Peoples Daily Newspaper, Tuesday 23, July, 2013

www.peoplesdailyng.com

Vol. 11 No. 47

. . . putting the people first

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Ramadan 14, 1434 AH

N150

Ramadan Timings 18 roasted alive Gana bows to for Abuja in Ore-Lagos Tukur over PDP MAGRIB

ALFIJR

6.55 p.m.

5.05 a.m.

road crash

>> 2

convention >> 6

Northern presidency

Govs consult IBB, Abdulsalami We met Obasanjo to salvage PDP — Nyako

By Lawrence Olaoye, Abuja and Umar Dankano, Yola

F

L-R: Front row, Sokoto state Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, Niger state Governor, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu; (back row), former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Kano state Governor, Engr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, and Jigawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, after their meeting, yesterday at the Presidential Lodge, Minna, Niger state.

our northern governors on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday in Minna held consultations with former Military Heads of state, Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar over return of the Presidency to the north by 2015.

Those governors at the two hours meeting held Behind closed doors with the former leaders at the Presidential Lodge, Minna, included the host, Niger state governor, Dr. Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, Sokoto state governor, Alhaji Aliyu Matagakarda Wamakko, the governor of Kano state, Dr. Rabi’u Musa Kwakwanso and their Jigawa state counterpart, Alhaji Sule Lamido.

The four governors and their Adamawa Contd. on Page 2

We never sanctioned underage marriage — Senate

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

C

ontrary to widespread reports that the Senate had passed a law permitting under-age marriage in the country last week, two prominent members

of the Upper Chamber yesterday clarified that nothing of such happened in the Senate.

Senators Bagudu Abubakar Atiku (Kebbi Central, PDP) and Akin Odunsi (Ogun West, (ACN) in separate chats with

newsmen explained that the Senate only deliberated and voted on citizenship renunciation age, rather than marriageable age as was wrongly reported in the media.

According to the lawmakers, the legal marriageable age for a

Nigerian girl still stands at the constitutional 18 years.

They explained that with regards to renouncing citizenship, the Senate allowed male individuals to renounce their citizenship of the country at the age of 18, while it

voted that any married woman of ripe age is free to renounce her citizenship.

They explained that what the Senate wanted to do was to expunge that controversial section Contd. on Page 2

Ramadan Message O you who believe! Fasting has been made obligatory upon you just as it was made obligatory upon those who were before you, so that you may have Taqwa (Piety). Qur’an 2:183 Sponsored by Kano state government

Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso Governor, Kano State

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

News CONTENTS News

2-10

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-18

Business

19-22

Stockwatch

23

S/Report

24-25

Defence

26

Agric

28-29

Feature

30

Maternal deaths: The need to delay child birth for under-age women, Page 4

Int’l

31-34

Strange World Digest Politics Newsxtra Sports Leisure Columnist

35 36

37-38 39 41-4 47 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: adverts@peoplesdailyng.com pictures@peoplesdailyng.com contact@peoplesdailyng.com

Phones for News: 08142929046 08024432099

Prince William’s wife, Kate 18 roasted in Ore-Lagos gives birth to baby boy road crash

By Abdulkadir Isa, with agency report

P

rince William’s wife, Kate gave birth yesterday to a boy, who becomes third in line to the British throne, ending weeks of feverish speculation about the royal baby.

The couple’s first child was born at 4:24 p.m. (11:24 a.m. E), weighing 8 lbs and 6 oz.

His name will be announced at a later date but bookmakers favour George and James.

“Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and will remain in hospital overnight,” said a statement from the Royal Household,which sidestepped tradition to announce the birth with a press release.

“The Queen, the Duke of

Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news,” it read.

As the birth was announced, a loud cheer went up from wellwishers and media gathered outside St. Mary’s Hospital in west London.

The couple arrived the hospital at about dawn yesterday, dodging the pack of world media camped outside the main entrance by using an unmarked car and entering through a side door.

The Royal household said the medical staff present for the birth were the Queen’s former Gynaecologist, Marcus Setchell, Obstetrician, Guy Thorpe-Beeston, and Consultant neonatologist Sunit Godambe.

From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

A

t least a total of 18 persons were feared roasted following an accident along the Lagos Ore road.

Eyewitness accounts said that the accident involved commercial bus belonging to Peace Mass Transit Limited and a truck carrying gravel.

The vehicles were said to have had a head-on collision near Okada town in Edo state.

Our correspondent learnt that the two vehicles had a collision along one of the lanes of the double routes at Okada town in Ovia Northeast council area of Edo state.

Edo state Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC), Kenneth Nwaegbe, who

confirmed the incident said that “18 of the passengers were roasted alive while two others who are mainly children survived the accident.”

He said the injured were being treated at a hospital.

Among those killed were 15 adults and two children, along with a motor boy in the truck.

The Peace Mass Transit bus was said to be travelling from Onitsha to Lagos.

According to an eyewitness, “it was not really a head on collision as such but what happened is that the truck was carrying gravel and was coming from Ore to Benin when it lost one of its tyres and the driver lost control of the vehicle.

And, the Toyota bus was coming from Benin to Lagos when the two collided.”

Northern presidency: Govs consult IBB, Abdulsalami Contd. from Front Page state counterpart, Admiral Murtala Nyako, had last weekend embarked on similar consultation visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo where the crisis rocking the ruling party over President Goodluck Jonathan’s insistence on contesting a second term on the platform of the PDP was discussed.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the Niger state governor and Chairman of the Northern States Governors’ Forum, Aliyu, said they were consulting with the nation’s leaders on the state of the nation and the way forward.

He said “this is a platform we could use to actualize the political dreams. Now, we are consulting with our elders and let us look at some of the problems and solution to the problems that some of us perceived we are facing”.

When asked on whether the happening in River State was part of the agenda of the meeting, Aliyu stated “obviously there is no issue in Nigeria, Rivers crisis would not come up but it is a larger issue than Governor’s’ Forum (that) and we are discussing how to

solve them”.

On the next step for the group of five governors, Aliyu assured “we will continue to consult as a group to see where we are going to next.” According to him, the governors were consulting to make sure that all the stakeholders understand the issues and find a way of carrying the people along as they go along.

IBB in his comments said it was commendable that the governors considered them and involved them in finding solution to the problems of the country, saying “they are really patriotic and I am very happy; I told them so”.

According to him, the step taken by the governors was the best in the circumstance they found themselves even as he added: “I was very impressed because they see the problems of this country as our own problems and they have taken the right steps to make the consultation widely and trying to find solutions to some of the problems”.

In a related development, the Adamawa state governor yesterday gave an insight into his trip to

Abeokuta residence of former President Obasanjo at the weekend in company of the other four governors.

Nyako who spoke through his state Director of Press andPublications, Ahmed Sajoh, disclosed that the visit was to consult with the former President on how to save the PDP from the total collapse and disintegration it currently faces.

The Adamawa governor disclosed that the consultation would not be limited to Obanjo but would be extended to eminent stakeholders of the party to chart a new course for the party.

He said: “We have held consultations with former Head of state and former BoT chairman of the PDP, Chief Olusegun Obansanjo, on the need for him and other major stakeholders to save the party from disintegration.

“We are not stopping with Obasanjo as one of the most respected Nigerian of our time, we will proceed to the likes of Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Abdusalmi Abubakar and other eminent Nigerians just to mention, but a

few”, he explained.

“We will continue to make our efforts to save the party. But, if our efforts do not work, we have no alternative than to fold our arms, and see PDP dead and help in burying it”, Nyako added.

According to the governor, “unless these serious minded Nigerians interfere and intervene in time, the PDP, which all of us built and nurtured to maturity, will die of natural death.”

Nyako described the current political tussle in the party as worrisome warning that the intra party squabbles within the ruling party (PDP) is a threat to the survival of democracy in the country.

He stressed that governors of Iike minds in the PDP would not fold their arms to see the party being hijacked and thrown into the dustbin by a few individuals but would make moves to safe the party.

Nyako further disclosed that all his supporters will dump PDP for ANPP any moment from now just as he assured the people of Adamawa that he, as an individual, intends to remain in the party.

We never sanctioned underage marriage — Senate Contd. from Front Page of the constitution which makes any married woman an adult, but the proposal failed because those in favour could not get the 2/3 majority votes constitutionally required for the proposal to sail through.

Both Senators regretted that the media misrepresented this inability to generate the requisite majority votes to mean that the Senate had voted for under-age marriage just as they insisted that the issue of marriage and legally allowed age of 18 years are already expressed in the constitution.

Specifically, Odunsi, in a separate briefing with journalists, explained that the alleged under -age marriage provision is an existing law in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as contained in section 29 clauses 4(b) which states that “any woman that

is married in Nigeria is of full age”.

According to him, “What the Senate attempted to do was to expunge that clause, but couldn’t do so due to shortage of 13 votes because 60 Senators voted for its removal as against 73 required votes, while 35 voted for its retention.

“Therefore, from what happened on the floor of the Senate last Tuesday, the Senate attempted to expunge the somewhat archaic clause and not in any way created the law as now wrongly portrayed

by Nigerians”, he explained.

His counterpart, Bagudu, said it was quite unfortunate that the Senate was being drawn into a debate it did not in the first place initiate.

According to him, the alleged endorsement by the Senate of underage marriage in Nigeria was a terrible misrepresentation of what the Senate considered or voted for

under section 29 clauses 4(a) and (b) of the Nigeria constitution and as presented for consideration by its committee on Constitution review.

He said that the issue of renunciation of citizenship was what the Senate considered and voted on as far as section 29 clauses 4a and b were concerned and not anything about marriage.

“Clause 4a of section 29 of the 1999 constitution defines a full age for any Nigerian who wants to renounce his or her citizenship to be 18 years and above while clause 4b states further that in the case of women, aside the 18 years prescribed in clause 4a, any woman that is married can be considered to be of full age”, he explained.

He however said that in many places around the world, marriage below the age of 18 years for girls is allowed by parental consent since,

according to him, the Holy Bible, the Quoran, the Torah etc , all view full age for women from the age of puberty.

Meanwhile, the Senate Spokesman, Enyinnaya Abaribe, when contacted for comments on the issue said the Senate will officially make its position on the matter public today.

It would be recalled that since the report that the Senate has passed a clause giving legal teeth to child marriage last week, the Upper Chamber has had to contend with vitriolic attacks from members of the public and civil society groups.

Those Senators who purportedly sponsored the under-age marriage controversy, including Senators Ahmed Yarima and Danjuma Goje and others known supporter of the amendment flop, have been under severe attacks from the public for taking such position.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 3

News

Why I support dialogue with Boko Haram – Gov Shettima From Mustapha Kwaru, Maiduguri with agency reports

G

overnor Kashim Shettima of Borno has affirmed that his government is in support of the Federal Government’s decision to dialogue with the moderate elements within the Boko Haram sect.

Shettima who said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Maiduguri yesterday, noted that most conflicts in the world, including the country’s 1967-1970 civil war, were sorted out at the conference table.

“Unless we want to engage in an endless war, I believe it is irrational for anyone to oppose dialogue as a means of resolving conflicts.

“I see no reason why we should not engage the moderate elements in Boko Haram, who are willing to lay down their arms and who have recognised the territorial integrity of the nation, in a dialogue.

“The Northern Ireland problem was eventually resolved through dialogue; today, the Israelis are talking to their Palestinian cousins and many other global conflicts, much more complicated than ours, were eventually resolved through dialogue,” he said.

He said the Federal Government had nothing to lose because it was negotiating from a position of strength.

Mr. Shettima said, although the Colombian rebels were talking with the Colombian Government, that did not stop the government from attacking their position.

He said that although there were elements within the Boko Haram sect that were opposed to dialogue, that should not stop the government from negotiating with the moderate members of the sect that were ready and willing to do so.

“I am for dialogue and will always be for dialogue. I will always support any Nigerian who wants peace;

we support Federal Government’s dialogue with the Boko Haram.”

The Governor also dismissed the claim in some quarters that the Boko Haram crisis was fermented as part of a grand design by Muslims to islamise the country, saying that majority of the victims of the sect were Muslims.

“In fact, at the onset of the insurgency, churches were never targeted. They were killing village, district and ward heads, who are largely Muslims,” he said.

He described members of the sect as fringe elements “whose condition is further aggravated by poverty and illiteracy.”

Shettima said that members of the sect which is as old as Islam itself, were descendants of the Kharijite sect that came into existence few years after the death of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

According to him, they are out to pursue their own narrow and selfish agenda.

FG to conduct housing census to ascertain housing deficit

I

n its bid to ascertain housing deficit in the country, the Federal Government will conduct housing census, Minister of Land, Housing and Urban Development, Ms Amal Pepple, has said.

The minister announced this on Monday in Abuja when she met with members of the steering committee on the restructuring and commercialisation of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

The census, she said, would determine what had been achieved and what needed to be done in the housing sector, saying “a lot has been done” in the sector since 2011.

She said that in spite of the challenges and unproductive measures taken by the FHA in housing delivery, other means initiated by the Federal Government

had boosted the housing sector.

The minister listed the means to include public-private partnership and public-public partnership model.

She said that the housing deficit in Nigeria had for year been estimated at 17 million units, adding, ``I believe that with the projects embarked on so far, we have less than that.’’

The minister said the census would expose states that had not met the minimum expectation in the housing sector and serve as avenue to commend those that had achieved the minimum standard.

“It will further strengthen our efforts to achieve our aim in the housing sector in line with the vision 20:2020,” she said.

Pepple said the 36 state commissioners, as well as the FCT

had been requested to submit the number of housing projects delivered and those still in progress from 2011 to date.

She added that some states had started collating data on the housing projects they embarked on.

She restated the commitment of the ministry to effective housing delivery in the country in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’ transformation agenda. ``We have mass housing and affordable housing projects for the average/low income earners in the civil service; we also have housing projects for people in the informal sector,” she said.

The minister said that the housing census would be undertaken by the ministry in collaboration with the Bureau of Statistic and Census Population Commission. (NAN)

NDLEA arrests 296 persons for drug-related offences

T

h e National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kano State said yesterday that it arrested 296 suspects between January and June this year for various drug-related offences.

Of that number, the state NDLEA Commander, Mr Garba Ahmadu told reporters in Kano, the Command has secured the conviction of 150 persons at the Federal High Court, Kano.

He also disclosed that a total 1,398. 73 kg of illicit drugs were seized from the suspected drug peddlers during the period.

He said the breakdown of the seizures showed that 1,182.66 kg were cannabis sativa, 215.38 kg psychotropic substance, while cocaine and heroin were 214.7 grms and 78.9 grams respectively.

Ahmadu said a total of 136 people received counseling at the Command’s rehabilitation in Kano during the period pointing out that the beneficiaries were later integrated into their respective families.

The commander, who described drug abuse and trafficking as a global trend, urged parents to

ensure proper upbringing of their wards in order to reduce the menace among the youth. ‘’There is need for parents to be up and doing. There should be holistic [response] to the phenomenon,’’ he said.

According to Ahmadu, youth unemployment and broken homes are some of the causes of drug abuse and trafficking in the country, especially among the youth.

He pledged that the command would continue to do its best so as to end drug abuse among the youth in the state.

Ramadan Timing Day 14 TOWNS Aba Abakaliki Abeokuta Abuja Akure Argungu Ankpa Auchi Azare Bama Bauchi Benin Bichi Bida Birnin Gwari Birnin Kebbi Biu Calabar Damaturu Daura Dutse Enugu Funtua Gombe Gwoza Gumi Gusau Gwadabawa Hadejia ` Ibadan Ife Ilorin Jalingo Jere Jos Kabba Kafanchan Keffi/Nasarawa Kaduna Kano Katsina Kontagora Lafia Lagos Lokoja Maiduguri Makurdi Malumfashi Minna Port Harcourt Ringim Shagamu Sokoto Warri Yola Zaria Cotonnou-Benin Ndjamena-Chad Niamey-Niger Younde-Cameroun

MAGRIB 6.51 6.49 7.08 6.55 7.00 7.09 6.48 6.56 6.47 6.32 6.46 6.57 6.55 7.00 6.58 7.12 6.35 6.45 6.40 6.56 6.51 6.50 6.59 6.40 6.33 7.07 7.00 7.09 6.49 7.05 7.04 7.05 6.38 6.54 6.49 6.58 6.52 6.55 6.56 6.54 7.00 7.03 6.48 7.06 6.55 6.33 6.48 7.00 6.59 6.50 6.51 7.06 7.09 6.58 6.34 6.55 7.09 7.24 7.22 6.30

ALFIJR 5.05 5.07 5.24 5.05 5.16 5.04 5.06 5.12 4.47 4.34 4.53 5.17 4.54 5.10 5.05 5.10 4.35 5.08 4.40 4.51 4.52 5.08 5.00 4.47 4.36 5.07 5.00 5.04 4.46 5.19 5.18 5.19 4.48 5.01 4.56 5.12 5.00 4.55 5.01 4.54 4.55 5.10 5.00 5.24 5.24 4.35 5.02 4.54 5.07 5.13 4.52 5.22 5.04 5.17 4.44 4.59 5.29 4.28 5.17 4.57

Source: Society for Propagation of Islam Kaduna

PAGE 4

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Page 4 Report

Maternal deaths: The need to delay child birth for under-age women

By A’isha Biola Raji

E

arly childbearing may be life-threatening to both the mother and the child. Mothers who are younger than 17 may face an increased risk of maternal mortality because their bodies are not yet mature enough to bear children.

These young women may not recognize the symptoms of pregnancy or may not wish to acknowledge a conception which can translate to delaying or neglecting the need for prenatal care, thereby endangering the health of the child and mother.

Teen mothers’ deliveries are more often complicated by obstructed labour or other problems which may lead to death of the mother and/or child, or to maternal infertility.

Children born to teenage mothers are more likely to be pre-mature, be of low birth weight, and suffer from retarded fetal growth.

Delaying a woman’s first birth until she is at least 18 years old could reduce infant mortality in the nation, which is mostly common in first born children.

Children or young women, coming from low income backgrounds are often denied education, which hinders there economic growth and selfesteem. This lack of self-esteem has been said to be responsible for their inability to regulate their fertility, resulting in higher rates of early pregnancy.

The cycle is further perpetuated, as young women below eighteen who are in school are forced to discontinue their education, get married, become pregnant and focus on raising a family at such tender age. This practice has greatly restricted their economic opportunities.

Young women with higher levels of education are more likely to postpone marriage and child-bearing. Education is positively associated with contraceptive use by increasing awareness, acceptability and utilization of family planning services. Children of these adolescent mothers are mostly at risk of illness and possible deaths.

Recently, Nigeria joined the rest of the world to celebrate World population day, reproductive health experts like the Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) however seized the opportunity to declare an end to child marriage.

According to the association, married adolescents face danger of having their health compromised if child marriage issue is not addressed.

With Nigerian legislators having been urged to rise up

Imam Fuad Adeyemi, Chief Imam Al-Habibiyyah Mosque Abuja to ending child marriages, there have been new twist to the matter, The wife of Ekiti state governor, Mrs. Fayemi called on women to criminalize early marriage since it poses danger to the girl child, leading to retraction in her education process and increase in cancer diseases.

It is expected that adolescents should be kitted with required sexual reproduction education in order to watch over their health and a chance to make choices.

In a report by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), more than 600 million girls in the world with about 500 million of them in third world countries with Nigeria inclusive swffer from complications

related to child marriage.

Experts, both have said that, the main reason women lose their lives during child birth is connected to early pregnancy and not early marriage.

Dr. Ejike Orji, Country Director Ipas, a nongovernmental organization caring for women reproductive health and Chief Imam, AlHabibibyyah Society Abuja, Imam Fuad Adeyemi said this in exclusive phone calls with our reporter. Both experts separately agreed that, young girls can get married at early age but their spouse should avoid consummation of such marriage until they come of age.

According to Dr. Ejike, research has shown that seventy per cent of maternal mortality

“

Dr. Ejike Orji, Country Director Ipas Nigeria cases can be blamed on early pregnancy which can degenerate to uterine cramping or back pain, vaginal bleeding cervical dilatation and VesicoVaginal Fistula (VVF).

He said, “One of the major reasons we lose most women at child birth is because they get married before eighteen years, when their reproductive system has not fully developed and the marriage is consummated immediately. “If men must marry younger than eighteen year olds, they must leave them alone until they attain the ripe age.

“For instance, my Mum married at just nine years old but my father left her to attain puberty. “It is not early marriage that is the problem

Both experts separately agreed that, young girls can get married at early age but their spouse should avoid consummation of such marriage until they come of age.

According to Dr. Ejike, research has shown that seventy per cent of maternal mortality cases can be blamed on early pregnancy which can degenerate to uterine cramping or back pain, vaginal bleeding cervical dilatation and VesicoVaginal Fistula (VVF).

but early pregnancy.”

He however advocated that women should be given the chance of good education in order to be able to make their own choice. “We should stop relegating our women,” he advised.

In his words, Imam Adeyemi described the right time for a girl-child to be married at a time when she is matured enough to differentiate between good and bad.

Sighting Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as example, he said the prophet, after the demise of Nana Khadijah his first wife, married Nana Aisha as a companion. “It was not a deliberate act; she was initially a female companion to keep him company so as to avoid loneliness,” he pointed out.

Speaking further, the Imam pleaded with men, especially Muslims, to consider the health implication of early pregnancy in females, in order to curb maternal death rate.

He also pointed out that VVF is not peculiar to the northern part of Nigeria alone, but a national problem saying, “There is VVF prevalence in Akwa Ibom state; it is not necessarily early marriage but since Allah in the Quran said we should not partake in anything that will claim our lives, if early pregnancy can lead to death, it should be stopped.”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 5

News

Jonathan can contest in 2015, says Urhobo union

T

he Urhobo Progressive Union (UPU) said yesterday that all Nigerians including President Goodluck Jonathan were eligible to contest the Presidency in 2015.

Leader of UPU, Gen. Patrick Newton Aziza (rtd), who led the about 30 delegates from the group on a visit to the Presidential Villa said that they discussed a number of issues with Jonathan.

He listed some of them to

include matters bordering on the contentious issue of relocation of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun.

Accoring to him, “2015 is still far, we did not discuss that but everybody is entitled to contest, including the President.

“You know when you come to see your brother, there are so many things that you talk that you will not like to say outside just as you discuss with your wife in the bedroom, not

everything you discuss that you will say outside.”

He also spoke on issues of amnesty and oil theft saying that, “I will recount amnesty to militants back at home.

“We love it, let it go round and that is all we discussed.

“I support the harsh treatment to oil thieves and if anybody is a thief, treat him like a thief. Don’t romance him, let them pay the price.”

Jonathan assured the delegation that his administration has no intention of moving the PTI from its present location and urged them to disregard rumours that the institute is to be relocated.

A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, said Jonathan promised that all the concerns raised by the union would be referred to the relevant federal ministries, departments

and agencies for prompt attention.

Jonathan noted that his administration attaches the highest possible value to the contributions of the Urhobo to national development and will therefore do all within his powers to address issues that are of concern to them.

According to the statement, “government is to solve problems and our duty is to see how we can address the concerns of all of our people.

NAF floats bomb defusing robot From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

F

ollowing the killing of a Police anti-bomb expert in Kaduna last year and the recurring incidents of bomb explosions in parts of the country, the Nigeria Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) has floated a high caliber bomb defusing robot.

The Commandant of the Institute, Air Vice Marshal, John O. Oshoniyi, disclosed this at a press conference to kick start the 42nd graduation week of the institute, saying that, if given the political will, his institute will develop devices to enhance internal security.

Oshoniyi also said that the Research and Development (R and D) unit of the institute had produced an improved version of its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), capable of being used in surveillance of the nation’s pipelines and other vital installations.

“The R and D unit of the institute commenced research into the development of a robot capable of remotely defusing high caliber bombs and disposing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), after the killing of a policeman by an IED in Kaduna last year.”

The commandant added that the institute was making remarkable progress in the research, as a prototype of the robot has been developed and tested.

“The research activities being undertaken at AFIT come with huge financial implications and the resources required for AFIT to fully operate cannot be borne by the Nigerian Air Force alone, with its limited resources.

“It is in this regard that we earnestly seek the passage of the AFIT Establishment Act.”

L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan, in a handshake with former Chief of Defence Staff and President General, Urhobo Progressive Union, General Patrick Aziza, during a visit by the Urhobo delegation, yesterday to the State House, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

FG recovers N34bn unremitted revenue from MDAs

By Abdulwahab Isa

T

he Federal Government has announced recovery of N34 billion out of N58 billion withheld by some revenue generating agencies meant to be remitted into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

The recovery followed a threat issued last month to revenue generating MDAs by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The Minister confirmed the recovery yesterday when she inaugurated the committee on Integrated Payroll and Personal

Information System (IPPIS) and Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS) headed by the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama.

She said the recovered amount was factored as part of the cash backing for the second quarter release of 3013 budget just as she assured that, further measures would be applied to ensure total compliance to the directive.

She said that revenue generating MDAs were expected to remit 25 per cent of their gross revenue to the treasury but most agencies had withheld the funds.

Also yesterday, the Minister

announced that government has been able to save N115 billion through the implementation of Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) in 215 MDAs in the last one year of the scheme introduction.

She said the remaining 321 MDAs not yet captured by IPPIS would be integrated as soon as the Ngama committee turns in its report between November and December.

The GIGMIS which was introduced last year was conceived to enhance efficiency in cash management policy especially in the execution of the nation’s budget.

Term of references of Ngama’s committee include: to implement plan and timeline to ensure other MDAs are connected to IPPIS

by November and December, keep track of savings realize in the course of implementing the scheme; and to coopt any expert that may help in facilitating the realization of the objective and submission of progress report to the Coordinating Minister.

In a brief acceptance remark, Committee Chairman Dr. Yerima Ngama said consultations had started long ago but it was halted because the scheme required enormous advocacy campaign and some sort of awareness

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 6

News Sokoto govt to spend N450million on orthopaedic hospital

T

he Sokoto state government said it would embark on the construction of an ultra-modern orthopaedic hospital in Wamakko, Wamakko local government of the state at the cost of over N450 million.

Alhaji Ahmed Aliyu, the

Commissioner for Health, said this in Sokoto on Monday during an interview.

Aliyu said that the project was aimed at improving healthcare delivery in the state.

According to him, patients with fractures are currently traveling

to Kano or elsewhere due to lack of such specialist health facility in the state.

“This hospital is, therefore, expected to solve that problem and attend to patients from within and outside the state, and even those from Niger republic,” he explained.

He further explained that the provision of effective healthcare services remained the state government’s top agenda. “Health is wealth.

“We will continue to do all that we can to improve on the existing healthcare delivery system of our

people through the provision of basic healthcare facilities and services.” Aliyu called on the people of the state to reciprocate the state government’s gesture by reporting any outbreak of epidemics tohospitals nearest to them for prompt action. NAN

Shettima is detrabalised leader, says Borno CAN From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

T

R-L: Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, Director General, National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Malam Mohammed Abubakar, and a member of NDE Governing Board, Chief Perry Okpara, during the inauguration of NDE Board, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Kwara NAN correspondent killed in auto crash From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

T

heKwaraStateCouncilofNigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has announced the death of Mr. Olusola Owolabi of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kwara state.

Owolabi, died on Sunday, in an automobile accident that occurred

along Offa Garage area, in the state capital. The NUJ in a statement by its Chairman, Biodun Abdulkareem, and Secretary, Bisi Adedayo, described the deceased as humane, gentle, industrious, generous and an active member of the union.

The statement noted that deceased is survived by three children and aged

parents, among others.

The Council stated further that, “in the light of this sad event, all activities of the Union in the State are hereby suspended.

“A condolence register will be opened at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) office, opposite Saint Anthony Secondary School, Ilorin, while seven

(7) days of mourning is declared commencing from today, Monday, 22nd July, 2013.

“During the period of mourning, members of the union are to wear black stripe as a sign of respect for the departed soul. We pray almighty God to give the families he left behind the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”

PDP Special Convention: Gana bows to Tukur

By Lawrence Olaoye

C

hairman, Peoples Democratic Party Special Convention OrganizingCommittee,Professor Jerry Gana yesterday succumbed to pressure and agreed to subject the planning of his committee to the approval of the party ‘s National Working Committee (NWC) chaired

by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

Briefing newsmen after a reconciliatorymeetingbetweenthetwo feuding parties, Tukur said “The PDP ConventionCommitteeisworkingwith NWC on issues affecting the conduct of the special convention.

“The Chairman of the planning

...as Seriake-Dickson heads National Reconciliation C’ttee committee is saddled with a very big responsibility to make sure that the convention works.”

On his part, Gana said, “I like to confirm that we just concluded a very fruitful; a very peaceful meeting with the NWC under the able leadership of our Chairman and all the issues concerning planning and execution of all arrangements towards the special national convention have been fully and properly resolved. “Therefore, we are delighted that the National Chairmanwillverygraciouslyinaugurate formerlythespecialconventionplanning committee on Wednesday and all the

subcommittees of this committee also will be publicized so that all the subcommittee under the central planning committee will now set to work effectively.”

“We are also delighted that the party hasshownthatallissuescanberesolved.

“We are pleased that the PDP has shown to Nigerians that at every point in time, we do have the means of resolving conflicts wherever they will come and to really face the future with determination.”

Gana promised to work with the party’s NWC to deliver hitch-free conventions both in the South-West

and at the national level.

Meanwhile, the party has set up a National Reconciliation Committee chaired by the Bayelsa state governor, Henry Seriake-Dickson and Ambassador Umar Damagun, as Secretary.

In a statement signed by the party’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, Tony Okeke, the SeriakeDickson-led committee which will be inaugurated on Thursday, is saddled with the responsibility of harmonizing all interests and achieve reconciliation across board among members of the party.

he Borno state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), yesterday described Governor Kashim Shettima as selfless and detribalised leader, who runs the affairs of his administration for the benefit of all citizens.

The Chairman of the association, Rev. Titus Puma, stated this when he led CAN executives and that of the Northern Christians Elders’ Forum (NCEF) to pay a courtesy call on GovernorShettimaattheGovernment House Maiduguri.

