Peoples Daily Online

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 9 No. 94

Thursday, December 20, 2012

. . . putting the people first

Safar 6, 1434 AH

N150

Farewell Yakowa Thousands mourn as Fallen Governor is buried today He predicted own death – Muktar Yero FEC, Kaduna exco hold valedictory sessions

By Richard Ihediwa, Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, Abuja & Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

T

housands of mourners, including President Goodluck Jonathan, state governors, federal and state lawmakers, traditional and spiritual leaders, are expected to pay their last respects as late Kaduna state Governor Patrick Yakowa is laid to rest today in his Contd on Page 2

I narrowly missed EFCC nabs cash flying with courier with $130,000 Yakowa – Gowon in Kano >> PAGE 3

>> PAGE 3

DANA crash: Sack NCAA boss, Reps tell Jonathan >> PAGE 3

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-10

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

25

Earth

26

The missing N2.1bn at the MINT, Page 4

Int’l

31-35

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-46

Leisure

47

Columnist

48

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Thousands mourn as Yakowa is buried today Contd from Page 1 home town, Fadan Kagoma in Jema’a a Local Government Area of the state.

Ahead of the funeral today, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) held a special valedictory session yesterday in honour of Yakowa and Azazi, and others who died in the crash.

Also, the Kaduna State Executive Council (SEC) held a valedictory session yesterday for Yakowa with the new governor, Muktar Ramalan Yero saying that the late governor had last Friday predicted his own death and had asked him to be prepared to take charge.

According to Yero; “On Friday, he [Yakowa], told me that everything belongs to God and that someday, he may be no more and that I could be the governor and that he was going to Port Harcourt, Bayelsa, Lagos and end up in Abuja.”

Yakowa and the former National Security Adviser (NSA) Andrew Azazi alongside four others were killed in last Saturday’s Navy chopper crash while returning from the funeral of the father of Presidential aide, Oronto Douglas in Nembe, Bayelsa state.

Tears have continued to flow freely since Yakowa’s remains arrived Kaduna, the state capital on Tuesday for the final journey to the late governor’s last resting place in his home town today.

Yakowa’s body was flown in alongside that of his friend, Dauda Tsoho, who also died in the crash.

Others who died in the crash are Warrant Officer Mohammed Kamal as well as the pilots, Commander Muritala Mohammed Daba and Lt. Adeyemi Sowole, At the FEC special session which

lasted for 90 minutes with President Goodluck Jonathan presiding, there were also speeches by ministers from Kaduna and Beyelsa states as well as from those representing the six geo-political zones in the country.

President Jonathan, in his remark, described December 15th as a black Saturday in the history of the nation as all the victims served their country selflessly. He described Yakowa as a different breed of politician who never exploited ethnic nor religious sentiments for selfish ends and who believed in the unity of the country.

“He was a different class of politician. Most of us who are politicians exploit religious sentiments to divide Nigerians for our own selfish gains. We exploit north/south divide to divide Nigerians for our selfish gains. But Yakowa was very different. He was gentleman who believed in the unity of this country. Satuday, 15th of December, 2012 was a sad day in the history of Nigeria. We pray that God will give the family the fortitude to bear the loss”, he said.

In the case of Azazii, Jonathan described him as a fine and selfless officer who served his country meritoriously.

“Sometimes people wonder why good people die, it is quite touching.

Both of them touched our lives, they worked for this country. We pay condolences to the families, that of their aides, the pilot and copilot.”The Honourable Minister of Niger Delta, just told us that Azazi has a 90 year old mother, can you imagine how a 90 year old mother will mourn a son who did very well and rose to become a four-star general in the Nigerian Army”, he said.

On his own part, Vice President Namadi Sambo who said he received the news with great shock and deep pain, described Yakowa, who he said he knew and interacted with for over 25 years, as a peaceful and selfless gentleman.

The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, spoke for the North Central while the National Planning Minister, Shamsudeen Usman and Minister of Niger Delta Development, Godsday Orubebe, spoke for North West and South South respectively.

At the Kaduna special SEC session, which was attended by commissioners, Yakowa’s widow, Amina, and her children, Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna Diocese, Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso, as well as his counterpart from the Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Yero recounted his last moments with Yakowa saying the late governor muted that he should be prepared to take charge.

Yero also down memory lane, giving account of how he was appointed deputy governor and how some of the commissioners and some other equally unnamed persons plotted his removal.

The governor also assured Yakowa’s widow that the government of Kaduna state will henceforth continue to cater for the family until he ceases to be governor.

He said: “when Late Yakowa became the governor following the elevation of Arch. Muhammed Namadi Sambo as Vice President, in 2010, I was still a serving Commissioner for Finance and I went to congratulate Yakowa as the new governor in his house.

“I first greeted the wife as customs demand before going to see the governor, in fact I went with some people who were waiting for

me outside and he called me as usual, “exchequer.”

“He brought out a sheet of paper containing about six or seven names and my name was among the names and he said, these names were given to me for consideration and advice, but that if he does not feel comfortable, he could choose any one he feels.

“My name was there and he said to me, even if your name is not there I want to work with you, I do not want the Vice President to take you to Abuja and away from Kaduna state.

“He then asked for my opinion and I said let us leave everything to God and he agreed. I did not tell even those I came with when I came outside. After a year while trying to resolve certain crisis, he told me that he was asked by some commissioners and other people to drop me because of the crisis and he said, no.

“About two to three weeks ago, something happened and he called me in his office and about the third time he said, Commissioners and certain people are complaining that I said I was not being carried along in the running of the state and I said I did not know them and that I did not want to know them because I do not know them except when there is meeting in my office and I asked him to put all this behind us and that we should continue working together.

“I told him my portion where I felt he had wronged me and we resolved it. There is one problem which is communication gap between us and he said let us close that gap and put the people to shame.

Yero described Yakowa as a good person, adding that he has the quality of patience which was the secret of his success in life.

Hope dims on recovery of missing pension funds

By Richard Ihediwa & Ikechukwu Okaforadi

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he Senate may have given up on its quest to recover pension funds running into billions of naira allegedly siphoned by a cabal said to have the backing of very top government officials.

The Senator Aloysius Etokled Senate Joint Committee investigating the alleged stealing of a huge part of the fund yesterday handed the issue over to God and adjourned sine-die in the face of accusation of massive compromises leveled against the members.

Members of the panel, who had continued to deny accusations that they collected huge sums of money as bribe to compromise the probe, were forced to indefinitely end yesterday’s sitting following the failure of the Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) Abdulasheed Maina to appear before them to give explanation to the series of

As Senate panel hand over matter to God

allegations of mismanagement of pension funds under his watch.

Members of the frustrated committee, which had last week issued a warrant of arrest on Maina, may have given up as they yesterday declared that only God will judge Maina and others said to be behind the mismanagement of the pension funds.

Etok had on Tuesday lamented that it has become difficult for his committee to nab those behind the mismanagement of the pension funds, stating that they have the backing of very top government officials.

His position came against the backdrop of the appearance of Maina at the National Assembly, moving around freely with official body guards on the day his arrest warrant and telling newsmen that he was not aware that he was summoned by the panel.

However at the botched

resumed sitting of the panel yesterday, tempers flared when the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Abubakar Ibrahim failed to produce Maina to answer questions on the alleged missing N195billion pension fund.

The lawmakers were angry when information came to the panel that Maina was busy at the gate acknowledging cheers from his supporters at the National Assembly gate while they waited for him for over an hour.

The entrance gate was closed to movement for over two hours yesterday as both the pro-and anti-Maina groups took over the road.

While the anti-Maina group was calling for the immediate sack of the PRTT boss his supporters told the Senate to “leave him alone”.

Members of the panel were angry when they were told that Maina had turned back after the cheering at the gate.

However, a member of the

pension task force team told journalists that his Chairman was prevented from moving into the National Assembly by the crowd. The committee, in reaction, dismissed this as a decoy insisting that Maina never wanted to attend the hearing.

The committee later adjourned with Senator Etok stressing that it had done its best to get Maina and others accused of mismanaging the funds to explain things to Nigerians.

In his words: “We’ve been here we’ve kept this people waiting for one hour and incidentally, the Inspector General of Police is not here.

The Senate under the hand of the Senate President issued a warrant of arrest and directed the Inspector General of Police to present and compel Maina to appear before this committee at 12 o’clock and we’ve been waiting here, and this is one hour, ten minutes and we have not seen him.”

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 3

Dana crash: Sack NCAA boss, Reps tell Jonathan

By Lawrence Olaoye

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Unemployed graduates from Borno state undergoing three-month train-the-trainers course on integrated agriculture, yesterday at Kasestrar University, in Bangkok, Thailand.

EFCC nabs cash courier with $130,000 in Kano

By Lambert Tyem

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peratives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday, arrested one Bashir Abdu at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano over money laundering.

Wilson Uwujaren spokesman of the commission said Abdu, a Nigerian resident in Dubai, was on his way to Dubai on board Egypt

Air when he was arrested by the EFCC for failing to declare the $130,000 on him.

Abdu allegedly declared only the gold bars with him and 30, 000 Saudi Riyals.

The Commission said arrangement has been concluded to arraign the suspect in court as the offence is punishable under Section 12 of the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act Cap. F34 Laws of

the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Section 2(5) of the Money Laundering Act 2011.

Only last Wednesday, December 12, 2012, the EFCC had arrested Aminu Lamido, eldest son of the Jigawa state governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido at the same airport at about 12.30 am on his way to Cairo, Egypt over money laundering allegations.

Lamido who is currently on

administrative bail was arrested during security checks as he prepared to board an Egypt Air flight to Cairo.

His arrest followed the discovery that he allegedly declared $10,000 in his possession to the Nigerian Customs at the airport while a physical search by operatives of the EFCC found he had tucked away another $40,000, totaling $50,000.

Reps issue warrant of arrest on NPC chairman

By Umar Mohammed Puma

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ouse of Representatives Committee on Federal Character, yesterday, issued a warrant of arrest on Mr. Festus Odimegwu, chairman, National Population Commission (NPC) for failing to appear before it.

Mr. Odimegwu had turned down an invitation to appear before the committee to defend the imbalances in the recruitment exercise conducted by the commission.

The chairman, Rep Ahmed Idris (ACN Plateau) who issued the warrant at a news conference, said Odimegwu had turned down

several invitations to appear before the committee.

According to him, the committee had written to Odimegwu to suspend the recruitment exercise but he continued.

"In spite of all the communication including a letter asking him to suspend the recruitment exercise, he went

ahead to issue appointment letters without due process which violates the Federal Character principle.

"In view of the above, the committee hereby nullifies all recruitment exercises”, he said.

Idris said that the committee has received petitions from Nigerians regarding the last recruitment by the NPC.

Okada ban: Police arrests protest leaders in Lagos

Local Content Bill passes second firm believe that the foreign reading companies are more qualified to

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

bill for an act to provide for the development of local content in the Nigerian construction industry for supervision, coordination, monitoring and implementation of local content, yesterday passes second reading on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Leading the debate, the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (ACN Lagos), said it is evident that 80 to 90% of the contract jobs, fifty years after independent, are awarded to foreign companies at the detriment of the local ones.

"The problems is not in the award of the contract, but on our

T

he police yesterday arrested the chairman of the Joint Action Front (JAF), Dr. Dipo Fashina, Comrade Aremu Abiodun, JAF executive secretary, Usman Oloyede and Segun Oladunni, after staging a peaceful protest against the controversial traffic law in Lagos state.

Thousands of commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada, had embarked on a peaceful procession in Lagos to protest the restriction placed on their operations on major highways in the metropolis.

Armed policemen initially tried to prevent the protesters from their march which took off at the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) secretariat annex at Yaba. But the protesters insisted they had the right to embark on the procession in a peaceful manner. They parked their motorcycles at the NLC secretariat and took to the streets, moving from Yaba to Ojuelegba road.

JAF had since the ban partnered okada riders to organise several protest rallies to press home their demand that the traffic law be reviewed.

By Umar Mohammed Puma

A

handle those project than local ones, but the issue here is how can you judge a company without patronising it?

"We need to give our local companies, priority when awarding sensitive contracts; if we are talking about capacity and financial muscle, let us create a bank that would support the aspect of indigenization".

Rep. Asita Honourable (PDP Rivers state), while supporting the bill, drew the attention of the House on a statement credited to minister of petroleum resources Deziani Alison Maduake on her ministry's budget defense, that " our effort to create jobs opportunities are anchored on local contents law".

he House of Representatives yesterday directed President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately dismiss the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, from office and get him prosecuted for criminal negligence that led to the crash of Dana Airline this year.

This formed the bulk of the investigations by the joint committee of the House and the Senate into the remote and immediate causes of the Dana crash that killed the 153 passengers on board co-chaired by Senator Hope Nzodinma and Rep Nkiruka Onyejeocha considered at the plenary yesterday.

The lawmakers also recommended immediate dismissal of the NCAA inspector, Engr.

Suleiman Akwuh, who did the prearrival inspection of the ill-fated Dana Aircraft without prerequisite professional qualification.

The lawmakers equally recommended that the staff strength of the NCAA should be totally overhauled with a view to injecting technically and professionally qualified personnel to enhance its regulatory role in accordance to international best practices.

I narrowly missed flying with Yakowa – Gowon From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

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ormer Military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd), yesterday, revealed how he narrowly missed flying in the helicopter that killed Governor Patrick Yakowa and five others last Saturday in Bayelsa state.

Gowon spoke to newsmen in Kafanchan, Jema’a local government area of Kaduna state during a service to mark the 50th birthday to of Apostle Emmanuel Nuhu Kure, of Throneroom Ministry, Kafanchan.

Gowon said, “As we were with the aide of the President to pay our condolence, they were arranging a navy helicopter to take us to Yenogoa (with Yakowa). But, another helicopter was arranged for me and five others. And that was it.

“So when I heard about this accident, it really pained me. And I want to say, well, you can never tell with some of these things. It was an accident. Don’t impugne any meaning to it. Don’t say that it is plan to get rid of some people or something like that.

“It is an accident, yes it was an accident. There was this young pilot of the helicopter, who came to me after another helicopter was found for us, and he said to me, ‘sir, but I was all ready to take you to Yenagoa, as part of my duty today’. And I said to him, ‘don’t worry, there will be another time.

I really hope I will have the pleasure of flying with you again”, Gowon recalled.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

The missing N2.1bn at the MINT I

n the first week of December, the T r a n s p a r e n c y International Corruption Perception Index Report 2012 placed Nigeria as the 35th most corrupt country in the world, out of a total of 176 countries surveyed. This was supposed to be an improvement from the country’s first position in the year, 2000.

But the half-hearted indignation from government officials had hardly registered when the news broke out that a staggering N2.1 billion of newly printed N1, 000 notes have mysteriously disappeared from the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), also known as the MINT. As soon as the news of the disappearance of the money broke outin the first week ofDecember, the official reaction was expectedly to deny it. But the House of Representatives was apparently convinced of the veracity of the news that it ordered for a probe into the matter. The Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, Honourable Chukwudi Onyereri announced that his committee had already waded into the matter with a view to finding out the truth of the matter.

He explained that due to “conflicting information” received on the theft, the committee had invitedthe Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Sanusi Lamaido Sanusi, who is also the Chairman of the NSPM Cand the management of thecompany.

But even before the intervention of the National Assembly, that CBN had instituted a discreet probe as a result of which the Managing Director of the MINT, Mr.Ehi Okomoyon and the Head of Security, Emmanuel Balawere suspended from office. That was to be the second time the Managing Director was to be suspended, having served a three-month suspension in 2007 when Charles Soludo, held sway as CBN governor.

But according toHonourable Onyereri, before the M.D.’s suspension, he had claimed that the amount missing was only N1.5million.

“The MD, before his suspension, said the missing amount was about N1.5m.

But, the governor of the CBN said it was about N2bn. As a House, we have a responsibility to find out what exactly happened. That is the right step to take now. We shall invite all the parties,”

That Nigeria is an incurably corrupt country is beyond debate. Before one is able to come to terms with one scandal of monumental corruption in high places another one is discovered so much that if the amount involved does not run into ten figures, the scandal is not much of news, writes Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.

Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal

the lawmakerstated.

But, the Media Adviser to the NSPMC, Mr. Obi Adiele, was even more economical with the truth as he claimed that the actual amount missing was N900, 000, therefore “nowhere near the N2.1 billion being bandied in public.

According to him, “The amount reported is false. It was not N2.1bn that was stolen. What happened was that there was a security breach and one of the security operatives was arrested with about N900,000 in Lagos two weeks ago.

“An investigative audit panel has been set up to find out what really happened and they are still carrying out investigations. Their report will be ready by January.”

An opportunity too good to miss, the oppositionpolitical parties quickly launched an offensive against the government, attributing the serial floundering of government coffers to the Jonathan administration’s insincerity in fighting corruption.

The National Publicity Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Mr. Emma Uneukwu, had this to

CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

Managing Director, NSPMC, Mr.Ehi Okomoyon

say, “One basic fact is that corruption has become endemic in this country and the present leadership is paying lip service to fighting it.

Since people have discovered that the present government is not serious with

fighting corruption, they have resorted to all forms of criminality and brazen acts of corruption. It’s happening everywhere, the pension board, the NNPC, name it. So, the NSPMC is not an exception.

“Until Nigeria gets a leader, who is serious with fighting corruption, embarrassing things like this will keep happening and the country will not move forward.”

And his opposite number in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Mr. RotimiFashakinsaid, “If confirmed, this is unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. It seems, under this regime, all forms of bizarre acts of brigandage and banditry are possible. Do not be surprised that like all other cases of corruption, no conviction shall be established.

Under this Jonathan-led regime, Nigeria’s bleeding and pillaging has continued unabated.”

But despite the show of concern by the NASS, opposition parties and other concerned stakeholders in the Nigerian project, that may just be the end of the matter like the legion of other scandals before it, the probe of which government has yet to act on their findings. The fuel subsidy and pension fund scams are surely pointers to this.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 5

NIGERIA MOURNS YAKOWA

Crashed chopper : Pilot was brave, says uncle From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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he family of the late Navy Commander Murtala Mohammed Daba, pilot of the naval helicopter which crashed last Saturday killing then Kaduna state governor Ibrahim Yakowa, former National Security Adviser, Andrew Azazi and others, has revealed that late Daba was a brave man from childhood.

Speaking yesterday at the family house in Goron Dutse along Jakara city center where condolences are being received, the

…we named him after Gen. Murtala

deceased Uncle, Dr. Habibu Muhammad Daba, who nurtured the late Murtala Daba, said the family lost a brave and nice child.

Wearing a gloomy look, Habibu alongside other family members couldn’t hide their feelings over the loss, saying his death has created a vacuum in the family. They described late Murtala as a bridge builder among family members, who always took time out of his tight schedules to

visit members of the family especially during occasions and stay with them.

He narrated that from childhood late Murtala was brave: “because even as a child whenever we took him to the hospital for injections where his contemporaries used to cry, pushing the doctors or nurses away, Murtala would only be looking at the doctor or nurse without blinking until they finished injecting him”.

Habibu noted that they named him after late Head of State, General Murtala Mohammed, because he was born when the late General was assassinated in 1976.

He added that since childhood he likes anything military and it was the only job he so much desired.

He said even though they were shocked over his sudden death, “as Muslims we know it’s God who creates and it’s He who takes life … as such we have no objection at the

Almighty Allah decision on our beloved son”.

Habibu said his last moment with the late Murtala was when he came around during the last Eid-el-Kabir festival, because traditionally he used to buy rams every Sallah period for him and for all other family members.

“Even this last Sallah, he bought a very big ram for me and he has been doing that for quite a long time; he was simply a nice person, we will surely miss him, but there is nothing we can do but to pray for him”.

Gov Aliyu condemns celebration leaders’ death From Iliya Garba, Minna

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Wife of late Kaduna state Governor, Mrs Amina Yakowa (right), and her children, during the wake-keep programme of the Governor, Mr Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, yesterday, in Kaduna.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Gen. Abubakar, NAN, others condole Yakowa family

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anaging Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, joined other Nigerians in commiserating with the family of late Gov. Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state.

Yakowa, retired Gen. Andrew Azazi, a former National Security Adviser and four others died in a helicopter crash in Nembe, Bayelsa on Dec. 15.

They were returning from the burial of the father of Mr. Oronto Douglas, Special Adviser to

President Goodluck Jonathan.

At the Government House in Kaduna, Oyo described the demise as a tragic loss not only to the state but the country at large.

She condoled with the people of the state and urged them to continue with the legacy left by the deceased.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chief Executive, Dangote Group of Company, described the late Yakowa as a bridge builder, who strived hard to help humanity.

Dangote said that the deceased

had great respect for people, irrespective of the ethno-religious difference.

He advised Gov. Mukhtar Yero, to be focused and continue with the work started by his predecessor, while reminding the new governor that he had a large shoe to wear.

Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo also commiserated with the new governor, family and people of the state over the loss.

Also, a former Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami

Gaya advices FG on c'ttee of inquiry From Mohammed Adamu, Kaduna

S

enator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya (ANPP Kano South), has implored the Federal Government to constitute a powerful committee of inquiry to unravel the remote and immediate causes of the mishap that claimed the lives of Governor Patrick Yakowa, General Owoeye Azazi and others to make Nigeria’s airspace a safe one.

“Determining the cause of the unfortunate incident and making it public will only be a palliative to the families of the victims, but it

will make governance transparent and honest in the country", the senator added.

Gaya described the fallen men as heroes who gave their best in the service of their fatherland.

Yakowa he said, will be remembered for his untiring effort in changing the history of Kaduna state positively and Azazi in reshaping the security network of the nation.

Gaya also used the medium to condemn the gruesome killing of Honourable Danladi Isa Kademi (ANPP) representing/Gaya-Ajingi Constituency of Kano state in the state’s House of Assembly. Kademi

was shot dead at Ring Road, in Kano metropolis by unidentified gunmen who stormed the place in a white Toyota Hilux last week.

“I implore governments at all levels to rise to the occasion of addressing the hydra-headed monster of unemployment which to me is responsible for the youths being used as willing tools by enemies of the country to cause mayhem and social unrest.

"I appeal to all Nigerians in spite of political or religious affiliation to know that our action here on earth has its consequences before the Almighty," the senator said.

Abubakar, and ex-EFCC chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, urged Yero to sustain the security, peace and harmony that Yakowa initiated.

Abdulsalami described Yakowa as an honest, loyal and passionate person, who laid the foundation for peace in the state and was striving to ensure the comfort of the people.

NAN reports that several dignitaries were still visiting the Government House to commiserate with the family and government of the state. (NAN)

hairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) and governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has condemned the attitude of some Nigerians who rejoice at the death of leaders or calamities that befall them.

He made the condemnation yesterday while receiving members of the State House of Assembly who paid him a condolence visit at the Government House, Minna.

Aliyu said it was quite unfortunate that inhumanity is creeping into the country as people now celebrate the woes of others and advised Nigerians to live by their value systems.

He admonished Nigerians to appreciate their leaders. “If we pray for our leaders to die … it will certainly backfire and we can become victims as well. If we think our leaders are bad, the truth is that without praying for them their policies will impact on the subjects,” he said.

He described the death of then Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state as a huge loss to the state and the country, stating that he was a seasoned administrator that will be missed by all.

Yakowa promoted peace in Nigeria, says Dakingari From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

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ebbi state governor, Usman Nasamu Dakingari has described the late Governor of Kaduna state, Patrick Yakowa as a leader who put the interest of the people first by promoting peace within the state and Nigeria at large.

A statement signed yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Abubakar Muazu Dakingari, described late Yakowa as a detribalised Nigerian who put the interest of Kaduna people

above other considerations by devoting his energy to promoting the welfare of the masses.

“Yakowa’s death is a big loss to Nigeria”, he said.

The statement expressed the state government’s condolence with the families of both Yakowa and General Andrew Azazi , former National Security Adviser, describing the former NSA as a gallant soldier who contributed to safe guarding the interest of Nigeria and the world through participating in many peace keeping missions in the world.

PAGE 6

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Maku flags off campaign to promote local products

By Ibrahim Kabiru Sule

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n an effort to further boost the country's economy, the Minister for Information, Labaran Maku, has launched a media campaign to promote made-in-Nigeria products, in conjuction with some selected small and medium enterprises.

The minister stated yesterday in Abuja that the campaign was aimed at sensitising Nigerians to understand the link between patronising local products and the growth of the economy and job creation.

It is against this backdrop that the information ministry has embarked on "a media campaign to make Nigerians aware and to sensitise them and make them understand the implication of always rejecting things that are made

in Nigeria in preference to foreign products", Maku explained.

While frowning at how Nigerian elite encouraged consumption and usage of foreign products, the minister however linked that to the colonial policy that ensured "Nigerians produce raw materials and send them to Europe; whilst the European countries produced finished products for Nigeria to consume because there is more money from finished products than raw materials".

Maku disclosed that the President has directed that any construction contract below N5 billion should be awarded to Nigerian companies, adding that a fund has been set up to assist women to get involved in the execution of contracts.

Yar’Adua’s aide wants in-law jailed for contempt From Lawal Sa'idu Funtua, Katsina

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ormer special adviser to late President Umaru Yar'Adua, Alhaji Sani Idi Bagiwa, has asked a High Court sitting in Funtua, Katsina state to send his-brother in-law, Alhaji Sani Kaikai to jail for alleged contempt of court.

The ex-adviser had through his counsel, Barrister Abdul Yusuf, filed an application before the court praying it to jail the accused over his

failure to stop activities on a contentious farmland that was a matter of litigation before the court.

Yar'Adua's counsel had earlier told the court that the accused had refused to abide by the ruling of the court directing him not to use the contentious farm land for any farming activity.

He noted that contrary to the court order, the accused has been farming on the said land, adding that the order was given even before the first drop of the rain signaling the

beginning of the farming season.

However the accused, Alhaji Sani Kaikai through his counsel, Barrister A.I.T Adams, told the court that they had earlier requested for time to allow those his clients hired to farm on the land to clear their produce.

After listening to the arguments from both sides, the judge, Justice Maikaita Bako, fixed the 10th of January 2013 to rule on whether the defendant would go to jail or not for contempt charges.

Jigawa police: We nabbed 356 criminals in 2012 From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

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he Jigawa state police command arrested 356 people for different crimes from March to December this year .

This was disclosed by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kayode Theophilus, while speaking and reviewing the activities of the command under the year to newsmen in his office.

The commissioner disclosed that out of the said number, over 35 were under 18 years of age.

He explained that the command had achieved a reduction in crime rate to the minimal level through various

strategies adopted by the police in the period under review.

According to the commissioner, 36 people were arrested on murder/culpable homicide, 30 on rape and indecent assault, and 33 on armed robbery while four were arrested on offences involving firearms.

Theophilus noted that out of the total number arrested 44 were female eight of which were under the ages of between 14-17 years.

He further stated that as part of the security strategies, black spots were mapped out by the police throughout the state for easy access to flashpoints that have also been raided and many criminals arreatsed.

2013: Zamfara budgets N104.3 billion From Salisu Zakari Maradun, Gusau

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overnor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state has said that his government would continue to give all the necessary priority to the agriculture sector as it is the major business and source of income of the state.

Yari made the declaration in Gusau, the state capital, while presenting a budget of N104.3 billion for the year 2013 at the state's House of Assembly.

He explained that the government is currently ready to explore all the available potentials in the state with the regard to the sector for the benefit of the people of the state and beyond.

According to Yari, the government, in order to prove its seriousness, has already launched a special irrigation scheme aimed at supporting and

encouraging farmers to embrace agriculture as an all year round activity.

Yari also disclosed that the state is presently collaborating with the authorities of Sokoto Rima River Basin Authority (SRRBDA) for the conversion of the sprinkler system of irrigation to a surface one.

In the transport sector, Yari explained that the government had accorded special attention to the sector, taking into cognisance the immense socioeconomic benefits to the teeming populace, particularly the rural drivellers who constitute the largest percentage of the total population of the state.

He further revealed that from inception of the present administration, contract for the construction of 446.03 kilometers-road has been awarded across the state worth over N52.2 billion.

Special team official administering Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to a child, during the 2012 National Immunisation Plus Day, recently at Yandi village in Mai'adua Local Government Area of Katsina state.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Ilaje monarch wants role for traditional rulers

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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he Olugbo of Ugbo-nla in Ilaje area of Ondo state and chairman of OBAT Oil and Gas Limited, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, has added his voice to the growing demand for traditional rulers to be recognised by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The monarch who held an hour's discussion with President Goodluck Jonathan in his office on Tuesday night, told State House correspondents that traditional rulers have a significant role to play in governance, urging the National Assembly to make the necessary amends in the

ongoing constitutional review.

"The Senate and the House of Representatives have to accommodate us particularly the Federal Government. Look at what is happening in Ghana where traditional rulers play very significant roles in what is happening in that government and that is what we are fighting for", he said.

He continued: "Look at what happened in the First Republic around 1953. Traditional rulers had significant roles to play in Nigerian politics and if you look at it, we were recognised as part of the government.

They must have a window for us and I know they are going to do it.

On the purpose of his visit to the

President, he said he condoled him on the sad loss of prominent Nigerians in the ill-fated helicopter crash in Bayelsa state last Saturday.

"I came to express my condolence to Mr. President because if I sent a letter, it would not carry much weight, that is why I came personally to see the President. What happened was very unfortunate.

General Azazi is my friend, he is a gentle man, nice man. I condoled with Mr. President and members of his family.

On corruption in the management of fuel subsidy regime, he said: "Government has to take care of that through the EFCC; there is no problem about that".

FG to transform NYSC - minister

By Albert Akota

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inister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdulkadir, has expressed the commitment of the Federal Government towards transforming the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) into an enduring model institution.

He disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the submission of report of the ministerial committee on reform of the NYSC scheme and administrative structure to the ministry.

The minister underscored the role the NYSC has played in the life of corps members and the nation at large, since it was established about 40 years ago.

He observed that some critics have not been fair to the laudable achievements of the corps especially the significant contribution of corps members to the success recorded in the 2011 general elections which has remained a watershed in the annals of Nigeria.

PAGE 7

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Army elevates senior officers

By Joy Baba he Nigerian Army has said its council has approved promotion of some very senior officers including 22 brigadier generals who were promoted to the rank of major general.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Director, Army Public Relations (DAPR) Brigadier General Mobalaji Koleoso.

DAPR in the statement,

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said 37 colonels were promoted to the rank of brigadier general while 91 lieutenant colonels were elevated to the rank of colonel.

Those promoted to the rank of Maj. Gen. include Brig. Gen. NO Ojiji of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC), the Commandant, Depot Nigerian Army, HA Salihu, SZ Uba of the Defence Headquarters, and ET Nienge of the

Nigerian Army School of Supply and Transport.

Others include David Enetie of Headquarters, Infantry Corps Centre, Mashudy O. Adekanye of the Nigerian Army Ordnance School, Commander of 23 Brigade Nigerian Army, John N. Nwaoga and Patrick G. Ogah of Army H e a d q u a r t e r s Directorate of Training and Operations and Army spokesman, Bola Koleoso.

Wada swears in third Grand Kadi From Sam Egwu, Lokoja he third substantive Grand Khadi for Sharia Court of Appeal, Kogi state, has been sworn-in by the governor, Capt Idris Wada.

Justice Zakarya Idakwoji Mohamed who was sworn-in yesterday at Government House Lokoja had been the Acting Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal since May 4, 2012.

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Governor Wada said that the appointment was confirmed by the resolution of Kogi State House of Assembly after the National Judiciary Commission approved the nomination.

