Peoples Daily Newspaper, Monday, May 21,, 2012

www.peoplesdaily-online.com

Vol. 8 No. 41

Monday, May 21, 2012

. . . putting the people first

Jimadal Akhir 30, 1433 AH

N150

Polio: Dakingari reads Riot Act to Emirs, council chiefs From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

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ebbi state Governor, Alhaji Saidu Usman Nasamu Dakingari, has threatened to deal with local government council chairmen and traditional rulers who fail to cooperate with

the government on its polio eradication programme.

He gave the warning over the weekend at Jega local government council area where he flagged off the polio vaccination campaign, saying that huge amounts of money have been committed to

the programme by the government.

Represented by the Commissioner of Health Alhaji Ismaila Sambawa, the governor said ‘’because of the huge amount of money that has been invested by the state government, federal

government and donor organizations in the eradication of polio as well as the great importance the government attaches to the welfare of its citizens the project will not be allowed to fail”. ‘’Because of the achievements

recorded virtually in all parts of the state, Jega local government which was previously identified as a major polio prevalent area of the state, has not recorded any new polio cases in 11 eleven months,” he said.

Contd on Page 2

Our democracy is in danger, warns Balarabe Musa From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

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ormer civilian governor of Kaduna state, Malam Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, has warned that people he describes as “undemocratic forces” may forcibly take over power.

He believes that only the convocation of a sovereign national conference would avert the impending danger.

Balarabe Musa, who is the National Chairman of the opposition Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), warned in a paper he delivered in Kaduna over the weekend that “if a national conference conducted and controlled by the sovereign people of Nigeria cannot hold, then Nigeria runs the risk of undemocratic forces taking over political power as happened many times in the past, or even a social revolution qualitatively superior and more effective than the present Arab Spring”.

According to him, “this will be in the form of a sovereign national conference which must proceed Contd on Page 2

R-L: Former Vice-President and founder, American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, Atiku Abubakar, Lamido Adamawa, Alhaji Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa, Professor Robert Pastor, and President AUN, Professor Margee Ensign, after the commissioning of the Lamido Aliyu Musdafa Commencement Hall of AUN, at the weekend in Yola.

Fashola moves to register Lagos residents >> PAGE 5

2.3m Nigerian children live with HIV >> PAGE 7

Lockerbie Removing CBN autonomy inimical to bomber dies, economy – Soludo >> PAGE 19 aged 60 >> PAGE 32

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Newsxtra

26

Education

27

Health

30

Senate President’s home town gets bomb scare

By Julius Ogar

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here was confusion at the weekend in Otukpo, Benue state, where Senate President, David Mark, comes from following alleged text messages circulated warning of plans by a militant sect to bomb the town, Peoples Daily has learnt.

The development forced security operatives to mount patrols around the town to forestall any security breach.

It was gathered that an Islamic sect last week sent text messages to security agents alerting them of plans to bomb the police station in the town, the Otukpo main market and St Mary’s Church.

That prompted them to position armoured personnel carriers, APCs, assisted by vigilante members and Okada riders.

The text messages and the high mobilization of security personnel and vehicles, Peoples Daily learnt, threw the town and its suburbs into confusion

never before experienced in the area.

Public gatherings, including church services yesterday came to a halt.

Last January, the town was thrown into turmoil when the sect allegedly came calling.

Contacted, the Benue state Police Command’s Public

Relations Officer, PPRO, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Alaribe Ejike, however, said he was yet to be informed about the development.

MTN, others get N1.2bn fine for bad service

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igerian Communications Commission (NCC), the national telecoms regulator, yesterday fined the country’s four main mobile operators, including MTN and Bharti Airtel, a total of 1.17 billion naira ($7.38 million) for poor-quality service, according to Reuters.

The telecoms industry is hugely profitable in Nigeria, Africa’s second-biggest economy and home to some 160 million people, but users complain that the service is poor, with frequent dropped calls and network interruptions.

“The penalties are as a result of the contravention of the provisions of the quality of

service regulations by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as the operators failed to meet with the minimum standard of quality of service” during May and April, an NCC statement yesterday said There was no immediate reaction from the operators, although MTN has complained that sabotage of its equipment and shutdowns by state agencies over tax disputes in some parts of the are impeding improvements to its service.

MTN and Etisalat were fined 360 million naira each, Bharti Airtel was ordered to pay 270 million naira and Globacom, a privately owned network of Nigerian billionaire

tycoon Mike Adenuga, got a 180-million-naira bill.

Mike Adenuga

Our democracy is in danger, warns Balarabe Musa Fund agricuture to stem insecurity – Reps’ agric c’ttee chair, Page 37

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

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

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

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

Contd from Page 1 with a revolutionary struggle to establish a new reality of power to replace the existing one and establish an interim administration to conduct, direct and control the conference which can review and renew Nigeria.”

The public function at which he spoke was the 2012 Law Week of the Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Balarabe Musa’s presentation “Towards Enthroning and Sustaining Democratic Practices and Ethos In Our Polity,” noted that the nation’s political system would continue to be endangered for as long as “the majority of (Nigerians) are denied a say in national issues by their leaders.

“We must remember that because of the continuing negative state of the nation, the regimes of Abacha, Babangida and Obasanjo conducted and controlled national conferences in their own individual styles with only a marginal role for the sovereign people of Nigeria. They

failed to correct anything.

“Only the people of Nigeria are sovereign and they can assert their sovereignty when there is no peaceful alternative. The sovereign people of Nigeria constitute all Nigerians aged 18 and above who are registered voters and are entitled to be registered as voters.

“There are risks in both national conferences and a sovereign national conference but the risks of continuing like this and the political adventure involved are greater.

“Those who realize the risks and fear them and still want the national conferences or the sovereign national conference must be good at reducing or even eliminating the risks.

“That is what leaders in other countries that achieved or are achieving greatness did and are doing.

“Why should Nigeria be different and pathetic? The present work of amending the 1999 constitution by the National

Assembly lacks credibility and the possibility of solving the problems of the negative state of the nation is zero.

“A big and complex third world country like Nigeria cannot afford to rely on the unconstitutional leading role of the private sector to even reach the take-off stage of economic development because of the peculiar character of the Nigerian private enterprise such as inexperience, immorality, greed and parasitism.

“During the colonial rule of Britain in Nigeria and the First Republic, because of the leading role of public interest, there was more nationalism, patriotism, credibility, quality leadership, and performance even though resources were meagre and the system controlling all developments was colonial, semifeudal, and conservative.

“The ruling classes consciously protected the system that gave birth to and sustained them unlike the present bourgeois ruling class.

“What we have in Nigeria has nothing to do with democracy. It is a combination of narrow self interest, dictatorship and anarchy.

“We have civilian rule instead of military rule, and it is this civilian rule which we wrongly call and regard as democracy.

“As preferable as civilian rule is, it is not democracy because it can be more irrelevant and dictatorial than military rule.

“If democracy cannot be achieved under the present circumstances of Nigeria because of the dictatorial control by corrupt ruling class which is leading the country to failure and destruction, then the only peaceful alternative for bringing about correction and desired changes is for the sovereign people of Nigeria to assert themselves and conduct a national conference with the active and patriotic support of all the three arms of government that are now aware of the desperate state of the nation and their failure to cope and avoid class suicide.”

Polio: Dakingari reads Riot Act to Emirs, council chiefs Contd from Page 1 The governor admonished members of the public, particularly people of Magaji area in Jega local government, to make their children available for polio vaccination at all times and health officials to discharge their duties with the fear of Allah “I call on people especially parents to make their children always available for vaccination

as it will amount to cheating these innocent children if you stop them from being vaccinated and surely Allah will curse you,” he said.

He reiterated the state government’s commitment to the provision of accessible health services, saying that the government has purchased critical drugs worth millions of naira for all government hospitals.

Pregnant women and children

would get the drugs free of charge, the governor promised, saying that a new general hospital would be built at Jega.

In his speech on the occasion, the representative of UNICEF, Malam Rabiu Musa, expressed his happiness with the effort of Jega local government council at combating polio, noting the tremendous success recorded except for 25 missing children

who have not been covered by the exercise.

“Polio eradication is a Herculean task in Nigeria because of the size and population of the country; the eradication exercise must be sustained through vaccination. I want to assure that the vaccine is not in any way harmful to children as some ignorant people assume,’’ he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

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We’ll implement Oronsaye report on small govt – Jonathan From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

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res iden t Goodluck Jonathan has said his administration will implement the report of the Steve Oronsaye Committee recommending the restructuring of federal parastatals and agencies.

The President also reiterates the need for good governance if his administration must achieve its transformation agenda for the benefit of Nigerians.

Speaking at the first international convention of Institute of Directors (IoD) held over the weekend at the

International Conference Centre, Abuja, President Jonathan said the implementation of the report will make government more efficient and effective.

He said: “Currently, government is studying the report of the Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals and Agencies, with a view to implementing those recommendations that will make government operate more efficiently and effectively.

“In addition, the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, which is a creation of the

administration, is working on improving the environment and parameters for doing business in the country.”

Represented by Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Isa Sali, President Jonathan said his administration was giving priority attention to good governance and stressed the need for both the public and private sectors of the economy to partner in enthroning best practices in public and corporate governance.

“As a government, we recognize the critical essence of good governance to the attainment of our national transformation

agenda.

“We have, therefore, given it a pride of place in the transformation blueprint.

“I am pleased that this convention has been organized with the aim of encouraging discussion, debates and partnerships between members of the private and public sectors on best practices in public and corporate governance.

He said “This forum, therefore, provides an opportunity for members of both sectors to interact fully and chart new paths to our desired national economic objectives.”

President Jonathan said that government had started implementing policies such as accelerating economic diversification by improving the investment environment; ensuring that sustained economic growth results in significant employment generation for wealth creation and implementing fiscal policies that support private sector growth, as its response to current domestic and global economic challenges.

In his welcome address, IoD President, Thomas Awagu, said the institute had continued to play prominent and leading roles in the country's business community, especially with promoting democracy and good governance.

Borno to upgrade palaces of traditional rulers

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L-R: Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke with Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, during the roundtable conference on the Nigerian oil and gas industry, at the weekend, in Lagos.

ICT, religion discourage tourists from Nigeria - Curator From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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nformation Communication technology, ICT, religious beliefs, poverty and hunger have been identified as factors hindering the growth of most Museum businesses in the Country.

This indication was given by the Curator of Benin Museum, Mr. Theophilus Umogbai at the weekend to mark the World Museum Day Celebration whose theme is, ‘Museum in a changing World: New aspiration, the challenges’.

Mr. Umogbai who X-rayed the myth surrounding conservation and donation of artefacts, however, sued for adequate funding.

“The truth must be said for the first time, I must confess to you that all over Nigeria, Nigerians don’t actually place value on Artefacts.

You know the reason. ICT has intruded into our psyche. Leisure has taken flight, that is why we have even tried on our own to

introduce the issue of carnival.”

The curator however commended the federal government to retrieve some stolen artefacts during the Benin Massacre by the British government in 1897, through diplomatic means.

He assured that, “we’ve not rested on our oars because it takes the collective will of the federal government through diplomatic channel to see how they can convince those people to release it,

on a platter of homily can be very difficult”.

“I remembered that crime rate dropped in Benin when we were doing our carnival because people had time to relax…Naturally, we don’t relax, because of the economic climate, there are a lot of things we are yet to conquer like hunger and poverty, unlike developed countries”, he said.

He expressed hope that if the government was able to organise a regular Carnival float for the Benin Museum,it could reduce crime wave in Edo State.

he Borno state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Bashir Garbai, said yesterday in Maiduguri that government will upgrade the palaces of traditional rulers.

Garbai, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the action was to ensure that the palaces befitted the status of the royal fathers.

He said: “the state government believes that the royal fathers play vital roles in the socioeconomic development of the society.

“That is why it came up with the idea of providing befitting palaces to them in line with their status as custodians of the culture of the people.”

Garbai added that the construction of the Shehu of Borno palace annex in Kaduna would be completed this year.

“Hopefully construction work at the magnificent Shehu of Borno palace annex in Kaduna will be

completed within the year.

“So also is the construction of the Shehu of Dikwa palace.”

Garbai said that construction work at the palace of the Emir of Biu in Biu Local Government Area would also be completed within the year.

“The palaces of four emirs including those of Bama, Uba, Shani and Gwoza, will be redesigned and upgraded to meet their status,” he said.

Garbai said that the state government had also resolved to construct befitting residential houses for district heads across the state to enhance their status and boost their morale.

He said that the state government was also working on plans to procure four rigs to drill boreholes in some local government areas.

“The state government has placed orders for four rigs from the United Kingdom that can drill 600 metre-deep boreholes in areas affected by desert encroachment.”

(NAN)

‘Jigawa received N78bn from federation accout in 12 months’

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he Jigawa Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Nasiru Roni, said yesterday in Dutse that the state received over N78 billion from the federation account from May 2011 to April 2012.

Roni, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that N18 billion of the amount was spent on staff salaries and allowances.

He said that N23 billion was spent on recurrent expenditure, over N28 billion on capital projects, while over N9 billion of the amount is left in the account.

The commissioner said that the 27 local government councils of the state received about N53 billion and spent over N20 billion on salaries and allowances of their staff within the period. (NAN)

Gas flaring drops to 14%, says NNPC

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he Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said that the volume of gas currently flared in the country has dropped from 19 per cent in December, 2011 to 14 per cent in January.

This is contained in the latest edition of its online Monthly Petroleum Information (MPI) for

May. The corporation attributed the drop to increased use of gas for power generation, export and industrial applications.

It said that out of 215.84 billion standard cubic feet (bscf) of gas produced in January, 199.41 bscf was effectively utilised.

NNPC said that only 30.16

bscf or 13.97 per cent of the total gas production was flared at both the onshore and offshore oil fields, in the month under review.

It said that 66.87 bscf of gas was sold to third parties by the oil firms for industrial use as well as the utilisation of gas for fuel and re-injection at the oil fields.

According to the publication, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) led the gas production chart with 76.4 bscf with only 5.94 bscf of the gas fared.

Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited followed with the faring of 9.85 bscf of gas from 38.63 bscf of gas produced. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

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Polio: Parents in Sokoto ready to immunise children

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any parents in Sokoto State are now ready to immunise their children against wild polio virus, a check by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has shown.

Parents who spoke with NAN yesterday in Sokoto said they did not want their children to become polio victims.

Mrs Amina Ibrahim, a housewife, told NAN that she vowed to immunise her children having seen a polio victim recently.

“As a mother it will be painful when all of a sudden your child becomes sick and after that cannot walk well again,” she noted.

Another mother and petty trader, Mrs Maimuna Jibrin, said she was shunning her parent’s suggestion that the polio vaccine contained family planning agents and decided to immunise her children.

Jibrin explained that she decided to ignore her parents because she believed that government officials and the governor could not be lying to the people.

She added that even some Islamic scholars advised parents to immunise their children.

“I believe that all these people will not be deceiving us and if they do, I leave them to God.” (NAN

Police yet to find kidnapped Lebanese

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wo weeks after the kidnap of Mr Amir Drek, a Lebanese and member of staff of Mother Cat, the construction company handling the Zaria Regional Water Project, the Police have yet to find him.

Mr Aminu Lawal, the spokesman of the Police Command in Kaduna State, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Kaduna, said the police were still trailing the kidnappers.

Drek was seized on May 7, after the suspected kidnappers killed two other workers, Padi Ibrahim, a Lebanese and Aliyu Nuruddeen,

who were on their way to the construction site.

“We are still trailing the suspects we believe were involved in the robbery and kidnapping.”

The police on May 8 arrested 90 suspects in connection with the killing and kidnap, but Lawal said the suspects were still being interrogated.

“We have received some useful information on the matter,” he said.

Eyewitnesses had said that the kidnappers blocked the road leading to the site and robbed passersby.

They said that the victims, on sighting the kidnappers, tried to escape but were attacked and robbed. (NAN)

Armed robbers kill one, set vigilante vehicle ablaze From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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rmed robbers struck at the weekend, killing one member of a vigilante group patrolling the Mararaba-Udege road in Udege development area of Nasarawa state.

An anonymous source told our reporter that the vigilante group who were on a rescue mission along the road, ran into the robbers while on an operation, at a spot called Gindin Dutse.

“The robbers on sighting the vigilante who were inside a pickup van, started firing on them and eventually killed one of them’, the source stated, while other members of the group abandoned the vehicle and scampered for safety, following which the robbers proceeded to burn down the vehicle, together with the dead body of the deceased vigilante.

Confirming the incident, police spokesman, ASP Cornelius Ocholi described the incident as

unfortunate, as according to him, “members of the vigilante are assisting in complementing our effort in providing security to the law abiding citizens of these country”.

While advising members of the vigilante groups to always adhere to strategies the police taught them, especially, when approaching criminals, Ocholi assured that his men had been drafted to the area to forestall recurrence of the attack.

Company sues FHA over alleged trespass

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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essrs Gigama Consolidated Ventures Limited has approached an Abuja High Court sitting in Apo, with a suit seeking the sum of N50 million as damages from the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for alleged trespass on its plot of land located at No. 7, Apo extension II Layout, Apo, Abuja.

In the suit filed by its counsel, Shaibu Enejoh Aruwa, the company is also praying the court for an order directing FHA to pay it the sum of N30 million, being the value of the property the defendant allegedly destroyed on the said plot of land, as well as the sum of N1 million, being the cost of the suit.

The plaintiff noted that, in spite of the order of the court restraining the defendant from carrying out any construction on the parcel of land pending the determination of the suit, the defendant still went on to destroy the fence of eight blocks height, the motorized borehole and rails for mounting of block moulding machines it built on the land.

It further averred that FHA sent its workmen to the plot on December 6, 2011 and pulled down the fence and other fixtures on the land without any explanation for their action.

The statement stated that AGIS confirmed that the title of the plaintiff to the land remained valid.

In a statement of claim deposed to by the representative of the

company, Alhaji Yusuf Abba, the plaintiff averred that he was the owner of the land measuring about 4, 476 Square metres as it was allocated to him via a letter of offer of terms of grant by the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT), Land Planning and Survey Department, AMAC zonal planning office on September 30, 2003.

The plaintiff is urging the court to declare him as the owner/allotee of the land.

L-R: Assistant Director, Federal Ministry of Defence, Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Tsauri, receiving an Award of Excellence from Alhaji Sunusi Wada Rahusa, during the 10th anniversary of Community Girls Day Secondary School, Kafur, Katsina state, at the weekend.

Bishop urges journalists to shun dubious politicians

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he Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Bishop Felix Femi Ajakaye, has urged Nigerian journalists to stop celebrating politicians with “evil intentions”.

Ajakaye made the call in AdoEkiti on Sunday while delivering a sermon, entitled, “Silence and word: path of evangelization”, in commemoration of the 2012 Communication Day. According to him, ignoring such politicians would aid efforts to rescue the country from “pervasive rots”.

Ajakaye advised journalists to adopt developmental journalism by reporting events that could portray Nigeria in good light rather than those that could dent the country’s image.

He said the Nigerian press should not have “celebrated” the statement credited to former Head of State Mohammadu Buhari stating that there would be crisis if the 2015 election is

rigged.

The bishop said that statement should have been played down by the press to show patriotism to the Nigerian nation.

“The winning-at-all-cost syndrome among politicians is a big challenge to the corporate existence of Nigerian; stakeholders must find ways of ensuring that this attribute is

subdued for the future election to be credible.”

According to him, journalists are men of integrity who should be concerned with the moral integrity of the country. (NAN)

Woman gives birth in commercial bus

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he sweet fortune of motherhood smiled on Mrs Grace Obehi in the early hours of yesterday in Lagos, as she was delivered of a baby boy inside a commercial bus.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) correspondent, who visited the scene of the incident, quotes an eye witness, Mrs Ifeoma Ogugua, as saying that Obehi entered into labour during a church service.

Ogugua said that she noticed that the pregnant woman was restless in the church, “as she stood instead of sitting during the church service”.

She said she linked the pregnant woman’s restlessness to

labour pains and decided to pay close attention to her.

“I followed Obehi, when she hurriedly left the church after offering, as it was apparent that labour had caught up with her.

“What baffled me the most was why she refused to call on anyone for help when she knew that she needed one” Ogugua said Initially, she said she felt like leaving the woman to carry her own cross, but changed her mind because she reasoned that the woman might be having her first experience as a mother.

According to Ogugua, mother luck smiled on them as they found an empty commercial bus along

Aka Road in Okokomaiko, a suburb of Lagos that, accepted to convey them to the nearest hospital.

The good “Samaritan” said that they had to stop near Lots Petrol Station, Okokomaiko, as labour intensified, while she was battling to reach Mr. Obehi on phone.

She said that the accompanying confusion made her to alert other women who were returning from church for assistance.

Ogugua said the women rallied round and spread their wrappers, as an experienced elderly woman, Mrs Iya Risi, helped in delivering the baby. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

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Fashola sets to register Lagos residents From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he Lagos state Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Adebiyi Mabadeje has disclosed plans by the government to register all residents of the state, adding that over 60,000 civil and public servants have already been registered.

The Commissioner who made the revelation while addressing pressmen as part of activities

marking the 5th year anniversary of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) in office, noted that the society had become more mobile and that information held electronically about persons and services in government agencies and other bodies has substantially increased.

Mr. Mabadeje pointed out that there was need to integrate the residents of Lagos state into egovernment initiatives to enable the services provided by the

government to be fully utilized and “to provide a more accurate picture for government policy and planning.”

He added that it was for this reason that Fashola signed the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency Bill into law on the 27th of June, 2011, stressing that data collected through the agency and the residency card issued to residents would “allow for a reliable method of authenticating and identifying residents”. He also

stated that residents of the state would be able to enjoy the e-services provided by the government after they are registered.

