Mon 21 Apr 2014

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Monday, April 21, 2014

Vol. 30, No. 12,898

www.ngrguardiannews.com

N150

B’Haram can’t break up Nigeria, says Jonathan From Mohammed Abubakar (Abuja) and Olalekan Okusan (Lagos) (with agency report) RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday vowed that the Boko Haram members unleashing terror in Nigeria would not suc-

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ceed in breaking up the country.

In a related development, Pope Francis has called for a ‘halt to the brutal attacks in Nigeria, denouncing the “immense wastefulness” in the world while many go

Pope seeks end to killings by terrorist group hungry. He also called for an end to conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Africa.

The President reiterated his earlier position that the menace of the group was

temporary and argued that Nigeria would remain one despite all acts of terror or aggression aimed at disintegrating the country.

In his comments while play-

ing host to stakeholders from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) led by the Minister, Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, who paid him an Easter homage, the Presi-

dent said Nigeria’s unity was very critical at this stage of its development.

Recalling the unity exhibited by sympathisers during the Nyanya bomb blast as Nigerians ignored their reliCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

PDP has not started campaigning for 2015, says official – Page 3

APC postpones congresses for security meeting –Page 3 Oritsejafor, Ademowo, Chukwuma task Nigerians on sacrifice – Page 5

15 feared killed in Taraba, five-year old girl set ablaze in Bauchi –Page 6

Members of Choir and Orchestra of The Apostolic Faith Church during the 2014 Easter Concert of the church in Anthony, Lagos… yesterday.

PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Ministry releases first, second quarter fuel allocation to marketers From Collins Olayinka (Abuja) and Roseline Okere (Lagos)

S part of strategies to enA sure availability of fuel nationwide, the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,

has approved allocation of 1,854, 314 metric tonnes of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), known as petrol, as supplementary volumes for first and second quarters of this year.

It is a strategic move by the

• Govt declares ‘operation zero’ on fuel queues • NNPC denies rift between minister, GMD Federal Government to ensure quick disappearance of fuel queues, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corpo-

ration (NNPC) said at the weekend.

Meanwhile, the corporation dismissed insinuations

that there was a rift between its group managing director, Andrew Yakubu, and Alison-Madueke who is also the chairman of its board.

The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Divi-

sion of the NNPC, Ohi Alegbe, in a statement yesterday explained that the supplementary volume for first quarter quota is 750, 000 metric tonnes and the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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2 Monday, April 21, 2014

Govt declares ‘operation zero’ on fuel queues CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 and its downstream sub- Madueke and Yakubu have months have heeded count- minister and the corpora- Natural Gas (NLNG), saying second quarter June only sidiary, the Pipelines and a harmonious working rela- less number of summons tion are putting together all the NNPC would remain fovolume is 1,104, 318 metric Products Marketing Com- tionship and dismissed from the National Assembly the documents that the cused on its core mandate pany (PPMC), as well as the some reports of a phantom wondering why the media House of Representatives of guaranteeing energy suftonnes.

He noted that while the Department of Petroleum frosty relationship between would go to town with the Committee on Public Ac- ficiency for the country.

The NNPC spokesman disfirst quarter supplemen- Resources (DPR), are work- the two key figures in the oil report that she was doing count had requested for, gas industry. everything to thwart the stressing that at the end of missed the reports in its entary volume is designed to ing in concert with other and Alegbe described the re- proposed investigation in- the probe, she and the tirety and implored media complement the earlier al- key downstream operators location in addition to cov- to ensure the realisation of ports as figment of the over- to the alleged N10 billion NNPC would be vindicated. practitioners to adhere to Alegbe averred that the ethics of journalism ering any under delivery by the zero fuel queues aspira- heated imagination of the purportedly expended on the charter of jets by the cor- Yakubu was in London last which holds facts as sacred marketers due to unfore- tion of the Petroleum Re- authors. week for the board meeting and recommends that Minister.

Alegbe said the minister poration. seen financial challenges, sources He maintained that the of the Nigerian Liquefied when in doubt, leave out.

Alegbe said Alison- and the NNPC in the last few the second quarter (June only) quota is in consonance with the national consumption pattern of 40 million litres per day.

The NNPC spokesman also noted that the second quarter quota also captures a 23 per cent upper tolerance in the event of default or slippage into July.

“There are 27 oil marketing companies with proven performance records enlisted in respect of first quarter deliveries. For second quarter (June only), there are 40 marketers with good performance records and whose facilities are functional. The idea of June only is to revert back to the normal quarterly sequence, i.e.

July-September and October-December,” he said.

On measures to ensure full compliance in line with the aspiration of zero fuel queues, Alegbe noted that the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), the body with the statutory responsibility in this regard, has inserted a provision in the allocation document which allows for the deduction of equivalent volume from the defaulting marketer’s subsequent allocation in event of slippage or default. Chief Imam, Abuja Central Mosque, Ustaz

(left); President Goodluck Jonathan and Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), FCT Chapter, Rev. Musa Mohammed He noted that PPPRA, NNPC Israel Akanji, during an Easter homage to the President by FCT residents in Abuja… yesterday.

Pope seeks end to killings by Boko Haram CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 gious faiths and tribes to rescue victims and even donated more blood for the injured than was needed, the President asked those who think they can break up the country with terror to perish their thought.

Reiterating that Nigeria would overcome its numerous obstacles, Jonathan said he was working with his cabinet to ensure that it happens even as he urged other tiers of government and Nigerians to join hands in the efforts to find solutions

to challenges like unemployment.

He added: “Those who think this country will divide, those who think the country will be divided into North, South, East and West will be disappointed. No way. Boko Haram will not disintegrate this country.”

Admitting that the nation was going through some challenges, the President said: “Yes, as a nation, we are having tribulations but surely, Nigeria has hope. Surely, we will overcome these tribulations. Most of you are aware that when Nyanya was bombed, Nigerians from all religions and tribes participated in the evacuation of people who were injured even before security arrived.

People donated more blood than is required.

“That shows that no criminal group funded within or outside this country that can separate us. No criminal group will disintegrate this country. Boko Haram will come and go. We are working very hard, we are chang-

ing our approaches, God’s willing, we will end Boko Haram.

“We have challenges. We have issue of unemployment, not too long ago; there was this ugly development at the Immigration Service because of level of unemployment and partial employment. Some are doing jobs that do not meet their qualifications, they are partially employed. So, when you talk of employment in Customs or Immigration, you will see everybody rushing there.

“To you my brethren, I thank all of you for your prayers and I promise that myself and those working with me will do our best to bring development to this country.”

Just like the government at the federal level, the President also challenged states and local councils to join hands with his administration in tackling the security challenges as well as the provision of jobs for the teeming unemployed Nigerian youths, rather than trading blames and finding faults in only the Federal Government.

He said: “States are semi-autonomous. The President does not control states or local councils’ resources. Gov-

ernors and local council chairmen control their resources. If all of us work in concert, we will solve most of our problems instead of trading blames. Government is one. God’s willing, we will get to where we want to be.”

The President also underscored the Easter which celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the most important celebration in Christendom, without which there would be no hope for mankind.

According to him: “Without the resurrection, our hope will be in vain. But with the resurrection, there is hope”, he said.

The FCT minister presented an Easter card to the President while Senator Smart Adeyemi commended the President for having faith in God which is why he also believed that the country would overcome its challenges.

“We are happy to have a President who trusts in God. Nigeria will triumph over its challenges. Mr. President you will succeed”, he said.

Also in the delegation were Senator Philip Aduda; Chief Imam of Central Mosque, Abuja, Ustaz Musa Mohammed; Secretary of the

Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Primate of Anglican Church, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, who prayed for true unity in Nigeria that cuts across borders, faiths and tribes.

Others included Ministers of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu (Health), Edem Duke (Culture), Aminu Wali (Foreign Affairs), Abba Moro (Interior), Sarah Reng Ochekpe (Water Resources) and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim.

In his Easter message before a huge crowd yesterday, Pope said: “We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all wars and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent,” he said in his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message.

Specifically, he was making an apparent reference to Nigerian Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, which last week abducted some 130 girls from a school in the North of the country.

The Pope, who was marking the second Easter season of his pontificate, celebrated a Mass to an overflowing crowd of at least 150,000 in St. Peter’s Square and beyond.

Speaking under a sunny sky after a midnight rainstorm soaked the tens of thousands of flowers that bedecked the square, Francis weaved his message around the suffering of people across the globe.

He prayed to God to “help us overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible.”

Since his election as the first non-European Pope in 1,300 years, Francis had made defence of the poor a hallmark of his papacy, often criticising developed nations and the excesses of capitalism and consumerism.

The 77-year-old Pope, wearing white vestments for the service, prayed for the protection of those members of the society who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and abandonment - women, children, the elderly and immigrants.

Easter is the most important day on the liturgical calendar because it commemorates the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion and the Church sees it as a symbol of hope, peace and reconciliation among peoples and nations.

Monday, April 21, 2014 NEWS

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News APC postpones congresses for security meeting

Agoro seeks peace confab to end killings

HE All Progressives Congress (APC) has postponed its state congresses scheduled for Wednesday, April 23rd, to allow its governors attend the rescheduled expanded National Security Council meeting fixed for that day to discuss the security situation in the country.

In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the postponement (to Saturday, April 26th) is a confirmation of the party’s stated stand to be part of all genuine efforts to end the insurgency in the country, and its strong belief that bipartisanship must replace the crass partisanship of the presidency and the ruling party if the security crisis is to be overcome.

ORMER presidential canFAction didate of the National Council (NAC), Dr.

From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan

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FG expands Ebonyi bridge From Nnamdi Akpa, Abakaliki HE Federal Government T has begun expansion of the Iyiokwu Bridge along Onwe road in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State to checkmate flooding which had over the years ravaged the locality and led to destruction of properties worth millions of naira.

It was gathered that the residents had over the years suffered flooding caused by overflowing of Inyoku River coupled with the low and narrowness of the bridge, making it difficult for water to pass under it.

Addressing newsmen in Abakaliki after the commencement of work at Onwe road, the Commissioner for Works, Mr. Chukwuma Nwandugo, noted that last year flood took over some parts of the area, including a hotel belonging to former state Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Hope High International School located along Onwe Road Abakaliki and the G-Spot, a popular relaxation centre adjacent the school.

Pope Francis delivering the traditional ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing for Rome and the world from the balcony of St. Peter’s basilica during PHOTO: AFP Easter celebrations at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican.

‘PDP has not started campaigning’ HE Peoples Democratic T Party (PDP) had only been receiving new members into its fold and not campaigning for general elections coming up in 2015, the party’s Chairman in Plateau, Dr Haruna Dabin, has explained.

Dabin told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos yesterday that this was in consonance with the fact that ``a political party is just a social mobilisation outfit. PDP cannot start any campaigns now because it has no candidate for the 2015 elections yet.’’

The ruling party had come under heavy criticisms by both the opposition and po-

litical analysts over its rallies in some state capitals.

NAN recalls that such rallies had taken place in Kano, Enugu, Sokoto, Kaduna, Bauchi, Minna and Owerri, among others.

According to Dabin, people were merely confusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) position on the matter and the statutory responsibility of political parties. ``A political party is just a social mobilisation outfit; what the PDP has been doing lately is to receive new members into its fold and that does not translate into campaigns. It is not the first time

political parties are receiving new entrants. You remember that the APC started it by receiving even governors and senators that defected to their fold. No one accused them of campaigning. ``Again, it is also fair to draw a line between President Goodluck Jonathan and Goodluck Jonathan as PDP member.

When Jonathan visited Sokoto, Owerri, Kano and the other towns recently, he did so in his capacity as a PDP member and not necessarily as President. It is always good and fair to draw the line,’’ he said.

Dabin noted that there have been calls for Jonathan to seek a second tenure, but said the President is yet to declare his stand on the matter. ``You campaign if there are candidates or aspirants, but there is none now. So, for whom shall we campaign?

And what shall we be saying?

All we are doing now is receiving defectors and as far as I know, no INEC law forbids that,’’ he declared.

Dabin appealed to politicians and political analysts to be fair to the President in their interpretations of such visits, stressing that PDP is a law abiding outfit that would always respect due processes.

Senator cautions Taraba acting gov against borrowing N34b From Bridget Chiedu Onochie (Abuja) and Charles Akpeji (Jalingo) HAIRMAN of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Emmanuel Bwacha, has cautioned Taraba State Acting Governor, Garba Umar, against going ahead with his alleged plan to borrow N34 billion ahead of the 2015 governorship poll.

The planned loan, Bwacha said, include N30 billion bond being negotiated with the United Bank of Africa Plc and a N4 billion being allegedly sought from the Skye Bank.

Bwacha said at the weekend that besides the loans, the state pays salaries of government workers through monthly borrowings.

“We are aware that N30 bil-

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• ‘Stakeholders never agreed on zoning’ lion bond is being negotiated with UBA Plc and there is also a N4 billion loan sought from Skye Bank Plc. This is outside of the monthly borrowing that is done to pay salaries. In essence, Taraba is being run aground and I feel for the state. We are praying to God to give him wisdom, otherwise, the future of our children is very bleak and I don’t want us to wish that for our children in the future.

“As I speak, every Taraban knows that the state is in a deep financial crisis,” he said.

Bwacha further alleged that the outbreak of violence in Wukari at the weekend, between some Fulani herdsmen and the indigenous people of

the area, which resulted in the loss of about 77 people was not the handiwork of Fulani herdsmen.

According to him, the lingering clashes between the ethnic groups in Taraba State should be blamed on the ambition of some powerful cabal to prevent power shift to the southern part of the state.

“The thinking by those perpetuating and fueling this crisis is to create the impression that the region is crisis-ridden and so does not deserve its fair share of the power equation being sought for.

“While I caution this cabal in charge to know that God has his own plan for the state, I appeal to those in-charge of af-

fairs in the state to please, in the interest of future Tarabans and the generations yet unborn, put on hold their plans for indiscriminate borrowing that is now going on in the state.”

But the traditional ruler of Wukari (Aku Uka), Shakarau Angyu, has refuted Bwacha’s claims on the crises. Angyu rather blamed the incidents on Fulani herdsmen, whom, he said, ignited the crises.

The ruler urged Umar to review the 24-hour curfew imposed on the town so that people could go out to buy food and attend to some of their needs.

Meanwhile, the senator representing Taraba South district,

Alhassan Aisha Jumai, has described zoning of political offices in the state as unconstitutional, urging the agitators of power shift in Taraba come next political dispensation to as a matter of urgency drop the request.

Answering questions from newsmen at the weekend in her residence in Jalingo metropolis, she declared that “there was never a time that stakeholders in the state sat to agree on zoning.

My take is that zoning is unconstitutional and the grand norm of this country is the constitution. Zoning is unconstitutional and any agreement that is contrary to the constitution is null and void.

“There was never a time that there was an agreement about zoning in Taraba State.”

Olapade Agoro, yesterday said the recurring Boko Haram and other insurgencies in the country can only be resolved through the convocation of a national peace conference and not the ongoing national constitutional conference.

Agoro, in an interactive session with reporters in Ibadan, lamented the spate of killings across the country and concluded that “Nigeria is presently on fire.”

“You can’t discuss constitutional problems when the nation is at war with itself,” he added.

Agoro also faulted the composition of the on-going national conference which he described as selective and not truly representative of all interests in the country.

“Who is representing the Boko Haram at the confab?

Whatever you say there is not binding on them. In the same vein, who is representing the Fulani herdsmen, the oil bunkerers, the kidnappers, the Egbessus, the Bakassis and the MASSOB at the confab?,” Agoro queried.

While maintaining that a national peace conference would proffer an enduring solution to the insurgencies in the nation, Agoro expressed the hope that those behind Boko Haram, Bakassi, Egbesu and other allied interest groups would definitely show up to formally express their grievances and the way forward by the time such a peace dialogue is convened in the country.

On how a peace conference could be organised, the NAC boss said: “First and foremost, we have Nigerians in religious divides as you are either a Christian, a Muslim or a traditionalist. Make it elective among them. Call the body of Christians and say we need your representative at that conference, give us but it will be elective not selective. We would have convened a conference among ourselves and in the process, elect those who will represent us.

Muslims would have done so and traditionalists would have done so. In the process, those feeling offended, you call them Boko Haram or insurgents, would have come out and say, okay, we want to be part of that peace conference.

They would have showed face directly or indirectly.”

Agoro insisted that nothing positive will come out of the on-going national confab which he described as a time-wasting exercise.

He expressed concern that with President Goodluck Jonathan’s pronouncement in Kano last Tuesday, the President had underscored the fact that electoral process in Nigeria has been monetised, saying he may be compelled to go to court and challenge him on his involvement in money politics.

4 NEWS Monday, April 21, 2014

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Last week most troubling, says Shettima ITH a heart filled with W grief, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State yesterday said last week was most troubling since he assumed office in May 2011.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Shettima stated this in an Easter message by his spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau in Maiduguri.

The governor was reacting to last Tuesday’s abduction of students of Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

“Although we have witnessed dark days of insurgency inherited by the administration, none of the attacks have been more troubling as the abduction of young girls by deadly insurgents. I have seen very serious moments since I became the governor of Borno in 2011 at a period of insurgent crisis. I have seen many innocent lives lost for no reason and I mourn every life lost with empathy and high sense of responsibility. But the last one week have been my worst days as a governor and even the worst in my life.

“I am troubled as a father, as a leader and as a politician. First, as a father, any time my young daughter comes around me in the last one week at the Government House, my heart beats very fast, my heart becomes so heavy and I develop serious headache. Because when I look into the eyes of my young daughter, I wonder what the parents of the girls are feeling. Their loving daughters are either in the hands of abductors in fear and desperation for freedom or wandering somewhere looking for safety while parents do not know the status of their children,” he said.

Shettima added that two more girls escaped from the abductors’ den on Saturday, bringing the total number of those who escaped to 47.

“Last night, two more girls escaped from captivity, bringing to 47 the number of those with us out of 129 students that were at the hostel on the day of that attack. This means 82 students are yet to be found. We must, therefore, remain united in our shared grief to pray vehemently for our girls as well as the patriotic security agencies and civilian volunteers currently in relentless search and rescue efforts.

“I once again call on parents and guardians to return any student that might have ran home on the day of that attack, so that we can take records to ascertain our missing students. I call on our Christian parents, brothers and sisters to use the Easter period to intensify prayers for the freedom of our daughters, the return of peace in Borno and the rest of Nigeria.

“I also urge all of us to sacrifice our time to support grieving parents and relations, we should be our brothers’ keepers in sacrifice and forgiveness, which is what the Easter symbolizes,” he said.

Residents wading through the flood at Aboru after the heavy rain in Lagos... yesterday

African health ministers summit ends, adopts six agenda Communicable diseases in Africa: policies and strategies to address risk factors; Ending preventable maternal and child deaths in Africa; Establishment of an African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; and accountability mechanisms to assess implementation of declarations and other commitments.

“Note with satisfaction the progress achieved in the field of health during recent years and recognize the myriad of challenges confronting public health services which continue to hamper progress towards the desired inclusive human development of the content.

“Reinforce our determination to make concrete efforts and take effective actions to employ more robust and integrated multi-sectoral approaches towards the realization of our joint commitments.

“Commit to the effective implementation of the six commitments adopted during our meeting on Universal Health Coverage; African Medicines Agency; Non

Communicable Diseases in Africa: policies and strategies to address risk factors; Ending Preventable Maternal and Child Deaths in Africa; Establishment of an African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention; and Accountability Mechanism to assess implementation of declarations and other commitments.

“Request the African Union Commission and the World Health Organisation in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to support implementation of and facilitate monitoring and evaluation of these commitments, and report to subsequent joint meetings.

“Express appreciation to the government and people of the Republic of Angola for hosting and sponsoring the meeting.

“Accept offer of the Republic of Tunisia to host the second AUC and WHO Joint Meeting of African Ministers of Health from 20 to 21 April 2016.

“Recommend that AUC and WHO, in consultation with the Member States, initiate a process towards holding only one African ministers of health gathering every year.”

ing members of Oko Youth Movement. The masquerade society, just like any other in Igbo communities, is a traditional secret cult in Oko. Its members are mostly the elders and some few young persons.”

Ezeokafor also called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to arrest Igwe Ekwueme and the President General of OPU, Nwamuo, among others who, according to him, planned and unleashed terror against the community and breached the peace in the area.

Also addressing newsmen, the Public Relations Officer of Oko Polytechnic, Mr. Obini Onuchukwu, said that Nwamuo was merely trying to

ridicule Prof. Onu by linking him with the crisis, even as he demanded apology from the Oko community.

“We, therefore, plead that Oko community should leave the rector alone to concentrate on the discharge of his duties in the polytechnic. The crisis is purely the community’s affair; it has nothing to do with the institution,” Onuchukwu said.

Igwe Ekwueme could not be reached.

However, the Chairman of Orumba North local council, Chief Okey Enekwe, has set up a five-member panel to look into the crisis in the community. The panel is headed by Chief Paul Nwafor, with Mr. Chijioke Onuorah as secretary.

From Chukwuma Muanya, Luanda, Angola

• Blames rise in chronic diseases on tobacco, alcohol, others

HE first Ministers of Health T meeting jointly organised by the African Union

trol and prevention; and accountability mechanisms to assess the implementation of declarations and other commitments made by African ministers of health.

The ministers also accepted the offer of the Republic of Tunisia to host the second AUC and WHO Joint Meeting of African Ministers of Health from April 20 to 21, 2016.

They expressed concern that despite the rise in NCDs, many governments in Africa had been unable to meet the ever-expanding needs for legislation, policies and regulatory frameworks such as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that protect populations and individuals from exposure to risk factors for NCDs. The ministers also committed themselves to ensuring that the health of women and children in Africa is guaranteed through the full implementation of policies, strategies and initiatives that promote the reduction of preventable maternal, newborn and child health initiatives and services including nutrition.

Commission (AUC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) ended yesterday in Luanda, Angola with the adoption of motion for effective implementation of six commitments tagged “Luanda Declaration.”

The summit also observed that an increase in tobacco trade and consumption, harmful use of alcohol, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet as well as harmful emissions from cooking stoves particularly in rural settings had contributed to rise in Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in the region.

The six commitments are to take concrete actions: towards the attainment of universal health coverage in Africa by 2020; setting milestones towards establishment of African Medicines Agency; on policies and strategies to address risk factors on non communicable diseases; ending preventable maternal and child deaths in Africa; establishment of an African centre for disease con-

The Luanda Declaration reads: “We, the African Ministers of Health met in Luanda, Angola, from 14 to 17 April 2014 at a historic first African Union Commission and World Health Organisation (AU-WHO) joint meeting. The meeting has its origin in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the AUC and the WHO signed in July 2012 as a collaborative mechanism that seeks to enhance political and technical advancement of Africa’s human development agenda and the proposal by the 6th Ordinary Session of the Conference of African Ministers of Health held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2013 and subsequently endorsed by the AU Assembly in January 2014 to convene the Joint AU-WHO African Ministers of Health Meeting.

“Having deliberated substantively on the following key issues of critical concern; Universal Health Coverage in Africa: from concept to action; African Medicines Agency; setting milestones towards establishment; Non

Youths demand removal of Oko monarch From Uzoma Nzeagwu, Awka HE lingering crisis in Oko T community of Anambra State took a different and dangerous dimension at the weekend following the death of a masquerade, who was allegedly shot, as the youth in the town have now called on the state government to depose the traditional ruler, Igwe (Prof.) Laz Ekwueme, whom they accused of masterminding the crisis.

The call came on the heels of a 24-hour ultimatum given the President General of Oko Progressive Union (OPU), Mr. Cyprain Nwamuo, by the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, to tender an unreserved apology

Rector demands apology from community for dragging its Rector, Prof.

Godwin Onu, into the matter.

It was alleged that soldiers invited by the monarch to stop the youths from performing the community’s ongoing annual Afia Olu festival shot and killed one of the masquerades, thereby causing more confusion in the town.

An eyewitness said that one of the soldiers, apparently to scare the masquerades, accidently shot one of them, who collapsed and died.

Addressing newsmen in Awka yesterday on the latest development, the President of OPU youth wing, Mr. Hilary

Ezeokafor, said their monarch has so much terrorized the natives that he was no longer fit to reign over them.

He also called on the Federal Government to remove the traditional ruler from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), where he is chairman. He denied that the Oko Youth Movement engaged in any form of protest, insisting that the movement is not an affiliate of Oko Masquerade Society.

According to him, “it is therefore a fallacy that the soldiers shot at the rampag-

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Edo lawmaker denies defection reports, flays critics Ondo APC members join PDP Reacting to a recent publiFrom Niyi Bello (Akure) and cation on the chances of Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin City) HE senator representing Edo North District in the National Assembly and member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Domingo Obende has denied his reported defection to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying it was planned to detract and misinform his people.

Reacting yesterday to a national newspaper report (not in The Guardian) about his imminent defection, Obende told The Guardian that he remains focused and knows the meaning of shame, adding that defection is not even in his dictionary.

“It is not in my character and will never be in my character because every political stand anybody takes has a local stand,” he said. “APC is the party where I belong and that is where I registered and I participated in and I want to belong to APC.” Nevertheless, the PDP in Ondo State at the weekend received scores of APC members, led by a House of Representatives candidate in the 2011 election, Femi Adekanmbi, who formerly joined the party during a rally in Owo. Also at the event, some aggrieved members of the ruling Labour Party (LP) from nearby Emure-Ile in Owo Local Council, defected to PDP. Adekanmbi, who contested under the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), said he decided to join the PDP with his supporters in order to back President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term ambition.

Meanwhile, several groups yesterday backed Obende’s re-election bid, saying he deserved a second term, just as they alleged that appointees of the state government, despite warnings by the Governor Adams Oshiomhole, were still using their official positions to further the interest of some aspirants for the same position.

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A lawyer, Olurotimi Williams (left); Bishop of Lagos Cathedral Church of Christ, Most Rev. E. Adebola Ademowo and Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire during Easter Sunday service in Lagos… yesterday.

Oritsejafor, Ademowo, Chukwuma task Nigerians on sacrifice From Saxone Akhaine (Kaduna), Chris Irekamba, Isaac Taiwo, Kenechukwu Ezeonyejiaku (Lagos), Charles Coffie Gyamfi (Abeokuta), Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin City) and Gordi Udeajah S Christians across the A world celebrate the resurrection of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, yesterday, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor has called on Nigerians to imbibe the virtues of Christ, who laid down His life for the sins of the world.

In his Easter message in Abuja, the cleric implored Nigerians to emulate Christ, the Prince of Peace, and live peaceably with one another irrespective of religious, tribal or political differences for the progress of the country. He described Easter as the pillar of Christianity, stating that Christ’s death and resurrection are the basis for the Christian faith.

“The sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, which signifies total redemption for mankind, was a lesson for leaders in the nation to emulate and realise that their call, too, is call to sacrifice, not to lord over people and keep on grabbing those things that they are supposed to use to improve the lives of those they are governing,” he said.

Also, former Dean of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and Diocesan Bishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Adebola Ademowo, called on Nigerians to emulate Christ’s simple life and strive to be good citizens.

“We should begin to see Nigeria as a country worth sacrificing for,” he said. “Our values and attitudes should be revived, which I believe would contribute to solving the socio-economic crisis, insecurity, wrong perceptions of ourselves and the evil vices plaguing our nation today.”

Ademowo said it was time Nigerians realised that life is sacred and those shedding the blood of innocent souls, maiming and destroying people should know that these acts are not justifiable, as

• ACF urges Christians to pray against insurgency, others • Orji gives recipe for attaining ideal nation blood is life and life belongs to God. “Whatever the grievances, no one has right to take the life of another and therefore, slaughtering of souls like animals should stop,” he added.

And in his Easter message, the Archbishop of the Diocese of Enugu and CAN Chairman, South-East zone, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma has called on Nigerians to draw near to God and repent of their sins. He described the abduction of girls by the BokoHaram Islamic sect as a cruel act and urged them to release the students because God is not happy with the wicked.

“Nigerians should emulate the humble life of our Lord Jesus Christ, eschew violence and corruption, and begin to seek better Nigeria,” he said, even as he tasked the judiciary on the delivery of justice, emulating Jesus Christ, who frowns at injustice.

For the Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and Bishop of Lagos Mainland Diocese, Most Revd Adebayo Dada Akinde, Christians should seek the face of God and bring the needed change the country craves.

In his Easter message at St. Jude’s Cathedral, Ebute-Meta, Lagos, Akinde said that Christians have a noble role in the affairs of the country, as only they hold the ace for a positive turnaround. He noted that Christ’s resurrection from the dead depicts the victory over evil and as such, a source of hope for every Christian in the face of sufferings and afflictions.

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Akoko-Edo Diocese (Anglican Communion), Rt. Rev Jolly Oyekpen, said that the intention of the insurgents in the North East to destroy Nigeria through violent activities would not succeed.

Nevertheless, he urged Christians to be conscious of the second coming of Christ as, according to him, happenings across the world today

point to signs predicted in the Holy Bible that would herald Christ’s second coming.

Equally, the umbrella Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has felicitated with Christians on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ACF National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Muhammadu Ibrahim, noted: “Christians all over world celebrate this period with prayers and activities of self-sacrifice for the good of the society.

“The period also gives the Christians the opportunity to reflect on the life and good teachings of Jesus Christ, especially his tolerance, forgiveness and self-sacrifice. ACF, while wishing Nigerians, especially Christians, happy celebration, urges all Nigerians to practice the virtues of tolerance, forgiveness, self-sacrifice and good neighborliness.

Meanwhile, Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji has said the ideal nation that Nigerians desire is one “where all can move freely from one part to another, where children will not be kidnapped from schools and women not raped by evil men.”

According to him, attaining this desire is very possible, noting that, “if the children of Israel could pass through the red sea in their most difficult time, Nigeria will do it also.”

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, Orji said the only way Nigeria could overcome her current threat to peace and cross her own “Red Sea” was to stand united against terrorism.

He warned that though terrorist organisations always seek ways to divide communities, the communities that overcame their attacks and attained stability did so by standing united against terrorism.

To that end, “we must treat ourselves as brothers and sisters and work together to defeat the evil act of terrorism,” he said. “We must stand together at all times regardless of our colour or ethnic back-

ground.”

Similarly, former Governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel has called on Nigerians to be Christ-like, stating that “the lessons thought by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ can only be appreciated by getting closer to God and continuous show of love and tolerance to one another, irrespective of tribe, race or religion.”

Daniel, in a statement yesterday by his Media Officer, Mr. Ayo Giwa, urged Christians to use the commemoration of Christ’s death and resurrection to pray for divine intervention against insurgencies in the country and stem the scourge threatening the socio-political life of Nigerians.

More so, the Kaduna State Governor, Mukhtar Yero, in an Easter message at the weekend, urged “the entire people of Kaduna State to forge greater unity irrespective of religious or ethnic diversities.”

In a statement by his media aide, Mallam Ahmed Maiyaki, Yero also urged Christians to use the Easter period to pray for peace and stability of the state and the entire country.

He added, “at this holy period when the entire Christian world marks the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is important to reflect on the significance of the event to the salvation of mankind as well as human brotherhood, love and peace.

“We are presently facing the evil machination of agents of darkness and it is time to seek the face of God in overcoming this trying period in our nationhood. Only God can ensure the victory of good over evil.

“I therefore believe that this Easter period provides us an opportunity to move closer to God by asking Him to forgive us all our sins, have mercy on us and grant us divine favour in resolving all our challenges as a nation, especially the unfortunate wanton killings of innocent souls across the country.”

other aspirants, the Afemai Rainbow Coalition (ARC), in a statement by John Umoru, Isah Faruk and Segun Monday, accused the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof.

Julius Ihonvbere, of “still using his office to cajole political appointees to campaign for him.

Though Ihonvbere could not be reached, a statement by the Deputy Manager, Ihonvbere Foundation, Friday Sanni said the allegation was false.

However, the Ondo State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Ebenezer Alabi said the ruling LP would become the opposition party after the 2015 general elections, as the party is no longer sellable in the state.

Alabi, who described Adekanmbi as a big fish and a blessing to the party, said his defection was a sign that the PDP was now the new bride of Ondo State politics, as the party “has recovered from the temporary setbacks and the good time is back.”

Earlier, the governorship candidate of the party in the 2012 election, Chief Olusola Oke said the party would continue to wax stronger in the state, urging members to work as an indivisible entity.

Oke, who welcomed Adekanmbi’s defection as a good omen for the PDP in the state, said the party has overcome the crisis before the 2012 election and was poised to dislodge the ruling LP. On his part, Adekanmbi said he decided to quit the APC because it lacks internal democracy in APC, stating, “I cannot continue to stay in a party where imposition reigns supreme.”

He added that his decision was partly due to his love for President Jonathan, who he said is being frustrated by some cabals in the north using the activities of Boko Haram terrorists to discredit his government.

Suswam seeks urgent reintegration of Fulani herdsmen From Joseph Wantu, Makurdi ENUE State Governor, B Gabriel Suswam has called for a quick reintegration of Fulani herdsmen among communities in the state to further consolidate the peace treaty brokered between the Tiv/Agatu and the cattle herders.

Suswam, who made the call yesterday at a thanksgiving mass booked for him at St. Thomas Catholic Church, Makurdi, further noted that for peace to be achieved, both parties must abide strictly by their terms of agreement and avoid attacking each other.

He maintained that his administration was committed to ensuring that residents lived in peace, stressing that

the presence of security men at the flashpoints in the state was evidence of the return of relative peace in the area.

“Since the beginning of this crisis, I have been trying to ensure that peace returned to the state and with the presence of soldiers at the various affected areas, relative peace has returned,” he said.

“But I must sound this warning that you should tolerate the Fulani people in your midst and avoid acts that will cause problems and spoil the peace efforts we have already initiated.”

He also called on residents and indigenes to avoid peddling rumours, as such would only cause confusion and create opportunity for criminals to carry out mischief.

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‘Why Jonathan deserves fresh term’ John Akubo, Lokoja HE Kogi State Co-ordinator, T Great Transformation Support Initiative (GTSI), Zacch Jonathan has explained why President Goodluck Jonathan deserves a second term in office.

Zacch, who stated this at the weekend in Lokoja while speaking with journalists, added that his group would work for the realisation of Jonathan’s re-election bid in Kogi State.

He said the president has impacted positively on Nigerians tremendously through his transformation agenda, especially in the area of agriculture, power, transportation and road construction, among others.

According to Zacch, Kogi State has no reason not to support Jonathan’s re-election bid, because the state has benefited immensely from his transformation programme.

The GTSI co-ordinator said he has assured Nigerians that the security challenges confronting the nation will soon be a thing of the past, saying all that is need was to come together as one family and support him in that direction.

Work in progress on Sokoto-Illela road, a Federal Ministry of Works project

15 feared killed in Taraba, five-year old girl set ablaze in Bauchi From Saxone Akhaine, Kaduna, Nkechi Onyedika, Abuja, Charles Akpeji, Jalingo and Ali Garba, Bauchi T was a bloody Easter Sunday in Taraba State as no fewer than 15 persons were feared killed at Nyakwala village of Gidin-Doruwa in Wukari Local Council of the state, following an attack on the village by unknown gunmen.

The attack came barely twenty-four hours after the Acting Governor, Alhaji Garba Umar visited the palace of the monarchs of Wukari and Ibi to express his dismay over previous attacks.

The attack, which took place at the early hours of Easter Sunday, has compelled both the soldiers and anti-riot policemen drafted to the area to retreat following the high level of sophisticated weapons being used by the attackers.

As at the time of filing in this report over 52 houses including the family house of the state correspondent of the Daily Independent correspondent, Janet Audu was reported to have been completely razed.

Some victims and eyewitnesses, who spoke to The Guardian on telephone could not confirm the numbers of casualties but agreed that lots of corpses are presently littering the streets. Sounds of gunshots were still being heard by our reporter while on telephone conversation with sources in the crisis area.

“I am sure you are hearing gunfire right now that we are discussing. The situation here is so bad now that some of the security personnel have decided to withdraw for safety, though they claimed it is for reinforcement.”

“Those of us that are strong enough have managed to escape from the area but our aged ones especially the women and the children, many of them were trapped there, so I believed the numbers of casualties would at the end of the day exceed that figures.”

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• Maku, Bishop urge unity to defeat insurgents The Divisional Secretary of the Red Cross Society of Nigeria, Lucky A. Navokhi, who confirmed that there was an eruption of violence in the area, could not make available the numbers of casualties as the upheaval was said to still be raging.

According to him, “there is crisis and the fight is still on.

So we don’t have any record of casualties or information to make public now.”

In response to The Guardian inquiry, Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), ASP Joseph Kwaji, also confirmed that they are aware of the ongoing attacks in the area, but maintained that, he is yet to reach out to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of the area for proper briefing.

He, however, made known that large numbers of policemen have been deplored to the area stating, “our men have been moved to the area and they are enough to contain the situation there.”

The PPRO, who earlier made known that the 34 Squadron from Gombe State, as well as, the 14 Squadron from Yola in Adamawa State have been drafted to Wukari to restore normalcy added that the identity of the attackers were yet

unknown.

Speaking on behalf of the state government, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Atte Sale Kundu expressed sadness over the escalation of violence in spite of the acting governor’s appeal to the people to sheath their swords to give peace a chance.

Kundu stated, “we don’t know where the problem is coming from” the acting governor, he said have made it possible for the immediate deployment of two units of anti-riot policemen from the neighbouring states of Gombe and Adamawa.

In a similar development, gunmen set a five old girl ablaze in Shira Local Council of Bauchi State.

Government Girls Secondary School staff quarters, MTN, Glo, Etisalat masts and First Bank building were also torched by the insurgents.

Briefing newsmen in his office Police Public Relations Officer Bauchi State Command, DSP Haruna Mohammed said that the unknown gunmen at about 3pm-4 pm stormed Yana town headquarters of Shira LGA and set ablaze the staff quarters, school bus of GGSS

Yana ablaze.

Mohammed confirmed that the eight-man block of the rank and file quarters, GSM masts of MTN, Glo, and Etisalat were set ablaze, adding that the suspects further attacked a branch of First Bank and destroyed the vault.

According to him apart from a five-year old girl, who was burnt to death, no other death or casualties was recorded.

He said all girls’-students were alive, however, the hoodlums took the car of the school principal away.

Combined security forces are however, on their trail while appealing to members of the public to provide police with meaningful information that will lead to the arrest of the suspects.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku has urged Christians and Muslims in the country to unite and defeat insurgents who seek to divide and set the people against each other while the Archbishop of Kaduna Diocese, Anglican Communion, Bishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon has warned Nigeria leaders and politicians not to turn the country into another genocide haven.

Speaking at the Church serv-

ice held at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Akwanga to commemorate the Easter celebrations Maku observed that the reason for the killings of innocent lives by terrorists was to cause confusion and cast the government in bad light hence the need for the people to unite against divisive and satanic forces.

He said, “these killings that are taking place in our country are satanic and I have told them the effort the President is making to have peace. The reason for the killings is satanic, is to cause confusion in the country, is to make the people hate the government and fight among ourselves,” he stated.