Puma said they were at the Government House to express appreciationforsupportandassistance theGovernorrenderedtotheChristian community.

The cleric described Shettima as a detribilised leader who was poised to assist all persons irrespective of their religious and ethnic affiliations.

According to Puma, for the first time in the history of the state, Christians were only made to feel a sense of belonging under the present administration.

While enumerating some of the assistance given to the Christians, the chairman said it was only under the present government that New Year and Christmas bonuses were introduced for pastors across the state.

Similarly, he noted that CAN was delighted with the Governor’s selfless assistance through sponsoring several ChristianstoJerusalemforpilgrimage.

“Your execellency prior to the coming into power of your administration, very few Christians were able to go for pilgrimage, but with your kind gesture the number of our worshippers to the Holy land has drastically increased”, he declared.

The CAN chairman also praised the Governor for appointing several christians faithful into his government, which he said had never happened in the history of the state.

He noted the both Christians and Muslims were killed following the currentsecuritychallengesconfronting the state, saying the problem requires prayers from all and sundry.

The association also urged the Governor to fulfill the promise made to compensate victims and relations of the Christians killed in the Boko Haram insurgency.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 7

News

Jaiz Bank donates relief materials to Boko Haram victims in Borno From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

T

he Jaiz Bank yesterday donated relief materials to Borno state government for onward distribution to victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Chairman of the Bank, Dr. Umar Abdulmutallab, was accompanied by board members and management team of the bank presented the materials to Governor Kashim Shettima at the Government House Maiduguri.

While presenting the items, Abdulmutallab sympathised with the people over their travails and donated rice, spaghetti and textile materials to cushion their sufferings.

Mutallab said, “at Jaiz Bank, it is our desire to make our positive contribution to the society through service to humanity and create entrepreneurship and

economic empowerment”.

In his remarks, Governor Shettima thanked the bank for the donation and pledged judicious utilisation of the items.

Shettima promised to partner with the bank towards harnessing full potentials of the state.

“I can assure you that the state will partner with the bank towards developing the state.

We will also give the necessary support so that the bank can have a firm footage in both Borno and the country at large,’’ Shettima said.

The governor also promise to open a personal savings account with the bank to further demonstrate his support.

“I promise to open a personal savings account with the bank in Maiduguri.

I will also encourage members of the executive council to open their personal accounts with the bank”, he added.

Rivers: PDP Faults Amaechi’s indifference to injured lawmaker From Ayodele Samuel,Lagos

T

he Rivers State leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s unconcern attitude to the welfare of the injured lawmaker representing Obio/Akpor State Constituency II, Hon Michael Chinda and his preference to hosting of arranged solidarity visits have further exposed his unremorseful and unforgiving spirit.

Hon Felix Obuah, State Chairman of the party expressed this while on visit to the injured lawmaker in his London Hospital in company of other prominent political leaders in the State.

Hon Obuah regretted that despite the frightening state of the lawmaker’s health occasioned by the devastating attack on him

by Chidi Lloyd, Gov Amaechi has not deemed it worthwhile to ask after his welfare, but rather chose to be hosting solidarity visits from his instigators at the expense of the depleting Rivers resources.

It should be noted that since the unfortunate incident of July 9, 2013 at the State House of Assembly, two weeks after, Gov Amaechi has neither visited the injured lawmaker, nor his family, nor made any enquiries about his welfare which the party leadership described as inhuman and

unfortunate.

Also speaking during the condolence visit, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike marveled at the uncanny and barbaric character of Chidi Lloyd to inflict such injury on a fellow human being.

Barr Wike however thanked God that the injured lawmaker, Hon Michael Chinda is still alive and enjoined his constituents and family members to remain calm, stressing that justice must be given on the matter.

Other prominent Rivers State leaders who accompanied the State leadership of the PDP on the overseas trip include Rt. Hon Austin Opara, Dr Abiye Sekibo, Hon Kenneth Kobani and a former Commissioner for Sports in Rivers State, Boma Iyaye.

Both leaders condemned the brutal physical assault suffered

by Hon Chinda, describing it as pre-meditated, bizarre, evil and vicious, and also describing the injurer, Chidi Lloyd and those in support of this evil as heartless, animalistic and lacking integrity.

The state leaders however thanked God that despite the life-threatening knocks from a mace-wielding House leader, Chidi Lloyd, Hon Michael Chinda survived and is fast stabilizing.

L-R: Borno state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, receiving donations for Boko Haram victims from Chairman, Jaiz Bank, Alhaji Umar Abdulmutalab, yesterday in Maiduguri.

Photo: NAN

Senator Uzodinma denies certificate forgery

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

C

ontrary to claims that he did not attend secondary school, Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo West), yesterday flaunted his West African Examination Certificate, insisting that he attended Mgbidi secondary school in Mgbidi, and graduated in 1982 with the certificate No. SG904497.

He said those accusing him of not having attended secondary school are his political detractors, saying he will not be discouraged by those who are interest in having access to his position.

It would be recalled that an activist lawyer, Festus Keyamo, had

earlier this month sued the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) before the Federal High court Lagos, over an alleged certificate forgery by Senator Hope Uzodinma.

In a suit filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos, Mr. Keyamo urged the court to grant him leave to apply for an order compelling WAEC to release to him the original copy of the West African Senior School Certificate of Senator Uzodinma.

Speaking when he received delegation of Imo Young Lawyers Forum in his office yesterday, Uzodinma who is the Chairman of

10 year Jail term awaits traffickers – NASS

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

C

ontrary to the extant law, the National Assembly Joint Committee on Judiciary and Human Rights, yesterday said a punishment regime of ten years jail term awaits those convicted of Human trafficking, as a measure to discourage the wicked trade in Nigeria.

The Joint Committee said this punishment would be an integral part of the proposed amendment

on the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law when it is finally signed by the President.

The committees further noted that protection of witness would be made part of the new law, so as to serve as an encouraging and protecting measures for those who wishes to disclose perpetrators.

Speaking during a Joint Public Hearing of both the Senate and House of Representatives committees on Judiciary and Hu-

EFCC arrests fake bank chief With 21 GSM handsets, $15, 000 fake notes

By Lambert Tyem

T

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday announced that it arrested one Dr. Princewell Arinze Chukwueze, “a serial fraudster”, over an alleged $92, 000 US Dollars scam.

EFCC said the suspect was also implicated in some other cases be-

ing investigated by the Commission and was imposition of items recovered from him included 21 different telephone handsets, complimentary cards of African Development Bank bearing Aboki J. Brown, fake $15,000 and different cheque books of different banks among others.

Spokesman of the Commission Wilson Uwujaren said Chukwueze was arrested in Abuja by operatives

the Senate committee on Aviation said, “I have my school certificate which I obtained from Mgbidi secondary school Mgbidi with certificate No. SG904497, in 1982. As you can see, this is the school certificate which these detractors claim that I do not have.”

In a letter addressed to the Registrar of the examination body dated May 14, Keyamo had told the body that he had reliable information that Mr. Uzodinma did not graduate from Mgbidi Boys’ High School, Imo State, in 1982, where he allegedly obtained his WAEC Certificate.”

of the EFCC after more than two months’ frantic manhunt for him.

He said his arrest followed an allegation of fraudulent transactions involving him and a notable Bureau de change operator in Lagos on May 10, 2013.

“Specifically, Chukwueze fraudulently introduced himself as Aboki J. Brown, a Director of African Development Bank based in Cote D’

Ívoire to the Bureau de change operator at Sura Shopping Complex, Sandgrouse, Lagos.

“He initially offered to buy $65,000 (Sixty-Five Thousand United States Dollars) from him but later increased it to $92,000. To pay the naira equivalent of the dollars, he requested the operator to meet him at a branch of Wema Bank Plc in Lekki, Lagos.

man Rights, the Senate President, represented by the senate Deputy Whip, promised that the National Assembly is prepared to do everything possible to fast track the passage of the Bill.

He said these new measures would help to enhance investigation and admissibility of evidence in court as it relates to trafficking offenders and victims.

At the hearing, the Chairman Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Umaru Dahiru, said trafficking in persons is a threat to national security, as well as a denigration of human integrity.

“While opinion may be divided on the nature and extent of this evil trade in human beings and it’s attendant antisocial impact, the rule of law remains a potent instrument and a rallying point for building concensus aimed at countering the exploitation of the vulnerability of fellow human beings” he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 10

News

Emir wants traditional rulers to handle security From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau he Emir of Maru in Zamfara state, Alhaji Abubakar Chika Ibrahim, has proposed transfer of security management to traditional rulers and chiefs.

According to him, the security situation in parts of the country will improve especially if there is a return to the Native Authority system under whhcih traditional chiefs take over control of the security of their domains.

“Criminals are rated in categories but the most dangerous could not be challenged by just an ordinary armed person.

A lot of them are well charmed that could only be conquered by soldiers from emirates.

The Emir commended Governor Yari over Ramadan feedings, which he said had encouraged the Maru emirate to feed 1000 destitute as against 300 been recorded as beneficiaries for the last year’s exerci

T

Some of the 677 people displaced by Armed robbers and camped at Faskari Model Primary School in Faskari local government area, Katsina state for fear of reprisal attack, yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Plateau communities move to restore peace

Disaster management: NEMA trains Gombe communities

From Ado Abubakar Musa, Jos

From David Hassan, Gombe

s part of its effort to restore peace in Plateau State, the Special Task Force (STF), yesterday, organised a peace talk meeting among the youth of southern zone of Plateau State.

The meeting which was tagged, “peace sensitisation tour” was organized to enlighten youths particularly from the southern zone toward achieving peace in the state.

Speaking at the meeting, the STF Commander, MajorGeneral Henry Ayola, described religion, tribalism and ethnicity as the apparatus used by some individuals to bring unrest in the state and that without peace there would no development.

He further said that God has reason for creating people and that is why He put them together in one locality or the other irrespective of their religion or tribe just as he said “ God is too purposeful and too busy to create someone for nothing. “ “I have come today to announce to you that this is the end of shedding of blood.

“If you shade blood today, much more blood would be shed tomorrow. The world is watching us,” Ayola said.

He noted that the only way out of the problem was for the people of southern Plateau state must bring themselves together as once like the people from central and Northern Plateau did.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Chris Olapke, said people should stop be killing each other, adding that nobody has the right to kill.

T

A

he Gombe office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that it would train communities in the area, on disaster management.

Speaking at a workshop organised by the agency on emergency evacuation drill held at the state secretariat

yesterday in Gombe, the NEMA Head of Operations, Mr. Jediel Appolos, explained that the training had become necessary to enable communities over come fire disaster in their domain.

Appolos said residents in the area should take proactive measures in preventing the menace, adding that such

emergencies cannot be over unless serious measure is taken.

He noted that employee and stakeholders in disaster management needed to collaborate with one another in order to mitigate the impact of these emergencies in the area.

Speaking further, Appolos explained that civil servants should be able to be familiar

with the worksite emergency evacuation plan and know at least two alternatives exists from every room at the workplace.

Among the stakeholdes that attended the event were the police, Nigeria Army, Civil Defence, Federal Road Safety Corps, safety, Nigeria Road Cross, Gombe SEMA, NYSC and the Fire service.

VC expresses dissatisfaction over inadequate funding

By Abbas Aminu Bamalli

T

he Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Prof. Emmanuel Kucha, has expressed dissatisfaction over the inadequate funding which has led to the huge infrastructure deficit and a persisting lack in facilities that will generally encourage learning and accreditation.

Kucha who stated this in his keynote address at a dinner with the Abuja chapter of the University’s alumni association,

said that as critical stakeholders in the re-engineering agenda of the management of the institution, members of the association are entrusted with the responsibility to support projects undertaken by the university.

Most of the areas concerned, according to him are, extensive agricultural cottage industrialisation, establishment of skills acquisition centres, establishment of an agricultural endowment and support trust fund.

Kucha also explained that the

association has been recognised as an integral part of the university community.

He said, “we welcome innovative research and institutional collaboration within the context of public-privatepartnership (PPP) policy of the federal government.

“I therefore call on you to mobilize your strength and capacity towards assisting the University to realize her mandate. We are very proud to have such qualitative products to bear testimony to our greatness, just as we

anticipate that your culture of excellence and obligations to the University will serve a role modeling inspiration to our undergraduates who desire proper orientation,” Kucha said.

In his remarks, the national president of the association, Abraham Ndah-Isaiah, called on members to rally round the university and give it the needed support for it to develop, adding that it is only when the members of the association who are graduates of the institution identify and work with the school that growth can be attained.

Group condemns pelting of northern governors in Rivers

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

T

he O’dua Youth Organisation yesterday said the pelting of four northern governors in Rivers state was capable of pushing the country into group in a press statement at the end of its emergency meeting in Abuja said, the Yoruba socio-cultural association also condemned the attempt by five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to impeach

the Speaker which resulted in a fight.

It would be recalled that, Governors Murtala Nyako of Adamawa; Sule Lamido, Jigawa; Babangida Aliyu, Niger; and Musa Kwankwaso, Kano were reportedly stoned by protesters while on a solidarity visit to Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi in PortHarcourt.

The organisation recalled that the 1953 Kano riot was triggered by similar pelting of

Northern leaders in Lagos over their rejection of the motion for self-government, saying the country has not recovered from that “historical riot”.

The statement jointly signed

by Biodun Oduwole and Diya Ashaolu, the organisation’s national leader and secretary respectively, noted that true sons and daughters of Yoruba believe in respect for elders and constituted authorities.

“For that reason, we condemn in strong language, the

act of some South-South youths who were blinded by their ethnic loyalty to the President and disrespected the convoy of some Northern Governors”, it stated.

On the Rivers state crisis especially, the fight in the assembly, the statement called on the Inspector General of Police to arrest the First Lady Patience Jonathan following her recent confession to having issues with Governor Rotimi Amaechi over the Okrika demolitions four years again.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 11

Money Sense

Six steps to consider before starting a business

I

t is likely that a person wishing to go into business has a pretty good idea of the kind of business he would like to run. This is generally based on skills the individual has or needs in the market that have been identified as business opportunities.

If there is just the desire to be an entrepreneur, then the process for identifying a possible business can begin by looking at the kinds of needs that exist in the market place.

How do you identify market needs? How do people come up with ideas that people don’t know they need until they see them?

After the business opportunity is identified, starting the business requires a process outlined in these six steps.

First identify the job to be done for the consumer After deciding on the business, it is necessary to create the guiding principles of the organization. This is best demonstrated by the following exercise.

For this exercise assume that you have decided that you would like to open a restaurant. You can begin by thinking why people come to a restaurant and what they might expect. These are the jobs the restaurant is being “hired” to do.

As a partial list we might find some of the jobs are: - Social interaction, - A source of food and drink, - A place for entertainment, - A business meeting place,

Money Tip:

Ways to save money Don’t count on windfalls When projecting the amount of money you can live on, don’t include dollars that you can’t be sure you’ll receive, such as year-end bonuses, tax refunds or investment gains.

Beware of spending creep As your annual income climbs from raises, promotions and smart investing, don’t start spending for luxuries until you’re sure that you’re staying ahead of inflation. It’s better to use those income increases as an excuse to save more.

Quote Wisdom finds its literary expression in wisdom literature.

Paul Ricoeur

- A place to meet friends, - A source of status (e.g. A place where important people gather).

Then you look at the market place It will be important to learn as much as possible about restaurants in the market.

Things you’ll need to know are how much money is spent in the market at restaurants, recreation centre and similar types of businesses.

You can stylishly gather information from those that have ventured into the business and have been faring well. The little information from here can be helpful in determining the size of the market, the average revenue per establishment, the average amount spent by consumers and so on.

This information will be very useful in determining the competition and the strategy that should be employed.

For example, it may be desirable to look at high-end restaurants and recreation centres if they generate the highest revenue. This doesn’t necessarily equate to profit and deeper research may show that smaller restaurants have more consistent revenues and a higher profit per cent than the high-end restaurants.

Obviously, the strategies for a neighborhood restaurant and a high-end recreational centre will be different so it will be important to decide what you have as a driving motivation or vision.

You should also create a vision and mission statement for the business

If you review the types of jobs a restaurant is “hired” to do you can find a meaningful basis for a vision and mission statement.

Your mission statement might be: To provide a place (in geographic area) that will provide a friendly atmosphere for people to gather for social and business functions, to provide a selection of fine recipe and beverages, to provide a venue that will attract key business, political and community leaders.

Your Vision might be to create a place that will attract celebrities and community leaders by: Attracting high caliber wait staff and managers focused on customer satisfaction, creating a facility design that allows patrons to hold private discussions, establishing the facility in an easy access high security area of the community, working with vendors to provide new and “old favorite” selections of food recipe, maximizing long term financial returns for shareholders and working with media outlets as partners to promote the exclusive nature of the business.

The next step is use the vision and mission statement, to create a strategic plan The overall strategy for the business outlines how you intend to create the organization envisioned in the vision and mission statements.

The strategy might be: To attract a patronage that will simultaneously benefit from being seen at the restaurant

while providing status to the restaurant as a VIP gathering place which will, in turn, allow pricing and marketing to reflect a premium market position.

This will be accomplished by: Holding events that will attract high profile individuals, holding events that will attract leading media coverage, inviting key community leaders to conduct business luncheons in the restaurant’s meeting rooms, offering to sponsor charity entertainment events, using premium pricing strategies, hiring and training quality wait staff and offering high end food recipe.

The steps that follows is using the strategic plan to create a list of activities for the new business This list will need to be comprehensive; a brief list of the activities that will need to be accomplished will likely include: Identifying a location for the facility, identifying the furniture and equipment needed, identifying the media outlets that would be helpful, identifying the staff and managers that will be needed, identifying the building/ renovation requirements for the facility, identifying the level of customer service training that will be required, make media contacts and begin a preopening marketing campaign and so on.

The items on this list need to be arranged in sequential order and order of dependence.

In other words you’ll want to identify and secure a facility before you order furniture and equipment. Additionally you

cannot begin training before you hire employees. This helps define the critical path or the path that determines how quickly the implementation can take place.

The last step is to finally create the business plan The business plan will use the strategic plan and the critical path plan to build a month-by-month financial plan that covers all activities required to open and operate the restaurant for a given period, say six months.

Once the critical path planning is complete and you are comfortable that all of the activities have been included, you can begin establishing costs for each activity. This will provide an estimate of the cash that will be needed for establishing and operating the business. This will be your first pass at an expense budget. The budget will outline when and how much cash will be needed for equipment, supplies, manpower, training, and computer software/hardware and so on.

Along with the expense budget you should schedule revenues to begin flowing in when the restaurant is open.

Revenue will start slowly and begin to build, so additional cash support will be needed until cash can be supplied from revenue generated by the restaurant.

It is important to understand that the budget is merely a quantification of your business plan. The better your planning is, the better the budget will be.

The better the budget, the more likely the outcome will reflect that which was planned.

PAGE 12

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

EDITORIAL

t is no secret that First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has overreached herself in exercising the enormous power she wields - albeit unconstitutionally - since her husband assumed office as the nation’s president. From the way her large convoy grounds to a halt every city she visits, causing residents untold hardship due to traffic gridlocks, to the influence she exerts over her husband in determining who gets what federal appointments, the verdict from Nigerians has been that the president’s wife is a defacto prime minister. Mrs. Jonathan has definitely taken it a notch higher with her selfconfessed rift with the Rivers state Governor, RotimiAmaechi, when she disclosed to some visiting bishops from the South-south: “… This matter started four years ago at Anyugubiri in Okrika when I begged him not to demolish a part of Okrika but dialogue first with the people. After that incident, he called the chairman of Okrika Local Government Council and sacked him for holding a reception in our honour; that boy was the first victim.

“He also put my people under curfew for nine months. I called him and pleaded with him but he refused.

Then I began to hear all sorts of propaganda in the media against me; I have never spoken about this issue

but as men of God, I believe you will say the truth always because there are a lot of conflicting interests; some will hear one thing and say the exact opposite.

I also want you to know the genesis of this problem and pray that God touches Amaechi’s heart as per his hot temper because when two elephants fight, it is

“

I

This First Lady is overplaying her role

Mrs. Jonathan may have thought she was being forthright but the fact of the matter is that she betrayed her deep involvement in the crisis rocking Rivers state the grass that suffers.’’

The First Lady’s statement was revealing in a number of ways. Firstly, it suggests that the effort by a 5- man gang to take control of the Rivers state House of Assembly that led to the violence that was unleashed on the floor of the House spearheaded by the man who now purports to be the new speaker may have a link to the grudge she holds against Governor Amaechi. It is instructive that while giving reasons for moving against the governor, Evans Bipi mentioned his respect for Mrs.

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

Jonathan who he described as his ‘Jesus Christ’. Secondly, contrary to the widely held belief that Amaechi’s travails may have been due to a feud between him and the president particularly over the Nigerian Governors Forum elections on May 24 which he won, his troubles have their genesis in his seeming refusal to do the First Lady’s bidding.

Previous occupiers of her office may have also wielded similar influence on their husbands and the polity but Dame Patience surely takes the prize for her indirect effort at unseating a democratically elected governor. By her admission to the visiting bishops, Mrs. Jonathan may have thought she was being forthright but the fact of the matter is that she betrayed her deep involvement in the crisis rocking Rivers state and which, if not checked, may have dire consequences as we approach 2015 elections.

Rather than blame the First Lady, however, we put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the president, her husband, who has allowed the crisis to fester. He must put a stop to his wife’s ego trip. That she is an indigene of Rivers does not give her the right to interfere in its governance. We are disgusted by her misdemeanor and we urge the president to begin to demonstrate he is the one running his government, not his wife.

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE DIRECTOR/EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM MANAGING EDITOR ABDUL-AZEEZ ABDULLAHI

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA

ACTING EDITOR, DAILY HAMEED M. BELLO

MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

DEPUTY MANAGER, PRODUCTION ABDUL-RAUF MUSA

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND JAMILA NUHU MUSA

HEAD, LAGOS BUREAU ADESOJI OYINLOLA

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

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 13

Opinion 2015: Will Tambuwal swallow the opposition bait?

By Theophilus Ilevbare

S

peaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of the House of Representatives is being courted to hoist the northern flag in the 2015 presidential contest as he is believed to possess the qualities the nation requires at the moment.

Though he has not officially declared his interest in the plum job, only a naïve political observer will claim ignorance of his lofty ambition. Tacit endorsement and nudges have never been in short supply in the past months, notable and most assuring to him is the phrase to ‘try something higher’ – the way former President Ibrahim Babangida put it to him. Since then Tambuwal has been under pressure from prominent northern leaders to contest the 2015 presidential election. Even as he continues to make consultations and weigh his options, the opposition coalition APC – is waiting in the wings.

Tambuwal is already reaching out to every nook and cranny of the country by personally honouring all invitations for naming ceremonies, weddings, funerals, thanksgiving, birthdays, constituency project launching or commissioning and other socio-political engagements organized by members of the House, state governors, prominent politicians and traditional rulers.

His romance with members of

the opposition has drawn the ire of the party’s hierarchy at the Wadata Plaza Headquarters of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They describe such open association as an “unholy alliance”.

He has also tended towards opposition views in his comments on several national issues.

The Speaker enjoys tremendous support from opposition members of the House of Representatives, in addition to his cordial relationship with his party members. Political strategists see Tambuwal as one who could win over PDP members to the APC if he agrees to defect.

But there is the fear of a backlash, (like a real threat of impeachment should he cross-carpet to the APC to contest) instigated by the PDP as they have majority lawmakers in the House. To nullify and checkmate any threat of impeachment, pundits believe the APC plan to engineer a massive defection of the members of the House of Representatives from the PDP to its fold in the event that the speaker eventually rises to the bait to contest the 2015 presidency on the APC platform.

His proponents harp on the way he has successfully steered the affairs of the House by rising above partisanship and giving equal leverage to opposition members.

Tambuwal is being projected by many as a progressive. His

colleagues have come out boldly to declare their support for the Speaker’s 2015 ambition amid calls from some South/South lawmakers for caution. Hon. Lawal Yahaya Gumau representing Toro Federal Constituency, Bauchi state, bared his mind on Tambuwal’s aspiration: “I want to assure you that anybody that can preside over the National Assembly, be it Speaker or Senate president, 360 people in the House and stay with them in peace like Tambuwal is doing; such a person can rule Nigeria”. Therein is the selling point of the pro-Tambuwal group.

They fail to realise that leading a House of just 360 adults elected as worthy representatives of various constituencies of the nation cannot be the factor that makes Tambuwal the most qualified aspirant to become president of a country of 160 million people of diverse cultures, ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Many Nigerians are favourably disposed to a paradigm shift from the old guard of ex-military administrators to the younger breed of politicians which is in tandem with the trending global practice: the rise of world super power leaders like Barack Obama, David Cameron, Francois Hollande and others who are young, well educated, eloquent, dynamic and charismatic. But

that alone is not enough. Beyond the bridges Tambuwal is building as he trots the country, he needs the endorsement and votes of Nigerians, not that of the northern elders to win elections. He should focus more on his image as a nationalist, rather than a regional northern aspirant who might end up dancing to the tune of the northern elders if he makes it to Aso Rock. However, in most quarters, he is still regarded in the shadows of Gen. MuhammaduBuhari who, many believe, still has cult following in the North. How he intends to leapfrog the retired General for the consensus candidate of the North in 2015 remains to be seen.

The number four citizen is in a crowded race for the presidency, no doubt. He seems to be playing safe, choosing to remain in the PDP for now. 2015 will be a year of reckoning for the ruling party as Nigerians are already disillusioned with the leadership they’ve provided in the past fourteen years. It is a party torn to the seams by crisis and the pursuit of self-interest. We are not under any illusion that the PDP is invincible, regardless of the clout and war chest they’ve garnered over the years. PDP can as well wave goodbye to the presidency in 2015 with the incumbent toeing the path that they have trod since

A letter to Wole Soyinka

By Robinson Tombari Sibe

I

bring you greetings from Port Harcourt. Fortunately, from my location, no hippos are in sight. In your press conference, you brought to fore the brash affront to arithmetic rules, where 16 became greater than 19 and more recently 5 outnumbering 27. Prof, I share in your disgust.

My discipline exposed me to mathematics beyond the ordinary.

In all my romance with the subject, the only aspect of math that made provision for this absurd is found in the O LEVEL topic - Inequalities. However, that is only applied in finding unknowns and where a solution is only reached if it satisfies a condition (if the inequality is true). In these political equations at hand, there were no variables (unknowns) but constants - 35 and 32 respectively. Therefore 5 > 27 and 16 > 19 cannot be solutions to the political inequalities, respectively. Take this to CERN, take it to NASA, It defies both logic and mathematics, and I cannot agree any less with you as to the absurdity.

However, this numerical tragedy is no more disgusting than the show of shame in a chamber of supposed hallowed men, and not the hollow species we saw on TV, Tuesday last. We saw a pro-Amaechi law maker hack down a colleague almost to the point of death. They said he was provoked. What manner of provocation should make a legislator act in such

berserk manner (exponentially disproportionate to the magnitude of provocation)? Or is this the real case of failure to get the swamp out of the hippopotamus as you stated in your follow up? Also, no provocation should make the executive governor put himself in harm’s way in the manner in which he did. Imagine if anything had happened to him. We also saw a man clad in Police uniform and another, both alleged to be the Governor’s aides, joining in the melee. However, I find it surprising that you didn’t reserve any choice word of condemnation for these acts of brigandage. You traced everything to the door step of the first lady, who at that time we read in the papers, was many time zones ahead in China. Prof, that is not a complete picture neither is it a fair assessment.

In your press conference, you described the first lady as a domestic appendage of power.

Coming from a constitutional

“

perspective, yes this is understandable for there is no phrase or compound word called “first lady” in the constitution.

Prof, similarly, the constitution makes no such provision for a tier or arm of government, either implicitly or explicitly, called “Nigerian Governors Forum”. Unfortunately, the NGF is fast becoming another tier of government. It is as much a travesty as 16 > 19 portends.

They gang up and stampede the President, deplete the excess crude account with reckless abandon and protect the political estates of members. In fact, they are fast becoming an electoral college for Presidential election – they pull the strings, provide the candidates from amongst them, and nominate the delegates at the primaries, etc. This is a threat to our brand of democracy. On a personal note, I’m afraid we lost our dear governor to this same body, for since he became the

chairman of this group, things have slowed down back in the swamp. It’s been an expensive distraction thus far. Prof, you were silent on these things...or is there a part 2 coming?

Prof, the battle in Rivers state is set in the murky waters of the swamp. When the mace becomes the weapon, then you can imagine the level of deterioration. Like you mentioned, there are all manner of exotic species enmeshed in the messy swamp; some are buoyant carnivores, others pretentious parasites. Beatifying one at the expense of the other is plain travesty. I am inspired by your metaphorical wonder (of hippos, swamps, etc), the hippos with their physical presence and sheer brute dominate this battle. But you see, if a vet wants to capture the hippo, he won’t come charging at the hippo with bare hands and expect to subdue it. He’ll apply a tranquilizer and put it to sleep and the hippo becomes his for the

Prof, the battle in Rivers state is set in the murky waters of the swamp. When the mace becomes the weapon, then you can imagine the level of deterioration. Like you mentioned, there are all manner of exotic species enmeshed in the messy swamp; some are buoyant carnivores, others pretentious parasites. Beatifying one at the expense of the other is plain travesty. I am inspired by your metaphorical wonder (of hippos, swamps, etc), the hippos with their physical presence and sheer brute dominate this battle.

1999. As divided as the party is today, if the elections were to be conducted, Jonathan and the behemoth of a party he represents will be defeated. It will be difficult for the incumbent President to win an election in Nigeria without the support of the North. The only way the PDP can stand a chance at the 2015 polls is to field a northern presidential candidate.

Tambuwal must know of not his predecessors, how they fell eventually to the booby trap the PDP laid patiently in waiting.

