Peoples Daily Newspaper, Monday March 26, 2012

We bombed Shell facility in Bayelsa, say ex-militants

Vol. 8 No. 2

Monday, March 26, 2012

PAGE 4

Jimadal Ula 4, 1433 AH

N150

2015: PDP has started rigging, says CNPP Jonathan is a dictator – ACN

By Lawrence Olaoye & Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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he Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday described the process adopted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the conduct of its national convention as an indication of the nature of rigging the nation will witness in the 2015 general elections.

The CNPP in a statement Contd on Page 2

Ghana, Uganda spurn OkonjoIweala’s World Bank bid

By Aminu Imam with agency report

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here are indications that Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's candidacy for the position of President of the World Bank will not enjoy the unanimous support of African governments as Ghana and Uganda have indicated their opposition to her headship of the Contd on Page 2

Irate stunt drivers stoning security agents, during a clash between them yesterday along Tafawa Balewa Way, yesterday in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

INSIDE

NEITI begins audit of CBN, FIRS, NNPC >>PAGE 3

Patriots insists on SNC, sends bill to NASS >>PAGE 3

Abuja stunts: Spectators attack police, FRSC officials >>PAGE

Soldiers nab gun fabricator in Jos 4

WWW.PEOPLESDAILY-ONLINE.COM

>>PAGE 4

Fire razes General Hospital in Gombe >>PAGE 5

PAGE 2

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

CONTENTS News

2-11

Editorial

12

Op.Ed

13

Letters

14

Opinion

15

Metro

16-17

Business

19-22

S/Exchange

23

S/Report

24

Newsxtra

26

Education

27

Health

29

Ogbeh in Shettima’s agric team to Egypt,Thailand, Page 3

International 31-34 Strange World 35 Digest

36

Politics

37-40

Sports

41-47

Columnist

48

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

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

Phones for News: 070-37756364 09-8734478

2015: PDP has started rigging, says CNPP Contd from Page 1 signed by its Publicity Secretary, Osita Okechukwu, said the PDP congress was a deviation from all known democratic norms.

This is coming as the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) described President Goodluck Jonathan as an emerging dictator who, in the process of remaking the ruling party in his own image, has succeeded at pushing the party further into abyss.

The CNPP said: “The world mirrors Nigeria from the actions and inactions of the PDP, the party has defined the bad image of the country for the worst; having been in control of the Federal Government of Nigeria in the past 13 years and in government in 23 out of 36 states of our dear country without commensurate results.”

It said that under the leadership of President Jonathan, it had expected fresh air and end to the era of “do or die garrison politics”, only to witness the retention of rigging at the convention in the form of a guided election.

“For the avoidance of doubt, can any reasonable person expect the PDP which rigged and bastardized internal democracy, grossly manipulated its intra-party elections from ward congress, intimidated, coerced and arm twisted aspirants, stop vote rigging, all manner of manipulation and intimidation of the opposition during the general elections?” the statement asked.

CNPP alluded to three different incidences it said pointed to the fact that those who stepped down for the new PDP Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and other national officers were pressurized to do so.

According to the Conference, Adamawa state governor, Murtala Nyako’s comments to the effect that he was in Aso Villa to take directives from President Jonathan pointed to the fact that the people were never allowed free choice.

It equally cited the statement from Dr. Shettima Mustapha on behalf of other chairmanship aspirants when he said, “Having discussed the issues and having

been invited by the leadership of the party, we were requested to cooperate. On behalf of the aspirants, we concede, I am mandated to concede this office to the candidate chosen for the position.”

The last of the statements suggesting that all was not well at the congress, the Conference stated, was the angry statement

by Ebenezer Babatope, former spokesman of the former Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and PDP secretaryship aspirant, saying, “I am withdrawing not for any person, but for the party, the PDP and honour for Mr. President.”

The CNPP however cautioned against inordinate ambition for president in 2015, and that the “bickering and bitterness there must be as long as the people are covertly or overtly denied their inalienable right to choose their leaders.

“It is our considered view that unlike Governor Nyako, Nigerians are not going to ask President Jonathan who to vote for in 2015 nor concede; more so when he had said he is not running and indeed the Supreme Court latest judgement on tenure had foreclosed him from running, by stating that no person shall be governor or president for more than eight years,” it warned.

Meanwhile, the national leadership of the ACN has joined in the criticism of the convention, saying “the kangaroo national convention held by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Saturday has sealed the fate of the party as an undisputed one-manshow that is totally contemptuous of internal democracy”.

ACN in a statement issued yesterday in Lagos by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also described President Jonathan as “an emerging dictator.”

It said President Jonathan must by now be regretting the day he took a swipe at other political parties for lacking in internal democracy, when his party could not spell the word ‘democracy’, not to talk of possessing it.

“Only a few weeks ago,

President Jonathan said the PDP is the only truly democratic party in the country, while all others are mere one-man shows. In making the statement, the aphorism that “he who lives in a glass house does not throw stones” was lost on the President.

“Today, the joke is on the same President, who cajoled and armtwisted others to step down for his anointed candidate as Chair of the PDP during a mock convention. It is now obvious that President Jonathan either does not understand what internal democracy means, or he is being deliberately cheeky in castigating other political parties for lacking in internal democracy,’’ it said.

The party said with the PDP convention debacle, coming shortly after he single-handedly installed the governor of his state against all democratic tenets President Jonathan has finally jettisoned all pretence to democracy, and has transformed from a closet dictator to an emperor and a maximum ruler of the “PDP kingdom.

“Interestingly, the President, in a speech read on his behalf by Vice-President Namadi Sambo at the so-called convention, described the PDP as the “strongest party in the history of the country”. What

he does not realize is that resorting to brute force and arm-twisting to achieve a pre-determined goal do not constitute strength in politics.

Rather, they are the early signs of megalomania and the onset of fullblown dictatorship,’’ the party said.

“If there is any truth in the saying that no one can give what he does not have, then the PDP as a ruling party is incapable of sustaining or deepening democracy in the country, hence should be voted out of power by the good people of Nigeria at the next general election,’’ it urged.

In a swift reaction, the newly elected National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, said President Jonathan did not fit in the mode of those politicians who were with inordinate ambition.

He said: “Mr. President has never been an ambitious person; he has never shown any interest in 2015 as being speculated.

Whatever the President has ever been has been ordained of God; he is not a schemer and he is not scheming for the Presidency in 2015.

“Yes, he supported Alhaji Bamanga Tukur to become our Chairman because of his track records; his experience and integrity,” Metuh said.

Nigeria, General Electric sign $10bn MoU on new power plants

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igeria has signed a $10 bil lion agreement with Gen eral Electric (GE) to build 10,000 megawatts power plants in the country.

The Minister of Power, Prof.

Barth Nnaji, who signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GE in London on Sunday, said it provided for the construction of "series of power plants'' in the country.

He explained that under the MoU the GE would now be an equity participant.

“In the past, GE only supply the equipment but now, they will be investing 10 to 15 percent in equity for every single project, the government will match them in such investment while the private sector will bring

the balance.''

Nnaji told newsmen that the government would tap a small percentage of the National Pension Fund to finance some of the power projects.

"What the pension money is meant for is investment, but you invest in more secure instrument and this project is one of them,’’ the Europe Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Nnaji as saying.

“Pension Fund is a secure fund so you cannot play around with people’s retirement money, so it is very important that everyone understand that the plan is not to just take the money and invest in project that are risky,” he added.

Ghana, Uganda spurn Okonjo-Iweala’s World Bank bid Contd from Page 1 bank.

In a statement issued last week, Ghana's Finance and Economic Planning minister, Kwabena Duffuor, disclosed that his country was backing Jeffrey Sachs for the World Bank top post.

Though Mr. Sachs has withdrawn from the race, indications are that Ghana would vote for President Barack Obama's choice for the presidency of the World Bank. Last week, Mr. Obama announced his nomination of South Korean-born Jim Yong Kim, the President of Darthmouth College as the US candidate for the World Bank post.

In a related development, the

Uganda’s President, Yoweri Museveni had also announced his country’s preference for Mr. Sachs.

But with Sachs’ withdrawal sources say Uganda may back Obama’s choice.

Nigeria, Angola and South Africa, the main sponsors of Mrs. Iweala's candidacy, have only a single vote on the board of the World.

In accordance with contributions to the organisation, states have a form of proportional representation in voting. As of a rule change in 2010, voting share now stands at United States of America (15.85%), Japan (6.84 (%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), United Kingdom

(3.75%), France (3.75%), India (2.91%), Russia (2.77%), Saudi Arabia (2.77%) and Italy (2.64%). Other countries with increased voting power are: South Korea, Turkey, Mexico, Singapore, Greece, Brazil, India and Spain".

Meanwhile, there are strong indications that President Obama’s nominee, Kim, will win broad international support to lead the bank despite an unprecedented challenge by candidates from emerging economies, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner said in an interview.

Kim was said to have been recommended to Obama by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton

and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, officials said.

Washington’s hold on the World Bank presidency is being contested for the first time by candidates from emerging economies.

Emerging economies such as China, India, South Africa, Brazil and Russia have sought to use their growing economic clout to pry open the selection process for the heads of the World Bank and its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The World Bank has always been headed by an American and the IMF by a European since their inception after World War II.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

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Gunmen kill ex-cop, 2 others in Maiduguri From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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unmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram yesterday afternoon stormed the residence of an ex-police inspector, in Dala ward of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, killing him along with his two friends.

Our correspondent gathered that the retired cop, one Mr. Paul Joseph, was shot to death in front of his house about 2.15pm.

The incident occurred when

the assailants, numbering about five, trailed the man to his house and met him outside chatting with two persons later identified as his friends, and fired several shots at them.

Witnesses told newsmen that the invaders drove to the area in a tricycle and parked it few meters away, before walking to the house of late Mr. Joseph to carry out the attack. They were said to have fired sporadic shots in the air before fleeing the scene.

The three friends were said to have died on the spot, just as

sources at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) said their corpses which were riddled with gunshot wounds, were deposited at the hospital’s morgue.

Spokesman of the Joint Military Task Force, (JTF), LtCol. Sagir Musa, who confirmed the incident to newsmen said the same gunmen had earlier in the day attacked a military security checkpoint at Dala Kafanti ward without success as members of the task force repelled the attack, forcing the attackers to

flee.

Lt-Col Musa said, “they however, regrouped and moved to another area, where they gunned down a retired policeman alongside his two friends” saying that no arrest was made in connection with the attack, while security operatives have launched manhunt for the gunmen.

He also explained that personnel of the JTF had repelled another attack on Saturday night in Abbaganaram and Jajeri wards and killed three suspected Boko Haram gunmen.

NEITI begins audit of CBN, FIRS, NNPC, others

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he Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), said yesterday that it had begun `a comprehensive’ auditing of the solid minerals, oil and gas sectors.

Dr. Orji Orji, NEITI’s Director of Communications disclosed this in an interview in London.

He said the exercise which commenced in February would be concluded in October.

Orji listed the organisations being audited to include the NNPC, Department of Petroleum Resources, Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

“While the audit of the oil and gas industry covers the period 2009 to 2011, that of the solid minerals is to cover 2007 to 2010,” Orji said.

He said NEITI's comprehensive audit of the establishments was to sanitise the sector, enthrone good business ethics and restore investor confidence.

“All companies operating in the oil and gas and solid minerals sectors in the country are compulsorily required by NEITI law to open its books and provide relevant information and data, on demand for purposes of the audit,” he stressed.

Orji further explained that NEITI had already designed audit templates with detailed questions, information and data required for the exercise.

He said the templates were recently publicly presented to all companies doing business in the Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.

Orji described as encouraging, the cooperation of listed companies for the exercise, but warned that companies that failed to respond to audit query risk withdrawal of licence or prosecution.

He explained that the scope of the audit, largely include the determination of the revenue accruable to government from the companies and how much of it went into the Federation Account.

(NAN)

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade (right), casts his vote in a run-off presidential election, at the polling station in the suburb of Point E, yesterday in Dakar.

‘The Patriots’ plan to storm NASS over SNC From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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embers of the steering committee of the National Coalition of Progressive Forces (otherwise known as The Patriots) led by Prof.

Ben Nwabueze and Dr. Tunji Braithwaite have concluded plans to march on the National Assembly and the presidency , demanding the convening of a Sovereign National Conference.

Addressing journalists after a meeting held in Lagos yesterday, Prof. Nwabueze said the meeting had endorsed the demand for a national conference and that they had debated the action plan towards achieving the feat.

According to Nwabueze, "We see this country as a city on the brink and we are here to make sure the city does not fall off. We have today set up a mobilisation and harmonisation committee with Prof. Pat Utomi as the chairman, vowing that the movement would match to Abuja to present the bill to the National Assembly and the Presidency.

Similarly, Dr. Braithwaite said convocation of a national conference for a new constitution which must take place before the next general elections said the submeeting was to prepare the ground for other zonal steering committees in the country by the South West steering committee.

Braithwaite also observed that the movement for the convention of a constitutional conference does not need the approval of the legislature.

According to Prof. Utomi, "what we have is a disconnect between the people and the government and our marketplace of ideas will crystalise how to go about issues if we meet."

Meavis seek Jonathan’s intervention in row with FAAN From Suleiman Idris, Lagos

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eavis Nigeria Limited, one of the concessionaires whose contract with the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) terminated over the weekend has asked the Federal Government to intervene in the row between it and FAAN. The company told reporters in Lagos yesterday that it had employed all formal avenue to discuss the terms of its agreement with the airport authority but was surprised when security-men from

FAAN stormed its office inside the international wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in the early hours of Saturday to dismantle its Data Centres and Intermediate Distribution Facility (IDF).

The management of FAAN late Friday night forcefully terminated the contract of one of its concessionaires -Maevis Nigeria Limited- despite a subsisting court injunction asking both parties to maintain status-quo ante.

Briefing newsmen, Executive Director of Meavis, Tokunbo Fagbemi said FAAN should respect the decision

of the Federal High Court “We ask Mr. President, regulatory and security agencies to… help protect our investments and stop these acts of impunity”, she said.

Confirming FG’s decision to terminate the deal, Managing Director of FAAN, Mr George Uriesi at a press briefing said the authority has taken over the premises of Maevis at the third floor of Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Ikeja.

Uriesi said, an internationally recognised airport management service provider -SITA-has

immediately taken over the revenue collection for the Authority at $1.40 per passenger processed through airports hitherto handled to Maevis.

The new arrangement is without extra charge or the 35 percent management fee being charged by Maevis, Uriesi alleged.

He explained that FAAN formerly served Maevis, notice of termination of the agreement on February 24, 2011 and by May 23, 2011 the three months notice lapsed but FAAN however gave Maevis a long period to reconsider its position to no avail.

Ogbeh in Shettima's agric team to Egypt,Thailand

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hief Audu Ogbeh, one time presidential adviser on Agriculture and former Minister of Communications was amongst a high powered team that followed Governor Kashim Shettima to Egypt and Thailand during which agreements were reached on agro-allied technology and supply of equipment to revive irrigation, rice milling and fish

farming amongst others in Borno State.

Apart from Ogbeh, the team also comprised Managing Director of Chad Basin Development Authority,Dr Abubakar Iliya; one time minister of state for Petroleum, Engineer Ibrahim Ali who was Borno ACN's governorship candidate in 2011 and now a honourary adviser to

Shettima on Agriculture; the state's SSG, Ambassador Baba Ahmed Jidda; chief of staff; the state commissioner for Agriculture and 3 others while Nigeria's ambassadors in Egypt and Thailand, facilitated meetings.

The governor's special adviser on communications, Isa Gusau, said in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday that while in Cairo,

Shettima led the delegation on different meetings with the Egyptian minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Mr. Mohammad Reda Ismail; Dr Magdy Anwar, head of central administration of foreign agricultural relations before also meeting the Director General, Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture, seed and cotton production board.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

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We bombed Shell facility in Bayelsa, say ex-militants

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group of ex-militants in the Niger Delta has claimed they blew up a crude oil pipeline belonging to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, SNPECo, in Bayelsa state, but Shell said that the company was not aware of the incident.

The ex-militants said the bombing at the weekend destroyed the SNEPCo oil pipeline, which supplies crude to Egbomoturu Flow Station in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.

They said they blew up the pipeline because of Federal Government’s refusal to make space for them in the amnesty programme.

Mr. Tony Okonedo, a Shell spokesperson said there was no record of destruction of the company’s pipeline.

One “General Commander” Bosewe, claimed that he sent out the boys that carried out the bombing.

He said he had stationed his men in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers states to blow up oil facilities in the region in the next 10 days, adding that the only thing that would placate the wrath of the group was the inclusion of his group of exmilitants in the amnesty programme.

Kingsley Kuku, Jonathan’s aide had maintained that the amnesty window had closed as the government was not willing to take more youths in the programme.

Abuja car racing stunts: Spectators attack police, FRSC officials

By Josephine Ella

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andemonium broke yesterday evening along the Tafawa Balewa Way in Abuja, when over 100 spectators, who turned out to watch a road show by the die-hard Abuja stunt drivers pounced on officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and armed policemen deployed to the area to enforce the ban on car racing in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Trouble started when, the notorious car racers, believed to be children of highly placed government officials, defying the ban declared last week by the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, dared officials who made fruitless efforts to prevent them from embarking on the dangerous display.

The police and road safety officials had arrived at the place before 5.pm, with their patrol vehicles, an ambulance and a towing van, ready to combat the reckless drivers.

They had also successfully, barricaded the road with cones, leaving only one turn for motorists plying the road in a bid to deter the stunt drivers from carrying out the display, as they mounted strict surveillance.

Our correspondent, who monitored the incident, observed that at the initial stage, the car racers and spectators, mostly youths, appeared to be

disappointed, with the heavy presences of the law enforcement officers on ground when they arrived at the spot.

However, this did not deter the dare devils, who after a while, re-strategised, making a retreat, some meters away from the watchful eyes of the enforcement officer, where they gave spectators, an appetizer.

On noticing this, the enforcement officers completely blocked the right lane of the Tafawa Balawa way, near Cedi Plaza, thinking there would be no more room for the boys driving posh cars of different brands to operate.

But surprisingly, they

shifted base to another side of road-to the right of the blocked road, where onlookers, comprising of both men and ladies and even children trailed them to watch their performances.

At this point, the law enforcement officers, on hearing the screeching from the wheels, made after the young car racers, who appeared to be in their late teens and early twenties, to stop them.

This move infuriated the spectators, who began to chase their patrol vehicles, throwing stones and other objects at the officers as they shouted “go away, leave them alone”.

The FRSC officials and po-

licemen, who took-off for their dear lives, began to shoot sporadically into the air to disperse the spectators, as they drove away from the crowd to a far distance from where they stood helplessly, watching the car racers displaying until almost 7. pm when they all dispersed to their various destinations.

Meanwhile, attempt by our correspondent to speak with the officials failed as the team leader refused to grant her audience, saying, “We are not going to say anything, just observe what is going on and write your report from what you see for yourself”.

STF arrests gun fabricator in Jos From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

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he Special (military) Task Force (STF), yesterday, arrested one Mr. Dung Bulus, a gun fabricator in Shen village of Jos south local government area (LGA) in Plateau state.

Parading the suspect before newsmen in Jos, Captain Mdahyelya Markus, Media and Information Officer of the STF, said the suspect was arrested around 8:30 hours of 24th March, 2012 with three fabricated guns.

According to him, troops of 33 Artillery Brigade arrested two students of the University of Jos with a locally made pistol and three cartridges who snatched a Toyota corolla car with registration number Lagos: ES 948 FST. He said the suspects were arrested at a border village between Plateau and Bauchi states and gave their names as Babale Peace Bala and Benjamin Dume whom upon interrogation admitted that they snatched the car from Penni Vakkai in Rayfield at gun point.

Markus further disclosed that

STF troops arrested Tasiru Isah and Mohammed Asih attempting to escape with two Toyota buses with registration numbers Adamawa AA 506 FUR and Bauchi XB 389 KTG loaded with stolen NITEL cables.

He added that one Mr. Alex Danladi was arrested impersonating in army camouflage t-shirt and boots in Gyel village in Jos South local government area of Plateau state and one Musa Abdul who was arrested with Indian hemp along Bauchi Road. According to him, the suspects will soon be handed over to the police and National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for further investigations

Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Rufa'i (right), Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Dibu Ojerinde (behind the minister), and Special Assistant to the Minister of Education, Malam Sagir A. Abbas (behind Ojerinde), monitoring students during the JAMB examination, at Maitama Model Secondary School, on Saturday in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Northern governors congratulate PDP’s new NWC

By Lawrence Olaoye

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he Northern States Gover nors Forum (NSGF), has hailed the peaceful conduct of the election of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

National Working Committee (NWC).

Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu applauded the consensus arrangement under which the new National Working

Gunmen kidnap poly lecturer in Auchi

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senior lecturer with Auchi Polytechnic in Edo state, Mr. Moses Egbape, has been abducted by gunmen at his residence in South Ibie of Etsako West local government area of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident occurred on Saturday as the lec-

turer was driving into his compound after returning from work.

The Auchi Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Abubakar Mohammed, confirmed the abduction of the lecturer in a telephone interview with NAN. He, however, said that the abductors were yet to make any de-

mand, and promised that the police would investigate the matter thoroughly.

NAN reports that the Egbape's kidnap was the second within one week, after the abduction of a petroleum dealer, popularly known as" Sacchis" , who was released after he reportedly paid N2 million ransom. (NAN)

Committee emerged, saying it was an indication that the party was intact and more united in its determination to ensure the survival of the nation’s democracy.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Danladi Ndayebo, Governor Aliyu challenged the new leadership of the party to ‘be fair to all’ and make equity and justice its cardinal principles so as to avoid intra-party crisis that can derail the gains so far recorded.

“Saturday’s convention has shown that our party is intact, our members united and our determination to ensure the survival of democracy in our country is stronger than ever,” the statement said.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

N44m tax evasion: Ibadan hotelier, three others foil arrest From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

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n Ibadan-based hotelier, Mr. Francis Aiyegbeni and three other directors of D'Rovans International Hotel, at the weekend, foiled an attempt by the police and officials of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to carry out a bench warrant and arrest them over alleged unpaid N44.10 million tax.

The bench warrant issued by Justice Jonathan Shakarho of the Federal High Court, on March 12 this year was as a result of the refusal of the hotel directors to appear thrice before court in the suit.

Other directors affected by the warrant are, Dennis Aiyegbeni, Armstrong Aiyegbeni, and Royce Aiyegbeni.

Two officers from Oluyole divisional police station and officials of the Adeoyo Integrated Tax office of FIRS including two FIRS counsels, Mr. Tolu Ade-Martins and Miss Yejide AdeOluwa, stormed the hotel in two Toyota 14-seater buses to effect the arrest.

However, a mild drama ensued at the hotel reception area when the leader of the FIRS team, Mr. Thomas Antoka asked for the Managing Director from the receptionist, to which she answered: “they are not around”.

Surprisingly, about a minute later she brought in the hotel's legal counsel who presently represents the hotel in the tax evasion suit at the Federal High Court, Mr. C.O. Ojei.

When told of their mission by the FIRS counsel Miss AdeOluwa, Ojei answered angrily that it was not possible for them to effect the arrest as he had just served them and the court that same morning (March 23, 2012), a motion for stay of execution of the bench warrant.

Ade-Martins of FIRS then countered Ojei saying the bench warrant of March 12 took legal precedence over the just served motion of March 23 which he noted further had not been heard at all.

He pointed out that the motion could neither be heard nor granted by the judge until the next sitting in the suit coming up on April 24, adding that the issue of bench warrant had to be effected first before any other one since it came first.

PAGE 5

Police arrest 63 in Benue over communal conflict From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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he Benue state police command has arrested a total of 63 suspects allegedly involved in the communal conflict in Agboughoul, a suburb in Makurdi, the state capital.

State Police Public Relations’

Officer, ASP Ejike Alaribe, who disclosed this in a telephone chat with our correspondent yesterday, said 19 of the suspects had been outrightly denied bail, adding that another three were arrested at the weekend for burning houses.

“I can tell you that over 63

suspects are in police custody.

19 of them have been denied bail because of the heinous nature of the offence they committed.

The other 3 picked up at the weekend would be arraigned in court tomorrow (today),” Alaribe said.

It could be recalled that the

crisis which has seen the destruction of properties worth millions of naira is between the Minda and the Kparev people.

The Minda people are contending that the Kparev cannot lay claim to ownership of land since they are just settlers in the area.

SON impounds N180m substandard cables in Lagos From Ayodele Samuel, Lagos

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L-R: President Goodluck Jonathan, and his wife, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, arriving Seoul International Airport, yesterday for the opening of 2012 Nuclear Security Summit.

Fire razes General Hospital in Gombe From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

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roperties worth over N2 million were razed by fire at Nafada General Hospital in Gombe state over the weekend.

The inferno destroyed the hospital including offices and

residential accommodation hosting most of its staff.

Among the structures damaged by the fire were local government immunisation office with the cold chain room, tuberculoses and leprosy treatment centre and local government action committee on

HIV/AIDS secretarial.

Speaking to journalists on the incident, the Chairman of Nadafa local government caretaker committee, Alhaji Aliyu Idris Biri appealed to the state government to establish a fire fighting unit in the local government.

he Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has said it impounded substandard cables worth about N180 million in the Okokomaiko area of Lagos.

The Director-General of the organisation, Dr. Joseph Ikem Odumodu told journalists in Lagos that the confiscation of the cables followed a tip- off and that the merchant behind the business was on the run.

Addressing journalists at the Lekki, Lagos island office of the agency, Odumodu reiterated his organisation’s commitment to ensuring that its campaign to rid the country of substandard products succeeds.

Lamenting that the illegal consignment which included Sunrise cable, HK British PVC insulated wire and cable, Kings brand wire and cable, would have found its way to the Nigerian market if his men had not intervened. He therefore urged Nigerians to continue to support the agency with much needed information.

“It is ironical that despite their obvious danger, some Nigerian importers specifically ask for these products of questionable characteristics instead of the genuine ones. The substandard cable that failed the various parameter tests were confiscated and nine trucks were used to convey them to SON warehouse”, Odumodu said.

Robbery suspect accuses police of torture From Yusha’u Alhassan, Jalingo

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36-year-old suspect Daniel Ochika, standing trial before a Jalingo high court for criminal conspiracy and armed robbery has accused the police of torture and presenting false statements against him.

He made the accusation before Justice Sani Mohammed during cross examination by the prosecutor, Livingstone Lunar.

Justice Sani was said to have started hearing the case since 12 November 2007 in Gembu,

where the offence was said to have been committed. The case was transferred from Gembu to Jalingo when Justice Sani Mohammed was also transferred to Jalingo.

The prosecutor, Livingstone Lunar told the suspect that he was standing trial for robbing Bashir Hammangabdo, Ekena Okonkwo and Vincent Ojukwu of huge sums of money and for possessing a pistol and ammunition.

The suspect however denied being in possession of a weapon or having committed robbery as alleged by the prosecutor.

He said he resides in Abia state and was in Gembu for business when he was arrested by the police on the 19th of December, 2004, on his way to Nguroje to pick up his goods which according to him consisted of motor spare parts.

Ochika told the court that the bag he was carrying when he was arrested by the police contained N667, 000, complimentary cards and a diary only.

The suspect further told the court that after he was arrested and brought to Gembu police station, the police tortured him

and forced him to make false confessional statements before he was taken to prison on the 28 December 2004.

After the presentation by the suspect, the prosecutor prayed the court to accept a written confessional statement he claimed to have been made by the suspect as exhibit.

Justice Sani Mohammed ordered the suspect to study and identify the document presented by the prosecutor.

The suspect after studying the document carefully said it was impossible for him to have written

the document on the 29th of December 2004 as he was already in prison by the 28th of December, 2004, describing the document as police fabrication.

Justice Mohammed rejected the exhibit as there was contradiction and stopped further cross examination of the suspect.

The defence counsel, Daniel Ovoyento prayed the court to acquit his client saying that he had four witnesses to present in court.

Justice Sani Mohammed granted his prayers and adjourned the case to the 11th of April.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 6

Women have lost out in Nigeria’s politics, says Forum

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

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group known as Forum for Strategic Positioning of the Nigerian Women for Nation Building (FSPNWNB), has said that the Nigerian woman has a very long way to go in the national polity, having lost out in all the contested electoral posts during the convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), held in Abuja on Saturday.

The forum in a communiqué issued at the end of the rally by its national coordinator, Mrs. Mercy Sokomba, indicated that the convention was a show of anointed candidates from various states, favoured by zoning, alleging that even the position of women leader was not left to women alone.

“Five women aspirants were screened and given the impression they will be allowed to contest.

That did not happen. A delegation to the aspirants declared other aspirants were to step down for one favoured aspirant based on some zoning criteria. But all the aspirants had been given the impression they will contest.

S/Court confirms death sentence on security guard

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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he Supreme Court, weekend, confirmed the death sentence passed on a security guard, Stephen Haruna by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal for killing the Assistant General Manager (Legal) of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Miss E. N. Igwe on December 31, 2003.

In the lead judgement delivered by Justice Suleiman Galadima, the apex court held that it was established that Haruna (the appellant) was the only person in the house of the deceased at the time of her death.

There was no evidence of any forceful entry into the house of the deceased and the accused person was the only person in the compound with the deceased, according to investigations and the police recovered a number of exhibits which incriminated him.

His confessional statement was corroborated by the discovery of the stolen money he took to his girlfriend at Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja city, for safekeep.

Stephen Haruna had appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja dated January 22, 2010 affirming the decision of the High Court of Abuja on October 6, 2008 in which he was convicted and sentenced to death for culpable homicide contrary to section 221 of the penal code.

