Sun 28 July 2013

S U N D A Y INTERNATIONAL 58

‘The Many

Mistakes Of Morsi’s

regime’

e D I T I O N

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how To Save The Girl Child From Abuse

POLITICS 56 Anambra 2013:

The Intrigues As INEC Unfolds Plans

BUSINESS 42

Proposed Sale Of Acquired Banks Open Old Wounds

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Sunday, July 28, 2013

Vol. 30, No. 12,631

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Nigeria Needs A Revolution, Says Maitama Sule

By Gbenga Salau lDer statesman and e Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations in 1979, Dr. Yusuf Maitama Sule, has called a revolution without bloodshed.

Sule, who spoke in an interview with The Guardian, urged Nigerian leaders to be good representatives of the

people, saying that a good leader only inspires citizens behaviour. good to “When I call for a revolution, let me make it quite clear, that I am not calling for a bloody revolution, but a cultural revolution. I am calling for Mahatma Gandhi kind of revolution, non-violent resistors. And we can make it. A good leader will inspire his people as people

take cues from their leadsaid. he ers,” Murtala “When Muhammed 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 18 months, he instilled discipline into the society, he raised the moral tone of the society, he fought corrup-

tion 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.”

According to the elder statesman, for as long as youths continue to succumb to the whims of greedy politicians, there would be

no change. Urging young Nigerians come to terms with the fact that they are the future of the country, Maitama Sule said: “If you decide to mar it by accepting few things, collecting money from politicians, so that they will achieve their selfish aims, you will be marring your future and you will inherit an inglorious future.

If you make up your mind to

make the future and refuse to succumb to the machinations of these greedy politicians, you will pave way for a great Nigeria and you will inherit a glorious future. The youths are the vehicles and answer, the solutions to the problems, the vehicles of change and the vanguard of revolution.”

Full interview On Cover Page 49

Fresh Squabbles Threaten Takeover Of Power Plants • As PHCN Workers Warn Of Showdown • Demand N400 billion Pay-off, Urgent Promotion, Others • Sale Of Power Plants To Generate $2.6 billon

By Marcel Mbamalu, News Editor he October handover date T for the Power holding Company of Nigeria’s (PhCN)

Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo (right), with 13-year-old visually-challenged author, Miss Adeife Adeniran (middle) and her mother, Mrs Adeniran, during the dinner to mark Nigeria Disapora Week at the State House… during the weekend.

power plants, as proposed by the Bureau of Public enterprises (BPe), may be in jeopardy following new and “urgent” demands by the workers.

The electricity employees, yesterday, threatened industrial unrest should the Federal Government fail to meet all of their demands in the July 8, 2013 letter addressed to the Ministry of Power.

The ultimatum will expire early this week, according to the Secretary-General of the National Union of electricity employees (NUee), Joe Ajuero.

Almost done with the transmission component, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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2 | Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

APC Registration: Party Leaders Storm INEC Office Tomorrow From Adamu Abuh, Abuja VEN as leaders of the All E Progressives Congress (APC) plan to storm the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) tomorrow, the electoral body, yesterday, said it is not under pressure to reg-

ister the merger party.

INEC’s chairman, Prof.

Attahiru Jega, said this while reacting to speculation that the registration of APC has run into troubled waters as INEC keeps “shifting the goal post” in a desperate bid to abort its registration.

Jega, who spoke to The Guardian through his media

aide, Mr. Kayode Idowu, said there is no iota of truth in the allegation.

He noted: “That allegation is not new, is it? It is as old as daylight. The process is on; we have always said that the process is on.”

Asked whether INEC is actually at the verge of directing the chieftains of

Oversight Mandate Puts CBN, Council On Collision Course

By Geoff Iyatse HERE are indications that T some sections of the Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) Act may put the Council on a collision course with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The FRC Act (2011) makes it compulsory for the CBN to file its financial report with the Council, which now verifies the apex bank’s compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) and adopts necessary sanction where there are violations. But investigation reveals that the apex bank, which submits its statement directly to the President, is not comfortable with the new order.

Apart from the accounting standard regulation, Section 11 of the Act empowers the Council to oversee the issuance of the National Code of Corporate Governance and its compliance. The national code is expected to streamline corporate governance guidelines issued by CBN as well as other regulators such as the Exchange Commission (SEC) and the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). This responsibility is also said to have unsettled the top echelon of the CBN. Meanwhile, the Bank, SEC and other relevant public

entities are represented in the steering committee of the national code, which Jim Obazee, executive secretary/chief executive officer of FRC, said would be operational next year. The agencies are co-opted in the steering process to ensure broadbase views.

The cold war between the two public agencies, sources said, started recently when the Council, described in some quarters as a super regulator, was becoming relevance.

Before then, CBN, at different meetings, was said to have offered to support activities of the Council to ensure proper regulation of the financial reporting.

A source disclosed last week that CBN, indeed, was the brain behind the N500 million commercial banks (under the aegis of the Bankers’ Committee) donated for the IFRS Academy, a project of the FRC, last year.

“It was the CBN’s Governor himself that mobilised members of the Bankers’ Committee. You know when people do something for an institution, they actually believe they are doing it for an individual. And when you take a decision against an organisation, it is presumed that it is targeted against an individual. That, I think, is the

issue between the CBN and the FRC,” continued the source.

the proposed merger party to consider changing its name, he said: “I am not aware of that.”

On whether the party is deemed to have been registered, he said: “The fact is that there was a request for registration and INEC has been in touch with them.

So, the process is ongoing.

The party can’t be deemed to have been registered.

The process is on.”

APC’s request for merger dated June 5, 2013, was followed up with a letter from INEC on June 12 requesting for, among others, 35 copies of the APC’s Constitution and manifesto. The APC responded

on July 1 with the requested documents.

Chieftains of the APC claim that, going by the provisions of the Electoral Act, the party is now formally registered.

They cited Section 4 of the Electoral Act that states: “On receipt of the request for merger of the political parties, the Commission shall consider the request and if the parties have fulfilled the requirements of the Commission and this Act, approve the proposed merger and communicate its decision to the parties concerned before the expiration of 30 days from the date of the receipt of the formal request…”

A chieftain of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Alhaji Farouk Adamu, Aliyu, said he was privy to information urging promoters to consider a change of acronym.

He disclosed that some leaders of the proposed APC have been mobilised to storm the premises of INEC tomorrow to ascertain the veracity of suggestion that the acronym should be changed.

It has been alleged that some staff of INEC believed to be card-carrying members of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have come under pressure to stop the registration of

Father of the bride, former editor-in-chief of Newswatch Magazine, Ray Ekpu(left); mother of the groom, Mrs Eniola Osho; the couple, Alex and Edikan; father of the groom, Fidelis Osho and mother of the bride, Uyai Ekpu, at the wedding of their children held in Magodo, Lagos… yesterday.

PHOTO: CHARLES OKOLO

PHCN Workers Demand N400bn Pay-off, Urgent Promotion CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 unbundling of the PHCN is now approaching a crucial final phase during which five Power Generation companies (GENCOS) and 10 Distribution companies (DISCOS) will be sold to private investors, who are expected to bring in $2.6 billion (about N408 billion) to the Federal Government coffers, according to the BPE. The BPE had already asked the successful bidders, all of whom had paid 25 percent of the individual bid prices, to offset the remaining 75 percent on, or before, September 21, after which unspecified penalties will be meted out to defaulters.

Managers of the process had indicated that “all Labour issues” relating to the privatisation process have been resolved.

For instance, an Implementation Committee, under the Chairmanship of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, was set-up to drive the implementation of an Agreement signed between the Federal Government and Labour in December 2012 following which a Sub-Committee was given the task of ascertaining

the correct number of bonafide staff and obtain their biodata; the sub-committee was also asked to determine components of staff entitlements, including severance, gratuity, pension, repatriation among others.

Notwithstanding the deal that was struck in December last year — and fine-tuned in June this year — the PHCN workers, under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), on July 8, issued a 14-day ultimatum to the Ministry of Power to effect double promotion for staff and pay balance of one year entitlement that were not part of the original discussion.

Ajuero, who also hinted that government — even though it is selling PHCN and its facilities at a ‘give-away’ price, will be paying about N400 billion in gratuities, pensions, and other benefits to some 50,000 employees.

The Guardian reliably gathered that consultations are being made by Ministries and other relevant agencies to avert any major power crisis that could emanate from a possible showdown with electricity workers.

Describing the scenario as

not being economically viable in the present circumstances, Ajuero insisted that, apart from the so-called successor companies, the PHCN’s buildings across the country are worth N400 billion; electric poles, N200 billion; and transmission facilities, N400 billion.

In response to disclaimers in official quarters, the NUEE scribe accused the Labour Ministry of not acknowledging letters but warned that he has a mandate from the workers to meet all their demands.

Although results of the bidding process indicate that government could make N400 billion from the sale, Ajuero insists that Nigeria could, at best, net in N200 billion from the sale, an amount which the entire assets could generate, as revenue, in less than eight months. “We made request to buy all the GENCOS and DISCOS and within eight months, we will make N200 billion as revenue,” he claimed.

Over 50, 0000 employees, according to the NUEE, were identified. A source in the Presidency said agreement has been reached with the workers on all aspects of the

payment of the terminal benefits, amounting to some N400 billion. Actual payments was expected to commence two weeks ago (middle of July) But Ajuero said government appears to be playing games with the process. “It appears the Federal government does not have money for the reform,” he told The Guardian in an exclusive chat.

According to him, rather than keep to the terms of the agreement, the Ministry of Power took steps to penetrate the ranks of the NUEE by promoting some employees at the top echelon without adherence to the Federal Character Policy, Public Service Rules and PHCN Conditions of Service.

Besides, the workers observed that the agreement and severance calculations signed between the Unions and the Federal Government captured “up to June 2012, but due to Government’s delay, another year has passed going by today’s date.

“Consequently, we demand that workers’ entitlement for one year not captured by the agreement should be computed pro-rata and paid to

(members of) staff before full severance payment is effected.”

A copy of the workers’ letter to the Ministry, which was seen by The Guardian, stated that the Union was reliably informed that the Power Ministry has, without recommendation, commenced “the promotion of a selected few,” as a way of “bribing some Union leaders.”

The NUEE, which threatened industrial unrest, stressed that the PHCN’s condition of service makes provision for annual promotion of workers and requested that all eligible employees in PHCN be “urgently” promoted by two grade levels, in line with what the Union referred to as “the norm.”

Asked to explain the position of government on the workers’ demand, a source in the Presidency, said the Ministry of Labour is already interfacing with the Union on the matter, saying, “we will always dialogue.”

He, however, explained that “most of the stakeholders have not seen the letter (ultimatum)” issued by the workers.

The source also said the management of various

establishments in PHCN failed to deduct 7.5 percent of the workers salaries as pensions contributions within the last one year, as agreed.

He, however, explained that efforts are being made to meet the new demands.

He gave the assurance that government would meet all of its obligations in the reform process.

On the allegation of the PHCN being undervalued, he said: “the essence of privatization is not about treasury issues; it is about efficiency, not for money-making.

“We originally wanted the Latin American model of privatisation, whereby the buyer uses the money to develop the asset, manage it efficiently and then pay the government in about five years time. But that idea had to be dropped due to the peculiarities in Nigeria.”

When asked to comment on the issue, an Assistant Director in the Labour Ministry would not volunteer comments, saying that he was on casual leave. “I have told you that I am in the village right now with my family. I am not in Abuja and, therefore do not know what is happening there now,” he said.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

NEWS Police Arrest Six Trans-border Robbers, Recover 22 Vehicles From Emmanuel Ande, Yola HE Adamawa State police command, last week, arrested six suspected trans-border robbers, recovering 22 v e h i c l e s .

The state police commissioner, Mr. Godfrey Emmanuel Okeke, disclosed this to reporters at the weekend in Yola.

Parading the suspects, Okeke called on members of the public to assist security agents with information that could help in tracking down criminals. He said but for cooperation received, the police would not have achieved results.

The police, however, declined to comment on its five-month investigations into death threats made by a top police officer attached to Governor Murtala Nyako to a journalist with Gotel Radio in Yola.

Members of the public are accusing the police of frustrating the investigation.

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Mohammed Dahiru Dantani of the Nigerian Customs Service (left); Chairperson of the Day and CEO of Chromic Battery, Mrs. Sunny Igboanuzie, and the Principal, Loral International Secondary Schools, PHOTO: CHARLES OKOLO Mrs. Mariam Uzoegbunam, during the schools’ 18th Graduation and Prize Giving Ceremony at Igbesa, Festac Town… last week.

Transformation Agenda: Jonathan Targets Nigerians In Diaspora From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja RESIDENT Jonathan has said that his administration is committed to ensuring that more Nigerians in the Diaspora are involved in the development of the country.

He stated this while hosting Nigerians in the Diaspora, who were in the country for the Sixth Diaspora Day celebrations, tagged: “Diaspora Nigerians: Agents of Investment and Development” at the Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Represented by the Vice Pres-

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ident, Mohammed Sambo, Jonathan urged them not to relent in their efforts on making valuable contributions towards national development.

He said: “Like most developing countries in the world, Nigeria must leverage on the huge human capital of our nationals living abroad to impact on the development process at home. Our ultimate goal is to engage Nigerians with the requisite knowledge expertise and financial acumen to join in the development of the Nigerian state irrespective of

NATIONAL their country of abode.

“I wish to assure you of our unalloyed commitment to transform this country. We remain resolute in our chosen path in doing all that is necessary to achieve this goal.

We will continue to create the enabling environment that would allow all those who desire the space to join in our national development endeavours.

“Our doors remain open to useful, patriotic and con-

structive suggestions that will assist us in bringing the dividends of democracy to the populace thereby transforming their standard of living and wellbeing.”

President Jonathan commended the Diaspora for their continued interest in the affairs of the country, saluting their courage and appreciating “the sacrifice you have made to be here.”

In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, congratulated the Diaspora

for a successful week of activities, urging them to do more for their fatherland.

In her thought-provoking presentation, a 13-year-old visually impaired author, Miss Adeife Adeniran, appealed for the strict implementation of the ideas and discussions that came out of the conference, urging active participation of youths in future conferences.

Cultural troupes from the six geopolitical zones of the country performed to the delight of the audience.

Boko Haram: Gunmen Ambush Vigilance Squad, Kill One From Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri USPECTED Boko Haram Sof gunmen killed a member the Borno Vilgilance Youth Group and wounded another at Mainok village of the state on Friday.

BVYG members were conveying two suspected members of the sect to Maiduguri when they fell into an ambush at about 6.35pm. Mainok is 58 kilo-

metres west of Maiduguri, the state capital and is a hotspot for Boko Haram act i v i t i e s .

Isa Inuwa, one of the youths, said: “We were terrified and shocked when gunmen attacked one of our taxis. It was conveying two suspects to Maiduguri where they would be handed over to the Joint Task Force (JTF). The attackers came out from the bush in two Hilux vehicles and

BORNO started firing at the taxi.

One of us was shot dead. He was hit in the chest. The other one was shot in the stomach.

“We had to flee because of the superior fire powers of the Boko Haram gunmen.

We rushed the injured youth to the Umaru Shehu Hospital, Bulunkutu for treatment.”

Speaking on the incident yesterday in an interview, BVYG chairman, Abubakar Mallum, said most of the Boko Haram suspects in Maiduguri have fled to neighbouring towns and villages, like Mainok.

Mallum said: “The strategy the fleeing terror suspects adopt to escape and survive without being arrested by either the JTF or police, is that in the evening, during the Ramadan fasting, some

of them sneak into these towns and villages to break their fasting. They, thereafter, return to their hideouts in the bush, like the destroyed Sambisa Games Reserve in central and southern Borno State.”

JTF spokesman, Lt. Col Sagir Musa, yesterday also confirmed the attack.

He said men of the JTF had not provided security cover to the youths when they arrested the suspects.

Anambra Gets N4bn Agric Bank Loan From Chuks Collins, Awka HE Bank of Agriculture (BOA) has targeted about 22,000 beneficiaries from its four billion naira (N4bn) loan meant to expand and boost its support base to the agriculture sector in Anambra State.

According to the bank’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Dr Mohammed Santuraki, N2billion of the funds had earlier been disbursed to about 8,000 beneficiaries including the Nnewi-based Resources Improvement Company (RIMCO), a subsidiary of the Chicason Group.

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• Targets 1m Hectres, 22,000 Beneficiaries • As Obi Battles Minister Over 31-year-old Rice Farm Dr Santuraki, who led a team of the bank’s top management, including the Executive Director (Corporate Services), Mr. Sam Elibe and the Head of Corporate Planning, Mr. Babatunde Igun, on a courtesy call on Governor Peter Obi, yesterday, at the Government Lodge, Awka, promised to inject additional N2bn in collaboration with the state government with a view to adding more real growth to the sector in the state.

ANAMBRA The managing director noted that the state has more than 500,000 arable lands and that the additional funds would boost the value-chain, specific target crops and expansion of the cultivated land with additional 14,000 hectares.

He disclosed that the bank was already collaborating with Ondo, Osun, Cross River

and Sokoto among others, and would be very happy to synergise with Anambra also.

And also that they were equally discussing with other states, like Kwara, Kogi, Benue and Lagos.

Obi expressed readiness to collaborate with them so as to boost employment generation and enhance growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state. He pointed out that the state has been committed to achieving the

Millennium Development Goals as enunciated by the United Nations.

He lamented that the gigantic Anambra/Imo River Basin Development authority has merely occupied a large expanse of idle farmland in the state and that the farm was conceived and established as the largest rice farm in the country, but has been allowed to rot away, having been abandoned less than six months after take-off.

He disclosed that he has already taken up the issue with the Agric Minister with a view to reclaiming it for better use by the state.

Sue Govt And Be Exposed , PDP Elders Dare Indictees From Charles Akpeji, Jalingo CALL has gone to the Secretary to the Taraba State Government, who was sacked, recently, and other indicted top government functionaries, not to engage in acts that would further compel the state government to expose them to the public.

The affected officials were indicted by the House of Assembly’s probe into misappropriation of funds on the 2012 flood disaster.

The call came from elders of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Standing Committee, which admonished them to bury their heads in silence than carry out their plans to sue the state government and the House of Assembly.

The 20-man Committee said it is saddened by fact that the SSG, affected commissioners and Special Advisers tasked with cushioning the negative effects of the flood on the people, decided to toe “unrighteous paths”.

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Guild Identifies Distressed Lagos Buildings

By Tosin Fodeke EMBERS of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), last week, began identifying defective buildings in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The move follows recent incidences of building collapse in the state, which claimed lives.

According to the guild, the Local Government is known to harbour substandard building, especially in the Ebute Metta area, where a threestorey building collapsed, July 11, 2013.

The team, led by the Mainland BCPG Coordinator, Mrs. Nike Lanre-Ladenegan, carried out inspection on buildings under construction and existing ones around Oyingbo and other parts of Ebute Metta.

Responding to a question on challenges of enforcement, Mrs. Lanre-Ladenegan hailed the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) for its usual response to BCPG alerts.

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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Scientists Blame Kidney, Liver Problems On Contaminated Food From Muyiwa Adeyemi (Head, Southwest Bureau, Ado Ekiti) under the aegis Sof ofCIENTISTS, Mycotoxicology Society Nigeria (MSN), have blamed increasing cases of kidney and liver failures on consumption of fungal contaminated food.

They also revealed that about 25 per cent of foods produced across the world are affected by Mycotoxin.

Speaking on the theme: “My-

cotoxin Hazards, Management and its Regulation in Nigeria”, at the just concluded 8th Annual Conference and Workshop, held at the Federal Polytechnics, Ado-Ekiti, the President of the association, Dr. Olusegun Atanda, attributed the increase in fungal contaminated foods to poor storage methods used in many African nations where there are lots of moisture.

He pointed out that Africa is prone to a lot of hazards from

EKITI Mycotoxin, because food items, like yams, tomatoes, potatoes and many others, are easily exposed to contamination when stored in moisturised places, which make them get moulds and other fungi.

The hazard of eating food contaminated with Mycotoxin, according to him, includes damage to kidney,

liver and immune suppressions.

He urged the general public to always avoid eating yams, tomatoes, potatoes, all tubers, and other foods that are often stored until they get contaminated with Mycotoxin. He warned that even cooking them would not prevent kidney and or liver disorders.

According to Atanda, Mycotoxins are secondary metabolite of fungi produced on agricultural produce during

Ohanaeze Kicks Against Integrated National Master Plan From Lawrence Njoku, Enugu PEX Igbo socio-cultural orA ganisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, yesterday, kicked against the National Planning Commission (NPC) document on integrated master plan for the country, saying it was well orchestrated to keep Ndigbo hostage for the next 30 years.

ANAMBRA Ohanaeze, which set up a committee headed by the President General of the organisation, Chief Gary Igariwey, to study and forward her discontent to the commission latest first week of next month, also queried the methodology adopted by the

consultants to assemble the data contained in the document.

Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, had, during the validation workshop for southeast on the draft Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) in Enugu on Thursday, said it was aimed at get-

ting more inputs from stakeholders, adding that its benefits would include economic growth, prioritised projects and programmes, as well as efficient allocation of resources for investors.

He said the document was a master plan for the development of the country for the next 30 years (2013 -2043)

processing and storage up to when they are consumed.

He said the association has been working hard to create awareness on Mycotoxins and their effects on food security and human health since it was founded in 2006.

Atanda urged the United Nations to declare a ‘World Mycotoxins Day’ because of the danger it poses to humans and animals. He noted that this would allow more people to know about the danger and how to prevent it.

The Rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Mrs. Theresa Akande, in her address, said: “In total ignorance, we ordinarily mistook the greenish patches on food, e.g. maize, sweet and Irish potatoes to be bad or immature portions, which many do not care to remove because it is not known that they are infestation by germs that could not be killed by burning or cooking for an appreciable period of time.”

Defence College To Graduate 131, Including 11 Foreigners From Madu Onuorah, Abuja TOTAL of 131 participants Awillincluding 11 foreigners next week graduate from Nigeria’s apex military institution, the National Defence College Abuja.

The NDC started in 1992 with 30 participants.

The foreign participants are drawn from Benin Republic, Bourkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Ghana, Niger, Togo, Sierra Leone, Togo, Guinea Conakry and Brazil.

The remaining Nigeria participants are from the Army (50); Navy (35); Air Force (24); two each from the Nigeria Police and Department of State Security; and another seven from federal strategic establishments. .

Commandant of the NDC, Rear Admiral Thomas Jonah Lokoson, told reporters in Abuja on Thursday that the College is expanding intake of international participants in its next course.

Africa Sets Agenda 2063 To Address New Growth Challenges

By Kamal Tayo Oropo HE tripartite partnership of T the African Development Bank (AfDB), African Union

Chief Executive Officer, Business School Netherlands, Juanita Bouwer (left); his counterparts from Blue Flower Communications, Chido Nwakama, and Business School Netherlands Nigeria, Lere Baale, during their courtesy visit to Rutam House… on Friday.

PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

Five Killed As Armed Men Attack Wase Town From Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi, Jos T LEAST five people were killed and three others injured yesterday when a group of armed men attacked Wase town in Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The attackers were eventually repelled by men of the Special Task Force.

Wase Local Government Area has been facing attacks and counter attacks in the

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PLATEAU past few months with unsuccessful attempts made at invading Wase town.

It was gathered that the attackers approached Wase from three locations at about 7am on Saturday, injuring three people from the community and setting homes ablaze.

About five of the attackers were killed in the incident.

Adamu Wase, a youth leader in the town commended the STF who “helped us repel the attack. “ He explained, “our attackers are Tarok by tribe. They came from three different locations: behind Wase Rock and from Kumbur area. The third group shot at us from the riverside.

“Thank God for the rainy season. The river was flowing, so they couldn’t cross.

The STF chased them while we stayed back in town in case another group tried to come back.”

The Chairman of Wase Local Government Area, Zakari Muhammed, who confirmed the attack on phone said, “it is unfortunate that these people keep making attempts to invade Wase town despite all efforts to restore peace in the area.”

STF spokesman, Captain

Salisu Mustapha, however, said, “Kumbur village was attacked today. They intended to attack Wase town but were repelled by our troops. They burnt a few houses and looted properties, but one of the attackers has been killed.”

Mustapha further said calm has returned to the area and that the STF is closely monitoring the situation.

UN Women, Novo Health, Sign MoU On Rural Women’s Health, Empowerment From Abosede Musari, Abuja HE United Nations Women (UN Women), on Friday, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a health management organisation, Novo Health Africa, to bring empowerment and better health to Nigerian rural w o m e n .

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ABUJA At the short ceremony, which took place in Abuja, UN Women’s Country Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Grace Ongile, said that the partnership will take the form of education, economic empowerment and access to health care

services to women and girls.

She added that the partnership will work at reaching women in their host communities, engaging them to know how best to help change their lives and then empowering them through skills acquisitions that will eventually empower them financially and economically

to be able to afford good healthcare for themselves and their children.

According to her, when these women have access to good healthcare, the incidences of maternal and child mortality will reduce drastic a l l y .

“The specific objectives of the partnership are: for the

empowerment and well being of girls and women in Nigeria, to increase mass awareness on gender, empowerment and health related issues for sustainable development and to improve the health and economic conditions of poor and vulnerable groups, especially women in Nigeria,” she said.

Commission (AUC) and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), as well as the Regional Economic Commissions (RECs) are rallying round the need for a new vision.

Dubbed ‘Agenda 2063’, the three institutions are in agreement, that this vision, crafted by the AU, can be the pathway for addressing the challenges found in Africa’s new opportunities towards its sustainable growth.

During the recent roundtable on financing Africa’s transformation held in Tunis, a technical session on Agenda 2063 highlighted the high levels of growth witnessed during the past decade.

The session noted that growth “is happening against the backdrop of Africa’s structural challenges which include infrastructure deficits, adverse effects of climate change, and food insecurity.”

In a statement, yesterday,

Southwest Monarchs Initiate Excellence Awards

By Gbenga Akinfenwa HE quest to foster unity T and development among the Yoruba ethnic nationality has received a boost with the birth of an excellence awards.

The idea is the brainchild of some prominent monarchs from Yoruba states of the southwest.

The event, which will hold on Friday, August 30, 2013, in Oyo town, is expected to be credible, non-political or tribal, devoid of political manoeuvre, and basically meant to appreciate Yoruba people who have done so well in different areas of endeavour, and also to encourage others.

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TheGuardian

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Cityfile

The remains of a three-storey building, which collapsed on July 11, 2013 at Ebute Metta, Lagos, killing six persons.

PHOTO: LEADERSHIP.NG

How To Stop Building Collapse

By Femi Alabi Onikeku AN-made structures have always collapsed and, perhaps, alM ways will. As far back as 226 BC, history documents the collapse of a statue, the Colossus of Rhodes, in the City of Rhodes.

No sooner had the Rana Plaza crashed in Bangladesh than law enforcers combed the country for persons accountable. The owner of the building, Mr. Rana, was picked as he tried to escape into neighbouring India. The Mayor of the town, Mohammed Refatullah, was nabbed last week for allegedly allowing the building to be constructed without mandatory permit from a national building safety agency. Two engineers involved in the building’s construction were arrested.

No life was lost. In 27 BC, the Fidenae amphitheatre in the Roman Empire collapsed killing some 20,000 or more.

A more recent collapse, which drew global attention, is the Bangladeshi garments factory incident. Described as one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, the eight-storey Rana Plaza crumpled, resulting in the death of more than 1,100 persons.

In Pennsylvania, United States -God’s Own Country- rescue workers busied themselves on June 5, 2013, when a building collapsed in what was an accident at a demolition site. The building that was being pulled down had landed on top of the Salvation Army Thrift Store, destroying much of the structure and trapping and injuring more than a dozen persons.

That buildings collapse in Nigeria, therefore, is simply another of the grim realities of man versus invention. What is however, disturbing is the frequency at which the structures buckle.

The dusts had barely settled over the Ebute Metta, Lagos, threestorey building crash, which claimed the lives of a couple, a baby and three others on July 11, 2013, when a two-storey build-

ing in Surulere, Lagos also fell, snuffing out the light of five persons on July 21, 2013.

Lagos State is not alone. The same month, July 11, in Kaduna, a three-storey building slumped, killing three persons and trapping many others under rubbles. These are not to mention the ironic failings of several new and shiny buildings that dot the Abuja landscape.

And what about Rivers, Oyo, Kwara, Ondo and Plateau States, and other cases, some never making the headlines.

Strangely, beyond the shock of grotesque bodies trapped beneath huge boulders and the booooooom!!! of concrete mass, a sore fact rears its head: prisons have not taken in more inmates in tandem with the dozens of buildings collapses across the country and the hundreds of lives lost.

No sooner had the Rana Plaza crashed in Bangladesh than law

F it is properly constructed, a building should last a miniINigerian mum of 50 years, says Mr. Chucks Omeife, President of the Institute of Building. By implication, an infrastruc-

Appropriate Sanctions Will Check Menace, SaysExpert

ture that was put up when the country got its independence in 1960 could still live to see many twelvemonths. Trouble is: some edifices die even before they are born -reduced to heaps of rubble.

So, why are buildings collapsing across the country?

Speaking to The Guardian, via telephone, Omeife fingered inadequate regulation by government, stressing that the laws guiding construction should be dynamic and reflect present day realities of development.

Using Lagos State as case study, the NIB President said: “The regulation we are using today is not different from what was used in 1938, called the Lagos City Council Building By-laws.

The rate of construction then was not as high as it is now. At that time, may be a building or two goes up in Lagos at the same time. But today, the rate has grown so fast that many buildings are going up at once.

“Thirty-years ago, in Lagos, there was still close monitoring.

Today, the state does not have enough personnel to go round building sites. How many people do they have at the Town Planning office or at the Physical Development office? Today, in Lagos alone, we have over 45, 000 developments going on.

How many personnel are at the building control department to ensure things are done in the right way?”

If you look at building collapse in the country today, nobody has been tried in a law court. Nobody has been sentenced to prison; nobody has been punished for any building collapse. And this is the reason buildings continue to fail, because people are becoming more daring. They keep building without going through necessary processes.

Omeifa noted that the requirement for getting a building approval must be broadened to include other areas, in line with the National Building Code. He, however, lamented: “most states are copying the NBC and leaving approval the way it has been for many years. According to him, the Code makes it clear that builders should be responsible for management of the building process and supervision of artisans, among others.”

“Unfortunately,” Omeifa stated: “The NBC itself has not been able to get the enabling law from the National Assembly. The states are still avoiding most of the areas that need to be captured. If you look at building collapse in the country today, nobody has been tried in a law court. Nobody has been sentenced to prison; nobody has been punished for any building

enforcers combed the country for persons accountable. The owner of the building, Mr. Rana, was picked as he tried to escape into neighbouring India.

The Mayor of the town, Mohammed Refatullah, was nabbed last week for allegedly allowing the building to be constructed without mandatory permit from a national building safety agency.

Two engineers involved in the building’s construction were arrested. And another engineer, Mr. Khan, who had raised an alarm that the building could fall, was also apprehended.

While some had regarded him a hero, the police wanted to ascertain the truth whether he actually described cracks in the structure as minor problems.

What a distant cry from what obtains in the Giant of Africa!

collapse. And this is the reason buildings continue to fail, because people are becoming more daring. They keep building without going through necessary processes.

“The engagement of professional builders, which is supposed to be in the Code, is not adopted in most of the states’ building regulations. They need to capture it, so that it can become effective. When a building with an approval collapses, the architect or engineer is not liable. They cannot be sued, because they will tell you they are not responsible for the construction.

But if you put a builder there, recognised by the law, then such builder can be held responsible if a building collapses. The issue of fake materials, shoddy workmanship would also be taken care of when a builder is involved; it becomes his responsibility to ensure that all these things are in good condition.”

In a memorandum he submitted to the Lagos State Tribunal of Inquiry on Collapsed Building, which sat on July 11, 2013, Omeife proffered, among several solutions, the need to criminalise building collapse. He said that the lack of punitive measures against offenders is ample motivation for continued malpractices and a contributor to occurrences.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28 2013

7

CITYFILE

Lagos To Charge Contractors For Murder, Punish Officials

By Kamal Tayo Oropo ONTRACTORS of buildings that collapse in C Lagos State may, henceforth, have murder charges instituted against them. The government’s fury is coming on the heels of yet another building collapse in Surulere, which claimed five lives.

Also, during the week, the state hosted the Senate Committee on Land, Housing and Urban Development, calling on the Federal Government to come up with mortgage plans that would help residents own their own homes.

Speaking when the Committee, led by its Chairman, Senator Abba Ibrahim, paid him a courtesy visit at Lagos House, Ikeja, Governor Fashola, said the Federal Government can break the rank by coming up with a mortgage plan that could be tied to the productive years of an individual to enable interested persons own their homes and pay up over a period of time.

This is against the backdrop of a statement by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Wale Ahmed, that government will take appropriate legal action against culprits of building collapse in the state.

The Guardian gathered that often, contractors or their principals influence state officials to ensure rules are bent in their favour. Many of these contractors have political links with some ‘oga at the top’.

Ahmed regretted that despite the state government’s drive to tighten building controls, some individuals go ahead to remove seals on buildings, as was the case in the Ishaga collapse.

Such action is almost impossible without di-

“The government is bent on bringing to book every professional or government officials found wanting, as regards this building collapse, so as to send a note of warning to others who are in to this heinous practice.” rect connivance with persons of note in authority, said a source at the Lagos State Ministry of Planning and Physical Planning and Development Authority (LASPHDA).

Government had earlier sealed the two-storey Ishaga building, which had been under construction, and instructed builders to stop work, stressing that there was no permit backing the project.

Despite government’s restriction on construction work during weekends, contractors removed the seal and worked on, especially on Sundays. This speaks volume on government’s readiness to enforce its laws.

It was, therefore, gratifying when Ahmed declared: “The government is bent on bringing to book every professional or government officials found wanting, as regards this building collapse, so as to send a note of warning to others who are in to this heinous practice.”

Meanwhile, Lagos State has demended that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) respect laid down emergency response structure in the country.

General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said: “NEMA is a Federal Government agency. Hence, it is a second responder to disaster cases. And it is expected to be called to a disaster scene by the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, who are the first respon-

Waiting to fall? The rear view of a building ‘eaten to the roots’ by flood waters at Lawal Street, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos State.

PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRAN

‘Professionals Scare Clients Away By Charging Exorbitant Fees’ From Ann Godwin, Port Harcourt HE Nigerian Institute of Architecture (NIA), T Rivers State chapter, and its sister body, the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) have described building collapse in the state and the country as shameful and worrisome.

In 2006, a building along Abacha Road in Port Harcourt Local Government Area collapsed, killing five persons. A few months later, six persons lost their lives in another building collapse at Moscow Road in the same local council.

Again, in 2012, two incidences of collapses were recorded in the state. In Rubiakani/Rumuomasi in Obioakpor Local Government Area of State, a two-storey building under construction crumbled. Properties were destroyed but no casualty was recorded.

The Guardian learnt that the building, initially designed as a two-storey structure, had ended up as a four-storey apartment; it fell as a result of the additional weight.

Few months later, another two-storey building, under construction, in Igwuruta, Ikwere Local Government Area of the state, collapsed, damaging two parked cars.

An expert, Mr. Micah Obiegbu said, lack of Total Quality Management (TQM) is responsible for most building collapse in the country.

According to him, failure to adhere to TQM results in the use of poor building materials, which, in turn, affect the life span of the project. He noted that over the years, building materials and workmanship specifications have grown to become factors in contract procedures for accepting or rejecting materials and workmanship.

He lamented that because of greed, some professionals compromise standards and risk the lives of occupants.

While campaigning for a Project Quality Management Plan, he disclosed that abandonment of building projects, long after commencement of work, could equally lead to collapse.

But the NIA and NSE blamed the menace on clients who prefer patronising quacks rather than professionals.

The State Chairman of NIA, Emmanuel Dike, said the institute is concerned about the spate of collapses and is doing a lot to checkmate the trend.

If government follows up its blueprint with ample implementation, it would go a long way in solving the problem, he said.

He explained that the blueprint consists of a building code, which highlights what a builder is supposed to do, the standards expected, and penalties for violation.

“What we see today is a situation where people prefer quacks to professionals. A quack might design a house; you may pay him N10m and pay the professional N1m, but you will end up building the house for N15m. But you will not know until you sit down to take the cumu-

“Imagine a situation where you go to an engineer and he asks you to pay over half of your budget for the building project, and at the end, they will still not use standard materials, so we have to look for other alternatives.” lative result of what you have done. Then you will see that you have spent more money. Beyond spending more money, that house will not be functional. I have seen cases where houses have windows; yet when you open them, air fails to come in.”

Citing the Rumuomasi collapse, Dike said, “The man who designed it is not an architect. I will not make such mistakes, as a professional, because I would have tested the soil, and then the foundation would have been done to meet the requirements. So, if the client wakes up tomorrow and says, ‘more money has come in, let us add one more floor’, I will say, ‘my friend: let us go and do it in another place.’ If he insists, we can then tell the engineer and do what we call under-pin towards the foundation.”

State Chairman of NSE, Denis Diana, said there is a deliberate effort by the government to tackle the challenge.

He noted that the institute has partnered with the state government, precisely the Ministry of Urban Development, and a committee named: ‘Building Plan Approval Stop Shop’, has been set up to monitor and supervise building projects across the state.

Diana explained: “The committee gives a shop order, meaning that any design that is not done by a competent engineer will be disallowed. So, if you want to build a house in Rivers State, today, you will go to a central place to submit your drawings. In that office, you will find three architects from NIA, an engineer and a town planner. The town planner does the environmental impact analysis. So, when the drawings come, they look at them and check if the person has met the minimum standards. They will ask: is the designer of this building an architect? Is he registered to practice? This is to ensure standard jobs are done.”

He disclosed that a rickety building discovered by the committee has been sealed. He regretted that the continued collapse of buildings portrays the country and professional bodies in a horrendous image.

He advised: it is better to spend more to get a competent engineer to build than spend less to get quacks and end up with huge losses.

Some clients, however, said, high charges by professional bodies scare them aware from making consultations.

One of them, Mrs. Evelyn Ikejiaku, said, “Imagine a situation where you go to an engineer and he is asking you to pay over half of your budget for the building project, and at the end, they will still not use standard materials, so we have to look for other alternatives.”

A collapsed three-storey structure in Abuja.

PHOTO: WWW.YNAIJA.COM

‘Corruption Undermines Safety Standards’ From Itunu Ajayi, Abuja UILDINGS that have collapsed in Abuja in the B past few years share a common feature: they were all under construction.

This poses a question on the quality and proportion of materials used. At the sites of some collapsed structures, so-called concrete slabs could even be crushed with bare hands.

That these buildings were at various stages of construction would explain the limited number of casualties involved. But few, as these were, the worth of a life is inestimable, and should not be thrown away, especially as a result of sheer negligence.

On July 29, 2011, a building under construction collapsed in Mararaba, a suburb of the FCT, killing one person. The following month, precisely August 19, 2011, a clinic at Mpape, another suburb of the FCT, came crashing down, leaving two persons dead, The clinic had initially been designed as a onestorey building, with a commensurate foundation, but the owner decided to convert it to a three-storey structure. Two people lost their lives in the collapse.

The same story played out at Dutse-Alhaji, another satellite town in the FCT. A building, designed to be a one-storey structure, received the additional burden of two more storeys. In the early hours of August 8, 2012, it crashed, killing three.

At the Apo Mechanic Village, a one-storey building collapsed on July 21, 2012. No life was, however, lost. The most recent case was a fence that collapsed on June 5, 2013 in Maitama. The incident left one person dead.

Victims of these collapses were mostly construction workers because the structures were uninhabited.

With prediction by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) that rainfall in 2013 would peak in August and that the resultant flooding could surpass last year’s, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has commenced early warning and sharing of experience with stakeholders on emergency response in collapsed structures.

This move, according to Ishaya Isah Chonoko, Coordinator, Abuja Operations Office of the agency, is informed by the fact that incidences of collapsed buildings are more common during the rainy season.

He said NEMA, with the mandate to coordinate other emergency response agencies in

times of disaster, has started sensitisation programme on disasters.

He said: “We have noticed that in most cases, this incidence of building collapse normally happens during the rainy season. So, after the NIMET 2013 prediction, especially as it relates to rain and flooding, we brought stakeholders together for what we called experience sharing, where we educated them on how best to respond to building collapse.

“Now that we have heard authoritatively from NIMET that there is going to be heavy down pour after all we did during the flooding, we decided to take a step further by this experience sharing programme.”

He told The Guardian that the exercise, which involved lectures and practical approach, was a demonstration of the government’s desire to achieve acceptable response time, in line with global best practices; identify and re-emphasise the lead agency structure in emergency response; and build the capacity of the agency’s stakeholders in emergency response.

He said part of government’s effort in responding to collapsed building is the provision of state-of-the-art equipment to the agency to aid it in achieving timeliness and professionalism in its primary search and rescue mandate. He added that 23 well-equipped mobile intensive care ambulances were approved by the Federal Executive Council for the agency, to be given out to stakeholders, which include the fire services, road safety, civil defense etc.

In addition, he said that there are also rapid response ready-to-go vehicles fixed with equipment such as life locators with personal digital assistance, capable of detecting breath even if the victim is incapacitated; hydraulic equipment for light rescue; search taps used to facilitate communication with trapped victims; and others that would facilitate search and rescue in the case of a collapsed building. There are also heavy equipment for excavations.

He, however, lamented the impatience of Nigerians whenever a disaster occurs. He said people are usually not responsive enough to allow the agency put its equipment in place, preferring instead to use crude and unprofessional means in rescue attempts.

Their methods, he said, do more harm to the victims. He also lamented the large turnout of people at disaster scenes even when there is little on no assistance they might be able to ren-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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CITYFILE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 According to him, this has often hindered timely access to victims.

He noted, however, that with the efforts of stakeholders, like the Federal Road Safety Commission, the police, Civil Defense and fire services, the job of the agency is made simpler.

At the Abuja Municipal Metropolitan Control (AMAC) the Director, Development Control (DC), Yahaya Yusuf, explained efforts the government is making to ensure cases of building collapse are minimised.

The DC department is an arm of the Federal Capital Development Authority saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the master plan of the FCT is not bastardised by erection of illegal structures. As a result, in recent times, such structures and shanties have had to be demolished.

Yusuf, a town planner by profession, told The Guardian that given the rate the FCT is growing, the department ensures stringent monitoring of buildings under construction to prevent anomalies that could lead to collapses. He said one of the policies of government, in this direction, is to engage industry professionals outside government to supervise and monitor constructions in the FCT. He said the department makes sure it deals with not only registered but also qualified professionals who must attest to and certify that they would supervise such constructions. This, he said, means that liability during and after construction rests with the professional who has also signed an undertaking to that effect.

“There are so many people taking part in making sure the building does not collapse in the first place. There is a civil engineer or structural engineer that will attest to the fact that he is responsible for monitoring and supervision of the construction on a day-to-day basis. So, when our staff go on routine monitoring, they are expected to see these professionals on site, especially at critical stages of the construction,” Yusuf said.

He also noted that any misdemeanour on the part of these groups of professionals is reported to COREN, the regulatory body of engineering practice in the country. And in situations where lives are lost, as a result of negligence, the professional involved is handed over to the police for prosecution. Whether or not such prosecution gets to its logical conclusion, he said, is another matter entirely.

“We have also gone round the city to identify all abandoned buildings. We have come to discover that some of them were developed to a point and stopped for months or even years for lack of resources, or other challenges. If we don’t subject such buildings to an integrity test, then we risk a collapse because such might have gone through wear and tear; unable to withstand any load. We were able to compile over 430 such buildings in order to make them go through a revalidation process, which requires us conducting the test on them before certifying them okay or otherwise. For such test to be seen as objective, not carried out by this department, so that people will not say we are biased, we gave them to consultants in the private sector, as accredited and recommended by COREN. “Between last year and now, about 122 buildings have been

CITY ShOTS

Ubiquitous. Irrepressible... Commercial motorcyclists turn a drainage along the EnuguOnitsha Expressway to avantage in, Awka... recently.

PhOTO: LEO SOBEChI

NEMA officials at the scene of a building collapse in Abuja

‘Owners Of Collapsed Buildings To Forfeit Plot, Irrespective Of Approvals’ revalidated and people are continuing their construction in line with what we approved. For others yet to do so, it’s not our making; owners of such buildings have to sponsor the revalidation process. So, may be fund is still constituting an hindrance to their plans.”

He went on: “Another cause of building collapse is flooding; natural disaster, partly worsened by global warming. We have tried to build the resilience level of the city by not waiting for this kind of disaster to happen.

He explained that the department has already marked buildings around the FCT, which portend danger to people, as a result of general weaknesses exhibited. Yusuf also disclosed that there is a timetable for the demolition of others over possible collapse.

He said it is not only shanties that are being demolished, but also buildings belonging to the elite, wherever rules are violated. He made reference to the ALGON building in Maitama, which was constructed on a cul-de-sac.

“One thing that has helped us so far in carrying out our task is the high level political will displayed by the FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed, who has given us unparalleled freedom to do our work, even though this affects some personalities in the society,” he said.

Part of the challenges the department faces, according to Yusuf, is court injunctions. He explained that the department has had situations where owners of weak buildings go to court. And while the case is still ongoing, with a stay on the department from further action, such owners continue to build. He cited a building in Asokoro, which eventually killed a person, after a delay in court.

“The public is now aware that it is a matter of time. If we mark your structure for demolition, it will definitely go because on our part we must have taken all necessary precautions,” he said.

He noted that the regulation in the FCT now is that owners of collapsed buildings automatically lose the plots, irrespective of all paper approval for such lands.

It was gathered that cases of building collapse in the FCT are as a result of negligence; people trying to cut corners. Owners and site engineers are not exempted from blame. Often an engineer would give professional advice to the owner on the proportion of materials needed. But in a bid to save money, the owner might cut corners. In the event of a collapse, all monies spent go down the drain, in a situation that can be described as penny-

An Epilogue On MERRIAGE

By Adidi Uyo E have capitalised all the letters of the last word in our title today for one main reason: to grab your attention. And there is a corollary reason – assuming you were not on the language train during its last excursion. It is to provoke you to ask the question: “What the heck is MERRIAGE?” Having achieved that purpose, hopefully, let me briefly suspend the answer to that question and shift your attention to the other main word in the title, which is “epilogue.” I will quickly get down to the root of the word, that is, its etymology, and then tell you a story related to its pronunciation.

No doubt, you must have read many an epilogue, that closing section often added to a book, including novels and plays, wherein authors provide further comment, interpretation, or information on the subject matter they have treated. Epilogue has its root in the Greek word, epilogos, which means “conclusion.” Its verb form, epilogein, is perhaps more telling: it means “to say in addition,” which is exactly what we intend to do on the language train today.

But before we come to that, the story just promised. In a class on Elocution, a subject whose essence is correct and clear pronunciation, the teacher wrote the word on the board and, for starters, asked a student to pronounce

W

LANGUAGE ON PARADE it. The student’s answer drew a long guffaw from his classmates who knew better, for he had pronounced it as: EPILOG-WAY! Do you blame the poor student? Why should the word have those two letters, “u” and “e” after the letter “g,” when they are not meant to pronounced? No wonder American English dispenses with the two letters and spells it as epilog, neat! As they say, just as an engine must not contain any part that performs no function, so must language and any of its units.

Why that story? Well, as it happened, the period that my class was taking Elocution at the secondary school I attended in Sapele, Delta State, was also the time that we had the honour of being introduced to physics by a teacher who hailed from South Africa. We knew him just by his surname, Mr. Ranko. Pardon my spelling, for I am not sure whether the name is spelled Rancho, actually.

Anyway, I am reminded of Mr. Ranko as I write because any time the word “marriage” came out of his mouth, my classmates and I, courtesy of our lessons in elocution, could hear it distinctly as MERRIAGE, with the stress on “MER,” you know, like the sound made by goats. Mr. Ranko was the first South African we ever came across, and some urchins in my class, including yours truly, were never tired of

wise and pound-foolish.

Most times, building owners shy away from having to pay fees to qualified professionals, preferring instead quacks, who charge less, but ruin the entire project. At other times, site engineers might swindle owners by using less provided materials in order to make more profit.

In a telephone conversation with The Guardian, the Registrar of COREN, Mr. Kamila Maliki, explained that all practising engineers in the country are mandated to register with the institution as a way to checkmating the activities of quacks.

He said it has been observed that in most cases where buildings collapsed during construction, the architect, whose responsibility was to draw the design, may not have contacted the structural engineer to procure necessary facilities for ensuring a stable structure.

He said development control, as part of COREN’s mandate, usually demands for the structural engineer’s design for buildings, which could either be approved if it meant specification or disapproved if otherwise.

After the approval of the design that has meant specification on paper, Maliki said it is the duty of someone to translate the good product on paper into real structure by providing all the materials highlighted on paper, and that is where the problem lies.

He said: “The designer of the drawing might give it to a quack, someone who cannot interpret what is on paper. He might also give it to a dupe who can interpret but instead of buying the correct quantity or appropriate materials, as stipulated in the drawing on paper, he would buy the wrong specification. In each of these cases, instead of buying appropriate things according to specification, they buy the wrong things.

“Then there could be a situation where the person putting the materials together might not be competent. You know, there are specific proportions of how materials are mixed, and where this rule is not adhered to, there could be problem.”

He said the essence of the design is to make sure a strong and durable structure is put in place and where the aim of the design is compromised, there is likely to be challenges.

Some people, he said, have the impression that the act of putting the expression of the building on paper is a waste of time and resources, so they, most times, ignore the design and its specifications and continue with the construction.

giggling any time he pronounced certain words differently from how we were used to hearing them pronounced.

Be that as it may, who would have imagined that more than four and half decades later, I would find myself coining a word that is spelt exactly the way Mr. Ranko pronounces marriage, to wit: merriage.

To be sure, merriage is the word we had coined as a substitute for “same-sex marriage.”

It is a combination or, if you prefer, a blend of the first letters from MERRY, which is “merr-,” and the last four from MARRIAGE, which is, “iage.” The essence of this epilogue is to make one main point about the coinage, besides underscoring the point that merriage is a befitting substitute for same sex marriage.

It bears repeating that merriage is a befitting word because every phenomenon deserves a unique label, one that separates it from any other phenomenon, s word that lends it its identify and endows it with distinction. In other words, this new social phenomenon deserves a clean break from marriage because it is totally different from what the Holy Book and tradition calls marriage.

What is paramount in marriage, as the Holy Book and tradition have it, is procreation. But, seemingly, what is paramount in the still unfolding social phenomenon of same-sex marriage is recreation: pleasure and merry making. This is why I was taken aback by a news story in a local newspaper on Saturday,, July 20, 2013. The story was headlined, “QUEEN ELIZABETH II SIGNS BILL LEGALISING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE.”

The question almost leapt out of my mind: “How could the Queen, the embodiment of tradition, endorse something like same-sex marriage, I beg your pardon, merriage?” Quite a paradox, I demurred. And the contradiction became utterly glaring three days later when the wife of the Queen’s grandson gave birth to her great grandson who would be third in line to the throne. The ultimate question that tugged my mind was: “Does it mean the Queen, if she is still alive, would endorse the marriage of her great grandson to another man?”

Gee, before I deviate from matters linguistic, let me get back quickly to the main point of this epilogue. You see, coinages are like coins: they are of no use unless people accept them as a medium of exchange. Neologisms must gain traction among users of language and become acceptable before they can circulate in society.