Hon. Ghali Umar Na’aba readily comes to mind. He pitched most lawmakers in the green chambers against the President between 1999 and 2003. He was booted out by the PDP when it was time for the 2003 elections and he is yet to be integrated into the mainstream of the party. It is quite precarious for Tambuwal to openly hobnob with the opposition as the leaders of his party - on the platform he became a federal lawmaker - continue to kick. How he intends to get away unscathed is perhaps, privy to him alone. Should his 2015 presidential ambition become unfulfilled, will he still have a political future in the PDP or the yet to be registered APC? TheophilusIlevbare is reachable on theophilus@ ilevbare.com treatment.

Prof, from your last statement, you seem to have a good line of communication with the Governor. Please tell him we miss his old self. Tell him we miss that era where he was jumping on his power bike to inspect projects and ensure contractors were working.

Tell him to stop these unnecessary battles, that he’s misappropriating energy in the process. The second part of the principle of conservation of energy states that energy can be converted from one form to another. Yes, our governor has converted his positive energy into negative one for unnecessary fights that are not of benefit to Rivers people. At the moment, he is at war with a legion; unbeknownst to him, he’s dragging us all with him into these murky waters. The continuous throbbing of the hippos increases the turbidity of the murky waters, and the masses are at the receiving end of all of this. When the Commissioner for Information in any state becomes busier than the Commissioner for works, it’s a curious sign of a flaming Rome.

That is the situation the state is in at the moment. Even the man on the street in Maiduguri knows the name of the Commissioner of Information in Rivers state.

Prof, by the way, the hippos and the manatees you mentioned are endangered in our swamp.

The reckless activities of oil companies have chased them to extinction. We will be glad if you can help us lend your voice in this regard as well. Prof, you have been a blessing to Nigeria, and posterity will always treat you with honour.

Robinson TombariSibe wrote in from Port Harcourt.

PAGE 14

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Opinion

The state and political recklessness

By Jibrin Ibrahim

I

know that all Nigerian presidents are by definition very powerful, even if historically, some have been more powerful than others. Nigeria is one of the few remaining countries in the world where a President can spend billions of dollars, with or without appropriations by the National Assembly to carry out his heart’s desire. A Nigerian President can pick any one in the streets and make him or her a dollar multibillionaire by simply signing and giving the person a piece of paper called an oil block allocation.

Yes indeed, Nigerian presidents are very powerful and precisely because of this are unable to see that there are limits to their power and above all, there are risks in exercising power recklessly.

Part of the problem is that we live in a country where sycophancy is so advanced that every President is cornered into thinking that his every move is a masterstroke, no matter how stupid it is. This is a country where presidents are turned into intellectual and political slaves of sycophants who surround them with false and baseless narratives that constrain their action and isolate them from the realities facing the country.

One area where Nigerian political science has clearly failed is that of deconstructing such narratives.

Each successive Nigerian Head of State has been so besotted with the illusions of grandeur and “absolute” power at their disposal that they begin to think that they are God?

Nigerians. In As a nation, we recent times, must learn to Nigerians start telling our have been presidents that Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, asking about they are not God. text messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’

All written the purpose of That there are governance. public officials contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters Is it to punish constrained in - 150 words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your the people their acts by the name and a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be or improve Constitution and addressed to: their welfare? the laws of the The second land. question President The Editor, is whether Goodluck Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, governance Jonathan needs is to promote to learn that he 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. the interest of cannot always Email: opinion@peoplesdailyng.com a cabal or to do as he pleases.

SMS: 08134607052 promote the We all recall the public interest. way in which he removed fuel subsidy in spite We have seen brute state power Contemporary political science of massive opposition and the used to impose a candidate on the has fused the two words – govern streets had to compel him to PDP for the Bayelsa governorship and ability– into the concept of partially review his action. Those elections. Troops were moved in to governability. Governability is the who massively stole the national Yenegoa to create conditions for the overall capacity for governance of wealth through the fuel subsidy emergence of Henry Dickson as the any societal entity or system. The racketeering are still free and the PDP candidate and the rest, as they question posed today is the level of state has been very slow in bringing say is history as former Governor shocks the Nigeria system can take them to book in spite of the fact TimipreSyslva was left to lick his before it becomes ungovernable. that they almost bankrupted the wounds. I can imagine the kitchen Those who exercise power must country.The continuous rise in cabinet telling the President that if always ask themselves what the electricity tariffs in tandem with that could happen in Bayelsa State, limits to their action are. the growing decline and near why not in Rivers State where One of the major principles of collapse of electricity supply is the serving Governor has had the statecraft is that although force is a clearly provoking the people. This temerity to disobey the First Lady. central element in political systems, is happening when the government The greatest danger those in power it cannot on its own sustain a polity. is also imposing on all drivers an face is thinking they could continue Rousseau reminds us that even the expensive change of their driving to abuse their powers infinitely. strongest is never strong enough licenses, vehicle number plates, Gover-nance is a series of to remain the master unless he is new proof of ownership certificates interactions by the state and its capable of transforming force into and the encoding of vehicle institutions taken to solve societal law and obedience into duty. In particulars is a lot to take in at the problems and to create societal other words, the governability of same time. It’s as if the Federal opportunities. Our Constitution modern political systems depends Government has taken the decision directs governance institutions to on achieving results that uplift the to deal with Nigerians. promote the rights and welfare of people and create consensus on

WRITE TO US

Again on monetary policy

By IfeanyiUddin

T

he CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets this week against a very mixed (dare I say, fraught) economic backdrop. Arguably, from a certain vantage point, tailwinds look strong. Inflation, for one, is trending down and in to psychologically long-desired territory; the headline number lost 60 basis points on the May 2013 count (9%), to close June at 8.4%. External reserves, at close to US$50bn look to be in decent kilter. What is there to worry about, then? Okay, so key political actors continue to conduct themselves in a way that promises to over-heat the system? However, except in the extent to which the fall-outs from the increasingly catty politicking adversely affect domestic prices (for instance, when the anticipated election-related spending finally takes off) none of this is yet the CBN’s business.

Look beneath these rosy numbers, though, and dust clouds are clearly evident. Although oil prices have remained elevated over the current election cycle (over US$100 for the local blend), our reserves have been lower, and the currency a lot weaker than it should be at this time. Domestic debt is unsustainably high (given current

earnings), the foreign component is rising, and there is next to no net capital formation anywhere. Lower inflation rates notwithstanding, the consensus is that structural rigidities in the local economy mean that we are not a single digit economy.

Lower- to mid-teens? Yes. However, to sustain single digit rates, we will need to implement deeper reforms reaching across the economy for far longer.

How then to explain the falling consumer price index? SBecause the economy is weakening. Rising unemployment means that final domestic demand is softer now than it was last year, and falling.

Downbeat earnings reports (except in banking) tell a similar story.

Across industries, companies are

“

reporting both lower sales volumes and revenues.

External reserves? This closed Thursday at US$46.93bn. So, in truth, this index is a lot closer to US$40bn than it is to the US$50bn that we have been advertising of late. Remember also that the former sum is not an accounting balance. It is instead, a 30-day moving average. In all likelihood, therefore, the actual balance on that account could be far lower than this. US$43bn maybe? And all of this, primarily because in the six months to end-June, the CBN has had to intervene more in support of the naira at the official foreign exchange markets than it has done in any other six months period since 2011.

Understandably, we all

panicked when Ben S. Bernanke’s May 18 statement turned on the vacuum cleaner that threatened to suck capital flows out of emerging market economies. And ever since, we have looked askance at the threat to the domestic exchange rate (and by extension to the CBN’s price stability remit) of a sustained reversal in capital flows into this economy. Friday, last week, (in conversation with one of the country’s leading economist) I was charged with “phrasing the challenge facing the economy (and hence its managers) wrongly — in terms of the recent movements in foreign portfolio inflows (FPI)”.

According to him, with, or without, the FPI vulnerability, a conflation of events (beginning from the middle of the second quarter of

Look beneath these rosy numbers, though, and dust clouds are clearly evident. Although oil prices have remained elevated over the current election cycle (over US$100 for the local blend), our reserves have been lower, and the currency a lot weaker than it should be at this time. Domestic debt is unsustainably high (given current earnings), the foreign component is rising, and there is next to no net capital formation anywhere. Lower inflation rates notwithstanding, the consensus is that structural rigidities in the local economy mean that we are not a single digit economy.

how the system operates.

The definition of what constitutes security for the Nigerian state and political elite is traditionally rooted in the state’s monopoly and control of all legitimate instruments of coercion, and its ability to contain both internal insurgency and external aggression. The Nigerian state has no monopoly of the means of coercion. As our state loses the capacity to contain internal insurgency and state power is used to impose politicians in power, serious questions about legitimacy are posed. When a governor who is the chief security officer of the state begins to doubt whether the state security apparatus would protect or destroy him, we have a problem.

The Nigerian citizen has long endured a culture of intimidation by the country’s security forces.

Law enforcement agents have since colonial times developed a culture of reckless disregard for the rights of the people. The legal framework has not helped matters given our colonial heritage of laws against vagrancy, illegal assembly, wandering, and illegal procession. The Nigerian state is constructed as an edifice against citizens who are assumed to have a natural tendency to break laws and must therefore be controlled, patrolled and constantly surveyed.

Not surprisingly, citizens learn to fear and avoid law enforcement agents.

The ordinary Nigerian sees security agents as potential violators of their security rather than guarantors. The reality of state security for ordinary people then becomes the perception of insecurity. When governors too become subjected to this reality, we may very well be crossing the red line.

Jibrin Ibrahim wrote in from Abuja. this year) always meant that the naira was going to come under downward pressure. For him, raising rates at this point was not evidence of a serious signaling effort, but betokened a new madness. He proposed instead, a twin track approach to dealing with the economy in its present state.

The first leg of this leverages the new “peace” in the markets (brought about by the more supportive environment created by the US Federal Reserve Chairman’s 16th Humphrey-Hawkins report to congress), and does any of three things. Widen the band, within which the naira trades, while holding the mid-point as is; keep the band, and move the mid-point; or widen the band and move the mid-point. He was unsure why policy should be inordinately concerned with insulating the markets from volatility when funds managers never tire of advertising the many algorithms with which they successfully manage volatility across economies and assets classes.

By year-end, when the markets would have fully digested the effects of the first creeping devaluation of the naira, and when slower economic activity will make this bearable, we may then move up the policy rates. His point?

Current conditions have made the opportunity cost of our reserves too expensive to fritter away.

IfeanyiUddin’s professional profile is on LinkedIn

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 15

Comment Would you die for a cleric?

By Abdullahi Musa

O

f course, you would! Of what other use are you anyway? Humans have a very puzzling psychological make-up. Possessing only one life, yet they are willing to donate it to a cause; and what is worse, to a charlatan. The spur for this write-up came from a newspaper report that Senator Sani Ahmad, popularly known as Yarima took some Muslim clerics on a prayer mission to Aso Rock; or more appropriately, to President Goodluck. Anyone following the developments in Nigeria’s political scene knows that Yarima is a serving Senator, and that his party, the ANPP held a convention sealing its fate in a new party, APC. Many can also remember the newspaper quoting General Buhari as saying that Yarima single- handedly dragged ANPP into the unity government of then PresidentUmaruYar’adua. It was for that reason, and many other undisclosed stabs in the back that led the General to form his own party, the CPC. Now they are back in the same party and Yarima is

showing that he still does errands for the PDP. When ShaykhOlusegunObasanjo prophesied that Yarima’sShariah was a political Shariah, many were up in defense of the bearded peddler of clerics. The reader may be offended that I called Obasanjo a Shaykh. Well if Shaykh means a knowlegeable person then Chief Obasanjo deserves it for being an accurate reader of character.

I need not mention the names of the Muslim clerics who were delivered to Aso Rock for possible

“

purchase. But one fact stood out: they represented two main sects of Islam in Nigeria; and interestingly, each head tells his followers the other is an infidel, deserving the sword for heretical practices. But they found a unifying force in Saint Jonathan Goodluck, The First.

What is the state of Nigeria today economically, politically, socially? To give a short answer, some Northern elders were quoted as alerting Jonathan of the descent of Nigeria into anarchy. It is this same Jonathan that Yarima finds so attractive as a leader or customer

that he took his human wares to, for purchase as political lackeys.

Would you die for a cleric? Of course, you would, were you one of the gullible masses who would commit harakiri to please men of god. Where is decency, where is character, when clerics became oblivious to the carnage and misery unleashed on this nation in the past two years, and went on a ‘prayer’ mission to one who presided over this madness? It is to this god that they went to pray, who is acknowledged as having divided the nation along religious line, (for

Would you die for a cleric? Of course, you would, were you one of the gullible masses who would commit harakiri to please men of god. Where is decency, where is character, when clerics became oblivious to the carnage and misery unleashed on this nation in the past two years, and went on a ‘prayer’ mission to one who presided over this madness? It is to this god that they went to pray, who is acknowledged as having divided the nation along religious line, (for his selfish political purposes). Yet these same clerics would go back to their communities and incite their illiterate followers when it suits them.

his selfish political purposes). Yet these same clerics would go back to their communities and incite their illiterate followers when it suits them.

In the end really, it is the secularist who will laugh last.

Here is the pinnacle of Islam in Nigeria turning a blind eye to Jonathan’s monumental failures, being conveyed to go and pray for or to him. (CAN’s Ayo is already Jonathan spokesman specifically targeting Buhari) But there were dividends, as they claimed: the communication blackout on Adamawa was lifted! So was it all along a political act, rather than a security necessity? We will be interested in seeing the reaction of General Buhari to this development. Would he close his eyes and go ahead with a merger that will surely lead him in bound form, to the altar of Saint Jonathan ready for sacrifice? We thank God for the life of YarimanBakura. He it is who has shown us that those who call themselves men of God are simply men of lusts: for power, wealth, and recognition. And the common men, and the docile educated weaklings, are simply the expendable fuel they use to power their rocket of ambition.

Abdullahi Musa via kigongabas@gmail.com

Trayvon, thy skin is thy sin

By Akin Adesokan

L

ate one evening in midFebruary 1999, I stood at a train station in Oakland, California, waiting for a Bay Area Rapid Transit ride to the Oakland airport. I was returning home to Los Angeles after giving a lecture at San Francisco State University.

Nearby was a group of very loud young black men, teenagers all, smoking different things and feeling generally boisterous.

They were heady and heedless, their laughter was shattering, their movements changed from swagger to dancing to menacing infringement on the perimeter where I stood, the only other black person in sight. I sensed that they were making a sneaky but steady drive toward me, and that if I remained at that spot for the next minute, I would be attacked.

I did not know what to do, and could move no further on that platform than three meters, and such a move, I felt, was likely to be perceived as aggressive or fearful, neither an acceptable emotion in the circumstance. As I stood staring at the ground and contemplating if I would be attacked and how I could defend myself, knowing that I couldn’t, I noticed a police car suddenly pull into the station from a back alley. Several things happened at once. The rising bar of my anxiety came down, relief washing over me indescribably,

the gregarious, crashing laughter of the youngsters deflated just as suddenly, and although the white policeman did not come out of his car or make any move, I now felt totally safe. I watched the hitherto sneaky-but-steady move in my direction reconfiguring itself as so many disorderly retreats.

The train came. The ride to the airport afforded me time for self-analysis. It was likely that the black men had not noticed, much less desired to attack, me. Even if anyone of them had noticed me, what proof was there of a connection between such an observation and his, not to talk of their, own reality at the moment?

But I needed no proof, having subconsciously accepted as truth the falsehood that a black man on

“

the move in a public place was a clear and present danger, a loaded gun looking for where to go off.

It didn’t matter that, objectively speaking, I was more dark-skinned than any of those men, and that if a row had broken out just before the cop’s arrival, I could be arrested along with them. Shame mingled with frustration as I thought about that false encounter, moreso because the whole thing had occurred in the imaginary but fecund world of blackness as a negative social sign, a code for menace to safe society.

George Zimmerman, the former Florida neighborhoodwatch volunteer recently acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of the black teenager Trayvon Martin might be

a good man, without ill-will toward blacks. But in February 2012 he was, like me that distant February in Oakland, an unselfconscious consumer of mediated ideas about black criminality. He had a gun, he had a semi-official duty to protect his neighborhood, and a black boy with a hood looked like a threat.

If I’d a gun that evening, I would probably prime it for self-defense.

I didn’t need to be aware of what self-defense laws existed or didn’t in California. I faced black menace and would act according to my instincts, shaped in the imaginary but fecund and so quite real world which sees young black men as walking dangers.

Without questions, Zimmerman aggravated things by ignoring the instruction from

George Zimmerman, the former Florida neighborhood-watch volunteer recently acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of the black teenager Trayvon Martin might be a good man, without ill-will toward blacks. But in February 2012 he was, like me that distant February in Oakland, an unselfconscious consumer of mediated ideas about black criminality. He had a gun, he had a semi-official duty to protect his neighborhood, and a black boy with a hood looked like a threat. If I’d a gun that evening, I would probably prime it for self-defense. I didn’t need to be aware of what self-defense laws existed or didn’t in California.

the police dispatcher not to follow Trayvon. Had he heeded that counsel, he would (or might) not have ended up murdering the black teenager and the world would have been spared the agony the matter has engendered in the past year and a half. But he was emboldened to ignore the instruction because, on balance, the imaginary threat of blackness was more powerful than the commonsensical rule of walking away from a potential confrontation. As a law expert recently said, the trial unfolded as if the defense was the prosecution.

No less a figure than President Barack Obama has put his finger on what motivated Zimmerman.

Without calling the verdict into question, Obama says clearly that black men in America live in constant fear of being followed, the presumed criminal lurking in white neighborhoods. He speaks of himself as Trayvon thirty-five years ago. Actually, he states the facts in the guise of a metaphor.

The facts say that every day, the most powerful man in the most powerful country in the world is himself being followed, and would be taken down if the racists had their way. The president as “an Arab,” “a socialist,” “not born in the US” is daily prosecuted in the court of Racial McCarthyism.

Akin Adesokan is a professor of comparative literature at the University of Indiana, US.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 16

Imam urges Muslims to assist less-priviledged

T

he Chief Imam of AlHabibiyyah Mosque, Abuja, Ustaz Fuad Adeyemi, has urged Muslims to use the Ramadan period to help the less-privileged in the society.

Adeyemi made the call in Abuja in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), explained that as Muslims, we

should use this Ramadan period to rededicate ourselves to Islam and strive to help the lessprivileged in the society. ``You must not wait for them to come and beg you, you should look for them and help them in whatever way you can,’’ he said.

The Imam stressed the need

for government at all levels and the wealthy in the society to do more to help the poor in order to reduce poverty and crime in the country.

He described Ramadan as a period of forgiveness and blessing and urged Muslims to take advantage of the holy month to supplicate to Allah.

``Muslims should not just abstain from eating and drinking during Ramadan, they must ensure they do good deeds and shun all vices,’’ he said.

The Imam also emphasised the need for Nigerians, irrespective of ethnic or religious creed, to live in peace, unity and harmony.

(NAN)

Pupils of Fou’ad Lababidi Islamic Academy, during the Graduation and Prize Giving Day ceremony, on Saturday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

Couple lunches foundation in FCT to support infertility

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

A

couple, Mr and Mrs. Clement Ekeoba, have launched a foundation, Treasure-Life Foundation (TLF),in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide all the necessary support to infertile couples in the country.

The couple were said to have waited for ten years before giving birth to a baby girl.

Launching the foundation yesterday in Abuja, chairman of

the occasion Dr. Otive Igbuzor, described the event as a unique one “because it addressed challenges of infertility which many do not like to talk about”.

He berated government for not doing enough to assist couples in such situations, saying, in traditional African society, giving birth to a child is treasure, adding that societal pressure against victims of infertility was ‘harassment’.

While calling on government and well to do individual to

support the organisation, Igbuzor noted that sciences and technology have recently proved that infertility problem can be solved.

Also speaking, Director of Action Aid in Nigeria, Dr. Husain Abdul, said the initiative of the couple will break silence and give hope to many affected couples.

On their part, the couple described their experience as “a journey that nobody will want to travel”. They called

on couples without a child not to resign to fate, promising to harness their resources to assist them.

“The programme will work with government and their agencies to improve fertility facilities and services in favour of affected couples in Nigeria, through relevant programmes and policies. It will also provide necessary skills and mechanism for effective management of the dream of parenthood.”

FCT Parks, gardens in top gear for centenary celebration

By Adeola Tukuru

A

s Abuja and its satellite towns prepare to host the grand finale of Nigeria’s Centenary Celebrations on January 1, 2014, the recreation and hospitality subsector, especially operators of the City’s Open Spaces (including parks, gardens and other open air recreational centres) have stepped up their level of readiness.

This upgrade in facilities in the city’s gardens and parks comes as operators commended the recent appointment of the FCT Minister as Chairman of the grand finale of Nigeria’s Centenary Celebrations coming up on January 1, 2014.

Abuja-based investor and Chairman of Quality Link Park (aka Zone 7 Garden), Chinemelu Onwughalu, who took journalists round the garden, said Abuja the Federal Capital Territory and Nigeria’s Centre of Outdoor Recreation epitomizes the oneness of Nigeria and therefore was a perfect choice to host the grand finale.

He said Bala Mohammed’s appointment had gingered operators of the more than 500 parks and gardens to upgrade facilities that will play host to the hundreds of thousands of visitors that will troop into Abuja for the Centenary Celebrations.

“Our response to FCT hosting the grand finale of Centenary Celebrations is to step up our facilities”, Onwughalu said, adding that Quality Link Park is a typical example of what outdoor and open space recreation is all about.

“We are part of the reason why Abuja stands head and shoulders above every other city in Nigeria”, the Anambra State born investor said.

Located on the popular Kigoma Street in Zone Seven of Wuse District, the garden, in addition to its three multipurpose halls, open field and modern lawn tennis court, has a scattering of rocks, from the top of which a visitor can enjoy a panoramic view of Wuse District and beyond.

60 communities to get health insurance scheme

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed has revealed that pilot Community Based Health Insurance scheme

has commenced in 60 rural communities across the nooks and crannies in the territory.

Senator Mohammed reiterated that the scheme is an upscale of the Community Empowerment Agricultural Initiatives of the FCT where

over 38,000 farmers income have increased more than 1,000 percent.

According to him, the scheme currently has over 8,000 enrollees including the principal as well as the dependents; stressing that the number would

continue to rise until all FCT communities are adequately covered.

He said that the benefiting community members pay N1,500 per annum as contribution while the FCT Administration pays N13,500 for each member as

subsidy.

The Minister further revealed that static Primary Health Centers and Mailafiya Mobile Healthcare currently service the scheme in tune with the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 17

Abuja taxi drivers groan over multiple levies S

ome Abuja Taxi drivers in Abuja have complained over multiple levies imposed on them in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Some of the drivers, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), expressed dissatisfaction with the multiple levies which, they claim, was badly affecting their businesses.

A taxi driver, Mohammed Umar, who operates in the FCT, said the multiple levies were not making transportation business lucrative for him anymore. ``We register with almost N7,000, buy union sticker for N3,000 and pay daily AMAC and transport union levies but once you carry a passenger to another area council, you will be arrested. ``The council and union people in those area councils always impose other levies on

us tasking us to register or pay again,’’ he said.

Condemning the multiple levies, another taxi driver, Saka Jimoh, said some drivers had resorted to refusing to convey passengers to other area councils because of the harassment and humiliation they faced. ``Some of us always refuse to take passengers from AMAC to other area councils not considering the urgency of the service,’’ he said.

Taxi driver Bernard Ene said the daily N100 levy collected by AMAC and transport unions is supposed to permit the drivers to operate legally in all the area councils in Abuja. ``The issue of multiple levies, coupled with the embarrassment and humiliation faced by drivers in the hands of the officials and touts, has become too much for us

to bear,’’ Ene said.

Ben Thompson, also a taxi driver, said most of the drivers bought the tickets and registered reluctantly or shyly to avoid problem and delay in their business. ``If the FCT Administration and transport union officials can resolve this issue of double payment, the commercial drivers will be glad,’’ he said.

However, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) told NAN that the transport unions had not been collecting multiple levies from taxi drivers.

Mr Lawrence Fadipe, Secretary of NURTW Mass Transit Nigeria Ltd., said any transport union ticket from AMAC was enough for a driver to operate in all the area councils.

Fadipe decried the multiple levies collection in the FCT and

Refuse dump overflowing to the road side, yesterday in Mararaba.

appealed to the FCTA to ``look into the matter before it becomes too difficult to handle’’.

He also called for a unified levy process which would cover the drivers in all the six area councils and tasked the FCTA to address the issue early to prevent its degeneration into a problem. ``There is no need to charge a driver the same levy that he has paid in AMAC once he enters Gwagwalada, Bwari, Kuje, Abaji and Kwali area councils. ``If a driver pays in one area council in a day, it is enough for him to operate in all the other area councils instead of multiplying the taxes and subjecting drivers to unnecessary pain,’’ Fadipe said.

An AMAC official, who pleaded anonymity, explained to NAN that the levies being collected in the area councils are a source of revenue.

(NAN)

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Accident claims 6 on Gwagwalada-Abaji road

T

he Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) Unit Commander at Yangoji in the FCT Mr Austin Okeke, has confirmed that six persons

lost their lives in an accident on Gwagwalada-Abaji road.

Okeke said bodies of four of the deceased were deposited at Kwali General Hospital while the

remaining two were deposited at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.

He said the accident which occurred at about 4pm at

Yangoji involved an Opel Vectra and a Toyota Camry.

According to him, three other persons were injured in the accident. (NAN)

Headmistress urges FG to provided school buses for students

By Usman Shuaibu

T

he Headmistress of the Federal Government Academy Staff School in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State, Mrs. Racheal Ayobomi Adegoke, has appealed to the government as well as highly placed individuals to provide more school buses for the students/ pupils to enable them come to school in time.

Adegoke, who made the appeal in an interview with Peoples Daily during the 21st speech and prize giving day ceremony at the school multipurpose hall, also called on the government to provide social amenities in the academy.

She pointed out that the management of the school had been recruiting qualified tutors to impact knowledge on the students and pupils, said that

both the students and pupils were hard working.

While delivering a twopage speech, she said that the leadership of the school would continue to give priority attention to academic excellence of the children.

She further said that the management of the school had empowered the teachers through the capacity building workshop to update their knowledge, calling on the

parents to enroll their children for lesson programme during the holidays.

The Headmistress, however, commended the Chairman of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) for providing one new photocopying machine and one school bus for the school.

Meanwhile, a total of 91 students graduated from the Secondary section while 45 pupils passed out from the primary section.

Metro Parents tasked on quality time with children

By Adeola Tukuru

T

he Headmistress of Madonna International Nursery and Primary School, Gwagwalada Rev Sr. Veronica Omocho, has called for quality time with children among parents to complement teachers’ efforts in the children upbringing.

Omocho stated this in Gwagwalada at the 21st graduation ceremony of Madonna International Nursery and Primary School.

She attributed decadence in value, norms and behavior of children to high exposure to the internet and other social media.

The headmistress who called on parents to ensure that programs watched by children at home were censored had condemned the habit of leaving children in the hands of nannies. ``Parents have to be alert and ensure that they know the kind of things their children do, the kind of friends they have and even the kind of places they go. ``It is not about parents going out in the morning and coming back in the night and go to bed leaving the children for nannies and house maids,” she said.

According to her, children need models, we the adult in the society, the teachers, parents and even neighbours have to be model to these children. ``Parents must behave; talk and dress the way they would want their children to do so as to protect them against external influences,” she added.

The headmistress had advocated the use of men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) to monitor and enforce decent dressing among youths and children.

In his remark, Mr Chike Nduka, Chairman, Parent Teachers Association (PTA) of the school called for collaborative efforts between parents and teachers to enhance moral upbringing of children.

Chike who called on parents to remain committed to the upbringing of their children by spending quality time with them said the task of children upbringing must not be left in the hands of teachers alone.

He called for strengthened efforts on the part of the teachers to imbibe the culture of decency and moral education in the lives of the children.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 18

Metro

Man, 22, jailed 5 months for theft

A

n Abuja Grade 2 Area Court in Kado, FCT, on Friday sentenced Afis Yunusa, 22, to five months imprisonment for burgling houses and stealing.

Yunusa was, however, given an option of N5,000 fine.

The Police Prosecutor, Mr. Simeon Ibrahim, told the court that, on July 11, Mr. Wale Oluwawale of Karma, Abuja, came to the Utako police station to report the matter.

Ibrahim said the convict, also of the same address as the complainant, and one other now at-large, broke into his house through the ceiling and stole his properties.

The properties stolen include 3 GSM phones, clothes, shoes, a television set, a standing fan and a video camera, all valued at N300,000.

He said the convict ran away to an unknown destination until he was later arrested by the police, adding that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 79, 346 and 287 of the Penal Code.

The offences carry a five-year maximum sentence or with fine, or both.

Yunusa pleaded guilty to the three-count charge.

The Presiding Officer, Mr. Ahmed Ado, sentenced him to two months imprisonment or pay a fine of N2,000 for the first count charge.

The second count charge also carries a two-month imprisonment or a fine of N2,000, while the third count charge carries one month imprisonment or a fine of N1,000. (NAN)

People queuing to buy kerosine, yesterday at NNPC filling station in Abuja.

INSIDE FCT COURTS

Business man in court for allegedly cheating another of N1m

A

44-year-old businessman, Audu Gambo, in a Karu was arraigned before an Upper Area Court in the FCT for allegedly cheating another man of N1 million.

Gambo, of Nyanya, FCT, is facing a two-count charge of criminal breach of trust and cheating, contrary to the provisions of sections 312 and 322 of the Penal Code.

The alleged offences have a maximum sentence of 10 years

Police arraign 2 men for assault

T

he police have arraigned two men in a Karu Upper Area Court, Abuja, on four counts of joint act, theft, criminal force and assault.

The police prosecutor, Cpl. Silas Nanpan, gave the name of the accused as Samuel Abraham, 24, alias “Dangombe” and Uche Kingsley, 19, all of no fixed address.

Nanpan told the court that Olamadu Goddey of Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja, reported the matter at Nyanya Police Station on July 6.

He said the complainant told the police that the accused prevented him from loading, while he was looking for passengers for his Sienna car at Nyanya motor park.