L-R: Abia state Governor, Theodore Orji, Rivers state Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, Delta state Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, and Akwa Ibom state Governor, Godswill Akpabio, all members of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) Advisory Committee, during the inauguration of the committee by President Goodluck Jonathan, at the State House, on Friday in Abuja. Photo: Joe Oroye

Extend Almajirai type of schools to Christian youths, says church From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna

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ellowship of Churches of Christ in Nigeria has said it appreciates the Federal Government’s decision to build schools for the Almajirai but appealed that the same should be done to Christians to cater for the teeming Christian youth who are not in school.

Making the appeal to the Federal Government in a

communiqué after its 57th Assembly held in Jalingo, Taraba state, Rev. Emmanuel Dziggau, the fellowship’s president and Rev. Moses I Ebuga, acting general secretary, recalled with dismay that the Federal Government took hundreds of Christian schools in the North in the 1970s, and dumped or rendered them worthless educational outfits.

The Assembly also condemned the wanton killings

of innocent citizens and the destruction of properties by the Boko Haram group, saying “churches in the North East have suffered colossal damage in the hands of this sect. We are therefore holding North East governors responsible for this acts of evil against Christianity. The body is also calling on the Federal Government to partner with developed countries of the world to assist in curbing this Boko Haram menace”.

Court determines Saraki’s fate in Senate tomorrow

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

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Federal High Court in Abuja will tomorrow deliver judgement in the suit brought before it by Alhaji Ayinla Kolawole Jimoh challenging the election of the immediate past governor of Kwara state, Dr. Bukola Saraki as the Senator representing Kwara Central senatorial district under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

At the last hearing of the matter, counsels in the suit adopted their written addresses, after which the trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta adjourned till March 27 to decide whether Saraki is the authentic candidate of the PDP for last year’s senatorial election in Kwara state.

The plaintiff, a second Republic gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), joined the PDP, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and former governor Saraki as co-defendants in the matter.

Alhaji Jimoh is arguing that at the time of collection and submission of nomination forms for the senatorial election, Saraki was a presidential contestant and that Saraki’s election as the PDP senatorial candidate for the senatorial district at the re-run of the party primary election held in Ilorin, January 29, 2011, was illegal, unconstitutional, null and void.

The plaintiff is also seeking to restrain the PDP from authenticating, recognising, or accepting the result of the re-run primary election and the nomination of the former governor as the PDP senatorial candidate for the Kwara Central senatorial district.

Jimoh said that he paid for, and was duly issued with the nomination form to seek nomination as the PDP senatorial candidate in the district, adding also that, “apart from me, one Gold Sola Isiaka from Ilorin-West of the Kwara-Central district was also screened and cleared to contest the primaries of the party.”

Jimoh said himself and Isiaka were the only persons that contested the party’s ticket at the primary elections held on January 7, 2011, adding that at the end of the primary election, he was credited with 12 votes while Isiaka was credited with 1,064 votes and he (Isiaka) was accordingly declared the winner.

He said that while at home on Friday, January 28, 2011, the secretary of the Kwara State PDP, Yekini Ilobu, brought him a letter from the state chapter of the party, stating that Mr. Isiaka, the elected senatorial candidate of the party had withdrawn and a proposed rerun election was slated for January 29, 2011.

He said that at the re-run primary election, Saraki and one Yunus AbdulRahaman were listed as the aspirants.

He further stated that by the result of the re-run election, Dr. Saraki was declared the winner with over 1000 votes and the result was sent to the INEC against the spirit of internal democracy and democratic governance.

Kano January blast: Victims’ families receive cash assistance

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he Chairman of the Kano January Bomb Blast Relief Committee, Alhaji Magaji Dambatta, has called on the families of the blast victims to ensure judicious use of the support fund given them.

Dambatta made the call while presenting N1 million cheque to each of the 60 families of the victims, who received the assistance under the second batch of the disbursement held at Government House, Kano, yesterday.

The disbursement brings the figure of families who received assistance from the committee to 110.

The families had received between N1 million to N2 million as assistance.

The chairman reminded the beneficiaries that the money was meant to support them and not a compensation for the loss of their loved ones.

“The money is to cushion the effect of the hardship being experienced by you as a result of the demise of your breadwinners during the blast,” Dambatta said.

Responding on behalf of other beneficiaries, Mr. Augustine Abigua, from Cross River state, expressed appreciation to the Kano state government for the gesture.

He also commended various organisations and individuals who contributed money to assist the families of the victims.

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 7

Electricity contractors indict PHCN over unstable power supply

By Emmanuel Iriogbe

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Some youths participating in a training workshop, during the review meeting on the success of HIV and AIDS prevention among in-school and out-of-school adolescents, at the weekend in Gombe.

Perjury: Oni takes Salami to appeal court From Adesoji Oyinlola, Lagos

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ormer governor of Ekiti state, Chief Segun Oni has vowed to pursue his application seeking an order of mandamus to compel the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Justice Minister, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, (SAN), into commencing criminal prosecution of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, for giving false evidence on oath.

“The lower court judgement dismissing the application is illogical and will be appealed against”, Oni stated while filing a Motion Ex-parte on Thursday, January 26, 2012, seeking an order of the court granting leave to him to apply for an Order of Mandamus directing the AGF to

institute criminal proceedings against Justice Salami; “for giving false evidence contrary to Sections 156, 157 and 158 of the Penal Code Act, Laws of The Federal Capital Territory.”

In his judgement last Wednesday, Justice Peter Affen of an Abuja High Court, sitting in Bwari, dismissed the application, saying Oni did not express sufficient interest which will warrant the court to grant the order.

Reacting to the judgement, Oni said in a statement signed by his media aide, Mr. Lere Olayinka that he would appeal the judgement.

The statement read: “The basis for the court decision was that I lack the requisite locus standi to bring the application because I was not involved in the Sokoto

Tambuwal congratulates Tukur, other PDP NWC members

By Lawrence Olaoye

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peaker of the House of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has congratulated Alhaji Bamanga Tukur and other national officers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elected at the party's National Convention held on Saturday.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, the Speaker said their emergence signaled a new beginning for Africa's largest political party.

He said all members of the party should seize the

opportunity to rally round those elected in order to put the party on the path of reconciliation.

According to the Speaker, the new leaders should work towards building a united party founded on the virtues of discipline and principles of internal democracy.

"As a party of choice among majority of Nigerians, the new leaders must work hard to justify the confidence reposed on us by our country men and women.

The PDP caucus in the House of Representatives will work with the new leaders so as to reposition the party and maintain its position as the number one political party in Nigeria."

state matter where the false affidavit was an issue.

“It will interest the general public to know that the AGF did not contest the suit or deny the fact that Justice Salami is clearly indictable of the offense of perjury.

“This is noble and commendable of the erudite AGF because it is a truism that the obvious or stack reality can only be denied by mischievous minds.

“However, the court felt that since I was not involved in the Sokoto matter, I cannot bring the action, but not that my action does not have merit.

“After a deep reflection, and because of my strong conviction in the basis of the action I filed in court, I have decided to exercise my constitutional right by filing an appeal against the decision”. he said.

he Chairman/Coordinator of Licensed Electricity Contractors of Nigeria (LECAN), Hon. Isa Onuku, has disclosed that not until the unlawful behavior of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) is checked, power stability in the country will remain a mirage.

Disclosing this at the formal swearing in of Mr. James Tever as the coordinator of Karu local government area, Onuku said: “PHCN do not have the exact number of their costumers because of direct connection. Also, they cannot articulate their loads on a transformer. The energy sent to PHCN is lost because they do not know the number of people that consume it due to lack of documentation. What they do is charge energy sent to them arbitrarily to recover money”.

Commenting on the functions of LECAN, the chairman maintained: “The Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria (LECAN) is set up by an

‘Nigeria could surpass SA as Africa’s largest economy’

By Muhammad Nasir ...as it drives Renaissance Capital Analyst, Yvonne growth in non Mhango, in a research note released last month, maintained that Nigeria can oil sector surpass South Africa as the

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continent’s largest economy in 2014 if the country’s GDP is upwardly revised by the same magnitude as Ghana’s 60 percent in 2010.

This came up after the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revised its 2010 data upwards on the basis of the socio economic survey for the same year and in the Process Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010 increased by 16.4 percent, moving from N29.2 trillion to N34.0 trillion.

The NBS report also showed that the non oil sector grew at

Gombe jerks up salaries for docs, health workers From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

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ombe state government has approved the i m m e d i a t e implementation of one hundred percent salary increase for medical doctors and other health workers.

Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who disclosed this in Gombe, said that it was aimed at addressing the mass exodus and acute shortage of medical and health workers in the state.

He further said that the present administration has approved the establishment of a

enabling law Cap 106 of the laws of the federation. Most Nigerians go to PHCN for light, but I want to educate Nigerians that our body is responsible for anything having to do with installations. Cap 256 is the enabling act for the PHCN. They have their schedules just as we have ours. We carry out the final stage of the work for electricity. That is distribution to the consumer, and once you are not licensed you have no business with installation. We advice people whether for one point of light, to hire competent people that will do the job. It is our duty to advise the PHCN on who to supply with electricity, and they have no right to say no because by the laws of the nation, I am competent by my license to give you light. PHCN is to maintain and sell; they have no right to give you light without a licensed contractor”.

Tever assured electricity consumers in Karu of improved services from the body and warned against consumers using quacks for their electrical installations.

primary healthcare development agency to ensure effective coordination and implementation of primary healthcare services in the state.

Dankwambo added that a snake bite treatment centre would be established at Kaltungo in the effort to reduce the number of deaths recorded annually as a result of high rate of snake bites.

The Governor pointed out that an ultra-modern women and children hospital would be constructed in Gombe metropolis to curb the rising wave of maternal mortality and child morbidity in the state.

9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, higher than the 8.93 percent recorded in the same period in 2010.

This year, the report noted, Nigeria would change the base year for its GDP to 2008 from 1990 and would likely revise the size of its economy upwards, depending on the scale of the revision.

Ghana’s GDP was rebased in 2010 and the size of its economy was found to be 60 percent larger at $31bn compared to $18bn previously recorded.

According to FBN capital analysts, the nominal GDP for 2011 would become $310 billion if the conservative assumption of a 30 percent adjustment rebasing involves changing the weighting of sectors of the economy to reflect changes in economic activities over the past three decades.

It was revealed that the new figures would, for instance, put more weighting on the telecommunications industry, which has grown strongly over the past 20 years.

The NBS recently released the national accounts for Q4 2011 confirming Nigeria’s robust growth at 7.7 percent with the non-oil sector growth printing at 9.1 percent year-onyear led by the telecommunication sector which recorded a real GDP growth of 36.31 percent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011.

PAGE 8

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PHOTOS: JOE OROYE and NAN. A young man struggling with a wheel barrow loaded with firewood to eke a living, recently for at Nyanya road, at the weekend in Abuja.

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Cross-section of women, at "women in developing nations" workshop for Abuja, recently in Abuja

L-R: Wife of Lagos state Governor,Mrs Abiola Fashola, wife of Osun state Governor, Alhaja Serifat Aregbesola, and wife of former Lagos state Governor, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, during Walking and Free Health Screening to mark 60th birthday of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday in Lagos.

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Despite the 'No Parking' sign board, motorists still park in an unauthorised space at the Gudu Motor Spear parts Market, at the weekend, in Abuja.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Oshiomhole mourns AAU students who died in search of water From Osaigbovo Iguobaro, Benin

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do state governor, Adams Oshiomhole yesterday, commiserated with the Vice Chancellor and Students Union Government of the state-owned Ambrose Alli University over two students who reportedly died in a well on World Water Day in search of water.

In a condolence message by his Chief Press Secretary, Peter Okhiria, the governor said: “I wish to convey the condolences of the People and Government of Edo State and my personal commiseration over the unfortunate accident which led to the death of two students of the Ambrose Alli University. Our hearts are with the Vice Chancellor, the Students Union Government the entire

University Community and immediate families of the deceased at this trying period”.

“Their death is even more painful because it is a reflection of the rot into which the university, once the pride of the old Bendel and Edo states, had been plunged by successive administrations since it was established by its founding fathers”, he said.

According to him, “the sad loss would further ginger my administration to hasten the pace of rebuilding the decayed infrastructure of the university and return it to its pride of place among others in the country”.

“Already, I have directed the Commissioner for Works, to do a general safety audit of infrastructure on the campus”, Osiomhole stated.

Katsina budgets N148m for Qur’anic recitation competition From Lawal Sa’idu Funtua, Katsina

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atsina state government has budgeted the sum of N148 milliona for the hosting of the 26th National Qur’anic recitation competition scheduled to begin next Friday, March 30th in Katsina.

The state deputy governor, Alhaji Abdullahi Garba Faskari who is also the chairman, organising committee of the competition, disclosed this while briefing newsmen yesterday on the level of preparations for the event.

According to him, 26 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, would participate in the weeklong event

while a total number of 300 participants are expected to compete at different categories of the competition.

He noted that logistics arrangements have reached advanced stage as the main committee and sub committees formed for the competition were working round the clock to ensure a hitch free event.

Faskari who tasked all members of the committee to redouble their efforts as the event draws nearer, urged people in the state to give their maximum support for the success of the exercise, adding “we must exhibit the hospitality we are well known for to participants and the guests attending the event”.

L-R: Acting Country Director, World Bank, Mr. Badrul Hahue, former Chief Executive Officer, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Mr. Vincent Akinyosoye, and Statistician General, NBS, Mr. Yemi Kale, during the launching of Data on General Household Survey-Panel in Nigeria, recently in Abuja. Photo: Mahmud Isa

Bauchi earmarks N735m for 57 boreholes From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi

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he Bauchi state government earmark N735 million for the construction of 57 boreholes to alleviate water scarcity in the state.

The Bauchi state Commissioner for Water Resources, Alhaji Sani Muhammad Bura, stated this while addressing newsmen at a

press conference in commemoration of World Water day in Bauchi at the weekend.

According to him, the award of the boreholes contract in the state became imperative following massive demand for water in the state.

The commissioner said, Bauchi state requires 40-50 million gallons of water per day, but could generate only 12.5million daily.

He said, “ the state needs an

additional 37.5 million gallons to bridge the gap of water requirement for the state and that is why the state government has awarded the contract for the construction of the 57 boreholes to augment the demand . We have observed that Bauchi state has a fast growing population and this is due to the influx of immigrants from neighboring states, who came to seek refuge in the state as a result of crisis”.

committee on ‘Read Campaign’, which revived the reading culture of Nigerians.

He lauded the 4 year strategic plan by the Federal Ministry of Education, noting that it would go a long way in resuscitating the educational sector.

He also commended the Presidency for the establishment of more universities in the country, arguing that most

students who score good grades in JAMB but are denied opportunity to study in universities could now breathe sigh of relief.

“In fact, we need more universities. Government action is right step in the direction”, Agada posited.

The PDP stalwart also denied any intention to contest any political position in 2015 and could “only play the role of a king maker”.

Zamfara transition committee recovers stolen items, calls for peace Ex-minister laments falling standard of education From Salisu Zakari Maradun, while speaking to Peoples Daily in Gusau eople of Zamfara state have been urged to continue their support and cooperation to the government in its efforts to fight corruption and to live in peace with one another irrespective of tribal or religious differences for the betterment of all.

Former chairman of Bakura local government of the state Alhaji Bello dan Kande Gamji made the call

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Gusau, the state capital over the weekend.

The former council boss who is presently the chairman, transition committee of Bakura local Government said that his committee recovered stolen items belonging to the government and efforts are being geared toward another recovery in which erstwhile leaders of the local government are involved.

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

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ormer Minister of State, Education Dr. Jerry Agada has lamented the falling standard of education in the country and blamed it on the poor reading culture of Nigerians.

Dr. Agada who spoke with journalists at the weekend recalled with nostalgia that as minister, his office inaugurated an action

Stakeholders decry inadequate securitymen in disaster

By Abubakar Ibrahim

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takeholders in disaster management have decried the paucity of security personnel in the face of growing population and security challenges in Nigeria.

This, they observed, is further compounded by vague rules of engagement, interagency rivalry, corruption, lack of capacity, manipulation by elites as well as religious, ideological and ethnic bias.

At a two-day regional forum on Peace-building and Conflict Management for sustainable development held at the weekend in Lafia, Nasarawa state, the

stakeholders also emphasized the need for capacity building of Nigerians in ICT and the application of social media networking in conflict and disaster early warning response, and in confronting misinformation that exacerbates conflicts and insecurity.

The workshop which was organised by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in a collaboration with the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), also called on security operatives to abide by the rules of engagement and professions in conflict situations.

A communique signed by the Director General of NEMA, Alhaji

Muhammad Sani-Sidi and his counterpart in IPCR, Dr Dr. Joseph H.P. Golwa recommended intensive fight against corruption and observed that “Some of the causes of conflict that have plagued the country since the return to democracy in 1999 are pluralism, youth restiveness, discrimination, injustice, impunity, and elites being facilitators of violent conflicts”.

They said that Nigerian youths since then “are susceptible to violent conflicts and insecurity because of idleness, illiteracy, inadequate employment opportunities and underemployment.”

They therefore recommended the engagement of youth through skill and technical capacity building programmes to prepare and diversify their skills for employment.

They also recommended that a broad based and people driven approach to security was critical and should be adopted in addressing the challenges of insecurity than a militarized and narrow approach to security; and that traditional and community institutions should be involved in conflict, disaster and security management initiatives at all levels.

Critical stakeholders at the workshop included members of

the national and state legislature, traditional and community leaders, women and youth leaders, religious leaders, market women association, Okada riders, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), academia, civil society organizations (CSOs), public and civil servants, development partners, Federal Fire Service (FFS), Office of the National Security Adviser, Department of State Security, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Nigerian Police Force, Armed Forces, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), union leaders and the media.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

JTF repels Boko Haram attack, recover arms in Maiduguri From Mustapha Isah Kwaru, Maiduguri

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peratives of the Joint Military Task Force, (JTF) in Maiduguri, the Borno state foiled an attempt by gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect to attack a military patrol vehicle.

Our correspondent gathered that the incident occurred at about

4.30pm when over 10 gunmen, carrying AK47 rifles waylaid a team of soldiers who were said to be on a routine patrol along Sabon Gari area and fired several shots at them.

The attack was said to have suffered a setback as the gunmen met a stiff resistance from the members of the task force forcing them to retreat.

Men of the JTF later succeeded in repelling the attack after a gun

duel which lasted for over 30 minutes caused pandemonium in the area as people scampered for safety.

Spokesman of the JTF, Lt-Col Shamsu Musa who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said the some gangsters attacked a military patrol van, but the attack was successfully repelled and the gunmen were chased away .

“Some gunmen suspected to be

members of Boko Haram attacked our men on a routine patrol but the attack was repelled and sensing defeat, the gunmen took to their heels”, Lt-Col. Musa claimed.

He explained that no casualty was recorded from the side of the JTF personnel, just as all the attackers have escaped, leaving behind their arms and ammunition.

According to him, items

NANS decries water shortage on campuses

L-R: Lagos state Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos state, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Lagos state Solicitor-General and Chairman, Lagos State Secretariat Mosque Committee, Mr. Lawal Pedro, during a special Juma’at prayer to mark Senator Tinubu's 60th birthday celebration, on Friday at the Lagos State Secretariat Central Mosque, Lagos.

From Nankpah Bwakan, Jos

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Kaduna lawmakers slam Yakowa over VC’s appointment M

embers of the Kaduna state House of Assembly have condemned Gov. Patrick Yakowa over his failure to respect due process in the appointment of a substantive vice chancellor for the Kaduna State University (KASU).

The members warned that Yakowa must reverse himself and ensure that due process is followed in the appointment of a substantive VC for the institution "to avoid litigation."

Dr. Shehu Usman Danfulani,

the Minority Leader of the House, gave the advice while addressing newsmen in Kaduna on the appointment of Prof. Barnabas Quirix as the new VC of the institution.

He said the appointment should be reviewed in line with current global trends in the operations and management of academic institutions.

“Such hasty appointment could invalidate the university's certificates. We do not have anything against the appointee

Ogun NSCDC arrests 5 over examination malpractices From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

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ive candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) were at the weekend arrested by operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ogun state command for allegedly engaging in examination malpractices.

The Command Public Relations Officer, Olanrewaju Kareem who confirmed the arrest

recovered at the scene of the incident comprised of an AK47 rifle, magazine with 27 rounds of ammunition and an improvised explosive device which was later detonated by the task force.

The spokesman added that security operatives were on the trail of the fleeing gunmen and urged the public to offer useful information that could lead to their arrest.

to newsmen in Abeokuta, disclosed that, two of the accused were arrested at Crescent University examination centre, Abeokuta; while the other three were nabbed at another centre at African Church Grammar School Ita-Eko, Abeokuta, for being in possession of incriminating materials.

Kareem said, the candidates (names withheld) who were with registration numbers would be prosecuted for allegedly taking answer scripts and handsets with text messages of the exam’s answers.

because he is qualified and competent, but we demand for the respect of the rule of law and due process”, he said.

According to him, the governing council of KASU is statutorily mandated to advertise for the vacant position after which three names of shortlisted candidates will be presented to the governor for the appointment.

Reacting to the statement, Mr. Reuben Buhari, the Special Assistant to the governor on

Media, said that Yakowa consulted widely before appointing Quirix as the VC after he was satisfied that legal instruments were not breached.

Buhari solicited for understanding, support and cooperation from all stakeholders to restore people’s hope in the polity and normalcy in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the newlyappointed vice chancellor had already assumed duty on January 23. (NAN)

Gombe to curtail tuberculosis From Auwal Ahmad, Gombe

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n its effort to curtail the rising cases of tuberculosis, the Gombe state government has approved N20 million for the control of the disease this year.

The Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Health Alhaji Umaru Gurama, disclosed this in Gombe during a press briefing to mark the World Tuberculosis Day. He further said as part of efforts to curtail the spread of the disease, the state had expanded its tuberculosis treatment centres from 23 in 2004 to 94 at the end of

2011.

Gurama added that the availability of free drugs and testing services increased the level of TB awareness among the populace. He said in the last one year diagnosis and testing centres were established in 25 places.

According to him, “Considering the current global and national challenges of TB control such as emergence of multi drug resistant TB, low case detection and inadequate coverage, we intend to establish more diagnostic and treatment centres to ease difficulties faced by people”.

he National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) Zone C Co-coordinator, Comrade Henry James Pam, has disclosed that several students have died of various diseases as a result of lack of portable water in campuses urging the state and federal ministries of water resources to come to the rescue of the students.

Addressing newsmen in Jos after visiting the some colleges, polytechnics and universities under the zone, Pam said there is an urgent need for authorities concerned to sink boreholes in order to save students from dying of water-borne diseases.

Comrade Pam stressed that lack of portable drinking water is seriously distracting the attention of students from reading their books and other academic activities noting that there is an urgent need to provide basic amenities for the students to make them comfortable.

"For students to be going out at mid-nights to look for water despite the security challenges in the state and the country at large is unthinkable. This is also affecting the students seriously because the time they are supposed to be reading, researching and doing assignments they are outside looking for water", he lamented.

…as NGO calls on govts to preserve water From Bayo Alabira, Jos

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icah Challenge, a nongovernmental organisation has called on government at all levels to always assist communities and villages to sustain clean water reservoirs and provide same to protect the citizenry from contacting illnesses that are water borne.

Addressing a press conference yesterday in Jos, the country representative, Mrs. Hanatu Pam said they were going round Plateau state as well as to various communities to educate citizens on the importance of having clean water within their surroundings and to avoid wasting water.

She explained that Micah Challenge is a global coalition of Christians holding the governments to account for their promise to break up extreme poverty by 2015 as well as to promote issues of good governance, transparency and accountability.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

NOA boss advises religious leaders to preach peace

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam

T

he Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, has advised all religious bodies in the country to use their respective religions to preach peace and show love to one another.

Omeri gave this advice while receiving a delegation of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria at the headquarters of the agency in Abuja.

He told the delegation that it is necessary for religious leaders in the country to always advocate the need for good governance in their preaching, so as to put an end to corruption in the country.

A statement issued by the Assistant Director, Press in the agency, called on all religious bodies to be free to seek partnership with the agency, to help transform the country, saying all Nigerians must join hands to make the country a better place.

PAGE 11

I’ll never collect kickback from contractors, Ajimobi vows From Inumidun Ojelade, Ibadan

G

overnor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state has vowed that neither he nor any of his aides would demand kick-backs from any of the contractors and would-be contractors handling various projects in the state.

The governor said this during the flag-off of the reconstruction of Apete and Ayeye bridges.

Ajimobi vowed that his administration would not compromise the standard and

quality of any project that would be executed in the state during his tenure as governor.

Giving a clue to why recently constructed roads and bridges by the past administration collapsed within few months of their being constructed, the governor attributed it to heavy demand and collection of kick-backs from contractors who in turn took their pound of flesh on the projects.

“Most of the roads constructed by the past administration could not stand the test of time. The

reason is simple. The bulk of the money voted for the projects were collected from the contractors.

That is why you see some of their roads being washed away almost immediately after they were constructed.

“But for us, we will never collect a kobo from any contractor because we don’t want any contractor to have any excuse for not delivering good quality jobs.

The contractors should not hesitate to tell me of anybody who demands money or anything from them.

There is no room for corruption and corrupt elements in this government”, the governor said.

Governor Ajimobi expressed regret that so many lives and property were lost as a result of the August 26 flood disaster, saying that the incident inflicted untold hardship on the people of the state.

He said the reconstruction of Apete and Ayeye bridges was dear to his heart as it would open up the areas for further development.

Health ministry to improve emergency obstetrics

By A’isha Biola Raji

T

he Minister of State for Health, Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, has said the ministry is working on modalities to increase access to high quality emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care services (EMONC) in Nigeria.

The minister who was represented by Mrs. Bridget Oko Eguale, Head, Department of Family Health, said this at the national dissemination of Maternal and Child Health Integrated Programme (MCHIP), organised by the ministry in collaboration with ACCESS/Jhipiego.

The programme which is in line with MDGs 4 and 5 has strengthened maternal child health services in the states covered which are Zamfara, Kano and Katsina.

“The benefiting states have achieved steady and significant gains in women’s visits to antenatal care clinics”, she said.

L-R: President, Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Peter Esele, President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, and Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, during a rally in honour of Governor Oshiomhole by the NLC and TUC, recently in Benin City.

By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem

A

s part of measures to find lasting solutions to the management crisis rocking the Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC), President Goodluck Jonathan has inaugurated an advisory committee for the commission.

According to the President, the committee is expected to advise the Federal Government and the

Jonathan inaugurates NNDC Advisory c'ttee Governing Board, while also monitoring the activities of the Commission, to assist it in achieving its objectives.

"It is my expectation that you will also focus on addressing the very critical issue of programme and project overlap that has been observed in the operations of the Commission vis-a-vis the state

governments in the region, the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, and the Office of the Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs.

This has often led to avoidable confusion and dissipation of scarce resources."

President Jonathan continued: "As major stakeholders in the development

of the Niger Delta, I expect you to bring to bear on the operations of the Board, your wealth of experience and knowledge of the region’s peculiar challenges.

That way, we can, together, build the requisite synergy to effectively tackle the human and development challenges in the region."

Kogi guber: Court slates March 28 to rule on Wada’s application

By Sunday Ejike Benjamin

A

Federal High Court in Abuja will on March 28, 2012 rule on the application brought by the Kogi state governor, Capt. Idris Wada seeking to stay proceedings in a consolidated suit brought against him by the winner of the January 2011 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election, Alhaji Jibrin Isah Echocho and another governorship aspirant under the platform of the party, Mr. Oyebode Makinde.

The plaintiffs had through

their respective counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun and Dr. Alex Iziyon, instituted a suit seeking to stop Wada from parading himself as the governor of Kogi state on the grounds that the election that brought him in was null and void.

When the matter came up on Friday, counsel to Wada, Chief Chris Uche, brought an application for stay of proceeding submitting that he had filed a motion to appeal the earlier decision of the court which consolidated both Echocho and Makinde's suit at the Court of Appeal.

He argued that he had exercised his constitutional right

of appeal as provided for by Section 241 of the 1999 Constitution adding that such right deserves a protection by the court.

Uche further argued that he did not need to prove that the appeal will succeed adding that such application need to be granted in an interlocutory appeal if the final determination will consume such right of appeal and urged the court to grant the appeal.

Opposing the application, counsel to Echocho, Olanipekun argued that a notice of appeal cannot determine a stay of proceedings, adding that the applicant is only asking the Court

of Appeal to re-consolidate.

He further submitted that it is not a substantial point of law that will warrant a stay of proceeding stating that if an appeal for stay of proceedings succeeds, it does not terminate the proceedings at the lower court.

Olanipekun added that the applicant have not put sufficient material before the court to warrant granting of the application.

He further argued that applicant has not sought for a leave to transmit the process to the Court of Appeal and urged the court to dismiss the application for lacking in merit.

While aligning himself with the submissions of Olanipekun, counsel to Makinde, Iziyon argued that no authority is binding on the other because the circumstance of each of the case is different from the other.

He further argued that the application did not demonstrate any exceptional circumstances by which a stay should be granted.

Izinyon also submitted that it is in the interest of justice that the substantive suit be heard.

After listening to all the parties, the presiding judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo, adjourned till March 28 for ruling.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 12

EDIT ORIAL EDITORIAL

No to move to cage Labour

W

e join other well meaning Nigerians in roundly condemning the recently proposed bill in the Senate that seeks to stop organized Labour from taking unilateral decisions on industrial actions. We strongly disapprove of any piece of legislation that strives to muzzle dissent and, or the right to freely and peacefully express discontent via industrial action.

The 1999 Nigerian Constitution guarantees specific fundamental rights that are justiceable and inalienable. Members of organized Labour have the inalienable right to aggregate into formal organizations to ventilate their rights and interests. If passed into law, the bill in question will seek that henceforth a vote will be required before any action can be taken by trade unions and other matters connected thereto. It is a throwback to the 2005 Trade Unions Act which was, fortunately, rejected. At the time the Obasanjo administration sought to whittle down the influence of organized labour by amending the Act to serve certain political interests and undermine organized labour. The Trade Unions Act (Amended) had excluded compulsory membership of unions and replaced it with voluntary

membership. The approach intended to reduce the size of unions and check-offs accruing to them. It did not succeed in, for instance, inducing a mass withdrawal of unions’ membership.