The Commissioner also disclosed that the agency had already acquired 60 registration stations across the state, adding that more stations would further be acquired for the exercise.

He pointed out that it was through the registration exercise that it was discovered that there were 49,000 teaching and non

teaching staff in the State Primary and Secondary Schools contrary to the old figure of 32,000. He said this was achieved through collaboration with the Six Education Districts in the state and the State Universal Basic Education Board.

Mr Mabadeje also disclosed that the Ministry had used the data captured from the registration of employees of the state government to print over 3000 identity cards for some of the staff.

North-West University, Kano gets medical college From Bala Nasir, Kano

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he medical research centre built by the US-based drug company, Pfizer in Kano is set to house the medical college of a new university established by the Kano state government.

Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso made this known at the weekend during a FRCN Kaduna Hausa phone-in programme, ‘Hannu Da Yawa’ when he was hosted by the Radio station.

He said the building was part of the compensation for the 200 Nigerians who were administered with trovan drug in 1996 when meningitis epidemic hit the state.

“The building which was sited at Kwanar Dawaki in Dawakin Kudu local government area has been completed by Pfizer and only some finishing touches are being effected before it commences operations,” he stated.

According to Kwankwaso, North West University has already being approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and already, provision of structures to house the first two faculties and administrative blocks of the new university have reached advanced stage.

R-L: Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, receiving a souvenir from Chief Of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar, during the closing ceremony of 2nd Nigerian Air Force Expo 2012 at the Nigerian Air Force Base, in Kaduna on Saturday.

Demolition of billboards not political - Oyo govt From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

Borno plans free drugs against life-threatening diseases

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he Borno government said on Sunday in Maiduguri that it planned to provide free drugs to patients suffering from life-threatening diseases.

Dr Salma Kolo, the Commissioner of Health, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Kolo explained that the object was to help save the lives of poor patients who could not afford to buy drugs.

She said the state government was also working on plans to overhaul the Drugs Revolving Fund in government hospitals to make it more effective.

She added that a consultant had already been engaged to carry out an in-depth assessment of the fund with a view to carrying out the overhaul.

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he Oyo state government has explained the demolition of billboards across the state capital in the last one week, stating that it was one of the efforts of the government to clean up the filthy environment of the state and to beef up its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

The government made this known in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to Governor Abiola

Ajimobi on Media, Dr. Festus Adedayo.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, whose lone billboard was involved in this exercise, had at the weekend accused the combined security outfit in the state named ‘Operation Burst’ of illegal demolition of its party’s property.

According to the government, the Ajimobi administration inaugurated the Oyo State Signage and Advertisement Agency

(OYSAAA), after it was passed into law by the House of Assembly in January and appointed as its Director General Mr. Yinka Adepoju.

The statement explained that immediately the agency took off, the state government made adequate explanation in the public of its intention which was duly communicated to the stakeholders.

According to government, OYSAA not only held meetings with signage stakeholders but it

also, last week, made public announcements in the media about its activities.

The government said that in the last one week, OYSAA had brought down about 1000 badly maintained billboards throughout the state capital, including one belonging to the state governor located at Mokola in Ibadan, one belonging to the state’s First Lady at Agodi and about ten billboards belonging to the ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the state.

ERA/FOEN wants warning pictures on cigarette packs From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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he Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has urged the Minister of Health to initiate the processes towards the enforcement of pictorial warnings on packs of cigarettes meant for sale in Nigeria.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, the group said it was making the call against the background that five of the world’s eighth largest countries have

commenced implementation of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.

“Of the world’s eighth largest populations, five: India 1,210 million, United States 314, Brazil 192,Pakistan 180 million and Russia 143million have all finalized requirements for picture warnings. Only Nigeria 162 million and China 1,347million are yet to initiate legislations to require pictorial warnings while Indonesia is expected to finalize its legislations requiring pictorials

anytime soon.”

ERA /FoEN Director, Corporate Accountability Campaigns, Akinbode Oluwafemi said: “Pictorial warnings have been proven as one of the most effective tools to tackle the glamourization of tobacco products; effectively communicate the health impacts of smoking and help to reduce consumption and its associated hazards.

“We believe strongly that the Health Minister should commence all processes that would lead to the

enforcement of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs. The first step is for the Minister to work for the presidential assent of the National Tobacco Control Bill”.

According to the group, several African countries have begun the enforcement of pictorial warnings while others are at the final stages of completing such regulations.

The tobacco bill currently awaiting presidential assent prescribes picture warnings covering 50 per cent of the cigarette pack’s display areas.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

FG ready for scientific transformation of armed forces, says Sambo From Agaju Madugba, Kaduna

V

ice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo has reaffirmed Federal Government's commitment to what he described as the scientific as well as technological transformation of the nation's Armed Forces in order to be abreast with the latest combat strategies and tactics prevalent globally.

Sambo who spoke during the

closing ceremony of the Air Exposition organized by the Nigerian Air Force in Kaduna, also urged members of the Boko Haram group to exploit dialogue options being proposed by government.

According to Sambo,."President Goodluck Jonathan aptly captured the mood of the nation when he stated that a strong, modern and proactive military is pivotal to achieving the administration's transformation agenda especially

in the face of the ongoing security and development challenges we are currently faced with. “The Military, in pursuit of its tradition, has been actively engaged in the full defense of our territorial integrity as well as maintaining our sovereignty with them being pivotal in quelling internal insurrection due mainly to the inadequacy of the needed manpower in the Police Force Government is committed to address

with the urgency that it deserves. “The various arsenals, equipments, aerial displays and combat readiness tactics exhibited during this Expo have demonstrated the fitness and readiness of our Air Force and indeed the military to face emerging challenges. "I must add that we are leaving no stone unturned in ensuring safety of lives and properties of all Nigerians and our visitors by subduing the

current security challenges we are facing. “We are still calling on the group to take advantage of our offer for dialogue in the interest of peace and development of our dear country."With the formation of strategic training modules and exhibitions of our tested and trusted personnel of this nature, there is no doubt that we are we are creating one of the best Air Force on the African continent.

Buhari wants people to revolt against govt, says Lili Gabari From Bala Nasir, Kano

T

he statement credited to CPC's presidential flagbearer during the last year's general election, General Muhammadu Buhari are clear testimonies that the former Head of State really wants to instigate Nigerians against the federal government, a renowned Kano octogenarian politician, Alhaji Lili Gabari has said.

Alhaji Lili Gabari, who is still in active politics despite his age, said in an interview with Peoples Daily

in Kano yesterday that it was unfortunate for a man of Buhari's status to have made the statement reported in the news media.

He said, " if General Buhari thinks what he said was politics, then he has missed the road because his statements are tantamount to instigating mass action against constituted authorities".

Politics, according to Gabari, was essentially for the good of the generality of people and so, Buhari's statements could in no way bring any peaceful co-existence among members of the Nigerian society.

NHRC boss identifies poverty, corruption as weapons of rights abuse

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T R-L: Former Oyo state Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, in a handshake with newly wedded couple, former Miss Mansurah Olajumoke Gafar and Mr. Yesir Folajimi Ashiru, during their Nikkah ceremony, on Saturday at Kwara Hotel in Ilorin , Kwara state.

he Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Bem Angwe, has described poverty and corruption as weapons of human rights abuse.

He stated this while receiving the Country Director of the Global Rights, an international organization working on access to justice.

Nimasa proposes anti-piracy bill T

From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

he Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has presented a draft bill on Piracy and Other Unlawful Acts at Sea aimed at fighting piracy at sea to stakeholders in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The Director General, Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi represented by the Legal Adviser, Barrister Matthew Egbadon said

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja will today deliver ruling in a suit filed by a governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Alexander Chukwuemeka Obiechina challenging the primary election that produced the Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Iheanacho Chime, as the party's governorship candidate in the April 2011 election.

The plaintiff specifically want the court to determine whether

the bill is expected to provide legal backing to the fight against piracy and other sea criminality and curb the financial losses which according to him, were in excess of three billion US dollars.

He noted that the draft bill which was put together by the Agency's consultant, the IMO technical consultant and the legal team of NIMASA entails the review of the UNCLOS 1982 and the SUA 1988 conventions and protocols as they relate to piracy.

Also speaking, renowned

jurist and chairman of the occasion, Justice Adolphus Karibi White observed that shipping was critical to human existence facilitating not just trade, but tourism and even moderating the climatic conditions.

He said that piracy and sea robbery are global phenomena which have made nations of the world to rise in one voice in implementing measures designed to address this menace.

The eminent jurist said he was impressed by the effort of the

team to capture the essence of current global efforts at addre ssin g t he s cou rge of piracy and noted that the bill was clear on jurisdiction.

While p resenting th e bill for stakeholders' inputs, the co nsul tant of the bill , Mi ke Ig bokw e SA N i nvit ed sta keho lder s to be open in the ir d elib erat ions not ing tha t th e co untr y do es n ot ha ve l aws for succ essf ul pro secu tion of piracy and related offences.

Prof. Angwe noted that in a country where a sizeable percentage of the population is poor and unaware of their rights, there are bound to be serious human rights challenges, saying that the situation has given rise to so much bitterness, discontent, violence and conflict situation that further exacerbate violation of human rights.

The Commission, he said, had set up a Conflict Prevention and Good Governance Department specifically to identify potential areas of conflict and to recommend appropriate remedies.

"The NHRC will not wait until situations occur. In this regard, the Commission is working proactively with organizations that share our ideals of conflict prevention", a statement by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs and Communications Department of NHRC, Lambert Oparah stated.

It further added that Prof. Angwe assured the Global Rights team that the NHRC will partner with them especially in areas of access to justice to ensure that Nigerians are given legal opportunities to address their problems.

Enugu guber: Chime knows fate today there was a valid special congress or primary held in Enugu State on January 11 or 12, 2011 in which Chime was nominated as the PDP governorship candidate.

He anchored his case on the grounds that the condition precedent for nominating a candidate for the governorship position in sections 85(1) and 87(1) (4) (b) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) was not

fulfilled.

The plaintiff said he had met all the requirements as a governorship aspirant, and was cleared to contest the primaries alongside the governor and other aspirants, saying that, while he was busy campaigning he heard on the state radio that Chime had won the gubernatorial ticket to fly the party's flag in the election.

Upon enquiry, he discovered

that the party did not fix any primaries for January 11 or 12 and it did not also notify the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at least 21 days to the primaries as required by section 85 (1) of the Electoral Act before such primaries could hold.

He is praying the court to declare that the purported primary that produced Chime as

the governorship candidate of the PDP and which was accepted

by INEC did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 and his acceptance by the PDP is null and void and of no effect adding that the only date set for the gubernatorial primaries in Enugu State was January 9, 2011 and whoever won same is the valid candidate of the said election.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 7

NDE trains 2000 youth in its schoolon-wheel programme in Delta

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ational Directorate of Employment (NDE) Coordinator in Delta,Mr. Patrick Isedu said no fewer than 2,000 persons had been trained in its School-on-Wheel Programme in the state.

Isedu who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba on Sunday, said beneficiaries of the programme where trained in hairdressing, automobile engineering, electrical installation and fashion designing among others.

He said “the beauty of the programme is that NDE moves fully equipped vans to meet the people at their various locations to deliver the training and empower them.

“NDE has trained 2200 youths on vocations as hairdressing, tailoring, fashion designing, automobiles electrical installations among others since inception of the programme in the state.

“The beauty of the programme is that the

2.3m Nigerian children live with HIV, says expert From Ojebola Matthew, Lagos

A

non-government organisation, KALVAC Human Development initiative has revealed that 2.3 million Nigerian children live with the HIV. This was said over the weekend in Lagos by a guest speaker and healthcare expert, Pastor Abiodun Obisesan, at the launching/fund raising of N40 million KALVAC fund for nationwide free screening of hypertension and diabetes project.

According to Obisesan, sensitising the public on HIV and AIDS constitutes major health challenge in the country. He said that from 2003 till date, Nigeria has joined the countries with the highest HIV victims.

His words: “13.5 million people live with HIV in subSaharan Africa, out of which Nigerian children constitute high percentage of 2.3 million, aside adults who are also victi ms.”

“HIV destroys the host cell and up to 10 billion viruses are produced daily by an infected person. 40 million adults and children are estimated to be living with the virus all over the world and now Nigeria is next to South Africa on the list of African countries with more HIV victims.”

In her welcome address, Executive Director and Initiator of the organisation, Dr. Ada Ekueme said most Nigerians die untimely because of ignorance of their blood pressure and sugar levels.

directorate moves fully equipped vans to train these youths at their doorsteps.

“Apart from training and empowering the youths, the programme, would also help in preventing rural-urban drift, among others.''

The coordinator said the directorate had the capacity to train more youths across the 25 local government areas in order

to help address the rising unemployment and security challenges in the state and in the country.

He said, however, that the major constraint of the directorate was funds, adding that with adequate funding, the directorate could train 60 artisans in one local government area in a circle.

He called on the state and

local governments to partner with the agency, noting that apart from the school-on-wheel programme, NDE had other packages that could be employed to train and help youths to discover their hidden talents.

He remarked that it was important for trained youths to be equipped at the end of the programme, noting that training youths without empowering

them amounted to nothing.

“This is so because during the training, their expectations are high and if their desires are not met, all the training will become a waste. ``This is why the DirectorGeneral of NDE emphasises a proactive and holistic approach to training; so, the school-onwheel programme is an integral scheme designed for tackling unemployment. ``To this end, NDE employs collaborative effort with the state, local government and other private individuals to address a common problem.''

(NAN)

L-R: Chairman, Board of Trustees, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), Dr. Ben Anyene, Programmes Manager, Dr. Nkem Ene, and Executive Secretary of HERFON, Professor Lai Erinosho, during an interactive session with Senate Committee on Health, recently in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Wada implores govt to halt importation of science equipment

By Joy Baba

T

he Governor of Kogi state, Captain Idris Wada (rtd) has added his voice to the ongoing call on the Federal and state governments to halt importation of science and industrial equipment into Nigeria and to look inward for science and industrial equipment manufactured by the National

Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

The governor said NASENI is known for possessing the technology and capacity to produce world standard scientific equipment and industrial capital goods using local capacities.

Governor Wada stated this during a courtesy visit by Acting Director General of NASENI,

Engr. Dr. Mohammed Sani Haruna to Lugard House, Lokoja at the weekend. He expressed satisfaction that “right in Nigeria there are local engineering capacities like NASENI that could give technical support to socioeconomic transformation agenda of both Kogi state, the Federal Government and all the other states of the federation” The governor called for

NLC no longer fit to defend popular interest, says group

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

I

n the wake of the internal crisis rocking the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), a group known as Integrity Group of Industrial Unions (IGIU) has said that the NLC is no longer fit to represent the Nigerian people and that its decision to break up from the NLC was not to serve as agents of government.

The group in a statement jointly signed by its National President, Comrade Leke Success and its General Secretary, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, condemned the statement issued by the Acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Owei Lakemfa, and widely reported by the media last Monday, that there were moves by functionaries of

President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to “create avoidable labour and political crises in the country by seeking to break up the Congress and impose a new regime of fuel price hikes on the country.

“The second allegation in Lakemfa’s statement is that the unions are to form a new labour centre, which he termed “government agents” “are also responsible for the anti-labour bill currently before the National Assembly.” Lakemfa went on to counsel “trade unionists who have enlisted in this project and those being enticed to join them, to retrace their steps as the Congress will not allow the ranks of the working people to be split,” the statement said.

It further said that Lakemfa’s statement was an act of

propaganda aimed to “blackmail the Integrity Group by peddling wild allegations whose proof lies perpetually in speculation.”

“Unfortunately, Comrade Lakemfa talks of the present NLC as if Nigerians do not already know that it is a spent force in trade unionism. If ever evidence were needed for this, it must be the booing and pelting of NLC President, Abdulwahed Omar, during the internment of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde in Ede, Osun state on Thursday, May 10, 2012. That is the first time in the movement’s history that we witnessed such a hiatus between a labour leader and the masses, led by students. It is the clearest evidence that the NLC no longer commands the respect and trust of the masses except in the imagination of Lakemfa,” it said.

support and patronage of research and development products emanating from the Agency.

The governor said he was pleased on the agency’s capability in solar energy production; adding that the beauty of solar energy in Nigeria is that there is abundant sunlight in the country.

“I am very glad that we have the capacity to manufacture and install same, so I can assure you that the state government will latch on the opportunity of your capacity as we go along in this collaboration particularly in the health sector” Earlier in his presentation, Dr. Haruna said the agency’s is charged with the responsibility of establishing and operating a Science and Engineering Infrastructure base for achieving home-initiated and homesustained industrialization through the development of relevant processes, capital goods and equipment necessary for job creation, national economic well being and progress for Nigerians.

He noted that NASENI had made tremendous impact in Kogi state, including turning the Federal Polytechnic, Idah, into a Centre of Excellence on behalf of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETF), donation of rotary furnaces to Mopa Technical College and Osara Campus of Kogi State Polytechnic.

PAGE 9

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Tension in Nasarawa community over impending attack From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

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esidents of Agbashi, headquarters of Ekye development area, were at the weekend, seized by the fear of impending attack by Fulani herdsmen.

The apprehension was said to have risen out of an altercation involving a farmer and a herdsman, which resulted in the chopping-off of a hand of the farmer, following which irate youths in Agbashi pounced on four unsuspecting Fulani who had gone there to do business,

beating them and causing them bodily injuries.

Our reporter gathered that the farmer who lost his limb, one Audu, who is also a leader of the Agbashi youths, together with the victims of the reprisal attack are currently receiving treatment at the Doma General Hospital.

It would be recalled that of recent, Agbashi has turned into a trouble spot, with mostly indigenous tribes getting involved in skirmishes with herdsmen, which has resulted in the loss of lives as well as damage to property.

Senator Adamu mourns late Bafyau

S

enator Abdullahi Adamu has described the death of former LAbour leader, Pascal Bafyau as a great loss to the labour movement and Nigeria as a whole. He said late Bafyau’ s contributions to the growth of the movement are immeasurable.

The senator representing Nasarawa West senatorial zone said Bafyau, who died last week will be remembered as someone who dedicated his life to labour, having joined the movement early in his life when he became the North East chairman of the Nigeria Union of Railway men back in 1969 at the age of 22.

The former Nasarawa state governor also said that Nigerians will forever recall the vibrancy and many achievements of the late Bafyau during his tenure as president from 1988 to 1994 when the military regime of President Ibrahim Babangida proscribed the labour union.

Bafyau, he said, will also be remembered for leading the

struggle for the reversal of the annulment of the June 12 elections and the fight against the Structural Adjustment Programme of the Babangida re gim e.

He said the present crop of labour leaders have a lot to learn from the late Bafyau who during his time strove hard to unite the union under the movement and also brought together the factions that threatened the unity of the NLC. Senator Adamu called on the federal government to immortalize the late labour leader who gave his life to the struggle for a better life for the Nigerian worker. He also urged the NLC to continue to stand firm in defence of the ideals of the movement especially in the tough times that Nigerian workers face at present.

While condoling with the leadership of the NLC and the people of Adamawa state, he also prayed for the repose of the soul of the late labour leader.

Candidate promises comprehensive training for journalists

A

n NUJ vice-presidential candidate in the NorthEast zone, Malam Sadiq Adamu, has pledged proactive measures to build the capacity of journalists, if elected.

Adamu stated this during a campaign visit to the Bauchi Council of the NUJ, ahead of the national delegates’ convention of the union this week.

He stressed the need for intensive training of journalists to enable them to meet challenges and development in the sector and in the society.

The candidate said he would accord priority to proper training of journalists and collaborate with governments, the World Bank, UNFPA, UNICEF and other donor agencies to accelerate such training programmes.

He said: “Journalists must be trained to enhance professional excellence in the discharge of their duties.

“We must build the capacity of journalists to squarely face the threat of social media.’’

He urged members of the council to embrace the spirit of teamwork and work toward promoting unity in the council.

Also speaking, the Bauchi NUJ Chairman, Malam Dahiru Muhammad, said the council had provided a level playing ground to all candidates and urged the delegates to vote wisely.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Adamu is contesting the election alongside two other candidates from the zone, Solomon Kumanga and Aisha Ibrahim.

Adamu, an employee of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) was a one-time NUJ Secretary in the Gombe State Council and also Chairman of the Borno State Correspondents Chapel.

(NA N)

Lagos assures new doctors of adequate security From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

L

agos State government has assured doctors in its employment who are carrying out their legitimate duties lawfully in various stateowned hospitals of their personal safety and that nobody can take any scurrilous action against them for taking employment with the state or choosing to stay on their job in spite of the strike action by their sacked colleagues.

The assurance is coming on the heels of threatening text messages, which the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris described its authorship as dubious, circulating round that doctors who are working in various government hospitals would face disciplinary committee set up by the Nigeria

Medical Association (NMA) and Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for various offences including unprofessional conduct.

Describing the action as preposterous, Idris noted that it is not the intention of government to join issues with anyone in what he described as a campaign of intimidation and disinformation stressing that the state government feel obliged for the sake of decency and information of the public to state that the NMA is a voluntary association of doctors and as such, no doctor has the authority to impose his/her views over any other member or punish them for holding divergent views.

Said he,”the Nigeria Medical Association is modelled after the British Medical Association. It is

a voluntary association of doctors to whose membership doctors are automatically entitled once they are qualified and registered. All members are equal, and no person or group within the Association has the authority to impose their views over any other members or punish them for holding such views or acting on them.”