As it celebrates its 26 anniversary, Esperanto remains a language on book shelves. It is not in circulation, anywhere. Merriage faces the same fate, unless it can germinate and circulate among language users – like you! If merriage catches fire, the time would come when some people with the given orientation would kneel before one of their kind and say: “Would you merry me?”

“Merry,” of course, would be a back formation of merriage, which may well be taken to be an antonym of marriage – the AC/DC union ordained by God and tradition, primarily for the purpose of procreation. Like marriage, how I wish the word would come to be: mer-

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

9

CITYFILE

Re-- No Comment UR attention has been brought to a photo news page in O the ‘Cocktail’ column with the headline: ‘No Comment’, published in the Sunday, July 21, 2013 edition of The Guardian.

While it is not in our character to join issues with the press over distasteful publications, we owe it a duty to put the record straight, so that unsuspecting members of the public will not go away with an erroneous impression.

Indeed, the photographs rightly depict the nature of some of the roads in Ajao Estate. But it needs to be stated that the bad condition of the roads and the project boards are not meant to deceive the public, as being wrongly insinuated by your publication.

For the avoidance of doubt, Betty Pride Street, Fatai Irawo Street and Cobham Street are among streets listed for rehabilitation in Ajao Estate axis of Isolo Local Council Development Area (LCDA). Rehabilitation works have been concluded in eight other streets in Ajao Estate, April this year, before the rains stalled commencement and completion of other road projects in the area.

It would amount to waste of public funds if the rehabilitation works on these roads are not suspended during the rainy season. Definitely, we shall move to site as soon as the rains subside to complete renovation works as we had done early this year at Leo Ikeagwu Street, New World Street, Vitus Okpala Street, Omolabake Adeoti Street, Niyi Ogunbameru Street, Haldeen Wahab Street, Maurice Nwankwo Street and Mechanic Village, all within Ajao Estate area.

We sincerely share in the pain and anguish experienced by residents of Ajao Estate, and as a responsible government, the story would be different as soon as the weather permits.

Having fully realised the fact that the race to excellence has no finishing point, the Isolo LCDA, led by Hon. Shamsudeen Abiodun Olaleye, is genuinely committed to bringing infrastructural, social and economic development to the generality of the people of the council area. This is our sacred promise to the people of Isolo LCDA and this we shall fulfil.

However, the superimposition of the project board on the photograph bearing Fatai Irawo Street where there is no proj-

ect board smacks malice, which puts big question mark on the purpose of the photo news in the first place. We don’t want to believe that this is a product of political detractors who have jumped on your medium’s platform to rubbish the good intentions of the council administration in its desire to bring positive transformation to the council area.

That your photojournalist did not bother to balance the story as demanded by the ethics of journalism through a visit to the LCDA headquarters, which is a stone’s throw to your office, has left us to conclude that your medium may be on a hatchet mission, a situation, which does not promote good neighbourliness.

We would, however, appreciate if this rejoinder is given same prominence as the earlier story in the true spirit of developmental journalism, which The Guardian is noted for.

Thank you.

Signed: Lanre Olaleye (Media and Publicity Consultant to Isolo LCDA)

Faces Of Ajao Estate: Waiting For The Rains To Stop.

Stella Osholake/Sholanke Street, Ajao Estate, Isolo, Lagos State

Betty Pride Street, Ajao Estate

Alhaji Bashorun Street, Ajao Estate

Another street in Ajao Estate

A Pinch Of N(u)ews A Laugh At Serious Issues

By Stanley Azuakola

Senator Yerima ready to change vote on Section 29 ARELY two weeks after his critical intervention on the floor B of the senate led to the rejection of an amendment for Section 29 of the constitution, Sen. Ahmed Yerima now says that he realises his folly and wishes to change his position. The controversial section gives any married woman irrespective of age, the right to renounce her citizenship, a move which many interpreted to mean support for underage marriage. But why did Yerima change his mind on a vote which he had so passionately pushed for? As with all things about Sen. Yerima’s life, the decision to change positions has to do with the needs of his underage Egyptian wife and his overage Nigerian genitalia.

Sources close to the bearded senator said that when his wife heard about how her man had singlehandedly forced the mighty men of the Nigerian senate to re-vote on an already concluded matter and eventually had his way; she was so impressed that she insisted that he must intervene in the crisis in her homeland, Egypt. She told him in childlike innocence that if he could make a “great” Brigadier-General like David Mark bend to his whim, surely he could make the generals in Egypt bend as well. She also said that if he could make his zealous and devout colleagues in the senate follow him like sheep to a slaughter and confounded some such that they did not even know when they pressed the button to support him, then surely he could tame the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt as well.

According to the source, she told him while crying profusely that, “my family, my baba and mama are all there in Egypt. If you don’t make the crisis end, I will renounce my Nigerian citi-

zenship and go and join them there. Thank God that thanks to you I can now denounce Nigeria as easy as ABC. I know my rights.” Several efforts to calm her down failed. Yerima tried to tell her that he was just “a small fish” and that his “almajiri army does not have levels in Egypt,“ but she refused to be consoled. As a result, he now insists that the senate must vote again on that section to ensure that no girl under 30 (not 18 as originally proposed) would be able to renounce her citizenship.

The 5 Powerpuff Boys unleashed HE World Bank has said that just like how Nollywood grew T from nothing to become one of the standout sectors in Nigeria, very soon comics from Nigeria would take over the world. This was disclosed during the launching of a special Northern State Governors’ inspired comic magazine last week.

The comics which would be made into a series and might soon be adopted by the producers of ‘Super Man’ and ‘The Avengers’, is called “the 5 Powerpuff Boys.” It’s the story of 5 super heroes: Kwakwakwa, Houseboy leader, Obj’s boy, Wham! and Old Age, who are on a mission to save a crazy 14-year-old girl called “Demo Crazy.” The super heroes, most of whom have not signed the Child Rights Action which would make life better for the girl believe that the only way to save her is to fly around like super heroes and pay visits to present and former villains.

Some foolish cynics believe that the super heroes are only interested in their ambition of marrying the crazy child bride and penetrating into her most prized asset which in the comic is called her “presidency.” The super heroes however face a super villain called ‘Asshole Rock Chief Attack Tiger – ARCAT’ who is the first gateman in the rock where Demo Crazy is being detained and abused these days. ARCAT released statements condemning their shuttle and visits saying that his boss, Don

Fatai Irawo Street, Ajao Estate

Otuoke holds the patent for visitations in the country. The saga continues.

CROWNED CLOWN (CeeCee) OF THE WEEK O be clear, A Pinch… has no problems with any person or T group of persons embarking on visitations, shuttles or initiatives. There is freedom of movement, visitation and association. And surely, every man is allowed to christen his shuttling visitation whatever he likes, including – “Save Democracy” Initiative. However, A Pinch… reserves the right to call out ambitious or presumptuous clownery – and the tour by Messrs Rabiu Kwankwaso, Babangida Aliyu, Murtala Nyako, Aliyu Wammako and Sule Lamido is either too ambitious or too presumptuous or maybe even both. To insinuate that their tour of rich men’s lodges is a democracy saver is the height of presumption if they actually believe it and the height of ambition if they don’t believe but expect us to. Visiting the Rivers’ Brick House, the Niger presidential lodge or OBJ’s den cannot even save them from mockery, how much more rescue Nigeria’s democracy. A Pinch… has an idea for them. Why don’t they try sitting their behinds in their states and the three of them – Kwankwaso, Nyako and Wammako – who still haven’t moved towards domesticating the Child Rights Act in their states do that first? When they begin to take the beautiful little kids in their states a little more seriously, then we might begin to take their save democracy humbug a bit more seriously as well.

Deal? Oh, and by the way, Doyin Okupe, who released another one of his tissue-paper statements condemning their tour, should shove it where it belongs. He would join those 5 governors to receive a joint CeeCee award this week.

Follow A Pinch… on Twitter: @stanleyazuakola

10

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday July 28, 2013

Backlash Abraham Ogbodo

08055328079 (Sms only) abogbodo@yahoo.com

ASUU: As It Was In The Beginning HE Academic Staff Union of Universities T (ASUU) has been on strike for about a month now to draw attention to the non implementation of an agreement it signed with government in 2009. Meetings between government and the union to resolve the matter were reportedly deadlocked diming hope of early resolution of the crisis. Some media reports last week quoted the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chukwuemeka Wogu as saying that the agreement in question was impossible to implement. ASUU on its part has vowed to sustain the strike until something gives, accusing government of deliberately pursing policies that will kill university education in Nigeria.

Having given this brief background, let me say that the purpose here is not to go all over the argument of what is required to make tertiary education thrive in Nigeria. All the positions have been extensively canvassed at the many joint negotiations that culminated in the now troubled 2009 agreement between government and ASUU. In fact, the latter had, a fortnight ago, purchased generous media space to compellingly re-state the fine points of that agreement. Reading through, one is tempted to take up arms against successive leaders from 1978 till date for bringing university education to its knees.

We can conveniently call it wickedness in high places, which ASUU has been fighting for well over three decades with one major weapon; strike action. I want to resist the temptation of branding the warfare spiritual, but the evidence so far, shows that the teachers have been up and against powers and principalities and not mere flesh and blood. Clearly, the enemy in the ASUU struggle is far tougher than the weapon fashioned against it. Strike action is not even a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) yet what is needed to decapitate an enemy with a Nazist determination and ruthlessness is WMD. This is precisely the point I am struggling to bring out. The scientists among the teachers should retire from the fronts to the laboratory

F late, some governors from the North have O embarked on pilgrimages to Rivers State, Ogun State and Niger, ostensibly in search for peace.

Governors Rabiu Kwankwaso, Sule Lamido, Murtala Nyako and Muazu Babangida Aliyu have taken it upon themselves to troubleshoot for the sake of returning the country on the path of peace. What a noble thing to do, especially as the holy scriptures preach peace and accord special place for men who seek peace genuinely, not those who fuel trouble or are part and parcel of the trouble.

Taking a critical look at the visits so far, this narrative is tempted to search for some missing link, which if not well located could put to shame the efforts of these wise men from the North and elsewhere. To be able to make peace, those mediating should be seen to be neutral and be of good and noble intention. Those who seek peace should also know the most appropriate time and venue to broach peaceful discourses, so that they may achieve maximum results. But if a man wakes up to embark on a search for a missing peace when he had by himself thrown peace away, that itself could be mockery.

These governors are staunch members of the Rotimi Amaechi faction of the embattled Governors’ Forum. From their own accounts of the final straw that separated the two factions at the May 24 election, they misled the Jonah Jang faction into believing that the North had endorsed him for the election against Amaechi. As a matter of fact, they nominated Jang, who had no prior intention of contesting the NGF election.

They were the same persons who went behind to canvass votes against Jang, which favoured Amaechi to score 19 against Jang’s 16.

Kwankwaso was very proud of himself and the others in their camp, for misleading Jang and his camp, which includes the Presidency.

Individually, these four northern, peace-loving governors have their separate political agenda for 2015, since they are all second term governors with great potentials for the future. Collectively, they are bent on returning the Presidency to the North, but with separate hidden schemes, each believing he is the best and that after raising all the destructive dust in their party, they would be sufficiently in the limelight when it comes to the ultimate. Rivers just happened to play into their hands, as a fulcrum to rest their schemes.

Now, a rewind into the activities of the NGF will help our collective understanding, so that

to bring out a sterner stuff against the Federal Government. In other words, since the Federal Government has become immune to ASUU strike, a new approach is required to move the efforts beyond this over beaten phrase of ‘non implementation of a signed agreement.’ The medical doctors among the teachers would agree that the same anti-body is never applied twice once there is resistance to treatment. And in everyday life, people are told not to expect different results from applying an old rule rule.

How come then that ASUU with all the egg heads in its fold is bent on following the same route that has not led to the Promised Land in 35 years, since 1978, and only five years short of the 40 years that the Isrealites spent to arrive Canaan from Egypt.

Except there is a concrete promise that the ASUU’s agreement will move a step forward to being a workable policy if the union manages to hold on for another five years, I will suggest that it retraces onto a more promising path. It is better late than never. The issue here is neither speed nor momentum. ASUU has both attributes in good measure. The issue is the right set of strategies to deliver the big vision. Put differently, ASUU is on a difficult path and no matter how fast a traveller moves on the wrong road, he never gets to destination. Clearly, incessant strikes cannot force the government to implement the agreement and that is the hard reality on ground.

It brings me to the real issue. It seems to me that the targets in ASUU’s strike are not well defined and to move forward, it is very important to put a face to government so that we can understand with whom ASUU is doing battle. Can it be taken that the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan or for that matter, the Minister of Education, Professor Ruquayattu Rufai represents the face of government in the ASUU campaign? We can actually do some plastic surgery and expand the face of government to include the Executive Secretary of the National University Commission, Prof. Julius Okojie and even the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Atahiru Jega.

It is not finished. There is space on the wide face to accommodate Prof. Ita Okon Bassey Ewa, Minister of Science and Technolog; Prof. Viola Onwuliri, Minister of State, Foreign Affairs; Prof.

Chinedu Osita Nebo, Minister of Power; Prof.

Onyebuchi Chukwu, Minister of Health and Prof.

Taoheed Adedoja, Minister of Special Duties. I grew up to see the faces of Professors Jerry Gana and Jubril Aminu as part of the big face of government and they have not been deleted long after. In the past, the face of government had had patches from Professors Ibrahim Gambari, Tam David West, Babatunde Fafunwa, Ben Nwabueze, Sam Oyovbaire, Bolaji Akiyemi, Femi Otunbajo, Oke Bukola, Dora Akunyili, Soun Turner, Bart Nnaji, Julius Ihonvbere, etc. This made the face of government look even more serious and studious than the face of the best university in Nigeria.

Hey, are you still there? Therefore, who is this government that ASUU has been fighting? Foremost constitutional law authority, Prof. Ben Nwabueze was the Secretary of Education under the Chief Ernest Shonekan headed Interim National Government (ING). Under him, the issue of the implementation of an agreement that ASUU signed with the Federal Government under General Ibrahim Babangida who stepped aside on August 27 1993, for Shonekan to step in came up. In explaining the constraints of government, the highly respected Prof who is synonymous with the law faculty of the University of Lagos said the agreement that was duly signed by both sides was extracted from a harassed government.

I am getting confused myself. Courage is needed to withstand the conviction of these revelations.

As it can be seen, only a slim difference exists between ASUU and the face of government in Nigeria. Specifically, ASUU has had enough content in government to drive or at least affect the direction of educational policies in Nigeria. Why this is not so is to me more important than the trite arguments the union always put forward to go on strike. It is the real reason why the country is not just able to transform beyond political rhetoric.

There is hardly an alignment between what the people profess outside government and what they do in government.

Maybe there is a damaging virus in and around government circles that infests upon contact and causes people going into government to do the exact opposite of what they profess. Those who started students’ movement in Nigeria years ago have all come of age and a good number of them are now in the commanding heights of public and private sectors operations. If this is so, why is the positive change they had all promised when they were in the trenches struggling for better Nigeria, including sound university education not manifesting since they mounted the platform of power?

SUNDAY NARRATIVE Alabi Williams williams.alabi@ngrguardiannews.com 08116759790 (Sms only)

Blessed Are Genuine Peacemakers politicians do not railroad us all into a grand mischief plot. The NGF used to be an innocuous body used by governors to protect their interests. They were able for many years to secure political privileges for members of the club at the highest level.

They had the money and the influence to strike big political deals. That used to be their main preoccupation. That entire claim about peer reviewing are more of academic jargons, as can now be seen.

Then Amaechi came on board with a somewhat different vision, which seemed to differ from just doing political bargains with the centre, to winning more statutory gains for states. At a time, states were running into genuine fiscal challenges, while the federal government seemed to have more to spend on grandiose projects. The industrial and commercial monopoly the federal government appropriated to itself in the exclusive legislative list, also hampers the capacity of states to go into sectors such as power, railway.

These were the original ideas that engaged Amaechi, especially at a time the federal government went into new ventures like the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) without due consultation with states. Sharing of excess crude revenues and deductions from states allocation were also big issues the NGF wanted to take on board. The federal government gave the impression that states were reckless and must be forced to ‘save’ for the future, but states felt the capacity to save does not reside in the federal government alone. Those were intellectual arguments that required constitutional explanations and the NGF went to the Supreme Court for explanations. Some revolutionary minded opposition governors liked Rotimi’s thoughts on appropriate federalism and they flowed along, without initially realising there could be political gains to be harnessed along the way.

Then 2015 came into the picture and posters of Amaechi and Lamido were seen all over the place.

For the Federal Government that is led by Presi-

dent Jonathan, whose desire for 2015 is not in doubt, Amaechi was overreaching himself and using the NGF to feather his own nest against that of Jonathan. One thing then led to another and the opposition parties began to see more gains in a continued polarisation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). They have thus continued to add fuel, having found some willing allies in the Babangida Aliyu camp and that has brought the polity to this sorry state – violence in Rivers and the likelihood of more violence and eventual collapse of this democracy.

That visit to Rivers on July 19 by the Northern governors was more of a solidarity visit to their factional leader, rather than a peace mission. Were it a genuine peace mission, the governors ought to have cleared with the Rivers commissioner of Police for protection and also issue a clear announcement of an itinerary to include meetings with all factions. For being self-serving and lacking truth, they got pelted with rocks at the airport in Port Harcourt.

The other visit by opposition governors on July 18 to Rivers was equally self-serving and may not have been intended to achieve any peace. Governors Kayode Fayemi, Babatunde Fashola, Ibukunle Amosu, Rauf Aregbesola and Abiola Ajumobi, accompanied by deputy governors of Imo, Nassarawa and Zamfara were also in Port Harcourt, where they equally called for peace. The truth is that if there were to be peace in PDP, the opposition would not achieve the level of momentum it has gained. Again, their role at the ignoble NGF election did not portray them as statesmen seeking peace; there were plain politicians that went for PDP’s jugular. This is not to begrudge them, but just reminding them of the hard facts. Don’t forget that they did a similar stunt show in Maiduguri in March, when in a Rambo-like fashion they visited war-ravaged Borno State in another solidarity visit, where they also scored some cheap points.

It is all about scoring points ahead of 2015 and it is hoped that Amaechi understands this because the

For instance, Labaran Maku, Prof. Jega and even Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi cannot possibly say that whatever struggle they had talked about in their school days is still continuing. It has since ended and even victory is a given certitude. What remains uncertain is the victory of the people and that should include the way forward for ASUU. To put the question more pointedly, why is ASUU so incapable of using its members within the corridors of power to enunciate policies that will favour higher education in Nigeria?

Let us not even go back to the locust years of the military. Since the dawn of this dispensation in 1999, ASUU has had a fare participation in the two critical arms of the executive and legislature and enough to change policy direction in the university system. And this is at both the federal and state level of government. In fact, some members of the union have vacated the corridors of power for the actual house of power. Today, the President who is the chief tenant of the power house is an ASUU member. The one before him was also an ASUU member. What else does ASUU want to get its agreement off the document tray of some idle civil servants for implementation? If the union is having difficulties working through its members, including President Jonathan in government to engage the great issue of better university education, it automatically calls to question the collective character of the teachers.

It means the fight to save university education in Nigeria is more about attention seeking and angling to gain official access after which the passion dies in the crusaders.

Besides, the idea of calling its members on strike each time government says no to it is making ASUU look like a collection of electricity workers.

Maybe the description should be reworked to remove ‘union’ so that the teachers do not go on strike as often as the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (Workers) (NUPENG). This has become necessary because the teachers are beginning to see themselves more as unionists and less as intellectuals who should show the way out of every seemingly intractable problem, including inadequate funding of university education.

The strike option has become too cheap. It had some benefits in the time of Atahiru Jega but not anymore. The collateral damage on the students is colossal and surely a topic for another day. It now seems as if successive leadership of ASUU just lash on to strike because it is the path to instant acclaim. University teachers should be far more sophisticated in their approaches. I will end this write-up with a challenge: I will recommend for Nobel Peace Prize whoever is able to arrest the decay in university education in Nigeria outside ASUU strike.

NGF has lost focus long ago. Remember that Amaechi and his radically inclined friends in the opposition camp rooted for the creation of state police as part of their reformation blueprint. Remember too that the NGF at a point agreed on state police, until one day when the Northern version of NGF woke up to announce they were no longer interested. They went on to challenge the sense in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), simply because they thought Niger Delta states already have enough of oil money. They also made some fuss about littoral states and threatened to reopen those old arguments on onshore/offshore dichotomy that was politically settled under president Obasanjo. Now, after being pelted with stones in Port Harcourt, the four well-meaning governors from the North suddenly realised the sense in states having own police. Read their lips, not mine.

Now on the visit to Abeokuta to consult with grand patron of Nigeria’s politics, Olusegun Obasanjo, was that the best place to go on a peace mission? Is Obasanjo himself not an interested party in all of these troubles?

It is a fact that OBJ favoured Jonathan in 2011 and even before. It is also a fact that they have fallen apart and the former president has not wasted any good opportunity to declare Jonathan unfit for the job. While other former presidents and heads of state converged in Aso Rock on May 29 for the 14th anniversary of democracy, Obasanjo went to Jigawa to urge Lamido to run in 2015. The man is therefore too interested to be a neutral party and a peacemaker.

Going to Minna was another misguided effort by these men from the North. The scriptures say ‘my people perish for lack of knowledge.’ These politicians do not seem to know the wiles of the Minna General or they forget too easily. IBB forgets nothing and may not forgive too easily. Just a few years ago the man wanted to return to Aso Rock and the Northern Elders Political Forum (NEPF) arranged a selection process between IBB and other presidential aspirants. It was the same Northern governors, who played the crucial role that eliminated IBB from the race, paving the way for former vice President Atiku Abubakar to emerge as the preferred aspirant from the North.

What is driving these men is therefore not peace, but an anchor for 2015. If it were peace, you do not give what you do not have.

Our politicians should be wise. Taking democracy to old, retired soldiers for solution is not a wise move; it is like going to Egypt and is as futile as keeping roasted yam with a hungry goat.

TheGuardian

Sunday, July 28, 2013 | 11

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Outlook Panacea For Peace On Campuses

By Segun Lasisi Adefemi ONFLICT in work place is a fact of life. It is a human problem that exists in any social organisation because of the divergent and diverse goals, needs, expectations and aspirations of people. If a conflict is not handled effectively, the result can be damaging. Institutional goals are sacrificed at the altar of intense personal acrimony and animosity. Teamwork breaks down. Talents are wasted as people disengage from their work, resulting in low productivity and ultimately waste of resources. The crises on our University Campuses have resulted in unstable calendars and this has adversely affected the global ranking of Universities in Nigeria.

Crises also lead to waste of human and the financial resources of the parents and the nation when a student completes a four-year programme in six or seven years because of instability on the campuses.

The culture of the University system worldwide hinges on searching for the truth and defending it when it is established. Searching for the truth means contesting for ideas and opinions through argumentations and disputations. An unfettered expression of ideas and opinions is therefore pre-requisite for the culture of the University system. Any attack on this culture not only constitutes an affront to the essence and soul of the University, it also hinders it from fulfilling its historic role in the society. The culture is much of the brain and less of brawn or brawl. In the process of searching and establishing the truth through arguments and disputations, what should emerge is the spirit of understanding and compromise, which ultimately should usher in peace and harmony. But that is not to be.

Rather, our campuses have become arenas of conflicts and crises because of other factors such as the uncompromising attitudes and inaccessibility of some University Administrators. Other factors are lack of proper management of information, anti-social activities among staff and students because of the breakdown in societal values, and occasional undue interferences of government agencies in the affairs of the Universities.

For peace and stability necessary for institutional development and growth to prevail on our University campuses, good governance is sine qua non. Good governance ensures that conflicts between the various groups within the University system – Students, NASU, NAT, SSANU, ASUU and Management as well as those between the universities and governments (Federal and States) are either eliminated or minimized. It is a process, which promotes the spirit of co-existence among the various stakeholders. University Administrators should, therefore, run all-inclusive administration that ensures transparency, builds trust and maintains justice, which is the planks on which peace is built. In view of the important role interactions, dialogues, and brainstorming can play in easing tensions, forestalling conflicts, and averting potential conflicts in the system, University Administrators should strengthen their existing internal governance structures by increasing staff and students’ representations on some of the statutory bodies and creating

C

CONversation

new ones to make them more sensitive and responsive to the needs of staff, students and other stakeholders.

Another factor is the “ivory tower” mentality of some University Administrators, which has negative effect on their relationship with staff and students. Many crises in the Universities have been blamed on Administrators who are rarely accessible to their staff and students and only show up when crises are virtually out of hand. To avoid this situation, they should on regular basis interact with the various segments of their University community with a view to promoting dialogue. Once or twice in a year, University Officers should visit the Faculties, Departments/Units to have first-hand experiences of the challenges facing them.

University Administrators should hold regular meetings with the Executive Members of the Unions to iron out differences in the implementation of circulars and in resolving other issues on staff welfare. Such interactions promote the building of bridges of trust and consensus between Management and the Unions. As part of the efforts to create room for constructive engagements, a Labour Relations Unit made up of representatives of the Unions, Students and other Stakeholders should be set up to serve as a buffer and a clearing house for any emerging industrial matters presented by any of the Unions and to make appropriate recommendations to Management on ways to maintain industrial peace and harmony in the University.

Every University Administration should regularly hold Community/Town Hall meetings.

Such meetings will be useful because it will be all-embracing platforms of the entire University community for the fertilization of ideas and where Management can interface with all stakeholders with a view to proffering solutions to challenges that might face the University and eliciting total support from every segment of the University community for its policies and programmes.

One area of mistrust and misgiving between Management and the Staff Unions is the implementation of circulars relating to review of salaries, allowances and other conditions of service of staff, which are outcome of negotiations between Government and the unions.

There is always so much delay in releasing back-up funds for implementation, giving an impression that Government (Federal or State) is not ready to honour the previous agreements signed by both parties which are meant to improve not only the salaries and allowances of staff but also the dilapidated working environment. The delay always causes a lot of apprehensions and agitations among the Unions leading to crises because most of the time they do not believe that Management had not received the back-up funds from the Government. The on-going ASUU strike in all Federal Universities is very illustrative of the consequences of failure to honour agreements. The end result of the on-going strike is that students will be idle at home and since the devil finds work for an idle hand, they will be more vulnerable to participate in anti-social activities such as cultism, armed robbery, prostitution and fraudulent practices. As a strong advocate of

ASUU National President, Dr. Nair Fagge transparency and accountability, Professor Omole, the Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University on assumption of office, directed that the monthly income of the University be released to the University’s website to enable every member of staff have access to information about Federal Government grants to the University as well as its internally generated revenue (IGR) and how it is being spent. By this decision, Obafemi Awolowo University is the only University in the Federation that exhibits prompt accountability and transparency of its accounting system. This has greatly reduced the level of mistrust between Management and the Unions especially in the implementation of circulars relating to salary review and other conditions of service.

Lack of information promotes misinformation and disinformation and this leads to the peddling of rumours and malicious gossips, and ultimately, crises. There should therefore be constant dialogue at both the formal and informal levels among the various groups as well as greater flow of information between the Unions (Staff and Student) and the Management with a view to bridging communication gap. With such a heterogeneous population of a University campus, apart from the weekly news bulletin there is the need to have a community newspaper, a radio station and even television station to be run by staff and students.

Good governance is also about the welfare of the citizenry. To maintain peace on their campuses, the welfare of students should be a major priority of every University Administration. In order to engender a more conducive learning environment for students, there should be regular inspection visits of the Management team to the halls of residence with the view to carrying out rehabilitation and repair work of the facilities whenever the need arises. University Administrators should also elicit the participation of

the private sector in the provision and the running of their municipal facilities under Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) arrangements to ease congestion on the overstretched facilities in the halls of residence.

Anti-social activities such as cultism, examination malpractices, etc seem to be prevalent in most of the first and second generation Universities where there are large concentrations of dismissed and withdrawn students due to their academic incompetence. The conduct of post UTME for the selection of best candidates seems to have reduced the number of this category of students from the system. To minimize the effects of these vices, there is the need to emphasize on moral and spiritual training on our campuses. Sporting and recreational facilities should be provided for students to ease tension. There should be effective monitoring of the ingress and egress of students in the halls of residence to ensure that undesirable elements do not stay there.

There should be prompt and appropriate sanctions for all acts of criminalities, destruction of university property, torture of fellow students and general acts of misdemeanour.

The Management of each University should also put in place leadership training programmes that would deepen the culture of responsible, honest and mature unionism.

Administrators should encourage students to actively participate in the decision-making processes particularly in matters that affect them.

The occasional undue external interference of government agencies in the governance of our Universities of recent has had negative impact, and has eroded the cherished concept of University autonomy. The Universities, more or less now operate under the direct control and the supervision of the Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission. Policies and academic programmes are directed by these bodies perhaps in an attempt to ensure uniformity in the University system. But is uniformity desirable in a system that seeks for the truth? A classical example of the external interference in the governance of our Universities of recent was the debate in the National Assembly on whether the Universities have legal right to conduct post (UTME) Universities and Tertiary Matriculation Examinations. Universities should be allowed to develop their own distinct and unique traditions as spelt out in the laws establishing them. Instead of unnecessary interference by the supervisory agencies in the policies and programmes of the Universities, there should be regular visits of the officials to the campuses to get first-hand information about the poor state of the facilities and infrastructures, which are usually the sources of conflict.

Nigerian Universities have in abundance the potentials, both human and material to compete favourably with other Universities of the world. All that the system needs is peace and stability as well as renewed passion and determination of all stakeholders to build a university system of our dream.

Segun Lasisi Adefemi wrote from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

By Obe Ess

TheGuardian

12 | Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Editorial The Lagos-Ibadan Road HE disdain of Nigerians at President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration of the re-construction of a project when commissioning a completed one would have been more appropriate, is understandable. As heart-warming as his flagging off of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway project, the other day, would have been, so much time was wasted and too many lives lost on the road that the president’s action is obviously belated.

A road that was initially concessioned to Messrs Bi-Courtney Consortium in 2009, after many years of neglect, remained the same death trap due to litigations, subterfuge and lack of respect for contracts until the president, with unnecessary fanfare, chose to flag-off reconstruction, with another four-year timeline. The contract has been re-awarded to Julius Berger and RCC Construction firms.

The hope now is that this exercise would not fail again.

Flagging-off a project does not guarantee completion except the government is fully committed. There are too many such projects in different parts of the country that were flagged-off and later abandoned.

The president had at the occasion appropriately apologised to Nigerians for the great inconveniences they have suffered as a result of the deplorable condition of the road.

The Lagos-Ibadan highway has been notorious for recurrent accidents claiming innocent lives almost on a daily basis. Unprecedented traffic jams, security breaches, armed robbery, compromised public health, among many other ills, remain hallmarks of the road.

The 127.6 km highway was the first major dual carriageway built in the country 35 years ago, linking the commercial capital of Nigeria, Lagos, to the rest of the country. Being the busiest road in the country, with very high volume of vehicular traffic, conveying goods and passengers, it is an advertisement of how insensitive governments have been that the outcry over its appalling condition over the years was ignored by successive administrations. Why it has taken Nigeria’s leadership this long to fix perhaps its most important road remains an open embarrassment.

Now that President Jonathan has flagged-off the new attempt to rebuild the road, appropriate measures should be taken to ensure its success. First, there should be alternative routes to reduce the suffering of commuters while the road is being reconstructed. Sadly enough, practically all the link roads that could serve as alternative routes are in equally deplorable condition. Government should, therefore, initiate emergency repair of those routes to reduce the hardship of road users’ as there is bound to be great inconveniences while the work lasts.

Indications are that the project will cost a N167 billion. This is a huge amount for which real value must be received. It is imperative that the nation is given a good road of international standard. And efforts must be made to dispel insinuations that, typical of Nigeria, the project may actually have been conceived to raise money for the elections in 2015.

While this cynicism may seem unkind, only the end-result of a good road, in good time will dispel it.

Funding for the project is critical as this was once reported to be a major handicap that frustrated previous contractors. Therefore, it is crucial that appropriate mechanisms be put in place to ensure adequate funding to avoid abandonment of the project.

Good enough, the president pledged to make adequate funding available to ensure timely completion. He also indicated that apart from the annual budgetary allocation for the project, the administration is seeking funding from the Infrastructural Bank Plc., to complement government’s contribution. That should be pursued with all sincerity and vigour.

All outstanding challenges in respect of disagreements with previous concessionaires over property holdings along the highway should be properly addressed to clear the way for work to go on without hindrance.

There should be transparency and accountability in the execution of this project and quality must not be compromised. The road should be solid to withstand pressure, which is why a concrete-based structure is a better option for the terrain. It should be considered in place of the usual asphalted roads that often fail within a short time.

If, as it seems now, the re-awarding of the Lagos-Ibadan highway contract, after it was concessioned, shows a failure of the private-publicpartnership (PPP) framework hitherto deemed to be a good option, the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) should take note and act in the public interest with a view to avoiding a repeat on other projects.

The kind of crisis that delayed the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, caused unnecessary loss of lives and eventually led to a re-possession by the Federal government at a high cost, is not what a nation in search of progress can afford.

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LETTERS Ramadan: Misrepresentation For Impression IR: There is a pressing need Shonest for advertisements to be and avoid misrepresentation even though they are religious in nature, which leads me to an advert currently on air in Nigeria TV stations. The particular food drink the product ad is intended to promote the need for Muslim faithful to see why the drink is ‘important’ for them in the Holy month of Ramadan, a man (Mr. A) is shown sitting down on a chair outside. His friend (Mr. B) comes to him asking why he did not go for Taraweeh prayers (a prayer offered in Ramadan after the fifth daily prayer by Muslims).

Mr. B complains that although he had eaten (i.e. broken his fast for the day) but still feels tired. Mr. A tells him why and how the fruit juice can ‘energise’ him, Mr. B is convinced, sips the drink and takes it home to his wife and family. The scene showing the conversation was in apparent daylight and the mentioning of iftar by Mr. A undoubtedly shows that the advert was targeted at breaking the fast.

I am stunned that the producers of this advert grossly misrepresented an aspect of Ramadan and spread misinformation to those who may not know much about Ramadan in a bid to promote the product. If I can make a random guess on what time that advert, it must have been around 5pm. Muslims fast from dawn to sunset in Ramadan - they break the fast

when they are sure the sun is ers of this advert to withdraw set but during the fast, they this advert and replace it with one that does not spread misinare to abstain from some things which include eating formation and promote doubt and drinking. Anyone who simply shooting the advert violates some of these spiri- indoors and perhaps placing a tual requirements and pro- clock on the wall that shows a hibited acts (including avoid- time that is definitely ing eating and drinking) has after/around the time of Iftar invalidated his/her fast. What (breaking the fast) of the target this advert has done can be audience’s environment would likened to what Yoruba call have saved a lot. The producers should thus not neglect their “o j’osan” - this literally ethical responsibilities for there means eating during dayare those who “purchase error time and is used for those who appear to outsiders that for guidance but their comthey are fasting but deceive merce was profitless”. APCON their conscience by secretly also claims to vet adverts, so eating where others would how did this one slip? *Mustafa Yusuf-Adebola, not find them.

I like to call on the produc- Lagos.

Sen. Ewherido: An Unspeakable Tragedy IR: I received with great the faith. He was not one who

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pain and shock the news of the death of Senator Pius Akpor Ewherido on June 30, 2013 at the National Assembly hospital, Abuja.

Senator Ewherido was the quintessential legislator, cerebral, insightful, clear in language and thought, had the courage of his convictions and had an excellent grasp of legislative practice, drawing from his experience as speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly and natural endowments.

Only recently, Catholic Senators met with Catholic Bishops of Nigeria and his characteristic courage and candour questioned doctrinal positions of the church, which in his view impaired

feared to state his position on any issue and his positions were clear and well thought-out.

His death, coming just when the Senate was about to start her debate on constitutional amendment, and at the age of just 50 when his life was about to start, is an unspeakable tragedy. We will miss his erudition and depth, his conviviality and his ever-present smile.

We share this moment of grief with his very young family, his constituency, the Government and people of Delta State and indeed Nigerians yearning for the elevation of governance and a virile legislature. A strong voice has been lost and his sun has dimmed at noon. *Victor Ndoma-Egba, Abuja.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday July 28, 2013

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NEWSPEOPLE

Dr. Muhammad

Pate: Parting Ways With Abuja Bureaucracy

By Fabian Odum

• Joins Duke University, USA

O think that Dr. Muhammad Ali Pate, Minister of State for Health voluntarily resigned is farfetched; the gist is that he was pressured out of office in the usual Nigerian pattern, where the good lasts only for a while. And in reality, it does appear Nigeria lost; it did.

Pate may have been robbed of further opportunities to serve the country but he leaves, intact with his outstanding cerebral endowment back to the Diaspora, where he came from.

At different fora and especially, the last World Health assembly, Pate showed exceptional brilliance in presentations at plenary sessions, where he spoke off the cuff and reeled out statistics without flaws to several rounds of ovation.

For 15 years, the medic traversed different continents, when he was in the service of the World Bank group from where he was called in 2008 to national service, not in the sense of the Youth corps mandate but being offered a job. He was the first Chief Executive of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) and served for five years before being appointed Minister of State for Health two years ago.

In what appeared as a valedictory, Pate wrote that he has, “accepted the position of a visiting professor at the Duke University’s Global Health Institute, U.S.A,” and in that capacity, he would be involved in an Africa-wide initiative and also serve as senior adviser to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation based in Washington, DC. Pate, in reminding himself of the seeming task of getting our professionals in the Diaspora back to serve, other things being equal, said his new roles will complement his offer to President Jonathan to continue with a part-time service in support of Nigeria’s polio eradication and the Saving One Million Lives Initiative.

Though there have been several achievements on two fronts, as chief executive, NPHCDA and then Minister of State for Health, he does not take credit for all that.

Pate wrote: “…in collaboration with several stakeholders, including Ministers, permanent secretaries, other chief executives, civil servants especially staff of the FMOH and NPHCDA, development partners, members of the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication, Traditional leaders and leaders in the Nigerian private sector and the media; together we made significant progress…

The truth is that under him, the following areas should read as progress scorecard: • Primary health care-under-one-roof policy approved in 2010 • Polio eradication: Increased population immunity from 44 per cent in 2008 to almost 90 per cent as at 2013, improved quality, mobilised various stakeholders, reduced circulating types, reduced geographic spread, and more than 8 months without type 3 WPV in Nigeria, for the first time in our history.

• Improving Routine immunisation and intro-

duction of new vaccines for meningitis, pentavalent and pneumococcal disease.

• Midwives Service Scheme and the SURE-P MCH Programme/Social Safety net, including Conditional Cash Transfer mechanism.

• Technical work to operationalise the recommendations of the Commission of Life-saving Commodities for women and children. Same recommendations have been adopted in a resolution passed at the 66th World Health Assembly for implementation globally.

• Private Sector Health Alliance in Nigeria formed and functional • Scaling up of mobile Health technology underway • The public-private collaboration towards Saving One Million Lives Initiative, has taken off with a well-established program delivery unit focusing on coordination, data and accountability and execution along the 8 pillars of basic services. Work is also advanced in the area of unlocking the private sector market potential in Nigeria.

It is one thing to make progress and another is sustenance. But Pate revealed that to sustain some of the gains, “we have established jointly with partners, an independent Emergency Operations Centre for polio eradication to support the National Primary Health Care Development Agency as Secretariat for the Presidential Task Force on Polio Eradication and Saving One Million Lives.”

Prior to his appointment to the NPHCDA in 2008, Pate had an extensive career at the World Bank in Washington DC and held several senior positions including Senior Health Specialist and Human Development Sector Coordinator for the East Asia/Pacific Region and Senior Health Specialist for the African Region.

While at the World Bank, a major project lead by the medic was the far-reaching health sector reform programmes in Africa, East Asia and other regions of the World Bank. Of note is his initiation of landmark Public Private Partnership to replace a National Referral Hospital in Lesotho, Africa. He was also awarded the prestigious Harvard Health Leader award of 2012 and also serves on the agenda committee of the World Economic Forum.

Educationally, here he stands: MD, Ahmadu Bello University; MSc in Health Systems, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; MBA, Duke University, US., and American Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases.

Pate is an American Board-Certified MD in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, with an MBA (Health Sector Concentration) from Duke University. Prior to this, he studied at the University College London, the 7th in the country.

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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HEALTH Driving Attitudinal Change Through Teeth Brushing Challenge

By Ikechukwu Onyewuchi

RAND is power. And a good brand commands B outstanding power and recognition. The Guinness Book of World Record is a classic example of what a successful global brand is and can be. The FIFA World Cup trademark is another. Attaining the status of a global brand is an excruciating, artful exercise demanding ample dose of wit, insight and perseverance. From a humble beginning, these brands have grown so big and popular across the world that other brands aspire to attain.

The Guinness World Record (GWR) was first released in the UK in 27 August 1955. Sir Hugh Beaver, Chairman of

the Guinness Brewery, was out hunting game birds by the River Slaney in County Wexford, Ireland, when he missed a shot at a golden plover. Sir Hugh wondered if the plover was the fastest game bird in Europe but couldn’t find a reference book that answers the question.

The experience spurred him into what has become the Guinness Word Record.

While many brands choose to leverage global brands for commercial objectives, others do so for legacy reasons.

Industry watchers and marketing scholars insist that a brand that places legacy ahead of instant profit more often outlive those that are bent on profit. This, they insist is why many brands engage in cause marketing.

Determined to make the Guinness Book of Records, Close Up, the Lagos State government and other partners gathered a record breaking 300,000 children from 600 schools at various locations in Lagos state to brush their teeth. The pace-setting event was tagged ‘World Record Breaking Teeth Brushing Challenge.’

Dike Worgu, an out-of-home advertising practitioner based in Port Harcourt, in a chat, stated that, “It always yields lasting dividends when a brand ties its campaign to a cause that is in the interest of the public. That is why you see a successful brand like CNN campaigning against human trafficking which they dubbed modern slavery. Such gestures have ways of warm-

ing a brand into the consciousness of the general public and its target market.”

“For the organisers, gathering 300,000 school children to simultaneously brush teeth is a way to call the attention of the children to the importance of good oral health.

“Besides that it calls attention to the importance of good oral health, the flip side is that people are safeguarded from the negative effects of not paying attention to their oral health. What that means is that you have a people who are rich in social confidence, but who do not take proper care of their teeth and mouth and very likely suffer oral health related problems,”

Worgu noted.

Oral care experts believe that brushing teeth with fluoride toothpaste is essential to good oral health. Flossing the teeth is another. This is because doing so help to prevent tooth decay and prevent gum disease, which is one of the leading causes of tooth loss in adults and has been linked to heart attacks and strokes. Keeping the teeth clean and avoiding bad breath are added benefits of teeth brushing as it is found to instill social confidence.

Failure to take proper care of the mouth has consequences.

One of it is that, when plaque, the sticky substance that forms on the teeth, combines

with the residues of what we ate, it produces an acid which in turn attacks tooth enamel, which causes tooth decay.

It is that care and consciousness that the Close Up brand has demonstrated by throwing its weight behind the attitudinal change in a critical segment of the Nigerian population-school children.

Speaking at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, one of the centres where the Teeth Brushing Challenge held, Brand Manager, Close Up, Dexter Adeola remarked that, “Close up is working to protect the oral health of millions of Nigerians.”

Health Practitioners Begin Mobilisation For Health Expo 2013

By Fabian Odum HE Association of Private and General Medical Health Practitioners in Nigeria (AGPMPN) has began a mobilisation of its members to participate in this year’s West African Health (WAH) Expo, a conference and exhibition of global health experts and medical solutions providers holding in Lagos, Nigeria.

This was disclosed by the chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the association, Dr. Adeyeye Arigbabuwo, who said the event is a crucial one in the healthcare sector.

Arigbabuwo, who is also the deputy National President, Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria, said the state-of-the art medical technologies that would be displayed quality training workshops that would be held during the event provide great opportunities for medical practitioners in Nigeria to leverage for expanded benefits to the country.

According to him, occasions like this would help spur Nigeria’s chance of creating platforms for medical tourism and the avenue

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for many people to save themselves the stress and cost of travelling far for medical help.

“We have begun active mobilisation of AGPMPN’s over one thousand members and the hundreds of members of the healthcare providers association to be at the event. We have a lot to gain from being there,” Arigbabuwo said.

“There is going to be series of exhibitions of modern health facilities and models as well as several networking opportunities and experience-sharing by foreign participants with our doctors,” he said.

West African Health Expo 2013 is an international Exhibition focusing on medical equipment, scientific and laboratory instruments, hospital furniture, pharmaceutical products and services to be hosted by Global Resources & Projects Nig. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Dr. Wale Alabi, said, “WAH 2013 is building on the success of West African Health 2012, which attracted over 250 exhibitions targeting international manufacturers and traders interested in the African market.”

Students at the brushing challenge

PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Why Choose Spiritual Healing?

By Moji Solanke HE evidence of the choice that an indiT vidual makes is seen in the decisions that they take; and the decisions an individual takes tends to determine and define their experience. It is therefore obvious that the reasons for making a particular choice are crucial, and must be carefully weighed and thought out, prior to taking important decisions, especially those that determine health. There is no gainsaying that the health of every nation, apart from depending on its economic, political and social health, is directly correlated to the health of its citizenry, which, at the most basic and most important level of course, is the health of the individual.

Based on the foregoing, it is therefore vital for each one to honestly and intelligently consider their reasons for choosing, or rejecting, a particular healthcare system. Why would an individual choose spiritual healthcare, either for themselves, their loved ones, their wards, or those for whom they bear some responsibility in one way or another? The reasons are myriad.

For many, especially in Nigeria, the reason for choosing to rely on God for healing is not farfetched. It is usually because the medical system has failed to effect a cure, either due to the diagnosed nature of the ailment, the paucity of the requisite equipment or the ready availability of a drug deemed necessary to bring healing.

Consequences Of Marital Violence (3) One of the most prolific Christian healers of the present age, Mary Baker Eddy [1821 – 1910], wrote in Science and Health with key to the Scriptures, ‘Few invalids will turn to God till all physical supports have failed, because there is so little faith in His disposition and power to heal’.

Some individuals opt for spiritual healing because they find the cost of medical treatment prohibitive, compared to spiritual healing, which, coming from God, is free of charge. Indeed some who can actually afford the medical cost would much rather channel those funds to worldly pleasures, and piously choose spiritual healing as their healthcare, especially if the ailment is not considered life threatening. • Moji Solanke

Mind And The Kingdom Of Heaven (10)

By Babatunde Ayo-Vaughan T one time in the course of His ministry, Jesus had cause to make reference to John the Baptist in respect of faith and the kingdom of heaven. He said ‘verily I say unto you among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matt 11:11).

This is just to let you know how bad the issue of the understanding of faith is among human beings. This

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HEALTH & YOUR MIND incident arose because at a point in the Ministry of John the Baptist, notwithstanding the fact that he was the one who introduced Jesus to the world in his credibility as a prophet, he himself was in doubt of this credibility.

This attitude of mind of John the Baptist as great as he could be said to be in faith even brought him lower than the lower creatures in creation that could be regarded as the least in the kingdom of heaven. This is because

notwithstanding what you will regard as their lower status, they somehow have this implicit confidence in the truth that God will never disappoint and will always take care of their needs.

If we agree with the scriptures that ‘in God we live, move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28) and we equally agree that this statement embraces all creatures, then we will never dispute the fact that right from day one in our lives we remain con-

nected to heaven and it is the mechanism of that connection as Jesus will want us to believe that makes it possible for God to take care of the lower creature and it appears there is something about that mechanism which in the spirit of faith the lower creatures instinctively have knowledge off that gives them the implicit confidence, the kind John the Baptist did not have, that God will take care of their needs.

• Ayo-Vaughan, a psychologist, lives in Lagos

By Dr. Passy Amaraegbu N a positive sense, marriage stands out as the best union, which attracts all the benefits and potency of synergy. Wisdom says that one shall chase a thousand while two shall put ten thousands to flight. This mathematical gain is a form of geometrical progression. It is simply mind blowing. Conversely, when couples consistently lives as cat and dog and refuse to reconcile with each other, they rob and rubbish all the gains of synergy.

More devastating and destructive are the negative forces they attract to themselves and home. Their expectations remain unfulfilled while their prayers are hindered. Some organisations and companies may not promote any staff who practices marital violence. This is an appropriate and noble policy. Why promote or favour such a staff? Who is he or she going to favour with such a reward? Most likely, strange women or men.

Marital or spousal abuse or violence or intimate partner violence is a silent killer in many African societies today.

There are many who are covering up such abuses and assaults in order to safeguard their marriages or the image of their spouse. Others engage in this cover-up game to

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safeguard their cherished family names. For whatever reason, you are covering this dastard and bestial behaviour, try and count the cost again such as; health and wealth lose, the psychological and physiological wastages, the pains and traumas that result from it.

Some wives and (perhaps husbands too) have had their organs permanently damaged because of marital violence. Others have died because of this uncouth behaviour. There are some couples who have never spent six months together at one stretch without experiencing the outbreak of civil war at home. Today, the wife escapes to a neighbour’s house; next week to her parents’ or parents in-laws’ residence because of the brutality of the husband. Others are regularly showing up at the police station or magistrate court. The pain and consequences of marital violence are immense.

It is high time this shameful and callous habit ends. The time is due to have a rethink about the method of using violence to solve the problems in your marriage. We believe that each couple has the capacity to end this form of violence.

Dr. A maraegbu, a clinical psychologist, lives in Lagos.

Email: drpassy@yahoo.com

Sunday, July 28, 2013

SPECIAL REPORTS P/19

LIVING WOMAN P/18

Teachers Salary Should Be A First Line Charge, Says ANCOPSS President NEWS FEATURES P/35 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!

BUSINESS P/42 How Not To Manage Blood Banking

IBRU CENTRE P/37

Proposed Sale Of Acquired Banks Opens ‘Old Wounds’

Women Should Be Empowered Not Because Of Gender, But Capacity – Rev. (Mrs.) Sodipo

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday July 28, 2013

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LIVINGWOMAN During her formative years, all Fatimah Abdulrahman dreamed of was to be a pilot but today she is so glad that she eventually settled for the teaching profession. She told ADAMU ABUH recently that she is feeling particularly fulfilled having risen through the ranks to emerge the first woman to be elected the National President of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) in the country.

S a teacher with 25 years’ experience in A her kitty, Fatimah, who hails from the Abaji area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) says she is already looking forward to the return of the days when the payment of teachers’ salary is placed on the first line charge of the federation account.

She believes this will curb the recurring delay in the payment of teachers’ salary in some part of the country. To her, government should place priority on teachers’ welfare for them to put in their best.

Since teachers don’t have any other avenue of surviving than their salaries, Fatimah is of the view that if this salary and other allowances come regularly, the teachers will most likely put in all their efforts and really provide leadership in their respective schools.

The way forward We have met the education committee of the House of Representatives on the idea and we made a submission to the committee through the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT). It should be on the front burner now that there is a debate on whether we should grant autonomy to the local governments or not. We want to avoid the situation that faced us in the 90s when teachers’ salaries were not paid for about one year. Government should invest heavily in education and there is no basis for comparing present day secondary school standard to that of the good old days.

Education is a capital-intensive project where the gains are not immediately realised. So, if government puts money in education and really monitors how it is being implemented and how such money is being spent, you are going to get the best.

The Nigerian society of today is growing; the population is growing in a geometric progression. During our days, there was no population progression as we have now and government at that time was able to manage the funds effectively to really meet the needs of the school. But today we have population explosion and even with the effort being made by government to ensure that they bring education to the people especially at the basic level, we are still having some challenges.

