Tue 13 Aug 2013

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Vol. 30, No. 12,647

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

www.ngrguardiannews.com

N150

Gunmen in military, police uniforms kill 31 in Borno From Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri O single shot was fired.

N Yet, after the invaders left three Borno communities, 31 people were found killed.

The throats of the victims were allegedly slit, thus not attracting the attention of security operatives of the Joint Task Force (JTF).

Some sources linked the attacks in homes and mosques on Saturday and Sunday to Boko Haram’s members.

The attacked villages are Ngom (on the Dikwa/Gamborou Road) and Mandarari and Malari (along the Maiduguri-Bama Road.)

Meanwhile, the Boko Haram leader, Sheikh Abubakar Shekau, yesterday vowed to

• JTF takes 26 to hospital • Shekau vows to fight govt, infidels • Says Boko Haram must turn Nigeria into Islamic state fight infidels and the Federal Government until an Islamic country is established, as directed by Allah in the Quran.

The claims of the JTF and the

police on the killings and destruction of Boko Haram members and their training bases, according to Shekau, are false and misleading the

public.

Shekau spoke yesterday on a video e-mailed to reporters in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

His words: “The Federal Government along with its soldiers and policemen are lying against our members, because the killings and destruction of our arms and ammunition are not true, as being claimed by the military authorities in Abuja and other places. We are the ones that seized the arms and am-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) and a member of Mara Group/grandson of Nelson Mandela, Ndaba Mandela, during his courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja… yesterday.

‘How high consultancy fees, others may mar rail transport’s revival’ From Chuka Odittah, Abuja ESPITE the promise by the D Federal Government to revamp rail transportation, the sector may remain in a comatose state.

This is because unfolding de-

velopments not only threaten the establishment of new railway routes but also the modernisation of old ones planned for the country’s six geo-political zones.

One of the challenges facing the successful rehabilitation

of the rail sector is the issue of high consultancy fees requested from the Ministry of Transport by both expatriate and local firms commissioned by the government to offer various specialised services in the critical transport

Rivers wants Wike arrested - Page 6

sub-sector.

Another major threat is the paucity of funds. For instance, the allocation of N52,331,974,638 to the Federal Ministry of Transport in the 2013 budget is insignificant. It is lower than last

year’s N54 billion, which was even said to be inadequate to cater for the entire ministry’s capital projects.

An international rail transport consulting company, CPCS Transcom, Siraj Nig Ltd, CrestHill Engineering Ltd

Confusion trails Anambra PDP congress - Page 6

and TEAM Nig Ltd are among the leading companies currently providing Nigeria with different consultancy and feasibility services believed to be essential to the establishment of new railway routes as well as the resuscitation of the existing rail system.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

2 NEWS

Hope dims over rail transport’s revival CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The Guardian, however, learnt that these feasibility consultancy services come at a huge cost to the ministry despite the fact that such hefty bills do not themselves guarantee the completion of projects in the sector.

For instance, to carry out feasibility studies for a standard guage line spanning LagosIbadan, Osogbo-Baro-Abuja, and covering about 615km high speed rail track, CPCS Transcom is to be paid a total of N284,562,603.00.

Siraj Nig Ltd, according to government records, requests N443,154,907.11 as consultancy and feasibility studies cost for a 533 km standard guage line covering Ajaokuta (Eganyi)Obajana-Jakura-Baro-Abuja, with an additional one line running through Otukpo from Ajaokuta.

It was learnt that CPCS Transcom is to be paid N334,016,907.84 to carry out another new railway routes feasibility studies. Among other things, the studies will be on the peculiar area soil for the purposes of setting up a coastal rail line in the Niger Delta. The 673km project covers Benin-Sapele-WarriYenagoa-Port Harcourt-Aba-Uyo-CalabarAkampa-Ikom-Obudu Cattle Ranch.

Team Nig Ltd, which is expected to carry out feasibility studies/consultancy for standard guage line from ZariaKaura Namoda-Sokoto-IllelaBeninKoni (Niger Republic) covering 520km requires N214,560,920.00 for the job.

The company alone is saddled with three separate consultancy services worth over N600 million in projects across various locations. The second involves feasibility studies/consultancy for a

300km East-West standard guage rail line, covering LagosSagamu-Ijebu-Ode-Ore-Benin City. This costs N165,310,275.00.

The third of a feasibility/consultancy job awarded to Team Nigeria Ltd is for a 500km standard guage line covering Benin-Agbor-Onitsha-NnewiOwerri-Aba with additional lines from Onitsha-EnuguAbakaliki at a cost of N226,816,661.63.

CrestHill Engineering Ltd is to carry out feasibility studies/consultancy for a 280km standard guage rail line in Eganyi (near Ajaokuta)-Lokoja-Abaji and Abuja for N144,003,024.00.

Other new rail routes’ feasibility studies expected to be embarked upon by the Federal Government this year include a standard guage line for Port Harcourt-Aba-Umuahia-EnuguMakurdi-Lafia-Kuru-BauchiGombe-Biu, and Maiduguri.

Feasibility studies are also planned for a standard guage line for Ikom-Obudu-OgojaKatsinaAla-Wukari-JalingoYola-Maduguri. Others are the Kano standard guage line covering Nguru-Gashua-Damaturu-Maiduguri-Gamboru-Ngala, Illela-Sokoto-Jega-Yauri-Makera.

Till date, Nigeria has only two major rail lines: the one connecting Lagos on the Bight of Benin and Nguru in the northern state of Yobe; and the other connecting Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta and Maiduguri in the north-eastern state of Borno. Over N100 billion has been expended as budgetary allocations to the rail transport sector alone in the last four years.

Pledges by successive administrations in the past to revive the critical rail transport system have failed to yield enduring results, as proposed new tracks have never been completed, while the rehabilitation of tracks and coaches has become something of a yearly ritual for the government in

power to take money from the treasury.

Experts warn that except concrete steps are taken to monitor contractors to ensure compliance with budget specifications, the dream of having a re-invigorated rail transportation may not materialise.

Meanwhile, a breakdown of the yearly budgetary allocations to the railway transport system in the past four years shows that in 2012, a total of N20.3 billion was approved for the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), out of which N16.3 billion was earmarked for capital expenditure. It was to rehabilitate the JebbaKano, Port Harcourt-Makurdi-Kaduna, Kuru-Maiduguri and Zaria-Kaura-Namoda rail tracks, as well as to procure and rehabilitate rail wagons, coaches and tanker wagons.

In 2011, N29.6 billion was budgeted for the construction and rehabilitation of most of the already captured rail tracks, out of which N5.5 billion was set aside for the construction of AjaokutaWarri rail line.

Statistics also show that N31 billion ($207 million) was approved on a special request in the supplementary appropriation bill of 2010 for the construction of Lagos-Ibadan rail lines.

In 2009, N23.3 billion was budgeted for rail transport, out of which N20.7 billion was reserved for capital projects that included the rehabilitation of 120 coaches and wagons, rehabilitation of the Ajaokuta-Warri rail line, which was also catered for in 2011 budget.

To remedy the critical condition of the nation’s rail transportation, the Federal Government has sought to privatise the NRC. Under the privatisation plan, three separate concessions of between 25 and 30 years would

be granted to private sector companies to run railways in the western, central, and eastern parts of the country.

As of today, the construction of standard guage lines under the Federal Government’s mordernisation scheme of the railway system is ongoing. The construction of Lagos-Ibadan 180km standard guage line is said to have begun at a cost of $1.53 billion.

The contract was awarded to CCECC Nig. Ltd. The ItakpeAjaokuta-Warri standard guage line covering 274km has been awarded to Julius Berger at a cost of N33.1 billion. Also, the Lagos-Kano mordernisation rail project has been awarded to CCECC Nig. Ltd. at a cost of $8.3 billion covering 1,342.50km, out of which $257.4 million has been paid by the Federal Government.

A former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, awarded about $500 million (N79 billion) rehabilitation contract aimed at resuscitating the Lagos-Kano rail line. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded a contract for the same Lagos-Kano rail line for $8.5 billion (N1.34 trillion). Yet, the completion of these and other key railway projects across the country remains to be seen.

The ministry early in May had its 2013 capital budgetary allocation slashed by about N24 billion by the Senate.

President Goodluck Jonathan had in the 2013 appropriation announced a total of N52.3 billion allocation to the ministry, which oversees the NRC, Nigerian Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and National Inland Waterways Authority, among others.

The Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, said that although N49.6 billion was approved as capital expenditure for the ministry, only N26 billion was released to it.

Gunmen kill 31 in Borno communities CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 munition from soldiers and policemen. And this is why we will continue to fight the infidels and all other individuals or groups that go against our mission and objectives of establishing an Islamic state.”

Shekau also claimed responsibilities for the attacks and killings at Gambouru, Bama, Baga, Gwoza, Mallam Fatori and Monguno in Borno State, and recently, in Mamudu of Yobe State.

He said that because of the superiority of Boko Haram at the various battlefields in Borno and Yobe states, many soldiers and policemen were dispossessed of their arms and ammunition; and forced to run for their lives.

He, however, noted that the group does not kill children, women, old men and women, and mad people.

He said that Boko Haram was not only fighting the cause of

Islam in Nigeria, but the leaders of United States (U.S.), Germany, France and all other countries in the world that do not rule according to the teachings of Quran.

JTF’s sources said yesterday in Maiduguri that 12 people at Ngom and 19 others were killed in the early hours of Sunday.

A resident of Malari (names withheld) said: “We saw gunmen in military and police uniforms with some vehicles and motorcycles at dawn.

They proceeded to our village on the Maiduguri-Bama Road, chanting ‘God is great’ in Arabic when the gunmen started to kill some of us here in this village, one by one, until 11 villagers were slain by slitting their throats.

“The following day at Mandarari, a different set of Boko Haram gunmen invaded the village in the early hours of Sunday, and killed eight more people, while they were pray-

Our error our Page 6 story of yesterday entitled “Cabals cause of elecIer,Ntricity generation woes”, Shoreline Group’s General ManagMr. Gabriel Okoebor, was erroneously reported to have said that talks were at an advanced stage for the company to purchase other ABB Manufacturing facilities. The true position is that Shoreline Power acquired the ABB Switchgear manufacturing facility in Ilupeju.

The error is regretted.

ing in two mosques at dawn, before soldiers rushed to the village at about 8.00 a.m.”

On Ngom’s casualties, the JTF’s source said: “I cannot tell you the details of attacks, but it was certain that gunmen in military and police uniforms attacked Ngom village, 20 kilometres east of Maiduguri, the state capital. The incidents occurred in the early hours of Saturday before we were alerted to them.

“Before we reached the village, the gunmen had fled in their vehicles and motorcycles. But the village head told us that 12 of his people were killed by first tying their hands to their backs, before slitting their throats.”

The closed Bama and Dambo roads, he added, would remain shut to motorists, until security improved.

A villager, who fled to Maiduguri at the Muna Motor Park yesterday, told The Guardian that the Boko Haram gunmen accused the people of Ngom of conniving with members of the Borno Vigilance Youths Group (BVYG) to “hunt and arrest” members of the terror group in the last three months.

Confirming the separate incidents yesterday in Maiduguri, the spokesman of Borno Police Command,

Gideon Jibrin, said that three villages were attacked by armed hoodlums, killing no fewer than 31 people on Saturday and Sunday. He said no arrest had been made by either the JTF or the police.

Meanwhile, the authorities of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) say 26 injured people were brought to its Accident and Emergency Unit (A&EU) by the JTF and police in three vehicles.

The admitted people, according to an attendant at the A&EU, sustained various degrees of injuries in Sunday’s attacks at Konduga, 40 kilometres east of Maiduguri.

He said out of the 26 injured persons, 16 had fractures in their limbs, while the remaining ones had knife cuts and fire burns on their skins, as some of their houses were set ablaze by suspected Boko Haram gunmen.

He added: “We did not receive bodies of people killed in the Boko Haram attacks at Konduga and the three other villages at the weekend because our morgue has already filled up with bodies. We had advised the soldiers and policemen to carry the bodies to the Specialist Hospital, Maiduguri, for deposition and identification.”

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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Issues In The News

Three months on, state of emergency For the first time in four years, the Shehu of Borno… presided over the durbar in Maiduguri

By Madu Onuorah (Abuja Bureau Chief) On Tuesday, May 14, 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan took the extraordinary measure of invoking the provisions of Section 305, sub-section 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.

Three months on, the military and security establishments are celebrating that they have substantially met the President’s directive to restore normally in the area.

N a nationwide broadcast, President Jonathan Irorists declared that, “the activities of insurgents and terhave been reprehensible, causing fear among our citizens and a near-breakdown of law and order in parts of the country, especially the North. We have taken robust steps to unravel and address the root causes of these crises, but it would appear that there is a systematic effort by insurgents and terrorists to destabilize the Nigerian State and test our collective resolve.

“The activities of the Boko Haram sect are not just militancy or criminality but rebellion and insurgency by terrorist groups, which pose a very serious threat to national unity and territorial integrity.

Already, some parts of Borno State have been taken over by groups whose allegiance is to different flags and ideologies. These terrorists and insurgents seem determined to establish control and authority over President Jonathan parts of our beloved nation and to progressively overwhelm the rest of the country. supplied own personnel, aircraft and “In many places, they have destroyed the Nigerian other necessary equipment. The Police, flag and other symbols of state authority and in their DSS and other agencies also conplace, hoisted strange flags suggesting the exercise of tributed equipment and personnel. alternative sovereignty. They have murdered innoTheir first task was sealing the comcent citizens and state officials. They have set houses mon borders the three affected states ablaze and taken women and children as hostages. share with Cameroun, Chad and Niger.

These actions amount to a declaration of war and a They then dominated the border comdeliberate attempt to undermine the authority of the munities, which had become the operNigerian State and threaten her territorial integrity. ational bases for terrorist training, As a responsible government, we will not tolerate insurgencies and other criminal activithis.” ties against Nigeria. This is because Indeed, by the time the emergency rule was Borno, the major base of Boko Haram, declared, 14 of the 27 local councils in Borno had fallhas border with Niger, Chad and en to the Boko Haram insurgents. And to demonstrate Cameroun while Yobe and Adamawa the urgency of the declaration, the operation took off share border with Cameroun. in earnest within 24 hours of the directive. The Having dislodged the insurgents Nigerian military, in conjunction with the Nigeria from their recruiting and training Police, Department of State Security (DSS) and other security agencies, moved in their special forces to the three states. bases in Sambisa forest and New The military deployed massive troops and equipMarte, equipment and weapons were ment from the three Services – Army, Navy and Air recovered from them. They included Force. While the Army supplied the bulk of ground rockets, locally fabricated weapon troops with own equipment, the Air Force and Navy accessories, large number of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and its raw materials, rockets and rocket launchers, laptops, mobile telephone sets, mobile communication equipment for shooting and posting online videos, vehicles of different brands, tailoring equipment - apparently for producing fake military uniforms - and several vehicles destroyed

Lt.-Gen. Ihejirika by the terrorists as they retreated from the camp.

Specifically, the weapons included eight AK47 assault rifles, one G3 rifle, nine AK47 magazines, one rocket propelled grenade charger, five rocket propelled grenade, three FMC magazines, one G3 magazines, 14 IEDs and 166 rounds of 7.62mm Special. Others were three 35mm Bazooka, 34 rounds of 5.56mm, 1,740 rounds of .303 inch, 10 rounds of 7.62 NATO, a round of .50mm, a dane gun, a locally made pistol and two mega phones. Also found in the camps were “strange and bizarre objects” such as several used and unused condoms, charms and amulets of various shapes, syringes, test tubes and hand gloves.

After dislodging the insurgents from their recruiting and training bases, the troops shifted operations to the cities, especially Bulabulin Nganaram, Aljajeri and Fluja in the Maiduguri metropolis. In the Bulabulin area in Maiduguri, the troops discovered vast network of underground tunnels connecting houses and many bunkers, some which could accommodate over 100 persons. Various weapons were also discovered in the same area. Various radio recordings of terrorists’ messages of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, were also discovered in his parents-in-law’s house.

According to the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, “the mandate of Mr. President to the forces involves the destruction of all terrorist camp/bases, apprehension of perpetrators and bringing them to justice. This mandate has been substantially achieved with destructions of terrorists’ strongholds and bases. In the process, many captives of the terrorists, especially women and children, were freed from the camps as their captors fled in disarray. Many women and minors were rescued and handed over to their families by the JTF. “A number of terrorists have been apprehended by the special forces. Many of them have also died in the battle with the forces. Various resources, including trained military police dogs, facilitated the arrest of insurgents who tried to infiltrate the cities after being dislodged from their bases at the outset of the operation.

“Cordon and Search Operations have started enjoying tremendous cooperation of locals.

Several terrorists, including their foreign members, are being tracked down. Key terrorists, especially those in the cadre of Amir, as well as those helping their renewed mobilization and recruitment of minors, are being hunted.

“There has been greater collaboration in the operational area by all the defence and security agencies. Before the emergency, markets were closed. Now, there is substantial resuscitation and revival of social and economic life. There are now increased commercial activities as banks, markets and other public places have been opened and are in business. There is restoration

of peace; the needs of people affected are being taken care of by agencies of government, including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

“The rate of bombing outside the three states has dropped. But until we kill or arrest the last member of the terror sect, we will keep on working to meet the tenets of the Presidential mandate. And this has been a solely Nigerian operation, no help has come in terms of resources or personnel and we have not asked for any. It has been a purely Nigerian operation.”

Indeed, the military’s claim of success in the fight against the terror sect may not be misplaced. Following positive indications for peace, the Defence Headquarters last month authorised the restoration of GSM services in the three states, having been cut on May 14, 2013. And for the first time in four years, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Garbai Ibn ElKanemi, presided over the durbar in Maiduguri.

The spectacular display of royal horsemanship and colourful procession usually staged to mark Sallah festivities had not been held for four years due to the Boko Haram insurgency.

The Shehu was himself attacked by a suicide bomber during Friday prayers last year.

Though he escaped unhurt, four people were killed in the attack. But for the first time in years, thousands of people, who relocated to other parts of the country because of the violence, returned home with their families and attended this year’s Eid-el Fitr prayers.

In fact, there was a large turnout of people at various Eid grounds. For the first time since 2009, many residents of the Maiduguri metropolis returned to their deserted homes and shops in areas worse affected by the crisis.

Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, while addressing guests at a luncheon he organised at the Government House in Maiduguri, commended the efforts of the military Joint Task Force (JTF) and the “civilian JTF,” which led to the smooth celebration of Eid-el-Fitr.

According to Shettima, “it was unfortunate that hundreds of residents have been killed, property worth hundreds of millions of naira, including over 800 public secondary and primary school classrooms, have been destroyed across the state. Though the state has encountered serious damage, we as government will not be deterred by the activities of terrorists as we will soon renovate all the public structures destroyed by the Boko Haram sect in the state.

“We will continue to support security agencies with our scarce resources in the fight against terrorism. We as government will never forget the effort of the JTF, ‘civilian JTF’, the media and of course all peace-loving people of Borno State for their untiring support, prayers and concern on how to end terrorist

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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Issues In The News

returns normalcy, slowly There are now increased commercial activities as banks, markets and other public places have been opened and are in business. There is restoration of peace; the needs of people affected are being taken care of by agencies of government, including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). activities in our dear state and the country in general.

“It is the collective efforts and support we received from all and sundry that led to the successful and peaceful celebration of Sallah and we urge everybody to continue to pray for the sustenance of peace in our state and country.”

Much as the military operation has largely succeeded, it has not come without hiccups.

Despite the efforts of the troops under the emergency, there had been slip-ups as the insurgents have continued perpetuating violence. For instance, on July 6, Boko Haram terrorists attacked a boarding school in Yobe State, killing at least 27 children and a teacher. Survivors explained that the militants came to the school with containers full of gasoline and set the school on fire. Many children were burnt alive, while those who tried to escape were shot by the attackers.

There have been subsequent clashes between youth vigilance forces and members of the Islamist terror group, in which dozens of youths were killed. The insurgents also attacked and killed at least 20 people and injured dozens of by-standers, mostly fishermen and traders. Later on, five members of the vigilance group were killed when Boko Haram gunmen ambushed the youths’ convoy that was transporting two terrorists, who had previously been arrested.

Early this month, there were multiple bomb explosions in a predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Sabon Gari in Kano, in which at least 15 people were killed. As well, scores of military and other security forces have been killed in the operation.

Unfortunately, there have been discordant tunes from the political arena. Initially, there was almost a full national support for the emergency declaration until politics crept in, with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) immediately advising the National Assembly to reject it.

Its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said his party “hereby rejects the declaration of emergency rule in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, and we call on the National Assembly to also reject it and not allow itself to be used to rubber-stamp a declaration that is largely cosmetic. If the declaration of a state of emergency in 15 local government areas in four states in 2011 has not curbed the activities of the insurgents, why extend such measure to other areas? If the use of force in the affected states has failed to curtail the activities of the insurgents, why send in more troops?”

However, ACN’s partner, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), hailed it, noting: “We need to rally round the President in this trying period. We pray that with this action, peace will eventually return to the states.

However, it is gratifying that the President did not behave like a former President who removed the political structures when he declared a state of emergency in some states.

The action of President Jonathan has shown that the choice made by the people through the ballot would not be denied them. May God help our country.” The ACN would later recant and support the declaration.

Meanwhile, former military Head of State and presidential candidate in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), strongly opposed the declaration. For him, President Jonathan failed from the outset in addressing the security situation in the country. Buhari, who featured as “Guest of the Week” of Kaduna-based Liberty Radio, said the war against the Boko Haram sect was a gross injustice against the North.

“Unlike the special treatment given to the Niger Delta militants by the Federal

Kashim Shettima

Ibrahim Gaidam

Murtala Nyako

Government, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished,” he said. “The state of emergency was not the best way to address insurgency in the three affected states and the country in general. Government cannot kill all the Boko Haram members.

Government should rather arrest and prosecute the members. They should only be killed when they say clearly that they wage war against their country, like what happened during the civil war.

“And even during the civil war, we that fought in the war were given a copy of code of conduct book, which guided us against killing innocent people. In Bama and Baga towns, military personnel were reported to have been engaged in extortion and sometimes molesting of women. And because a soldier was killed in Baga, the whole town was sacked by the military. This is not the best way military should have acted when they were sent to restore law and order in a town. How can a responsible government allow its people to be killed in this way?”

Also, the friction between President Jonathan’s administration and the House of Representatives reared its head as the House moved to revoke the powers of the President in spending the statutory allocations of the three states and local councils under emergency rule in executing the mandate.

After approving the full details of the declaration as requested by the President, a member, Ibrahim El-Sudi, sponsored a motion in which the House passed a resolution to delete Section 3(2)(e) of the emergency powers (general regulations), which granted powers to the President to spend funds of the states under emergency rule as he considers desirable.

Nevertheless, the amendment did not receive the concurrence of the Senate and so died a natural death.

In addition, the Federal Government faced pressures from both within and outside the country. On its part, Amnesty International said the “Nigerian authorities must not use the state of emergency imposed in the North of the country as an excuse to commit human rights violations. Issues of national security and the state of emergency do not give the military carte blanche to do whatever they want.” The organisation’s Deputy Director for Africa, Ms Lucy Freeman, added that, “the onus is on the state to prove that they are not using an emergency as justification to run roughshod over people’s human rights.”

Amnesty International claimed that in the last three years, it has documented grave human rights violations committed by security forces in their response to Boko Haram, including extra-judicial executions, enforced disappearances, indiscriminate torching of civilian housing and arbitrary detention. Accusing the government of using the declaration to execute “mass arrests,” especially in Borno State, it regretted that “detainees continue to be denied access to lawyers and families and are not being charged with any crime or brought before a court.”

It added: “Many people have spent more than a year in military detention without being tried or even charged with any crime. Others have simply disappeared. Individuals in military vehicles have been depositing bodies on an almost daily basis at mortuaries in the town.

The government does not appear to carry out any investigation into these deaths, and has not released any information pertaining to those deceased and deposited at the mortuaries.”

Effects of the Bama incident, in which the firefight between the Special Forces and the terrorists resulted in deaths and destruction of parts of the town, continued to reverberate during emergency operations. The Qatar-based international news network, Al-Jazeera, carried a report accusing the Nigerian military of perpetuating human rights abuses. But Presidential Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, described the alleged rights abuses as “fabricated,” as the Nigerian security forces on the ground “had been carrying out the directive by the President and had adhered to the rules of engagement while carrying out their assignments.”

He noted: “While we welcome an open interrogation of government’s activities, we reject any attempt to exploit the security situation in the North East to malign, discredit or otherwise undermine the country’s efforts by other surreptitious means. There can be no doubt that the Al Jazeera report of May 31 is in very bad taste.”

Defence spokesman, Olukolade, added: “The

judge is ready to take their cases. And they have burnt down the prisons where they could be detained, which is why they are being held in detention centres. So, there is no institution to facilitate the 24-hour release of the detainees even after investigations.”

But as a source told The Guardian in Abuja, “what will bring the Boko Haram insurgency to its final end does not lie only in military success, it also lies in non-military measures. Look, the failure of governance and the declining influence of traditional and religious institutions contributed to the blossoming of Boko Haram terrorism. The military’s role is not an end in itself. Its job is to weaken or destroy the Boko Haram insurgents enough that they quickly opt for the path of peace.

“And while this is going on, the various tiers of government should provide quick impact projects needed to win the hearts of the people. The Federal Government should show the political will to prosecute all individuals linked with terror activities in the country, without fear or favour. Most importantly, Nigerians should see the war against terror as their own, it is not a task only for the military and para-military forces. We must help through reporting to the authorities any unusual movement, activity or lifestyle.”

forces in this operation are quite conversant with the rules of engagement.

Constant monitoring is ongoing to ensure there is no violation and where there is, to instantly investigate and punish perpetrators. Nigerians and our friends abroad must realize that the security operations were necessitated by the need to secure and restore the rights of Nigerian citizens who were being abused by the activities of terrorist, who have not only violated Nigeria’s sovereignty, but have committed mindless atrocities against citizens, and there is no way such abuse, lawlessness and hate ideology could be encouraged or allowed to continue.

“While the forces will remain accountable, the prying eyes on various activists should equally focus on the unending and condemnable atrocities of terrorists rather than desperately trying to play to the gallery by seeking evidence to indict the forces of non-existent human rights abuses. The forces are not on any revenge mission but purely on a mission to restore law and order.

“The misinformation in terms of reporting human rights issues has been enormous and more mischievous than real.

Attempt to set subjective standards in rating compliance with human rights here is unfair and should be condemned. Our citizens should beware of running errands for those whose motive on our nation’s integrity and security remains suspect.”

Olukolade noted that the prosecution of the terrorists has its own challenges, stating: “The attention and zeal to indict this operation on issues of human rights should also note the peculiarity of the situation in relation to the infrastructural capacity for managing the insurgents.

Lawyers are not taking briefs on cases involving Boko Haram detainees; no

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tHe GUARDIAN, tuesday, August 13, 2013

News Jonathan meets security chiefs

Rivers govt wants Wike arrested

From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja

• Lawmaker moves to stop probe of Assembly crisis From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt He Rivers State government has expressed sadness over the failure of the police to invite the Minister of State for education, Nyesom Wike, for questioning over his alleged threat to make the state ungovernable.

Similarly, a group, Rivers Peoples’ Forum (RPF), has said that, for openly threatening the peace and security of the state, they would mobilise Rivers’ people for

t

Omobude, Ezekwesili hail Ezekiel at 70

By Chris Irekamba ReSIDeNt of the Pentecostal P Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev. Felix Omobude and former Minister of education, Mrs. Oby ezekwesili, have poured encomiums on the General Overseer of Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM) International, Rev. Obiora ezekiel, as he marked his 70th birthday on Sunday at the CPM headquarters in Ajao estate, Lagos.

Fielding questions from reporters shortly after the church service, the duo, described the celebrant as a man of passion, integrity, character and conviction and called on the younger generation of pastors and ministers to emulate the lifestyle and sacrifice of a man who had paid so much for the expansion of the gospel.

protests to push for arrest and prosecution of the minister. the Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, tony Okocha, while addressing the chairman and members of the council of chiefs of ekinigbo clan in Obio/Akpor Local Council, who paid him a solidarity visit yesterday, decried the failure of the police to interrogate the minister.

Okocha described Wike as being ungrateful to Governor Chibuike Amaechi whom he said brought Wike to the limelight by first appointing him as his Chief of Staff and then later nominated him for ministerial appointment in the President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet.