The Commissioner noted that the MDCN has no power or mandate to support any strike action or act as a gatekeeper for those seeking to enforce denial of medical service to innocent citizens adding that the MDCN recent thrust has been to build consensus among doctors that hasty withdrawal of medical service to citizens is wrong and against the ethics of the medical profession.

Primate of All Nigeria, Rt. Rev. Nicholas Okoh (2nd right), in a handshake with Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, yesterday after the church service to mark the 2nd Session of the 8th Synod of the Abuja Diocese at the St. James Anglican Church, Asokoro, in Abuja.With them are Deputy Speaker's wife, Mrs. Emeka Ihedioha (middle), Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Rt. Rev. George Lasebikan (left), and Bishop, Arochukwu/Ohafia Diocese, Rt. Rev. Johnson Onuoha (right).

Photo: Joe Oroye

Bauchi govt, poly staff on collision course From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

B

auchi state government and lecturers of the School of Management and Applied studies (SMAS) of the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, Bauchi have drawn battle line over the relocation of the school by government.

The state government had last month ordered the closure of the school but lecturers, under the umbrella of Academic Staff Union Polytechnics ASUP of Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic, called on students to remain in the school as normal academic activities would continue.

Government said it intended to build a new Bauchi State Specialist Hospital at the school location and ordered the students

to move to the permanent site of the school at School of engineering in Wuntin Dada, both teachers and students opposed the relocation of the school because of lacks of adequate class rooms, hostels accommodation at the permanent site of ATAP at Wuntin Dada.

In a statement signed by the ASUP Chairman and Secretary Mahmood S kobi and Comrade Abdullahi Yalwa said the directive for the closure of the school by the commissioner of education contravened the agreement reached between government and stake holders.

The Communiqué demanded the full implementation of the earlier agreement called for the removal from office, the commissioner of education whom

they accused of creating an imaginary state of insecurity in the school of management studies.

ASPU said the commissioner did not advise the government on the realities on the ground and accused him of undermining the integrity of the governing council and the management of the Polytechnic through his directives.

In his response The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Mr Ishola Michael Adeyemi told news men in a telephone interview that Government Closed the school in order to avoid the breakdown of law and order due to the unruly behavior of some of the students to the contractors handling the project of building new Bauchi state Specialist Hospital.

PAGE 10

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Western rail line to be ready before Dec, says lawmaker

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Participants at the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) monthly walking/jogging exercise, tagged “Run for the Nigerian Child” held at the weekend in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

he Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Sahabi Ya’u, said yesterday that the Western Rail Line would be fully operational before the end of the year.

The rail line is expected to connect Lagos, Ibadan, Jebba and Kaduna to Kano, while the Eastern Rail Line will link Port Harcourt and Makurdi to Maiduguri.

Ya'u told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the Western Rail Line, which is 90 per cent completed, would have started functioning long time ago “if not for the Akere bridge that collapsed”.

“I assure Nigerians that the line would be in use before the end of this year; it’s just remaining some little finishing touches.”

He said the committee would, in the next few days, embark on an oversight visit to the Eastern

Poverty: Kebbi to sign agreement with W/ Bank From Ahmed Idris, Brinin Kebbi

G

overnor Usman Nasamu Dakingari of Kebbi State has assured the people of its readiness to enter into an agreement with the Federal Government and the World Bank with view to curbing poverty among youths in the state.

He gave this assurance yesterday at the closing ceremony of a 3 day pre-implementation training programme for members

of community project management committee and presentation of first tranche cheques to twenty six communities which took place at the auditorium of the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Birnin Kebbi.

He said the exercise was part of the state government’s effort in reducing unemployment across the state.

The governor who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ibrahim K. Aliyu said the

government would contribute N100 million every year to the programme for five years, in ensuring that poverty was reduced to the minimum level in the state.

He then urged the other local government areas whose community are yet to benefit with the programme to hasten contribution of their counterpart funding to the committee which to enable them enjoy the programme.

Speaking at the occasion, the General Manager, Kebbi state

Community and Social Development Programme [KBCSDP], Usman Abubakari Gwandu said that the objective of the programme was to improve the living standard of rural communities through given them grant to do projects of their choice, ‘’ where the benefitting will provide one over ten of the total fund required while the remaining nine over ten will be provided by the state government and social development project’’.

Minister reiterates commitment Yuguda appoints Emir of Bauchi monarch as Amirul Hajj to fight terrorism

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, has reiterated his commitment to restructure the ministry and its agencies to effectively tackle national insecurity.

Moro, who gave this indication over the weekend, during a ministerial platform organized to commemorate the “National Democracy Day” and President Goodluck Jonathan's administration, added that the ministry and its agencies had already taken various security measures to stamp out terrorism

in the country.

He assured that the current use of arms by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) would strengthen the security forces in their quest to crush the activities of militant groups in the country.

The minister further said that that the Nigerian Immigration Service would patrol the nation’s border to contain the level of illegal immigrants into the country but cautioned the officers against collecting bribes for easy passage to non-Nigerians, warning that those who betray their country would face the wrath of the law.

T

he Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu has been appointed the Amirul Hajj for the 2012 Hajj exercise by Governor Isa Yuguda The governor disclosed this while receiving the report of the 2011 Hajj exercise at the Government house Bauchi at the weekend said the Emir who head the Hajj committee while the Speaker of the state Assembly served as the Deputy Chairman, did a good job that deserved commendation.

Yuguda stated that members of the Amirul Hajj committee have exhibited high sense of discipline and quality leadership during last

year’s hajj exercise.

He assured that the state government has concluded arrangement to provide a new Hajj camp for the state pilgrims near the new multi-billion naira international airport expected to be completed next year.

Yuguda promised to implement the recommendations and suggestion of the committee aimed at improving services to the pilgrims.

While submitting the report, the Emir however called on the government to consider increase in the number of seats allocated to the state, saying that the present number was inadequate.

Rail Line project where “work is going on at a slow pace”.

“In the next one or two weeks, we will be out on oversight duty and we will make sure that every kobo that is put into the railway project is spent wisely.”

The lawmaker said rehabilitation work had also started on some narrow gauge lines inherited from the colonial masters.

He said there was also budgetary provision for standard gauge rail lines from Lagos to Ibadan, and from Itakpe to Ajaokuta.

Ya’u said that there was provision in the 2012 budget for the completion of the ItakpeAjaokuta standard gauge line, which is meant to transport steel products to the ports.

He said the projects and the Abuja-Idu-Kaduna standard gauge line were expected to be completed before the end of this year, adding that the standard gauge lines were being constructed in phases because of the amount of money involved.

“In the next few years, we will be having standard gauge rail lines running from Lagos to Kano and from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.” (NAN)

Rainstorm wreaks destruction in Benue From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

H

eavy rainstorm at the weekend caused massive destruction of properties in Makurdi, Benue State capital.

Our correspondent, who went round the town to ascertain the level of destruction, discovered that several houses collapsed while others had their roof blown off even as lots of PHCN electricity poles littered around town.

Areas most affected include the College of Advanced and Professional Studies, CAPS whose library was destroyed, boys’ hostel at the Benue State University where the roof was blown off.

At the Voice Newspaper and Police Zone 4 Headquarters, trees fell down destroying their fences and blocking the road leading to obstruction of traffic as well as Katsina-Ala streets, Atom Kpera road, Ankpa quarters junction and Abu Shuluwa road.

Also, PHCN staff were seen all over the town fixing broken electricity poles while most residents lamented the loss of their properties to the heavy rain.

Bauchi Shariah commission wants HIV test before marriage From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

T

he Bauchi state Shariah Commission has called for the enactment of a law that will enforce HIV test on couples before marriage in the state.

Chairman of the commission, Malam Mustapha Baba Ilelah made the call weekend while receiving management of Bauchi

state Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Agency (BACATMA) in his office.

“It’s unfortunate that our commission has received several HIV/AIDS cases among different people of the state in our effort to resolve the differences. There was a time when a renowned scholar wanted to marry his third wife

when the other two insisted that test should be conducted on the incoming wife and luckily enough she was positive and the commission advised them to hold on with the marriage”, he said.

According to him, the law would reduce the spread of the killer disease among the people in the society, pointing out that the commission had received and

recorded numerous cases of HIV among married and unmarried youth in the state.

Malam Baba Ilelah explained that there was absolute need for the people to know their status before getting married.

In his remark, the Chairman Bauchi state Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Agency (BACATMA),

Dr. Muhammad Liman stated that they were at the commission to seek collaboration and to expand its partnership to achieve the desired objective.

Dr. Muhammad Liman called on the commission to support BACATMA through involving religious and traditional leaders to enlighten their subjects on the danger of HIV/AIDS.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Police nab robbery suspect, recovers N4.091 million From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

K

ogi state police command has recovered N4.09 million and arrested three suspects including a pastor believed to be the armed robbers that invaded First Bank, Ankpa, looted and killed six persons last month.

The new Commissioner of Police in the state, Mallam Mohammed Katsina disclosed this while briefing newsmen on activities of the command since his assumption of office late last month.

The police boss said that he stumbled on many leads that pointed to one Innocent Onyeonura as the possible leader of the conspiratorial family gang adding that intelligence reports including CCTV cameras affirmed that.

He said that the alleged mastermind of the April 25, robbery in Ankpa was traced to Rivers and Edo states and later, Abuja and Badagry where he tried to escape and had an accident while adorned in complete police camouflage uniform.

Officials of the Federal Road safety Commission (FRSC) took the suspect to hospital for treatment only for them to discover that he was a “wanted” but before the police could reach there, he escaped from the hospital.

A search on vehicle paid off with the recovery the N4.091 million, Katsina revealed, adding that further investigation led to the arrest of one Karachi Ekwenye, pastor of Divine Rescue Mission, Port-Harcourt.

He said that N300,000 of the looted money was traced to the Bank Account of the pastor who allegedly offers spiritual assistance to the gang anytime there was an operation to be carried out.

Katsina said that a female member of the gang, Joy Onyeonura was also arrested while two other suspects, Christian Onyeonura and Olachi Onyeonura (Female) were at large adding that one of them had been spotted on Nigeria/Benin Republic border.

STF arrest Boko Haram leader’s wife, children in Jos From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

T

he Special Task Force (STF) code name “Operation Save Heaven” drafted to the troubled city of Jos to restore peace and order, over the weekend rescued six women, including wife and eleven children of the escaped terrorist leader in Jos.

O

ne Barrister Wilfred Okoli yesterday filed a suit against the Federal Government asking the court to restrain government from reinstating the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami.

The suit filed by Amobi Nzelu, listed as defendants the National Judicial Council (NJC), Justice Salami, the Attorney General of the Federation and President Goodluck Jonathan.

The plaintiff is asking the court to hold that NJC cannot deliberate on an issue which is a subject of litigation.

He also asked for a declaration

The family members of the Boko Haram suspects were arrested by STF when they discovered a hideout of the Boko Haram in the state.

The hideout is located in Rikkos area of Jos North local government near the regional office of National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Several dangerous arms and

ammunitions were recovered from the building which include 1000 rounds of ammunitions, various calibres of AK47 raffle with four loaded magazines.

Also, bombs making materials, detonation cords, cables and bags of fertilizer were recovered.

However, the STF in a press statement signed by it media

officer Captain Markus Mdahyelya said after a thorough search on the house the force recovered two generator, four Improve Explosive Device (IED), 395 sniper ammo, 60m of cortex blue wire, four container of sodium oxide, one potassium chloride, three lead nitrate, two aluminum meter powder and one remote control.

A walk for a healthy Nigeria: Aso Marine Patrol, Abuja chapter, embarked on a road walk to sensitise people on the importance of body exercise, at the weekend in Abuja.

Photo: NAN

Suspected Kogi serial killer in police net From Sam Egwu, Lokoja

A

dismissed soldier, Jimoh Obabu-Salau who specialized in killing women for ritual purposes has at last fallen into police net in Kogi after killing 22-year-old polytechnic student, Miss Idowu Aliyu.

Parading the suspect before newsmen on Friday in Lokoja, the state Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Katsina said that the

Lawyer asks court to stop Jonathan, NJC from reinstating Salami

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

PAGE 11

that President Jonathan was not under any constitutional obligation to act upon the recommendation made to him by the NJC asking to reinstate Salami.

He further asked the court to hold that it is only a court of law that has the power to hear and determine matters between parties.

In an affidavit he deposed to the plaintiff averred that the NJC had no power to recommend to the President to reinstate Salami.

He said: "That the NJC can only recommend to the President to remove judicial officers and not reinstatement."

The court processes were filed yesterday. It has not been given a date.

suspect disguised as commercial motorcyclist, popularly called Okada, took the girl to nearby bush and killed her with a heavy object.

The demented serial killer, he said, was about to dismember her parts for ritual purposes when members the community swooped on him and would have lynched him but for timely intervention of the police.

Katsina said that girl had in the morning of May 2, bade her family

of Adogo-Eganyi in Kogi goodbye and set out to travel to her school, Zamfara State School of Health Technology only to meet her untimely death in the hands of the suspect at about 9.30am.

Obabu-Salau who claimed to have had a psychological problem and got dismissed from the Nigerian Army in 1997 had according to the commissioner, previously killed his wife, Fatima, a Ghanaian along with their two kids.

The police boss said the bodies were dismembered them for ritual purposes adding that he also killed a pregnant police woman sergeant in 2003 for which he was prosecuted and sentenced to death.

It was gathered that while in Kaduna prison awaiting the hangman’s noose, some of his rich clients went to court and got powerful attorneys to review his case only for him to be later discharged and acquitted of the crime.

Pay us our 53% pension arrears - Military pensioners From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

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he military pensioners, under the aegis of the Nigerian Military Pensioners Association, yesterday made a passionate plea to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan urging him to order the payment of the much orchestrated 53 per cent of 2010 pension arrears to them without any further delay.

In a statement issued and signed by their South-South chapter Chairman, Comrade Gabriel Oaikhena and made available to newsmen in Ibadan,

Oyo State capital, the military pensioners said in the last few years life had been unbearable for them as the state of the economy has not been favourable for them .

Said the pensioners: “With deep sorrow in our heart, we are appealing to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as our father to see reason with us as to why we should not be allowed to die as uncared for going by our past contributions while in active service as soldiers, most especially during the 30month Nigeria/Biafra civil war between 1967 and 1970, in which over 500,000 of our colleagues

either lost their lives or became disabled.”

They were of the view that “with this supreme sacrifice which was enough evidence for every right thinking Nigerians, most especially those at the corridor of power to have sympathy for us by supporting our passionate plea for the payment of the 53% pension arrears by the Federal Government.”

Similarly, they pleaded with the President, Dr. Jonathan to intervene in the payment of the monthly pensions which in the last three months now which were paid in arrears without advancing any reason for such irregularities by those in-charge of the payment.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 12

EDITORIAL

Troops for Mali, Guinea-Bissau a misplaced priority

N

igeria, at the meeting of ECOWAS defence ministers, last week, in Abuja, agreed (or was it forced?) to contribute to regional stabilization forces to be sent to Mali and Guinea-Bissau where constitutional governments were overthrown in coups d-etats in March and April respectively. Nigeria is one of four countries (the others are Togo, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire) expected to contribute to a 500-600-strong GuineaBissau force. Defence Minister, Bello Haliru Mohammed, who announced the federal government’s readiness to send our soldiers to the two countries did not say how many men would be sent. However, we gathered that they would have left ours shores by last Friday.

This is how Mohammed justifies Nigeria’s intervention in Mali and Guinea-Bissau: “Regional instability caused by internal conflicts in some member states is a severe impediment to achieving the desired political and economic development in our subregion. (In Mali) it portends grave danger to our sub-region due to the assemblage of disparate armed groups whose reach extends far beyond the sub-region...If not decisively tackled, the development is capable of destabilising the entire region."

Ordinarily, Nigerians should have no problem with their government committing troops to a stabilizing role in any part of the region where democracy is threatened. After all, the country is considered the region’s powerhouse, economically and militarily. We did play that role

commendably in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the past. But those were the best of times for the country. We were at peace at home, our economy was strong and the military one of the best in the world. Regrettably, those good days when Nigeria would offer to put out a neighbour’s fire and be believed are gone. Perhaps for good.

If truth be told, we are in so weak a

“

Nigeria, first, must put its house in order before offering to help a neighbour with a much smaller problem.

The Boko Haram insurgency possesses a more greater regional security potential than occasional disruptions of constitutional rule in one or two countries in the region position now that we ourselves need help. Nothing exposes this state of affair more starkly than the raging Boko Haram insurgency in the northern part of the country. A small sect has grown into a rampaging terrorist cell right before our eyes, daring our government and its security apparatus at every turn.

The pity of it is that the government is clueless about how to handle the insurgency. The sect has taken

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advantage of this apparent confusion to gain sophistication and expand its reach. Last week, the police authorities announced that 308 were killed in 118 Boko Haram attacks in six northern states and Abuja in the last one year.

At about the same time, the sect said it would “resume bombing of government properties, offices and residential quarters in the 19 northern states and Abuja”. In response, the police have appealed to Nigerians to ignore the sect’s new warning, and to go about their “normal business”, reassuring that they are battle ready to repel attacks by “any criminal group”.

Really? This is a refrain Nigerians have heard time and again but the insecurity has not abated one bit. If anything, more and more Nigerians believe that the Boko Haram insurgents are more certain to carry out their threats than the police to stop or repel them. In other words, the fear of Boko Haram is more real than people’s confidence in the security forces to safeguard life and property. In any case, what “normal business” is there now to go about?

The point here is that Nigeria, first, must put its house in order before offering to help a neighbour with a much smaller problem. The Boko Haram insurgency possesses a more greater regional security potential than occasional disruptions of constitutional rule in one or two countries in the region. If Nigeria dissolves in chaos, as many have predicted, the strategic and humanitarian repercussions in the region will be frightening indeed.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 13

Okonjo-Iweala: The best President the World Bank never had (I)

By Jude Egbas

I

n the race to be World Bank president, she would have been likened to the proverbial 800 pound gorilla.

And where does an 800 pound gorilla sleep?

Anywhere. So when she tossed in her hat for the candidature of the world bank president, there was a quake—she was widely endorsed by a majority of the emerging economies. As a matter of fact, she was the candidate of the African continent as they had put forward her name as the best qualified to represent Africa and challenge the west. She did say herself that she was the most qualified candidate, having worked at the World Bank for decades, including a stint as its second in command.

Her credentials were intimidating; educated at Harvard University; graduating magna cum laude, a Ph.D. in regional economic development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1981. Vicepresident and corporate secretary and later, Managing Director of the World Bank Group. Over qualified, you might add.

The west took notice of this, as well as respected media organizations such as the New York Times, The Economist and UK Guardian who paid glowing tributes to her and urged the World Bank’s board to take a

By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

O

nly few Nigerians may not be aware that their country is engaged with too many problems on her plate.

But how do we articulate those problems in a way that facilitates an understanding of both the dimension and probable solutions? There are Nigerians that hold the view that Nigeria’s fundamental problem is “corruption”, by which they imply misappropriation of the people’s commonwealth. Some believe that Nigeria’s problem is “lack of true federalism”, which they mean the absence of resource control by local communities, regions or states, and the presence of so many legislative restrictions that frustrate regional security, regional economic agendas, regional justice, and regional infrastructural development.

But are those two broad categorizations of Nigeria’s problems truly representative of the problems of Nigeria? Where do we go from here?

Corruption in Nigeria is brought about generally by loose enforcement of law, selective enforcement of law or the complete negligence in enforcement of available laws.

This scenario in turn breeds a strange culture of impunity. The situation has become very daunting in Nigeria with the latest complicity of the judiciary

serious look at her, as they juxtaposed her candidature with those of Ocampo of Colombia and Kim who was the choice of the United States of America.

She was endorsed by 39 former staffers who wrote an open letter praising her deep experience in international and national issues in economic management.

On paper, her opponents- the Colombian Jose Antonio Ocampo and the Korean American, Dr. Jim Yong Kim stood no chance against her.

Ocampo stepped down and endorsed her, leaving her to slug it with Dr. Kim. So while the 800 pound gorilla marched on, and others quaked, she was to be hamstrung by international political arithmetic and tradition; the US alone has nearly 16% of the vote. European Union countries have a further 29% while Japan, has 9% of the vote. They will always support a US nominated candidate, in order to preserve the long-standing informal equation which has ensured the World Bank is run by an American and the IMF by a European.

Her candidacy was rather symbolic, as it was more of the fact that, for the first time, she has made it possible to challenge the status quo with regards to the fact that a non-American was equally and even better qualified to lead the institution. Never in the Bank’s history have we witnessed

a stumbling block to this monopoly. Together with former Colombian finance minister Ocampo, Okonjo-Iweala has helped create the bank’s first-ever competitive race for the presidency.

So while she might have been a consummate insider of the World Bank and eminently qualified to lead it, the problem with her and the Bank is that Okonjo-Iweala looks at development from a fairly mainstream neoclassical perspective. This is made possible by the hijacking of these institutions by neo classical economists who favour the free market challenge to the interventionist’s policies of developing or underdeveloped countries. They have eroded the influence of such institutions as the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) which more fully represent the views and correct problematization of the third world countries.

The neoclassical economists argue that the third world is underdeveloped not because of the predatory activities of the first world and the international agencies that it controls ,but rather because of the heavy hand of the state and corruption,

inefficiency and the lack of economic incentives that permeate the economies of developing nations.

This is the wool in which Okonjo-Iweala is dyed in and one which she cannot turn away from—it’s in her DNA. Her best chance to put her views into practice outside the bank came in 2003, when Olusegun Obasanjo, then president of Nigeria, asked her to work as his finance minister in his “messianic’’ administration. She was thus the poster girl in what seemed like an economic management Dream Team made of the unflappable madam due process-Oby Ezekwesili, the loquacious and power crazed Nasir el Rufai, the brilliant but uncouth Charles Soludo, and the harassing and harrying Nuhu Ribadu.