A good example is the battle weary Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as envisaged by the state.

This latest self serving bill, we dare say, is designed, from all

“

This latest self serving bill, we dare say, is designed, from all indications, to frustrate and curtail labour unions’ admirable influence in the nation’s political economy. Secondly, we strongly suspect that sponsors of the bill are apprehensive that the last nationwide industrial action has demonstrated labour’s capacity to mobilize and lead civil society forces in popular struggles indications, to frustrate and curtail labour unions’ admirable influence in the nation’s political economy. Secondly, we strongly suspect that sponsors of the bill are apprehensive that the last nationwide industrial action has demonstrated labour’s capacity to mobilize and lead civil society

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”

forces in popular struggles on issues that affect the working people, urban poor and rural peasants. We also suspect that the bill is designed to insulate government from accountability in the face of mounting evidence of its incompetence to address the myriad security and economic challenges facing the nation. It is manifestly clear that the government has shown utter disregard to the plight of Nigerian workers and, by extension, the people.

One example of government’s supercilious disposition to the Nigerian worker was the surreptitious manner in which it sneaked in a new fuel price regime at the dawn of the New Year without recourse to the National Assembly. As if to confirm its own history of perfidy, the government hiked the price three clear months ahead of the planned date of April. We urge all Nigerians to oppose this patently tyrannical piece of law. We particularly commend those Senators who stood resolutely in opposing and rejecting this clearly anti-workers and, therefore, anti-people bill. We wholly agree with Senator Chris Ngige’s position that this vexatious bill is “anti-people, antiworkers, anti-poor and antiSenate.’’

OUR PEOPLE

OUR VISION

CHAIRMAN MALAM WADA MAIDA, OON, FNGE EDITOR, DAILY AHMED I. SHEKARAU

DIRECTOR/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RUFA’I IBRAHIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER ALI M. ALI

ACTING EDITOR, WEEKEND RICHARD IHEDIWA

GM PUBLICATIONS ABDULAZEEZ ABDULLAHI MANAGER, ADMINISTRATION HASSAN HAMMANYAJI

HEAD, ADVERT/MARKETING HUSSAINI ABDULRAHMAN, CNA HEAD, SPECIAL PROJECTS ABDU LABARAN MALUMFASHI

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

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 13

Gov Suswam’s certificate forgery saga

By Terfa Taga

F

or the past two years, the most debated political and legal issue in Benue state and, perhaps, the country as a whole, has been the controversy surrounding Governor Gabriel Suswam’s West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) results. The issue dominated the campaigns and the legal battle that followed it. And even now that the governor’s supporters are claiming victory in court, his opponents are of the belief that the issue of certificate forgery will turn out to be his political waterloo.

There are multiple cases in court challenging the governor’s eligibility for the office he occupies on the grounds that his WASC certificate is forged. Ironically again, it was the governor himself who first went to court over the issue. A Kaduna based news magazine - Power Steering - had reported that Suswam had forged his WASC certificate and used it to gain admission to read law at the University of Lagos. It was the same forged certificate, the magazine alleged, that he used to contest the 2007 gubernatorial elections.

The governor, in his reaction, wrote to the Inspector General of Police over the report. The police acting on that petition arrested the editors of the magazine and ChidozieUkpabi, a former staffer of WAEC who claimed he assisted the governor in perfecting

By Y. Z. Yaú

D

emocracy is about participation. But direct universal participation is not practical. Thus we have to approximate it with representative democracy, which is done through electing representatives to carry out the deliberative aspects our participation. This is done on the belief that those elected would render accountability to the electorate. The elected people in this sense include members of the House of Assembly.

The rendering of accountability requires the exchange of and sharing of information between electorates and the elected representatives. This rendering of accountability is mediated and made possible by among others things, the media.

Like participation, ensuring accountability is the duty all the citizens. Because development is collective and social it has always been necessary for citizens to come together to pursue their common development aspirations. When they do this independent of government we refer to them as civil society organizations. Civil society organizations because they are embedded in their communities provide citizens with the tools to hold their elected representatives accountable. In a sense they are the barometer through which both the media and government (legislature inclusive) interrogate the communities.

We thus see that legislature, CSOs and media are simply different aspects of a social equation. In this equation all three have to act together to ensure that not only democracy works but more importantly it works for the people.

This is because it is only when democracy is working in terms of

the forgery and charged them to Magistrate’s Court 2, in Wuse Zone2, Abuja. It is rather strange that not much progress was made in this case during and immediately after the elections.

An even more strange and curious scenario surrounds the case of a PDP chieftain in the state, Mr. Terver Kakih who contested last year’s gubernatorial primaries of the party against Governor Suswam. He fought a protracted legal battle at the Federal High Court over the governor’s WASC certificate. The case started in Makurdi, was sent to Abuja, got transferred back to Makurdi, sent back to Abuja (where it was kept in the cooler for a long time), then got transferred to Jos, from Jos back to Makurdi where it is being attended to now.

Also in court are the two frontline governorship contestants from the ANPP and the ACN. Professor Daniel Saror a former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University,Zaria and ANPP gubernatorial candidate in 2007 and 2011. He challenged Suswam’s victory on the grounds of his WASC certificate just like Prof.

Stephen TorkumaUgba.

The governorship election tribunal in Benue never got to hear the case due to arguments that it was a pre-election matter.

When the Supreme Court finally ruled that it was an election matter, the tribunal still struck the case out

on the grounds that the180 days allotted under the Constitution for the tribunal to hear the case had expired.

But both Profs. Saror and Ugbah are back to the Supreme Court, arguing that Governor Suswam claims to have a PhD in Law but he did not present any certificate(s) to INEC before the elections last year to show that he had met the constitutional requirements under sections 177(d) and 182(1)(j) of the Constitution.

They argue that the non-presentation of the required documents disqualified him as a candidate.

Back to the Wuse 2, Magistrate’s Court2 where Chidozie Ukpabi and Dan Ekah are defending themselves against Suswam’s suite. On Friday, March 19, when the case came up WAEC was represented in court by a lawyer and a man who claimed to be an Assistant Registrar, Legal Department, WAEC Lagos office. He brought a ‘confirmation of result’ of Suswam which he obtained at Government College, Makurdi in May/June 1982. He wanted to tender the result through the counsel to WAEC but the judge refused that since Chidozie’s lawyer at whose instance WAEC was called was not in court, she would not allow them tender it. After they insisted, the judge asked them to deposit the document with the Registrar of the court.

This is what happened in Court and this is what is being

misrepresented in the media as WAEC presenting an original of Suswam’s certificate and exonerating him from certificate forgery. It is necessary to educate those who hold such a misinformed view that WAEC or any other body that issue certificates does not issue certificates twice. If for any reason the original certificate is missing, upon application and an affidavit, the School will issue you a confirmation and not another original certificate.

It is therefore impossible for WAEC to have brought an original of Suswam’s certificate to court.

Secondly, if the purported certificate tendered in the court agrees with the master result sheet in custody of Government College, Makurdi, where Gabriel Suswam had a pass in English and an F9 in Maths, how did the University of Lagos have admitted him to read law with a pass in English? Since the inception of law education in Nigerian universities no university has admitted someone with a pass in English language.

The certificate, with number SG842969, which Suswam reported as missing in his letter to WAEC for recertification, however, does not exist. WAEC administers School Certificate examinations in four West African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra-Leone and The Gambia, hence the initials NGSG before the serial number of the

certificate. It beats one’s imagination where Suswam got his own certificate with the above number.

There have been multiple efforts to frustrate the hearing of all election petitions against Governor Suswam so that he would not have to be questioned in court on the certificate forgery matter. Other efforts have also been made to ensure that no Nigerian Court hears Mr. Terver Kakih who contested the PDP primaries with him and went to court to challenge the qualification of the Governor. This, to a large extent, he has succeeded almost one year after the election, even after Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya pronounced: The presentation of a certificate to INEC is mandatory and prima facie evidence that the candidateisqualifiedandhasmet the constitutional requirement for the office he is seeking election into. This implies that, if a candidate has failed, refused or neglected to present a certificate to INEC during screening or has presented a forged certificate, such a candidate has no business in office.

Nigerians who believe in justice are waiting anxiously for the long arm of the law to catch up with those who try to evade justice as it is apparent in the certificate forgery saga against Suswam.

Terfa Taga wrote in from Makurdi, Benue state

A tripod for peace and stability ensuring social justice, and delivery of fruits of democracy that would enhance the condition of the people so that they would live in peace.

This multi-layered partnership requires that all three stakeholders act on behalf of the ordinary citizen primarily to ensure the rule of law, prudent use of public resources that is based on the problems and concerns of the people and providing space for citizens’ inputs into decision making processes.

Constitutionally the legislature plays dual role: that of making laws and providing oversight to ensure that these laws are respected. This oversight function requires that legislature shadow the executives in a constructive way as to ensure that the executive delivers. Yet this oversight function of the legislature can be enhanced by the partnering with the civil society organizations.

This is because civil society organizations that are embedded in their respective communities are able to collect an incredible detail of information about the functioning of any public project. They can also bring their expertise to bear in terms of analysis data for oversight function.

Oversight function is meant to ensure that systems work. This means there must be feedback from those engaged in oversight function to those who responsible for the execution of projects and programmes. This where the media becomes a critical arm of the tripod: it provides the channel and mechanism for the feedback from oversight function to reach executives.

Besides providing these channels

the media is the key to the very functioning of democracy. Through it that citizens’ views and opinions are passed to the deliberative chambers of both the executive and legislative, and by the same token that decisions by both chambers are relayed and explained to the electorate through the media. When it is remembered that CSOs, having neither constitutional powers nor huge resources, they can only work to persuade governments and government officials to work for their communities. This requires effective advocacy. Yet we know that no advocacy can succeed without effective media/communication engagements. This is why CSOs must of necessity court the friendship of the media. This however is not a one-way relationship. The media in turn rely on CSOs for snippets, detailed analysis, public opinions and leverage to community thinking.

They also provide a whistle blowing point for the media sense of news.

In its deliberative form, democracy is about debate, the ability to convince others to see things the way you see them. It is thus about the way in which you use and communicate information. The work of the legislature would suffer without access to media channels.

Media play multiple roles in mediating the role of the legislature with the democratic context. At one level, it allows legislators to know what the public wants, which is an important requirement of their job.

At another level, we are using it in mobilizing our community to stand behind the agreed issues. The media educate them and also help them understand the issues at stake and

know how to approach their representatives. Thirdly, the media also provide us with tool with which we can bring social pressure to bear on the advocacy aspect of legislative work. Lastly, media makes it faster for our messages to reach their destination and their easily connects legislators to their constituencies and allow them to render informational accountability. This forms one arm the tripod. Other is provided by a solid link between the legislators and the civil society organizations which connects not only communities to legislative processes and provides a layer for the oversight functions of the legislature but also allows the legislators to leverage networks and endowments of civil society to enhance their effectiveness of their work. In all these both media and civil society also benefits to enhance their own work as well. It is thus a mutually reinforcing relationship. All three therefore work to promote the public interest and each would be more effective if it works in conjunction with the others.

What all this shows is that democracy is not possible without this purpose tripod. It would seem obvious that we cannot have democracy without a legislature. In fact a society that has no legislative reference must be heading to anarchy for in that society there can be laws. I will not belabour this point.

It is to the other two components of the tripod that I return because the connection between them and democracy may not appear as obvious. Take the media: it is generally regarded as the 4th estate of the realm but that is not what makes it indispensable to the democratic

society. Without the media there can be no flow of information and the deliberative democracy is impaired.

But even more fundamentally, the absence of media implies the denial of the right to freedom of information which is a foundational right in democracy. Without it them the right to receive and impart information as provided in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (as well as in the African Charter of Peoples and Human Rights which has been domesticated by Nigeria) is untenable.

With respect to civil society organizations, they embody and represent the substantiation of the right of citizens to freedom of association. Again like freedom of information, freedom of association as provided in Article 20 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is foundational right for democracy.

The absence of civil society would only imply a society in which all collective impulses of the citizens have been suppressed, which is only possible in a dictatorship of the worse type.

Having said this therefore it is only logical to conclude that it is the veritable flourishing and the partnership of these three organs that we can sustain democracy.

And it is the sustenance of democracy through the consistent effort and partnership of these key elements of society that would ensure a just society and hence lead to creating the condition for the sustainable development and lasting peace in the society. This is the condition for stability.

Y. Z. Yau is at CITAD, Kano

PAGE 14

By Sani Sadeeq

I

n the early 90s, James Ibori was a £5,000 per annum cashier at a London shop, much later in the nineties he came back to Nigeria to work for the Abacha government and then upon the transition to democratic rule after Abacha’s demise he won the governorship of Delta state in 1999 and won re-election in 2003 thereby completing his tenure in 2007.

Within a space of eight years he systematically looted away a staggering $250 million. With such a huge stash of cash, he became a very influential power broker in Nigeria. It is an open knowledge that he was the largest of sponsor of late President Umaru Yarádua’s election in a bid to cover the mess he left behind when he was a governor. An attempt by EFCC to prosecute him was dismissed after he lubricated his way through the legal maze with the huge amount of money at his disposal. Characteristic of all Nigeria looters he laundered a huge chunk of the stolen money to UK where he bought a string of luxury houses, apartments and posh as well as armoured cars; and that was his nemesis.

By every standard UK is a very well regulated country with zero tolerance for corruption and

By Adegbola Akinwale

U

ntil you hear the Scotsman play the bagpipes in the early morning mist of the Scottish highlands, you have heard nothing. Until you hear the Irish sing ‘’O Danny Boy’’ on the lush green fields of the Emerald Isle, you know nothing.

Until you hear the merry Welsh sing ‘’Welshmen Never Yield’’ in the beautiful valleys of Pontypool and Swansea, you have heard nothing. Until you see the rose blossom in the English

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

This is justice outsourced whose judiciary is very credible. fight this looter head on The UK as a nation the judiciary has to James Ibori’s spending spree has shown us how to effectively returned to its traditional role of in UK made their detectives to fight corruption – present a being the common man’s last investigate the source of his water tight case to the judiciary call. The judicial system has to wealth. A suspicious Ibori ran and how honourable a judiciary be overhauled and incompetent, away from the UK to Nigeria and should be. In Nigeria, ours is a dubious and corrupt judges after a further threat from EFCC lawless country where justice weeded out of the system to give fled to Dubai from where he was goes to the highest bidder and the way for more robust and extradited to UK. Back in the UK, investigative work of a law intellectually capable judges the man readily pleaded guilty enforcement officer is hampered that will be able to articulate and deliver to the charges morally against him at the s o u n d London Southwark judgements. court and will be The anti sentenced on 16th Peoples Daily welcomes your letters, opinion articles, text corruption April. messages and ‘pictures of yesteryears.’ All written investigative This development contributions should be concise. Word limits: Letters - 150 officials should be a very big words, Articles - 750 words. Please include your name and have to slap on the Nigerian a valid location. Letters to the Editor should be addressed also be system. It has added to: given the to the belief that we political cannot be able to fight The Editor, and legal our own fight.

Peoples Daily, 1st Floor Peace Plaza, backing to Ordinarily the UK 35 Ajose Adeogun Street, Utako, Abuja. pursue should not have any corruption problem with Ibori’s Email: let ters@peoplesdaily-online.com with the loot; in fact it should SMS: 07037756364 mindset of have embraced it a because of its attendant benefit to their by political considerations and Nigerian rather than the mindset economy. But in a show of trust robbed in the dangerous attire of of a tribal or religious jingoist.

The Nigerian system as it is worthiness and an uncommon tribal and religious sentiments. will to stamp out corruption in And with this mindset progress has no flaws, it is only being whatever form from their will be nothing to us but a mirage. corrupted the average Nigerian. system, the country decided to In as much as we want to progress If an average Nigerian can learn

WRITE TO US

to stand up and fight for his right, to be able to resist the temptation and lure of given out bribes for services, if only we can learn to be orderly, well disciplined, straight forward and de-tribalized then the leaders will fear enriching themselves corruptly, civil servants will become more responsible and the law enforcement agents will be forced to sit up and face their legitimate duties. It is only through this that our society can be able to have a shot at progress.

We the followers form the largest part of the population and it is only by us changing that the leaders will be forced to change.

All the developed countries of the world are characterized by people that have the ability to identify their rights and fight for them. We also can march them on this, our resolve to fight for our rights has been ignited during the last fuel subsidy protest and we should not just stop there. We must stand up to fight all the other James Iboris that are in the system and also learn to be patriotic citizens.

Sani Sadeeq can be reached at sanisadeeq@yahoo.com

The passion that bleeds summer and you hear the Grenadiers sing ‘’God Save The Queen’’, you have seen nothing.

Until you see and hear the ‘’Charge of the Light Brigade’’ and witness the courage of ‘’the famous 600'’, you know nothing.

Until you see the Zulu warrior dance his battle dance on the hills of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, you know nothing. Until you hear the Ashanti and the Yoruba sing

worship songs to the Living God, you have heard nothing.

Until you see the igbo courageously marching into battle, you have seen nothing.

Until you see the French Foreign Legion singing ‘’La Marseillaise’’ and ‘’Je Ne Regrette’’, you know nothing. Until you see the Fulani horseman in the full fury of a cavalry charge, you have seen nothing.

Until you see brave men fight, suffer and die for a noble and just cause, you know nothing. Until you hear the cries, see the tears, read the words and feel the pain of a wounded, tormented and broken soul, you have seen nothing.

All these unseen things inspire and move. They stir the spirit and they, in turn, are stirred by passion. They ARE

passion. They breath and bleed passion. And passion is the essence of life. It is the food of the compassionate and sensitive and the fuel of noble and courageous souls.

It is the stuff of which gods and the immortals are made. It is our passport to posterity-our key to future glory.

Femi Fani-Kayode is a former Aviation Minister.

EFCC: Are we not wasting money on this fat cow?

By Charles Ofoji

I

f you spend, or employ uselessly without adequate return, it is a locus-classic case of profligate squander. Now, if you juxtapose the colossal sum spent on the so-called anti-graft agency, the EFCC since it was conceived and set up by former President Obasanjo`s government, with the results it has achieved in its careworn fight against corruption, then you cannot but concur with me that the agency is a massive misuse of tax payers money funds, which could have been more prudently spent in a country where everything needs fixing. This makes me feel very strongly about public money, especially at these times when we have just withdrawn the subsidy on fuel, which in my view is the only benefit ordinary Nigerians enjoy being citizens of the 7th largest exporter of oil in the world.

The cheap propaganda mounted last week by the EFCC over the conviction of a former teacher in Adamawa state for

N3.8million scam nearly brought my stomach, already nervous over the state of our country, to ulcer. One Wilson Uwujaren, ostensibly acting as the Head, Media & Publicity at the EFCC sent a press release flying all over the place about this milestone in the annals of the agency’s war on corruption.

According to the press release, “an Adamawa state High Court sitting in Yola, has sentenced a former Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Teachers in Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa state, Mr. Japhet Dadiye to two years in prison over N3.8million scam. Dadiye was sentenced by Justice Audu Lagre for defrauding a new generation bank to the tune of N3, 848,678million.” Hip, hip, hip, hurray!

Is this why the EFCC was set up? Surely not. It is intended as an anti corruption bureau, dedicated to combating corruption in high places, which has kept away from us as a people the goodies the gods intended for us. Since independence, this country has raked in over

$600billion dollars from oil export alone. You and I are not in two minds that nothing on the ground reflects this huge earning.

Ordinary Nigerians are still lacking the main things of life, things that are taken for granted in other climes that are not even half as blessed as our country.

In case it interests Lamorde and his colleagues at EFCC, half of this money ended up in private coffers. This is why the EFCC was commissioned to get back some of the money and also to prevent corruption and the looting of public treasury. If they care to know, Nigeria is not spending billions of Naira on EFCC only to reduplicate the functions of the regular police force.

That press release, as well as the EFCC TV show – “The Eagle”, which reports the arrest and conviction of people engaged in petty crimes, is a trivialisation by the commission of its onerous task, which chiefly is to curtail(nobody is expecting eradication) fraud by government officials.

The government and the people of Nigeria did not buy ships and big nets for the EFCC to catch small

fishes. Let EFCC give us the big fishes, who have and are still guzzling this country’s wealth.

It is on record that since the formation of the EFCC, no big fish has been caught. I challenge Lamorde and Co to prove me strong. Many ex public office holders, with cases of corruption to answer, who are supposed to be in prison for their crimes against the people, are still being treated as VIPs as if nothing happened, and without any response from a lame EFCC. The theory is rife that had Ibori not eloped, he would have been a free man today and would have continued to be a guest of honour at events in Abuja and Asaba. What further prove do we then need that this agency is a waste of tax payers’ money?

But in fairness, I have never expected much from the EFCC. Are the people working there not Nigerians? Why should they be different from other citizens of a country, where corruption has become a tradition and way of life?

This apart, the agency has been headed by a police officer since its inauguration. As I have

said several times before, nothing good can come out of the Nigeria police, which itself epitomizes corruption. Any officer who participated in robbing citizens of N20 and N50 at gunpoint at the checkpoints, or condoned the act cannot be trusted with the burden of fighting corruption. In so far as no policeman has resigned in protest, it follows that they are all party to the illegal extortion and robbery perpetrated by the police against the same people they are paid to protect.

The EFCC has never kept its acclaimed eagle eye on the ball.

Instead of focusing on the real enemies of the state, it prefers to be preoccupied with minor cases, which the police can deal with.

This reduces the EFCC, which was created primarily to prevent and fight fiddle by public office holders, to a toothless bulldog and therefore an unnecessary duplication of the job of the police and a gigantic waste of tax payers’ funds.

Charles Ofoji contributed this piece on saharareporters.com

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

M

ilitary coups were dishearteningly common in Africa and Latin America during the 1960s and 70s, with governments fell to opportunistic military men. That trend has been slowing in the past two decades, as more and more governments have been holding regular elections. However, last week, troops in Mali revolted and announced that they had toppled their commander – in - chief, Amadou Toumani Toure, an elected President.

The embattled President was himself a beneficiary of a coup in 1991. He seized power as a paratrooper. But he did not hold onto power for too long as is common in Africa, but graciously bowed out by yielding authority to elected politicians after a little more than a year.

After retiring from the army, Toure took a shot at partisan politics and won the presidency in 2002 and was re-elected in 2007.Both elections were generally regarded as free and fair by foreign observers. Toure said that he would abide by the country’s constitutional two-term limit, and he was not going to run in the presidential election that was scheduled for the end of April this year.

In fact, Mali under Toure could be described as a model of democracy in Africa. The recent turbulent events in neighbouring Lybia prepared the grounds for the country’s current travails. Last year, the Arab Spring that started

PAGE 15

Lessons from Mali in Tunisia spread all over the Arab demand so issues and battle lines world. Soon, Gaddhafi was in big were joined and drawn. In the trouble. He faced a revolt not only ensuing encounters, government by his own people but was also forces suffered many reverses. In opposed by the international fact, the spokesman of the rebel community led by the United soldiers, Capt, Amadou Sanogo, in States under a United his first Nations mandate. In broadcast desperation, he claimed that employed many the army members of Mali’s has been Tuareg ethnic group disgruntled as mercenary now for two fighters. But they m o n t h s could not save his since this t o t t e r i n g rebellion government. broke out in When rebels the north; Emmanuel Yawe overthrew the that the 08024565402 dictator last August, royawe@yahoo.com government his frustrated has not mercenaries returned to the given them adequate weaponry, deserts of northern Mali, bringing even food, to be able to take on the with them looted weapons from Tuareg fighters in the north.

Gaddhafi’s arsenal.

Close In line with current trends, watchers of political the coup drew angry reactions developments in Mali are quite from the international aware that the Tuaregs of the community. The takeover was north have for ages been condemned by the US, the complaining of marginalization. European Union, African Union But with the heavy ammunition and the Economic Community of they acquired from their West African States, the latter of adventures in Libya, they which Mali mis founding became emboldened enough to member. “We call for calm and take on the government the restoration of the civilian headlong. They even had the government under temerity to demand a separate constitutional rule without delay country of their own. so that elections can proceed as Expectedly, the government scheduled”, US State Department of Toure would not grant such a spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland,

said. “We stand with the legitimately elected government of President Amadou Toumani Toure. Mali is a leading democracy in West Africa and its institutions must be respected.”

African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping, called on the mutineers to end their coup.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and ECOWAS Commision have expressed displeasure and dismay over the action of the renegade troops, describing the coup as “an apparent setback to the consolidation of democracy in Mali in particular and the African continent in general.” President Jonathan warned the coup plotters to allow the on-going democratic process in the country to run its full course and not to do anything that would truncate the electoral process especially the presidential election slated for next month.

The ECOWAS Commission in a statement by its President, Désiré Kadré Ouedraogo, strongly condemned what it called the “misguided actions of the mutineers” and warned that it would not condone any recourse to violence as a means of seeking redress. It said that it has been following the unfolding events in Bamako with dismay and mounting concern.

The rebellious soldiers have

not helped their cause by embarking on actions that cannot be defended. There are reports that they have freely looted the presidential palace and other valuable properties in Bamako the capital city. They have abandoned the war front and the rebel Tuaregs have taken advantage of the confusion in the capital to dig in and gain more grounds.

As sad as the developments in Mali are, they serve as a reminder to all of us that this is Africa and anything could just happen. A stable country today could suddenly dissolve in anarchy tomorrow. A fledgling democracy today can suddenly become a hardened dictatorship tomorrow.

A country considered a friend of the United States today can become its enemy tomorrow…

Africa is unfortunate to be led by bad leaders in an international community that hardly understands that its peoples are poor and hungry; that what they need is good governance, food and justice – not empty and hollow promises of democracy.

The practice of democracy in Africa has neither produced the wealth, prosperity or justice that its people crave for every day.

When Africa erupts the way Mali did last week, it leaves the outside world wondering. Fellow African leaders rush to condemn it because as the Hausa saying goes, when your neighbour’s beard catches fire, you rush for water to save your own.

Okonjo-Iweala & World Bank presidency bid

W

ith Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala’s formal entry into the race for the presidency of the World Bank, Nigeria has thrown its hat into the ring of international, high stakes diplomacy. Latest reports indicate she is one of three candidates vying for the job, one of them Jim Yong Kim, a naturalized American and President Barack Obama’s nominee. Kim, who is the President (Vice-Chancellor) of Darthmouth College, New Hampshire, is a global expert on health matters. The third is Jose Antonio Ocampo, former finance minister of Colombia in South America and currently a professor at Columbia University in New York.

Of the three, Dr OkonjoIweala, who is Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, is so eminently qualified for the job that ordinarily she should be the candidate to beat. In Dr. OkonjoIweala, Nigeria has a formidable candidate that is saleable to the world. Her credentials, both academic and professional as well as experience are intimidating enough.

She attended America’s two most prominent Ivy League universities- Harvard University where she graduated, magna cum laude, with a bachelors degree in 1977 and later earned a doctorate degree in regional economics and development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She started working at the World Bank, a development finance institution,

in 1984 and has logged over 20 leadership will be able to walk the years with the bank. So, hers is a talk of the commendatory positions case of a round peg in a round hole it had given the Nigerian – she constitutes a meeting point minister. Its was Robert Zoellick, between theory and practical an American, and the out-going experience in development World Bank President, whose finance. A candidate can hardly tenure expires in June, who had come better prepared for a position appointed Dr. Okonjo-Iweala to the such as is at stake at the World bank’s MD position on October 4, Bank.

2007, effective December 1, 2007.

She spent her early years at Her work, both at the World the bank in the Africa Division where she was a special assistant to the World Bank’s with Vice-President for Africa, Edward Jaycox. She has since traversed all olawunmibisi@yahoo.com s t r a t e g i c 0803 364 7571 (SMS only) departments of the bank serving in various capacities, and rising to Bank and as Nigeria’s finance the position of Vice-President and minister, had not gone unnoticed, Corporate Secretary before her thus earning her honours and appointment as Finance Minister advisory positions. Among such by the Obasanjo administration honours, she was Euromoney in July 2003 during which magazine’s Global Finance period she was largely Minister of the Year 2005; instrumental in securing debt Financial Times’ The Banker’s relief for Nigeria from its creditors African Finance Minister 2005, in the Paris Club. while she is a Fellow at the It was a measure of her value Brookings Institution, an elite at the World Bank that when she Washington D.C - based think tank resigned her position as Foreign and member of the Advisory Affairs Minister in August 2006, Boards of Global Financial the bank not only gladly accepted Integrity and World Resources her back, but she was appointed Institute. to the position of Managing However, eminently qualified Director of the bank, an eloquent as the Nigerian minister is, testimony that she is considered a international positions such as valuable asset. Now that one of its that of the World Bank require a own, if ever there is one, is vying lot of diplomatic outreach and for the top job, it remains to be seen recall of I.O.Us. That of the World whether the World Bank Bank presidency is particularly

The Bisibee Bisi Olawunmi

contentious because it has traditionally been held by an American nominated by the President, while that of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had been held by Europeans. But recent clamours for the democratization of these positions in the quest for fairness in the international system brought about challenge against Christine Lagarde, the French minister who succeeded her kinsman at the IMF. It will be recalled that the French had to engage in global outreach, pushing her candidacy for the job. In spite of tradition being on her side, there was no complacency as she aggressively sold her credentials and advertised her reputation.

Nigeria must take a cue from this.

It is a high stake position. There is the temptation for Obama to want to lean on many countries to support his nominee who was born in South Korea. A case could be made that he too is from a developing world. That can’t be a water-tight case because his nomination is as an American.