The minister said though the Federal Government is doing everything possible to check the activities of terrorists in the country including deploying new technologies, the public should support security agencies by remaining vigilant and reporting suspicious movement and characters to the appropriate authorities.

“I have told the people to help the government. I gave them the example of Dadin Kowa in Jos. When there was crisis in Jos, the people of Dadin Kowa, Muslims and Christians came together to form a committee so that if there is any Christian that en-

ters there, Christians will report to Muslims, if any Muslim enters the place with bad intention, Muslims will report to Christians and all of them will watch the person.

That way, up to today Dadin Kowa and Miango Lowcost they have never had any crisis,” he remarked.

Maku said as Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the people should equally resist those, who seek to terminate their lives untimely.

Idowu-Fearon said while delivering a sermon at the Saint Michael Cathedral Church in Kaduna yesterday in celebration of Easter Sunday, that all hands must be on deck to avert the looming disaster as a result of the present security situation in the country.

He lamented that the negative social indices indicated that the leadership in the country, both political and religion have imbibed the doctrine of materialism instead of services to mankind and God. The bishop said, “let me say this because I am talking to you as people who confess the ministry of Christ, we are the major problems of what is happening to us as a nation because we have became so materialists that we sold out our conscience for peanut.

Tobacco firm urges ‘balanced’ regulation of industry HE British American T Tobacco, a tobacco manufacturer in Nigeria, has reacted to the decision by the Federal Executive Council to send an executive bill to the National Assembly, saying that it supports a balanced regulation of the tobacco industry.

According to the Director for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for West Africa, Mr. Freddy Messanvi, the company’s position on regulation remains the same; that is the British American Tobacco supports effective regulation

of the tobacco industry. He added that for regulation to be effective and achieve its objectives, it must be balanced and enforceable.

A statement by the company says it has always been in support of tobacco regulation. “In the past, however, the company had asked that the drafting of tobacco control bills must be clear of ambiguities in order for it to be enforceable.

The company, it was claimed, had also maintained that tobacco control laws must ensure that the legal industry is

not affected by such laws to the undue advantage of criminal tobacco smuggling rings.

“We have not seen the bill yet; so we cannot make any comment on the proposals in the bill. All we can say at this point is that care should be taken to ensure that the proposals in the bill do not lead to unintended consequences, then the objectives for which such bills were passed will have been met,” Messanvi said.

He alluded to the recent passage of the Lagos State Public Smoking Bill, which he

praised, saying: “The process for the passage of the Lagos State Bill was inclusive and not discriminatory in any form. This is the ideal practice, which must be emulated at all times.”

The Federal Executive Council on April 9 agreed that an Executive Tobacco Control Bill should be sent to the National Assembly for consideration. The bill contains stiffer penalties for smoking in undesignated areas than the Lagos State Smoking Bill.

The tobacco industry, which

consists of companies like BATN, Japan Tobacco International and several other small time players, have come under intense pressure in recent times from several internationally funded anti-tobacco NGOs. Some of the NGOs like the American CTFK have joined Environmental Rights Action Group (Friends of the earth) and Coalition Against Tobacco in the fight against the industry.

The executive bill will be the 4th to be introduced into the National Assembly in recent times.

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Bayelsa community flays Shell over neglect in gas project From Willie Etim, Yenagoa NGRY youths of Gbarain Kingdom in Yenagoa Local Council Area of Bayelsa State at weekend sent a saveour-soul message to the National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki and President Goodluck Jonathan over rising threat to the multi-million dollars Gbarain-Ubie Gas project.

They also alleged neglect by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).

The youth, under the aegis of the Gbarain Youth Federation (GYF), said even as the SPDC operations started in 1972 without disturbance by the indigenes of the communities in Gbarain Kingdom, the oil company has refused to uplift their standard of living and left the communities with airborne diseases, suffering from environmental pollution and abject poverty.

They said the situation is provoking anger and may threaten the Gbarain-Ubie Gas project in the area.

According to letter by the Gbarain Youth Federation (GYF) and signed by its President, Comrade Akeri Okoro, the Secretary-General, Comrade Ebiuge Amakoromo and the Public Relations Officer, Comrade Ebibibo Uwoubeingha, the continued refusal of the SPDC to honour the series of correspondence from the Gbarain people and its social responsibility clause to the Gbarain communities is provoking tension in the kingdom.

According to the GYF, “The entire communities under the Gbarain Kingdom frown at the neglect by the SPDC

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• Youths lament poor rating in ICT literacy and abandonment of the corporate social responsibility of the company. The operations of the oil multinational in Gbarain Kingdom have left the communities to suffer abject poverty, air borne diseases and environmental pollution.”

In another development, a coalition of youth groups in Bayelsa State at the weekend expressed concern over the poor rating of the state as one with high index of poor ICT illiteracy, as they unveil a proposed campaign against dwindling standard of Technology Information Education among youths in

the existing eight local councils of the state.

The proposed campaign, under the Bayelsa Restoration Accelerated ICT Development Scheme (B-RAIDS), is targeted to be an intervention and preventive scheme to build a pool of ICT literate manpower using the train-the-trainer scheme for capacity development.

Leading Executive Officer of the B-RAIDS, Comrade Bright Igrubia, while unveiling the scheme in Yenagoa, said though the project is targeted to empower indigent Bayelsa youths, the scheme is expected to tackle the frighten-

ing unemployment index of 36.6 per cent and poverty index of 25.6 per cent among youth of the state.

GYF continued: “We are baffled and left in dismay that since the SPDC started operations in the area in 1972, the company has virtually done nothing to uplift the living standard of the people in the area.

“The incessant environmental challenges witnessed in the area are attributed to the SPDC operations with high incidence of asthma, chronic bronchitis and other health hazards among the indigenes of the kingdom.”

“We are worried that the existing pollution of the waters

and rivers of the kingdom and the hardship as a result of oil spillages with destruction of the fishing activities of the people may provoke a security breach and threaten the peace of the area. The Gbarain Kingdom is responsible for the hosting of the biggest gas production facility in the whole West-African region.”

The GYF called on the NSA and the President to direct existing security agencies and other relevant government bodies to intervene and bridge the gap between the multinational oil company and the people to avoid violence and disruption of peace in the area.

ANK of Industry (BoI) has B listed the underlining reasons why the bank is focusing on small and micro enterprises (SMEs) development, saying it has the potential of generating employment for the youth.

Acting Managing Director of (BoI), Waheed Olagunju, said during a news conference in Abuja at the weekend that the bank was taking steps to stem the rural-urban migration, as well as ensuring dispersal of industries and bal-

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Matters (NAPTIP) says it has arrested 24 suspected human traffickers in Uyo zone in the first quarter of the year.

Zonal Commander of the agency, Mr. Ikechi Nwachukwu, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital.

Nwachukwu said the agency had also secured the conviction of one person in Cross River State, who was sentenced to one-year prison term.

The commander, who assumed duty in the zone, which comprises Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Rivers states in January, said the Command also rescued 17 victims during the period.

He said the Command had devised new operational strategies to “make the zone uncomfortable for human traffickers”.

He said: “Traffickers are always smart in their game; as we chase them away from one side, they devise other ways of luring their vulnerable victims into the trade. In the last three months, our level of operation has been raised within the zone and it has helped to expose the antics and tactics of traffickers. We will continue to do our best and chase them out of their heinous trade.

By Seye Olumide NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation, the People’s Welfare League (PWL), in Osun State, is set to organise an economic summit aimed to draw attention of Nigerians to the economic policies under the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

According to PWL Coordinator, Mr. Biodun Agboola, the summit, tagged: “Orisun Aje 2014,” will hold in Osogbo, the state capital, between April 29 and 30, with the theme: “Crux of Osun’s Developmental Master-plan: Analysing a radical economic paradigm shift”.

Agboola said the summit will host stakeholders from different parts of the state and nationwide, who will share ideas on how to safeguard the achievements recorded in the areas of economic development and youth empowerment, with a view to setting agenda for future improvement.

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Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (middle); Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Shehu Shema (left) and Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, during the turbaning ceremony of Kaduna State Governor, Mukthar Ramalan Yero, as Dallatun Zazzau in Zaria, Kaduna State…at the weekend

anced development in the country through SMEs. According to him, the multiplying effect of SMEs per unit of investment is higher than investments in large enterprises in the country.

To this end, Olagunju said the 20th edition of the International Conference on Small and Medium Enterprise (ICSME) development has been scheduled to hold in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, which is being organised by the World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises (WASME) with

support from BoI and the Bayelsa State government.

The conference will hold from April 28 to May 4 and the former President of Brazil, Mr. Lula Da Silva, is expected to present the keynote address.

Other speakers include the President of Liberia, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sir-Leaf and Chairperson of African Union Commission, Dr. Dlamini Zuma.

Olagunju said: “One of the most outstanding benefits of SMEs development lies in the high employment genera-

tion potential.

BoI would work with WASME, as well as the state government, by playing a leading role in the organisation of the conference.”

He noted: “When we met with Governor Seriake Dickson here in Abuja, he expressed the hope that the conference could be used as an opportunity to jump-start productive activities in Bayelsa State, particularly among small and micro enterprises (SMEs).”

Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on SME

Development, Dr. Ebiekure Eradiri, said the conference would showcase and promote SME development in the country, adding that the state government was ready to welcome the world.

“We are expecting participants from Romania, India, U.S., Egypt and other countries from different parts of the world and of course, local participants from Nigeria.

We have also been working hand-in-hand with institutional and business stakeholders for the last eight weeks.”

A’Ibom PDP stakeholders reject exclusion of guber aspirants From Anietie Akpan, Calabar OME elders, stakeholders, youths, and women of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State have rejected the idea of the party excluding some aspirants from the 2015 governorship race.

Rising from a meeting in Uyo, the state capital, which was chaired by former Minister of Environment, Chief Ime Okopido, the group, mainly supporters of the former Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, who is an aspirant for 2015 governorship race, in a 10-point communiqué, resolved to “reject the planned exclusion or zoning of the office, as it is totally alien to the provisions

HE National Agency for the T Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related

Osun economic summit holds April 29

BoI chief lists reasons for focusing on SMEs From Itunu Ajayi, Abuja

NAPTIP arrests 24 human traffickers

• No decision on candidate yet, says party chairman of the constitution and tradition of our great party.

“The so-called town hall meetings are seen by party members and the generality of Akwa Ibom people as a thinly-veiled ruse to exclude certain people and segments from participating in the political process and will cost the party dearly at the polls.”

“We advocate and wholly support open primaries at all levels, as these will give the members of the party the opportunity to select only the best, most acceptable standard bearers to represent the PDP at the 2015 elections. We, therefore, align ourselves with the position of the National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, on internal

democracy and open primaries in the PDP.” However, state Chairman of the PDP, Obong Paul Ekpo, said no decision has been taken by the party on the 2015 governorship race in the state as being insinuated.

Ekpo gave the clarification shortly after a meeting of the State Executive Council of the party with all the 31 members reported to have been in attendance.

“You can see the whole state executive of the party is here; we have just finished meeting where we discussed the welfare of the party members, other important issues that have to do with continued unity of the party and 2015”.

He said: “You will hear about

zoning when we are ready to speak as a party,” he stressed, adding that whatsoever was said during the just-concluded town hall meetings in the state was the simple view of the people not that of the state governor or the party.

The communiqué said: “We urge in the strongest terms that the PDP in Akwa Ibom State should not be privatised. A clear example of such privatisation is the movement of the party’s secretariat from its location at 149 Ikot Ekpene Road, Uyo, to a private property without consultation with stakeholders and elders of the party.

“We condemn the resurgence of insecurity and threats to lives that have resurfaced in the state. We, therefore, call on the

Inspector General (IG) of Police and the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS) to investigate cases of threats to lives, kidnapping and politically motivated murders in Akwa Ibom State (AKS).

“We implore all and sundry to seek the unity of our state first above all individual interests so that the state can truly become the land of promise that our forebears and founding fathers fought for.

“We call on all aspirants to different political offices to carry on their activities with dignity and respect for others, while disavowing violence in any form or utterance that can cause disunity in the party and Akwa Ibom in general”.

Jazz festival kicks off in C’River From Anietie Akpan, Calabar HE second edition of Calabar International Jazz Festival continued in the tourist town with renowned jazz maestros such as Jimmy Dludlu from South Africa, Greek-born Salvador Sango and Nigerian acts including Bez and Double Kinetic Crew entertaining their audience.

The state Governor Liyel Imoke, members of his cabinet, the lawmakers, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke and other jazz enthusiasts graced the occasion, which witnessed a mix of afro, contemporary and classical jazz tunes.

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Monday, April 21, 2014 9

PHOTONEWS

Member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Rufai Adeyemi (left); Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji and another member, Wahab Alawaiye-King at the Easter safety awareness and patrol programme organised by the House and Lagos Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Lagos.

PHOTO: WOLE OYEBADE

Assistant Corps Commander, Unit Command RS2.17, Kehinde Ganiyu Hamzat (left); Divisional Managing Director, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Nino Ozara; RS2.17, Ojota Unit Commander, Stella Omeje and Manager, Human Resources, Sunday Sopitan, during the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) RS2.17, Ojota Unit Command, Easter Public Enlightenment Campaign in collaboration with Honeywell Flour Mills Plc in Lagos.

PHOTO: OSENI YUSUF

Human Resources Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Tolulope Agiri (left); Registrar, University of Lagos, Dr. Taiwo Ipaye; Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Rahamon Bello; Managing Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Yaw Nsarkoh and Deputy VC, Management Services, UNILAG, Prof. Duro Oni, during a leadership lecture by the MD of Unilever at the institution in Lagos.

Bank of Industry Acting Managing Director, Waheed Olagunju (left) being welcome by the Managing Director of NEXIM Bank, Roberts Orya at the bank’s headquarters in Abuja.

PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA

Partner, WTS Adebiyi and Associates, Olaleye Adebiyi (left); Chairman, Lagos State Inland Revenue Service (LIRS), Dr. Tunde Folwer; Senior National Partner (KPMG), Seyi Bickersteth and representative of the chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Samuel Ogungbesan at the WTS Adebiyi and Associate tax seminar in Lagos.

Territorial General Overseer/Superintendent of Utu Edem Usung Diocese, Mount Zion Light House Full Gospel Inc., Bishop Felix U. Okoko (left); Superintendent of Ikot Ekpene Diocese, Bishop James Okpo; Superintendent of Abak Diocese; Bishop Godwin Ibanga and Apostle Kingsley Inyang (bending) robbing the General Secretary of the Mission, Elijah G. Philips as an apostle at the church’s Ikot Ekpene Diocese Headquarters in Akwa Ibom.

Husband of the deceased and former Bishop of Ondo Province and Ekiti Diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. Samuel Abe (left); Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi and his wife, Erelu Bisi, during the funeral service for the late Mrs. Abosede Abe at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Iju, Ondo State.

Acting Managing Director, Nigeria Bottling Company, Matthieu Seguin (left); Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Government Relations, Disun Holloway and State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, during the 2014 Lagos Water Regatta.

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Monday, April 21, 2014

WorldReport Russia ‘outraged’ as east Ukraine shootout shatters Easter truce dEAdLY gunfight in a town A in restive east Ukraine yesterday shattered a fragile Easter truce, with Russia declaring it was “outraged” at the return to violence in the crisis-hit former Soviet republic.

Three pro-Russian militants and one attacker were killed in a firefight at a roadblock close to the separatist-held town of Slavyansk, said a local proKremlin rebel leader, Vyatcheslav Ponomarev.

Vladimir, a masked 20-yearold pro-Russian rebel who was at the barricade, told AFP: “Four cars pulled up to our roadblock around 1:00am on Saturday. We wanted to conduct a check, and then they opened fire on us with automatic weapons.”

He said there were around 20 attackers, and confirmed the three rebel deaths, but was not sure of casualties on the other side.

Bodies of two dead militants laid out in a truck near the scene.

The identity of the assailants, who escaped before militant reinforcements arrived, was not known.

The Ukrainian interior ministry confirmed there was an “armed clash” but gave a toll of one dead and three injured. It said police were investigating.

The gunfight broke days of relative calm.

Western-backed authorities in Kiev had announced they were suspending military operations to oust the rebels over Easter, which ends today.

The last deadly clash was last Thursday, when three proRussian militants were killed

by Ukrainian soldiers when they tried to attack a military base in the southeast port city

of Mariupol.

Russia’s foreign ministry quickly seized upon the latest violence, saying in a statement that Moscow was “outraged at this provocation by the fighters”.

It urged Kiev to abide by an accord signed in Geneva on Thursday by Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union calling for “illegal armed groups” to lay down their weapons and end the occupation of public sites.

Moscow blamed yesterday’s deaths of those it called “innocent civilians” on the Right Sector, an extreme-right group that was at the vanguard of protests that ousted Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych in February. Locals, it said, had found the attackers’ cars containing weapons, satellite maps and Right Sector business cards.

CAR on brink of genocide, Tutu warns OBEL peace laureate, N desmond Tutu has warned yesterday that the Central African Republic (CAR) was “on the brink of genocide”, as he urged warring sides to reconcile their differences and “re-learn to live together”.

“Over the past 13 months, the nation’s seemingly incessant struggles for political power and resources have degenerated into anarchy, hatred and ethnic cleansing — the country stands on the brink of genocide; some would say it has already commenced,” Archbishop Emeritus Tutu said in a statement released by his peace foundation.

Egypt jails 30 Morsi supporters for rioting N Egyptian court senA tenced yesterday 30 people to more than three years in prison for violent protests in support of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, judicial officials said.

The military-installed authorities have engaged in a sweeping crackdown against Morsi’s supporters and his Muslim Brotherhood since his ouster in July.

The crackdown has left dead more than 1,400 people, and thousands have been jailed.

More than 1,000 Morsi supporters have been convicted in mass trials, including 529 sentenced to death last month.

Yesterday, the Cairo court found the defendants guilty of rioting, blocking roads and taking part in violence at a February protest against trials that Morsi faces, including for incitement to kill protesters during his presidency.

Pope Francis greets the crowd after the Easter mass at St Peter’s square in Vatican yesterday.

They were also accused of being members of a “terrorist group,” the officials said, indicating they belonged to the Brotherhood.

The Islamist movement has been designated as a “terrorist group” by the militaryinstalled authorities, which blame it for a deadly bombing north of Cairo in december.

The former French colony, one of the poorest countries in the world, plunged into a crisis after a coup by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels in March last year.

After seizing power, some of the rebels went rogue and embarked on a campaign of killing, raping and looting.

The abuses prompted members of the Christian majority to form vigilante groups, unleashing a wave of brutal tit-for-tat killings, leaving

thousands dead and close to a million displaced.

In his message, Tutu called on people on all sides of the conflict — Christian, Muslim and Atheist — to “rekindle the spirit of tolerance”.

“When we forgive we liberate ourselves and sow a seed for a new beginning; it has a powerful multiplier effect,” he said.

“It is the people of the Central African Republic who hold the key to sustainable

peace. It is the people who must re-learn to live together,” he said.

With the humanitarian crisis in the country spiralling, he said the deployment of a new UN peacekeeping force — which will see 12,000 troops on the ground — was a “massive relief” and would help “protect the people from themselves”.

“They will assist to restore broken systems, including policing and justice,” he said.

Assad visits recaptured Christian town in Syria YRIAN President, Bashar alSancient Assad yesterday visited an Christian town recaptured from rebels last week, state media said, as he seeks to persuade minorities that the government is their best protection against hardline Islamists.

Assad’s Easter visit to Maaloula - a rare appearance outside central damascus also highlighted growing government confidence in recent gains against insurgents around the capital and along the Lebanese border.

Islamist fighters, including

some from the al Qaedalinked Nusra Front, had taken over part of Maaloula in december and held several nuns captive until releasing them in March in a prisonerexchange deal.

Last Monday, government forces retook the town, which is roughly 60 km (40 miles) north of damascus and has changed hands multiple times, the latest in a series of advances against rebels in the Qalamoun mountains region. during his visit, Assad inspected Mar Sarkis - a Greek

Orthodox monastery dating to the fourth century - and damage caused “at the hands of terrorists,” state news agency SANA said, using the government’s customary term for the rebels.

The agency said he also visited the Mar Thecla monastery, which also suffered damage during fighting for the town.

Images published by SANA showed Assad, dressed in a beige blazer, waving and examining antiquities as he toured the area with church officials.

Ebola kills 61 in Guinea, as Mozambique confirms 16 dengue cases HE Head of Health Services, and 15 deaths have been con- Organisation (WHO) and the northern Cabo delgado T Health Ministry, dr. Sakoba firmed in Conakry; 58 cases National Atlanta Research Province, while another nine Kéita yesterday said that 61 and 34 deaths in Guéckédou.

Centre of the United States, suspicious cases were also people have died in Guinea from the Ebola disease since the beginning of the year, while 23 others are in hospital.

Keita said that the only positive case was reported on Thursday 1,000 kilometres away from Conakry, the Guinean capital.

According to him, official statistics indicate that 35 cases

He added that in the south; 13 cases and 10 deaths in Macenta in the south; one case and one death in Kissidougou, in the south, and one case in dabola in the centre, with one death.

He said that national and international experts, mainly from the World Health

carried out the tests.

Meanwhile, Mozambican authorities have confirmed 16 cases of dengue fever in the country’s north. dengue fever, also known as breakbone fever, causes fever and joint pains.

The disease broke out in Pemba, capital city of the

reported there.

Authorities attributed the outbreak of the mosquitoborne tropical disease to the heavy rains in the province in recent months .

The country’s health ministry said that the situation was under control and it has sent medical staff to eliminate the vectors of the disease.

PHOTO: AFP

Algeria militants kill 14 soldiers militants have IinSLAMIST killed 14 Algerian soldiers an ambush on a convoy in mountains east of the capital Algiers, security officials say.

Reuters reported that the troops were searching for militants in Tizi Ouzou region when they were attacked.

It is believed the attack was carried out by fighters from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).

It was one of the deadliest attacks on the Algerian military for several years.

The attack came days after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 77, was re-elected for a fourth term following a campaign that stressed security as a key policy.

Abdullah ‘extends Afghan poll lead’ FGHAN presidential canA didate, Abdullah Abdullah has extended his lead over his rival, Ashraf Ghani, according to latest partial results from the presidential election.

Abdullah, a former foreign minister, has 44 per cent of the vote while Ghani has 33 per cent, election officials say. About half the votes have been counted.

About seven million people voted across 34 provinces in the April 5 poll.

A runoff will take place in late May if no candidate gets a majority.

Final results are expected on May 14. Independent Election Commission chairman, Ahmad Yousuf Nouristani has warned that the current statistics are “partial” and “changeable”.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Monday, April 21, 2014 | 11

Focus Easter and the Challenge of National Security

By Rev. Fr. George Ehusani started in 2009 when the Boko Haram IofTphenomenon stole into the consciousness Nigerians with deadly effect. Nearly five years later, precisely seven days to Easter, the latest trademark bombing in Nyanya, on the outskirts of Abuja, the Federal Capital City (FCT), claimed hundreds of lives, left many wounded and still counting. It was to be followed within hours by the news out of Chibok, a community in Borno State, of the forcible abduction of 100 female students. As if we need reminding, one of the critical objectives of the Boko Haram sect is the abandonment of western education, and particularly of girls.

In the intervening years and spanning these events, Nigerians have endured an unbroken chain of countless episodes of gruesome violence visited on the country.

Abuja and the environs alone have witnessed the high profile bombings at the city centre, at the army barracks, the police Force headquarters, the UN building, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Madalla and the offices of Thisday Newspapers. These occurrences have so far defied the containment efforts of the security agencies. What is frightening and alarming is the runaway rapidity with which this country is being bound hand and foot by the experiences of unchecked terror attacks, rampant kidnaps, wildfire communal clashes and intractable social violence of different hues.

Nigerians are thus living under a culture of death, with the regular gory pictures of decapitation and gruesome images of violence. In a country that is not at conventional war, how come we are living with the steady loss of so many lives? The traumatic effects on survivors are themselves a huge national challenge, with little or nothing by way of post-trauma psychological healing or economic compensation. The repeated message of the leaders that “We will get over this” does not soothe the pain the country is going through because the average Nigerian knows too well that it is a hollow message, the flip side of which is to tell Nigerians that they are on their own.

Whilst our leaders are preoccupied with consolidating and capturing political territory, and while they fiddle in government with all manner of administrative posturing, fresh targets may be under the radar of the terrorist groups. While they take steps to secure their own safety and that of a select few of the privileged, our hospitals and health facilities overflow

Ehusani

Crowd at the scene of the bomb blast at Nyanya, last week with the maimed and the dead whose hopes, ambitions and aspirations are brutally terminated in mid-life.

We have a national talking shop currently set up amid the ongoing national crises, which to all intents and purposes is seen in many quarters as a diversionary ploy to take the heat off the back of government. The question is asked, to what extent does it add value to the quality of leadership that has charge of the affairs of this country? Here in this country, governance is all about political junketing and comradeship, which is why our national affairs cascade from one unresolved scandal to another. Our leaders are overwhelmed with the culture of instant gratification, unwilling to sow the seeds of deferred gratification that mark out leaders that truly serve their people.

As we succumb to mixed feelings of consternation, angst and frustration welling from what amounts to the betrayal of the leadership, Nigerians confront the rhetorical question: Where do we go from here? Are our leaders faced with the inappropriate engagement of the antagonism that is spawned by Boko Haram and their fellow-travellers? Are they so bereft of ideas? Are there no clues to unravel the psychology of the opposition? Are our leaders so ensconced in their comfort zones that they cannot read the script of our tormentors – which is to inflict maximum damage on human targets and deliver extensive collateral damage in razed homes and property? Are their attacks systematically tailored to avenge their losses?

What the Nyanya bomb blast seems to have done is to further expose the soft underbelly of our security superstructure and to demonstrate our ineptitude. Each occurrence invariably erodes what is left of the confidence of our leaders who are fixated on simply carrying on ruling at whatever cost.

Faced with the intractable situation at the core of our national security at the moment, a savior and redeemer is what Nigeria needs.

Our experiences and lamentations of today are a cry for deliverance, a cry for divine intervention, a cry for protection and a cry for healing. A major prerogative of government is to protect citizens, but where we are left naked, betrayed and abandoned, we can take recourse in a superior saviour. Our brand of politics and governance is anchored on falsehood, pecuniary benefits, selfservice, corruption and even banditry. The world has never been in need of a savior and redeemer than as in these climes when we are living

Nigerians are thus living under a culture of death, with the regular gory pictures of decapitation and gruesome images of violence. In a country that is not at conventional war, how come we are living with the steady loss of so many lives? The traumatic effects on survivors are themselves a huge national challenge, with little or nothing by way of post-trauma psychological healing or economic compensation. The repeated message of the leaders that “We will get over this” does not soothe the pain the country is going through because the average Nigerian knows too well that it is a hollow message, the flip side of which is to tell Nigerians that they are on their own under the reign of darkness and evil with no one to turn to for direction. What we have as leadership in this country in many respects is brigandage by another name.

We need a deliverer like Jesus Christ who lived and preached love, peace, compassion, justice, truth, humility and non-violence. For those who believe in the ascendancy of truth over falsehood, in the supremacy of good over evil, and in the ultimate triumph of light over darkness, the example of Jesus now being celebrated at Easter suffices to offer the much needed hope for a distressed and traumatized people. In our current circumstance we need leaders after the fashion of Jesus of Nazareth, who lived out such universal virtues and eternal truths that our society urgently needs, namely, love, compassion, service, self-denial and commitment to the common good.

Part of the message of Easter is hope. No matter how dismal our circumstances may be, Easter challenges us to hold on to hope. The lessons of history assure us that many societies once plagued by violence and other destructive forces, have now and again experienced transformation and turned tranquil and peaceful.

Modern day Malta is a good example of such transformation. Malta and the neighbouring Island of Gozo have had a most chequered political history. For nearly two thousand years, inhabitants of these Islands were victims of foreign occupation, military conquests, mass deportation, colonial rule, and finally, reckless bombardment during the Second World War. Located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the Islands of Malta and Gozo were repeatedly coveted, conquered, occupied and exploited by one Empire after another, beginning with the incursion of the Phoenicians in 800 BC and followed in quick succession by the Romans, the Normans, the Ottoman Empire, the Empire of Sicily, the Knights of Malta, then the French, and finally the British.

The transition from one imperial control to the other was often marked by brutal wars that ravaged and impoverished the local inhabi-

tants. In the year 1551 for example, nearly all the people of Gozo (put at about 5000) were said to have been captured and transported by the agents of the Ottoman Empire to Libya for slave labour. Under Napoleon Bonaparte, the French were said to have engaged in such reckless looting of the ancient treasures of the land, that the poor peasants of Malta rose up in revolt against the occupation force.

Malta became independent of colonial rule only in September 1964, and assumed the status of a Republic ten years later. It joined the European Union in 2004. Malta is today a very peaceful society with a fast growing economy and one of the lowest crime rates in the world. The people are generally simple, warm, welcoming and friendly. They exhibit a high degree of resilience - determined to build a new peaceful and prosperous country upon the ruins, the rubbles and the ashes of an inglorious past.

Malta’s political history rekindles my hope that as God lives, Nigeria shall one day rise from the ruins and rubbles of the devastation to which the land is today subjected by local conquerors and their foreign collaborators.

Yes, I believe that as in the case of Malta, the era of terrorist insurgency, of widespread kidnapping, of callous rape and reckless pillage by mercenaries that camouflage as leaders, shall pass away, and Nigeria shall rise again to become a land of peace, stability and prosperity. And this is the logic of the resurrection: that the Calvary humiliation being replicated in Nigeria today is not the end of our individual and collective story. With faith we can already see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Easter celebration challenges well meaning Nigerians to start working for a new land of equity, peace, truth, solidarity and justice. We must commit ourselves individually and collectively to these values so that a new nation can rise and shine out of the rubble under which this country has been buried for so long. Giving active witness to these values is the most efficacious way of celebrating the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ and keeping ourselves on the right side of history.

12

METRO Monday, April 21, 2014

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Cleric who foretold the Nyanya bomb blast Prophet ThankGod Abam is the General Overseer of the Intercessory Prayer Ministry (IPM), which has its headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and Northern Regional office in Abuja. The Port Harcourt-based cleric during a ministration last Sunday at the Abuja branch of the church told the congregation that he got a revelation from God that there was going to be bloodshed in Abuja on Monday morning and asked members of the church to pray against bloodshed and also be careful about their movement the next day, Monday. At about 6:35 am that Monday, an explosion rocked the Nyanya motor park in Abuja, leaving scores dead and hundreds wounded. Our reporter, NKECHI ONYEDIKA who was at the church service when the prophesy came, went back to get more details on the prophesy and much more from Prophet Abam and the way out in this interview. Excerpts:

Abam E are in a very critical time in the history W of this country considering the problems of insecurity and other challenges confronting the nation, what is the way out?

No one in this country is happy about what is going on at present, including the leaders.

That people sleep with their two eyes open for the fear of unknown is really pathetic.

Therefore, we the men of God are on our knees daily, praying for peace and asking God to intervene so that this bloodshed and calamity would come to an end. Every Nigerian should hold onto God and keep asking Him for mercy. If the calamity that has befallen Nigeria is due to sins of a man, may the mercy of God intervene, especially in this Easter period. We pray and believe that one day, this nonsense will stop.

During church service on Sunday before Easter, you got a revelation that there was going to be bloodshed in Abuja on Monday morning and it came to pass. Tell us more about this.

I am a prophet of the Almighty God. We, the prophets hear from the throne of Grace.

After ministration on Sunday, I wanted to drop the microphone but the Lord spoke to me and said: “Go back to the pulpit, that the enemy was about to do something stupid, pray for safety, and about 1,000 people at the church service saw me crying and asking God for mercy because I saw bloodshed all over. God told me there was going to be bloodshed specifically on Monday morning in Abuja, we prayed for Divine protection but the problem was that there was no solution.

No one in this country is happy about what is going on at present, including the leaders. That people sleep with their two eyes open for the fear of unknown is really pathetic.

Therefore, we the men of God are on our knees daily, praying for peace and asking God to intervene so that this bloodshed and calamity would come to an end. Every Nigerian should hold onto God and keep asking Him for mercy. If the calamity that has befallen Nigeria is due to sins of a man, may the mercy of God intervene, especially in this Easter period. We pray and believe that one day, this nonsense will stop.

Why this thing happened was because as at the time the Lord spoke to me, there was no solution at all. One thing is for you to hear the voice of God and another thing is for you to get a solution. Every prophesy goes with assignment. I asked God, what will be the solution because every prophesy must have a solution because when there is a solution, there must be a redemption but when there is no solution, what God said will surely come to pass. Everyone should be careful when they hear, “Thus says the Lord, He has never lied before. More than 200 persons

lost their lives but a 10-month old baby boy was preserved. God preserved such person for a time like this just as God preserved Moses. If this had happened without a prophesy, we would have called it a disaster, but God saw it and used me His servant to reveal i t .

Later on that Sunday night, God spoke that the only solution was for President Goodluck Jonathan himself to be on his knees and call upon the name of The Lord. That night, I tried calling the Presidency.

I tried calling the Chief Security Officer

(CSO) and everyone I know to see if this message can get to Mr. President but there was no response and it came to pass. So, there was a solution but the solution was not carried out because of distance and security.

The incident would have been averted had the massage got to Mr. President. But the problem is that the President is surrounded by people that are not born again. He is surrounded by people that don’t give him the right information and advice.

The Lord says: “If the people that are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, I will heal the land”. What we need in Nigeria is prayers and not roadblocks.

If we have 200 roadblocks, 80 per cent of them are manned by Boko Haram. One day, I was going to Kaduna to preach and a car behind me was carrying weapons and the driver was dressed in security uniform. I stopped and told the policemen at the roadblock to search the car. They asked me if I was a security agent and I told them that I am a Prophet of God and the policemen replied, “Abeg carry your wahala pass.”

Can you imagine their response? But God had told me that the car following was evil.

If the policemen were born again, they would have listened to me. I called people around the President and said, “Pass this message across to Mr. President” and they said: “Oh, we have been hearing this.” Now it has happened. Caution is better than sorry. Nigeria needs prayers and I believe God will fight for us. The way out is for every child of God to call upon the name of the Lord for this calamity to come to an end.

Nigeria needs God. You, the journalists need God so that this calamity will come to an end.

What in your opinion is responsible for the insecurity and other challenges facing the country today?

Every government that had existed in this country had something that followed them. There was a time we experienced flood and kidnapping and now it is Boko Haram. I don’t think it has anything to do with the inability of government to provide employment. Nigerians can cope with any situation. There is the hand of the devil involved in all of this because a righteous man is on the throne. All these things are happening because a man chosen by God is on the throne.

What makes you think that President Jonathan is chosen by God? Yes, Jonathan did not become a president by election. He became a president by prophesy. Once anyone becomes a leader by prophesy, there would be battles around to pull him down. That is why anyone trying to oppose his election is wasting his time because the country needs good luck.

President Jonathan is a gift to this country and it was a prophesy that brought him t h e r e .

Which prophesy brought him into power and through who?

God spoke, I don’t know, but I have served this God for the past 25 years. If anyone wins election, what we do is to pray for the person and ask God if the person is the right person to be there. After the death of President Yar’adua, I did a four-day prayer with 29 prophets from different parts of the country. We met at the Camp of Faith, Okigwe and we told God that if President Goodluck Jonathan is not the right man to rule this country, let death snatch him. But on the last day of the meeting the Lord said: “That is my chosen one. This is why, no matter the battle, no matter the arrows shot at him, they will never affect him because the hand of God is upon him. I am not saying this for any gain. The President is not my church member, he has never given me any kobo but he is the chosen one.

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Monday, April 21, 2014 METRO

13

calls for love, unity among Nigerians But is it not contrary to what is written in the Scriptures that when the righteous is in power, the people rejoice?

The people rejoice truly but there are enemies that would fight. When Jesus was born, Herod stood up; he killed a lot of people because Jesus was coming to be king. It is Biblical. People paid with their lives. Look at what happened. A lot of people died, but a 10month old baby was saved. God is involved.

We are not talking politics, we are talking about saving of lives. When Jesus was born, a king was angry and he slaughtered a lot of people because the chosen one was about to take over. We have been talking about peace, but to bring an end to this ugly situation, we need God. Do you think government is doing enough to address the insecurity problem in the country?

The President declared state of emergency in three states in the North East but the attacks are still going on. Government acquired bomb detectors and other gadgets but the thing is still happening. That is not what we need. Let Christians and Muslims, religious leaders in this country come together and call upon the Lord with one mind. Who is Boko Haram? These are human beings and they are being sponsored by some individuals to deal with government. If these terrorists are killing senators, I wouldn’t have prayed, if they were killing the leaders, no problem. But they should stop killing poor, innocent people. They should stop setting bombs in Nyanya where poor people reside. I am talking to you because God wants me to reply, I have received a lot of calls since that Monday, people crying and asking me what would be the solution. I have been a prophet for 20cyears and I know what God can do.

Should President Jonathan run for re-election in 2015?

If President Jonathan has not declared whether he will run or not run for 2015 election, then something is wrong.

But do you think it is necessary for President Jonathan to contest the 2015 election?

I said Jonathan is still the President. Any election coming next year is just a mere exercise, it is just to fulfill the law, he is still the

President, that is just it. I said he is the chosen one, he must complete his eight years. It is turn by turn. Others have done their part, lets leave the man to do his. The preparations by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are just like when you put on a generator, you must switch it on for light to come. INEC is a generator, if they fail to conduct the election, it is against the law. There must be election, so let Attahiru Jega do his preparations, but Jonathan is still there.

Are there issues you would want deliberated upon at the on-going National Conference?

What this National Conference should talk about is for us to love one another. They should dwell on it. What they are talking about now are their own topics, they talk about peace and security but some of them came to the conference with 10 policemen.

A senator has so many policemen guarding him, so what we need is love for one another.

Some people predicted that Nigeria would disintegrate by 2015. What is your take on this?

Predicted or prophesied? No, anything that is not prophesy cannot happen. I don’t know anything about predictions, I am a prophet, I believe in prophesy and anything that is not prophesy is not me. ‘Thus says the Lord’ is what we stand for and God has not said that Nigeria would disintegrate. It is a lie, God has not spoken. If God says it will happen, then it will come to pass, but God has not spoken. For us to continue as one indivisible nation, we need God. Why do they call you a prophet because most Nigerians don’t believe in that title, while some say what we have are false prophets?

You want to know why I am a prophet?

Why are you a journalist? If people are saying false prophets, we equally have fake journalists, fake presidents, fake doctors, fake lawyers. We have fake in everything but you don’t expect the whole world to believe in what you believe.

What massage do you have for Nigerians?

Peace, togetherness and love, that is what I wish Nigerians.

Lagos mulls metroline project’s revival, seeks foreign investors’ support HOSE who assumed that the T Lagos Metroline project has been totally condemned into the dustbin of history should have a rethink judging from the recent pronouncement of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.