Could this be due to corruption?

But we are having more children now than in those days. That is not to say corruption is out of our country; it is still there and we still have cases of lack of patriotism from those who should be doing the right thing. We also have the problem of policy summersault whereby a government comes up with laudable programmes and a succeeding government comes up with another policy rather than continuing with the one on ground and they don’t even see it to a successful end.

So, the issue of continuity of education policy is very important.

For instance, we say 6-3-3-4 today and tomorrow it is 8-4-3 and the day after it is another thing entirely. At least we should be able to implement a policy for some years and see the output.

Private school ownership and the worsening condition of public schools I will not subscribe to that school of thought because if all the infrastructures are provided in the public schools, there is no reason they cannot perform wonderfully.

But in a situation where schools lack manpower and facilities such as standard library, there is no miracle that can be performed when there is no conducive learning environment or instructional resources for the students and teachers to work with.

Mass failure in WAEC and NECO One of the major reasons is that students

Abdulrahman

‘Teachers’ Salary Should Be Priority’ • Worried Parents aid and abet examination malpractice have a lot of distractions, which prevent them from concentrating on their academic endeavours. These days, you see students leaving their homes to go and watch football. You hear them talk about Arsenal, Manchester and what have you instead of sitting down to read their books.

They don’t want to work hard to pass their exams.

Then there is the issue of corruption and the wrong values in the society. Imagine a situation where teachers are telling students that they must achieve their goals with hard work but when they move into the society, they are being told that there are shortcuts to success. So, the students have conflicting values to imbibe because they are given the impression they don’t need to work hard to make it in life and that is why they engage in examination malpractices.

This is why you see students running to schools where they can engage in examination malpractices.

The society is not giving the children the right orientation to enable them concentrate on their studies. All they think about is short cuts. To compound the problem, parents are now aiding and abetting examination malpractices. So, when you have students whose mentality has been geared towards not working hard, what do you expect? That is why they have become so lazy.

On girl-child education in the north We are still having a lot of challenges on the issue in the north. It is obvious there is educational inequality between the boy-child and the girl-child in north compared to the south. It is now that our girls are coming up.

In an average village in the north, it is difficult to see a girl child that is a graduate due to early marriages, religious restrictions, poverty and other cultural limitations.

There is the general belief that women education ends in the kitchen. Some parents don’t even want to invest on the girl-child; they prefer to invest in the boy because they believe that the girl-child would be married out and there is no use investing in her. But that is not true because when you educate a woman, you educate the nation. An educated mother would be able to bring up a child and rear that child very well.

There is, therefore, the need for those at the helm of affairs in the north to offer incentives like scholarships to the girl-child to redress the problem. All local government chairmen in the north should give scholarship to the girl-child because that is the grassroots. The local government chairmen deal directly with the grassroots.

When I was principal of Government Girls Secondary School in Abaji between 2005 and 2008, I was able to convince the then chairman of the area council, Alhaji Mohammed Angulu Loko to award scholarship to the girlchild because when I came on board there, I found out that none of our girls from Abaji town was a boarding student even when this school was at our doorstep. It was only students from other places that were coming to benefit from it. It was a challenge and I approached the chairman and suggested that idea to him and he accepted. He later awarded 200 scholarships to the girls up to the senior secondary school level. Most of them are now graduates of various universities in the country.

On women participation in politics They are mothers and wherever you see them in leadership positions, they are usually serious minded, always wanting to discharge their duties diligently. Women wouldn’t want anything that would tarnish their image as mothers. They also have the love of the people at heart. Women serving as cabinet ministers –education, petroleum, finance, and aviation are all doing well. You can see a lot of renovation going at the airports of many cities now because a woman is in charge.

The good thing about women is that they don’t want to fail and there is the urge to do their best so that more women would have slots in the cabinet. Politicians should strive to implement the 35 per cent affirmative action to give women a leading role in the affairs of the country.

Experience as national president of ANCOPSS It has been worthwhile. I was elected in April last year and honestly speaking, I am still learning. I cannot say I have learnt everything. It has been both fulfilling and challenging. It is a position where you need to be very current because you meet with major stakeholders in education to discuss the problem in the education sector in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.

ANCOPSS belongs to the council on education. Whenever there is any major issue requiring the constitution of a committee at the state or federal level as far as education is concerned, ANCOPSS is always called upon to make inputs and contribute its own quota.

So we are major stakeholders in education sector and the government has been liaising with us at secondary school level.

Growing up days There is a proverb that says man proposes but God disposes. It is always good for people to pray to the Almighty God for guidance because what they sometimes think is okay for them might not be to their good in the end. It is only God that knows the best.

I never dreamt of becoming a teacher in my life. I remember vividly that I was the only person in my class that said I wanted to be a pilot. But God said that was not the profession I would specialise in.

If I had followed what my interest told me in secondary school, I wouldn’t have become a teacher or gone to the university to read education. Rather, I would have read science and then gone to the school of aviation. But God said this is the profession for me and he chose it for me and I am proud to tell you today that I am a teacher.

No regret whatsoever. I feel fulfilled whenever I see the children that I have trained.

Even when I was in ABU and they saw me, they would all run to my hostel and say ‘mummy, mummy.’ I have helped to mould their character and enabled them become something in the society. They are making us proud.

TheGuardian

Sunday, July 28, 2013

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Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Special Report

Hope of the future threatened by obnoxious law

In Search Of The Old Bride

By Gregory Austin Nwakunor AMATOU Aboubakar was seated on a stool.

There were some girls with her, all smoking and drinking. It seemed revelry, as the girls’ songs crackled excitement. She drew her cigarette, letting it to form a circle.

When she hears a sudden knock, she adjusted her seat. Ramatou quickly sprayed air freshener, ready to receive her guest, a journalist.

“Good afternoon,” she says in a cool, calm voice, hoping that she’s got a customer. She pointed to a vacant seat, while waving her friends away.

Her guest sat, and over some bottles of drink, friendly discussions followed.

“Well, it’s just a little over two years that I joined this trade,” she says.

“I was thrown out of my marriage after five kids. With no skill, I hoped to make some money to start a more decent business,” she says.

Ramatou, like every lady of her age, was looking forward to a bright career in life when marriage came knocking. She was just 10. She was the best pupil in her school, way back in her village in a Southsouth State.

“I remember vividly, my mother called me to her room in the middle of the night and told me I was going to Lagos to continue my education,” she says. “I was very happy and excited that my education would not be hampered. My would-be husband came the next morning and he was introduced to me, as my uncle, who I would be staying with in Lagos.”

According to Ramatou, “the next morning, we went to Lagos. I was introduced to his other wives. He had three already. And the most senior was asked to take care of me. For the first year, nothing happened. No school, nothing. By the time I was 12, ‘my uncle’ made an attempt to sleep with me and I ran out of his room. I was outside crying, and I couldn’t tell anyone. His pressure continued and when I got in touch with my mother, she said he was my husband; I should go ahead and be a good girl.”

As she opened her heart, tears dripped down effulgently. In five minutes, she was soaked in her tears. “Much later, when I was 13, I just discovered I couldn’t resist any longer. After five kids, he got tired and threw me out to marry some other younger girls.”

“You want to know what has happened to

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him?” Ramatou asks, rhetorically. “He passed on years ago.”

Ramatou is a victim of child marriage. Little wonder she has joined the protest against the Senate’s passage of the bill to amend the provision of Section 29 (4b) of the 1999 Constitution.

Section 29 (1) of the 1999 Constitution states: “Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.”

Sub-section (4a) states: “Full age means the age of 18 years and above”, while (4b) says: “Any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.” By this, the constitution seem to allow marriage for a girl of 18 years and above.

But with the proposed amendment by the Senate, a married underage girl is deemed to be an adult.

According to Ramatou, “what Nigeria needs is to criminalise child marriage. Go and carry out survey, and you will see that a lot of ladies in brothels are those, who married at young age before they were thrown out or they lost their husbands. And with no skills or experience the best they can do is hustle.”

strong association with adverse reproductive health outcomes and the lack of education of girls.

Since the Senate’s controversial passage of the marriage law, Nigerians and human rights organisations have continued to condemn the Upper Chamber’s move. Petitions have been signed to protest against the proposed amendment. There are plans by the protesters to convey their opposition to the resolution to all state Houses of Assembly in order to force the Senate to reverse itself.

Those who protested queried why underage Nigerians could not exercise their franchise at the poll but were being subjected to marriage at tender age.

The Gender and Constitution Reform Network (GECORN), a coalition of women’s rights organisations across Nigeria, rejected the Senate’s resolution.

The organisation, in a statement by its national co-ordinator, Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, rejected the argument of Senator Ahmed Yerima that the proposal for the deletion of Section 29 (4) (b) which states that “any woman who is married shall be deemed of full age” is at variance with Islamic law.

“The constitution of Nigeria is the supreme law of the country.”

HILD/Early marriage refers to any marriage Former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, of a child younger than 18 years old, in Nasir el-Rufai, also twitted: “We need your supaccordance to Article 1 of the Convention on port. Criminals, from time, use religion to cloak the Right of the Child. perversion.”

The convention stresses that while child mar- Broadcaster, Mo Abudu, expressed her conriage affects both sexes, girls are disproporcerns, saying: “My heart is broken by the news tionately affected, as they are the majority of from the Senate on Child Brides. This is not the the victims.

Africa of 2013.”

It recognises the fact that their overall develPastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of the opment is compromised, leaving them social- Christian Association of Nigeria, has vowed to ly isolated with little education, skills and mobilise Nigerians against the Senate over their opportunities for employment and self-realiresolution to legalise underage marriages. sation. This leaves child brides more vulneraIn a statement, Pastor Oritsejafor, blasted the ble to poverty, a consequence of child marSenate saying he would personally lead the riage as well as a cause. protest against the law “capable of harming In the world over, it is now widely recognised children below the age of 18.” as a violation of children’s rights, a direct form His words: “By the grace of God, I will, personof discrimination against the girl child who as ally mobilise Nigerians and lead the street a result of the practice is often deprived of her protest against this oppressive and dehumanisbasic rights to health, education, development ing resolution. and equality.

“If now Yerima is commenting on a case in Tradition, religion and poverty continue to which he has interest, it can only mean the fuel the practice of child marriage, despite its

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action of a man frenziedly trying to get himself out of the hook through some undeserved legislations.

The statement continued, “I appeal to those individuals who have been educated along this line in the Senate not to use their rights as lawmakers to harm children below the age of 18, but to choose the interest of these children above their own.”

The Senate has already hinted that the issue will be revisited. The Senate appealed for calm and re-assured Nigerians that it will never support child marriage in any disguise, adding that its decision was “wildly misinterpreted, misreported and totally taken out of context.”

At first vote, that benchmark was met. But a dramatic reversal soon followed after former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Yerima, protested the decision as un-Islamic, prompting a second vote in which the Senate secured only 65 votes falling short of required members.

It is predicted by the UNFPA that worldwide 100 million girls are expected to marry in the next decade. In Africa, UNICEF estimate that 42 per cent of girls are married before the age of 18 and in some African countries the figure is much higher, such as in Niger, where there is a 76 per cent incidence of child marriage.

The age at which children are married also varies between countries but marriage before the age of 15 is not uncommon and in some areas of West Africa and in Ethiopia, girls are sometimes betrothed or married, as early as age 7.

According to research document from FORWARD (Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development), an African Diaspora women led UK-registered campaign and support charity dedicated to advancing and safeguarding the sexual and reproductive health and rights of African girls and women, “poverty is a critical factor contributing to child marriage and a common reason why parents may encourage a child to marry. Where poverty is acute, a young girl may be regarded as an economic burden and her marriage to a much older — sometimes, even elderly — man is believed to benefit the child and her family both financially and socially. In communities where child marriage is practiced marriage is regarded as a transaction, often representing a significant economic activity for a family.”

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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SPECIAL REPORT

AKINLAMI: ‘It Is An Offence To Give Out A Child’s Hand In Marriage’ Taiwo Akinlami is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He is a social empowerment advocate, whose forte is child protection and youth development, something he has done for over 16 years. A member of the Human Rights Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ikeja branch, Lagos State, he is a seasoned facilitator and consultant to UNICEF on the Child’s Rights Act (CRA), 2003 and other matters relating to children, particularly, the protection rights of the child. A UNICEF-trained Communication for Development expert, in this interview with GERALDINE AKUTU, talks on the implications of child marriage in the society.

What’s your take on child marriage?

ERMIT me to declare my unalloyed support for any meaningful, tactical and well-articulated outcry against any form of abuse against the Nigerian child, including child marriage. Child Marriage is condemnable in its entirety. The destructive impact is already in public domain, and I do not think I should dwell too much on that here. Since the Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima saga in 2009, I have kept as the background of my twitter(@taiwoakinlami) page, the picture of Yerima and his 13 year-old Egyptian bride, with this inscription: ‘It shouldn’t hurt to be a child.’ As far as I am concerned, justice has not been served in the matter.

Keeping the picture on my twitter page is my little way of keeping the issue alive in my mind and others, who are still interested in seeing that justice is done in the matter.

We are all aware the Senate has embarked on the amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for a while now. The Upper House had considered various parts of the constitution for amendment, including terms of office of elected

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officers and autonomy of local councils. Last week, it considered for amendment, certain provisions of Sections 26 to 32 of the constitution, which deal with citizenship. Controversy began when the honourable members of the Upper Chamber considered Section 29, which deals with renunciation of citizenship for amendment. Section 29(1) provides, ‘any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.’ Section 29(4) (a) and (b) provide, ‘for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section: (a) ‘full age’ means the age of 18 years and above; (b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.’ The Senate voted to remove the latter, that is, Section 29(4)(b) and the vote was successful in favour of removal. Senator Yerima later raised an objection on the ground that the removal of the provision was ‘un-Islamic,’ citing Second Schedule, Part 1, Item 61 of the constitution, known as Exclusive Legislative List, which states ‘the formation, annulment and dissolution of marriages other than marriages under Islamic law and Customary law including matrimoni-

Taiwo al causes relating thereto.’ The senator mobilised like-minds, in the Senate and got the amendment put to vote again and those who had earlier supported the removal could not muster the two-thirds majority votes required to seal the removal. By two-thirds majority votes, Section 29(4)(b) remains in the constitution. Having stated the facts, permit me to state before I make my comments and deductions that the senate does not have final power when it comes to the amendment of the constitution. Section 9(2) of the Constitution provides, ‘An Act of the National Assembly for the alteration of this Constitution... shall not be passed in either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of that House and approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than twothirds of all the States.’

Is it right for parents to marry out their underage children?

It is not right for parents to give out their children in marriage. In fact, it is an offence

under the Child’s Rights Act, 2003. Sections 21 and 22 of the Child’s Rights Act criminalise child marriage and betrothal of children.

Besides, children are not psychologically and physiologically prepared for marriage. The impact of child marriage is enormous on the child and society. It hinders education and economic empowerment of women as key players in the family and economy.

What should be done to stop this anomaly?

As far as I am concerned, one incontrovertible gain of the recent constitutional amendment as it relates to Section 29(4)(b) is that it gives stakeholders another opportunity to reopen the issue of child protection in Nigeria as it relates particularly to child marriage and the northern parts of Nigeria. This is a unique opportunity, however, I am here to warn, is not an end in itself. It is only a means to an end, and it can only be a means to an end if we put the issues in the right perspective. What is the end?

For me, the end is creating a nation fit for children, built through enlightenment and sustained through child protection social policing.

It is not a one-off agenda.

Aturu, Ubani Lambast Senate, Yerima Over Child’s Marriage “Thus, you may say the age of majority in criminal law in some jurisprudence is 17 or ESPITE the Senate’s clarification of its even less in some others, the truth of the matposition on the raging child marriage ter is that the age of majority in the specific debate, many Nigerians are still not concontext of section 29, which relates to marvinced about the Upper House’s unbiased riage is unambiguously 18.” assessment of the issue at hand.

The General Counsel at Bamidele Aturu and Speaking to The Guardian, Lagos-based Company stressed that he reached his conclulawyer and human rights activist, Mr. sion by examining the provision of section 21 Bamidele Aturu, said the furore generated of the Child Rights Act, which, according to by the decision of the Senate of the Federal him, clearly says that ‘no person under the age Republic of Nigeria not to delete section of 18 years is capable of contracting a valid 29(4)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal marriage’, and accordingly, a marriage so conRepublic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended tracted, is null and void and of no effect, whatbrings to the fore, again, the long way the soever. people have to travel before they can be said “It is clear to even non-lawyers that if a marto have in place, conditions for decent citiriage to someone below 18 years is null and zenship. void, then section 29 (4) (b) of the According to him, “in other serious Constitution cannot apply to anyone below 18 climes, the controversy would not have arisyears. In other words, ‘any woman’ under that en. We must realise that the Constitution is section of the Constitution can only be a written in plain English and not in an esowoman that is 18 years and above. This is why I teric language. The Supreme Court has say that the controversy is in the first place emphasised repeatedly that when words needless within the context of our laws on are clear there is no need to embark on linmarriage and allied matters,” he said. guistic excursion to interpret them. Section Also speaking, Chuma Ubani, who like 29(4)(b) says very clearly that ‘any woman Aturu, is a prominent member of the civil sociwho is married shall be deemed to be of full ety fraternity, noted that the Senate had earliage.” er on, voted to remove the controversial clause Continuing what he claimed to be clear before Senator Yerima, a known husband of a definition of the issue, Aturu said the basic minor, drew their attention to the danger of truth is that the Oxford English Dictionary removing the clause, using religion as a basis defines a woman as an adult female human so as to avoid his criminal act of marrying an being.

Egyptian minor from being exposed.

“The question now is: Who is an adult?

Ubani said: “Nigerians are excessively reliThe Black’s Law Dictionary, in turn, defines gious but not godly. The Senate members of an adult as a person who has attained the the Federal Republic of Nigeria are not an legal age of majority, generally 18. While it exception. Acting under religious delusion may be argued that the age of majority and over-sensitiveness, the Senate President sometimes shifts depending on the specific now requested for votes to be taken on legal context. whether it would be appropriate to remove

By Kamal Tayo Oropo

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the controversial clause from the constitution. At least we now know that some Senators did not know what they voted for going by the confession of the weeping Senator from Ondo State and from many of the perverts who have minors as wives came overwhelming yes for retention of the clause.”

Also, the import of that clause, according to Ubani, is that a girl is said to be of age when she is said to be married for the purpose of renunciation of citizenship right.

“The vehemence of Senator Yerima –– heavily bearded with white and black strands –– and the mention of Islam in the argument added religious and danger to it all that really sparked off the argument whether Nigeria is an Islamic or secular state”, he said.

Ubani added: “For the fact that child marriage has been institutionalised in the Northern part of the country with its attendant moral, health, psychological, physiological, sociological and economic implications made Nigerians to rise with one voice to condemn anything that suggests that child marriage is acceptable in any culture or religion.

“Senator Yerima and the Senate are roundly condemned for not being sensitive in allowing that clause to stay in the constitution. They owe themselves, Nigerians and the world a duty to expunge it immediately.

Anything short of that is unacceptable, demeaning and devilish and Nigerians promised to give them a fight if they dare them. Any law, policy or action of government that further impoverishes and strangulates the people will no longer be accepted by Nigerians. We have had enough! They had better remove that clause or amend it in line with existing Act that defines marriage-

able age or face the wrath of the people. It is as simple as that!”

However, asked if the Senate merely sought to harmonise minimum age interpretation for both sexes, as they claim, where did the issue of ‘bill to approve’ child’s marriage come in, Aturu dismissed this as a laughable afterthought, as anyone can imagine. “Approving child marriage is an anomaly and an immoral proposal that finds no rational support under any jurisprudence. I think the outcry was just too hot for them to handle. But the fact that the Senate could even contemplate such a horrendous bill at a time like this is another galling evidence of legislative idleness,” he said.

On the possibility of the issue being used to divert public attention from more pressing national challenges, Aturu admitted that Nigerians are indeed at a crossroads of sort.

“People who are making laws for us have clearly lost ideas or never really had any in the first place. In order to justify their existence they then insult our morality and sensibilities with all sorts of irresponsible legislative schemes. It is clear that the band of people who have imposed themselves on us as rulers are at their wits’ ends. The people need to get this and act fast,” he said.

Aturu, however, against the backdrop of if the issues of child’s marriage is so fundamental and real in the Nigeria situation, said democracy is about the people and not for the politicians alone.

“I think the various human rights group, particularly the women advocates did very well in making it plain to the Senators that they cannot legislate their fancies and indecencies into laws for us. I am highly impressed and I think that if we learn the right lessons from the campaign we stand a better chance of building liberal democracy in Nigeria,” he added.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

21

SPECIAL REPORT

Girl child: No Pregnancy, No Fistula, By Experts

By Bisi Alabi Williams

INTA is a young, vibrant girl of 13. She had B planned to further her education in the university, and eventually, settle down with the man of her dream, Mohammed. She believed her parents had the same dream for her, considering that she was their only child. But little did she know that fate had another plan for her.

One night, after supper, Binta was called to her father’s chambers where an elderly man of 54 was introduced as her husband.

Without much ado, she refused the offer.

But was shocked beyond words when a date for the wedding was announced. Binta’s dreams, hopes and love died that night.

Many months after the wedding, she became pregnant. It wasn’t easy, but as a strong-hearted child, she was determined to pull through.

The day of delivery came and Binta discovered that strength had nothing to do with it, despite the pushing and screaming, the baby refused to come out, but when it finally did, it was discovered that the mother’s bladder was affected because at her age, she was still too tender to undergo the rigours of childbirth.

When told of the situation, her husband was devastated. He left the hospital, and till date, nothing was ever heard of him. Left to face the pains alone, she and her parents did not know what to do. But the reality stared them — she had become affected for life.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) offers an extremely useful cross-cultural definition of ‘childhood’ (up to age 18) and a detailed vision of the needs and rights of children and their evolving capacities.

Studies show that stillbirths and deaths during the first week of life are 50 per cent higher among babies born to adolescent mothers than among babies born to mothers in their 20s. Children of adolescent mothers are more likely to be premature and have low birth weight. These young, first-time mothers face much higher risks during pregnancy and childbirth than older women.

Early childbearing is associated with more pregnancies at shorter intervals during a mother’s lifetime. Because child marriage is a largely female phenomenon, girls have higher HIV rates in most countries where heterosexual transmission is dominant.

Dr. Idiong Mbang of the Lagos State University says, “VVF occurs when the bladder is suppressed and damaged by the weight of an unborn child in the uterus of a young female whose systems are not matured enough for the process of childbearing. And since these victims of this circumstance are young, helpless, under-aged girls, it brings about complications whereby the woman starts leaking urine uncontrollably. Over 60 per cent of young girls are affected with the scourge every year.

According to Mrs. Esther Ajoko of Save The Girl Child From VVF Association, “young brides are especially vulnerable to HIV because of their biology, and the heightened risk can increase with marriage, especially for child brides who marry older, more sexually-experienced husbands. At the same time, girls may lack the power to negotiate safer sex and have little access to information or services to prevent either pregnancy or infection.”

In places like Kano, Sokoto, Zaria for instance, local counselling and campaigns are conducted in villages and small communities to discourage the inhuman act, “everyday people are faced with different health challenges, but never has any been as disturbing and intimidating as the leaking of uncontrollable urine from an ignorant child. Nothing can be done to stop the VVF from affecting the girl, but something can be done to stop another girl from being affected. If parents can stop early marriages, then we would have reduced the problem,” Ajoko said.

The truth of the matter is that you cannot expect doctors to control VVF when many young girls are pushed into early marriage and premature childbirth. However, experts say to wait until one is biologically ripe for the process of child birth. You see, our body metabolism works with scientific maturity

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, Concern Women of Nigeria, Chief Nike Oriola during the women’s visit to the National Assembly to oppose underage marriage in Abuja … yesterday.

PHOTO: LADIDI LUCY ELUKPO

and not age, The target date for fistula elimination is 2015, and the campaign has reached over 40

countries in Africa, Asia and the Arab region. government through the USAID Project manSo far, Nigeria has 12 fistula centres scattered aged by EngenderHealth and through efforts across the country, courtesy of the American by Federal and state governments.

What are the consequences of child marriage?

• When a child bride is married she is likely to be forced into sexual activity with her husband, and at an age where the bride is not physically and sexually mature this has severe health consequences.

• Child brides are likely to become pregnant at an early age and there is a strong correlation between the age of a mother and maternal mortality. Girls ages l0-14 are five times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women aged 20-24 and girls aged 15-19 are twice as likely to die. Young mothers face higher risks during pregnancies including complications such as heavy bleeding, fistula, infection, anaemia, and eclampsia which contribute to higher mortality rates of both mother and child. At a young age a girl has not developed fully and her body may strain under the effort of child birth, which can result in obstructed labour and obstetric fistula.

Obstetric fistula can also be caused by the early sexual relations associated with child marriage,

which take place sometimes even before menarche.

• Good prenatal care reduces the risk of childbirth complications, but in many instances, due to the limited autonomy or freedom of movement, young wives are not able to negotiate access to health care. They may be unable to access health services because of distance, fear, expense or the need for permission from a spouse or in-laws. These barriers aggravate the risks of maternal complications and mortality for pregnant adolescents.

• Child brides may also suffer vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Being young and female in Africa is a major risk factor for infection and young girls are being infected at a considerably disproportional rate to that of boys. Whilst early marriages are sometimes seen by parents as a mechanism for protecting their daughters from HIV/AIDS, future husbands may already be infected from previous sexual encounters;

Recommendations To End The Practice Of Child Marriage OVERNMENTS can mitigate some of the G worst abuses linked to child marriage by: • Setting and enforcing a minimum age for marriage at 18; • Requiring verification of the full and meaningful consent of both spouses; • Establishing and enforcing compulsory marriage registers; • Ensuring that marriages concluded under force may be voided, annulled, or dissolved without undue burden placed on the victim(s); • Safeguard by law a victim’s right to seek financial compensation after voiding, annulling, divorcing, or otherwise dissolving the marriage and protect the rights of children born out of such a marriage; • Providing training to law enforcement officials on gender discrimination and violence against women, including investigations into child marriages; • Recognizing marital rape as a criminal

offense; • Increasing access to education for girls, including by providing incentives for families to keep their daughters in school; • Increasing and improving access to reproductive healthcare for all girls and women in rural and urban areas by allocating greater resources from national health expenditure and more personnel; • Ensuring that access to emergency obstetric care, including monitoring of labor, trained birth attendants, newborn care, and contraception, is available to all girls and women in rural and urban areas; • Raising awareness among health workers and the public on the importance of registering births, including home deliveries; • And providing continuing formal education and vocational training opportunities for married girls and women.

— Human Rights Watch

a risk which is particularly acute for girls with older husbands. The age disparity between a child bride and her husband, in addition to her low economic autonomy, further increases a girl’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. It exacerbates the abilities of girls and women to make and negotiate sexual decisions, including whether or not to engage in sexual activity, issues relating to the use of contraception and condoms for protecting against HIV infection, and also their ability to demand fidelity from their husbands.

• There is also a clear link between Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child and early marriages.

Communities who practice FGM are also more likely to practice child marriages and in some FGM practicing communities FGM is carried out at puberty and then marriages are arranged immediately afterwards. It is also common in FGM practicing communities for a man to refuse to marry a girl or woman who has not undergone FGM, or to demand that FGM is carried out before marriage.

• A lack of education also means that young brides often lack knowledge about sexual relations, their bodies and reproduction, exacerbated by the cultural silence surrounding these subjects. This denies the girl the ability to make informed decisions about sexual relations, planning a family, and her health, yet another example of their lives in which they have no control.

• The cyclical nature of early marriage results in a likely low level of education and life skills, increased vulnerability to abuse and poor health, and therefore acute poverty.

• It is a huge responsibility for a young girl to become a wife and mother and because girls are not adequately prepared for these roles this heavy burden has a serious impact on their psychological welfare, their perceptions of themselves and also their relationship.

• Women who marry early are more likely to suffer abuse and violence, with inevitable psychological as well as physical consequences. Studies indicate that women who marry at young ages are more likely to believe that it is sometimes acceptable for a husband to beat his wife, and are therefore more likely to experience domestic violence themselves.

Violent behaviour can take the form of physical harm, psychological attacks, threatening behaviour and forced sexual acts including rape.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

22

SPECIAL REPORT

Senator Yerima And Constitutional Review

By Maryam Uwais NCE again, Senator Yerima is in the O news, claiming Islam as the basis for his argument that a girl automatically transforms into an adult of ‘full age’ once she is married, with the attendant responsibilities that relate to the renunciation of citizenship, irrespective of her age or mental capacity. Because the Senator from Zamfara State has gone public with his personal comprehension of the Shari’a, it has become necessary to respond publicly to his utterances.

It should be pointed out, however, that several media reports on the constitutional review debate at the Senate give the impression that underage marriage has been endorsed by the Senate Chambers.

Facts are that S.29 of the 1979 Constitution permits a Nigerian citizen of ‘full age’ to renounce his or her citizenship by declaration in a prescribed manner, for which purpose ‘full age’ was stated to be 18 years and above.

The subsection also provides that, ‘any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age’.

In its current efforts to review the Constitution, the Senate Committee had determined that the particular subsection should be deleted, basically because citizenship has no bearing on gender, as for example, voting, the right to drive a car, possess a weapon or such similar social interactions that are evolving or are germane to a democratic nation.

Senator Yerima, however, vehemently argued (and lobbied) against the removal of the clause, on the grounds that deleting that clause was against (his understanding of) Islam. In his understanding, a girl, once married, automatically assumes the full mental capacity and responsibility to consciously make the prescribed declaration of renouncing her citizenship.

This position needs to be scrutinised carefully, against the backdrop of similar positions that obtain under the Shari’a and in our context, as a nation. Does it then follow that the married girl who is below 18, at election time, would be permitted to vote, or is her not being issued a voters card un-Islamic?

Is the Senate now going to make an exception to that law, permitting her to vote, or even drive, in accordance with (Senator Yerima’s understanding of) Islam?

Contrary to the position conveyed by the Senator from Zamfara, there is certainly no unanimity of positions on such contem-

porary matters of social interaction, within Islamic jurists or the various schools of thought.

Surely where there is ‘silence in the texts’ (i.e primary sources) or lack of unanimity as regards a particular practice, that opening allows for a society to determine for itself what is in its best interest (maslaha), in its own context. What about married Muslim girls who inherit property? Is it not the position that in some cases, where not considered sufficiently mature (sufaha, based on Qur’an 4:6), such property remains in the custody of her guardian, until she grows to be intellectually mature? This would, of course, depend on her age, mental capacity and the size and nature of the property. Why does such property not devolve upon her automatically upon marriage, to deal with it as she wishes, irrespective of her mental capacity? There definitely appears to be no basis, under the Shari’a, that would compel a girl to deal with matters of such gravity as the renunciation of citizenship, merely because she is married.

Islam is certainly not so presumptuous or harsh as to burden her with what she is mentally and physically incapable of bearing. Her guardian is permitted to determine the age or stage at which such a child can be entrusted with such grave responsibilities, the assessment of her mental capacity being the main determinant.

As a Muslim woman (without pretensions of scholarship) forever striving for knowledge, research into these matters has revealed that in matters of social interaction (mu’amalat), there is a lot of latitude in what is permitted, unless it is expressly prohibited by a clear text.

The rules are certainly not so definitive.

What is also evident is that the ‘best

interests of the child’ is a paramount consideration within Islam, along with the principle of public

good (maslaha or istislah).

The operational rules are not defined (probably deliberately, in my humble view) and the determination of such issues is best left to the experience, custom and context of the particular society.

The Qur’an provides that the predominant consideration in matters relating to children would depend on the point at which they can be said to not be sufaha (mentally immature) anymore, in the context of that particular community.

It is interesting that Senator Yerima would rather link the weighty and dispassionate subject of citizenship with his understanding of gender vis a vis his perception of the age of marriage, rather than with other matters of social interaction, such as those relating to inheritance rights, driving or even voting.

Indeed, citizenship is a contemporary phenomenon within the Sharia, as in the early days the concept of citizenship had not been defined and people traveled across boundaries, without restriction.

In a Muslim community, when matters evolve, it is for scholars or experts in Islamic legal philosophy — Usul-al-Fiqh — and juristic reasoning (and not even those solely learned in the Qur’an —Mussafirun, the Fiqh —Fuqaha or the Hadith —Muhaddithun), to analyse the issues with a view to arriving at an appropriate position for the context of that relevant community.

In this particular instance, it is certainly perplexing for the Senator to insist so categorically that even a married ‘intellectually immature’ girl must be permitted to renounce her citizenship, irrespective of her mental capacity. The foundation for such a general and sweeping statement within the Shari’a is difficult to locate.

The public good remains the overriding consideration in the process of analytical reasoning by those qualified for the purpose, so long as the deductions are not in direct conflict with the primary sources of the Shari’a.

Therefore, in following arguments repeatedly canvassed by the Senator, it may be necessary to examine the context in which we live, to determine what is good, for the purpose of encouragement and support, and what remains harmful to our society, to be confronted, discouraged or prohibited by Muslim jurists.

TODAY, the North of Nigeria continues to throw up Nigeria’s poorest indices on matters relating to healthcare, nutrition, education, empowerment and productivity.

Consequently, unemployment, insecurity, violence and poverty remain rife in that region.

Statistics have it that 2/3 of the 102 million poor people in Nigeria live in the North.

Extreme poverty in the North translates into extreme vulnerability to the effects of climate change, food security and so much more.

Incidentally, over half of the women in the North are married off by the age of 16 and commence childbirth within the first year of marriage. Also, of the 16 million births by girls below the age of 18, 9 out of 10 of them are married.

Facts are that nearly half of all the children under 5 years of age are malnourished in the North East zone, with women and children in the nutrition ‘high-burden’ States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara suffering the most from malnutrition, wasting and stunting. This singular factor remains the underlying cause for 53 per cent of under-5 deaths.

If the child is stunted in its first 1000 days, that condition is irreversible, so the future of these children, and the larger population, is permanently shortchanged. The health and nutritional needs of mothers, new-borns and children are closely linked, with young mothers accounting for a

majority of severely malnourished children.

Multiple health risks arising from child marriage include the sexual exploitation (including forced sexual relations) that she is subjected to, as well as limited access to reproductive health services, despite the real and present danger of contracting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, STIs (sexually transmitted diseases) and the debilitating ailment of VVF/RVF (VVF-a tear in the flesh between the vagina and the urinary passage, usually due to prolonged labour, resulting in uncontrolled urine or feces in the case of recto-vaginal fistulae-RVF), including the abandonment that comes with such ailments. Nigeria, with 2 per cent of the world’s population, has 10 per cent of VVF patients. Three-quarters of those with VVF/RVF are young girls who are not yet physically mature but have suffered trauma in their first pregnancy.

Statistics show that stillbirths and deaths are 50 per cent more likely in babies born to mothers younger than 18, as against babies born to mothers above that age. Each day, 144 women die in childbirth in Nigeria, with the North East alone having five times the global rate of maternal mortality.

The lack of information and access to support ultimately results in psycho-social and emotional consequences, domestic violence, abandoned (street) children, with the attendant deprivations of their rights and freedoms, whose wellbeing is severely compromised.

The prevalence of the abuse of the right to the exercise of divorce by Muslim men has only compounded the situation, leading to so many negative social deviations such as substance abuse (that has become so rampant), commercial sex work and the complete loss of values in the entire family set up.

Many of these adolescents are married off to men much older than they, and because of the associated power differentials, this singular factor impedes communication between them, with the girl having no negotiation skills in crucial decision-making that may affect her life. Having lost out on these critical life opportunities, these married adolescents can never aspire to living as meaningful and productive members of society.

Not being able to participate actively in the community translates to their losing out completely on benefitting from economic activity and earning a decent income.

Many of these girls remain excluded from community life, having been separated from peers and family members by marriage.

Depression sets in. A life of diminished opportunities. The community loses out completely; the economy cannot improve where half its population is stuck in this rut.

Child marriage, from available statistics, ultimately hampers the efforts of these young adolescents from acquiring an education, as sooner than later, they find it difficult to combine the onerous responsibilities of being a wife and mother, with schooling.

They drop out, if they have not been removed for the purpose of marriage, in the first place.

Consequently, 70.8 per cent of young women aged 20-29 in the North West zone are unable to read or write.

Due to the fact that these girls are deprived so early of an education (including the access to information and knowledge) they remain bereft of the purchasing power necessary for an adequate diet, healthcare, skills, or even recourse to support in emergencies, all of which would enable them rise above the circumstances of abject poverty. It is paradoxical that Muslims like Senator Yerima would rather their wives and daughters be treated by female medical personnel if they fall ill, and yet they are, by continuously advocating for child marriage, deliberately closing the avenues for girls to aspire to such professions.

Deprivations of formal and non-formal education translate, at such an early age, into restrictions on mobility, domestic burdens, the denial of sundry freedoms in respect of survival, development and participation, as well as the loss of adolescent years.

Indeed, children of young, uneducated mothers are also less likely to attain high levels of education, perpetuating cycles of low literacy and limited livelihood opportunities. Child marriage, therefore, ultimately deprives societies of the intellectual and financial/livelihood contributions of girls, and of their offspring. It is no wonder then that the North continues to portray such poor ratings in almost all aspects of human endeavour.

As a consequence, MDGs 1 (relating to eradi-

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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SPECIAL REPORT

Senator Yerima And Constitutional Review CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22 cating extreme poverty and hunger), 2 (on education), 4 (on reducing child mortality), 5 (on maternal health), 6 (on combating diseases) remain unattainable goals (at least in Northern Nigeria), if we cannot confront the consequences and implications of child marriage. Evidently, the geography of poverty requires a coherent and urgent Northern strategy and a solution to the instability that has bedeviled the region in recent years.

Against this background of grim data, we can ill afford to play politics with the obvious deficiencies in our human capital. The North, as an intrinsic part of Nigeria needs to improve on all fronts, to impact positively on Nigeria’s progress and support its growth.

Since child marriage has all these devastating and diminishing implications, surely checking the increase in the practice can only trigger and catalyze positive growth, in so many dimensions.

T is certainly not mandatory in Islam that Ikeep girls must be married off as minors, so to insisting that this practice must remain sacrosanct, given the background of needs in Northern Nigeria, is incongruous, even under the Shari’a.

Where a practice is determined to be merely permissible and not mandatory, it is considered practicable and entirely feasible within Islamic jurisprudence, to discourage or prohibit it, where it is found to be so harmful to individuals and to the community. Countries such as Yemen, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia and Bangladesh, with majority or high Muslim populations have set a minimum age for marriage as 18, in the acknowledgment that there are serious social, physical and mental health risks associated with child marriages.

This progressive step became necessary, in that these indisputable facts placed a heavy burden on the accountable and God-fearing leadership in majority Muslim countries, to protect the vulnerable in their midst.

It is, therefore, not unreasonable to expect that educated elite and public figures such as Senator Yerima, being conscious of their grave responsibilities to prohibit harm and to enjoin good in our own context, should actually discourage this devaluing and belittling practice of early marriage, in the public good, for the protection of the vulnerable and the realization of social benefits. To enable our girls attain their fullest possible potential is definitely a target that Senator Yerima should also be working passionately towards, along with the rest of Nigerians who yearn for a better future.

Indeed, the overriding objectives of the Sharia include the promotion of human dignity, justice, compassion, the removal of hardship, the prevention of harm, the realization of the lawful benefits of the people, and the education of the individual by inculcating in him a sense of self discipline and restraint, which aims are by no means exclusive.

All else may be adapted to achieve these ends, which measures may encompass matters of concern not only to law but also to economic development, administration and politics. For those that reflect, the hardship that these little girls experience, where married off and divorced soon after, so wantonly, is certainly unacceptable within the faith.

Although the fundamentals of faith and the practical pillars on which they stand remain immutable in principle, they may be interpreted and justified at the level of implementation in the exercise of public good.

This process must of need be carried out solely by persons learned and eminently qualified to speak on the subject matter in question. We must always bear in mind that the ‘appropriation’ of divine authority in religious interpretation is best left to Scholars learned in Islamic legal philosophy and analytical reasoning.

Having acquired the requisite knowledge and expertise (including the capacity to

weigh the various views in the particular sphere of learning in the context of our times), these Jurists would also need to have imbibed, at the barest minimum, the attributes of humility, compassion, reflection, wisdom, self-restraint, diligence, objectivity, along with piety.

Our learned Scholars must stand up and be heard, rather than remain silent on matters that so adversely affect us as individuals, as a region, a Nation and as members of a global community, which challenges paradoxically controvert the deeper meaning and purpose of the Shari’a.

Back to the issue in contention, it is important to commend the thinking behind the decision to delete the constitutional clause that seeks to lumber even an ‘intellectually immature’ girl, where married, with the grave responsibility of the power to renounce her citizenship, thereby elevating the subject of citizenship to the level whereby both men and women have similar responsibilities, without discrimination.

It is hoped that ultimately, members of the Senate would reflect deeply on the implications of their recent action and revisit their decision to retain the contentious clause, if only to ensure that every Nigerian citizen of full age, without distinction, is subjected to similar standards and responsibilities under the provisions of our Constitution.

Uwais (MFR) is Chairperson, Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Kano Children in school... what fate awaits them in the society?

‘Barbaric Cultures Allow Child Marriage’

By Ikechukwu Onyewuchi HE Guardian investigations revealed that culTNigeria. ture plays a great role in marriages in It was, however, discovered that child marriage vary from community to community. Though, very common in the northern communities because of religious sympathies, they are seldom practiced in South.

Though some Southern men arrange the marriages of their children, it is important to say that not all arranged marriages involve underage actors.

Children are often given varying powers to consent to their parents’ choice of a mate, with males having significantly more power to reject proposed mates than females.

There are also instances where parents do not initiate, but rather allow marriages to take place because ‘the kids like each other’ or they have ‘eloped’.

In cases of elopement, which often occur when parents refuse to accept their child’s choice of a mate, parents are subsequently forced to accept the couple as married because the girl is no longer a virgin and her prospects for marriage are severely diminished.

Cultural activist and Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC), Management Services, University of Lagos, UNILAG, Prof. Duro Oni, says no matter what role culture plays in marriage, no sane person should tolerate child-marriage.

According to him, “children should go to

school and be educated to become useful citizens.”

Toyin Saraki, founder of Wellbeing Foundation Africa, one of the groups that is calling for the Senate to change the law, also told the media, “this clause implicitly endorses child marriage. I cannot see any justification for the retention of a rule which makes a special status of girls who are brides and wants to

construe them as adults.”

She said, “The only thing that every Nigerian has, by virtue of their birth, is their citizenship. Renouncing that is something that should be done by an informed adult, and not a minor – whether male or female.

“Our constitution is moving towards the word ‘person’ – it remains a huge anomaly to retain a law that is gender specific.”

HOUGH, the issue has suddenly become a girls are married worldwide. One in seven girls T front burner of national discourse, Child in the developing world is married before her Marriage has always been a topical issue in the 15th birthday – some as young as eight or nine.

In 2010, over 67 million women ages 20-24 had world over.

In 2010, the media was awash with the case of been married as girls, and, if the trend continElham Mahdi Al-Assi, a 12-year-old girl in ues, 142 million will be married by 2020.

Yemen, who died three days after she was mar- The top 20 ‘hot spots’ of child marriage or ried to a much older man. Her death was the countries with the highest prevalence, are: result of severe bleeding caused by tears to her Niger, Chad, Bangladesh, Guinea, Central African Republic, Mali, Guinea, Nepal, genital and anal area.

International human rights standards recog- Mozambique, Uganda, Burkina Faso, India, nise the right of women and girls to live free Ethiopia, Liberia, Yemen, Cameroon, Eritrea, from physical, mental, and sexual violence. Malawi, Nicaragua, Nigeria and Zambia.

However, in many countries where child mar- Over 40 countries globally have a prevalence riage is an accepted practice, governments of child marriage of 30 per cent or higher. Two also fail to criminalise domestic violence and out of five girls are married as children in South Asia and Central and West Africa. Most of marital rape.

Girls in child marriages, already vulnerable these girls are poor, less educated and living in due to their age and alienated due to their gen- rural areas. der and low social status, are thus denied the Research findings also show that limited eduprotection from their governments they so cation may make girls and women more vulnerable to persistent poverty when their greatly need.

According to reports, every year, 14 million spouses die, abandon or divorce them.

A Final Word On Child Marriage remain so if we do not want a divided country and if we do not want continued controversy, CCORDING to the respected Islamic scholar strife and possibly even a fully blown religious Professor Ishaq Akintola, there is ‘no age conflagration and conflict. We should all keep restriction in Islamic marriage.’ He may well our religious sensitivities out of certain matbe right and I honestly believe that Islam, like ters if we want continued peace.

Christianity, is a humane and compassionate Paedophilia, child sex, child slavery, child rape faith, which seeks to protect the weak and and child marriage cannot be justified under guide its adherents on the path of righteous- any circumstances in any civilised country. It is ness and light. not a matter of religion. It is a matter of human I must however point out that Nigeria is not rights, civil liberties and basic morality. There a Muslim or indeed a Christian state. She is a is nothing more repugnant to the natural secular state and she is governed by secular mind and wholesome soul than the prospect laws. Religious laws have no place in our land of a fully-grown man mounting, defiling and or Constitution. Our constitution is a secular having carnal knowledge of a child that is document, which specifically says that the between the ages of 6 and 18. state shall not adopt any religion. This must Every child, whether she be a Christian, a

By Femi Fanikayode

A

Muslim, a pagan, an atheist or an agnostic has the right to be fully protected by the state and by the laws of our land from sexual predators, sexual deviants, statutory rapists, unrepentant perverts and child molesters.

That much we ought to be able to achieve and we ought to insist on. We are meant to protect our children and not bed them.

Like I said earlier on elsewhere in this debate, even animals don’t sleep with their own infants. Some may hate me for these words today but I speak nothing but the truth and tomorrow people will thank me for them. This is my final contribution to this heated debate. Outside of this I have nothing more to say on this vexed and contentious issue. Shalom.

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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TheGuardian

26 THE GUARDIAN,Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Junior Guardian QUIZ

Are You Compassionate?

To be compassionate is to be kind, sympathetic and helpful or feel pity. These are qualities that do not come naturally to some teenagers. Take the following quiz to find out your level of kindness.

You are walking down the road with your friends when you see a crippled man begging for alms. What do you do?

Ignore him and keep talking with your pals Ask him why he cannot work or if he thinks you do not have better things to do with your money.

Give him some money or talk to him politely, explaining that you do not have (if you truly have no money on you) 2. You are sitting in the bus and you notice that all the seats are occupied and a few people were standing. As the bus begins to move, you notice an old woman struggling to stand upright while holding on to her many bags.

Do you: Pretend not to see her and hope that someone else will offer her a seat Feel uncomfortable about her plight but do nothing. You really do not want to stand, as it is a long journey Stand up and offer her your seat

Manners

Table Rules For Children

In silence I must take my seat And give the Lord thanks before eating Must wait for my food in patience Till I’m asked to hand my plate With knife or fork or napkin ring I must not play nor must I sing I must not speak a useless word For children should be seen, not heard I must not fret over my food Nor murmur if I don’t think it’s good I must not say ‘the bread is hard’ The tea is cold, the soup is watery’ Must not crowd my mouth with food Nor speak nor shout aloud while eating Must turn my head to cough or sneeze and when I ask, must say ‘if you please’ I must not spoil the tablecloth Nor sport nor run round the table Must keep my seat after I’m done When told to rise, then I must put My chair away with noiseless feet And lift my heart to the Lord above In praise for all His wondrous love

By Janet N.U. Obianyor Kaduna 08032349037

It is the festive season and your parents explain that they cannot buy new clothes for you and your siblings because there is no money. How would you react?

Refuse to greet them the following morning and sulk because you think they are being unfair Walk around with a foul temper, shouting at your younger siblings and refusing to do any work at home.

Encourage them and tell that you can make do with your old jeans and one good T-shirt A new boy joins your class. He is slightly disabled and everyone thinks he looks funny. Would you Join in and make fun of him, as he wobbles around the class Find out what happened to him and gossip about it to other students Be bold and walk up to him to start a conversation. Offer to help him and get other kids to befriend him too.

Answers If you got mostly As, then you are not compassionate. In fact you hurt a lot of people with the way you talk or do things. Look around and you’ll find other kids who are kind, sympathetic and helpful. Talk with them or watch them closely and imitate the good things they do.

If your answers were mostly Cs, you are on the right path but you must keep showing mercy to people around you, even when they fail to say thank you. If you stop, you may become unkind and cruel.

Olive Dale Preparatory School, Ikoyi, recently organised a Tea Party for the future leaders to imbibe societal values through the story of Florence Nightingale.

Exercise For The Brain HE brain is a wonderful organ that has the capacity to store a great number of things for an T amazing length of time. It is more powerful than the computer and even much more reliable if well treated.

First, learn to nourish the brain with the right types of foods including taking plenty of water, eating lot of fish, eggs and fruits such as banana and watermelon among others.

Aside this, the brain get gets better and stronger the more it is used. So, task your brain to become the best and serve you for longer by engaging in exercises that can enhance it. These include undertaking puzzles and quizzes, especially those that demand concentration and dexterity.

Also learn new games that require the full exertion of your intelligence and mind.

WISE WORDS

Thesaurus Scorch a) burn b) drink c) slap d) drop

Never let go of that, which you believe in

Albatross a) burden b) cup c) weigh d) rock Sumptuous a) nice b) luxurious c) damage d) soft

Giving is an attitude; it has nothing to do with how much you have

Audacity a) strength b) coldness c) boldness d) calmness

Success is when opportunity meets with preparedness

Jiffy a) moment b) quickly c) rough d) lazy Prop a) hold b) empty c) crush d) support

An inherited widow is not the same as a young woman married as a spinster

Radiance a) happiness b) noisy c) shadow d) cure

Work hard for hard work does not kill

Edgy a) side b) nervous c) high d) tired Spurious a) neat b) false c) dirty d) lighter

Your life is worth what you are ready to die for

Wry a) ironic b) round c) sharp d) tight

EVENT

Science Facts

From left: Olanrewaju Hanna, Okunola Samad and Ologun Nifemi, all students of Tiny Tots School, Osogbo, during the Cultural Day held last week.

COMPILED BY KIKELOLA OYEBOLA

Respiration releases 18 times more energy from a food molecule than fermentation does.

If human nerve cells are damaged, they are sometimes able to repair themselves. However, this repair process does not involve cell losing their ability to divide soon after birth.

Some cells require less than one hour to divide while others require as much as 20 hours.

Tips from Life Science by Jovanovich

(You can contact us on events for this page through: e-mail: jideoojo@yahoo.com

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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Junior Crest Pupils Of Ocean Crest Move On To Greater Heights There was no mistaking the excitement in the air, the feeling of accomplishment and trepidation. A sense of fulfilment for those who had worked hard and distinguished themselves and suspense over whose effort would stand out.

The day was Tuesday July 9, 2013 and the event was the Awards/ Graduation Assembly of Ocean Crest School, Lekki.

The Special Guest of Honour was Mrs. Ayo Phillips, Chief Justice of Lagos State while Mr. Alan Davies, Honorary Consul for Australia was the Guest of Honour.

The ceremony commenced with a valedictory service and presentations by pupils after which pupils graduating from Nursery Two to Year One were officially presented to the distinguished audience. Pupils who had excelled in various categories were also recognised and celebrated with awards ranging from academics to citizenship.