They believed they had a mandate from the messiahObasanjo; to carry out reforms, and considered themselves more highly placed than they really were. Isolated from the Nigerian reality, they carried out policies that were destructive .It has been documented that their decision making could be characterized as some times amateurish, with policy prescriptions borrowed from whatever caught their attention at a given moment.

They put together that disingenuous document called NEEDS, which was nothing

more than a cut and paste from a Goldman Sachs document projection of the next eleven economies, which they proudly flaunted as the roadmap to Nigeria’s El Dorado; promising seven million jobs in a few ye ar s.

Not to take anything away from her, in her first coming, she led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club, a group of bilateral creditors, to pay a portion of Nigeria’s external debt (US $12 billion) in return for an $18 billion debt write-off. She also introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation from the federal government in the newspapers. This action went a long way in increasing transparency in governance. It is however left to be seen if this has translated into progress in education, health care, and mitigating poverty.

There is no arguing that these policies are largely aimed at jump plugging the macro economy, while the micro-economy continues to suffer.

While she may have run albeit unsuccessfully for the top prize, will she really have made any difference to the poor and heavily indebted countries of the world? Could she have been different from the 9,000 economists who have shown themselves to be part of the problem that the bank faces?

Where do we go from here? in delaying justice, denying justice, or destroying justice. The cliché, Justice delayed is justice denied, if held to be true, provides a convenient reference to buttress the argument that there is no justice in Nigeria. Let me provide an example of legislative duplicity that the judiciary has used effectively to deny justice.

The 180 days limit imposed by both the amended Nigeria’s constitution (2010) and the Electoral Act (2010) on litigation of electoral petitions provides no remedy for the petitioner who has for no fault of his been denied fair hearing, a fundamental principle in law. Can the aggrieved contestant in future elections have confidence in the ability and willingness of the Nigerian judiciary to dispense justice timeously without denial of fair hearing? I foresee violence in future elections in Nigeria because another instrument of rigging has now been legitimized both by the Nigerian legislature and by the interpretation of the Nigerian judiciary that does not provide the petitioner with any remedy in order to uphold the universal principle of fair hearing in law. This is corruption in law. And where the law is not fair anarchy shall be fair game.

Nigeria has created one more problem that threatens her

future; and it is sad. I call on the legislature to correct this indiscretion without further delay.

The Nigerian has heard too much about “reforms”, “agenda”, and “visions” that have added nothing to their quality of life. Accordingly, we have another problem in Nigeria, which is linked to corruption—corruption of integrity. The greatest asset of any government is its integrity.

There are many Nigerians who have lost interest in listening to news about what the Nigerian government says it will or will not do. For how many years have Nigerians been promised 3000+ megawatts of electricity by the PDP-led government? We have heard that since Obasanjo’s government and yet, electricity generation in Nigeria has never reached 4000 megawatts. In fact, it has dropped sometimes to below 3000 megawatts. The Nigerian government has lost integrity, and this is a serious problem. There is yet another example. Many times after a security crisis, the Nigerian government has told Nigerians to “go about your normal businesses” without making adequate provision to protect the people. I find this highly deceptive; and many people have

lost their lives relying on the empty promises of government.

The security crisis in Nigeria, which forced President Jonathan’s cowardly response in not holding the traditional Independence Day ceremony at the Eagles square in 2011, presents clear evidence that Nigeria has no leader who is in complete control. It is then ludicrous that the government takes exception to warnings by some responsible world leaders to their citizens about visits to some locations in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Constitution itself indicts the present leadership in Nigeria. “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”, states section 14(2) (b) of the Nigeria’s constitution. No sane observer will disagree that the security situation in Nigeria has deteriorated and the welfare of Nigerians has eroded, throwing more than 110 million Nigerians below the poverty line. Where do we go from here? Every problem of Nigeria is an offshoot either of corruption in public and private endeavours or a consequence of lack of true federalism. And corruption, as I have argued, thrives when there is no enforcement of available laws. We love making laws, and enjoy

breaking them or forgetting they ever existed.

What then can Nigerians do?

A government that cannot or will not provide its people security and the basic requirements for decent living has compromised its usefulness and authority. The citizens owe their government no more than it has given to them.

The responsibility of citizens is only a return on the investment of government in their lives. No man can give what he does not possess. The Nigerian citizen does not owe the current Nigerian government loyalty. Loyalty is based on assurance of returns.

The leader as a minister is to provide safety and welfare; and to the extent that the PDP government has failed, its authority is greatly depreciated.

The PDP government has become an intractable oppressor, extorting from the people without commensurate rewards.

It has inflicted only pains on the people—increase in fuel prices, increase in electricity tariff in exchange for darkness, extortion of trillions of naira from the people’s treasury in the name of “fuel subsidy”, and increasing harassment of the hapless Nigerians by security forces and a general state of insecurity.

Continued on page 15

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

The semantics of “The dog and baboon will be soaked in blood”

By Umar Bello

T

he press once more appears to be in a frenzy over a comment purported to be made by General Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari, of course, is news any day. What-so-ever he does or does not do is a scoop to be splashed by the press. His commentary at the meeting with the Niger state CPC was rushed to the press without proper investigation. No sooner had the news reached the stand than the presidency, represented by Dr. Abati, furiously shot an unfortunate riposte building on the sketchy oversensationalized opinions of Buhari.

One cannot help but be shocked with the descent of the country to pedestrian (mis)interpretation of issues with the sole purpose of impugning the sterling qualities of a person. All efforts are made to make this otherwise upright leader, who suffers phonies gladly and who has no regards for divisions, a violent regionalist.

That is the way his Sokoto commentary has landed him a forced characteristic which has since then come to be his absolute definition in the Nigerian press trumping all his history of discipline and patriotism. It is a

clear case of giving a dog a bad occurred at the election no one has contexts and collocates of the name in order to hang it, and related Obasanjo’s idiom to any proverb, is mostly used where competitions occur remember this is not about a feline casualties? Likewise, nobody has fierce animal and a metal hook! taken the late Bola Ige’s especially in sports and politics.

In this current situation, mentioning of the Northern ‘cows’ Literal translation of this saying i s another deliberate mischievous fuss is caused to crude and further hang this banal for man by even if we intensifying an Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text d o n ’ t a l r e a d y messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written understanding established contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 Hausa, are stereotype. I just words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and Nigerians wonder; when a valid location.

Letters to the Editor should be addressed a ct ua ll y have simple to: ‘baboons’ proverbs or (literal not p o l i t i c a l The Editor, figurative!)? m e t a p h o r s Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, One is become literal disappointed representations of 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. that a person the objects they Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com of Dr Abati’s depict? Have we SMS: 07037756364 intell ectual forgotten the caliber has ‘figuratively’ colorful first and second republics? and ‘goats as part of the population taken this philistine ‘joke’ to When the late Mbadiwe (alias ‘a census figures anything like higher planes to impute the man of timber and caliber’) called livestock calculation more than the calling of Nigerian voters as ‘baboons’ and ‘dogs’ to Buhari. himself ‘a political juggernaut’, I political slur it was meant to be. believe, nobody then thought of a Why is Buhari’s ‘kare jini, biri This is to further estrange and monster caterpillar crushing all jini’ any different? Shorn of all the alienate him from the people for his political opponents to literal literal and decontexualized their 2015’s political success. If death. The Zik’s NPP was one time misrepresentations, it simply someone, for example, told me the ‘bride’ to be courted by other means ‘a serious contest’ i.e. the that ‘it rained cats and dogs parties, did we at all think of a attitude of not giving up by the yesterday’, then my translation woman! What of Obasanjo’s ‘do or parties involved. ‘Kare jini, biri into, say, Hausa, will not only be die’ declaration? Even if deaths had jini’, in a corpus checking on the that literal cats and dogs have

WRITE TO US

fallen from the sky but that the people in the area have become cats and dogs also. Abati (PhD Dramatic Arts), this is the abysmal descent of that your unfortunate response and this analogy captures how yours may read to discerning minds. For the price of lucre, many great intellectuals have committed intellectual suicide and fallen prey to the wiles and machinations of politicians only to come seeking for that hard earned reputation when it is too late and when the orgy is over.

And probably that is why that irrevocable incorruptibility of Buhari has remained a great threat since it cannot be Ghanamust-goed. His views are misinterpreted for his daring to be different and not being part of the corrupt gravy train. But by every effort that is made to besmirch him, he emerges cleaner to his massive unbought constituency.

And, as the Hausa saying goes, when the sky is out, it can’t not be covered by our palms. Buhari is the sky and the PDP gang is the palms.

Umar Bello wrote in from Jubail, KSA and can be reached at bello.umar@gmail.com

He doesn’t answer to his stereotype

By Ibraheem Dooba

T

hrow a dart. Shuffle a deck.

Flip a coin. Willy-nilly, pick a PDP member, and there’s a high probability that he’s a thief, an unscrupulous dimwit, an election rigger, a wife-beater, an insulter of parents, an airhead, a blasphemer, an abuser of neighbours, a shameless rascal, and a sadist who’s likely to have a couple of overworked, dispirited and garri-eating maids at home; ...and there’s a slight chance he’s going to hell!

The name PDP has so many negative connotations that even its members don’t call the party by its name. Interestingly, from the maw of this bottomless hell emerges a man (the fear of blaspheming prevents me from calling him something grander) that’s incapable of being PDP, yet Mr.Isah Kawu - the newly elected speaker of Niger State House of Assembly - is a member of that party the northerners now call shegiyar uwa. (I’ll not even attempt to translate that sobriquet, but it suffices that you know there is something just no right in the expression.)

Kawu’s life is so unique; journalists, foreign and local, should do many features on the guy. However, I see three reasons why this has not happened. One, many people don’t know him. Two, Nigerians are afraid of his story - I’ll tell you why. Three, the guy simply doesn’t care. But Isah Kawu’s tale

is a story that must be told, for, I’ve not seen a living politician in Nigeria of today who remotely compares to him - not even Buhari.

I know this is an unfair comparison. General Buhari has held more positions and had more opportunities to corruptly enrich himself without succumbing to corruption, while Isah Kawu’s highest position, is the one he was elected to only yesterday – the speaker of a state house of assembly. While General Buhari has chosen a life of self-imposed poverty, the sinecure of our elected politicians has imposed riches on Kawu; however, Kawu spends it all on his people. Thus, the conscious choice of living an ordinary life unites these two.

But I think Kawu is more comfort averse.

Our last meeting (in 2010) was in his car - a Mercedes Benz contraption so dated that the trend gulping Nigerians wouldn’t know what to call it. His Nokia phone was held together by a rubber band. Needless to say, that meeting was anything but comfortable. However, I was too engrossed in the viewpoints of Kawu to bother about comfort.

By then, he had already turned down an SUV given to the law makers by Governor Babangida Aliyu. He refused on the basis that he had already been paid his transport allowance; collecting another car from the people after that, he reasoned, was redundant, against the principle

of social justice and wasteful. ”Everybody is talking about the Jeep I rejected from Talba [the governor]. They don’t know that there are bigger things,” Kawu said. He told me some of those ‘bigger things’ off record, promising that he would grant an interview after the 2011 elections. Unfortunately, when I traveled to Nigeria after the elections, we couldn’t meet.

However, his reputation continues to rise among his people and I’ve little doubt that they can line-up behind him to go to war.

These people are sources of great anecdotes about Isah Kawu. Two of them visited me in Bida. As usual, I asked what they knew about Kawu. “We are just coming from his house,” they confessed.

They told me they went to him to ask for sponsorship for one of them who wanted to go to school. Was he successful? “No. Isah told us that he doesn’t sponsor students studying for a diploma because this category of students is large.

He only assists those going for degrees.”

As they relate the story, they were not disappointed in the least, indeed, they were happy that he agreed to see them. Unlike other politicians, his accessibility to the people stands him out. He doesn’t change his mobile phone numbers; he answers all calls and returns the missed calls.

Further, he’s so passionate about education that if you go to Minna in the morning, you may see him making school runs -

stopping at bus stops to take the children of total strangers to school.

Following is a list – sample – of what differentiates Kawu from other politicians: When his colleagues have dirty deals to transact, they no longer inform him, because they know he’ll kick against it. He told me that since he became a member, he had been on vacation once - to England with his wife and only for four days.

His close friend told me that Kawu had not changed his bed since he was an undergraduate and that was a long time ago; don’t think for a moment that he can’t afford it; he has held important positions before he became a member of the state house of assembly, including the general manager of Niger State Media Corporation. His wife still goes to the commoners’ bus station to take a bus from Minna to Bida; and she is still a secondary school teacher in Minna.

He doesn’t use his money for unnecessary travels - including needless visits for Hajj and Umra.

He uses the money instead to (among other things) sponsor universities students - including students that are not from his constituency.

If you go to Bida, ask anybody - ANYBODY - if they know Isah Kawu and they’ll overwhelm you with good stories about him.

I’ve never heard anybody saying something bad against him.

The aforementioned attributes always make me want to tell others about him.

In August of 2010, I was on my way out of Nigeria after visiting home for the Ramadan festival when I met an Igbo chief on a plane from Abuja to Lagos.

Then, I couldn’t keep my mouth closed because I had just met Isah Kawu for the first time; even though we share common friends, come from the same village and heard his story told several times.

When I told the chief about Kawu, first he expressed disbelief, then admiration, and lastly he strongly suggested - pushed me even - to tell Kawu’s story to the world.

What do you do if you want the world to hear your story?

First you create a website.

Problem is, Kawu doesn’t want his story to be told. Call it suicidal sacrifice or foolhardy, but like Dalai Lama would say, what is is. And Isah Kawu is just different.

When I created one website for him, the idea – suggested by his longtime friend, Mamman Saba Abdulkadir – was to document what people say about him and also publish his numerous projects on the site. But I’ve never had any of my creations so snubbed. Even the ridiculous poems I churned out in secondary school didn’t suffer such fate.

I don’t think he ever visited the website. And it was there for Continued on page 15

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

M

allam Aminu Kano, the fiery anti – e st ab li s hm en t politician, made his mark in national politics by the power of his words. He once warned his NEPU party men in the first republic that any of them who fled from a confrontation with the oppressive Native Authority police would be expelled from the party. On the other hand, party men who confronted ‘the agents of evil’ and were brought back home dead on a stretcher would receive the party’s medal of honour!

His student, a prominent politician in the second republic, the late Abubakar Rimi, did not disappoint. His caustic mouth was a cause of perpetual discomfort to the NPN, the ruling party. ‘Change’, he thundered in his speeches, was ‘a must’.

Those opposed to change, he charged,’ must be forced to support it - even with a horse whip.

These were anti establishment politicians – ‘the radicals of the north’- as the press often called them. Their background as revolutionary thinkers explained their hard positions. They lived in a world apart from an army general who strayed into the comfort of political office. But recently, an army general has picked the relay race from where the departed radicals of the north dropped off. Those who complain of Buhari’s utterances today have good reasons to do so.

General Buhari is reported to Continued from page 13

I believe that the PDP is overwhelmed by the problems it has helped create. It will only be to the shame of Nigerians to let the party continue to rule over Nigeria.

The arrogance, impunity, and care-free attitude of the party cannot be overlooked.

I called on Nigerians last year to vote against any candidate (even if he is an angel) that contested on the platform of the party. But, whether by rigging or otherwise, the party still retains power at the centre and in many states in Nigeria today. Either Nigerians are fools or something worse. But until Nigerians start punishing Continued from page 14

the whole of one year. He believed he didn’t need a website to serve his people. We told him Nigerians need that site for inspiration. Also, he was required to pay nothing. The only input needed from him was a document detailing the projects he executed for his constituency; he didn’t give it. Consequently, the site was sparsely populated.

After bankrolling it for a year, I let it rest. Why should I continue to publish a website against his wish?

Kawu’s integrity is so raw it’s brutal. That’s why many people – including those brandishing squeaky-clean credentials - feel depressed when they hear about him. The reasoning behind that depression is simple: you aspire to be a leader. You criticize the current leaders as corrupt and ineffective. You’re then shown

PAGE 15

Buhari’s burning rhetoric have told his supporters at a PDP has currently mounted a rally in the Hausa language that massive media campaign, they should vote and protect accusing Gen Buhari of inciting their votes. Anybody who wants the public to anarchy. I think to rig their vote should be they have good grounds for their finished with. Events since that complaint. speech have put the leadership In 1983, as a young news of the Peoples Democratic Party reporter, I was sent to cover the on edge. His party war in the CPC was Chad, or frustrated in its m o r e attempt to hold a appropriately rally in Minna the the war Niger State capital between recently.

A day Chad and after, a PDP rally in Nigeria. It Suleja was bombed was perhaps and a number of the most deaths were t r i c k y Emmanuel Yawe reported. The PDP assig nment 08024565402 responded angrily, that I ever royawe@yahoo.com had had to pointing accusing fingers at Buhari and carry out, his party the CPC. with national and international What followed the bombing implications. Nigeria had not in Suleja was the violence declared war against Chad. But unleashed on Gombe where the I discovered on my reaching PDP was worsted and President Lake Chad that Nigerian troops Goodluck Jonathan pelted as he had moved deep into that campaigned in the state. Buhari country and seized a large part has since then condemned the of it, hosting the green white actions of those his supporters green flag there. The 1979 in Gombe who took the law into Constitution stipulated their hands and apologized. Of conditions under which Nigeria course even before the speech, could declare war on a foreign the President had been heckled country.

None of those in Lafia, the Nassarawa State conditions were met before Capital. Accusing fingers were Nigerian troops invaded Chad pointed at Buhari’s CPC and the and seized their land. I did not gubernatorial candidate in the go to Chad as a diplomat. I was a state, Alhaji Al-makura. The mere reporter and so I fired my

report. It was lavishly carried on the front page by the New Nigerian, a newspaper wholly owned by the Federal Government. The BBC Africa Report lifted and aired it to the world and then all hell was let loose. How the big men in Lagos and Kaduna resolved it was their cup of tea. I had done my beat as a reporter and left.

Much later, I learnt that President Shehu Shagari, a man of mild manners, was very angry. The troops had been moved in to Chad without his consent as the Commander-inChief. The man who went to war on behalf of Nigeria without the knowledge and approval of the President, Commander-in-Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces was General Muhammadu Buhari, GOC of Third Division with Headquarters in Jos. A few months later, there was another troop movement from Jos; this time they were not headed for Chad but Lagos. On December 31, 1983, they sacked President Shehu Shagari.

The man who took over from Shehu Shagari was the same Gen Buhari. In his first public broadcast, he blamed the ruling NPN party for rigging the elections earlier held that year.

The rest as they say is now history.

Gen. Buhari has since 2002 been a street politician, running

around for votes. Unfortunately at every round of his race for the Presidency, he loses out. He lost in 2003 and 2007. His reaction in those two rounds was to go to court and seek an invalidation of the PDP victory against him and his party the ANPP. At both times, he lost.

Today, Gen Buhari has vowed not to go to court again as he runs for this year’s presidential contest on the ticket of his newly formed CPC. He may not have the troops available to him in 1983 that moved against Shagari. But the army of followers he has attracted should worry the PDP more than the type he had against the NPN. I can see the ‘Peoples Power’ at its ugliest in the making her.

When I look all around me, I see no other person but the PDP to blame. When Obasanjo declared that the 2007 elections were a matter of ‘do or die’, the PDP did not fault him. They, in fact, promoted him after the ‘election-like event’ of 2007 to be the Chairman, Board of Trustees – the soul of the party. Last week, the Senate President, David Mark, declared at the launch of his campaign that he did not treat the opposition with kid’s gloves. A few days after, Gen. Onoja, his opponent in the race for the Senate, was shot at. The PDP can do more than protest Buhari’s burning rhetoric .

Where do we go from here? failed political parties they cannot be taken seriously. Noncooperation with the PDP government is required at this time. The fuel subsidy probe report presents just a cause, but it is not the cause.

In an organized opposition to the ruling party we shall have presented a warning to any future ruling party that compromise of the people’s security and welfare compromises the authority of government over our lives. Let us be ready to support any mass

protest that seeks to register our displeasure at the wastage that the PDP has come to represent. I do not belong to any political party, but I am not satisfied with the one that has ruled over my nation for more than a decade, with unprecedented violence since I have been an adult. I agree that if the issues I have ventilated above are not addressed we may have no nation to call our own. I believe in prayer, but just like prayer without works cannot produce an excellent college degree, so also is it a poisoning of

theological wisdom to abdicate our responsibilities to God. No abusive and stolid government sustains the support of divinity.

Nigerians, where we go from here depends on our collective will and boldness. But we cannot survive without a revolution—a turn-around from impunity to rule of law; and from injustice to true fiscal federalism, which can only be achieved through a sovereign national conference.

We cannot run away from this.

President Kennedy said, “Let us not seek the Republican answer

or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” No matter how long we live in denial of our problems they just won’t go away. We may not delight in the right answers, yet they cannot cease being such. Let us go upward from denial.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa state.

He doesn’t answer to his stereotype the score card of someone who’s already a leader. You look at it and silently tell yourself that even three life-times you wouldn’t match this guy’s record; because you know that you wouldn’t deny yourself a new car when you can afford it.

Certainly, your cell phone wouldn’t be held together by a rubber band. Indeed, you want the convenience of Blackberry, the sophistication of iPhone, the portability of iPad and at the same time, you can’t do without your laptop. Isah Kawu doensn’t need all these to serve his people.

This realization doesn’t make you happy, it makes you sad. One editor-in-chief in Abuja told me “please he shouldn’t over do it!”

But I prefer millions of Isah Kawus who will “over do it” than

the criminals we have today as leaders.