Nigeria’s huge contributions to UN projects and the sacrifices it has made must be vigorously articulated. This will shape out as an historical battle, since a World Bank presidency by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala would usher in a new era not only at the World Bank but induce a similar

reversal of things taken for granted in the UN system including the veto power of few countries which are permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Another potential landmark would be having two women at the head of the two most prominent global finance institutions.

It is a good omen that the candidacy of Okonjo-Iweala was done in South Africa and with public show of support also from Angola, the three countries – Nigeria, South Africa and Angolaconstituting strategic African economies. With China seeking a foot hold in Africa, this is a time to let China take a firm stand for the African candidate. Although Kim is a health expert, the power behind him may discountenance this limitation while it could be argued that health, especially the issue of HIV/AIDS, has taken centre stage with the World Bank.

The case must be made that the World Bank must revert to its core mandate of development finance.

To allow a Kim at the helm will amount to an ultimate loss of focus for the bank.

Nigeria must support OkonjoIweala’s bid for the World Bank presidency with aggressive diplomacy so as not suffer the same humiliation as in the loss of the African Development Bank presidency to a Rwandese right in Abuja. And this is a much bigger battle. A win will be tough, but not impossible. History beckons on Nigeria and Ngozi OkonjoIweala.

PAGE 16

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Combating illegal trading activities in Dei-Dei

By Josephine Ella

D

ei-Dei, a sprawling settlement under Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), is one of Abuja’s indigenous settlements that has witnessed drastic population upsurge in recent times.

In the wake of series of massive demolition exercises carried out by erstwhile Minister of the FCT, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, which rendered thousands of Abuja residents homeless, Dei-Dei became a safe haven for many victims of the demolition saga.

Ever since, it has continued to accommodate more people, mostly the poor, whose sources of livelihood include; petty trading and menial jobs.

Overtime, the quiet ambience of the settlement, an entry and exit route in to Abuja city gave way to activities of hoodlums, armed robbers and other prohibited activities like street trading, hawking, begging, drug peddling and trading in the national currency by sale of Naira notes.

It is now common sight to see children of school age and other youths hawking snacks, clothing items, electronics, sachet water, fruits and other things along the junction that leads to the settlement.

This is the only place in the FCT where daring youth overtly engage in illegal selling and buying of the Naira notes without fear.

At most junctions, the army of youths are often seen brandishing new mints to motorists and

Affected traders, other residents, staring at their tables, benches, make-shift shops, other junks confiscated by officials of the AEPB from Dei-Dei Motor Park during the raid last Thursday. passersby in a bid to attract their patronage.

Sanitation wise, the area is nothing short of an eyesore, right from the junction to the main access road linking the neighbourhoods.

The partial or no presence of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), has obviously not helped matters in the area, a development which has contributed immensely to the appalling condition of the area.

However, sanity may soon be restored to the area, following the resolve of the Abuja Environmental

Residents watch, while officials engage in the cleaning exercise

Protection (AEPB) to spread its tentacles to the settlement.

In line with this, the AEPB Thursday last week raided some of the places in the

settlement, notorious for illegal activities of traders such as the Dei-Dei junction, Motor Park, where drug peddlers sell Indian hemp openly and people operate

“

This is the only place in the FCT where daring youth overtly engage in illegal selling and buying of the Naira notes without fear. At most junctions, the army of youths are often seen brandishing new mints to motorists and passersby in a bid to attract their patronage brothels.

The raid saw to the destruction of illegal attachments, tables, chairs, canopies, barbecues, benches, make-shift shops and other junks used by traders operating illegally in the park.

Successfully conducted with the company of heavily armed soldiers and police officers, it also saw to the arrest of some street hawkers at the junction and clearing of junks deposited by traders in front of Abukuhafa Jumat Mosque.

On what propelled the exercise, the board’s Director, Mr. Isah Shuaibu told journalists after the raid that the FCT administration was determined to extend the war against filth, illegal trading activities to other areas outside the city centre. “ Abuja is not only Garki, Maitama, Wuse, Asokoro, Wuse

districts, it also include places like this because the infrastructures that passes through this place is same that leads into the city so whatever rules of the environment that applies to the city also applies here too because it is the same human beings that are living in the city that are living here too “, he said.

The director admitted that the presence of the AEPB had not been felt in Dei- Dei both in terms of cleaning and other environmental issues and that was the reason why the situation has deteriorated to such a despicable level.

While lamenting the appalling situation which he said was not good enough for the image of the FCT, he emphasised: “Whatever is done in the city in terms of sanitation should also apply here because there is no point visitors are coming into the city and the first thing that welcomes them is this eyesore”.

Although the raid which lasted for some hours, instantly changed the ugly scenario of the area, those affected by the exercise were not happy.

A petty trader, who sells bread, juice and recharge card in the area, Blessing Ezeigwe was particularly unhappy with the destruction of her makeshift-shop, tables, chairs, canopies, barbecues and other illegal structures belonging to other traders which aids their businesses.

Her words: “Actually I don’t feel okay about these burning of things because it is not my goods. I sell for my elder sister who travelled yesterday.

They didn’t provide any place for us and in order to help our children and family, we have to sell here. Nobody will sit at home and wait for food or money to fall from heaven, so you have to make a move and help yourself”.

She however added: “If they are doing this for our own good, to develop this place, then fine, but they should give us a permanent site where we can go and do our businesses”.

Another trader, Hamisu Musa, also wondered how they were expected to survive without doing their normal business, said: “I feel very bad because this is where we do business to make small money to feed ourselves and help our younger ones and now everything has been burnt.

What do they want people to do now to survive?

For a leader in the community, Mohammed Galadima, it was mixed reaction. While he commended the cleaning exercise, he Continued on page 18

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 17

A long kerosene queue, at NNPC mega station, on Saturday, in Abuja.

Huge refuse dumps, at Nyanya Mopol junction, yesterday in Abuja.

Two scavengers at a Nyanya refuse dump, yesterday in Abuja.

A motorcyclist trying to find out what is wrong, recorded at Karu Junction, in Abuja, yesterday.

Time to rest for a vendor, yesterday, at power house junction, in Abuja.

Photos: Mahmud Isa and Joe Oroye

PAGE 18

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Women must help curb corruption – WINN

By Adeola Tukuru

A

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Women In the New Nigeria (WINN) at the weekend lamented the high rate of corruption in the country and said that the fight against the menace must start with the women considering their roles in the families.

According to the Initiator of WINN, Evang. Eunice GordonOsagiede; “Our desire is to

…gives free eye tests to Kuje residents change the mind sets and orientation of people especially women who have direct relationship with their husbands and children through enlightenments to make them corrupt free.

“We have discovered that women are the change agents in the society because of their role as first teachers in the home as well as their influences

on their husbands. “ Reorientation of our mindsets and putting our values right which I believe must start from our individual repentance will address corruption which has become a lifestyle in the country,” she said.

On the free eye screening tests and treatment for women in Kuje Area Council, FCT,

carried out by WINN, Mrs Eunice Gordon Osagiede explained that the free medical outreach was part of the NGO’s commitments to impact on women at the grassroots.

She said WINN was an interfaith organization established to enhance women empowerment and positive change that would guarantee a new Nigeria.

In his remark, Dr Ahmed Danfulani, the Medical Director, Kuje General Hospital had commended the WINN for the medical outreach and called on other NGOs for similar gesture.

He had pledging the commitment of the hospital to continue to partner with NGOs and other stakeholders to enhance better healthcare delivery in the area.

NGO doles out mosquito nets to Mpape residents

By Adeola Tukuru

A

Non Governmental Organisation, Jeffan Humanity Foundation, has distributed 300 pieces of insecticidal mosquito net to Mpape residents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Vice President of the Foundation Mrs Preye Abah, said this was to compliment the ongoing efforts of the Federal Government to distribute about 60 million LLINs nationwide in a bid to stem the incidence of malaria in households in Nigeria.

She said the foundation revisited rural communities in Mpape where it had earlier conducted rapid diagnostic testing for malaria diagnosis with the support of Society for Family Health from June to December 2011.

According to Abah, over 8,000

persons were tested during the rapid diagnostic testing outreach and about 6 per cent were diagnosed positive for malaria.

She said, “The communities visited included Jikoko, Mashafa, and Katampe village. It was indeed

a thing of joy to have gone back to the communities to give them nets which will go a long way in preventing members of their households especially women and children from malaria.”

She said the nets were

distributed to women in the various communities because of the limited number.

According to the vice president, “In each of the communities, the women were taught how to prevent malaria by

cleaning the surrounding and getting rid of stagnated water. The women were also put through on how best to use and maintain the nets and the importance of sleeping under them nets consistently.”

Lawyer sues FCT minister over parking fee

T

he FCT Minister Bala Mohammed was on Friday dragged to the FCT High Court, Abuja, over allegation of collecting illegal fees from motorists.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Innocent Onwu, who filed the suit, accused the Minister of allegedly violating the constitution by collecting fees from people who park their cars on the streets of Abuja.

He said that only the National Assembly had powers to make laws for the FCT, including legislation

on fees and revenue collections, adding that the minister had no leverage to collect such fund.

Onwu deposed in a 22paragraph affidavit that sometimes in December 2011 the minister announced the charging of fees on motorists who park their vehicles on the streets and roads of Abuja.

He said such decision infringed on the rights of residents of the city to own cars or vehicles.

Onwu said the payment of fees ``before people are allowed to park

their vehicles'' had worsened the suffering of the people under the current regime of fuel subsidy removal.

He deposed that based on sections 4(6), (7); 299(a), (b) and (c) of the 1999 constitution, the powers to make laws for the FCT, prescribing, imposing and providing for the collection of any tax, fee or rate was vested exclusively on the National Assembly.

He said the action of the minister in collecting N100 or

any other sum as fee or payment for vehicles parked on the streets and roads of the city was unlawful.

Onwu sought for an order of the court to restrain the minister whether by himself, his agents, privies, assigns or whatsoever purporting to act on his behalf, from further levying motorists who park their vehicles on the streets of Abuja.

NAN reports that no date has been fixed for hearing in the case.

(NAN)

Combating illegal trading activities in Dei-Dei Continued from page 16 claimed that residents were not duly notified before the exercise was carried out.

“Well, it is a good thing that they are trying to make this place clean but the only thing is that they should have informed us so that everybody will clear his property away.

In fact it was only this morning that I heard it that they were coming to carry out this exercise and I’m sure my chief does not know too,” he said.

However, the AEPB director when confronted on the issue of notices refuted the claim, saying ignorance was no excuse.

“Do you give some notice when you go to a place without approval? They know that it is wrong. The notice we give on the radio and TV is not only heard in the city but this place, so anybody who said he/she did not hear about our coming is only pretending and ignorance is no excuse in law,” he said.

On his part, the Chief Imam of Abukuhafa Jumat Mosque, Abubakar Ibini Abibakar commended the effort of the board in sanitising the area.

He said that it was a good development that ought to be

sustained by the AEPB especially in view of the present security challenges bedevilling the country.

Blaming the appalling state of the area to the level of illiteracy, he said: “Most of our people are illiterate if not, they should know that cleanliness is good for their health. Even for security purposes we have to make everywhere clean in order to protect ourselves at this time when people are throwing bombs here and there”.

One critical issue that comes to mind is how best to sustain the exercise to ensure that the area does not return to its former filthy state.

To ensure this, the director said that following an approval by the FCT minister, the board sw set to establish an office in Dei-Dei. “I have just directed my officers to construct a small cabin office here tomorrow (last Friday), we will move in the necessary materials and hopefully by the weekend we should be through with this,” he had assured journalists.

While frowning at the massive activities of street hawkers and traders, consisting mainly children of

Traders making moves to salvage some of their properties during the exercise school age, he warned elders in Dei-Dei to call their children and women to order.

“I have told them to tell their community leaders that they must remove their children from the street because the next time I come

here, I will be very hard on them and I mean every word of it,” he said.

As part of his contributions to maintain the present state of cleaniness of the area, the Chief Imam of Abukuhafa Jumat Mosque

in Dei- Dei pledged that he would support the government by enlightening the people continuously “because government alone cannot carry out this task of making the place remain clean”.

BUSINESS

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Email: amunuimam@yahoo.co.uk

PAGE 19

INSIDE - Pg 20 Interbank rates fall on budget cash inflow

Mob: 08033644990

FAAC allocation for the month of March 2012 S/N

BENEFICIARIES

SUB-TOTAL (N)

1

FG (52.68%) States (26.72%) L/govt Councils (20.72%) Derivation (13% of Mineral revenue-oil/gas) Value Added Tax (VAT) & Transfers

620.7 billion

Unity Bank wins CBN’s operational efficiency award

By Aminu Imam

U

nity Bank Plc has received an award for being the most error free non settlement bank by the Central Bank of Nigeria in Makurdi.

The award was presented to the Bank by the Makurdi Clearing House Committee of the CBN during the 2011 Bankers’ Award held recently in Makurdi.

The bank also received a certificate or active participation on the clearing arena in the Makurdi Clearing House activities for the year 2011.

In a statement issued by Unity Bank, the Head, Media & External Communications, Alhaji Sani Zaria, who disclosed that the bank won the award for having the

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

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

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IRS AIRLINES

largest volume of transactions on the clearing floor in Kano in 2010 said this is indicative of the bank’s commitment in ensuring excellent service delivery.

He further stated that the bank would continue to improve on all aspects of its services while leveraging on its robust IT facilities to deliver simplified banking services to its numerous customers.

It would be recalled that just recently, the bank launched the ‘AIM, SAVE & WIN’ promo aimed at rewarding existing customers and attracting new ones with a view to encouraging a culture of saving among Nigerians.

NRC to resume operations on Lagos-Kano route soon — MD

T

he Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr. Sheyi Sijuade says the corporation will resume services on the Lagos-Kano route after the completion of the Akerebridges and culverts in Niger in April.

Sijuademade the plan known to newsmen at Akere, after assessing ongoing work at the site.

“You can see the height of the two bridges and culverts being constructed and quite a significant chunk of the project is flood protection work.

“The job done so far is brilliant; I must say that this job has been very problematic. So, for us to get it done now shows that we will soon commence operations from Lagos to Kano.

“We are looking at commencing services by the end of April 2012 and full commercial services a few weeks after,” he said.

(NAN) EXCHANGE RATES

CBN CFA • £ RIYAL $

LOS -ABJ: 9.45, 11.45, 2.45

LOS-KANO: 6.15 LOS-KANO (SAT/SUN): 16.30 KANO-LOS: 07.30 KANO-LOS (SUN/SUN): 10.30

£ RIYAL $

Reforms: Nigeria now produces 2.6m barrels of oil daily– Jonathan

P

resident Goodluck Jonathan says Nigeria now produces 2.6 million barrels of oil per day due to ongoing economic reforms embarked upon by the PDP-led Federal Government.

Jonathan stated this at the 2012 PDP National Convention held in Abuja at the weekend.

He said that in the last 13 years, PDP governments had also carried out far-reaching reforms in the various sectors of the economy to serve as building blocks for sustainable development and to grow the capacity in local production and improve the quality of service delivery.

The President who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, said the government was at various levels in the implementation of reform policies in key sectors of the economy.

“I assure you that very soon, tangible results will begin to come in, for Nigerians to appreciate some of the tough decisions we have had to take in the last two years to improve the quality of life of our citizens.

“In recent times, the economic reforms implemented by the PDP administration led to increase in our oil production, up to 2.6 million barrels per day.

According to him, the implementation of the local

SELLING 0.3136 206.3894 246.965 41.6116 156.06

BUYING 243 43 154

SELLING 257 45 159

content policy in the oil and gas sector is also helping to grow indigenous capacity.

He further maintained that investments were being encouraged in the power sector, and a comprehensive roadmap for the power sector was being implemented to stabilise power supply in the country.

“We are rehabilitating all our hydro-power plants for optimal capacity utilisation, alongside the construction of 10 power plants of which three will be commissioned this year.

“This is in addition to renewing our transmission and distribution capacity to ensure adequate power supply to all parts of the country.”

The President said the government had resolved to make Nigeria a major player in the international gas market through the implementation of the Nigerian Gas Master-Plan.

He said already the country had designed a framework for the expansion of gas infrastructure within the domestic market to boost commercial exploitation of gas for domestic consumption and export.

He said the master plan was a roadmap to fully harness the nation’s gas potentials and meet the challenges of gas supply to power plants nationwide.

“The diversification of the

economy is progressing steadily with sustained increase in nonoil GDP growth, particularly through agricultural production.

“Our country has continued to record favourable ratings from international credit agencies due to the success of our economic reform programmes.”

Jonathan noted with delight that “Nigeria’s exit from the Paris Club, a feat achieved under a PDP-led administration, has freed more resources that now go into investment in human capital and economic development annually”.

He, therefore, assured that the PDP led government would continue to expand the frontiers of reforms to consolidate on the successes recorded by previous regimes.

On 2012 budget, the President said it provided a solid macro economic framework upon which necessary investment could be made in key sectors of the economy as contained in the Agenda.

While acknowledging that the nation had been having some challenges with threats to national security, due to the activities of ``some misguided and criminal elements in the society'', Jonathan said the security agencies had done a lot to contain the threat. (NAN) “We are determined to

Management Tip of the Day

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PARALLEL RATES

ABJ-LOS: 11.30, 3.45, 4.45

L-R: Chairperson, House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Hon. Khadijat Ibrahim,with committee members, Hon. Uzoma Nkem Abonta, and Hon. Fort Dike, during a meeting on the post privatisation challenges facing Calabar port, at the National Assembly, recently in Abuja.

Photo: Mahmud Isa

Before promoting someone, do a test-run

I

f you suspect an employee is ready for a promotion, don't jump right in.

Performance in a current role doesn't always predict performance in a future one.

Gather more information by designing an assignment for the employee that mimics

the tasks and challenges of the new job. Be transparent and tell him that you are using this experiment to test his ability. Make it shortterm, outlining clear success criteria and an evaluation timeline.

Be careful not to invisibly

promote someone without recognizing his contributions. Permanently providing more responsibility without a change in title or pay can sap motivation.

Source: Harvard Business Review

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 20

COMPANY NEWS Pro-vitamin A cassava consumption to save $1.5bn losses in GDP - Agric minister

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he consumption of cassava that has been fortified with Vitamin A could help Nigeria reduce economic losses in gross domestic product (GDP) estimated at about $1.5 billion (N225bn), says Akinwumi Adesina, minister of agriculture and rural development, in Umudike, Abia State.

HP to merge printer, PC businesses

H

ewlett Packard Co makers of laptop PCs printers and toners has said it would be merging its printer and PC business in a major reorganisation to save costs and boost growth.

Specialised Risk Insurance huge and profitable market– LASACO

T

he recent entry of Nigeria’s insurance industry into specialised risk areas of space insurance

by LASACO Assurance’s lead Consortium on the Nigeria satellites Nig. Sat 2; Nig. Sat NX and Nig Comsat 1R has revealed great opportunities for market growth.

IFC grants N2bn convertible loan to support Custodian’s expansion plans

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igeria’s interbank lending rates fell sharply this week to an average of 13 percent, from 15.08 percent, as cash flow from February budgetary allocations to government agencies boosted liquidity in the system, traders said.

The sum of 620.7 billion ($3.94 billion) from oil receipts was distributed to its three tiers of government on Monday, and traders said the funds hit the system on Wednesday, sinking the cost of borrowing among banks.

“The market opened with a

Interbank rates fall on budget cash inflow cash balance of about 194 billion naira ($1.23 billion) on Friday, and this provides the needed relief for the market,” one trader said. The market had closed on a negative balance of 129.55 billion naira last Friday.

The secured Open Buy Back (OBB) eased to 12.50 percent from, 14.50 percent last week, 50 basis points above the central bank’s 12 percent benchmark rate, and 2.50 percentage points above the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate.

Overnight placement fell to

13 percent, from 15.25 percent, while call money traded closed at 13.50 percent, against 15.50 percent last week.

Traders said rates are expected to inch up next week, as a result of aggressive liquidity mopped-up by the central bank through the sales of treasury bills and other expected cash outflows into foreign exchange and bond purchases next week.

Nigeria sold 101.22 billion naira worth of treasury bills this week at a regular debt auction, while the regulator

CBN mulls establishment of Microfinance Development Fund

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has said the CBN is considering the establishment of a Microfinance Development Fund (MDF) as a further step to deepen the financial market.

In a statement tagged: “The Nigerian Financial System: Regulatory Trends, Opportunities and Challenges,” Sanusi, explained that the apex bank is working on deepening the financial markets through the introduction of new products and appropriate control structures.

The MDF when established, would assist in addressing teething challenges of underfunding for microfinance institutions in the country. It will further complement past and current efforts aimed at strengthening the microfinance sub-sector of the financial system, improve financial inclusion and by implication, improve the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate significantly, the statement indicated.

Sanusi said efforts are being made to consolidate on the achievements recorded so far by the in the development of micro finance banks, by strengthening the regulatory frameworks and other guidelines. This also includes formation of National Microfinance development Strategy with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the recent signing of a major agreement with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

To strengthen the microfinance subs-sector, he said CBN has also instituted new guidelines for their operations.

Under the new rule, microfinance banks would operate under three categories, which include Unit, State and National Microfinance banks.

A unit of the bank is authorised to operate in one location without branches/cash centres and is required to have a minimum paid up capital of N20 million. The state microfinance bank is expected to have a minimum paid up capital of N100 million. It is equally allowed to open branches within

the same state or the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

But the national microfinance bank, is authorised to operate in more than one state, including the FCT. It is required to have a minimum paid up capital of N2 billion and is allowed to open branches in all states of the federation and the FCT, although subject to prior written approval by the CBN. This, the CBN said, would strengthen the balance sheet of microfinance banks and create better opportunity for them to key into new businesses under better risk management procedures.

Meanwhile, Sanusi said the Nigerian market offers good banking, business and advisory opportunities for firms with an appetite for Sub-Saharan Africa, adding that the CBN intends to push for the enactment of four bills by the National Assembly to tighten financial sector regulations.

The bills are the Electronic Transaction Bill which when passed into law, will give effect to

T

he International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group will provide a $12.5 million senior convertible loan to support Custodian and Allied Insurance expansion plans within Nigeria and other markets, and to help it grow through new products and market segments.

BATN Foundation partners NDE to train youths on poultry business

Inflation rates from Mar, 2011 to Feb, 2012 Max = 12.8%, Min = 9.3% for period in display.

Current Inflation rate = 11.9% Source:CBN

Earnings Report for Banks

T

he British-American Tobacco of Nigeria (BATN) Foundation has donated three poultry pens to the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in Ondo State for the training of youths in poultry production, as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Source:Pro-share Nigeria

the admission in evidence of all electronically generated statements of account which the Evidence Act currently forbids, the Financial Ombudsman Bill needed to facilitate faster resolution of financial disputes.

PAGE 21

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

T

he N20 billion Ekiti State Government Fixed Rate Infrastructure Development Bond (December 8) 2018 of N1,000 each at Par under the N25 billion Debt Issuance Programme was admitted on the Daily Official List of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday, March 13, 2012.

The Coupon rate is 14.5 percent, and by this action, the number of listed state government bonds now stands at 12. Also listed was the Chellarams plc’s N540 million Unsecured Floating Rate

INVESTORS NEWS BEAT

Bonds: NSE records new, supplementary listings Bond 2019 of N1, 000 each at Par Series 2 under the N5 billion Medium Term Note Programme on Friday, March 16, 2012.

The Coupon rate is MPR + 5 (Minimum 13 percent, Maximum 19 percent). The coupon rate is 17 percent, which

is paid Semi-annual – February 17 and August 17 each year, commencing August 17, 2012.

The maturity date is February 17, 2019, and by this action, the number of corporate bonds and securities stand at 17 and 258, respectively.

In the supplementary listing, the 482,318,637 shares in favour of Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals plc were admitted on the Daily Official List on Friday, March 16, 2012, following the conclusion of the Rights Issue.

DMO to sell N50 billion in 2019, 2022 bonds

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he Debt management office (DMO) on Wednesday said it will auction 50 billion naira ($317.16 million) in sovereign bonds maturing in 2019 and 2022 on March 28, its third monthly debt auction

this year.

The debt office said it would sell 20 billion naira in 2019 paper, and 30 billion naira in the bond maturing in 2022. The instruments are all re-openings of previous issues, with the

auction result expected to be released the following day.

“The DMO reserves the right to alter the amount allotted in response to market conditions,” it said in a public notice.

Nigeria, Africa’s second-

biggest economy after south Africa, issues sovereign bonds monthly to support the local bond market, create a benchmark for corporate issuance and fund its budget deficit.

NSE DG endorses on-going public hearing on capital market

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he Director-General of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) , Mr. Oscar Onyema on Friday endorsed the on-going public hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market.

Onyema stated his position at the Nigeria Economic and Financial Markets Conference 2012, organised by BusinessinAfrica Events, in collaboration with Bloomberg Cooperation in London.

“If the hearing is handled correctly, we can actually get to the bottom of the causes of the market downturn,’’ the Europe Correspondent of the News

Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Onyema as saying.

He added that there was a need to know ``why we’ve seen a sustained downturn and not upturn, especially given that the global economy is beginning to recover.’’

Onyema noted that oil-prices were currently high, adding that there was a direct relationship between the all shares index and oil prices.

“We can find out the root causes and come up with ideas on how to change that trend and begin to drive improvement on the all shares index,’’ he said.

On attracting local investors

back to Nigeria, Onyema said in order to allow retail investors to benefit from diversification, NSE had introduced exchange traded funds which would allow it to provide different kinds of assets for local investors.

“We will also allow for trading in our listed branch, that way they can have access to fixed income, commodities,’’ he added.

Commenting on the listing of telecommunication companies, he said there were incentives that they could benefit from if they chose to be listed.

Onyema explained that some of the telecommunication

companies had different business plans and projections, including sourcing for funds from the capital market.

“Currently, for most of these companies, the ownership base that is Nigerian is very concentrated so if you are looking to diversify the ownership base, there is a good reason to come to the market,’’ he said.

Mr Suleiman Barau, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria and Coordinator, Financial System Strategy (FSS) 2020, said one of the aims of the FSS 2020 was to ensure that Nigeria became the financial hub of Africa. (NAN)

NSE Index inches up by 1.76% in the week

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he Nigerian stock market closed positive in the week after recording a negative outlook in the previous week as market witnessed renewed bargain activities in most trading days while Nigeria’s central bank kept its base interest rate on hold at 12% for the third time in a row after its Tuesday Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

In the same light, the key benchmark indices maintained uptrend by 1.13% to open the first trading day of the week positive due to intense bargain activities while the second closed with the bears as the twin market indicators, NSE ASI & CAP, moved in opposite directions with Index shedding -53.91 basis

points while market CAP garnered N15.65bn.

The third session erased previous loss after a day of negative position due to renewed bargain activities with ASI recording +0.29% gain while the fourth session maintained uptrend by +0.92% as market witnessed continuous bargain activities.

Conversely, trading activities on Friday closed southwards as the bears resurfaced. Consequently, the key benchmark indices dipped by 0.33% while market closed the week with aggregate gain of +1.76%.

Further analysis on acquiring banks since transaction date showed that

the share price of Access Bank Plc has recorded 33.54% gain, followed by FCMB recorded 12.82% while Union Bank Plc leads the chart with 66.51% gain which was significantly impacted by the recent share reconstruction.

However, Sterling Bank and ETI recorded -10.24% and -5.74% loss respectively.

However, the All-Share Index in the week under review moved up by 1.76% to close at 21,191.22 as against a decline by -0.60% recorded last week to close at 20,824.25.

In the same vein, the market capitalization in the week appreciated by N148.76 billion (US$991.78 million) to close at N6.72 trillion (US$44.78billion)

as against depreciation by N39.69 billion (US$264.60 million) recorded last week to close at N6.57 trillion (US$ 43.79billion).

The total volume traded in the week closed at 1.01 billion units valued at N13.49billion (US$89.91 million) compared with 1.97 billion units valued at N18.94 billion (US$126.27 million) exchanged in 18,651 deals last week. The volume transaction in the week when compared with the previous week data moved down by 48.83% as against upwards movement by +2.64% recorded last week. Weekly value also went down by -28.79% as against positive position of +13.59% recorded last week.

Access Bank to sell Intercontinental Bank U.K. unit

A

ccess Bank Plc (ACCESS), Nigeria’s sixth- largest lender by market value, plans to sell its entire stake in Intercontinental Bank U.K., Chief Executive Officer Aigboje AigImoukhuede said.

NPF Microfinance Bank Plc: recommend of dividend payment

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PF Plc. has notified the Exchange that at its Board of Directors meeting held on March 14, 2012, the Board resolved to recommend the payment of dividend of 2k per every 50k ordinary shares held in the Bank to its shareholders for approval. The total estimated dividend to be paid is N45, 733, 120.

Intercontinental Securities relocates to new address

I

ntercontinental Securities Limited has effective 20th March, 2012relocated from its old Lagos address of Bull Plaza (16th Floor), 38/39 Marina Plaza to Plot 1686, Oladele Olashore Street, Off Sanusi Fafunwa Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Julius Berger gains by daily limit of 5%

J

ulius Berger Nigeria Plc, the country’s largest construction company by market value, gained by the daily limit of 5% limit while posting a profit that increased by 74 percent.

3-yr bond yield fall at steady rates

Y

ields on Nigeria’s most liquid 3-year government bond fell on Wednesday, after a surprise decline in inflation and a move by the central bank to hold rates steady for a third time in a row.

Notore eyes N155bn fresh capital for new plant

A

Source:Pro-share Nigeria

lmost six years after taking over the former National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria (NAFCON), the management of Notore Chemical Industries Limited, Onne, Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, hinted of plans to seek fresh funds for a new production plant.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 22

Expert charges Nigerians on payment of water rates From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi water consultant with the United States Agency for I n t e r n a t i o n a l Development (USAID), has called on Nigerians to reciprocate the efforts of stakeholders in ensuring sustainable provision of water in the country by constant payment of rates and wastage The Team Leader of the Sustainable Water and Sanitation in Africa (SUWASA), Mr. Hossana Dajan, stated that the gesture would ensure the attainment of the policy on water for security in the country.

