Fri 28 june 2013 by The Guardian Newspaper

Mild drama as Amaechi, Jang meet at State House From Mohammed Abubakar (Abuja), Iyabo Lawal (Ibadan) and Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt)

• ACN flays alleged barring of Rivers helmsman from Jonathan • Why we prevented supporters from visiting gov, by CP

HE rift between GoverT nors Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State and

nors’ Forum (NGF) came to the fore again yesterday at the State House where the chief executives of states attended the National Economic Council (NEC)

Jonah David Jang of Plateau State over the Chairmanship of the Nigerian Gover-

meeting. The two governors had on Wednesday night avoided open confrontation with each other at the Banquet Hall venue of the mid-term

dinner and public presentation of a book entitled Champion for Women, a publication to eulogise President Goodluck Jonathan by his female cabinet members.

But yesterday’s drama started with the sitting arrangement whereby both Amaechi and Jang sat close to each other in an alphabetical order in the Council Chambers, which meant that neither of the duo would be recognised as the Chair of NGF. Before the commencement of the NEC meeting, there was

an apparent order reportedly from above for the sitting arrangement of the governors to be changed. By convention, the chairman of the forum sits directly opposite the Vice President, Namadi Sambo who chairs the NEC. But the protocol officers attached CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Friday, June 28, 2013

Vol. 29, No. 12,601

www.ngrguardiannews.com

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27m SIMs risk disconnection on Sunday • Subscribers spend N444.6b on calls in Q1 • NATCOMS seeks extension of deadline, NCC declines By Adeyemi Adepetun WO days to the deadline set T by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), an investigation by The Guardian has revealed that about 27 million Subscribers Identification Modules (SIMs) may be disconnected if they are not registered by June 30. As at Monday, virtually none of the telecommunications operators has confidently recorded 100 per cent compliance from its subscribers on the registration of their SIMs. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Obama, Ban Ki-moon, others lead support for Nelson Mandela –Page 8

United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama (second left); his wife, Michelle (right); Senegal’s President Macky Sall (second right) and his wife, Marieme (left), during Obama’s visit to the presidential palace in Dakar, Senegal… yesterday. Obama refuses to visit Nigeria over ‘Baga’ tragedy. PHOTO: AFP

Again, Presidency seeks fresh amendment to 2013 budget From Adamu Abuh, Abuja FRESH decision by the Presidency to seek an amendment to the 2013 budget may trigger another row over the fiscal plan. The latest requisition entitled “Re: 2013 amendment budget” came barely 24 hours after the House of Representatives jettisoned a similar proposal sent to it on March 14, 2013, insisting on the full implementation of the 2013 budget passed into law in December 2012. In the latest amendment read out by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Presidency is insisting on the approval of N27 billion to en-

• Insists on N27b for SURE-P • Cuts over N57b capital votes for power, works, transport, education able it tackle poverty and unemployment in the polity and additional monetary allocation to meet its obligations to workers. The letter, dated June 26, 2013, reads inter alia: “We all appreciate the fact that unemployment is one of our major concerns in this country today. Considering the gravity of the situation, I would like to bring up the issue of the budgetary allocation to the community services, women and

youth employment programme under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). Against our proposal of N27 billion, the National Assembly allocated N9 billion. “This cut will have the adverse effect of severely undermining our capacity to create the jobs needed for our teeming unemployed youths, women and physically-challenged citizens. In this regard, I crave your co-operation to

restore the SURE-P Budget (a copy of its Amendment proposal is attached herewith.) “You will further recall that the personnel cost was cut across all MDAs which will make it difficult to meet government’s obligations to its workers. I, therefore, seek your kind understanding for the restoration of the said cuts in order to maintain industrial harmony.” The amendment being sought indicated a further

cut of over N57 billion capital allocations for power, works, transport and education ministries in the budget as passed into law in December last year. The details in the new version of the categorised 2013 Amendment Budget proposal indicate changes proposed across the expenditure categories as follows: the capital projects have now been designated as follows: Ministry of Works: Abuja-Lokoja Road reduced by N4 billion; Kano-

Braithwaite gets court’s nod to amend claims against bank– Page 5

Maiduguri Road reduced by N3.5 billion; dualisation of Ibadan-llorin section reduced by N5.5 billion; rehabilitation of Jebba Bridge reduced by N1.25 billion; rehabilitation of burnt Marine Bridge and Iddo Bridge reduced by N1 billion; Special Intervention Fund for Emergency Roads and Bridges washed out across the country reduced by N6.28 billion; dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin reduced by N4 billion, etc. The Ministry of Health: MDG/HIV/AIDS ARV drugs allocation reduced by N1 bilCONTINUED ON PAGE 2

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

2 NEWS

ACN flays alleged barring of Rivers helmsman from Jonathan CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 to the chambers arranged the seats in an alphabetical order which meant that Plateau State and Rivers State will for the first time sit together. Amaechi was the first to come into the chambers and attempted to take his usual seat, but he was informed that he would have to sit on the seat that carried ‘R’ since he is the Governor of Rivers State and it dawned on him that Jang was going to be his neighhour. One of Amaechi’s supporters, Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, who is also the Chairman of the Northern Nigeria Governors’ Forum, pointed to Amaechi, saying: “So, you are going to sit with Jang. This is very nice oh. Somebody is trying to be diplomatic here.” Then Amaechi replied with laughter, “We are still together. So, I am going to sit with him. The real chairman and the...” Jang walked in, shook hands and exchanged banters with all his colleagues around, including Amaechi. When he was told to sit with Amaechi, he did and Amaechi accepted his greetings, saying: “You are welcome, I am the authentic chairman.” Jang didn’t say anything and the two factional leaders sat together and both of them kept straight faces, without talking to each other for several minutes. At this stage, Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole came in and declared Amaechi “my chairman.” With Jang, Aliyu and Sokoto State Deputy Governor, Mukhtar Shagari as well as Tanko-Almakura of Nasarawa State standing around, Oshiomhole held Jang’s hand and pointed to Amaechi, saying: “That is my chairman”. They all burst into laughter. He, however, pointed to Jang’s direction and referred to him as the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) extended faction. This also attracted prolonged laughter from everyone present in the chambers. The meeting got under way when the VP walked into the chambers around 11.15 a.m., but the council did not recognise any of the two as the NGF chair as it used to do. However, another major dramatis personae in the NGF

power game, Akwa Ibom State governor, Godswill Akpabio walked in around 11.35 a.m., when the meeting was already in progress. Besides, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately order a probe into the published report that Amaechi was barred from paying his respects to the President at a dinner in the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Wednesday. In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said the President should ensure that whoever was behind such a condescending treatment of a state governor is properly sanctioned to serve as a deterrent. ‘’We are making this call because we do not believe that, in spite of the reported frosty relations between the two, President Jonathan – as the father of the nation – will lend the weight of his high office to such a demeaning action as exhibited by the presidential security personnel,” the statement noted in part. Also, Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu, said yesterday that he attempted to prevent hundreds of Amaechi’s supporters from entering Port Harcourt in a bid to enforce the ban on public protest without a written permission from the police. Mbu whose relationship with Amaechi has been frosty due to the lingering political

A cross-section of well-wishers in front of Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is receiving treatment to wish him well over his ailment in Pretoria, South Africa... yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Subscribers spend N444.6 billion on calls in Q1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 This is despite various campaigns, advertorials and freebies offered by the service providers to woo subscribers to confirm the status of their SIMs and if not registered, to do so. Besides, despite the continuous drop in the quality of service, subscribers in the country might have spent N444.6 billion through phone calls in the first four months of 2013. Indeed, latest statistics from the NCC revealed that Nigeria, as in the first quarter of the year, has 164 million connected lines with 119 million being active. Ahead of the SIM registration deadline, operators had sent

Presidency insists on N27b for SURE-P CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 lion; routine immunisation vaccines reduced by N1.75 billion; malaria programme procurement and distribution of insecticides reduced by N0.8 billion; payment of pledge for onchocerciasis recertification cut by N0.12 billion; National Trauma Centre, Abuja reduced by N0.1 billion, etc. Ministry of Power: A total of N16.3 billion was cut from power projects, including the 215MW Kaduna Dual Fired Power Plant, which was reduced by N2.25 billion; second Kaduna-Kano 33KV DC Lines reduced by N1.5 billion; Gombe-Yola-Jalingo 330KV SC Line reduced by N0.6 billion;

crisis rocking Rivers State, said he had earlier been informed that hundreds of persons drawn from Ahoada West, Ahoada East, AbuaOdual and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, were travelling to Port Harcourt, the state capital for protest against the Federal Government. The police commissioner told journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday that the delegations from the aforementioned local governments were later allowed on Tuesday to proceed to Port Harcourt after it was clear that they were not going to embark on protest. Besides, the Nigeria Voters Assembly yesterday tasked Jonathan to urgently call a meeting of the NGF with a view to finding a lasting solution to the crisis tearing the state executives apart. It warned that the improper handling of the election of the forum was a regrettable occurrence which if not nipped in the bud, may pose a serious threat to democratic consolidation in 2015. The group, in a statement by its national coordinator, Moshood Erubami lamented that it was unfortunate that the division among the governors was widening over personal issues, at a time that the Nigerian electorate were overwhelmed by grinding poverty and general insecurity which required their joint efforts to ameliorate through creating peaceful atmosphere for sustainable human develop-

Maiduguri 330/132KV Sub-station reduced by N0.3 billion; Kaduna-Jos 330KV DC Line reduced by N0.5 billion; Omotosho-Epe-Ajah 330KV DC Line reduced by N0.8 billion, etc. Ministry of Transport: Construction of Abuja-Kaduna Rail was reduced by N1.4 billion; Jebba-Kano Rail Line Rehabilitation reduced by N0.5 billion; procurement and rehabilitation of wagons/locomotives reduced by N1 billion; insurance of locomotives reduced by N0.2 billion etc. Ministry of Education: Allocations to various projects were reduced to the tune of N5.64 billion, including the National Library project which was . cut by N2 billion.

several short message services (SMS) to subscribers to remind them of the deadline, in addition to various telemarketing calls. MTN for instance claimed to have wooed its unregistered subscribers with a gift of free airtime of N400. But going by investigations, virtually all the players, including Airtel, Globacom, Etisalat, even the troubled Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Visafone, Starcomms and Multilinks put together may lose close to 27 million subscribers from their networks. Findings revealed that while some subscribers are dead, others have relocated. There is also the challenge of inadequate registration agents, especially in the hinterlands. The trouble spots in the country are another challenge to the operators, as they claim lack of access to those areas. Some SIMs have also been damaged and lost. In an MTN Group’s financial report, released from South Africa, the company claimed that its Nigerian arm has recorded about 87 per cent compliance with the SIM card registration, stressing that more efforts and campaigns could still encourage others yet to register to do so. MTN Nigeria currently has over 52 million subscribers, the highest in the country. Other players, including Airtel, Glo and Etisalat, will also be affected by the NCC deadline, as all of them are yet to get their subscribers to register their SIMs. NCC statistics put Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat subscribers at 24.1 million; 24.3 million and

15.1 million respectively. The Guardian’s investigation revealed that compliance from subscribers of the trio is still below 90 per cent. According to a top official at Etisalat Nigeria, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the company with over 15 million subscribers in its few years of operations in the country hopes that its subscribers register their SIMs before the deadline. He said that there had been appreciable co-operation from the subscribers. During an interview with journalists, the Corporate Service Executive at MTN Nigeria, Mr. Akinwale Goodluck, said the operator had been sensitising its subscribers who are yet to comply to immediately register their lines or lose ownership of the numbers by June 30. Goodluck said MTN Nigeria was ready to fully comply with the NCC’s directive. “As you know, NCC has said come June 30, all unregistered subscriber identification module (SIM) lines will be disconnected. I think operators have come a long way in developing a database. As an industry, with the regulator, we’ve put together a reliable database.” But the President of the National Association Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, has appealed to NCC to extend the deadline by three months, which he described as “one-way final” warning. Ogunbanjo, who recalled that NCC introduced the SIM registration programme in March 2011 and was to end it in Sep-

tember 2011, said “NATCOMS asked for a 12-month extension while the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) asked for a nine-month extension. “Perhaps, NCC added 12 months and nine months together and extended by 21 months, which is now expiring on June 30, 2013.” The NATCOMS boss noted that there had been various issues around the exercise in the last three weeks. According to him, during the SIM registration, some “umbrella registration agents” were not collecting the full details needed because of their rush to register many subscribers so as to get paid. He added that some of these agents were asking subscribers to pay N100 before registration, which according to him, discourages subscribers. According to Ogunbanjo, some of the agents who belong to some network operators collect other operators’ SIM cards for registration in order to shore up the number of SIM cards they register daily. He added that some agents copy their daily registered subscribers and give to their colleagues in business as some form of ‘help’. “In view of the submissions above, a lot of subscribers will be locked out due to no fault of theirs as they think they have registered their SIM cards. “Against the backdrop of this and in order to ensure that every subscriber is given fair consideration, we are appealing to the NCC to give Nigerian

subscribers a three-month oneway final warning extension on SIM cards registration. (i.e. subscribers to be able to receive calls).” But in an interview with The Guardian, the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Tony Ojobo, re-affirmed the commitment of NCC to disconnecting every unregistered SIM by June 30. “There cannot be any extension. June 30 is definite”, he stated. Investigations have shown that with Nigerians putting calls through both intra- and inter- networks, they might have parted with about N444.6billion. The N444.6 billion estimate was arrived at using the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for 2012 estimated at N949 by Business Monitor International, BMI, -a United States-based research firm. ARPU is the average industry benchmark for estimated spending of a telecoms subscriber to get services usually on a monthly basis. Going by the industry’s ARPU by BMI, therefore, The Guardian’s calculation revealed that over N444.6 billion was spent by subscribers on the purchase of airtime to make calls on their phones in the first quarter in Nigeria. Earlier in the year, the ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, said the ARPUs were falling. Though Adebayo, an engineer, could not give a precise figure, he noted that “ARPU varies for different members. But it is not on the rise, but dropping, which puts the operators in bad situation about return on investments.”

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

News Fresh N28.3b Abacha loot recovered, says minister From Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja HE renewed stolen asset recovery drive of the Federal Government has yielded remarkable results as Government yesterday in Abuja said it had recovered another N28.3 billion( $175m) from the Abacha family and companies associated with him in Liechtenstein. This was disclosed yesterday by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and

Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN) at Abuja during the 2013 ministerial press briefing to mark the mid-term report card of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Adoke also disclosed that the sum of £122.5 million was recovered from one Raj Arjandes, an Indian and close associate of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

He said the $175 million recovered by government from the Abacha family and associated companies was the aftermath of a confiscation order by the Supreme Court of Liechtenstein. But the companies said to have facilitated Abacha’s money laundering activities have filed an appeal against the confiscation order, which is already being executed and has yielded the said recovered sums so far.

The appeal for reversal of the confiscation order was said to have been filed at the European Court of Strasbourg. Adoke said once the appeal is concluded in Nigeria’s favour, the huge sum would be repatriated to the country immediately. He expressed optimism that the appeal case by the Abacha family and the company would fail because Nigeria has a good case to

NGF crisis: No permanent enemy, after all! Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State (right ) in a handshake with Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State during the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja … yesterday.

present through her stolen asset recovery team of lawyers. However, Adoke said the £Ï22.5million recovered from Abacha’s Indian associate has already been repatriated to Nigeria following the confiscation order by the Royal Court of Jersey. He said that Arjandes was made to cough out the money on account of his money laundering transactions from Nigeria on behalf of the Abacha family. To get other looted assets repatriated back to Nigeria, Adoke said his ministry had intensified efforts to trace and repatriate identified Nigerian stolen assets abroad, adding that effective liaison and communication with targeted jurisdiction was being maintained. He lauded the anti-graft bodies in the country for doing their best to keep corruption at bay in all the sectors of the economy. He said a National Anti Corruption Strategy (NACS) would soon be put in place to enhance the battle against corruption in the country in a holistic manner. He said that the decision to float the anti-corruption strategy was informed by Nigeria’s treaty obligations that must be observed. On the campaign against death sentence, the minister reminded criminal minded Nigerians that capital punishment was still in force in the country. He said that the global campaign against death penalty by the Amnesty International and other bodies have not metamorphosed into its abolition in the world.

UN body wants Nigeria to implement rules against graft From Kelvin Ebiri, Port-Harcourt IGERIA has been advised N to implement and enforce the tenets of the UN Convention against corruption by strengthening antigraft policies, laws and enforcement mechanisms. The Head, Transparency and Anti-Corruption, United Nations (UN) Global Compact, Olajobi Makinwa, said many resource-rich countries like Nigeria were not receiving benefits from extraction of their natural resources because of graft. Makinwa stated this at an extractive business dialogue on corruption with the theme: Corporate action for transparency in the hydrocarbon industry in Nigeria organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group in Port Harcourt yesterday. She noted that previously, there was an absence of robust global standards and institutional mechanisms that promoted revenue transparency and accountability in the

hydrocarbon/extractive industry. According to her, in 2002 the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) was formed as a global transparency standard to ensure transparency and accounta-

bility in the extractive industry by requiring extractive companies operating within EITI signatory nations, to disclose their payments to the government, and the signatory to disclose such receipts. She noted that because of

corruption and lack of transparency, local citizens of many resource-rich countries like Nigeria were not feeling the positive and developmental impact from foreign investments in the extractive industry.

She further suggested that government needed to make a commitment to reduce corruption risks from procurement and contract processes of large-scale projects that are designed to support sustainable development.

Court denies Ajudua’s bail bid over alleged fraud By Bertram Nwannekanma N Ikeja High Court, Lagos yesterday denied a suspect and lawyer, Chief Fred Ajudua bail in alleged $1.69 million fraud trial. Meanwhile, a Federal High Court, Lagos yesterday adjourned ruling on the criminal charge leveled against the Anosike brothers by the Federal Government to September 30. Justice Olubunmi Oyewole in his ruling dismissed Ajudua’s bail application on the ground that the medical report he tendered that he was within the court’s jurisdiction on a particular day his matter came up but failed to attend the pro-

• Another shifts ruling on Anosike brothers ceedings. Ajudua and his associate, Mr. Charles Orie, were being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly defrauding two Dutch businessmen – Messrs Remy Cina and Pierre Vijgen – of the said sum between July 1999 and September 2000. Their prosecution, which started in 2003 was, however, halted in 2005 after Ajudua, then on bail, stopped coming to court for his trial, prompting the judge to revoke his bail. But when he finally appeared

before the court on June 11, 2013, he was remanded in Kirikiri prison custody by Justice Oyewole, leading to his fresh application for bail. His lawyer has asked the court to restore the revoked bail for his client on December 15, 2005 with the same condition and additional surety or grant him a fresh bail with conditions the court deemed fit while the trial lasted. He submitted that his client who had undergone kidney surgeries in India was suffering from a complicated ailment.

He had maintained that his client could not attend his trial as a dead man. But the EFCC counsel, Wemimo Ogunde (SAN) opposed the application on the ground that the defendant could no longer have the privilege of bail since he had delayed the trial for seven years. However in his ruling on the bail application, the judge said the court had discretion to grant bail which must be exercised judicially and judiciously. According to him, Ajudua was granted permission to travel to India for medical treatment in 2005 and had failed to appear thereafter.

Reps probe HIV/AIDS fund management From Terhemba Daka, Abuja HE House of Representatives is to probe how HIV/AIDS funds are being managed in the country even as the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal yesterday raised the alarm over the prevalence of the disease. Tambuwal explained that the decision of the parliament to investigate how funds meant to tackle HIV/AIDS in Nigeria are managed was hinged on the need to enhance transparency and facilitate access to medical facilities for the victims of the disease in the country. Speaking at the opening of an investigative hearing at the National Assembly yesterday, the Speaker lamented that despite the efforts by donor agencies as well as the Federal Government, the rate of increase was yet to decline. Tambuwal explained that the hearing was therefore to check the activities of governmental and non-governmental organisations working in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in Nigeria.

President pledges better Nigeria, S’America ties From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday in Abuja pledged Nigeria’s commitment to be at the forefront of efforts to promote greater economic and trade relations between Africa and South America. Speaking at an audience with Venezuela’s out-going Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Enrique Fernando Arundell, President Jonathan declared that Nigeria remained fully committed to developing the Africa-South America Summit into a more productive platform for the expansion of areas of cooperation between the two continents. Recalling his interactions with the late President Hugo Chavez at the 2nd Africa-South America Summit at Margarita, Venezuela in 2009, Jonathan said that it was apparent that the late Venezuelan leader was also committed to establishing mutually beneficial economic relations between Africa and South America.

Jonathan, Forbes for EbonyLife TV launch RESIDENT Goodluck P Jonathan will on Sunday, June 30, chair the launch of Africa’s first global black entertainment TV network, EbonyLife TV at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos. Keynote speaker for the highflying event is chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media, Mr. Steve Forbes. Also to feature prominently at the launch is the EbonyLife TV award to deserving personalities who have made significant impact on the media, entertainment, business, political and economic landscapes in Africa. Forbes has vetted all the awardees.

4 NEWS

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Gunmen invade Plateau, kill 34 From Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi, Jos EOPLE of Langtang South LoP cal Council of Plateau State are fleeing their abode yesterday following attacks by unknown gunmen, which left at least 34 people dead. An eyewitness, simply called Lohfa, said the unknown attackers laid siege on the villages of Bolgang, Magama and Karkashi shooting indiscriminately resulting in the mass casualties while the unhurt residents fled their homes to safety. “I counted not less than 34 corpses littered all over the three communities.” Mabudi, the headquarters of Langtang South Local Council, which is witnessing a high influx of those fleeing, is gripped with fear of the unknown. Kuka town in Shendam Local Council was attacked last Sunday in a similar incident leading to another exodus of people from the area and they are yet to return. On Wednesday, a gang invaded Rebet village of Barkin Ladi Local Council of the state where two people were slain while about 50 cattle were rustled. It was gathered yesterday from eyewitnesses that many secondary school students who are presently writing their NECO examination and many others are feared killed in the attacks. Mark Lipdo, Co-ordinator of Stephanus Foundation, a Josbased non-governmental organisation (NGO), confirmed that over 25 people were killed, adding that the total death toll may be more as some other people are still missing. Lipdo said the attackers followed their victims on motor-

NLNG files committal action against NIMASA, AGF

cycles as they tried to escape and shot them to dead. Many houses and vehicles were burnt as the three villages have been deserted. A resident, who did not want his name mentioned, said that the military allegedly did not quickly respond on time to distress call that the Fulani militia groups were at Shikal massing to attack the three villages and this led to the carnage. It was further learnt that those killed at Magama are mostly children and elderly people. It was also gathered that Church of Christ in Nation (COCIN) Langtang Chairman, Rev. Nandip Miri, lost his aged father and brother among other relatives to the attack. Senator, representing Plateau Southern Zone in the National Assembly, Victor Lar, appealed to the people to remain calm and report any suspicious movement to security agencies for necessary action. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the State Command, Deputy Superintendent Felicia Anslem, when contacted, said she was yet to get full details of what happened. Confirming the incident yesterday on phone, the Management Committee Chairman of Langtang South, Mr. Narman Darko, said 32 people were killed in the three villages. Darko gave the breakdown as follows, Magama 23 people, Bolgang seven and two people were killed in between Magama and Karkashi, adding that over 100 houses were also burnt by the rampaging attackers.

By Joseph Onyekwere HE dispute between two T Federal Government agencies, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), is festering, as the former has approached a Federal High Court, Lagos, to commit the latter and the Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF) to prison for disobeying or neglecting to obey the court’s order. A Federal High Court in Lagos had restrained the AGF, NIMASA, Global West Vessel Specialists Nigeria Limited (GWVSNL) and other government agencies from further detaining or preventing the NLNG’s chartered vessels from importing or exporting gas through the Bonny chan-

nel or elsewhere in Nigeria. The trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, said the order would subsist pending the determination of NLNG’s motion on notice for interlocutory injunction. Mohammed heard the motion ex-parte on June 18 and, satisfied with its urgency as demonstrated by the applicant, granted all the reliefs sought and adjourned further hearing on the suit till July 4, 2013. The NLNG maintained that the interim injunction granted and the originating processes in the suit were served by the court bailiffs on the AGF and GWVSNL, which is an agent of NIMASA, on June 20, 2013 and June 19, 2013 respectively. It also informed the court that since the order was made on June 18, the respondents had

dated June 21, 2013 against the applicant’s vessel, LNG Enugu, and the said vessel is currently being detained by NIMASA, an agent of the first respondent.” The NLNG further contended that the respondents also issued Ship Detention Order dated June 21, 2013 in respect to its LNG Imo, adding that the said vessel was currently being detained by GWVSNL under NIMASA’s instruction. The gas company said the activities of NIMASA and its agents have crippled its operations as vessels could no longer approach or load at the jetty where the three vessels were being detained. It added that the activities of NIMASA and its agents, which have compelled it to shut down its plant, were in disobedience of the orders of the court.

Senate probes missing $27m from sale of foreign mission assets From Bridget Chiedu Onochie and Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja HE controversies surT rounding the $27 million proceeds from the sale of Nigerian property in New York may have resonated, as the Senate yesterday began inquiry into the matter following a petition by Daniel Elombah. The petition, on behalf of the non-governmental Transform Nigeria Citizen Initiative, notified the Senate President, David Mark, of the alleged misappropriation and embezzlement of funds by then Nigerian Ambassador

to the United States (U.S.), Dr. George Obiozor. Elombah wrote that the events of the past three years demanded that the lawmakers investigate what happened to the funds realised from the sale of certain Nigerian property in the U.S. between 2004 and 2007. He stated: “Available records showed that between year 2004 and 2007, the Embassy of Nigeria sold four prime property of the Nigerian Government located in Washington DC and Maryland. It also commenced sale of a fifth property located in San Francisco, California. “For the sale of those proper-

SATURDAY, June 29, 2013

Conscience Nurtured by Truth

Kukah On 2015 And Chop Chop Politicians “Nigeria will be here (after 2015) and even stronger well after the posturing of those who think their selfish interest outweigh the national interest…Na chop chop dem de find. They are driven by hunger and the threat of losing their feeding bottle.”

A Wife Who Never Wanted To Be Called ‘Mum’

She never wanted a child, but she never told the poor husband who though the loss of the first pregnancy was an accident. Then the lies multiplied until… So says an expert, someone who should know, being skilled in comprehensive fertility care and modern techniques of assisted

These and many more in The Guardian on Saturday. Book your copy now!

ties, the government of Nigeria retained the services of ECULAW Law Firm; out of those sales, Nigeria realised approximately $27 million. All funds realised from these sales, except those set aside as fees, were remitted to the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington DC.” As of June 2007 when the law firm that advised the embassy on the sale of the properties met with embassy officials at the premises in Washington, he alleged, all those funds and transactions were duly confirmed. He added: “M&T Bank had been the bank the embassy used for other transactions and

had about three different accounts with that bank. “It was confirmed in clear terms that their bank was holding huge deposits comprising the proceeds of the sales of these properties. This remained the position after Ambassador George Obiozor had returned to Nigeria upon completing his service in Washington. “Those huge funds were lodged in Washington rather than being remitted to Nigeria. Surprisingly, the embassy left that money in Washington partly because it yielded substantial monthly interests, which the officials would never account for.”

TheGuardian

Most Causes Of Infertility Preventable?

caused their agents, privies and other third parties, particularly NIMASA, to brazenly disregard and flout the extant interim orders, which amounted to contempt of court. According to the court processes, “on June 21, 2013, at about 5.00 p.m., about 15 officers and men of the Nigerian Navy in two NIMASA patrol boats accosted the NLNG security patrol team at the NLNG waterfront and ordered that the applicant’s vessel, LNG Imo, and a chartered vessel, Torm Thames, remain at the NLNG loading bay, while LNG Oyo should remain at the Bonny Channel until further notice. “The respondents and their agents, particularly NIMASA, after becoming aware of the court’s orders of June 18, 2013, issued a Ship Detention Order

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 2013

Traditional Rulers Lobby For Constitutional Roles HE Obas, Olus, Obis, Ivies are united in one purpose. They want something put in the constitution that will define their place in the Nigerian project. They want a definite constitutional role and they are lobbying to be included in the next amended constitution. Who wants traditional rulers in the constitution and more importantly, what else can they offer outside what is already known?

PLUS: OGUN: Stranded politicians flock to Labour Party for rescue.

How Government Policy Rendered Ajaokuta A National Disaster

SPECIAL Part Two of Special report on prohibitive cost of tertiary education in some Southwest states.

IBRU CENTRE “Since God reconciled the world to Himself (Rom 5:11) through Christ (Eph 2:13), man, in unison, has not been able to return to Him... So, this is the first time Christians across the globe will do it.” EMMANUEL OJE EHIMIKA The Guardian On Sunday is new, fresher, bolder; a delight to behold and more importantly, reader-friendly! Book a copy today.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Kwara NMA lauds police for arresting suspected killers of colleague From Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin

Ogun PDP petitions Jonathan, Tukur over Oyinlola From: Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja HE leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan and the party’s national leadership seeking immediate reversal of plans to conduct a congress in the South-West geo-political zone to elect a new national secretary for the party. Signed by the state chairman and secretary of Ogun State chapter of the PDP, Mr. Adebayo Dayo and Alhaji Semiu

HE Chairman of Kwara T T State branch of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Professor Olayinka Buhari, has lauded men and officers of the state’s Police Command for their prompt arrest of the alleged killers of one of the NMA members in the state, Dr. Ariyo Adewumi. Buhari, in a chat with The Guardian yesterday in Ilorin moments after the suspects, three of a seven-man robbery gang, were paraded before the press, said the police have restored more confidence in him and his members of their prowess in fighting crime in the society.

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Shodipo, the petition said it was wrong for the party to contemplate conducting zonal congress, with the aim of beginning a process that would lead to the election of a replacement of the former PDP national secretary, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola. Oyinlola vacated office as the secretary as a result of a Federal High Court’s judgment, which ruled that the zonal congress that nominated him for the position was illegal. The petition argued that the

court judgment allowed the zone to send a replacement for Oyinlola as the secretary and not to elect another person. Their letter reads in part: “Following the resignation of certain members of the National Working Committee of the PDP on June 19, 2013, your committee was inaugurated to conduct elections (at a special convention convened for the purpose) into the offices in respect of which those affected officers had resigned. “This was apparently per-

ceived by leaders of the PDP as a peaceful resolution of a festering discord within the party concerning the position taken by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about the procedure adopted for the election of some unopposed candidates to the National Executive Committee of the party at its national convention in March 2012. “However, our attention has been drawn to the advertisements placed concerning the planned special convention

Organisers allege plot to stop political summit From Saxone Akhaine, Northern Bureau Chief FFICIALS of Citizens’ AdvoO cacy Group (CAG) and Project Nigeria (PN) have alleged of a plot to scuttle the National Political Summit meant to address the nation’s social, economic and political ills, with the aim of returning Nigeria to the path of growth and development. The joint secretariat of Citizens’ Advocacy Group and Project Nigeria, organisers of the forthcoming National Political Summit on the future of Nigeria tagged: “Uyo 2013”, said that they have “stumbled on a sinister ploy by some highly placed Nigerians to destabilise the platform for the much-anticipated national negotiations opening on Monday in Uyo”. The Summit’s Head of Communications, Malam Naseer Kura Summit and Media Consultant, Mr. Olubori Obafemi, in a statement yesterday, said that “since the announcement of the upcoming family meeting on national security and political stability, some elements, ostensibly with a vested interest and partisan agenda in the country, have been surreptitiously working against the success of the summit”.

Jonathan re-appoints Mohammed as NASRDA DG RESIDENT Goodluck P Jonathan has re-appointed the Director General /Chief Executive Officer of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Dr. Seidu Onailo Mohammed. In a letter signed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Anyim Pius Anyim, the appointment is for a second tenure of five years and takes effect from July 2, 2013, in accordance with Section 14(4) of the NASRDA act of 2010. According to a statement signed by Head, Media and Corporate Affairs of NASRDA, Mr. Felix Alle, Mohammed is an astute scientist, who since his assumption of office, has steered the activities of the agency in a productive manner, such that the agency has recorded numerous achievements and gained enormous acceptance among space-faring nations across the globe.

Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar 111 (left), Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu and his Deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, being congratulated by the Sultan on his turbaning as Walin Raya Kasan Nupe in Bida…on Wednesday

and certain statements of some of the party’s elders, which show that there is the erroneous and dangerous belief that the office of national secretary is one of the offices to be filled by election at the planned special convention.” The petitioners contended that the INEC report on which basis the affected members of the NWC resigned, excluded the election of the national secretary at the last convention from its negative finding. This, they said, meant that there was no controversy about the validity of the election conducted at the last national convention of the PDP in March 2012 into the office of national secretary. “On this basis alone, any argument that there ought to be an election to that office at the special convention should be discarded,” they argued. Though they agreed that the office of the national secretary is still vacant, they however, said the judgment that sacked Oyinlola made some declarations, which included an order “directing the INEC to rectify the records of the PDP by deleting the name of the Oyinlola as the national secretary of the PDP and replacing him in accordance with the provisions of the constitution of the PDP with a candidate nominated at a valid congress of the SouthWest Zonal chapter of the PDP to be held within 21 days of the order of the court.”

Braithwaite gets court’s nod to amend claims against bank By Joseph Onyekwere TANDARD Chartered Bank StheNigeria Limited has lost bid to stop and frustrate the filing of amended claims against its erection of skyscrapers in residential area of Victoria Island. Justice Doris Okuwobi of the Lagos High Court on Tuesday ruled that the renowned Lagos lawyer and politician, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite, is free to amend his writ of summons, written address and statement of claims against the bank and to call additional witnesses. Braithwaite had sought the court’s declaration to the effect that the construction of a 14-floor commercial building comprising a five-level car park on the site, which is very close to his residence, is unlawful and damaging to his rights. He also wanted a declaration that the said building, which is now at the 10th floor, is an illegal structure, as well as an order to demolish the illegal structure, in addition to monetary damages. But the bank had opposed the amendment application, saying it would introduce new facts, which were not in existence as at the time the action was filed. In her decision, the trial judge ruled that the claimant now has the leave of court to amend its originating processes in the manner they were set out and to call additional three witnesses. The court held that the proposed amendment to the relief would not change the character of the claimant’s case as

argued by the defendant. Relying on the case of Ogwuma vs. IBWA Ltd (1988) 1 NWLR (Pt. 73) 658, the court said new facts sought to be incorporated by the amendment only expanded the facts already in evidence and that the new relief sought to be introduced by the amendment arose out of the same set of fact as the reliefs in the original writ. “The defendant’s counsel misrepresented the facts when he claimed in his counter-affidavit that apart from the preservative order made by Justice Olateru-Olagbegi on November 24, 2010, there is no other order of court restraining the defendant from continuing with the building. The court indeed made a finding that the defendant was restrained by an order of the Court of Appeal made on July 15, 2011, in Appeal No. CA/L/427/2011, that the defendant must not proceed with the building beyond the second floor”, the judge declared. But in defiance of that order, the defendant proceeded with the building, which is now at the 10th floor. The elder statesman had insisted that the 14-storey building and five-level car park being constructed close to his residence in Victoria Island by the Standard Chartered Bank of Nigeria Limited, is illegal. Braithwaite’s declaration is contained in a 34-paragraph affidavit deposed on his behalf by Ismaila Shaib Usman and filed before Justice Okuwobi. The affidavit is in support of his amended pleadings where he sought

the order of court to stop the commercial bank from constructing such building in a residential area. The elder statesman averred that the development permit, which the defendant purportedly obtained from the state government authorising a mixed development in the area, was invalid and unlawful. “The claimant further avers categorically and puts the defendants to the strictest proof otherwise that the building approval/development permit allegedly obtained by it is unlawful, invalid, null and void, having been procured without compliance with the requirements of the law”, he stated.

He added that at the trial, he would prove that the underlying processes and relevant procedural preconditions to apply for an obtaining requisite development permit were not met by the defendants. He, therefore, insisted that the purported change of user obtained by the defendant for the purpose of erecting the structure was totally unlawful. Braithwaite said he would rely on the evidence of building experts, who undertook a thorough environmental impact audit of the building and turned in a damning report. He averred: “The claimant, sometime in December 2012, commissioned a team of renowned international scholars and experienced archi-

tects, physical planners, urban designers and landscape architects, to undertake a thorough Environmental Impact Audit (EIA) of the defendant’s building vis a vis its immediate environment with particular reference to claimant’s residence. “The report of the EIA, prepared and submitted by Urbach Tropical Designs (Architects, Physical Planners, Urban Designers, Landscape Architects, consultants), is hereby pleaded and shall be relied upon at the trial, and that the evidence to be given by these experts shall also include the use of electronic devices i.e. computer video recording and projector, notice of which is hereby given.”

