realize that the only way you govern people and have lasting peace is through honesty, transparency, accountability and rule of law; no half measures, no short-cuts, no kidding! We have serious problems and we need serious people to address them. We shall demand good governance and explanations and our laws will evolve to catch up with crooks. It may take another century, but it’s already happening. There is hope. Abdulrazak B Ibrahim is reachable at biorazi@gmail.com

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, TWEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Commercial bus drivers reject FCTA’s route policy By Josephine Ella

ommercial bus drivers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday resisted an attempt by the FCT administration to designate certain routes in the territory for its own mini buses.

Officials of the Transportation Secretariat of the FCT had embarked on a sensitisation campaign on the new transport routes policy for mini bus operators at the Branch 1 of the Wuse Zone 5 National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Park but they ran into a brick wall.

The Chief Transport Officer, Adewale Alebiosu, who led the team, was interrupted midway into the presentation by the angry NURTW drivers who felt the administration was out to deny them of their source of living. This was as they vowed to resist the administration’s plot to send them out of the city.

Alebiosu had told the transporters that the administration had assigned intra-district routes/inter satellite towns routes to reduce traffic congestion in the city and ensure a seamless transport experience for the residents. The new policy, which takes effect from August 1 2012, bans minibuses comprising of 12-18 capacity passenger buses from plying the major entry routes in the FCT and restricted them to feeder routes in the satellite towns and the districts. Some of the routes assigned to the mini bus drivers includes, Jabi- Mbora Lugbe; Mpape to Murtala Muhammed Way, Bwari town-Dutse AlhajiExpressway (ONEX) and Zuba Gwagwalada amongst others. The drivers maintained that the move was deliberate attempt to incapacitate them economically, as they argued that the routes of choice was taken over by the administration and handed over to the licensed operators of the high capacity buses at their economic detriment thus the project would not work. A source at the secretariat has

observed that the lack of understanding of the policy may have informed the action of the drivers who stand to benefit from the N1 billion subsidy which the FCTA has set aside in the 2012 budget to augment their losses on the routes. The source said the FCT administration made provision for the money as their new routes may not be as buoyant as the one they have dominated. Peoples Daily recalls that the Secretary, FCT Transportation Secretariat, Engr. Jonathan Achara Ivoke had some weeks back said that the designation of routes for mini and high capacity buses became necessary because the persistent traffic jam in the territory is one of the numerous factors that have been identified to be responsible for the collapse of previous high capacity buses that was put in place by the previous administrations. He said 15 routes have been designated to be covered by the mini buses only, while 7 routes, including the Nyanya-Kugbo, Airport Road would be covered by the high capacity buses only.

FCT minister reconstitutes boards of agencies By Josephine Ella

An elderly man waiting for alms, yesterday, in Nyanya, Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

he Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed has approved the immediate reconstitution of boards of

Bag snatcher sentenced to one year imprisonment By Kerem Kurugh

25-year-old man, Benjamin James, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment for snatching a lady’s handbag at Berger bus stop in Abuja. Mr. Buba Irimiya, prosecuting, told the court that the case was reported at the Utako Police Station by one Ori Okibe Udeh residing behind Mountain of Fire church at Mpape, Abuja on July, 16, 2012. Irimiya, a resident of

Gwarimpa village and his friend, Kelechi, now at large were said to have connived to steal the complainant’s hand bag. The prosecutor further told the court that the stolen bag contained a Blackberry phone valued at N40, 000.00, Nokia phone worth N10, 000.00, and a Visa phone valued at N4, 000.00. Other items contained in the bag according to him, are a pair of canvas worth N2, 000.00, bucket, N200, clothes value at N7, 500, desktop charger, N300, blackberry charger N300, wrist watch and hand bangles value at

N8, 500 and a flash drive of N200, saying all the items amounted to N77, 300.00. The prosecutor explained that the accused was arrested by a police patrol team, adding that during police investigation the stolen bag was recovered from the accused but three of the handsets which value N54, 000.00 were not found. Speaking, James admitted committing the crime before the court, saying however that he his friend Kelechi aided the criminal act. The Magistrate, Ibrahim Jobbo

said, the accused person had carefully understood the allegation against him but failed to show reason why he should not be convicted according to joint act and theft punishable under Section 79/288 of the Penal Code. He added that beng a second offender, he must be punished to serve as deterrence to him others. Hence, in his ruling, the magistrate sentenced him to one year imprisonment without option of fine, ordering him to also pay a N30, 000.00 compensation to the nominal complainant.

Niger Delta youth decry attacks on FCT minister By Josephine Ella

non-governmental pressure group, the League of Niger Delta Activists (LNDYA), has condemned what it terms as a diversionary campaign of calumny against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed by some politicians from Bauchi state.

This was contained in a press release signed by the President of LNDYA, Prince Ajulisan Omamuminogho Akumagba, a foremost Niger Delta youth activist and civil society practitioner. According to the group, the latest onslaughts from few selfish politicians in Bauchi, the Minister’s home state, was aimed at distracting him from the good works he is doing in the nation’s capital.

While commending Senator Mohammed on his landmark achievements since his assumption of office over two years ago, the Niger Delta youth activists advised all well meaning Nigerians to ignore the false reports being peddled in some online sites by the blackmailers purporting that there were huge land scams in FCT involving some relatives and aides of the minister. The group lampooned those hiding under an obscure Bauchi-

based group, Congress for National Democrats “to perpetrate falsehoods against the Minister, his aides and relatives”. They challenged the Bauchi critics to practically explain the yardstick and basis for their evidently biased assessment and appraisal of the FCT Minister’s tenure. They dismissed the campaign against the Minister as lacking in merit and an attempt to smear his laudable works.

agencies and parastatals under the FCT administration. To this effect, Rt. Hon. Austine A. Opara will chair the new Board of the Abuja Investment Company Limited, while Engineer Adamu Ismaila, the Executive Secretary of FCDA would chair the Board of Abuja Investment and Infrastructure Centre, a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to minister, Muhammad Hazat Sule said. The statement said boards of the Abuja Broadcasting Corporation; Abuja Environmental Protection Board and FCT Water Board would be chaired by Mr. Dennis Sammy and Fiberesima Iyoyo and Alhaji Alhassan Gwagwa respectively. For the FCT Universal Basic Education Board, FCT Secondary Education Board, Area Council Service Commission and FCT Primary Health Care Development Board, the boards would be chaired by Umar Barau Ningi; Hon. Maroof Akinwande; Ambassador Adamu Aliyu and Yusuf Lamido Tambuwal respectively. Mr. Emeziem Alexander will chair the FCT Scholarship Board, while Johnson E. Ameh is the new chairman of the Abuja Property Development Company, the statement further indicated, stating that the new boards would be inaugurated later this week.

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, TWEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

FCTA foils attempt to smuggle 40 palliative buses to Lagos By Josephine Ella

n attempt by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter of the Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers to smuggle 40 out of the 100 palliative buses distributed to the union by the FCT administration, to Lagos state was prevented at the weekend, Peoples Daily has learnt. Our correspondent gathered that officials of the union had perfected plans to move the buses which were meant to serve the FCT populace out of Abuja but were prevented by officials of the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), otherwise known as VIO, which foiled the attempt.

Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the FCT Transportation Secretariat, Mrs Stella Ojeme said the Secretary, Engr. Jonathan Achara Ivoke got wind of the plan and acting promptly on the tip-off, directed the DRTS to block the GwaggwalaLokoja road which links Lagos and other western part of the country. Officials of the union, who had successfully driven the 40 buses from a green area near the Nigerian Television Authority at Area 10, Garki , were said to have afterwards moved the vehicles to a petrol station in Abuja. Mrs. Ojeme, who condemned the move said the Secretary confronted the leaders of the union over the incident but they only

gave a flimsy excuse. According to her, the union leaders told him that they made the move because they could not meet up with certain payment they were expected to make to the Urban Development Bank. It would be recalled that in the wake of the protest which followed President Goodluck Jonathan’s removal of the subsidy on petroleum on January 1 this year, the Federal Government (FG) embarked on a mass transit scheme in collaboration with the Urban Development Bank. The scheme was intended to cushion the effect of the high cost of transportation fares on Nigerians as a result of the deregulation.

The FG had distributed 300 out of the total buses to the FCT administration which in turns gave out 100 of the 300 to the FCT chapter of the NURTW to operate on routes in the territory. The NURTW was expected to pay a certain percentage to the Urban Development Bank after two months of operating the buses, however, rather than putting the buses on the road the union had since then parked them at the spot near the NTA. The PRO said that the union had also failed to collect the remaining 60 buses from the bank despite calls on then to take the delivery only to attempt to divert the 40 available to Lagos for a different purpose.

Guard held for diverting boss’s money By Kerem Kurugh

31-year-old security man, Daniel Monday of Quaan Pan Local Government Council, Plateau state, has been arraigned at an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly converting the sum of N50, 000.00 entrusted to him to remit to his boss to his personal use. One Mrs. Kosi Eno of Setadu Street, Wuse, Abuja had on July, 13, 2012 given the said sum to him for his madam but he purposely converted it to his personal use and ran away till the day of his arrest. The Police Prosecutor, Francis Tanko, told the court that the case was reported at the Wuse Zone 4 Police Station by the complainant who entrusted the money to him on July, 5, 2012 at noon. Monday, denied the allegation and Tanko asked for a date to enable him present a witness in the court. Magistrate Fatima Malo granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000.00, with two reliable sureties in like sum who must reside within Abuja and have a reasonable means of employment preferably within the federal civil service of not less than grade level six. She adjourned the case of August, 6, 2012.

Insecurity: Jiba tasks residents on peaceful co-existence By Adeola Tukuru Some of the palliative buses distributed by the Federal Goverment to the FCT administration

Demolition: Come to our aid, residents beg Jonathan By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

he ongoing demolition of unwanted buildings in Abuja suburbs by officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) is causing panic in areas that have been marked for the exercise. Residents of Tasha II in Gwagwa have therefore called on President Goodluck Jonathan to come to their aid and save them the torture of having their houses and

investments destroyed, saying they voted him massively in the last Presidential poll. A statement signed by Mr Inyang Okon, on behalf of the community said: “Ever since the community was named among the nineteen villages to be demolished, tension has been high, frustration seen on everybody’s face. ”We are calling on President Jonathan to come to our rescue. We also appeal to Senate President David Mark to prevail on the FCT

administration to spare us this demolition because we are bonafide indigenes of this country and deserve no maltreatment in any part of Nigeria especially when we supported the PDP candidates in the 2011 general elections,” said. Okon recalled efforts made by women from the community to seek help from the powers that be by visiting the National Assembly and the African Independent Television (AIT) to make their case. Mr. Milletus Ugwuja and Mr. Patrick Caleb also told reporters who

visited the community recently that they were ready to continue their campaign from one government office to the other and will not stop until their community is removed from the list of suburbs to be demolished. They appealed to the federal government to tender justice with mercy and avoid a situation whereby thousands of Nigerian women and children are thrown out of their abode into a life of torture, which they said is not healthy for the FCT.

Man bags 3-month imprisonment for stealing zinc By Kerem Kurugh

ne Raphael Thomas of Mabushi village, Abuja has been sentenced to three months imprisonment at an Abuja Chief Magistrate’s Court for stealing three bundles of zinc valued at N30,

000.00. The complainant, Jerry Audu of the same village was said to have entrusted the materials to the accused person, who he left in his room only for him to escape with the three bundles of zinc. Police Prosecutor, Sani Yusuf

told the court that the case was reported at the Mabushi Police Station on June 12, 2012, adding that during police investigation, the accused admitted to the crime. He also pleaded guilty to the charge before the court presided by Chief Magistrate Fatima Malo, who

in her ruling, sentenced the accused three month imprisonment. She however, gave him an option of N5, 000.00 fine, ordering him to also pay a N36,000.00 compensation to the nominal complainant or serve another six month imprisonment.

hairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon Micah Y. Jiba has charged residents on peaceful co-existence. Jiba, who made the call at a security meeting with religious leaders, security agencies, traditional rulers and other relevant bodies, urged residents to go about their lawful as activities as he assured of the commitment of his administration towards ensuring security in the area. He assured that government at both the state and federal levels were doing everything possible to curb the insecurity in the country. He said the council was not folding its hands, hence the call for the meeting to chart a way forward towards peace and security of the people. Jiba called for concerted efforts of all individual and organisations to tackle the problem, urging residents to report any suspicious activities capable of breaching peace in the council to the relevant security agencies.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 17

Young men taking their breakfast in a make shift restaurant, yesterday in Durumi village, Abuja.

A middle aged man hewing firewood, yesterday in Garki village, Abuja.

A middle aged woman cleaning the street,opposite National Assembly quarters, yesterday in Abuja.

Tomatoes seller cleaning his product, yesterday in Nyanya market, Abuja.

Butcher attending to customers, yesterday at Apo mini market, in Abuja. Photos: Justin Imo-Owo

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE

- Pg 20

Qatar Airways is world best airline for the second year

Mob: 08033644990

Cement price to remain high on supply constraint By Aminu Imam

Dangote

he price of cement may remain high, as the promise by producers to bridge the supply-demand gap may take some time to materialise. A study by Vetiva Capital Management, said Dangote Cement’s new Obajana lines and upgrade, commissioned in May this year, might add just marginally to total volume in the second quarter of the 2012, given the gas supply constraints faced by the Nigeria Gas Company (NGC). Cement producers have been facing major gas distribution problems since the fourth quarter of 2011, as NGC’s existing

infrastructure is not upgraded to cope with increase in demand, according to Vetiva Capital Management Limited. “For Q2’12 performance of Dangote Cement, we do not expect any major accretion to volume on account of this new line, given the necessary ramping up needed to attain high utilisation rate’, Vetiva Capital said. Dangote Cement contributes about 68 percent to total market volume, and a recent research predicts that for the first half of the year, Dangote’s capacity utilisation would be 70 percent, Ashaka Cement 98 percent, the Cement Company of Northern Nigeria( CCNN) 96 percent, and WAPCO Lafarge, 74 percent. Industry analysts say should Dangote Cement, which contributes 68 percent, increase its capacity utilisation to 98 percent and 96 percent, like Ashaka Cement and CCNN respectively, the yawning gap between supply and demand would be bridged, leading to a crash in price. Vetiva Capital forecasts 4.90 million tonnes for Dangote Cement; Lafarge WAPCO 1.66 million tonnes; Ashaka Cement 0.42 million tonnes and CCNN 0.24 million tonnes. Although cement producers have been working to surmount the gas supply hiccup, by deploying LPFO or coal, there are strong indications that the problem could negatively affect profit margins for producers in the second quarter of the year.

SURE-P to complete Abuja-Lokoja road ...Road to be ready for use in December – Contractor T By Abdulwahab Isa

he Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme committee (SURE-P) has intervened in to complete of the Abuja-Lokoja road. Deputy Chairman of SURE-P, Maj. Gen. Mamman Kontagora, who disclosed this in Abuja assured that the subsidy funds accruing to the Federal government would be channelled into practical infrastructural development. “We want to translate the subsidy funds into practical infrastructural development”, he said, while inspecting a section of the 200 kilometre Abuja-Lokoja

road under construction by Dantata and Sawoe. The company handling 54.70km of the road has promised to complete the dualisation by December, this year. The 54.70km section 1of the Abuja-Lokoja road dualisation starts from Abuja and terminates at Sheda along GwagwaladaAbaji Expressway. Kontagora said that the intervention funds will be provided through the funds generated from the removal of petroleum subsidy adding that the Abuja-Lokoja road is an important route and gateway to the federal capital, requiring

CFA • £ RIYAL $

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SELLING 0.2886 190.0367 242.2999 41.5609 155.87

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BUYING 207 258 40 165

SELLING 209 260 42 169

Speaking on behalf of the Dantata & Sawoe, the Project Manager, Roy Hungushi clarified that what has stalled the completion of the 54.70km stretch is fund but that the company looks forward to SURE-P intervention fund to complete the road latest December. Hungushi informed the Deputy Chairman of SURE-P that they had suspended work on the site when their outstanding debt rose to N3.2b through certificates, which has been raised and approved by the Federal Ministry of Works. In addition, he said they are waiting for the approval of another N620 million claim

made through certificate to the Federal Ministry of Works. Speaking on behalf of the FMW, Engr. Charles Onuigbe suggested that the SURE-P Committee could either help offset the outstanding debt of N3.2b or make an advance payment to the Dantata & Sawoe to complete outstanding works and enable them re-mobilise to site.

Management Tip of the Day

EXCHANGE RATES

CBN

urgent intervention for completion Lamenting on the spate of accidents on the road, which he said will be greatly reduced, if the expansion and repair work that is on going on the highway is timely completed, he stressed: “This road is one of them that we seek to intervene. He called on both the Federal Ministry of Works and the contractor to review downwards the Kuje interchange from 4 to 2 arms in keeping with existing financial realities adding that if that scope is achieved, it will help obtain needed funds for more needful items on site

Know what your customers (really) do best

ustomers are more valuable than the money they spend. They can help grow your company, whether they buy more or not. Here are three things your customers can give you: Ideas. It’s a great misconception that customers don’t know what they want. Research and experience

has shown the opposite. Tap your lead customers for innovative ideas. Credibility. Customers are more credible than you are. This means they make better marketers than agencies or internal employees. Identify your biggest fans and incent them to act as “champions” for your company.

Getting others to buy. Customers are often more interested in a fellow consumer’s sales pitch than yours. Find ways to put them in touch with your prospects and let them close the deal for you. Source: Harvard Business Review

Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS Unitykapital plots to deepen growth

nityKapital Assurance Plc has declared a N413.6 million profit after tax in its 2011 results released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos, yesterday.

Peak milk to pioneer dairy farming in Nigeria

rieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC, makers of Peak milk, is looking inwards for the sourcing of fresh milk, its prime raw material.

NGC affirms support for CNG as vehicular fuel

he Nigerian Gas Company Ltd (NGC), has affirmed its total support and commitment to the promotion of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) as autofuel, to push gas consumption, in a bid to effectively harness the abundant gas resources in the country.

Africa-Re maintains Standard & Poor’s top rating

frica’s largest reinsurance firm, African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re), has continued to maintain a brilliant performance and strong capitalization, thereby retaining its top ratings in fresh reports recently released by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) and A.M Best, global credit and insurer rating experts.

Google’s Nexus tablet selling fast across retail chains

oogle Inc’s “Nexus 7” tablet is off to an encouraging start, with major retailers running out of the gadgets, as the Internet company’s first entry in an increasingly crowded market showed up in U.S. stores on Friday.

Yahoo breach puts users of other sites at risk

ore than 400,000 Yahoo Inc user names and passwords were stolen and published on the Web, putting other websites at risk as well, after hackers exploited a vulnerability in Yahoo’s computer systems.

Arik Air introduces winter schedule for Lagos-New York, JFK Stories from Suleiman Idris, Lagos

rik Air has announced the introduction of a new schedule for its thrice weekly Lagos-New York, JFK service. The revised winter schedule will be effective from 29th October this year, offering new departure time out of the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed

Airport in Lagos. The airline said the new winter schedule will allow passengers arriving in New York to connect on to early morning domestic services within the US; with the convenience, it will also offer Lagosbound passengers more connections within Nigeria and on to the West Coast on the airline’s extensive network. Arik Air Managing Director/

Executive Vice-President, Chris Ndule noted that “with increasing demand for services between the West Coast of Africa and the USA, we felt it necessary to revise our existing schedule to accommodate this demand. Customers can now easily connect on to our domestic and regional services, with our arrival time in the US affording

passengers the chance to rest overnight and be in their final destination for the business day ahead.” Ndule said passengers transferring domestically can utilise the shuttle bus between the domestic and international terminal and very soon they will be able to fly out of a brand new GAT in Lagos which will offer seamless connections throughout the network. “The Lagos-New York, JFK service is an integral route in the network and the amended schedule will serve to offer not only more convenience for customers but choice as well”, he told reporters.

