Fri 26 July 2013 by The Guardian Newspaper

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Friday, July 26, 2013

Vol. 30, No. 12,629

www.ngrguardiannews.com

N150

Veteran journalist, Odunewu, dies at 85 By Gregory Austin Nwakunor and Ajibola Amzat E was not a global media H baron like the late Robert Maxwell, the Czechoslovak war orphan who became a billionaire British gentleman. But Alade Odunewu was a colossus on the Nigerian media scene. The veteran journalist and ombudsman, until last night when he passed on at 85, was the chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA). He breathed his last at St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos, four months before his 86th birthday. Odunewu became famous for his satirical essays and his ‘Allah De’ column published in the Daily Times. Odunewu later compiled his newspaper articles and turned them into a book titled Winner Takes All. In his satire, he deeply reflected on a nation that lost it at the beginning. At the NMMA in Akure, some years back, Odunewu regretted that “Nigeria is unfortunately not working,” and declared, however, that Nigeria should be made to work as the world’s seventh most populous country was fast asleep. According to him, “the political class bleeds the country to suffocation. Approach to security is to say the least shoddy and unserious. There are no visible sinews of welfare. Greed and avarice pervade the corridors of power. The counCONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The late Odunewu. He wrote ‘Allah De’ for The Guardian on Sunday

National Assembly takes over Rivers legislature From Mohammed Abubakar and Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja ITH a unanimous adopW tion of all recommendations of its committee that investigated the crisis in Rivers House of Assembly, the Senate yesterday resolved to take over the responsibilities of the state legislature. The House of Representatives had already passed a motion

. Senate seeks redeployment of Mbu . Political tension over 2015, says Jonathan . Rift threatens democracy, says ACN . NBA urges president’s intervention for the take-over of the state legislature by the National Assembly. With the concurrence of the

Senate, the National Assembly has fully assumed the responsibilities of legislating for Rivers State as provided for

in Section 11 of the nation’s constitution. The upper chamber equally approved the recommenda-

tion that the state Police Commissioner, Joseph Mbu, be immediately redeployed. The Senate directed its President, David Mark, to mediate between the two parties in the crisis with a view to restoring peace to the House of Assembly. After the unanimous passage of the three prayers, Mark made it clear that the only objective of the Senate in wading into the Rivers Assembly crisis was to ensure a return to peace

Court orders PDP to suspend special convention - Page 2

and order. “Our appeal is that unless there is peace in Rivers State, there would be no development. We appeal that all those involved in the crisis should sheathe their swords and allow peace to reign,” he said. Mark pledged that in as much as the Senate wanted to be an integral part of the process of restoring peace to Rivers State, it would remain very neutral. He said the National Assembly would uphold and defend the constitution to any length, adding that impunity CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

2 NEWS

Court orders PDP to suspend special convention From Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja N Abuja High Court has A ordered the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to suspend its planned special convention until it has determined an action before it regarding the said event. In a ruling on an interlocutory application, Justice Suleiman Belgore ordered the PDP to “allow sanity to reign” and refrain from proceeding with the conduct or convocation of any form of convention “whether special or ordinary,” for the purpose of electing any officer pending the determination of a suit filed by some aggrieved members of the party. The ruling was based on an interlocutory application by plaintiffs in the substantive suit, who complained against the decision of the party to appoint some people to act in the place of members of the PDP’s National Working Committee (NWC) who resigned midway into the case that challenged

their election. The plaintiffs, Abba Yale, Yahaya Sule and Bashir Maigudu, are challenging the election of the former members of the PDP’s NWC. They prayed for an order voiding the election of the former NWC members in view of a report by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which faulted the exercise on the ground that the process was in breach of the party’s constitution. But Belgore refused the applicants’ prayer for an interlocutory injunction nullifying the appointment of acting members of the NWC and restraining the party’s National Chairman, Bamanga Tukur, from performing any of the body’s functions pending the determination of the case. The judge, in refusing both prayers, held that they were not part of the issues placed before the court for determination in the originating summons. He faulted the decision of the

PDP to take certain steps capable of foisting a state of helplessness on the court. He held that, having submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the court, the PDP was obligated to await the verdict in the case. The judge held that “it is recklessness of some high degree” for the PDP to have taken steps that could affect the case before the court.” “One will expect the PDP to allow sanity to reign and tarry a while to await the outcome of this case,” the judge said. Earlier, Belgore refused a preliminary objection by the PDP seeking the dismissal of the case on the ground that events had overtaken it. The party had argued that the resignation of members

of its NWC, whose election the substantive suit was challenging, had rendered the suit worthless. But the judge held otherwise ruling that there were still live issues to be determined in the case. Belgore held that the issues left to be determined included whether the PDP acted legally, in the light of the provision of Article 3 of its constitution, in the appointment of its national officers; and whether the court could nullify the said appointment and compel the party to conduct a fresh convention. The judge held that it was immaterial that the NWC members had resigned, and that the court would still determine the issues since

their offices were still in existence. Also yesterday, the judge granted an application by Tukur seeking to be made a party in the case.

The judge has adjourned to July 29 for the determination of the substantive issues and hearing of an amended originating summons filed by the plaintiffs.

Tukur

Alade Odunewu passes on at 85 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 try must be made to work and work creditably. Too many university graduates are chasing jobs that are just not there.” Alade Odunewu, who was at a time editor-in-chief of the AlliedNewspapers, joined the Daily Times and began writing the “Allah De” column after Peter ‘Pan’ Enahoro was “kicked upstairs” as some of his not-too-admiring colleagues said at the time. You knew that you were in the hands of a different person; different in style and temperament and concerns. Odunewu permitted only an outline sketch of his face to appear on the column, simply called “Allah De.” The sketch showed him in a contemplative pose, and wear-

ing a skullcap. He was one person, who never allowed religion to interfere with his interaction with the world and what he was doing. The closest he came to volunteering something about himself was during one of the religious upheavals that have now become endemic in Nigeria, when he revealed his wife is a Catholic. His own identity as a serious Muslim was wellknown, but you could not guess it from his writing. Canonised as the dean of Nigerian satirical writing by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, satire was the stuff of his work. As Dr. Tunji Dare described him, he was “Master of the well-placed innuendo, and of what the British call damnation by feint praise.” He continued: “Odunewu

called attention to the follies and foibles of his era without wounding the vanities of the men and women of the moment.” Odunewu distinguished himself as a great Nigerian journalist who once served as the president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), an association he co-founded. When Nigeria in the 80s/90s was contemplating the setting up of the regulatory body for the print media industry, he automatically became a strong voice campaigning for self-regulatory frame-work, and when eventually National Press Council birthed in 1990, he automatically became the pioneer chairman. Odunewu was educated at St. John’s School, Aroloya, St. Cyprian, Port Harcourt, New

Bethel College, Onitsha and the Regent Street Polytechnic, London. He started his career in journalism in 1950 as a subeditor with the Daily Service. He later became an editor with the Daily Service. In 1956, he became the managing director of the Nigerian Tribune and later worked with the Allied Newspapers of Nigeria as the editor- in-chief. In 1964, he moved to the Times group where he became the editor of the Daily Times, and rose to become Editor-in-Chief of the Times Publications. He served as a commissioner for tourism in Lagos State in 1973 and was later a member of the Federal Electoral Commission. Publisher of Vanguard, Mr. Sam Amuka-Pemu told The Guardian last night that “Alhaji Odunewu was a fine fellow.”

Senate seeks redeployment of Mbu over Rivers’ crisis CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 from anybody would not be tolerated. He warned against the attempt of the minority group of lawmakers to impeach the Speaker of Rivers House of Assembly, pointing out that if such an intention existed in the mind of anybody, it should be buried. On a different occasion, President Goodluck Jonathan admitted the existence of tension in the polity, attributing it to the race for the 2015 general elections. “The political tension in the country is mainly built around the 2015 elections which should not be the case. It is quite disturbing. The year 2015 is still far off. I expect politicians to focus on the business of governance now. We must do what we were elected to do first. We will do our best to curb the overheating of the polity,” he said. The President also said that he had asked for a detailed briefing on the security situation in Rivers State and assured a delegation of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that visited him that all necessary action would be taken to ensure adherence to the rule of law in the state. Addressing other issues

raised by the delegation, Jonathan said that his administration was implementing the right policies, programmes and projects to accelerate economic development and boost employment in the country. He called for a little more patience from Nigerians, saying that the results of his administration’s efforts in areas such as electricity supply would become clearer in due course. Jonathan also assured the NBA that his administration would do all that it could towards the positive reformation and strengthening of Nigeria’s judicial system, including the resolution of issues related to increased funding for the judiciary. He accepted the NBA’s invitation to open the association’s Yearly General Conference at Tinapa, Cross River State, next month, promising to personally honour the invitation, in keeping with the new found spirit of co-operation and interaction. Earlier, the NBA has called for the direct intervention of Jonathan in the Rivers’ crisis. The NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN), said the Rivers crisis had become an albatross to the political development of the country. .

On his team were three former presidents, O.C.J. Okocha, Thompson Okpoko as well Chief Priscilla Kuye, while Mr. Ibrahim Eddy Mark was the only former national scribe on the delegation. Petroleum Resources Minister, Deziani Alison-Madueke, was also on hand to brief the meeting which held behind closed-doors. Reacting to some statements credited to Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi yesterday, the state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said that the governor should be investigated. The party was reacting to uncomplimentary remarks Amaechi allegedly made about Jonathan while fielding questions from a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in London. In a statement by Jerry Needam, Special Adviser on Media to the state Chairman of PDP, Felix Obuah, he condemned Amaechi’s efforts at deriding the President, pointing out that it was in a similar manner that he (Amaechi) ignited the crisis in the state. Meanwhile, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has accused the Presidency of being too clever by half with its claim that the Rivers crisis is

not a threat to Nigeria’s democracy. According to the ACN, the crisis is not just a threat to the nation’s democracy but also to the peaceful co-existence of its people. In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the Rivers’ crisis looked ‘normal’ to the Presidency because it was the one behind it. ‘’Let us call a spade a spade: What is happening in Rivers State is not normal. What is normal in five members of a 32-strong House seeking to remove the Speaker supported by the remaining members? What is normal in the police commissioner of a state labelling the state’s governor a dictator and supporting renegade lawmakers to stir trouble? What is normal in hired thugs stoning visiting governors from another part of the country? ‘’Should it not be clear to the Presidency what would have happened if any of the four northern governors had been mortally injured in the attack on them by the hired thugs in Port Harcourt? In any case, is it not common knowledge that most of Nigeria’s political crises have originated from a state or regional crisis?’’ it queried. .

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

News Former Reps demand benefits From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja LMOST 20 years after the Third Republic was truncated by the military under the then Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, members of the House of Representatives during that period have demanded the payment of their entitlements for the period between November 1992 and 1996, when they were expected to complete their four year term. Abacha sacked the Chief Ernest Shonekan- led Interim Government and the National Assembly in 1993. The lawmakers, who have regrouped under the umbrella of Third Republic House of Representatives Forum, noted that their demand for the payment of their entitlements was based on the fact that they were sacked by an illegal military government.

‘How to check terrorism’ By Bertram Nwannekanma ORMER President of the FMustapha Court of Appeal, Justice Akanbi yesterday solicited for a collective solution to the Boko Haram insurgency. The former chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practice and Related Offence Commission (ICPC), who was the chairman of the 9th yearly lecture of the Lagos law firm Aelex in Lagos, said dialogue remained the solution to the menace as members of the group were not true Moslems. Expounding the lecture theme: “In God’s name; Politics, Religion and Economic Development”, the jurist said those fanning the embers of violence were not true Moslems because Islam is a religion of peace and Nigerians whether Moslems or Christians have stayed together for a long time and should work hard to remain so.

NEMA seeks pro-active measures for emergencies From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo HE National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has emphasised the need for the nation to embrace proactive measures in mitigating the impact of emergencies in the country. NEMA, which engaged the services of the various security outfits - Red Cross, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, fire service men, media men - in a workshop to sensitise them and the public on how to conduct emergency evacuation drills, noted that embarking on proactive measures would go a long way in minimising the pains of some of the unforeseen emergencies.

House Leader, House of Representatives, Mulikat Akande Adeola (left); little Aminat Ishola carrying a placard; member, Concern Women of Nigeria, Chief Titi Oluwatoyin and President, ConPHOTO: LADIDI LUCY ELUKPO cern Women of Nigeria, Chief Nike Oriola during the women’s visit to the National Assembly to oppose underage marriage in Abuja … yesterday.

Army buries 15 soldiers killed by Boko Haram, others From Mohammed Abubakar, Karls Tsokar (Abuja) and AlemmaOzioruva Aliu (Benin-City) S if set for military parade, A 15 caskets, caps, freshly dug graves, wheelbarrows loaded with red sand and the remains of 15 officers and men of the Nigerian Army killed in the line of duty, after the traditional 21 gun salute, were yesterday buried. Meanwhile, the Army yesterday said it strongly believed in the unity of the country despite security challenges facing her. The assurance is coming in the heels of the release of a Lebanese attached to Setraco Construction Company, Toni Yosse who was kidnapped by gunmen three weeks ago in Benin City, the Edo State capital. In a related development, President Goodluck Jonathan has commended the Nigerian Diaspora community for the yearly remittance plowed into the country’s economy, which has continued to grow every

year, even as he assured them of security for their investments. Two majors, Abdullahi Kanoma and A.T Fambiyi, one Staff sergeant, two corporals, four lance corporals, one lance bombardier and five privates of the Nigeria Army were the ones honoured and buried. President Jonathan represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, said the calling of a soldier “is a hazardous job and

• Jonathan, Ihejirika, others pay tributes • Abducted foreigner released moments like this are bound to come” but we must not loss focus on the bigger picture and put our acts together and defeat the enemy”. These “gallant soldiers paid the supreme price in order for the country to remain one. We have continued to improve

capacity of our security agencies to tackle the current challenges of insecurity in the country, posed by insurgency. The burial today is an indication that we are winning the war”, he added. The Chief of Army Staff Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika while

commending the devotion of the officers to duty and high sense of responsibility, said “for paying the supreme sacrifice, these courageous officers and soldiers have made us and indeed every Nigerian proud. Undeniably, the gallantry and high sense of professionalism displayed by these gentlemen have contributed to the restoration of peace and normalcy to the Northern part of Nigeria.”

Presidency not north’s birthright, says forum From Saxone Akhaine, Northern Bureau Chief ISCORDANT tunes may have began to echo in the North over the desirability or otherwise of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the 2015 Presidency, as members of the Arewa Patriotic Front (APPFRONT), yesterday said that the nation’s leadership was not the birthright of the region. According to the group, the

North had its chances of ushering growth and development in Nigeria when their leaders occupied the helms of affairs in the country for almost 40 years, but said they filtered away the opportunity to write their names in gold. At a press conference in Kaduna, addressed by the forum’s National Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Mordecai, he said that the Presidency should be opened to capable Nigerians

from all the geopolitical zones, regardless of ethnic or religious inclination. He lamented the poor leadership exhibited by Northern leaders when they were in authority in the country, but however, praised the contribution and visionary leadership of the late Sarduna Ahmadu Bello to national development. He stressed: “They (leaders) have refused to learn and

practice the transparent character of the late Sardauna. Instead, they became insensitive to the plight of the masses of the North, self-centred, egocentric, tribal champions who have finally graduated to religious bigots, thereby making adherents of Christianity and Islam enemies of one another. We never had the Maitatsines, Yan Kallaris and Boko Haram to mention few in the days of the late Premier.”

Ex -poly rector loses suit against The Guardian By Gowon Akpodonor DELTA State High Court, Warri has dismissed a libel suit instituted by former Rector of Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe, Oghara, Prof. Timi Akporhonor, against The Guardian Newspaper. The claimant, Akporhonor, had gone to court over a story published by The Guardian on the crisis that led to the closure of the Polytechnic in May 2011, claiming N2 billion

damages among other things, in respect of the said publication. In a judgment delivered recently by Justice M. Umukoro of Delta State High Court 1, Warri, the court dismissed the action in favour of The Guardian on the ground that the claimant failed to prove that the publication was false. In an interview on the judgment, The Guardian General Legal Counsel, David O. Faye-

mi, commended the court for what he termed “a well considered reasoning and the regularity of the court sitting for the duration of the case.” Fayemi also praised the professionalism of the counsel to both parties in the matter for the early conclusion of the suit as against spate of indiscriminate adjournment prevalent in some cases. According to him, the judgment was concluded early

because “both parties cooperated with the court in speedy adjudication and dispensation of the matter.” In related development, an Ibadan High Court presided over by Justice A.A. Aderemi has dismissed a suit instituted against three parties, including The Guardian, over an advertisement on ice block cooling machine. The claimant, Incorporated Trustees of Ice Block Machine

and Fabricator Sellers Association, had instituted the suit against The Guardian and two others seeking N10 million damages for the publication, which it claimed was wrongful to its reputation. In the judgment delivered recently the court said: “Having considered all, I hold that this court does not have jurisdiction to entertain this suit and the suit is accordingly dismissed.”

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

4 NEWS

Install meters or stop new tariff, NERC orders DISCOs From Emeka Anuforo, Abuja ITH a tacit verdict that many of the distribution companies were violating the metering regulations, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ordered concerned electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) to commence metering the consumers who have paid with immediate effect. Giving them a 14-day ultimatum to submit a list of all customers who have paid for

Group urges caution over insecurity

Demands list of unmetered customers meters since January 2011, NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, in a letter to the chief executives of the companies, warned that “any DISCO that does not comply with this new directive will be barred from collecting the new electricity tariff. In that letter, dated July 19, the commission expressed utter dismay that all DISCOs have been in complete violation of the order as it relates to customers who paid within

the given time-frame without being metered, noting that “NERC views this conduct as totally unresponsive, and undermining the effort of the reform.” Earlier in the year, NERC had issued an order on Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI), which was its response to the lingering issue of non-issuance of meters by DISCOs. It enables interested customer to advance money to the elec-

Ezekwesili, others urge resistance to child marriage law

By Babatunde Oso HE Association of Safety Practitioners and Professionals (ASPPro) has appealed that all hands must be on deck to curb the rising cases of insecurity in the country. National Coordinator of ASPPro, Lanre Ajegbomogun, in an interview with The Guardian yesterday, said the country is going through a trying period, hence, the need for all to exercise utmost restraint, so as not to plunge the nation into anarchy. Ajegbomogun especially urged politicians to seek civilised and decent means of resolving their differences, devoid of violence and confrontation so as not to rubbish the achievements of the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, who has performed creditably well up till now.

made by the companies, and this compelled NERC to demand for performance reports from the DISCOs. Eight of the 12 DISCOs submitted reports that fell far short of the requirements of NERC. The rest did not submit any report of how they spent the money,” NERC noted. NERC further warned the DISCOs that failure to comply with the 14-day ultimatum would also compel the commission to institute enforcement procedures that might lead to the removal of their chief executives.

tricity distribution company and in return, be given electricity credit until he or she recovers the cost of the meter. The CAPMI order, among others, stipulates that all DISCOs forward to NERC the data of all customers who paid for meters but had not been supplied. Moreover, information from NERC indicates that in 2011, a N2.9 billion metering intervention fund was made available to the companies with a view to closing the unacceptable metering gap. However, “one year after, no appreciable progress was

From Bertram Nwannekanma, Tunde Akinola (Lagos), and John Okeke, Omotola Oloruntobi (Abuja) ORE aggrieved citizens M and opinion moulders have given bite to the protests against the Senate’s support for child-marriage, with the former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, and wife of Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Bisi urging Nigerians to continuously engage the National Assembly until the “obnoxious” clause is deleted in the new constitution. Speaking in Lagos yesterday at a stakeholders’ meeting on the 1999 Constitution amendment as it relates to women and girl-child’s right, organised by Women Arise (WA),

Ezekwesili said that citizens must come to the rescue of the Nigerian girl-child by lending their voices against any law that infringes on her fundamental human rights. Also speaking at the forum, the wife of Ekiti State Governor, Bisi Fayemi, emphasised the need for the constitution to domesticate international treaties, noting that the efforts to sign them would amount to nothing if they are not in the constitution. On her part, President of WA, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, commended the constituents of Senator Ayo Akinyelure in Ondo Central for protesting against his support for the law. However, the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Zainab Maina, has called on members of the Na-

tional Assembly to expunge the provisions of Section 29, which guarantees that underaged girls can renounce their citizenship, stating that it is discriminatory. She told journalists yesterday in Abuja that it contravenes all international conventions and protocols on the rights of the child, which Nigeria ratified. She added that from technical and legal advice, Section 29 4b contradicts 29(4), and can cause misrepresentation in law and practice. Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned the Senate to explain why it chose to waste time “undermining children’s internationally recognised human rights” rather than improving the living

conditions of millions of Nigerians. In a letter to the Senate President, David Mark, signed by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organisation stated its concern that discussions in the Senate have failed to entrench progressive Bill of Rights that would recognise citizens’ access to water, healthcare, education and electricity as fundamental rights. It added: “We see the Nigerian Constitution as a mirror that should show protection from shelters being demolished, from being chased out of school or hospital queues; guarantee economic and social rights, help to address the injustice and systemic marginalisation of millions of Nigerians, and denial of access to basic necessities of life.”

Gulf of Guinea RMAC begins in Calabar July 29 From Anietie Akpan, Calabar HE first Gulf of Guinea ReT gional Maritime Awareness Capability (RMAC) conference will hold from July 29 to 31, 2013 in Calabar, Cross River State, with intent to ensure the safety of Nigeria’s maritime domain and keep it from illegalities. Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu, told newsmen yesterday that the conference would give a complete maritime domain awareness of Nigeria’s maritime environment, including the Gulf of Guinea, and the need to protect it. According to him, the expanded economic activities in the Gulf of Guinea have given rise to renewed interest within the region. And, as bright as the future might seem, “there are numerous threats in the Gulf of Guinea that would adversely impact the present and future development of the region.” Such threats, he said, include sea robbery and piracy, crude oil theft and illegal bunkering, unreported and unregulated fishing, drug and human trafficking as well as proliferation of small arms and light weapons. Therefore, the conference being organised by the Nigerian Navy, in collaboration with the United States (U.S.) Office of Security Co-operation (OSC), intends to improve maritime awareness of the GoG and enlist memberstates co-operation in intelligence gathering and information sharing. .

TheGuardian TheGuardian SATURDAY, July 27, 2013

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Conscience Nurtured by Truth

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SPECIAL REPORT: Protecting The Children From Adults: How can children be protected from child trafficking, early marriage, slavery and other anti-social engagements? The Guardian went to town, to bring you views of experts. A must Read! SPECIAL INTERVIEW:

Maitama Sule, Elder Statesman Calls For A Revolution, But Not A Violent One. Hear him: “When Murtala came into power, within six months he started giving this country a sense of direction. Did he kill anybody? When Buhari was in power, in eighteen months, he instilled discipline into the society, he raised the moral tone of the society, he fought corruption and he was giving the country a sense of direction, did he kill anybody? So you do not have to kill, once you have a good leader, who will lead by example, people will follow and the society will change”

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THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Oyo denies plan to ban motorcyclists From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan OVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo yesterday assured commercial motorcyclists in the state that his administration has no plan yet to ban them, saying doing that now would increase the unemployment rate. He, however, disclosed that they would gradually be phased out by replacing the motorcycles with tricycles. The governor, who stated this during a chat with reporters in Ibadan, noted that presently okada business is the single largest employer of labour and banning them may throw more engaged hands into the labour market.

NEWS | 5

Reps probe Abuja land swap scheme From Terhemba Daka, Abuja PPARENTLY disturbed by A alleged irregularities, the House of Representatives has adopted a motion, which sought to investigate the Abuja Land Swap Scheme and other Mass Housing programmes recently introduced by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). Consequently, the Chamber

yesterday, without debate resolved to constitute an adhoc committee to investigate all cases of land allocation by the authorities during the period of 2010 till date to ascertain the propriety and other alleged sundry abuses that border on racketeering. The panel is expected to report back to the House within four weeks. The decision, according to the parliament, is predicated

on the need to identify beneficiaries and their competences as claimed, which the House said, was crucial to the realisation of the goals of the scheme. Introducing the motion under matters of urgent importance, the sponsor, Ibrahim Tukur el-Sudi, noted that the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, has in the discharge of his duties, approved various initiatives

such as the Mass Housing and Land Swap Schemes, under which several hectares of land have been allocated to corporate entities, including commercial and residential plots, to both corporate institutions and individuals. El-Sudi said some of the corporate entities who are beneficiaries of the huge allocations are either not incorporated by CAC, or have same directors with different

Ayo Obe loses father R. Layi Ogunsola, a legal M practitioner and father of human rights activist, Ayo Obe, is dead. He died on Friday, July 19, 2013, in Ibadan. He was an Old Boy of Government College Ibadan, and an early and committed member of the Action Group (AG) and later, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). He was founder of the Blood of Jesus Christ Movement, which ministers to barren couples, and this took him to all parts of Nigeria in his later years. He will be buried in Ibadan on the August 30, 2013. He is survived by Mrs. Folasade Ogunsola, Mrs. Subuola Ogunsola and his children, Dr. Abiola Ogunsola, Mrs. Ayo Obe, Mr. Layi Ogunsola, Mr. Jimi Ogunsola, Mr. Boladale Ogunsola, Mr. Babatola Ogunsola and Mr. Babatunde Ogunsola, as well as many grandchildren.

The late Ogunsola

addresses as promoters, which he said, is suggestive of land racketeering. The lawmaker further said that examples abound of shadowy organisations that have leveraged on similar schemes to grab land in the FCT like the Malaysian Gardens allocated on an entire district, which remains undeveloped till date. “The identities of the beneficiaries are shrouded in secrecy, underpinning the fact that the beneficiaries do not have requisite experience of property development elsewhere and may not have the financial muscle to realise the objectives that informed the allocation of expensive acreages,” he added. The umbrella body of the indigenous people of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja on Tuesday said it plans to carry out a one million-man protest march to the National Assembly to protest the usurpation of their ancestral land by the Federal Government. The angry aborigines, under the aegis of Original Inhabitants Development Association of Abuja (OIDA), in a statement, have also expressed plans to “institute a legal case against the Federal Government of Nigeria to challenge the forceful usurpation of our ancestral lands through Section 297 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) without prompt payment of compensation or due process as outlined in Section 44 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).”

Activists plan mass action in Rivers, groups trade accusations From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt ORMER Nigerian Bar AssoFOlisaciation (NBA) president, Agbakoba, radical lawyer, Femi Falana and other activists will next Tuesday storm Port Harcourt for a one-day mass action in defence of democracy in Rivers State. The peaceful rally, which is to be organised by the Niger Delta Civil Society Coalition (NDCSC), is intended to be a day of action against impunity, intolerance and politically instigated violence against the people and the Police Commissioner who they want to leave the state. NDCSC Chairman, Anyakwee Nsirimovu, told journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday that the coalition has watched Rivers gradually sliding towards anarchy, following what can best be described as internal political processes within the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) chapter in the state. Those listed to address rally are Emma Ezeazu of Alliance for Democracy; Chidi Odinkalu, National Human Rights Commission; Festus Okoye, Human Rights Monitor, Kaduna; Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, Campaign for Democracy; Innocent Chukwuma, CLEEN Foundation; and a host of others. Besides, the House of Assembly, has castigated the Police for summoning only its Majority Leader, Chidi Lloyd, to Abuja, while other lawmak-

ers involved in the July 9, 2013, fight at the state parliament walk freely in Port Harcourt. The Deputy Speaker, Mr. Leyii Kwanee, said it was heartrending that Police headquarters has failed to invite Mr. Evans Bipi, Victor Ihunwo, Martins Amaewhule, Michael Chinda and Kelechi Nwogu. Also, there are indications that the Police may charge Lloyd to court over Assembly fracas or allow him to return to Port Harcourt today. His lawyer, Mr. Emenike Etebe, told The Guardian that since Lloyd had been with the Police for over 48 hours, they might either charge him to court or grant him bail to return to Port Harcourt. Meanwhile, the state PDP chapter loyal to Governor Chibuike Amaechi has described as unfortunate, improper and uncalled for, a statement by the Felix Obuah-led faction criticising the visit of five northern governors to former military Heads of State Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar. A statement by the Publicity Secretary to the G. U. Ake faction, George UkwuomaNwogba, maintained that the criticism of the governors’ action was “solely the view of the Nyesom Wike backed Obuah-led minute minority of the PDP in Rivers and not a representation of the majority of Rivers PDP and its people.” The Obuah faction had on

Tuesday described the five governors as desperadoes who are looking for exit plans as their tenures draw to an end. It said the visit was not borne out of genuine interest to resolve the crisis in Rivers State but to fuel it. A statement issued in Port Harcourt by Mr. Jerry Needam, Special Adviser on Media to factional State Chairman (Obuah), wondered why the five governors who are now “patriots” of democracy cannot remove the logs in their eyes before removing the speck in other people’s eyes. The statement noted that the Boko Haram menace, underdevelopment, hunger and disease, unemployment and deplorable poor standard of education in the North were enough to engage the five governors more than the internal crisis in Rivers State. Meanwhile, a group, Niger Delta Professionals, has condemned solidarity visits of some governors to Amaechi as divisive and meant to fuel the volatile situation in the state. Mr. Godwin Izomo and Mr. Andrew Ugbovoro, the group’s national coordinator and secretary respectively, wondered why such visits did not take place when floods and other disasters hit the Niger Delta and elsewhere in Nigeria. The group accused the ACN and APC as the brains behind the governors’ actions. The Obuah faction’s state-

ment went on: “How can any serious minded governor not be worried that the average northerner today lives in grave fear of insecurity and poverty and yet these busybody governors are wasting tax payers’ money, flying on chartered executive jets to stoke trouble in Rivers State, noting that the state of emergency declared in three states in the North is a huge dent on their credibility to govern well and this is why they find Amaechi as an ally in failure,” he said. “We believe these governors have ulterior motive in their seeming concern in the Rivers State matter involving their colleague, Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who we also believe, has consistently concocted lies for the consumption of those who care to listen instead of concentrating on the challenging task of governing the state. “Amaechi must be told to stop wasting public funds on his personal pursuit for power.” The party added that dramatising the issue and blowing it out of proportion would not help in resolving it, stressing that the five governors, by crying more than the bereaved, have only shown that they are interested in using Amaechi to destablise the PDP and weaken Jonathan’s chances if he decides to run for the Presidency in 2015. It added: “It is most regrettable that these governors are

abusing the sensibilities of Rivers people who are aggrieved over the recklessness and misappropriation of their resources by their government. “While we hold the two former military administrators in high esteem, it is also our candid opinion that they should not allow themselves to be used by these gold-digging governors who have abandoned their primary responsibilities of governing and ensuring security of lives and property in their states for meddling in an internal Rivers State crisis. “We appeal to well-meaning northern elders to call their governors to order to desist from fueling the political situation in Rivers State.” But Ake said: “It is clear that the Obuah faction, which is mainly made up of opposition politicians and disgruntled returnees to the PDP, are bent on destroying the party as portended by their actions and ill-advised statements.” The statement queried the audacity of the Obuah group to link the governors’ visit to the former presidents to Amaechi and Rivers State, describing the group as “the one and only busy bodies commenting on issues of non-relevance to them.” It went on: “What is wrong with the governors meeting with the former Presidents? We all know that the PDP is currently bedeviled with many problems, which if left unresolved, could destroy the party. These governors

should be lauded for seeking a solution to the problems of the PDP and the country at this time.” “They are the ones with an ulterior motive to destabilise and destroy the party, consistently feeding lies to the public, forgetting that the Nigerian public is now more enlightened and can differentiate the truth from all their silly and childish propaganda. “This latest action by the Wike-backed, Obuah-led group in Rivers portrays them as ‘no good’ backbiters whose covert aim is ultimately seeking the downfall of the PDP. “It also rouses suspicion and, in fact, portrays that they were behind the thugs posing as protesters who attacked the northern governors when they visited Rivers State. “How can any sane person attack visiting governors or criticise their attempt to find solutions to the troubles and issues affecting the party.” The statement urged the Presidency to urgently halt the activities of the ‘masquerading’ Obuah group to ensure peace and unity in the party. It added: “We again call on President Goodluck Jonathan, the PDP Board of Trustees and the national leadership of the party to call these people (the Wike backed Obuah-led faction of Rivers PDP) to order, as their actions would only foster division.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

6 | NEWS

Court nullifies Bauchi panel’s report From Ahmed Mohammed, Bauchi BAUCHI State High Court A presided over by the Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Mohammed Zango, has nullified the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the government to investigate activities of ministries and parastatals between 1999 to May 2007. Justice Zango voided the commission’s report yesterday when he ruled in a suit filed by Alhaji Lawal Baraza who was asked by the commission to refund more than N3.6 billion. Baraza challenged the decision of the commission and the government white paper that indicted him and asked the court to quash them. In his ruling, Justice Zango said “an order for certiorari be and is hereby granted, quashing the proceedings of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the management of some ministries, parastatals and extra ministerial departments of the public service of Bauchi State from May 1999 to May 2007.”

Abia Assembly passes health insurance bill From Gordi Udeajah, Umuahia EMBERS of Abia State M House of Assembly have passed the state Health Insurance Bill and three others, and thereafter proceeded on their 2013 vacation. They will resume on September 23, 2013. Other bills passed into law or amended by the lawmakers are Removal of Obstruction and Abandoned Vehicles on Abia Roads and Highways Law, State Basic Environmental Law (amendment), Local Government Law (amendment) and College of Nursing and Midwifery Law. In the case of the amended Local Government Law, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Allwell Asiforo Okere, who is also the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, told journalists that the amendment only added a clause to include the judiciary and legislature in the state and Local Government Joint Account to enable judiciary and legislature projects be accommodated.

Chief Librarian, Lagos State Library Board, Taiwo Oladipupo (left); Public Affairs Adviser, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Clement Iloba and Lagos Public Relations Officer, Julius Berger, Suzan Obi during the presentation of new books to public libraries by Julius Berger Nigeria Plc in Lagos … yesterday.

Police compensate families of dead officers, others From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City AMILIES of officers and Fin men of the Nigeria Police Zone 5 who died or became incapacitated while carrying out their official duties have been compensated by the Inspector General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, under the Nigeria Police Group Personal Accident Insurance Scheme. The beneficiaries received sums ranging from N100,000 to N1,000,000. Making the presentation on behalf of Abubakar, AIG Hashiru Argungu said the beneficiaries were drawn from Edo, Delta and Bayelsa states that make up the zone. He urged them to make good use of the money.

He said a total of 27 beneficiaries were “for accident which they suffered in the course of duty and for some who died in line of duty.” “On behalf of the Inspector General of Police, I want to enjoin the beneficiaries to make proper use of the money so that the purpose for which it was meant will not be defeated. This token is to appreciate the officers and men affected and to cushion the effect of the accident involving those still serving and for those who are dead, a succour to their families. The current police management team will continue to ensure that welfare of the officers and men remain paramount so as to elicit the desired commitment to duty,” Abubakar said.

By Nkechi Onyedika, Abuja ORMER Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, former Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, Gen. Ike Nwachukwu (rtd) and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu are among dignitaries expected to grace the 72nd Ken SaroWiwa Memorial Lecture billed for August 27, 2013 at the Nigerian Institute International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos. The event being organised by the Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF), Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM), Middle

the choice of a new director as the outgoing Director, Prof. Samuel Aje leaves office on July 31 after being in office since August 2003. The lecturers, who throughout the 10 years of the tenure of Aje disagreed with him on virtually all issues pertaining to the college, argued that the title of Director is the one used in the university system and this should apply to the French village which they described as an inter-university centre, more so because the French village is expected to be a part of the university system and not just a parastartal of a particular ministry. In a bid to forestall any attempt by the outgoing director to overstay his tenure, the lecturers also demanded that government

should quickly appoint an acting director since the process in appointing a new substantive one will take some time, whereas the current director is expected to leave within the next one week. The absence of a governing council and enabling law

have also been affecting negatively administration of the village. To rectify this anomaly, the lecturers called on the government to urgently appoint a governing council and put in place an enabling Act to legalise the existence of the institution which has been in existence for over 25

From Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri TILL dissatisfied with the SConstituency declaration of Imo Oguta result as inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Imo State Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Marshal Okafor Anyanwu, on

HE Lions Club intends to T carry on its tradition of improving the lives of the people in the community by creating primary health centres in a prime of Lagos, setting up of an institute for youth training, development and empowerment, and constructing multipurpose buildings where they are

needed as well as developing a well cultured and structured lions administration and management. Briefing the press on the theme “Our Dream, Our Future” for the year yesterday at Fastmail Limited, Xerox Building, Fatai Atere Way, Matori Lagos, the District Governor, (2013-2014), Mr. Yinka Bolarinwa, enumerated some of the projects he intends to

philosophy, moral fibre, ideals and principles of the Vietnamese proverb that says “When eating the fruits, think of the person that planted the tree.” He noted that the programme is their own little way of appreciating and remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa for the roles he played in the liberation, embellishment and enhancement of image, political-ethnic status of the minorities in Nigeria.