N’East Assembly members vow to work for financial autonomy From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo TATES’ Houses of Assembly, especially those from the SNorth-East zone of the country, have finally agreed that financial autonomy for the states’ Legislature, which is currently being proposed in the constitution, must be vigorously pursued. The members, who regretted their inability to ensure the success of the exercise in the previous political dispensation, vowed to collectively work round the clock to entrench absolute freedom for the state Houses of Assembly in the forthcoming constitution amendment. Led by the Acting Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Speakers, North-East zone, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the members pleaded with their

colleagues in the Taraba State House of Assembly to throw their weight in support of financial freedom. Fintiri, who doubles as the Adamawa State Speaker, said the agitation would have been actualised in the Sixth Assembly but for the refusal of the members of the various Houses of Assembly to speak with one voice. Fintiri and his colleagues, who include the Deputy Speaker of Adamawa, Rwamoti Laori and the Minority Whip, Abubakar Jarengol, said the members in most of the state visited, have seen reasons why autonomy for the members can no longer be toyed with. They expressed sadness that Adamawa legislators were among the states’ Houses of

Assembly that voted against the members’ financial autonomy in the sixth Assembly, the current opportunity being represented to the members. Taraba State Speaker, Haruna Tsokwa, said the members have since resolved to surmount all obstacles that would hinder them from voting in support of the resolution, stating that “The Taraba State House of Assembly is strongly behind the idea.” In his contributions, the former chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Speaker, Istifanus Haruna Gbana, who before his impeachment was Speaker of Taraba State, stressed the need for Speakers of the various Houses of Assembly to sensitise their members.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Issues In The News

Despite earthquake risk, drillers sink more boreholes

Borehole drillers By Godfrey Okpugie, Deputy Lagos City Editor GAINST the backdrop of A experts’ warning that boreholes could induce landslide and pollution of underground water, borehole contractors who are ignorant of the danger still engage in the practice, especially in Lagos suburbs and border towns between Lagos and Ogun State. Recently, the government, in a move to discourage the practice, issued a directive that any person contemplating sinking a borehole must obtain approval from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. The directive was issued by the minister in charge of the ministry, Sarah Ochekpe. But The Guardian’s investigation revealed that house owners in emerging suburbs in Lagos and border towns between Lagos and Ogun State still sink boreholes in their compounds. Both the diggers and those who engaged them claimed ignorance of the inherent dangers in the practice. Those interviewed at Ojodu, Magboro, Ikorodu, Okokomaiko, Igando and other areas where more boreholes are being dug, said they were not

aware that it can trigger earthquake or lead to contamination of underground water. Osondu Simon, one of the contractors, said: “I am not aware that boreholes can lead to contamination of underground water or trigger earthquake.” Another driller, who gave his name, simply as Fola, also said he was not aware that it could lead to earthquake. “I am just hearing that for the first time that borehole can cause earthquake. I started this work (borehole drilling) five years ago, I am not aware and nobody has told me that it can cause earthquake. I have sunk boreholes for people at Lekki, Magodo Housing Estate, Ikeja and other places, none of it had caused earthquake, how come it is now the thing will trigger earthquake? he asked. “I am sure some people must have come up with this unconfirmed claim probably to drive those of us who do this job at cheap price out of the trade,” he added. Asked how much it cost to sink a borehole, Fola replied that he charges between N100,000 and N120,000. Mrs. Kemi Dauda, a landlady in whose house a borehole was being drilled at Ikorodu suburb, said people indulge in drilling boreholes because of

shortage of potable water from the public water works. “Many of us (Lagosians) resorted to sinking boreholes as alternative sources of pure water supply because there is no pipe borne water in most emerging residential areas,” she said adding that “borehole is a major source of drinkable water as supply from the water corporation is grossly inadequate.” “If it is true that too many of it will trigger earthquake, then Lagos will soon begin to experience frequent earthquake as there are over one million boreholes in Lagos metropolis,” Mrs. Dauda conjectured. In a recent report, pipe borne water is said to be a near luxury in Lagos with an estimated population of about 20 million. According to the report, factors inhibiting efficient water supply to even areas, which have pipe borne water in the state include irregular power supply, water plants operating below capacity, leakage from burst pipes, illegal connections and lack of storage facilities. A large portion of the population, which has no access to pipe-borne water resorts to buying from water vendors who get their supplies from

boreholes or wells. To address the problem of water shortage in Lagos, Governor Babatunde Fashola said recently that his administration had embarked on the construction of various water works and rehabilitation of the existing ones to ensure that pipe-borne water is available to every home and company. He cited the construction of additional 15 mini water works spread across the local governments and construction of a dedicated 12.15 MW power plant for constant power supply to Adiyan, Iju and Akute water facilities, which are jointly responsible for about 90 per cent of water supply to the metropolis. Reacting to the issue, Odiye Jonathan, a geologist, called on government at all levels to prioritise water supply and make more funds available for the construction of water projects. He declared: “Federal Government should allocate fund for rehabilitation and expansion of state water schemes. At the federal level, the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy should be reviewed. Also, the national water resources draft bill should be reviewed and passed into law.” According to him, the gov-

ernment should declare a national emergency in the water sector and ensure that individuals have access to 30 litres of safe water per day and within 250 metres. Earlier, Mr. Shayo Halloway, Group Managing Director, Lagos State Water Corporation, while expressing worry about the looming landslide in Lagos due to indiscriminate drilling of boreholes, said the

Fashola

action has remained one of the dangers facing residents in the state and has contaminated the interconnection of underground water. He expressed fears that in the next 10 years, there might be man-made earthquake, if every household indulges in sinking borehole without properly covering the abandoned ones.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

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Minister flays lenient verdict on rapists From Omotola Oloruntobi, Abuja HE Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Zainab Maina, has blamed the judiciary for aiding the incessant cases of rape in the country due to the lenient sentence given to offenders. The minister stated this in Abuja yesterday at the oneday national stakeholders’ de-briefing meeting on the outcome of the 57th session of United Nations Commission on the status of women. She stressed the need to han-

Prelate Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence Ola Makinde (third left); former Lagos State governor, Ahmed Bola Tinubu (fourth left); his wife, Oluremi (middle), among others, during a condolence visit of Makinde and other bishops to Tinubu and his wife over the death of his mother, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, in Lagos…on Wednesday

PDP postpones convention From Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja

The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby announces that the South-West Zonal Congresses and the Special National Convention of the party have been rescheduled in view of the Muslim Ramadan fast. ITING Ramadan fast, the C Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has postponed its special convention earlier fixed for July 20, 2013. Also shifted is the Zonal Congress for the South-West earlier scheduled for July 11, 2013. Although no new dates have been officially fixed for the two events, it was learnt that the party’s leadership has scheduled the convention and the South-West Zonal Congress to hold in August 2013. The statement, titled: “Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South-West Zonal Congresses and Special National Convention Rescheduled” and signed by the Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Tony Caeser Okeke, reads: “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hereby announces that the SouthWest Zonal Congresses and the Special National Convention of the party have been rescheduled in view of the Muslim Ramadan fast. New dates for the South-West Zonal Congresses and the Special National Convention of the party will be announced.” Also yesterday, former governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, faulted the declaration by the party that the position of its national secretary was vacant, stating that it was a gross violation of the party’s constitution. A statement captioned: “The Virtue of Democracy” issued yesterday in Abuja and signed by Femi Adelegan, the principal secretary to the former PDP national secretary, declared that all the principles and values to which the party lays claim as the foremost and biggest democratic party in Africa were being subjected to mockery.

Forum cautions against violence at planned Anambra polls From Chuks Collins, Awka OUTH, especially students, and other residents of Anambra State have been cautioned against allowing themselves to be used as political thugs and agents of destabilisation in the forthcoming councils and governorship elections in the state. The two separate elections are being planned to hold in October and December this year. The warning was given by the Chairman of Civil Society

Organisation Media Policy and Advocacy Network (CSOMPAN), Asuzu Obunikem, in Nnobi, IdemiliSouth Local Council Area, yesterday at a workshop organised for students in tertiary institutions across the state tagged: “Leadership mentoring for the youth.” Asuzu, in his opening address, pointed out that youth, as leaders of tomorrow, should start acting responsibly now and should, therefore, avoid being used to

perpetrate violence to prosecute someone’s aspiration for elective position. The CSOMPAN boss warned that untold harm would befall any youth who pursues thuggery as a hobby, trade or profession as he would face the wrath of relevant security agencies. According to him, it would amount to a monumental waste for anybody to get killed in thuggery and political violence. He noted that soon, the moneybags and political godfa-

thers would begin to roll out their billions to hire the services of youth and other uninformed individuals to create confusion, violence and anarchy just to enable them impose themselves or their unpopular lackeys on the electorate. “If any politician wants you to be his or her thug, simply tell him or her to call on one of his or her children, most of whom are studying abroad, to come and do the dirty job,” he said.

Court dismisses suit against UNILORIN VC’s appointment From Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin ITING lack of merit, a FedC eral High Court in Ilorin has dismissed a suit filed against Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali over his recent appointment as the vice chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN). The suit was filed by Prof. Rasheed Ijaodola. Joined in the originating summons filed on October 17, 2012, were 18 other defendants. They include the University of Ilorin, Attorney General of the Federation,

President Goodluck Jonathan, Minister of Education, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) and the chairman of the Council, Unilorin. The claimant had filed the action against the vice chancellor, challenging the composition of the Council, especially its chairman being in acting capacity and yet led the committee that appointed Ambali. Besides, Ijaodola, a professor of Law from Igbinedion University, who was also one of the contestants for the post

of vice chancellor, in his 14point declaration, sought the interpretations of the court on the legality of the chairman of the Council acting as the chairman of the appointment committee when he and the eventual appointees are from the same locality (Ilorin). The claimant had noted, whether in view of Section 3(2) of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1993 No. 11 as amended, “a board made up of the following persons: Alhaji Saka Sa’adu, Prof. N.Y.S. Ijaya, Prof.

M.A. Fajemidagba, Babatunde Esuola and Mr. T.A. Odedele, has the competence to draw up a list of suitable candidates for the post of vice chancellor in consequent of the advertisement placed by the Council of the university.” The presiding judge of the court, Olayinka Faji, compressed all the claims into four and consequently resolved all in favour of the defendants, thus conferring validation on the council that appointed the incumbent vice chancellor, who was the second defendant.

dle the conviction of rape offenders with the seriousness it deserves, so as to keep the society safe for all girls and women. “In Nigeria, there is an increase in reportage of rape and violence cases and of the reported cases, only a low percentage get to court and when they do, an insignificant percentage get conviction from very marginal sentences like two years’ imprisonment for an offence that carries a life term under Section 358 of the Criminal Code Act. Rather than receiving the full wrath of the law, the culprits get a tap on their wrists while the victims remain desecrated from the gory experiences and are often left without much support from the state that should protect the citizenry, particularly the more vulnerable population. This attitude has to give way with a view to keeping the society safe for all girls and women,” she said. She also stressed that violence, which is mostly overlooked and under-estimated, was one of the issues militating against the empowerment of women. The minister enjoined everyone to work together to create opportunities for eliminating key constraints against the progress of women and girls. “As people, we need to improve on our collective efforts to prevent and respond to this crisis. When women are afforded their rights and given the chance to pursue education, employment and political participation, they drive social and economic progress. To build this future and contribute effectively to nation-building, girls must be able to learn without fear and women must be able to make decisions about their own lives and the future of their families without intimidation and harassment,” she added.

Report rates Nigeria highest in children with new HIV infection By Chukwuma Muanya

• Govt moves to save more kids

OOR implementation of P Prevention of Mother-ToChild Transmission (PMTCT)

HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). He said: “The report highlights the seven countries that have made tremendous progress, which is very commendable. PMTCT of HIV remains one of the biggest challenges in our response to HIV in Nigeria. We have acknowledged this and the country is addressing this challenge at all levels. “I am happy that the report also notes Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe to have doubled the numbers of children accessing treatment from 2009 to 2012.”

of Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) has been blamed for Nigeria recording the largest number of children acquiring new infections with about 60,000 in 2012. Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Prof. John Idoko, made the observation in his reaction to a new report on the global plan towards elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive released on Tuesday by the United Nations health bodies, including the Joint United Nations Programme on

Despite recording that new HIV infections among children have been reduced by 50 per cent or more in seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the report had this on Nigeria: “New infections among children in Nigeria, which have the largest number of children acquiring HIV (nearly 60,000 new HIV infections among children in 2012), remained largely unchanged since 2009. Without urgent action in Nigeria, the global target for 2015 may not be reached.” Idoko, however, said on the directive of Mr. President, NACA, working with partners, has recently developed the Presidential Emergency Response Plan (PERP), which aims to increase PMTCT deliv-

ery points by 500, test two million pregnant women annually for the next two years, provide antiretroviral drugs for 80,000 women for the next two years, and provide Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) services to 80,000 newborns of HIV positive mothers. The Global Plan Towards Elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive is an initiative spearheaded by the UNAIDS and the PEPFAR, which was unveiled in June 2011, at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS. It has two main targets for 2015: a 90 per cent reduction in the number of children newly infected with HIV and a 50 per cent reduction in the number of AIDS-related maternal deaths.

The Plan focuses on the 22 countries, including Nigeria, which account for 90 per cent of new HIV infections among children. Idoko said Nigeria currently has 1,410 PMTCT sites, which is still well below the number of sites required for adequate coverage but a significant progress from 650 sites in 2009. He also said that the number of pregnant women who receive antiretroviral interventions increased from 11 per cent in 2009 to 21 per cent in 2012. “This is far from the target we have set for ourselves. As a result, we have been reviewing the reasons behind the slow progress and putting in place new plans and structures to accelerate the progress of PMTCT in the country,” Idoko said.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

WorldReport China, S’Korea agree to push North’s denuclearisation EADERS of China and South Korea have agreed after a high-profile summit to keep pushing to end North Korea’s nuclear programme. “We have agreed that under any circumstances, North Korea’s nuclear (weapons) are unacceptable and confirmed that the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is of common interest for the two countries,” South Korean President Park Geun-Hye told reporters as she sat beside Chinese President Xi Jinping. Park made the remarks after a summit meeting in Beijing, where Xi greeted her as “an old friend of China” and granted her full military honours before the pair witnessed the signing of trade and other agreements.

Fake drugs worth $41m seized in 99 countries NTERPOL has disclosed that Ilionpolice seized nearly 10 milunits of fake medicines worth $41 million (31 million euros) in a weeklong operation carried out across 99 countries. “The quantities seized increased by more than 100 percent against the preceding operation last year,” said Aline Plancon from Ingterpol’s department charged with tackling pharmaceutical fraud. The news came as France was ordered to pay five drug traffickers 5,000 euros each in compensation for placing them in custody for two days after the navy caught them shipping three tonnes of extremely pure cocaine across the Atlantic. The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that the traffickers’ human rights had been breached because the French authorities did not put the crew of the Panama-registered freighter “Junior” immediately before a judge after they had been escorted to Brest in Brittany.

Spanish ruling party’s moneyman risks jail in graft probe

Obama, Ban Ki-moon, others lead chorus of support for Mandela By Bola Olajuwon (with agency report) IKE the proverbial cat with L nine lives, global icon, Nelson Mandela, reportedly showed tentative signs of improvement overnight yesterday as United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama, United Nations (UN) chief, Ban Ki-moon and the organisation’s AIDS agency as well as white South Africans led a chorus of support for his record of service to his country and humanity. With his health now fading, Mandela’s supporters in South Africa are starting to show signs of resignation while preparing to celebrate his legacy. But some members of the once-ruling white minority in his Rainbow nation are already fearing that Mandela’s spirit of reconciliation might fade after his death. When apartheid ended nearly two decades ago, many whites braced for the worst. Conditioned for years to be wary of the “swart gevaar” – black threat – they feared being thrown into the sea. That prophecy never materialised. When he became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, Mandela closed a dark chapter of his life in prison and reached out to his former oppressors to the point of having tea with the widow of the architect of apartheid, Hendrik Verwoerd. But with the father of democratic South Africa now fighting for his life in the hospital, wild rumours have been flying around the Internet about what life will be like without Mandela for the white population. Meanwhile, Zuma, who

abruptly cancelled a trip abroad to be near the 94-yearold anti-apartheid hero, reported that he “remains critical but is now stable.” “He is much better today,” Zuma said in a statement. “The medical team continues to do a sterling job. We must pray for Tata’s (father’s) health and wish him well.” To Obama, who is on African tour, Mandela was a “hero for the world” whose legacy will live on throughout the ages. “He is a personal hero. I think he is a hero for the world, and if and when he passes from this

place, one thing I think we all know is that his legacy is one that will linger on throughout the ages,” Obama said in Senegal. Mandela was reportedly still on life support in a Pretoria hospital and his condition was casting doubt over Obama’s visit to South Africa, due to begin today. But Obama, who said Mandela had inspired him to become involved in politics, said he still planned to travel to South Africa, and said the prayers of the American people were with the South African ex-president’s

family. Also, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said the whole world was praying for “one of the giants of the 20th century”. “I know our thoughts and prayers are with Nelson Mandela, his family and loved ones, all South Africans and people across the world who have been inspired by his remarkable life and example,” Ban said. Michel Sidibe, the executive director of UNAIDS, lauded Mandela for his role in breaking the silence and shame surrounding the deadly disease. “He was the one who really helped us break the conspiracy of silence,” told AFP in a telephone interview. But with Mandela’s condition still fragile, family mem-

bers gathered at his bedside nearly three weeks after he was admitted with a recurring lung infection. “Anything is imminent, but I want to emphasise again that it is only God who knows when the time to go is,” said daughter Makaziwe Mandela. “I won’t lie. It doesn’t look good,” she told local radio. But “if we speak to him he responds and tries to open his eyes — he’s still there.” But Makaziwe, Mandela’s oldest daughter, slammed the “crass” media frenzy around her critically ill father, likening the press to vultures. She accused the foreign media of “a racist element” by crossing cultural boundaries and being a “nuisance” at her father’s Pretoria hospital

South Africans take part in a gathering to support ailing former President Nelson Mandela outside the Medi Clinic Heart hospital in Pretoria … yesterday. INSET: Children pray in front of the hospital. PHOTO: AFP

U.S. President lauds democracy in Africa, seeks gay rights Senegal not ready to legalise homosexuality, says Sall

PANISH prosecutors have ICKING off a long-awaited Stopdemanded that a former KAfrican tour, President member of the country’s Barack Obama yesterday ruling party be detained pending a fraud probe, the latest blow in a scandal that has rocked the country’s leaders. Investigations into the Popular Party’s ex-treasurer Luis Barcenas have rattled Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s government as it tries to steer Spain out of a deep recession, having narrowly avoided seeking a sovereign bailout last year. As Barcenas went before a judge for questioning yesterday, sources at the court said state prosecutors had asked for him to be held in custody.

Zuma cancels trip, says Madiba much better Ex-president’s daughter slams media as ‘vultures’ White South Africans want legacy to endure

lauded a United States (U.S.) Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage as a victory for democracy and urged African nations to end discrimination against homosexuals. In only his second visit to Africa since taking office, Obama commended the advance of democracy on the continent and said he was looking at ways to extend the AGOA free trade agreement, due to expire in 2015, to create more jobs on the world’s poorest continent. “I see this a moment of great promise for the continent,”

Obama told a news conference in Senegal’s capital Dakar. “All too often the world overlooks the amazing progress that Africa is making, including progress in strengthening democracy.” Flanked by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, Obama said the treatment of lesbians and gays in Africa remained “controversial”. Homosexuality is illegal in Muslim Senegal. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday, announced as Obama flew to Senegal aboard Air Force One, made married gay men and women eligible for federal benefits, striking down part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage

I see this a moment of great promise for the continent… All too often the world overlooks the amazing progress that Africa is making, including progress in strengthening democracy. Act. “It was a victory for American democracy,” Obama said. “At the root of who we are as a people, who we are as Americans, is the basic precept that we are all equal under the law.” However, the court fell short of a broader ruling endorsing a fundamental right of gay people to marry, meaning there will be no impact in the more than 30 states that do not recognize gay marriage. Human rights group Amnesty International had

urged Obama to use his African trip to speak out against threats to gays and lesbians, which it said were reaching dangerous levels on the continent. Consensual same-sex conduct is a crime in 38 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with some seeking to enact new laws that increase existing penalties, Amnesty said. While voicing respect for the diversity of cultures and religions in Africa, Obama - the first African-American presi-

dent of the United States called for steps to make homosexuals equal before the law. He compared gay rights in Africa to racial struggles in the United States. “When it comes to how the state treats people, how the law treats people, I believe that everybody has to be treated equally,” Obama said, though he added he had not specifically discussed this with Sall. Sall, who won office last year in West Africa’s oldest democracy, said there was no persecution of gays in Senegal. “We are not homophobic,” he said “Senegal is a country that respects freedoms. Gays are not persecuted, but for now they must accept the choices of other Senegalese.”

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

POLITICS

Politics Labour may break political neutrality in 2015 From Collins Olayinka, Abuja

• As Oshiomhole primes Esele as successor

HERE are indications that the Nigerian T labour movement may break its neutrality in political issues in favour of partisanship. This comes as the governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has begun moves to position the out-going President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Peter Esele, to succeed him in the 2016 gubernatorial election in the state. The Guardian gathered at the recent International Labour Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, that there was some high-wired politicking among labour leaders, business moguls and politicians, including members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo, who are sympathetic to Oshiomhole, on how to mobilise for Esele towards realisation of the ambition. Actually, Governor Oshiomhole corroborated this finding while speaking at the 9th Triennial National Delegates’ Conference of the TUC. He declared that the labour movement must jettison its age-long neutrality in politics for active participation. Citing the revolution in Brazil engendered by former President Da Silva Lula, which resulted in prosperity for all, Oshiomhole said Lula was a worker who mobilised the Brazilians into voting the Workers Party into power. He said: “Former president of Brazil, Lula, did not become president by carrying placard but by organising the workers and refused to sermonise to a ruling class that was deaf. “Lula knew that those in power could not be persuaded to govern according to the aspirations of the working people. The Nigerian workers must be taught the values of struggles and then provide leadership for that struggle.” He then addressed Esele directly thus: “Peter Esele must tell us how he intends to mobilise Nigerian workers into participating in the political struggle that will emancipate the workers from the strangulating economic policies of the ruling class.” Oshiomhole, who said he detests being called a politician, added another vocabulary to the political lexicon of the country, declaring himself as an “activist-in-governance” While saying, “we must ask Lula what did he do to mobilise Brazilian workers to become partisan,” he asked rhetorically: “How can labour movement be neutral in matters that shape their lives and that of their unborn children?” He warned that the labour movement must realise that the days were gone when labour celebrated their non-partisan, stressing, “the national economy is shaped by partisan contestations.” The governor submitted that labour must begin to mobilise for 2015 now because the change they desire would not come by agonis-

Oshiomhole ing. His words: “As we approach 2015, we all want change but that change won’t come with carrying of slogans; change will only come through activism. “Our time is almost up. Labour movement must stop sermonising to all politicians not to misbehave; it must tell those misbehaving to stop misbehaving. I am convinced that until there is a balance of madness, we will never regain our sanity.” He also wanted labour to mobilise against political arbitrariness, as exhibited in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum election. Oshiomhole revealed the happenstances at the election thus: “Thirty-five men voted at the Governors’ Forum out of 36 with one absent. In the end, the votes were counted and 19 voted for Amechi while Jang got 16 votes. “But the very people who voted started shouting they wanted to stage a walkout. Unfortunately, people who call themselves Christians and Muslims, who are also Executive Governors, were demonstrating executive irresponsibility. “So, when the facts are so clear, labour cannot be neutral. Labour must tell the truth to Jang to stop ‘jagging-jagging’. The matter is

Esele not about the Governors’ Forum but about democracy.” He wondered why papers that were signed in April for an election that was to be held in May were valid and not the election properly contested in May? “How can the result of an election that was contested in May be determined in April and both NLC and TUC are watching?” he said. The Edo governor said the hullabaloos that continue to surround the Governors’ Forum election portend danger for the 2015 elections. “If we can dispute whether 16 is a majority or 19 in a small election, are we convinced that the 2015 general elections would be free and fair? Do we really need to get there before the labour movement sees it that we are heading for the rocks? The fight is now,” he said. While restating his call for a re-vision of Nigeria’s industrial policies and adopt ones that emphasise production, Oshiomhole posited that laws must be made to work effortlessly. “The labour movement must champion the crusade of returning the country to producing economy,” he said. “We must make the refineries work and even build new ones. “Labour has resolved that government stops fuel importation but if they don’t, what do we

Omar do tomorrow? Where will our young engineers work when we are exporting jobs and importing unemployment? Economy is not about statistics but the human person.” The Guardian gathered that Governor Oshiomhole has started mobilising labour leaders to embrace the new thinking of political partisanship. He is convinced that the Esele did well for the TUC by bringing the labour centre to limelight and that he could replicate the success in Edo State. The advantage that may swing the contest in Esele’s favour is the fact that he comes from the Esan South-East of Edo Central, which had produced a governor (Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor) that ruled for barely a year and half since the state’s creation on August 27, 1991 along side Delta State, both from Bendel State. Governor Oshiomhole from Edo North will be completing two terms of eight years in 2016, while Edo South has produced two governors, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun (1991-1993) and Chief Lucky Igbinedion (1999-2007). Cumulatively, Edo South has occupied the Government House in Benin City for 10 years; Edo North for about five years now, and eight years in 2016; while Edo Central has occupied power in the state for about one and half years.

Abuja Mayoralty: FCT indigenes salute Senate on constitution review From Terhemba Daka, Abuja N indigenous group in the Federal Capital A Territory (FCT), Original Inhabitants Development Association of Abuja (OIDA) has saluted the Senate Committee on Review of the 1999 Constitution, for giving voice, in its recommendations, to their aspirations through the inclusion of a mayoralty system of governance for the nation’s capital, Abuja. In a release jointly signed by the President of the group, Pastor Danladi Jeji and Mr. Emma Ezeazu of the Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE), OIDA states that, “the constitutional amendment of Sections 299 and 302 of the 1999 Constitution by the Senate gives credence to the indigenous people’s quest for democratisation of governance in the FCT as contained in its memoranda submitted to the National Assembly.” The proposal was also contained the Solomon Ewuga-led ministerial committee on FCT Indigeneship, Land and Political

Bala Mohammed Administration in 2000. If passed into law, the group states that, “a democratically elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor will aid good governance and accountability to the FCT electorate unlike the present

Senator Ekweremadu ministerial system that lacks transparency and accountability to the people. “It will also put Nigeria on the global map as one of the nations with an elected mayor that

runs the capital city in accordance with the aspiration of its residents and the nation.” The FCT original inhabitants said the recommendations of the Senator Ike Ekweremaduled committee is in tandem with the people’s desire for a democratic system that allows Abuja indigenes and other Nigerians resident in the city to freely elect leaders that can be directly held accountable to them. Calling on the House of Representatives to “make public the results of the Peoples Public Session conducted in the two constituencies in the FCT,” they urged the House to demonstrate its commitment to democratic ethos by toeing the line of the Senate committee “in order to dismantle the military contraption that presently serves as administrative system in FCT.” While expressing hope that both arms of the National Assembly would pass the bill as proposed, the FCT people called on the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly to expressly vote for the amendment when presented to them.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

National Assembly in the court of public opinion From Terhemba Daka, Abuja HE legislature, executive and the T judiciary are different arms of one government. The success of one is dependent on and interwoven with the success of the other. As far as the public is concerned, the strength of the country’s democracy lies not in the homogeneity of views and interests, but in the people’s ability to aggregate and harmonise these views and interests for national development through the instrument of dialogue and the spirit of give and take. However, of these arms of government in Nigeria, the legislature, which is bi-cameral — the Senate and the House of Representatives — is the most vilified. This is because prior to the 7th Assembly — the current session — its perception in the public was a mixed one. The public was sceptical of the efforts of the legislature and its membership to fully represent the interests of their constituents. The public was sometimes very harsh in its verdict on the efforts of the National Assembly to fulfill its legislative responsibilities. Those efforts were seen as not meeting the expectations of the electorate, and thus, not achieving the desired goals. However, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, at different fora, had stressed that the 7th session of the Assembly is committed to doing things differently and reversing the notion of business-as-usual that had characterised the politics of the country. Recently, the Assembly attracted an avalanche of commendations to itself when, on June 6, 2013, the House of Representatives marked its second-year appraisal of the legislative agenda. It was an occasion for the chamber to look back at its activities in the past one legislative calendar and the need to account to Nigerians on its stewardship. Speakers at the event specifically commended the parliament for making giant democratic strides since 2011, especially the pro-people stance of the House during the agitation against the removal of fuel

Tambuwal

Falana

Emordi

subsidy on petroleum products. That position remains unprecedented in the history of legislative process in Nigeria. The House met on a Sunday, which in this part of the world is an unusual practice and added fillip to the people’s agitation, with a resolution calling on the government to reverse its unpopular decision. The culture had been for the House to support the status quo and sustain anti-people policies even in the face of mass protests. Specifically, the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emordi, in a goodwill message, commended the leadership under Speaker Tambuwal for lifting the House in the estimation of the Nigerian people, by consolidating legislative independence, stability, robust democratic deliberations, and people-oriented legislation. Emordi said the House had more than before taken the business of lawmaking closer to the people, particularly in the area of the Peoples Public Hearing on the

amendment of the 1999 Constitution, which held in the 360 constituencies across the nation. “This is unprecedented and stands out as a most democratic adventure in Constitution making in Nigeria,” she said. “In particular, I commend you, Mr. Speaker, and the entire leadership of the House for your vibrant, dynamic and transparent leadership, which is, no doubt, the springboard of the 7th House of Representatives and its achievements so far. “The National Assembly has risen above any inherent political, ideological, sectional, tribal, and religious diversities and interests to stand with Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda and the protection of the lives and property in the land. “Of particular mention here is the landmark passing of the 2013 Budget in a record time. The several grey areas, which we are still addressing in the 2013 Budget notwithstanding, the National Assembly deserves commendation.”

Of particular mention was the sense of patriotism of the National Assembly in promptly ratifying the current State of Emergency in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States, which facilitated the taming of what was a ceaseless onslaught on the security of life and property, as well as a clear and present threat to the country’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty. But in appraising its activities in the last couple of years, Mr. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), wondered if the integrity of the legislature would remain intact for the remaining period of the legislative session. In his submission at the event, Falana argued that the decline in public confidence in the National Assembly and political institutions, and the growing citizens’ alienation in the activities of the legislature stemmed from the widespread perceptions that politicians and government officials are unrepentantly corrupt, self-centered and unresponsive to the yearnings of the people and the decline of the value system in the society.

Falana stated that what Nigeria required at this critical time when the country was witnessing serious infrastructural decay, massive corruption, violent crime and terrorism were experienced legislators; members who know the fundamentals of lawmaking and people who can find timely solutions to these problems and other public policy matters in a timely manner. He stressed that the public was concerned about the negative effects of high turnover and an inexperienced legislative body. “There is a great public concern and anxiety that just like their predecessors, the 7th House may be forced to repeat the mistakes of the past and sit idly throughout their term without introducing significant private member bills due to their inexperience and because they might never learn the ropes even when confronted with an opportunity to learn,” he said. Well, it’s still morning yet! Perhaps, the next two years will bear the legislators, especially the Reps, out as actually working for the people or for themselves.

PDP suspends Daniel, 12 others From Charles Coffie Gyamfi, Abeokuta

• Former governor yet to comment HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterTday suspended former Ogun State goverAll party members, who are loyalists nor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and 12 others for alleged anti-party activities. The Executive of Ward 12, Sagamu Local Government, Ogun East senatorial district where Daniel registered as a member of the party, effected the suspension. The development, according to the chairman of the senatorial district of the party, Otunba Doyin Fakoya, was carried out “so as to bring back discipline into the party.” Fakoya, who spoke to journalists, stated: “Otunba Gbenga Daniel has been suspended from PDP by his ward, Ward 12 Sagamu Constituency II as of today (yesterday). “I am the senatorial chairman of Ogun East senatorial district. I have got a copy of letter that Otunba Gbenga Daniel has been suspended. He is no longer a member of the PDP. He has been suspended by ward 12 Sagamu constituency II.” Fakoya explained that the suspension was based on a recommendation by a report by the party’s disciplinary committee set up to look into the allegations leveled against Daniel and the 12 others. He said: “Otunba Gbenga Daniel was the one that brought the PPN to Ogun State; he is now financing Labour Party at the moment. You cannot be in three parties at the same time; you cannot be in PPN, PDP and Labour Party at the same time.

of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, defected to PPN and contested against the party (PDP) in the last general elections and presently, they have joined the Labour party while Daniel still parades himself as a PDP member. He cannot be in PDP and Labour Party at the same time.

Daniel What are we afraid of?” “Otunba Gbenga Daniel is like any other citizen that jumps political parties. He was fortunate that he governed Ogun State for

eight years; is that the reason for being in three political parties at the same time?” Fakoya added: “Alhaji Bamanga Tukur (PDP national chairman) said we should put discipline back into the party and his (Daniels’) ward said it has suspended him from the party; so be it. “He is not God; he has been suspended by Ward 12 Sagamu Constituency II. I have got the copy of the letter; I have sent a copy of the letter to the state secretariat and I have sent one to the press.” Meanwhile, the party has released the report of the eight-man disciplinary committee, led by Mr. Gbenga Salako, dated June 3, 2013.

According to the report, the suspended party faithful were given ample time to defend themselves over the allegation level against them but they refused to appear before the panel. “And we had no option than to invoke the party’s constitution, 2012 (as amended), Article 58 (1) a, c, e, f and j to suspend the members, which include Hon. Idowu Osho, Mr. Gbenga Sadiku, Mrs. Yetunde Majolagbe, Mrs. Mabawonju Shitta, Alhaji Ayantola Lawal, Alhaji Raufu Jinad, Mrs. Oguntade Adeleke, Mrs. Gbenga Buhari, Mr. Yinka Sotunde, Mr. Gbenga Sokoya, Mrs. Zainab Lawal and Mr. Olu Osho,” the report said. The report indicated that, “some members in different guises have defected to PPN and subsequently Labour Party.” “All party members, who are loyalists of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, defected to PPN and contested against the party (PDP) in the last general elections and presently, they have joined the Labour party while Daniel still parades himself as a PDP member. He cannot be in PDP and Labour Party at the same time.” When contacted for his comment, Daniel’s spokesman, Mr. Ifekayode Akinbode, told The Guardian that, “I am driving; let me park to speak to you.” But 30 minutes after, he was yet to do so. When he was contacted again, he said that he would get in touch with his boss and get across to the reporter later. But as the time of filing this report, he was yet to fulfill that promise.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

TheMetroSection New haven for Lagos retirees

Briefs Celebration of Oba Oyekan ii begins today

By Tope Templer Olaiya, Assistant lagos City Editor

EMEMBRANCE and CelebraR tion of a Legend by the family of the late Alayeluwa Oba

NTENDING retirees and “senior citiIward zens” in Lagos State, can look forto an enjoyable life in retirement without traveling out of Lagos, known for its busy and frenzied city life. This is because a new haven equipped with all facilities for relaxation and recreation has been built for them. The sprawling mansion, known as Retirement Villa and built on a 7,240.48 square metres land in Lekki Phase II as a novel idea of the Committee of Wives of Lagos State Officials (COWLSO), has been commissioned for use yesterday. COWLSO, chaired by the wife of Lagos State governor, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, is a community-based gender organisation founded in 1974 by the wife of the first Military Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Funmilayo Johnson, to complement the efforts of government to provide recreational centres, mobilize grassroots support for child healthcare, and canvass for resources to empower women. The project was conceived and the land for the facility purchased by former chairperson of COWLSO, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. The project was later to be executed by Mrs. Fashola on assumption of office as COWLSO chairperson. The Retirement Villa, a first-of-itskind project in Nigeria, cost the organization N300 million to execute with proceeds from the annual National Women Conference held between 2006 and 2009. A marshy land was acquired in a serene Lekki ambience, devoid of the usual hustle and bustle of Lagos metropolis. Situated on Road 45, Lekki Phase II, the Retirement Villa is a relaxation centre for retired and active senior citizens, a place where they can visit daily to share quality time with themselves in a most relaxed environment and which provides opportunity to engage in sporting activities. The aesthetic design of the villa is a delight and beauty to behold. The serenity of the environment exclusively for senior citizens to relax and engage in recreation activities will

Adeyinka Oyekan II, begin today with a Juma’at Service at the Central Mosque, Lagos at 2.00p.m; donation to orphanages and charity homes will take place tomorrow while church service holds on Sunday at Methodist Church, Tinubu, at 10.00a.m. followed by reception at Iga-Idugaran , Isale-Eko, Lagos.