Minister decries poor rating of African aviation

inister of aviation, Princess Stella Adaeze Odua has decried the unimpressive rating on aviation safety in the African region, based on the number of accidents per million departures compared to other regions. Speaking at the opening of a five-day aviation minister’s conference in Abuja, Princess Oduah declared that there was the need to enhance continuous safety. According to her, the conference aimed to ensure that s t r o n g p r a c t i c a b l e recommendation was adopted after the conference to better the region’s aviation sector. The minister revealed that the issue of safety in Africa does not only need the total commitment of member states to safety but also collaboration amongst member states to build adequate capacity for safety oversight culture in the region. Princess Oduah reiterated the

need for collaboration among Nigerian airline operators towards think safety and fly safety adding that this will lead to growth of development of sustainable transport in Africa. The minister remarked that most African states have shown renewed zeal to improve aviation safety. In his speech, the Director General Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA Dr Harold Demuren expressed shock of the crash of two Nigerian careers recently which has left the country in mourning mood. Dr Demuren revealed that the current Civil Aviation Act of 2006 that created an autonomous civil aviation and domestication of the Cape Town Convention for the acquisition of modern aircraft and other safety initiatives has resulted in enhancing safety measures, passing of ICAO audits and attainment of American FAA

CAT 1 certification. He noted that four months from celebrating six uninterrupted years of zero fatalities in domestic scheduled flight operations that disaster struck involving Allied Air in Ghana and DANA flights in Lagos. According to him, these accidents occurred after successfully carrying out 50 million passengers, operated more than one million flights and grown the traffic by almost 40 percent in the last five years. The DG described it as

devastating blow to the industry and a major setback to the reform agenda that was being pursued adding that it underscored that safety was a journey and not a destination stressing that there was only departure and never an arrival with safety. Dr Demuren urged member states to adopt the AFI safety improvement plan which will give them tools to improve the picture of safety in Africa adding that towards this, the country was considering mandatory IOSA compliance for its airlines.

Qatar Airways is world’s best airline for the second year Qatar aircraft on tarmac

FAAN blames Arik Air pilot for Jos apron incident

he management of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has attributed last Saturday’s incident in Jos, in which an Arik Air aircraft hit the left wing of a C-130 aircraft belonging to the Nigeria Air Force, to the refusal of the airline’s Pilot to obey Marshaller’s directive on the apron. The General Manager, Public Affairs of the agency, Mr. Akin Olukunle said ‘’The facts of the incident are that on Saturday July 14, 2012, at 1342hrs, the FAAN Marshaller on duty cleared Arik Air B737 – 5NMJI to taxi out from the apron through Link 2 to runway 28.” He told reporters that, in defiance to the Marshaller’s signal, the Captain of the Arik flight opted for Link 1 facing the direction where a NAF aircraft was parked. As the pilot taxied via his opted route, the tip of the left wing of the Arik aircraft hit the left wing of NAF 917 with a loud noise causing fuel spillage from the NAF C-130, with the Arik’s left wing stuck to the left wing of the C-130. The management of Arik had claimed that the markings on

the Apron in Jos did not take into cognisance the use of bigger aircraft like Boeing 737-700 or 737-800. Olukunle said for the avoidance of doubt, nothing could be father from the truth affirming that Boeing 737 in whatever variance is a Class C Aeroplane and noted that all Class C aircraft are designed to fit into the parameters of Class C. “The apron markings in Jos are Class C compliant. In every airport, especially in an airport with very limited aircraft parking stands such as that of Jos, there are times when different sized aircraft are parked on the Apron. At such times, measures are taken to route incoming and outgoing aircraft around the obstacle, which in this case was the C130. But the Captain of the Arik Air B737 refused to obey the Marshaller’s signal.’’ He said. Also, the agency pointed out that this is not the first time such an incident has occurred between Arik aircraft and FAAN Marshaller’s claiming that a similar incident occurred at the GAT Apron in Lagos last year’’.

atar Airways again triumphed at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards, winning three top accolades including the main award-World’s Best Airline for the second year running. The Doha-based carrier retained the coveted title of Airline of the Year 2012 and notched up two further awards – Best Airline in the Middle East for the seventh consecutive year and the Best Airline Staff Service award in the Middle East. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony attended by leading figures from the global aviation industry at the Farnborough Air Show, the world’s largest aerospace event taking place in the UK this week. The Skytrax awards, conducted by the global aviation research organisation, polled over 18 million business and leisure air travellers from

more than 100 countries. Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker hailed the achievements as “fantastic recognition” of all employees at Qatar Airways for the dedication and commitment to their job. “I am extremely proud of the adulation given once again by the very people who fly - the travelling public, for their support and faith in Qatar Airways,” said Al Baker, speaking after being presented with the awards. He said the airline set out on a mission 15 years ago when it launched to be the world’s best airline and spread the airline’s quality brand to all corners of the world. “The achievements further reflect the high standards that we set for ourselves and receiving the awards is fantastic recognition of the hard work and commitment of our staff across the world who help make Qatar Airways the success it is today”.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 21

Investment in underwater cables hit N365bn amid poor internet service From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

ith an estimated investment of about N365 billion ($2.24 billion) in underwater cables in the country over the past five years, Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of this investment and are starved of access to reliable and affordable broadband services. Analysts say that apart from the absence of distribution networks needed to move the available bandwidth capacity across Nigeria, big telecommunications firms are engaging in anti-competition practices, locking up their fibre infrastructure from smaller players. Nigeria’s low mobile Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is discouraging investment in last mile networks required to take internet capacity to the end user, industry analysts have said.

According to them, Nigeria’s ARPUs have continued to decline on a-year-on-year basis, and according to analysts, investors do not perceive the last mile segment of the broadband internet ecosystem as feasible from a return on investment perspective. A new report from the Business Monitor International (BMI) shows that Nigeria’s mobile ARPU rate fell by 21.2 percent in 2011 to reach N1, 011. The challenge, according to industry watchers, is the unavailability of distribution network to move this available bandwidth capacity across the length and breadth of the country. This is hindering the country from benefiting from the huge investment in underwater cables. It is estimated that the landing of the 7,000-kilometre MainOne Cable in June 2010 gulped $240 million. Glo-1 cable which stretches 10,000 km

from the United Kingdom (UK) to the west coast of Africa costs about $800 million. NITEL’s South Atlantic 3 (SAT-3) is valued at $600 million. About $600 million was spent in building the West African Cable System (WACS), a project driven by a consortium of 14 firms, MTN Group inclusive. The total investments and other miscellaneous expenses rose to $2.24 billion within five years.

Industry analysts further argue that the arrival of these underwater cables was expected to push up internet speed and reduce cost but little has been achieved in terms of accessibility, availability and affordability. Presently, internet connectivity is basically concentrated in the major commercial hubs: Lagos, Abuja and to some extent Port Harcourt. The large chunk of the

blame has been stacked on the big players in the industry who restrict smaller players from sharing infrastructure, by this means denying Nigeria the much expected benefits of broadband. World Bank studies show, quite conclusively, that in low countries, every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration accelerates economic growth by 1.38 percentage points.

Google’s Marissa Mayer tipped as Yahoo’s CEO

arissa Mayer, one of the top executives at Google, will be the next C.E.O. of Yahoo, making her one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley and corporate America. The appointment of Ms. Mayer, who was employee No. 20 at Google and was one of the few public faces of the company, is considered a surprising coup for Yahoo, which has struggled in

recent years to attract top flight talent in its battle with competitors like Google and Facebook. Ms. Mayer, 37, had for years been responsible for the look and feel of Google’s most popular products: the famously unadorned white search homepage, Gmail, Google News and Google Images. More recently, Ms. Mayer, an engineer by training whose first job at Google included computer programming, was put in charge of the company’s location and local services, including Google Maps, overseeing more than

1,000 product managers. She also sat on Google’s operating committee, part of a small circle of senior executives who had the ear of Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. With her appointment as the president and chief executive of Yahoo, Ms. Mayer joins a short list of women in Silicon Valley to hold the top spot. The elite club includes Meg Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, and Virginia Rometty, the head of IBM. Another senior women in Silicon Valley, Sheryl Sandberg is Facebook’s chief operating officer. (Yahoo news)

FG woos Chinese investors

Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Ms Evelyn Oputu (right), taking a cabinet member, Surrey County Council, Ms Helyn Clack (middle), round the Niger state stand at the conference on "showcasing Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympic Games", on Monday in London. Photo: NAN

he Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) in Abuja on Monday said its recent trade mission to China was to woo Chinese investors. Hajia Gana Wakil, the Deputy Director, Department of Investment Promotion, disclosed this while giving speaking on the 10th Edition of the Nigeria-China Business and Investment Forum. Wakil said that the trip was to market Nigerian products and investment opportunities in Nigeria. “We tried to make them understand that Nigeria is not as bad as been presented in some international media. “We did let them know the business climate in Nigeria is conducive,” the deputy director

which jointly organised the event with New Face, New Voices, a women’s network founded by Mozambique’s first lady, Graça Machel. “I don’t want my daughters to be in the same kind of summit in the coming years discussing the same issues,” said Ms. Akintomide, who represented the AfDB president, Donald Kaberuka, at the summit, whichtook place between 12 and 14 July. Businesswomen including chief executive officers, bankers, industrialists and entrepreneurs, together with gender activists and top government officials, urged policy makers, corporate organisations and political

growth is to invest in women,” said Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, who wasa candidate in the recent election for World Bank president. She suggested that a specialized bank be established to cater for the financial interests of women, who do not have access to investment finance for a host of reasons. The gathering explored new perspectives on how best to harness the potentials of women for the development of the continent. The AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka also sent a message reiterating the AfDB’s commitment to continue to partner the African Women’s Economic Summit in its efforts to scale up women’s

said. She said that the team visited construction companies, agricultural and science and demonstration zone, equipment manufacturing companies, oil and gas firms and a glass company. Wakil said that all the firms visited indicated interests in investing in Nigeria and consequently got invitation to come and explore investment opportunities in Nigeria. The deputy director said that the delegation held several meetings with their Chinese counterpart and showcased Nigeria’s investment profile. She said, “The presentations generated a lot of interests and several inquiries on doing business in Nigeria amongst the Chinese participants at the event. (NAN)

African women pledge to fight for inclusive growth at Lagos economic summit From Ahmed I. Shekarau, AddisAbaba, Ethiopia

he Second African Women’s Economic Summit ended on July 14, with a unanimous commitment by hundreds of entrepreneurs and professional women to campaign vigorously for the economic empowerment of their gender as the surest means to banish poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth. “It has been great these past three days. I will not miss the next meeting. I want to see a change in my lifetime”, said Cecilia Akintomide, Vice President and Secretary-General of the African Development Bank (AfDB),

leaders to step up measures to promote women empowerment and remove barriers impeding their development. Earlier, Nigeria’s finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, set the tone of the meeting In a keynote address emphasising that women’s economic empowerment was no longer simply an option because investing in women, who constitute half of the continent’s population, was the only way to sustain the growth recorded across the continent at this times. “Women are the third largest emerging markets in the globe. Women are the third largest source of growth. One of the fastest ways to sustain current

participation in the economic development of the continent. Mr. Kaberuka explained that women have always played a pivotal role in the socio-economic development of Africa. As farmers, entrepreneurs, traders and innovators, they are key economic actors in the continent,he said, adding: “I believe, strongly believe, investing in women differently is essential to revitalize our economies.” The summit received more than two dozen pledges of various kinds of support including providing education and training to its members, logistics to support new chapters, knowledge production anddissemination, and funding.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Atlas Cove: NNPC assures of viability of depot By Muhammad Nasir

o ensure unimpeded distribution and supply of petroleum products across the country, the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that the Corporation will continue to maintain and improve the Atlas Cove terminal which stores sixty percent of its products nationwide. In a statement issued to

....Refutes Reports of Dilapidation newsmen by Mr. Fidel Pepple, the Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the Corporation, on Monday, the NNPC said the revamp of the entire storage, pumping and associated pipings were conceived and tendered for in 2007. Mr. Pepple explained that contrary to a report by a national daily of 10th July, 2012 (not

FG urged to facilitate telecoms, oil firms' listing

By Muhammad Nasir

he Federal Government has been call upon on the need to put in place measures to get companies in the telecommunications and oil and gas sectors to list their shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The call was made recently from stockbrokers under the aegis of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), at a meeting last week in Lagos. According to them, it is not right that the companies, which are operating in the country and making money from Nigerian subscribers, do not give back to the society in terms of allowing investors to have a part in their companies. In a statement by the CIS president, Mr. Ariyo Olushekun noted that operating licenses should not have been given to these companies in the first place without their shares being listed. He said that notwithstanding,

the Federal Government could still use the expected renewal of the telecoms licenses to get such companies to list their shares, adding that most of these companies' shares were listed in some other countries where they also operated. He said: "These are companies that are very important to the economy. When government gave out licenses to telecommunications firms, government made an error by not insisting that they get listed after some time. That is an error that we should not be allowed to repeat itself." Olushekun also advised the relevant government agencies to ensure that successful firms in the privatisation scheme for Power Holding Company of Nigeria have plans to approach the NSE for listing, adding that the Sovereign Wealth Fund should be channeled into the Nigerian market as part of measures to tackle the challenges of liquidity.

IMF lowers 2013 UACN to acquire major global growth forecast stake in he International Monetary Fund (IMF) today lowered Portland Paints

its 2013 global growth forecast to 3.9 percent from 4.1 percent. The IMF's world economic outlook released overnight, also revised down marginally its predicted global growth to 3.5 per cent this year. The report warned that the forecasts were based on assumptions that the euro zone recovery will gradually ease the continent's recession, and that the United States (US) can solve its political impasse on tax cuts and policy easing in China will gain traction. Without those outcomes the global economy could weaken further, the report warns. The deflationary signals of Bond yields on US Treasuries (which are seen as a safe haven) were sending are signaling that investors are risk averse and would rather invest in low yielding bonds, than in other asset classes such as equities and commodities, which tend to outperform when the global economy is expanding. (Reuters)

From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

AC of Nigeria Plc (UACN) and Portland Paints and Products Plc have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to allow the former acquire a majority equity stake in the paint firm. A statement from UACN on Monday explained that the proposed transaction is driven by potential synergies between the two companies. It also said the move is in line with its strategy of building a portfolio of brands and businesses geared towards the growth of the Nigerian economy. Continuing, the conglomerate with over a century participation in the Nigerian market, said that the partnership is expected to that deliver long-term value to its stakeholders. The board of UACN had at its recently held 2011 annual general meeting said that the company will conclude its market expansion and restructuring plans this year.

Peoples Daily), blaming the Pipelines and Products marketing Company (PPMC), for alleged inefficiency and dilapidated state of Atlas Cove depot, the Corporation has improved the depot’s single point mooring (SPM) facility to handle vessels of up to 80,000 DWT. “I can confirm to you that the premium motor spirit (PMS) Tank 12 was reconstructed in 2004 to increase its capacity from 1800 cubic metres to 23,000 cubic metres, while Tanks 31 and 32 were rehabilitated in 2005/2006 and

are all serviceable,” Mr. Pepple revealed. According to him, the reconstruction of PMS Tanks 11 and 21 which has been awarded and is ongoing, when completed, will add 50% to the existing PMS storage capacity which now stands at about 58,000 cubic metres. Mr. Pepple informed that following the expiration of the life span of the old buoy, a new calm buoy was installed in 2010 to guarantee security of product supplies through the SPM. He added that the Corporation

through its subsidiary PPMC has been conducting the repair of the depot in phases due to its high budgetary requirements. Mr. Pepple further disclosed that the reconstruction of the New Atlas Cove jetty facilities damaged by militants in 2009 has been completed with the facility restored to its as-built form in March this year. He reassured Nigerians that the Corporation and its subsidiary PPMC will continue to improve on its facilities across the nation especially the Atlas Cove facilities to ensure security of petroleum products supplies to every nook and cranny of the country.

L-R: Chief Executive Officer, Innoson Group, Mr Innocent Chukwuma, Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga, and Anambra state governor, Mr Peter Obi, during the minister's working visit, on Monday to Awka. Photo: NAN

Pan-African conference seeks to develop regulatory framework for derivatives, commodity exchanges From Ahmed I. Shekarau, AddisAbaba, Ethiopia

rom 25-27 July 2012, more than 100 high level experts from across Africa will discuss ways and means to develop the derivatives and commodity exchanges in Africa, through the alignment of the African regulatory framework with global standards. The “Pan-African Workshop for Regulators of Derivatives and Commodity Exchanges”, will bring together in Gaborone,

Botswana, representatives of ministries of finance and central banks, commodity exchanges, securities and capital markets authorities as well as representatives of multilateral organizations. “The workshop will provide African regulators with strategic and technical information to assist in the development of robust and efficient regulatory frameworks that meet prevailing international standards”, said Moono

Shell raises alarm over crude oil theft in southern Nigeria By Muhammad Nasir

he Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC of Nigeria has expressed concerns over the increasing cases of organised theft of crude oil in the Niger Delta region of the country. In a statement made available recently by the company’s operation manager,

Mesh Maichibi in southeast Nigeria in Rivers state, noted that the company lost 12.58 million barrels of crude oil from December 2011 to June due to illegal bunkering. He said out of the number, 1.44 million barrels were deferred due to low pressure on the trunk line caused by trip-offs during the illegal bunkering activities, Maichibi said.