The prosecutor also told the court that the complainant said the accused jointly stole his LG phone valued at N5, 500 and also collected about N5, 800 in cash from him before they beat his brother.

He said the offences contravened sections 79, 287, 267, of the Penal Code.

Section 79 states that when a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the

Photo: Justin Imo-Owo

common intention of all, each of such people is liable for that act.

Section 287 states that whoever commits theft shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or be fined or both.

The accused denied committing the offences.

The judge, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, granted the accused bail in the sum of N50, 000 each and one surety each.

Kagarko said the sureties must be responsible and reside within the court’s jurisdiction.

He adjourned the case to Sept. 9 for hearing. (NAN)

imprisonment if found guilty with an option of fine or with both.

The accused person, who was arraigned before Presiding Judge Umar Kagarko, pleaded not guilty to the allegation filed against him by the police.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mr Francis Udofia, told the court that the accused was given a CRV Honda 2003 model car to sale at the sum of N1 million by one Shehu Abubakar.

Udofia said Abubakar refused to release the particulars of the car to the accused person, but had gotten a buyer who was

ready to buy the car at the sum of N1 million.

He said the accused got a buyer and decided to sell the vehicle to him without the vehicle particulars and absconded with the money to an unknown destination.

The prosecutor added that the accused told the police during investigation that he had sold the vehicle and diverted the money to his personal use due to a family problem. ``I actually sold the vehicle to one of my customers but had a family issue that I need to take care of when the money was paid to me.

Three men jailed for stealing iron rods, nails

A

n Abuja Senior Magistrates Court has sentenced three men to one month in prison each for stealing 30 pieces of iron rods and half a bag of nails.

The men are; Philipa Moses, 18; Yackson Ayack, 19 and Tuboy Paul, 21, all of New Site, Lugbe.

The Presiding Magistrate, Mr Celestine Odo, who handed down the judgment, however, did not give the convicts an option of fine.

Odo said the court had

considered that the convicts were first offenders and did not waste the time of the court.

He said they must, however, be punished to serve as deterrent to other offenders of like minds, and also ordered the release of the stolen items to the owner.

The convicts, who all pleaded guilty to the charges against them, begged the court for leniency.

The first and second convict said they had worked at the construction

Court remand 25 year old apprentice for alleged stealing

A

n upper Area court sitting in Mararaba,has remanded a 25 year old apprentice, Husseini Hassan in prison for allegedly stealing a laptop.

The police prosecutor, Cpl. Steven Kwaza, told the court that the accused reside in AngwanKatsina, Mararaba in Nasarawa.

He told the court that the matter was reported by Mohammed Sani, of same address

``I have the intention of paying the money after some weeks but was disappointed by a colleague that owed me some money since last year,” the accused claimed Delivering his ruling, Kagarko granted bail to the accused in the sum of N1.5 million and a surety in like sum.

He ruled that the surety should be somebody with a reasonable means of livelihood and must be living within the jurisdiction of the court.

He adjourned the case to Aug. 19,2013 for continuation of hearing and presentation of witnesses. (NAN)

with the accused on July 16.

Kwaza said that the accused, who is an apprentice in a technical workshop stole a Toshiba Laptop, valued at N35, 000.

He said that the laptop was brought to the workshop by the complainant for repair, but was stolen from the workshop on July 14.

The police prosecutor said that the offence contravenes Section

288 of the Penal Code.

He was however opposed to the bail of the accused as the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The presiding Judge, Mr Vincent Gwahemba ordered that the accused be remanded in prison till the next adjourned date.

He adjourned the case to Aug.5,2013 for hearing. (NAN)

site, under the supervision of one Mr Vincent who refused to pay them their wages and they were hungry.

The third convict said his wife was pregnant and he needed money to take care of his family.

They all said they were sorry for committing the offence and begged the court to have mercy on them.

Earlier, the Police Prosecutor, Mr Jeremiah Elijah, told the court that one Nkwach Arji, of Lugbe, Abuja, reported the matter to the Lugbe police station on July 7.

Elijah said the three accused persons connived and stole 30 pieces of iron rods and half a bag of nails which belonged to the construction site where they worked.

He said during investigations, the stolen items were recovered from the accused and they could not give any satisfactory explanation for their actions.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened sections 79 and 287 of the Penal Code. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 19

INSIDE

Isa_abdulwahab@yahoo.com, Isaabdulwahab@gmail.com 08033045613

N1.5b Tax Dispute: FIRS, 44 insurance firms opt for out-of-court settlement

T

he Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and NICON Insurance Company Plc along with 43 others have agreed on out-of-court settlement of their N1.5 billion tax dispute.

The insurance companies had earlier dragged the FIRS to the Tax Appeal Tribunal in Abuja over the non-refund of about N1.15 billion overpaid stamp duties.

The appellants include Continental Re-Insurance Plc,

Industrial and General Insurance Plc, Royal Exchange Assurance Nig. Plc, International Energy Insurance Plc, Lasaco Assurance Plc., ADIC Insurance Ltd and Standard Alliance Assurance Company Ltd, among others.

The insurance companies in an appeal filed through their counsel, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), alleged that they paid the excess stamp duties to the Federal Government through FIRS between 2002 and

2006.

At the resumed sitting on Monday in Abuja, Mr. Sunday Oghayei, who stood in for Osipitan, said the parties had resolved to settle the matter out-of-court, and had written a letter to the office of the chairman of the FIRS on the resolution.

Bright Igbinosa, counsel to FIRS, confirmed the development, acknowledging that the office of the FIRS chairman had received a letter

to that effect from the insurance companies.

He said a meeting would be scheduled with all parties to agree on the terms of settlement and the report of which would be filed in the court at the next adjourned date.

Consequently, the acting chairman of the tribunal, Mr NnamdiI begbu, adjourned the case to Sept. 4 to enable the parties to file their out-of- court settlement report. (NAN)

FG to recruit 500 engineers for 10 new power plants - Pg 20

FG to create five million jobs through MSMEs by 2015 - Pg 22 Exchange Rates

L-R: Abuja Branch Manager, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Mrs. Ebere Ihedioha, President, Nigeria Market Women Association (NMWA), Mrs. Felicia Sanni, Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms. Arunma Oteh, and Director, Consumer Protection Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Umma Dutse, during the Securities and Exchange Commission Wealth and Health Day, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

FAAN relocation order unsettles foreign airlines E From Sulieman Idris, Lagos

ffort by authorities at the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to relocate operational office of foreign airlines from its present second floor to the fifth floor of international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos may spark a face-off.

Already, a letter to this effect purportedly issued by FAAN is now a subject of meetings by the representatives of various foreign airlines operating at the international wing, Peoples Daily investigation revealed.

A source privy to the content of FAAN letter informed Peoples Daily that FAAN issued the relocation letter to the foreign

airlines to pave way for the renovation and expansion works currently going on at the building.

FAAN observed in the letter that carrying out the exercise requires shutting down designated floors which also require inconveniencing its tenants from time to time. The letter gives affected airlines two weeks deadline to relocate.

However, Airline Operations of Nigeria (AON) , the umbrella body that represents all airlines has expressed concern over the security of the fifth floor which is currently designated as a restricted area by the aviation authority.

The airlines operating from the terminal are, British Airways, Air France KLM, Egypt Air, Ethiopia

Airline, South Africa Airways, Rwand Air, Emirate Airlines, and Asky; others include Arik Air, Aero which carries out its regional operations from the wing, Etihad and Lufthansa Airline. The rest include Air Maroc, Delta Air Lines, Riyal Air Cameroun Air. Two of Nigeria’ airline- Arik Air and Aero Contractors that are affected by the directive held a meeting over the issue and forwarded a statement to FAAN expressing their displeasure over such an action.

General Manager, Cooperate Communication of FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati in an SMS message to our reporter said similar exercise was carried out seamlessly at the

Port Harcourt airport affirming that it is only temporary.

He said “in Port Harcourt for instance, we had to move the airlines completely out of the terminal. It’s purely routine in such construction” said Datti.

CBN

as at 22nd July, 2013 Selling Buying

$

154.76

155.76

€

237.30

238.84

£

203.77

205.08

41.26

41.53

Riyal

Parallel Rates Buying

Selling

$

157.50

158.40

€

250

253.00

£

206.00

210.00

Riyal

43.00

45.00

MANAGEMENT TIP OF THE DAY

Difficult boss? Talk to his former employees

T

alk to his former employees. If your boss isn’t a good guide and doesn’t support you, it’s up to you to get what you need. If you can easily get in touch with someone who used to work for your boss, invite him out for coffee.

Explain that you’re eager to develop in your role, and that you’d like to pick his brain about working with and

learning from your boss. Pitch it as a tutorial, not as a gripe session: See if he can share insights about her mentoring style, for example, and tips on how to earn her trust.

Even if you feel safe confiding in this person, assume that anything you say could make its way back to your boss and edit yourself accordingly.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 20

Energy Company News

WADB appoints new Director of Communication

By Etuka Sunday with agency report

10 NIPP power plants sale: bidders to know fate by 2014

By Etuka Sunday

S

uccessful bidders for the Bureau of Public Enterprises / Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) joint sale of the 10 National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) would be announced in January 2014.

This was disclosed by the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki and the Managing Director/CEO, Niger Delta Power Holding Company Ltd, Mr James Olotu in Abuja after the expiration of the deadline earlier givento bidders.

“The process is expected to be completed by late January 2014

when the successful bidders would be announced,” he affirmed.

The power plants included: Alaoji Generation Company Nigeria Limited - situated near Aba in Abia State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 831.3 MW (at ISO); Benin Generation Company Limited – situated near Benin City in Edo State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 507.6 MW (at ISO);Calabar Generation Company Limited - situated near Calabar city in Cross River State of Nigeria with a total gross installed capacity of 634.5MW (at ISO); Egbema Generation Company

Limited - situated near Owerri in Imo State of Nigeria with a total gross installed capacity of 380.7 MW (at ISO); Gbarain Generation Company Limited situated near Yenegoa in Bayelsa State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 253.8 MW (at ISO);Geregu Generation Company Limited - situated in Ajaokuta in Kogi State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 506.1 MW (at ISO);Ogorode Generation Company Limited - situated near Sapele in Delta State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 507.6 MW (at ISO); Others are: Olorunsogo Generation Company Limited -

situated in Olorunsogoin Ogun State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 754 MW (at ISO);Omoku Generation Company Limited - situated near Port Harcourt in Rivers State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 264.71 MW (at ISO); OmotoshoGeneration Company Limited - situated in Okitipupalocal government area in Ondo State of Nigeria with total gross installed capacity of 512.82 MW (at ISO).

According to him, out of the ten power plants project currently ongoing, one is at its 90% completion while four are at 85 and five 80% completion respectively.

Mr. Saïdou M. Ouédraogo

T

he West African Development Bank (WADB) has appointed Mr. Saïdou M. Ouédraogo as the Director of Communication, Marketing and Public Relations of the Bank.

The APO immediately expressed “its warmest congratulations” to the WADB’s new Director of Communication.

Speaking the SecretaryGeneral of the African Press Organization (APO), Nicolas Pompigne-Mognard said “I am all the more delighted with this choice since it recognises a former economic journalist. I would like to wish every success to Mr. Ouédraogo and assure him of the full support of the African Press Organization in his duties,”he said.

Originating from Burkina Faso, Saïdou M. Ouédraogo holds a Master’s Degree in the Arts from the University of Ouagadougou.

Having graduated from the School of Journalism in Lille (France) in 1986, he then went on to join the editorial team at Afrique-Elite magazine, in Paris, before taking up a post with Burkina Faso Television as economic correspondent, which he held from 1988 to 1996.

In 1996, Saïdou M. Ouédraogo was appointed Director of Communication for the Presidency of Burkina Faso.

Saïdou M. Ouédraogo was appointed Director of Assets at the West African Development Bank (WADB) in February 2009, before then being appointed Director of Communication, Marketing and Public Relations at the West African Development Bank (WADB).

The WADB is the common finance development institution for the eight Member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA): Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

Its purpose is to promote balanced development of its Member States and to foster economic integration in West Africa by funding priority development projects.

Engineers working at the site of one of the NIPP Power plants ready for sale to bidders

FG to recruit 500 engineers for 10 new power plants

By Etuka Sunday

T

he Federal Government at the weekend said it commenced the recruitment of 500 qualified engineers to run the 10 new power plants in the country.

This was made know after a meeting of the Board of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the State House in Abuja.

Speaking on the development, the Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi said the exercise was intended to address the critical challenge of lack of skilled manpower in the nation’s power sector.

According to him, the operation of the new power plants built across the country was being impeded by lack of skilled

manpower therefore there was need for action in that direction. ‘’We also looked at the National Power Training Institute (NAPTI), all of these plants are coming on stream and we are excited about them.

“But one critical challenge that the country faces is the lack of skilled manpower for managing the plants.

“We do not want to have plants that turned out to be whiteelephant or they turned out to be run by Chinese, Germans and Europeans who have built the plants.”

He faulted universities and polytechnics for turning out unemployable engineers in the Nigerian power sector but however, stated that NAPTI had since commenced massive retraining programme for local engineers and artisans who might

be redeployed to operate the new power plants.

“You all know, I’m not telling you anything new, we have engineers being produced by our universities that are not necessarily employable and you need to retrain them in order for them to be able to function in these new plants that are being built.

“And NAPTI is intended to fill this gap by helping to retrain many of the engineers as well as artisans who will be needed to fill the gaps that are bound to exist in the new power plants that are being set up.

“So, we received the report from NAPTI Executive and from the ministry of power on our own interest and contribution.

“And a range of things were discussed in ensuring that those who come on stream, about 500

people are being recruited now to undergo training in NAPTI. “And in addition to that, we need to ensure that this is done professionally through open advertisement, but also being mindful of spread and federal character in the course of this recruitment.”

He praised the effort of the General Electric (GE) Company for building a local plant in Calabar for the production of spare parts for the nation’s power plants.

“We are asking all the manufacturers to take a cue from GE and set up plants here.”

He expressed sadness over the recent attack on one of the power plants in Delta, statingthat the incident had impacted negatively on the government target of energising 4000 megawatts by the end of the year,” he concluded.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 21

Ict

SIM cards hack puts millions of phones at risk

S

ecurity researcher KarstenNohl says some SIM cards can be compromised because of wrongly configured Java Card software and weak encryption keys.

Smartphones are susceptible to malware and carriers have enabled NSA snooping, but the prevailing wisdom has it that there’s still one part of your mobile phone that remains safe and un-hackable: your SIM card.

Yet after three years of research, German cryptographer Karsten Nohl claims to have finally found encryption and software flaws that could affect millions of SIM cards, and open up another route on mobile phones for surveillance and fraud.

There’s finally a way to make Your Phone Useless after It’s Stolen says Kashmir Hill Forbes Staff First-Known Targeted Malware Attack On Android Phones Steals Contacts And Text Messages ParmyOlsonForbes Staff Nohl, who will be presenting his findings at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas on July 31, says his is the first hack of its kind in a decade, and comes after he and his team tested close to 1,000 SIM cards for vulnerabilities, exploited by simply sending a hidden SMS. The twopart flaw, based on an old security standard and badly configured code, could allow hackers to remotely infect a SIM with a virus that sends premium text messages (draining a mobile phone bill), surreptitiously re-direct and record calls, and — with the right combination of bugs — carry out payment system fraud.

Payment fraud could be a particular problem for mobile phone users in Africa, where SIM-card based payments are widespread.

The deployment of so-called NFC payment technology, already slow to take off, could also be at risk, Nohl says, as well as the ability for carriers to track charges to each caller’s account.

There’s no obvious pattern to the flaw beyond the premise of an older encryption standard.

“Different shipments of SIM cards either have [the bug] or not,” says Nohl, who is chief scientist at risk management firm Security Research Labs. “It’s very random.”

In his study, Nohl says just under a quarter of all the SIM cards he tested could be hacked, but given that encryption standards vary widely between countries, he estimates an eighth of the world’s SIM cards could be vulnerable, or about half a billion mobile devices.

Nohl, who was profiled by Forbes’ Andy Greenberg in 2011 for his work on breaking mobile encryption standards, believes it unlikely that cyber criminals have already found the bug. Now that word of the vulnerability is out, he expects it would take them at least six months to crack it, by which time the wireless industry will have implemented available

fixes.

That effort may already be underway. Nohl says at least two large carriers have already tasked their staff with finding a patch for the SIM vulnerability, which they will share with other operators through the wireless trade body GSMA. “Companies are surprisingly open to the idea of working cooperatively on security topics because the competition is somewhere else,” says Nohl.

“The competition is organized crime, not AT&T versus T-Mobile.”

(The situation in similarly in finance, where payment services like MasterCard, Visa, and American Express will work together under industry association EMVco to improve security

standards for smart cards.)

The market for SIMs is almost entirely fed by mobile carriers, and supplied by two leading global vendors, Gemalto and Oberthur Technologies. Both have profited heavily from the huge growth in mobile handsets: two years ago there were 1 billion SIM cards worldwide, and today there are more than 5 billion, says ABI Research analyst John Devlin, though the market is slowly reaching a plateau.

SIMs are thought to be one of the most secure parts of a phone, he added, and as the carrier’s property, are “key to their relationship between you and I,

the subscriber.”

Vodafone would not answer questions about the level of encryption its SIM cards used, and referred all media questions to GSMA. Both Verizon and AT&T said they knew of Nohl’s research, but said their SIM profiles were not vulnerable to the flaw. AT&T added that it had used SIMs with triple Data Encryption Standards (3DES) for almost a decade; Verizon did not specify why its SIMs were not vulnerable.

The London-based GSMA said it had looked at Nohl’s analysis and concurred that “a minority of SIMs produced against older standards could be vulnerable.” It said it had already provided guidance to network operators and SIM vendors who could be impacted by the flaw.

“There is no evidence to suggest that today’s more secure

SIMs, which are used to support a range of advanced services, will be affected,” a spokesperson added.

Nohl says that while AT&T and Verizon may benefit from robust SIM encryption standards, other carriers will use straight Data Encryption Standards (DES), guidelines developed in the 1970s that are fundamental to why he was able to “get root” on dozens of SIMs cards.

“Give me any phone number and there is some chance I will, a few minutes later, be able to remotely control this SIM card and even make a copy of it,” Nohl

“

SIMs are thought to be one of the most secure parts of a phone, he added, and as the carrier’s property, are “key to their relationship between you and I, the subscriber.

says.

SIM cards are essentially mini-computers with their own operating system and pre-installed software. To maintain security, many rely on a cryptographic standard called DES (digital encryption standard), which was invented by IBM in the 1970s and improved by the NSA. Some networks, like AT&T and the four major carriers in Germany, have moved away from using the old version of the standard, but others have not.

Though Nohl didn’t identify a pattern to vulnerable SIMs in terms of manufacturers, the ones he could hack all used the old encryption standard.

Key to the hack is Java Card, a general purpose programming language used on 6 billion SIM cards. If operators need to update something on your SIM, for instance allowing interoperability with a carrier in a n other

country, it will execute the right Java Card programs on your SIM by sending your mobile a binary SMS. This is a text message you will never see, sent through a method called over-the-air programming (OTA).

In early 2011, Nohl’s team started toying with the OTA protocol and noticed that when they used it to send commands to several SIM cards, some would refuse the command due to an incorrect cryptographic signature, while a few of those would also put a cryptographic signature on this error message.

With that signature and using a well known cryptographic method called rainbow tables, Nohl was able to crack the encryption key on the SIM card in about one minute. Carriers use this key to remotely program a SIM, and it is unique to each card.

“Anybody who learns the key of a particular SIM can load any application on the SIM he wants, including malicious code,” says Jasper Van Woudenberg, CTO North America of smart-card security firm Riscure.

“We had almost given up on the idea of breaking the most widely deployed use of standard cryptography,” says Nohl, but it felt “great” to finally gain control of a SIM after many months of unsuccessful testing.

With the all-important (and till-now elusive) encryption key, Nohl could download a virus onto the SIM card that could

send premium text messages, collect location data, make premium calls or re-route calls.

A malicious hacker could eavesdrop on calls, albeit with the SIM owner probably noticing some suspiciously-slow connections.

Nohl found a second bug.

Unrelated to the weak encryption key, it allows even deeper hacking on SIMs and is caused, Nohl says, by a mistake on the part of SIM card manufacturers.

Java Card uses a concept called sandboxing, in which pre-installed programs like a Visa or PayPal app are shielded from one another and the rest of the SIM card. The term comes from the idea of only allowing programs to “play with their own toys, in their own sandbox,” says Nohl.

“This sandboxing mechanism is broken in the most widely-used SIM cards.” The researcher says he found a few instances where the protocols on the SIM card allowed the virus he had sent to a SIM, to check the files of a payment app that was also installed on the card.

The way this works is somewhat complex, but Nohl’s virus essentially gave the infected Java software a command it could not understand or complete – eg. asking for the 12th item in a 10-item list, leading the software to forgo basic security checks and granting the virus full memory access, or “root,” in cyber security parlance.

In sum, a malicious hacker who wanted to use this method might start with a list of 100 phones. They could send a binary SMS to all of them, using a programmable cell phone connected to a computer. They might get 25 responses with cryptographic signatures, and dismiss the half that use a stronger security standard.

From the rest, Nohl surmises they could crack the encryption key of perhaps 13 SIM cards, and send them a virus that breaks through the Java Card sandbox barriers and reads payment app details, as well as the master key of the SIM card.

Who’s to blame for this and who can fix it? Nohl says broken Java sandboxing is a shortcoming of leading SIM card vendors like Gemalto and Oberthur.

Riscure’s Van Woudenberg agrees.

Gemalto which made about half its $2.5 billion revenue in 2012 selling SIM cards, said in an email to Forbes that its SIMs were “consistent with state-of-the-art and applicable security guidelines,” and that it had been working closely with GSMA and other industry bodies to look into Nohl’s research.

Gemalto’s CEO Olivier Piou has said publicly that there are no security issues with mobile payments, and his company says on its website that SIM cards are “virtually impossible to crack.”

Source: Forbes

PAGE 22

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Economy

Ajaokuta Steel coy to commence operations with completed units

T

he Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd., in Kogi, has entered into partnership with a consortium of investors to reactivate and operate completed units of the steel plant.

The Sole Administrator of the company, Mr Joseph Isah, made the announcement in Ajaokuta recently when the executive members of the Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) paid a visit to the company.

Isah said that the project had attained 98 per cent completion,

advising Nigerians not to canvass for its sale “at scrap value”.

He said that some of the completed units of the steel plant could be reactivated and operated commercially.

“As an integrated steel plant with series of completed units, some of which can be operated commercially, we are currently going into partnerships with a number of investors to reactivate them. ``Such completed units include the engineering works, light

section mill, wire rod mill, thermal power plant and the Metallurgical Training Centre (MTC) among others.’’

He said that the company had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Messrs Reprome Nigeria Ltd. for sourcing of spares and technical assistance.

The administrator said that the company had also signed another MoU with the Industrial Training Fund for training and manpower development.

According to him, this is in

line with the National Industrial Skill Development Programme of the Federal Government to train 1000 trainees in each state.

Isah who described the Ajaokuta Steel Company as the “bedrock of Nigeria’s industrialisation” attributed the woes of the company to Western conspiracy and indigenous collusion.

He said that some leaders in government were ignorant of the potential of the company, urging journalists to give the steel company the needed publicity.

Earlier, The Chairman of Kogi State NUJ, Malam Ali Atabor, said that people generally believed that the company had failed, but that the visit of the NUJ members had proved the contrary.

The chairman urged Nigerian leaders not to succumb to western propaganda to stifle the country’s industrialisation, advising the leaders to take the completion of the steel project seriously.

Atabor urged the management to revive the MTC for the training of manpower.

He commended the vision and focus of the company’s leadership to turn it around. (NAN)

FG to create five million Transcorp workers jobs through MSMEs by 2015 Hilton drag union

By Etuka Sunday

T

o mitigate unemployment situation in the country, Federal Government intends to create five million jobs through Sustainable Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by 2015.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, DrOlusegunAganga said in Abeokuta, Ogun state at validation workshop on the Revised Policy on MSMEs. A statement issued by the Assistant Chief Information Officer

of the Ministry, Ibrahim Mohammed quoted Aganga saying government created 32 million indirect jobs through the 17.2 million MSMEs in 2012 alone.

He promised to forward a proposal to the Federal Executive Council on the need to ensure production of school uniforms made of Nigeria fabrics to encourage enterprises development.

Speaking, the Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun acknowledged the support and cooperation the administration had received

from SMEDAN. He said that the government would continue to assist genuine entrepreneurs in the “areas of provision of infrastructure facilities and financial assistance.

The Director-General of SMEDAN, Alhaji Bature Masari had earlier, expressed satisfaction at the SMEs development and the inauguration of National Enterprises Development Programme (NEDEP) in the state.

He said that the National Policy on MSMEs outlined the

general directions for MSMEs programmes, interventions and initiatives.

According to him, the policy which will be implemented, monitored and evaluated would to serve Nigeria from 2013-2015 and be reviewed every four years.

Masari said the policy’s success was hinged on critical prerequisites which include the need for streamlined and decentralised MDAs at the federal, state and local government levels for MSME’s development.

Beneficiaries of SURE-P loan equipment distributed by Yobe state government, recently in Damaturu.

Photo: NAN

Bi -Courtney denies molesting FAAN GM From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

T

he Bi- Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) has described as spurious claim by the General Manager, Corporate Communications of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. Yakubu Dati Yakubu that he was molested by thugs employed by BASL. Explaining what transpired

in a statement BASL Spokesperson Mr. Steve Omolale-Ajulo said BASL security officers merely approached Mr. Dati with all the courtesy to park his car appropriately having driven the car to an area prohibited for parking.

Dati had alleged Chief Executive Officer of BASL Mr. Christopher Penninck last Wednesday stopped him from driving off his

car on his arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport domestic terminal (MMA2) sending thugs to confiscate his mobile devices before he was rescued by the police.

Dati said when he arrived at the airport terminal he went to the official car park where he parked his Toyota Corolla with registration number, FG 705 A42 but as

his driver was about driving off, Penninck a ordered thugs to stop him and almost seized his phone.

FAAN and Bi Courtney have engaged in skirmishes over placement of billboards at the uncompleted hotel project BASL i opposite MMA2, a structure strategically located at the link road to the international terminal of the airport.

to court over alleged unlawful act

T

wo employees of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, Messer Mohammed Tanko and Ayuba Yohanna, have dragged the National Union of Hotels and Personal Services Workers before the National Industrial Court, alleging unlawful acts.

The claimants are representing the junior workers of the hotel joined Mr Friday Ochai, the Chairman of the Union and Transnational Hotels and Tourism Services as co-defendants in the suit.

They alleged that the union’s executive members were using their position to incite industrial action in the third defendant’s Transcorp Hilton without following the provisions of Trade Dispute Acts.

The claimants were praying the court to declare that the second defendant and his executive members were not acting in the interest of the junior workers of the hotel by inciting them.

They also prayed for a declaration that the first and second defendants were illegally hijacking the third defendant’s branch to pursue their personal agenda.

The claimants sought for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the union and its executive from embarking on industrial action in the hotel.

They further demanded for a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from transferring and/or removing any management member of the hotel without justifiable grounds.

When the matter came up for mention on Monday, the claimant’s counsel, Mr Paul Eboigbe informed the court of the parties’ decision settle the matter out of court.

Eboigbo told the court that the terms of settlement of the case were drawn by the parties and prayed the court to adjourned to Tuesday to enable them file it.

The presiding judge, Justice Maureen Esowe, however adjourned the case to Tuesday, July 23 for report of settlement. (NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 23

Stock Watch

Report as at Monday, July 22, 2013

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

Special Report

The peace meeting between Benue, Nasarawa T

iv farmers and Fulani herdsmen, history has it, have had a cordial relationship in the past, with both benefiting from each other. While the Tiv farmers depended on the Fulani for meat, the Fulani relied on their Tiv counterparts for food.

However, the wandering and encroachment nature of the Fulani herdsmen is said to have been responsible for the strained relationship with the Tiv farmers. Several accusations by the farmers that Fulani cattle often encroach into their farmlands and destroy their crops has led to fighting between the two tribes over many years now and all efforts by successive administrations to curb the incessant clashes between these groups have failed.

Many communities in Benue state have heaved under heavy attack by the Fulani marauders. At the last count, communities like Tse Anda, Orhungur, Antse, Gbenge, Tse Ashille, Tse-Goon, Zayol, Tse Ayeri, Shaga, Tse Agbata, Tse Kyuel, Tse Garu, Tse Ashuku, Tse Gabera, Tse Kyo, Onmba-agbu, Tse Kortaav, Tse Tugh, Tse aluku, Tse atu, Tse Ayaakaa, Tse Nyam Tse Kpilla, Torkebi, Shima Doogo village, Tse Abian, Tse Agberagba,Tse Duma, Tse Igbum, Tse Ugbulu, Tse Lan and Tse Abichi were overran by the Fulani herdsmen and properties worth millions of naira destroyed.

Similarly, communities in Nasarawa state, said to be indigenous to the Tiv including Ajimaka, Ategher, Ashiru, Ukpa, Ikpakena, Ugoh, Pev, Tse-Akase, Uluwa, Zever, TseKoryima, Gbande, TseHuna, Tse Aondoakaa, Tse Orwam, Tse Oryer, Tse Mzahan, Tse Ukumbur, Tse Tor, Tse Adawa Tse Adoki Tse Abina, Tse Anyombo, Tse Orkar were visited by the Fulani, who allegedly ransacked them, killing and maiming people.

Gov. Al-makura

between the people of the two states but rather a conflict between the farmers and herdsmen of Tiv and Fulani ethnic groups respectively.

3.

The need for peaceful co-existence of the two tribes who need each other in their main economic pre-occupations of farming and animal-keeping.

Benue and Nasarawa state governments at the weekend signed an agreement for cessation of hostilities between Tiv farmers and Fulani herdsmen.