He reminded the Grand Khadi that the oath of office and allegiance he had taken before God and people should spur him not to fail, urging him to perform above the

achievements of the predecessors.

Wada who commended the Chief Judge of the State, Justice Nasir Ajanah for his determination to reposition the state’s judiciary, stressed that he would not interfere with the judiciary, stressing that Justice Ajanah had done enormously well to give the judiciary in the state a great leap.

15,000 Nigerian Christians will participate in 2012 pilgrimage – NCPC

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xecutive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Mr. JohnKennedy Okpara, said that about 15,000 Christians were expected to participate in the 2012 pilgrimage.

Okpara said this on Tuesday in Tel Aviv at a meeting between the Federal Government delegation and the ground

handlers of Nigerian pilgrims.

He said that more than 11,000 pilgrims out of the number had visited Israel so far while more were being expected. “This year’s pilgrimage started in October and so far, we have had 36 rotations. As at Tuesday, 11,060 pilgrims have visited Israel and more are being expected.

Minister urges Nigerians to embrace positive change

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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inister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has called on Nigerian to embrace positive change and assist the present administration in its transformation agenda so as to move the country forward.

Moro, who was represented by the Director of Citizenship and Business in the ministry, Mr. Adetayo From Edwin Olofu, Kano

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n its effort to encourage the export of agricultural produce, the Federal Government has selected Malam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) for the exportation of perishable goods.

General Manager C o r p o r a t e Communications at the airport, Honourable Yakubu Dati who spoke to

Sode, made this known on Tuesday, at a book lauch in Abuja titled: “The wind of Change”. He said that the book was coming at the right time in the government’s transformation agenda .

In his remark, the guest speaker of the occasion, Rev Idoko Ojaje, said “most Nigerians conduct themselves well when they travel out but do something contrary on arrival back into the country”, he said.

“No fewer than 638 pilgrims have also visited Rome and Greece, 16 states have so far participated in this year’s pilgrimage”, he declared.

Okpara noted that 2012 Christian pilgrimage would end on Dec. 24, following a presidential directive that the pilgrimage should not spill over to the following year. (NAN) While launching the book, Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin, said it book would help to remove intellectual poverty and called on Nigerians to make sacrifice that will better the lot of the country tomorrow.

Responding, the author of the book, Barr. John Anejo, said he saw possibility despite the various challenges confronting the nation because other great nations in the world had at one time or the other, faced serious challenges.

FG picks Kano airport for export of agricultural produce reporters after inspection of facilities at the ongoing remodeling of MAKIA yesterday, said the Federal Government has conclude plans to provide enabling environment to motivate the exportation of perishable goods such as potatoes, tomatoes among other agricultural produce.

According to him, the

move is to encourage investment, create jobs and inspire farmers in the country to export their goods without much delay due to the perishable nature of such produce.

He added that to achieve this, the Federal Government and the Kano Chamber of Commerce are to enter into a partnernership.

PAGE 8

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

FERMA pledges zero potholes by yuletide

By Mohammed Kandi anaging director of Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Engr.

Gabriel Amuchi, said that the agency was not only on course but has achieved success in some quarters.

This statement was made recently sequel to the directive of the Federal Government asking FERMA to ensure zero potholes on major highways in

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the country before the end of this year.

Amuchi, said during a nationwide assessment tour by the agency’s inspection team, said “a number of the corridors, including the Kano – Kaduna – Abuja – Lokoja – Okene – Auchi route are virtually at zero pothole level.”

The engineer in charge of Kogi state, Engr. Michael Kayode, expressed confidence that the yuletide target was achievable in his domain, even

as he lamented some challenges posed by the reduction of road width in Okene town centre and heavy volume of traffic on the same axis.

Similarly, two contractors, Messrs Harvey Construction that are working from Auchi section and Borini Prono from Okene, stated that they were already achieving their target of completing the Okene– Auchi stretch before the Yuletide, while the Agency and Federal Ministry of Works is working

closely on the Operation Zero Potholes and Safe Passage programmes.

On his part, Engr. Sani Abdulkadir who is in charge of the Abuja – Kaduna and Kaduna – Zaria – Kano stretch, said “my team have been working round the clock for over one month now and have virtually completed their task and are now on mop up operations.”

He stated that their current operations were targeted at

L-R: Chief Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr Osita Chidoka; National President, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin; and the Provost, Special Marshal, FRSC, Mr Ekpo Eyo Anwan, decorate NURTW President as Special Marshal, during the NURTW Central Working Committee and National Executive Council meeting, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Humanitarian organisation urged to assist old people in emergencies

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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xperts from the h u m a n i t a r i a n organisations Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) and Help Age International said emergency aid has failed to address the needs of older people in emergency situations and called on donors and humanitarian agencies to ensure that this vulnerable group is included in any emergency response.

Writing in this week’s PLOS Medicine, Dr Unni Karunakara, President of Médecins Sans Frontières, and Frances Stevenson, Head of Emergencies at HelpAge International argued: “As the numbers of older people affected by humanitarian crises and disasters increase, humanitarian actors need to adapt policy and practice to ensure that the needs of older people are consistently and continually considered and that this vulnerable group is no longer neglected.”

“We call for policy changes

by humanitarian agencies and donors to ensure that the needs of this vulnerable group are met.”

A statement issued on Tuesday by the body’s Head of Communications, Polly Markandya and its Media Relations Manager, Attila Kulcsar, indicated that older people are less likely to flee in times of conflict due to difficulties with travel and are reluctant to leave their homes,

land and possessions.

It added that older people are often not sought out or prioritized within the humanitarian response, saying most of them are not able to travel to health facilities, stand in queues for food distributions, carry heavy packages of food or containers of water, nor compete with younger people for relief supplies.

According to the authors,

older people are often not cared for within their families, despite the common assumption that they are supported within a family network.

They recalled that following the 2010 floods in Pakistan, around 10% of the older population was living without family support and that in the camps for internally displaced people in Darfur region of Sudan, half of older people live alone.

18,000 Borno youths aquire vocational training From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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orno state government has trained over 18,000 youths on various skills in the past 16 months.

The state Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Youths Empowerment, Dr. Zainab Gimba Kyari, disclosed this yesterday while briefing newsmen on the activities of the ministry.

According to Dr. Gimba, the aim of the programme was to train the teeming youths on various trades to make them busy in lawful earnings.

The commissioner revealed that since its inception, the present government mandated the ministry to create numerous job opportunities for the youths, as a strategy for curbing idleness.

Highlighting some of the vocational trainings acquired by the unemployed, she said over a thousand youths were trained on various trades at the Skills Aquisition Centres in Maiduguri and Gubio Local Government Areas.

She added that 34 others are currently undergoing

training at the Katsina Craft Village, with 50 others benefitting from agricultural development training at the Sabore farms in Yola, Adamawa state.

Besides the vocational training, Dr. Gimba explained that the ministry has also distributed assorted poverty alleviation facilities and funds to the youths.

She pointed out that the ministry distributed waterpump machines and financial grants to the registered farmers operating along the shores of Lake Chad.

sealing up minor potholes and cracks that were not major threats at the inception of the operation.

“With all very dangerous potholes now eliminated, the current focus is to implement the Agency’s policy of continuous maintenance to achieve all year-round serviceability of these critical roads henceforth,” he explained.

Abdulkadir said the acquisition of the FP5 Pothole Patcher as well as establishment of FERMA cold asphalt production plants in Kaduna and other production centres across the country, was a major boost for the agency.

Other vital routes slated for maintenance operations under the Presidential directive include Enugu-Aba-Port Harcourt dual carriageway, Owerri-Aba road, ShagamuOre-Benin dual carriageway, Benin Bye-pass, Benin-AgborAsaba, Onitsha-Owerri expressway, Onitsha -9th-MileEnugu road, Abuja-NyanyaKeffi-Akwanga road, AkwangaLafia-Makurdi road, MakurdiAliade-Otukpo road and Otukpo -Obollo-Afor-9th-Mile road among others.

On their own part, the motorists plighting those routes expressed appreciations to the government over the massive patching of potholes and appealed for a carriageway in addition to recovering the bad shoulders.

Benue water reticulation to be completed in 2013 From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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enue State Commissioner for Water Resources and Environment, Mr. John Ngbede has assured that reticulation work for the water project will be completed in 2013 to enable residents get potable water.

Ngbede who gave the assurance during an interaction with journalists on the activities of his ministry for the year, said that government would also focus attention on the provision of good water for rural dwellers.

He promised that more drainage systems would be constructed to reduce the incidence of flooding which devastated the State this year.

The Water Resources Commissioner frowned at the attitude of the people who block water channels by building on them and warned that such houses may be revoked by government.

Ngbede said over N6.7 million is required to purchase new waste disposal vehicles to replace the damaged ones even as he regretted the environment harm caused by satchet water producers in the State.

“We have warned several them times to dispose of their materials properly or face closure. It is sad that if you go around the town, you will see sachet water polythene everywhere”, he frowned.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 9

Northern Youth Council sets up c’ttee on Boko Haram From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

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L-R: Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of State Finance, Dr. Yarima Ngama; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbega Ashiru; and Minister of State Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuleri; during the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Helicopter crash: Reps call for transparent investigation

By Umar Muhammad Puma

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oncerned by last Saturday’s crash of a naval helicopter in a forest in Bayelsa State, which killed then-Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State and the former National Security Adviser, Retired General Andrew Azazi and four others, the House of Representatives yesterday called on the authorities concerned to be transparent in the conduct of their investigation, and inform

Nigerians on the outcome of their investigation.

In a motion under the matters of urgent importance read by Rep. Shehu Garba Sarkin Noma (PDP Kaduna state), he said: “the number of helicopter crash in the country has brought about the thinking of our air safety, so much so that anytime you want to fly, you would be full of apprehension”.

He urged the appropriate authorities to use this moment to reflect on its air operations and

best practices, with a view to plugging any lapse in the sector to avoid future mishaps.

The House called for a thorough investigation into the cause or causes of the accident, and the unraveling of the mystery behind the Navy helicopter crash and other plane crashes in the country.

The motion was referred to the House committee on aviation and navy for further legislative inputs.

Profs should pay themselves, 5 others – Niger gov From Illya Garba, Minna

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iger state governor Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, yesterday, said that professors in the nations’ universities should be able to organize programmes that will ensure the payment of their salaries and those of at least five other staff in their departments.

Aliyu who spoke at the inauguration of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai endowment fund board of trustees said that the suggestion is one of the ways universities in the country could reduce their recurrent expenditure.

In the world over, Governor Aliyu said, professors engage in consultancy services and other programmes which fetch their institutions money and ensure the payment of their salaries without necessarily waiting on the universities for fund.

Governor Aliyu announced that the more than 20 courses at the IBB University Lapai have been given full accreditation by the National Universities Commission NUC before asking

the management of the institution to build on the enviable record already attained.

“The management is hereby encouraged to continue to deploy innovative strategies to focus the University towards the attainment of its vision. One of these is to proactively reach out to extra–governmental funding sources to attract capital project, world class research facilities acquisition through partnership with local and international

development partners”.

The Governor announced a donation of N100m and N50m to the endowment fund by the state government and the 25 local government areas of the state respectively.

He challenged the committee headed by former Head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar to use their national and international connections to attract assistance to the university.

Kebbi LG establishes center for measles victims From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

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ollowing last week’s measles outbreak that killed three children in Ambursa town in Birnin Kebbi local government of Kebbi state, council’s chairman, Alhaji Musa Dan-illea said that he has established a quarantine center for the affected victims in line with the medical procedures.

Addressing newsmen shortly

after visiting the affected victims yesterday in his office, the chairman said that the establishment of the center was to check the spread of the infectious disease.

He therefore advised the parents of the victims to cooperate with medical personnel, as free medication and all other necessary medical requirement are provided for their treatment.

ational Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN)Northern Forum, with membership drawn from the 19 northern states, has set up committee to liaise with governments over insecurity in the region and resolved not to attend the NYCN National Congress slated for the 16th – 20th December, 2012 at Akure, Ondo.

The Council, in a communique after its congress held in Ilorin, stated that some of the issues affecting the Council have not been resolved.

The communique signed by the Chairman of the Council Abubakar T Balewa and Secretary, expressed displeasure over the spate of insecurity in the country NYCN stated that “the 19 States and FCT Chapters of the NYCN unanimously resolved not to participate at the NYCN National Congress slated for the 16th – 20th December, 2012 at Akure, Ondo State because the mandatory 60 days notice as provided by the Constitution was not given and constitutional issues that bother on the peace and progress of the

Council are yet to be resolved.

“The Forum in session xrayed the effect of the on-going insurgency by the “Boko Haram Group” and other forms of insecurity, which have impacted negatively on the socio-economic, political and religious life of the people of the region; and called on the government and all stakeholders to immediately bring an end to the violence in the region as economic growth and development, commerce and trade in both formal and informal sectors of the North have been grounded thereby making life increasingly unbearable for the people of the region.

“To support the efforts of government, the Forum have constituted a Youth Peace and Security Committee to liaise with government and other stakeholders to find amicable solution to the cycle of crisis in the region.

“The Forum expressed serious concern over the high level of public sector corruption in all tiers of government and concluded that it has direct correlation to the current high rate of unemployment and insecurity in the country.

Hunters plan to vaccinate 3,467 dogs against rabies in Kebbi

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unters Association in Kebbi state said it has concluded plans to vaccinate 3,467 hunting dogs against rabies and other diseases.

Chairman of the association, Alhaji Basiru Muhammad, disclosed the plan in an interview in Birnin Kebbi yesterday.

Muhammad said the association, in conjunction with

the state’s veterinary offices, would embark on a statewide tour to carry out the exercise.

He called on the hunters and other dog keepers in the state to ensure that their pets were vaccinated.

“We wish to express our profound gratitude to the state government for all the assistance and support to our association,’’ he said. (NAN)

2013: Benue budgets N130.9bn From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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enue State governor Gabriel Suswam Tuesday presented a budget of N130,992,126,509.00 for the 2013 fiscal year.

The draft budget, christened budget of “Development and Growth Effectiveness”, Suswam explained, seeks to promote the continuity of the development objectives of his administration consistent with the objectives of the 2012 budget.

The 2013 budget is made up of a personnel cost estimate of N39,880,800,926.00 or 30.45% while total overhead costs is N22,565,706,302.00 or 17.23% of the total proposed budget.

Suswam said the economic sector would gulp the lion share with a total allocation of N67,125,028,150 which include; the Ministry of Works and Transport N23,205,688,256, Ministry of Water Resources and Environment N9,989,559,426 and the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the cost of N6,021,740,000.

The social sector was allocated the

sum of N 43,774,361,011 which include: Education N29,316,406,410, Health N 10,387,964,791, Youth and Sports N 1,700,692,280 and Women Affairs N 422,083,360.

Similarly, Administration takes N13,660,699,568 to include the cost of running the Bureau of Pensions N2,618,087,850, Ministry of Information and Orientation N1,378,451,060 and the Office of the Head of Service at N1,023,156,610.

Furthermore, the Law and Justice sector has a total allocation of N3, 313,208,180 to cover cost of High Court of Justice N 1,733,720,000, Ministry of Justice N 1,215,781,990 and Customary Court of Appeal N184,348,000.

The governor stressed that his administration expects, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to constitute a little over eight percent of total revenue in 2013.

The Speaker, Emmanuel Terhile Ayua who complained over the late presentation of the budget by the Governor, maintained that it should have been presented in November, 2012 to enable the house deliberate and pass it on time.

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Fashola offers N3.576bn to 604 retirees From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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Traffic gridlock on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, yesterday in Lagos.

Photo: Bolaji Olasunkanmi

70-year-old pensioner beaten at Kogi HoS office From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

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ourtesy and civility seem to be in short supply in the office of the Kogi state Head of Service, HOS. This was demonstrated when a seventy-year-old pensioner, Abu Achor, who protested nonpayment of his dues after retirement, was slapped and

beaten to stupor in the office of the number one civil servant in the state.

Achor had gone to the HoS’ office to clear a paper and decided to see the new Head of Service of the state.

His ordeal took place yesterday at the state secretariat along Hassan Katsina road, opposite Police

Zone 8 headquarters, Lokoja, the state capital. The old man explained his predicament in the hands of HoS’ boys with tears, to people.

The rare sight of a sobbing septuagenarian attracted onlookers, who wondered why a “small boy” could raise hands and slap him.

Findings at the office

yesterday, revealed that aides or staff of the Head of Service had been very aggressive to people, making it difficult for civil servants to see their leader when it matters.

Attempt to get across to the HoS or any of his staff failed as all of them wore stern faces and not ready to talk to any "bloody" journalist.

Subscribers call on NCC to revoke MTN license

By Chris Alu

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call has been made by subscribers of MTN Nigeria, for its license to be revoked by the Nigerian Communication Commission following the frequent announcement made by MTN over radio stations and text messages that their services will be disrupted in some part of the North until further notice.

The subscribers, under the umbrella of Northern Traders Forum, Abuja, said they have lost hope in the network because it has cost them business transactions

worth millions of naira as a result of poor services.

Secretary of the association, Alhaji Bawa Musa told Peoples Daily in an interview that they are already tired of the network which he has been using for over five years without satisfaction.

He explained that the network lies and deceives consumers through one reason or the other in defending their poor quality of services, either by vandalism, multiple taxation from government agencies or regulation from NCC among others.

Bawa said that the worsening quality of MTN services has made it difficult for smooth calls across networks or even within the same network especially now that people supposed to communicate with their loved ones during the yuletide.

He said the attacks by Boko Haram on telecommunications' facilities in the North as well as acts of vandalism could not pose enough danger to investments in the sector, because MTN’s income was enough to put their network in order.

But the General Manager,

Dutse Emir asks NUJ to get rid of quacks From Ahmed Abubakar, Dutse

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mir of Dutse Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi has challenged the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), to set benchmark for its members that will ensure that only qualified and well trained individuals can aspire for positions of authority in the union so as to get rid of quacks that parade themselves as journalists.

The emir, who spoke in his palace yesterday when the National Executive Council of the NUJ led by its National President, Muhammed Garba, paid him a

courtesy call in Dutse yesterday, said that professionalism was the only way through which the media could contribute to building lasting unity among the different ethnic and religious groups in the country.

He told his visitors that the country needs a strong, incorrigible and fearless media that would enlighten the public about the truth devoid of personal vendetta and interests.

Sanusi said, “I also want to appeal to you during your tenure that you should encourage your members to seek knowledge and

go for higher studies to make it difficult for people to aspire for the highest position of NUJ presidency if they are not a qualified journalist because there are so many who parade themselves as journalists and they don’t even understand the ethics of the profession.

NUJ president, Muhammad Garba said they were in the state for the national executive committee meeting of the NUJ which would brainstorm on the role of traditional rulers in the current constitutional review so as to minimize societal challenges especially the security one.

Regulatory Affairs for MTN, Mrs. Oyeronke Oyetunde said that the company was putting things in order to provide best service quality to consumers. She explained that MTN was just trying to put everything in order within a couple of days, by overhauling its service to gives the best ever service in the country.

overnor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State, has presented Retirement Bond Certificate worth N3,576,896,481.57k to 604 retirees in the Contributory Pension Scheme in the state.

The presentation ceremony which took place Tuesday, at the NECA Auditorium, NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja, is the 7th in the series of such payments of Retirement Bond Certificates to retired public servants who have contributed their quota to the development of the sate.

Represented by the state Head of Service, Mr. Adesegun Ogunlewe, the governor said it was worthy of note that the state has never failed to remit monthly contributions into the Retirement Savings Accounts of workers.

He said that to date, over N33 billion has been paid to the six Pension Fund Administrators by way of contributions, adding that the state had been consistent in setting aside the funds for the payment of accrued rights as provided for in the Pension Reform Law. The governor stated that the State has continued to meet its preContributory Pension Scheme obligations to the workers with relative ease; as at August 2012, the state government had credited the Retirement Savings Account of 1,935 retirees with the sum of N10,333,291,250.90k as accrued rights.

Governor Fashola informed the gathering that the current bond presentation made the total accrued pension rights already paid into the Retirement Savings Accounts of 2,539 retirees in the state to N13,910,187,732.47k.

Earlier, the Director-General, Lagos state Pension Commission, Mr. Rotimi Adekunle Hussain, had affirmed that the Commission had in place a highly automated pension administration mechanism and staff who have been trained to attend to retirees diligently.

NAC slams govs over Okada ban

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

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ational Automotive Council (NAC) has criticised the ban on the operation of commercial motorcycles - popularly called 'Okada' - in some states.

Fielding questions from reporters on the sidelines of a training seminar organised for trade and investment correspondents and business editors in Abuja, NAC’s Director General, Mr. Aminu Jalal said that economic situation in the country does not favour a ban on the use of 'okada' as a means of transportation.

"Nigerians who don't have the means of affording a car, should be able to afford a motorcycle," Jalal said.

He noted that the ban on Okada has taken away the livelihood of

many of its operators who were hitherto employed, thus increasing the unemployment rate in the country.

The NAC boss also observed that the lack of patronage of made in Nigeria automobiles has contributed to the level of unemployment in Nigeria as investors cannot invest in the country when there is uncontrolled importation of automobiles.

He therefore appealed to heads of ministries, departments and agencies to patronize Nigerian vehicles so that “we can create employment and eradicate poverty.”

Jalal also disclosed that delay in the approval of the Nigeria Industry Development Plan (NIDP) is slowing down investment in the sector.

PAGE 11

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Avoid temptation of cancelling insurance over hard times I t is not uncommon for insurance policy holders to close their accounts during hard times, especially when there is difficulty in meeting premium obligations.

Nevertheless, it is advisable particularly at tough times to remain firm or even increase stakes if possible. The reason being that thing may change for the better, then what happens if insurance is not there when you need it the most?

The wisdom test here is in prioritising one's expenses by arranging them in order of preference, so as to retain the provision for insurance.

For instance, there are certain expenses and bills that can be classified as luxury, so the best decision really will be to start cutting down on those expenses that can be avoided.

Emeka Iroegbu, a manger in a printing company in Lagos, disclosed that when he lost his job a few years ago; he was able to contain his expenses by trying as much as possible not to spend his resources on anything that came on his way.

He noted that this was achieved by cutting expenses on food, auto

repairs, entertainment, recreation and clothing, while remaining stable with the payments of insurance premium.

Another policy holder, Bobbie Sag, who reiterated the relevance of insurance in tough times, observed that when a financial crisis hits, "it is most likely the time to add to your life insurance benefits or purchase a policy if you don't already have one."

He noted that one's dependants might also need financial assistance even more at this time.

There are many scenarios as to why you need your life insurance more than ever, so, here are some points to remember when

handling your life insurance in tough economical times: What to do about life insurance in tough times: Don't cancel your life insurance: This is the first mistake many make when trying to cut costs.

Often, with all the bills to pay it is easy to think that you don't need life insurance right now. But if you are having such tough times now paying for your expenses, then think about how tough it will be for your survivors if you were not there?

Life insurance may just be needed more than ever before when finances are tight. One thing to consider if you just can't

Rental business can guarantee regular income flow after retirement

T

here comes a time in life when there will be little strength for activities that consume much energy. During that period, the only option is to fall back on what has been acquired during active working years to meet basic life needs.

However, it is not usually easy to entirely rely on savings, which depreciate as the years roll by. And in some instances, when the individual at that that stage in life faces health challenges which imply more expenditure on drugs and other healthcare plans, relying on savings may become more dangerous.

Finance experts say no amount of savings can take care of retirement, except if there are income flows, no matter how little.

Entrepreneur.about.com suggests that one could arrange for passive income means which could provide income, with less work by its owner. It describes passive income as income that does not require your direct involvement.

And some kinds of passive income include: owning rental property, royalties on an invention or

Quote In all realms of life it takes courage to stretch your limits, express your power, and fulfill your potential.

It’s no different in the financial realm. — Suze Orman

creative work, and network marketing. If you want to earn more, work less, and have a decent retirement, you are going to have to start creating income streams that do not require your direct involvement, it says.

According to the personal finance experts, whether you are just starting your business, or you have been running it for a while, the sooner you start thinking about shifting your business model to create more passive income, the sooner you can achieve personal and financial freedom.

Entrepreneurs.about.com identifies two basic types of passive income as key strategies for earning more and working less.

Residual income Residual income is revenue that occurs over time from work done once. Some examples include an insurance agent who gets commission every year when a customer renews his policy; a network marketing or direct sales reps income from her direct customers when they reorder products every month; an aerobics instructor who produces a video and sells it at the gyms where she teaches. Others are: a marketing consultant who creates a workbook and sells it in e-book format on the Internet, and a photographer who makes his photos available through a stock photography clearing house and gets paid a royalty whenever someone buys one of his images.

Also identified as an opportunity is a restaurant or

retail owner who has grown to the point of hiring a trustworthy manager.

As you can see, there are many different ways to generate residual income across a wide variety of businesses.

It may be recurring income from the same customers, or the sales of a product to new customers.

It may require no personal involvement whatsoever, such as an e-book sold on a website, or it may require some personal interaction, such as the insurance agent calling the customer to remind them about their renewal to determine if they want to change any of their coverage.

Often, it’s something that you can delegate to an assistant.

Leveraged income Leveraged income leverages the work of other people to create income for you. Some examples of leveraged income include an author selling her e-book through affiliates who promote the product; a network marketer who builds a down line and receives commissions on the sales made by people in his down line; a general contractor who makes a profit margin on the work done by subcontractors According to the experts, is the time to think about how to apply this to your business? But they ask: Can you create a product that people will buy over and over again? Can you engage others to sell your product? How could you make money off the work of others?

make your payments is term life insurance. If you don't already have a term policy then consider switching to one since the premiums are much cheaper than a whole life insurance policy.

Add more term life insurance: Again, term life insurance is not very expensive when compared to other life insurance choices. And in tough times, many have possibly lost savings or possessions they had planned on passing onto their survivors in addition to their current life insurance.

This is why it is important in tough times to recalculate life

insurance needs, and if you find that you indeed need to add to your life insurance benefit amount, the least costly way to do that will be to purchase an additional term life insurance policy.

Look for individual life insurance: Great! You have a job and you have group insurance through your employer. Sounds like you are set! But wait a minute... what would you do if you lost your job now?

Yes, you will most likely lose your group life insurance coverage too. So, if you are concerned that there may be cuts in the future of your company or you just don't want to worry about having a time when you are not covered, then now is the time to search for a term life insurance policy.

It is portable and the younger and healthier you are when you get it, then the cheaper the premiums will be.

Shop around interest rates before you go borrowing

T

he best tip about borrowing money is simple: don't. If you think of it this way, credit cards can add up to 20 percent interest to all of your normal expenses, so if you avoided paying all that money to interest, it would be like getting an extra 20 percent raise. There are benefits from credit cards, like extended warrantees, dividend programmes, air miles, purchase protection, and establishing a strong credit rating, but the best approach is to make sure you pay your balance in full every month.

This can be a benefit in purchasing in cash by giving you small benefits plus allowing you a few extra days to pay your balance in full. Having said that, there are some purchases or situations where you will need to borrow money, and there are always better approaches on how to borrow.

One major tip is to shop around on interest rates. Banks are often very competitive on rates to get customers, so you may be able to drop an interest rate by a percent or more with the cost of spending a few extra minutes or hours talking with a few more banks. Rememberthey do want your business and at the end of the day, you are the customer with control over who you do business with. Many banks rely on the consumer feeling intimidated and 'at the mercy' of the big banks and the dictated terms and rates.

There are also different ways of approaching loans that may help, not only from a financial point of view, but also by streamlining

your finances. For example, if you have a number of loans and credit cards with balances; it may be convenient to arrange for a consolidation loan with the bank.

This will extend the term of the loan beyond what some of the smaller debts may have had, but it simplifies the payments and you can often end up with an overall reduction in interest payments; thus, helping you save some money in the long run.

If you're looking at large purchase or expenses, such as home renovations, another common borrowing approach is to tap into the equity in your home, commonly referred to as a home equity loan or a second mortgage. This allows you to leverage on the money you've already paid against your mortgage and use the value of your home as collateral against the larger loans, which traditionally requires some form of security to ensure the loans are repaid.

Lines of credit are also often used for these larger expenses, and are different from standard loans in that they have more flexibility.

You can draw on them as if they are a bank account, and only pay interest on the outstanding balance. These can be helpful to set up in an emergency as they cost nothing, and can help fund additional purchases when needed.

To get an even better interest rate, you can get a secured line of credit using your home or other assets as collateral - they will help fund larger lines of credit for the bigger renovations or other larger expenses.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

K

Prof. Okonjo’s kidnap and national security

idnappers made two big catches recently when they abducted Prof.

Kamane Okonjo from the family home in Ogwashi Okwu in Delta state. The victim, a septuagenarian, is not only the mother of Nigeria's Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, but also the queen of the Ogwashi- Ukwu community.

According to news reports, the kidnappers, about ten in number, stormed the palace in broad daylight, abducted the queen and took her to an unknown destination. She was held in captivity for four days before she finally regained her freedom.

While the drama in Delta state lasted, a similar one was playing out in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital. Mrs. Tayo Rotimi, the wife of Nigeria's former ambassador to the United States and also a former military governor of old Western Region, General Oluyole Rotimi, was grabbed in front of her company's offices on New Ife Road at about 6:30pm by four armed hefty men. She was leaving her AOP Logistics Limited office after the close of work.

In both instances, what

motivated the abductors' actions appeared to be financial reward.

In the case of Prof. Okonjo, they started with the ridiculous demand of 1 billion dollars before coming down to something lower.

In that of Mrs. Rotimi, the

“

The blame is wholly that of the government and its ill trained and ill equipped security agencies. It is time they faced up to the menace of kidnapping with some level of intelligence and responsibility kidnappers are demanding a N200 million ransom.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Okonjo Iweala, has added yet another motive to her mother's kidnap saga. Speaking to journalists after her mother's release, she revealed that the kidnap was aimed at getting her to

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

soft-pedal on fraudulent petroleum subsidy claims.

Whatever might have been the real motive, the forcible abduction of Nigerians, and foreigners in the country, has become far too frequent and something urgent has to be done about it. It is no comfort that some of these kidnap victims have been released unharmed, just as it is frightening that some of the victims have paid the supreme price for our insecurity during their ordeals.

The fact remains that nobody feels safe in this country anymore.

The failure of the security agencies to protect even the high and the mighty that enjoy 24-hour police protection, evident in the cases of Prof. Okonjo and Mrs Rotimi, shows that nobody is safe in this country.

Kidnapping is a serious human rights abuse and a country which stakes a claim on law and order cannot afford to allow it to thrive the way we have allowed it in Nigeria. The blame is wholly that of the government and its ill trained and ill equipped security agencies. It is time they faced up to the menace of kidnapping with some level of intelligence and responsibility.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

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

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND JAMILA NUHU MUSA

MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, LAGOS BUREAU ADESOJI OYINLOLA

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

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 13

Dwindling humanitarian services in Nigeria T

By Muhammad Ajah

here can be no gainsaying the fact that the primary responsibility of every government is to provide the needs of its people in terms of food, shelter and health. On no condition, therefore, should a citizen be denied of these life essentialities.

But as complementary efforts to that of government, many humanitarian non-government organizations (NGOs) abound.

Some of these NGOs are backed financially by philanthropists while others indirectly depend on governments.

In connection to somewhat humanitarian works, government set up agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to respond to emergency cases of Nigerians as well National

Orientation Agency (NOA) not only to seek integration of the citizenry but also to identify needs of the underprivileged and bring them to the tables of the responsible authorities. Also, most well-established business outfits often set up humanitarian units that seek to carter for the underprivileged of the society when any of such is brought to it.