Fashola, while reacting to proposals and questions from a 14-member French business delegation led

by Chairman of GRAS Savoye and Vice Chairman of MEDEF International, Patrick Lucas, over the weekend after the conclusion of Ehingbeti 2014, explained that the state government is currently re-examining the project.

According to Fashola, recent feasibility study has shown that 27 kilometres of the earlier route slated for the project are still intact and that the plan may be altered after necessary alignments by the time feasibility study is completed.

While explaining that detailed feasibility and financial implication of the Metroline might determine the reintroduction of the project or otherwise, the governor emphasised the readiness of the state government to partner investors who are read to assist the administration in its massive provision of infrastructure to over 20 million of residents in the state.

The governor and his key commissioners, in their presentations, said the state government is embarking on massive projects in the areas of roads, modes of transportation, provision of clean water, health and sanitation, renewable

energy, agriculture, security, education as well as creating enabling environment for trade and investment.

He commended French development agency for supporting the dualisation of Mile 12 – Ikorodu road project, which he said will be completed by the end of the year.

On removal, sorting and treating of wastes, he said sorting of wastes alone generate about N5 million daily for local operators. According to him, opportunity abounds for investors who have expertise in

solid and liquid waste management, treatment and generation of clean energy from wastes in accordance with current masterplan.

He also informed his visitors that the state decided to embrace private partnership in road transportation following past experience, high overhead and maintenance costs.

Fashola added that Mile 12 – Ikorodu and Lagos – Badagry transportation operations as well as full commercialization of state waterways are still open to investors.

Also, he revealed that his government has injected 15 mini waterworks to serve the residents better, adding that opportunities are still available for serious investors.

The governor explained further that the state has changed the state of health facilities in the state but quickly stressed that the missing link was human development relating to training and retraining of health personnel.

The state, he added, is moving from free health service to secured plan through massive enlighten-

ment, advocacy and proposed health insurance in partnership with private medical facility owners in the state.

However, he warned the investors that his administration would not entertain projects that could not support the aspirations of the state government in terms of what is already on ground.

Earlier, Lucas and members of his delegation presented the various business interests they represented and how they could leverage on the needs of the state.

Stakeholders laud govt on National Quality Policy panel GROUP of stakeholders on the A platform of Champions of Development Nigeria (CDN) has commended the inauguration of the National Quality Policy (NQP) Steering Committee by the Federal Government.

President of the group, Mr. Jonas Yomi, in a statement in Lagos, described the committee’s inauguration as a timely step towards enthroning quality culture in the country.

CDN decried the lack of an integrated approach to quality management in Nigeria, saying that the harmonisation of regulatory agencies and existing quality policies was overdue if Nigeria was determined to establish national quality infrastructure which is an important tool for imple-

menting NQP. The group also lamented the nonexistence or insignificant number of accredited laboratories in Nigeria, noting that accredited laboratories are the backbone of consistently valid testing results without which products or services cannot be said to be certified or conform to requirements.

“These unacceptable deficiencies of the present approach to standardisation highly recommend NQP. Without NQP, Nigeria’s standardisation efforts will continue to look uncoordinated and unclear.

NQP’s objective is to make quality the way of life in Nigeria. It will define the apex standardisation institution in the country; clarify the boundaries for each of the regu-

latory agencies; minimise conflict between them; enhance cooperation between them; and identify existing as well as needed infrastructure as well as chart its own implementation”.

The group urged the Steering Committee to ensure that all stakeholders are carried along in the process of the policy drafting and evaluation since only an all-inclusive policy will gain the needed broad-based support. “There is need to reach out across the whole spectrum of stakeholders. This can be done through road shows as well as sustained mass media campaign.

Within the framework of national interest, the diversity of views should be considered”.

The group also urged the commit-

tee to see ahead and make only recommendations that will stand the test of time. “Imagine how it will be if the nation has to start drafting a new NQP in the next couple of years due to some unforeseen factor.”

With the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga as chairman and the Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr. Joseph Odumodu, as secretary, the NQP steering committee is mandated to review and harmonize existing quality policies in Nigeria, identify Nigeria’s national quality infrastructure needs, identify the best model for national economic growth and develop the roadmap for National Quality Policy implementation.

TheGuardian

14 | Monday, April 21, 2014

www.ngrguardiannews.com

Conscience Nurtured by Truth

FOUNDER: ALEX U. IBRU (1945 – 2011) Conscience is an open wound; only truth can heal it. Uthman dan Fodio 1754-1816

Editorial Labour’s opposition to sale of assets HE opposition stance taken by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against the Federal Government’s determined resolve to hastily privatise the nation’s four refineries and commercialise the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the Nigeria Films Corporation, among other government entities, is a justified action that should get the support of all Nigerians. True to the argument adduced by the labour union, the planned sale is unwarranted, insensitive, unconscionable and ill-advised given the endemic proportion of poverty, worrisome unemployment rate and the collapse of industries.

By cautioning against the planned sale of assets belonging to the generality of Nigerians, the NLC has directed national attention again to an entrenched regime of wilful plundering of the economy and a waning sense of patriotism and nationalistic ethos amongst those who call themselves leaders.

Although news of the planned privatisation of the refineries had been on for years, the NLC reaction is not unconnected with information making the rounds that apart from the abovementioned entities, the Skypower Catering and Hotels Services, the Commodities and Exchange Commission, Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and the National Parks are also slated for sale.

One of the most formidable arguments in support of privatisation is hinged on the attitude of the Nigerian government to public service and assets. It is common knowledge that public service delivery has deteriorated down the years, that the Nigerian government is a deliberate killer of public corporations and that within the corridors of power are rapacious elements freeloading on government’s socio-economic misadventure. Besides, the history of divisive politics bears witness to Nigeria’s apathy to public utilities. Smarting from a heritage of lawlessness and prebendal politics, Nigerians have demonstrated a very low managerial quotient when it comes to the maintenance of public institutions.

Stretched to its limit, it could be further argued that if these public assets had not been privatised they would have been in a worse state.

The Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, in an interview granted foreign media not long ago, seemed to have echoed this view when she said: “We would like to see major infrastructural entities such as refineries moving out of government hands into the private sector… Government does not want to be in the business of running major infrastructure entities and we haven’t done a very good job at it over all these years.”

While arguments of this nature make some sense, it is not feasible given Nigeria’s level of infrastructural development and the quality of human capital at the helm of governance.

And as experience has shown, all must be suspicious of privatisation agendas and the recommendation of lackeys of the foreign economic order, who parade themselves as servant of the people for this planned sale, it must said, has nothing to do with the interest of the people. Is the Nigerian government doomed to be a bad manager of infrastructure? Is this not selfindicting? If this is the case, what moral grounds does the leadership have to be in government?

It is clear that Nigerian leaders have come to uncritically adopt an economic order fashioned after some foreign model of running state affairs. In this compulsive penchant for imitation, the economic pundits look out for economically viable nations of the west, whose economic system they clone without considering the concourse of history and culture.

Nigerian leaders forget that nations such as Britain and Germany, for instance, have built business and commercial entities since the Industrial Revolution. What Nigerian business and commercial institution has stood the test of time? What can Nigeria boast of in terms of infrastructure that needs to be privatised?

If the privatisation of the refineries is to make any sense to the economy, the BPE must live up to its mandate to get buyers of government assets that can turn the fortunes of those companies around and create more jobs. Nigerians have witnessed privatisation done badly. If privatisation is to be done well, then the government should engage successful companies of global renown, rather than dash the assets out to untested cronies and acolytes, without the faintest idea of transforming the industry. Even at that, the very idea of privatisation has been viewed with suspicion in certain quarters. It could be a channel for illicit financial flows in the global economy, just as it is a means of political patronage.

In the same manner of opposition to indiscriminate privatisation of public assets, the commercialisation of the listed agencies in the information ministry is not advisable. For the essential role they play in the dissemination of information, social mobilisation, public enlightenment and cultural orientation, the NTA, NAN and the Nigeria Films Corporation together form what is called public good. If government is truly about the people, it is unimaginable how a civil authority could contemplate the sale of such vital instruments of Public Broadcasting Service. Given the fact of social history, the trend is not to sell national assets of this nature.

True to the observation of the NLC there is no evidence that privatisation has succeeded in delivering the desired results for the people. Of all the many government institutions so far privatised, none seems to have made any breakthrough in terms of economic viability and service delivery. In the roll call has been Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL), Oku Iboku Paper Mills, Daily Times of Nigeria, amongst others.

To make public assets work, government should outsource management if it is certain that government cannot manage them. Modalities should be worked out for them to be managed by private persons or management outfits rather than cronies and affiliates of politicians and political office holders.

An irrational romance with privatisation that turns national patrimony into items of selfish business deals is unacceptable.

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LETTERS

Jonathan and the burden of a nation IR: These days, several Sissues important national are competing for attention but at the centre of it all is the issue of corruption, which President Goodluck Jonathan has deliberately refused to give adequate attention.

Till today convicted Alamieyeseigha is seen as one of the worst looters in Nigeria, yet Jonathan granted him amnesty.

Again the amount spent on the centenary and the National Conference is enough to employ many youths to reduce the unemployment rate in Nigeria. I mean this is a conference that at the end of the day they will be kept under the carpet, like that of the committee set up for the infamous Boko Haram.

The Oduahgate is another issue to look at. The president should no have tolerance for corruption but the body language shows that he looks the other way on corrupt people. He should spare nobody in his government for one day after all allegations have been established against any accused official.

It is no longer new that

Boko Haram of course is no longer news as almost every state of the federation has been affected. Of recent too, the Jonathan administration gave the late former Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha an award. To my understanding, if an award is given to somebody it is assumed he is the best.

Fulani herdsmen are invading almost every state in the middle belt area of Nigeria. These herdsmen destroy farms and kill innocent people.

The Jonathan administration has not been able to do something about it despite the fact that the governor of Benue State has been calling for help from the Federal Government.

Boko Haram of course is no longer news as almost every state of the federation has been affected. Of recent too, the Jonathan administration gave the late former Head of State Gen. Sani Abacha an award. To my understanding, if an award is given to somebody it is assumed he is the best. So what is the award to Abacha after looting the treasury and cart-

ing away our money to foreign land?

From his body language, Jonathan is concerned about his re-election and nothing else. It also unfortunate that anytime the president messes up, PDP will want to side him. For example PDP National Publicity Secretary in a statement said: “APC lacks respect for human life” after APC has condemned what happened during the Immigration recruitment exercise recently. Which of the two parties lack respect for human life following the recent happenings in Nigeria?

The Federal Government should take a decisive action on the trouble in Benue, Katsina, Taraba, Kaduna and other surrounding states.

• Cyril Oglegba,

Monday, April 21, 2014

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

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Opinion Confederalism as Nigeria’s realistic federalis

By Raphael Okunmuyide NE hundred years after an imposed amalgamation of two dis-similar protectorates, 53 O years of political independence, several military coup d’etat, 30-month civil war, 30 years of military rule, fourth-running republic and many failed political conferences, Nigeria is conferring again on the best form of government for guaranteeing her political unity. This is happening while Boko Haram and the amorphous “Fulani herdsmen” have turned the north into a security disaster zone, the Niger Delta militants are adjusting their operational tactics to fit their commercial objectives, MASSOB group hoisted the Biafran flag in the Enugu Government house on 08/03/14 (44 years after the civil war!), the preConfab communique of the Southern Leaders’ and the Northern Elders’ Forum are diametrically opposed, the Niger Delta governments insist on “Resource Control” and the southwest governments demand “Regional Autonomy”!

Nigeria’s parliamentary, military dictatorship, unitary, federal-unitary and presidential-federal political forms of government have failed to deliver the minimum public benefits, regardless of the quality of their operators, because they are inherently defective in aligning the appropriate political structure with the country’s socio-economic objectives and strategy. Rather, they have excerbated her political vulnerability to the increasing pressure of the centrifugal forces:Massob, OPC, the Middle belt, Egbesu, Niger-Delta, Arewa, Ogoni, Ijaw, Urhobo, Itshekiri, Berom and Hausa-Fulani in Nigeria’s “Kashmir” Plateau, Zongo-Katafs, Boko Haram etc along with a tickling time-bomb: religious intolerance.

The Americans, despite their excellent socio-economic and political infrastructure, seek to reduce their 25.3 per cent federal cost of governance compared to Nigeria’s 52.68 per cent! Nigeria is the only country with a poorly developed socio-economic infrastructure and in her extremely low per-capita-income category that operates the presidential form of government. The present 75:25 ratio between recurrent and capital components of the national budget (despite the $ trillions required to cover infrastructural deficits for which Nigeria daily hunts for foreign direct investment) will certainly worsen to 80:20 or even 90:10 within the next five years if a timely solution to its incongruous governance structure is not provided through

Confederalism.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has rated Nigeria among the world’s five countries that comprise two-thirds of the world’s extreme poor, along with India, China, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo. And, the “Global Competitiveness 2012/3 Report in 2011 showed that Nigeria with an estimated 2.32 per cent of world population had a GDP(PPP)/capita of only 0.52 per cent of the world’s total!

Measuring the economies’ global economic competitiveness on 12 key performance pillars that were broken into three key sub-aggregates: factor-driven, efficiency-driven, and innovationdriven, Nigeria was classified as a factor-driven (Stage 1) economy with an agriculture-32 per cent- manufacturing-three per cent-non-manufacturing-39 per cent-and-services-26 per cent structure. African countries in the efficiency-driven (Stage 2) economies are Cape Verde, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Gabon and Libya were/are graduating from Nigeria’s bloc of stage one economies, that is, “in transition to Stage two economies.” Thus out of the 144 countries covered by the report, Nigeria’s overall Global competitiveness Index score by sustainability indicators is 115, that is in the lowest quartile!

Furthermore, the ratings for Nigeria on each of the 12 pillars of performance in global competitiveness are as follows: (public) health and primary education, 142; infrastructure 130, institutions,117, higher education and training 113, technological readiness 112, goods’ market efficiency88, innovation 78, financial market development 68, business sophistication 66, labour market efficiency 55, macro-economic environment, 39 and market size 33. Thus, Nigeria was above average in only five of these 12 pillars: macro-economic environment, labour market efficiency, financial market development, market size and business sophistication.

Also, except Mali and Botswana in Nigeria’s league of the manufacturing sector’s poor contribution to the GDP, all other African countries out-performed her: Gabon, Sierra-leone, Mauritania and Libya four per cent, Guinea, Gambia and Ethiopia five per cent, Ghana and Rwanda, six per cent, Cape Verde and Chad, seven per cent, Benin, Uganda, Kenya and Namibia, eight per cent, Zambia and Burundi, nine pre cent, Malawi and Tanzania, 10 per cent, Liberia, Sene-

gal and South Africa, 13 per cent, Egypt, 14 per cent, Zimbabwe, 15 per cent, Lesotho, 16 per cent, Cameroon, 17 per cent, Cote d’Ivoire, 19 per cent and Swaziland, 45 per cent!

Moreover, Nigeria has not been blessed with many patriotic leaders, most of whom were/are ferociously engaged in “competitive corruption” (Philip Asiodu, Sunday Sun, 10th March 2014). Despite this malignant malaise, the fact is that even the most patriotic, brilliant, honest, visionary, hands-on manager of resources cannot succeed in managing this country well because of its defective structure of governance and its associated costs relative to the gaps in socio-economic developments required by the citizens. This is a fundamental reason why Nigeria has continued to experience strong governance headwinds.

Thus, despite the nominal GDP growth figures in recent years and its latest “re-basing” to $509.9 billion, her GDP per capita of only $2,688 is much lower than Angola’s $ 5,703 and Gabon’s $10,688, that frightfully underscores the possible re-play of the tragically classic case of “Growth without development: the example of Liberia” with severe politico-economic consequences. Notwithstanding the several $ billions earned from exports, about 70 per cent of the population are below the poverty line and unemployment is soaring to extremely high levels. Hence, Nigeria is virtually being crippled by heinous crimes, some of which were hitherto unknown for, example, terrorism, kidnapping-for-ransom, Internet scam, electronic banking fraud, employment-recruitment scam, commercialised religious exploitation etc that are taking heavy tolls on policing, security and recidivism costs as the extremely high human suffering indices are becoming increasingly un-manageable.

And, the only known, though hitherto un-tried in Nigeria, feasibly corrective realistic form of federalism that can match our political structure with our national socio-economic objectives and strategy appropriately as well as drastically reduce the central cost of governance for every citizen is Con-federalism. Also it will guarantee Nigeria a strong and durable unity as a multi-lingual, multi-national and multi-religious amalgamation while providing the citizenry what has been critically lacking: socio-economic development and enormous scope for deepening the practice of democracy. It has been successfully used in Switzerland for several decades, al-

though what is being proposed is a modest, lower-cost adaptation of the Swiss confederacy rather than its total adoption. It is better than the parliamentary form of government and its allied “regional autonomy” as the latter’s accentuation of the centrifugal political forces hastened the collapse of the first republic and because of the several political complexities that have developed across the country since then. It will guarantee political stability because governance in the zones will be more focused on development and positive competition among the states in each zone to permit continuity and peace to radiate from the center rather than the incessant conflicts between the states/regions and the centre.

Hence, it neutralises the centrifugal political forces through power/resources/responsibility/accountability devolution that will assure that every state and zone, without any risk of marginalisation or exclusion, will participate permanently in the political leadership by right, not as a favour or concession from any region/zone. Its de-personalisation of leadership in favour of a permanently collective national leadership through consensual decision-making is an enduringly strong benefit that strengthens the basis of the national unity from the con-federal service centre. It eliminates ethnicity-cum-religious-differences and acrimonious/divisive party politicking from national-level politics in addition to enthroning the ‘national interest’ in policy and strategy formulation and decision-making. It guarantees peace, security and continuity in governance at the center as well as stabilises policies and relationships between the confederal country and the rest of the world as it will end the national-stability-endangering and socio- economic-growthdebilitating political tensions that occur internally and externally before and after the National-Assembly-cum-Presidential elections. It will permanently lay to rest the pervasive ghost of electoral fraud/rigging that has always endangered democracy in Nigeria through the “do-ordie” struggle by political parties to win the single-candidate prime-ministership/presidential election as the confederal council will comprise nine candidates of different political parties from the zones as a solid platform for the pluralistic democracy that best matches Nigeria’s multilingual-tribal-religious structure.

To be continued tomorrow• • Okunmuyide wrote from Lagos.

Nigeria’s Debt: The House Vs Okonjo-Iweala

By Henry Boyo N a recent online interactive programme with Nigerian youths, Iomy, the Finance Minister and the Coordinating Minister of the EconDr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, gave the assurance that Nigeria did not have a debt problem, as the ratio between our debt and our nation’s total output (GDP) was a mere 21 per cent, which compares favourably with 40 to 60 per cent benchmark for emerging economies and more favourably with the United Kingdom and United States’ debt to GDP ratios of 89 and 90 per cent respectively.

The minister also noted that despite the reduction in domestic loans, which form the lion’s share of annual debts, from N852bn in 2011 to N522bn in the 2014 budget, unexpectedly, however, debt service charges rose to about 20 per cent of total expenditure, and remain the highest sectoral allocation, well beyond the provisions for education, health and agriculture in annual budgets.

Notwithstanding, the House of Reps Committee on Finance is concerned that in place of the minister’s promise to reduce recurrent expenditure during her second coming, consumption spending has, in fact, conversely risen from below 70 to 76 per cent, while capital expenditure, despite its social multiplier impact, has regrettably fallen to 24 per cent, in the 2014 budget.

The finance minister, however, explained that the increased recurrent expenditure was instigated by unplanned wage increases, during Segun Aganga’s tenure as finance minister, between 2010 and 2011.

Evidently, the savings from the privatisation of corruption-ridden public enterprises and the exclusion of a sizable population of ghost workers from the treasury’s payroll and the expected savings from the established due process for public procurements, have not compensated for the alleged wage increases since 2010.

The House is also concerned that despite the reduction of deficits between 2011 and 2014, and in spite of the recognition of the oppressive burden of prevailing high cost of borrowing, additional loans were unexpectedly obtained to propel total domestic indebtedness from N5.6tn, when Okonjo-Iweala came into office, to over N7.1trillion.

Consequently, the house committee is unimpressed by the celebrated insignificant decline in deficits, and indeed, believes that

Nigeria’s domestic cost of borrowing remains one of the highest in the world; the House, therefore, demanded that the true cost and the existing procedure for accumulating and servicing our debts should be more clearly defined, in the answers to the 50 questions set for the coordinating minister of the economy. Besides, the House Committee similarly contends that the fiscal deficits and associated borrowings may have been eliminated, if crude oil benchmarks were not deliberately understated in annual budgets.

Government’s faux pas in borrowing with such oppressive cost to fund alleged deficits may provide the answer for the growth in the ratio of debt service charges to total budgeted revenue from 14 to almost 20 per cent! It is, however, inexplicable that the hundreds of billions of naira budget deficits, which were funded at such abnormally high cost for sovereign debts, existed simultaneously with CBN’s over $40billion idle reserves and over $8bn additionally warehoused annually as revenue surplus, in a designated Excess Crude Account with zero yield. This surely cannot be best practice in fiscal management; besides, Nigerians must wonder why the minister considered a $36 billion debt burden as crisis level in 2005/2006, because of high service charges, but now, curiously, approves of our current primary debt stock of over $50bn, despite the oppressive service charges that regrettably mirror the allegedly perilous debt overhang of about a decade ago; indeed, when existing external debt of about $10bn and AMCON’s N5 trillion ($30bn) debt are also factored in, our debt stock may actually exceed $90 billion and rise above 40 per cent of GDP, even if we exclude the additional N400 billion (about $2.5 billion) also borrowed to pay PHCN workers after the privatisation of that company.

Thus, if the currently designated N100 billion annual sinking fund is our only provision for debt liquidation, contrary to the finance minister’s assurance to our youths, we may actually leave a legacy of an expensive debt burden for future generations. Regrettably, also, Nigerians largely agree that these huge and expensive loans have left minimal positive social impact, especially when government finds it convenient to diffuse these loans in myriad budget applications rather than tie them to specific tangible or verifiable projects.

The minister’s plan and House Committee’s desire to redress our

loan portfolio in favour of cheaper external debts, obviously may not have considered the inherent risk regarding the ease with which international portfolio investors in our unusually highly profitable government bills and bonds can take out their money with destabilising consequences on our exchange rate and our economy.

Certainly, a more creative, patriotic and positive approach for reducing interest rates would be the adoption of a monetary strategy that would bring down domestic cost of funds to the same level as the more desirable external loans, without the omnipresent fear of capital flight.

However, the following is an excerpt from Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s somewhat staccato response to a question, in a recent interview on the unusually high interest rates in Nigeria: “… we are not happy about high interest rates! As I said before, it is tough for our entrepreneurs to function. …we need to interrogate why.

Structurally, what is the issue? And we are not willing to ask our banks that question. Deposit rates are extremely low and Nigerian savers are earning as low as five per cent and three per cent. …Private sector credit has gone down. I plan to have a meeting with the banking sector operators to really understand what is going on (after how many years in office, one may ask). …But I am puzzled as to why. I think there is a structural problem within the banks and our banking system and their pricing.” (Interview with ThisDay, 11/08/2013).

There is nothing to suggest that the minister is still any wiser; however, it is evident that the prevailing high interest rates in Nigeria are the result of perennial excess liquidity. It is not clear if Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is aware that unceasing naira surplus in the Nigerian economy actually instigates high interest rates, inflation and increased government borrowing. The minister may not also be aware that CBN’s substitution of naira allocations for dollar revenue is indeed the evasive structural cause of excess naira supply and the attendant adverse consequences on higher cost of funds, a weak naira exchange rate, increasing fuel subsidy values, burdensome debt accumulation and horrendous debt service charges; meanwhile, the adoption of dollar certificates for payment of dollar revenue will minimise the burden of surplus cash, and reverse the above unwholesome consequences on the economy.

16 | Monday, April 21, 2014

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Opinion Let’s have the ‘Okonjo wahala’

By Jide Akintunde HERE is a growing cynicism by Nigerians about any Nigerian that purports to want to make a positive contribution towards the development of the country. It is a mistake. If Nigeria will ever break away from the shackles of under-development, and be counted amongst the performing economies of the world, it is Nigerians that will make it happen.

Besides, a section of the cynics is merely taking a disingenuous tactical position. Fooling the people that things will remain the way they are, against the intuition that they cannot and they will not, the self-seekers merely want to continue to take advantage of the current morass where privilege trumphs and not promote, the common good.

However, the cynicism towards Nigeria’s Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is worth examining for redemptive purposes. A woman who suitably wrote the book: “Reforming the Unreformable” is quickly taking on the reputation of someone who is unwilling to commit to reforming the ‘reformable.’

Indeed, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is losing her top reformer reputation, and it does raise some concerns.

Let me assert her pedigree. A few years ago, former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, described Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as “a brilliant reformer.” She garnered this kind of accolades from three decades of supporting the global development agenda at the World Bank with excellent administrative work; astute targeting of resources to the neediest and for the best results; helping to repatriate stolen public funds from developing countries in support of global anti-corruption agenda, and in later years, mobilising resources for good causes, to

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promote development in the global South.

At the national level in Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala quickly made her expertise felt in the reform of the administration of public debt, establishment of accountability frameworks in public finance, enunciation of counter-cyclical measures in fiscal management and support of broader institutional and market reforms during the Administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. The substantives for these are well established in the successful initiatives of the World Bank over the immediate past decades. More recently, before she left the Bank as Managing Director, her global leadership was at the fore in the responses to the last global financial and food crises, and in the record-level replenishment of IDA 16. The love-hate epithet she earned: “Okonjo Wahala” is a descriptor of her effectiveness in getting results in a system that had been reform-proof for decades, when she was finance minister of Nigeria between 2004 and 2006.

Great expectations therefore greeted her “second coming” to serve Nigeria, in even more influential capacity under the Administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.

But these days; nearly three years on, one needs to look back, beyond 17th of August 2011 when Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala assumed her current office, to be able to substantiate her big appetite for reform, and proven knowhow in delivering on policies for effective government.

One explanation of this distressing revelation of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is that she is serving under President Goodluck Jonathan who is reputed for his non-committal anticorruption stance. These days, he is wont to

excuse corruption by claiming that Nigeria’s fatal corruption level is exaggerated. As such, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala herself took a swipe, not at the appalling level of corruption in Nigeria during an April 2013 interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN, but at the association of Nigeria with corruption. In response to Amanpour’s question on perception of corruption in the country, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala answered: “Nigeria does have a problem with corruption.

And so do many other countries, including developed countries.”

This is completely ironic, because Amanpour’s question was against the backdrop of the state pardon President Jonathan had just granted ex-convict, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, who as governor of Bayelsa State (the home state of the president), embezzled and laundered millions of dollars from the treasury. In a March 2007 Ted Talk, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala gave an elegant profile of anti-corruption commitment in Africa, pointing the conviction of “Alams” (as she said Mr. Alamieyeseigha is known for short) as the exemplar in Nigeria.

To compromise can exert heavier toll than one remains resolute and consistent. I believe Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s detractors are loving the proverbial three wise monkeys of a situation that subsists with public probity in Nigeria: “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”.

Strategically, some of them want Mrs. OkonjoIweala to persistently play on the back foot.

The other day, the House of Representatives Committee on Finance gave her 50 questions to answer on the economy. The National Assembly had to negotiate the benchmark price of crude oil in the 2014 budget before it was even presented in the Appropriation Bill. I thought clearance of the so-called knotty issue of the benchmark price of oil would then see

to the accelerated passage of the budget. No. It is the last week of March (as I write) and the budget is not passed, making a mockery of the fiscal regime. Therefore, the pre-negotiation of the benchmark price should rightly be seen as an encroachment by the Legislature on the Executive function of crafting the yearly appropriation bill. Even the role of the “Coordinating Minister for the Economy” is undermined. While the President says the country’s refineries will not be privatised, the Minister of Petroleum Resources nevertheless announced plans to sell the assets.

Some public affairs analysts have linked the predicament of the Finance Minister to dysfunctional opposition politics. As things are, the role of politics in shaping the final chapter of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s career in government cannot be discountenanced. The advantage of incumbency is the most powerful factor in favour of President Goodluck Jonathan as we head towards the 2015 presidential election. This is the time of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala has to ensure history is kind to her. If things continue like this to next May, regardless of what happens afterward, some of us will ask her to account for the largely lost four years of 2011–2015.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala needs to reassert her credentials and reputation. Her last few years in government should not ruin her legacy. She will not be fair to herself to allow this to happen. For me, she will be the worst Nigerian minister in history, if she doesn’t operate as a top reformer she is, moving forward. That will be because she refused to do the good she knows how to do. To whom much is given, much is expected. I want “Okonjo Wahala” back.

Unforgettable memories of G.O.K Ajayi

By Ezra Yakusak HE news of G.O.K Ajayi’s death came as a shock. It wasn’t because he was too young to die but for the imagination that such a legal titan took a final bow from this world, never to represent a client again. His skills and experienced gone, just like that.

I was first attracted to G.O.K Ajayi, during the Zango Kataf trial when the then Military Head of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida set up a Special Military Tribunal headed by Hon. Justice Okadigbo to try people arrested over the Zango Kataf crisis of 1992. Instructively, all the people arrested and tried were of the Atyap extraction.

As counsel to the accused persons, G.O.K Ajayi made a spirited defence for his clients. His courage and boldness was unprecedented for a lawyer under a dictatorial military regime. As a young lawyer then, I saw G.O.K Ajayi a legal “superstar”. I admired his skill, dexterity, commitment to his Clients and command of the language. My dream then was to meet this legal colossus.

The opportunity came in 1994 when Chief M.K.O Abiola was arraigned for treason at the Federal High Court sitting at Wuse zone 5 Abuja. As far as I can remember, prior to the Abiola’s case, there was no Federal High Court sitting in Abuja. The Sani Abacha regime was said to have transferred Honourable Justice Mustapha who was then in the Benin Judicial Division of the Federal High to Abuja for the trial. I attended almost all the proceedings where I had the rare opportunity of shaking hands with MKO Abiola, GOK Ajayi and other high profile personalities whom I could only access through the pages of newspapers.

I can vividly remember the humiliation and psychological trauma MKO Abiola went through during that trial. Firstly, he was brought in a Black Maria from one of the far northern states.

He was denied access to newspapers, books, his family and even his doctor. On the day Abiola was first brought to court, G.O.K Ajayi was not in court. The then Attorney General of the Federation, Tobe Chukwu, who was prosecuting the case, had a field day while opposing Abiola’s oral bail application. At a point, Abiola became very emotional when he saw his family members.

He wept openly in court.

On the next adjourned date, G.O.K Ajayi emerged with a battery of seasoned and time-tested lawyers. Sitting at the bar, directly behind G.O.K Ajayi, I realised that his presence in court caused a stir and changed the turn of events. People sympathetic to the Abiola cause became excited and were talking in low tones while the prosecuting counsels on the hand became timid and clustered around their boss like unwanted orphans. G.O.K calmly announced his appearance and further moved a motion for Abiola’s bail, which had earlier been filed. Expectedly, the prosecuting counsels objected to the bail application. Honourable

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Justice Abdullahi Mustapha was reluctant to immediately rule on the bail application. G.O.K Ajayi then looked sternly at the Judge and requested for a short adjournment to enable the Judge deliver his ruling on the bail application. It was at that point that a mild drama ensued.

Apparently looking confused and overwhelmed by the whole matter, Justice Mustapha in response to Ajayi’s request for short adjournment stated that he (Justice Mustapha) be given time o enable him “consult some people in …”

That statement took everyone off guard. MKO Abiola then seized the moment and tongue lashed the Judge. He told the judge that he was one of the people that drafted the 1979 constitution and it was never their intention that a judge would have to consult anyone, no matter how highly placed before delivering a ruling. With that statement, it was glaring that Abiola doubted the impartiality and independence of the judge on that matter. Few weeks later, Justice Mustapha withdrew from the case. He was quoted as saying: “It has been my desire to see that the accused (MKO Abiola) gets unhindered justice. Now, it is clear from all the utterances that they have no confidence in me.”

The final encounter I had with G.O.K Ajayi was in May 1999. I had travelled to Lagos on behalf of Legal Watch Magazine to seek appointment with Ajayi for an interview. When I eventually saw him in his office at about 6:00pm, I was surprised when he told me that considering the risk, time and money involved it was unfair for him to allow me travel to Abuja only to come back to Lagos for the interview. He said the interview could as well be conducted right away.

That day, I had the rare opportunity to interact one on one with Ajayi, on and off record. That was also a day he told us some issues he had never made public. With my colleague, El-Nathan Obidah taking notes, the tape began to roll. The interview, which lasted for almost three hours, was published in Legal Watch Magazine Vol 1, No.2 of 1999.

Excerpts Legal Watch: We are amazed that at your age (he was 68 years then), you still handle intricate cases that require intensive research.

What is the secret?

G.O.K: My own experience has shown me that with your experience in practice at the bar, the wider your range of experience and as time goes on, as new cases come, many of them will fall into the category of those cases you have conducted many times before. So what could otherwise appear to be a complicated case would just remind you of two or more of such cases you have conducted in the past. As a matter of fact, you will not have to read so many books. You will now have learnt from any mistakes you have made in the past, and would have been able to deal with such part of it. So the older you are, the more you are likely

not to have difficulty. Although many of us still go back to be abreast of the law, but the wealth of your experience is wider.

Legal Watch: What was your most challenging moment in the entire history of your legal practice and why?

G.O.K: What I can refer to as most challenging was the Zango Kataf case. One of the greatest decisions I had to make was withdrawing my appearance to save my clients from execution.

Friends, relatives were apprehensive about the matter. That was really my challenging moment. You know in most of the cases where tribunals are set up by Government, you know exactly what they are expected to do. When you have such a case, the important thing is that you know it is not the law that counts.

Those who are there are not there to follow or administer justice except one or two who have a conscience. You know in that Zango Kataf case one did and actually spoke later. You are not playing the normal game. You have to use other ammunition.

That was why we felt that the way the things were going it was becoming too obvious and beginning to appear even on record, that they were merely using the time that Lawyers were representing those people as something they will hold to say that at least they had legal representation. At a certain stage I had to say that I was not going to be used that way. When you take that kind of decision you have to provide a back up and the backup situation was why I went to the High Court. And when we got to the Court of Appeal, that court also wobbled, so I went to the Supreme Court. When they saw my arguments at the Supreme Court, the Federal Government went and enacted a Decree to nullify my arguments. So the best thing was to withdraw my appearance.

So when you get to a stage, it is not the law that matters. You just have to find out the terrain on which you are playing and what the scenario looks like.

Legal Watch: Sir, what would you want to be remembered for?

G.O.K: I have tried to remain basically a litigation Lawyer.

After the interview Chief G.O.K shared, off record, his experiences with security agents during successive military regimes, failed assassination attempts on his life, his struggles as a Lawyer etc.

I left G.O.K Ajayi that night with the knowledge I never acquired at the Law School. For me, GOK was not only a Lawyer but a fighter, a principled personality, a man committed to whatever cause he believes in. Chief G.O.K Ajayi would ever be missed by some of us who were opportuned to know him and appreciate his worth. He would be missed by the oppressed people of Southern Kaduna whom he risk his life to defend and who were marked for annihilation and later put on trial by the connivance and conspiracy of powerful individuals using government might and resources. He almost took the bullet on their behalf.

Good night Chief G.O.K Ajayi. Adieu Achok Atyap. Rest in Perfect Peace.

• Yakusak, a lawyer, wrote from Abuja.

Monday, April 21, 2014 17

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Politics THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE DEBATE

Parallels, lessons from American experience

By Tunde Bakare Introduction OLLOWING the American Revolution, the 13 states, which then constituted the United States of America, were governed under the provisions of the Articles of Confederation put together by the Second Continental Congress.

After wobbling and fumbling under this constitutional arrangement for about 10 years, the American states had to sit at the table of dialogue to renegotiate their destinies.

In the current Nigerian context, since 1999, with the end of military dictatorship, the country has been governed under a constitutional arrangement decreed into existence by the military.

Having staggered under this constitutional arrangement for 15 years and with the polity far from being stable, the Nigerian nationalities have an opportunity, courtesy of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR, to sit at the dialogue table.

Parallels can be drawn between the American experience and the Nigerian opportunity. More importantly, lessons can be learnt from the American experience to make the most of the Nigerian opportunity.

Parallels First, as is the Nigerian case, the structure and form of governance were the main issues in the American context. In this regard, although there appears to be a contrast, placed in perspective, the parallels are clear.

Whereas the background to the ongoing Nigerian constitutional conference is a bloated centre with relatively enervated federating units created or maintained by the 1999 Constitution, the background to the American Constitutional Convention was a loosely joined confederacy with a centre so weak that not only was it unable to hold the units together, it was virtually unable to sustain itself.

It could not maintain a common currency and had neither taxation powers nor a standing army. The result was that the central government could not manage the conflicts that arose among the states.

Discontent among the populace particularly among the poor, the farmers and debtors against the creditors gave rise to rebellion in Massachusetts, a situation that portrayed the new nation as unable to govern itself.

To salvage the situation, a convention was called for, with a view to discussing possible improvements to the Articles of Confederation.

In the Nigerian case, the bloated centre has retarded the growth of the units, in the process fueling poverty, perpetuating discontent and igniting rebellion across the nation from the insurgency in the North to organised banditry and kidnapping in the South.

Despite the concentration of powers in the centre, things are falling apart and the centre cannot hold, very much like the American experience.

Prelude to the American convention, although everyone knew that government had to be fixed, the question was, “how?” Much like the current Nigerian national conference, the mandate given to the convention was to merely make recommendations for the amendment of the Articles of Confederation.

Consequently, as has been the case with delegates to the Nigerian national conference, most delegates to the American convention came expecting to merely make recommendations for the revision of the pre-existing constitution.

Although the quality of delegates to the American convention was high- powered, some did not realise what they were getting themselves into.

Going by the level of dissonance among their respective constituencies and the apparent cluelessness of some of the delegates regarding the possibilities ahead of them, the convention did not seem to hold any much promise.

While Rhode Island refused to send delegates, delegates from Virginia and Maryland sat at the

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conference fully aware that their respective states were almost at war with each other a few months back. The delegates from Delaware threatened to leave the convention if they had to give up power to strengthen the centre. The delegates from New York argued among themselves over empowering the centre and, eventually, two of the New York delegates pulled out of the conference.

These are reminiscent of the refusal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to send delegates to the conference, the initial threat by northern Nigerian delegates to walk out of the conference and the actual non-participation by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Again, just like many delegates to the current Nigerian national conference, the delegates to the American convention came to the conference, not as Americans, but as Virginians, New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, and so on. They came wanting sovereignty for their respective states.

Furthermore, at the beginning of the 2014 Nigerian National Conference, there was much furore over the picture of the now late Hamma Misau sleeping in plenary. It provided grounds for sceptical Nigerians to further question the worth of the national conference and the seriousness of the delegates, as well as its chances of producing any meaningful outcome.