He bemoaned the latest cases of kidnapping and armed robbery in the state, which he explained resurfaced because the police have allegedly compromised the security.

Wike was said to have, at the Grassroot Democratic Initiative (GDI) event in Port

Harcourt, said “for those who think that they can destroy Obio-Akpor Local Council, we will make life uncomfortable for them. We will make sure they will not sleep again.

When they are sleeping, they will not sleep with their two eyes closed. One eye will be open because they know there is danger.”

Meanwhile, a Rivers State lawmaker, Victor Ihunwo, has asked a Port Harcourt High Court to prohibit the judicial commission of inquiry into the crisis in the House of Assembly from investigating the crisis that rocked the House on July 9, 2013. the development came as the judicial commission headed by Justice Biobele Georgewill allayed fears that it will jail any person or persons directly responsible for the bloody confrontation that took place on the floor of the Assembly on July 9, 2013. the respondents in the lawmaker’s suit are Justice Georgewill; (Chairman), Mr. Baribura Gbaragbo, Chief

Goddy (Godwin) Agbaraosimini, Iboroma Akpana, Mr. ejike Iwediba, Chief Desmond Nwosu, Mr. Uba Agadagba, Mrs. Asivosuo M. Oriye , Mr. Barinua Keenam, Amaechi and the Attorney General of Rivers State.

Ihunwo, who is regarded as one of the anti-Amaechi lawmakers, has urged the court to prohibit further proceedings or further inquiry by the respondents into the crisis in the House of Assembly in the name of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry instituted by the governor.

RPF president, Charles Bekwele in a statement described the comments by Wike as a direct threat to the good people of Rivers State, since the Assembly members acted on behalf of the people who elected and mandated the Assembly members to represent them.

“It is a shame, an outrage that the police instead of arresting and prosecuting Wike are allowing him to arrogantly and pompously

roam the streets, making more provocative and hateful comments against the state and its people. this is the same police that have declared wanted and arrested supporters of Amaechi for extremely flimsy reasons. So why are they not arresting a man who openly threatened the people, the peace and security of the State? Is Nyesom Wike above the law?” said Bekwele. the groups called on the Inspector-General of Police to arrest and prosecute the minister because his comments are deemed dangerous to the country’s democracy. He alleged that since Wike was appointed a minister, he has carried on like a demi-god, acting like he’s above the law.

He said the minister, who has practically abandoned his job at the ministry of education for politics and political campaigns, every week, according to him, the minister visits Rivers State to purportedly campaign for Mr. President but in reality campaigning for his own gover-

ReSIDeNt Goodluck P Jonathan yesterday met with all the heads of security agencies as part of the efforts to consolidate the relative peace being enjoyed in the country. the meeting, held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, lasted for over two hours was behind closed doors. As usual, there was no comment from either the security chiefs nor the Presidency of the issues discussed.

In attendance were the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki; Minister of State for Defence, erelu Obada; Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade; Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Azubike Ihejirika; Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele ezeoba; Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Dahiru Abubakar and the DirectorGeneral of State Security Service (SSS), Ita ekpeyong.

Confusion trails Anambra PDP congress From Chuks Collins, Uzoma Nzeagwu (Awka) and Tunde Akinola (Lagos) was complaints galore in Ithetvirtually all the 326 wards of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in

• LP guber aspirant promises better healthcare system Anambra State where the election to choose the three-man delegate for August 24 governorship primary election was supposed to hold. the congress committee led by former Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara had failed to show up with the materials as at 6.30 p.m. yesterday when this report was filed.

When journalists sought Wabara’s comments, he was said to be too busy to speak but the state chairman of the party, Ken emeakayi, said he would only speak formally after the committee meets and addresses the press first.

Curiously, another group said to be loyal to the self-acclaimed godfather of Anambra politics, Chief Chris Uba and his brother Senator Andy Uba had held their own factional congress. there were indications from the Marble Arch Hotels/towers, Awka, venue and secretariat of the Wabara committee that it allegedly suspected that the Uba brothers must have dislocated the entire process.

It was discovered that no congress held in Awka south,

NNewi South, Ihiala, Aguata and Onitsha council areas where The Guardian monitored.

Chief Chiedu Onyeneke, one of those standing for the delegates’ election in Aguata council area expressed anger that the party “bungled this golden chance again.”

Some of the members of the Wabara committee were observed to be averse to the pains and tension their nonappearance at the various wards with the materials caused.

At Isiagu/ezinato ward (Awka South Local Council), a formal protest letter was written and addressed to the National chairman, Bamangar tukur on the disappearance of the congress documents and materials. they vowed to fight for their rights with the last drop of their blood.

None of the governorship aspirants agreed to speak, until the situation gets clear.

But confusion trailed the state chapter of the PDP’s ward congress billed to be organised by the Chief Ken emeakayi-led

executive yesterday. the office of the Resident electoral Commissioner, Independent National electoral Commission (INeC), Anambra State, had released a statement signed by its Public Relations Officer, saying it would only recognise ward congress conducted by Mr. ejike Oguebego.

Also, INeC had earlier announced that it did not recognise emeakayi overseeing the exercise and directed that anybody or person who violates its directive be arrested by police.

Reports, however, said that the National Working Committee (NWC) of PDP, during a rally in Awka, on Saturday directed emeakayi to supervise the ward congress in the 326 wards of Anambra.

INeC had in the statement signed by Frank egbo said that the commission recognises Oguebego as the chairman of the PDP in Anambra State, insisting that the commission would monitor only the ward congress conducted by his faction.

“Any other PDP congress slated for today, August 12, 2013 in

Anambra State by anyone is illegal and the Police have been informed accordingly”, the statement said.

At some of the wards/voting centres in Awka and environs as at 2.00 p.m., prospective party members and party members were seen gathered in groups and saying they were expecting the materials for voting.

As at the time of filing in this report, the Chairman of the PDP Ward Congress Ad-hoc Committee, Rt. Hon.Ude Okoh, could not be reached to comment on the new development as the team were said to be busy at a closed-door meeting at the Marble Arch Hotel, Awka.

Meanwhile, gubernatorial aspirant in the forthcoming election, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, has emphasised the need to upgrade the healthcare system in Anambra State, noting the lives of the people must be taken seriously.

Ubah bemoaned the condition of the healthcare system in the state, saying the hospitals have deteriorated, owing to “colossal” and “serial failure” of leadership in the state.

In a statement issued yesterday, Ubah who is the Chairman, Capital Oil and Gas Ltd, said if elected into office in November, his administration would resuscitate the medical infrastructure in the state, and recruit more healthcare personnel.

According to him: “We will ensure that we reduce infant and maternal mortality in Anambra State by ensuring that access to free medical care is available to pregnant or nursing mothers as well as their babies.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

NEWS

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Dead journalist’s father seeks quick payment of insurance claims From Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin EREAVED father of the late B Sola Owolabi, a correspondent with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), has urged Kwara government to prevail on the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to fast-track the settlement of his son’s life assurance policy entitlements.

The bereaved father, Sam Owolabi, in a statement issued at the weekend in Ilorin, expressed appreciation to journalists, the state government, friends and relatives for their sympathy over the sudden death of his son.

Groups want forced evictions from Lagos slum stopped

By Bertram Nwannekanma and Wole Oyebade ORCED evictions in Lagos Fpeople State have cost around 9,000 their homes or livelihoods, Amnesty International and a local human rights group have alleged in a report.

According to an Agence France Presse (AFP) quoting the report issued jointly with the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC), tens of thousands more could be at risk if the government proceeds with plans to redevelop the slum area of Badia East.

Residents were said to have complained that armed police and bulldozers moved in without warning in February, forcing them out, in what the government has termed the first phase of its clearance plan.

“The effects of February’s forced eviction have been devastating for the Badia East community where dozens are still sleeping in the open or under a nearby bridge exposed to rain, mosquitoes and at risk of physical attack,” said Oluwatosin Popoola, Amnesty International’s Nigeria researcher.

The report calls on Lagos authorities to halt the forced evictions, aimed at bringing order to the chaotic and crowded metropolis, which is home to 15 million people.

ASUU strike ends soon, says minister From Kanayo Umeh, Abuja HE ongoing strike by the T Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is likely to be called off after today’s meeting between the union and the Federal Government.

Minister of Education, Prof.

Ruquyyatu Rufai, expressed the hope in an interview with newsmen shortly after her presentation at the workshop on mid-year implementation report of the four-year educational strategic plan yesterday in Abuja.

The minister stated that government has been doing its best to address the challenges, noting that negotiations have been ongoing since the strike started.

“You know we have been talking. I have been telling you what we have been talking, but quote me correctly because last time I addressed the press, I said we were talking. We are going to continue meeting with ASUU tomorrow and we hope that tomorrow’s meeting will go a long way in resolving the crisis,” she said.

Items recovered from suspected insurgents by security personnel in Sokoto…at the weekend

TUC threatens strike over minimum wage, council autonomy From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo ORKERS nationwide W would embark on strike should the Federal Government go ahead to implement the suggestions made by the Senate to include minimum wage issue in the exclusive legislative list.

Apart from Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC’s) readiness to bring government activities to a standstill, the decision to deny local government councils autonomy would as well attract the wrath of Labour in all nooks and crannies of the country.

National President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Bobboi Bala Kaigama, who made this known yesterday while fielding questions from journalists in Taraba State, expressed surprise on why the issue of minimum wage has continued to drag in spite of the earlier agreements entered into by Labour and the Federal Government.

According to Kaigama,

Labour has “two very controversial issues to sort out with the Nigerian Senate and we are prepared to take them head-long in the area of national minimum wage and local government autonomy.”

The TUC boss expressed sadness that the Senate has “decided to transfer issues of national minimum wage to the concurrent legislative list”.

The TUC boss said NLC “insists and we still stand by it that the issues of Labour and minimum wage are supposed to be maintained and kept on the exclusive legislative list; because when you said the federal legislators would legislate on minimum wage that would relate to federal workers, then state legislators would legislate on matters that affect states minimum wage. Who then legislates for the private sector?

So, there is a kind of lacuna” He said: “It is expected that within the country, there

should be a certain benchmark below which no employer of labour should go against”, urging the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, “retain the issue of minimum wage on the exclusive legislative list.”

Should the Senate and the Federal Government fail to tread the path of wisdom, the leadership of both NLC and TUC, Kaigama noted, would not hesitate in mobilising workers to stay back home, adding: “We are ready to mobilise Nigerian workers to face the Senate.”

Kaigama, who is the first northerner that is ascending such exalted position of the organised Labour, advocated dialogue rather than embarking on incessant strikes.

He stated: “This world is all about dialogue. Anybody that is not prepared for dialogue does not want peace. For trade union leaders, strike is the last option and none of the leaders derive pleasure in declaring strikes.”

Senator shuns third term, decries Igbo marginalisation From Gordi Udeajah (Aba) and Lawrence Njoku (Enugu) ECOND term senator for SNwaogu, Abia-Central, Mrs. Nkechi has indicated her wish not to return to the next Senate for third term in 2015, saying that she would crave the indulgence of her AbiaCentral constituents and people to send her somewhere else in 2015 and not back to the Senate.

Speaking with The Guardian in Aba at the weekend, Senator Nwaogu said: “I am definitely thinking of somewhere else to serve my people and Nigeria and I believe that I am needed in another place and at the appropriate time, it will be made known”.

She called for the reformation of the provisions of the local government system so as to properly spell out the provisions in terms of func-

tions and responsibilities.

“I believe in the autonomy of the local governments but before this, the system has to be reformed. Nigeria is a federating unit. What obtains in many countries are two-tiers of government namely federal and states”.

Nwaogu also said yesterday that the South-East geo-political zone remains the least developed in the country.

She said the development so far witnessed in the zone had been anchored on individual efforts of her people in politics and business.

The senator, who stated this when the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Southeast zone, called on her to brief her over preparations for the second edition of the association’s media summit holding in Enugu in September, said the

problems plaguing the zone required the collective effort of every Igbo person.

Nwaogu, who is the chairman of the event, added: “Otherwise why should we only have five states while others have six and seven; why should we have 15 senators as others have 21; why should we have 43 federal constituencies, others have 97”.

Former Minister for Power and Chairman of Geometrics Integrated Power Plant, Prof.

Barth Nnaji, would deliver the keynote lecture on “The Role of the Media in SouthEast Integration”.

Also expected at the summit are the five governors of the zone, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim and Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, among others.

“In fact, we are pained by the time we declare strikes. We are prepared as intellectuals to sit down and discuss with our employers. We want to see a situation where our employers would see us as partners in progress. Let us discuss issues because some of us are in government. We know as well as those in government do; so let us sit down and listen to our grievances. Let us listen to your constraints in terms of the scarce resources, then we can agree on a meeting point.”

Identifying lack of “honouring subsisting agreements” as the major reason for the persistent strikes, especially between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and government, Kaigama said the need for the Federal Government to fulfill its part of the bargain so as to open wide the gates of universities for students has become paramount.

“Like we are saying, we have problems only when parties don’t respect agreements that are reached and signed. By the time we sign agreements and we begin to implement them, we should not foresee any problem. So this is a product of not honouring a subsisting agreement.”

UN votes N15b on fouryear projects in Nigeria From Collins Olayinka, Abuja NITED Nations (UN) system U in Nigeria will spend a combined $920 million or N14.7 billion on technical and financial assistance to the country over a four-year period as contained in an agreement signed by Nigeria as the UN System in the country.

This forms the fulcrum of a development assistance framework document that will guide the world body’s activities in the next four years.

The agreement, termed “Nigeria-United Nations Assistance Framework” or Nigeria-UNDAF III, will regulate the terms and areas of assistance of the agencies delivering as one UN from 2014 - 2017.

While signing on behalf of Nigeria, the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudden Usman, said: “The UNDAF III document is not only closely aligned with our national priority, but it has also assisted greatly in the reduction in the duplication of UN activities in the country, leading to a fall in transaction costs for both the government and the UN System.”

He explained that the overarching goal of the UNDAF III is to assist government to meet the commitments made in its 1st Implementation Plan and the Transformation Agenda and more specifically, to work towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

PHOTONEWS 9

PHOTONEWS

Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency Mr Chris Cooter (left), her Daugther,Ms Zoe-Forest Cooter, and ,Rev. David Ugolor, Executive Director ,African Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ, during a sent forth dinner and presentation of gift to the outgoing Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria,recently in Abuja.

PHOTO: CITYVOIX

General Officer Commanding 81 Division of Nigerian Army, Major General Obi Umahi (left); Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Visafone, Jim Ovia and Lagos State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning Ben Akabueze during the welcome reception in honour Umahi in Lagos PHOTO; CHARLES OKOLO

Director, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Prof. Oladipo Akinkugbe (left), Managing Director, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae , Chairman, Felix Ohiwerei and Company Secretary, Yomi Adebanjo during the 14th Annual General meeting of Fidson Healthcare Plc in Lagos.

School children during the Astymin Brilliant Award organised by Fidson Healthcare Plc in Lagos

Head, Research, Planning and Development of WSI-Axon West Africa, Soyem Osakwe(left); Chief Executive Officer, Edirin Abamwa; and Head, Digital Marketing, Amara Nwankwo during the media parley in Lagos

Head of Finance, X3M Ideas Ltd, Folahan Salam (left); Principal, Opebi Junior Grammar School, Mrs. Haruna Temitope; Vice Principal, (Admin), Mrs. Falana Aderonke and Vice Principal (Academics) Mrs. Aliu Febisola during the press briefing announcing the renovation and furnishing of a block of five classrooms by X3M Ideas to commemorate X3M Ideas’ first year anniversary at the school’s premises in Opebi, Lagos PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN

Country Manager, South African Airways, Ms. Thobi Duma (left); Head, Corporate Banking, Stanbic IBTC, Mr Anton Morais and Chairman, Nigeria-South Africa Chamber of Commerce, Mr Folusho Phillips, during a breakfast meeting of NSACC organized by South Africa Tourism and South African Airways, in Lagos

Commissioner for Oil & Gas, Delta State, Hon Mofe Pirah (left), Edo State Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion presenting a cheque to Pa Julius Okomayin, a winner of N1million in the ongoing Glo “Recharge to Stardom” promo during the prize presentation ceremony in Lagos.

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THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Politics North not opposed to Jonathan’s second term, says Abba-Gana Ambassador Muhammed AbbaGana, a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Second Republic Commissioner in Borno State, told journalists in Lagos recently that northerners opposed to President Jonathan’s second term ambition do not represent the interest of the entire region, reports Seye Olumide.

It needs another four years to plan for the presidency

FTER 14 years of PDP in power, would you A say the party has lived up to the expectation of Nigerians?

Democratic culture and attitude must be developed over a period because, if you get pushed aside every time that you start learning, you would never have good politicians.

For example, if the unfortunate military coup of 1966 had not happened, believe me, Nigeria would have been as great as Brazil, Malaysia, India and South Korea because the visions of leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello were so great.

You know that when the Western Nigeria Television Service was established in 1959, it was the only one in Africa. If that stride had continued, the black race would have benefited immensely from Nigeria in terms of knowledge and education.

So, I will say that we had not developed because of lack of knowledge, but due to lack of stability. Military interventions over a long period forced Nigeria to stagnate; otherwise, Nigerians are very bright. Even now, we export highly-skilled professionals to several countries of the world.

If you go to the Middle East, you will see Nigerian professionals driving their aviation sector; in Britain, you will see top Nigerian academicians, medical professionals and engineers; in the United States, it is even more.

We have the skill and knowledge; what is lacking is the opportunity to harness our wisdom over a period but this is the only time that we have started because of the military interventions in our political process.

In 1999, we didn’t have the opportunity to form an elite consensus. There must be consensus between the elite on what they want for the country because they are the ones who are supposed to educate the rest.

To answer your question directly, I will say that we are still on track because the PDP has ensured the entrenchment of democratic order and rule of law.

Why is the party always facing serious crises whenever general elections are approaching, as it’s experiencing ahead of the 2015 elections?

The crises in the party are imagined and they will die out very soon. That some people are grandstanding does not mean crises. You know that politics is about interest and accommodation of interest; so, if people are jostling to promote or protect their interests, the time will come when the party will decide.

In 2010, when President Umaru Yar’Adua died, there was a problem about succession, but we overcame. There was a problem about power shifting to the North because Yar’Adua didn’t complete his tenure. But our group differed with the Adamu Ciroma group on that.

We said that it was not fair to take away the Presidency, which the South-South got as a result of Yar’Adua’s death. We argued that such would severely disrupt the zoning arrangement in the PDP. As a result of this, there was crisis all over the place and we said: ‘What do we do?’ The party agreed that let there be a primary. They nominated Atiku Abubakar and there was a primary at the Eagle Square (Abuja) between him and President Goodluck Jonathan. Like they say, the rest is history and we have moved on.

So, all these things you call crises would soon be resolved and we will move on. There have always been crises in political parties across

Jonathan the world and Nigeria is not an exception because politics is all about interest. You cannot play politics without disagreeing and agreeing, but it always end with the majority having its way while the minority has its say.

How would you describe a situation where the ruling party is having unresolved internal crises; there insecurity across the nation, while the state of infrastructure and the economy are nothing to write about? What has the PDP got to offer again?

The problem with the present dispensation is that we have a situation where the political parties are no longer supreme than their members, unlike in the First and Second Republics. I was a commissioner in the Second Republic and I know how we respected our leaders.

Take the case of Ondo State in 1983, when Chief Awolowo told those who were aspiring to replace Michael Ajasin to wait. They disagreed and Akin Omoboriowo went to the NPN and contested and they said he won. But he ran away from the state before the Supreme Court later restored the mandate to Ajasin.

With Chief Adisa Akinloye, as the chairman of the NPN, no governor of the party ever dared the party’s leadership. There was discipline then, but today, we have individuals who are bigger than the leadership of their parties.

I will appeal to all stakeholders to allow political misunderstandings or crises to be resolved politically, because you cannot take a misunderstanding between you and the leadership of your party to court.

If you cannot allow such disagreement to be resolved internally, you have the right to leave and form your own party or go to where your views would be accommodated.

Did we hear about a Governors’ Forum during the Second Republic; and did we lose anything because of that?

No! President Shehu Shagari of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was in Lagos with the state governor, Lateef Jakande, who was elected on the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), and there was no bickering.

The problem with the NGF started when politics was introduced into the group by some of its members. For example, the Forum should have wisely avoided the PDP congress in Adamawa State by saying that it is a PDP affair and not its business because it has its members from the various political parties.

But what did we see? The Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako, ran to the Forum, saying he needed protection. That was a contradiction because the issue on ground was a party affair.

There was a query that originated from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the conduct of the state PDP con-

Abba-Gana gress and based on that, the party’s national leadership ordered another congress for the state.

Flowing from this state of affairs is the Rivers State standoff. How has the PDP applied its internal mechanism for conflict resolution?

The case of Rivers State was complicated by other circumstances. In life or public affairs, it is always better to ask what is right and not who is right. Once you start asking who is right or wrong, there would be more problems and you would not get a solution to it. But if you ask what is right or wrong, you will be more objective.

Also, you should avoid bringing in ego when cases like that of Rivers occur. There is no American governor who will not seriously respect the country’s President. Whether you are right or wrong, if the President says this is the way to go, you should just keep quiet.

The dangerous dimension to the Rivers’ problem is that it has escalated to the whole of the South-South. The other governors in the zone see it that someone doesn’t like the President; that he wants to become the vice president and that is why he is causing problems.

Right from 2011, most northerners seem to be against President Jonathan, and some of them have come out to warn him against running for second term in 2015...

It is not true. The North is not against President Jonathan because there are wellrespected northern leaders, the media may not know, who are supporting him.

What do you make of the actions and utterances of some Northern elders like Prof. Ango Abdullahi, and the five northern governors allegedly planning to cross over to another party if the PDP presents Jonathan in 2015?

The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), led by Prof.

Abdullahi, is just an interest group, which is pursuing what I see as their view of Northern interest. But there are other groups, which are against them in the same North.

So, Abdullahi is not speaking for the North?

I doubt if he speaks for the North because the political parties are the only recognised institutions through which one can present oneself for an election and not through non-governmental organisations like the NEF or NGF. Ango Abdullahi and his group cannot organise any primary to nominate a candidate for the polls. They can only aggregate their views and channel them through a governor of their choice.

Some other political leaders in the North insist that the presidency must return to the region.

What is your impression on this?

Some people in the North want the presidency to come back to the region in 2015, but at the same time, others are saying there is nothing wrong in allowing President Jonathan to complete his eight years, for fairness.

Allowing Jonathan another four years will not

take anything away from the North. Mind you, the region has produced about eight or nine former Heads of State of this country and it did not take away poverty from the North.

We should not be talking as if the North has never had any president. We have had about eight or nine presidents; yet, all the poverty, illiteracy, and crises are in the North.

So, if the previous eight or nine leaders, who are northerners, did not make any difference, is it the remaining years of Jonathan’s tenure that will kill the North?

In other words, the five Northern governors going round the country and meeting some statesmen pose no threat to Jonathan’s second term ambition?

I have told you that the PDP was deliberately formed to engineer national unity and integration, as well as democratic order, which no one can derail. I don’t see any of the governors leaving the PDP. I want to assure you that someone like Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State will never leave the PDP. He has been a consistent and very loyal member of the party and I think that he has not gotten like-minds outside the PDP. Does that mean there is no Northern agenda even within the PDP against Jonathan’s ambition?

This is a democracy; so, the PDP, as a party, will not suppress the aspiration of anyone. But we should realise that the PDP has a sitting President and if Jonathan says that he wants to seek a second term, there is no way the party will say no because there are several advantages for a party if a sitting President says he will like to seek another term, which he is entitled to.

If the President says he will seek another term, most of us will support him because it would be very unwise, even for the PDP, to bring out another person while Jonathan is still sitting in the Aso Villa. How will you force him to support the new candidate?

Do you support the right of first refusal advocated by the Chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih?

It will be a matter of consensus by the leadership of the party. So, let the time come; we will take a decision on that.

I am a very loyal and committed member of the PDP and I am also a member of the BoT and Chief Anenih is my chairman. So, I wouldn’t want to contradict him in any way.

In all these, what is the way out for the North?

Gen T.Y Danjuma, our highly respected statesman, has told our Northern elite that the North needs to plan very well. He also said the North needs to work very hard and also relate better and talk less.

If you ask me, the North needs another four years to plan, to relate better, to work hard and create a programme so that this Boko Haram crisis, Jos crisis and so on will be settled.

And we should search for and groom a leader from the North, who will unite the region and at the same time give Nigeria a very good leadership. But you can’t do this in a crash programme. And all these cannot be done with the governors going up and down.

Would you dismiss the threat posed by the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC)?

The APC is really a hurricane warning for the PDP. But if you get a hurricane warning, you will take precautions to mitigate the damage.

The APC is a hurricane warning but we will take care of it before it comes.

How will the PDP do this with all the progressives in the APC? I don’t know why they picked the name ‘progressives’ because there are more progressives in the PDP than in the APC. Most of the progressives we know are in the PDP; so, I advise that they should do away with the words, ‘All Progressives,’ as there are no progressives in that party.

The odds favour the PDP ahead of the 2015 elections, as politics is a game of number.

While the new party can boast of only 11 governors, the PDP has 23 in its fold and Nigerians, who are much wiser politically, will look very

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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TheMetroSection Residents seek better security as robbers kill one in Meiran

By Toyosi Ajayi ESIDENTS of Meiran community, a Lagos suburb, have called on police authorities in the state to beef up security in the area as armed robbers have truned the community into a battlefield of sorts.

The call is coming on the heels of a bloody robbery attack on Saturday night which led to the killing of a middle-aged man hailed from Ekiti State.

Speaking on the robbery incident, an eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Kazeem told The Guardian that on Saturday, August 10, at 2.20 am, about 20 armed robbers invaded Usman Adebayo Street, breaking into houses and dispossessing residents of o vandals.

He added that the robbers operated for almost two hours unhindered as the police in the Meiran Station did not re…. to the several distress calls made across to them as the bandits operated.

He added that the police’s response

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was that the patrol vehicle was faulty and could not be used to counter the robbery operations, but said “we were surprised that that so-called faulty vehicle was the one used to convey the corpse of the victim later in the day.

Another resident Mr Adebola Oke, said that the victim was killed when he ran out to seek reinforcement from Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) members in the neighbourhood. He was shot on the neck by one of the robbers who hid at a corner in the besieged street.

He added: “For about three months now, robbers have literally taken over Meiran, terrorizing innocent residents on near daily basis. We appeal to the State Police Command to come to our aid by beefing up security in the area.

The police here seem to be overwhelmed as they look incapable of effective policing.All we see are policemen mounting road blocks at Meiran -Ile-Iwe-Ajasa junction haManko rassing motorists”.

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their set of triplets in grand style at the Redeemed Christian Church of God. The triplets named Prince Emmanuel Ebubechukwu Ezeh, Princess Mirabel Christiana Onyekachi Ezeh and Prince Lawrence

Prince Lawrence Ezeh (left), his wife and triplets.

hold its luncheon party on September 12, 2013 at Trans-Corp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

EPUTY Commissioner of D Police (DCP) Taiwo Lakanu’s twin brother, Ke-

Uchechukwu Ezeh were dedicated at the RCCG Kings Palace, GRA in Port Harcourt by Pastor Soji Oni, the provincial pastor. The triplets came after 23 years of childlessness in marriage.

The church service, which was graced by a mammoth crowd, was succeeded by a colourful and well-attended reception at the Grace Events place at Evo road in GRA, Port Harcourt.

An elated Prince Ezeh said he and his wife were extremely grateful to God for finding them worthy of the triplets, (two boys and a girl) who have continued to be a source of joy since their arrival, adding: “The triplets are perfect and wonderful gift from God, they represent an amazing blessing to their parents, they are lovable, delightful and adorable and I must confess we are enjoying every moment of their existence”.

He also spoke on the dedication saying it was scriptural, “Baby Dedication is a time for parents to publicly commit themselves to the Godly rearing of their children” he said, and thanked God for the gift of the triplets.

Acknowledging the challenges associated with triplets during infancy, Princess Lina Ezeh mother of the triplets said there are always challenges but the joy normally outweighs the challenges, “no matter the challenges, our joy is what counts,” she said.

Photonews

Global Supply Chain Leader GE Africa, Phil Griffith (left); Chairman, Pieman Enterprises Ltd, Dr. Emmanuel Nyong and CEO/President General Electric Nigeria, Lazarus Angbazo, during General Electric’s Supplier Fair in Calabar.