In this piece, our Benue state correspondent Uche Nnorom explains the long-drawn war between these two ethnic groups vis-à-vis the peace pact reached.

Tiv communities in Rukubi and Okpata were also attacked by the Fulani invaders with heavy and sophisticated weapons used for the operations.

It is also worthy to note that in 2011, skirmishes in Naka, Gwer-West local government of Benue state saw hundreds of people killed.

At one instance, over 10 persons were said to have been killed by persons suspected to be Fulani herdsmen in January 2011 just as 46 others were also murdered and 46 houses destroyed on March 4th 2011.

It could be recalled that the crisis was said to have been sparked-off following accusation by the Fulani herdsmen that their Tiv counterparts killed and butchered their cows. But in a counter accusation, the Tiv farmers alleged that the Fulani cows strayed into their farmlands destroying their crops.

The traditional head of Gwer-West, Chief Daniel Abomtse had lamented over the incessant attacks on his domain and decried the lip service usually paid by state and Federal government towards the security of the area.

Chief Abomtse said he had alerted the state government as well as security agencies, vide a letter dated 15th May, 2012, entitled: ‘Grand plan to annihilate Gwer-West people

by Fulani herdsmen and their mercenaries’ and frowned at the nonchalant attitude shown

by the state government and security operatives to nip the attack in the bud.

“Information had it that the Fulani herdsmen intend to invade Gwer-West crossing from the Obendo, Ijiwo axis from Akpanaja in Nasarawa state into Tyoughatee and Gbaange/Tongov district of Gwer West LGA, at a location between Mbaku communities of Makurdi and invade the whole of the district which stretches 16 km of MakurdiNaka road and then advance to Naka town, headquarters of Gwer-West LGA. They also plan to attack and burn down my palace and residence with explosives and sophisticated automatic fire arms”, part of the letter read.

He said in the wee hours of Saturday 19th May, 2012, the marauders invaded Tyoughatee village, an attack that lasted till dawn and left 10 persons dead while many corpses were littered around yet to be identified, and that several properties including farmlands were destroyed.

The monarch, who frowned at the sophistication of weapons used by the attackers and skilled military tactics employed by the marauders, also accused traditional rulers in Nasarawa as accomplices.

“Benue state government should be wary of their Nasarawa counterpart, who are just playing tricks and hypocrisy. Something should be urgently done to protect the people from more

Gov. Suswam

attacks by these hired Fulani marauders”, Chief Abomtse had passionately pleaded at that time.

The crisis then saw the displacement of hundreds of local indigenes who became refugees in their homes. This is even as the state government and Federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) battled hard to cater for the displaced persons with relief materials.

In 2012, the attackers moved over to Guma local government, which also shares border with Nasarawa state. Over 30 persons were on a Sunday murdered and properties worth millions of naira destroyed when persons said to be Fulani herdsmen laid siege on Yogbo, Guma local government area of Benue State.

The attack was said to have occurred at early as 7 am when most of the residents had gone to church. Most of those murdered were said to be children and women. The indigenes did not envisage any attack on that day as they had gone to church only to hear screams of children been murdered by the Fulani marauders who quickly disappeared after carrying out the attack.

The attack led to thousands of indigenes fleeing the area to Makurdi, the state capital to seek refuge while the Police authorities deployed troops to the area to forestall further attacks.

In another attack, 25 persons, including an Army Officer identified as Lieutenant Chinedu Anyanwu, were feared dead following three days of sustained attacks by armed herdsmen on villages and towns in the border communities of Guma local government.

The invading herdsmen were said to have burnt down more than 1,000 homesteads in over 100 kindred compounds in the affected area close to Udei town, the largest settlement in the area. This led to hundreds of displaced persons staying in camps situated in Ortese, Daudu and Yelwetta, with the Benue state Emergency Management

Benue state Governor, Mr. Suswam (middle), dressed in Fulani attire and with smiles with Fulani leaders, after the peace meeting in Lafia.

Agency providing relief materials and healthcare service to them.

One Maureen Tar, who fled with her children to Makurdi to stay with relatives, narrated that the herdsmen first invaded Udei area in the early hours of Sunday morning, overpowering the soldiers and mobile policemen deployed to the area.

According to her, the invading herdsmen were close to 100 and travelled on horse-back and foot to get to the villages in the area. Benue state Deputy Governor, Steven Lawani visited the displaced persons camps in Daudu and Yelwetta and assured them that the state government would not abandon them in their moment of grief.

Lawani intimated that the state government would liaise with the Nasarawa state government to find a lasting solution to the border crises which have led to loss of lives and property.

Another border local government area, Agatu also had its own share of the Fulani herdsmen attack on Sunday, 5th May 2013, during which 11 villages were said to have been sacked and an 11 year-old boy, Abdulkadir Mohammed was murdered. Several houses were also destroyed during the crisis.

Commenting on the incident, Hon. Audu Sule, a member representing Agatu in the state House of Assembly who visited the area, denied any quarrel between the Fulani herdsmen and the host community, alleging however, that the gunmen could have been hired mercenaries who invaded the area from Nassarawa state. “I cannot say the gunmen are Fulani; they are hired mercenaries, numbering over 1,500, and crossed over from Nassarawa state through the river to cause mayhem. They have burnt down 11 villages so far and are now moving towards the local government headquarters”,

Sule said.

But the state secretary of Miyetti Allah, the umbrella group of Fulani herdsmen, Garos Gololo said he was duly informed that ,“In Agatu, just after Bagaji, by the river Benue, some people suspected to be Agatu invaded the herdsmen; they killed one 11- year-old boy and 10 cows out 360 were taken away. As we speak now, they herdsmen have chased them to recover their cows”.

Another attack occurred in Ekwo-Okpachanyi village, also in Agatu local government area of the state, during the funeral of one of the police officers who was murdered by the Ombatse group in Nasarawa

“

Similarly, an appeal was made to the Federal and state government to map out grazing areas for the Fulani cattle-rearers to prevent them from grazing anywhere and causing crisis

state recently, in which over 50 persons were allegedly killed.

The herdsmen had struck immediately after the burial of the slain police officer, when they opened fire on the people and also went ahead to destroy houses and other property.

In early 2012, Benue and Nasarawa state governors, Gabriel Suswam and Tanko Almakura took steps to resolve the crisis when they constituted a Joint Committee at Yelwata, a border town between both states.

The Cletus Upaa led committee was given the task to find the immediate and remote cause of the incessant crisis between the Fulani herdsmen and Tiv farmers. A time frame of 6 months was given to the committee, which consisted of traditional rulers, leaders of areas attacked by the Fulani marauders as well as security operatives.

Meanwhile, as the Committee sailed on with its herculean task, a special meeting on the incessant clashes between Tiv Farmers and Fulani cattle-rearers was convened on Saturday, 26th May, 2012 by Governor Suswam, which held at the Banquet Hall of Government House, Makurdi.

The meeting was attended by His Eminence, Alhaji Sa’ad Mohammed Abubakar111, the

Sultan of Sokoto; His Royal Majesty, Orchivirigh Alfred Akawe Torkula, Tor Tiv IV, the Emir of Gombe, and other traditional rulers from Benue and Nasarawa states. The Nasarawa state delegation was led by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Hamza Elayo.

Other delegations to the meeting include the Tiv Cultural Association, Taraba state; the Fulani community in Benue state; Miyetti Allah Fulani Cattle Breeders Association, Nasarawa state; the Christian Community in Benue State led by the Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, Rt. Revd. William Avenya and the Bishop of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) for Makurdi Diocese, Rt. Revd.

Nathan Nyom.

Delegates at the meeting deliberated on wide range of issues as it concerns the rift between the two groups and noted among others, the following: 1.

The convocation of the special peace meeting was a clear indication of the commitment of the leaders and all parties to ensuring an end to the perennial clashes between Fulani Herdsmen and Tiv farmers.

2.

That the problem under discuss was not one

The resolutions at the end read thus: 1.

The meeting called for the immediate ceasefire in the crisis and directed the Fulani and Tiv to demobilize their militias at the border communities and desist from carrying dangerous weapons.

2.

Both the Fulani and Tiv who have incurred severe loses over the past months should forget the past as part of the sacrifices to bring about peace.

3.

The meeting emphasised the need for dialogue by all the political and traditional leaders, in order to create better understanding of the issues.

4.

Conflict resolution committees be set up immediately at all levels to swing into action to nip in the bud any potential or real threat to peace and security within the localities.

5.

The meeting resolved that the Fulani and Tiv communities must live in peace henceforth and anybody engaged in any act capable of breaching the peace should be arrested and treated as common criminals in accordance with the laws of the land.

6.

A committee of three traditional rulers from the border communities in Benue and Nasarawa respectively including Ter Nagi, Ter Guma and Ter Makurdi (Benue) and the Chiefs of Kwandare, Adudu and Akpanaja was constituted and directed to meet soon to work out details of implementing the resolutions reached at the meeting.

7.

His Excellency, Dr Gabriel Suswam offered to assist border surveillance teams in the discharge of their duties.

8.

The Governor of Benue state and his Nasarawa state counterpart to receive the report of an earlier committee set up on the crisis on Wednesday 30th May, 2012 at Yelwata. Similarly, the Sultan Committee on Farmers clashes with Fulani Herdsmen should resume sitting and submit its report to the Sultan as soon as possible.

9.

Cattle rustling by Tiv youths shall henceforth be considered a criminal offence and treated as such. Similarly, Fulani herdsmen should desist from taking laws into their hands but should report their grievances to their host

Traditional Rulers.

10.

Security agencies from both Benue and Nasarawa states to undertake a factfinding operation to identify possible camps of militia, with the view to dislodging same and to henceforth be pro-active in their operations to avoid reoccurrence of the conflict.

11.

Called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, provide grazing areas for cattle as well as animal tracks, to reduce the incidence of conflict between Herdsmen and farmers.

12.

Fulani Herdsmen should respect traditional and constituted authorities and seek to live in harmony with their host communities.

13.

Fulani Ardos (elders) should be appointed in communities where they do not exist, in order to create channels of communication.

The committee later submitted its report but hostilities between the two groups raged on therefore necessitating the Lafia meeting held on two occasions.

The resolutions at the end of the deliberations recommended the setting up of committees in 8 communities affected by the crisis with community leaders, traditional rulers, Fulani leaders as well as vigilante groups involved. Also, both states agreed to the immediate cessation of hostilities as well as disarmament by both Tiv farmers and Fulani herdsmen.

Furthermore, both groups were urged to embark on advocacy and sensitization of their people to refrain from engaging in fighting each other. Similarly, an appeal was made to the Federal and state government to map out grazing areas for the Fulani cattlerearers to prevent them from grazing anywhere and causing crisis.

The last clause of the communiqué did not go down well with a traditional chief and Ter Nagi Chief Daniel Ayua Abomtse, who objected that it will be reactionary to map out grazing areas for the Fulani herdsmen.

Chief Abomtse, who stated his position at the peace meeting in his paper, contended that it would be retrogressive to redraw the maps of the two states to pre-colonial days when Nigeria had less than 60 million people.

He also noted that the situation has gone beyond release of white papers and communiqué, but that of marching words with action.

It is hoped that the resolution of the Lafia meeting will be implemented to the latter as a lasting solution to the impasse between these two groups.

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Defence

Military must submit to civil authority under democracy, says Koleoso W hat is the mandate of the department?

The Department of Civil Military Relations (DCMR) was established by the Chief of Army Staff, (COAS) Lt. Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika in December 2010 and the department conforms to the Nigerian Army Order of Battle or organisation of the Army. The department was primarily created to serve as an interface between the Army and the civil populace. And to drive the vision of the Army which is to transform the Nigerian Army into a force that is better able to meet contemporary challenges. I would say that it is in the wisdom of the COAS that this department was established.

Because by then it became very clear to him and he saw into the future that the Nigerian Army because of her involvement in the current security challenges will interface more with the public than what the Public Relations Directorate will be able to handle. We interact with the civil society organisations and all stakeholders in the security architecture of the country. So this department was now formed to meet with these challenges.

How far can you say the civilian populace has accepted the department?

I will not say that there is a particular yard stick for measurement, every Nigerian now realises that the soldiers they met yesterday is not the soldier of today that they interact with. Friends call me often that they met our soldiers in a particular environment and they gave them so much courtesy and they wonder if this is the Nigerian Army they are use to. The department was created due to observed long perception about the NA by the Nigerian public. This is a fall out of long years of military rule and since 1999; there has been series of transformational effort at making sure that the military subordinate the civil authority. But much more importantly under the present president, the transformation agenda set out and which the COAS keyed into is to address that wrong perception.

Hitherto, the civil populace view the members of the Armed Forces with a sort of suspicion; this is mainly as I say, of several years of military rule. A lot has happened in the past two and a half years that the department has been able to operate.

Throughout 2011 and 2012 and until June this year, we have organised several workshops and seminar to interface seriously with stakeholders of security in this country and from the report we are gathering from the feedback mechanism that we set in motion, we have been able to see that a lot of things have been achieved. Pointedly, Nigerians have now been able to see an average soldier as a soldier that is serving him and serving his interest and preventing him from harm. A soldier that is doing his possible best, laying his life on the line for the benefit of the nation. I think that has been very clear now. Even with the operation that is going on in the North Eastern part of

Recently, the human rights organisation and other foreign bodies accused the Nigerian Army of violation of human rights. They said that the Nigerian military has killed more than the Boko Haram sect. However, the Chief of Civil Military Relations of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Mobolaji Koleoso in an interview with Joy Baba denied the allegation but rather said that the military has earned the trust of the people.

the country, immediately the president gave the emergency rule within the three states, the COAS immediately moved his troops there and they have been able to achieve a lot.

Soldiers and officers of the Nigerian Army have been very responsible and very responsive to the their duty to the Nigerian populace. Go out to the field and conduct a research and the Nigerians will readily tell you that the soldiers they use to have is not the same soldiers they have today. The soldiers they have now are easily accessible, soldiers they are ready to interact with and soldiers that listen to them. Not like in those days that soldiers fight or disagree with them, so a lot of things have happened I can assure you.

What are the projects that the department have carried out so far?

One of the very key ways in which the COAS has been able to reach across the public is in having quick impact projects. These are projects that will better the life of the inhabitants of a particular place and that will change their mind positively towards the military. For the Past two years, the COAS has spent in excess of hundred million naira on quick impact projects for community relations impact.

Every community the COAS have been able to impact have been very friendly with the Nigerian military, providing information, being very responsive to whatever question we ask. The COAS will commission four different impact project in four different local government in Borno state any moment from now. We have in Maiduguri Municipality, we have in Dikwa local government and two other local government of the state. These are projects that have been on the drawing board for quite some time and he readily approves money as at when due for such things and the Commander in Maiduguri is working hard to see that he meets the dead line. There

“

Koleoso is going to be borehole, over head tank in that place. Much more importantly, our quick impact projects also include our medical officers and our medical personnel generally going to a particular location and attending to people especially aged people. They check their eyes and give them free glasses and they also give them a card that whenever those glasses are having any problem they should report at the next military clinic or hospital for a change still free. This is what the COAS does. And in every area that we have done it, the military has been welcomed with opened arms and the people have been very happy.

Are all your projects based in the north alone because of the security challenges in

The department was created due to observed long perception about the Nigerian Army by the Nigerian public. This is a fall out of long years of military rule and since 1999; there has been series of transformational effort at making sure that the military subordinate the civil authority.

those areas?

Projects of the south are not deliberately winning the heart and mind of the people but they are projects that are aimed at partnering government because we don’t have security challenges in the south that much. Whatever programme we do in the south is in partnering government. As we are talking now, the NA in joint venture with the Ebonyi state government, has laid a foundation stone for a food canning factory in Abakaliki. This food canning factory is going to provide can food specifically to address the issues of feeding of our troops in operations all over the world. That is one of those areas that we are looking at. Very soon, a French language school will be commissioned in Abia state. That is again, a bid to partner with the government of the state. Basically what the COAS does for the southern part of the country is partnering the government in developmental effort whether in industries or educational. While up in the North where we have security challenges is to show the people that we are not just carrying arms alone, we are their friends and that the more the rely on us, the easier it is for all f us to overcome this security challenges.

Looking at the department three years from now?

We already have a three years plan that covers up to 2015. The vision of the COAS is that by then,

the department would have been known as foremost department of the Nigerian Army Headquarters that has effectively interfaced between the Nigerian Army personnel and the public so much so that it will be in the public domain that whatever information we want, we will get at the tip of our finger. All we are trying to do in essence is that you cannot say everybody in a community is a criminal but somewhere along the line, efforts must be made to protect and get information from law abiding citizens in any particular community that is facing security challenges and not only that, to protect their interest. And that is what we are seeing in the north eastern part of Nigeria now. That people are now coming out, to support the military to fish out the bad elements in their midst so that they could have peace. Peace has returned to Maiduguri basically now, the markets are flourishing, they have started returning to the market gradually and sincerely speaking everyone is happy. Because we have been able to win the hearts and minds in that area to such an extent that people are now readily available to tell the military that, I don’t know what they do in this house, there will be body there in the afternoon but in the evening, you notice activities and so on and so forth and so long as they give this information, we protect their interest and give them safety. People are coming forward more and more to collaborate with the army to win the security challenge we are facing now.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 27

Feature Curbing the incidence of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria

By Jacinta Nwachukwu

M

edical experts have, on many instances, called the attention of the public to the dangers of teenage pregnancy, which they describe as a major health challenge facing all the countries of the world.

They cite a report of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which indicates that more than 16 million girls, aged between 15 and 19 years, give birth to babies every year.

Irked by this report, stakeholders call for the adoption of proactive measures to check the rising menace of teenage pregnancy across the world.

However, the National Population Commission (NPC) says that efforts are being made to curb the menace of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria via aggressive public enlightenment programmes.

Mr Festus Odimegwu, the Chairman of NPC, stressed that the reasons behind teenage pregnancy included poverty and sexual abuse, among others. ``Worldwide and within countries, adolescent births are likely to occur among the poor, less educated and rural populations. ``The increasing incidence of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria can be appreciated against the backdrop of the fact that about 44.5 million Nigerians A pregnant teenage girl are young people. ``In 2015, this number is tive consequences of teenage expected to increase to 60 mil- pregnancy included unsafe lion young people due to early abortions, pregnancy complimarriages, early exposure to cations, poor antenatal care sex and pregnancy and poor and childbirth complications health services,’’ he said. induced by weak pelvic bones, Odimegwu said that teen- among others. age girls were at risk of havOdimegwu stressed that ing sexual and reproductive during the coming celebrahealth problems, insisting that tion of the International Youth the teenage maternal mortality Day on Aug. 12, the Federal rate of 0.822 per 1,000 women Government should address in Nigeria was high. challenges such as poverty, He said that the nega- sexual abuse and ignorance,

“

There is need for parents, school authorities and guardians to acquire relevant knowledge on teenage sexuality for them to be able to educate teenagers on sexual issues.

while putting stiffer penalties in place for perpetrators of sexual abuse.

The International Youth Day focuses on the rights of young people to have full access to education, adequate healthcare, employment opportunities, financial services and full participation in public life.

The Executive Director of a non-governmental organisation, Africare Development, Mr Vitalis Anyadike warned against pre-marital and teenage pregnancy, advising youngsters to abstain from pre-marital sex to avoid contracting HIV and other infections. ``Teenagers have been misinformed by their peers and some members of the society on the risks of pre-marital sex, thereby allowing themselves to be abused sexually,’’ he said.

Anyadike noted that several teenagers had lost their lives to abortion, while others had contracted deadly sexually transmitted diseases.

Chairman, NPC, Mr Festus Odimegwu,

``If people are educated on total abstinence from premarital sex, over 90 per cent of the people will be free from teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections as well as allied problems,’’ he added.

Sharing similar sentiments, Dr Joshua Zaman, a gynaecologist at University of Abuja

Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, said that teenagers were likely to have life-threatening complications during pregnancy and child delivery than those in their 20s.

He said that teenagers, who indulged in pre-marital sex, faced the risk of dropping out of school as a result of pregnancy.

Zaman identified unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and AIDS, as some of the major challenges facing young people who engaged in pre-marital sex.

He, however, noted that poverty was also responsible for many of the teenage pregnancies, adding that pregnant teenagers usually faced a lot of trauma, social abuse and health related problems. ``There is need for parents, school authorities and guardians to acquire relevant knowledge on teenage sexuality for them to be able to educate teenagers on sexual issues. ``This will also aid efforts to prevent the circumstances associated with irresponsible sexual behaviour,’’ he said.

Besides, Zaman advised parents to sensitise their children to the dangers of early sex, while making pragmatic efforts to dissuade them from engaging in pre-marital sexual relations.

In efforts to protect the youth, Rep. Charles Odedo, a member of House of Representatives’ Committee on Population, said that the Child Rights, particularly those relating to the girl child, must always be preserved and protected. ``The legislature and the executive at the federal level have adopted and enacted the Child’s Rights Act; the National Assembly has been calling on the different states to follow suit. ``Parents are also called upon to create more time for their children’s upbringing, rather than leaving them under the care of housemaids; they should not forget the fact that money is not everything,’’ he said.

All the same, observers note that as the world celebrates the International Youth Day, pragmatic efforts should be made in Nigeria addressing the root causes of teenage pregnancy.

Source: NAN

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 28

Agriculture Strengthening the fight against ‘notorious’CBSD cassava disease

By Mohammed Kandi

R

ecently, a consortium of agricultural scientists and d e v e l o p m e n t specialists released new guidelines of action against the notorious Cassava Brown Streak Disease (CBSD) and stressed the need for-strict control mechanism to prevent its spread into West African countries.

The move was resonated at the just-concluded 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW) co-hosted by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Goverment of Ghana, in Accra, the country’s capital city.

Unlike the cassava mosaic disease (CMD), which African farmers had been battling for more than 100 years, the CBSD, according to agricultural scientists under auspices of the Global Cassava Partnership for 21st Century (GCP21) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), was currently causing additional losses for millions of farmers on the continent, and therefore called for an urgent need for the control of the virus and the damage it has already done in east Africa.

They informed that both diseases are caused by viruses and transmitted by small insect called whiteflies.

Director of the CGP21, Dr. Claude Fauquet, said in his presentation that the disease is even more deadly to cassava than the CMD, as the CBSD was the reason Africa has been recording low cassava production in recent times. He said the disease is “characterised by moderate leaf and stem symptoms, its effect below ground are dramatic, with extensive rotting of the roots, leading often to a total loss of the harvest.”

“The diseases are also spread by stem cuttings taken from infected-plants. The international movement of these cuttings is increasing rapidly- within and beyond Africa- and the disease could spread to the rest of Africa and, possibly, the rest the cassava-producing world,” Dr. Claude explained.

Dr. Claude, who recalled that the disease was reportedly spotted and confined to the coastal East African country in Tanzania, in 1935, noted further that “developing” new outbreaks were first reported from inland areas of Uganda

Rotten roots of cassava from a plant harvested 24 months after planting.

in 2004, and that there has been rapid subsequent spread to Tanzania and Kenya, as well as westwards into Rwanda, Burundi and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

On the CMD, Dr. Claude said the disease was present in all African cassava growing countries. In his analysis, he pointed out that “it is estimated that at least 30% (45 million tonnes) of the continent’s cassava crop is lost each year to the disease.”

He added: “A CMD pandemic triggered by a new recombinant virus and by the explosion whitefly populations occurred in Uganda in the 1990s and for years completely suppressed cassava production in the region.”

Describing Nigeria as the world’s biggest producer and consumer of cassava, Dr. Claude, however warned that, “if CBSD reaches Nigeria, it will cause a human catastrophe of unforeseen magnitude; if it reaches

Thailand or India it will jeopardise economic sectors worth several billion dollars a year.”

Also speaking at the event, Dr. Richardson Okechukwu, an agricultural scientist with the IITA, Ibadan, who drew the world’s attention to some experiences in cassava diseases that are peculiar to Nigerian soil and farmers, called for a holistic effort towards the control of the noxious-cassava CBSD. Dr. Okechukwu, particularly tasked the African governments and stakeholders in the agricultural sectors on the need to hasten any measures being put up against the CBSD, saying “there is a deep network of the IITA and other scientists across the world to control the spread.”

“Already, the resistant varieties are being planted in the Southern and Eastern part of Africa. And we have to fight the CBSD collectively as development partners on the continent. This is the mission

“

of the entire West African nations to militating against the virus.

He noted that cassava was important to every African home, especially in West Africa, where it is considered as source of starch in every daily meal.

“So, African governments, including Nigeria decides to block the virus from the Nigerian axis because of it threat was getting into Nigeria through Cameron,” the scientist stated.

Dr. Okechukwu added: “It has therefore become important for all Africa governments to key into the control mechanisms which the scientists and development specialist are campaigning against. And we have to fight the CBSD collectively as development partners on the continent.”

However, in developing proactive measures towards fighting the CBSD from spreading across the rest of the continent, stakeholders at the event evolved some priority outlines, including rising awareness of the risks of exchange of cassava planting

if CBSD reaches Nigeria, it will cause a human catastrophe of unforeseen magnitude; if it reaches Thailand or India it will jeopardise economic sectors worth several billion dollars a year.

materials; from policy makers to farmers.

“Introducing intensive whitefly control measures and the immediate eradication of CBSD infected plants when detected in new territories,” the outlines stated, “Engaging in pre-emptive breeding for CBSD resistance in West Africa, educating high-level policy makers to support the initiatives for establishing national task forces for the monitoring and control of CBSD and superabundant whiteflies.”

More concerns should be brought to the fore, as consideration for future discourse, as recent statistics indicate that the losses caused by these diseases could pose great threat to realization of world’s food security. Naturally, the phenomenon has the potential of unleashing more human suffering among African communities, if these diseases are not checked immediately.

With the continued spread of the viruses and in order to save the lives and livelihoods of millions of famers and consumers in Africa, governments must be seen to be ‘all earing-all listening’ and all committed to the course of supporting—funding agricultural research, as well as biotechnology-based agricultural transformations on the continent.

Any threat to African agriculture must be eliminated for Africa to be able to feed itself and the rest of the world because such potentials only lies on Africa.

PAGE 29

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Africa can feed itself and grow the economy, says IITA DG

E

fforts by Africans to feed themselves and escape the food importation trap and put the continent on the path to economic growth must be given attention, the DirectorGeneral of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dr Nteranya Sanginga has said.

In a statement issued by the Institute’s spokesperson, Godwin Atser, Dr. Sanginga stated this while addressing participants at the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week organized by the Forum of Agriculture Research in Africa (FARA) in Accra, Ghana.

He also highlighted the impact of agricultural research and called on Africa to adopt scientific innovations and pay attention to natural resource management, in order to drive the agricultural development agenda.

“The issue of soil fertility must be addressed if Africa wants to feed itself,” he said. The IITA boss expressed optimism for Africa’s agricultural transformation, highlighting the increasing attention being paid to agriculture by governments on the continent.

He however reiterated that efforts need to focus on restoring soil fertility, creating an enabling environment for market policies, and developing more resilient and productive farm systems.

He warned against policies that limit African researchers from taking advantage of modern technologies, stressing that such a move would deprive Africa from making progress and put the continent farther from the African Green Revolution.

“The 6th Africa Agricultural Science Week provided an opportunity for Africans and partners to re-think the commitment

by African governments 10 years ago, which also led to the establishment of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP),” he said.

CAADP focuses on improving food security, nutrition, and increasing incomes in Africa’s largely farming-based economies. It aims to do this by raising agricultural productivity by at least 6% per year and increasing public investment in agriculture to 10% of national budgets per year. So far, only a few countries have met the CAADP targets.

In his remarks, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said there is still a lot to be done in the context of the ever-changing and increasing challenges choking agricultural development in Africa.

He noted that the world is producing enough but that the food is not reaching those that need it most, saying, “We must put our efforts, both in improving productivity and reducing post-harvest losses,” he added.”

The IFAD President called for a paradigm shift in addressing food insecurity in Africa, adding that research and development need to be “repositioned” into research for development, to bring the benefits of research to the farm.

Agriculture

CGIAR urges alignment of research, development in agriculture Stories by Mohammed Kandi

A

s calls on the African agriculturalists to ensure the continent is able to feed itself intensifies, Dr. Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium, said strong and dynamic partnerships are key to addressing the challenges of poverty and food security in Africa.

Rijsberman, disclosed this recently at a plenary session of 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW) in Accra, Ghana, on the topic “The challenge of food security and the evolution of CGIAR.” Stressing the need for more collaborations and coordination to ensure better alignment of research priorities, as well as to support uptake of new technologies,Rijsberman also highlighted the reformed CGIAR, which supports 16 cross-cutting

research programs which are collaborations of the CGIAR Consortium’s 15 Research Centers, along with hundreds of other partners, all focused on achieving a food-secure future.

“The CGIAR Consortium is developing clear and standardized indicators for all of its research programs, which will more clearly demonstrate the connection between our research and development outcomes,” he stated.

“But this will only be possible through strong partnerships with implementers as well as National Agriculture Research Systems (NARS), Sub-regional Organizations (SROs) and the Forum for Agricultural “In 2012, CGIAR invested 53% of its funding in Africa, so we are clearly committed to supporting our African partners to reduce poverty and improve food security in sustainable ways.

“Through our partnership

with CAADP, and our MOU with the AUC, we are building stronger alliances with our African partners. This process is helping CGIAR research programs to better align their research with the priorities of development partners, including CAADP National Investment Plans.

“By ensuring the alignment of priorities and taking a collaborative approach to achieving these, we will help meet the real needs of smallholder farmers and their families, and the African people whose future depends on them,” Rijsberman explained.

Similarly, Dr. Jimmy Smith, Director-General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), one of the member Centers of the CGIAR Consortium, said “the CGIAR Consortium is committed to Africa.

Three of our Centers are based in Africa, and all of our

15 global research programs are working in Africa. More than 50% of our budget goes to agricultural research in Africa, and ILRI is proud to be a part of that work.”