Short Story What The Ant Said

Special Guest of Honour, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, at the graduation ceremony of Ocean Crest School, Lekki, congratulating some of the graduating pupils.

Sunshin Sammy’s Angela Louis of Port Harcourt has some words to share with Sunshine Sammy.

Docile Dummy Dreary Dungeon Drake Dubious Delicious Decanter Desirous Dwellers Do you have some words to share with Sunshine Sammy?

Please send your contributions to: Junior Guardian Desk Rutam House P.M.B 1217, Oshodi or email: kikelola_oyebola@yahoo.c a Please remember to write your name, address and include a passport photograph.

SOLUTION TO BRAIN TEASER (14) LIABLE PREVENT TRIBULATION DAMAGE FUMIGATE HABITABLE REPLACE MISERABLE

Joke The Young Girl Her mother sent a girl to church. Before leaving, her mother instructed that she should return home after service and not go anywhere else.

At the church, the pastor was preaching on Obedience. He told the congregation that those desiring to go to heaven need to obey the Lord. After the preaching session, he asked, “Who wants to go to heaven?” All except the little girl raised their hands.

The pastor called her and asked why she doesn’t want to go to heaven and she replied: “My mother said I should not go anywhere after church.”

By Sabina George Princeton Junior School, Ibadan

POEM Black Is Beautiful As black as the sky at night Is the best complexion to have To be black is a pride And the best way to show off beauty For to show your colour Is like becoming a failure Call me Blacky and I’ll smile Call me Ebony and I’ll oblige For Blacky is my name and Blacky it will always be

By Rachael Sunday Glorious Souls Montessori School, Yaba

RIDDLE Junior Riddle An Indian, an American and a dwarf (all male), were called to a high table at an event. The men were asked to sit at the table. How many legs will you see below the table?

If you were dreaming and in that dream, you were going to a friend’s party. Suddenly, you saw a lion coming in front of you, snakes crawling by your side, a hyena coming behind you, and up in the sky, vultures waiting to eat you up, what would you do?

I am a room within a room.

What am I? I am something. I am brown outside, white inside and yellow inside the white. What am I? I am something. The more I live, the lesser I become.

What am I? Answers A leg You would wake up A closet An egg A candle

By Biola Johnson Little Steps School, Ikeja

One day, the ant was returning from his grandmother’s house when he saw the hen. He said to her: “I went to my grandmother’s house and the yam there was as big as my hand.”

The hen laughed and laughed and in the process, put its mouth in fire. The hen flew up to a tree where a fly was resting but it didn’t know the fly was there.

The hen pecked at the tree, trying to put out the fire. Her beak touched the fly’s body. The frightened fly jumped and fell into unto a cow’s nose. The cow was irritated it walked angrily to the place where a sheep was giving birth.

The cow didn’t know the sheep was there, so it went in and trampled upon the sheep’s belly. The sheep got up and angrily went to the king and told him that the cow trampled on her where she was giving birth.

The king then went to the cow’s place and asked why he did that. The cow replied that it was resting in the field when a fly entered its nose. They went to see the fly, which replied that he was resting on a tree when the hen came and pecked him with her beak.

All of them went to the hen to ask why she behaved that way. She replied that she was going home when the ant stopped her and said that her grandmother’s yam was ‘as big as my hand.’ I started laughing.

They went to the ant’s house but he said: “It all started because I told hen that my grandmother’s yam was as big as her hand.”

The king then said that the fault was nobody’s.

By Evelyn Raymond Rightville School, Surulere

ISSUES Rape Rape in my own word can be defined as an immoral act. It is committed by men and entails forcing a woman to have sex against their wish.

Aleesha was a loving girl and very likeable, too. However, she kept the wrong company. One of her friends thought it was cool to indulge in sex. Dylan on this day shared a drink with Aleesha with a promise that it would make her more appealing. After the drink, they drove to a party. There was a lot of socialising and a boy chatted Aleesha up. He eventually began to make overtures.

Although Aleesha was uncomfortable but rather than face the scorn of her friends, she endured it. He then forced her to have sex over and over before handing her over to his friends who also had a go at her.

The torture was so unbearable that she eventually died. The law agents got wind of it and the boys were apprehended, but for how long?

I think we should watch what we eat and drink! Never go to a solitary place with a stranger or a questionable man alone! You think this is old fashioned? Experience may be too costly!

By Eloho Akpomudie 8 Yellow Corona School, Gbagada

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

CAMPUS

‘This Is A Step Forward To A Bigger Dream’

By Tope Templer Olaiya OR Mary Adegunloye, 200-level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), winning is everything, most especially doing it on a big stage. And there is no bigger stage at the first-rate university than being the champion of the annual inter-faculty debate.

At least, till the end of the 2013/2014 session, apart from the cash prize of N50,000 and a hightech laptop, she strolls the turf with the bragging right as the university’s chief orator. Gbemisola Onasanya from Clinical Sciences came second, while Osas Odiase, from the faculty of Engineering, finished third.

Beaming with smiles after being announced as winner of this year’s debate, which was competed among 13 faculties, Mary told The Guardian that winning the contest was a dream come true and a step forward to realizing a bigger dream.

“Debating is something I always love doing, so it gives me a sense of satisfaction doing what I love doing and doing it well. For me, the bigger picture is making a mark in future in the media world and this will help build my confidence, charisma and relationship with people,” she said.

The debate was an intellectual platform to discuss issues pertaining to the Nigerian situation and this year’s topic was Sovereign National Conference (SNC): Is it desirable at this stage of Nigeria’s development.

Mary supported the motion and her argument went thus: “The SNC is an assembly of all ethnic nationalities in Nigeria to discuss the national question, which is the basis of our existence as a single entity. The end result of it is dialogue among the various ethnic groups. In 1914, we were amalgamated and not integrated.

“Another issue to be discussed at the SNC is our constitution. We need to draft a constitution that truly reflects the values and aspirations of the people. ‘We, the people of Nigeria,’ was not a part of the 1999 constitution in the true sense of the word. We also need to define our federal structure. What we practice at the moment is centralized federalism, which is a contradiction.

It is either a central system or a federal system.”

The ongoing industrial action by the Academic

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– 2013 UNILAG Inter-faculty Debate Champion Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), according to her, is not cool. “While some students are praying for it not to end to catch up on their reading, others are looking at the time wasted.

“For instance, our mates at the University of Ilorin are not on strike and by the time they would be graduating, we may still be in 200 level. The delay is a clog in the wheel of progress of the country’s educational system.

The strike has since lost its relevance in forcing the hand of government to their demands,” she noted.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Management Services, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Duro Oni (left); winner of the UNILAG Inter-faculty Debate, Mary Adegunloye; Dean of Student Affairs Division, Prof. Kayode Amud; first runner-up, Miss Gbemisola Onasanya; and second runner-up, Osas Odiase. INSET is Mary.

Zikites Relish Win In Rhetoric Contest Over Awo, Mariere Halls

By Sikiru Akinola ENUE was the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan (UI) and the programme was the Clash of the Sages organised by the Literary and Debating Society of Nnamdi Azikwe Hall (Zik Hall) of the institution as part of activities for their annual hall week.

Held in honour of Prof. Francis Suleiman Idachaba, Obafemi Awolowo Hall of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Mariere Hall of the University of Lagos were invited for a debate on the topic: Secession: Panacea to Nigeria’s socio-political

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q

Despite the noise about the dwindling standard of education, Mary beats her chest that it is not the case with the classy Unilag.

“Academic in Unilag is very competitive, which is why only the best end up being students. It is like war gaining admission into Unilag. So, you can find a 300-level student here who can’t compose a simple letter.”

What about having the school renamed Moshood Abiola University in the nearest future? It was a sharp remark that followed. It is not happening to Unilag. It can’t just happen.”

u a g m i r e ?

Drumbeats rented the air as Zikites gyrated to the admiration of the visitors with various display of Aroism (euphemism for mad display).

Adewale Tosin and Amusan Oludare spoke for the Akokites (UNILAG); Adedayo Adegeye and Usang Enang were Zik Hall representatives; while the duo of Ogundele Taiwo and Tope Akinyode represented OAU’s Awo Hall.

At the end of the rhetoric war, Zik Hall emerged winners with 132 points followed by Awo Hall, 112; and Mariere Hall with 102.

NUC Accredits Medicine, Others For UNIABUJA HE National U n i v e r s i t i e s Commission (NUC) last Tuesday announced the accreditation of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, and Agriculture of the University of Abuja. The commission also announced the approval of the institution’s Engineering courses.

Chairman of the Task Team on the accreditation of the College of Medicine and Visiting Professor to NUC, Eugene Okpere, made this known when the team for the

T

accreditation of the four courses that were suspended did a tour of facilities at the university.

Okpere said with the full accreditation for medical and agricultural courses and interim accreditation for veterinary medicine, all was now set for the take-off of the programme. Explaining the status of engineering, the don said though the programme had been in existence for several years, it had only just been approved by the NUC and should now start the process of gaining accreditation.

Bank Bankrolls Enactus Challenge S part of efforts to foster A education, entrepreneurial and community development among youths in Nigeria, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) recently engaged students from 30 tertiary institutions in an innovation and community empowerment competition tagged Enactus Challenge.

At the end of the three-day competition, Kaduna Polytechnic emerged the overall winner and will represent Nigeria at this year’s Enactus World Cup holding in September in Mexico. The first

runner-up was Federal Polytechnic Oko, while Bayero University Kano and Ekiti State University finished third and fourth respectively.

The Enactus Challenge is a global initiative to harness and celebrate the dexterity and novel ideas of youths (especially students), which they feature in their project work, and later execute in their host communities with emphasis on economic empowerment and improving the quality of lives of citizens.

WISECRACKS The giant oak is an acorn that held its ground.

Anonymous Worry is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.

William Ralph Inge It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

Eleanor Roosevelt Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.

Peter F. Drucker

LET US KNOW Every week, LIFE CAMPUS reports on events in students’ communities across the country. You can contribute by sending stories, gossips, reports on Mr. Ayorinde Ogunruku (left); Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungbaevents and your pictures for Campus Akoko (AAUA), Prof.

Femi Mimiko; and Registrar, Mr. Bamidele Olotu, at the opening cerStudents of Nnamdi Azikwe Hall of the University of Ibadan (UI) gyrating and gearing up for the Clash of the Sages debate Zik Hall and Awolowo Hall of Obafemi Awolowo University emony of a two-day training workshop titled Developing Critical Administrative Skills and Faces to us at: templer2k2@yahoo.com Competencies organized for the administrative staff of the institution … recently. or guardianlife2005@yahoo.com (OAU) at Trenchard Hall, UI

TheGuardian

Sunday, July 28, 2013 29

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Lafete Komo Rocks With Bhangra Party

BY DANIEL ANAZIA LUMUYIWA O. Komolafe, popularly known as Komo, has been in the Nigerian entertainment industry for over a decade and half, however, his sojourn in the US has made many to lose track of him.

The first of four of children, the Ilesha, Osun State-born artiste had his education at the University Primary School and later University Secondary School, Nsukka. He rounded up his secondary education at the Command Secondary School, Abakabiliki, and Sultan Bello Secondary School, Sokoto before studying Physics at Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto.

Influenced by the music of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Bob Marley and Dr Dre, he describes the weird one, who has death in his pocket, as a political maverick and an unforgettable performer, and Bob Marley, as a legend for his honest lyrical content and giving reggae international recognition, while Dr. Dre as the epitome of West Coast gangster rap.

While at Usman Dan Fodio University, he began his music career organising and performing at shows around the campus. After his one-year National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) and break up with the group, Freshees, he released his first single titled, Na 2day, in 1999, and this marked the beginning of his professional career as a songwriter, producer, A&R Scout and now CEO KB Music.

Asked what music means to him, he says, “It is life. It is the outlet through which I can truly express myself. I have been doing music since my primary school days.”

On how he came about his stage name, the son of educationist parents — a Professor father and a teacher mother — says, “It is a name created out of circumstance. My teacher, Mr. Ugwuanyi, while I was in Grade 3 at the University Primary School, Nsukka struggled to pronounce my surname, Komolafe and he asked if he could call me Komo.”

Komo Blastic, as he loves to be called was Komo instrumental in organising the first Afro Hip“Freedom in the new project has fused Hop Concert, which held in Lagos and drew a the talking drum, a hip-hop beat and crowd of 50,000 people attendance. lyrics in various African tongues. It perAlso, he offered something new to the game fectly explains the eclectic choice of proby adding what he called a Nigerian twang in ducers on the album ranging from the his lyrical flow, which distinguishes him from influential Nigerian UK based Skillz a.k.a. those who sing in American accent.

JJC, who produced four tracks including His influence in the Afro Hip-Hop genre is Caro, Na 2day (remix), Bhangra Party and undeniable and continues to grow. This is manifested in some of the street slangs such as Na 2day and Nwantiti, the second single from the album Jungle Don Mature, which was nominated in the Best International Music FRO pop act, Klever Jay, is set to hit Video category at the maiden edition of the airwaves with a brand new Nigerian Music Video Awards (NMVA) held in video of his current single, Omo Aye. 2007.

The fast rising musician, who recently With an unbelievable success across the continent, the popularity of the hit single, Na signed a multi-million-naira deal with Black Wall Street, a record label based 2 Day inspired the South African documenin Abuja, released the single on June tary, On the Streets of Lagos.

16, 2013.

Komo Blastic left Nigeria for the Queen’s Shot by Patrick Ellis at choice localand in 2002 in pursuit of greener pasture, and while in London, he continued with his tions in Nigeria and the United States, pioneering streak, breaking cultural barriers the video of the new single was directand sterotypes in order to give Afro Hip-Hop ed by none other than Jeffery, the man who did the video for The international recognition.

In May 2008, he performed alongside R&B Game’s hit track, My Life.

According to Suni Osorun, CEO, singer Joe and other UK top rated Hip-Hop artistes including Sway and Bashy at 2008 Mix Black Wall Street/Avatar, Klever Jay’s new video will drop on August 10, Festival, London.

Like thoroughbred entertainer, he loves con- 2013. “The new video will hit major necting with his fans through live perform- television stations across the country ance. “It is a medium for exchanging energy, on August 10, this year. We can assure which is limited to this form of creative out- you that the musical video is a thriller. It was shot with the latest let,” he says. camera and at choice locations here Komo, who is currently working on his sophomore double album, titled Bambella, a in Lagos and overseas. Fans of Klever Jay will find video quite entertaining,” 30-track work with hits such as Jungle Don Mature remix, Nwantiti, Caro, Police Dey Come, he says.

Gbosa and his latest single, Bhangra Party, pro- On his part, Klever Jay says he is duced by JJC, that is enjoying airplay in radio excited about the new video. “I am quite excited about the new video of stations across the country.

“The Album is a 360 degree and dominion Omo Aye. I can’t wait for it to start mandate. It is a true testament of my passion rocking the airwaves. I can assure my fans that they are in for a thrilling for Nigerian heritage, and it showcases the moment as the video will thrill them level of freedom from which music can be to no end,” the musician enthuses. approached.

O

Nwantiti”, he notes.

What was your parents’ reaction when you decided take music as a full-time profession?

“They have always supported me from childhood. Then, my teachers in school (Primary) would come to our house to seek their parents for permission to allow me

perform during school events. So, when I got into the university, it was easier for me to survive even with the ASUU continuous strikes; students would pay N50 to watch me perform.”

Apart from music, what else do you engage in?

I’m a farmer; I’m into mechanized

Klever Jay’s Omo Aye video hits airwaves soon

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

30

All That Jazz

ARTSVILLE

BY BENSON IDONIJE benidoni@yahoo.com

Cecil Taylor: The Controversial Pianist

BY TOYIN AKINOSHO

A Champagne Toast To Achebe At… N the end, it came to raising a toast to the man everyone had been talking IOgunlesi, about, at the Freedom Park on the Thursday before last. The poet, Tolu convener of the evening of tributes to Chinua Achebe, raised his glass of Moët & Chandon, summoning 70 or so other glasses, filled with same, to go up. Then the moment turned awkward. You couldn’t sing “For he is a jolly good fellow”, for a man who was dead and buried deep in the earth. But that quickly passed. And phrases like “To the Eagle On Iroko”….”To Forthrightness, Candour”..started streaming out of voices and the clinks and networking chatter began. In the two hours leading to the toast, there had been readings, praises and critiques of the works and deed of the author widely regarded as the father of African literature. Ogunlesi, a sucker for symbols, had kick-started the proceedings by reminding the audience they were sitting in a hall that used to be a prison for freedom fighters, on the birthday of Mandela, the world’s most celebrated prisoner-freedom fighter. ‘And to think that Mandela himself had famously described Achebe as the writer “in whose presence the prison walls came down,’ he said to applause.

Newspaper Champions A ‘Goodbye Mandela’ Campaign S millions of South Africans fervently hope that Madiba would live forever, A the Johannesburg based Mail &Guardian, irreverent challenger of apartheid politics and the post- apartheid rot, has launched a series of articles and tributes

ECIL Taylor remains the C most controversial and complex pianist since Thelonious Monk. Respected by fellow jazz men for the intriguing complexity of his piano- playing, he has refused to compromise his standards over the years, a trait which perhaps has kept him from enjoying popular acceptance.

When he plays in public, the response is usually divided: Some see him as the world’s greatest performing artist because of the astounding technique and feeling he generates. Some simply put him down as a non- conformist, while others dismiss him outright because they are at a loss to understand what he is trying to do and where he is coming from.

I think Taylor is just a creative artist whose idea of jazz is to continuously reach out to higher levels of creativity and performance. He believes that the artist must continually strive to be himself, uninfluenced by prevailing trends, regardless of what the critics say. Taylor is his own critic; and has strong views about music and musicians. He believes that more than anyone else, he has a deep knowledge, an inner perception of the art form called jazz. Of Miles Davis for instance, Taylor says: “He is the first millionaire I ever heard play pretty well.” Of perceived European influences on Duke Ellington: “He doesn’t sound European to me.” Of Dizzy Gillespie’s comedy: “I don’t put him down for it. I just don’t go hear him.” Of white jazz musicians: “All white musicians try to copy the feeling. What any musician must do, and this is why most white musicians fail in jazz, they never come to grips with themselves and their own musical traditions.

They always get involved in

competing. What they should do is recognize the function that they have in a jazz group and to function out of it with the whole history of America, which is theirs. That’s what America is. All these people.

And to know what to do with all these things, blend them and make them to go on, that’s what creating the new music is all about.”

Taylor has become terribly unpopular for his strong views and frank criticisms. But rather than believe that such blunt attitudes have helped to keep him out of work, Taylor believes it has been strictly a musical matter in which his critics and the establishment are trying to kill the tradition. According to him,” Jazz is the only art form in which the tradition can be seen, and you consciously can gain from it if you wish. Jazz is the only art form in which you can see your different generations working together, and see how they are growing.”

Considering the high level of Taylor’s musicianship, ideals and the strong views he holds about jazz, Taylor deserves the same popular acclaim that such musicians as Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Oscar Peterson, John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet and more are enjoying today. But probably the single, most crushing blow to Taylor’s career came in 1959, with the enormous impact on the New York musical scene of the alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Taylor argues that they play music in different ways, a fact that is quite true, but some influential critics who had thought that Taylor would bring about the breakthrough they had been waiting for abandoned Taylor’s cause and made Coleman the centre of the most violent jazz controversy in several years. Since that time, Taylor has gone about his work practically without notice.

Nonetheless, he has continued, over the years, to make music – apparently for the selective minority who are appreciative of chords and dischords, atonalities and the esoteric.

One significant outing came for

which say, in essence: Mandela is leaving this space, deal with it. “As he hovers on the threshold, Madiba’s long goodbye takes on the form of a return”, wrote Nick Dawes, in ‘Mandela, the long goodbye’, published on June 28, “not as a statue, or as a caricature, but as living potential”. In that first article in the campaign, Dawes commented that when, in 2004, Mandela began “a more profound withdrawal, saying ‘don’t call me, I’ll call you’ he was insisting that South Africa learn to get along without his guidance, overt or implicit. As much as he may have sought peace after a life of constant struggle, Madiba was also teaching a basic lesson: this must be a nation of laws, and of institutions, not of men, certainly not of one man”. Mr. Dawes explained that the Mandela’s living potential is around South Africans “in democratic institutions and traditions that, if young, or threatened, are also resilient and powerful”. It is visible “in the agonisingly slow, but vital change in the shape of our cities, and the refusal of South Africans to be content with half-a-life, or with the outer forms of freedom, absent its content”. His conclusion: “’Memory,’ Madiba said, ‘is the fabric of identity’. With his memory woven into it, our national fabric is immeasurably stronger. Mayibuye”.

Taylor, however, in 1973 – when he recorded Indent on Arista label.

Mabiaku: Is 284 A More Permanent Place?

Contrary to the misconception about the free form nature of OU couldn’t fault the sound quality and the authenticity of his version of Taylor’s delving, he reveals himself here as something of a structuralist, Afrobeat. You couldn’t dismiss the energy level he put into the performance albeit a peculiar one working from either. The audience at 284 Bar &Lounge watching Dede Mabiaku play on Friday, July 12, 2013, didn’t come anywhere close to the crowd at his performances at a floating atonal system. Taylor’s improvisations are as remarkable Fantasy Gardens 14 years ago. It was, in a way, a roomful kind of crowd, comfor their elastic musical quality as pared with the large, open space which he filled in those days. Fela’s most vocal protégé has been trying to get his band comfortable as a resident band somefor their emotional momentum. where for upwards of a decade. He has had “stints” at Aqua 27 on Victoria Island, And perhaps therein lies a key to Ember Creek in Ikoyi, Pine in Lekki Phase 1, and several other places, which have approaching Taylor’s music. ended rather quickly that you wonder who is the problem: Dede’s demands or Analytical appeal aside, Taylor’s music speaks to us in terms of uni- the tolerance level of the patrons of these spaces. Is it that if you play your own versal humanity, and we can savour songs and are not a band singing other people’s songs, there’s no place for you? his intent in much the same way we Mabiaku is way different from others who “dominate” the bars and lounges in the city. The Sharp Band is domiciled at SSQ Lounge every Thursday evening, would an unfamiliar language. If the content is confusing, the inflec- God Bless’ Ebony Band has been doing Swe Bar every Thursday for over five years, tions – his elation, anger, humour Ejiro’s Band gets everybody to Bottles Restaurant every Wednesday Night. The and torment - speak copiously for band at Pat’s guarantees a full house till early hours of Friday mornings. These themselves. As an album, Indent is bands play other people’s songs. And they seem guaranteed to stay longer in rendered in three ‘layers’, what the those places, than Dede’s Band. classicists would refer to as ‘movements’. But in view of the combina- Adesokan, not ‘Myself’, Is On Fagunwa’s Case tion of serious motives and cross motives cast in rapid sequence, ‘layN last fortnight’s report of the proposed conference on the works of the late ers’ appear to be the most appropriFabulist Daniel Fagunwa (Akure, August 8-10, 2013), we stated this much about ate word for describing the density the organisers: “There is a study group comprising Professors Adeleke Adeeko, of his piano constructions.

Tejumola Olaniyan, Olufemi Taiwo, Olakunle George, Sola Olorunyomi, Cecil Taylor has made some of the Gbemisola Adeoti, Kunle Ajibade and myself”. The last word in that sentence is most indelible statements of his wrong. It is not “myself”. It is Akin Adesokan, associate professor of comparative bold career – seated alone at the literature at Indiana University in Blooomington, in the United States. So the paspiano. Over the years, his solo persage should have read: There is a study group comprising Professors Adeleke formances have taken on a protean, Adeeko, Tejumola Olaniyan, Olufemi Taiwo, Olakunle George, Sola Olorunyomi, orchestral dimension, and his comGbemisola Adeoti, Kunle Ajibade and Akin Adesokan. The inconvenience is position – most of which are planregretted. gent and have to do with living things – have grown increasingly involved and dramatic. Like Keith Zuma Picks Fine Artist As Energy Minister Jarrett, Taylor is a fountain of digital illuminations with the feel for winENEDICT Martins has been appointed Energy Minister of South Africa. The ing dynamics and tension. But former Transport Minister is swapping roles with Dipuo Peters, who then unlike Jarrett, he is rarely wasteful becomes Transport Minister as President Jacob Zuma announced a cabinet or redundant, and never condereshuffle on July 9, 2013. Martins, a practicing artist, poet, activist and a scending. Nor does Taylor, his poli- member of the African National Congress (ANC), served as Deputy Minister tics notwithstanding, make music of Public Enterprises until June 2012. His works of art form part of the perfor the masses. If he communicates, manent art collection of the Killie Campbell Collection of the University of it is in spite of his creation, and if Kwa Zulu Natal, the Pretoria and Johannesburg Art Galleries, as well as that we listen, it is in spite of our pre of numerous private collections. The expectations are high for the painter conceptions. whose predecessor, is deemed one of the top performing ministers in Taylor is a classicist and visionary, President Zuma’s cabinet. Peters superintended the delivery of the first probably the most advanced pianist phase of the country’s Renewable Energy Roadmap, which saw some $5.5bn of our times, regardless of idioms. invested in renewable energy in the country in 2012, up from less than Miss him or reject him if you will, if $100Million in 2011, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance this generation refuses to appreci- research group. South Africa had the biggest annual clean energy investate the significance of his delving, ment growth rate in the world in 2012, bettering countries like South Korea your children will certainly inherit and China and Japan.

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

SUNDAYMAGAZINE 31

MOVIEDOM

BY SHAIBU HUSSEINI

shaibu70@yahoo.com

Around and about Nollywood...

FIVE-OFIVE With Chioma Udeh Founder and Director of the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Chioma Udeh, speaks on the 2013 edition with Moviedom.

How is it going so far and what are your expectations?

Well, preparations for the festival are going great and better; we have already put together a professional team that is handling all the planning. We are looking at delivering an integrated festival with more African countries coming on board. We have planned for this year larger scale training and we are working with the state to include cultural excursions for people to see the tourist attractions of the state and of course there will be after parties as we are known for our fabulous parties. I think we will deliver extensively this year. Recall that we had Rockmond Dunbar and Malcolm Jamal Warner for the first edition and also had Lynn Withfield and Tichina Anorld for the second edition. We have a surprise guest for this edition.

From Port Harcourt, then to Lagos and now Calabar, is this like a travelling festival?

No, it’s not taking the form of a travelling festival. It now has a home in Calabar.

And in terms of challenges, I would say it is sponsorship. But it is evolving because we are lucky to have a President who has given good credence and recognition to the film industry. Corporate bodies are now beginning to get involved AFRIFF was in Durban for the film festival?

Yes we were. We sent a team, and it is all

in line with our desire to have an enlarged media and public relations’ scope and presence. We are going to other film festivals around the world to keep the awareness alive and out there.

We have also appointed an American ambassador for North America — Lynn Withfield — and a Nigerian for the African ambassador — Rita Dominic. We are keeping the awareness out and going.

Award (AMAA) for short film, has been awarded the ‘ARTE International Award’ to the value of €6000. Black Sunshine is co-produced by Julio Chavezmontes and Angele Diabang (Ghana). Also Solidarity, a film directed by Rungano Nyoni, the Zambian filmmaker, whose Mwanza The Great was nominated for the 2011 edition of AMAA was given the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) award for a producer to attend 2013’s ‘No Borders International Co-Production Market’ in New York, USA. Solidarity was produced by Juliette And now it is in November, it is usually Grandmont (Zambia). The awards were in December? announced at the Finance Forum Awards of We have always started in November, the 4th Durban Filmmart held as part of the but this year, we have to slightly move 34th Durban Filmfest, which ended today. the date backward (Novermber 10 to 17). However, the 4th Durban FilmMart 2013, the We are now home to the tourist futuris- co-production programme between the tic state — Cross River State, which has a Durban Film Office (DFO) and the Durban packed calendar all year round. The idea International Film Festival (DIFF), held is to launch into something else in the between 19 to 22 July. The other award recipistate after the festival. ents announced include, the International What is the line up this year in terms of Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA) films in and out of competition? award to attend IDFA 2013 for ‘Most Promising Well, it is yet too early to put all that Documentary Project’ to Blindness (Kom Haal My) information out, but we are proud to directed by Sarah Ping Nie Jones and protell you that Half of a Yellow Sun will pre- duced by Jean Meeran (South Africa), Paris miere at AFRIFF. It was partly shot in Cinema, ‘Paris Project Award’ to attend Paris Calabar and it’s so far, the biggest budg- Project at the Paris Cinema International Film et film from the country. It is the filmic Festival, went to Blindness (Kom Haal My), adaptation of a book written by directed by Sarah Ping Nie Jones (and proChimamanda Adichie. It will open Film duced by Jean Meeran) (South Africa). Also two for the festival this year. development grants of €2,500 each from WorldView went to Unearthed, directed

by Jolynn Minnaar and produced by Dylan Voogt (South Africa) and Talent Campus Owosu, Nyoni win big Durban/Doc Station project Parole Camp at Durban Filmfest directed by Maanda Ntfandeni (South Africa).

The Your WorldView Online Short Film LACK Sunshine, a film directed by Akosua Adoma Owosu, the Ghanaian- Challenge prize of £1,000 was awarded to Freetown Home from Sierra Leone while born filmmaker, whose Kwaku Ananse, Videovision Entertainment’s award for ‘Best won the 2013 African Movie Academy South African Film Project’ valued at R75 000

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Udeh went to Five Fingers for Marseilles, directed and produced by Michael Matthews and written and co-produced by Sean Drummond (South Africa). “It has been a robust market this year, with over 200 meetings taking place with official DFM projects.” says Toni Monty of the Durban Film Office. “We are really grateful to our partners and sponsors for the valuable contributions they have made to engaging with the film-makers.”

When Sewa’s Crystal Slipper turns gold

By Gregory Austin Nwakunor LOT can happen when a man becomes too patronising. That seems the simple plot of the fresh, fun and totally absorbing drama called The Crystal Slipper, a new play put together by The Thespian Family Theatre, which was performed at the Agip Recital Hall of Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, last Sunday.

Described as ‘tales from yesteryears’ by the group, it is a popular story projected in a contemporary Nigerian setting with intriguing twists. In the play, which an art critic described as ‘star studded and must-watch’, love and compassion resonate.

Though the central character, Adesewa (Adesua Etomi), has lost her mother, the only world she knows is one of beauty, love and the joy of being the centre of her father’s attention.

Her father (Gideon Okeke) decides to remarry; and for Sewa, that should be the crown of her joy. Her world would be once again complete: A loving father, a happy home, and now, a mother that she had always longed for… However, Sewa gets much more than she bargained for!

However, Sewa’s stepmother (Shafi Akinrimisi) and stepsisters (Florence Okechukwu and Lala Akindoju) turn her to their slave, using her to do every conceivable and not conceivable act. They almost sell her out I an arranged marriage.

The moment of anagnorisis comes when Sewa’s father comes back from the US, where he’s been doing his business for two years. He saves situation for Sewa and also, redefines the course of his wife and stepchildren, who are on vengeful and destructive mission.

The play runs for 90 minutes and is greatly enriched with drama, choreography and song that usually characterised plays by the group. It transports the audiences’ feelings through a personal experience of suspense, humour and delight.

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The sentimental music, sometimes, incidental, gets the audience into the mood by seating them enraptured. It’s one play that the audience soaks up the ambiance.

There’s an interactive fun.

Directed by Abiola Segun-Williams, the drama is such that the audience gets immersed: The subplot. Theme. The movement. The characterisation.

The director does a good job keeping the cast moving and talking, and sometimes, remaining frozen in tableaux.

Though across Europe and America, theatre companies are experimenting with shows that get audiences out of the theatre to stores, bars and roadsides, in the play, André Antoine’s ‘fourth wall’ is broken.

Action is everywhere. Stage. Apron.

Auditorium. Orchestra pit. Even right at your feet. They are scattered to give audience room to feel the drama in its entirety. But not to worry, it is not one that herds audience about for constantly morphing stages. The multi-dimensional staging helps the admirable objectivity of the play.

Van Vicker plays the musical artiste, who turns out to be icing on the cake. His character brings swagger to a production that is total theatre — A mixed media: music, dance, drama, cinema and speech.

The producers of The Five Maids of Fadaka and Mad King of Ijudiya, which were performed last year with unprecedented turnout of theatre enthusiasts, have added more than a notch to their credentials.

The group’s theme for the year, Theatre Unusual, could not have been more apt, given its early bird celeouting at thebration of World Theatre Day, in March, and organisation of The Nigeria of my Dreams, which was staged to commemorate this year’s Children Day celebration at Terra Kulture.

Other programmes lined up for the year include an exciting edu-taining TV reality

A scene from the play

show tagged, Stage It and The Best of Thespian, which will feature a repeat of Mad King of Ijudiya, Five Maids of Fadaka and The Crystal Slipper.

Ayo Jaiyesimi, a human resources practitioner and chartered accountant together with other professional colleagues who are passionate about Nigeria, community and the Arts, created the Thespian Family Theatre and Productions.

It is an organ of SPIIN (Societal Positive Impact Initiative), and has the aim of: Promoting the rich cultural diversity within the country, Creating a feeling of oneness amongst Nigerians in spite of the diversity of tribe, culture and language, Discovering talents and ultimately exposing them to recognition, Providing opportunities for greater family bonding by providing more recreational opportunities for family units, Recapturing the glitz of the stage and Promoting values in young people and indeed the whole family.

Through stage productions, movies, radio programmes and talk shows the group assists imparting an appreciation of the rich cultural heritage of the country, good behavioural values and also foster thoughts of oneness, in spite of the diversity in the Nigerian culture.

“We see theatre as a great tool for reformation and community work. As Nigeria moves towards closing the chapter on the first 100 years of its existence as a country, we believe that it is time for the Theatre Arts to take its place in providing wholesome entertainment and also support a cause,” the group notes in a statement to announce the play, which was also stage yesterday. “This year even as we provide opportunities for greater family bonding and relaxation, it is important to note that we are supporting the creation of awareness of Asthma among children in Africa by partnering with OMF (a foundation established to create awareness of this ailment in children and how to manage it).”

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28,

32 |

PERSPECTIVES

Elias, Timi The Law, Nwabueze Et Al And The Rule Of Law In Nigeria

By Dr.Tunji Olaopa

We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape, till custom make it Their perch and not their terror William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

AROLINE Kennedy, daughter of JFK, is credC ited with the remark that “the bedrock of our democracy is the rule of law and that means we have to have an independent judiciary, judges who can make decisions independent of the political winds that are blowing.”

Although she speaks of the judicial character of the American socio-political space, yet she captures the core of the global reverence for democratic governance. Most nations today are sold on the exigency of democracy guided by a constitutional framework as the best form of governance arrangement for arresting the scourge of political disorder. Yet, we are not far from the spectre of political anarchy in Africa. It is not difficult to note that in the last five decades of political independence, the growth of many African countries has been stunted by political winds that have been aggravated especially by unwholesome judicial processes.

The history of the evolution of the Nigerian state is a deep lesson in a permanent possibility of anarchy due to our multi-ethnic, multilinguistic and multi-religious background.

And, like every other plural nations, that constant possibility of political chaos is offset by the capacity of the Constitution to keep centrifugal forces in check. A democratic state is therefore a state whose first condition is the enthronement of constitutionalism, which elevates the rule of law to the magisterial status of a leviathan. And, hence, we arrive at the significance of lawyers/jurists and judges. If the lawyers are the gatekeepers who ensure that national peace is never compromised, then for Alexis de Tocqueville, “I cannot believe that a republic could subsist if the influence of the lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power of the people.”

It therefore becomes interesting to interrogate the contributions of those we can call the public lawyers in Nigeria who have constantly guarded the margins of the Nigerian Constitution from being invaded by the forces of political darkness. And I have in mind the evergreen names of the legal aristocratic trio: Taslim Olawale Elias, Frederick Rotimi Williams and Professor Ben Nwabueze. These men are outstanding representatives of a rich family of legal minds in Nigeria after the pioneering foray of Christopher Sapara Williams, the first Nigerian to be called to the English Bar by the Inner Temple on November 17, 1879.

The trio are here celebrated because of the indefatigable pledge of their track to the pursuit of justice, equity and the rule of law; principles that are appropriate to Nigeria’s continuous march towards freedom, progress and the welfare of the Nigerian people. Nigeria’s legislative paradigm owe a lot to the critical and legal insights of these progressive judicial stalwarts who understood that the socio-political aspirations of a state needed to fly on the wings of sound legal doctrines and an undiminished avowal of the principles of egalitarianism and liberty.

Like most first generation legal persons in Nigeria, Rotimi Williams, Taslim Elias and Ben Nwabueze began their legal career under the shadow of the British legal system, but Elias came away from that experience with the urgent desire to rethink the anthropological and cultural basis of African and Nigerian law as one of the first steps for a postcolonial and independent nation-state. He was not a radical but a reformer. However, like Williams and Nwabueze, he was also therefore instrumental in crafting a legal framework that would appropriately mediate the founding and operation of the national project that would make

of many different people a united nation. As the Chief Justice of the Federation, he faced the herculean task of overseeing the modernisation of the laws by which an otherwise differentiated people would live in harmony with one another. Much like Rotimi’s interventions as attorney general and Queen’s Counsel in the 1950s, Elias involvements in the military government was a bulwark against the totalitarian abuse, and the arbitrary discharge, of state power.

Elias became a Queen’s Counsel in 1961 and should really take the credit for laying the institutional foundation for administration of justice in Nigeria in the Federal Ministry of Justice. He was the inspiration and architect of many other institutions as the Nigerian Law School, the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, to name just a few.

When Elias became the President of the International Court at The Hague, he brought an international visibility to the Nigerian legal framework he had worked so hard to bring to global standard. He was succeeded in this regard by similar inspiring efforts of Professor Ben Nwabueze who, as an academic, was a member of the Senate at the University of Lagos, University of Dar-esSalaam, University of Nairobi, Haile Selassie University, Ethiopia, University of Lesotho, Botswana and so on. As the first academic Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Prof. Nwabueze brought a huge theoretical insight to Nigeria’s constitutional development. His Constitutionalism in the Emergent States serves as a democratic legal blueprint that continues Elias’ efforts into the possibility of a modern legal framework in Nigeria around which the rehabilitation of the national project can be constructed.

Prof. Ben Nwabueze has published over thirty books and treatises. These include The Machinery of Justice in Nigeria; Constitutional Law of the Nigerian Republic; Nigeria’s Presidential Constitution and A Constitutional History of Nigeria. He is also the author of over two hundred articles in academic journals and more than one hundred keynotes at local and international conferences, amongst others. His autobiography is an insight into this remarkable man whose patriotic instincts continue to be visible.

Relatively recently, he has continued to make his singularly cerebral inputs into critical issues of state such as the state of emergency declared in Plateau State. He is perhaps the only Nigerian whose works are the sum of the evolution and content of the Nigerian Constitution.

Rotimi Williams’ legal influence looms very large within the context of specific interventions in the legal evolution of the Nigerian judicial system. As the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria, having become the first African to be appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1958, his participation in the Constitutional Drafting Committee was a forerunner to the effort of Ben Nwabueze. Though not an academic in the real sense of the word, yet many lawyers in Nigeria had the privilege of drinking from his river of legal knowledge and his pool of mentorship. Many of the cases he arbitrated have not only become part of the legal precedents that are the staple of young lawyers today, but they are equally part of the legal dynamics that shaped the coming to being of the Nigerian nation.

Although Chief Williams was sometimes accused of being too conservative in his practice of law, his stoic defence of two journalists employed by the Guardian newspaper, Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson before a tribunal in what became known as “The Decree Four Trial” would appear to derogate from this allegation. The decree in issue was the misleadingly named Public Officers (Protection Against False Accusation) Decree No. 4 of 1984. The journalists were charged before the tribunal for contravening section 1 of the Decree. The

Elias

Timi

Nwabueze

Guardian went before the Lagos High Court to seek an interpretation of the Decree: did it create one offence of false statements simpliciter or two offences including ridiculing a public officer or a government? Chief Williams for The Guardian urged the golden rule of interpretation as it would be absurd for the Decree to criminalise every false statement. While striking out the suit for lack of jurisdiction which, he admitted, had been ousted, Adefarasin, J. found that Section 1 created two offences and that the truth of the report complained of may be irrelevant given the provisions of the section.

Regardless, the genius in the intricately conjured arguments was all too apparent.

These legal musketeers were first united in their concern for a legal framework that would energise the national project as well as transform society around a constitutional provision that would calibrate a positive change through a principled insistence on the rule of law and the essentialities of a just society. It is always said that the law is an ass.

Yet, these legal luminaries attempted to put in place a sound judicial system that would truly become a beacon of equity and the hope of the common man. Their collective efforts inspired a generation of such constitutional and human rights lawyers like Gani Fawehinmi, Olisa Agbakoba, and many other sung and unsung members of the radical school of Nigerian jurisprudence, who deserve a separate tribute as their celebration in their own right.

Elias, Williams and Nwabueze bear witness to the urgent fact that Nigeria needs to drive its developmental agenda through its judicial armaments and constitutional structures. It is our commitment to law and justice that will give meaning to every policy and initiative of government in its interaction with the people. For, as former President Olusegun Obasanjo notes: “...the true force which propels our endless political disputes, our constant struggles for political advantage, is often not our burning concern for democracy; it is often of our dedication to the principle of the rule of law.” And for the rule of law to remain cardinal to the Nigerian project, the country certainly requires the legal intellections of men with a just conscience, like Elias, Williams and Professor Ben Nwabueze.

The combination of their scholarship and legal soundness testify to the necessity of the relationship between the evolving national project in Nigeria and the requirement of a constitutional framework sound enough to resist anarchic forces of dissonance. There is therefore no better season to realise that a porous judiciary is a doomed burden on the nation’s shoulder of growth and sustainable development. So, to return to Shakespeare, we can be rest assured that when the successive generations of lords and justices of Nigerian courts follow in the steps of these men of conscience, the country will not make a scarecrow of Nigeria’s law since they understand how critical it is to nation-building.

To Funke Aboyade, SAN Of Practice And The Pen THIS piece would not be complete without a word of deep congratulations to my sister; my aburo, and the daughter of my teacher and mentor, Ms. Funke Aboyade. What is significant about this brand new SAN is essentially that she is a worthy scion of a man who was a thoroughbred professional all his life.

We can only speculate about the pride Oje must feel if he had been alive to witness his daughter’s professional triumph and induction into the hall of legal fame. There must be something always to refresh and attest to the fecundity of the good old Awe gene after all!

Funke, congratulations and three ‘gbosas’ to you. It’s washable!

Olaopa is Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Abuja. tolaopa2003@gmail.com

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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PERSPECTIVES

Chike Obi And The Triadic Values Of Nation Building Dr.Tunji Olaopa N the month of July of 2013, Nigeria hosted mathematical scientists from all over Africa and the world in Abuja for the Pan-African Congress of Mathematicians. Aptly themed “Contemporary developments in the mathematical sciences as tools for scientific and technological transformation of Africa,” the forum was a remarkable tribute to the response by the present government to the demands of the essence of science and technology to modern exigencies. Yet, the foundation for the insistence on the scientific and technological revolution of Nigeria was laid elsewhere, and by a host of intellectual-heroes of which Emeritus Professor Chike Obi—father, mathematician, academic and politician occupies a preeminent status. An Ibo man born in the ancient city of Zaria in Northern Nigeria, who gave his two sons names from other cultures in Nigeria, Professor Obi’s detribalised stance underscores his commitment to the nation’s march towards unity and national development. An intellectual-icon who not only confronted the trajectory of the Nigerian Project through his professional affectations, but who also made himself available to redirect its course and contradictions, Professor Obi contributed to national development through his profound erudition in Mathematics, and visionary insights in legislative governance.

A Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, the world acclaimed scholar who won the Ecklund Prize from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics for original work in Differential Equations, and for groundbreaking works in mathematics in Africa, earned his doctoral degree in 1950, specialising in Non-linear Differential Equations at the Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, England. This was at a time when many African countries were still within the hegemonic grips of colonialism, yet like other statesmen before him—Azikiwe, Awolowo, Enahoro, Ikoku—Chike Obi was indefatigably dedicated to the ethos of national emancipation and harmonious existence.

What motivated Prof. Obi into the dazzling and bewildering depth of mathematical scholar-

I

ship where even angels fear to tread? The answer is not far-fetched. Great scholars and philosophers like Archimedes, Pythagoras, Euclid, Newton, Bertrand Russell, Gottlob Frege, Max Planck, and Fermat and others all believed that mathematics, and especially its concern with structures, space, patterns and numbers constitutes a theoretical means for achieving a viable model of the structure of reality and the universe. Thus, mathematicians work strenuously for insights that would enable us to penetrate into the veiled package of Providence. This is because most mathematicians believe that God created the world with arithmetic. Chike Obi comes from this optimistic stock of great mathematicians who take genuine delight in communicating with nature. For instance, Chike Obi wasn’t left out of the great mathematical puzzle of the last 361 years concocted by the 17th century French mathematician, Pierre de Fermat.

Known as Fermat’s Last Theorem, it states: “xn + yn = zn; where x, y, z and n are positive integers and has no solution if n is greater than two”.

However, what distinguishes Chike Obi from the stock of these great mathematicians goes beyond the delight in interrogating nature and her secrets. His distinguishing factor is that he is a Nigerian. And being a Nigerian places an imperative on his scholarship: How does mathematics impact the national project in Nigeria? Chike Obi’s response to this question is glaring from his intellectual and political advocacy so much so that his place in nation building is unmistakably evident. My generation grew Chike Obi’s name in our consciousness. It was even fashionable for parents to call their hardworking wards by his name in order to inspire them to more work and greater success. From elementary schools to university levels, Chike Obi’s name was synonymous with Mathematics, and it is for this reason that his contributions to the country’s development have earned him a place in Nigeria’s history books.

His consuming passion for the subject, dreaded today by many, led to the establishment of Nnana Institute for Scientific Studies, located

Obi in Onitsha, Anambra State, to encourage research efforts, among other things, into mathematical principles and to catalyse his dream of a “scientific technological revolution in Nigeria”. This dream is meant to impress on the Nigerian leadership the fact that the wellbeing and socio-economy of modern nations consists in their capacity to harness their intellectual capital in a consistent and determined effort to transcend their various challenges and move into new vistas of progress and possibilities, especially with regards to harvesting what nature has deposited into our national space. If Providence has so blessed Nigeria, what is left is a leadership that is sensitive to the dynamics of human capital management for national progress. His perception of this leadership deficit motivated Chike Obi into political activism and commentaries which enabled him to mobilise his scholarly vision and critical understanding to mitigate the vagaries of his socio-political contexts and rehabilitate the Nigerian society.

Scientific innovation and technological development, for Prof. Obi, constitute the baseline by which any nation on earth can achieve

development. This is because, as Benjamin Pierce, the American mathematician, affirms, “mathematics is the science which draws necessary conclusions.” Such conclusions become the basis on which national infrastructural and socio-economic progress can be mapped.

The validity of this insistence is affirmed by the recent infrastructural and socio-economic development and growth witnessed in East Asia. The Asian Tigers, the BRIC states are one with the first-world, which understands the pragmatism and wisdom of deliberate investment in a nation’s intellectual capital, with particular focus on mathematical sciences. As far back as the 1970s, Jawaharlal Nehru, former Indian’s Prime Minister, was of the view that mathematics was central to national development. For him, “Science and Technology capabilities represent the major difference in the developed and the developing world.”

If, as Nehru advocated, science has a predominant role if we must “solve the problems of hunger, poverty and literacy, of superstition and deadening custom and vast resources running to waste, of rich country inhabited by starving people,” then for Prof. Chike Obi, there is no nation, not least Nigeria, that can experience significant growth and sustainable development without inscribing scientific and technological innovation into its national project as a paradigm and a process in the dynamics of its development and change management. It is then that the question of scientific transformation of Nigeria’s development framework can be best answered by its scientists and intellectuals.

Professor Chike Obi, together with other scientists of his age, compels us to take very seriously Henri Poincare’s view that “Mathematical discoveries, small or great are never born of spontaneous generation. They always presuppose a soil seeded with preliminary knowledge and well prepared by labour, both conscious and subconscious,” and since these discoveries are germane to the processes of nation building, we cannot but give mathematical sciences the deserved pedagogical attention needed, for this is imperative in our present efforts to annihilate the demons of our mal-development.

Obi’s legacy is a tried and tested triad of global scholarship, perceptive patriotism and committed politicking. Since mathematical equations last for eternity, then Obi’s political commitment speaks to the need to urgently domesticate these equations for national rehabilitation. That is the only true test of scholarship in the context of a developing nation. And within that context, the immortality of Prof.

Chike Obi is already assured within the hallowed hall of national heroes as well as the quadratic equations of his beloved mathematics.

Olaopa is Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Abuja. tolaopa2003@gmail.com

NCAA: Unveiling A Bill Of Rights For Air Passengers

By Yakubu Dati THE sweeping reform in the aviation sector is indeed changing the perception of the people about government. In a conversation I had with a group of people traveling through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, last week, I can say that the Aviation Ministry has become a signpost for measuring the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. As we got down to discussion about the state of the nation, the aviation sector continued to pop-up as a good example.

We had several arguments and agreements about the work of each of the ministries and agencies and how that is affecting the lives of the people positively. And as we couldn’t move away from the Aviation sector, we began to dissect the work being done and its importance for the future of Nigeria. We all agreed that the leadership of the Aviation Ministry is committed to a genuine reform and passionate about it. Perhaps the array of men and women leading the agencies under the aviation ministry gives a strong statement about the ministry’s commitment to a genuine reform.

One of such agencies is the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) under the leadership of Captain Folayele Akinkuotu. Agency like NCAA is a very critical part of the Aviation Ministry and that makes it a centre point in aviation regulation in the country and else-

where in the world where a similar agency operates.

Though Akinkuotu assumed the leadership of NCAA not too long ago, the fact that he has been around in the sector helped him to hit the ground running. He indeed knows what to do and where to touch to bring human face into the aviation reform. He knows how painful it can be for passengers when they are cheated by the airlines and no one is responding to them. He’s aware that the problem has been there for decades and that Nigerians have resigned to fate about it. At the airports, passengers dare not be sure of when they will arrive at their destinations. Circumstances have forced many to make provisions for disappointments, which have practically become the rules rather than the exception.

Many passengers leave the airports dejected on a daily basis because they arrive with their luggage left behind.

The Consumer Protection Unit of the agency (NCAA) he leads receives no less than 50,000 complaints from passengers badly treated by local and international airlines. The complaints relate to lost baggage, poor in-flight service, flight delays and cancellations, amongst others.

So when he was appointed he called for the Passengers’ Bill of Rights. He looked into it and pronto moved to work for its full-scale implementation.

And though the full enforcement of the Passengers’ Bill of Rights will begin this week,

it has started to yield fruits because authorities have been taken proactive steps ahead of time to help Nigerians get justice. For instance some passengers were denied boarding due O/S on FLT BA082/14 JUL ABV-LHR and denied boarding compensation was issued at GBP250 to each of the 9 passengers. They are: Atsiangba H, Apollo A, Apollo J, Apollo D, Esinkuma F, Disu M, Egole A, Okogwu C, and Odeka C. Also a passenger by name Salihu Abdul Buba who flew on Ethiopian airline in Feb 2012 was refunded the sum of N126, 106, which he paid for oxygen that was not utilized and the airline was not willing to refund till the intervention of the Consumer Protection Department of the NCAA. He was paid on the 29th of June 2013 according to reports.