OVERNMENT College G Ughelli Old Boys Association (GCUOBA) will

Police Chief loses twin brother

Couple dedicates triplets born after 23-year marriage T was all jubilation for Prince Lawrence Ezeh, a royal Prince of Mburubu Kingdom, in Nkanu East LGA of Enugu state, an oil/gas business mogul and his wife Princess Lina Onyekachi Ezeh when they recently dedicated

Briefs GCUOBA luncheon party

A cross section of participants at the Hyundai Construction Equipment Technical Support programme organized by Mikano International Limited in Lagos… recently.

hinde Lakanu is dead.

Lakanu, a United States of America based businessman died at the high brow St. Nicholas Hospital after a brief illness. The late Kehinde is identical to his twin brother, Taiwo, who is second-in-command at the Delta State Police Command and was the former Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun.

Lakanu who broke the news to The Guardian on telephone amidst grief said his twin brother was the Managing Director of Global Resources International Limited.

“He is survived by wife and children. Funeral arrangements will be announced later,” he said

Lakanu

Church celebrates 20th anniversary HE 20th Anniversary / thanksgiving celebrations of Doulos Ministries tagged: Prayer & Praise Convention 2013. Theme: “Higher Ground” will hold from August 26 -September 1 at 7am and 5pm daily. The event will take place at the Impact Institute, Oremeji Bus Stop, Km 37, Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, Ibafo, Ogun State.

Founder of Doulos Ministries Dr. Charles Achonwa who doubles as chief host stated that this is 20 years of God’s faithfulness in the ministries and in the lives of members of DM. Other anointed ministers expected at the programme include Apostle Sunday Popoola (President World Comm, Ibadan) Pastor Oluwatomisin (Doulos Ministries host) and Lady Evang.

Bukola Akinade (Senwele Jesu) will also be in attendance to entertain the guests.

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METRO 13

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Photonews

Ikorodu community protests against killing, raping by land-grabbers

Church opens food bank for the poor in Warri

By Wole Oyebade

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From Chido Okafor, Warri PROJECT that would assist the A poor and hungry children have at least three meals a day has been launched by the Christ Embassy Church, in Warri, Delta State.

The project according to the Warri zonal pastor of the church, Pastor Siji Dara, first took off in poor areas of Lagos where majority of the hungry children live and were successfully fed and given free education. He added that the project would gradually move to “every nook and crannies of the country.”

He said the food bank project is specially designed to cater for children who cannot afford to go to school and who have given up hope to get education – as pupils get free food supplies, books and tuition.

A non-governmental organization, Innercity Mission for Children, a humanitarian movement started many years ago, is driving the food programme in partnership with Christ Embassy Declaring open the Food Bank project in Warri, Pastor Dara said different food items collected from well-meaning Nigerians would be donated to the Innercity Mission which in turn would properly channel them to needy children in poor Niger Delta communities and invariably to all corners of Nigeria.

Navy trains personnel on conflict-response, sexual abuse in Lagos

Group Managing Director, Odua Group of Companies, Mr. Adebayo Jimoh (second left); Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi; his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; and Commissioner for Integration and Intergovernmental Affairs, Ekiti State, Mr. Funminiyi Afuye, with a group of children, during a visit by the governors to the newly commissioned Shoprite outlet, in Ibadan, Oyo State... recently.

Kidnapers reduce demanded ransom for Edo teachers From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin WO weeks after three primary school teachers were kidnapped by gunmen in their school premises in Benin City, the kidnappers for the second time have slashed the ransom placed on them to N7.5 million.

The teachers, Patience Osadolor, Momodu Aisha and Patience Oroghene—were reportedly abducted at gunpoint, in Orhogbua Primary School, Ekenwan village, during school hours.

The kidnappers had initially placed a ransom sum of N60 million on the three women but later reduced it to N5 mil-

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Pupils of Achievers School during their end of session party in Lagos.

By Odita Sunday O fewer than 60 naval personnel, including Ratings, were yesterday subjected to special training for prevention and response to conflict and sexual abuse.

Declaring the week-long programme open in Lagos, the Flag Officer Commanding (GOC), Naval Training Command, Rear Admiral Levi Ajuonu said the training was part of the vision of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba.

Ajuonu said that the seminar, which drew participants from different naval formations Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Steve Evans (left); Manager, Special Projects, Etisalat Nigeria, Zainab across the country, was geared Abiola; R&B Singer, Seyi Shay and Director, Retail Sales, Etisalat Nigeria, Charles Ogunwuyi, at the Lagos edition towards addressing issues of of Etisalat Cloud 9 Music Platform, held at Villa Meddici, Victoria Island, Lagos… at the weekend. civilian protection and ensuring professionalism in all aspects of naval training.

According to him, Officers and Ratings would be exposed to the United Nations standard on best practices in the protection of civilians, in peace support operations, in internal security as well as international legal dimension.”

He noted that the Nigerian Navy would no longer work in isolation in the creeks, adding that, the organization was equally involved in operations at crisis prone areas like Plateau, Borno and Bauchi states.

Ajuonu stated that it has become extremely necessary for officers to be trained on how to handle civilians in such operations, noting that the UN has made several provisions to improve the status of naval men.

“It is noteworthy that from the inception of your respective sojourn in the navy, you have undergone several training programmes aimed at imparting and sharpening your skills to efficiently discharge your responsibilities.”

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O fewer that 120 residents of Oke Ogbodo community area of Ikorodu staged a peaceful walk yesterday at the Lagos State House of Assembly, in protest of the activities of land grabbers, who allegedly killed a landlord, rape minors and constitute nuisance to the once peaceful community.

Some of the protesters indeed shed tears to register their helplessness in the hands of the hoodlums, popularly called Ajagungbale.

Written on their placards, displayed at the Assembly Complex, were: “BRF, give us peace in Oke Ogbodo,” “We’re tired of Omo onile,” “No more Ajagungbale,“ among others.

In a letter of protest signed by the acting Chairman, Olalekan Lasisi, it was alleged that the community had been peaceful before the nefarious activities of the hoodlums, who on a daily basis issue threats, harass and

vandalize residents’ properties, which recently led to the death of a landlord. It was gathered that the land-grabbers are bent on evicting the current residents from the land they had legally acquired.

The letter addressed to the State governor, read: “On August 12, 2013, one of our landlords was shot dead. Also recently, a resident, Owolewa Afolabi was shot on the back but was rushed to a General Hospital in Agbowa,” the letter read in part.

Lasisi explained that there were a number of occasions that the land speculators would come in broad daylight, cart away people’s belongings and at times, arm-twist them to dispossess people of their money.

The group also alleged that the land-grabbers were fond of threatening to kidnapp whenever they were challenged, adding that they would make the community un-inhabitable for all.

lion last week.

A top official in the Edo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), made the disclosure yesterday stating that the kidnappers communicated their resolve to drop the ransom from N5 million each to N2.5 million to the husband of one the kidnapped women.

There have been worries about the safety of the victims as one of their husbands informed that his wife was weeping profusely when she was made to speak with him on phone, begging him to raise the money so that she would not lose her life.

TheGuardian

14 | THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

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 Forgery in the temple of justice HE report that the National Judicial Council (NJC) has recommended the T removal of the Acting Chief Judge of Abia State, Justice Shadrack Nwanosike for allegedly falsifying his age, is an embarrassment that raises more worries over the gradual erosion of all oasis of decency in Nigeria. It is yet another terrible blow to the image of the judiciary to which much has been entrusted and from which much is expected.

Those who are familiar with the phenomenon may want to rationalise the conduct of the Chief Judge by saying that falsification of actual age is a common occurrence in the public service of Nigeria and that His Lordship is just a victim of circumstances. But should people continue to do the wrong thing all the time or allow the wrong thing to become the norm in the society?

To become a Judge, one is expected to be a person of proven integrity whose life-style is exemplary. He or she must not be found in the place of ordinary mortals, neither must he walk in the ways of mere men. The personality must be a veritable bastion of uprightness and repository of morals.

This can be the only reason why a judge alone is addressed by all and sundry as “My Lord”. As Hon Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, retired justice of Supreme Court once admonished, “the judicial office is not an office of profit but an office of honour... Being an Honourable Justice, do not do anything dishonourable.” Justice Anthony Aniagolu, another retired justice of the Supreme Court put it more succinctly: “You cannot therefore deflect from the right path of rectitude and say you are representing God. A man sitting on the Bench is representing God directly …No person who is corrupt should ever sit on the Bench representing Almighty God”. Against this background, what justification will a judge have to be involved in the falsification of his age?

The truth is that the judiciary is also caving in to the moral decadence, which is ravaging Nigeria.

Like every other institution in the country, it has allowed its ranks to be infiltrated by wrong persons and undesirable elements. Just like other persons, judges have been caught collecting bribe from litigants to pervert justice. Not a few have been given the boot on this score alone. And now for a judge to be allegedly involved in falsification of age reduces their stature to an all-time low. Thanks, however, to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Aloma Mukhtar who has been doing a lot to sanitise the judiciary.

But the Chief Justice may have to do more to give Nigeria a judiciary that has integrity, attitude and character. Nigerians are waiting for the day when erring judges are treated in accordance with the laws of the land. To say that what obtains at present is a situation where they are treated with kid gloves is to say the obvious. Every person deemed to have committed a crime shall be made to face the full wrath of the law. What amounts to a crime and the treatment to be given to offenders are clearly spelt out in the various penal legislations that abound in the country. The question is: are erring judges treated in accordance with the laws of the land?

What the law contemplates is that an offender should be handed over to law enforcement agencies for prosecution for the offence he has committed.

None of these legislations exempts any cadre of state officials except those who enjoy immunity virtue officii. In other words, there is no reason a judge accused of collecting bribe or in any way involved in corrupt or criminal practices should not be handed over to law enforcement agents for prosecution, particularly when prima facie evidence has been established against him or her. This has been the lot of other arms of government whose officers are tried from time to time for offences allegedly committed by them. At present, the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly is standing trial at the Federal High Court just as a one-time Senate president had also been charged for corruption. The same goes for former governors and ministers, even if many of the cases are pursued in less-than-rigorous a manner.

It will however serve the cause of justice and the integrity of the judiciary better if judicial officers are insulated from the embarrassment, shame and indignity inherent in criminal prosecution. The best way to achieve this is to ensure that only the right persons are appointed to the Bench. This calls for proper scrutiny. It is not enough to meet the basic requirement of being a lawyer for 10 years; it is also important to determine what kind of lawyer he had been as a practitioner. This was what Oputa had in mind when he said: “If you want honesty and integrity at the Bench, you start from the Bar”. And Aniagolu said, “I believe that only those worthy of being appointed should be appointed. Those not worthy should be put by the side immediately”.

Impeccable character and integrity are important virtues to consider in appointing judges.

LETTER

On Kudirat and Trayvon I am NOT a lawyer to be SandIR:ableillegality to argue the legality of the two landmark judgments that have sparked spontaneous reactions across the U.S. and Nigeria. However, in the case of Kudirat, one must ask in the light of the verdict of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria: “Who killed Kudirat”? And wasn’t Al-Mustapha the head of Abacha’s terror machine? It is one thing to say that in the spirit of national reconciliation, as was in post-Apartheid South Africa and post-genocide Rwanda, Al-Mustapha should be forgiven; it is another thing entirely to say that he

I don’t think we can say for certain yet whether it is Jonathan or the opposition or the political elite as a whole deciding that it is time to put Abacha’s era and its monstrosities to sleep.

Unfortunately, by letting AlMustapha to just walk away without at least making him apologize to the nation as well as reveal the inner workings of Abacha’s terror operations, we would never know how those great heroes of June 12 who paid the ultimate price lost their lives.

has no case to answer. Who killed Kudirat and who was in charge of Abacha’s terror machine that held the entire nation hostage during the reign of Abacha? Even the second-in-command in that government was not spared.

I don’t think we can say for certain yet whether it is Jonathan or the opposition or the political elite as a whole deciding that it is time to put Abacha’s era and its monstrosities to sleep. Unfortunately, by letting Al-Mustapha to just walk away without at least making him apologize to the nation as well as reveal the inner workings of Abacha’s terror operations, we would never know how those great heroes of June 12 who paid the ultimate price lost their lives.

Kudirat Abiola – absent! Shehu Yar’Adua – absent! Pa Alfred Rewane – absent! Bagauda Kaltho – absent! Pa Abraham Adesanya – miraculous escape from a hail of bullets! Alex Ibru – escaped from a hail of bullets, lost an eye, and probably died before his time because of injuries sustained from the botched assassination attempt, and so many unknown “soldiers” and unsung heroes who simply disappeared from the time the annulment of the election was announced, and for these reasons, I could only wish that AlMustapha would celebrate his freedom in quietness and

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o b r i e t y .

I am shaking my head too over the Zimmerman verdict.

Didn’t the police officer that responded to Zimmerman’s call ask him to keep away from Trayvon and wait for the police to handle the situation? In disobeying the officer’s order, did Zimmerman not put himself above the law as well as make himself culpable for whatever happened to him afterwards?

Zimmerman says that he was afraid for his life because after he accosted Trayvon, Trayvon wrestled him to the ground and started banging his head on the pavement.

Wasn’t Trayvon afraid for his life? In that struggle, Zimmerman is saying that Trayvon was having the better of him and Trayvon is not around to tell his side of the story.

Was the encounter avoidable? Yes! An officer of the law asked Zimmerman to stay away. If in the interim Trayvon had wandered into a house in the neighbourhood and began to rob it or shoot it up, Zimmerman would have been justified to take action.

But, no, the teenager was peacefully walking home and without even the slightest hint of a disorderly conduct.

His death was totally unnecessary.

• Israel Jimmy, Port Harcourt.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

15

Business Appointments P31 Weakening grip of labour on negotiations

Nigeria’s 2012 petroleum exports valued at N15.1 trillion

By Roseline Okere HE Organisation of T Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has put the value of Nigeria’s petroleum exports in 2012 at $94.64 billion (N15.1 trillion).

OPEC in its Yearly Statistical Bulletin for 2012 released at the weekend put the country’s value of export at $142.52 billion and value of import at $35.71 billion.

According to OPEC: “Nigeria’s natural gas exports increased from 25,941 million standard cubic feet in 2011 to 28,266 million standard cubic in 2012, representing nine per cent increase from the previous year.

It disclosed that Nigeria’s natural gas gross production increased from 84.004 million standard cubic feet (mscf) in the previous year to 84.845 mscf in the year under review.

The country marketed gas production was put at 42.571 mscf; flared 13.182 mscf; reinjected 20.520 mscf and had shrinkage of 8.573 mscf in 2012.

The report said that the country produced 1.954 million barrels per day of crude oil in 2012, representing a decrease of one per cent from the 1.974 mpd it recorded in the previous year.

Also, in its August monthly report released at the weekend, Africa’s oil production is anticipated to increase by 80 tbpd in 2013 to 2.39 mbpd, unchanged from the previous month.

It added that despite the steady state, there were minor upward and downward revisions that offset each other.” In Africa, oil production from South Sudan and Sudan and Ghana is seen to experience yearly growth while supply from other countries is seen to either remain flat or decline”.

The report added: “Total OPEC crude oil production averaged 30.31 mbpd in July, was down by 0.10 mbpd from the previous month. Crude oil output from Libya and Iraq fell, while production increased from Saudi Arabia.

According to secondary sources, OPEC crude oil production, not including Iraq, stood at 27.34 mbpd in July, a drop of 0.05 mbpd over the previous month.

“Preliminary figures indicate that global oil supply increased by 0.08 mbpd in July to average 89.95 mbpd.

Non-OPEC supply saw growth of 0.17 mbpd, while OPEC crude production decreased by 0.10 mbpd. The share of OPEC crude oil in global production remained steady at 33.7 per cent.

“The demand for OPEC crude in 2013 is forecast to average

29.9 mbpd, almost unchanged from the previous report and 0.4 mbpd lower than in the year before.

In 2014, demand for OPEC crude has experienced a slight change since the previous report to stand at 29.7 mbpd. This represents a decline of 0.3 mbpd compared to the year before.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA), trimmed its outlook for oil demand over the next 18 months and highlighted threats to the dominance of OPEC. The IEA said that new data on the difficulty the global economy is having in picking up speed meant that demand for oil would grow by slightly less than it had foreseen in July.

The agency said that it was trimming its forecast for growth of global oil demand this year by 30,000 barrels per day to 895,000 barrels per day because the International Monetary Fund had lowered its forecast for growth of the global economy from 3.3 percent to 3.1 percent.

The IEA also reported that output by Iraq fell below three million bpd for the first time for five months and exports were expected to

plunge by about 500,000 bpd from September owing to work on infrastructure at southern ports.

It also spotlighted violence, unrest or tension in Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt and Syria.

The IEA said. “Many com-

mentators are questioning its implications for the future of OPEC. It would have to cut its supplies under pressure from shale oil “unless falling prices curb shale oil production first.

“But at the moment, Opec’s

theft and pipeline damage that has led to an estimated annual loss of 60 kbpd and caused massive environmental problems, Nigeria’s largest producer Shell plans to invest $1.5 billion on a new pipeline.

Director, Youth and Ent- Buy Naija, Romeo Nyamatsa (Left); Chairman- PMT - Buy Naija, William Otabil; Chairman- Zinox Goup, Leo Stan Ekeh; Vice-Chairman PMT - Buy Naija, Dr. (Mrs.) Kate Okpareke; Communications Consultant - Zinox, Echika Ezuka and Director, HCD & Research - Buy Naija, Williams Eze, at the Zinox/Buy Naija meeting in Lagos.

Shell targets new oil wells from Bonga expansion

By Sulaimon Salau

• As production hits 450 million barrels

HE Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has confirmed the development of Bonga Phase II and Bonga North West, which are expected to involve drilling of 19 new wells in the Oil Mining Lease 118 (OML 118).

The oil multinational, in its latest briefing notes, said other potential projects like Bonga South West Aparo and Bonga North are in progress to further optimize the development of the OML 118, otherwise known as Bonga block.

It stated: “Shell Nigerian Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) is currently executing the Bonga Phase II and Bonga North West Developments, which will involve drilling an additional 19 wells that will allow the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) to operate at full capacity for longer.”

However, the company estimated that Bonga has produced about 450 million barrels as at December 2012.

Shell began to produce oil and gas at Bonga, located in 120 kilometer offshore Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea in November 2005. The proj-

ect, which was known as the nation’s first deep water, increased Nigeria’s oil capacity by 10 per cent.

Bonga lies in water depth of 1,000 meters across an area of 60 square kilometer. It has the capacity to produce more than 200,000 barrels per day(bpd) and 150 million standard cubic feet of gas a day (scfpd).

The Country Chairman, Shell Companies In Nigeria and Managing Director, SPDC, Mutiu Sunmonu, said Bonga has set new standards for the Nigerian energy industry, although he berated the continued oil theft in the Niger Delta region.

He said: “As a Nigerian, and one who has spent a great deal of my career in the Niger Delta, my greatest immediate concern is the issue of crude oil theft, which is an increasingly dangerous menace.

“The volume currently being stolen is the highest in the last three years, with over 60,000 barrels per day from SPDC facility alone.

This is a huge loss, and the effects of this industrial scale theft are devastating for both the people and the environment.

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main problem is “in bringing production to market”.

Opec’s production last month “was down 1.1m bpd on the year” mainly owing to “domestic developments in some member countries” “In an effort to reduce oil

“Most of the stolen crude makes its way into the international market and a smaller percentage is refined locally, with thick smoke from illegal refineries lining the shore in many parts of the delta. The land, shorelines and water are heavily polluted with oil as a result of these activities. This is a crisis situation because the solution is beyond the capacity of any individual company. Our concern is that, if these activities continue at this rate, the effect would be devastating, not only to the social and environmental structure of many areas of the Niger Delta, but also to Nigeria’s economy,” he lamented.

Shell noted that sabotage and crude theft resulted into spill of about 24,545 barrels from its facilities in 152 incidents, an average of about one spill daily, accounting for about 95 per cent of the spilled volume in 2012.

Spills due to operation causes were estimated at about 1,359 barrels. However, a total of 17,726 barrels (68 per cent of the total volume spilled) were recovered during the period.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

16 BUSINESS

NEITI assures of credibility of audit report

By Sulaimon Salau HE Nigeria Extractive T Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report, has assured of the credibility of the audit report, faulting the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) of making strange misplaced and unfortunate statement.

A statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, by the Director, Communications, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said: “Our audit process is built strongly on factual data, integrity and openness because it is both “covered entities and multi-stakeholders - driven”.

Therefore the credibility of our report remains solid and one that can be taken to the bank”.

The NEITI’s 2009-2011 audit report on the oil and gas sector, released last week had, recommended that the PPPRA should remit N4.423 billion, arising from “overrecovery’’ collected to the Federation Account for the period in review.

But, the Executive Secretary of PPPRA, Reginald Stanley, faulted the audit report claiming that the NEITI’s report “is steeped in inaccuracies and gross misrepresentation of facts.

“The report has glaring potential to mislead the public and further cast aspersions on the activities of the PPPRA as a key administrator of the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF),” Stanley stated.

Orji, however said: “NEITI stands by its report. All the companies and government agencies covered by the independent audit including the PPPRA were fully involved and participated actively in the audit process from conception and design of audit templates, through the population of the templates with information and data to the stage of data and information, reconciliation and validation exercise.

“Besides all the companies and agencies including the PPPRA ‘signed off’ on the report before it was published.

“The response by PPPRA is therefore strange misplaced and unfortunate. We do not understand what PPPRA means by ‘secondary data’.

We doubt if the Executive Secretary of PPPRA received adequate briefing from his team who worked directly with NEITI on the project. I therefore think that the time has come for an important agency like the PPPRA to develop time and interest to ensure that its management understands how NEITI / EITI process works.”

He said the NEITI Secretariat is already providing this enlightenment to the management and staff in other agencies and companies covered by NEITI mandate. This enlightenment is necessary for shared -learning, and exchange of ideas to build common understanding and knowledge of the process and benefits with a view to reducing interagency friction.

He stressed: “For avoidance of doubt, NEITI audit process is simpler, uniquely different

from the usual audit that the Executive Secretary of PPPRA is used to. The audit report is based on information and data primarily, voluntarily but mandatorily provided to NEITI by PPPRA during the

audit exercise. NEITI) under the EITI global principles and standards does not manufacture either information or data. Our audit process is built strongly on factual data, integrity and openness

because it is both “covered entities and multi-stakeholders - driven”. Therefore the credibility of our report remains solid and one that can be taken to the bank.”

Dangote eyes more jobs via petro-agric business RESIDENT of Dangote P Group, Aliko Dangote has said that his foray into petrochemical and agric incustrial sub sector was part of his own contribution to reduce unemployment in the country, saying if more Nigerians are economically empowered through gainful employment, the poverty would have been reduced to a minimal level.

Dangote who has ventured into the construction of refinery and estabilishment of fertilizer plants in parts of the country, said at the weekend that the task of reinvigorating the nation’ s economy rests more on the shoulders of the private sector and urged other investors to lend government a helping hand in this direction.

According to him, the task of government is more of providing the enabling environment for the private sector to thrive through the right policies and infrastructural provisions.

He stated that he was optimistic that the present federal government was already focusing on those issues that would help the private sector perform optimally as enshrined in the

transformation agenda of president Goodluck Jonathan.

Speaking while addressing members of a business group who paid him a visit in his office at the weekend, Dangote said no government anywhere has ever succeeded without the input of the private sector.

He then commended the federal government by listening to the private sector and intervening in the critical areas of attention such as the backward integration policy which started with the cement sector but now being extended to agriculture as found in the ingredient substitution in the making of bread, sugar and in some other subsector of the economy.

Dangote still urged the government not to relent in helping the organised private sector by intervening in other areas of their operations in which the inclement climate under which they operate has hampered them from attaining installed capacities.

“Good enough, Dangote said, Nigeria has the resources and the market for any company to survive, only in few other areas government should intensify efforts to ensure to make the sector attractive to investors.

“I have always said it that Nigeria is a good place to invest. We have all in abundance. God has bless this

country, what we have naturally in abundance is what other countries are looking for to buy”, he stated.

Dangote said he is very optimistic of Nigerians economic revival through the private sector noting that the current challenges facing the country will soon be a thing of the past.

He appealed to Nigerians to contribute their own quota by always doing what is right and adequately paying their taxes as part of their own contribution to the growth and development of the country, while urging the citizenry not to be discouraged by various challenges facing the nation stating that, they are necessary steps needed for the nation to rank among the best industrially in years to come.

Dangote Group, he promised, will invest more in Nigeria, create more jobs as he has an unwavering faith in the nation’s economy, pointing out that all his investments would be tailored towards job creation for gainful employment so as to alleviate poverty among the people.

The President of the pan African conglomerate, who is a member of the National Economic Management Team stated that what Nigerians need most presently is economic empowerment and that it is only a working population that can add value to the nation’s economy

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IITA partners private sector for ‘aflasafe’ delivery to rural farmers HE International Institute T for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is collaborating with the private sector to ensure that ‘aflasafe’ gets to rural farmers, says, Dr. Denis Kyetere, the Executive Director, African Agricultural Technology Foundation.

‘Aflasafe’ was developed by IITA in collaboration with Agriculture Research Service of the United States (U.S.) Department of Agriculture, University of Bonn and University of Ibadan.

It is a natural non-toxic technology that uses the ability of native atoxigenic strains of Aspegillus flava (the fungus that causes aflatoxin) to naturally outcompete their aflatoxin-producing cousins.

Aflatoxins are highly toxic cancer causing fungal agents known to cause immune-system suppression, growth retardation, liver disease and death in both human and domestic animals.

Kyetere told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday that the use of ‘aflasafe’ would reduce the level of aflatoxin contamination in maize and groundnut by 80 per cent to 90 per cent.

“Aflasafe is particularly effective as it addresses the aflatoxin fungus in the soil before it can contaminate the crop prior to harvest.

“Adapting and applying this technology in Africa can dramatically improve the health and livelihoods of millions of families while reducing com-

modity losses due to contamination.”

According to him, aflatoxin contamination can occur before harvest when the crop undergoes drought stress due to elevated temperatures at the grain filling stages and when wet conditions occur at harvest periods.

“Contamination also occurs when there is insect damage, delayed harvesting and high moisture levels during storage and transportation.

“Aspergillus flavus which produce these mycotoxins thrive under favourable conditions on a wide range of foods and feed such as maize and groundnuts,” he explained, adding that it is a worldwide problem.

According to Kyetere, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 25 per cent of the world’s food crops are affected while the Centre for Disease Control estimates that more than 4.5 million people in developing countries are exposed to aflatoxins.

He, however, observed that children below five years remained most vulnerable, as exposure causes stunted growth and immunity damage.

The executive director stressed that ‘aflasafe’ was produced to solve the endless list of problems that aflatoxin could cause in human and agricultural development and help in realising the goal of reducing hunger by 2015.

Diamond Bank, WWB collaborate on financial inclusion scheme

By Helen Oji S part of its commitment to A take banking services to the unbanked and under-banked segments of the Nigerian population, leading retail bank – Diamond Bank Plc – is working with officials of Women’s World Banking (WWB) to map out strategies on how to advance financial inclusion for these segments in the country.

Speaking at the press conference held in Lagos recently, the Executive Director, Diamond Bank Plc, Uzoma Dozie, said: “For us in Diamond, we are constantly looking at changing the way banking is done; to take the frontiers of banking beyond just saving money to empowering our customers.

We are also interested in ensuring that the unbanked and under-banked segments of the society – who are not properly serviced, are adequately catered for and there is no better way to do this than to partner with Women’s World Banking who has done this successfully in a number of countries.”

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, president and CEO of Women’s World Banking said that adding Nigeria to the 28 developing countries where the organisation works in providing access to finance to lowincome women is very exciting.

“We work around the world with financial institutions who see the financial and social value in delivering products for low income people, particularly women. Diamond Bank with its strong human resources and technological

capabilities is an excellent partner to help us reach the population who are unbanked & underbanked,” she said.

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Skye Bank restrategises for retail banking business

By Chijioke Nelson KYE Bank Plc may have Sretail enhanced strategy for the banking sector to attract the needed deposit and provide services to the Small and Medium Enterprises.

The move may be a general reaction in the banking industry against the recent measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to control liquidity in circulation.

The apex bank had increased Cash Reserve Requirement for public sector deposits to 50 per cent, which has taken effect with the debiting of banking system to the tune of N1 trillion, leaving the banks with lean resources for lending.