The villa certainly be too much to resist. The facilities for use at the villa include the main clubhouse, which comprises reception, administrative offices, lounge/games room, restaurant, bookshops/newsagents and laundry room. It also has a 240 square-metres multi-purpose hall and a store. There are also four splitlevel shops, doctor’s clinic, which includes waiting area, three consulting rooms and a pharmacy. The villa has 12 chalets to serve as guest suites for people who want to stay for a while at reasonable cost. A staff quarter is built at the villa and it has male/female restrooms and caretaker’s two-bedroom apartment. It is also equipped with recreation facilities, including gymnasium, sauna, massage room, two hard-surface tennis courts, swimming pool, and poolside bar and barbeque. There are also external facilities, such as 55 car parking spaces, paved private garden and well-landscaped courtyard. According to Mrs. Fashola, the villa is not a replacement as a permanent home for retired civil servants, but its purpose is to serve as recreation and orientation centre. She stated

PHOTO: TOPE TEMPlEr OlAiyA,

that COWLSO began the construction of the project in 2010. “We have just completed the Retirement Villa, which is situated at Lekki Phase II, immediately after Ajah. It is designed to be a place of relaxation and recreation for retired senior citizens and residents of Lagos State. Our vision was to provide a place where the elderly can visit to share fellowship with their peers while reliving the early days of their service and enjoying the company of friends. “There is among other facilities a large auditorium where parties can be held. There are also guest chalets provided for those who may want to have overnight stay. The senior citizens will be charged a token for the maintenance of our facilities,” Fashola explained. Chairman, Building Committee of the project, Mrs. Bimpe Martins, said the facility was solely built for the elderly, stressing that COWLSO undertook the project to make life meaningful for retirees in Lagos. On the choice of location, Martins stated that COWLSO considered the fact that there were large spaces for such a project in many parts of the state, but that serenity and ambience

Community pleads with Amosun over dangerous gully By Bola Banji-idowu EMBERS of Valleyview M and Harmony Community in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Council of Ogun State have called on Governor Ibikunle Amosun to come to their aid over a gully that that has threatened their lives and property. With an estimated population of over 80,000 people, predominantly retirees, who built their houses from gratuity and paltry savings. Igbehinadun, Ewupe, Ijaniye, Valleyview and Harmony have several notable features. There are no basic infrastructure and social amenities, thus efforts geared towards developing the localities and sustaining the communal lifestyle eventually led to the formation of some Community Development Associations (CDAs). Already, occupants of some property close to the gully are getting prepared to vacate while one house has already been destroyed by the gully erosion. The gully in the last few years has been expanding

due to the industrial waste that it has served as a channel. According to a resident “The toxic waste has weakened the land due to high percentage of ethanol, flavours and colorants.” Some members of the community while explaining their ordeal to The Guardian said that several communal efforts to address the ugly situation could not yield result “it has now gone beyond our control,” said one of them. According to one of the landlords, whose property is also under threat, Mr. A.

The gully

Adeyemi, “it is an unfortunate situation and our fear is that as rain continues, the gully gets wider and deeper.” Narrating how the gully began, Adeyemi said, “ A few years back, we noticed some of the companies directing their effluent through the gully. We confronted them and complained the waste factory waters were not only widening the gully but also contaminating our boreholes and wells. “Some of the companies understood our plight and rechanneled their effluent but the damage had already been done.” The Guardian investigation revealed efforts were made to construct a drainage but due to some reasons “there was no compromise on how to address situation.” “We are urging the governor to come to our aid. The gully is at present affecting buildings there is no need to wait until our lives are also affected.” Meanwhile, the gully is now overgrown and is habouring dangerous reptiles and animals.”

were put into consideration in arriving at Lekki Phase II as the destined choice. “We wanted a place devoid of the hustle and bustle of the city, which informed why we chose this place.” According to her, the 12 chalets in the villa could accommodate a maximum of 24 people at a time, with two people per room, if the occupier chooses to and the facility would be strictly for 60-year-olds and above. She added that the multi-purpose hall would be rented out for social functions to generate money to run the villa. Apart from the retirement villa, COWLSO has also built several recreational facilities in different parts of Lagos, some of which are Agege Recreation Centre, Sam Shonibare Recreation Centre, Campos Square Play Ground, Oworonsoki Recreation Centre, Oshodi Sports Centre, Kudirat Abiola Freedom Square, Lafiaji Community Centre, among others. The body also donates fund, food and other items to orphanages, physically challenged people; motherless babies homes, destitute homes, charity homes, juvenile welfare centre and several others.

Briefs C &S Movement rounds oﬀ celebrations HE highpoint of activities for the inauguration of EmT manuel District of the Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) Movement Church holds on Sunday, June 30, at the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church auditorium, 84, Old Ota Road, Orile Agege, Lagos at 9.45a.m. The district would be inaugurated by the Baba Aladura and Chairman, C and S Movement Church Worldwide, His Grace, Dr. S. A. Abidoye, who would also install Special Apostle Pastor S.O. Ewulo as the district chairman/general leader. It began on June 24 with a three-day revival with the theme, “Divine Triumph”. It was followed by Mothers Day Variety Show and media tour by Dr. Abidoye, which takes place today. The Baba Aladura would also visit the Mount of Deliverance at Igbusi Village, Ifo, Ogun State, and will tomorrow dedicate the Akute branch of the church.

Oba Oyekan 11

Osaghae for burial today RS. Maria Omoruyi OsM aghae (nee Aibaengbee) who died at the age of 93, will be buried today in Benin City. She is survived by children, grand children and great grand children among whom are Mr. Festus Osaghae, Mrs. Elizabeth Osagiede and Mr. Clement Omo Osaghae.

Osaghae

Bride Assembly ends camp HE yearly Prayer Camp T Meeting of The Bride Assembly, which began on Wednesday, will end tomorrow with a Holy Communion Service in the church premises on Endeavour Crescent, Odofin, Park Estate, off Ijesha (by Ijesha Busstop), Lagos. The programme, which preceded with a 21-day fasting and prayer, tagged: “Making Your Calling and Election Sure”, according to the General Overseer, Pastor Moses Alu, was borne out “of our conviction and belief that salvation is free . ”

Edmund Obiemeke, 76, for burial today Igbokwe Obiemeke, of Umuigwe Ndiezike VilSIRlage,Edmund Odoata-Amuamu, Ihiala Local Council, Anambra State, is deadBurial rites began yesterday at compound at Obiemeka’s compound, Ihiala. He will be buried today after a funeral mass at St Martin’s Catholic Church, Odoata, Amuamu, Ihiala at 10.00a.m. Obiemeka, aged 76, was a community leader, devout Christian and Catholic and Knight of St John International. He is survived by many children among whom is Lady Anderline Obiemeke Chukwudebelu.

Shepherdhill begins revival HEPHERDHILL Baptist Sganising Church, Obanikoro, is ora four-day midyear revival tagged “God of Abundance”. A statement by the host pastor, Rev. Israel Olu Kristilere, said the revival would hold at the new church auditorium on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 10a.m. and from Monday, July 1 to Wednesday, July 3, 2013 at 6p.m. daily. Guest minister is Rev. (Dr.) John Ojewole, of Agape Bible Fellowship, California, United States.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

14 | THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

TheGuardian 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 Crisis at the University of Abuja

HE recent protest by the students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Abuja over non-accreditation of their courses has exposed the inept leadership of the university and advertised the disgusting state of affairs at the institution. That a school with the aim of being a laboratory for academic excellence cannot get accreditation for its major programmes 25 years after its establishment is scandalous. The Vice Chancellor, the Governing Council and the Federal Government have failed. They should all wake up to their responsibilities and address the lingering problem. Academic activities have been paralysed in the institution for a long time over this festering unrest. The protest was not the first in the institution. Last November, engineering students staged a similar protest over non-accreditation of their programme. But rather than settle down to address the fundamental issues facing the institution, the university authorities in collaboration with the National Universities Commission (NUC) adopted an ad-hoc measure and promised to transfer the students to other varsities. That, effectively, pushes the problem aside without visible action to address it. There are indications that only the 500-level engineering students have so far been transferred to the Federal University of Technology, Minna. The fate of the rest of the students is still hanging in the balance. What is the essence of having a university whose courses are neither accredited nor recognised? Why admit students into such programmes when it is clear that the effort amounts to a waste of time and resources? With the haphazard transfer of students to other institutions amid crisis, the aim of setting up the school has been defeated. The crisis has jeopardised academic pursuit in the institution and there seems to be no end in sight. The many failures of the university authorities, including equipping the institution appropriately for accreditation and hiring lecturers have turned the school into a battle-ground where students and the authorities are continuously in combat. Lack of adequate infrastructural facilities and teaching staff are the root of the problem. The University of Abuja has remained on temporary site since inception in 1988. Incidentally, this is happening right at the seat of power. The President is there with the education minister, National Universities Commission, the Vice Chancellor and members of the Governing Council of the university. All the officials and institutions that should make things work have abdicated their responsibilities. The grouse of the students is understandable if after spending eight years for a course that should normally last five or six years they are still uncertain they would graduate with a recognised certificate. It is therefore not unexpected, for the students to protest the non-accreditation of their courses. Like their engineering colleagues, the medical students have been promised a transfer to other varsities without an assurance of how this would be accomplished. With the backlog of hundreds of engineering students waiting to be transferred, the problem has been compounded. But it should be appreciated that the other institutions are also battling with their own challenges. The same infrastructural deficit and inadequate teaching staff are also plaguing the other universities. There is no single public university in Nigeria that is capable of absorbing students from another institution without falling short of standards. What is clear in all of these is that there is dereliction of duty across the board from the Vice Chancellor to the NUC and the central authorities. The university made a mistake to have introduced engineering and medical programmes, among others, when it was not ready with the necessary structures in place. The NUC shares in the blame for allowing unapproved and unaccredited faculties to admit students. There would have been no crisis of accreditation if the right things were done from the outset. It needs to be emphasised that if there should be a university, then all of its courses should be accredited and recognised by the relevant professional bodies. After all the mistakes have been made, the authorities of the institution have failed to remedy the situation. The current Vice Chancellor even appears undaunted about solving the problem. The Minister of Education, Professor Ruquayattu Ahmed Rufa’i reportedly granted N2 billion as extrabudgetary grants from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to enable the university address the problems. But nothing seems to have been done with the fund. The time to address the lingering problems of the institution is now. Enough is enough of this infamy, as it ruins not only the lives of young Nigerians but also the image of the country.

LETTERS

Re: First Lady on illegal podium IR: Your editorial of Sunday, The media should guard office and the Bayelsa State SDame June 23, 2013 on First Lady, against becoming conspirators Government have said enough (Dr.) Patience Goodluck on the matter. Jonathan refers. The effort is rather an extension of a trend in a section of the media, which makes the vilification of the First Lady a primary assignment. The misfortune runs deeper when the platform so abused is the editorial while the objective is to rake all available mudsling at the person and office of First Lady Jonathan. The editorial suddenly realized that it is an “odium” that the First Lady speaks from a podium with the country’s official seal after two years! It smirks of a betrayer of maximum mischief, in fact an embarrassment to state that it was only in February that she began to speak from a podium with a crest. In any case, does the seal that gives so much concern proclaim “Seal of the Office of the First Lady?” No. It simply announces “First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” What then is the hysteria all about, especially the usual blackmail of convenience that the Office of the First Lady is unrecognized by the constitution? While this is invariably true, one wonders the practicability of separating the First Lady from the Presidency that offers the platform for the “charity and humanitarian exertion” which the editorial agrees are some of the public good a First Lady is expected to

with profligate administrations Finally, may we appreciate the who squander people’s com- reluctant charity of The monwealth for self-serving Guardian in admitting that political pursuits “Madam Jonathan deserves deliver. We may as well insist that America must separate Michelle Obama from riding on Air Force One because her office is unconstitutional! It is our view that the First Lady’s office derives from the Presidency, and has responsibilities to discharge, whether ceremonial or official, to make smooth the operations of the President and the Presidency. We will not bother ourselves about her appointment as Permanent Secretary in Bayelsa State, as both this

praise for her tireless efforts at improving the lots of Nigerian women”, and that “her campaigns on the political scene did more to impact on her husband’s political fortune. She is indeed a force for good”. The media should guard against becoming conspirators with profligate administrations who squander people’s commonwealth for self-serving political pursuits while the people remain in abject misery and sinful lack! • Ayo Osinlu, Special Assistant to the President (Media) Office of the First Lady

Thank you Fashola, but... IR: Permit me to use this Simmeasurable medium to express my gratitude to the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola for repairing the damaged part of Iju Agbado road, which has been a nightmare to commuters for some years now. I pray that God will continue to give him the wisdom and robust health to sustain the wonderful work he is doing in Lagos State. However, I wish to bring to his attention that the job has

not been completed, as part of the damaged road was left undone while the part that was fixed was poorly done. The interlocking blocks used on the road were poorly laid in such a way that some of these blocks would soon be uprooted due to regular usage of the road. I am appealing to the governor to help us further by completing the road and amending the already completed part to avert further damage. • Mauzu Suleiman, Lagos.

THe GUArDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

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Non-oil bilateral trade between Nigeria, Britain hits £7b in Q1 By Femi Adekoya rADe relations between T Nigeria and the United Kingdom may have received a boost this year as non-oil trade volume between the two countries has hit £7 billion in the first quarter. Indeed, President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Awagu, who confirmed the figure to The Guardian, yesterday, at the yearly general meeting of the chamber in Lagos, explained that though bilateral trade between Nigeria and the UK remained strong, there are high expectations that the flow of trade between the two countries would increase and surpass the £8 billion target set for 2014. British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Peter Carter had revealed earlier in the year that trade relations between Nigeria and UK will hit N1.920 trillion ($12.2 billion) by 2014, since bilateral trade volume between the two countries stood at N960 billion ($6.1 billion) as at the end of 2012. Carter, during a visit to the Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, had stat-

. Chamber seeks favourable visa issuance regime ed that his country was working to remove some of the barriers to the issuance of UK visas for Nigerian businessmen to ensure seamless flow of trade between the two countries. Awagu, however noted that except grey areas concerning the proposed visa policy by the United Kingdom are effectively addressed, the growing volume of trade between Nigeria and the UK may begin to decline once the policy is implemented. He noted that the proposed policy would definitely negate the joint commitment by Prime Minister David Cameron and President Goodluck Jonathan to double the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries by 2014, just as it would hinder people-to-people contacts, which is one of the cardinal principles of the Commonwealth. He said: “If you take for instance, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) scheme was developed by the United States to help African countries export agricultural products to the U.S. The

British Government believes in the potential Nigeria offers. If the proposed policy is implemented, the move is bound to affect relationship between Nigeria and Britain. “Most times, people visit to not only for vacation but to seek opportunities for invest-

ments. The policy is an illthought one. It will affect both bilateral and cultural relationships between Nigeria and Britain. The Nigerian government has already reacted to the move and I believe amendments would be made but if that is

not done, relationships will suffer. “The chamber has remained focused in promoting bilateral business and trading activities between Nigeria and Britain’s private sector by creating enabling platform for both indigenous and foreign business partnership. We hope to sustain this in order

to boost trade relations between the two countries.” He added that as part of efforts to aid the realization of the chamber’s goals, the chamber signed an agreement of cooperation with the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to create a strategic alliance to such end.

ASL records N3.83b turnover, N493m profit in 2012 By Chika Goodluck-Ogazi and Samuel Ifetoye IrLINeS Services & Logistic A Plc (ASL) has announced a turnover of N3.83 billion, against the N3.64 billion recorded in 2011, with an increase of five percent and a profit of N493 million for the year ended 31 December 2012, compared with N245 million achieved in 2011. Addressing shareholders yesterday at its yearly meeting in Lagos, the Chairman, ASL, Dr. Patrick Dele Cole said it was a commendable performance given the disruption of catering services occasioned by the general strike early last year. According to him, “the operating challenges in our environment persisted in 2012. This was characterisd by poor infrastructural facilities, inconsistency and uncertainty in the policy environment, lack of support for the development of indigenous enterprises, and heightened security concerns”. The Chairman stressed that: “the aviation industry in Nigeria experienced highs and lows. A positive development is the commitment to

airport remodelling and commissioning, which resulted in the modernisation and commissioning of the General Aviation Terminal as part of the first phase of airport remodelling which is to be executed at 11 airports around the country. “The planned development of aerotropolis in collaboration with the Chinese government would establish Nigeria as a major hub on the African continent. Domestic airlines continued to struggle under debt burdens and a major disaster in June 2012 renewed concerns about the safety of domestic airlines. Government policy is being targeted to assist domestic airlines to acquire new aircraft”, he said. Cole, who noted that despite the challenges, Nigeria has recorded a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 6.6 percent, which was one of the best globally, added that, the country, with its robust natural resources and position as the most populated country in Africa, has great investment potentials. On the outlook for 2013, he said that the entry of a foreign

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Chairman of the Investment and Securities Tribunal, (IST), Mrs. Ngozi Chianakwalam (left); Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Chairman of the CMC, Ms Arunma Oteh; Chief Operating Officer, Financial Markets Dealers Quotation, Jack Delaney; and the Executive Commissioner, Finance and Administration, SEC, Zakawanu Garba, at the second quarter Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting, held in Lagos, yesterday.

New code to protect $25b telecoms investment out in July By Adeyemi Adepetun NeW telecommunicaA tions corporate governance code that will act as watch dog on the industry and subsequently protect the growing $25 billion investments in the sector will be out next month. Specifically, the code, which is also aimed at fostering best practices in the industry, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), would also help to raise the sector’s standard. At the stakeholders consultative forum on guidelines for corporate governance in the telecommunications industry, held on Wednesday, the Chairman of the telecoms industry Corporate Governance Working Group (CGWG), Dr. Fabian Ajogwu said the sector needs a code of corporate governance that will assist in fastracking the develop-

ments in the sector. Ajogwu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said the industry regulator set up the CGWG in October 2012 to develop a common code for the industry. With members drawn from the operating companies, the NCC and other key industry players, Ajogwu said the code is expected to address the absence a unified code to which all operators can align. Ajogwu explained that, “since the inauguration of the CGWG, series of meetings have been held and on where we are now, we are planning to ensure that the document is made available to the industry before the end of July, 2013.” In his keynote address, the executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. eugene Juwah, said the working group would help in addressing the problem of having disparate corporate governance codes in the industry.

Juwah, who was represented by the executive Commissioner on Stakeholder Management, NCC, Okechukwu Itanyi, said till date, the activities of CGWG had been focused on providing input for the code drafting exercise. According to him, these include identifying the corporate governance priorities for the nigerian telecoms sector; considering and gathering the target and scope of applicability of the Code; considering implementation mechanism of the Code’s provisions, among others. Stressing the importance of having a sector-specific code, Juwah said: “While national codes of corporate governance are typically focused on the country-specific issues and are aimed at improving and guiding governance practices within a country’s specific legal environment, sector-specific corporate governance codes address the

specific peculiarity of affected sector that are not typically dealt with under national or broadly-aimed codes.” He added that a code like the one currently being worked on by the Commission would be more relevant in telecoms sector such as Nigeria, where private unlisted companies operate as a predominant majority or not. “So, corporate governance principles of accountability, responsibility, transparency, integrity and ethical conduct, independence and so on are important for all types of companies operating in the telecoms industry whether private, large or small.” In his paper delivered at the forum, the Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Dr. Pascal Dozie, harped on the need for good leadership and governance in an organisation, stressing there must be synergy between the board and com-

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

16 BUSINESS

RMDC strategises to halt mushroom importation From Kanayo Umeh, Abuja USHROOM may soon M become one of the commodities on the nation’s import prohibition list, going by plans by the Raw Material and Research and Development Council (RMRDC) to enhance mass production of the plant in the country to halt its importation. Director-General (DG) of Raw Material Research and Development Council, RMRDC, Prof. Azikiwe Onwualu, gave the hint on Tuesday at a three-day Train the Trainer’s Workshop on Production and Development of Mushroom. Onwualu stated that “commercial mushroom, as we all know, is imported into the country, but with some training and technical assistance, it can be produced commercially in Nigeria on a small scale”. According to him, the workshop with the theme “Mushroom: plant resource with considerable potentials to address the transformation agenda of the present government”, is to make people learn how to grow, package, export and make money from mushroom.

He stated that the workshop will provide “necessary requirements they need to be competitive in the business”. Onwualu disclosed that in a bid to promote the production and cultivation of mushroom for the myconutraceutical industry, the council has been organising popularisation workshops and has also published a monograph on maximising the benefits of downstream investment in production of eligible mushroom in Nigeria. “Nigeria and indeed Africa is endowed with abundant human and material resources, which when properly harnessed through focused development and management could reduce the poverty level and improve the standard of living of her citizen. “In spite of the availability of these natural resources, lack of the wherewithal to adequately add value and transform them into marketable intermediates and finished products has denied Nigeria the status of an industrialised nation and its subsequent benefits”, he said. He said that for centuries, the demand for the plant has been appreciating because of its economic importance

such as in pharmaceutical production and nutritional value. He added: “For centuries, mushroom has appreciated as source of food nutrients and also pharmacologically important compound useful in traditional medicine. Yet not all the medicinal proper-

ties of mushrooms have been fully exploited. “Records of health promoting properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, cholesterol lowering level and immune-stimulatory effects have been reported for some species of mushroom” The DG added that mush-

rooms in Nigeria have huge prospective to create industries because of its content “Mushrooms indigenous to Nigeria have enormous potential as sources of bioactive agents for biopharmaceutical exploitation and bioremediation. “Production of these mush-

room will no doubt lead to emergence of myconutraceutical industries which has huge potentials of job creation”, he said. He said that pharmacological potentials and other uses of about 90 per cent of mushrooms are yet to be exploited in Nigeria.

Managing Consultant, Sages & Scribes Consultants, Adelowo Adesina (left); Managing Director, Nigerian Agip CPFA Ltd, Emmanuel Inko-Tariah; Manager, Pensions & Investments, Nigeria Agip CPFA, Ms. Ighojovbe Oghenekaro; and Associate Consultant, Sages & Scribes Consultants, Yomi Odedeyi, at a training workshop for the management of Nigeria Agip organized by Sages & Scribes Consultants on “ Effective Negotiation Skills”, in Lagos.

‘UN award validates Nigeria’s IT approach to transformation’ HE Managing Director of T Galaxy Backbone, Gerald Ilukwe has said that the United Nations (UN) Award recently won by his company, was a validation of at the efficient deployment of Information Technology in delivering services to Nigerians using its homegrown 1-GOV. net initiative. The company was adjudged by the UN as winner in promoting whole of Government Approaches in the Information Age in Africa, Speaking on the sideline of the yearly UN’s Public Service Forum and Awards in Manama, Bahrain, Ilukwe disclosed that though the company faced some challenges at inception such as opposition from civil servants, Galaxy Backbone, he stated, had transformed governance with its IT platform. “What this award means is that this is the way to go, the

UN is setting the standards and other countries are also following and it shows that we are on the right path. We have to get the people opposed to IT in government service to come on board so that we can deliver quality services to Nigerians.” He maintained that IT was one leg of the efforts as the ultimate aim was “transformational government”, urging civil servants to support Galaxy Backbone in building on the gains it had achieved in its few years in existence. Ilukwe explained that Information and Communications Technology had become a yardstick for measuring human development and assured that the nation would witness unprecedented development if IT were deployed in states and local governments with their support. “We can work with civil ser-

vants and training institutions, and I am sure we will see huge development as there is a strong relationship between IT and human development,” he added. Earlier, the General Manager, Customer Operations & Services, Frank Ugbodaga, while telling the Nigerian story at a UN experts’ session, said that Galaxy Backbone adopted a private company approach to service delivery, and that though the company was solely owned by government; it is not entitled to allocations from government in its annual budget. Galaxy Backbone paid salary based on the services delivered to government agencies and ministries. “The private sector style” where people get targets and are paid based on their ability to deliver on these targets, was responsible in part, for the Galaxy Backbone success story.

ASL profit hits N493m CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 competitor in the aviation catering business in Nigeria has got the company geared up to meet the challenges that come with it. “As such, we are poised to expand to Rwanda and shall continue to explore opportunities to diversify our operations, improve cost management, raise the level of quality and create competitive pricing structures”. He assured shareholders at the meeting that the company will continue to offer support, as the management strives to explore productive avenues to enhance the viability of the company and

ensure added returns to them. Speaking also, the Chief Executive Officer, ASL, Richard Akerele stated that the company has achieved steady growth over the last few years, stressing that to maintain this growth, ASL would need to diversify into the non-aviation sector and other markets on the African continent. “Government will need to ensure that it takes a holistic approach to the provision of improved infrastructure, increased cooperation with service providers and an open skies policy on routes to the country if the industry as a whole is going to grow”.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

BUSINESS

ELAN, FHAN harp on IFRS compliance for firms By Bukky Olajide HE Equipment Leasing T Association of Nigeria (ELAN) and Finance Houses Association of Nigeria have expressed the need for their

members to develop capacity in the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) against the backdrop of the conversion of the Nigerian GAAP financial statements to

IFRS, in compliance with the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) directive. This view expressed by both associations recently at an advisory service for their members aimed at ensuring

that their financial statements are reported in accordance with IFRS to make the financial statements understandable and comparable across international boundaries.

Ekiti to increase revenue through agric From Muyiwa Adeyemi, Ado Ekiti KITI State Governor, Dr. E Kayode Fayemi has said that the vision of his administration to make the state the food basket of the southwest as well as generate 50 per cent of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the agriculture sector by 2014 would soon become a reality as some of the agric programmes put in place by the administration were already coming to fruition. The governor stated this during a field trip to inspect eight different projects under the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) programme spread across different parts of the State at the weekend. Fayemi who toured fish farms in Efon, YCAD Nursery point at Igede and cassava plantation in Iyemero, the Farmer’s Academy at Isan Ekiti, among others, said that the inadequate markets for

Delta’s fish project tickles IFAD HE International Fund for T Agricultural Development (IFAD) has advised governments at all levels to replicate the Ekpan fish farm project in Delta to create jobs in the country. IFAD consultant on Rural Infrastructure Development, Harry Denecke, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) Ekpan in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta. The IFAD team was on inspection visit to some of its community-based natural resources programmes, including the Ekpan fish farm in the state. Denecke said that the farmers were successful in the fish business and had acquired the expertise to make it work in other parts of the state and across the country. “The fish farms that we have visited were straightforward successes with about 4,000 youths employed; the people are making better life because of the fish ponds. “There may be minor problems, but that is not important at the moment, there is sufficient room for expansion. “We are looking into opportunities inside Nigeria; this is a follow up to an existing project, and this can serve as a very good example to replicate in Delta and other states,” Denecke said. He added that IFAD initiated, supported and pledged to sustain the project and together with state governments, identify sites where the aquaculture could be replicated.

the sale of YCAD products had proved that the state was gradually nearing the actualisation of the vision to make itself the food hub of the southwest Nigeria. He expressed satisfaction that the YCAD participants were up and doing and were working towards a shift from subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture. The governor stated at the

Efon fish farm that his previous visit to a privately owned fish farm of about 275 ponds which daily produced 30 tonnes of fish and the output from the youths empowered by the state government under the YCAD programme had proven that the state was achieving its Agenda 3 which is modernising agriculture. Fayemi who had consistently expressed optimism that the

state could generate at least one billion Naira from daily supplying food products to half of the population in Lagos State, assured that government would work towards creating new markets for the young emerging farmers so that they would not be discouraged and frustrated by the inadequate market which could lead to a huge business loss.

While commenting on the programme, Andrew Efurhievwe, executive secretary, ELAN, stated: “It is imperative that members be prepared for the future based on the guideline announced by the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, saying all organisations (quoted and unquoted) should have adopted IFRS for statutory reporting by January 1, 2014. He added that the programme was also intended to promote international standard best practices, which conformed to global business ethics and values among members. The training, according to a statement is the first of the package designed to ensure members’ business processes reflect IFRS principles and guidance, as well as building

in-house capacity in the preparation of IFRS financial statements. The practical training session extensively covered topics like Financial Instruments (IAS 32, IAS 39, IFRS 7 and IFRS 9), Leases (IAS 17), Property, Plant and equipment (IAS 16), Revenue recognition (IAS 18) and first time adoption of IFRS (IFRS 1). Speaking on the programme, Ojo Akinyogbon, head of Operations, Sovereign Assets and Leasing Ltd stated, “the programme was very exciting, an eye opener in the sense that most companies now know the importance of transiting and adopting the IFRS Reporting Standard and the implications of not transiting at the appropriate time.”

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Weekend

Worries over Nigeria’s rising population

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THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

20 WEEKEND

Population boom: Stakeholders preach

School children on a canoe at the recently demolished Makoko area, Lagos.

By Chijioke Nelson, Roseline Okere, Wole Oyebade, Femi Adekoya, Lillian Chukwu and Chuka Odittah ETERMINING Nigeria’s exact population D has always been controversial. Since independence from Britain in 1960, Nigerians have never fully agreed amongst themselves on just how many they really are, or which region of the country has the highest or lowest numbers. On the side, there have also been needless ethnic and religious dimensions to the matter, often exploited by politicians for winning elections and appropriating resources. However, genuine worries are now being expressed over the future implications of the rapidly increasing population of the world’s most populous black nation. There are fears that unless the federal government regulates the country’s population in a decisive way, Nigeria may become chronically over populated by 2040, less than 30 years away. Although, Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus predicted a long time ago that the world’s population runs the risk of overtaking its resources, the postulation may sooner than later stare Nigeria in the face, if nothing is done in the long term. According to a survey – Resources for the Awareness of Population Impacts on Development (RAPID) – presented at the last National Family Planning Conference held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, in 1963, both Nigeria and Britain had the same population size of 56 million. By 2011 however, Nigeria’s population stood at 167 million and Britain’s, 62 million. Between 1963 and 2011 (48 years), Nigeria’s population tripled and with sustained fertility of 5.7 and the growth rate of three per cent, its population could double in less than 24 years. According to the data released by the National Population Commission (NPC) after the last head count in 2006, Nigeria’s total population was estimated at 140, 431, 790 million. The commission’s chairman at that time, Dr Samuila Danko Makama, observed that the population had doubled what it was in 1991, when the controversial census figure was 81 million. He also disclosed that the

country’s population rose from a little over 140.4 million in 2006 to its present figure, representing a yearly growth rate of 3.2 percent or 5.6 million people per annum. Makama predicted that, given the agency’s new projection of the country’s population growth rate of 3.2 percent, the same rate the NPC used in the 1991 and 2006 census exercises, Nigeria’s population could hit 221,392,163 by July 1, 2020. He was quoted as saying that given the country’s “astronomical progression in population, levels of governance should ultimately focus on nation building initiatives, with a view to expanding public infrastructure in proportion to growth in population, thereby avoiding social crisis in the future.” President of the Association for Reproduction and Family Health (ARFH), Prof. Oladapo Ladipo is of the opinion that with the 5.7 fertility rate and about three per cent annual growth rate, Nigeria’s current population would have been 359 million by 2040. “So, if you think about the ratio of people who are in the working-age category, to people who are too young or old to work (dependents), then the more money, the harder it is to grow your economy. Here’s why: Because you are spending all of your money just trying to help these dependents survive (feeding them, giving them the basics they need to survive), then you do not have any money left over to invest in economic activities, business, and more education. But if you have fewer dependents (fewer children), then the working-age population can spend more money on other things, like investments that make the economy grow.” Indeed, the Federal Government has also acknowledged that increasing population poses considerable threat to the nation’s food security and economy. At a sensitisation programme and exhibition on the socio-economic uses of tiger nut and walnut in Abuja recently, the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Ewa, affirmed that population explosion has, indeed, led to economic difficulties in many countries, including Nigeria. He submitted that Nigeria’s continued dependence on crude oil had aggravated its predicament. His words: “The current global phenomenon of population explosion, coupled with degrading resources, has led to environmental and eco-

nomic woes, putting most countries and our nation in particular, under threatening challenges of food security, poverty, diseases and unemployment.” The development, he averred, had also led to the flooding of Nigerian markets with imported goods, while the country exports crude oil as its major foreign exchange earner. He pointed out: “The implication is that we are exporting labour or jobs to other countries, while serving as a market place for them, and this has aggravated our predicament of increasing unemployment and poverty incidence. The current situation, where we import virtually everything and export mostly crude oil, negates our aspirations for economic emancipation. The Nigerian nation is, therefore, at a critical point in its quest for economic growth and development.” Ewa also observed that economic diversification would mitigate the effect of population explosion, stressing that agricultural productivity and wealth creation would be achieved if the right support were given to the industrial and manufacturing sectors. He continued: “The basis upon which developed countries built rapid economic and industrial growth, is dominantly the application

According to a survey – Resources for the Awareness of Population Impacts on Development (RAPID) – presented at the last National Family Planning Conference held in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, in 1963, both Nigeria and Britain had the same population size of 56 million. By 2011, Nigeria’s population stood at 167million while Britain’s was 62 million. Between 1963 and 2011 (48 years), Nigeria’s population tripled and with sustained fertility of 5.7 and the growth rate of three per cent, its population may double in less than 24 years

of science, technology and innovation, which enabled them export a strong mix of value-added goods and services. There is actually no shortcut to economic growth rather than the application of technology.” Reacting to available data on Nigeria’s demographic figures, the Regional Head of Research, Africa, Standard Chartered Bank, Razia Khan, said the excitement over the new population figures was uninformed, given the fear that the nation’s economy had not been growing in the same proportion with the population. She said: “A lot of the excitement about the scale that Nigeria’s future growth represents, stems from projections for its population. The UN estimates that by 2050, Nigeria will be the fourth most populous country in the world. Certainly, if the current population growth rate is 3.2 percent per annum, the potential growth of the economy is significant - given that it is dominated by consumption, and growth in the non-oil sector. “But is it possible that Nigeria becomes a very big country, rather than a developed economy? The big concern is whether sufficient employment opportunities can be generated to absorb the country’s growing pool of labour and whether this can take place rapidly enough.” In this regard, Khan said recent evidence was not favourable. She maintained that agriculture has been a strong contributor to the overall growth in the Nigerian economy - but mainly on the basis of more land being farmed, not on the basis of it being done better or more efficiently. “Nigeria is still missing the productivity gains that would make 7 percent+ growth more sustainable over the long-term. With reforms, infrastructure development, investment in power, improved education much will become possible,” she said. Recently, the Minister of State for Power, Hajia Zainab Kuchi raised the alarm that about 120 million Nigerians, being 75 per cent of the entire population, have no access to power supply in the country, a situation which, she said, only huge investment in the power sector could address. According to her, only 40 million Nigerians (about 25 per

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

WEEKEND 21

proper planning, good governance

Jonathan

Odimegun

Oladapo

cent) of the country’s population are currently enjoying electricity supply despite the huge amount of money spent on the sector. This is coming barely a week after President Goodluck Jonathan presented a mid-term performance report of his administration’s two years in office, in which he indicated remarkable improvement in the power sector. Kuchi’s words: “Privatization is at its conclusion stage. Come July, what we need to focus on is the commercialisation of the power sector, considering where we are and the fact that we are giving power to only 40 million Nigerians. We have 160 million Nigerians now and we are only giving power to 40 million of that population. What it means is that there are about 120 million Nigerians that are without power and wish to buy power. We are looking forward to energy mix, what we are looking at are ways that will bring in so many other options and the only way we can power Nigeria which we have agreed, is to look forward to IPPs”. Regulating Population Jonathan has declared that before promulgating laws controlling birth and population, the government would carry out enough sensitisation. He said: “For us to plan properly, we must manage our population. But it is extremely sensitive; we are extremely religious people, either you are a Christian or Moslem. Both Christians, Moslems, even traditionalists and all the other religions, believe that children are God’s gifts to man. So, it is difficult for you to tell any Nigerian to limit the number children because they are gifts from God and you are not expected to reject God’s gifts. “It is a very sensitive thing, but we must begin to think about it. We must begin to think about how to manage it. The key thing is that how you will, through your advocacy, come up with plans and programmes to encourage Nigerians to have the number of children they can manage before government comes up with clear policies and guidelines. “First and foremost is the personal consciousness that people should have the family they can manage. Sometimes, you get to find somebody, in a well-furnished duplex, the husband and wife, they may have two, three four children. The man guarding them has nine children. That is the scenario you have. That means there is a segment of the population that knows that you must have a number that you can manage, but the other segment of the population doesn’t.” Ladipo stated: “The average woman in Nigeria gives birth to almost six children. And again, if you look at regions in Nigeria, it’s even higher in the North—more than seven children per woman—and in the South a little under five. So, 5.7 is the national average. “One main reason that fertility is high is the low use of modern contraceptives. Only 10 per cent of our married women of childbearing age use modern contraception right now. In comparison, some of the other countries have up to 77 per cent of married women using modern contraception. Ghana has 19 per cent, India 49, Malaysia 55, Egypt 58 and Brazil 70 per cent. The Next Census National Population Commission’s Chairman, Mr Festus Odimegwu told journalists recently in Abuja: “to ensure that the nation’s population is effectively managed across sectoral lines for national development, the commission is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring effective implementation of the National Population policy. To this end, the commission plans to use cutting-edge technologies to drive this vision. In addition, public enlightment and advocacy visits are being carried out to forge national consensus on these population quality improvement issues.” The NPC chairman reiterated government’s concern on population growth and identified population quality improvement issues to include resolving historical challenges or divisive issues, stopping corruption, impunity and ensuring rule of law, diversifying the economy. Others, he averred, are ensuring food security, nutrition, sanitation and good health; promoting agricultural transformation and rural development; and ensuring good education at

all costs. He said that for an accurate, reliable and acceptable census in 2016 which would aid policy makings, the commission has resolved to conduct a Greenfield, zero-based biometric census. He continued: “the next census will collect these pieces of information to create a biometrics based national population register and demographic data base which, when linked to the vital registration infrastructure that aims to achieve 100 per cent in terms of completeness and coverage by 2015, will give the nation reliable data as the basis for policy making, government planning, security, budget allocations and development, credible national identity cards, real time on-line voters register.” He said the compulsory and continuous registration of births and deaths within 60 days and 30 days respectively of occurrence, would provide complementary data to the census particularly within the inter-census period. Way Foward Indeed, evidences show that the various submissions do not imply that once population is growing, social services must crumble. On the contrary, robust economic growth, coupled with equitable distribution of income, would lessen the nega-

tive consequences of population growth on development as the experiences of China, Indonesia and South Korea demonstrate. Furthermore, experts believe that corruption and bad governance erode the confidence of the people in their government. This reduces their enthusiasm in the struggle for socio-economic revival and stability. Although, there appears to be no link between population growth and low savings in Nigeria, the fact remains that as population grows, “capital widening” is needed to maintain existing per capita income and savings, while declining fertility makes it possible for resources to be released for “capital deepening”, which helps the cause of poverty alleviation. Indeed, Nigeria has a population load factor that outweighs its meager resources to guarantee the welfare of the citizens. Since the basic needs of the people are not adequately catered for, exacerbation of poverty is inevitable as rural decay and urbanization crunch intensify. That is why curbs are needed in Nigerian population growth rate to a level that is supportive of efforts to achieving sustainable development in the country. Nigeria can also learn from the East Asian Tigers. When they lowered fertility, they experienced incredibly fast development. Around 1960, the development indicators in many East Asian countries were very close to what they are in much of subSaharan Africa today. The gross domestic product per capita was low and fertility and population growth rates were high. Many international observers didn’t see how the Asian countries were going to escape poverty. In Thailand, from the 1960s to the 1990s, fertility levels fell from a little bit higher than where Nigeria is today down to 2.3 births per woman. And during those same years, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita rose very fast. This is not a coincidence. Thailand’s drop in fertility helped to free up resources, which, when properly invested, contributed to rapid economic growth.