So as a result of the inconveniences to passengers occasioned by flight delay, the new NCAA Bill of Rights provides that whenever an airline anticipates a delay of its flight beyond its scheduled time, passengers are entitled to some reliefs. For delay beyond one hour, the airline must provide refreshment, telephone call, SMS or e-mail to the passengers. In case of a delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier must reimburse passengers the full value of their tickets.

In instances where the delay occurs between 10pm and 4am, the airline henceforth must provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, sms, e-mail and transport to and from the airport.

International passengers with delayed flights for between two and four hours are entitled to refreshment and two telephone calls, sms or email. Delay of four hours or more makes an airline liable to provide the passengers with a meal; two telephone calls, sms or e-mail. For delays at least six hours after the time of original departure, each passenger is entitled to hotel accommodation and transportation between the airport and place of accommodation.

The measure is aimed at checking rights violations by domestic and foreign carriers and already domestic carriers are jittery over the implementation of the new aviation law that is expected to checkmate gross violation of passengers’ rights that has been on over the years. Now, for boarding priority, every airline is mandated to establish priority procedures and criteria for determining which passengers holding confirmed ticket shall be denied boarding on the over-booked flight if insufficient numbers of volunteers come forward. If denied boarding involuntarily, the operating airline shall immediately compensate the passengers and offer assistance stipulated in the bill.

There is so much in this bill that now makes air travelers the king in Nigeria and that make it important for everyone to become familiar with the Passengers’ Bill of Rights.

Dati is the Coordinating General Manager, information and Communications of Aviation Parastatals.

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday July 28, 2013

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NEWSFEATURE The Confusion In Blood Transfusion

Blood transfusion in surgery, a critical factor for health

Inadequate Modern Equipment, Ill-trained Manpower Create Fresh Challenges

By Chijioke Iremeka HE observable problem with transfusion medT icine in Nigeria and West African Sub-Region is the wastage of blood products due to absence of modern machines in collection, analysing and separating different component of blood products. This has obviously led to obvious shortage of blood within the region.

For paucity of modern equipments, many patients, who require only transfusion of plasma as a solution to their problems, are transfused with a whole blood, thereby wasting other blood components that could have been given to other patients.

Dr. Sulaimon Akanmu, a professor of Haematology and Blood Transfusion and Consultant Haematologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba confirmed that the dearth of laboratory equipment in the sub-region, especially in Nigeria has accounted for high wastage of blood components.

According to him, the transfusion of whole blood instead of red or white blood cells, as the case may be of a patient, due to inability of the country’s blood banks to make use of hi-tech machines to separate blood components has become a major problem and will continue until Nigeria develops the habit of volunteer blood donation and use of hi-tech equipments in the collection of blood.”

Blood transfusion is generally the process of receiving blood products into one’s circulation intravenously, which is used in a variety of medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood.

Early transfusions used whole blood due to lack of equipment to separate the red blood cells from other blood components, but modern medical practice commonly transfuses only components

of the blood required by a patient, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, clotting factors and platelets in place of the whole blood products.

Globally, around 85 million units of red blood cells are transfused in a given year. In cases, where patients have low levels of hemoglobin, parental iron is increasingly a preferred option based on both efficacy and safety. Other blood products are given where appropriate, such as clotting deficiencies.

The system of a whole blood transfusion instead of a required component puts pressure on the country’s blood banks, especially in their attempt to meet up with hospitals’ demand for blood during surgery and other sundy needs. This has obviously led to a number of programmes to motivate people to donate blood without financial incentives.

Sequel to this, government and non-governmental organisations have joined several professional bodies and instituted some agencies to ensure availability of blood products in the hospitals and their blood banks. Some of these bodies include National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS) programme, established in 2004 and National Blood Policy (NBP), revised in 2006.

These bodies are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring good supply of blood products within the hospital system and ensure that voluntary non-remunerated blood donors are available to forestall loss of lives emanating from shortage of blood or complete absence of blood in the system.

Recently, a key point that stood out at the Lagos inaugural meet of ECOWAS sub-regional group of Africa Society for Blood Transfusion (AfSBT) in Nigeria was commitment to ethical practice on safe donation, storage and

transfusion of blood in Africa.

Coming from all parts of the world, the scholars on transfusion medicine, who anchored different technical plenary presentations re-echoed ethical and standard practice on transfusion medicine with a view to keeping abreast of recent advances in the profession.

With the location of AfSBT-ECOWAS headquarter in Nigeria; the deep-seated challenges of the practice in Africa are positioned to be solved, especially with advocacy of issues to improve the sector. The idea of creating the sub-regional group was born at the group’s annual general meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, where it was discovered that regular meetings among the membership would bring about quality, safety and sufficiency of blood in Africa.

The Vice President of the body, Prof. Banjo Adewuyi noted that the body was constituted to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, offer opportunities for the discussion and presentation of research and development; exchange of information; act as a resource centre accessible to individual blood transfusion services or national governments; encourage regional collaborative programmes to deal with issues of manpower development, donor recruitment and blood safety.

In one of his functions, Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, stated that the immediate implication of not having blood and blood products readily available in the health facilities is unnecessary loss of lives, particularly for patients with acute blood loss due to accident or patients with obstetric emergencies, such as post partum haemorrhage, abruption placenta and ruptured uterus.

The minister noted that children also die from anaemia as a result of severe malaria infection. “We need to make blood available for the newborn, who requires blood transfusion to prevent cerebral palsy during neonatal jaundice. The government is in line with the World Wealth Organisation (WHO) to ensure central control of blood transfusion through the establishment of NBTS and NBP. He added that there are over 14 such centres operational in the country, comprising six zonal and eight states centres, adding that efforts are underway to transform NBTS into an independent National Blood Authority/Agency with the view to attaining the ultimate goal of sourcing every unit of blood to be transfused from volunteer blood donors.

A Ghanaian medical laboratory scientist and Technical Unit Head/Quality Manager, NBTS, Ghana, Mr. John Tetteh said there is need for training and education of the subregion to correct their impression that blood can be bought off the shelf in order for them to donate blood freely, stressing that education will make patients go to the neighbouring countries to buy blood, when the need arises.

Tetteh has no doubt that blood is the same everywhere, saying that a Nigerian can go to Ghana to get blood for transfusion. “Transfused blood does not stay in the body of the recipient for long. The body takes what it needs and others die away. So, this does affect originality or fear of contracting undesirable character traits. We need to donate blood irrespective of one’s country. By this we will have safe blood across west African sub-region.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

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THe GUArDIAN, Sunday July 28, 2013

NeWSFeATUre Challenge Of Inadequate Modern equipment And Poor Blood Products CONTINUED FROM PAGE 35 LOOD donation in Nigeria is opposite of B what obtains in the developed countries, where donations are usually anonymous to the recipients, but products in blood banks are always individually traceable through the whole cycle of donation, testing, separation into components, storage, and administration to the recipient.

This enables management and investigation of any suspected transfusion-related disease transmission or reaction. In developing countries, the donor is sometimes, specifically recruited by or for the recipient, typically a family member, and the donation occurs immediately before the transfusion.

Donated blood is usually subjected to processing to make suitable for use in specific patient populations. Collected blood is then separated into blood components by centrifugation: red blood cells, plasma, platelets, albumin protein, clotting factor concentrates and immunoglobulins among others. red cells, plasma and platelets can also be donated individually via a more complex process called aphaeresis.

All donated blood is tested for infections. The current protocol tests donated blood for HIV-1 & 2, HTLV-1 & 2, Hepatitis B & C, Syphilis and Chagas diseases among others. Platelet products are also tested for bacterial infections due to its higher inclination for contamination due to storage at room temperature.

Presence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) is also tested because of risk to certain immune-compromised recipients if given to those with organ transplant or HIV. However, not all blood is tested for CMV because only a certain amount of CMV-negative blood needs to be available to supply patient needs.

UT this is the point of contention between B the privately owned blood banks and government-owned blood banks. They seemed to have differed to some degree and as a result become the source of controversies between the duo. That is, accurate testing for the above listed transfusion infections.

The government hospitals try to blacklist the private blood banks as credible source of blood for transfusion, especially on the issue of testing, dating, typing, expiration, poor quality blood and others, where the private seemed to have compromised.

But Mr. Godwin Nze, a private blood banker, noted that the problem is not with all the private banks but has to do with unscrupulous profiteers, which could also be found among the public blood bankers.

But this are the reasons the teaching and government hospitals, NBTS and other groups choose to deal directly with government hospitals, disregarding the private banks. They believe that the private blood banks do not

Blood products

uphold the principles of ethical practice, as they are profit-oriented.

In Lagos for instance, there is a list of government hospitals, where blood could be purchased but there is no single private hospital or blood bank listed. The chief reason for not dealing with the private blood banks, include the fear of supplying poor quality of blood products.

Another point is the fact that the private blood banks recruit their donors on remuneration basis, and there is the fear of donating plasma in place of real blood. A previous donor is expected to stay off donation for the next six months but since they donate for money, they usually donate more than required times over a specified period. The blood is adjudged useless to the patients.

A lab attendant in one of the blood banks in Satellite Town confided in The Guardian that a particular student comes around to donate blood to their bank, every time he is dire need of money. “It doesn’t matter whether he has stayed up to the required period he should. And also affect their lives too but they will not know. This could lead them to more complex health problem.

“For instance, a donor, who donates for money, does that when he is in need of money, regardless of when he is due for another donation. He may have donated blood last month, and required to donate again after six months but the urgent need of money will push him to go in and donate again.

“This affects the quality of blood. Looking through the blood bag, plasma level might be 70 per cent, while blood content constitutes only 30 per cent, yet the product is transfused as blood. This is really bad and sometimes, it’s bought by a patient’s relatives but cannot be used.”

Also, there is the fear of selling expired products to the patients, as they would not want to lose the money they paid to their donors at the point of donation. This is the reason World Health Organisation (WHO) maintains that financial incentive or incentive that can easily be converted to money should not be considered during blood donation.

The Guardian gathered that most area boys usually go to both private and governmentowned blood banks to donate blood. It was gathered also, that some of the private centres alter the necessary information on the blood bags to suit the buyers. In some cases, it was alleged that some private centres usually erase expiry date on the blood bag and replace with current but misleading date.

Sometimes, they do not label the blood until a buyer comes.

At the Mushin gate of LUTH, some street boys are on standby, waiting for the relatives of the hospitalised patients, who seek blood donation on pay.

Screened blood bags

How Your Blood Can Save Lives ANY patients may benefit from a single M donation. Within eight hours of donation, a unit of blood can be processed into vari-

They are used to treat patients who have cancer or have undergone major surgery.

Platelets can be stored for only 5 days.

Plasma ous blood products to treat a variety of medical conditions.

Plasma is the fluid part of the blood. It is The main blood components are: used to treat burns and patients in shock. It Whole Blood can also be purified into a wide range of Whole blood is used to restore blood volume blood products such as Factor VII, albumin & whenever large amounts of blood have been antibodies. lost, for example, as a result of an accident, in- Cryoprecipitate jury or during surgery and childbirth.

Cryoprecipitate is a clotting protein, which red Blood Cells can be used to treat patients with blood clotred blood cells carry vital oxygen through ting disorders, such as haemophilia - an inthe body. They are used to treat patients suffer- herited bleeding disorder. ing from anaemia. every unit of donated blood goes through a Platelets series of tests for AIDS, Hepatitis and Syphilis.

Platelets are essential to prevent bleeding.

What To Know Before Donating Blood Before You Donate Blood . . .

Here will be times when your blood may be unsuitable for donation even though you feel well and healthy. Your blood may be carrying agents or viruses that can cause an infection in the recipient of your blood, which may result in serious or fatal consequences.

To help assess your suitability as a blood donor, you may be asked some personal questions regarding your health, travel and sexual history. All information should be kept confidential. This is to ensure that you are well enough to give blood and not at risk of getting any infectious disease. Thus, it is important for you to provide true and accurate information during your medical screening.

T

When You should not Donate Blood The following conditions make your blood unsuitable for donation : 1. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) HIV infection is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV I and II). The end stage of this is known as AIDS. HIV infection is spread through : Sexual contact with an infected person Sharing contaminated needles such as those used by intravenous drug abusers Transfusion of contaminated blood A HIV-infected pregnant woman to her unborn baby Most HIV-infected individuals may be unaware of their condition as they may appear and feel completely well. Laboratory tests would not be able to detect the HIV infection during the early stage, known as a ‘window period’ (the time interval between infection with HIV and its detection by currently available tests). As such, these individuals may still pass the virus to recipients of their blood.

It is therefore extremely important that those who may be exposed to the HIV virus do not donate blood even if their HIV test is negative.

Those who should not donate blood are : Persons with positive HIV test results or those with AIDS

Persons who have engaged in casual sex Persons who have sex with multiple partners Men who have had sex with other men Persons who have injected themselves with drugs Persons who are prostitutes Persons with symptoms suggestive of AIDS e.g. weight loss, swollen glands in the neck, armpits or groin, or persistent diarrhoea Persons who have had sex with anyone in these groups Hepatitis Hepatitis is a viral disease, which affects the liver and can be caused by various hepatitis viruses such as Hepatitis A, B and C. The symptoms for persons with Hepatitis include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), dark urine, right upper abdominal pain, fever, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting.

Those who should not donate blood are : Persons with Hepatitis A – you cannot donate blood for at least two years if diagnosis is confirmed. You cannot donate for 10 years if cause is uncertain.

Persons who have had Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C – you should not donate blood at all.

Those who are carriers for the virus should also not donate blood. Your blood tests will reveal if you are carrying the Hepatitis B or C virus.

Persons with close contact with a Hepatitisinfected person – you should wait 12 months before giving blood. You should inform your doctor about the contact.

All donors with family members who are known Hepatitis B carriers would have to undergo counseling and go for pre-vaccination screening and Hepatitis B vaccination if necessary.

Syphilis Persons who have had syphilis or any type of Venereal Disease (VD) or Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) should not donate blood.

Symptoms of such diseases include genital rash, ulcers or discharge, fever or swollen glands in the groin area.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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IBRUCENTRE

Women Should Be Empowered Not Because Of Gender, But Capacity — Sodipo small seed. So, the greatest landmark I could ascribe to this Church in the last 31 years is the number of churches that it has established, which means it has brought many people into the kingdom of God and that is a great achievement. It’s not a small thing and we give glory to God. Your views on discrimination against women holding leadership positions in churches Sincerely, people discriminating against women holding leadership positions in churches have not dug deep into the Bible.

We remember people like Deborah; the Bible says she was a Judge in Israel. The nation of Israel is like the African society, which is dominated by the male folks. But the things of God are so, because God chooses whom He wants; and it is not by power or might, but by the Spirit of God. So, if it pleases God to put His Spirit in a woman to acThe Journey so far NCIDENTALLY, I am the seventh pastor of this complish His purpose, so be it. If it church, and we are in July, the seventh pleases Him to month of the year, so, when you talk about put it in the perfection, which is what the number, seven heart of a signifies, I would say the church has come of age. The highest level any church can get to in man, so be Foursquare Gospel Church is the District Head- it, too. I do not think quarters because there is only one national headquarters, which is in Yaba, Lagos. With our 31st anniversary, and being inaugurated as a District, I can rightly say, we have come of age. I am also happy that apart from the late Pastor Akindele, the third pastor of the church, other pastors who had been in charge of the church before I came in 2009 are still alive and would be part of the celebration.

Significance of events About 12 Districts have been created within the Lagos axis. There are two in Ikorodu while Epe, Badagry, Agege, Sagamu and Abeokuta have one each. It’s just coincidental that we are having our anniversary and inauguration the same day, July 28, but the most wonderful thing is that we are delighted at the beautiful things the Lord has done.

About the theme The theme, Excellent Spirit, was taken from Daniel 3:3. When you talk about excellent spirit, you are talking about best performance, distinction or very extreme goodness. So, we believe this District will be an excellent one in Nigeria. We have already started teaching it, because excellence is one of the things that bring distinction and promotion in life. We also want our members to know that God is excellent. He created all things and said they were all good. So, we want to revisit this spirit.

However, I must point out that Ifo District covers about 40 churches, including Itori, Papalanto, Wasinmi, Abule-Oke, Ogungbade and others yet to take off within the area.

The corporate social responsibility of the Church Since I assumed duty as Senior Pastor, we have played significant role in the community. We gave out part of our land as a link road, contribute to community policing, carrying out a free eye treatment for people and sunk a borehole that provides water for the community. Every year, we organise Christmas party for all the children, where we give out different gifts to the children. We do these because the Church exists for the community; it is not a profit making body, it exists to meet the needs of its immediate environment, which is uppermost in our minds.

Achievements Part of our achievements is leadership development. From this church, we have raised District Overseers, Zonal Superintendents, great and committed leaders. This is actually the cradle of Foursquare Gospel Church in Sango-Ota District. Over 150 churches have diRev. Mrs. Sodipo rectly or indirectly come out of this

The Foursquare Gospel Church, Adenrele, Ifo, Ogun State, which today, is being inaugurated as District Headquarters Church, is also rounding-off activities marking its 31st anniversary, celebrations that started on Thursday, July 25. The Zonal Superintendent, Rev. Yetunde Oluwaseun Sodipo, the third female to be installed District Overseer in the church, spoke to GBENGA AKINFENWA on the event, challenges in a male dominated terrain and other national issues.

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that any human being is in position to say, ‘ God don’t use this vessel’ or ‘God, this is the vessel that you can use.’ Like I have always told people, I don’t believe in women liberation; I say it, because I am not under bondage. I don’t believe a woman should be put in a position because she is a woman; rather she should be put in a position because she has the capacity to deliver. I don’t hide those sentiments when you say let one woman too be there, I don’t believe in it. Women should be put in a position they have the capacity to deliver and not, just, because of their gender. I would also resist a situation where a woman has the capacity to deliver and she is not put in that position because she is a woman. So, to me I want to say that it is God that makes the choice of where to put one. The Foursquare Gospel Church coincidentally was started by a

woman, Aimee Semple McPherson. Even at the international convention that we just attended in Florida, the man of God that delivered the closing message said all the men in Foursquare must be eternally grateful to the women because God used them to start the church. I believe if God chooses anybody to do something, we should allow the person and not bring in sentiments.

Challenges Personally, I don’t have any challenge in the sense that I am passionate about the things I do. So, those things people considered as challenges, I see them as mere sacrifices that must be paid to achieve good results. The only thing I considered as a challenge at the initial stage was finding myself in a predominantly male dominated terrain, and they would want to say why is she talking? I have a wife and all that. But, I thank God that even the eldest among them still recognise me as Mother-inIsrael; they all cooperated with me and are still doing that till date.

Any hope for Nigeria Yes, great hope; I see hope, I see light at the end of the tunnel. The reason is that God still rules in the affairs of this country, He still answers our prayers. The prayers of the saints in this nation are still rising high and God is answering them. Secondly, in the little journeys I have made outside the shore of this country I have discovered that a typical Nigerian is a talented person. Nigerians are found in many universities in America, lecturing; so, there is hope, we just need to cross our ‘t’s and dot our ‘I’s and things would work. Sincerely, standing on the words of God, He said, ‘the glory of the latter house shall be more than the former.’ So, the glory of the latter house of Nigeria shall be greater than the former in Jesus’ name… Amen!

Solution to the crisis in Nigeria The solution is God. The answer to all the problems facing Nigeria is God. We should all return to God, serve Him in truth. Except the Lord builds a house those that builds it, do that in vain; except the Lord rules in the affairs of this nation, those that do that, do it in vain. If we don’t allow the Lord to rule, the crisis would not stop; but I thank God that He is ruling because if not for Him, we would have been thrown into war.

What the President must do President Jonathan should solve the power (electricity) problem. If this is solved, it would translate to affecting all other sectors of the nation. I am talking about the security, employment, education and all that.

Even this issue of power affects schools, businesses, the manufacturing sector and every aspect of lives in this nation. If he can do this, I believe this nation will rise to greatness.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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IBRUCENTRE

Sunday School The New Man (1)

... With Pastor Enoch Adeboye

Memory Verse: “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new crea- Genuine repentance and deep regret for sins committed is ture: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new,” one of the earliest sign of salvation in Christ, Mt. 21:28-32. It was 2 Corinthians 5:17. the clarion call of John the Baptist and one of the main themes in the teaching and preaching of Jesus Christ, Mt. 4:17. God comBible passages: Matthew 3:1-12; John 3:1-12. mands it, Acts 17:30. Repentance leads to hatred for sin and an Introduction OU are more than the total sum of your organs. The most im- irresistible desire for holiness and godly sorrow for past portant part of you is invisible. There is more to you than wrongs, Ps. 38:18, Lk. 18:13, Acts 26:18, This opens the door to God’s flesh, blood and bones. Your body is no more than an important pardon and the blotting out of past sins, Isa. 55:7, Acts 3:19. shell; your earthly tabernacle. In Christ, your spirit — the real Born again you — is renewed and you become ‘a new man.’ And have a new The new birth is the creation of a new life in man by the Holy Spirit, Jn. 3:5-6. Every man born of a woman is born unclean and heart. alienated from God, Job 25:4, Jer. 17:9. New birth takes us into Repentance the family of God, Rm. 3:2. The new man becomes sensitive to

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Osun Osogbo And Generational Curses (2)

By Gabriel Agbo HERE’S no hiding the fact that the goddess at Osogbo called T Osun belongs to the group of demonic principalities the Bible describes as the ‘Things under the earth.’ Yes, the word of God did not leave us in the dark concerning the hierarchy, residence, operations and the authorities of these operators of the kingdom of darkness. It begins from Satan, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and so on. Here, they are categorised according to their powers and influence. Osun belongs to the group of principalities. They are territorial spirits — fallen angels of immense power and influence — controlling vast land or water.

They always have choking control over the affairs of the people living in their territories.

As for residence, some operate from the air like the Queen of Heaven, others from the land, and then, those from the water like the Osun of Osogbo, Queen of the coasts, dragons, Leviathan,

etc. They go by different names, languages and manifestations across the globe. This is exactly what God spoke against in Exodus 20:4, “you shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: in the shape of birds or animals or fish. You shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them: for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Osun is a mermaid, which lives in the water, and the ‘fish’ as mentioned above well-represented it. Remember, the typical appearance of a mermaid is a beautiful woman with long hair and fish’s tail as legs.

But she is not limited by that, we have seen her worshiped as pythons, snakes, crocodiles, fishes, tortoise, eagles, birds, octopus and other creatures. She is worshiped through inanimate objects, images, mirror and others. She can also appear as ‘call girls’ or elegant ladies living and operating among humans or

Archbishop of Metropolitan See of Lagos, His Grace, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins (middle second row) flanked by eight ordained Priests at Saints Michael, Raphael and Gabriel Catholic Church, Satellite Town, Lagos… on July 13.

sin and it consequences, Rm. 6:23. The realisation that only Jesus can save us from sin comes clearly to the new man Jn. 1:12, Acts 4:12. He looks to the Lord for his salvation, Rm. 10:13. A desire for righteous living and hatred for sin becomes evident to all, I Jn. 2:29, I Jn. 3:9.

Conclusion Now that we have noted two outstanding qualities of the new man, decide today to be genuinely repentant and be saved. It will be easy, therefore, to become new according to the written Word, which became flesh and dwelt among men John 1:14.

possess humans. It all depends on her motive in a particular circumstance, which will always revolve around idolatry, destruction, contamination, seduction and immorality. In fact, anywhere you see sexual immorality; fornication, adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, pornography, amoral music, dances and writings, seduction, inordinate sexual urge, nudity and beauty pageant; especially, those ones that go half naked and seductive, that is the spirit at work.

I pity those men and women, who are in the habit of going to watch half-dressed woman in the name of beauty pageants; they can never escape the influence, control and possession of these dirty and contaminating immoral spirits. And under the control of these demons, they will be doing things that they, themselves, sometimes hate to do. These half-naked ladies and men and their musical and pornographic counterparts are direct agents of the mermaid spirits. They are strategically positioned and used to disseminate these very powerful, possessing and possessive, destructive sex demons. It also goes beyond that to actually have sex with humans (in the dreams and even physically). True! And all these most times lead to depression, failed marriages, debased character and onto crimes like rape, murder, abuses and even suicide. It has priests, priestesses, worshipers and shrines (known and hidden) all over the place. This is the operations of the mermaid spirits like Osun goddess in Osogbo.

The word of God also says that Satan; the dragon or leviathan, lives in the water. So, it’s like water is the headquarters of the satanic kingdom. Like we said, it will be very difficult to fully discuss the spirit of mermaid in articles or even in a single book, because its operation is, indeed, very vast and touches almost every part of our life. God hates idolatry. Sure, idolatry is the most grievous sin as far as God is concerned and it carries very heavy, difficult and terrible divine curses. We will list some of them in the next part.

Now, let me correct something here. I overheard a popular Nigerian musician Ara; the lady-drummer made the statement on a national TV network, last year September, talked about believing in the Almighty God and also in the deities like Osun (Osogbo river goddess), Ogun (god of iron?), Sango (god of thunder), Obatala and others, those she described are her ancestors as a Yoruba of the western part of Nigeria. She said she relates with the big God and the small gods. This is a very wrong belief. God Almighty is the creator of the heavens and earth; the maker and controller of all things. And He has told us how to reach and worship Him in the Bible, through Jesus Christ; His only begotten son. Then, the gods she mentioned and their likes are demonic principalities in the kingdom of darkness. They are branches of Satan. They are territorial spirits. Yes, God created them. They were once angels like Satan (Lucifer), but were cast down from heaven with their master after they rebelled against God’s headship. They are now referred to as fallen angels and demons and will also be judged and punished at the last day alongside all those they have deceived.

Rev. Agbo is of the Assemblies of God Nigeria. gabrielagbo@yahoo.com

The Unlimited Power Of God

By S.K. Abiara EFORE Jesus Christ went B to the cross, he authorised his disciples to perform signs and wonders as they go about preaching the gospel.

However, after his resurrection, he instructed them to wait in Jerusalem to be empowered. “But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,”Acts 1:8.

Holy Spirit is the carrier and the giver of God’s power. It

also emboldens one to witness Jesus Christ to the people with miracles, signs and wonders. Go into the entire world and preach the good news to everyone, everywhere. “These signs will accompany those who believe: they will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them.” Mark 16:16-18 Power is the ability to do things, whether by strength,

skill, resources or authorisation. According to the Bible

power may be broken into four categories: The unlimited power of God; the limited power God gives to His creatures; the power of God seen in Jesus Christ; and the power of God (by the Holy Spirit) in the lives of his people.

To get connected to the power of God, Jesus Christ in Mark 16:16, said one has to believe and be saved. There is power in being a child of God, however, you cannot become one except you believe. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to

them that believe on his name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”Jn.1:12-13.

You need God’s power to do so many things on earth; for instance if you want wealth, but do not want to get it through crooked means or other wicked ways you need to totally depend on the power of God. He demonstrated this in the lives of the children of Israel that was why He warned them to always remember their source, because this will prevent them from being puffy;

thinking it is by their strength. “Always remember that it is the Lord your God, who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors,” Deut. 8:18. The power of God gives true and lasting wealth to those that believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. To be continued!

Prophet Abiara, General Evangelist, Christ Apostolic Church ( C A C ) skabiaraofciem@yahoo.co.uk

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

IBRUCENTRE Springs Of Wisdom Excitement Of Apparition And Fight For Indigenisation Of Worship In Benin Catholic

By PASTOR W.F KUMUYI

From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City T was a bag of mixed fortunes for the Catholic Church in Edo State last week as an apparition, believed to be that of Jesus Christ, which appeared at St Paul Catholic Church on Airport Road Benin City, about three years ago, was also seen last Sunday at St Benedict Catholic Church, Ubiaja, Esan South-east local government council of Edo State although this time it was thought to be that of Mary.

Expectedly, the development caused a stir among people in the town including Catholic faithful, many of whom were experiencing the development for the first time.

Ironically, there seems to be an introduction of ethnic dimension into the Catholic Church, as prominent Benin chiefs and elders, some of who are not known Catholics called for the removal of the Archbishop of the Benin Metropolitan See, for not yielding to their call for the ‘indigenisation of worship process’ in Catholic churches across the ancient city.

Although this development has generated heated debate over what some people perceive to mean an introduction of Bini agenda into the church, it did not deter Catholic faithfuls from besieging the church in Ubiaja to catch a glimpse of the image, which as at last Tuesday was fading, leaving only an almost invisible shadowy image on the wall of the church.

The apparition drew pilgrims from within and outside the local government council with many of them thronging the church premises on Tuesday afternoon. While nonCatholics went to see the shadowy image, which appeared in a female form believed to be that of Holy Mary, members of the church were busy saying their prayers within the precinct of the image.

Catholics, especially women, adored the image spending hours daily to recite the rosary.

Some others, armed with the pictures of loved ones and their belongings, went to the church with the hope of receiving miracles. Though no miracle has been recorded so far, the faithful are still keeping vigilance hoping that a miracle will happen someday even as the image is rapidly vanishing from its location. Interestingly, attention has shifted from the church altar where the tabernacle stands to where the mysterious image stands.

Photographers from far and near are also making brisk business from the occurrence.

A copy costs N200, while Okada riders have converted the entrance of the church to a park where passengers can be easily picked because of the rush. Though some residents who spoke to The Guardian doubted the veracity of the said image, claiming it was faked, Assistant Priest of the church, Rev. Father Lawrence Ibhatiri said the apparition appears from time to time in different Catholic churches and holy places across the world.

Members of the Legion of Mary in the church immedi-

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ately mounted an altar beneath the image.

As at the time of filing this report, official statement from the diocesan administrator, Rev. Fr. John Akhidue was still being expected. It would be recalled that a similar incident happened on August 5 2010 at St Paul Catholic Church, along Airport Road, Benin City, which caused confusion in the state capital. Then, the incident had halted vehicular traffic along the busy Airport Road, as thousands of Catholic faithfuls and onlookers thronged the church to catch a glimpse of the appearance of a strange image believed to be that of Jesus Christ in a ‘Monstrance’ at the church’s sanctuary.

When The Guardian got to the main auditorium of the church, a faint image was observed in a gold plated circular object on the altar placed on a table with two linings of coloured lightings on both side. An anonymous worker in the church’s sanctuary said the image was an “expression of the blessed sacrament.

When sacrament is exposed, we usually see the white background in the gold plated object placed on the altar but since yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), we have been seeing Jesus’ form in the background, which is supposed to be white and it has been there till now though it is beginning to faint now.”

The assistant priest of the church, Rev. Father Chima Okosisi refused to make any official pronouncement on the strange development but simply said: “This is a strange development. It is unusual here though similar things have happened before in other places and we revered it.”

Meanwhile, the call for the removal of Akubueze heightened tension in the state capital to the extent that youths believed not to be Catholics and suspected to have been sponsored, attempted to disrupt the 6am mass last Sunday at the Holy Cross Cathedral, along Mission Road in the state capital.

They had arrived the church premises armed with dangerous weapons, a band and trumpets apparently to disrupt the service.

The Iyase of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe, addressing a press conference on behalf of the Edo Liturgical Group, said there was a deliberate attempt to scheme out Benin speaking priests by sending them abroad under the guise of training while replacing them with non-Benin priests.

While canvassing that a Bini Catholic priest should be installed as Archbishop

of the Dioceses, Igbe said the Binis could no longer tolerate a missionary that was not ready to listen to the voice of the people and papal directives on indigenous worship.

He lamented that of the 832 weekday masses in a year only 12 are conducted in Edo language.

“We have come to the inevitable decision that Akubueze cannot justifiably continue to remain as a shepherd of the Catholic church in Benin, a people he was forced upon and from whom he has so effectively distanced himself in a manner akin to the attitude of a maximum ruler.

Our people want him transferred from Benin and until the church heeds this advice, it will amount to self-deception to continue to believe that they can effectively prelate in Benin. We make bold to say that Akubueze as a pastor, is not close to the people of Benin, he is not a father or brother but a detached ruler.

He is not meek, patient and merciful. He is a complete antithesis of these required qualities,’’ he said.

They equally decried Akubueze’s disrespect of the Benin Monarch. They accused him of locking the door against some Benin Chiefs sent on a reconciliatory and peaceful mission by the Oba when against all odds and wishes of the people he was installed as the Archbishop of Benin Diocese.

“Because Archbishop Akubueze has exhibited hatred for the people of Benin and their language, he has to go and a Benin priest should be installed Bishop/Archbishop of our diocese.

The Guardian could not get any official response from the catholic Bishop’s court yesterday but it would be recalled that some priests of Benin extraction in the arch-diocese few weeks ago, differed from the position of the Edo Liturgical Group over allegation of discrimination against the use of Edo language in Catholic churches contrary to the Catholic Church policy.

Chairman of the Indigenous Catholic Bini Priests, Rev. Fr Felix Igbineweka in a press briefing had said Archbishop Augustine Akubueze, since his installation in the past two years, has demonstrated openness in all h i s deal-

ings and urged the aggrieved liturgical group and laities to toe the path of dialogue and peace, as the cleric remains the spiritual head and father of the faith in the archdiocese.

“We, the indigenous clergy, in the spirit of the year of faith, pledge our loyalty to His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Augustine Obiora Akubueze, the Archbishop of Benin City, and to the glory of God and good of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City. We commend his pastoral achievements within the past two years. We pray for peace and unity in the Archdiocese of Benin City. How good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell in unity.

“The church has always acknowledged the manifold gifts of the people of God to be utilised in carrying out her divine mandate. However, this should be done within the structures and strategies of the church with reference to the hierarchy.”

Meanwhile, former Chief Whip of the Senate, a devout Catholic, Rowland Owie and a Benin Priest, Pama Ikponmwonsa, disagreed with them and described the call as ungodly, retrogressive and diversionary, saying the Binis agree that the crisis was purely a religious matter and has nothing to do with tribe.

“Let anyone of them challenge me to a public debate on the stewardship of Archbishop Akubueze since his arrival.

Apart from Bishop Gbuji, the evangelisation efforts of Akubueze in Edo South, which is the Archdiocese of Benin, is unprecedented in the Catholic Church. We should learn to give honour to whom it is due,” Owie said.

He continued: “I do not blame the chiefs who are walking where Angels fear to tread, throwing stones at the consecrated ones of the Most High God. Is there any true believer of the Catholic faith who will take doctrinal and ecclesiastical matters for adjudication in a secular environment? The most painful wounds, the worst affronts, which the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Benin has received up till now, have come from her own children.”

The people are waiting to see how these issues will be resolved.

Wrong Ways To Get Rich N a world of economic downturn, wisdom demands Ifuture. that we must store something for the unpredictable We save while working, labouring to make money to take care of our needs. Actually, there is nothing wrong with being rich or wealthy. If there is, the Bible wouldn’t have told us that “the Lord thy God: it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” Many personalities in the Bible including Abraham, Isaac, Job, Joseph of Arimathea and others were rich and righteous. Riches or wealth are in themselves not sinful, otherwise the Lord will not given us the power to acquire it, nor encourage us to trust “in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” But the Scripture is clear in cautioning us against the love, misuse or abuse of money. It condemns in the starkest terms, people who acquire wealth by wicked means, usually through cheating and trampling on the rights of other people.

Persons such as Achan, Jezebel, Solomon, Judas Iscariot, Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives while runninging after money by hook and crooked means. Their fate is a lesson for those of us alive.

Those who oppress other people, cheat, steal, gamble, bribe, sacrifice to idols or engage in prostitution, ritual killings, kidnapping in the name of money, do so at the peril of their souls. Naturally, the rich do not think of misery or hardship while they wallow in stupendous wealth. They do not think of sickness or death because they believe that their money can buy anything. They are not just wrong, but misguided. For one, the Lord denounces ill-gotten wealth by those who oppress, afflict or destroy the poor to become rich or increase their riches. Such denunciation reverberates through the scriptures. In one instance, the Lord declared: “woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor in your houses.” In another instance, He fumed: “What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor?” The Lord demands that employers of labour should reflect on their dealings with their employees, as He cannot stomach the oppression of the poor under any circumstance. He has nothing, but sharp rebuke for oppressors of the poor. He warns them: “forasmuch your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you.”

The wealth of people in Bible days consisted of crops, grain, garment, gold and silver. The rich often stored these treasures to preserve their wealth. But sometimes they were ‘corrupted’, ‘moth-eaten’ or ‘cankered.’ Their rust was proof of how ephemeral and worthless earthly riches can be. How utterly foolish it is then to amass wealth, while all the time, rejecting God! “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings: they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.” The Lord says in another part of the scripture: “As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.” Every Christian must guard against covetousness. Though it is legitimate to acquire land or build houses, it should not be done at the expense of others. There is great judgment for those who oppress people to be rich. To live and enjoy the blessing of God, you must repent and separate yourself from such evil practices.

References: James 5:1-6; Deuteronomy 8:18; Proverbs 10:22; 1 Timothy 6:17; Isaiah 3:11,14, 15; Amos 5:11-15; 8:4-10; Proverbs 23:5; Jeremiah 17:11; 1 Timothy 6:9,10; (All scriptures are from Kings James Version).

Church Holds Revival HRIST Apostolic Church, C Mountain of Blessing Parish, will tomorrow begin its one-week revival programme with the title Power

As Of Old. Holding at its premises, Semiu Salimon Street, Ketu, along Badagry Expressway, Lagos, the progromme will end on Friday, August 2.

THe GUArDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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IBrUCeNTre

Why evil Forces Succeed In The Life Of A Believer (1)

By Seyi Ogunorunyika He fact that we are Christians does not mean the enemy will not attack us. In fact, being Christians is the reason we are subject of attack. The good point is that they are not supposed to prevail over us.

Why do evil forces succeed in the lives of believers?

Genesis 2:15-17 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it… but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Why did the attack against Adam and eve succeed? They disobeyed the commands of God. Let us relate it to our own lives today. Surely, we cannot stop the enemy from attacking us, but we certainly can stop them from succeeding.

Genesis 3:1-19, clearly states that Adam and eve were children of God, who were enjoying a good relationship with the Almighty.

God used to chat with them. He had demonstrated His love for them by making them in His own image. In Genesis 1:26-27, says “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

The Lord made all provision available for them. Along the line, God realised that Adam was not complete, so, He formed a woman to keep him company and to make his life perfect. God took one rib out of Adam to form eve, so the missing thing in Adam would be found in eve. This explains why you will notice that women have special attributes that men don’t have. This is the main reason you have to find your match in order to be

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complete. This is just to show you how wonderful, mindful, careful and loving God is towards each and every one of us using Adam and eve as examples.

One day, the serpent in the act of perpetrating its evil, took advantage of eve’s vulnerability and love for the things of the world, power and position. The serpent knew that if it was able to get the woman, getting the man would not be difficult. One thing we must understand is that God had forewarned them before this incident. For a believer, no evil will befall you without God warning you ahead of time, because nothing happens to us without the knowledge of God. This is why God will reveal to us through dreams and other sources, the impending danger the enemy is planning against us, so we can be careful.

If we heed His warnings, then the plans of the enemy will not succeed.

Adam and eve fell is as a result of ignorance — they were under the attack of the enemy, but they did not know. They misunderstood the motive behind what Satan was offering them.

They thought Satan was offering them an opportunity to gain power and knowledge like God; not knowing, He was attacking them. Be very careful when a spirit begins to minister to you against what God has already told you, no matter the picture that spirit tries to paint for you, just know it is setting you up. You will fall a victim of Satan when you ignore what God says.

Pastor Ogunorunyinka, General Overseer, The Promisedland Restoration Ministries, Surulere, Lagos. pastorseyiogunorunyinka@gmail.com

Living Waters

By Pastor Lazarus Muoka

God’s Wrath Is At Hand (2) “The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly,” Zeph. 1: 14. week, we highlighted that the day of the Lord is near.

LdayItASTisofthe day He will take vengeance on sinners. It shall be a trouble for sinners. I wish the wickedness of the wicked shall come to an end, so that, the anger of the Lord shall be averted.

Beloved, I don’t know the kind of life you are living, neither do I know if you have resolved to continue in the evil you are doing; however, I must let you know that, ‘it’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God,’ Heb. 10: 31. If any man plans to destroy you, God can deliver you, but if it is God that plans to destroy you, neither devil nor man can deliver you.

So, it is a fearful thing for anyone, who has despised God’s mercy and ignored this warning to fall into the wrath of God. Anyone that obstinately chooses to remain adamant to this warning is already a dead soul, because that day, in question, is for the total destruction of such stubborn souls.

Job 21: 29-30 says, “have ye not asked them that go by the way?

And do ye not know their tokens? That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.” If only the wicked (sinners) will restrain from their evil ways, this great day of trouble will be averted. Though, the wicked may prosper and have all the good things of live, yet it is not a proof that God loves him or her. He may flourish here, on earth, but on that day all he has will perish. It shall be a day to punish the wicked and reward the just.

The fact that men are not treated according to their character in this world is an evidence of the coming judgment, when everyone will be rewarded according to his works. But what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and lose his own soul? And what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? I appeal to everyone reading this text to flee from the wrath to come, choose the good part and obey God’s commandments.

Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” It may seem right for you to continue in evil acts such as robbery, kidnapping, abortion, adultery, homosexualism and prostitution; but understand that the end of that path is destruction.

GPA Holds Leadership Confab 2013 rACe Prevailing Ministries holds three-day leadership G conference at the church premises, 23, Alhaji Kosoko road, Berger Bus-Stop, Lagos, beginning from Wednesday,

The First Lady, President of African First Ladies Peace Mission & Grand Patron/Initiator of Women for Change and Development Initiative (W4CDI), Dame (Dr) Patience Jonathan, in a hand shake with Archbishop God-Do-Well, during the courtesy visit of Southsouth Bishops Forum (SSBF) in Abuja…recently.

August 28, through Friday, August 30, 2013. The programme has morning and evening sessions at 10am-1pm and 5pm8pm daily respectively. The chief host, Dr. Godwin Nwachukwu, said the conference is set apart for leaders, and restoring integrity in every areas of life. The event is expected to be attended by church leaders, captains of industries and aspiring leaders, among others.

Our Children Deserve Better Deal

By Gabriel Osu “Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to people like these.”

Matthew 19: 4 MINA was barely 12 years old when her parents gave her out in A marriage to a man fit to be her grandfather. She was to be his fifth wife since he already had four wives before her. The other wives, except one, were all in their early teens. He had married them before they clocked 18. It was the acceptable custom in their poverty stricken village. Here, the girl-child is considered a medium of commercial exchange. She is not allowed to catch a glimpse of the four walls of a school, less nursing any future aspiration. On the contrary, once her parents observe the slightest tinge of adolescence in her, she would be auctioned out to an elderly man in exchange for financial returns. The girl has no say about her fate. She must obey her parents, for it was a taboo to do otherwise. Unfortunately for little Amina, a year into her purported marriage, she died during the pang of pregnancy. Her frail body was just too tender to bear the burden of bringing forth another human life.

Countless of our children, like poor Amina, are being forced daily to their early grave through unholy marriage alliance.

Many of them are from poor homes, products of broken homes or just unfortunate to be the offspring of ignorant and greedy parents, who see nothing wrong in mortgaging the future of their innocent kids for a plate of porridge. Many at times, the progenitors’ of these retrogressive trend and their accomplices’ hide under the guises of culture and religion to perpetuate their selfish acts, without considering the after-effect of such on the fu-

ture wellbeing of their children. recently, Nigerians were once again treated to a theatrical display at the National Assembly following the move by some Senators to subtly legalise child marriage through an amendment of a sub-section of the nation’s constitution. They had smuggled in a clause that would bestow ‘immediate adulthood’ to underage children mortgaged into untimely marriage, even though the nation’s constitution clearly stresses that one is considered an adult on attaining the age of 18. Understandably, public outcry and wide condemnation greeted the move, which some considered sacrilegious.

It is unfortunate that our society is quickly losing its sense of moral decency. Unfortunately also, some of our leaders appear to have been caught in the web of complacency as a result of material comfort and political expediency. Or how else would you describe a situation where so many of them seem to have lost touch with the essential fact that all of God’s children have inalienable rights to self actualisation. Indeed this fact can further be buttressed by a recent report in the media of a distinguished Senator from one of the South West States, who wept profusely when his people confronted him with the fact that he had earlier at the Senate appended his signature to the constitutional amendment seeking to legalise child marriage. Are those tears truly from a contrite heart?

The high incidences of child molestations (paedophilias), incest, circumcision and other unhealthy traditional practice in some parts of our country should be a source of great concern to us all. The results are enormous. One of such is the large prevalence of what medical experts term Vesico Vaginal Fistula (VVF), a sort of infections that is very rampant among underage brides. And unfortunately too, our criminal laws have not been

able to checkmate some of these unwholesome practices. Yours sincerely, like many other Nigerians, believe strongly that any attempt to legalise child marriage under any guise would be tantamount to legalising sexual abuse of underage girls. Ironically, it is the children of the jetsam and flotsam of the society that readily fall victims of such outdated practices. Or when last did you here of a prominent Nigerian given out his 12 or 13 year old daughter for marriage?

Our children, especially the girl child, truly deserve better deal from us. While on earth, our Lord Jesus Christ showed special interest in the care and welfare of children. He once cautioned a disciple of his, who wanted to shoo the young lads away: ‘Let the children come to me.’ At another instance, he admonished his followers that unless we comport ourselves lovingly like little children, we would not see the kingdom of God. Why? Because children are loving and innocent; bearing no grudge for long.

They trust wholeheartedly and depend on their parents and wards for proper care. Christ too challenges us to be like children by putting all our trust and care in the Lord for He will not let us down. Thus, just as God would always want the best for us, we too are called upon to extend similar care to our children.

The laws barring child trafficking, child labour and all forms of defilement should be strengthened to dissuade people of unwholesome intention who may want to take advantage of their vulnerability. If truly we believe and affirm that our children are the leaders of tomorrow, then they deserve a solid foundation that would enable them grow into responsible adults and not mere victims of exploitation.

Very Rev. Msgr. Osu, Director, Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

41

IBRUCENTRE

By Ernest Onuoha th

HE first session of the 13 Synod of the DioT cese of Asaba, which held at All Saints’ Anglican Church, Cable Point, Asaba from May 23 to 26, was presided over by the Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev. Justus Mogekwu. The theme of the synod was: Ikwua Ukwu Ilue Mba, a metaphor for a synergy for integrated spiritual and material well-being.’

Reading his charge at the occasion, Bishop Mogekwu raised some salient issues, which are: One, proliferation of flamboyant titles, accolades and appellations. He was of the view that the Nigerian society is obsessed with titles. Unfortunately, however, there are some who ought to be accorded honours, but are by omission or commission not remembered. He cited a compelling example of the late Lt. Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi, the first military governor of the then Western State. It was said that he played a host to the then General J. T. U. Aguyi Ironsi, the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Nigeria at Ibadan. He later paid the supreme price, when he allowed himself to be butchered alongside his host. It was a most horrendous death. But today, according to the Bishop, he is both unspoken of and unsung by successive governments in Nigeria. No post-humours attention so far.

The Bishop added, Francis Adekunle’s body may lie mouldering in the grave, but his soul cries for a redress of this injustice. Thank God, we have a listening government in place now. I

From The Rector Ibru International Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor

Reflection On The Synod Of The Diocese Of Asaba think it will only be good to say, let honour be given to whom honour is due.

Two, he was not happy in the way the Church is meddling with the things of the world. He observed: both within the walls of the Church and outside, the Church and its leadership seem to have lost their clout in fighting sorrow and sin, to set their captives free. Enmeshed in corruption, the Church competes with the secular world in mundane acquisition of filthy lucre, which has so drowned its voice that it can no longer be heard pleading the cause of the poor and the oppressed. The Church’s voice has been suffocated by its indulgence in the sinful vanities of a perishing world. What a shame!

Third, he painted a satire about the Nigerian nation. Even today, many Heads of State from the third world would cringe when they stand side-by-side the Nigerian President at any international forum. They feel miniaturised by Nigeria’s towering image of an ex-

Fashola Urges Nigerians To Live Within Their Means

By Adeyinka Adedipe AGOS State Governor, Babatunde Raji Lthrifty Fashola has enjoined Nigerians to be as a way of eradicating the high level of poverty in the country.

Fashola, who spoke at the yearly Ramadan Lecture of the Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN), recently, said it was common to see Nigerians lavish their hard-earned fund on what they do not need, wondering how it was possible to keep up with such lifestyle that is associated with celebrities.

By engaging in wasteful spending, according to Fashola, people inflict unnecessary pains on themselves, urging them to do things in moderation.

While calling for a change of attitude, the governor noted that everyone must be ready to sacrifice to get the desired transformation.

He stated that it is not the responsibility of the elected officers alone to effect change, but the collective responsibility of everyone.

“The elected officers are in power to manage

the resources that have been entrusted into their hands. You might think they have the best judgment, but I must say that human beings are prone to errors and only God can never make mistakes.

“There is no doubt that there is poverty in the land, but there is so much waste, which must be reduced. We need to reconcile our waste with our needs to really know how poor, we are as a people and what to spend our funds,” he said.

Commenting on the importance of the home, Fashola noted, “the home is an important element in our quest for change. It is the number of good government we have on the home front that is translated into the general transformation of the state.

“I have listened to people say that they are not politicians, but the greatest political maneuvers take place at home. So, we are all politicians in our own right, noting that Lagos had undergone changes since 1999 because of the resolve of the people to partner with government to realise its goals,” he added.

ceedingly rich oil-producing and oil-exporting country whose citizens do not even know what to do with their wealth. They envy Nigeria. But they do not respect Nigeria. The monumental corruption — the official thieving in high and low places; violent crime manifesting in ever increasing new forms everyday viz: armed robbery, kidnapping, hired assassins, religious terrorism, money-making rituals, which demand human blood and others are easily the subjects of news reportage and news analysis.

It is only proper that our nation, Nigeria, should turn to God for healing and restoration.

Fourthly, he did not spare the home front in relation to marriage institution. Bishop Mogekwu opined: ‘there are a great deal of public figures with very intimidating profiles, admirable managers of men whose friendship is coveted by all and sundry; captains of industries who are so rich that they do not know what to do with their wealth; yet when you look close enough into their marital life, you are disgusted

by what you see. A general, who has commanded the nation’s army, cannot bring his children under Godly discipline. A lot of them die bequeathing to their children long strings of litigations over their father’s property. Sometimes these children, especially if they are from different mothers, resort to diabolical means to dispossess one another.’

We should think deeply therefore, the home is the nucleus of society and anything that happens to it by extension will affect the wider society. Remember, if the foundation is destroyed, what will the righteous do?

However, Bishop Mogekwu was hopeful and called on the Church and individuals to rise up to their God given responsibilities.

Ven. Ernest Onuoha Rector, Ibru International Ecumenical Centre, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State. www.ibrucentre.org.

‘Accountability To God, Not An Option’

By Kenechukwu Ezeonyejiaku HRISTIANS have been reminded that they C are stewards on this earth and must give account of their stewardship to God at the termination of their life. This was highlighted at the ninth yearly luncheon and awards of the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN), which was held recently in Lagos.

With the theme: Individual Accountability In Service, the guest speaker, Bro. Gbile Akanni, said, “accountability is necessary when one is entrusted with a responsibility, stating that God has divine and unquestionable ownership to all things created and therefore, demands we give a good account of the life He gave to us at the end of it.

According to Akanni, “life has no essence if it is not lived for Jesus, adding that it is required that a steward should be found faithful. This is because it is a prerequisite for your promotion in life.”

Speaking further, he said that accountability goes beyond applause for ignorant people and demands focus by those who have the details, saying that it demands external evalua-

tor.

He stated that, “accountability is possible when you accept the Lordship of the owner, Jesus Christ.”

