Vulture hunters nabbed in Enugu by Advocate Nigeria

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Vulture hunters nabbed in Enugu   

Confess selling vultures as chicken, 23 recovered Police rescue suspects from mob They've desecrated our ancestral shrine - Community BY TED PETERS

ONDERS, they say, shall never end. In their quest to make money at all costs, two young men believed to be members of a poisonous syndicate of vulture hunters stormed a remote village of Nkerefi, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State killing 23 vultures inside the village shrine.

Continues on page 6

DAMAGED ENUGU-PORT HARCOURT HIGHWAY: Transporters threaten to withdraw services BY JOE AKWARANDU, UMUAHIA ISTURBED by the deplorable State of the Enugu Port Harcourt Federal Highway, road transporters under the aegis of Drivers Welfare Association in Abia State have threatened to embark on warning strike during the festive month of December this year if President Goodluck Jonathan led administration failed to take drastic action to rehabilitate the road.

Continues on page 6

Suspects with the vultures

 page 16

Oil status: Patty Obasi down with Anambra, kidney failure, seeks Enugu,  page 23 page 33 Kogi at war help

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Why PDP won't celebrate 14th anniversary …begs Nigerians to be patient with Jonathan By Dan Sule, Abuja

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HE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP said it decided to shelve the celebration of its 14th anniversary because of the present mood of the nation especially the security challenge in the country. National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, who briefed newsmen at the Wadata Plaza, National Secretariat to mark 14 years of PDP's formation, acknowledged some shortcomings and hiccups in governance which had made it difficult to meet the target of transforming the country. He, however, pleaded with Nigerians to be patient with the PDP led government. According to Metuh, since the party was registered August 31, 1998, Nigerians have been looking forward to greater achievements, but was quick to add that the government has stabilized the economy, exposed corrupt members even among the party. He said: “PDP is not unmindful of such expectation. We recall that exactly today in 1998, the historic efforts of eminent Nigerians from all walks of life to form a credible nationwide, issue and people based political party were crowned with the official lunching of our great party at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. “The visions of the founding fathers of our party, the critical elements of its manifesto which centred on re-building Nigeria into a pride in the comity of nations, its untrammeled credibility as a truly national political party that has been providing a platform for all Nigerians to realize their political aspirations irrespective of religious, ethnic or cultural affiliations differentiate the PDP from its contemporaries, in deed, any other political party in the history of Nigeria. “This unique character of our party has been the major reason for its preference by Nigerians who have continued to renew our mandate as seen in 1999, 2003, 2007 and in 2011. “There have been some short comings, it has not been smooth all the way, there have been some hiccups; we are not an excellent organisation, Nigerians should exercise patience, it will be okay next year.” The PDP pledged ahead of the 2015 general election, that it will not interfere in the process of selecting candidates to fly its flag both at the local government, state and at the national level, adding that even at general elections, the people will decide through one man, one vote on who will be their leaders.” The PDP spokesman, who noted that an occasion of this kind calls for

celebration, but it is marked this year without pomp, however, urged the party members in Nigeria and in the Diaspora to soberly reflect on the values of justice, unity and progress which is the motto of the party. Metuh further stated that the party had put in place internal mechanisms to assess and evaluate all its ministers and other public officials as that will be the means of getting the party's ticket for the 2015 general elections. Enumerating the achievements of the party in the last fourteen years, the PDP National Publicity Secretary said: “After fourteen years of the formation of the PDP and thirteen years in leadership of our dear nation, we are happy to express our deep satisfaction at the roles we have so far played in the course of the development of Nigeria. Nigeria has moved from a pariah nation which it once was, to an influential global player since the inception of the PDP Government. Our status as a regional, continental and global power has been enhanced.” Metuh, however, refused to comment on the controversial N5,000 denomination proposed by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the raging debate on state police, as according to him, the party's National Working Committee, NWC was yet to meet to take a decision on these issues. The party called on Nigerians to be patriotic and put the interest of Nigeria over and above personal interest. “The National Working Committee (NWC) has decided that our members throughout the Federation and in the Diaspora should use the occasion of this year's anniversary to soberly reflect on the values of justice, unity and progress which is the motto of our great party. We wish to add that the significance of our motto has remained a critical essential in navigating through the current challenging trajectory of our national history. ''Our anniversary should be an occasion for us to celebrate really but we have chosen to mark it this year without pomp. This is in line with our determination to devote more attention to accelerating an all front delivery of our electoral promises to Nigerians and in deference to the mood of the nation. ''On behalf of the National Executive Committee of our great Party, our National Chairman , Dr. Bamanga Tukur wishes to commend Nigerians for their support over the years. We wish to promise once again that the PDP will continue to make the welfare of the people a priority. We shall do more than we have done in the last fourteen years and urge that we all keep hope alive,” Metuh said

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Jonathan disappoints Anambra people P RESIDENT Goodluck J o n a t h a n h a s disappointed millions of Anambra State citizens when he visited the state last Thursday to commission some government and private projects. Those who spoke to The Advocate on the President's visit said they were disappointed that the President rather than passing through the federal roads, he chose to fly into the state by helicopter. Chudi Nwafor, a trader at the Onitsha Main Market, said if the President had come by road he would have very much appreciated the torture the people in the state go through everyday with the deplorable state of the Onitsha - Enugu expressway. Another resident Iyke Okolie, said, "Can you imagine that they asked us to close market for the visit. What do they expect us to live on when they closed the market? And he did not even come out to talk to us." Nneka Okoye, a hairdresser at Fegge said the people were disappointed that Jonathan who they all came out to vote for last year has failed to address their pressing problems of power supply and good roads. She added that considering the killing of Igbos in the North and the fact that government has not done anything to assure them of their security showed that the President has failed them. "Next time when he comes, we will like him to pass through the road so that we can tell him our mind," she said. President Jonathan has however asked Nigerians to begin to expect the fulfillment of his campaign promises by next year. The President said this in

Onitsha, Anambra State where he inaugurated a number of government and private sector projects. The projects were the Orient Petroleum Refinery, Aguleri Otu, the Niger River Port at Onitsha, the Sabmiller brewery, Onitsha, the Krisoral Rollover Pilfer-Proof Caps factory, Onitsha and the Orange Drugs

While commending Sabmiller and other private sector investors in Nigeria for having faith in the country in spite of the huge challenges of poor infrastructure, bad road network, energy challenges and insecurity, President Jonathan promised that government would do all within its reach to encourage them.

in the National Economic team. He praised Governor Obi for deploying his wealth of experience in the private sector to boost heavy private investment in Anambra State. He promised SABmiller breweries investors that they would not regret their investment in the country as young people under the age of 35

From the left, Gov Peter Obi,President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan with his entourage factory, Onitsha, and the “I want to promise you that constitute 70 percent of the Government Lodge, Onitsha we will change things to ensure country's population and were that was rebuilt after the 2004 that the private sector thrives,” not under any restrictions to mayhem. he said, adding that the federal what they could eat or consume. “By next year, most of our government's desire to boost But he said the private sector campaign promises will begin to private sector investment must work with government to manifest,” he told his audience at informed its inclusion of some achieve the transformation the Intafact Beverages Limited, state governors like Peter Obi of a g e n d a o f g o v e r n m e n t . host of the $100 million (about Anambra State and Muritala Governor Obi, while expressing N16 million) plant of SABmiller Nyako of Adamawa State as well his excitement that finally I n t e r n a t i o n a l B r e w e r i e s . as members of the private sector Anambra State had joined the

league of oil producing nations, he promised that the people of the state will support and stand with Jonathan having overwhelming voted him in the last elections. The governor said with the flurry of private sector investments springing up in Anambra State, the state has proved once more that it is the home of Africa's greatest entrepreneurs. The Managing Director of Krisoral, Chief Oranu Chidume, had said it was his expectation that the inauguration of the projects would ginger the federal government to expedite action of the construction of a second Niger Bridge at Onitsha and the increase in power supply to the Onitsha. The President's visit however took a toll on economic and business activities in the state, particularly Onitsha, where the markets were closed and movement restricted. Some of the people like, Chief Sylvester Odife, a traders' leader wished that the President had come into the state through Enugu Airport by road so that he could experience the harrowing state of the federal road that runs through the state. Jonathan came into the state by helicopter. Many politicians used the opportunity of the visit of the President to display their ambitions. Supporters of Senator Andy Uba, Dr. Obinna Uzoh and other politicians aspiring to run for next year's governorship election moved around in with buses bearing the posters and banners of their patrons welcoming President Jonathan

River Port, Orient Petroleum Refinery Minister advises youths Onitsha Continues from page 24 But in a swift reaction, the in which he had interests. Senior Special Assistant to The spokesman added that Mr. alleged. to obey traffic rules Offodile claimed that his Governor Obi on Media and Offodile did not tell the public

he Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inua Abdulkadir, has advised Nigerian youths to always obey traffic rules and regulations when driving to reduce road traffic accidents. Abdulkadir, who made the call as the special guest at the FRSC monthly jogging in Abuja on Saturday, noted that youths were more likely to commit road traffic offences because of their exuberance. The minister was represented by Hajia Salamatu Fulani, the director of Staff Welfare in the ministry. ``Because of youths’ exuberance, they are likely to do the following when they drive: drink and drive, over speed,

overload and drive dangerously, among other traffic offences. ``We want to call on youths and the Nigerian motoring public to always obey traffic laws, avoid phone calls when driving, maintain lane discipline and exercise patience,’’ he said. Abdulkadir called on FRSC to intensify its patrols and enforcement of traffic rules, not only to bring sanity to the roads but to reduce road traffic accidents. He commended the commission for the various measures it had taken, including the introduction of the new number plate, driver’s licence and free-toll call number, 122, to enhance road safety management.

investigations at the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, revealed that the Obi family owns Next International Ltd and that although the governor claimed he had resigned as a director of the company, his brother, Mr. Ndihe Obi, is the current Managing Director of the company. He challenged the governor to make public SABmiller's total capitalization and how much Next paid for its equity in the new brewery. The former lawmaker also alleged that the governor revoked the land belonging to International Steel Company, claiming “overriding public interest” only to reallocate it to the brewery on account of his personal interest in the firm.

P u b l i c i t y, M r. Va l e n t i n e Obienyem, faulted Offodile's argument, wondering why somebody would call on a governor that had not done anything contrary to his oath of office to resign. Obienyem affirmed: “If you have been reading the newspapers, you would notice that in the past two months, Offodile who is not known to have made any intellectual contributions in the newspapers, suddenly started to write regularly on Obi. This shows that somebody is calling the tune for him somewhere.” On the issue of Next International investing in SABmiller, Obienyem insisted that Obi resigned his directorship and membership of the Boards of all the companies

that entire discovering at the CAC because according to him, five other companies, including those owned by a Deltan and a Lagosian have shares in the SABmiller. Well, the good thing about the development is that the gateway to South East region has been opened and commercial activities are expected to commence. The economic development is paramount to the region. But the allegation of conflict of interests is subject for proof of evidence which if true then the authorities concerned will have a way of executing their function but on the contrary the accused will have his way. It is high time Igbos began to reason positively and avoid being selfish.

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News Vulture sellers in Enugu Continues from page 1 The suspects who identified themselves as Wale Alabi from Ibadan, Oyo State and Polycarp Onyia from Udi in Enugu State, were apprehended by youths in the community while packing the dead vultures which they killed through poison into their sacks for processing and sale to unsuspecting members of the public as chicken. Sources informed The Advocate that the two suspects had confessed to the police of their past involvement in vulture hunting and marketing within the South East state, but this could not be confirmed by press time. The Enugu state police command in whose custody the two suspects are now cooling their heels, said its operatives have already commenced investigations with a view to unraveling the circumstances that led the youths into such practice. The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu said in a press statement that “the incident in which two people narrowly escaped death from the angry mob in Nkerefi, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu state for allegedly poisoning and killing 23 vultures believed to be living in the Eke Market Ancestral shine in Nkerefi, is being investigated.” He disclosed that the suspects, “one Wale Alabi from Ibadan, Oyo State and Polycarp Onyia from Udi in Enugu state had on August 22, 2012 gone to Ohuani Nkerefi community where they allegedly poisoned about 23 (twenty-three) vultures that were perching on the ancestral tree located inside the village shrine hence the vultures started dying in their numbers. “As the two men began to pack the dead vultures inside their sacks some youths in the village noticed them and menacingly gathered together querying why they should engage in such an abominable act. The natives accused the vulture hunters of desecrating their ancestral shrine and resolved to pass a jungle justice on them.” The suspects were, however, said to be lucky as policemen, who were alerted by some persons in the community, arrived the scene before they could be mobbed by the enraged youths who also accused them of selling 'poison' to the people in order to make money.

Sources said when the two vulture merchants were taken to the Nkanu East Police Division, they reportedly confessed to have been involved in the illicit business for quite sometime as they kill many vultures using a poisonous chemical and thereafter prepare them as edible chicken by removing the legs, heads and any other part that could make the buyers suspect the meat. They are usually sold to operators of suya spots, local restaurants and other eateries, some of who sources said connive with the vulture merchants to make “fast money”

from such dirty business because they buy the vultures at a very cheap rate. The source further said that the suspects revealed how they had visited several villages within and outside the state hunting vultures which the sell to make quick money, adding that while normal chicken cost between N900 and N1,200 per kilogram, a vulture of the same size are quickly sold for between N500 and N700. The news of the vulture hunters' arrest shocked some residents of Enugu who have vowed not to buy already

prepared chicken from dealers henceforth as they believe that the only way one could avoid such dubious merchants was to buy live chicken from genuine dealers. A frozen chicken seller at one of the urban markets in Enugu told The Advocate that there had been occasions where people bring some suspicious frozen chicken into the market but as an experienced dealer, she shuns such products even though they are usually cheap. “I purchase my frozen chicken from the genuine dealers at the poultry farms and genuine cold room operators. One can run into

the problem of buying such poisoned chicken when you buy from unreliable sources. There is no genuine frozen chicken dealer that buys from such criminals who want to make money at all cost. When we identify such suspicious products like the vulture, we will immediately contact the police,” she said. Meanwhile, the police said the suspects would be arraigned in court if ongoing investigations into their activities reveal that they have breached the laws of the land.

Monarch accuses Abia of recycling appointees By Joe Akwarandu, Umuahia

n influential Traditional Ruler in Abia State, Eze Nzenwata Mbakwe has accused the State government of recycling appointees in its administration thereby forestalling development in the 21 year-old state. Eze Mbakwe, who is a Vice Chairman of Abia State Council of Traditional Rulers, made the remark at a symposium organized by Abia State Advisory Council to mark this year's anniversary of the creation of the State in 1992. The revered ruler condemned what he observed since the creation of the State where the same set of individuals have remained in appointment to the detriment of the younger and up-coming youths, stressing that, the state has refused to grow politically and economically due to the disturbing trend. The symposium, which was originally slated to be addressed b y D r. ( M r s . ) N g o z i

OkonjoUweala who failed to honour the occasion, was thrown open to the general public who voluntarily contributed by baring their minds on how to move Abia State forward economically. The theme of the symposium was “Tapping Abia Economic Potiential”. Other speakers like Sir Hally Onuoha, a retired Permanent Secretary and presently the chairman of the State Civil Service Commission, blamed the backwardness of the State especially in the economic sector on unpatriotic bureaucrats. He said, “Those in position of authority who defraud the government, contractors who abandon their contracts and corner the money paid them, Civil Servants who are corrupt, businessmen who refuse to pay their taxes as at when due, etc are the enemies of the government who have collectively helped to retard the economy of the State.” Notable Abians like Chief Bob Ogbuagu, Prof. Obasi Igwe, Chief Eleazu of the Aba

Associates gather for Justice competition was made with a total of 88 first and second year Aniagolu undergraduate students from all Continues from page 17 say to all the world THIS WAS A MAN.” Before presentation of the prizes were made to the winners of the essay competition, Dafe Akpedeye (SAN) in whose Warri-based legal office the essay examination papers were carefully marked, explained that in marking the papers, few things such the 'introduction, body, argument, , diction, presentation, conclusion, etc ' were considered. He told the gathering that on May 31, 2012 the announcement for the essay

parts of the country indicating interest. He said only 35 students eventually sat the examination after which only five out of the 35 emerged finalists. Akpedefe said Chidi Samuel Okwudili emerged the overall winner scoring 95 per cent; Clifford Chukwu Anasi clinched the second position after scoring 87 percent while Grea Enemona Ademu came 3rd with 77 per cent. Ekuma Onyebuchi came 4th and Esther Queen Egbe took 5th position. Okwudili received N350,000; Anasi was presented with N100,000 while Ademu got N50,000 respectively as their

Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture (ACMA) and Engr. Onwuka, in their submissions, called on Abians to go back to the drawing board and embrace the Agricultural Revolution if one of the founding fathers of the State like Dr. Michael Okpara who was able to develop the region from agriculture imputes

instead of crude oil money. Earlier in his opening address, the chairman of the occasion who is the state Commissioner of Finance, Chief Sam Onuigbo noted that the effect of the 30-month civil war was responsible for the region's economic setback.

Transporters threaten to withdraw services Continues from page 1 They expressed dissatisfaction with the current effort of the Federal government to repair the damaged portions of the road saying the entire stretch of the dual-carriage way should be reconstructed to enable it last and reduce the hardship being encountered by the people of the South East and South South, who are major users of the road. The Advocate had recently raised an alarm over the decaying state of the Enugu Port Harcourt dual-carriage way which has constituted serious impediment to road transport between the South East and South-South since last year. Many lives and property worth millions of naira are being lost on the road daily even as contractors handling repair of the road continued to complain of non-payment by the relevant authorities. The Chairman of the Drivers Welfare Association, who also doubles as the Abia State Chairman of Road Transport Association of Nigeria in the state, Comrade Nnamdi Balogu, told The Advocate in Umuahia that the federal government's failure to reconstruct the road would lead to mass withdrawal of vehicles from the road. He observed that the poor State of the Enugu Port Harcourt and Enugu Onitsha highways had become death traps for road

users, lamenting that the road had damaged several vehicles and trucks using these roads while lives and valuables have been lost on account of incessant auto crashes. Comrade Balogu disclosed that the Chairmen of the association from Enugu, Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, Abia and Rivers States held a crucial meeting in Enugu on August 16, 2012 where they reviewed the situation and petitioned President Jonathan given the December 2012 ultimatum, failing which the Union would withdraw all their members from plying the deplorable roads. Enumerating the loss of lives caused by the carriage on these roads, the Union executives maintained that they would resist any further neglect by the Federal authorities against the Zone, promising to ground all vehicular movements, come January 1, 2013 if the federal government continued to marginalize the Zone. He also said that a similar warning letter was dispatched to t h e Tr a n s p o r t M i n i s t e r intimating him of their intention\ come January, 2013. Balogun said the meeting was attended by Comdrades Ozoalor Emeka Enugu, Uche Duru Imo, Opara Ibe Ananmbra, Sunday Nduka Nwoke Ebonyi, Nnamdi Balogu Abia and Sunday Alonge Rivers.

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News Jonathan should organize National Prayers – Dr Nwigberi The Chairman Ebonyi State Local Government Services Commission, Dr Anthony Nwigberi has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to institute national prayers to seek the face of God, for answer to the present security challenges in the country. Nwigberi who is also an Evangelist made this call while speaking to newsmen after a security training workshop organised for the Chairmen of the local government councils and the Chairmen of the development centers in Ebonyi State. According to Dr Nwigberi, “the need for various political units in Nigeria to seek the face of God is auspicious, apt and cannot be overemphasized given the prevailing security challenges in the country and that's why we have continued to provide security trainings for both the leaders and the led to ensure very quick responses in case of emergency security situations”. The local government Service Commission Boss opined that the prayers should start from the wards to the Federal level in such a way that the councilors will kick-start the fasting and prayer programme from their various wards so that it will move on in that order to the states and federal government. In his idea the prayer session should be done at five levels where all Nigerians; Christians, Moslems, Traditional religion worshipers and even atheists in Nigeria and the Diaspora should participate in the programme. “It should start at the wards with the Councillors organizing and sponsoring the prayers at the ward headquarters, second at the local government headquarters to be sponsored by the Chairmen, third at the state capital to be organized and sponsored by the various state Governors, fourth at the zonal headquarters to be organized by the Governors of the Zone and coordinated by the Governor of the Zonal headquarter, and finally to be organized by the President at Abuja” He Stated. Nwigberi applauded the coming together by both Christian leaders and their Muslim counterparts to celebrate during Eidel-fitri celebrations meant to build new bridges in order to foster peace and unity in the country; an idea he said will herald a new beginning towards the peaceful co-existence all religious groups in the country. On the issue of effective administration in the local government system, Nwigberi who was a former Permanent Secretary in Ebonyi suggested

the appointment of seasoned technocrats into administrative offices; a position he canvasses as well for all administrative offices in the country, who will bring in their wealth of experience to bear in enthroning good governance. However Nwigberi expressed happiness on the level of administrative code of conduct compliance in the Ebonyi State Local governments stressing that that the issue ghost workers and lack of commitment to duty by workers has been drastically reduced. “As you can see, we have a staff training center which enables us

continue to refresh our workforce with a view to achieving good results in the system. I think the workers are happy with what we are doing; they are well motivated, paid their salaries and allowances as and when due, there's biometric time clock in place at the local government councils to check ghost workers, those do not come to work and even those involve in time cheating, in fact we have put a whole lot of strategies in place to move our local government councils forward”, Nwigberi summarized. Dr. Anthony Nwigberi ESLGSC Chairman

Andy Uba denies Amaechi decries $15m Ibori poor policy bribe saga  Silent on Achigbu’s claims implementation

he Senator representing Anambra South Senatorial District of Anambra State and former Special Adviser to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Special Duties, Andy Uba, has denied any involvement in the $15 million Ibori bribery saga. In an affidavit filed along with an application at the federal high court in Abuja on Wednesday, a self acclaimed business man, Chibuike Achigbu had claimed ownership of the alleged $15 million bribe money, stating that he had given the money to Andy Uba for verification by the EFCC and ultimately to assist the PDP in the 2007 elections. He had also stated in his affidavit that Uba had agreed to testify confirming the facts contained in his submission before the court. The move, many saw as a surreptitious move by Uba to claim the controversial money which is already being contested with the federal government by the Delta state government in court. It is believed that public opinion and pressure may have forced Uba to back out of the deal even as he remained silent on the claims of Chibuike Achigbu in the application earlier filed in court and later withdrawn. In a statement issued by his aide, Mr. Chike Okeke, in Abuja, Saturday, the senator said, “When I was in the presidency, my house in the Villa was a convenient place for many top people in Nigeria to come. Probably, Chief Ibori didn’t want to go to the EFCC office to

hand over the money and so decided to use my house. “All I know about this matter is that Chief James Ibori brought some money to the then EFCC chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. The details of the transaction were undisclosed to me at the time. The money was handed to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu who invited his then Director of O p e r a t i o n s , M r. I b r a h i m Lamorde, to fetch it. I was never a party to the transaction between Ibori and Ribadu. “That my house was used as the venue for the transaction is not in question as an affidavit to that effect has been sworn to by the current EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, which is probably the point of confusion. I hereby state unequivocally that I have no involvement in this matter beyond that stated above. So, I’m not involved and will not be involved in this matter. Nobody should drag me into it please.”