He said that the provision of adequate portable water was hindered by the failure to ensure constant payment of water rates coupled with the wastage of the scarce resource through abuse.

A

‘’Water provision should not be a government thing alone.

Water has to be everybody’s business; government, the people themselves, other sectors players like NGOs, CVOs and other international funders and international donors.

“So water has all these faces, and therefore, is everybody’s business. So everybody must come in to be able to provide water.’’

Dajan added that complementing government funding through payment of water rates would also increase the quantity of portable water supply.

He pointed out that when people pay their service bills, water would then be expanded to other areas like electricity, transportation and tourism sector usages.

He said that the water policy

put in place in Bauchi state would ensure the provision of

sustainable water to the people of the state.

‘Pure water’ sellers enjoy boom in sales in Umuahia

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here is a noticeable increase in the number of sachet water hawkers in Umuahia as the demand for cold water increases because of the intense heat in the area.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) found that hawkers and dealers in the commodity, popularly called ‘pure water’ are enjoying huge patronage. .

The hawkers, mainly mothers and school-age children, have become ubiquitous as they move from street to street.

Mrs. Agnes Ibe, 25, who hawks the commodity in the city, said that she was making “‘a lot of money” from her daily sales.

Ibe, a mother of three, said that she made an average of N2,000 daily on sales.

“The business is profitable and this has helped me in paying my children’s school fees for this term,” she said, adding that her son usually joined her in the business after school.

Some residents said the heat and the attendant high level of dehydration had made the demand for cold pure water high.

Mrs Florence Oditah, a civil servant, said that she was now buying more bags per week than before “‘as a result of the hot weather.

“I used to buy two to three bags in my home weekly but now we finish one bag daily,” Oditah said, adding: “‘this is in addition to the one I buy in the office.”’

A dealer, who simply identified herself as Nnenna, confirmed that “there is high demand for pure water now.

“My daily sales have almost doubled.”’

Nnenna, whose outlet is located within the precinct of the ever busy Umuwaya Road, said that she sold an average of 50 bags daily. “‘Our generator is always on and we always have cold water so many hawkers come here to

buy,” she said.

An attendant in a factory in the city, Mr Okechukwu Igwebuike, said that “‘there is business now.

“It is expected because the weather is very hot so both the young and old need cold water now to survive.”

Igwebuike, however, said that they were not carried away by “‘the boom” because “as soon as the rain sets in, demand for pure water will drop sharply.

NAN reports that one sachet sells for N10, while a bag of 20 sachets goes for N60 at the factory and between N80and N100 at the retail outlets.(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 24

PAGE 25

FOI Act: Developmental tool yearning for implementation Many developing and under-developed countries are lagging economically behind their developed counterparts due largely to lack of information. Nigeria as a developing country is not an exception as a lot of issues are swept under the carpet or left hanging due to inaccessibility to information. Biola Raji in this piece takes a look at the Freedom of Information Act signed into law recently, highlights its usefulness to the nation and why its’ implementation is slow.

Mr. Hooman Nouruzi, spokesman for the British High Commission in Abuja speaking at the FOI Act workshop

I

t is believed that, a fact concealed is no fact at all hence the reason why a lot of misappropriation and other corrupt practices have been swept under the carpet in the country.

The story is now different; After a 12 year struggle, owing mainly to delay from the National Assembly to make regulations that would give effect to relevant constitutional provision for the Act to thrive, Nigeria just like its counterparts across the globe, now have in its kitty, ‘Freedom of Information Act’. This law saw the light of the day on May 28, 2011 when it was signed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Before now, it was believed that, the task of seeking for information was a task designed only for lawyers as it is a task that needs interpretation of law

and since many shy away from going through the rigor of interpreting laws or even reading them, a lot of information are well hidden from most people in the society.

Thanks to ‘A Citizen’s Guide to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011’ which is a clear response to challenges people face in interpreting legal text, the ‘freedom of information act’ has made it very easy to read and digest the text contained in the act for ordinary citizens irrespective of his/her educational background.

It has also provided citizens with enough information on how best to use the act, steps and procedures to follow in achieving the singular, most important tool ‘information’.

It is in this direction, a civil society organization; Media Rights Agenda (MRA)

organized a workshop aimed at sensitizing members of the media and the general public.

The two day workshop for Journalists was aimed at educating the media on how to request for records using Freedom of Information Act (FOI). The event was organized in collaboration

with the British high commission and funded by the Commonwealth Office.

During the event, FOI was described as an important tool which is globally designed to move any country forward as it keeps public officers on their toes through investigative journalism.

Freedom of Information Act is a fundamental right that every individual should be entitled to. It is subjected only to rules defined by law.

It is not an absolute right; they are protected rights in all ramifications.

The importance of FOI cannot be overemphasized as it is a critical decision making tool. People are entitled to know what options they have

so they can know what to do in every situation. Bad information as we all know leads to bad decision and obviously bad consequence.

Freedom of information

facilitates good business decisions, it is a major tool for fighting corruption, it facilitates good democratic participation, provides respect for human right as

“

it was believed that, the task of seeking for information was a task designed only for lawyers as it is a task that needs interpretation of law and since many shy away from going through the rigor of interpreting laws or even reading them, a lot of information are well hidden from most people in the society Minister of Information, Labaran Maku

information is made open thereby hindering violations of human rights. Citizens feel worthy, with the use of FOI, they are able to know what

Deputy British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Giles Lever [right], making a point. Beside him is Mr. Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda

“

The processes of accessing information as contained in ‘A Citizen Guide to FOI Act’ states that, information should be provided within 7days after request. This is expected to be an ideal time-frame for a non falsified record or information is best for them since there is that sense of ownership on projects meant for their benefit.

Among other advantages are, it encourages good record keeping which in turn guarantees reliable information, it provides unlimited options for government as it enable a good number of citizens participatory right.

The processes of accessing information as contained in ‘A Citizen Guide to FOI Act’ states that, information should be provided within 7days after request. This is expected to be an ideal timeframe for a non falsified record or information.

However, information can be provided in less than the 7 days stipulated time depending on its close availability.

In as much as there is a fee attached to acquiring any

information from an institution, it is only charged for photocopy and transcribing only, there is need to understand that, the information itself is not what is being paid for but expenses of making it available to person or persons making the request.

In a situation, where any Head of Institution denies a citizen access to information other than where the FOI Act permits exemption, the citizen concerned is expected to result to court where, if the Head is found guilty of not adhering to compliance or wrongful denial of access to information, the pays a fine of N500,000 on conviction.

Another offence is willful destruction or falsification by any officer of a public institution of any record before releasing it to applicant; this offence carries minimum term of one year

imprisonment without any option of a fine.

It is however important for citizens to understand areas where information are preferably guarded. These areas include: •Information that may cause havoc on the conduct of international affairs or defence of the nation • Information that could jeopardize law enforcement activities • Personal information (except when it becomes public interest) • Information containing trade and commercial or financial records that are

privileged • Information subject to professional privilege • Information containing examination data.

For everybody to be abreast with happenings through the use of FOI Act, it is important to obtain and own a copy, master the proceedings as to facilitate the active reduction of corruption which is believed to be the origin of any other problem any nation might encounter.

It is expected that a lot of nuts will be cracked with the use of this Act, however, all hands must be on deck to see to the advantageous use of it.

NUJ President, Malam Garba Mohammed

PAGE 26

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Indian grandmother, 78, is believed to be the world's oldest professional sharpshooter

Granny, get your gun: Indian grandmother Chandro Tomar is, at 78, believed to be the world's oldest professional sharpshooter

A

t 78, most pensioners are reliant on the glasses to even read a newspaper.

But not Indian grandmother Chandro Tomar.

With a ÂŁ1,200 pistol in hand, and her sari draped over her long silver hair, it's believed she's the world's oldest female professional sharpshooter.

She has entered and won over 25 national championships across India as well as raising six children and 15 grandchildren.

She said: 'I wanted to do something useful with my life and show people my capabilities.

'As soon as I shot my first pistol I was hooked. And now I've shown everyone there's no disadvantages to my age. If you're focused you can do anything.'

Almost ten years ago Chandro took her granddaughter to a local firing range in Johri village, in Uttar Pradesh, India.

She wanted to learn a new skill but was too shy to go alone.

In the end it was Chandro who was welcomed into the club with open arms.

'As I was waiting around I decided to have a go. The coach spotted me and was amazed at my aim,' she said.

'He told me to come back so I did. Initially I was just supporting my granddaughter but I enjoyed it so much it became a passion and I looked forward to going to the club every week.'

While Chandro tended to her daily chores on her farm and

Concentration: Chandro takes aim at the local firing range raised her family, she practiced her aim whenever she could using stones and throwing them at water bottles.

The club's coach, Farooq Pathan, who set up the shooting club with two friends in 1998, said: 'I was surprised when I saw a pensioner in our group but she picked it up pretty quickly.

'She was so good some of the men stopped turning up altogether to avoid being humiliated by her, a old woman.

She has the ultimate skill, a steady hand and a sharp eye.'

And now she's a national treasure, known throughout India for her skill, even winning gold at the Veteran Shooting Championship held in Chennai.

Multi-talented: The grandmother shows off her prowess with a rifle

But her biggest fan is her daughter Seema, who is also an international shooting star becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Rifle and Pistol World Cup. 'She is amazing,' she said. 'If she can do it then so can we. She showed us that anything is possible. She has helped so many of us improve our lives.

'Many members of the club have gone on to even find jobs with the military, and police force, because of her encouragement.'

Chandro had an experience

with the police herself, proudly beating an officer at one competition.

She said: 'I defeated the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Delhi police. It was brilliant.'

But medals or no medals, life at home never changes for Chandro and she still cooks, cleans and cares for her family, making sure dinner is served before firing some bullets down at her local range and helping to carve out future success stories from the club.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

Winner: Chandro at home with her many medals and awards

PAGE 28

Prominent school proprietress dies in Sokoto From Sadeeq Aliyu, Sokoto

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he death has occurred of Hajiya Adama Raji, the proprietress of the famous Blue Crescent Schools, Mabera area in Sokoto. Aged 63, Adama died at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt where she went for medication.

She is survived by her husband, Alhaji Murtala Raji, eight children and 14 grand children among whom is Dr. Mansur Raji of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.

The remains of the deceased has been buried at the premises of Blue Crescent Schools, Mabera, Sokoto, in accrodance with Islamic rites. Meanwhile, people continued to troop to the late proprietress' residence to condole her husband and members of her family.

Lagos Poly lecturers threaten strike over salary arrears

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he Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Lagos State Polytechnic Chapter, on Wednesday threatened to embark on a one-week warning strike from March 26 over nonpayment of salary arrears.

The union is demanding the payment of 18 months salary arrears on the Polytechnic, Colleges of Education and Monotechnics Academic Staff Salary Scale (CONPCASS).

In a communique it issued at the end of its regular congress at Ikorodu campus of the Polytechnic, the union gave the institution’s management a 72hour ultimatum to make a commitment on the payment or face industrial unrest.

The communique was signed by the union’s Chairman, Mr Taofik Arowolo , and the General Secretary, Mr Taiwo Rabiu.

It recalled that “the union gave the management a 21-day notice of industrial action dated Jan. 18, 2012.

“A 14-day extension notice was served on the Feb. 17, 2012, which expired on the March 8, 2012.

“Yet another seven-day extension notice was issued on March 12, and it expired on the March 20, 2012.

“It was decided by a simple majority vote of 72 votes against 22 that the management should be issued a final 72-hour notice to make acceptable commitment on how and when the salary arrears will be paid, failure of which the union shall embark on a warning strike."

(NAN)

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

American varsity launches N100m internet link From Blessing Tunoh, Yola

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he American University of Nigeria (AUN) has expended at least N100 million in procuring a 45 mega bytes per second internet link to accommodate the needs of its 1300 students and 500 as well as the host community.

Chief Information Officer of the institution, Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe who conducted journalists round the structures housing the internet equipment boasted that AUN is the only University in the West African sub-region that has successfully installed the system.

Meanwhile, the university says that the internet service has the capacity to accommodate up to 15Mbps and the link was fully integrated to AUN network since

Saturday 17th March 2012.

Mr. Tabe said the AUN plans to create community knowledge centres in as many Local Government Areas in the state as possible as part of AUN’s contribution to building a modern community.

Also in a remark, the Director

Library services of the University Ahmed Demirhan said AUN has completely gone digital adding that most of the text books formerly used has since been donated to the Adamawa state University ever since the e-library was introduced.

In her comments President of the University Margee Ensign said

the AUN is the only University in the country using technology more wisely adding that the development would enhance academic research activities and the university would be incorporated into the National Research and Education Network (NREN).

Auchi Poly rejects 21,670 candidates

O

nly 6,330 candidates out of the 28,000 candidates that sat for the post UTME examination in Auchi Polytechnic in Edo were given admission.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Rector of the institution, Dr Phillipa Idogho, announced the figure Thursday in Auchi, Edo during the 30th matriculation ceremony of the institution.

The rector urged the successful students to make the best use of the opportunity and begin a new phase of their lives.

She, however, warned that students, who presented fake credentials and certificates for the purpose of gaining admission would be fished out.

According to her, the institution forbids it and the polytechnic has verification machinery for ensuring that students with fake credentials are detected.

Idogho said that the polytechnic was determined to make the learning environment conducive for the students for them to optimise their time for learning.

She advised the fresh students to obey the rules and regulations of the polytechnic, adding that breach of any rules would attract strict sanctions.

“Auchi Polytechnic is governed by rules and regulations to guide your activities.

“These rules are not just cosmetic designs; they are meant to be obeyed as there are sanctions for violating them.

“I urge you to read the students handbook of information carefully and obey the rules in order to have a fulfilled stay in the polytechnic,” she said.

She warned them to shun cultism, noting that cultism was an avenue to self-destruction.

The rector equally cautioned against examination malpractice, an offence she said was as evil as cultism. (NAN)

L-R Minister of State Defence Erelu Obada and Minister of Education Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai Ahmed discussing during the Federal Executive council (FEC) meeting at the State House Abuja recently. Photo: Joe Oroye.

model schools as part of measures to enhance learning and provide qualitative and affordable education for students.

According to the Commissioner, each Local Government Area would have at least one model school with three blocks each containing two classrooms and a hostel block to accommodate at least two hundred and forty students.

Addressing the contractors, Arch. Adegbite explained that the meeting was convened to intimate them of the enormity of the project,

pointing out that they are expected to complete the job before the commencement of the next academic session.

He assured of government’s support and urged them to ensure that the work is done according to specification, warning that government would not hesitate to sanction any contractor found to have done a shoddy job.Meanwhile, the Ministry has completed major rehabilitation work on Ayetoro road in Abeokuta, re-construction of Ogere-Remo road, and repairs of Bonojo street as well as IdobiErunwon road in Ijebu-Ode amongst others.

At a joint press briefing last last week in Benin City, UniBen Chairman of SSANU who spoke on behalf of the other unions, Comrade John Alile, said the re-appointment of Sir Toby would jeopardize the current industrial peace and harmony in the institution.

Comrade Alile alleged that, Sir Toby's style of leadership was not favourable to the generality of members of the university community, adding that the former deputy governor did not regard staff unions in the institution.

Comrade Alile also alleged that Sir Toby ran the university like a personal estate and awarded contracts to himself and cronies.

But Sir Toby in an interview

denied awarding contracts to his companies, saying that the Governing Council under him has cordial relationship with the unions. “When the unions appears before the visitation panel and they were full of praises for the Council, they complained that they were owed salary arrears of N593 million and this Council came and cleared it and ensured that by the 23rd of every month they received their salaries and within one year we had put in 60 professors, 61 readers and a good number of senior lectures would be promoted.

“We allowed them to appoint over 200 new staff and over 500 on contract. To hear that we are not welfare friendly is something amazing”, he said.

Ogun builds 50 model schools From Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, Abeokuta

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he process of building 50 blocks of model classrooms in all the 20 Local Governments Areas of Ogun State has started with the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Arch. Olamilekan Adegbite, holding a meeting with contractors that will handle the project.

It will be recalled that the State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has promised to build the

Unions gainst re-appointment of UNIBEN Governing Council members From Osaigbvo Iguobaro, Benin

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he proposed reappointment of former Deputy Governor of River state, Sir Gabriel Toby as ProChancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of the University of Benin, has split the three industrial unions at the University, who have threatened industrial action.

Sir Toby is the immediate past Pro-chancellor and chairman of UNIBEN Governing Council.

The unions included Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 27

We’re revamping our education sector to meet current realities – Yobe gov’s aide Alh. Mai Aliyu Usman is the Special Adviser on education to Yobe State Governor, Alh. Ibrahim Gaidam. Peoples Daily Godswill Uche met with him in his office in Damaturu shortly after he embarked on tour of some school facilities in the state. He talked about the purpose of the exercise, his findings and more on government move to revamp further, the state education sector.

Excerpts:

S

ir, recently you made a tour of school facilities in the state. What motivated such an exercise?

Well, as a new person in office, what you need do, is to see things for yourself not what you hear from people. This is what motivated this office to decide to go round the state and make sure that we see the school infrastructures, teachers, education secretaries, principals so that by the time we come back we have a clear picture of what the school facilities are in the state.

What were your findings What we did was to sample some areas. We visited the education secretaries who are the custodians of the primary sector.

We visited them in their offices.

We saw their offices and the type of staff they have in them. We discussed at length with them about the problems and prospects of the education sector at the lower level. We also visited some primary schools particularly the boarding primary schools because we have 17 of them newly established by this administration. We saw that almost all the structures have been completed, furniture supplied and in some schools we saw that boreholes were drilled, generators supplied. What now remains is to finish all the modalities to make sure that furniture are brought to the schools for the pupils and students.

We also visited some secondary schools. We discovered that some of them need renovation, some need complete restructuring. We found the teachers were relatively motivated in one way or the other but still they needed more motivation. Some principals in places like government college (GGC) Ngelzerma and Gadaka respectively deserves our commendations. We discovered that some of these schools that were not fenced have now been fenced. Anyone going round will see that GGC Ngelzerma and that in Gadaka are now well fenced and others like them. So this shows

that the administration of Governor Ibrahim Gaidam mean well for the education sector.

Those of us who are on advisory role are trying to see the areas he needs to put right and those that are Okay. So when we visited Zones ‘A’ and ‘B’ we submitted our reports to him and I can tell you that he has started implementing some of our recommendations in those reports because we have seen a lot of changes in the areas we advised that needed to be taken care of.

Can you mention some of these areas They include the renovation of new classrooms. We also advised that in the primary sector teachers needed to have accommodation.

Now, the provision of accommodation for the primary teachers is on-going in almost all the schools all over the state. We know the Governor has given out contracts to build teachers quarters in some primary schools in some remote areas that teachers find difficult to stay because of accommodation.

Right now, renovation works are on-going in many primary and secondary schools. After this is completed we will concentrate on the motivation of teachers, training and retraining them and employment of new ones. But you cannot bring in teachers without putting structures on ground, a good atmosphere for him to perform. So that is what the government is doing right now, putting all the needed structures on ground so that by the time you train or retrain teachers and bring them in, they will perform their assigned jobs with ease in any part of the state.

What is your take on girlchild education especially in the area of enrolment and retention of these girls in schools?

There are so many factors militating against the enrolment and sustaining these children in schools and that is what the state government is now tackling.

For instance, if you enroll a child and she goes to school but there is no teacher to teach her, tomorrow she will not come back to the school; she will prefer to do some rudimentary works at home rather than coming to the classroom. Now the focus of the government is to make sure that conducive atmosphere is made available to enhance the enrolment and at the same time to retain these children in these schools.

Pertaining to enrolment, there are so many problems down here and sometimes you discover that some are not even interested in education all together. But for the government to entice them to come to the schools and enroll, the traditional institutions are being contacted to play their traditional roles to make sure that these children are convinced to come to school. However, there are so many problems that the

Alhaji Mai Aliyu Usman government has encountered and trying to put right before seeking the help of these traditional rulers who would in turn compel the parents to bring them to school. I can assure you that this is coming soon.

Are you saying that the state governments want to make it legal or compulsory for parents to bring their children to the schools?

Well if you say that every child has the right to be educated, that’s what it really means. Even if we have to make it compulsory, we have to make it compulsory because, there is no way parents will leave his child without education. So if you compel him to bring his child to school it is for his good. It is for the good of the child and his parents. Initially, that was what was happening.

They compel the parents to bring their children to the schools. It was a compulsory thing. If you think you will not bring your child to school because you will be migrating, wherever you go they will capture him there and put him in school whether you like it or not. So for us to make sure our children are educated we have to make it compulsory but you first have to make sure that all the conducive atmosphere are there for the child to stay and get quality education and that is what the government is doing right now.

On the issue of mass

failures in examinations and students not being able to get the needed marks to enable them enter the universities.

How is the state government handling such issue?

Yes what we realize is that always when the results of WAEC and NECO comes out, there is always this problem of mass failure of students and that is why this government is revamping the education sector to ensure that we get the needed infrastructure, best qualified teachers and good environment for teaching and learning in the schools and once this is done there will be no reasons for this current trend of mass failure and students not being able to get the needed marks for enrolment into the universities or other institutions of higher learning.

Recently some teachers were sacked from some schools. What prompted such action by the government?

Whenever you see the government trying to put something right, there must be something wrong somewhere but you see some people are begrudging government’s action on this. When we went round the schools we saw the number of teachers they had and their roles in such schools and we discovered there were a lot of problems in that sector. So if we want to put things right in that sector there must be a verification to make

sure that these teachers, their names are in the school vouchers and are relevant and motivated to perform their jobs, that is the essence of the verification exercise.

After the verification, the correct things will be put in place.

Some teachers sitting under the trees claiming to be teachers but they never go to the schools.

Some, since their employments have never attended any class anywhere but they are claiming to be teachers and government will not accept that kind of thing.

If you are a teacher you must be in the classroom. You must have a school where you are attached to. You must have a class that you can teach. so some of these things are really a problem in the state and that is why the government is setting up committees to verify this as a way of ensuring that the right people are put in the right places, otherwise there is no way we can catch up with other states.

So it is the issue of qualification, laziness or not ready to work on the part of the teachers?

Not even laziness but total absconding from duty. If he is there but lazy to do his job that is a different thing but they are not even there at all. You find a primary school with only one or two teachers but if you go to the school payroll you find out that they are more than ten or twenty.

This is what the government wants to put right. Believe it, no meaningful government will accept this situation. So you find children failing their examinations en masse and you discovered that there are no teachers to teach them, while those who claim to be teachers are either not qualified or they not even there. This is what we are tackling.

Some people said these teachers were those taken on contract basis. Is that right or does it cut across?

If you say somebody is taken on contract basis, we all know what contract means. A contract teacher is someone taken for a particular period. After that period you renew the period but you cannot renew more than once. After that he has to make up his mind either to continue with you or you make up your mind to send him away. But due to lack of teachers that scheme was established then, but now we discover that we have so many children of Yobe who have no jobs and we are keeping people on contract, how long will you continue keeping someone on contract. Contract has only two periods in the civil service. So you can see the problem. You are employed without pension and gratuity and when the contract finishes you go. So if we say we are laying off those who are on contract, then the word contract is correct because we took them on contract not on permanent and pensionable appointment.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Keeping children too clean can destroy their immune system

PAGE 29

Health ministry partners group to improve emergency obstetrics

By A’isha Biola Raji

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It is said that without exposure to dirt and germs early in life, the immune system doesn't learn how to control its reaction to everyday invaders such as dust and pollen.

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oday’s children may be too clean for their own good, research suggests. Evidence is growing that dirt and germs can protect against disease and that indoor-based, ultra-clean lifestyles are bad for health.

According to the hygiene hypothesis, asthma, eczema, hay fever and childhood diabetes are as result of childhoods in which youngsters rarely play in the mud, splash in ponds or play with animals.

This can lead to it malfunctioning later in life, leading to allergies and other illnesses.

Taking course after course of antibiotics may exacerbate the problem.

The latest evidence comes from American researchers who studied germ-free mice, bred in a bubble and kept in sterile cages and fed sterile food.

The lungs and bowels of the germ-free mice contained extralarge numbers of a type of immune cell blamed for asthma and bowel problems.

And when the germ-free mice developed asthma or bowel condition colitis, it was much more severe than usual, the journal Science reports.

Finally, the Harvard Medical School researchers looked at what happened when the rodents were taken out of their sterile environment and put in bug-ridden cages with normal mice.

The mice that were moved as adults did not become any less

susceptible to disease.

But the germ-free creatures moved and exposed to dirt and bugs in the first weeks of life became no sicker than those reared normally.

This suggests that there is a window of time in which exposure to bugs teaches the immune system to work properly.

Researcher Dr Richard Blumberg said, “these studies show the critical importance of proper immune conditioning by microbes during the earliest periods of life.”

Graham Rook, emeritus professor of microbiology at University College London, said “the way forward is to work out how these bugs are doing it, so we can exploit them through new vaccines and drugs.”

However, he urged parents not to deliberately let hygiene standards slip in a bid to make their children healthier.

This is because skimping on cleanliness could let other dangerous bugs take hold.

Professor Rook said “it would be terribly dangerous to say to people, “Let’s relax hygiene and we’ll have less of these diseases”.”

The hygiene hypothesis was first proposed in 1989 when it was noted that hay fever is less common in children with older brothers and sisters. It was suggested that catching lots of bugs from siblings provided protection against allergies.

Others studies have shown that children with pets or who grow up on farms are less likely to have allergies.

he ministry of health in collaboration with ACCESS/Jhipiego is working on modalities to increase access to high quality Emergency Obstetrics and Newborn Care services (EMONC) in Nigeria.

The Minister of State for Health Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate said this in Abuja at the National dissemination of Maternal and Child Health integrated programme (MCHIP).

The minister who was represented by Mrs. Bridget Oko Eguale, Head, Department of Family Health said the program which is in line with

Zamfara, Kano and Katsina were picked was as a result of MMR prevalence in the states.

He said, due to the high rate of maternal mortality in the North West, we set up this programme to strengthen Newborn Care and family planning services in the three states.”

He explained further that, over the period of six years, the project had seen to the needs of mothers and children as regards family planning and health care services free of charge.

“As part of intervention, we also see to the need of restoring facilities that improve on neonatal care, save delivery and proper child care in these areas,” he mentioned.

Kaduna state Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa and Minister of Health, Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, exchanging greetings after their meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan on health recently at the State House, Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

Experts stress importance of post abortion care From Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Kaduna

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Asthma, eczema, hay fever and childhood diabetes are all being fuelled by childhoods in which youngsters rarely roll in the mud, splash in puddles or play with animals

MDGs 4 and 5 has tremendously strengthen maternal child health services in the states covered which are Zamfara, Kano and Katsina.

He said, “the benefitting states have achieved steady and significant gains in women’s visits to antenatal care clinics.”

In order to improve on Jhpiego achievement, the ministry has therefore, designed a partnership process that will cover other prevalent states by reaching out to the grassroots thereby putting an end to MMR. In an interview, Prof.

Emmanuel Otolorin, the country Director Jphiego said the reason why the three states

Consultant Gynaecologist and Obstetrician at Barua Dikko Specialist Hospital Kaduna state, Dr. Joel Adze has stressed the significance of reducing maternal mortality by improving women’s access to safe abortion and post abortion care, saying it is the best step to reducing maternal deaths.

Dr. Adze stated this in Kaduna at a five-day Partnership for Transforming Health Systems (PATHS2) post-abortion care training workshop for nurses and doctors from selected health centres in Kaduna.

He said unsafe abortion is a

cause of maternal death; it actually contributes between 13 and 20 percent of maternal deaths in Nigeria.

Dr. Amina Aminu Dorayi, the Service Quality Improvement and Reproductive Health Advisor with PATHS2 said unsafe abortion is a critical public health concern causing deaths of tens of thousands of women worldwide each year. “Where abortion is illegal or where safe abortion services are costly or hard to find, complications from an unsafe abortion are common” she said.

According to her, PATHS 2 supports post abortion care projects designed to make treatment safer and more responsive to the needs of women

stressing that about 59,000 Nigerian women die annually from pregnancy and child birth, and for every maternal death, 30 others suffer long term disabilities. “It is therefore unacceptable that women should die in the process of bringing children to the world,” she added.

Dr. Talemoh Wycliffe Dah, a consultant gynaecologist and obstetrician said health care workers are critical to addressing the maternal newborn child health challenges at the primary health care level, he said building the clinical capacity of health workers in competency based training is a key area of intervention.

PAGE 30

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Gov’t support for herbal medicine can relegate petrodollar – Pharmacist Chief Benjamin Amodu is the director of procurement in the ministry of defence as well as a pharmacist. His case is like that of a man celebrated outside but neglected at home.

Recently honoured by the African Leadership with “Lifetime Achievement Award.” for his discovery of the poly-herbal anti malaria vaccine, SAAAB, and a scientific presentation he made at the world health organisation (WHO) conference in the US. In this interview with Aminu Imam, Amodu speaks of other breakthroughs such as the DAABS and HAABS drugs which he said can assist Nigeria to meet the MDGs especially on health.

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ne is surprised that most of our professionals get outside recognition in their fields than in Nigeria. In your case, why do you think WHO and countries like India and China recognised your work?

Well, if I am not motivated by my country or anybody, I will motivate myself. Nobody can frustrate me. Thank God the world health organisation (WHO) has identified with my anti malaria drugs. WHO gives approval to the drugs that have been certified fit for human consumption. If they are not toxic, WHO requires you to register them, if they are stable, also register them. WHO does not even emphasize on efficacy because it is aware that there are those products that over 80% of the population in all continents depend on. WHO knows that it is effective and that is why it gave that approval over thirty three years ago and that is why countries like India, china took me on and have developed theirs.