Delivering his speech, the Chairman of Special Members Forum of the BSN, Pastor Festus F. Daramola, said every nation should be concerned about the issue of accountability.

“Accountability is the guiding principle that defines how we make commitments to one another, how we measure and report our progress, how we interact when things go wrong and how much time we take to get things done. It is, in essence, the nerve centre that runs throughout every part of the organisation, through every working relationship to every member of every team. If accountability is not working in your organisation, then every effort toward performance improvement will be ineffective,” he said.

Commending members of the Forum for raising funds for the translation of the Bible, the patron of the society, Gen. Yakubu Gowon stated that the Bible is now in 20 Nigerian languages and 60 languages for the New Testament.

Speak Out On Nation’s Problems, Oshiomole Enjoins Clerics subsidy.

Calling on the church and religious leaders speak out on the nation’s problems, Ojo do State Governor, Adams Oshiomole, recently, urged religious leaders to be part of said: “we need to engage all strata of government and civil society to understand the process of shaping public opinion by acthe benefits of withdrawal of the subsidy.” tively speaking out on issues affecting their Speaking further, he said the biggest probcongregations and the country. The governor lem confronting the country is not the substressed this while delivering a lecture titled Nigeria: The Politics Of Oil Subsidy And Socio-eco- sidy, but rude oil thefts.

“If subsidy removal is properly done, the nomic Implications, at the 14th yearly lecture of The Catholic Young Men Association, in Mary- country and its citizens will be better off for it. This is because the present arrangement land, Lagos. encourages smuggling across the Nigerian Oshiomole, who was represented by the borders. Venezuela used the revenue from Commissioner for Social Duties and Oil and subsidy to galvanise her economy. If NigeGas, Edo State, Mr. Orobosa Omo Ojo, stated that revenue realised from the subsidy of the ria can get it right, it will also help to alleviate the suffering of the people.” production sector should be used to create jobs for the Nigerian youths. He lamented that Maintaining that subsidy benefits high-income earners, the governor urged NigeriNigeria has a history of turning good ideas ans to give the president the benefit of into bad ones and urged everyone to understand the reasons behind the removal of fuel doubt.

By Ikechukwu Onyewuchi

E

Lagos State Governor, Raji Fashola (right)in a hand shake with the executive of Muslim Association of Nigeria (MAN), during the yearly Ramadan lecture at MAN’s secretariat… recently.

Be Fervent In The Lord, Martins Tells Newly Ordained Priests

By Chris Irekamba and Ralph Ugwu HE Archbishop of Metropolitan T See of Lagos, His Grace, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins has ordained eight members as Priests and five others as Deacons.

At the Saints Michael, Raphael and Gabriel Catholic Church, Satellite Town, Lagos, venue of the event, the

Archbishop was assisted by the Vice Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists, Very Rev. Fr. Callistus Nwachukwu.

The newly ordained Deacons are Rev. Henry Ugese, Rev. Hyacinth Agomouh, Rev. Chukwuemeka Amaefule, Rev. Clement Odoemena and Rev. Christopher Uwadiale. While

the newly ordained Priests are Rev. Fr. Henry Nwokoro, Rev Fr. Joseph Udoudo, Rev. Fr. Norbert Opara, Rev. Fr. Raphael Koleade, Rev. Fr. Godwin Abbah, Rev. Fr. Henry Mary Mbanefo, Rev. Fr. Alex Nwaodazie and Rev. Fr. Augustine Onojah. With the ordination of eight priests the total number of the Redemptorists

priests in Nigeria has now increased to 78.

During the occasion, Martins, said, “everyone ordained is like a pot made of clay that is bearing treasure, that is more valuable than the pot holding it.”

According to him, “the only thing that made the ordained credible was that they were men of faith. You

will have challenges as a priest, but to overcome, you must be strong in the Lord.”

He urged them to love and care for the children of God, regretting that Nigeria is a country where crime such as kidnapping and rape are becoming a source of worry.

“It is a sign of the decadence of the society; a society that has no respect for anybody,” he said.

TheGuardian

42 Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Business Controversy Persists Over Banking Reforms

AMCON’s boss, Chike-Obi

Governor of CBN, Sanusi

By Geoff Iyatse and Ikechukwu Onyewuchi N a week’s time, it will be two years since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the licenses of Afribank, BankPHB and Spring Bank) and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) had had to transfer their assets to three bridge banks. Many assurances given to support the decision may have failed.

But the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), which acquired the three bridge banks—Enterprise, Keystone and Main Street— has kept its word after all. Its Managing Director, Mustapha Chike-Obi, did say the state corporation would not hold its shares in the banks for too long.

Should efforts to offload AMCON’s shares materialise in a week’s time, it will turn out a befitting memorial for that late afternoon’s decision the CBN described as bold and necessary on August 5, 2011. Otherwise, the general dissatisfaction among staff of the affected banks and the unrelenting cry for “justice” by the shareholders, collectively, will serve a good point for which to remember the action.

Indeed, the planned sale may have unsettled both management and staff of the banks even though they are not quite satisfied with the current owner’s attitude to business.

Investigation reveal that the staff would want the banks handed over to private investors as they do not believe that their current owner, the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), is genuinely interested in sustaining the companies.

Still, the staff are scared that new owners may kick them out as soon as they take over. The fear, which was subtle some months ago, is gradually growing into palpable tension said to be seriously sapping the morale of the workforce, especially the middle and junior ones.

A source in the internal control department of one of the affected banks said its top management is finding it difficult to convince the “junior staff that it can protect them when the time comes. That is why those who have choices do not wait a minute to think about their exit plan.”

As it were, across the three affected banks, the discussion is on who takes over the ownership

I

•As Proposed Sale Of Nationalised Banks Opens ‘Old Wounds’ •AMCON Ignores Litigation, Seeks Buyers of the nationalised banks. And on the part of AMCON, any clue to that is guarded jealously.

“I am not sure even the managing directors are carried along. They don’t have the slightest hint about whom the banks are going to be sold to. That exactly is the reason behind the tension in the system. It is like walking into a dark room without light. When you are in such situation, what do you do?” asked a top banker last week.

ERHAPS, no other era in the history of the P Nigerian banking has been more turbulent than the past four years. Many top bankers have, among others, suffered stunted career growth in the period. Sources said the problem was most terrific in the nationalised banks.

“There are some of my colleagues who have not been promoted since 2009. Their cotemporaries in other banks have been promoted more than five times yet these guys remain where they are. Nobody will be happy in such condition. When the banks were handed over to interim management, the new handlers came with different orientations and information, which informed their approach to management. That was the problem,” noted a source.

As a result, the period also witnessed high staff turnover. As unsatisfied staff moved from ‘rescued’ banks (before the eventual nationalisation), the interim managing directors were hiring “friends and well-wishers” from other banks to fill their spaces. In Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, it was an issue that turned into a huge media campaign. Last year, staff of Mainstreet Bank Limited protested their sack with allegations that they were simply replaced with “less qualified personnel” who were lured with better incentives.

Obviously, the staff desire job security. They also know that this can only come when the banks are in the hands of individuals who are generally regarded to be shrewder than the government when it comes to business man-

agement. For this reason, they would prefer having private investors as employers than amorphous government. But there is a snag. Will the new owners be willing to retain the services of the current employees?

“It is a serious concern that is affecting both commitment and attitude to work. I have applied for a job in two more stable banks. At least half of my close colleagues have applied for jobs both in the sector and outside. An average staff of a company wants to know how useful he will be in the next few years. As soon as he discovers that his future is not safe, he opts out. That is the challenge now.

A prospective liability prospective buyer may be compelled to face the crisis of ownership that has rocked the banks. In fact, the renewed search for core investors was greeted by a caveat emptor signed by Chuks Nwachukwu of Pilgrims Partners.

In the notice, counsel to the banks called the attention of potential buyers to a lingering litigation in the Court of Appeal. The notice refers to suit no. CA/L/844/12 – Boniface Okezie & others vs. Mainstreet Bank Ltd, Keystone Bank Ltd, Enterprise Bank Ltd and others.

It made particular mention of section 25 of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act, which states: “No enterprise shall be nationalised or expropriated by any Government of the Federation” without the payment of compensation with the right of access to the court to determine the amount of compensation.

“Bridge banking is not exempted from this provision as can be confirmed from section 39 (1) of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation Act which states clearly that assets of one bank being transferred to a bridge bank should be purchased by that bridge bank,” according to the notice.

The counsel maintained that AMCON did not pay a kobo in compensation to shareholders of the banks, stressing that pay-

ments made to banks were money due to them on loans, which AMCON took over. It argued that the payments, which wiped out the bad loan portfolio of the banks, are proofs that the shareholders had no deficits in assets or capital at the time of the takeover.

Nwachukwu advised the public to ignore any announcement by AMCON that the banks were being offered for sale, describing the call as an act of contempt of court “that is bound to be an exercise in futility and loss of precious investment capital.”

The appellant, Okezie, was reported last week as saying that the shareholders would go to as far as the Supreme Court to seek redress. He argued that the blatant disregard of due process was a manifestation of the rule of might, which is becoming a norm in the country. He observed that the takeover of the banks itself was a violation of the spirit of AMCON, which was set up primarily to acquire non-performing loans (NPLs).

Okezie, President of the Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), alleged that selfish individuals want to acquire the banks using AMCON as a front. He warned that whoever buys into the banks is gambling with his money and that local as well as international investors should stay away pending when all litigations are dispensed with.

Federal High Court in Lagos had dismissed a A suit filed by some aggrieved shareholders of Afribank, Spring Bank and Bank PHP challenging their forceful take-over. The court, presided by Justice Charles Archibong, took the decision despite a motion by the applicants asking the judge to disqualify himself from hearing the case on the ground that he was bias.

Archibong premised his decision on the fact that the suit was unsustainable in accordance with Section 53 of Banks and other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA). While delivering judgment, he said: “The promoters of the plaintiff and its shareholders may have issues, but they are best directed to the National Assembly who may well decide to fine tune and/or codify in greater detail the process by which CBN exercise its powers. That is not the business of the court.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 43

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

BUSINESS

President Jonathan’s China Visit: Implications For Aviation Sector

By Yakubu Dati RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s historic working visit to China between July 8 and 12, 2013, has come and gone, but not without milestone technical agreements that would surely place Nigeria’s economy on the path of irreversible growth. Virtually every sector of the economy was covered by these agreements - oil and gas, transport, agriculture, tourism, aviation and so on.

This article will, however, be concerned with the effect of that visit on the country’s aviation landscape, which is already benefitting from the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the aviation industry. Every regular user of Nigerian airports know that these airports, especially the major ones, have witnessed undeniable infrastructural transformation in the last one year, courtesy of the Airport Remodelling Project, (ARP), designed to transform all airport terminals in the country into ultramodern facilities that meet international standards and best practice. Prior to that period, the aviation landscape was dotted with abandoned and decaying infrastructure that dented the country’s public image in no small way.

The ARP is a major component of the Aviation Sector Master Plan, fashioned out by the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah “to transform the aviation industry into an efficient, profitable, self-sustaining, effective and a preferred mode of transportation.” Among the objectives of this Master Plan, otherwise known as the aviation road map, is the creation of economic free zones that would encourage the inflow of foreign direct investment, employment generation and maximal utilization of airport infrastructure. Other major objectives of the plan that have received wide acclaim are the development of perishable cargo infrastructural facilities in designated airports and the development of airport cities, otherwise known as aerotropolis, designed to transform airports

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into major employment, shopping, leisure and trading destinations.

The actualization of some of these objectives was what necessitated the inclusion of the aviation team on President Jonathan’s delegation to China. Besides, prior to the last presidential visit to China, the Honourable Minister of Aviation had embarked on a foreign investment drive, popularly called the aviation road show, to different continents of the world, including Asia. It was during the road show in China that the Chinese Government and businessmen showed tangible interest in several investment opportunities in the Nigerian aviation sector, including the construction of ultra-modern international airport terminals and related facilities, such as hotels and multi-storey car parks in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Governments of Nigeria and China during the last trip marked a major milestone in the Nigerian aviation industry because it has opened up the industry in particular and Nigeria as a whole, to the enormous economic opportunities that China provides today. For example, economists have determined that, in the next five years, Chinese overseas investments would reach US$500 billion while its imports would exceed US$100 trillion. It is also envisaged that within this same period, the number of Chinese outbound tourists would exceed 400 million. All these translate to huge business potential that Nigeria and even developed countries cannot afford to ignore.

Today, airports are no longer mere departure and arrival points for aviation. They have become big businesses globally, actively driving the development of air transport, which is a veritable vehicle for rapid industrial and economic growth. Apart from

providing critical capacity for current demand and future air transport growth, airports are major engines for socio-economic impetus to the regions and countries they serve. They are also symbols of national pride and prestige, when properly managed.

It is incontrovertible that air transportation has assumed a vital role in the global economy because it provides the fastest and safest means of moving goods and services all over the world. For example, in 2011, over 2.8 billion people travelled by air worldwide, using 26 million flights. The industry, which has a global annual turnover of over US$1trillion, is also a major employer of labour globally, employing over 8.36 million people in core aviation service and about 56 million people in aviation and tourism related industries.

With a population of over 160 million, Nigeria has an enormous market for aviation, even at the global level. Added to its substantial natural resources, rich tourism potential and strategic geographical location, the country could easily have become a major hub in the African air transport region but this dream had been difficult to actualise due to the underutilisation of our airports and the absence of an enabling environment in the aviation industry.

The Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan in the industry, as ably supervised by Princess Stella Oduah, has since changed all that and begun to move the industry on the path of recovery! Since 2011, there have been significant increases in passenger, aircraft and cargo movements.

Records show that an average of 122.700 tonnes of cargo have been transported by air per annum since then, while passenger traffic at all our airport grew to 14.9 million in 2012. Total revenue generated from air ticket

sales in the country increased from N225 billion in 2011 to N232.5 billion in 2013 while the total number of people employed in the country’s aviation sector increased from 60, 000 in 2011 to 85,000 in 2012.

Since the commencement of the Airport Remodelling Project, five terminals in Lagos (Domestic Terminal 1), Abuja, (General Aviation Terminal), Benin, Kano (International Terminal) and Enugu have been commissioned while the remaining terminals in the country are at various stages of completion, including the international terminal at MMA. On May 18, 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan laid the foundation for the construction of an ultra-modern international terminal at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, on the same day that he commissioned the remodelled terminal there, as a prelude to the commencement of international flights from the airport. 13 airports in different geopolitical zones of the country have already been designated as perishable cargo airports, to facilitate perishable cargo export from different agricultural zones in the country. This policy is expected to reduce unemployment and stem rural-urban migration, among other socio-economic benefits.

Finally, the intervention of the Federal Government in airport infrastructural development is aimed at reversing the rot in airport infrastructure and subsequently, make Nigerian airports more attractive for meaningful local and foreign investments. South Africa blazed this trail for such Government intervention in 1994, to good effect, and was followed shortly by Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Mozambique. Nigeria is among the countries in Africa that joined the bandwagon much later. Others include Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Senegal and Ghana.

Dati is Coordinating General Manager, (Corporate Communications), Aviation Parastatals

CEO, International Breweries Mr. Carlos Gomes, (left); Chairman, Otunba Michael Daramola; Company Secretary, Muyiwa Ayojimi; Directors, Gert Nel and Mrs. Afolake Lawal during the 36th Annual General Meeting of the company at Zenababs Halfmoon Resort Garden, Ilesa, Osun State…Thursday.

The Odds Against Sale Of Bridge Banks CONTINUED FROM PAGE 42 Not satisfied with the outcome of the matter, the plaintiff filed an appeal. The case is yet to be decided whereas AMCON, the owners of the three banks, is seeking buyers for its shares.

When CBN and AMCON took over these three banks, they said the banks had lost all shareholders funds. This meant the toll of risk in the investment market has taken its full course, only in a drastic manner. This is the position of many investment experts, including former Chairman of the Association of Shareholders of Nigeria, ASHON, Mr. Rasheed Yusuf.

According to Yusuf, “Shareholders need to understand why the Central Bank intervened before they have any hope for refund, settlement or whatever it is they want to claim. The CBN intervened because they wanted to save depositors, not shareholders money. The reason for this, they said, is because the shareholders have already lost their capital in those companies. If that is the position of AMCON and CBN, then it means the shareholders have already lost every stake they have.”

With such view, it is evident that shareholders investments in these banks have gone down the drain. Shareholders have been butted out due to inefficiencies of the former manage-

Not satisfied with the outcome of the matter, the plaintiff filed an appeal. The case is yet to be decided whereas AMCON, the owners of the three banks, is seeking buyers for its shares.

When CBN and AMCON took over these three banks, they said the banks had lost all shareholders funds. This meant the toll of risk in the investment market has taken its full course, only in a drastic manner. This is the position of many investment experts, including former Chairman of the Association of Shareholders of Nigeria, ASHON, Mr. Rasheed Yusuf.

According to Yusuf, “Shareholders need to understand why the Central Bank intervened before they have any hope for refund, settlement or whatever it is they want to claim. The CBN intervened because they wanted to save depositors, not shareholders money. The reason for this, they said, is because the shareholders have already lost their capital in those companies. If that is the position of AMCON and CBN, then it means the shareholders have already lost every stake they have.”

With such view, it is evident that shareholders investments in these banks have gone down the drain. Shareholders have been butted out due to inefficiencies of the former management of these banks and the trust and integrity they reposed in these financial institutions. Although this is an expected risk in the world of shares, what then is the assurance that these banks are financially stable to shoulder the financial responsibilities, trust and goodwill to do business in future?

To this, Yusuf said the fact that depositors at these banks have been transacting business for sometime with no hassles is a good enough sign of better days to come. He said for AMCON to come up with the advertisement for sale tells that the banks

are ready to be taken over by private hands.

However, he opined that to compensate affected customers, the banks, when next they issue their shares, should give preferential treatment to these people by offering them special allocation. He said this would in the long run prove that they are humane and regret the initial loss.

Also, Bode Ashogbon said the shareholders are presumed to have lost their investment at the legacy banks as their licensees have been revoked. He said they have no claim in the bridged banks since they are new organisations, especially since the value of previous shareholding has been eroded.

Yet, the argument continues as some stakeholders query the apex bank’s intervention and bailout of ‘weak’ banks, three of which were eventually nationalised.

“If Sanusi, indeed used public funds to bail out the banks, as alleged, why were the shares not held by Federal Ministry of Finance incorporated as is the usual practice?, a source, who is familiar with the process queried.

He continued: “Were the manipulations and macabre dance by the CBN a ploy to transfer the Banks into preferred preplanned private hands?

•Why were the shares not sold on the Stock Exchange to Nigerians who are the owners of the public funds allegedly used to bail out the banks?

• Why were the banks sold to single bidders rather than encourage competition?

• Why did the seller (CBN) supervise and approve valuation and also choose the buyer? Was this a ploy to rob shareholders of their investment?

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

45

BUSINESS

NAMA:In The Jaws Of Politics

By Chris Aligbe UTSIDE aviation circles, it is usually believed that by the nature of aviation, politics has no place. This is a position of innocence. But to those who know, the aviation sector is one meshed in politics. This plays out so much at the global level that today, there is an arm of study in aviation called aeropolitics.

This is played at the highest levels of government and in advanced nations, the Legislature gets deeply involved. Issues of BASA and MASA, Open Skies and Over flight permits are all in the domain of politics.

Alliances between major carriers of two countries usually attract intense attention from the Legislature who believe they must provide the legislative framework for such alliances. The battle for many years for liberalization of the North Atlantic route between UK and the US and Open Skies between US and Europe are perfect examples. In Africa, Sudan will not allow any airline flying to Israel to overfly its airspace due political considerations.

Aero politics usually plays out between and among nations and not within national boundaries. However, in Nigeria, due to our substandard political practices, political considerations have occupied palpable spaces in the aviation sector. For instance, many critical positions have been filled with misfits due political considerations. For many years, until the recent upgrade by the Aviation Minister, Kano and Port Harcourt airports were left to rot based on political considerations. However, the most remarkable political interference in the industry was the shutting out of Orji Uzor Kalu’s “Slok Airline” at the height of his “political war” with the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The political interference in the aviation sector in Nigeria had become such a public knowledge that President Bush before approving Category 1 status for Nigeria demanded a guarantee that we would not interfere in the regulatory functions and processes in the aviation sector. Late President Yar’adua sent an official reply committing his government and, indeed Nigeria, to non-interference.

So, our demonstrated penchant for political interference in aviation procedures is not only so well known, but also has led to inferring political motives in virtually all professional decisions and actions of consequence in the industry.

Given the foregoing, it was not therefore outof-place or character for the infectious, albeit, bandwagon cry of political interference in NAMA’s handling of the flights of Governors Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomole and Wamakko respectively of Rivers, Edo and Sokoto States.

Governor Amaechi on April 26 flew into Akure in Rivers State Government-owned aircraft for condolence visit to the Ondo State Governor.

He was there at the same time with the Speaker of the House of Representative, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal. When it was time for departure, NAMA official at the Control Tower requested, as of regulation, the passenger manifest from the Pilot of the aircraft but he had none, unlike the aircraft that was carrying Tambuwal which had a standard manifest filled on April 25 with all the names of the 8 passengers and 3 crew clearly documented on the letter-headed paper of the operator – Associated Aviation Limited and signed by the Booking Officer, H. Garba.

In keeping with the global best practices, standard requirement and flight protocol, the NAMA officer demanded compliance from the Pilot that flew Amaechi before he could be allowed to depart. The delay that arose from this professional incompetence caused the Governor to join Tambuwal’s flight, leaving his Pilot to sort out the matter. Eventually, as investigations revealed, the NAMA official had to bail out the stranded Pilot by providing him NAMA’s internal memo plain sheet to write the manifest.

O

Even then, what the Pilot wrote which was “Gov. R. Amaechi, three officials and five others”, all unnamed and two crew, fell short of what a manifest should be. In spite of this anomaly, the Pilot was allowed to depart.

In the case of Gov. Oshiomole, the OAS helicopter, which took off from the State House, called the Control Tower at Benin Airport for clearance and guidance through the airspace.

The Pilot neither filed a flight plan nor a manifest as is required. For the avoidance of doubt, a Flight Plan is that document that informs an Air Traffic Controller of the departure point and destination(s) of a flight to enable him manage the flight through various zones of the airspace to avoid accidents. Manifest is a document that gives information on who and number of persons in a flight. Both documents are critical in airline operations as they are safety issues.

The NAMA Controller asked the Pilot to return to the airport and comply with the requirement. The first action of the Pilot was to try intimidating the Controller by saying he was carrying the Edo State Governor. But Oshiomole’s law-abiding counsel and the threat by the NAMA staff of reprisal for failure forced the Pilot to land at Benin Airport, where he was asked to write Flight Plan and Manifest before being cleared to proceed. Unfortunately, by the time he was doing this, the Pilot ran into another problem with FAAN on landing and parking fees. Angered Oshiomhole abandoned the trip.

In these two circumstances, what stood out as impeccable professional handling by Air Traffic Control officers were immediately subsumed under an ingenuous political platform on which political gladiators exhibited their nauseating gladiatorial skills; charlatans, con-

sequential and inconsequential aides, as well as highly uninformed legislative elites took their turns in an infectious bandwagon to illicitly infer political considerations in the otherwise global standard professional decisions of the two Air Traffic Managers in Akure and Benin. While aides cried blue murder, lampooning NAMA, political praise-singers competed for media space to pour withering invectives on government and its officials.

Even Edo House of Assembly demanded apologies from NAMA. More intriguing is the speed with which the House of Representatives conducted a hearing on the Amaechi incident and under one month, released its findings. Intriguing because it took the National Assembly over ten months to release the Public Hearing Report of DANA crash in which over 159 Nigerians perished.

Virtually all who spoke inferred that Governor Amaechi’s case was because of his rusty relationship with the President, while Gov. Oshiomhole’s case was because he was the person who insisted that election must be conducted at the NGF which led to Amaechi’s emergence as Chairman. Nobody ever asked what really the issues at stake were. Even the media was so engulfed in their reporting as all introductory statements began with political allusions. In fact, one national daily in its back page, accused NAMA of terrorism for clearing Wamakko’s flight to land in Kaduna when the Pilot could not land in Sokoto because Wamakko’s supporters took over the runway to welcome and cheer him return from a trip. The tabloid did not care to know that it was the Pilot that asked the Control Tower for diversion to Abuja and later changed to Kaduna where he waited for security services to clear the Gover-

Health And Safety At Work: The UK Vs Nigeria (1)

By Helen-Linda Azodoh HESE are: management of Health and Safety at Work RegulaT tions 1999 (Management Regulations) This regulation places an obligation on the employer to regularly carry out a risk assessment of the work place. The assessment has to be reviewed when necessary and recorded where there are 5 or more employees. This is intended to identify health and safety and fire risks.

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 The regulation deals with any modification, extension or conversion that has been made to an existing workplace. The requirements include control of temperature, lighting, ventilation, cleanliness, room dimensions etc. The regulations also provide that non-smokers should be allocated separate

rest areas from smokers.

The Provision And Use Of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 This deals with the minimum standards for the use of machines and equipment with regard to their suitability, maintenance and inspection. The regulations also cover mobile work equipment from December 2002.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (Manual Handling Regulations) This relates to the manual handling of equipment, stocks, materials and the like. Where it is reasonably practicable an employer should avoid the need for his or her employees to undertake manual handling involving risk of injury to themselves.

Personal Protective Equipment Work Regulations 1992 (PPE) The regulation deals with protective clothing or equipment

nor’s supporters from the Sokoto airport runway before returning to land at the airport.

This was the lowest ebb in all the emotional overflow and illicit inductions and deductions that sought to create imaginary nexus between the courageous professional decisions of Control Tower officials and the politics of NGF and the internal problems of PDP. It is sad that we are all beginning to slip into the abyss because we no longer seek knowledge before engaging.

The truth is that even in NAMA, whose responsibility is airspace management, not more than 25percent of the staff know about flight protocols and procedures. In airlines worldwide, only about 10percent of staff would know about such procedures. One can then infer that close to 99percent of those who ran commentaries on NAMA, Amaechi and Oshiomole saga did not have the foggiest idea of what is required to fly through any airspace. One can conclude that the ignorance was total.

Air space Management is a highly specialized profession where only those who are exposed to it can effectively discuss the nuances and appreciate explanations when issues arise.

There is no doubt that both Amaechi and Oshiomole were embarrassed. But it is not NAMA that is guilty. For Oshiomhole, it is OAS, the airline and the Pilot that flew him that are the culprits. While in the case of Amaechi, it is his staff, that is, the Pilot and his dispatcher that are guilty. As staff they should be blamed for incompetence.

Our country will never move forward unless we put things in proper perspectives, and only engage from a position of knowledge.

Aligbe is an Aviation Consultant kandimuwa@yahoo.com

which must be worn or held by an employee to protect against health and safety risks to the. It also covers the maintenance and storage of the equipment. Employers cannot charge for protective clothing or equipment which must carry the “CE” marking.

The Health & Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 (Display Screen Regulations) This regulation was introduced to prevent the incidence of repetitive strain injury, fatigue, eye problems etc. in the use of technological equipment like computers.

Azodoh, Chartered MCIPD (London), is a human resource consultant based in the UK. She is also MD of Orchardview HR Solutions, accompany that provides HR training to organisations in Nigeria.

Email:helen.azodoh@virgin.net

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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BUSINESS

Elumelu, African Leaders Want Increased Private Sector Participation In Devt Capital such as the USD40 trillion dollars United Bank for Africa to where it is today - highlighting ‘energy’ and ‘infrastructure’ as the ex-US Ambassador Andrew Young called employing 25,000 people in 19 African two biggest impediments to development. He ‘scared money’, currently sitting in tax countries. African leaders need to ensure listed the three pillars of peace and security, the right physical and policy infrastructure economic development, and the rule of law and Ghana, Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso and Jacob havens around the world and which could be put to better use in developing Africa. is in place to support the growth of more respect for human rights, as the solution for Zuma of South Africa all highlighted the imporKofi Annan described Africa as a contisuccessful pan-African businesses.” said Africa’s economic success. tance of private-sector participation in Africa’s nent going through “momentous times”, Elumelu. development.

The summit, which focused on infrastructure and the emergence of an African middle class, was attended by global leaders from the private, public and philanthropic sectors including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former prime minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt, former US Ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, President of the leading opposition party in France, the UMP’s Jean-Francois Copé, as well as African business leaders Tony Elumelu, Patrice Motsepe and Louis Ebata.

The tone was set by President Denis Sossou N’Guesso, who highlighted the need for African countries to create more policies to support what he called ‘a powerful emergence of Africa’s middle class, who would create a better future for Africa.

President Sall of Senegal expanded on the four critical pillars that would drive this ‘better future’, citing education and training of human capital, modernised and mechanised agriculture, affordable energy and an adequate network of infrastructure as key drivers.

Advocating increased private-sector participation in driving the development agenda, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana warned against an over reliance on government when he said, “Government cannot leverage the sort of finance that is needed to create enough power in Africa.”

In his speech, President Blaise Campaore of Burkina Faso acknowledged business leader and philanthropist Tony Elumelu, the Chairman of pan-African proprietary investment company Heirs Holdings, for his efforts to drive Africa’s development by investing across the continent.

During the panel session on “Supporting growth through investment”, which featured the two most high-profile private-sector leaders in attendance, Elumelu and South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, Chairman of African Rainbow Minerals, Elumelu commended the five African leaders for their strong belief in the power of the private sector as a catalyst and driver of development - the essence of his Africapitalist philosophy which other leaders, including President Obama, appear to have embraced.

Elumelu outlined the terms under which the private sector’s involvement would yield the greatest impact, highlighting long-term investments and South African President, Mr. Jacob Zuma (left); and African Business Leader and Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, at the second annual Forbes Afrique Economic infrastructure development as key focus areas.

Summit in Congo Brazzaville on 23rd July, 2013.

“Short-term investments in Africa simply don’t make an impact. It took close to two decades to get T the second annual Forbes Afrique Economic A summit, Presidents Denis Sassou N’Guesso of Congo, Macky Sall of Senegal, John Mahama of

NIM Trains Women In Business Management

By Paul Adunwoke HE Nigeria Institute of Management (NIM) organised training for women Managers in Lagos. The training was aimed at building their management skills and equiping them with new knowledge.

The managers were taught to nurture, develop and add value to lives of others in their various organisations. They were also advised to take bold decisions while exercising high level of optimistism.

The seminar was held at the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) House, Ikeja, Lagos.

Director General of NECA, Mr. Shegun Oshinowo, said the seminar would build the participants’ managerial capacity, adding that proper mentoring has a vital role to play in leadership.

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Resort Savings Pushes Network Expansion In Ilorin, Kano, Imo, Others Olayinka stressed his company’s N line with the growing need for of products.

Reels Out New Products range Icountry, Head of Business Development, concern about the seeming lack mortgage services across the Mr. Yemi Popoola, who made the of awareness and exposure to the Resort Savings and Loans however, observed the need for Plc, at the weekend, said it is poised to extend its operations to five more states, including Kano, Imo, and Kwara, where it is already developing estates.

Managing Director of the company, Mr. Abimbola Olayinka, who disclosed this to our correspondent in an exclusive chat, said RSL is “seriously preparing to start up business operations in Ilorin, Kano, Owerri, Aba and other locations that are in dire need of such services.”

Describing the mortgage sector as “a new development in Nigeria, which is gradually gaining momentum in the economy,” he,

concerted efforts among operators, in conjunction, with the Federal Government, to create the needed awareness on how Nigerians, especially the middle class could key into the programme.

We want to add value and create wealth for the nation; this is the reason we are currently contemplating to start up business operations in Ilorin, Kano, Owerri, Aba and other locations that are in dire need of our services,” the RSL Managing Director said.

Meanwhile, in ensuring optimum customer satisfaction, the bank said it has introduced additional

disclosure in a statement, said the products introduced are tailored to meeting growing customer needs in the mortgage sector.

He listed the products to include Resort Home Renovation Loan, the Resort Early Home Owners, and Resort Non-Interest Saving Account.

The Resort Early Home Owner, according to Popoola, is conceived out of the rationale of ‘’why stay in a rented apartment when you can as well move into your own house and take it as mortgage.”

Managing Director of the bank,

enormous potentials of the mortgage sector with regards to “alleviating the needs of Nigerians through mortgage services that will ensure they become house owners and not house tenants.

“An average Nigerian,” he said, “ builds a house for five to six years; but the whole concept changed overtime such that, instead of saving and building for over five or six years, you can move into a house now, stop paying your rent and enjoy good facility ; you can also enjoy capital appreciation on the property from the first day you purchased it,” Olayinka said.

Winners Emerge In Diageo Business Reporting Awards IAGEO, the world’s leadD ing premium drinks company, has announced winners of the 2013 Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards at a gala ceremony, which took place in London recently. The Awards, which are celebrating their tenth anniversary in 2013, showcase journalists and media outlets, who delivered excellent business journalism “from and about Africa.”

Winners from the 10 cate-

gories came mainly from the UK and West Africa including Nigeria. Anthony Akaeze won the award for the Best Tourism Feature while Olu Omoyele also won in the Best Financial Feature category. Davies, a BBC correspondent, was named Journalist of the Year while the Best Newcomer title was awarded to Sherelle Jacobs, a journalist for African Business magazine. A full list of win-

ners can be found below and at www.diageoafricabusinessreportingawards.com.

Paul Walsh, Adviser to the Chairman and Chief Executive, Diageo plc, and chair of the judging panel said, “In the first year of the Awards I recall we had just 35 entries, predominantly from UK-based media organisations. 10 years later, we regularly receive over 1000 entries from right across the world, including a significant pro-

portion from within Africa.

This, I believe, clearly demonstrates that the interest in Africa and its opportunities are becoming more and more mainstream. In the last decade we have seen great improvements in reporting on Africa and this has delivered clear benefits to business and the region, and I hope to see this continue well into the future.”

The keynote address was delivered by Lynne

Featherstone, UK International Development Minister, who said: “The media has played an absolutely integral role in changing Africa’s image for the better, helping to turn the continent into one of the world’s most promising investment destinations. As economies across Africa continue to boom, there needs to be a common focus among governments, civil society and the

press to ensure the very poorest share in the proceeds of this growth.”

Attending the awards ceremony, Mr Seni Adetu, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, said, “The story of Africa’s business and economic prospects will not only become more dynamic and diverse as we enter the next ten years of reporting, but will increasingly be told from an African perspective.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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BUSINESSAGRO

TechnoServe: Oyo, Kogi, Kwara Cashew Farmers Receive Training

By FABIAN ODUM ECHNOSERvE, a Washington based poverty T eradicating organisation, in collaboration with OLAM Nigeria has launched a training program aimed at empowering cashew farmers in Nigeria.

According to a statement released by Ade Adefeko, OLAM’s Head Corporate and Government Relations, the program, which took place at Ayangba, Kogi State was expected to impact positively on 6,000 farmers, half of whom are women.

The cashew farmers were drawn from Kogi, Kwara and Oyo States known for their high level of cashew production while the training was made possible through a grant from the Walmart Foundation.

The expected impact would be in form of adoption of good agronomic practices and improved methods for harvest and post harvest handling of raw cashew nuts among others.

Cashew production currently accounts for more than a third of household income in Kogi state alone, according to an independent research conducted by the organisation.

It estimates the new farming practices would translate into an estimated 20 per cent increase in yields and improved quality of cashew nut production The production estimates are for targeted households in the three Nigerian key cashewproducing states.

“Cashew farming is one of the most economically important activities in West Africa, yet the

crop’s its potential have not yet been fully realised,” said Shakti Pal, Regional Cashew Expert for the company.

“In Nigeria alone an estimated 125,000 households are engaged in cashew farming, but they lack the knowledge to improve their yields and maximise their incomes.

“Through this program these farmers will have access to the training needed to improve the quality of their product and in turn the quality of their lives ” Pal said.

The release stated that the trainers would pass on the knowledge and expertise to other farmers in their states. Olam operates Nigeria’s largest cashew processing plant in Ilorin, Kwara state.

The Cashew Farmer Training initiative is one of several that The organisation currently operates in Nigeria, apart from a regional program working to raise the yields and incomes of the nation’s cocoa farmers.

TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries.

It is a non-profit organisation that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital and markets.

The company with its headquarters in Singapore supplies various products across 16 platforms to over 12,300 customers worldwide and has a supply network of over 3.5 million farmers, the majority of whom are small-scale.

Olam’s importance in the cashew industry is enhanced by its unique position as the only company to have significant interests in each segment of the product value chain.

Abia Rated High In South East Agriculture Sector From GORDI UDEAJAH, Umuahia

Abia State.

Represented by the Regional Director, Dr. Uche Nwafor, the GRICULTURE and Rural Agric Minister listed the basis of Development Minister Dr. the governor’s qualifications for Akinwumi Adesina has the awards saying “ first and endorsed the recent awards foremost, Gov. Orji has commitgiven to Abia state’s Gov. Theodore Orji as the best agri- ted himself to the emancipation culture-friendly governor say- of rural farmers from the ing he has excelled more than bond of poverty by queuing in properly into the federal governhis south east states counterparts in the agriculture sector. ment’s efforts at revolutionising agriculture and not only supHe stated this, Thursday, in ports the idea but plays signifiUmuahia, the state capital at the unveiling of the free Cocoa cant role in the current Agricultural Transformation Seedlings’ distribution in the Agenda (ATA). state during which the goverHe said that the governor nor was awarded and decorated as “the Chief Farmer of Abia demonstrated this in Abia State and The Best Agriculture- state by supporting the 2012 and 2013 data capture (farmer regisfriendly Governor “ by The tration) for Abia Farmers with Agriculture Stakeholders of

A

the result that the state pulled the highest figure of 242,000 registered farmers in the south east region.

Also that in this year’s Maize/Rice/Fertilizer Growth Enhancement Support (GES) rollout, a total of 125,000 farmers maderedeemed in the state with this figure being the highest recorded among the five southeast states in the on-going Growth Enhancement Support (GES).

Other qualifications for the award the minister further listed, were that Abia state under governor Orji did not only produce the best Cocoa Farmer in the country, Mr. David Onyenweaku but it is also the highest Cocoa producing state in the south east region.

Fish smoking kiln from FIIRO; a source of preservation for food security

PHOTO: PAUL ADUNWOKE

African Farmers Get Opportunity To Increase Yield FFORTS to transform agricul- About a million farmers will E ture in Africa have received a directly benefit from the projboost as researchers met under ect through its innovations the Support for Agricultural Research and Development of Strategic Crops (SARD-SC)’s event, “Partners, Possibilities and Prospects,” at the 6th African Agricultural Science Week in Accra to draw more support from partners into project.

The SARD-SC project will raise the productivity of maize, cassava, wheat, and rice by 20 per cent in 20 selected countries in Africa.

The plan is to reduce food importation from other continents and offer farmers better access to markets, improve livelihoods, and tackle poverty through enhanced capacities of beneficiaries to sustainable development in the region.

basket, while another million and half will be reached by project spin off effects.

“Narrowing the yield gap is key for African farmers, and it will help them to compete globally and to feed themselves,” says Project Coordinator of SARD-SC, Dr. Chrysantus Akem, from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Funded by the African Development Bank with US$ 63.24 million, SARD-SC also aims to create knowledge on the tested innovations with farmers in Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria,

Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Drs Thomas Dubois, SARD SC Rice Commodity Specialist; and Solomon Assefa, SARD SC Wheat Commodity Specialist made presentations on rice and wheat strategies of the project.

The five-year, multi-CGIAR centre initiative will run until 2016, and will be co-implemented by three Africa-based CGIAR centers: IITA, Africa Rice Centre, and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. IITA is also the Executing Agency of the project. Another CGIAR centre – the International Food Policy Research Institute – a specialized technical agency, will support the other three centres.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, and Vice President, China EXIM Bank, Mr. Sun Ping, at the headquarters of the Bank in Beijing, last week.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday July 28, 2013

48

KALEIDOSCOPE/SOCIETY BIRTHDAYS called SiaOne Soccer Academy. On March 17, 2009, he was reappointed as the head coach of the U-20 team. He received a six-month contract to coach Heartland FC in July 2010. He later emerged technical adviser of Nigeria’s national team and was sacked after a-not-too impressive outing of the team in the last World.

Olukoya

Siasia

Kanu

LUKOYA, Dr. Daniel KolaO wole, prophet, bible teacher, evangelist, founder

versities, among them UNILAG and University of Benin (UNIBEN). He is on record as having been the first scientist to establish an indigenous Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory in Nigeria. He has supervised over 20 PhD students. In 1989, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries was established. In addition to his over 80 scientific publications, he also has to his credit about 150 best selling spiritual books.

participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He participated in the national team for over a period of 11 years; and was recognised in Nigeria as the third leading goal scorer for the national team. In 2005, he coached the Under-20 team (Flying Eagles), taking them to the finals of both the 2005 U-20 African youth championship and advanced all the way to the world finalbefore losing to Argentina 2-1.

He also assisted Augustine Eguavoen in coaching the national team. He was appointed national U-23 coach in January, in 2008; he led the country’s Olympic squad to the final against Argentina.

In a superbly displayed series of matches, Nigeria’s team earned the Olympic Silver Medals. In addition to his position as head coach of the U23 Olympic Eagles, he developed a youth academy in the capital city, Abuja,

and General Overseer of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries is 56. He was educated at St. John’s Christ Apostolic Church Primary School, Akure, Ondo; and St. Jude’s Primary School, EbuteMetta, Lagos. He was also at Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos where he graduated with Grade One Distinction and was the best in his set.

He later proceeded to University of Lagos (UNILAG) and graduated with a first class honour’s degree in Microbiology and a Ph.D in Molecular Genetics from the University of Reading, United Kingdom. His first port of call on arrival was at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba. He was a lecturer as well as external examiner to a number of Nigerian Uni-

SIASIA, Samson, administrator, football coach and former football striker will be 46 on Wednesday, August 14, 2013. Born on August 14, 1967 in Lagos, he played for French team, FC Nantes where he became league champion in 1994/95. He played 46 international matches for Nigeria, in which he scored 13 goals and was part of the team that

Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka (right), receiving materials to enhance the ‘helping babies breath’ intensive initiative of Shell Nigeria Exploration and Petroleum Company (SNEPCo), from the Clinical Adviser, Dr. Olayinka Mosuro...recently

KANU, Nwankwo, footballer and founder, Kanu Heart Foundation will be 37 on Thursday, August 1, 2013. He was educated at Holy Ghost College, Owerri, Imo State in 1992, he began his football career at the age of 15, at First Division Club, Federation Works before moving to Iwuanyanwu Nationale in 1992. After a notable performance at the U-17 World

fects. He was a member of the Nigerian national team from 1994, making his debut against Sweden in a friendly and also participated at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. He is the second most highly decorated African footballer in football history, behind Samuel Eto’O of Cameroun, having won a UEFA Championship League Medal, UEFA Cup Medal, three FA Cup winners Medals and two African Player of the Year awards, among others.

He is the only current player to have won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Premiership, FA Cup and an Olympic Gold Medal.

Compiled by Gbenga Akinfenwa gbengaherkin@gmail.com

EVENTS • The holy matrimony between Funmilayo Adigun and Oyedotun Folaji comes up on Saturday August 24, 2013 at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Everlasting Arms Parish, Plot 45, Damaturu Crescent, off Ahmadu Bello Way, Garki II, by Garki-Ultra modern market, Abuja. Reception follows immediately at Blakes. The engagement ceremony was held on July 27, 2013 at 4, Owoade Adigun Street, Orita Bashorun, Ibadan.

Special Adviser to the Governor Lagos State on Education, Fatai Olukoga (left); Chairman, Lagos Research and Development Council (LRDC), Professor Olufemi Bamiro; and Director, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), Professor Willie Siyanbola at the inaugural Sensitization Workshop of LRDC in Lagos... recently PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI

Dr. Jumoke Obasa, Director General, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA (left); Segun Osinowo; and Representative of the President, Nigeria Institute Of Management, NIM (Chartered), Dr Lucy Surhyel at NIM’s (Chartered) Women in management and leadership conference in Lagos…recently.

PHOTO: SUNDAY AKINLOLU

Championship, he was signed by Ajax Amsterdam in 1993. He captained the Nigerian team that won Gold at the Olympics; famously scoring two late goals in the semi-finals against Brazil to overturn a 2-3 score line into a 4-3 win in extra time. Kanu was also named African Footballer of the year for that year.

However, soon after returning from the Olympics, he underwent a medical examination at Inter-Milan, which revealed a serious heart effect, he underwent surgery in November 1996 to replace a aortic valve and did not return to his club until April 1997. His experience also led to his founding the Kanu Heart Foundation, an organisation that helps predominantly young African children who suffer heart de-

•The End Time Apostolic Global Network Worldwide Inc. is organising a 3-day Ministers/Leadership Conference from Thursday, August 1-3, 2013 at its Nigerian headquarters, 1, Heal The World Avenue, Opp. Gateway Hotel, Ota, Ogun State, with the theme: ‘Go Forward’. The workshop sections cover the topics: Integrity in ministry, money management in ministry, fasting and prayer in ministry and the role of marriage in successful ministry.

The aim of network (ETAGN) is to promote the development and preparation of individuals desiring to serve in ministerial capacity, promote the effectiveness of more devoted stewardship for the success of each affiliate pastor or ministry leaders’ vision and ministry, and making available pastoral support, mentoring, covering and support for qualified mission outreach, among others.

Chief Duncan Ewhere (left), hands over his daughter, Elohor, to Mr. Victor Ufuoma Emudianughe during their weeding ceremony at Otefe, Oghara, Delta State…last weekend

General Secretary, End Time Apostolic Global Network Worldwide Inc. (ETAGN), Apostle Michael Adebayo, (left); Chairman Planning Committee of the Ministers’ Conference, Apostle Mike Okofu-Newman; member of the planning Committee, Apostle Remmy O. Remmy, and Rev. (Dr.) Charles Sunday Ekanem, Province General Secretary, Ifako/Ijaiye at a Press Conference in Ota, Ogun State on the forthcoming Conference…last Thursday.

TheGuardian

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Cover Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Dr. Yusuf Maitama Sule, politician, diplomat, was Nigeria’s representative to the United Nations in 1979. In 1983, he was appointed minister for National Guidance. In this interview with GBENGA SALAU, the elder statesman spoke on the question of leadership and burning national issues, revealing that there has always been a gang up by some powers to frustrate the country’s growth. But it is up to Nigerians to turn things around.

IGERIA is often regarded as the giant of Africa but that recognition seem to have been lost, how did we N lose it?

Nigeria started very well, very well, because our founding fathers Azikiwe, Sardauna, Awolowo, even Aminu Kano, were very good leaders, who laid a very sound foundation for Nigeria. They were leaders, who in spite of their political differences, even religious and tribal differences were always ready to come together in the interest of Nigeria.

These were people who accommodated, not just tolerated, one another. And all of them were ready to place national interest above their personal interests. They respected one another, in spite of these differences they had and Nigeria was their main concern. These were people who went into politics to serve but not to be served, to give but not to take. Nigeria was their main concern. And that was why they worked together; they cooperated with one another to move the country forward. And that was how they were able to lay a sound foundation for this great country. It was also for this reason that Nigeria was respected and Nigerians wherever they went in those days held their heads high; they were admired, loved and respected. And indeed, Nigeria, because of our population and resources, was expected to give the lead to the rest of the continent. I still believe Nigeria is a potential leader but we need to work hard in order to realise the potential greatness of Nigeria and we need to do a lot at home, so that when we go out we would be respected and our leadership would be accepted.

In the first republic therefore, Nigeria was so much respected that people thought in about fifteen to twenty years after independence, with the kind of leadership that we started with, Nigeria would join the leading countries of the world. In deed, there was a report that three developing countries would in fifteen to twenty years join the most industrialized countries of the world. And these three countries were India, Brazil and Nigeria. I think it was because of the leadership, in those countries that today, India has made it, India is a nuclear power, and mark you, India has got all these political, religious, ethnic and tribal differences, one hundred times as many as we have in Nigeria. But in spite of that, they were still able to do it. They are also poor. In spite of the poverty in the country, because of the good leadership, they progressed. In the field of computer technology, India is in the forefront. It produces more doctors than any counCONTINUED ON PAGE 50

When I call for a revolution, let me make it quite clear, that I am not calling for a bloody revolution, but a cultural revolution. I am calling for Mahatma Gandhi kind of revolution, non-violent. And we can make it. A good leader will inspire his people as they take cues from their leaders. 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

I Still Believe Nigeria Is A Potential Leader But We Need To Work Hard

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We Need Good Leadership To Move The Country Forward CONTINUED FROM PAGE 49 try in the world today. India manufactures planes, cars and weapons of all kinds. India builds ships. Indeed, India has the second fastest moving economy in the world, second only to China.

So India has made it. Brazil, another of the three countries, has also made it because Brazil’s economy is stronger than that of Britain. Brazil builds ships, manufactures planes and cars and weapons of all kinds, and it has about the best agriculture programme in the world. Brazil has made it too.

Incidentally, Brazil and Nigeria established their defence industries the same year. So, while Brazil is building ships and manufacturing planes, our defence industry is yet to build a tanker. Leadership, I think it is.

In 1961 or 62, I was invited by the students of the University of Ibadan to give a convocation lecture. And I told them; I do not know how, probably a product of intuition, that Africa will face two or three major problems. One was leadership. Some leaders because of their neurotic ambition, blurred vision, will want to perpetuate their stay in office and till death do us part like church marriage. I foresaw that way back in 1961/62; that we would have problem with leadership. And I am concerned about leadership because everything that happens in a country depends on the quality of the leadership. We have a saying, if a congregation prayer goes wrong, it is the Imam leading it that spoils it. However, Nigeria as I said earlier was very much respected and Nigerians were admired and respected too. What is happening today in the country is not in our character. Ours was a decent society, a disciplined one, where the leaders in spite of their political differences respected one another and cooperated with one another in order to move the country forward. Today, it is not so. Even in the family, in the past, members of a family respected one another, the juniors obeyed and respected their seniors and constituted authority. You might not be a member of the ruling party, still you will respect the authority, you might disagree with the policy, but the respect was there, even though you will express your opposition to the policy.

Then, there was no corruption, or there might be little corruption. Morally, we were sound; this permissiveness now prevalent in the society was not like then. And that is why, I described the situation in which we are today in a negative way. The institution of family has broken down, respect for elders and constituted authority, which used to be a cardinal principle in our society is now at its lowest ebb.

Honesty, why it does pay has become meaningless. Symptoms of revolts loom large in the society.

In short, there is meaninglessness in philosophy, insecurity in politics, chaos in politics, immorality in society, and corruption in economy. It was not like that before. Our founding fathers had a dream, they have a dream that in fifteen or twenty years, Nigeria will be truly united and we would be our brothers’ keepers.

We would build a sound economy and have political clout to enable us to lead the rest of the countries in Africa and inspire the black race in the world. That was their dream, that dream has not been realised.

But let me make it quite clear, although I have painted the picture black, I still remain optimistic. This is because everything that has a beginning has an end. Only God has no beginning and no end. I believe we would overcome, more especially when I look at and see the crises we had in the past and we overcame. We had Independence crisis in 1952, when Chief Enahoro moved independence motion and members of the North were not ready to support and that brought misunderstanding. In fact, that was the cause of the Kano riot, we overcame. We put behind us all these misunderstandings and came together to start discussing the independence of this country. We had the Census Crisis in 1958, it was about to break the country, but we were able to overcome. We had the Independence Election Crisis. In 1959, when we had the independence election, no one party had an overall majority. There had to be a coalition. At first, some people thought the NCNC and the Action Group; two southern political parties

will go into coalition to form the government.