But Skye Bank said though financial institutions generally need the public sector fund,

the measure now presents the bank with opportunities to deepen its business positioning in retail business.

The bank’s General Manager, Retail Business, Arinola KolaDaisi, who made the disclosure, while speaking to journalists, explained that Skye Bank will now leverage on its presence in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to provide effective service in the segment.

“Well, the issue of the public sector fund is an important issue for all the banks. With the measure, it essentially reduces the amount that is available for lending and that is important for every bank.

“However, we operate in the investment banking public sector areas, but the drive for retail banking becomes even

more important for us than any other bank now, because it is something that we think we have been pursuing for the last five years.

“Since 2008, it is something that we have been trying to drive separately and we didn’t want it to be mixed with the commercial and merchant banking, with dedicated retail banking officers.

“Definitely, government is the biggest spender. So, we can never move out of public sector banking and there is no bank that is ready to move out banking the government in as much as the law still allows us to bank the government,” she said.

Also speaking on the opportunities at present, Kola-Daisi added: “Of course, the industry

Chief Executive Officer, Business School Netherlands Nigerian, Lere Baale (right) Registrar, Business School Netherlands, Yvette Baker her Chief Executive Officer, Juanita Bouwer and external examiner, Anthony Wilson at the briefing on the visit of BSN Executives to Nigeria.

PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

NSCDC parades suspected pipeline vandals From Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi, Jos LATEAU State Command of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) yesterday paraded five suspected pipeline vandals, three vehicles, two motorcycles, three drums of diesel as well as 86 jerry cans of diesel.

The State Commandant of NSCDC, Mr. Vincent Bature, who said the suspects were arrested at Kaskadi area of Bassa local government , a border village between Kaduna and Plateau States added that, “Through intelligence gathering and normal routine checking, our officers have arrested a team of pipeline vandals.

Though they are many, we are able to arrest five and the remaining now at large. These are people sabotaging the bridging of petroleum products from kaduna Refinery to Jos Deport”.

P

Bature said, “This neighbouring villages have become a safe haven to pipeline vandals and have been the major problems we are facing over vandalization in the state, but we are also working with Kaduna State Command in order to control the challenge”.

He added, “I am sounding a word of warning to the perpetrators and their accomplices to stop or face the wrath of the law, as we have intensified efforts with other security agencies to ensure the end of these problems”.

When interviewed, the gang leader, John Adi told journalists, “This is my first time of doing this thing, I am a farmer, and to get fuel we break the pipes with saw. It is my friends who specialize in breaking pipes that supply the fuel to the sellers and they have now run away”.

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Focus Gains, challenges of U.S.-Nigeria relations

By Bola Olajuwon HIS week, the state of Nigeria-United States T (U.S.) diplomatic relations will be once again under the searchlight at the level of their binational commission. The agreement establishing the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-national Commission was signed in Washington DC in 2010 by former U.S. Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton and then Secretary to the Federal Government (SSG) Yayale Ahmed. The bi-national commission is a strategic platform to help the two nations work together on issues of common concern and shared responsibility. The commission is one of the few that the U.S. established with its strategic partners globally. The formation of the current one with Nigeria is instructive owing to the influential position of the West African nation on global stage.

Even before the formation of the commission, officials of both countries always tout the importance of the existing relations connecting them at every diplomatic forum. This is hinged on the level of their diplomatic relations since it was formed in 1960, following Nigeria’s independence from the United Kingdom.

American envoys are of the believe that the U.S. is Nigeria’s greatest single trading partner even as the West African regional power is also undeniably its most important diplomatic partner on the continent with commercial transactions alone hitting over $40 billion in recent times.

The level of ties may also not be unconnected to Nigeria’s position as Africa’s largest producer of oil and second largest economy. Nigeria is also Africa’s most populous country, with more than 160 million people. Besides, the West African country is an influential actor in African politics, having mediated disputes in the continent and ranking among the top five troop contributors to United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions. Therefore, U.S. diplomatic relations with Nigeria – which is also among the top six suppliers of U.S. oil imports – have improved since the country successfully made the transition from military to civilian rule in 1999. Nigeria also is a major recipient of U.S. foreign aid.

While being salutary about Nigeria’s significant position in West Africa, Africa and the world at large, American government officials have not also shied away from the fact that the country also faces serious social, economic, and security challenges that have the potential to threaten its stability and that of the subregion.

These and other formidable challenges facing Nigeria in consolidating democratic order, including terrorist activities, sectarian conflicts, and alleged public mistrust of the government as well as alleged lack of political will to address corruption, poverty and ineffective social service systems, and lack of political power to mitigate the violence sometimes rock the boat of diplomatic tranquility between the two nations.

Moreso, the attempted terrorist attack on an American airliner by Farouk Abdumuttalab, a Nigerian in December 2009 and the rising attack by Boko Haram have heightened concerns about a purported extremist recruitment in Nigeria, which has one of the world’s largest Muslim populations. Boko Haram’s expanded ties with other violent groups, namely those operating in Mali and the Sahel, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is also a major concerns to American officials.

But the Federal Government and Nigerian diplomats saw U.S. positions on these issues as sometime exaggerated and out of tune with local reality and a way of America interfering in Nigeria’s internal affairs. To them, most of American negative positions are the usual stance of the U.S. as the global policeman.

However, while the Bi-national Commission meeting talks focus mostly on five key areas – good governance, transparency, and integrity; energy and investment; Niger Delta and

Jonathan

Obama

Corruption in Nigeria diverts financial resources from building roads and bridges and curtailing the development of infrastructure that is needed to make Nigeria more competitive. It drains the federal treasury of funds that could be channeled towards expanding and improving the education provided to millions of Nigerian children, which in turn would enhance Nigeria’s economic future. regional security; and agriculture and food security – other issues of mutual concern also feature during meetings.

While Nigeria has not come out to indicate the makeup of its delegation to the summit, the U.S. Government last week announced that Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, will lead its delegation in the Regional Security Cooperation Working Group meeting of Bi-national Commission. It also emphasised that participation in the commission meeting reflects the commitment of the United States to its critical bilateral relationship with Nigeria.

“The United States supports the aspirations of the Nigerian people for a peaceful, prosperous, stable, and democratic future. BNC meetings provide a venue for sharing ideas, perceptions, and best practices on matters of mutual concern, which are addressed in working groups, with this meeting focusing on regional stability and civilian security. The August 15 meeting will further define challenges of mutual concern to both nations, and outline joint responses for future partnership.

“The U.S. Government expresses in advance its gratitude to the Government of Nigeria for its friendship, cooperation, and hospitality on this occasion, and looks forward to productive talks,” the State Department said in a statement at the weekend.

Moreso, the U.S. Consul General in Lagos, Jeffrey Hawkins, as part of activities geared towards the Abuja talks, spoke with The Guardian in an interview at his office. He also exchanged views with members of the Nigerian civil society and opinion leaders at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos last Wednesday to take their positions on issues at stake.

At the two fora, the American diplomat confirmed that the U.S. Government maintains a limited number of Bi-national Commission relationships with nations demonstrating a high degree of friendship, trust, and cooperation. “As one of our most important partners

in Africa, Nigeria is one of those nations,” he said.

According to him, the BNC’s working groups have met periodically over the past three years in Abuja, Washington, and most recently in Port Harcourt last October, during the meeting on the Niger Delta Working Group, adding that this week’s meeting in Abuja will involve the Regional Security Working Group.

However, Hawkins declared that his home country was interested in seeing that Nigeria delivers on good governance and becomes an attractive place for business.

But the Consul General saw corruption, insecurity, lack of good governance and inadequate power generation among others as some of the challenges undermining everything that could move Nigeria towards a brighter economic future.

Emphasising that issue of corruption is a global problem, the U.S. diplomat asserted that corruption in Nigeria diverts financial resources from building roads and bridges and curtailing the development of infrastructure that is needed to make Nigeria more competitive.

“It drains the federal treasury of funds that could be channeled towards expanding and improving the education provided to millions of Nigerian children, which in turn would enhance Nigeria’s economic future. And corruption forestalls additional spending on medical clinics and preventive healthcare-spending that countless studies have shown reap long-term economic reward for a country when properly implemented,” Hawkins stated.

While recognising that fighting corruption is primarily a Nigerian problem that requires Nigerian solutions, he added that the U.S. Government is partnering with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to provide technical assistance in anti-corruption efforts as well as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to institute good governance.

On power generation, he asserted that apart

from supporting the President Goodluck Jonathan administration to ensure that the power sector reform is a success, Nigeria has also been named a focus country in President Barack Obama’s Power Africa Initiative, a project aims at doubling the number of subSaharan African households with access to electricity.

According to him, the U.S. is putting $7 billion of its money into the initiative as a way of incentivising the private sector to get involved – a move that has recorded over $9 billion in initial contribution from private companies with General Electric planning to invest $1 billion and Heirs Holding pledging $2.5 billion.

Also, in recognition of the role and sacrifices that Nigerian troops are making to ensure stability in West Africa and others, the envoy said the U.S. Government is investing considerable resources in providing cutting-edge equipment and specialised training for Nigeria’s peacekeeping units as well as include the nation in U.S. International Military Education and Training Programme.

Moreso, Hawkins said the balance of trade between Nigeria and the U.S. is now $40 billion while 1.5 million Nigerians live in the U.S. and an estimated 31, 000 U.S. citizens live in Nigeria.

Reacting to Hawkins’ address at NIIA, Associate Professor Fred Agwu, who represented his Director-General agreed that Nigeria has benefitted from the U.S. in the area of nation building.

He urged the U.S. to invest in Nigeria’s critical sectors, share intelligence with Nigerian security agencies, impose minimum strings to dealings with Nigeria as well as fight corruption and impunity.

Others dignitaries who included former Minister of Industry, Nike Akande, Dr. Joe OkeiOdumakin commended the consul for the forum as well as on the improved procedure of issuance of visa and courtesy now being accorded visa seekers.

Meanwhile, the focus on regional security is also important to the U.S. as it reopens diplomatic missions closed on August 4 over an AlQaeda security alert. Washington closed its 19 missions in the Middle East and Africa last week following a security alert.

Communications intercepts reportedly included an attack order from Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

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Bauchi farmers lament excessive rainfall ARMERS in Bauchi have expressed concern that the Fexcessive rainfall being recorded in the state, is retarding the growth of their crops.

Some of them who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Bauchi, said although rainfall was desirable, their crops had been having more than enough for the past two weeks.

They explained that crops like groundnut, beans, maize and tomatoes, needed some break from rainfall, to progress.

“This is the third time within 10 days that I will be planting

beans. The ones I planted earlier, did not germinate because of excessive rainfall.

From the look of things, even the ones planted last, may not survive,” complained Jarmai Madaki, a farmer in Fadaman Mada area of Bauchi.

Another beans farmer in Bauchi, Sadiq Ala’amin, described the situation as ‘alarming’, adding that if there were no change, poor harvest of some crops, particularly beans and maize, might be recorded this year.

A tomato farmer in MagamaGumau town of Bauchi, Audu Luka, said that his tomatoes that had already started producing flowers, were com-

Skye Bank restrategises CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 still has to start to look at it critically from another perspective. The retail banking segment is where you have the large number of customers, which also determines the aggregate money that you would be mobilised.

“We also look at the small and medium businesses, which are

very important. The number of Nigerians that are in the paid employment sector is not a huge proportion, as many are self-employed and even increasing. We would be encouraging young people to be entrepreneurial and selfemployed instead of waiting endlessly for jobs that may not materialise.”

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pletely destroyed by excessive rainfall.

“I had calculated that in two months time, I would start harvesting my tomatoes, but the plants rot away due to too much rainfall.

“I spent about N50,000 on the farm and have now given up any hope of breaking even.

The only crop that will survive this rainfall, is rice,” he said.

NAN Correspondent who visited some villages in the outskirts of Bauchi, namely Tirwun, Badaromo, Inkil and Dabe, reports seeing farmlands washed away by rainfall.

Usman Ali, a farmer in Badaromo, told NAN that his

groundnut farm was completely covered by flood in the first week of August.

“When the water finally drained, the damage had been done as the leaves turned yellowish. I am not sure of getting anything reasonable this year,” he lamented.

NAN observes that because of this development, some farmers who intended planting crops that detest excessive rainfall, have been forced to suspend planting for now.

“I am watching to see if there will be a change. If there isn’t, then I may have to plant rice instead of initial plan for beans,” stated Shuabu

Usman, a farmer in Inkil.

Commenting on the development in an interview with NAN, a Director with the Bauchi State Agricultural Development Programme, Malam Ja’afaru Ilela, said seeds normally need slightly warm temperature, to germinate.

“By the time there is excessive rainfall and the ground is cold, the seeds become dormant and if there is no change after some time, they will die off.

“My advice to farmers is that they should delay the planting of some of these vulnerable crops till the middle of August, when, hopefully, the

situation would have changed.

“But if the crops must be planted now, then I suggest they make ridges and plant on top of the ridges. These ridges will help drain excessive water for the seeds to have the desired temperature for germination,” he suggested The Federal Ministry of Environment had issued an alert, warning that heavy rainfall could be witnessed in some states, namely Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna, Sokoto, Kano, Zamfara, Kebbi, Bauchi, Katsina, Borno, Yobe, Gombe and Benue states.

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Stakeholders urge quick rehabilitation of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway OTORISTS on the LagosM Ibadan Expressway on Sunday appealed to the Federal Government to speedily rehabilitate and reconstruct the road to reduce transportation problems.

The motorists told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in

Lagos that they spent much time on the road due to its bad state.

A businessman, Dele Alabi, said that potholes on the road caused much traffic congestion. ``This road is still very bad; and nothing seems to have

been done.

An engineer in Sagamu, Ogun, Stanley Onwubiko, said that the pace of work on the highway was so slow. ``One expected that the reconstruction would have begun; President Goodluck Jonathan flagged it off almost

a month ago,” he said.

Another motorist, Taofeek Abdul, said that the bad portions of the road had made travelling on the expressway a `nightmare’.

He urged the government to expedite action on the road project.

A hairdresser in Magboro, Ogun, Mrs Lentena Obiora, also appealed for quick implementation of the road project.

However, a banker, Mrs. Rose Alhassan, told NAN that some bad portions of the road had been patched. ``Last week, we saw Julius

Berger, one of the contractors, filling the potholes, but the work has stopped,” she said.

She appealed to the Federal Ministry of Works to speed up actions on the road project.

Meanwhile, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos State, Oluwatoyin Obikoya, said that Julius Berger had begun rehabilitating the bad portions of the road.

Obikoya said that logistics was also being put in place by the construction company to begin reconstruction of the highway.

He told NAN that the contractor had been able to secure a site yard, and was building it for the take off of the reconstruction. ``Anybody who knows the road and has travelled on it recently will notice some improvements. ``We had a meeting with them (Julius Berger) that they should start work on the bad sections of the road. ``The company has started to free the road by putting stone base to make the road good. What I cannot confirm is where the contractor has reached, but the work will cover all the sections. ``That Julius Berger has not got to some sections of the road does not mean it is not

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Appointments Weakening grip of labour on negotiations

Wogu From Collins Olayinka, Abuja TO most Nigerians, the labour movement has assumed the position of ‘opposition party’ owing to its interventionist posture in protecting the collective interests of the working people.

The foundation on which the Late Pa Michael Imoudu, who is popularly referred to as ‘Labour Number 1’ within the movement; who in 1945 led the first national protest for ‘Cost of Living Allowance’ under the colonial masters laid this assumption.

Even through the dark days of military regimes, the labour movement stood firm organising protests after protests against policies that were deemed anti-people.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, the labour movement spearheaded by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their civil society groups’ organised protests rejecting various fuel price hikes.

All of these successes were hinged on ability of the two congresses to organise the unions that made up the two trade centres. As the saying goes within the labour movement that the unions remain the engine-room of congress as no centre has any members of its own except the unions’ members.

Indeed, there has been no protest, agitation or demand brought before government that congress did not have to rely on the unions.

Worryingly, this tradition is about to be broken no thanks to leadership of NLC that has failed to find a bearing with the tradition and historical antecedents.

As the National Assembly is rounding up debates and voting on constitutional amendment, labour may fail to achieve its key demands.

The demands are leaving the determination of minimum wage under the purview of federal government in the Exclusive legislative list, local government autonomy

Jonathan

Omar where both the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) hold parallel positions.

The first sign that the NLC may have lost its bearing began when it negotiated a flat N18, 000 minimum wage that was forced down the throats of state governments.

Going memory lane. In 2000 during the negotiation of minimum wage under the Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the NLC negotiated separately with state governments, which had complained of inability to pay the then N7, 500 minimum wage. Indeed, most northern state governments said that they could not pay and surprisingly, Akwa Ibom State, an oil producing state with 26,000 workforce under Obong Attah said that it could not implement the wage bill. This was during the on-shore off shore oil dichotomy debate. Indeed, NLC then negotiated the payment of N6, 600 with the state government.

The present minimum wage, which the NLC negotiated, was done during the electioneering campaign, which left the president no choice than to sign the bill into law and state governors could not say no because of the exigencies of the time, but rather for the labour movement to rely on historical antecedents on how negotiations and implementation had gone before then decided to savour the momentary euphoria.

Not only that the NLC failed woefully to persuade the lawmakers as to why the minimum wage law should not be moved to the concurrent legislative list, but it also flopped in providing the platform for both NULGE and NUT to present a win-win argument.

As it is now, both the NUT and NULGE, which are affiliates of the NLC are left to pursue their agenda individually, which has narrowed any

chance of victory.

It is even more surprising that the President of the NLC, Abdulwahed Omar, who is the immediate past President of the NUT has superintended over a congress that has failed to serve as a rally point at this crucial period.

The NLC and TUC insisted that the decision of the National Assembly to alter the constitution by moving minimum wage to the concurrent list is in bad taste and a move by governors to further pauperise the working poor especially workers at the state level and those working in the private sector of the economy.

The NLC president said: “The arguments of the now embattled Governors Forum flaunted during negotiations on the national minimum wage, which the Senators have now accepted hook line and sinker was that the setting of minimum wage by the federal government violated the principle of true federalism.

To all intent and purposes, this is ill informed and at best infantile. They have not only confused themselves with the need as representatives of the people to protect the most susceptible and defenseless workers, but also naively politicised the minimum wage with fiscal federalism. If fiscal or financial autonomy were the issue, private firms would not be brought under minimum wage laws anywhere in the world.

For example, the Senate needed to be educated that of 194 countries responding on the issue as at 2011, 173 have minimum wage regimes in line with global standards.

“It is apparent that the Senate had given in to pressures from selfish and selfserving state governors, of whom remnants of them could be found taking refuge in the Senate after looting state coffers and exploiting poor workers.

“While we are disappointed at the action of Senators to

encourage continued exploitation of workers and the Nigerian people, we are not surprised at the outcome of this ignoble exercise, as the

process unlike that of the House of Representatives was shrouded in secrecy, exclusivity and conspiracy. Even as the Senate ostensibly held a

one- day public hearing on the issue, neither the labour movement or critical stakeholders were officially invited.”

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34 APPOINTMENT

Stakeholder tasks govt on 30,000 jobs in oil mills industry

By Yetunde Ebosele HE influx of vegetable oil T into the country and alleged harsh policies guarding the industry is a major threat to thousands of jobs, Group Deputy Managing Director of Sunola Foods Limited, a subsidiary of Kewalram Chanrai Group, Victor Eburajolo, has said.

Already, not less than 25,000 out of the 30,000 direct jobs according to stakeholders in the sector have been lost to ‘unfavourable government policies’.

Eburajolo explained recently that Kano Oil Mills and few others have ceased to exist while Vegetable Oil Producers Association of Nigeria is facing several challenges.

Urging the Federal Government not to allow the sector to go the way of textile industry, Eburajolo said: “Not less than 25,000 jobs have been lost in the last few years because of unfavourable operating environment. At the peak, the industry employed over 30,000 direct jobs. But today, the sector cannot boast of 5,000 jobs.

“As a Nigerian, I am very worried because of the increasing growth of idle hands that ordinarily should contribute to the development and growth of the country, but are now being wasted and the unfortunate one become willing hands and tools for mischief and crimes.”

He accused the Federal Government of not doing enough to protect the companies despite its pledge to boost agriculture.

According to Eburajolo, the

Federal Government recently allegedly approved waivers to some companies to import vegetable oil into the country coupled with challenges being faced by indigenous producers such as cost of funds, power and cost of energy.

Explaining further, he said the Federal Government recently granted import duty waiver on products like oil from developed palm industry in Far East, adding that the development resulted in the inability of indigenous stakeholders to compete favourably.

“Seed price is now crashing as a result of serious uncertainty in the industry due to inability to compete with imported oil price. This will eventually result in farmers getting discourage which is contrary to the drive of the present government to transform agriculture”, he added.

Conducting journalists round the company factory, Eburajolo said imported vegetable oil face risk of being smuggled into the country with severe health implications to the consumers.

He said local vegetable oil is the best for consumption, pointing out that they are subjected to series of checks by regulatory bodies.

Despite various challenges in the industry, he said Sunola Foods Limited has managed to employ about 1,500 skilled and unskilled labour, support over 42,000 local farmers with source of income as well as support the cultivation of about 84,000 hectares of land for soya beans production.

He implored the Federal Government to save the oil mill industry from near extinction by imposing total ban on importation of finished products like vegetable oil into the country.

He also advised the Federal Government to support private sector by funding at minimal cost to help ability to store soya beans.

According to him, the industry is now under intense pressure due to unfavourable policies and policy summersaults and called for “total ban on importation of finished products like vegetable oil”.

He also called for improvement in infrastructure such as power, transportation especially railway among others.

He said: “We are compelled to generate 70 per cent of the electricity we use for production, and power cost using diesel generators (as currently practiced) is about 20 times more costly than power purchased from national grid. Diesel: fuel cost is multi-dimensional as it also affects power cost as well as cost of all activities that require diesel like very high logistics cost for evacuating finished products to customers spread all over the

country.

“Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO): Unavailability and high cost of LPFO makes it difficult to run some category of steam generating boilers, hence making the operations significantly more costly.

“COAL: Is a possible option for boiler fuel but practically unavailable though known to exist as untapped reserve.”

Eburajolo who spoke on sundry issues affecting the sector said: “Import duty waivers on products like oil and cake to compete with the already well developed palm industry in Far East, this resulted in the

inability to market favourably against such imported oil resulting to holding very huge combined stock of oil and DOC (oil for making cake) running over billion naira. Cost of funds is also a major burden considering the huge stock held. Seed price has now crashed as a result of serious uncertainty in the industry as a result of inability to compete with imported oil price. This will eventually result in farmers getting discouraged; this is contrary to the drive of the present government to transform agriculture.”

BATN donates N10m cottage industry to Cross River From Anietie Akpan, Calabar S part of measures to eradiA cate poverty and empower Nigerians in rural areas through agricultural development, the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation (BATN) has donated Palm Oil Processing Cottage Industry and Borehole with a 5,000 litres water storage tank worth N10 million to the people of Itigidi in Cross River State.

The Director, British American Tobacco Nigeria foundation, Mr. Freddy Messanvi, who was represented by the Executive Manager, Mrs. Soromidayo Jorge, in Abi Local Government Area (LGA), commissioned this project recently.

He explained that Itigidi was chosen based on series of dia-

logue with the Cross River State Fadama project and the realisation of the fact that the community has a comparative advantage in the production of palm fruits in large quantity.

He said: “I am happy to inform you that this cottage is the second of its kind to be commissioned and donated in Cross River State and the fifth in South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria by the BATN Foundation”.

The director explained that the Palm Oil Cottage Industry was fully equipped with necessary equipment to run a successful palm oil processing factory.

He added that the borehole was to provide adequate water for processing activities at the cottage industry and also be used by members of the community for domestic

purpose.

Messanvi pointed out the significance of the project as a way of eradicating poverty and providing jobs for youths in communities.

The director added, “the ease at which the harvested palm fruits will now be processed into palm oil will engender higher productivity which will ultimately culminate in higher product quality, income and better livelihood for members of the cooperative society and the entire community”.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and National Resources, Mr. James Aniyom, who was represented by the Director of Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Stephen Adie, said in his address that the success of the project was collaboration between Government and

Private Sectors as the second Agricultural project cited in Cross River, adding that it has also adopted the demanddriven participatory approach of the Cross River State Fadama III project.

Aniyom thanked BATN Foundation for donating such a hugged project to the people of Itigidi and charging other private sectors to emulate such gesture.

He further commended the community for providing a land used to build the factory, urging them to take proper cares of them.

In his words: “I would therefore appeal that in line with conditions for granting this project to you, to manage and supervise this project sustainably and continue to provide any other form of technical and administrative assistance to the cooperative”.

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Nigeria to host 4th world youth fellowship From Kanayo Umeh, Abuja T least 1, 000 youths from A different parts of the world including Nigeria, are expected at the 4th International Youth Fellowship (IYF) World Youth Camp holding in Abuja, from August 19 to 23, 2013.

According to the organisers, the event scheduled to hold at the NYSC Orientation Camp, Kubwa Village, Abuja, is designed to inspire the youths and change their orientation.

Speaking at a world news conference in Abuja, recently, Young Sun Ban, Nigeria Chapter president, IYF, a world-renowned non-government organisation with headquarters in South Korea, said that the purpose of the programme was to enrich and strengthen the hearts, minds and bodies of the youths participating in it.

According to him, the fiveday programme, which was organised in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, would also address youth-related problems in the world such as self-indulgence, deviation, drug abuse, alcoholism and crime, which occurred as a result of dearth of interest on issues that concern them.

“The youth problem is a constant phenomenon throughout the world; therefore, the IYF intervene to address precisely these youth related problems such as drugs addiction, deviation, cultism, violence and selfabuse.

“Many youths were negligently left to sin due to both lack of interest towards them and that of right leadership, but we believe that this camp holding in Nigeria will play a significant role in shaping their views as we expect that they will use every opportunity that comes their way through various activities during the period, to better their own lot and help build their countries,” Sun said.

He further stated that the mindset lecture and IYF academy would be opened for skills development acquisition where invited professional and guest lectures would give lectures on music, entrepreneurial skills, beads making, tie & die and foreign languages studies.

In her address earlier at the event, the Deputy Director Network and Social Mobilisation Ministry of Youth Development, Mrs. Joy Ajulu, stated that the International Youth Fellowship as a NonGovernmental Organisation that had been recognised by the ministry had also been doing a lot in relation to the advancement of the youth welfare and all areas of youth development.

“They have been doing a lot in Nigeria in terms of youth programmes and organising youth camps all over the places, but they thought it is right to bring to Abuja this time around and as usual, we are partnering with them to see to the success of the youth camp that will be coming up later this month.”

Accountant, Supreme Distilleries Limited, Fisayo Sosanya (left); Production Manager, Karthikeyan Chinnaswamy; Managing Director, Bola Soyinka; and Assistant Manager, Human Resources, Simbo Adetuyi, displaying the trophy for best performing company under Lexcel Group, at the Lexcel Groups management quarterly meeting, held in Lagos.

Borno tasks commission on police recruitment, training From Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri HE Borno State government T has called on the federal government and the Police Service Commission to recruit and train more policemen.

According to the state government, there was also need to give priority to welfare, logistics and accommodation as part of measures to overcome the security challenges faced by the police and other security agencies in the country.

Addressing the Assistant Inspector of Police (AIG), Mr. Edgar Tam Nanakumo, recently, in Maiduguri, Borno Deputy

Governor, Zanna Umar Mustapha explained that the lives of policemen and other security personnel could have been “saved and protected” from the four-year Boko Haram insurgency that torched several police stations in the northeast sub-region.

His words: “The lives of our policemen in this state could have been saved and protected, if they were well equipped and fully accommodated in secured police barracks, instead of living in rented quarters. Even their logistics in terms of modern equipment, our policemen are grossly

trained and equipped to meet the increasing security challenges in the last four years.

“The federal government should look inwards in addressing the ill-equipment and training of our security personnel in the Nigeria Police and the State Security Services, as they do not have adequate modern equipment and working tools to fight insurgency and protect people’s life and property in Nigeria.”

He said that the Borno Vigilance Youths recently came out to assist both the police and the Joint Task Force (JTF) in the manhunt of Boko

Haram suspects fleeing Maiduguri metropolis and the destroyed training camps and hideouts of the Islamist insurgents.

“The Borno State government will continue to support the federal government when it commences to re-equip and provide more logistics to the police and other security agencies,” he added.