Mupotola, AfDB’s manager in charge of Regional integration and trade. Considered as one of the most important causes of the global financial crisis that broke out in 2008, derivatives could enhance the liquidity, stability and robustness of financial systems, as long as they are structured and regulated in an appropriate manner. They are critically important risk management instruments for commodity chains, companies, banks, financial institutions and investors. In that light, global regulatory reform recommends to trade derivative contracts through Exchanges and to clear derivative obligations through central counterparty clearinghouses (CCPs) by end 2012 at the latest. Excepting South Africa, derivatives exchanges and CCPs do not yet exist in Africa. However, there has been growing realisation that efficient financial and commodity markets are a prerequisite for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

2013 Ford Explorer comes with dynamic qualities

ne could argue that the Ford Explorer started America's love affair with the SUV, and as times have changed, so has the Explorer. Thanks to a full redesign two years ago, the 2013 Ford Explorer is the most efficient and upscale Explorer yet. It's also become one of the most technologically advanced large crossover SUVs available, with dynamic qualities and a hushed cabin that would rival those of many luxury-brand models. In the last redesign, Ford changed the Explorer's underlying architecture, going from the previous truck-based chassis to a unibody design for more usable interior space. This design brings with it a weight reduction, which results in better fuel efficiency and handling. Inside the cabin, the

Explorer offers a stylish, wellfinished space for up to seven passengers. There are a lot of advanced features, too, including the voice-activated Sync system, the touchscreen-based MyFord Touch and many safety features, including second-row seatbelt airbags, adaptive cruise control with collision warning and, for 2013, lane-departure warning and lanekeeping assist. For power, the Explorer comes standard with a 290-horsepower V6. It's what most buyers go with, but Ford also offers a turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder engine as an option. Oddly, you have to pay more to get the four-cylinder, but it gives the Explorer best-in-class fuel economy and pays for itself in a few years thanks to reduced gas bills. Also, the Explorer's available

Terrain Management, a selectable four-mode all-wheel-drive system, takes some of the guesswork out of properly operating a four-wheeldrive system. If neither of the above engines suits you, there's also the turbocharged V6 that comes with the new Sport trim level this year. It's the same turbo 3.5-liter V6 Ford uses in the Flex and generates an estimated 350 hp. The Sport also comes with firmer suspension tuning, revised steering for a claimed improvement in road feel, different 20-inch wheels and special interior and exterior trim details. While there's a lot to like about the 2013 Ford Explorer, we do have some reservations. The third-row seat, for instance, isn't as roomy as that of some competitors. And while the available MyFord Touch

interface is a neat idea in theory, we've found it slow to respond and difficult to use. That leaves the door open for some other top choices, including the roomier Chevrolet Traverse, the more powerful Dodge Durango and the sportier Mazda CX-9. They're all quite desirable, but if upscale features and a highquality interior are priorities for you, the Explorer is a great choice. The 2013 Ford Explorer is a large crossover SUV available in base, XLT, Limited and Sport trim levels. Standard equipment includes a V6 engine, 17-inch steel wheels, privacy glass, integrated blind spot mirrors, roof rails, cruise control, air-conditioning, a six-way power driver seat (manual recline), a tiltand-telescoping steering wheel, a trip computer and a six-speaker sound system with a CD player and an auxiliary audio jack. The XLT adds 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic headlamps, foglamps, rear parking sensors, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, a keyless entry code pad, Sync (Ford's voice-activated telephone/ entertainment interface), satellite radio and a USB port. With the XLT trim, Ford offers the Equipment Group 201A package that adds a rearview camera, dual-zone automatic climate control, a nine-speaker sound system and the Driver Connect package, which includes an auto-dimming rearview mirror, MyFord Touch electronics controls (includes three configurable displays, two USB ports, SD card reader and audio/video input jacks) and upgraded Sync functionality. The 202A package includes all of the former plus leather upholstery, heated front seats, an eight-way

power driver seat with poweradjustable lumbar, and a six-way power passenger seat. The Limited bundles the XLT's items with 20-inch wheels, keyless ignition/entry, remote engine start, power-adjustable pedals with memory, a 110-volt power outlet and a 12-speaker Sony sound system with HD radio. Optional for the Limited is the 301A package that includes a power liftgate, a powerfolding operation for the third-row seat, an eight-way power passenger seat, ventilated front seats, a heated and power tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel and a navigation system. To this the 302A package adds xenon headlamps, automatic high beams, an automatic parallelparking system, adaptive cruise control with collision warning and brake support, lane-departure and lane-keeping assist, a blind-spot warning system and inflatable seatbelts for second-row outboard passengers. The new Explorer Sport is equipped similarly to the Limited, although it lacks the leather upholstery, 110-volt outlet, keyless ignition/entry, remote engine start and power-adjustable pedals. It does come with different 20-inch wheels, sport front seats and unique interior and exterior trim details. The Sport's 402A package adds the power liftgate, navigation system, blind-spot monitoring, cross-traffic alert, inflatable seatbelts, power-adjustable steering wheel and pedals, ventilated front seats, leather upholstery, driver seat memory, power front passenger seat and 110-volt outlet. The navigation system is optional, as is adaptive cruise control. Source: Edmunds.com

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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By Udenna Orji 07055652553

OPS decries challenges to real estate development in Nigeria

Pg 26

Cladding and curtainwall by Vidson

Exterior and Interior Designs

Vidson: Bringing Innovations to Windows, Curtain Wall, Cladding, Partitioning and Interiors

xterior and Interior designers of aesthetic buildings have always been a world apart. Whereas the exterior designers have always been architects, interior designers tend to be artists and dreamers of sorts that translate the pictures in their minds into exquisite interiors. But now a new vogue has emerged where there is a combination of both exterior and interior designs by one firm to create stunning effects. And when you add the manufacturing of the products by the same firm, you get the highly innovative exterior and interior design and manufacturing company called Vidson. From factory to project site, Vidson over the years has won an increasing trust from Architects, Embassies, Corporate Bodies and Project Developers with her innovative solutions to the ever evolving creative demands of the building / construction industry. To realize her vision at the commencement of business in 1991, the company focused her attention on the manufacturing and supply of Aluminum products like doors, windows curtain wall,

standard office partitions, steel doors, balustrades, among others to feed the growing physical development need in the expanding financial sector of the economy like banks, insurance and corporate offices of notable companies. Vidson's

product lines span both exterior and interior architectural needs. Specialists in providing fully engineered faรงade whether made of panel system or thermally broker curtain walling, Vidson's doors and

windows come in various types tastefully finished to reflect clients differing choices. The partition wall, the multipurpose wall and the office systems are perfectly integrated in terms of aesthetics and finishes within

Office partitioning & interior design by Vidson

a single layout. Vidson's partition wall consists of a loadbearing structure made of internal galvanized steel stud that are mechanically fitted together. Closing consists of two opposed panels in scratchproof non-reflecting melamine board. All the panels can be covered in fabric, lacquered in various colours and veneered with the wood offered by the system. The glazed parts consist of tempered and screen-printed glass fastened to the aluminum frames using certified sealants, with option of fitting Venetian blinds internally with manual or remote control. The finished module has a thickness of 100mm. all the main panels are clipped onto the horizontal structure for easy removal, to enable internal systems to be inspected. Vidson Interiors includes British Fire-Rated Partition made of Gypsum boards with galvanized studs and equally insulated with any conceivable finishing; others are display shelves of different shapes and kinds using the most advanced technology available. All these come in many beautiful finishes that afford specification of customized look for each project.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

OPS Decries Challenges to Real Estate Development in Nigeria

President Goodluck Jonathan

embers of the Organised Private Sector have alerted the Federal Government to the growing challenges hindering the development of construction and real estate in Nigeria stressing that the downturn in the economy could not make the construction industry fulfill its potentials in job creation. While reviewing the performance of the Nigerian economy in the second quarter of the year, members of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) lamented that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the challenges of the operating environment for business intensified in the second quarter, Across all sectors, there concerns over week consumer demand, reflecting the general downturn in the economy. Structural and institutional problems persisted as well". President of the LCCI, Mr. Goodie Ibru who spoke on behalf of the LCCI regretted the stagnating state of the construction industry in Nigeria noting that "the construction industry has very profound potentials to create jobs. But the recent downturn in the economy has taken its toll on this sector. More importantly however, there are other specific challenges highlighted by operators in this sector in the last quarter". He said the challenges included high cost of building materials - cement, iron rods, etc; low indigenous participation in infrastructure projects, high cost of funds as well as access to credit, inadequate technical

skills due to the collapse of technical education in Nigeria. Enumerating more problems of the sector, Ibru said ongoing

Saraha Estate, Abuja

projects in Northern parts of the country have been badly affected by the security situation, along with problems of corruption both in the process of securing contracts and getting paid for the contracts. He also noted that demand for high end properties had declined sharply while absence of long-term affordable credit and inadequate information on ownership of land were ravaging the sector. Speaking further on challenges in the real estate sector, mortgage banker, Muhammed Jibrin, Chief Executive Officer of Sun Trust Savings and Loans Ltd, "If you look at the Nigerian economy generally, it is clear that minimum attention has been paid to the housing sectorâ&#x20AC;Ś Every body in this country knows that the land tenure system confers the right of title to the governor of the state, making ownership and transfer of title cumbersome. The banks cannot easily foreclose on properties that mortgages have been created on. The foreclosure law has to be passed. The Law concerning tax incentives for housing and mortgage related transactions should also be passed. Unless the National Assembly passes these legislations, the expected

Millennium Development Goals in terms of providing decent affordable housing will not be achieved. Government needs to move forward and make sure those bills are passed into law." Explaining further, he said "the second thing is that you bring in private sector participation. Nigeria today has an estimated shortage of 16 million houses based on Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria figures. Assuming a decent home in the country will cost a minimum of N10 million, to meet 10 million housing units, it will sum up to 100 trillion. So government must provide a holistic policy framework and the necessary environment to tackle this shortage. Only then can the needed long-term private sector funds to develop the sector be attracted." A recent World Bank report says Nigeria has the potential to become Africa's foremost economic power, with an average GDP of six per cent per annum, buoyed by a young and growing population of 160 million. Morgan Stanley, an investment banking institution, also predicted that Nigeria's economy would outperform South Africa's by 2025 to become the biggest in Africa. The macroeconomic

outlook is favourable. With an expected stable inflation rate, five per cent rural to urban immigration, and three per cent population growth, experts say Nigeria is a huge real estate market by all standards. Concurring with the statistics, the Jibrin noted that "in the highly developed economies, the average contribution of the real estate and housing sectors to the GDP is 40 per cent. In every economy, there is an engine room for that economy. The Nigerian housing sector can serve as that engine room as we seek to diversify our economic base. The sector has the potential to generate and create huge economic activities. The housing sector needs to consume other building materials and products such as electrical equipment, furniture, paints, roofing, cement, etc. The sector can help in developing small and large scale production of these key inputs thereby generating employment and increasing the level of national income. Addressing the housing sector problem is the same as addressing the unemployment problem and one avenue to diversify the economy away from dependence on the oil sector".

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 27

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

There is also the burning need to create awareness to Nigerians about mortgages and Nigerian mortgage institutions. Even contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) do not know what they are contributing for. An uncompleted 4-bedroom apartment in Abuja

Develop Mortgage Policies at 9% Per Annum â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Ozoani

he Federal Government has been called upon to develop mortgage policies that will encourage Nigerian banks to grant mortgage loans to Nigerians at a maximum of 9% per annum. Government has also been urged to check the rising inflationary trend in Nigeria as the trend is causing a steady rise in the cost of building inputs in Nigeria, leading to high costs in property development and sales. Speaking with Peoples Daily on how to boost homeownership

in Nigeria and reduce the nation's estimated 17 million units housing deficit, the Group General Manager of awardwinning mass housing developer, El-Salem Nigeria Limited, Mr. Geoffrey Ozoani appealed to government to "come up with very definite policies on mortgage. Definite implementable policies on mortgage that make it attractive for commercial banks to offer mortgage loans to Nigerians because most commercial banks are not

providing mortgage facilities". He noted that "the fear of our commercial banks is how they can recover their money but a mortgage loan is the easiest loan to recover because the house serves as collateral and usually also rises in value over time. The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) loan is at 6% but if all our commercial banks are encouraged through attractive policies to offer mortgage loans at say 8% or 9%, Nigeria's housing deficit will drastically reduce. Even in Namibia where

I recently returned from, the commercial banks pursue people to come and collect mortgage loans because their mortgage system works perfectly. According to him, "there is also the burning need to create awareness to Nigerians about mortgages and Nigerian mortgage institutions. Even contributors to the National Housing Fund (NHF) do not know what they are contributing for. States and local governments should make land available to developers and

encourage their workers to get loans from mortgage institutions to buy their own houses. In addition, prices of cement and other building materials keep rising even after you have agreed on a house price with a client. By the time the client pays 10% of say N5 million, the cost of building the house has risen to N7 million. Besides all these is the difficulty in getting land. A plot of land jumps in prices virtually monthly. These are some of the challenges".

Experts identify obstacles to housing development in Nigeria

state surveyors and real estate practitioners who concluded a two-day international conference on housing held at Lagos have identified the following as obstacles to housing development in Nigeria. Low Income Nigerians have a per capita income of about $1000, about half our National per capital income in 1975. Despite the high oil revenue of the last three decades, poverty has remained with us in Nigeria. Poverty in Nigeria used to be rural-based but between 1985 and 1992, the number of the poor in rural areas fell sharply from 25.3 million to 22.8 million while those in urban centers rose from 9.7 to 11.9. A low income is a big constraint in accessing affordability because mortgage

is all about the ability to service loan when due. For this reason the majority of Lagosians live in rooming houses (73 per cent) as tenants. Singapore which was our peer in the early sixties has managed to house up to 85 percent of its citizens in owneroccupied flats and houses. Dearth of Long-Term Funds High rates of interest and inflation have been typical features of our volatile economy since the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986. The Naira has suffered extensive depreciation averaging 45 percent per annum between 1987 and 1993, from an exchange rate of N1.0 to $1.0 in 1987 to N120.0 to $1.0. Because most of our building materials have traditionally been imported,

the effect of this depreciation has been a rapid rise in cost of construction. Interest rate has been similarly high at times as high as 72 percent in 1995: became stable around 18 percent after conclusion of the banking consolidation; but now on the rise again as a result of current global financial meltdown. The combined effect of these has been a sharp rise on the price of homes. The inability of Nigerian banks to harness savings from the people has been a major reason for the lack of long-term funds in the economy. The commercial banks have traditionally served only the mercantile class and lately the oil and manufacturing sector.

he Primary Mortgage Institutions and microfinance teams are recent efforts to harness savings

from the masses but they are mainly urban based and operate more or less like banks with very high appetite for quick profit. High Cost of Construction

ur refusal to build houses with locally available materials has been a major cog in the wheel of housing delivery. A look at our urban centers will show that our houses are built mostly of imported materials (cement, iron rods, aluminum roof). Low Level of Economic Activity Statistic recently release by Nigerian Insurance Commission indicates that only about 15 million Nigerians are in regular employment. The vast majority are still employed

in subsistence agriculture or in menial services like okada riding. The level of industrialization is low so also is commerce which is characterized by street trading. Though the oil industry is strong but it is unfortunately not linked to the local economy. The combination of these factors is that the disposable income of the average Nigerian is low to build a house or qualify for mortgage assistance. Access to Land The main objective of the Land Use Act was to facilitate access to land by the generality of Nigerians. Unfortunately the act has had the opposite effect. Though it has made it easier for the elite to acquire land, it has made it much harder for the majority of Nigerians to access land.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Nigeria makes advances in high quality building materials production â&#x20AC;˘ Ceekam CEO appeals to government to provide infrastructure and enabling manufacturing environment

he Federal Government has been urged to urgently tackle the problem of electric power outages and provide an enabling environment to enable the manufacturing sector launch Nigeria into one of the 20 largest economies in Nigeria by the year 2020. Engr. Chris Kammelu, Chief Executive Officer of awardwinning building materials manufacturer, Ceekam Nigeria Ltd who made the call said his company runs its generator 24 hours and spends about N500,000 monthly on diesel to fuel it and "we are planning to purchase a second generator to assist the one we have as public power supply is almost nonexistent now" At the just concluded 2012 "Archibuilt" conference and exhibition, builders were amazed at the number of fast-rising Nigerian manufacturers of building materials who filled the exhibition venue with worldclass products manufactured in their factories and laboratories. UPVC windows

One of such companies is Ceekam Nigeria Ltd. The company dazzled builders, developers and other construction stakeholders with its high quality Ceekamplast Vinyl/ uPVC windows doors, ceilings and

uPVC houses. The company's products are famous for their high impactresistance, fire resistance, good sound proofing, ageing resistance, unaffected by temperature, corrosion resistance, resistance to exhaust fumes and building industrial chemicals, sea-water resistance, no protective painting or vanishing required, high insulation qualities, wind proof, no condensation, adaptable to meet architectural requirements, can be formed into aesthetically pleasing shapes. Their qualities and appearances are stable even after years of external use and they can be used in most varied climatic conditions. They are ecologically sound because they are practically 100% re-cyclable. Engr. Kammelu said "Ceekam Nigeria Ltd uses the latest technology and equipment to manufacture the finest quality Vinyl/uPVC windows, doors and ceilings conforming to international standards and specifications."

UPVC doors

Exterior and interior designs of the Oasis Mall, Karu, Abuja. Oasis when completed will have retail space of ver 27, 000 sqm with a building area of over 35, 000 sqm and comfortable parking for about 1,400 cars at any one time making it the largest shopping mall in West Africa.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 29

July guest writer session features Ozako, Omotayo

wo multi-talented writers with a Lagos connection, Maero Ozako and Bobo Omotayo will be the featured writers at the July 28 edition of the Guest Writer Session, an initiative of the Abuja Writers’ Forum(AWF), which holds at Hamdala Plaza, Plot 23, Jimmy Carter Street, off Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja. Maero Ozako, a spoken-word poet, motivational speaker, children’s author and artist, was born in Delta State to two educationists; Reverend Canon and Mrs Paul Ozako. She grew up in a ‘book castle’ and always dreamt of writing books. She attended the Federal government Girls’College, Benin City before getting a Bachelor of Science degree in geography and regional planning from the University of Benin. Having worked for many years as a copywriter at various advertising firms like Insight Communications, Rosabel Leo Burnett and Prima Garnet Ogilvy before setting off on her own, Maero is a Goldman Sach’s Scholar and received a Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management in 2009. She has a unique range of experiences in project ideas

generation and management, corporate communications in the Private Sector, public relations and development enabling her create projects especially in philanthropy and human and community development with effective communications strategies. She has also made her mark in her work with the less-privileged especially with the refugees through the her work with the SOS and other orphanage homes, an coordinated the World Refugee day for the UNHCR through AREF in year 2000. She also won a Rotary Youth Literary Award during the RYLA week on the Sea School Island in 1990 and is a role model awardee of the Halifield School, Maryland. Maeroeis driven by a vision to motivate and add value to the lives of women and children and was invited by the office of the First Lady Of Lagos state to speak to women at the annual Commitee of Wives Of Lagos State event at Eko Hotel. Author of five books for children and one for women titled ’WORDS OF WISDOM” which is the first in the W.O.W. (Words Of Wisdo) series designed as a compilation of poems and one-liners written straight from her heart. Her other books are ‘’Fables For Children”, both

written and illustrated by her. The foreword for the two books was written by the late Lady Kofo Ademola. Her third book is ‘’Money Grows On Trees”with a foreword by Dr Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Her other books are ‘’What If Everyday Was Christmas? and ‘’Words Of Wisdom For Children” Maero created the CHUMMIES CLUB, in the year 2001 as her contriubution to stop mental poverty amongst children. The Chummies Creative Academy, the Chummies Green Team and the Chummies book Club are all part of this vision. The children of this club are taught basic skills in performance, photography and creative writing. Every Saturday, children read her pages in the This Day newspapers. She has conducted educational tours for children to countries like Ghana, Kenya and Dubai. She has has been engaged by the GTBank and First Bank to speak to children and is inspired by her daughter, Zulu. Bobo Omotayo is a Director at R&B Public Relations Limited which specializes in corporate communications – reputation management, communication with non-consumer publics, persuasion, and spin for corporate concerns and brands.