Some well-meaning Nigerians advised that it will not look well as the NPC representing more than half the population of the country and in size might feel offended and might want to secede; so there was a negotiation. And we ended up with the NPC and NCNC forming a coalition government. Then we had the controversial election of 1964, two major political parties and four other political parties refused to participate in the elections, the NCNC, Action Group, NEPU and the UNBC. Only the NPC and the newly formed party, UNDP by Chief Akintola went to the polls, and we claimed to have won the elections. And of course, the President, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, then, refused to invite leaders of the winning parties to form the government; that again brought some crisis. Some well meaning people waded into the crisis, reconciled the various political parties and we ended up with what we called a broad based government. We allowed those parties that did not contest to go to contest in their region because it was only in the North and West that we had elections; the East and Mid-west did not. And after the elections, they brought their representatives to join the government. Again, we overcame.

Then the coup came in 1966, if the Prime Minister had made his statement, which he had told both Dr. Mbadiwe and Okotie Eboh the night of the coup, that he would declare a state of emergency in the West, where there was trouble, if he had declared that state of emergency, removed the premier and appointed an administrator, that might have brought to an end the crisis in the West and the country.

Unfortunately, it was that same night that he was taken away and he lost his life. And the counter-coup six months after would have led the country to go into pieces; again, some well meaning Nigerians waded into the crisis and the country was saved, and Gowon became the Head of State after Ironsi and the government continued.

Most importantly, Nigeria had a civil war, nobody believed that Nigeria would be the same again after that civil war but here we are today. By the grace of God, we are together. So I believe that in spite of the ugly things that are happening today, we will, by the grace of God, overcome. We shall be united, will be our brothers’ keepers and have good governance. And by the grace of God, Nigeria will become strong, economically, politically, including having the political clout to take our proper place in the

comity of nations and lead the blacks in the world and other African countries. This is my belief and God willing, it will come to be.

But in order to have that, we must have good leaders, leaders who are concerned, with the fear of God. Leaders not rulers, leaders not looters, leaders who are honest, have the fear of God and believe that they will stand before God one day to account; leaders who will accept in public what they have accepted in secret. Leaders with a vision not blurred vision, leaders who look at the lots of the common man with the eyes of a compatriot not the eyes of the privileged few. Leaders with fire in their belly but humanity in the heart; fire in their belly so that they may take unpleasant but necessary decisions, humanity in their heart so that in taking such decisions they will tamper justice with mercy. Leaders not rulers, leaders, who know when they are no longer equal to the exigencies of their nation, will have the prudence of handing over to others.

Not leaders who will want to perpetuate their stay in office until death do them part, like church marriage.

In order to have that kind of leaders, the youths must be prepared to have good leaders, who have sense of justice and fair play. I foresaw this in 1962/62, what I foresaw then was the political system. Yes, democracy is the best kind of government but democracy is relative. The cultural parameters of the people should determine their style of democracy.

Yes, we are practicing democracy in Nigeria and indeed in Africa but the democracy we are practicing is Eurocentric not Afrocentric. We

need to take into consideration our own culture and determine our style of democracy.

The most important thing in democracy is consultation and doing justice to people. We can do it, Nyerere did it. He introduced what he called Ujama, African kind of democracy and he brought all the people together as the political system was able to do away and eradicate tribal differences, religion, and unite the country and they moved forward and enjoyed relative peace more than any country in Africa then. That was the African kind of democracy.

He called it Ujama, I call it Afrocracy.

However, it may be difficult because we have been so used to this way and kind of democracy and may take time to convince people to agree to revisit the past and bring out our own type of democracy. Nevertheless, whatever kind of government it is, if we have good leadership, it will work and succeed. So we should look for good leaders.

Like you said, there was this prediction that in fifteen, twenty years after independence Nigeria should be a shining light around the world, respected around the world, but a few years after independence, she was in the middle of a civil war, where did Nigeria miss the mark?

That was where we missed the mark, the first coup. Our leaders then, yes, we made mistakes, but we had made mistakes before and were able to correct them. We came together and moved forward. Those people who staged the original coup, if they had given us time, we would have overcome because as I said, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 51

So long as the youths continue to succumb to the greedy politicians, there would be no change. The youths must realise that they are the future. You are the future leaders, the future is yours. You can make it or mar it. If you decide to mar it by accepting few things, collecting money from politicians, so that they will achieve their selfish aims, you will be marring your future and you will inherit an inglorious future. If you make up your mind to make the future and refuse to succumb to the machinations of these greedy politicians, you will pave way for a great Nigeria and you will inherit a glorious future. The youths are the vehicles and answer, the solutions to the problems, the vehicles of change and the vanguard of revolution.

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Prime Minister was about to make a statement in the parliament to declare a state of emergency in the West, which would have brought to an end the crisis then in the country. We were not allowed. So that hurt the good leadership that we started with. The Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Nehu were regarded as the best leaders in the developing world, men of integrity, both moral and financial, men who were only concerned with the welfare of their people. Men, who wanted to see the reputation of their country kept high, these were the leaders. So while other countries continued with the right leadership, which was why they made progress, we had the original leadership cut short and that was the beginning.

Are you saying that the military led us into this crisis?

Yes, as I said, if the military had not staged the coup in 1966 and had given us time, we would have overcome the crisis as we overcame the previous crises.

How did you come into government and national service?

It was through election. In 1954, I contested and won election in Kano city and went as the first representative of Kano city in the House of Representatives in Lagos. Five years later, in 1959, I re-contested not in the city, but in one of the constituencies in the rural areas and having won, I was appointed a minister. I was appointed the Minister of Mines and Power.

Initially, the Prime Minister wanted me to be the Foreign Minister after independence. As you know, we had election about a year before independence. Indeed, that was why he was preparing me for it, sending me to attend international conferences. I used to represent the Prime Minister at conferences and that was how I got myself to Addis Ababa in June 1960, attending the conference of independent African states, at which conference, I brought the suggestion that the two warring factions, the Monrovia group, which was our group and Casablanca bloc, the radicals led by Nkrumah should please forget their differences and come together to form a continental government with a view to bringing about understanding. It was at that conference that the Nigerian delegations made this suggestion that these two groups should come together to form a continental organisation in the likes of the organisation of America states, with a permanent secretariat and Secretary General and that was how the OAU was conceived. After that, there was consultation, a year or two after the OAU came into being.

What was the motivation when you contested?

It was the love of the country. Since my school days, I had always wanted and prayed that I find myself in the position of serving people.

There was no talk of politics then in the North but in the South there were political movements. When I was in the college, we used to steal the West African Pilot into the school because the school authorities did not allow us to read the paper because of the Political content. I became interested. When I left school and had my training as a teacher, I went to Lagos on educational excursion in 1947. And on my way back from Lagos, we traveled on the same train with Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe; in fact, we were in the same coach.

And he engaged me in talks and I was very much impressed. Of course, I became more convinced that I should do something politically. So when I returned home and started teaching, I did not start political movement or activities, I started with Kano Citizens Association. I wanted the citizens of Kano to be united first, charity, begins at home. You only start from the known to the unknown, the familiar to the unfamiliar. It was that Kano Citizens Organisation that amalgamated with similar organisations in the North like Sokoto Youth Development Organisation formed by Shagari, who was a schoolteacher too and Arewa Youth formed by Mallam Gusau in Kaduna, the Bauchi Discussion Circuit formed

by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Amino Kano and another similar organisation in Zaria formed by Dr. Dikko. We had our annual meetings of the Northern Teachers Association in Zaria and it was there that the idea came to us, as there was an awakening that these organisations springing up should come together to form one organisation, cultural though, for the North. And that was how

It was a different Nigeria, I, a young minister, a northerner, member of the NPC, will drive myself in the evening. I had no orderly; I never had one. I will leave my driver back home and drive myself into the city of Lagos, and my friends in Lagos will stop me in the middle of the street and force me out of the car and we would start embracing one another singing and dancing, omo pupa o, omo pupa lemi fe, (I want a beautiful fair lady, it is she I would marry). Those were the days. Lagos was a Yoruba town; the Action Group controlled it, yet, I was an NPC member, a northerner feeling like a Lagos man. They use to call me Onikoyi of Ikoyi, the Bada of Lagos. Those were the days, we were brothers. I used to tell people that in those good days, parties in Lagos were incomplete without some of us. Benson, GM Johnson, Samuel Adewole - the boy is good, Prince Sijuwade, now Oni of Ife and my humble self. The girls will refuse to go to parties if we were not there. And nobody thought of anybody’s tribal, religious or political background. Those were the days.

May God grant that those days come back again! sions. Then we discovered that the new companies belong to the same club as Shell. Chief Feyide again advised me that we must go to Italy and invite an Italian oil company to come to take concession because it was the only company that was not in their club. However, when we went to Italy, and met Mr. Pate, the chairman of the Italian National Oil Company, he warned me, saying if I was not afraid of the powerful oil companies, they could destroy me, they could finish me. I said no, I am not afraid of them, I said God made me and only God can unmake me. All I wanted from you sir is to give us better offers so that I can justify my invitation to you because I know as at now, they (Shell and others) are going round campaigning and lobbying to make sure that you do not come in. But if you come with a better offer, I can go to the cabinet to argue and justify my invitation. He agreed to come and that was how AGIP came. And they gave better offers, higher royalties and offered us participation if we wanted, offered us training and on and so forth. When there was this question of refinery, I built the first refinery in Port Harcourt, I commissioned it because my argument then was, as an oil producing country we must have refineries. How can we produce oil and send it abroad. Then, we discovered something, if we wanted to get the maximum benefits from oil we must employ qualified people, qualified oil lawyers, accountants, and engineers. But these oil workers were highly paid by the oil companies, if you bring them into the ministry, they will work under the permanent secretary, and they will not earn more than the permanent secretary. And a was before me minister of Mines and Power. I permanent secretary’s salary was chicken feed saw the development of oil industry in in the oil industry. So we decided to take the Nigeria. Indeed, with all humility, I am yet to oil section from the ministry and established see anything new in the oil industry, we startan independent organisation. We formed the ed it. Shell was the only company; it had comNational Oil Corporation (NOC) and gave plete monopoly of oil exploration in those them the independence and allowed them to days. And on the advice of my Chief Petroleum employ the people of the right caliber and Engineer, a fine man, an honest man, Chief remained the supervising ministry. Later the Feyide, and of course, the support and encourNOC became the NNPC. agement of my Permanent Secretary, another I got Nigeria into OPEC, again, I had problem decent gentleman, Musa Daggash, we fought with the oil companies. They did not want Shell to surrender part of its concessions to Nigeria to join OPEC. I remember some of give to other companies. This is because we these companies told the Prime Ministers that argued that we must encourage competition members of OPEC were socialists inclined and within the industry. We could not allow one that Nigeria was a respected country and company to be operating. We had a lot of should not join clubs of troublemakers. Of resistance from them but eventually we succourse, I explained to the Prime Minister that ceeded and they surrendered part of their conOPEC was an organisation of oil producing cession and we invited other companies. And these companies came and took up concesCONTINUED ON PAGE 52

Had The Military Allowed Us, We Would Have Overcome Our Initial Challenges NPC came to be. It was a cultural organisation at first. It was in June 1949 that we launched the NPC in Kaduna, with Dr. Dikko; mark you, a Christian as the first President of NPC. The northerners elected a Christian in 1949 as their leader. It was later that NEPU came into being because some people broke out from NPC to form NEPU. After that, NPC became a political party and Dr. Dikko as a civil servant had to resign because as a civil servant he should not take part in politics.

So I had always been interested in politics since my school days, and people like Dr. Azikiwe and Mallam Aminu Kano, through their speeches and poems, which were politically inclined, encouraged me.

After the 1959 election, the Prime Minister appointed me the minister of Mines and Power.

And I was in charge of oil and other minerals including electricity. I succeeded Ribadu, who

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COVER The Future Belongs To The Youths, They Must Shape It Now CONTINUED FROM PAGE 51 and developing countries and Nigeria is an oil producing and a developing country.

Members of OPEC came together to discuss their common problems and seek solution to them. Secondly, if oil companies and buyers would come together in their own interest, why should we the sellers not come together?

There was one interesting thing, which unfortunately was being misunderstood. I remember the Eastern Region then, our oil exploration was onshore not offshore, but then the Eastern Region got to know that most of our oil was from offshore, they came with the argument that territorial waters should belong to the region. And I could understand because if territorial waters belonged to the region, all the resources in the water would belong to the region. I argued against it because you cannot claim something that you cannot defend. You have no Navy to defend the waters.

Secondly, it was not the practice anywhere in the world. Territorial waters belong to the central authority not the regional government.

However, I had to appoint a committee comprising of representatives of the regional governments and the federal government to go round the world, visit several oil producing countries and find out what is obtained in those countries in respect of territorial waters.

The committee did and came back and reported unanimously that territorial waters belong to the central authority.

The interesting thing was that the Prime Minister was NPC, so also the minister of Mines and Power and we were in charge of oil but then when the people in the Niger Delta decided to form a political party, which they called the Niger Delta People’s Congress, they went into alliance with NPC. They did not go into alliance with NCNC, the party in power in their region, neither Action Group, the party in the Southwest, but they formed alliance with the ruling party from the North. Why? I believe the reason is that the Prime Minister never bothered himself about production except what benefits it would bring to the people. During my seven years in that ministry 1959-66, not once did the Prime Minister send anybody to me, his relations, friends, colleagues or companies he was interested to give a license to, a concession or oil well.

Neither did he have one nor did I have one.

How could I when my master did not have one? Indeed, when the Prime Minister was killed in the coup of 1966, he had no kobo in his bank account. And in all humility, I had to borrow money from my permanent secretary and a friend in Lagos to send my family home.

I had no bank account because I got my salary in cash. But we enjoyed it.

It was a different Nigeria, I, a young minister, a northerner, member of the NPC, will drive myself in the evening, I had no orderly, I never had one. I will leave my driver back home and drive myself into the city of Lagos, and my friends in Lagos will stop me in the middle of the street and force me out of the car and we would start embracing one another singing and dancing, omo pupa o, omo pupa lemi fe, (I want a beautiful fair lady, it is she I would marry). Those were the days. Lagos was a Yoruba town; the Action Group controlled it, yet, I was an NPC member, a northerner feeling like a Lagos man. They use to call me Onikoyi of Ikoyi, the Bada of Lagos. Those were the days, we were brothers. I used to tell people that in those good days, parties in Lagos were incomplete without some of us. Benson, GM Johnson, Samuel Adewole- the boy is good, Prince Sijuwade, now Oni of Ife and my humble self. The girls will refuse to go to parties if we were not there. And nobody thought of anybody’s tribal, religious or political background. Those were the days. May God grant that those days come back again!

How was it coming back to Kano prior to the civil war?

Yes, after the coup, I came back to Kano. Six months after that coup, there was a counter coup, which brought Gowon to power and he created states, Kano State was one of them and our first military governor was Audu Bako. He appointed me commissioner for Local Government later he moved me to Ministry of Forestry, Cooperative and Community Development. From there, I went to the Ministry of Information. It was from

Information that I went back to Lagos as the first chairman of National Council for Arts and Culture. This was because in 1975, I was elected by the then Nigeria Arts Council as the President. I was not an artiste but they argued that they wanted a rallying figure and they knew I was interested in culture. So, Segun Olusola, Mapo Rabo, Wole Soyinka and the rest of them, they were the artistes and they elected me President of the Nigeria Arts Council. And I toured round Nigeria in my capacity as the President of Nigeria Arts Council, believe you me, I discovered to my pleasant surprise that the so-called different cultures in Nigeria are after all, basically the same. It was the same respect for elders, morality, honesty and even the setting of the compounds were the same! I discovered that even the household utensils were the same, cooking pots, grinding stones, water pots. I discovered that there are more things that are common to us in the so-called different cultures than those that are different.

We were doing very well and with that organisation, we had hope that we would really promote unity in the country. And of course we started doing things, but which made the government uncomfortable. Every year, you know these artistes, they are in the media and everywhere and at the end of every year, I will issue a presidential address to the nation, as if I were the president of the country. And you know some of them were powerful writers. One day, we called for a culture revolution. We called for a revolution and the government became worried. They said, ‘if we arrest them, we would create more trouble, if we leave them, we would not feel

comfortable. The best thing is to say that this organisation is very important and their aim is very good, so government would like to take it over’. So they took it over and changed it to the National Council for Arts and Culture and made me the first chairman of the council.

Not long after, Gowon was overthrown; Murtala said he did not like me to be doing dancing and singing. And I said it is not; culture is much more than what he thinks, but he did not understand and did not agree, as he said that he has a better job for me. He wanted me to be the ombudsman, the first Public Complaint Commissioner. So l left the National Council for Arts and Culture to be the first Public Complaint Commissioner, until 1978 when they decided to hand-over power.

You talked about the important role of the leader in getting things right, are the followers doing their bit?

For so long as the youths will continue to succumb to the greedy politicians, there would be no change. The youths must realise that they are the future. You are the future leaders, the future is yours. You can make it or mar it. If you decide to mar it by accepting few things, collecting money from politicians, so that they will achieve their selfish aims, you will be marring your future and you will inherit an inglorious future. If you make up your mind to make the future and refuse to succumb to the machinations of these greedy politicians, you will pave way for a great Nigeria and you will inherit a glorious future. The youths are the vehicles and answer, the solutions to the problems, the vehicles of change and the vanguard

In the First Republic therefore, Nigeria was so much respected that people thought in about fifteen to twenty years after independence, with the kind of leadership that we started with, Nigeria would join the leading countries of the world. Indeed, there was a report that three developing countries would in fifteen to twenty years join the most industrialized countries of the world. And these three countries were India, Brazil and Nigeria. I think it was because of the leadership, in those countries that today, India has made it, India is a nuclear power, and mark you, India has got all these political, religious, ethnic and tribal differences, one hundred times as many as we have in Nigeria.

But in spite of that, they were still able to do it.

of revolution.

Though, they need elders to guide them because the best organisation is a combination of the old and the young. You need the maturity, experience and wisdom of the old as well as the dynamic and radicalism of the youths. So the youths, even though they are the future, they need the advice and guidance of the old, but responsible and reliable old people. Not undesirable, waste product of humanity.

So we can do it and bring about the change but the youths must make up their mind and they must get away with this idea of new breed, new breed, which got into the heads of some of our young people and made them think they can do it alone. You cannot, even the leading countries in the world have some powerful old people behind the scene to guide them, advise them, even scold them at times.

That is the secret of their success. Our youths must learn that they need elders. In the past, before the White Man came to our shores, we used to have Council of Elders, old people who are not interested in holding any position, but are interested in the country and the future of the country and they gave advice to the authorities. We no longer have that because we now have a new policy of new breed, the old breed must be done away with because they have exhausted their usefulness. But new breed without the old breed will breed greed.

But when I called for a revolution, let me make it quite clear, that I am not calling for a bloody revolution, but a cultural revolution. I am calling for Mahatma Gandhi kind of revolution, non-violent resistors. And we can make it. A good leader will inspire his people as people take cues from their leaders. 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.

What is your position on rotational presidency?

As far as I am concerned, we have accepted to adopt a federal system of government, we have agreed to practice democracy; we should therefore allow democracy to work. Let anybody from anywhere, whatever religion or tribe he belongs to contest the election. I do not care who leads the country, so long as he would do justice and fair play, justice and fair play. These are the things I am looking for.

This question of, ‘this time is my turn, that time is your turn,’ will encourage a lot of things, corruption and bastardised democracy, because once I am there and I know that I will be there for the next few years and after that somebody will take over, I will make sure that I entrench my own people. In trying to entrench my own people, I will also make sure that if it is possible I stay on so that the people I put in power will not be removed after I might have gone. It is human nature. Leave the thing open, Nigerians want the best and only the best is good for Nigeria. Let him come from the West, East, Niger Delta or the North, anywhere, if he is good, and the people accept him, if he will do justice and fair play.

Behind every crisis in the world, not only in Nigeria, is injustice and the solution to this is justice. I do not care about where the person ruling comes from; I care about his sense of justice and fair play. A good leader is someone with the fear of God, who will not cheat people or kill people because he believes he would stand before God one day to account for what he is doing. A leader that will accept in public what he accepted in secret. You talk of one Nigeria, but when you get to your room you tell your brother, do not trust him, he is not from our tribe or religion. Is that how we can build true Nigeria? We want leaders who will not steal or lie, but with honour.

In tackling corruption, what suggestions will you give?

It is quite easy. So long as you take the man who stole to court and he gets away, we cannot fight corruption. How many people have gone to the court after having been found to have accumulated ill gotten wealth, how CONTINUED ON PAGE 55

TheGuardian

Sunday, July 28, 2013 53

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Opinion In Praise Of Ekiti PDP Youth D

R. Muhammed Ali Pate, one of the few respectable men in the Goodluck Jonathan cabinet, resigned last week. He was the Minister of State for Health.

Dr. Pate was trained in Duke University, and will return there as a professor in the institution’s Global Health Institute. Recently, I heard him speak about some of the work going on in Nigeria’s public health. He enthralled everyone with such vigor and eloquence that I was happy to be a Nigerian.

His resignation letter was dated July 22. He apparently told President Goodluck Jonathan he could not stand another day in his suffocating sewers because the resignation was accepted, and took effect, in just 48 hours.

It seems Pate simply could no longer accept the endless hypocrisy and embarrassment in which he found himself, and finally decided to put some distance between himself and Abuja.

The presidency, characteristically, claimed his departure as an achievement. “It is a positive development that we have people who are recognised globally,” spokesman Reuben Abati said, with a straight face. “His appointment is a plus for the administration and the country.”

If Mr. Jonathan’s logic is right, perhaps he can also demonstrate that America’s top talent does quit Barack Obama’s cabinet to work in Aso Rock or its environs. Still, Pate’s resignation from a cabinet where corruption is encouraged and money is free and easy makes him one of a kind. In Nigeria, a seat in the federal cabinet is the next best to a seat in the Senate.

But think about it: Pate’s resignation came one day after a news report reminded the world of the scandalous looting going on at the National Assembly (NASS). Our federal legislators, it said, earn nearly $200,000 per year, making them the “best-paid” on earth.

Actually, they pay themselves. But remember, the reported figure does not include a

shipload of allowances. It does not include bribes. It does not include vast extortion fees that Senators collect from nominees that are desperate to “bow and go” into offices requiring Senatorial confirmation. It does not include contracts.

The story of the looting at the NASS is not really a new one. But it is still a gripping one, especially when you consider they do not really know what they earn. Asked about it last week, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Information and Media, described the report as incorrect, saying only the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission could say what Senators earn.

Over at the House of Representatives, spokesman Zakari Mohammed made it worse.

“Whatever is being written is mere exaggeration and does not reflect what is accurate,” he explained. “They fail to realise that what we take as salaries are different from what we use in running our offices.”

The legislators probably don’t know what they earn because the money is pouring in so much they have to keep opening new accounts. No Senator wants to say what he collects for each of at least 10 categories of allowances. Senate President David Mark, the royal prince of legislative hypocrisy, does not want anyone to know that he claims $1300 per night as estacode when he travels.

One more word about the Senate: many Nigerians were angry last week about its outrageous decision on child marriage. But to take this position is to suggest that the Upper House closely and intelligently considered the matter and that members voted on the grounds of principle. There is no evidence to back these assumptions: some of the Senators are far too busy being powerful and counting their money to be accused of intelligence and principle. This means there is far more embarrassment to come.

Speaking of embarrassment, one way of knowing you have reached rock bottom is

when you can no longer recognize a direct insult, the very case with Nigeria’s dwindling international esteem. Early this month, President Jonathan visited China. The trip came just one month after the fiasco in Addis Ababa, where President Jonathan failed to show up to deliver his address at the 50th anniversary of the African Union. It was also just one year after he announced to the world he does not “give a damn” about his own image.

At the Beijing International Airport, he was received by one Mr. Li Yucheng, an Assistant Foreign Minister. It would have been insulting enough had Mr. Yucheng been receiving Nigeria’ Foreign Minister. It would have been insulting had he been receiving Vice-President Namadi Sambo, but Mr. Jonathan did not find it insulting.

Perhaps Mr. Jonathan did not get out of bed early enough to look at the briefing notes prepared for him. He probably could not tell President Xi Jingping or Premier Li Keqiang from Assistant Minister Yucheng, and probably introduced the man to his wife as Vladimir Putin or Ibn Batuta.

The more important point is: How do we respond to Nigeria’s dwindling fortunes?

How do we move on from this debilitating incompetence, institutionalized looting and decay?

We, the people, must find the strength for ourselves, and I think the youth of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State are leading the way.

Last Tuesday in Ado Ekiti, they gathered in protest and marched upon the offices of the party to warn that they will not accept the imposition of a “consensus candidate” for the forthcoming governorship election.

There are 24 candidates, and in a script that may have been penned by Abuja’s malformed political operatives, Ekiti PDP decided to handpick a candidate. On Tuesday, the youth arrived early at the party secretariat and seized

sonala.olumhense@gmail.com

control.

They explained that each time the PDP has deployed a consensus candidate, that candidate has lost the election. The message was that such a choice could neither be based on merit, nor would the chosen one feel obligated to the electorate.

Said spokesman Akinniyi Sunday, “We want a candidate that can win the election. A candidate that is popular at the grassroots. We are being guided by history.” He explained that everywhere the PDP has avoided the path of the primaries, and therefore of merit, it lost the subsequent election.

Furthermore, the protesters insisted, anything other than credible, free and fair primaries would not be acceptable to the youth wing of the party and the grassroots.

I cheer and stand with the principled stand of these remarkable Ekiti PDP youth. In the search for the future, for men and women of character and credibility and hope, they must insist that the blind not be imposed on the sighted or the weak on the strong.

I encourage them to take the message to the East, to the West, to the South, to the North. Let them take the message to their counterparts in other States and raise their voices at PDP headquarters, because it is the right message and because time is running out.

Theirs is an SOS. Let all who care, spread the word.

The Age Of Consent

By Tunji Lardner

N

IGERIA is a confused country and Nigerians even more so.

Every day as I try to filter and process the farrago of people, events, action and consequences, I am very often at a loss to find meaning and purpose in this ever increasing complex and dystopian jumble of confusion, and yet, it seems that there is a method to this madness... to be sure a suicidal and self destructive method. One just has to dig a little deeper each time to find that subterranean seam that reluctantly gives up a little bit of meaning and context to the improbable phenomena that we confront each day in Nigeria.

I am torn between ‘confusion’ and ‘chaos’ in trying to describe Nigeria today, whilst the latter as chaos has an intelligible theory –chaos theory-to give it meaning and context, I think the former term is more appropriate. Indeed the inimitable Fela describes in his presciently named song ‘confusion’ the popular (Ojuelegba) junction in Lagos with traffic hurtling pell mell in all directions and no ‘policeman for centre’ to give order and direction as confusion, then as now he was talking about Nigeria. From the quotidian and common place annoyances of why we still can’t have adequate electricity, water, health care or a reasonable quality of life, to the larger and more worrisome realization that Nigeria in this present trajectory is heading for a disaster of uncommon proportions.

Take this recent report on Nigeria’s booming population from the United Nation’s Population Division; “Nigeria, currently Africa’s most populous country, is poised for one of the world’s most rapid population booms ever. In just 100 years, maybe two or three generations, the population is expected to increase by a mind-boggling factor of eight. The country is already troubled by corruption, poverty and religious conflict. It’s difficult to imagine how a government that can barely serve its population right now will respond when the demand on resources, social services, schools and roads increases by a factor of eight.” The upshot of this is that by the year 2100 by their estimates, we will have close to a billion Nigerians trying to survive in this misbegotten place, and to bring the time line even closer to our discernible future, by 2025 we will have 240 million Nigerians to cater for.

I have come to realize that I suffer from what I can only describe as the ‘the curse of understanding.’ Everyday, even as I battle with the mundane challenges of trying to survive in Nigeria like everybody else, I am obsessively compelled to contextualise what I see within a grand cosmological framework that necessarily looks

high and ahead, sometime too high and too far ahead.

However, the good news is that I am very frequently and unceremoniously brought crashing down to earth by Nigeria’s malevolent gravitational pull that seems to mire any elevated and informed thoughts or actions that directly challenge the present status quo. We seem to love wallowing in the mud as well as slinging it.

This past week from my vantage point in the quagmire, I was befuddled by the surprisingly swift and wide spread public uproar about the recent Senate vote on the removal of Clause 29(4b) of the Nigerian Constitution. As I initially understood the matter, Section 29 of the 1999 constitution talks about the right of a Nigerian citizen of “full age” to renounce his/her Nigerian citizenship. “Full age” for the purpose of this section was defined as 18 years and above. But subsection 4 (b) made an exception for married women. According to the contentious clause in Section 29 (4) (b), “any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.” Therefore at the heart of the matter is what constitutes the age of consent, the full age at which a Nigerian citizen can renounce his/her Nigerian citizenship. It seems that some of our learned senators, led by the Senator from Zamfara State, who has a penchant for marrying pubescent teenage girls felt that the full age of consent at 18 years plus should not apply to married women and so he persuaded his colleagues by a vote of 60 ‘ayes’ to 35 ‘nays’ to have it expunged from the constitution.

Stepping back from the various constitutional arguments and the thinly veiled religious, ethnic and regional fissures that have opened up in the wake of this improbable cultural war of values and the even more surprising public outrage at the intuitive nexus between the age of consent and the age of marriage being 18 plus years, my preferred framing of this complex disagreement is to investigate what constitutes the ‘age of consent’ not as a right to the renunciation of citizenship, but rather as metaphor for the engagement of citizenship in a country without a social contract, or even real citizens.

Luckily for me, I have the sturdy bookends of two articles making the rounds to help frame my position. One is by Maryam Uwais, a friend; a lawyer who dissembles the spurious religious and constitutional arguments that undergird the Lolita loving Senator’s position and the other is by the literary Dr. Niran Okewole, whose piece delves into the psychological evolution of children right up to the age of consent.

Maryam writes: ‘In this particular instance, it is certainly perplexing for the Senator to insist so categorically that even a

married ‘intellectually immature’ girl must be permitted to renounce her citizenship, irrespective of her mental capacity.

The foundation for such a general and sweeping statement within the Shari’a is difficult to locate.’ And Niran concurs, ‘Contracting out a girl in marriage before she is psychologically prepared arrests her development and violates her right to healthy, fulsome personal growth. It is also noteworthy that the Child Rights Act, which is yet to be adopted in several states, explicitly prohibits marriage at less than 18 years of age.’

Niran goes on to explain in his capacity as a psychiatrist that ‘The developing person of 12-18 years is in quest for integration and personal identity, in quest for a sense of selfhood. The adolescent at this stage seeks to bring together experiences to discover his or her place in society. Failure to successfully negotiate this phase may lead to a lifelong identity crisis.’

‘A lifelong identity crisis’ is the perfect segue into some questions that need to be asked. Given all the chaos and confusion engulfing us as a country, have Nigerians reached the age of consent? Have we fully developed our national quest for integration and a national identity and a sense of nationhood? Have we had enough civic experiences to discover our respective places in this society, or are we collectively suffering a national lifelong identity crisis?’

Did we all consent to having a hidebound, backward thinking Senator Yerima and his ilk propound retrograde laws and then pay them the highest legislative salaries (not counting extortionate benefits) in the world and about 116 times what the average Nigeria earns?

Did we consent to being the country with the highest percentage of poor people in the world? Did we consent to being one of the most corrupt countries in the world? Did we consent to the 300,000 or so Nigerians, mostly children who die of malaria each year?

Did we consent to the close to the $500 billion that have been stolen from Nigeria since independence or the over $1 billion that is stolen each month through state sanctioned oil thefts organised and sustained by the ruling military-political complex?

Did we consent to the 144 women who die in childbirth each day in Nigeria? I could go on and on and on, and still not understand why we condone the excesses of our rulers. Perhaps we also should take an equally critical look at the followers whose wilful abnegation of their rights and responsibilities of citizenship amounts to the renunciation of citizenship as contained in Section 29 of the constitution.

Comments can be sent to: me.tlardner@gmail.com

TheGuardian

54 | Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Opinion Towards A People-driven Economy

By Victor Emejuiwe HAT lessons can we learn from China?

In the past few weeks China became jittery over the growth of its economy, the government of that country was not comfortable with the 7.2 per cent GDP growth of its economy. Meanwhile the Chinese economy is renowned as the world largest economy. China utilised four main sectors to drive its economic growth. These includes; Industry, Agriculture, Science and Technology and National Defense also known as the four modernisations. The Chinese also have strong laws on equity joint ventures. The evidence of Chinese growth is not in the GDP figures but in the land miles it has achieved above other industrialised nations over the past ten years. It is a deep sense of responsibility for China to get jittery over the slight reduction of its growth figures, but the economic structures already in place is enough to mitigate total economic collapse in China.

Interestingly, Nigeria has recorded an impressive economic growth of 6.5 per cent, which the Coordinating Minister of the economy sighted as being very impressive, but it is obvious that the trend in the revenue generation profile of the nation, cannot sustain the economic growth. The Nigerian government is jittery over its revenue profile as a result of recent loss of revenue of 400,000 barrels from crude oil theft, and the shortfall of revenue generated from the customs and FIRS. It is ironical that we celebrate an economic growth and yet record losses of revenue. The Federal government had projected a total of 11.9trn as its revenue projection for the year 2013; unfortunately the revenue profile recorded in the first quarter of the year negates this projection. The Federal Accounts Allocations Committee FAAC declared the gross federally collected revenue of the first three months as N1.81tn. The trends of this allocation from January are N651.26bn, February N571.7bn and March 595.7bn; if we are to go by this trend, Nigeria might end up with just N7.3tn at the end of the year. It is a clear indication that the current economy of Nigeria is in near collapse and the only solution to salvage it, is to restructure the economy.

The four modernisation of China as earlier highlighted was successful because China leveraged on its population. China deployed over 300 million of its 1 billion population into defense, it further encouraged a large number of its population to go into industrialisation and as such a lot of Chinese citizens are manufacturers of their own products. The Chinese also saw the need to feed its massive population, therefore, it invested so much in agriculture with a record of 300 million Chinese farmers employed in China; it is ranked as first in worldwide farm output. For Science and Technology, China was open to foreign based technology coming from Japan and the U.S.A, it encouraged partnership with these countries and today China has succeeded in domesticating those technologies in its home stead.

Nigeria has similar population advantage in Africa, and as such it is regarded as the most popular black nation in the world. It is also blessed with Natural resources such as crude oil with an arable land for agriculture; as a result, agriculture has contributed as our most reliable source of non-oil revenue contributing

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JAW JAW By Didi Onu

33.4 per cent of the GDP. The Federal government must learn to build a people centered economy by leveraging on the potentials of Nigerians and deploying them into the identified sectors that could increase the revenue profile of the country. The over reliance on crude has encouraged social vices and laziness especially from Nigerians who seize the opportunity to steal crude oil in their domain with disregard to dignified labour.

There are four key sectors that should form a people driven economy in Nigeria. This includes; Entertainment, Agriculture, Industrialisation and Science and Technology.

The four key sectors are the major sector that captures the interest of the vast population in Nigeria.

The Federal Government must be commended for identifying with the entertainment industry such as Nollywood. The recent three billion intervention fund given to the industry is a sign of encouragement to the industry.

However the industry needs to form part of government economic growth policy, with a yearly budget allocated to it. The industry has been confirmed as the third best in the world after Hollywood and Bollywood, making over $255million yearly with thousands of youth gainfully employed. The Federal government needs to liaise with stakeholders of the industry to establish a framework where both parties could benefit from the growth of the industry.

Taxation remains the most suitable means for government to gain from the industry.

China obviously deployed strata of its population into its four modernisations, with 300 million gaining employment in the national defense and another 300 million into agriculture. Nigeria is fortunate to have over 50 per cent of its population involved in domestic farming; however, domestic farming is not a reliable source of revenue generation for both the government and the farmers. It has mostly provided subsistent meals for the immediate family of the farmers. There are lots of challenges with commercial farming in Nigeria, and these include: Non access to modern tools such as mechanised and irrigational farming.

Also, the huge cost of fertilizer and lack of storage facilities has discouraged a lot of commercial farmers in Nigeria. The federal government must intervene by deploying the teeming youths into modernised agriculture. Over 70 per cent of Nigerians would be interested in agriculture if incentives are given for mechanised and irrigational farming. The federal government should provide allocations for mechanised farming while also encouraging the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to device monetary policy that offers interest free loan to Nigerians, interested in agriculture. Strong regulatory framework must be set up to achieve this.

China attained its industrial height by encouraging local manufacturers from province to province; it set up a manufacturing council in each province to test and approve the standard of goods produced and thereafter brands such products as made in china products. Nigeria is equally blessed with enterprising youths in the south east of Nigeria, such as Aba. Aba town in Abia state is known as the “Japan of Africa” simply because the town is made up of virile youths with technical ability to produce different commodities, ranging from bags, shoes, cloths, and house hold materials; it has also

Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

suit China’s needs. In case of losses caused by a foreign joint venturer in its practicing deception through the intentional provision of outdated technology and equipment it shall compensate for the losses.

A Chinese joint venturer’s investment may include the right to the use of a site provided for the equity joint venture during the period of its operation.

If the right to the use of the site is not taken as a part of the Chinese joint venturer’s investment the equity joint venture shall pay the Chinese Government for its use. The above-mentioned investments shall be specified in the contract and articles of association of the equity joint venture and their value excluding that of the site shall be assessed by all parties to the venture” The Chinese JVA policy above had succeeded in protecting the Chinese interest in any foreign venture. Nigeria’s current foreign trade policy is to encourage foreign investment and also to engage in the exchange of commodities between countries where it has bilateral relationship. The outcome of this policy had only ended up making Nigeria a dumping ground for all sorts of importations. The National Bureau of Statistics NBS revealed that in the first quarter of 2012 Nigeria’s importation value across its partners were; China N256.26 bn, USA N196.13 bn, U.K, N190.60bn, Brazil N169.86bn, India N114.04bn, Japan N70.34, Germany N60.48bn, Belgium N54.93bn, Netherlands N50.78bn, UAE, N42.98bn. Unfortunately Nigeria’s export value to this countries is in zero sum. The Federal government must review its foreign trade policy; it must define what the interest of Nigerians is and be made to reflect in our trade relations, bilateral relations and foreign policy. It is expected that, like China, Nigerian investment policy should encourage transfer of knowledge.

The dominance of priority sector by companies such as Total, Elf, Chevron, Shell, MRS and merchandise conglomerates such as UTC, John Holt, UAC, and Unilever should be reconsidered for a takeover by indigenous companies. This can only occur if Nigerians are endowed with the required capacity.

Nigeria can only compete favorably through science and technology; therefore companies desiring to invest in Nigeria must invest its technology amongst scientists in Nigeria.

It is recommended that graduating students of the Federal Polytechnics and University of technologies should be trained by technical expatriates willing to invest in Nigeria.

The recommendations cited could be accomplished through a comprehensive macro-economic policy that is well reflected in the budget. It requires the input of the relevant industry stakeholders residing both here in Nigeria and outside Nigeria.

In essence, Nigeria must target the strata of its population based on their diverse area of interest and plan effectively for them in any of these sectors. A people driven economy is the best solution for Nigeria to mitigate crime and create a leading economy in Africa and beyond.

attracted a lot of market in and around West African Countries. In Anambra State, Nnewi Town had produced automobile experts such as Innocin and Anamco. These two companies could revolve into several automobile companies if encouraged to produce more vehicles and also train more Nigerians into vehicle production. In the South West, there are industrialists who are engaged in food processing and consumables, they are involved in the production of detergents, biscuits, plastics, exercise books etc. Such industrialists should be given import waivers with a target to train and employ more youths. The North is not to be left out; they had once contributed to the growth of the economy by involving in the production and exportation of textile materials; they are also gifted in hand crafts for house hold wares.

The textile industry should be revived and a large scale industry with modern equipment’s should be set up in various local governments in the North for these crafts to be largely produced. The Federal government should make painstaking efforts to encourage manufacturing of made in Nigeria products in every regions of the country and set up a manufacturing council in those regions to test the usability and standard of the products. To achieve this, it must fall under a top budget priority of the government. Government could source for grants to kick-start the project.

China opened up its door for science and technology; the aim was to boost the local capacity of its teaming industrialist. For a very long time the Americans, Japanese, Koreans invested in China through science and technology; China leveraged on this opportunity and developed its own science based structure that has become the best in the world. A good Joint Venture Agreement can be cited in the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Foreign Equity Joint Ventures Article 5, and it states •Emejuiwe is a Procurement Specialist, Centre that; for Social Justice, Abuja.

“The technology and equipment contributed by a foreign joint venturer as its investment must be really advanced technology and equipment that

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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

COVER

We Do Not Need Bloody Revolution, We Need Good Leadership By Example CONTINUED FROM PAGE 52 many have got away. What we should do if we really want to deal with corruption is to introduce the policy of ‘how did you come about it’.

When you get into office, you declare your assets and at the end of your tenure you declare your assets. We know your salaries and allowances. We would then see the difference, so explain, how you came about this. In the absence of explanation, you will forfeit it to the government. You came into government with two houses, now you have got ten or twelve houses, how did you come about it. In the absence of explanation, you forfeit them.

This will discourage other people from stealing because what is the use wasting time stealing money and only to be confiscated at the snap of the fingers. The only way to deal with corruption in Nigeria is to introduce the culture of ‘how did you come about it’.

It is also easy to deal with corruption if you have good leaders but if the leaders themselves are thieves they will give room for their colleagues to find a way out to steal.

Every region is claiming to be marginalised, what is the way out of this endless fixation?

If we have a good leader, he will take the country as his own constituency, though we would always have these complaints. In the past, for instance, we used to have an economic council headed by the Prime Minister; all the Premiers of the regions were members with their economic ministers. The economic adviser then was Dr. Pius Okigbo, an Igbo man.

He was appointed by the Prime Minister, a northerner. I remember that there was a time when there was an argument in the council, all the Premiers of the region were on one side; the argument became so heated. And Ribadu was furious when the Prime Minister asked Dr Okigbo to give his professional advice. In giving his advice, he supported the Premiers. Ribadu did not take it kindly; he wondered why Okigbo should do that since he was the Federal Government Economic Adviser instead of supporting the stand of the Federal government. But the Prime Minister said Dr Okigbo was not adviser to the Federal Government but Economic Adviser to the Government of the Federation, therefore he accepted his view.

Then, when they met and discussed, they came up with all embracing, comprehensive economic programmes for Nigeria, the regional Premiers then went back to their regions to implement their sections. There was therefore, a comprehensive, all embracing one economic programme for the entire nation, agreed by all the leaders. And there was no question of maginalisation then. And justice and fair play were the perquisites of development.

Looking at our country, we are blessed with resources, natural and human, yet we have not accelerated in terms of development.

During the civil war, we were sent out to campaign for our cause. I went to the United States and I remembered Shehu Shagari went to the Scandinavian countries. When we returned, we compared notes before submitting our reports to General Gowon, the Head of State then. And Shagari told me that he met a friend, a common friend of ours. And the man told him that ‘we know why you are out; you have come to seek for support and favour for your cause. But let me tell you, we do not care about you, all we cared about are your resources, if we could get robots to exploit

your resources for us to develop our economy, we would not mind a lot of you being eliminated. But you Nigerians are a peculiar case, you have the population, resources and we know your resources more than you do know about them. All you need in Nigeria is about a fairly long period of say ten to twenty years; you will be able to make it. You will become a very strong economy, will join the economic powers but you need this period of uninterrupted peace. But we would not allow you because if you have this period of peace and stability, you will use your brains and Nigerians have got brains, you will work hard and you are hard working people, you will exploit your resources and you have them in abundance and you will develop your economy. And developing your economy needs a market, you have no problem looking for a market, Nigeria’s population alone will serve the market, in addition the entire West African region will be your market. And if that happens, you will be a torn in our flesh, we would lose our source of raw materials because you will be using them in your factories, we would lose our market because you will be the market and also get other markets in West Africa. So even after your civil war, we would create one problem after another so that you may not enjoy peace and stability that will enable you to develop and become such a strong country.’

So it is up to us.

How do we tackle the issue of Boko Haram?

The Northern Elders Forum went into the matters and visited the places affected, we spoke to the people, we wrote our report, we went to see Mr. President, we submitted our report, he saw us the second time and that was when he set up this Committee for Amnesty and they are working. My belief is, what the tongue can undo, let not the sword be used. We formed this organisation to help government to find peace not only in the North but also across the country. I do not want this matter to be internationalised.

It is our own domestic affair and we shall do it.

We must help the government, running a Nigerian government, I know, is very difficult.

Nigeria is a difficult country to rule, whoever rules Nigeria should be pitied, rather than being envied because it is like a silk gown that you fold one sleeve, the other sleeve unfold itself. We formed this group in order to be partners in progress with the government, to find solution locally to this problem of Boko Haram and by the grace of God, we are beginning to succeed. This time is not for pointing accusing fingers. The question now is, what is wrong and not who is wrong, that is the way to find peace and we would find peace by the grace of God and we are beginning to find it.

Let Nigerians remember one thing that, Nigeria, we have always been told is a great country but I say it is a great country potentially, we need to work hard to realise the potential greatness of the country and we have to respect one another and love one another. We have to do justice to one another as brothers and sisters. After all, Nigerians are very religious people. I sometimes say we are the most religious around the world, both the Christians and the Muslims.

The Nigerian Christians are more religious than their counterparts in other Christendom, and so are the Nigerian Muslims, they are more religious than their counterparts in other Muslims world. And both religions teach moral values, peace with your God and mind. Peace with your fellow man is the teaching of

India has made it. Brazil, another of the three countries, has also made it because Brazil’s economy is stronger than that of Britain. Brazil builds ships, manufactures planes and cars and weapons of all kinds, and it has about the best agriculture programme in the world. Brazil has made it too.

Incidentally, Brazil and Nigeria established their defense industries the same year. So, while Brazil is building ships and manufacturing planes, our defense industry is yet to build a tanker. Leadership, I think it is.

Christianity. The word Islam is peace and the most important aspect of the Islamic worship after the belief in one God is the salat, at the end of your prayer, you say Asamalalekun, which is, peace be unto you all, irrespective of your religion or tribe. So both religions teach peace. Love thy neighbour as you love thyself, my neighbour, it was not qualified. Anybody could be your neighbour. Be at peace with your fellow man, anybody could be your fellow man.

In Islam, the holy prophet of Islam said the angel Gabriel emphasised the importance of good neighbourliness so much that there might be a revelation from God that a neighbour could inherit a neighbour. Be your brothers’ keeper is a common teaching to both religions and there is no religion of God that says you should pressurise somebody to embrace it. The Christians are taught, if you go out to teach the word of God, and they refuse to listen, pick up your shoes, dust them and leave them in peace. On the other hand, Islam says, there is no compulsion in religion; it is a matter of conviction. But more importantly, the essence of every religion of God is love. The Christians say it does not matter how much you may worship God, even if your worship moves mountains, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven unless you have love in your heart. Islam says if you want to get the blessings and forgiveness of God, you must have love in your heart. Somebody asked, love for my kind, no, love for mankind. Indeed, a Muslim saying said this, I see myself as a Christian, sometimes as a Jew, in my heart is Islam, but love is my religion, love is my faith.

Love is what is lacking in Nigeria and that is taught in all the religions that we practice. Let us preach love, teach love and live love, if there is love we would not kill one another, and cheat one another. If there were love, we would help one another, and not be unjust to

one another, love, love, let there be love.

What was growing up like for you?

It was like anybody else, though my life is full of ups and downs. I had always wanted to serve because even before I went to elementary school, I used to sweep my quarter and the mosque. And I like doing that and helping my friends. I was a child born with the silver spoon but when my family had problems, at that time, we could not even eat. I saw all this in my younger days.

I went to the higher school from the elementary school and my father’s master to whom he was a favourite died and that was when we lost everything. It was difficult. There was a time when we had a holiday, I came home on holiday without anything except my uniform and that uniform was nothing but only my caftan, no trousers, no gown. That was why when I left the school; the first thing I thought was to help my Dad, who treated me very well before things went bad. And I realised that it helped. Every succeeding year became better.

You will come across all sorts of difficulties, trials, tribulations and so on. Try to pray to overcome. Luckily, by the grace of God, I like praying and listening to people who are pious.

And in the school then, I came in touch with all sorts of people, not only tribes from Nigeria but also races from outside Nigeria. I schooled with Arabs and Lebanese and of course I am a Kano man, a cosmopolitan place. So right from my youth, I became a Nigerian. I feel comfortable in the mist of any tribal group. I believe that this coming together of different tribes is a blessing.

Kano is what it is today because of its cosmopolitan nature, it is the most advanced and progressive part of Northern Nigeria because all the major tribes in Nigeria, outside their tribal enclaves have their largest concentration in Kano and we have been living together, interacting with one another.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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POLITICS

ANAMBRA 2013: Gauging The Tide, The Schemes • As INEC Promises To Carry Out A One-Week Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) From August 18 To 26, Political Parties Strategise To Make Gains

By Leo Sobechi NTHUSIASM towards the November 16, AnamE bra Governorship election is building. The political parties are getting ready, the electorate, like clay, is waiting to be shaped up. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is getting its house in order, so as to absorb the heat usually associated with competitive governorship election.

The electoral body has announced that it would conduct Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) from August 18 through 26, in a weeklong update of the voter register.

Against the background of the outcry that attended the mumble jumble voter register in the 2010 governorship, a lot of issues are being raised concerning the proposed CVR. For instance, the case of flood victims, who suffered great material and emotional losses during last year’s disaster, provides a big challenge. Knowing that some of those who registered may not have details of their cards to go to INEC for new cards, the question is how feasible is seven days to capture all the applicants for registration? Then there is the case of those displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the country. What if they are tempted to register, would that amount to a criminal act of double registration? Efforts to reach the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Professor Chukwuemeka Eze Onukogu, for reactions failed as he pleaded through the INEC Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Egbo, for a little time, saying that he was on his way to Abuja and yet to finalise with the national headquarters on certain critical elements of the CVR, including funding and logistics.

However, some political parties are gearing up for the exercise. Anambra State chairman of Labour Party (LP), Sam Osi Oraegbunam disclosed that in terms of preparations, INEC seem to have made necessary plans to avert what happened in 2010, when the voter register was scattered. Oraegbunam said judging from the recent stakeholders meeting at INEC Headquarters in Abuja, to which all registered political parties were invited, INEC was in a good shape.

“The activities and what INEC has done so far, both at the national and state levels are marvelous and very commendable. At least, they have been specific and clear about the number of registered voters and register they would use. We hope that if they keep the momentum of what they are doing and if they can maintain the impartiality they displayed at Edo and Ondo, definitely Anambra State would be a test case of what will happen in 2015. So INEC is preparing and political parties are ready to cooperate with them,” he said.

He noted that the CVR is for those who just attained eighteen years and those who for one reason or the other did not register during the last voter registration exercise. His words: “Yes. I recall INEC raised the issue of those affected by the flood disasters. They said such people do not need fresh registration but to apply through their Eos, (Electoral Officers) or the State REC for a new card to be generated for them. On our own part, as a political party, we have developed strategies on how to mobilise our supporters and Anambrarians to come out and we will be doing that as the time draws nearer. We want every Anambrarian, because in this gubernatorial election, even those living abroad are interested in participating. So that one week of CVR will give them the opportunity to get registered and be part of the voters that will elect the next governor of Anambra State.” Oraegbunam stated that as part of the sensitization and enlightenment drive for the voter registration, a stakeholders meeting would be held in Awka on July 31 to be relayed by the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA). “All hands must be on deck; it is not the issue of individual political parties but all stakeholders in the election and all Anambrarians,” he added.