Andy Uba

Failure by the various governments in the country to implement good policies and lack of patriotism are the major problems facing Nigeria, says Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaech. Amaechi, who is the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Berlin. The governor is leading the governors of Enugu, Plateau, Borno, Katsina and Niger states on a trip to understudy the workings of the federal system of the German government with a view to replicating best practices in their respective states. They are expected to copy best practices from Germany's federal system of government while studying its links and coordination mechanisms with respect to policy implementation, fiscal systems and administration. “The problem is enforcement and I will continue to say that patriotism is one basic requirement that all Nigerians and those who govern Nigeria must face,” Amaechi said. The governor stressed that advancements recorded by developed countries were not “rocket science”, adding that with patriotism and zeal to work on the part of those in government these could be replicated in Nigeria. He added that unless both the rulers and the ruled began to give priority to production and technology the country's desire to be among the 20 most developed nations of the world by 2020 would remain a mirage. He called on those in government to ensure that the interest of the country and the welfare of the people were critical to them. NAN reports that the Nigerian governors while in Germany will also examine Germany's policies and instruments in the promotion and development of Small and Medium Enterprises.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Man commits suicide hours after winning N200m contract A middle aged man identified as Tari, an Trofani in Sagbama local government area of Bayelsa State has commited suicide in Yenagoa. It could not be ascertained at press time why the deceased, who was a graduate of the University of Port Harcourt took his own life but report said he had just secured a government road contract worth N200m for the construction of IgbediAmassoma link road. The incident was said to have occurred at the home of the deceased located within the Civil Servant Estate behind the office complex of the State Scholarship board. The deceased who was found writhing in pains by close relatives in the early hours of Friday is believed to have drank a poisonous mixture. It was gathered that the relatives and sympathizers, after

discovering the deceased writhing in pain, rushed him to the Federal Medical Center (FMC) for treatment but when his condition deteriorated, they took him to a Church. The Advocate gathered that the mother of the deceased, who is identified as a retired civil servant and other family members were shocked over the incident as they could not imagine why the young man should commit suicide. While some close friends of the deceased blamed his tragic end to some mysterious powers, others claimed that he had, in the past few days, been receiving threat calls on his mobile phone. They claimed the mysterious callers have been threatening to kill him over an undisclosed deal. The state police Public Relations Officer, Fidelis Odunnwa (DSP) said when contacted that though there has

News

Water problem in Enugu

Continues from page 28 WATER AID, JIATA and the rest of them, explaining that since after the creation of the Water Ministry, the state government became the ‘driver of water’ to those semi-urban areas. He said the World Bank is sponsoring the water project in collaboration with the state government. "I can tell you frankly that under the MDGCGS water programme, so many rural communities have benefited from water supply in the state," he said. Adding, "Under 2008, we have about 145 rural communities. In 2009 MDGCGS, which is the current programme, we have about 165 rural communities. And some times, we take a lot of things into consideration while supplying water to rural areas. One, the geological survey of that area; there are certain areas we cannot sink the de-motorised borehole; some areas in Awgu, Aninri, and the rest of them that have swampy environment; it would be difficult to sink the demotorised bore holes there. So the only alternative for now is the shallow bore hole. But shallow bore hole has a lot of disadvantages; sometimes, it doesn’t run throughout the year; during the dry season, the water can dry off. At the end of the day, when the people may need water most, those shallow boreholes don’t function.” As a result, the government devised another means of

solving the riddle of water problem: the spring impoundment or spring development; that is a situation in which water is drawn from the stream and then given the necessary treatment before being supplied it to the people for consumption, according to Ebue. "And we have one already developed at Nkerefi; that is the first one developed by the Enugu state government," the PRO said, adding that "In other areas, like Nsukka area, where they have a lot of difficulties for water; the state government has sunk so many de-motorised boreholes, and the depth of the bore holes in Nsukka is always deeper than any other place like 9th Mile, Udi areas where they have clean water.” Coming to the urban areas such as Enugu metropolis, Ebue said as far back as the colonial era, Enugu metropolis water supply was done through the asbestos pipes laid in the earth since 100 years the Coal City was established. He said that unlike in the past, the current population of the Coal Camp, Uwani, some parts of G.R.A. which was called European Quarters then, and other satellite areas like Abakpa Nike, TransEkulu, Achara Layout, among others, were not taken into account in those days, hence the setting up of the Water Corporation was never meant for

We are making progress at 21 – Macaulay Continues from page 30 challenge of how to find peace4 and harmonious relationship for the people. Four years, he was led into managing that crisis. I remembered in one of the steps he took in managing that crisis was to stepped out and temporarily relocate to Warri so that he can hold up to these task headlong. He was also accused that he wants to move the headquarters, being an Urhobo man again from Asaba to Warri where of course, the Governor said “I need to go there and settle down and meet the big boys and the leaders on daily basis”. That does not in any way disturbed the administration in Warri. But well, he made a little success because as soon as criticism started, the young man ran back to the seat of government in Asaba. And I remembered the only thing he was able to do was … he succeeded in some of the youths handling over one pistol to him in one of the creeks. Again, you will ask me how I got involved in the use of crime watch, being that I was in labour and I was the Head of Current

Affairs Unit of Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS). So I should be current. We left that and by 2003 when I actually came into government, I was invited into government because of the Warri crisis. And the brief the Governor gave me was those “go and help to resolve the Warri crisis”. So, as God will have it in less than one year, we restored peace, we were able to curtail the elders that went into the MOU that brought about the end of the crisis. We also brought the youths together. Looking at this again, you will see that for the first four years of Ibori's era, he had a task of returning peace to the creeks. Again, the focus was divided between development and restoring peace, because what development is going to carry out in a state where people were being killed every day. I remembered that for those first four years, even after I came into government, for the first two years, NDDC could not do anything in the state. A state where something would have come from NDDC and any other federal agencies did not come

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because of the ethnic crisis. For you to be able to charter a vehicle to the state from the state like Lagos or Abuja, they will reject you. So, you can see the difficulty the state has been passing through. I will tell you if from this background that I had just given, we are still having one Delta State that is very big achievement. Nobody believes that today Delta State will be one the way the state started. Another great success that the state has made is the election of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, not because of Governor Uduaghan, but a state that represented itself from the onset to now elect a man from the minority of the minorities as a Governor. It shows that the state is already moving forward. The Itsekiri ethnic nationality is one of the smallest, if not the smallest ethnic nationalities in the state. In short, those of us from the minorities, Isokos, Ijaws, Itsekiris and for the state to come together to elect a man from that small unit means they have come of age. Then, if you come to the area of

development, Ibori came in and laid foundations. He did four bridges which are still there today for you to see. If I should quote Ogbemudia, if it is not very verbatim, he was the first governor as a military administrator that attempted to build the first ever bridge into the Ijaw land but he could not. He did not even come out of the drawing. But Ibori came and Bomadi Bridge was conceived, built and commissioned by him. Of course, Obasanjo came to commission that bridge and on that day, General Samuel Ogbemudia retired was present. He built the Omadinao, Olomu and the Ase Bridge, conceived and commissioned by him. If nothing else, that is the major achievements. You remember that you can go to Aboh then, only through the pontoon, the Agip pontoon in Kwale, but today you can drive freely to Aboh. Before now you can only go by ferry boats to Bomadi, but today or after the tenure of Ibori, you can drive straight to Bomadi town. And as a result of those achievements roads are now being constructed to the inter-

the current large population it now serves. "Various governments that came - both military and civilian - never took the bull by the horn in trying to solve the water problem. It’s only this present Chime government that said this water problem has to be solved once and for all," Ebue told The Advocate. He said in some areas like Ogui, New Haven, Asata, Obiagu, Uwani, Trans-Ekulu, Coal Camp, Emene, Abakpa, Iva Valley covering 80 per cent of the city, have running taps at least once a week. "Once a week, the taps run for 24 hours," Ebue said, adding that even areas such Obiagu, G.R.A. and Independence Layout, all have running water. The Deputy Director, Public Relations of the Enugu State Water Corporation, Mr. Matthias Nriji explained that three major water schemes exist in the state: the Greater Enugu Water Scheme, servicing the city; the Enugu Augmentation Water Scheme and the Iva Valley Water Scheme. Nriji said the Greater Enugu Water Scheme at Ajali River, pumps 77,000 cubic water per day; the Enugu Augmentation water scheme at Orji River supplies 50,000 while that of Iva Valley has 4,500 cubic water, per day. He said the three water schemes were grounded to ensure that the supervision of water resources is properly done. Nriji said the very old asbesto water pipes are currently being totally replaced with the modern types that meet the International Standard. Channels Engineering Nigeria Limited is handling the rehabilitation of pipes in areas such as Trans-Ekulu/ Federal Housing Estate, Abakpa and Emene; Sanshek Nigeria Limited, another company is in charge of laying the pipes at GRA, Independence Layout while SNECOU Nigeria Limited is handling the Asata, Uwani, Achara Layout, Garki, Idaw River areas, according to Nriji, who added that before the end of December the projects would be completed. "By the end of this year, the story of water in Enugu State would have been different," corroborated the commissioner, Ajah, who also acknowledged that power failure is the greatest challenge the state government’s ambitious water project might face. "The normal challenge to water supply here is power outages; because the water production line is powered in Ajali in Orji. So if you don't have power supply, you won't have water supply. That's the major challenge," Ajah said.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Editorial

Yes, Anambra earns Oil Producing Status, but who owns the two Oil Wells?

he euphoria that greeted President Goodluck Jonathan's declaration of th Anambra State as the 9 Oil Producing States in Nigeria is well appreciated. It is a thing of great joy and worth celebrating by the entire Ndigbo in South Eastern Nigeria that the large deposit of oil and gas in the South East region which was labeled as “Strategic Oil Reserve” by previous regimes since the early sixties, is now being exploited for more economic benefits to the host state. These include more revenue from the Federation Account, job opportunities as well as a boost in industrial activities in the benefiting state. Barely 24 hours before President Jonathan's visit to Anambra for the inauguration of the Orient Petroleum Refinery at Aguleri-Otu, the Enugu State Government sent out a warning signal over its disagreement with Orient Petroleum and Anambra State Government regarding the ownership of the Oil Wells allocated to the company. Enugu government through its

Commissioner for Information, Mr. Chuks Ugwoke refuted claims by the Management of Orient Petroleum Plc, OPR, that the lingering dispute between it and the company over the oil wells located in the state, has been resolved. The government stated categorically that the dispute has not been resolved insisting that the said Oil Wells belong to Enugu and not Anambra. The government's statement was in reaction to a media report quoting the Managing Director of OPR, Mr Emeka Nwawka as saying that the issues relating to the operations of the oil wells in O j j o r, I g g a h a n d A s a b a communities in the Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State were resolved at a meeting between officials of the state government led by the Secretary to the Government, Mr. Amaechi Okolo and the company. Enugu described Nwawka's claim as an “unfortunate misrepresentation of the facts.” While Jonathan was in Anambra on Thursday for the celebrated inauguration of Orient

Petroleum, the Government and people of Kogi State (especially the Riverine Ibaji communities) were grumbling over Anambra and OPR's claim to the two oil wells that will service the refinery. As we were informed, some aggrieved youths from Echenwo and Odeke communities in Ibaji had allegedly mobilized to attack the refinery in protest but were repelled by stern-looking soldiers who reportedly fired several gunshots to scare them away. President Jonathan may not have been duly informed of the controversies surrounding the ownership of the oil wells involving the three states of Anambra, Enugu and Kogi State. The Kogi government has insisted that the two oil wells marked as OPL 915 and 916 are located within its territory faulting Enugu and Anambra state's claims that they own the land and should be major stakeholders in the oil exploration project. There is no doubt that a major rift that could threaten the smooth operation of Orient Petroleum exists. The need for President

Jonathan to bring the three states to a roundtable conference to resolve the dispute can not be overemphasized. The earlier this is done, the better so that the desire of the Federal government to earn more revenue from the oil deposit in the Anambra River Basin and the quest by Anambra state to get enlisted in the league of oil producing states would not be eroded. Kogi and Enugu states deserve to be heard and in line with the Biblical saying, 'Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar'. And this will surely forestall a repeat of the current silent war between the brotherly states of Cross River and Akwa-Ibom over the ownership of 76 oil wells in that region. It is just not enough to declare Anambra an oil producing state, the question begin for an answer remains Who owns the two oil wells covered by OPL 915 and 916 granted the Orient Petroleum Resources?

Letter to the Editor:

Call ESWAMA to order, Civil society group tells Chime AN OPEN LETTER TO GOVERNOR SULLIVAN CHIME OF ENUGU STATE A PROTEST AGAINST INTIMIDATION, ASSAULT AND EXTORTION BY OPERATIVES OF THE ENUGU STATE WASTE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (ESWAMA) organization was left with no case of assault and abduction of

Network on Police Reform in Nigeria (NOPRIN) is a network of 46 civil society organizations spread across Nigeria and committed to promoting police accountability and respect for human rights. It was set up in 2000 to provide opportunity for civil society input into police reform and the enhancement of safety, security and justice. NOPRIN writes to express serious concern about reports of the uncivil, brutal and lawless methods employed by the Enugu State Waste Management Authority (ESWAMA) in the conduct of their operations. NOPRIN hereby requests the Governor of Enugu State to call the operatives of this agency of the Enugu State Government to order and to prevail on them to, at all times, carry out their duties within the boundaries of the law and with the highest sense of civility and responsibility. May we bring to the attention of the Governor, the particular egregious

case of assault and abduction of Ms. Ukaoma Nma, a staff member of South Saharan Social Development Agency, a nonprofit organization located at Gbujas Plaza, 55 Chime Avenue, New Haven, Enugu and dedicated to improving the plight of women and children. This act of brigandage which happened on the 29th of August 2012 was carried out under the watchful supervision of Mrs. Ogakwu the head of the agency and her assistant Mr. Nnamani. NOPRIN is informed that on the said 29th of August 2012, Staff of the Enugu State Waste Disposal Agency invaded the premises of South Saharan Social Development Agency, assaulted and abducted Ms. Ukaoma Nma for her organization's nonpayment of waste disposal fees despite the fact that no bill has ever been sent to the organization and the office is located in a Plaza where service charge is paid. All pleas to release the lady fell on deaf ears and the

option but to pay the sum of sixty five thousand naira (N65, 000) demanded by ESWAMA- just to ensure they did not take their staff member to prison. ESWAMA did not issue any receipt for this sum of money they collected. South Saharan Social Development Agency informed NOPRIN that had it received a bill, as a law abiding organization it would have definitely paid it. NOPRIN is informed by some residents of Enugu that this has been the practice of the operatives of this government funded agency. They abduct people on the streets, in their homes and in offices and make them pay amounts that are unjustifiable and usually unreceipted. Those who are unable to pay are put in prison and left there to languish without trial. NOPRIN condemns this reckless use of power and intimidation and hereby calls on the Governor of Enugu State to bring an end to it. We call on the Governor to order an investigation into this particular

Ms. Ukaoma Nma and the extortion of money from her organization. The Governor is called upon to ensure that the victims get adequate redress and remedy while the perpetrators are appropriately sanctioned and restrained. ESWAMA, as an agency of government sustained by public fund, must respect the human rights of the citizens; they must act with decorum and within the law. Assaulting and abducting ordinary citizens is not the way to get bills paid. Please, accept the assurance of our highest esteem as we look forward to a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation of this matter with a view to ensuring justice and putting an end to such unbecoming practice. Sincerely, Okechukwu Nwanguma, Program and Advocacy Coordinator 08064974531

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For the Records Being Goodwill Message Presented by the SouthEast/South- South Professionals of Nigeria At The Commissioning Ceremony Of The Onitsha River Port Complex By President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,GCFR on Thursday, August 30, 2012 Your Excellency, The President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,GCFR, your Excellency, the host Governor, Mr. Peter Obi of Anambra State, other state governors present. I stand on existing protocols. It is with profound pleasure that I, as the President of the South-East/SouthSouth Professionals OF Nigeria (SESSPN), welcome Mr. President to this epoch making ceremony when the upgraded and renovated Onitsha River Port Complex is being commissioned. This is a cheerful development for the entire South-East and South-South for the enormous boost it will give to commerce and business in the entire region. We believe this project is an elixir that will fire the economic zeal of the entire South-East and South-South. We are happy that this project, which has been at the execution stage for decades is being brought to fruition today. It is our fervent hope that as this boosts the business and economy of the South-East and South-South, it will greatly enhance the lives of the people in consonance with the good intentions encapsulated in Mr. President's transformation agenda for the country. We congratulate Mr. President on this laudable project and we congratulate the entire people of South-East and SouthSouth regions for this project and we believe we will make excellent use of the facility. We are gladdened that this major milestone is happening at a time the South- East and South-South need active facilities such as this to excel in their role as the drivers of the Nigerian informal sector. We sincerely hope and believe that this one project will certainly transform the two regions and bolster trade, commerce and industry in this very rich economic belt.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

We thank the Governor of Anambra State for his great facilitatory role in the completion of this project. We thank the other governors in the South-East and South-South and our legislators led by the indefatigable and unassuming Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu for giving great encouragement to this project and we, at SESSPN feel this is a great democracy dividend for the people of the two regions as it will facilitate the easy and cost effective movement of goods and services to the two regions. Mr. President, we wish to remind you that at the Inaugural Retreat of this body, the SESSPN in Calabar in August 2005, we adopted a comprehensive framework for the development of the South-East and South-South named Lower Niger Basin Development Initiative. We wish to inform Mr. President that this project was captured in the plan and we want to equally inform Mr. President that the entire plan is available and would certainly be helpful in designing a workable developmental plan for the two regions. The SESSPN congratulates Mr. President on this laudable project but we want to let Mr. President know that the entire South-East and South-South regions are still bogged down with bad roads and debilitating infrastructures. We wish to point to Mr. President that such major roads like the EnuguOnitsha Road, Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Aba-Ikot-Ekpene-Calabar Road are still in deplorable conditions. We solicit the attention of Mr. President on these facilities so as to fulfill the primary objectives of this project and the entire Transformation Agenda of Mr. President. We congratulate the construction company that handled the project, Inter Bau Construction Nigeria Limited for doing an excellent job. We see their effectiveness in handling this project as good advertisement for local contractors to handle our national infrastructural challenges. We urge more grease to their elbows. Once again, we welcome Mr. President to the South-East and we hope his visit will usher in more goodies for the region and help cement the economic, political and social bond that hold the South-East and South-South together. Nnoo, onye Isi Ala, Ibiala. Emeka Ugwu-Oju. President, South-East/South-South Professionals of Nigeria.

NEWS PHCN implores S-East govs to demolish structures under power lines

HE Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN Enugu Electric Distribution Zone has called on the five South East Governors to order the demolition of all structures built under high tension power lines and other power installations to prevent electrocution of the people. The company particularly asked the Enugu State Government to urgently remove the large billboard it erected under the 330KV high tension power line near Haijag Construction Company along Enugu-Onitsha expressway in Enugu. The metal edge of the billboard, which bears the inscription of Enugu Lifestyle and Golf City also known as Centenary City, almost touched the power line and constitutes serious danger to workers of the Construction Company and petty traders within the area. The PHCN Public Affairs Manager in the zone, Mr. Eseme Udoh, who conducted newsmen round some of the affected

power lines within Enugu metropolis, yesterday, regretted that despite repeated warnings to property owners within the zone, they have continued to erect illegal structures directly under high tension power lines. He said that occupants of such structures are exposed to danger as they would be easily electrocuted if any problem occurs on such power lines, adding that necessary precautionary measures should be taken by members of the public by way of rejecting occupation of such structures or doing business under power lines. “If you can recall, the PHCN had problems in Port Harcourt and Ibadan in the past when life wires snapped on people. The one in Port Harcourt was at a bus stop and killed so many people and that of Ibadan was in a market where so many market women were affected. “As a responsible organization, we have since embarked on sensitization of the members of the

public and customers especially those who have structures under high tension power lines explaining the danger inherent in such dangerous acts. We have 330KV, 132KV, 33KV and 11KV lines but unfortunately, in many areas today several structures have been built under these lines with high risks of electrocution for those occupying such structures,” Udoh said. H e i m p l o r e d governments of the South East zone to urgently demolish such structures built under power lines to avert the looming danger on the lives of the occupants most of who seem to be ignorant of the risk they take by transacting their businesses in such an unsafe environment. According to the Public Affairs Manager, 82 of such structures had been identified in Okigwe area, 400 in Ariaria Aba and 412 in Orlu area, urging the authorities to quickly intervene to save the people from danger of electrocution.

Cross River govt to generate 900 jobs from oil palm plantations

iase (Cross River), The Cross River Government on Monday said it would generate 900 jobs for youths in oil palm plantations in Biase and Akamkpa Local Government Areas of the state. Mr James Aniyom, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, made the promise while addressing at a public forum on the impact assessment of Ibiae Biase palm plantation in BiaseLocal Government Area. He said that the state government had mandated a Malaysian palm oil mill company, , Wilmar Nig. Ltd., to manage Ibiae and Calaro Palm Estates in Biase and Akamkpa local government areas. “When the oil palm plantation becomes fully operational, it will generate 900 job opportunities for youths in the area,” he said. He said the state government was collaborating with Ibara Environs consultant Nig.

Ltd. to assess the environmental impact of the operations. Aniyom, who was represented by Mr Efoli Esuku, the State Crop Manager, said that the government would establish more oil palm plantations in the state. He said that the 19, 000 hectares had been earmarked for the development of the oil palm plantation in the area to engender job creation and reduce youth restiveness in the area. ``The youths will find out a more enviable means of livelihood since they are going to be engaged in the production process by the company, '' he said. Also, Mr Lee Kok Seng, the General Manager of Wilmar Nig. Ltd, assured the host communities that machines that would be imported for the production would comply with Nigerian laws. He said that apart from job creation, the project would aid the transfer of technology and income

generation to the area. Seng said that the company would raise a nursery to improve plant varieties. Earlier, Chief William Unoh, the Managing Director, Ibara Environs Consultant Nig. Ltd., urged the people to support the company in its operations. Unoh urged the company to adhere to the terms of agreement with the people. He said that the company should plant improved varieties of crops to replace the old palm trees in the plantations. Dr Edet Eyo, a resource person and lecturer at the University of Calabar, in a lecture, ``Environmental baseline and its impact,'' enumerated the expectations of the people. Eyo said that the people wanted good schools and scholarship, employment o p p o r t u n i t i e s , improvement in commercial activities, rural roads and health centres. (NAN)

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Foreign News Condolence register for Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa

Libya's interior minister resigns amid criticism over security lapses

Condolence register opened for Mr Meles Zenawi, late Prime Minister of Ethiopia at The main auditorium of the AU Commission in Addis Ababa

Survivor: German firm's apology for birth defects drug 'not enough'

he head of a survivors' group Saturday dismissed an apology issued five decades later by the German manufacturer of a drug that caused thousands of babies to be born with disabilities. Pharmaceutical firm Gruenenthal apologized Friday for the first time over its drug, thalidomide, which caused babies to be born with shorter arms and legs after their mothers took it during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s. It was sold to women to counter morning sickness, according to the Thalidomide Trust, a UK body set up in the 1970s to help those affected. While some children whose mothers took the drug were born with one or more affected limbs, others suffered heart problems, damaged hearing or eyesight, and in some cases, brain damage. The drug was pulled from sale in late 1961 after doctors linked it to birth defects. F r e d d i e A s t b u r y, t h e president of campaign group Thalidomide UK, who was born in 1959 without arms or legs, said it was too little, too late. "It's taken a long time for them to apologize. There are a lot of people damaged by thalidomide struggling with health problems in the UK and around the world," he said in a statement on the group's website. Britain apologizes to thalidomide victims "So we welcome the

apology, but how far do they want to go? "It's no good apologizing if they won't open discussions on compensation. They've got to seriously consider financial compensation for these people.” Gruenenthal's chief executive, Harald Stock, made the apology Friday as he inaugurated a memorial to those affected in Stolberg, Germany, where the company is based. He expressed the company's "sincere regrets about the consequences of thalidomide and our deep sympathy for all those affected, their mothers and their families.” Gruenenthal's nearly 50-year delay in reaching out "person to person" to those affected was a result of its "silent shock" over their fate, he said. "Instead, we have been silent and we are very sorry for that," Stock said in a translated copy of the speech on the company's website. Many people have only recently started to receive compensation for the drug's effects. More than 10,000 children worldwide are thought to have been affected by thalidomide. Between 5,000 and 6,000 sufferers are still alive, about 400 of them in Britain, according to Thalidomide UK. An additional 7,500 died in early childhood, it says. Stock said the need for Gruenenthal to make a public apology had become apparent in

recent talks with those affected, especially since 2007. The company also pledged 50 million euros in 2009 to help more of those people affected in Germany and elsewhere, he said. "We see both the physical hardship and the emotional stress that the affected, their families and particularly their mothers, had to suffer because of thalidomide and still have to endure day by day," he said. "We wish that the thalidomide tragedy had never happened.” But Stock also pointed to how regulatory and testing organizations had changed since the 1950s. "The thalidomide tragedy took place 50 years ago in a world completely different from t o d a y, " h e s a i d . " T h e international scientific community, the pharmaceutical industry and governments, legislators and administrations have had to learn a lot from it.” Gruenenthal had "acted in accordance with the state of scientific knowledge and all industry standards for testing new drugs" that were current in that period, he said, and regretted that the drug's potential to cause fetal malformations had not been detected. The drug was available over the counter in Germany from 1957, under the name Contergan, leading to more cases there than anywhere else, according to the Thalidomide Trust website. In Britain, where

ibya's Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelal resigned Sunday, the official state news agency LANA reported, after his ministry came under harsh criticism following recent security incidents in the capital. Abdelal submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Abdul Rahim al-Kib the same day members of the country's newly elected General National Congress summoned security officials and the prime minister for questioning about the incidents. Abdelal was not present at the session. His resignation comes a day after reports circulated that both Abdelal and Defense Minister Osama Juwaila were going to be fired. On Saturday, a group of Islamist radicals attacked a Sufi shrine in the center of Tripoli and started to bulldoze the mosque. According to eyewitnesses, security forces from the Interior Ministry were present while the destruction was taking place. Two other Sufi shrines, one in the city of Zliten and one in Misrata, were also desecrated in recent days.

The attacks were condemned by top Libyan government officials, including the deputy prime minister who tweeted Saturday that he had asked the Interior and Defense Ministries to protect the shrines, but they had not responded. According to eyewitnesses and pictures circulating on social media websites, members of a Salafi movement were responsible for the destruction of the Tripoli mosque. Hardline Islamists oppose religious practices of Muslim sects like the Sufis. Last week, at least two car bombs detonated in Tripoli, killing two people. The attacks were blamed on former regime loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi. Security forces announced the arrests of 32 people following the bombings in connection with what seemed to have been a coordinated bombing last Sunday. It was the first deadly bomb attack in the capital since the fall of Tripoli a year ago. Security ministries came under fire for the security lapses.

Thalidomide pills were prescribed in the late 1950s for morning sickness and as a sedative. New Jersey-based Celgene Corp. won Food and Drug Agency approval to use the drug for a painful sideeffect of leprosy known as erythema nodosum leprosum. It was banned in 1962 after causing birth defects.

it was sold as Distaval, it was a prescription-only medication. The drug was released only for clinical trials in the United States, the Trust says, because of concerns following reports of certain side effects from Europe. Compounds that included thalidomide also appeared in a range of other medications, including some for asthma and

migraine, the Trust says. It is still used to treat a handful of conditions including leprosy and multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cell. Thalidomide UK urges strict controls to avoid the drug impacting unborn children. The UK government allocated funds in 2010 to help those affected by thalidomide.