Wednesday evening urged the chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, to declare the results to douse the tension over who becomes the lawful occupant of the seat in the House of Assembly. The rerun polls took place last month. Speaking to journalists, Anyanwu who showed video clips of some aspects of the

issues said to have transpired at the collation centre at the Oguta headquarters, titled, “Oguta State Assembly Re-Run Election- Results Collation Reports”, stressed the need for INEC to repeat the feat it performed during Imo governorship election. He said urgent action should be taken on the eight polling units said to be inconclusive

‘Why Anambra LP fixed August 19 for primary election’ From Leo Sobechi, Abakaliki NAMBRA State Chairman A of Labour Party (LP), Mr. Sam Osi Oraegbunam, has

Jega

Lions Club plans better deal for community By Tolulope Okunlola

Belt Youth League (MBYL) and the Ogoni Economic Forum (OEF) would also feature the presentation of a book entitled The 3-Dimensions of The Ogoni Revolution and The Unanswered Questions written by Mmuen Kpagane in honour of the late Ken Saro Wiwa. In a statement yesterday, the Secretary of Middle Belt Youth League and Chairman of the Planning and organising committee, Kaspa Abah, said the group is motivated by the

APGA wants Oguta election results declared

Lecturers task govt on new boss for French language village IGERIA French Language N Village lecturers yesterday demanded transparency in

Gowon, others for Saro-Wiwa lecture

accomplish during his tenure. “The Lions Club intends to accomplish as many projects as possible but this will depend on the available resources. Our focus is on construction of water projects, provisions of free eye glasses, free health checks and screening such as diabetics, cataract and so on in both South West and North West”, he said.

said the party fixed August 19, 2013 for the primary election to select its governorship candidate so as to debunk speculations that the ticket is being reserved for some interested bigwigs in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Oraegbunam also debunked rumour making the rounds in the state that the issue of sharing of offices, especially the position of running mate and Secretary to the State Government, was threatening the internal peace of the party, noting that “though recriminations often arise over such considerations, we have the capacity to manage our success.” He noted that since the philanthropist and former Chief Executive Officer of Capital

Oil, Mr. Ifeanyi Uba, joined the LP, its membership has increased in geometric proportion, pointing out that since a lot of influential politicians from other parties decided on joining the Labour Party, “it is not out of place for them to ask for concessions”. While contending that the issue of power sharing should not be used to destabilise the party, Oraegbunam stated: “It is always natural that the running mate comes after the emergence of the governorship flag bearer. You don’t think of your running mate when you have not got the candidacy. Many variables have to be considered. When you talk about the deputy, you use it to balance certain equations, gender, age differences; if you have a young governor, it is proper you look for an elderly technocrat to serve as his deputy so that certain technical aspects are taken

NEW | 7

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

S’West PDP lifts suspension on Fayose, others From Muyiwa Adeyemi (Ado-Ekiti) and Seye Olumide (Lagos) HE Executive Committee T of the South-West Zone of the Peoples Democratic Par-

A consultant to ICT firm, JKK, Mr. Taofeek (left); Managing Director, JKK, Mr. Lekan Yusuf; Head of the academy, Mrs. Tolulope Yussuf and Marketing Executive, JKK, Mr. Yinka Mustapha, at a media parley in Lagos on the development of the proposed JKK Academy, tagged: “Center of Excellence”

Suspects forged documents to collect N963.7m subsidy, witness tells court By Bertram Nwannekanma N Ikeja High Court, Lagos, A was yesterday told that an oil marketing firm, Rocky Energy Limited, forged the Certificate of Cargo Transfer purportedly issued by Inspectorate Marine Services Nigeria Limited in a trial of subsidy fraud suspects. Rocky Energy Limited, alongside Adamu Maula, George Ogbonna, Emmanuel Morah and Downstream Energy Resources Limited, are being prosecuted over alleged N963.7 million subsidy payment fraud. Their offences border on conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, forgery and altering. They are being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The prosecution witness and

Branch Manager of Lagos office of Inspectorate Marine Services Nigeria Limited, Chidi Onyejekwe, told the court, presided over by Justice Lateefat Okunnu, that the oil marketers forged various documents in respect of the off-shore discharge of petroleum products at Cotonou from Vessel MT Katrina to MT D Rose line. The witness, who said he headed the team that investigated the transaction upon receipt of the EFCC’s letter in August 2012, noted that investigation revealed that though the organisation’s stamp and signature appeared on the haulage report and certificate of product quantity, they did not emanate from the directorate. Led in evidence-in-chief by Rotimi Jacobs, Onyejekwe said works done by the direc-

torate must have nomination letter from the suppliers or receivers, acceptance letter via e-mail, records of exchanges and report of transaction and invoices signifying payment. He, however, said there were no such records on the transactions of discharging of 8,202 metric tonnes of products involving Vessels MT Katrina and MT D Roseline at offshore Cotonou. The witness also told the court that upon receipt of the EFCC’s letter, the directorate contacted its offices at Netherland and Italy, which confirmed some transactions but not those of the vessels offshore. On cross-examination by the defence led by Prof. Alfred Kasumu (SAN), the witness confirmed that he was not the sole custodian of the com-

pany’s stamps and letter but that every transaction carried out by the company was always documented. The witness also confirmed that he did not bother to contact Mr. Yemi Ojeyemi, his former boss at the company who resigned on January 2012, because it was not necessary. According to him, Ojeyemi did not partake in the inspection offshore and could not have signed the document. The court, however, admitted a copy of haulage report tendered by Prof. Kasumu, showing the stamps of the inspectorate, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and those of the vessel officials as exhibit. The document was part of those sent to the directorate by the EFCC for verification. The court also admitted

Activists want court to declare NGF unconstitutional From Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt WO Niger Delta activists, T Mr. Idaye Opi and Annkio Briggs, have filed a suit at an Abuja High Court seeking a declaration that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum should be disbanded. The plaintiffs want the court to declare that the interferences of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, as a pressure group in the decision and policy making of the Federal Government, are outside the powers of executive governors of the respective states in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. Listed as defendants in the originating summons are the listed registered trustees of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Corporate Affairs

Commission (CAC) and the Registrar General, CAC The plaintiffs are praying the court to declare that a governor of a state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the chief executive of that state, hence, cannot either on his free accord or otherwise, actively participate in the formation and executing functions in any capacity whatsoever of any private association outside the contemplation of the 1999 Constitution as amended or any other law for the time being in force in Nigeria. Both Opi and Briggs, who are from Rivers State, want the court to determine whether in pursuant to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the oath of office contained in the 7th Schedule to the constitution, a governor of a state, together with other gover-

nors in Nigeria, can actively participate in the formation and execution of functions, in any capacity whatsoever, of any private association outside the contemplation of the Constitution. They also are praying the court to determine whether in pursuant of the aforementioned 7th Schedule to the Constitution, the interferences of elected governors in Nigeria as a pressure group, through the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, in the decision and policy making of the Federal Government are constitutional, owing to the fact that Nigeria is a federation with a constitutional system of checks and balances. Another issue, which they seek the court to determine is whether there exists a conflict of interest or, in the alternative, a likelihood of such con-

flict between the operations of the Governors’ Forum of Nigeria and the responsibilities of an elected governor under the constitution. In their affidavit in support of the originating summons, the plaintiffs complained that the governors, who are members of the forum, tend to be giving more attention and time to running of an agenda of the forum irrespective of their enormous constitutional duties. They argued that the governor of a state, being a creation of the 1999 Constitution, has defined bounds of authority, which is basically within his state. According to them, the said constitution, which provides for the powers of the governors of a state of the federation, does not anywhere mention or create the Nigerian Governors’ Forum.

statements of the defendants taken by one Mr. Ajele Ogbemudia, a police officer attached to the EFCC, as exhibits. Ogbemudia, another prosecution witness, was part of those that took the statements of the defendants between July 18 and September 19, 2012. Further hearing on the matter has been adjourned till Monday, July 29, 2013. The EFCC has alleged that the three oil marketers did not import the petroleum products for which they received N963.7 million subsidy payments.

ty (PDP) has waded into the crisis rocking Ekiti State chapter of the party and lifted suspension on the former governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose and other executive members of the state. The zonal executive that met in Lagos on Wednesday evening directed that all the spate of suspensions recently announced by various groups in “the state PDP is hereby set aside and status quo ante maintained”. The party said the decision was taken to prevent a situation where it would go to the election next year as a divided house. In a statement issued yesterday by the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the party in the zone, Ishola Filani, the party stated that it could not fold its hands and allow individual interest to destroy the party as the 2014 governorship election draws nearer in the state. To avert it, the zonal executive “has set up a five-man committee to look into the crisis and come up with a resolution/recommendation within 10 days.” Others who are to benefit from this rapprochement are: the state Chairman, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe; Secretary, Dr. T.K Aluko; Public Relations Officer, Pastor Kola Oluwawole; Woman Leader, Busola Oyebode; Treasurer, Deolu Aluko; Youth Leader, Taye Olatunji and Director-General, Information, Gboyega Aribisangan. But the state chairman of the party, Ogundipe, who spoke with newsmen yesterday, said he was not aware of the meeting and the resolution was yet to be communicated to him.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

AfricanNews Criticisms trail murder of Tunisian opposition politician ONDEMNATIONS have C trailed the death of Tunisian opposition politician, Mohamed Brahmi, after he was shot dead outside his home in the capital, Tunis. Brahmi, 58, led the nationalist Movement of the People party. Local media said the assailants fired 11 bullets at the politician. It is not known yet who is behind the attack. Large crowds later gathered outside the Ministry of Interior in Tunis in protest over the killing. There were also reports of protesters converging in the city of Sidi Bouzid, Brahmi’s hometown and the birthplace of the Arab Spring. Reacting yesterday, UN human rights chief Navi Pillay condemned the killing of Brahmi and demanded an investigation into his slaying. “I am shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Mr. Brahmi’s assassination. I call upon the authorities to immediately launch a prompt

and transparent investigation to ensure that the people who carried out this crime are held accountable,” Pillay said in a statement. Brahmi, a leading opposition figure and critic of Tunisia’s ruling Islamists, was shot dead by unknown gunmen. Pillay noted that Brahimi’s death was the third of a leading opposition figure since Lotfi Naghdh and Chokri Belaid were killed, in October 2012 and February 2013, respectively. “The Tunisian authorities must take very serious measures to investigate these assassinations, identify the culprits and bring them to justice,” she said. “The government must take strong measures to show it will enforce the rule of law, and do its utmost to deter these terrible acts which appear to be designed to inflame the situation and undermine the democratic transition in Tunisia,” she added.

UN, U.S. demand end to backing for Congo’s rebels NITED States (U.S.) SecreU tary of State John Kerry has led calls at the United Nations (UN) for an end to foreign backing for rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Kerry, who made the call without naming any country, said the U.S. was “deeply concerned” about reports of new external support for M23 rebels battling government forces. “I want to be emphatic here today, all parties must immediately end their support for armed rebel groups. All governments must hold human rights violators and abusers accountable,” Kerry told a special UN Security Council meeting on the conflict in the giant African nation. The Security Council, which currently includes Rwanda, also agreed a statement calling for “non-interference” in DR Congo affairs. UN experts have said Rwanda is helping the M23 rebels massed around the major eastern city of Goma.

Fighting around Goma in the past two weeks has left hundreds dead. Rwanda has strongly denied any involvement in the renewed conflict. The new development came as the Congo rebels claimed on Wednesday they had killed more than 400 army troops since fighting resumed 10 days ago in the country’s volatile east, as each side accused the other of new attacks.

“Since July 14, 401 soldiers have been killed and several wounded among FARDC (government forces) ranks, while the M23 has had six deaths and 14 wounded,” said Vianney Kazarama, military spokesman for the M23 rebel movement. The army claimed on July 15, a day after the latest fighting erupted, that its forces had killed 120 rebels and lost 10 troops. Neither toll could be inde-

pendently verified. Both sides meanwhile accused each other of launching new attacks near the flashpoint city of Goma. “The M23 is starting to attack,” said an army officer after two bombs exploded in the town of Kanyarucinya, 12 kilometres north of Goma. Just after the explosions, government troops with heavy weapons were deployed toward the town, an AFP correspondent said.

Militants kill two Egyptian soldiers, Morsi’s PM proposes peace plan GYPTIAN officials have anE nounced the killing of two soldiers and wounding of four others by militants in a shooting in north Sinai yesterday, as the military vowed to crack down on “terrorism.” A report by Agence France Presse (AFP) indicated that the army officer and conscript were killed when gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint near the town of Sheikh Zuwayid. However, ousted president

Mohamed Morsi’s last prime minister has proposed a plan to ease tensions in Egypt, as the Islamist leader’s loyalists braced for a showdown with the military. Hisham Qandil, who has kept a low profile since Morsi’s overthrow on July 3, proposed in a video posted on YouTube the release of prisoners since the coup and allowing a delegation to visit Morsi, who is currently being detained by the army.

But the military insisted yesterday it was not targeting backers of Morsi in calling for a mass rally to counter ‘terrorism’, amid outrage from Islamist protesters and concern in Washington. The military statement came after the chief of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood defiantly called for a “stand” against the coup that toppled the president, with Islamists planning a protest today to rival the army’s call.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

WorldReport Police probe driver as death toll hits 78 in Spanish train crash PANISH police yesterday Sunder put the driver of a train investigation yesterday after about 78 people died when it hit a sharp bend at speed, derailed and caught fire, in one of Europe’s worst rail disasters. An official source with knowledge of the accident investigation told Reuters that the crash, which occurred near the pilgrimage centre of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday, was caused by excessive speed. Dramatic video footage from a security camera outside the northwestern city showed the train, with 247 people on board, hurtling into a concrete wall at the side of the track as carriages jack-knifed and the engine overturned. One local official described the aftermath of the crash, on the eve of one of Europe’s biggest Christian festivals in the ancient city, as like a scene from hell, with bodies strewn next to the tracks. The impact was so huge one carriage flew several metres into the air and landed on the other side of the high concrete barrier. “We heard a massive noise and we went down the tracks. I helped get a few injured and bodies out of the train. I went into one of the cars but I’d rather not tell you what I saw there,” Ricardo Martinez, a 47year old baker from Santiago de Compostela, told Reuters. The train driver was under formal police investigation, a spokeswoman for Galicia’s Supreme Court told Reuters, without naming him. The train had two drivers and one was in hospital, the Galicia government said. It was not immediately clear which driver was under investigation or in hospital. The train, operated by stateowned company Renfe, was built by Bombardier and Talgo and was around five

years old. It had almost the maximum number of passengers. Newspaper accounts cited witnesses as saying one driver, Francisco Jose Garzon, who had helped rescue victims, shouted into a phone: “I’ve derailed! What do I do?” The 52-year-old had been a train driver for 30 years, a Renfe spokeswoman said. Many newspapers published excerpts from his Facebook account where he was reported to have boasted of driving trains at high speed. The page was taken offline yesterday and the reports could not be verified. El Pais newspaper said one of the drivers told the railway station by radio after being trapped in his cabin that the train entered the bend at 190 kilometres per hour (120 mph). An official source said the speed limit on that

stretch of twin track, laid in 2011, was 80 kmph. “We’re only human! We’re only human!” the driver told the station, the newspaper said, citing sources close to the investigation. “I hope there are no dead, because this will fall on my conscience.” Investigators were trying to urgently establish why the train was going so fast and why failsafe security devices to keep speed within permitted limits had not worked. Spain’s rail safety record is better than the European average, ranking 18th out of 27 countries in terms of railway deaths per kilometers travelled, the European Railway Agency said. There were 218 train accidents in Spain between 2008-2011, well below the European Union average of 426 for the same period, the agency said.

Pope Francis urges Brazilians to fight graft ATHOLIC leader, Pope C Francis, has urged young Brazilians not to despair in the battle against corruption as he addressed their country’s political problems in the wake of massive protests. “Dear young friends, you have a particular sensitivity towards injustice, but you are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of people who put their own interests before the common good,” he said. “To you and to all, I repeat: never yield to discouragement, do not lose trust, do not allow your hope to be extinguished. Situations can change, people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good, do not grow accustomed to evil, but defeat it.” The pope told a crowd assembled on a football field in a Rio de Janeiro slum: “You are not alone, the church is

with you, the Pope is with you.” Brazil was rocked by the biggest protests in a generation last month, with more than a million people taking to the streets of the country to condemn corruption, lagging public services and the cost of hosting the 2014 World Cup. The Argentine pontiff, who has championed the cause of the poor, made his remarks during a visit to one of Rio’s favelas, or slums. The pope, referring to the police operations launched by the authorities to bring violent shantytowns under control, said “pacification” was not enough to combat poverty. “No amount of pacification will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself,” he said.

France toughens penalties against ‘slavery’ RANCE yesterday toughFern-day ened the law against modslavery and recognising it as a new crime punishable by up to 30 years in jail, in an attempt to crack down on forced labour. The move means that those who hold people against their will and make them work for free and sometimes sexually abusing them, will now face much heavier sentences than before. The Paris-based Committee Against Modern-Day Slavery said it receives more than 200 reports of enslavement in France every year, but the phenomenon is thought to be much more widespread as it often happens in private, within families. In the bill, which was unanimously adopted by France’s upper house, Senate, slavery was incorporated into the

French legal system as a punishable crime for the first time, with penalties from seven to 30 years in prison. Previously courts faced with cases of modern-day slavery were only able to convict suspects on other charges — such as taking advantage of vulnerable people — that carry lighter sentences. Almost 21 million people around the world are currently victims of forced labour, according to the International Labour Organisation. “Victims are very often minors and come mainly from West Africa,” Sylvie O’Dy, head of the anti-slavery committee, told AFP. “They hope to find a better life in France. They are vulnerable and most of the time, have no clue about our country or our laws. They are

therefore easy prey for unscrupulous people.” Nafissa, whose real name has been kept hidden for safety reasons, is a case in point. Aged 11, she came to France from Niger on a threemonth visa to spend some time with her aunt. But she was enslaved by the family and never returned to her country, forced to do housework and look after her aunt’s children all day. “I had to make meals too. But I was only allowed leftovers. Sometimes, she gave me rotten food and if I refused it, I didn’t get anything for one week,” she told AFP. It was only seven years later, when she suffered a serious asthma attack but was not allowed to get medical help, that Nafissa decided to escape with the help of a neighbour.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Politics Healing a nation in crisis as former

Gowon By Ehichioya Ezomon (Group Political Editor)

OVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State on Monday said Nigeria was treading the ground that might threaten the foundation of our existence. “The things happening around, for me, represent very dangerous signals,” the governor said. “There are people, who do not wish the country well — and unfortunately, there are men and women who cannot claim to have a future — and who are messing up the future for everybody else.” Oshiomhole was playing host to representatives of the President of the Christian of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. Reminding CAN that it had shown courage, and spoken out even in the days of military dictatorship, he said that, “now in a democracy, we need more of that courage.” Stressing that, “it is the responsibility of the Christian community to speak out when it matters,” he urged CAN to “speak out against the ills of the society, stand on the path of truth and pray for the nation as 2015 approaches.” Requesting prayers for the nation is like admitting that forces, which Pastor William Kumuyi would rather describe as “principalities and powers” have seized Nigeria. And to successfully wrestle against principalities and powers, Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, advised children of God to stand in authority, so that “Satan stays away from them. ” “Put on the armour of God, without which you cannot successfully wrestle with principalities and powers,” he told his congregation at the monthly Revival and Miracle Programme at the Church Conference Centre on the Lagos-Ibadan road on Sunday. Some people actually think that the Satan has hand, if not fully responsible for the many ills bedeviling the country, and as such needs spiritual exorcism. But not sounding to wave off such assumption, watchers of the nation’s political entity feel the problems are self-inflicted, and therefore require human solution. They wonder whether it’s the devil that has po

Obasanjo larised and divided the nation with primordial sentiments. To them, things had never been this bad and dangerous, not even during the First Republic when events in the system ended up in a Civil War; nor in the aftermath of the June 12, 1993 struggles to enthrone democracy in the country. They claim there are centrifugal forces pulling at the heart and foundation of the nation such that the fear of disintegration stares everybody in the face with ominous abandon. The North, particularly the northeast of the country, is boiling in spite of efforts of the government to contain the insurgency posed by the Boko Haram to Islamise Nigeria through a systematic campaign of blood-letting. Robbing victims with dangerous weapons used to be associated with highway robbery. But today, it’s simply called “armed robbery,” as the men and women of the underworld have taken the battle to homes and places of business, and even worship in broad daylight, dispossessing, maiming and killing in the process. The new phenomenon — kidnapping — came to public consciousness in the wake of the agitation by the Niger Delta youths to reclaim their land from oil predators and the government that was only concerned with the petrodollars from the swamps and creeks of the region. Kidnapping for ransom is now the order of the day in the areas, and it’s spreading fast to other

Shagari parts of the country. And now come the most debilitating of all our ills: political intolerance and brigandage. They are coming in the run-up to the 2015 general elections that are still about two years away, leaving frightening tales in their wake. The battle line is drawn between the incumbent President, who is from the South-South and the North, which vows to take power back from him in the next elections. It’s such that the actions of the political gladiators have literally pitted the South against the North, with the fear that the doomsday predicted by some American so-called eggheads may, after all happen in 2015, coincidentally the year of the next general elections in the country. The summation is that all the political problems, and insecurity are harbingers of the troubles 2015 will bring upon the country through the inordinate ambition of politicians. A teaser of this is what is happening in Rivers State, with near break down of law and order, as lawmakers battle each for supremacy. The Rivers scenario is like this: The chief executive, Rotimi Amaechi, a southerner, was reportedly nursing a presidential ambition, and the incumbent President allegedly did want him to jeopardise his second term aspiration. So, the ambitious Amaechi must be stopped at all cost, forces. external using • Consequently, the external forces did not want

an election into the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) to be conducted, and if it would be conducted, the incumbent chair of the forum (Amaechi) must not vie for re-election. • The election was held and the incumbent won by 19 to 16 votes, but the defeated group proclaimed their candidate “winner” and given recognition by the external forces. • Surprisingly, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), suspended Amaechi for alleged activities. anti-party • Amaechi’s plane, while on transit from the state, was grounded, and detained by the aviation authorities over allegation of violating the rules. • Already, crises had reared their ugly heads in Rivers, where Amaechi, acting on the resolution of the House of Assembly, and without recourse to the implication therefrom, dissolved a local council sympathetic to the opposing political group in the state’s ruling party. • An Abuja court sacked the Rivers executives of the PDP loyal to Amaechi, and installed a leadership loyal to arrowhead of opposition to Amaechi, Nyesom Wike, the Minister of State Education. for • Barely a fortnight, a group of five Rivers lawmakers attempted to impeach the Speaker, but was foiled with the assistance of Governor Amaechi’s security aides. But here were broken heads, leading to the “Speaker of the five-man lawmakers being hospitalised from injuries in-

Some people actually think that the Satan has hand, if not fully responsible for the many ills bedeviling the country and as such needs spiritual exorcism. But not sounding to wave off such assumption, watchers of the nation’s political entity feel the problems are self-inflicted, and therefore require human solution. They wonder whether it’s the devil that has polarised and divided the nation with primordial sentiments. To them, things had never been this bad and dangerous, not even during the First Republic when events in the system ended up in a Civil War; nor in the aftermath of the June 12, 1993 struggles to enthrone democracy in the country. They claim there are centrifugal forces pulling at the heart and foundation of the nation such that the fear of disintegration stares everybody in the face with ominous abandon.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

POLITICS | 11

leaders step out for Nigeria

Babangida

Jonathan

flicted by the Assembly’s Leader. • Finally, political thugs, reportedly on the prompting of the anti-Amaechi group, attacked four northern governors, who paid a “solidarity visit” to Amaechi. The totality of the foregoing has elicited a “shuttle diplomacy” by five governors from the North: Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, Gen. Murtala Nyako and Alhaji Sule Lamido. They had visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta and former Heads of State, Gens. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar. Feelers are that they would extend the visits to other prominent Nigerians. From what they told members of the press on both occasions, their mission is to seek peace and reconciliation, as the country heads to the elections in 2015. Without doubting the veracity or otherwise of their mission, especially as they are politicians and cannot be absolved of the problems of the current schisms in the polity, their efforts should been seen as genuine, and commended. The times call for such intervention, which the governors, and for that matter President Jonathan, have recognised in the former leaders and elder statesmen. Jonathan was first to arrived at Obasanjo’s Hilltop Mansion in Ogun State on Sunday, to pay home to the host. The governors came after he had left . Therefore, step forward Gen. Obasanjo, Gen. Babangida and Gen Abubakar, and seize this mantle with open hands. People craving for your fatherly intervention know that you have the wherewithal to make a success of the onerous assignment, given that you could still pull the strings behind the scenes. After all, many, if not all the political combatants are your “boys” and political godsons and they have the utmost respect and reverence for you. A community’s problems are mainly solved by the elders, which you stand for, for Nigeria in these heady days. Remember that there comes a time in a man’s life when all else matters no more than to be at peace with his Maker. That’s when man seeks the face of God, and chooses to do things that would put his mind at rest, knowing that when he leaves the stage, the world would be a better place for the younger generation. Essentially, we all live for our young ones, and for the younger generation in general, which is why we strive to provide for their upkeep and comfort — sometimes more than they require if they were to come to this world several times. But all this could only take place in an atmosphere of peace and security. So, what better accomplishment would bring this about than to promote tolerance, reconciliation and peaceful

It would do the President a world of good if he takes a lesson from President Barack Obama, the acclaimed leader of the world, who even encourages criticise as, according to him, that is the foundation of America’s democracy. Aren’t we also practicing democracy here? So, as the president, Jonathan must take the rap for all that’s happening in the country. He needs be reminded that he is the symbol of the nation, the representative of the people, and not of the ruling PDP. The President has far too long allowed his name to be used as a poster card for all the wrongs in the polity, giving his aides a free rein to insult the sensibility of most Nigerians, especially elders. It’s about time he reined them in. It’s heartwarming that the President had visited Chief Obasanjo. He should not stop there; he should pay homage to others: Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen. Abubakar, Gen. Babangida, Brig.-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Dr. Maitama Sule, and many more. Who knows what would be the outcome of such visits. Perhaps, it might soften the grounds for the second term ambition the President seems desperately in need. coexistence among a largely disparate citizenry! The past week had been abuzz with news of moves by concerned Nigerians to enlist hand in finding solutions to issues that have been racking and rocking the polity, especially their political dimensions. Our respected statesmen must not refuse to intervene, and they should not fail the nation. However, while Nigerians would want these past leaders to step out and assist in piloting the ship of state to safe landing, the bulk of the peace initiatives, reconciliation, and heeling MUST come from the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Jonathan stands on the threshold of history, as the man who pulls back a nation from the edge of the precipice. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. In that wise, he must be tolerant of criticisms and opposition. It would do the President a world of good if he takes a lesson from President Barack Obama, the acclaimed leader of the world, who even encourages criticise as, according to him, that is the foundation of America’s democracy. Aren’t we also practicing democracy here? So, as the president, Jonathan must take the rap for all that’s happening in the country. He needs be reminded that he is the symbol of the nation, the representative of the people, and not of the ruling PDP. The President has far too long allowed his name to be used as a poster card for all the wrongs in the polity, giving his aides a free rein to insult the sensibility of most Nigerians, especially elders. It’s about time he reined them in.

Abubakar

It’s heartwarming that the President had visited Chief Obasanjo. He should not stop there; he should pay homage to others: Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Gen. Abubakar, Gen. Babangida, Brig.-Gen. Mobolaji Johnson, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Dr. Maitama Sule, and many more. Who knows what would be the outcome of such visits. Perhaps, it might soften the grounds for the second term ambition the President seems desperately in need. What Nigerians demand today is a leader who is remorseful; a leader who makes a mistake and admits that error, and pledges to turn a new leaf. That example was amply demonstrated last Monday in Akure, Ondo State, when a member of the Senate apologised to his constituents for supporting the controversial portion of the Child Marriage Law. Amid tears, and full of remorse, Ayo Akinyelure, representing Ondo Central, asked for forgiveness from the district people comprising six local government councils. The people were outraged that their representative could support such a retrogressive law. “I am sorry for this costly mistake; I actually voted in error,” he told the people, and promised to do everything within his power to ensure that the provision would not be include in the Constitution. Nobody can say precisely whether Akinyelure’s pledge did the magic, but the previous day, the Senate disavowed that provision in the proposed amendment to the Constitution. That is the kind of leader Nigerians need in President Jonathan, and all will be well for Nigeria.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

TheMetroSection That there may be light... • Firms generate electricity with sawdust, poultry faeces, coconut husks, others By Tope Templer Olaiya, Assistant Lagos City Editor T sounds too good to be true, but a United States-based company, All Power Labs (APL), in partnership with Bioenergy and Envirocycles Nigeria Ltd, last weekend demonstrated a pioneering technology for making renewable energy from biomass (waste), which left hundreds of participants awed at how simple solutions could end decades of power failure and unfulfilled promises in the country. The presentation that was done for a select audience in Lagos demonstrated the new, commercially available source of energy generation based on biomass gasification. Like the often quoted saying that good things come in small packages, this wonder machines called Power Pallets, look like medium-sized generating sets and are available in 10kW/25KVA and 20kW/38 KVA sizes. This power generation converts woody biomass to electricity and heat. The Power Pallet is distinguished by its ease of use, compact size and affordability. Unlike regular alternative energy sources like solar, which is complex to install and use, and generating sets, which require considerable use of gasoline like petro or diesel to function, the Power Pallets makes on demand energy anywhere there is available biomass, such as nut shells, wood chips, coconut husks, corn cobs, sawdust, poultry litter, sugarcane bagasse, straw and rice husks. According to the founder and President, Bioenergy and Envirocycles Ltd, Mr. Ernest Onyenze, “this initiative is the key that will unlock a robust transformational change in the social economic landscape of Nigeria. The value chain will impact positively on the poor and the unemployed youths. “Our mission is to move this country forward via small-scale electricity generation at very low cost. It is possible to get electricity to the rural areas and to all artisans since so many people’s livelihood depend on power daily. It is a shame that artisans sleep or play away productive man-hours as they wait in vain on the Power Holding Company of

President of Bioenergy and Envirocycles, Mr. Ernest Onyenze (second left), Director of Strategic Initiatives, All Power Labs, Tom Price (left) and others during the public demonstration of biomass power pallet in Lagos…

Nigeria (PHCN). This will definitely reduce their income,” he said. Just last week, in a move akin to asking Nigerians to pay more for darkness, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) announced an increase in fixed electricity charges (Multi Year Tariff Order) for 2012 to 2016. According to the chairman of NERC, regardless of the services rendered, energy cost will continue to go up every year till 2016. This, Onyenze said would be worsened by government’s proposed bid to sell the power plants to private investors. “Once the power plants are sold off in their privatization of the sector, power tariff would go up further. Our

intention is to work with electricity vendors who would purchase the power pallets and service residential estates, markets, villages and cooperatives with 24 hours electricity at a minimal cost to running generators. “We want to take this technology to our campuses and colleges of technology, so that in the nearest future, we can have graduates who would be self-reliant working on the equipment by distributing and installing the device. A lot of rural electrification projects are moribund because they need to be connected to the national grid, but with the power pallets, it is a straight generation to homes and settlements.”

The programme is tailor-made for cooperative institutions, hospitals, SMEs, organized artisans, and individuals, who not only require power, but cheap and competitive power that will bring down the cost of production. The initial cost of the power pallet is high, but its running cost is very low. Presently, aside installation and after-sales services, the landing cost of the 38KVA power pallet to Nigeria is N5 million, while the 25KVA machine is N3.5 million. However, Bioenergy and Envirocycles is offering some marketing options such as getting banks to issue bank guarantee for private individuals to pay their electricity bill monthly using the pallet. “How this works is that once we have your bank guarantee, we sell kilowatts to individuals for private usage at N16 per watt and we send you an invoice of your power usage at the end of the month. You can regulate your power usage and as well be guaranteed 24 hours electricity. PHCN’s current charges is N20 per watt and cannot be relied on for your power needs, while maintaining a generating set has its added costs.” On his part, the director of Strategic Initiatives, APL, Tom Price, said there is an extraordinary opportunity of a waste-to-wealth campaign converting easily available biomass into affordable, renewable, reliable energy in the country. He added that the use of biomass for energy production is a key component of the new ‘Power Africa’ initiative announced by US President, Barack Obama, early this month. “The initiative will invest up to $7 billion in US aid and resources to help African nations gain more access to electricity. The demonstrations in Nigeria follow on the heels of a very successful similar event in Monrovia, Liberia, sponsored by Winrock International and USAID. The Power Africa programme aims to double power access in the sub-Saharan part of the continent, which would not only help residents, but also convince private sector companies to increase in new economic ventures in the region,” he said.

In Delta, Police arrest youths protesting against boy’s death From Hendrix Oliomogbe, Asaba GROUP of youths, who allegedly vandalized the police station in Ashaka, Ndokwa East Local Council of the state as a result of the death of a boy, who allegedly jumped into the river and got drowned following a police raid on an Indian hemp smoking joint a few days earlier, have been arrested by the police in Delta State. A statement by the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Lucky Uyabeme in Asaba yesterday said that one Emeka Ozegbe and other principal suspects were arrested while manhunt for others has been intensified. A mob of about 200 persons had stormed Ashaka Police Station hurling stones at the building, threatening to lynch

the policemen on duty. The youths damaged windows and charge room and also shattered the rear glasses of Ashaka and Aboh patrol vehicles parked at the premises before a combined team of Dragon 24, 25 and 26 patrol teams in collaboration with military officials from Agip Oil Company brought the situation under control. He advised those who participated in the attack on the police station to surrender themselves to law enforcement agents “as no stones would be left unturned in ensuring that all culprits are brought to book.” Uyabeme stressed that the command would not tolerate attack on police facilities, adding that raiding of criminal

hideouts was “a normal police action aimed at checkmating criminals.” Similar raids were recently carried out behind Abraka and cattle markets in Asaba and other divisions.” The Delta State Police spokesman remarked that the arrest of two persons including Udwin Jeremiah and Eto Boga Blessing both males of Etiagbodo village in Olomoro clan was for unlawful possession of arms while riding a cargo motorcycle. He said one locally-made single-barrel gun with four cartridges, one cutlass, two torch lights, one helmet and the cargo motorcycle with Registration Number QH 398 LEH, were recovered from the suspects.

Photonews

Founder, Awesome Treasures Foundation, Mrs Olajumoke Adenowo (left), Mr Yinka Sanni and Mr Tonye Cole during the launch of Adenowo’s book entitled: Designed For Marriage at the MUSON Centre, Onikan recently

Director, Union Ventures and Petroleum Plc., Mr Obinna Anapusim (left), Managing Director, Mr Olurotimi Arigbede, Chairman, Alhaji Salihu Belgore and the Company Secretary, Mrs Afolashade Olowe at the company’s 35th Annual General Meeting( AGM) in Lagos… recently

METRO 13

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26 , 2013

Photonews

Front row sitting: Head of Practice, Mr. Dipo Fakorede, Mrs. Tope Adebayo, Mr. Gbenga Adenuga, Mr. Olumide Akindutire (Facilitator – Amatricks Global Solutions), Mr. Taiwo Banjoko (right), Mrs. Taiwo Orenuga, Mr. Anjorin Babawande (Facilitator – AGS), and Miss Susan Ndinojuo (Coordinator, AGS). Back row standing: Miss Juliet Ofoeyeno (left), Mr. Ibukun Bowale, Miss Tope Ajose, Mr. Niyi FAshoranti, Mrs. Bunmi Ogunde, Mr. Mustapha Ewenla, Mr. Agboola Wesley, Miss Flora Owumi, and Mr. Femi Adeyemo at the Management retreat of Dipo Fakorede and Co (Estate Surveyors and Valuers) held in Lagos...recently

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Eczellon Capital Ltd., Diekola Onaolapo (right), Hope Yongo of NEXIM Bank (left) and Soji Osunsedo of Mansard Insurance at the GTBank Nollywood workshop in Lagos…

NDLEA secures 1,014 convictions in six months By Odita Sunday HE National Drug Law EnT forcement Agency (NDLEA) has won a total of 1,014 cases between January and June 2013. The cases were won at the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. The Chairman of the NDLEA, Alhaji Ahmadu Giade, who gave the figures, warned drug traffickers to quit the criminal trade in narcotics or face the legal consequences. The Federal High Court sitting at Ado Ekiti also ruled that the Nigeria Police has no legal right to prosecute drug cases. This followed the arraignment of an accused drug offender charged by the Police for unlawful possession of 56 kilogrammes of cannabis contrary to and punishable under the NDLEA Act. In response, the NDLEA filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection contending that the Nigeria Police has no statutory powers to arraign or prosecute an accused for an offence of drug possession. It, therefore, asked the court to strike out the case and the accused handed over to the Agency for necessary action. NDLEA argued that the offence of unlawful possession of narcotic drugs is contrary to the provisions of the NDLEA Act. The Agency pointed out that by section 8 (2) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004; it is the Prosecution Unit of the NDLEA that has the statutory power to prosecute and investigate an offence under the NDLEA

Briefs Rock of Ages marks 13th anniversary CTIVITIES to mark the 13th A anniversary /thanksgiving of the Redeemed Christian Church of God Rock of Ages Parish, Magodo Area 2, LP. 21, Magodo G.R.A, had begun on Sunday, July 21. It will end on Sunday, July 28, with a thanksgiving service at 9.00a.m. Praise and power night holds today at 10.00pm while tomorrow is community outreach at 2.00p.m.

Lord’s Chosen begins crusade tomorrow TWO-DAY crusade tagged: A “God Has The Answer” organised by the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries begins tomorrow at the Revival Ground of the Church, along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Ijesha Bus stop, Lagos. It will be presided over by the General Overseer, Pastor Lazarus Muoka. Briefing newsmen on behalf of the General Overseer, the spokesman, Pastor Louis Chidi, assured participants of God’s abundant blessings.

Act. Justice Adamu Hobon held that Section 3 subsection (q) of the NDLEA gives exclusive prosecution powers in drug cases to the Agency. “However, the powers to ar-

rest and search remain common to the police and NDLEA as well as all law enforcement Agencies save the power to prosecute under the Act”. “The police general powers of prosecution of criminal

cases as relates to drug related offences has been overridden by the express provisions of the NDLEA Act being a special and specific legislation seeking to cure

mischief in the society prevails” Justice Adamu declared. According to Giade, “The ruling is a welcome development aimed at resolving any doubt as to who has jurisdic-

tion to prosecute drug cases. We are working towards one goal, which is a peaceful society for all. In partnering with one another, we must appreciate our respective powers as provided for by the laws of the land”.

14 | THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 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 Who and where are the teachers? HE embarrassing figure of 80 per cent unqualified teachers engaged in schools in T the northern part of Nigeria deserves all the attention and seriousness governments and education authorities at the Federal and state levels can give right away. The portents are really bad for the future of a nation whose children are put in care of teachers who are themselves barely literate. In fact, it is the greatest indictment of the governments at federal, state and local government levels, an embarrassment to the noble profession of teaching and the best illustration of how insensitive leaders across the affected states have been over the years. Let it also be said that the North may be in focus, the situation is not much better in all other parts of Nigeria. A country cannot develop without a solid foundation for children in formal education. This is the danger Nigeria faces in the immediate future as a large section of her children receive the kind of education that can do nothing other than slow the pace of development. This complacency, a dangerous and ugly trend, must be arrested immediately. By virtue of their positions, the National Teachers’ Institute’s (NTI) Director-General, Aminu Ladan Sharehu and the Kaduna State governor Mukhtar Yero, who painted the gloomy picture of the state of education at a national conference on Quality Assurance and Control in Teacher Education in Kaduna, have justifiably cried out for help. Based on this outcry, the North and in particular the affected states like Kaduna should honestly work on urgent, extensive damage control schemes. However, suggestions by Sharehu that lack of motivation may have stalled the teachers’ struggle for knowledge may be correct but unacceptable as an excuse because their colleagues elsewhere in the country who have also not fared better in motivation and remunerations have a completely different orientation and are still pursuing improvement on the job, even in individual capacities. However, the director-general is right with his identification of lack of training as a major impediment. The country must lament a system in which, for instance, half of the teachers in a state are as ignorant as the pupils, especially at the primary level, or one in which for the past 20 years, many have never attended any programme to scale up knowledge! Also, how did about 1,840 of such low capacity workforce (who face the threat of sack anyway) get into the system with fake certificates? It is a lesson for other state governments on how to reorder values to accommodate the best among the teeming unemployed population; it is a lesson that unrestrained political patronage at the expense of quality only promotes mediocrity, the type the NTI boss has positively highlighted. A gradual distortion of the educational system is already crippling Nigeria and compromising her future. The fear is also real of a descent in quality teaching in parts of the South and the East too, which hopefully the leaders of many of those states are aware of and over which they are beginning to seek a turn-around especially in public schools. Private schools do not fare much better. In fact they are worse in some cases as school proprietorship has virtually become an all-comers affair for commercial reasons. This phenomenal growth can be discouraged throughout the country if the states invest maximum attention and resources in public schools. In the same way, the Federal Government has to make a bold statement of unwavering commitment to the education of Nigeria’s children by putting more money in teacher training. One thing is apparent in the lamentable quality of teaching as projected in the northern states: the failure of governors to invest in education. Parents are also culpable. Their poor attitude to awareness campaigns on the importance of education for children is particularly disgraceful. They have offered little cause for cheer in this direction. The leaders are in a pole position to offer solutions. The real challenge is for the governors and their commissioners of education to henceforth delineate and make public a timeline for making amends in the interest of the children and the future of Nigeria. For instance, a suspected oppressive system can do without a culture of servitude being promoted by privileged ones which scuttles ambition on the part of children in particular. Happily, Kaduna seems to have launched on a right course with its decision to promote quality recruitment henceforth with its public reiteration of the stipulated minimum of Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) for teachers, to redress lapses. It can promote more of such revolutionary moves to set the pace. Moreover, policy flip-flops are, and would always be a cog in the wheel of progress. Hence, the authorities need to check the recurring confusion in the education sector. States, for instance, need time to master a policy before any change is effected by the central authorities. Of course, a rigorous staff training and re-training programme should begin in earnest to make the best out of the situation now within the shortest possible time. There can never be too much of such investment to make the desired impact. A scheme that embraces and encourages massive recruitment of competent teachers from other parts of the country should also be put in place immediately. There is no shortcut to attaining great heights. Attitude to education must change all over the country, by governments and citizens alike, if a meaningful and rewarding future for Nigeria would ever be laid.