Responding, the AIG, Mr. Nanakumo told the deputy governor that he was in the state to condole the state government and its citizens over the killing of many people and policemen while protecting people’s life and property.

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Army begins implementation of FoI Act From Abdulsalami Ahovi (Jos) and Karls Tsokar, Abuja WO years after the T Freedom of Information Act 2011(FOIA) was enacted into law, the Nigeria Army has put on track the implementation of the law by setting up an office at the Headquarters in Abuja for easier public access to information on its operations.

Meanwhile, as 214 Army officers are nominated for various capacity building courses, the Colonel who allegedly did not meet the minimum requirements to graduate along with 130 others at the Nigeria Defence College may be retired from the army.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brig-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, at the press briefing in Abuja explained that the implementation of the

law is to ensure accountability, transparency and professionalism in the Nigeria Army.

“The Nigeria Army has commenced the implementation of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act. To this end the NA (Nigeria Army) has set up FoI office in line with the provisions of the FoI Act 2011 at the Army headquarters. It grants all persons the legally enforceable right to access public held records of ministries, departments and agencies including the NA”, he said.

He added: “The general public and the media are therefore assured of prompt responses for access to information based on request” because even now the army grants public access to information relating to her operations through press briefings among others.

945 retirees in Anambra gets N1.5b gratuities, pension From Uzoma Nzeagwu, Awka NAMBRA State government A has paid the 2012 gratuity and pension of 945 retirees valued at N1.5 billion.

Presenting cheques to pensioners and next of kin of deceased pensioners recently, the state Governor Peter Obi explained that his administration had sustained prompt payment of pensions and gra-

tuity because of prudent and skillful management of available resources.

He recalled that his administration cleared arrears of pension and gratuity accumulated by successive administration since 1996, adding that pensioners should remain part of the efforts to rebuild the state by insisting that future administration continue to build on strong foundation already laid.

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NigeriaCapitalMarket NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at Monday PRICE LIST OF SYMBOLS TRADED FOR 12/08/2013

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CAPITAL MARKET

NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 12/08/2013

PRICE GAINERS

LOSERS

NSE’s market capitalisation depreciates by N71 billion

By Helen Oji OLLOWING price losses sufFcompanies, fered by most blue-chip equity transactions on the Nigerian Stock Exchange re-opened on a downward note yesterday, as market capitalization dropped by N71 billion.

Specifically, at the close of trading yesterday, 36 stocks depreciated in price, led by Evans Medical with 10.00 per cent to close at N4.32 per share while Thomas Watts fol-

lowed with 9.88 per cent to close at N0.73 per share. FO followed with 9.78 per cent to close at N39.65 per share.

ABC Transport, UPL, Wema Bank shed 9.57,9.52 and 9.09 percent to close at N0.85,N3.80 and N1.00 per share.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company dropped 9.09 per cent to close at N6.00 per share. Vono shed 8.70 to close at N0.63 per share, NPF Micofinance Bank and Constain West Africa also lost

8.33 and 8.15 per cent to close at N0.88 and N1.24 per share.

On the other hand 13 stocks appreciated in price, as WAPIC emerged the day’s highest price gainer with 10.00 per cent to close at N0.77 per share. Champion followed with 9.97 per cent to close at N16.10 per share. Sterling Bank added 3.57 per cent to close at N2.90 per share.

1PWA added 2.94 per cent to close at N1.05 per share.

RT Briscoe and Unity Bank added 2.74 and 1.75 per cent to

close at N1.50 and N0.58 per share.

Livestock Feeds gained 1.56 per cent to close at N4.57 per share. Fidson and Mansard garnered 1.43 and 1.38 per cent to close at N2.13 and N2.21 per share.

UAC-Properties also added 0.91 per cent to close at N16.60 per share.

Consequently, the All-Share index of the Exchange dropped by 225.36 points or 0.5 per cent from 38,038.79 recorded on the last week

Wednesday to 37,813.43 while market capitalization shed weight by N71 billion from N12,046 trillion to N11,975 trillion.

With transactions exchanged in 14 deals, the non-metalic mineral mining sub-sector displaced the banking sub-sector with 222million shares worth N111million while the banking sub-sector trailed with 136million units valued at N1.1 billion.

The conglomerates ranked third with 28 million units

worth N45 million.

Trading in the shares of Multiverse enhanced activities in the non-metalic mineral mining sub-sector with 222million shares worth N111million while United Bank for Africa and Access Bank buoyed activities in the banking sub-sector with 30 million shares and 26 million units valued at N252 million and N293 million.

In all, investors exchanged 489 million units valued at N3.1 billion in 5,797 deals.

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Opinion LASG and challenge of urban management

By Luke Onyekakeyah EYOND the sentiments and emotions generated by the deportation of some 72 (some say B 14) indigent folks to Onitsha, Anambra State, by the authorities of the Lagos State Government (LASG), there is need to examine the issue holistically from a broader perspective in order to douse the tension over the matter. The action of picking indigent people from the streets of Lagos and rehabilitating and or deporting them may be part of a larger systematic plan to rid the metropolis of vagrants, beggars and destitute.

That is open to criticism. The deportation cannot be isolated from the broader plan by the state government to have a more liveable metropolis.

Many people have expressed furious umbrage over the deportation and this is still on. Basing the resentments on the constitutional provision of freedom of Nigerians to reside anywhere in the country may be right. But that, for me, should not be the end point. An objective assessment of the action may be helpful because every state government in the country is in the same predicament of being burdened with how to manage its urban population vis-à-vis the available infrastructure. Some state governments have taken different punitive measures to address this challenge.

I would like to state that rather than blame the Lagos State Government or any other states that have been involved in this unholy action of sending people back to their states by outright deportation or relieving them of their jobs as “non-indigenes”, the warped Nigerian system should be blamed. For me, outright deportation or relieving people of their jobs as non-indigenes”, are two sides of the same coin. We are in a country where a person has no indigene rights except in his state of origin. Even in the states, some ethnic nationalities dominate and subjugate the less powerful ones. Those ones have no say in the scheme of things.

When a state government relieves people of their jobs or denies them of deserved promotion because they’re “non indigenes”, that is a form

of deportation. Many state governments are guilty of this offence. Those states have no moral justification to talk on this matter of deportation by Lagos. By their actions, many states have subtly deported thousands of people without clamping them into a bus and dropping them off to their states. Many people have been forced to return to their states after they were relieved of their jobs or frustrated in states other than theirs. That is “closed” deportation as against “open” deportation that is currently on the front burner. How many Nigerians can freely apply for jobs or get elective position in states other than theirs? In reality, the system has divided us, but on paper we are one united and indivisible nation! The system has unwittingly deported us to our home states since we don’t have indigene rights outside our states.

The rounding up of indigent people and clamping them in a bus overnight to their states is the open form of deportation. Everyone is talking about it because it is open. But when some state governments pass circulars in their civil service to weed “non-indigenes”, not much heat is generated about it because it is done under. It is on that ground that I am not sentimental about the Lagos deportation saga.

The Nigerian system has no provision for indigent citizens. We’re in a system where the maxim is the jungle law, “survival of the fittest”.

There is no provision for the physically challenged, the indigent, the poor, weak and elderly. The denial of old and weak retirees of their meagre pension and gratuity is the clearest manifestation of the wickedness of this system.

I have seen retirees begging on the street of Lagos. This brutish system does not care for anyone. Once you’re unable to fend for yourself, by daily hassling, you could equally count yourself as dead. Your survival would depend on charity from kindhearted persons.

There is no provision for people in wheelchair.

The infrastructure here is built for the strong and able bodied. Those on wheelchair are counted as equally “dead”. That is why the

roads, bridges, buildings, pavements, doorways, sidewalks, bus stops, etc, are not designed to accommodate the weak, elderly and those on wheelchair. The buses have no provision for this category of weak people. The poor have no place in Nigeria. But any system that does not make provision for the poor is guilty of a fundamental crime. The greatest man that ever lived, Jesus, said “You have the poor with you always…” (Mt. 26:10). So it is not by accident that there are poor people in our midst. The poor will always be there. What are important are the provisions made by the authorities to cater for the poor.

In sane climes, the situation is different. The poor and indigent are adequately taken care of.

They’re not ridiculed or maltreated by anyone.

And, I want to stress that there is no city anywhere in the world where there are no poor, indigent or physically challenged people. The difference is in the way they are managed by the authorities. The fact that you don’t see beggars or indigent people on the streets of New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, among others, does not mean that every human being in those places is in perfect health condition. Certainly not. The weak ones are carefully quartered in homes where they are given adequate attention. The civilised system in those places has made provision for the poor such that they have no need to go begging.

Coming back to the Lagos issue, it is obvious that the emergence of the Fashola administration since May 2007 has seen a marked difference in the effort to make Lagos liveable. Sweeping actions to transform the city from the cesspit of filth and decay have taken place and still ongoing. In what follows, I will highlight some of the actions that have been taken so far.

The state government began by clearing the streets of traders. Before now, the entire Lagos metropolis was one huge market that thrived in indescribable disorder. Buying and selling and display of all sorts of wares on the roads blocked the highways and streets. Traffic gridlock was the norm. The government took a drastic measure and embarked on massive destruction and dis-

mantling of ramshackle shades used for trading on the roads and streets.

From Yaba to Oyingbo, Mushin, Idumota, Aswani, ramshackle shops were torn down with bulldozers and the debris carted away instantly.

By that action, some hitherto impenetrable areas of Lagos metropolis were opened up. Perhaps, the climax and most remarkable of the onslaught on street trading was the destruction of ramshackle shops at Oshodi, which in turn opened up hitherto blocked highways that were impassable for decades. That eased traffic gridlock. Painful as the action was, there were little or no criticisms of the Lagos State Government because no particular ethnic group was targeted. The joy of having the blocked roads opened up outweighed any criticism.

Furthermore, the state government embarked on aggressive refuse collection and street sweeping that have brought new life into Lagos.

To ensure enforcement, it established the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) brigade that is out 24 hours ensuring that lawless Lagosians don’t return to the streets to trade. There appeared to be nothing wrong with all these actions, so long as they were meant to make Lagos liveable. The state has announced that there should be no hanging of clothes in the balcony of buildings.

Many more drastic measures are in the offing.

The picking of destitute from the streets and deporting them may not be altogether right in the sense that all the other actions were geared towards creating a conducive environment for Lagosians. As I said earlier, there is no city anywhere in the world where there are no indigent or physically challenged people. It would be wrong to believe that only able-bodied people should live in Lagos. Lagos is a mega-city by virtue of its dense population, which includes the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor.

The state government should therefore include the poor in its master plan. Provision should be made for their welfare instead of embarking on a counterproductive deportation that puts it on collision course with the rest of Nigeria. Besides, there is no way to restrict migration to the state.

Audacity of hope in power supply

By Sunny Igboanugo N Friday, August 2, Biola Sodeinde (not real name), was in her OTheoffice in Abuja, when she heard a beep on her telephone. text message she read after taking a look has changed her story ever since. It was actually a bank alert, welcoming her into the club of millionaires, something she never envisaged, at least not that soon. Although she confirmed that the account where the alert came in was actually hers, she could hardly contain her restiveness. Fidgeting, she rushed to a branch of her bank a few streets away. She had to double-check her information directly from the source. She did a few minutes later. Since then, she has become a new person, where “old things have passed away,” and behold, everything is new.”

Sodeinde’s story underscores the new gale sweeping across the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), since real cash started dropping into the accounts of some of its workers a few days ago. It is a phenomenon that is not only swelling their accounts but their confidence as well because a new window where opportunities meet realities has since opened.

This landmark development signposts the beginning of the end of a journey, which started exactly 13 years ago, when the axiomatic first step of a thousand miles was taken to meet the power needs of Nigerians.

Though the journey has been through a thorny, winding and crooked road, strewn with landmines, broken bottles and other sharp objects that inflicted deep and enduring wounds and pains on many stakeholders that walked through it, some of which they are still nursing till date, the promises of its ending appear to be worth the wait.

That is the underpinning outcome of the privatisation initiative, conceived by some critical stakeholders as the panacea to steady power supply for Nigeria, an idea that was began to take effect with the development in the year 2000 of the National Electric Power Policy (NEPP), approved by then Federal Executive Council (FEC) under President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The development, which was hinged on making fundamental changes in the structure of ownership, control and regulation of the power sector, provided the framework for the eventual promulgation of the Electric Power Reform Act (EPRA) in 2005 that gave way to the transmutation of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to PHCN. By this metamorphosis, the

new entity assumed the legal teeth to warehouse the assets and liabilities of the decades-old NEPA, including the staff.

However the concerns of workers as to their fate in the new formation, which began to manifest at this point added to other factors in stalling the process. The attempt by their leaders to cut out the fairest deal and the insistence of government stakeholders to grant only what was practical, realistic and legal, drove a wedge into what ordinarily was considered in certain quarters as a donedeal. The effect was a monstrous set of crises that burgeoned over time.

Recall the situation in the power sector by this time a year ago.

Surely, nobody would have forgotten that era of long knives when the devil himself practically took over and held the entire sector and Nigeria at large by the jugular, threatening to snuff out life from the vortex of the privatisation engine, cause a crack in it and bring it to an abrupt and unedifying death. Recall the lockouts, the confrontation between workers and the security force; the vigils and prayer sessions and deafening din; the gradual push towards the edge of the precipice; the apparent fear of that final push to tip the entire process and bring the dream cascading down to the bottom of jagged rocks and eventually crashing to an inevitable death.

Compare the sharp difference of that era of despondency among the PHCN staff and now with the experiences of the likes of Biola.

That is when the import of the new reality becomes evident.

At the centre of it all is the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Ositadinma Nebo. A few days ago, the minister gave the nod for the commencement of actual payment of the severance benefits of the PHCN workers. This was hinged on the completion of the paper works, including forensic assessment and documentation of the records of beneficiaries.

According to media reports quoting the Chairman of the Implementation Committee for the exercise and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, N118 billion has been approved for the first tranche of the payment of about 20,304 staff who have been cleared for the Generation (GENCOs) and Distribution (DISCOs) companies, whose names were sent to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), the outcome of which has already registered in the accounts of the beneficiaries.

What could be more demonstrable evidence of his ability and potency for exorcising the demons and witches in the power sec-

tor, which Nebo had promised the nation even before assuming his seat than this feat of taming this particular devil in the labour conflict? Of course other demons had fallen before now, one which also gave way for the enthusiastic payment of 25 per cent of the cost of the GENCOs and DISCOs by their new owners in April this year.

With the apparent demise of the “labour devil” and the expected burial by the time each of the PHCN workers smiles home with his pay cheques, the coast would have been clear for the handover of the facilities to private hands, signalling the safe berth of the privatisation ship .

That is when another phase will begin. Nebo enthusiastically calls it “Awakening the Nigerian Giant.” This is an era which he envisages will become a child’s play to the transformation experienced in the country’s telecommunications industry; where Nigerians, enjoying uninterrupted power supply will go back to work again, unleashing in the process, in their own country the full potentials and resilience through which they not only became indispensible elsewhere in the globe but practically squeezed water out of stones to eke out a living at home; where industrialists will no longer suffer huge costs of production as a result of generating their own power, the welders, hairdressers, cold room operators and other artisans, who are actually seen by economists as the real engine of economic growth will be fully engaged and earn an honest living; where by so doing, few would have little time for the devil to use them as a workshop by leading them into unimaginable vices including crimes; where the gory stories of deaths by carbon monoxide from generators would be told in the past tense and where the revving engine of growth will continuously propel the nation to achieving its fullest potentials as one of God’s most endowed nations of the world.

That’s what is in the offing at the moment. Already, the din coming from parts of Anambra State, especially Awka, the state capital and environs now reporting almost a 24-hour power supply indicates this .

The way he sees it, Nebo contends that in a few months time, Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of government would start experiencing 24hour power supply while strategic industrial cities like Lagos would get a minimum of 22 hours.

It may yet be early to roll out the drums and call the party right now. The nation awaits this great end.

• Igboanugo, a journalist wrote from Abuja.

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Opinion Adieu, brilliant Justice Regina Nwodo

By Worgu Boms ITH deep grief, I received the news of the W passing of the Hon. Justice Regina Obiageli Nwodo who, until her transition, was a justice of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.

Justice Nwodo was, before her appointment as a Justice of the Court of Appeal, a Judge of the Federal High Court and in fact, presided over its Port Harcourt Division. It was while here in the Port Harcourt Division of that court that I had the privilege of appearing before her.

Calm, humble (but obviously, easily irritated by any slothful, slovenly and ill-prepared Counsel who appeared before her), Justice Nwodo

brought dignity and respect to her court and her judicial duties as a Judge of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt as we did not hear, even for once, of any corruption or corrupt practices associated with her. She was conscientious and assiduous in her judicial duties.

As the news of her passing filtered into Port Harcourt Bar, all who knew her, especially members of the Bar who heard the news, were stunned and momentarily speechless.

Many did not know that she had been ill, which lack of knowledge heightened the shock and disbelief associated with the sad news.

Educated in the universities of Middlesex

(LLB 1982) and London School of Economics (LLM 1990), this beautiful and brilliant lawyer started her judicial career in 1985 as a Magistrate in Enugu and made it to the country’s Court of Appeal before she was prematurely plucked by death, the bad reaper described by the Christian scriptures as mankind’s ‘The Last Enemy’.

We at the Port Harcourt Bar and indeed, the organised Bar in Rivers State, mourn Justice Nwodo and will forever remember and cherish her imperishable judicial contributions to our corpus juris through her judicial activities whilst she served here at the Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court.

Our hearts and prayers are with her families

and those she left behind. May they be consoled by the realisation that Regina was respected and admired by all as a virtuous, incorruptible and knowledgeable personality.

There is another reason they should especially be consoled: the fact that the pain of the loss is shared by many.

May the Almighty God, the God of all comforts, heal all that are broken-hearted, teach us that are still alive how to number our days so that we can bring in a heart of wisdom into how we live the remainder of our lives, forgive the departed her sins and admit her to His Glory, Amen!

• Boms, Esq. is Honourable Attorney-General and

Close to 50 and above in dominion

By Eric Teniola LL roads led to Kano last June, where the Emir of Kano, A Alhaji Ado Bayero marked his 50th year on the exalted throne of Kano. To show how strong he was, he rode on a horse to the admiration of all and sundry. To be on the throne for 50 years in the modern day world, particularly in a tumultuous, agitating city like Kano where the two civilisations – antique and modernity – constantly collide, a city that is perpetually at war with its soul, is a laudable achievement. And to have survived for 50 years on that throne with all major crises, religious, commercial, social, including a suspension under the Major General Muhammadu Buhari junta, an undeserved query under my late friend Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, many assassination attempts, the last one, last February, there must be something remarkable about this ruler.

Let it be noted that his predecessor, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, grandfather to the present Governor of Central Bank, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, who ruled between 1954-1963, was dethroned and died eventually in exile in Katagum.

Even the emir before Alhaji Sanusi, that was, Alhaji Abdullahi Bayero (1881-1953) the ruler whom the Bayero University in Kano was named after, ruled for 26 years (1927-1953) before he died on December 25, 1953.

So the more reason why we have to hail Alhaji Ado Bayero and say congratulations. Alhaji Ado Bayero has therefore followed the footsteps of other traditional rulers who ruled longer than 50 years or close to 50 years.

The late Elekole of Egbe Oba (Ikole) in Ekiti State, Oba Adetula Adeleye was crowned in 1958. He ruled for 52 years before his death in 2010. One of his sons-in-law, Prince Dayo Adeyeye from Ise-Ekiti wants to be governor of Ekiti State next year.

Sir Adesoji Martins Titus Tadeniawo Aderemi (1889-1980) succeeded Oba Ademiluyi Ajagun on September 26, 1930 as the Ooni of Ife. He also succeeded Sir John Dalzell Rankine (1907-1987) as Governor of Western Region in 1960 and served as Governor between 1960 and 1962 before the Action Group crises.

He died on July 7, 1980 after reigning for 50 years and left behind many successful children including the now frailing Mrs. Tejumade Alakija, former Head of Service of Oyo State and the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, which was established during his reign.

The late Lamido of Adamawa, Alhaji Bankindo Mustapha was on the throne for 59 years before he died on March 13, 2010. His son Muhammadu Aliyu Bankindo Mustapha succeeded him on March 18, 2010. The late Owa of Idanre in Ondo State, Oba Adegbule Aroloye Arubefin III reigned from 1919-1969 for 50 years and died at the age of 120 years making him one of the oldest monarchs in Nigeria.

He was succeeded by his son Oba Frederick Adegunle Gbolagunte Aroloye Arubefin IV who was crowned in September 1976. Oba Afunbiowo Adesida ruled Oyemekun kingdom of Akure between 1897 and 1957 for 60 years. His beloved Olori (wife) is believed to have come from Idanre. He is the grandfather of my friend, Oba Adebiyi Adegboye Adesida Afunbiowo II, the present Deji and paramount ruler of Akure Kingdom and Chairman Ondo State Council of Traditional rulers. His name is still music in Akure today.

The foremost Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Siddik Abubakar III was born in Dange, some 60 kilometres from Sokoto on March 15, 1903 the same day on which the British colonialists finally subdued the Sokoto Caliphate. He became the Sultan of Sokoto on June 17, 1938 and ruled for 50 years till he

died on November 1, 1988. In the last 30 years of his life, he did not touch currency or coins for purity purposes. Two of his sons have succeeded him, the last being the present Sultan, Alhaji Saa’d Abubakar IV whose successful career was pioneered by Alhaji Shehu Malami, former Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa.

The late Jaja Amanyanbo of Opobo, Chief Douglas Jaja (19151980), son of Chief Arthur Mac Pepple Jaja (1872-1936) ruled for 60 years although he renounced his chieftaincy temporarily between 1943-1951 to get involved in politics. At the time of his death in 1980, he was much loved by his people.

The late of Oba of Benin, Oba Uku Akpolokpolo Akenzua II (1899-1978), son of Oba Eweka II born as Edokparhogbuyunmun ruled for 44 years following the death of his father in 1934. In 1925, he served under the supervision of the late Alake of Egbaland, Oba Ademola in his palace. A custodian of the rich Benin culture and tradition. He was succeeded by his son in 1979, a retired Federal Permanent Secretary, Oba Solomon Igbinoghodua Aisiokuoba Akenzua III who is still on the throne. The late Attah of Igala Dr. Aliyu Obaje succeeded Ahmed Oboyi on November 2, 1956 and for 56 years, till he died on July 16, 2012, he was on the Igala throne and piloted Igala Kingdom to modernity. Dr. Obaje was an example in humility.

Sir Oladipo Samuel Ademola (1872-1962) was crowned the Alake of Egbaland on September 27, 1920, to succeed Oba Gbadebo who died on May 28, 1920.

At the crowning ceremony, over 70,000 people were present including a representative of the Queen of England. He ruled for 22 years. One of his sons Justice Adetokunbo Ademola eventually became the first Chief Justice of Nigeria. In 1948, Prince Adeyinka Oyekan challenged Prince Adeniji Adele (1893-1964) to the throne of Lagos. The oracle told the two of them that they both will be kings. Eventually Oba Adele ruled from 1949-1964 while Oba Adeyinka Oyekan II (June 30, 1911-March 1, 2003) ruled Lagos for 38 years making him the second longest ruling monarch in Lagos. The first being Oba Akinsemoyin who ruled from 1704-1749 for 45 years.

Oba Suleiman Durotoye Abegunde (1907-1993) ruled Omuaran in Kwara state from 1945-1993 while the late Olofa of Offa also in Kwara state, Oba Mustapha Olawore Olaonipekun, who died in 2010, ruled for over 40 years. The late Ataoja of Oshogbo, Oba Iyiola Oyewale Matanmi, who was crowned on July 7, 1976 and died in August 2010, ruled for 34 years. It was during his reign that Osogbo was made the capital of Osun State. Oba Adetoyese Laoye, grandfather to Prince Bayo Aderintan ruled Ede as Timi for 29 years, between 1946-1975.

His Highness Alhaji Umaru Sanda Ndayanko (1937-2002) the late Etsu Nupe was Permanent Secretary in Kaduna in 1964. He ascended the throne in 1975 and was nominated as a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1976. When he died in 2003 his people mourned his passage, for the development he brought to his kingdom. One of his sons, Senator Dangana Ndayanko has since been elected into the Senate.

The former Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Anirare Aladesanmi II ruled Ado Ekiti from 1937-1983.

Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko (1885-1904) was the 9th Emir of Katsina between 1906-1944. He ruled for 38 years. He was succeeded by his son, Alhaji Usman Nagogo (1905-1981) who also ruled for 37 years. He was the father of late Major-General Hassan Usman Katsina, the first Military Governor of Northern Nigeria. The Sarkin of Gobir, Alhaji Muhammadu Bara reigned from 1975 to 2004, and ruled for 29 years.

On a bright Sunday on April 2, 1960, the former Ogbenioja

of Ijebu, Dr. Timothy Adeola Odutola in the presence of Bobasuwa Okunowo, Chief Samuel Olatunbosun Shonibare and over 120,000 jubilant people from many parts of the country gathered at Obanta square in Ijebu-Ode, when he presented a young handsome man, Sikiru Kayode Adetona, born on May 10, 1934, to the people of Ijebu-Ode as their Awujale.

It was the beginning of a prosperous reign that has spanned till date, for over 53 years. Tall, big and friendly, Oba Adetona’s big stature also reflects the bigness of his Ijebu Kingdom. His father Prince Rufai Adetona is from Anikinayo Ogbagba royal family of Ijebu-ode while his mother Alhaja Ajibabi Adetona nee Onasile hailed from Ijebu-Igbo, hence his close family ties with Dr. Michael Adenuga Jnr. My friend Fasi Adetokunbo Yusuf is fond of telling anyone who cares to listen, that Oba Adetona is special gift from God to the Ijebu people.

The Igwe of Nnewi, Igwe Kenneth Onyeke Orizu III, has been on the throne since 1963, thus marking 50 years on the throne this year. There are other traditional rulers we are expecting to be 50 years and above on the throne.

The Emir of Zaria, Dr. Shehu Idris was crowned in 1976, he is 36 years on the throne. He is a charismatic figure.

Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, the Owa Obokun Adimula II of Ijesha land is 31 years on the throne. He is a phenomenon.

Oba Oladunni Jimoh Oyewunmi, Ajagungbade III, was born on May 27, 1926, and was crowned the Soun of Ogbomoso on October 24, 1973. He has been on the throne for over 39 years. He is an outstanding figure. Iku Baba Yeye, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Atanda Adeyemi (74) JP, CFR, LL.D, Permanent Chairman Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, who once lived with the Alake of Egbaland Oba Ademola in his palace in Abeokuta and Sir Kofoworola Adebayo Abayomi in Keffi, Lagos, was installed the Alaafin of Oyo in November 1970 by former Governor Robert Adeyinka Adebayo. He is 42 years on the throne. He is a living legend.

Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuade II, Olofin Oduduwa, was crowned Ooni of Ife on December 8, 1980 by late Governor Bola Ige. He is 32 years on the throne. He is a living metaphor.

The Emir of Jama’are, Muhammadu Wabi has been on the throne since 1975, while the Emir of Gumel, Ahmad Muhammed Sani Dan Maina Muhammed has been reigning since 1981. They are remarkable leaders. The Emir of Gombe, Alhaji Shehu Usman Abubakar has been reigning since August 1984, the Shehu of Damaturu, Hushimi Ibn Umar El-kanemi has been in power since 1973.

The Olu of Warri, Oba Agiame Atuwatse II has been on the throne since 1987.

I have not left out the list of other traditional rulers deliberately but for lack of space. We may not all agree on the relevance of the institution of traditional rulers, but we must all endorse that the institution still represents a vital part of our tradition and culture even in the present age of internet. They are the roots of our culture and the roots are the strongest part of the tree.

I am aware that the institution was once brutalised by the British colonialists, military and the politicians and is still being undermined by the political class, but the traditional rulers are the most essential group left now to preserve and protect our glorious past. And who says we don’t have a past. We have a beautiful past, a strong past for that matter.

And as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (1840-1935) wrote, “historic continuity with the past is not a duty, it is only a necessity”.

• Teniola, a former Director at the Presidency, now stays in Lagos.

69

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13§, 2013

Quote of the week Knowledge without justice ought to be called cunning rather than wisdom.

———Plato

Law

judicialeditor@yahoo.co.uk/ 08033151041 Desk Head: Ibe Uwaleke

Interview

By Bertram Nwannekanma

The recent political upheaval in Rivers state, which led to a freefor-all fight in the State House of Assembly has continued to attract reactions from various stakeholders. To many, the only solution to the problem is a total restructuring of the country through a Constitutional Conference.