The 1787 American constitutional conference that produced the American constitution, which has been much celebrated and emulated over the centuries, had worse than a sleeping delegate! It had a drunken delegate in the person of Luther Martin of New Jersey!

Therefore, the American Constitutional Convention, which held for four months, from May 25 to September 17, 1787 and became the reference point for America’s governmental history, did not start out looking like it could produce what it eventually did.

It is important to note also that when the convention delegates changed course towards producing a new constitution for America, they were embarking on what they had no constitutional authorisation to do, as it was not permitted under the Articles of Confederation neither were they mandated so to do.

This is reminiscent of the admonition by conservative delegates to the Nigerian National Conference, to fellow delegates who are optimistic about the opportunity provided by the conference, that the confab has not been mandated to write a new constitution for the country.

What made the difference?

T least, two factors may have contributed to the turnaround. These include the few delegates who came to the conference determined to change the status quo and the resolution of the congress to keep their deliberations absolutely secret.

From the onset, a small group of delegates believed that the Articles of Confederation had to be completely scrapped. These delegates, mostly from Virginia, believed that upon them rested the responsibility of millions yet unborn. Of course, this included George Washington who was the only American then known to every American and was easily elected president of the convention.

However, while many delegates came to the convention with shortsighted expectations and without a sense of where America should be going, only one delegate came with a clear blueprint, as he knew what America ought to do.

He was James Madison.

James Madison arrived at the convention early with an already developed blueprint. He then began to build a coalition with his fellow Virginian delegates. Another delegate, Charles Pinckney from South Carolina, also had a plan but lacked a coalition. With the support of the Virginian coalition, Madison’s plan became the first proposal on the table. This gave direction to an otherwise directionless convention.

Madison’s plan highlighted the fact that the

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major issue was the question of the degree of authority the central government would have over the states.

Convinced that a strong federal government was necessary but aware that the smaller states would particularly resist any plan to surrender part of their sovereignty to the centre (raising fears over minority rights), Madison proposed a system of separation of powers that would guarantee checks and balances and maintained that “only in a large democracy with an extensive system of checks and balances will the rights of minorities be protected from the tyranny of the majority.”

Against this backdrop, on the third day of the Convention, Edmund Randolph, a Virginian delegate, announced the Virginia Plan: to do away with the Articles of Confederation and make a new constitution for America.

The Virginia Plan was debated heatedly with opponents raising concerns over such issues as proportion of representation in Congress. While the plan implied representation in both houses of congress in proportion to size, the smaller states demanded equal representation irrespective of size.

To resolve this stalemate, Roger Sherman, a Connecticut delegate, proposed a bicameral legislation where states would have equal representation in the Senate while representation in the House of Representatives would be size-determined. After much debate, the Connecticut Compromise helped resolve the contentious areas of the Virginia Plan.

Another turnaround factor was the privacy accorded the Convention, as the first resolution of the Convention was to keep deliberations secret, not in the sense of a conspiracy, but in order to ensure a no-holds-barred and honest discussion among delegates.

Consequently, despite suspicions, reporters were blacked out from proceedings and delegates swore not to reveal the content of their debates. Four months later, the Convention had created a new constitution for an entirely new government!

Lessons for the Nigerian National Conference IRST, from the transcripts and reports of debates at the plenary of the confab, there are too many issues being raised and scattered in too many directions. There is the need for a blueprint that will set the agenda for debates. Such a blueprint must be specific in highlighting the main issues and proposing practical solutions. It’s called “keeping the main thing the main thing.”

Second, the blueprint must anticipate the fears and concerns of interest groups and create appropriate frameworks and buffers to deal with genuine concerns.

For instance, an unspoken fear of northern Nigeria towards calls for restructuring and true federalism is the expected loss of allocated oil revenue. This was one of the major causes of the failure of the National Political Reform Conference, 2005, as the SouthSouth demanded 50 per cent derivation on oil revenue.

Although proponents of true federalism rightly maintain that each region has resources that can guarantee self-sustenance, the neglect of non-oil sectors over the years has ensured a relatively greater infrastructural deficit (human and material) in those sectors than in the oil sector.

Therefore, an acceptable plan would have to

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Bakare take this reality into consideration perhaps by making provision for a transitional period of targeted resource-specific infrastructural development across regions through some sort of infrastructural development fund side by side a progressive hand-over of control of resources to the federating units.

This compromise could forestall a sudden incapacitation of some regions or states and might cause otherwise intransigent regions to reconsider their opposition to restructuring.

Third, from the foregoing, there is no gainsaying the importance of compromise and trustful give and take. This lesson is obvious in the Connecticut Compromise.

Fourth, the few delegates who, like the Virginian Coalition and much like the Biblical sons of Issachar, know in this context, what Nigeria ought to do, must take up the challenge of providing leadership, such leadership that defies convention.

Those few delegates who perceive that this is an opportunity to write a new constitution for the country despite the fact that the national conference has not been mandated to do so must rise up to the task. Like the delegates to the American Constitutional Convention, they must rise up to the challenge, knowing that they have upon their shoulders the responsibility of generations yet unborn.

Fifth, those few delegates must take responsibility for creating the blueprint that will provide direction to the conference. It appears that many of the delegates are content at simply revising aspects of the constitution or even aspects of the documents handed over to delegates such as the Report of the National Political Reform Conference, 2005 and the Report of the Political Bureau, 1987, as they might not have the patience to consider drafting a new constitution for the country.

The “Virginia coalition” and, in particular, the James Madisons among delegates, must rise up to do so even if they glean ideas from these past reports. To achieve this, they must build the necessary coalitions and make the necessary compromises.

It is noteworthy that unlike the voluminous 1999 Nigerian Constitution, the American constitution produced from the 1787 convention was a 5-paged document containing less than 4,000 words.

Sixth, although the need for media coverage has been much touted, the conference should seriously consider minimising media coverage and creating an atmosphere for no holds-barred discussion or plain talk until a thorough document

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

18

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

POLITICS Monday, April 21, 2014

‘We must do the right things’ Frank Nweke Jr., former Minister of Information and a delegate representing the Organised Private Sector at the national conference, told Terhemba Daka and Karls Tsokar that the parley will change the course of Nigeria’s history for the better.

OW can some of the delegates, H who were responsible for Nigeria’s problems, articulate and find solutions to them?

I condemn no one. Being here also affords them the opportunity to learn from their behaviour. It also presents an opportunity for us all to learn from their experiences.

I believe this conference also provides us all the opportunity to know what bad behaviour can do to a country.

So, I don’t believe anyone, who is here, has no right to be here or should not be here. I believe that everyone here has something to offer and that people, who are better behaved, have something to learn from these people.

From the perspective of the National Assembly, the conference is usurpation of their role, isn’t it?

I will rather urge everyone to be open-minded. No Nigerian at his or her senile best, who is also genuinely concerned about the progress of this country, would say that they are comfortable with the turn of events in our country today.

Our country is in dire strait and if I were in the National Assembly at the moment, my concern would be the emergence of ideas that would help bring solution to the myriad of problems that challenge us as a people and as a country.

I would not pre-empt the outcome of this conference. If I have anything to submit by way of memoranda, I would do so as a responsible citizen. And that is what I urge our National Assembly members.

If they have any ideas, if they have anything they believe they can offer delegates here for consideration, I will expect them, as responsible citizens, as people who are in positions of political authority, to, please, avail this conference of such ideas for consideration.

I believe that we have only one country, and we are about the only ones that can bring about the change that we want to see.

It took three weeks to discuss the President’s speech. Will the three months allotted for deliberations be sufficient to address all issues?

Frankly, I have no reason to think

otherwise, because the moment debates on the President’s speech were completed, the next thing is to enter the committee stage and that is where, I believe, there is going to be a lot of work.

There are 492 delegates and everyone would have to take their turn to speak; everyone got a chance. I am confident that both the leadership and delegates would be responsible enough to recognise the timeframe set aside for the conference and strive to work within the time frame.

Won’t absenteeism have any effect on the outcome of the conference?

Though I believe that it is important that delegates attend the sessions for which they are here, I do not think such absenteeism will affect the outcome seriously, as decisions would have to be taken on consensus.

I believe that delegates are responsible enough to attend sittings and be part of deliberations in its totality.

This is an important national assignment and it is a thing of pride for some of us to have the opportunity to be nominated to be part of this conference.

A conference to decide the fate of your country, I don’t think there is anything that is nobler. I hope that other people would recognise this and act accordingly.

You represent the OPS at this conference. What exactly are you coming to present?

I have spoken about the issue of development philosophy. As a member of the Organised Private Sector, we are interested in a stable and secure country. You cannot invest nor can a business thrive in an atmosphere of insecurity and instability; this is very fundamental.

Secondly, we are interested in the enthronement of the rule of law and the establishment of clear laws and guidelines that would guide different sectors. Such laws must be applied without fear or favour.

We are going to challenge continued multiple taxation in our country; we believe that it is not conducive for business and it is a major drain on business and the source of business failure in our country.

We are also interested in the provi-

sion of federal infrastructure, issues around roads and transport systems that would enable the movement of goods and service.

We are also interested in responsible regulation. The rascality of some regulatory agencies that tend to see themselves as adversaries to businesses must also be addressed.

We are not going to encourage anybody to disobey the law or anything, no; but regulatory agencies should see themselves as adherers to business, and not to engage in behaviours, which suggest that businesses are enemies to the state.

Those are some of the issues we are going to push for while we are here.

Are you positive that the outcome of the conference will address the myriad of challenges confronting the country?

Very optimistic, I would say. With the kind of cooperation that is emerging — tensions have come down there are signs that one can rely upon.

We believe that the genuine commitment that is emerging on the part of all delegates, to courageously address the stormiest issues, which have constrained our development as a nation, there is hope. So, I’m optimistic.

I’m very pleased to be here, and I’m confident that we are going to come out with far-reaching decisions that would change the course of our history for the better.

Issues like the menace of Boko Haram and militancy came up earlier in the deliberations. As one familiar with the northern part of the country, what are your thoughts?

Whether you are talking of Boko Haram, militancy in the South-South, kidnapping in the Southeast and, indeed, the myriad of security breaches, which have taken place in different parts of our country; all I can say is that nature abhors vac-

uum.

I spoke about the children that I watched underneath the tree during my boyhood in Maiduguri, because they did not receive the kind of education, which may have allowed them to grow up to be responsible citizens. We know what the situation is today. The same thing applies in the South-South.

If you do not provide education and health care, if you do not provide adequate skills and capacity development, your citizens would not turn out to be responsible and civil, and the result is the kind of incivility, insecurity, joblessness and the disenchantment, which now pervade the nooks and crannies of our country.

And so, the choice is ours — to do the right thing or not. If we choose to do the right things, we will see the results; if we choose to do the wrong things, we will also see the results.

What do you make of insecurity, establishment of grazing routes, and the agitation for and against the same?

I will like to suggest that every citizen of this country be given room and opportunity to carry out their lawful business, without fear of molestation. This must be in the context of established laws and

regulations and full respect for the right of others.

I believe that it is possible for Fulani herdsmen and other citizens of Nigeria to co-habit in a peaceful atmosphere. Government and citizens have a big role to play; they can reach some agreement by sitting down together and discussing to agree on the best way to address the issue that has caused constant conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and other farmers across the country.

Has the government done enough to address the insecurity in the Northeast and some parts of the Middle Belt region?

I believe government is making efforts. But added to that, there is clearly a demand on government to make more effort. If you are applying a particular strategy and it is not working, normal human behaviour would dictate that you change strategy.

All we are interested in is that the boundary of the country should be secure.

The people should be safe and all people must be able to live without fear.

They must be able to carry out their lawful businesses.

It is a primary responsibility of government to do that and it cannot abdicate that responsibility.

Nweke Jr.

Parallels, lessons from American experience CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17 is produced. This may commence once delegates move into committees and it may extend later into plenary.

With that, all grandstanding will stop and delegates can focus on the more serious task of nation building with trustful give and take.

Conclusion N the words of Senator Femi Okurounmu (a Southwest delegate and the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Conference) — during his contribution to the debate on the Presidential address — he said: “Finally, I wish to advise this conference not to clamp itself under constraints that were not imposed by the President. The outcomes of our deliberations need not to go to the National Assembly. To send them there will defeat the goal of building a new, just and equitable society because the National Assembly itself is one of those institutions which, as presently constituted, is heavily skewed in favour of some sections of the country against others.” This is spot on.

Finally, if the delegates to the 2014 National Conference consider the WISDOM OF GOD anything to go by in rebuilding our nation and making it an inclusive society of our dream, the ancient story of reconciliation of two brothers (ultimately two families and nations) at the place called MAHANAIM (Two Camps) should guide us in our present assignment. (Genesis 32: 1&2) The two brothers were raised in the same home but theirs was a classical case of unhealthy rivalry, cheating, manipulation, deep-seated mistrust and spiteful cynicisms. But after some 21 years of doing things in their own different ways, the day of reconciliation came.

At first, it appeared that it was a time of revenge

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and settling old scores. Esau showed up with 400 men — a number that naturally overwhelmed the company of Jacob. Consequently, genuine and palpable fear filled the air, as one brother decided to send gifts ahead to appease the seemingly aggrieved brother. Here is the story in its original form without any paraphrase: “1 Now Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and there, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two maidservants.

2 And he put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 Then he crossed over before them and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

4 But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. 5 And he lifted his eyes and saw the women and children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So he said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” 6 Then the maidservants came near, they and their children, and bowed down. 7 And Leah also came near with her children, and they bowed down.

Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near, and they bowed down.

8 Then Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” And he said, “These are to find favour in the sight of my lord.” 9 But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.”

10 And Jacob said, “No, please, if I have now found favour in your sight, then receive my present from my hand, inasmuch as I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11 Please, take my blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I

have enough.” So he urged him, and he took it.

12 Then Esau said, “Let us take our journey; let us go, and I will go before you.” 13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. 14 Please, let my lord go on ahead before his servant. I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure, until I come to my lord in Seir.”

15 And Esau said, “Now let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? Let me find favour in the sight of my lord.” 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, built himself a house, and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. (Genesis 33: 1-17) There are four additional vital lessons for all delegates from this Biblical story: Lesson #1 One brother bowed while the other ran to meet him, embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they both wept. For old wounds to be healed, there must be trustful give and take — not my way or the high way. (Verses 3&4 above) Lesson #2 Both brothers said: “I have enough.” Truth be told, there is no part of Nigeria that is not endowed. Before the discovery of oil, there were groundnut and cocoa pyramids, as well as palm oil and rubber plantations.

If today the Niger Bridge is shut down and tomatoes, potatoes, onions not to mention cows do not come to the South anymore, I wonder how the southern states will survive. We must embark on cross-country capacity building that will ensure that both sides of River

Niger can say again, “we indeed have enough.”

(Verses 9-11 above) Lesson #3 Herein is the spirit of true federalism in action, each part developing at its own pace. Nothing stops Nigeria from developing 6-DUBAIS from our present six geopolitical zones 20 years down the road.

To do this, we must focus on harnessing the resources of each zone for the development of each zone as against the entire nation trying to survive largely on a mono-product economy.

This is killing us while creating the filthy rich amongst our elites who have managed to corner the resources of our nation for themselves.

(Verses 12-14 above) Lesson #4 The final lesson is decentralisation of security apparatus, in our own case, the decentralisation of the police. With our present security challenge, there is no point posting policemen from Kaura Namoda to Calabar or from Port Harcourt to Kafanchan if we are serious about effective policing.

Apart from language barriers, officers, who are not familiar with the terrain of their posting, can hardly do their jobs effectively and satisfactorily.

(Verses 15-17 above) The 2014 National Conference provides Nigeria with the opportunity to re-write her constitutional and governmental history. In this regard, lessons can be learnt from the Word of God and from the American Constitutional Convention of 1787.

It is said that those who do not learn from history either repeat the blunders of history or become history themselves.

May God Almighty guide us aright. Amen.

• In the pursuit of a united and progressive Nigeria, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Convener, Save Nigeria Group

BUSINESS INTERVIEW / 42, 43

THE ENVIRONMENT /37

African leaders commit to delivering safe water, hygiene at Washington talks

‘Rebasing of GDP good for Nigeria’

MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014

UBA, Transcorp, others lift NSE’s turnover by N14b in four days

By Helen Oji TURNOVER of 1.53 billion A shares worth N14.309 billion were traded in 17,704 deals by investors on the floor of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) last week, in contrast to a total of 1.642 billion shares valued at N23.163 billion that changed hands in 21,620 deals during the preceding week.

The drop in the volume of shares traded may however, be attributed to one-day holiday declared on Friday to commemorate the ‘good Friday’.

Last week, the financial services industry (measured by volume) led the activity chart with 1.327 billion shares valued at N10.388 billion traded in 10,582 deals; thus contributing 86.67per cent and 72.60per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

The conglomerates industry followed with a turnover of

Oil prices trade near six-week record high on Ukraine, Russia feud RENT crude traded near a six-week high amid concern that the escalating crisis in Ukraine will disrupt supplies, as West Texas Intermediate rose for a second day.

Futures advanced as much as 0.2 per cent in London before retreating. Ukraine accused Russia of fueling terrorism in its eastern regions as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization pledged to bolster the defenses of nearby nations.

WTI rose after Janet Yellen, in her first speech to a Wall Street audience since becoming Federal Reserve chair, emphasized her commitment to support the U.S. economic recovery.

“The escalating crisis in Ukraine provides strong support to the market amid concerns about oil supply issues in the region,” Myrto Sokou, an analyst at Sucden Financial Limited, in London, said in an e-mail.

“Yellen comments on Thursday spread an optimistic tone in the WTI contract amid hopes for a strong U.S. economic recovery.”

Brent for June settlement was 37 cents lower at $109.23 a barrel as of 12:47 p.m. on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

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102.919 million shares worth N578.971 million in 1,198 deals.

The third place was occupied by the consumer goods industry with 28.978 million shares worth N1.727 billion in 2,218 deals.

Trading in the top three equities: United Bank for Africa Plc, UBA Capital Plc and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 800.4 million shares worth N4.765 billion in 2,373 deals, contributing 52.26 per cent and 33.30 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively.

Also traded during the week were a total of 23,153 units of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) valued at N622,765.88 executed in 14 deals compared with a total of 84,238 units of valued at N2.038 million transacted last week in 24 deals.

Managing Director, Strata Oil and Gas Sevices Limited, Smart Fadayomi (left); President, Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Adedoja Ojelabi; Guest Speaker, Kolade Adeleye; and Representative of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Innocent Okoro, at NAPE’s monthly technical/business forum, hosted by Chevron, in Lagos.

CBN abolishes extant rules on financial HoldCo structure

By Chijioke Nelson HE Central Bank of Nigeria T (CBN) has affirmed that the subsisting operational definition and structure of the Holding Company (HoldCo) model in the banking industry, is no longer in use.

However, the process of enthroning effective policy guidelines and regulations for the operations of financial HoldCo structure may have been liberalized, as the apex bank called for inputs from stakeholders.

The apex bank in a circular titled: “Exposure draft on guidelines for licensing and regulation of financial holding companies in Nigeria,” had specifically sought comments on the document until May 9, 2014.

CBN said: “This guidelines supersedes our circular on ‘Definition and Structure of Holding Companies in Pursuance of the New Banking Model’ dated December 30, 2011 and referenced FPR/CIR/GEN/01/024.”

The move may have also been scripted to strengthen and/or improve on the extant provi-

• Seeks input on new draft guidelines sions guiding operations, which no fewer than four deposit money banks have already taken advantage of.

The financial institutions already operating a HoldCo structure are FBN Holding Plc, UBA Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holding and FCMB Group Plc. According to the “Extraordinary Gazette No. 38 of December 29, 2011, a financial holding company is a company, whose principal object includes the business of a holding company set up for the purpose of making and managing equity invest-

ment in two or more companies, being its subsidiaries, engaged in the provision of financial services, one of which must be a bank.”

CBN had in 2010, repealed the Universal Banking guidelines and introduced the new banking model same year, separating banks from noncore banking businesses, as part of the strategic initiatives to reposition the Nigerian banking system on the path of sustainable viability.

The HoldCo structure permits banks/banking groups to retain non-core banking busi-

nesses by evolving into a nonoperating Holding Company (HoldCo) structure.

Under this Model, a non-operating HoldCo is expected to hold equity investment in banks and non-core banking businesses in a subsidiary arrangement, which seeks to ring-fence depositors’ funds from risks inherent in noncore banking businesses.

A financial holding company shall be a source of financial and managerial strength to the subsidiaries, maintaining financial flexibility and capital-raising capabilities for supporting its subsidiaries and always ready to use available resources to augment capital

funds of its subsidiaries in periods of financial stress or adversity.

“This guidelines, issued in exercise of the powers conferred on the CBN under the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007(CBN Act) and the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act, Cap B3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004(BOFIA), complements CBN Regulation on the Scope of Banking Activities and Ancillary Matters, No 3, 2010 and is intended to facilitate understanding of the requirements for the adoption and operations of a financial holding company in Nigeria,” the circular added.

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20

Monday, April 21, 2014

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FINANCIAL GUARDIAN

Transcorp may raise $1b debt to build power plants RANSNATIONAL Corp. of T Nigeria Plc, which has interests in industries rang-

ing from agriculture to oil, plans to raise as much as $1 billion to build power plants as it

seeks to triple profit in 2014.

Nigeria sold control of 14 power companies to new owners last year, including Siemens AG, Korea Electric Power Corp. (015760) and

Lagos-based Transcorp to attract private investment to reduce blackouts.

However, Transcorp bought the Ughelli gas plant in the Niger delta and plans to boost

NPA boss seeks review of concession agreement

By Moses Ebosele HE Managing Director of T Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Habib Abdullahi has called for a review of concession agreement signed with private terminal operators in 2006.

Receiving members of the on Committee Senate Privatisation who visited his office in Lagos, Abdullahi explained that there is need for review of the concession agreement after over five years of operation “so as to mutually and constructively come out with suggestions and practical solutions that will improve the system”.

A press statement issued by NPA quoted Abdullahi as saying that with port concession, the role of the Authority in the maritime industry has changed from that of an operator to a landlord and technical regulator.

According to the statement, the told Abdullahi Committee that NPA is fully committed to its roles of providing common user facilities at the ports in the area of access roads, quay wall maintenance, provision of fenders, dredging of channels and provision of pilotage and towage services,

On congestion of roads leading to the ports raised by the Chairman of the Committee Senator Gbenga Obadara, the Managing Director said the repair of roads outside the port is the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Works, adding that the Authority has made remarkable progress in the area of roads within the ports while contract have already been awarded for the construction of OshodiApapa Express road.

He pointed out that fenders to the quay walls have been procured and will soon be installed in all seaports in Nigeria.

While noting that the ports in Apapa were built a long time ago when there was little or no commercial activities, he assured the Committee that the 25 year development plan approved for the Authority will enable new ports to be developed outside which will further decongest the ports in Lagos.

Earlier the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gbenga Obadara had told the Managing Director that his Committee decided to visit to find out how the privatisation exercise has fared since the concession of the ports.

He said his Committee is con-

cerned about the benefits and challenges of the privatisation exercise and called for collaboration effective among all stakeholders for the generation of appropriate Federal to revenue Government.

The Committee, which visited Five Star Logistics and Josepdam Port Services Limited was accompanied by Director Executive the Engineering and Technical Services, Mohammed Saleh, General Manager Western Port, Miss Adenike Sonaike, Port Manager Tin Can Island Port, Mr. Babatunde Longe and other top Management Officials, among others.

its output to 700 megawatts by the end of the year after spending as much as $300 million on turbine repairs, Ufudo said.

“We think we can reach financial close by January 2015 and start construction” of a 1,000 megawatt gas plant, Chief Executive Officer Obinna Ufudo, 42, said.

The company will explore fundraising options including bank loans, selling shares or bonds, he said.

An increase in power generation capacity will help treble pretax profit to 30 billion naira ($185 million) this year, Ufudo said. “With the kind of expansion we plan in key sectors we operate, our vision is to make about N160 billion in profit by 2018,” he said.

Transcorp was set up in 2004 to invest in industries in Africa’s biggest economy, with 44 percent stake owned by the Chairman, Tony Elumelu.

Its market capitalization has increased almost tenfold to 149.4 billion naira since 2008,

according to data compiled

by Bloomberg. The shares fell 0.8 percent to 3.86 naira by the close in Lagos yesterday.

Transcorp plans to start the $500 million construction of three “international standard hotels” this year in the capital Abuja, Lagos and the oil-rich Rivers State and it will upgrade the existing 670room Transcorp Hilton Abuja hotel, Ufudo said. The company has said it plans to build eight hotels under the Hilton brand by 2018.

“With improved occupancy and performance, our hospitality business is contributing to profit.

“With Nigeria a strategic investment destination in Africa, we expect the hospitality business to continue to improve,” Ufudo said.

A rebasing of the way Nigeria’s economy is measured for the first time in two decades showed that it’s the biggest on the continent, larger than South Africa’s, the National Bureau of Statistics

said April 6.

The country is Africa’s most populous with about 170 million people and also the continent’s biggest oil producer.

Transcorp opened a fruit concentrate production plant in the central Nigeria state of Benue last year with a capacity of 26,500 metric tons a year, Ufudo said.

The company has secured land to start construction of another factory with a capacity of about 100,000 to 120,000 metric tons. “As the nation imports almost all of its fruit concentrate, the market is there for us to take,” he said.

It is awaiting regulatory approval to begin pumping oil from its Lease 281 in the Niger River delta, Ufudo said.

Transcorp jointly owns an oil lease with Johannesburgbased SacOil Holding Limited and London-based Energy Equity Resources Limited.

“We’ll start drilling this year if we get the approval,” Ufudo said.

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Strategic Planning and Marketing Manager, Mantrac Nigeria Limited,James Agama (left); General Manager, Machine Sales ,Alex Nwoko ; Paving and Forestry Segment Manager, Karim Sami; and the Building Construction Product Segment Manager, Mohamed Ali, at the Mantrac Quality Road Construction Equipment Seminar in Port-Harcourt.

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CONTINUE FROM PAGE 21 The European benchmark crude was at a premium of $6.30 to WTI for the same month. The spread widened for a third day on Thursday to close at $6.57.

WTI for May delivery rose as much as 52 cents to $104.28 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was down 2 cents $103.74 a barrel. The contract added 1 cent on Thursday. The volume of all futures traded was about 25 per cent above the 100-day average. Prices have gained

5.4 per cent this year.

“The saber-rattling in eastern Europe is playing a part in the firmness of oil prices,” said Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, who predicts investors may sell contracts if West Texas climbs to $106 a barrel.

WTI advanced 3.2 per cent in the first quarter as Russia, the world’s largest energy exporter, seized the Crimean peninsula.

Ukrainian authorities this week used armed force for the first time since taking power in February as they

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sought to regain control from separatists in the eastern Donetsk region.

On the eve of talks in Geneva at the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that Russia will face additional economic penalties unless President Vladimir Putin backs away from supporting separatist militias in Ukraine and pulls troops from the border.

Yellen told investors to pay attention to shortfalls in both inflation and the jobless rate for signals on the Federal Open Market Committee’s decisions on the policy rate in a speech in New York on Thursday.

“The larger the shortfall of employment or inflation from their respective objectives, and the slower the projected progress toward those objectives, the longer the current target range for the federal funds rate is likely to be maintained.

“This approach underscores the continuing commitment of the FOMC to main-

tain the appropriate degree of accommodation to support the recovery,” she said.

U.S. crude stockpiles increased by 10 million barrels last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. That’s the most since March 2001 and more than five times the estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts.

Inventories rose to 394.1 million in the week ended April 11, according to the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm. That’s the highest level since June. They were forecast to climb by 1.75 million, the Bloomberg survey of analysts showed.

“Price resilience in the face of that inventory build is remarkable,” McCarthy said.

Gasoline inventories slid by 154,000 barrels for an eighth week of declines, the EIA reported on Thursday.

Distillate stockpiles, including heating oil and diesel, fell by 1.28 million barrels after expanding the prior three weeks.

Monday, April 21, 2014

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FINANCIALGUARDIAN

21

FINANCIAL GUARDIAN

UBA posts N68b gross earnings, N12.59b PAT in Q1

By Helen Oji NITED Bank for Africa U (UBA) Plc’s unaudited result for the first quarter, 2014 released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the bank’s gross earnings rose from N63 billion in 2013 to N68 billion in Q1, 2014, representing a growth of 8.2 per cent.

The bank also grew its loan figures by 16 per cent, from N937.6 billion as at December 31, 2013 to N1.067 trillion as at March 31, 2014.

Profit after tax (PAT) increased from N9.23 billion as at fourth quarter 2013 to N12.59 billion in the first quarter of 2014 while operating income increased to N45.5 billion in the period, a

marginal 2 per cent, when compared to N44.6 billion posted in the first quarter of 2013.

The bank’s net interest margin which shows the quality of the bank’s earning on its

lending activities, remained stable at 5.9per cent while cost of funds also remained stable at 3.6per cent.

Reacting to the performance, UBA’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive

Officer, Phillips Oduoza said the bank has focused on a number of strategic initiatives aimed at increasing its market share in the Nigerian and African markets. “We are optimistic that the gains of

our improved electronic banking channels and financial inclusion initiatives will materialize in successive quarters during the year. We remain confident that we have the right tools to

achieve our business goals for the year whilst ensuring we continue to improve our customer service delivery and further consolidate our growth momentum.” said Oduoza.

Intermarc seeks extention of e-platforms to manufacturing, oil, gas sectors

By Adeyemi Adepetun OR further growth of elecFin tronic payment platforms the country, Intermarc Consulting Limited has said there is need for the platform to start impacting on the real sector such as manufacturing, education, oil and gas, aviation, health, agriculture and transportation.

Besides, Intermarc said access to finance and innova-

tion would help to boost efficiency and profitability as well as create gains for the economy at large.

Speaking to journalists in Lagos to intimate the public about the forthcoming Card, ATM & Mobile Expo 2014, the Group Head, Marketing of Intermarc, Ms. Ann Agbokan, who gave the theme of this year’s expo as: ‘Financial Inclusion: A better future for Africa starts here.’The 14th edi-

tion of the expo, noted that the programme was coming at a time when the adoption of electronic payment had been on the upswing in most parts of Africa.

Agbokan said this will complement the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which had been implementing the pilot phase of the cashless policy in line with the Nigerian financial inclusion strategy as contained in the Vision 2020.

“These have, therefore, emphasised how the unbanked can be brought into the mainstream of the financial system in different parts of Africa. The effect has been driven by governments and financial institutions as well as donor organisations in different part of Africa,” she explained.

The expo, scheduled for Lagos between June 17 and 19 this year, already had over 50

companies, including banks, card companies from the local and international payment communities sponsoring and exhibiting at the event, Agbokan said.

She added, “Companies like Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, SecureID Limited, First Bank, Chams Group, Visa International, Eco-Bank, Altech West Africa, Skye Bank and Union Bank are already on board.

22 Monday, April 21, 2014

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FINANCIALGUARDIAN

EQUITY MARKET SUMMARY

MARKET REPORT AS AT 11=04=2014

PRIMERA AFRICA www.primera-africa.com

Monday, April 21, 2014 | 23

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FINANCIALGUARDIAN

MARKET INDICATORS

MARKET REPORT AS AT 11=04=2014

PRIMERA AFRICA

24

Monday, April 21, 2014

FINANCIALGUARDIAN

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Monday, April 21, 2014 25

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FINANCIALGUARDIAN

INSIDE TAX

26

Monday, April 21, 2014

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NIESV laments waning ethical practice, urges standards in surveying Page 28

N’ Conference delegates bicker over Abuja land compensation

African leaders commit to delivering safe water, hygiene Page 37

Page 35

MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014

Deputy Director, United Nations for Human Settlement Programme (UNhabitat), Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyiri (left), Minister, Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi in a handshake with Under Secretary General and Executive Director, UNHabitat, Mr Joan Clos while Nigerian High Commissioner, Kenya, Akin Oyateru and Chief of Staff to Clos and Nigerian official, Mrs. Edna Tobi watches, during the Seventh World Urban Forum (WUF7) in Medellin, Colombia, recently

Nigerians tasked over sustainable cities as WUF7 ends countries, international agencies and development partners play in advancing equity agenda, sharing knowledge and best practices.

Latest estimates show that there are nearly 180,000 people added to the urban population each day and, by 2030, there will be nearly 5

In a fresh move aimed at containing the growing global phenomenon of urbanisation, UNHabitat chief has urged Nigerians and other delegates to use what they have learnt at the WUF7 to improve efforts to instill the principles of sustainability in cities

some of the most committed ‘city changers’ from the South and from the North, acted as a platform to create networks and partnerships as well as strengthen exist-

Urban Development

Court nullifies Spring Bank sale of Kano landed property

By Chinedum Uwaegbulam, who was in Medellin, Colombia FTER being transformed A from a blighted haven for drug trafficking to an awardwinning city of smart urban design, Medellin, Columbia ended its host of the Seventh Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF7) recently, with some 22,000 representatives from more than 150 countries pledging a fresh commitment to become ‘city changers’ and ensure sustainable development of all cities and human settlem e n t s .

Initiated 12 years ago, the WUF comes as a legislative technical forum convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT),

hosted in a different city every two years, bringing together stakeholders from across the spectrum to engage in the most pressing challenges facing the cities.

The first session of the World Urban Forum was held in 2002 in Nairobi, Kenya and has been convened in Barcelona, Spain; Vancouver, Canada; Nanjing, China; Rio de Janeiro, Bazil; and Naples, Italy. This year the conversation follows on from the Rio+20 World Summit on Sustainable development while feeding into the Post 2015 debate and the global urban agenda in the run up to the Habitat III; the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) to be held in 2016.

The WUF7 brought together

Litigation

By Emmanuel Badejo wanting in all known Fof OR principles of law, an order sale and ejection of the occupants of a property located at No. 540 Bachirawa Quarters, Bachirwa Uugogo Local Government, Kano State, made by the Kano State High Court in favour of a Spring Bank has been set aside.

The justices of the Kaduna Judicial Division of the Court of appeal, were invited to intervene in the case by one Mr. John Ayoade, who appealed against the judg-

ing ones, with a meaningful impact on equity and development. Participants also gained new awareness on the role that human settlements, town and cities,

The landed property, which was sold by Spring Bank after its debtor defaulted in redeeming its indebtedness, is located No. 540 Bachirawa Quarters, Bachirwa Uugogo Local Government, Kano State ment and ruling of the trial court, which were in favour of defunct Owena Bank Nigeria Plc, now Spring Bank Plc and one Alhaji Aliyu Musa.

Both Ayoade had entered into a business relationship with the financial institution, used one of his property as a guarantee for the deal. But he later defaulted and in the process of recovering the said indebtedness, the bank made

move to dispose the disputed property belonging to Musa.

This led to the litigation in the instance case by Ayoade.

He, Ayoade, being the appellant filed an action against the original defendants – Owena Bank Nig. Plc and Ministry of Lands & Regional Planning, Kano, claiming amongst others, a declaration that there was never a valid sale of his landed property

CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

covered by the certificate of occupancy No LKB/CON/RES/88/450 by the first defendant – Spring Bank to the second defendant, Alhaji Aliyu Musa.

He equally claimed a declaration that even if the said property was sold, it was improper, illegal and therefore null and void.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court held in favour of the appellant stating that the sale of the property was null and void. “That there was never any valid sale of the landed property of the plaintiff covered by the Certificate of Occupancy…any sale of the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 35

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28 Monday, April 21, 2014

PROPERTY GUIDE

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE NIESV laments waning ethical practice, urges standards in surveying Professional Practice From John Okeke, Abuja OLLOWING discordant Ftrytunes in the building indusover unethical practices, the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), has called on its members to engage in education and interaction that would boost their professional practice and the image of the institution in the country.

NIESV’s newly elected president, Mr. James Omeru, made the call recently in Abuja during the inaugural meeting of the National Executive Council. His tenure is expected to last for the next two years.

The NIESV’s chief told his members to embrace an ethical practice in line with the institution’s motto to ensure the promotion of its image.

According to him, “in rendering our services to clients in both public and private sector and in dealing with each other, we must demonstrate the motto of our profession which is honesty and devotion. We must make deliberate effort to improve on the image of our profession which has been seriously battered by the actions and inactions of our members.”

Omeru lamented, saying it has been observed that some members cut corners, which he said it is a challenge to the institution majorly because NIESV’s image is being eroded.

National Publicity Secretary, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Bature Muhammad(left), 1st Vice President, Dr. Joshua Patunola-Ajayi, President, James Omeru and 2nd Vice President, Mr. Rowland Abonta at the inaugural council meeting held in Abuja, recently.

The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has pledged to continue training and retraining of its members so as to boost it professional practice and check the declension of ethical standards among its members Though noted that the institution past administration made serious efforts in rebranding and improving the public image of the profession but, however, regretted the conduct and actions of the its members, which are

averse to the rules of engagement, largely due to lack of discipline.

Not giving to the trend, the president said:”But we are buckling up already and we are already handling it through education and the

disciplinary committees we have; we are handling it through training,” he said.

He said the institution would work for the improvement of the standard and quality of estate surveying and valuation education in Nigeria through collaboration with Estate Surveyors and Valuers Registration Board of Nigeria (ESVARBON) on accreditation.

Omeru also decried the activities of quacks in agency practice . “ We have the challenges of quacks. Because of unemploy-

ment, the people that have no jobs joined the practice and so you find out that all manner of people are now agents.

“Some people finished their youth service, they have no work and no place to go and become agents, property consultants over night, and the public finds it difficult to differentiate between these people and the surveyors. So it a challenge and it is coming back to us as bad image. It is coming back to dent the image of the institution,” he said.

He also assured of measures to tackle the quackery in the agency practice.

“Luckily, we have registered and established the diffusion of agency that will control it.

The idea is that we will now be able to control the system because we are a self-regulatory body.”

“In that way we will now bring the quarks under control. We will register every one of them. We have finished in Lagos and we are now in Abuja. We are moving to PortHarcourt and to other states.”

“These people want to be recognized under a body.

They are very happy to what we are doing and by the time we are able to bring all of them into that umbrella we will be able to train them on how best to practice and how to do it better and not necessarily do it in a very dubious way so that the institution will have the absolute control on the practicing agency” he said.

Highlighting other challenges facing the institution he said: “We have the challenges of public perception.

There is a challenge of the welfare of our members.

Most of our members are finding it difficult to practice because of the general economic recession” He further urged the Federal Government to allow the individuals that “own land have their assets that was handed over to them by their fore fathers.”

Monday, April 21, 2014 29

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PRIME ESTATES

PROPERTY GUIDE

Developer unveils Richmond Gate Estate, Lekki’s show home Housing LAGOS-based property A developer and promoter of lifestyle homes, Haven Homes Limited has opened a new residential estate in Lekki, equipped with an ultra modern facilities.

It is an exquisite four-bedroom home set on three levels in the Richmond Gate Estate located off Meadow Hall Way in a prestige environ of IkateEleguushi in the Lekki corridor.