Kawu’s story begs to be compared with our First Republic northern politicians - the Balewas and Sardaunas. We hear how they would park their official vehicles at home and run errands on foot or find other means of transportation, because, they reasoned, the government had allowed them to ride home in their official vehicles, but anything outside that is their personal business and therefore, they refuse to use their official cars to run personal errands.

You no longer have to go to the 20th century and the First Republic to find such example, our contemporary, Isah Kawu lives it. He never uses official cars for unofficial business -and

would not allow his family to do so.

Now that he’s become a speaker, many people will go to him with ‘project ideas’. I’ve an advice for such people: if it’ll benefit only the person pitching the project, it will be rejected. If it’ll benefit only Isah Kawu, it’ll be rejected. If it’ll genuinely benefit the people, then maybe you’ve a chance. Some people may consider this write-up favourable to him, but I don’t think he’d be impressed; the last time I wrote something similar, he didn’t even mention it when we met. He’s just like that. Thus, be sure you’ve sincere intentions before you go to him, otherwise don’t waste your time.

Lastly, when I told one of his friends I was going to write this,

he (M.S Abdulkadir) said I should quote him, “we know that he’s been an upright person right from his days as a local government official. He should not disappoint us by allowing the new position to spoil him and refuse to stand by the truth.”

Above all, Isah Kawu needs our prayers for protection and steadfastness against the imminent clash between him and the state governor. This clash is inevitable because we know Isah Kawu and we know the so-called chief servant.

Also important is the fact that Kawu has made believable the improbable notion that even among PDP members, there are a few who will make it to Heaven.

I. Dooba is reachable at idooba@gmail.com

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 19

INSIDE

BUSINESS Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

FAAC allocation for the month of April 2012 S/N

BENEFICIARIES

SUB-TOTAL (N)

1 2 3 4 5

Statutory Revenue VAT Augmentation Refund by NNPC SURE-P

441.167bn 57.291bn 2 1. 4 6 5b n 7 .617b n 35 .549 bn

TOTAL

563.089bn

Dangote Sugar pre-tax profit down by 34.6 % environment, the company From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

D

angote Sugar Refinery Plc. has recorded a profit before tax of N10.5 billion for the financial year ended 31st December, 2011.

This represents a decrease of 34.6 per cent when compared with N16.14 billion written in the comparable period of 2010.

The firm equally posted a profit after tax of N7.1 billion in the period under review against N11.2 billion written in 2010, showing yet a decline of 37 per cent.

The Chairman of the company, Alhaji Aliko Dangote who spoke at the firm’s annual general meeting in Lagos state that in spite of the harsh operating

Flight schedule AIR NIGERIA (MONDAY - SUNDAY) LOS-ABJ: 07.15, 11.40, 14.00, 16.30, 17.00, 17.20, 18.30.

ABJ-LOS : 07.00, 09.30, 10.30, 11.15, 16.15, 19.15, 19.35 ABJ-KANO: 18.40 KANO-ABJ: 08.35 ABJ-S OK (MON): 09.35 ABJ-S OK (FRI): 10.10 ABJ-S OK (WED /SUN): 11.20 SOK-ABJ (MON): 11.35 SOK-ABJ (FRI): 12.00 SOK-ABJ (WED /SUN): 13.20

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

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

IRS AIRLINES LOS-ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

posted a turnover of N106.5 billion.

Shareholders fund as well dropped marginally to N39.4 billion, from the N40.8 billion achieved in the comparable period of 2010.

The shareholders of the company unanimously approved a dividend payout of 30 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo each to investors of the firm whose names appeared in the company’s register which was put together to amount to N3.6 billion.

KANO-LOS (S UN /SUN): 10.30

UBA records N185bn gross earnings

Mob: 08033644990

Removing CBN autonomy’ll hurt economy – Soludo

By Abdulwahab Isa ormer Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo, has called for restraint on moves by the National Assembly to whittle down the autonomy of the CBN as guaranteed by the CBN Act 2007.

Soludo said such attempt could hamper the effectiveness of monetary policy and the management of the macroeconomic framework of Nigeria.

F

He spoke at the weekend at a sent-forth dinner, declaring that “the survival of that institution, CBN, is at the heart of the survival of the Nigerian economy”.

Soludo warned that any attempt to remove the autonomy of the apex bank will lead to “ominous” consequences. He decried a situation in which a disagreement with an individual could lead to the destruction of the entire institution.

Rather than tampering with the Act, the immediate CBN governor joined in the plea to

the National Assembly members to have a “constructive dialogue” over the matter “in order to avoid going to the other extreme, as the institution of the CBN must be preserved no matter the level of disagreement”.

He spoke against the background of the on-going move by the National Assembly to amend some vital sections of the CBN Act 2007 which grant both administrative and instrument autonomy to the apex Bank in the management of the economy.

CBN to establish special court for microfinance loan defaulters

By Abdulwahab Isa

T

he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has re-stated its commitment to establish special court to hear cases on loan default in microfinance banks.

Olufemi Fabanwo, the Director of Other Financial Institutions Department in CBN, disclosed on Thursday in Lagos, saying that the apex bank had constituted a committee that would look into modalities of establishing the court.

The director was in Lagos to attend a meeting of the Committee of Microfinance Bank Directors in Nigeria. According to him, the court is vital to survival of the sub-sector.

Fabanwo said that the nature of service rendered by the sub-sector did not permit it to accommodate bad debts as it would distort its buoyancy and force operators out of business.

He said the apex bank had held in-depth discussions on the issue with the Ministry of Justice so that the court could be effective when established.

EXCHANGE RATES

CBN CFA € £ RIYAL $

£ RIYAL $

L-R: Executive Directors, UBA Plc, Mr. Dan Okeke, and Mr. Ifeatu Onejeme during the 50th Annual General Meeting of the bank, last Friday in Lagos.

Gov Ahmed advocates for fruit production in Kwara From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

he Kwara state governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed has advocated for more research into the production of juice from the different fruits found in the state as way to solve various diseases such as obesity.

Governor Ahmed, who stated this at the workshop organised by the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, on the importance of regular in-take of fresh fruit said regular

BUYING 0.2801 196.6237 244.6426 41.2489 154.7

SELLING 0.3001 197.8947 246.224 41.5156 155.7

BUYING 243 43 154

SELLING 257 45 159

consumption of fruit juice would enhance optimal functioning of the body chemistry.

Ahmed, who was represented by the state’s commissioner for Industries and Solid Minerals, Malam Umar Aliyu said that now we are concerned with the health benefits of juice than a sunny start to our day.

“Health improvement can only be done by drinking fruit juice than conventional soft drinks. Disease such as obesity especially among children, is partly due to the high consumption of conventional soft drinks. The ultimate solution is

to avoid conventional soft drinks replacing them with fruit juice.

“Kwara state’s unique climatic condition between the high forest of south and the savannah of the north gives the state the potentials to produce crops like cocoa, kola nuts, oil palm, sugarcane, yam, cassava, plantain, maize, guinea corn, millet, rice, beans and cowpeas.

“I want to use this opportunity to appeal to private investors to take advantage of this workshop to equip themselves on necessary knowledge towards investment in fruit processing and production,” he stated.

Management Tip of the Day

18th May, 2012

PARALLEL RATES

ABJ-L OS : 11.30, 3.45, 4.45 LOS-KANO: 6.15 LOS-KANO (S AT /SUN): 16.30 KANO-L OS: 07.30

- Pg 20

Stop e-mail overload

D

o you have thousands of messages in your inbox, and receive hundreds more every day? Welcome to the club.

Instead of being overwhelmed by email, take these steps to regain control: Turn off the spigot.

Unsubscribe to irrelevant enewsletters and turn off Facebook

or Twitter notifications. Consider whether colleagues are copying you on too many emails. If so, ask to only be updated with final decisions.

Keep a clean inbox. It's easier to handle incoming messages without clutter staring back at you. Create a new folder called "Old Inbox" and put all your

messages in there. Then when new email comes in, sort it right away.

Take an occasional break.

Disconnect from all things digital once in a while. Take an email sabbatical next time you go on vacation.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS Etisalat introduces ‘easybusiness’ for SMEs

E

tisalat Nigeria has introduced its ‘easybusiness’ proposition suite, specially designed to lower costs for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), while increasing profit and providing value to these businesses.

NTA signs pact with Chinese firm, over digital transmission

T

he management of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) has entered into agreement with a Chinese international firm, StarTimes, to boost its operations in the country from the current analogue to digital broadcast transmission.

First Bank partners with Ria on money transfer services

By Aminu Imam

N

igerians in the Diaspora now have another platform for convenient and reliable money transfer transactions through the partnership between the nation’s Number One Brand Bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Ria International Money Transfer Services (Ria).

First Bank, through its network of over 600 branches will act as Receiver Agent to Ria, a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide, Inc., and the 3rd largest global remittance company and leading specialist in international money transfers.

Established in 1987, the company provides fast, reliable and secure money transfer services using state-of-the-art technology. Ria is widely acclaimed for its strength in terms having a network of 150,000 send agents and over 156 company-owned outlets located in over 120 countries spread across North America, the Carribean, Europe and Asia.

According to the Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Folake AniMumuney, the partnership, in

addition to the Bank’s Moneygram and Western Union platforms, is another innovative offering from First Bank that gives Nigerians in the diaspora 24/7 access to convenient, secure, and reliable international money transfer services.

Ani-Mumuney said besides receiving cash (USDollar/Naira) over the counter, Ria customers have the option of having their remittances credited directly into their accounts with the Bank, providing flexibility and support

From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

U

nited Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) has recorded an impressive performance for the year ended 31st December, 2011, as its gross earnings grew to N185 billion.

UBA stated this at the bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on Friday in Lagos.

The banks Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Phillip Oduoza said this represented growth rate of 4.1 per cent when compared with N178 billion written in the previous year.

T

he Federal Government may soon put in place a policy that would enforce local content in goods purchased by Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in the country.

O

rganisations around the world lose an estimated 5 percent of their annual revenues to fraud, according to a survey of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) who investigated cases between January 2010 and December 2011.

Emirates records N100.6bn profit

E

mirates Airline and Group has recorded a year of profit and companywide growth in spite of the unprecedented economic pressure and high fuel price in the aviation industry, announced the airline recently.

transfer services,” she said.

It will be recalled that First Bank was the first to introduce International Money Transfer services to the Nigerian market and has over the decades remained a foremost provider of sundry financial services to Nigerians in the Diaspora.

The bank has since has launched FirstDiaspora, a suite of products specially designed to cater to various finance related needs and projects of Nigerians in the Diaspora.

UBA records N185bn gross earnings

Govt to enforce patronage of local products on MDAs

Global organisations lose 5% of revenue to fraud – Report

for the cashless society initiative of the CBN. “First Bank’s existing and prospective customers all over the world now have another platform for remitting money to their loved ones with the peace of mind, expertise, and convenience that FirstBank offers.

Ria is a top brand in money transfer business, and we are delighted at having another opportunity to serve the Diaspora market with seamless money

Inflation rates from May, 2011 to Apr, 2012 Max = 12.9%, Min = 9.3% for period in display.

Current Inflation rate = 12.9% Source:CBN

Oduoza explained to shareholders the significant roles being played by the subsidiaries spread across the continent in its estimable financials.

Oduoza, said “the procurement of licence(s) from one country to the other started a while back now spans over eighteen African countries today.

With a previous forecast of N15billion, UBA yielded a PBT of N16billion in its 2011 FYE. The bank proposed a bonus of 1 for 50 to shareholders but promised dividends payments in 2012. Under the approved restructuring plans of the bank, its various subsidiaries will be spun-off while the bank will transform into UBA Holdings Plc.

Interbank rates up as liquidity helped calm the market a little dips further today (Friday),” one dealer said.

N

igeria’s interbank lending rates rose this week to an average of 14.66 percent, from 14.16 percent last week, as cash outflows to bonds and dollar purchases drained liquidity in the market further, traders said on Friday.

Nigeria sold N70 billion ($440.67 million) worth of 5year and 10-year bonds maturing in 2017 and 2022 at its regular auction on Wednesday, while a total of $350 million was sold at the bi-weekly foreign exchange auction this week.

Traders said the market opened with a cash balance of about N32 billion on Friday, compared with an N87 billion balance last Friday.

“The market is short. That was the reason rates went up slightly higher this week ... but the inflow of about N71 billion on Friday in cash call to joint venture oil producing partners

Earnings Report for Banks Source:Pro-share Nigeria

The secured Open Buy Back (OBB) was unchanged at 14 percent, 200 basis points above the central bank’s 12 percent benchmark rate, and 4 percentage points above the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate.

But overnight placement and call money traded at 15 percent each, compared with 14.25 percent each last week.

“We see rates initially trending downward early in the week because of the anticipated flow of about N200 billion in matured treasury bills and bonds, but it could be back up with selling of treasury bills at the primary auction and open market operations later in the week,” another dealer said.

The CBN plans to raise about N126 billion in primary market treasury bills next Wednesday, while cash flow to foreign exchange purchases could further soak up cash from the system.

The Central Bank will hold its rate setting meetings next Tuesday and analysts expect the bank to keep interest rates on hold at 12 percent, despite an uptick in inflation. (Reuters)

Interest rate may be reduced as CBN Monetary Policy Committee holds today

T

he 226th meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria is scheduled to hold from today May 21st to tomorrow, at the MPC Meeting Room, 11th Floor, Wing C, CBN Corporate Headquarters, Abuja.

Financial analysts expect a reduction in the monetary Policy Rate (MPR), which is the key benchmark rate.

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

F

idelity Bank Plc. has declared a total dividend of N4.05 billion for the financial year ended 31st December, 2011.

At the company’s annual general meeting in Lagos, shareholders approved a dividend payout of 14 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo each for shareholders who names appeared in the bank’s register

Fidelity Bank declares N4.05bn total dividend and this translated to N4.05 billion.

Addressing shareholders at the meeting, the Chairman of the bank, Mr. Christopher Eze commended the bank for recording an improved performance.

He said: ‘’our banks financial result shows outstanding growth in deposits, gross earnings and loan portfolio which demonstrated

our strong financial heath and capacity to create wealth for stakeholders’’, he stated.

Gross earning according to him, increased by 25 per cent, from N56.05 billion recorded in 2010 financial year to N 70.05 billion written in 2011 while profit after tax stood at N7.67 billion.

Shareholders fund stood at N137.366 billion while deposit

Stock market slides by -1.07% as profiteering continues

U

nprofitable transaction dominated trading activities on the Nigerian bourse in most trading days of the week as profits taking keep on to permeate across the main board to further extend market loss to the second week in a row.

Furthermore, the bears resurfaced on the Nigerian bourse to open the first trading day of week negative as profit taking dragged market indicator back by -0.31% to the negative territory while market slid further in the second session to close red by 0.58% due to intense selling activities witnessed across the

main Market retracted in the third session to close positive after two sessions of negative outlook with NSE Index recording +0.46% gain while profit taking resumes in the fourth session as key market indicators closed marginally in the negative territory by -0.03%.

Conversely, trading activities on Friday closed southwards as sentiments remained negative.

Consequently, the key benchmark indices dips by 0.61% while market closed the week with aggregate loss of 1. 07 %.

Further analysis on

acquiring banks since transaction date showed that the share price of Access Bank Plc has recorded 38.38% gain, followed

by FCMB with 15.90% gain while Union Bank Plc leads the chart with 95.69% gain. However, Sterling Bank recorded -0.79% gain, while ETI closed negative with -5.06% loss recorded.

However, the All-Share Index in the week under review moved down by -1.07% to close at 22,381.11 as against a decline by -0.19% recorded last week to close at 22,622.44.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation in the week

base grew from N327.35 billion in the comparable period of 2010 to N561.09 in the period under review.

Net loan and lease increased by 42 per cent from N199.16 billion recorded in the previous year to N282.7 billion in the period under review while operating income which stood at N50.521 in the 2010 financial year rose to N51.02 billion in 2011. depreciated by N76.96 billion (US$513.08 million) to close at N7.13 trillion (US$47.56 billion) as against depreciation by N13.88 billion (US$92.59 million) recorded last week to close at N7.21 trillion (US$ 48.08billion).

The total volume traded in the week closed at 1.84 billion units valued at N13.86billion (US$92.38 million) compared with 2.24 billion units valued at N19.35 billion (US$129.01 million) exchanged in 23,053 deals last week. The volume transaction in the week when compared with the previous week data moved down by -17.63% as against downwards movement by -8.41% recorded last week.

Weekly value also went down by -28.39% as against negative position of -6.66% recorded last week.

Law to compel multinationals to list on NSE underway

A

Bill that would compel most of the multinationals operating in the country to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been submitted to the House of Representatives for debate and passage,, chairman, House Committee on Finance, Abdulmumin Jubril said on Thursday.

The Bill, if it scales through, would address current concerns that most of the multinationals, including oil and telecommunications companies, make so much profit from the economy but have failed to list on the NSE. On processes to ensure that multinationals list on the NSE, Abdulmumin Jubril disclosed the progress of the Bill, when he led members of the committee on an oversight visit to the Ministry of Finance, where Ngozi OkonjoIweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, announced that the 2013 budget would be ready by

September.

“The House Committee on Capital Market is doing a lot of work in that regard, and I can tell you that a Bill has been submitted to the House of Representatives for passage that will compel all such companies to be quoted on our Exchange, so that we can also

have value for whatever gain they are making in our country,” Jubril responded to a question.

Jubril also raised concerns that the current structure of the budget, with high recurrent expenditure, and particularly based solely on revenues from oil, was improper and asked the

finance ministry to focus more on diversifying government’s income sources, especially taxes.

He particularly asked the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to commence investigation into the tax system, to ensure that defaulters were exposed and punished.

UBA to divest from non-bank subsidiaries

T

he United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, on Friday announced its readiness to divest from all of its non-bank subsidiaries.

The Chairman of the bank, Israel Ogbue, disclosed this at the company’s 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos.

He said that the bank would become a holding company for all its commercial banking activities.

Ogbue said that the divestment was in line with the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all

commercial banks should divest their non-banking activities.

According to him, UBA Plc would become the parent bank and a holding company for all its banking activities in Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.

Ogbue said that UBA Plc would also be the parent company for UBA Pension Custodian Ltd. and UBA FX Mart Ltd. He said that the bank’s amended compliance plan was approved by the CBN on March 27, 2012.

“The bank has since commenced the legal and regulatory process toward completing the restructuring exercise based on the amended plan and will finalise this process within this financial year,’’ he said.

Companies the bank would divest from include UBA Trustees Ltd., UBA Stockbrokers Ltd., UBA Nominees Ltd., and UBA Asset Management Ltd. Others are UBA Management Ltd., UBA Insurance Brokers and UBA Metropolitan Life Insurance.

INVESTORS NEWS BEAT

Dangote Sugar gets shareholders’ nod to acquire Savannah Sugar

P

roposal by the board of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (DSR) Plc to acquire Savannah Sugar Company (SCC) was on Thursday, endorsed by shareholders.

Diamond Bank’s Q1 2012 earnings hit N30.7 bn

D

iamond Bank reported its Q1, 2012 earnings on Friday. The bank took in N 30.7 billion in gross earnings, up 48.5% year-on-year from N20.6 billion it made during Q1, 2011.

International Energy Insurance appoints new Registrar

I

nternational Energy Insurance Plc. has notified the Exchange that it has changed its Registrars to PAC Capital and Trust Limited with effect from March 05, 2012.

Prior to this appointment, PHB Capital & Trust Limited (Registrars) has acted in that capacity.

DMO issues N70bn in 2017, 2022 bonds

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igeria sold 70 billion naira worth of 5-year and 10-year bonds maturing in 2017 and 2022, at its regular auction on Wednesday, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Thursday.

GlaxoSmithKline Q1 2012 earnings at N6bn

P Source:Pro-share Nigeria

harmaceutical company, Glaxosmith has reported its Q1 earnings for the period ended March 31st, 2012. The company made N 6.3 billion over the 3 months period in contrast to the N 4.9 billion it made over Q1, 2011.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 22

Insurance Institute calls American firms to set up Chartered for fight against unethical practice tractor plants in T Kaduna, P/H

By Abdulwahab Isa

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number of some American companies desirous of establishing large agriculture business in Nigeria have finalised plans to set up a tractormanufacturing firm in Kaduna and Port Harcourt.

As a step forward to its execution, agreement has been signed between Nigeria government and the US based investors, Nigeria’s Consul General in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) Ambassador Geoffrey Teneilabe informed Journalists at an interactive session heralding the International Kaleidoscope Business Forum and Expo scheduled to take place June this year in the USA. The Nigerian envoy to

Atlanta said the US companies are keen of entering the Nigerian agric business noting” some of them have agreed to establish tractor manufacturing companies in Kaduna and Port Harcourt. There are also other sideline agreements that have been signed” he said.

Ambassador Geoffrey Teneilabe said that ”now, the understanding is that there are vast opportunities in Nigeria and if the US private sector does not go, others will take advantage and by the time they come, it may be too late just like it happened in the telecommunication industry.”

He acknowledged investment interest was hitherto on oil and gas but that of late, renewed interest had been shown on agriculture, Power, infrastructure, and other sectors

of the economy.

He notes that because they are aware “GE has already signed a partnership agreement with the Nigerian government; they are taking over 15 percent of 10, 000 megawatts of electricity, the Export-Import (EXIM) bank has come into Nigeria and invested over a billion US dollars.”

He notes that Nigeria remains a haven for investment potential adding Nigeria missions abroad are pursuing government economic diplomatic policy “because it is our foreign policy goal and objective to be a conduit to get these partners and ensure that our regulatory environment is ripe by advising our government if investors are going to Nigeria.