On the panel with Dr. Smith were Dr. TiemokoYo, Chairman, of the Board of FARA, Prof. Monty Jones, Executive Director of FARA, Hon. Clement Kofi Humado, Ghana’s Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD, Ibrahim AssaneMayaki, CEO, NEPAD and Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner, AUCDREA. CGIAR is a global partnership that unites organizations engaged in research for a food secure future and dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources.

Nigerian journalist wins FARA media competition award

Vice President of Ghana, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, (3rd right) in a hand-shake with IFAD Preident, Dr Kanayo Nwanze, (middle) in a group photograph with over 1,000 Africa delegates who attended the 6th Africa Agriculture Science Week recently in Accra, Ghana.

A

Nigerian journalist, OluyinkaAlawode, has won the first Africa-wide media competition held by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

Alawode’s winning entry discussed the role of innovative Nigerian women agricultural scientists whose research is enabling small-holder women farmers to increase

their incomes. The prize was announced during the recent FARA’s Africa Agriculture Science Week (AASW), a conference attended by some 1,000 international delegates.

Alawode defeated other African journalists from nine countries of Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, who competed in the contest.

The Award Communications Manager, Karen Homer said, “We received an impressive

selection of articles and audio interviews from 29 hardworking journalists, who were obviously keen to win this contest.”

“However, Miss Alawode’s story clearly demonstrated the critical work of AWARD scientists in Nigeria in improving the livelihoods of small-holder women farmers,” she said.

“The competition was organized on behalf of AWARD and FARA by WREN media, publishers of the New

Agriculturist, a unique and highly trusted resource journal, which keeps online readers— scientists, development p r o f e s s i o n a l s , policymakers, lecturers, students and the media— abreast of trends, results and innovation in agricultural development, particularly in Africa, but also in Asia and Latin America.”

Alawode is a senior correspondent with BusinessDay, a daily national newspaper in Nigeria. As a journalist with 10 years of extensive experience, she reports on agriculture, small and medium enterprises, industries, and gender economics, both within and outside Nigeria, particularly on agriculture.

Alawode studied agriculture at the University of Ilorin, and holds a postgraduate diploma in journalism. She has taken various short courses in science writing, script writing, business writing, reporting skills, and is the author of four books.

Sixteen men and 13 women reporters entered the AWARDFARA media competition, writing on the theme, “The Role of Women in Agricultural Science.

Contest judges included Violet Otindo, an awardwinning Kenyan television producer and reporter, Ann DelaApekey, FARA’s Gender Equality Specialist, and Karen Homer, a communications practitioner with 20 years of work experience in Africa.

PAGE 30

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Feature How to get away from everyday technology

A

ctress Kiera Knightley once described the internet as “dehumanising” and said she avoided it, while singer Sir Paul McCartney has previously admitted to being baffled by High Street bank cash machines.

Ms. Knightley may have had a change of heart - she recently told US chat show host Ellen de Generes that she had looked online for advice about planning her wedding - but for many so-called “digital deniers”, the opportunity to block out technology is often welcomed.

“Technology is becoming more personal,” security expert Graham Cluley told the BBC. “We’re going to see more and more devices that are carried on your person or worn - I am expecting there to be something of a backlash. Some people will love those things; others will find it very upsetting.”

For those who consider themselves to be in the latter group, technology ironically - may provide the solution.

The National Institute of Informatics in Japan has developed prototype glasses that inhibit facialrecognition cameras.

Described by some as the antidote to Google Glass, these specs contain 11 LED lights along the eyebrows and nose.

“The LEDs are installed around these locations because a feature of face detection is the eyes and part of the nose appear dark, while the other part of the nose appears bright,” Prof Isao Echizen told news website, diginfo.tv.

“So by placing light sources near the dark parts of the face, we’ve succeeded in cancelling face detection characteristics, making face detection fail.”

Prof Echizen is also developing visors that contain reflective material or absorb light to inhibit cameras that do not rely on infra-red.

Emil DeToffol, an engineering graduate and former dentist in New York, founded the retail website lessEMF.com in 1996 after growing concerned about unproven health fears surrounding the electromagnetic radiation commonly emitted by everyday electronics.

The NHS says on its website that, so far, “a number of studies, both in the UK and internationally, have not identified any health risks associated with [telecommunications] devices” but adds that “it may be too early to detect possible long-term risks or problems that may be associated with them”.

But Mr. DeToffol’s company specialises in selling a variety of products - ranging from baseball caps to bedding - containing silver, copper, stainless steel or carbon fibres that reflect radiation.

“In the 1990s the issues were power lines, electric blankets, CRT [cathoderay tube] display screens - there was no Wi-Fi. Cellphones were just getting started,” Mr. DeToffol told the BBC. “Now, as our world becomes more electrified... people are getting sicker.”

While he does not suffer himself, Mr. DeToffol said he had heard from customers around the world,

Not everybody is so relaxed about using their phone

complaining of a variety of symptoms ranging from headaches and irritability to tinnitus and cardiac issues.

He did concede that radiation might not always be the cause.

“At this point it is not the majority of the population, but it is a certain percentage that’s made quite ill by this,” he said.

The company’s best-sellers were its baseball cap and balaclava, followed by “hoodie” tops that covered both head and torso, added Mr. DeToffol.

aluminium foil for those concerned about the possibility of the covert retrieval of information from cards and gadgets via discreet scanners.

One unnamed man who defected from North Korea attempted his own interpretation of a Faraday cage during his time in the tightly controlled regime - where mobile phone use is strictly monitored by the authorities.

“In order to make sure the mobile phone frequencies are not being tracked, I would fill up a washbasin

- but this was the first of its kind to absorb frequencies of 100 gigahertz, the researchers said.

‘Pick battles’ “The very existence of ‘antitechnology’ means that people are worried and we should take that seriously,” said technologist, Suw Charman-Anderson.

“We need to have to a public discussion about what we find acceptable and what we don’t.

“Anybody who thinks they are not being tracked may be a little naïve - if you buy your groceries with a credit card or use a loyalty card then you are being tracked,” she added.

“But the level of vigilance that would be needed to completely hide yourself would probably have negative consequences on your emotional wellbeing - I think we have to pick our battles.” (BBC News)

Prototype anti-facial-recognition glasses developed by the National Institute of Informatics in Japan

“The issue comes down to what part of the body does the person need to shield?” he said.

“Most popular tends to be shielding for the head - particularly for when people are sleeping.”

Named after 19th Century British scientist Michael Faraday, a Faraday cage is a metal construction that traps electromagnetic waves.

This means devices such as mobile phones or anything containing a radiofrequency identification (RFID) chip including passports, travel cards and credit cards - are unable to receive or transmit data from inside one.

Wired magazine published an online guide for making a hand-sized Faraday Cage out of duct tape and

with water and put the lid of a rice cooker over my head while I made a phone call,” he is quoted as saying in a research paper called ‘A Quiet Opening’.

“I don’t know if it worked or not, but I was never caught.”

In 2009 researchers at the University of Tokyo developed a kind of paint that can block wireless signals.

The paint contains an aluminium oxide that resonates at the same frequency as Wi-Fi, blocking the path of data, both in and out of an indoor environment where the paint is present.

The idea of radio frequency blocking paint was not new even then

This disposable poncho claims to offer protection from an “irritating sea of wireless radiation”

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 31

International Kuwait food bank in Africa is to help check food shortage, says envoy INTERVIEW

Y

our country will be holding another round of parliamentary elections soon.

What does this mean to the politics of the Middle East?

The election in Kuwait will come up in the next week, 27th to be precise. We have more than 300 contestants vying for the available 50 seats. The constitution of the kingdom of Kuwait, this election is quite unique to Kuwaitis because the Emir has ordered it to be a one man one vote system as against the one man four votes in the past. After the elections, the Prime Minister will choose his ministers and we hope this dispensation can last longer the previous ones as against the short-lived ones that lasted 3 and 6 months respectively.

Kuwait has been a major financier to needing countries with Africa as a major beneficiary. Tell us more about the funding programme and what to expect in the future?

With respect to donations from Kuwait, as you know, through the Kuwait fund, we donate and support over 120 countries all over the world, and in Africa, we support over 40 countries as well.

The fund is made available as support for people in need such as hospitals, schools, streets, roads, telecoms and these will be the focal point of the upcoming Africa-Arab summit. This is the third of its kind and it will be coming up this November and we invite all leaders from African and the Arab world to sit together and fashion out modalities on the way forward on difficulties being encountered.

This and more problem solving techniques are to be outlined during the conference as Kuwait is proposing a food bank for the continent to help bridge the hunger gap created by shortages, and also we are to build a network that will help in boosting trade within and outside the African continent freely and easily.

Does Kuwait have a programme in place for training and retraining of the youth from developing nations in science, technology or even leadership?

Well Kuwait every year gives more than 120 students scholarship from all over the world to study in Kuwait.

This includes Nigerians and students from Africa as offered

The Kingdom of Kuwait is to host the Africa-Arab summit later in the year, an event designed to help build relations between the Arab world and Africa. Ambassador of Kuwait to Nigeria, Saad Abdalla Al- Asousi talks to Abdulkadir Isa on the essence of the summit, the Kuwait Fund and Nigeria-Kuwait relations union and it is exciting. For a non-African country to get this recognition is a major achievement for us.

Since the 70s Kuwait has been aiding Africa, and we will continue to inject more support to the continent. We hope that the African-Arab summit to be hosted by Kuwait will highlight all of these areas and to see how we can gradually form a formidable force in partnership and development.

There is the need to also share culture between Africa and Kuwait, is there an existing mechanism for that?

Our culture and the African culture is very close – music, art, paintings, movies etc. they all share something in common with that of the Africans and as you know, almost half of the countries in Africa are Arab, starting from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Somalia etc. so the culture between us is almost the same and we are not very far and a very good relationship has existed between our grandfathers and the African continent as they hosted each other to share ideas and trade.

Ambassador of the State of Kuwait, Mr.Saad Abdalla Al-Asousi by the government of the state Kuwait. And I must tell you that a lot of students from Nigeria have benefitted from this programme. Presently we have more than 350 Nigerians after school work there as they now find Kuwait as their second home.

Are you satisfied with the level of response Africans are according this project with regards to utilization?

Yes. At all levels the recognition has been excellent because presently, African leaders accept Kuwait as observer in the African

“

This year, projections have shown that Kuwait will gain more in excess financially. Does that translate to increased assistance to Africa?

Actually, we are not starting something really new.

Assistance from Kuwait has been there for long especially in terms of loans, loans without interest, and as you know after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, the then head of state waved all the loans to Africans and created another avenue to give out more of these loans.

This support is a continuous effort and will not stop as we are not only particular bout

Well Kuwait every year gives more than 120 students scholarship from all over the world to study in Kuwait. This includes Nigerians and students from Africa as offered by the government of the state Kuwait.

loans, but also the Kuwait fund support also looks at the discovery of medicine for ailments like River blindness.

For example, lately in Zamfara state here in Nigeria, we received a proposal that they want to build a recycling plant for waste management, requesting for Kuwaiti funds intervention.

We always want to share what we have, as a population of just three million with a lot of wealth, we are willing to extent our aid to the whole world.

You have emphasized Nigeria- Kuwait bilateral relations during you stay here, what are your areas of interest and expectations?

Nigeria and Kuwait are working in quite a number of interests and we both are active members in the United Nations (UN), OPEC and the OIC.There is a continued coordination between our two countries on all levels and all fields and we are desirous of a growing relations in as many field as possible.

What is the current volume of trade between both countries, and what is your projection?

Basically Oil and related products bind us together but we are more of producing and exporting the product. We hope in the near future to have companies that will export the Nigerian products to Kuwait as you know Nigeria is a rich country and has lots of natural resources that need investors that can exploit those resources for the betterment of the nation and its inhabitants. All the country need is to increase its agricultural practice and channel towards Kuwait and I assure you, Kuwait is an awaiting market for Nigerian products.

Later in the week, the president of Nigeria will host you as part of your parting interactions as envoy of Kuwait to Nigeria. What is the theme?

The event to see President Jonathan I believe is like a honour as my parting gift as the dean of the diplomatic community in Nigeria.I am leaving this country bearing in mind all that is good and dignifying about this country and its strong, great people that has its wonderful country at heart and always ready to defend it, I do congratulate the Nigerian leadership on its great people.

PAGE 32

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

International

AU launches mechanism for improved Sudan, S.Sudan relations

By Hassan Haruna Ginsau

A

n Ad Hoc Investigative Mechanism (AIM) into allegations by the Republic of Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan has been launched in Addis Ababa on Monday.

The investigation was launched by the Commission of the African Union and Ethiopia in its capacity of Chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Both nations accuse the other of continued support to and harbouring of armed groups

operating against the other state.

The AIM was established in response to a proposal made by the Chair of the AU High-Level Implementation panel on both Sudans, President Thabo Mbeki to address persistent allegations made by Sudan and South Sudan, that the later was supporting and armed rebel movements which aimed either to overthrow the Government, or to cause mayhem and destruction, with untold humanitarian consequences for the civilian population.

The mistrust caused by such allegations has jeopardized the implementation of the Addis

Ababa Agreements, as well as the normalization of relations between the two states.

The African Union called on both states to cooperate fully and unconditionally with the Mechanism as it carries out its work to ascertain the facts of these allegations.

The AIM is comprised of three senior military officers, namely Brigadier-General Luis InacioMuxito, Major-General (rtd) Julius Olakunle Sunday Oshanupin, and BrigadierGeneral Jean Baptiste Tine.

It is expected to complete its work in 6 weeks.

Monday also marked the launch of the AU Border Programme’s determination of the centerline for the Safe Demilitarized Border Zone (SDBZ) between Sudan and South Sudan.

The launch of these Mechanisms underscores the seriousness with which the African Union and IGAD regard relations between Sudan and South Sudan.

The Chair of IGAD called on both states to meet their international obligations and to promote mutual cooperation for the benefit of their citizens.

Egypt’s Mursi ‘abducted by army’

T

he family of the ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has accused the army of abducting him.

His daughter Shaimaa told a news conference in Cairo that the family was taking legal measures against the army.

Mr Mursi has been held at an undisclosed location, without charge, since being ousted from power on 3 July.

The family said it held the military responsible for the former leader’s “safety and security”.

The statement is the first from Mr Mursi ‘s family since he was deposed from office.

“We are taking local and international legal measures against Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, the leader of the bloody military coup, and his putschist group,” Shaimaa Mursi told reporters.

Mr Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement has refused to recognise the new military-backed administration.

It continues to hold almost daily street protests in Cairo.

(From L-R) Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Tedros Adhanom, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra and Brigadier-General Jean Baptiste Tine

Ethiopian troops quit Somali city E thiopia has begun pulling troops out of a former rebel stronghold in Somalia, but it has no plans for a complete withdrawal from the fight against al Qaeda-linked insurgents, its foreign minister said on Monday.

Somalia has enjoyed relative calm after military offensives

by African Union (AMISOM) peacekeepers and Ethiopian troops, who have pushed al Qaeda-allied al Shabaab from urban strongholds in central and southern Somalia.

But suicide attacks have reinforced concerns the militants remain a potent force and Ethiopia’s sudden withdrawal in March from Hudur - the capital of Bakool province near the Ethiopian border - enabled al Shabaab to retake the town.

Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom said Ethiopia had begun pulling out of Baidoa - once considered the most important rebel city after the port of Kismayu - because it was now relatively stabile and Somali forces were able to take

over.

“The withdrawal from Baidoa should have been done almost a year ago but AMISOM was not ready and that could not be done,” he told Reuters in an interview. Ethiopia seized the city, about 250 km (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, last year.

“I am now glad that there is a well organised and planned withdrawal and the space is already being occupied by Somali forces,” Adhanom said.

After a 2006-2009 stint, Ethiopia once again sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al Shabaab, alongside African Union forces from Uganda and Burundi and Kenyan troops that later incorporated the AMISOM mission, after entering Somalia independently to pursue al Shabaab.

Addis Ababa pledged at the time that its forces would stay in the war-ravaged country until Somalia’s government could ratify a new constitution and its ragtag military was able to fend off the militant Islamist threat

on its own.

Tedros said Ethiopia’s aim now was to deploy in areas where the rebels appeared to have a far stronger presence.

He expressed confidence that Somali troops would be able to stand their ground in places Ethiopia left.

Ethiopian troops may deploy back to areas they have left if AMISOM and Mogadishu asked for their return, he said. on the run “That is what is needed when al Shabaab is on the run - the best use of our forces instead of stationing them in just certain places,” he said.

“I don’t think there is a need to put a deadline for complete withdrawal because they (troops) will be engaged in one end every now and then, based on the need.”

Diplomats say Ethiopia has a contingent of around 8,000 troops in the country.

The overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 plunged Somalia into two decades of violence, first at the

hands of clan warlords and then Islamist militants, while two semi-autonomous regions Puntland and Somaliland - have emerged in northern Somalia.

U.N. sanctions experts said this month that Eritrea was undermining stability by paying political agents and a warlord linked to Islamist militants to influence the Mogadishu government.

Tedros accused Eritrea - long at odds with Ethiopia over an unresolved border dispute - of supporting the rebels.

“We have evidence that Eritrea is continuing to support al Shabaab,” he said. “I think the international community should really take this seriously and take serious action especially in terms of strengthening the sanctions that have already been imposed by the U.N.” Eritrea denies playing any negative role in Somalia, saying it has no links to al Shabaab. It says U.N. sanctions imposed on it in 2009 for supporting the insurgents were based on lies and has called for the sanctions to be lifted.

Mursi

Mandela’s health showing ‘sustained improvement’ – government

F

ormer South African President Nelson Mandela is showing “sustained improvement” in hospital although he remains in a critical condition, the government said on Monday.

The government statement said President Jacob Zuma had visited the 95-year-old Mandela in the Pretoria hospital where he has been for the last seven weeks receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 33

International Asia & Middle East Abe pledges EU reform after blacklists Hezbollah poll win E

Abe

J

apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition has won a solid majority in the upper house of parliament in elections, gaining control of both chambers and a mandate to press ahead with economic reforms.

Abe said on Monday that his government would lose public confidence if it retreated from reform.

The win was an endorsement of the Liberal Democratic Party’s “Abenomics” programme, which

has helped spark a tentative economic recovery in Japan.

It was also a vindication for Abe, who lost upper house elections in 2007 during his previous stint as prime minister.

“We’ve won the public’s support for decisive and stable politics so that we can pursue our economic policies, and we will make sure to live up to the expectations,” Abe told public broadcaster NHK after he was projected to win based on exit polls and early results.

“Now that we got rid of the twisted parliament, the LDP is

going to face a test of whether we can push forward the economic policies so that the people can really feel the effect on their lives,” he said.

Official results are not expected until late on Monday, but according to preliminary results collated by local media, the LDP and its coalition partner, New Komeito, won a combined 76 seats, giving them a total of 133 of the 242 seats in the House, more than the 122 needed for a majority.

The country’s main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, has just 59.

especially if different monitoring equipment is used.

The Chinese Red Cross said it was shipping 200 tents, 1,000 sets of household items, and 2,000 jackets to the area and sending teams from both Lanzhou and Beijing to help with relief work and assess further needs.

Heavy rain is expected in the area later in the week, raising the need for shelter and increasing the risk of further landslides.

Residents described shaking windows and swinging lights.

Shaking was felt in the provincial capital of Lanzhou 177km north,

and as far away as Xian, 400km to the east.

“You could see the chandeliers wobble and the windows vibrating and making noise, but there aren’t any cracks in the walls. Shop assistants all poured out onto the streets when the shaking began,” said a front desk clerk at the Wuyang Hotel in the Zhang County seat, about 40km from the epicentre.

China’s worst earthquake in recent years was a 7.9-magnitude temblor that struck the southwestern province of Sichuan in 2008, leaving 90,000 people dead or missing.

Death toll climbs after China earthquakes

A

t least 56 people have been killed and 412 others injured after two earthquakes struck western China, local officials have said.

The tremors on Monday hit near the city of Dingxi in Gansu province, a region of mountains, desert and pastureland.

“More than 21,000 buildings were severely damaged and about 1,200 have collapsed,” an official at the earthquake bureau in Gansu told the AFP news agency.

The deaths and injuries were reported in Min County and other rural southern parts of the

municipality, Dingxi Mayor Tang Xiaoming told state broadcaster CCTV. Tang said damage was worst in the counties of Zhang and Min, where scores of homes were damaged and telephone and electricity services knocked out.

The government’s earthquake monitoring centre said that the initial quake had a magnitude of 6.6 and subsequent tremors included one of 5.6.

The US Geological Survey measured the magnitude of the initial quake as 5.9 and the depth at 10km. Initial measurements of an earthquake can vary widely,

rime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended Australia’s new asylum policy, saying it targets “merchants in death”.

Under the agreement, asylumseekers arriving by boat in Australia will be sent to Papua New Guinea (PNG) for processing.

Those found to be refugees will be settled in PNG, which is to receive Australian investment.

Critics have accused Australia of shirking obligations and outsourcing its problem to a developing nation.

The move comes as Australia tries to tackle a sharp spike in the number of boat arrivals, and just a few weeks out from a general election in which asylum is expected to be a key issue.

Kevin Rudd, who last month ousted Julia Gillard as Labor Party leader amid dismal pre-election polling figures, has described the new policy as “hard-line”.

The Labor party, meanwhile, approved new rules on Monday that change how a leader can be replaced - making it harder for leadership challenges to be launched.

Speaking shortly after the party meeting, Mr Rudd said the government would “make no apology for the decision we’ve taken”.

“These folk are merchants in death and their business model needs to be dismantled, part of this policy response is to do just that,” he said.

Australia says the move is aimed at deterring people from making the dangerous journey on often overcrowded or rickety boats, several of which have sunk in recent months.

Over the weekend the government launched an advertising campaign to publicise the new policy aimed at the countries from which the asylumseekers originate - Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, among others.

It is also offering cash rewards for tip-offs related to peoplesmugglers, who use Indonesia as a transit point to launch boats bound for Christmas Island, the closest part of Australian territory.

On Sunday, protesters turned out in Sydney to condemn the plan, described by Amnesty International as “the day Australia decided to turn its back on the world’s most vulnerable people”.

Officials in PNG have also voiced concern over the plan, which would see the Manus island detention centre expanded to hold up to 3,000 people.

Australia PM defends asylum deal P

Rudd

Former PNG opposition leader Dame Carol Kidu said PNG was a developing country with insufficient services in place.

Australia’s Immigration Minister Tony Burke, meanwhile, acknowledged the possibility that

some asylum-seekers who are not granted refugee status could be detained indefinitely in PNG. At Australia’s other offshore processing centre in Nauru, meanwhile, detainees rioted over the weekend, burning buildings.

uropean Union ministers have agreed to put the military wing of Lebanese group Hezbollah on the EU terror list, in a major reversal of policy.

Britain has sought to persuade its EU peers since May to put the Shia Muslim group’s armed wing on the bloc’s terrorism list, citing evidence that it was behind a deadly bus bombing in Bulgaria last year. The decision requires a unanimous vote.

Dutch foreign minister FransTimmermans welcomed the decision. “It is good that the EU has decided to call Hezbollah what it is: a terrorist organization,” he said. “For years the Netherlands has pushed for listing Hezbollah... that’s why I’m satisfied that we took this important step today.”

Until now, the EU had resisted pressure from Washington and Israel to blacklist Hezbollah, arguing that it could fuel instability in Lebanon, where the group is part of the government, and add to tensions in the Middle East.

The blacklisting would mean imposing visa bans on individuals and asset freezes on organizations associated with the group. But the implementation would be complicated since officials would have to unravel the links between the different wings within Hezbollah’s organisational network and see who could be targeted for belonging to the military wing.

Britain, backed by France and the Netherlands among others, has argued that Hezbollah’s growing involvement in the Syrian war means Lebanon is already in a fragile situation and that the EU must weigh the possibility of future attacks in Europe.

A draft of the meeting conclusions noted that making use of “restrictive measures to combat terrorism does not prevent the continuation of dialogue with all political parties in Lebanon.”

“Legitimate financial transfers” and aid will also not be affected, it added, according to the AFP news agency.

On Thursday, Lebanon asked Brussels not to blacklist Hezbollah on the grounds the group was an “essential component of Lebanese society.”

Some EU diplomats, responding to concerns that sanctions could further radicalise the group, have argued that targeting the military wing could, in the long term, persuade some of its members to move away from violence into the political sphere.

Hezbollah denies any involvement in last July’s attack in the Bulgarian coastal resort of Bourgas that killed five Israelis and their driver.

But the Bulgarian interior minister said last week that Sofia had no doubt the group was behind it.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

International

Colombia vows full assault on FARC

Santos

C

olombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos has promised decisive retaliation after leftist FARC rebels killed at least 19 soldiers in a single day in the biggest blow to the military since peace talks began in November.

Country’s security forces have launched an operation to “capture or kill” the rebel fighters, authorities have said.

At least 12 people were captured

during the initial stages of the operation, which was launched in response to the killing of soldiers in an ambush the government says was carried out by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by their Spanish initials, FARC. “The instructions to our armed forces are: don’t stop shooting until we have reached the end of this conflict, because that is how we are going to get to that moment faster, by using blunt force,” Santos said.

“Just as we have extended our hand and are in negotiations, so do we have a big stick. We have decisive military force and will apply it,” he said.

In a visit to Arauca state on the Venezuelan border, where 15 members of an army battalion that guards oil facilities were killed in the ambush, Santos ordered the military high command to put “the entire machinery” of war into motion against the FARC.

The other four soldiers killed in combat died in the town of Doncello in the southern state of Caqueta, a traditional stronghold of the FARC. “Our hearts are with the families of the 15 heroes who sacrificed their lives in Arauca for the tranquillity and security of their fellow citizens,” the Colombian president said earlier when confirming the deaths.

At least 70 members of FARC had attacked an army unit, he said.

Local television showed images of the site on Sunday with soldiers seen inspecting the area as an army helicopter circled overhead.

The latest attack has thrown ongoing negotiations between FARC and the Colombian government into doubt.

The rebels had sought a ceasefire when peace talks were launched in Havana, but Santos refused.

From 1999 to 2002, the government granted the FARC a Switzerland-sized safe haven in the country’s south for peace talks that failed.

“If you look at Colombian population, they are not very supportive of the continuation of the talks in this environment, but in many ways this was to be expected, because Santos since the beginning of the talks said that no ceasefire was possible with the FARC until a full agreement was reached,” reported Alessandro Rampietti from Bogota, the Colombian capital.

US Vice-President to begin India visit

U

S Vice-President Joe Biden is due to begin a four-day visit to India to boost diplomatic and economic ties.

Mr Biden is the first US vicepresidenttovisitIndiainthreedecades.

He is due to hold talks with PM Manmohan Singh in Delhi before heading to the financial capital, Mumbai, to meet business leaders and deliver a speech on the economy.

Trade between two countries has grown from $9bn in 1995 to nearly $100bn this year.

But there are areas of concern - the US wants India to allow greater access to American firms, and a landmark nuclear deal has not delivered the lucrative contracts it promised to.

Correspondents say India is

Biden

concerned over next year’s withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

It has spent $2bn in aid to Afghanistan and fears the return of Taliban after the US withdrawal.

“We strongly support the role India has played in Afghanistan, leveraging its economic strength to improve Afghanistan’s economy,” Mr Biden told The Times of India in an interview.

He said India’s aid “will help to ensure our common goal of a stable and prosperous future for the Afghan people”.

During his landmark visit to India in November 2010, President Barack Obama had said Washington and Delhi’srelationshipwouldbeoneofthe century’s defining partnerships.

Portugal President backs government, rejects snap polls

P

ortuguese President AnibalCavaco Silva has backed the centre-right coalition government, ruling out snap polls to resolve a political crisis.

He said “the best solution is to keep the current government in power”.

This comes after Portugal’s three main parties failed to agree on how to proceed with tough austerity

measures.

This raised fears the country would be unable to abide by the terms of its 78bn-euro ($102bn; £67bn) bailout.

Some analysts have even suggested that the debtladen nation would be forced to seek a second bailout.

Lisbon has had to request a delay in the eighth review of the agreed 2011 bailout by its

creditors - the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.

The review was due to start last Monday but has been put back until the end of August or early September.

In a televised address, President Cavaco Silva said: “ I think in the current context of national emergency, calling elections is not a solution for

the problems Portugal is facing.”

He said he had given his support to the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, after receiving solid guarantees that the country would complete the bailout programme.

“It is important to show our European partners that Portugal is a governable country,” the president added.

Europe and Americas

Pope Francis sets off for Brazil

P

ope Francis has left for Rio de Janeiro, embarking on his first foreign trip as pontiff to attend an international youth festival in Brazil, the world’s biggest Catholic country.

Francis was seen off by Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta as he departed from Rome’s Fiumicino airport on Monday morning.

In keeping with his trademark simplicity, the 76-year-old carried his own hand luggage onto the plane.

Meanwhile, pilgrims from around the world were gathering in Rio for World Youth Day, arriving by bus from neighbouring nations or landing by plane from across the ocean to greet the first pope from Latin America.

More than one million people are expected to pack the white sands of Copacabana beach where the pope will greet throngs of young people on Thursday.

Authorities are deploying 30,000 troops and police in the crime-riddled city.

Nuns checked in at hotels while other pilgrims walked on the beach, flaunting the colours of their countries.

Brazil has become richer in time but struggles with corruption and lagging public services that brought about one million protesters to the streets last month.

Despite the past protests, which were sometimes marred by violence, the pope is ditching his armoured “Popemobile” for an open-top jeep to have direct contact with the people.

He will start his trip with a meeting with President DilmaRousseff, followed by a visit to one of Rio’s sprawling favelas, or slums.

But he also demanded greater efforts to keep negotiation channels open with the opposition Socialists to avoid further political volatility.

Portugal was thrown into turmoil earlier this month when two key ministers resigned in a dispute over the austerity measures.

Foreign Minister Paulo Portas was unhappy with the extent of the austerity measures needed to comply with the conditions by the “troika” lenders.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar - seen as the architect of the austerity plan quit because of a lack of support for his approach.