But in this encounter, a Lagosbased Human Rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun Adegboruwa provides a recipe to the problem saying that the courts will resolve the imbroglio.

SKED his views on the recent politiA cal upheaval at the Rivers State House of Assembly, Adegboruwa said It was indeed a matter of great concern to everybody, especially all lovers of democracy and good governance.

According to him, that we have a bunch of politicians, who are not real democrats and that we are practicing a democracy, without democrats is disheartening. “ In the Rivers State House of Assembly, five lawmakers attempted to impeach the Speaker of the Assembly, their motive being to proceed to also impeach the governor, subsequently. This is being controlled and financed, most probably, by the Presidency, given the attitude of federal agencies, especially the police and the army, to events in Rivers State.

“The distasteful example of the crises in Rivers State is akin to the days of impunity, under the Obasanjo regime where, in Plateau, Bayelsa and Oyo States, minority members of the Assembly, were engaged to destabilize the State. That cannot be allowed to continue, especially since the Supreme Court, in the case of Inakoju v Adeleke, has now defined the procedure for the removal of the Speaker of the House of Assembly of a State. But the mode of stopping such impunity and brigandage, is not a response through violence or the invasion of the hallowed chambers of the Assembly, by the governor and his loyalists, which eventually led to a fracas and a free for all. We cannot check one impunity with another impunity.

“The great challenge in all this is for the courts and the police, to restore sanity to the Rivers Assembly. There should be no way at all, in a democratic government, that five people should prevail over twenty seven people. This event is not limited to the Rivers State House of Assembly. If allowed to be established in Rivers State, it is certain that other states, where the governors are perceived to be disloyal to the President, will equally face such illegal take over.

The main burden for us all in these events is that most of our legislators and by extension, politicians, have no democratic root. They have no idea of what democracy really entails, having not paid any price for their democratic experience. These are people who were allotted elective positions, based purely on patronage. In most cases, their credentials do not match the role expected of them. So, most of them end up becoming tools, in the

Adegboruwa

‘Only courts can restore sanity in Rivers’ Assembly’ hands of others who desire to perpetuate one form of lawlessness or the other.

The solution to this is for the courts, before which the cases are pending, to expedite hearing thereof and put the matter to an end.

On whether there were constitutional provisions to address the problem, the revered lawyer answered in affirmative.

He said: “Section 96 (1) of the 1999 Constitution clearly stipulates the quorum expected of a House of Assembly, in order to take valid and important decisions, such as the removal of a Speaker; that is, one third of ALL the members of the House. The Supreme Court in Inakoju v Adeleke and a host of other such cases, has

The solution to this is for the courts, before which the cases are pending, to expedite hearing thereof and put the matter to an end.

interpreted this to mean members present at the particular sitting and they must not be less than one third of the entire House membership. In the case of Rivers State, five members could not have sat to determine the fate of the Speaker, in the absence of or without the concurrence of the one third majority, as stipulated under section 96 (1) of the Constitution.

“The other solution is to apply section 11 (4) of the 1999 Constitution, which permits the National Assembly to take over the legislative functions of the House of Assembly of a State, where, at any time, the House of Assembly of a state is unable to perform its functions, by reason of the situation prevailing in that state. This has now been applied by the National Assembly in this case, being the first time in our democratic history, for such to happen. The problem with section 11 (4) however is that it limits the National Assembly, only to the performance of the legislative functions of the House of Assembly in the area of law making alone.

However, the functions of the House of

Assembly of a State are not limited to law making. It includes the control of public funds, such as the approval of budgets, monitoring of budget performance, checking abuse, waste and corruption, confirmation of certain officers for public appointments and such other over sight functions of the legislature. This would thus mean that presently, Rivers State is grounded politically. It has created a civilian dictatorship in the governor. Section 11 (4) specifically states that the National Assembly has no power to remove the governor or his deputy, in the period of taking over the functions of the House of Assembly of a state. If the National Assembly cannot remove the governor and his deputy, it also means that they cannot discipline them or supervise them. This is a great lacuna in the Constitution. The Constitution itself anticipates that the situation preventing the House of Assembly of the State from sitting, will not be so long.

Indeed going by section 11 (3), it is clear that a situation of war was

envisaged. This is why it is now more important for the courts and the police to quickly bring about peace in Rivers State. The take over of the State House of Assembly, like declaring a state of emergency in a State, should not be a permanent endeavour, but be limited to a very minimal period of time. Furthermore, the National Assembly must continue to take proactive steps, to monitor the situation in Rivers State, with a view to restoring the State House of Assembly.

On whether the Governor has the constitutional power over a Commissioner of Police, the constitutional lawyer said a sitting governor, being the elected chief executive of a particular state, is the chief security officer of that state.

“In this regard, he presides over the State Security Council meetings, which should include the Commissioner of Police of the State, the State Director of State Security Service and other military and security agencies in that State. To this extent, a governor should be concerned with the activities of the Commissioner of Police in the State.

However, the 1999 Constitution does not give the power of direction or control of the Commissioner of Police of a State, to the governor, but rather the Inspector-General of Police. This is because the police is a federal agency and thus, the deployment, transfer or discipline of its officers, are already stipulated in the Constitution, as matters purely for the Inspector-General of Police and the Police Service Commission. If the security situation of a state gets so challenging as to make it impossible for the Commissioner of Police and the governor of a State to work together in harmony, for the peace and security of the state, he can lawfully request for the transfer of such commissioner of police. It cannot be the other way round. That is, the governor cannot be transferred or impeached by the Commissioner, being an elected representative of the people of that state.

In the light of the situation currently prevailing in Rivers State, the governor is in order to request for the transfer of the Commissioner of Police.

Asked his view on the attempt to amend the constitution visavis the clamour for the Local Government Autonomy, Adegboruwa has this to say: “In the Nigerian experience, it has become clear that the purpose of setting up the local government administration is to bring government closer to the people. Thishas so far been frustrated by the governors of the various states. In most cases, the system of local government administration does not exist at all. The governors have taken over the local government system. In many of the States presently, caretaker committees and chairmen have been in control for years, without any opportunity for the people to determine their own representatives by way of election. This should not be allowed to happen.

Given this scenario, it has become imperative for the Constitution to be amended to give total freedom and autonomy to the local governments and free them from the dominance and control of the governors. It is in the light of this that we should all commend and encourage the National Assembly to free the local governments from the firm grip of the governors and to allow the National Independent Electoral Commission to conduct all local government elections.

It is not only in this area that the Constitution requires an amendment. There is need for a total overhaul of the Constitution, through a Sovereign National Conference of the people of Nigeria.

THE GuARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

70 LAW

LawPeople

One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.

——-Winston Churchill

A case for specialization in legal practice

By Bertram Nwannekanma LTHOuGH it is common knowledge to see A Nigerian lawyers engage in general law practice in the country, it is however a different thing altogether in many other jurisdictions where lawyers specialize in particular fields.

This scenario often plays out through mergers of smaller firms into larger law firms, which in the long run leads to improvement of the practice, either in criminal, civil, commercial, admiralty, or land law.

It is therefore a wide-held belief that specialization will not only encourage the industry in legal practice and engender professionalism in the nation’s judicial circle but also gives credence to the popular aphorism that two heads are better than one.

To actualize specialization stakeholders have in various ways made case for the emergence of big law firms that can accommodate hundreds of lawyers rather than retaining the present arrangement of having smaller firms which have little or no serious impact in enlarging the nation’s law practice.

At the forefront of this campaign is an Abujabased legal practitioner and a former General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Ibrahim Eddy Mark.

The senior lawyer, who is involved in both Commercial, Corporate, Political, Land, Civil and even criminal matters wants improvement in practice through specialization.

Remarkably, Mark has been drumming support for NBA Sections on Business Law (SBL) in the area of entrenching specialization in Nigerian legal practice.

According to him, NBA should take specialization seriously as well as issues of disciplinary mechanism in order to engender trust in the public estimation of the Bar. Apart from the issue of discipline, the lawyer is of the opinion that continuing legal practice with regard to ethical issues and specialization will be helpful in addressing judicial corruption holistically.

He said: “ We have to address the judicial corruption holistically. Attitudinal change will also assist in improving the law practice. We must also embrace information technology in order to lessen the time and labour expended in the practice with the ultimate result of quick and efficient dispensation of justice.

Born on May 4, 1962 at Omolo-Omagwa in Ikwerre Local Council of, Rivers State, Mark, a founding partner in City Law Firm, a firm of solicitors based in Abuja, is a 1989 Law graduate of Rivers State university of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.

He did his National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) Programme in Maiduguri, Borno State between 1990-1991, where he cut his legal teeth at Adamu Ali and Company, a private law office in Maiduguri.

Thereafter, he ventured into uninterrupted private legal practice between 1990-1995, rising from Junior counsel between 1996 and 2000, to managing counsel from 2000-2005.

In 2006, he founded City Law Firm, Abuja, where he is currently the managing partner.

Today, Mark has not only made tremendous impact in legal practice but also as a political scientist.

Fondly addressed by his admirers as a Bar man, Mark previously held the position of a branch secretary and chairman in the NBA Maiduguri, and lastly held office as National Financial Secretary of the NBA between 2002 to 2004.

Do you know…

Marriage: (Within the context of Section 69 of Matrimonial Causes Act, 1970) “Marriage includes a purported marriage that is void, but does not include one entered into in accordance to Muslim rites or other customary law”.

See Ahmad Moktar Jabre v. Dorra Jabre [1999] 3 NWLR (Pt. 596) 606 at 617, [C.A.].

Mark Apart from representing the NBA as member of Council of Legal Education between 2002 and 2005, Mark had also served as general secretary of the NBA under Rotimi Akeredolu’s Presidency.

He was also member of the committee that drafted the Borno State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules. An avid sportsman, he once held office as chairman Borno State Football Association and Nigerian Cycling Federation.

Mark’s first day in court was as memorable as it was remarkable.

He was assigned a file by his principal to go and move a motion for stay of execution at a rent tribunal.

Although, he had watched other lawyers do it before, he was however, sweating and fidgety but at the end, he summoned courage, which later became a successful baptism for him.

He spoke of that experience thus: “During my first time, I was really sweating even though the court has air conditioners but the presiding Chief Judge was very accommodating. He really was of great assistance in reducing the tension in me and guided me to do my case”.

Today, Mark has risen from that experience to become a notable figure in both national and international judicial circle.

He has held various positions in the past, which include, Member Council of Legal Education 2002-2005, Member Nigeria Legal Aid Council, Life Member NBA-NEC, chairman, Nigeria Football Federation Appeals Committee since 2011, a board member of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and a chieftain of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).

Mark’s venture into the murky Nigerian political waters was induced by his passion for service to his people.

For this reason, he has remained unrepentant

in condemning the recent political upheaval that greeted his party in Rivers State which spiraled into a free-for-all fight in the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The Rivers-born lawyer was of the opinion that it is not uncommon to have disagreement in the legislature with attendant fracas.

He said: “The National Assembly taking over the Legislative functions of the House of Assembly pursuant to section 11(4) of the Constitution has taken a step in the right direction.

“But the House must search its conscience to see if the drum beater is not outside the house. “ I must not fail to commend the senate for their maturity in going to talk to Rivers people and also visiting the real injured person in the clinic. “ I will call it a political disagreement first, only to add that to bring violent dimension to it is highly condemnable. It is normal to disagree in politics, but it should not degenerate to violence where cudgels and other dangerous weapons will be used. It is therefore important that we play by the rules at all times and remember that posterity will judge us.

The crisis, he said came up because of the refusal by parties to preach, adhere to and follow the rule of law.

“On April 15, an Abuja High Court, gave judgment declaring Felix Obuah as the duly elected chairman of PDP Rivers State. The erstwhile chairman did appeal to Court of Appeal, but the other side of the divide failed, refused and neglected to accept the verdict of the court and have been pouring invectives on the judiciary.

The Governor in collaboration with the House of Assembly went and suspended duly elected local government officials, including the 17 councilors, and setup a caretaker committee contrary to the provisions of the

Nigerian Constitution and Local Government Law of Rivers State But the problem can be resolved if we follow the rule of law and not play “God”. An Okro tree cannot grow bigger than the planter. ‘And those whose palm kernel has been cracked for them by a benevolent spirit must not forget to remain humble’.

“It is only God that can determine the fate of any individual, no matter what. Our destiny is in God’s hands”. He added.

Noted for his fearless disposition on issues, the former Secretary General of NBA has at several for times lent his feelings on national issues.

For instance, Mark, had at the heels of the bank sanitisation which saw the removal of some bank executives and the outcry that trailed their invitation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), advised the bank executives to first honour EFCC invitations and know why they are wanted in the first place and not to speculate on why they are wanted.

According to him, “EFCC knows why it is looking for the affected bank executives and we know that EFCC is an agency charged with the function of fighting financial crimes”.

A well-traveled man, and amiable fellow, the revered lawyer is married with children.

It is therefore a wide-held belief that specialization will not only encourage industry in the legal practice and engender professionalism in the nation’s judicial circle, but it also gives credence to the popular aphorism that two heads are better than one.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

FamilyLaw

LAW

71

Where there’s marriage without love, there will be love without marriage.

———Benjamin Franklin

Choosing between marriage and cohabitation (2)

By Declan Flanagan and E. S. Williams HE Christian Church, howT ever, must not remain silent. It has an obligation to enter the debate by reaffirming the biblical standards of marriage. It is necessary for the Church to speak prophetically, warning of the devastating consequences of disobeying God’s word for both the individual and society. God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient (Ephesians 5:6). God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (Galatians 6:7) Failure to speak out marginalises the Church and weakens its witness. When God’s way is upheld, it is for the good of all.

However, when God’s law is rejected, then all society will bear the consequences.

The purpose of this booklet is, first, to examine what the Bible says about marriage and cohabitation, and, second, to present information on the social and health consequences of cohabitation.

The arguments in favour of cohabitation Cohabitation is defined as a relationship in which a man and a woman live together and regularly engage in sexual intercourse without being married. Two major arguments are put forward by those who advocate cohabitation. The first is that it is wise for a couple to live together before getting married, so that they can have a trial period in which to confirm their compatibility. This view supports the idea of premarital cohabitation.

The second argument is that marriage is an outdated institution, which needs to be replaced by cohabitation.

Trial marriage The first position is held by people who do not oppose marriage as such but are nervous of entering into an unhappy marriage. They consider that it is necessary to live together before marriage to test their compatibility and commitment to each other.

Should the trial not succeed then it is easy to end the relationship and move on to the next one without experiencing the trauma of the divorce courts. It is commonly believed that trial marriage reduces the likelihood of a marriage breaking down.

Later in this booklet we will show that those who cohabit before marriage actually increase the probability of divorce.

Marriage is an outdated idea The second argument is advanced by those who believe that marriage is no longer relevant in a modern world. Marriage is said to be restrictive and oppressive, limiting the freedom of individuals to express themselves.

The marriage relationship is seen as a means of reinforcing sexual stereotypes and of exploiting women.

According to High Court Judge Brenda Hogget, one of

the authors of the Law Commission’s 1990 report on family law, ‘Logically, we have already reached a point at which… we should be considering whether the legal institution of marriage continues to serve any useful purpose.’

Cohabiting, on the other hand, allows greater freedom, offering the sexual and emotional closeness of marriage while retaining the autonomy of singleness. The partners in a cohabiting arrangement are independent individuals who enjoy freedom from the gender roles inherent in the husband/wife relationship. Cohabitation is thought to enable couples to live with each other in a way that is free from the restrictions imposed by outdated marriage vows. An essential aim of cohabitation is that each partner should achieve self-fulfillment.

Moreover, it is easy, convenient, and socially accepted by modern society. So, if two people are in love, it is quite proper for them to live together. Those who hold these views see no reason ever to get married, and rather choose cohabitation. When one or both partners are no longer satisfied by the relationship, they are free to seek self-fulfillment elsewhere.

God’s plan for marriage Many people see little difference between marriage and cohabitation. Indeed, as we have already seen, some argue that cohabitation is marriage in all but name. So there is confusion in contemporary society about what constitutes marriage, and many people see no purpose in an expensive marriage ceremony and attach little value to a marriage certificate. Hence the question frequently arises, ‘Why bother with marriage? After all, what difference can a marriage certificate make?’ In today’s world, there is almost no understanding of the biblical view of marriage.

The biblical foundation of marriage is provided in the first two chapters of the Bible, which give an account of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the creation of man in the image of God. It is significant that marriage is established from the beginning of God’s dealing with humankind. Eve is referred to as the wife of Adam in the second chapter of Genesis. The biblical foundation is laid in two key verses from Genesis.

God created man in his own image; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number’ (Genesis 1: 27-28).

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh (Genesis 2: 24).

With these words in the first chapters of the Bible, God established the principles for marriage and procreation. Marriage is the institution established by God for the fulfillment of the command to be fruitful and for the purpose of companionship between men and women. Jesus refers to the two verses from Genesis quoted above to teach the basis of marriage and goes on to say, So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together let not men separate (Matthew 19: 4 6).

So Jesus endorsed marriage as a divine ordinance and drew attention to its four essential characteristics.

1. Male and female He created them: God, in creating human beings in His own image, created them male and female, by design. Marriage is the Creator’s plan for the coming together of one man and one woman in an exclusive sexual union. Thus marriage is a heterosexual union, confined to two people only.

Sexual union between a man and a woman is necessary to produce children and by that, fulfill God’s command to be fruitful.

2. A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife: Leaving one family to form another is at the heart of marriage. It becomes known in the community that the man and woman have left their parents and now live together as a new family. They have committed themselves to each other and are not available to anyone else. This is the secure environment into which children, if the marriage is fruitful, are to be born, nurtured and allowed to develop into mature adults. One of the

most important features of marriage is that it is a public event, which takes place before witnesses, so acknowledging that others in society are involved. Marriage is not a private partnership between two people - it is the building block of society and so affects others in the community. Marriages need the support of other people and, in turn, strong marriages bring great benefit to society. Cohabitation, however, is a private arrangement made between two people and often disregards the wishes of others.

A man is to be united to his wife. The lifelong union of a man and a woman, expressed by promises made in public, is an essential feature of marriage. It contains the solemn promise to remain faithful. It is a commitment made despite difficulties that may arise. In contrast, those who choose to cohabit have made no public promises of commitment to one another. It is not surprising, therefore, that cohabitation is usually a relatively short-lived arrangement.

3. Two become one flesh: Christ refers to Genesis 2:24, ‘the two will become one flesh’, and draws the conclusion, ‘So they are no longer two, but one’ (Matthew 19:6). The phrase ‘one flesh’ clearly refers to sexual intercourse, which consummates the marriage.

Here Jesus is speaking about sexual union. The order of his words indicate that sexual union follows the ‘leaving’ and ‘uniting’. The final proof of the uniting of the man and woman is sexual intercourse, which consummates the marriage and enables husband and wife to fulfill the divine command to be fruitful and multiply. Having children is one of the main purposes of marriage and husband and wife readily accept that their sexual relationship may lead to the birth of children, thereby enlarging their family. Cohabitation, on the other hand, allows sexual union on a trial basis. If things do not work out, the relationship is ended; sexual union is not founded in total commitment and many cohabiting couples are not prepared to accept children who may be the natural result of their sexual relationship. This may be the reason why cohabitation is associated with high rates of abortion, as we shall see later.

However, there is more to the ‘one flesh’ idea than sexual intercourse. The conclusion of Jesus; ‘So the are no longer two, but one’ stresses that at marriage a profound union takes place. A husband and wife become one entity – a new family of which God is the author. The custom of a woman taking the last name of the man she marries symbolises their ‘oneness’ as husband and wife. From the time of marriage the wife and any children who are born into the family are known by the family name.

Furthermore, through marriage the husband and wife become members of a wider extended family, with a host of new family relationships. Both husband and wife may acquire many relatives, which may include a father and mother-in-law, and brother and sister-in-law. With a cohabiting arrangement there is no true ‘oneness’, and the cohabiting couple each retain their own names, thereby emphasising that they are indeed two separate individuals. No new family relationships are created and the wishes of parents and other family members are often not considered, illustrating the self-centred nature of the arrangement.

The values propounded by secular thinking have promoted a casual approach to sexual relationships. It is acceptable to enter a relationship without commitment in the pursuit of pleasure.

There is no more intimate connection possible between two people. It has the potential that no other physical act contains it evokes powerful emotions, and may result in the woman becoming pregnant. Many people believe that no harm results from a series of cohabitations, provided there is honesty between partners. This is a delusion, for few people survive multiple cohabitations without feeling that they have devalued themselves, and without suffering emotional trauma. This is because God has designed the sex act to be a loving expression of commitment to another person. When sexual intercourse

takes place in a casual relationship, its meaning is devalued and it demeans those who participate. In particular, women who participate in a casual sexual relationship are liable to feel that they have been used to gratify the sexual lust of another person. It is not surprising that many women are deserted by their partners when they become pregnant in a cohabiting relationship.

Some people portray the Christian faith as being antisex. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Song of Solomon vividly describes a high view of the relationship between a man and a woman, characterised by sexual love.

The Song speaks profoundly of the beauty and delights of love expressed in an exclusive relationship. My lover is mine and I am his (Song of Solomon 2: 16).

4. What God has joined together let men not separate : This is the command that Jesus made to emphasise the permanence of marriage.

When He was questioned about the reasons for divorce, he quoted the two verses from Genesis mentioned above and then emphasized that those who marry are joined by God and so should not be separated by other people. When a man and a woman are joined in marriage, they are obeying God’s law and are joined together as husband and wife. The union is permanent and the married couple should not separate - marriage is for life. So marriage is a serious undertaking, which is to provide security for the children that may result. For these reasons other people must not attempt to destroy a marriage and marriage partners must not allow any relationship to develop that endangers it.

Jesus said that marital unfaithfulness is to be avoided at all costs, for it constitutes grounds for divorce.

Cohabitation, as we shall see later, is not characterised by faithfulness to one partner.

Indeed, it is usually a temporary union, which cannot be obedient to the marriage ordinance, and is not pleasing to God. In summary, God’s plan for a successful marriage is that it should be an exclusive sexual relationship with one person, for life. This will require faithfulness as well as the mutual duties of submission and love. Unfortunately, because of the frailty of human nature there are many marriages that are less than perfect.

Indeed, some marriages end in acrimony and divorce because marriage partners do not try to follow the biblical principles outlined above.

This does not mean that the principles of marriage are wrong, but rather that the hearts of men and women are hard and do not readily accept God’s way.

TO BE CONTINUED

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

72 LAW

LawReport It is within a state’s legislature to regulate hotels (2) In the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Holden at Abuja, On Friday, July 19, 2013, Before their Lordships: Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, Chief Justice of Nigeria; Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, Justice, Supreme Court; John Afolabi Fabiyi, Justice, Supreme Court; Suleiman Galadima, Justice, Supreme Court; Nwali Sylvester Ngwuta, Justice, Supreme Court; Musa Dattijo Muhammad, Justice, Supreme Court; Stanley Shenko Alagoa, Justice, Supreme Court SC. 340/2010 Between: Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of Federation…(plaintiff) and Attorney General of Lagos State…(defendant) Judgment delivered by Suleiman Galadima, JSC) OTEL Licensing Law Cap H6 Laws of Lagos H State of Nigeria 2003; Hotel Licensing (Amendment) Law No. 23 Volume 43 Lagos State of Nigeria Official Gazette of July 20, 2010.

Hotel Occupancy and Restaurant Consumption Law No. 30 Volume 42 Lagos State of Nigeria Official Gazette of’ June 23, 2009.

Supporting the originating summons is affidavit of 22 paragraphs sworn to by one Olufunmi Oshinusi, a legal practitioner in the Chambers of the plaintiff’s counsel. I deem it necessary to reproduce paragraphs 4-22 of the affidavit as most relevant to the determination of this action.

These are as follows: “•) That sometime, in 1992, the National Assembly enacted the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act 1992 (Now CAP N137 Laws of’ the Federation of Nigeria 2004) and this enactment was made pursuant to the pow-

ers conferred on the National Assembly under Section 4(2) (3)) item 60(d) Part 1 of the Second Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999; •) That the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation was established pursuant to the aforesaid Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act; • )That by virtue of the provisions of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation is mandated to register, classify, grade and regulate all hotels, motels, hospitality and tourism enterprises, travel agencies and tour operators; •) That the Lagos State government in 2003 promulgated and passed into law the Hotel Licensing Law Cap H6 Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2003, a Law which directly conflicts with the mandate and functions of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act; •) That sometime in the year 2009 the Lagos State government caused to be published in full page advertisement in a number of newspapers a public notice to hoteliers and operators of Tourism Related Establishments operating in the state that the registration of hotels and tourism and other related establishments are now the exclusive responsibility of the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism and intergovernmental relations. Now shown to me and attached herein and marked as Exhibit HAGF I is the publication of the National Life Newspaper of September 27, 2009; •) That the public notice issued by the defendant stated that under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria the power of the National Assembly to regulate Tourism is limited to the establishment and regulation of authorities for the Federation or any part thereof to regulate tourist traffic; •) That the notice further stated that the legislative power of the National Assembly does not extend to making legislation and imposition of levies to tourism facilities; •) That the public notice by the Lagos State government stated further that the registration, grading and classification of hotels, motels, guest inns, apartments, travel agencies, tour operating outfits, resorts, cafeterias, restaurants,

Justice Mukhtar (CJN) fast food outlets and other related tourist establishments can only be done by the Lagos State authority or empowered in that regard by the Lagos State House of Assembly; • ) That the Lagos State government has backed up their public notice with a legislation by promulgating the Hotel Licensing (Amendment) Law contained in No.23, Volume 43, Lagos State of Nigeria Official Gazette dated July 20, 2010, which law gives the Lagos State government power to deal with the regulations, registration, classification and grading of hotels, motels, Hospitality and tourism enterprises, travel agencies, tour operators a n d other tourism related establishments. Now shown to me is a copy of enactment as gazetted and same is attached herein and marked as Exhibit HAGF II; •) That under the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation Act 199, the body empowered to register, classify and grade all

hospitality and tourism enterprises, travel agencies tour operators: and other established tourist establishments is the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC); •) That action of the Lagos State government is an attempt to usurp and undermine the statutory mandate and responsibilities of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC); •) That the action of the Lagos State government in issuing the aforesaid public notice and promulgating the aforesaid laws also has the implication of compromising the uniformity of registration, classification and grading of hotels and other tourism facilities in Nigeria with negative implication for tourist safety and national security; •) That realising the adverse and negative effect of the action of Lagos State government, the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation issued a public notice advising all operators of hotels, motels, guest inns, resorts, apartment, travel agencies, tour companies, cafeterias, restaurants and fast food outlets in Lagos State to ignore and disregard the letter of notification and public notice issued by the Lagos State government on the registration of hotels and other tourism facilities; • )That in the public notice by the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, the Corporation made it clear that as a responsible Federal Government agency, it ensures that all stakeholders are carried along in the discharge of its statutory functions, hence the setting up of a Joint Tourism Board which among other things agree on the disbursement of registration fee charged for the administrative processes of registering hotels among the Federal, State and Local Government of which 60 per cent goes to the state where such facilities are located; •) That despite the steps taken by the Corporation, the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Lagos State government in utter disregard to the functions and duties of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation proceeded to enact legislation to license and regulate hotels and other related tourist establishments in Lagos State; To be Continued

Once court declares revocation of customary right of occupancy invalid parties return to status-quo (2) In the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Holden at Abuja On Friday, July 12, 2013, Before their Lordships: Kumai Bayang Aka’ahs, Justice, Supreme Court; Bode RhodesVivour, Justice, Supreme Court; Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, Justice, Supreme Court; Olukayode Ariwoola, Justice, Supreme Court; Clara Bata Ogunbiyi, Justice, Supreme Court SC.146/2005 Between Major Muritala Gbadamosi (rtd) Rasaki Gbadamosi Muftau Gbadamosi (For Themselves And On Behalf Of Gbadamosi Bandele Eletu Family) (appellants) and H.R.H. Oba Tijani Adetunji Akinloye Chief Muritala Saka Odofin (respondents) Alhaji Chief Yekini Ola Bakare (For themselves and on behalf of Ojomu Chieftaincy Family).