The foreign missions he explained are able to guide these investors through “quick issuance of visas, passports and general encouragement about general information and potentials we have”, he explained.

L-R: Executive Secretary, Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, presenting NEITI audit report and journals to EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, during her visit to EFCC office, in Abuja recently.

Photo: NAN

Operators set to secure pension funds From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

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n a bid to ensure safety of contributed pension funds, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PENOP) said it has devised measures that would as it to achieve the target.

The Chairman of PENOP, Dave Uduanu said the contributory scheme is an antidote to the complexities of the past scheme, which was bedeviled with challenges of retired workers who had difficulties before they got their benefits.

According to him, the scheme is robust, safe and is poised to help retirees live well after their active life in employment, adding that it has to, a large extent, placed in the hands of the contributors the responsibility for contributing what they will leverage on upon

retirement.

He called on the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to open the transfer window to give contributors the option of changing their pension fund administrator, increase supervision and regulatory vigilance to weed out weak operators and improve the institutional framework of the industry by encouraging consolidation among marginal players.

He noted that PenCom should review the investment guideline to enable pension fund administrators to invest in secure instruments that engage in impactful but profitable investments. He also called for the de-centralisation of the activities of PenCom by creating regional offices in each of the six geo-political

zones of the country, collaborate effectiv ely with other regulators in the economy such as National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that regulatory goal congruence is achieved, especially in policy formulation and implementation.

Uduanu urged pension operators PFAs, PFCs and Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFAs) to improve on their service delivery, adding that this is necessary to retain the confidence of not only the contributors but all other stakeholders in the industry.

He noted that this would also reduce the pressure from dissatisfied segment of the contributing public to exit from the scheme.

From Ngozi Onyeakusi, Lagos

he President of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Dr. Wole Adetimehin has urged the sectors regulatory bodies to ensure that committed to the fight against unethical practices despite resistance from operators.

The president who made the call noted that the issue of unethical practice in the industry is being blown out of proportion, adding that the institute will never tolerate operators who contravene stipulated rules.

According to him, "I think we are over blowing the issue of unethical practices out of

proportion. In any trade or practice, there is bound to be bad eggs. I can tell you, globally, there are organs that are set up to discipline erring members. So, insurance profession from all the various arms cannot be an exception.

"The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has its disciplinary procedure. It sends out inspectors from time to time to ensure that people operate in accordance with laid down guidelines. Come to the institute, we have our disciplinary organ too. When reports are made to us, the disciplinary committee of council would summon them and necessary action is taken.

Gen. Usman elected CILT president

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eneral Umar Usman (retired), has been elected President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Nigeria at the just concluded Annual General Meeting of the Institute weekend in Lagos.

Usman emerged as winner in a keenly contested election with 102 votes to beat three other candidates- namely Engr.

Parkinson Azaagba who scored 2, Professor Innocent Ogwuade 22, and Professor Kayode Oyesiku 44.

Usman, who has just retired from the Nigerian Army as Chief of Logistics at the Army Headquarters comes on board with over 34 years of distinguished career, spent managing human and material resources since he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1977 into the Nigerian Army Corps of Supply and Transport.

Born in Kano, Usman attended Kuka Primary School and Aminu Kano Commercial College both in Kano. He proceeded to the prestigious

Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) as a member of the 18th regular course in June 1975 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1977.

His military qualifications include passed staff college, passed logistics course (daggar) and fellow war college. He also holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration , Msc Strategic Studies and MBA from University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and Bayero University Kano respectively.

He is expected to bring his wealth of experience of commitment, loyalty, sacrifice and discipline in providing innovative leadership for the Institute. Other elected members of the executive council include Mr Frank Nneji , OON, FCILT of ABC Transport as Deputy National President. Usman, who was at various times Commander , Nigerian Army Corps of Supply, Transport and Logistics, Nigerian Army, takes over from Emeritus Professor Micheal Olarewaju, FCILT who has served his term..

AfDB participates in launch of new alliance for food security and nutrition

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frican Development Bank President, Donald Kaberuka joined U.S. President, Barack Obama, several African heads of state and leaders from the public and private sector in Washington on Friday, for the launch of a new initiative that aims to reduce poverty and stimulate economic growth.

The launch of ‘The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition’ coincides with the Group of Eight (G8) Summit, which is being hosted at Camp David, the U.S. Presidential retreat near Washington. The G8 consists of the world’s largest economies.

The new alliance aims to strengthen food security and nutrition by bolstering

agricultural investment, spurring innovation and engaging more partners from the private sector. G8 member nations will support these efforts and ensure accountability.

At the launch event, AfDB President, Donald Kaberuka spoke about the steps that must be taken to improve food security and stimulate economic growth.

During a panel discussion, President Kaberuka said that improving Africa’s infrastructure, transportation, access to water and trade would drive economic growth in the same way that it has in countries like India.

He added that it would not only take money, but imagination as well.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

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PAGE 25

Reflection: Lagos state government’s onslaught on doctors Kola Ibrahim

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his month’s sacking of 788 medical doctors by the Raji Fashola/ACN-led Lagos state government clearly underlines the high level of contempt which pro-free market ruling elites in Nigeria of all shades hold for the poor and working masses. In order to break the fighting spirit of the doctors, the government went ahead, in an action reminiscent of military jackboot absolutism, to eject the doctors from their living quarters – an action that runs contrary to government’s own tenancy law.

This action of the Fashola government is a direct affront to the working and poor people, who have borne all the anti-poor, prorich policies of that government and its big brother, the Federal/ PDP government.

Consequently, all genuinely progressive forces, including the labour movement, pro-labour organizations, civil society groups and other professional groups must intervene in the current struggle of doctors in Lagos State.

This is not the struggle of the doctors alone, but indeed that of the soul of social service. If the Lagos state government is allowed to have its way, aside from this opening of the floodgate for a massive onslaught on the working and poor people, it will definitely lead to collapse of the health service, which is already in a precarious state in Lagos State, while engendering brain drain and further destruction of social service across the country.

Looking at health statistics in Lagos state alone will reveal the shameful character of Nigeria’s ruling elite, in particular the Fashola/ACN government. The total population of public sector medical doctors is around 800. If we add an extra 700 private practitioners and those on federal government employment, then

there are around 1,500 medical doctors in the state. Given the average population of 15 million, this will mean a doctor to more than 10,000 persons. This is ten times the WHO average. We should not even mention other comparative statistics like the number of medical beds. Thus, when a supposedly progressive government embarks on mass sacking of doctors, not because they committed murder, but for seeking a modest improvement in their circumstances; then we should start to examine many things about governance in Nigeria.

The government and its town criers in the media have premised this ignoble action on the so-called flouting of the Hippocratic Oath of the medical profession. But for a government that claims to be ‘guided’ by rule of law (please read rule of pocket), one expects it to refer such to the appropriate professional regulatory bodies to decide on or go to court; and not to turn itself into the accuser and the judge at the same time. This is just a pretence; the truth is that the Fashola/ACN administration aims to divert public funds away from public use for the pecuniary interests of the ruling cabal in power. It is the hypocritical government officials and politicians, who continue to line their pockets with public resources that are making the provision of safe public health a mirage in the country. It is on record that the doctors have used all known administrative, friendly, and even conciliatory means to resolve the issue for the past two years, but the Fashola/ ACN government has always met these initiatives with threats and brutal repression. One of this is the sacking of the leader of the Medical Guild two years ago and physical repression of other members of the guild. Thus, it is highly hypocritical for anybody

to claim that workers have no right to use all democratic and civil means at their disposal to protect their welfare and interests against the recalcitrant and irresponsible ruling elite.

According to the Medical Guild, what they were simply asking for was the reversal of the obnoxious and undemocratic demotion of its members under the guise of paying salaries. This means that the majority of the

doctors will see as much as a fouryear demotion, with the government’s contemptuous and treacherous implementation of the wage scale for medical doctors.

Correcting this will only cost the state around N10 million a month, a tiny fraction of what the state spend on frivolities such as salaries and emoluments of political officers, shows, festivals and wasteful spending on shindigs of party bigwigs.

The other demand is the payment of teaching allowances for medical personnel on house jobs. These are graduates, who undertake work in hospitals, but are paid like casuals. While it is true that they are learning through such processes, the reality is that based on the collapse

of the health infrastructures and the huge deficit in medical personnel as highlighted above, these young minds have become the casualty of the irresponsibility of the political class in uplifting health infrastructures. This has made the working environment frustrating for upcoming doctors.

It is only just for a responsible government to remunerate these young professionals adequately, at least if only to mitigate the huge brain drain in the system.

It is a known fact that past governments, despite earning lesser revenue than current governments, utilized incentives like bursaries, scholarships and improved allowances to attract more people to professions that are

vital to society.

The excuse of the government that it cannot be stampeded to pay a wage forced by the federal government is cynical. Why has the same principle not applied to the salaries of public and political office holders in Lagos State, who are consuming the same obnoxious and fraudulent emoluments as their federal colleagues? How can this set of people claim that workers who do most of the work for which they get the credit should not demand a minimal improvement in their conditions? The excuse that there will not be enough resources for development if workers are adequately remunerated is blatant falsehood. In the real sense, the so-called development is elite oriented. For instance, the socalled road construction projects of the Fashola government have been at best one-sided.

While some roads are constructed, the fact is that, on the basis of the fraudulent contract system that ensures multiple

A recent crackdown on doctors in Nigeria is symptomatic of a wider state attack on the working class.

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos state inflation of contracts, such projects do not correspond with the huge wealth at the disposal

of the state for the past five years (over N3 trillion). In addition, the projects are lopsided, with most of the community and local roads abandoned by the state and local governments.

Aside from this is the bankrupt conce ssion/pu blic-pri va t e partnership policy which hands over public properties and infrastructures procured with public funds to private big business to make huge profits. The Lekki-Epe toll road and the BRT projects are immediate examples.

Take the housing policy; it is the same fraud: building public housing that an average worker cannot dream of purchasing in years, which are then handed over to middlemen and bankers, at public expense.

We have also seen the bankruptcy of the Fashola government in the education sector. The story of Lagos State University (LASU), the only state owned university, where fees were hiked by over 750 per cent is still fresh. For several months, the academic staff in the institution had to take on the state government for a minimal increase in their wages, leading to closure of the campus. The recently displayed media picture showing the Lagos state governor, Raji Fashola, casting a vote at a dilapidated public primary school depicts clearly the manner of ‘education reform’ the government is undertaking.

Therefore, the current attack on medical doctors for demanding proper implementation of the agreement is part of the holistic

policy of the Fashola/ACN government to undercut funding for social and public services with a view to handing the resources to a handful of big businesses and party bigwigs. One of the ways of achieving this is by attacking strong sections of the organized working class.

While leaderships of most of the workers’ unions have been cowed or bought over, the Lagos State government feels that it can isolate leaderships of some unions that stand up to it in order to prevent others from waking up.

If this attack is successful, it will embolden the Fashola/ACN government to launch a full-scale onslaught on workers and poor people. This will not be limited to Lagos state but will cut across all the states of the federation, as governors are competing vigorously in setting the pace for anti-poor, anti-worker policies.

Indeed, there is no fundamental difference among the ruling probig business political parties (PDP, ACN, CPC, LP, APGA, etc). They are all anti-poor and corrupt.

The Medical Guild in Lagos state, while it must be commended for its steadfastness, must take the struggle beyond the realm of a mere administrative strike; they must engage the state government in direct social struggle. This will mean a mass campaign amongst the masses of Lagos through educative materials and mass rallies (in conjunction with genuine pro-labour and labour activists). This should also link the struggle with a call for massive

improvement in health facilities in the state. For instance, from a conservative estimate, committing two billion naira to the health sector in the state will employ and pay annual salaries of over 200 new medical doctors and over 400 medical staff. An extra one billion naira, if judiciously utilized, will expand health infrastructures (more hospital beds, functional hospitals, etc). This is merely three billion naira, which is less than 15 per cent of Lagos monthly revenue. If the Fashola government had done this in the past five years, the health system in Lagos would not be in its current mess.

Moreover, the Medical Guild and NMA must also reach out to other unions in the state, especially in-house unions in the health sector. A newspaper recently reported a plan by other medical workers in the employment of the state government to embark on strike over non-implementation of CONHESS – the health workers’ salary scale. Also, federal government health workers in the state are currently on strike.

These struggles need to be coordinated, especially among state employed health workers and medical doctors. This is in order to kill the divide-and-rule policy of the Lagos state government. Agreed that the leaders of the Medical Guild did not include other health workers’ demands, that is not enough reason to try to isolate the medical doctors. The proper thing for the health workers’ union leaders is

to, while fighting for their own demands, show solidarity with the medical doctors. More than this, they should have called for joint action of the unions to win collectively.

The Medical Guild and the NMA should also raise the demands of other health workers.

While the doctors were correct to have issued educative materials on May Day, they need to take this forward by openly calling on the generality of workers and the poor in the state to intervene in order to save public health, which the Fashola/ACN government does not care a hoot about. It is unfortunate that the labour unions, especially the leaders of labour centres, have kept their lips sealed. Working class activists and ordinary workers must compel them to act in the long term interests of workers and the poor in the state, who have been at the receiving end of the government’s irresponsibility.

Ultimately, what the government has displayed is a reflection of the cynical attitude of Nigeria’s retrogressive, pro-rich and anti-poor capitalist political class, to the welfare of working and poor people. What the government is doing is no different from the anti-poor policies of the PDP and other ruling parties in Nigeria. It is thus no accident that most of the bourgeois political parties at best kept their lips sealed. The ranting of the PDP has nothing to do with the party being pro-poor, but is a mere opportunistic attempt to gain from the political backlash against the Fashola government, as the PDP, wherever it holds the reins of power implements the same, if not, worse policies. The basic reason why all these parties undertake these anti-poor policies is that they represent the class of the rich and the exploiters. The more they spend on working and poor people, the lesser the wealth they have to loot. Yet, the working and poor people continue to vote for them every four years, as if there is no alternative.

This underlines the fundamental task before the working and poor people in Nigeria – the building of an alternative political platform, run and controlled by the working and poor people, with the sole aim of committing public resources to public services and infrastructure. This will mean putting the huge natural, mineral and monetary resources of the country under the democratic control and management of the working people -organized from the factories, workplaces, grassroots and communities to the national level. This will mean public officers will earn the salaries of average skilled workers and their family members will utilize public facilities like every other citizen.

This is the only way to end the regime of gangsters in power. The working people at all levels must put pressure on their union leaders to take this road.

(Pambazuka) Kola Ibrahim is a writer and activist.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 37

Fund agricuture to stem insecurity - Reps’ agric c’ttee chair we can create more employment and take these youths out of the street thereby mitigating the security challenges we have. So the major solution I will suggest is one, dialogue and two, to address the socio-economic problems that we are having by creating employment especially through agriculture.

INTERVIEW Tahir Mohammed Monguno (ANPP, Borno), who represents Monguno/ Marte/Ngazai Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, is the Chairman of its Committee on Agriculture. In this interaction with Richard Ihediwa and Lawrence Olaoye, the lawmaker examines the nation's political situation in the last one year and the canvassemore funding of agricultural sector to stem insecurity.

Excerpts:

S

ome people are saying that our democracy is not working, what is your take on this?

Well to me our democracy is working. It is working in the sense that we have the National Assembly that is charged with the responsibility of lawmaking, independent of the executive arm of government without any interference from the executive as clearly manifested in the way and manner the leadership of the House of Representatives emerged. It is a clear indication that we have an independent legislature that is not a mere rubber stamp of the executive. We also have an executive arm that is working independent of the legislature and at the same time we have a judiciary that is independent and working devoid of interference either from the legislature or the executive. So if you look at this scenario, one can confidently, without any fear of contradiction, say that our democracy is working; having regard that our democracy is still young.

Definitely we will have challenges as a growing democracy.

How will you assess the performance of the House of Representatives in the last one year?

The House of Representatives has performed very well. Our debates have been very robust and thought provoking. The quality of bills that were passed as well as the motion passed were also on issues that have direct relations to the yearnings and aspirations of the Nigerian people as clearly manifested in the resolution we passed during the fuel subsidy protest.

The House of Representatives works in tune with the demands of Nigerians.

Also if you look at the series of probes into the fuel subsidy issue and the revelations that came out of it as

well as the recommendations made by the House, it is clear indication that we are working in tune with the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

Within this period, it appears that the opposition parties in the House were very quiet. In fact many people submit that there is no opposition in the House. What is your take on this?

Well I agree to a good extent that the opposition has been very quiet.

I say this because I believe that there is need for the opposition in Nigeria to come together and come up with a united front to confront the ruling party. There is no way we can confront the ruling party as it is now because we are in a decimated manner; but once we unite and present a common front, then the opposition can have a strong voice. That is why I am very much elated with what is happening in the polity, that is the meeting with the opposition parties, that is, the CPC, ANPP and ACN. The fact that they started early is a good omen for the polity.

That means they are going to give a very good fight to the ruling party come 2015.

The leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) recently

Hon. Tahir Mohammed Monguno said it was looking at the possibility of forming a mega party belonging to workers ahead of 2015. Is your party in any way threatened by this?

I think my party or any other party will not be threatened because that is the beauty of democracy and we have the freedom of association in our party.

So, anybody that feels he has the number can form a party and aspire to form a government.

Democracy is about interest articulation and interest aggregation. You form a vehicle to form a government, so that you can use that vehicle for the purpose of transforming the nation. So it is a welcome development. It brings healthy competition in the system.

I very much support it and I don't think any political party that worth its salt will feel threatened by that gesture.

react to this?

I come from Borno state. Gen. Danjuma made the comment about Borno state being a failed state with regard to the security challenges that we are facing there but I will tell you here without fear of contradiction that right now if you go to Borno, you will see people going about their normal lives. You see people going to their offices, you see people going to the market.

Quite alright, there may be explosions somewhere or somebody would have been killed somewhere but that does not mean that the state is a failed state because economic activities are going on, there is a government there, there is the executive, there is the state House of Assembly, the Judiciary is functioning. So such a state cannot be described as a failed state because of security issues which is now all over the country.

Talking about unviability of states recently, Gen. TY Danjuma mentioned Borno as a failed state because of the crisis there. how would you

So what do you think is the solution to the security challenge in the north?

Dialogue; I say so because the root cause of the problem is socioeconomic and so long as we do not address the measure from the cause and we go on addressing the symptoms we are not going to overcome the problem. So that is why I am one of those who are of the opinion that giving nearly a trillion naira in our budget for security, we should use this money to prevent the problem that brought about the security challenge, which is unemployment. I am of the view that we should channel these resources to critical productive sectors like agriculture, mining and sectors that have the capacity to generate employment. Sectors that have the capacity to increase our gross domestic product; so that

“

The money that was allocated to the agriculture sector in the 2012 budget is very low. We only got 1.6 percent of the budget which is not in tandem with the Maputo declaration. In the Maputo declaration of which Nigeria is a signatory, all African countries are required to at least devote 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture.

One of the major issues on the table for discussion in the next round of constitution amendment is fiscal federalism. Do you think Nigeria is ripe for fiscal federalism?

It is good for us to practice fiscal federalism because as it is now, too much power is concentrated in the center. There is the need to devolve these powers to the various components that constitute the Nigerian nation state; the state and local government. So that every state will take its own destiny in its hands; using its own comparative advantage rather than being dependent on the federal. There is need for states to be independent but also coordinate with the center. So the suggestion for fiscal federalism is a welcome development that needs to be supported. As it is now, most of these states are not viable. They only wait and collect federal allocation at the end of the month.

So with fiscal federalism, these states will be viable and then harness the resources which they have comparative advantage, with the view to move their economy forward. Also there is the need to devolve some of the powers that are being exercised by the center to the states and local councils. For example, I don't see why things like agriculture, education, health and so on should not be left for states to handle. Let the federal level take on issues such as defense, fiscal policy and foreign affairs issues. Things like agriculture are practiced at the grass root and the state and local government are closer to the people and can handle them.

There is this thinking by some people that if we implement fiscal federalism, the north will have some problems.

Let me say this, before the advent of oil, the north with agriculture supported itself. It was with the advent of oil that the north became a little lazy and shifted focus to oil. I think when we implement fiscal federalism; the northern states will take their destinies in their hands and then harness the resources that they have for their own full advantage.

The north can survive without oil because we have survived without oil before. Even the money that Contd from page 38

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Fund agricuture to stem insecurity - Rep House Agric c’ttee chair Houses of Assembly to be autonomous.

Contd from page 37 was used to explore oil was money gotten from agriculture from the north. I support fiscal federalism because it will ginger states to unlock the potential they have.

Another issue tabled for consideration is that of rotation of executive offices. Do you think that is right considering the clamour for merit in choosing people for political offices?

I am one of those supporting merit. Every Nigerian, no matter where he comes from; no matter his tribe or religion should have the right to aspire to any office at any given point in time so long as it is the wishes of the majority of Nigerians.

We should not restrict the offices to a particular zone at a particular point. We should just go for the best because so long as we try to promote this primordial sentiment of tribe and religion and so on, so long shall we continue to bogged down by them; but if we throw it open over time we are going to overcome all these issues.

The major problem we are having now is this issue of the provision of zoning in the PDP constitution; that the President should come from this and that place. This is what is causing the problem. That is why the north is now saying it is their turn and it is now overheating the polity. So, rather than zoning, we should leave it open. Let everybody aspire.

Whoever the vast majority of Nigerians decide in their wisdom should have it, then let him take it.

Another issues tabled for consideration is that of state creation. What best criteria should be used to determine the states to be created?