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Politics

Dialogue with armed youths... Continues from page 19 care. And you can imagine number of death that will occur due to lack of professional attention. And the excuses of this government was that doctors were not serious and they do not come to work. I say if you are pointing accusing fingers on doctors, three fingers are pointing back at you, because the health services management board is the authority that supervise doctors and ensure they are at their duty post. So if the doctors are not at their duty post whose fault? Is the head and should be fired, changed or if commissioner is not doing it well, the governor should relief him of his duty. Not for the governor to be fed with false information that doctors are not serious and they don't even attend to their patient That they are in their private practices, that was unhealthy statement that will be accredited to the leader of the state. And you can see that we need first and foremost preventive medical health care that should be the focus of any government because it is cheaper to prevent disease than to cure disease in this case intercultural approach should be applied. Government should make sure that the environment is very clean, government through the ministry of information should ensure that there is massive campaign on healthy living, government through the ministry of agriculture should ensure that slaughter houses are kept clean, the ministry of environment should ensure that the environment is clean. These are the things that if you do it will reduce the incidence of transmittable and communicable diseases. We know that the commonness cause of death in Nigeria today is malaria. And malaria is transmitted by mosquito and mosquito are breading in stagnant water. So if you get these issues right, then you will reduce it drstically than every time you say, you are donating drug, you are donating N200million to the hospital. It is all about donation and not about service delivery. That is why I said the mental thinking is all about profit, than social services. In the past Onitsha used to have a functional water cooperation but today the problem of water in the city has increased, as a political leader do you have any intention of repositioning the water system in Onitsha if elected? Government has tow objectives, one to provide the service and two to regulate provision of the service. This is

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

because if you can not carry out then the service then do not stop the private sector from providing the service. Today, we have not been able to see the fruition of millions of money that has been injected into the health and water projects. The water systems will run for the first three months and thereafter stop, many are not just done by state government, while some are federal projects being done by federal legislators or the constituency projects being done by the state legislators. I am not Methuselah to be able to know what happen to those water systems; most of them are shallow water systems which you know have high metal contents and a lot of metallic substances in them.It needs purification before it can actually be ingested into the body. Government is not doing that, today we have a lot of private boreholes and nobody is asking for what manner of water test is being gotten? Is there any purification system being applied and ingesting so what is the average life spam 47 years, something is causing these problems. It is violent death from accident, traffic accident or robbery, it is from malaria but the main adult suffer some form of illness, the man dies they say it is his kings men that killed him through remote control. But no autopsy has said what killed this man, so for me water is an important ingredient of life. It forms 60% of our body mass so we need to do something about it. A government with vision will need to look at the existing water systems and see how to integrate them. And most importantly to articulate it because going by the nation office of statistics you will see that Anambra has 0% for access to pipe bourn water and less than 30% for that of borehole so what is happening? We need accessibility and we need to make sure we position them in the area that is also accessible to the people and the only way to accesses it to the greater number of people is by reticulation and the issue of providing pumping systems to me it is getting obsolete. I have always suggested motorize pumping system because when you have all these pumps they get stolen who will look after them when you put something far from the residential quarters even the solar panels being established are being in jeopardy. And why I said we need to do a lot of orientation on people because you will be stilling what is made for your own good. With the fact on the ground, government should use motorize pump where you move pumps from one place to

another pump these things on a daily bases because of the overhead storage capacity you have. You can use it a day and come back the nest day but live it there it will get stolen because one pump can serve three water systems. In no distant time if God permits you will be one of the governors in the south east, how do you access the activities of those governors that go to their forum on monthly bases but no meaningful projects has been initiated or executed in the zone, will you be party of wasted effort? Well. I wouldn't know because it will be difficult to judge people on the area you have not being before, I can judge the governors because I have worked with governor and with the government. In the south east governor's forum, the question is what is their ambition? Everybody talk about how to integrate south east forum, where is that forum going to take us to then we have to draw mast stone and be able to put in place measurable task that have to be done. I have not seen that and I believe when I get there we will be able to get our colleagues focused but what I want to dream of is to have peace and security in the south east. And already we have established economic hobs in the south east zone, Aba and Onitsha. So all we need to do is to have peace and open up the sector to people from all over the country who will access it. Being that Onitsha is close to the Niger Delta, we will be able to sit oil industry, Aba is also positioned to the Niger Delta so Aba should also serve the fashion industry. We must integrate our resources together c o m p l e m e n t o u r competitiveness and make success out of it. Do you have any message for your people? Well, what does not concern you today may tomorrow concern you, so in the best interest of yourself and community, it is proper that you begin to create an awareness of what governance demand from every one of us. Governance demands certain things from leaders and governance also demands from citizens. And what it demands from citizens is the explicit expression of the franchise not sale it but to express it by choosing the best candidate. Two commit yourself to the things of the community, be your brother's keeper which means you must be able to report crime, to speak up, pay your tax and you must not steal from government and you must not steal from community.

Anambra, Enugu, Kogi at War

Continues on page 23

Gov Chime that the contentious wells are in Kogi state. “It is just a matter of making sure that proper documents are checked to further prove that the genesis of that oil well resided with Kogi state in terms of compensation and to even access it”, Awoniyi declared. Tension has been building among communities around the Kogi, Anambra an Enugu borders since the boundary demarcation between Northern and Eastern regions in 1927. The tension degenerated into serious bloodbath in 1994 between the people of Aguleri Otu, where the Orient refinery is located and Obale in Ibaji local government area. Dozens of people were killed on both sides of the war and since then the relationship between the two states has not normalized. On the other hand, the protracted war between Aguleri and Umuleri, which caused huge

Emeka Anyaoku loses in terms of human and material resources, has continued to unsettle the two communities for many years. As things stand, the major interest of the three states is the 13 percent derivative fund from Orient's exploration activities. The rift is largely blamed on the failure of the National Boundaries Commission to conclude demarcation of the dispute area over the years and unless this is quickly resolved, there is the likelihood that Orient Petroleum Resources PLC might not have the desired peaceful and enabling atmosphere to operate. Contrary to Anyaoku's claim that the issue had been resolved with the various stakeholders, the Enugu state government seems not to be involved in the dialogue and youths from Igga community, as The Advocate learnt, are already spoiling for a showdown with the company.

Auto-Technician hides 2.655kg of cocaine worth N24m inside roasted chicken Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested an autotechnician Mr. Vincent Chegini Chinweuwa for allegedly smuggling about 2.655kg of cocaine hidden inside roasted chicken at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The suspect, Mr. Chinweuwa was apprehended weekend with the N24million worth of drug during the inward clearance of passengers on a Turkish Airline flight from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Lagos. Speaking on the arrest, Chairman NDLEA, Ahmadu Giade noted that the seizure of the 2.655kilogrammes of cocaine was a spectacular seizure stressing that it would further help to discourage other drug suspects from the criminal drug trade. “The suspect thought his mode of drug concealment was perfect but we proved him wrong. Several drugs cleverly hidden by drug barons have been discovered and we shall continue to detect drugs regardless of the mode of concealment” Giade assured. The NDLEA boss however pointed out that the suspect would

be charged to court soon. Meanwhile, the NDLEA Airport Commander, Mr Hamza Umar described the seizure of the 2.655kg as remarkable noting that the suspect had given investigators useful information on the case. “We discovered 2.655kg of cocaine hidden inside roasted chicken. It is a remarkable seizure because no one would have imagined cocaine worth several millions inside roasted chicken” Hamza stated. Narrating his ordeals, the suspect, Mr. Chinweuwa who hails from Imo State expressed surprise on how the drug was detected stressing that he thought that the drug would not be detected. “It took me three days to pack the cocaine inside the roasted chicken. I was confident that the drug will not be detected. I have been living in Brazil since 2006. Life has been stressful because I cannot even visit my wife in Nigeria due to lack of money. I wanted some money to start any business of my choice back home. Unfortunately, I was disappointed upon arrival in Lagos” he lamented.

THE

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Features

Effects of Slavery in Africa:

Going down memory lane By Okey Anyichie The year 1807 should be regarded as Annus Mirabilis (year of miracle) for the emancipation of Blackman. Hence it was that year in the 19th century that the road to Human rights was totally constructed. Africa from the 14th century was an area for the trading and buying of human beings regarded as slave-trade. In other words human beings in the continent were reduced to commodity or put it straight cattle and cartels open to the market. It was Portugal, a European country in the Iberian peninsular sharing border with Spain that started the notorious activities of merchandise of Human beings in Africa. Hence according to records in 1441, a Portuguese explorer and adventurer, Gonzalez Velho Cabral landed on the coast of West Africa and took some gold dust and black slaves back to his home country of Portugal. This exercise opened the way to other European Nationalities to head towards West Africa in the 13th Century and indulges in this ugly commercial venture. It was stated that these European countries fought themselves later to control these areas of West Africa like the coasts of the modern Cote D'lvoire, Ghana which the Portuguese named 'El-Mina', gold coast and the coast of the modern Senegal, SierraLeone and Guinea-Bissau through which the slaves procured by these evilmerchants of Human beings from WestAfrican coasts to America and Brazil. The Portuguese who opened this horrible commercial path roamed the West African coasts and even named the modern Sierra-Leone. It was a Portuguese sailor and explorer called Pedro De Cintra in the quest for a larger area of West African for his country's commercial interest, in 1460 called the coastal areas of the modern Sierra-Leone 'SierraLyoa' meaning lion mountains. Like I have highlighted, other interested European countries in the commercial activities of slave-trade and other commodities started invading the coasts of West Africa, notably the English explorers. It was recorded that in 1553 two English explorers, Thomas Hawkins and William Hawkins arrived on West Africa and made a ship-ment of slaves to America. These two Englishmen visited Benin in the modern day Nigeria and they were reputed to be the first Englishmen to visit the West African coast for commercial purposes. And this slaves merchandise led to what is called “Trans-Atlantic” slave trade. According to a Nigerian Historian, Adekunle Ojelabi, between 1530 and 1600, 800,000 African slaves mainly from the coasts of West Africa were shipped to Spanish plantations in Latin America and Portuguese Sugar-estates in Brazil. Some were sent to United States of America (USA) to work in the cotton-farms in the South of that country, then known as the new world. All these activities of merchandise of Human Beings from

Africa were going on until some men of conscience started to agitate against this gross-violation of Human rights. The climax was the activities of three English-men, William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson who stirred the conscience of fellow citizens on the evils of this despicable Human Merchandise. Later light at the end of the dark tunnel appeared in 1772, when a slave, Jonathan Somerset, ran away from his master in America, Mr. Knowles and stayed in London. His master on getting the information that his slave was staying in London, went to England and attempted to reclaim his 'property', but was stopped from doing so. It was one of the members of the group, (Wilberforce, Clarkson and Sharp) that made it impossible for the run-away slave from America to be taken back by his 'Master', Mr. Knowles. Mr. Granville Sharp, a lawyer went to court and got the injunction stopping the runner-away slave from being shipped back to America. In a famous case that opened the window fully for emancipation of Human rights, the Chief Justice of England, Mr. Justice Mansfield in giving ruling to the case, set the slave free on compassionate ground. It was accelerated victory for the slaves everywhere in England. This outcome of this case led to first step of liberation of Black slaves in England. In 1787, to create a new 'haven' for the liberated slaves in England 450 of them and 60 white women were sent to an area now known as Freetown, SierraLeone and settled them there Later on other slaves from Jamaica known as the Maroons and some from Nove Scotia also arrived, thereby, making Free-town, Sierra-Leone, as the land of liberty. The same exercise took place in the modern day, Liberia, when in 1823 America Colonization Society (ACS) led by Paul Cufie organized the expedition back to Africa to settle the emancipated slaves, whose off-springs are now the majority elites of that country. So the out-come of this ugly commercial activities in trading on Human beings resulted in existence of two West African Countries of SierraLeone and Liberia. And today they are now fully emancipated citizens of Africa in their own countries. The remembrance of this evil commercial activities that started in the 13th century and even in the 9th century in some parts of Africa by the United Nations Organisation (UNO) under the aegis of United Nation's Educational Scientific Organization (UNESCO) to set out August, 23 every year is an act of political sagacity and total condemnation of Man's inhumanity to man. For there is nothing so civilized to behold a situation, where human rights are at a premium. Hence MAN is the greatest living being on earth and must live and reflect what the Romans term 'Imago Dei' Again it goes to state that when United Nations Organization was formed on the 24th October, 1945, it was

another step in the emancipation of man, everywhere under the sun. For anywhere man is oppressed, it concerns another man in other place. And in 1948, the global organization UNO declared 10th

December every year as Human rights day, but would it be respected by all everywhere? Freedom is a precious commodity that MEN of good will must defend at all cost

African Slaves

How MTN funneled U.S. technology to Iran Continued from page 32 technicians were familiar with them. But MTN soon learned that its major contractors on the project - particularly Nokia - wouldn't provide the equipment because of the U.S. Embargo. So MTN executives began to explore ways to procure the parts without violating sanctions, the documents show. The company initially explored an exception to the sanctions known as the "de minimis" rule. Under it, tech products can sometimes be legally exported to Iran from a foreign country if the aggregate value of the U.S. parts or technology inside is less than 10%. According to the person familiar with the matter, MTN believed that if U.S. components comprised less than 10% of a large system, its major contractors could legally procure them. But the company learned that the rule applies to each component, not to an overall system. "Once they figured it out, they realized the vendors wouldn't accept that," this person said. "Now they had a problem.” According to a weekly report from December 2005, MTN also explored another alternative - obtaining U.S. parts from the so-called "grey market," or unauthorized distribution channels. The report suggests "obtaining go ahead to procure US embargoed products ... from grey market notwithstanding the adverse consequences to MTN.” The person familiar with the situation said MTN was under tremendous pressure to launch the Iranian mobile operator as quickly as possible, because it had told shareholders it projected having one million subscribers by the end of 2006. The operator finally launched in October, after months of delays, and is now Iran's second-largest wireless carrier by subscribers. The procurement problems are referenced in numerous internal MTN and MTN Irancell documents. A June 2006 status report discussed delays in the delivery of essential components for

value-added services, or VAS. "The primary challenge in the establishment of the VAS solution is simply that the hardware platforms required are of US origin and therefore fall foul of the US embargo on exports to Iran," the report says. "This means that innovative mechanisms need to be applied to secure delivery of the hardware platforms." Another progress report makes reference to an "Order placed last week with Turkey and Iran to circumvent embargo issues.” Reuters reported in June that some of the U.S. equipment - including at least a half-dozen Sun servers - was sourced locally through Iranian companies. But according to the person familiar with the matter, many other U.S. components were acquired via Dubai by Shabakkat, which was paid about $30 million to $40 million to acquire them - about twice their value. "You had a buyer who was desperate," the person said, referring to MTN. "They didn't have any other options.” Mahmoud Tadjallimehr became a project manager for Nokia on the MTN Irancell project in November 2006. In an interview, he said it was known within the mobile operator that Shabakkat was sourcing U.S. equipment for the project, and he dealt directly with the firm. But he said that one day in discussing a delivery problem, a Shabakkat manager told him, "The issue was not with Shabakkat but with Exit40." He also said "someone told me that we should never use this name (Exit40) in any kind of emails or conversations." According to archive.org, which archives websites, Exit40's site in 2006 described the firm as a privately held, "leading independent wholesale distributor of IT products" that was headquartered in Switzerland, with offices in Dubai, Florida, Switzerland and India. The site also included this boast: "Exit40's procurement executives source hard to find or locally constrained products for customers.”

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Monday, September 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday, September 9, 2012

ADVOCATE

Flashback

In this week's edition of THE ADVOCATE Flashback, we feature the History of Tiv people in Nigeria. The Tiv ethnic group is the fourth largest Ethnic group in Nigeria after the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo. Tiv people are easily identified today with their cultural music and their Black and White striped attire and an average Tiv is proud of it anywhere anytime. Read on

Tiv Tiv are an ethno-linguistic group or ethnic nation in West Africa. They constitute approximately 3.5% of Nigeria's total population, and number over 6 million individuals throughout Nigeria and Cameroon. The Tiv are the 4th largest ethnic group in Nigeria. Tiv language is spoken by about 7 million people in Nigeria, with a few speakers in Cameroon. Most of the language's Nigerian speakers are found in Benue State of Nigeria. The language is also widely spoken in the Nigerian States of Plateau, Taraba, Nasarawa,cross rivers as well as the FCT Abuja. It is part of the Southern Bantoid Tivoid family, a branch of Benue-Congo and ultimately of the Niger-Congo phylum. In precolonial times, the Hausa ethnic group referred to the Tiv 'Munchi' a term not accepted by Tiv people. They depend on agricultural produce for commerce and life.

History The Tiv came into contact with European culture during the colonial period. During November 1907 to spring 1908, an expedition of the Southern Nigeria Regiment led by Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh Trenchard's came into contact with the Tiv. Trenchard brought gifts for the tribal chiefs. Subsequently, roads were built and trade links established between Europeans and the Tiv.

Social and Political Organization Most Tiv have a highly developed sense of genealogy, with descent being reckoned patrilineally. Ancestry is traced to an ancient individual named Tiv, who had two sons; all Tiv consider themselves a member either of Ichongo (descendants of son Chongo) or of Ipusu (descendants of son pusu). Ichongo and Ipusu are each divided into several major branches, which in turn are divided into smaller branches. The smallest branch, or minimal lineage, is the "ipaven". Members of an ipaven tend to live together, the local kin-based community being called the "tar". This form of social organization, called a segmentary lineage, is seen in various parts of the world, but it is particularly well known from African societies (Middleton and Tait 1958). The Tiv are the best known example from West Africa, as documented by Laura Bohannan (1952) and by Paul and Laura Bohannan (1953); in East Africa the best known example is the Nuer, documented by E.E. Evans-

Tiv Kingdom Pritchard (1940). The Tiv had no administrative divisions and no chiefs or councils. Leadership was based on age, influence, and affluence. The leaders' functions were to furnish safe conduct, arbitrate disputes within their lineages, sit on moots, and lead their people in all external and internal affairs. The Tiv ethnic group is the fourth largest Ethnic group in Nigeria after the three Major Ethnic groups. These socio-political arrangements caused great frustration to British colonial attempts to subjugate the population and establish administration on the lower Benue. The strategy of Indirect Rule, which the British felt to be highly successful in controlling Hausa and Fulani populations in Northern Nigeria, was ineffective in a segmentary society like the Tiv (Dorward 1969). Colonial officers tried various approaches to administration, such as putting the Tiv under the control of the nearby Jukun, and trying to exert control through the councils of elders ("Jir Tamen"); these met with little success. The British administration in 1934 divided the Tiv into Clans, Kindreds, and Family Groups. The British appointed native heads of these divisions as well. These administrative divisions are gradually assuming a reality which they never had originally. Members of the Tiv group are found in many areas across the globe, such as the United States and United Kingdom. In these countries they hold unions, known as MUT (Mzough U Tiv, which rhymes with Mutual Union of Tiv in English), where members can assemble and discuss issues concerning their people across the world, but especially back in Nigeria. The arm of the MUT serving the United States of America is known as MUTA (Mzough U Tiv ken Amerika, or Mutual Union of the Tiv in America), for instance. Before the introduction of printed material, radio, film and television, mass communication in Nigeria was done through the indigenous people with the use of traditional political systems of communication. The rulers and the chiefs governed their ethnic communities and

communicated with them through various channels.

Tiv Music and Communication Locally made musical instruments were traditionally used for political and ceremonial communication. The key instruments follow/

Kakaki This is an instrument used to convey specials messages to the people of the community, such messages as the newborn child of the King, his naming ceremony, the crowning of a new king, to gather people together during the marriage ceremony of the king and the king's son's marriage ceremony. This instrument was used to convey all the messages to the people to assemble at the square for the ceremony, as well as when there is an enemy attack on the community, a warning sound of the Kakaki is blown to alert those whom can defend the society and every citizen to be alert.

Ilyu A light wooden instrument, it was used to pass messages to the people of the village, probably for the invitation of the people for a particular meeting of the elders at the king's palace or for the people to gather at the market square for a message from or by the king.it is now used as an instrument to indicate the death of someone.

Indyer A heavy wooden instrument carved out of mahogany trunk. It is used especially during festivals of masquerades, yam festivals with music to pass messages for the ceremonies, celebration of good harvest for the year.

Akya It is used together with Agbande (drums) combined with Ageda at festivals to pass a message across to the people for a call for the display of culture.

Adiguve It's an instrument like a violin, used for music and dances in conjunction with Agbande (Agbande) at festivals and dance occasions, sometimes to announce

A tiv man in musical action

the death of a leader or an elder of the community, during this period it is played sorrowfully for the mourning of the dead, most time it is played funerals.

Gbande Agbande (plural), a set of crafted wooden musical instrument used to complement agbande at festivals, this is particularly large and it is played by the young men of the community, the special drum beats communicates special messages and music for the festivals to come and during the festivals, for instance, signifies a royal occasions such as the coronation and funeral.

Ortindin (Ortyom)Messenger Usually he is chosen by the elders of the community to do errands for the elders and the leader of the community. He is sent out to the heads of the neighbouring families for a crucial meeting at the head of all the leaders of the community.

Kolugh ku Bua-Cow Horn This is an instrument made out of cow horns, like in my community, there are farmers' associations that use this instrument when they have job to do, probably they are invited to make ridges on a piece of land, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the association will use this medium to wake up the members for the work they have for that day. Indigenous communication is not only vertical, from the rulers to the subjects, it is also horizontal. Individuals communicate with society through physical and metaphysical means. A farm owner, for example, may mount a charm conspicuously on his farm in order to stress private ownership and to scare off human intruders. The fear of herbalists and witches influences social behaviour considerably. Rainmakers communicate their power to disrupt events through various psychological means. Village sectors in Africa communicate mostly via the market-place of ideas contributed by traditional religion, observances, divination, mythology, age-grades, the chiefs courts, the elder's square, secret and title societies, the village market square, the village drum(gbande) men, indeed the total experiences of the villager in his environment. Unlike the mass media, access to the native media is culturally determined and not economic. Only the selected group of young men or the elders can disseminate information generally. The young only disseminate general information about events and the social welfare of their communities using the media mentioned above. The Tiv people of Benue state still practise some of this traditional system of communication, using the KAKAIS, AGBANDE, INDYER, ADIGUVE and ILYU etc., nevertheless the increase in the western world media is threatening the cultural communication system. Many of the communities in Benue state still use these instruments to convey messages to the people of their community, and it is helping a great deal, since there is a language barrier to the people with the introduction of the western world means of communication, using the western language (English) to convey information.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

News from States Bayelsa to collaborate Jonathan's visit with FG in Science excites NMTI

Laboratory equipment manufacturing B Y Fred Jeremiah, Yenagoa

ear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (rtd),The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa state, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (rtd), has said that the State Government was ready to partner with the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology to produce science and laboratory equipment, with a view to repositioning her primary and secondary schools. Speaking while receiving the Minister of Science and

Technology, Prof. Ita Okon Bassey Ewa, who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Government House, Yenagoa, stated that the state would be interested in training her youths in science, technology, food processing and other allied areas. According to him, Japan is doing so well because its economy is driven by science and technology and that for Nigeria to catch up with the developed world, it must lay appropriate emphasis on science and technology. Earlier, Prof. Bassey Ewa disclosed that the new thinking of

the federal ministry of science and technology is to link the emerging technology with the local technology which is in tandem with the local content policy of government. Ewa noted said his visit was to explore the possibility of fusing the existing local technology and the emerging technology in some clustered communities in the state, with a view to transfer the emerging technology to the indigenous population. The Minister later visited Oloibiri and Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area, and Odi in Kolokumo/Opokuma Local Government Area.

Gov Okorocha (R), President Jonathan (2nd R), Gov Obi (2nd L) and Director of Onitsha Inland Port (L)during the port’s commissioning in Onitsha

Udenu to energize all Communities

By Emmanuel Eze ll the communities in U d e n u L o c a l Government of Enugu state is to be energized before July 2013, the Chairman, Hon. Godwin Abonyi said the council has procured transformers, poles, cables and other electricity accessories to ensure that all communities that do not have electricity will be connected. The council boss gave this indication in a remark during a town hall meeting organized by member representing Udenu LG in Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Ikechukwu Ezeugwu. “The LG has bought many electricity transformers, poles cables to ensure that all communities in the LG have light before July 2013. “Work towards giving these communities light has already started in some communities.

Communities that have electricity but have problem of bad transformers will also benefit, as such transformers will be replaced. “I will want to ensure that all communities have electricity before I leave office in December 2013. I want to be remembered as the LG chairman that provided electricity to all communities during his administration", he assured. Aboyi who was represented by the Vice Chairman of the council, Mr Natty Eze urged communities to ensure that they safeguard government's projects in their communities, so as to help it achieve its objectives. He said: “I urge communities to see government projects and equipment in their areas as their own by ensuring that they are not vandalized by hoodlums. “I urge you also, to cooperate with contractors handling

projects in your area, so as to encourage them to do their best work as well as complete the work on schedule. “I commend Ezugwu for putting this forum to interact and render account of his stewardship to those who elected him. “This kind of interaction with people and their representative is the beauty of democracy". Earlier, Hon. Ezugwu said that his happiness would not be complete if those who elected him were not enjoying the d i v i d e n d s o f d e m o c r a c y. "It is from a forum of this nature that a leader can know the needs of his people and people will also understand functions of a legislator. “I am happy with the impressive turn out of Udenu people. It is the outcome of the first meeting in April 18 that made me and the LG to ensure that health workers and a corpper doctor were sent to Imilike Ettiti health centre after complain of residents during the first meeting that there is no health worker in the centre. “Opinion box has also been provided to ensure that residents of Udenu write down their problems and put it inside the box to enable me to know their needs,” he said.

Hillary Anozie Onisha

he President Good luck Jonathan visit to Anambra State has brought smile on the face of students, staff and management of National Metallurgical Training Institute (NMTI), Onitsha as it gave the president the opportunity to witness some of the mechanical installations carried out by graduates of the institute in various industries commissioned by the president. The Deputy Director of the institute, Builder Paul Odiase who spoke on behalf of the Director, Engr J.R. Ajamolaya said that the institute was delighted at the visit of the president and benefits derivable from such adventure and hoped that the federal government would continue to advance the cause of industrialization and technological development as the institute was ever ready to continue its assistance in the training of skilled and technical man-power needed in the

country's industrial sector. Engr. Ajamolaye revealed that National Metallurgical Training Institute, Onitsha has committed many of its graduates to steel installation at Orient Refinery, Enugu otu, Anambra East local government and other industries across the country, adding that recently the Bayelsa and Rivers State government have reached an agreement to train some of their youths as its own contribution on federal government's amnesty programme and urged local and state governments, including NGO's to key in by partnering with the institute in the area of man-power development. The NMTI boss, however, pleaded with the federal government to build more workshops in the institute to contain the expansion need of trainees who are willing to undergo standard practical and theoretical training offered by the institute.

Enugu govt denies resolving oil wells dispute with Orient Petroleum

HE Enugu State Government has refuted claims by the Management of Orient Petroleum Plc (OPR) that the lingering contention between it and the company over some oil wells located in the state, has been resolved. The Managing Director of the company Mr Emeka Nwawka was recently reported in some sections of the media as saying that the issues relating to the operations of the oil wells in O j j o r, I g g a h a n d A s a b a communities, all in the UzoUwani Local Government Area of Enugu State were resolved at a meeting between the officials of the stategovernment led by the Secretary to the Government, Mr. Amaechi Okolo and the company. However, in a swift reaction, the Enugu State Commissioner for Information, Mr Chuks Ugwoke described the claims as an “unfortunate misrepresentation of the facts.” He said that though the state government will continue to encourage Orient Petroleum Resources Plc and other private sector investments

in the state or elsewhere in the country, it has become necessary to correct the wrong impression created by the Managing Director of the company that the lingering issues between it and the government had been resolved. The dispute revolves around the continued refusal of the company to acknowledge that it has oil wells in Enugu State and not Anambra state alone and the need to reflect the existence of oil wells in the three communities in all its communications and instruments. While admitting that the two parties met over the matter on the 31st of July, 2012, the commissioner noted that “no resolution of any sort was reached” as the company merely briefed the representatives of the state government on its operations in the affected communities and even proposed that a conflict resolution committee be set to address the issues while holding further talks on it. It will be recalled that the three oil blocks in Enugu State provide the bulk of the company's crude oil supply.