The event was graced by the Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Mr. Bosun Jeje, Timi Dakolo and several other distinguished guests. Haven Homes Managing Director, Mr. Tayo Sonuga hosted the event.

With it’s alluring architecture hoisted on the crest of exotic lifestyle brand, Haven Homes Limited, according to its promoter is clearly redefining luxury living in the country.

Constructed to conform to modern architecture, the master bedroom has a double height ceilings and ample recreational ground.

Sonuga seized the opportunity offered by the occasion to lament the exorbitant price and scarcity of cement in the country, “The government should do something drastic and urgent about the cement market. In December 2013, a bag of cement sold for N1, 650 but now it is selling for N2, 200 per bag and yet we cannot even find it readily available to buy, this is clearly not acceptable.

“If no positive steps are to be

The newly completed Richmond Gate estate in Lekki, Lagos taken towards meeting the housing needs of Nigerians estimated at about 18million units, the easy availability and affordability of a commodity as important as cement cannot be over emphasized.”

Aware of the cliché that has become a familiar pattern

with several governments over the years, Sonuga asserted further, “The government at the federal and state levels should be sincere and determined in their resolve to address the housing problems of Nigerians, this is how they can show it by making

cement not only cheap and affordable but also easily available.

The enabling environment should be created for manufacturers of cement to source easily the ingredients they need to produce cement. They should be encouraged so that

they will in turn produce cheaper and more affordable cement products”.

Sonuga also wanted the government to look into the current monopoly established in the cement market in the country, “At the moment, only Dangote Cement and

Lafarge Cement are consistently producing cement in the entire country. For a population of 160 million. It is not good enough, that sort of monopoly would make the product to be too expensive.

Cement is too important to be left to the vagaries of private or public monopoly.”

French Riviera, Corfu… where Arab investors buy holiday property Projects S home prices in global A residential retreat locations are more than 30 per cent below their former peak, international investors are moving to make a deal, according to a new report published by Dubai-based Emirate 24/7.

Savills, a London-based international property consultancy, said investors from the Middle East were buying properties in French Riviera, Corfu and the Balkans, and the Western Cape, South Africa.

France is topping the price chart. A typical four-bedroom villa/ apartment in the French Riviera is selling for about £2 million (Dh15.4 m i l l i o n ) .

“Investors from Russia, Britain and the Middle East are chasing a limited number of French holiday properties,” Savills said.

The consultancy expects these properties to return to pre-crisis levels by 2019, led by “high-quality, lowsupply prime hot spots” such as those in the Spanish Balearics and the C a r i b b e a n .

As property markets in prime cities becoming costlier, second homes in popular locations are becoming increasingly attractive as an alternative investment for

the wealthy.

“There are strong signs that the recovery which started in major world cities in 2009 is now rolling out to the hinterland and boltholes inhabited during weekends and vacations by equity-rich homeowners,” said Savills World Research director Yolande Barnes.

Home prices in holiday locations of Spain and Portugal have fallen by up to a third from peaks in 2 0 0 7 .

A four-bedroom villa in the Algarve region, southern Portugal, is selling for £1.15 million, while similar properties in Spain’s Majorca costs £1 million.

These countries have introduced “golden visa” schemes in a bid to revive property markets. The scheme allows foreigners to travel freely within Schengen European countries, and eventually become citizens after some y e a r s .

The main requirement for the visa is an investment of 500,000 euros (S$867,000) in the country. Chinese took up 78 per cent of the 318 Portuguese golden visas issued in 2013.

Prices of prime four-bedroom villa in Italy’s Lake Como or Venice have stablised and are at around £1.25 million. But in Tuscany, prices dropped by up to 30

per cent from previous highs to £790,000.

South Africa is also seeing foreign interest as the rand

has seen a cumulative drop of between 23 per cent and 30 per cent against Western currencies since 2011.

A four-bedroom prime

apartment or villa in Cape Town sells for £650,000 ($1.36 million).

The Caribbean islands are also witnessing increased demand from the US and

British buyers, mostly due to programmes that allow foreigners to become citizens with an investment of between $400,000 and $500,000.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Lagos reviews infrastructure projects, plans multi-level facility building, others The new multi-facility building is part of the government’s strategy to shore up infrastructure within the state, particularly to appreciably reduce traffic congestion often experienced in the sprawling Central Business District of the Lagos Island

Infrastructure

By Tunde Alao O further make the area T more business friendly and maximally reduce lost of human hour occasioned by traffic gridlock, the Lagos State Government has embarked on the construction of a multi-level building facility, which upon completion is expected to serve the Central Business District of the Lagos Island.

Few years ago, when the state took the decision to revamp the Lagos Island communities, the provided infrastructures were soon overstretched following mass inflow of human and businesses to and within the area, and that has necessitated for more infrastructure, which also includes improving security.

Specifically, to address parking and other traffic gridlock on the Island, government has embarked on the construction of multi-level facility building. The project is located in Onikan area close to Tafawa Balewa Square, Race Course.

The 7-floor edifice is designed to accommodate 700 cars at a given time. Six floors are to serve as parking space, while the seventh floor is to accommodate offices of the car park managers, attendants, and other ancillary staff.

The project was awarded to Messrs DKR Associates in June 2013, and is already at 15 percent work progress. It also has

restaurants, conference room and elevators.

Similarly, six new police commands buildings are ongoing. These are located in Area “J”, Elemoro in Ibeju-Lekki, Area “K” Morogbo, Badagry, and Area “L”, Ilashe, AmuwoOdofin, Area “M” Idimu and Area N, Ijede in Ikorodu local government area of Lagos State.

Currently, the Area J, Command project that its contract was awarded to Messrs Aron Nigeria Limited in 2012, is now 87 percent completion stage, while that of Area M in Idimu that is being handled by Messrs Catrillion Investment Limited, is already at 70 percent completion stage.

The Area L, in Ilashe is also at 72 percent completion stage.

Messrs Bat-Richy Nig. Limited is handling this, while the one at Orile Iganmu is already at 92 percent completion stage, which is being handled by DeDavidson Investment Limited.

The project, according to the Commissioner for Works, Lagos State, Mr. Kadri Hamzat, was long over due and befits the mega city status of the state.

Speaking on the projects at the 2014 Annual ministerial press briefing marking the anniversary of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola’s administration, Hamzat, in his speech titled: “Revamping Lagos Infrastructure: Roads and Public Buildings An Account of Stewardship”, noted that the mega city status confers on Lagos the need to manage its challenges, one

One of the projects...the multi-agency building of such, he identified as issue of parking space.

According to Hamzat, within the Lagos CBD, there are varieties of parking place that invokes the semblance of unplanned city. “To address this issue, the multi facility building (MFB), was conceived. And we believe that Lagos being a megacity, will continue to witness traffic congestion, hence, the need to be proactive”.

In the area of road, he listed the completed and ongoing projects to include Adisa Ajibulu at Oshodi. The project was re-awarded to Messrs.

Costeng Limited in April 2013.

The 860 meters long is to

decongest the ever-busy Murtala Mohammed Airport Road, by serving as a very effective bypass for Mafoluku and the environs.

Others are Liasu Road, that links Ikotun-Isolo at Egbe with Ikotun-Idimu Road at Council Bus Stop.

Messrs Mosefem Ventures is handling the first Phase and second phases, Yaya Abatan, Obafemi Awolo Way in Ikorodu’s first phase has been completed. The second phase that would link Ota Ona to Olowu junction has been awarded to Messrs Arab Contractors O.A.O Limited and the third phase that would

connect the two to Itamaga has also been awarded.

On Addo-Kekere, Langbasa road, Hamzat stated that a total of 319 people were employed during its construction, thereby reducing poverty and increasing prosperity.

He noted that the 11.7 km roads were built to international standard with service ducts, pedestrian walkways, manholes, drains and others provided.He added that the construction is part of the strategic inner road development of the State government to connect communities.

He also stated that the roads also complement others

already built such as, Kushenla Ojulari, Alternative to Lekki Toll plaza II, IlasanIroko Awe to compelement the on-going development of Lekki Epe Expressway.

The Ajah-Badore Road dualization is 8km while AddoAddo Kekere/Langbasa/Kajola Roads are 3.7km.

The commissioner however gave the example of Maidan Agiliti road and Alaba in Amukoko network as example of projects that tasked the ministry in because of their difficult terrains, which he said always informed criticisms from the public that execution of projects are “either slow or abandoned”.

Appeal Court holds govt liable for flooding, devaluing Oyo property Litigation

By Emmanuel Badejo STABLISHING a link between E the activities of the Ministry of Works and its principal, the Federal Government of Nigeria, a Court of Appeal, Ibadan, has held the latter responsible for flooding some communities and consequently devaluing affected properties in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Their lordships, led by Chidi Nwaoma Uwa, made the conclusion in a suit involving the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Works and the Attorney General of the Federation (first to third defendants) against Messrs. Shobu Nig. Limited, located within the Trailer Part Market, Ojoo, Akinyele, Oyo State and Mr. Oluwagbemiga Shobukola.

Basically, the dispute arose following a road construction project of Ibadan-Ilorin road dualization at Ojoo, Ibadan, being undertaken by a government’s agent, Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), which was accused of negligent by directing the drainage

Although the name of the second appellant, Ministry of Works was struck out from the suit, but being an agent of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the court said it could hold its principal for its negligence over execution of a road contract project, which was alleged to have led to flooding of some areas and devaluing the worth of the affected property channel, which was alleged to have caused devastating flooding to the properties of the plaintiffs – Messrs. Shobu Nig. Limited and Mr. Oluwagbenga Shobukola.

The development, led the plaintiffs to ask the court to declare that the acts of the first and second defendants caused flooding to the plaintiffs’ properties and that constituted nuisance.

They also sought orders directing and, or compelling the defendants by themselves, their agents howsoever called to remove forthwith the drainage channel and all other forms of nuisance causing the flooding, away from the direction of the plaintiffs’ properties, N12m by the government to the plaintiffs as compensation for special damages and N5m as compensation for general damages.

At the conclusion of trial, the

plaintiffs got judgment in the N12m and a N50,000.00 was awarded as costs.

Dissatisfied, the appellants appealed to the Court of Appeal, urged the court to determine whether the Federal Ministry of Works is a juristic personality or not; and whether the trial Judge was right to have held both the Federal Government and its Attorney General liable for the alleged negligent act of the Ministry of Works, a non-juristic personality?

The respondents wanted the Appeal Court to determine whether the appellants could raise a fresh point, which was not canvassed before the trial court for the first time at the appellate court without first seeking and obtaining the leave of the appellate court and whether the plaintiffs/respondents’ suit at the trial court was

maintainable and/or can succeed against the first and third appellants with or without the joinder of the second defendant/appellant?

Pressing its position, the government lawyer said that the second defendant was a nonjuristic person, a mere creation of the Federal Government for administrative convenience, which could not be sued or be sued in its own name. Also the government posited that a juristic personality could not be held liable for the act of a nonjuristic entity, therefore that the first and third appellants could not be held responsible for the wrong doing of the second appellant, a non-juristic personality and therefore urged the court to allow the appeal, and set aside the judgment of the trial court.

According to Ade Fajemiroye, counsel to the respondents, since the issue of the Ministry of Works not being a juristic person was not raised in the trail court, by the parties or suo moto and that the first ground of appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the court was defective and incompetent.

On their second issue, it was

submitted that the second defendant was indeed a legal personality and could sue and be sued by virtue of the combined effect of section 169 and 318 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, adding that assuming it is not a juristic person, the suit could be maintained against the first and third appellants; more so, when there was no contention to the fact that the appellant is the agent of the Federal Government.

In his lead judgment, Justice Uwa, who determined the first issue in favour of the appellant said: “In sum, I hold that the second appellant, the Federal Ministry of Works is not a juristic person against whom an action can lie. The appellants’ first issue is resolved in their favour.” Consequently, its name was struck out from the suit.

On the second issue, Uwa said since the Works Ministry acted as an agent of the Federal Government and having held that it as if it was the first appellant, the action would rightly succeed, with or without the second appellant. He continued: “As rightly argued by the

learned counsel to the appellant, the appeal was filed on behalf of the appellants and judgment of the lower court would and is binding on the first and third respondents with or without the second appellant, the Federal Ministry of Works.”

Though the Judges agreed that the Federal Ministry of Works was wrongly joined, and struck out its name, they said the inclusion of the second appellant was not fatal to the case of the respondents as plaintiffs.

“In the final analysis, the appeal succeeds in part, that is to the extent that the second appellant is not a juristic personality and ought not to have been made a party and that the first and third appellants were rightly held liable for the alleged negligent act of the second appellant. The decision of the learned trial Judge of the Federal High Court, sitting at Ibadan in suit No. FHC/IB/CS/54/05 delivered on 21/12/07 is affirmed in respect of the first and third appellants as defendants. Parties to bear their respective costs”, Uwa concluded.

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URBAN DEVELOPMENT

PROPERTY GUIDE

Nigerians charged over sustainable cities CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 billion urban dwellers, representing 60 per cent of the world population. Over the past 30 years, the proportion of the population living in flood- prone river basins increased by 114 per cent and on cyclone-exposed coastlines by 192 per cent.

At a closing ceremony, UNHabitat Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos who disclosed that the forum was a resounding success, told the delegates: “Let us use what we have learnt to change the cities of the world.” He urged partners to support a standalone urban goal in the Sustainable Development Goals as they work towards the Habitat III. Speakers also paid glowing tribute to the Local Organising Committee and the Mayor of Medellin, Mr. Anibal Gaviria, the government and people of Colombia for what they described as a well organised forum, warm welcome and challenging debates.

“This success is for the people of Medellin and Colombia as a whole,” Mayor Gaviria declared. “Ten successive governments have been very supportive of the transformation of Medellin and I am challenging other Colombian cities which want to have similar positive changes to come to us for advice,” he said.

A major highlight of the closing ceremony was the presentation of the Scroll of

Honour Awards to winners.

The winners are UPP Social Programme of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, People’s Government of Shouguang in China and the Ministry of Urban Development of Ethiopia. Others were Suwon City of the Republic of Korea, the Community Led Infrastructure Facility (CLIFF) of the United Kingdom and Ms Diana Deacon.

Meanwhile, as a legacy of the World Urban Forum’s presence in Medellín, a public building has been built in Juanes Park to showcase a low-cost, simple technique of building using local materials and resources.

The “thin tile vault”, so called due to its structure of thin layers of interlocking tiles, was opened today in an inauguration ceremony by UN Under-Secretary-General and UN- Habitat Executive Director, Dr Joan Clos, Mayor of Medellín, Aníbal Gaviria and Secretary of Infrastructure for Medellín Javier Dario Toro Zuluga.

In a foreword to a publication describing the building technique, Dr Clos said that it could be used to contribute to the efforts to address the urban challenges created by rapid urbanization, population growth and unsustainable city growth.

Thin tile vaulting, also

known as Guastavino vaulting or Catalan vaulting, is a construction technique traditional from Catalonia and Valencia, Spain, and patented in the US in 1885 by the architect and builder Rafael Guastavino (1842-1908). It is an economical, fast, ecological, durable, robust and aesthetic structure where thin layers of interlocking tiles and coats of mortar form self-supporting arches and vaults.

Its structural characteristics that allow wide spans using local materials without steel reinforcement, coupled with its low cost and the simplicity of its construction, makes it a suitable and cheap option for a number purposes such as com-

munal buildings, innovative urban drainage design and affordable housing.

This technique could be used to help meet the urban construction demand in developing countries where suitable local materials are

available. In addition, thin tile vaulting for urban basic infrastructure such as storm water drains and sanitation facilities may go a long way in alleviating the urban infrastructure challenges.

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UN agencies, others in ‘Medellin alliance’ for urban resilience Major arrowheads in urban development have began preparation for world’s population through a collaboration, which will ensure that cities have access to the most powerful financial and technical tools to deal with shocks and stresses, and are directly in line with our goal of having best practices shared across the globe.

Urban Development

By Chinedum Uwaegbulam who was in Medellin, Colombia HEAD of the Third United A Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in 2016, this year’s World Urban Forum has resulted in the creation of a new alliance between nine of the world’s largest UN and non-UN organizations towards building urban resilience and strengthening the social, economic and environmental fabric of the world’s urban s p a c e s .

The new commitment will ensure support for the post2015 urban resilience agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals, a new universal climate change framework, a new global agreement on disaster risk reduction to succeed the Hyogo Framework for Action, and the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in 2016.

Members of the new ‘Medellín Alliance’ are UNHabitat; UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR); World Bank Group; Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR); InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB); Rockefeller Foundation; 100 Resilient Cities - Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation; C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group; and ICLEI - Local Governments for S u s t a i n a b i l i t y .

Collectively, these organizations work in over 2,000 cities globally, with more than $2 billion of existing funds committed annually toward advancing resilient and sustainable urban growth and development.

The collaboration is based on the challenges cities face in promoting sustainable urbanization, in particular the increasing urban exposure to various shocks and s t r e s s e s .

There are nearly 180,000 people added to the urban population each day. By 2030 there will be nearly 5 billion urban dwellers, representing 60 per cent of the world population. There are also some 1 billion people living in informal settlements without adequate access to critical basic services, such as healthcare, clean water and sanitation, and in locations exposed to hurricanes, cyclones, flooding, earthquakes, epidemics, as well as crime, and other man-made threats, including serious risks from catastrophic climate change.

The aim of the collaboration is also to facilitate the flow of knowledge and financial resources necessary to help

cities become more resilient to disruptions related to climate change, disasters caused by natural hazards, and other systemic shocks and stresses, including the socio-economic challenges associated with rapid urbani z a t i o n .

The primary objectives of the collaboration are: Fostering harmonization of the approaches and tools available to help cities assess their strengths, vulnerabilities and exposure to a multitude of natural and manmade threats in order to build their resilience; Catalyzing access to existing and innovative finance mechanisms, including riskbased instruments to reduce exposure and vulnerability to shocks and increase cities’ adaptive capacity; Supporting capacity development of cities to achieve their goals by facilitating direct sharing of best practice and knowledge enhancement; and forging alliances with urban networks, institutions, and the private sector.

“It is with pleasure I welcome the formation of this collaboration,” said UNHabitat Executive Director, Dr Joan Clos. “Each of the institutions in this group brings both unique and shared expertise.

Individually, we have accomplished much; together, we offer far more through our collective support to local governments in building resilience in all cities in the w o r l d . ” The UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström, said: “There has been a tremendous outpouring of support for urban resilience in recent years.

This new collaboration represents a consolidation of those efforts as we prepare for an explosion of urbanization in the 21st century, when more urban space will be created than at any time in history. Over half the world’s population now lives in urban areas and this will grow dramatically in the coming generation. We must prepare for it.”

“The World Bank commits over $2 billion a year to support urban resilience in developing countries,” said Sameh Wahba, Acting Director of the World Bank’s Urban Development and Resilience Department. “This collaboration across organizations is a significant step towards facilitating the flow of additional financing to cities and ultimately ensuring that shocks to the urban system don’t undermine decades of economic growth and prosperity.”

“The IDB is proud to be part of such an important partnership with these global institutions in the sector,” said Vicente Fretes Cibils,

Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon Eyakenyi in a handshake with Colombia Minister for Housing, City and Territory, Luis Felipe Henao Cardona and other dignitaries including UNHabitat Executive Director, Joan Clos and Mayor of Medellín, Aníbal Gaviria(Up) and Minister with her Staffs from Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development during the Seventh World Urban Forum (WUF7) in Medellin, Colombia, recently (below) Chief of Fiscal and Municipal Management Division at the IDB. “The IDB’s Urban Development and Housing strategy aims to promote environmental conservation, the management of urban natural resources, and adaptation to climate change. Our main objective is to make cities more resilient with interventions that have a positive impact on the largest number of poor h o u s e h o l d s . ” “Building resilience is a priority for cities everywhere so that they are prepared for the shocks and stresses we know they will face,” said Dr. Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation.

“Over the past decade The Rockefeller Foundation has worked globally to support cities as they build their resilience, and we are seeing incredible momentum, further evidenced by the joint commitment being made

t

o d a y . ” “In an endeavor as important as helping cities build resilience, the greater number of partners, the better,” said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities - Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation.

“This collaboration will ensure that cities have access to the most powerful financial and technical tools to deal with shocks and stresses, and are directly in line with our goal of having best practices shared across the g l o b e . ” “For the developing world, this will be the century of urbanization,” said Francis Ghesquiere, Head, GFDRR Secretariat. “This creates huge opportunities, but also many challenges, including the concentration of vulnerable populations and the risk of major disasters. Through the “Medellin Collaboration on Urban Resilience” we and

other partners are committing to provide cities with the support they need to improve urban planning, investment, and become more resilient.”

“As the Chair of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group I believe that climate resilience is a critical issue,” said Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio De Janeiro and the Chair of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. “C40 is committed to helping cities increase their climate resiliency through effective climate change adaptation and mitigation actions. We are pleased to be participating in this collaboration, which will improve alignment amongst approaches to city resilience, maximizing the impact of resources and allowing sharing of succ e s s e s . ” “The global initiative announced in Medellin is fully in line with ICLEI s

‘Resilient City Agenda’ which aims to support cities to reduce their vulnerability by building on their capacity to respond to climate change challenges, disasters and economic shocks,” said Gino Van Begin, Secretary-General of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

Commenting on the collaboration, Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Antonio Vives, said, “It is great news that the global alliance to make all the cities around the world more resilient grows. The resilient city model that Barcelona represents serves as an example in many other cities of what best practices are in urban development, sustainable urban planning and in the management of shocks and stresses. Being prepared for facing crises in our infrastructures and in our urban services has both social and economic benefits.”

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LAND MATTERS Court halts Spring Bank sale of Kano landed property CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

Aerial view of Abuja, recently

National Conference delegates bicker over Abuja land compensation Land Matters From Terhemba Daka, Abuja N the heels of protests by O original settlers over inadequate compensation by the Federal authorities, the ongoing National Conference has revisited the issue, with two prominent delegates holding divergent views on the matter.

While the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd) said that the original inhabitants of the territory, whose land was taken over by the Federal Government, have not been fully settled, erstwhile chairman, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd) opined that the issue of compensation has been settled.

Gen Useni who made submissions at the parley in Abuja last week explained that the clarification had become necessary in order to put the compensation records strait, especially as he was a principal actor in the whole saga at the time he was Minister in 1993.

According to former FCT Minister, “part payment was made but not directly. In fact, this was done long time ago when I took over as minister in 1993. But since then no kobo has been released.”

The former FCT Minister used the opportunity lampoon politicians and other Nigerians who served under the military administration, but who, he said are now claiming to be democrats and warned against using the national conference to distort the country’s historical facts.

“I’d like to advise that those persons who are in the habit of condemning past leaders,

While the former Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lt. Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd) said that the original inhabitants of the territory, whose land was taken over by the Federal Government, have not been fully settled, erstwhile chairman, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd) opined that the issue of compensation has been settled. in particular those who served as commissioners, minister and advisers under the military regime had lobbied for it and when they were offered they never rejected the offers but are saying something else today.

But Ali, also a delegate had during his presentation on the floor of the parley, claimed that he was part of the cabinet when the government took the decision to pay full compensation to the aborigine of the territory for the taking over of their land to create room for the FCT. He said there was therefore no basis for the aborigines to continue to make new demands now for compensation from the Federal Government.

Indigenes of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the umbrella of the Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA) had last year, 2013 faulted the Federal Government compensation policy for the FCT, stating that the scheme has failed to meet the yearnings of the people.

The group said that the current compensation and resettlement programme is not realistic.

They had sought the intervention of the National Assembly over alleged usurpation of

their ancestral homes under the Abuja Land Swap policy initiated by the FCT administration, and threatened to petition the United Nations and other world bodies if 30 percent of the scheme is not ceded to the indigenous communities.

Making a presentation during an investigative hearing over alleged improper allocation and land racketeering by the Bimbo Daramola-led house of Representatives Adhoc Committee on the matter, OIDA observed that it was ridiculous for the FCT administration to be talking about land swap initiative in 2013 when the authorities were still owing them (aborigines) compensation from 1976 to date.

They consequently urged the Federal Government to halt further confiscation of their ancestral land under the policy until all the knotty issues are resolved in the interest of Justice.

The original inhabitants threatened that the land swap programme would not see the light of the day, if the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) failed to accede to their demand of 30 percent, and advised the government and other private investors to stay clear of Abuja indigenous communities

until the land issues are properly resolved through genuine consultation and dialogue or stand the risk of litigation.

OIDA has also accused the FCT minister, Senator Bala Mohammed of using his office to facilitate the menace of land racketeering in the territory and trading under the guise of Abuja Land Swap scheme.

The Galadimawa community and member of OIDA, had during the hearing urged the FG to immediately midwife a transparent compensation arrangement that will adequately address the yearnings of the aborigines who are resident in the 854 communities of the territory in the last 38 years.

Representing the community, Mr. Musa Baba Panya who gave a historical perspective to the issue associated with land allocations by preceding administrations in the FCT, told the Bimbo Daramola-led House of Representatives adhoc committee set up to investigate the matter disclosed that the 1978 compensation Bill for Abuja was put at N2.8 billion but up till now the inhabitants have not been settled by the government.

Panya argued that, “the law demands that you do not take possession until you pay compensation. But we still have uncompensated communities in the FCT, their land and titles have been taken away and given to third parties.”

He said the so called resettlement of some of the communities in Karu, new Nyanya, and Karshi among others in the territory have been partial and therefore negated the principle of justice and fairness hence the need for the authorities to adequately compensate the people.

said house is improper, illegal, fraudulent and therefore null and void. It is hereby set aside.”

It equally held that the second respondent/purchaser should be paid all his expenses/payment for the purchase of the property jointly and severally by the appellant and the bank, which is also the first defendant.

Further, the court held that the appellant was to pay to the bank all his indebtedness fully calculated and audited within three months of being informed of the amount and that the bank would release the certificate of occupancy back to him.

Subsequently, when the appellant failed to settle his indebtedness, the bank applied for issuance of a writ of execution against the immovable property of the appellant. It also sought an order compelling the occupants of the property to vacate the premises immediately.

But the appellant opposed the application.

After hearing the application, the same trial Judge decided to grant the orders as prayed holding that the appellant had no right to remain on the landed property, which had already been sold to the second respondent, when the appellant refused to settle his indebtedness. In the circumstance, he re-instated and reasserted the previous sale to the second respondent.

Aggrieved with the ruling, the appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal contending that the trial court was wrong when it suo moto set aside its own judgment. Equally, the appellant contended that the court was wrong, when it made an order affecting persons who were not parties to the proceedings before the court.

Alarmed at the way the matter was conducted by the trial court, Justice Ita George Mbana, who read the lead verdict said: “I must, however, confess that throughout my few years on the bench, which is over 12 years, I have never come across a more bizarre and absurd judgment/ruling

that tends to mock the whole essence and principles of adjudication by a superior court of record! The learned trial Judge, who heard both the main suit and the motion for issuance of writ of execution, appeared to be a judge in a world of his own, without law and rules on his limits to make orders and in general handling of court proceedings to arrive at a decision. He was at large!”

Undoing the trial court’s positions, Justice Hakeem Abiru took a sweep at the court of first instance’s reasoning saying the trial Judge overlooked the long established principle that the parties and the court are bound by the pleadings of the parties, adding a court should not set up for parties a case different from the one set up by the parties and that a court must confine its judgment to the determination of issues raised on the pleadings. “The trial Judge completely ridiculed these principles in his deliberations both in the judgment and in the ruling as he embarked on a voyage that he was not invited to by parties and he reached decisions on the case he set up for parties.”

It was also said that the trial Judge, obviously confusing his robes with santa claus’s outfit, turned himself into Father Christmas and dished out orders, both in the judgment and in the ruling, far beyond what was asked for by the parties and that the court has no powers to make orders either in favour of or against persons who are not parties to an action. But their lordhips said the trial Judge “did exactly this in its ruling of 14th July, 2005 when he made an order compelling the occupants of a property, and who are not parties to the suit, to vacate the property immediately and failing which they were to be forcefully evicted.”

To them, where a trial court makes orders in the manner done by the trial Judge in the instant case, an appellate court has a duty to set aside those orders and upon these reasons and others, the appeal was allowed, and the orders made by the trial court in its ruling were consequently set aside.

UK plans compulsory redress scheme for letting, property agents Real Estate LL letting and property A management agents in the UK will be required to join an approved redress scheme later this year under new plans announced by Housing Minister Kris Hopkins.

Millions of tenants and lease holders will receive stronger protection from unscrupulous letting agents under the three approved redress schemes which Hopkins said will ensure they have a straightforward option to hold their agents to account.

The three schemes are The Property Ombudsman, Ombudsman Services Property and The Property Redress Scheme. They will offer independent investiga-

tion of complaints about hidden fees or poor service.

Where a complaint is upheld, tenants and lease holders could receive compensation.

Many letting agents are already signed up with one of the three organisations and Hopkins explained that the remaining 3,000 agents, some 40per cent of the entire industry, will now be encouraged to join one of the schemes ahead of the legal requirement.

Hopkins said the new rules would strike the right balance between protecting tenants and not harming the industry with excessive red tape, and were just one part of the government’s efforts to secure a better deal for tenants in the private rented sector.

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Bad governance hampers development agenda, says Oyelaran-Oyeyinka Urban Development IGERIA by the recent rebasN ing of its GDP emerged the richest country in Africa. This is not surprising given what most analysts know about the rapid growth of the financial services, telecommunications and entertainment sectors over the last decade. Ordinarily Nigeria should not be a poor country, so on the strength of this news there should not be much drum beating.

However, tempering the news of a growing wealth status is the country’s poverty-prosperity paradox. Our country has a GDP of US$510 billion (2014) and South Africa US$370 billion but Nigeria has a GDP per capita of US$ 2,700, less than half that of South Africa. While Nigeria has leapfrogged into the world’s 26th richest country, it ranks 153rd out of 187 in the United Nations’ Human Development Index.

Other indices show consistent rankings of Nigeria as a country rich in material and human resources but perversely underperforming in translating the entrepreneurial energy of its people, the abundant natural resources and minerals into tangible well being for its people.

The Social Progress Index (SPI) is a recent metric, which rates 132 countries on more than 50 indicators, including health, sanitation, shelter, personal safety, access to information, access to education, sustainability, tolerance and inclusion. In the 2014 SPI, Ghana with a similar GDP per capita as Nigeria ranks 96th, whereas Nigeria is 123rd, meaning it outperforms our country on social progress. In effect economic success alone should not be seen as the end of development because social conditions provide a more accurate measure of the “wealth of nations”.

In my book - Rich Country Poor People, due to be released in May 2014, which I employed the UNDP Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to analyze Nigeria’s socio-economic conditions with fairly identical outcomes showing that high rates of GDP growth (Nigeria has averaged 5-8per cent) do not automatically translate to

Makoko... a slum in the heart of Lagos, recently

In the new book, ‘Rich Country Poor People’ PROF. BANJI OYELARAN-OYEYINKA, the most senior director and Nigerian at the United Nations headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya captures Nigeria’s Paradox of Prosperity and Poverty, and argues that Nigeria has to go beyond oil dependency ad return to the path of sustainable development that puts people at the heart of growth with development improvement in human wellbeing. Our country should boast very high global living standards but is shackled by poor living standards. All these, as a senate leader remarked recently, have subjected the nation to ridicule.

Between 1980 and 1996, Nigeria’s poverty level (defined as the population living on less than US$1.40 a day) rose from 28 to 66 per cent; 17.7 million people lived in poverty in 1980 and rose to 67.1 million by 1996 and remains the same currently. Poverty and inequality have worsened and, while relatively less well-endowed countries are lifting large populations out of poverty, in some regions of our country, poverty rates are as high as 80 per cent.

The problem is not so much

that development has failed as that it was not really on the agenda in the first place. The agenda, which will promote the greater good of the greatest number, has not always been leaderships’ priority. The nature of perverse politics is proved so poignantly by rising poverty levels far above that of ten years earlier and significantly by the trend of the seemingly unbridgeable gap between the rich and the poor.

Uneven development is a direct result of the inequality of opportunities experienced by large swathes of Nigerians and the mistrust that has developed between leaders and followers, and between the elite and the poor.

Also, the erosion of social norms and the weakness of political and economic institu-

tions that regulate human behaviour, which should promote equality, have further perpetuated inequality and poverty. We need to revisit the development imperative that makes a great nation. First we must recognize that inequality is a drag on growth and development. There is a strong relationship between inequality and slow growth in poor countries and; a strong association between opportunity equality and human well being reflected in better health and greater life expectancy. In addition, a poor family does not bear the burden of poverty alone; the children suffer relative multiple deprivations and so do their offspring. Clearly, a country featuring high degrees of inequality tends to grow more

Oyelaran-Oyeyinka slowly and will take a longer time to achieve desired development. Inequality is growth inhibiting – and inclusive growth is what our country requires the most. The effect of inequality on growth can be seen as a rough indicator of inequality of opportunity and limited social mobility in a particular setting, a phenomenon sometimes also referred to as “destructive inequality”.

How should we begin to redress the situation? We need to take seriously the widely

debated point that underdevelopment and inequality stem from poor governance, which in turn breeds mistrust. There is a wide and complex relationship between political governance, public service and policy processes; but at the heart of it all is the quality of political leadership.

Without the explicit support of the political leadership, the state is rudderless. The average Nigerian has grown weary of the leadership, the people are cynical of the government and prone to disbelieve it.

This book argues that we must all take responsibility and that the present darkness has a long history and cannot be ascribed only to one or current government. It seems long ago now but in the 1980s we had a board at the Ajaokuta Steel Company.

Whenever they held a board meeting, the company for weeks had to endure shortage of everything including petty cash because our esteemed board members would mop up every available fund! They would take away company cars that were supposed to be used by them temporarily and these were never to be seen again. These privileged individuals allocated the construction of staff houses to themselves but once they collected “mobilization fees” the houses were promptly abandoned. This incidence can be replicated across all government parastatals yet what did we collectively do about it?

Not surprising, the mistrust of governments developed from a long history of broken promises, dreams unfulfilled and unrealised potentials, particularly in the face of glaring growing wealth that is attended by progressive and grinding poverty. The most invidious challenge of leadership is the inherent mistrust of anything ‘government’ due to the loss of faith in the leadership. There is a widely held view that our governments (federal, state and local with few exceptions) are unaccountable, corrupt, repressive and obstructive to the smooth functioning of markets and the economy. Truth be told, it is difficult to ignore this view, given the available economic indices.

Lagos approves ICU Ibeju-Lekki Campus site as work begins Project

By Tunde Alao ITH the statutory W approval by the Lagos State Government, physical construction work has begun on the expansive 150 hectares of land, which would house a new private university, known as Charis International University (ICU).

Specifically, ICU is located at Kilometre 55, Eleko Junction, in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State, and the coming of the new varsity would further add to hundreds of investments dotting the fast-developing Ibeju-Lekki-Epe axis.

At the moment, works have commenced on the perime-

A ten-year feasibility study on the viability and sustainability of the institution’s infrastructure modality has been produced to ensure that both the architecture and engineering designs are strictly followed ter fencing, and stakeholders believe that the approval of the site is expected to quicken activities on the commencement of the project.

The Guardian authoritatively learnt that the state government has resolved the controversy between the indigenous landowners and the developer of the institution, by excising additional 15 hectares to Olorunisola Villagers.

Already, over 30 professors, including specialized project managers, town planners, architects and other professional bodies in the building

industry have backed the project to ensure that the university meets the required standard, especially, in the areas of infrastructure and academics.

At a stakeholders’ meeting held recently, the SurveyorGeneral of Lagos, Mr. Joseph Agbenla admonished the public to verify the status of their lands, especially, in the axis and warned land speculators of the consequences of their illegal activities, a development that hinders genuine investors to take possession of their lands.

He reminded the

Olorunnisola villagers of the “magnanimity of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola who gave out additional excision of 15 hectares of land”, urging the community to support the university project, which he said would impact directly on them and others.

Speaking on the project, Chairman, Planning Committee, Professor Duro Ajeyalemi said the proposed university would stand out and become university of first choice in Africa, noting that sound and excellent scholarship will be vigorously pursued.

According to him, the choice of the location for the university was informed by the vision of the promoter of the institution. “Having visited prominent universities worldwide, the proprietor of

Charis International University believes that with enormous resources and strategic crafting, it is possible to establish a sound and professionally-run university with global rating and international accreditation in Nigeria”, he said. He added that this would discourage prospective Nigerian students travelling abroad to study.

According to Ajeyalemi, names of more than 20 contractors that would handle the project would be made available soonest. He added these include over 30 professors, who specialize in project management, town planning, architecture and other professional bodies in the building sector, towards ensuring that the university meets the required standard,

especially, in the areas of infrastructure and academics.

Speaking on behalf of CIU foreign partners, Mr. Anthony Owens, a Briton, said the strategic endorsement of CIU, as a Silicon Valley University is a deliberate multi-billion dollar investment to revolutionaise economic and industrial development in the Africa continent. “Nigeria remains an investment destination in Africa with Lagos Lekki Free Trade Zone as a major catalyst for economic super highway, hence the desirability of Ibeju-Lekki as Charis International University”, he said A ten-year feasibility study on the viability and sustainability master plan has been produced for the proposed university.

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PROPERTY GUIDE

THE ENVIRONMENT

African leaders commit to delivering safe water, hygiene at Washington talks At the last high-level meeting in 2012, Nigeria made joined other countires in the Sub-Saharan Africa to make commitments toward increasing access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. But WaterAid says Nigeria government is sluggish in some of its commitments.

Water Resources

By Chinedum Uwaegbulam MID plans by the World A Bank Group to engage the private sector in financing and mobilizing knowledge to improve sanitation, a group of Sub-Saharan African leaders have pledged to work harder to reach 325 million people on the continent without safe water and 644 million without basic toilets.

About 20 countries, including 14 from Sub-Saharan Africa, have promised to provide all citizens with access to safe water, basic toilets and hygiene by 2030. No fewer than 16 Sub-Saharan African leaders have also promised to eliminate open defecation in their countries by 2030.

They made their commitments at the Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting, which brings together a coalition of more than 90 partners, including organisations such as the World Bank, WaterAid and UNICEF, to work towards a common vision of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

Representatives of more than 50 governments gathered in Washington, DC for the meeting opened by UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. New data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation show the massive and growing inequalities in access to safe water and toilets around the world: 748 million globally without safe water and 2.5 billion without proper sanitation. In SubSaharan Africa, there remain

Competition for water resources is perceived by a majority of countries to have increased over the past 20 years 325 million without safe water and 644 million without basic sanitation.

Of the one billion people around the world still practicing open defecation, 227 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa; 9 in 10 of them live in rural areas. Safe water, basic sanitation and hygiene can prevent illness and make a community healthier and more productive. They can also prevent infant and child mortality, improve rates of education, and prevent the vulnerability that comes when women and girls tasked with fetching water must walk long distances to do so, or when they do not have a safe place to relieve themselves.