Bobo is also known under the nom de plume ‘The Renaissance Man’. He has contributed as a columnist and freelance writer to several print, online newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, NEXT, BusinessDay, and BellaNaija.com. In 2011, he was one of two young people selected by MTV Networks Africa to be a panelist at the launch press conference for the MTV Base Meets...with MTN, a groundbreaking pan-African multimedia campaign designed to inspire African youth by connecting them with some of the world’s most influential personalities. Later in the same year, he published his first book; “London Life, Lagos Living”. In his words: “Initially apprehensive as to the likely public response, I am daily humbled by the public embrace of this labour of love by the reading public. A couple of thousand copies later, I am astounded by the depth of feedback from readers, who effuse about how the book has in some way or the other made them laugh, reflect, reason and more.” The book has already led to the making of a 6-minute documentary, directed by LAbased filmmaker, Francesca

Tilley-Gyado, is not so much a story of ‘the journey so far’ but more a snapshot into what a typical week is like for the author and contributors to the book. The documentary can be viewed at http://www.bellanaija.com/ 2012/07/07/watch-boboomotayos-london-life-lagos-livingthe-documentary-by-francescatilley-gyado/ The Guest Writer Session which started in June 2008 is generally regarded as the most consistent literary event in the country and has become the template for similar interventions. So far this year it has featured an interesting mix of writers namely Uche Ezechukwu, Steve Okecha, Oyibo Ameh, K K Iloduba, Betty Abah, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Chido Onumah and Richard Ali. The July 28, 2012 edition of the Guest Writer Session starts at 4pm and will include the usual side attractions of poetry performance, mini art exhibition, and a raffledraw as well as live music. The Abuja Writer’s Forum meets three Sundays each month and hosts a reading on every last Saturday at the International Institute of Journalism, Hamdala Plaza, Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

concept as “global journalism.” They go on to note that while there are similarities in journalistic exertions across the globe, “at the same time i m p o r t a n t differences persist.” But back to the issue of the journalist’s professional role, the reader gets to encounter such roles as the interpretative/ investigative, disseminator, adversarial and p o p u l i s t mobiliser. The authors expound on these concepts thus: “In t h e interpretative function to which

conclusions distilled from a study of journalists in the United States. The chapter then goes on to provide insights into the mindset of journalists in non-western countries with regard to their role perception. In Chapter Four, the authors take a detailed look at journalism education around the world, with the explanation that recent trends show a movement towards university education as the foundational basis for journalists in many countries in the west. But a point was made about variations in the mode of journalism education, depending on the countries in question. In the case of Africa, the authors pointed out that “education specific to journalism arrived only after the Second World War and the resultant processes of decolonization.” The passage continued on the history of journalism education in Africa: “… it was the US model of journalism education that a majority of countries adopted. The American University of Cairo had imported it in 1935, and the first journalism programme was established in Ghana in 1958, with Nigeria following suit in the early 1960s. Both programmes were established with considerable aid from the United States.” It is reported that Nigeria’s first, albeit ceremonial President, Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was earlier editor of The West African Pilot felt that the British model of university was too academic and the American vocational orientation suited Africa’s needs better. “The model, supported with the help of UNESCO, quickly spread around the region, so that

by 1970, Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Zaire (now Congo) had established journalism programmes in universities…” While the fifth chapter of the book addresses the question of gender in journalism, the ninth and final chapter focus on the impact of new technologies on journalism, with an exploration of how technological convergence has affected the pen profession. Of particular interest is the place and role of the citizen journalist in the news gathering and dissemination processes. The authors conclude that “new technologies have transformed journalistic practices in many ways. However, the new technologies do not have homogenous impact on newsrooms across cultures. This is because in different cultures, ordinary citizens and professional journalists use new technologies to produce media content in different ways.” On the whole, Journalism Across Cultures: An Introduction is a meticulously researched academic material that attempts to find a balance in the debate about the concept of global journalism. What were hitherto missing in the vast array of literature on journalism were the perspectives, patterns, and peculiarities of journalism practice in places outside the west. That gap seems to have been filled by this attempt to look beyond the similarities in cultural orientations about the art of journalism, to the striking differences, which persist. Concluded Source: NigerianVillageSquare

Reading Journalism Across Cultures (II) BOOK REVIEW By Armsfree Ajanaku Onomo

ournalism Across Cultures: An Introduction benefits immensely from a rigorous distillation of the foundational theories upon which the study of journalism has stood over the years. Although these theories mainly emanate from western sources, the writers did not run away from analysing them, especially as these theories provide a universally acceptable logic in explaining the nature and character of journalism, even though non-western cultures were not borne in mind when the theoretical explanations were made. Some of these theories that are given close scrutiny in the work are the Four Theories of the Press, which is designated as an “old map for a changing world.” Here, the authors correctly pinpoint the cold war firmament that served as the background for the formulation of the theories of the press. The authors say: “Essentially the book reflected the ideological differences that separated capitalism from the Soviet communist system (Soviet communism).” The theories are the authoritarian, libertarian, social responsibility and Soviet communist press theories. Chapter Three of the book, which dwells on journalistic practices and role perception details significance of research on journalism practices with specific focus on the journalists’ “role perception,”, which implies the pen man’s self-knowledge about

The book front cover his place and mission in society. Here, too, the authors beam the searchlight on the question of journalistic decision-making. After a thorough synthesis of the literature on the roles and factors that influence gatekeepers in a media organisation, one very crucial conclusion that was reached in the book is that the roles of gatekeepers are “changing rapidly because of the impact of new technologies and the impact of participatory journalism around the world (p. 43). The writers then go on to interrogate the realities of the existence of such a term or

most journalists subscribe, three roles are important: the investigation of government claims, analysis and interpretation of complex problems and the discussion of public policies in a timely way… In the adversarial function, journalists are constantly skeptical of public officials as well as business interests, while populist mobilisers considered it important to develop interests in the public, provide entertainment, set the political agenda and let the ordinary people express their views.” The above, according to the authors, were some of the

PAGE 30

BOOK REVIEW Salamtu Sule’s review of Hoodlums (collection of short stories) by Sumaila Umaisha, 1st published 2010, 2nd edition by M.O. Press & Publishers (2011), pages – 114.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Searching for Umaisha’s Hoodlums

he book, Hoodlums, is a collection of short stories written by Sumaila Umaisha. The stories portray the socio-political, economic and religious realities in the contemporary Nigerian society. The book comprises 114 pages and 17 stories with a general theme on man’s inhumanity to his fellow man – the deceit, youth restiveness, insecurity, religious confusion and economic stagnation that have engulfed the country. The stories are set in different parts of Nigeria. The author explores all the physical and social settings from the northern part to the western and southern parts of the country. The diction is so simple that the reader could easily understand the stories. The actions and utterances of the characters portray real life events and issues that concern our modern world. The story opens with little Tene and her friends playing in the open field, and a sudden explosion that shattered the peaceful atmosphere. This is an everyday happening in the country today as the issue of bomb blast has since the past two years become the order of the day. The book was written at a time of ethnic and political unrest in every corner of the country and it has succeeded in giving us a typical scenario of the activities of the hoodlums. They do not care who their likely victim would be, they just bomb a place irrespective of the fact that there could be children or women around – as Tene could be seen running helter-skelter along with adults. As Tene runs towards her home to search for her parents, in her childhood innocence, she prays to see her father whom she believes can command the sound to stop and her mother whose protecting arms can take her away from the maddening situation. She runs from one room to the other, but does not see her mother or father. Then she runs outside and there she sees her mother, but within a twinkle of an eye fate struck and life became even emptier. The very vital question a reader would ask is; who is a hoodlum or who are hoodlums? The story has a striking similarity with Festus Iyayi’s Heroes. When Ben, the journalist, in the title story, ‘Hoodlums’, pleads for mercy, he is turned down because the police believe that journalists

The book front cover are the ones disrupting the normalcy of political activities in the country; so they pave way for their own downfall and that of their career. While some people believe journalists give false reports to sell their papers, others believe the police do not do their job of protecting the public, rather they protect politicians and collect bribes from checkpoints. The author leaves his reader to tell who the real hoodlums are. What happens after a riot is not usually palatable as we tend to lose our loved ones, property and suffer psychological trauma – as we read in the behaviour of Zabi who goes mad in his quest to find his family. He is so confused he cannot even differentiate between colours, and between persons; he mistakes a man in black safari for his wife in a red dress. He speaks to himself: “Of course, I did not expect to find you among the dead. I had done nothing to warrant such a calamity. How could they visit such a tragedy on me when I did not know what the fight was all about?” (Pg.14). The character of Zabi is not different from what we see of victims of any crisis of such nature. When people abandon their newly born babies, they have no idea of the crime they commit; when God blesses one with a child, he or she has no idea of what blessing he has got from the Almighty. And when a secret is kept sealed away from you, you crave to unravel it, but you have

no idea of the magnitude of pain that might result from discovering the secret. Could the reckless mother or father who abandoned his or her child be said to be a hoodlum? Such is the case of the character, Ilema, in ‘The Outcast’. There are too many cases like hers in our society. The case of the main character in ‘The King Himself’ is also pathetic. Through his deceitful and other immoral acts he ends up as a mad man – the reward for his worldly adventures. ‘The Forbidden Path’ is a strong statement on the fact that somehow we manage to meet our fate irrespective of the kind of faith we have in our power and strength as was the case of Onkwo, the village witch, who walked through the forbidden path only to approach her last hour. ‘The Seat of Power’ is a powerful story of the taste of leadership; politicians who have drunken so much of power do not see life from the perspective of the masses, rather they feel everyone is as comfortable as they are. This is the case of the king who alienated himself from God because of materialism; the earth is like a paradise to him but his friend knows better, hence, speaks for the poor masses. Obata, the mayor, has no idea that the evil that men do lives after them; he forgets that he is not supposed to bite the finger that fed him. He remains the

servant of the godfather in the face of the prevailing reality and any attempt to change that fact means trouble. This is a story of the dirty politics we play in Nigeria. Naturally, people seek assistance when they encounter one problem or the other. While some show their appreciation after being assisted, others simply forget. That is the message in the story, ‘the Magic’. Bologi wouldn’t have come back to the Malam if he had not misplaced the charm he was given. He also believes the power of success resides in the hands of mortals like him. Hoodlums is a book of didactic stories. It holds the reader spellbound. It is also rich in suspense from the beginning to the very end. Readers would want to know if little Tene’s mother survived the incident or if she actually got blown up by the blast. Others would want to know if her father eventually returned after the riot. It further gives the reader the opportunity to ask who actually a hoodlum is. The collection equally makes a statement on the reality that those who are deceitful in nature at times do not know how far they are involved a heinous crime, as it is in the case of Obata and the godfather. This is similar to the case of Abubakar Gimba’s central character in the novel Witnesses to Tears. Hoodlums explores what is hidden as well as that which is open. Umaisha’s main thematic preoccupation in this collection is crisis. Ilema suffers emotional crisis just as little Tene suffers physical and psychological trauma as she helplessly watches death claim her mother. Obata suffers the fear of the evil done by his quest to ascend the throne as a mayor. His fear further snowballs into a serious crisis between him and his opponent as the godfather himself blackmails him to pay a huge sum of money or play to his tune. There is also the theme of failure. The fear of failure leads to most of the tragedies we see in the stories. Ben, the journalist, who is well known as a fearless journalist and fondly called Mr. Scoop, fears he might not capture the whole story if he does not take risks; he wouldn’t listen to the plea of his fiancé, hence, he meets a tragic end. Zabi fears he has failed in his responsibility as a father and a husband; he walks about half-naked searching for his family. His fear must have further heightened when the fellow who resembles his wife turns out to be a man in black clothe. Indeed, Hoodlums is a veritable statement on the sociopolitical, economic and religious realities in the Nigerian society. And reading it is like searching for the hoodlums... and finding them in every corner.

PEOPLES POEM OF THE WEEK Title: Day Dream By Oluwatoyin Ashipa I close my eyes And all I see is a future So beautiful, A future so bright! I have waited and longed for you I have loved you long before You have been my dream love The one worth waiting for Worth more than a thousand men! Your physique blows my mind The twinkle in ur eyes lights up my heart In your warm embrace I feel secure And your touch leaves me burning, With my head tilted backwards In sweet ecstasy! Oooz! Oooz! Oooz! What then do I hear? Paow! I have killed it! The evil mosquito! Bringing me backâ•¦! Opening my eyesâ•¦! And suddenly I realize I was simply day dreaming

QUO TE UOTE Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal –– Martin Luther King, Jr.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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Media, Mandela, and mayhem in the Congo ANALYSIS

rebel group called M23 has won a series of victories in the eastern DRC in recent weeks [AFP] Here in South Africa, major networks have a death watch in place, with houses rented in Nelson Mandela's ancestral homeland in the Transkei, waiting for him to die. Journalists joke that Mandela has become an FBR - the Freelancer's Best Friend - because the story demands daily scrutiny and bolsters news budgets and hiring as the waiting game plays out. The bets are on to see whether the icon makes it to his 94th birthday. Meanwhile, South Africans plan to celebrate his birthday on July 18 with a day of community service. Mandela's foundation is appealing to individuals to give 67 minutes of their time to a charity or a cause in honour of the 67 years he spent in politics. The day is a UN-sanctioned international occasion with similar initiatives underway in other countries. Just as his inauguration in 1994 overshadowed the genocide then underway in Rwanda, this so-far non-event is getting more attention than the million Africans now fleeing the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They fear being killed by so-called guerilla groups - that are actually terror armies doing the bidding of other countries, out to wrest control of the resources and wealth of the not-so-Democratic Republic of Congo. The refugees are said to be "spilling" into Uganda, while men identified in the media only as "rebels" seize poorly guarded towns. Keeping up with daily events seems so hectic that the background and context is often missing even as the story's momentum increases. It is too easy to indict news organisations for simplifying because the story itself is so complex. In a book review of two recent studies of the conflict, Adam Hochschild, author of the brilliant Leopold's Ghost, on the tragic history of the Congo, notes, "One reason we shy away is the conflict's stunning complexity". Journalist Jason Stearns, in his book Dancing in the Glory of Monsters, asks: "How do you cover a war that involves at least 20 different rebel groups and the armies of nine countries, yet does not seem to have a clear cause or objective?" Hochschild calls Stearns' book the "best account so far: more serious than several recent macho-war-correspondent

Nelson Mandela travelogues, and more lucid and accessible than its nearest competitor, GĂŠrard Prunier's dense and overwhelming Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe". Trying to penetrate the truth is very challenging on the ground. I spent hours interviewing members of competing groups but realised

that so many of their references were about fights among obscure internal political factions and hard-to-understand land disputes. They all seemed prepped with a political line but not necessarily a deeper understanding. What weren't difficult to appreciate were the consequences of a conflict that has been called a third world war. Not only was there

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

physical destruction amid terrifyingly abject poverty, but the unforgettable look on the faces of women who have been raped and children who have been orphaned. "The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it was investigating reports that some camps for displaced persons had been 'forcibly emptied, looted and burned', according to a written statement. He said rebels controlled Rutshuru, where UNHCR has an office. Rutshuru is 90 kilometres (56 miles) north of Goma, the provincial capital." One of the self-styled rebel groups has a new name, but many of the old players are still in business even as the world celebrated the conviction of Thomas Lubanga, a warlord accused of recruiting child soldiers. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the International Criminal Court. His accomplices and sponsors are still at large. The DRC has been the victim of more than a century of colonial domination and exploitation - first by the Belgians and now by other African countries, including Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe - whose idea of peace in the Congo is spelled "piece": a piece of that nation's many minerals, including coltan used in cellphones, and lush land to settle the families that their armies spawn. Africa also feels the sting of the economic crisis devouring Europe - many who lived on $2 a day now live on $1, and predatory African elites in league with Western partners need to resort to a new round of pillaging to keep their kleptocracies in business. They profit from instability. Their soldiers, meanwhile, have jobs and a licence to loot. In a country with few functioning industries, war has become a big business. CNN reports: "General

Meanwhile, South Africans plan to celebrate his birthday on July 18 with a day of community service. Mandela's foundation is appealing to individuals to give 67 minutes of their time to a charity or a cause in honour of the 67 years he spent in politics. The day is a UN-sanctioned international occasion with similar initiatives underway in other countries.

Nkunda said his soldiers were surrounding the provincial capital of Goma, where thousands have fled from displaced persons' camps from the north. The soldiers had moved back to about 10 kilometres (6 miles) away, Nkunda said." Goma, where I filmed in 2009, has been repeatedly threatened by pressure from armed groups. The presence of armed UN peacekeepers based there has deterred some attacks but the UN, too, lives in fear of being overrun. Recently, an Indian peacekeeper was killed. He had likely been part of a unit whose base I visited next to a camp of internal refugees who had been attacked and raped despite the UN presence. The refugees are living in utter desperation and insecurity. Goma is also still a centre of rumours and intrigue. Last January, one of the best analysts of the conflict, Georgianne Nienaber, asked about Nkunda: "Was he a renegade rebel, freedom fighter, dissident, murderer, saint, or saviour? Truth, quote unquote, was whatever the international media and factional interests decreed. This template of 'truth' was forged in international strategic and military interests in the Great Lakes region, not to mention gold, coltan, tin, diamonds and oil. "China was also silently waiting in the wings for the spoils and Nkunda viewed the Chinese as a threat to his country's heritage and wealth - a robber baron of the future of Congolese children. In our 2009 discussion during a Virunga thunderstorm at Jomba, shielded from its force by a tattered UNICEF tarp, Nkunda predicted deals between DRC's President, Joseph Kabila, and the Chinese would benefit no one but Kabila." When I was there, Nukunda was reportedly under house arrest in Rwanda, held by Rwandan President Paul Kagame's forces. (Kagame had been seen as one of his benefactors until then.) He had been warring with Bosco Ntaganda, an accused war criminal who is still at large. Now he is back in action, causing mayhem, and always accessible to the media on his cellphone. And so another cycle of warfare is underway, with the rest of the world - with so many problems of its own - barely paying attention. Perhaps that's partially because the region has only one "bad guy" like Joseph Kony, but no mediagenic household name "good guy" like Nelson Mandela. Source: Aljazeera.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 32

Thailand customs seizes $700,000 in ivory from Kenya N

Solomon Islands ‘launders’ exotic birds

Specimens of the greater bird of paradise are among those filtering into the trade Continue reading the main story

he Solomon Islands has become a hub for "laundering" wild birds into the global captive-bred bird trade, says the wildlife trade watchdog Traffic. Thousands of parrots, cockatoos and other exotic birds have been exported over the last 10 years, they report. But officials say there are no major captive breeding units in the islands. The Solomons recently joined CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, which sets different conditions for trading captive-bred and wild animals. "Declaring exported birds as being captive-bred has all the hallmarks of a scam to get around international trade regulations," said Chris Shepherd, Traffic's deputy director for Southeast Asia. Some of the 35 bird species exported from the Solomons are on the internationally recognised Red List of Threatened Species. They include the Critically Endangered yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea), and the chattering lory (Lorius garrulus) and blue bird of paradise (Paradisaea rudolphi), which are both categorised as Vulnerable. Under CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - all trade in the yellow-crested cockatoo is banned. For the others, exports of wildcaught birds are strictly regulated. Using records from importing countries, Traffic investigators calculated that about 54,000 birds were exported from the Solomons in the period 2000-2010. Cages are full of birds such as the cardinal lory, but whether breeding takes place is unclear More than 40,000 of these were declared as captive-bred. Most belong to species native to the Solomons, but more than 13,000 came from non-native species, mainly originating in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

early half a tonne of ivory worth more than $700,000 (£447,000) has been seized at the airport in Thailand's capital Bangkok, customs officials say. The ivory was discovered Friday hidden in crates aboard a flight from Kenya. Customs officials displayed the 456kilogram (1,000-pound) haul on Tuesday. One official estimated that the 158 pieces of ivory were from the tusks of around 50 elephants. The officials said they acted on a tip-off to seize the ivory, which was in six crates labeled as handicrafts. No arrests have been made. Ivory shipped to Thailand typically is used to make Buddhist carvings or jewelry. Thailand is also a transit point for other markets, including China. The international trade in ivory was banned in 1989 to prevent the poaching of elephants.

Thai customs officials show the seized ivory during a news conference in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, July 17, 2012. 158 pieces of African ivory were seized last week while an attempt to smuggle into the country.

Drugs and arms fuel Africa unrest, says Liberia leader

rowing trafficking unchecked

drug and arms

trade are fuelling insurgencies across Africa, Liberian President Ellen

Militants are now controlling northern Mali Continue reading the main story

Johnson Sirleaf has said. In a BBC interview, Mrs Sirleaf said the rise of militant groups - such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabab in Somalia - was very disturbing. She also mentioned recent attacks by Ansar Dine militants in Mali. The president added that Liberia would lead a campaign to try to contain the menace. Mrs Sirleaf said that she would now be urging countries which manufactured weapons to sign a treaty to stop arms proliferation. She was speaking on the

sidelines of an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The meeting earlier called on the UN Security Council to intervene in the ongoing conflict in Mali. Tuareg rebels and the Islamists took control of northern Mali after a coup. The army seized power in Mali in March, accusing the elected government of not doing enough to halt the Islamist groups. But the rebels took advantage of the army's disarray to seize the whole of the north - an area the size of France.