Many cases have raised the question of how effective and genuinely humanitarian governments in Nigeria are, not to talk of the NGOs. I have watched on the African Independent Television (AIT) and heard some radio programmes such as Hembelembe and that aired on Wazobia FM, very sad stories of Nigerians who need humanitarian supports to sustain their life. Such sad stories are often repeated severally before support would come. In some cases, the

poor victims who are really so by their own making but by the societal circumstances, die outrightly or by installment without rescue from government or humanitarian NGOs. As the primary objectives of such NGOs is to respond to the plight of the underprivileged when it is brought to them or to go round such places as hospitals, schools, recreational centres or even markets in search of people who genuinely need humanitarian services, the number of death and pains of Nigerians from natural occurrences would have reduced.

Pathetic cases that should touch the minds of any philanthropic patriot or NGO are many. A man was said to have died in a hospital because of N5,000. Another gave up the ghost in an effort to rescue the wife who could not go to deliver

in a hospital. These could be very quick cases that may not be noticed. But there are cases when the victims would yearn for help to no avail.

An instance is a two-year-old child who was half burnt by a wild fire from adulterated kerosene on 22 June, 2012 at the Eneka axis of Port Harcourt metropolis, the Rivers State capital. This innocent child, Emmanuel Ubong was said to have left his sister’s house to his anty’s and was with her for two weeks till the ugly incident occurred.

The child was hospitalized in Meridian Hospital, No. 21 Igbokwe Street, D/Line, Port Harcourt where he was rescued under intensive care, accumulating a bill of over N2,000.000 (two million naira). Gospel Cyril Effiong, with telephone no. 08038852344, 08179824924, being the child’s

only hope in Port Harcourt, tells a tale of woe.

According to her, as at 15th October she had cried out for help through letters to the Governors and wives of Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Rivers State, African Independent Television (AIT) and SilverBird but to no avail. What is life for if this kids life cannot be saved!

While the survival of the little boy has been abandoned to Effiong - a very low-income earner and hustler - can a private hospital discharge a patient who has been rescued after over six months of treatment? This is a food for thought for humanitarian organizations and philanthropists.

Muhammad Ajah is reachable on mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk.

Kaduna: A harvest of joy, sorrow and sympathy

By Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa

I

t is exactly one week today that the city of Kaduna witnessed a grand occasion of wedding ceremony for the two daughters of Vice President Arc. Namadi Sambo last Saturday, the State has fallen into a dilemma over the sudden death of its Governor Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, who died along with former National Security Adviser General Andrew Azazi in a plane crash in some part of Bayelsa State.

The wedding ceremony which was well attended by almost every who’s who in the north, has taken place days after the annual meeting of Sardauna Foundation was held in the famous city and former headquarters of the Northern Region, followed by the death of the eldest daughter of General Muhammadu Buhari which also attracted national attention.

It is obvious that the Northern elders and people of Kaduna State will consistently spend three weekends in December 2012 in Kaduna for sympathy, joy and sorrow, as the mourning and condolence of the former Minister of the Federal Republic, former Secretary to the Government and Deputy Governor, the late Governor Patrick Yakowa, starts tomorrow.

As it has been a political tradition in some Northern States such as Kaduna, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba a combination of Muslim/ Christian or Christian/Muslim ticket is always adopted, to serve as Governor and Deputy Governor respectively.

Therefore, it is now expected, that a Christian faithful would be chosen to replace the vacuum of Deputy Governor’s seat created by the new Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero. This will certainly mark a new beginning of a power tussle that has been surrounding the Kaduna politics of religion.

The new dimension of the politicking is surely multidirectional from the angle of the state’s ex-political godfather Senator Ahmad Makarfi, who has been superseded by incumbent Vice President Namadi Sambo, up to the newly sworn-in Governor Mukhtar Yero.

I believe, history can give a fair judgment on what transpired at various stages from 2007 to date when former Governor Makarfi betrayed many political aspirants within PDP and called upon Namadi Sambo to be the preferred candidate of the party.

In less than two years, Governor Namadi started having issues with his mentor and predecessor. The intraparty crisis worsened up to the time when Namadi was selected to fill the vacant post of Vice President few days after the death of Late President Umar Musa ‘Yar’adua.

I could vividly remember that within the first month after Namadi’s relocation to Abuja, a key stakeholders’ meeting of PDP Kaduna State wing was organized with VP Namadi as the Leader of the party, while Senator Ahmad Makarfi and his close, associates boycotted the meeting.

This stakeholders’ meeting the first with Namadi as Vice President and as part of their effort to give him a befitting welcome, the Kaduna State Radio deployed an Outside Broadcasting Van (OBV) for live transmission of the event.

Unknown to them, the VP arrived angrily and after the opening prayers he started to discuss vital issues of intra-party crisis that he could not forgive and forget.

Listeners at that period observed that the VP was unaware of the microphone on his frontage which was connected to the OB Van and he speaks on air live to the audience of Kaduna State Radio. Driving through Kaduna to Abuja and with my car radio tuned on to

the station at that time, I heard a lot. No doubt, whoever heard the way Namadi was talking, will easily understand that the man is aggrieved, from the few words he said before the Station went off air; one can believe that a political cold war was being staged between Namadi and Senator Makarfi if at all we are following the political trend.

The crisis resulted to almost making Senator Makarfi redundant after the 2011 elections when he was declared a partial loser of the Kaduna North Senatorial seat before an appeal court nullified the election of Senator Baba Ahmad.

Prior to the judgement, the political pendulum in Kaduna did not favour Senator Makarfi in any respect, because all efforts of former governors who are now serving at the upper chamber and the leadership of the 7 th Senate proved abortive in trying to secure a ministerial slot for their gentle colleague.

In May 2010 when a good relationship existed between Governor Namadi Sambo and his Deputy Patrick Yakowa, President Jonathan invited Namadi to join him at the Presidential Villa as a Vice President, an invitation that made him unpopular among a large percentage of his native Hausa Muslims in the North, because the Muslims bias then was not to allow any none Muslim to serve as a governor.

Instead, let Namadi remained in his position and they promised

to bless him with a second chance at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House.

As Namadi Sambo couldn’t listen to numerous suggestions from his Muslim brothers and took up the VP slot, Governor Yakowa found himself as the Governor of Kaduna State as enshrined by the provision of 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria.

Then the powerful Namadi anointed his political ally Mukhtar Ramalan Yero who was Finance Commissioner until the time of his installation as Deputy Governor.

According to 247 News, an online media website, VP Sambo was jealous of the cosy relation between the president and Governor Yakowa, because it can abort his dream as the Northern candidate for 2015.

In turn, some people believed to be Vice President Sambo supporters opted to checkmate the relationship. 247 News reveals that Sambo’s cabal launches an underground campaign against Governor Yakowa alleging that Yakowa was also hatching a plan to go up against President Jonathan in 2015 for the presidential seat.

But Yakowa’s group was quick to deny the allegation in a half page advertorial placed in Daily Trust newspaper of October, 2012 as reported by the online media.

Though Ramalan Yero has deep respect for Sambo considering the long-term

“

Virtually before the end of this tenure, there is the likelihood of power play between the Master and his Boy, when VP Namadi is becoming desperate in his bid to contest for presidency in 2015 and that mission has the potential of causing a political head-on collision with President Jonathan

political partnership of a Boy and Master, as time goes, when the new Governor has been fully induced with power fluid, the tendency of betraying the Vice President is a possibility.

At the initial level, VP Namadi may singlehandedly make selection and nomination of the New Deputy Governor among the Christian Members of PDP Kaduna, and Ramalan Yero may feel nothing about acting on his behalf, even though he is the only one that has the constitutional power to nominate his Deputy if at all the person nominated is screen by the State House of Assembly.

Virtually before the end of this tenure, there is the likelihood of power play between the Master and his Boy, when VP Namadi is becoming desperate in his bid to contest for presidency in 2015 and that mission has the potential of causing a political head-on collision with President Jonathan.

At that material President Jonathan’s Cabal will try to control all Governors especially those with intention to run for their seats again and of course Governor Ramalan Yero will be on the front line to aspire for 2015.

In view of their clash of interest, Governor Yero can scarifies his God father Namadi, or else, he is bound to lose the gubernatorial candidature to any available pro-Jonathan candidate in the State, which may leave their team with a twozero political gold medal situation.

This assertion may be true considering the nature of our politics; it may not be a surprise to many of us if, by 2015, Governor Yero backs President Jonathan at the expense of Sambo, for him to remain in office beyond 2015.

Really, man proposes and God disposes, May we live longer and witness the time. Ameen Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa is reachable on sabature360@yahoo.com

PAGE 14

By Emmanuel Ado

W

riting about former Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna state, in the past tense was not part of my plans for the last days of year 2012. Working with the governor, the commissioner of economic planning and others, we had just produced the 2013 budget which he had looked forward to faithfully implementing so as to continue to deliver democracy dividends to the people. My plan was to market the budget to the people of the state and take some journalists for project inspection to the new teaching hospital, and the 30-megawatt solar power projects - projects that Yakowa had been passionate about. And then I will shut down for the year.

Writing this tribute was definitely not on the table.

Though my senior by more than 16 years, I have never deluded myself that I will write his obituary or even that of my 85year-old father, because nothing on earth says I could not have died before him or before my father . As a mortal being he definitely knew, his wife knew, same for his lovely children and his friends, that one day he will answer the inevitable call. I want to stress that he was more than aware of this fact , because as he took decisions his standard line was: “can I justify this before my God”. Nevertheless, no one expected his death either in the manner, nor the time, it came.

And this is the ace that God continues to have over us. In spite of this, we continue to hope and pray that we will live to be old, in fact more than the three scores and ten the bible promises us. To die peacefully in our sleep, and as for those that have “made” (read stolen) our money, never to die if

By Stephen Kifordu

Y

et again, Ghanaians have voted in a peaceful election.

They filed out in their numbers, waited patiently to cast their votes and went away with the firm belief that their votes had counted. In some places, voters even had the calmness to vote on two different days. It was an election marked by the absence of such vices like ballot snatching or a resort to violence. Luckily, for Ghanaians and their economy, the worldwide media will wholeheartedly continue to tell this good story of discipline and respect for the electoral process long after the elections.

The discussion about replicating this level of electoral success in Nigeria should start now while the issues are still fresh. One thing Nigeria can gain from the success of Ghana is the openness of the Ghanaian electoral process to Ghana’s political parties and Ghanaians. Key components of the Ghana process are as either proposed by the political parties or put in place in agreement with the political parties at the periodic meeting of the electoral commission and Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) and communicated effectively to the Ghana people. For example, the decision to use biometric voter verification was agreed on Tuesday, 12 May 2009, by the Electoral Commission (EC) and

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Tribute to Sir, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa possible. Death will forever remain time to die. Yakowa’s time was up. live with one another in peace and Was the 14 days after his 64th this will be our greatest tribute to a mystery.

At the flag-off of the birthday, his extra time? him. The truth is that there is no As a believer , I don’t subscribe to area in Nigeria that is “religiously construction of WAEC road in Kawo, Yakowa publicly joked about people the “they killed him “ theory , clean”. This we must always have looking for his seat. To many people because if in the view of the at the back of our mind and after present on that day, it was the usual Almighty God Yakowa had not our turn by turn leadership, we joke about the incessant pressures completed his race, nobody would must go back to the drawing board occupiers of public office go through, have been able to take his life. My and agree that religion and tribe by a man that liked to crack jokes message to the small and misguided will not be the main issue when it and laugh. But it was his own way minority, be they Christians or comes to electing a leader. of letting people To those know what he was pushing for his going through. wife to become About a month ago, deputy, I say he talked about the please leave Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text latest threat, the poor messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written anonymous woman alone. contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 telephone calls, She is not words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and that he would p o w e r a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed never finish his hungry and first tenure, talk has suffered to: less of going for a e n o u g h second term. humiliations The Editor, Yakowa was in the hands of Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, bluntly told that people without 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. “you are not going character; she Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com to finish this tenure may put SMS: 07037756364 “. There were h e r s e l f many other forward for threats, from a very tiny minority. Muslims, that reportedly celebrated more humiliations. Unknown to He took it all in his stride and as a the death of a “Christian governor,” many people, she had made it devout Catholic continued praying which he never was or of a “stingy abundantly clear to her husband to God. He shared his experiences governor”, who refused to play father that she had had enough of the soseveral times, including that of a Christmas with public funds, is called life of glamour and power. ‘good’ spiritualist who called to assure please live for forever. I am consoled She told me and I want to quote her Yakowa that he would not be that many Muslims are genuinely “he knows that after 2014, he is on harmed, because his crystal glass mourning him, just as I know some his own”. Her other prayer is that revealed Yakowa was a good man. Christians are rejoicing that they leave the Government House He however admonished Yakowa Ramallan Yero has taken over from with their two legs and not in a to remain committed to his ideals of a stingy Yakowa, who was bad casket. How prophetic has she equity, justice, and fairness. From business. This is life and life is all turned out! Many people only saw who or which quarter(s) did the about interests. So to my fellow the glamour, government house, threats come from, nobody can say. Christians, I say don’t allow the siren, etc; they never knew the But did some people desperately actions of a tiny minority define your other side and so would never wanted his job? Yes. But did they kill relationship with Muslims because appreciate the price the Yakowa’s him? A big no. To everything there some of our fellow Christians are paid for being the first Christian in the Kaduna is a time. A time to be born and a equally happy. We must learn to family

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Hovernment House.

Other governors have had their challenges; they were just lucky not to have paid the supreme price.

I know by now people who want to control the new governor would have taken his name and picture to all manner of places.

There is no doubt about it, that part of the reason Nigeria is backward is the activity of demonic forces. I stand to be corrected. They want to control governors, ministers, presidents and anybody of influence to award contracts. It is all about money and power. It has nothing to do with public good.

We must continue to pray for our leaders. It was meant to be a quick trip, to honour Oronto Douglas, an aide of President Goodluck Jonathan. Some people have questioned the wisdom of his decision to attend the burial of “just an aide “to the president. Who is Oronto Douglas? Why didn’t he send a delegation and money, I heard some mourners question?

Doing so I explained to them will not be the essential Yakowa. First Oronto is a human being .Secondly, he must have enjoyed some relationship with and as such nothing could ever equal being personally present at the burial of Oronto’s father. That was Yakowa for you, ever selfless. He never changed as governor, neither as a minister nor as whatever in life he was. Up to his last day on earth, he didn’t change. This much was attested to by Cosmas Asogwa of Premium Times who took the last picture of Yakowa and Azazi on earth.

Emmanuel Ado was External Media Consultant to late Governor Yakowa

Ghana elections: New lessons for Jega

seven political parties including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Conventions People Party (CPP) and the Peoples National Convention (PNC) at an Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting.

The inclusion of biometric voter verification is another example of the unity of purpose in the Ghana system. The lesson there is that transparency pays. Following hitches experienced with the biometric verification at some polling stations, the NPP says it has grounds for doubting the results in some areas.

However, its involvement in every step of the process is forcing it to take a calm attitude to the situation. The NPP with the help of the EC is cross checking results from the suspect areas. NPP and its supporters are not splitting heads, rather the party is carrying out a just and proper democratic examination of the EC records.

In Nigeria, it is arguable if there is an inter-party advisory committee that meets periodically with INEC to chart the electoral course of the Nation and report to the public. Prof. Jega and his INEC mates can conduct biometric voter registration and then use a manual voter’s register no matter how loud the opposition parties shout against it. They can even trump up reasons

like equating the use of biometric voter verification to electronic voting. Yet, Ghana has used the same biometric verification and no one is calling it electronic voting.

Sections 78 and 118 of our constitution expect INEC to give direction and supervision but INEC prefers dictating and hiding its plans.

Prof. Jega almost secretly awarded the first contract for a biometric voters register in Nigeria to Lenovo via Request for Quotation (RFQ) INEC/CH/GC/ 073/VOL.1 dated August 18, 2010. On the other hand, Ghana’s EC advertised for biometric technology on a global platform: the United Kingdom Trade Institute’s newsletter of Wednesday, 16 Feb 2011. It should be clear by now that the seemingly small difference between how our INEC operates and how the Ghanaian EC relates to the parties and the populace is one of the lessons Nigeria should draw from and act on immediately to improve its electoral fortunes. INEC should quickly form or breathe life into an Inter-Party Advisory Committee of our political parties if one exists. Thereafter, all the agreements reached at the meetings of the IPAC should be available to Nigerians to improve transparency and trustworthiness. The National

assembly should also provide the funds for INEC to meet regularly and take advice from the political parties. Where INEC refuses to toe this path of honour, our president should speak out on behalf of the political class to put pressure on INEC to act in the best interest of Nigeria.

However, there is another aspect of Ghana’s electoral journey that, if properly understood, will improve Nigeria’s electoral fortunes.

Nigeria stands to gain a lot by recognizing the tolerated failings in Ghana’s process that would blow up in the Nigerian context.

Nigeria’s diversity, experience, direction and way of doing things are markedly different from those of Ghana. Ghanaians have participated in six free elections from which they have come to trust the EC whereas most Nigerians can only point back to the June 12 1993 militarychaperoned elections as their experience of a free election.

Ghanaians have demonstrated a more matured approach to elections than Nigerians have, and the authorities should humbly focus on articulating how we can achieve what Ghana has achieved in our own way. The failure of biometric voter verification in some areas during

the Ghana elections resulted in voting extension to a second day in some places. Had that happened in Nigeria, we would still be counting the cost of the damage to lives and property.

According to a European Commission and United Nations Development Programme document, “Operational Planning & Budgeting for Biometric Voter Registration”, inadequate time and assessment of appropriate technology and needs are the listtoppers of operational planning challenges for this kind of exercise.

Ghana has survived both a rushed mobile-phone based voter verification exercise and a number of voting day machine failures.

Will Nigeria of 2015 survive such scenarios? Now is the time for INEC, the National assembly and President Jonathan to work towards assessing the technological options that will allow us to achieve credible elections come 2015.

This is by no means a call for electronic voting. All I am pointing out is that INEC is neither seeking nor searching for the best way rather it is busy awarding contracts to propagate a wretched process. No amount of cutting the lizard’s tail will make it a frog. A word is enough for the wise just as a stitch in time saves nine.

Stephen Kifordu wrote in from the UK.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

By Olusola Sanni

I

have always held the belief that, to the extent that there is over concentration of powers at the centre, there is the tendency for a dirtier competition for the control of the government at that level, and to that extent will our polity become vulnerable to corrupting tendencies and other abuses of public institutions.

In other words, the therapy to stemming the monster of corruption and inefficiency in our public sector is to redefine the form of federalism we operate in Nigeria.

I have carefully avoided the word, restructure - for the fear that it might imply that the problem with Nigeria’s federalism is in the very existence of the various layers of government that make us a federation.

But to use the word redefine presumes the need to rework the inherent details of our federalism from one that is top-heavy to a federal arrangement that devolves nonfederal functions like education, health, transportation, energy generation, agriculture and many more to the state governments. It also includes, but not limited to, the need to make local governments autonomous from the arbitrariness of the state governments.

For long, the political elite in Nigeria have mouthed the imperative of ‘restructuring’ our federal arrangement but no one had come out to explain the details of such restructuring.

But recently, former vicepresident Atiku Abubakar has been engaging the public with his thoughts

By Peter Claver Oparah

F

ew days ago, Transparency International came out with a damning report to the effect that Nigeria is the 35th most corrupt country on earth. This was coming on the heels of a Gallup poll that placed Nigeria as the second most corrupt nation in the world. These damning verdicts are enough to humble any leadership of a nation so viscerally indicted and possibly lead to a reorientation both in the approach and conduct of government business.

It is enough to imbue sobriety and soul searching. But not for Jonathan’s government and the PDP, which are at the center and heart of that serious indictment. If we are to glean from their official reaction to this bad verdict, we recant the official response of the Jonathan government, as were articulated by both Dr. Reuben Abati, the Special Adviser on Media to the President and Doyin Okupe, the Senior Special Assistant to the same President. After taking time to excoriate TI for such lowly rating, the duo went lyrical about the many steps their principal and his government have gone to combat corruption. They blamed the media and Nigerians for such poor rating and lauded their government for its bold attempts to muzzle the decibel called corruption. Good talk, you might say but both earn their living spinning such yarn that convinces no one at the end of the day except their principal and those around him who are at the very center of the corruption indictment.

Not that they are interested in convincing anyone anyway.

The official PDP reaction was as bizzare as the party’s own approach to governance that sees corruption as the central pillar of governance.

Through its National Publicity

PAGE 15

In search of genuine federalism

on how Nigeria’s federal system should be reworked. During the annual conference and award ceremony of the Leadership newspaper, Atiku talked about the creation of institutional safeguards to insulate public institutions from abuse.

Perhaps the most enduring negative consequence of the civil war is the deliberate policy to keep the second layer of government as weak as they can ever be, and thus creating a leviathan of the central government. While the intent of this policy could be to deter any of the federating units (state governments) from growing in power and influence such as to challenge the authority of the government at the centre, it has nonetheless, also brought a culture of corruption in the country’s bureaucracy.

A situation whereby, for instance, the central government keeps the lion’s share of the budgetary allocation for education with much lower ratio of schools compared to the resources made available to the state governments to carry out the same function cannot but encourage corruption and inefficiency. That is why one cannot but agree with Atiku, when he also said that, “Education should be the responsibility of state/regional and local governments. The federal government should, at best, set standards and provide financial support for states that follow them.

We do not need a federal ministry of education that is burdened with running secondary and tertiary

institutions across the country. If we have to have one, it should focus on establishing standards and enforcing them with incentives and sanctions as the case may be.

“State/regional governments should have the freedom to plan and implement educational policies and programmes to suit local needs and changing circumstances. While a university in the Niger Delta or Lagos may see an urgency in having a world class maritime programme, one in Yola or Bauchi may prioritize information technology or agriculture while yet another in Jos or Enugu may prioritize geology or metallurgy as the case may be.

The painful reality about Nigeria’s educational sector is that unlike in the past when the teaching profession used to be the envy of everyone in the society, today teachers are among the first set of professional elite to be caught by the bug of corruption in Nigeria, such that it has become commonplace to see some teachers abetting students in cheating during examinations because of monetary gains. And that begs the question: when teachers, who are supposed to be the philosopher kings, lose their crown who else has the power of enlightenment to help find the crown?

Indeed, the story of corruption and bad social values in Nigeria began the moment we got it wrong in our educational sector. The need to strengthen the state governments through devolution of functions from the government at the centre, is the clamour for state police. Those in

support of a uniform police structure in the country point attention to the fear that state governors could abuse the police establishments in their respective states. They also argue further that since the police is an arms bearing institution, then it must come under federal control.

But it is as if those in support of a uniform police structure have forgotten that there was a time in this country when each regional government, as state governments were then known, had its own police structure. While in the defunct Western Region there was what is known as Local Government Police Authority, in the North it was known as Native Authority Police. The dividing line between these regional police establishments and the central police is that while the central police had exclusive powers over criminal matters, the regional police establishments took charge of civil matters.

In several instances, the regional police carried out intelligence gathering to assist the central police in some of its criminal investigations. That is why that in Yoruba land up till today, policemen are still called by such nicknames like eleti ofe (the eavesdropper) or otele muye (the sly walker). That is to say that the method of policing which the populace is acquainted with is one done through intelligence gathering.

Again, Atiku’s idea that democracy and federalism are two mutually inclusive concepts come into focus. According to him, the

federating units in a federation should have autonomy over the type of local government and police systems they desire to run. That very idea is democratic, because it comes with a freedom to choose.

Regrettably, the victim of the centralized police structure in Nigeria has been the civilian population itself. This is because to the local populace in any given location in Nigeria, the police as we have it today is not less than an occupying police - one that is imposed on the society. Thus, the schism that exists between the civilian population and the personnel of the Nigeria Police is as a result of the perception that the police personnel are not members of the communities where they operate.

In other words, that sects like the Boko Haram and the various militant sects in the Niger Delta subsist is a pointer that the society is not partnering with the police to combat the insecurity menace, partly because the personnel of the police force are not people they can trust with certain information. What is necessary is to re-establish the marriage between the police and the society. And the only way to do this is the reinvention of state police. It is true that politicians could abuse the state police and thus the issue of institutional safeguards, as advocated by Atiku becomes necessary.

Olusola Sanni, journalist and public affairs analyst, sent this piece from Utako District, Abuja

Nigeria’s worsening corruption complex Secretary, one Olisa Metuh, the party engaged in flattering hyperbole of how it had been battling corruption and how other parties and other Nigerians were behind acts of corruption and the worsening rating the country has been garnering from international anti-corruption agencies since they began their selfclaimed messianic mission in 1999.

There, you have it; blame others but myself and the corruption wildfire continues raging unabated. The beat continues as newer and fresher fonts of corruption continues to be invented as means of robbing an unfortunate citizenry silly and hobbling every other superstructure in Nigeria.

One acknowledges that we expect nothing more ennobling from the Jonathan government, his party and their spokesmen. One acknowledges that apart from Abati who must be facing a difficult task making the best of a mid-life vocation of selling ice to Eskimos, the other two; irreverent hustlers that have no compunction with untruth and selling falsehood, so long as such meets their age long quest for morsels. So expecting something more from those at the centre of the thriving Nigerian corruption complex tantamounts to expecting self immolation from a sybarite. However, despite the reservations of Nigerian officialdom to the damning ratings by these international anti corruption watchdogs, majority of Nigerians believe their government has transmuted into insatiable cannibals that deign no scruples stealing even the food reserved for their infants and leaving Nigeria a decrepit land of despair, tears, malnourishment,

want, misery, insecurity and ennui where life hovers on the Hobbesian fringe. It is a generally shared sentiment that the range of governments we have had in recent times are strings of unrepentant sadists who have grown trenchantly deaf to the desperate cries of Nigerians who are ceaselessly whacked by the vicissitudes unleashed by these regimes. To most Nigerians, TI was particularly patronizing to Nigerian government by that rating for they doubt if any nation on earth has a worsening corrupt template as Nigeria.

But let us take a few excursions to some sordid events in recent history that could possibly have informed the worsening corruption plaudits Nigeria shamelessly garners in the comity of nations. The earth-shaking fuel subsidy scam where the government deliberately paid its cronies, business fronts, political allies and campaign funders nearly N3trillion in one year and passed it off as subsidy on local fuel consumption. The same government was to nebulously pass this loot to famished, storm- tossed citizens through a callous increment of fuel tax. Again, consider the terrible state of security in the length and breadth of a country where about one trillion Naira is budgeted yearly as security appropriation. What can we say of the worsening dilapidation of public infrastructure in Nigeria; the irreparable roads, the intractable darkness-generating power sector, the increasingly moribund health sector, the decrepit educational sector that remains at the rear of even regional educational ratings? What can we talk of the wild inflationary spiral that

makes its unperturbed rounds on hapless Nigerians as government sexes up the books to return flattering results for itself? What of the reports of stealing, misappropriation, looting of public funds that had become so rampant in every sector that Nigerians refuse to stir at the outbreak of news of fresher incidences, which has become a daily affair? It is not worth the while reciting incidences of mind-boggling corruption that ooze from Nigerian officialdom in recent times but it will suffice to posit that Punch Newspaper recently came out with a report that as much as N5trillion had been stolen in the two years Jonathan has been in power. Imagine what that sum can do to the worsening lives of Nigerians!

But these figures are seen as very conservative when we know that the country grosses over N16trillion yearly from selling its OPEC quota on crude. By the admission of the country’s revenue generating agency, Nigeria makes close to N5trillion from taxes every year. These are exclusive of the many other fonts of revenue, which the government exploits with little or no account. Again, this is a government that has increasingly piled up Nigerian domestic and foreign debt in an unending debt binge that builds up liabilities for even unborn Nigerians. And this is a country whose annual budgets hover in the range of N4trillion.

What happens to the rest of annual accruals? They are lodged in a plethora of accounts where accounting is lax, from where they are shared out and looted at the whims and caprices of the president

and his economic enablers.

This is the sordid and messy trap Nigeria finds itself today and which the Jonathan government and the PDP struggle to deny. But you don’t need to go far to see how corruption has wrecked Nigeria, especially in the past thirteen years of PDP’s egregious waste laying. The other day, I watched a CNN report on Angola’s metamorphosis in few years after a bitter civil war, which is fewer than the thirteen years the PDP has spent spreading poverty, want, hunger and insecurity in the sixth largest oil producing nation on earth. I feel the robust, rapid and fast-paced growth of Angola rubs odium contempt and shame on Nigeria, especially its mothridden leadership and typifies Nigeria as a quintessential case of Paradise Lost.

And can you bet that as I was concluding this report, a monumental scandal was rearing its head as President Jonathan rushed a demand to the National Assembly demanding a hefty sum of N161 billion to ‘subsidize’ fuel for Nigerians for the last two weeks of the year. It is as horrible as it came and it’s dubious intent reeks to millions of miles away from this theater of the absurd. You can bet that Nigerians, so numbed by corruption would barely attempt a stir and another hefty tranche of the national patrimony shared between President Jonathan, his hirelings, stay spatters, party men and enablers as Christmas gift while the citizenry continue to pine in preventable penury. What a country!

Peter Claver Oparah is reachable on peterclaver2000@yahoo.com

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20 2012

Commercial drivers decry exorbitant rate of AEPB waste bins

By Adeola Tukuru

C

ommercial drivers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have raised alarm over the exorbitant rate of waste bins allegedly sold to them by the officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

Some of the commercial drivers who spoke to Peoples Daily complained that the price of the plastic waste bins which was initially N500 had suddenly gone up to N1, 500.

They insisted that the price increment was too much for just a common plastic, calling on the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed and Director of the AEPB to come to their aid by reducing the cost.

A commercial driver plying Wuse-Area One axis, James Ogar, lamented the constant harassment they were subjected to by officials of the AEPB as they can not afford the bin due to the high cost of purchase.

“Some of the officials of the AEBP just jump into our bus and if they don’t see their waste bins in your vehicle, you will be force to buy the waste bins. ”Am not saying it is not good to have waste bins in your vehicles, but all we are saying is that the prices are too much. How much is such plastic in the market? A waste bin plastic cost N200 in the market, so why would they say we should pay such an amount when we can get the same plastic in the market at a cheaper rate “, he said.

Another commercial motorist, Also Saidu Ajibola, who operates along Gwagwa /Karmo routes- Wuse market, lamented the high rate of waste bins, pleading with the FCT Minister to address the situation.

When contacted, the Head of Information and Outreach of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board(AEPB), Mr Joe Ukairo denied the involvement of officials

of the board in the alleged sales of the waste bin at the rate of N1,500 He expressed dismay at the development, saying somebody out there may be up to some shady deals the AEPB was not aware of.

“We don’t know about any

ongoing sale of waste bins. Were they(commercial drivers) given any receipt. We don’t even have the waste bins with us,” he questioned.

He explained that the board had signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with a company to provide the waste bins

and sell to commercial drivers at N500 each but the contract had since terminated and had not been renewed.

“The contract is no longer subsisting because if it was certain remittance is supposed to accrue to the government which is not,” Ukairo said.

Emmanuel and Solomon Owojolowo set to have a Merry Christmas in Kubwa, Abuja. Photo: Miriam Humbe

FCT parliament tasks parents, leaders on security, rights of children

By Josephine Ella Ejeh

C

hildren in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to Nigerian leaders, parents, and other citizens of the country to ensure the security of children as well as protect their rights.