HE learned trial judge entered judgT ment against the defendants on issues settled where documents were admitted by consent of the parties without giving oral evidence. The judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal Lagos Division (herein referred to as the court below). It is against this

judgment that the appellants have further appealed to this court in their notice of appeal dated June 14, 2004, containing eight grounds of appeal.

The respondents also filed an amended brief on March 28, 2013. They replied seriatim to the issues postulated and argued by the appellants without formulating their own issues.

On issues 1 which is pivotal to this appeal, learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the Court of Appeal was in error to hold that the appellants’ title became extinct since the appellants did not institute an action to challenge the revocation of their title by the government.

He argued that a methodical look at Exhibit C3 shows that the suit the appellants filed to challenge the revocation was commenced in 1993, two years after the revocation had been declared null and void in suit no.

ID/1883/89 instituted by the respondents wherein the court affirmed the right and interest of the respondents over the whole land.

The appellants filed a reply brief in which it was submitted that the decision in Ilona v Idakwo (supra) supports the appellants’ case and proceeded to argue that the respondents misunderstood the arguments of the appellants when they cited Adeyemi- Bero vs Omotosho and Ivoho vs Effiong (supra) which are irrelevant to this case.

The crux of the respondents case at the High Court is that the judgment in Suit No. ID/1883/89 extinguished the title of the appellants to the land.

It is not entirely true to say that the appellants could not claim any benefit that accrued to the respondents by virtue of the judgment in Suit No. ID/1883/89. At the time the respondents instituted that action against the Lagos State government challenging the acquisition of the land, title to that portion of the land covered by exhibit C1 (the registered Deed of Conveyance) had already passed to Gbadamosi Bandele Eletu, the late father of the appellants. The interest, which the respondents sought to protect in suit No. ID/1883/89, included that of the appellants since the appellants derived their root of title from them and they sued for the whole of the Ojomo Chieftaincy Family Land.

See: Banire vs Balogun (1986) 4 NWLR (part 38) 746 at 753. When the court declared that “the customary right of occupancy vested in the plaintiffs in and over the land mentioned in claim (i) hereof has not been validly or effectively revoked by the military governor of Lagos State”. The interest of the parties returned to status quo before the purported acquisition.

It is not true as learned counsel for the respondents has submitted that the appellants sat by and failed to

challenge the acquisition of the land by the Lagos State government. It is of no consequence whatsoever that the appellants did not institute their action to challenge the acquisition the same time that the respondents took out their writ in Suit No. ID/1883/89 or that the appellants did not join in that suit even if they were aware of it; neither does it lie in the respondents’ mouth to say that the appellants belatedly filed their action after judgment in Suit No. ID/1883/89 was delivered. It was for the Lagos State Government that had carried out the acquisition to challenge the late commencement of Suit No. M/779/93 by the appellants.

The renunciation by the appellants since the respondents could not compromise the Osapa Village land in their settlement agreement with the Lagos State government because they could not surrender what did not belong to them. Any negotiation embarked upon between the respondents and the Lagos State government, which led to the excision of some portions of the acquired land would be vested in the party whose interest was subsisting.

It is quite ironic that the respondents who divested themselves of their title to the Osapa Village land since 1977 would be submitting that the Lagos State government had no power, right

or interest to transfer or alienate any portion of the land already declared by the Court in Suit No. ID/1883/89 as belonging to the respondents.

The respondents cannot eat their cake and have it. See: Coker vs Sanyaolu (1983) 14 NSCC 119 @ 129-130; Okoli vs Ojiako (1997) NWLR (Part 479)48 @ 52. The judgment in Suit No. ID/1883/89 could not vest title on a party that had alienated that title.

The reversion of the title must rest with the appellants.

I find that there is merit in the appeal and it is hereby allowed. The judgment of the Lagos State High Court in Suit No. LD.2642/95 delivered on October 11, 2000, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in CA/L/64/2001 on May 12, 2004, are hereby set aside. The appellants are entitled to the statutory right of occupancy over 10 hectares (which is approximately 24.17 acres) of the reclaimed land in Osapa Village which has been excised and assigned to them, a sketch plan of which was attached and marked ‘SCHEDULE 1’ to the terms of settlement dated May 20, 1996, and made the judgment of the Court in Suit No. M/779/93. I award the following costs to the appellants against the respondents.

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THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Govt, Civil rights groups unite to stop impunity in Nigeria

By Ibe Uwaleke OVERNMENT and Stop Impunity G Nigeria, a collaborative effort of major civil society groups and nongovernmental organisations, (NGOs), as coordinated by Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), and Media Rights Agenda (MRA), recently held a crucial interactive workshop to drum up support to stop impunity in all spheres of Nigerian life. The workshop which held at Bolton white Hotels and Apartments, Area 11, Abuja, condemned impunity in all its ramification. Indeed, the campaign is to stop Nigeria from the debilitating effects of impunity which is exemplified in government, social and religious organisations, business and corporate institutions, as well as traditional societies.

Among those who supported this campaign and visibly registered their presence at the workshop included: National Orientation Agency (NOA), CSJ, MRA, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice’ office, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and Code of Conduct Bureau.

Others were: Economic and Financial Crime Commission, (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria Law Reform Commission (NLRC) and a former director of research, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), and executive director, Human Development Initiatives (HDI), Professor Bolaji Owasonoye.

The gathering which strategized to end the practice of impunity also drew participants from the legal profession, anti corruption and law enforcement agencies and relevant ministries and departments of government.

At the end of the whole show the workshop came out with critical observations in its communiqué signed by the lead director, CSJ, Eze Onyekpere and executive director, MRA, Edetaen Ojo which reads thus: .That impunity has manifested in Nigeria as exemption from punishment, penalty, or harm, recrimination or immunity from unpleasant consequences, and persons acting with impunity have acted with no care or heed for known legal consequences. This has undermined the RoL and development. .That corruption is an aspect of impunity. It is driven by impunity and impunity thrives where corruption is pervasive. At the heart of the massive thievery that we have witnessed in the country in recent times is the culture of complete con-

A cross section of participants at the workshop tempt for procedure and processes.

Some political office holders and civil servants have cornered our commonwealth by circumventing rules.

(C) Law reform provides an opportunity to change the laws and policies that facilitate impunity and the Nigeria Law Reform Commission has a big role to play in the fight against impunity. The current practice where the initiatives of the Commission are frustrated by bureaucracy is a waste of public resources and an under-utilisation of its potentials.

That the Legal Profession consisting of the Bench and the Bar are key stakeholders in the campaign against impunity; and no nation can effectively campaign against impunity without the strong collaboration of its Legal Profession. .That the ongoing reforms in the Judiciary championed by the Chief Justice of the Federation is a step in the right direction. .That the appointment procedure of Judges do not provide the opportunity for the most qualified in character and learning to emerge as members of the Bench. .That impunity is facilitated by lack of transparency and accountability; opaque rules and procedures; failure and refusal of the citizenry to engage the mechanisms of redress to the full.

. That new laws in fiscal responsibility, access to information, etc now provide opportunities to use enhanced transparency to fight impunity. .That the Media’s constitutional role to hold the government accountable to the people positions it as a strong advocate against impunity in all spheres of life. .That prosecution of high level persons suspected to have contributed to the economic adversity of the state by stealing billions of naira has stalled in our courts in the last eight years. .That the effective implementation of the constitutional duties of the Code of Conduct Bureau provides an opportunity to fight impunity in Nigeria. . That the constitutional doctrine and practice of checks and balances is lacking at the state level as the executive virtually controls the legislature and the judiciary.

(N) CSOs have not fully utilized their capacity to test and ensure that the legal system works; is made more responsive and accountable to the needs of the people and extant laws and policies fully implemented.

The participants thereafter resolved as follow: . There is need for political will at the highest level of governance to fight impunity using the instrument of the RoL.

. The ongoing constitutional amendment process provides an opportunity for Nigerians to demand that sections of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 that facilitate or promote impunity be amended. A typical example relates to local governments. . The Nigerian Law Reform Commission Act should be amended to allow the Commission to directly send its reports to both the Attorney-General and the National Assembly so that it can effectively undertake the progressive development and reform of substantive and procedural laws applicable in Nigeria by way of codification, elimination of anomalous or obsolete laws and general simplification of the law. . Members of the Legal Profession need to rededicate themselves to the RoL and the campaign against impunity. The Rules of Professional Conduct in the Legal Profession and the Code of Conduct for Judicial officers should be strictly enforced. . Participants fully support the reforms in the Judiciary and called for more action to cleanse the Judiciary of misfits and persons who have dragged the image of the Judiciary to the mud. . The appointment procedure of judicial officers should provide opportunities for members of the Legal Profession and the public to

make inputs into the whether the nominees are fit and proper persons to occupy such exalted office.

(G) The Citizenry, Legal Profession and CSOs should increase the demand for more openness in governance and the RoL using the Freedom of Information Act and other new sunshine laws. They should utilize all legal and legitimate means to fight corruption and impunity including exercising the right to wage a protracted struggle against fiscal tyranny. . The Media should continue to report and highlight cases of impunity to ensure that they are not swept under the carpet. It should also aggressively use the Freedom of Information Act to get relevant information to combat impunity. . The relevant constitutional provisions, Laws, Rules of Court should be amended to ensure that corruption trials are not unduly prolonged and an Administration of Justice Law enacted to streamline trial processes. . Nigerians should also explore the new mechanisms established by the Human Rights Commission to seek redress for impunity. . That the Code of Conduct Bureau should liberalise access to asset declarations considering that the National Assembly has made provisions for access to such documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

Insolvency practitioners get new executives

By Bertram Nwannekanma NEw executive for the Business Recovery & A Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN), has emerged with renowned accountant, Mr. Bamidele Bababunmi Odunowo as the president of the association Odunowo, a renowned chartered accountant and founding member of BRIPAN, took over from renowned senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Tony Idigbe, whose tenure expired this year.

Other members of the new executives are Mr. Sola Oyetayo, the Managing Partner of Sola Oyetayo & Co, who is the Vice President, Mr. Babatunde Ajayi (1st Nigerian INSOL Fellow); the Managing Partner of Babington-Ashaye & Co as the 1st Deputy Vice President and Professor Fidelis Oditah (QC/SAN); the

Managing Partner of Fidelis Oditah & Co as the 2nd Deputy Vice President.

Other executives are the General Secretary, Mr. Chimezie Victor. C. Ihekweazu; the Managing Partner of Chikwem Chambers (CVC Ihekweazu & Co.) and Mr. Oluwatoyin Olorunleke, CEO of COT Professional Services, who is, who is Honorary Treasurer.

Odunowo had his articleship with Pannel Kerr Foster & CO between 1967 and 1973, and qualified in the November 1973 diet of the Institute’s Examinations.

He later joined Peat Marwick Ani Ogunde & Co. in April 1974 as a qualified senior and rose through the ranks to become a partner in July 1982.

He was the Resident Manager and later Partner of the firm in Kano from 1979 to December 1985.

He returned to Lagos in 1986 to take up the position of the Partner in charge of Insolvency and Financial Advisory Services. He was trained in the UK offices of Peat Marwick where he had the opportunity of understudying the partners and acquiring knowledge on the best practices in the procedures and documentation of Insolvency work.

He left the firm in December 1988, to set up Dele Odunowo & Co. where he is Managing Partner. He has handled many types of Insolvency assignments, and successfully turned around those that could be turnaround.

Before his appointment, Odunowo, a paper presenter for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, MCPE Programmes has held the following positions in BRIPAN, Treasurer (2004 – 2008), Chairman of member-

Odunowo ship committee, (2009 – 2010) and Chairman Training and Continuous education committee. (2011- to-date)

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THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

75

For The Record Programme evaluation: Back to the future

By Oluwayemisi Obashoro-John “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever...”

Preamble HE Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Deputy Vice- Chancellor (Academic and Research), Registrar, Librarian, Dean, Faculty of Education, Prestigious Academia, Esteemed Students, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you all today with profound sense of humility and accomplishment to deliver the 5th Inaugural Lecture in the 2012/2013 session and the 250th of the University of Lagos, ‘University of First Choice and the Nation’s Pride’. An inaugural lecture is perceived in different ways and it is carried out with varying degrees of dignity and sophistication. For me, an inaugural lecture is a significant academic ritual during which a newly appointed professor (like me) gives an overview of his contributions (in the simplest form possible) to knowledge in his chosen field of expertise, to colleagues, the entire university community and the general public. This, I hope to achieve in the next one hour within the general framework of my specialization, titled: Programme Evaluation: Back to the Future.

The focus of this inaugural lecture is to present the various contexts of programme evaluation in the terrain of Adult Education. We shall go back to the past from our present position so that we can adequately walk into the future.

Consequently, we shall attempt to look at the work in three parts: • Underlining issues and clarifications of concepts and trends: Adult education Evaluation Programme evaluation • Personal experiences and some research findings in a bid to evaluate programmes across multidisciplinary lines • Ageing education: Programme for our future.

The Adult: A Picture Every culture has its own yardstick for measuring adulthood which offers societies the liberty to describe an adult as they deem fit. This gives the picture of flexibility and autonomy on the part of society and even the adult.

Generally speaking, the term “adult” connotes basic elements of life cycle, status, social subset, experience, maturity, responsibility, ideals and values. An adult is an individual who has attained one or more of the characteristics of adulthood, such as marriage, parenthood, fulltime employment, and economic independence. He must have assumed the roles characteristic of adult status in his society, such as worker, spouse, parent and active community member (Havighurst, 1952).

Understanding Adult Education: Beyond Definitions The place of Adult education in Nigeria has been implicitly determined by the nature of our political history, which is colonialism. Adult education in many developing countries is designed and based on the histories and philosophies of colonial educational projects, that neither advanced nor appreciated the cultural or linguistic idiosyncrasies of the communities they presumably served. The 1925 memorandum on Education in British Colonial territory established the first government policy on education.

It stated that ‘…education should be adapted to local conditions in such a manner as would enable it to conserve all sound elements in local tradition and social organisation’. The study of educational use of vernacular and the provision of textbooks in the vernacular are of importance (Asobele, 2004). The primary reason why the colonial perspective is always important is that the earliest colonial education programmes trained indigenous adults in languages, religious proselytizing and other skills in order to support the effectiveness of the colonizing power (Abdi and Kapoor, 2009).

Until recently, government was not particularly interested in educating adults. Major actors were faith-based, non-governmental and community-based organizations and trade unions.

This has affected, and probably continues to affect, the status and attitude of both government

T

Obashoro-John and citizens to the whole idea of adult education.

Adult education as a field of study and educational enterprise has been poorly understood in terms of its nature, scope and status.

Most people including academics and educators have idea of evening school and night classes for adults and old people as being adult education. Teaching adults is not the same as adult education. Education is the broader context within which teaching takes place. One learns at all times and age levels that is education, hence the saying that one who is tired of learning is tired of living. Adult (lifelong) education deserves clearer under-standing. Despite the confusion over its meaning, almost everyone is in favour of lifelong learning or learning for life.

Let us not dwell on the negative perceptions but rather let us visualise it as a field concerned with social, political, economic, personal, emotional, physical, and indeed, every perspective of adult and human life. We all have to appreciate that it goes beyond education for adults or old people. The unique strength of adult education is its flexibility in terms of definition and practice, to meet varying needs and interests of the population.

Adult education is defined differently from country to country, depending on the biological and social roles of adults in each country. An almost all compassing definition is that of the National Institute of Adult Education (NIACE), England and Wales (1970) in Rogers (2002) …any kind of education for people who are old enough to work, vote, fight, marry, and who have completed the cycle of life commenced in childhood. They may want to make up for limited schooling, to pass an examination, to learn basic skills of trade and profession, or to master new working processes. They may turn to it because they want to understand themselves and their world better and to act in the light of their understanding, or they may go to classes for the pleasure they can get from developing talents and skills – intellectual, aesthetic, physical or practical. They may not even ‘go to classes’; they may find what they want from books or broadcasts, or take guidance by post from a tutor they never meet. They may find education without a

label by sharing in common pursuits with likeminded people.

Perhaps the most comprehensive definition of adult education as an entity or enterprise was suggested in 1976 by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This organization defines adult education as: the education which denotes the entire body of organized educational processes, whatever the content, level, and method, whether formal or otherwise, whether they prolong or replace initial education in schools, colleges and universities as well as in apprenticeship, whereby persons regarded as adults by the society to which they belong develop their abilities, enrich their knowledge, improve their technical or professional qualifications, or turn them in a new direction and bring about changes in their attitudes or behaviour in the two-fold perspective of full personal development and participation in balanced and independent social, economic and cultural development.

You may recall the unique brand of post colonial adult education for self-reliance by Julius Nyerere (1968), that stressed that the adult learners’ possession of prior knowledge as well as adult education for politicization and liberation by Paulo Freire (1970). These scholars have defined adult education as an adult learning process that can precipitate and sustain their mental and material liberations…this entails citizens’ rights to learn and live productive examined lives.

Adult education programmes should enable communities to think locally but act globally, as well as to think globally and act locally. It should offer all learners new ideas and help citizens enjoy holistic global resources for their local needs. Knowledge should (also) be relevant to the needs and aspirations of the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged people and communities.

Thus, …adult education must not be regarded as a luxury for a few exceptional persons here and there, nor as a thing which concerns only a short span of early adulthood, but it is a permanent national necessity, an inseparable aspect of citizenship, and therefore, should be both universal and lifelong…. (Adult Education Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction (1919) quoted by Field, 2006) Each type of definition is useful because one complements the other. Therefore, Adult education conceived in terms of its contents, objectives,

purposes and processes addresses the learning and facilitation realities of persons who want to improve their lives and the situations of their communities. It goes beyond initial or basic education into all types of education, which consists of the following in their details and descriptions: • Different forms of literacy and numeracy – functional, basic, post initial, advanced; • Non-Formal Education (NFE); • Industrial, vocational and technical education; • Open and distance learning; • Community development; • Social work; • Development education; • Workers education; • Trade Union education; • Extension education; • Reproductive education; • Prison education; • Environmental education; • Consumer education; • Population and citizenship education; • Political education; • Family planning and Family life education; • Peace and war education; • Preventive education; • Continuing education; • Geriatric and ageing education.

With people around the world having different needs and challenges (political enlightenment and strong democratic cultures, ageing populations and higher possibilities of living longer, globalization, collaborations and internationalizations, environmental concerns and demands for global citizenship), adult education and relevant programmes can no longer be misunderstood or misinterpreted.

Adult education is increasingly becoming the key concept for the pursuit of a better life in the face of a change (apology to Mariam Babangida and the Better Life for Rural Women programme of the 1980s, or was it really Rural Life for Better Women?). Convincingly, the most important function of adult education is to inspire both a desire to change and an understanding that change is possible. No meaningful education system for change and development can ever be complete without adult education.

Other issues located in the realm of adult education, that require emphasis, are the underlining theories of adult learning and important andragogical assumptions regarding the adult learners’ level of willingness and autonomy in the learning enterprise.

Theories of Adult Learning Literature reveals (Knowles et al., 2011) that until recently, there had been relatively little thinking, investigation and writing about adult learning. For many years, the adult learner has been a neglected species. The lack of historical research is surprising in view of the fact that the great teachers of ancient times – Hebrew prophets and Jesus Christ in Bible times; Confucius and Lao Tse of China; Prophet Mohammed; Aristotle, Socrates, Plato in ancient Greece; Cicero, Evelid and Quintilian in ancient Rome – were teachers of adults not children. Bearing on their experience with adults, they perceived learning as a mental inquiry and developed teaching and learning strategies and techniques different from those for children.

These included Socratic, Dialogue and Case methods.

Theories of teaching and learning have moved over the years from Stimulus-Response, cognitive, motivation to personality theories for children as shown in the writings of Thorndike (1932), Skinner (1938), Hull (1943), Hilgard (1948), and Gagne (1965). For adults, we have literary evidence of the theories of Rogers (1951), Houle (1961), Tough (1971) and Knowles (1970) Andragogy and Pedagogy

TO BE CONTINUED

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13 , 2013

76

Sports Guinness brings freestyle football phenomenon, Iya Traore, to Lagos

Bad day for Team Nigeria in Moscow

REESTYLE football guru, Frecently, Iya Traore was in Nigeria courtesy of

• Okagbare places 6th in 100m final • Odumosu disqualified in 400m, Ndu, Asumnu flop

By Gowon Akpodonor T was a disappointing day for Team Nigeria at the IAAF World Championship yesterday, as the nation’s athletes fiddled with the winds on Day three of the championship.

The country’s major hope in the 100m women’s final, Blessing Okagbare failed to re-enact the performance in the Golden League in London three weeks ago, as she finished sixth in the final yesterday.

Unlike the scenario at the London Anniversary Games, where she outclassed all contenders, including the world champion, Jamaica’s Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, to set a new Africa record of 10.79 seconds, Okagbare could only manage 11.04 seconds yesterday in Moscow.

The race was won by the Jamaican speed star, FraserPryce, who ran a world leading time of 10.71 seconds to pick the gold.

The biggest surprise in yesterday’s 100m final was Cote d Ivoire’s Murielle Ahoure, who finished second ahead of two American stars,

I

Carmelita Jeter and English Gardner. The Ivoirian ran 10.93 seconds and was applauded by the spectators for her feat.

Okagbare was the only Nigerian, who made it to the final among the four women that contested in yesterday’s events. She had done 11.08 seconds to finish first in heat one of the 100m semifinal.

The other contender in 100m, Gloria Asumnu fell by the side in the semifinal, as she failed to match the speed of the Jamaicans in the last semifinal. She finished seventh in 11.44 seconds.

With the 100m race now won and lost yesterday, Okagbare, who picked a silver for Nigeria in the long jump event on Sunday, will now shift her medal’s hope to the 200m event, which will begin on Thursday. She and Asumnu will also compete in the 4x100m relays on August 18.

Women hurdler, Adejoke Odumosu, actually opened the floodgate of disappointment for Team Nigeria yesterday, when she was disqualified in the second heat of the 400m hurdles.

Before the big crash…Okagbare won her 100 meters women semifinal, but placed sixth in the final race of the competition.

PHOTO: AFP.

Ahead Brazil 2014 World Cup

LMC cautions players, clubs against disparaging the League EOPLE will not take the league serious if the major players continue to say negative things about, the League Management Company (LMC) has told players and clubs’ officials.

Frowning at the growing recourse to expression of negative statements in the public domain on outcome of Glo Premier League matches by club Officials and players, the LMC warned that

P

it would henceforth sanction individuals, who engage in this practice that brings the league to disrepute.

In a statement from the Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Salihu Abubakar, the LMC said it would no longer condone comments by club officials, including coaches and managers, as well as, their players, which lower the integrity of the League in the eyes of the public.

Yobo may return against Malawi, as Omeruo undergoes surgery From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja UPER Eagles estranged Sreturn Captain, Joseph Yobo may to the national team for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against the Flames of Malawi in Calabar following reports that Chelsea of England’s Kenneth Omeruo may not be available for the match.

The match is scheduled for September 6 at the U.J Esuene Stadium in Calabar.

Yobo, who is aiming for a record 100 appearances for

the national team, has been out of action since the Super Eagles’ 2013 African Nations Cup victory in South Africa, where the younger Kenneth Omeruo displaced him from the defence line.

But with Omeruo’s reported injury, which led to the youngster’s replacement by South Africa-based Gege Soriola in the team for the Mandela Challenge invitational championship against the Bafana Bafana, officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)

may have began moves to lobby for the recall of the Fenerbahce defender for the Malawi match.

Chief Coach, Stephen Keshi told journalists shortly before the team’s departure for South Africa on Sunday that he was not sure that Omeruo would recover fully from his surgery before the World Cup qualifier against Malawi, adding that the former Ado Den Haag defender is expected to undergo a surgery in London tomorrow.

Guinness, to showcase his skills and meet with some of the country’s freestyle footballers, who got the chance to work with him and learn from the best.

Iya amazed football lovers at the Guinness Head Office open field in Lagos with his incredible display of talent.

Football fans also had opportunities of challenging themselves to freestyle football, winning fantastic prizes in the process.

Ifeanyi Nwabeke and Ahmed Rilwan won $500 each for their efforts while others got consolation prizes.

According to the Marketing and Innovation Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Austin Ufomba, the series of activities around Iya Traore are targeted at bringing football lovers across the country unforgettable football experiences.

“Over the next few months, we will be revealing more about our exciting football plans for the forthcoming year. There will be many more great football experiences to come, involving well known football names and chances for Nigerian football fans to get involved and show us what they’re made of – Raise Your Game!”

Born in Guinea, Iya grew up playing street football where he impressed locals with his skills. In November 2000, he moved to France where he forged links with clubs such as ESP, Paris FC and Paris Saint-Germain, but decided to continue playing football in the way he knows best – on the streets.

He is now well known for his incredible freestyle football skills and has appeared in exhibition matches, on TV shows and can often be found practising on one of Paris’s most famous streets, the Champs-Elysees!

Mandela Challenge: Ameobi, Ejide, Nsofor hit Eagles Camp LL the players expected A for tomorrow’s international friendly between the

Early bird… Shola Ameobi is among the first foreign-based stars to arrive in Durban for Nigeria’s international friendly against South Africa…tomorrow.

Super Eagles and the Bafana Bafana, except John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses and Fegor Ogude, have arrived Nigeria’s camp in Durban.

The remaining trio are expected in today on time for prestige game tagged: Mandela Challenge, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa.

The Eagles arrived Durban from Johannesburg yesterday morning after a six-hour over night flight from Lagos to Johannesburg.

The team was led by Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, with

four home stars, Chigozie Agbim, Azubuike Egwueke, Sunday Mba and Godfrey Oboabona.

The NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari, who is expected for the game will also hit town today. When the team got to its Southern Sun hotel abode several of the invited players were already in their rooms.

Among the early birds were late call ups, James Okwuosa and Gege Soriola, who are both based in South Africa.

There was also Obinna Nsofor, Elderson Echjiele, who were the first foreign based stars to arrive Durban.

Other early comers

include Uche Nwofor, Efe Ambrose, Ogenyi Onazi and Brown Ideye. By lunch time, bulky Newcastle United striker, Shola Ameobi, strolled in along with stand in skipper, Austin Ejide.

Ameobi said he was happy to rejoin his teammates after missing the last Nations Cup that the team eventually won.

“I Am so happy to be back with these set of players, who always show me love and care and I promise from now on to always give my best to the team,” he said.

The Team had its first training session yesterday evening at 7:30 local time,

which is 6:30pm Nigerian time. It’s the same time that the team will train today before the cracker against Bafana Bafana tomorrow at 8:15pm local time.

Head Coach, Stephen Keshi told the local media on arrival that he hopes to give the South Africans a good game to honour Nelson Mandela, who is Africa’s foremost nationalist.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Union in South Africa (NUSA) has promised to mobilise no fewer than 5,000 fans to support the Super Eagles in the international friendly match.

SPORTS 77

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Basketball

Eagle Wings beat USIU, qualify for African Championship

By Adeyinka Adedipe AGLE Wings of Kenya retained their FIBA African Zone Five title after beating compatriots, United States International University (USIS) 67-62 in a nail-bitting final game in Bujumbura, Burundi over the weekend.

The match was between the two top Kenyan sides and it was clear from the start that something dramatic must happen for the winner to emerge.

In the opening quarter, the university team races to a 16-2 lead and the defending champions knew that had to put up a spirited fight to change the tide. And so they did, as they

E

won the second quarter 20-7 to take a first half lead at 26-23.

The third quarter was keenly contested as both teams amassed 22 points with the fans cheering on ceaselessly.

The decisive last quarter turned into a fierce battle with Wings winning 17-15 to win their third regional crown in four years.

Leading a Wings points tally was Angela Okoth, who posted 15, the rising Annerose Atieno scored 13, Everlyne Nora registered 11 and Silalei Sani recorded 10. Cynthia Irankunda, playing before her home fans tallied 16 points for USIU with Emma Nyakweba collecting 12 while Hilda Indasi managed11.

MTN Lagos Street Soccer Championship: LOC confirms over 800 teams, organises seminars HE Local Organising T Committee (LOC) of the season six of the yearly MTN

Cecilia Otu-Akpan will be in Lagos for the International Classics

Lagos International Table Tennis Classics

Don’t be intimidated by foreigners, Quadri tells Nigerian players

By Olalekan Okusan S the number of top class players continues to increase each day ahead of the first Lagos International Table Tennis Classics, Portugal-based Aruna Quadri, has charged his compatriots not to be scared of the rankings of some of the foreigners.

Quadri, who is one of the top Nigerian players expected to glow at the tournament, said he believes status and pedigree do not win matches but sheer determination from every player matters.