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Monday, September 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday, September 9, 2012

ADVOCATE

News from States

Media, Civil Societies and legislature should police executives By Joe Akwarandu, Umuahia

he Nigerian Media, Civil Societies and the Legislature has been enjoined to work in partnership to ensure that the Executives, both in the Centre, States and local government levels are checkmated in manner at which they use the resources of the

nation. The call was made at a w o r k s h o p o rg a n i z e d f o r journalists and Civil Societies by an NGO: State Accountability and Voice Initiative (SAVI), a United Kingdom Programme for International Development aimed at monitoring and ensuring accountability on the part of the Leaders in Nigeria. Expatiating, an executive of

the Ngo (SAVI) Mr. Ishaya Buba Bajama stated that the media, the civil societies and the Legislature were not playing their expected roles enough in check-mating the executives thereby enhancing them to shortchange the citizenry at will. Reminding the three agencies that the Nigerian masses depends on them for clarity and information of the

happenings in the governance of the country, stating that much was expected of them as regards the way the finances, welfare and security of the country are handled. The SAVI reminded the participants that time has gone when the media looked at the civil societies as groups chasing foreign donor agencies for funds, or the civil societies seeing the media as those chasing brown envelops nor the two above seeing the legislature as rubber stamps of the executive but should work together as a team to enlighten and sensitizing the masses on the right and privileges while policing those in the corridors of power for transparency and

good governance. Prof. Uzochukwu Amakom in his lecture delivered on Media budgetary process, enumerated on the role of the media in accessing the budgets of the centre including the States and local governments to ensure that the implementations were followed to the letter and if they suspect any foul play on the part of the executive, they should inform the masses and call for the clarification. The facilitators frowned on the new trends where many media houses in the country today do not pay their workers and those who pay, shortchange them, saying that these would not bring about efficiency on the part of the practitioners.

29 perish, 16 others injured in auto crash A

Onitsha Inland River Port

Peace mass transit takes over Cross Lines Park in Calabar From Edem Archibong, Calabar In attempt to improve the transportation system network of Cross River State, a multimillion transport Company based in Enugu and Lagos has extended their services to Calabar, the Cross River State Capital with new brand of sound vehicles and bought over the State's own Cross Lines Park as base of operation. Speaking with The Advocate correspondents' in Calabar, the Branch Manager of the Company, Mr Francis Chibueze declared that their coming to Cross River is based on findings which revealed the high rate influx of human traffic into the state as tourist. He also explained that Calabar is now a preferred tourist destination in Nigeria but seriously lacking behind in the area of private sector investment like transportation

sector to complement the effort of the state government for the tourist delight. Mr. Chibueze further assert that most of the transport company operating in the state are using old dilapidated vehicles to apply inter-states as well as off country journey therefore exposing the life of the travelers to undue strain and suffering to make it uncomfortable to travel by road. On the peaceful disposition of the state, Mr. Chibueze commended the state government for making the state to be investor friendly and hospitable for visitors while promising to ensure that the present existing relationship will be maintained as well as extend such goodwill to their host community. Comparing their rate and charges with other operators, the young Branch manager insisted that their charges on the following routes: Calabar

Lagos, Calabar Abuja, Calabar Enugu, Calabar Bayelsa, Calabar Aba, Calabar Onitsha, Calabar Owerri and Calabar Abakaliki in Ebonyi State is relatively the cheapest than others. He also commended the role played by the Cross River Broadcasting Radio and Te l e v i s i o n b y c r e a t i n g awareness in the state for travelers through the paid jingles which is repeated twice daily for proper sensitization of the people to enjoy and get value for their money. However, investigation revealed that many travelers had long abandoned the state owned transport Company, Cross Lines as their services had been in complete decline as many vehicles are now muribund and can hardly embark on long distance journey without commuters being in tears.

fatal motor accident along Potiskum Kano road, at Daniski village, in Nengere Local Government Area of Yobe State involving two Toyota Hiace Buses travelling in opposite directions claimed 29 lives last Friday. The two buses had a head-on collision and went off in flames, the police said. Twenty nine persons eleven of them burnt beyond recognition - have so far been confirmed dead, with sixteen others sustaining injuries of various degrees. Policemen from Nengere Division, Yobe State Police Command, assisted by members of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NUTRW) responded to the incident. Injured persons were rushed to General Hospital Potiskum, while, the dead bodies were deposited at the Hospital's mortuary. "Two Toyota Hiace Buses travelling in opposite directions had a head-on collision and thereafter went off in flames. Twenty nine persons -- eleven of them burnt beyond recognition, have so far been confirmed dead," Deputy Police Force spokesman, Frank Mba, said in a statement. The head of the road safety commission in Yobe, Usman

Masari, said that both drivers were speeding. He described both buses as 18-seaters, but drivers routinely cram extra passengers into vehicles to maximise their income per journey. A similar crash killed 33 people near Potiskum in 2010, when two commuter buses collided and caught fire. The police statement lamented the "incessant" accidents on Nigeria's highways, considered among the most dangerous in the world. The Police, however, urged Nigerians to avoid "speeding, over loading and flagrant disobedience of road traffic laws and regulations". While expressing concern over incessant cases of accidents on Nigerian highways, the InspectorGeneral of Police advised Nigerians to ensure that their vehicles are roadworthy at all times. He directed officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force attached to the newly rejuvenated Police Highway Patrol to take proactive measures, working in conjunction with other security agencies, to assist road users in preventing road accidents and rendering prompt assistance to victims of road mishap on our highways.

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Special Report When family, friends, associates gather for Justice Aniagolu By Our Reporter

ROM the Holy Ghost Catholic Cathedral, Enugu where an elaborate one-year memorial mass was organised on Thursday , June 28, 2012 to the Godfrey Okoye University, also in Enugu venue of the memorial lecture and essay prize awards as well as the memorial lecture dinner, one eloquent testimony from the priests, learned men of the bar and bench, guest lecturers, and other eloquent speakers during the event was that the late Supreme Court Justice, Chief Anthony Nnaemezie Christopher Aniagolu ,who died peacefully in Enugu four months to his 89th birthday on Tuesday ,June 28, 2011 was a “very good man , totally committed to the legal profession, pursuit of truth and Chairman of the occasion, Senator Ken Nnamani, one of the guest justice, good governance as Speakers, Henry Ajumogobia and a guest during the lecture well as the practice of the rule of “I never met papa but I have seen of democracy; how is it going to law in Nigeria.” his children and I pray that the survive? Will it survive under At the well-attended mass, children will live to continue his this wage of impunity? Our the first reading was taken from legacy.” democracy stands a very strong the book of Isaiah 41:10-20, Later, the stream of human risk in the sense that if we do which among other things stated, beings flowed from the church to what we promised during “Do not be afraid. I am with you! the Godfrey Okoye University at campaigns, it will help to I am your God, let nothing terrify Emene, Enugu where the smoothen our democracy,” said you! I will protect you and save Secretary to the Government of Nnamani, who added, “The type you. Those who are angry with the Federation (SGF), and of democracy we are practising you will know the shame of former Senate President, Chief is such that we have to justify defeat. Those who fight against Anyim Pius Anyim delivered a whether we are actually getting you will die and will disappear thought-provoking lecture with the democracy dividends or from the face of the earth. I am the topic, “Democracy and not”. He said Nigeria is very the Lord your God; I strengthen Nation-Building”, while the anxious to join the rest of the you and say, “Do not be afraid; I former Minister of Foreign developed world but has always will help you.” Affairs and Petroleum, Henry failed to take the right steps that Similarly, the second reading Odein Ajumogobia (SAN), also enabled the developed nations was taken from 2nd Corinthians made a memorial dinner speech attain their enviable positions 5:1-10, and part of it said, “For entitled, “Leadership, Good today. we know that when this tent we Governance and the Imperative “Even during military live in our body here on earth is of Justice.” regimes, we had better roads torn down, God will have a Chairman of the occasion, than we have now. Democracy is house in heaven for us to live in, former Senate President, Chief at risk if we don't follow the state home He himself has made, Ken Nnamani called for a minute laws. The rule of law is not which will last forever.” silence which was observed by simply obeying court orders; it Meanwhile the Vicar the thousands of guests in goes beyond that,” Nnamani General of the Catholic Diocese honour of the late jurist, and said. of Enugu, Monsignor Luke thereafter, he told the gathering, The Guest of Honour, Chief Adike, the officiating priest, said “Lady May Aniagolu and the Justice of Nigeria, Justice “One thing I know about Justice entire family would feel Dahiru Musdapher, who was Anthony Aniagolu is that he was impressed and honoured that represented by a Judge at the a very happy man; he was a very Justice Aniagolu left a very S u p r e m e C o u r t , J u s t i c e prayerful man, committed to the impressive legacy; many of his Chukwuma Ene, said Aniagolu core; his profession never misled children are doing very well in left a legacy not only in the him rather his profession molded different aspects of life." Chief judiciary but also outside it. him; his profession guided him Nnamani said the topic of the Justice Musdapher and disciplined him.” lecture was an excellent one, but r e m e m b e r e d A n i a g o l u ' s He said the late Justice wondered if the nation's brand of positive contributions as the Aniagolu could only commit democracy could lead the C h a i r m a n o f t h e 1 9 8 9 himself in such dignified manner country to the level of developed Constituent Assembly and also because he took to heart what democratic nations of the world. one of the architects of the 1989 was written in today's first He said the most elementary C o n s t i t u t i o n o f N i g e r i a , reading, and prayed God to give definition of democracy was the although he said he regretted that him eternal rest in His kingdom. one usually attributed to the the outcome of the assembly was Also, the baritone-voiced, dark- former American President, not adopted at the end of the complexioned, tall Methodist Abraham Linchon, who said process. “If you read that Bishop of Agbani, Bishop B.L. “democracy is the government constitution very well, you will Onuagha, who literally of the people by the people and see the imprints of Aniagolu. It's electrified the atmosphere when for the people.” unfortunate that the constitution he sang with so much gusto, The central theme in the was not adopted. We at the “God be with You Till we Meet above definition of democracy, Supreme Court cherished him Again,” which earned him a Nnamani said, is “the people”, very well,” he said. According to standing ovation from the noting that the rule of law is the Musdapher, “We thank God we congregation, simply remarked, pillar of democracy. “Our brand are here to honour a fallen hero,

Two sons of Aniagolu and their siblings in the background at the Mass

Justice Anthony Aniagolu. He was a formidable legal luminary. He came to the Supreme Court in Nigeria's golden days when icons like Justices Fatai Williams, Kayode Eso, Augstine Nnamani were there; these were famous justices of the Supreme Court.” Delivering the memorial lecture tagged, “Democracy and Nation Building”, Chief Amyim Pius Anyim said one critical factor of building a nation is the factor of patriotism. Without patriotism, he said, “there cannot be a national agenda; there cannot be a consciousness to develop a national agenda.” According to Anyim, “A true nation has not been forged in Nigeria. We are not really building a nation and so we have not even started. Democracy is not a one-way traffic; it goes from top to down and down to top.” He also lamented, “When I look at the developments we have made, I wonder whether we are actually building a nation or a village.” He added, “If after 50 years of nation building and we are still calling for national conference to discuss the basis of our co-existence, it means we 've not even started; if we don't resolve it early enough we will definitely have this burden coming after us.” Anyim said calls for the convening of a national conference has been on since 20 years now, and observed that if previous conferences did not solve the problems people have been agitating for, how could one be certain that future conferences would address the issues. “Will national conference solve Nigeria's problems? We have had a series of conferences but we have not had the solutions,” he argued. In his dinner lecture, entitled, “Leadership, Good Governance

and the Imperative of Justice”, former foreign affairs minister, Henry Ajumogobia (SAN), observed that it is proper that “we should from time to time , pause in our daily endeavours, to honour the memory of men and women of extraordinary accomplishment and distinction, such as the late Honourable Justice Anthony Aniagolu.” During Aniagolu's long, purposeful and fulfilled lifetime, his passion for law and justice was unsurpassed, said Ajumogobia, who also added that Aniagolu's simple prescription for leadership and good governance in Nigeria was the enthronement of the supremacy and rule of law in the society. According to him, “His Lordship was a titan in the legal profession, even before he shed the partisanship of his early and immensely successful calling as a practising lawyer for judicial robes.” Aniagolu, he recalled, was indeed one of a handful of judges to be elevated from the state High Court bench, as Chief Judge, to take “his place amongst his peers in our ultimate temple of justice the Supreme Court of Nigeria.” Ajumogobia said Justice Aniagolu had qualities in abundance that are, and should be, required in the small number of privileged men and women who are selected to be the last word in all matters coming before the courts of our land. “He was a gentle man, and embodiment of brilliance and erudition; of sensitivity, modesty and passion; of integrity and courage,” said Ajumogobia, who quoted William Shakespeare, saying ,“his life was gentle, and the elements were so mixed in him that nature will stand up and Continues on page 6

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Politics

Dialogue with armed youths – Dr Obiogbolu

Dr Alex Obiogbolu is a Medical Doctor, a former Chairman Local Government Civil Service Commission in Anambra State, and as well an aspirant 2014 governorship election in Anambra State. In this interview with The Advocate Editor Larry Onwuta, he speaks on state of the nation, especially the security challenges, Anambra 2014 governorship election, water project, health and crisis in PDP among other issues.

Excerpts Sir, in your own assessment, how do you see Nigeria as a nation? Well, Nigeria is a sovereign state and to be precise a federation by constitution that has thirty six members that constitute the federation. And naturally as a developing nation it's compounded with several challenges and the future will be determined by the way we handle those challenges. Off cause primarily, the challenge we have today is that of poverty though people will tend to say it is insecurity. But I think poverty has enthroned insecurity and it has brought other challenging issues such as insecurity, corruption especially not in political life but in social life where people are desperate to succeed in areas like education, now everybody is interested in certificate no matter how it is acquired. In issues, at working place, there is a lot of carefree and poor corporate governance going on even in the Banking sector, coping up with health sector where the doctors are more interested in pecuniary gains by upholding the hypocrites, so these are the basic challenges we have today. Looking at these challenges as an administrator what do you think that should be done as to rectify most of these problems? Well, I think our mind set is flooded with criticism because most people will tell you that it starts and ends with the president that he is not doing well, he is not fixing the country, forgetting that a tree doesn't make a forest. He basically can function in the mind set of people around him and the majority of Nigerians are not yet into patriotism to be dedicated to communal service than self service. If their mind set is entirely corrupt then these things can't work. Because if the president alone, examples, “Arosted who was the champion of the peoples rights once came up with a statement as a leader that he was surrounded by those who didn't want the masses to grow at the end of the day”. So, I wouldn't think that the president is not doing well. Whether I shared the mind

set of some people or not the truth remains that we need to get massive orientation that we will propel any president or any leader to action and make sure that values are committed about the country to enable him succeed. You know during the military era, the time of Idiagbon, the focus was on orientation because they seem

with terrorist group? Well, what you defined as a terrorist, I will say that they are criminals but people will say that they are terrorists, there is a saying that goes this way, kill one person you are a murderer, kill ten people they send you to an asylum or psychiatric Hospital, they say you are insane. Kill ten thousand they

Dr Alex Obiogbolu

to have discovered that if we get our orientation right, it will help us a lot in this country. But since then it was like we didn't have the culture of queue at the airport, at the hospital, people were fighting paying money to jump lines. So we got to get our mind set focused properly into committing ourselves to service of this country. How do you look at the security challenges? Well, the level of insecurity we have in this country is as a result of youths’ restiveness and my shared belief is that any body impinging other motives such as religion or political is just his own opinion on the issue. The truth of the matter is that the youths restiveness as we have seen in the case of OPC, we have seen this in the Niger Delta, we have seen it in MASSOB, everyone of them would want to be able to rationalize his actions, in trying to rationalize their actions they instigate political sentiments that will appeal to their people. In the case of the present Boko Haram they knew that religion is quite appealing subject to their people so they are using it. Now that Boko Haram has accepted the dialogue with the Federal Government how do you look at it, is it proper for a sovereign nation to dialogue

will invite you to United Nations. All these leaders that were invited to the United Nations what are they? They are murderers so which ever one you wants to graduate them to is it murderer, is it insanity, is it terrorist because they kill in thousands whatever, they have still committed the criminal acts which is against the law of God and the law of the country. But as the mode of the discussion, I think we will depend on the situation we find ourselves. We have set a precedence where we dialogue with those in Niger Delta and it brought about peace and so I think may be we need to dialogue with them but if we begin the approach to handling youth restiveness through dialogue after they have committed criminal act, in fact it will not augur well for the nation as we grow. If we continue to dialogue with every section that took up arms in Nigeria, don't you think that some of other ethnic militants will also start their own trouble so as to dialogue with the Federal Government incase of MASSOB, OPC and others? That is why I said that the idea of dialoging on army youths’ restiveness, after they have committed criminal act

will not augur well for the nation in the future. We must be able to stop the fire brigade approach, we should address wholesomely the issue of youths unemployment in this country, the issues of mass perception that there is no future for them, we must be able to instill them with hope, we must be able to instill them with confidence and in their collective ability, it is necessary for the leaders to understand why the whole world wonder if we can stay together as a nation. Sometime in the past you contested governorship election in Anambra State and now we are hoping to have another election by 2014, do you have intention, if yes how are you preparing? Well, as our motto is always to be prepared when you have the opportunity then you can make the bases of it to be able to deliver on your vision and what your promises are. Most importantly any one who aspires to govern Anambra State will first have to emerge from political party. It is our hope that we will be able to unite our party the PDP in Anambra State. It is our hope that we will be able to bring all our vision and skills, collect them into one strong entity behind one strong candidate that will be able to take the state to a new height, it is not unusual to see or hear people saying that PDP selects people without good manners. But that is not true because you can see that the problem in PDP today is the same problem in APGA, ACN and others. So the reason being that the average Anambrarian has that passion and drives and wants to contribute to the state building that we need to bring up that competitiveness in us and compliment it to each other to be able to have stronger leadership that will transform the state. In PDP we are trying to do that. How soon will it take you especially now that PDP do not have a reorganized executive in Anambra State? Your party is factionalized so how hopeful are you that the party will win the election? Yes for an outsider, this statement alludes to the fact that there is no hope in PDP; alludes to the fact that PDP seemed

disjointed in Anambra State. But I will tell you that the executive is just an administrative leadership, the true leadership for every one, people know those who they can call on in each local government to help make the party win any elective office. The only issue at the moment is these, various forces have not been able to come together to agree on how to set up an administrative structure for the party at the state level. And that is a cause for concern but it is not something that can not be addressed, I believe that in the nearest future we will be able to address some of these issues and solve them. Election is fast approaching, what future are you talking about when other parties are strategizing to ensure they win the election come 2014? I can assure you that we are all strategizing as well and we have been talking and don't forget the fact that right now we have five Federal House of Representative members, we have two Senators and we have over seven members of House of Assembly with some yet to come in because of court cases. So we are a party with people who are already representing different constituencies in the state and I can assure you that the problem is not the way people see it. The issue in PDP is for us to resolve, we need to work together and at the appropriate time that resolution will be made. People would want to know especially those from Anambra North; do you still have that spirit and ambition to govern Anambra State? The dream I have for Anambra and vision we had about where Anambra ought to be in terms of transformation process has not been realized yet and thus my passion and interest to aspire for such position and if given such opportunity to govern the state and drive it to this place of success is still very much in my spirit. That is not to say that those other people who also want to aspire to be governor are not in any way good or are not passionate but then coming with my background and

Continues on page 19

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Politics

won't solve Nigeria’s problem Continues from page 18

experience in state government positions, I believe that I know what it takes to achieve those electoral promises the party has been making all these years. I still want to be among those who offer their services to the state and electorate in the state have the powers to decide whether they find us fit. Anambra is a very difficult State when it comes to an election, because a lot of people are parading themselves as leaders while some are not true leaders, we have also money bags, do you think that if given the opportunity that you will match one on one with them? Well, it is rather unfortunate that some people place emphasis on the depth of their pockets than the range of their vision, I believe more of my vision for the State or where we want our State. We want an industrialized, peaceful and progressive State that will be example to all other States within the thirty six federating units. We have the people inbuilt with the natural talents of entrepreneurship, self-help, communal support and spirit. What it requires is some one who can translate this word I to we, someone one who has the ability to get maximum number of people involved in governance because government is not just one man business where you have a governor, thirty or ten reluctant commissioners. It is not a road where you just have the administrators, people pay tax and by their tax contribution they are also helping to develop the state so you need to carry them along, you need to know what their needs are, you need to identify those needs, you need to meet them and their expectations, that is what governance is all about. Like I said it is unfortunate that most people will tell us the depth of their pocket how much they have, how many companies they have and this is not what we need, remember that government is not a business concern. Business concern is profit making, government is all about social service and that is why most of them who are engross with material things come into governance, they begin to treat it like business concern, they begin to increase t a x i r r a t i o n a l l y, i m p o s e different multiple taxations on the same products, they begin to see government purely as a business making venture. And for them roads will only go to root where the industry is and not where the people live and

transact their own business. It is unfortunate but we are trying to change that culture in our State. Sir, people would want you to assess the level of development in Anambra State, so what do you have to say about that? There is no doubt that governor Donald Duke, the exgovernor of Cross River State in an interview when there were so much exhortation of what he has achieved and transformed the Cross River, he said “That of all the thirty six States what he would have most love to govern and transform was Anambra State”. This is a man who recognized what I was, the immense potentials in our State, and for that reason I will tell you that Anambra has not reached to that level of development it ought to be twenty one years after its creation. But by the grace of God with hard work and visionary leadership I believe we will get there soonest. As a political leader, whether you accept or not you are affected one way or the other, your State is existing with a glorified State capital; have you been able to talk to those that have ruled Anambra State and the one currently controlling the affairs of the State in terms of changing the face of Awka Capital territory? You know the genuine obstacles that confront anyone in that government house, one our people hold dye-hard attachment to land as such any government in power that want to build or impose any structure meet great resistance from the owners of land, even though there is designated Awka Capital Area. But despite that, I still believe that in a democratic set up the power of persuasion must be effectively utilized by the governor, in getting these people to discussion table and persuading upon them the need to allow for even and past rapid development, the issue in question becomes how persuasive has the governors been handling it? What has been their range of vision in knowing how to reach and address whatever are the genuine issues raised by these communities? Why I said that is because I have been in such a similar situation when I was chairman local government service commission. Where we had issues with elected local government council chairmen, these issues have been divisive long before I came into the system but to the glory of God we were able to get them round the table to persuade them to

see reason on the common thing that bind us together and focus less on those things that divided us and within a year there was calm in the local government in Anambra State and massive development followed it, you know that they can't be progress where there is no peace. Peace and progress follow one another they are simultaneous. APGA as ruling party in Anambra State has interest in this 2014 governorship election and your party PDP has not been able to put its house in order, how do you hope to achieve a successful election? Two things I need to address your mind to are one our house was seemly not in order in 2011 when we made achievement with it. Two, the 2014 governorship election would be determined by the personality the party project as their candidate. Be it ACN, Labour Party, APGA or PDP. Anambra people have moved to the next level in democratization which is to see beyond chaff and the wheat to see that leader who they believe can keep his promises who they believe have the capacity, the knowledge and the skills to govern them. These are the factors I believe will determine who will be the next governor of Anambra State. Not basically parties because people have seen that parties have no hold on their leaders and elective officers, and so we want to hold those people directly responsible than the parties. We want to know how you have been relating with PDP national executive, do they have your support. It will be too early to assume that national executive will give anyone support, national executive will not win your election for you rather any sensible and wise aspirant would be in touch with his base with the people at grass root to see his programme and vision and the biggest challenge any one of us would have, will be to impress them in a manner that they will accept your vision. The national executives will only come forth when you have been elected in free and fair primaries. Though we know in the recent past what was the case in a party like PDP. The new leadership has promised that things will take a different shape, and we believe that. Why are you too optimistic that PDP will win Anambra elections without first putting your house in order especially now there are crises in the party? Because two issues, the

Dr Obiogbolu

people will elect the governor of a party based on the personality of that governor like I said his character the way they perceive him in terms of ability to deliver all these promises and whether they trust him and know him well enough to govern them. Secondly, like I said even in the last election we did not have an executive, yet we did very well in the elections considering the fact that we are opposition party. I believe that PDP is still party populated by people who know what it takes to drive the state to the higher level. And we have given the APGA the opportunity but you mustn't remove it away from the current governor who you can not say has done badly on his seat, but we need to improve on what he and his predecessors have done. As a medical doctor let us critically look into the health sector in Anambra State, are you satisfied with what had happened and what is currently happening? I am far from being satisfied, very far from being satisfied; from outside point of view I wonder whether the government has a developmental policy on health care in the state. Let us take an example of ambulance system, ambulances were not provided to run personal errand for doctors and nurses or administrative health administrators. It was provided I believe with the intention to be able to connect the primary health care to secondary health care. The primary health care was the health centre to the general hospital. And to be able to interconnect the general

hospitals to tertiary institution like the one we have at Nnewi and one coming up in Awka right now. But I have not seen where this being efficient. I can't think of any number that the public have gotten accustom so that it could come and get an ambulance at their service. I can't think of any time I saw ambulances moving immobile patience to ambulance patience to hospitals. Look at the second issue it is not only putting structures when you don't have human capital in there. I was amazed and shocked at the number of doctors they say are in the state services today and not only that I amazed and shocked, I was amazed also to discover that in Onitsha where government have built as a rainier unit. They are low specialist working in that unit. It is not only that you are lying to your citizens, but you are indirectly leading them to their death because the patience who goes to that hospital believing that he is going to get dailies which is life threatening issues when it comes. We will get the lead before realizing that it can not get those services at that hospital. The other day the doctors were on strike I guess for over a year before they call off their strike and I just imagine how many people had died. On one hand was government claiming that doctors are not so important, because they don't able come to hospitals. On the other hand was the fact that people were already beginning to go a chemist and the rest of them to obtained alternative health

Continues on page 12

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Events & Personalities

President Goodluck Jonathan official visit to Anambra State. President Jonathan, Gov Peter Obi, on arrival at the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu

President Jonathan inaugurating Onitsha Inland Port President Goodluck Jonathan (3rd r) inaugurating Inland Waterways Port in Onitsha.