Representatives of the FCT children, made the call yesterday at the inaugural ceremony of the 3rd Assembly of the FCT Children Parliament at the Cyprian Ekwensi Centre for Art and Culture, Area 10, Garki.

Speaking during a sitting of the parliament after the inauguration, the new Speaker of the parliament, Hon. Ikeme Johnson, who was responding to

issues raised by the members, expressed concern over the general security problems bedevilling the country.

He pointed out that the lives of children especially, were perpetually at risk, adding that Nigerians must rise above religious and tribal sentiments which according to him, were some of the factors fuelling the security problems the country was facing.

This was as he emphasised that “security which is a very big problem in Nigeria” must be addressed.

Earlier, he thanked FCT children for electing him, as he pledged to work with other members of the parliament to

project their interest.

On her part, the outgoing speaker, Hon. Hafsat Kaigama, advised the new parliament to be selfless, patient and dedicated.

She expressed optimism that they excel with greater achievement than the outgoing parliament.

Earlier, the Director, Gender Department of the Social Development Secretariat of the FCT administration, Hajiya Amina Abubakar said election in to the parliament was conducted sometimes in May. She said the parliament is very important because it is a platform for children to

participate in decision making on issues that would benefit FCT children.

They meet, deliberate on issues affecting children and come up with policies that could be passed on to the National Assembly, she emphasised.

Also speaking, the Secretary, Social Development Secretariat, Mrs Blessing Onuh, advised children to shun vices that are inimical to their lives, future and development of the country.

While expressing the commitment of the FCT administration towards championing the course of the children, she said all hands must be on deck to ensure that the future of children is secured.

FCT amusement parks in full preparation for Christmas

A

musement parks and gardens in the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) are already in full preparations to receive fun seekers and other patrons during the Christmas festivities.

Correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who went round some of the parks noticed that old gaming equipment had been refurbished, while new ones were provided to meet the needs of the expected high turnout of visitors.

Some of the parks wore new looks as they had been beautifully decorated to create the Christmas ambiance.

NAN reports that workers at the Wonderland Amusement Park were seen cleaning the environment to make it hygienic and more attractive while Christmas decorations where already in place at strategic locations.

At the FCT Millennium Park, NAN observed that the lawns, pathways and grasses had been mowed and kept neat and awaiting visitors.

Although there were no park officials to speak to on preparedness for the festival, NAN reports that the environment was generally cleared and made clean and safe for the expected large turnout of visitors.

The Park Manager at the Area 1 Zoological Garden, Mrs Agatha Johnson, said that various games would soon be put in place for the entertainment of fun seekers.

“We are expecting a lot of games and equipment that people can come and enjoy, play with and relax,’’ she said.

She added that the management of the park was also organising a fun fair for parents and children.

According to Johnson, Christmas was a time of joy and merriment and Santa Claus will be on ground to welcome children and give out different gifts to them.

She said that the safety of the public was a major priority of the management, adding that arrangements had been made for extra security to maintain peace and prevent unpleasant occurrences.

Johnson said that with the current security challenges in the country, many individuals might be reluctant to go to public places.

“We are working with a security agency and the mobile police in the FCT to ensure the safety of the public.

Johnson urged the public not to be deterred and come out to enjoy and celebrate. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 17

The increasing activities of black marketers in Abuja

By Enekole Enokela

B

lack market, according o the Advanced Learner's dictionary is an illegal trading of goods that are not allowed to be bought and sold, or that are not enough for everyone who wants them.

The illegal trading of goods and services known as black market only takes place in a war torn nation and those who indulge in such trading are called black marketers.

However, in Nigeria today and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), especially, many youth and adults alike are now often seen on the street engaging illegal hawking of commodities to eke out a living out a living.

The 'booming business' has came to stay as a result of sharp practices in the oil industry-a situation where marketers cause an unnecessary fuel scarcity only for them to sell to their boys in black marketing business solely for selfish reasons.

Black marketers have been notorious for sabotage as they sabotage every effort of government in ensuring that fuel is available for consumption by Nigerians.

Unfortunately, it is heart breaking that every strategy propounded and initiated could not stamp out black market business in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the country at large.

In the FCT for instance, the Abuja Environmental Protection Board(AEPB) has engaged in raids of spots notorious of the illegal business which include the Banex near Mabush Bridge, Area 11 junction in Garki, Area 1 to no avail.

Of recent, the activities of this illegal peddlers of petroleum has expanded as they are now visible in virtually all parts of the FCT, especially owing the lingering fuel crisis confronting the territory and other parts of the country.

Indeed, because of the quick profit attached to black marketing business in the country, some filling station owners have chosen to hoard petroleum products which they sell to black market dealers at night.

Petroleum products scarcity is a serious night mare to buyers and users. It is sad that every method put t

Fuel black marketers operating on the street in Abuja. in place by successive governments in the country could not stop black marketers.

The major and minor marketers of the petroleum products are not helping matters, as some of them connive with black marketers to sabotage the unnoticed effort of government.

The horrible scene is that, when motorists and buyers approach many filling station in the FCT to buy the products, they are turned down with unnecessary and flimsy excuses only for the commodity to found in the hands of black marketers selling by the side of the filling station joyfully at exorbitant rate.

The AEPB and the Directorate for Petroleum Resource (DPR) had on several occasion threatened to shut down filling station found to be encouraging the illegal business by selling the commodity to black marketers and condone illegal hawking around their premises.

These effort like the other have not been able to curtail fuel hawking the FCT, rather the numbers of perpetrators appears to be increasing at an alarming rate.

The question is, when will black marketing business be

eradicated from the FCT?.

When will Nigerians drive into filling stations without excuses from the fuel attendants?

The government approved pump price is a taboo to black marketers who are bent to make profit at any given time by engaging in open sell of the commodity without fear of arrest to the detriment of motorists.

Fuel situation in FCT and other parts of Nigeria has degenerated to the point that many motorist prefer to patronise black marketers for fuel rather than waste their time queuing at filling stations and not to get the fuel at the end.

A fuel black marketer on the street of Kado estate, who simply gave his name as Shehu had taken advantage of the persistent fuel scarcity in Abuja to create job for himself and cater for his younger ones.

He told our reporter that he resorted to hawking of fuel as other businesses which he tried didn't work out for him.

He said he had tried selling of food items such as; onions, tomatoes, pepper and carrot but all did not work out "for good".

Asked when he started the business, Shehu said he had been a black marketer for over

ten years and that the business keeps growing by the day. "It's in me," he added.

Asked if he knows it is illegal to hawk fuel, he said "I know it's illegal but it is my source of income and I also use it to help my family, besides, I also sell to people whom I believe commits the same crime with me, so it's no big deal because I am always on the lookout for security agents and I don't intend to stop anytime soon".

Another black marketer, who refused to mention his name said the business is a good one and he purchases the 20 litres of fuel for N25, 000 and makes up to between N45,000 per 20 litres of fuel depending on his customers bargaining skills.

He said has no regret about his choice of the business.

Emmanuel, age 16 and the youngest of the black marketers said it worries him when Nigerians complain of joblessness when there is actually plenty jobs to do.

He boosted of his achievement since he started the business and concluded that he is extremely happy at what he was earning.

When asked how they get the product, there was no comment from any of the black marketers.

But it is obvious how they

get the fuel, because a visit to any filling stations during the day time and especially at night reveals much to this effect.

To confirm this, an Abuja resident, Mr Joey Shaibu said: "Most of the filling stations sell petrol to these black marketers at night in containers at prices higher than the fuel pump price. As a result, these marketers sell to consumers at very high prices; try visiting some of these stations at night and see for yourself how bad the situation is''.

Indeed, the relevant authorities have made some efforts in arresting perpetrators and prosecuting same but a lot still ought to be done to eradicate this menace completely from the FCT. It therefore, behoves on the Federal Government to ensure that petroleum products are made readily available and cheap to Nigerians at all times.

Filling stations also have a part to play in this case. They should not indulge in hoarding of the products and should not encourage black marketers by selling to them and allowing them to operate at their premises.

In addition, the relevant authority step up their raids and arrests of perpetrators, the menace, would be curtailed to a reasonable extent.

PAGE 18

INSIDE FCT COURTS Mass transfer of magistrates stall cases in FCT

By Stanley Onyekwere, with agency report ctivities at the Magistrates Courts in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have slowed down, following the mass transfer of magistrates within the territory.

Checks at the courts by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reveal that numerous cases meant for adjudication in the last two weeks had been adjourned to 2013 due to the transfers.

Some police prosecutors were seen processing adjournments for their pending cases, while others have resorted to taking fresh cases to the Area Courts which have been busy with such cases.

One Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Lucas Ephraim, who told NAN that the new magistrates will need to take some time to settle down and that cannot happen before the New Year, also expressed concern over the effect of the sudden transfers on the cases.

Another prosecutor, Corporal Garba Abdul expressing similar views, said most of his cases had been adjourned to January 2013 due to the transfers.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any choice than to comply with the adjournments,’’ he said.

However, when our reporter visited the Wuse Zone 6 Chief Magistrates Court on Monday, some of the courts there were in session handling few fresh cases.

At the one of the court presided over the new Chief Magistrate, Abubakar Baba Shani, only one fresh case was brought before the court for its attention.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Teenagers in Keffi Prison for jointly raping girl,15 T

wo boys aged between 15 and 16 were have been arraigned before a Mararaba Upper Area Court over an alleged rape of a girl, 15.

The Police Prosecutor, Nasir Shuaibu, told the court that when the incident happened, it

was brought before the ‘A’ Division, Police Station in Mararaba, on December 11, 2012.

He said that the two accused persons, alongside three other suspects conspired and raped a 15-year–old girl in an

uncompleted building which served as a hide-out for the group.

He said that the offences contravene Section 97 and Section 283 of the Penal Code.

The two accused persons pleaded not guilty to the offences

against them.

The Defence Counsel, Charles Acholor, pleaded for bail for the accused persons, stressing that they were still presumed innocent.

Magistrate Vincent Gwahemba refused the bail for the accused persons, stating that the offence of rape was not a minor case.

He ordered that they be remanded in Keffi Prison and adjourned the case to January 14, 2013. (NAN)

A

Workers working on the Abuja mass transit rail lines, recently in Garki, Abuja.

Two women held for allegedly buying stolen clothes, shoes

By Stanley Onyekwere, with agency report

T

he Police have arraigned two women, Shekinatu Mohammed, 30, and Adama Abdullahi, 22, before an Upper Area Court in Gwagwalada for allegedly buying stolen property.

The accused, who are residents of Gadabuke in Nasarawa state, were arraigned on a count-charge of receiving stolen property; to

which they pleaded not guilty to the offence.

News agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Police Prosecutor, Iliya Maji had told the court that the accused had at different times, bought stolen property from one Jemilu Ibrahim, who is also facing trial before the court.

According to him, the stolen property included clothes and shoes, adding that the accused bought 20 wrappers from Ibrahim, valued at N41, 000,

which had been recovered from the accused.

The presiding Judge, Alhaji Babangida Hassan, however, granted three accused person bail in the sum of N 200,000 each with one surety each in like sum.

Hassan said the sureties must be residing within the FCT and must be civil servants and own have landed property, before her adjourned the case to February 4, 2013 for hearing.

Fraudster bags jail term for impersonation EFCC officer

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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n Abuja High Court, sitting before Justice Salihu Garba has sentenced one, Fidelis Teseer Tule, to two years imprisonment for impersonation and obtaining money by false pretence.

Tule was arrested following an intelligence report that he was parading himself as a Senior Crime Officer with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and defrauded unsuspecting Nigerians through a bogus claim that he could secure job placements for them with the anti-graft agency.

The fraudster, who operated within the judicial division of

Photo: NAN

the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, used a false identity card titled “Economy Fund Crime Commission” and bearing Mr. Fidelis T. Tule with ID card No: SCO/ 236/008 to hoodwink his victims.

He was arrested and subsequently arraigned on an 8 count charge on November 10, 2011 for committing the offence which is contrary to Section 363 of the Penal Code Cap 532 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (Nigeria) 1990 and punishable under Section 364 of the same Law. One of the charge reads, “That you Fidelis Teseer Tule, sometime in October 2011, in Abuja within the Judicial

Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, did with intent to defraud obtained the total sum of N21, 400.00 from one Gbaanongon Victor Tyosoo by false pretence purporting same to be for employment into Economic and Financial Crimes Commission which you knew to be false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 1(1)(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under section 1 (3) of the same Act”.

During trial, the false document titled “Economy Fund Crime Commission Identity Card” was admitted in evidence as Exhibit A by Justice Garba who, in his ruling said:

“from the totality of evidence adduced, I hold the considered view that the document or writing marked Exhibit A is a forged document as confirmed

by Exhibit D. The defendant knew that the document is forged as he confirmed that he made Exhibit A and that he is not a staff of the EFCC”.

“In conclusion and by the overwhelming and uncontradicted oral and documentary evidence as presented by the prosecution, the prosecution has proved the offences as charged against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt as required by Section 135 of Evidence Act 2011 (as amended)”, Justice Garba said and sentenced the accused to two years imprisonment.

Man, 22, sentenced for stealing wrist watch n Abuja Magistrates Court

A

has sentenced one Saidu Alhassan of Ajegunle road, Mpape, Abuja, to four weeks imprisonment for mischief and theft.

The Magistrate, Mrs Hauwa Aliyu, sentenced Alhassan, 22, after he pleaded guilty to the crime.

She, however, gave him an option of N2,000 fine.

Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Mr Musa Abdulahi, told the court that the matter was reported by one Mashal Ade of Mpape Village, Abuja at the Mpape Police Station on December 3, 2012.

Abdulahi said the complainant parked his car at his workshop where Alhassan broke the window of the vehicle and stole Ade’s Rolex wristwatch.

The prosecutor said that during police investigation the convict confessed to committing the crime, adding that the wristwatch was recovered from him.

He added that the offence contravenes the provisions of Sections 326 and 288 of the Penal Code.(NAN)

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Email: aminuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE

- Pg 20

NASS delaying $200m Entertainment Fund disbursement – BOI

Mob: 08033644990

Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (middle), in a group photograph with the Board of Directors, African Export-Import Bank, during their visit to the vice-president, on Tuesday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Aero voted best West African airline of 2012 From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

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igeria domestic major carrier, Aero has won the ‘Best West African Airline of the Year 2012’ at the West African Tourism and Hospitality Awards (WATHAWARDS) held in Lagos recently.

The organiser of the event said Aero’s win of the award confirms the airline’s decision to offer services in the Nigerian market to the highest international standards.

Adedayo Adesugba, President of the Awards group said, “The West African Tourism and Hospitality award is formed to recognize organizations and individuals in the Tourism & Hospitality Industry, and as a platform for acknowledging and

rewarding creativity among all the participants and operators within the West African region.”

He said the event is the largest gathering of Hospitality practitioners within the region over 5000 voters and evaluators involved in the processes with at least 500 operators at the Gala nights award ceremony.

“We recognize the role Aero has been playing in ensuring that the travelling needs in the ECOWAS region are constantly met.”

Managing Director of Aero, Mr Obaro Solomon Ibru, said: “We are delighted to have won the West African Airline of the year award.

We will, however, not relent in our efforts but we will continually look at new and exciting ways of meeting and even exceeding the flying expectations of Nigerians.”

Power generation hits record high at 4,349.7MW

By Udenna Orji

T

he Power sector managers achieved a new record performance in generation, reaching a new all-time peak generation of 4,349.7 megawatts on December 17, 2012.

“This is very exciting and cheery news,” said the chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP), Beks Dagogo-Jack.

“To be clear, we are not surprised.

We are fully focused as a team to prove to Nigerians that this government is serious about power, and in spite of all the challenges on the way, power will grow from level to level, as we progress.”

Dagogo-Jack commended the key operational players whose diligence contributed to this “small feat” including the Systems Operator and the Manitoba team.

“I assure you that the best is yet to come” the chairman said.

BPE clarifies salary issues on NITEL/Mtel T

By Abdulwahab Isa

he Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has clarified that it approved one month salary for staff of NITEL/Mtel and not six months as speculated in the media.

The Bureau made the clarification in a statement by H e a d , P u b l i c Communications, Chukwuma Nwokoh, yesterday.

The statement, which read in part, said: “It is apt to state that the acting Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, at a meeting on December 12, 2012 with a delegation of the SSACTACled by its president, Mr. Elias Kazzah, explained that he had

approved one month salary for workers of both companies owing to budgetary constraints.

Dikki noted that the balance in the 2012 capital budget for the purpose of paying the salaries of staff of Nitel/Mtel can accommodate only one month’s salary.

The Acting DG said that the Bureau is working assiduously to ensure that the balance of the workers’ salary arrears is captured in the 2013 budget so that the workers could be paid on a regular basis as from next year.

On NITEL/Mtel casual workers, Dikki assured that the Bureau is collaborating with the relevant government agencies to resolve the issue. He

Navy arrests 4 oil bunkerers in Kogi

The PTFP said that the increase in generation was due to increased capacity on the national grid, specifically Egbin Power Plant, which is back on grid after prolonged maintenance, the Omotosho NIPP, which has switched on its third gas turbine, and the Chevron gas plant, which is now fully back on grid after its scheduled maintenance.

From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

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he Nigeria Navy Command, NNS Luguard Lokoja yesterday said it has so far arrested four suspected crude oil bunkerers along the coastal waters in Kogi state.

The Commander, Innocent Yinfaowei, who disclosed this to journalists during the flag-off of

the command’s security patrol on the water line along the River Niger, said the suspects were arrested with crude oil.

He noted that the chief of Naval staff has flagged off security patrol on the coastal line to ensure safety on water ways and directed all command across the country to initiate their patrol, saying that the Central

Management Tip of the Day Take more vacation

I

pledged the Bureau’s determination to proactively tackle NITEL/Mtel issues before they arise.

The acting DG promised an open-door policy and said that useful suggestions to further the cause of privatisation in the country are welcome.

Earlier, the President of the NITEL branch of the association, Mr. Elias Kazzah, had appealed to the acting DG to intervene in the plight of workers to enable them celebrate the yuletide season with their families.

Kazzah noted that the burden of paying the workers’ salary arrears was beyond the managements of NITEL and Mtel, hence the need for the Bureau to intervene.

n a world of ever-increasing demands, people are spending less time out of the office and taking fewer days off.

Fall victim to this trend, and it will harm your health and productivity. Instead, do the following:· Take every day of vacation you’re given.

Don’t hold it over and don’t tell

yourself that you don’t have the time. You’ll get more done at a higher level of quality if you take time off and come back to the office rested.· T r u l y disengage when you’re away. If you don’t, you won’t be getting the full benefits of time off. If you have to answer email, set aside one short chunk of time to do so.·

Don’t settle for three or four days off. Short periods are fine, but they’re not sufficient. If you have an intense job, it takes at least two consecutive weeks away from work to fully restore yourself.

Source: Harvard Business Review

Naval command, which they belong to, is also participating in the exercise.

According to him, the essence of the exercise was to get rid of criminals and criminal activities on the water ways so as to ensure safety from pirates illegal bunkerers who are operating on the Rivers.

“In recent time we have been arresting people who have been engaging in vandalizing pipe line to steal the crude oil. One of the boat with tanks of crude oil that was arrested during the course of our patrol capsize after hitting the rock. We patrol from Lokoja to Jamata, Itobe and Idah,” he said.

He said crime rate on the water ways has been on the increase as land is no longer too safe for their activities due to task force operation hence they have resorted to the water ways, adding that the command was facing some logistic challenges in its operation.

PEOPLES DAILY,THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS AMCON

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he Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has said it would not yield possession of the assets of Capital Oil and Gas Industries.

Limited, temporarily forfeited to it by virtue of a Federal High Court order of November 13 this year.

AMCON said, in a statement on Tuesday, that it will remain in possession of the assets pending the determination of the appeal it filed against the court’s later ruling, reversing its November 13 decision.

Justice Abdu Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja had in the suit by AMCON, marked: FHC/ ABJ/CS/714/2012 against Capital Oil & Gas Industries Limited and Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah, via an order ex-parte, granted AMCON possession of certain assets of the defendants pending the final determination of the substantive suit.

Okomu Oil Palm Plc

SON, Chinese regulatory agency sign pact to stop sub-standard products Stories by Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

A

s part of efforts to address the prevailing influx of substandard goods into Nigeria from China, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) with the Chinese Certification and Inspection Group (CCIG).

Efforts by both agencies to sign the pact early this year when SON delegates visited CCIG in the Republic of China had failed, leading to more influx of substandard products from the country.

According to the agreement, products coming into Nigeria would be mutually monitored and surveyed by CCIG and SON to eliminate origination of substandard products from China to Nigeria.

The Director-General, SON,

Dr Joseph Odumodu, said the partnership would mark a new chapter in standardisation and quality assurance for products that will meet the new SONCAP regime.

Odumodu, at the signing of the MoU ceremony between SON and CCIG, explained that two years ago, the country experienced epidemic proportions in terms of the influx of substandard products. He said a survey conducted revealed that over 80 per cent of products across the country were substandard.

“We started querying the effectiveness of SONCAP regime, and we later found out that some features in the SONCAP were not properly implemented and these are the issues we are going to address with the new SONCAP regime,” he added.

He, therefore, called on

Nigerians to exercise patience with this new partnership, saying that “SON needs time to show the sincerity of this initiative to reduce substandard products to the minimum in the country.”

He said that the new SONCAP regime would ensure that the same batch of products being exported from any country also underwent test in the country of origin. ”Every product that must come into the country must undergo some form of testing and certification and that is why we have said that the independent accreditation agency has to take the sample from the same batch that is being exported to Nigeria or any of its neighbors,” he said.

According to him, about half of the imports into Nigeria come from the borders, while the other half comes through the ports.

O

komu Oil Palm Plc of Nigeria headed for the highest level in almost 11 weeks after Asset and Resource Management company started coverage of the stock with a buy recommendation. The shares gained 4.4 percent to N36.55 on Tuesday, poised for the highest close since October 3. About 1.7 million shares, more than seven times the three-month moving average, changed hands, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Okomu will have 22 percent annual revenue growth from 2013 to 2016 “on the back of strong domestic and industrial demand for palm oil and the increased competitiveness of its natural rubber exports,” ARM forecast in a note to clients on Tuesday. It gave a target price of N48.46 for the stock.

Okomu will raise output of palm oil from 30 tons an hour to 60 tons from 2013, Chairman Gbenga Oyebode said in an interview on December 14.

Resort Savings & Loans

F

rom a deposit liability of N480 million in 2009, Resort Savings & Loans has grown its deposit base to N1.9 billion, according to a recent statement by the bank.

Within the same period, the leading mortgage banker has shot up from a three branch, two cash centre financial institution to a nine branch and four cash centre bank.

In line with its new financial health and vitality, the mortgages bank is now bouncing back to profitability, recording a N107 million unedited profit for the third quarter ending September 2012, after the necessary provision on account has been made.

Local governments stands at the Oyo state Trade Fair, on Monday in Ibadan. Photo: NAN

NASS delaying $200m Entertainment Fund disbursement – BOI

T

he Managing Director of The Bank of Industry (BOI), Evelyn Oputu said the Nigerian entertainment industry $200million intervention fund has not been released because it is still awaiting approval from the National Assembly Speaking at the opening of the Filmhouse Cinema in Lagos, Oputu proved that the Federal Government was committed to disbursing the Nigerian entertainment industry $200 million intervention fund to enable the industry compete at the global level with the opening of the Filmhouse Cinema.

She said that the first condition to be met by entrepreneurs when applying for funding is to have a plan because the average banker is not in the entertainment sector so a good

plan must be articulated to their understanding.

She also said that sometimes it is difficult for those in the entertainment industry who have never walked into a bank to borrow to know the right thing to do.

“So what we did was to find NGO’s and people who can impact these capacities into them such as the Lagos Business School of the Pan-African University who we collaborated with to try to get all the players in the entertainment industry who are interested in accessing the fund to be trained enough on how to go about being beneficiaries of the fund,” she said.

She explained that sometimes people possess creativity but lack the business sense; qualities which were both present in qualifying the Filmhouse project

for BOI’s intervention.

She advised interested entrepreneurs in the entertainment sector to take advantage of the services of the Lagos Business School in order to benefit from their talents and achieve a win-win situation for them and BOI. “Nigerians are naturally creative and we want to be able to fund them so that they can get to such great heights but they have to understand that it is not only about possessing great skills as an entertainer, it is also about having a great business plan,” she said.

She said that it was also important to have collaborators who understands how business works even with all the creativity it is still possible to lose in business without the know-how of good business minds.

N100 bn Cotton, Textile & Garment Fund: 60 % of firms now have increased capacity utilization – Stakeholders

By Muhammad Nasir

M

ajor findings of the economic impact of the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) Fund on the performance of beneficiary firms by stakeholders yesterday in Abuja show that sixty percent of the firms have increased capacity utilisation.

The stakeholders findings, using key indicators like capacity utilization rate, annual turnover, profit after tax, and company tax show that the fund led to an improved performance when compared to the period before the fund.

It also said 60 percent of the firms that were operating at a low capacity now have increased capacity utilization and over 50 percent of those making losses have started reporting profits.

This is an indication that majority of the beneficiary firm (60 percent) are increasingly meeting their expected fiscal responsibilities and fast becoming additional sources of internally generated revenue to the government as a result of the intervention in the sector.

Some of the key recommendations of the workshop based on the findings of the midterm evaluation include the review of CTG loan administration and management process to meet the current challenges of the industry in the areas of interest rate, loan tenure and loan amount; aggressive enforcement of laws against smuggling and counterfeiting through collaborative efforts of the relevant regulating andenforcement agencies (custom and Excise, SON, FIRS, etc).

Also, that government should improve access to basic infrastructure, particularly power, transport facility and motorable access roads; the establishment of Textile Training Institute through a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The CGT industry in Nigeria has performed dismally since the turn of 1985, resulting in substantial job loss, investment loss, declining capacity utilization and huge loss of government revenue from the sector.

It is against this crisis state in the sector that the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) decided to intervene to save it from total collapse. In 2009 the FGN set up a N100 billion fund to revitalize the CTG industry.

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Strengthening Nigeria’s economy through IPSAS

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transparency n d accountability are undoubtedly, excellent qualities of purposeful governance. The display of these virtues by any leadership indeed helps to rekindle sustainable confidence from the citizenry.

In most advanced countries like the United States of America (USA) and Great Britain, government issues are treated in an atmosphere of openness and absolute sincerity.

Such systems analysts believe have often provided citizens with the opportunity to ask pertinent questions which constantly make provisions for checks and balances in government.

Nigeria's quest to reposition its economy as one of the world's greatest by 2020 has necessitated various reforms aimed at jumpstarting growth. One of such steps is the recent decision to commence the gradual compliance with all general purpose financial statements of Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) to the provision of an acceptable global accounting system, the 'International Public Sector Sector Accounting Standards' (IPSAS).

As provided in the policy action, all three tiers of government beginning from January 2013, are expected to embrace these standards.

Already, the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) has held sensitization workshops with critical stakeholders in the six geo-political zones of the country as a strategy to get them to key into the project.

There is the strong belief that the eventual adoption of IPSAS in Nigeria would greatly assist in achieving the current transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

IPSAS are a set of accounting standards issued by its Board for use by public sector entities around the world in the preparation of financial statements. These standards are based on a

robity,

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

Interestingly, a sound government accounting standard such as IPSAS is a critical part of a nation's institutional infrastructure.

It has now become a recognized benchmark for evaluating and improving government accounting in most developing countries like Nigeria.

It is also a key element within the United Nations System. Since 2006, UN system organizations have made headway in aligning themselves with IPSAS requirement. Indeed, there are over 50 countries around the world that have and are in the process of adopting these standards.

They include Algeria, Albania, Afghanistan, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, China, Cyprus, East and Sourthern Africa, France, India, Jamaica, Morocco, Norway, Zambia, Pakistan and Uganda.

The United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are among other countries that already applying full accrual accounting standards that are broadly consistent with IPSAS requirement.

According to the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla, the adoption of IPSAS by the three tiers of government would definitely lead to better informed assessment of resource allocation decisions made by government as well as improve transparency and accountability in the system.

In the view of the AGF, the desire of government is to incorporate the system as an integral element of reforms directed at promoting social and economic development.

It has unfortunately been observed that in many states of the federation, balance sheet audits, when performed,

“

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) is the globally- acceptable mode of financial accounting for government and its agencies with proven track record of accountability, transparency and probity. In this piece, Abdulrahman Abdulraheem takes a look at the progress Nigeria has made so far in implementing the policy.

Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Jonah Otunla still routinely reveal major discrepancies. This situation is largely blamed on the fact that the operation of government business and accounts has been within the general framework of the principles of fund accounting, with financial reporting structure being far from the principles in absolute terms.

Compliance with relevant standards in fact is said to at best, incidental.

This is the reason why pundits insist too that limited financial reporting and disclosures made by most entities in the country could

In the view of the AGF, the desire of government is to incorporate the system as an integral element of reforms directed at promoting social and economic development.

sadly be responsible for some perception that Nigeria is a risky environment for foreign investment. In such instances as research indicates, investors are not provided with sufficient economic information that will enable them understand the risk profiles of entities in order to make informed judgments and decisions.

While declaring open the first sensitization workshop for stakeholders comprising, commissioners of finance, states Accountants Generals, members of the State Houses of Assembly in the finance and appropriation committees and State Auditors General as well as other relevant stakeholders from the North- West zone in Kaduna recently, Mr. Otunla explained that considering the role which the new system will play in assisting the country achieve speedy economic growth, the Federal Executive Council FEC had approved at its meeting of 28th July 2010 that Nigeria adopt the provisions of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and IPSAS for the private and public sectors respectively.

"The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its meeting held on 13th June, 2011 set up a Subcommittee to provide a

roadmap for the adoption of IPSAS in the three tiers of government in Nigeria. This interactive workshop in Kaduna which is for the NorthWest zone is expected to be held in all the six geo-political zones of the country," the AGF said.

The FAAC sub-committee's terms of reference include, ensuring that officers involved in finance and accounts functions understand the core requirements of IPSAS, ensure adequate coverage of all stakeholders in the distribution of the document and tackling gaps noted in the financial statements of the three tiers in order to ensure that they are bridged.

It is also expected to identify infrastructure needs and make recommendations to government for appropriate implementation by all tiers of government. Members of the sub-committee comprising the Accountants General of Borno state representing the NorthEast., Sokoto for North-West, Kwara representing NorthCentral, Enugu for South-East, Ogun for South-West and Akwa Ibom for South-South.

The membership also includes the chairman, forum of Auditors-General for Local Government Council of Nigeria, representative of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and the Consolidated Accounts Department of the AGF. To ensure a clear understanding of the adoption process, members of the IPSAS FAAC sub-committee have embarked on visitation to some countries with significant success to bring home what best can be done to achieve a smooth implementation. A team of experts from Ernst & Young, a renowned global accounting firm based in Germany has also trained principal accounting officers from the 36 states of the Federation on critical aspects of the standards.

At the moment, an acceptable uniform chart of accounts to all stakeholders has also been developed and is expected to be released soon by the FAAC sub-committee in line with its mandate.

With the level of progress made by the sub-committee therefore, there is need for government and all relevant stakeholders to keep faith with the implementation process through all round support in order to enable Nigeria join the league of nations in driving transparent governance especially at a time when the country's rating at the global scene is still not favourable.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 22

Report of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force, Nov 2012 (XII) Equity Crude Oil Sales 4.5.

Sale of the National Entitlement (Gas) 4.5.1. Overview

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igeria is endowed with abundant natural gas resources, which in energy terms, is in excess of the nation’s proven crude oil reserve.