LETTERS

In defence of the dignity of human person

IR: On May 29 when most Nigerians were celebrating 14 years of uninterrupted democratic rule and taking stock of accruals of the dividend of democracy which for many is more of sloganeering than reality, a group of Nigerians also organised an international conference with about 500 people in attendance and I dare say is one that could really bring about the dividends of the common good for us. The international conference was organised by Happy Home Foundation (a Nigerian NGO) in collaboration with Culture of Life Africa, (another NGO based in the UK). The theme was: The Defence of the Dignity of the Human Person: The Nigerian Experience. Among the speakers were some Americans and Nigerians based abroad who have taken up the mantle to promote the “Culture of Life” and fight to a standstill the “Culture of Death”. Human life is sacrosanct. It must be safeguarded in its entirety from conception till death. The culture of life is duly defended by institutions in which human life thrives – marriage and the family. However, the culture of death is that which strives to stifle human life in all dimensions and by extension any institution that tends to uphold life as inviolable. These include: abortion, same sex unions, decimated child policies, euthanasia, funding and promotion of stem cells and embryonic researches. The

speakers all drowned the arguments of the proponents of the culture of death that is enveloping the globe since the twilight of the 20th century. The audience was provided abundant statistical data, which were consistent with all natural and rational reasoning. Man in every epoch of existence and in every culture has always held that life begins at conception but in the twilight of the 20th century the same man awoke only too late to realise that this eternal reasoning was wrong hence human life became likened to ‘a thing’ so one could snuff it out at will. This age old idea that life begins at conception suddenly shifted to life “begins at birth” and whatever happens to the embryo before birth whether

good or bad is inconsequential – what callousness! In the wake of this reasoning, the sales of contraceptives soared, decimated child policies increased, euthanasia became mercy killing, marriages and families disintegrated. In the face of all these innovations and inventions, which mark scientific advancement, happiness continues to elude our world while hatred and wickedness gain more ground. In this matter, good people with upright consciences cannot afford to keep quiet nor fold their arms in the face of error because if they do evil will carry the day. It is a call to action in all quarters so that evil will not take roots in our society. Emmanuel Afunwa, Enugu, Enugu State.

General Alabi’s unnecessary book General Godwin Alabi, StheIR:theThird former Chief of Staff of Marine Commandos of recent made headlines with his own account of the Nigerian Civil War, over 40 years after it had ended. And just as Nigerians were not happy with the late Professor Chinua Achebe’s There Was A Country, so also many aren’t interested in being reminded of the horrors we did to ourselves as Nigerians, whether General Alabi was looking for an opportunity to settle scores by rubbishing General

Olusegun Obasanjo who was his commanding officer and who later retired him from the Army is another story for another day. What is most important is that Nigeria is one and stronger than ever, that an Igbo man is currently the Chief of Army Staff speaks volume of the reconciliation that has taken place. Nobody is interested in the yesterday of horror. General Alabi’s book should have come much earlier, say in the early 80s, if it was really in good faith, but over 40 years after? Naah. Emmanuel Ogunsakin, Garki, Abuja

The GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

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Global losses to cybercrimes hit $500b, says report By Bankole Orimisan NDICATIONS emerged yesIlionterday that about $500 bilare being lost yearly around the globe to cybercrimes. According to a study conducted by a United States of America-based security firmMcAfee and the Centre for Strategic International Studies, more data would however be needed to arrive at precise estimates, in order to control the activities of the hackers. The study stated that US economy loses some $100 billion to cybercrimes and cyber espionage, including loss of key business data and intellectual property. The estimate was lower than some earlier reports which put the cost as high as $1 trillion, but study authors said it was a matter of narrowing the range of damage from cyber attacks. “It will always be a range,” said James Lewis, a CSIS scholar on cyber security and co-author of the report. “The data is either sparse or

distorted.” But Lewis said the report offers a better way to compare the cost of cybercrime to other types of risks such as drug trafficking or other types of theft. “We believe the CSIS report is the first to use actual economic modelling to build out the figures for the losses attributable to malicious cyber activity,” said Mike Fey, chief technology officer at McAfee. “Other estimates have been bandied about for years, but no one has put any rigor behind the effort.” The report said the impact of cybercrimes includes loss of intellectual property and confidential information; reduced trust for online activities; additional costs for security, insurance and recovery; and damage to reputations. Lewis said the impact on business could translate into the loss of as many as 508 000 jobs in the US, based on a government formula for the ratio of exports to US jobs. “The raw numbers might tell just part of the story, the

effect of the net loss of jobs could be small, but if a good

portion of these jobs were high-end manufacturing

deposits to 174.3billion in 2012 and a return to profitability in its 2013 half year results. The bank, in a statement issued in Lagos yesterday, also announced the successful completion of its N40 billion capital raising exercise, which commenced earlier in the year and which it says, will further bolster its return to profitability and top performance in 2013 in line with

• Returns to profitability in first half-year results its multi-year strategic plan. The 40 billion capital inflows was successfully realised from a mix of private and institutional investors and is currently awaiting final approval by the regulators. The bank’s Managing Director and Chief executive Officer, Segun Oloketuyi, stated that the bank’s performance, especially its return to profitability as at June, 2013, was in line with the financial

institution’s projection. he added that despite the capital constraints experienced in 2012, Wema Bank was able to record considerable growth in total deposits and net interest income, while capitalising on existing business relationships to generate impressive growth in fees and commission income. Oloketuyi stressed that while the bank closed with a loss position in 2012 due to

additional impairment charges on legacy loans, the books are now clean and its non-performing loans ratio had dropped to 3.39 per cent by June 30, 2013. “Wema Bank has returned to profitability and with the new capital inflow, the Bank is expected to meet its 2013 performance targets”, he added. established in 1945, Wema Bank currently operators regional banking licence, which it plans to upgrade to national status “very soon”.

NSIA, IFC to partner on infrastructure development in Nigeria By Chijioke Nelson he Nigerian Sovereign T Investment Authority (NSIA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)- a member of the World Bank Group, may have kick-started a partnership that would chart path to seamless development, financing, and implementation of infrastructure projects in the country. The move, which is expected to bolster the nation’s growth, through enhanced job creation capacity and socio-economic development, was on the heels of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between NSIA and IFC.

NSIA was established in 2011, to promote fiscal stability, build a savings base for future generations of Nigerians and enhance the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, through the use of Stabilization Fund, the Future Generations Fund, and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund. According to a statement jointly signed by the two institutions, the partnership will help mobilise public and private resources that will open the Nigerian market for infrastructure investments in sectors such as housing, healthcare, transport, power and gas. Besides, the partnership will

erty losses, the effect could be wide ranging,”he said.

Managing Director, Capital Bancorp Plc, Aigboje Higo (right); Chairman, Olutola Mobolurin and Secretary, Adeyinka Jafojo, during the 25th yearly general meeting of Capital Bancorp, held in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Wema Bank’s deposit portfolio hits N174.3b, rakes in N40b fresh capital eMA Bank Plc has W announced an 18.3 per cent increase in its total

jobs that moved overseas because of intellectual prop-

also include co-project development, with IFC providing other support to NSIA, given its global expertise and experience on infrastructure development. The Managing Director of NSIA, Uche Orji, said: “Our agreement with IFC reflects NSIA’s commitment to enhance partnerships with the private sector that will deliver on our shared aspiration of developing infrastructure projects more effectively in Nigeria. “Through this collaboration with IFC, NSIA is better positioned to fulfill its mandate of developing infrastructure projects while attracting

global investors.” Also, IFC Country Manager for Nigeria, Solomon AdegbieQuaynor, noted that “infrastructure is a priority focus area for IFC, as it aims to help increase access to basic infrastructure services in Nigeria by structuring commercially viable projects, facilitating private investments, and building partnerships that enhance infrastructure financing. “We believe that our partnership with NSIA will bring development to the broader infrastructure sector and foster sustainable economic growth for Nigeria.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

16 BUSINESS

Lagos accounts for over 15 per cent of national phone subscribers By Bankole Orimisan HE Nigerian T Communications Commission, (NCC) has affirmed that over 15 per cent of the total 119 million active telephone in the country are based in Lagos State. The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, stated this to the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji, Fashola, when he paid a courtesy visit to the governor in Ikeja, recently. Consequently, he said the commission would ensure the upgrading of telecoms facilities in the state, to improve service delivery to subscribers. He said: “As at the end of April 2013, the nation has about 119 million active subscribers, while teledensity reached more than 85 per cent from some 0.4 per cent in 2001. Of significance today is that this sector currently contributes more than 7 .8 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “Our reference to this figures stem from the fact that Lagos constitutes a major subscriber population to telecommunications services. In fact, Lagos State commands more than 15 per cent of active subscriptions in the country. “The number of Internet subscriptions, corporate and premium mobile and Internet subscriptions could also be imagined. It is predictable that availability of these services in Lagos may have contributed to the current success of the mobile banking

pilot programme being implemented by the monetary authorities. In other words, telecommunications is impacting very positively in Lagos State.” He stressed, “it is imperative to reiterate at this point that the quality of services in Lagos, and indeed, other parts of the country, is not desirable. Some of the challenges contributing to this are enormous but are gradually being surmounted.” Juwah however, noted that some of the challenges were beyond the scope of the regulator. “But we are assiduously tackling those within our regulatory powers and hope that in the near future, with the networks investing more heavily, we will overcome the challenges.” He added: “As we speak about more investments as a critical success factor in improving the quality of telecoms service in the country, we need to share some of the impediments that have negatively impacted on them, as we believe that you (the governor) have the influence and capacity to resolve some of them.”(RoW) According to him, the most critical of the challenges facing the operators was the issue of Right of Way (RoW), “We are already aware that you are involved with other governors in the National Economic Council in discussing and finding solutions to the issue of RoW in the country as currently being championed by Vice President Namadi Sambo. We only need to urge you to continue to sup-

port these patriotic efforts so that the objectives of providing easy passage for telecommunications infrastructure, to accelerate and encourage more investments in the country, are realized,”he said. Another challenge, he added, stems from ignorance, even at decision making levels. Many people do not understand that telecommunications can only be better with more infrastructure. “For instance, in the United Kingdom, there are more than 65,000 base stations for telecommunications services, in a land mass that is far less than Nigeria’s. Nigeria is yet to achieve 25,000 installations across its huge land mass, yet many feel that we already have enough and are defacing the environment. In a place like Lagos with very huge population, we have fewer base stations than required.”

Director, Laboratory Service, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs. Stella Denloye (right); Director-General, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhll, Chairman, Governing Council Board of the agency, Prof. John Ibu; during the press briefing and NAFDAC’s activities in Lagos. PHOTO: GABRIEL IKHAHON

Ghana’s Eurobond yield priced above Nigeria’s By Bukky Olajide HANA plans to sell its secG ond Eurobond with yield priced above Nigeria’s latest

dollar- bond issuance. The decision was taken after investor meetings in Europe and the U.S. this week. The planned bond sale in the world’s second-biggest cocoa producer follows Rwanda and Nigeria as African nations tap appetite for assets from the world’s fastest growing region after developing Asia. Ghana is rated five steps below investment grade at B by Standard

& Poor’s, compared with BBfor Nigeria, which is three steps away. The yield for the 10-year, dollar-denominated notes will be around 8.125 percent, which compares with 6.63 percent yielded in Nigeria’s sale of 10-year bonds on July 2. Ghana is planning $1 billion of Eurobonds after stops in London, Frankfurt and Los Angeles, Nigeria comfortably raised $1 billion in its return to the Eurobond market recently, taking advantage of a short period of relative calm in otherwise turbulent markets to

issue both a long and shorterdated bond. The issue was four times oversubscribed, with just over $4 billion in bids, underscoring still buoyant investor appetite for scarce frontier African paper, despite a recent selloff in emerging market assets. The coupon shows confidence in the Nigerian economy,” she said, adding that the money would be spent on infrastructure. Emerging borrowers have raised at least $13 billion since July 10, when comments Reserve Federal from Chairman Ben S. Bernanke tempered speculation the U.S. would scale back stimulus. Ghana’s budget deficit jumped to 12.1 percent of gross domestic product in 2012 from 4.3 percent the previous year as the government boosted salaries for civil servants. The Finance Ministry is forecasting the gap will narrow to 9 percent this year. In the first four months of 2013, the shortfall was 3.8 percent of GDP, compared with a forecast of 3 percent, the central bank said in May. Ghanaian Finance Minister Seth Terkper had remarked that Nigeria’s bond sale, which was oversubscribed was encouraging. Nigeria sold $500 million each of five-

year and 10-year bonds on July 2, with the shorter-date notes yielding 5.38 percent. Ghana’s investor meetings this week were arranged by Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc. The yield on the Nigeria’s $750 million Eurobonds due October 2017 rose ten basis points to 5.8 percent in London, the highest in a week.

NSIA, IFC to partner on infrastructure CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 In 2012, IFC invested a record $20.4 billion in 103 developing countries, including nearly $5 billion mobilised from other investors, and its advisory services programme expenditures grew to $197 million. Recently, the World Bank’s private sector arm, sustained its issue of Nigerian local currency bond, with the VicePresident and Treasurer of the IFC, Jingdong Hua, confirming a report that the issue was over-subscribed. The issue, dubbed the “Naija bond,” after a popular local nickname for Nigeria, was the first placement by a nonresident issuer in the domestic bond market.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Weekend

Anxiety as rainy season returns

Arts & Culture /27

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Autowheels /43 Toyota, others rejig sales strategy, to increase global market shares sales

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THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

20 WEEKEND

The clouds are gathering. The rains are here again. For farmers, the rainy season is good news, but in recent years, the effects of climate change have turned the season into a monster. Last year, many states across the country suffered immensely when floodwaters overran their communities. And as the rainy season returns, CHUKWUMA MUANYA examines the predictions and words of advice given by experts

Ibadan flooding

Experts recommend measures to minimise effects of impending flood LOODING has been described as one the Fworld. most devastating natural hazards in the When it occurs, it claims more lives and causes damage to property and infrastructure, in most cases more than any other natural disaster. Studies have shown that flooding reduced Nigeria’s crude oil production drastically by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the Niger Delta. Its spread, number of internally displaced persons and the magnitude of losses in the affected states, have attracted the Federal Government ‘s attention. And based on the impact assessment, the affected states were categorized into four groups, A to D. Category A includes: Oyo, Kogi, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa, Delta, Bayelsa, Anambra. In Category B were: Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, Nassarawa, Taraba, CrossRiver, Edo, Lagos, Imo. Grouped under Category C are: Kwara, Katsina, Gombe, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Abia, Rivers; while Category D includes: Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Yobe, Enugu, Ekiti, Osun, AkwaIbom, Borno, FCT. The flood disasters, which started as flash flooding in different parts of the country since the onset of the rainy season in April, suddenly became intensive by late August, with unprecedented flooding in most states between 2010 and 2012. By mid-September,

dams were overwhelmed, giving way to flooding that inundated many communities. Extensive investigation of flood problems in Nigeria by researchers at the Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos, led by Prof. Peter Chigozie Nwilo and Dr. Ayila Emmanuel Adzandeh, has attributed causes of the flooding to climate change, extraordinarily heavy rains and continued release of excess water from dams. According to the paper titled “From Catchments to Reaches: Predictive Modelling of Floods in Nigeria,” the 2012 flood events in Nigeria exceeded the natural floodplains. Other reasons contained in the study are poor channel maintenance and soil moisture saturation. However, researchers at the Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, University of Ilorin, Kwara State, in a study published recently in Scholars Research Library Archives of Applied Science Research and Archives of Applied Science Research concluded: “Developing countries are already suffering from the impacts of climate change and are the most vulnerable to further change. Flooding is the common and most costly natural disaster, though its impacts are also exacerbated by anthropogenic sources. Quality assessment of the risk impacts of flood will facilitate countries to plan adaptation measures and adapt effectively.”The study is titled

“Managing flood in Nigerian cities: Risk analysis and adaptation options – Ilorin city as a case study.” 31 states to experience flooding in 2013 According to the 2013 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO), apart from Ekiti, Enugu, Katsina, Imo, Abia States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT),

In places like Lagos and some urban cities, because they are very close to the channels, canals or drainages, any small rain causes flooding. So, it is not basically the amount of rainfall. Yes, some of the flooding may be due to the amount of rainfall, but most of them are not due to rainfall. If the drainages and canals are cleared most of these flooding will not be and if people don’t live close to this canal this issue of flooding will not come up.

all other states in Nigeria will experience a devastating flood this year. The Outlook is a flood risk management element, which entails multidisciplinary contributions that could promote preventive and responsive strategies in mitigating the impacts of floods, through informed decisions by relevant authorities and agencies. Director General (DG) of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) John Shamonda, who presented the AFO, said efforts were being geared towards ensuring that the effect was less felt in these areas. The DG explained that 156 local councils would experience devastating flooding, while other areas might not be affected at all. “Floods and associated hazards may be inevitable, but they can be minimised and turned into an opportunity to transform society into a higher level of sustainability. This requires pro-activeness and a change of paradigm from emergency management to flood risk management in order to avert a disaster,” he said. The DG said his agency came to the conclusion of the flood forecast, based on the earlier report by NIMET, which led his team to assess flood outlook that came out with the report. Shamonda said the areas expected to feel the worst effects river flooding are located in the Komadugu Yobe Basin and the Niger and Benue troughs.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

“The peak floods at the confluence of Rivers Niger and Benue to the Niger Delta are also expected to be as high as the 2012 floods. The worst scenario are expected in Kogi, Edo, Delta and Anambra States, the Coastal Delta States of Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta and some States in the Southwest such as Ondo, Ogun, and Lagos are expected to have coastal flooding. Also, flash floods are expected in major urban centres of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Yola, Onitsha, Oshogbo, Ibadan, except where urban drainage facilities may have been cleared of debris and waste dumps.” Meanwhile, just as it did last year, NIMET has sent some warning signals to some states and local governments across the country on the likelihood of having torrential rains that could result in flooding. The agency announced in a recent statement signed by the Director General, Dr Anthony Anuforom: “Based on the condition that is prevalent at the time of making the prediction, we are predicting that the rainfall pattern in 2013 will not be different from what we saw in 2012.” NIMET said that the rains could cause some dams to overflow their banks, which might cause loss of people’s lives and destruction of their means of livelihood. NIMET, NEMA disagree over alerts from ACMAD However, the Weather Forecasting Service Office of NIMET has faulted reports credited to NEMA warning residents of the southern parts of the country to prepare for heavy and potentially-dangerous rainfall. NEMA, in June, said it was issuing the latest early warning based on alerts received from the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) based in Niamey, Niger Republic. The center issued the warning to countries in the Central, East and West African sub-regions. But when contacted on the phone, the Director, Weather Forecasting Service Office of NIMET, Mr. Ifeanyi Nnodu, told The Guardian: “It is wrong. Their interpretation of the data from the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development based in Niamey, Niger Republic is wrong. NEMA does have the capacity to interpret such data.” It would be recalled that last year, similar severe weather caused unprecedented flooding in the southern half of the country, resulting in villages being washed away and many people losing their homes. Lagos and its environs are expected to experience heavy torrential rainfall and the advisory means that all residents must take precautions, and NEMA passionately implored all Nigerians living in the south to take the warning seriously. Parents and teachers were especially enjoined to keep watchful eyes on their wards while motorists were warned to avoid driving in the rain, and not to stay inside the vehicle if they decided to park. NEMA also warned parents to avoid sending their wards

WEEKEND 21

on errands during the rains, and to avoid dumping refuse in the drains. NEMA advised residents to relocate to higher areas, should they be experiencing heavy accumulation of water, and to call the nearest police station or the agency on its emergency numbers: 080022636432; 08160581814 or 08067715203. NIMET urges caution General Manager NIMET, Mr. Samson Wilson, told The Guardian that the agency has been trying to address that issue and inform Nigerians that some of these organization have authority to give forecast but the forecast they are giving is global. Wilson, however, said it is left for Nigeria, which has an Agency that is authorize to liaise with this body and Nigeria contribute to the staff that work there. His words: “The issue of flooding, I have to be cautious, so that it will not be blown out of proportion. In places like Lagos and some urban cities, because they are very close to the channels, canals or drainages, any small rain causes flooding. So, it is not basically the amount of rainfall. Yes, some of the flooding may be due to the amount of rainfall, but most of them are not due to rainfall. “So it will be quite difficult for anybody to say that this particular rainfall will cause flooding. Some many things contribute to it. If the drainages and canals are cleared, most of these flooding will not be and if people don’t live close to this canal, this issue of flooding will not come up. So to stay here and predict there is going to be flooding will be a bit difficult. Though when we are very sure we will come out and say it. But not every rain will result in flooding. So if anybody is saying there is going to be continuous rain this July/August, we are not very sure about that. We are still expecting the normal break in rainfall within this period.” What is the outlook in the next two weeks especially for Lagos? “In the next two weeks, we are thinking that in Lagos the break will gradually set in when the rains subside a little. For the northern part of the country, normally August is the period they have their highest rainfall. So we expect that will happen in the northern part of the country,” he said. Solutions Following this prediction, the federal government has advised citizens across the country to take necessary precautions in the event of flooding. Analysts, however, contend that although flood could not be prevented, its effects could, nonetheless, be controlled via the adoption of coordinated and proactive strategies. In line with the analysts’ suggestions, the NEMA has been organising consultative workshops on flood prevention, preparedness, mitigation and response across the country. At a workshop in Abuja, NEMA’s director-general called on governments at all levels to put in place, proper refuse disposal mechanisms, while undertaking regular cleaning of drainage systems and water reservoirs. As part of efforts in cushioning the effect of the flood, the NIHSA boss recommended that the major reservoirs on the Komadugu, Yobe Basin and

Adaptive measures recommended by Nwilo and Adzandeh include: demolishing of structures along the water ways (floodplain or drainage line); town planners to war against erection of illegal structures by riverside in the entire country; illegal structures are instrumental to constant flooding during the rainy season, reasonable setback must be enforced; information or early notice is necessary for Nigerian government from the Cameroonian authorities before releasing water from the lake. This has to be enforced to mitigate the impact of flooding from the Benue Channel. Mohammed

Shamonda

the Niger and Benue basins should be lowered of storage in May and June in order to accommodate flood water arriving from July. He said: “Governments at all levels should create awareness on the need for communities to relocate to safer terrain. The need to develop flood modelling and early warning systems cannot be overemphasized with current trends in climate and weather change. There is also need to carry out a comprehensive flood hazard map for all areas considered at risk of flooding in the country”. Director General of NASRDA, Prof. Seidu Mohammed, told The Guardian in an exclusive interview that the agency ready to contain the possible heavy flooding in some parts of the country as predicted by NIMET. On how space technology could be applied to check the impending flooding, the Professor of Remote Sensing and Geo-Spatial Science at the Kaduna State University said: “We completed work on flooding assessment and monitoring, particularly for the six frontline states of Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Anambra and Bayelsa states. We have assembled satellite images over these whole places. As the custodian of space access for Nigeria, we have been able to access data for all these areas before the incident of 2012, during the incident and after. “What that means is that we have comprehensively analysed the data to look in details in various issues. One, the extent of farmlands that were affected for these six states and also look at issues coming up with a delineation of so the called flood plains even in vulnerable areas. Assuming that we have the same rainfall that we had last year or even if there is additional rain of up to 0.5 metre, the communities that will be vulnerable. “We have mapped out those areas for this six states and by next week, this report and the maps will go to the various state governors, so that they will advise people in those areas to pack out to save heavens. This in our opinion is the best thing to do because you cannot stop nature. The moment we cannot stop rain, the best thing is that people living in problematic places should pack away to highlands so that their problems can be partially solved.” Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochkepe urged the people to incorporate risk management principles in water resource management, prevent flood hazards from turning into disasters, as well as increasing multidisciplinary approaches in flood management. Ochekpe also enjoined Nigerians to improve information on integrated flood management approaches, alleviate poverty through preventive and response strategies for flood vulnerable sections and finally enhance community participation in irrigation and appropriate adaption. The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS), said with support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), it has spent the past eight months working with communities to ensure they are better prepared should the 2013 rainy season result in the same kind of flooding. IFRC country representative in Nigeria, Javier

Barrera, said in a statement: “We have achieved a lot over the past nine months, helping families get back on their feet. “However, there is still work to do and people remain vulnerable as they have not fully recovered. With the 2013 rainy season now underway, the situation could quickly deteriorate.” Adaptive measures recommended by Nwilo and Adzandeh include: demolition of structures along the waterways; town planners should wage a war against erection of illegal structures by the riverside across the country; information or early notice is necessary for Nigerian government from the Cameroonian authorities before releasing water from the lake. This has to be enforced to mitigate the impact of flooding from the Benue Channel. For combative measures, the University of Lagos researchers recommended that all affected bridges should be reconstructed, high and with outlets should be wide enough (wide outlet width) to contain excess water. “Dredging is recommended along the river channels in some area widen it up and give the channel the ability to contain excess water,” they said. “Construction of more dams in the country to curtail excess water. An overhead bridge or fly over will be useful at the flood site along Abuja-Lokoja, a major route linking the north and southern part of the country.” The scientists also called for synergy/collaboration between professional bodies such as surveyors, engineers, hydrologists, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) experts, environmental modellers and hydrologists, in design and monitoring of roads, bridges and subsidence. They also called for collaboration between Industries as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), academic, research institute and government agencies such NEMA, NASRDA and others. According to the University of Ilorin researchers, there is high confidence that adaptation can reduce vulnerability, especially in the short term. However, adaptive capacity is intimately connected to social and economic development, but it is not evenly distributed across and within societies. There is always a distinction between the two types of adaptation measures namely: autonomous adaptation and planned adaptations. The researchers said planned adaptations are the result of deliberate policy decisions and specifically take climate change and variability into account, and have so far been implemented infrequently. They wrote: “With the situation at hand on river flooding in Ilorin city, planned adaptation solutions and policy co-ordination across multiple institutions may be necessary to facilitate adaptation to flood damage. Autonomous adaptation measure would not be effective to achieve adaptation of projected flood impacts in coming decades, since it has been ascerted that there would be continual increase in global temperature consequent to extremes in precipitation.”

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

ExecutiveBrief In association with TRIPPLEA ASSOCIATES LIMITED

EDITION 272

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT INFOTECH4DEXECUTIVES CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE n a very short while, Oeetrot Concept, a facility management company based in Lagos, have acquired a reputation of proIfessionalism and unparalleled customer satisfaction, at competitive prices. They are a proud member of the British Institute of Management so that you’re rest assured of international best practices. Mrs. Helen Majemite, the quintessential Managing Director/CEO of the organisation will confidently tell you that their personnel work closely with clients to fully understand their objectives, evaluate the scale and scope of their project and identify key criteria sine qua non to the success of their projects. She equally believes that Facility Management encompasses every activity done to support a business, organisation or building site, other than the core work. In this interview, Mrs. Majemite shares with us her unusual story and how far she’s come on her mission of being a brand name in the facility management sector with sustained excellence in service delivery. Briefly tell us about your company and what influenced its establishment? Oeetrot Concept is a facility management firm providing total support services to a wide range of industries. We are relatively new in the sector but have great plans to quickly become a renowned giant and captain of the industry. We noticed a shortage of competent companies that specialize in the catering for non-core activities of businesses and so we decided to fill the lacuna. We guarantee qualitative services and professionalism to our customers. In order to serve our customers better, we have implemented a feedback process using our customers’ satisfaction surveys to qualitatively assess how we have done and improve on lagging areas, if any, in line with our mission of providing clients with friendly and professional services, always ensuring value for their money. What has been the company's biggest challenge(s) and how have you been able to surmount it? At inception stage, we were faced with issues of

Oeetrot: Providing Quality and Functional Facility Management human capital and investment funds. Fortunately, we were able to secure professional experts in the facility management field and obtain a cash injection to boost productivity. Our key competencies range from maintenance services to wit; carpentry, equipment servicing, electrical services, plumbing, etc. to catering and baking. Professionalism is our core value and guiding work ethic.

choose just one, it is probably when we registered with the IFMA which exposed us to a window of opportunity in terms of sourcing jobs and experts in the field. We provide facility management services to suit all categories of the Nigerian populace. Whether one requires trustworthy and competent artisans to fix domestic faults or one needs industrial cleaning services for one’s construction site, Oeetrot Concept will cater What are the unique factors that stand your company out? to you. We are committed to client satisfaction and do not skimp What is your corporate focus and projections? on quality in a bid to save operating cost. We are brimming We aspire to start operations in Ghana within the next five with fresh innovative ideas as well. Integrity, in terms of liv- years. In the long run, we hope to become a brand name, having up to one’s pledge of optimum service delivery, is, in ing attained status of a multinational. In all our expansion our opinion, indispensable for success in the facility man- dreams we shall remain devoted to our pivotal objective of agement industry. We, at Oeetrot Concept endeavour to exceeding customer expectation. Indeed human capital is sine always live up to our promises of professional and dedica- qua non to the growth of any economy, especially a knowltion to the client’s project. Our strategic affiliations with edge-driven one. At Oeetrot Concept, being a facility manageinternational associations like the British Institute of ment company that depends on the expertise of its staff, we Facility Management (BIFM) and the International Facility recognize the need to constantly invest in our workers Management Association (IFMA) allow us to keep abreast through practical training, symposia and suchlike because a with global best practices in the industry and learn of cost- better-trained workforce will spur exponential growth and effective innovations. Our management which comprises of sterling performance for the company. seasoned individuals in the membership of entrepreneurinclined corporate bodies like the Women in Management, Is your company taking advantage of the ICT in its operations? Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) and they are able We use ICT resources to liaise with our foreign affiliates, netto infuse tapped knowledge from other players in work with our branches and increase our online presence on the corporate world. The desire to be renowned several social media, etc. ‘Opportunity windows’ like for excellence is our driving force, in spite of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide a unique difficult challenges we may experience from avenue to contribute one’s quota to the improvement of the time to time. standard of living in one’s immediate environment and by extension in the world. We believe we can tap into this What are the qualities you must have as a through provision of facility management services to governCEO to succeed in business? ment parastatals and agencies as they strive to accomplish the As CEO of an organization like Oeetrot myriad goals. Concept, one must possess strong leadership skills including but, by no What kind of Strategic Partnership are you into both locally means limited to being a cohesive and internationally? bond between different departments We are registered members of the IFMA and the BIFM. The of the company, tolerance and established symbiosis has poised us for beneficial exchange of patience, an acute eye for business ideas and projects. We network with fellow members to brainopportunities, a listening and storm on how to harmonize standards in the industry. resilience in times of economic turbulence. Our vision is to become a leadHow would you describe your company's operational performing provider of internationally ance and service delivery with regards to yours existing and accredited services, positioned as the benchmark for excellence prospective clients? We have remained steadfast to optimum satisfaction of our in service-delivery in clientele and our existing customers do not end at their own West Africa and patronage, but even refer us to their colleagues and associates. beyond. We shall not relent in our goal to constantly improve performance. We are still very much a budding company but replete How would you describe the global with prospects for exponential growth in the near future recession and how through our membership of international associations, dedihas it affected your cation to consumer satisfaction and consistent optimum servoperations as a cor- ice-delivery. porate body in Nigeria? The global recession is a phenomenon that no economic person, individual, corporate body or government can say has not affected adversely to an extent. At Oeetrot Concept, the recession occasioned a marked drop in income revenue but we are thankful that there is a beacon of hope in consumers gradually regaining confidence to spend, and financial institutions becoming more inclined to lend.

Helen Majemite

SUCCESS STRATEGIES

What is the best moment of Oeetrot Group? We have had copious joyous moments at Oeetrot Concept but if we are constrained to

What drives your entrepreneurial spirit? We identify a client’s problem and we work hard to solve it. We do not stop at meeting the client’s basic expectation (type approval) but even exceed the client’s expectation. We are of the school of thought that success is a team effort and as such, whatever achievements a company achieved; must be attributed to the collective endeavour of workers and management. This is what underpins our attitude in respect of leadership and corporate governance. We give credit when due, we reprimand sloppiness and we always acknowledge that ultimately, whatever is accomplished is due to every individual’s input. What do you think the Federal Government can do differently to help the economy and particularly the FM industry in Nigeria? We, first and foremost appreciate the Federal Government in its strides towards fostering an enabling and conducive environment for enterprise development. However, we believe she could further improve the economy, especially the FM industry through the funding of banks with a particular inclination to providing financial assistance to SMEs. She can propose legislation that directs financial institutions to pose fewer hurdles to borrowers who seek access to much needed funds to expand their business. What advice do you have for young Nigerian Entrepreneurs? If at first you fail, pick yourself up and try again. The Nigerian economic climate is a difficult one and only the resilient can survive. How do you unwind? I read widely. I read literature from novels to autobiographies to inspirational magazines to business-motivation books. I also meditate in my private quiet time.

For Advertisement and Enquiries 08025070837 08156388800, E-mail:editor.executivebrief@trippleagroup.com

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26 , 2013

24 | EXECUTIVEBRIEF

Executive Management By Brad D Hanson

our knowledge of management principles and pracY tices, and your skill in leadership must be combined if future success is to be certain. To become a great leader of tomorrow some radical changes in your present leadership style may be required. The demand of the future will be, not so much for BIG managers as for big LEADERS. We are entering a new business era, where the old individualistic methods of management are no longer effective. Many of them even now are forbidden by law. Leaders of vision perceive that the size of tomorrow's leaders will be measured in direct proportion to their quality of human service. Before you evaluate your present leadership style, start with the resolve to make yourself a truly big LEADER. Do not copy the little, selfish BIG manager models of yesterday. Study the signs of the times.

you influence people and drive change, how can you reach into the mind and heart of someone who is genuinely big? How can you motivate and inspire them? A little manager even doubts the existence of big employees. They cannot comprehend the size of greatness. Little managers are like a gasoline engine operating at a quarter of the power it was designed to produce - not because of any structural fault in the engine, but because the full power capacity originally built into the engine needs to be brought out. You have the ability to re-build your leadership style, entirely, without changing the power you have. As management decreases, leadership power increases.

If we simply believe that we are capable of radical, elemental changes in our present self. Can't we, then, develop and use to a much higher degree of success the leadership characteristics we now possess? Of course Future leaders will need to be we can! We simple need to big in ability, in imagination, learn more about ourselves - to in energy, in vision - but most get more knowledge of what of all big in their understand- we are and what we might be by studying the best leadership ing of the people. When you are little and selfish, how can qualities we already have; the

INFOTECH4DEXECUTIVES By Michelle Ziperstein

power and greatness within. Of all living creatures, people are the most adaptable, the most capable of the greatest development, and most responsive to desires from within and to influences from outside of themselves. Only a little manager would hold to the belief that the elements of their character cannot be radically changed and developed. Individuals who are habitually late can become models of punctuality. A person of flighty thoughts can learn how to concentrate. It is possible to control a quick, bad temper.

Thousands of leaders have failed because they were not ready when their best chances came. Some of these golden opportunities slipped away unrecognized. Others, though perceived, could not be grasped. The people to whom they were presented had not prepared to hold and use such chances whenever they might arrive. If you want to make your success a certainty, you must get ready for it in advance. Then you will not be taken unaware when you find your big opportunity.

Understanding 5 Critical Misconceptions about Disaster Recovery Plans

ould your company's IT department be prepared cation requires. Each applicafor a disaster? Do you have a tion is evaluated to get the best disaster recovery plan that is up RPO and RTO. Price is based on to date? These are key questhe rankings comparing all tions that any company should applications. The best DR plans be able to answer in order to be have varying levels of protection prepared should a disaster and include services like cloudarise. The Disaster Recovery based DR to backups for each Journal recently highlighted application. Companies, who try the 5 biggest misconceptions to protect all of their applicawhen it comes to disaster recov- tions the same way, are either ery. Here's what managers need paying too much or not protectto know to properly evaluate ing critical applications enough. their company's disaster pre#3: Most IT disasters are not paredn~~~ess. caused by natural events. #1: Backup-as-a-Service and Most disasters occur due to a Recovery-as-a-service are not technological, human or ranthe same. dom error and are not natural. A good DR plan is about getting Natural disasters such as a hurriback up and running as quickly cane are easier to plan for as and efficiently as possible. companies can run their entire While backups are one compo- data center remotely from a betnent of a DR plan, they are not ter positioned geographic facilithe complete answer. Backups ty. With today's advanced storm and Backups-as-a-Service take notification, companies have recoverable data and put it the time to manually move back together in a usable way. applications to a backup site Companies may have their files with 24-48 hours notice. backed up but have no way to Companies who use a more proaccess or run their files because tected datacenter are ready for they need the applications to events that happen with no do so. This is where Recovery-as- warning. If a virus corrupts your a-Service comes in. With data and you rely on continuous Recovery-as-a-Service, the entire replication, then the virus will application and all the data be instantaneously replicated to associated with it are protected your second site as well. as one complete picture. Using Companies who use a complete a Cloud-based Recovery-as-aDR solution are able to pick a Service can help ensure the safe point from before the virus hit recovery and protection of each to recover safely from. Recovery virtual machine (VM), virtual plans should allow companies application (vApp) and piece of enough time to catch a mistake data within the application. before it replicates to the second #2: A one size disaster recovery site or backups. plan will not fit all applications. #4: Your DR plan should include Certain DR solutions may not how to return to your primary fit every application. Some non IT environment. - business critical applications DR is not just about getting critican get away with only backcal systems up and running as ups. This is an area where many companies are able to scale back their budgets and use backups only. Others require a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) or a Recovery Time Objective (PTO) with a shorter period of time like minutes or seconds for business or mission-critical applications. Although these may cost more, there are ranges of affordability linked to an RPO or RTO that each appli-

Be a Big LEADER, Not a BIG Manager

quickly as possible. It's also about fully recovering from an event or outage after your environment is failed back. Companies forget that falling back is an important part of the recovery process and it's often the least tested because of risks involved in messing with live applications. Though failing to a recovery environment is hard, failing back can be harder because systems fail back to previously used, unclean resources which may require prep work to successfully move the applications back. Rate of change and bandwidth needed for failing back must be taken into account or you could get trapped in your recovery environment. It is essential that a DR plan includes the resources that you will need to get back up and running in your primary environment. #5: DR Testing should be a continuous to consider yourself prepared Successful DR plans involve constant testing to ensure complete coverage. Tests where errors are uncovered are just as essential as tests where no errors are identified. It's easier to fix errors in a testing situation than to perform the same tasks in a high pressure situation. Applications change frequently so DR plans must be flexible. Having a comprehensive plan in place can ensure your company the best possible chance of being prepared no matter what comes your way.

Success Strategies By Nanci Wilkinson-Kurtz here are a lot of definitions out there in the world for success, but all of them make it seem so elusive to the majority of people. We need to take the time to define what success is for us and then we have to actively pursue it. I have been studying success for a long time and one of the best definitions that I have found is the one offered by Dr. Maltz in "Psycho Cybernetics". He breaks the word down so that it is an acronym for the qualities that are found in successful people.

S - Sense of direction for goals U - Understanding C - Courage C - Compassion E - Esteem S - Self-Confidence S - Self-Acceptance The first "S" in success stands for a sense of direction. We are goal seeking mechanisms. In order to stop spinning our wheels we have to have something that we are aiming for. Decide what you want out of a situation. Always have something ahead of you that you are looking forward to. Get your eyes off the rear-view mirror and develop and forward thinking mentality. Once you successfully attain one goal, set another one that will continually more you forward with your life.

A Working Definition of Success cessful person. The word esteem literally means to

it, but if you are afraid to take action, you will never achieve it. Desires and beliefs will never be translated into reality. You are going to make mistakes, head off in wrong directions and you may even cause yourself some embarrassment but don't let those things divert you from the successful completion of your goal. This characteristic is difficult for many of us; so, start with little things that will build your courage muscle and then move onto bigger and bolder goals.

appreciate the worth of something. As a human being you are one of the greatest creations in this universe, by accepting that statement as true you are well on your way possessing this characteristic. Self-confidence "S" is built on experiences of success. Whenever we start something new we do not have the expertise that would engender confidence. However, we can pull up past success and realize that we have undertaken many things in our lives "C" for compassion is based not that we have successfully only on the regard that you accomplished. Deliberately have for other people but also remember and picture those for yourself. The feelings that successes as you proceed in we have about others tend to this new endeavor. correspond to our feels about Self-acceptance "S" kind of ourselves. Realize that others speaks for itself. You have to are just like you, they are understand that as a human unique personalities and creative beings. Take the time and being you are full of assets and liabilities. Accept both the trouble to stop and think aspects of yourself. Most of us about their feelings. are better, wiser, stronger and Esteem "E" is the opinion that more competent than we you have about yourself. Start to see yourself as a worth, suc- realize. Release the talents, powers and abilities that you

"U" is for understanding and it depends on good communication. To avoid misunderstanding we need to insure that we get all of the facts about a situation and leave our opinions out of the equation as they will only cause confusion. You have got to make yourself see the truth. Gather information about yourself and others in relation to the situation whether the news is good or bad. You want to adopt a model that it doesn't matter who is right but what is right. The "C" for courage is a requirement to take action toward your success. It's all well and good to have a goal and to understand all of the aspects of

Action is the foundational key to all success. Pablo Picasso

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

26 ARTS

VisualArts

Guest lecturer, Prince Demas Nwoko.