Mau Mau case: UK government accepts abuse took place

he British government accepts that colonial forces in Kenya tortured and abused detainees during the Mau Mau rebellion, the High Court has heard. Three elderly Kenyans who are suing the government for damages were told it did not dispute that "terrible things" had happened to them. Their lawyers say it is the first official acknowledgement ever made. The uprising occurred in the 1950s and 60s, during British rule in Kenya. The British government argues that too much time has passed for a fair trial to be conducted. Before starting crossexamination of witnesses at the trial, the QC for the British government, Guy Mansfield, said he did not want to dispute that civilians had suffered torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the colonial

administration. He then directly spoke to one of the witnesses, telling him that he did "not want to dispute the fact that terrible things happened to you". Papers in the test case were first served on the UK in 2009. In 2011, a High Court judge ruled the claimants - Paulo

Muoka Nzili, Wambuga Wa Nyingi and Jane Muthoni Mara - did have an arguable case. In his ruling, Mr Justice McCombe emphasised that he had not found there was systematic torture in the Kenyan camps nor that, if there was, the UK government

Papers in the case were first served on the government in 2009 Continue reading the main story

was liable for what happened. The claimants' lawyers allege that Mr Nzili was castrated, Mr Nyingi severely beaten and Mrs Mara subjected to appalling sexual abuse in detention camps during the rebellion. A fourth claimant, Ndiku Mutwiwa Mutua, has died since the High Court ruling that the test case could go ahead. Their lawyers have said they represent hundreds of Kenyans who were victims of brutality in the 1950s and 60s. The hearing will have access to an archive of 8,000 secret files that were sent back to Britain after Kenya gained its independence in 1963. South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has written to Prime Minister David Cameron accusing Britain of neglecting its human rights duties over the case. The hearing continues.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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HSBC â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;allowed drug cartels to launder moneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

ax controls at Europe's largest bank, HSBC, allowed Mexican drug cartels to launder billions of dollars through its US operations, an investigation by the US senate has found. The extensive report on London-based HSBC Holdings PLC by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations also says US regulators knew the bank had a poor system to detect

problems but failed to take action. HSBC executives brushed off complaints from other bank employees, so that the problems persisted for eight years, the report says. In addition, some HSBC bank affiliates skirted US government bans against financial transactions with Iran and other countries, according to the report.

And HSBC's US division provided money and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh believed to have helped fund al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, the report said. The subcommittee released the report Monday ahead of a Tuesday hearing on the topic. HSBC released a statement saying its executives will offer a formal apology at the hearing.

"We will apologise, acknowledge these mistakes, answer for our actions and give our absolute commitment to fixing what went wrong," the statement said. The US justice department said it is conducting a criminal investigation into HSBC's operations but declined to confirm that the bank is in settlement talks. The US investigations follow

Argentina's media divisions stoked by president

US approves first-ever pill to help fight HIV

he first-ever daily pill to help prevent the spread of HIV has been approved by US regulators - a milestone in the 30year battle against the virus believed to cause AIDS. The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Gilead Sciences' pill Truvada as a preventive measure for people who are at high risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity, such as those who have HIV-infected partners. Public health advocates said the approval could help slow the spread of HIV, which has held steady at about 50,000 new infections per year for the last 15 years in the US. An estimated 1.2m Americans have HIV, which scientists believe develops into AIDS unless treated with antiviral drugs. With an estimated 240,000 HIV carriers unaware of their status, doctors and patients say new methods are needed to fight the spread of the virus. Gilead Sciences has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are already infected with the virus. But starting in 2010, studies showed that the drug could actually prevent people from contracting HIV when used as a precautionary measure. A three-year study found that daily doses cut the risk of infection in healthy gay and bisexual men by 42 per cent, when accompanied by condoms and counselling. Last year another study found that Truvada reduced infection by 75 per cent in heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not. Because Truvada is on the market to manage HIV, some doctors already prescribe it as a preventive measure. FDA approval will allow Gilead Sciences to formally market the drug for that use, which could dramatically increase prescribing. However, the regimen is estimated to cost around $14,000 per year, putting it out of reach for many. Common side effects of the pill include diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal pain, headaches and weight loss.

the Barclays Bank scandal in the UK over manipulated interest rates, which have provoked international outrage over what many view as regulators' failure to enforce financial regulation. HSBC's net income last year was $16.8bn. It operates in about 80 countries around the world. Its US division is among the top 10 banks operating in the United States. It has assets of roughly $210bn in its US operations.

HSBC says its executives will apologise for the lapses and promises to fix the problems L-R: Nigeria's Permanent Representative to the AU Commission, Mr. Bulus Lolo, permanent secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Martins Uhuomoibhe, newly elected Au commissioner for political Affairs, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, after the AU election, on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo: NAN A daily regimen of Truvada is estimated to cost $14,000 per year, putting it out of reach for many

hen Argentine President Cristina Fernandez got an earful from some reporters frustrated over her general refusal to take questions at news conferences, she offered little hope for change: "If you want official information, listen to my speeches," she told them. "I won't be speaking against myself." The brief encounter in the presidential palace press room, recounted by a radio reporter, reflects Fernandez's distrust of the media in a country deeply polarized by her rule. Argentines have many news outlets to choose from, and nearly all of them take strong positions for or against her government, and frequently spend ink and airtime accusing the other side of bias. With few opportunities to establish a dialogue with officials on neutral ground, the two camps depend to an uncomfortable extent on leaks and rumors, reducing the credibility of all involved. One side is led by the newspapers La Nacion and Clarin and their sister broadcast stations and magazines, which generally portray Fernandez as a power-hungry despot who is increasingly mismanaging Argentina's affairs. On the other side are a growing number of media outlets staffed by Fernandez supporters who call themselves advocacy journalists and describe the president as a transformative figure who is challenging entrenched economic interests and redistributing wealth to the poor. It's a profound divide, but reporters on both sides say the split has been encouraged by Fernandez, who has found a politically useful enemy in the opposition media. "There's an ideological and I would say even philosophical attitude here against the press," said Jorge Lanata, a leading Argentine journalist who has challenged authorities on both sides. Fernandez's supporters say her critics in the media just can't stomach the positive impact her politics are having on Argentina. "If you want to ask a question you must be willing to accept the answer," says Luciano Galende, host of a state-run television program called "6,7,8" that has guests pick apart each day's criticism of the president.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Pakistanis stage new protest over NATO route

housands of people in northwest Pakistan have protested against the reopening of NATO supply routes into Afghanistan and are planning to turn the protest into a march. The march, organised by the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, a leading member of the Defence of Pakistan coalition of right wing and Islamist groups, began on Monday in the city of Peshawar. Demonstrators said they would spend the night at the park in Peshawar near a highway used by NATO trucks supplying foreign forces in Afghanistan. Between 5,000 and 8,000 party activists had reached the site by the evening, police said. A spokesman for Jamaat-eIslami said 50,000 people would join the protest from the northwestern city of Peshawar to the nearby town of Jamrud, close to the Afghan border. Pakistan reopened overland routes to NATO convoys crossing into neighbouring Afghanistan on July 3 after closing them in protest against a US air raid that killed 24

Pakistani soldiers last November. "Supplying (NATO troops) with goods using Pakistani routes is like arming the enemy," Qazi Hussain Ahmad, a senior JI

member told the gathering. "NATO are killing innocent Muslims in Afghanistan." The protest came after

thousands of Pakistani extremists at the weekend rallied at the southwestern border post of Chaman, vowing to stop NATO supplies into Afghanistan.

Pakistan and the US reached a deal to reopen land routes that NATO uses to supply its troops

Human Rights Commission, a government body, told Reuters it suspects millions of dollars meant for flood control have been siphoned off by state water department officials in the last five years. The commission has demanded a high-level investigation by the government. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who represents Assam in the upper house of parliament, called the floods the worst in recent times and promised $1,800 to each victim's family in compensation. Critics say that much of the money will evaporate. "Corruption is rampant before and after a flood," said Arup Misra, a prominent environmental activist in the state and a professor at Assam Engineering College.

"Some officials eagerly wait for floods as they could make money on repairing of embankments and relief distribution." Over the past 60 years successive governments have built levees along most of the length of the volatile Brahmaputra, which is Assam's main river and is fed by Himalayan snow melt and some of the world's heaviest rainfall. Experts say these embankments are both criminally under-maintained and a discredited form of flood management. Assam is famed as a teagrowing region and rich in oil and timber. It is also home to the Kaziranga National Park that hosts two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses.

ood prices in Saudi Arabia are increasing as Ramadan draws closer, according to the latest NCB report. This is together with reduced oil revenues, and the thriving international trade and real estate sector, and declining Tadawul index, the Saudi Economic Review said. Food prices have jumped by 4.8 percent as Ramadan approaches. This caused Standard & Poor's/Goldman Sachs Agriculture Index, a benchmark for investment in the agricultural markets, to rise by 11 percent. Real estate and rental prices went up because of summer holidays. Yet the report stated that prices are expected to ease once the academic year begins. Passing the latest mortgage law will allow the Saudis to buy their own accommodation much easier. Mortgage lenders will be able to sell the assets on their balance sheets and use their capital more efficiently. Moreover, the law will allow borrowers to convert their assets easily into cash and hence diversify their risk in a better way. Mortgage law would also allow for more Islamic financing within mortgage lending, which will allow the buyer to retain an asset ownership. The Real Estate Development Fund's (REDF) increase in loan size will allow the Saudis to buy an accommodation at SR 500,000 or more. Competitive mortgage rates and lower risk criteria put by lending institutions will most benefit the middle-income segment. The affluent citizens will also have greater freedom to either finance construction or investment in the housing sector.

dead, according to UN estimates. Annan is due to meet Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, after meeting his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Russia and China have previously vetoed UN Security Council resolutions seeking to sanction the Syrian government for targeting civilians in its ongoing

war with armed groups it calls "terrorists". The Security Council will vote on Wednesday on a Western-backed resolution that threatens Syrian authorities with sanctions if they do not stop using heavy weapons in towns. Russia has declared it will block the move. The resolution, proposed by Britain, the United States, France and Germany, would extend a UN observer mission in Syria for 45 days and place international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Chapter 7 allows the 15member council to authorise actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention. US officials have said they are talking about sanctions on Syria, not military intervention. Also, Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, is visiting China to try to seek support for tougher action against the regime of Bashar alAssad. But a leading Chinese newspaper warned against outside intervention in Syria

even as Western powers are pushing for a new UN resolution. "The life of Syria's current political leadership can only be determined by the Syrian people. This is an internal matter and the international community should respect that," the state-run People's Daily said in an editorial. Ban will arrive in Beijing later on Tuesday for talks with Hu Jintao, the president, for talks that are expected to be dominated by Syria. Ban has already urged China to use its influence to back a peace plan by Annan, who is calling on the Security Council to order "consequences" for any failure to carry out his six-point plan. Assad has agreed to the plan, which includes the withdrawal of heavy weapons, but failed to carry it out. "External intervention to achieve regime change and to prevent a humanitarian disaster may appear to be sensible and responsible reasons to act," said the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of China's Communist Party.

Anger in India after floods leave 109 dead, 400,000 homeless

ndia's annual monsoon has claimed 109 lives since rains started in June and left at least 400,000 people homeless in the north eastern state of Assam, in a

tragedy experts say was made worse by corruption and poor management of the Brahmaputra River. A senior member of the Assam

People affected by floods construct a temporary bamboo bridge to link a road which was damaged by the floods at Pazarbhanga village in Barpeta district, Assam state, last week.

Food prices soar in Kingdom as Ramadan nears

UN warns Syria combatants over â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;war crimeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

he head of the UN humanitarian affairs has said parties to the Syrian conflict should avoid civilian injury and loss of life or risk being charged with crimes against humanity. In a statement released on Monday, Valerie Amos said the Syrian government and those fighting it should uphold their obligation to distinguish between civilians and combatants, adding that "directing attacks against civilians constitutes a war crime". "The escalating conflict in Syria is having a devastating physical and psychological impact on hundreds of thousands of people," Amos said. "As the International Committee of the Red Cross has now described the situation as an armed conflict, international humanitarian law applies across Syria in areas where there is fighting." Amos said humanitarian agencies had managed to increase assistance in the last month despite the "very dangerous and complex operating environment". "Food aid is now reaching

850,000 people, and more than 100,000 displaced people have received mattresses, blankets, kitchen sets and other vital supplies in the last four weeks," she said. Amos's comments came as UN envoy Kofi Annan continued his diplomatic mission in Russia to try to resolve the 16-month conflict which has left at least 14,000 people

Annan has met Sergei Lavrov to seek support for tougher action against Syria over civilian killings

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

PAGE 35

A roadmap to Vision 20:2020 (II) By Ugwumba Egbuta

he policy committed itself to the regular collection of demographic data and the use of such data for social and economic development planning. These were large and ambitious aims, and the achievements fell short. Trends of fertility are indicative of these failures; country-wide Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declined only very modestly, from 6.3 (1977 – 81) to 6.0 (1987 – 89) and 5.9 in 1991. The policy encouraged each couple to have four children and at the same time to have more if they wished to. This policy is considered by many as simply ambiguous and lacked strict purpose. This policy rather than checking the population ended up increasing birth rate. However, in 2004, the then Minister of Health, Eyitayo Lambo announced a new population policy for the country which targets to reduce the growth rate from 3 to 2 percent by 2015. According to him, “the growth rate would be checked through government promotion of the use of modern contraceptives and encourage families to have number of children they can carter for”. To ensure effective implementation, government established a national population council to oversee its implementation. It is sad to know that three years before 2015; population growth rate was rather on increase. Growth rate had rather increased to over 3.2% instead of decreasing to 2% being the policy’s target. In 2011 Chairman, National Population Commission, Samu’ila Danko Makama, disclosed that the country’s population rose from the 140,431,790 (2006), to about 167,912,561 (2011). This represents an annual population growth rate of 3.2 percent or 5.6 million people per annum. Mr. Lambo;s dream of reducing growth rate from 3.2% to 2% by 2015 has become a mere mirage. A situation that has served as catalyst to the growth of poverty in the country

President Goodluck Jonathan The current Nigerian policy on population for sustainable development (2010) is designed to improve the standard of living of the people; “the policy is to promote maternal, child and reproductive health of women, in order to achieve a lower population growth rate and address the problems of internal migration and the spatial distribution of the population”. In retrospect, the reason for poor results in the past has been in part, due to the diverse political, cultural, social and religious configuration of the country that makes it hard for the government to implement any

Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

“

The policy is to promote maternal, child and reproductive health of women, in order to achieve a lower population growth rate and address the problems of internal migration and the spatial distribution of the population enforcement. The government is aware of the dangers of imposing a check on family size and reproduction, especially in those parts of the country where tradition permits polygamy and prohibits limitation of family size. Recognizing those civil and cultural liberties, the government has been left with only the option of advocacy and enlightenment when it comes to issues of reducing fertility. In deciding elements of national power as postulated by Hans Mogantheu in his work “Politics among Nations and Struggle for Power” he posits that population if well harnessed could serve as a source of power to a nation. This is because a nation with quality population will have people to work at the industries, serve in the armed forces, teach in the universities and serve in many other endeavours that are of strategic importance to growth and development of every nation/ economy. When quality population is well harnessed, there will be enough food on the table, infrastructures will function and economy will experience tremendous transformation. Many

countries of the world today like China and India are said to be most populous countries on earth. In fact China has 1/5 of world population with over 1.6 billion people; by implication, one out of every five people on earth live in China. But still it has been able to feed this huge population and even still have enough food to export. The case of Nigeria is quite different. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and currently sixth in the world. The population of the country rather keep increasing at yet an alarming rate of annual 3.2% growth. Government have not managed and utilised this nature dividend, what Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called “demographic dividend” to its advantage. Rather what we see every day is proliferation of idle youth who wonder round the streets of every major city in the country in search of jobs that are not there. Nigerian government and policy maker need not to waste any more time in tackling problems associated with population explosion in the country. They are left with only one option at the moment: that is properly harnessing and tapping this “demographic dividend”. This will be followed by a well meticulously articulated population policy that will have immediate enforcement without recourse to culture or tradition. Government need to shift from its decade-long advisory and advocacy campaign to an enforcement posture as pertain population policy. At the moment, Nigeria population should be a blessing, but what is worrisome is the rate of its growth which is not proportionate to its production capability and available infrastructure. Having a policy aimed at reducing world population in general and Nigeria in particular is good but one should not follow the Chinese model – one child policy which to me is inhumane, ungodly and violation of citizens’ rights; rather government should urgently put its working population back to work to bring about productivity. Having identified population as a vital element of a state’s national power means Nigeria should by all standard be a powerful nation; rather what we see today is a weak state that has not been able to feed, shelter, nor secure its citizens. A situation some quarters have attributed to a “failing state”. Whichever way we may look at it, government have to stand up to this challenge that could be converted to strength. That over 70% of Nigerians are poor today is no more a news to an average Nigerian and the reasons are not far from the current population trend. If Nigeria’s high population is well harnessed, definitely poverty will reduce, vice versa. Government have to take actions now, except if it wants to fail in its ongoing policies like MDGs, Vision 20: 20,20 and so on. Therefore, it the primary objective is to fight poverty. The time to act is now. Concluded Ugumba Egbuta can be reached on ubegbuta@yahoo.com

PAGE 36

t will do nothing to calm a fearful person, but a new study has found that anxiety could make you grow old more quickly. Researchers found that a common form of the condition, known as phobic anxiety, could trigger cellular damage leading to premature ageing. Older women with an unreasonable fear of situations such as crowds or heights had shorter telomeres than their calmer peers. Telomeres are the caps on the ends of chromosomes that protect our genetic material from damage. They are considered markers of biological or cellular ageing. Shortened telomeres have been linked to increased risk of cancers, heart disease, dementia and mortality. A team from Brigham and Women’s Hospital from Boston took blood samples from more than 5,000 women aged 42 to 69 years old. They also asked them to fill out a questionnaire about any phobic symptoms that they sufferers. The team found having a high phobic anxiety level was associated with significantly

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Why it pays to stay calm: Anxiety may age you by six years shorter telomere lengths. The difference in telomere lengths for women who were highly phobic vs. not was similar to what was seen for an additional six years of age. Study author Dr Olivia Okereke: ‘Many people wonder about whether - and how stress can make us age faster.’ ‘So, this study is notable for showing a connection between a common form of psychological stress - phobic anxiety - and a plausible mechanism for premature aging. ‘However, this type of study design cannot prove cause-andeffect or which problem came first - the anxiety or shorter telomeres.’ The findings pave the way for further prospective investigations relating anxiety to telomere length change. Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Women with a phobia such as a fear of crowds, were found to be ageing more quickly.

Toddlers who watch too much TV risk adding inches to their waistlines E

very extra hour of television that a toddler watches weekly takes a toll on their waist size and athletic ability by the time they turn ten, claim scientists. Waistlines of ten-year-olds who had watched 18 hours a week at the age of four were 7.6mm bigger than those of children who had watched the average amount of 14.8 hours, the study found. The distance children could jump was also reduced by a third of a centimetre for each extra hour of TV they had watched per week at the age of two. The two-year-olds monitored in the study watched an average of 8.8 hours per week, rising to 14.8 hours for the four-year-olds. Some 15 per cent of the 1,314 children analysed were already watching over 18 hours of TV a

Worrying: Waistlines of ten-year-olds who had watched 18 hours a week at the age of four were 7.6mm bigger than those of children who had watched the average amount of 14.8 hours, the study found. This picture is posed by a model.

week, the University of Montreal researchers found. It is hoped that the study, published in the International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity, will encourage authorities to target the factors behind childhood obesity. Researcher Dr Linda Pagani said: ‘The bottom line is that watching too much television is not good. ‘Across the [Western] world, there have been dramatic increases in unhealthy weight for both children and adults in recent decades. ‘Our standard of living has also changed in favour of more easily prepared, calorie-dense foods and sedentary practices. ‘Watching more television not only displaces other forms of educational and active leisurely

pursuits but also places them at risk of learning inaccurate information about proper eating. ‘These findings support clinical suspicions that more screen time contributes to the rise in excess weight... thus providing essential clues for effective approaches to its eradication.’ Her fellow researcher Dr Caroline Fitzpatrick said: ‘The pursuit of sports by children depends in part on their perceived athletic competence. ‘Behavioural dispositions can become entrenched during childhood as it is a critical period for the development of habits and preferred activities. ‘Accordingly, the ability to perform well during childhood may promote participation in sporting activities in adulthood.’ Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Concerns: Every extra hour of television that a toddler watches weekly takes a toll on their waist size and athletic ability by the time they turn ten, claim scientists.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012

PAGE 37

Oshiomhole gets certificate of return from INEC, begs for forgiveness From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

ACN supporters sweeping at Ugbowo road after the announcement of the Edo governorship election result which was won by Governor Adams Oshiomhole, on Sunday in Benin.