Inauguration of Sab-Miller Brewery at Atani in Onitsha. President Goodluck Jonathan (L) inaugurating Sab-Miller Brewery at Atani, near Onitsha, Anambra. With him are Gov Peter Obi of Anambra (M) and Managing Director, Sab-Miller Africa, Mr Mark Bowman.

Johnson Uchenna Oguine last Saturday took his lovely wife, former Miss Celina Ifeoma Nnoli to the altar at St. Paulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Catholic Church Obeledu, Anambra State. Happy wedlock.

Enugu dancing troupe at Akanu Ibiam Airport for the President

President Goodluck Jonathan (L), with the Former Commonwealth Secretary-General, and chairman, Orient Petroleum Resources Plc, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, at the inauguration of Orient Petroleum Resources Plc production site at Aguleri-otu in Anambra.

Unveiling of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu's statue in Onitsha. People admiring the statue of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, unveiled by President Goodluck Jonathan in Onitsha

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Fashion

Enugu first lady delighted over influx of investors

Always Look Good Looking natural is rewarding and the society appreciates it better than being artificial.

Wife of Enugu State Governor Mrs Clara Chime has described the continued influx of foreign and local investors into the state as a sign that the government's initiatives and policies towards that end were yielding desired results. Mrs Chime who stated this while commissioning the outlets of two international fashion retailers: 'Truworths' and 'Identity' at the Enugu Shopping Mall said the situation has brought about and unprecedented boom in economic and commercial activities in the state and its environs while helping to reduce unemployment in the area. She commended the management of the two companies for following the lead of such other multinationals such as 'Shoprite' and 'Game' to establish outlets at the shopping mall assuring them that the government has provided all that it would take to ensure the success of their

ventures. Mrs Chime who was accompanied by top officials of the government urged other investors to take advantage of the facilities and the conducive environment put in place by the government by bringing their businesses to Enugu for the benefit of all. Welcoming the Enugu First Lady, the Project Manager of the Enugu Shopping Mall, Mr Chuka Okoye disclosed that many more international concerns had shown interest in doing business in the state adding that the Mall was large enough to accommodate them. He commended the state Government for the support and incentives it has continued to give investors in the state, saying that the disposition would ensure the sustenance of the current upswing in economic and commercial activities in the State.

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Monday, September 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday, September 9, 2012

Special Report Two oil wells allocated to Orient Petroleum belong to Kogi State â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Deputy gov President Goodluck Jonathan commissioned the Orient Petroleum Resources refinery at Aguleri-Otu in Anambra State last Thursday and went ahead to grant the state an oil producing status. But the Kogi and Enugu State governments, which have been at loggerheads with Anambra over the oil exploration activity in the Anambra River Basin, are clamouring to have stakes in the project since, as they claimed, the two oil wells allocated to OPR are not in Anambra. Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, Kogi State Deputy Governor, in this interview explained his government's position on the contentious issue. What was your mission to Anambra State during the commissioning of Orient refinery in Aguleri- Otu? I was in Anambra to represent the Kogi State governor Idris Wada who was invited by Orient Petroleum Company to come and be part of the event that was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan. We were invited because Kogi State is a major stakeholder in that enterprise, hence we have to be there to represent the state and its interest. What are the interests and the stake of Kogi in the company? As you know, Orient is operating on OPL 915 and this oil field straddles several states including Kogi and one of the oil well which have been explored and capped by ELF that has now been redevelop by Orient is actually in Ibaji Local government of Kogi State. So on the strength of that, we felt it was only reasonable as a government that is concerned about the welfare of the people and actively participating in encouraging private investors to come to the state, to felicitate with Orient on their success story. Don't you think the oil wells have been conceded to Anambra state by the statement from the federal government that it has joined the leagues of oil producing states? I don't see how one can make that extension. The oil well is in Anambra River Basin; it is a very large expanse of reserve underground with an overlay of several states on that basin and even that basin has been divided into several OPL, Orient has 915 and 916. Now one of the well is in Kogi State and you can drill as many holes as you want in this basin; and for every hole you drill there is a well. We know that there was a well that was drill by ELF years ago and capped, which it called Obisi 1. But ELF now left that concession because it felt it was not viable and Orient now applied to DPR and they were allocated that concession

Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, Kogi State Deputy Governor and they developed it and named it prospect it. But we have the good fortune Anambra River 1. As far as their of knowing that the one operation is concerned they that is producing now named it as such but that still happened to come from I can tell does not mean that the mere fact Ibaji local government you that that Orient has found oil in area of Kogi state, next Anambra, has exclude Kogi state both states, would be Odeke village claim of being a member of the also in the same local well I want government. river basin that has oil as a commodity. to speak In a letter to your office Does that foreclose the controversy over the oil wells between Kogi and Anambra?

for Kogi state, we have absolute fate in the Nigeria Boundary Commission to do the right thing as far as delineating our boundary with Anambra is concerned.

There are talks going on and long before the issue of this oil well, there was a matter that was brought to the attention of the National Boundary Commission as it relates to communal clashes between Kogi and Anambra communities around that area. So you can now imagine with oil now thrown into the mix effort will now be stepped up to resolve it. I can tell you that both states, well I want to speak for Kogi state, we have absolute fate in the Nigeria Boundary Commission to do the right thing as far as delineating our boundary with Anambra is concerned. In fact, in that area, all the three states, Kogi Anambra and Enugu are all laying claim to one part of it or the other. But for us, we are all Nigeria, the oil underground spread definitely beyond the boundary of those states and what we need to do is to

recently, the committee on oil activities in Ibaji land accused Orient of trying to re-draw the boundary between the affected states by alleging that two of the oil wells are in Anambra and Enugu states. As the chairman of the state boundary committee, how will you react to this?

Let me educate you on that. Though I am not aware of that report but I need to say certain thing, that oil we are talking about was first developed by ELF and when they were to access the oil well years ago as is the standard practice, they have to pay compensation to the villages that were around there as prelude to the commencement of work. I can assure you that the communities that

were paid compensation were Kogi based communities and I am not sure that there has been any re-delineation of border line since then. It is just a matter of making sure that necessary documents are checked to further prove that the genesis of that oil well resided in Kogi State in terms of compensation and to even access it. You said oil wells spread across the three states; what is the probability that Kogi state can tap from the wells? Kogi State cannot tap from the same oil and for us to tap from it, we have to apply to the DPR for license, look for investors to develop it. It is not like drilling borehole; it is a complex operation and oil is the exclusive right and can only be controlled by the federal government. What is your advice to the people on the ongoing controversy as the chairman state boundary committee? Let me be very frank, being a member of oil producing state, the benefit is directly proportional to the quantum of oil that is derived from your own portion of the mix. What Orient is producing now is very small and if all that well exclusively belong to us in terms of location, what we would be getting today is next to nothing. So we need to create an enabling environment for more companies to come to the Kogi part of the river basin to explore oil so that may be at the end of the day, we would have a company that is producing oil every day.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Special Report Oil Status: Anambra, Enugu, Kogi at War BY TED PETERS

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan's declaration of Anambra State as the 9th oil producing state in Nigeria appears to have escalated the internal squabble between Anambra, Enugu and Kogi states who had been laying claims to the ownership of the two oil wells which prospecting license was awarded to the Orient Petroleum Resources, a company partly owned by Anambra State and other investors from that state. The location and ownership of the oil wells covered by the Department of Petroleum Resources' licenses number OPL 915 and 916 is in contention due largely to the pending boundary dispute between communities in the three states. While the Ibaji communities in Kogi state are claiming that one of the oil wells is located on its side, the Igga community in Enugu State is also claiming ownership of the land where the second well is located. Anambra on its own part, said the two states, Enugu and Kogi have no part in the oil exploration activity commenced by Orient Petroleum Resources. Before President Jonathan's visit to Anambra to commission the Orient Petroleum Refinery at Aguleri-Otu last Thursday, the Enugu state government which had kept mute over the dispute, even as the Uzo-Uwani local government chairman, Mr. Cornel Onwubuya and the leaders of Igga community were battling to be carried along in the project, came up with a clarification that it was actually having issues with its Anambra counterpart over the oil wells. Kogi state soon after the president commissioned the refinery and granted Anambra an oil status, jumped into the arena to stake a claim to the oil wells that will serve the refinery. Governor Idris Wada said in a statement that "Kogi will be a major stake holder in the refinery, considering the fact the oil wells that will service the refinery are in Odeke Community in Ibaji Local Government Area of the state." Wada made the claim in a statement issued from the office of his deputy, Mr. Yomi Aw o n i y i , a d a y a f t e r a community group issued a public notice saying that the oil deposits claimed by Anambra State are within the Odeke community of Kogi State. Governor Wada said in a recent statement that the state "is doing everything humanly possible to resolve the issues surrounding the location of the oil wells with

the contending states." The statement, however, ended on a note of optimism: "Kogi State will soon join the league of oil producing states in the country." But while speaking at a ceremony to kick-start his company's oil refinery in Anambra State, Orient Petroleum chairman, Chief Emeka Anyaoku said the controversy over ownership of the oil deposits has been resolved and that the 'bulk' of the deposits are within Anambra territory. He however added that any state where oil was found and drilled by Orient Petroleum would be accorded due recognition. "There was misconception that the oil well was not entirely in Anambra, that has been resolved through the map of Nigeria. Let me quickly state that the two oil blocks encompassed parts of Enugu, Kogi, Delta and Edo states but bulk of it is in Anambra," Anyaoku said. He said in addition to the private shareholders, other bodies that have shares in the company include Anambra, Rivers, Kogi and the 21 local government areas of the state. President Jonathan had while commissioning the refinery, said that the Federal Government was committed to oil exploration in all the sedimentary basins and commended Orient Petroleum for pioneering the inland crude oil production in the country. "The good news is not Orient Oil and Anambra basin alone, the good news is for all our sedimentary basins all over the country," Jonathan said, adding that it would give confidence to other investors to invest in other inland sedimentary basins. Anyaoku revealed that crude refining by the company would

commence by next year, and that when the refining facility was completed about 20,000 litres of crude would be refined daily. The host governor, Peter Obi, who viewed the commencement of exploration activities by OPR, which was initiated by his predecessors, as a major achievement of his government, assured that he would continue to partner with the company to develop the oil sector of the state. But while Anambra was celebrating its achievements, a group known as Ibaji Development Association (IDA) quickly warned that the oil wells OPL 915 and 916 are located in Kogi and not Anambra State as claimed by Orient Petroleum currently carrying out exploration in the area. In a message to President Jonathan ahead of his visit to the area yesterday, IDA said "the area where the current productive oil well is located is in Odeke community in Ibaji Local Government Area of Kogi state and not in Anambra State." "Oil exploration activities leading to the successful access to crude oil were carried out in Kogi state within Odeke, Echeno, Ehile, Anocha and Omabo communities by Orient Petroleum Plc. Workers of this company actually rented houses in these communities as quarters for their staff for the final phase 1 of oil well production testing of these wells. Phase 2 is due at the end of September 2012 in Uchuchu, Ikah, Iregwu and Ujeh also within Ibaji local government area of Kogi state," IDA stated. IDA said Ibaji area was in conflict with the people of Aguleri and Otuocha in Anambra State over ownership

Gov Idris Wada

of the oil wells since 1994 which led to loss of lives and property. The association called on President Jonathan to officially declare Kogi as an oil producing state saying "our non-resistant stance should not be misconstrued to mean cowardice, even in the face of glaring provocation from Anambra state, whose communities are already head over heels over the benefits of the oil wells that do not belong to them." The traditional ruler (Onu) of Odeke, Chief Dominic Uname, who reacted to the President's pronouncement during the commissioning of OPR refinery said: “What I can refer to as a presidential endorsement, ceding our land to Anambra State, has further heightened tension in Odeke and some parts of Ibaji land where Orient Petroleum Resources Plc are prospecting crude oil. I have prevailed on the youth to be patient in the past, but I don't know how far I can rein them now with this pronouncement.” A youth leader in the community, Mr. Ibe Abah, who expressed the ill-feelings of the Ibaji youths over the development, said last weekend: “While we were still meeting , the news of the Presidential endorsement of Anambra as an oil producing state came foreclosing all entreaties for the peaceful resolution of the lingering controversy over ownership of the oil wells. There was therefore collective resolve to protect our resources.” Abah said it was wrong for the President to 'jump to conclusion” on the matter even when the ownership of the oil wells that will feed the refinery is still in dispute. “If you check around the refinery, you will

notice that giant pipes supply its crude from several kilometres. The Anambra Well (1), which currently feeds the refinery, is on Odeke land in Ibaji local government area of Kogi state. “It is wrong for anybody, much less Mr. President, to give Anambra the status it does not deserve,” he noted, adding that “the mere fact that Anambra indigenes are the owners of the companies which are involved in the oil exploration activities, it is now claiming ownership of the land within which the oil wells are located and that Anambra State Government has demonstrated this wrongful claim both in print and electronic media. This is despite the fact that all the three states, Kogi, Enugu and Anambra, are awaiting the final report of the National Boundary Commission in respect of the demarcation between these three states.” Abah, who drew attention to the report on the “Field Tracing and Provisional Demarcation of Anambra Kogi Interstate Boundary” produced in March, 2008, by the Joint Field Team, constituted by the National Boundary Commission for Anambra and Kogi Inter -State Boundary, declared that from the report there is no way Anambra State can jump over Enugu State to own location one (1) in Kogi State. To buttress the community's claim, Kogi state deputy governor, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi told newsmen at the weekend that the oil wells in contention were first prospected by ELF and that compensation were paid to the host communities which were all in Kogi state today. He said since the ELF operation, there have never been any boundary adjustment, insisting

Gov Obi

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Special Report Onitsha River port, Orient Petroleum Refinery and South East economic development  Offodile calls for Obi's resignation for conflict of interest  Offodile acting a script – Obi's aide By Martians Emenike

HE DARK days in the south east geopolitical zone is said to be over. The chains which used to hold the legs and hands of the captive were also broken, it came as a dream but one shouldn't be surprise because it has been written that one day the oppressed must be free from the bondage. Many may not believe their eyes, but for those who have been yearning for economic development of the region should have it at the back of their mind that the road is now open. This singular breakthrough came into manifestation following the official commissioning of private and federal government projects in Anambra state. And to this end, the state has joined other oil producing states in Nigeria. It could be recalled that the refinery was initiated by Chinwoke Mbadinuju's administration which constituted Board of Directors led by former Commonwealth Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, according to sources, they had agreed that the refinery be sited at AguleriOtu, Anambra East Council area of the State. Oil was first struck in the location about 45 years ago by the multinational company, SAFRAP, now Total Plc. OPR which will soon start full scale refining at the refinery section in a few months time which is excepted to produce over a 55,000 barrel of oil per day. The statue of the late Biafran warlord and the peoples’ General, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu was also unveiled as part of the project commissioned by the President Jonathan, the statue according to sources; was made to ensure that the history of Ojukwu did not die. Sources who spoke to The Advocate expressed delight over the action of the president for recognizing Biafra warlord and unveiling the statue for the public to have the view of their past leader. It also signify gateway not only for the people from Onitsha Anambra state but also for those from Eastern Nigeria origin. The President of the federal republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan who performed the official commissioning

expressed delight and commended the Anambra State Government for initiating the project and seeing it to completion in spite of the numerous hiccups encountered at inception. The federal government originally began the construction of Onitsha River Port in the year 1980 but the concept hit the brick after the Shehu Shagari administration due to government neglect of the port project. But in 2007, President Shehu Musa Yaradua revisited the proposed dredging of River Niger which according to experts will pave way for

enhanced and to do that, we need inland port like the one in Onitsha. Our target is to link all the ports by roads and rail so that doing business in Nigeria becomes easy. The river ports must be linked up to other areas of resource. Today, the process is being started and others on the drawing board must be completed.” He expressed hope that well developed inland water transportation system would lessen the burden on our highways which often wear away because of the large cargoes plying the roads. The President thereafter left

of crude oil production facility in Anambra State, describing it as a blessing to the people. Ngige expressed delight over the progress so far made by Orient oil,stating that every Anambra indigene would remember the day as it would ultimately translate to enhanced revenue for the state. Ngige said: “This is a mile stone in the annals of our dear Anambra State because at last, our state has officially been confirmed as an oil producing state. While I was here as governor, my administration invited investors from far and wide when we made public the

Onitsha Inland River Port cargo ships to come into Onitsha river port and move to other areas such as Kogi, Benue and Niger states. The project began though many people were skeptical about the whole situation but federal government kept promising that the Onitsha port will be commissioned even when there was alleged abandonment of the project. President Jonathan who continued the port project said during the commissioning that the N4.6 billion River Port was unique and a signal for more things to come; stressing that his administration decided to embark on the development of the country's inland waterways transport as a way of exploiting all avenues of enhancing both road, rail, air and water transportation in the country. Jonathan said: “The river or marine transport must be

for Onitsha, Anambra's commercial centre where his private jet marked NAF541 touched the lawn of the Federal Inland Water Ways, in the city. The President used the occasion to assure Nigerians that he would deliver on his electoral promises advising citizens to exercise patience and k e e p f a i t h ; h e f u r t h e r, commended Inter Bau, the local contractor that executed the project. The president also commissioned Orient oil petroleum located at Aguleri Otu in Anambra East Local Government Area and other private industries in the state. In their separate reactions, the former Anambra State governor, Senator Chris Ngige and former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Charles Soludo have expressed delight in the take off

shares of Orient Petroleum and it was chaired by Chief Emeka Anyaoku at Tourist Garden Hotel Awka. On that day we made a draft of N100 million and promised to make available substantial amount of money when all the paper works had been concluded. Similarly, the former CBN governor said that with Orient Petroleum, the state was going through transformation in the area of economic and social development. Soludo has this to say, “I call it wonderful. It is a great day for Anambra State and the beginning of a long journey towards transformation of our state. Oil can be a blessing and can also be a course. But let it be only a blessing to our dear state. Anambra should utilize such great achievement effectively such that in the next six to eight years, it will not need a kobo

from outside to run the recurrent expenditure of the state.” He also prayed that the production of oil would create a friendly environment in the state and urged those involved in the venture to see it as a challenge in improving the economic status of the state from what it is at present, to higher level. The Group Executive Chairman, Orange Group, Ezenna said the company had fully automated soap plants with 12 finishing lines to produce raw materials locally for the production of soap. Ezenna thanked Mr President for finding time to be in the state to inaugurate several projects, adding that the projects would help reduce the high rate of youth unemployment in the state. Contrary to what many described as good initiative of government and people coming from the private sector especial the support that Anambra state government has given and willing to partner with the private owners of industries in terms of development, the former member of House of Representatives, Mr. Chudi O ff o d i l e , h a s c a l l e d o n Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, to resign from office over alleged conflict of interests on his involvement in the establishment of Intafact Beverages Limited, SABmiller, Onitsha commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan in line with other projects in the state. This came barely three days after the resignation of the Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji over issues bordering on a conflict of interests in the ongoing privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PCHN. Offodile agued that endorsement the brewery amount to “ illegality”, as the company is allegedly jointly owned by the state government, Next International Ltd owned by Mr. Obi and his family and another company-SABmiller Nigeria Holdings. “It would amount to an endorsement of a sordid affair and may embolden other foreigners who design and put into effect, different and newer corruption techniques with government officials. In the history of corruption in Nigeria, the Onitsha brewery scandal will rank as the most brazen”, he

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Features Tricycle “keke” and its dangers in transport system By Edem Archibong, Calabar

t is pertinent to recall that the era of former President Ibrahim Babangida in 1985 (now retired General) introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which was one of the World Bank stringent conditions meted out as pre-requisite to the military junta in Nigeria to secure the deadly world Bank loan even when most popular voices had cried wolf against the ill motivated plan. These menace marked the second unfortunate event that befell Nigeria's economy after the large scale oil boom experienced under the junta's reign, who were in a deliberate attempt to implement the three R's of ( Re-construction, Reunification and the Rehabilitation) of our economy and its socio-political polity due to the after-effects of the civil war which ended in 1970. R e t r o s p e c t i v e l y, t h e Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), an alien scheme to Nigerians which was explained to involve the pruning of excessive uses of resources in both the Government and private sector of the economy as well as limiting the currency circulations in our system. C o n s e q u e n t l y, m a n y industries which relied mostly on imported raw materials for their survival had no option than to close shops as they lacked the technical, scientific and financial ability to diversify or even create good alternatives sources of raw materials based on local contents. This problem accounted for the whole some swelling of the Nigerian labour market with unskilled labourers while the country's fresh graduates were not spared either while the genesis of menial jobs like house maid, restaurant attendants and stewards began to be flooded with people of questionable character resulting to the get rich quick tendency in the society. As the negative effect of this programme continued to bite hard on Nigerians, the more remote the possibility of acquiring the basic necessity of life such as motor vehicles for public transportation and private use therefore increasing the impact of the scheme on the less privilege people in the society. However, since it is necessary that survival of human is a sin quo non right from the primitive era to the modern age of scientific discovery, most Nigerian labour

force then, who are predominantly unskilled were left with the option of sourcing for a better alternative since they had already enjoyed the benefit of urban life as being more preferable than rural settlement. It was not surprising when the country experienced scarcity on the means of transportation arising from geometric population drifts into urban centers in search of white collar jobs, motorcycle was better preferred to fill this gap illegally until it suddenly became legal means in most cities such as Lagos, Port Harcourt, Aba, Enugu, Onitsha, Kano, Kaduna, Jos, Sokoto, Calabar and Uyo to mention but

improvement. Although the state capital, Calabar experienced some shortfall on the part of commuters resulting into monumental long queues which was later complimented by the private sector that saw gold mine on the disappearance of okada riders with its traffic menace from the street and also giving the city a fresh outlook free of crime. There was a substantial reduction to a zero level of the daily death tolls on the city roads as well as the hospitals while the local herbalist who often fed fat on accident victims who suffered from bone/fracture damage due to

human life. Another factor worthy of mention is the level of solitude caused by the Tricycle operators since their inceptions few years ago into public transportation system against members of the public as accident victims are astronomically on the increase on each passing day without cognizance. For instance, investigations revealed a situation where a nurse attached to the state General Hospital was carelessly knocked down and presently paralyzed on her right hand while on the pedestrian walkpath due to the recklessness of the tricycle operator along Mary Slessor Avenue in Calabar while

while those relying on tricycle operation as their source of livelihood should be encouraged to learn some trade of their choice to be supported under the State Cash Transfer scheme. After all, Calabar is acknowledged the world over to pride itself as the preferred tourism destination in Nigeria and cannot be seen as drifting backward on this policy, instead all hands should be on deck to ensure that new ideas and value are added on each passing year for improvement.

NEWS Man Defiles 3year-old Girl in Lagos

Gov Liyel Imoke few. In Cross River State, it is no gain saying that motorcycle operators played an important role in satisfying the public transportation needs of the state from 1985 till 2004 when the former governor Donald Duke conceptualized the tourism initiative as a better alternative to the lingering oil wells saga involving the sister Akwa Ibom State. This reason necessitated the careful appraisal of the merit and demerit of motorbike operators popularly referred to as (okada riders) where its nuisance value outwitted it’s economic important and became classified as unsuitable for a tourist destination like Calabar. Alternatively, Kia model of cars were introduced to serve the purpose of public transportation while the state government initiated the Private sectors partnership which paid off very well as the economy started to show great deal of

motorbike reckless operators experienced no patronage. As commuters became adaptable to the new system of transportation in the city which made it very simple and in line with international standard as a tourist destination, many had expected Senator Liyel Imoke's administration to consolidate and even improve on this standard. S u r p r i s i n g l y, r e c e n t investigations have revealed an alarming social menaces on the area of the City transportation system in the state through the introduction of another commuter's death trap under the aegis of Tricycle otherwise known as (Keke napep). However, the negative impact experienced since the introduction of Tricycle into the City transportation system are very common such as reckless riding exhibited by the operators who are mostly drug addicts having no regards for

another case also occurred along Edgerly Road in Calabar South where five people lost their lives on the way back to their various homes. Similarly, in attempt to struggle for a passenger, a tricycle came from behind to knocked down a graduate of National Open University who was standing on the pedestrian walk-way along Etta-Agbor Road, in Calabar to pick a cab to her destination. For all this and many other accidents that have occurred undocumented, it is high time for the State Government to realize the urgent need to put a halt to the use of tricycle as means of public transportation in the City of Calabar to avoid the repeat nuisance value of motorbike. Alternatively, the use of tricycle should be confined to operate outside the Township millimeter or be used to convey farmers and their farm products

his is indeed a Pathetic Story…..This incident happened yesterday afternoon at Adeniji Adele, Dolphin Estate, Phase 2. A little girl ran into a woman’s shop crying. The woman asked her why she was crying, but the little girl couldn’t really express herself. She just kept pointing at a particular direction, and crying. Then a few minutes later, the shop owner saw a man in his 30s approaching her shop and calling on the girl to follow him. The woman asked the man who he was and why he was after the girl. The man probably realized the women wasn’t going to release the girl to him, so he tried to run. The woman raised an alarm immediately shouting ole ole, thinking he was a kidnapper, not knowing he had done something much worse. Youths in the area thinking the man was a thief descended on him. The man kept saying he wasn’t a thief that the little girl was known to him. They turned to the girl and pressured her to tell them what the guy had done to her; the 3 year old told them that the man had taken her to the last floor of a 3 story building and hurt her. They checked the girl’s panties and saw blood all over her private area. The blood had even dropped to her legs but nobody noticed on time. On hearing this, the youths descended on him once again, this time more brutal. They stripped him naked, and beat him with stick, stones, bottles, etc until someone called the police who then took the man away.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

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Religion The Advocate Gospel This Week THE SOURCE OF WISDOM John 7:14-19 Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. The Jews were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having studied?" Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honour for himself, but he who works for the honour of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?" (NIV)

Narration Jesus arrived in Jerusalem half way through the Feast. But instead of hiding and keeping His identity concealed, He went to the Temple courts and began teaching publically. The religious leaders could not stone Him there, or arrest Him for fear of the crowds. Instead, they all listened and were amazed by His teaching from the Law of Moses. It had such a ring of truth. But how could He have so much knowledge as He was only a carpenter who had never been to any Rabbinic school? They should have asked the question, "Where does the truth come from?" Truth does not come from human invention but by revelation from God. Although there are many clues to truth which human beings can piece together and share with others (that is the art of science), the whole truth can only come from the One who knows everything. Although He was the Son of God, Jesus did not claim to be independent from Father God; He said that He had submitted to the Father, and gave Him the glory for all the teaching. Of course, there is more to godly teaching than merely transmitting information; it has to be acted upon. People who want to obey God will also realise that it is God who is speaking to them. When we feel that God is not speaking to us, it is essential to ask, "Have I obeyed what God has told me previously?" When we obey, we also develop a hunger to hear more and we grow in a deeper love for the Lord. When we disobey and do not repent, our spiritual appetite is depressed as we love other things and people more than loving Him. The ultimate blasphemy is to claim to honour God's Word and yet want the Son of God out of our lives. The religious leaders made that mistake: we must not copy them. So ask the Lord to remind you of something He has already told you but you have not yet obeyed. As you choose to obey, your relationship with the Lord will become clear once again.