More so, the gas was discovered whilst searching for crude oil, as no deliberate effort had been made to search for natural gas.

The current reserved estimate of the Nigerian gas is over 120 (EIA: 187 as of December 2010) trillion cubic feet, with about 50/50 distribution ratio between Associated Gas (AG) and Non Associated Gas (NAG).

In order to diversify its revenue base and reduce the huge wastage of valuable resource as well as the degradation of the environment as a result of flaring, the Nigerian Government, through the NNPC, is vigorously pursuing a number of natural gas utilization projects with its joint venture partners whereby associated gas would be harnessed to achieve these objectives.

Current Fiscal Incentives in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry are as follows: • All capital costs of upstream gas investments up to the custody transfer points are treated as oil investments and the resulting capital allowances are deducted from PPT (at a marginal rate of 85%). These incentives also apply to some downstream investments.

• The upstream producer is exempted from payment of royalty and PPT on any gas that is transferred to a downstream project.

• The LNG projects receive a 10-year tax holiday/ break.

• The LNG project is also exempted from withholding tax on interest and dividends paid to non-residents and from income tax on work or services provided by non-residents.

• There is an additional investment allowance of 20% for upstream projects, 35% for NGL extraction and gas-to-liquid facilities and 15% for downstream projects.

• D o w n s t r e a m investments receive accelerated capital allowances of 90% of cost of plant and machinery expenditure in the first year with 10% retention.

• Downstream gas projects which received a 3-year tax holiday/break that begins on the first day of production, is renewed for a further 2 years, • Accumulated capital allowances can be carried forward until the end of the holiday.

Qualifying dividend distribution

Natural gas to liquids (NGLs)/Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) during the tax holiday is taxfree.

• Downstream projects are allowed to fully deduct interest on project-financing for corporate income tax purposes.

• The table below depicts gas produced in Nigeria from the joint ventures, PSCs and service contracts, over the 10 year period. (figures in thousands MMSCF).

The natural gas produced in Nigeria, (associated and nonassociated gas) is currently utilised as follows: • NLNG Feedstock, being raw materials for the Nigeria LNG plant • Domestic Gas managed

by Nigeria Gas Company (a subsidiary of NNPC) • Natural Gas to Liquids Projects. There are currently 2 operating joint venture projects between NNPC on the one hand and Chevron (Escravos) and Mobil (Oso), on the other hand.

• Fuel Gas – used in production • Gas reinjection/Gas lift make -up • The balance unutilized is flared. Products from gas comprise ethane, methane, propane, butane and penthane+.

NNPC, alongside other major joint venture operators have embarked on several gas- toliquid utilization projects. The existing projects are: Escravos Gas Project (EGP) EGP 1, the first major gas project to gather and process associated natural gas in Nigeria, came on stream in 1997. NGLs are stripped for export and the remaining gas is used domestically. The Escravos gasto-liquids plant came online in 2005. The 33,000-barrel perday plant utilizes Johannesburg-based Sasol Ltd.’s proven synfuels conversion

technology. The plant produces premium-quality, ultralowsulfur diesel fuel and naphtha sold in Europe and the United States.

Oso NGL Project - Mobil JV NGL plant, located at its Oso field in the south-eastern part of Nigeria started production for export during the third quarter of 1998. The Project provides additional gas make-up for the Oso NGL as well as maintains condensate production at the expected plateau.

Although we have not been provided with the separate gas agreements covering these projects, we have been informed that the agreements are in a joint venture structure, where NNPC is entitled to 60% participating interest under the Chevron project and 49% participating interest under the Mobil project.

4.5.2. Findings 4.5.2.1.

Gas sales proceeds ($946.878million) due to the Federation from SNEPCO According to the NNPC (NAPIMS) Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2009, a total of N137, 572 billion ($946.878 million) is due to the Federation from SNEPCO. This amount represents the proceeds of gas sales from the Bonga oil field (OPL 212) held by SNEPCO, the production sharing contractor operating the field.

Included in the amount is the sum of N17.325billion which is the gas tax payable on the amount.

The PSC clause 20.1 states that “If the Contractor discovers a commercially viable quantity of natural gas the Corporation shall require the contractor to investigate and submit proposals for the commercial

development of the natural gas for the corporation’s consideration provided that any cost in respect of such proposals or investigation shall be included in Operating Cost.

For the commercial development of natural gas field, the funding arrangements and participation by the Contractor in the project shall be the subject of another agreement and the contractor shall have the right to participate in such development project.”

However, the Bonga oil field has been producing and selling gas since 2007. There is no available record that a separate contract agreement with respect to gas exists for the field as required by the PSC to determine the funding arrangements and participation by the contractor (in this case, SNEPCO). The absence of a separate agreement presupposes that the gas is owned

by Nigeria and therefore, the proceeds thereof.

4.5.2.2.Fuel Gas & Gas Reinjection/Gas Lift Make-Up Utilisation Gas reinjection is the reinjection of natural gas into an underground reservoir, typically one already containing both natural gas and crude oil, in order to increase the pressure within the reservoir and thus induce the flow of crude oil or else sequester gas that cannot be exported. On the other hand, Gas lift is the situation where gas is injected into the annulus of the well rather than the reservoir.

After the crude has been pumped out, the natural gas is once again recovered. Since many of the wells contain heavy crude, this process increases their production.

The earlier joint operating agreements contain no specific provisions for gas discoveries.

They (Article 13) however provide that “each party shall have the right to nominate, lift and separately dispose of its participating interest share of available production of petroleum”.

The later joint operating agreements (NPDC Agreements) Article 18 provide that “it may be necessary for the parties to enter into special arrangements, for the disposal of natural gas in accordance with the ‘Natural Gas clause’ of the standard PSC and any other requirements therein.

If a discovery of crude oil which is a commercial discovery, but the associated natural gas cannot all be used in production, flared or economically reinjected, then the parties shall attempt to negotiate agreements with the NNPC. These should provide for an appropriate economic interest for the contractor in the development of such natural gas and allow for its economic disposal simultaneously with the crude oil, taking into account, as far as practicable, the international value of alternate fuels. If nonassociated gas is discovered and the parties desire to pursue the development of the same, then the parties shall attempt pursuant to the ‘Natural Gas clause’ of the PSC, to negotiate agreements, with the Corporation and other involved parties, which shall provide for an appropriate economic interest for the contractor in its development”.

The PSCs Clause 20/22/23 (depending on specific PSCs) provide that” if the contractor discovers sufficient volumes of natural gas whether or not associated with crude oil that could justify commercial development, the contractor shall report the volume of potentially recoverable natural gas to NNPC and shall upon NNPC’s request, investigate and submit proposals to the NNPC for the commercial development of said natural gas taking into consideration, local strategic needs as may be identified by NNPC. Any cost in respect of such proposals or investigation after the final investment decisions has been achieved presented by the contractor to the NNPC shall be included in the operating costs for the commercialization of the natural gas.

For the commercial development of natural gas, the NNPC and contractor shall enter into a gas development agreement. Such agreement shall recognize that the contractor has the right to participate in such development project, with the right to recover the costs and share of profits.

PEOSPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Report as at Wednesday, December 19, 2012

PAGE 23

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

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PAGE 25

Nigeria’s military officers lend voice to the fight against child abuse An NGO, “Victims of Child Abuse Foundation (VCAF)”, founded by military officers with a mission to put an end to child abuse in the country, was recently launched in Abuja. It wants to give a voice to victims of child abuse suffering in silence, writes Maryam Garba Hassan.

T

he war against all forms of child abuse in the world is mostly fought by women, human rights and gender activists, but more so in Nigeria, a country where issues concerning women and children more often than not, are regarded as women’s territory.

However, this notion is about to change with the formal launch of VCAF. The ceremony was followed by a meeting of its stakeholders. The newly found voice for children, who are suffering from child abuse, comprises six men – former and serving military officers and a medical doctor, is chaired by Lt.General AbdulRahman Dambazau, a former Chief of Army Staff, who served under late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua.

Child abuse has many faces; it is not new in the country but how far we have gone with the campaign to put an end to it?

Despite the proliferation of NGOs, all claiming to work towards ending the scourge, child abuse appears to be in the ascendancy in this country.

One may wonder why, despite the efforts made by NGOs, human rights activists, organisations, government at all levels and

individuals, to address the issue and protect the lives and rights of the Nigerian child, the problem has persisted and is on the increase. What more, the perpetrators are changing their tactics everyday to avoid being caught and made to face the music in the court of law.

The answer, to many, may not be far away from the simple truth that it boils down to our government’s inability to enforce the existing legislation on the violation of the rights of the Nigerian child, in a country that has a Child Rights Act even as some few states of the federation are yet to cue into this all important piece of legislation.

In a keynote lecture titled “Child abuse and its implications on the development of society”, at the inaugural and stakeholders meeting, Dr. Margaret Bahal, who defined child abuse as “any kind of injury inflicted on a child, be it physical, emotional or physiological”, identified five types of child abuse: exploitation, neglect, physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

She said although child abuse is not peculiar to Nigeria, its unique type of the abuse is child exploitation which has

“

The foundation is planning to establish a research centre, equipped with data to bridge the social gap which exists in the country as well as provide a safe haven for children where none is available, sponsor their education and ensure that they have access to good healthcare facilities, make provision of skills development programmes for victims as well as counsel them. However, what makes the foundation unique is that it was founded and managed by men rather than their wives.

Lt.-General AbdulRahman Dambazau

several forms, including domestic service, forced labour, commercial sex, exploitation and street hawking .

The implication is twofold, according to her.

These are both short and long term implications for the child and the society at large.

Bahal said the impact of physical abuse on the child is that it is made to hate and

harbour hatred towards one while emotional abuse which is verbal abuse, criticism and humiliation, can leave a lingering emotional or physiological effect on the child.

Earlier in his address, Chairman for the occasion, the Emir of Suleja, Malam Auwal Ibrahim, who expressed optimism that VCAF will succeed in the fight against child abuse,

said ensuring and protecting the rights of the child “is the fundamental responsibility of any government.”

He added that the protection of children against abuse offers an opportunity to individuals to lend a helping hand to Nigerian youths, especially given the spate of violence brought about by the current poor economic

situation and security challenges in the country which leave women and children the worst off.

The royal father emphasised that the negative influence that adults exercise over the youths should not only be condemned but remedied and he enjoined Nigerians to ensure that child abuses that result from parental neglect should not only be stopped

but flushed out of the society.

According to him, the societal implications of the abandonment of children by parents and government include the risk of breeding terrorists, thieves and assassins and that an abused child is likely to abuse others.

The chairman, Board of Trustees of VCAF, Lt –Gen Dambazau, said the

formation of the foundation was borne out of the desire to give back to the society what it had given to the founders and to provide assistance, control, protection and respect for the dignity and rights of all Nigerian children regardless of their ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Dambazau said the NGO is seeking for a future where leaders and the privileged few never abuse their positions by withholding humanitarian and developmental assistance to children but by using them to ensure that their rights are protected. He said the meeting was to solicit for the support of other stakeholders, and encourage Nigerians to rely on internal resources in dealing with the problem rather than on international donor agencies.

He described children as the “wealth of nations” and that “the quality of children is the foundation of nations”.

Therefore, according to him, “their health, discipline and general welfare are of the utmost importance.” He feared that child abuse could destroy that foundation irreparably.

“Whatever happens to a child affects all. Part of what we are witnessing today in terms of insecurity is a result of child abuse.”

Islamic scholar, Imam Ashafa, said misinterpretation of religion and tradition encourages child abuse, adding that mobile almajiri has no basis in Islam and he called on VCAF to collaborate with traditional and religious leaders in carrying out its activities.

The foundation is planning to establish a research centre, equipped with data to bridge the social gap which exists in the country as well as provide a safe haven for children where none is available, sponsor their education and ensure that they have access to good

healthcare facilities, make provision of skills development programmes for victims as well as counsel them. However, what makes the foundation unique is that it was founded and managed by

men rather than their wives.

One question that remains un answered is how ready is the foundation to shoulder the responsibility of catering for the growing number of victims of child

Emir of Suleja, Malam Auwal Ibrahim

abuse, especially as its promise to provide safe homes for the victims and their parents in a situation where there is none and to educate the children as well as assure them access to good healthcare delivery.

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

EMERGENCY UPDATE

NEMA blames climate change for worst flood in Nigeria T

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has attributed climate change to the worst flood disaster witnessed in Nigeria this year.

Director-General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi disclosed this at the end of the 18th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Doha, Qatar.

Speaking at the event, Mr Sani-Sidi said the climatic condition and drastic change to whether pattern contributed to massive flooding witnessed in the most states in Nigeria where lives were lost and sources of livelihood worth billions of Naira were destroyed.

He said: “We are now living witnesses to the reality of climate change and global warming where areas considered as dryland in the Northern part of the country witnessed excessive and torrential rainfall while some communities in the South were also submerged.

“NEMA has received tremendous support from all stakeholders during the recent

flooding in many parts of the country. This is the first time we would have good collaboration with stakeholders during emergency response period. However, the law establishing NEMA states that there shall be state and local government emergency management agencies; but

unfortunately, not many states have functional and effective institutional framework to manage disasters.”

Mr Sani-Sidi said within the limits of its resources, the agency had responded well to the recent flood disaster, which affected about 25 percent of the country by

mobilising its personnel to provide rescues and relief services to victims.

On what should be done to mitigate the impact of flooding in the country, Mr Sani-Sidi said, “We must be environmentally conscious, where we need to build buffer dams, we must build; and

people in flood plains should move to higher grounds.

“State governments must be serious about emergency management and local government authorities must also be serious. We need to create awareness and build capacity so that we can reduce our people’s vulnerability.”

On NEMA’s participation at COP 18, the director-general said that, as disaster managers, the agency finds the conference relevant, especially with the country’s recent experience of natural disasters attributed to climate change.

...provides relief materials to flood victims in Kwara

N

ational Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has presented relief materials worth millions of naira to flood victims in IIorin, the Kwara state capital.

The materials were presented by the NEMA Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Ishaya Chonoko, to the Special Adviser, Emergency and Relief Services to the Governor, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

The items, Chinoko said, include 200 bags of rice, 350 mattresses, clothes and food items, adding that the items were provided to meet the immediate needs of the victims in the five affected council areas.

He said NEMA presented the materials to complement what the Federal Government, state government and corporate bodies had already provided for the victims.

Chinoko advised government to ensure that the materials were distributed on time to the victims in the affected local government areas of the state.

Responding, Abdullahi thanked NEMA for the kind gesture and assured NEMA that the materials would be delivered to all genuine victims.

He called on wealthy individuals and corporate organisations in the state to assist the victims, saying government alone could not solve the problems facing flood victims.

DG NEMA Muhammad Sani-Sidi and Environment Minister, Hadiza Mailafiya at Global Conference on Climate in Doha, Qatar

NEMA in the Armed Forces Simulation Centre Jaji, Kaduna

PAGE 27

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

EMERGENCY UPDATE YOUTHS FOR Pipeline explosion: NEMA PUBLIC SAFETY constructs foot ‘bridge’ to By Abubakar Jimoh gain access to site Averting harmattan-related disaster (II) abujimoh01@yahoo.com

By Mohammed Kandi

T

he National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has commenced building a foot bridge in order to gain access to the site of the pipeline explosion at Ije-Ododo in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.

NEMA’s Information Officer, South-west, Ibrahim Farinloye told the press yesterday in Lagos, that the foot bridge was being constructed near the marshy site of the explosion, which has continued smouldering almost 72 hours after it happened.

Farinloye said that the construction of the plank bridge was a collaborative effort between

the agency and the indigenes of the area, as well as the NNPC, because of the swampy terrain.

“We had to wait for the sons of the soil and the officials of the NNPC before we could move into gaining access to the site, “ he said.

Farinloye explained that exigencies of safety demanded the presence of specialists before anyone could make the last 100 metres or so to the spot of the explosion.

Though the cause of the explosion had not been confirmed by any of the relevant arms of government, it was suspected to have been caused by vandalism of the pipelines.

It would be recalled that there was an explosion of the NNPC

pipeline at Ije-Ododo, near Ijegun in Iba Local Council Development Area of Lagos state, Monday night, killing both vandals and a few residents in the area.

Other sources alleged that the vandals, majority of whom he claimed were uniform men, stormed the place to scoop fuel from the site of a vandalised pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Some of the villagers, who witness the extent of damage done by the fire, watch in disbelief as officials from both the Federal Fire Service and National Emergency Agency (NEMA) running round to see if they could access the scene of fire without success.

Presidential visit to Lau, Taraba State on flood issues

Nigeria's Photos in Vice President Namadi Sambo's Visit to IDPs in Nassarawa

T

he National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and YADI have also cautioned as part of precautionary measures to avoiding harmattanrelated disasters at home front that on no account should individuals leave burning candles unattended to.

This includes the need to shun or place flammables such as air vent, plastic, carpet or windows where they can easily be knocked down by wind, thereby attracting fire outbreak. They should also avoid keeping candles, matches, lighters and other flammable materials out of children’s reach.

Similarly, a study conducted by the United States Burn Awareness Coalition revealed that matches and lighters in hands of children have resulted to burns which constitute the major cause of domestic accident and eventual death of children under the age of two; while fire and burn injuries are the second leading cause of accidental deaths among children between age 1 to 4 years, and the third leading cause of injury and death between age 1 to 18 years.

There is the need to be watchful when dealing with electrical appliances because these materials are other sources of fire outbreaks.

Remember to turn off and unplug your electrical appliance after use; and avoid placing them near sources of heating like the store, fire place, or furnace.

In 2011, an Indian safety expert, Srinivas Katta identified such hazardous electrical conditions to include damaged electrical conductors, overloaded sockets and extension cords, faulty wirings, blown fuses, low quality electrical equipment, malfunctioned electrical devices, and loose electrical connections.

On their recommendations, YADI and NEMA proffered installation of standardized fire extinguishers at strategic places.

Avoid using wrong fire extinguishers; and learn how to use the right ones. Apart from this, fires can also be extinguished by water or sand.

They suggested that special foam chemicals can be used in case of oil fire; while electric fires are extinguished by switching off electricity and using carbondioxide to extinguish the fire. Forest fires can be extinguished by beating the burning bushes using hand-tools and by cutting a strip through forest to prevent fire from spreading.

Creating an effective fire escape route and teaching your family how to use it in case of emergency is another effective strategy against the dangers cause by fire outbreaks. This is important because during fire outbreaks, it is very easy to become disoriented by smoke, flames and darkness; while If you and your family have planned and practiced your escape route, you will be better prepared

ahead of a situation when you have to escape a fire in your home.

On the whole, given the fact that there has been palpable increase in the statistics of disease outbreaks in harmattan season resulting to several deaths annually, there is urgent need for Nigeria governments at various levels to step up their quests toward ensuring vivacious healthcare facilities in the country.

In this period, many Nigerian communities are conversant with diseases such as cholera, meningitis, and polio outbreaks as they turn to unhygienic sources for drinkable water. Adequate sources of water supply must be made sufficient in both urban and rural areas to avoid needless deaths from cholera outbreaks.

Owing to several failed attempts to combat the high rate endemics in the country, the NEMA’s Director-General, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, said the agency had extended its desire to collaborate with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the need to help in prevention of diseases as well as the activation of adequate and quick response to the victims through public health education and enlightenment, particularly with the support from States Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Local Government Emergency Management Agency (LGEMA) in the states and grassroots level throughout the six geo-political zones in the country.

Upon that, YADI and NEMA have through their numerous enlightenment campaigns advised on the need for individuals to keep their environment clean.

They also accentuated the importance of maintaining germfree atmosphere as capable of reducing widespread diseases.

In the opinion of the United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) for instance, it was reported that since influenza spreads through both aerosols and contact with contaminated surfaces, sanitizing may help prevent some infections. In this case, hygiene would refer to the set of standard practices that prevent spread of disease-causing organisms.

Whereas, a hygienic environment can be achieved through individuals’ practice of body hygiene, sleep hygiene, personal hygiene, mental hygiene, and dental hygiene in their daily life.

Additionally, International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health has recognised three different types of hygiene for safety living; the body hygiene which includes constant cleanness for healthy living, optimal health, sense of well-being, social acceptance, and prevention of spread of illness; while individual personal hygiene practices must comprise adequate medical checkup, regular washing, bathing, and healthy living.

Concluded

PAGE 28

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

COP 18: Doha decision on forest carbon A

lthough the process of developing an international REDD+ framework did not take the steps desired in COP18, REDD+ movement is occurring at the national and regional levels.

The first REDD project ever to navigate a VCS REDD methodology is back in business, while other forest carbon projects are sprouting in Nicaragua, South Korea and Malaysia. Meanwhile, Costa Rica secures World Bankapproval for their Carbon Fund scheme.

While REDD remained ahead of the overall negotiations, it is safe to say that progress toward an international REDD framework was left wanting in Doha. One of the major hurdles that negotiators were not able to overcome was how emission reduction results will be verified, with Norway and Brazil standing on opposite ends of the ring.

Norway proposed having third-party verifiers taken from a roster of experts from developed and developing countries, while Brazil preferred continuing to use the International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) process, which is substantially softer on developing countries. The two sides did not manage a compromise, and thus the issue will be tossed to the next Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) meeting taking place in Bonn, Germany in June.

The overarching issue of results-based finance will be discussed at workshops led by two co-chairs, one from a developed country and one from a developing country, appointed by the COP President.

The final Advanced Working Group on Long-Term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) text, the track on which REDD was moving, did, however, recognize

the need to talk about “ways to incentivize non-carbon benefits,” like biodiversity preservation, water filtration and the support of forest peoples. Read more about Ecosystem Marketplace’s Doha tracking here!

Looking at the bigger picture ahead, the new market mechanism brought forth at Doha may prove to be REDDfriendly in the long run. While details of the new mechanism were not disseminated, its principles were outlined and referenced private sector participation and project level

activities.

Rick Saines from Baker & McKenzie sees this preliminary description as “the beginning of a transition away from the pure Kyoto Protocol mechanism to a broadening out of this new mechanism that will be more inclusive and will have the capability to take on new sectoral type approaches, among those REDD+.”

At the project level, Doha brought forth the long-awaited news that Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry reversed its decision to sideline half of Infinite Earth’s

REDD project area for palm oil – a triumph for REDD advocates that makes way for 104 MtCO2e in reductions over thirty years.

Also in the voluntary carbon front, environmental project standards have found new ways to complement each other’s work.

In Doha, the Gold Standard announced a new alliance with Fair-trade in order to scale up carbon finance for small producers across offset project types.

The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) recently also launched a joint approval process

with the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance for VCS-CCB certification, designed to lower transaction costs for forestry and land-use projects seeking credit for both emissions reductions and co-benefits. VCS also approved a new soil carbon quantification methodology developed by The Earth Partners that credits emissions reductions and removals from projects that improve soils through land-based agriculture, forestry and other land use projects.

Source: (The Ecosystem Marketplace Team

Flood: UNFPA donates relief kits to NEMA

By Mohammed Kandi, with agency report

T

he United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) yesterday presented relief kits to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to support flood victims in the country.

The Resident Representative of the organisation, Madam Victoria Akyeampong, who handed over the kits to NEMA in Abuja, said the gesture was to redeem a pledge UNFPA’s Executive Director, Dr Babatunde Osetimehin, made to President Goodluck Jonathan at the UN Commodities Commission meeting in October.

She said the fund had been able to procure 24,000 hygiene kits, adding that 1000 of such kits had arrived Nigeria from neighbouring Ghana.

“We also have quite a number of reproductive health kits that

are coming in from abroad as well, to support the health facilities that have been damaged. These are delivery kits for women who are going to the maternity centres for delivery,” said.

“In hygiene kits for example, we are targeting adolescent girls, pregnant women and women who have just delivered, why?

Because we believe they are the most vulnerable during this situation and to make their lives happy, to give them something to look forward to during the holidays,” Akyeampong streed.

“In it you will find underwears, sanitary pads, soap, lotion for the skin, combs, head scarves for the Muslim girls, etc.

“So this is basically our token as UNFPA; to tell the people that ‘yes you are in a difficult situation but you are not forgotten’; and that we still think that even in an emergency, you should have

a dignified life; and therefore, we are giving these dignity kits to make a little difference in your life,” she explained.

In his remarks, Director Admin and Supply NEMA, Dr. Muhamand Zana, who received the kits on behalf of NEMA, said that the agency was happy with the recognition and support from international organisations towards the flood victims.

“This shows that the international organisations have recognised that there is a problem and have decided to support,” he said.

He said that it was difficult to say what and how much had been donated to support the flood victims because not all the donations were channeled through NEMA. Zana said that some of the donated items were channeled through the Red Cross and international NGOs, adding that

some donations were also taken directly to the affected states and communities.

“Hopefully by the end of January or February next year, we would be able to precisely tabulate the donations we received from various quarters and make it public.”

The director said it was not true that some relief materials were diverted by NEMA officials.“For NEMA officers I can stand here with absolute confidence and assurance, no NEMA staff at whatever level has diverted even a grain.”

“If the accusation is that there are some challenges in the state emergency management agencies, I can appreciate that and all the reports we have received we have channeled to the state government and demanded to know what the situation is,” he said.

“The latest report was the one

we received from Kogi State of which we dispatched a team to go Kogi State to go there and thrash it out with government officials from Kogi and what truly happened was it was not a diversion for personal use,” he added.

“What really happened was an item meant for a particular community was taken erroneously to a different community.

“We verified that and now we are finding a way and means to make sure that community that missed out has gotten what it deserves.”

Zana said NEMA was a humanitarian agency that offered succour to victims of natural disasters in order for them to have a semblance of normalcy in their lives, adding: “but to give you back all you have lost, I don’t think any government can do that.”

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 30

President Obiang spends billions of pounds to built new Equatorial Guinea capital in the jungle

A

frica’s longest serving leader is building a new multibillion pound capital city from scratch in the depths of the jungle despite his people living on just £1.50 a day.

Equatorial Guinea president Teodoro Obiang wants his government to move to the new multi-billion capital called Oyala by 2020.

The library of the new International University of Central Africa, a 450-room luxury hotel and a golf course has already been built out of the virgin forest, although much of the project is running behind schedule.

Mr Obiang wants 200,000 people to move to the city when it is complete. However, the country has a population of just 700,000 and the vast majority live on the other side of the country along the Atlantic coast.

The president told BBC News that he wants the security of the jungle as he fears the current capital Bata is vulnerable to a seaborne attack.

Coup: Mark Thatcher, left, allegedly partly funded the attempted 2004 coup which was led by mercenary Simon Mann, pictured right at Equatorial Guinea's Black Beach prison in Malabo He was the target of an attempted foreign-funded coup led by British former mercenary Simon Mann in 2004 and allegedly paid for in part

by Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret

Thatcher.

Mann was eventually pardoned in 200 after serving four years in a Zimbabwean jail and time in Equatorial Guinea’s notorious Black Beach prison.

Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma wants the security of the new capital built in the jungle

Poverty: Despite the country's vast natural timber and oil wealth most of the population live in poverty on just £1.50 a day.

Mr Obiang, who himself came to power after a successful coup against his own uncle 33 years ago, said: ‘That coup attempt was organised by certain powers - we know all about it.

‘Margaret Thatcher’s son was involved. Aldso other well-known personalities. It is not possible that it was organised in Spain, London, South Africa and in the United States without the knowledge of the security services in those countries.’

Despite the megre wages people are forced to live on in the country, Equatorial Guinea has vast timber and oil wealth and is 20th in the world in terms of GDP per capita - ahead of

the UK. Members of the president’s family have been accused of corruption and siphoning off huge sums of money.

Legal action was recently launched against his playboy son Teodorin and last year embarrasing pictures of his 11 supercars being seized in Paris were released.

It is alleged his alleged millions of dollars of state money was diverted into his personal account.

The president told BBC News: ‘The process in Paris is a farce, a political set-up.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

the actual words ‘homosexuality’ or ‘homosexual.’ But the history of English translation shows that versions have consistently used other language to refer to what we would call homosexual relationships’, said Mr Moo. ‘Forinstance,theKingJamesVersion ofRomans1:27refersto‘men,leavingthe naturaluseofthewoman,burnedintheir lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly.

‘It would be very difficult to deny that this language, and the language found in many other places in both the OT and the NT, refers to homosexuality.’

A Vicar in New Zealand, meanwhile, hascausedoutragebyputtingupaposter outside his church in Auckland, New Zealand, that claims Jesus was gay.

‘It’s Christmas. Time for Jesus to come out’, the sign proclaims, with an image of baby Jesus as a toddler in a manger, surrounded by a rainbow halo.

ReverendGlynnCardyofStMatthew in the City church, said that, as

homosexuality was not a word until the 1800s, any mention of it in the Bible or other documents would have mistranslations.

He points out that there is no indication about Jesus’s sexuality: ‘The fact is we don’t know what his sexual orientation was.’

Hisattemptsatchallengingthestatus quo were defended by fellow Reverend Clay Nelson who said the billboard tried to humanise Jesus by getting people to thinkaboutthechallengeshewouldhave had growing up.

He added: ‘Some scholars have tried to make the case that he might have been gay.

‘But it is all conjecture. Maybe gay, maybe not. Does it matter?

‘Thereisalmostnothingintherecord of his teachings about sexuality while there is plenty about the perils of being rich. Certainly he always supported the marginalised in society.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

World’s first ‘gay bible’: Special Queen James edition changes translation of key same-sex passages

A

book claiming to be the world’s first ‘gay bible’ has been published to coincide with the debate on same-sex marriage.

Titled the ‘Queen James Bible’, its editors claim that it is a re-working of the King James Bible translated in a way that ‘preventshomophobicmisinterpretation of God’s Word’.

‘Homosexuality was first overtly mentioned in the Bible in 1946 in the Revised Standard Version. There is no mentionoforreferencetohomosexuality in any Bible prior to this – only interpretations have been made’, the book’s official website said.

KING V QUEEN: BIBLES COMPARED Genesis 19:5 (King James) ‘And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.’

Genesis 19:5 (Queen James) ‘And they called unto Lot, and said

unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may rape and humiliate them’ Timothy 1:10 (King James) ‘For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine’ Timothy 1:10 (Queen James) ‘For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine’ Jude 1:7 (King James)’ ‘Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, andthecitiesabouttheminlikemanner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire’ Jude 1:7 (Queen James) ‘Even as Sodom and Gomorrha,

and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after nonhuman flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire’ The publication, printed and bound in the U.S. is timed to coincide with the current debate over same-sex marriage.

The sales pitch on the website says: ‘You can’t choose your sexuality, but you can choose Jesus. Now you can choose a Bible, too’.

The book is on sale online but does not advertise its origins, with no specific publisher, editor or translator listed by name on it’s offical website. ‘God’ is listed as the author and ‘Jesus Christ’ a contributor.

Douglas J. Moo, Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and a professional Bible translator, told The Christian Post that the Queen James editors’ assessment of past translations is not entirely accurate.

‘Few, if any English translations use

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

ANALYSIS

By Liam Anderson

W

ith its diamond reserves predicted to run out in 20 years, diversification is crucial if Botswana is to continue to be an 'African success story'.

"Even in the absence of the global economic downturn, we would be living through challenging times as we wean ourselves away from overdependence on raw diamond revenues", proclaimed Botswana's President Ian Khama in his State of the Nation address this November. "Dependency on anything is never healthy."

President Khama was not wrong, not least because Botswana's diamond resources, which account for nearly half of government revenue and 7080% of the country's export earnings, are due to run out in 20 years.

Botswana's diamond reserves were discovered shortly after it gained independence in 1966, at which time it was amongst the poorest countries in the world.