Police Read Riot Act ahead of Saturday’s council poll in Ogun From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

gun State Police Command yesterday warned that it would not tolerate any act of indiscipline from any quarters during the forthcoming local government election scheduled for this Saturday. The Police Commissioner, Ikemefuna Okoye made this known while addressing press at the Eleweran Police Command, Abeokuta ahead of the council poll just as he restated that he had deployed enough men to man the

necessary areas to forestall possible breakdown of law and order during the election. Okoye also hinted that all Area Commanders as well as the Divisional Police Officers across the state have been instructed to step up surveillance in their respective jurisdiction. He however, failed to disclose the number of personnel deployed for special duty on the election day. Speaking further, the police boss denounced the rumour making round the state that men of the state vigilante service were accredited to be part of the security apparatus for the said council poll. He re-affirmed the

readiness of his Command to keep the state safe and contributed to the conduct of free election in the state, He warned those who may have the intention of fomenting trouble to steer-clear of the state, stressing that whoever contravenes the law regarding the election would be decisively dealt with. In another development, a fake Army officer with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel was arrested at Sango Ota axis of the state. He was identified as Tunde AbdulSaheed, and was arrested while attempting to defend a female client in a disputed parcel of land.

The 36 year old AbdulSaheed, who claimed to be an Automobile Engineer while speaking with newsmen said he was dismissed along with other officers from the Nigeria Army during the General Oladipo Diya's phantom coup of 1995. He said he was on the rank of Lieutenant when the incident occurred. Speaking on the arrest, Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi however said that investigations were still on-going on the fake Army Colonel stressing that he would be charged to court as soon as it is concluded.

Wada describes Attah's death as painful From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

apt Idris Wada, Kogi state governor, has described the death of the late Attah Igala, Alh Dr, Aliyu Obaje, as a painful loss to the people of the state, adding that it came at a time when he was most needed by the state in particular and nation in general. The governor who was represented by his Deputy, Arc Yomi Awoniyi, at the funeral of the late monarch yesterday

lamented the demise of the traditional ruler even as he described him as a bridge builder, reconciliatior, peacemaker, and one who worked tirelessly for the stability and unity of the state and nation. The governor described the 56 year reign of the late Attah Igala as rewarding not only to the Igala people, but the entire state, adding that his tenure as Chairman, of the State Traditional Council, since the

creation of the state ensured that traditional institutions met the yearning and aspirations of their people concerning peace building, sustainable culture and tradition of the people across the state. Wada stated that the late Royal father died at a time his administration needed his wisdom and counsel in achieving the transformation agenda. He said the vacuum created by his demise will be difficult to fill.

Earlier in his prayers, the chief Imam of Idah, Alh Yahaya Udale, prayed Allah to grant the late monarch eternal rest. The funeral prayer which drew people from all works of life had representative from the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammaed Sa'ad Abubakar. Adejoh Aliyu Obaje, eldest son of the late Attah, described the late monarch as a symbol of unity assuring that his good deeds would be emulated by the children he left behind.

he Independent National electoral Commission, INEC has presented re-elected Governor of Edo state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, with a Certificate of Return confirming him winner of the July 14 gubernatorial election in the state. The certificate was presented to him by INEC National Commissioner, Colonel Mohammed Hammanga (rtd.) on behalf of the Commission. Receiving the certificate, Governor Oshiomhole said “I promise that I understand the import of this certificate. It means a return to work, to deliver to our people dividend of democracy and improving the lives of the vast majority of our people”. The Governor reiterated his earlier promise to assist families of the late policemen and INEC ah-hoc staff who died in course of Saturday election by providing for their upkeep. “By next week, the state government would provide to the family something, money cannot compensate for live, just to show that their death was a sacrifice for sustenance of democracy”. He apologized to those he may have felt offended in the course of the election and called on the opponents to join hands with him to move the state forward. Meanwhile, 22 accredited domestic election observers and Civil Society Organisations for last Saturday governorship election in the state have urged the INEC, to keep the template. This was the thrust of a Communiqué undersigned by the group led by Dr Isaac Onyinke yesterday in Benin. They observed that reported late arrival of polling materials that was experienced in some parts of Edo South Senatorial District could not have invalidated the declaration of incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole as winner after polling the majority of the lawful votes cast. According to them, “Though there were observed challenges, they were not enough to affect the results as declared by INEC”

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012

Reps committee postpones public petition against NUC

Katsina opposition present single candidate for Dutsi bye-election

he House of Representatives Committee on Public Petition has postponed the public hearing the suspension of the licences of seven private universities by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to today. The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Uzo Azubike, made this known at the opening of the public hearing in Abuja on Tuesday. Azubuike said that the postponement was to give the NUC, time to study the petition against it. ``We are aware and indeed worried about the compromised standards of education in our institutions, especially at the tertiary level. ``It is as a result of this that the enabling Act of the NUC empowers it to closely monitor universities in order to remain relevant as an institution charged with the responsibilities. ``We have a worrisome situation, where Nigerians spend huge resources to train their wards in countries that are poorer, less developed and exposed than we are and yet Nigeria claims to be the giant of Africa.'' Azubuike said the hue and cry generated by the action of the NUC was one that the parliament could not pretend to be unaware as the fate and educational fortune of thousands of Nigerians were at stake. He said the suspension of the universities whose students were in various levels of their academic pursuits, might truncate their life ambition. Azubike said that the committee was aware of the role of NUC in moderating academic standards in the nation's universities. He said that the committee demanded justification for the action and also for NUC to proffer solutions to the chain of consequences that would flow from it. ``We need to be told the criteria and procedure for issuance of licences and also the procedure for suspension of licences. ``We particularly want to know when such licences are withdrawn. What is the fate of the students in the institutions that is what we need to understand? ``That is the only way we can advise them on the next step to take.'' In his response, the Deputy Executive Secretary of NUC, Mr Akinbode Agbaoye, said that the commission was not aware of the petition against it. ``We thought as a pubic organisation with the responsibility of maintaining quality education in Nigeria, we need to see that petition because NUC has a record of the 124 universities in Nigeria. ``If we see a copy of that petition we will be able to come out with the records of the universities and tell you the correct position as at today,'' he said. He said the commission needed a copy of the petition to provide a proper report in the interest of fair hearing.

yesterday in From Lawal Sa'idu Funtua, conference, Katsina, the interim chairman Katsina of the CPC, Alhaji Faruq Adamu pposition parties in Aliyu noted that the agreement Katsina state have to field one candidate was presented the Congress reached at a meeting of eleven for Progressive Change, (CPC) opposition political parties in the candidate, Malam Shu'aibu state. Aliyu who disclosed that the Sani as their sole candidate for the forthcoming state election was scheduled for the assembly bye-election for 28th of this month by INEC, called on the INEC, the police Dutsi local government. Addressing a press and SSS to provide level playing

ground for all candidates in the election. The Chairman similarly stressed that if the CPC lost the election through a free and fair contest they would, according to him, gladly congratulate the winner. He said "we want INEC, Police and the SSS to borrow a leaf from Edo election and ensure fairness in conducting the election. This will further

deepen democratic process in the land". Aliyu also called on the people of Dutsi constituency to get ready to elect any candidate they feel would serve them better at the state House of Assembly. It could be recalled that the Dutsi seat at the Assembly became vacant following the death of its former occupants, Late Alhaji Tasi'u Yamel.

‘PDP can’t muscle ACN in EDO’, Garungabas From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

Executive Secretary, Lagos State Universal Basic Education (UBE), Mrs Gbolahan Daodu (left), explaining a point to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije (right), and members of the committee, during their tour of UBE projects, yesterday in Lagos. Photo: NAN

Coalition of parties tasks Oshiomhole on rural development, housing From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

oalition of Registered political parties, CRPP yesterday tasked the Edo state re-elected governor, Adams Oshiomhole to develop the rural areas so as to checkmate ruralurban migration. In a statement jointly endorsed by the State chairman of CRPP, Dr Samson Isibor and Secretary, Mr Felix Imade, the coalition enjoined the governor to create

more jobs in order to reduce the high level of unemployment and boost food production by opening up all the farm settlements across the state. "The Governor should take a cursory look at the electorates who voted for him, he 'll notice that majority of them are both in rural and urban areas… "There is lot of jobs that can be created from mechanized agriculture; other priority areas are the construction of low cost houses

for the people, Shylock landlords have taken undue advantage of shortage of accommodation to unleash and astronomical high rent regime on the masses." The statement added that the chief executive should to use the confidence reposed on him at last governorship election to consolidate on his achievements in his first tenure which ends on 12th November 2012 and avoid the temptation of being locked in a battle of will.

Tribunal dismisses ACN petition against Gov. Imoke's election

he Cross River Election Petition Tribunal yesterday in Calabar dismissed the petition by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) challenging the declaration of Sen. Liyel Imoke as governor of the state. The party had in March 23, filed a petition against the declaration of PDP's candidate as winner of the Feb. 25 governorship election by INEC. In the petition, ACN and its candidate, Mr Usani Usani, alleged that PDP did not conduct primaries in accordance with

the Electoral Act. The party challenged the validity of the nomination of Sen. Imoke as candidate of PDP in the election. ACN also alleged some irregularities in the conduct of the election and inflation of results in violation of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. The party urged the tribunal to either disqualify the PDP candidate and declare ACN candidate as winner of the election or nullify the election. According to the petition, the ACN joined INEC, the Resident

Electoral Commissioner and PDP as respondents in the petition. In his judgment, Justice Ishaq Bello said the issue of nomination of a candidate by any political party to stand for election on its behalf was its sole responsibility. He said it was only a member of the same political party that could challenge the nomination of any candidate by a political party. ``It is only a member of the same political party that can challenge the nomination of a candidate,'' he said.

dams Oshiomole won the Edo state governorship election because ACN and the people of Edo State made it almost impossible for PDP to rig the election, former Jigawa NBA chairman Barrister Husseinni Garungabas has said. Garungabas, who was the CPC candidate for Jigawa North Senatorial district in the 2011 election, said the fear of the ACN is the beginning of wisdom for the PDP. According to him, "You will recall I told you earlier that PDP dare not rig against ACN, PDP can only muscle other parties. It is therefore not surprising that INEC conceded victory to Oshiomhole. As for Tony Anenih, don't be deceived by his godfather posture; he never won his ward at any time, the truth is he has been a very skillful rigger but Saturday election defied rigging." He however warned the potential riggers in the 2015 election to be mindful of Buhari's warning on possible violence if the 2015 election should be rigged. Honorable Farouk Aliyu former minority leader in the House of Representatives said the victory of ACN shows that if people would be resolute to confront the PDP, it will be a matter of time for the party and its gimmicks. Farouk who was the CPC governorship candidate in Jigawa in the 2011 election recalled that the PDP have ruled the country for 13 years leading everybody to the present mess. He said nothing works when corruption and ineptitude thrives in all segment of governance adding that it has resulted in the present insecurity Another former member of the House of Representatives who represented Babura/Garki, Honorable Nasiru Dantiye said the Federal Government had to allow the people's will in Edo because it could not afford another crisis with the present situation in the North, the militants in the south-south and arm robbers and kidnappers in the south east. He pointed out that Anenih and his likes are of no issue in the absence of the rigging machine; the military, police and other law enforcement agents and some corrupt judicial officers.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012

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Reps order INEC to review federal constituencies By Lawrence Olaoye

he House of Representatives yesterday ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review the country’s Federal constituencies and Senatorial districts. The country, at the moment, has 360 Federal Constituencies and 109 Senatorial Districts. Rep Mohammed Shamsidin Abdulahi in a motion, which the House unanimously adopted yesterday said the situation called for an urgent review, especially with the persistent increase in the nation's population. He based his argument on the provisions of section 73(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which gives INEC powers to review the constituencies

•••to probe effects of old vehicles on environment every 10 years, and 73(2) which stated that not withstanding that, "INEC may at any time carry out such a review and alter the districts or constituencies" to such extents it considers necessary. Abdulahi said the population of the Nigeria was growing by the day and that the delineation of new constituencies would save the burden of members of the National Assembly who have two, three of four local government councils combined as a Federal Constituency without regard to the population therein. According to the lawmaker, the review being sought as prayed in the motion would help to "safeguard the interest of the people socially, economically and politically.

His submissions were supported by other members, including Adeyinka Ajayi and Uche Ekwunife, who said the review would check the noted imbalances in the existing structure. Meanwhile, the House has mandated its joint committee on Customs, Road Safety and Environment to investigate the environmental impact of over aged vehicles imported into the country. This was sequel to a motion sponsored by Chairman of the House Committee on Human Rights, Beni Lar, who said it was worrisome for the planned Federal Government's decision to increase the age limit of imported used vehicles. The government had last year

increased the age limit of such vehicles from five to 10 years, a development Lar argued had led to influx of poorly maintained vehicles into the country. He pointed out that such has constituted hazards to road users due to breakdown. According to her, the world over has lowered the age limit of used vehicles to five years insisting that further upward review of same would have negative impact on local auto manufacturers, even as they would further cause environmental associated problems by their emissions. The joint committee has four weeks to report its findings back to the House.

TUC says Oshiomhole’s reelection is victory for masses, workers

L-R: Chairman, Joint House Committee on Privatisation, Hon. Khadija Ibrahim, with Chairman, House Committee on ICT, Hon. Ibrahim Shehu, during the committee's public hearing on privatisation, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: NAN

Sultan speaks on the state of the nation tomorrow By Lawrence Olaoye

ultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar will tomorrow in Abuja address the Muslim community and media on the state of the nation as well as the preparation for the forthcoming Ramadan fast. A statement by Dr AbdulLateef Adegbite, the Secretary- General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), yesterday in Abuja said

the Muslim leader will equally use the opportunity to announce to the world, certain restructuring and appointment recently made by the council. He said the joint briefing, which will hold at National Mosque conference Hall, Abuja, from 11 a.m, will also witness the attendance of representatives of Muslim groups and Islamic societies in Nigeria. Adegbite said the Council would also use the opportunity to inform the Muslim community the likely

commencement of 2012 Ramadan fast. He said though the Council had at various fora expressed its concern on the state of the nation, the conference would also address some of the efforts of the apex Islamic body in confronting various challenges in the country. Adegbite said the occasion will equally be used to inform the public as well as inaugurate the new leadership of National Mosque, Abuja in line with the restructuring process.

he Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has described the re-election of Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo as victory for the masses and workers. A statement signed by Comrade Peter Esele, TUC President, and Chief John Kolawole, TUC General Secretary in Lagos, said that voters were interested in the election because they wanted development. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oshiomhole defeated his main challenger, retired Maj.-Gen. Charles Airhiavbere by 477,478 votes to 144,235 votes. “His victory is indeed the victory of not only Edo people but that of the masses of Nigeria, especially the impoverished and deprived workers,’’ the statement said. It noted that the election was an entrenchment of good governance in Edo and a determination of the people to ensure development in the state. “We congratulate the governor and see this victory as a renewed opportunity to further raise the bar of good governance not only in his state but also in Nigeria. “The good work must continue and the light must continue shining for development and growth of the nation,’’ it said. The statement commended the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as the security agents for conducting an election that was generally acceptable to the people of Edo. It said that even the international community accepted the decision in spite of the setbacks witnessed during the early hours of the day. The statement also praised President Goodluck Jonathan for his commitment and determination to ensure that the wishes of Edo people were not truncated.

NCP seeks urgent hearing of petition against INEC

he National Conscience Party (NCP) urged a Federal High Court in Lagos to urgently hear the case it filed against INEC on deregistration of parties. The court, which began its vacation on July 16, will only hear cases that are urgent until it resumes on Sept 17. In the suit, the NCP and one of its members, Mr Tunde Agunbiade, are

challenging the legality of an alleged plan by INEC to de- register some political parties. Joined as defendants in the suit are the National Assembly and the attorneygeneral of the federation. The counsel to NCP, Mr Marcus Evarhono, in an affidavit in support of the motion for urgent hearing, stated that the substantive suit was filed on Sept. 16, 2011

and had been served on all parties. He informed the court that the plaintiffs had also filed a motion on notice dated July 3, restraining INEC from deregistering it or any political party, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit. Eyarhono contended that if INEC was not promptly restrained from deregistering political parties, it could carry out the exercise which would cause

irreparable damage to the plaintiffs. “Any delay in granting this application may occasion irreparable hardship to the plaintiffs,’’ he said. The Deputy Chief Registrar of the court, Mr Ben Okandeji, asked the plaintiffs to serve the motion for urgent hearing on the defendants and fixed July 23 for hearing of the case by Justice Mohammed Idris.

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, JULY 12, 2012

Amaechi promises Rivers civil servants better conditions of service

ov. Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers state has assured civil servants of conducive conditions of service to enhance their efficiency in delivering service. Amaechi gave the assurance in Port Harcourt on Monday at the opening ceremony of the state’s Civil Service Week. Represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr Chuma Chinye, Amaechi said that the civil

service was a necessary machinery in the realisation of government’s objectives. He said that the state government had done a lot to ensure optimal performance by civil servants. “Knowing the position you occupy in the system, it is our duty to provide the enabling environment for you to perform better.” Also speaking, the Head of Service, Mrs Esther Anucha,

noted that the regular training and re-training of civil servants had enhanced their performance. She urged the workers to show more commitment and dedication in the discharge of their duties to ensure that government’s set objectives were achieved. “We all know that the government has been alive to its responsibilities to us; we also have to be positive in our approach to the job.” In his remarks, Mr Martins

Yello, the Chairman of the State Civil Service Commission, said that 100 NYSC members had been interviewed for employment as medical doctors. Yello further said that the commission had embarked on a head count of NYSC members who were alleged to have cheated by reducing their ages in order to serve. He added that the commission was also taking a head count of NYSC members who had yet to

report at their places of primary assignment. He warned against age falsification among civil servants, ghost workers’ syndrome, adding that deserving civil servants would be promoted when due. Also speaking, Alhaji Isa Bello, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, said that the service had been confronted by several challenges including the lack of funds.

Benue ACN congratulates Oshiomhole your life, we recall the brutal murder of your Principal By Augustine Aminu

L-R: Clerk of the Senate Mr, Ben Efeture, administering oath to Senator Solomon Ewuga from Nasarawa North and Senator Margery Okadigbo from Anambra North, yesterday at the National Assembly, in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Kebbi NLC adamant on indefinite strike

he NLC in Kebbi has dispelled speculations that it may call off its ongoing strike over the refusal of the State Government to pay the N18,000 minimum wage, due to the forthcoming Ramadan. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that workers in the state commenced a general strike last week over the refusal of the government to pay the minimum wage to all categories of workers. The government proposed that workers on grade levels one to eight would be paid the minimum wage, while their counterparts on grade levels nine to 15 would be paid a flat rate of N7, 000. Alhaji Sadiq Kaoje, the Chairman of the NLC in the state, announced the stand of the workers in an interview with a NAN correspondent on Monday in Birnin Kebbi. “Speculations that the strike will be suspended due to the Ramadan fasting by Muslims is incorrect,’’ he said, adding that the union would not bow to

pressure by some prominent people in the state to call off the strike “Some prominent people had approached the NLC on the need to end the strike but the workers are fighting a just cause to enhance their welfare and for the development of the state. Kaoje said the leadership of the union had been informed of plans by government to intimidate workers to call off the strike.