Indeed, evidences show that the various submissions do not imply that once population is growing, social services must crumble. On the contrary, robust economic growth, coupled with equitable distribution of income, would lessen the negative consequences of population growth on development as the experiences of China, Indonesia and South Korea demonstrate

Old Oshodi, Lagos.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28 2013

ExecutiveBrief In association with TRIPPLEA ASSOCIATES LIMITED ngineer Ajibola Olajide, the CEO of EINSL Engineering solutions and Drives Limited is a q uintessential business leader of international repute. Upon graduation from the University of Ibadan where he studied Industrial Engineering, he proceeded to the University of Lagos for his Masters in Mechanical Engineering. Before setting up EINSL, Engineer Olajide has worked as a project resuscitation engineer with Industrial Development Bank and later moved to UAC Plc. EISNL is a total engineering solutions organisation that is fully backed and supported by first rated European engineering spares. With over 50 years experience in engineering solutions and services particularly to the cement, sugar, oil & gas industries, EISNL has demonstrated capability in other industrial sectors like construction, food & beverages, pharmaceuticals and heavy industries etc. In this interview, Engineer Olajide spoke on his passion to create a Nigerian company on the same pedestal with reknowned international fortune 500 companies.

EDITION 275

Propelling Efficiency and Productivity with EINSL Support

What do you think are the benefits and significance of the Nigeria50 Award? We believe this has helped to showcase what we have been doing to the world, as well as provide an opportunity to first rate international investment for us given the level of comfort the audit by the All World group has provided for people looking into the country, Nigeria for Investment. Take the desire of organisations to increase shareholder value. A value created from plant and asset performance, guided by mission-critical objectives (only achievable with the latest thinking), and applied in an effective and timely manner against stringent Briefly tell us about EISNL Engineering Solutions & Drives targets, using technical expertise and efficient processes. Add Limited? EISNL passion for productivity, driven technology to stabilize EISNL Engineering Solutions & Drives Limited is an indigenous your asset/plant reliability. It all adds up to greater productiviIndustrial Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul spares and engity, reliability and profitability for business processes, EISNL neering solution provider to the Cement & Mining, unparalleled technical know-how and forward thinking, couManufacturing, Oil & Gas, food & Beverage, and heavy duty pled with the depth and breadth of our resources, and our industries. We offer a robust bouquet of unrivalled engineering partnerships with the leading brands, will help organisations products range for; Power Transmission, Flow Technology, achieve their business objectives sooner than later. Whether Conveyor, Fluid Power and Sealing. We also specialize in engias an integral part of your product, or for production/asset neering solutions maintenance. As the leading distributor for maintenance, just add EISNL. transmission spares including transmission belts, pulleys, couplings, Geared drives, chains, sprockets etc, you stand to gain from our manufacturer backed product support and warranty, How did you feel on this great achievement and honour? with a considerable stock availability of time tested spares. We are quite elated and encouraged to see that nothing goes EISNL will eventually be able to offer workshop facilities for unnoticed especially in a country like Nigeria where a lot of local electro-mechanic electronic repairs as well as Fluid Power empty promises and unfounded showcasing are packaged by capabilities. Whatever your area of operation, we have the many. We are quite glad that our practice standard has been expertise and experience to focus on its specific demands and noticed by an international organisation of Harvard Business deliver appropriate tailored solutions. School status. It is important to add that achieving excellence in your organisation’s production processes-though not at the Your organisation was recently listed in Nigeria fast growth 50 expense of cost-efficiency- is undoubtedly one of your busicompanies by the All World Group; what are those qualities/facness goals. EISNL’ passion for technology, honed by experitors that led to this? ence, can get you there. Firstly, God’s factor; we have a strong belief in the enablement of God in achieving what goal we set. Secondly, determination What are the unique factors that stand the company out? and perseverance, and thirdly, sticking to excellent practices in -Excellent quality Product offering: all areas of the organisational operations to the barest minimal -Recognition of people based organisation and HR developthing. Our breadth and depth of resources in asset/plants, logisment in terms of quality of staff: tics and product range – and our technical know-how – has - Focused and market niche orientation. undoubtedly helped us in achieving what we are aiming at. The cornerstone of EISNL twin business model, and the foundaIs the company in any form of strategic alliance globally? tion of our operation, is our Technology Centres. Representing Yes. We are in strong partnership alliance with world an exceptionally comprehensive specialist knowledge base, reknowned and top rated engineering spares manufacturers they are available for you to call on whether you are designing like SKF France; SEW Eurodrive Germany, Brook Crompton, a new product or maintaining a production line. and UK for representation and product support in Nigeria.

From simple parts supply to full maintenance services or facilities management, EISNL has the technology, teams and tools – not only to stabilize reliability through predictive methods, but also to identify and implement process improvements, working hand-in-hand with your production and maintenance teams for site-wide profitability. They may be our resources but when they are seamlessly integrated with yours, it’s you who’ll see the results. How would you describe the company's relationship with its clients? We see our clients as our partners. We are their partners in ensuring that they continually deliver commensurate and competitive higher productivity level at all times in terms of ensuring lower downtime, through product planning and availability, as well as offering cost saving and economic high quality delivering options and alternatives to our clients. This is why we focus more on the end user rather than just sell to our clients. W are interested in product performance, durability and suitability and how well we have been able to give our clients peace of mind on maintenance and spares so that they can concentrate on the business of production. Can you describe your leadership and corporate governance philosophy? Leadership must be by example. You as a leader must first buy into what you are preaching amongst your followers. You must be conscious of the fact that you owe all stake holders including your staff explanation for every action and everything. You must not only practice Corporate Governance, but also be seen to be practicing it, so that others can emulate and a strong corporate message is sent down the command line in the organisation in accordance to Company & Allied Matters Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. What drives your entrepreneurial spirit? Passion to prove that there are good and great Nigerians and that Nigerians can do better than even people from the western world. The passion to create a Nigerian company on the same pedestal with reknowned international fortune 500 companies round the world that is very Nigerian and very successful. What has been the company's biggest challenge(s) and how have you been able to surmount the challenge(s)? Firstly, credibility as a Nigerian company every time you want to take a stride on the international scene was a big problem. Also, access to capital for growth is also a major challenge and thirdly human capital development and availability is also a major issue. Sustainability is an everyday challenge. Whilst we strive for growth, we are also aware of the need to be energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and socially responsible. Sustainability is at core of what EISNL is and what we do. So with our support, you expect to achieve your own objectives for growth and productivity, in a sustainable manner. After Nigeria50, what next? Are you looking beyond Nigeria50, say Africa500, etc? Yes and definitely. However not only these, but going beyond the boundaries and set borders for Nigerian companies. We have projections, set goals, and objectives and we are going all the way for it. Our products are designed to deliver lower energy consumption and emissions, less downtime, and greater safety. They are also manufactured with an emphasis on sustainability, with the aim of minimizing energy and water consumption and maximizing waste recycling during the production process. Recent product developments – including many new sealing compounds, new energysaving power transmission parts and high-performance flow control components – enable us to help you achieve greater efficiency and productivity, but not at the expense of sustainability. What do you think the Federal Government can do differently to help the economy and particularly your sector? Federal Government should look into the several policies governing commerce and trade in this country and endeavour to format an adapted policy in all areas that rather seeks to encourage and grow commerce rather than discourage or kill enterprise in the course of setting controls and guidelines. Further, the Federal Government must go all the way to ensure the power problem plaguing this country is solved completely if we must grow or move forward at all. It is a major area that will further help our sector in achieving job creation through backward integration.

Engr Ajibola Olajide

What advice do you have for young Nigerian Entrepreneurs and Investors? Define your aims, objectives, stick strongly to them and be dogged while being focussed as there is a point to prove that we can do it. For Advertisement and Enquiries 08025070837 08156388800, E-mail:editor.executivebrief@trippleagroup.com

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28 , 2013

24 | EXECUTIVEBRIEF

Executive Management By Pieter W Heydenrych ne of the things that many people suffer from, both in

their personal and business lives, are a lack of setting prop-

The SMART Objective er objectives that they can pursue and achieve. And although the world we live in often enables us to achieve a lot of things just because we are alive, it is very easy to forget that when you set up a plan for your life and your business, it is important that these objectives can be applied properly. Failing this, objectives will simply remain dreams never achieved. And although I can not claim authorship of the concept, SMART objective setting is one of the key elements of most business and employment materials available today. And since applying this approach to your everyday life and

Customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Experience

Understanding Customer Journey and Various Touch Points By Himanshu Prasad Sharma

oday a customer journey traverses through various online and offline touch points that trigger their purchase intent. Their journey also includes cross functional interactions through various channels and derives a defining experience with an organization. Quantifying these defining experiences at various touch points to get actionable insights on customers' emotions, behaviors and attitudes form key metrics for mapping a customer journey and for engineering a robust customer intelligence system.

Leveraging Cross functional units for better customer engagements A customer journey is cross functional in nature. Customer interactions with cross functional teams create defining experiences for them at each stage of buying. Let's take an example of a marketing and sales unit comprising of a sales team, a technical support team, and a customer care unit. When a customer interacts with each of these touch points via various channels at different stages of buying, a single event of sub-optimal engagement can press a customer's panic button and the organization may run the risk of losing them. It is important for cross functional team to work in synergy and provide a highly positive experience throughout a customer's buying cycle. Building KPI's around common goals to achieve targets can only bring short term sales. Organisations should think beyond sales targets and develop a unified communication platform like SharePoint, where cross functional teams can collaborate better, formulate plans for each customer and provide a highly positive experience so that the customer is

ready to pay premium for its services in the future. External Touch Points - The Role of Social Media Customers today do not wish to travel alone in their journey of purchase. They are now exposed to Social media and various digital channels such as online reviews and social networking site's recommendations that largely affect their stimuli. This information upon which customers make their decisions are usually asymmetric in nature and doesn't reflect true value of the offerings. This creates a highly negative impression about an enterprise and potentially degrades its brand and cost millions in lost sales

and negative publicity. On the other hand, social media provides information about a customer's persona and renders valuable insights on his likes, dislikes, experiences, specific needs or wants. These insights can help organizations bridge the gap between internal assumptions and actual customer understanding. Basing on these cue organizations can plan their awareness, acquisition and retention strategies for various personas. The touch points associated with these strategies and resources available to manage them, can be measured and quantified to form critical metrics to evaluate a customer's experience.

business life will have a significant impact on how you organize your life, I think it worth a moment to ponder the principles. Each letter in this word represents a specific element needed to properly define an objective that will actually work, and so here they are: (S) - Specific It is absolutely essential that any objective you set for yourself is specific. For comparison, "I want to be rich" is a non specific objective. Restating the same phrase as "I want a million dollars in the bank" would be more specific. (M) - Measurable In order to actually figure out whether you have achieved a specific objective, you have to be able to measure it. Again "I want to be rich" is subjective at best. However, it is possible to measure the number of dollars you have in your bank account.

(A) - Attainable This is the portion of objective setting that will force you to consider your levels of realism. Simply put, reaching a million dollar bank account is mostly attainable, however a billion dollars is a little less likely. Thus to make sure that you actually set a goal that you can achieve, make sure that it is a realistic goal. (R) - Relevant Lack of relevance of a particular goal to your life, and what you do, is often the reason why people fail. The objective must make sense to you in your life, and be a part of your life. Having a million dollars will certainly be relevant when you have it, however in order to do this you have to for example sell 50000 of particular thing. It is much easier to define your objective in terms of the items you have to sell, and so this is much more relevant to your life.

(T) Timely The last key to setting an objective that you can reach is to set a deadline. There are a number of reasons for you to do this, however two key reasons include that it improves your ability to measure your success in relation to the overall objective, and the second is that it helps to pressure yourself into achieving it. "I want a million dollars" does not mean the same as "I want a million dollars in 2 years from today". In the first example there is absolutely no trigger to push you into doing what is necessary, however in the second one the deadline will likely make you work harder to achieve you objective. In conclusion when setting goals for yourself, your business and even your employees, be sure to be smart about it, as this will simply make things happen.

Jonathan, Kwankwaso in 1st Power Sector Documentary Film uilding on the successes of B the 1st Nigeria's Annual Light Up Awards 2012, Project Light Up Nigeria, a civil group committed to seeing Nigeria achieve steady electricity power supply and well lit up streets at night has produced Nigeria's 1st power sector documentary film titled 'Electricity power situation in Nigeria: The true story'. Speaking to journalists in Lagos, The National Co-ordinator of Project Light Up Nigeria Mr. Frank Aja Ukpabi said this 45 minutes documentary film analysed Nigeria's electricity power situation with different views from different people and celebrates those contributing towards a Nigeria of steady electricity power supply and well lit up streets at night as confirmed by the results of Nigeria's 1st Light Up awards organised by the group late last year.

He said the documentary which will soon be on foreign and local television stations, various social media networks, and on the group's website in consonance with the sole objective of the group which is to recognise, appreciate and encourage those contributing to a Nigeria of steady electricity power supply and well lit up streets at night based on the age long proven norm that encouragement leads to more achievement. Ukpabi said this documentary will serve as a wake up call for those lagging behind in executing electricity power projects in the public and private sectors and at the same time function as an informative tool for Nigerians at home, and the international community to know where we are, why we are there and

where we are heading to when it comes to electricity power supply in Nigeria. He further stated that the documentary named some people, Heroes of Nigeria's 1st Light up Awards 2012 in view of the timeline within which the electricity power projects that won them various awards at the LIGHT UP AWARDS 2012 were executed and in consideration of other factors too. Ukpabi further said Project Light Up Nigeria will keep watching Nigeria's power sector as a civil ombudsman by availing Nigerians at home and in the diaspora the platform to appraise the electricity power performance of elected public officials and private sector players. He also mentioned that the group is working on lighting up some communities that are off grid.

The traditional ruler Of Agulu-Ugwuoba Autonomous Community in Oji River Local Govt Of Enugu State, Igwe Sylvanus Ibe (M) Flanked by His wife and the traditional ruler of Nnoshi Kingdom, Igwe Lawrence Obi at the dedication of lands donated to Ugwuoba development Union Lagos branch by Chief Geff Nwokolo.

Action is the foundational key to all success. Pablo Picasso

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

26 ARTS

Theatre

Greensprings re-enacts cultural awareness through dance and By Florence Utor N a bid to instill in its students, Nigeria’s rich ISchool, cultural values, Greensprings Boarding Lekki, recently organised a cultural performance with dance and drama taking centrestage. Held at the school’s premises, the performance saw the young students all looking ravishing in the costumes of different ethnic groups they adorned. The Principal of the school, Ifeanyichukwu Grace Bernard-Oti, said, “apart from this cultural performance, they also have activities such as National Day Celebration, where the rich cultural endowment of Nigeria are displayed before parents, friends, students and staff of our school. Moreover, education in Greensprings School is not just about academic work. Co-curricular activities like the celebration of culture provides a holistic approach and produces well-rounded students.” She said, “culture is such an important aspect that we have to keep re-directing our children to their roots with a view of creating the realisation that as individuals and groups, there are specific and special ways we behave, do things culturally, depending on where we come from. We, as a nation, are fast-losing our track with the younger generation in that regard and it is our responsibility as parents, educators, gov-

ernment and organisations to do something about it and quickly, too. “The educational approach used in Greensprings School is such that the students are always open to learning. In other words, the reception of the event by the students was encouraging and their performance overwhelming, like you can see.” On whether a professional coach was employed to put the students through considering their impressive level of performance, the educationist said, “Not exactly, because we thought it should be students-driven and an avenue for them to research on the cultures of the six geo-political zones assigned to the houses – Nnamdi Azikiwe (Yellow), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Blue), Anthony Enahoro (Green), Jaja (Orange), Amina (Red) and Moremi (Purple) “It also served as an opportunity for them to display their organisational skills and the ability to work as a team. Nonetheless, the students ensured that they got ‘professional’ help from some parents and their houseteachers.” She assured that the plan was for it to be a yearly event, adding, “we started by looking at our own six geo-political zones in Nigeria, but the idea is to spread out to other regions of the world, beginning with countries in West Africa and so on.”

Performances at Greensprings Cultural Day

Tim Godfrey shines at Crystal Gospel Award with Ekelebe By Tony Nwanne ESPITE being in the tough D category at the maiden edition of Crystal Gospel Award,

Tim Godfrey and Xtreme

one of Nigeria’s fast rising gospel artistes, Tim Godfrey and Xtreme Crew, emerged the Best Praise Song with his Ekelebe hit. Godfrey, who was nominated alongside Gaise, Midnight Crew, Sinach, and Nene Soul Diva, outshone the rest to

emerge the winner of the category. The award aims at filling the gap in the gospel music industry, and also, creates fertile grounds for up and coming artistes to breakforth. “Our goal is to close ranks among Christian music and chorale groups and Christian music journalists in order to bring the industry at par with accepted world standards. Tim Godfrey and Xtreme crew, who just ended their campus

tour, powered by ROX, recently changed his name to Tim Godfrey and Xtreme, signed under ROX (Republic Of Xtreme), owned by the multi-talented gospel artistes himself. ROX is a lifestyle and Entertainment Brand set to be at the forefront of the campaign for decorum in lifestyle of Nigerians and Africans by delivering a world-class entertainment content that is wholesome and exciting. ROX is a nation with kingdom

ideals, ideas, principles, customs and way of life in general, which will be officially launched come September 28. Since his debut into the gospel music scene, he has won several awards that include AGMA (Europe), two Kingdom Africa Awards, PBOF Award, NEA aAard (New York), ABC minister’s Recognition Award, and has also been nominated for several awards but the recent ones are Crystal Awards and AGMA, which he won.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

ARTS

Revue

on June 1, 2013. In the middle is Emmanuel Agu

The grand prize – Dubai shopping for items worth N1 million in one minute – of the Legend Extra Stout National Consumer Promotion, has, no doubt, redefined consumer promotion as effective tool of marketing communication in the country. While the memory of the campaign will linger for a while, cultural heritage of Dubai adds unique dimension to the experience as winners are also exposed to certain tourist attractions in the Emirate’s commercial city, the chief of which is Dubai Museum. The heritage house located at the heart of the city is awesome as it connects guests with the narratives of the Emirate from ancient to modern era. As the curtains fall on the two-month promo (from May 1 to June 30, 2013) this weekend, Marketing Manager, Gulder, Legend and Life, Emmanuel Agu, in this interview with KABIR ALABI GARBA, expresses satisfaction that the Legend Real Deal promo hits its target with a resounding success. Excerpts: EGEND Real Deal Dubai Trip, what does your L team desire to achieve with this promo? The KPIs that the brand set for itself, I can say it is in multiple folds. One is to give the consumers an experience they never had before. A kind of money can’t buy experience. And then to do a promotion that will not only connect with the emotions of our consumers, but will also give them an experience that in the future to come, when you want to talk about consumer promotion, people will take Legend Extra Stout a reference point. This is from the

How Dubai’s cultural heritage enriches Legend experience emotive side. The second one is that we are in business, so we are also not running a charity organization. We are here to make money and to sell beer. There are also volume expectations that are attributed to this promotion. The third one is the opportunity to convert some consumers to the brand. We are not the only stout brand in the market. So this offers us an opportunity to woo some consumers from other stout brands to the Legend repertoire to understand that we are the real stout, and that is why we called it the ‘Real Deal’. So, it cuts across sales uplift; to give unique experience to the consumers; convert people, getting them to try the brand; and to see how far Legend has improved over the years. Also, the promo is improve the brand imagery. Because look, we sunk in a lot of money into this promotion and it is only big brands that can do this promotion. We have differentiated ourselves from the class of stout breweries to say that we are big and we do things that are big. There is imagery aspect of this promotion that also differentiates Legend from other stout brands. Like I said, it is multi – dimensional. Now that the campaign is coming to an end, how far so far in term of matching the set goals with reality on ground? I can tell you for free that we were amazed by the level of response we got on this promotion, and this is not just telling you to make you happy, or because you are interviewing me. I will tell you for free; even our competition will also tell you that they feel the impact of what we did with the Legend Real Deal Promotion. So, if we have to measure the success of this promotion against the expectation we set for ourselves, I will tell you that we have exceeding expectations. It is hugely successful and we can only say thank you to our consumers who have been with us on this journey. What informed the coinage of the promo, Real Deal?

One of the relics of Emirates’ ancient way of life archived in Dubai Museum We pride ourselves in the market today as the real stout because Legend is a full brew stout. It went through the full brewing process that makes us a stout brand. And that is where the concept of realness came through. That is why we can beat our chest to say that we are real stout. The configuration that made up the Legend brewing process did not involve any additive or concentrates. It goes through the normal full brewing process. And that is where the initial handlers of the brand came up with that originality. So we are real. We are the real stout. Following through the concept of realness, the Dubai thing came through.

And I will take you through so that you will understand the strategic imperative of what led to what we are doing. We came through the shopping stuff and we constrained the shopping with a time element. So you can see that it is 60 seconds thing. What is that time element, and what role does it have to play in the shopping, and why making it time- bound? Why can’t we just give people a voucher and say to roam about the supermarket or in the shopping mall and pick CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

28 ARTS

Second batch of winners in Dubai for shopping

Tourists inside Dubai Museum

How Dubai’s cultural heritage enriches Legend experience CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 your items and get your reward? But we still constrained it to the time element, and the reason is that in staying through to the concept of realness, which is ultimately true to the brand Legend, we constrained the shopping with the time element. This is because human want, from Economics, is insatiable. And because our wants are very insatiable, the concept of scale of preference came on board. Yes, you have a thousand and two wants, but which one is uppermost in your scale of preference. So you start treating your wants using the scale of preference. So now, if you are a consumer and you won in the 60 seconds shopping, and you are taking to the shopping area, and we show you the designated shopping areas, and said you have 60 seconds to do your shopping. My brother, this concept of scale of preference will come to bear… Why the choice of Dubai as preferred shopping destination? We know the challenges that Nigerians face today in securing visa and challenges of traveling abroad, and then the desires of Nigerians to go beyond the continent of Africa. And then the nature of Nigerians, we love shopping. It might not be fair to say that we are a consuming nation, but that is what we are. 80 per cent of what we consume in this country is imported. That is not the right place to be, but in reality, that is who we are. So from global picture, what are the best places to shop in the world? You can talk of United Kingdom, London; you can talk of

Paris in France; and then you talk of Dubai. Dubai came third as the best places to shop in the world. Because of the constraints given to visa acquisition and the rest, it might not be just that easy for us to select winners and then we will not be able to get them the visa to go to London or Paris to shop. But because of the flexibility that is involved in securing visa to Dubai makes it easy for us to take the winners to Dubai, because it is easier for us to redeem our promises. We said we were going to take 25 consumers to Dubai. We have taken 17 to Dubai, and we have the last eight we are going to take. Dubai appears a very nice place for us to take the shoppers because it gives us a whole 360 degree experience. It is not just a place where you can only have a nice shopping, it also offers a good tourist destination. We are not only taking the consumers to Dubai to shop, we are also offering them that adventure to touch point with the best destination places in Dubai. That becomes another reason that supported going to Dubai. The third one again is that Dubai is outside the African continent. If you travel to South Africa today and come back to tell your friends that you went to South Africa. They might just look at you and say, guy, you are still within the African scope. You haven’t travelled outside the continent of Africa. And Dubai is outside the continent of Africa. Any of the consumers that we have taken to Dubai has done an inter-continental travel. So it is easy for us to secure visa. It is one of the best places within the three or four best places to shop in the world. They have one of the best tourist destinations in the world, and it is outside the continent of African.

As a marketer of a very premium brand operating in Nigeria, and then from your own personal experience having been part of the Dubai team, what are the lessons Nigeria can learn from cultural and tourism lifts that Dubai is presently enjoying? From my own experience in the trip to Dubai, I was opportune to go through the whole that we went through in Dubai Museum, and I read up some of the things in terms of the historical development of Dubai. And I discovered that Dubai found oil almost the same time Nigeria discovered oil. So what is the difference between Dubai and Nigeria? We went through the museum we saw how the ancient people in Dubai lived. They had mortar, they had small kitchen. They used wood to cook. They slept on raft, and used all those things that were very typical of Nigerian setting until the discovery of oil. For me, the big lesson is, it is not how much oil you have, but how well you manage what you have. It is the consciousness within the emirates that we need to develop this place. That consciousness within them drove the desire to have a strategic road map, in defining what type of country they want to have. From history from things that I read inside the museum, you don’t have up to five rainfalls in Dubai, and yet the whole place was green. About 80 percent of the water that is used in Dubai is water that is recycled from toilet water and sewage, the remaining 20 percent is derived from the ocean. But here in Nigeria, we are dying of flood, yet people don’t have access to water. Here, you can plant your finger in the Nigerian soil, it will germinate, yet, we don’t have enough food. For every tree or grass that you see in the city of Dubai, there is a pipe conveying water to it to keep it green. So the vision of our leaders and the conscious effort to develop our country is part of the learning that I pick from Dubai. This is a complete arid desert and they have turned it to into a green environment. They discovered oil but made this conscious effort to build the country to become a destination point. From historical accounts, the oil in Dubai will only last for the next five years, while the oil in Abu Dhabi, the capital city has the potential to last for the next 120 years. But Dubai being conscious of this fact, that the oil they have will not last beyond the next five years, have so much built the economy of the city to the extent that they are now 20 percent dependent on oil. What is sustaining the entire country (United Arab Emirate) today is 20 percent oil dependent, while 80 per cent is sourced from other areas. Contrast is the case in Nigeria, as we are over 80 per cent, almost 90 per cent dependent on oil, and ten per cent dependent on other things. We are behaving as if the oil will be there forever, forgetting that it’s subject to depletion. So, there is a whole lot of learning in terms of the takeout of the Dubai trip from the historical perspective, national economy perspective, and then from the rules and regulations. This is a country that corruption and all manner of vices are not condoned. There are strict rules and they are being enforced. But here all manners of things go, it is always business as usual. You do it and you go free with it. Indeed, from trade level, economics and national planning, there is a whole lot to learn from Dubai trip and I am happy it is Legend that is making this happen. What is your response to critics who see this Dubai trip thing as a form of capital flight? I have done justice to that question in my previous submissions, but I will also elucidate further that to say, it is not a capital flight. It is what we have in plan. We want to give our consumers an experience. So, will you also say traveling to the US to go and have your holiday is a capital flight? Because when you are traveling to the US for a holiday, you don’t go there empty handed! As a matter of fact, you have some money in your pocket to make some purchases. Will you say it is a capital flight? As far as I am concerned, it is not in any way a capital flight, because it has a multi-dimentional approach. That is what we called offering a sustainable brand experience. The guys that we have taken to Dubai will never cease talking about the experience they have in Dubai. To them, it is far more beyond the value of the items that they got. They got more value than the items that they shop, beyond the value of exposure. From the way they see how government plans the country and the dedication of the leaders. As far as I am concerned, many Nigerians go to Dubai everyday. You have almost two flights to Dubai everyday on the Emirates alone: morning and the evening flights. This same people that are saying what we have done is

capital flight, what are they doing in Dubai? They are going to do shopping. If they are own manner of shopping is not a capital flight, why will the Legend real deal promotion become a capital flight? Like I said, 80 per cent of what we consume in this country is imported, that means, if ours is capital flight, the entire country is also involved in capital flight! On the third draw held last Friday in Lagos to pick the remaining eight winners (17 consumers had gone to Dubai for the shopping spree) We have always want to keep it real. My expectation is that we will have a peaceful and transparent draw. My advice to the consumers is to keep on trying. If you have not won in this edition, we have a lot of things off our sleeves on the brand Legend. The journey has just begun. There is a lot of things that the consumer will benefit. The national consumer protection is just one leg. We have a lot of things that we have put in place based on our calendar and strategy being adopted to build the brand. The ultimate goal is to always satisfy our consumers. Are you saying the Dubai shopping experience will continue? We are an innovative brand team, so, we will continue to reinventing the brand. At the same time, if we do our deep stick, because we have seen a quantum leap with this promo, but we still need to evaluate. When you finish a promotion, you do what is called measurement and evaluation. When we have fully evaluated this programme and see that it has given us the quantum leap that we desire and we still find out from the consumers that they are still craving for more, that the promotion mechanics is still very relevant to our target consumers, we will not hesitate to do it again. But if we find out that the promotion mechanics is not relevant to them or there are also other better mechanics that we can adopt to give them further experience, we will not hesitate to change our strategy. In what way as the promo lifted the perception of consumer about Legend? It has done more than changing the perception of consumers. This is because now, the number of entries we got per day on this promotion shows the level of excitement we have created on the trade and in terms of participation. Policy-wise, I won’t be able to tell you that this is the quantity or number that we have gotten. But it was amazing the kind of entries that come in on day to day basis, because people just want to go to Dubai. And in the days to come, I won’t be surprised if you go out on the street and asked somebody what did you know about Legend and he will tell you ‘trip to Dubai’. There-are chances that it could be a major take-out or what people will remember the brand for. These are some of the things you will use to assess the viability of a promotion you will have done. Some brand will have run promotion last year and today you are asking people what do you know about XYS brand, the consumer won’t be able to pin-point anything. But as compelling as the platform or the property you have, chances are that the consumers might not know the history or the intricacy surrounding a brand, but they know what the brand offers by way of the platforms they are using to reach the consumer. There are some brands today in Nigeria, once you mention the name of the brand, they will tell you the platform on which the brand has been operating. So, I think one of the things we have benefited in this promotion is that we have established a credible promotion. And this we have done by running the testimonial of the winners showing the Nigerian consumers that we made this promise and here we are fulfilling them. We are bringing credibility to national consumer promotion. We are bringing deliverability and then we are making it real. Because people are seen that it is not just coming and promising consumers that so and so number of people will win or will travel and when you started running the promotion, you fence them up. At the end of the day, nobody knows whether you have lived up to your billing or you have lived up to what you have promised the consumers. But that is the job of the Consumers Protection Council by the way. But have we lived up to our billing? Yes. Have excited our consumers? Yes. Have we redefined the image of Legend both in the market place and in the heart of the consumers? Yes. Have we exceeded expectation on the core key parameters we set for ourselves? Yes. Are we very successful with this promotion? Yes. Have we beaten competition? Yes. So, what have we not done? None!

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

In association with

Events

By Tony Nwanne

MUSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

LAW AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SEMINAR Date(s): 29/06/2013 Location: TOM ASSOCIATES MANAGEMENT TRAINING CENTRE Promoter: METRO LP A legal services advisory firm, Metro LP, would be organizing its first in a series of seminars for aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners. With the theme Law and Entrepreneurship.

GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

Date(s): 30/06/2013 Location: AGIP RECITAL HALL Promoter: The Musical Society of Nigeria Featuring Ranti Ihimoyan (soprano), Fatima Anyekema (Mezzo- Soprano), Thomas Kanitz (Cello), MUSON Choir and the MUSON Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Kanitz. GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

AFEntrepreneurs Annual Conference 2013

Date(s): 03/07/2013 Location: Rockview Hotel Festac Promoter: AfricanFemale Entrepreneurs Are you a Business owner or an aspiring Entrepreneur ready to take your business to the next level?. Are you seeking for an experience that will inspire and challenge you to take the quantum LEAP & change your life? This Conference is for YOU! GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

When stars gathered for Letters To My Mother movie premiere

GRANDSLAM DANCE BATTLE GRAND FINALE

was, indeed, a gathering of stars last week at the IToTSilverbird Galleria during the premiere of the movie Letters My Mother. Produced by fast-rising Ghanaian actress, Kafui Danku, the premiere recorded high attendance from movie enthusiasts and pundits alike as they showered praises on the brilliance of the Ghanaian woman. Written and directed by award-winning Pascal Amanfo, the movie tells the story of Mike (John Dumelo), who returns home after a 5-year sojourn overseas with Angie his wife tobe and mother of his unborn child. He is attracts hatred from his own mother, and it leaves him gaping and searching for the truth. But the truth cannot the found without blood being shed. When the truth comes out all hell is let loose. Shot in Ghana and Nigeria, the movie had earlier been premiered in Ghana in March before coming to Nigeria for the final premiere before going through the normal cinema circuit and eventual CD release. Featuring in the movie are actors and actresses such as John Dumelo, Adjetey Annang, Roselyn Ngissah, Paulina Oduro, Eddie Watson, among others. Letters To My Mother is a true-life story about hatred, with a dose of deceit and lies. It is about secrets. While speaking at the premiere, the producer Kafui Danku said what prompted her to make the movie was the genuineness of the script, which was totally different from other movies she has seen around, noting, “The movie will avail the audience to know who to trust, who they tell certain things and who they also deal with”. Meanwhile, the director of the movie Pascal Amanfo also said he had always wanted to challenge himself with each movie he did, and that much efforts was exerted to make Letters To My mothers a showpiece. “The story talks about as man who, after suffering a tragedy, did not speak to anybody for five years, and then he is sent to a mental institution. It’s another great work of art, a unique story that is uniquely told; it’s entertaining and this shows that African movies are indeed going places. Talking about Nollywood and Gollywood, and we will continue to keep the flag flying always”.

Date(s): 04/07/2013 Location: National Stadium (Indoor Sport Hall) Promoter: DaSlimz Entertainement Watch as dance crew battle it out for $5000 grand prize. Guest Artist: Muna, Sean Tizzle, Ajebutter, Iceberg Slim, Xbreazy, Dascot, Deepee, Drillz, Kswags and many more. GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

AFEntrepreneurs Annual Conference 2013

Nite Of a Thousand Dances

Kafiu

Date(s): 05/07/2013 Location: Main Auditorium University of Lagos Promoter: Alariwo.Org Night of a thousand Dances is a brand new concept of having a themed creative arts/dance concert held bi-annually aimed at creating world class family entertainment and launching the careers of talented dancers and creative arts performers in Nigeria. GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

Date(s): 10/07/2013 Location: Rockview Hotel Royale Promoter: AfricanFemale Entrepreneurs Are you a Business owner or an aspiring Entrepreneur ready to take your business to the next level?. Are you seeking for an experience that will inspire and challenge you to take the quantum LEAP & change your life? This Conference is for YOU! GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

BUY TICKETS TO ALL YOUR FAVOURITE EVENTS ONLINE NOW!