D-G, NGA Abdullahi Muku (left) and Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke during the lecture.

‘For technological advancement, children’s art is fundamental’ By Tajudeen Sowole HE solution to Nigeria’s lack of technologiT cal advancement may remain elusive unless creativity is built into the formal and informal upbringing of young ones through art, was the conclusion of a lecture on First National Children Art Exhibition. It was organised by the National Gallery of Art (NGA) at Cyprian Ekwensi Centre for Art and Culture, Garki, FCT, Abuja. The lecture segment of the exhibition had a perfect choice of guest speaker in artist and architect, Prince Demas Nwoko in a topic that basically links technological growth to the importance of giving children art education. Nwoko, 78, is a renowned artist and architect whose works, particularly in architecture are highly revered. In fact, his career, which started evolving as a trained fine artist and later as architect, indeed, underscores the argument that technology cannot be built without the input of art. During his lecture, Nwoko stressed that technology, as a discipline, cannot exist “without the knowledge of art”. He explained that if children were taken through art education at the elementary and secondary schools, their “aesthetic judgment” when they become professionals in the field of technology or any science-related area “will be more exact”. Ahead of Nwoko’s lecture, Chairman, Senate Committee on Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Senator Hammed Hassan Barata, Duke; Minister of Youth Development, Alhaji Inuwa Abdulkadir and host, NGA Director-General, Abdullahi Muku had stressed the importance of creativity in children for the future growth of the country. Among the special guests were the newly appointed Director-General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, Mrs. Sally Mbanefo; former classmate of Nwoko at the Nigeria College of Art, Science and Technology (NCAST, now Ahmadu Bello University, ABU), Zaria, Jimoh Akolo, also an artist, and foremost Nigerian art historian, Prof. Ola Oloidi of University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Noting that technological development “is dependent upon full engagement of the arts”, Barata, who was the chairman of the event, assured the gathering that the National Assembly would continue to give NGA necessary support, adding, “This would be better achieved through forums like this where the nation’s children are encouraged to discover their talents at a young age”.

Duke also argued that the future of Nigeria’s technological development lay in the creative contents of raising today’s children, noting, “Today’s children’s art is the assurance of the virility of tomorrow’s creative industry”. He, however, acknowledged that “Nwoko’s vibrancy, both as a scholar and artist will aid” stronger understanding of raising creative children to become adults that would excel in whatever chosen field in the future. Abdulkadir stated that the event was a “huge investment for the future of Nigeria”, and capable of providing “a springboard for reawakening culture”. For Muku, the art exhibition and lecture came as an icing on the cake of several children and youth-related creative gatherings organised by NGA across the country. The programmes, he said, were aimed at promoting creativity and patriotism among children. He listed such programmes to include Saturday Art Club, Annual National Children’s Day Art Competition/Exhibition series held at 23 outstations of NGA across the country as well as National Visual Arts Competition for Children.

On the theme of the lecture, Our Future Lies in Children Art, Muku argued that bringing Nwoko, an artist whose career bridges art and technology to speak on the subject, offered a broader perspective through the guest speaker’s experience. “His well of knowledge is deep” enough to offer the intellectualism “we are bound to benefit from”. After delivering their speeches to a packed hall of adults and selected students from primary and secondary schools in Abuja, Nwoko’s much-awaited presentation had to wait a little longer as Duke led guests out of the hall to the opening ceremony of the art exhibition. On display were works of young artists, which, according to Muku, had been selected from across the country through the various children art events organised by NGA. Although Nwoko’s lecture was eventually delivered when half the audience had left including Duke, Abdulkadir, Barata and Mbanefo, the argument about making children go through art at formative formal and informal education levels as a springboard for the future advancement of a nation was well put. Read by Helen Uhunmwagho as the author sat by the podium, Nwoko’s paper

asked very salient questions and also pointed the way out, “How can we achieve technological development through art? He started by defining technology as the process of making things “through the practice of craftsmanship to interpret design”. Nwoko noted that at the early age, children are “armed with the keen awareness of their immediate environment. He therefore noted that with early formal education being given to a child in the contemporary world, “children art is the only viable avenue for developing the aesthetic senses and craftsmanship of the child fully”. He explained how the early formative stage of the child’s art inclination has a link to proper understanding of the environment, and stated, “Art is a means of measuring how developed children have become in their understanding ability of the world around them and participating effectively in its development and management”. And, as creating art is about image and picture, Nwoko stressed that “drawings and colour codes are essential tools of science and technology”. As an architect whose works are renowned for their native African contents, Nwoko warned that a people’s quest for science and technological self-reliance is incomplete without digging into their identity. He argued that advanced countries have succeeded in creating enviable images that reflect their own identity and culture, from which they make “products that can compete in the global market place where you are required to present your own copyrighted products”. And as Nwoko tasked the designer of Nigeria’s elementary education on the importance of art education, he concluded his presentation by warning that “if the current state of art education continues, we are not going to reach the promised land of technological development by our projected year 2020/20”. Indeed, art education at the elementary level has been so denigrated such that the “best” of art teachers do not think they should practise outside the tertiary institutions. This much, a member of the audience noted during the interactive session that followed the lecture - and lamented that such system leaves children art in the hands of inexperienced teachers. Professors in art, he argued, should not exclude primary and secondary schools in their choice of places of work if truly child art is fundamental to the development of the larger society. It is also of note that in the last one decade or more, a section of art teachers in tertiary institutions across the country have expressed fears over the quality of students enrolling to study art as well as the declining numerical strength of enrolment. The issue was also revisited by the chairman of the lecture, Dr. ken Okoli, Department of Fine Art, ABU, Zaria, who stated, “Enrolment in art schools is dropping”.

D-G, Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC), Mrs. Sally Mbanefo viewing works during the opening of the First National Children Art Exhibition in Abuja

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

ARTS

Osagie’s three decades’ impressionism strokes on canvas By Tajudeen Sowole LREADY, Osazuwa Osagie is getting close to 30 years in post-training practice. He represents a section of his generation of artists that are immersed in the studio, but he hopes to strengthen his influence as a pioneer in full-time studio profession. It has been observed that some artists, among those who promoted full-time studio practice in the 1980s seemed to have sub-consciously withdrawn from art exhibition circuits in the last one decade. Osagie, although is “fulfilled” in his almost 30 years career, is apparently ready to engage the public in stronger terms. This is more so as he intends to move into another stage of art practice. And since last year when he held his solo art exhibition titled Views in Colours at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos after a very long break, he would not want to go back

into reclution again. Osagie is currently strengthening his studio practice and also freelancing as a cartoonist with a national daily, Osazuwa stated that his “professional life” has been full of adventures with less breathing space such that a solo show had been in the plan for long, “but my busy practice made it impossible”. Another solo, “hopefully is in process before the end of this year in Abuja”, but more importantly, in keeping in touch with the general public, he explained his current focus, “Not all about exhibitions alone but stepping into another phase of my art and updating the public. “I have had a very busy professional life in nearly 30 years of practice, but it has happened so fast”. He recalled how an unsuccessful attempt was made at having a solo show a few years ago, but his busy studio

Osazuwa Osagie

Bringing My Culture to Light… Young Nigerian artists shine in U.S. N works of Nigerian stuIness dents come the effectiveof art as a medium for expressing and sharing culture and ideas, says non-governmental group, Creative Connections, an International Cultural Exchange Organisation. The group, which teaches awareness, understanding and appreciation of other cultures to young people around the world through the use of art, is now in the 3rd year. The Peekok YouthARTS Initiatives has been working with Creative Connections to involve Nigerian schools and youths in Artlink Cultural Arts Exchange programmes. The theme for 2012-13 is: Bringing My Culture to Light: Illuminate! Nigerian students and pupils from Kingdom Heritage Model School, Ogba, Corona Secondary School Agbara, Ronik Comprehensive School, Ejigbo and students from Peekok YouthARTS Centre in Lagos took part. ArtLink Unique International Exchange programme is designed for 3th - 12th grade classes. Students create art pieces that reflect their life and culture, and exchange their work with a partner class in another

country. Students then examine and enjoy the art from overseas, gaining new insights into both their own and their partner’s cultures. Finally students share their insights with one another by posting thoughtful written responses and photos. Following the exchange of art, a live one-hour session where students share their insights with one another face-to-face in real time videoconferencing is conducted for them. Peekok YouthARTS Initiatives congratulate students whose arts have been selected to be in the 2013 International Children’s Arts Exhibit. The show will feature pieces from talented artists in 20 countries. The Peekok YouthARTS Initiatives (PYI) is a non-profit, non-governmental and nontribal youth art scheme, offering various arts programmes for youths in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general and aims to create, implement and enhance artistic exposure, selfdiscovery and youth commitment to art education in every part of the country.

schedules, he disclosed “made it impossible”. The unrealised show, he said, was planned to “mark his 25 years of my professional career”. Being a cartoonist, perhaps, has filled the gap of direct touch with the art loving public, but not exactly enough to express himself fully and having exhibition. This much he got with his last show. while working towards his 30th anniversary, Osagie hopes to remain constant in the minds of his followers. As an artist, who is particularly more engaged in portraiture and several other commissioned works, the experience in the past three decades, he said, remains invaluable. However, Osagie is looking forward to condense all these in his future art. Some of his works explain this in what could be a new period of “creating argument with images”. Such works exude topical and social commentary, expressed in figurals and spiced with refined rendition of “dialogue with art”. And more importantly, the works stress the artist’s resolve to be more engaging with his strokes; clearly a characteristic that is synonymous with cartooning. And for every stroke, shades and light of Osazuwa’s on canvas, there is a spiritual connection with some of the works from his new period titled, In Thought; it explains this as much as the subject epitomizes a faint line between joy and depression. Clearly a traditional form of painting, which Osagie is not likely to drop and join the growing converts of ‘cotemporary’ artists, has been facing some kind of systematic persecution in Nigeria lately. But the strength of his themes, indeed, is in the commentary, so suggests works like Zulet, a reclining posture captured during his undergraduate days at Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State. And, In Thought, a mood of highlighting that is reflective or decision making moment. Reflecting on his seemingly long absence on the exhibition circuit, he argued that it was not exactly a complete break out, noting, “I have participated in group shows home and abroad, even a solo in Ghana”. He disagreed on frequency of exhibitions: “I

One Too Many by Osazuwa Osagie

think an artist should space exhibitions to create freshness”, but he admitted that sometimes, “lined up of commissions” encroach into most artists’ planned exhibitions, hence the continued procrastinations. An artist, he noted, should maximise his creative license by spreading across the diverse areas of art. For him, inspiration in this direction came from two of his older colleagues, saying, “Kenny Adamson and Prof. dele jegede inspired me”. Adamson is arguably one of the leading artists on the field of commissioned jobs in Lagos, particularly in public art while jegede was once a household name in newspaper cartooning. “It’s better to be an artist than a painter; meaning that I can be engaged in other creative areas”. Osagie graduated at Auchi Polytechnic in 1984 and has since then been practicing in Lagos, except for a short break when he went to Ghana to experience the art scene in the former Gold Coast. He describes himself as “an impressionist”.

New York museum extends Anatsui’s Gravity and Grace OLLOwING over five Fdescribed months of what had been as impressive showing of El Anatsui’s Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works at Brooklyn Museum, U.S., the organisers have extended the exhibition till August 18, 2013. It opened in February and was initially scheduled to end on August 4, the show, according to the museum, is the first solo exhibition of the University of Nigeria, Nsukkabased installation artist in a New York museum. It features 30 works in metal and wood that transform appropriated objects into sitespecific sculptures. Anatsui converts found materials into a new type of media that lies between sculpture and painting, combining aesthetic traditions from his native country, Ghana; his home in Nsukka, Nigeria and the global history of abstraction. Included in the exhibition are 12 recent monumental wall and floor sculptures, widely considered to represent the apex of Anatsui’s career. Red Block reveals El Anatsui as testing the aesthetic limits of his invented medium. He

explores the monumentality and meditativeness of a single color—suggestive, perhaps, of paintings by Mark Rothko or Gerhard Richter— yet at the same time deliberately introducing subtle variations, activating an otherwise uniform surface with small, intentional surprises that draw the viewer closer. The metal wall works, created with bottle caps from a distillery in Nsukka, are pieced together to form colorful, textured hangings that take on radically new shapes with each installation. Anatsui is captivated by his materials’ history of use, reflecting his own nomadic background. Gravity and Grace responds to a long history of innovations in abstract art and performance, building upon cross-cultural exchange among Africa, Europe, and the Americas and presenting works in a wholly new, African medium. Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui is organised by the Akron Art Museum and made possible by a major grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

El Anatsui (Ghanaian, b. 1944). Red Block, 2010. Aluminum and copper wire, Two pieces, each 200 3/4 x 131 1/2 in. (509.9 x 334 cm). Courtesy of the Broad Art Foundation. Brooklyn Museum photograph

The show is organised by Kevin Dumouchelle, Associate Curator of the Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands, Brooklyn Mu-

seum while generous support was provided by Christie’s and The Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

28 ARTS

Revue How publishers in United States underrated threat of new media Until May 10, 2013, Carol Hanner called the shots at the Winston-Salem Journal as the Managing Editor, presiding over the editorial content and general administration of the more than 100 years-old newspaper. The fact that the daily publication shares nomenclature with the fourth largest city (Winston-Salem) in the State of North Carolina, United States of America attests to its popularity as the king of the print media market in the sprawling city. But the announcement of her stepping down “to pursue editing and writing projects” came 12 days earlier, April 29 precisely. She had been in the saddle for a little more than three years. Hanner, who clocked 55 early this year, had earned a reputation, as a tireless editor and newsroom advocate, elements that publisher Kevin Kampman said would be sorely missed during the brief session that Monday afternoon (April 29) where the announcement of her exit was made. “She has done a fine job since I arrived (in November 2012),” Kampman said. She took over the newsroom in April 2010 at a time of significant uncertainty for the Journal and the newspaper industry as a whole. The sour economy had contributed to a drop in circulation and advertising revenue at the Journal, leading to job cuts, including the elimination of the copy desk, as part of a cost-reduction initiative by the newspaper’s former owners, Media General Inc. During Hanner’s tenure, the Journal was bought by BH Media Group, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathway Inc. She convinced the new owner to replace several reporting and photography positions that had been vacated because of job cuts, departures and retirements. Hanner said those accomplishments, as well as playing a role in the Journal gaining more financial stability, gave her comfort in deciding to “reclaim my life and pursue some personal goals.” But it was her second time working for the Journal. Fresh from the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill as a graduate, Hanner joined the Journal in 1980, serving as education reporter, assisting state editor and acting city editor. She left in 1984. Before returning in April 2010, she had served as the day-content editor for the Rocky Mountain News. She had worked at the Rocky Mountain News (1984-1988); the New Haven (Conn.) Register (1988-93); the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader (1993-97); The State in Columbia, S.C. (1997-2000); the Phoenix New Times (2000-01) and returned to the Rocky Mountain News (2002-08). The Rocky Mountain News folded in 2009. As a news-project editor during her second stint at the Rocky Mountain News, she was editor on a 34-part project called “the Crossing,” about the effects on a Colorado community after a train hit a school bus in 1961, killing 20 children. Her work helped reporter Kevin Vaughan become one of three finalists for the 2008 Pulitzer prize in feature reporting. KABIR ALABI GARBA who was at the Journal (April 11 to May 7, 2013) as a participant in the U.S. Department of State-sponsored Fellowship for Media Professionals engaged Hanner sharing her over 30-year experience as journalist and newspaper manager and why she will forever live as journalist. Excerpts:

OW will you describe your three years of H editing Winston-Salem Journal? They have been jam-packed with change, constant, unending change, huge number of challenges, very busy three years. Definitely, we are in the industry in transition and the Journal reflects that. You have earned a reputation as a tireless editor and newsroom advocate, will “editing and writing projects” satisfy a personality with these attributes? That is a good question.I am definitely a typeA personality. I describe myself to some people as a workaholic and I have always been. I havealways put everything I have into my job. What I found when I took time off to take care of my mother who has Ulcer for two years. I did not work. I took care of her. I didvolunteer work with AnimalRescue Group and just really to take care of her. What I found in those two years was that my life ended up still being jam-packed. I took on Animal Rescue work and ended up spending a lot of time doing that.So definitely, I have the tendency to overdo whatever I do, whether it is for money or not. So, I am sure, whatever I take on, I will do it with full attention. I am not going to be somebody who sits around and relaxes. And naturally, it is a challenge for me. I need to learn to do that a lot more to make sure that my life is balanced. But I think what I was able to do when I have time off my career before, for those two years, I was able to do things like exercise, I trained for a bike and had a three days bicycle ride through the mountain of North Carolina, doing four to five hours bike ride. I was able to go to gym.Over all, I think I was a lot healthier because I was still doing work, play and exercise and even though I was very busy. I do not think I need the newsroom activities to feel like I am accomplishing things, achieving things. I think I will be able to manage that. Does your stepping down now represent a ‘loudest ovation’ in your professional life as a

journalist? May be not! I do feel in my time at the Journal, this is the strongest we have been in my three years here.And that is what makes me feel that I can take this step now is we are not in the middle of the crisis which we have had during my three years as editor. I really could not have felt that I could leave them because I would have felt I was leaving in the middle of the crisis. But now I feel I can be optimistic for the paper and that allows me to exit without feeling like I am creating a tough time. I do not know right now is the pinnacle of my career by any means. Probably, the pinnacle of my career was my time at the Rocky Mountain News, which was the paper I was before I moved back to take care of my mother. I was there for almost six years. During that time, I was doing investigative projects. I was able to do really in-depth series that dealt with what I really considered to be big and important issues in Colorado and other issues such as projects on immigrationreforms, problems with immigration system; juvenile justice; we did series on kids who were in prison for life; we looked at domestic violence, laws and how they were working, to protect or not protect women. So, there were a lot of big issues that we took on. It was a better time financially for newspapers generally. It was also then that I did my last project that I did at the Rocky Mountain News, it was a serial narrative, a 34part that told the story of the things that happened to people after a terrible bus crashing, where 20 kids were killed. We tracked down all the kids that survived, who have now grown. It happened in 1961. And the reporter that worked with me on the serial was one of the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature writing in 2008. That was probably the pinnacle of my career in the sense of coming as close as I suspect I would to being a part of Pulitzer Prize, which of course, for journalists, is the top honour you can receive. But during my years as a project editor, the work that I did won a lot of awards. We won an award

from one national journalism organization, ABMA.The project that I oversaw, which was on shortage of water in Colorado, won a national environmental award. And that was probably the most important work that I did. But really, the last four, five years, the newspaper industry has just taken such a financial hit and things have been so tough. I cannot really say this is the pinnacle of my career, because I know what journalism is capable of doing, I saw what it was capable of doing with more resources and we do not have these resources now. It does not mean that people are not doing great work, they are, it is just a lot harder to do it now. This is actually the smallest paper I have ever worked at. All other papers I have ever worked at, though I started here, were bigger in circulation and what have you than this one (WSJ). So, I have come full cycle, but, I won’t say this is my loudest ovation, that came probably four, five years ago. In the last three years of your editorship, are there challenging decisions, looking back now, you could have approached differently? I do not think I have any major regret. I feel that I have ended up doing things with the best judgment I can make at the time with the best options available to me at the time. And I know that I have done it with integrity and I do not think I have compromised my integrity in making decisions. I do think that within the Journal, my philosophy, as we had to keep laying people off, was to try to keep many people as possible - reporters, photographers, people who were creating the content; and did more of the cut among the editing staff, people who were managing the paper, some of that was necessary because if you going to have a small paper, which we did, you have to reduce the size of the paper. You can afford not to have a few editors. We lost some reporters, editors and we cut mostly administrative staff, in order

to keep the paper on the street. I think that was the right decision but with a little hindsight may be I should have balanced it a little more because I put so much stress on the editing staff. That really became hard on me. It is hard job to be editor of a newspaper, you are not paid by the hours you work, but on salary (and you work 17 hours a day). And may be that I wished I would have balanced a little more to help the editing staff to get through this difficult period. But I certainly have periods back in my earlier jobs as managing editor, I think I learnt a lot when I was managing editor at other newspapers. I would have done a lot of things differently in those newspapers. I think I have learnt a lot about how fast a lot of people can progress, how much pressure to put on people to do better and I think am matured as an editor, though I am still intense as an editor, but I am less intense than I was ten years ago. I think that can be intimidating to people and make them feel like it is hard to measure up if I am always pushing, pushing to do better. I think I have learnt to balance, some time to do some pushing, and sometime you just have to compromise for the sake of keeping people, feeling positive and the feel that they can succeed and not that it is too much for them to do certain things. I have really changed in that sense. I always say I wished I had listened more and asked more questions. You can never ask enough questions and listen enough to what people have to say. Editors have the tendency to act, make decision, move ahead, and I think what most editors do not do enough of is…and I know at the corporate level above me, in all the companies that I have worked in, the corporate folks do not listen enough to the people who are doing the job. And that is a huge disadvantage in most newspaper corporations. The corporate executives make the decisions without really listening to what those of us who are doing the job think what the real options are to end the problems and improve the performance of the paper in the market. How did you manage the perennial pressures between editorial integrity and revenue generation from advertising? Is that more difficult in this age, than say, 15 years when papers were swimming in money?

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ARTS 29

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Hanner

‘Journalism will continue to be relevant’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28 Yes it is! There used to be very little interaction between marketing and advertising and editorial and that made it easy for editors not to worry about any other things. They can say no, and insist that advertising cannot influence what they do. That is no longer possible to completely separate the financial growth of the paper from what we do in the editorial. So, yes, I do not think it is necessary to hurt the integrity of the editorial process. But it has made us to learn a lot and think more about, ‘if we have limited resources and we can only do two or three things, what are we not going to do? And if we have a choice, we are going to lean on those things that are going to help the growth of the paper and revenue.’ We have to take that into account now. There are pressures and always, there is going to be efforts on the part of the groups, whether they are advertisers, or just community groups, to try to influence what the news pages look like and there is always going to be pressures from those who are at the top to call attention of editors to certain things at time. It is just part of the nature of business side. There is going to be some conflicts there and I do think often, people have to make those compromises. And I do think that has helped the newspaper to some degree, but in some ways, editors get themselves in by displaying being ignorant of the marketing concern and so ignorant of the business side, that now that we have to collaborate… editors have reputation of being resistant of anything and being an obstacle to collaborating on things that can benefit the paper, give readers what they want and represent the communities or organizations the way they want to be represented. It takes a lot of conversations, respect for the editorial decision making and because editors were resistant to any influence from the business side, they are not interested about the business side to be partners. They just feel you are there to give them away and the result is, as business concern became more and more urgent, I believe that corporate executives and publishers will need to remove the toga of ‘we just need to do what we are doing, we do not care about what the editorial says.’ Certainly, this kind of thinking won’t help the business to grow. The two sides are important. But the editorial can still maintain its independence. Nobody tells me what to put on the front page, in terms of news stories. Nobody tells me to cover somebody different-

ly. And it has not happened to me because if somebody tries to do that I will quit, I will not accept that. What happens is that I am just more conscious, pursuing things that the newspaper can do that has more revenue potentials, in terms of sections you might do, extra features you might add, something you might do online, so that you build your revenue and look more enticing to advertisers while at the same time recognizing that some stories are important and must be made available to the public. You just have to balance that. What is your impression of journalism profession, having practiced for more than three decades? Journalists are fascinating people, they are curious, they are dedicated to what they do, they do not get into it to make money, they got into it because they love to write, they love to interview people. There is constantly changing environment, you never know what is going to happen today, it is the joy in the cause that you can plan your day. It is really good profession for people who do not like to do the same thing really everyday. At the same time, journalists have mostly been doing the job that they do in the U.S. for hundred years very similar to what they did about a hundred years ago. A lot of what we do has not changed. The introduction of having to do multi-media, social media, that has changed, video, all of that has changed, the change is dynamic. There are a lot of really good journalists who have left the profession. I do not think that the level of expertise of journalists right now is at its peak, I think there are a lot of young journalists coming up who are figuring out different ways to do journalism and they are going to be very successful. They are building a new model for doing journalism, but I do think that we have lost a lot in our attention to the use of language; we have more grammatical mistakes that we never had; we have less excellence art of the command of the language, people are not as good as writers and editors’ attention to details and making sure that everything is right as they were. Especially with the social media, nobody cares about grammar and punctuations any more. There is so much in the media that the formality of the newspaper in the proper use of language is not seen as the standard anymore. Journalists are still dedicated, trying to do the right thing, and trying to be accurate.

The biggest thing that I think affects journalists in their job now is this division in American society between conservatives and liberals. The mainstream media are being attacked for being liberal, I do not know why they see so much of what the main stream media does as liberal, I think it is being fed by conservative talk-radio, insinuating that nothing you read in the newspaper can be trusted and I wish that Americans could be more media literate: they take a look at the stories and judge for themselves, what is the source of this? Not just because somebody says you are liberal, make up your own mind when you read the story whether you think it is fair and balanced. The idea of just labeling mainstream media as liberal, to me, is an intentional attack intended by conservatives to try to push their own agenda and to discredit those who are trying to be neutral, objective, accurate, and reflective of what the facts are. I will say the biggest change I have seen in my life-time is that there is no longer agreement about what is a fact. If you give anybody a fact, the person may say that is just statistics. Anybody accepts anything as reality anymore. And how do you report what is going on if you cannot agree on what the facts are. So I think that is the biggest change to the point of losing credibility, which I do not think is a result of our own failing to do good journalism. At the same time, I do not think journalists are newly aware enough of how their biases are affecting how they report and write. And that has always been an issue for journalists, you have to know that you have your own personal view of things, how are you framing the story and one of the underlining assumptions as you frame that story is that other people may not accept it as your underlining assumption. I see that a lot in most of the controversial issues. Does gender constitute any impediment both in practice and career growth-wise? I do not think so. I was the first female managing editor here. I do not think there is anything stopping female journalists from succeeding as reporters, editors, top editors, publishers, they are there in the field, they are making a difference, but the difference is that a female in an executive position is viewed different from a man in an executive position. And we have seen, as a man being aggressive, action orientated, confident. A man who is perceived as being aggressive, confident, decision making, bold, a woman doing the same thing is seen as stubborn, difficult, wayward…and that is the case. I believe women are judged more harshly

The newspaper industry made a lot of mistakes as they underestimated the need to adapt to technology and to adjust to how they work to meet the demands and work processes that they would be successful with the new media and social and multi media. I think that happened because newspapers were complacent and had made money so easily for so long, that they did not expect the dramatic changes that they have to make. when they are strong in executive position. They are perceived as unpleasant somehow, whereas male are perceived as positive and goal getter. That is tough because you do fight against that perception that you are difficult to work with simply because you are a woman. But I am not a victim of that. I have grown steadily, I become managing editor doing 125,000 circulation when I was 30. What drew you choosing journalism as a career path while growing up? I always loved to write. I read a biography about Abraham Lincoln and then I wrote my own biography, which was more like a book report. I always love to write, I was in the debate team in my school. I studied to learn how to do research on political and cultural topics, governmental topics. I love to do research papers because I have always been fascinated to research everything about an issue, then, write about it. So, it was as a result of a logical decision and I thought I would go into magazine journalism but when I got to the University of North Carolina, because they have a strong journalism programme, I realized, when I graduated that all the big magazines were in New York and probably was gonna snap me up and as a backup since newspaper were everywhere, so I started up working at the Winston-Salem newspaper just out of the university. And I got to do all the interesting interviews with interesting people and all these nosy questions you do not get to ask in normal conservation. I just got to write and learnt many different things, I just hooked and I never looked back. And I felt that besides it being fun, it is important to me that what I do for a living matters and that I am contributing something to the community, to the society, and I absolutely believe that journalism is critical to a functioning democ-

Steve Mann, City Editor/Acting Managing Editor and Carol Hanner

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

30 ARTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29 racy. You have to have journalism to build a strong society. So, what we do is important. We help fostering a sense of community, talk about issues in the community, playing a watchdog role, watching what government does that they do not abuse their power, that is important to me. You have worked in several newsrooms, what are the similarities and differences? They are very similar, mostly the differences, the same kind of people work in every newsroom, the same kind of issues faces every newsroom. The biggest difference is the size of the newsroom the issues are very different in a much larger paper than in a small paper. Mostly, I have been in medium size newspapers, and the Rocky Mountain News is the largest that I have worked for. Mostly, the differences from newspaper to newspaper is they do have different cultures and some it is more supportive of each other and some other competitive. The most fun newsroom to be is where people are not fighting over stuff feeling like I have to succeed at all costs. People can be competitive and not supportive of each other. But most newsrooms I have been, they are very supportive. But we do have shock newsroom where everybody is out to get ahead of other person, have front page stories than the other person. And there are some people who are very ambitious, those are not the best newsroom to be. But I have had friends who have been in very competitive ones and they do not like it. Do you think the economic downturn of 2008/9 that led to the demise of many media organizations could have been avoided? Yes! Absolutely! You can never avoid economic damage when you have a recession. And during my 30 years we have had several recessions and each of them was painful because the newspapers had to constrict and people had to be laid off. But then they recovered. It was temporary. This has been different. This has been a fundamental change in the journalism business model that happened in the last 10, 15 years. I do believe that the newspaper industry made a lot of mistakes as they underestimated the need to adapt to technology and to adjust to how they work to meet the demands and work processes that they would be successful with the new media and social and multi media. I think that happened because newspapers were complacent and had made money so easily for so long, that they did not expect the dramatic changes that they have to make. I believe newspapers in good time could have taken those huge profit they were making and should have invested in research and development, and working ahead. There were people doing experimental things but they did not make money there fast enough, so, they were discouraged and I think that was the mistake. The people who were visionary, looking ahead to what could happen to journalism were kind of happy with big profit. We tended to manage by cutting expenses rather than look for ways to grow our revenue and audience. And that was never successful. You can cut expenses temporarily but if you cut expenses with newspaper, you are damaging the product. You are only as good as the people you have, and the resources you have. If you are cutting down resources what you are producing is lost news, lost depth, which couldn’t just get the business going, there is nothing in the paper as I can get news from other sources. So, you cut resources, you damage the product, it is a fulfilling prophecy.

Why Carol Hanner could not leave journalism

Hanner Yes, I think we could have, but it was something we could have recognized long ago. We made a major mistake in not expecting that online content is valuable and people will pay for it. After giving away news for free, to then go back and charge people for it is always difficult. It is easier to charge for something and discount it later, than to discount it and try to charge more for it later, because you have set the value at being free and that is what people expect. If everybody in journalism industry had taken seriously that what they produce is valuable and that market would pay for that, if everybody had done it, I think the fact that you will charge some amount for an online subscription will be no big deal. I think that was one thing as an industry that we made mistake on. From an active participant’s viewpoint, what are the lessons you expect owners and professionals to take from this crisis? I think the lessons I wish they will take is what many manufacturers learnt in the USA long time ago, when the Japanese completely started dominating auto industries over American car manufacturers. One of the reasons is that people talk about businessmen and all the idea of quality, having the quality, determining them on the front lines, famous for asking the frontline engineers, factory workers to tell them the best way to do this, what is the most efficient way to do this? How do we make the quality the best we can be? They involve everybody making the product in the decision making about how to do it and result was really hard,

quality cars and they became the top cars maker in the US, instead of having on assembly lines, managers who never talked to employees as they presumed them to have no say. I wish what I will take away from this crisis is that you can cut resources and leave it to the editors to figure out what to do with the resources that are left over, but the more flexibility you give those editors, the more you work at what the newspaper is doing long time, what is going to really damage our credibility, values to the customers in the long time and I think there is most chance you would be successful. Journalists are very creative, smart people and I do not think their ideas are sought very often. Some companies do that some do not. The other thing that I believe is a core part of the newspaper is that many went public and began to be traded on Wall Street. And because Wall Street is concerned more about profit, not about quality, they want profit to continue to increase. The fact that you make ten per cent profit last year is not any good that you are going to make 12 per cent this year, but the investors want return on investment and profit to grow and reasonable if you are investing in stocks. But newspapers are amateur industry, the opportunity for them to grow their profit margin year after year in essentially an amateur industry that has reached its peak in terms of the number of people that it’s going to reach, the only way to do that is to find new ways to do your job and grow. That puts pressures on newspapers to cut expenses which had been ultimately negative for them. Those newspapers that can make the same profit

Printed version of newspaper will eventually largely go away, but I do not know how fast that is going to happen. But certainly, the trend with major newspapers in this country (U.S.) reducing their daily print edition while concentrating on doing 24/7 online, I can see that the trend is going to continue to happen. It is a matter of time, the younger generation, the younger they are the less they want to read the printed newspapers, they see that as old fashion, they get to read everything online, and mobile will eventually be everything, and you will be carrying with you all your connections to the world in your hands.

every year, respectable profit and the owners are happy with those profits are in better position to weather the recession. What does the future hold for print media, especially with the digital media revolution? Printed version of newspaper will eventually largely go away, but I do not know how fast that is going to happen. But certainly, the trend with major newspapers in this country (U.S.) reducing their daily print edition while concentrating on doing 24/7 online, I can see that the trend is going to continue to happen. It is a matter of time, the younger generation, the younger they are the less they want to read the printed newspapers, they see that as old fashion, they get to read everything online, and mobile will eventually be everything, and you will be carrying with you all your connections to the world in your hands. Newspapers will have to brave up and get new format to make that kind of presentation good for people, which takes research and development. And right now, the money for research and development is with the companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft, not with struggling newspaper companies. But there will always be journalism. It is just the format that will continue to change. People still love news, everybody still wants to know what is going on. There is no lack of interest in news. Just that it needs to be more customized. I can get only the news about things I care about. There is not much in the way of mass media anymore. People select where they want to get the news. They look for sources that have things that interest them. Everybody is busy so does not want to waste time, just give the stuff that I want. But there is still role for journalists. There is still for editors to put together package of news that people want, the subjects they want. And many people still want to be able to browse, people being able to look at 15 or 20 headlines and say this is what interest me among all. I think it is going to be somebody, somewhere aggregating news to give people. They do not want just one newspaper and one set of articles being the only gatekeeper, they want a bit of variety. At 55, what does life mean to Carol Hanner?

It is no longer possible to completely separate the financial growth of the paper from what we do in the editorial. So, yes, I do not think it is necessary to hurt the integrity of the editorial process. But it has made us to learn a lot and think more about, ‘if we have limited resources and we can only do two or three things, what are we not going to do? And if we have a choice, we are going to lean on those things that are going to help the growth of the paper and revenue.’ We have to take that into account now. Life to me is absolutely fascinating. I have never bored with finding new things and am going to always learn about new things. I love stories. I am a southerner and southerners are storytellers. Every southerner loves to hear or tell a good story. I am always going to be fascinated about that. But I also feel that my life needs to include a broader range of experiences, I have spent too much time inside this realm called newsroom, I want to go out to have more physical experiences, seeing nature, experiencing the rest of the world, I love to travel because I am fascinated with seeing and experiencing other cultures. At 55, I feel like I have another good ten years before I can retire, and sit back and relax. My hope is that I feel like am at the peak of my wisdom about journalism, not that I cannot learn more but I feel like that there is a chance for me now and in the next five to ten years of my career to come back to those things that really drove me to the journalism business in the first place, writing, reporting, storytelling and that is what I am going to do and that is what I will do. And I hope that I get support for that. What is your formulae for balancing the equilibrium between home and newsroom? I have not succeeded in figuring out any formulae. I am always out of the home. When I first became the managing editor, my predecessor gave me this advice and which I do not think I followed as much I should have. She said when you are the managing editor or the editor, the job in the newsroom will shock everything out of you, and it will never stop taking from you as long as you are willing to give. There will always be a question, a crisis, a job, a decision, something that they need from you because it is a very demanding job. And you have to set the boundary and say, ‘this is as much as I am going to do.’ This is because if you do not, they will keep taking and taking from you, until you say no. So, set your boundary and I do not think I do that. But that is my advice to somebody else. What should the industry expect from you soon or later? I am on the board of advisers for the Journalism School and Chapel Hill. I feel like that there are a lot of ways for me to give back to the journalism community and share what I know. I may even be more effective at that when I am not working so hard at my own job, that I can be a mentor to people. Give advice wherever in the journalism school or elsewhere or trade organizations. I am hoping that I can be a resource for other journalists. I also hope that I am going to write some great stories on my own, write books, screen plays, documentaries, just stories, magazine stories as a freelancer. But I am not done yet, I still love

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

tHe GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

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Bond & Bliss

Date(s): 28/07/2013 Location: Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage Street, V/I, Lagos Promoter: M.IKAZ The Jero Plays are two short plays about Brother Jeroboam, the rather less than holy West African beach divine created by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka. In this original comedy, the charlatan preacher, burdened by across known as the daughter of Eve uses Christian superstition for his own salvation. Tickets: Regular- 3,500. VIP- 10,000. (WITH OVER 40% DISCOUNT) GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

Date(s): 28/07/2013 Location: D'Signature Arena, 38 Lingu Crescent, Off Aminu Kano Crescent ( By UBA) Wuse 2, Abuja Promoter: Jigga Entertainment Ltd This event is an exclusive evening of fun for couples. There will be lots of give-aways and goodies for outstanding couples. We will also have Entertainment, Games & Attractions, Wow your partner and the audience and Rock the dance floor. Tickets: Regular - 7,000. GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

TAKE HEART

Kidtainic Entertainment Presents Sweetest Tain

Date(s): 29/07/2013 Location: Fun Factory Admiralty Road, Lekki Promoter: Kidtainic Entertainment Kidtainic Entertainment presents a spacepontainic komputer show tagged SWEETEST TAIN at the FUN FACTORY Lekki Phase1 Lagos. Featuring The Kidtainic Scientist Zackky - 15 year old iconic KIDTAIN from the United Kingdom. TICKETS: 5,000naira. GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

SHOWBLASt

Date(s): 04/08/2013 Location: TERRA KULTURE Promoter: STAR ART STAGE PRODUCTION COMPANY "How far would you go to save your child?" Come and experience the purest form of EXPRESSION, Samba, Modern and African Contemporary, Hip-Hop, Jazz... TICKETS: Regular- 2,500naira, VIP- 8,000naira. GET TICKETS HERE: www.afritickets.com

BUY TICKETS TO ALL YOUR FAVOURITE EVENTS ONLINE NOW!

For more information: www.afritickets.com

D’banj

Finnest steps in with Omoge By Chika Onwukwe FteR successfully hosting the maiden edition of Owerre Bongo Music Festival at the Dan Anyiam Stadium Owerri, Imo State last year, Soundz & Meknitz Records Limited is back with another project in the music industry. With resolve to play big in showbiz, the emerging entertainment outfit recently unveiled its pioneer artiste Herbert Onyebuchi Patrick, otherwise known as Finnest, the Omoge Master. Held at the Sunfit Hotels, Amu-Odofin, Lagos, amidst glitz and glamour, Finnest is poised to take Nigerian hiphop/R&B scene by storm with his Scintillating singles Omoge, Despicable me Ft. Casper and Why u dey form; the three are already enjoying airplay in Lagos stations. However, Omoge video is on both local and international television stations. “My role is to give fans good music,” he said. Speaking at the media presentation, the MD, Soundz & Meknitz Records Felix Ugbechie informed that the tenacity and prowess of the Amiri Imo State born singer and graduate of Business Administration from LASPOteCH, was the main

attraction for the label. “We ‘re optimistic that Finnest as his name implies got fine tunes, which music lovers will never ignore because they are products of originality and creativity with touch of class. He has been in the industry for long now as a back up singer to some notable artistes. He is a former choir member of Deeper Life Bible Church where he learnt the basics of music before taking it up as a career.” Ugbechie stressed that Soundz & Meknitz Records is a Nigerian company that will revolutionalise the country’s music terrain, releasing world class acts.