But in his reaction, the state’s Head of Service, Alhaji Buhari Halidu, said that government did not have funds to pay all categories of workers the minimum wage. He insisted that workers on grade levels one to eight would be paid the new wage in full while those on grade level nine to 15 would be paid a flat rate of N7,000. He said that payment of the minimum wage to all categories

Tambuwal eulogizes late Atta of Igala the death of the traditional ruler By Lawrence Olaoye

peaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has described the late Attah of Igala, Dr. Aliyu Obaje, as a man of vision whose tenure as the paramount ruler of the Igala nation ushered in a period of prosperity and tranquility. In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal said

signifies the end of an era in Kogi state. He said late Obaje used his influence to impart on the constitutional evolution of Nigeria before independence; while in Kogi State, his influence was felt most in the education sector of the state. While condoling with the government and people of Kogi State, Speaker Tambuwal prayed to the almighty Allah to grant the deceased eternal rest, and give his family the fortitude to bear the loss.

The Benue state governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the 2011 general elections, Prof. Steve Torkuma Ugbah, has congratulated the Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, on his re-election describing it as “well-deserved.” Oshiomhole, who flew the flag of the ACN in the governorship election held at the weekend, defeated the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Gen. Charles Airhiavbere in a landslide victory, securing 477, 478 votes against the latter’s 144, 235 votes. In a statement issued yesterday on his behalf by the DirectorGeneral of the Prof. Ugbah Campaign Organisation, Prof. David Iornem, Ugbah saluted the political maturity of the ACN faithful in Edo state and the Edo people in general, saying “as the Big Heart of the nation, Edo state has once again shown that it has what it takes to effectively confront and contain the anti-democratic forces intent on ruining our country and its democratic enterprise.” The statement further reads “We remember the several reported incidents of attempts on

Secretary, the panicky transfer of the State Police Commissioner on the eve of the election as well as the late deployment of election materials on election day even within Benin City, where the INEC Office is. “Even against the backdrop of all these forces arrayed against you before and during the election, you went ahead to secure your welldeserved second-term victory with what is rightly being described as a landslide win. It is thus that we do not hesitate to call you a political superman and miracle worker. “It is as a result of your free, fair and transparent win that the President, despite the avowal of his party to capture Edo state at all cost, and only recently returned from Benin where he went to campaign for the PDP candidate, was the first to congratulate you, even before your party, the ACN, did, and even before your main rival, Gen. Airhiavbere, could come out of his shock.” The ACN chieftain also hailed the “uncommon courage and political sophistication” of the Edo people, adding that their vigilance had ensured that INEC matched its rhetoric of one-man, one-vote with action by announcing the people’s choice as winner.

Jonathan condoles with Etsu Nupe on death of his mother

resident Goodluck Jonathan commiserated with His Royal Highness, the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, on the death of his mother, Hajiya Goggo Abubakar. This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati. Jonathan also condoled with the entire Nupe kingdom on the death of the matriarch. “On behalf of my family, the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I wish to express our deepest condolences to Your Highness, members of your family, and the entire people of the Nupe Kingdom at this time,” President

Jonathan wrote. The President said that she would be missed for the positive leadership and matriarchal role she played in the lives of all who were fortunate to have had their paths crossed hers in the course of her life. “The worthy essence of her richly fulfilled life should be an enduring source of inspiration to you and the family,” he said. Jonathan prayed Almighty God to grant her soul eternal rest and imbue the Etsu Nupe with the requisite strength and wisdom to cope with the painful loss. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Hajiya Goggo Abubakar passed on at the age of 83.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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Niger state woos investors at London Olympics

he Niger state government has urged British businessmen to explore the vast investment opportunities in the state. The state made the call yesterday in Surrey County Council, near London, at an event tagged: ‘‘Showcasing Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympic Games’’ organised by the Bank of Industry (BOI) in collaboration with the Councils Chamber of Commerce in Surrey, UK. Mr Dan Yahaya, Niger State Commissioner for Investment, in his presentation on the business opportunities in the

state said Niger has the comparative advantage of having the largest landmass in the country. He said the state has 10 per cent of Nigeria’s arable land “We have comparative advantage in rice production as the largest rice producer in the country with production capacity to feed the whole Nigeria and potentials for export. “Our annual economic growth rate stands at 3.4 per cent as at 2011 higher than the Federal Government of Nigeria’s benchmark of 3.2 per cent,’’ Yahaya said.

He explained further that the state ranked lowest in poverty prevalence index in Nigeria according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics. Yahaya listed other areas of comparative advantage in the state to include abundance of solid minerals adding that the State is currently on exploration survey for hydro carbon in the Bida basin. “Niger state is also rich in tourism potentials with a variety of tourist sites;The potentials in tourism in Niger state meet world class standards waiting to be exploited. “Niger state is also home to

Olympics: Amike charges Nigerian athletes to win medals

enry Amike, the President of the Nigerian Olympians Association (NOA), has charged Team Nigeria to do the country proud at the 2012 London Olympic Games by winning as many medals as possible. Amike said yesterday in Lagos that the athletes must justify the confidence the nation reposed in them as expressed in their selection for the Games by winning medals in London. ‘’It is now left for the athletes to prove their worth because for them to be selected from the lot means they are no flukes. ‘’It is a strong list, having gone through the trials and the championships at Port Novo, I think the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has done what is expected of them, by selecting the best,’’ he said. The Olympian added that the athletes were in high spirits and were set to exploit Blessing Okagbare’s victory in the 100m dash at the recently concluded International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) in London. ‘’And as it is now, I believe with the victory of Okagbare at the Diamond competition, the victory will challenge other

athletes at the Surrey camp to intensify their efforts,’’ Amike said. Amike, who was ranked in the eighth position in the 400m event at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, said that Okagbare should strive to build on her exploits at the IAAF Diamond League. ‘’She has shown that the Nigerian fighting spirit is there;

she won the race which had the best athletes in the world. “The current 100 metres champion was thrashed by our very own Blessing; there is much to look out for from our athletes. They will make jaws to drop at this Olympics, I am sure,’’ he said The former national quarter miler urged Team Nigeria to try as much as possible to guard against injuries on the eve of the

Members of D’ Tigers, Nigeria’s medal hope at the Games

three hydropower dams located in Kainji, Shiroro and Jebba, which contributes immensely to power generation and supply in Nigeria,’’ he added. Also in his presentation, Dr Ken Okapara, Delta state Commissioner for Trade and Investment said there was peace and security in the area for business to strive. “The state government is currently embarking on the development of physical infrastructure especially electricity and is also developing its human capital including the ICT skills,’’ Okpara said. Olympic Games that could rule them out of contention. ‘’To me this is a new dawn in the country’s track and field history, and the morale is so high in camp. ‘’I just hope and pray nobody picks up an injury at this level, because we have worked so hard to get to this point,’’ Amike said. On the country’s sad experience at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Barcelona, Spain, which ended on Sunday, Amike described the visa problem which befell the Nigerian contingent as a dampener. “To me, I think the Federal Government and the Foreign Affairs Ministry should have waded into the issue on time to avert the embarrassment,’’ Amike said He said that under such a confusing situation, there was no way an athlete could perform well in a competition of the magnitude of the World Junior Athletics Championships. “Anybody expecting medals from the junior team was asking for too much from them because there is no way you can win medals after going through such a traumatic experience. ‘’It so sad to train that hard and for you to be denied visa; it’s appalling to deny a National Team visa, a country that you have diplomatic ties with; it’s unheard of,’’ Amike said.

Desire Oparanozie

Falconets off to Korea August 1

igeria’s female U20 team, the Falconets, will leave for Korea on August 1 ahead of the FIFA U20 World Cup in Japan, officials announced. According to the general secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Musa Amadu, the team of 25 players and 11 officials will intensify their build-up for the World Cup in Korea before they fly out to Japan. “The team will depart the country on August 1 for Korea and will then arrive Japan on August 15,” Amadu disclosed. The Falconets, who have been training in Abuja since the beginning of July, made history two years ago when they became the first African female team to reach the final of a FIFA tournament. For this year’s edition of the competition, they are drawn against Brazil, South Korea and Italy in Group B. They begin their campaign on August 19 against South Korea in Saitama.

AWC: Nigeria’s Falcons draw Cameroon, CIV as Coordinator is upbeat By Patrick Andrew

he Super Falcons’ Coordinator, Henrietta Ukaigwe, has expressed optimism that the team would successfully defend their Africa Women Championship (AWC) trophy and thus justify their top ranking in the continent. She was reacting to the draws conducted yesterday in Cairo, Egypt which pitted Nigeria

along with Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia in Group B. Speaking after the draw, Ukaigwe expressed no fear instead was confident that the defending champions would not only qualify from their group but get to the final. She described Cameroon as a side that could give the Falcons a good fight, and that no team should be taken for granted.

“Without disrespect to Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia, I think Cameroon could give us a good fight, but I am equally certain that we will not underrate any country. “We will take every match as it comes and also ensure that we accord equal respect to every team we play,” she said. Ukaigwe added that the team’s target was to win the tournament and pick the

maximum points from every game they played. “Our target is to win the tournament; we also want to pick three points from every match we will play in the group so that we can be able to top the group. “No matter the opposition, I remain hopeful that we will not only qualify from the group but also stand a strong chance of winning the tournament,” she

said. According to her, the Falcons are a strong team which many others always look forward to playing against. “Every team wants to play the Falcons because they believe we are a strong side; they also believe they can measure their strength when they play us,” she said. The Falcons will commence the defence of the AWC title they won in South Africa in 2010 when the tournament begins in November in Equatorial Guinea.

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PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Rudisha looks to turn dad’s silver into gold which is so healthy for us, gives us quality races and allows us to compete at the top of our abilities.” For Rudisha there is also the intriguing prospect of meeting the Jamaican sprint great Usain Bolt a man he has drawn a lot of comparisons with in the past in the 4x400m relay. But whether he will run the relay and face Bolt depends on the Kenyan relay team reaching the Olympic final, and the national federation picking Rudisha to run the final leg in London.

David Rushida enya’s world 800m record holder David Rudisha will bid to go one better than his father 44 years ago and win the Olympic gold medal. The 23-year-old - whose father Daniel won silver in the 4x400m relay at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City - would also become the first runner from the Masai tribe to win an Olympic gold medal. “Becoming the world record holder and winning the world title. All these I have achieved, now it’s the Olympic title which I am aiming for. It is the dream of every athlete to win the Olympics,” Rudisha said. To keep himself in perfect shape, the long-striding track star has only raced in four races this season, in a welltailored programme set by his management to suit his Olympic preparations. As part of those preparations, Rudisha travelled to Australia in early March, and ran a slowish time of 1:44.33 in the Melbourne Classic meet. But he stepped up a few gears following that, blasting to three world-leading times of the year in Doha, New York and Paris to prove his sharpness ahead of the Olympics. “David is certainly one of the favourites in London,” said his coach Colm O’Connell. “He’s certainly somebody that Kenya and everybody around the world will be keeping their eyes on. But he will also be under pressure because the Olympics are always very special,” he added. Standing between the Kenyan and his Olympic destiny, however is a talented 18-year-old Ethiopian newcomer, Mohammed Aman. The reigning world indoor 800m champion, Aman became the first athlete to beat Rudisha, handing the Kenyan his first defeat in two years at the end of last season in Milan, Italy. “Aman is a young boy, good, talented, we saw him in the world indoors. He’s a good man and he’s working hard,” said Rudisha, before the season-opening Doha Diamond League meeting in May. “It’s good for me to have people like him because it’s good to get that challenge and he gives good competition

Rudisha will not compete in the semifinals, where Kenya is one of the 16 qualified teams, as the relay semis will be clashing with the 800m, but he is already relishing racing Bolt, who broke the men’s 100m and 200m world records in Beijing four years ago. “It would be great seeing two world record holders in different events competing. That would be our meet point because I’d come down to 400m and he would go up from the 100m and 200m,” Rudisha told reporters in Doha back in May.

.5m soccer fans lose tickets

Some 500, 000 soccer fans may not be able to watch their darling teams compete for Olympic soccer medals following the withdrawal of their tickets by the organisers of the London Olympics Games. The authorities announced yesterday

that the tickets for Olympic soccer matches have been withdrawn because of the reduction in stadium capacities. The reduction in the stadium capacities has been necessitated by the shortfall in the projected huge attendance at match venues.

Jacque Rogge, IOC President

As a result of the lack of take-up of available seats, the organisers will reduce capacities across the venues by closing tiers of stadiums or whole sections of a ground. Even after the reduction, 250 000 soccer tickets are still available with a further 200 000 set to be put up for sale before the Games begin on July 27. Games chief Seb Coe defended the move and said soccer ticket sales compared favourably with previous Olympics. “They are in reduced size venues of course, we’ve had to scale down the size of those venues,” Coe told reporters. “We’ve sold more football tickets than we’ve sold anything else, we’ve got 37-38 000 tickets we’ve sold for Britain ladies v New Zealand which I think benchmarks pretty well for instance with the women’s FA Cup final this year which was an allLondon affair at the Emirates (Stadium) and they had about 5 000. “We are not in bad

shape on tickets but football tickets at a Games are always the challenge. I think we’ll do pretty well.” The soccer competition is set to take place in six venues across Britain including the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, City of Coventry Stadium, Old Trafford in Manchester, St James’ Park in Newcastle, Hampden Park in Glasgow and London’s Wembley Stadium which will host both the men’s and women’s finals. Organisers will also make 150 000 soccer tickets available for school children through their Ticketshare scheme. Fifty thousand nonfootball tickets are still available for the Games and a further 200 000 will be put up for general sale in the next ten days. Tickets are still available for sports including athletics, hockey and beach volleyball, while there are still some seats available in the higher price bands for the opening and closing ceremonies. Games organisers have been dogged by criticism throughout the ticketing sales process with fans frustrated by online delays.

‘Cold’ forces Xiang out of London

Liu Xiang

hinese hurdler Liu Xiang is to avoid London’s “wet and cold” weather until he competes at the Olympic Games, his coach says. Sun Haiping said Liu, one of China’s top sporting heroes, would train in Leverkusen in Germany. He had arranged to train at St Mary’s University College in Twickenham. Liu won gold in Athens in 2004, but pulled out of the 2008 Beijing Games ahead of his much anticipated race, an action which shocked China. “Other Chinese teams

have also chosen to move their base thanks to London’s cold weather, so Liu Xiang is not the only one,” Mr Sun was quoted as saying by the China Daily. Liu Xiang left London for Leverkusen after pulling out of the Diamond League London Grand Prix final on July 13 his 29th birthday due to muscle pain. But Sun Haiping said Liu Xiang “will be sure to fight to the end”. The men’s 110m hurdles events will be held on August 7and 8. Mr Sun

said Liu Xiang would not move into the London Olympic Village until early August. Before heading for Leverkusen just north of Cologne -Xiang’s coaching team also considered Leeds, which China has chosen as its training base, according to the Shanghai Morning Post. But feedback from fellow teams suggested that conditions at the Leeds training camp “did not quite fit what Xiang needs either”, said the report. Xiang, 29, left fans devastated when he pulled

out of the Beijing Games because of an Achilles injury and has continued to struggle with injury ever since. Nonetheless, he is among the leading contenders to win gold at the London Games, where his main rival will be Cuban Olympic champion and world record holder Dayron Robles. London has suffered one of its wettest summers on record in the run-up to the Olympics, and weather forecasters are predicting at least some downpours during the event.

Dayron Robles

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Chelsea swoop for £35m Napoli star

Edinson Cavani’s

helsea will have further talks with -Napoli striker Edinson Cavani’s agents over a £35million move later this week but the Uruguayan’s wage -demands are holding up the deal. Cavani, one of the most in-demand strikers in Europe this summer, wants a contract worth £150,000 a week at Stamford Bridge and that

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puts him level with some of the highest earners at Chelsea like England stars John Terry and Frank Lampard. Only Fernando Torres, on £180,000 a week, earns more. Chelsea owner Roman A b r a m o v i c h i s attempting to tie up more than £65m worth of deals in the next week or two while his team is on their USA tour, which sees them taking on Seattle Sounders tomorrow. The deal to bring in £30m Brazilian midfielder Oscar is close to being completed and

Internacional president Giovanni Luigi said last night. Cavani has scored 66 goals in 94 games for Napoli since 2010, scored one of his club’s goals in their Champions League last-16 first-leg win over Chelsea last season and also hit three goals in two games against Manchester City. Chelsea, having also been told by Atletico Madrid that Radamel Falcao is not for sale, has targeted Cavani as the out-and-out goalscorer they need.

Naldo swaps Werder for Wolfsburg

razilian defender Naldo has moved from Werder Bremen to Bundesliga rivals Wolfsburg for an undisclosed fee. The 29-year-old, who joined Werder in 2005, we leaved their training camp yesterday evening to link up with his new team-mates today. “I am delighted with this transfer,” said Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath. “Naldo is just the right player to strengthen our team. He has a lot of experience in Europe to help us reach our goals.” The defender scored 22 goals in 173 appearances for Werder, playing in four UEFA Champions League campaigns and also appearing in the final of the UEFA Cup in 2009. Werder coach Thomas Schaaf said: “It is

Carlos Vela

a great loss for us. We cannot be happy about it.” Naldo was Werder’s longest-serving player, together with Aaron Hunt, and he said it was not an easy decision to leave.

Naldo

United stay top of Forbes list

anchester United has retained their title as the world’s most valuable sports team, according to Forbes. Earlier this month, the club applied to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange as the Glazer

family seeks to raise $100 million (£64 million) to reduce a debt level that, the application noted, “could adversely affect our financial health and competitive position”. United were valued at £1.43 billion in the latest

Forbes top 50, down from £1.65 billion in the 2011 list, but were still rated 19% more valuable than their closest rivals, Real Madrid. All 32 NFL franchises made the top 50 list, with the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, New

England Patriots and Super Bowl champions New York Giants all securing spots in the top ten. The Forbes top 50 included seven football teams, with Arsenal falling three places to tenth and Barcelona up 18 to eighth.

United Lucas •38 million bid rejected M

Lucas Moura

Transfer

The season is over. Clubs are counting their blessing as well as losses and would like to make amends and even beef up their squads where noticeable lapses exist. And the transfer market is agog barely 24 hours after major European leagues dropped the curtain. And so to keep abreast with latest rumours, we begin daily doses of movements within the market both for players and coaches like.

anchester United has had a •38 million bid for Sao Paulo youngster Lucas Moura rejected. Lucas, 19, is a major target for Manchester United this summer, who are believed to have officials in Brazil working on a deal and saw an earlier •32 million bid turned down. The Brazil midfielder, who flew to London on Tuesday to take part in the Olympic Games, was thought to also be a target for Italian giants Inter Milan, but the Serie A side are reportedly unable to meet the player’s asking price. Sao Paulo president Juvenal Juvencio is reluctant to sell his starlet, believing Lucas to be an important player in a potential Copa Libertadores challenge. Lucas, who is in the process of negotiating a new deal at the Brazilian side, is known to be interested in a move to Europe, with his current salary less than •100,000 a month. Sao Paulo, though, are determined to hold onto their prized asset, as Juvenal Juvencio looks to build a side capable of success, despite United’s reported offer meeting their initial asking price.

Vela set for Sociedad

exican international Carlos Vela is to leave Arsenal after the north London club announced they were in the final stages of negotiations with Spanish club Real Sociedad yesterday. The 23-year-old spent the entire 2011/12 season on loan at the La Liga club and is poised to join permanently after he flew to the club’s base in northern Spain for talks. “Arsenal Football Club has announced that striker Carlos Vela is in San Sebastian this evening for final discussions about a permanent move to Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad. Vela, who made his debut for Arsenal in 2008, has been unable to force himself into manager Arsene Wenger’s first team plans and made a total of 62 appearances in all competitions. He enjoyed happier times with Real Sociedad last season,netting 12 goals in 35 appearances for the Basque team.