In the talks, Nigeria pledged to end open defecation and achieve universal access to water and sanitation by 2025Among the specific commitments; Zambia has pledged 75 per cent access to safe water and 60per cent access to sanitation by 2015 and universal access to safe water and 90 per cent access

to sanitation by 2030; Similarly, Burkina Faso pledged to bring potable water to 4.5 million more people in 2015 and to address open defecation by improving sanitation for three million people while Ethiopia has pledged to have 98.5 per cent of its population with access to water and everyone with access to basic sanitation by 2015.

Water, sanitation and hygiene are fundamental building blocks to economic and social development. In Nigeria, nearly 100,000 children under the age of five die each year of diseases associated with a lack of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Such unacceptable high levels of mortality associated with a lack of these basic services is one of the major reasons why WaterAid, alongside UNICEF, WHO and 200 other organisations around the world believe that a goal in the post 2015 development agenda for universal access to water and sanitation by 2030 is ambitious but real-

istic.

UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon opened the meeting with warnings that the crisis in water and sanitation will hold back efforts to eradicate poverty. “Achieving sanitation and water for all may not be cost-free - but it will set people free. Access to sanitation and water means a child free of disease, a woman free of the back-breaking chore to fetch water, a girl free to attend school without fear, a village free of cholera, and a world of greater equality and dignity for all,” he said.

WaterAid, a founding partner in the Sanitation and Water for All partnership, welcomed the commitments.

“WaterAid welcomes the pledges African governments have made at the High Level Meeting to provide safe water and basic toilets. What is crucial now will be action to deliver those promises. One thousand children in SubSaharan Africa die every day from this health crisis. Safe water, basic toilets and proper hand-washing with soap can

save those lives,” said Barbara Frost, WaterAid Chief Executive.

WaterAid Nigeria’s Country Representative, Dr Michael Ojo earlier said: “While there has been some progress from the Government on the commitments made in both 2010 and 2012 around increasing access to water and sanitation, it is clear that the progress has been very limited. There is still a long way to go before these pledges are honoured in full.

“With millions still lacking access to the essential services of safe water and basic sanitation in our country, it’s crucial that the Government steps up efforts to honour its previous pledges. It is also crucially important that our relevant ministers attend this vital meeting and make realistic but ambitious new commitments for the next two years that set our country on the path to everyone, everywhere having access to these services by 2030”.

Former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, chair of the

Sanitation and Water for All partnership, told participants that he would hold them to their promises. “Sanitation and Water for All is an important mechanism to not just learn from each other, but to hold ourselves accountable for results - results that benefit the poorest and most vulnerable people,” he said.

In total, government ministers from 44 developing countries made 265 commitments to increase access to water and sanitation, including promises to address massive inequalities in access, including between urban and rural residents, rich and poor, and among ethnic groups and regions.

WaterAid has made its own commitments toward a vision of reaching everyone, everywhere by 2030 with safe water and sanitation, as a founding partner in the Sanitation and Water for All Partnership of more than 90 country governments, donors, civil society organisations and other development partners.

World summit charts pathway to making Dubai, green capital by 2021 The Environment HE World Green Economy T Summit (“WGES”), the first Summit focused on “green business” in the region, concluded today, with a closing session that provided a platform for determining the way for Dubai to become capital of the world’s green economy in line with the goals of the UAE’s Vision 2021.

The World Green Economy Summit (WGES) is the first event based on improving the profitability of sustainability practices, products and services in the Middle East and North

At the inaugural World Green Economy Summit, Dubai pledged to facilitate the development of innovative financing for green economy initiatives as well as continue to engage the youth towards green economy and climate change in the context of the World Green Economy Summit Africa region, bringing together world leaders, united in pursuing a sustainable future for humanity to forge global partnerships that accelerate the transition to a green economy.

WGES is an initiative of Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) and will be held under the theme ‘Global

Partnerships, Sustainable Future’, in partnership with World Climate Ltd. WGES looks to complement the sustainable future vision of the UAE and the global efforts to combat climate.

The Vice Chairman, Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and CEO, DEWA, Saeed

Mohammed Al Tayer, said: “The inaugural World Green Economy Summit has been very successful and generated many new partnerships, initiatives and projects to develop a green economy, here in Dubai, across the region and worldwide.

“In establishing this summit, Dubai has demonstrated its commitment to building a green economy and sustainable development. As a result, we wish to make the following declaration of actions, to extend this effort and to build on the success of the World Green Economy Summit:

Dubai will develop the World Green Economy Summit to showcase green economy and business for the Dubai 2020 World Expo, the 2021 UAE Vision, and to develop Dubai as the capital of green economy.

Other declaration includes that Dubai will engage with international stakeholders on a regular basis to prepare the next World Green Economy Summit in 2015 and track the commitments made during the World Green Economy Summit 2014 as well as provide support to top international organizations for the World Green Economy. The World

Green Economy Summit received the support of prestigious organizations like IRENA, UNDP, and UNFCCC. Dubai will support United Nations R20 and the ‘Road to Paris’ to facilitate a binding agreement in Paris 2015. Dubai will also be represented in Paris to be present there during the COP21 negotiations. It will also develop a Public Private Partnership Platform within the World Green Economy Summit to facilitate synergies between cities, regions and utilities, solution

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PROPERTY GUIDE

THE ENVIRONMENT Kogi seeks citizens’ compliance on environmental laws Sanitation From John Akubo, Lokoja HE Special Adviser to Kogi T State Governor on Environment and Physical

Africa, a region already feeling the impact of poverty and climate change, is most vulnerable to the phenomenon of desertification.

‘New IPCC report shows climate action delivers benefits, not burdens’ Climate Change

By Chinedum Uwaegbulam EMBERS of Climate M Action Network and Nigerian environmental organisations have welcomed the third installment of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report recently released, which lays out the solutions to the climate crisis, giving governments a clear case for urgent action.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the group of the world’s leading climate change scientists established by the UN General Assembly and working under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization, released the report in Berlin, after six years of intensive

Science has spoken: climate action is no burden; it’s an opportunity. As renewable energies are growing bigger, better and cheaper every day, the age of dangerous and polluting coal, oil and gas is over. The only rational response to this report is to start the phase out of fossil fuels immediately. It’s simple: the more we wait, the more climate change costs us. work reviewing all available science, its 2014 assessment on measures to mitigate climate change.

This is the second in a series of four reports being prepared by the world’s leading climate authorities in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It assesses the impacts, adaptation and vulnerability of human and natural systems, the observed impacts and future risks of climate change, and the potential for and limits to adaptation.

Among its main findings is that the concentration of Green House Gasses (GHGs) – gasses which cause climate change – have grown more

quickly during the last decade that in each of the previous three decades.

Globally, economic and population growth continue to be the most important drivers of increases in CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

The contribution of population growth between 2000 and 2010 remained roughly identical to the previous three decades, while the contribution of economic growth has risen sharply.

Scenarios show that to have a likely chance of limiting the increase in global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius, means lowering global greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 70 per cent compared

with 2010 by mid-century, and to near-zero by the end of this century.

The Executive Director,Nigerian Environmental Study/Action Team (NEST), Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, “the report shows that the trend continues.

Despite increased scientific and conferencing activities, the critical efforts required are not within action.

“Adaptation is urgent.

Nigeria's NASPA-CCN rated as world class and commended by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC ahead of Doha COP 18 remains on some desk or shelf. The political will to what is need-

Countries renew plan to protect mountain gorillas Conservation HE three countries home T to mountain gorillas have agreed on new measures to conserve the critically endangered animals, and to maximize the economic benefits they bring to local comm u n i t i e s .

National park officials from Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have renewed their joint commitment to protect gorilla habitat spanning their shared borders, and recognized the importance of attracting tourists for lucrative gorilla treks.

Mountain gorillas are the

only type of great ape in the world that are experiencing an increase in number, yet only about 880 individuals were counted at the last census. Gorilla family groups in each of the range countries have been habituated to the presence of people, and can be visited on carefully controlled tours.

“A portion of the revenue from gorilla tourism is shared with the communities surrounding the animals’ habitats. This creates a strong incentive to protect the animals and the natural setting where they live,” said David Greer, WWF’s African great ape expert. “Visitors also spend money elsewhere

during their trip, and that helps the national economy as a whole.”

In Rwanda and Uganda the tourism industry, largely linked to mountain gorillas, accounts for about 8-9 percent of total gross domestic products, World Bank data shows. Gorilla tourism in DRC’s Virunga National Park recently reopened after a period of instability wracked the region. An independent economic analysis of the park commissioned

by WWF found that tourism in Virunga has the potential to reach an estimated value of US$235 million per year.

Alarmingly, 85 per cent of Virunga National Park has

been allocated as oil concessions. Mountain gorilla habitat has been spared, but if oil extraction were to occur, the park’s critical ecosystems and rare species could be put at risk, research indicates.

WWF strongly opposes the exploration plans of UK oil company Soco International PLC, which intends to start seismic testing in the park this month. WWF is a proud member of the International Gorilla Conservation Programme, coalition of WWF and Flora and Fauna International. Together we work closely with the governments of all three mountain gorilla range countries.

ed is not there. We may take the escape route of blaming Annex one countries, but the little we should be doing for our people we are unable to do.”

Executive Secretary, Friends of the Environment, Mr. Chike Chikwendu said: “The world should take action, time is running out.”

The leader, WWF Global Climate and Energy Initiative, Samantha Smith says the report highlights, for the first time, the dramatic difference of impacts between a world where we act now to cut emissions, which now come mostly from using fossil fuels; and a world where we fail to act quickly and at scale.

“The IPCC is clear that acting on climate change is possible, beneficial and affordable. If we act now, costs will be only a very small fraction of global economies. Those who say it’s too hard and too expensive are wrong. But it is very urgent – without immediate action, costs will rise and and impacts will too. The first, critical step is changing investment flows. Any investor who looks at this report will have to reach an obvious conclusion: It’s time to pull your money out of dirty fossil fuels and put it into renewable energy and energy efficiency.”

“Science has spoken: climate action is no burden, it’s an opportunity. As renewable energies are growing bigger, better and cheaper every day, the age of dangerous and polluting coal, oil and gas is over.

The only rational response to this report is to start the phase out of fossil fuels immediately. It’s simple: the more we wait, the more climate change costs us. The sooner we act, the cheaper the transition to a renewables future for all will be.”

Development, Mrs. Ladi Jatto, a lawyer, has cautioned residents against indiscriminate dumping of solid waste in drainages and water channels to allow for free flow of water.

According to Jatto, keeping the environmental laws would also would not only improve the citizens health condition, but would also prevent the outbreak of water borne and other communicable diseases such as of cholera and diarrhoea.

She explained that with the warmer than normal temperature predicted by Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET), residents should adequately ventilate their homes to prevent an outbreak of meningitis.

“I want to advised farmers to plant drought resistant and early maturing crops in view of the low rain fall also predicted by NIMET. Early maturing crops will be ready for harvest within the short rainy season being expected”, said Jatto, who cautioned farmers to be mindful of the prediction of NIMET which indicated that the total length of rainy season for 2014 in Kogi state would be 210 days, hence the need for farmers to be.

Dubai becomes green capital byCONTINUED 2021 FROM PAGE 37 providers and financial institutions.

Dubai will facilitate the development of innovative financing for green economy initiatives as well as continue to engage the youth towards green economy and climate change in the context of the World Green Economy Summit including to publish an annual report, called Dubai Green Economy Report, which will showcase all Dubai Green Economy projects and initiatives.

Al Tayer concluded: “On the road to Paris, to Dubai 2020, and to a sustainable future, I would like us to collaborate to transform the many tangible outcomes into action. I look forward to welcoming you here at the World Green Economy Summit 2015.”

Commenting at the conclusion of WGES, the Summit’s Programme Chairman, Andre Schneider, said: “This inaugural World Green Economy Summit has shown the market conditions exist here in Dubai for the development of a genuine green finance trading hub. The sessions have demonstrated that the outcomes of this Summit will be actionable, and incorporated into the long term planning of the economy here - particularly in regard to the upcoming EXPO 2020. We look forward to returning next year for the second instalment of WGES here in Dubai.”

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FINANCIALGUARDIAN

Rebasing of GDP imperative for Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale, in this interview with The Guardian, threw more light on salient issues regarding the just released GDP figures. He also cleared the air on the controversial gap between the huge GDP value and poverty line. He spoke with CHUKA ODITTAH in Abuja HY is there such a big gap between the W N80.2 trillion current GDP and the socio-economic wellbeing of majority of Nigerians?

First of all, let me start by explaining what GDP rebasing is, and how it works. GDP is just the value of goods and services produced in a country. It is not development itself. It is not about how many houses are available, it not the number of roads, or bridges available and what have you. It is simply the value of goods and services. And the reason we track GDP is to show that people are making demands on goods and services. If there is no demand there will be no supply. If people are producing then it means people are demanding. So what GDP does is to provide data based on these activities. It does not measure inequality. This is clearly stated in the GDP literature for decades now. GDP does not take into account record of inequality. It just assumes everyone is on the same pedestal. So, for instance, GDP can indicate that ten cars have been bought. But in actual fact it might be just one man buying those ten cars. All it discloses is that the GDP has increased by ten more cars per time. One man can buy 30 new houses. But GDP only shows you that 30 new houses have been bought. It doesn’t mean that those houses are shared out equally to all people.

That is always the misconception people have about GDP. They tend to equate it with development. Now, while the GDP indicates N80.2 trillion worth of goods and services, it does not measure the inequality in the system. What this means in effect is that you can grow your GDP while the level of poverty remains the same. For example if a man has a farm, and he decides to acquire tractors to increase his yields, and he actually goes ahead to lay off half of his labour force because the tractors are doing their work better and faster. It would be recorded in the output of that farm has improved but half of the employees were sacked and thrown into the labour market to achieve that. The GDP of that farm would no doubt double but it creates unemployment. So there really is a difference between growing your GDP and having development. Every year we hear of companies and banks declaring huge profit margins, what it shows is that people are producing more and making profits. Shoprite supermarkets today have branches in many states in the country. For them to be expanding means they are having demand for their services and are making profits because more people are buying from them. That is the kind of thing GDP measures; to measure value of goods and services produced in the country.

So when people say they don’t believe the new GDP figures because they don’t see anything on ground to show even while the economy is growing, it doesn’t mean that the GDP figures are wrong, no. What has happened is that we now need to do better planning with the data that we have, to scale up in sectors we are not doing very well and then continue to grow areas where we have shown strength, like the Nollywood- entertainment industry, for instance.

How would Nigeria benefit from the rebasing exercise?

One of the ways the rebasing is beneficial to the country is that it helps government to have an exact picture of the income generated within the economy. The exercise can help government in the area of taxation to implement the kind of tax system that would ensure that those who earn more remit taxes accordingly as at when due. The advantage of this is that it makes more money available to government to pursue development projects and to create functional services that would be felt in the power sector, health, education among others. If you don’t tax revenue growth, all you have is growth in profit margin but you don’t see it translate to development that benefits the populace. So unless the money out there is tracked, you will not know the real worth of goods and services produced. Right now, we know what exactly our GDP is worth and that is good for planning and policymaking. Also, we are in the information age, the civil society groups, the international agencies can now consult our data for planning and development purposes. Another thing that the GDP rebasing has captured is that Nigeria has a very large informal sector.

The informal sector is largely an untaxed sector of the economy For instance, the woman selling roasted corn in the street belongs to the informal sector. Her profits are not taxed. Government can find a way of formalizing the informal sector so that it can generate revenue from these areas and in turn plough back to society to further boost growth in the sector. So the first step towards making sure that the outcome of growth in the economy trickle down to everyone is to first of all make sure that a good and effective tax system is put in place and then make sure that the money is judiciously spent for instance to generate more jobs, stable power supply etcetera.

This is really the issue and not about whether we are bigger than South Africa in GDP size. Our job is to provide government and the people with accurate data that will guide government in making informed decisions about development. This is why I want to appeal that ideology and data should not be mixed for any reason. The GDP figures are not concocted. They are facts about our economy. They were generated through careful surveys

One of the ways the rebasing is beneficial to the country is that it helps government to have an exact picture of the income generated within the economy. The exercise can help government in the area of taxation to implement the kind of tax system that would ensure that those who earn more remit taxes accordingly as at when due.

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effective planning, says Kale People are simply mixing political ideology with the data we have worked so hard to produce....To ensure that we met international standards we didn’t do the work alone. We partnered with the World Bank and IMF closely all through the way. Two years after we had finished, we were still consulting with them and we kept postponing the date of release of the new figure and investigations. We cannot be using data generated 20 years ago to plan an economy in 2014.How do you solve the problem of unemployment if you don’t know the exact number of people who are unemployed? Those who say that the figures are incorrect are merely doing disservice to their fatherland, and to themselves indirectly.

The current rebasing has shown areas of strength and lapses in the economy. How can your bureau carry out surveillances on the sectors to keep tab on progress they are making?

Different agencies of government have their specific responsibilities. It is not within our job specification to do that. But we have the Fiscal Revenue Mobilization Agency, we have the Inland Revenue Tax system, we cannot be doing that. Our job is to provide them with correct data. It is not our responsibility to monitor whether they use it or not, even though it is beneficial to them and the entire country. We only give data but we don’t enforce use of such data. We cannot be going from place to place trying to see who used our data and who didn’t.

How were you able to source the different GDP data of other countries in Africa and elsewhere for analysis?

We are in the information age, so it wasn’t that difficult. Our staffs are in all the states of the federation and we put all hands on deck for this exercise. We didn’t have to travel out t o

any country to get their data. We have a global link with statisticians in different countries of the world and we partner with one another on information.

How much in terms of monetary value did the rebasing cost?

It took a period of two years and I wouldn’t say it cost a particular amount because we didn’t do any major spending. We only paid small stipends as transport allowances to our staff, who went across the length and breath of the nation to gather data at different levels of the exercise Having successfully conducted the GDP rebasing after over two decades that the last exercise took place, how do feel about the quality of staff in NBS with whom you pulled off this feat?

I must say that am very proud of my staff.

They are all over the states. When you have to get data from about 150 million people or there about, you know the amount of work you have to do. It is a huge task. I wish to commend all NBS staff and all who worked tirelessly to make the rebasing a reality. Some of our staff went home at 2.00am some at 3.00 am, other 4.00am in the morning, just weeks before we finally concluded. It wasn’t about the money but the dedication to serving their fatherland and I commend that spirit coming from public servant, especially when it was not convenient. Although we still have challenges here and there like in funding and also capacity still needs constant upgrade, but all in all I must say we are getting better and better and am happy about that. In terms of capacity, a lot has improved at the NBS over the last 5-6 years. From the top to the bottom we worked round the cloud and am proud that happened.

There have been allegations in some quarters that the GDP figures released by NBS are over rated. How do you react to this?

Again my answer is that such people are simply mixing political ideology with data we have worked so hard to produce.

There is freedom of speech and people are free to say what they like, but the implication is that they are disparaging their own country and making her a source of unnecessary riddle.

To ensure that we met international standards we didn’t do the work alone.

We partnered with the World Bank and IMF closely all through the way.

Two years after we had finished we were still consulting with them and we kept postponing the date of release of the new figure because we wanted to factor in all the insights they were giving to make sure we were in line. This is why the release was delayed for two years.

How can we produce a wrong data when we consulted with all relevant institutions for such a long time. Why postpone the release of new figures for two solid years if we intended to launch fake data?

What sense does it make? We are men of integrity and profes-

That is always the misconception people have about GDP. They tend to equate it with development. Now, while the GDP indicates N80.2 trillion worth of goods and services, it does not measure the inequality in the system. sionals. We stick to international best practices and that is what you see in the outcome of the rebasing. The N80.2 trillion GDP we presented is the fact and nothing more.

On the baseline for measuring poverty, most countries use lower numbers, but it appears the NBS uses even higher baseline of 3,000 calories. Why is this so?

Different countries use different measuring lines to ascertain poverty level. Some use 1,000; 1,500; still others use 2,500 calories. The reason we use 3,000 in Nigeria is to serve as a threshold and also to measure output with output. When I came into office, I discovered that they used 3,000, so if I decide to reduce or raise

it, we may have a radical result, which may send the wrong signal and not be necessarily correct. Now, the reason I decided to use 3,000 base line is because the average Nigerian eats mostly a carbohydrate-laden meal. So, our foods are high in calories. The idea behind the 3,000 base line is to give government a high target to work with in order to bring down poverty level. So you can see, our numbers are not always favourable to government. They can either be good or bad. All we know is that we present them with the facts to guide them. So, those who say we produce figures to favour government are wrong.

We are an independent agency and we do our job dispassionately.

Different countries use different measuring lines to ascertain poverty level. Some use 1,000; 1,500; still others use 2,500 calories...When I came into office, I discovered that they used 3,000, so if I decide to reduce or raise it, we may have a radical result, which may send the wrong signal and not be necessarily correct

44

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Monday, April 21, 2014

INSURANCE

FINANCIALGUARDIAN

Operators tickle market with innovative products

By Joshua Nse HE major challenge that T practitioners in the nation’s insurance industry have been faced with are the capacity to conduct research and come up with innovative products that satisfy peculiar needs of the insuring public.

Prior to the industry consolidation exercise, the market has not given this area serious consideration, as only few insurance firms have functional Research and Development (R&D) department worth the name to conduct research into new products backed with adequate financial and budgetary allocation.

Indeed, what existed was old policies that are often repackaged, renamed and soon after they are unveiled

to the public, they faded away into oblivion, like any venture that is not based on serious research effort.

In the new market place, however, building necessary capacity to conduct research and come up with innovative products that satisfy public demand is an essential ingredient of the reforms in the industry.

It is on the basis of this desire that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) commended the board and management of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc for the bold efforts the company made last week, when they unveiled 36 new non-life and life products into the insurance industry to meet the specific needs of the insuring public.

The general business products include: Motor dealers

complementary insurance; Mega comprehensive insurance; Event centre insurance; Advertising agency insurance; Corporate office insurance; Sales office insurance; Hair salon insurance; Law firm insurance; Accounting firm insurance; Hotel insurance; School insurance, Hospital insurance; Fast food restaurant; Nolly-Wood insurance; Church insurance; Mosque insurance; Estate managers insurance; Landlord tenants insurance; Travel and tour agency insurance; Market and shopping complex insurance; Sales shop and super market insurance; Laundry and cleaning services insurance; Micro finance bank insurance; SME comprehensive insurance; Oil and gas supply insurance; and Politician comprehen-

sive insurance.

Life assurance products include, Lady life assurance; Juvenile life assurance; Mortgage endowment; Pilgrims welfare insurance policy; Celebrity life assurance policy; Senior life assurance policy; Mutual senior citizen plan; Mutual Benefits school fees guarantees scheme; MOAN-NULGE policy; and Mutual income continuity plan.

The Group Managing Director of the company, Akin Ogunbiyi, speaking at the presentation of the products in Lagos last week, said the unveiling of the new products, Mutual Benefits clearly stood out as number one insurance company with innovative products to meet the needs of the insuring public in different sectors of the economy.

He recalled that when the company presented the products to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for approval, they were extremely excited by the efforts of the company for the innovation, style and value addition brought into creating these products that Nigerians want to meet their insurance needs.

According to him, the company has 7,200 staff in 60 branches of the company throughout Nigeria, determined to take insurance to the nooks and crannies of this country and make Nigerians enjoy the benefits and value of insurance.

He regretted that insurance business in Nigeria has taken the back bencher unlike the developing economies where insurance is the rallying point of every other investment.

He said “In Nigeria, insurance penetration is less than 0.5 per cent, all the new entrants into the economy – South Africa and others coming to participate, there is nothing they are looking for than the singular opportunity that Nigeria population presented.

What are the practitioners doing, he said, we have always relied on corporate insurance to survive but some seven years back, we identified the growth area in the retail sector where our people can actually participate and benefit from taking an insurance policy. We spent quality time and money to do research on

what Nigerians want, and we found out that accessibility remains the core issue. If people are buying third party insurance, where do they get it from - touts issuing fake policies.

“Where are the products that can actually meet the needs of the people and bring out values for them to appreciate the benefits of insurance. That is, where Mutual Benefits have taken the retail initiatives, and we found a way of reaching out to every facet of the Nigerian economy who are able to buy insurance. That is the reason why we are presenting 36 new life and non-life products into the Nigerian insurance market.

The managing director and chief executive of one of the old generation insurance firms said, “Indeed, the need for serious studies aimed at determining the needs of the market does not only rest on the shoulders of insurance companies, brokers have even a greater role to play in this regard, on account of their intermediation, which involves interaction with insurance companies and consumers and their proximity to the grassroots. They need a very serious research outfit to conduct relevant studies and should be able to disseminate the outcome of its investigation to members. This is certainly one way by which they should continue to justify the confidence and respect they command in the insurance market.

Premium Pension signs agreement with Niger State REMIUM Pension Limited, P a leading Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) in the

Permanent Member of Niger State Pension Board, Mohammed Ndagi (left); the Director General, Niger State Pension Board, Alhaji Benu Yahaya Ahmed and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Premium Pension Ltd. Wilson Ideva at the signing of fund management agreement of Niger State Government, in Niger State.

Aiico Insurance sets N31.7b premium target

By Joshua Nse HE ‘No premium no cover’ T policy in the insurance industry may be impacting positively on the performances of insurance institutions, as Aiico Insurance Plc has set a target of about N31.7 billion for 2014.

The Executive Director (Technical), Jide Orimolade, speaking at a media parley in Lagos, said for an organization to measure up itself, talking about the first quarter, it has to set targets and drive the team. The leadership has been able to get involved in the whole process. We set a target of about N31.7 billion for 2014 in terms of our top-line figure, and judging by these unaudited results, we have not done badly at all in this first quarter.

For instance, he said, the Life and General business, we have done cumulatively N8.616 billion for the first quarter, a breakdown of this figure would be as follows General business N2.9 billion, Individual Life N1.7 billion, Group Life N916 million and Annuity N3.15 billion.

According to him, claims experience are - General business 29 per cent, Individual Life (Maturity, surrender, etc) 25 per cent, and Group Life 15 per cent.

He said that with these extracts for the first quarter, it is quite possible to see that we have done well and will possibly continue in the second quarter to translate these into profit for our shareholders.

Orimolade explained “Looking at the financial environment in terms of what has happened in the first quarter

so far, from the micro insurance point of view, the government has been able to keep the inflation rate down to single digit. In terms of growth, it is about seven per cent right now, this tells us that there are a lot of potentials and opportunities for the insurance industry in the market.”

On the political terrain, there have been a lot of security issues which has affected us in terms of lives and properties especially in the northern part of the country, the ‘Boko Haram’ situation readily comes to mine. This tells us that on our own part, we are expedient and have created an extension in terms of the Fire and Special Peril.

Besides, he said, opportunities are there to grow the market. The recent privatization of the power holding

which has been structured into the DISCOs (Distribution companies) and GENCOs (Generating Companies), there is projection of growth in this sector, their assets will ultimately be insured and this will boost the insurance sector. The new owners will definitely employ, thereby creating opportunity for the group life in that area.

On the micro level, he said, our regulators have been able to assist the industry, the ‘No premium no cover’ policy has really helped, the claims in the books of insurance companies has reduced, a boost in cash inflow of most insurance companies. Insurance companies all over the world look at their investment returns and also underwriting profits, so with more cash coming in, there are possibilities of good returns.

country and the Niger State Government have signed a portfolio management agreement which confers on the former the authority and responsibility of managing the state’s benefits fund named “Retirement Redemption Bond Fund.”

This fund has been established by the Niger State Government through the Niger State Pension Board.

This agreement which has the endorsement of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) emphasizes, among others, that the funds and assets held in them must be managed in accordance with the guidelines issued pursuant to the Pension reform Act 2004.

The agreement also accords Premium Pension the responsibility of the lead PFA in the state.

The agreement which was consummated at a ceremony held recently at the corporate headquarters of Premium Pension Limited in Area 3, Garki, Abuja had key stakeholders on both sides in attendance. While Mr. Wilson Ideva, the managing director of Premium Pension Limited and Mr. Adamu Mele, executive director, business devel-

opment and investment signed on behalf of the company, the director-general of the Niger State Pension Board, Alhaji Benu Yahaya Ahmed signed on behalf of the Niger State Government.

“This is a practical demonstration of mutual trust and highly productive partnership required to drive the contributory pension scheme in the country” said Mr. ideva while commenting on the agreement. “We must continue to justify the confidence reposed in us by the Niger State Government as a leading PFA in the country through the rendition of quality service marked by high level of professionalism.”

The agreement states clearly that “the appointment of Premium Pension shall be of a fiduciary nature consistent with the requirements of the law and that Premium Pension shall exercise utmost duty of care and good faith in all their undertakings under the terms of this agreement.”

Other officials of the Niger State Pension Board present at the event include Alhaji Mohammed Ndagi, permanent member, finance, investment and inspectorate and Mr. Mohammed B. Abdullahi, the board secretary and legal adviser.

Monday, April 21, 2014 45

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INSURANCE

FINANCIALGUARDIAN NCRIB starts IFRS training of brokers N order to comply with the Ireporting new global accounting format, the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has commenced training of its members on the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Declaring open the pilot training in Lagos, the President of the Council, Ayodapo Shoderu, disclosed that the Council engaged the services of leading IFRS consultants under its shared services scheme to reduce the cost burden on individual operators.

He noted that the first tranche of the training incorporated Brokers operating mostly in the Lagos axis, while the remaining tranches will hold in other zones, namely Abuja, Lagos and Enugu, and enjoined its members to check the website of the Council for their names and periods when their training falls due.

According to him, the IFRS was designed as a common global language for business

affairs so that companies accounts are understandable and comparable across international boundaries.

“IFRS is a consequence of growing international shareholding and trade and are important for companies that have, or angling to have dealings in several countries, of which Insurance Brokers are critical interest groups to comply with the new trend”.

He said the IFRS behoves on Accountants in broking firms to maintain books of accounts which are comparable, understandable and relevant, saying that the scheme required that operators be more transparent and meticulous in their financial accounting formats.

He asserted that:“We are all aware that the global environment in which we operate has posed greater challenges to us to be more ethical and eschew unprofessional conducts if we want to remain in business” he noted.

Vice chairman, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Akin Opeodu (left), Group Managing Director, Akin Ogunbiyi, and Chairman of the company, Chamberlain Oyibo, at the launching of the company’s new products in Lagos.

‘Mistrust and traditional beliefs affecting policy uptake’ ISTRUST, traditional M beliefs, religion and poverty are some of the major factors that influence people decisions as far as getting insurance cover is concerned, experts from Agusto, a Nigerian credit rating and risk management firm has noted.

“Non-life insurance penetration is still low because people neither believe in it nor are aware about it, most people still link insurance with life insurance and not investments which is a big challenge threatening the survival of the sector,” Edward Olajide, the Agusto East Africa regional representative, said during a workshop on insurance credit ratings in Kigali recently.

However, this negative perception on insurance could change in the near future due to increased urbanisation, expanding middle-class

and technological advancement, Olajide told Rwandan insurers.

Olajide said there are signs that insurance penetration in emerging economies is also slowly growing due to increased literacy levels.

According to sector players, sluggish returns on investments, low capacity, poor enforcement of regulations, and low income levels are some of the challenges affecting the growth of the sector in Rwanda. Analysts believe that by embracing ratings, the situation could change and create additional confidence among policy-makers and investors.

“It is one way of providing independent information that instills confidence among stakeholders,” Jean Chrysostome Hodari, SORAS boss, said. He added that this could in a way boost policy uptake.

Jean Pierre Majoro, the Association Rwanda Insurance Companies executive secretary, said there is a need for massive sensitisation campaigns on the benefits of insurance if the sector is to attract more customers.

However, some analysts are blaming low insurance penetration rate to bureaucratic procedures that one has to follow to get a policy or claim compensation.

Statistics from National Bank of Rwanda indicate that the sector’s total assets reached Rwf230b in 2013 from Rwf199b during 2012, reflecting a growth of 16 per cent.

Globally, the African continent lags behind other continents with only 1.5 per cent insurance penetration and Latin America and Caribbean 3.6 per cent.

Europe and North America had the highest rate of pre-

mium penetration, with Europe at 33.28 per cent, North America 20.29 per cent and Asia with 8.9 per cent.

Recent statistics indicate that Rwanda, Algeria, Nigeria and Egypt are the African countries with the least rate of insurance penetration, with Rwanda at only 2 per cent penetration rate.

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Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

Kenya’s Insurance sector records rise in premium ENYA insurance sector K has recorded potential rise in premium both in the life and non-life policy.

This is contained in the 2014, the key issues for Kenya’s insurance sector are broadly the same as they were one or two years previously. In essence, the involvement of leading multi-lateral finance institutions and South African multinationals have more than compensated for a generally difficult business environment. Continued strong growth in premiums and profits appears likely.

BMI’s new insurance report format provides forecasts of the life and non-life markets, including gross and net premiums, reinsurance premiums and assets. Moreover, it provides forecasts for key growth drivers such as vehicle fleet size, demographic factors and private health

expenditure. The report also contains a comprehensive breakdown of the non-life insurance market, providing forecasts for motor and transport insurance, property, personal accident, health, general liability and credit insurance. Finally, the new report offers a detailed breakdown of the life and non-life competitive landscapes, covering the top companies present in each segment by premiums and market share.

We remain of the view that Kenya’s insurance sector is dynamic and resilient.

Although insurance companies are small organizations by most standards, they are innovative and clearly understand the needs and challenges of their customers.

Initiatives that have been announced in recent months include agricultural risk

products that cover farmers against the impact of natural disaster, facilities to pay premiums via mobile phones and takaful.

Another indicator of the potential for the non-life segment is that Kenya is one of only four countries in Africa (the others being South Africa, Egypt and Uganda) in which global property and casualty insurance giant AIG has an on-the-ground presence. Non life penetration exceeds 2%, which is a high level for a country with Kenya’s low per capita income. In a country where many households are too poor to consider saving for the future, Kenya’s life insurers have still managed to develop a segment that accounts for about a third of all premiums written in the insurance sector as a whole.

In other words, they have

collectively built sufficient trust among those Kenyans who can save for the long term.

Given the country’s tendency for high inflation, this is very much to their credit.

Unlike some Eastern European countries, the development of the segment has not been driven entirely by multinational giants.

South Africa’s Metropolitan Life has a subsidiary in Kenya.

Sanlam, another South African major, owns half of Pan Africa. Liberty and Old Mutual are also present.

However, local life companies have also been key players in the segment’s evolution. Life density is low by many standards but is clearly growing rapidly. We remain optimistic about the prospects for Kenya’s insurance sector, and this is reflected in our projections through to 2018.

To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

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Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.

46

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MONDAY, April 21, 2014 47

FINANCIALGUARDIAN

Investment banking firm seeks new approach to price stability

By Chijioke Nelson N investment banking A company- Dunn Loren Merrifield, said there was need for a new approach to the management of the nation’s economy, especially

the price stability issues, which is centred on inflationtargeting.

The company, which made the charge at its media roundtable and presentation of first quarter economy review, said it maintained its stance on the

critical need for a dual approach, with a goal to attaining optimal growth with lowest possible inflation, rather than the sole inflation-targeting approach.

The company however, pointed out that the direction

U.S. warns money managers of more Russia sanctions HE Obama administration T told asset managers last week that it was planning additional sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Officials from the Treasury Department and the National Security Council met in Washington with mutual-fund and hedge-fund managers, according to a person who attended. Their comments sent a message that more sanctions are on the way and that investors, if they were concerned about the impact, should manage that risk, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions weren’t public.

The meeting, convened a week before talks with Russia in Geneva that ended yesterday, left managers grappling with the question of whether the government intended to follow through, or was trying to trigger asset sales through the threat of sanctions, said the person.

Former administration officials have said forcing Russia out of global financial markets is the strongest tool President Barack Obama has at his disposal in trying to defuse the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.

“A lot of firms on the buy side have cut their exposure to Russia,” Jack Deino, the head of emerging-market debt at Atlanta-based Invesco Ltd., said in an interview, talking about the industry in general.

Staff of the National Security Council, which is the president’s main forum for considering national security and foreign policy matters, has reached out to businesses to provide information on sanctions against Russia, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the council.

Ukraine Talks “As Russia continues to destabilize Ukraine, we are prepared to sanction additional individuals and entities, and we’ve made clear that we’d be prepared to target certain sectors of the Russian economy if we see a significant escalation including direct Russian military intervention in eastern Ukraine.

“We are coordinating our actions closely with our partners in Europe and the G7,” she said.

The four-way talks on the crisis in Ukraine ended with an accord, after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he hopes he won’t have to send in

troops. Stocks in Russia and Asia rose. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia, which the U.S. and its European allies accuse of stoking the conflict, must start implementing the deal within days or face additional sanctions.

Russian Risk “If we’re not able to see progress on the immediate efforts, to be able to implement the principles of this agreement this weekend, then we will have no choice

but to impose further costs on Russia,” Kerry said at a press conference.

Investors had been selling Russian securities, causing its currency to fall 7.6 percent against the dollar this year.

The country’s reaction to the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych in February — annexing the Crimea region and amassing troops by the Ukraine border — has increased the perception of risk attached to investing in Russian sovereign debt.

of monetary policy of the CBN; changes in the benchmark interest rate; the level of foreign portfolio investments; the strength of the economic recovery in the developed markets; and policy direction of the major policy makers in the developed countries, will impact the market in the next quarters.

According to the company, for producers with exposure to imported raw materials, the risk of Naira depreciation, although not a certainty but likely, and raw material price volatility in the commodities markets, may expand production costs.

“Recent pressure on exchange rate further strengthens our position of a possible depreciation of the naira in the current year given that the nation’s foreign reserves will be further deplet-

T

9.7 per cent for 2014. Barring any currency devaluation, we are of the view that the CBN is likely to continue its contractionary monetary policy stance for the rest of the year to rein in upward inflationary pressures.

“We express our concern on the decline in external reserves as we re-iterate the need to rebuild the nation’s fiscal buffers, while the weakening fiscal buffers increased the economy’s reliance on portfolio flows, which is a key driver of risk of exchange rate stability,” it said.

The company however, expressed concern that the recently passed 2014 Budget by the National Assembly, which was relatively late, portends great dangers on the successful execution of capital projects planned within the year.

Executive Director, Heritage Bank, Adeniyi Adeseun (left); Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Adebiyi Mabadeje; Chief Executive Officer, Lagos State security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Fola Arthur-Worrey; Executive Director, Ivory Banking, Heritage Bank, Mary Akpobome; Board Member, LSSTF, Opeyemi Agbaje; and Group Head, Coral Banking, Heritage Bank, Moji Niran-Oladunni, during the donation of motorbikes and Hilux Van to LSSTF by the bank, in Lagos.

Fidelity Bank mulls upward review of SME Lending to 50 per cent ROM a 28 per cent lending FMedium profile to Small and Enterprises (SMEs) in 2013, Fidelity Bank Plc has concluded plans to review its lending profile to small businesses to 50 per cent by 2017, as part of its repositioning strategy.

According to the bank, the move is in line with the bank’s strategies to move into the

“Phase 3” of its growth and development.