Finnest

THe GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

36 ARTS

Showblast

...The buzz in town

Stories by Chuks Nwanne

Thrills, frills of stars Trek Asaba AVING rocked other town in the country H such as enugu, Lagos, Lokoja, Aba and others, the ongoing Star Music Trek was in Asaba, the capital city of Delta State. As usual, the fun train berthed at the Dome event Centre with frontline music stars such as Tuface Idibia, Timaya, Mr. Raw, Naeto C, Seyi Shay and others. Not even the bad weather could stop fun seekers, who trooped in from neigbouring towns to be part of the open-air groove. First on stage were the Star Quest’s 2011 winners, Da Beatz, who set the tone for the evening. The band whose up-tempo beats have become its signature, utilized every minute of their performance to sell their brand of music to the crowd. After years of being in the limbo, eddy Montana of the defunct Remedies music group, made a surprise appearance in Asaba. Though many have since lost touch with his music career, eddy still command some respect from a handful of fans that still fancy his beats. In what seems like a deliberate effort to stamp his authority, eddy performed his monster hit, Sha Ko Mo, to the delight of fans. In deed, the song took many down the memory lane, when hip-hop music was set in motion. A potent combination of high-energy dance steps, sensuous lyrics and pulsating beats is gradually ensuring that sultry songstress; Sheyi Shay becomes a crowd favorite wherever she goes. Being the first of three females to perform on The Trek this year, Sheyi did everything possible to leave an indelible mark. Alongside his dancer, the returnee singer thrilled the crowd with her hit singles, including Irawo. For Naeto C and Mr. Raw, the Asaba gig marked the end of their participation in the project for this year. Having earlier promised to make it a memorable ending, both rappers came armed with their best. It would be recalled that Naeto C, who was accompanied by fast rising rap star XBUSTA at the gig, was actually discovered in Owerri by M.I. All through his performance, the Imo State native got cheers from his fans, as he belted out rhymes and rhythms. No matter what you thinbk about his music career, Mr. Raw has a large followership in the east and South South, including Asaba. So, you can imagine the reception he got at the gig. From his old hits such as Obodo, a song he originally produced alongside comedian Klint Da

Drunk, to I’m in Love with an Angel, Ko Gba Dun, Spiritual Konji, the enugu brought up got the crowd singing along. “His performance was worth every minute of an almost 6 hour wait,” an impressed fan hinted. In his usual energetic style, the self-styled egberi Papa 1 of Bayelsa, Timaya, captured the audience with a hat trick performance in the pouring rain. The artiste, who brought the crowd alive again with his act spared no effort to engage his audience on each of his songs,

Miss Nigeria, Ezinne leads campaign against child marriage ew weeks after she was FAkudo crowned Miss Nigeria 2013, ezinne Anyaoha has hit

poverty and leads to poor health as children will not only be withdrawn from the ground running as she has their peers, but they will have added her voice to the campsychological trauma and paign against child marriage physical challenges such as in Nigeria. The Law Graduate Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF).” of Abia State University, who The young damsel, who in has cancelled all her engagements in Lagos to seek audience with the leadership of the house of the Representatives Federal Republic of Nigeria to present the petition personally, described child marriage as a violation of human rights, adding that the girl child should be allowed to live out her childhood instead of subjecting her to sexual and physical abuse. “These children are not prepared for the tedious demands of Marriage and family life. Supporting underage marriage will keep relegating the girl child to the background and will also reduce her chances of being educated in order to liberate herself” According to the Queen, “child marriage perpetuates Ezinne

the next few weeks will launch her pet project is determined to use her office to fight sexual violence stating that this act is not only harmful to the girl child but also to the family, community and the nation as a whole because it stifles development. She enjoins Nigerians to come together in one voice to fight this act. “This is the right time for all well meaning Nigerians to come out and speak against this shameful act because it will go a long way to derail the current transformation agenda of the current administration and subsequently place the Nigerian girl far behind her peers across the world” “I want to also use this medium to urge the House of Representatives to follow the path of honour by rejecting this particular clause during their Clause - to - Clause consideration of the amended part of the constitution” she concluded.

promising fans an even more memorable performance on the 9th leg of the concert which will hold in Agege, Lagos. Performing for the first time and only slot in the project this year, Tuface Idibia came fully prepared. Backed by his band, Idibia took the show to the next level with his recordings. By the time he switched over to his latest songs such as Spiritual Healing, Only Me, and others, the atmosphere got frenzy. A true performer, Tuface proved his worth as a leading light in the country’s hip-hop movement. Aside their performance in Asaba, Tuface and M. Raw took time out to reflect on their journey to stardom, urging upcoming acts to pay attention to their craft. The artistes dropped buy for a surprise shout out at Delta State Radio with radio vixen Ify Adagbo, a few hours before the 7th leg of the Star Music Trek concert. Tuface whose multiple award winning albums and global fame is an enormous inspiration to many Nigerians, urged young talents to remain focused noting the need for discipline in their craft in order to succeed. Fellow Trek headliner, Mr. Raw, noted that the only way to improve is to consistently ensure that you are on the path of growth. “It’s a large industry and there’s enough space for every talent to make a mark. But you have to constantly improve yourself be willing to learn and be consistent, with that, there’s absolutely no way you won’t succeed,” he charged. Star Music Trek will still touch down in three locations - Abeokuta, Agege and Surulere. The grand finale of the 10-week music tour will hold at the National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos on August 10, 2013.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

ARTS 37

SHOWBLAST From NALT Club, succour for Okota charity home WAY from the usual netA working and unwinding, members of the NALT Club

Millions up for grab, as Ultimate Searchers return to Usaka jungle ITH a media briefing held recently W at the Lagos Bar, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Iganmu, Lagos, all is now set for the 2013 edition of the Gulder Ultimate Search season is 10. From all indications, the brand is leaving nothing to chance in ensuring that this year’s edition becomes the most memorable since the reality TV show was first beamed to TV audiences in 2004. Tagged the 10th Symbol, this year’s show, which will be staged at the Usaka forest, located in Obot Akara Local Government, Akwa Ibom State, promises a ‘jungle’ experience that would linger in the memories of viewers for years to come. The 12 contestants would lock horns for the grand prize of N10 million and a brand new Mitsubishi Pajero GLS AT (full option) jeep, courtesy of CFAO motors, a partner in the project. Aside from the overall winner, the second, third and fourth placed contestants will go home with the sums of N3 million, N2.5 million and N1.8 million respectively. The fifth to 12th placed contestants will cart home various cash sums ranging from N1.7 million to N1 million, while the last female contestant

standing will win N1 million naira, in addition to her cash prize. Speaking at the unveiling event, Marketing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc., Walter Drenth informed that this year’s show would be in two parts; the jungle search and the virtual search. Participation in the virtual search would be via mobile phones and would be in two stages. “For the first stage, all a consumer has to do is to buy a bottle of Gulder, check under the crown cork for a code, send the code to a designated shortcode to stand a chance of winning recharge cards.” The second stage, according Drenth, would involve consumers providing correct answers to questions from clues related to the Gulder Ultimate Search 10 transmitted on TV. “At the end of these interactions with the brand, and when the final anchor challenge is cracked, 12 contestants would be shortlisted for a one-day final search and the winner of the virtual search would be presented with a brand new Mitsubishi Pajero 3.0L GLX MT courtesy of our official automotive partners, CFAO Motors Nigeria.”

The consolation prizes for the ‘virtual Gulder Ultimate Search are: Gulder Gift packs, DSTV Walkas, Android phones, tablet PCs and recharge card worth millions of naira. Addressing the media, Deputy Managing Director of CFAO Motors Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Kunle Jaiyesimi, stated that the company was delighted to collaborate with NB PLC as the official automotive partner of Gulder Ultimate Search 10. “We are providing two brand new Mitsubishi Pajero Jeeps to the Winners. As you are aware, Gulder Ultimate Search is a test of endurance, which is well reflected in the Mitsubishi range of vehicles we sell. CFAO Motors will likewise provide to Nigerian Breweries Plc. eight units of Mitsubishi’s L200 4WD Pick-ups for the ultimate challenge towards the off-road obstacle that will pitch man against machine in the ultimate test of grit and steel,” he said. While the virtual phase of Gulder Ultimate Search would hold from September 26 to October 23, the jungle search would be beamed on national terrestrial and satellite TV stations from October 4 to October 31, 2013.

A special tribute night for Rolling Dollar ELEBRITY restaurant, O’jez, C organiser of the monthly O’jez Entertainment Awards, has concluded plans to stage a special tribute night in honour of veteran highlife musician, Fatai Olagunju (aka)Fatai Rolling Dollar, who passed on last month at the age of 86 years. The event is scheduled to hold on Sunday, July 28 at O’jez restaurant inside the National Stadium premises, Surulere, Lagos beginning at 7pm. It would be recalled that O’jez had last month cancelled the June award, which was billed for Sunday, June 30, to allow time to plan a more befitting honour for a man that was part of the O’jez entertainment family for over a decade. Sunday’s event also coincides with the 41 days mourning of the fallen musician who was a Muslim. In a statement signed by the outfit’s media Company,

Media Image Managers, MIM, the MD/C.E.O of the outfit, Chief Joseph Odobeatu informed that all is set for the event. “We are working in collaboration with the late Fatai Rolling Dollar’s family and they are happy to be part of the celebration of the life of their great musician father come this Sunday.” The Evergreen Band as well as the O’jez Band that have backed the musician in most of his gigs at the O’jez dancing restaurant every Friday and last Sunday of the month, will be on the stand to dish out his popular tunes from when he began playing

music over five decades ago. Also on the bill are comedians Elenu, MC Shakara and Elder O. “Zee Boy and Zee Girl, one of the most talented dancing duo will also perform this Sunday plus lots of others. “I can assure you that we will give Baba (Rolling Dollar) a befitting honour. We waited this long to allow others do theirs while we planned for his 41 days mourning, after Sunday’s event, I am sure Baba will be proud wherever he is, that indeed we valued his contribution to the O’jez brand in the last 12 years,” he said. Son of the late musician, Adewunmi Olagunju, commended Ojez Entertainment Limited for putting in place a platform that will

celebrate his late father and his music. “I am quite aware of the relationship my father had with O’jez, sometimes when his driver was not around, I always drove him here to perform on Friday nights and last Sunday of the month. I was one of his biggest fans because I hardly missed his shows. On behalf of Fatai Rolling Dollar’s family, I say a big thank you to O’jez group for this honour. He always spoke about O’jez almost every time we were together and he was truly grateful for the contribution of O’jez to his music career.” Chief Joseph Odobeatu had in a statement last month canceling the June award said, “We cannot be celebrating while a key member of the O’jez Entertainment Awards had just passed on. Baba Fatai Rolling Dollar was not just an artiste who had performed for over a decade on the O’jez stage, he was family to the O’jez group.

Lagos recently made a charity to the Society for the Safety of the Insane and Destitute (SOSAID), with the aim of sharing in their joy as well as bring succor to their pains. The visit, which was well attended by members of the club, was a demonstration of the club’s resolves to help the needy and also to woo like-minded clubs, corporate organisations and deserving members of the public to assist in giving back life to those who cannot afford it. While presenting the charity home with cash donations, food items and most importantly, building materials comprising rods and cement, the club noted that since witnessing the poor state of the charity home during its first visit last year, it determined to change the face of the home by contributing in giving the charity home befitting structure. In his remark, the president of the club Tochukwu Aghadinuno noted that the visit and benevolence of the club to the home underpins its corporate social responsibility initiative and resolve to affect the society positively with the substance of its members. He however commended the progress recorded so far at the home since they visit a year ago. According to Anyadinuno, the home has witness progress in the ongoing construction work at its site, while the inmates look improved than before. While leading the visitors on a tour of the facility, the ad-

ministrator of the home, Rosaline Banks noted that the previous donations of the club and other visitors to the home are judiciously used in the construction and management of the home. She however stated that the present building materials would facilitate the speedy completion of the permanent site of So Said Charity Home. In her appreciation, Felicia Martins, national coordinator of the charity home with a branch in Ajegunle Lagos, explained that the home which started 13 years ago has so far helped in reforming, rehabilitating and reintegrating mentally challenged person and destitute. “With your help so far, we have been able to carter for abandoned babies and bring mentally challenged people and other destitute on the street back to normal life.” Martins urged deserving members of the public and other clubs to emulate the good gesture of NALT Club, which at the long run enables the charity home to ride the streets of abandoned children and destitute to a place they would be taken care of and most importantly reintegrated back into normal life. As part of the visit, members of the home whose ages ranged from infants to the elderly, treated members of the club to spectacular talent displays. They danced and sang in appreciation of the donations by the visitors and prayed specially for the replenishment of their pocket.

El-Phlex drops Jamalo video continuous effort putting in HE fast rising music duo, T Adeniyi and Oluwaseun Ariyo their work and proofs with their recent released singles otherwise known as El-Phlex, has released video for one of their most anticipating single titled, Jamalo. Featuring music producer cum artiste Sheyman and EME act, Skales, the video was directed by Patrick Elis. Jamalo strives to make faith and positive thinking seductive, as the lyrics are refreshingly honest, quizzical and brings to the audience that urban male perspective that has never been aired. El-Phlex has been buzzing lately with the

Home & Away featuring Reminisce and Gbetiwa Remix, which featured Yung6ix, Seriki, Cynthia Morgan, Jhybo, Iceberg-Slim and T-izze. In the mean time, the group has won different award such as Global News Award for the Most Promising Artist of the year 2011, Best Upcoming Artistes 2010 in Ibadan by the Association Of Student Communication and also Best Performing Artistes UNIBEN IN 2006.

THE GuARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

ARTS

ArtHouse Compiled by Florence Utor

Torn set for premiere

A new movie, Torn, directed by moses Inwang, aka Sneeze, which stars industry heavy weights such as monalisa Chinda, Joseph Bemjamin, Bimbo manuel, Ireti Doyle and Julius Agwu will be premiered tomorrow at the Silver bird Galleria lagos, and will be released on August 2.

uti, labi to spearhead Nigerian Broadcasters night

Henceforth, two winners of the yearly Nigerian Broadcasters merit Awards (NBmA) will square up for the night of glitz and razzmatazz. Rainbow 94.1 Fm’s finest, DJ Chascolee, is now the official DJ of Nigerian Broadcasters Nite! It’s no doubt that uti and labi are currently on top of their games. It holds at Club Vegas, opebi Bypass, Sheraton/opebi link Road, Ikeja, tomorrow by 9pm.

Royal Arts Academy set to release two movies

Royal Arts Academy is set to release into the market two highly anticipated movies, Weekend Getaway and the newly produced Desperate House Girls. The launch will take place on August 2 at Terra Kulture by 4pm. The movie, which has already been screened in cinemas nationwide, enjoyed a successful run. It stars Genevieve Nnaji, Ramsey Nouah, Ini Edo-Ehiagwina, monalisa Chinda, Beverly Naya, uru Eke, uti Nwachuwkwu, Bobby obodo, Alex Ekubo, Bishop Ime umoh and others. It was produced by Emem Isong, Ini Edo and monalisa Chinda and directed by Desmond Elliot.

Jigga Entertainment presents evening for couples

Bond and Bliss is an exclusive evening of fun for couples, and organised by Jigga Entertainment. The event promises a lot of give-away and goodies for outstanding couples. It comes up on July 28 at the D’Signature Arena, 38 lingu Crescent, off Aminu Kano Crescent (By uBA), Wuse II, Abuja.

Akintola, Oshinaike star in A Husband’s Wife beginning to the end. When Bimbo’s character tells her husband, “Don’t fall sleep because I am not sure you is one play that you must will wake up,” something in watch for its clear illustration her voice tells you that it is of that which William Blake no idle threat. described as “a terrible beauSpeaking on proceedings ty.” movies stars Bimbo thus far, Zara udofia Ejiro of Akintola and Toyin oshinaike oxzygen Concepts, which is will star in it as a married cou- producing alongside ple on the cusp of something majmua theatre, notes that nasty in this amazing two“It is obvious from the man play that plumbs the rehearsals that ms Akintola very depths of marital strife. and mr. oshinaike have not This is a play for every marjust internalised their lines, ried couple or those thinking they have embraced their seriously about getting marroles and inhabited the charried. The play, which will go acters. Watching them lob on stage on August 10, 2013 at verbal missiles at each other, Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, it is easy to see that these are lagos, will keep viewers on longer two actors we know; the edge of their seat with they are now a couple on the emotive and evocative acting cusp of something nasty. The from the two talented thespi- thing that is broken between ans. them is totally and irrevocaThe dialogue is razor sharp, ble damaged and that is the witticism is cutting and what provides the tension, the tension that menacing tenis taut sion that is both from lovely and scary to watch.”

HUSBAND’S WIFE, written A by Terrence Tyron and directed by Abiodun Kassim,

Bimbo

Contestants of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2013, during their visit to Edo State

African movie channel for launch in Nigeria oVERS of African stories will soon have a lmovies variety of channels showing African to choose from, as a u.K.-based

Vision Download Store. The 24-hour African movies and series linear channel showing only series primarily African movie Channel (AmC), the world’s from Nollywood was launched in may 2011, first global channel dedicated to the best with AmC’s technical partners, Advanced movies and series from Nigeria’s Nollywood, Broadcast Services (ABS) in london and and the best from the rest of Africa, will be providing a fully managed play out service launched in Nigeria. of the channel; ABS is one of the largest The channel is having its official Nigeria play out and TV facilities companies in launch on August 11 at the Grand Ballroom of Europe. the oriental Hotel, lekki, Victoria Island. Top Notable TV platforms carrying African Nollywood celebrities will grace the august movie Channel include StarTimes in occasion to be hosted by Teju Babyface, with Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, uganda, and Andre Blaze as red carpet anchorman. mozambique; TopTV in South Africa, Smart African movie Channel started operations TV in Ghana; Zuku in Kenya, Tanzania and in 2006, when it launched Europe’s first uganda, and Continental Digital in channel dedicated to top quality Nollywood Tanzania. and other African movies, and also pioAfrican movie Channel is the fastest growneered the online digital distribution of ing channel in Africa, and has quickly African movies and drama series at fullbecome one of the most popular channels screen DVD quality a year later through its on the continent, already available in more online on-Demand channel, and a partnerthan 5 million homes across several ship with British Telecom (BT) on its BT African countries.

Glamour as Iroghama emerges winner of The Next Titan show By Tony Nwanne GBEIFuN recently emerged o winner of the 2013 edition of the television reality show, The Next Titan, Season one. The grand finale, which held at the oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, lagos, had in attendance family and friends of the three contestants, who came to cheer their wards to victory, with Iroghama claiming victory. Iroghama, who contended against Ejeke Chukwuemeka and olarewaju Tinuade, was voted for by both the judges and the audience. He claimed the N5 million prize money, which she is expected to invest in a business with a brand new car and business support. The Next Titan is Nigeria’s Entrepreneurial Reality TV Show. Season one of the 13week Reality TV Show saw 20 talented young entrepreneurs competing in order to earn support and investments for their businesses. Every week the contestants worked in two teams each

Akure to host international conference on Fagunwa lANS are on by CBAAC in collaboraP tion with the ondo State Government, the Fagunwa Study Group, and the Fagunwa Foundation to host an International Conference in August 2013. The international Conference is being promoted by aninternational group of scholars and enthusiasts of the work of the late, distinguished pioneer writer, Daniel olorunfemi Fagunwa (1903-1963). The conference on D. o. Fagunwa: Fifty Years on, scheduled to hold at the Adegbemile Cultural Centre, Akure,ondo State August 8-10, 2013, was conceived to mark the first half-century after the death of Fagunwa. The conference is to celebrate and reaffirm Fagunwa’s major contributions to African literature and culture, re-examine his work as a store-house of hitherto undiscovered sources of knowledge, and assess his continuing relevance to our contemporary times. Professor Wole Soyinka, the 1986 Nobel laureate in literature, will deliver the keynote address.

Flood of entries for Creative Writers Workshop 2013 lmoST 900 budding writA ers have sent in entries for this year’s Creative Writers

Iroghama under the guidance of a project manager. They compete in business-driven tasks around lagos. Apart from working as teams, each of the contestants displayed his/her own creativity on personal business ideas in the Academy. While in the house, they used their ideas and creativity alongside their business acumen to win challenges. Contestants were subjected to long hours, grueling deadlines, intellectual challenges, personality clashes and intense scrutiny under the careful watch of their supervisors and judges of the show.

perspectives to the art of storytelling. The 2013 edition of the event Workshop. Entry for the would end with a literary workshop closed late June evening slated for Friday, and Farafina Trust, organizAugust 16, 2013. ers of the five years-old work- Facilitators for the 2012 edishop sponsored by Nigerian tion were Chimamanda Breweries said about 24 out Ngozi Adichie, Jeffery of this number would be Renard Allen, Robert selected for the workshop Spillman and Binyavanga running from August 6 to 15, Wainaina who has been 2013. part of the literary workFarafina Trust said they are shop since inception in excited about the quality of 2009. entries received this year. As Applicants who may be usual, the workshop’s team published or unpublished of facilitators will be led by writers were expected to the Nigeria’s celebrated write a few sentences about international writer and the themselves in addition to a Trust’s Creative Director, creative writing sample of Chimamanda Adichie. It is between 200 and 800 aimed at improving the craft words. The writing sample of Nigerian writers as well as must be pasted or written encourages published and in the body of the email unpublished writers through with subject titled a presentation of different ‘Workshop Application’.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

ARTS 39

Literature Achebe… Champagne libation for Africa’s literary ancestor By Anote Ajeluorou HEN promoters of Moet and Chandon W Champagne decided to make a toast to the extraordinary life of Chinua Achebe at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos last Thursday, little did they know what harvest the largely young audience would have for the late literary icon. Although Achebe’s soul mate Prof. Wole Soyinka turned up, the late start of event robbed the audience of his magisterial presence. But this didn’t dampen the sheer enthusiasm to relive the life of the man who gave the continent a literary voice. Tolu Ogunlesi curated the event. Indeed, rather than the proposed ‘toast’ as stated in the proceedings, Deji Toye’s déjà vu suggestion of ‘libation’ elicited sighs of instant approval from everyone, as Ogunlesi stumbled over which was the proper way to proceed. A libation was the only thing that could appropriately fit the moving spirit of the continent’s literary age, a man who just became an ancestor. And so glasses of Moet and Chandon Chanpagne were lifted up and clinked after generous drops had been tipped to the marble floor in honour of a worthy ancestor. But this was after almost everyone had had his say on what the Achebe phenomenon really was, and will continue to be as a guiding light and legacy to a continent’s writing. Indeed, it isn’t always that such high-end product as Moet and Chandon Champagne to hobnob with writers or even celebrate them, but Achebe was such high-end personality that drew an audience that filled the Kongi Harvest Hall. Also, it was the first literary event held in honour of Achebe in Lagos since he died last April. First, Ogunlesi pointed out the sheer symbolism of Achebe being celebrated at an old Majesty’s former prison (now remodled Freedom Park) on a day Nelson Mandela turned 95, a man who spent a better part of his life in an imperialist’s prison. In opening the celebration, arts enthusiast Mr. Toyin Akinosho said Achebe was the man who built the local content in Nigerian, nay African literature, (not unlike the Petroleum Industry Bill PIB – Akinosho, an oil man, is the publisher of Oil and Gas magazine). He went on to give background to the emergence of Achebe and how his famous Things Fall Apart (TFA) manuscript made its uneventful journey from Lagos to London and was almost lost in the hands of the typewriters who found it odd that an African upstart could arrogate to himself the whiteman’s craft of writing a novel. Akinosho read excerpts from James Curry’s Africa Writes Back. TFA manuscript probably made the most convoluted journey a manuscript ever made to come into world acclaim! It wasn’t until a professor of Economics at London School of Economics

Patrick Omitoki of Forbs magazine; Toyin Akinosho and former editor, The Guardian on Sunday Jahman Anikulapo Oladejo toasting to Africa’s literary ancestor, Achebe last week… in Lagos PHOTO: CHARLES OKOLO gave it a seven-letter word endorsement that it saw the light of the day, when he said: This is the best novel after the war! Those were the magic words that brought TFA into being. From that point onward, Achebe’s personal chi said an affirmation and his eagle took a flight. Achebe soon became editorial adviser to Heinemann publishers, and the rest, as they say, is history. Maxim Uzoatu (author of God of Poetry) regaled the audience with details of his trip from Lagos to Ogidi for Achebe’s burial and how the man’s personality elicited arguments from among the town’s folks who he really was, whether he was Pete Edochie or Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart, the NTA 1980s drama series or just another politician. With massive billboards and huge posters adorning every conspicuous space in town and the invasion of thousands more, with two presidents in attendance, Achebe was mythologised in his native birthplace. In sum, most people in Ogidi didn’t Achebe, Uzoatu stated. Uzoatu, who had the rare privilege of interviewing Achebe years back, described him as an organised person, who took his writing seriously from start, adding, “Some of us lack the courage of conviction, but Achebe was a

man of his own. Even when Europeans said the novel is dead, Achebe will say, ‘no; we haven’t written our own yet; we haven’t told our story yet’. The proverbs, the idioms are commonplace but the way he deployed them made a difference. “The initial efforts of Achebe, Soyinka, Ammos Tutuola made them pathfinders. We should return to the original African story. That’s the legend of Achebe!” Like Ogunlesi, who first proposed the seemingly unthinkable, the ‘what if’ Things Fall Apart had not been written or the manuscript got lost from Lagos to London, Toye further extended that improbability of TFA getting lost or not having been written and the probable fate African literature. For Toye, Achebe, too, fell under the spell of this improbability, when he said in his usual humility that another person could have written TFA if he hadn’t written. However, Toye would not be seduced by such reasoning even as it came from the revered ancestor himself while he lived. For him and many others, it could only have been Achebe who could have pulled off such literary magic and no one else, saying, “What if? What if the manuscript had been lost? Achebe had said if

Abubakar, Eke, Iwunze-Ibiam take residence at Ebedi writers’ resort HREE female writers have since T commenced the six weeks’ July/August 2013 Residency Programme at Ebedi International Residency Programme in Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria. The first resident, Bilqisu Abubakar holds a Masters Degree in Literature and teaches English Language at the College of Basic Studies, Kaduna State University. Bilqisu said, “My writing started over 17 years ago as a house wife first by documenting my travails and pains in my diary. I actually went into writing out of boredom, which perhaps explains the many

lapses in my two published works To Live Again (2006) and The Woman In Me (2010) because I wasn’t writing specifically for the public”. Bilqisu hopes to use her time in Ebedi to complete her novel Adama and also mentor students of some secondary schools in Iseyin in the area of creative writing. The second writer, Iquo DianaAbasi Eke holds a BSc degree in Industrial Relations from the Lagos State University. Iquo is a writer, actress and performance poet who renders her words to the accompaniment of traditional drums, flute

and /or strings. She recently publish- Residency Programme is in its third er her first volume of poetry, year of operation as an initiative that allows writers to complete Symphony of Becoming. their works in a conducive atmosChioma Iwunze-Ibiam, the third phere at no cost. It also enables the writer, is an Enugu-based fiction writers to mentor aspiring young writer. writers drawn from several secondApart from completing work on her ary schools in Iseyin. The residency novel His Fake Fiancee, Chioma’s is managed by a Board of Directors community service will include made up of Maryam Okediran teaching students about the art of (Chairman), Uche Peter Umez, blogging, organising small reading Alkasim Abdulkadir and and writing contest for the second- AkintayoAbodunrin. Applications ary school students in Iseyin. She including a CV and sample of ongowill also give books and encourage ing work should be sent to ebedithe youths to read more. writers@yahoo.com. The Ebedi International Writers

he hadn’t written TFA, somebody else would have written it, which isn’t very true. “He was a product of his era. The era itself produced the writing. It was a gate-keeping era in which the architecture, historiography, musicology, visual arts and literary art were wrested from European hegemony and stranglehold”. Eghosa Imasuen (author of To Saint Patrick and Fine Boys) said his first encounter with Achebe was A Man of the People, a novel he described as being ridiculously funny. He noted that as a writer was someone that might be considered being a witness to history, it became something he yearned for, especially from his reading of A Man of the People. Also for Ralph Tathagarta, Achebe was a revolutionary who put up a fight just like his famous hero, Okonkwo in TFA, a man who stood in defence of what was his even when it appeared indefensible! A white member of the audience praised the historicity in Achebe’s books as it helped him in understanding his identity, noting that Achebe’s writing helps in “understanding the history of our fathers and that we have obligation to our place in history and the choices that we make”. LSO, former editor of The Guardian on A Sunday, Mr. Jahman Anikulapo expressed sadness over how Achebe’s last book There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra sparked off much heated debate and vilification of the man even from unenlightened quarters and those who hadn’t even read the book joined the fray. He said it was sad “the way we reduced Achebe to our ethnic narrowness. The way we represented him wasn’t how he was. Achebe represented our own collective imagination. The way we interpreted him was not how he set out to be. Many of us, especially journalists, are just reductionists. Let’s restore Achebe to that status he really was. He wasn’t in enmity with Soyinka or Clark. Achebe gave every African a voice”. Anikulapo narrated an encounter with Achebe after his debilitating accident. The iconic writer was returning home and at the Lagos airport during the Chief Ojo Maduekwe’s era as Minister of Culture and Tourism, and there was the usual oversight and no armchair had been provided. Achebe

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

40 ARTS

Unspoken politics of English language Review By Ibrahim Gambari HE premise of the book Of Black Servitude T without Slavery: The Unspoken Politics of Language by Dr. Agwu Okali – former United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary-General and former Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda – is that English has become the dominant “language of communication across cultures, such that even native speakers of other major languages such as Chinese, Spanish, or French now find it advisable, if not actually necessary, to be able to communicate in English”. In a real sense, English has “emerged as a truly global language, if not in fact the only global language”. This, in the view of the author, is the enduring reality of modern life. Furthermore, according to Okali, “with the acquisition of English, one also acquires not just the words and expressions of that language, but most critically, the system of thought and mind-set associated with that language”. However, a common language can also be divisive. George Bernard Shaw once referred to the British and the Americans as two peoples divided by a common language. In English, the new global language, bad things tend to be referred to as “black” and, for the most part, “black” things are not considered good. As examples, the author refers to “black spot, black day and blackmail”. On the other hand, good things – or, at least, things that are not bad or not that bad – are often regarded as “white”, such as “white knight”, “white magic”, “white lie”. This “systemic and systematically applied” use of English, which reflects an inferiority/superiority complex, needs to be transformed. The language must be domesti-

cated to make it serve a broader global purpose, rather than leaving it as an instrument with which to denigrate a whole people. This represents a challenge that is not easily overcome. Still, that is the objective of the author of this book – to eliminate the “badness of black” idea and mind-set. Hence, in Chapters VI and VII of the book, he provides the framework for proposed solutions to this dilemma and also a plan of action for their practical implementation. This, in my view, remains an uphill, but not an insurmountable task, if there is the political will and all stakeholders play active roles in changing negative stereotypes. In this regard, serious writers, authors, the media, and opinion-shapers must take the lead. The English Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, argued in his famous essay “In Defence of Poetry” that “poets” – in the larger sense, the community of creative writers and

thinkers – “are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”. By writing this book, Okali has made himself one such legislator, spearheading global legislation to reverse the negative use of the English language to denigrate black people (or people of colour). He is calling for a new language of communication, which can unite diverse peoples in a rapidly globalising world. The measures and new vocabulary that he proposes would cut across racial divides and help to improve race relations; although this book is not only about race relations. So, if, as the author half jokingly suggests, the English language is “unconstitutional”, then there is a need to re-constitutionalise it by removing the subjective negative connotations in its present usage. One last point should perhaps be made in relation to Chapter 1 of the book, which is devoted to the “Importance of Obama and of being Obama in the context of Liberation Struggle”. The author boldly suggests that Obama’s election in 2008 as the first black President of the United States of America is comparable in its “significance and impact on the black people in the United States and other transformational international events in their lives to the abolition of slavery”. There is no doubt that Obama’s election demolished some white racist sentiments and views in the United States. Furthermore, the racial pride of AfricanAmericans following his election as President

has been inestimable and probably influenced them to vote overwhelmingly for his re-election in 2012. However, Professor Cornel West, an African-American scholar at Princeton University in the US, adopts a more pessimistic view of what can realistically be expected by African-Americans in terms of major transformation of their lives under President Obama’s administration. Africans, arguably, should expect even less than African-Americans in this regard. Be that as it may, the powerful message of President Obama’s election “that anything is possible regardless of skin colour” and its positive impact on the mindset of all people of African descent cannot be underestimated. Put simply in other words: YES WE CAN! Of Black Servitude Without Slavery should be made compulsory reading for all sons and daughters of Africa, especially the younger ones, and all those who share a common commitment to justice, peace and human dignity. Literally, our lives as Africans depend on the correct reading of this book and the implementation of its recommended course of action. In so doing, I feel sure that, just as Africans survived slavery, and overcame colonialism and Apartheid, we will also overcome servitude in all its forms and manifestations. As the late Chinua Achebe eloquently noted in his famous essay, “African Literature as Restoration of Celebration”, Africans would then be “celebrating humanity in our continent” while also recognising that our world “interlocks more and more with the worlds of others”. *Professor Ibrahim Gambari is the former Joint Special Representative for the African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and former Foreign Minister of Nigeria

Rashidi Yekini’s mysterious death in print By Gbenga Akinfenwa HE sudden death of Nigeria’s goal machine, Rashidi Yekini and the controversies that trailed his demise have left a sore taste in the mouth of his numerous fans, colleagues and the Nigerian football fraternity. He was the first Nigerian footballer to win the prestigious African Footballer of the Year award in 1993 and the first Nigerian to score at the World Cup against Bulgaria in USA ’94. He was no doubt an embodiment of football, who gave much joy to Nigerians, Africans and the world with his goal-scoring prowess. Gangling and swift, he was probably Nigeria’s most misunderstood football legend, who refused to live the hype expected of him by numerous fans that expected a man of his stature to live like a king. Even members of his family never understood him. His later life was characterised by withdrawal syndrome, a recluse lifestyle, generosity, which his family capitalized on, and which eventually led to his abduction and eventual death. Was Yekini really insane? Who abducted him? Was abduction and death solution to insanity? These and many other questions begging for answers have given birth to the book, Rashidi Yekini: The life and times of Nigeria’s goal king… It is written by the deceased’s lawyer, Jibril Mohammed Olanrewaju. Aside being a compendium to immortalize the goal king, it is also an expose on the manner and circumstances, which surrounded Yekini’s rise to stardom, his ordeal and eventual demise. Divided into 18 chapters, the author uses his rich knowledge of Nigerian football, through thorough research and interviews to make the book interesting. Through this book, the world is made to understand who Rashidi Yekini truly was from his days at United Nigerian Textiles Limited (Nigeria), Shooting Stars (Nigeria), Abiola Babes (Nigeria), Africa Sports (Nigeria), Victoria FC (Portugal), Olympiacos (Greece), Sporting Gijon (Spain), Victoria Setubal (Portugal), FC Zurich (Switzerland), Al-Shaba, Julius Berger

FC to Gateway FC, where he retired. In spite of the fact that the 176-paged book was put together within eight weeks, the author’s evident passion and determination in revealing the hidden facts about the gangling star’s daily routine and his rich knowledge of Nigerian football make the book an archival material. Apart from the use of pictures, the author makes references to the Holy Bible and Quran. For instance, he opens the first chapter titled “Death A Perfect Cure For Insanity?” with Surah 47 verse 37: If he were to ask you of it and press you, you would covetously with hold and he will bring out all your (secret) ill wills and Psalm 55 verse 12-14 For it was an enemy that reproached me… and walked unto the house of God in company, to drive home the roles played by Yekini’s immediate family on his death. This author gives insight why Yekini lived a recluse life, which started from his childhood; it became withdrawal syndrome during adulthood. This undoubtedly led to his abduction and eventual death. Unknown to many, Yekini never enjoyed any motherly love or care needed to guide a child. This affected him later in life. He went through harrowing experiences while growing up. Those

who knew him as a teenager said he was a lone ranger, who liked to keep to himself. He did not like crowd and was very selective in his choice of friends. As a young boy, he unleashed his bottled up anger on the round leather game instead. Yekini did not only play football with passion but for survival, too. He had no home, no friend, no girl friend, no love, no skill, and no education. He was indefinitely suspended from primary school. Football became his life, his love, his family and everything he could be in life.

Olarenwaju’s book also gives insight to how the gangling star was killed. He reveals that after about three failed attempts to kidnap him, his captor adopted a gimmick to confuse the whole world that Yekini was insane. Several other allegations were peddled against him; others said he was broke or he was doling out money to people. Another version attributed his sanity to the collapse of his marriage to Kemi, one of his wives because he actually had five wives and many concubines with two children. The book states that although Yekini

truly had rough times at a point when he used to look really shabby, but it wasn’t because he was mad. He attributed it to problems from his immediate and extended family and siblings, which had weighed him down. There was a time Yekini was taken to court to seek injunction restraining his bank from allowing him to withdraw his own money; another for him not to be taken for treatment. However, by Monday, April 9, 2012, they succeeded in abducting him from his Busayo Taiwo Street, Ring Road, Ibadan, Oyo State residency and taken away in the boot of a Peugeot 505 car to an unknown destination by a group led by his mother, Sikiratu Yekini. He died three weeks later on Friday, May 4, 2012 at 49. He was buried on Saturday, May 5, 2012 in his village, Ira in Kwara State without autopsy being conducted on him. Questions still remain about Yekini’s untimely death. Was Yekini insane? Why was he abducted? What was his offence? The author subtly points at Yekini’s captors as the only ones who could tell the world what really transpired between them and the ace footballer in his last moments on earth. Rashidi Yekini… is a sobering read!

Achebe… Champagne libation for Africa’s literary ancestor CONTINUED FROM PAGE 38 had to ride on the back of a woman to be ferried from the tarmac to a waiting car! At that time also, overzealous journalists had whipped up so much dust about his quarrel with late Cyprian Ekwensi. Later when he (Anikulapo and one other journalist) arrived Achebe’s Sheraton Hotel suite, in came Ekwensi; they almost wished the ground would open and swallow them (journalists) up at the camaraderie of the two elders who were believed to be at loggerheads with each other. For Anikulapo, that momentous occasion provided a lesson in humility and how larger than life personages are reduced to the ethnic or other narrowness of those regarding them from their narrow perch. Poet and teacher, Aj Daggar Tolar said the literary

community usually commits sin against acknowledged ancestor of African literature in the wrong perception of his treatment of women in his novels. With the character of Ekwuefi, Tolar said, women had an assured place in traditional African society and that Achebe should be commended for placing women in such high priestly office. And like Okonkwo, who played the oppositional role in standing alone in TFA till the very end, Tolar said Achebe also stood alone to the very last as a strong oppositional figure in the battle to rescue the sinking soul of his country from the cabal that hold it hostage. “The life of Achebe and how he died raise some fundamental questions of nationhood,” Tolar said. “He had principles that are entirely missing in today’s Nigeria and that’s where we’re where we are today.” A violinist from Crown Troupe of Africa very mov-

ingly serenaded the audience with a classic tune from NTA dramatised Things Fall Apart. Also, Lola Shoneyin (author of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives and organiser of Ake Arts and Book Festival) stated that the worst thing to say about Achebe would be that he didn’t win the Nobel Prize for Literature, saying, “He shouldn’t be reduced to that level”. Shoneyin said Achebe awakened in her the issue of her true identity, especially when she was a student in England at the age of six, when she didn’t quite know the implication of race. However, after reading Achebe, it reinforced her identity and she began to discern the racist insults flung at her and her having to fling them back at her tormentors with equal vehemence. The evening ended with the libation, which was enthusiastically embraced by all.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Customer Experience By Daniel Adam Cissna

anufacturing companies live and die by customer M feedback. Microsoft launched

Customer Feedback Drives Quality Control, A Complaint Is a Gift

discontent using word-ofmouth, they effectively only reached a small population of potential consumers. With the availability of online feedback, every customer has the ability to affect a greater audience. "A study by the London School of Economics found that a seven percent increase in electronic word-of-mouth advocacy correlated with a one percent increase in growth" (Power of Reviews, 2012, p.7). Manufactures should embrace the free information provided by the consumer. Increasing a company's Yelp rating by one star was found to increase revenues by nine percent according to a Harvard Business School study (Power of Reviews, 2012, p.7). Manufacturers Manufacturers should see all should adjust their quality concomplaints as a gift. Market trol to resolve issues that in the research indicates that compast would be unnoticed. The panies with mostly negative result is a better product for the feedback underperform com- consumer and increased sales petitors. Typically, retailers set for the manufacturer. quality control expectations. Retailers demand a certain Manufacturers can improve level of quality and allow for a their customer feedback and certain number of defects. If a ultimately the quality of their defective product makes it to products by focusing on tree the consumer, the consumer main objectives: returns the item to the distrib- 1. Proper implementation of an utor. The risk to the distribuonline feedback programme. tor's reputation is low because Modern manufacturers should typically only one consumer is have an online presence that impacted for each occurrence. starts with a professionally The risk to the manufacturer designed website. This site in this example is even lower should provide consumers with the customer associates the a tool to provide feedback on products with the retailers their products. Manufactures not the manufactures. Even if should encourage participation the customer expresses their in the review process. It is OK to Windows Vista in 2007 with high expectations. Immediate negative customer feedback due to compatibility issues spurred a backlash from even the most loyal customers. Microsoft was slow to respond to criticism and Apple jumped at the opportunity to launch a successful smear campaign based on the phrase "Hi, I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC." Feedback is often a direct result of manufacturing quality control. When a manufacturer receives a complaint, it is actually a gift that should be acted upon immediately. Successful manufacturers use customer feedback to drive quality control and increase sales.