In Nigeria, we are always sleeping. Our policy on herbal drugs just got developed about two or three years ago. The minister has made a statement that it would be incorporated into the normal health system but up till now it was a mere statement. No circular to that effect has come out to government departments.

If we do that and look inward, our MDGs challenges would have been met, reducing the poverty level. Look at my own case; I am working on Vitol medicine. A lot of farmers cultivate this product, all I need to do is to test them generally, because I have a farm, if they do not have pesticides, metal and those basic things, once they have good yield, I will buy from all farmers and then, mass produce for the entire world.

You can imagine the prostate cancer cream that melts the prostrate, I am the only one producing it; I have not heard it

anywhere in the world. In fact, when I mentioned it to a South African Minister of Science and Tech I met in Ethiopia while I was presenting my drugs; she said she had never heard of such thing in the world.

You see, the petrol we are talking about will become secondary if the issue of Vitol medicine herbal is well developed. You know why I said this? The anti malaria we are producing now stands out. It deals with the plasmodium falciparum; that is the most resistant one. It has 97 percent effectiveness in that area, no side effects; that is one. Two, the BP drugs, the diabetic drugs, the stroke drugs, all of them don’t have side effects. They reverse the complications of these ailments. Libidos are implicated in prostate cancer; libido is implicated in diabetics and High BP. Within a week of use, my product reverses it such that husband and wife quarrelling at home without explanation to anybody will naturally settle.

With the malaria vaccines we are developing, it prevents the sickness in the first instance, so how do you lose manpower if there are no patients? How do you spend extra money?

Anybody that has malaria today ends up using three different types of tablets including injections before he or she gets well. We now have a product that if you use for one week, it gives you cover for six months without you falling ill of malaria. That’s the beauty of what I have developed.

Why are members of the public not aware of your capabilities, Why are professionals like you on the quiet side?

Well, Nigerians are beginning to know about it, but you know, before anyone says one thing or the other against you, let your work speak for itself. Remember, during the Operation Feed the Nation, Obasanjo allowed us to own a farm; I opted for Ben

Chief Benjamin Amodu Amodu Herbal Farm and Research Centre LTD. As a civil servant, I am allowed to farm and I opted for herbal farm. I also opted not to sell my products but to add value in my research. That is the work I was doing and now that the results are coming out, I have decided to share it with outsiders, with government, with everybody. Imagine since I came back from US for the discovery on anti malaria where WHO invited me, my (Nigerian) government has not even called me for any talks. To me it doesn’t matter. Let the people that need it get to hear. Whether the government is interested or not, the thing must fly, the people must come to demand for it and the population is there.

Nigeria is presently making improvement in herbal medicine but the quacks are also there cashing in on the ignorance of the people. How do you ensure that these people do not destroy what you are trying to build?

They will always try, they are a cabal; they are like a mafia

group, all over the world, profiting by putting nothing on ground and selling it for something. They are there all over the world, they have formed a cabal. So we really need to battle with them and NAFDAC is doing well in this direction. So what I am advocating further is for a kind of task force to be set up in the country for all drug discoveries to be evaluated. At least, we have a new centre of excellence, talking about NIPRID. All my drugs are developed with NIPRID, so the issue of authenticity or whatever does not even arise.

Once we have a taskforce to evaluate all claims, those ones that are okay, give it registration and let the Nigerian government pump money to their owners so that they can mass produce them, subsidize them, with this, those MDGs challenges with respect to health will be solved.

You can imagine under-five or under- six maternal deathssurvey has shown that in every ten children, four have malaria, so with this vaccine that is cheap enough, just for a N1000 containing sixty capsules,

“

You can imagine the prostate cancer cream that melts the prostrate, I am the only one producing it; I have not heard it anywhere in the world

malaria will be a thing of the past.

Recently, you were one of the awardees of the Lifetime Achievement by the African Leadership Magazine, what was the reason for giving you the award?

I thank God that the little I am doing is recognised, just like WHO took cognizance of my poly-herbal anti-malaria drug and invited me to the US. In the same light, this African Leadership was looking for something like that and they got me. I think I am grateful because the little I am doing is being recognised, for them to have bestowed this high award on me, I am grateful.

If the professionals are doing so much in the production of drugs, why are the clinics in the country still regarded as mere consulting clinic?

It is due to government policy and unnecessary squabbles among professional groups. Most of this groups involved in the squabbles and the issue of wherever they trained, they know that such a thing do not exist but they come home to instigate this kind of thing: you belong to this, you belong to thatto the extent that when they see a good thing from another person, they pretend that it does not exist.

However, the most important thing and my advice to everybody is, remain focused in whatever you are doing, your time will come, everybody’s time will surely come.

Why do we still focus attention on India and China when it comes to drugs when we can conveniently rely on what we have locally?

That’s a very good one. I have a girl in my church who they have taken to India three times to close a hole in her heart and nothing happened until recently, I gave her my drugs, she used it for about three months the hole got closed. There is another lady who went to India. Although she is young she cannot climb more than first storey building because of mere cholesterol and they want to perform surgery for her.

She came back to the country and came to me. I gave her my drugs after two days she could climb to the tenth floor. When she went to keep her appointment in India, she told them that those pains are no longer there. She showed them my drugs and they advised her to continue using them.

In the next ten years what major breakthrough would you like to have achieved in the field of herbal medicine?

Before then, I may have discovered a cure for the HIV/ AIDS. I am working on it seriously. Though diabetic is a metabolic disease, I would have discovered a way out. Those are my targets and also with hepatitis and pneumonia because I am working on a pure herbal antibiotics.

PAGE 31

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Libya: The chaos after Qaddafi ANALYSIS

By Charles Onunaiju

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ibya seems to be on the verge of disintegration one year after the military intervention by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). In the first week of March, leaders from its oil-rich eastern region, which includes Benghazi, the focal point of the Western-backed rebellion that ousted Muammar Qaddafi, announced their intention to seek “semi-autonomy” from the central government.

The meeting in Benghazi, where the decision was taken, was attended by major political leaders, military commanders and tribal leaders from the region.

The new “semi-autonomous” region, Cyrenaica, will extend from the central coastal city of Sirte, Qaddafi’s hometown, to the country’s border with Egypt.

According to energy experts, the area holds around two-thirds of the country’s oil reserves.

Observers of the Libyan scene predict that the move is aimed at partitioning the country.

At the Benghazi meeting, there was an open call for the readoption of the 1951 Constitution, which recognised Tripoli as the administrative capital and Benghazi as the financial capital of the country.

Under King Idris, the proWestern puppet ruler at the time, Libya was divided into three provinces, Cyrenaica in the east, Tripolitana in the west and Fezzan in the south.

Benghazi, where the King resided, was the centre of decision making.

The United States had military bases nearby while big Western oil companies monopolised the country’s oil resources. After Qaddafi came to power, he nationalised the oil industry and forced the U.S. to vacate its bases. Sheikh Ahmad Zubeir al-Sanussi, who has emerged as the leader of the Benghazi group, is a grandnephew of King Idris. The Benghazi meeting rejected the decision of the Libyan Transitional National Council (NTC) to allocate 60 seats to the eastern region in the 200member Assembly. The leaders are demanding around 100 seats for the region.

Elections for a new government are scheduled to be held in June. But with a powerful Western-backed power bloc emerging in the east and general lawlessness prevailing in most parts of the country, it would be an uphill task for the interim government in Tripoli to supervise a peaceful transfer of power to an elected Assembly.

Over 100 militias, flush with

lethal arms, are bunkered down in the major towns of the country.

They are unwilling to integrate into the national army or give up their arms. In the capital, Tripoli, the main airport and major government buildings are still under the control of opposing militias.

Frequent clashes have erupted in the capital and other parts of the country as each militia has been trying to expand its turf.

The seven-month-long war inflicted by the NATO forces not only claimed thousands of lives but also destroyed the country’s infrastructure. Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the NTC Chairman, has described the Benghazi declaration as “the beginning of a conspiracy against Libyans” which could lead to the eventual disintegration of the country. He blamed “some Arab nations” for encouraging the secessionist moves.

Qatar, which was among the early backers and sponsors of the counter-revolution against Qaddafi, is said to figure prominently on the list of the Arab countries behind the conspiracy. Senior officials in Tripoli have been critical of the interference of the tiny but rich Gulf emirate in the internal affairs of the country following the ouster of Qaddafi. Abdel Rahman Shalgham, Libya’s Ambassador to the United Nations, had famously asked, late last year, “Who is Qatar?”

He was angered by Qatar’s continued interference in the internal affairs of Libya and its backing of Islamist militias and politicians.

In statements issued earlier

Late Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi Libyan Ambassador to France, Omar Brebesh, died following brutal torture in prison.

The town of Tawergha near Misrata has been depopulated forcibly because its residents supported Qaddafi. Amnesty International, in a report on Libya released in February, has documented details about the widespread abuse of human rights in the country. A spokesman for the organisation said that militias in the country “are largely out of control of the government”. Navi Pillay, the chief of the United Nations High

“

Sophisticated arms in the Libyan armoury have trickled down not only to militant Islamist groups but also to groups fighting to overthrow governments in the Sahel region bordering Libya. NATO’s military intervention in Libya now threatens to destabilise the whole region and beyond in the year, Mustafa Jalil had said that Libya had descended into a state of “civil war”. Sirte, which was reduced to rubble by NATO bombing, is occupied by fighters from Misrata. Tens of thousands of Qaddafi supporters continue to languish in jail.

International agencies have provided graphic accounts of the torture they endured at the hands of their captors. Many citizens, including a former

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), asked the Libyan authorities to take control of the prisons.

“There is torture, extrajudicial killings, rape of both men and women,” she said in late January. The NATObacked government in Tripoli has said that it will guarantee the primacy of Sharia law in the country.

Under Qaddafi, women enjoyed considerable

freedom. Polygamy was banned.

A man needed his wife’s legal consent to get a divorce. Qaddafi had encouraged women to join the workforce.

The interim government has announced that it will relax the strict rules against polygamy.

The majority of the anti-Qaddafi militia leaders, despite being backed by the West, are avowed Islamists. Libyan militia leaders are now coordinating with the Free Syrian Army fighting against the government in Damascus.

The Russian Ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkov, has accused the Libyan government of training Syrian rebels in Libyan camps and then sending them back to Syria. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has given instances of migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa being targeted for detention and summary executions by the militias. Baso Sanggu, the President of the U.N. Security Council and South Africa’s Ambassador to the U.N., said that NATO had to be investigated for human rights abuses.

NATO air raids resulted in the death of thousands of innocent civilians. The destruction of Sirte is mainly the handiwork of NATO forces. A new U.N. report has concluded that NATO has not sufficiently investigated the air raids it conducted over Libya.

The U.N. had mandated a “nofly zone” over Libya with the overt aim of protecting civilians.

NATO drones and Special Forces had played a key role in facilitating the capture of Qaddafi. He was later tortured and shot by his captors. The report also said that the militias were continuing with their “war

crimes”.

Another report, by the West Asian Human Rights Groups, which included the Arab Organisation of Human Rights, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and the International Legal Assistance Consortium, released in January, concluded that there was strong evidence to implicate NATO in war crimes in Libya.

“NATO participated in what could be classified as offensive actions undertaken by the opposition forces, including, for example, attacks on towns and cities held by Qaddafi forces.

Equally, the choice of certain targets, such as regional food warehouses, raises prima facie questions regarding the role of such attacks with respect to the protection of civilians,” the report stated.

The mission found the strongest evidence of NATO war crimes in the city of Sirte. The U.S. had spent around $2 billion for its “special operations” which finally led to the grisly assassination of Qaddafi. France and Britain were the other notable NATO countries that played a key role in guaranteeing regime change in Libya. Qatar and Saudi Arabia opened up their purse strings and launched a propaganda blitz through the auspices of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya respectively, demonising Qaddafi and whitewashing the sins of the Libyan militias and their patrons. There are reports in the Arab media that Qaddafi loyalists have started regrouping under the banner of the “Green Resistance” movement. Al Ahram, the Egyptian newspaper, reported that Green Resistance fighters had recently stormed the prison in Misrata and killed 145 guards.

There are claims that hundreds of fighters owing allegiance to the new government have been killed by the resistance since the beginning of the year. The Tuareg ethnic group, which stood by Qaddafi until the very end, while siding with the resistance, has also linked up with its kinsmen in neighbouring Mali and Niger.

The Tuaregs, known for their distinct style of dressing and nomadic lifestyle, have been demanding a separate state.

Well-armed Tuareg groups have, in recent months, attacked towns in Niger and Mali.

Sophisticated arms in the Libyan armoury have trickled down not only to militant Islamist groups but also to groups fighting to overthrow governments in the Sahel region bordering Libya.

NATO’s military intervention in Libya now threatens to destabilise the whole region and beyond.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 32

Senegal votes in presidential runoff

P

olling stations have opened in Senegal, where more than five million voters are expected to cast ballots in a presidential runoff between incumbent Abdoulaye Wade and opposition leader Macky Sall.

Thousands flocked to the polls in Dakar, the capital, and Fatick, Sall's home city, on Sunday with local reports suggesting a high turnout. In the region of Ziguinchor in southern Senegal, people queued up before polling stations had opened.

Both sides expressed confidence before voting started across the West African nation on Sunday, a month after a first round vote whittled the field down to two candidates.

Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye, Wade's spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the 85-year-old president's Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) was "ready and more than confident" and "the voters are with us".

"There is only one possible outcome of this election, and that is we will win," he said.

Protests have broken out - in the streets outside the polling station Wade is expected to cast his ballot.

Protesters say that they are here to make sure that opposition supporters do not taunt and 'boo' Wade when he comes to vote.

Police shot teargas into the crowd who had refused to back down, no casualties have been confirmed so far.

Meanwhile, El Hadj Kasse, Macky Sall's spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that his Alliance for the Republic (APR-Yakaar) party was "perfectly ready".

"We know we have completed an excellent campaign … [and are] extremely confident because everybody notices today that the Senegalese need change," he said.

Wade's candidacy prompted opposition protests and street clashes prior to the first round

amid dismay over his decision to seek a third straight term, despite himself introducing a two-term limit.

Wade, president since 2000, argued that the term limit could not be applied retroactively, and was backed by the country's constitutional council.

In the first round of voting, he secured 34 per cent of the vote, while Sall managed to win 27 per cent. But 12 opposition parties

Abdoulaye Wade, 85, is seeking to extend his rule into his 90s as he looks for a third term.

have rallied behind the APRYakaar leader and former prime minister, appearing to give him an edge in the runoff.

After voting in Fatick, Sall said he hoped the ballot would reveal the people's will and that he hoped there would not be any surprises.

He also called on supporters to refain from making any announcements before elections officials did so and said he was satisfied with the transparency of the vote.

Analysts say that dissatisfaction with the economy, with almost half the population unemployed and about 60 per cent living in poverty, has boosted opposition to Wade's rule.

"Since 2007, growing unemployment, frequent power failures, high basic commodities prices and corruption eroded the popularity of President Wade and provided a platform for the emergence of civil society activists to challenge the regime," David Zoumennou, a senior researcher at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria, told Al Jazeera.

But Zoumennou said it was unclear whether Sall offered anything different.

"Fighting to stop Wade's ambition has been the main concern for the first round of the elections. But we can argue that, being the brain behind the economic liberalism under Wade, he is likely to pursue the same economic doctrine."

UN/African delegation tells Mali junta to go

A

delegation of U.N. and African officials has told the military junta that seized power in Mali on Wednesday night to hand back power, saying its plan to fix Mali's problems and restore security before stepping down will not work.

The message was delivered on Friday during a lightning visit by U.N. and African Union officials and the head of the regional ECOWAS Commission, the U.N. Secretary General's special representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, told Reuters by phone on Saturday.

Mutinous low-ranking soldiers seized the presidential palace and Mali's state television this week,

dissatisfied with President Amadou Toumani Toure's handling of a rebellion by northern nomads launched in January.

Rumours swirled around Bamako on Friday that junta leader Captain Amadou Sanogo had been killed in a counter-coup by Toure loyalists. Early on Saturday, state television showed Sanogo insisting he was well, but it was not clear when the footage had been recorded.

The coup leaders have said they plan to restore security and equip the army to better fight a northern Tuareg rebellion.

"We warned them that this would not work and that the

Malian soldiers and security forces gather at the offices of the state radio and television broadcaster after announcing a coup d"etat, in the capital Bamako, last Thursday.

restoration of constitutional order was unconditional," Djinnit said, adding that the coup leaders did not have a timeframe to hand back power.

"The time is not with them. The more they stay, the more it gets complicated. That's the message," Djinnit added.

Sanogo heads the National Committee for the Return of Democracy and the Restoration of the State (CNRDR), a body set up by soldiers after the coup on Wednesday.

Toure has not been heard from since the coup, although the African Union said on Friday it had been told that he was still in Mali, not far for Bamako, being protected by loyal forces.

The international community has urged a rapid return to constitutional rule and a coalition of Malian parties said elections, which had been scheduled for April, should be held as soon as possible.

ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, said it would not recognise the junta and has scheduled a summit in Abidjan on Tuesday to discuss the Mali crisis.

Djinnit said the bloc would probably follow the African Union's move and suspend Mali.

"They (the junta) made an appeal to us to help them. We said we can only help you after the restoration of constitutional order," he said.

Bamako was quiet on Saturday,

with people back out on the streets, but most shops shut.

Traffic was thin, mainly due to fuel shortages as most petrol stations remained closed following two days of looting and hijacking by mutinous soldiers.

Reuters reporters saw a convoy of three large petrol trucks being escorted into Bamako by security officials on Saturday.

Libyan militiamen storm luxury Tripoli hotel

A

rmed militiamen stormed a Turkish-owned hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli, firing shots and detaining its Turkish manager in a dispute over an unpaid bill, an employee said, highlighting the continuing volatility in the North African country.

The employee, who declined to be named, said no one was hurt in the incident at the luxury Rixos hotel where foreign reporters visiting Tripoli during last year’s uprising were obliged to stay by Muammar Gaddafi’s government.

The trouble started late on Saturday when a member of a brigade from the western town of Zintan lost his temper after he was asked to leave over an unpaid bill dating back to September.

“He shot twice into the air and broke vases in the lobby. Then his men stormed in,” the employee said, as he pointed to a bullet hole in the ceiling of the reception area.

Militiamen then rushed off in their cars, taking the Turkish hotel manager with them. He was released after a few hours.

The incident came at a time when Libya’s new rulers are struggling to impose authority on a myriad of armed groups ahead of Libya’s first free elections scheduled for June.

Interior Minister Fawzi Abdel A’al has warned the militias to put down their arms or face confrontation with the new national security forces.

S. Sudan hopes to end oil row within ‘a month or two’

S

outh Sudan hopes to resolve a row over oil and other outstanding issues with Sudan within a month or two, South Sudan’s top negotiator said on Saturday, pointing to an easing of tensions between the two old civil war foes.

The new nation also said it would not arrest Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of genocide and other crimes, when he visits the southern capital Juba next month.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war, but the two have continued to argue over issues including how much the landlocked South should pay to use Sudan’s oil facilities for export.

The dispute pushed Juba to

shut down its 350,000 barrel per day oil production in January.

But the two sides have made some headway in recent weeks, agreeing to provisional deals that allow for protection of citizens residing in one another’s countries and lay out plans to demarcate much of the poorlydrawn border.

Both presidents are set to meet in Juba on April 3 to sign the documents and discuss other unresolved issues including the status of the contested Abyei region and the oil dispute.

“They can proceed in this new positive environment to discuss all the issues and hopefully reach agreement within a very clear time frame, hopefully a month or two,” Pagan Amum, South Sudan’s chief negotiator, told reporters in Juba.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 33

Death row inmates in Iraq prison break N ineteen detainees, including two men sentenced to death and several alleged al-Qaeda leaders, have escaped from a temporary prison in northern Iraq.

The group reportedly drugged guards and fellow inmates using narcotic-laced dates that put them to sleep before breaking out of al-Tasfirat prison in the city of Kirkuk on Friday.

“They removed the ventilator in the bathroom and used blankets to jump from the opening,” Major-General Torhan Abdulrahman Youssef, a deputy police chief, told Reuters news agency.

“Most of them are accused in accordance with article 4

[terrorism]. Investigations are ongoing.”

The group was made up of men allegedly belonging to alQaeda and Ansar al-Sunna, a Salafist group that has claimed several attacks against US and Iraqi security forces, a security official said.

Police said on Saturday that prison officials and guards had been detained over the incident.

The entire staff was being questioned.

One of the escaped inmates had been captured, an official said.

The detention facility is housed inside a fortified police compound in central Kirkuk. Suspects are usually held there while waiting to be

tried in court.

“We consider today’s incident to be very clear negligence by the security forces,” said Abdullah al-Asi, a Kirkuk provincial councillor,

alleging the prison break was an inside job.

Last September, 35 prisoners facing terrorism charges escaped via a sewage pipe from a temporary jail in

the northern city of Mosul, an al-Qaeda stronghold which has seen a number of big prison breaks. Iraqi police were able to recapture 21 escapees.

Mexican priest abuse scandals cast shadow on pope's visit

P

ope Benedict’s first full day in Mexico was clouded by fresh allegations the Vatican hid evidence of sex abuse by one of the country’s most prominent Roman Catholic leaders for decades.

The authors of a new book say a trove of once-secret Vatican documents prove Church officials ignored complaints of drug use and molestation of seminarians by the late Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Catholic order the Legionaries of Christ.

Adding to the criticism of the Church, victims of abuse by priests in Mexico came forward to seek an audience with Benedict, but said their calls have not been answered.

Church officials acknowledged in 2009, a year after Maciel’s death at the age of 87, that the charismatic Mexican cleric had led a double life, secretly fathering children and lavishly spending the generous donations of his followers.

Now more than 200 leaked documents from confidential Church archives spanning the years from 1944 to 2002 reveal

a mass of new testimony against Maciel, says the book, “La voluntad de no saber” (The will not to know).

“The Vatican not only knew about Maciel’s pathologies, but they tolerated them and protected him,” said religion expert Bernardo Barranco, who wrote the book’s introduction.

Barranco presented the 255page work on Saturday in the central city of Leon, while the 84-year-old pontiff was resting after his long flight from Italy.

Among the evidence is a 1979 letter to Church authorities from John McGann, the Bishop of Rockville Center, New York, that cites allegations by Legionnaire Juan Vaca, who said his years of sexual abuse

by Maciel began when he was 13.

The Bishop told a Vatican official in the United States Vaca raised “serious questions concerning Father Maciel’s stability” in written testimony given to Church officials.

Another 1954 letter describes in detail Maciel injecting a form of morphine.

An official said policemen had captured one of those who escaped [AFP]

Pope Benedict XVI speaks during a meeting with children, from the balcony of the State Government building ‘’Casa del Conde Rul’’ in Guanajuato, on Saturday.

Obama warns N Korea over rocket launch

U

S President Barack Obama has visited US troops stationed on South Korea’s border with North Korea in a show of solidarity with Seoul, ahead of a global summit there on nuclear security.

Obama flew yesterday by helicopter to a US base on the edge of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) to meet troops and take a firsthand look at one of the world’s most heavily fortified frontiers.

Obama and his South Korean counterpart Lee Myung-bak held a joint press conference in Seoul later in the day where they once again called on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons programme.

Obama also criticised North Korea’s intention to conduct a rocket launch next month, saying: “This would constitute a

direct violation of Pyongyang’s own commitments and its international obligations.

“Moreover it would only deepen North Korea’s isolation, damage further its relations with its neighbours, and seriously undermine prospects of future negotiations. North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations.”

North Korea announced this month that it plans to send a satellite into orbit, a move Washington has condemned as a violation of its promise to halt long-range missile launches, nuclear tests and uranium enrichment.

Obama warned that a deal to resume stalled food aid to the North, agreed earlier this month, could be jeopardised if Pyongyang goes ahead with the launch.

President Barack Obama took a first-hand look at one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers.

PAGE 34

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Chavez returns to Cuba for chemotherapy

V

enezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said that he will fly to Cuba to begin radiation therapy one month after undergoing surgery that removed a cancerous tumour.

"Tonight, I'm leaving for Havana," Chavez said in a televised meeting with aides on Saturday.

"I've decided, on the recommendation of my medical team and also my government political team, to begin now, as we're going to begin on Sunday, radiation therapy treatment."

Chavez's trip to Cuba will coincide with that of Pope Benedict XVI, who arrives on island on Monday after a visit to Mexico.

The Venezuelan president has been recovering from a February 26 surgery in Havana that removed a tumour from the same spot in his pelvic region where another tumour was extracted eight months earlier.

Chavez described his next phase of treatment as a "complement to the surgery that I underwent" last month.

"Yesterday, they took out the last stitches that were left from the operation. Everything's very good.

I've been walking much better...

Without any sort of complication, thanks to God," he said, adding that his radiation treatment will last four or five weeks.

Chavez did not indicate whether he would be in Cuba for that entire time, and has also not identified the type of cancer nor the location in his pelvic region where the tumors have been removed.

After he was diagnosed with cancer in Cuba last year, Chavez underwent an initial surgery in June that removed a tumor the size of a baseball.

He then had four rounds of chemotherapy and said tests showed no signs of any cancerous cells. But last month, he announced he was returning to Cuba for surgery to remove a lesion that proved to be malignant.

He has described the most recent tumor as measuring about 2 centimetres.

Chavez is running for re-election in October and vows that his illness will not get in the way of that political goal.

His rival, opposition leader Henrique Capriles, has criticised Chavez's handling of his cancer, saying that the president should be

Graft-tainted former Irish PM quits party

F

ormer Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern says he will resign from the Fianna Fail party over a furore surrounding his finances during his time in office.

In an article in Ireland's Sunday Independent newspaper, Ahern said news of a motion to expel him from the party had "deeply saddened" him.

His decision to resign comes days after a long-awaited report concluded Ahern had failed to give a truthful account about the source of substantial sums of money he received.

The tribunal found that Ahern failed to truthfully account for a total of 165,214.25 Irish punts ($262,000) passing through accounts connected with him.

Ahern's move came days before party officials were due to meet to consider expelling Ahern, who was one of the architects of Ireland's illfated economic boom.

Set up in 1997, the Mahon Tribunal probed the relationships between politicians and property developers after builders made vast profits on land re-zoned as

commercial.

In its report, which ran to over 3,000 pages, it said corruption was "endemic and systemic" at every level of government in Ireland in the late 1990s.

Ahern was Taoiseach, or prime minister, from 1997 to 2008.

The Irish government has asked the Irish police to look at the findings of a report into corruption in Ireland's planning process.

Ahern categorically denied any wrongdoing and said he would clear his name.

"My resignation is not an admission of wrongdoing in regard to the report of the Mahon Tribunal and nobody should try to interpret it in that way," he said in the statement.

"I reject the findings of this inaccurate and unsubstantiated report in the strongest possible manner," he added.

The verdict came four years after the economy collapsed under the strain of a decade-long housing and banking boom, cultivated by Ahern and his Fianna Fail party, and a year after the party was ejected from power by angry voters.

Hugo Chavez said on Saturday that he will be receiving four-to-five weeks of chemotherapy treatment. releasing complete details about the illness.

Chavez defended his decision to return to Cuba rather than undergo radiation treatment at home.

"I know that this decision surely will be criticised by some embittered spokespeople of the opposition," he said.

"However, I'm sure ... in this decision the great

majority of Venezuelans are with me."

As Chavez was finishing his televised remarks, he said: "I'm leaving to continue this battle, the battle for life."

'No charges' over Pakistan border strike

T

he US military does not intend to charge or discipline its officers who were involved in a deadly NATO airstrike on a Pakistani border post last November, a newspaper report from the US suggests.

The New York Times reported yesterday that the US concluded the attack at the Salala checkpost in northwest Pakistan, which killed 24 Pakistani troops, was carried out in self defence.

"We found nothing criminally negligent on the part of any individual in our investigations of the incident," one of three senior US military sources told the Times.

The sources said, on condition of anonymity, that mistakes and "battlefield confusion" had contributed to the regrettable loss of life, the newspaper reported.

A separate US military official also told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that no US troops would be charged. He did not offer further details about the decision.

The November 26 strike strained relations between Pakistan and the US, and led to the closure of NATO's supply route into Afghanistan.

A US military investigation last year issued a first report that exonerated US troops operating in

Afghanistan from inappropriate use of force against the Pakistani forces, even as the US military acknowledged some of the blame in the incident.

"The first report which came out in December last year found that both Pakistan and the US bore some responsibility," Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab reported from Islamabad on Sunday.

The investigation cited communication failures and concluded that the US troops, given the information they had available to them at the time, acted with appropriate force.

"Pakistan reacted very angrily to that [report at the time]. They described the raid as unjustified and unacceptable and categorically denied the US's version of events," Tyab said.

He said there had been no Pakistani reaction to Sunday's newspaper report, but "one would imagine the position on the November 26 bombardment of two of their border postings hasn't changed," he added.

The US has expressed regret for the loss of life during the Salala raid, but the US military investigation blamed Pakistani soldiers for firing first at NATO forces as they prepared for a

mission in the remote corner of eastern Afghanistan.

The investigation also conceded a critical error by US troops, who, due to a mapping error, told Pakistan the cross-border shooting was taking place about 14km from the actual location.

Pakistan responded by saying it had no troops there, which led US officers to conclude there was no danger to Pakistani military personnel.

Pakistan's military roundly rejected the US findings which placed any blame on its troops.

Yesterday's report could put further strain on the already complicated relationship between the two countries, our correspondent reported.

"The relationship with the US effectively was put on pause by Pakistan after the November 26 raid," Tyab said.