But the state chairman of All Progressive People’s Alliance (APPA) chief Matthias Ameke, brought a new dimension to the concern in certain quarters about plans by some groups to undermine

Jega

the exercise. He however disclosed that APPA was going from ward to ward, making sure that people come out to register as well as abhor double registration, which constitutes a criminal act. While calling for the prosecution of those apprehended, Ameke said registration must be done for one person one time and not as a group affair “so that we can have one man one vote in all elections.”

The Caging Of APGA THERE may be more than meets the eye in the killing of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) through the party’s endless leadership crises. Recently the leadership of APGA in Enugu addressed a press conference challenging the chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, to convince Nigerians that he was not a card carrying member of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). But investigations by The Guardian reveal that outside Jega and his INEC, the endless crisis bedeviling the APGA is more the handiwork of some “powerful outsiders” than the perceived intra personal wrangling among its members. It is apparent that the party is perceived as a stumbling block to the actualisation of the political machinations of some powerful political personalities within the South East and beyond.

In their first official reaction to the Court Appeal ruling that restored Victor Umeh as the national chairman of APGA, the Enugu State chapter of the party said the currency of two Appellate Court judgments is an opportunity for INEC and its chairman to disprove the suspicion among many Nigerians that it was an appendage of PDP. The State chairman, Mr. Sochima Nwachukwu, flanked by the state coordinator of the party, Ichie Jude Okuli, at the party’s secretariat in Enugu also frowned at the Appeal Court handling of the appeal filed by Victor Umeh, which challenged the judgment of the Enugu High Court presided over by Justice Innocent Umezulike, which was in favour of Okuli. The duo stressed that it was wrong for the Appellate Court to describe the respondent,

Okuli, as a mere member of the party that lacked jurisdiction to institute the original matter against Umeh, contending that being a financial and card-carrying member, who was once the party’s councillorship candidate for Abor ward in 2003 and former Udi Council party chairman, Okuli has the right to question the running of the party. While stating their stand that Maxi Okwu remained the authentic national chairman of APGA, the Enugu APGA leaders declared that Okuli had been a consistent party member for 11 years and counting. They argued that by virtue of the April 8, 2013 national convention of the party, Okwu and not Umeh, is the national chairman. According to them, there was no way the Court should make Umeh chairman in breach of the party’s constitution, which stipulates secret ballot instead of affirmation as claimed by Umeh. They referred to a similar case involving former National Chairman of PDP, Dr. Okwy Nwodo and one Collins Amalu saying that INEC should not hide behind the two judgments to shirk its responsibility as the major overseer of political activities in the country.

However sources privy to the behind the scene transactions that preceded the Enugu Appeal court judgment, said the leadership crisis of the party short of being just a normal judicial adjudication, it was being fueled by entrenched political forces suspicious of Governor Peter Obi’s leadership of the party. The source, speaking in strict confidence, disclosed that the crisis is one of the many approaches designed to pocket APGA for political braggadocio and keep it out of Obi’s control. He declared: “The battle is not just between Governor Peter Obi and his brother, Victor Umeh, as it is being portrayed in the media. It is rather, a well-coordinated plan by various interest groups that want to grab APGA for their selfish political interest. Beyond Obi and Umeh, other political parties are more interested in the affairs of the party than even the members of the party.” He said the major concern of those contending forces is the control of the leadership of the party, stressing that their interest is shared

between the forthcoming governorship and the 2015 presidential election. He added that the scheming is based on the suspicion that APGA may pose a political threat depending on the clout of personalities calling the shots.

The source pointed out that as a result of the covert plans against APGA, the party has been caught in the web of intrigues by two powerful political movements namely, the PDP and the emerging All Progressives Congress (APC). But while the two big rivals strategise to reap from the leadership crisis in APGA, especially during the forthcoming Anambra gubernatorial election and the 2015 presidential contest, a third force emerged. Another source confirmed that the recent repackaging of the Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA) into All Progressives People’s Alliance (APPA) is to join in the scramble to feed on the carcass of APGA. “Is it not intriguing that nobody saw the similarity between APPA and APGA?” the source asked rhetorically. But Anambra State chairman of APPA denied any such suggestion. He retorted: “No, what we are trying to do is to rebrand; but it goes to show that APPA is a party that is practicing internal democracy and that we have no encumbrances at all. Politicians should learn to join parties that have democratic principles, that is what we have and that is what APGA and may be PDP don’t have.”

Discreet checks however revealed that a cross section of prominent members of PDP averse to Governor Obi’s style and promoters of APC in the South East see in Umeh a more pliable link.

“Therefore, the way they went about it was to give Umeh both overt and covert support to wrestle APGA from the control of the incumbent governor. Players from both sides of the divide perceive that it is better to bank on Umeh as chairman, who is considered a lesser evil than Obi with enormous resources as an incumbent, in their quest to either dismantle APGA or swallow it into a merger,” the source disclosed.

It was gathered that those who are interested in APGA for its fortune in Anambra hold the view that it was easier to win the governorship against APGA if the party was under Umeh than if left in the hands of the incumbent governor.

Those who are interested in the fortune of the party outside Anambra State tend to believe that APGA can easily be diminished or swayed into a merger with other parties if Umeh, rather than Obi is in charge.

Not a few political actors reason that the exit of Ifeanyi Uba, who had been allegedly financing Umeh’s bitter struggles, would weaken Umeh’s economic base. Nonetheless sources said that instead, Uba’s exit for Labour Party opened Umeh’s camp up for other interests that hitherto dropped their aspiration for the soul of APGA for fear of the domineering influence of the Oil magnate.

A prominent political actor from Imo State confided in The Guardian that Umeh quickly embraced “these centrifugal political forces, with reckless pledges of loyalty. Umeh’s desperation sort of buoyed the confidence of political scavengers to gun for the soul of APGA,” the source noted.

Could the sinister plot against APGA help in deciding Anambra governorship election to the detriment of the party and the joy of its admirers? What political statement would that defeat or elimination of APGA make about Nd’Igbo, the legacy of their hero, late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and the Presidency?

Labour Party’s Strides FROM all indications, the Labour Party have made good its promise to be the first to organise the governorship primaries. The party has slated August 19 to choose its governorship flag bearer. Chairman, Oraegbunam, told The Guardian that the essence of fixing the primary election just a day after the INEC timetable stipulated for campaigns to kick off, was to prove a point. He said: “We want to kill speculations that some people in PDP want to run on Labour Party and that we are waiting for them to finish whatever they are doing in PDP for them to come over to pick the governorship ticket. We want to run our primaries first and foremost to show our independence as a party and to show we are proud of whoever decides to join the party to contest the governorship.”

On allegations that distribution of offices including the governorship running mate was tearing the party apart, Oraegbunam said whatever anybody feels, “it is after the emergence of the governorship flag bearer that the issue of running mate would be considered.” He contended that it is always natural that the running mate comes after the emergence of the governorship flag bearer saying, “you don’t think of your running mate when you have not gotten the candidate. Definitely the issue of deputy in Labour Party would be addressed on August 19 after our primaries.”

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

|57

POLITICS Troubleshooting Governors With More Trouble In Their States

By Kamal Tayo Oropo N a bid to save their embattled Rivers State counterpart, Rotimi Amaechi, from more trouble, Governors Babangida Aliyu (Niger) Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) stormed Port Harcourt recently.

They also, in the company of their Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu Wamakko, visited former military President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and former defence minister, General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma. They also visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta. Aliyu, chairman of Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) did not, however, made that particular trip.

The governors, who never hide their support for Amaechi’s faction of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) have called on the Inspector General of Police to hearken to the voices of reason and immediately redeploy and discipline the Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mbu. According to them, his action smacks of unprofessionalism and political partisanship.

This approach is about the first, when state executives would speak up blatantly in support of one of their own, especially against federal authorities.

Curiously, all the four governors are of the same political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), like Amaechi as well as the President Goodluck Jonathan-led government at the center.

Even more instructive, the four governors are from the Northern part of the country, which has not hidden its desire to occupy the presidential villa in 2015; one is from the Aliyu North central (Aliyu), one from the headache may, however, be the unfinished Northeast (Nyako) and two are from story about some discrepancy in his acaNorthwest (Kwankwaso and Lamido). demic papers. The opposition wanted to use However, political watchers seem to have it against him, but apparently did not have been left wondering if the governors approach was borne out of genuine desire in the staying power to go the whole length.

The balance of that story may have to be fulensuring practice of true federalism, where ly explained if Lamido goes to pick nominathe state exercises considerable power and relative autonomy from the the government tion papers for a presidential race.

As for his son, Aliyu’s financial misdeat the center. Or could their actions be fuelled directly and distinctively by the race meanour when he was caught on December 11, 2012 with an undeclared sum of $50,000 towards 2015? Or could they just be playing to the gallery, considering that each of them there is now some respite from the prosecucurrently faces daunting challenges, of vary- tors, but more explanation will be required of Lamido should he decide to seek higher ing proportions in their states? responsibility.

OVERNOR Kwankwaso, for example, is OR Nyako, controversy sits well with the yet to put to rest the dastardly acts of Adamawa State governor. The retired suspected Boko Haram members, Vice Admiral is powerless when it which rattled Kano State when the group on comes to addressing insecurity challenges two occasions attempted to assassinate the revered Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. The in his state, a situation that caused the federal government to declare a state of emerattacks, which claimed several lives, proved gency in Adamawa. He is also unable to to be a child’s play when suspected terrormanage the political family under his ists, also twice, attacked Kano metropolis in domain. The PDP under him is most restive a ferocious bomb and gun duel, including and disorganised an attack on a luxurious bus loaded with He is involved in several face-offs with parpassengers for a journey southwards. ty leaders in his state. He has fallen out with Hundreds of people were exterminated. the key stakeholders of Admawa PDP, such Kano is therefore not the sort of paradise as former vice president Atiku Abubakar, that Kwankwaso could shove aside to seek former minister Jibril Aminu and now the peace in Rivers. He has enough trouble at PDP national chairman, Bamanga Tukur. His home, especially with the opposition paropponents accuse him of wanting to take ties. over the party machinery in the state.

There are parallel PDP state executives AMIDO, the former Minister of Foreign operating in Adamawa, one loyal to Nyako Affairs, who first came into national and the other taking instructions from prominence as the General Secretary of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Abuja. A committee was set up to look into the face-off but there seems no end yet. the early 90s, nurses the ambition to The opposition stands to gain from this become president. and Nyako does not seem to care. He was Lamido’s Jigawa is about the poorest state reported as saying that they (governors) in the country by all development indices, but with a vast agrarian landscape where cit- would help bury the PDP. Consequently, come 2015, the opposition may easily disizens struggle to eke subsistence living. place the PDP. Even when the PDP presented Using the Talakawa template, Lamido has a united front during the February 2012 govturned around the fortune of the state. A ernorship elections, the party could only new Dutse, in all ramifications seems to narrowly defeat the ACN with just 60,000 have emerged under Lamido. For example, vote margin, which the latter claimed was the three arms-zones: Judiciary, the bureaudue to over-voting. And the current situacracy and civil service all located within the tion could even be worse for the PDP in view same district compete favourably with of the emerging All Progressives Congress Abuja’s three-arms zone.

(APC). What a way to be a party man!

The district is paved with good road netOF the five travelling trouble-shooting govwork and streetlights. Flowers in their infanernors, Babangida Aliyu appears to be most cy are sprouting up and of course, the vocal. Aliyu has not hidden his lust for powAminu Kano Arena is within the area. There is a big difference between what the Saminu er at the centre and has chosen every opportunity to push that fact.

Turaki administration was doing and what His views seem riotous because they are Lamido has put on ground. not always consistent with the realities on Lamido is one of the few governors that ground; he wants a reduction of the funds have a welfare programme for less priviand powers available to the federal governleged persons, with a N7, 000 stipend for ment because according to him, the federal each disabled person as well as seed money government has no business in the provifor small-scale enterprises.

The opposition in the state does not think sion of health, water, agriculture and education. Yet, he wants to be president.

Lamido has done enough. Lamido’s chief

I

G

Wamakko

Nyako

F

L

Kwankwaso

Hear him: “There is too much money at the centre for the Federal Government to spend and that is why they are creating problems for the states.”

He accused President Jonathan of signing an agreement to do one just one term and warned that there are cracks in the PDP which must be mended so that no one will be forced out of the party.

In a an attempt to tone down north’s quest for the presidency, Aliyu said the northern part of the country would negotiate with those seeking to be elected as the nation’s president in a bid to safeguard the region’s interests.

He denied advocating that only northern candidates should clinch the presidency, but stressed the need for the promises made to the region were fulfilled. A lot of doublespeak!

AMAKKO recently suspended and “forgiven” by the PDP, for allegedly refusing to pick telephone calls from the national chairman of the party does not appear to have shown any repen-

W

Lamido

tance. He was also said to have refused to respond to a query sent to him, but instead asked the secretary of the party in his, Bello Sokoto, to reply on his behalf. What impudence!

Abuja deemed Bello Sokoto too junior for such task. They also argued that it was improper for Bello Sokoto to have used the official letterhead of the state government in his reply.

Wamakko is yet to distinguish himself in terms of good governance, instead his administration has been accused of wasteful expenditure like that of budgeting an astonishing sum of N772million for a new perimeter fence at the government house, which the government said was necessitated for security and other reasons.

In terms of priority setting, many doubt the importance of this project in a state that can hardly boast of any functioning industry, in spite of its long tradition of traditional leadership in the country.

Are these the sort of men to troubleshoot, when they have enough trouble at home?

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

The Many Mistakes Of Morsi’s Mohamed Eleish, the Consul of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Lagos, last week, reacted to the ongoing protest in Egypt, his home country, following the ouster of former President Mohammed Morsi by the Military and the enthronement of an interim Government. In an exclusive interview with the News Editor, MARCEL MBAMALU, the Egyptian Consul took a swipe at Morsi, his Muslim Brotherhood, and the Mubarak regime, saying that the past leaders committed serious errors and crimes against which the populace revolted. Excerpts: Egypt is in the eye of the storm again, with protests over Morsi’s removal from office not abating; using the scenario in your country as take-off point, what do you think are the real factors sparking off political uprisings across Africa at this time?

OR the capitalist class to survive, they must be good leaders; else, they will be thrown out of power, through elections. It is in the interest of the rich to produce the leaders in economy and in politics. These leaders should be nice and not be corrupt (they will make money and be happy).

But the most important thing is to be invisible. If you are invisible, will anybody dislike you? If you do a good job, will anybody dislike you?

They reach out and institute a democratic foundation, which basically allows the rich and powerful to remain in power generation after generation. This is because they are good and have the attributes of good leaders. Are the class of people in power the best in African society? So, what do you expect from them?

How then do we get good people to take up leadership?

Power is not given; it has to be taken. The problem with power being taken is that it is usually taken by brute force; and if the struggle is that of brute force, the most brutal usually wins.

In any revolution, the people who are most likely to win are those who are most brutal.

Revolution produces people like Stalin and Saddam Hussein.

Let’s go back to History: In the Ottoman and Mongolian Empires, the king would divide his Army among his three or four sons.

They will fight and live together. But when the king dies, the sons will fight each other in a civil war. The child that wins kills the others, and he becomes the sole leader of the empire.

What is democracy? Democracy is leadership of the upper class. Every now and then, we have elections and the leaders fight each other in the elections. Those who lose in the elections are killed politically. So, it is the same concept.

In the old empires, they fight with swords; but, in the democratic system, they struggle by newspapers and public opinion to get votes, which is a war. So, it is a war among the upper class, the different factions, just like the sons of the king. The group that wins becomes the leaders and the group that loses are dead, politically.

So, the struggle in the developed society is brutal, just like the struggle in the primitive society. It is just that they do it by election and the Law. Sometimes, they even kill physically.

The problem of how to get power in society from the struggle through the use of guns and killings into the use of elections and Law (you still have power struggle that is controlled by law) is the difference between war in primitive society and that of the modern society.

Unfortunately, it does not stop there; you need to make an effort to allow good people, not criminals, reach power.

F

Eleish,

• How 30 Million Citizens Ousted Former President • Says Morsi Escaped From Prison To Become President • Committed Criminal, Not Political, Offences • Military Playing Strong, But Controlled, Role In Interim Govt • Why Muslim Brotherhood Lost Everything To 2011 Revolution • Says Group Can’t Win Fair Elections Again • Group Has A Militia That Has Turned Violent Good people, not just the upper class, as you said?

In a developed society, the movement from lower class to upper class takes three generations. In some societies, it, sometimes, takes two generations.

If you are brilliant, you make some money, you meet with good people, and you send your son to a very good school. If he is brilliant, works hard and makes the right connections, he will make more money, get more prestige and marry into a better family.

Now, if he has another son and his son is intelligent, he will be in the upper class. So it takes, at least, three generations to go up. But,

to go down takes one generation.

Let’s say you are from a rich family and you have two brothers. We are two brothers from the same family and I am an idiot. You will be nice to me; you will find me a nice apartment and a university or school that is not very good but very expensive. They will allow me to graduate. You will find me a job that is not very difficult, but nice. I will need to get married, but I don’t know how to get girls. So, you will arrange for me to meet a nice girl. I will get married and have a child. If that child is intelligent, you are the uncle of my child. You will take him up and pay his fees in school.

And, if he is really hardworking, or intelligent, you might let him marry one of the friends of your daughter. You will carry him up back to the upper class.

But if he is an idiot like his father, you will ignore him. And then he will marry a ‘nobody’, and have children that are away from the uncle. It is the grand uncle that is in the upper class; so, there is really no more connection to the upper class.

The family will be divided—part of it will be in the upper class, the other in the lower class.

So you will find some families, where a member is very, very important and the others are not.

The same law applies to building a house.

To build, you will need knowledge, money, experience, and labour. To scatter, you need just few people and you will pull it down. So, to build a family position, it takes many generations. But for it to go down, it takes just one generation.

How does this analogy apply to the situation in Egypt; what is your honest assessment of the Interim Government’s capacity to contain the pro-Morsi protests?

Egypt is not a primitive society but has not yet become a developed one. The political protest taking place in Egypt is a combination of elections and democratic systems and, at the same time, it has elements of force in it.

It is basically street riot, street violence, and even some groups like the Muslim Brotherhood have a kind of militia. So, we

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Regime, By Egyptian Consul have this situation where the government that is being created is democratic, but it has not yet taken the full shape of a democratic system. The democratic process is not yet mature. It is still in the process of maturing.

But the situation right know seems very delicate and restive. How do you think Egypt is going to come out of this and remain united?

The problem is when there was the popular revolution that ousted President Mubarak from power, they (the Muslim Brotherhood) didn’t have the political structures, like political parties, that could enable them win elections. So, the only group that was well organised was the Muslim brotherhood. Moreover, the brotherhood have connections outside Egypt that could bring in money and they basically bribed a lot of poor people, giving them oil and sugar. So, they got a lot of votes.

Unfortunately, as an underground movement, they never really had political experience. When they came to power for one year, they were not able to govern, the economic policy was wrong and the whole economy went down. They could also not maintain bribing the poor, because it costs too much.

So it is the poor, who rebelled, plus the middle class, plus the upper class, plus the intellectuals, plus everybody. You had almost 30 million people in the streets against the Muslim Brotherhood against a population of 80 million. The people left were children and women.

So, in any fair election in the future, the Muslim Brotherhood will not be able to win elections again. They have lost it to the revolution.

The Military went into power to stop the conflict from becoming violent and restoring the political process into a more mature democratic process. So the first thing they did was to appoint the head of the High Court, as the new President for six months and his main job is to write a good Constitution. He will not intervene in the work of the Prime Minister.

The Interim Prime Minister is an Economist, and he chose a group of ministers, who are specialists in Economy, because the main problem in Egypt now is economic.

So, the process in Egypt now is the transformation of the political process, from one that is based on brute force, to one that is based on real democracy, which means that it will be based on the rule of law and the struggle between the leaders through non-violent means. We are getting there.

What exactly did you mean when you talked about writing a good Constitution; what aspects of Morsi’s Constitution, as it were, do the people dislike?

I am not a legal expert; so, I can’t really tell you what is not positive about the Constitution. But, basically, it introduced some elements of fundamental economic flaws in the Constitution, which can lead to the transformation of Egypt, this time, to something like Afghanistan. It was to throw Egypt back to centuries. That was the basic theme that many people did not like.

But many still consider what transpired in Egypt as a coup; what role is the Military actually playing now?

Egypt has a long history of military rule that is not very positive. The social and political forces in Egypt do not want a major role for the Military.

The role of the military is still strong, but this time limited and controlled. But that will take time, say 10 years. They will majorly play the role of guaranteeing the security f the people of Egypt.

They (the Military) know they are not good in Politics. They have tried it out for some years and have paid the high price. They don’t really want to be in politics again. Like any group of people who are powerful, who have strong economic interests; it is in their interest to be invisible. So, if they play a clear and obvious role in Politics, it might create resentment and a lot of problems for them. I think the Military are learning the beauty of invisibility.

It seems the Military has a soft spot for Mubarak, what is the situation for him now, I mean what lies ahead for Mubarak?

Everything in Egypt is governed by internal and external Politics. Mubarak has a very strong relationship with the kings in the Arab countries like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates.

There is a possibility that these leaders are pressuring the Egyptian government not to be too forceful with Mubarak. They have backed the new government and have sent a lot of donations and economic help.

In politics, you have to reach compromise.

Politically, Mubarak is dead; his sons are dead. Nobody really wants to extract revenge.

So, a solution will be found.

But the ordinary Egyptians, who do not understand the international side of the situation, seek justice?

Justice can be done without blood. For example, Mubarak is almost 85; so, even legally, it is not humane to execute him. He is already dead. He is already a sick man. He will die by himself quietly. There is no need for violence; there is no need for revenge.

When he (Mubarak) was brought to court in a cage, at a time, people around the world were wondering whether, or not, that was not too harsh for a former Egyptian President?

The cage is normal. In the Egyptian legal system, criminals are put in a cage. It applies to anybody, including a former president.

Is he likely going to be released on compassionate grounds since, according to you, he is already aged and sick — “a dead man”?

Most likely, he will be put in a five-star hospital, with guards around. He is a very sick man.

He will have visitors. He will stay in the hospital after which he will quietly die; that is the strategy.

Isn’t your Interim Government, exploring more practical means of appeasing the proMorsi protesters —the Muslim Brotherhood?

The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have made legal mistakes. When they were in power, they made blunders that can put them in jail. So, the system will be allowed to take legal procedures against them.

For example, during the first revolution in 2011, Morsi and other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were all in jail. They escaped from jail. Anybody, who escapes from jail, even if he was not a criminal, he becomes one, just by escaping from jail.

There are legal procedures that can put

him in jail because he escaped. So, already, the Legal system has been working on these issues for the last year, even while he was still President. This is because the legal system is independent.

This is the first mistake. But there are many other mistakes they have made for which the legal system has a bonanza of criminal cases against them. Most of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood will have problem for five or 10 years; and these are real problems, not political ones.

For example, you cannot incite your people and tell them that the people who are demonstrating in this part of Cairo are bad people, ‘they are not Muslims, go and kill them,’ and people will go and kill them. This is criminal and they will be punished for what it is. It is not Politics; it is criminal act.

Egypt is moving towards a democracy that is based on a legal struggle more than it is based on brute force.

But the Muslim Brotherhood seems not to be giving up?

They are basically insignificant now. Egypt is centrally governed. They have practised central government for 7000 years. So, we have a very strong tradition of central government, of bureaucratic institutions.

What role is the United States playing or should play in all these?

The United States policy with Egypt has been stable in the last 40 years. Basically, they back the Egyptian government, with which they have good relationship. The US also has good relationship with the Egyptian people.

So, when the Muslim Brotherhood was in power, it was natural for them to have good relationship with them. They might have over-estimated the importance of the Muslim Brotherhood and their ability to remain in power. But now that they are out of power, it is in the interest of the United States to have very good relationship with the new forces, who have power in Egypt.

This will take a little bit of time to create a good democratic system in which direction the major steps have just been taken. So, in six months, when we would have had a new leadership through an election under international supervision, it will create an enabling role in normalising the relation-

ship between the United States and Egypt.

Both states will always like to have each other as allies.

What role did the Muslim Brotherhood play in maintaining the stability of the Middle East, during the crisis?

It seems the Muslim Brotherhood had reached an agreement with the United States on the Middle East and they played a role that was in the interest of the United States during the crisis. They kept their slogans but they didn’t take any action that ran against the interest of the United States.

Do you see the present crisis having serious impact on other African countries, including Nigeria?

It depends on Nigerians. Nigerians will decide what to do. They can look at what happens in the world and how what happens in the world affect Nigeria. It is not really for me to say.

How will you describe Nigeria-Egypt relations, especially now that the AU countries have described what happened in your country as a coup?

There are basically three important countries in Africa. They are South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt. There is always competition; and, in the last competition, Nigeria won the African Cup of Nations.

That’s a comic one; isn’t it?

Well, we have to accept the reality that, in any competition, one of the three will win.

These are the big countries in Africa.

Do you see Egypt coming out of this crisis economically stronger?

In the last 10 years before the revolution the economy was growing very well. It was growing at a rate of almost eight percent. The problem was not the economy; rather, it was in the distribution of wealth.

Mubarak and his friends consumed most of the wealth created and very little amount of that wealth went to the middle class and the lower class.

So, it was not the problem of economy as such; it was a problem of wealth distribution.

Right now, the Egyptian population have become politically active and informed, and this will never happen again. It is not in the interest of the rich, if they are intelligent, to keep the middle class and the poor suffering.

The Mubarak government was not intelligent.

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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FOREIGNNEWS

Hundred Killed At Cairo Anti-Military Protest EGYPT ORE than 100 people have M been killed and 1,500 injured at a protest held by supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, doctors say.

However the health ministry has put the death toll lower, at 38.

The army ousted Mr Morsi on July 3. He has been formally accused of murder, relating to a 2011 jail outbreak, and of links to the militant group Hamas.

Both pro- and anti-Morsi demonstrators held huge protests overnight in the capital.

The anti-Morsi camp occupied Cairo’s Tahrir Square in support of the army, after its chief, Gen Abdel

Seven Die In Florida Hostage Siege Lasting Hours UNITED STATES GUNMAN holding hostages in a A building near Miami in the US state of Florida killed six people before being shot dead by police, officials say.

Officers stormed the block of flats in Hialeah, north of Miami, yesterday morning after a stand-off lasting several hours.

Two hostages were freed unharmed, police said.

Five of the victims were found inside the complex - another man was killed while walking across a street outside.

Police said an argument had bro-

ken out between the couple who ran the building and the suspected gunman, who is thought to have been a tenant. The landlords were among those killed.

Police were called after shots were fired shortly before 18:30 local time (20:30 GMT) on Friday.

They found the gunman had barricaded himself in an apartment on the fifth floor, and taken two people hostage.

Police moved in after almost eight hours of negotiations, local media said.

“They made the decision to go in there and save and rescue the hostages,” Sgt Eddie Rodriguez told the Associated Press.

State Funeral For Murdered MP STATE funeral has been held A for Tunisian opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi who was killed on Thursday by gunmen in the capital, Tunis.

His death has sparked widespread unrest. One protester died in overnight clashes in the southern town of Gafsa.

The interior minister said Mr Brahmi, 58, was killed with the same gun as a fellow left-wing politician, Chokri Belaid, who was shot dead in February.

A Salafist is one of the main suspects involved the murder, officials said.

Gunmen on a motorbike shot Mr Brahmi, who led the nationalist Movement of the People party, in his car on Thursday.

Yesterday, thousands of people lined the streets of Tunis as the

TUNISIA coffin wrapped in the national flag passed by under military escort.

Brahmi was buried in the same cemetery as another leading opposition figure, Chokri Belaid, who was killed earlier this year.

After the ceremony, anti- and progovernment demonstrators gathered outside parliament buildings in central Tunis. Reports say police used tear gas to disperse them.

Supporters of Brahmi have turned their grief and anger on governing Islamist party Ennahda, with relatives accusing it of complicity in the killing.

The government has rejected the allegations, instead naming a Salafist radical, Boubaker Hakim, as the main suspect.

Fattah al-Sisi, had urged people to demonstrate to provide a mandate for its intervention.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Morsi supporters continued their sit-in protest at the mosque in the Nasr City area.

Yesterday, Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim vowed to end the sit-in, saying local residents had complained about the encampment.

He said the protest would be “brought to an end soon, and in a legal manner” with an order from the prosecutor, although

this has yet to happen.

BBC report in Cairo says the latest violence is the most serious since the army’s intervention to remove President Morsi, but this does not appear to have been a planned campaign to clear the area around the mosque.

It appears that clashes began after some of the Morsi supporters tried to block a main road in the area, and security forces responded.

The state news agency Mena quotes a security official as saying they had been trying to stop fight-

ing between rival sides, and that eight security personnel had been injured.

The official added that live fire had not been used, only tear gas.

Medics at the hospital, according to BBC, believed about 70 percent of the casualties were caused by live fire –– with many of the victims hit in the chest or head by snipers firing from rooftops.

Ahmed Nashar, a Brotherhood spokesman witnessed what happened near the Nasr City mosque where demonstrators built a wall to protect themselves.

Train Driver Held ‘For Reckless Manslaughter’ SPAIN HE driver of a train that T derailed in Spain killing 78 people has been accused of “reckless manslaughter”, the interior minister has said.

Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, who was slightly hurt in Wednesday’s accident, had been taken to a police station.

Garzon is suspected of driving too fast on a bend. Reports say the train was travelling at more than double the speed limit at the time of the crash.

He has refused to answer questions.

At least 130 people were taken to hospital after the accident near the north-western city of Santiago de Compostela.

Thirty-two people were seriously injured, including children.

People from several nationalities were among the wounded, including five Americans and one Briton.

One American was among the dead.

PM Mariano Rajoy, who hails from the city of the crash, declared three days of official mourning on Thursday.

A judge was due to interview Mr Garzon Amo on Sunday, the interior minister said.

“He has been detained for the alleged crimes of reckless manslaughter”, Mr Fernandez Diaz said.

“There are reasonable grounds to consider that he may have been responsible for what happened, which must be established by a judge and the investigation.”

The driver had been under police

surveillance in hospital since the accident but he was discharged on Saturday and taken to a police station.

Police said Mr Garzon Amo had refused to answer their questions while he was in medical care.

State rail operator Renfe said the train came off the tracks about 3 or 4km (2-2.5 miles) from Santiago de Compostela station at 20:41 local time (18:41 GMT) on Wednesday.

The accident occurred on the express route between the capital, Madrid, and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast, with 218 passengers on board and four crew.

Footage captured by a security camera shows the train crashing as it hurtled round a bend.

Car Bomb Hits Turkish Staff Building In Mogadishu, 3 Dead –– Police CAR loaded with explosives A rammed into the gates of an office housing Turkish embassy staff in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing three people, witnesses and police said yesterday, the latest in a series of blasts over the past two months.

“A suicide car bomb targeted a building housing Turkish embassy workers near k4 (Kilometre Four),” Ahmed Mohamud, police officer told Reuters from the scene of the

SOMALIA blast.

Mohamud later said the number of dead was three - Somali civilians and a suspected suicide bomber, while nine others had been wounded.

“The car was taking advantage of a Turkish car that was going into the building, thus the car bomb exploded and destroyed the gate,” he said.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, as they have for previous bombings, including one in midJuly that killed eight civilians.

“Mujahideen forces in Mogadishu have just carried out an operation targeting a group of Turkish diplomats in Hodan district,” al Shabaab said on its Twitter feed.

A Reuters witness said armed Turkish security staff inside the embassy building put out a request for those at the scene to call ambulances to carry away the wounded.

Somalia is trying to rebuild itself

after two decades of civil war and lawlessness, backed by international aid as well as African Union peacekeepers and Ethiopian troops, aimed at preventing it from becoming a haven for al Qaeda-style militants in East Africa.

Al Shabaab was forced out of bases in Mogadishu by Somali and African forces about two years ago, raising hopes of a return to relative security in a city hit by years of turmoil.

But militants have kept up guerrilla-style attacks and continue to control large rural areas, challenging the authority of a government less than one year old.

In the most recent brazen attack, its members attacked the main U.N. compound in the capital in June, killing 22 people.

The group said earlier this month it was aiming to increase the number of attacks carried out during the Ramadan fasting period.

Toddler Dies After Parking Space Row CHINA CHINESE toddler has died in a A Beijing hospital after being wounded during a row between

US President Barack Obama alongside Korean General Jung Seung-jo (left), Chairman of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Korean Special Envoy Kim Jung Hun (right), as well as other US and Korean officials, prior to laying a wreath at the Korean War Veterans Memorial to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended the Korean War, during a ceremony in Washington… yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

her mother and a man over a parking space, state media report.

They say the two-year-old girl suffered critical injuries on Tuesday when the man pulled her out of her pram and threw her to the ground.

He also reportedly beat the mother who had refused to make way for his car, while she was attending her daughter.

The driver was arrested. He could face execution if he is tried for murder.

Police also detained a second man in the case, who was allegedly a passenger in the car and

helped beat up the woman.

The toddler died on Thursday night after being kept alive on a respirator, Chinese state media said yesterday.

The assault happened when a man, identified only by his surname Han, wanted to park his car by a bus stop in Beijing.

But the toddler’s mother was standing in the parking spot and refused to move her pram.

The driver got out of his car and hit the woman before removing her daughter from the pram and throwing her forcefully to the ground, an eyewitness is quoted as saying.

“The baby made no noises after being dropped, not even a cry of pain,” the Beijing Times quoted him as saying.

TheGuardian

61 | Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Sports European Model, The Only Way To Stem Match Fixing In

Nigeria Players battle in the Nigerian Premier League “both UEFA and the TFF confirm that they will adhere to a policy of zero tolerance when it comes to any question of match-fixVER the years, the hammer of football world football govern- ing”. A week after Aydınlar’s statement, the TFF confirmed that the TFF Super Cup game between Süper Lig champions, ing body, FIFA has come down hard on players, officials, Fenerbahçe and Turkish Cup winners, Beşiktaş would be postclubs and referees who are part of fixing games. FIFA works poned indefinitely due to the ongoing investigation. The openclosely with the local federations were such crimes were coming game of the new season was delayed due to the investigamitted. The culprits are identified and are brought to book. tion.

Sanctions ranging from points deduction, banning of players The 2006 Italian football scandal (Called Calciopoli) involved and clubs officials, blacklisting match officials were handed out to those found guilty. In some cases, jail terms were also handed Italy’s top professional football leagues, Serie A and Serie B. The scandal was uncovered in May 2006 by Italian police, implicatout to erring players and club presidents. ing league champions Juventus, and other major teams includWhile it has been difficult to bring culprits to book in Nigeria ing AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and Reggina when a number of and enforce sanctions, in other countries, especially in Europe, telephone interceptions showed a strong network of relations match-fixing probes are detailed and thorough. between team managers and referee organisations. Juventus A strong example came in the summer of 2011 when Turkish police began an investigation into 19 football matches suspected was the champions of Serie A at the time and the team was to have been fixed, and by July 10, 61 individuals had been arrest- accused of rigging games by selecting favourable referees.

The scandal first came to light as a consequence of investigaed, including club managers and Turkish national players. tions of prosecutors on the Italian football agency, GEA World.

Twenty six of these would had requests for their release refused Transcripts of recorded telephone conversations published in by the court because of their involvement. By July 12, UEFA had Italian newspapers suggested that during the 2004/05 season, confirmed they were monitoring the situation to ensure that Juventus general managers, Luciano Moggi and Antonio anyone found guilty would face the full wrath of the law.

Around the same time, Istanbul player, İbrahim Akın admitted Giraudo had conversations with several officials of Italian football to influence referee appointment. to participating in match fixing, specifically relating to two On July 4, 2006, the Italian Football Federation’s prosecutor, matches: Istanbul’s match against Fenerbahçe, and the Turkish Stefano Palazzi, called for all four clubs at the centre of the match Cup final against Be_ikta_ JK. Beşiktaş president, Yıldırım fixing scandal to be thrown out of Serie A. Palazzi called for Demirören later returned the Turkish Cup following match-fixJuventus to drop to at least Serie C1 (his statement read that ing allegations against his club. Following his arrest, Akın withJuventus should be sent “lower than Serie B,” without a specific drew his confession, claiming he had been tricked and his condivision stated) and for Fiorentina and Lazio to at least Serie B. fession given under duress, denying any involvement in the He also asked for point penalties to be imposed (six for Juventus, alleged corruption. three for Milan, and 15 for both Fiorentina and Lazio). He also Other players caught up in the scandal included Fenerbahçe’s Nigeria’s Emmanuel Emenike, who was transfer-listed and even- called for Juventus to be stripped of its 2005 and 2006 titles.

In the case against Reggina on August 13, the prosecutor called tually sold to FC Spartak Moscow, following his implication in the case, and Ankaragücü player, Uur Uçar, who claimed to have for Reggina to be demoted to Serie B with a 15-point penalty. On been approached with a proposal to engage in the match fixing, August 17, Reggina’s punishment was handed down: a 15-point penalty, but no relegation from Serie A. Furthermore, the club but never engaged in any illegal activity. was fined the equivalent of £68,000, while the club president, Much of the controversy revolved around Fenerbahçe, one of Pasquale “Lillo” Foti was fined £20,000 and banned from the Turkey’s biggest football clubs; the subject particularly topical since Juventus (one of the most successful football clubs in Italy) game for two-and-a-half years.

Though match fixing cases have continued to reoccur in these had been relegated to the Italian second division five years earlicountries and many others in Europe, the FAs, UEFA and the er in similar circumstances, following the 2006 Italian football scandal. The club’s supporters were concerned that a similar fate police have also doubled their efforts in stemming the ugly trend and sanitizing the game that brings joy to many fans might befall Fenerbahçe, should the club be indicted. around the world.

The president of the Turkish Football Federation, Mehmet Ali However, it has been very difficult to replicate the European Aydınlar (an ex-Fenerbahçe vice-president, and the main sponsor of Fenerbahçe Acıbadem volleyball team) was quoted as say- model in dealing with match fixing cases in the country largely due to the insincerity of the disciplinary committee set up to ing that he was “against the relegation of Fenerbahçe even look at such cases and the lack of will power by Nigeria Football though they were proven guilty according to the new TFF disciFederation (NFF) to enforce sanctions. plinary code, UEFA regulations and FIFA rules”, and that he did In the case of match fixing involving Lobi Stars and Sunshine not accept the example of the relegation of Juventus resulting Stars of Akure in 2012, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) from the 2006 Italian football scandal. slammed a five-year ban on five indicted culprits as well as N20 However, just days later UEFA released a statement saying that

By ADEYINKA ADEDIPE AND OLALEKAN OKUSAN

O

million and N10 million fines on Sunshine Stars and Dolphins of Port Harcourt respectively.

Delivering judgment, the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Barrister Olaleye Adepoju, banned the central referee of the ill-fated match, Christiantus Okoro, his assistant, CID Durunna, the technical adviser of Dolphins, Stanley Eguma, the chairman of Rivers State Referee Association, Eric Dokubo, as well as, Sunshine Stars official, Divine Benjamin, were banned from football affairs for five years. Sunshine Stars was fined N20 million, while Dolphins was fined N10 million for their involvement in the scandal.

The committee also resolved that though the chairman of Nigeria Referees Association (NRA), Alhaji Ahmed Maude, was not obviously incriminated in the scandal, he however, has no moral right to retain his seat in the referees’ appointment committee.

Though they let the General Manager, Ondo State Sports, Mike Idoko, and the Vice Chairman of Lobi Stars of Makurdi, Dominic Iorfa, off the hook, the committee, however, reprimanded them, specifically warning the latter for going on air before officially bringing the matter to the committee.

Eguma at that time said he was going to appeal the verdict but with time the issue was swept aside and he was back on the sideline for his team.

In the case of the game involving Akwa United and Calabar Rovers, which United won 13-0, it was strange that only Calabar Rovers was sanctioned by the NFF and later disbanded by the Akwa Ibom State Government. It was a surprise to see United score 13 goals in that game after scoring nine goals in the entire season. Unlike in Europe, no arrest was made and the score line, which took Akwa United to the Premier League was allowed to stay at the expense of Bussdor.

In this case, thorough investigation was not done before the Akwa Ibom State government disbanded Calabar Rovers and many wondered what Akwa United did to be left off the hook. In the typical Nigerian style, Calabar Rover metamorphosed into Unicem Rovers and is now contesting for honours in the National Division One League.

The present scandal involving four amateur clubside has dwarfed past misdemeanor in the history of Nigerian football.

In their desperation to get promotion in the National League, Plateau United Feeder team fixed the 79-0 win over Akurba FC, while Police Machine did the same in their 67-0 thumping of Bubayaro FC. While the NFF suspended the clubs to pave way for proper investigation, the owner of Bubayaro FC, Shuaibu-Gara Gombe, disowned and disbanded the club. Gombe, who was in Lagos when the game was played, said he had ordered the team not to play the match but the team officials ignored him.

“As soon as I heard the result, I disbanded the team. It’s disappointing that some people would bring the game to disrepute out of desperation,” Gombe said. He added, “I have written a

CONTINUED ON PAGE 62

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THE GUARDIAN Sunday, July 28, 2013

SPORTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 61 petition to the Bauchi State Police Command to investigate this shame and arrest anyone found to be involved.”

It was disappointing that the NFF did not order the arrest of the players involved in the scandal, which would have given the football house an idea of how the matches were fixed and the role played by the players, officials, referees and even club presidents or owners. Instead the players were banned for life and in the usual Nigerian style, the players can return to football using another name.

Responding to the ban, Gara- Gombe said that the life ban placed on the players and officials of his team was not enough punishment, considering the disgrace their actions have given to Nigerian.

He also expressed worries that the NFF might not be able to enforce the ban, as he was sure that the federation doesn’t have the players’ data and images. He noted that the police should have been brought in to arrest and prosecute the players, so as to serve as deterrent to others.

He added that the NFF should also extend its searchlight on the activities of the state FA officials, who were involved in the disgraceful act.

Gombe also questioned the rationale behind the decision of the committee to exempt the zone’s coordinator from the punishment, who was present and witnessed the anomalies that took place at the Bauchi zone.

“The action of the NFF is a welcome development because this will serve as a deterrent to others. We know that match fixing has been the order of the day in Nigerian football and the football house has refused to take actions even on proven cases.”

The scandal has also consumed secretaries of the Nigeria National League (NNL) and the Nigeria Nation Wide League (NNWL) as they were redeployed to the NFF. The Guardian gathered that the NNL Secretary, Ayo Abdulrahman and his NNWL counterpart, Emmanuel Adesanya, have been recalled to resume work at the NFF Secretariat, while Lawrence Katken of competitions’ department and former Secretary of the U-23 team, Shola Ogunowo have been posted as replacements for the two officials in what the NFF referred to as an internal re-organisation.

Confirming the internal re-organisation, NFF General Secretary, Musa Amadu, said it was intended to make the leagues, as well as the federation, better in the interest of the clubs and the fans.

Amadu, who assured that the federation would implement the decisions of the disciplinary committee to the final letter, said it could require a

plastic surgery for the involved players to beat the federation and play football again in the world. He stressed that the full implementation of the decision would serve as a deterrent to other clubs and players, who may have the intention of bringing Nigerian football to disrepute.

“Let me say that the decision of the NFF Disciplinary Committee on the scandalous result in NNWL play off is highly commendable, and that will be enforced to the last letter.

“We are happy that they arrived at such decisions. This will serve as a very strong deterrent to other clubs and players who may have anything like that in mind. The federation will ensure that the decision and documents are sent to all the state FAs, clubs, SSS and other security agencies in the country. We are going to be very strict in the implementation of the decisions. Any club that uses any of the banned players stands to be sanctioned and will also lose the three points of the match that they played,” Amadu said.

Former Super Eagles coach and technical adviser of Sunshine Stars of Akure, Fatai Amoo, lauded NFF for axing the teams, but said that efforts should have been made to ascertain the culprits as some of the players might not be involved in the exercise.

Amoo applauded the NFF for taking action since such acts were not punished in the past. “I think the verdict of NFF on the teams may not be enough but at least we must start from somewhere. In the past it was not like this because we have had teams fix matches without getting punished. So, I want to commend NFF for taking the bull by the horn and placing a ban on the affected teams. Taking this step will surely discourage teams that may be nursing this idea in future,” he said.

He also urged the NFF to ensure that the ban is implemented to the letter. “To ensure that the ban is followed to the later, the names of the players and officials in this act should be obtained so that it will be made public,” he added.

He, however, described the act as a disgrace to Nigerian football, saying, this has painted the country bad. “People that were involved in match fixing are criminally-minded because it is only criminals that will be party to this act. This is a very great offence to humanity and we should not take such act with kids’ gloves.

For one-time Super Eagles midfielder, Mutiu Adepoju, the ban on the teams, players and officials was not severe enough, as the act has made the country a laughing stock globally.

“What the teams that were involved in the game did was really bad because throughout my playing career, I have never heard or seen such score line. And I want to say that the sanction should have been more severe. For me, I think the NFF should have come harder on the teams because

we know what obtains globally when such act happens. So, Nigeria should not be an exception when it comes to handing out punishment to teams that fix games.

“With this incident, Nigeria is now a laughing stock worldwide because nobody would have imagined such a high score line in 90 minutes. I think this is too much for us to bear and I am convinced that those involved in this have no conscience. So, for me, the punishment a bit light and the NFF should have handed down stiffer punishment.”

Also, Deputy President of the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA), Tade Azeez, and a technical committee member of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF), Adegboye Onigbinde, have given their support to the decision of NFF to ban the four clubs, the players and officials involved in the games.

Azeez said the punishments were adequate, describing the situation as an embarrassment to Nigeria. “I couldn’t believe it at first but when I got the details of what happened in the matches, I knew some people were out to destroy our football,” Azeez said.

“The NFF must have seen that the referees and Maigari the match commissioner were culpable hence the punishment handed out to them. How can the referee explain over 70 goals in just the second half when we all know it takes more than two minutes to pass the ball, score and celebrate before the ball is passed again?

“The match reports will also indict the match commissioners if there is nothing in his report that indicates match-fixing.”

Onigbinde, who described the clubs and players as scapegoats, said match fixing has been on in Nigerian football without one taking notice.

“It is good we are beginning to come down hard on match-fixing but same thing happened some years back when a club was beaten 13-0 and nothing was done about it. When nobody was punished, it was almost certain it would repeat itself,” the former Nigeria coach said.

Speaking in the same vein, another former Super Eagles Coach, Christian Chukwu commended the federation for placing life bans on the players and officials that were found guilty.

“It is well deserved because what happened was an embarrassment to the country; it is therefore, important to show that it is an unacceptable act,” Chukwu noted.

“The people involved in that game simply want- Gara-Gombe ed to kill Nigerian football and the world needs to know that our football is not like that.”

Chukwu also praised the NFF disciplinary committee for acting promptly in punishing the offenders. “They responded swiftly and did not hesitate in taking a decision; a decision that I feel is in the best interest of our football,” Chukwu added.

Curbing Match Fixing Menance

Amadu

Action recorded in the Nigerian Premier League

Chukwu

THE GUARDIAN, Sunday, July 28, 2013

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TheGuardian

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria (second right) stretches to cross the line in the women’s 100 metres event during the London Anniversary Games International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Diamond League International Athletics championships at the Olympic Stadium in London yesterday.

PHOTO: AFP

Eagles Survive Elephants’ Onslaught, Qualify For CHAN HE Super Eagles have qualT ified for the African Championship (CHAN) despite losing 2-0 to the Elephants of Cote D’Iviore in Abidjan yesterday.

It was a tough game for the Eagles after went down 2-0 early in the game, but they stood strong to scrap through to South Africa despite the loss.

This is the first time the home-based Eagles will be making an appearance at the championship. But going down 2-0 in the first 24 minutes in Abidjan did not do the chances of the Nigerian team any good, as they failed to settle down early in the game.

The first goal was scored in the fourth minute when a poor headed back-pass from Azubuike Egwuekwe fell short and Kevin Koelly coolly slotted in. The Eagles became very jittery and another defensive mistake by Rabiu Ali led to a penalty kick for

the Ivoriens. Koelly converted the kick for his second goal.

The Eagles needed a timeout and weathered the storm till the end of the half though they got stronger as the game wore on.

Sunday Mba made a one on one save from Zougoula as the second half began, which

then saw a more composed Eagles team as they managed to fend off the Elephants by massing ranks in the midfield. Gomo Onduku was substituted in the 53rd by Flying Eagles striker, Abdullahi Gero, who immediately almost provided an assist for Mba to score.

Experienced Chibuzor

Okonkwo came on for Olufemi Oladapo in the 70th minute to add more grit and experience to the midfield and then Solomon Kwambe, who had endured a torrid afternoon, was replaced by Kunle Odunlami in the 80th minute.

As the gradually drew to a close, the Elephants became

desperate and they attempted to con a penalty from the referee in the 87th minute when Zougoula fell under a harmless challenge from Godfrey Oboabona.

Three minutes were added on but the Eagles held on to secure a place in January’s tournament that will take place in South Africa.

Okagbare, Bolt Win At London Anniversary Games IGERIA’S Blessing N Okagbare, yesterday beat Olympic champion, ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce in the 100m at the Anniversary Games to mark the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The victory must have gladdened Okagbare’s heart having finished last in the final of the womens’ 100m final race at the Games, which Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce won with Okagbare finishing last.

In the race, the Nigerian beat

her own African record to take victory in 12.79 seconds ahead of Barbara Pierre of the United States, who clocked a time of 10.85. Fraser-Pryce could only manage fourth place, despite setting a world leading time in the heats.

Meanwhile, in the mens’ 100m, multiple sprint champion, Usain Bolt, was delighted with his fastest time of 2013 before a large crowd at the London’s Olympic Stadium.

Bolt, who competed in yester-

day’s 4x100m relay, started slowly in the 100m but surged through to win in 9.85 seconds.

“I knew it was going to be a big crowd, but when I got out there it was ram-packed and the energy was still like the Olympics,” the 26-year-old said.

“I was slightly nervous, but I loved the energy of the crowd.”

Describing his return to the London stadium where he set an Olympic record of 9.63 seconds last year, Bolt, who was paraded before the crowd on

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an adapted imitation rocket, said: “It was beautiful and I love competing here.”

The Jamaican, who has six Olympic gold medals and five in the World Championships, called his start in Friday’s race “horrifying” but is in confident mood ahead of the World Championships in Moscow from 10-18 August, as he attempts to regain the title he lost in 2011 after being disqualified for a false start.

“I think it is just race rust and I just need to get a few races in,” he said.

“The rounds in the World Championships will help that and get my legs freer and a bit lighter.”

West Ham Joins Osaze’s Chase EST Ham United are lookW ing to capitalise on the failure of Crystal Palace and Fulham in securing Osaze Odemwingie.

The out of favour West Brom striker was said to be on the verge of moves to Ian Holloway’s side and Martin Jol’s side, but both fell through.

That has left the door open for Sam Allardyce to add some panache alongside Andy Carroll, according to The Times.

West Ham have turned their attentions to the Nigerian, having failed to agree terms with the former Chelsea striker, Salomon Kalou, who reportedly wanted assurances of a starting role within the Hammers attack for next season.

Al Nasr of Dubai are considering increasing their offer for former Lokomotiv Moscow striker.

Odemwinge