“I have played with the world’s best and one of the things I learnt from playing these stars is that it is the person that claims the victory that will be rated high. So I don’t want Nigerian players to be scared of the rankings of the foreigners because

A

seeding and raking do not win matches. So for me, I want to urge my compatriot to just give their best and ensure that they train hard in order to do well in the competition,” he said.

“That Egypt’s Assar and other top players are coming will not take the shine off some of us as we are also battle ready to face them. Some of us have played against them before. They are really not spectacular; it is just because they had the opportunity which most of us did not have. We have the potentials to be among the best in the world but the needed support and encouragement in terms of competitions and facilities are not just there.

“Players like Assar have featured in most of the big tournaments in the world, while some of us hardly attend such events. So it is going to

be a tough competition for the foreigners and we will see the best in Nigerian players,” he said.

The former Africa Champion, however, lauded the organisers of the competition, saying, this is indeed a sign of good things to come.”

“I am particularly impressed with the present board of the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF), led by Wahid Oshodi, for their ingenuity in staging this tournament because some of us had not tasted such competition in Nigeria since we came into limelight.

“I am personally happy that we will be having some of these players come over to Nigeria to face up. This is good and it will surely help the upcoming players to grow in confidence,” Quadri added.

The Lagos International Classics has been approved by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) and Africa Table Tennis Federation (ATTF) and for now it remains the highest prize money tournament to be staged in Africa.

The Main Organising Committee of Lagos International Sports Classics in collaboration with the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) organises it.

Players and teams across the globe are expected to compete for honours in 10 events made up of junior and senior categories.

Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium will host the championship from August 26 to 31, while qualifiers for Nigerian-based players will hold on August 22 to 23.

NNL side, Remo Stars, get Bet9ja kit deal IGERIA National League N side, Remo Stars of Shagamu, scored a first recently when they became the first team in the second tier of the country’s football league to get its kits endorsed by Bet9ja, a company involved in sports forecasting.

The kit deal with Bet9ja means that Remo Stars will now wear the company’s logo from this season.

Speaking at the weekend, Chairman of the national league side, Kunle Soname said, “the deal is worth a lot which we don’t want to disclose, but we believe it will help us to achieve our promotion target. We are the

first Nigerian club to be kitted by an international brand, which makes our club an international brand.

“We are excited that Bet9ja decided to go into this partnership which will be beneficial to both parties. We believe that this partnership will endure for many years to come.”

Also speaking on the deal, the CEO of Bet9ja, Ayo Ojuroye, disclosed that they decided to partner with Remo Stars as their contribution to the efforts to grow the Nigerian league.

“Bet9ja is the only company that offers betting on Nigerian league. We want to generate awareness about

the Nigerian league, hence we are going into partnership with Remo Stars. We do not want to reduce our product to just betting on the foreign league. We cannot be Bet9ja and promote only the foreign league.”

Ojuroye also affirmed, “ our core product is football, though we are into entertainment, recreation and show business. We offer on line betting, live betting during matches, as well as, through our shops and small outlets. Bet9ja wants to reward people’s passion for football and other sports.”

He disclosed that although the company only stated business six months ago,

adding that it is the only betting company that has paid more than N1.5 million winning bonus on a single game.

“We want to be the best betting company in Nigeria through our wide range of products, which cuts across age, class or creed. You can take a bet on line on your mobile phone, go into any of our retail outlets or do it during matches. We are here with our best services and we want Nigerians to benefit from it,” he assured.

The company already has big outlets in Ikorodu, Ikeja, Alaba, Mushin, even as plans are underway to expand beyond Lagos.

Lagos Street Soccer Championship has confirmed over 800 teams just as the seminars for referees, match commissioners and teams commence today at Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.

For this season, LOC says over 800 teams have confirmed registration, while over 3000 officials including, stewards and medical personnel will be engaged on a weekly basis over the next 12 weeks that the competition will last.

According to the Secretary

General of the tournament, Deji Aladegbemi, the seminars are geared towards fulfilling one of the visions of the project, which is to serve as engagement and empowerment platform.

He said, “considering the introduction of the U-15 Junior category, it is significant to organise seminar on the Futsal laws of the game designed to help the coaches and young players to understand the unique rules of 5aside football. Above all, it’s about ensuring that both officials and players are on same page as far as the rules of the games are concerned.”

Fashola Babes dominate volleyball, as Spring Fresh rule in table tennis HE Lagos sports arena T came alive at the weekend with various associations staging their quarterly interclub competitions, with Fashola Babes winning the volleyball event, while Spring Fresh Club emerged the overall winner in the table tennis tournament.

In the final of the volleyball Inter-Club Competition played at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Fashola Babes were a delight to watch as they overpowered Team Lagos 3-0 in the female category of the two-day tournament.

Team Lagos, which won bronze in the volleyball event at last year’s National Sports Festival, looked ordinary on

the court as Fashola Babes taught them how to play good volleyball. Also, Legacy Club defeated Unity Club 2-0 to win the male’s event.

Eight teams featured in the championship, which was organised by Lagos State Volleyball Association with facilitating resources from Lagos State Ministry of Youth, Sports and Social Development and the Office of Grassroots Sports Development.

In the table tennis finals played at the Indoor Hall of Mobolaji Johnson, Rowe Park, Yaba, Lagos, players of Spring Fresh Club were the cynosure of all eyes, as they showcased their talents.

Telecom Games: Ericsson shock MTN, as Alcatel down Airtel T was fireworks all through IMatch and double upsets on Day 5 of the Nigeria Telecoms Games with LM Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent pulling historic wins that threw form books into shreds on Sunday at the University of Lagos Sports Complex.

The two teams had never won a point this season, but they rose bravely to beat their respective superior rated opponents to the chagrin of watchers of the Nigeria Telecommunication Games (NTG).

MTN Nigeria had already qualified for the finals and had gone unbeaten without conceding a goal until the clash with Ericsson, which made the leading telecommunication equipment ven-

dors the biggest giant killers of the tournament in a historic 1-0 piping of the defending champions.

With three of its first team players relegated to the bench, MTN approached the encounter with supreme confidence as Ericsson had before the game never won any points.

Led by Akindolapo Ajayi and Jerry Onuachi in defense, Ericsson played with more caution to at least contain the hitherto rampaging MTN strike force that have won all their matches with a minimum two goals score line and conceding none. MTN enjoyed added advantage of playing against 10 men when Ericsson’s Michael Odum was sent off for retaliation on Tade Aderibigbe.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

78 SPORTS

European Round-off

We can fix Suarez problem, Rodgers promises RENDAN Rodgers still B believes Liverpool’s impasse with Luis Suarez can be “resolved amicably” but has indicated the club will bide their time if necessary.

Suarez has made it clear he wants to leave to play Champions League football a move he insists Liverpool had agreed to allow if they did not qualify for the competition themselves.

Arsenal is the current destination of choice after they lodged a bid of £40million plus £1 - a figure they think triggers a clause in the Uruguayan’s contract - but the Reds are standing firm over their position that the striker is not for sale.

Last season’s current topscorer has been made to train alone by Rodgers until he apologises publicly and privately for his recent conduct, a move he is highly unlikely to make according to reports today.

Rodgers reiterated that he

would not soften his stance on Suarez until the club could be guaranteed his undivided commitment, but did suggest the relationship was not beyond repair.

“It is something that we have to do everything we can to fix,” Rodgers told the club’s official website.

“If we have got to sit and wait, then so be it. But this is a club that has got great values, and we hope that the situation can be resolved amicably, and I am sure it will be.

“There has been a lot said and a lot reported, and we have made a stance, as a club and as a manager, of the commitment and the standards required.

“If you don’t have that commitment and those standards then you won’t play.

It’s as simple as that. There’s no problem between me and him, it is quite calm. But obviously I have got to respect the club and the team.

“It doesn’t matter who you

are, if they’re not pulling their weight then they are letting down the club, the city and everyone who has stood by them.

“So until I get that assurance that we are going to get nothing but 100 per cent commitment, then there will be no solution.”

Former Liverpool defender, Jamie Carragher, who retired in the summer after spending his entire career at Anfield, thinks the club’s owner, John W. Henry risks looking “stupid” if Suarez moves on.

Henry has told Arsenal to give up on the move in no uncertain terms, a fact, which Carragher feels bolsters Liverpool’s resolve on the matter.

“I expect him to stay at Liverpool now,” Carragher told the Daily Telegraph.

“I think if you come out as owner and say that, and then something happens, you make yourself look stupid.

I’m glad he has done it and I think everyone in football should be glad he has done it. It is maybe a message for players.”

I understand Dortmund fans’ frustration, Gotze admits ARIO Gotze has admitted M that he understands the anger of Borussia Dortmund

Luiz

Alves wants Luiz to join Barcelona ANI Alves feels Chelsea D defender, David Luiz would be a good addition for Barcelona, but thinks the Catalans face a tough task in luring the Brazil international away from his current club.

The Camp Nou side is keen to add some fresh blood to its defense this summer and tabled a €25 million offer for the 26-year-old Luiz earlier this month, while its advances for Liverpool’s Daniel Agger has also been spurned.

Chelsea Manager, Jose Mourinho has since stressed that Barca have little chance of getting their man, but Alves would welcome his compatriot with open arms if the transfer were to take

place.

“I would be happy if David Luiz would come to Barcelona. I always want the best for my friends and advise them to join Barca if they get the chance,” Alves told El Mundo Deportivo.

“He’s not just a friend, but he has a lot of quality, too.

The problem is not whether he would like to come here, but that you have to take him away from Mourinho and that will not be easy. Letting David Luiz join Barca will not be an option for him and even less so as it would make us stronger. It will be incredibly difficult, nearly impossible.”

Luiz has a contract with Chelsea until June 2017.

fans following his €37 million summer move to Bayern Munich.

The Germany international’s decision to leave BVB for one of their biggest rivals caused uproar among Dortmund supporters, yet the 21-year-old feels people should also look at it from his perspective.

“I can definitely understand their frustration. I played for Dortmund for quite a while and then joined Bayern. A lot of fans simply don’t like that.

I can understand their feelings,” the attacking midfielder told ZDF. “One should also look at it from my side, though. I want to keep on developing as a player. People should look at it from that angle, too. It was a combination of things that convinced me to join Bayern.

There were a lot of reasons for me. The coach, the club and I wanted to try something new.”

Gotze made his Bayern debut in the 4-1 friendly win over Gyor on Sunday, netting twice during his 30 minutes on the pitch.

Balotelli

Suarez

Pellegrini’s holistic approach will heal Man City, says Quinn ORMER Manchester City Fbelieves player, Niall Quinn new Manager, Manuel Pellegrini’s relaxed personality will prompt a change of fortunes for the club, after losing its Premier League crown to rival Manchester United last season.

The Chilean was brought in from Malaga to replace Roberto Mancini in the closeseason after City relinquished its title, and Quinn feels it has been a wise move.

The 46-year-old pundit has also insisted that Mancini’s ‘edginess’ did not help as City failed to clinch any silverware aside from the Community Shield last term, and thinks Pellegrini’s ‘charisma’ will help the dressing room.

“Mancini appeared to be on

the edge quite a lot and that bored through onto his team, but this man will do the opposite,” the former striker told The Daily Star. “I like what Pellegrini is about and what he has at his disposal at City. I think he has a dressing room that needed a bit of TLC.

“I think he is a very charismatic man. I was out in Hong Kong and I watched him in action around the players.

Holistic is a word I would use to describe his interaction with the players. And I think that was what that dressing room badly needed. They are good enough to win it.”

Balotelli doesn’t need special treatment, Montolivo insists C Milan midfielder, A Riccardo Montolivo has insisted that he will not treat Mario Balotelli any different than his other teammates in his new role as Rossoneri skipper.

The former Fiorentina man replaced Massimo Ambrosini as the San Siro

side’s captain following the latter’s departure this summer and he has stressed that he will not give the flamboyant striker preferential treatment.

“Balotelli does not need any special or preferential treatment,” Montolivo was quoted as saying by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Whenever he makes a mistake, I will tell the club about it. He’s a young guy with plenty of experience, he knows how to cope with pressure.”

Montolivo then went on to discuss the upcoming Champions League playoff against PSV and stressed that the Eredivisie side cannot be underestimated.

“We are feeling more like a team than at the start of last season. We are stronger and we feel ready,” he explained.

“PSV are a team in transition, but they have a big history.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, August 13, 2013

SPORTS 79

Golf: Jason Dufner rises in rankings ASON Dufner has risen to a Jlatest career-high eighth in the world rankings following his victory in the U.S PGA Championship on Sunday.

Dufner climbed 13 places after carding a closing 68 at Oak Hill to win by two shots from former U.S. Open champion, Jim Furyk.

Adam Scott’s share of fifth place lifts him back above Justin Rose into fourth, while Sweden’s Henrik Stenson is into the top 10 after adding a third place at Oak Hill to his runners-up finish in the Open at Muirfield last

month.

Dufner, who equalled the lowest score in major history with a second-round 63, carded a closing 68 despite dropping shots at the final two holes, the 36-year-old finishing 10 under par.

“It probably has not sunk in,” Dufner said. “I can’t believe this is happening to me. To come back from a couple of years ago when I lost in a play-off feels really, really good.

“I decided that I was going to be confident and put my best foot forward and play aggres-

Latest leading positions and points average 1 Tiger Woods 2 Phil Mickelson 3 Rory McIlroy 4 Adam Scott 5 Justin Rose 6 Matt Kuchar 7 Brandt Snedeker 8 Jason Dufner 9 Graeme McDowell 10 Henrik Stenson 11 Luke Donald 12 Keegan Bradley 13 Steve Stricker 14 Lee Westwood 15 Charl Schwartzel 16 Ernie Els 17 Ian Poulter 18 Louis Oosthuizen 19 Sergio Garcia 20 Jason Day

(USA) (USA) (NIrl) (Aus) (Eng) (USA) (USA) (USA) (NIrl) (Swe) (Eng) (USA) (USA) (Eng) (RSA) (RSA) (Eng) (RSA) (Spa) (Aus)

14.06 8.51 8.44 7.84 7.55 6.66 6.52 6.08 6.03 5.81 5.27 5.15 5.07 5.04 4.64 4.59 4.57 4.55 4.53 4.52

sive to try to win this thing.

The last two holes were a little unfortunate but I am happy to get the job done and it’s a big step in my career.”

Beginning the last day one shot behind Furyk, Dufner took command with some brilliant iron play, holing from four feet for birdie on the fourth and a matter of inches on the fifth, eighth and 16th to help erase the memories of his late collapse in the same event two years ago.

Dufner led by five shots in Atlanta after nearest challenger Keegan Bradley triplebogeyed the 15th, only to find water on the same hole minutes later. After doing well to escape with a bogey there, he failed to get up and down from sand on the next and then three-putted the 17th.

Both men parred the 18th to go into a three-hole play-off, which Bradley won by a shot to become the first player to capture a major with a long putter.

Furyk was aiming to follow Phil Mickelson as the second consecutive 43-year-old winner of a major and make amends for a nightmare 2012 in which he held or shared the lead after 54 holes in four tournaments and failed to win any, as well as bogeying the final two holes to lose his vital singles match to Sergio Garcia at the Ryder Cup. He and Dufner began the final round with three pars before Dufner birdied the fourth from four feet and then made light of the treacherous fifth.

Bolt considers Commonwealth Games run ORLD 100m champion, W Usain Bolt says he is keen to make a first Commonwealth Games appearance in Glasgow next year.

The Jamaican, who won his second world 100m title on Sunday, missed both the 2006 and 2010 Games through injury.

But with no World Championships or Olympics in 2014, he wants to add another title to his list of honours.

“On ‘off-years’ I try not to stress myself too much but I’ve never been to the Commonwealths so that’s something I’m thinking about,” he said.

“It’s always something good to add to the resume. Next year, I’ll have to train hard and push myself. I’ll be on the circuit trying to run fast times.”

The athletics competition takes place from July 27 to August 2 at Hampden Park and the presence of the sixtime Olympic gold medallist and 100 and 200m world record holder, would be a huge draw for the event.

Bolt clocked a time of 9.77 seconds in beating American Justin Gatlin and fellow Jamaican Nesta Carter in Moscow to make up for his false start in the 2011 World Championships final and add to his list of global honours.

The 26-year-old is also keen to

maintain his dominance in the sprint events.

“I am going to try to continue winning championships. I want to be mentioned alongside greats like Pele, Maradona and Muhammad Ali,” he added.

“It was an average start and that, for me, is a great start.

Around great starters like Gatlin and Carter, I knew I had to get it right. I knew

Gatlin was not going to crack under pressure so I had to stay focused and run to the line.

“I said to Gatlin, I always appreciate competing with him because he always comes out and gives it his best.”

Gatlin said afterwards, “he’s a competitor and a showman.

He’s a gamer. If you’re going to get beaten then get beaten by the best.”

Dufner

Nadal too strong for Raonic AFAEL Nadal claimed his R 25th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title with a

Bolt

one-sided victory over Milos Raonic in the Rogers Cup final in Montreal.

Canadian Raonic had the crowd behind him but his inexperience showed and Nadal - the world number four - eased to a 6-2, 6-2 win to claim his eighth tour-level title of the season.

At times Raonic played into Nadal’s hands as the Spaniard eased through the first set despite his first serve being out of sorts.

Nadal then broke in the first game of the second set and held with Raonic also holding for 2-1. Raonic then brought up three break points only for Nadal to win five consecutive points.

A second break took the Spaniard to 5-2 and he then

moved to double championship point, which he converted - Raonic sending a shot long - to wrap up victory in one hour eight minutes.

The win boosted Nadal’s hopes of finishing the year as world number one, having returned to the Tour in February following a sevenmonth injury-enforced absence.

“I feel I have an advantage, but not enough to say that I am the favourite,” he said on www.atpworldtour.com. “On this kind of surface, Novak (Djokovic) is really good.

There remains three Masters 1000s, one grand slam, World Tour Finals - more favourable surfaces for him than for me. So we are talking about 6,500 points.

“We have to realise how many points I have to win to

be number one. I think I will not be number one if I have less than 10,000 points at the end of the season. Today I have 8,000. I need to win minimum 2,000 more.

That’s very difficult in this part of the season, but I’m going to try.”

The Mallorcan, who made just seven unforced errors as opposed to Raonic’s 22, added, “I did a lot of things well.

“My return was huge this afternoon. I returned a few first serves of his in important moments - decisive.

Then I think he played with more mistakes than usual.

That helped me.

“To win here, I have to be playing my top level. I’m very happy the way that I played almost every match in this tournament. It’s very important for me, this title.”

TheGuardian

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Onyiorah Chiduluemije Paschal HERE is no doubt that the Nigeria Police T Force has suffered a fate worse than death in the course of our tortuous journey of nationbuilding so far. Starting from the time after the attainment of our political independence till date, the police in Nigeria have almost always been at the receiving end of the antics of Nigerian politicians, whether in uniform or in mufti. For instance, in the First Republic, during the Awolowo-Akintola political struggle for supremacy in the Western Region that later snowballed into grave regional crisis, the Nigeria Police Force had received more than its fair share in bearing the brunt of that crisis.

Consequently, not a handful of its officers deployed at the time to quell the raging crisis lost their precious lives for a cause they obviously knew nothing about.

Arguably, even those of them who narrowly escaped death by whiskers and with various degrees of injuries did not in any way receive compensation.

Understandably, however, though the Police were not alone in suffering this fate, yet the fact that they were attacked and killed while maintaining law and order at the behest of the then political leaders at the time and without necessarily receiving compensation afterwards, clearly shows the extent to which politicians could go in using men of the Nigeria Police to achieve their individual and group interest.

Similarly, apart from the pre-civil war exploitation of the Nigeria Police during which time they were used by the political leaders in military uniform for the ostensible purpose of bringing back the Biafra secessionist enclave into the Nigeria fold and which invariably occasioned unavoidable death of almost thousands of them, the series of events masterminded by civilian politicians in the wake of the post-civil war period of Second Republic politicking further made nonsense of the value rate and respect for the Nigeria Police. Of course, recalling the litany of grueling storms weathered by men of the Nigeria Police in the hands of both the civilian and military politicians during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida who himself was by no means less manipulative of the Force, there can hardly be enough to say about General Sani Abacha’s side of the same story of manipulation of the Police. For example, one still recalls the extent to which the likes of Chief Arthur Eze, the celebrated moneybag and friend of the Presidency, enjoyed the use and protection of men of the Nigeria police

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The Police and Nigerian politicians

Mohammed Abubakar, Inspector General of Police while haughtily flaunting his seemingly unbridled desire to impose upon the people of Anambra the person of Mrs. Joy Emodi as the civilian governor of the state, via the feigned democratic ambience created at the time by his principal, General Abacha.

Granted that the foregoing transpired during the military rule which in itself is an aber-

ration, one had expected that the return of democratic leadership in 1999 would have either brought to an end or greatly reduced to the minimum the manipulative tendencies of Nigerian politicians towards men of the Nigeria Police Force. Unfortunately, the singular incident of abduction of Governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige of Anambah State on July 10, 2003, by a former Assistant Inspector General of Police, now late, Mr. Raphael Ige, with full detachment of police and under the watchful eyes of President Olusegun Obasanjo-led Federal Government shows that the exploitation of men of the Nigeria Police by politicians in an apparently democratic setting is one that has exposed the helplessness and the plight of this set of regimented fellow compatriots, who rather than criticism deserve our sympathy at all times. To, therefore, blame the Nigeria Police or any of its men whenever politicians are locking horns with one another over their selfish interest that is often devoid of any connection with issues of welfare of the masses is, to say the least, the most uncharitable thing any keen observer of the politics of policing Nigeria would do.

Today, irrespective of the relatively giant strides recorded so far in our various attempts to widen the democratic space in virtually all ramifications, we are still confronted with this dangerous politics of policing Nigeria with its attendant consequences. Incidentally, the Ombatse group in Nasarawa State which was alleged to be responsible for the killing of scores of police and State Security Service officers is increasingly reported as being squarely enmeshed in the struggle for power with the Governor, Mr. Tanko Al-Makura, over the lat-

ter’s rumoured 2015 second term ambition and his alleged desire to dismantle all forms of quasi-political structure of the group, perceived or imagined, deemed to constitute possible threats or a cog in the wheel of the realisation of his ambition. And much as the veracity of all the media reports flying around in this regard is yet to be ascertained, it is outrageous that the precious lives of men of the Nigeria Police Force could be so cheaply taken in the twinkling of an eye on the grounds of alleged political ambition of the governor and attempts to scuttle it by a group of individuals perceive to be his new political detractors.

This ugly development is not only preposterous but also deplorable.

At this juncture, the obvious need be stated that it is in no way less appalling that what we are beginning to see in Rivers State can hardly go for an entirely different scenario short of a replica of the political picture in Nasarawa State. In fact, be it Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi’s alleged disrespect to President Goodluck Jonathan or his speculated Vicepresidential ambition that brought about the raging crisis in Rivers State or, perhaps, Honourable Nyesom Wike’s speculated 2015 gubernatorial aspiration that is fueling it, one thing both sides will do well to eschew is this usually bad attitude of Nigerian politicians or their proclivities to blame the hapless men of the Nigeria Police for their political misfortune or any form of setback arising from their poor political calculation. In clear terms, Amaechi should strive to divest himself of negative tendencies towards resorting to calumnies or calls for the removal of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, just because it pleases him to make this man a scapegoat in order to succeed in massaging his ego and thus bolster his seemingly eroding guts in the raging free-forall in Rivers state.

But be that as it may, the point must be made that there is nothing wrong for politicians to lock horns with one another as it clearly makes the fascinating part of the real politicking. But there is obviously a limit beyond which the involvement of the Police would be a negation to the law and the reasonably accepted rules of engagement. Therefore, Nigerian politicians must learn to respect men of the Nigeria Police Force and desist from expecting them to almost always do their biddings before they can be fairly judged or praised as doing well.

• Paschal, a journalist, wrote from Abuja, via duluemije4justice@yahoo.com 08037738607.

Ondo State and concept of governance

By Tosin Makinde LL children in Ondo State have the right “A to go to a modern school with world class learning facilities. We want to achieve zero level of infant and maternal mortality in Ondo State. All graduates in Ondo State shall be gainfully employed. Our market women and men must become economically viable and trade under conducive environment.”

These and more are some of the lines from the mouth of the Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko at any function where he had the opportunity of explaining the kind of governance he wants to implant in the Sunshine State.

Fifty-two months after, how has he fared?

Has he been able to provide jobs for all the unemployed youths in Ondo State or will he be able to do so by 2017 when he vacates the Alagbaka Government House? Is he on ground to reaching his target of achieving the zero-level of unemployment he loftily talks about?

What of the zero-level infant and maternal death rate in Ondo State he envisioned? Is it possible to achieve that during his tenure?

The programme he has put in place, are they enough to bring the vision to fulfillment? The modern Neighbourhood Market is shaping the urban landscape in Ondo State, how far can they reshape the lives of the market men and women in the state? How many can the government build that will hit the target the governor dreams of?

Education is no doubt one of the major planks of this government, what with the Mega School project that is aimed at providing world-class, modern educational facilities and environment for learning in Ondo State.

To achieve that target of ensuring that all chil-

dren in the state attend school of that class, there is need for a huge replication of the Mega School; can he achieve that before 2017?

This article is not about praise singing on what is happening in Ondo State. It is about the way governance should be in this country regardless of the individual or political party in power whether it concerns the social, economic, or political development of our country as the focus of governance.

No doubt Mimiko is a man of vision who has brought vigour and resilience into governance, and a style of governance that can be referred to as conceptual governance – a system of governance that sets an example on the way governance should be.

First, Mimiko’s concept of education is manifested in the Mega Schools. With the establishment of the schools in some senatorial districts, it is a new dawn for education, one that is worthy of emulation by other states.

The plan is to take the schools to other dis-

tricts.

Replicating the schools in all the 18 local government areas of the state will, predictably, cost the state a fortune. Even if the schools do not go round before the tenure of the Mimiko administration is over, for the mega school concept to achieve its objectives, succeeding administrations, regardless of political affiliations, will need to tap into this noble education idea. It is what before long will make Ondo State the pride of the nation in the area of education in the modern sense and one to emulate in educational infrastructure.

It is in health the governor and the state have received much commendation for, the Mother and Child and the Safe Motherhood programmes are concepts so unique in conception that if well managed and sustained can drastically cut the level of infants and maternal deaths in the state and, by extension, Nigeria, which accounts for the second largest maternal deaths in the world.

The YOUTHSPEAK Column which is published daily is an initiative of THE GUARDIAN, and powered by RISE NETWORKS, Nigeria’s Leading Youth Development Centre, as a substantial advocacy platform available for ALL Nigerian Youth to engage Leadership at all levels, engage Society and contribute to National Discourse on diverse issues especially those that are peculiar to Nigeria. Regarding submission of articles, we welcome writers‘ contributions by way of well crafted, analytical and thought provoking opinion pieces that are concise, topical and non-defamatory! All articles (which are not expected to be more than 2000 words) should be sent to editorial@risenetworks.org To read the online Version of this same article plus past publications and to find out more about Youth Speak, please visit www.risenetworks.org/youthspeak and join the ongoing National Conversations’’.

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The few Mother and Child hospitals available in the state are offering what have been described as world-class health services free of charge It is hoped that this like mega schools will be established more widely so that those in need of the services will not all have to come to Akure. If well supported by donors and sustained by next set of administrations after Mimiko will make the state live up to its appellation as truly the Sunshine State that lighten the path for other states and countries in Africa to follow in the provision of quality health services.

Since inception of his administration in 2009, the governor has left no one in doubt of his intention to drastically bring down the rate of unemployment among the state youths. One approach he has used is in the establishment of farm settlements. More than 1, 500 young men have benefited from the scheme. Currently, there are three of such farm settlements in the state. There are other areas the government has been engaging the youth to bring down the unemployment.

The new concept of governance includes the building of modern motor park, establishment of micro-credit loan scheme that allows for flexible and liberal repayment terms. He caps his concept with a monthly worship session, dubbed Praise Night.

From all indications and economic pointers, Ondo State since 1999 has become one of the fastest growing in this country. Each administration has come up with its best to develop strategies programmes to quickly develop the state. It is hoped that leaders will put aside individual, political and ethnic differences and embrace any concept and approach which is aimed at making the Sunshine state a truly front runner. The Sun must keep shining in Ondo State.

• Makinde is a freelance journalist