The austerity cuts are widely blamed for keeping Portugal in recession over the past two years, angering trade unions and left-wing parties and causing a wave of street protests.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 35

Strange World In Thailand, a “Like” on Facebook can get you 15 years in jail

I

n older times, it was “off with your head” if you spoke ill of the King. Now, you go to jail for posting your feelings on Facebook about the Thai monarchy, which many of the Thai folk actively do. In fact, over 10,000 pages of material was found on the social networking, containing images or text that is offensive to the royal family.

The Information Minister of Thailand, AnudithNakornthap, warned the people of Thailand that if users on Facebook so much as even like or share any kind of information insulting the monarchy, the consequences would be severe.

Such a person could be charged with violation of the lese majeste laws of the country, and could serve up to 15 years in prison. He also advised people to ‘unlike’ any pages and remove any comments made on similar lines. In a world where democracy and freedom of speech are taken for granted in most countries, this news might come across as quite surprising. I mean, we’ve lost count of the number of jokes made online at the

expense of Bush, Palin and the likes. Thailand however, has always been strict in enforcing laws that protect the dignity of the sovereign.

This is completely

Man gets $92 quadrillion, briefly becomes world’s richest

regardless of nationality. A Swiss citizen in 2007 and an Australian writer in 2009 were arrested for similar reasons.

The Swiss gentleman had spray painted the King’s image, and

he was sentenced to 10 years for that. Fortunately for him, the King pardoned him after a few months. The Australian was lucky too; he was pardoned after being sentenced to 3 years

Australian spider-man to spend three weeks with poisonous spiders

6

Dollar bill

A

man from Pennsylvania was briefly the world’s richest man when he discovered a little over $92 quadrillion dollars in his PaylPal account Friday.

ChrisReynoldsopenedhismonthly email statement and was stunned to find that his account had been credited $92,233,720,368,547,800.

That amount would made Reynolds a million times richer than Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim who is worth $67 billion. Reynolds knew right away it was a mistake.

“It’sanumberyoudon’tseewritten out very often, even in national finance circles,” Chris Reynolds, 56, told the New York Daily News. “My thought was a) it’s a mistake and b) it’s a big mistake. It was more funny than elating.”

Reynolds logged directly onto PayPal’s website, where his account

balance read $0, which was the correct amount.

He posted the original PDF statement showing the erroneous transfer to his Facebook page and soon received emails from friends he had not been in touch with for many years.

A PayPal representative called Reynolds and expressed embarrassment for the error. The company offered to donate an unspecified amount to a charity of his choice, Philly.comreported.

“We think it’s inspiring that he decided to use this occurrence to donate to a cause he believes in,” Pay Pal said in a statement. “And we hope to honor this spirit by donating to a cause of his choice - we’ve reached out to him to make this offer and to let him know we are grateful that he’s a customer!”

for writing offensive content on the royal family in his novel.

So if you’re ever in Thailand, watch out, you might want to keep your comments and observations to yourself!

7-year-old Nick Le Souef, also known as the “Australian Spider-Man” is preparing to spend over three weeks in an enclosed space with hundreds of poisonous spiders.

Le Souef recently took part in a charity event, and because he was so impressed with the results, he decided to put his talents to the test, for charity.

The wacky Australian will be living in a 12-foot-by-4-foot space, in the window of one of his shops, together with hundreds of potentially lethal redback spiders, huge huntsmen and black house spiders.

Although he says he is not afraid of the spiders, Nick Le Souef admits he is a little crazy doing what he’s doing. He is confident that he will not get bit, because redbacks are usually calm creatures once they’ve weaved their little nests, and simply because spiders don’t like each other that much, nad they’re most likely to fight among themselves. During his time with the spiders, Nick plans to write his biography.

The Australian daredevil has a history of dangerous stunts, holding Australian records for most time in a snake pit, a shark tank and in a cage full of redback spiders. He is now looking to break the record he set 30 years ago.

Le Souef

PAGE 36

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Digest

When fruit and vegetables are bad for you

By Emma Innes

F

ruit and vegetables are responsible for 46 per cent of food poisoning cases, recent research shows.

The study by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that leafy vegetables, namely lettuce and spinach, are the worst offenders.

It also showed that meat and poultry are responsible for 22 per cent of food poisoning cases.

The study found that every year one in six people in the U.S. fall ill

Every year one in six people in the U.S. fall ill with food poisoning - about nine million people

with food poisoning – about nine million people.

The majority of cases of foodborne illness caused by leafy vegetables are caused by pre-cut greens which are bought in plastic bags.

The reason for this is that these products tend to be eaten raw. In contrast, the bugs in meat and poultry that many people would expect to be the cause of most cases of food poisoning, are usually killed during cooking.

Dr Michael Doyle, director of the University of Georgia’s Centre for Food Safety explained to Modern Farmer that lettuce is particularly dangerous as harmful bacteria can form within the plant tissue.

This means that when the lettuce is washed, the bacteria will not be washed away.

He added that leafy greens can cause E.Coli, salmonella, and listeria.

These bugs tend to come from animals which carry them in their intestines.

If the animals’ manure gets into soil or water, it can contaminate vegetables.

Salmonella is especially likely to be transmitted in this way as manure can be blown around by the wind when it dries out, and salmonella is known to be tolerant to drying.

In extreme cases, contaminated

bagged salad can cause fatal kidney failure, according to Dr Doyle.

Dr Doyle says that the only way to prevent lettuce-related food poisoning is to ensure that farmers are doing something to kill bacteria in the field, as soon as the leaves are picked.

He believes that farmers should be using disinfectants to achieve this – he says that currently they

typically use chlorine but that this is not very effective at killing bacteria.

However, Dr Doyle accepts that the odds are in the consumers favour as millions of bags of salad are sold every year and the number of food poisoning cases is small.

This data is supported by a recent study from the Food Standards Agency which showed

that there are 120,000 extra cases of food-related illness during a British summer.

Dr Lisa Ackerley, a microbiologist, believes this is not due to undercooked meat so much as poor hand, surface, and utensil hygiene when people are cooking outside.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Fruit and vegetables are responsible for 46 per cent of food poisoning cases - and leafy greens are the worst offenders. Meat and poultry are only responsible for 22 per cent

Can butter coffee give you more energy?

A

By Margot Peppers

new craze is seeing coffeedrinkers blending their morning brew with up to 80 grams (two-thirds of a stick) of butter, in a bid to boost energy levels and promote weight loss.

David Asprey, the creator of Bulletproof Coffee, claims that this concoction is full of healthy fats that will keep your energy levels up ‘for six hours if you need it’, as well as ‘improving cognitive function’ and ‘shrinking your waistline’.

But some health experts, like Today diet and nutrition editor Madelyn Fernstrom, say the blend which contains between 100 and 200 calories a cup - can actually promote Diet trend: Bulletproof coffee, which also contains MCT oil (a combination of coconut and palm oil) is particularly popular among paleo diet fans, who consume mainly animal fats and protein

weight gain, and that any extra energy experienced by drinkers is merely a placebo effect.

Mr Asprey says he discovered the power of butter-blended drinks on the top of Mt Kailash in Tibet, at 18,000 feet elevation.

‘I staggered into a guest house from the -10 degree weather and was literally rejuvenated by a creamy cup of yak butter tea,’ he recalls on his website.

He recreated the energy-boosting effects by mixing unsalted grass-fed butter with his trademark Upgraded Coffee - made from ‘low-toxin beans’ that make it ‘cleaner’ than Starbucks coffee.

According to Mr Asprey, butter contains ‘all the benefits of healthy milk fat with none of the damaging

denatured casein proteins found in cream,’ making for ‘the creamiest, most satisfying’ cup of coffee.

The coffee also contains MCT oil - a blend of coconut and palm oil - which Mr Asprey says is digested faster than other fats and therefore boosts energy and promotes weight loss.

Those who follow a ‘paleo’ diet, which consists of mainly animal fats and protein, are fans of the coffee since it falls in with their high-fat regimen.

Indeed, blogger The Paleo Mama said she tried out the Bulletproof recipe and experienced a satisfying ‘high performance buzz’.

Others have pointed out that adding a pat of butter to your morning brew is equivalent to mixing in a few spoonfuls of cream.

And while butter and coffee may sound like an unlikely combination, it has actually been consumed around the world for years.

Aside from the Tibetans Mr Asprey encountered, who do indeed drink yak butter and tea at high altitudes, Ethiopians commonly add spiced butter into their coffee.

And in Singapore, coffee beans are often stir-fried with butter in a wok before being consumed.

But as far as health benefits are concerned, some experts disagree with Mr Asprey’s findings.

According to Heart.org, butter is very high in saturated fat, an ingredient which raises the level of cholesterol in your blood and therefore increases your risk of heart disease and stroke.

Since Mr Asprey recommends mixing in as much as 80 grams of butter - or two-thirds of a stick - the brew is likely to contain a significant

The new breakfast smoothie?

‘Bulletproof’ coffee is an ‘energy-boosting’ blend of coffee beans and unsalted butter - but some health experts say it may actually promote weight gain, not loss

Origins: Founder Dave Asprey claims he discovered the rejuvenateing power of butter when Tibetans gave him yak butter tea amount of saturated fat.

And in terms of taste, when Matt Lauer tried out the concoction on the Today show this morning, he appeared underwhelmed. ‘It’s terrible,’ he said with a look of revulsion.

Still, Mr Asprey and his believers insist that the side effects of drinking butter-infused coffee are solely positive.

‘Aside from tasting awesome, it makes you feel lean, focused, and energized,’ he promises.

‘It allows you to transform your diet without resorting to chewing on sticks of butter (though that’s not a bad idea…).’

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 37

Disclose your salaries, Journalist Forum challenges Senators, Reps Fom Matthew Irinloye, Lagos

T

he Nigerian Young Journalists Forum (NYJF) has approached the National Assembly under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act to declare salaries and allowances of its members in order of hierarchy.

The Forum in a request letter dated 17- July 2013 addressed to the Senate President and Chairman National Assembly, Senator John David Mark and Speaker Federal House of

Representative Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal also demanded the total amounts expended by both chambers from June 2011 to June 2013.

The letter signed by the Forum National President Ayodele Samuel and General Secretary Zacheaus Somorin also requested the statutory budgetary allocations and expenses of the Nigeria’s legislative arm of government.

Also requested by the Journalists Forum is the proof

of compliance by members of National Assembly with statutory law on asset declaration by public officers.

The Forum said the information is requested for proper media reportage on salaries and constituency votes of members of the National Assembly which have been subject of public debates and misrepresentations in recent times.

“We are of firm conviction that disclosure of the requested information is in the public

interest as it will contribute significantly to engendering trust and understanding between the National Assembly and the general public.

“As a Forum, we will continue to advocate for responsible journalistic engagement and commitment to meaningful and constructive reportage with the view to investing our democracy with popular participation from all sectors of the public,” the letter read in part.

L-R: INEC commissioner, Mrs. Nwafor Gladys, INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, INEC Commissioner, Mr. Chris Iyimoga, and National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) Director-General, Professor Seidu Mohammed, during INEC chairman’s visit to NASRDA, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Justin Imo-owo

Rivers: PDP faults Amaechi’s indifference to injured lawmaker From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

T

he Rivers state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s unconcerned attitude to the welfare of the injured lawmaker representing Obio/ Akpor State Constituency II, Hon Michael Chinda, and his preference to hosting arranged solidarity visits have further exposed his unremorseful and unforgiving spirit.

Felix Obuah, State Chairman of the party expressed this while on visit to the injured lawmaker in his London Hospital in company of other prominent political leaders in

the State.

The Rivers PDP Chairman regretted that despite the frightening state of the lawmaker’s health occasioned by the devastating attack on him by Chidi Lloyd, Amaechi has not deemed it worthwhile to ask after his welfare, but rather chose to be hosting solidarity visits from his instigators at the expense of the depleting Rivers resources.

It should be noted that since the unfortunate incident of July 9, 2013 at the State House of Assembly, two weeks after, Gov Amaechi has neither visited the injured lawmaker, nor his family, nor made any enquiries about his

welfare which the party leadership described as inhuman and unfortunate.

Also speaking during the condolence visit, the Minister of State for Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, marveled at the uncanny and barbaric character of Chidi Lloyd to inflict such injury on a fellow human being.

Wike however thanked God that the injured lawmaker is still alive and enjoined his constituents and family members to remain calm, stressing that justice must be done on the matter.

Other prominent Rivers State leaders who accompanied the State leadership of the PDP on

the overseas trip include Rt. Hon Austin Opara, Dr Abiye Sekibo, Hon Kenneth Kobani and a former Commissioner for Sports in Rivers State, Boma Iyaye.

The party leaders condemned the brutal physical assault suffered

by Chinda, describing it as premeditated, bizarre, evil and vicious, and also described Lloyd and those in support of the evil as heartless, animalistic and lacking in integrity.

The state leaders however thanked God that despite the lifethreatening knocks from a macewielding House leader, Chidi Lloyd, Hon Michael Chinda survived and is fast stabilizing.

Group wants FCT political structure democratized

By Umar Muhammad Puma

A

lliance for Credible Election (ACE) and the Igbo residents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday decried the current political structure operating in the capital territory.

In a joint press briefing

by ACE and Ohanaeze Nd’ Igbo FCT chapter, both called for the restructuring and democratization of FCT political structure.

The Ag. Chairman of Ndigbo in FCT, Ogbueshi Val Ogosi, said that the current political structure in the territory negates the all-inclusive vision of the founding fathers of the city just as he pointed out that the FCT is inherently deficient in democratized governance structure.

He explained that the briefing was geared towards redressing some of the identified deficiencies; create political structures in tandem with the dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers.

Ogosi said that the urgent and crucial issue of democratization of governance structures in the FCT is expected to “enthrone democracy and representative governance in the capital territory.

“To ensure representative governance in such a manner that the interest of every segment of the society is protected and serve as a safeguard against arbitrary government policies and programmes which undermines industry, entrepreneurship and innovation.

“Empower eligible Nigerians residents in the FCT with a sense of identification and relevance in the political leadership schemes of the FCT,” he said.

The General Secretary of ACE, Emma Ezeazu said the Igbos came to the capital territory for progress, peace and the well-being of Nigerians.

“We have always been seeing as fighters of democracy, wherever we see oppression we fight. We have to ensure that the structure in FCT is democratized. The FCT budget should be made in such a way that Igbos are put into consideration. The peoples should have a right to chose who govern them and that is why we are saying that the political structure in FCT should be democratized,” he said.

PAGE 38

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Politics

Al-makura is committed to development of Nasarawa - Commissioner

T

L-R: Secretary to Lagos state government, Dr. Oluranti Adebule, member, Senate Committee on Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Senator Aisha Alhassan, Chairman, Senator Abba Ibrahim; Lagos state Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, Vicechairman of the committee, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, and member, Senator Simeon Ajibola, during the committee’s visit to the governor yesterday in Lagos.

Photo: NAN

Youths Assembly appoints ex-Rep patron

By Mohammed Umar-Puma

T

he National Youth Assembly of Nigeria (NYAN) has appointed a former member of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, its patron.

In a letter, signed by the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Kassim

Muhammad Kassim, the Assembly noted that appointment was unanimously endorsed after consultations with the Minister of Youths development.

The NYAN is the umbrella body of over six million youths at home and diaspora, with a representative from each

state of the federation called “Ambassadors”, six coordinators from the six geo political zones and 774 local government coordinators in Nigeria.

The appointment of the former lawmaker, according to the letter, was based on his achievements in the sphere of education, youth

empowerment and humanitarian development which impacted positively on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

“You are a man with remarkable capacity, who has achieved excellence by developing your vast experience in bringing succor to the people in need,” it added.

We will sweep Anambra 2015 governorship election-UPP

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he United Progressive Party (UPP), said it has concluded plans to sweep the polls in the forthcoming November governorship elections in Anambra state.

Founder and National chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, stated this during an interview with journalists in Abuja.

Okorie said the party , which is just about eight months old, would take the people by storm when it will win the governorship elections in Anambra state.

He informed that the party has an added advantage based on the fact that the incumbent governor, Mr. Peter Obi, has failed to deliver democracy dividend to the people that voted him into power adding that the All Progressives Grand Alliance APGA is divided and in

crises.

He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is also in disunity and cannot win the governorship elections while the All Progressive Congress (APC) is yet to be registered by INEC, pointing out that it is only the UPP that is crises free, peaceful and with the support of the masses.

The party boss remarked that very soon, he would lead his campaign team to Anambra state

for the November governorship election and after the election, “we will kick off nationwide campaign for the 2015 general elections”, adding that UPP will produce a south East presidential candidate.

On the merger of the opposition parties, he said UPP is not part of the plan, adding that the party does not want to lose its identity like those parties that entered into the merger plan.

he Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), led government of Nasrawa state is committed to execution of development programmes, Mr. Innocent Lagi, Nasarawa State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, says.

Lagi stated this while addressing members of Ambaka community in Farin-Ruwa Development Area that paid him a courtesy visit in Lafia recently.

He said that state government would accord priority attention to social justice and fairness in the execution of development projects to lift the state to greater heights. ``This administration is on a rescue mission to save the people of the state with a view to enabling the citizens enjoy the much needed dividends of democracy,” he said.

The commissioner said everything would be done provide good roads and other infrastructure.

According to him, water supply, roads and electricity in rural areas are some of the basic amenities that the CPC administration is providing.

Lagi stressed the need for all stakeholders to collaborate with the government to ensure rapid development of the state, and assured communities of equal opportunity.

He said the governor had planned to appoint capable Transitional Management Committees (TMC) members that would reflect on the aspiration of the people.

The commissioner also assured the community that he would liaise with his colleagues in the Ministries of Health and that of Works to facilitate the establishment of health care centres in the area.

Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Mr Bala Adams, told the commissioner that they were in his office to congratulate him on his appointment and to enumerate the problems facing the area.

He listed the problems to include lack of access roads, potable water, modern primary health care centres and political appointment. (NAN)

AD advocates retention of immunity clause in constitution

T

he Alliance for Democracy (AD) has called for the retention of the immunity clause for the president and the governors in the ongoing constitution review.

Mr. Rafiu Salau, National Secretary of the party, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that the measure would allow public office holders do their job without distractions.

He added that the retention would not give room for unnecessary challenges from the opposition pointing out that it was the best way to move democracy forward in the country. ``The issue of immunity is coming up now just because of the level of our democracy,” he said.

Salau said that in any good democratic environment, no

president, governor or legislator would want to be found wanting in the discharge of his or her responsibility to the nation, immunity or no immunity.

He added that the public officers concerned would make sure that they did the right thing because they knew that they were being assessed and evaluated by the people. ``If they do not perform as

expected, they have lost their political leadership and trust from their followers”.

He, however, called for the trial of the public officers concerned at the end of their tenure if found wanting in the discharge of their public functions.

He said this was to deter others who might want to indulge in corrupt tendencies while in

office.

Salau also called for the creation of strong institution that would ensure good governance through the monitoring of funds of public workers in the banking industry to check corruption.

He said that before the tenure of of public officers began there should be mechanisms through which they would know the level of crime against them.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Briefs Adamawa fishermen get free canoes

A

member of the House of Representatives from Yola North /Yola South/Girei Federal Constituency, Aishatu Dahiru, last weekend flagged off the presentation of free bags of fertiliser to farmers in his constituency.

Those from the riverine communities in the area received canoes as part of efforts by the lawmaker towards poverty alleviation.

Dahiru said the gesture was to assist peasant farmers in the constituency and urged beneficiaries not to sell the commodity but to use it for the purposes that they were intended this farming season while the canoes were to ease the transportation of those living in riverine areas of the state.

From Umar Dankano, Yola

PAGE 39

News Extra

CPC to improve consumers’ welfare in proposed amendment bill

By Etuka Sunday

C

onsumer Protection Council (CPC) at the weekend said it had unfolded new deals for improved consumer welfare in its proposed amendment bill.

Speaking during a public hearing before the House Committee on Commerce, the Council’s Director General, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, stated that “for the first time in Nigeria, certain specific rights of consumers are defined for codification.”

She listed some of the rights to include consumers’ right to disclosure and information, right to choice, right to fair and responsible marketing, right to

fair and honest dealing, right to fair, just and reasonable terms and conditions and the right to fair value, good quality and safety.

The Council in a statement quoted Atoki as saying that, under the proposed bill the consumer has a right to return and collect a refund for an unsuitable or defective product which the consumer had purchased, notwithstanding exemption clauses like ‘once tested and taken away cannot be returned.’

She also pointed out that under the proposed bill, an elaborate and well-articulated redress system, dedicated specifically to consumer issues has been set out and that under this section,

aggrieved consumers can enforce their rights either by themselves or through the instrumentality of the Council, civil society groups, the courts or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) agent, making the enforcement faster.

Also included in the proposed document, she said, are provisions capable of tackling consumer abuses that may arise from on-line marketing, which are completely lacking in the Council’s existing legislation, noting further that internet fraud and identity theft, which have become endemic would be prevented.

Earlier, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and

L-R: Archbishop, Methodist Church of Abuja, Most Rev. Chimaroke Iweha, Prelate, Methodist Church Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, Architect Nathan Ekpo, and Secretary, Methodist Conference, Rt. Rev. Chibuzo Opoko, during the recognition of service, on Sunday at the Methodist Cathedral of Unity, in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Varsity don decries poor funding for research

A

Senior Lecturer at the College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Dr. Oluwole Busayo Akinola, has identified inadequate funding and obsolete facilities as impediments to research in Nigeria.

Akinola, who is an International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) Research Fellow at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, spoke with journalists during a seminar organised by the Nigerian Society for Experimental Biology.

He said, “I think the major constraint here is funding and nonavailability of facilities.

“I am aware of the ETF fund for research but sometimes it is difficult to actually access such funds.

Although the University is trying, it is still a far cry from reality.”

From Olanrewaju Lawal, Ilorin

Youth overwhelm Adamawa prison

T

he Nigeria Prison Service in Adamawa has said that 95 per cent of inmates in its custody are youth whose ages range between 20 and 35.

The state Controller of Prisons, Mr. Ekijere Shidi, disclosed this when he visited the state Acting Chief Judge, Justice Nathan Musa, in his office in Yola.

He described the situation as disturbing, saying that, “when I came to Adamawa, I went round few prisons in the state.”

“During the visit, I discovered that the prisons were overwhelmed with a high number of awaiting trials with about 95 per cent being youth.”

“Their ages could not be more than 20 to 35 years, and at the same time, they were indigenes,” Shidi said.

From Umar Dankano, Yola

Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, said the bill, when passed into law will correct many of the weaknesses inherent in the current legislation, hindering the effective performance of the Council.

“The Ministry is eagerly waiting for the enactment of this bill.

Emerging technological changes, new trading methods, patterns and agreements have brought about new challenges to consumers of goods and services in Nigeria, making it necessary to develop and employ further innovative ways to protect the interests of consumers.”

Kaduna records 155 fire outbreaks

T

he Kaduna State Fire Service on Monday said it recorded 155 fire outbreaks between January and May this year.

The state Director of Fire Service, Mr. Adams Kadams, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna.

Kadams said the rate of fire incidents had drastically reduced compared to the previous years.

“In the past years, we have had time when we recorded 320 in a midyear and there was another time that we had 600 outbreaks.

“Out of these 155 fire outbreaks, 31 persons died and 51 were injured,” he said.

The director said they received two rescue operation calls from Kaduna and Zaria during the period

under review, and blamed the public for delays in reporting fire cases to the service.

“We were able to save property worth N2.1 billion while N789 million worth of property was lost to various fire incidents in the state,” he said.

Kadams urged residents to be careful in handling electrical appliances, and to always call

professionals whenever there was electrical fault either on the poles or in their homes. ``Most faults are from the people, they should stop patronizing inexperienced road side electricians to handle electrical faults rather, they should call on the appropriate office to guide against any outbreak,” he added. (NAN)

Roll Back Malaria: Adamawa LG makes significant progress From Umar Dankano, Yola

T

he Yola South Local council of Adamawa state at the weekend said it had made significant progress on the Roll Back Malaria programme in the area.

Malam Abubakar Sahabo, Director, Primary Healthcare Department of the council, told Newsmen in Yola that that was part of the council’s programme on malaria control.

Sahabo said that significant achievements had been recorded over

the last few years.

“The local government healthcare unit has developed strategies to fight back malaria where government health and environmental workers partner with rural community-based groups.

“This is on the primary causes of malaria disease as well as to promote awareness on the prevention and treatment of the disease,” Sahabo said.

He said that following the appropriate coordination of the partnership, malaria cases, especially between pregnant women and

children in the locality had dropped significantly.

According to him, the number of pregnant women and children who come out to receive malaria treatment has risen drastically.

He said that the state government had provided the council with recommended anti-malarial drugs distributed to all government primary clinics in the area.

Sahabo said that malaria treatment was free for pregnant women and children less than five years.

He explained that to ensure

effective malaria control, the council had also distributed thousands of insecticides-treated mosquito nets in all 11 wards in the area.

“Recently, the local council authority organised a sensitization workshop where rural communities were trained on how to clean their environments to be free from malaria and other related diseases,” Sahabo said.

He urged private organisations to join the council in the fight against malaria.

PAGE 40

Photo Splash

L-R: Ogun state Commissioner for Information and strategy, Alhaji Yusuph Olaniyonu, Thisday newspapers Columnist, Mr Simon Kolawole, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Ruben Abati, and President, Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Mr Nduka Obaigbena, during their visit to Abati over the death of his mother, Mrs Taiwo Abati, on Sunday in Abeokuta.

R-L: Abia state Governor, Chief Theodore Orji, and Minister for Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, during the official commissioning of the Dialysis Centre of Abia state Specialist Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, yesterday in Umuahia.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

L-R: Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Azubuike Ihejirika, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, Minister of State for Defence, Erelu Olusola Obada, and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Dele Ezeoba, after the security meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday at the State House, in Abuja.

L-R: Members of Agricultural and Agro-Allied Industries Conference/Exhibition Committee, Musa Ododo Abdulrahaman, Abdullahi Ozomata, Publisher/CEO of Farmers Chronicle, Abubakar Mohammed Kent, and Fatima Isagba, during the media briefing on Agricultural and Agro-Alied Industries Conference/Exhibition, recently in Abuja.

Chairperson, House Committee on Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa (middle), in a group photograph with Nigerian Girls Membership Programme under the Ministry of Women Affairs, during their visit to the Committee on Diaspora, yesterday at the National Assembly, in Abuja.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 41

Go back to grassroots football, FEPSGA tells NFF

By Albert Akota

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have been advised to focus more on grassroots development as the only way Nigeria can make an impact at the world stage in the future.

This advice was given by the president of the Federal Public Service Games (FEPSGE) Mr. Victor Orji over yesterday in Abuja while reacting to the federation life banned on players.

The sports veteran noted that the only way Nigeria can make a dominant impact at the world stage soon is for the NFF to go back to the developmental programmes that unearth such players like Coach Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Franklin Howard and Paul Okoku.

The former Ranger of Enugu player said the football authority need to begin to adopt such policies that would ensure discovering of football talents at an early age and their graduation into the various national teams.

“I am happy with the banned placed on the clubs because what they did is capable of destroying out football, also I am impressed with the performance of the Super Eagles at the Confederations Cup especially with what coach Keshi was able to achieve with the crop of players he had worked with.

“For us to qualify for the 2014 World Cup and make impact at the world stage there is an urgent need for the country to go back to what we used to do in the past, grassroots football development.

Victor presenting certificate to participant during walking and jogging exercise recently There should be graduation process in our football. We need to stop the ‘use and dump’ idea we are practicing now.

“Thank to Keshi the chief coach of the Super Eagles who

teamed his feet to include homebased to every of his programme contrary to what most of Nigeria were against, today we are praising him because of what he did to our league players.

“If you talk of Sunday Mba, Chigozie Agbim, Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike, Egwuekwe, Emmanuel Emenike, Solomon Kwambe, Benjamin Francis, Muhammad Gambo believe me or

Scandalous goals: NFF ban players, officials for life

By Albert Akota

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has banned players of Plateau United Feeder, Akurba United, Bubayero FC, Police Machine and match officials involved in the 146 scandalous goals for life.

The first vice president of the NFF Mike Umeh who disclosed this newsmen yesterday in Abuja, said that the evidence before the panel shown no doubt that there were fraudulent, conspiracy among the teams to get promotion through match fixing.

He maintained that the four clubs would serve ten years punishment and called on football stakeholders in Nigeria and the world to distance themselves from the clubs and the players in football matters.

Umeh who doubles as the panel chairman further said that

all the four teams involved in the match fixing scandal were invited but only Plateau United Feeders and Akurba United, match commissioners and centre referees of the 2 matches were present and testified before the panel.

“The desperate and fraudulent means taken by Plateau United Feeders, Police Machine FC of Adamawa, Akurba FC of Nasarawa and Plateau United Feeders to win were not in any doubt, to cancel the whole competition after the matches recorded high number of goals by the teams or officials were neglected.

“Based on the founding before the panel, the clubs will face ten years banned, life banned for the match commissioners, coordinators and referees as well as players of the clubs, “Umeh said.

According to him, the question

...ban clubs for 10-year of who tops the table at the Bauchi Centre to qualify for the Nation - Wide Division 3 League was responsible for the match fixing.

Even though the committee could not establish any exchange of money or material as inducement, circumstantial evidence was overwhelmingly that points were the only conclusion to the matches which has brought global embarrassment to the federation in particular and the nation in general.

Umeh argued that all the reports and pieces of evidence tendered before the committee clearly established match fixing and nothing exchange hands, he however promised to communicate to clubs, the state FA’s, CAF and FIFA. The play-offs promotion into the Nigeria Nationwide League

recorded 146 goals; Plateau United Feeders beat Akurba FC 79-0, while Police Machine FC demolished Bubayaro FC 67-0.

Maigari

not you will definitely remember Stephen Keshi.

“I am not canvasses for him but I personally appreciated his effort to develop our league players because other national team coaches like U-20, U-23 even U-17 go as far inviting foreign-based.