Executives Finance By Sandra Simmons

ncreasing business cash flow is vital to every business. Many business owners only think in terms of getting new customers or using advertising to increase cash flow. They are leaving income lying on the table if they aren't also setting financial policies to control their cash flow. There are numerous actions a business can take to increase cash flow and using financial policies can play an important role in that effort.

Setting Firm Financial Policies That Increase Cash Flow Setting financial policies that can speed up cash flow are very effective, especially when your sales team encounters a customer asking for special concessions. A few financial policies to consider are: Getting Paid a Percentage or The Entire Amount Up-front Ask for full or partial payment up-front or demand cash-ondelivery. Many businesses automatically offer payment terms or credit terms when customers would be more than willing to pay you upfront. For service businesses that bill by the hour, setting a policy that all jobs or projects collect a pre-paid retainer, and work stops when the funds run out until the retainer is refreshed, is a very good policy and one that I operate on myself. Any business owner who has been burned more than once would do well to consider implementing this policy. Break Up Payments For Large Jobs - If you offer terms to a customer you can make the deal based on several parts: an up-front payment to cover the cost of materials or inventory needed for the job, progress payments to cover labor, and a final payment. Make sure

offer an incentive, to the consumer, for providing feedback in exchange for their time (Power of Reviews, 2012, p.7). This tool should also allow consumers to numerically rate the products. Numerical ranking allows the manufacturer to produce statistics based on the feedback, where as comments are subjective and open to biased interpretation. 2. Manufacturers should acquire the services of a skilled social media professional. A dedicated employee should monitor online customer feedback from the manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s site as well as other prevalent forums as it pertains to their products. Set up Google Alerts for relevant search terms as it pertains to the product (Collins, 2012, p.135). When someone leaves feedback on your product, Google will automatically notify the user. The social media professional can then provide statistical data to the manufacturing quality control team as it pertains to online customer feedback. Finally, the social media manager should respond to negative feedback with offers to resolve the customer's issues. Negative feedback that is resolved by the manufacturer often will be seen as a positive experience by future consumers. 3. Manufacturers should utilize feedback to improve quality control. Information is

How to Increase Business Cash Flow Using Financial Policies you include a portion for your profit in each part. Make it policy that you get a signed contract. Make sure you include a portion for your profit in each part. Be Very Selective When Offering Payment Terms - A business does not have to offer payment terms to every customer. Be selective and make them qualify to get special terms. Qualifications can include things such as a large minimum order, or consistent orders that meet a smaller minimum each week or month. You can also shorten your terms to 10 days or 14 days instead of 30 days, or offer better prices for faster term payments, such as a 1 - 2% discount for payment in 10 days and full price for 30 day terms. Speed up collection by taking payments by credit card or preauthorized EFT payments (electronic fund transfers) or direct debits you can make on the day a payment is due. Write a policy that outlines the procedure for the customer to qualify for terms, and what the approval process is for your company. Be

sure there is an approval process so terms are not "approved" for just anyone. Make It Financially Painful For Late Payers - When you offer terms to a customer, have a contract they have to sign to get the terms, and make sure you include interest charges and late fees in a clause in the contract. Have an attorney draw up a boilerplate contract where you can fill in the blanks and find out what the laws are before writing in the percentage for the interest or the amount for late fees that may invalidate your contract should you have to pursue collections in court. Make it policy that a signed contract is required before work starts. Putting in firm cash flow management by instituting financial policies can quickly and effectively increase your cash flow, and they give your sales and administrative teams a set of "rules" to follow that keeps income flowing into the business.

power and often expensive to informed about the products acquire, however in the case of they are buying. Customers are online customer feedback, it is very attentive to customer free. Manufacturers should study constructive criticism then adjust processes and product designs accordingly. Quality control managers should look for commonalities in complaints and defects so that engineering solutions can eliminate manufacturing problems. Implementation of these three objectives will improve quality and customer feedback resulting in increased sales. The speed of the internet and availability of information makes quality control even more important than in the past. Online customer feedback has taken the place of word-ofmouth advertising. Consumers are now more

Executives Health By Robin Stinson f you're overweight and have tried shedding the additional weight, with moderate or no success at all, you should start consuming foods that are rich in fiber. This is because one of the most effective strategies to reduce weight is to manage your hunger pangs, and fiber helps you do exactly that. If you feel hunger pangs frequently, shedding pounds through a calorie-controlled diet can be very hard.

feedback. Online customer feedback is the new driver of quality in the manufacturing process.

Reasons why increasing intake of Fiber is good for you at losing weight and keeping it from coming back. Also, foods that are loaded with fiber usually call for more chewing, which gives your brain adequate time to get the signal that you've had enough to eat. Psychologically, fiber-rich foods are usually more filling than liquids or soft foods because they are crunchy and chewing on them stimulates your senses. Chewing also stimulates the production of saliva and stomach juices which also fill the stomach.

to get rid of far more weight than those who consume much less fiber.

Different types of fiber Fiber is available in two different forms: soluble or insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water, while insoluble ones don't. Both types of fiber are found naturally in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts. Both forms of fiber are healthy. Soluble fibers draw in water and create a gel, Pros of eating more fiber which helps delay the emptyTaking in more fiber will let ing of your stomach and you feel full quicker and for a make you feel full for a longer Recommended amount of longer time, so you can resist period. Insoluble fibers posfiber in the diet the urge of consuming more sess a laxative effect, and thus Women need to have around food than what you really help prevent constipation. 25 grams and men require need. If you select high-fiber about 38 grams each day to get Because they do not dissolve foods that also carry a good in water, they exit the gasthe benefits of dietary fiber. percentage of water rather trointestinal tract relatively Many people only consume than food that are full of fat intact. Should I use fiber supabout 50 % of the suggested and simple sugars, you can plements? The best way to amount. Some studies show take in the same weight of food that individuals who take in 35 obtain fiber is consuming but feel satisfied on considerto 45 grams of fiber a day expe- whole foods, but suppleably fewer calories. A growing rience milder and less frequent ments can be a handy way of body of research demonstrates hunger pangs as they're trying getting the suggested that those who take in fiber at to shed pounds, and so are able amount of dietary fiber. breakfast are more successful

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

AutoWheels Best bet automobiles for 2014

Porsche 918 spyder By Taiwo Hassan S we approach the third A quarter of the year, questions are being raised among automobile industry watchers as to which brand of vehicles from renowned car manufacturers will meet the expectations for lovers of auto wheels. The coming year will be a showcase for some of the world’s oldest automakers. Specifically, in Nigeria, preparations are in top gear by auto companies to storm the market with the latest automobiles expected to hit the shore of the land next year. However, these are the best bet automobiles for 2014 outlook. Tesla Model X (early 2014) Perhaps the most anticipated of all the 2014 releases is the next model from Tesla. The Model X is touted as a cross between a stylish SUV and a useful minivan. The now-standard Tesla specs falcon wings, luxury interior are in place, yet the Model X should blow out competition by going 0-60 in under 5 seconds. It’s a bold statement from the industry’s most innovative company, and should be making headlines within the year. Pricing is in line with the Model S, starting around $70,000 before tax credit. Cadillac ELR (January 2014) Would a Cadillac driver ever want to part with the cozy growl of the luxury ride’s engine? General Motors is betting its loyal following will, and the Cadillac ELR hybrid is already one of the most hotly anticipated rides of next year. It will pack a 1.4 L, 4-cylinder engine that works with 273

lb-ft of torque. The ELR will be no slouch in its electric-driving range, either. Utilising the Chevy Volt powertrain, this car will be able to cover 35 miles on a charge before switching to gasoline. It’s not your father’s Caddy. Volvo V60 Sports Wagon (January 2014) The V60 Sports Wagon from Volvo has high expectations after finding success in Europe. Safety is always the hallmark of a Volvo, so the company is increasing its commitment, giving drivers the option for automatic stopping at up to 31 mph when danger presents itself. It’s also a more stylish Volvo wagon than has been seen in the company’s 60 years working on this style of automobile. It’s still unclear whether

2015 Ford Musta

Volvo will offer a diesel engine stateside (as with its Euro counterpart), but most guesses suggest it won’t. 2015 Ford Mustang (Summer 2014)

While General Motors is making waves with its highly anticipated Chevy Corvette Stingray, Ford is hoping to generate comparable buzz with its 2015 Mustang, the next generation of its storied muscle car. Expect a 2.3 L, 16-valve turbo engine with manual and auto transmission, with Ford opting for a split-andjointed drive axle for the first time ever. The Mustang will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2014, so expect Ford to come out with the most fearsome version of its classic ride. Mercedes Benz S500 Plug-In Hybrid (Fall 2014) The 2014 Mercedes Benz S Class is about to be released this fall, but many are waiting on the plug-in hybrid to make the biggest splash on the market.

When Mercedes has a hybrid in showrooms, the segment has officially arrived in the U.S. luxury market. Early reports suggest the approach to the hybrid will be Porsche-like, with the

Mercedes-Benz 5500 S500 Plug-In Hybrid able to go around 18 miles on a charge. Pricing on the S Class starts around six figures. Potential

for eMPG is expected to be above 60. Volkswagen E-Golf (mid2014) Volkswagen isn’t sitting tight, and is getting strong in the electric game with its EGolf, available as early as spring of 2014.

The E-Golf will be able to travel over 90 miles on a full charge, zoom close to 90 mph on the highway, and pack a motor operating with 199 lb-ft of torque. The variation on the classic Gold will be a five-door hatchback utilising a 26.5 kWh battery. Though pricing is not available, it is expected to be in the low-$30,000 range. 2014 Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid (Early 2014) This car will cause a sensation wherever it’s driven, though few will be aware of its hybrid capabilities unless drivers sneak past using the electric motor. On that count, the 918 Spyder, a million-dollar hybrid, can go around 18 miles on a charge before switching over to the gasoline engine. Of course, to get up to its top speeds of over 211 mph, the Spyder would require help from the gasoline engine to generate a mindblowing 887 hp. It goes 0-60 in 2.8 seconds, but it starts at $970,000, if you can score a limited-edi-

In Nigeria, preparations are in top gear by auto companies to storm the market with the latest automobiles expected to hit the shore of the land next year tion model. 2015 Audi A3 E-Tron Plug-In Hybrid (mid-2014) Audi has gone on the record saying it is proud to have produced a plug-in hybrid that doesn’t look like one. That gesture will appeal to many drivers, and indeed it’s difficult to tell the difference at a glance, especially from this early picture of the concept car. Slated to arrive sometime in the middle of 2014, the A3 E-Tron Plug-in Hybrid will get around 30 miles on a full charge (over 500 miles in total range). The car has some muscle, too, generating 204 hp on 258 lb-ft of torque. pricing hasn’t been announced yet.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

44 AUTOWHEELS

Firm introduces two vehicle models to boost logistics solution Stories by Taiwo Hassan FAO Motors Nigeria C Limited, Truck division, has introduced to the automobile market two new IVECO vehicle models that could face up to the challenges of the nation’s haulage business. Speaking at the unveiling of the trucks in Lagos, the Managing Director of CFAO Trucks, Regis Tromeur said that the introduction of the two new IVECO modelsLeoncino (DL60Y13 & DN35Y13) and Iveco 682 (4x2 & 6x4 tractors) was in line with the company’s corporate focus on light to heavy-duty trucks and for the Iveco brand to take its place in the Nigerian auto market. According to him, the company also has other models of IVECO in its portfolio such as Iveco eurocargo, powerdaily vans & buses, trakker 4x2 & 6x4 models with diverse body applications. He said that the company’s management remained committed to superior customer service, delivery of quality and innovative products as well as continually promoting greater awareness, support and skill to create an

unmatched level of customer loyalty in the country. Tromeur, however, said that CFAO Automotive Group was the global distributor of the most prestigious vehicle brands worlwide. Also speaking at the occasion, the company’s Commercial Manager, Augustine Ogunna, explained that the Iveco brand remained a leading commercial vehicle brand in the world’s automobile sector. “Iveco designs, manufacturers and markets a broad range of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, off-road trucks, city and intercity buses and coaches as well as special vehicles for applications such as fire engines, off-road missions, military, defence and civil protection. Ogunna said that the two brands would further consolidate CFAO Nigeria market share and to fill the gaps of balancing high quality trucks and affordability. “The Leoncino DN 35Y13 is a new 3.5 tonne light truck chassis that is very ideal for your redistribution purposes. With its 125HP power output, it is very energetic and only exists in the four-wheel version (single rear wheel). “This is very ideal, especially

of recent, where there are restrictions on movement on certain roads for six wheeler trucks and above. Maximum strength and reliability comes as standard.” On the Iveco 682, the company manager said that the model, which was a direct model change from Iveco Genlyon, comes in the 4x2 & 6x4 variants with a power output of 380 HP. He also said that the 4x2 variant possessed a GVW of 18 tonnes with a GCW of 43 tonnes whereas the 6x4 variant had a GVW of 33 tonnes with a GCW of 60 tonnes. “The super active space cab offers an ideal environment for work and on-board relaxation. Its Iveco Fiat Powertrain Cursor nine engine ensures power and reliability in all circumstances. “The Iveco 682 is the best solution for long and mediumhaul transport and shortrange transport with frequent stops and starts. “The front grille and side styling give the vehicle a modern, high-impact look. Inside, the driving position, innovative trim, spacious cab and living area specification put the 682 at the top of its game,” he added.

Iveco 682 5X4 tractor

FRSC boss seeks improved funding for special patrols on highways HE Corps Marshal of the T Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Osita Chidoka, has urged the Federal Government to fund the commission adequately to enable it conduct regular special patrols in the country. According to Chidoka, lack of adequate funding has been hampering the sustenance of the patrols in the country, stressing that such area of operation by the

commission was needed to reduce accidents on the highways. He said that patrols had helped to reduce road accidents in the country, especially in the first half of 2013, thus, pleading with the government to assist the commission to acquire more patrol vehicles for that purpose. The FRSC boss identified over-speeding as one of the major factors responsible for

accidents recorded across major highways during the period. His words: “Whenever we go on special patrols, we witness a sharp decline in the crashes and part of the major challenges this year (2013) has been over speeding across some major corridors. “We’ve identified some key corridors and we have tried to do mobile patrols on those corridors.

“Now, funding is a major drawback, because we can’t sustain that level of mobile patrol for a long period of time. “So, I have been making a case to government to see how we can deal with these issues at least on a case by case basis.” He, however, listed those corridors, where special patrols were needed to reduce road crashes as Abuja-Yangoji-Lokoja, Abuja-

Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan, Shagamu-Ijebu Ode, OreBenin, Onitsha-Owerri, and Benin-Agbor-Asaba Expressways. Chidoka said that special intervention was also needed on those routes in the second half of 2013, to create awareness and step up enforcement of traffic rules to reduce accidents. “These roads are newly recovered roads; they are newly rehabilitated roads

and people are underestimating the impact of what over-speeding can do to them on those roads. “So, we need to increase enforcement on these roads; we also need to increase education and awareness, which is one of the reasons why we have gotten some partners like Exxon/Mobil, Keystone Bank, UBA who have come on board to help us in the issue of awareness,” he added.

Elizade Nigeria announces milestone achievement on JAC brand auto test LIZADE Nigeria Limited E (ENL), the franchise holder of Toyota and JAC brandof automobiles in Nigeria, has announced some major feats in its JAC vehicle models, in terms of zero complaints in its three months road test drive at seven thousand kilometres. According to the company, the Chinese vehicles, in which ENL imported 18 of them were subjected to rigorous road test drive, in terms of long mileage, adding that the vehicles have covered over seven thousand miles in three months without accidents or major faults. Speaking at a media briefing on the outcome of the road test drive in Lagos, the company’s Deputy General Manager, Aftersales, Oluwasayo Oluwaniyi said the reason for the road test drive of the JAC range of vehicles was to quel the perception among Nigerians about the Chinese cars that are being imported into the country. According to him, the two companies had entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) early this year, for a road test drive for the set of the 18 vehicles from JAC, to know the state of the vehicles and their adaptability to the Nigerian envi-

ronment/weather for six months at 20,000 kilometres. He said ENL, as a reputable company in the nation’s auto industry, was also looking out for ruggedness, durability, engine conditions and electrical/electronics fittings of the Chinese vehicles. Oluwaniyi explained that his

company decided to give out the 18 JAC models, which include the Lseries, Nseries, J3 and J5 to 18 different companies, including the National Union of Road Transport Workers, to test drive them on Nigerian roads to assess their condition after the 20,000 kilometres in 120 days.

One of the JAC vehicles being test drive

According to him, ENL entered into the MoU with the Chinese car manufacturers, as part of its strategy, to give opportunity to some class of Nigerians who could not avoid new Toyota brand to get JAC vehicles at cheaper prices. “We are looking at individu-

als who could get these brands. We have this strategy of launching used Toyota vehicles. But for medium income earners and companies who could not avoid Toyota vehicles, we want to provide an opportunity for them to own new vehicles that have reasonable utility and economy value. “You know there are some vehicles that have been introduced into the country that have failed to perform at high level, but we are all aware of some of these brands. So, we want to say to the Nigerian public, especially the middle class to patronise these Chinese models that have greater utility and at low friendly prices. “They will be our targets for the passenger vehicles. Corporate entity requiring medium size trucks can also assess our lines of truck vehicles, which are available in the market,” he said. The deputy manager noted that it was not easy to convince Nigerians, but added that his company was optimistic that at the end of another three months of road test drive, the perception of the people would change about the Chinese models. “Really, it has been a great

task for all of us here in Elizade. It has always been difficult to convince people, especially when it has to do with new product in the market based on past experiences we have had. But having said that, the test drive that is ongoing will only assist us a lot, because from the angle of quality, we must be very sure of the quality of products that are coming into the market in the areas of engine, suspension, transmission. And of course, I must tell you this, that if for a period of 60 days, the brand has been tested now and we do not have any major challenge, it will be very busy for us to convince the end users at the end of the day,” he added. The Chinese car firm has been renowned for its contribution to the development of China’s auto industry, after being founded in 1964. JAC was listed on the Shangai Stock Exchange in 2001. The company is a comprehensive automaker with fullline independent brand vehicles in China, including light, medium and heavy-duty trucks, Van, MPV, SRV, sedan, bus chassis, buses, engineering machinery, engines, gearboxes and other key components.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

AUTOWHEELS 45

World’s first fuel cell cars to arrive in United Kingdom By Taiwo Hassan MISSION-free hydrogen E powered vehicles will soon be operating in Britain soon, Hyundai Motor has said. According to the company, five Hyundai Motor ix35 fuel cell models, the first production fuel cell cars in the world will be an integral part of the London Hydrogen Network Expansion (LNHE) project. Hyundai Motor, as a supplier to the LHNE project, will join the existing consortium of companies with expertise in hydrogen transport infrastructure and operation, working to establish the UK’s first hydrogen transport network covering London and South East England. The LHNE project, a government-backed initiative cofunded by the Technology Strategy Board, will put hydrogen-fuelled vehicles into daily business use and deliver the refuelling infrastructure to support their operation. These fuel cell vehicles will be leased to key public and private fleet users in the capital. They are among the first of 1,000 examples that Hyundai Motor has committed to produce between now and 2015 and are built on the same production line, in Ulsan, Korea, as the Tucson.

The majority of those 1,000 cars will be available in Europe where the European Commission has established a number of schemes, such as the fuel cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), to promote the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier with zero carbon content. With various hydrogen projects concentrating on establishing hydrogen infrastructure in Europe, the timing is right for hydrogen-powered vehicles to accelerate the project. As the first car company in the world to assembly lineproduce fuel cell vehicles, Hyundai Motor has enabled not just the real start of Europe’s Hydrogen Roadmap but also accelerated London’s plans to become one of the major hydrogen capitals of the world. For Hyundai Motor, the philosophy behind the ix35 fuel cell project has been to produce a car that offers the same practicality, safety levels and driving experience as an ix35 driven by an internal combustion engine, but with zero tailpipe emissions. That means comparable performance – 100mph maximum, 0-62mph in 12.5 seconds and a range of almost 370 miles from each tank – but

with no emissions: the only emission is water. Just as importantly, a fuel cell vehicle can be refilled in two to three minutes and, in use, an ix35 fuel cell demands no

compromise from the driver. Although, Hyundai Motor has been developing its fuel cell vehicles for more than 15 years, it is only now - with the start of a viable hydrogen refu-

elling network in place - that it can consider putting a fuel cell car into series production. So after a number of ‘false dawns’ for hydrogen-powered cars, this time the Fuel Cell

Hyundai ix35 fuel cell

vehicle has a genuine, clear and realistic future here in the UK. Much of this is down to the work of the London Hydrogen Partnership and that of other projects such as the London Hydrogen Network Expansion project which is led by Air Products. With these key partners working together, hydrogen mobility is about to become a reality. Two hydrogen fuel stations are already open in the Capital – one of which has public access with a third to come as part of the London Hydrogen Network Expansion (LHNE) project. A further three fuelling stations are planned by 2015, by which time it is expected that the number of fuel cell vehicles in London will have risen ten-fold from the initial five to at least 50 or more including passenger cars, buses and scooters. Kit Malthouse, London Deputy Mayor for Business and Enterprise and Chairman of the London Hydrogen Partnership, said: “The work of the London Hydrogen Partnership and other projects has really catapulted London towards the forefront of the move to a hydrogen

Toyota, others rejig sales strategy, to increase global market shares sales HE big news this week in T the auto business was about sales figures of vehicles. The first few business days of every month are filled with sales reports from all of the major automakers, both in the U.S. and in markets around the world. The good news for many is that sales are up in the world’s two biggest auto markets that would be China and the U.S. and that means second-quarter profits are likely to be good ones. But what else went on in autos this week? Let’s take a closer look. Ford reported a 13 per cent increase in U.S. sales, well ahead of the overall market’s 9.2 per cent gain and ahead of Wall Street’s estimates, too. There are two good stories for Ford here, starting with a big one: pickup trucks. Pickup sales are booming, thanks to increased consumer confidence and upticks in the construction and energy sectors. That is especially good news for Ford, because Ford’s FSeries is the segment leader. Sales of the F-Series line were up 24 per cent, the lineup’s best June result since 2006. Ford’s Escape had its best sales month ever in June. The second good story? Fuelefficient cars. Traditionally a weak point for the Detroit automakers, the revamped Ford lineup includes strong entries in nearly all segments. Ford’s small Fiesta had a huge month, as did the compact Escape SUV and Ford’s hybrids, and Ford literally can’t make enough of its hot Fusion sedans to meet demand. That problem will be addressed when a second assembly line for the Fusion starts up this fall, something that should lead to another jump in sales for the striking midsized entry. Ford also posted strong

Toyota Prius

Ford Escape results in China, where sales are up a whopping 47 per cent so far this year, and in India,

where a new small SUV called the EcoSport has generated a

big burst of consumer interest.

Speaking of pickup trucks, General Motors this week kicked off its most important new-product launch campaign in years, with a 60-second TV ad that made its debut in Texas on the 4th of July. This is just the beginning of what looks to be a massive marketing push for GM’s allnew full-sized pickups, its first new big pickups since before the company’s 2009 bankruptcy. The all-new Chevy Silverado is much improved for 2014. Photo credit: GM. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the new Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra are GM’s most important products, and all signs suggest that the brand-new entries are set to be strong contenders. Meanwhile, GM’s old pickups are still selling strong: Silverado sales were up a big 29 per cent last month, as that boom in pickup demand has enabled GM to sell down its remaining stock without heavy discounts. The all-new 2014 pickups are

just now beginning to arrive at dealers, and will be gradually replacing the last of the old models over the next few months. Meanwhile, GM also reported solid sales in China, where it’s the market-share leader and where its new small SUVs are finding lots of happy buyers. GM and Honda made big news this week with an announcement that they’re teaming up to develop a mass-market fuel-cell system for future cars. The system, which is expected to debut in about 2020, chemically “burns” hydrogen to generate electricity without toxic emissions. That electricity can then be used to power an electric motor: In other words, these will be electric cars, only without the batteries. GM and Honda also pledged to work on storage technologies for all that hydrogen, as well as on infrastructure places to “get gas” for your future hydrogen-powered ride. Tesla’s Model S is the best electric car so far, but rivals are coming. Photo credit: Tesla Motors. This doesn’t mean that the world is giving up on batterypowered electrics, of course. Batteries remain heavy and expensive, and take a while to recharge, but Tesla Motors has recently made it very clear that a great car can be built around a big heavy battery pack, despite the trade-offs. But the GM-Honda link-up, along with Toyota’s recent confirmation that it would launch a fuel-cell car next year (a car that seems likely to be aimed directly at the Model S, by the way), is a good reminder that batteryelectrics aren’t necessarily the way forward, just one of several possible ways.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

BusinessTravel Allure of foreign operations for Nigerian carriers

One of Medview Airline’s aircraft

Stories by Wole Shadare ONE are the days “The Eagle”, as Nigeria G Airways was known, dominated the skies. It was a period the airline single handedly provided air travel to the teeming Nigerian fliers. It was also the period, long before the airline industry was liberalized, the carrier filled in the gap very well to project the country’s image far beyond the shores of Africa to the Middle East, Europe and the United States. This was the period before the likes of Okada, Bellview, Kabo, ADC and many other carriers flew the nation’s flag and provided excellent air travel services before problems set in, which invariably ended or crippled their operations. At that time, Okada Air, with its over 28 airplanes, was synonymous with aviation after Nigeria Airways showed signs that were not too encouraging for an airline. Bellview and ADC shortly after the demise of Okada showed some signs of promise. These carriers, especially Bellview were designated on lucrative London route and at some time operated to Amsterdam. ADC on the other hand dominated the West Coast. The carrier was equally granted the right alongside Virgin Nigeria/Air Nigeria to operate to America, Johannesburg and London, but it could not fulfill that obligation due to the Lisa crash of October 22, 2005.

The accident was a setback for the airline coupled with the harsh operating environment for the airline operations in Nigeria, which persists till today. This situation left Nigeria in a situation with no airline to fill the gap until Arik Air ‘’bulldozed’’ its way and changed the landscape with state-of-the-art machines. These forced other carriers to raise the ante in 2006, matched with focused leadership of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority under Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren. In no time, Arik scaled all safety and regulatory hurdles and was used as the “Guinea pig” for the certification of the sector. It culminated in the granting of the U.S. highest aviation safety status (Category One) after the devastating Bellview and Sosoliso crashes that happened in quick succession. Since then, Arik aside the lucrative New York, London and Johannesburg routes, the airline is opening new frontiers around the globe. The above is a preamble of how Nigerian airlines have struggled and thrived to take part in the huge opportunity associated with international route operations. A new entrant into the airline business, Medview Airlines was recently granted permission and designated by the Ministry of Aviation to Singapore via Lagos-Jeddah with a new widebody aircraft. The airline had on July 17, 2013 applied to the NCAA commence services to Jeddah, Singapore

There is surely an urgent need to create at least one international airline brand like the Ethiopian Airlines that is billed as one of the few successful carriers in sub-Saharan Africa, plying 62 international and 16 domestic routes and is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world aside Dubai, Jeddah, Libreville and Accra, Ghana routes it intends to service. Medview said it would begin services to these international routes on four frequencies for now until the market grows. Speaking to The Guardian, the Managing Director of the airline, Muneer Bankole disclosed that already, the carrier had taken delivery of B737-500, adding that B737-800 and B767-300 were some of the aircraft that were equally awaiting delivery in a couple of weeks. Experts were of the opinion that huge capital flight could be minimised if these Nigerian carriers had put their acts together to provide quality services on the international routes they were designated. They argued that the call for a national carrier, championed by the Minister of Aviation would not have been necessary had the airlines done what were required of them. Not a few supported the idea of a national

carrier but the very unclear arrangement about the project has dampened confidence about the whole set up. Whichever way one looks at it, Nigeria deserves a national carrier to operate side by side other designated flag carriers like the case of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Although, BA is a privatised airline of Britain, the government still has little shares that give the airline the protection it requires. There is surely an urgent need to create at least one international airline brand like the Ethiopian Airlines that is reputed as one of the few successful carriers in sub-Saharan Africa, plying 62 international and 16 domestic routes and regarded as one of the fastest growing airlines in the world. On the other hand, Virgin Atlantic Airways is the brainchild of business mogul, Sir Richard Branson. It is a fully privatised carrier with Singapore Airlines said to own majority shares. The carrier has continued to flourish and it is still breaking more. For those who are skeptical about ‘Nigeria One’, the new name for the proposed airline, their fear stem from what they described as the Ministry of Aviation’s ‘bogus project’ with no clear-cut policy direction. To them, improving safety, having modern, well-run airports, reducing heavy taxes and levies and partnering investors to build infrastructure such as maintenance hangars are the first steps urgently needed to rescue the troubled aviation sector

Foreign aircraft registrations, rape on Nigeria, say experts HE high rate of acquisition of private jets T by wealthy Nigerians has been on the increase due to unreliable schedule associated with domestic airline operations in Nigeria. For these rich Nigerians, the flexibility of their movement and frequent travels make it imperative for them to travel in class. Also important for this category of people is the perceived safety risk of flying domestic airlines. This is a wrong notion. Nigerian airlines are very safe, notwithstanding the crashes that we have experienced in recent times. Business aviation is a specialised form of aviation catering for business travel, charter services and private jets ownership. There is no doubt that this area of aviation is growing occasioned by the state-of-art airplanes that are frequently parked at different hangars at different airports across the nation. This trend shows that the country’s business jet sub sector is experiencing robust growth which needs further encouragement. T he total private jets in Nigeria has been val-

ued at $3.75 billion, just as stakeholders put the total entire private jets in the country at 150. On the average, each jet costs $25 million, which carries both local and international registrations. The total number of private jets in the country has made Nigeria the continent’s largest market of private jets. While the business is thriving, not a few believe that their activities must be properly regulated with a view to ensuring that revenue that should accrue to the country is not lost. The area, which the government is seriously looking at, is in the area of registration. Most of these aircraft carry foreign registration, just as many reasons have been adduced to the action. Chief among these reasons is the fact that most of these aircraft do not posses second hand value when these equipment are registered in the country. But aviation expert, Mohammed Tukur said this was a wrong notion, stressing that regis-

tering airplanes in Nigeria does not in any way depreciate the value in the event that the airplane would be resold because of the categorisation of Nigeria as a category one nation. Tukur stated that such action deprives Nigeria of huge millions of dollars in tax revenue, stressing that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority is belaboured by aircraft continuous airworthiness checks with revenue going to the country of registration. Another expert who spoke strictly under condition of anonymity said, ‘’The law provides for these types of operations to be temporary in nature but some operator certificates holders have found a way to rent their certificates for $10, 000 a month and accommodate these aircraft on their certificates’’. The Guardian learnt that the Federal Government through the Ministry of Aviation has identified the trend and is working to correct the anomalies through the new aviation policy that has led to controversy. Pained by the problem, the source said, ‘‘these aircraft only employs foreigners. Nigerian pilots are left unemployed and the salary and

wages paid to these foreign crew end up in their countries along with the profits from the management of these airplanes’’. It would be recalled that there are over 170 registered unemployed pilots in Nigeria. The Niger Delta is said to have trained over 30 pilots who are about to graduate from schools in South Africa, just as the Kano State government is reported to have trained a hundred pilots in Jordan. The implication is that in a few months, the country’s unemployed pilots who rise to over 300. ‘’The action of some people is a rape on the government. They evade paying aviation charges as normal and also not declaring the income earned from commercial operations carried out under the pretext of operating in private category. Some alleged that the aircraft are chartered to people who can afford it in violation of the aircraft operating limitations, which does not allow them to operate for hire and reward.

BUSINESSTRAVEL | 47

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Gains of airport infrastructural development to economic growth Stories By Chika Goodluck-Ogazi ll over the world, airports have remained A the most important hubs for passenger and cargo travel between cities, countries and continents. They are the gateway to every country and the trans-shipment centres for goods from all corners of the globe. As a result, airports have considerable economic significance and give cities an enormous advantage over those without an airport. Therefore, for the economic growth of any country in the world, means that, the existing airports, sooner or later will have to be extended or new airports constructed, so that the regions can continue to satisfy the increasing demand for mobility and development. To put this in place, there is need for airport infrastructural development in the world, including Nigeria, so that passengers and cargo will need to be handled more quickly,

Arik Air expands fleet with A330-200

while flight delays and cancellations would be minimised. Only recently, several studies were conducted by the ECOWAS Commission, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the audits of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which revealed some of the constraints to air transport in West Africa such as inadequate infrastructure at the airports like inappropriate airport equipment and navigation services, holding down their economic growth. They concluded that carriers in these regions were not capable for effective air connectivity that would make air travel more enjoyable. Rather, the experiences are lack of reliable and cheap connections among member states. The studies disclosed that for a four per cent representation of the global air traffic, Africa had more than 12 per cent accident rate, which is six times higher than the global average. It added that more than 60 per cent of air accidents occur in five African countries including ECOWAS countries. However, to enhance the security and safety performance of its airports, the group stated that one way of doing this was by improving

and standardising international standards and practices of airport equipment and infrastructure. According to the ECOWAS Commission, it would be launching feasibility study on the development of airport equipment and infrastructure of its aerodromes, which are spread over its member states The general objective of the study was to develop a master plan for strengthening and developing airport equipment and infrastructure in ECOWAS member states. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), airports needed to have the infrastructure in place to provide efficient operations in line with safety and security, allow aircraft to operate efficiently across airside, minimise inconvenience for passengers and provide fast and reliable baggage systems. The body noted that, as air traffic continued to grow, airports needed to ensure that each system was flexible enough to accommodate future requirements. IATA has also taken leadership role in influencing airport and airspace planning and development projects worldwide to meet air-

line requirements for safety, efficiency and functionality. It has revealed plans to seek to establish and maintain a global plan that addresses high level, long-term strategy and near-term issues, as well as harmonised regional development. Furthermore IATA said that it would work globally with airlines, other organisations, airport and air navigation service providers, and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to promote cost effective environmentally responsible improvements to the global Air Traffic Management environment. “We play an active role in making sure we have a responsible aviation industry. By working closely with our airline members, we have developed best practices that will benefit everybody and that will help reduce aircraft noise and emissions,” it added. For IATA, it is essential that airport planning and infrastructure development support safe, functional, capacity balanced and user-friendly airports. Working closely with airport authorities, the body seeks to ensure that they provide flexible facilities that meet airline requirements in a cost-effective manner.

RIK Air has expanded its fleet for internaA tional operations with the acquisition of the new A330-200 twin-engine aircraft. The new aircraft, according to the Arik Air, will service the airlines Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) long haul routes, which include London Heathrow, New York John F Kennedy and Johannesburg Oliver Tambo Airports. The introduction of the Airbus A330-200 widebody aircraft to the Arik Air fleet, is the first of its kind to be added to the airline and will increase the current fleet to 24 aircraft, with a further 24 on order. The Vice President, Arik Air, Robert Brunner said: “We continue to rise as the airline of choice for passengers traveling to West Africa from New York, and we are dedicated to the delivery of premium customer service and efficiency to our passengers. The expansion of our fleet with the acquisition of a new A330200 twin engine aircraft, will enable us to provide our passengers with an even more robust service offering, and continue to retain our competitive edge. “As an airline we enjoy partnering directly with events and organisations that allow our customers to have direct contact with our brand and brand ambassadors. It is important to us that our customers know we are dedicated to them and this includes facilitating and supporting them in many aspects of their lives,” he added.

British Airways’ aircraft maintenance hanger at Cardiff, Wales, Photo: Wole Shadare

Delta begins daily Seattle-Heathrow flight service ELTA Airlines has concluded plans to offer D new daily nonstop service from SeattleTacoma International Airport to London Heathrow Airport beginning March 29, 2014. The airline said that the new service from Seattle to London Heathrow would give Delta’s customers nonstop access to one of the world’s top business markets and an important enhancement to Delta’s growing trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific network from Seattle. As of January 1, 2014, every international Delta flight from Seattle, including the new London service, will feature full flat bed seats in BusinessElite, Economy comfort seating and in-

flight entertainment in every seat throughout the aircraft, it said. The Executive Vice President, Marketing, Network Planning and Revenue Management, Delta Airlines, Glen Hauenstein said: “Our international expansion in Seattle is possible because of our partnerships with Alaska Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Air France-KLM. Together the airlines can provide customers in the Pacific Northwest with an unmatched global network and an industry-leading customer experience on the ground and in the air.” Meanwhile Delta has added service to Shanghai and Tokyo-Haneda, complementing

long-established service to Tokyo-Narita. It also has served Beijing and Osaka, Japan from Seattle since 2010. Through its trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia, Delta has offered Seattle area travellers nonstop service to Paris and Amsterdam, while providing connecting service to more than 150 additional destinations beyond those European hubs. With new service to London-Heathrow, Delta will operate flights to eight nonstop international destinations from Seattle. The strategic alliance between Delta and Alaska benefits customers of both carriers and gives Pacific

Northwest travellers an extensive array of domestic and international travel choices. Delta and Virgin Atlantic have also announced Delta’s plans to acquire 49 per cent of Virgin Atlantic. The carriers intend to form a transAtlantic joint venture to optimise schedules and services between the North America and the U.K. Delta last month obtained unconditional clearance from the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice to proceed with the investment transaction. Now both carriers are awaiting U.S. Department of Transportation approval of antitrust immunity to implement their joint venture.