A statement from the bank unveiled the bank’s strategy in reviewing loan profile of the retail segment to 50 per cent by 2017, from the 28 per cent the bank attained in 2013, while a periodic review of all concessions and lending rates would be done.

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo who disclosed this at an Investor Relations Conference said the bank has been positioned to be an SME-focused bank.

It could be called that Renaissance Capital (RenCap), a Lagos-based financial advisory and research firm, in its

Former Goldman Sachs’ chief invests in Paga

By Adeyemi Adepetun HE investment profile of one Nigeria’s mobile payment operator, Paga got expanded at the weekend, with new investor.

Paga’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tayo Oviosu, who made the announcement in Lagos, said the company had acquired a new private investor - former Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Chief Economist, Jim O’Neill.

Recalled that O’Neill coined

ed if current exchange rate stability strategies are maintained.

“Our view is firmly supported by the commitment of the MPC to aggressively pursue the price stability and exchange rate objective and the erosion of the fiscal buffers through the depletion of the external reserves raises significant concerns as the economy is further exposed to vulnerabilities,” it said.

The company noted that inflationary pressures are expected to arise from increased spending in preparation for the 2015 elections in the domestic economy and sustained pressures on exchange rate, which poses a significant downside risk to outlook.

“In view of the aforementioned, we project an average inflation rate of 9.5 per cent to

the “BRIC” acronym in 2001, which was derived from his thesis that Brazil, Russia, India and China would dominate growth in emerging markets.

Oviosu explained that O’Neill first became interested in Paga when he interviewed him (Oviosu) as part of a series on BBC radio discussing the MINT group – a new acronym O’Neill coined to represent Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey; the next set of countries that he believes will be the growth

markets that will shape the world’s economy in the coming decades.

The Paga boss said O’Neill is confident that the entrepreneurial abilities of Nigeria’s younger demographic will be a catalyst for growth over the next 20 years, and that indigenous startups, such as Paga, which are focused on a key sector – payments, will be the major drivers of growth.

On his decision to invest in Paga, O’Neill said “on meeting Tayo and understanding his

vision for Paga it was very obvious that we both shared the belief that with the right approach Nigeria possessed the potential for huge economic growth. It is clear to me that Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, needs payment systems that work for both businesses and individuals for her to reach her potential.

“Paga delivers greater convenience to businesses and individuals whether they are banked or un-banked.

report titled: “New CEO: It’s all about execution,” noted that the management of Fidelity Bank acknowledged the challenges in the industry and assured stakeholders that its initial focus would be on reducing funding costs by continuous downward repricing of costly term deposits; increase the proportion of its members of staff in market-facing roles while rewarding them appropriately; and increase branch footprint to increase market reach.

Overall, the bank also indicated plans to also significantly increase its focus on driving ebanking products for customer mobilisation and service.

“We think this is particularly important for Fidelity to reawaken investor interest in the story and showcase the impact of multiple changes currently being implemented. In addition to this, 2013

saw the bank’s exposure to foreign currency lending rise to 27 per cent from one in 2012, as the bank deployed its foreign currency liabilities while the pressure on funding costs persisted.

“Management has also been repricing the existing loan book and plans to periodically review all concessions and lending rates.

“On the back of yesterday’s call and our extensive discussions with the new CEO and Head of Strategy, Innovation and Business Transformation, Gbolahan Joshua, it appears to us that things are set to change at Fidelity,” Recap added.

However, RenCap advised the bank to ensure that it delivers consistently on targets by matching action with numbers; create shareholder value by getting the RoE up to the high double digits in the medium term; and improve the quality of reporting and investor communication.

48

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MONDAY, April 21, 2014 49 In association with

RealEstateWatch

THE INSTITUTE FOR REAL ESTATE EXCELLENCE (IREE)

Excellence. Integrity. Professionalism

A Guide To Buying Commercial Real Estate take into consideration the potential risk and benefits that a purchase may hold for your business. Some of the risks/benefits involved in investing in commercial real estate are as follows; • Buying in to commercial real estate may be more beneficial than leasing if you are buying to maximize return on investment.

• Owning your commercial property adds to your asset appreciation over time, which means that your company's equity grows.

• It is critical to buy commercial properties in the right location. The right location ensures that your business is at the heart of select target audience and is easily accessible by your The IREE was inaugurated in 2012: clients, key suppliers, and associated busiVision: To raise the standards in the nesses. The right location also conveys a cerNigerian real estate industry through profes- tain kind of impression to your target audisional training and coaching to meet inter- ence which in turn benefits your business. It is also important to note that the locations national standards. that are “hot” today might not be so tomorrow and vice versa.

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News. Trends . Advice he Intelligent Real Estate Series is a bi-weekly column aimed at educating readers on matters relating to the real estate industry.

We will be discussing the various factors that affect the industry, current trends and future projections in practicing real estate in the 21st century as the industry is continuously evolving and business is no longer business as usual.

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• Buying of commercial real estate when the finances to do so is not readily available can lead to loss of liquidity.

• If you intend to put up your commercial OMMERCIAL real estate according to real estate for lease, it is important to underWikipedia refers to buildings or land stand that leasing is not always the best intended to generate a profit, either from option for cash flow. Tenants can default capital gain or rental income. Commercial with their payment date, or even out rightly real estate includes office buildings, strip decide not pay at all, and if you are dependmalls, restaurants and any other real estate ing on the income it can turn out to be very in which people conduct business. disappointing.

Investing in commercial real estate just like • The income that a piece of commercial real any other business decision, has its risks estate produces is directly related to its and benefits. There is the need for expertise usable square footage which leads to higher and careful strategising before a well yields. informed decision can be reached on 2. Seek advice from a team of experts: whether or not to purchase or lease a com- When considering the option of buying a mercial real estate. commercial real estate you need knowledge There are some basic steps to take before and experienced advice before you go ahead you purchase a commercial real estate and with the purchase to enable you make the they are outlined below; right decisions. Your team should be proper1. Analyze the risk and benefits of purchas- ly selected based on their track records and ing commercial real estate: working styles. The team should consist of a When making the decision to purchase a Real Estate Professional who specializes in commercial property, it is important to commercial real estate to help select suitable

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advantage; an Accountant to help figure out what your business can afford and analyze the tax and operating budget benefits; an Insurance Agent to insure your assets; a Business Advisor to provide solid perspective and advice in the financial process; and/or a Mortgage Broker/Lender to provide finance if required.

3. Choose the property wisely: Some of the things to take into consideration when choosing the right commercial proper-

ty for your business include location, accessibility, sale/lease price, size and layout of space, type of building, construction, available facilities including administrative support and meeting areas, car parking, security, opportunities for expansion, and lots more. Once you have shortlisted the commercial property that best suits your requirements, work with the owner on the right price.

4. Get financing for the purchase of the property: Make sure before you apply for any mortgage (if needed) you already have the down payment covered, as well as proof of income to cover the monthly payments.

Commercial properties generally attract a higher down payment than residential properties.

At this point, you need to have your lawyer explain every detail of the sales/purchase agreement (SPA) so that you know exactly what your rights and obligations are.

Commercial real estate like residential properties is also affected by the law of demand and supply. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for purchasing commercial real estate.

That decision must be weighed by individual businesses and their specific requirements and goals. Investing in commercial real estate is a long-term affair and it is important you get it right from the start.

REAL ESTATE TRIVIA Question.

What economic factor can make the purchase of a home an excellent long-term investment?

Answer.: Home price appreciation can result in a substantial return on the buyer's investment as a house increases in value over time Please send your questions or comments to iree2013@gmail.com.

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GlobalStocks Libya wealth fund to entrust $11b to managers HE Chairman of Libya’s $66 T billion sovereign wealth fund, Abdulmagid Breish, said it plans to hire external companies to manage about $11 billion of its assets under a restructuring plan.

The Libyan Investment Authority, valued at about $66 billion by Deloitte LLP, will split its assets into three distinct funds starting as soon as next year, Breish said in an interview in London yesterday.

“The LIA is preparing itself to come back to the international fold,” he said. “We will use best-of-breed fund managers, advisers and consultants,” he said, without specifying which companies will be invited to bid for the work.

The fund, established under former Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi, grew to be Africa’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund by the time he was deposed and killed in 2011. Some of the firm’s investments proved disastrous, leading to attempts to restructure deals, regulatory investigations and multi-billion dollar lawsuits.

The LIA is suing Societe Generale SA (GLE) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) in the U.K. for a total of about $2.5 billion over investments that lost as much as 80 percent. Both lawsuits were filed in London this year.

Breish said he was considering filing other lawsuits “of a smaller magnitude, perhaps

of a similar nature.” One potential target is Dutch hedge fund Palladyne International Asset Management BV, according to Breish. In March, a former employee sued Palladyne in the U.S. alleging the firm laundered funds for Qaddafi.

“We have to get back what’s owed back to us, and what was wrongfully taken away,” he said. “We will spare no effort and no cost in achieving this objective.”

Palladyne has always conducted its business to the highest of standards, according to an e-mailed statement from a spokesman who declined to be identified in line with company policy.

Palladyne’s chief executive

Ismael Abudher “has never been part of any Libyan regime, and he and the company have only ever acted in the best interests of their clients,” according to the statement.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether financial firms, including Goldman Sachs, that sought business from the LIA before Qaddafi’s regime was toppled in 2011 made improper payments to secure investments, people familiar with the case have said. The probe grew out of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into payments to sovereign wealth funds.

Breish said the LIA has hired law firms and advisers,

including forensic accountants at Deloitte, to handle an internal investigation into corruption.

“Whatever the SEC and Department of Justice do will only enhance our own investigation,” he said.

Breish, a Libyan national, spent nearly 30 years at Arab Banking Corp., rising to deputy chief executive officer, before joining the LIA in 2013.

Under the restructuring, LIA’s assets will be divided between three funds. The Future Generation Fund will receive oil revenue. The government can tap into the Budget Stabilization Fund and the Local Development Fund will invest in Libyan

infrastructure including medical facilities, transport and education, Breish said.

The LIA directly owns about 550 companies, making up about half its assets, Breish said. Some of those will be wound down or sold, while profitable ventures will eventually be added to the Future Generation Fund.

Breish said the LIA was also overhauling its risk management, decision making, information technology and other internal systems.

The fund wants to “become one of the known, respected sovereign wealth funds, trusted by its own people, doing the job that a sovereign wealth fund is supposed to do,” he said.

Forex trading: Observing the spot market rules for profitability currency trading expert A once said: “I have been teaching beginners and seasoned traders how to trade currencies and commodities for years, and over all those years I have found that things do not change very much, but the technology improves.

When I started out, never in my wildest dreams could I envisage trading from a mobile phone or an iPad. However, it can be confusing to the newcomer. I’m sure if I was starting my trading adventure right now I would be faced with mind boggling choices and really wouldn’t have a clue where to start.

When I started all those years ago, there were very few places you could go to get a solid foundation in the basics of Forex trading.”

There are only two types of people that want to learn to trade: those that want to know everything about trading and are prepared to spend the time to learn about the markets and those who just want to make money. No matter which type you are, the same basic rules apply; neither can succeed without the trading rules. So, if you are keen to be successful in trading, then you had better outline and stick to your trading rules. I suggest that you get yourself a plume and paper and jot these down.

These rules are not in any particular order, as they all count with equal importance and they include: • Keep losses small. I am more concerned about protecting my capital and ensuring any losses are small than I am about making money, this can be done using the ‘stop-loss’ tool. I’m going to have losses, but I must control them and let the winners take care of themselves. The hardest job of any trader is to get out of a losing trade, believe it.

• Do not forget the rule above.

• Learn the basics- fundamentals, price behavior on key zones, among others.

• Position size every trade in relation to your risk tolerance.

• Always use stops, not as a trading tool, but as a disaster avoidance technique.

• Give your trade room to breathe- don’t place stops too close, most beginners lose

because of this. Remember, the wider the stop the smaller your trade size. Stops should be placed visually in my opinion.

• Don’t be greedy, appreciate small and consistent gains.

Once you’re in a profitable position, consider moving your stops - especially to break even and then you are using the broker’s money. If your software has the facility, then trailing stops could be the answer.

Many of my students have a minimum weekly target of 100 pips or price points.

• Accept that the markets are totally random and unpredictable and practice makes perfect - give yourself time to understand the markets before trading ‘live’.

• Control revenge, after a loser take a break, always. Never strike right back, never, and never double up to recover your losses.

• Never hope that you will win, trade only when you see a good trading opportunity, and remember live trading is different mentally from demo trading.

• Keep accurate records of each and every trade, winners and losers, even on a demo account, you must learn the correct habits.

• Eliminate fear, fear of failure and fear of trading. If you suffer from fear then trading is not for you.

• You do not have to trade, if there are no good trading opportunities then do not trade, there is always tomorrow. You can always spend the time practicing new techniques on a demo account.

• Take full responsibility for your own trading - only you can win at trading, do not rely on any external crutch to blame.

• Be patient, most new traders are impatient. Patience is a virtue in this business and impatience is probably one of the biggest problems to control with new traders.

• Every trending market will eventually correct itself, be patient and prepare to profit from it.

• If you have three consecutive losses, trade smaller volume by 50% the previous. If you have three consecutive wins, increase your lot by 25%.

• Your total risk exposure/tolerance per trading period should

be money that you can afford to lose; this eliminates fear. If you cannot make money with a $1,000 trading account - why trade with $10,000?

• Don’t buy or take tips. Don’t buy, listen to, or be influenced by outside sources. You are not a trader unless you learn to do it yourself; it’s so easy to blame others when things go wrong!

• Don’t trade the news. As a beginner, if you try to prejudge the market’s reaction to the news, you will lose; don’t trade for 15 minutes either side of it. See how the markets react to the news and then trade.

• Have faith in your trading strategy and your trades.

Once you place a trade with stops, switch the computer off, they all have an “off” button, take the dog for a walk.

Do not screen watch, it will scramble your brains.

• Learn and use effective money management; money management is the front door key to profitable trading.

• Always trade with the trend.

• Analyse your trading results, daily, weekly, monthly and annually.

• Be disciplined, stick to your Trading Plan, Targets, Position Sizing, Money Management, only YOU can enforce discipline on yourself - you had better learn to do it.

• Use multiple time frames; keep the bigger picture in your head, alot of traders fall short of this.

• Add to your winners. If you are on a winning trend, lock in some profits by moving your stop and increase your position size.

• Do not over-trade, it is the main reason that men go bald!

• Learn to get out of a losing trade. It’s the hardest thing to master but, if you don’t, you will quickly join the ranks of the losers.

• Have a trading plan. It’s important, a must, essential, life saving, lifeline; you cannot win without one. Do not be fooled into thinking you can trade without one.

• Have an experienced mentor who you can turn to when things go wrong, or find yourself an experienced trading buddy. Do not expect to get a mentor for free. when I mean a mentor I mean someone with proven results.

• Do not - under any circumstances - let trading dominate your life. Take regular time out for family and friends, go and play football in the park or on the beach; it’s the real reason why you are trading. Think about it!

• Don’t blame yourself when things go wrong. Trades will go wrong - learn to accept them. Trading is a game of pos-

sibilities and probabilities - forget the last one - get the correct setup for the next one and have faith in your interpretation.

• Learn your own weaknesses, the best critic of yourself is you, concentrate in rectifying them.

But first, you have to admit to them; and you will know.

• Aim for consistency. One of the keys of successful trading is to repeat good habits time and time again, boring but profitable.

• Take trading seriously. It’s not something that you can say ‘you’ll give it a try’ or ‘have a go’ at. It is a proper business, treat it as such, or it’ll be a case of goodbye loser!

• Understand the software and what it will do for you; OCO orders (One Cancels Other), trailing stops, limit orders, key level tools. You have them at your disposal, learn how to use them.

• Understand the different styles of trading and practice each one for a while. Once you are happy with a style that suits you, practice it until you perfect it, it may be day trading, swing trading, scalping or longer term trading. They are all there for you, but ultimately you must decide.

• Don’t listen to hype, this industry is full of the biggest and best conmen in the business, if it sounds too good to be true, then stay clear and do not

part with any money on dubious trading robots or advice.

I’ve seen trading systems for $50,000 and more – quite simply they do not work. If they did, we would all have them. The last rule of trading is • Don’t forget rule number one These were the conclusions of a Nigerian-based foreign exchange trader- Jeremiah Ejieke of MTrading Nigeria.

But he continued: “I learnt the basics, I was self taught in the beginning, as there was little good information when I started especially in the early 2000s when they were a lot of fake information marketers in Nigeria. I like price trends, price reversal zones, price actions and volume. I do not use or believe in the hundreds of default indicators in the ‘Meta trader 4 trading platform’, or the dozens of others things that exist to impress, confuse and part so many Nigerian traders their cash. They just don’t work (in my opinion); However, I do always try to learn new things, especially from successful traders from the developed nations and one of the things that really matters, is the improvements in trading software, and the things that it can do to make my trading life easier.

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Monday, April 21, 2014

Media ‘Journalists must uphold professionalism wholeheartedly’ Discourse

By Gbenga Salau LTHOUGH, the 2015 general elections is 10 months away, Nigeria’s political climate is charged already, especially as Ekiti and Osun states prepare for governorship elections in June and August this year.

And in this kind of intense political environment, it is expected that journalistic values will come under severe test. This is the kernel of the presentation made by Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, a lecturer at the Bowen University, Osun State at a one-day workshop tagged Widening the Media Pools of Excellence held recently in Lagos.

According to him, the ethical challenge for journalists is compounded by politicians’ penchant for making outrageous claims and allegations and the apparent impunity with which they violate norms of decency.

Speaking on the topic, Instilling Journalistic Values in Media Practice in Nigeria, the university don observed that the very nature of the media as both a public trust and a business poses a serious challenge since some acceptable business practices may be in conflict with its public service mandate as a public trust.

“The media has become indispensable in modern public governance as a platform for dissemination of information, which enables the citizenry to intelligently organize their lives. For such information to be intelligently applied, a basic expectation of the media is that the information it disseminates to the public must be reliable. This correlates with Mencher’s explanation of News, the flagship product of journalism, as information that helps people solve their problems intelligently. It is the utilitarian factor of news based on credibility.”

He stated that journalistic values are expanded human values noting that the need for journalistic values is essentially to enhance journalists’ service delivery in fostering societal harmony.

“Journalistic values are standards of conduct expected of those engaged in the dissemination of news, information and opinion to a disparate mass audience through a medium of mass communication. They form a canon to foster professional integrity and thereby enhance media credibility.

“Journalistic values reflect dominant political ideology. Political ideology sets the framework within which journalists operate and which establishes role expectation of the media.”

“Since the dawn of the 20th century, journalistic values, expressed in codes of ethics, have taken centre stage in democracies across the world as well as in nations in transition. Journalistic values basically seek to establish parameters within which a free and responsible press operates.

“Journalistic values are incorporated in media ethics or codes of operation. Codes of ethics are meant as voluntary, self regulatory measures in the media to ward off

A

Olawunmi aggressive government imposed regulation and the public’s resentment.

“One of the earliest efforts by a professional media body to institute a code of ethics was that by the Society of Professional Journalists ( SPJ ) in 1909. According to the SPJ, the code was not intended as a set of “rules” but as a resource for ethical decision-making.

“Individual media organisations have their codes of conduct embedded in their stylebooks. The latest of these codes is that signed on March 28, 1998 by the leadership of the four stakeholder organisations in the Nigerian press – The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), The Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Press Council.

“Titled, Code of Ethics for Nigerian

Journalists, it affirms in its preamble that: “Journalism entails a high degree of public trust. To earn and maintain this trust, it is morally imperative for every journalist and every news medium to observe the ighest professional and ethical standards. In the exercise of these duties, a journalist should always have a healthy regard for the public interest”. (Momoh, 2002) The preamble stresses further: Truth is the cornerstone of journalism and every journalist should strive diligently to ascertain the truth of every event.

“The media is a unique institution in the construction of society, nation and the framing of political contests. Media emphasis in news reports and the slant in opinion articles – editorials, commentaries and personal columns – can inflame or conciliate. It calls for informed, patriotic news

judgement. Prof. Herbert J. Gans had described the media as “constructors of nation and society”. (1980) He had explained: … one journalistic function is to construct nation and society, to put flesh on these otherwise vague concepts, and thus make them real. Journalists gather information on what individuals and groups do to and for each other in a wide range of institutions, agencies and communities.

“But as they translate that information into news, they frame it in a national context, thereby bringing the nation into being. He pointed out that while other actors are involved in creating the notion of nation, “journalists help impose unity on what is otherwise a congeries of individuals and groups acting inside a set of geographic and political boundaries”.

“As a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual entity spread across an expansive geographical area within a political boundary, to what extent can we say Nigerian journalists help impose unity among the nation’s ‘congeries’ of individuals and groups in its news reportage and opinion writing? How do journalists frame contentious national discourse as currently going on at the National Conference in Abuja? Is the emphasis on social-disorder reporting and opinion writing or one of order restoration?”

In moving forward since journalistic values are critical ingredients for professionalism, Olawunmi suggested the need for an industry-wide professional organisation that can monitor compliance with journalistic values as stated in media codes of ethics and sanction violators appropriately and promptly.

For him, the prevalent carelessness in news and programmes production by the Nigerian media must be consciously tackled as it lowers the estimation of journalists before the public.

“If media service delivery is so poor, journalists lose the moral authority to monitor and pillory governments and corporate entities for poor services. To rectify the shoddiness in the media, quality control units, manned by senior editorial staff, should be established in all media organizations.

“Training and re-training enhance appreciation of and compliance with journalistic values. The Nigerian Press Organisation (NPO) — comprising the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria – should therefore initiate a Media Capacity Building Fund to meet the training needs of journalists as well as their attachments to press systems in other countries to gain comparative exposure.

“The NPO cannot continue to play the ostrich with regard to the unethical practices of some media proprietors who owe journalists several months in salaries. No doubt, the Nigerian press has come a long way, given the difficult environment in which it has to operate. But it still has much further to go.”

Peak Milk launches TVC to drive support for Super Eagles Promo IGERIA’s leading milk brand, Peak N has flagged off a consumer promo — Win with the Super Eagles as part of its support to create excitement for the national football team as they compete in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The promo, which has been activated on all media platforms, is designed to ensure that loyal consumers participate in the journey with the brand and the Super Eagles, as the National Football Team competes in the FIFA World Cup Tournament in Brazil. Winning

coach and Nigeria’s Head Coach, Steven Keshi, is the face of the campaign.

To participate in the promo, consumers are encouraged to buy Peak Instant Milk Powder 400-grams tin. In each tin purchased, consumers will find two Super Eagles cards inside. On each card is a unique code that can be submitted via SMS or online at peakmilkpromo.com. The first 11 people to collect 11 different players including the card with the picture of the Head Coach Keshi will win one million naira each.

In addition to this, consumers have the opportunity to win over two hundred million naira worth of recharge cards. Details of the promo can be found on the website — http://peakmilkpromo.com. Peak win with the Super Eagles promo is supported by key media platforms as well as consumer and shooper activations pan Nigeria and will run from May to June 2014.

Peak Milk is one of the longest standing corporate partners of the Nigeria Super Eagles, with an official sponsorship that began in 1998.

In the same vein, a campaign

tagged, World Class Nutrition, World Class Team in support of the Super Eagle as they take on the world stage in Brazil.

It launched the campaign because it believes that the Super Eagles require super nutrition to support their performance during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The association between football and the brand shows its continuous support to enhancing the body and mind performance of Nigerians; encouraging them to believe in themselves.

Peak is positioned as the provider of super nutrition required for con-

sumers to reach their peak in whatever they do. The barand has confidence that this campaign will inspire a winning spirit in the super Eagles and Nigerians.

The campaign runs on various platforms including: TV Commercial, radio and outdoor and features Steven Keshi, Head Coach of the Super Eagles. Steven Keshi is rated the 27th best national coach in the world and the fifth best in Africa; he is also the 2013 Glo-CAF Coach of the year and the second individual from Africa to win African Nations Cup as a play-

Monday, April 21, 2014 MEDIA

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APCON, LASAA unite to lift outdoor advertising business

By Gbenga Salau HE Registrar, Advertising Practitioners T Council of Nigeria (APCON), Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi has pledged APCON’s commitment to take the outdoor sector to a new level just as it promised its support for the upcoming conference/exhibition of Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency (LASAA) through alerting members to fully be part of the conference and exhibition.

He said this when Managing Director of LASAA, Mr. George Noah, led the agency’s management on a courtesy visit to APCON house recently.

He implored LASAA to join APCON in the task of sensitising the public on advertising operations in Nigeria noting that a regular interaction between both agencies is important for the development of the industry.

He informed LASAA of the switch to the online platform for individual and corporate registrations and vetting procedures, which are designed to serve the industry better and more efficiently.

He encouraged LASAA to collaborate with other state signage and advertising agencies in Nigeria, to ensure a standardized process of obtaining necessary approvals to operate in the outdoor advertising sector.

The LASAA boss who invited APCON to the International Outdoor Advertising Conference /Exhibition scheduled to take place in Lagos in June, said LASAA was taking a cue from similar events in the international market such as Dubai to make the Outdoor Advertising Conference/Exhibition the first of its kind in Nigeria.

Noah explained that their visit was also to clarify its intention to collaborate with other state outdoor advertising regulatory agencies to explore ways of resolving common challenges. He emphasized that the agency meant well and does not desire to operate a parallel advertising regulatory body or encourage a regime of high rates.

He sought the cooperation and collaboration of APCON in the outdoor advertising

The Registrar, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Alh. Garba Bello Kankarofi presenting a gift to the Managing Director of LASAA, George Noah. sector in conducting an outdoor audience research to create data that will give the sector a favourable competitive position in the advertising industry.

Responding to some of the issues raised by the LASAA boss, Kankorofi gave the assur-

Brand extension from Samsung with S5

By Gbenga Salau O continually excite the market with cutting-edge products and position its brand as one that keeps meeting the aspiration of the consumers, Samsung Nigeria last week in Lagos had a public presentation of the latest Samsung product.

On hand to witness the launch were top Nollywood stars, who were excited about the new product and endorsed it, because of its new features.

The President Samsung West Africa, Mr. Brovo Kim, said that the product was created because his organisation decided to listen to the voice of customers who wanted a smart and stylish phone. According to him, they had to listen to the voice of the people because they want them to live their lives to the fullest.

He maintained that, “Consumers today are on the lookout for mobile tools that inspire and support them as they improve their everyday lives. The Galaxy S5 represents an iconic design with essential and useful features that focus on delivering the ultimate smartphone on the market today through people-inspired innovation”.

Also speaking at the event, the COO Samsung Electronics Africa, George Ferreira, thanked the partners for helping to take the product to the customers.

On his part, Director, Information Technology and Mobile, Samsung

T

ance that the council will accommodate Noah’s recommendation on outdoor

‘How misconception can stifle growth in marketing communication’

By Gbenga Salau

Electronics West Africa, Mr. Emmanouil Revmatas, who spoke on the two complimentary products, Gear Fit and Gear 2, said Samsung understands that the next generation of wearable mobile solutions must directly reflect the diverse interests and needs of consumers.

“Our Gear product portfolio continues to expand with unique devices for a wide range of lifestyles, including the Gear 2 and the new Gear Fit designed to help those consumers striving to live fit and active lives without sacrificing their own personal style or their ability to stay connected on the go”.

According to him, Gear 2 and Gear Fit can run for between two to six days before requiring a battery recharge, depending on usage levels and number of connected devices.

“With the original ADH warranty, our consumers got to take their Galaxy S4 for

charge-free and no-questions asked repairs for screen and liquid damage, not once but twice during the first two years of the life of their device.

“For the Galaxy S5, we have upgraded the service. With the Samsung Premium warranty, instead of two repair claims, users of the device will now get two instant phone substitutions over the 24month warranty period, at no extra charge.

“This value-add represents our commitment to anticipating the needs of our consumers and providing them with superior service towards making their lives worryfree,” Revmatas stated.

It was also said that the new product is water and dust resistant as the phone can stay underwater for up to 30 minutes at a depth of one meter or about three feet.

This is besides the power-saving mode, which can keep the phone running for 24 hours on ten percent battery level.

ARKETING Edge recently celebrated its tenth anniversary in Lagos with a discourse and an award ceremony.

During the discourse, the Chairman of Tequila Group Limited, Mr. George Thorpe, who delivered a lecture titled, Exploding the major myths of advertising and marketing business in Nigeria, highlighted the myths in the marketing communication business. He maintained that if stakeholders do not fully prepare for the implication of the misconceptions in the industry, it might likely stifle the growth potentials in the sector.

He listed the myths in the sector to include: Multinationals are juicy accounts; Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) is here and ready to stay; traditional marketing communications is out and digital media is in; dearth of data remains the bane of marketing practice and profession; protectionism best serves the short to longer term interest of the advertising agency industry; seek affiliation or die; Retired founder returns to turn agency around; brands spend a lot of money on media advertising and media is expensive among others.

Examining each, he argued that it is imperative for stakeholders to begin to address the myths properly as this would enable them to find acceptable solutions.

Specifically looking at multinationals are juicy accounts myth, he said, over the years, agencies had gone with the erroneous impression that

M

NUJ canvasses extension of retirement age for journalists Oludare Richards, Abuja HE President of Nigerian Union T of Journalists (NUJ), Mohammed Garba, has advocated that journalists in public media who are experienced and physically strong be given the privilege to decide to carry on beyond the specified retirement age for career civil servants.

He said this recently at the book launch of veteran political correspondent, Gbenga Onayiga, titled ‘Democratic Interface: Memoirs Of A

advertising education in subsequent review of the Professional Examinations syllabus.

Political Reporter’.

“What we want to emphasise is experience because in this profession, experience is key, but we must be careful so that the career progression of those coming behind is not threatened”, Garba said.

The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Iheioha, in a statement encouraged journalists to always strive for the preservation of integrity in journalism.

Commending the author, he noted that the experiences of the author

documented in the book would serve for the development of younger journalists besides serving as reference material for the society.

Onayiga, who is the outgoing Deputy Director, Federal Radio Corporation Of Nigeria (FRCN), has served for 35 years.

According to the author, the book, which is an experience-based masterpiece on Nigerian political history, was written to serve as a general interest encyclopedia on integrity, transparency and accountability.

most multinationals are juicy accounts and so enter into business arrangement that often times become less rewarding. Thorpe also said it is wrong for clients or business owners to perceive what is being spent on advertising as too high. He however noted that media spends are not too much nor is media expensive especially if compared with what is obtained in developed markets.

“Though there are a lot of advertising going on in the market, large percentage of them are small spenders with only a few large spenders,” he observed.

Commenting, former Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, stated that the widely held belief that fifty percent of media spend was a waste should be blamed on the media managers and the agency. He also disagreed with the position that experiential marketing will lead to the end of traditional advertising, as both will complement each another.

The award ceremony, which was chaired by Mr. Udeme Ufot, was a gathering of stars in the marketing communication field. Many of whom smiled home with at least one award for either themselves or their organization.

Ufot in his speech stated that ten years is really quite sometime especially when it is considered that many businesses do not last five years in Nigeria. This, to him, is why the Marketing Edge team should be applauded. He also talked about how John Ajayi and two others led the way in brand reporting in Nigeria.

“You have done well, faced the odd and greater successes will be yours,” he said.

Some of the distinguished personalities and organizations that got awards included Globalcom, GTbank, former CMO of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Bola Akingbade, who got Lifetime Marketing Achievement Award; Managing Director of Guinness, Mr. Seni Adetu, Brand Personality of the Decade; and the Chairman of Tequila Group Limited, Mr. George Thorpe, Lifetime Marketing Achievement Award.

In his remark, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. John Ajayi thanked individual and corporate organisations, who had supported the MarketingEdge brand over the years, promising to continue to offer value to all its esteemed readers.

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INTERVIEW

Path to tackling African challenges, by Pires, Cape Verde’s ex-leader Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires, who was the president of Cape Verde from March 2001 to September 2011 and prime minister from 1975 to 1991, was in Lagos last weekend for Ehingbeti 2014, on the invitation of the state government. Pires, who was awarded the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in recognition of his role in making Cape Verde a model of democracy, stability and increased prosperity, spoke to a few selected journalists on life in retirement, his foundation, critical challenges facing African countries, especially managing Nigerian diversities, militancy and terrorism. Excerpts: OW is life in retirement from active poliH tics?

In the first instance, I will like to say I am very happy to be in Lagos. I will also like to thank Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola for his invitation to me to be part of this conference. It is a good opportunity for him to make a good link with entrepreneurs in the state. The summit shows the dynamism of Lagos State.

However, for me, life in retirement is a different ball game. The fact that I am here shows that I am still active. It is difficult to find a politician retiring 100 per cent from politics.

They can still be useful for their countries if they ask for their assistance. In my case, I get invited by the African Union (AU) to do things.

The forum of former presidents of Africa also invites me to do things for the forum, to participate in their discussions and to share my experiences. I am not 100 per cent inactive. I engage in different activities. I also personally head a foundation, which has an important role to play in the area of history and culture.

That was why I established the institute by myself to focus on young people in the area of leadership. Even though I have retired from active politics, I cannot forget my country nor can I forget about the future. I always engage in how to make a better future happen. In essence, I can conclude that I am not in active retirement.

Can you expatiate on the philosophy of your institute?

The institute focuses on building good leadership in the young people for the next generation. Today, leadership has become a critical and important issue. We need to have a new vision on how we manage resources and in the way we look at the future. As a result, my preoccupation is to get the youths who are in position to become good future leaders, to begin to reflect on their past, the present and the future and to see what type of contribution they can make in helping to take Cape Verde to the next level. We are also focusing on how to provide the best environment to train the young people so that they can better lead the country in future.

Does your foundation share the same ideals in other parts of the world?

The foundation also partners with other foundations in Angola, Mozambique, Senegal and other places. We also have links with institutions that are trying to examine the African history, the stories of the past to see what we can learn from it so that memories or our histories will not be forgotten. Others should not be telling our stories; we should be the ones telling our stories and we have to engage with other institutions in Africa so that we can be the ones telling our own stories. As you know, the persons telling the stories always tell it from their own points of view. I like repeating all the time an African saying, ‘Until the lions have their own historians, the glory will always go to the hunters.’ So, we want to have our own historians and our own storytellers so that our glories will not stay with our former colonial masters, but with us.

The new thing is that Africa should tell a new story. Are we telling the new story? If we are not, how can we do just that?

I am not talking about a new story, but a different take on past stories at least from our own perspective. There should be a new African vision for the future; it is very clear that there is need for this. There have been some major changes in Africa, which are in good light. If you look back like a decade ago, all what they talked about is Afro-pessimism. But now, things are really changing. Now, newsmakers and opinion leaders are beginning to talk about Afro-optimism.

The reality is that Africa has to be the future; we don’t lack means, we don’t lack resources, we don’t lack people and we don’t lack land, water and minerals. What is important now is for we people to take advantage of all what is available to us. It is also left for Africans to provide the leadership to manage their resources, so that African resources can be used to improve the quality of life of Africans, to serve Africans and to help those who are in the lower poverty line. This is a big challenge. For African leaders and every African, the future of Africa will be our engagement as African leaders and followers. If we make good choices, choose the best priorities, if we develop and

Pires implement good strategies, all this depend on Africans. It all depends on we Africans to think and build our future. It is clear that we have lots of difficulties, but these difficulties can be overcome. It is now left for our leaders to work in this direction.

You said we do not lack people, resources among others. And yet, the problem of Africa is that of leadership. Isn’t that a contradiction?

Africa has human resources. What we have now is more superior than what we had in the 1960s. The resources are there. What is critical now for all of us is to play our own roles and assume our own responsibilities. If you so say the problem of Africa is that of leadership, it is half-truth. The reality is that when you look within the continent right now, there are countries that are making progress and the hope that these countries that are making progress can be examples for the others to follow. It is important for us to have a positive thinking.

Are we making some progress? For me, it is more than 50 years that I have been in political struggle; I started in 1961. I have an idea of some key developmental strides in the continent.

But it is important we take our destiny in our own hands as a continent. We have made some progress in the last 50 years but I think a lot still needs to be done. Please, be optimistic about the future. It is with optimism that Africa will overcome the current challenges.

Within the next 20 years, Africa will be different and quite a number of the countries will be different.

When you place side by side the African situation with Nigeria as a case study. What would you say is the problem of Nigeria?

I did not get to Lagos yesterday to make today

a diagnosis of the problem of Nigeria. You will know the problem better than I do. For me, the key challenge is the problem of national cohesion given the large number of people, large differences in ethnicities and religions. This is a critical challenge that Nigeria will have to face.

How can the country manage its diversities better? That is the challenge Nigeria will need to face. It is not always easy. For many African countries, this is the challenge we have to face.

We cannot go back to 200 years ago. We have to face or build our future base on the current challenges we have.

What is the secret behind political and economic stability of your country?

There is no secret. The reality for us is that when you are very small and weak and don’t have anything, you have to be very intelligent.

You have to make policies that are intelligent and you have to be very equilibrium in terms of managing things. What is the advantage of Cape Verde? We are a small country; we have good sizeable number of our citizens living outside the country; in the Diaspora. One of the key secrets, if there is any, is that we are able to join forces with Cape Verdeans living outside and Cape Verdeans living inside to build the country together. The rest is that our country has a long history of suffering. Because of the history of Cape Verde of farming and suffering, the people and the leadership realised that we have to overcome this so that it would not be repeated in the future; we have to be committed to the country. In trying to build unity among the people, to stimulate and engage them, to move beyond personal interests, to move together and solve national challenges, that is what we were able to do.

Do you find it a thing of pride that safe for the

The reality is that Africa has to be the future; we don’t lack means, we don’t lack resources, we don’t lack people and we don’t lack land, water and minerals.

What is important now is for we people to take advantage of all what is available to us. It is also left for Africans to provide the leadership to manage their resources, so that African resources can be used to improve the quality of life of Africans, to serve Africans and to help those who are in the lower poverty line.

This is a big challenge. For African leaders and every African, the future of Africa will be our engagement as African leaders and followers. If we make good choices, choose the best priorities, if we develop and implement good strategies, all this depend on Africans. It all depends on we Africans to think and build our future. It is clear that we have lots of difficulties, but these difficulties can be overcome. It is now left for our leaders to work in this direction.

late Mandela, Africa is quick to citing you when it comes to true leadership and someone to look up to?

Mandela is a product of a unique circumstance – the fight against apartheid. The attribute of Mandela is being able to maintain the unity of South Africa. You can see in him that his attitude, which was very unique was being able to leave things aside and have dialogue with his former persecutors on equal footing.

He was a big humanist. Men are men; it has nothing to do with their colours. Mandela had a different vision of humanity and all the people can have their own Mandela and each society can create their own Mandela.

Looking at the vision and mission behind this economic forum organised by Lagos State, from your own perspective, can you as well recommend this type of forum to other African countries and states in telling a new African story?