Owen set for new club signing

ormer Manchester United and England striker Michael Owen has hinted he is close to signing for a new club after leaving Old Trafford. Owen was released by United at the end of last season after three years as a bit-part player with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side. English Premier League teams Stoke City and Everton are understood to be leading the race for the 32-year-old forward, who only made four appearances for United last season, while Australian outfit Melbourne Heart have emerged as late contenders for his signature. The former Liverpool, Newcastle and Real Madrid star Owen said: “Getting closer to finding a new club. Had a good deal of interest but just need to pick right! Can’t wait to get going again.” Owen, who netted 40 times in 89 appearances for England, made a total of 31 appearances during an injury-ravaged spell with United, scoring five goals including a memorable derby winner against Manchester City in 2009.

Michael Owen

PAGE 44

Neither Casillas, nor Buffon, but Joe Hart is Europe’s top keeper, David James declares

avid James, how did you feel England did overall at EURO 2012? I thought England did pretty well. They got a good draw against the French, who’d come into the game on a 20-odd match unbeaten run. After an important win over Sweden, they then beat Ukraine, an achievement that shouldn’t be understated, because it’s never easy to book your ticket for the next round against the host nation. After that, getting knocked out by Italy in the quarter-finals is no disgrace; far from it. You pulled on your country’s jersey for more than a decade. Do you feel that the England players are put under too much pressure from the media and fans? I think so. As a player, when a fan or reporter asks you, “Do you think you can win it?”, saying “no” is simply not an option, because the entire nation believes that you can. Before the start of the tournament, Steven Gerrard was asked if he would be happy with a draw against France, and when he said “yes”, everyone acted surprised. For me, it was an honest answer, and that’s how it should be, in my opinion. Do you think Joe Hart enjoyed his first experience at a major tournament as the team’s undisputed No1? As a fellow goalkeeper, you are better placed than anyone to answer that question... He loved it. We exchanged a few text messages, and I know that he really enjoyed himself. At the last World Cup, having seen him at close quarters in training and during friendly matches, I was sure that he had the quality to play at that level. When I was told that I wasn’t going to start the first game, my first thought was that it was Joe who would be picked. In the end, Fabio Capello went for Robert Green and the rest is history, but he’s certainly shown how talented he is for quite some time now. In addition, he is also a relatively young keeper, by international standards. I don’t believe that age is really a factor. In my case, I made my England debut at the age of 27 and didn’t play a competitive match until I was 31, which is pretty late. But I was competing with a living legend in the shape of David Seaman, and it was very tough to dislodge him from the side. Joe is 25 and has already earned more than 20 caps. He’s in a very good position; the fans love him and regard him as the best goalkeeper in England by far. Do you think that England’s goalkeeping situation is now settled, then? As I see it, the fact that Joe lacks competition is a bit of an issue. Goalkeeper is a unique position in that, if you’re not injured or experience a huge drop in form, it’s unusual for you to be replaced. Because of that, you need someone to keep pushing you so that you can maintain your fitness and your mindset. At the moment, clearly he’s the best, but within three or four years, if a new keeper doesn’t emerge to challenge him, it could become a bit of a problem. I have confidence in Jack Butland, though, who wasEngland’s third-choice keeper at EURO 2012. I don’t think it’ll be long before he starts to knock on the door of the national side. Who do you consider to be the top goalkeeper in the world? For years, Buffon was my favourite, but now it’s Joe Hart. I think that Gianluigi is still an extraordinary goalie, but he’s had a lot of injuries and that has caused his level to drop somewhat. He’s also not got much competition in Italy. It’s the same thing withIker Casillas he’s won all there is to win, and now people have stopped asking if he’s still the top keeper out there. Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina are both great, but as they never get to play for Spain, it’s impossible to judge if they’re up to it or not. I’m not in any way saying that Iker hasn’t been playing well, on the contrary. A World Cup and European Championship winner, with over 130 caps – that’s impressive stuff. But what I mean is that it’s difficult to set the criteria by which you decide who the world’s best keeper currently is. Do you really feel that Joe Hart has been the best in Europe lately? I watch a lot of European football, and I can’t think of a keeper who’s impressed me more. For example, Casillas has amazing reflexes, but he has trouble with crosses and he’s average with the ball at his feet. Buffon is excellent at stopping

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

D a v i d James, one of the most durable footballers of his generation, can point to some impressive numbers when summing up a career that continues to this day. Three FIFA World Cup tournaments, the last of which South Africa 2010 he embarked upon as England No1, almost 1,000 games as a professional, and 42 years of age, the birthday he will be celebrating at the start of next season, are just some examples. In addition, James is knowledgeable and articulate about the game, and these were traits that enabled him to successfully make a temporary transition to the television studio as a pundit during the recent UEFA EURO 2012. And it was while getting to grips with this latest challenge that he put some time aside to grant an exclusive interview toFIFA.com relating to his n a t i o n ’ s performances at the event, the current state of goalkeeping worldwide, and the possibility of an extension to his long and varied club career in the English leagues. mid-range shots and at positioning himself, but his kicking game is not what it should be. Joe, meanwhile, is good at all these things, which makes him the most complete keeper playing at present. You’re still playing as you approach your 42nd birthday. Can you tell us a little bit about what the future might hold for you? I ended this past season with Bristol City and I’d like to play another year. I’m in the process of applying for my UEFA ‘A’ coaching licence, so that’s where I see my future, but I’m not quite ready to hang up my gloves yet. What motivates you to keep going at an age where most footballers have already retired? I just keep setting myself new targets. I’ve made 960 appearances, but I’d like to reach 1,000, and I’d like to play one, maybe ten, maybe 100 more matches in the Premier League there’s always something to aim for! (laughs). I really would love to taste top-flight football again, but it’s easier said than done, because there are 20 teams and hundreds of goalies. You just never know, though. And after that? I’ll obviously go into coaching; my main goal will be to win games, but what excites me the most is the idea of helping young players to totally fulfil their potential, to reach the top of their profession and to stay there as long as possible once they get there. There’s so much to do, but I have a lot of good ideas and am very keen to make a contribution as soon as I can.

Joe Hart

Iker Casillas

Gianluigi Buffon

“

Gianluigi … had a lot of injuries and that has caused his level to drop somewhat. He’s also not got much competition in Italy. It’s the same thing with Iker Casillas he’s won all there is to win, and now people have stopped asking if he’s still the top keeper out there. Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina are both great, but as they never get to play for Spain, it’s impossible to judge if they’re up to it or not. I’m not in any way saying that Iker hasn’t been playing well, on the contrary.

I watch a lot of European football, and I can’t think of a keeper who’s impressed me more. For example, Casillas has amazing reflexes, but he has trouble with crosses and he’s average with the ball at his feet. Buffon is excellent at stopping mid-range shots and at positioning himself, but his kicking game is not what it should be. Joe, meanwhile, is good at all these things, which makes him the most complete keeper playing at present.

PEOPLES DAILY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

FIXTURES: Enyimba vs Lobi Stars Thursday Samba vs Enyimba

FIFA to reopen ISL Ogunjobi document tips Prime F for cup glory

Taiwo Ogunjobi

sun State FA chairman Taiwo Ogunjobi has backed Prime FC to make Federation Cup history after the Osogbo side upset Rangers on Monday. Lower league Prime stunned Rangers 1-0 on the opening day of the group phase of the cup competition in Ibadan and former Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) chief Ogunjobi has now declared they will go very far in this year’s tournament. “We are ready to create upset and make history in this year Federation Cup. We are in this year’s competition to make a difference and I will therefore call on 3SC fans to continue cheering us from victory to victory,” Ogunjobi boasted. Rangers assistant coach Monday Odigie insisted his team were better but Prime carried the day. This was not an upset to me because in the game of football it is either you win, lose or even play a draw. “You can’t underrate any team when it comes to football because the better team could even lose. We played a better game but Prime still carried the day. We are going back to our drawing board and make necessary adjustment ahead of our next match against Sharks,” he said Sharks coach Imama Amapakabor has disclosed that Group C of the Federation Cup is still very open despite his team’s draw and the defeat of Rangers. NPL side Sharks drew 1-1 with Dynamite Force, while Rangers were upset by Prime FC in Ibadan. The results mean Prime top the table, while NPL leaders Rangers are bottom, according to Imma, there is still a long way for all teams in the group. “The group is still very open. Our draw and Rangers defeat is only but the characteristics of the cup,” he said. “First games are always like this, but we will pick up. Prime are topping right now, but it may not be so by Wednesday (today) so for me the group is still open.”

IFA has agreed to reexamine the details of the ISL case following the release of court documents and the appointed Michael Garcia of the United States as head of the investigating committee. Garcia was elected to head the investigative branch of FIFA’s newly-reformed ethics committee while German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert was appointed to head the tribunal which will judge cases and hand out sanctions. “”He (Garcia) will have not only the right but the duty to have this case analysed on ethics and moral grounds and then to report back to the executive committee,” FIFA president Sepp Blatter told reporters. “The chairmen of both chambers are totally independent, this had been requested by FIFA’s Congress,” added Blatter. The election of Garcia was a surprise as it had been widely reported that the task would be given to top international prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, best known for pursuing war criminals. A Swiss prosecutor said in a legal document released last week that former Fifa president Joao Havelange and former executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira took multimillion bribes on World Cup deals in the 1990s. The bribes were paid by FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL which collapsed in 2001. Blatter was general secretary under Havelange and attention has centreed on whether he knew about the payments. Havelange is FIFA’s honorary president while Teixeira quit as head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) earlier this year.

Sepp Blatter

PAGE 45

Federation Cup

Lobi toil to stop Samba FC

igeria Premier League side Lobi defeated nonleague Samba FC 1-0 in the first match of the Bauchi group of the Federation Cup yesterday. Lobi captain Ikpeen Terna admitted it was a tough contest against the unfancied team from Enugu, whose arrival was delayed

because of a cash crunch. “It was a very tough game from the beginning to the end. The Samba FC boys did well as we gave a good account of ourselves,” he said. “What mattered most was that we fought hard to get the result. We are now looking forward to consolidate against Enyimba on Friday.”

Lobi match winner was by Audu Seriki in the second half of a pulsating encounter played in Bauchi. With Warri Wolves living up to their threat to stay away from Bauchi because it is unsafe for their players, this group has only three teams and so Samba will again take to the pitch today against Enyimba.

Rangers in-must-win against Sharks today

By Patrick Andrew

angers’ quest for a double suffered a set back on Monday when they lost to lower division side Prime FC. Before then, Okey Emordi, the head coach of the Antelopes had been cponfident they were poised for a double as they are sure of running away with the Nigeria Premier League shield, and thus break their 38-year trophy drought. The Coal City team want to add the Federation Cup to the almost-in-the-bag league trophy but Prime FC temportrily halted their stride with a shocking 1-0 win. Today, Rangers return to the pitch against Sharks and hope to make up for the setback and have subsequently tagged today’s match a-must-win. Emordi, who has vowed to win the double this season, said yesterday that they must redeem their image with a win against the Port Harcourt landlords. “Of course, the encounter against Sharks is a must win if we’ve hope of staying in the Federation Cup. “Sharks are better off with a point after they split points with Dynamite. We must device a winning method to undo Sharks, at least, to restore some measure of respect for ourselves. “We won’t want to further drag our hard earned name to the mud with a loss or draw. Another defeat will see us bid bye to the Federation Cup and draw will put us on a tight corner, so we’re condemned to win. “Our desire has always been to win the Cup and league shields,” Emordi said.

The former Enyimba manager admitted that his wards shot themselves on the legs with several missed chances against the Ogbomosho-based side, Prime FC. “First, the Federation Cup is all about surprises and what happened to us against Prime is not an exception. We lost several scoring chances but they were able to use theirs, that too, is what football is all about. “But nothing of such will repeat itself against Sharks, we’ve learnt our lesson the hard way and we’re wiser. Thank God there is room to make amends, we’ll amend our mistakes on Wednesday,” he said. The Osun State professional side, Prime FC, now lead Group C on three points, followed by Sharks and Dynamite Force on a point apiece while the Coal City lads are rooted at the bottom with no point.

Okey Emordi of Rangers

Eyimba tackle Lobi Stars with eyes on trophy From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

nyimba FC say their today’s duel with Lobi Stars will be the launching path to their Federation Cup greatness and a return to the podium honours after failing to impress in recent times. The General Manager of the club, Prince Okey Nwabuike, who believes that the team still have the chance of catching up and overtaking Rangers, disclosed yesterday that the former CAF Champions League back-to-back winners, are prepared to take on any team in the Federation Cup without underrating their opponents. Enyimba are grouped along with Samba FC- a none-league sideas well as Lobi Stars who are at present third on the NPL log, while

Warri Wolves withdrew on account of security concerns. Okey explained that Enyimba will redoubled their efforts because of the Federation Cup oddity and ensure that they are not victims. “We can’t surrender ourselves to underdogs because there are no undergo dogs in Federation Cup.The management and the players are committed towards to the course and we are determined to emerge top of our Bauchi center. He applauded the Bauchi state Football Association for providing all the necessary security arrangements towards ensuring successful competition in the center, saying that since there arrival they did not encounter any security challenge as they go about their normal business without any fear. He however called on the NFF and the NPL to improve on the security aspect in all the centers

across the country for both the Federation cup and the Premier league competition considering the security challenges facing the country. Commenting on the officiating aspect of the Nigeria Premier League, the Enyimba boss stated that referees are human beings and they should be regarded as such. He said Referees are bound to make mistakes and Nigerians should not always crucify them for simple mistakes. “I’m in support of building our national teams with local players and experience ones to gain more that will make our league more attractive as the players will always offer their best when it comes to playing for the national teams. The coaches can scout for players within the Premier League as we have abundant players in the country” he concluded.

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

Reclaiming Premiership title our priority, says Ferguson

anchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wants the English Premier League trophy back at Old Trafford next season. Ferguson disclosed that regaining the symbol of English football supremacy was "priority number one" after being pipped at the post by neighbours Manchester City last season. City scored twice in stoppage time to defeat QPR 3-2 at home on the final day of the season and win the title on goal difference from United, who won 1-0 at Sunderland in a match played simultaneously. “I want to recover the title after the disappointment of last season," said Ferguson ahead of the first of six pre-season matches here Wednesday against mid-table South African Premiership outfit AmaZulu FC. “We either win the title or come second -- it is an important part of the history of our club over the past 20 years,” he stressed on a warm mid-winter day in a city that attracts millions of tourists annually. “United have to recover as the club have done so many times in the past. That is our target this year. Priority number one is to win the English Premier League title back.” Amid rumours that Manchester City are preparing to woo prolific Dutch scorer Robin van Persie from Arsenal, Ferguson gave a brief Premier League history lesson to illustrate the resilience of his Red Devils. “When Arsenal won the title from us in 1998, we won the treble the following year. Then Chelsea came along and got off to a flier in the league for the first two years so we changed our pre-season a little to ensure quick starts.” With stars like Wayne Rooney resting after Euro 2012 commitments, others like Ryan Giggs competing at the London Olympics and captain Nemanja Vidic among those injured, United have brought a severely depleted squad to South Africa.

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QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE Impunity must have no place in a progressive Nigeria... I’m sure the entir e countr y is in a greement tha entire country ag thatt justice delayed is justice denied — President Jonathan to new CJN Aloma Mukhtar

The Ram Meat Republic W

ise men say that if you call a spade a spade in politics, you will end up eating a crow. This notwithstanding, I must say of the Kano state House of Assembly, directly and not circuitously, that they are short on direction and vision. I have doubts if they appreciate the much work that is before them. The storm caused last week by the lawmakers’ attempt to amend the law on free ram gifts to civil servants on Sallah occasions, leading to attacks and a walk-out by some members, is nothing but indicative of a drifting and vacillating leadership. The crisis started with an attempt to amend a previously passed law that made it mandatory upon the government of the state to issue the gift of a ram to each civil servant to feast on during the Sallah. The amendment seeks to make any such gifts from the government discretionary by substituting the word “must” with “discretion”. All hell was let loose that day by the opposition (ANPP) members whose governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, was the author of the original bill. The ANPP makes up about a third of the membership of the state’s legislature. The majority of the PDP members who proposed this amendment are working in league with the governor, PDP’s Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, who promised to pay but failed to do so last year. His inability led to so much ill-feeling and bellyaching by the state’s branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, which actually issued a strike threat over this last year. With yet another Sallah festival in view, it is not unexpected that tension has again risen over this matter. Knowing the sincerity of purpose of former Governor Shekarau who signed this law, I will not accept that he instituted it with any wicked intention. The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions! But there is nothing to show that this policy has any constitutional validity. There is also nothing in the ethos and conditions of service in the public sector to warrant the law. It is perhaps more appropriate for the private sector where bonuses accompany profits especially where expectations of earnings

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MUSINGS By

Garba Shehu garshehu@yahoo.co.in

Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso

are met or surpassed. But even in situations of profit in the private sector, where the investor has the first claim to make on the profit, not all of that which is declared as profit is cleared and pocketed. In all cases, the board and shareholders must meet to approve that which the investor can take as dividend. That is the law. Now, is there anything to suggest that productivity, the yardstick by which the public service is measured, stands to gain an increase with the gift of rams? Is there an index to show that the public servants in Kano state are all Muslims, and they want a ram? If the government would give rams on Sallah, on which Sallah occasion will they be doing this? Will the government provide rams as

well for Christians at Christmas? Without a basis for this law in the public service, it is equally contentious, in my view, if there is a basis for it in the Islamic religion. Rather it is simply a reflection of the imperial nature of the power of governors, who initiate laws and execute policies in line with their whims and caprices. This goes beyond Kano because it is the symbol of licentiousness that is the hallmark of our young democracy. Corrupt politicians all over Nigeria make corruption contagious so that you lose your right to ask them questions. It is, therefore, no surprise that a technical issue like this one has become a big, big political issue in Kano state. But why is no other state in the federation doing this but Kano? Why make Kano the exception with all of the implications that go with that? The Kwankwaso government is itself not handling the issue in the best way anybody can. They should have sought to question the law, not just to amend it. Now, they have fallen into a trap. They have been drawn into the debate of whether to pay, and if yes, when, to whom and how much? The public service has a general principle which is that you must avoid setting bad precedents. If you do one, another governor will come and

whimsically raise the bar by bringing another law to suit his or her own tenure. From ram, who knows if another governor who wants to popularize himself might not decree free Hajj seats for each government employee? Or funding for one more wife to each civil servant to clear out the long line of widows and divorces assembled by the Hisbah? One of the charges against former Governor Danjuma Goje of Gombe state by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is that he paid 10 million US Dollars to secure accommodation for the state’s pilgrims covering ten years in Saudi Arabia. This was despite the fact that his tenure was limited to eight years. His gesture may be politically expedient but economically insensible. In their rash zeal to achieve populist objectives, state governors embark on courses of action that border on the irrational – something unsustainable. Kwankwaso is now dealing with the burden of his predecessor’s decision, whatever may be the benign objectives of ram gifts to civil servants. In fact, former Governor Mahmuda Shinkafi of Zamfara state lost the 2011 election on the account of his reluctance to continue with Yarima’s legacy of largesse sharing even to praise singers providing no useful service to the people. After all, a gift is a privilege, not a right. And for that reason, its implementation should not be sacrosanct. With Boko Haram and all of the things going on in Kano, you wonder whether our politicians are not acting the man who is haggling over the price of a hose pipe while the house is on fire.

“

The public service has a general principle which is that you must avoid setting bad precedents. If you do one, another governor will come and whimsically raise the bar by bringing another law to suit his or her own tenure. From ram, who knows if another governor who wants to popularize himself might not decree free Hajj seats for each government employee? Or funding for one more wife to each civil servant to clear out the long line of widows and divorces assembled by the Hisbah?

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos, Tel: +234-09-8734478. Cell: +234 803 606 3308. e-mail: contact@peoplesdaily-online.com; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141