For more information: www.afritickets.com

Teen siblings present books tomorrow WO siblings, Berith and Divine Christian, will tomorrow, T June 29, 2013, present their books Arthur Becomes King and Not for the Glitters at El-Shaddai Catheral, Redeemed Christian

Church of God, at 2nd Avenue, Opposite 208 Road, Festac Town, Lagos. Time is 11am.

Iquo Eke’s Symphony of Becoming for launch tomorrow at Freedom Park HE Harvest Gallery, Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, will T come alive as friends and fellow artists gather for the book reading and presentation party of Iquo Eke’s Symphony of Becoming. Time is 3pm.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

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VisualArts Akaraka… A destiny with materials, wider art apprecia-

Nnenna Okore’s Akaraka By Tajudeen Sowole .S-based artist, Nnenna Okore’s current art exhibition titled U Akaraka (What Will Be) breaks the components of destiny into native themes and attempts to broaden art appreciation. From the alley-like high headroom entrance view of new space, Art Twenty One, situated inside Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos where Akaraka is showing for the next two and half months, the central theme piece looms in the distance. Hung in strings slightly above the floor, Akaraka provides an appetizing welcome in its woven net form with newspaper and finished in acrylic. The head and leg rooms, given Akaraka By Florence Utor HREE artists who are currently in Nigeria on fellowship from the U.S. have opened their inspiring art exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Sabo, Lagos.. With the theme No One Belongs Here More Than You, the exhibition features the works of Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze, Wura-Natasha Ogunji and Nnenna Okore. The works are in different media such as drawing, sculptor installation, performance arts, video and photography. The artists have, over the past 10 months, made Lagos and Nsukka their base. Their works focus on notions of belonging, space and time, the individual and the collective. Through their varied artistic practice each artist highlights their own response to this context in a unique and individual manner. The exhibition embodies both a metaphysical crossing of time and space, as well as the relationship of each artist to materiality. This experience marks the onset of a journey of reintroduction, rediscovery

as well as the free-from-the-wall position, offers a walk-around option to feel the pretentious three dimensionality of the netlike measureless work. The artist declares that destiny “is the greatest embodiment of our existence”. Transitions across birth and growth as well as death “and decay”, she argues epitomizes the essence of destiny. Stressing the scholarly context of destiny in Akaraka, Okore says “is connected to the idea of destiny; even my weaving is a way of expressing the theme”. Most fragile of the works is the piece titled Sweeping Cycles. If turned vertical, it could depict a whirlwind. But in horizontal it appears like a tunnel from one angle.

From the Diaspora, scholars show No One Belongs Here More Than You and reconnection to their ancestral place of origin. Inevitably, as the artists navigate the unique nuances of their longitude and latitude, their current artistic explorations are intricately woven into the here and now. Amanze creates large-scale drawings influenced by textile processes, print-making, collage, and architecture which explore themes of authenticity, hybridity and mobility. Ogunji is best known for her videos, in which she uses her body to explore movement and mark-making across water, land and air. Her recent performance series explores the presence of women in public space in Lagos while Nnenna Okore’s works comprise mainly sculptures and installations. Okore, with such themes as Hiding from the Sun, said she is inspired by the environment and the different stimulants of visual elements, noting, “As

you walk around and navigate the Lagos city, there are numerous things that you encounter that are very visually stimulating and so practical in their quality. I wanted to create something that would engage people to think about their surrounding and how it makes them feel. Hiding from the Sun is also a reflection on the intense energy on how often times you get to escape, no matter where you are, whether inside the scorching sun or indoors, you feel the energy of the sun Environment is such a stimulating inspiration.” She added, “My work is about engaging the viewers and helping them experience the it in different ways I’m interested in how people interact with the work, the type of experience that they go through when they watch it, the work for me come alive when people watch it.” Wura, on the other hand, is

As the contemporary, conceptual global art space is getting stronger attention, and artists are challenged to meet the resilience of traditional forms of art, a gradual impression is being created, subconsciously though, that anyone can be an artist, after all. But in Okore’s Akaraka, works such as Twist, Enigma series, Memories, Providence series, Perfect Imperfection and Mutant, all made from cloth, plaster and acrylic appear to have been shielded from the fragility of material experimentation. With a theme that dwells on destiny and woven in native Igbo idioms, Okore adds strength to her concepts, drawing a line between idealist-based themes and art for the sake of contemporary practice. Most pronounced within this context is an oval-shaped piece at the extreme end of Art Twenty One. Titled Onwa N’etilu Ora and gigantic, even in its fragility state, has no translation. The more one looks and appreciates this piece, the more difficult it is to make meaning out of the title. “The Sun that Shines on Everyone,” Okore interprets. Sun and the eastern part of Nigeria have become more political in the last four decades. Okore’s Onwa N’etilu Ora is an extension of this expression, isn’t it? “No… not at all”, she disagrees very sharply. Her blank countenance showed that, indeed, the work is just an innocent expression devoid of any tribal or political undertone. Really, should an artist or anyone for that matter, disown a glaring identity or pretend not to stand for something? Yes, Okore said, but offers that Akaraka stands for something that embodies native contents in contemporary rendition. With quite a number of the works laced in Igbo titles, it’s a nostalgic expression. “Living in the west, you miss some of these things. And when you are here it’s netters to express and enjoy it”, she says. Fast becoming prominent in her application of materials as the strength in creating art, Okore intercepts transitory stage of inanimate things before the point of decay and then offer them a new beginning. This much represents the texture of about half of the entire works on display, just as her rendition stresses the artist’s identity in creating art that is relatively fragile and suspiciously museum piece. And that nearly all the works in Akaraka are produced this year suggests that her work has been freed from the regular radar of collectors who intercept art in the studios, hence denying most artists opportunity to share their creativity with the larger public. It is common for artists here to blame constant direct studio sales for long delay in organising art exhibitions. Some artists, as established as they are, don’t have a solo show in seven to 10 years. So, Okore’s feat of two shows in less than six months is well understood. However, giving artists three months of uninterrupted exhibition space as exampled by Art Twenty One may encourage them to keep collectors from invading their studios so that they have enough works to exhibit. Art Twenty One opened in April with Cequel II: A shifting of a few poles by sculptor Olu Amoda and lasted for almost two months. The curator and founder of the space, Caline Chagoury had assured that every exhibition would be handled from the perspective of its peculiarity. Currently in Nigeria as a Fulbright scholar at University of Lagos (UNILAG) since last year from her base in North Park University, Chicago, U.S., Okore is having her second solo art exhibition in Lagos in the last four to five months. A few months ago, she showed a body of works titled Flow at The Wheatbaker for over two months. It is, however, quite curious that nearly all the works on display at the two shows were produced within one year.

showing a couple of works including a documentation from performing arts, a video installation, which shows footage of her flying into Africa. Her opinion about exhibiting in Nigeria is that “I think people here are very generous audience, they really engage the work. Unlike in America where people feel like they have seen it all.” Amanze’s work basically tells the story of Adam and Alien and how she navigates her new environment, learning new things. Other stories, according to her, may come out of it. She declined to tell the exact theme saying she would like for people to see the characters and piece the drawings together by themselves. The exhibition that opened on Saturday will continue till 14th September at the same venue from 10am till 6pm daily.

One of the works at the exhibition

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013 By Nwachukwu Onuorah HE past 20 years has witnessed tremendous growth in the T art sector, from Nigerian home video to the music industry and the visual art. These growths have been due to the efforts of government, the zealousness of the artists and the patriotic nature of Nigerians. All these has helped in the promotion of tourism in Nigeria which has created employment and investment opportunity for Nigerians, which has also helped in promoting the image of our dear country. The visual arts sector has seen tremendous growth in so many areas where individual artists have sold very expensive art works in and outside the shores of Nigeria, such as professor Anatsui’s painting “Grandma’s Cloth Series”, which sold for N11.4 million at Ikoyi Auction, Yusuf Grillo’s painting “Sango Worshipers”, sold for N7.4 million. At another auction of African Art in New York in March 2010, the five most expensive works of art sold at the auction were done by Nigerians. A painting by Ben Enwonwu went for $91,000. Some art buyers around the world are speculating that Nigerian art works are still undervalued. Giles Peppiatt, Director of Contemporary African Art at Bonhams, a British auction house that hosted the New York sale, says prices will still rise in this niche market. Nigerian art has become so lucrative that people now invest in art by opening galleries all over the country. There is a whopping number of over 500 privately-owned galleries amongst such as Nike Art Gallery - Lagos, Thought Pyramid Art Gallery – Abuja, Omenka Art Gallery – Lagos, Bonak Art Gallery – Enugu, Zane Art Gallery –Lafia to mention but a few. All these galleries are under the auspices of the National Gallery of Art, which monitors, regulates and assists them when necessary. The latest development of the merging of some parastatals of the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, especially that of the National Gallery of Art, the only government body responsible for visual art in the country, has created some confusion in the art society, a parastatal that has pushed Nigerian art to the forefront of world discourse and has put food on the table of many Nigerians. NGA has collaborated with many international organisations and countries, which has helped present a good image for the country and has created many opportunities for artists in Nigeria. Some of such collaborations are the Spanish Embassy exhibition, which holds yearly; ARESUVA bi- annual exhibition and Dakar art exhibition. The list goes on and on. NGA has also contributed in some developmental efforts such as the bill passed in the National Assembly in 2010. The bill is meant to repeal and re-enact National Gallery of Art Act, Cap. N41 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and other related matters. Some of the crucial contents of the bill include establishment of Endowment Fund, Embellishment of Public Buildings and Structures with visual works of art and Payment of 5% Royalty to the original artists for every visual work sold by a third party. This is all coming at a time the nation is going through so much crisis and insecurity, which its causes could be linked to the state of unemployment in the country that has in turn affected the image of Nigeria. Art has served and will continue to serve as a wonderful vehicle for portraying Nigeria for what it truly is - beautiful, welcoming, rich in culture, endowed in human and natural resources and an avenue to create employment The recent development of the merging of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) is difficult to understand. The two parastatals totally have different functions. The NGA was established to promote contemporary Nigerian visual art (paintings, sculpture, graphics, textile, architecture, ceramics, photograph etc) while the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) was established for historical discoveries and records, where they deal with antiquities, national monuments, excavations, archaeology, etc. The museums keep record of every profession’s history, be it engineering, medical science, military, biology, etc. All over the world art galleries exist independently, and there

Some of Oyetunji’s work

ARTS

Merger: Dilemma of Nigerian art are many types of museums existing in different parts of the world such as war museums, biological museums, car museums, engineering museums, etc. It has never been heard that the military or an engineering organisation is to be merged with the museum. HE creation of NGA was contained in a 1988 document T tagged Cultural Policy for Nigeria, which recommends that a National Gallery Art be established for the promotion and preservation of creative visual art. This recommendation derives from the UNESCO document on the World Decade for Cultural Development. Its objective shall be: to serve as a repository for artistic creation since the birth of the country as a nation; to promote creative genius in Nigerian artists and to promote research, art education and appreciation. In the past some prominent Nigerians such as Ahmed Joda have recommended that the NGA as a parastatal be strength-

ened. I strongly believe that the NGA needs to be strengthened and expanded to accommodate our vast creative nature and not be merged. I would also like to note that National Galleries of other countries, even countries less developed than Nigeria have developed galleries into many other segments. For example, there are photo galleries, which could be found in India, Kenya and the U.S; portrait galleries which could also be found in the U.S and in some countries in Europe all owned and managed by the government. The main concern for now should be how to strengthen NGA by building a befitting gallery in Abuja to represent Nigeria’s creative spirit rather than merging it with another parastatal thereby hindering the growth of art, artists, Nigeria and its people at a time we are all talking about building a non-oil economy for the country. * Nwachukwu Onuorah is Publicity Secretary, Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA)

Artists in Benin shortly after a documentation section with Oba Erediauwa for The Living Legends project.

Let’s Talk Art with Oyetunji’s Baroyet workshop By Tajudeen Sowole art appreciation to expand beyond its elitist cirFcleOR and also contribute to job creation at the grassroots, artist, Bola Oyetunji’s Baroyet Gallery brings art workshop to Ojodu, a border axis between Lagos and Ogun States. Designed to cover various genres of art and crafts and accommodate participants across ages, the second phase, which holds during the long holidays, is coming just as the first workshop for adults was concluded recently. With the theme Oyetunji tagged ‘Let’s Talk Art’, the workshop features drawing, metal embossing and exhibition.

When the workshops opened, speakers at the launching included President, Forum for African Women Educationists (FAWE), Marie Theresa Sojinrin; president, Bead Jewelry Designers Association of Nigeria, Mrs. Betty Adepoju; and representative of Small and Medium Enterprise Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr. Yinka Fisher. Oyetunji recalled that Baroyet was established in 2007 basically as a reference point in bead making, metal embossing, batik and general art making. Art education via workshops, she explained, was added a year later. Reason: “I found out that art education was diminishing in schools”. So, she started with

the first programme, “Ojodu and its Environs Community Art Awareness, which involved established artists, and workshops for senior secondary schools”. On education outside the formal setting, Sojinrin disclosed that FAWE “originally started with focus on women, but we realised the need to involve the young ones too”. She noted that as Baroyet is all about skill acquisition, “we want to assist, even though there are challenges of our own”. Adepoju, who stated that the membership of her association has risen sharply, noted the ignorance of the general public on the contribution of bead making to economic growth, adding, “Bead jewelry is big business, but unfortunately people do not take us seriously”. And if the overall projection of informal skill acquisition is about small business, the representative of SMEDAN, Fisher informed the gathering that the responsibility of his organisation is to help private initiative such as Baroyet’s formalise their business. He said, “We help in building capacity, networking and organising training”. In fact, Fisher disclosed that “Mrs. Oyetunji is one of our students”. He, however, cautioned that “we don’t give funding, but assist people to connect financiers”. Also speaking at the launch, artist and teacher, Olojo Kosoko chided government for not coming to the aid of small businesses, particularly the creative sector. Oyetunji elaborated on the workshops, saying, “There

will be dialog between participants and the artist; an opportunity for participants to meet and talk with great elderly artists who have made their footprints on the sounds of time in art practice. Participants will work with professional artists on drawing and metal embossing to produce great works fit for decoration and also earn them their pride”. One of the past activities of Baroyet in bringing art to the grassroots involved a group art exhibition titled ‘Home Grown’, which featured Oyetunji, Elder J.I. Akande, Olojo and Adedayo Dada. Before setting up Baroyet, Oyetunji trained in Health Records Technology at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Her sojourn into art started in 1981; she is the wife of a Nigerian expatriate in oil rich South East Asian country, Brunei. On her return to Nigeria in 1982, she met Bruce Onobrakpeya and worked as an artist-in -residence at his Ovuomaroro Studio, Papa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos. With works from other artists and of diverse mediums, Baroyet Gallery is expanding its scope to meet the mission of instituting major art attraction in that locality. For this year’s workshop, there will be an exhibition of the works produced during the programme. Oyetunji assured that “by the time the workshop ends the participants’ knowledge in art will not be the same again; it will change their orientation to art practice and to life in general”.

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THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Showblast

...The buzz in town

Wura

Yinka

Stories by Chuks Nwanne

PHOTOS BY: CHARLES OKOLO

Tributes, as drums roll for ‘Rolling Dollars’ at Freedom Park HOUGH his death has created a vacuum in T the country’s showbiz industry, especially highlife music genre, passing on at the ripe age of 86, on June 12, calls for a big celebration, rather than mourning. While still alive, legendary highlife musician, Fatai Olagunju aka Rolling Dollar, was a popular figure, with the toga of the oldest performing artistes in the country. A master guitarist and charismatic performer, he was loved by both the young and old. So, when the iREP Documentary Film Forum teamed up with the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA) and the Freedom Park to hold a tribute night in honour of the late ‘agidigbo’ musician, it was a welcomed initiative. Tagged, Fatai Rolling Dollar: Celebrating the Essence of the Legend, the tribute night, which was staged at the Freedom Park, Lagos, created an opportunity for friends, colleagues and admirers of the palm wine guitarist to reflect on his life, career and contribution in the propagation of highlife music genre. Aside from a talk titled Fatai Rolling Dollar: The essentials of a career, delivered by veteran broadcaster and music critic, Benson Idonije, the celebration, which lasted into the night, featured reviews of his career, One-Minute tribute – in poem, song; chant; reflections and screening of perhaps the only documentary film on his life titled, Rolling Dollar: A Legend Unplugged, produced and directed by Femi Odugbemi and released in March. There were also musical tributes by his fellow

veteran highlife musicians and other artistes such as Eji Oyewole, Wura Samba, Yinka Davies and many young stars, whose careers he affected, and to some extent helped to shape by his own exemplary service to the music industry. Anchored by the former editor of The Guardian On Sunday and Programme Chair of the Committee For Relevant Art (CORA), Jahman Anikulapo, who played vital role, alongside Benson Idonije and Toyin Akinosho, in reviving Rolling Dollar’s music career, through their now rested monthly highlife music revival project, Great Highlife Party (Elders’ Forum), the celebration gave an insight to the life and times of the late artiste, as was captured on Odugbemi’s lens. For those who knew him, it was an opportunity to go down the memory lane, while for the younger ones, the documentary was a great insight. In deed, Fatai was one of the

last mainstream practitioners of the music still very active, well to his death; giving the impression of immortality. Highlife music is a unifying genre, a result of the introduction of the guitar and other wind instruments into traditional Nigerian music. It grew rapidly along the coastal towns of West Africa at the height of the demand for independence across the continent, benefiting from the mood and aspiration for liberty. Fatai was one of the few Kokoma musicians, whose main instrument was the agidigbo (the thumb piano) coupled with the palmwinetype guitar playing style, that embraced the new fusion of traditional beat and western form; and thus influenced and shaped the direction of Highlife music as it is known today. His symbolic death, on the 20th anniversary of June 12, 1993, is instructive of the unique contribution that the artist brings to the discourse on National well-being.

A tragic loss to the Nigerian world of music and the collective of the Creative Industry of the continent, Fatai’s passing is a forceful reminder of the need for our countries to re-evaluate the essence of the Culture Producer and give the species its proper due. FRD’s legendary artistic life affects not only individuals but also institutions to which he lent his services as a performing musician and as well his humane, generous spirit.

A tragic loss to the Nigerian world of music and the collective of the Creative Industry of the continent, Fatai’s passing is a forceful reminder of the need for our countries to reevaluate the essence of the Culture Producer and give the species its proper due. FRD’s legendary artistic life affects not only individuals but also institutions to which he lent his services as a performing musician and as well his humane, generous spirit. In their statement, the collective noted, “Fatai Rolling Dollar should be mourned as an expression of our humanity — for his life and career affected our individual beings in divergent ways. But FRD deserves more to be celebrated by the collective of the Creative Industry for the effect of his Artistry on our collective essence as Artistes and Creatives. “The iREP Documentary Film Forum, iREP, the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA and the Freedom Park — three institutions to which Fatai was affiliated in the last years of his life — have resolved to celebrate the essence of the legendary FRD through a night of reflection on his life and career,” the statement read. Surely, the art community will miss Rolling Dollar; he was always handy at every art related events, especially CORA organized programmes and at the Ojez Restaurant’s gigs, where his career was revamped. Think about his style, swag and stagecraft… At his age, he was an energetic to the core. A great singer and master guitarist, that’s Fatai Rolling Dollar.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

ARTS 39

SHOWBLAST G-TAG drops Champions, Bamijo AST-RISING singer AkinFotherwise tunde Tolulope Gabriel, called G-TAG, has

M.I. (left), Mr Raw and J. Martins at the Star Music Trek in Owerri

Star Music Trek… What went down in Owerri HE city of Owerri, Imo State, came alive last weekend, as music stars M.I, J Martins, Mr. Raw, Wande Coal, Phyno and Crystals brought over 70,000 thousands fans out to Hero Square, for the third leg of Star Music Trek concert. Despite the threatening rain, the crowd remained until the very last note, forcing the artistes to extend their sets in a bid to satisfy eager fans. Rave of the moment, Azubuike Chibuzor Nelson, better known as Phyno, was undoubtedly the star of the night, delivering over 25 minutes of non-stop hits from his growing repertoire, including AnanchiKwanu ft. Ilblis, My Cool and Ghost Modeall, which he delivered with his unique infusion of Igbo Language, Pidgin and English. “I’m humbled by the love and appreciation,” he said after his performance. Black Diamond, Wande Coal had an impressive outing in Owerri as he belted out medley of his popular hits such as You Bad, Bumper 2 Bumper, Rotate and The Kick. With his enormous energy, the Mavin singer used the platform to announce his relevance in the industry. Mr. Raw returned to Owerri last weekend, with a rich set that justifies claims he’s one of the greatest acts from the South East. Backed by a seven-man band, the rapper connected with fans in ways words could not capture, enjoying himself as much as the fans, and bringing back memories of some of his greatest classics over the years such as Obodo, Aragagba, Spiritual Konji and others. Sure, fans sang along as the rap artiste wowed with his

rhymes and rhythms. And once again, J Martins brought tears to his fans eyes as he interrupted his powerful set spanning Touching Body, Good or Bad, Oyoyo and more, before bringing Chukwudi, a physically challenged fan, up on stage to dance. Despite his challenges, Chukwudi, who says he dances for a living, joined other fans for Martin’s dance competition, and he received wild cheers from the crowd. As J. Martins watched him mix acrobatics with dancing, he asked for silence as he spoke emphatically: “God will restore you. I am not a pastor. I have nothing to give you, but God who gives us life will restore you and restore your healing,” he said. Wrapped up in emotion, J Martins left Chukwudi with a memento: his neck chain. He also took out time to take pictures with him backstage. It’s unconfirmed if he also gave him cash or exchanged contacts. From his tribute performances in memory of DaGrin and MCLoph to his hit tracks, One Naira, Money Slow To Enter, Chairman and others, Mr. Incredible, M.I, stayed on top of the moment, stretching what was already an extended concert. Aside from his impressive gig, MI, one of the most eligible bachelors in the Nigerian music industry, finally found his missing rib in Owerri during the Trek. His gorgeous ‘partner’, Chinyere Okafor, whom he selected from the sell out crowd, added her beautiful voice on stage to his rendition of his hit single, One Naira. And in total awe of her performance, M.I symbolically removed his gold necklace, proudly proclaiming her, the new ‘Mrs. Abaga’. “Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, the new Mrs. Abaga,” he told Owerri fans, as he hugged Chinyere. However, the ‘wedding’, which was an entertaining interlude during his show-stopping performance, was actually just another act, one of the many notable ones the popular entertainer reeled during his gig. The train moves on to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, in Enugu this weekend, June 29, while the grand finale of Star Music Trek 2013 is August 10, 2013 in Surulere, Lagos.

Nigerian Idol 3 winner, Moses, steps out with new singles AVING enjoyed the fame and fortunes H that come with winning the Nigerian Idol, Moses Obi-Adigwe, first male winner of the music contest sponsored by Etisalat, is set to test his popularity in the industry. Moses disclosed his intentions during a visit to the headquarters of the telecommunication company in Lagos, for the first exclusive listening session for his new songs. Receiving the artiste and his entourage, which included the Managing Director of Optima Media Group (OMG), Mr. Rotimi Pedro, the Chief Executive Officer of Etisalat Nigeria, Steven Evans, said it was reassuring and heart-warming to see that Moses was still as passionate as he was during the show. “We are very pleased that Moses has that innovative, creative, daring and dynamic spirit which is very important to us as a company. He has not disappointed us and it is great to see that he has been working hard even after the show,” he said. The CEO of the communications company later held an exclusive and the first

listening session for the brand new, yetto-be released singles by Moses. The two songs, Love Letter (featuring Eva) and Beautiful, have the Afrocentric and soulful touch of Moses. “These are very outstanding works coming from Moses! Congratulations. We believe these songs will do very well. We’re very committed and emotionally attached to the Nigerian Idol. It is something we want to turn into a long-term relationship, because it is a genuine partnership,” said Evans. Also speaking during the session, Pedro revealed that other NI3 contestants including Jay Feel, Abasi Akang and Efezino, were also working hard in the studio. He commended Moses for his passionate commitment to music and swift production of the new singles. He noted that while ex-Idols took a couple of years before releasing their first singles, Moses has not only been able to do same in record time, but has gone a step further by coming up with two songs which are ready to meet the Nigerian

and international audience. “We must thank Etisalat for keeping the faith. We hope to continue to be relevant to the outfit’s vision and mission. The ideas that come out of Moses and other top contestants from the Nigerian Idol 3 have been amazing and that is thanks to the creative workshop sponsored by the company, which put a lot of life into the TV reality show itself,” he said. Meanwhile, Moses has described his new singles as a blend of old school swing, with an infusion of the guitar and talking drums. The NI3 winner thanked the company for the opportunities he has had since the show to connect with the Nigerian and international audience. “I have seen several exotic cities around Nigeria and the beautiful country of South Africa, all courtesy Etisalat Nigeria. It was also great performing and meeting several artistes I simply adore at the recent Etisalat Spinlet Music App Concert. I am looking forward to even more. It has been nothing short of a fantastic experience so far,” he enthused.

released two new singles from his upcoming album The songs. Champions and Bamijo, are both afro R&B songs that are expertly composed to establish him as one of the most exciting new entrants into the Nigeria’s music scene. In Champions, a smooth rap song, G-TAG features SPYCE, his former schoolmate at The Polytechnic Ibadan. The song is already getting good airplay in Lagos and Ibadan where the artiste has followers. Through media hype, the song is expected to penetrate other part of the country and beyond. G-TAG started his musical career a few years ago while at The Polytechnic Ibadan, where he studied Geology. He started with the mix-tape sampling of Ice Prince’s sound track Oleku to record Ere mi, which won the heart of students and lecturers in the school. He has always been the students’ top choice during campus musical shows leading to his emergence as the Best performing

Artist on Campus in 2012. Before graduating, he delved further into music with more mix tapes sampling songs like Iyanya’s Kukere sound track in a song titled Follow me go. He featured in a track Hustle and Djinee’s Over-killing. Fans know G-TAG as the ‘Great Baale’ derived from Iyaz’s Replay soundtrack, in which he featured. He is also known as the ‘Grand Hook Master’ for his strong ability to drop tight choruses for Hip Hop songs. He is currently signed to Maestronic Entertainment.

G-TAG

Tuface, Ice Prince receive BET Award 2013 nod IGERIAN artistes, 2Face Idibia and Ice Prince Zamani, have N been nominated for the Best International Act – Africa category at the 2013 BET Awards. Leading Hollywood actresses, Angela Bassett and Gabrielle Union, have also been revealed as the first guest presenters at the star-studded Awards. The ceremony will premiere on Tuesday, July 2 at 8pm on BET’s international network in the UK and Africa, reaching more than 13 million households in 50+ countries. Hosted by American actor and comedian, Chris Tucker, BET Awards ’13 will see Hollywood’s biggest stars come together to celebrate the accomplishments of their peers in music, sports and film, at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Sunday 30 June. Six African musicians are nomination for honours in this year’s awards in the Best International Act: Africa category: 2Face Idibia (Nigeria), Toya Delazy (South Africa), Donald (South Africa), Ice Prince (Nigeria), R2Bees (Ghana) and Radio and Weasel (Uganda). Previously announced performers at this year’s highly anticipated BET Awards ‘13 include platinum-selling and award-winning recording artists R. Kelly, Chris Brown and Miguel. Adding to the most exciting awards show yet, Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade was recently announced as the honouree for the Humanitarian Award, and Charlie Wilson will receive the prestigious Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, the festivities and excitement expands with the first-ever BET Experience at L.A. LIVE! The three-day weekend is filled with comedy, gospel and soulful music concerts, seminars, film screenings, “106 & PARK” tapings and so much. GRAMMY Award-winning hip-hop soul group The Roots, will hit the stage to perform on Saturday 29 June at Club Nokia during the BET Experience at L.A. LIVE. The Roots will delight fans with their classic hits and new material at this intimate concert. In addition, they will curate a one-time-only hip-hop experience with some very special guests. Joining the legendary Roots crew will be multiple Grammy Award-winner and hip-hop icon Nelly; Grammy Award-winning artist/songwriter and actress Eve; hip-hop pioneer, DJ and actress MC Lyte; and West Coast rap innovator, Too $hort.

Tuface

Ice Prince

40 ARTS

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

SHOWBLAST SOMEWHEREELSE Victoria Beckham: ‘David should be next James Bond’ ICTORIA Beckham believes hubby David Beckham would V make a great James Bond. During a joint interview in China, the former Spice Girls star claimed David would be the ‘perfect’ replacement for Daniel Craig when he steps down from his role as 007. Her comments came after David, who announced his retirement from football last month, dismissed reports that he’s about to swap the pitch for the big screen. Becks is quoted by The Sun as saying: “I have some friends who are actors – Tom Cruise is a very good friend of ours. “But I don’t think I have any plans to become an actor. I’m not sure I’d be very good at it.” Victoria disagreed with his claims, revealing: “I think you would be really good at acting.” She then turned to the interviewer and said: “Don’t you think he’d be good at acting? I think you’d be great. I think he should be James Bond! He’d be a good James Bond!”

Katy Perry to be given Hollywood Star ATY Perry is to get a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, K it has been revealed. And the singer, who enjoyed a box-office success with Katy Perry: Part Of Me, is to be joined by Kaley Cuoco, Matthew McConaughey and Liam Neeson on the worldfamous pavement. Jessica Lange, Orlando Bloom, Claire Danes and Sally Field are all among the 2014 inductees, along with a posthumous star for late hip-hopper Tupac Shakur. Jennifer Lopez was given the honour of the 2,500th star on the Walk Of Fame earlier this week, in a ceremony attended by Pitbull and Jane Fonda among others. The Hollywood Chamber Of Commerce began awarding the stars back in 1958 and they have become a major tourist attraction in Tinseltown.

Justin Bieber spotted kissing Las Vegas waitress? E! News has obtained snaps of the All Around The World singer smooching the girl, now identified as Jordan Ozuna, at an indoor skydiving facility in Sin City on Sunday (June 16). A source told the website: “In the waiting room area, she was sitting on his lap and they were kissing. Little pecks and kisses.” “Right before the flight, in a second waiting room area, he laid down on her left side, and he had his head between her legs and had his cap half-covering his face. She was caressing him on the head and shoulders.” The website adds that once the girl and Justin had donned their flight suits, she sat on his lap, where JB “was occasionally putting his hands around her waist, [giving her] a couple quick kisses” as they got their helmets. The insider added: “He was definitely into her, and she was into him, as I could tell.” While Justin may have scored with the blonde, he wasn’t such a hit with staff at the facility, with E! claiming he’s been placed on their No Fly list for life due to his bad behaviour.

Fat Joe jailed for four months over tax evasion Fat Joe was sentenced to four months in prison on Monday (June 24) after he pleaded guilty to failure to file federal income taxes. The rapper assured MTV News US back in May that he was making good on his debt by paying back all that he owed, but it seems that he couldn’t escape jail time. According to the Associated Press, originally the government alleged that Joe failed to pay taxes on $3 million in income from 2007 to 2010, and in December, he admitted in court to failing to pay taxes on more than $1 million between 2007 and 2008. Joe sat down with RapFix Live show host Sway Calloway in May, and while he said he takes full responsibility for his debt, he did allude that there were other parties who contributed to his troubles. He explained: “You gotta understand we hire guys who are supposed have Harvard degrees to take care of us. All the time you see artists, the first thing they did to you when you caught money was introduce you to a bunch of fancy guys with bow ties who are gonna take care of your money and all that and then you always see an artist or a celebrity or somebody like that going down for it and these guys never go down for it.”

Wande Coal performing at the event

For customised digital music app, Etisalat partners Spinlet N what seems like a strategy to gain upper hand in the ongoIcations ing battle among GSM operators in Nigeria, TelecommuniCompany Etisalat has created mobile value and fun for its music-loving customers with Nigeria’s first branded Spinlet music application called the Etisalat Spinlet Digital Music App, in partnership with international digital music download service, Spinlet. The App is designed to enable Etisalat customers download and share a broad collection of ethnic and international songs on their mobile devices with its affordable pay-perdownload model, giving the advantage of free live streaming. The official launch concert held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island witnessed performances from top Nigerian music artistes including Wande Coal, Olamide, Skales, Dammy Krane, Show Dem Camp, JJC, DJs Xclusive and Neptune. Nigerian Idol winners, Mercy Chinwo and Moses, as well as other upcoming acts such as female rapper Coco Ice, Lace, Sean Tizzle, Frank D Nero, Falz, Ketchup and Jhybo also performed at the event. Guests were also treated to rib cracking jokes by comedian MC Bash, who teamed up with Jimmy of Beat FM as hosts for the night. Speaking on the new mobile music service, Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Wael Ammar, said the application is yet another innovative service from his company to bring

personalisation and interactivity to its customers. “For our customers, downloading and sharing music is now cheaper, easier, mobile and legal. They now have access to an almost limitless library of musical content on the go. We have also made the application very easy to use and affordable. For us, it is about designing fun and entertaining services for customers because they are the centre of our business and we take them very serious,” he said. Chief Marketing Officer of Spinlet, Mark Redguard, confirmed that Etisalat Nigeria was the first network to have an exclusive Spinlet App. “The core essence of the Etisalat Spinlet Music App is to provide absolute enjoyment for the music lover. We have a large library of local and international albums and tracks. As for local music, the App offers albums from contemporary music artistes including Tuface Idibia, Eldee de Don, Banky W, MI, Darey Art Alade, Buchi and IcePrince to Nigeria’s finest oldschool like Fela, Osita Osadebe, Dele Ojo, Alex Zitto, Blackky, Evi Edna Ogoli, Mandators, Adewale Ayuba, Ras Kimono, Onyeka Onwenu, Bright Chimezie, Benita Okojie, Tosin Jegede and Bobby Benson. The genres available to the Etisalat subscriber are limitless including highlife, jazz, gospel, blues, hip-hop and more. The best part is that both the music lover and artiste do not have to worry about piracy,” Redgaurd said.

Organisers set to release nominees for Independence Hall of Fame N a bid to further reward and Icontributed recognise those that have immensely towards Nigeria’s growth politically, socially, economically and otherwise, the organisers of the prestigious Independence Hall of Fame Award, have announced their readiness to unveil nominees for the award ceremony. Speaking at a recent media

briefing in Lagos to herald the event, the executive producers of the forthcoming award, Princes Rotimi Akapo and Adegbola Onatoye disclosed that the much-anticipated event has been repackaged and rebranded to accommodate more categories. “After consulting and networking widely, this year’s edition of the Independence Hall

of Fame Award is back in the fray. This year’s outing promises to be bigger, better and more colourful with touches of international standards. Like you already know, the prestigious award centres on rewarding those that have contributed immensely to our nation’s growth politically, socially, economically and other spheres of Rotimi Akapo and Adegbola human endeavours.” Onatoye

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 Band go live at the Shrine FTER weeks of touring Europe and promoting Afrobeat globally, Seun AnikuA lapo Kuti, with the Egypt 80 Band, will be

Seun Kuti

performing live at the New Africa Shrine tomorrow. The live show, which will start from 10pm, will run till the early hours of the following day. As usual, Seun will thrill fans with the best of his repertoire, as well as perform some hits created by his father, the legendary Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Meanwhile, indications have emerged that Seun might be sampling some of his recent recordings, which will form part of his up coming album. Expect some of those political commentaries on the state of the nation; like his late father, Seun is a known activist.