Prayer: God of truth. Thank You that Jesus never claimed to be independent from You, but always pointed people to Your supreme authority and the need to submit to You. I am sorry for the times I have invented my own righteousness and despised what You have already revealed. Please help me to take Your Word seriously so that I choose to obey it and grow in my relationship with You. Please show me one area of disobedience which I need to address by doing what You say. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Nigerian church bans towering headwraps

t's an indispensable fashion accessory, worn by every Nigerian woman at some point. Some are never seen without it, including Nigeria's finance minister who calls her modest headwrap her trademark. Others, such as Nollywood actor Abiola Atanda, are known for their foot-high towers at red carpet events. But a Nigerian church has now banned its congregation from wearing large headwraps, called geles, saying they form a "barricade" when women sit side-by-side and are a potential security risk amid attacks from militant Islamist groups. Churchgoers who wear geles that seek to reach for the heavens will have their "big headgears" confiscated from next month, the congregation at St Theresa's Cathedral Church in the southeastern Nigerian state of Enugu have been warned. Other churches are debating whether to follow St Theresa's head start. "In view of the present security challenges the church has urged women to stop coming to Sunday service with big headgears and bags to enable security men to know when a bomb will be smuggled into the church," Reverend Father Uche Obodoechina said, adding that the headwraps made it difficult to identify people. Catholic churches in Nigeria usually maintain that women must cover their hair during services, which are attended by Nigerians of all ages. Capable of towering two feet in gravity-defying folds and arcs of lace or stiff jacquard, geles are the crowning glory of traditional outfits typically worn to church and sometimes seen as status symbols based on size alone. Important occasions of which weddings and churchgoing remain firm favourites can prompt intricate geles, usually finished off with stone-encrusted sunglasses and flashy handbags. "Women feel naked without their geles on special occasions," said Lagos-based makeup artist Kadiatou Sangare, who often helps women tie

elaborate creations. The crackdown on geles is one of a series of increasing security measures after Nigeria endured a spate of bomb attacks on churches and mosques from militant Islamist group Boko Haram. This year it has targeted at least six churches in northern and central Nigeria, prompting fears it is trying to ignite a sectarian war among Nigeria's evenly split Muslims and Christians. It has never struck a southern Nigerian state. A military clampdown in recent months has curbed attacks, but church authorities said they were taking no chances. "It is an unusual move but they must have their own information for doing so," said Monsignor Gabriel Osu of the Catholic archdiocese of Lagos. "Nigerians now are very security conscious and churches especially are very vulnerable. So rather than take chances, they will do anything to minimise the risks to their congregations; they're going that extra mile.” The move has divided opinion among churchgoers. “It's a good thing," said taxi driver Idowu James. "There is no doubt some people carry big handbags to intimidate people lower down the ladder. Frankly, I don't think church is the right place for exercises in fashion parade.” Others see wearing geles to be as inalienable a right as going to church. "I've never heard such a thing and I don't think women in my own church will abide by that. Most of the week we women are working, so Sunday is the only chance to wear geles and dress up," said Lagos resident Grace George. "We want to look our best when we go to church, and you cannot do that if you expose your head.” Other churches have ramped up security as attacks have led to drops in attendance. Many restrict cars from parking in their vicinity during services. In at least two states Plateau and Kogi round-the-clock armed guards have been posted outside some

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Crime Watch

New Surveillance Aircraft arrives for Nigeria Customs 'It's first of its kind in the world’

Graduation of batch 9 of counter terrorism course

Army graduates 316 personnel for counter terrorism

HE Counter Terrorism and Counter Insurgency Centre of the Nigerian Army in Jaji, Kaduna State, on Friday graduated the 9th batch of 316 personnel to tackle terrorism in the country. The army has so far trained more than 7,000 personnel comprising army, police and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) personnel and equipped them with counter terrorism skills within the last six months. The last two batches totaling 755 personnel were trained as Quick Response Group (QRG) with the objective of meeting the demands and realities of current security challenges. The army personnel were drawn from different formations of the Nigerian Army and posted to form the Joint Task Force (JTF) deployed to different crises prone areas, such as Plateau,

Police detain kids over father's alleged theft of N13m

MELODRAMA seems to be playing out in Asaba, Delta State capital as controversy now trails the detention by the police of four kids whose father allegedly stole N13.6 million from his

Borno, Yobe and Kano states as well as the Niger Delta region. Addressing the graduating students, the Commandant of the Centre, Brig.-Gen. Tijjani Golau, said they were trained on identification of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and cordon and search techniques. Other areas of the training were search and arrest procedures, information and intelligence gathering techniques, rescue operations, patrol, and raids and fighting in built-up areas. ``On the whole, the graduating participants are eminently qualified and could be deployed to carry out counter terrorism and counter insurgency tasks in any part of the country,'' he said. Represented by the Chief Instructor, Lt-Col. Joseph Villo, the commandant said the participants had acquired boss, a top official of the Delta State government. The detainees, the children of the prime suspect, Mr. Hyacinth Okwute, are Sophia Hyacinth (seven), Kelvin Hyacinth (five), Dominion Hyacinth (two) and Nonso Unachukwu (five). The suspects were said to have been initially invited for questioning on August 8 over the alleged theft, which happened the day before. But a petition to the Delta State Police Commissioner by an Asaba based lawyer, B.C. Ofiaeli & Associates, had demanded the immediate release

requisite skills to enhance their performance in assigned tasks. ``Their training was very compact and intensive for two weeks and graduands have met the mandatory requirements as members of the Quick Response Group in the Nigerian Army. ``They are, therefore, qualified to carry out quick reaction tasks as may be required by their respective units and formations,'' Golau said. He said the participants were the 9th batch in the series of the training by the centre, with more than 3,000 policemen and personnel of NSCDC. The commandant urged the graduands to practise what they acquired during the training in tackling the nation's security challenges. In his remarks, the guest speaker, Maj.-Gen. Kenneth Osuji, commended the directors of the programme for delivering a comprehensive programme for the training. Osuji, who is the Commandant, Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, urged the participants to exhibit high professional conduct. He said the army had provided the participants with adequate skills and tools for IED detection and goggles for night viewing, among others. (NAN)

of the kids from unlawful custody. Titled “Re: Sophia Hyacinth (seven), Kelvin Hyacinth (five), Dominion Hyacinth (two) and Nonso Unachukwu (five)” and copied to the Inspector General of Police, the AIG, Zone 5, Benin; the Governor of Delta State; and the state Ministry of Women Affairs, Social and Community Development, Ofiaeli wrote that the case of alleged theft was incidented at the police station, which led to the invitation of the Okwute's wife and his relatives for interrogation by the police.

HE Controller General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Abdullahi Dikko has taken possession of the Cessna Citation Surveillance state-of-the-art aircraft. Commissioning the aircraft at the domestic wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja yesterday, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi OkonjoIweala said it is another measure taken by the federal government to strengthen the capacity of the service in tackling the illicit activities of smugglers by air. Okonjo-Iweala said there has being series of acquisitions to strengthen the service' ability by air and sea, a combination of measures that will strongly enhance Custom's abilities. “It has being a long time coming but a lot of hard work has come into this to make this day possible.” The Finance Minister said three things are needed in Nigeria at this time to ensure the economic stability of the country. “We have to increase security, enhance, facilitate trade and strengthen our revenue drive, and try to tackle all the constraints that lay in the way of achieving all these

objectives.” The nine-passenger aircraft, which the Federal Government approved N1.73 billion for its acquisition in May 2012, is said to have the state-of-the-art communication equipment to help in monitoring and combating of smuggling activities in difficult terrains. Dikko said with this addition to the other four aircrafts in its fleet, the Customs service is prepared for any challenge that will stand in the way of their operations. “We have the capacity and ability to carry out our responsibilities without hindrances,” he said The aircraft, which is said to be the first of its kind, has a low power outage weather radar range that affords the pilot the opportunity to see the weather condition 1000 kilometers ahead. The pilot, who flew the Aircraft from the United States to Nigeria, Captain Kuhi Wuulari Mbaya, an Assistant Comptroller of Customs said, “the weather radar we have on board is the first of its kind in the world, it is the lightest weather radar, with low power outage, that you can see up to 1000 kilometers ahead of you.

Robbers kill 13 policemen in Rivers – CP  82 kidnap suspects arrested

IVERS State Police Command says it lost 13 policemen between April and August. Mr. Mohammed Indabawa, the state Commissioner of Police, who made this known at a press briefing in Port Harcourt on Friday, said the command killed 36 armed robbery and kidnap suspects in shoot outs and arrested 365 others during the period under review. The commissioner said that the police rescued 17 kidnapped victims during the raids on criminal hideouts. He said that a breakdown of those arrested revealed 199 were armed robbery suspects, 82 kidnap suspects, 78 suspected cultists and six vandals. Also, 52 assorted

firearms and 600 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the suspects. Indabawa added that 42 stolen vehicles and motorbikes were recovered during the period following raids of 22 criminal hideouts. According to the CP, the achievement came because of the cooperation of the police, the State Government, the GSM providers and members of the public. He, however, called for the production of the national identification card for the citizens, saying the residential addresses given by arrested suspects had turned out to be false. The CP assured of the command's commitment to adequate protect of lives and property of the people.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Society

Enugu’s tall ambition and the deadly water problem By Chike Okeke

lmost on daily basis, it is common seeing residents of Enugu metropolis, especially young people rushing with their huge jerry cans and other big containers to fetch water from, sometimes, very unusual places like inside an untidy gutter where there is a burst or leaking water pipe or a shallow, dirty stream such as the one people called "Jootu" located very close to 7-Up Bus-Stop area of Garki, Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area, Asata river and Ekulu in Emene area of the state capital. Although presently, there is rainy season, but the extent the problem of drinkable water has affected residents of some areas in Abakpa Nike, Trans Ekulu, Obiagu in Ogui New Layout and Garki, Awkunanaw - all in the Enugu capital territory, has become quite worrisome. The Advocate observed that the most eye-popping, incredible thing about the "Jootu" stream is that some people who are in piggery business, for reasons best known to them, built their more than 15 shanty structures (pen) where they breed the pigs near the stream into which part of the waste from the pigs , find their way , thereby making the water not very, very good for human consumption. This has been going on since Adam without any one raising brows. But then people have been using the water from "Jootu", and some residents even drink it not minding the stream’s nearness to the pigs! Besides, the village stream serves as ‘depot’ for human waste of all types such as human feaces and waste from domestic use; almost all the residents of the area use the "Jootu" as their own refuse dump. "The ‘Jootu’ is our own pump. We don’t have pipe-borne water here. We drink this water but there is a particular spot in front where the water is a bit clean; that is where we scoop the water we drink. It has been like this over the years," a little girl living in the neighbourhood said as she points towards the direction of the "clean water spot". She has gone to the stream to fetch water but refused to disclose her name to our reporter, who photographed her without her knowing it. Moreover, the bursting or leaking of water pipes, which more often than not, cause a lot of indiscriminate waste of drinking water in the city, is not helping matters in any way. The burst pipe at the junction where Rangers Avenue links Presidential Road in the Independence Layout, caused a huge leakage of water running from the junction to as far as over 400 meters Ezikwo Bus-Stop. Similarly, at the place popularly called P&T area of Ogui New Layout, a burst water tap literally formed a "spring of water" gushing endlessly. When our reporter approached the scene to take photograph of the "spring of water", the children who had gone to fetch water from the burst pipe took a quick flight

thinking that the reporter was an official of the Water Works. "O bukwa onye water works O!" (Meaning "he’s an official of Water Works") they screamed as they all ran away. It was just after the reporter reassured them that he was not from Water Works, and that he intended no harm, that they started coming back to the spot with their water containers. But commenting on the burst and leaking water pipes, State Commissioner for Water Resources, Engr. Charles Ajah explained, "Most of these burst pipes are caused by the construction companies. They are doing their jobs without due considerations, without getting our people to know; they go there and burst all these pipes. So that is what you see most of the times.” Every two days, John Okeke,22, who works as office assistant in one of the offices on Edinburgh Road in Ogui New Layout, hires a taxi that conveys him with his numerous plastic jerry cans to somewhere at Uwani, under Enugu South Local Government Area, where he struggles alongside others to fetch water from a burst water pipe that (as at the time of writing this report) serves as a means of drinkable water for the residents in the area. A burst pipe forcefully gushing out drinkable water is usually seen by residents as an easy means of portable water supply. John, who would not want to be photographed, told our reporter that he spends quite a lot to get water for his domestic and official use. "Every resident of Enugu knows very well that transporters in the city are Shylocks who reap off the commuters with high fare. At times, when I sit down and calculate what I spend on water in a month, the amount baffles me. Somebody residing in Abuja where the tap possibly runs daily, might not understand the kind of stress, residents of the Coal City go through before getting water," he said. "Most times, after calculating the total amount being spent on water only, our head office in Lagos would doubt that residents here experience such difficulties or spend that much before getting common, drinkable water; it’s amazing and unbelievable," he said. Mr. Chibuike, who refused to give his full name, is a System/Network Engineer, who resides at number 22/24, Aguluumana Street, Ugwude Abakpa Nike, Enugu East Local Government Area of the state. On the average, Chibuike said he spends not less than N2,800 on water per month. "I will appreciate if the government can make it possible for me to save that money and use it for another thing else. Personally, I buy sachets of water to drink in bags. And I spend about N2, 800 on water each month and this is because we are now in rainy season; if it is during dry season, the situation would be more painful because water would be costlier then. Nobody will be happy spending money like that on water every month,"

said Chibuike. Before Chibuike moved into the compound last two years, he recalled that the taps were flowing even till last year but recently, the taps suddenly stopped running regularly. "The taps are unpredictable now. They no longer flow regularly," he said. "We have not made any enquiry and no official from water works or ministry of water resources has come to tell us anything in respect of the irregular supply of water," he added. But Chibuike’s story is quite different from that of Miss Nkemjika Orji , who said she has been residing at the Onuasata area of Enugu metropolis and that ‘scarcity of water’ is not in the dictionary of residents of the area since the water taps there hardly stop running. "For many years now, the residents of Onuasata area don’t have water problem; the taps here run almost on daily basis. The problem we have is what to do with the water," Nkemjika, a computer operator told The Advocate with a sense of pride. "Here at Onu Asata, our pumps don’t stop, but if they stop flowing; it won’t take, may be, three days before they will begin to flow again. It has been like this for a long, long time and we have taps installed at several strategic points. The water taps are enough for the population here. Onuasata residents have no water problem," she emphasized. What is the Enugu State Government doing about the water problem in the state? The Enugu State Government had awarded a huge contract of over N11Billion for the provision of portable water; gave a recent approval of funds, after the usual state Executive Council meeting, for the purchase of 100,000 water metres to be installed for the use of water consummers, and has targeted the

pumping of about 200, 25000 cubic water per day, according to State Commissioner for Water Resources, Engr. Charles Ajah, who spoke with our reporter during an exclusive interview inside his office in Enugu. The state project on water could best be described as quite ambitious. The Advocate was told that the current Governor Sullivan Chime-led administration, in order to make water available to the Enugu people, decided to create the Ministry of Water Resources with full budgetary allocation. Hitherto, water was under the ministry of Public Utilities but since the inception of Ministry of water Resources, there are two parastatals also under it: one is Enugu State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (ENRUWASA);this unit is in charge of water supply to the rural areas and also the sanitation aspect, while Enugu State Water Corporation is in charge of water supply to the urban areas of the state such as Enugu metropolis, Nsukka, some parts of 9th Mile and Orji River. In between the two parastatals also exists what is known as Small Town Units which comprises those places that cannot be easily classified as purely urban or rural areas; such place could be regarded as semi-urban, said the Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Callistus Ebue. "We call such areas Small Town Areas where we also have an STU (Small Town Units), which is in charge of water supply to those semi-urban areas," he told our reporter in an interview. Ebue said before the Chime regime came into office, water supply to the semi-urban areas was done by the other donor agencies such as UNICEF, Continues on page 8

Gov Chime

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Monday, September 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday, September 9, 2012

Interview

My Commissioner will not resign, no conflict at all â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Suswam The Benue State House of Assembly has given Governor Gabriel Suswam 7 days to relieve his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Conrad Wergba of his appointment as according to them they have no confidence in him. Wergba had accused the members of arm-twisting the Executive for pecuniary motives resulting to an earlier ruling that he should resign within 7 days. But Governor Gabriel Suswam seems to disregard the order by protecting the Commissioner, hence, the new directive. The Governor, who has been on recess with journalists, recently answered some questions from them where he commented on the issue and other matters bordering on the state's affair. He also spoke on the financial status of the state allaying the none payment of workers salary and the fraudulent act on the state by the Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe. Benue State Correspondent, DONALD KUMUN reports. Recently the Benue state House of Assembly ordered Mr. Conrad Wergba, your Commissioner for Information and Orientation to resign from office owing to his doubtful act and misinformation to the public. What is your take on the matter? There is no conflict at all. But you see the House became very sensitive in some of the things the Commissioner said. I also to some extent became concerned because I expected that I would have gotten the facts when the House said government owed salaries for nine months. You know that if you even owe salaries in Benue for just a month, it is not something that would be in the realm of speculation, it will be everywhere. So we do not owe salaries. The message rather created some problems. But like I said, myself and the deputy governor, some months we were paid and some months we were not paid but we are in the process of sorting out because in entering the data, if any person appears twice, the computer will reject it, and then you will not be paid. So that was the problem but like I said, it is common knowledge that the country is going through some financial problems and we are not saying Benue is exceptional. One thing I do is that salary is the first priority; once money comes from the federal allocation, we must pay salaries first before paying any other thing. So I don't joke with that and so I don't think the House and the executive are into any problem. Even if they were into any problem, we can sit down and resolve. So we have no issues that should be of any serious concern. But it appears the state has no money again. What is the exact position of the account and finances of the state? Is there any cause for apprehension? The finances of all the states in the country are predicated on the federation

account and once there is problem with the federation account, there is problem in all the states and is not just Benue. First they are delayed. Today you are reading in the papers that the President himself has said that salaries must be paid immediately. It means that when they go for federation account and come back, there is delay for money to come into the state account. Benue state does not owe any person. The problem that happened which is a minimal and what we are doing is to carry out biometric data screening in order to sort out the issue of staffing of Benue state civil service. That biometric, when it started the process, I and the deputy governor, we have had situations where they will omit our salaries. It is not because there is no money. So if the people are experiencing that, we do not owe any person. In SUBEB, there was a judgment in the month of July which did not started with us. Just N29million and the judge went and delivered a judgment that the whole account should be garnished but before the judgment something happened. The previous administration I think dismissed teachers who were not of Benue state origin and that has been going on before I became governor. So we are responding to these matters but I think the commissioner said something that is resolvable. There is report that the Personal Assistant to the president on Public Affairs Dr. Doyin Okupe allegedly came into Benue and defrauded the state of N635.7m on projects contract but it seems your government has not said anything about that. Why has it taken you so long? This is because the person, who gave the contract I think, was in one of the newspapers few days ago. Senator Akume's Special Assistant on media

Gov Gabriel Suswam issued a press statement to that regard and I wasn't involved in it and that is why I am waiting. In the press statement it said that they gave a contract and there was an issue and so I am waiting for them until it get to us to know. The Special Assistant made the statement on behalf of Senator Akume so it is their problem and I believe that senator Akume would be in a better position to address that problem. And I also agree that people must have read what S.A to senator Akume wrote, she said that the problem arose with them and they were handling it. And you know that I didn't have handover note and I have told the media severally. No handover note was given to me. Recently, it was alleged that you sacked the Chairman of the Benue state Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Mr. Andrew Ayabam while others said he was on leave. But it is obvious now that he has not been in office for quite some time. Don't you think this will affect the revenue generation of the state? He is on but there are so many speculations about whether he is sacked or he is on leave but he gave a letter that he wanted to go on leave. So he is on leave. But you know that the revenue board has recently been constituted which you know there was no board. There was not supposed to be a technical committee but a board. All of that we are in the process of doing it and when he comes back from leave, all of these, the board would have been properly constituted and the technical committee would have also been properly put in place. There is no cause for alarm. But Benue state is not such that generate much revenue and in reporting revenue,

there are three components. You have the PAYE which is captured as revenue because it is in and out. And when he (Ayabam) was reporting that they were generating N1billion, it was not that they were generating that from BIRS. About eighty percent of it was PAYE. There was nothing like N1b that was generated. Like they said certain amount of money is taken from salaries and it goes back into payment of salaries. So when you are reporting what you generate as revenue you capture that on the part of revenue and not on the part of expenditure. I think most people understand that but they believed that Benue was generating N1billion as revenue. The component of BIRS, the component of PAYE and that which is generated within the ministry of finance arising from contracts and their percentages. You have kept mute on the issue of N13billion bond which you collected from the bank for development of projects. It was not also captured in the 2012 budget break down. What is happening? There is no way you will utilize the bond other than the purpose it was meant for because when you apply for a bond, it attached specific projects and the bond is incorporated between the SEC and the state and so, you don't expend money on your own. They are about three banks that are involved and they monitor where the money goes. For instance if I want to build a house and I have taken a bond, I would say that the house cost this much and we shall put the contract and the money on it. So there is no cause for alarm that we tampered with bond money. It is impossibility.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

ADVOCATE

Interview We are making progress at 21 – Macaulay Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay is Secretary to Delta State Government, (S.S.G). Over the years; these seasoned administrator has been playing his role actively in the affairs of Delta State since its creation on August 27, 1991. In this special media interview with The Advocate’s, Oarhe Dickson, Macaulay goes down memory lane, saying the state has come of age at 21 and it's far making progress. Excerpts: For the past 21 years you have been an active player in the affairs of Delta State. How do you see the state today? Has it grown or is still a toddler at 21? First, to some extent, you are right because I was part of the state from its creation. Of course, my first major assignment was when I was elected as the state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). I think that election was precisely in February, 1992. And then I also became the state Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). I did one term at the NUJ and two terms at the NLC. We had our challenges. I battled with the military, especially in the Babangida and Abacha eras. For me, the state has grown. Twenty-one is the age of maturity and we have left the adolescent age, knowing what the state was at creation in 1991. Those of you who were in Benin City then, and I was one of them, witnessed the confusion that heralded the announcement of the creation of Delta State. Some people felt there was a mistake and that Delta State was yet to be announced or the real Anioma State was yet to be announced. I was one of those who went to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) office then at DDPA estate to collect the print-out of the announcement because NAN was the most credible of the media organisations operating in the country then. We wanted to be sure of what we were going to put on 8:00 p.m. news that evening. And it turned out to be real; Delta State had been created with headquarters in Asaba. And if those of us at that level were confused, you can imagine the state of the ordinary people who also heard the information. You would also recall that from the following morning, there was a new agitation and some of our brothers and elders from certain parts of what has become Delta State opposed it. And there were some who vowed never to relocate to Asaba as long as it remained the state capital. Babaginda lost more than a pound of flesh for having the guts to put the capital of 'the socalled Delta State' in his in-law's town which they interpreted as a gift to his wife. But of course, government had made the

pronouncement and it had come to stay. By January 2, 1992, the first civilian governor was sworn-in, that was a few months after the announcement. Within that sixmonth period, Air Commodore Ochulor, accompanied by John Edozien, came to start the state as pioneer military administrator and deputy administrator respectively. They managed to put up some infrastructure for the state to take off, but you will recall that the agitation resumed as soon as Olorogun Felix Ibru came in as civilian governor on

National Republican Convention and Ibru was the Social Democratic Party flagbearer. They both used choppers for their campaigns but after that, I can remember vividly, Ibru was using the chopper to Asaba. The speculation everywhere then was that Ibru was using a chopper in and out of Asaba; that he never slept in Asaba. But I can tell you that the man, as a governor, Olorogun Felix Ibru was living in a three-bedroom flat. And most of us knew the pedigree of Chief Felix Ibru. He

going down memory lane on how the state has fared under d i ff e r e n t a d m i n i s t r a t i o n s especially during the military era. The only person we can single out and who is fondly remembered till today, and history is still there to judge, is Kefas. Till tomorrow and any day Retired Air Commodore Kafas comes to the state, many people will fall over themselves to see and have a handshake with him. Among the four of them, he left a huge legacy. The foundation of the present Government House was laid by