To exploit the newfound resources then President Seretse Khama, Ian's father, struck a crucial and intelligent deal with the South African diamond giant De Beers.

Under the agreement, diamond mining would be a 50/ 50 joint venture between Botswana's government and De Beers, allowing the country to directly share in its revenues rather than simply tax them.

The partnership came to be known as Debswana and is today the world's leading producer of diamonds in terms of value.

Botswana is now responsible for over a fifth of global diamond production and is the world's leading producer of gem-quality diamonds.

These precious stones combined with internal stability allowed Botswana's GDP per capita to grow from under $80 in 1966 to around $6,500 today.

The income and foreign currency reserves gained in exporting diamonds has also allowed the country to maintain a degree of economic policy independence from international organisations.

Along with continued political stability and improving human development indicators, prior to the devastating AIDS epidemic, many commentators described Botswana as an 'African miracle'.

All this is highly impressive.

But, as Ian Khama and many others have stressed, Botswana maintains its heavy dependence on diamonds at its peril. Despite some growth in sectors such as banking and high-end tourism, diamonds are still crucial to Botswana's economy. This is worrying not only because reserves are predicted to run out in two decades, but also because it leaves a central part of Botswana's economy openly at the mercy of the global market.

The drop in diamondrevenues due to the recent global economic downturn acted as a sharp reminder of the country's

PAGE 31

How Can Botswana Keep Its Sparkle Without Its Diamonds?

Loose round brilliant diamonds. diamond-dependence and vulnerability to market fluctuations. Revenues have recovered somewhat since 2009 and prices are predicted to remain relatively high in the near future as global diamond production remains lower than demand, but the impact on Botswana's economy by events far out of its control thrust the dangers of single-commodity dependence into focus.

Furthermore, despite some recovery, the relatively low mining output this year forced the government to revise its projected 8% economic growth for 2012 down to 3.5%, and the sector's output is not expected to grow over 2013.

The worrying spectre of 'Dutch disease' is also everpresent, and although the government tries to contain inflation, it has risen above income growth and presents a problem for households struggling with rising living costs.

If things do not change, the long-term looks even less secure.

National reserves could be fully depleted in 20 years. Major discoveries are rare, and new finds take around 4 to 13 years

to develop. And Russia's Alrosa recently announced it had discovered huge reserves in eastern Siberia. Reserves of such a scale, depending on the timing and quantity of their exploitation, could affect global diamond prices and, in turn, Botswana's mining revenues.

The need for diversification is thus clear. Indeed President Khama has lamented Botswana's single-commodity dependence, and there has been some measure of diversification, with a degree of growth in manufacturing, construction and services.

For some, tourism is seen as a particularly promising future cornerstone of the economy and its contribution to Botswana's GDP in recent years has increased. Botswana's unique Okavango delta, various nature reserves, and the Kalahari Desert certainly provide ample opportunity to draw tourists, and the industry is fairly labour-intensive and jobs tend to be relatively low-skilled. The high spill-over effect also has the potential to generate employment in related fields. The government will have to be careful to ensure tourism is sustainable, that

“

environmental considerations are addressed and that the land rights of minorities such as Basarwa are respected. But tourism seems to provide more scope than the capitalintensive diamond sector to address Botswana's high unemployment and socioeconomic inequalities.

The financial sector has also seen growth, in particular the Bank of Botswana and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which has led to increased employment in urban centres. However, as is also the case for government-powered construction, the importance of diamond revenues to the government-owned Bank of Botswana does still leave it somewhat intertwined with the fate of Botswana's mining.

Another avenue being explored is to move up the value-chain within the diamond industry and to process diamonds in Botswana rather than simply export the raw product. In fact, De Beers recently agreed to move sorting operations from London to Botswana's capital Gaborone. However, developing sectors which themselves depend on diamonds appears only a temporary fix, as they too face decline with the resource's demise, and are vulnerable to global market fluctuations. Rough diamonds from

The worrying spectre of 'Dutch disease' is also ever-present, and although the government tries to contain inflation, it has risen above income growth and presents a problem for households struggling with rising living costs.

elsewhere may be sent to Botswana for processing in the future, but this would still put Botswana in competition with other more established players such as India and South Africa. Furthermore, it is uncertain if moving to processing would be enough to replace the lost revenues from extraction, which has the highest margins of any part of the diamond value chain.

One lasting benefit from the move to processing, however, could be that it encourages the expansion of other manufacturing industries in Botswana.

One sector that has been largely neglected is agriculture, which plummeted as a share of GDP with the discovery of diamonds. This low agricultural growth has meant that Botswana has to import large quantities of its food. Developing the agricultural industry, on which many Batswana already rely, is important for food security, propoor job-creation, and economic independence and sustainability.

Impressive though Botswana's economic development has been, to continue to be an economic 'miracle', Khama's government will have to address inequality and reduce its reliance on the resource that fuelled the economy's ascent.

The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has been in power since independence and the opposition remains relatively weak. But given that much of the BDP's legitimacy derives from its provision of public goods, made possible thanks to diamond revenue, if Khama and the BDP do not make sufficient plans to diversify the economy and ensure future growth, perhaps somebody else will.

Source: allAfrica. com

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Sudan, South Sudan to discuss rebel support next month S Nelson Mandela recovering but stays in hospital The former South African President, Nelson Mandela, is being kept in hospital despite "looking much better", according to the government.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said doctors treating the 94 year old are "in no hurry to send him home".

Mr Mandela was admitted to hospital 12 days ago and has been treated for a lung infection and gallstones.

Doctors are satisfied with his progress but say he needs "extraordinary care" because of his age.

Mr Mandela led the struggle against white-minority rule before being elected the first black president in 1994.

He contracted tuberculosis while on the windswept Robben Island where he served 18 of the 27 years he was imprisoned for sabotage.

His lungs are said to have been damaged when he worked in a prison quarry.

Mr Mandela remains an important political symbol in South Africa, says the BBC's Karen Allen, in Johannesburg.

More so at the moment, our correspondent adds, as the governing African National Congress has reselected Jacob Zuma as party president and returned Cyril Ramaphosa - the millionaire businessman - back into the political spotlight, as his deputy.

Once a leading trade unionist, Mr Ramaphosa became the symbol of black capitalism in South Africa after the ANC came to power at the end of apartheid.

When Mr Mandela overlooked him for the role of his deputy, he was said to have been so upset that he refused to attend Mr Mandela's inauguration as president.

udan and South Sudan will tackle the sensitive issue of support for rebel groups for the first time when they resume security talks next month, Sudan's defence minister said on Wednesday.

The former civil war foes have been at loggerheads over their contested border and other issues since South Sudan seceded last year under a 2005 peace deal.

The disputes came to a head in January - when landlocked South Sudan shut down its entire 350,000 barrel-a-day oil output in a row with Khartoum over transit and other fees - and again in April, when border clashes brought the two close to all-out war.

Sudan accuses South Sudan of supporting rebels fighting in two states that border South Sudan. Juba denies supporting the rebels, known as the SPLMNorth, and in turn accuses Khartoum of backing insurgents on its territory.

The SPLM-North rebels were part of the southern insurgent army during the civil war but were left in Sudan with partition.

Facing heavy pressure from

the United Nations and African Union mediators, Sudan and South Sudan signed a raft of deals in September including one to pull back their armies from the border. Both sides say that step is needed to resume oil flows.

But talks in Addis Ababa about how to put those agreements into practice ended

without agreement on Tuesday, and South Sudan's chief negotiator told Reuters the negotiations were now "deadlocked".

Sudan's Defence Minister Abdel Raheem Mohammed Hussein n evertheless said the negotiations had been "useful" and that South Sudan had agreed to discuss its alleged support for Sudanese rebels.

"This is a big step," he told reporters at the Khartoum airport after returning from Ethiopia, adding that the two sides would meet again on Jan. 13 in Addis Ababa.

Hussein said the issue of rebel support had gone nowhere in previous meetings between security officials but there had been more progress this time.

President. Omar al-Bashir of Sudan (2nd Left) with Southern counterpart Salva Kiir Mayardit (R).

Nigeria to send Police unit to AMISOM

By Abdulkadir Isa

T

he Federal Government and Commission of the African Union (AU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), at the African Union Headquarters, on the contribution of one Formed Police Unit (FPU), of 140 police officers and other resources to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, signed for the AUC, while H.E. Bulus Paul Zom Lolo dotted the pen for Nigera.

The signing of this MoU concludes the formalization of the deployment of the Nigerian FPU to AMISOM in Somalia, which took place on 16 September 2012.

Under the AMISOM Strategic Concept, which was approved by the AU Peace and Security Council of the African Union at its 302nd

meeting held in Addis Ababa on 2 December 2011, and subsequently endorsed by the UN Security Council in its Resolution 2036

Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra (R) and Ambassador H.E. Bulus Paul Zom Lolo (L) signed the MoU on the contribution of one FPU of 140 police officers

adopted on 22 February 2012, the African Union is authorized to deploy two FPUs to AMISOM with the mandate to provide security and operational support to the Somali Police Force.

During the occasion, the AUC representative recognised the effort of Nigerian FPU saying: "The Nigerian FPU has performed its tasks since arrival at Mogadishu with unparalleled distinction, professionalism and dedication to duty, through its joint patrols and operations with the Somali Police Force." "The Nigerian FPU continues to make tremendous difference in assuring and reducing the fear of armed violent crime within the communities in Mogadishu, as well as inspiring confidence in the Somali Police Force to perform its duties effectively", he added.

Chad deploys troops to help fight CAR rebels

C

had has sent troops to the Central African Republic (CAR) to fight rebels who have seized Bria, a key mining

CAR President Francois Bozize

town in a diamond-rich region.

CAR President Francois Bozize reportedly asked the neighbouring country for help after his own

army failed to repeal the attack.

The rebel coalition accuses Mr Bozize of failing to comply with the terms of a peace treaty signed in 2007.

The CAR has had a series of rebellions and coups since independence in 1960.

In the process, Chad has intervened several times on its neighbour's territory, the BBC's West Africa correspondent Thomas Fessy reports.

The nation helped Mr Bozize when he took power nine years ago and again in 2010, when he was fighting some of the rebel groups who are now on the offensive again.

The Seleka rebel coalition formed by breakaway factions of three former armed groups -

accuses the president of not honouring a ceasefire deal pledging the release of political prisoners and payment for fighters who lay down their arms.

The alliance has threatened to overthrow the government if Mr Bozize fails to enter discussions.

About 20 vehicles of heavily armed Chad soldiers crossed into CAR on Tuesday to help stop the rebel advance taking place only 300km (185 miles) from the capital, Bangui, our correspondent says.

The alliance now controls the towns of Ouadda, Sam Ouandja and Ndele, a major route linking the CAR to Sudan, Cameroon and Chad.

On Tuesday morning, it also

captured the diamond mining town and military base of Bria.

Government troops tried to repel the attack launched at dawn, but were later forced to retreat.

Around 15 soldiers are reported to have been killed during the clashes.

"We couldn't stand there doing nothing in front of this rebel advance," a senior government official told the Reuters news agency.

"The president contacted his counterpart in Chad, who immediately agreed to help us put a quick end to this adventure."

In the last two weeks, the rebels have stepped up their offensive against government military positions.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Asia and Middle East

I

raqi President Jalal Talabani is responding well to treatment in hospital, officials say, two days after reportedly suffering a stroke.

The deputy health minister and the medical director of the hospital where Mr Talabani is being treated both said his condition was stable and improving.

Hospital and government sources said on Tuesday that he was

PAGE 33

Iraq President Jalal Talabani's health 'improving' in a coma.

A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Mr Talabani, 79, is Iraq's first president from the ethnic group.

He has struggled with his health in recent years and often been treated abroad. He underwent heart surgery in the US in 2008.

Mr Talabani was apparently rushed to the Baghdad Medical City on Monday evening, although no announcement was made until Tuesday morning, when officials said he had suffered a "health emergency".

A statement from the president's office said his bodily functions were

"normal" and that his condition was "stable". The emergency was caused by hardening of the arteries, it added.

But officials conceded in private that his condition was more serious.

First, state television reported that Mr Talabani had suffered a stroke.

Then, hospital,

government and Kurdish sources said he was in a coma.

On Wednesday, the director of Baghdad Medical City that the president was getting better, but offered no details about the severity of the illness.

Syria: UN appeals for $1.5bn humanitarian aid

T

he UN is appealing for $1.5bn (ÂŁ920m) to fund relief efforts for those affected by the conflict in Syria.

Officials said $1bn was needed to meet the needs of the one million people expected to have fled to across Syria's borders in the next six months.

More than 525,000 Syrians have already crossed into neighbouring countries.

The UN is also seeking $519.6m to provide aid to the further four million people displaced inside Syria, almost double the previous estimate.

In total, the UN estimates that 25% of Syria's population now need humanitarian relief.

Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the appeal for increased funding is a clear sign that UN aid agencies expect the situation in Syria, already described as a massive humanitarian crisis, to get even worse.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 refugees are crossing into Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq every day, according to the UN. Many of them are elderly or very young, most have nothing but the clothes they are wearing, and they have exhausted and traumatised.

UN officials said they would need to provide food, shelter, medicines and even schools for them over the next year.

"Unless these funds come quickly we will not be able to fully respond to the lifesaving needs of civilians who flee Syria every hour of the day - many in a truly desperate condition," Panos Moumtzis, the regional envoy of the UN's refugee agency, told reporters in Geneva.

On Monday, Jalal Talabani met Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to discuss Iraq's political problems.

West Bank workers strike over unpaid salaries

G

overnment employees in the West Bank have begun a twoday general strike to protest against a delay in the payment of their salaries due to imposed Israeli economic sanctions.

Some 50,000 government employees at ministries, schools and health facilities failed to show up for work on Wednesday to protest against the non-payment of their November salaries.

"This was a full strike today," Bassem Zakarneh, spokesman for the Palestinian government workers union, told AFP news agency, adding

that it would continue on Thursday.

Wednesday's action appeared much more subdued and there were no public protests, with Palestinians blaming Israel rather than their own government for their current economic woes.

The strike "is to protest against Israeli piracy and theft of our money, which put one million Palestinians under the poverty line," Zakarneh said, calling on the government "to stand with the workers."

Syrian refugees have struggled to cope with the worsening weather conditions.

South Korea poll shows Park ahead in very tight race

A

n exit poll by three main television stations gives Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party a very slim lead in South Korea's tight presidential race.

Combined figures from the networks released after polls closed gave her 50.1% of the vote over left-leaning rival Moon Jaein's 48.9%.

But another poll by another television station put Mr Moon in the lead.

Turn-out was high in a poll dominated by economic and social welfare issues.

Formal results are expected late on Wednesday or in the early hours of Thursday, local time.

The new president will replace Lee Myung-bak, who is

stepping down, as the law requires, after his five-year term.

From the moment polls opened at 06:00 on Wednesday (21:00 GMT on Tuesday), millions of South Koreans queued to cast their ballots despite freezing temperatures.

The exit poll conducted by the three broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS, had a 0.8% margin of error either way meaning official results could be different.

Broadcaster JTBC also predicted the slimmest of wins for Ms Park, giving her 49.6% to Mr Moon's 49.4%.

But a poll conducted by YTN television network put Mr Moon ahead, giving him between

49.7-53.3% of the vote to Ms Park's 46.1- 49.9%.

Ms Park's supporters cheered as poll figures emerged, but neither camp has claimed victory or conceded defeat.

Analysts expected that a strong turn-out would favour Mr Moon, and by 1600 local time, with two hours of polling to go, turn-out had already passed the 2007 election final figure of 63%.

Ms Park, the daughter of former military leader Park Chung-hee, is looking to make history as South Korea's first female president.

Both bolstered and dogged by the legacy of her father, who built South Korea's economy while crushing dissent, she

apologised in September for human rights abuses under his administration.

Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party,

Park Geun-hye

meanwhile, is a former human rights lawyer who served under former President Roh Moo-hyun.

He was briefly jailed by Ms Park's father in the 1970s.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 34

Europe and Americas UK to withdraw 3,800 troops from Afghanistan

D

avid Cameron has told MPs that 3,800 British troops - almost half of the current force serving in Helmand province - are to be withdrawn from Afghanistan next year.

Troop numbers are already being reduced from 9,500 to 9,000 before Christmas.

And numbers would fall to about 5,200 by the end of 2013, Mr Cameron told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.

All Nato operations are due to finish by the end of 2014, with responsibility being transferred to Afghan forces.

But a small number of British troops would remain in the country beyond that, working at an officer training academy and "involved in returning equipment and dealing with logistics", Mr Cameron said.

Mr Cameron told MPs "we'll be able to see troops come home in two relatively even steps", in 2013 and 2014.

This was due to "the success of our forces and the Afghan national security forces, and the fact that moving from mentoring at a battalion level to mentoring at a brigade level in 2013", he said.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond added: "Over the last 11 years we have been helping to ensure that Afghanistan's past is not inevitably its future.

"As we move towards full transition at the end of 2014, it is clear that there remain huge challenges ahead for the Afghan people.

"Our combat mission is drawing to a close, but our commitment to them is long term."

He told MPs that the UK had "ongoing funding commitments" to the country amounting to ÂŁ250m a year.

Mr Hammond suggested that, if this level of aid spending were to continue, "the Afghan government will need to address the corruption which remains rampant, and could become a very real threat to the longterm stability of Afghanistan".

But he praised democratic reforms in the country, which meant "Afghan voters can look forward to a future of their choosing, rather than one forced upon them".

British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn 'pimping' case to proceed F

rench judges have decided to press ahead with the prosecution of former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn for pimping.

Lawyers for the former French presidential hopeful said they would appeal against the decision.

Mr Strauss-Kahn has admitted attending sex parties in northern France, but says he did not know that some of the women present

were paid prostitutes.

Last week he reached a settlement with a hotel maid who said he had raped her.

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been accused of trying to rape Nafissatou Diallo in a hotel in New York in May 2011.

The civil case was settled for an undisclosed sum. A criminal investigation was dropped by US prosecutors last year.

On Wednesday, a court in the

northern French town of Douai rejected a request by Mr StraussKahn's lawyers to drop the inquiry into pimping.

The decision removes the prospect of a quick conclusion to the last inquiry Mr Strauss-Kahn faces.

The case is the last major inquiry Mr Strauss-Kahn faces, and the ruling Wednesday's ruling removes any prospect of a quick conclusion, the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris reports.

Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Mr Strauss-Kahn's defence lawyers accuse the investigating judges in the case of being biased.

"Dominque Strauss-Kahn's defence team is certain that he will ultimately be cleared of these absurd accusations of pimping," lawyer Henri Leclerc said in a statement.

The lawyer added that he planned to take the matter to the supreme court.

The inquiry is known as the Carlton affair - after the name of the hotel in Lille in which the alleged orgies took place.

Consorting with prostitutes is not against the law in France, and Mr Strauss-Kahn has acknowledged that he was at some of the parties with the women.

But Mr Strauss-Kahn's legal team says he had no idea they were prostitutes, and that there is no evidence to support a formal charge of pimping.

"I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman," his lawyer has said in his defence.

His lawyers have also argued that the investigation should be annulled due to insufficient grounds.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, who is reportedly taking steps to reinvent himself as a highly paid consultant and conference speaker, has said the authorities are trying to "criminalise lust".

Mexican crime crackdown created more drug cartels- official

T

he fracturing of Mexico's criminal establishment in the government-led crackdown on drug traffickers created between 60 and 80 new cartels, the nation's attorney general said on Tuesday, far more than were active six years ago.

Speaking on Mexican radio, Attorney General Jesus Murillo said former President Felipe Calderon's efforts to stamp out drug trafficking and go after the kingpins had splintered the gangs, spawning many smaller criminal syndicates.

"I would calculate there are between 60 and 80 (new cartels), both medium-sized and small,"

Murillo said.

The Sinaloa Cartel of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman and the Zetas gang are arguably the two biggest organized crime groups in Mexico, though a number of lesser ones are strong in some areas and certain cities like Acapulco are home to many small gangs.

When Calderon, whose six-year term ended on November 30, took office, about 10 cartels were operating in Mexico; four large, and six smaller ones, according to consultancy Risk Evaluation.

Murillo estimated about 70,000 people died in drugrelated violence under Calderon,

with roughly 9,000 bodies unidentified. "(Calderon) tried to confront the situation with emergency responses ... but this caused things to break down brutally and they got really out of control," the attorney general said.

Calderon's forces arrested or killed dozens of drug lords in his struggle against the gangs, but that military-led offensive led to more violence, kidnappings and a spiraling death toll.

Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, won election pledging to restore stability to the country, and on Monday he laid out his plans

for reducing the violence.

Pena Nieto belongs to the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of the last century until it was voted out of office in 2000.

Critics say the PRI tolerated the presence of drug gangs in Latin America's second biggest economy, making deals with them to keep the peace and allowing corruption to take root.

But Murillo said the new government was committed to going after the cartels' money, and emphatically rejected the idea that there could be any negotiation with them.

Obama tasks Biden with US gun law review

P

resident Barack Obama is due to announce that VicePresident Joe Biden will lead attempts to reform gun laws in the US. There have been widespread calls for reform following the shooting of 26 children and teachers in Sandy Hook School, Connecticut, last week.

White House officials said Mr Obama would set out the process by which his administration will move forward.

Mr Obama wants to reintroduce a ban on assault weapons.

That ban lapsed under President George W Bush in 2004 and Mr Obama has previously stated his support for a reintroduction without backing a specific move to do so

before now.

The president issued a call to action at a memorial service on Sunday, promising he would "use whatever power this office holds" to prevent more multiple shootings.

An announcement is expected in the White House briefing room later on Wednesday.

Mr Biden has decades of experience as a senator and analysts say that experience could be essential to getting any changes through Congress.

Some anti-gun control congressmen and senators have indicated they are prepared to consider changes to the current legislation.

The Democratic Senator for West Virginia, Joe

Manchin, said on Monday that it was time to "move beyond rhetoric".

Mr Manchin, a gun owner and

frequent hunter, said: "I don't know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle."

Barack Obama (L) with Joe Biden (R).

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 35

Traffic warden slaps parking tickets on disabled children after they sang at charity carol

T

his is the moment a traffic warden slapped ÂŁ70 parking tickets on two minibuses carrying disabled children after they raised hundreds of pounds for a homeless charity by singing in a carol concert.

The youngsters, many in wheelchairs, were being lifted into two specially-adapted ambulances in Nottingham when the enforcement officer wrote out two penalty notices before walking away.

The twelve children from Oak Field School and Sports College in Bilborough, Nottinghamshire, were returning from the concert on Monday afternoon which raised ÂŁ370 when they were hit with the fines.

Disgusted Christmas shoppers watched the scene as the officer stuck tickets on the windscreens of the two minibuses, which were parked in a city centre loading bay to let the children board Witness Shelley Mawby said a group of onlookers tried to reason with the warden and asked him to show leniency, but he refused to back down and told them he had no choice but to issue the tickets.

She said: 'A group of people gathered and were as shocked as me. When confronted, the warden said "I'm just doing my

job". It was unbelievable.'

Office worker Wayne Rogers added: 'I took the images from my place of work as I was so

disgusted with the action of this person. I was not the only one and several other passers-by took pictures.'

'I know people have a job to do and it is a no-loading zone but these are not boxes being loaded into a van, these are

children getting on a bus - and if you were that person I think you would use a bit of judgement.'

Labour-run Nottingham City Council apologised to the school and has since revoked both fines.

A spokesman said: 'Our civil enforcement officers are expected to, and usually do, exercise discretion and judgement when dealing with situations where there may be a technical breach of regulations but where wider circumstances or sensitivities should be taken into account.

'If in any doubt, they can call managers to ask for advice about how best to proceed. We are sorry this didn't happen on this occasion and for any upset this may have caused.'

Liz Silver, of the Nottinghamshire Disabled People's Movement, said: 'It's completely out of order and I can't understand why anyone would do it. It's ludicrous and shows a complete lack of awareness.

'Generally the city isn't bad for accessibility and blue badge holders can apply for access into areas where vehicles wouldn't normally be allowed. But a school like this should have instant access and it shows there needs to be more flexibility.'

Peterson, of Warwick. She's an emergency medical technician and the mother of three boys who was introduced to the "dancing cop" years ago by her partner in their ambulance.

This year, she took her boys to see Lepore, 65, perform and got him to pose for pictures with them.

"It feels good to see him out here; it definitely brings the holiday spirit. I think people come out here just to see him and I think it brings some people to shop so they can see him."

The routine, Lepore says, was born in the month of May of the boredom and aggravation that officers typically experience while directing rushing drivers and jaywalking pedestrians. He was

inspired by classic "Candid Camera" television footage he saw a day earlier that showed police officers elsewhere directing traffic with flair.

"I didn't know if my bosses were going to like it, so a lot of times if I saw a boss come down, I'd be doing my fancy stuff, then I'd go back and do it the old-fashioned way so I don't get caught," Lepore says.

His secret didn't last long. City residents began calling the police station and raving about Lepore's moves. A few days later, The Providence Journal, the state's largest newspaper, came out with a story on the sensation.

The positive publicity encouraged officials to endorse the dancing cop, who continued to perform until he left the job in 1988, when he went into business with his brother with a food and vending service.

In 1992, Lepore says, he got a call from city officials asking him to rejoin the force to dance and direct traffic around Christmastime as they pushed to redefine the city's image and bring visitors downtown.

He signed a $1,200, 10-day contract as a reserve police officer and says he has frozen the value of the contract at the 1992 rate to encourage city officials to recall his services every year.

Standing in traffic, he adjusts his cap, shakes his hip, raises and twists one leg and spins. In one of the more unusual moves, he bends his knees, leans far back and quickly alternates support for his body by

keeping one hand on the ground while motioning to the traffic with the free hand.

In one move, he goes down on his knees in homage to John Travolta's character in "Saturday Night Fever."

He says his body takes a pounding and that he has had knee surgery, pulled some muscles and even suffered stress fractures.

"This is ridiculous! Oh, man, this guy is the best," an incredulous Vik Jay, a medical student at Brown University, says after seeing the "Dancing Cop" in action for the first time. "I'm from San Francisco.

I used to go to Castro Street, and this is far more entertaining than anything I saw there."

Karen DeAngelis, of Pawtucket,

was on a bus when she saw Lepore perform while directing traffic. She got out to watch him before continuing her journey.

"I would come down here every year to see him if I were able to," she says. "I'm not able to, and I just so happened to be here today. He's that good and he's that entertaining, and he really cheers people up."

Lepore says his dance moves are planned to send specific directions to drivers to avoid causing confusion at the intersection.

"I do it in such a way that even the people in the cars know what I mean, 'cause every dance move means something to the driver, and I make sure that he knows or she knows what I want them to do," Lepore says.

The youngsters, many in wheelchairs, were being lifted into two specially-adapted ambulances in Nottingham when the enforcement officer wrote out two penalty notices before walking away.

Dancing cop, Tony Lepore, stops holiday traffic

A

h, Christmas in Rhode Island.

Exquisitely decorated mansions in Newport. A red nose on the giant termite that sits atop a Providence exterminator's building. And a traffic cop, doing disco and salsa moves in the middle of rush-hour traffic.

Officer Tony Lepore is as much a holiday tradition as anything else in the state that issued the first jail sentence for speeding 108 years ago.

Since 1984, he has entertained drivers, pedestrians and gawkers with dance moves in downtown Providence - all while directing traffic.

"He is a Rhode Island landmark, more or less. He's an icon, he's like a little mini celebrity," says Michelle

Retired police officer Tony Lepore performs his dance routine.

Man allegedly shoots waiter for refusing to eat leftovers

A

man in New Delhi was angry when his waiter refused to eat his leftovers so he allegedly opened fire on the restaurant.

The incident happened early Sunday morning when the suspect, who is only being identified as "Rajesh," went to a restaurant called Jain Dhaba with two friends.

The trio was allegedly intoxicated and at one point, Rajesh and his friends asked the waiter, whose name was "Monu," to eat some of their paratha, a form of Indian flatbread,

according to the Times Of India.

When Monu refused to eat the leftovers, an argument ensued and Rajesh allegedly took out a gun and fired it at the waiter, who ran for cover, according to DaijiWorld.com.

The waiter managed to call the police who arrested Rajesh shortly thereafter and charged him with attempted murder, according to Emirates247.com.

The suspect's two friends fled the crime scene, but officials have recovered a car, two live cartridges and a .32 bore pistol, according to NDTV.com.

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

A walk outdoors away from gadgets can boost brain power by half N

ext time you are confronted with a complex problem, don’t worry - the answer could lie at the bottom of your garden.

Leaving your laptop at home, switching off the smartphone and taking a walk in nature can help boost brain power by as much as 50 per cent, a study has revealed.

Researchers found that adults performed much better in a creative test after spending four days in the great outdoors disconnected from modern technology.

They say it is the first time that scientists have proven being in a park or woodland can improve your problem-solving skills.

And it may also explain why a holiday helps recharge the batteries after busy periods of work.

‘The study shows that you need to leave the iPhones and other technology at home and give your brain a break,’ said co-author David Strayer, a professor of

psychology at the University of Utah.

‘Too much of a good thing is not a good thing and so for creativity to flourish you need to disconnect from technology and reconnect with the natural world.’

Adults in Britain spend an average if three-and-a-half hours in front of the small screen each day - around 15 per cent of their life.

The population’s increasingly sedentary lifestyle and vast use of tablet computers, televisions, smartphones, laptops and games consoles, has been linked to obesity problems and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.

For the novel study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, 54 American adults with an average age of 28 participated in a four to six day hike. No electronic devices were allowed.

Before the trip commenced, 24 individuals were tested and scored Mix of both: Increased exposure to nature and disconnection from multimedia and technology improves problem-solving skills

The great outdoors: Researchers found that adults performed much better in a creative test after spending four days in the great outdoors disconnected from modern technology

an average 4.14 in a 10-question creativity test. The remaining 32 were tested at the end of the walk and answered an average of 6.08 questions correctly an improvement of 50 per cent.

Researchers said the results indicate that time spent walking in parks and woodlands away from demanding technology helps individuals to restore brain power.

They say a hike provides an easy way to lift your creative abilities after long periods in front of a computer or TV screen.

‘We show that four days of immersion in nature and the corresponding disconnection from

multimedia and technology, increases performance on a creativity, problem-solving task by a full 50 per cent,’ said Prof Strayer.

‘We are not sure if it is the increased exposure to nature or the decrease in exposure to attention demanding technology that helps, but it’s probably a mixture of both.

‘In the real world, you are either in one or other state. When you head out into nature, you’re unlikely to be surrounded by gadgets, while if you’re at home or in the office the opposite is likely true.’

While earlier research has indicated nature has beneficial

effects, ‘it’s equally plausible that it is not multitasking to wits’ end that is associated with the benefits,’ Prof Strayer said.

He added: ‘This is a way of showing that interacting with nature has real, measurable benefits to creative problemsolving that really hadn’t been formally demonstrated before.

‘It provides a rationale for trying to understand what is a healthy way to interact in the world, and that burying yourself in front of a computer 24/7 may have costs that can be remediated by taking a hike in nature.’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Inherited colon cancer risk tied to certain foods

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mong people who have a genetic susceptibility to colon cancer, those whose diets are heavy in junk food have an even higher risk, according to a new study.

“These patients have this very high risk because of this (genetic) mutation they have, but it might be that they could reduce the number of (tumors) by having a more healthy lifestyle,” said Akke Botma, the lead author of the study.

Botma’s study is just the first to find a link between certain foods and a higher colon cancer risk in this group, and it can’t prove that the diet is to blame.