“The tour was fine, we had time to see the cities and entertain our fans. However, my album launch is coming soon, so, we are concentrating on wrapping up the production; we are still recording.” According to the multi-instrumentalist, a deal in on the table as a build up to the album release proper. “Each time we have a new album, we usual sign agreement with out international promoters. So, this time, we are yet to seal the deal, but I can only tell you that we have offers on the table; we will surely go for the right one. You know how it works in Europe and America; big labels are always interested in taking off artistes from the small ones. So, we are still on it, but will make things public as soon as it is sorted,” he said.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

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Literature By celebrating Saro-Wiwa, we’re simply identifying with his immortality, says Gomba Stories by Anote Ajeluorou

Dr. Obari Gomba is a poet, playwright and university don; he teaches English at University of Port Harcourt. With the Hyacinth Obunseh-led African Writers Forum’s forthcoming International Colloquium on the late Kenule saro-Wiwa in November to coincide with his judicial murder by the then military junta, Gomba was recently appointed organising committee chairman by the university, where the colloquium will be held. In this interview, he spoke on sundry issues relating to Saro-Wiwa’s writing, the impact of the man’s writing and his environmental activism for which he was murdered on November 10, 1995. Excerpts: OW does it feel celebrating Saro-Wiwa in H your university and you being saddled with the task of organising it? It is a great idea. It is very thoughtful of African Writers Forum to have come up with a programme like this. It is also great that the unique University of Port Harcourt has been chosen to play host to this event. SaroWiwa is a symbol of excellence and social justice. I speak of him and those values in present tense. He still stands tall today…tall above the inanity and crudity of power. We cannot fail to celebrate him…to celebrate his entire essence. The University of Port Harcourt is a lovely site for the gathering of those who understand the meaning of SaroWiwa’s life. Our university has been the hub of cultural activities for decades. In our history, we can boast of such active forces as Ola Rotimi, EJ Alagoa, Kay Williamson, Willfried Feuser, Sunday Anozie, Charles Nnolim, Helen Chukwuma, INC Aniebo, Chidi Maduka, Nolue Emenanjo, Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele…to name but a few. These men and women have kept a great cultural tradition. And you know that my university has partnered with the Rainbow Book Club to bring about the Garden City Literary Festival since 2008. Interestingly, I am also the chair of my university’s committee for that yearly festival which has brought a lot of great persons to the university. The likes of Wole Soyinka, Kofi Awoonor, Ama Ata Aidoo, Molara Ogundipe (who has joined our faculty), Jesse Jackson, etc have visited my university through the years. Presently, Elechi Amadi and INC Aniebo have been appointed as writers-in-residence in my university. Truly, the University of Port Harcourt is the first-choice destination for cultural events today. My role in this development is a modest one. It is to deepen the tradition I have inherited. This is why I am excited about the AfWF colloquium. It will not be an essay task. So I have rolled up my sleeves. What activities should guests look forward to at the conference? The theme of the event is “Environmentalism, Minority Rights Activism and Literary Renaissance in the Niger Delta”. The programme will run from Wednesday 9th to Saturday 12th in November 2013. Captain Elechi Amadi will

Saro-Wiwa be the chair of the colloquium. Prof JP Clark will present the keynote address. There will be plenary sessions, dramatic performance of Saro-Wiwa’s Basi and Company, exhibition of Saro-Wiwa’s books and manuscripts, visits to Saro-Wiwa’s home and personal library in Port Harcourt and a dinner for guests. It will be a momentous time for all of us. Do you not think this celebration is coming a bit late coming as it does some 18 years after his judicial murder, especially considering that this idea didn’t quite come from your university? Mankind has never failed to celebrate Saro-Wiwa since he made the supreme sacrifice in 1995. Books have been written in his honour. Vigils and rallies have been staged in his honour. The flame of his resistance has continued to interrogation the assumptions of the Nigerian state. We have continued to cite him in our various engagements with the state. In all these, my university as the flagship of intellectual pursuit in the Niger Delta, lays a peculiar claim to the mystique of this inimitable figure whose person and career conforms to the values of the social construct, which we stand for. There is already a building in honour of Saro-Wiwa in my university. It is called the Ken Saro-Wiwa House. It houses the Department of English Studies where I work. My office is in that building. We thank Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi for donating the building to my university. Rt. Hon. Amaechi donated the building when he was the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Rt. Hon. Amaechi is an alumnus of the Department of English Studies in my university. So, you see that the celebration of Saro-Wiwa has been flowering for long in my university. What ways do you think Saro-Wiwa’s legacy can best be celebrated and immortalised? Saro-Wiwa took care of his own immortality. He did not leave it to us. He did not leave it to his children. He did not leave it to chance. He successfully immortalized himself through the life he lived. His writing and activism are abiding testimonies of his immortality. He has grown even taller in death. Death is his apotheosis, as I said in “No Leaf Falls”, a tribute-poem, which I published in 2009. When we celebrate Saro-Wiwa, we are not ushering him into immortality. No. We are simply identifying with his immortality. And we have to take the party a little high-

Gomba er by asking the same questions he asked. Resource control, fiscal federalism, environmental protection, corporate responsibility, minority rights and self-determination are still nagging issues in our polity. We have to keep demanding that our state should live up to its vow of justice and equity to all the stakeholders in this postcolonial mélange. As a writer yourself, do you think SaroWiwa’s works are being celebrated enough since his death? Of course. Let me start in an ironic mode. Saro-Wiwa’s book was on the syllabus of the West African Examination Council when he was murdered by Dauda Komo and Sani Abacha. They took the book down… I think it was A Forest of Flowers. That was a kind of celebration. If the rabid soldiers could acknowledge the motive value of his writing, then they unwittingly doffed their berets to Saro-Wiwa’s superior mind-power. At another level, we see that since SaroWiwa’s death, there has been a global interest in his writing. In a few odd years, he has come to stand amongst the first-ten writers in the African canon. Check Bernth Lindfors’ paradigms. They are interesting. Yes…they are interesting because they take into account such formatives as popularity and scholarly attention. Saro-Wiwa enjoys

The guilt of Nigeria is already common knowledge. The guilt of Shell and its cohorts is also common knowledge. They have not stopped their decimation of our communities. They are doing worse under the veneer of democracy. Surprisingly, the Niger Delta elite have been mum. You know the empty rhetoric about having our son in office. They are waiting for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to leave office before they start their beggarly garrulity again

this enviable first-ten placement with the likes of Soyinka, Achebe and Ngugi. In your view, how best can Saro-Wiwa’s literary legacy be bequeathed to younger generation of writers? This colloquium is part of it. We believe that society stands to profit from the values which Saro-Wiwa stands for. There are strong challenges on our collective security and integration today. We cannot pretend not to know the root of this development. The unfinished business of nationhood is on the laps of Nigeria. Some people have chosen to play North-South politics with the situation. It is a shame. Nigeria is where it is today because of our collective commissions and omissions. When citizens run their systems the way we have done for over 50 years, then they have elected to make themselves slaves to others in a highly competitive and merciless world. We beg others for everything…healthcare, technology, education, transportation, food, security, energy, etc. Damn it! We have made ourselves the joke of the world. We cannot continue like this. No country is ever developed by foreigners. Forget all the trash about foreign investment. Check all the countries that are developed. They began by creating internally fair systems to integrate the component units of their polity. Then they moved on to develop internal capacity to deliver goods and services. We have missed it on both counts. I bet you, take the example of the oil industry; look at Nigeria’s technology-dependence on the West. That is the most important source of revenue in Nigeria today; and it is still subject to the whims and caprices of Shell and its cohorts…over 50 years since independence. Even the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation cannot tell us convincingly that they know how many barrels the multinationals drill per day. Whatever the multinationals declare, we take. And the multinationals have come to exude an annoying impudence here. They incinerate our communities and environment daily. The power-cabal says nothing because they are hooked up to a grand system of petroleum-profiteering. If we love this country, we must all wake up…rise up…speak up. That is the legacy of Saro-Wiwa to our generation and to the next generation. Saro-Wiwa’s literature is involved in the articulation of freedom and justice. We must learn from the dynamism of his literary engagement. And lastly, how far has his environmental activism for which he was killed be vindicated or proven wrong in Nigeria’s political space? Any end in sight for his struggles? The guilt of Nigeria is already common knowledge. The guilt of Shell and its cohorts is also common knowledge. They have not stopped their decimation of our communities. They are doing worse under the veneer of democracy. Surprisingly, the Niger Delta elite have been mum. You know the empty rhetoric about having our son in office. They are waiting for Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to leave office before they start their beggarly garrulity again. Thank God for the testament which SaroWiwa has sealed with his blood. No one can undo it. It is anchored deep… right to the bedrock of our lives in the Delta. The environment will always be a keystone in the articulations for self-determination…by all the nations of the Delta. The struggle is not over. There is a deceptive lull but the undercurrent is still strong among the wretched of the earth. Let Ogiso and his party continue to measure peace by the barrels. Tomorrow will come. We shall keep hope alive!

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

ARTS

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu OOK publishing in Nigeria is in dire straits. B It shook me up like a charge of electricity that there is one Nigerian East of the Niger, largely unsung, devoting his entire life to the nobler details of book publishing and distribution. My knowledge or lack thereof of the publishing of books in Nigeria is largely restricted to the Lagos-Ibadan axis, that is, until a recent visit to Enugu during which my brother Isidore Emeka took me to 20 Edozien Street, Uwani, Enugu, the home of ABIC Books & Equipment Ltd, where the avuncular Mr. C.N.C. Asomugha presides. Asomugha established ABIC Books back in 1987, and in the intervening years the company has published authors such as Chinua Achebe, Esiaba Irobi, Emeka Nwabueze, GPI Oluka, Chimalum Nwankwo, Mekinzewi, Ngozi Omeje, EC Nwodo, Ebele Maduewesi, VV Levtchitch, Emmanuel Attamah, Osondu Odionu, Chibuzo Asomugha, Chuks Okolo, Okey Anyichie, Rina Okonkwo, CH Spurgeon, Roland Timi Kpakiama and many others. According to Asomugha, “Our vision has been to share with all human beings aged between one and 100 years the unique African experiences recorded in books and in other means of publication. Today, we publish and distribute books from and to all ends of the world and provide access to information and publications from Nigeria in a way that has not been done before. This is our mission.” Sales outlets of ABIC Books almost span the entire Nigerian states, notably: Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Bornu, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Lagos, Niger, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, and Abuja FCT. Asomugha takes pride of place as some of

The Book World of ABIC

Irobi, the late winner of the Nigeria Literature Prize in Drama category in 2011 ABIC Books “have won the most coveted prizes in Nigeria.” For instance, the late Esiaba Irobi’s play, Cemetery Road emerged winner of the 2010 Nigeria Prize for Literature endowed by the NLNG. Irobi’s Cemetery Road “is a play about living, loving and dying for the things we hold dear. It reveals the narrow purviews of the Nigerian nation, constructs deeper insights out of our social logjams, relates with the residual her-

itage of the nation and rises above the penchant for tragedy which the socio-economic situation in our country predispose every concerted consciousness. It is socially relevant in an ironically refreshing way. The dialogue crackles. Its theatricality is variegated.” The office at 20 Edozien Street, Uwani, Enugu also houses a bookshop in which latest bestselling titles such as Chinua Achebe’s There Was a Country and Chimamanda Ngozi

Teen author, Christian, weaves a take A of heroism in Arthur Becomes King By Florence Utor Aathur Becomes King (Ochado Platinum Nigeria Ltd, Lagos; 2012) by Berith Christian tells the story of an orphan who rises from being a commoner to being a hero and subsequently a king. The author gives the story a lift and helps fire up the imagination of younger readers with various illustrations as he takes them into the exciting adventure of a young lad who lost his parents when he was a baby to an evil monster called “Magaa”. The novelette is by an adventurous nine-year old who, interestingly, wrote the book while he was eight. His first attempt at writing is praiseworthy. Reading through the book, one wonders how an eight-year old lad was able to weave the threads of the story together. Christian’s Arthur Becomes King is part of the Platinum Tales series by Ochado Platinum Nigeria Limited that is transposing African folktales into thrilling stories. And as the reader would find in folktales, the stories in the Platinum Tales series are rich in imagery, metaphor and have one or more lessons to teach. And Arthur Becomes King is no different. It is rich in imagery and metaphoric pieces that challenge the courage of a child. From the first page to the last, you are drawn to the world of this courageous lad, Arthur. As a baby, after losing his parents, he is rescued in a forest and raised by a hunter and his wife. Not only does Arthur weather through life’s storms, he rises from being just another village “urchin” to becoming the hero who saves the village that has been under siege by a dreadful “Magaa”; he ends up as king. Growing up as a hunter’s son, he is taught the path of courage; this later comes in

handy when he becomes a young adult when the king throws open the challenge that “He who kills the monster shall be deemed worthy to be king.” The heroic story may not be farfetched for some but the lavish use of imagery which is also present in many children’s stories, especially folktales, one not only sees young Christian as a master storyteller but he keeps the audience captivated. Given Christian’s age, it is fascinating that he chooses to name his lead character “Arthur”, which is the name of legendary King Arthur and Knight of the Roundtable in British myth. Interestingly,

like the legendary character, the life of Christian’s “Arthur” is also one of adventure, although unlike the story of King Arthur where the hero is well-rounded and the plot is elaborate, given the constraint of the short story genre, his is not so. Children of the ages of two to 10 years old would find Berith Christian’s Arthur Becomes King captivating. Obviously, the choice of genre is the reason the number of pages the book has. However, the story can be further developed into a adventurous novel, if and should the author deem it necessary. The book will be launch on Saturday, June 29 in Lagos.

ETA Publishers Nigeria Limited, a company reputable for publishing tax laws reports has released the 10th edition of the Tax Law Reports of Nigeria (TLRN) and the 2nd edition of the Tax Law Journal of Nigeria (TLJN), edited by Maxwell Ukpebor, a legal practitioner with WTS Adebiyi & Associates. One main problem facing the practice of taxation in Nigeria today is that there is no easy access to pronouncement by courts on notable provisions of the country’s tax laws. In view of this, the company periodically compiles and reviews cases on tax laws that will be of benefit to the individual tax payers, companies doing business in Nigeria, tax practitioners, accountants, legal practitioners, foreigners, foreign investors, and teachers and students alike. According to Ukpebor, this is a continuation of a tradition of excellence in the report of judgments and rulings of the various courts and the Tax Appeal Tribunals on tax and related matters. Both books, indeed, capture the essence of bringing to lime-

Adichie’s AMERiCANAH are on display. Books published by ABIC share shelf space in healthy competition with offerings from other publishers, local and foreign. The bookshop trade discount at ABIC Books stands at a competitive 20 percent, while institutional discount goes for 10 percent. The company’s publishing orbit spans drama, education, engineering, young adult fiction, adult fiction, football, history, languages, library science, literary studies, management, medicine, motivational books, music, Nigeriana, poetry, reference, research & experimentation, English storybooks, Igbo storybooks and more. At ABIC Books there is the mantra: “This is not a Joke. You are Dead without Books.” This way, Asomugha champions the cause of books daring all the odds like poor power supply, atrocious transportation, printing woes, unreliable clients and sundry suchlike. Its vision as “a unique African concept” stands ABIC Books in good stead toward reversing the odds against mother Africa in telling the total global story. Asomugha astutely leads the charge through committed publishing, books and journals distribution, educational equipment, and literary agency. An interesting 26-page monograph published in 2006 by ABIC Books is Chinua Achebe’s The University and the Leadership Factor in Nigerian Politics, which is partly the late lionized author’s response to criticisms of his insightful classic The Trouble With Nigeria. When the Arrow Rebounds: A Dramatized Recreation of Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God by Emeka Nwabueze lends to the classic novel a new lease of life on the live stage. Mr. Asomugha has through his ABIC Books given the literati of the country reason to believe. He deserves celebration.

Easing approach to tax law practice light judgments relating to tax laws in the country, thereby easing the headaches of the relevant users. While the Tax Law Reports of Nigeria is a quarterly, the Tax Law Journal is published periodically. A read through this edition indicates that the different chapters come with a succinct review and full report of Judgments and Rulings delivered by the nation’s courts of record and the Tax Appeal Tribunal, the specialized body set up to adjudicate on issues concerning tax matters. Specifically, Volume Ten of Tax Law Report features cases on the following aspect of taxation: Double Taxation Agreement – Effect of tax liability of expatriates in Nigeria; Practice of Taxation – The disputes between ICAN and CITN on right to practice taxation in Nigeria – the decision of

International colloquium on Saro-Wiwa gets organisng committee HE international colloquiT um on late writer, Kenule Saro-Wiwa being organised by African Writers Forum in partnership with University of Port Harcourt has set up a Local Organising Committee. This was a meeting where the Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Joseph A. Ajienka approved the request from the African Writers Forum (AfWF) to have the university host the international colloquium in honour of Ken Saro-Wiwa - the late writer,

television producer and environmental activist. This celebration will hold from November 9 - 12, 2013 with the opening ceremony scheduled for November 10, to coincide with the date of his judicial murder. The committee was set up by the Dean, Faculty of Humanities, Professor OzoMekuri Ndimele, who set up a nine-man committee, headed by don and poet, Obaro Gomba Ph.D, as Chairman with Ene Eric Igbifa, as Secretary.

High Court and the Court of Appeal and PAYE- On the power of the Tax authority to collect PAYE from employers of labour. Others are Undefended List Procedure – Whether it can be used to recover undisputed tax liability by the Federal Inland Revenue Service; Personal Income Tax – on whether a Tax payer can use the Fundamental Human Right Enforcement procedure to challenge tax assessment and Tax Assessment On when it may be deemed final and conclusive and not challengeable. Some of the contributors to the Tax Law Journal include Olaleye Adebiyi of W T S Adebiyi & Associates, Nduka Ikeyi (former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Enugu State) of Ikeyi & Associates; and Mazi Chinua Asuzu Esq, a Commissioner of the Tax Appeal Tribunal, Lagos Zone.

Other members of the committee include Dr. Kalu Wosu, Dr. Pamela CyrilEgware, Victor Wolemonwu, Kialee Nyianaa, Ovunda Ihunwo, Julius Akani, and Tambari Dick. The local organising committee is charged with the responsibility of working closely with the organisers of the event, African Writers Forum, to make the Ken SaroWiwa event, which incidentally is the first time he is being honoured and celebrated by a literary group since his judicial murder over a decade ago, a credible and worthy event. The organisers will also celebrate the octogenarian, Pa Gabriel Okara, in his home state, Bayelsa, from August 19 - 22, 2013.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

42 ARTS

ArtHouse It’s a Journey for launch BOOK titled It’s a Journey would be launched tomorrow at the Oriental hotel, Victoria Island, by 2pm. The 138-page book is a compendium of man’s journey on earth, his experiences through life’s journey, the good and the bad times and life’s challenges. It is an encouragement to the man who may be in a situation that is making him weary, leaving him wondering where God is; but the book assures him that God is with him.

June at the prestigious Eko hotel and suites, victoria Island. Red carpet begins at 4-6pm while the event proper kicks off by 7pm. Oliafa exhibits UNDE Olaifa’s art exhibition titled Out of the Box holds from Saturday, July 6 -11 at Terra Kulture Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Colours on my Mind for exhibition AINTER and corporate brand designer, Ronke Aina-Scott opens her solo art exhibition titled Colours on My Mind on Saturday A Mile From Home set for Premiere June 22, ending July 12, 2013 at Mydrim Gallery, HE Nigerian film industry is geared for Ikoyi, V/I. another blockbuster as Hill Pictures; producers of the movie A Mile from Home are set to pre- Ankara continues to exhibit miere the intriguing yet provoking movie on NENNA Okore’s art exhibition Sunday 30th, June 2013 at the prestigious titled Akaraka is currently showing at Art Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island. Twenty One, Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos till the end of August. Ebonylife TV to begin operations HE highly anticipated television station ––Compiled by Florence Utor EbonyLife Tv will be launched on the 30th of

Senate commitee on Culture visit CBAAC

Sohun Titun… now on video HE video of the title track T of Sohun Titun, recently released by Lagos-based gospel artiste, Yomi Adebote, has been released. Shot in Lagos by popular director, Dare Saka, the video has been on air, and heavily thrives on modern technology that vehicles an otherwise in-prayer-mood message in a trendy way. One of the arguments against some gospel videos that have graced the air in recent times is that they display much of what the conservatives regard as tending to be worldly.

But in Sohun Titun, the artistes come out clean, with both costumes and dances, and moderation appears to be the watchword. Apart from the fact that suave camera display and editing effects still inject some ‘swagger’ into the production, the viewer is further compensated by the fact that the scenes move from a road into the studio and into a digitalised praying arena where Adebote, otherwise called Apase Emi, is seen praying fervently that God should do new things in his life.

The presence of instrumentalists who also display good artistry enriches the video, while the fact that the video is subtitled indicates that the editors have more than Yoruba audience in mind. Commenting on the work, Adebote, who is also a banker, says he feels fulfilled that the video is out at last. He says it is a cost-intensive project but he is happy that it has come out in appealing way. “Since the time it got on air, the responses I have been getting are encouraging,” he adds.

Pupils of Greensprings School, Lekki in performance at their cultural day, last week

Twizzy debuts with I want you EGARDED as a new entrant into the R Nigerian music scene, Taiwo Olushola Ashaolu, popularly known as Twizzy, has released his first major hit into the market. Titled: l want you, the work was released under the music label of Twizzy Entertainments and produced by Exclusive Records. The new album would be launched in July. A student of Tai Solarin University, Taiwo started his musical career at the age of 14 when he joined a local group called the Omen. The group released three singles before he pulled out to form Twizzy Entertainments with other notable artists.

With this solo effort, Twizzy is optimistic that his breakthrough has come. “Yes, l started music at 14, but my latest hit will be my breakthrough. I will only need to continue to work harder each day to ensure that l bring out the best in me and delight my fans out there.” He, however, paid tribute to leaders in the businesses who have given him support as he begins his career in music. His words: “J. One is a fantastic leader. He has been supportive and encourages me all the time. I also have so much to learn from others like Wiz Kid, Olamide and the likes who are pulling their weight in the industry.”

MD, NFC, Dr. Dadu (middle); Executive Secretary, Kano State Censorship Board, Alhaji Ahmad Dahiru Belli (left); and Mallam Abdulkareem Mohammed during the interactive session in Kano

In Kano, filmmakers task NFC on training, funding, piracy HE first leg of the three-part interT active forum between the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the Nigerian Film Corporation (NFC), Dr. Danjuma Dadu and stakeholders in the film industry kicked off in Kano with issues of training for practitioners, funding and piracy denominating discussions. Enthusiastic practitioners, who welcomed the new NFC boss to Kano Production Zone, were unanimous in their call for the film agency to adequately sustain the promotion of film activities within the zone. They also called on Dr. Dadu to design programmes and projects that will not only bring the operations of Nigerian Film Corporation to par with the yearnings of practitioners but, leave an inedible made in the sands of time as the news helmsman at the Apex film Agency.

Speaker after speaker commended the role played by the NFC in developing the film sector of the country, and prayed for renewed tempo in activities to fast track as well as boast independent filmmakers’ efforts in the drive to develop the sector. Practitioners at the parley pleaded with Dadu to ensure training of filmmakers within the zone, saying that, sustained training will help them in upgrading their skills to meet emerging trends in film making. Participants also called for more funding directly from the film corporation for film activities within the zone. The MD was also asked to assist the zone in accessing the Federal Government intervention funds for the sector. On piracy, participants cried for help from the corporation to assist in the fight against piracy, which

according to them has been mitigating the growth of the sector. Dadu assured film practitioners within the zone that NFC would do its best within available funds and enabling environment to sustain film activities within the zone and the country in general. Dadu said that the Film Corporation places high premium on the activities of filmmakers in making the sector viable as an employment generator, Nigeria, a film and tourism destination, and as a tool for international diplomacy. NFC, Dadu said, is going to constructively engage practitioners in tackling the various challenges within the sector. This, he said, explained the reason for the interactive forum. Issues of Funding, Piracy and Training, Dadu

said, will receive the attention of Nigerian Film Corporation, but charged practitioners to strive to abide by all extant rules and regulations within the sector. A new department, Industry Support Services (ISS) has been created to adequately articulate industry issues for appropriate intervention. Dadu commended the Kano State government for being a good host of NFC and in supporting the Zonal office of Nigerian Film Corporation since its creation to achieve its mandate within the Zone since its creation. Dadu further assured that the National Film Institute would design programmes that will address the training challenges for filmmakers with the Zone. He called on practitioners within the zone to strive to engage in good

practices in filmmaking. Production of films, Dadu said, should have a distribution and marketing strategy and network in order to strengthen the fight against pirates. Building a film industry for Nigeria, that will stand the test of time, Dadu said, will depend on good practices, participation and collaboration of all relevant agencies of government. The new Head, Industry Support Services Development, Mr. Edmund Peters and Head, Public Affairs, Mr. Brian Etuk accompanied Dadu to the interactive forum. Lagos State hosts the second leg scheduled for Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Venue is the Theatre/ Film Screening Hall of the Lagos office of Nigerian Film Corporation, Ikoyi – Obalende Road Lagos, by Federal Radio of Nigeria, Ikoyi, Lagos.

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THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Senate commitee on Culture visit CBAAC

Pupils of Greensprings School, Lekki in performance at their cultural day, last week

MD, NFC, Dr. Dadu (middle); Executive Secretary, Kano State Censorship Board, Alhaji Ahmad Dahiru Belli (left); and Mallam Abdulkareem Mohammed during the interactive session in Kano

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

AutoWheels Features of automobiles with best base models

Chevrolet Malibu

are already A adding more features to their lowliest trim levels to UTOMAKERS

entice buyers of automobiles even if some are stuck in the stone ages before the USB port became a necessity. Here are some models that we consider to be solid picks, even in their base-model version. 2013 Chevrolet Spark LS Base price (MSRP + destination): $12,995 Standout standard features: 10 airbags, four-speaker stereo, power windows, 15-inch aluminum wheels, body-color mirrors, air conditioning. One of the least expensive new cars comes surprisingly well equipped. Chevy’s new Spark is small, inexpensive and bare in most respects such as upholstery quality; it certainly won’t wow a first date. But you get essentials like air conditioning and power windows, which hasn’t always been the case for bargainbasement models. Ten airbags are another standard feature that should help some buyers get over the small size of the Spark. 2013 Scion xB Base price: $17,555 Standout standard features: two years of free service, tilt/telescoping steering wheel, cruise control, sixspeaker stereo with USB port. Scion’s xB remains one of the best cargo-for-the-dollar deals despite some misleading specs. Rated at 11.6 cubic feet with the rear seats in place,

the xB falls behind the Kia Soul at 23.7 cubic feet with a wider floor. Scion only provides unofficial numbers for the amount of space with the second row folded, reporting 69.9 cubic feet, which trumps the Kia’s 53.4 cubic feet number handily. The base version of the Scion hauler comes with standard USB integration and a sixspeaker stereo. Cruise control is also included, helpful on those long cargo-hauling trips. That makes the xB a good pick for college students. 2013 Honda Civic LX Sedan Base price: $18,995 Standout standard features: rearview camera, tilt-telescoping steering wheel, Bluetooth, USB, Pandora compatibility. The 2013 version of the Civic received a number of upgrades that we’ve talked about (at length) with the addition of an LX model to Cars.com’s long-term fleet. The inclusion of a rearview camera and Pandora compatibility make it stand out from a crowd of once-sparse compact sedans that are now getting a surprising amount of content. Even the automatic transmission isn’t a huge hit to the wallet at an additional $800. Standard body-color mirrors and door handles also add a touch of class, even if the wheel covers are turnoffs. 2013 Subaru Impreza 2.0i Sedan Base price: $18,655 Standout standard features: all-wheel drive, four-speaker

stereo with USB, Bluetooth phone and audio, body-colour door handles, tilt-telescoping steering wheel with audio and hands-free controls, trip computer The standard feature list could be a mile long but the one that seals the deal for the Impreza’s inclusion on this list is the all-wheel drive: In sedan form the Impreza is the most affordable new car to feature it. There are also a few niceties like Bluetooth and USB integration to help offset the old school looks of black side mirrors. 2013 Mazda Mazda5 Sport Base price: $20,735 Standout standard features: auto-off headlights, body-

Honda Sedan interior view

Honda Accord Sedan

colour door handles, cruise control, tilt-telescoping steering wheel, six-speaker stereo with USB, satellite radio. Like the Impreza, the Mazda5 lands on the list more for what it is than what it has. It is the most affordable six-seat vehicle on the market. Dodge’s Journey comes close but a third row of seats is an option. For a base Journey

with seven seats, you’d be paying a base price of $21, 240, and spending more in gas. The Mazda5 with either manual or automatic transmission is rated at 24 mpg combined, the Journey, 21 mpg. The Mazda5 isn’t without other winning attributes, including a six-speaker stereo, cruise control and automatic

headlights. 2013 Hyundai Sonata GLS Base price: $21,990 Standout standard features: cruise control, Bluetooth, USB, tilt/telescoping steering wheel with audio, cruise and Bluetooth controls, heated mirrors. The Sonata recently finished fifth out of six in our $26,000

Midsize Sedan Challenge, so how come it’s included here? Our experts scored the Sonata significantly higher than the similarly priced and equipped Nissan Altima. It may be a few dollars more, but that’s why it’s the base sedan of choice with standard automatic transmission and heated side mirrors. 2013 Chevrolet Camaro 1 LS

‘Lubricant market key to auto industry development’ By Taiwo Hassan HE lube manufacturing T industry has been viewed as a strategic platform that could play a key role towards the revitalisation of the country’s automotive industry if Federal Government moves to address the various challenges facing the sector. Chairman, Lubcon Group, Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, made this disclosure at an industry forum in Lagos few days ago,

that the lubricant sector could turn around the nation’s auto industry growth and development if government regulatory agencies saddled with the responsibility of regulating the influx of adulterated or fake lubricant products in circulation live up to their expectation. According to him, the market has demonstrated has the livewire of the nation’s auto industry in all ramifications

because of the manufacturing and blending of various lubricant products that are being used by Nigerian vehicles. He said the rising cases of fake and adulterated lubricant products in the country have become a source of worry to key stakeholders, especially their multi-billion Naira investments in Nigeria. Ibrahim advised government regulatory agencies to adopt multi-dimensional

approach to counter the influx of adulterated lubricant oil in the market and boost stakeholders’ confidence in the sector. The Lubcon chief explained that the future of demand growth for the market is strategic to the redirection of the nation’s auto industry, pointing out that the sector must be giving ‘protectionist approach’ by these regulatory agencies so as not to witness total collapse of the sector.

He described the indiscriminate importation of oil lubricants, which results to cheap, poor quality and substandard products, as well as the unwholesome activities of producers of fake and adulterated lubricants in Nigerian market as regretable, lamenting that government must sanitise the industry for it to attain its objective. He therefore called on the Federal Government to urgently take steps to protect

Ibrahim the lube manufacturing industry to safeguard millions of jobs across the country.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

AUTOWHEELS 45

Kia Motors enters list of 50 best global green brands Stories by Taiwo Hassan IA Motors has been named K 37th in Interbrand’s list of the 50 best global green brands in 2013, a debut for the Korean car manufacturer in the yearly ranking of sustainability and environmental performance of the world’s 100 most valuable brands. Interbrand assessed businesses based on market perception and the actual environmental performance of the company and its products and services. This latest recognition by In 100 Best Global Brands 2012 rankings, in which Kia placed 87th. According to the 50 Best Global Green Brands 2013 study, Kia has placed eco-management at the forefront of its brand management strategy alongside its emphasis on quality and design management since 2006. Under this initiative, Kia has made huge strides in improving the performance of its vehicles, with a strong focus on enhancing fuel efficiency and a long-term aim for zeroemission vehicles. “In our view, the best green

brands are those that are not only vital, relevant, powerful and pioneering, but also profitable, ethical and ecologically responsible. We applaud Kia Motors’ efforts aimed at sustainability in all facets of its global operations that have enabled the company to be named as one of our Best Global Green Brands 2013,” said Jez Frampton, Global CEO of Interbrand. Kia’s commitment to increasingly efficient mobility is realised partly through the introduction of the latest green technologies to its growing range of products under the EcoDynamics umbrella to ensure the company remains ahead of global emissions regulations and continuously improves average fuel consumption of its entire product line-up. This includes the development of hybrid powertrains for the brand’s Forte model in Korea and Optima model in global markets, plug-in electric vehicles, full-electric vehicles and even hydrogen fuelcell electric vehicles. Kia has also realised an increase in the environmental performance of its supply

chain, production centers and logistics operations. The brand has been recognised for minimising harmful emissions from its operations and reducing the use of water resources during the manufacturing process, as well as recycling more than 90 per cent of the waste generated during production at domestic plants. Meanwhile, the brand brings its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities together under the slogan, ‘A Better Way to Go,’ which has seen the introduction of the Green Light Project – a global initiative to build schools and provide school buses to children without access to education. The Green Light Project also runs disease prevention programs and mobile clinics. In 2012, Kia realised a 15 per cent year-on-year increase in CSR investment. Tae-Hyun (Thomas) Oh, Executive Vice President and COO of Kia Motors Corporation, said, “Kia Motors continues to invest heavily in sustainable growth in environmental performance and corporate social responsibility around the globe.

Kia Cerato

“We strive to create safe, economical and environmentally-friendly vehicles in all our manufacturing facilities, and our business practices have been developed to match this focus on sustainability. Kia employees around the world work hard to ensure sound environmental performance in all aspects of the business, and we will continue to invest in encouraging sustainable mobility,” Oh added. Kia Motors Corporation (www.kia.com) – a maker of quality vehicles for the young-

at-heart – was founded in 1944 and is Korea’s oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. Over 2.7 million Kia vehicles a year are produced in nine manufacturing and assembly operations in five countries which are then sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering around 150 countries. Kia today has over 47,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of US$42 billion. It is the major sponsor of the Australian Open and an official automotive partner of FIFA –

“We have partnered with Stanbic IBTC to make it easy and flexible for our customers to get the best right here and now. KIA lovers can now drive out a brand new KIA car paying monthly installment of N39, 600. Our customers are at the core of our company and we aim to do all that is required to keep them satisfied, recognising the various needs constantly competing for our customers’ attention.” On how the scheme works, Maholtra explained, “customers simply obtain an invoice for the car of their choice from any Kia showroom nationwide and take it to any Stanbic IBTC Bank branch for processing. “Once processing is completed, delivery is made on payment of the required per cent equity of the deal value of the car while the balance is paid in low monthly installments over the agreed period.” He continued: “It’s for real! Imagine getting a brand new

KIA Rio 1.4L for cash price N2, 250, 000 or owning the all new KIA Cerato only for N66, 060 monthly. The leasing scheme covers various models of KIA vehicles, like the Picanto, Rio, Cerato, Optima and Cadenza to sports utility vehicles like Sportage, Sorento, and Mohave without excluding our K2700 Light truck.” According to him, the company’s distinctive designs, innovative technology and excellent prices make them a good bargain and excellent value for money. He added that the company offered three years per 100,000 KMS warranty on all models except the Mohave and Cadenza that comes with a five year unlimited mileage warranty. Besides, the brand has continued to be successful in the Nigerian automobile industry, especially because of their focus in ensuring customers get the best of designs, technology, pricing and of course world-class after sales and other value added services.

...Partners Stanbic IBTC on credit facility for brand ANA Motors Limited, the D sole distributors of KIA Motors range of automobiles in the country, has said that it was partnering Stanbic IBTC to launch a customer friendly and easy financing scheme for its brands.

The initiative, according to the company, offered any customer the opportunity to sign up and get brand new KIA models immediately with ease while paying for them in installments over a period of time ranging from

one to five years. Chief Commercial Officer for KIA Motors Nigeria, Sandeep Maholtra said that the idea was to ensure that financial institution assisted prospective car owner to secure their dream cars.

Corps Marshal/Chief Executive Officer, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Osita Chidoka (right); Deputy Managing Director, UBA Plc, Kennedy Uzoka and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Foundation, Ms. Ijeoma Aso, at the launch of the ‘Don’t Text and Drive (DTD) Campaign Initiative of the UBA Foundation in partnership with FRSC, in Abuja.

German council lauds BMW Group HE German Design Council T has commended BMW Group for its resilient in driving the country’s automobile industry. The council said that BMW Group’s contribution had not only developed the country’s economy, but had contributed immensely to other global economies. The council made the revelation in Munich few days ago, when BMW Group carted away about 19 awards in the automotive brand contest. In the exterior premium brand category, the winners included the BMW Z4, the BMW M6 Gran Coupé, the MINI

Paceman and the BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo, which was also named a winner in the interior premium brand category. Further top places were claimed by a number of BMW Group projects that were named winners in the architecture category: the brand presentation at BMW Welt of Mini and Mini John Cooper Works, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and BMW Motorrad with the Biker’s Lodge, the refurbishment and redesign of the BMW Brand Store in Paris, and the concept and design of the BMW Brand Experience Centre in Shanghai. The automotive brand con-

BMW 7 interior view

test 2013 was organised by the German Design Council, a foundation that ranks among the world-leading competence centres for communications and knowledge transfer in the field of design. BMW 7 Series

the governing body of the FIFA World Cup™. Kia Motors Corporation’s brand slogan – “The Power to Surprise” – represents the company’s global commitment to surprise the world by providing exciting and inspiring experiences that go beyond expectations.

Nissan posts $4.13 billion net profit • Targets $4.42 billion at year end ISSAN Motor Company’s net profit reached $4.13 billion in the business year ended in March, overcoming challenging conditions in key markets. Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Ghosn said that the full-year earnings are in line with expectations, and Nissan was on course to meet its twin mid-term goals of eight per cent market share and eight per cent operating-profit margin by fiscal 2016. “Overall, these are good results, our balance sheet has never been stronger, we have never had as much cash, we hit our net income after tax, ” said Ghosn. “I would say 2012 was not an exceptional year for Nissan but overall it’s good.” Nissan sales were especially strong in fast-growing auto markets including Thailand, Indonesia and Brazil, offsetting business headwinds in the United States of America and China. Ghosn said that Nissan had fixed supply issues that slowed sales of new Altima and Pathfinder models in North America, while retail sales in China have recovered since political tensions tempered demand last year.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

BusinessTravel Is the Dreamliner’s nightmare here with A350?