Let me tell you, it is not Nigerians that are clamouring for more states. It is the elite. It is the political elite that are clamouring for more states so that they can become governors, commissioners, senators and House members from such states. It is the people that are looking for states. Ab- initio, I don't support the idea of more states.

These states we have now are enough. Right now, we are talking about a situation where about 80 percent of our budget is spent on recurrent. Only 20 percent is being channeled to capital expenditure and everybody knows that it is the capital expenditure that goes to the root of our developmental ventures; that touch the lives of the people and affect their standard of living.

Recurrent expenditure only take care of overheads and salaries and allowances of a very minute population and it is taking about 80 percent of the budget. So once you create state, there will be a governor, there will be deputy governor, there will be commissioners, more ministries will be created and you have another bureaucracy. So it is another conduit pipe to drain our limited resources that we are supposed to channel to capital development that will positively impact on the lives of our people.

Based on this premise, I don't support the idea of state creation. It

Hon. Tahir Mohammed Monguno is not the idea of the ordinary man in the street.

One of the challenges we have now is that when the National Assembly conduct probes or oversight functions and comes out with recommendations, they are not implemented because the resolution of the National Assembly do not have the force of law. Is the National Assembly thinking of amending the constitution to give resolutions passed by two third of the members a force of law?

Yes, because of the fact that our resolution are of no binding effect, the National Assembly has been tagged a toothless bulldog that can bark but cannot bite. So it is because of some of these things that the National Assembly has decided to amend certain provisions of the constitution so that where a resolution has the support of two third of the members from both chambers, then it should have a force of law so that the executive will have no option rather than implement it. So coming to the issue of non implementation of the recommendations from our probe, of course you know that it is not the role of the National Assembly to implement them, it is the duty of the executive and most times the executive is not ready to implement. That is why people are saying that our probes are just circus show. So that is why we are

taking this step to ensure that our resolutions should have the force of law.

Have you started contacting members of the state Houses of Assembly on this issue especially coming from the backdrop of the fact that the governors will not like this provision and might influence the members to reject it?

You know it is very unfortunate.

What we are doing here is about institution. Institutions outlive people. We are not talking about personalities but institution. We have a forum where our Speaker meets with speakers of state Houses of Assembly so I believe such fora can be exploited with a view to selling all these lofty ideas that are being initiated by the National Assembly to them so that by the time it goes to the state Houses of Assembly, it will have easy passage.

You may recall that in the last exercise, one of the clauses of the constitution that the National Assembly sought to amend was to make the National Assembly and state assemblies autonomous so that they can be independent.

Unfortunate, and to our utter surprise, they Houses of Assembly rejected it because some of them were influenced by their governors but because of the fact that we were targeting institutions and not personalities, we brought up that issue again and it is now one of the issues that we have slated for consideration. We want the state

Ironically they approved that of the National Assembly.

Now that the National Assembly is on first line charge, are there some advantages you are experiencing?

Whatever you are doing, so long as you go cap-in-hand begging for money to execute your programme, your independence will be compromised. It is said that he who pays the piper dictates the tune. Financial independence is key to the independence of the legislature. .

Talking about finance, we leant that the budget of the National Assembly was slashed in the 2012 budget.

Has this in any way affected the oversight function of the National Assembly?

Well you know, the cutting of overhead is not only restricted to the National Assembly. That was the general spirit in the country that our overheads of all agencies of government needed to be cut to reduce the cost of governance so that the money can be channeled to developmental projects. So it was in that spirit that the National Assembly also cut its own budget.

What is your rating of the agricultural sector of the country?

First and foremost let me say that the money that was allocated to the agriculture sector in the 2012 budget is very low. We only got 1.6 percent of the budget which is not in tandem with the Maputo declaration. In the Maputo declaration of which Nigeria is a signatory, all African countries are required to at least devote 10 percent of their budgets to agriculture and many countries like Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa and a host of others are devoting more than 10 percent.

Unfortunately, in Nigeria, we have not been following that. In 2011 we got 3 percent and this has now gone down to 1.6 percent. So this issue of transforming agriculture we have been talking is merely lip service. So I am talking as a country now, we are not serious to the issues of revamping agriculture. However, I can say

Reps query OAUTH CMD over illegal lodgment of funds

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts has chided the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife,Osun State, Professor Olusanya Adejuyigbe for illegal lodgement of N230.99m belonging to the Institution in various commercial banks as fixed deposits Speaking during an interactive session by the Committee with the management of the Hospital on the queries raised against it by the office of the Auditor General of the

Federation (AGF), on Friday, the Committee declared that the action of the CMD was illegal and was contrary to the provision of Circular No TR No A7&B7/1999 of 18th August 1999 as well as Circular No TRY/AS&BS/2009 of 19th June 2009 which authorized Ministries/ Extra-Ministerial Departments, Agencies, Parastatals and Government owned Corporations to invest their idle funds in 91days Primary Market Nigeria Treasury Bills.

According to the circular, all realized interest on all investments should be accounted for and be immediately remitted to the SubTreasury of the Federation and all

interest shall be paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund Account maintained with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Committee observed that the unilateral decision of the CMD to lodge the funds in commercial banks in flagrant disobedience to government directives brought to the question Adejuyigbe's competence to properly manage the foremost Hospital.

Efforts by the CMD to justify his action to fix the funds in commercial banks were dismissed by all the members of the Committee who said that he had no valid excuse for violating government rules.

that within the limited resources we have, the ministry of agriculture is performing very well. The transformation agenda is on course. We can see the issue of government devolving itself from the issue of distribution of fertilizer.

Now agro-allied companies are charged with that responsibility.

A farmer can stay in the rural area and assess fertilizer even using his mobile phone devoid of government bureaucracy. In the past, majority of the fertilizers end up with the non farmers. The real farmers could not assess fertilizers because there was too much government involvement and you know what obtains when there is too much bureaucracy. It is usually used as a commodity for political patronage. Now that it is handled by agro-allied companies, farmers are now assessing it. This is one of the things that the ministry is doing that is very good and we are supporting it.

In other climes there is always this intermarriage between agriculture and technology. Is your committee making any effort to bring such to Nigeria especially in the area of food processing and preservation?

One of the major problems that we are facing here in Nigeria is that of storage and processing. So, there is now a paradigm shift in the way and manner we see agricultural activity. Before, we use to look at agriculture as a development project, but now there is a shift to where we are looking at it as a business rather than a government process. Indeed agriculture should be viewed as a business. So now government has taken step to develop the value chain for each crop. For example the issue of cassava, there is the Root Crop Research Institute in Umudike that is charged with the responsibility of developing hybrid cassava and at the same time they have gone further to develop the value chain so that we have the cassava bread. There are a lot of other products they have been able to develop out of cassava. So we should view agriculture as a business as private companies should take up the technology and develop them into commercial venture, it will be of benefit to us all.

How would you rate the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan in the last one year?

I will describe the administration in the last one year as a failure. Well maybe because of the security challenges that the government is facing, but I don't think that I can say that it has really succeeded in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people because if you look at the 2011 budget, it was implemented to up to 50 percent. The yardstick that is used to measure government performance is how the budget is implemented. So now that there is a promise that the 2012 budget will be implemented to the full and a new budget is going to be presented to the National Assembly by September, we pray that there will be an improvement.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 39

Edo PDP petitions INEC over Oshiomhole’s indecent language

By Lawrence Olaoye

T

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lodged a petition with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), requesting it to look into Edo State Governor and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole's "utterances, hate language, threats and vulgar words" in his ongoing electioneering campaigns for the July 14 election.

The petition was submitted at the weekend in Abuja during the Edo political stakeholders' meeting called by the Commission to address some contentious issues

ahead of the governorship election.

The PDP complained to the Chairman of the Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega on the deficit of proper conduct by Oshiomhole at his various campaign rallies, stressing that he had so far failed to conduct himself in "a civilized manner" in

line with the relevant sections of the Electoral Act that outlaw indecent language and abusive words during campaign.

The party submitted different video-tapes/CDs of Oshiomhole's campaigns, where he was said to have devoted "huge part of his campaigns threatening different people and saying Edo State would

burn if he loses the coming election and using indecent words in abusing national leader of the party, Chief Tony Anenih."

Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih who articulated the position of the party advised the INEC to call Oshiomhole to order in order to avoid breach of law in the coming governorship

Lawmaker predicts doom for PDP From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan member of Oyo state House of Assembly, Hon. Abioye Adegboyega, has predicted doom for Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at any election in South West.

The lawmaker who is representing Surulere/Ogo-Oluwa state constituency droped this during a chat with newsmen in Ibadan adding that the zone had suffered immensely from the party since 1999 even as he maintained that progressive has come stay in South West.

The only second term PDP lawmaker who defected to ruling Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) recently justified his decision on divided carpet in PDP and parallel state executives in the state.

Reacting to statement from PDP describing his defection to ACN as paper weight, he said progressive party has come to liberate the zone just as he added that disaster has befelle4n the party.

According to him," They know I am a well trained politician from political college of Baba Adedibu of blessed memory, are they saying thousands of supporters who followed me to ACN to move the state forward are paper weight?, Chief Bankole from Ogo- Oluwa local government and Baba Iganyin; Prince Adeleke Ajala from Surulere council are nobody in politics? PDP must be joking, when the time comes, we know how to tackle them".

Specifically, he said something terrible has happened to PDP in Oyo state because none of its members genuinely love the party but for self interest.

A

Democracy Day: Group offers prayers for Suswam

By Augustine Aminu

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he Benue Youths in Diaspora Association has urged Benue sons and daughters all over the world to offer special prayer for Governor Gabriel Suswam and members of his family to continue to deliver dividends of democracy to the people of Benue State.

President General of the Association, Comrade Philip, disclosed to pressmen at Abuja that Benue State has more than enough to show for democracy in the last five years and must do well to pray for Suswam to continue to show courage and zealousness to transform the state.

He further added that Suswam has been able to make the state a home to many particularly those who regularly visit from abroad and deserve prayers and goodwill to sustain the tempo. He further reiterated the continuous support of the diaspora group to the administration promising that Benue residing abroad would continue to partner with the transformational policies of Gov Suswam to build the new Benue of their dream.

In his words, "the good people of Benue State in the diaspora are arriving home to join His Excellency, Rt. Hon Gabriel Suswam, to celebrate his numerous achievements in the last five years to the admiration of all and sundry".

"This rare positive feats we are aware were made possible by the grace of God and his mercy upon the Suswam's family especially in difficult terrains where he demonstrated courage and fearlessness as a leader and we must use this particular period to pray that God will help him to sustain the tempo." "In fact it is a time to pray and thank God by Benue people all over the world for blessing the state with an ordained political leader for the first time in history," he also stated.

election.

Reports of the closed door meeting said that at a point during the meeting, the PDP governorship candidate, Gen. Charles Airiavbere (rtd), stood up to Oshiomhole, warning him to stop his use of indecent language.

Airhiavbere, who was angry with the way Oshiomhole was conducting himself at the meeting, was said to have stood, pointed his finger at the governor's face with a stern warning to him to stop his "use of indecent language and abusive words against leaders of the PDP."

L-R: Kogi state Governor, Captain Idris Wada, with his council Chief Chris Uche (SAN), after the tribunal dismissed the petition brought by the governorship candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria, at the weekend in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Politicians urged to emulate Shagari From Sadeeq Aliyu, Sokoto

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oliticians in the country have been charged to imbibe the leadership qualities of former President Shehu Shagari who rendered selfless service during his stewardship as president of the country.

Chairman Sokoto state council of Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Labaran Lumu Dundaye, made the call in Shagari local government

when team of journalists went to the area to assess the performance of the local council.

Dundaye described former President Shagari as true nationalist who ruled the country without amassing wealth and brought fame to the North and Nigeria in the international political arena.

Chairman of Shagari local government, Alhaji Abdullahi Danjeka, explained that his council had executed 149 projects across the area at the cost of N114

million and all the projects were carried out on request from the benefitting communities.

The major work was the construction of Dogon KarfeJaredi-Goribbai road which also linked Dandin Mahe town at the cost of N80.5 million and would be completed in August this year.

Danjeka also said his council has constructed 36 mosques at the cost of N28 million while plan has been mapped out to supply portable drinking water to all the localities in the area.

Ex-presidential candidate urges NASS to remove lmmunity clause

T

he former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Prof. Peter Nwangwu, says the Immunity Clause in the 1999 Constitution should be removed because ``it has done more harm than good''.

Nwangwu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that its removal would serve more benefits to the nation.

He said: ``No political office holder, including governors and the president, should have immunity while in office.

“Immunity from any criminal offence, including stealing or breaking the law in

anyway, should not be allowed.

“The provision has been abused repeatedly with impunity, so the country needs it so as to fight corruption in high places."

The former presidential candidate said politicians and leaders would be a lot more careful about doing things in office if the Immunity Clause was removed.

“Anyone who does not like the removal should stay away from serving in that capacity since the nation will be better for it.''

He stressed that the more fundamental question was whether the judiciary and law enforcement officials had the mindset and the political will to

prosecute and punish offenders severely.

He, however, said the ``mess'' in the nation's corruption scandals and abuses had been committed by people who did not have immunity.

Nwangwu said such abuses included the mess in privatisation by the Bureau of Public Enterprise, the fuel subsidy probe, the banking sector, the stock market crisis and the police pension funds scandal.

He said the corrupt system did not allow proper punishment for people without immunity who committed crimes for which they should be sentenced to death or

life imprisonment.

The politician said said if the immunity clause was removed, offending governors and presidents would be prosecuted and punished properly.

“I speak as a former presidential candidate who was ranked 6th out of the 20 candidates in the 2011 elections, even after stepping down for Jonathan.

“I insist that there should be no Immunity Clause for presidents and governors.''

A public analyst and a Lagosbased lawyer, Mr Ikechukwu Unegbe, also said he supported the removal of the clause.

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Subsidy: CNPP wants Allison-Madueke to resign

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

T

he Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has demanded for the immediate resignation of the Minister for Petroleum Resources for allegedly making further efforts to increase the pump price of petroleum.

In a press statement issued in

Abuja by its National Secretary, Willy Ezugwu, CNPP regretted that despite the recent revelations from the House of Representatives' probe into the subsidy regime, which it said, indicted the minister for the embezzlements that took place under her care, she still encourages the President to increase the fuel pump price.

It also condemned the increase state of bomb explosions across the country, urging President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the National Security Adviser, Andrew Azazi, saying it has become clear that he cannot contain the security challenges facing the country presently.

"After all, Azazi has told

Nigerians that he knows that the PDP is the cause of country's problems, yet he cannot arrest the people he has identified as the source of the nation's headache."

CNPP stated.

It further lamented that with close to one trillion naira at the disposal of the NSA, yet he cannot resolve the problem, pointing out that the insurgence

has represented Nigeria as a failed country.

CNPP, therefore, urged President Jonathan to 'be mindful of the international implications of allowing compromised characters like these to continue to be associated with his government and by implication the image of the nation.'

Kaduna Rep’s Arabo appeals to Yakowa on Bakin Kogi Kamaru road s the rainy season sets in,

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Rep Simon Arabo (PDP, Kaduna) has appealed to Kaduna State Governor, Mr Patrick Yakowa, to ``urgently'' award contract for the construction of the 24 km Bakin Kogi - Kamaru road.

“The rains are here and the entire south of Chawai chiefdom in Kauru Local Government will be cut off totally from the rest of the world.

“Their only access is not tarred.

It is impassable and muddy. It is practically impossible for even motor cycles and pedestrians to move on it.

“There are also streams along the way, making it impossible for even the most rugged vehicles,'' Arabo said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.

The law maker said that he had discussed the matter with the governor, who had promised to address the matter ``as soon as possible''.

“The Governor is already working on Geshere-Kwassam road.

It is a major road in the local government and I am optimistic that our own road problem shall soon be addressed.''

“In fact, I have told him that once he can construct the Bakin Kogi - Kamaru road, he should not even worry about the south of Chawai again.''

On the losses suffered by his people because of the lack of an access road, Arabo declared that they were ``very, very enormous''.

“Our farmers are losing a lot.

Lots of sugar cane, yam, cocoyam, rice, sorghum, corn and ground nuts are cultivated here, but they waste away because there is no access to any modern market.

“The Bakin Kogi market would have been the only one around, but no vehicle can reach the market from the interiors of Chawai.

“Aside the economic gains, people get sick and cannot access any hospital in the cities because of the bad roads. The road issue is serious and we shall crave the support of every one to help us.''(NAN)

R-L: Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, National Commissioners of INEC, Dr. Suleman Abdulkadir Oniyegi and Dr. Ishmael Ugbani, during their meeting with stakeholders on Edo state governorship elections, on Friday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Oyo ACN lambasts PDP over attack on Alaafin From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

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he Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Oyo State has lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party in the SouthWest for calling for the head of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III over his counsel to President Goodluck Jonathan on the state of the nation.

The monarch had in a recent

statement counseled President Jonathan on the need for PDP to tread softly over his attempt to take over the South West zone come 2015.

However, the PDP in the zone had taken on the royal father, accusing him of being used by politicians, particularly those in the ruling ACN. The party, in a statement issued at the weekend by its state

Publicity Secretary, Hon. Dauda Kolawole, queried the audacity of the PDP in attacking Oba Adeyemi for counseling the President on the desperation of his party (PDP) to take over the South-west zone by all means. ``The wisdom of elders dictates that when they see things going wrong, they should, without being sentimental, call those perceived to be fanning the embers of discord

to order. This is exactly what the royal father has done. ``Everybody knows how the PDP has been beating the war drum over its desperation to takeover the South-West by whatever means come 2015. But the point is, if the party had performed wonderfully well during its eightyear reign in the zone, it would not have been rejected at the poll by the people.

PDP to field candidate in Ondo guber poll From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest has said that the party is not planning alliance with any political party in the forthcoming Ondo State governorship election, saying; PDP will field and back its own candidate.

Zonal Publicity Secretary of the party, Hon. Kayode Babade,

who made this known to journalists, said that was part of the decision taken at the party's Zonal Exco meeting held last Thursday at Ibadan, Oyo State.

He said "PDP is well grounded enough in all the States of the federation to be able to contest any election and win, and Ondo State will not be an exemption.

"Therefore, our members and supporters in Ondo state should not

be dissuaded by anyone claiming that the PDP will be supporting candidate of another party."

On crisis rocking the party in some States, Babade assured that all thorny issues will be resolved very soon.

He disclosed that; "In Ekiti State for instance, the National Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola is inviting eight persons from each of the two

contending groups for reconciliation and harmonisation of the State Exco very soon.

"He further said that the National Vice Chairman, Chief Segun Oni will be meeting leaders of the party in Oyo State where all issues will be finally laid to rest.

"There will also be meetings with some selected leaders of the party from Lagos and Osun States very soon Babade said."

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Agbim leads Eagles to Peru

Gbolahun Salami

Sunday Mba

Chigozie Agbim

A

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has congratulated Chelsea’s midfielder, John Mikel Obi, over the club’s UEFA Champions League victory.

Chelsea defeated Germany’s Bayern Munich in Saturday’s finals, 4-3 on penalties to capture the trophy for the first time.

A statement, signed by Ademola Olajire, Chief Media Officer of NFF, quotes the federation’s President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari as describing Obi as a pride to the Nigerian nation, not only for his club’s victory but also for his personal commitment and high performance in the campaign.

“We are all very proud of Mikel

fter one day delayed flight following the arrest of a drugs courier, Warri Wolves goalkeeper, Chigozie Agbim, led 17 other Super Eagles players to fly out to Lima, Peru, where they are to confront the hosts in an international friendly duel on Wednesday.

The experienced Agbim is the skipper of the home-based Super Eagles left last night along with one of the five foreign-based (Ekigho Ehiosun) coach Stephen Keshi called up for the game.

Stephen Keshi has again kept faith with the core of the team drawn from the Nigeria Premier League he has been working with since December.

Four overseas pros will join up with the squad directly in Lima.

They are Obiorah Nwankwo, Nnamdi Oduamadi, Gege Soriola and Raheem Lawal.

Keshi though has complained that the cancellation of the team’s flight to Peru via Madrid Saturday night will cost them valuable training time ahead of the clash.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Chigozie Agbim, Dan Akpeyi, Okemute Odah Defenders: Azubuike Egwueke, Papa Idris, Juwon Oshaniwa, Godfrey Oboabona, Sunday Mba, Uche Ossai Midfielders: Ogonna Izuchukwu, Gabriel Reuben, Henry Uche Strikers: Obinna Nwachukwu, Uche Kalu, Izu Azuka, Gbolahan Salami, Ejike Uzoenyi Overseas pros: Ekigho Ehiosun, Raheem Lawal, Gege Soriola, Obiorah Nwankwo, Nnamdi Oduamadi.

PAGE 41

Stories by Patrick Andrew

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he Flying Eagles are to jet out to Cape Town, South Africa today where they will compete in an 8-Nation Invitational Tournament that will include Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Ghana, Japan, Kenya and the host nation.

The junior Eagles won the last edition of the tournament and are therefore the defending champions. The team, under John Obuh, who was in charge when they won, are using the fiesta to prepare for the qualification series of next year’s African Youth Championship. Nigeria are reigning champions of Africa.

They have a date with Tanzania in the second round of qualifying series in July, with the first leg away in Dar es Salaam.

Meanwhile, as part of the busy schedule of Nigerian teams, the Super Falcons’ Head Coach, Kadiri Ikhana will unveil his team for the African Women Championship qualifying fixture against Zimbabwe in Harare.

It is the only fixture the Falcons, who are also reigning champions of Africa, have to go through before qualification for

Flying Eagles to leave for Cape Town today this year’s African Women Championship in Equatorial Guinea.