All of the people in the study had Lynch syndrome, a genetic disorder that predisposes people to cancer at younger ages and that affects up to one in 660 people.

In Western countries, colorectal and endometrial cancers are the dominant cancers to turn up in people with the syndrome, while in Asia it’s mostly stomach cancer, Botma said.

Up to 70 percent of people with Lynch syndrome will develop colon cancer. Among people without Lynch syndrome, such cancers are thought to be influenced by diet, particularly alcohol and red and processed meat, the authors note in their study, published in the journal Cancer.

Botma and her colleagues at Wageningen University in the Netherlands contacted 486 people with Lynch syndrome from a national database of families with inherited risks for cancer.

At the beginning of the study they surveyed the participants about what they ate, and they ranked each person on whether he ate low, medium or high amounts of foods within four dietary categories.

The food groups included one that was dominated by fruits, vegetables and whole grains; another that was high in meat and coffee; a third dietary group that resembled a Mediterranean diet - fish, leafy greens, pasta, sauces and wine; and a fourth

group that was heavy on fried snacks, fast food and diet soda.

Botma and her colleagues found that, over 20 months of follow up, 56 of the participants — or 12 percent — screened positive for tumors in the colon, a precursor to cancer.

Of the four dietary groupings, only the junk food category showed any link with a different risk for developing colon tumors.

Of the 160 people who scored low on the junk food diet, 17 developed tumors, while 18 out of the 160 people who ate the most junk food developed tumors.

The numbers initially seemed similar, but after taking into account smoking and other risk factors, the researchers determined that those in the high junk food group were twice as likely to develop colon tumors.

“It’s hard to say why” junk food is linked with a greater risk for these tumors, said Dr. Mala Pande, an instructor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who was not involved in the research.

She said some researchers have suggested that high fat might have something to do with it, but it’s

impossible to conclude that from this study.

Although the findings are too preliminary to be used in making dietary recommendations to people with Lynch Syndrome, the study was valuable in launching research into the possible role of certain foods on cancer risk, said Christopher Amos, a professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College.

“People with Lynch Syndrome are at higher risk, and we’d really like to know how to manage their risks better,” Amos, who was not part of the study, told Reuters Health.

Certain foods have been shown to be linked with different types of cancer, but many of those studies contradict each other and sow confusion (see Reuters Health report of December 5, 2012 here: reut.rs/ YPuDcs).

Amos said the new study is a good start, but “it would be nice to confirm (it) with additional findings.”

Source: Reuters.com

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 37

Evaluating Katsina CPC’s strength in the forthcoming LG elections ANALYSIS

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here is no doubt that apart from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Katsina state, the Buhari led Congress for Progressive Change, CPC remained the largest opposition political party in the state. To show the dominance of CPC in the state during the April 2011 general elections, the party won all its three senatorial seats and also carted away 12 out of the 15 House of Representatives federal constituency seats.

Therefore in terms of representation at the national level, the CPC in Katsina holds the key as the dominant party in the state. The party similarly won the largest votes in the presidential election in the state but internal squabbles robbed the party of winning the gubernatorial seat.

With the party’s successful outings in the 2011 elections, pundits predict that the major gladiators in the party would sit down and reconcile their interests for the good of the party. Soon after the election, the party plunged into another crisis with National Assembly candidates nominated by the CPC tackling those announced by the INEC as winners of the election in a court of law. The party’s candidates eventually won at the court of law while those earlier announced by INEC as winners of the election were sacked.

With the matter settled at the Supreme Court, pundits believe that the party would now record a level of reconciliation and stability.

However, the party plunged into yet another crisis which was in control of the party machinery. The Dr. Yusha’u Armaya’u led executive was being perceived by the court declared candidates as unrepentant supporters of their opponents and therefore must be uprooted at all cost.

This power struggle nevertheless led to a chain of events, one of which was the creation of a parallel executive led by one Maje Sayyadi. The new parallel exco was hatched at a meeting held in the house of a member of the House of Representatives representing Batagara-Charanchi-Rimi federal constituency in Batagarawa. The meeting then had in attendance all those loyal to the court declared members of the National

The opposition Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Katisna state is crisisridden, though the party has the majority of representatives in the National Assembly. Our Katsina Correspondent, Lawal Sa’du Funtua, examines the chances of the party and submits that it would be difficult for the party to make the desired effect in the oncoming local government election in the state.

Assembly. As the power struggle drags on, another permutation was propped up when the party headquarters nominated Faruq Adamu Aliyu to take-over as the caretaker chairman. The appointment of Faruq came as a huge relief to the teeming supporters of the party who taught his coming would reconcile factions in the party and move forward. To the contrary, his coming stirs another round of confusion, disagreement and mistrust in the party.

When Faruq came, in his first interview with newsmen in Katsina, it was clear that he has a mindset. In the said interview, he outrightly expelled those who picked-up appointment from the CPC in the PDP led administration in the state. And this, according to sources in the party was done without any recourse to the party’s internal dispute mechanism or the principle of fair hearing. To add pepper to the injury, the Faruq led caretaker committee was only filled with the court declared winners without any representation from the other aggrieved side. Similarly, after Faruq’s few months in Katsina, he called a press conference where he announced the expulsion of hose considered as major gladiators of the party in the state including Barrister Mamman Danmusa, Dr. Bashir Kurfi, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke and member of the House of Representatives representing Danmusa-SafanaBatsari, Barrister Danmusa among others. The sacked party chairman, Dr. Yusha’u Armaya’u went to court where he was reinstated with the Faruq led group making an appeal. The case is still pending in a court of law.

The internal squabbles in the party have cast a serious doubt on its capability to challenge the ruling PDP in the forthcoming local government elections in the state. Pundits believe that a pointer to the weakness of the party due to its problem to pose any serious challenge to the PDP was the Dutsi state Assembly byeelection. Although the Dutsi

CPC Chairman, Prince Tony Momoh constituency was the home base of Senator Hadi Sirika, representing Daura Zone, the PDP demolished the CPC sponsored candidates. Political watchers submit that even when the PDP may have the capacity to manipulate election, the instability in the CPC and lack of strong leadership and good representation has aided the success of the ruling paety in the state.

There was also the issue of understanding the political terrain. There are questions as to how a care-taker chairman who was not conversant with the political reality on ground in the state prosecute a local government election. Even at the choice of the candidate for the election, there were faults identified by political watchers in the state as the candidate was single-handedly selected by the senator representing the area.

Another major set back that may rob the party of any success in the election was the indiscriminate and intimidating use of the name of the Secretary- General of the party, Engineer Buba

Galadima. The manner the secretary staunchly supported the court declared members of the National Assembly during their court struggle and its success emboldened some candidates aspiring for the local government seat to have the believe that all one needs to succeed in election in Katsina state is to be close to the ‘powerful Galadima’. The signs of this manifested last recently in Funtua Local Government, where one Kabir Yusuf stormed the party’s local government secretariat, with the support of the state Assembly member, Alhaji Rabi’u Funtua armed with a letter which they alleged were from Engineer Buba Galadima directing them to take over the leadership of the party. Fighting nearly brokeout at the secretariat when the Galadima’s men were chased away while the unlucky ones among them were beaten. They are currently in court over the fracas.

Similarly, despite the popularity of the party in Katsina, there are still some local government chapters of the party without exco. With this development , political

analysts wonder on how a party without local executives could win an election. Another minus for the party was the attitude of some of its elected representatives at the national level who hardly visit their constituency. Some of these lawmakers had to be rescued by security agents during the last constitution hearing congress when youth in the affected constituencies harassed them for their nonperformance.

Ironically, instead of these lawmakers to heal the wounds created by the deep seated rivalry in the party by carrying the aggrieved along, they seem to retain the status quo.

Opposition politics anywhere in the world flourishes by providing alternatives to the people. If the opposition would wake-up every day tongue lashing government inadequacies, then people are bound to ask which alternative they provide. Certainly with a proper planning, the Katsina CPC candidates can make a difference by initiating personal projects to assist the people where government failed. In Katsina the opposition lawmakers were only heard when attacking government.

Political movements like the ANC in South-Africa and Hisbullahi in Lebanon, among others, drive their political success by providing alternative.

With the trend of events in the political landscape of Katsina state, the opposition CPC needs a miracle to win one councillorship seat. Politics is not about majority and popularity alone, there is the need to strategize and organize the majority and popularity for success. Undoubtedly, the Katsina CPC is sick. One would finally ask: who are its executives? Do they have any strategy on ground for winning the election? Do they have any alternative for the people? Do those elected under the party at the national level performed well to buy peoples confidence? It is only time that would answer these questions.

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Offa LG petition: ACN accuses Kwara High Court of bias From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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Olugbo of Ugbonla in Ilaje, Ondo state, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, calling for constitutional role for traditional rulers while answering questions from journalists, during his condolence visit to President Goodluck Jonathan on the death of his younger brother, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

CPC group lauds caretaker chairman over unity

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Katsina CPC Concerned Forum has lauded the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the state chapter of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Honourable Farouk Adamu Aliyu over what it described as the systematic and mature way he had gone about trying to sanitize the party in the state, even as it urged all party supporters to cooperate with and support the caretaker committee chairman in his effort to address the problems bedeviling the Katsina CPC. Passing a vote of confidence on Honourable Aliyu as it rose from its

maiden meeting in Katsina yesterday, the CPC Concerned Forum, which has Alhaji Idi Zamfare and Engineer Tukur Gambo as Chairman and Secretary respectively, observed that "from the time he assumed duty as caretaker committee chairman, he has exhibited great dexterity and administrative skills in handling the otherwise highly volatile leadership crisis that bedeviled the party before and after 2001 elections", saying that his dispassionate approach has engendered hope that all the party's problems will "soon be a thing of the past".

Describing the recent appointment and inauguration of a 3-man Stakeholders Committee for each of the 34 local

government areas in the state as a deft move, the group called on "all CPC members who truly want progress for our party in Katsina to acknowledge the effort being made by Hon. Farouk committee and give them all necessary assistance to achieve the goal of a united CPC in Katina".

The group also called on "all genuine" supporters of the party to desist from actions and utterances that may be counterproductive to the interest of the party and be wary of those whose activities and statements are at cross purposes with the ideals of the national leader of the Congress for Progressive Change, General Muhammadu Buhari.

FCT PDP primaries: Tete cautions against false information

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairmanship aspirant in Kuje Area Council, Mr Tete Shabban, yesterday cautioned against circulation of false information against other aspirants in the interest of fairness.

Shabban stated this in Kuje in an interview with newsmen in reaction to speculations that he lacked the minimum requirement to contest chairmanship election.

He said speculations that he was screened out by PDP Screening Committee in FCT was baseless adding that he was screened and certified to contest PDP primaries in the council.

Shabban, the immediate past Secretary, Kuje Area Council called on his supporters to disregard the false information adding that it was a strategy to deter his supporters.

He therefore called for strengthened efforts among his supporters so as to ensure his victory at the party’s primaries slated for Dec. 29. “The speculations that I was screened out by PDP Screening committee in FCT because I lack the minimum requirement to contest chairmanship primaries is unfounded.

“I have been screened and certified for the PDP Chairmanship primaries and my message to my teaming supporter is to strengthen their efforts to ensure my

victory at the primaries,” he said.

Shabban who said politics was about winning the heart of people had condemned speculations that some aspirants were Minister’s candidates.

“I have confidence in the Minister and he has assured us that whoever emerges victorious at the primaries is his candidate so, parading oneself at this stage is a mark of failure.

“I encourage my supporters to disregard these speculations aimed at weighing them down in their efforts to ensure my victory,” he added.

The aspirant had pledged to consolidate on the progress recorded by the incumbent chairman, Mr Danladi Zhin if given the ticket.

he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has expressed doubt over the ability of the Kwara State High Court to do justice in the appeal filed by the party against the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal on the Chairmanship of Offa Local Government.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said its concerns stemmed from a number of factors, including the improper constitution of the court, its perpetual refusal of ACN's applications while granting that of the PDP and the frustration of ACN's appeal to the Court of Appeal on the decisions of the High Court's decision.

ACN is challenging the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal on the basis that the Tribunal exceeded its jurisdiction in the determination of the election petition filed by the PDP and its candidates against the victory of the ACN candidate during the re-run election into the Chairmanship of Offa Local Government held on January 12th, 2011.

The party has observed, however, that since the inception of its appeal, the Kwara State Appellate Session of the High Court has always been improperly constituted by just two judges, contrary to the requirement of the law that three judges must sit to determine the appeal. ''The implication of the court being composed of only two judges is that there cannot be a majority decision in case there is a disagreement in the opinion of the two judges, and there would be no way to state the position of the court. This is the basis of the law requiring a panel on appeal to be composed of odd number of judges,'' the party said.

It also said that while all ACN applications have been refused, the court has always granted all applications made by the PDP as the respondent, while at the same time frustrating ACN's application to the Court of Appeal on its (Kwara Appellate Session) decision.. ''It is trite law that where a party to a matter requests that a case be stated by the High Court to the Court of Appeal on interpretation of any provision of the Constitution, the High Court has no choice in the matter as it is bound to so grant the application. ''It is rather disappointing that their Lordships of the High Court of Kwara State are hell-bent on determining this case in a proceeding which has shown an outright bias in favour of the respondent, PDP. Pursuant to that, the ACN’s application for case stated to the Court of Appeal, which raised a recondite point of law on whether the Local Government Election Petition Tribunal had the jurisdiction to interpret any provision of the Constitution and declare certain provisions of the Kwara State Local Government Electoral Law, 2004 illegal, was rather refused by the High Court of Kwara State in a questionable proceeding. ''This is quite worrisome as we believe it is the constitutional right of every litigant who is displeased with the decision of a court of law to appeal against same in accordance with the law. While the Notice of Appeal have been filed in this case more than a week ago, their Lordships have refused to allow us compile the record of proceedings by which the appeal would be transmitted to the Court of Appeal,'' ACN said.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 39

Igbos to convene political summit

By Augustine Aminu

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he Igbo nation has announced its plan to convene a political summit billed to come up early next year in Owerri, Imo state, announcing the appointment of its Secretary in the person of Dr. Godson Nnaka.

The consensus appointment of Nnaka, a US trained Economist and former Special Adviser to former PDP National Chairman, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, was announced in Abuja yesterday by one-time ALGON Chairman in Imo State, and Senior Special Adviser to the Imo state Governor (Political), Chief Sam Ikechukwu Osuji.

With the appointment of Nnaka as Director of Programs and

Summits Secretary by various Igbo groups and organizations, Osuji said the summit was certain to embrace all shades of opinion and political persuasions of Igbos towards actualizing the Igbo Presidential Project by 2015.

His words “Nnaka’s mandate is to head the summit secretariat, design a program that will include the representation and participation of Igbo leaders, all major Igbo groups and organizations, including elected officials, the executive as well as judicial and legislative officeholders.”

“Dr. Nnaka’s Summit Secretariat will have the added responsibility of ensuring a timely and all-inclusive Summit that will meet the expectations of Ndigbo in particular and Nigerians

in general,” he added.

He explained further that the investment banker will also work closely with the chairpersons and members of over 15 Summit subcommittees which will be representing Federal and State Governments as well as various interests and organizations in Igboland and the Diaspora.

Asked whether the Igbos can speak with one voice on the 2015 presidency, given discordant voices in the past, the Osuji said: “The Igbos have no choice this time around. If they Igbos fail to come up with one unified stand in 2015, they will suffer a terrible political defeat and generations unborn will not forgive us.”

He added: “Time is already against us, and we have to cooperate with the Summit for the

benefit of all Igbos” In a telephone interview with Dr. Nnaka, Nnaka welcomed his appointment as yet another opportunity to serve his people and the greater Nigerian public.

He promised to dedicate the next 90 days to ensure “a purposeful Summit” that will involve all Igbo leaders and groups and finally put a stop to the political divisions among the Igbos which other ethnic groups exploit to the detriment of the once dominant group in Nigerian politics.

Asked how he intends to proceed with this Summit, Dr. Nnaka said; “My job now is to consult with Igbo leaders and related stakeholders and work together to see the success of this Summit”.

Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu'azu babangida aliyu, (left), presenting a copy of a memorandum of understanding on the construction of Minna City Center to MD/COE of Grand Towers, Mr Uchenna Duru (right), yesterday at the Government House, in Minna. With them is chairman, Chanchaga local government, Alhaji Yakubu Salla

Corruption: Group accuses Orubebe of concealing information from CCB

By Umar Muhammad Puma

A

nti-corruption network (ACN) yesterday accused the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, of concealing vital information by underdeclaring his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

The group in press conference in Abuja by its Executive Secretary, Dino Melaye, revealed that five properties purchased by the Minister of the Niger Delta were not declared to the CCB. The

group, said it has obtained documents indicating that Mr. Orubebe was the owner of the properties they identified.

One of the documents is the certificate of occupancy for Plot 2722, Kyami District in Abuja.

The plot contains 1883.63 square meters. Another certificate of occupancy obtained by the group shows that Mr. Orubebe owns Plot 2460 in the expensive Maitama area of Abuja.

He added that the Minister also owns Plot 1736 in the Guzape area of Abuja. “The certificate of

occupancy for the plot was issued in 2008. The Minister for the Niger Delta also acquired Plot 2057 in the Asokoro area.

The choice properties were acquired in the last three years that Mr. Orubebe has been a minister, first under the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and later as one of the most powerful figures in the cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan,” he stated.

Recall that in a petition to the Code of Conduct Bureau, and the Independent corrupt practices Commission, (ICPC), the group

had alleged that Orubebe accepted a luxury building as gratification from one of the contractors handling the ministry’s projects, it also accused the minister of violation of Public Procurement Act in the awards of contracts in the ministry.

Melaye said,” By the virtue of his standing to influence the award of contracts, Elder Godsday Orubebe abused his office by accepting a gratification of palatial mansion on the property allocated to him in Abuja,FCT contrary to Section 12 of the Act”.

FCT ANPP cautions against politics of criticism

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) in FCT has cautioned its aspirants against politics of criticism to strengthen unity among members ahead of March 16 FCT Area Councils elections.

The FCT Chairman of ANPP, Alhaji Abdulmalik Usman, stated this in Gwagwalada shortly after issuing the party’s chairmanship nomination form to an aspirant, Alhaji Saidu Adbdullahi.

He said arrangement by the party’s working committee in FCT to review its agenda to enhance the screening of aspirants and conduct of primaries was ongoing.

According to him, the leadership of the party will seat down and work out modalities on how consensus could work out but if it fails, we will head for primaries.

“The issue of cross carpeting is not common in ANPP because of the party’s believe in allowing popular candidates to go for elective positions. Candidates are not being impose on supporters in ANPP, so my appeal to our aspirants is to imbibe the culture of understanding and shun any act that will undermine the victory of the party come March 16,” he said.

In his remarks, Abdullahi,the incumbent Vice Chairman, Gwagwalada Area Council commended the leadership of the party for the opportunity given to him to obtain the nomination form.

Abdullahi who pledged to remain loyal to the leadership of the party said his priority would be educational development and promotion of environmental sanitation in the council if given the party’s ticket.

He said his plan to accord priority to education and environmental sanitation was to consolidate on the progress recorded by the incumbent chairman that had attracted popularity to the party.

The aspirant therefore called for support among residents of the council to ensure that his victory was not compromised.

Benue diaspora youths want expedited consideration of 2013 budget

By Josephine Ella Ejeh

B

enue youths in diaspora have called on Benue State House of Assembly to expedite action on the consideration of the 2013 appropriation bill sent to it by the state government.

The youths, in a statement

signed by the President-General of Benue Youths in Diasporas, Comrade Philip Agbese, remarked that the cordial relationship between both arms of government in state has largely contributed to the achievements of the state government led by Governor Gabriel Suswam.

According to the statement, the government has through hardwork, commitment to duties and selfless sacrifices put the state on the path of glory and the timely consideration of the year 2013 Appriopration Bill would serve as a catalyst to totally change the face of governance in Benue state.

“We have to first commend the timely presentation of the 2013 Appriopration Bill by His Excellency, Rt. Hon Gabriel Suswam, to the Benue state House of Assembly for consideration as part of his timely interventions to sustain the good legacy of his administration. “The success of

the administration is no doubt the results of the collaborative effort between both arms of government to run independent, transparent and friendly units that are singularly committed to delivering dividends of democracy to the largest population of our people in Benue State”, he said.

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

NAN MD, Gen. Abubakar others condole with Yakowa family

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R-L: Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, National Commissioners of INEC, Dr. Chris O. Lyinmopa, and Mrs. Dame Gladys Nnenwafor, during a one day workshop for accredited observer groups organised by INEC, yesterday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Jega insists on use of ad hoc staff in Nigeria’s election

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rof. Attahiru Jega, the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the commission will not stop employing the services of ad hoc staff in the country’s general elections.

Jega made this known at the opening of a deliberation by the observer groups for the 2011/ 2012 general elections in Abuja yesterday.

According to him, the best option for INEC is the use of ad hoc personnel for the exercise regardless of what obtains in other countries.

Jega said the commission would not use voluntary organisations in the conduct of election because of the “craftiness of politicians’’ in interfering with the integrity of electoral process.

“We have to use ad hoc staff, the conventional method is to advertise and go through the normal process.

“We have so many credible people in the country, but if you do otherwise in Nigeria, you will get into problem.

“The conventional practice in most countries is to advertise, short list, interview and employ.

“In most countries that is what happens, but in Nigeria if you do that, you will have additional problems, particularly in the electoral process.

“You have to think about the creativity of our politicians who try to stay one step ahead of you.

“Before you realise it, they will sponsor people that will participate, get screened, get appointed and will now be the ones to manage your elections,’’ he said.

Jega said for every general election no fewer than 360,000 polling workers were required but that the entire workforce in INEC was 14,000.

The chairman explained that the commission was targeting maximum of 16,000 workers as permanent employees.

He said the use of ad hoc staff

by INEC was not inevitable as there was no election management body in the world that could conduct elections with only its permanent staff.

“In fact countries relied on voluntary staff that are not fully-driven by monetary compensation but Nigeria has not got to the level of volunteerism for this purpose,’’ He said the commission

would overcome all its challenges by 2015.

Jega said INEC had started recruiting ward level officers as well as registration area officers, adding that it would lead to decentralisation of its operations.

“We have officers at the state and local levels.

“Now, the idea is to ensure that there are officers who reside in the ward and it will also help in terms of subsequent logistics deployment and management of the electoral process.’’

He said , the commission would embark on constituency delimitation in 2013 and the creation of new polling units would be done before the 2015 elections.

Jega recalled that a similar exercise was conducted five years ago through which 120,000 polling booths were created for the conduct of the 2007 and 2011 general elections.

He said the constituency delimitation process had become necessary because there had been demographic shift in some parts of the country following religious crisis, natural disasters or population explosion. (NAN)

Benue Assembly adjourns for 3 weeks

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he Benue State House of Assembly yesterday, adjourned for three weeks to enable its members celebrate Christmas and new year festivities with the people of their constituencies.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) covering the activities of the assembly reports that the decision for the adjournment was sequel to a motion moved by the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Nick Eworo.

Eworo, who represents Obi Constituency, explained that the break was to commence

from Dec. 20 to Jan.8, adding that all members were expected to report on that day at 10:a.m. prompt.

NAN reports that the motion was seconded by the Minority Leader, Mr Adugu Gbileve (ACN-Buruku).

Ruling on the matter, the Deputy Speaker, Dr Stephen Onmeje, who presided over the session, put the matter to vote and all members unanimously consented to the adjournment.

Onmeje told members to go and interact with their constituents, saying that members of their

constituencies were the reasons why they were in the assembly.

The deputy speaker said that the interaction would help the members to know more of the problems confronting their people with a view to proffering solutions.

He noted that the break would assist members to appreciate the plight of their people and be in a better position to present such to the house for action.

Onmeje stressed the need for his colleagues to serve as builders of peace. (NAN)

he Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mrs Oluremi Oyo, joined other Nigerians in commiserating with the family of late Gov. Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State.

Yakowa, retired Gen. Andrew Azazi, a former National Security Adviser and four others died in a helicopter crash in Nembe, Bayelsa on Dec. 15.

They were returning from the burial of the father of Mr Oronto Douglas, a Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan.

At the Government House in Kaduna, Oyo described the demise as a tragic loss not only to the state but the country at large.

She condoled with the people of the state and urged them to continue with the legacy left by the deceased.

Alhaji Aliko Dangote, the Chief Executive, Dangote Group of Company, described the late

Yakowa as a bridge builder, who strived hard to help humanity.

Dangote said that the deceased had great respect for people, irrespective of the ethno-religious difference.

He advised Gov. Mukhtar Yero, to be focused and continue with the work started by his predecessor, while reminding the new governor that he had a large shoe to wear.

Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo also commiserated with the new governor, family and people of the state over the sudden loss.

Also, a former Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, and ex-EFCC Chairman, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, urged Yero to sustain the security, peace and harmony that Yakowa initiated.

Abdulsalami described Yakowa as an honest, loyal and passionate person, who laid the foundation for peace in the state and was striving to ensure the comfort of the people.

(NAN)

Kaduna Assembly wants Yakowa immortalised

K

aduna State House of Assembly yesterday called for the immortalisation of late Governor Patrick Yakowa.

The assembly at a fourhour valedictory session in honour of the late governor suggested the naming of the state secretariat and other land marks in the state after him.

The session, presided by the Speaker, Alhaji Muazu Gangara described the deceased as a peace maker, humble, committed and amiable gentleman.

The Majority Leader, Mr David Umar described Yakowa as “a patriotic man of peace” who had contributed to peace and development in the state.

“Yakowa had played very vital role toward the transformation of Kaduna State in the area of security, peace, education, health and economy. “’He responded positively to any of our calls, and we had cordial working relationship.’’

In his contribution, Alhaji Balarabe Jigo, the Deputy Speaker,

said death was an inevitable end on every soul, and said the former governor would be missed for his hard work and high sense of humour.

Jigo noted the recent commencement of work on 31 roads across the state by the deceased, noting that all the cosntituencies in the state benefited from the project.

“People of Birnin Gwari would really missed him; the road abandoned in my constituency for decades has been awarded by Yakowa.”

The Minority Leader, Alhaji Usman Adamu supported the stand of the assembly for the immortalisation of Yakowa and called on the house to monitor the execution of all projects he awarded.

Mr Bitiyong Nkon said: “We really lost a gentle man who has special interest in the development of the state.”

Another lawmaker, Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu said the state had lost one of its brightest governors. (NAN)

Mark urges intending pilgrims to pray for Nigeria

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi with agency report

T

he Senate President, Sen. David Mark, has appealed to intending pilgrims to Israel to put Nigeria in their prayers at this trying time the country’s history.

Mark made the appeal while addressing intending pilgrims from St. Mulumba’s Catholic Chaplaincy at Apo in Abuja, ahead of their departure to the holy land.

He urged the intending pilgrims to devote time to reflect on the situation in Nigeria and commit the country to God for divine intervention.

He cited insecurity as one of the key challenges facing the nation,

saying that Nigeria would surmount the challenges with honesty, commitment and resolve by all citizens.

He advised the intending pilgrims to exhibit good conduct.

“Your conduct would go a long way to show that Nigeria is not a country of bad eggs.

“Remember you are going to Israel on religious mission not jamboree or for any commercial interest. You must put Nigeria first in all you do.

“Besides, you must go as a team and return as one group,”Mark said.

He advised them to resist the temptation of absconding as such behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 41

Maigari wins football administrator of the year

T

he President of the Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) Alhaji Aminu Maigari will today in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital be honoured as the Football Administrator of the Year, at the 2012 Awards and Investitute Ceremony of the Sports Writers Association of

Alhaji Aminu Maigari

Nigeria, Oyo State chapter.

In the letter conveying the selection of Alhaji Maigari as Football Administrator of the Year, Chairman of Oyo SWAN, Mr. Seun Ajayi-Obe hailed the achievements of Nigeria’s National Teams in the outgoing year, extolling the leadership style of Maigari and his commitment to excellence.

The letter read: “Your nomination followed our critical observation of your effort at ensuring effective and result-oriented administration of our nation’s football, which is currently yielding fruit as Nigeria is parading formidable teams at international competitions.”

It would be recalled that in the outgoing year, the U-20 Women National Team (Falconets) reached the semi finals of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan; the U-17 women’s team (Flamingos) reached the quarter finals of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Azerbaijan; the Beach Soccer team (Supersand Eagles) won the COPA Lagos Invitational Beach Soccer Tournament and;

the Super Eagles, Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets qualified for continental championships all coming up in the first half of next year.

The NFF President will be represented at the event which will take place at Walan Hotel (formerly D’Rovans) and will be graced by the First Lady of Oyo State, Mrs Florence Ajimobi, Senator Ayo Adeseun, Honourable Biodun Awoleye, former NFF General Secretaries Taiwo Ogunjobi and Bolaji OjoOba and retired FIFA referee and academician, Professor Babatunde Asagba.

“I would have loved to be personally present but I have been invited to the Glo-Caf Awards ceremony in Accra, Ghana the same day by the President of Caf, Alhaji Issa Hayatou. I really appreciate this award by the Oyo State chapter of SWAN and I want to assure all Nigerians that this administration will remain focused and committed to the vision of using football to unite all Nigerians and uplift the nation’s image internationally,” said Maigari.

Keshi set to watch Burkina Faso friendly ahead AFCON

T

he Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi says arrangement has been made to monitor the friendly match between Burkina Faso and Niger Republic.

The match is scheduled to take place on January 10 th in Rustenburg, South Africa, as part of Burkina Faso’s build up for the 2013 AFCON. Keshi stressed that knowing the Burkina Faso strategy would help the team to achieve its aim at the tournament.

Nigeria is grouped alongside Zambia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso

By Albert Akota

S

uper Eagles Head Coach Stephen Keshi has reacted to a newspaper report to the effect that he was being owed the sum of N30million by the Nigeria Football Federation which amounts to six months’ salary, saying the story is not true.

Big Boss as Keshi is fondly called in his playing days, said he understands the financial position of the federation and does not have any salary dispute with the Aminu Maigari led board of the NFF. “In fact the board and by extension the Sports Ministry has been very supportive since I became the national coach about a year ago. Our friends in the media must cross check facts and not sensationalize things because we are at a crucial period of preparations for a major tournament.”

“Not that I don’t need money but the nation takes precedence, money will come at the right time but let’s work first and we will get our dues”, he said philosophically.

F

ormer Minister of Defence, Dr. S h e t t i m a Mustapha, CON, has commended the giant strides made by the present NFF

Dr. Shettima Mustapha

“We will send somebody to watch the Burkina Faso friendly with Niger because by then we will be in Faro, Portugal.

“It is crucial for us to see their game,” Keshi said.

He noted that the team’s friendly match against Catalonia on January 2 nd at the Nou Estadi Cornella El Prat was to put the homebased players in shape for the task ahead.

It will be recalled that the Eagles were beaten 5-0 by the Catalonian side at the same venue on Dec. 22, 1998 under the reign of Dutch coach Thijs Librets.

Keshi, however, revealed that he already had

the team list for the AFCON, but would wait for the appropriate time to unveil it.

“Well, we know who is who and who we want in the team.

“I have the team in my head; it’s just for us to move into the training session and get ourselves ready, that’s all,” he explained.

The Super Eagles would jet out of the country on Dec.27 for the final phase of its preparation for the AFCON. Keshi is expected to submit his final selection for the Nations Cup on January 9 th to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Asked about the final make up of the list of foreign based players for the SA 2013 Nations Cup, Keshi said the media should be patient till early next week when the list will be made public.