Interior of a Dreamliner

WOLE SHADARE writes that it is a cat-and-mouse game. Both manufacturers want to out-do each other. The test flight in France of Airbus 350 penultimate week is a milestone in the company’s effort to battle Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner over the market for wide-body planes. HE rivalry is becoming exciting not only for air travellers but also for two biggest aircraft makersBoeing and Airbus as they take their ‘fight’ to a new height in civil aviation. The two biggest commercial-plane makers are circling each other in an industry worth $100 billion annually, where new jets need investments of $10 billion and typically fly for decades. While Airbus and Boeing are about equal in the market for single-aisle planes, Boeing dominates in widebodies, a lead it seeks to defend as it considers upgrades to its popular 777. A little over eight years ago, the A380 ended the fourdecade reign of Boeing’s 747 jumbo as the biggest airliner to have flown. It has taken more than a decade and approximately $15.55 billion to develop the A380, subsidised by European governments. The A380 is a key

weapon in the battle by Airbus to keep its edge over Boeing. Meanwhile, competition for Boeing’s Dreamliner arrived two weeks ago with the maiden flight of the new Airbus A350 wide-body jet. The plane took off from the company’s plant in Toulouse for a four-hour test. The move is expected to raise the ante in bitter competition between Europe and the United States for dominance of the skies, Airbus’ long-awaited A350 XWB (for “extra wide body”) aircraft took off from Toulouse, France, for its first test flight on Friday after years of delays and multiple designs of the plane. The flight commences a process of months of testing required for certification. Over 10,000 people attended the take off of the aircraft, which included a test

flight crew of six people. The airplane is intended to compete with Boeing’s prestigious 787 Dreamliner, whose first months in service have been plagued by problems. The fleet was grounded for four months due to problems with Dreamliner’s lithium-ion batteries. Like its U.S. rival, the A350 is built largely using carbonfiber composites, which are significantly lighter than the aluminium traditional-

ly used in aircraft and dramatically reduce fuel consumption. Airbus claims the aircraft will use 25 per cent less fuel than current jets. The A350 is arguably the triumph of seven years of design and engineering. Far from just another tin tank, the A350 is a carbon fibre miracle. It’s frame is made from 53-per cent composite materials—more than competing planes—as well as a fuel-conscious amenities like LED lighting inside. Altogether, these features make the A350 the most-efficient, large twin-engine bird to ever fly—according to Airbus’ numbers anyway. The European-build A350 is considered the key competitor to Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, and the larger Boeing 777. The Dreamliner is a considerably smaller plane than the A350. The 787 can hold up to 250 passengers while the A350 can fit up to 350. The reason the two planes are considered competitors is due to their advanced composite bodies and fuel efficiency. Indeed, that the Airbus bird is made of 53percent composites is a notso-subtle answer to the Dreamliner’s 50-per cent composite build. The Dreamliner, which first took off last year, had the first-mover advantage. It was supposed to vanquish the A350 with ease. Airbus might have been a little late to the party, but it learned

from Boeings failures and scrapped plans for a lithium-ion battery. As one aviation expert put it to The Guardian recently, “the 787 has served as a test vehicle for the A350—as an example of what not to do. Not only with the choice of batteries, but in outsourcing so much production that the company lost control of quality, with the result that the 787 was three years later getting to the airlines than promised”. But you won’t find Airbus gloating. Although they have stepped around the battery problem by using well-proven nickel-cadmium batteries instead of the troublesome lithium-ion variety, the A350 is stuffed with advanced technology and, like the 787; a large part of it is built of composites, not metal. There is, however, one place where the A350 seems to have an advantage that you will be able to feel with your own posterior. Its cabin is five inches wider than the 787’s; in coach, with 3-3-3 seating, that means each seat will be 0.7

inches wider. That may not seem much but, hey, in the big squeeze every bit counts—unless, of course, the airline opts for 3-4-3 seating, which shrinks both seat and aisle width. To complete all that testing in one year and then begin deliveries to airlines is optimistic. Invariably glitches show up in testing that nobody foresees. A state-of-the-art airplane like the A350 is one of the world’s most complex machines. And a first flight, like last week’s, can turn up surprises. Even though Chandler and his team of fellow test pilots had already “flown” the A350 for many hours in simulators, every new airplane emerges with its own “feel” and characteristics. Both the 787 and A350 are far more efficient than their predecessors; Airbus claims that the A350 will use 25 per cent less fuel due to lighter materials. These are the mid-size wide-bodies, carrying 250 to 350 passengers that will fly the transcontinental and intercontinental routes.

The European-build A350 is considered the key competitor to Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, and the larger Boeing 777. The Dreamliner is a considerably smaller plane than the A350. The 787 can hold up to 250 passengers while the A350 can fit up to 350

Cabin of the new Airbus airplane

African airlines to face tough EU aviation policy By Wole Shadare FRICAN countries are to A come under stringent European Union (EU) polices in the aviation sector targeted at defining the shape of future economic regulation. For a start, the EU is placing a blanket cover for Africa as a single sky to negotiate bilateral air services agreements. Informed diplomatic sources said under the new regime, EU registered commercial and cargo airlines would no longer be allowed to individu-

ally sign Bilateral Air Services Agreement with African states. ‘The implication is that African countries can no longer negotiate on a country by country basis and not a few had expressed concern that both the Africa Airlines Association (AFRAA) and the African Union are silent on this. Sadly, it appears AFRAA does not possess the fighting power to address this problem that has a multiplier effect on the continent carri-

ers. By been members of suedo EU groups like Skyteam and one world. African airlines themselves have opened the flanks’ to the EU ‘ Aside that EU would no longer sign Nigeria airline are not members of any worldwide groups but informed sources said that Nigerian government might not favour the EU propositions. Speaking to The Guardian recently, former Commandant, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos,

Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd) who is in Kigali, Rwanda as key expert/consultant to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on AfricanCaribbean-Pacific project for Aviation Security Improvement in East/ South Africa sponsored by the EU said the EU agreement known as horizontal agreement requires that an agreement with one country is an agreement with all members of the Union. According to Ojikutu, “How does this benefit African air-

lines with many of them that are not in the world airlines alliances? Africa Union (AU) regional alliance groupings with their regulations coupled with Aviation Security (AVSEC) programmes that are not seamless, very uncoordinated and mostly not in compliance with international standards, “ He said he was told to his dismay that some major countries in Africa like South Africa, Morroco and others are yet to sign the Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD), wondering how they would then agree

on a single African sky. Yamoussoukro Declaration or ‘Open Skies’ for Africa is simply the liberalization of air transport business in the continent. Indeed, African ministers responsible for civil aviation themselves acknowledged this in 1999, when they adopted the Yamoussoukro Decision, named for the Ivorian city in which it was agreed. It commits its 44 signatory countries to deregulate air services, and promote regional air markets open to transnational competition.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

BUSINESSTRAVEL

Delta, Virgin Atlantic gain merger clearance, adds 66 destinations for customers By Chika Goodluck-Ogazi ELTA Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic Airways D Limited have entered a code share agreement across 108 routes that offer customers seamless connections to 66 destinations across North America and the United Kingdom. Under the code share announcement Delta Airlines is acquiring is a 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic, marking the next step towards a full joint venture between the two airlines. While, Virgin Atlantic would place its code on 91 Delta routes, including both trans-Atlantic and domestic U.S. routes. Delta will place its code on 17 Virgin Atlantic routes, including the recently launched Little Red domestic U.K. services connecting London to Manchester, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

However, the agreement means that Virgin Atlantic customers will now enjoy a vast network of connecting North American destinations while Delta customers will gain an additional six daily frequencies between London to New York. Also the SkyMiles and Flying Club loyalty programmes would offer up to 125 per cent tier bonus miles to frequent fliers on all Delta and Virgin Atlantic flights. Reciprocal Delta Sky Club and Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse access at applicable airports for Upper Class and BusinessElite passengers and Flying Club Gold members and SkyMiles Platinum and Diamond members Priority check-in, boarding, baggage handling and additional baggage allowance on all Virgin Atlantic and Delta operated flights worldwide not just those within the codeshare agreement

- for Virgin Atlantic Upper Class and Flying Club Gold members as well as Delta BusinessElite and SkyMiles Gold, Platinum and Diamond members The President, Delta Airline, Ed Bastian said: “This is a strategic investment that enhances Delta’s network with greatly improved access to London Heathrow, the leading marketplace on the trans-Atlantic. “As we unite two leading global airline brands in an innovative partnership that focuses on delivering enhanced benefits and services for our customers, we also become a more formidable competitor across the Atlantic.” The Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Atlantic, Craig Kreeger said: “Today is an important day for Virgin Atlantic and our customers in both the United States and U.K. As new shareholders in the airline, Delta is an important ally in the

all-important trans-Atlantic market. “We can stand firm together against the competition and can now offer more destinations, a smoother connecting airport experience and ultimately the best trans-Atlantic on board experience. Virgin Atlantic’s award-winning customer experience is loved around the world and we look forward to sharing our unique Clubhouse and in-flight hospitality with many Delta passengers over the years.” Customers will be able to reap the rewards of the reciprocal code sharing beginning 3 July 2013 when travel across the routes begins. Flights can be booked from 29 June 2013. In the future, corporate and travel agency customers of both airlines will also benefit from an aligned sales effort on both sides of the Atlantic. Full details of the code share announcement can be found at www.virgin-atlantic.com and www.delta.com.

British Airways to launch electronic bag tagging system By Chika Goodluck-Ogazi RITISH Airways is to try a new electronic bag B tag that could do away with the need to have a new paper tag every time you fly. According to the airline, once checked in, customers just need to hold their smartphone over the electronic tag, which automatically updates with a unique barcode containing their flight details and an easy-to-see view of their bag’s destination. It added that customers could save precious time by having their electronic tag quickly scanned at the bag drop, going straight through security to relax before catching their flight. It is intended that the patent-pending hi-tech tag can be used time and time again. The Managing Director, Brands and Customer Experience, Frank van der Post said: “This is a fantastically simple, yet smart device that gives each customer the choice to have their own personalised electronic baggage tag that changes with the swipe of a smartphone, every time they fly. “As the saying goes, ‘good things come in small packages’, and this innovative device is no exception. “Along with other initiatives we are The Executive Director, Business Development, Nahco Aviance, Mr. Gordon Gofwan, (left) receiving the 2012 Ground Handling Service Provider of the year award won by the company from the Deputy investing in, we believe it has the potential to Regional Director, ICAO regional office for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mr. Boitshoko Sekwati, (right) in an event organised by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) in Nairobi, Kenya. Standing revolutionise the way our customers check in between them is, the Customer Relationship Manager, (Africa) Nahco Aviance, Mr. Abiodun Adewuni. and pass through every airport around the world in the future.” their travelling experience. to customer service,” he added. airport, making it quicker, smoother and easier. The Head of Service Transformation, British “We’ve harnessed expertise from across the According to British Airways, development of The carrier noted that the major trials had also Airways, Glenn Morgan said: “Our customers are airline to produce a solution for speedier the personalised electronic bag tag is part of a taken place on self-service bag drops, automated at the heart of everything we do and our drive to checking-in, which at one swipe shows British wider strategy by British Airways to improve dra- boarding gates, porter services, auto check-in, innovate with this new electronic bag tag is a Airways can be a game changer when it comes matically the customer experience through the and meet and greet hosts. brilliant example of how we can help transform

Lufthansa bags award for best First Class lounges By Wole Shadare VER the past ten months, 18 million passengers from over 100 countries have participated in the world’s largest aviation passenger survey and have recognised Lufthansa’s first class lounges as the best in the world. The airline has also been voted “Best Western European Airline” and “Best Transatlantic Airline”. Dr. Reinhold Huber, Senior Vice President Product & Marketing, received the prizes on Lufthansa’s behalf at the World Airline Awards, hosted at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. Especially the Lufthansa First Class Terminal at Frankfurt Airport received top marks in the survey. Also the first class lounges at the hubs

Frankfurt and Munich were highly ranked by customers. According to the assessing institute Skytrax this reflects the high standard and service of the facilities. The facts that additionally Lufthansa was awarded best airline in Western Europe and on transatlantic routes was a clear sign that Lufthansa standards were satisfying customers, Skytrax stressed. “We are working hard to make our customer services even better and even more comfortable. These awards are further confirmation of the investments we have made in the passenger experience and in our employees’ training. With our exclusive First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, we offer a tailored premium service on the ground – we are delighted that our

We are working hard to make our customer services even better and even more comfortable. These awards are further confirmation of the investments we have made in the passenger experience and in our employees’ training. With our exclusive First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, we offer a tailored premium service on the ground – we are delighted that our guests appreciate this guests appreciate this,” said Dr. Reinhold Huber. “We are investing around one million euros a day in the refitting of our new business class alone. We have made significant improvements to our in-flight meals and have opened a large number of new lounges on the ground. “We are currently in the process of expanding

our entertainment service, and innovative products such as FlyNet – which we are the only airline worldwide to offer on long-haul flights – round off our range of services. We have a clearly defined goal: to become the first Western Five Star Airline by 2015. We still need our fifth star in Business Class to get there, and that is what is driving us forward,” Huber added.

Nigerian firm wins African airlines ground handling award By Chika Goodluck-Ogazi HE Nigerian Aviation Handing Company Plc T (NAHCO Aviance) has been honoured the 2012 Ground Handling Service Provider of the year award, organised by African Airlines Association (AFRAA), recently. According to AFRAA, at its concluded Suppliers and Stakeholders Conference (ASASC) held in

Nairobi, Kenya, it noted that the company was awarded for exceptional and exemplary service delivery to the continent’s aviation industry. The award was presented by the Secretary General of Africa Civil Aviation Commission, (AFCAC) and Deputy Director (Eastern and Southern Africa) of International Civil Aviation Organisation, (ICAO) Ms. Sosina Iyabo to nahco aviance’s Executive Director, Business

Development, Mr. Gordon Gofwan. AFRAA said the award was given based on the company’s adherence to international safety and security standards, attainment of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) and investment in ground handling equipment and facilities at all its operational bases. Also, Egypt Air Training Centre was presented

with the award of Training Service Provider of the Year for its investment in state-of-the-art facilities and its dedication to developing the aviation industry; Serviar got the Aviation Catering and Inflight Service Provider of the year, while SITA was presented with the Aviation Service Provider of the Year for its heavy investment in research and development of new technologies and solutions.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

NigeriaCapitalMarket NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 27/6/2013 PRICE LIST OF SYMBOLS

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

CAPITAL MARKET

NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 27/6/2013

LOSERS

PRICE GAINERS

SEC explains delay on implementation of waivers on stock market transactions By Helen Oji HE Director-General, Securities and Exchange T Commission, Ms. Arunma Oteh, yesterday announced that the approval made by President Goodluck Jonathan to eliminate stamp duties and VAT on stock market transactions, as part of efforts to attract more companies to the market and resuscitate it, is yet to be implemented due to delay in gazetting the order. Besides, she said that about $10 billion has been made avail-

able to protect the market against hot money, noting that the Nigerian capital market is still one of the top performing market in the world. The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala had last December told the capital market community of the waiver granted on stock market transactions cost by the Federal Government to resuscitate the market. The announcement came along with the forbearance package given to 84 stockbro-

kers. However, while the forbearance package is being implemented, the directive on stamp duties and VAT is yet to be implemented. Speaking at the post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) press conference in Lagos yesterday, the SEC boss said the implementation is being delayed because the process involves the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). She also explained that the delay is due to the number of

agencies involved in the process, while assuring capital market community that very soon the process should be concluded. On the forbearance package, Oteh noted that the 54 brokers who accepted the offer were already signing agreements with the Asset management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). Oteh further explained that the Board of the commission would look at the proposal on recapitalization of market operators and contributions of

operators in that regard and would come up the new capital requirement by the end of the year or early next year. Oteh disclosed that the CMC, which is a body of all capital market regulators, operators and stakeholders, is coming up with a blueprint for the market. The blueprint, she explained would be a 10-year master plan with quarterly milestones. He added that the CMC would also bring out a capital market literacy plan and Islamic finance master plan, all meant to reposition

the market to play its role in the development of the economy. He added that with the Sukuk bond in the market, the primary market is expected to pick up in the second half of the year, adding that it would also attract some new transactions and Initial Public offer into the market. “A number of companies interested are already preparing to come to the market and we hope to see new transactions in the second half of the year.” He said.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Opinion How not to read El-Rufai By Emmanuel Ojeifo VER since Mallam Nasir El-Rufai’s controversial book, The Accidental Public Servant (2013) entered into the hands of the reading public, there has been a torrent of reactions and a barrage of criticisms from different categories of Nigerians across the political, ethnic, religious and social divide, some of whom were toasted to bad publicity and indecent portrayal in El-Rufai’s book. We are yet to hear the last word on the book and I don’t assume that my modest contribution to the on-going discourse will be the last word. Every critical Nigerian who has been attentive to the unfolding of the conversation generated by the book will agree with me that there has been intense trading of words by members of the political elite on the claims of El-Rufai, so much so that intelligent discussion has been supplanted by political and ethnic biases, and vigorous exchange of insults and foul talks substituted for rational arguments. The bitter part of the bargain is that this angry trading of words has been conducted by people who have high stakes in our society as men of learning and character, and who should ordinarily be the ones teaching the younger generation the value of mutual respect, decency and courtesy in speech. That said, let it be clear to everyone that ElRufai’s book is a work of history and no one

should attempt to downplay its importance, whether one agrees totally with the views espoused in it or not. In a society where very little documentation is done to preserve institutional memory and the inner workings of government, El-Rufai must be highly commended for painstakingly documenting the core personal experiences of his public service years. This means that no one should take the book as a dogmatic treatise that cannot be subjected to public scrutiny. It is a personal account and should be seen as such. In his recent memoir, There Was a Country, Achebe made it very clear that it is impossible for a writer to write without some kind of commitment, “some kind of message, some kind of protest.” Being a protest writer, as Achebe admits, goes with the realisation that “words have the power to hurt, even to denigrate and oppress others.” In this light, one can easily sympathise with those who feel aggrieved about the way they were presented in El-Rufai’s book. It is an issue about ego, perception, memory and truth. However, decency and civilisation would insist that the writer or respondent never forfeits the moral obligation of conducting his protest in decent language. Nigerians with objective assessment of the book would readily concede that the book is not a sham, as some reactionary commentators would have us believe. In my honest estimation, El-Rufai has done us a great world of

service, especially the younger generation of Nigerians who aspire to public service in a nation with many dysfunctional public institutions, a nation that, as Pastor Tunde Bakare said in his foreword to El-Rufai’s book, is “in dire need of more capable, competent and decent public servants.” That is why I think that there is something fundamentally wrong with a class of people who call themselves objective intellectuals, but who are so puffed up and intoxicated by an over-bloated sense of self-esteem to the extent of scooping out a cluster of some sentences in a book of over 600 pages, just because those few sentences seem to cast aspersions on their personalities. Any good student of literature knows that there is a vital interplay between the parts and the whole; and that the parts cannot be separated from the whole in the quest for meaning. I therefore make the case that the whole fuss about El-Rufai’s book is simply a sad reversal of the immense resources that the writer has deposited in that book for us to understand and appreciate the inner workings of government. While I think that El-Rufai may have been rather too harsh in his verdict on many political actors that crossed his paths during his public service years, I still strongly believe that the amount of fruitless discussion, accusations and counter-accusations the book has generated is a real distraction to the stimulation of honest, critical and intelligent conver-

sation on the future of our great country that the book is supposed to generate. To those who are angry about the way El-Rufai portrayed them in his book, I humbly implore you to seek redress in the court of public discourse by doing something that the late Professor Chinua Achebe calls “gentle recreations of the past”. If one reads page 59 of Achebe’s recent memoir, There was a Country, one will arrive at a point where he said that, “every generation has a chance to execute its own model of art.” In other words, if you are dissatisfied with El-Rufai’s book, write your own version of history. At least El-Rufai himself was generous enough to say that on page xxxi of his book: “This book is an appeal to persons that have held public office to document their experiences and tell their sides of the story.” For me, El-Rufai’s memoir comes across as an all-time classic that provides interesting points of convergence for students of history, sociology, law and political science and for future generations of Nigerians, on the prospects, challenges, dangers and fascination of public service in a troubled country like Nigeria where it is possible to have “more deputy directors than real staff” in some public institutions. Above all, that history is winding and bendy, primarily because it is individuals that shape it, who in turn must know they must be judged by it. • Rev. Fr. Ojeifo is a priest of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja. He is the Personal Secretary to the Cardinal.

Reflections on the national centenary (2) By Olu Akanmu Continued from yesterday N the political front, we must deal with institutionalized poO litical exclusion mechanisms that offer no real democratic choices for the people. Weak political parties with poor internal democracies exclude the true will of the party rank and file and ultimately true democratic choices at elections. Unless the party rank and file can freely choose their representatives and present such to the electorate in a free and fair election, we will continue to have a selectocracy rather than a democracy. Unless the people can find their voice and choose their leaders in a free and fair electoral process, we will have to kiss good governance and responsible government a perpetual goodbye in Nigeria. This is because the only incentive for politicians to act responsibly and govern well is the fear of losing elections. At the turn of this new centenary, we must therefore strengthen our electoral process and the political institutions that will make our elections truly what they are supposed to be, with the plurality of choices that capture the diversity of patriotic ideas in the nation. To do this, INEC and its future successors and the courts must be able to sanction the breach of internal party democracies. Other things to be done to strengthen the electoral process, make INEC truly independent of the executive including special sanctions for electoral offenses are contained in the Uwais panel electoral reform report. At this historic turn of the Nigeria’s next centenary, we call on President Jonathan and the National Assembly to summon the necessary courage to put our democratic process on new progressive trajectory by implementing the Uwais panel report. Over the next centenary, we must become a more open and transparent society. Government must become more open to citizens. This will drive accountability of the managers of state resources to the people on whose behest they are supposed to hold their jobs. A more open society also implies a Nigerian state where the people can enforce their right to know and can freely debate the actions of their government. It implies also a strong press, the modern equivalent of the classic Roman forum, where the people can debate or challenge the actions of the state and its managers. We must consolidate on the gains of our checkered history of press freedom and get the Freedom of Information Act to truly work. Current efforts to use the Freedom of Information Act to enforce better government transparency has not been very successful suggesting that while we need good laws, we will also need strong judicial institutions to get a good law to fulfill its purpose. A more open society will also engender better trust between government and citizens rather than the cynics that citizens have become of government. A more open society is also a critical ingredient for active citizenship, which is critical to building strong accountable public institutions. A more open and accountable society also implies that the incentive to join politics will gradually change from “intent to corner public funds” to true public service. Our electoral choices will increasingly be based on ideas and perspectives of better public service and delivery of public good. This coupled with the

strengthening of judicial institutions that sanction corruption and criminal behaviour in governance, will drive a better incentive for our politicians to become true statesmen who serve only for the common good. We must build a more active citizenship where the people believe in their capacity to determine how they are governed. A people who believe that their vote do not count, who live in extreme poverty and misery will probably sell their vote for a bag of rice. This further compound their poverty and misery as their so-called elected representative becomes more irresponsible knowing that it is not performance but a bag of rice that will win them the next election. And the people in this reinforcing feedback loop fall further and further into despair becoming more and more passive as citizens. We must cut this negative reinforcing feedback loop of irresponsible governance and passive citizenship by ensuring that votes begin to count in free and fair elections. That is one more reason why the recommendations of the Uwais panel on electoral reform must be implemented, especially at this historic turn of another Nigeria centenary. The plural and diverse nature of the Nigerian state, the need to build a strong unity in diversity, and the constant political rancour over presidential succession makes it imperative that we must strengthen our federalism. Current political arrangement with a near balkanization of the old regions into largely economically unviable states has turned our intended federalism upon its head to make the political centre so strong and the federating states so weak. Hence, the struggle to control the centre has become a constant do or die affair. What will be our solution to this un-intended consequence of our peculiar federalism? How would we build stronger federating states within the nation? Should the current state structure remain what they are today or would we need to reconsolidate them to more economically viable units? All questions as such must be put on the table in a sober introspection on Nigeria’s peculiar federalism over the last century. We must also arrest the increasing astronomical cost of governance. In a next century that will be far more competitive among nation states, where Nigeria will need to play a catch-up for the missed opportunities of the last century, we cannot afford to have governance structures whose costs will weigh down our national development. With no Nigeria university among the top 5,000 in the world at our national centenary, we must rectify this national embarrassment immediately. There are no great societies without great citadels of learning. Nigeria will not be an exception to this history. Our universities before the decay that started in the late 1980s used to boast of some of the best professors in the world. And professors were so much appreciated and respected. It is no longer so as our disdain for knowledge has become enthroned and we have become a nation that celebrates mediocrity. At this turn of our national centenary, we must restore the pride and honour of higher education while ensuring that they become more relevant to our national development. We must develop a public-private partnership model to fund higher education, including a small taxation on foreign education remittance to fund our universities. We must also incentivize science and technology training, including related vocational education much

better as they are far more critical to our national development than other disciplines of higher education. We conclude our centenary reflections on the challenge of building strong national institutions. We must strengthen the institutions that will enforce the contracts, rule of law and sanction the pervasive impunity in society. At the back of our weak democratic system is the sheer impunity that elections can be rigged, electoral laws can be broken and you can get away with it with the right connections. Elite impunity is also the reason why economic crimes and corruption is committed in public and private sectors because the institutions to enforce sanctions for wrong behaviour are weak or have been captured by a narrow cream of elite in their self-interest. To arrest and tame impunity in society, we will need to make the judiciary and law enforcement institutions independent of the executive and the politicians. The constitutional proposal to separate the office of Attorney General from Minister of Justice should be adopted at federal and state levels. While the Inspector General of Police should report to the President administratively, they should be appointed independently of the executive for a fixed tenure by the National Judicial Council. The Police Service Commission should also report independently of the executive to a special arm of the judiciary. Corruption must be purged on the bench to ensure that only men and women of honour sit in our hallowed chambers of justice. We must also have a stronger, truly independent and more active parliament that proactively makes good governing laws for our institutions, while holding them transparently accountable for the delivery of their social charter on behalf of the people. All that is necessary should be done to promote active citizenship beyond the good civil society and human right organisations in the nation. They must hold elected officials accountable for their performance along with a vibrant press institutions for free, unimpeded public debate on social governance. Such active citizenship that we had during the Occupy Nigeria movement and petroleum subsidy debate must be revamped and sustained as a critical platform for public accountability and inclusive institution building. Institutional leaders must also adopt a new value system of character, honour and common good as the fibre of new institutional cultures along with the emergence of a nonpartisan core of elder statesmen who will serve as moral guardians of society’s value and conscience. A national centenary is a very serious matter, especially when the history of the nation is a litany of missed opportunities and unfulfilled potentials. We need to introspect deeply and change the current paradigm of the celebration of the national centenary to capture the serious historic nature of the occasion. While there should be march pasts and gala nights, there should also be more serious active citizen debate on what we must do to ensure that Nigeria’s next centenary will be positively different and take real actions to make it happen. Then future generations would look at us with kindness that we recognized our place in history and that we fulfilled our historic mission of laying a foundation for a better next centenary. • Concluded. • Akanmu wrote from Lagos.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Opinion Fashola has come to serve By C. Don Adinuba “…he has come to serve, and not to be served” (Mark 10:45) IVERS State Government and its Akwa Ibom counterpart, R whose governors are the leading dramatis personae in the feud which has engulfed the Nigerian Governors’ Forum since May, have at least one thing in common: they both have private jets. A number of Nigerians seem not to have issues with the acquisition of executive jets for the exclusive use of the Rivers and Akwa Ibom governors because both states earn so much revenue from Nigeria’s oil sales. True, these states are reaping fortunes from unearned income, or what economists call transfers, from the federation account. But neither Rivers nor Akwa Ibom is as rich as Lagos State, which makes money from truly productive ventures and regenerative endeavours. Interestingly, the Lagos governor has no private jet or even a helicopter. And there are no plans to get one in the foreseeable future. The stark difference in the lifestyles of the Lagos State governor and his counterparts is no happenstance. It is fundamental. It is revealing of their mindsets. Apart from Peter Obi of Anambra State, Babatunde Fashola of Lagos is the only governor in Nigeria who goes about with no sirens blaring away or long motorcades complete with a platoon of fierce-looking and heavily armed security officials. He is the only public officer since the restoration of democratic rule in 1999 who has bluntly refused to accept any kind of award, including the national honour, because of the conviction that honours should be bestowed on office holders only after they have left office. In a country where high office holders use stupendous public resources to bribe and lobby for accolades, the Lagos governor has provided us all food for thought. Fashola marked his 50th birthday anniversary on June 26 and, characteristically, there was no squandering of public funds on any razzmatazz. There is in him a deep belief that every high public officer is a servant of the people, and not their conqueror who must at all times lord it over them. In other words, leadership is all about service. In the language of the Scriptures, the son of man has “come to serve, and not to be served” (Matthew

20:28). Very few things illustrate the profound failure of leadership in Nigeria at every level as the rash of private aircraft at our airports in the midst of growing mass misery and collapse of infrastructure as well as ruination of institutions. Whether in the private or public sector, our people equate leadership with ostentation and vanity rather than service and sacrifice. This is why Nigerian evangelical pastors, whose congregations are overwhelmingly poor, would consider it infra dig to fly on anything less than a private jet while the pope, who leads the world’s biggest and wealthiest church, always travels by Alitalia. Why should the Taraba State governor insist on a private aircraft when American state governors, for example, drive themselves to work daily because their states cannot afford to procure the services of official drivers? Olusegun Obasanjo, who popularized “low profile” in Nigeria in the 1970s when he was the military Head of State, was regrettably the person who, as Nigeria’s democratically elected president between 1999 and 2007, led an assault against the concept. By the time Obasanjo returned to office in 1999, Peugeot, which Obasanjo made the official car from the mid 1970s was still the official brand for public officers. It was assembled in Nigeria. But Obasanjo quickly jettisoned it in favour of Mercedes and very expensive Japanese SUVs imported into Nigeria by a handful of Indian traders and Nigerian merchants. Ministers and state governors followed in his footstep. Consequently, the Peugeot Assembly of Nigeria (PAN) is now moribund, with the local engineers and the other employees and consultants and suppliers out of work. The same fate befell Anambra Motor Manufacturing Company (ANAMMCO), the Mercedes truck assembly plant in Enugu. In his world famous memoir, Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew expresses shock at the sight of presidents of poor nations like Nigeria and Kenya arriving at the 1980 Commonwealth summit in Canada with presidential planes. Some of the African rulers were at the summit to solicit for aid from countries whose leaders came by commercial planes! Not long ago, the King of Swaziland, a tiny and very poor country in the belly of South Africa, insisted before Parliament on the acquisition of a presidential jet, arguing fero-

ciously that he needed it to fly around the world in search of aid for his kingdom, which depends on foreign assistance for survival. It does not matter to African rulers like this king that the prime ministers of prosperous nations like the United Kingdom and Singapore have no presidential jets, even though Britain is a major aircraft manufacturer. The Fokker brand, used widely in Nigeria and elsewhere, is British. And Rolls Royce of the UK is a key manufacturer of plane engines worldwide. The false consciousness of Nigerian –nay African – rulers is the primary reason why development has over the decades eluded us. Therefore, it gladdens the heart anytime one sees a leader like Fashola who is in a different mould; he is purposedriven. Fashola understands that leadership is about service to the people, and not self-aggrandisement. His performance in office has been sterling and inspiring. Lagosians, who are historically difficult to govern because of the robust tradition of activism, have been star-struck, charmed. At the President Goodluck Jonathan’s launch of Road Map for Power Sector Reform at Eko Hotel in Lagos on August 26, 2010, the governor made other top government officials look very unpopular, almost making them cut the image of personae non grata. Immediately Fashola was called upon to speak, the large audience comprising leading entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bank executives, manufacturers, international and local media went into a long frenzy of adulation. The master of ceremonies could not stop the audience. It even took the governor himself time and effort to stop the fawning audience. The first sentence President Jonathan uttered when he got up to speak was “I can see clearly that the people of Lagos State are very happy with their governor”. And the audience responded enthusiastically as one man, “Yes oh!”, followed by another sustained round of applause. The inimitable thinker, Obafemi Awolowo, has said it all: “The greatest legacy a leader can bequeath is to etch his name in gold in the hearts and minds of his people”. As I happily and proudly welcome my great friend and brother, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) – a Nigerian without bile, a Nigerian not held hostage by the errors of the past or by such primordial sentiments as regionalism, ethnicity or religion –into the golden age, I say: Not even the sky will be your limit. Ad multus annos. • Adinuba is head of Discovery Public Affairs Consulting.

Taming political godfathers ahead 2015 By Mura Enebeli MMEDIATELY after the 1999 general elections INigeria, that ushered in democratic governance in following years of military rule, political godfatherism reared its ugly head in the polity. In Enugu State, a former governor of old Anambra State and then godfather of the state politics wanted to lord over his political godson and governor of the state, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani. Nnamani refused to be cowed by Chief Jim Nwobodo and practically chased him out of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party Nwobodo founded alongside Chief Alex Ekwueme and others. Nwobodo also did not return to the Senate in 2003 as senator representing Enugu East zone in the upper chamber. Nwobodo migrated to the now defunct United Nigeria Peoples Party (UNPP) where he contested as the presidential candidate of the party in 2003 general election and lost. Nnamani also went academically on the crisis by delivering series of lectures condemning political godfatherism in Nigeria. Since then Nwobodo had gone into political limbo for years now. Nnamani was seen and hailed by many, including journalists, as a hero of democracy for taming the godfather monster. Ironically, Nnamani in 2007 toed the path of his subdued godfather after making Mr. Sullivan Chime who was his Commissioner of Justice for eight years his successor. Chime also ensured that Nnamani tasted the same bitter bills he gave to Nwobodo by denying him a return ticket to the Senate in 2011. Neither Nwobodo nor Nnamani has turned to loose cannon over the political differences between them and their godsons; rather they have since continued their lives in another way, having realised that they have served out their tenure as governors and that matters of the state must continue under the watch of other persons. In the same vein, former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida allegedly facilitated General Olusegun Obasanjo’s release from prison in 1998, donated a huge sum of money

to the Peoples Democratic Party and ensured that Obasanjo emerged the president of the country in 1999 on PDP platform. It was the same Obasanjo in 2007 at the twilight of his government that ensured that Babangida did not return to power as a democratically elected president of the country. Today, Obasanjo appeared to be receiving the same treatment from President Jonathan’s government. The situation appears to be the same thing across the country between the godfathers and the godsons ranging from Governor Godswill Akpabio and Victor Attah in Akwa Ibom State, Chris Uba/Senator Chris Ngige in Anambra State, Jolly Nyame/Danbaba Suntai in Taraba, Saminu Turaki/Governor Sule Lamido in Jigawa State, Governor Liyel Imoke and his predecessor, Donald Duke in Cross River State and several others. Most of these ex-governors are presently facing trial over corrupt charges by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This is even as Nigerians have expressed disappointment over the slow pace of the trial that appeared to have been stalled by vested interests and lack of political will on the part of the anti-graft agencies. Abia State was a different kettle of fish as the former governor of the state allied his new party – Progressives Peoples’ Alliance (PPA) that was in control of Imo and Abia State after the 2007 general elections into the Government of National Unity (GNU) took control of the state as the de facto governor, while his godson and governor of the state was just a ceremonial head. For almost four years of the godson’s first term in office, the former governor and his mother ran the affairs of the state from their hometown. They decided who got what in the state ranging from award of contracts to appointment of government functionaries and sharing of monthly allocations. The state bled, and the people were the worse for it, as there was no presence of government in the state. The governor was helpless while the godfather milked the state dry. People

avoided the governor and his government like a plague for being tied to the apron string of his godfather. The former governor, who is known for double speaking, continued to insist to the unsuspecting publics that he had no business with governance in the state since he left office. But late in 2010, the political situation in the state changed following the governor’s exit from PPA to PDP, which unsettled the godfather and his allies and stopped them access to the state means. Since then the angry godfather after many years of political indecision and hibernation has returned to the trenches, becoming more desperate for relevance in the politics of the state and the country. Characteristically, the erstwhile godfather tried to attract public sympathy as he did to Obasanjo, Chief Tony Anenih, Ikedi Ohakim, Atiku Abubakar, Prof. Joe Irukwu and others; in what appeared to be dancing naked in the market alone. I wonder what will be the political atmosphere in the country, if all the exgovernors who have lost out in the political equation of their states become so desperate for relevance like that of Abia State. It is important for individuals to have a second address before joining politics so that they will have a fall back when they are out of political offices. Why is it that those who claimed to have a second address before joining politics have refused to go back after leaving office as it is being witnessed in Abia today? Do they aspire to political power or wealth? In the same vein, those who have held political offices before should be able to differentiate between the former and incumbent, because both take responsibility for all that happened when they were at the helm of affairs in the state. Ex-governors should know when to bow out gracefully when they are out of office, and allow their successors a free hand to work for good governance. They should accept that the country’s democracy can flourish better without them. They should stay away from interfering with the 2015 general

It was the same Obasanjo in 2007 at the twilight of his government that ensured that Babangida did not return to power as a democratically elected president of the country. Today, Obasanjo appeared to be receiving the same treatment from President Jonathan’s government. The situation appears to be the same thing across the country between the godfathers and the godsons ranging from Governor Godswill Akpabio and Victor Attah in Akwa Ibom State, Chris Uba/Senator Chris Ngige in Anambra State, Jolly Nyame/Danbaba Suntai in Taraba, Saminu Turaki/Governor Sule Lamido in Jigawa State, Governor Liyel Imoke and his predecessor, Donald Duke in Cross River State and several others.. elections. That is the only way dividends of democracy can be safely delivered to majority of Nigerians without hindrance or diversion. That is also the only way Nigerians can choose their leaders freely. Ahead 2015 general elections, Nigerians should be alert to the antics of political godfathers, and to ensure that they do not hijack the process again for their own selfish interest and to the detriment of the people. They have been and still remain the greatest bane of progress in our democratic governance since 1999 and there is urgent need for the people to tame them. The country’s political space should be free to enable the people reap dividends of democracy. • Enebeli, a research writer wrote from Cross River State.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

FridayWorship By Afis A. Oladosu In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful

“The number of months in the sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- so ordained by Him the day He created the heavens and the earth; of them four are sacred: that is the straight path; so wrong not yourselves therein, and fight the Pagans all together as they fight you all together. But know that Allah is with those who restrain themselves”- (Q9: 36) who owes an obligation FturesURTHER, to the Almighty or his fellow creaand fails or refuses to fulfill it since the end of the last Ramadan till this year, would have failed to adequately prepare for the coming Ramadan. Such a Muslim could very well be referred to as a sinner and an oppressor: a sinner in the sight of his Creator and an oppressor of her or his own soul. Brethren, let us discharge all our obligations, the spiritual, the social, the economic, the cultural and even the political before this year’s Ramadan begins. A Muslim who does not heed this admonition could be likened to a student who proceeds to the examination hall with “forbidden documents and materials.” He could also be likened to yet another student who desires to sit for the second year examinations though he still has some outstanding courses for the first year. A student who engages in the latter would most likely not be allowed to sit for the examinations; at worst he would not graduate from the university. In other words, dear brethren, a wrong way to prepare for Ramadan is

“Surely, the religion with Allah is ISLAM,complete submission”... Qur’an 3:19

Ramadan is two weeks from now (2) to have unresolved disputes with your fellow Muslim brethren. Since Ramadan is first of all a spiritual exercise before being a communal or social one, since the locale of the spiritual is the human soul -the heart, and since anger, animosity, envy, hatred and all ill-feelings are diseases which assail the heart, corrupt it and render it unsuitable for spiritual re-awakening, it then becomes highly important that we empty our hearts of all these “spiritual viruses”. Thus dear brother, endeavour to settle all existing disputes and issues with your fellow human beings, Muslims, Christians, and the other before the onset of Ramadan. Remember, dear sister, that you cannot supplicate to the Almighty during Ramadan and expect your supplications to be granted while you unjustly sit on the right or rights of your neighbour, your subordinates in your office, or even that of your husband and children. “Return the trusts to their owners…” that is the injunction of the Almighty in the Qur’an. Not to do this is to prepare wrongly for the coming Ramadan. Brethren, one other way by which a Muslim could prepare inappropriately for Ramadan is to leave a threat to his health unattended to. Since Ramadan is a month of action, it is incumbent on every mature Muslim who knows

and believes that fasting is obligatory on him to seek every lawful means by which she would be in the best state of health before it begins. Such a Muslim could go for a medical check-up. A Muslim who knows he is at the risk of contracting ulcer would be doing wrong preparation for Ramadan by engaging in supererogatory fasting before Ramadan. Remember, al fasting outside Ramadan are supererogatory not obligatory: whereas you would not be punished for not fasting in the month of Sha’aban, to intentionally skip Ramadan fast is Haraam. Brethren, it is implicit in what we have mentioned so far the positive ways by which we can prepare for the coming Ramadan. Let us prepare for the month by asking the Almighty to forgive us and redeem our leaders in this country. In an Hadith reported by al-Tabrani and which is classified as Hasan by alAlbani, the prophet is reported to have said: “Whoever seeks forgiveness for believing men and believing woman, the almighty will write for him a good deed for each believing man and believing woman.” Brethren let us begin an act of worship before Ramadan which we would then increase as soon as the blessed month begins; an act of worship that would then become our own wadhifahi, a regular spiritual exercise.