The Falcons fly out of Nigeria on Wednesday for the first leg

John Obuh

NFF hails Falconets, urges patience re-building gives credence to the re- expect at the FIFA championships in process continues Falconets building process of the NFF and Japan.

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has commended the U-20 teamthe Falconets for successfully putting to use its array of talents to dispatch their opponents in Kinshasha, Congo DR to win a FIFA World Cup ticket.

Emeka Inyama, Chairman of the Media and Publicity Committee, said yesterday that the feat of the

added that it also indicated what to

...Congratulates Mikel over Chelsea’s victory Obi and we congratulate him for this sweet victory. More gladdening is the fact that he was not a docile member of the team or a bench-warmer.

“He was very active and played his part brilliantly in ensuring a magnificent triumph for Chelsea.

“The whole nation should praise the young man. He fought hard and showed dedication all through the campaign and in the process, lifted our country’s name high in

coming up in Harare on May 26.

Similarly, same Wednesday in Lagos, the camp of the Futsal national team will open for intensive preparation ahead of the final African qualifying fixture for the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup finals, in which the Futsal Eagles face perennial African champions Egypt.

The Futsal Eagles play the first leg away in Cairo on June 8.

Also, the Golden Eaglets, currently camping in Calabar, are billed to tackle Nanka Team on May 27 in a game that will be used to formally opened a new stadium in the town.

The Eaglets will take on Niger Republic in the first round of their 2013 African Junior Championship qualifying series in September.

The U-15 national boys’ team are equally perfecting strategies for the eight-nation Adidas U-15 Tournament taking place in Mexico in June. The team will have its final training camp in Lokoja beginning this week.

international football.”

Obi played the entire 120 minutes of regulation and extra time, before the penalty shoot-out that gave Chelsea the win over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, stadium.

“We must look at this win in its true context: Chelsea won the title right at the home ground of Bayern Munich, in front of its own fans. It is an amazing story and our own Mikel Obi was part of it,” the statement added.

Desire Oparanozie

“The performance of the Falconets over the two legs was excellent. They had earlier dismissed Zimbabwe in similar fashion, scoring six goals and conceeding none in their fixture. Against DR Congo, they scored seven goals and conceded none.

“We are very happy with the Falconets, just as we are with the Flamingoes, which earlier qualified for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup finals in Azerbaijan. This is what the NFF has been saying: In an atmosphere of peace and tranquility, our football will go places,” he said.

The Falconets on Saturday at the Stade d’Martrys in Kinshasa dismissed their DR Congo counterparts 3-0 in front of the latter’s fans, with first half goals by deputy skipper Ngozi Okobi, Desire Oparanozie and Francesca Ordega.

In the first leg played in Abeokuta, the Falconets won 4-0 courtesy of goals by Ordega and Ebere Orji with a brace from Captain Gloria Ofoegbu.

He called for patience stressing that the team will continue to improve. The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup finals will be held in Japan August/September.

Gebrselassie wins Great Manchester Run

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thiopian running star, Haile Gebrselassie, won the Great Manchester Run yesterday in the fastest 10 kilometres time of the year.

The 39-year-old clocked 27min 39sec to claim his fifth victory on the streets of Manchester and then turned his attention to booking his

place at his fifth Olympic Games.

The Ethiopian missed out on a place in the marathon at London 2012, but has his sights on competing at this summer’s London Olympics over 10 000m.

Gebrselassie, double Olympic and four-time world 10 000m champion, will run over the distance in

Hengelo, the Netherlands, next Sunday in a race which will double as the Ethiopian Olympic trials, with the top three set to be selected for the team.

“I am so happy today, everything was perfect,” he said. “I am not surprised to run that fast. I wanted to run under 27 minutes.

“According to my training this year, I feel I can run faster on the track. I want to go under 27 minutes, that’s what I am thinking. If I run this fast on the road, why won’t Ion the track?

“The top three in Hengelo go to the Olympics, that’s what the federation said. At the moment if I

get in the top three I go. My question is, what is the possibility in London? We’ll see,” he was quoted by a news agency after the race.

In the women’s race, Kenya’s Linet Masai, the former world 10 000m champion, took victory in 31min 35sec.

PAGE 42

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Abramovich spends $2.8 billion to win UEFA Champions League

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helsea’s nail-biting victory in Saturday’s Champions League final was the culmination of a dream that cost its owner Roman Abramovich an incredible $2.8 billion.

Abramovich, a Russian oil tycoon, has coveted this title more than any other since taking over Chelsea in 2003, and he finally got his wish when the London club squeezed past Bayern Munich in an extraordinary penalty shootout at the Allianz Arena.

The 45-year-old had to spend astonishing sums on player transfers, wages and improvements to the club infrastructure in the pursuit of European glory.

Abramovich took over a club that was struggling financially and immediately turned it into a European power. Under his watch, the club has bought 66 world-class players at a staggering cost.

The transfer fees for those players, according to sports finance expert Daniel King of the Sun newspaper, tallies up at $1.02 billion, more than any other club in the world during that same eight-season stretch.

Player salaries have been even more expensive, according to King, with the overall wage bill totalling $1.8 billion – another recordsetting figure that helped spiral soccer into a new era of hyper-spending.

Eight managers also came and went in the space of eight years, most of them fired precisely for failing to win the Champions

League. English Premier League titles and FA Cup wins were nice, but what really mattered to Abramovich was flexing his muscles in European competition.

Ironically, it was the least heralded of those men, Roberto Di Matteo, who finally got the job done. Di Matteo, who was brought in as interim manager following the axing of Andre Villas-Boas, earns only a fraction of his predecessor’s salary and, even after this triumph, is not guaranteed to get the job on a full-time basis.

“There are so many people who will celebrate this and so many people who deserve credit for it,” Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard said.

“But you have to talk about Roman, what he has put in.

“None of this would have been possible without him and it is a dream come true for him just like it is for the rest of us.”

On this night, when Didier Drogba rolled in the winning penalty to seal a memorable triumph, it was all finally worth it.

Chelsea had come tantalizingly close in 2008, when captain, John Terry missed a penalty in the shootout against Manchester United that would have clinched the trophy. Four years later, redemption came in the form of a match that looked destined to end with a Bayern triumph.

After long stretches of the German side’s dominance, Thomas Mueller finally broke through in the 83rd minute with a header that bounced over goalkeeper Petr Cech and into the net. However, Drogba equalized with a powerful header with just two minutes left to give Chelsea fresh hope.

A scoreless extra time period followed, sending the clash into penalties for the cruellest yet most dramatic of finishes. Bayern scored its first two and Juan Mata missed for

Chelsea, but somehow the English club found a way back. Ivica Olic was foiled by Cech and Bastian Schweinsteiger fired his effort against the post, leaving Drogba to calmly clinch it with the most important kick of his career.

Abramovich had flown 50 friends and family members to Munich to join him in a VIP suite for the game, and the group celebrated wildly with champagne and hugs. Thoughts will now turn to what happens next. With his primary goal now realized, will Abramovich chase more European silverware or scale back his vast spending?

Either way, his investment paid off spectacularly on this dramatic evening, one that saved Chelsea from what would have gone down as a failed season. The club’s only way of reaching next season’s Champions League competition was by winning it all after finishing sixth in the English Premier League and two spots below the EPL’s last remaining automatic berth.

All those concerns count for nothing now, though. Abramovich’s eight-year spending spree finally reaped its ultimate reward, and Chelsea became European champion for the first time in its history.

Thousands welcome victorious Chelsea

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ens of thousands of Chelsea fans gave their team a hero’s welcome yesterday as they made an open-top bus parade through their west London home after their Champions League win over Bayern Munich.

Blue-clad fans lined the streets and roared their delight as the hero of Saturday’s victory Didier Drogba held the trophy aloft, flanked by captain John Terry, who was suspended for the final in Munich.

The bus was emblazoned with a banner proclaiming “Champions of Europe” and Drogba, who scored the decisive spot kick in the penalty shootout, milked the cheers of the crowd.

Fans cheered and sounded horns as the bus passed along the route.

It was the first time that Chelsea have won Europe’s biggest club prize and fulfilled the ambition of their oligarch owner Roman Abramovich, who has pumped hundreds of millions of pounds into the club.

Thousand yesterday turned up to welcome the victorious Chelsea team

Rangers stay top with Rising Stars win

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angers maintained top spot in the NPL after a comfortable 3-1 home win over relegation battlers Rising

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Stars Sunday in Enugu.

‘The Fly ing Antelopes’ have now recorded 46 points from 26 matches, while Enyimba moved into second place after a 2-0 home win over Kaduna United.

In other matches, Gombe pipped champions Dolphin 10, Sunshine were forced to a 3-3 draw by visiti ng Jigawa Golden Stars, Heartland stopped Lobi 2-0 and Warri Wolves beat Ocean Boys 2-1. Akwa United were 1-0 winners at home against Sharks.

In Enugu, former Warri Wolves striker Efe Yarhere scored a first-half brace in the 28th and 43rd minutes for hosts Rangers against Rising Stars, before If eanyi Ede made it 3-0 in the 61st

minute.

Rising Stars scored a consolation goal in the 88th minute through Niyi Adekunle.

Two-goal hero Yarhere said he was delighted with the goals that made his team remain on top as he promised more goals in the quest to win league with the Enugu team.

Rising fought hard but we won because we we’re the better team. “I am now looking forward to getting more goals as the season goes on.”

Rising Stars new signing Mohammed Amodu said he believes their best was not enough but remains hopeful his team will survive the drop.

NPL RESULTS Rangers 3 Rising Stars 1 Enyimba 2 Kaduna Utd 0 W/Wolves 2 Ocean Boys 1 Heartland 2 Lobi 0 Gombe Utd 1 Dolphin 0 Akwa Utd 1 Sharks 0 Sunshine 3 Jigawa 3

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Transfer

Van Persie

Anzhi set to offer Van Persie £300,000-aweek

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nzhi Makhachkala is ready to tempt the Arsenal striker with a three-year contract worth £45million The manager of the club, Guus Hiddink has been given a blank cheque to go and sign three world class stars for Anzhi.

Anzhi owner Suleyman Kerimov, one of the richest men in the world, has told Hiddink the best players can earn over £300,000 a-week net at his club including £15m a-year and its tax free.

Hiddink is now hinting he is about to target Van Persie with an offer that will dwarf anything on offer from Arsenal, he wants to turn bigspending Anzhi into one of the biggest clubs in the world Hiddink said: “In this summer’s transfer period we are going to get a couple of really well targeted investments to build this Anzhi team into an even bigger side in world football.

The question is if Van Persie can be persuaded to pick up millions in Russia over three years Hiddink’s club Anzhi could pay him£45m.

Chelsea take a step closer to sign Hazard

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helsea is preparing for next season as they moved closer to securing a deal for Eden Hazard. It is understood that they made a breakthrough in negotiations that could lead to Chelsea signing the highly-rated Belgian forward in a 35 million euro (£28.3 million) deal from Lille.

Manchester City and Manchester United are interested in signing the player but have been put off by the exorbitant demands being made by Hazard’s representatives.

Well-placed sources have revealed that he is asking for wages of £4.6million net, which means an annual outlay of about £9 million for a club that is a weekly salary of roughly £170,000. Hazard is one of the most talented young players in Europe, both City and United are unwilling to pay such a huge salary for a 21 year-old that has only played in the French league.

City could afford it; they no longer feel they are in the position of needing to offer disproportionately large contracts to persuade players to sign.

The season is over. Clubs are counting their blessing as well as losses and would like to make amends and even beef up their squads where noticeable lapses exist. And the transfer market is agog barely 24 hours after major European leagues dropped the curtain.

And so to keep abreast with latest rumours, we begin daily doses of movements within the market both for players and coaches like.

PAGE 43

Liverpool risk losing Suarez, Skrtel after owners plan to slash budget

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iverpool faces the prospect of losing Luis Suarez and Martin Skrtel as the club’s American owners look to introduce a new economic reality to Anfield.

Fenway Sports Group believes that an ­extended period of austerity is the only way to balance the books following Liverpool’s failure to qualify for the Champions League for a third successive season.

It means the transfer budget will be slashed a move that won’t impress Suarez and Skrtel when they open talks about new contracts this summer.

Suarez has been targeted by Italian champions Juventus and their rivals AC Milan and has admitted that he would like to experience life in Italy or Spain while player-of-the-season Skrtel is wanted by Fiorentina.

Luis Suarez

Aguero emerges £50m C target for Mourinho

Chelsea approach Tottenham manager

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he Manchester City hero has been coveted by the La Liga champions for some time but former club Atletico didn’t want to sell to their rivals Manchester City hero Sergio Aguero is a £50million target for Real Madrid; it was the Argentinian’s last gasp goal that clinched the ­Premier League title for City in the 3-2 win over QPR. And Real boss Jose Mourinho now wants to bring him to the Bernabeu, Aguero was signed for £35 million a year ago from Atletico Madrid.

He had been coveted by Real for some time – but Atletico were reluctant to deal directly with their bitter rivals from across the city.

City manager Roberto Mancini wants to bolster rather than weaken his squad but if Aguero wanted to return to Spain it might prove to be difficult to hang on to the front man.

Mancini has Arsenal’s Robin van Persie and AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic as possible close season signings and their ­arrival would help balance the loss of Aguero if Real are successful with their megabid.

Sergio Aguero

helsea could be ready to make a shock move to tempt Harry Redknapp to take over at Stamford Bridge.

The 65-year-old Tottenham manager is one of the names being considered by Roman Abramovich as he seeks the likeliest candidate to put Chelsea back at the top of English football.

The chances are that Redknapp would seize the opportunity to seek a fresh challenge after taking Spurs from the foot of the Premier League into the Champions League in just three seasons.

Chelsea has already sounded out ex-Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola without success and has also made a discreet approach to former boss Jose Mourinho.

Ramires on Mourinho radar

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ose Mourinho wants to raid his former club Chelsea for allaction midfielder Ramires.

The Real Madrid boss reckons Ramires, 25, would be the perfect partner for Xabi Alonso, but he knows that it would take a huge bid to persuade Chelsea to part with the Brazil international who has established himself as a key member of the team since his£19.8million move from Benfica two years ago.

Meanwhile, Marcello Lippi, the new manager of Chinese champions Guangzhou, is looking to sign Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.

The striker is out of contract in the summer and available on a free transfer.

Fergie signs £4m Powell

S Nick Powell

ir Alex Ferguson has sealed a £4million deal for England Under-18 international Nick Powell as he turns to young talent to secure Manchester United’s future.

The manager struck a deal with League Two Crewe for the forward, who has scored 15 goals this season and will feature in next week’s League Two play-off at Wembley.

Tipped as the best player to emerge from Dario Gradi’s famous Crewe academy, which has uncovered the likes of Dean Ashton, David Platt and Danny Murphy, Powell is poised to earn full recognition before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Ferguson, who personally checked out the youngster at Gresty Road, has also been linked with £7m-rated Borussia Dortmund midfielder Shinji Kagawa and Moussa Dembele of Fulham as he prepares for life after Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

Ramires

PAGE 44

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olaji Shobayo, a bronze medalist at the 2011 Africa Cadet Championships, has commended the innovative steps taken by the Lagos State Government to prepare its athletes for the forthcoming National Sports Festival.

Shobayo told the News Agency of Nigeria of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos, that the ongoing “Ibile Games” would ensure better performance by the state’s athletes at the national sports fiesta.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

Ibile Games needed for talent identification, says athlete NAN reports that Ibile Games is part of the state’s preparation for the National Sports Festivals to select athletes who would represent the state at the festival.

“The Lagos State Government is doing a good job because it has been organising lots of

competitions, which have been helping athletes to develop and get better. “Before now, nothing was happening in table tennis, especially at the national level where athletes will train without competitions to evaluate their performances and

deficiencies,”he said.

He said the dearth of competitions in the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation was taking its toll on players who usually perfected their acts through competitions.

“The first quarter had a range

Injured Williams confident for French Open

19 handball players to be screened for IHF challenge trophy

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erena Williams, said she expected to be 100 per cent fit for next week’s French Open, despite withdrawing from the Italian Open last Saturday because of a back injury.

The American had been due to play China’s Li Na in the first semi-final but told a news conference she was pulling out as a precaution.

“On Friday morning I felt a bit of pain in my lower back, and if it’s not 100 per cent it’s better not to play and make it worse,” the world number six said. But I am in good form, I have a few days to get better and I am confident I will be 100 per cent fit for the French Open.”

Williams played only four games in the previous round as Flavia Pennetta of Italy retired with a wrist problem.

“Yesterday I might have had to retire as well,” Williams said. “I don’t know because we only played a bit and I didn’t have time to check my condition.”

Williams, who has won claycourt titles in Charleston and Madrid in the past month, said she needed to be careful not to over-play, having been out of the game for a year in 2010 and 2011 because of a blood clot on one of her lungs.

French Open holder Li will go through to play either Maria Sharapova of Russia or Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final.

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Serena Williams

Akwa Ibom to build 30,000 capacity stadium

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he Akwa Ibom State Government says it is planning to build an Olympic size 30,000-capacity stadium in Uyo, the state’s capital.

Mr Ita Udoh, the state’s Commissioner for Youth and Sports, said in Uyo on Friday, that the stadium would be part of the facilities for a ‘Sports Village,’aimed at boosting sporting activities in the state.

“We have been going out to rent swimming pools for our athletes to train from individuals or private organisations. It is expected that we will have better athletes when the sport village is completed,” Udoh said.

Udoh, who declined to mention the estimated cost of the stadium, said that the contract had already been awarded to a construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. He said that the Uyo Township Stadium would continue to enjoy a face-lift, pending the completion of the Olympic size stadium.

NAN reports that the new stadium is expected to be completed in 2013.

The commissioner said that the sports ministry had a robust training programme for all its athletes, explaining that the 2011 contingent to National Sports

Festival in Port Harcourt were still being kept by the ministry.

“We pay them monthly stipend and we expect improvements in the 2012 National Sports Festival

coming up in Lagos,” Udoh said, assuring that government was committed to promoting sports in the state.

“You know that Akwa United FC

of Uyo is 100 per cent funded by the State Government. We hope to improve on any performance recorded in the past tournaments,” Udoh said.

Nigeria, Britain, Russia grab places in women’s boxing

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igeria grabbed a slot while Britain and Russia grabbed quota places in each of the three weight categories, in women’s boxing which makes its Olympic debut in London this year,

of activities lined up but it was more on paper because none was realised, such setbacks retard the growth of the sport; since athletes lack the forum to strut their stuff.

“We hope to use the Ibile Games to sharpen, to keep in shape, to ensure that we remain fit in the countdown to the National Sports Festival in November.

“The Ibile Games should not be a one-off thing. It should be staged at least twice a year to keep athletes perpetually engaged,” he said.

the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said over the weekend.

Nigeria was the only West African country that grabbed a slot while Venezuela, Poland, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Australia

United States of America-born Nigerian female boxer, Ijeoma Egbunine

won one regional quota place each.

In all, 25 quota places in three weight categories: 51kg, 60kg and 75kg, were awarded after the conclusion of the women’s world championships in Qinhuangdao, China. United States, Brazil, Tunisia, China and New Zealand bagged two places each from the tournament’s regional quota.

Irish boxer Katie Taylor capped her Olympic qualification by winning her fourth 60kg title, beating Russian Sofya Ochigava in the industrial port city of China to boost her London prospects.

England’s Savannah Marshall will also fancy her chances of winning a gold in London after defeating Azerbaijan’s Elena Vystropova to win the 75kg title.

Compatriot Nicola Adams secured a berth for London, despite losing to local favourite Cancan Ren in the 51kg final.

Natasha Jonas, who won the 60kg bronze, was the other English woman boxer to win a quota place for London.

oach Stephen Adebayo of the National U-20 Women’s Team said yesterday in Abuja that 19 Handball players would be screened for the International Handball Federation qualifiers in Ghana.

Adebayo, who said that camping was delayed by the issue of venue, also confirmed that only 14 players would be selected from the 19 currently in camp.

“Now we have 19 girls in camp and they are undergoing screening; with the situation at hand now, we are trying our best because time is too short,” he said.

Adebayo said it was the desire of every coach to win and he was confident that the girls would win the trophy.

“We entered camp on Monday and they are coping even within the short period; we are getting set and hope to qualify.”

He said the IHF U-20 challenge trophy scheduled for May 27, would qualify the team for the cadet World Cup. “We are working on them and we are preparing to qualify for the World Cup under the West Africa Games organised by IHF U-20 competition.

“We have six zones, so each qualifier will attend the cadet World Cup which we are hoping to go. The competition we are going for in Ghana is our own zonal qualifier for the cadet World Cup.” It would be recalled that 15 teams, comprising both male and female from eight countries including Ghana, will participate in the tournament.

The seven-day tournament will assemble about 280 players and officials from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Niger, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire and the host Ghana. Cote D’Ivoire will present only its male team, however.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MAY 21, 2012

PAGE 45

A. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has confirmed talks will take place over Didier Drogba's contract this week and said Roberto Di Matteo is now under "serious consideration" for the managerial role.

B. Chelsea chairman says Roberto Di Matteo is “under serious consideration” for the manager’s job after their Champions League wins.

C. Novak Djokovic will play Rafael Nadal in the final of the Italian Open after the Serbian's straight-sets win over Roger Federer.

D. Heavyweight David Price produces a dominant display against Sam Sexton to win the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.

E. England begins the last session chasing the final four West Indies wickets, having removed Shivnarine Chanderpaul just before tea.

F. Brian O'Driscoll insists Leinster will chase more glory after crushing Ulster 42-14 in the Heineken Cup final at Twickenham.

G. Miguel Delaney on some of the decisive talking points ahead of the European Championship.

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G

C

E

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D