“Some coaches develop the habit of use and dump, where are the Manga Muhammed, Julius Aghahowa, Pius Ikedia, Rabiu Afolabi and others that we used at the U-20 championship we hosted in 1999? We have used and dumped them while the likes of Sergio Ramos, Cassilas, Xavi Alonso and Villa are still waxing stronger for Spain but we can see that Keshi has started doing the same to our players he believe can do the country proud.

“I could still remember in the 70s under coach Rocky, the then NFA used to have players between ages 12-15 and they were named the Greater Tommorrow.

“These players represented Nigeria at different international tourneys such as the Dallas Cup and Gothia Cup in the USA. “The best players of the team later graduated into the Flying Eagles and then the Green Eagles. Some of the products of that team are among the big names in our football today. The likes of Coach Stephen Keshi, Henry Nwosu, Franklin Howard, Paul Okoku and Dr.Niran Okuribido,” the FEPSGA’s president explained.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 42

Sports WCL: Nigeria deserve victory, says captain

T

he Captain of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) male national team, Kunle Adegbola, yesterday expressed satisfaction at the team’s victory against Vanuatu at the World Cricket League (WCL) Division 6.

Nigeria defeated Vanuatu by six runs after batting 230 runs all out in 49.2 overs at Les Quennevais, Jersey.

The WCL Division 6 batted off on July 21 in Jersey, an island off the coast of U.K, the will come to an end on July 29.

He said that it was a good way to start the competition, and hoped that the momentum would be sustained.

“The team had an awesome batting and great bowling, we are working hard and giving our best to ensure we maintain victory,” he said.

The team intended to adopt the same strategy in its next game against Kuwait.

“We’ll actually repeat what we did against Vanuatu, batting all the 50 overs and making sure we back up our bowling strategies with fielding.

“Although, it is going to be another tough game, we intend to come out victorious,” Adegbola said.

He urged Nigerians to support the team with prayers; the two top teams at the end of the ongoing WCL Division 6 will be promoted to Division 5.

Media officer NCF, Kayode Adeniyi

CHAN: Eagles will beat Elephants- Alaya

By Albert Akota

T

he Super Eagles Media Officer Ben Alaya has expressed confidence in the ability of the team to defeat Cote d’Ivoire in the second leg of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers.

The Eagles defeated the Ivorians 4-1 in the first leg of the qualifiers in Kaduna on July 6, and would play the return leg on July 27 in Abidjan.

Alaya said that the fact that the Nigeria team would be meeting the Ivoirians in their home, did not give the Elephants the advantage over the Super Eagles.

“The Eagles have consistently been training since they defeated the Elephants earlier in July, and considering the margin with which they defeated them, I believe they can do it again anytime.

“Let us put aside the advantages the Ivoirians may have because of home advantage, Keshi’s boys are up to the task to put up a good performance again,” he said.

Alaya said that he was aware of the fact that the Elephants would definitely have a larger fan base compared to the Eagles because the match would hold in Abidjan.

He assured that the Eagles

H

have adequately prepared to handle any psychological distractions that may occur

during the match.

According to him, the expected large presence of

hostile crowd against the Eagles and their activities will not affect the performance of the Nigerians.

Ameobi may miss Mandela match T he Super Eagles striker, Shola Ameobi is a big doubt for the Super Eagles’ international friendly against South Africa in Durban on

ABS victory gives fans hope ard working ABS midfielder Lordson Ichull is happy that his goal was able to give his team victory and end their threematch no-win streak in the Glo Premier League.

The former Kwara Academy player, who scored the only goal in the ABS week 22 home games against Gombe United, believes the win will be a catalyst to push the Ilorin-based side as the second stanza of the league gets into full gear.

Ichull also was happy that the team won and hopes this will help to propel them to earn more points to push ABS towards the summit on the log.

“I’m happy I scored the goal even though it was a penalty, but the most important thing is we got the three points, we needed the points badly and I’m happy we did.

“The management has tried their best to make us comfortable and I think it’s time we repay their faith in us.” he added.

ABS won a hard fought Glo

Sunday Mba in action

Premier League week 22 game against Gombe United through a 33rd minute spot kick converted by Lordson Ichull for his fifth goal of the season.

The Ilorin-based side now occupies the 12th position on the log with 29 points after 22 games.

Lordson Ichull

August 14th.

The striker who has just one senior international cap under his belt was called up last week by the Nigeria coach, Stephen Keshi for the friendly in honour of former South African president, Nelson Mandela.

Ameobi suffered a nastylooking injury while playing for Newcastle United on Saturday against Portuguese club, Rio Ave and had to be taken to the hospital for an X-ray.

The 31-year-old who scored his side’s only goal after 76 minutes in the loss is now racing against the clock to be fit in time for the clash against the Bafana Bafana.

The Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew spoke about the striker’s situation after the game and predictably cut an unhappy figure at the sad turn of events.

He added that the injury is a big blow to the club especially with very few options available to him in the final third.

“It’s fairly obvious that we are lacking a cutting edge. Papiss (Cisse) is obviously not here and we need to strengthen that area.

“We are really relying on Yoan Gouffran at the moment and he is

working hard in what is probably not his best position, in that he is up there on his own,” he said.

It is not yet clear how long the

Ameobi

big striker will be sidelined but it now looks increasingly unlikely that he will play any part in next month’s friendly in South Africa.

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 43

Sports

Valenccia set date for Soldado bids

V

Higuain

Ancelotti denies Higuain exit

C

arlo Ancelotti denied that Real Madrid have accepted an offer for Gonzalo Higuain, and claimed that he wants the striker to remain at the club.

The Argentine forward came on as a substitute to score in the Spanish club’s 6-0 pre-season friendly win away to Bournemouth, despite reports emanating from Italy that Real had accepted a bid in the region of €40m.

“I spoke to Higuain this week.

As I said, he’s a Real Madrid player and until there are news, I have to consider him a Real Madrid player and I would like he would stay with us.

“I think that now I speak of Higuain as a Real Madrid player, fantastic player, and fantastic striker.

The quotes do back up a suggestion from Spain that, although Real Madrid will likely sell Higuain to either Arsenal or Napoli eventually, Ancelotti is reluctant to allow the player to leave until his team bring in a forward of their own.

alencia have set a deadline of August 3rd for clubs to submit bids for their striker Roberto Soldado, with Tottenham among those strongly linked with a move for the Spain striker.

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has also been rumoured to be weighing up a bid for the Spain international as the future of his striker Luis Suarez continues to be shrouded in uncertainty, while Napoli boss Rafael Benitez is also reported to be interested in the 28-year-old.

Valencia president Amadeo Salvo has suggested he is ready to cut a deal with clubs chasing Soldado’s signature, but he wants the future of the hit-man, who is reported to have an £18m release clause in his contract, resolved in the next two weeks.

Soldado fired an impressive 24 La Liga goals last season, as well as a Champions League hat-trick, and has been a consistent performer for Valencia since moving to the Mestalla from Getafe in 2009.

Diouf unlikely to leave Hannover

H

Roberto Soldado

Eagle’s Eneramo moves to Besiktas

N

igeria striker Michael Eneramo is in seventh heaven according to him after completing a switch to Besiktas.

The former Esperance de Tunis skipper had earlier failed a routine medical test putting the mega deal on hold.

Eneramo has now since signed the deal supersport.com can confirm and is already en route to join the rest of the squad in training camp in Austria.

“I have passed all the medicals as I knew I would and have signed the contract paper with Besiktas.

I am happy and am ready to prove my worth ,“he said.

Though the monetary details have yet to be revealed the right footed striker born in Kaduna with 65 goals under his belt is valued at slightly under 4 million pounds.

Michael Eneramo

annover 96 has no plans to sell Mame Diouf for under €10 million after a proposed move back to the Premier League apparently fell through.

Diouf, who has moved into the last year of his contract with Hannover, had been linked with a switch to Stoke, German media reports.

At the weekend, several German newspapers claimed that Stoke had offered €7 million plus bonuses for the 25-year-old. But Hannover are holding out for €10 million for a player who has scored 18 goals in 38 Bundesliga games since being signed in January 2012.

Diouf’s agent, Jim Solbakken, arrived at Hannover’s summer training camp in Austria late on Friday and general manager Dirk Dufner raged: “He did not bring any Stoke offer with him. I don’t know what he wants here.”

Hannover had not accepted an official Stoke offer. But Dufner admitted that plans to extend Diouf’s contract had been put on hold.

Mame Diouf

Spurs boss chases more Man Utd table £30m bid for Fabregas M signings S purs manager Andre Villas-Boas said yesterday that he wants to add more new signings to his squad, after swooping for Belgium frontman Nacer Chadli.

A Tottenham squad that included star man Gareth Bale landed in Hong Kong ahead of their clash with Sunderland in the Barclays Asia Trophy on Wednesday.

There has been speculation linking Welsh wing wizard Bale with a bigmoney move away from White Hart Lane, but VillasBoas said he was looking at bolstering his side.

The Portuguese has so far brought in the Brazilian forward Paulinho and the international Chadli is poised to join from the Dutch side FC Twente, subject to personal terms and a medical.

Tottenham start their Premier League campaign away at Crystal Palace on August 18.

anchester United has made a second bid for Barcelona and Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

United confirmed a £25m offer last Monday and have increased that to £30m plus add-ons, with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward leaving the club’s pre-season tour to negotiate a deal.

The Scot added: “When you’re interested in good players you want to give it every opportunity to materialise and I’ll do that. I hope things can continue and move forward.

“At this moment in time I can only tell you that Ed is working hard trying to make the deals happen. We can only hope that some

Andre Villas-Boas

of them fall into place shortly.”

Fabregas came through Barcelona’s La Masia academy before Arsenal signed him as a 16-year-old in 2003.

H e developed as one of the London club’s key players under manager A r s e n e Wenger before becoming

Fabregas

Arsenal captain in November 2008.

The 26-year-old spent eight years with the Gunners, playing 303 games and scoring 57 goals.

However, he returned to the Nou Camp when he signed a five-year deal with Barcelona in a £25.4m move in August 2011.

Fabregas has played 96 times in two seasons with Barcelona, including 60 league games, but has rarely featured in his preferred midfield role, with Xavi, 33, and Andres Iniesta, 29, ahead of him.

Fabregas has made 83 appearances for Spain, winning the 2010 World Cup and the European Championship twice.

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Sports

English boxers will compete at World Championships, says ABAE

T

he Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) is confident its boxers will not miss October’s World Championships.

The International Boxing Association (AIBA) has provisionally suspended the national governing body.

AIBA believes rules have been broken with regards to external interference in ABAE’s new constitution and blocking World Series of Boxing (WSB) fighters from featuring in national events.

News of the provisional suspension had spread concern that English boxers could be prohibited from competing at October’s World Amateur Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan.

Under the provisional suspension, all ABAE boxers, coaches and officials are not allowed to feature in any AIBA competition at any level.

“We will be contacting AIBA immediately in relation to the concerns it has raised, and we are confident that the ABAE will be able to provide the international governing body with the necessary reassurances to ensure this provisional suspension is lifted.

AIBA has imposed the provisional suspension after judging the ABAE to be in breach of the world governing body’s rules.

AIBA has interpreted Sport England’s support for a new ABAE constitution as a violation of a statute which says national federations should prevent external influences in their election and appointment processes.

Former sports minister and current ABAE chairman Richard Caborn reportedly mentioned approval from Sport England, which funds grassroots amateur

Payne bounces back at World Championships

T

Edwards boxing, in a letter to AIBA to inform them of their new articles of association and plans to make boardroom changes.

AIBA also believe their technical competition rules were breached by the ABAE, which stopped WSB boxers participating in this year’s national championships.

ABAE had set up a medical

commission to look into the safety of WSB boxers competing in national championships but AIBA rules state that they must be allowed to compete.

Flyweight Charlie Edwards was one boxer who was stopped from competing in the ABAs this year because he was registered as a WSB boxer with the British Lionhearts.

Tour de France: Froome wins 100th edition of race

B

ritain’s Chris Froome has won the 100th edition of the Tour de France.

Taking the title by more than

four minutes, he linked arms with his team-mates as he crossed the line in Paris.

It is Britain’s second successive

victory in the race - Froome’s Team Sky colleague Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win it a year ago.

Froome with officials

Cavendish was attempting a 26th Tour stage win - and a fifth on the trot in Paris - which would have put him third on the all-time list behind five-time Tour winners Eddy Merckx (34) and Bernard Hinault (28).

But the Omega Pharma-Quick Step rider was third, as Germany’s Kittel won a fourth stage in this year’s race and Andre Greipel finished second, with more than 350,000 spectators lining the streets in the French capital.

Froome had finished runnerup last year, and became the favourite for this year’s race after Wiggins elected not to defend his title because of injury problems.

The 28-year-old brought the yellow jersey home in emphatic style, ahead of Colombia’s Nairo Quintana and Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain.

But in the first Tour since disgraced rider Lance Armstrong admitted to doping in his seven Tour de France wins, which have since been expunged from the records, Froome found himself having to answer questions about drugs in the sport.

wo-time British world open water champion KeriAnne Payne insists she is ready to prove her doubters wrong after her Olympic disappointment.

Payne, 25, considered retirement after finishing fourth at London 2012.

But she returned to training in February and insists she is ready to push for a medal at the Fina World Championships in Barcelona today.

The swimmer admitted to being “disappointed but not devastated” after missing out on a medal by 0.4 seconds in the 10km open water event in London.

She had endured a difficult build-up to the Olympics, having struggled with a back injury and a kidney infection.

The South-Africa-born athlete moved from Stockport to Edinburgh in late 2012 to be with her new husband, former British swimmer David Carry, who found work in the Scottish capital after retiring last summer.

After joining Warrender Swimming Club in Edinburgh, Payne initially suggested that her days as an open water athlete were over.

Last month she won the Barcelona World Championship open water test event and, although there was a weakened field, Payne hopes the experience will boost her prospects.

Payne has yet to confirm her long-term swimming future and whether she will continue competing through to the 2016 Olympics in Rio or follow Rebecca Adlington’s lead and retire.

Keri-Anne Payne

Rutherford ruled out of Anniversary Games

O

lympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford has pulled out of this weekend’s Anniversary Games in London because of injury.

The 26-year-old has not competed since pulling his right hamstring at the Diamond League meet in Paris on 6 July.

But he said he still hoped to be fit for next month’s World Championships in Moscow, and has been given more time - until 30 July - to recover.

The Englishman was not named in the GB team announced this week for the Worlds, which start on 10 August.

British Athletics performance director Neil Black, who has said the Olympic champion does not have to compete prior to Moscow in order to prove his fitness, will pick between Rutherford and Chris Tomlinson.

The Anniversary Games is a threeday meeting being held at London’s Olympic Stadium between 26-28 July.

It marks a year since the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.

Rutherford had been hoping to compete alongside British team-mates Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis-Hill, who is also struggling with an ankle injury, on the second day.

The trio all claimed gold medals within an hour of each other on 4 August, which became known as ‘Super Saturday’, in one of the most memorable moments of the Games.

Greg Rutherford

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

PAGE 45

Sports

P-i-c-t-o-r-i-a-l

1. Angola’s Recreativo Libolo recorded a shock win over Esperance at home over the weekend, while Congolese club AC Leopards earned a point in South Africa as the last-eight stage in the CAF Champions League got underway.

2. Brendan Rodgers believes Luis Suarez will remain at Liverpool ahead of his first game since the Branislav Ivanovic bite shame..

3. Captain Alastair Cook played down talk of a first Ashes whitewash after England thumped Australia by 347 runs.

1

4. ABAE is confident its boxers will not miss October’s World Championships, despite being provisionally suspended from international events.

2 3

4

5. World number one Serena Williams recovered from her shock early exit at Wimbledon by beating home hope Johanna Larsson to win the Swedish Open.

5

PAGE 46

PEOPLES DAILY| TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2013

Sports

I accept criticism as long as it’s justified, says Nasri H e may still be only 25, but Samir Nasri has just been through the most difficult season he is likely to experience in his career.

Heavily criticized during UEFA EURO 2012 following an altercation with a journalist, the Manchester City midfielder then struggled to perform at his best for large parts of his team’s domestic campaign, resulting in harsh words from the club’s then manager Roberto Mancini.

He was called back into the France set-up after a year away and a strong end to 2012/13 with City, the former Arsenal man then endured further disappointment when he had to pull out of Didier Deschamps’s squad with injury.

Speaking to FIFA Nasri reflected on his troubled year, how he has learnt from his mistakes, and City’s season in general.

He also signaled his firm desire to win back his place as a France starter and spoke of his dream to contest the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.

You recently finished the most testing season of your career.

How do you feel today?

I feel good at the moment. I’m feeling more relaxed, but the last few months were very trying for me.

Emotionally, I went through several moments of doubt and reassessment. Some of the criticism I got hurt me, and lots of bad things were said.

I accept criticism as long as it’s justified, but there were lots of lies about me. I made mistakes, I know, but I’m not the ugly duckling that

Samir Nasri

France and Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri some people seem to think.

Are you referring to the incident involving a journalist at UEFA EURO 2012?

Yes, but not just that. As far as that incident goes, I made a mis-

I’ve learnt from my mistakes and I feel more mature now. These last few months have made me grow as a man. take by reacting to the provocation of a journalist. I shouldn’t have said what I said.

That episode made me think a lot and the fact that I found myself under fire from critics weighed heavily on me. I possibly took too long before making my apologies, but that’s done now.

It’s one thing less to worry about, and that’s done me a lot of good.

I’ve learnt from my mistakes and I feel more mature now. These last few months have made me grow as a man.

Do you think you have gained maturity in dealing with these challenges?

Yes, for sure. I’ve learnt from my mistakes and I feel more mature now. I’m still young and I know I have a lot to learn.

These last few months have made me grow as a man.

Your club also had a tough year, not winning any trophies and exiting the UEFA Champions League at the group stage.

What do you make of Manchester City’s season?

It was certainly a very disappointing season and losing our title of English champions was a failure that was difficult for the whole squad to swallow.

We didn’t manage to win a single trophy, and that’s disappointing for a club with the standing of Manchester City.

We had a very testing year but we’ll learn from our mistakes to have an excellent season next year.

You were due to return to the France team after a year out only to be denied by an injury.

What does it mean to you to be on the verge of the national side again?

I’m very happy about it. One of my priorities is to get back in the France team as quickly as possible.

Wearing that blue shirt is very important to me and I’ll do everything to win back my place in the squad.

I know I can help the team, but I’m also perfectly aware that I must prove to the coach that I’m up to the task. I’ve been given another chance and it’s up to me to give my all.

What do you think of France’s chances of qualifying for the next FIFA World Cup? Honestly, I’m confident, even if the road to the end of the qualifiers is still long. The team has put in good performances up until now, like getting a draw in Spain, and I think this squad of players is one of the most talented in Europe.

Between the experienced senior players and the youngsters coming through like Raphael Varane and Paul Pogba, we’ve got what it takes to have a very competitive team.

We’re just one point behind Spain and we can still take first place in the group, which would allow us to avoid the play-offs.

If France manages to qualify, what would it mean to you to be in the squad and play in a FIFA World Cup in Brazil?

I dream about it! It’s one of the biggest football countries on earth and the sport is like a religion for Brazilians.

I don’t think there’s a single footballer who wouldn’t want to play such an important competition in a country like Brazil.

It’s a legendary place you think about their spectacular play, Pele, Ronaldo, the yellow shirt and the festive atmosphere in the stands. Every footballer or fan of this sport has magical memories linked to A Seleção.

PAGE 47

PEOPLES DAILY, TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

Some Interesting Facts

W

henever you hate something, it hates you back: people, situations and inanimate objects alike.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works alone can teach you everything you need to know about living with grace and happiness.

• People embellish everything, as a rule.

• Anger reveals weakness of character, violence even moreso.

• Humans cannot destroy the planet, but we can destroy its capacity to keep us alive. And we are.

• When people are uncomfortable with the present moment, they fidget with their hands or their minds.

Watch and see.

• Those who complain the most, accomplish the least.

• Putting something off makes it instantly harder and scarier.

• Credit card debt devours souls.

• Nobody knows more than a minuscule fraction of what’s going on in the world. It’s just way too big for any one person to know it well.

• Most of what we see is only what we think about what we see.

• A person who is unafraid to present a candid version of herself to the world is as rare as diamonds.

• The most common addiction in the world is the draw of comfort.

It wrecks dreams and breaks people.

• If what you’re doing feels perfectly safe, there is probably a better course of action.

• The greatest innovation in the history of humankind is language.

• Blame is the favorite pastime of those who dislike responsibility.

• Everyone you meet is better than you at something.

Leisure

• Proof is nothing but a collection of opinions that match your own.

• Knowledge is belief, nothing more.

• Indulging your desires is not self-love.

• What makes human beings different from animals is that animals can be themselves with ease.

• Self-examination is the only path out of misery.

• Whoever you are, you will die. To know and understand that means you are alive.

• Revenge is for the petty and irresponsible.

• Getting truly organized can vastly

improve anyone’s life.

• Almost every cliché contains a truth so profound that people have been compelled to repeat it until it makes you roll your eyes. But the wisdom is still in there.

• People cause suffering when they are suffering themselves. Alleviating their suffering will help them not hurt others.

• High quality is worth any quantity, in possessions, friends a nd d experiences.

• The worl rld d wo woul uld d bee a better pla ace if everryo yone ne read d Nat atio io ona nall Ge Geog ogra raph phic ph ic.

• If y ou a r e n’ n t ha a pp py single, you won’t be happ ha ppy y in a r el elat atio io o ns nsh hip. hip

Say what?

SUDODKU

PHOTO OF THE DAY

This cheeky baby monkey looks like the king of the swingers — as he dangles from a washing line at the Rio Azul National Park in Guatemala, Central America.

Source: TheSun.co.uk

www.peoplesdailyng.com

. . . putting the people first

TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2013

SPORTS LATEST

FIFA lifts Cameroon suspension

F

IFA has lifted the suspension of the Cameroonian Football Association.

The governing body of international football had suspended Fécafoot through his Emergency Committee on the 4th of July, on account of government interference, until a normalisation committee could be nominated and allowed by the Cameroonian authorities to carry out Fécafoot’s duties.

This means Cameroon will be free to play in an all-important 2014 World Cup qualifier in Yaounde in September.

“As requested by the FIFA Emergency Committee, the normalization committee that was appointed on 20 July 2013 was able to take up its duties yesterday, at the FECAFOOT headquarters, with FIFA and CAF observers present,” stated FIFA on their official website.

“The lifting of the suspension means that FECAFOOT’s clubs, officials and other representatives can immediately resume their activities, which had been interrupted.

The same applies for the resumption of the courses and various programmes provided

by FIFA, CAF and other member associations,” added the Switzerland-based organization.

It means that Cameroon are now allowed to host Gabon in their 2014 CHAN qualifier, and that Coton Sport can kick-off their 2013 CAF Champions League campaign against Ivoirian’s outfit Séwé Sport in Garoua.

Eto

ADVERT: BUSINESS: NEWS: LAGOS:

0803 0805 0814 0805 0803

QUOTABLE QUOTE Obasanjo is my father, and I am his son. If I enter Abeokuta and fail to check up on Baba at his residence you people (journalists) will think there’s a fight between us.

— President Jonathan on his visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo July 20, 2013

Rivers and lesson of the Egypt coup H

owever one sees it, the escalating, man-made crisis in Rivers state portends real and grave danger to the Nigerian democracy as dysfunctional as it could well be. It is doubtful if the agent provocateurs and the instigators of the crisis, who up their tactics by the day appreciate this as they get increasingly ruled by their selfish desires. One striking feature in the encircling political doom that awaits the country is that none of the progenitors of the crisis in Rivers featured while patriots were engaged in a deadly struggle to dislodge the military from the country’s political scene some light years ago. At best, they were ringside cheer leaders of the military despotism as its tyrannical glory lasted. They were proponents of the convenient any-governmentin-power philosophy as patriots laid down their lives, staked their businesses, suffered bodily harm, risked solitary exile to oppose the deadly military machine.

But come to think of it, a situation where accidental fringe players, chance-takers, dancers of fortune were the ones that harvested the fruits of our sweat and struggle, would it not be naïve expecting better results from democracy than the awful and barren harvest we have been reaping for the past fourteen years?

In a situation where those that were thrown unto our leadership positions were people who believe in reaping without sowing, can we have a better fate for democracy than the serial rape and abuse it is being treated with presently?

Do we expect a better report from this pseudo-democracy than the annoying maniacal dance of infamy that finds great expression in the deliberate provocation of crisis in Rivers state where all things treasured and iconic are being trampled and treated to awful desecration by the ghouls and marionettes of a phantom emperor and his befuddled wife?

Recently, when I wrote an article, “A Battle Chibuike Amaechi Must Fight”, I was merely commenting on a crisis that was at its elementary stages. As at the time I wrote, it was the usual combat between Amaechi and his traducers who were enjoying an unmistakable backing from the Presidency and the PDP. As at the time I wrote, the grand plot to cripple Amaechi was still unraveling. As at then, the PDP had stripped the control of their party in Rivers from Amaechi and handed same to choice lackey of President Jonathan, Nyesom Wike, who was serving in Jonathan’s cabinet as Minister of State for

311 689 292 327 454

7458 1765 9046 1969 0344

GUEST COLUMNIST Peter Claver Oparah peterclaver2000@yahoo.com

Gov. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi Education. Curiously, the same Wike was a creation of Amaechi who appointed him his Chief of Staff and screened him off a corruption trial and further nominated him for ministerial position after delivering a flattering result for Jonathan in the 2011 presidential election.

As at the time I wrote, issues in the Rivers crisis revolved around Amaechi’s insistence that ceding choice oil wells belonging to the state to Jonathan’s Bayelsa was unacceptable to him, the indecorous manner Jonathan’s unrestrained wife, Patience had rebuked the Rivers governor for demolishing shanties in her native Okirika homeland and, of course, the position of Jonathan’s palace jesters who live off the state with a job brief of finding who greets and

“

does not greet the president, to the effect that Amaechi is disrespecting the president and, the allegation that Amaechi was gunningfor Vice Presidency to a possible northern presidential candidate in 2015.

Ever since, the darts have been coming in torrents against Amaechi.

His plane was grounded in Akure while on a visit to Ekiti, the NGF melodrama where he withstood the frenzied blackmail, lobby carrots and stick to best the president lackey, Jonah Jang of Plateau by 19 votes to 16 to re-emerge as the NGF chairman, the attendant desperate but futile fight back from the presidency and its miniongovernors to discredit the election and erect a phantom NGF platform, the meddlesomeness of the federal government in the suspension of the Chairman of Obio/Akpor local government, the balkanization of the Rivers State Assembly which leaves five legislators dancing the tom beat from Abuja while 27 legislators stand firmly behind Amaechi, the invasion of Rivers’ space by cultists and ex militants who are being groomed as attack dogs for the political interest of the PDP, the picketing of the governor for periodic attacks by the thugs PDP had lined for that purpose and ultimately, the tragic comedy of the foiled attempt by five legislators beholden to the Abuja forces to take over the state assembly and the visitation of total mayhem on the assembly by the invading

It is our collective duty to arrest the suicidal predilection of the anti-Amaechi forces before they take all of us down. It is our collective duty to rein in this bull in a china shop that is unleashed on Rivers at present. With what happened in Egypt few weeks ago, is it too much to expect an enacting of the Nigerian version of such abortion of the democratic process given the way and manner these retrogressive forces are taking their fight against Amaechi for offences they have not really articulated in presentable format?

law breakers and their cahoots of paid thugs and the latest is the invasion of Port Harcourt airport by these standby thugs, to attack the governor and four visiting Northern governors. In all these, the police have shown an uncolored collaboration with the forces who have sworn to ensure that Amaechi is pulled down from the perceived high horse from which he had rubbished many plots trained against him.

It is very easy to see why PDP and the presidency are getting blinded by frustration. They are frustrated that their reading of Amaechi has failed them so badly and as heaven knows no greater fury, it is expected that with the days, and as Amaechi proves so hard to crack, the forces against him may go bunkers and in this state, nothing would be spared to achieve the desired end of seeing Amaechi’s back from the government house.

Come to think of it, all those that are ranged against Amaechi, be it the president and his uncontrollable wife, the PDP and the full battalion of minions, cronies, hirelings and subalterns invested heavily in the belief that Amaechi will not last any appreciable distance; that he will buckle before the first shot is fired.

With the failure of each plot against him, they have had to eat their word and launch fresher strategies.

Predictably, these strategies have exposed them to further ridicule and endangered the democratic process they have been leveraging on to great risks. Each fresh move they make against Amaechi, in the absence of a coherent containment tactics, has reeked of illegality, crudity and power over-reach such that while Amaechi’s profile continues to soar, the image of a besotted presidency riding roughshod over the law in order to find a solution to what they see as Amaechi’s migraine, is looming so nauseously large in the Nigerian polity. The forces against Amaechi have been caught in an unintended maze and in this state, they are loose cannons, oozing hot lead from all cylinders and would not mind if they got consumed in their own line of fire. With the days, the anti-Amaechi forces will unleash more bizarre tactics, if only to satiate their feeling of hurt.

We should therefore expect more audacious darts in the days of ahead even as these would worsen the constitutional crisis the Rivers case is provoking in the Nigerian polity at present.

But, it is our collective duty to arrest the suicidal predilection of the anti-Amaechi forces before they take all of us down. It is our collective duty to rein in this bull in a china shop that is unleashed on Rivers at present. With what happened in Egypt few weeks ago, is it too much to expect an enacting of the Nigerian version of such abortion of the democratic process given the way and manner these retrogressive forces are taking their fight against Amaechi for offences they have not really articulated in presentable format?

Published by Peoples Media Limited, 35, Ajose Adeogun Street, 1st Floor Peace Park Plaza, Utako, Abuja. Kano office: Plot 3, Zaria Road, Opposite Kano State House of Assembly. Lagos Office: No.8 Oliyide Street, off Unity Road, Ikeja, Lagos. Tel: +234 814 292 9046. Cell: +234 802 443 2099; 803 7007 759. e-mail: contact@peoplesdailyng.com; pmlnewsdesk@gmail.com ISSN: 2141– 6141