The prophet says: “The deeds most loved by Almighty are those done regularly, even if they are small.” For example, if you are the type who always pray two rakaats of sunnah after Salat al-Ishaa, why don’t you add extra two with the intention of asking almighty to help you prepare for the coming month so that you can exert your utmost and reap the highest available rewards during the month. In other words, intensify your acts of worship as rehearsals for acts that would peak during the month. What this means indirectly is that you are planning ahead for the month; you are already in the spiritual mood; the mood that would see you finish the reading and contemplation of the glorious Qur’an at least once during the month; that mood that would see you attend the tafsir sessions; that mood that would see you avoid all vain talks, indecencies and the muharramat (unlawful things) and permanently too. In this mood, you would envision yourself as if you are already standing up for judgment in front of the almighty; you are there in front of Him, all alone, without your loved ones. On that day your money and your status have become (and will become) useless. The only friend you will have on that day is your acts of

worship: the salat you observed at the right time, the indecency you shunned even when you were all alone with that “babe” in your office, the smile you put on the face of that neighbour of yours who was in distress, the contract you won and which you conscientiously executed, the duties you discharged for your parent. Each of this act that you do before Ramadan would put you in the “Ramadan mood”. You would be happy to “meet” with Ramadan and it would be happy to meet with you. What is axiomatic in the above is that one important way to prepare for the coming Ramadan is to assume that the coming Ramadan would be the last for you. As you are reading this, a soul is departing this world; moments before the onset of Ramadan, some creatures of the almighty would transit to the great beyond. Muadh b. Jabal was in the presence of the prophet one day when the latter asked: where are the believers in this assemblage? All the companions said: we are all believers. Then the prophet asked: what is the evidence for your faith? Muadh b. Jabal said: “A pointer to my belief is that each time I take a step while walking I am certain that I may not be alive to take the next step.” What a credo? What an ideology? Here Muadh is instructing you and me as follows: Some people would not witness the Ramadan of this year even though they desire it. Will this be our last Ramadan? Though we live with the certainty of the uncertain; the certainty of death whose time is uncertain, let us therefore prepare for the uncertain by doing that which is certain: righteous deeds. (08151293300 for text messages only)

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

Sports Turkey 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup

Obuh promises changes, as Flying Eagles scrap into second round Eagles’ Coach, John FtheLYING Obu is not satisfied with quality of football played by his lad’s despite Nigeria’s 10 defeat of South Korea yesterday at the on-going Turkey 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup. And he has promised to work on the team before the next game. Speaking during the post match conference, Obuh said, “we are gradually finding our rhythm, but we still have a lot of work to do. We will have to work on our strikers because we cannot afford to continue missing chances in a competition of this magnitude. “But I am happy with the general performance of this team.” Kayode scored Nigeria’s goal inside 10 minutes and held on till the end of the game to join Portugal in the round of 16. South Korea still has a chance of making the second round as one of the best third-placed teams. The Colombia 2011 star evaded the Korean defenders to nod in Captain Abdul Ajagun’s in-swinging freekick from the left past Lee Changguen. Korea’s marking at setpieces was leaving a lot to be desired, with the 16-year-old Onyinye Ndidi rising above all in red to head just wide. The Flying Eagles were in complete control of the early exchanges, with Kayode almost doubling his tally from a tight angle after a fine ball from Olaitan Michael. His next chance would have been a candidate for goal of the tournament. Song Juhun forced the Heartland FC forward wide after a high ball, but from the right side of the penalty area, Kayode hooked the ball back and was agonisingly close to scoring a superb lob. The Koreans were lacking the rhythm that had so impressed against Portugal, with that disjointed nature continuing into the second period, while Nigeria were producing some fine flowing football at times. Even so, Korea Republic saw plenty more of the ball in the second-half but they were leaving themselves open to counter-attacks. Ajagun was given an open sight of goal of on the break, but a heavy touch saw his eventual shot charged down. There was plenty of energy on show, but invention was largely lacking. As such, Nigeria were happy to try to limit chances as best possible and hold on to a result that sees them qualify, playing the second-place side from

Group F. Korea Republic, on the other hand, have an anxious wait. Nigeria join Portugal, who secured top spot in Group B with a resounding 5-0 victory over Cuba at Kayseri’s Kadir Has Stadium. Bruma was once again on song, scoring twice to take an outright lead in the FIFA U-20 World Cup scoring chart with five overall, while Ricardo, Aladje and Toze also among the goals. The deadlock was broken in 15 minutes when good foraging work on the left by Bruma led to the ball falling loose to Ricardo, who passed his shot low and hard beyond Sandy Sanchez. Bruma was again involved eight minutes before the interval when Portugal doubled their lead, breaking into the box and teeing up the unmarked Aladje for the simplest of finishes.

Flying Eagles’ Olarenwaju Kayode scores Nigeria’s winning goal in the Turkey 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup game against South Korea…yesterday. PHOTO: FIFA/GettyImages.

LMC, club managers agree on sponsorship money sharing formula From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja

• Referees demand increased remuneration

HE League Management T Company (LMC) and the representatives of the 20 pre-

porting the league. “We were told that we have over 190 referees currently officiating the Premier League and we look at it from the angle of the damage of insisting that all of them must officiate. We agreed that certain number of referees should be selected based on merit by officiating recruitment body. It will not be an all comers affair.” LMC representative, Shehu Dikko said, “the meeting discussed the sharing formula for the league funds and basi-

mier League clubs yesterday agreed on the sharing formula of the N550 million Globacom title sponsorship fee for the 2012/2013 Nigeria Professional Football season. Rising from a meeting in Abuja, the bodies also urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to ensure that only credible referees officiated games of the elite league. The officials also appraised the first round of the league, as well as receive the reports from the refereeing unit of the general performance of their members during the first round of the league, which currently under break. In their communiqué jointly signed by the chairman of the league body, Nduka Irabor, and acting chairman of club owners, Isaac Danladi, the bodies said for “efficiency in officiating and proper monitoring of matches, the NFF is advised to trim the number of referees in the Premier league. “The meeting reviewed the mid-season report, unanimously adopted it and accepted that there was an improvement from the past season. We noted with satisfaction the contributions from all the relevant stakeholders on how best to move the league forward. “The meeting also discussed the proposed sharing formula for the league revenue and sponsorship fund and commended Globacom for sup-

cally dwelt on the standard structure of sharing. The percentage is the most important thing not essentially the figures. “We discussed the standard structure that will show that all the money coming into the league is shared in accordance with the due process. So, from day one, everybody will be very clear of the sharing formula. It is only when the funds are available that we will just share it accordingly. “We have two sections of

how the money will be shared, one of them is the one due to clubs, and we have facilities and youth football development. “The second is the operational cost of the league which also goes to the clubs. The money is spent on behalf of the club to pay indemnities, organisation of meetings. The salaries for the league staff, monitoring of the sponsorship compliance and certain percentage to the federation for disciplinary matters among other things go into the second session,” he noted.

NSC expects 11,500 students for National Youth Games From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja ATIONAL Sports N Commission (NSC) has commenced preparations for the first edition of the National Youths Games, billed for September in Abuja, by inspecting the facilities for the games. The commission revealed that it is expecting 11,500 students of under 17 years at the games, which would feature 19 events, including three from para-sports. Speaking after inspecting the sports facilities around the FCT, the Chairman, Main Organising Committee (MOC), and NSC’s Director of Grassroots Sports, Alhassan Yakmut noted that although his committee has penciled down 11,500 participants, the

number would not fall beyond 8,000 athletes, assuring that discussions are at advanced stage with the FCT administration to seal the hosting arrangements. “In the para-sports, we are expecting para-table tennis, para-athletes and para-lifting. We are going to lay emphasis on only categories amenable to the body structure of the youths. So, we may not go to events with heavyweight category.” The MOC chairman, who assured that all the 36 states of the federation and the FCT would send participants to the games, said the commission has been in contact with the states. “It was unanimously agreed at the National Council on Sports in Ilorin that the way

forward for Nigeria is to get a well grounded youth programme. The youth programme is to harvest what is done in schools, communities in an organised manner to ensure that what we are transiting into the podium is not a coincidence but rather a systematic process of talent development. “I want to confess that we are quite impressed with what we have seen. What we just need to do is upgrade the environment since we are okay with the facilities on ground. “Discussions are ongoing for the FCT to host the maiden edition of the National Youth Games as part of the centenary activities of our 100 years of our existed as a nation,” he explained.

Cote d’Ivoire arrives in Nigeria next week for CHAN qualifier 26-MAN delegation of the A home-based national team of Cote d’Ivoire will fly into Lagos Wednesday next week ahead of Saturday’s 2014 African Nations Championship qualifying match against their Nigerian counterparts. The NFF yesterday received correspondence from the office of the General Secretary of Federation Ivoirienne de Football, confirming that the delegation would arrive the Murtala Muhammed International Airport aboard an Asky Airline flight at about 6.40pm on July 3. Cote d’Ivoire hosted the inaugural edition of the African Nations Championship in 2009, won by Democratic Republic of Congo. Nigeria was absent at the finals, having been eliminated by Ghana. The 2011 finals in Sudan also held without Nigeria, eliminated by Niger Republic, and was won by Tunisia. Super Eagles’ Team Administrator, Enebi Achor, confirmed yesterday that the 24 players invited by Coach Stephen Keshi are all expected to report at the Bolton White Apartments in Abuja on Sunday. Saturday’s confrontation at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium will be the first meeting at senior level between both nations since Nigeria eliminated tournament favourites, Cote d’Ivoire, in the quarter finals of the Africa Cup of Nations finals in South Africa earlier in the year.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

THE GUArDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

SchoolSports Gombe honours teenager for excelling at inter-schools sports meet NINE-YEAr-OLD primary A four pupil, Maimuna Bashir of Herwagana Primary School, Gombe, has been honoured for excellent performance at the Inter-Schools Sports Competition for Gombe metropolis. Bashir, who came first in the 800 metres race, was given a trophy for being the youngest athlete in the event organised by the Gombe State Sports Commission to identify talents. Closing the competition for secondary and primary schools on Tuesday in Gombe, the Gombe State Sports Commission’s Chairman, Faruk Yarma, said it would be replicated in the northern and southern parts of the state. He said that the Games held at the Pantami Stadium was to restore sports at the grass-

roots, adding that 50 secondary and primary schools participated in the Games, which featured table tennis, volleyball, basketball, javelin, 100m, 800m and 4x100 m relay. Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo said the incumbent administration was committed to reviving grassroots sports hence the creation of the sports commission. represented by Hajiya Aisha Ahmed, Commissioner of Education, Dankwambo commended the organisers of the event, adding that it was a good development. He said the government would continue to give the commission the desired support to move sports to greater heights. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Government Girls Secondary School, Doma, emerged over-

all winner with 12 medals in the female category, while Government Day Secondary School, Pantami, was second with seven medals. Government Day Pilot Secondary School came third with four medals. In the male category, Government Day Technical College, emerged first with seven medals, followed by Government Day Secondary School, Shehu Abubakar, with three medals while Government Science Secondary School, Gombe, came third with three medals also. NAN also reports that in the primary school section, Idi Primary School came tops with four medals and Central Primary School came second with three medals. Nasarawo Primary School came third with two medals.

Finalists emerge in GTB Lagos Principal’s Cup By Tony Nwanne EAMS that will compete for T the mouthwatering prize money in this season’s GTB

Players slug it out in the Milo Secondary School Basketball Championship

PHOTOS: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

Uduaghan sends football champions abroad Or coming tops in this FChannels year’s edition of the Kids Soccer competition, the Delta State Government has decided to take Ogedegbe Primary School, Warri, abroad for more training. Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, in line with his sports development programme, has also concluded plans to transform the school into an education cum special football nursery that would churn out stars. Uduaghan, who watched the team triumph in the final game of the competition alongside his Lagos State counterpart, Babatunde Fashola, also invited the winning school to the Governor’s Cup final in Warri last month. While on inspection of projects in the school during the week, Uduaghan expressed delight that the school, which produced the likes of Wilson Oruma, has been a breeding ground for footballers. Speaking to the students, he said: ‘’I want to thank you for making Warri proud when you won the Channels Cup, which was live on television. I decided to visit you during break time so as not to disrupt your school programme.

“You played good football during the competition. I followed you throughout and watched the final. You made us proud. I want to assure you that the government will encourage any one who wants to take football as a career. “We will expand your football field to make it a standard one, help in training the kids and boost the football tradition here. We will send the Channels Kids to a summer school abroad where they could train and also do

school work. It is part of the training and exposure that I hope will help in developing the kids.’’ The Governor promised to assist the parents of the players financially so that they would provide their children with good nutrition for growth. Headmistress of the school, Philomena Onoherhe, thanked the Governor for his leadership qualities and said that they have been inspired to do more in the area of sports and academics.

Lagos Principal’s Cup have emerged. In the semifinal matches played on Wednesday at the Onikan Stadium, CMS Girls Grammar School and Jubilee Senior Model triumphed to set up a final clash in the girls’ final. To berth in the final, Jubilee Senior Model defeated Ikotun Senior High School, while CMS Girls Grammar School beat Government Senior College 3-2. CMS Girls Grammar School team was at its best during the semi final game from the beginning to the end, with Adeyemi Aminat netting a brace to seal victory for her team. For Jubilee Senior Model, it was the beautiful display of Christiana Odia that took the team to the final.

Action from high jump event at a school sport championship

Milo Secondary Schools B’ball Championship dunks off Tuesday HE national finals of the T 15th edition of the Milo Secondary Basketball

President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Solomon Ogba hands over a present to an athlete

Championship dunks off at the sports hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos from July 2 to 6. At a press briefing to usher in the championship, the managing director of Nestle Nigeria, Dharnesh Gordhon, said the company was committed to grassroots sports development through the annual basketball championship. “We are proud that the championship has been able to engage young sporting talents across the country and it has played a key role in producing national and international basketball stars for Nigeria, while the bulk of players in the Nigeria Premier League have at one

time or another participated in the Milo Championship,” Gordhon said. He added: “Nestle firmly believes that sport is a wonderful platform for our youths to learn important values such as honesty, teamwork, fair play, respect and adherence to rules.” Gordhon said this year’s final would be played on a synthetic basketball floor, which is eco-friendly and reputed to have better shock absorption and strong rate of ball deflection. Defending champions, St. Jude Girls Secondary School, Amarata, Bayelsa State, is seeded in the girls’ category, but St. Augustine Seminary, Ezamgbo from Ebonyi State, who are the defending champions in the boys category, did not qualify for the finals.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28 , 2013

SPORTS 59

Serena marches on, avoids Wimbledon upset wave IVE-TIME champion, Serena Williams avoided the kind of early upset that has sent many top players tumbling out of Wimbledon, beating Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 yesterday to reach the third round. A day after Roger Federer led the list of big names to exit in the second round, the top-ranked Williams never looked in danger against the 100th-ranked French qualifier. Williams broke twice in each set to set up a match with Japan’s Kimiko DateKrumm, who at 42 became the oldest woman to reach the third round at Wimbledon in the Open era. Date-Krumm beat Alexandra Cadantu of

Romania 6-4, 7-5 to reach the third round for the first time since 1996, when she went to the semi-finals. ‘’She’s incredibly inspiring,’’ the 31-year-old Williams said. ‘’She’s so fit, she’s done so well. I’ve never played her before. I watched her play when I was super young, growing up.’’ Date-Krumm is the secondoldest woman to have won a match at Wimbledon after Martina Navratilova, who was 47 when she reached the second round in 2004. She took a 12-year break from tennis before returning in 2008. ‘’I don’t know how she’s able to do so well,’’ Williams said. Whether Williams can keep playing for another decade remains to be seen, but she

Li Na win puts Coach Rodriguez through torture O matter how much work N is done on the practice court, how much tactical input is given, how many motivational words are said, a tennis coach is simply powerless if their player self-destructs in front of their eyes. That was the case at Wimbledon yesterday as Carlos Rodriguez watched Chinese Li Na go walkabout in the second set before pulling herself together to beat Romanian Simona Halep 6-2 1-6 6-0 on a sun-bathed Court Two. The sixth seed, China’s first grand slam champion when she triumphed at the French Open in 2011, eased through the opening set but after sitting idle in her seat while Halep received treatment to her back, she fell apart. As each error flew off the strings of 31-year-old Li’s racket, Argentine Rodriguez, the man responsible for steering Belgian Justin Henin to number one in the world, sank a little deeper into his seat, a look of resignation on his face. “She didn’t manage that time in the right way,” Rodriguez told reporters, when asked at courtside if the stoppage had caused the meltdown that threatened to

Li Na

see another high-profile seed tumble out of the championships. “She lost her adrenaline. Li helped her opponent a lot to come back into the match. We have to continue to work on it. She has to be able to manage that. “She went out of the match a little bit but I’m happy that she recovered to produce some good tennis.” He said being a coach was as much about psychology as the mechanics of the strokes. “It all depends on her really. I’m happy but there’s a lot of work to be done. There were two different players there today in the first and the third sets compared to the second,” added Rodriguez, who scribbled notes during the match. “I’ll let her talk to me about the second set. She had the problem, I don’t know. For me it’s unacceptable. “It’s about her personality. She couldn’t accept that she wasn’t ready to play (after the break). She put the head down and then took half an hour to get going again. “She was fighting with herself, instead of her opponent. She’s an unbelievably nice human being and that’s what upset me a lot, that’s what upsets me,” he shrugged.

certainly doesn’t show any sign of slowing down in her 30s. The defending champion is looking for a sixth Wimbledon title, and saw her two main rivals - Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka - eliminated on Wednesday. The 19-year-old Garcia is seen as a potential future star, with a game especially suited for grass. But she couldn’t force a single break point against the American’s strong serve on Court 1. ‘’She’s incredibly promising, she does everything well,’’ Williams said. ‘’Her serve is amazing, so I knew it would be a good match on the grass.’’

Serena

How Federer, Sharapova lost on a wild day HE day began, oddly T enough, with word that Roger Federer’s orange-soled shoes did not conform to Wimbledon’s all-white dress code and would need to be replaced. It ended, shockingly enough, with Federer losing in the second round at the All England Club, his earliest Grand Slam exit in a decade. It ended his record streak of reaching at least the quarterfinals in 36 consecutive major tournaments. And in between? Oh, there was so much more to this unpredictable Wednesday, including four-time major champion, Maria Sharapova’s loss to a qualifi-

er, and the injuries that forced seven players to leave because of withdrawals or mid-match retirements, believed to be the most in a single day at a grand slam tournament in the 45-year Open era. In that group, second-seeded Victoria Azarenka; sixthseeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; Steve Darcis, the man, who stunned 12-time major champion Rafael Nadal in the first round; and 18th-seeded John Isner, who will forever be remembered for winning a 70-68 fifth set in the longest match ever, more than 11 hours. This time, Isner lasted all of 15 minutes, stopping in the third game after hurting

his left knee. Federer, Sharapova and Azarenka were three of seven players who have been ranked No. 1 that departed in a span of about 8 1/2 hours. They also were among 12 seeded players heading home. Most remarkable of all, of course, was Federer’s 6-7 (5), 76 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) loss to 116thranked Sergiy Stakhovsky in the day’s last match on Centre Court. Federer hadn’t been beaten this early at a Grand Slam tournament since the first round of the French Open on May 26, 2003, back before he owned a single trophy from any of the sport’s most important sites.

Now his collection is 17 total, with seven from Wimbledon, including last year’s. ‘’This is a setback, a disappointment, whatever you want to call it,’’ Federer said. ‘’Got to get over this one. Some haven’t hurt this much, that’s for sure.’’ In addition to the hard-tobelieve results and the slew of injuries, there was all manner of sliding and tumbling on the revered grass courts, prompting questions about whether something made them more slippery. ‘’Very black day,’’ summed up 10th-seeded Marin Cilic, who said a bad left knee forced him to pull out of his match.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

GolfWeekly

Nojeem Sofela (left); Dominic Andrew, Emos Korblah prepare to putt in a past tourney while Andrew’s caddie (right) is on hand to assist his principal

Uncertainty as PGAN awaits World Cup invitations Stories by Eno-Abasi Sunday HE entire process may be T shrouded in uncertainty, but the Professional Golfers’ Association of Nigeria says it is awaiting invitation for the 2013 World Cup of Golf qualifiers from its Asian Tour organisers. The International Federation of PGA Tours, an organisation

of the top professional golf tours in the world that sanctions the World Golf Championships and the World Cup of Golf, in concert with the State of Victoria and the International Golf Association last month announced that the 2013 World Cup of Golf will return to The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne,

Golf Nigeria magazine returns FTER disappearing from A the newsstands, for over two years, Golf Nigeria, a wholly golf magazine has made a return. The re-packaged and improved magazine, published by golf writer and member of the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF), Pius Anakali, is his contribution to the development and promotion of the game in the country. According to the publisher, the re-packaging and the improved outlook were necessitated by the need to meet the yearnings of high-profile golfers. Anakali informed that the magazine, which debuted in 2009, went off the newsstands owing to logistical problems, especially circulation. In addition to this, was the need to improve the content and quality of the publication. He added that with the comeback, the publication would do attain new heights, stress-

ing that an indication of what is to come can be gleaned from the current edition, which entered the market recently. The edition, a 60-page, allcolour magazine is circulating in major towns of Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Benin, Port-Harcourt, Asaba, Kaduna, Calabar, Uyo and all the golf clubs across the country. The publication will also be circulated in hotels, airports and other places of interest. Describing the magazine as advertiser’s first choice in reaching their targeted market, especially golfers, he promised that the every effort would be made to ensure that the magazine continues to soar. Anakali started out as reporter with Thisday Newspapers before joining Daily Independent Newspapers and later Metrosport. Though still in the mainstream sports journalism, venturing into publication, was another way of furthering his contributions to the development of the sport.

Victoria, Australia, and will be played from November 21 to 24. The qualification system for the event, the organisers said, is similar to that which will be employed in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The field will include 60 players (no cut), with eligibility taken from the Official World Golf Ranking. Also, up to four players can qualify, per country, if they are in the top 15 of the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), which is a system for rating the performance level of male professional golfers (although there is no rule prohibiting women from being ranked). Beyond number 15, up to a maximum of two players per country can qualify. However, if two or more players from a country qualify, then the country is eligible for team competition, with the top-two players

comprising the qualified team. The major difference between World Cup qualification and 2016 Olympic competition is that England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland will each be considered separate countries for the World Cup. At the Olympics, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compete as the United Kingdom and Ireland competes as a separate country. Added to this, the Olympic Games golf competition will not feature a team component. With the new qualification system in place, organisers of the World Cup have been silent on the World Cup qualifiers, which some countries, including Nigeria hitherto rode on in their search for a place at the world finals. But the Director of Operations of the PGAN, Femi Olagbenro, in an interview with The

Guardian stressed that there was no cause for alarm as Nigeria would be part of the Africa/rest of the world qualifier expected to hold sometimes in July. Olagbenro said that he has it on good authority that “Those that are not in the Official World Golf Rankings will have the opportunity of qualifying for the World Cup through the qualifiers to hold at a yet to be named venue. The World Cup will not be a balanced one without giving Africa and rest of the world the opportunity to try to qualify to play. “As I speak, we are awaiting out invites from the Asian Tour, which organises the qualifiers. Normally, the invites come in June, which we always consider quite late because this hampers preparations and sourcing for sponsorship,” he stated.

That notwithstanding, the Resident Professional at the Lakowe Golf and Country Estate Club, assured that the PGAN was ready to swing into action by way of preparing the country’s flag bearers for the event once they receive the invites. “We are ready and waiting for our invites to come since there is nothing we can do to hasten up the issuance of the documents. But once we receive them, we will immediately begin preparing our top two players on the Order of Merit. Two Ghanaians, Emos Korblah and Vincent Torgah currently lead the log. The highest placed Nigerians are Oche Andrew Odoh and James Bulus. This may, however, change depending on their performance at the Dr. (Mrs.) Ojerinde Memorial Golf Championship, billed for the Otukpo Golf and Country Club.

Heart Foundation to raise N25m for charity tourneys, advocacy HE Nigeria Heart T Foundation (NHF) is calling on corporate bodies and wellmeaning individuals to come to its aid as it kick-starts preparations for the annual NHF Charity Golf Tournament, which enters its 17th edition this year. According to chairman of the organising committee of the tournament, Joseph Abu, the foundation plans to raise a total of N25m for tournaments around the country as part of

efforts to propagate the ideals of NHF. The NHF is an affiliate of the World Heart Federation (WHF) which major objectives includes promotion of heart health, support of medical and scientific research into heart disease related issues. The heart foundation annually organises golf tournaments in Abuja, Lagos, Jos, Plateau State, Kano, Ibadan, Oyo State and Ada in Osun State and other courses around the coun-

try to encourage participation in activities that engender the development of healthy hearts as well as prevent cardiovascular diseases. This year’s tournaments, Abu stated, will tee-off at Ikoyi Club 1938 (golf section), Lagos on Saturday, July 13. In the days ahead, similar event will hold Kano, Abuja, Jos and Ibadan. He added that “Monies raised will be used to run these tournaments, part of which would be used for other advocacy pro-

grammes on the need for Nigerians to maintain healthy lifestyles.” In the recent past, the NHF through its partners, carried out general free health screening for participants and embarked on mobilising support for the introduction of Home School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFP) for children aged two to seven years, in kindergarten and public primary schools in five states in South-west Nigeria.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, June 28, 2013

TheGuardian

Friday, June 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Favour B. Afolabi Continued from yesterday LSO, the NDPHC has added 274 kilometres (km) of transmission lines to the national carrying capacity through the completion of six transmission projects namely, the 330KV DC Ajaokuta-Lokoja-Gwagwalada lines, 222Km; 330KV DC Ihovbor-Benin MainOshogbo Line A, 17km; 330KV DC PapalantoIkejaWest-Ayede line, 16KM; 330KV DC GanmoJebba-Oshogbo SC-Turn In/Turn Out Line, 12KM; 330KV DC Omotosho-Ikeja West Line, 5Km; and the two-kilometre, 132KV DC Ganmo-Ilorin-Oshogbo Turn In/Turn Out line. Furthermore, the NDPHC has strengthened the transmission capacity of 12 substations, built three new ones from the scratch and rehabilitated two across the country, with a cumulative capacity of 2,370MVA. In the distribution end of the NIPP project, the NDPHC also has a haul of 30 completed zonal projects as follows: Abuja zone two; Benin zone two; Eko zone nine; Ibadan zone six; Ikeja zone six; Kaduna zone three; and Jos/Yola zone two. And, as part of the NIPP, the NDPHC is overhauling the country’s transformer system by putting the huge 3000KVA-50000KVA low voltage range of transformers out of service and replacing them with hundreds of thousands complete, self-protective (CSP) high voltage transformers in the 25-50KVA range. Attached to two or three homes at the maximum, the CSPs are being deployed nationwide to end the phenomenon of plunging whole neighbourhood into darkness whenever the sole transformer serving several streets pack up, among other problems associated with the central transformer system. Although the country has been ill-famed for the wrong reasons, not many know that the NIPP is the single largest power project by any country in the world right now. It is a massive undertaking that is replacing the country worn radial infrastructure with a loop system that would ensure multiple sources of power supplies to consumers across the country. (D) State of gas supply to these plants: The World Bank has begun to provide Partial Risk Guarantees (PRGs) to support Nigeria’s gas sector to bring more electricity to consumers and one of such Gas Supply and Aggregation Agreement (GSAA) has just been executed for Egbin Power Plc/plant between the bank, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Chevron Nigeria Limited and Deutsche Bank. Under the 10-year GSAA, which is based on the industry template developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Chevron will provide gas to Egbin power plant for power generation. This will be the first time that Egbin power plant will be able to procure gas under long-term arrangements. The World Bank’s PRGs being provided under the IDA-financed Nigeria Electricity and Gas Improvement Project (NEGIP), is key to enabling long-term gas supply; the PRGs will be used to cover private lenders against the risk of a public entity failing to perform its payment or contractual obligations. The NEGIP PRGs will be instrumental to achieving financial closure of the Egbin GSAA transaction by providing payment security for Chevron for the supply of gas to the plant. These long-term contracts enabled by the PRG will also help to encourage investments in upstream gas production by international

The World Bank has begun to provide Partial Risk Guarantees (PRGs) to support Nigeria’s gas sector to bring more electricity to consumers and one of such Gas Supply and Aggregation Agreement (GSAA) has just been executed for Egbin Power Plc/plant between the bank, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, Chevron Nigeria Limited and Deutsche Bank.

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Politics of the power sector (2)

Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Power Minister

and domestic oil and gas companies; this will help to catalyse long-term private investments in Nigeria’s gas sector and underpin future investments in the power sector. Subsequent PRGs will support other gas supply agreements to these power plants even as the World Bank has already committed itself to a series of PRGs totaling $400 million, of which the one for Egbin is the first to be signed. This template of course will be eventually replicated across all the power plants. (E) State of the hydro power sources: The Federal Government is also investing heavily to boost generation through the large, medium and small Hydro plants with the total capacity of over 4,234mw being: Zungeru - 700mw; Mambilla 3050mw; Gurara second phase -360mw; Itsi - 40mw; Small Hydro plant - 84mw. (F) State of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA)/projects:

This agency which at inception inherited 2,269 projects from the Ministry of Power has successfully completed and inaugurated 323. A balance of 1,946 of these projects is at different levels of completion. The agency, on its own, awarded contracts for 158 rural electrification projects (113 grid projects and 45 solar-based projects). Sixty-five of these have been completed and inaugurated, while the remainder is at different levels of completion. This agency, which was suspended under the last administration under some controversial circumstances, has been resuscitated by Jonathan’s administration and currently has N10 billion-plus earmarked to it by the Ministry of Power within the 2013 budget to complete these projects. (G) State of the other sources of power: Another 1,896mw is being expected from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) such as Aba IPP, etc, while another 806mw is being

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OLOJA

ABC (ISSN NO 0189-5125)

Under the 10-year GSAA, which is based on the industry template developed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Chevron will provide gas to Egbin power plant for power generation. This will be the first time that Egbin power plant will be able to procure gas under longterm arrangements. expected from the Federal Government legal assets before the end of this year, 2013. There are also no fewer than 50 other Nigerian private IPPs registered by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) of different capacities that have either been connected to the national grid already or are being connected to it. (H) State of the sector before Goodluck Jonathan and his legacy: Then there is this group that would tell you that “President Jonathan should stop making excuses for his failures in this sector because PDP has been in office for 14 years and that he should not talk about the wasted years of the military when it comes to development of these infrastructure.” No one can change historical facts. Yes, Jonathan is a member of the PDP but he can only answer for his own time in office; and yes, if the military had invested in power as Jerry Rawlings, also a military man did in Ghana, or Hosni Mubarak, a maximum dictator did in Egypt, the incoming governments won’t be struggling with power as they are doing now and they would have been able to invest such funds elsewhere such as in the Education and Health sectors. So, these commentators should blame the likes of Buhari, IBB, Abacha, and Abdulsalam and their cronies that ran the nation for many years for not building critical infrastructures like power and others; these commentators are the same people that would begin to quote crazy figures that they believe the PDP has spent on the power sector for 14 years without telling the public that some of these 18 power companies being privatised; 11 NIPPs; five hydro plants; and other transmission grid improvements were built with these same funds. There is nowhere in the world where a current leader is blamed for the failures of his predecessors even though some of them belong to his political party. That logic cannot hold water in Nigeria – every President and his administration will always have specific successes and failures attached to it by history irrespective of how some commentators try to distort the facts. Obasanjo’s Administration will always be remembered for the telecommunications privatisation exercise that produced the MTN/Econet/Globacom/Etisalat, etc revolution in Nigeria that has now produced more than 100 million subscribers in more than 10 years, as well as communications revolution; the late Umar Yar’Adua government will always be remembered for the Niger Delta Amnesty programme that went on to provide an atmosphere of peace in the region which has allowed the nation to be able to produce 1.5 million barrel of oil per day. In the same way that Jonathan cannot lay claim to those successes, he can also not be blamed for the failures of those administrations. He will have to be judged by what he is able to achieve while in office. It is now very apparent that Jonathan would be claiming this trophy as regards the power sector – I just hope that when that happens, these same folks won’t come and say “ehn, he is not the one that did it, na Obasanjo and Yar’ Adua do the real work wey hin come enjoy” or “ehn, shebi it is the normal duty of government to provide services to its people, there is no big deal there, South Africa has had 48,000mw for more than 20 years already, wetin we dey celebrate.” CONCLUDED • Afolabi is president at Viva Real Estates Company and a consultant to several infrastructural development projects.