"Since then, Pakistani lawmakers as well as the military have been meeting as part of a committee to really go through this relationship and re-define its relationship with the US. "What parliamentarians wanted from the US was an apology. They wanted the US to say sorry for this strike.

British official resigns over lobby scheme

A

Ahern, left, with then-British counterpart Tony Blair, said his finances were chaotic but denies wrongdoing [Reuters]

senior member of David Cameron’s Conservative party has resigned after he reportedly offered access to the British prime minister for donations of $400,000 (250,000 pounds) per year.

The Sunday Times newspaper released secretly recorded video footage of what it said was the centre-right party’s co-treasurer Peter Cruddas making the offer to undercover reporters.

In a statement on Saturday shortly after the allegations were published, Cruddas said his comments to the reporters were “bluster” but added that he had resigned from his position.

“I deeply regret any impression of impropriety arising from my bluster in that conversation. Clearly there is no question of donors being able to influence policy or gain undue access to politicians,” he said.

“Specifically, it was

categorically not the case that I could offer, or that David Cameron would consider, any access as a result of a donation.

“But in order to make that clear beyond doubt, I have regrettably decided to resign with immediate effect.”

In the footage, Cruddas is seen discussing different sized donations and saying that $400,000 and more was “premier league”, granting access to Cameron and his finance minister George Osborne.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 35

Flying monk, Li Wei, defies gravity Bride-to-be postpones wedding after splashing to take his art to new heights £3,000 on pet lizard

H

ere's something you don't see every day - a Buddhist monk who appeared to be levitating effortlessly above a fountain was spotted hovering at La Villette in Paris, over the Fontaine of Lyons.

Although, on closer inspection, it's possible to see how he does it, Chinese illusionist Li Wei uses his performance art and photography skills to create unusual snaps.

These stunning photos were taken this week in the French capital, showing Li being dangled from a crane at dizzying heights while dressed as a monk.

In other snaps he appears to be in just his underwear.

'The first reaction is astonishment. Some people think they are full of a sense of humour.

They are curious about how I did this,' revealed Li. 'Sometimes I am in real danger - I have to hang myself high with steel wires and people do get a little worried for me - but I am fine.'

He has been snapped all over the world in gravity-defying situations and his work often sells for over £4,000.

The 37-year-old says there is a deeper meaning to his artwork than just the initial shock factor.

'My work and artistic experience are characterised by a unique specificity and

particularity,' said the Beijing-born stuntman.

'My artistic language is universal and deals with themes about contemporary politics and society using symbols understood by everyone in every part of the world.

'I am fascinated by the unstable and dangerous sides of art and I hope my works reflect these aspects.'

Li also admitted he is often in real danger, given the hazardous nature of his work.

He has previously been snapped falling from skyscrapers, flying through the sky and jumping out of windows.

A

bride-to-be has postponed her wedding after spending more than £3,000 on chemotherapy for her pet lizard.

Lizzie Griffiths says her bearded dragon George ‘will always come first’ and has forked out so much on the cancer treatment she can’t afford to marry fiancé Chris Fisher.

The 25-year-old said: ‘If you love someone enough you support them through whatever they need and Chris knows how much I love George. The wedding is the last of our thoughts at the moment, we can’t possibly afford it.’

The primary school teacher adopted the reptile from a rescue centre last year but soon realised he was ‘very poorly’.

Vets found a tumour on George’s face, so Miss Griffiths spent her savings on treatment rather than have him put down.

The chemo sessions, which were successful, were the first for a bearded dragon in Britain.

Miss Griffiths, from Purley, south London, said: ‘Chris and I share a passion for dinosaurs – we’re both obsessed and it’s like having one in your front room.

When I first saw George at the rescue centre I just fell in love with him.

Supermonk: Li Wei performs over the Fontaine of Lyons in Paris (Picture:AP /Francois Mori)

Jurassic heart: Lizzie Griffiths with her bearded dragon, George (Pic: Joanna Till)

Giant 45ft-long paper airplane takes to the skies above Arizona

P Thunderbirds: The wires are edited out of the final shot (Picture: AP/Francois Mori)

Busted: Li Wei often places himself in dangerous situations (Picture: AP /Francois Mori)

Dunked: Chinese artist Li Wei goes for a splash (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

aper airplanes may generally be the preserve of bored school kids, but a team of designers and aviators have taken things one step further.

A giant 363kg paper plane, called the Arturo Desert Eagle, was lifted around 4,000 feet into the air before being released and reaching speeds of around 98 miles per hour.

Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson was behind the plane,

which had a wingspan of 24 feet, with the project originally taking off back in January.

It began with a joint paper plane competition between the museum and a local newspaper aimed at six to 14-year-olds.

Competition winner, Arturo Valdenegro, 12, had the chance to help with the design.

However, it seems that as is so often the case, it was the big kids who ended up having most of the fun.

The giant paper plane which took to the Arizona skies (Pic: Reuters)

PAGE 36

S

tomach bugs may not only make you feel miserable at the time. Salmonella, E coli and other types of food poisoning may have lifelong consequences.

Studies have shown that people caught up in food poisoning outbreaks are more likely to develop a host of lengthy illnesses, including diabetes, arthritis, kidney failure, high blood pressure and even heart attacks and strokes.

Some, such as kidney damage thought to be caused by powerful poisons released by the bugs and arthritis triggered by a faulty immune response, occur within weeks. Others, such as high blood pressure, take years to appear.

Experts say the chance that the link is coincidental is remote and are calling for more to be done to identify victims of food poisoning and monitor their longterm health.

Others say that prevention is key - and better hand and food hygiene would cut the number of cases of food poisoning and so the number of people left with lifelong complications.

Almost 90,000 cases of food poisoning are recorded each year in England and Wales.

However, the true number is likely to be closer to one million, as only a minority of victims will visit their doctor and give a sample that will be logged in the official statistics.

Common bugs are E coli, usually caught from eating undercooked beef including mince and burgers; campylobacter, found in raw and undercooked meat, especially chicken; and salmonella, which is found in eggs, meat and milk.

While they can be fatal, most people recover after a few days.

But this month’s issue of Scientific American warns that

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Food poisoning could have lifelong consequences even a short bout of sickness or diarrhoea could have long-term consequences.

Studies have linked E coli to kidney failure and diabetes and campylobacter to bowel problems and Guillain-Barre syndrome, a potentially fatal condition in which the immune system attacks the nerves, causing muscle weakness and paralysis.

Salmonella has been blamed for a form of arthritis.

Scientific American says: ‘It is a scary idea that food poisoning which we think of as lasting just a few days - could instead have lifelong after-effects.

‘The incidence of such “sequelae”, in medical parlance, has been thought to be low, but not many researchers studied the problem until recently.

‘New findings by several scientific teams suggest the phenomenon is more common than anyone thought.’

Figures are still relatively scarce.

But one of the most ‘stunning and persuasive’ studies was carried out on Canada after thousands of men and women became ill from drinking water contaminated with manure.

A government-funded study found that, eight years later, those who suffered severe diarrhoea due to the dirty water were more than twice as likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those who were unaffected or only mildly ill.

Their risk of kidney problems was more than three times as

Long-term: Salmonella, E coli and other types of food poisoning may have lifelong consequences

Common bugs are E coli, usually caught from eating undercooked beef including mince and burgers

Studies have linked E coli (pictured) to kidney failure and diabetes

high. They also had greater than normal odds of high blood pressure.

Even those with milder symptoms had circulatory problems that may have been triggered by the stomach bug.

University of Western Ontario researcher Dr Bill Clark recommends that survivors of severe food poisoning, such as that caused by the E coli O157 strain, undergo regular blood pressure and kidney checks.

Barbara Kowalcyk, of the Centre for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention in the US, said: ‘We want to establish the true burden of disease because that is what policy makers use to decide what is a public health priority.

‘As long as we focus only on the acute form of foodborne illness and not the long-term health consequences, we’ll underestimate how significant a problem this is.’

Professor Julian Ketley, of the University of Leicester, said it is important that people are aware of the complications, some of which develop within weeks of the sickness and diarrhoea.

He said: ‘If it does come up, they can go and see their physician about it.’

Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of microbiology at Aberdeen University, stressed that prevention is key.

He said: ‘Once you get infected with one of these bugs, it is in the

luck of the gods whether you get the complications or not.

‘There is nothing you can do to stop the complications but you can stop the infections happening in the first place.

‘The vast majority of people who get food poisoning will not suffer any long-term consequences but the minority will.

‘That’s why it is absolutely vital we get the number as low as we can.’

Professor Pennington advocates hand washing, thorough cooking of food and taking care not to contaminate other foods with uncooked meat and poultry.

Source: Dailymail.co.uk

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 37

NASS probes have rekindled the hope of the common man, says council boss INTERVIEW Yahaya Sale Taki is the current Executive Chairman of Kazaure Local Government of Jigawa state. He has been at the head of the Council for a record fifth time. In this interview with Lawal Sadiq Sanusi, Taki assesses the nation’s political and economic development 12 years into democracy just as he comes hard on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)’s Minister for non-performance. Excerpts:

N

igeria has attained twelve years of d e m o c r a t i c governance what is your view about this democracy?

All Praises be to almighty God and Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihim Wassalam.

In asking me to assess the journey so far about democracy in the last twelve years in Nigeria, I will start by saying it is true that Nigeria has attained democracy and it has developed over the years.

Nigeria has really undergone serious development under this democracy more especially I can start by commending the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. He has done so much for this country in my point view and I commend him for that. It was he, who, in 1999 to 2003, tried to build the tenets of democracy and institutionalized it in this country.

Some of the achievements that he helped brought to the entrenchment of democratic institutions in the country include the composition of his cabinet, which he did through the appointment of mature Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura as Minister of Agriculture, and Alhaji Sule Lamido, as Foreign affairs ministry.

We believe the efforts of present Jigawa state Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido, during Obasanjo’s regime at the ministry of Foreign Affairs had earned so much respect for this country. Don’t forget it was during this period the Paris Club forfeited the enormous debt the country was owing; all because of Obasanjo’s stand on democracy in the country.

This was also done to help the country use the money to further develop democracy in Nigeria. I think that was a great achievement.

Secondly, the GSM business was introduced into this country during Obasanjo ‘s

regime. Everybody knows the importance of communication in our lives today. Its economic viability surpassed many other sectors. In fact it brings about a lot of employment opportunities to different people who are now gainfully employed by this sector. Look around everywhere you can see young people who are either selling cards, making phone calls or engaged in selling phone accessories.

Another milestone achieved

by Obasanjo’s regime was the recognition of Nigeria by the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). He really tried for Islam and Nigerian Muslims. I must commend him for that. He was an equitable leader, who operated his government without open sentiments. The entire past regime did not make it a reality but during Obasanjo’s time, he did his best and ensured that Nigeria joined the League of Nations in OIC. What is your assessment of legislative arm of government from 1999 to date?

The legislative arm during the period under review in half way tried but it was better during the time of Hon. Ghali Umar NaAbba. He was not a stooge. He actually tried

Yahaya Sale Taki keeping the executive on its toes. However, during the time of Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, the legislative arm became like a stooge even though he tried his best but not like his predecessor.

In the present time, the legislative arm is doing what could be termed as more than trying. There is nothing one can say but to extend commendations, express appreciation and encouragement to both chambers of the National Assembly. I must commend them because for over one month now I have been following events in the sessions through the NTA and what is happening is captivating and interesting.

They are actually giving hope to the common men, who have trooped out on the day of election, defying sun, rain and

“

I am always disturbed by the situation in Nigeria, especially at the grassroots because all along we have been beating about the bush. I will tell you that all arms of government were only kicking around without a target. We have yet to find the direct solution to our problems. But I assure you that it is we at the grass roots who know what life is like to the common man.

other natural and unnatural inconveniences to cast their votes and give politicians the mandate to rule them. I am always disturbed by the situation in Nigeria, especially at the grassroots because all along we have been beating about the bush. I will tell you that all arms of government were only kicking around without a target. We have yet to find the direct solution to our problems. But I assure you that it is we at the grass roots who know what life is like to the common man.

I have been a local government Chairman for up to five times, we are the people who are managing security of the country; we are the ones who are maintaining the whole population of the country. Now, unlike before, we have some hope that the legislature is doing a different work for the common man. In the past there was no hope for the Nigerian masses but with the current debates and probes by both chambers of the national Assembly, I appreciate and express some hope that Nigerians are actually going to see things for the better and the nation will change and develop.

Just look at the ongoing Pension probe by the Senate and the fuel subsidy saga at the House of Representatives. It is amazing seeing how several years many people have just been dying because for over ten years after retirement they have not been paid their entitlements. He has

children, dependents, yet somebody will just corner what is due to him and allow him to wallow in abject poverty.

It is not only at the federal level that this is happening but even some state governors cannot afford to pay the retirees their benefits several years after retirement. This is injustice. So, I commend the National Assembly for this effort.

Secondly, at the Faruk Lawan committee on fuel subsidy you can see exposures, frauds, embezzlements and other mischievous act by Nigerians. In all these I will only say I am more than satisfied, and have hope the National Assembly will continue to give Nigerians hope. I think as a grassroots man, who knows the problems of an ordinary man, I know better than most of those who are at the federal level.

If you take a look at Abuja now, you will say that former minister Nasiru El-Rufa’I was a great man. During his time whoever visited Abuja knows that he visited our nation’s capital. But now the situation has changed.

Then the environment was clean and tidy but what about now, even the flowers and other beautifying elements there is a complete change of administration. Flowers are dying because they cannot get water. I was in Abuja the day before and I was embarrassed, all the trees and flowers around Abuja, that I have come across are dying, no watering. I think the present Minister is only speaking grammar with less action to show when it comes to the development of our capital city.

I don’t believe he is the type that should be given such a gigantic position. We want people who have vision for development.

You know the first thing to call your attention that things are working, when you visit a place, is the environment, is to see flowers and trees are flourishing. But when you see trees and flowers dying, not greenish, then the administration has some questions to answer.

So what do you want government to do?

I am calling on the Federal Government to checkmate any minister; anybody that is appointed to certain position of responsibility but ended up not working should be immediately shown the way so that he does not waste our time. What we need in this nation is action and implementation of government policies.

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PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

2015: Jonathan warns against succession politics

By Lawrence Olaoye

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head of the 2015 general elections, President Goodluck Jonathan at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)'s National Congress held last weekend warned members of the party to resist politics of succession that could tear the party apart.

Represented by his Vice, Arc. Namadi Sambo, Jonathan admonished the party to resist the temptation of allowing the inordinate ambition and obsession of some members to cause disaffection within the party ranks.

Jonathan, who was earlier present at the Congress could not wait through the event because he was billed to travel for an international event, had to be represented by his vice.

He urged the members of the party to eschew bickering and remain united in the pursuit of the party's goals and objectives According to him, PDP must remain a party where internal discipline was supreme and a guiding anchor of its processes.

Jonathan congratulated the new leadership of the Party and appreciated the dissolved executive committee for providing energetic and purposeful leadership for the party.

"We salute their courage and industry especially at a very critical period in our party's history.

We enjoin those who have now been entrusted with the mantle of leadership after them to follow their footsteps by working hard to position our party for the pressing

President Goodluck Jonathan tasks ahead.

"In our electoral processes we must not deviate from the tenets of free, fair and credible elections."

The President charged the new leadership on the imperative of reforming the party, starting from the grassroots to remain focused, visionary and functional.

The President also emphasized the need for PDP to continue to lead

by example with an utmost sense of responsibility and to set the pace in the march towards consolidating and stabilising democracy.

He urged all members to remain committed and prepared to continue to work for the interest of the party and the country.

Jonathan also said that PDP must begin to improve on its

capacity to be a melting-pot of ideas on how to excel in the provision of the total good of the people.

About 5,000 delegates participated in the national convention which elected the new National Working Committee that would steer the affairs of the party in the next four years.

Apart from the elections, the convention also adopted the amended PDP Constitution and endorsed its audited accounts for 2010 and 2011.

Fifteen National positions were opened for contest by eligible members of the party at the convention Although 11 candidates were cleared for the position of the National Chairman which was zoned to the North East, 10 of the contestants withdrew their intrsts at the convention ground ahead of the contest through one of them, Dr Shettima Muastapha, the former Minister for Defense.

Following the announcement, the Chairman of the Electoral Panel and Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Haliru, said because of the importance of the position of party Chairman, delegates would still vote for the consensus candidate.

At the end of voting, Tukur polled 3,185 votes from the total of 3,428 while the balance was invalid. Tukur then emerged the ninth National Chairman of the PDP since its inception ion 1998.

The past Chairmen include Chief Solomon Lar, Alhaji Barnabas Gemade, Chief Audu ogbeh, Alhaji Ahmadu Ali, chief Vincent Ogbulafor, Chief okwesileze Nwodo, Dr Bello Haliru

Lawmaker lauds Amaechi for adequate security

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member of the Federal House of Representatives, Sokonte Davies, has lauded Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi for providing adequate security for Rivers.

Davies,who represents Bonny/ Degema Federal Constituency, made the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) on Friday in Port

Harcourt.

He praised the governor for his efforts in ensuring that cultism, militancy and other forms of crime had been brought under control.

The lawmaker noted that because of the general improvement of security in the state, there had been heavy human and vehicular traffic in the evening and late into the night

daily.

He said he was delighted to see people going about their businesses freely everywhere without fear of one form of attack or the other by “bad boys.”

Davies stated that because of the level of security in the state and in Port Harcourt particularly, most of the oil companies and other multi nationals were relocating their

offices and headquarters to Port Harcourt and other parts of the state. “ I praise Amaechi for the security we are enjoying today in Port Harcourt, we can sleep with our two eyes closed,” he said.

He called on investors all over the world to come to the state and invest, saying the entire state was very secured for business.

Utomi, others call for Anioma state

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group of writers, including Prof.

Pat Utomi, have reiterated the need for the creation of Anioma state.

The call was contained in a multiauthored book “Anioma in Contemporary Nigeria“ edited by Kunirum Osia which was presented to the public at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs, Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the book was coauthored by Utomi, Dr. Kunirum Osia, Josua Enueme, Steve Nwabuzor and Ehiedu Iweriebor.

Speaking at the presentation, Utomi said that the creation of a new state would complement

government’s developmental efforts.

“If there is unity of purpose, then a people can demand a course and of course the creation of states goes ahead to assist the efforts of the government in both physical and economic sectors,’’ he said.

The Governor of Delta, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, represented by his Commissioner for Information, Mr Chike Ogeah, said his state supported the vision.

Gov. Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by Mr Disu Holloway, Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relations, said that Lagos was a pacesetter in showcasing unity of

culture of a people.

“We always identify with anything that promotes the origin, culture and identity that promotes the development of the nation,’’ he said.

A Professor Emeritus, Isawa Elaigwu, while reviewing the book said that quality leadership embraced values of equity, fairness and accommodation of various ethnic groups.

Elaigwu noted that the clamour for the creation of the state was a nationalistic struggle for selfdetermination.

“Groups are becoming more conscious of their identity and their

predicaments and are making demands for greater participation in decisions which affect their lives,’’ he said.

According to him, the book focuses on the structural reorganisation and pressures of the Anioma group for additional sub-national states.

“The book, therefore, is an attempt to provide multi-dimensional perspective on Anioma to reveal the uniqueness of its ethnic identity,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the proposed make up of the Anioma state was drawn from Aniocha, Ndokwa, IkaIbo, Oshimili and some parts of the Igala and Ishan tribes.

Mohammed and Alhaji Abubakar Baraje.

For the position of the National Secretary, 12 aspirants from the South West, where the position was zoned to, indicated interests and were consequently cleared for the position.

But, 10 of them openly withdrew from the race citing party interests and supremacy leaving Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Chief Dapo Sarumi in the race. Oyinlola won the poll with 3,061 votes from 3165 total votes.

Similarly, for the position of National Woman Leader, zoned to the South East, 10 candidates were cleared to contest for the position at the convention.

Also in the course of the event, 10 of the candidates came out individually to announce their withdrawal for Dr Kema Chikwe and she was subsequently unanimously affirmed winner by the 5,000 delegates at the convention.

Ten other positions were won through affirmations of delegates because the candidates were returned unopposed.

Lawmaker calls on MDAs to showcase Nigeria’s cultural enterprises

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he Chairman, Senate Committee on Women Affairs and Youth Development, Sen. Helen Esuene, has appealed to government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to promote the country’s cultural enterprises.

Esuene made the appeal in Abuja at the launch of the Show Case Nigeria Initiative (SONI) an initiative of the World Women Trade Fair (WWTF) She noted that collaboration between government and development partners was vital for diversification of the economy through promotion of small scale cultural enterprises.

“Let us join hands together to transform our nation, diversify and build Nigeria’s cultural economy thereby providing a better sustainable good life for our people using their enterprise.

She called on lawmakers to organise their local craftsmen and women into cooperative societies to enable them benefit from the SONI programme.

WWFT Executive Director, (Nigeria and West Africa) Mrs. Adanma Ogumka said the programme intended to identify indigenous/cultural products with a view to exposing them through trade shows.

She added that the programme would help to enhance the capacity and improve the livelihood of rural dwellers especially women and the youth.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 39

Woman activist applauds Akpabio for gender balance

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gender equality activist in Esit Eket, Akwa Ibom has applauded the gender friendly disposition of Gov. Godswill Akpabio’s administration in the state.

Mrs. Ima-obong Abia, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Eket, described the Governor as a gender friendly leader who encouraged women to achieve their potentials in politics.

Abia said the numerous opportunities offered the women to contribute their quota to the development of the state had empowered them.

She commended the government for giving women the opportunity to occupy strategic positions, including members of the State Executive Council, transition committees and the first female Chief Judge of the state.

Abia further commended the

election of three women into the state council of the PDP at its congress.

On economic empowerment, Abia who is an accountant, said the Women Agricultural Entrepreneurial Development Programme (WAEDP) targeted at women in agriculture had benefited 4,500 women in the first phase.

She explained that the scheme provided a revolving load of N250,000 for 4,500

women from 31 councils in the state.

She advised the beneficiaries to invest the interest free loan judiciously to eradicate poverty and generate more economic activities to enable others to access the facility.

According to her, women in the state have achieved the 35 per cent affirmative action in elective and appointive positions, a feat she said other states in the country are yet to achieve.

L-R: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, Alhaji A.Y. Gombe, former Special Adviser to P r e s i d e n t Obasanjo on Small Scale Industries, Alhaji A h m e d Abdulkadir, and former Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Adamu Waziri, during the PDP Convention, on Saturday at Eagle Square, in Abuja.

Photo: Joe Oroye

PDP will be in power for the next 50 years, says Gov. Akpabio

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overnor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom has said that PDP will continue to rule Nigeria for the next 50 years.

Akpabio made the statement while answering questions from newsmen in Abuja last weekend explaining that this would be made possible because PDP was the most established party with its own peculiar ideology, principles and organs.

“I believe that what is happening with the PDP today is that there is serious internal

democratisation going on and that of course is deepening democracy and we are getting better and better everyday.

“There is no other political party that will do what PDP will do. All those who complain against the PDP, tell them to show you their congresses and conventions and you will have a great laugh.

“This is a party to look forward to. That is why we say in the next 50 years, I don’t see any replacement for PDP because it is so organised and entrenched,” he

said.

Akpabio maintained that the National Convention of the party in Abuja would further show the democratisation going on in the party as well as the deepening of democracy and democratic values.

According to him, the congresses so far have been fantastic and have been adjudged as the most democratic, the freest, fairest and the most transparent ever in the history of Nigeria.

Commenting on the party’s

congress in Akwa Ibom, Akpabio said the exercise was “well organised and very transparent because it was well monitored by observers and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials.

“We ensure that even when there was no opposition, we still came out to vote to affirm the election of the candidates.

“People came and cast their votes just to show clearly that they supported the candidates and this was televised live for our people to see.”

Kebbi ACN Exco never decamped to PDP, says chairman From Ahmed Idris, Birnin Kebbi

T

he Chairman of Kebbi state Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Alhaji Aliyu Bature, has denied the allegation that all the members of the party have decamped to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) insisting that the 125 Executive members of the party in the state have yet to leave the party.

He stated this at weekend in

Birnin Kebbi while reacting to the pronouncement made recently by the party’s gubernatorial candidate, Barrister Kabiru Tanimu, that all the executive members, supporters and followers of the party have defected to the PDP. Addressing newsmen in his office, the Chairman said that only one person from the executive has defected to the PDP along with the gubernatorial candidate of the

party, Tanimu.

He expressed dismay over their defection adding that their action might not be unconnected with their personnel interests, adding that they will remain ever in the party no matter what will cost them.

‘We cannot be political prostitutes to sell the good image of our great party ACN to the hands of capitalists politicians who after they use you they will dump you’’ he said.

He said on the forthcoming

gubernatorial re-run election in the state, if time permit, they will participate in the election with a new gubernatorial candidate.

On the recent appointment of the Presidential candidate of the party, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, as Chairman task force on Petroleum Subsidy by the PDP government, Bature said Ribadu only accepted the offer but has not defected to PDP.

PDP’s internal democracy has matured, says FCT Minister

T

he FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohamed has said that the adoption of consensus candidates by delegates at the PDP National Convention was an evidence that internal democracy of the party had matured.

The Minister described the consensus idea as “measurable and tangible”.

He made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after Alhaji Bamanga Tukur emerged as the consensus National Chairman of the party at its 9th National Convention.

“You can see the consensus is measurable and tangible, it can be touched, it is not artificial and it is not a delusion, it is real.

“It is real because each and every candidate has keyed into the consensus and that shows that the internal democracy in the party is free of rancour, conflict and misunderstanding.’’

Mohammed added that positions into the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP “are seen from the stand point of leadership and sacrifice and not personal aggrandisement of vision or mission’’.

He expressed the hope that the party would experience good leadership because of the consensus candidates that emerged at the convention.

“The party will now experience leadership that has multi dimensional faceted kind of relevance to governance and leadership.’’

Mohammed described Alhaji Bamanga Tukur as the best candidate for the party‘s chairmanship position because of his “exposure, maturity and experience”.

He said the party needed matured candidate for its national chairmanship position who “ cannot be easily distracted by financial or political consideration order than the national project ‘’.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that although Tukur emerged as the consensus candidate, delegates were made to vote “yes” or “no” to affirm his position.

Tukur, at the end of the election, got a total of 3,185 votes.

Dr Kema Chikwe, former Minister of Aviation, also emerged as the consensus candidate for the National Women Leader.

Chief Olagunsoye Oyinlola former Governor of Osun became the party’s National Secretary through a consensus agreement.

Oyinlola got 3,080 votes to clinch the position as announced

by Dr Haliru Mohammed, Defence Minister.

Tukur, former Governor of defunct Gongola State, said that “ in PDP everybody is a winner’’.

He pledged not to allow his personal interest to influence the party‘s decision, promising to serve the party and the people.

PAGE 40

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Newly elected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (2nd right), being sworn-in by Mr. Joe Kyari Gadzama, SAN (2nd left), after his election at the party's national convention, on Saturday at Eagle Square in Abuja. With them are Katsina state Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Shehu Shema (left), and Minister of Defence, Dr Bello Haliru Mohammed (right).

Vice-President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (2nd right), delivering President Goodluck Jonathan's address during the convention. With him are former party acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje (2nd left), Senate President David Mark (right), and Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal (left).

L-R: Bayelsa state Governor, Henry Seriake-Dickson, with Kwara state Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, at the convention.

R-L: Chief Solomon Lar, Chief Vincent Ogbulafor, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, Chief Barnabas Gemade, all past national chairmen, and former BOT Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, at the convention venue.

L-R: Vice -President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, President Goodluck Jonathan, former acting National Chairman, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, and former President and Chairman of BOT, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, observing National Anthem, at the PDP convention.

Photos: Joe Oroye

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 41

Jonathan’s investiture holds today

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resident Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will today be investitured as the grand patron of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), according to Engr.Sani Ndanusa, the president of the NOC. Ndanusa, who said that the event scheduled to take place at the Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton in Abuja, will kickstart Team Nigerian preparations for the London 2012 Olympics which tees off from July 27 to August 12.

“The decoration of Mr President as the Grand Patron of the NOC is a noble and

traditional role which kickstarts our march to the Olympics. We are delighted with the massive qualification of our athletes for the Olympics with good records that makes us expectant for a good outing in London”, Ndanusa said.

Also expected to attend the ceremony are some Governors, Senators, Ministers and captains of industry and stakeholders in sports.

The supervising Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi would lead events in crowning Mr President as ‘an Olympian’. Several sponsoring

outfits who are willing to identify with Team Nigeria are equally expected to grace the occasion.

NOC’s Marketing Commission Chairman, Patrick Ukah affirmed that companies that have embraced the NOC and sports would also enjoy the benevolence of Government through tax rebates while promising that there abound opportunities to be leveraged by such institutions.

The night of glitz coincides with the celebration of 60 meritorious years of the Olympic movement in Nigeria.

Kallon force Wolves to draw

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President Goodluck Jonathan

Falcons, Bayana get May 30 date

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Desire Oparanozie and Precious Dede, Super Falcons players

igeria’s Super Falcons and their South African counterparts, Bayana Bayana are billed for two-legged friendly duel on May 30 in Johannesburg and June 23 in a yet t-to-be named venue in Nigeria, respectively.

The match is at the instance of the South African Football Association (SAFA) which seeks to tune up the Olympic-bound South African team.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says the games fit in with both team’s upcoming travel plans.

“We have a 2012 African Women’s Championship qualifier against Zimbabwe on 27 May so it’s easier to get to South Africa from there,” NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire said yesterday in confirmation of a wire service report.

“South Africa are also facing Zambia in a similar qualifier and will travel to Nigeria after that game [the second leg scheduled for June 1-17), for the second leg of the friendly.”

Nigeria defeated South Africa 2-1 at the African Women Championship group stage and went on to win the championship for the sixth times in November 2010.

But the Falcons failed to qualify for both the All Africa Games and the London 2012 after losing both qualifiers to Ghana and Cameroon respectively.