There is a similar summit like this in South Africa. What I saw in Lagos that is unique and different is a big class of entrepreneurs. The economic stakeholders, the private sector were all present and they are Nigerians. This is very good. From what I saw here in terms of the participation of people at the economic summit and going around the city, what I noticed is that Lagos is preparing to specially become the commercial centre of excellence in West Africa.

Other African countries should take Lagos as an example in terms of organising local debates on how to rebuild their economies, to debate and discuss as well as to take into their hands the development of their economies. We cannot delegate the development of our countries to others. With the same way we fought for independence, we have to fight for our own economic liberty or freedom. We have to work in this direction.

What is your message to the youths?

My message for the youths? I have spoken to youths in different places, especially at conferences organised by Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Young Africans need to understand that the future of the continent and their countries are in their own hands. The youths have to understand that they cannot get everything they want at all times and in all situations. Not long ago, I read a book by a Camerounian that success comes from three things: your hard work, knowledge and determination. If we can get our youths to focus on this, we can be sure we will get a better Africa or a better future for the continent.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation Award, what does it mean to you? Does it bother you that years now, they have not been able to find any other winner? Is this a true reflection of the state of leadership in Africa?

In relation to the Mo Ibrahim Award, it is good to know that the prize is awarded only to African presidents that have completed their mandates. There are some years that no heads of state have finished their mandates. If people are not available, there is no prize. The reality is that the criteria for selecting the winners are very rigorous. I am convinced that there should be another prize very soon.

Suddenly, terrorism and militancy have entered the lexicon of Africa. As a leader who fought for independence of your country and first generation leader, what do you think can be done to stop this?

The reality is that a lot of terrorism that is happening is linked to religion. We have to ensure that all our countries have constitutions, and we have to ensure that the management of the countries has to be based on these constitutions. We also have to fight back and combat all those that want to violate or trample over our constitutions. We have to understand that there are ways to resolve conflict. There are legal frameworks for resolving conflicts, which is within the rule of law. We need to ensure that the state operate under the rule of law as well as ensure the constitutions guarantee religious freedom and political liberty, all this have to be guaranteed by the law.

At a personal level, I think we have to attack terrorism at the two directions. One is repression: to fight back and the second direction is to have dialogue. You have to use repression to fight back because you cannot allow those who want to break the law to have their way without repercussion. We cannot allow impunity. We should also embark on dialogue because we are compatriots and we must resolve conflicts.

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THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

Sports Ahead Brazil 2014 World Cup

Messi’s form, Gago’s fitness worry Argentina coach

By Christian Okpara, with agency reports Messi is Argnetina’s LtheirIONEL main weapon as they plan onslaught for their third World Cup title this summer in Brazil. But the Barcelona star has been off form lately that his compatriots, including the Albiceleste coach, Alejandro Sabella, are worried that this could hamper their dreams of adding to victories in 1978 and 1986.

With the World Cup finals less than two months away, Sabella is concerned that Messi’s loss of form and injury to his key midfielder, Fernando Gago, could be a major setback in Brazil.

Nigeria plays Argentina in their last Group F game at the Brazil 2014 World Cup. The panic over Sergio Agüero’s hamstring has begun to subside – although there is no doubt that Sabella would like to see him complete at least a couple of Manchester City’s games before the end of the season.

Argentines are beginning to ask questions about Messi’s lacklustre display for Barcelona against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League. Was he injured? Is he exhausted? Is he already dreaming of glory in the Maracanã? And then came a far more concrete concern as Gago damaged his left knee in Boca Juniors’ 0-0 draw against Colón.

The Guardian of London reports that the initial news was bad, with Boca’s doctor, Jorge Batista, detailing a grade two sprain with partial lesion of the medial collateral ligament in the left knee and rec-

ommending 15 days in a splint, which, together with rehabilitation, he estimated would keep the player out for 60 days: that is, until a day after the World Cup begins.

Further diagnosis by the national team medical staff is slightly more positive and there is hope that Gago will be fit for the friendly against Slovenia in La Plata on June 7, which would give him another eight days before Argentina begin their World Cup campaign against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Rio de Janeiro.

During the qualifiers, Gago was a main ingredient in Sabella’s 4-3-3 formation. A putative first XI would probably read: Sergio Romero; Pablo Zabaleta, Federico Fernández, Ezequiel Garay, Marcos Rojo; Fernando Gago, Javier Mascherano, Ángel di María; Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín, Sergio Agüero (they came closest to fielding that side in the 0-0 friendly draw away to Romania in March, when Garay was replaced by José María Basanta).

Gago is one of the forgotten men on world football, his time at Real Madrid ultimately ravaged by injury. He seems somehow far older than he is, but he only turned 28 last week, and he was part of the Argentina side – alongside Messi, Agüero, Garay and Zabaleta – that won the Under-20 World Cup in 2005.

These are genuine worries, but there are those, who feel that Messi could be saving himself for what some analysts say is his finest opportunity to rub shoulders with Pele and Maradona.

Okpekpe Road Race gets Malta Guinness’ support ALTA Guinness has M finalised plans to participate in the 10kilometreOkpekpe Road Race for the second year running, in a bid to promote the healthy living as well as providing a productive platform for Nigeria’s vast youth population to channel their energies to.

With this extended partnership with rights owner of the race, Pamodzi Sports Marketing, Malta Guinness Low Sugar has thus become the official Malt drink for the 10 Kilometre competition.

Explaining reasons behind the partnership, Marketing Director, Guinness Nigeria, Austin Ufomba, disclosed that it was in line with the company’s brand purpose, which promotes healthy living and wellbeing of Nigerians as they achieve their dreams of participating in the Race.

“We see the Okpekpe Road Race as an ideal platform to touch the lives of Nigeria’s vast youth population as well as a way to affect the lives of the host communities of the race.

“Of course we all know that Malta Guinness Low sugar promotes healthy living. We feel that Malta Guinness Low Sugar as the official Malt drink for our boys through this tournament will continue to reinforce its support for healthy lifestyle.

Cash prizes await male and female participants, with $25, 000 (about N4 million) for the first place winner in the male category and $15, 000 (over N2 million) for the first woman who reaches the finish line. Scheduled to take place on May 3, in Edo State, over 3000 athletes and participants are expected to take part in the Okpekpe Race.

Arsenal’s midfielder, Aaron Ramsey (middle), scores his team’s opening goal during their English Premier League match against Hull City at the KC Stadium…yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP.

Mourinho fumes over penalty decision for Sunderland HELSEA’s title challenge C has petered out with a snarl after José Mourinho suffered his first Premier League home defeat over his two spells at the club and made his frustrations clear post-match at the performance of the referee, Mike Dean.

Sunderland inflicted the Portuguese’s first league loss at Stamford Bridge in his 78 matches courtesy of a controversial penalty, flagged for by the assistant referee eight minutes from time, with the spot-kick converted

by Fabio Borini, a former Chelsea player on loan on Wearside from Liverpool.

The Italian’s parent club can

move five points clear at the top by beating Norwich City on Sunday lunchtime ahead of their meeting with Chelsea at Anfield next Sunday, with the initiative in the title race now very much with those on Merseyside.

That reality left the hosts livid here, with Mourinho and his coaching staff incensed at a number of the officials’ decisions and tempers boiling over following Borini’s conversion.

The assistant manager, Rui Faria, threatened to enter the playing surface to berate the referee and had to be forcibly restrained by three members of the home side’s coaching staff and the

fourth official, Phil Dowd, with Mourinho tugging back his compatriot by his hair.

Whether Mourinho’s postgame comments are deemed to have questioned the authority of the Wirral-based referee is open to question.

The Chelsea manager, who is still in the process of appealing against the £8,000 fine imposed for misconduct after he was sent to the stands at Villa Park last month, refused to take questions from the floor but, instead, delivered a statement that lasted two minutes 20 seconds.

“Just to say I will not wait for your questions,” said Mourinho, whose side travel

Liverpool extends lead, Arsenal beats Hull 3-0 AHEEM Sterling scored R twice and Luis Suarez broke the 30-goal barrier as Barclays Premier League leaders Liverpool beat Norwich 3-2 at Carrow Road to move five points clear at the top of the table.

The Reds showed their intent to make the most of Chelsea’s shock home defeat

by Sunderland on Saturday, and romped 2-0 ahead inside 10 minutes as the relegationthreatened Canaries were ripped apart with a superb 25-yard effort from Sterling, before Suarez tucked home from close range.

However, Norwich - just two points above the dropzone - rallied after Gary Hooper reduced the deficit following a poor punch by Simon Mignolet only for Sterling to slot home a deflected third on the break.

Robert Snodgrass set up a tense finale with his far post header with 13 minutes left, but the Reds secured what looks to be a priceless victory in their bid to win a first championship in more than 20 years.

Arsenal kept their top-four challenge on track with a

routine 3-0 win over upcoming FA Cup final opponents Hull at the KC Stadium.

Lukas Podolski scored either side of half-time after Aaron Ramsey’s classy opener to ensure Arsenal would remain ahead of Everton regardless of the Toffees’ result against Manchester United.

Hull contributed well in the first half but Podolski’s second goal soon after the break knocked the stuffing out of them, and they will need to improve before the sides meet again next month.

to Madrid today for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Atlético: “I’m so sorry about that but, in three or four points, I can say everything I can say, so I won’t waste time with the questions you will ask me. We stick with four quick points because I will just say this whatever you asked.

“The first is to congratulate my players. They did everything they could, playing from the first minute to the last seconds, and deserved that. Sometimes we praise the players when we win. I think it’s fair to praise my players after the defeat.

Secondly, congratulations to Sunderland. It doesn’t matter how, why or in which way they won, they won. They won three fantastic points. I think it’s also fair to congratulate them.

“Third point, I want to congratulate again Mike Dean. I think his performance was unbelievable and I think when referees have unbelievable performances, I think it’s fair that as managers we give them praise. So, fantastic performance. He came here with one objective. To make a fantastic performance. And he did that. And, fourth, congratulations also to Mike Riley, the referees’ boss.

• Culled from The Observer, UK

SPORT Monday, April 21, 2014 | 61

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Nigeria in Kenya for ITTF-ATTF Africa Hopes Week Challenge IGERIA and other African N countries are at present undergoing intensive training cum competition at the 2014 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)/Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) U-12 Africa Hopes Week and Challenge taking place in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Nigeria four-man team is made up of Michael Obayanmi, Ibrahim Umar (male) and Rophia Jimoh and Habibat Olawale (female) and tutored by Coach Friday Abah.

Beside the four-day training exercise to be handled by top ITTF coach, the participating teams will compete in a twoday tournament to decide the eight players that will be offered scholarships to attend the 2014 ITTF World Hopes Week & Challenge to be held in Otocec, Slovenia) in June this year.

The event, organized by ATTF and Kenya Table Tennis Association (KTTA), will hold at the Safaricom Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi.

Each participating team will be represented by a maximum of two boys and two girls, while the host – Kenya will be represented by a maximum of four boys and

Police Baton’s Frank Okafor (second left) going for a dunk despite restraining efforts by Dodan Warriors’ players during their 2014 DStv Premier Basketball League game at the Indoor Sports Hall of National Stadium, Lagos.

DStv Premier Basketball League

Islanders fall to Union Bank, as Dodan Warriors survive Police Baton’s onslaught

By Adeyinka Adedipe SLANDERS Basketball Club Isecond at the weekend lost for the time in the DStv Premier Basketball League, but still maintained top spot in the Atlantic Conference.

Union Bank defeated Islanders 80-73 to record their fourth win in seven games and occupy the third position behind Oluyole Warriors of Ibadan, who defeated Nigeria Customs 6662.

Dodan Warriors also defeated Police Baton 71-66 in a game that could have gone either way. But Dodan Warriors relied heavily on experience, while lack of con-

centration towards the end of the game cost Police Baton dearly.

Rotimi Savage, who took charge of Union Bank in the absence of Ayinla Johnson, surprisingly put together a winning formula, which was difficult for Islanders to match. At a point, Union Bank led with 20 points, but kudos should also go to Islanders who reduced the deficit to two pointthe victory.

Williams Nduombe (Union Bank) and Seyi Ayodele of Islanders led the floor with 21 points, as the chase for the top prize continues.

The Dodan Warriors versus Police Baton game, which

2014 Ibile Games torch tour begins HE torch tour for the 2014 T Lagos State Sports Festival, tagged Ibile Games, will begin tomorrow with visits to IruVictoria Island, Lekki, Eti-Osa, Eti- Osa East, Ibeju Lekki and Ikoyi-Obalende local government areas.

Chairmen of the 57 Local government and local council development areas (LCDA officially received the torch at the weekend. The Games will hold from April 30 to May 10, 2014.

According to the itinerary of the tour released by the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the games, the torch will on Wednesday visit Coker-Aguda, Itire-Ikate, OdiOlowo/Ojuwoye, Mushin, Onigbongbo, Shomolu, Bariga, Kosofe, Agboyi-Ketu and Ikosi-Isheri.

On Thursday, the torch will

go to Oshodi-Isolo, Isolo, Ejigbo, Igando- Ikotun, EgbeIdimu, Agege, Alimosho, Ayobo-Ipaja, Agbado-Oke Odo, Ojokoro, MosanOkunola, Orile-Agege, IfakoIjaiye and Ojodu.

Amuwo-Odofin, Ojo, Iba, Otto-Awori, Oriade, Ifelodun, Ajegunle, Apapa and ApapaIganmu will receive the Torch on Friday.

On Monday April 28, the tour will move to Ikorodu Central, Igbogbo-Baiyeku, Ikorodu West, Ikorodu North, Yaba, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island East, Lagos Island, Ikeja and Surulere.

The following day, it will be the turn of Epe, Eredo, IkosiEjirin, Imota and Ijede, while the torch tour will end on Wednesday April 30, with the visit to Badagry, Badagry West and Olorunda.

witnessed the return of Warriors proprietor, Sam Ahmedu on the bench, almost saw the Police Baton snatching victory until a late rally from the Warriors.

Dodan Warriors’ Romaric Quenum led the floor with 21 points, while his team mate, Mamadou Savadogo added 11 points. Police Baton’s Kelvin Dandison led his team in scoring with 19 points while his team mates, Frank Okafor and Caleb Haruna contributed 12 points each.

Coach of Nigeria Customs, Scott Nnaji will rue his players’ loss of concentration towards the end of the game, which handed the initiative to Oluyole Warriors, who are looking good with their fifth victory in seven matches.

It was a close game, which brought out the best in both teams, but it was the Warriors from Ibadan who snatched victory in the dying moments of the games.

Kwara Falcons also defeated Royal Hoopers 71-49 in Ilorin to improve to three wins in seven games and occupy the fourth position.

In the Savannah Conference, Kano Pillars made it seven wins in seven games to stay on top of the log. Pillars defeated Kada Stars 84-36, just as their closest rivals, Mark Mentors of Abuja, got an away victory over Bauchi Nets in a game that ended 6251. Gombe Bulls also walked over Niger Potters to get the two points at stake.

four girls.

According to Africa Development Officer, Ahmed Dawlatly, the top four players in the singles tournament for boys and girls would automatically be selected for the scholarships.

Speaking on the event, President, Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), Wahid Oshodi, said efforts would be geared toward grassroots development, as it is obvious that other nations are now catching up with Nigeria in the game.

“We have identified that we need to start encouraging our young players and this is one of the vision of the federation and for us this kind of programme will surely help us to expose our players to top class training and competition.

“We were lucky to have such programme last year and we hope our players will also garner more knowledge by taking part in this exercise holding in Kenya,” he said.

The Nigeria Team in Kenya includes a players’ representative in the NTTF board, Tajudeen Agunbiade, while the trip was made possible by the singular support of Bankole Animashaun, a

‘Milo Africa U-13 Championship promotes cross-cultural ties, discipline’ ESTLE Nigeria has promN ised to continue supporting youth development programmes in the country through sports to ensure a steady line of intelligent, healthy and active future leaders.

The assurance was made at the unveiling of plans for the third Milo Africa U-13 Football Championship in Lagos by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nestle Plc, Nigeria, Dharnesh Gordhon, who explained that the Milo African Championship (MAC) aims to promote cross-cultural ties and discipline through football.

According to Gordhon, “Nestle Milo are pleased to be one of the major private sector contributors to the development of sports in Nigeria, as part of our commitment to promoting physical activities and enhance the quality of life through sports.”

He expressed satisfaction with the contributions of the Milo brand to sports development in Nigeria and pledged that

the company would continue to create beneficial platforms for youths to engage and find expression for their natural sporting endowments.

“Nestle Milo has been at the forefront of grassroots sports development through various sporting platforms like Nestle Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship, Nestle Milo Football Clinic and Nestle-IAAF Kids Athletic programme and we are now bringing the African U-13 Championship to Nigeria to demonstrate our long-term commitment to enhancing quality of life of youths,” he noted.

The third Nestle Milo U-13 African Championship will hold in Lagos from May 29 to 31. The biennial football event was first hosted by South Africa in 2010 and saw Nigeria’s representative, Ashegun School, Oyo State lifting the trophy.

In 2012, Ghana hosted and won, while St. Stephens School, Lagos, represented Nigeria.

Attah Igala Unity Cup kicks-off today ll is set for the maiden A Attah Igala Unity Cup, which kicks off today with nine Local Government Areas of the Eastern district of the state.

The tournament ends on April 27.

Looking forward to a successful tourney, Chairman, Idah Local Government Area Council, Dr. Musa Major, says the organisers are ready to host people of the lgala Kingdom in the traditional headquarters, Idah for the Attah Igala Unity U-16 Cup. Major, who is the host and leader of Chairmen from the eastern flank of the state, said his council is ready to stage a hitch free tournament, stressing that his administra-

tion was ever devoted to engage youths through sports.

The week-long Attah Igala U16 Boys Football Championship is organised to commemorate the coronation of the Igala monarch, Michael Idakwo Ameh Oboni II, who is a-year on the throne.

Meanwhile, the National Vice President of YSFON, Mustapha Allah-Dey, said plans are already concluded to ensure the Attah Igala Unity Cup becomes a national competition.

Allah-Dey urged participating teams to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship in the course of the tournament; as such competition is not a door-die affair.

Lagos and Cross Rivers battling for honours during the final of the Milo Under-13 championship at the 2011 Nigeria School Sports Festival at the U J Esuene Stadium in Calabar. Lagos, Nigeria, will host the Milo African U-13 Championship from May 29 to 31.

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SPORT Monday, April 21, 2014

Eniola, Sone Aluko, brother, sister playing for two countries AST September Eniola and Lwhen Sone Aluko made history both scored goals that were shown on Match of the Day. Eniola netted for England in a Women’s World Cup qualifying match, while Sone hit a stunning volley for Hull City to clinch a win against Newcastle United.

The Alukos are an all too rare example of a brother and sister playing elite football. You can probably count the others on one hand: the former Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell and his sister Christina, who won 70 caps for Finland, and the Nottingham Forest defender Jack Hobbs and Nicola Hobbs, a goalkeeper at Doncaster Belles. But two top-flight strikers? Both aiming for World Cups?

What are the chances?

Perched together on a bench in the Wembley dressing room, Eniola, 27, and Sone, 25, visibly relax in each other’s company. Sone dislikes interviews but when Eniola opens up he follows.

For Sone, his big sister has long been his role model.

“She was always a couple of steps ahead,” says the Hull striker. “She made her England debut and then a couple of years later I got into the England youth setup. She’s won an FA Cup, now I’m going to an FA Cup final with Hull. She went to the World Cup, and now I hope to [with Nigeria]. She went before me, she gave me the belief.”

It was Eniola who first played at Wembley, with Team GB, attracting a record crowd for women’s football of over 70,000 during London 2012. Sone was there for Hull’s FA Cup semifinal win against Sheffield United and will be back on the hallowed turf next month, in the final against Arsenal.

For Eniola, their dual success has a profound resonance. “To me football’s in the blood,” she says passionately. “It’s something we were born to do, put on this earth to do, to play football.”

Articulate and academic, alongside a career in football Eniola is also a lawyer.

When England’s women were embroiled in a pay dispute with the Football Association last year, the Chelsea player worked behind the scenes alongside the PFA, using her knowledge of contractual law.

But a quick scroll through Sone’s Twitter account suggests that his sister is not the only bright spark in the family. There’s the reference to the Sundance film festival documentary The Square, about the Egyptian revolution, a critique of Chinua Achebe’s seminal work Things Fall Apart, proverbs, book recommendations, observations on democracy, the cult of celebrity, and sports science.

“Everyone thinks I’m the brainbox,” laughs Eniola, “but Sone reads a lot. I think he’s actually more intellec-

tual than me.”

“I just get away with it,” says Sone, with a wry smile.

“Because of the perception of footballers, people would never know. I made a new year’s resolution last year. I said I’d read one book a month. I read 15. This year I’ve read Things Fall Apart, Dan Abrahams’ Soccer Tough, Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, again, and for my birthday I was given Ghana Must Go [by the acclaimed novelist Taiye Selasi].”

Eniola pulls a face. “I downloaded The Chimp Paradox [by the leading sports psychiatrist Dr. Steve Peters] last year and I still haven’t finished it so you’ve embarrassed me,” she says.

“Honestly, he’s a proper geek.”

How do Sone’s team-mates react to all this intellectual activity? “You’d be surprised, more footballers read than you think. They just don’t tweet about it. In the treatment room the conversations vary – it could be anything from the politics of Ukraine to Nuts magazine. With all the Egyptian players in our team last year – Ahmed Elmohamady, Geddo [Mohamed Nagy], Ahmed Fathi – they were speaking about the revolution a lot.”

But political debate does not exclude the usual footballers’ banter. Especially when some of the players claim not to understand English, laughs Sone. “[Yannick] Sagbo and the French boys, they use it to get them out of trouble. In the changing room we’ll have a laugh and a joke, and Sagbo will be there chuckling. I’m there thinking he shouldn’t understand it, but he gets the joke so his English must be better than people think. Then the manager’s chatting to him – in basic English – about where he should be on the pitch, and he’s like: ‘I don’t understand.’ It’s so funny. I was in pieces.”

With foreign players now becoming more common in the Women’s Super League, Eniola chuckles at a familiar scene. At Chelsea Ladies alone there are players from Chile, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands.

With over 70 caps for England, Eniola is a stellar name in women’s football.

But it was her Match of the Day debut that introduced her to a much wider audience. “That was crazy,” she says.

“People had been tweeting me all day about Sone’s goal, and I couldn’t wait to see it. England had played that day and I scored the last goal to make it 6-0.

Then I’m lying in bed watching Match of the Day, waiting to see Sone’s goal, and Gary Lineker shows my goal. It was a really nice touch. For me as a female footballer it was a big deal. I think it’s probably a first. I remember Steve Bruce was asked about me in the post-match interview and I think he was a bit

The one that made me laugh was about the name change. Some guy came up to me at the airport [in Lagos] and said: ‘Forget about Hull Tigers, why not Hull Lagos? If I don’t get called up I won’t cry, but I’ll be disappointed.

Sone taken aback – he’s never met me. He just said something like: ‘Well done to the girl.’”

A quiet settles over the room, as the pair reflect on times when life has not been so kind to them. As Eniola opens up about her lowest moments, there is a weariness in her voice.

Sustaining a career in the unpredictable world of women’s football has been an emotional rollercoaster.

There was the collapse of her second club Charlton, cut loose by the men’s club after relegation from the Premier League in 2007.

Despite parachute payments of £11m, and £16m from the sale of Darren Bent to Tottenham, the women’s team costs of £250,000 were deemed unsustainable and the team were disbanded.

Then came the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league in the US, launched to much fanfare in 2009 following the collapse of the first pro league in 2003. The WPS, and its promise of fulltime employment, brought England’s best players flooding across the Atlantic, including Eniola, who signed for Saint Louis Athletica. No one ever imagined that the new league would prove as unstable as its predecessor, that everything could go wrong all over again.

“I went to America for three years and that was really the first time I was able to play football on a professional level. But then [in 2012] the league collapsed. And all of a sudden it was like: ‘What do I do now?’ I remember when I got the news. I was in the middle of America, with no family around me. Yeah, I had a legal career to fall back on, but at the time my job was football. It was a real moment for me. I thought: ‘Why I am doing

Eniola this? What am I doing this for? There’s no security in it.’ And many female footballers will say the same thing. You know, when is women’s football going to be taken seriously enough for us to really dedicate time to it?”

The launch of the FA Women’s Super League in 2011 accelerated the progression of the sport, with Chelsea now training four times a week – albeit in the evenings around the players’ work commitments – but it is still light years away from life in the men’s Premier League.

Sone listens intently as his sister speaks. The circumstances may have been different, but he knows what it is like to be prevented from playing football. An achilles injury kept him out of the Nigeria side that won the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

But his most desperate moments had nothing to do with injury.

“There was a period where I was out of football,” he begins, slowly, “between moving from Aberdeen and signing for Rangers, where I wasn’t playing because of a compensation tribunal.

From May 2011 to November, over six months and I wasn’t playing football, I didn’t have a club, I wasn’t getting paid.” With Aberdeen demanding £150,000 in compensation from Sone’s prospective club Rangers, the then 22year-old was lost, with both clubs refusing to back down. Sone moved home to Birmingham. And waited.

“I was training in King’s Norton Park in Birmingham. Every day. By myself. I was doing sprints and jogging, then I’d see a 50-year-old man doing his jog round the park. I remember thinking: “Is this what it is now? Is this me?”

Because there’s no guaran-

tees you’ll ever get back.

Once you’re out, people forget you quickly. I went for trials [at different clubs] and the team was always keen to take me, so I never questioned my ability, but it was a situation where nobody could agree this compensation clause, and I wasn’t getting paid. Bills were starting to come in. That was tough.

By the time I finally could sign for Rangers it was such a sense of sheer relief, at being able to play again, it’s no coincidence I was top scorer by the end of the season.”

“Look at Sone now,” says Eniola, proudly. “Playing in Premier League stadiums, about to play at Wembley.

And it’s easy to forget what’s gone on. Credit to Sone, he could have a sob story, but no one even knows. People forget he was out of football for a long period of time. A lot of top footballers haven’t had that, haven’t been through that. They’ve been spoon-fed, spoon-fed, spoonfed. So it’s really inspiring for him to be able to run out at Wembley now and say: ‘Actually, there was a time I was training in a park on my own.’ That’s something to draw from. That’s inspiring.

There is no way he’s going to be complacent now about his position.”

Growing up on an estate in Birmingham, to Nigerian parents, life was always football-oriented for the Alukos.

Their father, Daniel, a former politician in Nigeria, was also a talented striker who had a spell at Carshalton Athletic.

Passionate Manchester United fans, the siblings cried at the 1995 FA Cup final defeat to Everton.

Seventeen years later and Sone signed for Steve Bruce at Hull, the man who had captained United that day.

He smiles at the irony.

The Alukos call each other

regularly to talk football, keenly analysing each others’ games, travelling to watch each other play at every opportunity. “She’s very positive,” says Sone, “you rarely see her passing back, which I like. Her ball retention is good, she doesn’t sloppily give the ball away. Similar to me, she’s always thinking about the game. Before a match I’m thinking: ‘Who have they got? Do I go high? Do I go deep? Do I go behind?’ I can see Eni’s trying to solve some of those puzzles the way she plays as well. I enjoy watching her because I know what she’s thinking, I know why she’s done that.”

“Sone’s very skilful,” says Eniola. “He solves pressure really well in tight areas, the positions he gets into on the pitch, and he’s got a very good left and right foot.”

Beyond the FA Cup final Sone has another goal in mind: a World Cup campaign for Nigeria. With Hull in the Premier League, Sone’s profile has rocketed in the country of his heritage. Nigerians walking around in Hull shirts. Sone shakes his head; he never thought he would see the day. “The one that made me laugh was about the name change. Some guy came up to me at the airport [in Lagos] and said: ‘Forget about Hull Tigers, why not Hull Lagos?’” He laughs uproariously. “If I don’t get called up I won’t cry, but I’ll be disappointed,” he says, acknowledging that it is a tough ask, having played no part in the qualifying campaign.

“I want to go. I’m still 25, I can go to another World Cup. But the World Cup is the ultimate and I feel like I’m so close, playing in the Premier League, about to play in an FA Cup final.”

•Culled The Guardian of London.

SPORT Monday, April 21, 2014 | 63

THE GUARDIAN www.ngrguardiannews.com

One year after deadly attack, Boston ready for 2014 marathon OSTON will stage the B most emotional marathon in the race’s 117year history today when 36,000 participants take to the streets 12 months after the bomb attack, which killed three people during last year’s event.

Men’s and women’s champions, Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa and Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo, and last year’s wheelchair winners, Hiroyuki Yamamoto of Japan and American Tatyana McFadden, will make a poignant return to Eastern Massachusetts to defend their titles on Patriots’ Day. A tribute was held at Boston’s Hynes Convention Center to honour the victims last Tuesday, a year to the day since the attack in which two pressure-cooker bombs were detonated near the finish line.

An estimated 264 people were wounded in the attack and the dramatic images of runners lying bloodied on the road or being helped to safety by the emergency responders or members of the public sent shock waves round the world.

Memories of the events will no doubt be in plenty of minds at the start line of the world’s oldest marathon in the town of Hopkinton.

Desisa, the World Championship silver

medallist, was eager to return to show his support for the city.

“First of all, I am defending champion,” he said in the Boston Globe.

“And besides that, the situation that happened at the finish line, I hope to show that I am not scared about what happened and come back to Boston to run.”

The 24-year-old Ethiopian will face stiff opposition from the likes of Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto, who won the Tokyo and Chicago Marathons last year.

Ethiopians Gebre Gebremariam and Markos

Geneti, the former twice having finished third in Boston and a former New York City Marathon champion, are also expected to be in the mix.

Jeptoo, who also won the 2013 Chicago Marathon in a personal best two hours 19minutes 57 seconds, will take on the three other topfour finishes from last year’s race in Meseret Hailu, Sharon Cherop and Shalane Flanagan.

“The message is, I was happy to come to visit Boston and to run again and defend my title,” Jeptoo said.

Rita Jeptoo and Lelisa Desisa won the Boston Marathon in 2013 before the bombs went off.

Wawrinka beats Federer in Monte Carlo TANISLAS Wawrinka has SMasters won the Monte Carlo for the first time after rallying to beat Roger Federer 4-6 7-6 6-2 in a rare all-Swiss final.

The Australian Open champion had lost his previous two Masters finals and looked like losing a third until Federer’s level dropped suddenly late in the second set, and Wawrinka began troubling the 17-time Grand Slam champion with his aggressive backhand.

The fourth-seeded Federer, who accepted a wild card invitation to play in the tournament, was also looking to win it for the first time after losing his three previous

finals to eight-time champion, Rafael Nadal, from 200608.

Wawrinka has beaten Federer only twice in 15 matches, but both victories have come in Monte Carlo.

He also beat him in the third round in 2009.

“It’s exceptional to be able to win my first Masters title here,” Wawrinka said.

With the third-seeded Wawrinka serving for the match, Federer shouted in frustration as he missed an easy forehand on second serve at 15-15. On the next point, Federer’s backhand went wide and Wawrinka clinched victory with a crisp forehand win-

ner that landed on the line.

The players, who are good friends, shared a warm hug at the net.

“I had a great week here,” Federer said.

“Congratulations to Stan.”

It is the seventh title of the 29-year-old Wawrinka’s career, and his third this year.

He lost his previous Masters finals at Madrid last year and Rome in 2008.

Federer was seeking the 79th title of an illustrious career, and his 22nd Masters title.

The 32-year-old Swiss has lost three of his four finals this year, with the other defeats against Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells and to Lleyton

…As Czech Republic sets up Federation Cup final against Germany HE Czech Republic T reached the Federation Cup final by defeating defending champion, Italy after Petra Kvitova won the first reverse singles yesterday on home turf in Ostrava.

Sixth-ranked Kvitova beat Roberta Vinci 6-3, 7-5 for an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the semifinals. The remaining doubles can’t change the overall result.

The Czechs face Germany in the final in November at home.

“It will be great to play the final at home,” Kvitova said.

“We have an excellent team, it’s not just about one player.”

It’s the third final for the Czechs in four years after they claimed the Fed Cup

title in 2011 and ‘12 and won nine of the last 10 Fed Cup ties, losing only to Italy in last year’s semis.

Vinci replaced Sara Errani — who was originally named for the match — and had a 2-1 record against Kvitova after beating her twice last year on clay.

But on a fast indoor hardcourt at the CEZ Arena, Kvitova sealed the victory on her second match point with an ace.

“It’s an advantage for me that I’ve improved my serve,” Kvitova said.

Vinci came back twice in the second set after losing her serve in the first and seventh games before the Czech converted her fourth break point to go 6-5 up before

serving out the match.

At 3-3 in the opening set, Kvitova saved six break points before winning the game with two straight aces. She converted her first break point in the following game when the 20th-ranked Vinci double-faulted twice in a row and served the set out with another ace.

On Saturday, the Czechs took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series after Lucie Safarova upset Errani 6-4, 6-1, and Kvitova followed up with a 64, 6-2 win over Camila Giorgi.

Germany sealed its place in the Federation Cup final by beating Australia, with Angelique Kerber clinching the victory with a three-set win over Sam Stosur in Brisbane.

TheGuardian www.ngrguardiannews.com

Monday, April 21, 2014

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Johnson Eze S distant past as March 12, 2010, the then A Minister of Petroleum, Dr Rilwan Lukman, while unveiling the transformation agenda of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) at a town hall meeting of the corporation, said that the NNPC was running at a loss of over N200 billion with contingency liabilities of N146 billion and $227 million. He warned that if nothing was done to reverse the trend by transforming NNPC into a commercially viable company, the corporation stood the risk of becoming insolvent. Such warning, coming from an experienced policy-maker who has seen it all at the top echelon of the oil and gas industry, is expected to be taken seriously and acted upon.

Surprisingly, with the exception of NNPC management and the overseeing ministry, no other institution, federal or state-owned, has exercised perceptible interest to assist NNPC reforms to reduce losses and imbibe efficiency.

The height of indifference is exemplified in the handling of the Petroleum Industry Bill otherwise called PIB, which is currently tied down in the National Assembly, NASS. It is a paradox that some state governments are crying of dwindling petroleum revenue on the one hand while at the same time opposing, in strong terms, the passing of PIB expected to correct the anomalies on the other hand - an instance analogous to a sufferer of a dreadful ailment, crying for help but vehemently rejecting therapy.

The National Assembly, in addition, is not helping matters either by perennially dragging its feet on the passage of the bill thereby posing credibility questions on the actual intentions of the various legislative probes of the oil and gas sector. Expressing curiosity on the delay, a civil society activist, Mr. Michael Uchendu, queried the essence of probing various infractions in the Petroleum sector by those who are supposed to have passed the PIB to prevent the infractions in the first place, describing the probes as medicine after death. Uchendu called on NASS to desist from further spending public funds in such probes which he called ‘a wild goose chase’.

Raising a point of order on the floor of the Senate recently which corroborates the position of Uchendu, the Senator representing Ekiti North in the upper legislative chamber, Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi, sought explanation on the fate of the PIB before the Senate. He attributed the delay in treatment of the Bill as being responsible for what he described as “large scale abuses and illegalities being witnessed in the nation’s oil sector’’. Further, he expressed dissatisfaction with the handling of the pending PIB in the National Assembly and appealed to the Senate to urgently revisit it in the interest of Nigeria and her peoples.

Responding to the matter, the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, sustained the Point of Order and ruled that the relevant committees should take quick action on the issues raised by Adetunmbi. Reassuring the Senate of his commitment to the passage of the bill, he said in lamentation, “The PIB, after debate in this chamber, was committed to the appropriate committee on Thursday, March 7, 2013. It would be one year next month and up till now there seems to be nothing going on.”

The PIB seeks to establish a legal, fiscal and regulatory framework for the petroleum industry in Nigeria in line with international best practices. It strives to rejuvenate the sector which experts believe has been stagnant for many decades in a dynamic hydrocarbon international marketplace that has built economies of UAE, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

Among the benefits which the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Alison- Madueke, has been using every available opportunity to drum support for, are to create a conducive business environment for the petroleum operations; enhance exploration and exploitation of petroleum resources in Nigeria for the benefits of

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Dwindling petroleum revenue, NNPC and the PIB question

Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke Nigerian people; and optimize domestic gas supplies, particularly for power generation and industrial development. It is also to establish a progressive fiscal framework that encourages further investment in the petroleum industry while optimizing revenues accruing to the government. It is to

establish commercially oriented and profitdriven oil and gas entities. Other benefits include: To deregulate and liberalise the downstream sector; create efficient and effective regulatory agencies; promote transparency and openness in the administration of petroleum resources in Nigeria.

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OLOJA

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ABC (ISSN NO 0189-5125)

All NNPC requires to become formidable in satisfying the oil and gas needs of Nigeria is for NASS to see patriotic reason and pass this bill without further delay, bearing in mind that there is no perfect bill anywhere in the World Additional benefits include to promote the development of Nigerian content in the petroleum industry; protect health safety and environment in the course of operations; and to attain such other objectives to promote a viable and sustainable petroleum industry in Nigeria.

With all these intentions embodied in the PIB, it is enigmatic that the National Assembly could hold down such a bill till this moment.

Among the consequences of several years of holding down the bill are the increasing insecurity in oil platforms, increased frequency of pipeline vandalism, heightening crude oil theft and ballooned operational losses all of which combine to produce this dwindling Petroleum revenue as an early warning. Like the famous Nostradamus prediction, there is growing fear among industry stakeholders that Lukman’s prediction of demise of NNPC might come to pass.

However, the fact that NNPC is still alive meeting up its obligations to Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC ) with minimal operational losses four years after Lukman’s warning lends credence to the widespread belief that the Corporation is in safe hands of a competent management headed by the Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu, and the strong support of AlisonMadueke all of which have been collectively weathering the storm and deploying all known economic engineering to keep the national oil and gas behemoth afloat. They have been repairing vandalised pipelines, chasing the crude oil thieves, maintaining old refineries, importing refined products to augment shortfall in local demands and sustaining subsidies on fractions to alleviate the suffering of local consumers All NNPC requires to become formidable in satisfying the oil and gas needs of Nigeria is for NASS to see patriotic reason and pass this bill without further delay, bearing in mind that there is no perfect bill anywhere in the World. The Northern state governments, the oil host communities, the international oil companies (IOC) and other stakeholders who might feel disadvantaged in any component of the bill, definitely has another component to benefit in the spirit of give and take. As the Group Executive Director of Exploration & Production of NNPC and the Leader of PIB Technical team, Mr. Abiye Membere, rightly pointed out in Houston USA, venue of the Offshore Technology conference, while talking to journalists, “No matter how complex the bill is, let’s pass it then we can set up an institute to look at it yearly or every two years and possibly make amends till we perfect it.”

For Nigerian economy that relies on oil and gas revenue for up to 95 per cent of its foreign earnings as well as for funding 80 per cent of the nation’s budget, it is the expectation of all patriotic minds that any bill seeking to strengthen the petroleum sector, the PIB should be accorded priority and treated with dispatch. Acting otherwise will be a disservice to the nation.

• Eze is the publisher of Instant Africa News Magazine and wrote from Abuja.