“Only then will we know the number of home based players that will make the Faro, Portugal camp and also the list of the foreign based players for the camping exercise”.

He however said any Nigerian player who is of quality has a chance of making the final cut for the tourney, assuring for the umpteenth time that current form and not names will be the yardstick that will be used to pick players for the tournament.

Stephen Keshi

NFF is not owing me N30million, says Keshi

Ex-Minister commends NFF administration, saying that apart from the i m p r e s s i v e performances of our

National Teams in the outgoing year, the Aminu Maigari-led NFF has also succeeded in bringing a reasonable degree of harmony into Nigeria football.

Speaking during a courtesy call on the NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari in his office in Abuja, Dr. Mustapha, who was also at various times Minister of Agriculture, and of Interior, added that

“our expectation under your leadership is that Nigeria football should not only recapture its past glory but also reach even higher levels.”

The proprietor of Shettima United FC and Shettima Babes FC also urged the NFF to widen its search net to capture good, promising and potentially professional footballers across the nation from among the youngsters that use every bit of open land available anywhere to

play football.

Responding, NFF President Aminu Maigari praised the efforts of Dr. Shettima Mustapha in running two football clubs, saying this bespoke of immense courage and capacity.

“It is not easy to run one football club, let alone two. You are at the forefront of those who are actively helping youth football development in Nigeria, engaging the

youths positively by drawing them away from social vices and creating job opportunies.”

Also on hand to receive the former Minister, who was accompanied on the visit by his special assistant (media), Alhaji Sani Mohammed and Coach Albert Effigiri were NFF General Secretary, Barrister Musa Amadu and Director of Competitions, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.

Why Keshi reject Lobi star player

T

he Super Eagles handler, Stephen Keshi, has said he turned back Lobi Stars Bassey Ezekiel, because he came to camp late, even after his club has released him early for the national assignment.

Ezekiel came to camp only on Tuesday night and was promptly told by Keshi to return to his club as there was no room for late-comers in the runup to the Afcon 2013 championship.

The pleas of the players did not receive favourable responses because officials of his club in Makurdi told the technical crew that he has been released early and should have been in camp.

“We are trying to build a very disciplined squad for the Nations Cup and we are a bit surprised that an home based player who is making a first appearance will decide to report late when even his mates who have stayed over a year with us still respect arrival dates.

We can’t condone that and we hope when next he gets an opportunity he will know that time is of essence”, Media Officer of the national team Ben Alaiya, quotes Keshi as saying.

The player has since left the Bolton White Apartment camp of the team for Makurdi.

Bassey Ezekiel

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Zambia set for 4 friendly matches ahead of AFCON

T

he African Cup of Nations (AFCON) d e f e n d i n g champions, the Chipolopolo of Zambia, has lined up some friendly games ahead of the 2013 AFCON tournament in South Africa.

The team is scheduled to play four warm-up

Herve Renard

Delta to host African U-17 athletics competition in March

D

elta government says it has begun preparations for the hosting of the African U-17 Athletics championship inMarch, 2013.

Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan said this at the reception organized for its victorious contingent to the justconcluded18th National Sports Festival in Lagos.

Uduaghan said the tournament would be hosted at the Warri Township Stadium and expressed optimism that facilities there would suffice for the four-day event.

He said that a technical team from the African Athletics Federation was already in the state to inspect facilities ahead of the championship.

Uduaghan said that the government placed much premium in the development of sports and would not compromise standards and proper training and motivation of athletes. The governor also announced the award of scholarships to the children of Monday Aigbe, a swimming coach in the state, who died on Dec. 13.

He said that the scholarship would take the children of the deceased coach, who died after leading the state’s swimmers to victory at the festival to doctorate degree level.

The governor presented a cheque of N1 million to the children as cash reward for their late father for being victorious at the Games.

Swimmers from the state won 24 gold medals out of the 40 available in the swimming event at the festival. The late coach was said to have died of Hypertension-related ailment which lasted for a few days.

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matches against Tanzania, Swaziland, Morocco and Namibia, before their first Group C match against Ethiopia on January 21.

Zambia is grouped along with the Super Eagles, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

Zambia’s first friendly match would be against a non qualified team for AFCON, Tanzania in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.

The team would later proceed on a short Christmas break after the Tanzanian game.

The Chipolopolo would then resume the camping

By Albert Akota

Keshi meets technical committee tomorrow

T

he Technical SubCommittee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will meet with Super Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi tomorrow to deliberate on several issues related to the team participation in 2013 Africa

Coach Stephen Keshi

plans aimed at ensuring a glorious performance.

Green said that Nigeria would play Burkina Faso while Cup holders Zambia would face Ethiopia in group C of the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, with the matches slated for Nelspruit and Rustenburg respectively.

“There are a lot of issues on the table and we have to treat them in order that our teams can begin integrated preparations for these major competitions.

“It is not enough for our teams to qualify for competitions; we are determined that Nigeria’s flag must be flown brightly and with dignity at every i n t e r n a t i o n a l

considered the friendly games key in the team’s preparation ahead of the start of the tournament.

“These matches will sharpen us as our first Cup of Nations fixture against Ethiopia is very important. It is crucial to start the tournament well,’’ Renard added.

championship,’’ he said.

The statement decried a report in a national newspaper that the duties of the Technical Committee had been handed over to the technical department.

“That is not true. The Technical Committee has a lot of work to do as most of our teams have to prepare hard for up-coming continental tournaments and the committee has so much on its plate.

“The Technical department simply implements policies as enunciated by the Technical Committee. So, there is no conflict of roles and this should be clearly understood.

Ayew fingers Ghana FA for omission

G

hana striker Jordan Ayew has implied that the Ghana Football Association is responsible for his dropping from the Black Stars squad for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

The 20-year-old says there is more to his dropping from the Black Stars squad for next month’s competition in South Africa other than footballing reason.

The attacker was left out of the Black Stars 26-man squad announced by Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah last week.

The youngster has been impressive for Marseille having netted eight goals in all competitions for the club this season.

The son of Ghana legend Abedi Pele is adamant to reveal the real reasons for his dropping but suspects there are ulterior GFA motives for his axing from the squad.

The decision to axe the promising youngster has been condemned by a section of the Ghanaian media, with critics arguing that his performance surpasses some of the strikers.

However, Jordan has not been impressive in recent matches for the Black Stars.

His performances in Ghana’s match against Zambia in Ndola as well as the match with Malawi were widely condemned by the local media as well as fans of the Black Stars.

Niger name provisional squad

N

iger will bank on continuity for better results at next year’s AFCON after the core of the team from the 2012 edition made a 26-man squad.

The provisional squad

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Cup of Nations.

This is contained in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja and signed by the Assistant Director (Media) Ademola Olajire.

The statement said the meeting would deliberate on several issues related to Nigeria’s participation in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, the African Youth Championship for U-20 players and the African U17 Championship.

It quoted Barrister Chris Green, the chairman of the sub-committee, as saying that the Super Eagles’ Head Coach, Stephen Keshi had been invited to appear before the committee to present his

in South Africa after the Christmas break in January, before playing the friendly against two non qualified teams, Swaziland and Namibia in Nelspruit.

The last friendly match would be against Morocco, one of the teams for AFCON in Johannesburg.

Coach Herve Renard

Niger full squad

will be led by Tunisiabased skipper Ouwo Moussa Maazou, who also featured in the country’s Nations Cup debut in January in Gabon, where they lost all three group games.

South Africa-based goalkeeper Daouda Kassaly, who has been in superb form for Chippa United, Sweden-based Williams Tonji, Mohammed Chikoto, Kofi Dankwa as well as Amadou

Moutari aka Kalala are among the 16 overseasbased pros called up for a training camp in Niamey.

Issiakou Koudize and Boubacar Issoufou are among the 10 players drawn from the domestic league.

The training camp opens on December 27 and the Mena will then travel to take on fellow Nations Cup finalists Ethiopia in a warm-up game in Addis Ababa on December 30.

They are also scheduled to play test games against Burkina Faso and most likely South African PSL side Platinum Stars.

The team now under experienced Frenchman and ex-Gabon coach Gernot Rohr are drawn in Group D alongside Ghana, Mali and DR Congo and play their opening game against fellow West Africans Mali on January 20 in Port Elizabeth.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 43

UK Olympic for 2016 increase boxing funds Britain’s boxers are the biggest winners in UK Sport’s Olympic 2016 funding programme, but swimming has had a £4m cut to their budget.

Boxing saw an increase of 44.5% but handball, basketball; table tennis and wrestling have lost all their support.

Overall, 18 sports have seen their money go up, five have had their budget cut by UK Sport.

A record £347m will be made available for the fouryear cycle to Rio, an 11% increase on the London 2012 funding.

The Paralympic portion of the overall funds has risen from 4% with swimming, athletics and cycling all being rewarded for their success with big rises but archery and powerlifting have been cut.

The investment will be used to support Britain’s elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes and comes after Sport England revealed an increase to grassroots sports funding.

Britain’s boxers won five medals from a 10-person team in London to meet their target, with Nicola Adams, Luke Campbell and Anthony Joshua all winning gold, and their funding raises from £9.5m to £13.8m.

Volleyball’s budget has dropped from £3.5m to £400,000 with only women’s beach volleyball benefitting.

Athletics see their funding rise by £1.6m after winning six medals in London, while cycling has seen an increase of £4.6m after bringing back 12 medals.

Britain’s sailors, who won five medals after being set a target of three to five, have been boosted by an extra £1.5m.

Equestrian, who won five medals including three golds, has received a £4.5m boost.

US Open: ATP unhappy with prize money and schedule change

T

Andy Murray

he Association of Tennis Professionals has said it is not happy with the prize money offered or moving the men’s final day at next year’s US Open.

“The ATP and its players have made it clear we do not support a Monday final,” the men’s governing body said.

It also said the $4m (£2.4m) boost to the prize fund was “appreciated” but that it would “continue discussions ”The ATP is committed to ensuring the players’ share of revenues reflects the value they generate,” it added.

On Friday, the US Tennis Association, which organises the US Open, announced prize money would increase to $29.5m (£17.9m) and that the men’s final, won in September by Andy Murray, would be played on a Monday, with the women’s final moved from Saturday to Sunday, allowing the players an extra day’s rest.

The ATP said, however, that it “strongly believed” the tournament should stick to a schedule similar to the other Grand Slams and would “continue to pursue this matter”.

Kell Brook

ell Brook’s postponed world title fight against Devon Alexander has been moved to 23 February.

The Sheffield fighter, 26, was due to take on Alexander for the IBF welterweight title on 19 January but an ankle injury suffered in training meant the fight had to be postponed.

It was originally due to be staged in Los Angeles, but will now take place at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

He knocked out

Argentina’s Hector Saldivia in the third round of their fight in his home town of Sheffield in October to become the mandatory challenger for the IBF welterweight title.

It will be his first challenge for a world title and he will be up against the 25-year old American Alexander, who has won 24 of his 25 bouts, with 13 knockouts.

It has been reported that Brook could face fellow Brit Amir Khan next, should Khan move up to welterweight.

Jayawardene for 21.

Shaminda Eranga (six) was caught by

Wade from Starc’s delivery two overs later to confirm victory.

Brook battle Alexander in February

K

Australia beat Sri Lanka in Test Series

P

eter Siddle and Mitchell Starc shared six late wickets to guide Australia to a 137-run victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Hobart.

Siddle finished the match with figures of nine wickets for 104, while Starc took five for 63 in the second innings as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 255.

The victory gives Australia a 1-0 lead in the three-Test series.

The second Test starts on Boxing Day in Melbourne ahead of the final encounter in Sydney on 3 January.

Siddle, who was named man of the match, had come under scrutiny for allegations of ball tampering during Sri Lanka’s first innings.

Sri Lanka, chasing 393 to win, had looked like claiming a draw as they put up dogged resistance to reach tea at 186 for four.

Starc then quickly took out the Sri Lanka tail, first removing the key wicket of Prasanna

Peter Siddle

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

Barcelona coach suffers tumour recurrence

B

arcelona coach Tito Vilanova has again fallen ill, according to widespread reports in the Catalan and Spanish media.

Catalan newspaper El Mundo Deportivo reported first that the coach, who successfully underwent an operation to remove a cancerous tumour just over 12 months ago, had suffered a relapse.

Barcelona has cancelled

all scheduled activities for the day, including a press conference that was to be given by club president Sandro Rosell.

A statement on the club’s official website on Wednesday morning read: “FC Barcelona states that the press conference of president Sandro Rosell, scheduled for midday today, has been cancelled. The Christmas dinner which

was to be held with the media has also been cancelled.

Real Madrid Football Club wishes to express its support and affection for FC Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova,” a short statement read. “We wish him the quickest possible recovery. Real Madrid offers its full support to his club and all his family.

Vilanova, who replaced his former boss and friend

Odemwingie says teams wary of West Brom

W

Peter Odemwingie

est Brom forward Peter Odemwingie feels other teams have become more cautious when playing the Baggies after their impressive start to the season.

Albion was third in the Premier League after their 42 victory at Sunderland, but is winless in four games since. ”I will miss a couple of weeks of action here (for the Africa Cup of Nations), but I believe we have a squad that can hold on to the good start we have had.

“It becomes a bit more difficult but that’s when you need to show character and belief that we are growing.

The Nigeria international added: “We have been doing well this season, and we’ve had a bad three weeks, but hopefully we can score goals again.”

West Brom’s slight dip in form has seen them slip to seventh in the table, but despite faltering they still remain only two points off third-placed Chelsea.

However next month they face the prospect of being been without Odemwingie, who could travel to South Africa for the Africa Cup of Nations.

But the 31-year-old believes that the West Brom squad can push on in his absence.

No issues with Oscar – Chelsea coach

R

afael Benitez is confident Oscar has a bright future at Chelsea and insists there are no problems with the Brazilian after dropping him for the Club World Cup final.

Oscar publicly expressed his frustration at playing a cameo role in the 1-0 defeat to Corinthians, the Brazil international coming on as a substitute in the 71st minute for Victor Moses.

But despite Oscar’s irritations, Benitez insists there are no issues and the player understands the need for the Spaniard to manage his squad.

“Oscar is a new player in the Premier League and we are trying to manage these players because we have a lot like

Pep Guardiola as Barca first-team coach in the summer, has overseen the club’s best ever start to the

season.

Unconfirmed reports in Spain suggested that Barcelona had already

made contact with a potential replacement to take charge of the club until the end of the season.

Zenit St Petersburg fans are racist – Samba

Z

enit St Petersburg fans who want non-white and gay players excluded from the Russian team are “living in another century”, says Anzhi Makhachkala defender Christopher Samba.

Zenit were the only top-flight Russian team without a black player until the summer signings of Brazil striker Hulk and Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel.

The club was fined by the Russian Football Union after one of their fans offered a banana to Anzhi Makhachkala left-back Roberto Carlos before a match between the two sides in March 2011.

Black players in the Russian league have been the target of monkey chants and Samba also had a banana thrown at him by a Lokomotiv Moscow fan shortly after his move from Blackburn Rovers.

However, the Congo-Brazzaville international insists there is no prospect of black players staging a protest by boycotting matches following Landscrona’s open letter.

Russia is preparing to host the 2018 World Cup after being picked by governing body Fifa to stage the tournament for the first time.

Samba, 28, believes Russia’s continuing problems surrounding racism are “not helping” the country’s preparations.

Christopher Samba

Wilshere, Gibbs, Ramsey, Chamberlain, Carl sign Arsenal new contracts

J Oscar (Juan) Mata, (Eden) Hazard to do the same job. It’s good for me to have this. No issues, no problems. He will have lots of minutes. I’m sure he will have a great future at this club.

After flying home from

Japan, Chelsea return to domestic duties on Wednesday as they travel to Elland Road in the Capital One Cup quarterfinals. Leeds boss Neil Warnock is relishing the chance to take on the European champions.

ack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, A l e x - O x l a d e Chamberlain and Carl Jenkinson have signed long-term contracts at Arsenal.

Midfielder Wilshere, 20, who returned in October after 15 months out injured, has signed until 2018.

The other four players have committed to between four and five further years.

“I believe when you have a core of British players, it’s always easier to keep them together,” Arsenal managerArsene Wenger

said.

The England international’s contract expires in June 2013.

Chelsea, Liverpool and both Manchester clubs have been linked with moves.

Wilshere has made over 70 appearances for Arsenal since his firstteam debut in 2008.

He developed into a key player for the club in the 2010-11 seasons but missed the whole of the last campaign with a knee injury.

Wales’s international midfielder Ramsey, 21, has made over 120

appearances, scoring 10 goals, while defender Gibbs, 23, has started almost 40 games for Wenger’s side.

Winger OxladeChamberlain, 19, joined Arsenal from Southampton in a £15m deal in August 2011 and has featured regularly this season, while defender Jenkinson, 20, has made 10 Premier League starts.

Gibbs, Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Wilshere represent a core of the squad and it’s an extension for a long period for all of them.

Liverpool set to finalise Sturridge deal

L

Daniel Sturridge

iverpool have all but finalised the £12 million purchase of D a n i e l Sturridge, ESPN understands.

The Anfield team’s interest in the Chelsea forward is long-standing and, with negotiations between the two clubs having intensified over the past two weeks, highly-placed Stamford Bridge sources have

confirmed that the deal is almost complete, and he will be presented on Merseyside along with £4m Tom Ince from Blackpool early in the January transfer window.

One player who won’t be leaving Chelsea in the New Year, however, is Frank Lampard. It is understood that the decision has been taken to keep the veteran

midfielder at Stamford Bridge until the summer, at the very least.

The imminent transfer of Sturridge, meanwhile, follows months of speculation and weeks of discussion between the two clubs. It will take Brendan Rodgers’s January spending up to £16m, as he also hopes to finally bolster the club’s under-resourced forward-line.

Benitez did reassert Lampard’s importance to the team, despite the midfielder himself recently questioning his Chelsea future. The 34year-old has only started one of three games since returning from injury at the start of December, but that may change now that Benitez is suffering such a spate of injuries and suspensions in midfield.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 45

1

2

3

1] Spain will end the year at the summit of the global ladder for the fifth time in succession, while Colombia rose to fifth to earn the 'Mover of the Year' title.

2] UEFA Champions League last 16 coming up tomorrow, FIFA looks at some of the eye-catching stats to have emerged from the competition's group phase.

3] British heavyweight David Price will take on American fighter Tony Thompson at Liverpool’s Echo Arena in February.

4] Rory McIlroy is named the European Tour golfer of the year after topping the European and United States money lists.

5] As the January transfer window approaches, John Brewin questions whether spending big is really the answer.

6] The chair of the All-Party Tennis Group says the Lawn Tennis Association chief executive's ÂŁ640,000 salary is "unthinkable".

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PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

I want to make history in Atletico Madrid, says Falcao F

alcao, Jose Pekerman told a press conference recently that Colombia would now qualify for the FIFA World Cup after missing out on the three previous editions. Would you go along with that?

The World Cup is the goal we’re working towards.

There’s still a long way to go in the South American qualifiers, but we realise we’re in a strong position.

We’ll keep striving towards our target of competing in this great competition and hope to continue in the same vein for the remainer of the qualifying campaign.

How do you explain the fact that you’ve won more games on your travels than at home in these qualifiers?

It shows we’ve matured and grown as a team, both home and away, something that’s enabled us to remain strong on the road and win key games.

That’s always a good thing and hopefully we can continue to do that.

Playing at a World Cup with my national team is my principle objective, although the goal is not only to qualify and take part, but also to play a

Radamel Falcao Garcia is, without doubt, one of football’s hottest properties right now. A relentless goalscorer for Atletico Madrid, who has built on last season’s success and is currently flying high in La Liga, he is also a leading light for a Colombia team that is fighting for a place at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

Named in the 23-man shortlist for this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or and author of one of the ten goals shortlisted for the FIFA Puskás Award, the man known as El Tigre (The Tiger) found time for an exclusive chat with FIFA.com.

Among the items discussed were Colombia’s fine recent form, Jose Pekerman’s role in the side’s resurgence, recent comparisons between the current Cafetero crop and the golden generation of the 1990s, and his targets with Atletico.

prominent there.

part

once

The last time Colombia graced a FIFA World Cup was at France 1998, when you had players like C a r l o s Valderrama, Freddy Rincon and Faustino Asprilla. Is the current generation comparable with that one?

We’re not looking to be compared with them. We want to make our own history and pave our own way, and do it with a different style of play. Hopefully we can go far without seeking to compare ourselves to the Colombian teams that have come before us.

At France 1998 you were just 12. What you do remember about that tournament?

I remember a great deal as I watched almost the entire thing. Colombia didn’t do well in the group phase and went out. Later we had [Zinedine] Zidane’s crowning achievement, but it was also a World Cup in which Ronaldo and [Gabriel] Batistuta scored a lot of goals. So yeah, I remember it well.

Brazil coach Mano Menezes said recently that Colombia ”were more than just Falcao” and praised the work done by Jose Pekerman since assuming the reins. Was the arrival of the Argentinian the tipping point for Colombia or have other factors contributed to the team’s improvement in the race to Brazil?

Without a doubt, Pekerman’s arrival turned things round for Colombia in terms of the team’s football, results and self-confidence.

He tried to give us the necessary belief to go out there with freedom and play the kind of football that we’re used to. That means always trying to compete toe-to-toe whether home or away and seeking to win, but without throwing caution to the wind. Today we’ve become a more mature and balanced team in South America.

Is getting the chance to compete at a FIFA World Cup your prime objective right now, and what other goals are you hoping to achieve?

Playing at a World Cup with my national team is my principle objective, although the goal is not only to qualify and take part, but also to play a prominent part once there.

I believe we have a good team, and hopefully we’ll grow and improve a great deal both individually and as a group so that we first of all qualify then afterwards feature prominently in Brazil.

Will this FIFA World Cup be different with it being staged in Brazil?

Yes, of course. We’ll be closer to home and it’s Latin America, whose people share a certain affinity. So if we made it there, we’d enjoy a degree of support from the hosts.

Before then might we see another triumph for Atletico Madrid in La Liga?

There’s a long way to go, but we want to keep battling game by game and then we’ll see where we are come the end of the season. The most important thing is to keep winning games, so we keep racking up the points.

Radamel Falcao Garcia

Finally, we must mention the remarkable technical progress you’ve made over the last year. When you started out you were known for powerful heading, but you now seem to have really worked on your left foot, as evidenced by almost identical goals against Chelsea, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia and Paraguay. Is that something you’ve been particularly focused on?

Yes, I have worked on it. When I have the chance to work on my own game in training, I try to fine-tune technical aspects of it.

In this case I’ve tried to improve my left-foot shot a bit, and have seen results. What’s more, most the goals I’ve scored this season have been with my left. There’ve been some beautiful and really well-taken ones to tell you the truth. It’s always good to work on improving yourself every way you can.

PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2012

PAGE 47

Quick CrossWord (94)

Say what?

ACROSS 7 Makes unsuscripted remarks (2-4) 4 Fumbled (for) (6) 9 Was on the catching side of cricket (7) 10 Poison (5) 11 Follow as a consequence (5) 12 Cushions (7) 13 Road accident (5) 15 Name-calling (5) 20 Warm spot (7) 22 Molar, incisor, for instance (5) 24 Sudden desires (5) 26 Bear (6) 27 Items of value (6)

SUDOKU Getting Started Each sudoku puzzle is a 9 by 9 grid of horizontal and vertical rows, evenly separated into 9 squares with 9 spaces each.

Instead of word clues, each puzzle’s solution is determined by the pattern of the numbers already filled in you. You solve the puzzle by filling in the missing digits so that, when completed, each row and each square will have all the number from 1 to 9; each number will appear in exactly nine spaces within each puzzle.

DOWN 1 Cake-burning king (6) 2 Lascivious looks (5) 3 Nocturnal burrowing animals (7) 5 Noisy celebration (5) 6 Confines by holding the arms (7) 7 Remove condensation from (6) 8 Take on as your own (5) 14 Went back (on a promise) (7) 16 Lath supports (7) 17 Canny (6) 18 Shoe gaiters (5) 19 Beams of light (6) 21 Upright part of a staircase between treads (5) 23 Gas formed from oxygen (5)

Yesterday’s answer

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Yesterday’s solution

Best of friends: Two students of a Madrasah Islamiah in Srimangal, take some time out of their studies and play in the field next to their mosque

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Balotelli drops tribunal case against Manchester City

M

ario Balotelli has dropped his tribunal action against Manchester City after accepting a two-week fine over his disciplinary record last season.

The hearing had been due to take place yesterday until "amicable" talks on Tuesday night between the two parties.

In a statement, City said the striker, 22, had made the decision "as a sign of respect for Roberto Mancini, the supporters and the club".

The striker had opposed City's decision to fine him after he missed 11 games domestically and in Europe last season because of suspensions.

The striker had been expected to appear at the tribunal in person, along with his Italian lawyer and a representative from the Professional Footballers' Association, while City was set to bring their own legal team.

Dynamo Kiev (March 2011): sent off for flying tackle on Goran Popov. Given four match ban, meaning he missed first three Champions League games of 2011-12, Spurs (January 2012) retrospective red for stamp on Scott Parker, Four -game ban.

Arsenal (April 2012): sent off for two yellows, including tackle on Alex Song. Three game ban.

City began the disciplinary process after Balotelli was sent off against Arsenal in April 2012.

Balotelli was taken off early in the second half of City's 3-2 defeat by Manchester United on 9 December, and then left out of their squad altogether for the 3-1 win at Newcastle on Saturday.

After the match, City manager Roberto Mancini said: "At this moment, Mario is not in good form and for this reason he is at home, to get back into the team he needs to work in training and when he plays, he needs to play well.

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QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE In the performance of pension probe I realized I had stepped on very powerful toes. I can tell you that pension cabal is worse than oil cabal. In pension there are so many people involved... — Senator Alloysius Etok, Chairman, Senate Joint Committee on Establishment, Public Service and Local Government

Elephants in the room E

arly mornings these days tell us the Harmattan winds are coming. The air is thinner and colder: In much the same way as the usual concentrated grandstanding from Cartelopia's political class is wearing thin. A general consensus seems to be settling. It is everywhere like the dust particles that will soon be making their presence felt, quietly, stealthily and utterly.

Conversations I have these days with colleagues, friends, neighbours and even some 'lucky' few who are part of the political power structure, are of a total lack of confidence in anything the government and its 'owners' say.

To put it bluntly: Cartelopia's government is viewed as the most duplicitous ever. And it's not only because the man at the top does not seem to have an honourable bone in his body.

Technocratic theft Where else on this earth but in Cartelopia - cartel and mafia heaven - is it possible to spend government money secretly, by law?

I mean imagine a whole country whose resources are extracted in the name of 'the people' and then spent (with deficits to boot) in secret. A quarter of the 2012 budget was officially sunk into a black hole called security. The United States from where we supposedly copied our constitution, requires even secret security spending or actions to be 'approved' not only by the President but by select Senate committees.

Just watching the acrobatics that the White House had to do recently with regards to security arrangements in one of its Embassies was startling.

Members of Congress were having to be appeased for the breach in not informing them of all developments on time. It's amazing.

The chicanery that seems to accompany simple provision of information to our Parliament beggars belief. This is why apparently honest technocrats' and respected public servants end up looking more like thugs in a mafia than public servants.

Here, the merry go round that passed for the House of Reps fuel subsidy probe is a prime example.

That committee had to fight tooth and nail to get any real information. The so-called corporate sector the

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CAR TEL OPIA CARTEL TELOPIA With Aisha Yolah ayolah06@yahoo.com 08086296783 (text only please)

President Goodluck Jonathan international oil majors behaved more like bouncers in a club than responsible business entities. It was disgusting and disheartening. And they had the effrontery of demeaning this hard-won report for its 'inaccuracies'.

The real trouble is that duplicity is officially sanctioned and cascaded all the way up and down governance. Nobody says what he or she really means and everything else is up for sale.

Forensic audits indeed That is why whenever Cartelopia's great Treasury Minister refers to the latter forensic audit carried out by 'her' committee as having provided verifiable evidence of overpayments, fraud and more fraud, I laugh. We are being played. The fact - the truth - is that audits of the subsidy pricing template and regimen were begun as far back as 2009.

Everyone in government -has known fraud is going on... The minister at the time, polite to a fault -obsessed about plugging 'leakages', his euphemism for 'theft'. His intention was to liberalise the petroleum sector professionally, rationally and provide an efficient regulatory structure that would serve, rather than reap, national interest.

After he was kicked out the man who replaced him

supervised the worst period of leakage - rather haemorrhage ever: as elections and electioneering was paid for in hard currency.

Same difference: Robbers or thieves What is particularly vexing is that the whole thing clearly has not stopped.

And Cartelopians know it. To the extent that all robbers are thieves, the difference between kidnappers and subsidy fraudsters is indeed a matter of semantics. Just as the difference between those who buy guns, bombs and bullets and those who use them, is purely functional.

In fact to my mind the first group are the more terrible criminals.

The head of Cartelpia's Central Bank said something recently to foreign press about the 'elephant in the room' obstructing Africa's development.

He said the elephant was the ruling elite who have set up and maintained an efficient machinery for large scale, effortless theft: the 'rentseekers' as he keeps calling them.

Hmph. Coming back to Cartelopia - then the real culprit is in fact not the much maligned kidnappers, terrorists and fuel subsidy 'cabals' but the elephants amongst us. Think about it: amid all the waves and mountains of scandalous stories about payments made for product not supplied, or projects not carried out but paid for has any official who verified and approved such payments been arrested?

Smoke and mirrors, again The elephantine rogues are the government officials in the National Petroleum Corporation and its related organs, the Pricing and Payments Agency, and other so-called Regulatory bodies. Regulatory bodies meant to legalize fraud. The liars par excellence.

A deal has been struck: it is clear as a cold Harmattan day.

The conversation probably went like this: Give the rabble a few

dramatic pictures of arrests of young privileged men they have never seen before and may never see again - our sons. It's a small sacrifice to make. Besides we can send the boys off to Barbados after their court ordeals to cool off...

That's all.

Our holy technocrats with their sullied reputations smiled efficiently in agreement.

They think we have no memories. So when their every word is contradicted (by boss or colleagues) or undermined by the testimony of facts and unfolding events, they still expect us to believe them.

Flood relief hoax Back in August and September as the rains washed away vast swathes of farmland in Plateau, Kano, Adamawa, Jigawa, Borno, Yobe, later Niger, Benue and Kogi, and finally in Delta, Bayelsa, Enugu and Rivers, Cartelopia's PM Jonah Goodfortune was busy. Suddenly about two months too late a flurry of billions was released and even a Flood Relief fund set up.

PM Jonah toured a select few states, starting with his own. I suspect CNN's pictures of a drowning Makurdi may have triggered some false concern.

The Red Cross and even National Television news reports told us this week, that the people in nearly all flood affected villages are on their own. The refrain is that they are in worse state now- without food or proper livelihood and homes- than they were in temporary camps.

Abandoned by elephants The stories are similar to that of Mr. Oregwune Agbata of Ikaka Ibaji local government of Kogi state. He says weeks ago, before the flood waters had receded 'officials' came and took pictures of his house. He heard that rice was distributed by the state government. But till this day in December, he has not seen any rice and those 'photographers' never came back. He. like millions of subsistence farmers have been left to an underfunded and beleaguered National Emergency Service or Environment Ministry and random charity. Yet the Minister of Food Security says there will be no food shortage. I believe him.

And the billions allocated to the Flood relief? It has bought disappearing rice and been carried away by elephant-like creatures. Of course.

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