Again, Zambians cry foul, says Flamingoes are over-age player

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he Zambian U-17 Coach, Beauty Mwamba, has alleged that the bulk of the Flamingoes who trounced the Shepolopolo 5-0 on Saturday to seal Nigeria’s spot at the FIFA U17 Women Cup finals in Azerbaijan are over-age players.

The Zambians had made similar allegation in the first leg

Aminu Maigari

after losing 1-2 in front of their fans. In doing so, they corroborated with their East African neighbours, Kenya who had accused Nigeria’s FalconetsU-20 female team- of being above the stipulated age bracket.

The allegation though has been dismissed by the General Coordinator of National Women

Christian Chukwu, NFF technical sub-committee member

Teams, Aisha Falode, who described such allegation as the ‘ranting of bad losers’.

However, on Saturday in Abeokuta, Coach Mwamba accused the Flamingoes of fielding overaged players in the encounter and stressed that her charges lost largely due to the age disadvantage.

Nonetheless, she said there has no substantive proff to buttress her allegation but insisted that as a mother who had passed through that age bracket it was relatively easier for her to know a girl that’s under 17 years of age and above.

“The Nigerian side fielded over-age players who were too big for my girls. I don’t have proof; but I am sure that their girls are well over the age specification,” the Shepolopolo coach said.

The Flamingoes qualified for the September World Cup finals in Azerbaijan on 7-2 aggregate, having won the first leg 2-1 a fortnight ago in Lusaka.

Patience Okaeme netted the first goal of the match in the first

minute, while Halimatu Ibrahim doubled the score in the 14th minute.

Nigeria’s Chidinma Edeji scored a brace to increase the goal tally to four, while Mabel Michael scored Nigeria’s fifth goal in the 88th minute.

igeria’s Warri Wolves began their campaign in the 2012 CAF Confederation Cup on a goalless note at the National Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone on Saturday.

The Nigerians and their Sierra Leone counterparts, FC Kallon battled to a 0-0 draw in the first leg, round of 32 in Africa’s second tier club competition.

Wolves’ head coach, Maurice Cooreman, started with a back four of captain Goodluck Onamado, Azubuike Egwuekwe, ThankGod Ike and Mine Ojo while Uche Ossai surprisingly played in front of the defence in a holding role.

The tactics to play the attackminded Ossai in a holding midfielder role paid off as he ensured that the former Inter Milan striker, Mohammed Kallon had little or no influence on the game.

The block marking of Ossai on Kallon frustrated the owner of FC Kallon, who decided to adopt a rough approach to the game and got book in the 64th minute.

Super Eagles’ goalkeeper, Chigozie Agbim was in his best form as he also did well to keep out goal attempts by FC Kallon to ensure Wolves left Freetown unscathed.

Cooreman praised his team for securing a draw in Freetown in the post-match conference and assured Wolves will win the return leg. The Belgian was happy with Ossai for adapting to the defensive midfielder role where he helped shut out ex-AS Monaco man, Kallon.

The former Kaduna United coach explained that he opted to play Ossai in a defensive midfielder position owing to the information he got about FC Kallon. Cooreman, however, defended his men’s untidy football blaming it on the turf of the National Stadium in Freetown.

Wolves will play hosts to FC Kallon in a fortnight at the Warri City Stadium.

Dolphins beat Cotonsport

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olphins of Port Harcourt yesterday posted a 2-1 win over Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon in the first leg of the last 16 finals of the CAF Champions League in Port Harcourt.

Dolphins took the lead after just two minutes through Ifeanyi Egwim before Alim Hamdama equalised for Coton Sport 18 minutes later.

Egwin then missed a penalty in 64th minute but his blushes were spared when Owusu Adei scored a late winner.

The Port Harcourt based team had earlier threatened to boycott the game over unpaid allowances but a quick intervention of the Rivers state Commissioner of Sports, Fred Igwe. It was learned that the Commissioner met with the players at their Elekahia camp and immediately paid out two out of the 29 match bonuses owed the players.

He also gave the players the sum of N500,000 to calm frayed nerves ahead of the tie and promised to give another N500,000 if the team defeat Cotonsport yesterday.

Igwe further promised the players that they will be paid the remaining 27 match bonuses and signing-on fees on an undisclosed date but “soon.”

PAGE 42

Gadzama golf tourney to go national

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he annual J.K. Gadzama and Partners Golf Tournament will soon become a national championship, the sponsor said yesterday in Abuja.

Joe Gadzama, an Abuja-based lawyer and golf enthusiast, said at the tee-off of the tournament’s fifth edition of the tournament that the expansion would further boosts his objectives for instituting the event.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tournament is sponsored annually at the IBB Golf and Country Club in Abuja by Gadzama, a former captain of the club.

“Our starting point was five years ago, and like a joke we are now here where the tournament has metamorphosed into a fullblown tournament. We are hopeful that this will continue, and even go on in the not-too-distant future into a national championship which will be better organised and with more attraction.

“We hope to have more invited players from all over the country and not just Abuja and its environs. Then we will also have bigger prizes and other gifts and souvenirs to go with it,” Gadzama said.

He noted that the tournament has over the past few years grown tremendously and has not only fulfilled his objectives but has bred young golfers.

“So, through this tournament, we are spreading the gospel of catching them young, and preparing those to take the baton from us in the game,” Gadzama said.

The former IBB Golf and Country Club captain expressed delight in the attraction the tournament has been over the years at the club.

“For example, over 200 indicated interest in this year’s edition when we had prepared to have only 160. It is indeed something to make me happy,” he said.

Participants in the tournament included Kogi governor Idris Wada, former Senate President Iyorchia Ayu and the former President of the Lady Golfers Association, Mrs Ngozi Osuhor.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

Dethroned Morales ponders future

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anny Garcia took the WBC super-lightweight title when he beat Erik Morales on points in Houston on Saturday night. The American remained undefeated as he won the fight by scores of 117-110, 116112 and 118-109.

Garcia, who improved his record to 23-0, including 14 knockouts,

Danny Garcia, new WBC Super Light weight champion

grabbed the title that Morales had forfeited when he weighed in over the limit on Friday.

The 35-year-old Morales, who dropped to 52-8, with 36 knockouts, was knocked down in the eleventh round after starting reasonably well but failing to keep the younger and faster challenger from dominating the fight. The Mexican veteran had won titles in four divisions but Garcia, 24, made it clear that his time had come.

Morales had won the vacant title in September last year by stopping Pablo Cesar Cano in the tenth round. However, he took a lot of punishment from Cano, as he had done in losing to Marcos Maidana in April last year.

An elated Garcia said,”It’s been a long ride,” he said. “Everybody wants to be champion. I knew it was going to be a bloody war. I just couldn’t let him take my dream away.”

Garcia, who fought the final rounds with a bloody nose, was the more aggressive throughout the fight. He knocked Morales down with a stinging left hook to the chin.

“It was a difficult fight,” said Morales. “His type of style gave me problems.” Morales said he would take some time to ponder his future. “I have to think about it,” he said. “To fight at this level I really have to think about it because it is my health.”

On the undercard, James Kirkland won his super-welterweight bout against Carlos Molina on a disqualification in the tenth round.

Molina was knocked down and when his corner men jumped into the ring, the referee disqualified the boxer who was leading on two cards at the time. Kirkland improved to 31-1, with 27 knockouts and Molina dropped to 19-5-2; 6.

DStv Men’s Basketball League: Union Bank records third victory

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nion Bank Basketball Club of Lagos recorded its third victory, beating Customs Basketball Club 67-65, in the Week Five fixtures of the ongoing 2011/ 12 DStv Men’s Basketball League played on Saturday.

Union Bank, 2010/11 First Runner-up of the league, led the first and second quarters of the game by 12-10 and 17-15 respectively, while the third quarter saw the two teams tying 20-20. Customs claimed the last quarter with just two points 20-18 and that could not help it to record its first victory.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Customs, just promoted back into the league, had not won any of the five matches it had played so far. Union Bank has lost only one of the four matches it had played.

Coach Scott Nnaji of Customs, in an interview with NAN, blamed his team’s loss on hard luck, saying “I think luck was not on our side at all because my players tried their best.”

Nnaji said the loss of so many free throws also robbed them of their first victory.

He also attributed the team’s loss to technical fouls

committed by his players.

He, however, expressed optimism of better performance in subsequent matches as the team could not afford to suffer relegation.

Coach Johnson Ayinla of Union Bank expressed delight that the team did not record a second loss.

“I am happy that we narrowly won this match; it was through sheer luck that we were able to win this game as Customs were all out to defeat us,” Ayinla said.

According to him, the team’s technical crew will continue to work on the young players to enable them to maintain the

First Deepwater top Zenith Female Basketball League L

agos-based First Deepwater have topped the first phase of the Eighth Zenith Bank Women Basketball League in Kaduna with 12 points, after winning all the six matches.

The results showed that the team scored 518 points as against the 274 points they conceded at the end of phase one of the league, with an average of 1.890 and +244 goal difference.

The team beat six other participants, including First Bank also of Lagos, who came second with 11 points, winning five of its six matches. It scored 444 points and conceded 263 points.

Sunshine Angels of Akure came third with 10 points, having won four matches and lost two, while Nigeria Customs Service

60 Coaches set for coaching course in Kano

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o fewer than 60 indigenous coaches will participate in a twoday coaching course scheduled to begin from tomorrow through March 29 in Kano.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the course is being sponsored by the management of Dabo Babes FC in collaboration with Rush Academy and Kano State Foot ball Association. Mallam Dauda Auwal, the President of Dabo Babes FC, at news conference in Kano on Saturday, said that the course would expose the local coaches to modern coaching practice. He added that it would refresh their knowledge of the game.

The President of the club said that a veteran coach, Henry Abiodun, would deal with the technicalities of the game and impact some managerial lessons on the participants.

“We are organising this training for about 60 coaches in conjunction with Kano FA and Rush Academy in Kano to develop the quality of the coaches. “The course is also an opportunity for them to interact with seasoned coaches and football administrators.’’

winning streak.

The second match of the day saw Ebun Comets defeating host and city rival, Lagos Islanders, 70-58 to record a second win in five matches they had played so far.

However, Lagos Islanders had recorded two losses in the five matches they had played.

Nigeria women club basketball champions, First Deepwater

are in the fourth position with nine points.

The team won three of the six matches played in the first phase of the competition.

Similarly, FCT Angels won two matches and lost four, scoring eight points to emerge fifth.

Nigeria Immigration Service placed seventh after securing only one win in the six matches played in the opening phase of the league.

Plateau Rocks lost all six matches and thus occupy the bottom of the table.

Three teams, Delta Force, Dolphins and AHIP were conspicuously absent at the event.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) was told by an anonymous source that AHIP withdrew at the last minute of the week-long competition while Delta Force and Dolphins cited the insecurity in some northern states of the country as reasons for not showing up.

The league is expected to go through second and third stages before a champion emerges, while Delta State, tipped to host the second phase of the league lost out, for its absence in Kaduna.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 43

Best player award: I feel honoured, says Shuaibu Kwara

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Utd hail NFF verdict on match Langa fighters seek support for sport violence

brahim Shuaibu of Giwa FC, Jos, on Friday said that he felt “highly honoured” to be awarded the Nigerian National League (NNL) Best Player of the month for February.

“I feel well honoured at being adjudged the best player of the month of February,’ Shuaibu, a midfielder said.

He described the award as very surprising and encouraging. “It is great to feel that one’s efforts are being

recognised by the league’s body.

This award will serve as an encouragement not just to me, but all my teammates. The award will definitely spur me to do more to help my club to gain promotion to the Nigeria Premier League,” Shuaibu said.

The midfielder was picked by NNL as the best player for his outstanding performances.

The award attracts a N50,000 monetary reward.

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anga players to represent Lagos State at the 18 th National Sports Festival have urged corporate organisations to support the sport and thereby promote its popularity.

In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, some of the players said that the game was unpopular due to lack of funds to organise competitions.

Langa, a combative sport, has its origins from the northern part of the country. The two fighters each hold their left leg with their left hand within a circle while they use their right hands to fight.

Kola Hassan, the captain of the Lagos team, said that the game needed encouragement, stressing that many Nigerians were not aware of its existence.

“We need sponsors because many people do not know the sport.

With the support of sponsors, people will know this sport. For the fact that this game is a traditional sport does not mean it does not

Shuaibu is the first player to win the award recently initiated by the NNL to encourage players and clubs to put in their best in the game.

Shuaibu scored a brace in last Saturday’s match against Kogi United FC of Lokoja, to record the club’s fourth victory in Group B of the competition.

Commenting on the award, Yemi Mathew, the Media Officer of Giwa FC, said the nomination of Shuaibu was

“well deserved“ considering his recent form and performances.

Yemi said the club would continue to accord players’ welfare a top priority to encourage them to give their best.

Meanwhile, Giwa FC will on Sunday be guests to Meridian FC of Kano in the last match of the first round of the National League. A win for Giwa will take the team to second position on the table.

need encouragement, that is the more reason why it should be sponsored,” he said.

Olarenwaju Lawal, another fighter, said that he was optimistic that the Lagos team would do well at the festival and added that they have been training hard and are optimistic that we will dominate the event at the festival in spite of the fact that it is traditional sport in the north.

“We have started preparing early because we want to outshine the Northerners. Lagos State is hosting and winning. I know the sport originated from the north but we want to prove that Westerners are becoming proficient in the game of Langa,” he said.

Edet Ibanga, a Langa coach, said that the Lagos team would endeavour to surpass their previous record, noting that at the last edition Lagos took fourth position.

NTTF optimistic of win at World Team Championships T he Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has said that the players to the World Team Table Tennis Championships would win and qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Anderson Bankole, a NTTF board member, made the assertion on Friday in Lagos, saying that the players were prepared for the championships, the qualifiers for the team event of the Games.

“The players have undergone wide-ranging training, under the supervision of competent coaches. I am, therefore, confident that they will excel and pick the ticket for the team

event,” Bankole said.

He said that Egypt, Nigeria’s main rival, would not have its way this time as the coaches have been able to improve the players’ knowledge and techniques of the game to ensure victory at the championships.

Nasiru Bello, the national coach, also expressed confidence that the team would perform brilliantly at the championships holding from March 25 to April 1 in Dortmund, Germany.

In a telephone interview shortly before the team’s departure Bello said that leaving early for Dortmund would enable the players acclimatise and train briefly before the

competition.

He said that the team was made up of 10 home and foreignbased players, adding that the home players were in top shape, after undergoing a comprehensive training programme. Bello said that five male and an equal number of female players would be competing in the championships.

According to him, the foreignbased players were also in top form and had been busy at their various clubs.

The coach urged lovers of the ping-pong game to support the players through prayers and restated the importance of the

Cecelia Otu and Edem Offiong, Nigeria’s table tennis players

championships for the country’s qualification for the Olympics.

SegunOguntade, NTTF Secretary, added that the players and coaches have done their homework to ensure a good outing, and prayed that they succeed and bring glory to the country.

“All the players, and the coaching crew, have been training tirelessly to sharpen their technical abilities for the competition, and God will surely grant them victory,” Oguntade said.

He said that KayodeAbdulraham-Omotoso, the NTTF President, was among the officials who departed the country on Thursday to support the players at the competition.

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wara United FC of Ilorin have lauded the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Disciplinary Committee on the decision in their favour on the violence in the match against Sunshine Stars of Akure in Ilorin.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the Week 12 match of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) was abandoned after the outbreak of violence 10 minutes to the end of the game.

Gabriel Aborowa, the manager of Sunshine Stars, had entered the pitch while the match was going on, alleging that the home fans were throwing objects at him. The two teams had scored a goal each when the match was disrupted.

The NFF disciplinary committee had in its judgment on Thursday reversed the banishment of the Kwara team to Abuja and directed that their next three home matches should be played behind closed doors.

The committee overruled the earlier decision of the NPL that banished the Afonja boys to Abuja.

Reacting to the decision, Mr Ajide Olarinoye, the Media Officer of the club, hailed the integrity of the committee in standing with the truth in the determination of the matter.

He said that the decision was good for the development of the league and Nigerian football.

“We appreciate the integrity demonstrated by the committee. They stood with the truth. The committee knew that the home fans were provoked by the Sunshine official,” said the media officer.

He said that the club was ready to pay the N2 million fines levelled against the club by the committee to serve as a deterrent to the home fans.

The committee also ordered the Ilorin side and Sunshine to pay a fine of N2 million each for pitch encroachment and invasion and replay the Week 12 match in Ilorin behind closed doors.

The committee overruled the NPL’s decision to deduct three points from Kwara United and banned the Sunshine Stars’ manager from football related activities for two years.

Also, Mr Sanni Mohammed, the centre referee in the match was suspended for the rest of the season for complicity in the disruption of the match.

PAGE 44

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

NPL urges clubs to curb fans restiveness at matches Disu T lauds Lagos Junior League T

he Technical Director of the Lagos Junior League, Tunde Disu, on Friday in Lagos described the just concluded league as the most amazing thing in youth football in Nigeria.

Disu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that 91 matches were played in the Premier League and that 250 goals were scored by 96 players in the competition which ended on March 17. “ The project can boast of seven players in the U-17 national team, the Eaglets, currently camping in Abuja.

The players included Olomu Tolib, Olajide Samson, Innocent Onobun, Rauf Bello, Mustapha Abudulahi, Rabiu Abdulahi and Aminu Abubakar. This is a testimony to the efficiency and the effectiveness of the products of the project,” Disu said.

The Technical Director also said there was no case of crowd violence or assault against match officials during the competition.

Nath Boys Sport Club of Lekki emerged as league champions with 33 points after 13 games, followed by Ikorodu West FC with 30 points, while Apapa Golden Stars came third with 28 points.

Alade Muyiwa of Lagos Island East scored 15 goals to clinch the highest goals scorer’s award in the league, while Ibrahim Abiodun of Apapa Golden Stars hit the back of the net 13 times to place second.

Nath Boys’ Aminu Abubakar came third with 11 goals. The champions also emerged the best behaved team of the league having bagged only five yellow cards.

he Nigeria Premier League (NPL) has blamed clubs for not doing enough to curb the excesses of their restive fans during their home matches.

The NPL’s Acting Executive Secretary, Tunji Babalola, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos that the fans behind such disturbances at league venues were known to the clubs.

He said that it was the responsibility of the clubs to identify such misbehaving fans and hand them over to the police so that peace could reign during matches.

“I believe that club chairmen know that they would be held responsible for any form of disturbance by their home fans and should put preventive measures in place to checkmate their activities,” he said.

The secretary also reminded clubs of the financial implications of playing their home matches away because of the reckless actions of their fans. Babalola added that disruption of league matches was not good for the psyche of the players.

“If, for example, am a club owner and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) moves my team to another venue financially,

it would not be good for me.

“Banishment would no doubt take its toll on the players psychologically, being the ones who bear the physical brunt of the punishment,” Babalola said.

The secretary further said that clubs should not assume that the league would be the one to ensure that everything must be in place for matches to hold successfully.

“It is not the responsibility of the NPL as a body to ensure that all things are in place, we can only encourage and provide logistics and all other responsibilities fall on the clubs. The solution is to apply the rules to the letter.

“By the time you know your points would be reduced and heavy fines are also attached that would make clubs to sit up, wake up,” he said.

On the issue of poor officiating by referees, Babalola strongly disagreed with the views expressed by some commentators on the lopsided nature of officiating by referees.

“I beg to disagree that poor officiating is the reason behind disturbances at match venues because our referees are among the best in the world,” Babalola said.

CAF ‘B’ programme would enrich football in Nigeria, says Amadu T

he acting General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Musa Amadu, has said that the ongoing Confederation of African Football (CAF) certification programme taking place in Abuja, will change the country’s football for the better.

Amadu said on Friday in Lagos that the loaded content of the programme would benefit the participants and added that since most of the participants were drawn from the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) and from all the national teams, the standard of the game in the country would improve tremendously.

“I know the CAF ‘B‘ licence programme is meant for elite coaches and the calibre of coaches attending the course has no doubt denoted its importance.

“We have already done licensing in the ‘C‘ category and those

that have being certified will go to the grass roots level, to develop the game,” he said.

The secretary told NAN that the body would do everything within its means to ensure an even development of all strata of football in the country Amadu added that the current focus of the NFF is the grass roots, which he described as the bedrock of the country’s football.

The NFF on Tuesday at the FIFA Technical Centre in Abuja commenced a two-week CAF ‘B’ Licence programme in conjunction with the apex football regulator on the African continent, Those attending the programme were selected from some of the national teams, tertiary institutions, state’ sports councils, and football academies.

From L-R: Coaches Ladan Bosso, Godwin Uwua and Bitrus Bewarang

Nigeria’s football administration in poor state, says former BBC sports analyst

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sasu Obayuiwana, a former BBC sports analyst, has described the state of the country’s football administration as uninspiring following the series of problems it has had to contend with.

Obayuiwana said in Lagos that the administrative problems had also affected the country’s performances in the World Cup. “We have not qualified for the knockout stages of the World Cup since the 1998 edition in France. There is the

urgent need for genuine administrative reform, to revive the game in the country,” he said.

Obayuiwana decried the prevailing stagnation in the country’s football and urged stakeholders to close ranks for the sake of the development of the game.

“If men of vision, diligence and integrity are not allowed to come to the fore, then the game will continue to stagnate,” he said.

Obayuiwana expressed concern that current effort

by Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi to bring about a cessation of hostilities between the warring factions in the football house might not produce the desired result.

“What happened to the previous settlement involving Harrison Jalla?

My instinct tells me that the latest intervention will solve little or nothing; that is if it solves anything at all.”

Obayuiwana said the administrative crisis had made the development

programmes at the grassroots to look ridiculous, adding that there were no wellthought programmes for budding talents.

“The federation needs to develop and implement coaching programmes for children at primary and secondary school levels, in order to create mass talents required to sustain football.

He said that if there were proper regulatory mechanism put in place to monitor grassroots football development, the allegations

often made against the U-19 and U-20 age-cheats would not arise.

When asked about his impression of the Nigeria Premier League (NPL), Obayuiwana said that “violence“ had made it an unattractive prospect for football fans in the country.

“It is a report that will deeply depress anyone who cares about the future of the game; referees being battered by fans, clubs accusing each other of match fixing; it’s appalling,” he said.

PEOPLES DAILY, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

PAGE 45

QUO TABLE Q UO TE UOT QUO UOTE

To do an ything in this w or ld anything wor orld wor th doing em ust not stand orth doing,, w we must back shivering and thinking of the cold and dang er ut jump danger er,, b but in, and scramble through as well as we can — Sydney Smith

MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2012

SPORTS LA TEST LATEST

CAF Champions League: Sunshine Stars suffer humiliating loss

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igeria's CAF Champions League debutants, Sunshine Stars were shocked yesterday in far away Luanda by Recreativo do Libobo which took a big step towards the next round with a 4-1 win Gbenga Ogunbote tutored side.

Recreativo took the lead through Rasca on 33 minutes before Super Eagles' Bobo-Izu Azuka equalised for Sunshine Stars before half-time.

The hosts dominated after the break and Adawa restored the lead on 79 minutes with long-range strike. Darius extended Libolo's lead just two minutes later and Edy completed the victory in injury time at the end of the match.

But it was a different story for seven-time winners Al Ahly of Egypt who were held to barren draw at Ethiopian Coffee in the fiesta's second round first leg tie yesterday.

It was the first competitive game for the six-time African champions since the tragedy in Port Said in February.

Both Mohamed Aboutrika and Mohamed Barakat started the game for Ahly despite saying they had retired in the aftermath of the Port Said tragedy.

Ahly's great rivals Zamalek beat Africa Sport of Ivory Coast 1-0 in Cairo.

Benin striker Razak Omotoyossi scored the only goal of the game after just 1 minute after he nicked the ball away from the goalkeeper and slid home past several defenders.

The start of the second-half was delayed by 20 minutes as match officials tried to ensure that the unauthorised people were moved away from the dugouts.

There was a huge win for Ghanaian champions Berekum Chelsea as they overcame visiting three-time African champions Raja Casablanca of Morocco 5-0.

CAF Champions League results Recreativo 4 Sunshine Stars 1 Ethiopian Coffee 0 Al Ahly 0 Dolphins 2 Cotonsport 1 Bechem Chelsea 5 Raja 0 Zamalak 1 African Sport 0 Horoya 1 Maghreb de Fes 1

ADVERT: BUSINESS: NEWS: LAGOS:

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The nays have it It will be a big clash between the political will and the administrative won’t — Jonathan Lynn

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t is now official that the attempts to broker an engagement between the Boko Haram insurgents and the Federal Government have come to an unsuccessful end. Last week, the leader of the team which volunteered to facilitate the dialogue, Dr. Datti Ahmad, the President of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria, put out a statement in which he said he and his colleagues were withdrawing from the project because the government was not sincere. He cited leaks of confidential talks between the three parties in spite of solid assurances from President Goodluck Jonathan himself that some secrecy would be guaranteed during the attempts to engineer some discussions between the insurgents and the government. Dr. Ahmad said he was not persuaded that government could keep any promise it makes to them or to members of the sect, if it cannot be trusted to keep its word about confidentiality. These who know Dr. Ahmad know that he does nothing in half measures. He must have assumed the role of a voluntary facilitator, with all the risks it involves and all the seriousness it requires. It is also the reason why his statement withdrawing his team’s services is full of anger, indignation and finality.

The leadership of the insurgency then puts out its own statement saying, we told you so.

It said it agreed to the facilitation of Dr. Ahmad and his team only after intense persuasion and out of respect for them; but it had huge reservations regarding the sincerity of the government to submit to a serious negotiation.

Needless to say, the statement said this is the last time Boko Haram leaders will accept any offer to come to the roundtable; it is now a fight to finish.

From the government itself, it was a studied silence, except for the puzzling comments of Mr. President’s Political Adviser, who initially said Dr. Ahmad has no right to demand secrecy over the talks; and then later, that government still wants him to continue to broker the talks.

Others, including the largely

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FIFTEEN MINUTES with Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed drbabaahmed@yahoo.com

President, Supreme Council on Sharia in Nigeria, Dr. Datti Ahmad symbolic Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), have waded in with advice on the resumption of the talks, but they have no influence over Dr. Ahmad’s group, President Jonathan or Boko Haram, and they cannot start another initiative.

The failure of these talks is a major setback for the nation. The fact is that it leaves only one option, which is the continuation of the killings and destruction of the social and economic infrastructure in much of the North. The questions why this important initiative failed must be raised. Could they have failed because of the characteristic incompetence of the administration to handle sensitive issues and engage in strategic thinking? Tempting as it is to answer this question in the affirmative the more likely explanation is that powerful interests have been at play to scuttle this initiative, even if they also drew on the transparent weaknesses of the administration.

Now what reasons would some interests have to prevent a settlement with the Boko Haram?

In my view, there are many.

From a strategic standpoint, there will be many who will make the case that the insurgency needs to be defeated comprehensively, or it will fight back in one form or the other. This thinking will be supported by

empirical evidence that the recent activity by MEND is a vindication of the caution offered to, but ignored, by late Umaru Yar’adua not to settle with Niger Delta militants until its basic support structure and capacities were defeated. The late President was persuaded by the dwindling export of crude, and the argument that the militancy couldn’t be defeated, as well as a rather naïve faith in the words of state governors and other leaders from the region that an expensive amnesty would replace the threat of the militancy. Second, there will be many in security circles who will see negotiations and compromise as a betrayal and capitulation by the state, and as evidence of their failure in spite of huge expenditures and lives of many comrades lost. Third, we have a whole army of beneficiaries, from foreign countries which offer advice and which supply equipment, to security agencies which receive huge amounts for intelligence, logistics and other support, to a legion of advisers and political appointees which exists around the problem, and has become a part of it.

From a political standpoint, there will be many who see the Boko Haram insurgency as the most effective weapon against the North. Whose schools, churches, markets and other assets are being bombed? The North’s. Whose lives are being taken daily by bombs and bullets? Mostly northern.

Whose economy is being destroyed by bombs, curfews, movement restrictions and checkpoints? Northern. Whose old problem of managing interreligious and inter-ethnic pluralism is being made worse?

North’s. Whose political fortunes are being damaged, and whose leaders have retreated in the face of ineffectiveness over the Boko Haram problem? Northern. If the worst political enemy of the North had written a script to keep it

disorganized, weakened and vulnerable, they could not have chosen a better strategy than to let loose the Boko Haram insurgency.

But the insurgency itself has many reasons why the sect is not in its interest to settle. What would it go down on record or in history as achieving if it accepts a resolution of its conflict with the Nigerian state at this stage? What would happen to its members, and what guarantees do they have that government will follow through what is agreed? Are all groups and/or factions in the insurgency amenable to a resolution? What will happen if some settle, while others hold out and continue fighting? True, some of these questions are what the talks would have answered, but there are serious questions over whether this insurgency has one voice. There is also the possibility that many other interests which have hijacked its franchise, will not welcome a cessation of the conflict because this will expose them.

It is important that Nigerians demand from President Jonathan a stronger resolve to end this conflict. The fact that he had initially committed himself to some peace-making initiative suggests that he recognizes its value. He must go back to the drawing board and see if he can regenerate this initiative.

Similarly, in spite of its tough talks, there must be some value and benefit to the Boko Haram insurgency in participating in the talks being brokered by Dr. Ahmad. It must know that Nigerians, particularly northerners, are being punished with its terror, and it is not winning the battle of hearts and minds either. If, as it says, it is now a fight to finish, it should know that most of the casualties in this conflict will be people on whose behalf it claims to be fighting.

The failure of the initiative to broker some talks between the government and Boko Haram is a victory for those who want to see more blood and pain. These vested interests should not be given a free hand. Northerners and other Nigerians are paying a very high price for this insurgency. The north, in particular, is being brought to its knees, and it could sink even lower. Leaders, particularly in the north, should get more involved in the search for some mediation.

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