Comrade Ovuozourie Macaulay, SSG Delta State January 2, 1992. I am not sure was easily accessible in his him. The Unity Hall was also Ibru had a breathing space for 24 official apartment and this is the built by him. He built the present hours between 1992 and truth. The Computer Centre at governor's office as well as the November 17, 1993, when he the old Deputy Governor's office office of the Chief of Staff to the ruled the state. Of course, he is was where Ibru used both as Governor. He started at least from a part of the state that was Government House and his four blocks including the Unity not happy with Asaba as lodge. The man made a lot of Hall. I can even name the headquarters and was already sacrifices to keep the state contractors who built each of throwing accusations. together, but he was not truly those structures. The Anioma people also took the accepted while he stayed. Apart from that, he did a lot of advantage of it by coming out to I need to go this memory lane for other things. He helped to fight say 'No, eh, we will not co- y o u t o u n d e r s t a n d . O n for peace and unity of this state. operate with Ibru.' Most of them November 17, 1993, Abacha He was a mixer. He was one man never accepted Ibru as their struck and of course, that who believed in bringing people governor and all sort of brought Ibru's government to an together for one Delta. Apart accusations were made against end. Then Ibru was on his first from him, we cannot, in all him. He was accused of never annual leave. After him came the honesty, say that the other three staying in Asaba, and always Police Commissioner, Alhaji administrators made serious flying in and out of the state Abdukardir Shehu, who took i m p a c t i n t e r m s o f capital. I was also an insider, to over the administration of the infrastructural development. As the extent that I was a journalist state for a period of one week. I said earlier, for about eight w h o k n e w a l l t h a t w a s Asuquo came in, followed by years or more, I was at the head happening. I was closed to the Kefas, Dungs and Faghabo. We of the labour movement in the government and I can tell you had four administrators and of state. that during the campaign period, course, the police commissioner Ibru and Opia were in contest for who held brief for a number of Recalled those days, how were the use of the government days. We all know what the you able to perform your aircraft. I mean both of them military is all about; the responsibility under the were using choppers for their allegiance is not to anybody else, movement? campaigns because they had a but to the man that appointed very short period of campaign. them. (Laugh) And of course the Opia was then candidate of the Few days ago, I was in my bed movement was not a tea party

under a military era. It was the only opposition and we did everything we could to checkmate them. There was a time I engaged one of the administrators. Our public primary and secondary infrastructure was in a high state of decadence. And we engaged them from time to time. The last battle was that of my life which was at the end of the military administration for which I went on a temporary exile. Coming from this background, in 1999, the second civilian administration came into being under Chief James Onanefe Ibori. And like I said, it was like coming to build where there was not even a foundation. And so the young man had the task of lying a foundation for what is now the new Delta. For me, Delta is in two phases Delta State under the military administration and Delta State under a civilian government. The new Delta state started with Ibori in 1999. So, if we look at the first, the old Delta as a wasted era, apart from the four years of Kefas during which he managed to put few things in place. So, in all honesty it was a wasted era. It is not only in Delta, but most parts of this country. Then you can now come back to the new Delta under James Ibori's administration. And in all honesty, I wasn't part of that administration when it started. But you see, it came with so many problems on its hand. Again, worth of mentioning was the ethnic crisis then which had lasted for seven years. As at 1999, it has lasted for four years. I mean the crisis in the Warri areas where the people were being maimed and killed on a daily basis. How has the government been able to restored peace to delta state in view of the many ethnic crises? You know it was not easy to manage so many ethnic crises. It was worse than the civil war. On the day the man was being sworn-in, there were closure in every part of what is Delta South, Warri, Ijaw area, everywhere. The crisis was between the Ijaws and Itsekiris on one side, Itsekiris and the Urhobos of Warri on the other hand and it was a tough case. So the man came in to that

Continues from page 8

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Motoring Emerging Cars for 2013

First drive: 2013 Ram 1500

Honda begins production of new Accord in Ohio

The first mass-production version of the 2013 model year Honda Accord sedan, fully made over and the most important new vehicle for Honda this year in the U.S. market, rolled off an Ohio assembly line on Monday, the company said. The 2013 Accord will go on sale at U.S. dealerships next month. The 2012 version of the Accord is the second-biggestselling car in the United States so far this year, behind the Toyota Camry. The Accord has been made at the Honda plant northwest of Columbus, Ohio since 1982, when Honda became the first Japanese automaker with a U.S. Plant. Since then, more than 9 million Accord sedans have been made at the plant. "For 30 years, the Accord has been the signature vehicle from Honda, and it remains the industry benchmark in a very

competitive segment," said Hide Iwata, president and chief executive of Honda of America Manufacturing. Honda hopes that the full makeover of the Accord will help it keep pace or outsell the likes of the Camry, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Malibu and Hyundai Sonata. Sales generally spike when a model gets a makeover, and Honda expects that the ninthgeneration of the Accord will follow that trend when it goes on sale next month. Sales for the current 2012 version of the Accord are up 28 percent this year. The midsize sedan market is the most competitive in the United States. By year's end, most of the major competitors will be selling models that have been significantly updated in the past year. Through July, five of the 11 top-selling models in the U.S.

auto market were midsize sedans. And, excluding pickup trucks and SUVs, five of the top seven were midsize sedans. The top-selling midsize car through July was far and away the Camry, updated last year, at 243,816 sold. That was 24 percent more than the Accord, followed closely by the Nissan Altima. Most of those Altima sales were for its 2012 model, which is still on dealer lots, sharing space with the new 2013 Altima. The first revamped Camry rolled off an assembly line in Kentucky a year ago this week. Sales of Camry are up 40 percent so far this year. After Altima in 2012 sales is the Ford Fusion. A new Fusion for the 2013 model year will go on sale later this year. Then, in order, comes the Chevrolet Malibu from General Motors and the Sonata from Hyundai.

Nissan recalls 2013 Infiniti Jx35 for faulty fuel gauge Nissan Motor Co. said it was recalling 7,842 2013 Infiniti JX35 crossover vehicles to check for defective fuel gauges. The Japanese automaker said a faulty gauge in the new luxury crossover could indicate a higher fuel level than actually exists. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing late on Tuesday that the faulty gauge could cause the JX35 to run out of fuel unexpectedly, increasing the risk of a crash. In July, the NHTSA said it

had opened a defect investigation into the JX35 on possible improper application of the emergency brake. The probe is not a recall, but could lead to one. About 8,000 JX35s are being investigated for the brake issue. In its report to the NHTSA on the fuel-gauge problem, Nissan said the fuel transfer tube could be misrouted inside the fuel tank on some vehicles manufactured from Feb. 15 through June 22. The problem has been corrected, the company said.

The automaker said it had notified U.S. dealers of the fuelgauge problem on Aug. 13 and would begin sending notices to consumers in early September. Dealers will inspect and, if necessary, correct the problem free of charge. Nissan told the NHTSA that it had received a single field report in mid-May that a JX35 had run out of fuel when the gauge indicated there was still some in the tank.

Nashville, Tenn. Pickup trucks are no longer trucks. Today's pickup is almost as luxurious as a Mercedes. It will deliver a ride as smooth as many luxury brands. With four doors, enormous interior space and plenty of cargo capacity, the modern pickup more than meets the needs of most families. No wonder the F-150 and Ram are the two best-selling vehicles in Canada. The pickup has become the new family car. Chrysler is plenty to blame for this seismic shift and in 2013 will be responsible for even more people fleeing the tyranny of the tiny for the freedom of the full-sized. Its 2013 Ram 1500 delivers such a comfortable ride, comes with such a gorgeous interior and yet still does the many manly things expected of a body-on-frame 4x4 workhorse that it's difficult not to be seduced by its merits. The 2013 Ram 1500 will also raise the bar for every pickup on the market not just in fuel economy the historical bane of the pickup but in interior space, towing capability and cabin comfort. Something that started as a mild refresh to a Ram design that first appeared in 2009 quickly became, Chrysler says, a pursuit for bestin-class fuel economy and capability. That pursuit paid off with a remarkable achievement in fuel consumption of 7.8 litres per 100 kilometres in highway driving, thanks to the first ever installation of an eight-speed transmission in a pickup plus Chrysler's ubiquitous but much lauded Pentastar 3.6-litre V6.

That's economy nearing hybrid territory. The TorqueFlite eightspeed isn't a busybody either, not constantly flirting around with the next gear the way some luxury cars do. Shifts are snappy, smooth and many times imperceptible. Kickdown is faster and more intuitive than the six-speed gearbox. For towing or hauling, the eightspeed is a perfectly natural fit. Now that it's available, it almost seems surprising that it took this long to get here. The same could be said about the Ram's new electronic gear shifter a big rotary aluminum knob to control gear changes, which sits on the dash just above the driver's right knee. It takes all of about six seconds to get used to it, feels and looks good and frees up substantial real estate in the centre console for storage cubbies. The eight-speed transmission also makes the best of the Pentastar's 305 horsepower and 269 pound-feet of torque, shaving three seconds off the old V6 in zero-to-100kilometres-an-hour runs. The eight-speed should also significantly trim the thirst of the 5.7-litre Hemi V8, the combination of which will come available in early 2013, gaining as much as a 10% improvement in economy. With 395 hp and 407 lb-ft of torque, the 5.7L VVT V8 continues to feature cylinder shut-off technology, which deactivates four cylinders when full V8 power is not needed.

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Telecommunication

Special Report: Documents detail how MTN funneled U.S. technology to Iran A South African telecom giant plotted to procure embargoed U.S. technology products for an Iranian subsidiary through outside vendors to circumvent American sanctions on the Islamic Republic, according to internal documents seen by Reuters.

HE fresh revelations about MTN Group, buttressed by interviews with people familiar with the procurement, come as the South African multinational faces fights on several fronts over its lucrative but controversial Iranian venture, a fast-growing telecom. MTN is in talks with the U.S. Treasury in an effort to win permission to repatriate millions of dollars of profit now bottled up in Iran by American sanctions on the Iranian financial system. MTN's chief executive disclosed the talks with U.S. officials this month, saying, "U.S. sanctions should not have unintended consequences for non-U.S. companies." An elite South African police unit is investigating how MTN obtained the Iranian telecom's license, following corruption allegations made by a Turkish rival in a U.S. federal lawsuit. Johannesburg-based MTN Group is Africa's largest telecom carrier, with operations in more than 20 countries. It owns 49% of MTN Irancell, a joint venture with a consortium controlled by the Iranian government. The South African company provided the initial funding for the venture and oversaw the telecom's launch in 2006. Hundreds of pages of internal documents reviewed by Reuters show that MTN employees created presentations for meetings and wrote reports that openly discussed circumventing U.S. sanctions to source American tech equipment for MTN Irancell. The documents also address the potential consequences of getting caught. The sanctions are intended to curb Iran's nuclear p r o g r a m , w h i c h Te h r a n maintains is peaceful. The equipment included products from Sun Microsystems Inc, Oracle Corp, International Business Machines Corp, EMC Corp, Hewlett Packard Co and Cisco Systems Inc, and was used to provide such services as wiretapping, voice mail and text messaging, the documents show. In a statement, MTN denied any wrongdoing. The U.S. companies have said they were not aware MTN Irancell had acquired their products, and

until the SUN hardware is delivered by Shabakkat USSD implementation will be delayed," the spreadsheet says. Paul Norman, MTN Group's chief human resources and corporate affairs officer, said in a statement to Reuters: "MTN denies that it has ever conspired with suppliers to evade applicable U.S. sanctions on Iran or had a policy to do so. MTN works with reputable international suppliers. Our equipment is purchased from turnkey vendors and all our vendors are required to comply with U.S. and E.U. sanctions. We have checked vendor compliance procedures and A shopkeeper awaits customers in a shop advertising MTN airtime sales in Umlazi township continue to monitor them and we are confident they are in Durban, June 6, 2012. Picture taken June 6, 2012. robust.” by boat. "It all showed up," this several are investigating the Commerce Department after The Hawks, a South African person said. matter. U.S. Treasury officials Reuters reported it had supplied police unit, is investigating " O U T S TA N D I N G declined to comment. U.S. equipment to Iran's largest MTN over allegations ISSUES” "IT ALL SHOWED UP” telecom. contained in a federal lawsuit Reuters reported in June that Reuters first reported in June The new MTN documents filed in Washington in March a Kuwait-based telecomthat MTN Irancell had procured appear to detail an intentional by Turkcell, an Istanbul-based service provider called U.S. equipment through a effort to evade sanctions. For rival. The suit alleges that MTN Shabakkat was used to procure network of tech companies in example, a January 2006 stole the Iranian telecom some U.S. equipment for MTN Iran and the Middle East. The PowerPoint presentation license from Turkcell in Irancell. Shabakkat's former article quoted Chris Kilowan, prepared for the project steering November 2005 by paying country manager in Iran said MTN's top executive in Iran committee - comprised of then bribes. MTN denies the the products were purchased from 2004 to 2007, saying that top-level MTN executives allegations and has attacked the from a local Iranian company. the South African company was includes a slide titled credibility of former MTN But the person familiar with directly involved in obtaining "Measures adopted to comply executive Kilowan, who is the matter said Shabakkat also U.S. parts for the Iranian with/bypass US embargoes." It Turkcell's key witness in the sourced U.S. products from a telecom. discussed how the company case. The procurement of distributor in Dubai called The new documents provide had decided to outsource banned U.S. products is not a Exit40. The distributor no a much deeper understanding of Irancell's data centre after subject of the lawsuit. longer operates. the extent of MTN's receiving legal advice. "CIVIL AND CRIMINAL A Shabakkat executive in procurement of embargoed "In the absence of applicable CONSEQUENCES” Kuwait did not respond to U.S. goods, exposing new links U.S. consents, it is a less risky According to the internal requests for comment. Two in the supply chain of products route to MTN for Irancell to procurement documents, right former top executives of Exit40 worth millions of dollars. They outsource data centre than it is from the start MTN was well could not be reached for also give a rare inside look at to purchase restricted aware of what it termed comment. the thinking of a multinational products," the PowerPoint slide "embargo issues" and the The documents suggest doing business in Iran and the says. The documents also inherent risks involved. procuring the U.S. parts often difficult choices involved. The include a lengthy spreadsheet A December 2005 wasn't easy, and the process was documents show that MTN was of "3rd Party" equipment dated PowerPoint presentation plagued by delays. For well aware of the U.S. June 2006 that lists hundreds of marked confidential and example, a "High Level Weekly sanctions, wrestled with how to U.S. components - including emblazoned with MTN's logo Report" in November 2006 deal with them and ultimately servers, routers, storage devices noted that the "Consequences discusses problems sourcing decided to circumvent them by and software - required for a of non compliance" included Sun hardware. relying on Middle Eastern firms variety of systems. "Civil and criminal "Urgent decision required to inside and outside Iran. A delivery schedule also consequences." The source SUN machines through MTN was not alone. In dated June 2006 lists U.S. PowerPoint slide added that the local supplier," it states. A note recent months, new evidence equipment needed for "valueU.S. government could in red at the bottom of another has emerged that other foreign added services," including blacklist MTN, "which could PowerPoint slide says: companies, including Britain's voice mail and a wiretapping result in all MTN operations "According to Shabakkat, all Standard Chartered bank and system. The schedule states that being precluded from sourcing SUN HW is at Dubai waiting China's ZTE Corp, have helped the equipment would be "Ready products/services from U.S. for Payment." HW stands for Iran undermine increasingly to Ship Dubai" that July and based companies in future.” hardware. tougher sanctions. The bank, August. It estimates it would According to a person The following month, a which agreed to pay $340 take two weeks to arrive in the familiar with the matter, MTN spreadsheet detailing million to New York's bank southern Iranian port of Bandar was determined that MTN "Outstanding issues" cites regulator to settle allegations it Abbas by "Air or Sea/Road," Irancell procure substantial delays in deploying a system hid transactions with Iran, still and then up to 30 days to clear amounts of U.S. equipment: called USSD that enables faces a separate U.S. probe. Iranian customs. The U.S. products had interactive services. "The ZTE is the subject of According to a person performed well in its other USSD platform is completely investigations by the Federal familiar with the matter, the networks, and the company's built on SUN hardware - hence Bureau of Investigation and the equipment ultimately arrived Continues on page 13

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Monday, September 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sunday, September 9, 2012

Entertainment

I want Ekweremadu to rescue me, says gospel singer, Patty Obasi, who needs N10m to transplant his two kidneys Famous gospel singer, Patty Obasi of the Nwa Mammy Water fame has been down with kidney failure and his doctor said he would need not less than N10million to transplant his two failed kidneys in India. In this exclusive interview, he wants his Senator in the National Assembly, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and other men of goodwill in Nigeria to quickly come to his rescue before something worse happens to him. Excerpts: Many have not been hearing about you for some time now, and is as if many of your fans don't even know about your state of health. When did your illness start? For over a year now, I've been in a bad state of health. The problem is kidney problem; holistic kidney problem. I don't know how it affects the body. But they said it affects the digestive organs or system. God has been helping me to survive; because according to the doctor, my two kidneys have failed, so what is keeping me alive must be God; prayer of the saints; that's how I feel. What exactly did the doctor say after diagnosing this ailment? He said all that I will require is kidney transplant. l haven't raised enough money for transplant and the doctor said it will be in India. Did he give you an idea of the possible cost? He said it will cost up to N10 million. So I am looking for donors who will help me weather the storm. So far has any donor indicated interest? Well, I find it difficult to answer this question because people always have their intention in their mind. If they make their intention known, praise God; if they don't, I keep waiting. Have you been able to reach out to the Enugu state government or any organization that is inclined to Charity works? I have not been able to reach the government and I don't know any state administration I shall reach for assistance; not yet, I'm still searching. So what is your appeal to the governments at all levels - local, state and federal? Well, I'm trying to do that; I've not been able to do that. I hope you will help me to do it using your medium. Specifically, what is your main appeal to the government? To donate generously to this project; God will bless you. God has promised to bless anybody who blesses me, and He is a good God.

Patty Obasi, ailing Gospel Singer Can you tell us your experience since this ailment began; how it has affected your life generally? It has been a problem, especially when I took the drug that was recommended for me; my whole body was irritating. I was feeling pains all over and I don't know whether it has solved my problem. I don't even know whether it has helped me. Dr. Ijoma, a consultant at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, (UNTH), ItukuOzalla, Enugu has been giving me drugs but still he recommended transplant. So I'm neither here nor there. You talked of the problem not being detected early enough. Did they tell you why they couldn't detect it early? Well, I didn't approach them early enough. I didn't approach them early enough, I must confess. Now, let's talk about your musical works. Can you remember the number of gospel albums you produced when you were in active music? They are up to 15 albums. 15 albums, you meant to say? Yes. 15 albums What was your major inspiration then? You ask about my major inspiration? The same gospel songs served my major inspiration. Of all the albums, which was the greatest hit? The most popular one is Mammy water (Nwa Mammy Water) Do you still remember it? I still remember the song Nwa Mammy Water. But in terms of money, did it give you financial rewards? (Long pause) Oh, no. It didn't. Why? Of course the devil will always want you to be humiliated; to make you feel that all is not

working well. He is at work; the devil is at work, and that's the way I look at it. Could it because you sang against the devil and its agents? It may be ... (smiles)...most likely. Talking about inspiration now, did you have encounter with Mammy water before you composed that song? Now, how can I have encounter with mammy water? I don't serve mammy water...but I know t h e i r w o r k s . S o m e h o w, somehow, I know her works. Mammy water and her agents are not good people. From my own perspective, they are not good people. They are dubious. They are exploitative. They are terrible. So, through that song I was only sounding a warning to those who may fall into their trap, to be aware that all that glitters are not gold. They may look lustful but they are not good. Is not everything that arouses our lust that is good. We just have to think about our destiny in life. The mammy water album released in the 1980s made such a impact that almost in every home you went , you could see people sing it, and you said it did not give you reward.... (Cuts in) Yes, it made a huge impact but I didn't make the money. So what else can be responsible for such a calamity; is the devil. Is the devil that does such thing. Was it that the producers and marketers or pirates dealt with the album? What actually happened? Whether producers or pirates, if they are devilish; the devil didn't want me to realize something from it so that I would not be encouraged to do more. He wanted to frustrate me; he did everything to frustrate me. And I must confess that I was almost

frustrated but God is great. God has never gone to any battle and came back defeated. He is still the Lion of the tribe of Judah. I know him to be Almighty God. There is no other Almighty. There's only one Almighty. So no matter how the devil tries, I know he is not almighty. It is Almighty God that is almighty; only God is God. Every other spirit is trying to fake God. This is what I want my fans to know. What is your greatest challenge since you started gospel songs? The greatest challenge is exploitation. The people who exploit my works and they don't pay me back; those who sell my records and don't pay me back. They are the spoilers. It took the grace of God to overcome them. And it still takes the grace of God until now to overcome them. That's why I think is a warfare. Gospel music is a spiritual warfare for those who understand. But for those who don't understand, they see it as entertainment. But is just warfare? Can you briefly tell us about yourself, your history, your background, things like that? What kind of background? Which local government are

you from and in which state? Some of your fans don't know where you hail from. How did you start gospel music? (Long pause) Does it matter the local government or state I come from? It doesn't really matter. I am a Nigerian. There are most of your fans who don't know these details. I am an Igbo man. I am a Nigerian, an Igbo man. I speak Igbo; I speak English. I'm fluent enough to express myself. Can't you see? So it doesn't even matter which local government I come from. Ok, sir. But which state are you from? Well, I am from Enugu State... I am from Awgu in Enugu state. You said you wanted to give the gospel music a general acceptance? Yes. I wanted to give the gospel music a general acceptance, a good outlook so that people would know what it means to associate with gospel music. Associating with gospel music will mean associating with God. We should not narrow it down to one local government. In fact, that's the mistake we make in Nigeria. When Nwa Mammy Water was released, some women were attacking me; they said didn't I know that a woman gave birth to me, cooks my food and why did I criticize women in the album. But I cannot say just because a woman cooks my food and I will overlook her wrong doings, and say those things are good. The essence of gospel songs is to condemn ills of society. Would you like your Senator in the National Assembly to show interest in your condition and come to your aid? I would like if he will have the chance to show interest and assist me. I will like it. I know he is a very busy man and he has a lot of responsibilities. If he can concentrate on my own health problem, I will like it and I will appreciate it.

Obasi, down with kidney failure

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Health Ebonyi govt, Gowon centre distribute 1 million Insecticide has come to set out a day termed World treated nets Mosquito Day”. By Uchenna Itumo, Abakaliki

he Ebonyi State Ministry of Health in collaboration with nongovernmental organization, Yakubu Gowon Centre, has distributed about one million insecticide treated nets to the residents of the State in its effort to fight the spread of malaria in the area. the Director of Public Healthcare Services and Disease Control, in the State Dr. Chris Achi announce the donation during this year's World Mosquito Day. Celebration, He said that the significance of the day was because of the effect of mosquito in the spread of malaria, adding that its control was to reduce incidence of malaria in the society. “The control of mosquito will especially reduce the incidence of malaria in our environment, and that is why the world

Dr. Achi who stated that malaria was more dangerous than HIV, maintained that children and pregnant mothers were more vulnerable to the disease. According to the health practitioner to forestall environment clean and avoid keeping stagnant water in their surrounding because they were major breeding spaces for mosquito. mosquito bites and subsequent spread of malaria, he advised people of the state to keep their environment clean and avoid keeping stagnant water in their surrounding because they were major breeding spaces for mosquito. He stated that the only way to stop malaria was to stop mosquito bite. The Director affirmed that the poor in the society were prone to the disease because of their poor living standard. “Those with low economic status are prone to suffer malaria”, he said.

292 test positive to HIV in Ekiti council

Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, for O fewer than 292 persons have confirmation of their status and so far tested positive to the HIV subsequent treatment. virus in Ido-Osi Local According to her, officials of her Government Area of Ekiti State. committee now pay advocacy visits to The Head of Ido-Osi Local Government institutions such as Oganganmodu Action Committee on AIDS, Mrs Grammer School, Ido-Ekiti, Corpers's Modupe Ajayi, made this public in IdoSecretariat, Ido-Ekiti and Victory Ekiti on Friday. Orphanage, Ifaki-Ekiti. She said the figure represented the Mr Taiwo Benson, the Executive sum total of reports made available to Director of the Foundation for her by field officers attached to the Community, Family Health and Rights committee. Development in Ekiti, appealed to Ajayi also said more than 5, 620 government to increase the budget of the persons were also counseled and later State AIDS Control Agency to enable it tested, out which 37 pregnant women, effectively combat the pandemic. 73 males and 146 females tested (NAN) positive. She said those who tested positive had already been referred to the Federal Launch of free malaria drugs in Mubi, Adamawa State

Acting chairman, Madagali LG, Malam Mohammed Doletebe (2nd-L) receiving carton of malaria drugs from speaker, Adamawa House of Assembly, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, at the start of the speaker's free malaria treatment in the area

Fire incident at the HIV/AIDs prevention initiatives clinic in Lagos

HIV/AIDs prevention initiatives clinic at Luth, Idi Araba , Lagos gutted by fire

LUTH fire forces patients out in the open  Treatment and consultations continue, says Hospital By Our Reporter

ast Thursday's fire incident at an outpatients' clinic for HIV patients at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, has forced the patients out in the open. The AIDS Prevention Initiative of Nigeria (APIN) clinic that once catered for the treatment and drugs of HIV patients at the hospital had been razed to the ground. The incident consequently put pressure on the hospital's facilities as HIV and Tuberculosis patients were moved under a canopy close to the hospital's Direct Observation Therapy (DOT) centre, for the collection of drugs. Normally, the hospital's Tuberculosis patients collect drugs weekly on Fridays at the DOT centre, but the relocation of HIV patients, also scheduled for the collection of their monthly drugs, swelled up the number, thereby pushing both categories of patients for an unprecedented session out in the open. Although the patients showed no objection to being exposed in the open and were unwilling to react to the loss of privacy, many, however, expressed surprise that the teaching hospital's infrastructure could be stretched due to one fire incident. “I came and noticed so many people here. I wonder what must have happened and hope that I won't have to wait all day to get my drugs,” said a tuberculosis

patient who did not wish to be named. The Hospital's Public Relations Officer, Hope Nwawolo, said that no casualty was recorded in the fire that razed down the USAID-funded treatment and research facility. “It's an outpatients' clinic and there was no patient there by the time the fire started,” she said, adding that some doctors who were having a meeting in the building at the time initiated attempts to put out the fire. She also said that the cause of the fire was yet unknown with the “management still expecting the report of the Fire Service”. But speculations are rife among the hospital staff that an electronic fault might have been responsible for the fire. While speaking with journalists, Nwawolo insisted that the hospital management had taken measures to ensure that treatment and clinical services continue for the affected patients. 'They are still getting their drugs free of charge as we have always done and we have decided that anyone of them that needs emergency treatment will be taken to the Accident and Emergency unit,” she said. Items that were destroyed in the building include patients' case notes, electronic gadgets and medical equipment. However, Nwawolo assured that the hospital has the patients' data electronically backed up.