Emirates, Air France, KLM to boost cargo traffic HE introduction of daily flights by T Emirates SkyCargo and Air France-KLM over the next 12 months would be expected to contribute to the continuing growth at Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International. Emirates SkyCargo has confirmed that all dedicated freight flights would be operated from its new base at DWC when it opens in May 2014, while Air France-KLM would relocate its regional hub to the airport from

August this year. “The introduction of daily scheduled cargo flights by Emirates SkyCargo as well as Air France-KLM will provide a significant fillip to growth. As the airport matures, we will not be able to sustain the triple-digit increases experienced in the first few years of operations, but we expect volume growth to resume, albeit at a more moderate pace,” said Dubai Airports Chief Executive Officer, Paul Griffiths. During the first six months of 2013, air move-

ments rose 37 per cent to 10,237, up from 7,474 movements in the first half of 2012. For the second quarter of 2013 air movements rose 35.4 per cent to 6,133, up from 3,961 in the three months to June 2012. The jump in air movements was driven by a surge in general aviation and training flights since the start of the year. Recent fluctuations in charter traffic have seen freight volumes at Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International dip in the first six

months of 2013. Freight volumes fell 3.2 per cent to 102, 929 tonnes in the first six months of the year, down from 106, 333 tonnes in the same period in 2012. For the second quarter volumes fell 13 per cent to 48,955, down from 56, 271 in the second quarter of 2012. The fall comes as freight volumes stabilise after the rapid growth in the first few years of cargo operations at the airport. DWC opened for freight operations in June 2010.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

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

The Almighty is always with us By Afis A. Oladosu In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful “When my servants question you about me, tell them that I am very close to them. I answer the prayer of every servant when he calls me; therefore, they should respond to me and put their trust in me, so that they may be rightly guided”-Q2: 186. “If humanity knows the bounties which come with the month of Ramadan, they would have yearned that fasting during the month should be for a year” – Prophet Muhammad RETHREN, this year’s Ramadan, which is half-way gone, has come at a time most Nigerians are seeking answers to questions which border not only on the future of this assemblage of ethnic contrarieties called Nigeria but equally on the destiny and the destination of our existence on terrestrial earth. A brother who is based in the United States, apparently in complete quandary as to how to explain the unceasing tragedies, wanton destruction of properties and the take-over of the Nigerian space by the insuperable odour of corruption, sent a mail to me asking: “Where is the Almighty”? He probably wanted to ask: what explanations can we offer for the descent by some elements in the Nigerian polity into the days of Jahiliyah when the Arabs engaged in intermittent wars of attrition, when they went to war for 40 years just because a camel was inadvertently killed by a member of the opposing tribe? Brethren, when that brother asked the question “where is the Almighty”, he probably could not make sense of the nonsense in the current style of administration in this country. He is in quandary as to the reason Nigeria constantly occupies the front burners of international media for its negative value. But dear brethren, why is it that we invoke the name of the Almighty each time we are confronted by the effects of our iniquities. Is it not true that the reason peace has eluded parts of the country is simply because we have refused to rise above our iniquitous proclivities? Is it not true that the reason parts of the North have become an epicenter of grief and loss is the ascendancy of mediocrity, ignorance and poverty? Does the reason for this season of anomie not lie in the decision by the minority in power to benchmark their prosperity against the adversity of the majority? Thus when that brother asked the question “where is the Almighty”? I quickly asked another question: where is our humanity? In other words, I refused to privilege the fatalist option: the notion that we are like stones thrown in mid air: we have no option other than falling on to the ground. I rather “seized” upon the American option. A former President of the United States was reported to have said: “American problems were man-made; it is men who would (should) solve it” not the Almighty. Thus I say Nigeria’s problems are man-made or rather women-made; it is Nigerians who should solve it. I say that in full recognition of the critical role humans play in events in the cosmos: the role humans play in copulation before Divine intervention and resultant conception; the role of the farmer in tilling and cultivating the land before the fortuitous intervention of the merciful in watering the plantation with rain. In other words, my brother did not pay attention to the statement of our creator: “The Almighty would not change the condition of a people

until they change that which is in them” (Q12: 11) But dear brethren, I guess when most of us look up the skies and mutters, albeit rhetorically, “where is the Almighty?” we do that not in lamentation over a nation which appears at a loss as to its destination. I guess each time that brother of mine opens his palm, looks up to the skies and invoke the name of the Almighty it is most probably for personal or should I say selfish reasons: the desire for promotion from one position to the other; the lust after an ambition which needs divine redemption. Such invocations are no doubt taking place in their billions particularly during this month of Ramadan. I could not help imagining that the list of our prayer requests to our creator would be as long as the distance between the heavens and the earth. I suspect that the cacophony of the supplications that we are all sending to the Almighty everyday in this month would be as many as the number of pebbles in the desert. Brethren, the question “where is the Almighty” should not arise for us, because we know He is here and there. He is present in a way which is beyond all human vision; that He is there with us and in us; that He is in the foetus in the womb, in the deepest and darkest regions of the ocean, in the desert where pebbles and sand attest to His inimitable majesty, in space far beyond the reach of the latest and most potent instruments in the hands of space explorers. Brethren, each time the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, each time the rain falls and the stars appear at night, each time you see your neighbour shout in happiness or the other surrounded by grief, you and I need no further evidence to confirm the presence of the Almighty. He is nearer to us than our jugular vein. The month of Ramadan, which entered its seventeenth day today, is here to teach this to us. Though the end of the month appears close by, it feels as if the month is still far away. This is because, between a moment and the other, we move from one reality to another. Nothing can confront this challenge and change our destiny for better except prayers and supplications. Thus dear brethren, it is my sincere desire to remind us today that in addition to knowing that the Almighty is with us wherever we may be, the only weapon that can intervene positively to change our destiny is supplication (dua). In other words, no matter how cautious we may be, we cannot by ourselves change the divine decree except through the deployment of supplications. Al-Rasul is reported to have said: “Whoever the door of du’a has been opened for, then all the doors of mercy have been opened for him…” The revered scholar, Ibn al Qayyim (RA) mentions three features of each supplication we make in relation to the divine decree under whose power we exist: that the supplication may be stronger than the divine decree, and therefore functions in repelling the latter permanently; that the supplication is weaker than the decree, but still manages to weaken the latter and that the supplication is of equal strength, and therefore cancels out the decree. Brethren as you reconnect with your creator during this month, please bear in mind the following: al-Rasul says all supplications are accepted and granted in three ways: the granting of our request in the way we want, its substitution with something better or the diversion of an impending evil about which we are ignorant away from us with our supplication. May you be “reachable’ the moment your supplications is granted. (aaamin) (08151293300 for SMS only)

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

NigeriaCapitalMarket NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 25/7/2013 PRICE LIST OF SYMBOLS

50 CAPITAl MArKET

THE GUArdIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 25/7/2013

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Oando shareholders approve N5.1b dividend Stories by Helen Oji PPArENTly satisfied with A the company’s impressive result, Shareholders of Oando Plc yesterday endorsed the payment of the N5.1 billion dividend for the year ended december 31, 2012. Oando recorded 526 per cent increase in profit after tax in 2012, from N1.8 billion in 2011 to N10.9 billion in 2012. The profit was made from a turnover of N675.5 billion, which showed a growth of 18 per cent from N573.2 billion in 201. Based on the performance, the directors recommended a dividend N5.1 billion, which translated into 75 kobo per share. Some of the shareholders who spoke at the 36th yearly general meeting (AGM) held in lagos yesterday said the dividend came at the right time considering that no dividend was paid in respect of 2011. In his address to the shareholders, the Chairman of the company, Oba Michael Gbadebo, said the company

has a very brighter future, noting that the company was on the verge of achieving its desire to grow the high margin upstream business following the acquisition of ConocoPhillips Nigerian companies. “2013 will witness the closure of this deal, thereby signalling our arrival as a major upstream player in Nigeria,” Gbadebo said. He noted that Oando’s midstream business continue to expand its pipeline network, while the downstream businesses would grow their already leading market share position as well as focus on new areas. “Overall, we are confident and optimistic in what the future holds and look forward to growing shareholder value in the years ahead,” he said. Earlier, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando Plc, Mr. Wale Tinubu had commented on the 2012 performance, saying “We are pleased to report our twelve months performance for 2012, in which we have taken positive steps in the implementation of our strategic

focus to build our diversified higher margin business segment.” Explaining the performance of the divisions of the group, Tinubu said “in the Upstream division, we listed Oando Energy resources (OEr) on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) in Canada;

increased our production capacity through successful drilling campaigns on OMl 125, the Ebendo Field (OMl 56) and the Qua Iboe Field (OMl13); we also paid a 25 per cent deposit of $435 million for the acquisition of ConocoPhilips Nigerian business, which will add 43kboe to

our daily production and substantially increase our 2P reserves and best estimate contingent resources to 235mmboe and 237mmboe respectively. OES completed a number of successful drilling campaigns on our various drilling rigs, whilst our 4th rig, is currently undergoing refur-

bishment and expected to be deployed in the 2nd half of 2013.” He said the Midstream division witnessed a 35 per cent growth in gas supply, mainly from the newly commissioned 128Km EHGC pipeline in the South East of the country.

Stakeholders laud Fidson’s performance, approves 12 kobo dividend HArEHOldErS of Fidson Scommended Healthcare Plc yesterday the company’s board on its improved performance, even as they approve its 12 kobo dividend per 50 kobo ordinary share due to every shareholder of the company for the 2012 financial year. Speaking at the 14th yearly general meeting of the company in lagos yesterday, the shareholders who lauded the management for enhancing their returns on investment through dividend payout, however urged them to do

everything within its powers to consolidate on the performance to enhance its profitability and shareholders’ value. Specifically, Takubu Titilayo Faisa, one of the company’s shareholders who commended the company for their prudent management of the affairs of the company especially on its robust dividend payout, amid harsh economic environment, however expressed the need for the company to create new products to make it become more innovative and remain com-

petitive in the industry. Another shareholder, Peterlite Okoh urged the company to float a right issue, adding that it would impact on the company’s bottom line, as no interest charges is accrued to it. Earlier, the Chairman of the company, Felix Ohiwerei explained that the company, amid harsh economic environment, posted a turnover of N7.168 billion, against N7.12 achieved in 2011. Its profit after tax, according to him increased from N55.5 million to N206.8 mil-

lion during the year under review, while earning per share rose to 14 kobo, from four kobo in 2011. Ohiwerei explained that with the substansive achievement made so far in the fight against counterfeiting in the industry, the company decided to focus on brand building, extension and repackaging in some of its products like Astymin, Tuxil and Gascol. He added that the company achieved significant progress in the construction of its Biotech factory.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Opinion A case against death penalty By Okechukwu Emeh Jr. NCE again, the controversial issue of death O penalty (or capital punishment) has been resurrected from the limbo in Nigeria. This is against a backdrop of the recent media report quoting President Goodluck Jonathan as urging the state governors to discharge their constitutional responsibility by signing the death warrants of condemned prisoners pending before them and the subsequent hanging of four death row inmates of the Benin prison, in Edo State. Admittedly, capital punishment in Nigeria is recognised by criminal laws at both federal and state levels and it is prescribed for those found guilty of committing heinous crimes like murder, armed robbery and treason. The punishment is also endorsed, in a way, by Section 33(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999). Ancillary to this was the 1998 celebrated case of Onuoha Kalu vs. The State on the constitutional validity of death penalty, which the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the retention of the penalty. Although Nigeria has maintained a kind of moratorium or suspension on criminal execution since her return to civilian rule on May 29, 1999, the policy appears to be reversed, somehow, with the hanging of a number of condemned persons across the country in 2006, 2012 and this year. Obviously, public and political opinions are sharply divided on the ongoing heated debate on whether to retain or abolish the punishment in our penal code. For proponents of death penalty, the severe measure has a uniquely deterrent force, which no other formal punishment has or could have. In their argument, the fears of being caught for committing gravest crimes like armed robbery and made to face the commensurate gravest punishment would help reduce the rate of such crimes. They also contend that capital punishment would permanently remove the worst criminals in our midst, thereby providing an enabling environment for a safe and peaceful society. The apologists of the punishment equally argue that abolishing it would deny the value of the life of the innocent victim and exalt that of the murderer – a submission that reeks of the Mosaic law of “a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye” or the old-fashioned thinking that “those who live by the sword must die by the sword”. Some of the supporters of death penalty are of the view that the penalty would save the tax payer’s money that would have otherwise been used by government to cater for capital offenders if they are sentenced to

life or long-term imprisonment. They are also of the belief that the non-implementation of the punishment has aggravated the crises of congestion and lack of welfare in our prisons. For opponents of death penalty in Nigeria, the pristine argument of deterrence of the penalty is otiose and no longer tenable. This is in the light of the futility of such harsh measure in stemming the tide of violent crimes – as criminals do not often think about the punishment that awaits them but about the possibility of being caught and arrested. Furthermore, in the measured words of Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), in the Onuoha Kalu vs. The State, capital punishment is “incapable of correction in the event of an error”– a situation that has raised concern about how compensation for miscarriage of justice could be paid to a person who was charged, tried, convicted and executed for a capital offence, only for it to be discovered, years after, that such person did not commit the alleged offence, as witnessed in the case of Mr. Nasir Bello (who was sentenced to death for armed robbery in Oyo State in the 1980s and was made to face the firing squad in the midst of his pending case at the Court of Appeal, which after hearing his appeal found him innocent). Agbakoba, a frontline human rights lawyer, further referred to the inevitable long wait between the imposition of death sentence and the actual infliction of it, usually called “the death row phenomenon”, and dismissed the punishment as a “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”. It has also been found that the penalty is often targetted at the innocent, the underage, the poor, the mentally retarded and those not legally well-represented – as they may not have the means to pay the police to adequately investigate their case, pay for a lawyer to defend them or pay to have their name put on a list of those eligible for pardon. Not surprisingly, this has led to the calls in some quarters for the use of forensic test, rather than only confessional statements (in some cases extracted under duress) or eye witness accounts, to determine the authenticity of the guilt or innocence of certain capital offenders in order to avoid the risk of wrongful convictions and sentences. From the standpoint of this writer, capital punishment is morally unjustifiable and unacceptable. For one, human life is so sacrosanct and inviolable and it is only God, the giver of life, that has the inalienable right and control over it. For another, death penalty removes the humanity of the executed persons and the attendant chances

of rehabilitation and their giving something back to society, in terms of community service. Additionally, the penalty is contrary to the contemporary international human rights standards and values – a development that made the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, through the Resolution 62/149, to call on member states to commute without delay all death sentences to terms of imprisonment. Interestingly enough, more than 110 countries, including the European Union (EU) member-states, Israel, South Africa, Mauritius, Senegal, Ghana, Gabon and Togo, have abrogated death penalty in law or practice. This is regardless of the continued infliction of the penalty by the United States (U.S.), the assumed bastion of democracy and human rights – a situation that has galvanised international opinion against the country, especially from the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International, the London-based human rights watchdog, which have been consistent in their calls on countries still exacting the draconian punishment to jettison the practice. The present attitudinal change towards death penalty around the world is the result, at least partly, of new theories, which suggest that mental and social environments are the major and truly relevant factors in fixing direct culpability for crime. As regards mental health, it is argued that it is only abnormal or insane person that could commit abominable crimes like murder. What is more, in establishing the causal nexus between violent crimes and social environment, the sociology of crime posits that it is the human society that breeds a criminal. For instance, in a social milieu like ours today, where the vast majority wallows in abject poverty and a tiny minority swims in opulence, how can we create the ambience of law and order, knowing fully well that bad governance, corruption, deprivation, poverty, injustice and breakdown of social mores can stoke the flames of crime, violence and insecurity? Besides, the main purpose of sending criminals to jail is to subject them to repentance, correctional treatment and re-establishment in normal life as a good citizen. Contrarily, the prison system in Nigeria, unlike what is obtained in the Western world, is punitive rather than reformatory and rehabilitational. Certainly, this further hardens the inmates and makes them a potential security threat to the society when they leave prisons. Furthermore, the notion that informs the infliction of capital punishment is that criminals will desist from violent crimes if they realise that it

will cost them their lives if apprehended. But as a boomerang, the more dangerous criminals are shot, hanged or lynched, the more their tribe increases. Paradoxically, and quite frankly, death sentence does more havoc than good to the society. It makes criminals more sanguinary in their actions since they quite know the ultimate penalty awaiting them if caught. Inevitably, some of them resort to killing their victims at any slightest resistance. It is important to state that the intractable problem of violent crimes in Nigeria, which gave rise to application of capital punishment in the country, has its root cause in our grotesquely unjust system that incubates and breeds criminals. These include awful legacy of bad governance, rampant corruption, deplorable state of the economy, inefficient criminal justice system (including the police, the court and the prisons), relative deprivation, mass poverty, chronic unemployment, widening gap between the rich and the poor, human exploitation, greed, unbridled materialism, ungodliness, immorality, erosion of the spirit of social solidarity and decline of traditional family values. In fact, if we did not push back the frontier of these often ignored factors that fuel violent crimes, our all-out efforts to surmount the upward spiral of such crimes will be in vain. As part of the reform of the administration of justice in Nigeria, the Federal Government should respond swiftly and vigorously to the contentious issue of death penalty. This is considering that the penalty has obviously failed as a deterrent measure against violent criminals. Removing capital punishment from our criminal laws is also made paramount by the fact that Nigeria is a signatory to internationally recognised human rights protocols, which guarantee each individual’s right to life, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (or the Banjul Declaration of 1981). Therefore, our National Assembly should show moral courage by expunging the penalty from our statute book (or Constitution) since there is no empirical evidence that it serves any penal purpose more effectively than the less severe punishment of imprisonment. This is made imperative by the elevating thinking that the measure of a state’s greatness is its ability not only to retain mercy and compassion in time of grave crises, including violent crime explosion, but also to overcome evil without becoming another form of evil in the process. Of course, this is a major challenge to the Nigeria state at this time of renewed debate on death penalty • Emeh, a social researcher, wrote from Abuja.

Jonathan, Amaechi and Julius Caesar’s rubbles (2) By Okachikwu Dibia Continued from yesterday HERE are other alleged sins of Amaechi. They include his arguT ments through the NGF as Chairman against the manner the Federal Government manages the Excess Crude Account, his challenge of the loss of oil wells to Bayelsa State, his cross with Her Excellency Dame Patience Jonathan (Mr. President’s wife) over the Port Harcourt Water Front Project, his comments on the unimpressive work on the East-West road by the Federal Government, his disagreement on the creation of the Sovereign Wealth Fund, his support for the state police etc. Probably for all these opposing views of Amaechi, the President has not been happy with him. Let the President tell the world that these are the bases of his anger against Amaechi; denying that he has no hand in killing democracy in Rivers State or in what Amaechi is passing through in the hand of the PDP central leadership cannot sell because the President’s countenance and facial expression when he shook hands with Amaechi late June at the Port Harcourt International Airport easily betrayed his anger against Amaechi (see the front page of The Guardian of Sunday, June 30, 2013 and Thisday of the same day). The time to speak is either now or it would be too late. If it happens later when democracy in Rivers State had been finally killed and buried, it would have been too late as the public may have made up their minds to support Amaechi wherever he goes. This was what happened in Rome after the killing of Julius Caesar, Brutus now comes up to explain to the Roman people why he killed Caesar; why did he not tell them before killing Caesar? He killed Caesar because Caesar was ambitious; democracy too is ambitious. Already the general public had started having pity for Amaechi, thinking that what he is passing through has been unfair. This is the most dangerous aspect of the matter. This is where the analogy to the play Julius Caesar comes in. In the play, Julius Caesar was killed by Brutus, Cassius, Casca etc, thinking that after Caesar, Brutus would rule Rome and nobody thought of nobodies like Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar etc. On the day of Julius Caesar’s funeral,

Mark Antony was able to make the Roman people have pity on Caesar seeing that he was unjustly or unfairly murdered by the socalled honourable men. It was this pity that caused the downfall of the conspirators and the rise of Mark Antony out of the rubbles of the fall of Julius Caesar. In the instant case, democracy is what is being murdered in Rivers State by the conspirators in the PDP. If the words “unfair and pity” for Amaechi gain ground, then the PDP must be ready to face Nigerians and indeed the international community who strongly believe that Nigeria has become unmanageably too undemocratic, corrupt and unserious to relate with. Some world leaders would not mind if you are disciplined in the wrong thing you strongly believe in, than being indiscipline in the good thing you hardly believe in. This was probably why President Barack Obama would snob Nigeria twice? The killing of democracy in Rivers State could make Amaechi popular and boost his political career. If this killing is not stopped, I see someone rising from the rubbles of the failure of democracy in Rivers State to become an important political giant just like Mark Antony in Julius Caesar. Yes Amaechi may have killed democracy in Obio/Akpor, but this is diminished when we compare it with the politics of the quasi-NGF, PDP-GF, the suspension of all the pro-Amaechi members in the Rivers State House of Assembly, withdrawal of security personnel to Amaechi and the Speaker, the seizure of his aircraft, demonstrations against dignitaries visiting Rivers State and the crucial fact that the issues Amaechi opposed President on were public issues. By way of solutions, throwing the Presidential might on Rivers State via the actions of the PDP, security agencies, etc are no solutions. The NASS taking over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly is no solution. Declaring emergency rule in Rivers State is no solution. Impeaching the Speaker and Amaechi is no solution. Killing Amaechi is no solution. One solution lies in sound democratic behaviour entailing sincere dialogue, debate and respect for opposing views. Let the arguments be argued, discussed and agreement reached as debate is the key solution to political conflicts. Another solution is for the President to act like the

father of the nation and leader of the ruling party by quickly and sincerely summoning Amaechi to his bedroom for a brotherly discussion. After all President needs Rivers votes as was the case in 2011 elections. A new governor in Rivers State without Amaechi’s support may not be able to deliver that number of votes for the President in 2015. During that discussion, the President would tell Amaechi what the latter had done he did not like and advise him not to do so again given the President’s interest. Such fatherly conduct tallies with an old Ikwerre philosophy that says it is the duty of the father to flog his erring child with his right hand and hold the child back with his left hand. Similarly, another Ikwerre proverb would ask: nnezi nu watakiri nne chikposi ifea? Meaning, an elderly or the younger person, whose responsibility it is to bring both together? It is primarily the duty of the elderly who in this case is the President. When this is done, it is the duty of the younger one to respond and obey respectfully. If due care is not taken, perceived unfairness and pity may project Amaechi into higher political pedigree, just like it happened to Mark Antony who rose from the rubbles of the unjust killing of Julius Caesar to become one of the leaders in Rome. In the global Nigerian politics, the Ijaw had distinguished themselves as a people who play courageous, conscientious and patriotic politics driven by Ijaw national interest. But the Ijaw needs the support of almost all her neighbours to succeed in reasonably achieving her ambitions in Nigeria. Let their actions now not show that they shall dominate and repress their immediate neighbourethnic groups if they succeed (as it appears with their cold or nearno response to the Ogoni Revolution, their reluctance to implement the UNEP Report, their unacceptable drag to be part owners of Port Harcourt and their intention to balkanize Ikwerre into Oil Rivers State). If this sentiment gains ground, it may evoke feeling of injustice, unfairness and pity among her neighbours who may team up to promote sabotage to Ijaw interest. History had thought us so! So, Mr. President “beware the ides of Rivers State”. • Concluded. • Dibia wrote from Abuja.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Opinion In whose interest is ASUU’s strike? By Steve Ekundayo HE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU), is on strike T again and many Nigerians have come out openly to condemn or express solidarity with ASUU, according to the profundity of their awareness, ignorance, bias, selfishness and patriotism. The variegated reactions that rent the air reveal that Nigerians love university education. However, many do not really have a total understanding, mastery and clarity of the intricacies and undercurrents of the ‘war’ that ASUU members are waging. It is pertinent, therefore, to ask the question: In whose interest are university lecturers on strike? Always, the first reason often advanced on behalf of ASUU, or to spite ASUU, is “non-payment of just salaries and earned allowances!” “More money for greedy lecturers who are never satisfied!” Indeed, just and deserving remuneration constitutes a part of the ‘ASUU/FGN 2009 Agreement.’ But it is fallacious, unpatriotic and unscientific for anyone to commence and conclude a debate of ASUU strike exclusively on lecturers’ remuneration. Remuneration is not the pivot on which ASUU demands are anchored. Since the salary and allowance item of the 2009 Pact is the one constantly ballooned in public to spite lecturers, one may appropriately start the argument from there. Is it a sin or an offence for lecturers to press for deserved wages? Nigerians should organise a National Salary Conference, so to speak, to debate who among Nigerians should earn more or less emoluments. Will Nigerians in such a conference approve that local government councillors, parliamentarians, etc should earn more than medical doctors, lecturers, nurses, policemen and soldiers who put their lives at risk to build the nation and save lives? Would Nigerians decide that senators, House of Representative members, etc be paid higher than professors who toil all their lives to dig deep into the mines of knowledge to advance society? Nigerians should read the lecturers’ salary structure (CONUASS II) published by NUC on the page 45 of Vanguard on July 8, 2013. A Graduate Assistant (GA), the lowest rank of university lecturers, earns 1,274, 177 naira at step 1 and 1,458,567 at peak per annum. These are inclusive of all allowances. If you divide these by 12 months, what do get? By the time tax and other deductions are made, the take-home pay for GA comes down to about 70something thousand naira! A professor, the highest of the rank, at step 1 earns 4591,149 and 6,030,963 naira at the peak per annum. Divide them by 12 and you have 382,595 and 502,580 naira respectively per month. Now, compare this to what a local government councillor, the lowest of political officers, earns as furniture and dressing allowances in a month or year. NUC should also publish the following statistics: FGN allocations to various sectors, ministries, the Presidency, security votes, National Assembly; the annual emoluments structures of the president, his ministers, special advisers and assistants; governors, commissioners and their assistants; NUC Secretary, directors, boards’ chairmen, ambassadors, special aids, personal assistants; the unconstitutional office of the First Lady and the salary structure of lecturers in other African countries. A computation of the National Assembly President’s and Speaker’s annual emoluments compared with a pro-

fessor’s shows that a professor will have to live for at least 500 years to earn such mind-boggling oodles of money! So, wetin teachers do dem nau? The 2009 Agreement is the origin of the present tug of war between ASUU and FGN. In the 2009 pact, FGN agreed that it would provide learning infrastructure, laboratory and other science equipment to universities, increase education funding upwards from 2009 to meet UNESCO standard of 26 per cent of annual budget to education in general, give grants in aids to state universities, among others. FGN has failed woefully to honour these terms. Government in this regard has committed the apogee of flagrant, infuriating and embarrassing breach of contract. If FGN were an individual or a company, it would pay dearly for this shameless violation of contract. Since October last year, the 2009 Pact has been due for review and renegotiation, as provided for in the Pact. Yet, FGN has not even started implementing the terms in full swing, apart from the retirement age from 65-70 years for professors. Thereafter, they tantalised and tickled ASUU to suspend its strike in 2011. Since then ASUU has reminded FGN of the 2009 Agreement, begged, lobbied and warned FGN officially and unofficially to no avail. So, when some people talk of ASUU using other alternatives like ‘dialogue’ or so, the question is, what kind of dialogue? ASUU has dialogued, monologued, prologued and epilogued to no end. FGN remains intransigent still. Why has government refused to honour the terms of the 2009 Pact? The correct answer to this question will situate the real nature and implications of the impasse between ASUU and FGN. One reason FGN often gives is that ‘government has no money.’ ‘Government alone cannot fund tertiary education.’ Is it really true that government cannot fund education? If government has no money to fund education for its teeming youths and children, then where does it get the money to fund corruption and grandiose projects successfully? Whenever ASUU presses for improved funding for education, FGN urges vice chancellors and lecturers to look inward for ‘internally generated revenue,’ as if universities were enterprises, banks and oil firms. By ‘internally generated revenue’ FGN means charging high school fees, a move that ASUU has consistently resisted. If all ASUU is fighting for were just salary increase, then her members could simply sit back and allow FGN to charge school fees in order to have enough, as they argue, to pay lecturers well. However, ASUU members know that charging devilish school fees will deny many qualified Nigerians the opportunity of tertiary education. Besides, there is no guarantee that FGN will pay lecturers fairly well even if they charge a million naira fee per student. The basket of capitalism and greed can never get filled even if you empty all the oceans into it. When their plans to sell public universities and charge prohibitive school fees failed as a result of ASUU’s patriotic opposition, they introduced the idea of private universities, which is why we now have all manner of private universities mushrooming at different koros and corner-corners of Nigeria. Apart from religious bodies, who else have established private universities? Olusegun Obasanjo (ex-president), Ibrahim Babaginda (ex-Head of State), Atiku Abubakar (ex- state gover-

nor and vice president), etc. Their children are either in these private universities where a student pays between 300,000 thousand and 1,000,000 naira as fees or ensconced in foreign universities. Hence they do not care about their own universities. If the government claims they run public schools well, why are their children not in the public schools over which they are commissioners, ministers and presidents? If anyone reading this piece knows of any president’s or governor’s child in any Nigerian government owned school, let him/her inform the public now. The undercurrent of incessant strikes by ASUU is the battle to save our educational system. For FGN, it is a battle to capture public universities and hand them over to private hands, as their foreign capitalist masters have directed them to implement. The motives are to cripple the bright prospect of our educational system, reduce access to education by the children of the poor masses while maximizing the opportunity for the children of the rich, cut down on the number of graduates produced annually and prevent Nigerian geniuses from having scientific and technological breakthrough. These are the issues at stake. So, FGN’s ideological nature and focus which are reactionary to ASUU’s altruistic position are the grassroots causes and catalysts of the turbulence and decay in Nigerian universities. Nigerian politicians and rulers are the foster-children of the demi-gods and executioners of imperialism and the inhuman policies of raw capitalism. Nigerian politicians and rulers display to the world neither true capitalism nor socialism. What Nigerian government exhibits is advanced witchcraftism, which has some trappings of capitalism. If you ask some of them to define capitalism, they cannot, nor can they articulate to the world their brand of governance. Nevertheless, the foreign imperialists and neo-slave masters find them expedient and love them so. If Europe and America today drop capitalism for any reason and adopt another –ism, say cannibalism, as a political ideology, our crop of politicians will embrace it without questions. The Nigerian state is out to personalize all public legacies. The things we jointly own as a people they display for auction and then come out to buy them off with our money that they stole. Look at what they have done to NEPA/PHCN, NITEL/MTel, Nigerian Railway and Airways, Ajaokuta Steel Complex, Aladja Steel, the refineries, etc. The last concrete public institutions standing are the universities, which the Government is bent on capturing and privatizing as Kalo-kalos (machines that vomit money). I have come to the conclusion that those who criticize ASUU for going on strike are infected with (either of) two viruses: the virus of ignorance, which is curable, and the virus of mischief, selfishness and compromise by those who feed fat on the system and harvest huge fishes from troubled waters. Fishers in troubled waters will cry foul and get worked up when a frank person draws attention to the troubled water. The way Nigerians are going, the way ASUU is condemned each time it calls its members out on strike, should ASUU, for any reason become deaf and mute too, as people want them to, then we will wake up one day to hear that Nigerian public universities have been put on sale, as PHCN, MTel, etc have. We ought to appreciate ASUU for standing firm. Steve Bode Ekundayo is a Benin-based writer and social activist.

Hassles in driver’s licence renewal By Joseph Imomo AM a retired level 17 officer of a Federal parasIandtatal and my driver’s licence recently expired I have gone through these grueling stages for three days and I am not yet near renewing my driver’s licence. WHY? 1st stage:- Edo Revenue Office Along Airport Road, Benin When I got to this office, I was given three options: • Pay about N4000 and get my driver’s licence renewed unofficially. As a honourable retired officer, I opted out of this option. • Pay N10,000 and they will help me download the form and pay the official N6,350 into First Bank. I also opted out of this because I am computer literate and I thought I could easily pay to First Bank the official fee of N6,350. • I was then shown the type written official procedure pasted on the wall to follow which I dutifully copied out. 2nd stage: Payment Into First Bank. • I immediately went to a nearby cybercafé and down loaded the application form and acknowledgement slip. • I went straight to First Bank, Airport road, with

the form and required cash but the bank said they had no network. The manager was kind enough to phone Ekeuwan Branch which had no network and Ring Road Branch which had network. So I hurried to Ring Road Branch only for them to tell me they had no network. I waited till 8.00 p.m. and had to leave in frustration. • When I went into the Internet earlier, many banks were listed, so first thing the next day I rushed to Zenith Bank, Airport Road only for them to tell me that they are not allowed to collect cash for renewal of driver’s licence. The same thing was said by Unity Bank at Ring Road. • The question is why not all the banks as listed in the Internet. Why only First Bank, thus creating bottleneck. • I was then forced to go back to First Bank, Ring Road where I eventually paid in the cash after a very long wait. 3rd stage:- VIO Office at Sapele Road, Benin. • On the third day I went to VIO office with the document where I was made to do a driving test and eventually my documents signed. • However, I was given two handouts which I was made to pay N1,500 for but when I questioned why I was given a receipt of N1,000 they

said that no receipt are issued for the second handout. In addition I was persuaded to give them additional N500 to save me the harrowing experience of paying into bank. 4th stage:- State Licensing office at New Lagos Road. • When I got to this office, the officer was not on seat and when I complained about the delay he laughed and said that I should save my complaint till later. I did not know what he meant until I got to 5th stage. He however promptly signed my paper and directed me to the next stage. 5th stage:- FRSC Office at New Lagos Road • I was taken aback at the huge crowd I met in this office. In the first office I met many people sorting through some issued driver’s licences. One of them said he submitted his documents about six months ago and was able to do the image capturing after two weeks and since then he had been coming to check for his renewed driver’s licence. • When I got to the waiting hall I met about 50 men and women all with various stages of frustration. One person told me he had been coming from Agbor for some time and has not even got his image captured. • As a responsible citizen I tried to find out from the zone commander, Benin the cause of

the chaotic situation. He ordered his staff to push me out of his office and locked his door. • I then went to make photocopies of all the documents now with me and handed over the original copies to the FRSC officer collecting them. The photocopies I will keep in my car and show them to any officers of FRSC or VIO who demand for them. At my age and the position I have held in this country there is no way I will join the crowd in FRSC office to struggle to renew my licence. • So I have spent three good days in an effort to renew my licence and I am in no way near achieving that. Final stage:- After thought I thought the FRSC computerised the process of issuing and renewing driver’s licences to facilitate the process and save us from touts that were causing nuisance in licensing offices in those days. My experience these past three days have shown that FRSC has failed woefully to achieve this at least in Benin office. Can you please investigate and save us from this harrowing experience in renewing driver’s licence in Benin City. • Imomo, an engineer, lives in Benin City.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Sports Countdown To South Africa 2014 CHAN Qualifier

Ede, Gero sure of victory, as Eagles land in Abidjan • FIFA names match officials for Nigeria, Malawi World Cup qualifier From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja UPER Eagles duo of Ifeanyi Sassured Ede and Alhaji Gero have Nigerians that homebased national team would not fall to the reported tricks of the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire when they meet in a South Africa 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifier this weekend. Nigeria, which beat Cote d’Ivoire 4-1 in the first leg of the qualifier, will meet the Elephants on Saturday at the Felix Houphouet Biogny stadium in Abidjan on Saturday. Speaking to The Guardian moments before the team departed their Bolton White Apartments camp in Abuja on Wednesday for Lagos, Ede and Gero said they have heard much about the Ivoirians’ tricks, saying the Eagles were ready for their antics. Ede, who returned to Enyimba this season after a two-year loan spell with Rangers of Enugu, said the first leg experience of playing the has exposed the Eagles to the patterns, which their opponents might play in Abidjan, adding that the coaches have also prepared their mental state for the second leg. “We have prepared well for the game, but you know that no matter the level of your preparations, you must also seek the hand of God to conquer in Abidjan. The Elephants are beatable and I am very optimistic that we will come out victorious. “We are ready, physically, mentally and even spiritually and I believe that the best selection will be made by the coaches to ensure victory for Nigeria in Cote d’Ivoire. Our

coaches have done a lot to put us in shape and we will play to satisfy them and prove them right for choosing us,” Ede said. Rangers’ youth international, Alhaji Gero, who was drafted to the 18-man list as a replacement for injured top striker, Gambo Mohammed, said he would use the opportunity to stamp his place in the team, adding that his Flying Eagles’ experience will guide him if he is selected for the match. “I am happy to be part of the team and I thank the coaches for believing in me. Coming from the U20 team, my experience at the World Cup team will guide me to excellence if I am selected for the match on Saturday,” he assured. Meanwhile, world footballgoverning body, FIFA, has appointed officials from Madagascar to take charge of the crunch 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Flames of Malawi at the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar on September 7. According to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Hamada el Moussa Nampiandraza, 29, who became an international referee three years ago, will be centre referee for the cracker in which Nigeria must avoid defeat to progress to the 10team, final elimination round. His compatriot, Velomanana Ferdinand Jinoro, a 32 year-old, who became an international assistant referee last year, will be Assistant Referee 1, with 42year old Jean Thierry Djaonirina, four years as an international assistant referee, as Assistant Referee 2.

Bolt

Usain Bolt: I am a clean athlete IX-TIME Olympic sprint Sinsists champion, Usain Bolt he is “clean” in the wake of failed drugs tests by fellow Jamaican athletes. Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson recently tested positive, as did American Tyson Gay, the fastest man in the world this year. Bolt, who races at the London Anniversary Games, said, “I’m clean. But you have to be very careful as an athlete because right now there are a lot of things on the banned list.” The Jamaican added, “you have to keep up to date with this kind of thing. It’s kind of hard, but that’s why you have a team to make sure. I get tested all the while. I got tested the day before yesterday. It is just part of the routine. “

The 26-year-old 100m and 200m world record-holder pointed to his success as a junior athlete as evidence of his innocence. “If you were following me since 2002, you would know that I’ve been doing phenomenal things since I was 15 years old,” he said. “I was the youngest person to win the world juniors at 15. I ran the world junior record in 19.93 at the age of 18. World youth record at 17. “I have broken every record there is to break in every event I have ever done. I have shown I was always going to be great.” After Powell tested positive for the banned stimulant oxilofrine at the national trials last month, Bolt sent him a text message.

Race To Glo Premier League

Abia Warriors turn attention to promotion battle, as NNL postpones Week 29 games By Christian Okpara BIA Warriors, who were A beaten 0-2 by Akwa Starlets in their round of 16 Federation Cup game at the U.J Esuene Stadium on Wednesday, have turned their attention to the battle for promotion to the Globacom Premier league. The Offor Abiaye-led team is on top of the Nigeria National League (NNL) group B table with 41 points and a +9 goals difference, followed by Crown of Ogbomosho on the same 41 points, but with a +8 goals difference, while Remo Stars are on the third spot with 40

points and +6 goals difference. Only the first two teams will make the step up to the premier League, and all the teams have only matches remaining this season. Speaking on his team’s pursuits so far this season, Abia Warriors’ Team Manager, Abiaye told The Guardian, “we wanted to ensure that we got to at least the semifinal of the Federations Cup, but we must an Akwa Starlets team that had different ideas. “They beat us with two beautiful goals and our attackers did not help us as they threw

away the chances we created in the game. “We wish them well, but now we have to concentrate fully on attaining our ambition of qualifying for the Premier League.” Offor disclosed that the NNL has postponed the Week 29 games so that it would address some issues arising from the matches already played, adding that Abia Warriors would use the opportunity to take stock of its performance so far in the league. “We have been very lucky this season because the Abia

State government has been solidly behind us in terms of financial and moral support so we want to pay Governor Theodore Ahamefula Orji back with a promotion ticket. “All we need is victory in one of the games and a draw in the other to make it to the elite class. “After, the game against Akwa Starlets, we sat down with the players to ask ourselves some questions because that was unlike us. Now that we are back in Umuahia, we will work to correct all the anomalies before the final two games,” he said.

“I didn’t want to bombard him with questions,” said Bolt, who will run the 100m and 4x100m at the London Anniversary Games. “I told him, ‘Sorry to hear what was going on.’ And he said, ‘Yes, it’s kind of rough, it’s hard.”‘ With Gay and Powell still waiting for the results of their ‘B’ samples, Bolt was keen to avoid speculation when he spoke to the media in London yesterday. “There are a lot of details left to be discussed,” he said. The recent spate of positive drug tests has put the focus back on a sport that has been dogged by doping scandals in the past. “It’s going to set athletics back a little bit, but as a person I can’t really focus on this,” added Bolt. “I still have the World Championships, everyone is stepping up their game, so I have to really focus on that. I am just trying to work hard, run fast and hopefully help people forget what has happened and just move on.” Bolt was speaking on the same day a Jamaica football player tested positive for a banned substance after a World Cup qualifying match against Honduras. The Jamaica Football Federation said it was notified by Fifa that a “member of the Jamaican squad returned an adverse analytical finding on his urine sample” after the June 11 game. Bolt became the first athlete to retain the Olympic 100m and 200m crowns when he took gold in both events at the 2012 London Olympics last summer. He then won his third gold of the Games when he anchored Jamaica’s sprint relay team to a world record.