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

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Business

PHCN implores S-East govs to demolish structures under power lines T

erect illegal structures directly under high tension power lines. He said that occupants of such structures are exposed to danger as they would be easily electrocuted if any problem occurs on such power lines, adding that necessary precautionary measures should be taken by members of the public by way of rejecting occupation of such structures or doing business under power lines. “If you can recall, the PHCN had problems in Port Harcourt and Ibadan in the past when life wires snapped on people. The one in Port Harcourt was at a bus stop and killed so many people and that of Ibadan was in a market where so many market women were affected. “As a responsible organization, we have since embarked on sensitization of the members of the public and customers especially those who have structures under high tension power lines explaining the danger inherent in such dangerous acts. We have 330KV, 132KV, 33KV and 11KV lines but unfortunately, in many areas today several structures have been built under these lines with high risks of electrocution for those

occupying such structures,” Udoh said. He implored governments of the South East zone to urgently demolish such structures built under power lines to avert the looming danger on the lives of the occupants

most of who seem to be ignorant of the risk they take by transacting their businesses in such an unsafe environment. According to the Public Affairs Manager, 82 of such structures had been identified in

Okigwe area, 400 in Ariaria Aba and 412 in Orlu area, urging the authorities to quickly intervene to save the people from danger of electrocution.

Bayelsa tasks dredging firms on standard

By Philip Eke, Yenagoa he Commissioner of Environment in Bayelsa State, Dr. Sylvanus Abila has tasked dredging companies operationing in Bayelsa State to be best standard or ready to be phase out. Dr. Abila who made the revelation while meeting with dredging companies operating in Bayelsa at the Ministry of Environment Conference Hall, stressed the need for partnership, noting that the executive Governor of Bayelsa State. Hon. Seriake Dickson has so much concern with the environment. The commissioner bemoaned the indiscriminate dumping of dredgers and sought for guidelines that would regulate their operation. The commissioner further narrated several hiccups of dredging such as environment

pollution, erosion, among others. Abila also tasks companies operating in Ex-bow Lake and close to Ecole Bridge to relocate or face the wrath of the law perhaps at eminent danger ahead. The commissioner pledge to establish credible task force to enhance standard which includes registration and payment of stipulated fees in the state. Abila enjoined that in Lagos and rivers states, strict conditions are in place for dredging companies although the government many not intimidate companies but there should be synergy in operational standard. Several contributions were made by dredging companies for the way forward, tasking the government for moderate fees for its operations, it was further revealed that Bayelsa sells the cheapest sand

in Nigeria, levy should be made in accordance with the size of dredgers in operation, appealing to government to encourage investors especially tasking road construction companies to patronized indigenous dredging companies. Stakeholders thanked the environment commissioner for the great meeting in knowing their plight and the way forward in their business pledged to adhere strictly of government policies and programmes. The meeting which was attended by senior special assistants to Governor Dickson on youths development from various local government, permanent secretary and other stakeholders, appealed to dredging companies to involved or empower the youths of their communities, moreso, undertake water way survey before embarking dredging acti

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sports

Heartland wins confederation cup T By Okey Anyichie

he 2012 Confederation soccer competition, formerly the Nigerian Challenge cup competition ended last Sunday, 26th August, 2012 at Tesilim Balogun Stadium, Surelere Lagos. The final encounter which took place between Heartland football club of Owerri and Lobi Stars football club of Makurdi, thus made the Owerri club-side, the 2012 champion, after defending the competition successfully. Heartland defeated Lobi Stars by 2-1 to cart-off, the trophy two times in a row. Lobi Stars scored first in the first-half of the final competition and Heartland equalized during the first half. The winning goal of the final competition was scored in the dying minutes of the game through Brendan Ugwuoke, who nodded in the decider. Thus Heart-Land football club of Owerri has joined the competition's immortal teams like the Railways football club of Lagos, Marine football club of Lagos, Port-Harcourt- Red Devils, Stationery Stores football club of Lagos, Ibadan Lions, Later IICC now 35C football club, Rangers football club of Enugu, among the teams that had lifted the cup more than once since, 1945 when the soccer competition started. It would be recalled that Heartland football club of Owerri last year defeated a fellow Oriental football club, Enyimba, of Aba by lone goal at Tesilim Balogun Stadium, Surulere-Lagos. Among the

important personalities that witnessed last Sunday's encounter were the two governors of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his Lagos State counterpart, Barrister Rashid Babatunde Fashola, who handed over the new trophy, he donated for the competition to the winners, Heartland F.C. of Owerri. 'Advocate' sports went to

better side won this year's competition and it did not come to me as a surprise that the Owerri club-side had won the competition for the second year running. I would like them to win the competition for the third time in a row. By doing this, the club would then follow the foot step of Rangers of Enugu that won the cup in 1974, 1975 and 1976.

They won the competition inspite of the internal problems in their camp before the match. It is a credit to the governor of the state, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and Christian Chukwu, who is the club technical director. The club will go places in future if they embrace consistency and discipline. I commend them for retaining the cup.”

Heartland of owerri celebrating their victory town and sampled the views of some football fans on this second victory of Heartland football club of Owerri from 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 football seasons. Luke Okpala, one of the pioneer footballers of Rangers of Enugu and a retired Director of Coaching, ministry of Youth and sports Anambra State. “The

The Owerri club-side should endeavour to defend the championship to make the point that football is very strong in Enugu in particular and the Eastern side of the country in general. Te r r y M u o t o n y a , a Secondary School Teacher and a football fan; “It was a surprising victory by the Owerri clubside.

Innocent Egesi, a printer and a football referee, “Heartland football club of Owerri deserves the victory because they are the best in the country now. They prepared fully for the competition and finally victory smiled on them. However, it is difficult to predict whether they will win the competition next year as other teams are coming

up and anything is possible. As for next years cup winners competition many football fans would expect Heartland football club of Owerri to win the competition for the first time, to show for their international experience in the continental soccer competition since 1988. Ikechukwu Ezego, a former football referee and motivator of of Ogbette market Sports, Enugu; “Heartland won the competition and made us proud. I would like them to work harder and win both the competition again next year and Africa cup winners cup”. Dan Orafu, a Transporter and ardent football fan; “The winning of the competition by Heartland football club of Owerri for the second time shows that they have a motivator in the person of the state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha. He attributed the second victory in the competition as an inspiration from the state governor who is a business minded administrator. He should be judged as the best governor of the year in the area of sports motivation. He has followed the foot-steps of the ex-governor Jim Nwobodo and the late retired Air-Commodore Emeka Omeruah, who took us to 'Atlanta-96' and Japan-93'. I would like Heartland to embrace discipline and consistency in grooming players and maintain the coaching crew and management. I congratulate them for this second victory in the Confederation cup competition”.

Enugu hosts under -17 grass-root football competitions T

HE 2012 Enugu State football Association under-17 grass-root football competition ended last Sunday, 26th August, 2012 at Nnamdi Azikiwe, Stadium Enugu. Speaking to Advocate Sports in his office, the Secretary of Enugu State football Association, Mr Francis Ugwu stated that 24 under-17 teams in the state participated in the competition that lasted for one week. The River lane football club of Enugu defeated the Dynamos Football club also of Enugu by 5-0 to win the competition. In another development, the

South-East and South-South F e d e r a l Yo u t h S o c c e r Championship in under-13, under 15 and Under-17 age grades were rounded off in Enugu. According to the secretary of Enugu State football Association, Mr. Francis Ugwu, disclosed that nine teams traded tackles in the under-13 age grade competition, Eleven teams competed in the under-15 age grade soccer fiesta while twenty teams participated in the under 17 age grade category. At the end of the three competitions which ran from 22nd -28th Augus, 2012 All stars football team from Anambra

State defeated the Golden Stars football team of Enugu State. In the under- 15 competition, Golden Stars of Enugu State beat MMA football team from Aba, Abia State by a one goal. River lane football club of Enugu ended the competition by overwhelming the Golden Stars from Aba by 5-0. The secretary told 'Advocate' sports that the competitions in the three age categories were played without hitches, as the lads showed good football standard for future soccer competitions.

Francis Ugwu - Secretary, Enugu Football Association

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sports Nigeria’s Falconets sail into the Semi-Final of World Soccer championship By Okey Anyichie The Nigerian female ream of under-20 world cup soccer champion-ship has been flying the Nigerian flag- very high in the on-going competition in Japan. The Falconets started the competition in Japan in their group by beating South Korea 2-0, drew with Brazil 1-1 and beat their last opponents in the group, Italy by 4-0. After giving very good account of themselves in their group, the Nigerian girls qualified for the quarter-final of the competition. Last Wednesday they eliminated their Mexican counterparts by a one goal. This one goal decider in the second half of the extra-time was scored by Miss Desire Opara-Anozie, thereby sending her fellow team mates to 'Cloud 9' at the end of the competition. Nigeria will now engaged USA in the semi-final of the competition next Wednesday. Reports from Japan stated that attacked the Mexican goal-mouth four early goals which refused to come. It was equally stated that the Mexican goalkeeper, Cecilia Santiago stood between Nigerian girls and prevented them from scoring goals and finally found the net after playing for 109 minutes with the Mexican girls. This is the second time the Nigerian girls are shooting into this global female soccer champion-ship semi-final. If they succeed in beating the girls from USA, they would make history by going unto the final for the second time in the competition. Germany will engage the hosts, Japan, in another semi-final of the competition. The final of the competition will come off next week. In another development, Nigeria also is doing well in the ongoing Paralympics in London-last Thursday; Nigeria Powerlifter Yakubu Adesokan bagged a gold medal and a world record by lifting 178 kgs in his men's 49 category which was three times his weight body. Nigeria has also won another gold medal in the same

event last Friday and with this latest development, Nigeria is among gold medals' winners in the games for the physically challenged athletes that took off immediately after the 2012 summer Olympic in London. With the way things are going, it is likely that Nigerian team would win up to five gold medals. If this happens, it would be afar departure from the Nigerian team that participated in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was a barren outing. Meanwhile as the 2011/2012 football season comes to an end on the 7th September, 2012, many football fans would reminiscing on the standard of the game in the out-going season in both Confederation and League Championships. Most football fans are not complaining much on the standard of the game and officiating. Even football hooliganism did not feature very much in the away and home league championship. The only exception was the act of football hooliganism that took place at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu during Enyimba Football Club of Aba and Heartland football club of Owerri. This unsporman behavior by the supporters of Heartland football club of Owerri made the club to be banished to Calabar instead Enugu, where they decided to play off their 2012 league championship, as their arena is undergoing renovations. Equally the standard of officiating by the referees improved during the last season in both confederation and National league championship. It would be recalled that in some past foot-ball seasons, the standard of officiating left a sour taste on the mouth, which in some cases saw some referees suspended. But the last season was an improvement and most fans look forward to see the standard improve during the new season of 2012/2013 that is expected to Kick-off probably next month.

Nigeria’s U-20 team

Serena Williams

Serena avenges loss to Makarova, wins at US Open S erena Williams returns a shot to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova in the third round of play at the 2012 US Open tennis tournament, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) Serena Williams didn't watch any video of her loss to Ekaterina Makarova at this year's Australian Open as she prepared for their rematch at the U.S. Open. She even hates looking at photos from defeats. But she is free to check out this match again after she won in straight sets in the third round Saturday. Back when she used to relive those losses on tape, Williams said: "It was like stabbing myself.” No such pain so far at this year's U.S. Open. The fourth-seeded American won 6-4, 6-0, avenging her straight-set defeat in the Australian Open's fourth round. The 42nd-ranked Makarova fell to 114 against top-five players. When they played in January, Williams had seven double-faults and 37 unforced errors. The numbers Saturday were one and 16. Agnieszka Radwanska, in her own words, survived her match. On a steamy day at Flushing Meadows, the secondseeded Pole was relieved to beat Jelena Jankovic in straight sets - and even that 63, 7-5 victory took 1 hour, 38 minutes. "I was feeling like I was melting there," Radwanska said. "I survived the match. In the second set, I was just better for a couple of points.” She was broken four times, but Radwanska converted six of seven breakpoint chances against the 30th-seeded Serb. While Radwanska is ranked a careerhigh No. 2 and coming off her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, Jankovic has

fallen far from her No. 1 ranking in 2008 and hasn't been back to a title match at a major tournament since the U.S. Open that year. With confidence on her side, Radwanska knew patience would pay off. "Especially with the hot conditions, you really have to fight more yourself than against the opponent," she said. Jankovic had 37 unforced errors to 15 for Radwanska, who reached the fourth round at the U.S. Open for the first time since 2008. She has never been to the quarterfinals here. "I think everything could happen today," Radwanska said. "So what I was trying to do, just fight 'til the end. Was a lot of the games that was like 30-all, 30love, and then suddenly I was winning the games. It was a lot of weird points.” And a lot of long rallies, which both players tend to produce. On Saturday, they had six of at least 20 shots. "We always have to run a lot in our matches, for sure," Radwanska said. Her next opponent is 20th-seeded Roberta Vinci, who beat No. 13 seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 7-5. Nicolas Almagro, seeded 11th on the men's side, beat American teenager Jack Sock 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-1 to reach the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time. Martin Klizan, who upset fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round, extended his best Grand Slam run by beating 32nd-seeded Jeremy Chardy 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. He next faces 17th-seeded Kei Nishikori, who defeated 12th-seeded Marin Cilic in four sets. Other top players on court Saturday include Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Americans Sloane Stephens, James Blake, Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey are also scheduled to play

THE

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Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sports

Paralympic: Nigeria win more medals By Agency Reporter

medals tally in the sport, one of the three the country is taking part in at the Games. China still led the table with 34 medals, made up of 13 gold 10 silver and 11 bronze, with Australia in second place with seven gold four silver and eight bronze medals. Hosts Great Britain are in fifth place with four gold 11 silver five bronze medals, while the U.S are sixth with four gold one silver and six bronze medals. Egypt are the next African team closest to the top of the standings, in 18th place with one gold two bronze medals while South Africa are joint 19th with three others with one gold one bronze medals. NAN reports that 44 countries had already won at least one medal as at the close of proceedings at the Games which had its opening ceremony on Wednesday, Aug. 29. The Games is scheduled to come to a close on Sunday, Sept. 9. (NAN)

Tenth on medals table Nigeria moved to 10th place on the medals table at the end of proceedings on Friday in London at the 2012 Paralympic Games with two gold and two silver medals. After winning a gold medal on the first day of competition on Thursday through Yakubu Adesokan who also set a new world and Paralympic record, Nigeria added three medals a day later. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ivory Nwokorie won a gold medal in women's -44 kg powerlifting, while Ikechukwu Obichukwu won the silver in men's 52 kg powerlifting. According to Games reports monitored from Abuja by NAN, Anthony Ulonnam added to Nigeria's powerlifting haul with another silver medal later in the day, winning in the men's -56 kg. This took to four so far Nigeria's

Emenike vows to shock Barca Nigeria striker Emmanuel Emenike has tipped his Russian club Spartak Moscow to shock mighty Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. Spartak Moscow, who eliminated Fenerbache of Turkey in the playoffs, have been drawn against Barcelona, Benfica and Celtic in Group C of the competition. Celtic have Nigeria midfielder Rabiu Ibrahim. ”The group is tight as all the teams in group stage of the competition are good for the title, but there are always favourites,” Emenike said. “We will not be a pushover to Barcelona and the other teams. I

know people don't rate us as one of the favourites but we can make history as we will shock everybody. We are capable of going all the way to beat Barcelona and all the teams in our group.” He added: “I am not afraid of Barcelona and I am sure same goes for my team mates. Our coach will be a big factor in the game against Barcelona as he has played and beaten them while in Spain and that can still happen. We only respect them as they play the best brand of football around, but we won't be intimidated”.

Supercup Chelsea vs Atletico Madrid 1-4

Continues from back page Premier League debut, a 10 win against Sunderland.[9] Shortly after signing for West Bromwich Albion, photographs showed Lokomotiv Moscow fans celebrating the sale of Odemwingie through the use of racist banners targeted at the player.One banner included the image of a banana and read "Thanks West Brom".Before West Brom's game against Tottenham Hotspur in September 2010, it was announced that West Brom fans would unfurl a banner to counter the racist one, the banner read 'Thanks Lokomotiv' and is accompanied by a picture of Odemwingie celebrating his winner on his debut against Sunderland. Odemwingie scored again for West Brom as they defeated Arsenal 32 at the Emirates Stadium on 25 September 2010. Odemwingie scored a brace for West Brom on 5 December 2010, as they defeated fellow promoted side Newcastle United 31 at the Hawthorns. On 19 March 2011, Arsenal travelled to the Hawthorns. The reverse fixture saw West Brom win 32 away from home, this time they were able to secure a 22 draw. Odemwingie scored the second goal for West Brom which brought his season tally in the Premier League to 10 goals, only two behind Robert Earnshaw's Premier League record for the club.[14] 9 April saw West Brom travel to the Stadium of Light to play Sunderland. Odemwingie continued to impress and scored a goal in the 29th minute to level the scores. His side eventually won 32, three points significantly helping his side's survival hopes. After the game, he announced his desire to keep on playing well for West Brom by aiming to score 15 league goals. On 16 April Odemwingie edged closer to this personal target when he became West Brom's joint top goalscorer ever in a single season in the Premier League with a goal against Chelsea, bringing his tally to 12. Because of his continued success in his debut season in England, Odemwingie was reportedly targeted by a number of big clubs, including Italian giants Juventus.But Odemwingie along with his agent shunned these moves, saying that he desires to play for West Brom next season and that he is happy there. Odemwingie continued his fine form, scoring a lovely curling effort with his left foot in the fifth minute against Tottenham Hotspur. This brought him on to 13 league goals for the season, and meant that he had scored four in his last five games. On 30 April, Odemwingie became the first player in West Brom's Premier League

history to score in four consecutive games. This goal came against Aston Villa and meant he had scored 15 goals thus far in his debut season. It would also contribute to Odemwingie's second Premier League Player of the Month award of the season. Odemwingie is only the sixth man to have received the accolade twice in a season in the award's history. His side faced Everton at the Hawthorns on 14 May and Odemwingie provided an assist for Youssuf Mulumbu to score the only goal of the game. The result put West Brom on 46 points, bolstering their chances of finishing as the Midlands' highest placed club in the Premier League. On 30 April 2011, it was reported in the Birmingham Mail that Australian confectionary business owner and Albion fan Spencer Samaroo had promised to deliver a hamper of Australia's finest chocolate bars to Odemwingie should he reach 15 goals for the club that season. Nonetheless, Odemwingie ended the 201011 season as West Bromwich Albion's top goalscorer with a club record of 15 league goals. 201112 On 18 August it was announced that Odemwingie had signed a new three-year agreement with West Bromwich Albion, after a £4,000,000 bid from Wigan Athletic was turned down by the club.[28] After some injury setbacks, he scored his first goal of the 201112 season away to Norwich City, pouncing on a confusion between Richie De Laet and Declan Rudd. Odemwingie's second goal of the season came in the Black Country derby, where West Bromwich Albion defeated Wolves 20. Odemwingie scored a spectacular goal at Ewood Park, Blackburn on 17 December, putting West Brom into a late lead after James Morrison had scored a stunning volley earlier in the half.] The result put West Brom up to 13th in the table heading into the busy Christmas period and gave Odemwingie his third league goal of the season. Odemwingie opened the scoring in the twentieth minute of the Baggies next fixture at Newcastle United, a 32 victory, on Tuesday 21 December. The result extended Newcastle's winless run in the Premier League to 6 games, put West Brom up to 10 and sealed their first victory at Newcastle in the league since 1977. On 12 February, Odemwingie scored his first hat trick for the club in a 5-1 victory over Black Country rival Wolverhampton Wanderers.

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Vol. 1 No. 1, Monday, September 3 – Sunday, September 9, 2012

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SPORTS STAR Peter Odemwingie

...for Equity and Justice

Back page comment

Abolish Hisbah (Islamic Police) now, Ohanaeze tells Jonathan  State Police operational in Northern States

hanaeze Ndigbo Kano chapter has been following the hitting debate on the proposed state police. With keen interest, we have been monitoring utterances and positions of concerned individuals and groups on the issue. We are aware of the dramatic turns the issue took at the Governors' Forum. In as much as we are not surprise at the stand of the northern governors against the establishment of state police, we hereby make an urgent call to President Goodluck Jonathan to open his eyes on the activities of the Hisbah Guards in Northern Nigeria. Over the years, the North has been running state police on the disguise of Hisbah Guards. We have pragmatic evidence of the victimization of our people by armed Hisbah Guards who were given powers to waylay, arrest, fine and prosecute their victims. In Kano alone, Igbo business men have lost billions of Naira on the several attacks by the Hisbah Guards targeted at their lives and business concerns. The same situation are recorded in Minna, Kaduna, Bauchi, Maiduguri, Zamfara and other parts of the North where the Hisbah Guards otherwise known as Shariah Police are holding sway. It is also pertinent to note that northern governors fund Hisbah Guards with tax payers' money. In as much as Ohanaeze Ndigbo would not want to dabble into the politics of state police, we call on President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, enact a law abolishing Hisbah and other militant organizations being sponsored with government funds. There is no gainsaying the fact that the proliferation of militant o rg a n i z a t i o n s s u c h a s H i s b a h contributed hugely to the spate of insecurity and socio-religious violence that have become the bane in the northern region. It is on this note that Ohanaeze Ndigbo begin to suspect that a group of northern political leaders are, indeed, very much aware of the activities of northern militants in the fashion of Boko Haram who have vowed to Islamize the northern states. That up till now, no serious steps have been taken by northern leaders to put to a stop the menace of terrorists in that region left much to be desired. We decry the non-challant attitude of notable leaders like former Heads of state, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, General Yakubu Gowon and Shehu Shagari who have not deemed it right to look into nagging security challenges facing the

region. We are, indeed, very much concerned that the activities of Hisbah and the Boko Haram are primarily targeted at non-indigenes resident in the North, particularly, Ndigbo. We, thereby, implore President Goodluck Jonathan to take drastic measures towards solving security problems threatening the foundation of this country. We believe that instead of wasting time and resources in the debate for and against state police, the

peacefully at any part of the country without fear of molestation and oppression by any group or individual in the name of ethnicity or religion. From the body language of northern political leaders, one would not be far from saying the truth if it is said that they have consciously refused to stop the uprising of terrorists in their region in furtherance to their agitation over power shift. We cannot forget in hurry Peter Osaze Odemwingie (Russian: born 15 July 1981) is a Soviet-born Nigerian footballer who plays for Premier League club West Bromwich Albion as a striker. His name, Osaze, means "God chooses (for you)”. Brought up in Russia, Odemwingie chose to pledge his allegiances to the national team of Nigeria, although he was also eligible for Russia and Uzbekistan.

Chief Tobias Michael Idika, Ohanaeze Ndigbo best thing to do at this critical time of the nation's history is to overhaul all the security agencies with a view to repositioning them better to wage meaningful war against terrorism. In this case, we strongly submit that it will be to the best interest of the country if the presidency, Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission deem it right to post nonMuslim Police Commissioners to states where the Boko Haram insurgents are reigning supreme so as to do away with the syndrome of compromise. We say this because there have been cases where bad eggs within the security agencies aid terrorists to carry out their nefarious activities. It is high time President Jonathan and those in position of authority rose up to tackle the issue of insecurity once and for all. The blood of over four thousand innocent Nigerians who have been hit down by the bullets and bombs of the dreaded Islamic terror group and their cohorts should not be in vain. It is the responsibility and obligation of the government to protect lives and property of its citizens. Nigerians have the right to feel at home and leave

inflammatory statements credited to powerful leaders from the North who threatened fire and brimstone over President Jonathan's victory in the last Presidential election. The Presidency and security agencies are duty bound to review those statements for doing so will give the right clue on how to crackdown on the sponsors of these terrorists holding the country to ransom. Nigeria belongs to all of us. We should be treated as equal people no matter where we come frombe it North, South, West or East. Ohanaeze Ndigbo believes in one and indivisible Nigeria, but what we cannot tolerate is the continuous oppression and persecution of our people. Once again, we urge the Presidency to abolish Hisbah and other security outfits established in northern Nigeria, in the interest of peace. President Jonathan should revisit the decision of former President Olusegun Obasnajo who outlawed Hisbah for obvious reasons that we have already highlighted. By Chief Tobias Michael Idika, President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Kano Chapter.

Club career Early career Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Soviet Union, Odemwingie played in the youth systems at KAMAZ and CSKA.[4] He first plied his trade with Nigerian Premier League side Bendel Insurance, where he scored 19 goals in 53 league appearances from 2000 to 2002.[4] He signed for Belgian club La Louvière in 2002 and made his mark by helping the club to win the Belgian Cup in his first season. Scoring nine goals in 44 appearances attracted the attention of the French Ligue 1 side Lille OSC and before long he was a starter in the first team playing in the French Ligue 1. Famous for his technique and pace, the Nigerian player was being monitored by a number of prestigious European clubs.[5] Odemwingie indicated that he wanted to stay at Lille and help them fight for the league the following season and scored five league goals for them in the 200607 season[citation needed] as well as two against A.C. Milan at the San Siro to take Lille to the UEFA Champions League knockout stages. Odemwingie playing for Lokomotiv Moscow in 2008 However, on 16 July 2007, he signed for Lokomotiv Moscow for a reported fee of $14 million on a four-year contract. In three seasons for Lokomotiv, Odemwingie became the driving force of the attack and one of their most important players. During his time at Lokomotiv Stadium, Odemwingie managed 21 goals in the Russian Premier League from 75 games. West Bromwich Albion On 20 August 2010 Odemwingie signed for English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion for an undisclosed fee on a two-year contract, with the option of a third year in the club's favour. A day later, he scored the 81st-minute winning goal on his

Continues on page 39

Published by THE ADVOCATE Newspapers Ltd, Corporate Office: No. 30 Edinburgh Road, Ogui New Layout, Enugu Phone: 08087631127. Editor: Larry Onwuta 08080803085. E-mail: editor@theadvocatengr.com, ditoradvocate@ymail.com Website: www.theadvocatengr.com