Elegbeleye hails Nigeria unity tourney HE Director General, T National Sports Commission (NSC), Gbenga Elegbeleye has commended the organisers of the Nigerian Unity Football Tournament for using football to foster peace across the country. Elegbeleye promised during a recent visit of the National Organising Committee of the body to his office in Abuja that the commission would give the body the needed support to enhance the success of the tournament. The National Project Director of the Nigerian Unity Football Tournament, Moses Ebahor informed the director general that the objective of the tournament, tagged: Football for Youth Peace Project, was to promote peace and unity in the country, using football to unite Nigerians despite tribal and religious differences. He added that they had visited 90 per cent of the states to sensitise them on the tournament and to offer education for a brighter future for the youths. The official inauguration of the 36 states coordinators/investiture of a patron and matron would hold on August 15, 2013 at Grand Hotel, Asaba, Delta State. The highlight of the visit was the presentation of a branded ball to the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdullahi, by the National Organising Committee of the body. The Chairman, Central Working Committee, Ejugo Alfred thanked Elegbeleye for his support and promised to update the commission about the activities of the tournament.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

SPORTS 55

Nigeria to present two athletes at ITU London event By Adeyinka Adedipe HE Nigeria Triathlon Union (NTU) will present two athletes at the final of the International Triathlon Union World Series, which comes up in London from September 11-15. The two athletes Babatunde Sodeke and Chris Symoond will fly Nigeria’s flag at the event. They are both based in the United Kingdom (UK). At the meeting of the NTU held yesterday at the boardroom of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), President of the body, Dr. Lanre Glover stated that both athletes have confirmed their participation for the event. He said it was a good development that both athletes would be at the event to show Nigeria also has athletes that would compete with the best in London. He also said that the NTU would begin to liaise with the athletes to know how their training schedule would enhance their performance at the London event.

“It is good that Nigeria will have athletes at the London event instead of the officials going for the ITU congress alone. Both athletes are getting ready for the event and we hope that we can get some home-based athletes to compete in future ITU events,” he added. He expressed confidence in the ability of the athletes who belong to top clubs in the UK, saying their participation would pave the way for other Nigerians triathletes. Glover also stated that efforts were on to ensure that triathlon features at the next National Sports Festival (NSF) in Calabar, Cross River State next year. He said it would help propagate the game in the country. Secretary General of the body, Gloria Obajimi noted that demonstrating the game at the next NSF would be an ‘icing on the cake’ for the NTU as 16 states already have athletes competing in various event organised by the body. She said that efforts would

Ola Solomon of Etisalat sandwiched by two Alcatel players during one of the Nigeria Telecoms Games matches … at the weekend.

Organisers assure Uyo 2013 NWF participants of adequate security THLETES, officials and A fans coming to the Uyo 2013 National Weightlifting Championship has been assured of adequate security all through the event, which runs from July 29 to August 3. President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Chibudom Nwuche said yesterday in Abuja that all arrangements have been put in place for a hitch free championship, adding that the federation is paying good attention to security the security of all participants. “We have contacted the security agencies and we are happy with the peaceful nature of Uyo and Akwa Ibom state generally. Governor Godswill Akpabio is doing a wonderful job in the state and this informed why we took the championship there.

“We are going to Uyo to enjoy the uncommon transformation of the state by one of the best governors in the country,” Nwuche said. Nwuche disclosed that he would be having a close door parley with the coaches before the commencement of action pointing out that the NWF board is planning big for the coaches. It would be recalled that the coaches were the first group the NWF president met with in Abuja moments after his emergence as president of the NWF board in May. The national weightlifting championship is attracting lifters from the 36 states of the federation and athletes discovered during the meet will be called to camp to start preparations for the African championship, which Nigeria is hosting in September.

be made to reach out to the organisers of the event and the National Sports Commission (NSC) on the need to have triathlon at the next NSF. “In line with the body’s policy to spread the game to more states, we will reach out to the authorities to let them see how we intend to move the sports forward.” She also commended Miebaka Aggo, who represented the country at the African Championship in Agadir in Morocco where he finished first and the Ironman Triathlon in South Africa, where he won the silver medal in the age group cadre. She said that more athletes would be encouraged to take to the sports. The board also agreed to open talks with sponsors while commending Sasol for agreeing to sponsor a National Championship in September.

Jude Monye, Clement Chukwu, Enefiok Udo-Obong and the late Sunday Bada celebrating at the end of the 4x400 metres relay at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Stakeholders applaud government’s rewards to Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medalists OME stakeholders in athSPresident letics have praised Goodluck Jonathan for the national honours awarded to the 4x400 metres Sydney Games gold medalists. Even though it took 13 years in coming, the stakeholders hailed the gesture, saying they were happy with the government, saying, “it is better late than never.” Perhaps, the only regrets have been the absence of one of the quartet, Sunday Bada, a key member of the team, who died on Dec. 12, 2011 at the age of 42. Bada had died after waiting in vain for the IOC decision years after the American team, which had earlier been disqualified for testing positive to banned substance. The other members of the team are: Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Enefiok UdoObong, Nduka Awazie, and Fidelis Gadzama. Tony Urhobo, a former president, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) commended the government for the cash N5 million for athlete and N7 million for the coaches. “This is a fantastic development, I say a resounding `hallelujah’ to this. An Olympic medal and recognition as far as I am concerned is better than African medal. “The Federal Government has shown that it is not only football that can be appreci-

ated. Track and Field is one of the difficult sports because it is majorly an individual sport. “This will also encourage the upcoming athletes to want to do the country proud at international meets. It is a very good motivation and I hope the athletes will make use of the money well. “The athletes, who won the awards are disciplined, at least I knew Enefiok UdoObong, he is a much disciplined athletes. “Upcoming athletes should emulate this attitude of discipline,’’ Urhobo, who was a

one-time National Athletics coach, said. Henry Amike, the president of Nigerian Olympians Association (NOA), said, “as far as I am concerned it is a welcome development. “I must appreciate the fact that the presidency was involved all through the struggle. This will give encouraging words and signals to the younger ones, that even after a long time they can be appreciated. “The NSC and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) should be applauded for making this a reality after 13 years.

“This would not have been possible without the NSC, NOC and NOA, young athletes should understand that hard work pays, there is a reward for whatever path we choose,’’ Amike said. An athletics Coach, Kola Adebayo said, “it is a good development that the athletes were finally rewarded.” He noted, however, that this could have been better, if the decision was taken three years ago, soon after the announcement was made by the IOC. “It is important that the efforts of our heroes are recognised.”

MTN stakes N15 million on Lagos street soccer HE MTN Lagos Street T Soccer is taken a new dimension with then sponsors placing a mouth-watering prize on the championship. According to a document released by the Local Organising Committee of the championship, which is running to its sixth season this year, MTN has made available cash prizes worth N15 million for final winners in different categories. In these, the winning team in the senior category (male) will cart home N5 million, while the second, third and fourth winners will go home with N3 million, N2 million

and N1 million respectively, the organisers revealed. The women category, they said, is not left out, there is N1 million, N500, 000, N300, 000 and N200, 000 for first, second, third and fourth winners respectively. The new entry and the darling category this year, the Under-15 category also have N1 million, which is made up of N750, 000 and N250, 000 worth of MTN branded sports kits for the overall winning team, they added. “The second place winners will be entitled to N500, 000, which include N350, 000 cash and N150, 000 worth of MTN branded kits.”

Riders in the PathCare ‘Know Your Numbers’ programme during the awareness ride from the Island to the Mainland area in Lagos… at the weekend.

The organisers also revealed that third placed team in the Under-15 category will receive N300, 000 in form N200, 000 cash prize and N100,000 worth of MTN branded sports kits, while fourth place attracts N150,000 cash prize and N50,000 worth of MTN branded sports kits. “It is also very important to note that, the first and second winning teams in the senior male category, the first winner in the female category and the winner in the under-15 category will all travel to Aspire Academy for sports excellence in Doha, Qatar, for international exposure. All the teams will also have the opportunity to be part of the FIFA U17 World Cup in the UAE in October,” the organisers said. Over 800 teams across the local government and local council development areas of Lagos State have registered and ready to participate in this year’s edition. The 2012 edition of the championship had Koilo Street of Lagos Island as the overall winners, while Ajao Jimoh of Igando Ikotun LCDA, Place Square of Agege and Aiyetoro Street in Surulere emerged the second, third and fourth winners respectively in the senior male category.

THE GuARdIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

Heroes Of How Ogunade-Shomala found Shola Ogunade-Shomala would not forget in a hurry the series of successes she achieved as a player between 2003 and 2004, a period she claimed three continental titles. The erstwhile captain of the Nigeria’s national female basketball team, D’Tigress, led the country to the gold medal at the 8th All Africa Games held in Abuja in 2003 and was also an integral part of the team that conquered the continent at the 2004 Afrobasket Nations Cup in Maputo, Mozambique, as well as a member of the First Bank team crowned champions at the African Club Championship. The dark complexioned lady, who describes basketball as a beautiful way of life, for more than two decades devoted her being to the game. Now a coach with three-time national female champion, First Deepwater, the First Bank team former shooting guard admits that she never had any inkling that she would eke out a living playing the sport. Fielding questions from OLALEKAN OKUSAN recently, the All Africa Games gold medalist describes her rise from being a schoolgirl basketballer to become the captain of the national team. GuNAdE-SHOMALA’S rise to the pinnacle O of the sport began at People’s Girls Grammar School in Ibadan, where her school rivaled Yejide Girls Grammar School for top the spot in Oyo State. As school star, she made the Oyo State team to the 1985 and 1988 National Sports Festivals in Ilorin and Port Harcourt, with her performance at the 1988 edition earning her employment with the Oyo State Sports Council. For three years, she featured for the state in series of competitions and in 1991, she moved to Lagos to join First Bank Basketball Club. It was while with the banker’s team that she got a call-up to the national team. The mother of three, who says that her greatest regret as a player was her inability to make the team to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games in Greece due to a knee injury, admits that her active involvement in school sports imparted positively on her outside the court. While growing up in the ancient city of Ibadan in the 1980s, Ogunade-Shomala wanted an activity that would help her to dissipate her energy positively and she found her desire in sports. She was involved in virtually every sport, ranging from handball, tennis to athletics, among others. despite her involvement in these sports, none of them really appealed to her until her association with basketball, which occurred at People’s Girls Grammar School. Narrating her experience in school sports, Ogunade-Shomala said: “When I was growing up I was restless, a situation that led me to my involvement in series of sports. Although in my primary school – Methodist Primary School in Okebola, Ibadan, we were fond of running, especially during interhouse sports, I never really took to a particular one because I was only interested in dissipating my energy. “I just wanted to be active and sports be-

Ogunade-Shomala came the only means for me to do that. In those days, we used to look forward to interhouse sports and it was my best moment in school because we were all encouraged to run for our various houses.” From Methodist School, Ogunade-Shomala moved to People’s Girls Grammar School for her secondary education and it was there that she was introduced to basketball and her life never remained the same. “In my primary school, I never really identified with any particular sports because we were all encouraged by our games master to take part in sports, especially inter-house sports competition. So for me, I was not too attached to a certain sport but was involved in every sport that comes my way,” she admitted. “I got admission to People’s Girls Grammar School and in my first year, our games master came to our class to identify some of us that were tall and I was selected. It was when we got to the court that we met some coaches sent from the Oyo State Sports Council to introduce basketball to our school. Although we had the basketball court in our school, we were never inspired to be part of

the sport. But when the coaches came and began to teach us the rudiments of the game, I fell in love with it that the court became my second classroom,” she added. Ogunade-Shomala’s interest in the sport continued to grow when her school started competing against other schools in Ibadan and at a point they started dominating the game in Ibadan. “Through the help of the coaches, we formed a formidable team and became so strong that we began to win most competitions in Oyo State. But our greatest rival in Oyo was Yejide Girls Grammar School, which had a good basketball programme. We were rival to each other but for three years, we dominated them to the extent of representing Oyo State at the National School Sports Festival in the 1980s. “In our team, we had players like Nike Ekun and Modinat among others. One of the star players Yejide Grammar School had was Omolola Ekun, who was a great tormentor for our team but we were able to curtail them for three years in the state,” she explained. As much as she was devoted to sports, Ogu-

nade-Shomala admitted that it was not easy marrying it with her studies. “To be sincere, it was not easy combining sports with my studies because the game took a lot from me. My parents were initially against my romance with the game, but I ensured that I maintained my position in school to banish their fears that sports would affect my studies. “I was not the best in my class though, but I made sure I did not repeat any class. At that time, Liberty Stadium became my second home, as I was always training with the state’s team. But at some stage, my parents started reading about my exploits in the game and they began to relax,” she admitted. Having lived all her life in Ibadan, Ogunade-Shomala had the opportunity to travel by train to Minna in Niger State when her school was selected to represent the state at the National School Sports Festival. “I could remember vividly that we used to travel a lot to play matches and one of the longest journeys I embarked on was to Minna when we went for the National

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

School Sports love, fame in the court School Sports Festival. “It was a three-day journey, but being our first experience, we never felt any discomfort because we enjoyed every moment of the trip. This is one of the things I enjoyed while in school. For me this alone was an experience I cherished while featuring for my school and state,” she said. After her secondary education, the Oyo State Sports Council employed her, and she featured for the state in various competitions where she met top players like Funmi Bamidele. But in 1991, she decided to move to Lagos to join First Bank Basketball Club and for years the bankers’ team dominated the league in the country. It was while at First Bank that she got an invitation to the national team and fortunately for her she was picked as one of the youngest players that made the Nigeria team to the 1995 All Africa Games in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the team won the bronze medal. “It was the dream of every athlete to wear the national colour of her country and when I got the opportunity in 1995 when I was picked for the Harare All Africa Games, I was so happy. “In the national team, we had players like Gloria Edward and Dorcas Yaro. We were dedicated and we were well supported, which inspired some of us to make the team to the 1999 edition in Johannesburg alongside my teammate in First Bank, Taye Adeniyi-Mash. We also won bronze in South Africa.” Before then, Ogunade-Shomala met her husband, Abiola Shomala, a banker, who always came to the stadium to play basketball. Their relationship led to a marriage, which resulted to their first baby in 1994. She returned to the game in 1995 and made the national team the same year. After the 1999 All Africa Games in Johannesburg, Ogunade-Shomala continued to play for First Bank that in 2003 she was named as captain of the team, as well as the captain of the national team to the 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja. “Prior to the 2003 All Africa Games, I had been named as captain of my club and being the national league champions, we were expected to represent Nigeria at the continental club championship in Maputo, Mozambique. But before that most of us in First Bank made the national team. “Fortunately we won the All Africa Games and majority of us were also expected to represent First Bank in the Club Championship, which we also won in same year. “The next year, which was the Afrobasket Nations Cup, I also captained the country to win the tournament. So this year was a big success for the country and our achievements drew a lot of attention to female basketball,” she said. “It was a great moment for me leading three teams to victory in the continent and most of us became popular across the country that the game got a lot of media attention and people started paying quality attention to the sport,” she added. Aside from the laurels she won, First Bank featured in the World Club qualifiers held in Brazil and it was Ogunade-Shomala that led the team to the championship but they could not make it to the finals of the World Club Championships. When Nigeria qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time in 1994, OgunadeShomala was looking forward to be part of the team but fate denied her the chance to realize her dream. “After winning the Afrobasket Nations Cup, I was looking forward to be part of the team to the 2004 Athens Olympics Games in

I cannot quantify what sports has added to me. It has spiced up my life and everything I am today has been through sports. It taught me how to be organized, disciplined and be focused in life. I traveled round the world through the sport. So for me sports, especially basketball, have given me more that I ever imagined. Greece. But things turned out bad for me because I copped a knee injury before the training tour of Cuba. “Aware of my contribution to the team, I was listed as part of the contingent to the training tour in Cuba. But when I could not recover quickly from the injury I was dropped from the team. It was painful for me because it was nobody’s fault that I did not make the team. But things just happened and one cannot query anybody. So for me, the success would have been sweet if I had been part of the team to Athens. But up till today, I am still pained by this great Olympics’ miss.” When she recovered from the injury, Ogunade-Shomala returned to her club where she continued playing till 2005 when she retired to become the assistant handler of the team. For one year, she was an assistant coach with the First Bank Basketball Club and it was this period she enrolled at the National Institute for Sports (NIS) for an Advanced Coaching Course, which certified her as a full time coach. Also, as a former captain of the female national team, D’Tigress, she was appointed assistant coach of the team, while she quit First Bank in 2006. “I don’t think I can do anything outside basketball because my life revolves round the game. I got fame and some fortune through the sports and it was while playing that I met my husband. So I will continue to follow my passion, which has now become a vocation for me,” she said. When she left First Bank, OgunadeShomala teamed up with First Deepwater Discovery team, a club that has dominated the domestic scene in the last four years. On her gains from sports, she said: “I cannot quantify what sports has added to me. It has spiced up my life and everything I am today has been through sports. It taught me how to be organized, disciplined and be focused in life. I traveled round the world through the sport. So for me sports, especially basketball, have given me more that I ever imagined.” The understanding from her husband has indeed helped her to combine the game with her family life. “I want to thank God for the kind of husband he gave me. When I was having my babies, my husband was there for me. So combining my home with the game has been smooth.” Despite all here successes, OgunadeShomala is not happy with the state of basketball in the country, and to raise its profile to where it should be, she wants the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) to be

Ogunade-Shomala (left) with teammates after winning the national league with First Bank in early 2000

Ogunade-Shomala (fourth from right) with the gold medal 2003 All Africa Games team

tutoring kids during a clinic in Lagos

The national team with former President, Olusegun Obasanjo and other dignitaries in 2003

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

SchoolSports Minister at Nestle IAAF Kids’ Athletics flags-off, charges AFN on Alli’s long jump record By Gowon Akpodonor PORTS Minister and SSports Chairman of the National Commission (NSC), Bolaji Abdullahi has challenged the board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to produce an athlete that will break Yusuf Alli’s long jump record, which has remained unbroken for 23 years. In 1990, Alli set a new national record in the long jump event with a leap of 8.39m at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand. Since then, no Nigerian jumper has crossed the mark, a situation the sports minister says is unhealthy for Nigerian athletics. Speaking at the flag off of the Nestle IAAF kids’ athletics programme in Lagos yesterday, Abdullahi said that Alli’s record must be broken at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The minister was represented at the occasion by the Director in-charge of Youth Development in the NSC, Alhassan Yakmut. Turning to the kids, the representative of the minister said, “this is how most Nigerian top athletes like Yusuf Alli, Mary OnyaliOmagbami, Falilat Ogunkoya-Omotayo and others began many years ago. In fact, the record Alli set since 1990 is yet to be broken and the minister has directed that we must produce an athlete that must break in at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.” He praised the effort of Nestle for funding the IAAF Kids’ Athletics programme in Nigeria saying: “We have to

identify with this programme because it tallies with the Rhythm and Play, which President Goodluck Jonathan launched recently in Abuja. Managing Director of Nestle Nigeria, Dharnesh Gordhon, has explained that the company decided to support the IAAF Kids’ Athletics because it is a global programme aimed at improving the nutrition, health and wellness of schoolage children through better eating, greater physical activity, and other key healthy measures such as hygiene. Gordhon stated that the company had already launched the Nestle Healthy Kids Programme in Nigeria in 2011, which is being implemented in collaboration with the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Centre for Health Education, Population and Nutrition (CHEPON). He added that the objective of the programme is to make athletics number one sport in schools, educate kids into sports in general and athletics in particular and promote a balanced and healthy lifestyle, attract and sustain the potential sporting stars of tomorrow. AFN President, Solomon Ogba, who was represented by his vice, Tunde Abdulraman, said that athletics, being the mother of all sports, has lost its pride of place because “we neglected the very owners (the children).” He stated that the IAAF decided to go into partnership with Nestle to discover, promote, popularise and develop athletics starting from the grassroots.

Keke High School and Oriwu College players during the final of the season four of GTB Lagos Principals’ Cup held at Teslim Balogun Stadium…recently. PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

GTB Lagos Principals’ Cup Fallout

Keke’s Sodje eyes career in football By Tony Nwanne FTER displaying his skills to the admiration of the fans at the grand finale of the season four of GTB Lagos Principals’ Cup, while his brace ensured that Keke High School lifted the trophy this year, teenage sensation, Richard Sodje, believes he can make a living through football. The striker, however, lauded GTB for giving them the opportunity to showcase their skills.

Netting a brace in his team’s 5-1 bashing of Oriwu Senior Model College in the final, Sodje admitted that with the feat achieved in the competition, the coast is now clear for him to embrace football in its entirety. For Sodje, “most of us, who has not taken football serious will now want to build a career from it because, it is being backed up by GTB, and they themselves has shown readiness to continually supports as much as students that wants to also build a career in football. For him, education must

also be married with sports, as he intends to further his studies after his secondary education. Sodje’s Coach, Adekunle Kamilu, who led the winning school to victory, expressed satisfaction over his team’s triumph, adding that the success was due to the concerted efforts put in during training of the team, which eventually led to the victory. He added that the competition, which serves as an avenue to discover young talents would help football development in the country. According to him, “it is

believed that young people are the future of tomorrow, and the with GTB football tournaments, creating a platform for young players to express themselves and compete honestly has indeed helped mould the young players.” Kamilu was of the view that, the tournament has over the years helped these students to work towards their dream of being worldclass footballers, “it has helped them grow in personal confidence, become better team players and some of them are already making a career out of football.”

Living Spring, Emmanuel Int. School target laurels HE management of T Emmanuel International School and Living Spring

Kids compete during an inter house sports competition. Nestle/IAAF Kids Athletics Programme hopes to churn out stars for Nigeria in future.

Comprehensive College, Ikotun has said that sports would remain paramount in the school curriculum. Proprietor of the school, Folorunso Olagoke, who stated this, said that the school would improve on the existing sports facilities while also looking at the possibility of staging a major interhouse sports in the next academic year. Olagoke said that the

school has a standard football pitch, volleyball court, handball court and basketball court, which has helped the students develop their sporting abilities. He noted that the mini interhouse sports held annually by the school has helped the student develop strong mind and body. “What we intend to do is to improve on the facilities we have so that we can help the students develop while they are learning to become useful to themselves, families

and the country in future. We know that a strong mind can only reside in a strong body that is why we are encouraging them to combine sports and academics,” he added. According to the proprietor, the school had done well in previous editions of the private school sports championship and would be willing to take part in school sports competitions in Lagos State. He also expressed his readiness to support the student both in academics and sports.

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The GUArDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

GolfWeekly SNAG summer camp for kids holds at Astroturf 2000 he maiden edition of the T Starting New At Golf (SNAG) summer camp tees off tomorrow Saturday, July 27, 2013 and will feature students drawn from private schools within Lagos State. The camp, which will run for six weeks only (on Saturdays), is at the behest of 2AT Nigeria Limited, in partnership with Astroturf 2000. It is targeted at kids of ages 412, and will take place at the Astroturf 2000 Ikoyi. While it lasts, the kids will come to terms with the fact that golf can be a fun sport and would be introduced to games and instructions in an engaging and learning-friendly format. According to Chief executive Officer (CeO) of 2AT Nigeria Limited, Mrs. Adekemi Badmos, “SNAG’s introduction to Nigeria is seen as a feeder system to the golf i n d u s t r y . ” “The idea is to get 4-year-old kids and everyone interested in golf to like the game as it is fun and keep them in the system for such a time when they would be ready to move from using SNAG equipment to hitting the ball with real clubs and playing on traditional golf courses”. SNAG is a proven first touch development programme designed for new learners of all ages. It is an easy and fun way to learn golf. It contains all the elements of golf but in

a modified form as well as build on strong fundamentals of putting, chipping, pitching and full swing to develop playing ability quickly and effectively. It also incorporates developmentally appropriate equipment that allows golf to be learned and played in non–traditional venues such as on a field or an indoor area and can be taught and played almost anywhere in the world with immediate, positive results. This instant success keeps new learners wanting to be further involved with g o l f . In most developed countries, SNAG is the skills-acquisition programme used in the national school golf programme headed by the World Golf Foundation’s First Tee Program. There are more than 8,000 schools that are successfully introducing children to golf in the U.S. and over 12,000 worldwide. The Jack Nicklaus Learning League which is designed to grow the sport is also being powered by SNAG. Franchise holders of SNAG in Nigeria, 2AT Nigeria Ltd, recently took a bold step in their bid to deepen the game of golf in the country with the signing of a partnership agreement with private sports facility provider, Astro Soccer Nigeria Limited (ASNL), owners of Astroturf 2000 five aside football arenas.

Oyinlola, Ojerinde now golf body’s life VP’s hree new life vice-presiT dents have been appointed by the Professional Golfers Association of Nigeria (PGAN). They join the long list of honourees that have now been shouldered with the responsibility of articulating the interest of the association. Korblah

Ghana’s Korblah tightens grip on summit of PGAN's Order of Merit Stories by Eno-Abasi Sunday MOS Korblah, who is e leading the Professional Golfers’ Association of Nigeria (PGAN) Order of Merit, has tightened his grip at the peak of the ranking with his back-to-back victor y . And with a promise to win more tournaments before the ongoing season runs out, his Nigerian counterparts may have to re-double their efforts if they hope to topple him atop the leaderb o a r d .

Fresh from defending his 2012 trophy at the Dr. Odusola Ojerinde Memorial Golf Championship at the Otukpo Golf and Country Club, Akpegede, Otukpo, Benue State, he coasted to victory yet again at the maiden Delta Open Golf Tournament, which held at the Ibori Golf and Country Club in Asaba, Delta State. he pocketed the sum of N1.350m and N1.080 respectively in his last two victor i e s . With this victories, Korblah has now won over N4m in four events, three of them

taking place at the same course. The three are Benue Governor’s Cup, Pa Mark Memorial Golf championship and the Dr Odusola Ojerinde Memorial Golf Championship. The latest is the only one he has won away from his home course. “I see more trophies coming on the way before the end of the season,” said the 49-year-old Ghanaian, who pocketed over N12m in winnings to lead the Nigerian Tour at the end of the 2012 season. Korblah, who experienced a brief victory drought in the

opening parts of the 2013 season, while speaking shortly after defending his Ojerinde Memorial trophy said, “the field in competition these days is increasingly getting tough with players like Oche Odoh, Gift Willy and even Vincent Torgah all pushing very hard to win. “Any day and any time, a field made up of pro like these and many others will always be a tough one and to come out tops, I always give thanks to God for rewarding my hard work, the Ghanaian number one

golfer stated. Commenting on the tour, Secretary General of the PGAN, Jide Lamidi, said “it was becoming more interesting and challenging by the day because players were putting in their best to beat the course in every tournament. Unfortunately, there can only be one winner in a championship. “Most pros are coming to the terms with the fact that there is more work for them to do as they hole out of every tournament and prepare for the next,” Lamidi stated.

They are former governor of Osun State and erstwhile President of the Nigeria Golf Federation (NGF), Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Professor Dibu Ojerinde, and the chairman of Delta State Golf Association,Daniel Mayuku. PGAN’s Director of Finance, Liadi Jaiyeola, hinted that for the honour was in recognition of their individual support for professional golf in the country. “These are individuals that have shown unparallel support for the cause of professional golf in this country, and they are still very interested in how the PGA and its players turn out. This honour is not just to thank them, but to encourage them to do more,” he said. Oyinlola has always hosted professional player whenever he marks his birthday in February and has also influenced some professional events’ sponsorship while Ojerinde has been the unseen face behind one of PGA’s biggest event ‘The Memorial’ Championship. Mayuku has campaigned for inclusion of professionals in the all major golf events in Delta State apart from sponsoring some of the promising players to training abroad. They all have been decorated with the PGA ‘Green Jacket’

60 SPORTS

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26 , 2013

Tranfer Update Martinez denies offer for Baines, Fellaini

Rodgers dismisses £40m Arsenal bid for Suarez RSENAL is not “anywhere A near” matching Liverpool’s valuation of striker, Luis Suarez, according to Reds Manager, Brendan Rodgers. Liverpool rejected an Arsenal club-record bid of £40m plus £1, but Suarez wants to talk to the London club. The approach triggered a clause in his contract that means he has been told of the bid and can now talk to Arsenal. “If Arsenal want the player they have to produce the value for the player,” Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo. “There was an offer a few weeks ago of £35m and two weeks later it is now £40m and £1. I don’t think it is anywhere near the value of what he is worth. “It is twofold really. A player may want to go, but then somebody has to pay the value or worth of that player.” On Wednesday, Suarez made his first appearance for Liverpool since his infamous bite on Chelsea defender, Branislav Ivanovic’s arm last season, coming off the bench in an 18-minute cameo during the Premier League club’s 20 win over Melbourne Victory at the MCG.

With Liverpool 1-0 up, the Uruguayan laid on the Reds’ second for new signing Iago Aspas late in the match. After the game, Rodgers said, “there’s nothing new to report. Suarez is very much a Liverpool player and over the course of the next couple of weeks we’ve got to get him up to speed.” Rodgers did, however, remind Suarez of the debt he feels the player owes the Liverpool fans, who have stood by him after two seasons of controversy. “The support he has received from the supporters and the people of the city of Liverpool has been unrivalled,” Rodgers added. “In this period of time he’s missed a lot of games for the club through various reasons. The people have stood by him like a son and really looked after him. Whatever happens in the coming weeks that will be in his mind because it’s something you can never forget.” Liverpool has now turned down two offers from the Gunners, who are keen to boost their attacking options, while Real Madrid, now managed by Carlo Ancelotti, also remain interested in the player but have yet to make a formal offer.

EW Everton Manager, N Roberto Martinez says the club has received no further offers for highly-rated duo Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini. England left-back Baines was reportedly the subject of an offer from Manchester United a few weeks ago while Arsenal are reportedly interested in Belgian midfielder, Fellaini. However, asked if there had been any recent bids for the pair, Martinez replied, “not at all, not at all. “I know that is not what you might want to hear but everyone here is focused on fighting for spots in the starting lineup and the competitive level in this group is impressive. “I don’t think speculation is healthy, we are just trying to become as good as we can before the transfer window closes. If we get clubs talking about our players we take it as compliment, because the players have been impressing and doing

Fabregas

really well. “We are in a great position financially and we want to start the season with the best squad we can.” Asked if he was surprised that United had not made an improved offer for Baines, Martinez added, “no, the last concern I have is what other clubs do. “I can say I have been really impressed with the togetherness of this group. I can see that in training every day and it makes me proud.” Regarding whether he expects to have retained all his key personnel by the time the Premier League season gets underway, Martinez said, “you should never ask a manager that. The modern game does not allow a manager to have that control. “But I’m very excited, the squad is very strong. We have some good youngsters, who I feel can come in and help the first team. We will carry on trying to become as strong as we can.”

Fabregas move is ‘ongoing’, says Moyes ANCHESTER United has M not given up on their efforts to sign Barcelona midfielder, Cesc Fabregas. United has failed with two bids for the former Arsenal player, the latest of which is understood to be £30m plus add-ons. But David Moyes has confirmed he is still targeting the 26-year-old as his first capture since taking over as manager at Old Trafford. He told a news conference

in Osaka, “things are ongoing.” United made their first move for Fabregas on July 15 by tabling a £15m bid and Executive Vice-chairman, Ed Woodward then flew home from the club’s Asia tour to try and secure his capture. But Barcelona is keen to keep hold of the Spain international. Moyes also revealed that Robin van Persie has recov-

ered from a thigh injury in time to play in United’s next tour match against Cerezo Osaka today. Wayne Rooney, who returned early from the club’s tour with a hamstring injury, is also said to be on the mend. The striker, 27, is training in Manchester alongside injured duo Nemanja Vidic and Nani, as well as, Antonio Valencia, who was given time off after

international games. Moyes added, “there was a practice match at Carrington the other day. Vida, Nani and Valencia all had playing time in that. Wayne is also running and at the level we thought he’d be at. He’ll step that up this week.” Rooney is expected to return to action in his team’s pre-season friendly against AIK Fotboll on August 6 in Stockholm.

THE GUARDIAN, Friday, July 26, 2013

TheGuardian

Friday, July 26, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Kunle Akogun N his maiden visit to the University of Ilorin O during the last week of June, the new ProChancellor and Council Chairman of the University, Prof. Chukwuka Okonjo, came with a message from the Federal Government, the institution’s proprietor. The respected Obi of Ugwashiuku, Delta State, told a cross-section of the university stakeholders that the Federal Government, worried by the wonky standard of education in the country, has a new mandate for the University of Ilorin to help salvage the nation’s dwindling global educational rating and restore Nigeria to its former position of reckoning in world universities’ ranking. The Council chairman disclosed that the authorities in Abuja are worried that despite the fact that Nigeria is the second fastest growing economy in the world today, none of its universities is ranked among the best 5000 in the world. Obi Okonjo, however, explained that the antecedents of the University of Ilorin have given the government some confidence that with the necessary support, the university could make Nigeria proud. “There used to be a time when Nigeria used to feature as one of the best 200 universities in the world”, the Council Chairman said, adding, “It is important that you understand that we are in a new era; the people in Abuja want you (Unilorin) to show that Nigeria can deliver and within the next two or three years, they want you (Unilorin) to ensure that Nigeria is among the best 500 universities in the world”. In other words, encouraged by the antecedents of the second generation university, the Federal Government is targeting the University of Ilorin to champion the new vision of uplifting university education in the country. This entails the improvement of the standard and access to university education as a prelude to improving the nation’s global rating in the comity of tertiary educational institutions. Keen watchers of the steadily rising profile of the University of Ilorin in the last five to six years are not at all surprised by the decision of the Federal Government to pick the university to pioneer the implementation of this noble vision. Over the years, the university has proved to be a centre of academic excellence. In the past four years, Unilorin has been consistently ranked the best university in Nigeria by different international ranking agencies including Web of World Universities (Webometric), which ranked the university the best in Nigeria for three consecutive years of 2009, 2010 and 2011, and one of the best 20 in Africa”. Statistics have also shown that the university has the most stable and consistent academic calendar in the country, which makes it the most sought-after institution by admission seekers. All these feats are not lost on education policy makers in the country, who, at every given opportunity, do not fail to acknowledge the numerous giant strides recorded by the “better by far” university. During their separate oversight visits to the university on May 7, 2013 and June 1, 2013, members of the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on Education could not hide their

By Idahoise Shadrach VERYBODY in Nigeria keeps complaining of the E fall in standard of education, people always make references to the way standard of education was in those days. I believe that falling standard in education in Nigeria can be linked to the lost of glories of traditional education which inculcates among other things the very important values of hard work, integrity and high productivity. When these are lacking in any production system, education inclusive, the results are often devastating. The teacher stands out as one of the most important factors determining the quality of education and its contributions to national development. At every level people who go to school look on the teacher for the acquisition of the necessary skills to enable them become what they want to be. Thus, students often look on the personal qualities, their educational qualities and professional competence which are rewarding to the learners. It is on this note that the role of educational administrators in assisting teachers to help students achieve the objective of instructions in their various fields of endeavour stands paramount and a challenge in the 21st century. How should the teacher present himself in order to get his message across? How can he communicate effectively in the class? Under what kind of environment can the message get across? What pedagogical approaches are effective? These among other questions should not only be of interest to students and teachers but also to school administrators. In fact, the Nigerian teacher education in the 21st century should produce knowledgeable programme and effective teachers who can inspire

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UNILORIN and Federal Govt’s new education agenda impressions about the academic excellence and environmental aesthetics of the university as well as the peaceful and orderly comportment of its staff and students. The respective chairmen of the two National Assembly committees spoke glowingly about the university. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, who led his colleagues to the university on June 1, commended the university for maintaining a stable academic calendar for over 10 years, noting that it is a great achievement for any public university in Nigeria to maintain such academic excellence despite the prevailing challenges. He said that “this academic stability is a feat which should make the University of Ilorin a model to all universities in Nigeria.” Senator Chukwumerije, who is not given to flattery, said that members of the Committee were very impressed with the well “manicured” premises and serene environment of the university campus, pointing out that the university “is the cleanest of all the universities the Committee had so far visited in the country.”

Similar sentiments were expressed about four weeks earlier by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education, led by Hon. Shehu Garba. After meeting with the university management and a drive round the campus to inspect on-going and newly completed projects, the lawmakers gave kudos to the University “for its accomplishments in the areas of academic excellence, efficient system of administration, environmental beautification, infrastructural development and sustained high ranking among universities in the world.” The leader of the House of Representatives team, Hon Garba, said, “As a Nigerian I am very proud to be at the University of Ilorin. I graduated close to 30 years ago and I am worried by what has become of the standard of education in our country since then. But for me to be here and seeing what I have seen, I feel very hopeful and I feel elated that in the midst of the decay, we have an institution of excellence with very beautiful infrastructure. And I believe that it is not just the beautiful infrastructure; that we are all aware of the ranking of the University of Ilorin in the comity of universi-

Prof. Rufai, Minister of Education

Where are the teachers’ training colleges? children to learn. These objectives are to be obtained with the efforts of the educational administration that is saddled with responsibilities of managing the human, financial and material resources of the school. As a child growing up in the 70s, we had well functioning grammar schools and teacher training colleges. Candidates could proudly choose to attend teacher training college. I have an aunty who chose to attend a teacher training college and was very proud of it. I remembered those teaching practice materi-

als she brought for me when she was through with her teaching practice exercise, football, skipping rope, hand ball etc and I was also looking forward then to attending one. Taking a look at education in Nigeria today, one can hardly find a teachers’ teaching college where teachers are supposed to be trained. Most parents of this generation in Nigeria will not allow their children to attend a teachers’ training college. What we have now are conventional secondary schools that prepare children for other fields. The question now is where are our teach-

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ties in the world. You are one of the few universities in the country that is often mentioned outside Nigeria as a centre of academic excellence. And so I feel very proud to come here to see things for myself. I must commend the Vice-Chancellor and his able team for the good things they are doing. I must say that you have a lot of prospects to build on what you have been able to accomplish to give us something that we can be proud of that we have an institution in this country that can be compared with any reputable university in the world. ” It could be seen from the foregoing that truly, the confidence that the Federal Government has on the ability and willingness of the University of Ilorin to deliver on the new mandate is not misplaced. And it is heart-warming to note that all stakeholders in the university community are enthusiastically keying into the government’s vision, a situation that makes its implementation easy and its attainability assured. While assuring the Federal Government of the university’s readiness to implement the government’s new vision to the letter, Obi Okonjo, said the new University Council, under his chairmanship, has taken up the government’s challenge and prayed God to lead the Council to formulate appropriate policies to achieve the task. Also, the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, noted that the Federal Government has given the University of Ilorin a big task, adding, “Every staff member of the University has a responsibility to champion this new thinking of the Federal Government”. Prof. Ambali said, “It is heartwarming that the Federal Government, based on our antecedents, has singled Unilorin out to be the pioneer of the new formula of tertiary education in the country and we are ready for the task.” Also, all the staff unions on campus and the student body have expressed their readiness to continue to give the management the necessary complementary support in its determined effort to ensure the full and successful implementation of the new government mandate. This is reassuring, as it means that all stakeholders in the university are on the same page. And nothing demonstrates this assurance better than what the Unilorin Branch Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Abdulwahab Egbewole, said during the meeting between the Council Chairman and leaders of all the staff unions in the universities, i.e. ASUU, SSANU, NASU, and NAAT. The ASUU leader said, “The mantra of our union, which is unionism for development, coincides with the vision to make the University of Ilorin the best in Africa”. What more evidence does one need that at Unilorin, the urge for advancement runs in the veins of every stakeholder? And, to put it succinctly, that is the secret of the university’s quantum leap in all spheres of its endeavours these past few years! To be sure, the University of Ilorin is ready, willing and able for the task ahead, a task that is in synch with its founding philosophy of excellence in teaching, research and community development. Indeed, Unilorin is raring to go! • Akogun is the deputy director, Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin. ers supposed to be trained? Like before, students who graduate from primary schools should have the option to either go the teacher training track or the secondary school track. Those that pick up teaching jobs in our primary and secondary schools today (especially private schools) are graduates that cannot find jobs of their choice. They accept teaching offer out of desperation and frustration. They don’t have the prerequisite knowledge of teaching. Being a graduate of economics does not make you a good teacher of the subject if you are not a trained teacher. Teaching is beyond cramming and coming to class to bamboozle the pupils. I have never been impressed by private primary schools bragging about having bachelor’s degree holders on their teaching staff. I would rather send my child to a school taught by graduates of teachertraining colleges than to a school taught by bachelor’s or master’s degree holders who have no intellectual preparation to teach little children. I would be impressed only if I knew that such teachers had a Grade II certificate before acquiring advanced qualifications. In conclusion, teacher training colleges in Nigeria are designed to train people to specifically teach in primary schools. Judging by my recollections of the quality of people who taught me in the first six years of my educational career, Nigeria teachertraining colleges had high standards. The teachers understood child psychology. The best option is to bring back teacher-training colleges. I am aware that National Teachers’ Institute still trains primary school teachers by distance learning. But this is not enough. • Shadrach wrote from Lagos.