Tue 25 June 2013 by The Guardian Newspaper

TheGuardian Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Vol. 29, No. 12,598

N150

www.ngrguardiannews.com

Amaechi summons govs’ forum meeting tomorrow From Adamu Abuh, Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Karls Tsokar (Abuja) and Isa Abdusalami Ahovi (Jos) S an indication that the crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is far from over, Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State yesterday summoned a meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in Abuja for tomorrow. Amaechi, like Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, has been claiming to be the authentic chairman of the NGF since the group’s election of its leaders on May 23, 2013.

• Pro-Jang governors may attend parley • Tukur seeks support from new PDP officers Both governors belong to the PDP. Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, yesterday urged all new officers of the party to display absolute loy-

alty in order to prevent the party from drifting into destruction. He said the observation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding the election of

some members of the party’s NWC shows that the party follows rule of law, justice and fairness. A notice made available to The Guardian in Abuja yesterday indicates that the NGF’s

meeting would hold at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge where the meeting always held prior to the rift that is tearing the forum apart. Amaechi had in the wake of the imbroglio called on all the

Family members gather at Mandela’s bedside - Page 9

governors to come together for the good of the polity and the people who voted them to leadership positions. The governor said: “It has become imperative for me to request my brother and Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State to remain within the confines of decorum and cease to impersonate me and to stop parading himself as NGF chairman. There is only one chairman of the forum, duly elected by a vote tally of 19:16 on Thursday, May 23, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

President Goodluck Jonathan (second right) and other Heads of State and Government during the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) Summit on Maritime Safety and Security in the Gulf of Guinea in Yaounde, Cameroun… yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Stakeholders want govt to fund parties From Ezeocha Nzeh, Abuja OR representatives of the Fandvarious political parties participants at a one-day lecture organised by the Electoral Institute of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday in Abuja, the renewal of the funding of registered po-

litical parties will eradicate internal crisis in such organisations. They noted that internal crisis must continue to trail the various political parties because of their existing funding system, where the highest donors continue to fight for dominance.

The Chairman of the InterParty Advisory Council (IPAC), Tanko Yusuf who spoke on behalf of the registered political parties, noted that finance had been a major threat to the performance of most political parties in the country, adding that the generation of private funds

had been problematic considering the economic situation of the country. According to him, the major political parties in the country have continued to flourish with the funding provided by their members who are in public offices while they have worked hard

to ensure that the smaller parties are denied of the same public funding. Corroborating the views of the IPAC chairman, National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, noted that public funding of political parties would enhance internal

democracy in the parties, adding that public funding of political parties remained an essential cost of democracy which the Federal Government could not shy away from. According to Umeh, “if the political parties remain CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

NEWS

Parties, others seek govt funding CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 weak, they will not be able to discharge their independent functions assigned to them by the constitution of the country. Our experience is very common. Everyday, we read about how political parties are being hijacked by people who are elected and occupying executive positions which they got through the help of those parties because they have got money through those resources. But when parties are funded through public

funds, they will execute their programmes constitutionally without being afraid of those who would want to use private money to hijack them.” In her paper entitled “Political Parties and Effective Participation in Governance”, Country Director, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), Mrs. Gloria Richards Johnson, said that public funding of political parties would help to check such organisations from receiving voluntary donations from questionable

sources that may compromise their independence and democratic functions. She added that it would also encourage a level playing field to all political parties by making sure that they get equal chance to get elected into public offices. She, however, noted that government could create a public agency that could monitor, control and enforce a detailed set of rules and functions as a public watchdog for the use of public funds allocated to political parties. She further stressed that there should be a law permitting the auditing of campaign donations to political parties and candidates as ex-

cesses of such donations should be forfeited by both the political parties and candidates to the government. “There will be no democracy without political parties because it is the parties that generate democratic governments and shape public policies. To be able to perform the task expected of them, they need to generate income. Parties face challenges of security, staffing and equipping party secretariats, running campaigns, organising congresses and conventions among other things. The reality is that it is often the lack of financial resources, which prevents certain groups and leaders from achieving political participa-

tion in parliaments across the world. By public funding of political parties, efforts will be made to bridge the gap between voluntary donations and the necessary spending, thereby hoping to avoid political parties seeking funds from sources that may compromise their independence and democratic functioning. There is also an imperative need to educate Nigerians on the legal restrictions on campaign financing, damaging effects of political corruption as well as the need to demand accountability from their political parties and candidates. Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the Liberian example where party candidates are

made to publicly declare their assets before they can be issued party nomination forms”, she added. In his response, the INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega, promised that the commission would continue to do its best in enforcing internal democracy in the various political parties without interfering in their internal affairs. While acknowledging that the smaller political parties need assurance from the commission in order not to be overshadowed by the bigger ones, the INEC chairman assured that the commission would deliberate on some of the issues raised by the political parties and stakeholders.

Tukur seeks support from new PDP officers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 2013.” The notice of the meeting issued yesterday by a Press Officer of the NGF, Asokoro Secretariat, Chidimma Onyenalim, reads in part: “There will be a meeting of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Time: 8.00 p.m. prompt. Venue: Rivers State Governor’s Lodge, No. 5 Justice Mohammed Bello Street, Asokoro, Abuja.” Also, a Kano-based politician, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, has expressed concern over the rate of lawlessness allegedly orchestrated by the Presidency in Rivers State, saying if it persists, it is capable of undermining the country’s democracy. Besides, the Political Adviser to the Plateau State governor, Nde Alexander Molwus, has described Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso as “irresponsible and treacherous” if he actually played the ignominious role he claimed he did to cause crisis in the NGF. The meeting of the NGF, according to political observers, is summoned on the insistence of Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and some other northern governors who have remained resolute that their choice of who should be their chairman stands against all odds. The Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso had last week challenged all that were in doubt as to the resolve of the governors, by further revealing their game plan on how Jang emerged as the only contestant to the chairmanship position to challenge the incumbent. A source disclosed that the meeting would be attended by some governors from the Jang’s faction. Mohammed who was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic enjoined the PDP to allow the rule of law and constituted authority to reign in Rivers State. Referring to a similar situation in the First Republic in the old Western Region, he warned that the political witch-hunt against Amaechi would do more harm than good. In a statement made available to The Guardian at the weekend, the fiery politician stated: “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat its mistakes, so wrote

George Santayana, the Spanish American philosopher (1863-1952). Current developments in PDP and especially in Rivers, bear an uncanny resemblance to the development in the old western region, which led to the collapse of the First Republic, with very serious and bloody consequences. Then and now, the popularly elected leaders of those parts of the country were prevented from exercising political power and control.” Molwus’ criticism came yesterday just as the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr. Abraham Yiljap, also said that Kwankwaso’s admission that he personally nominated Governor Jang and asked Governor Suswam of Benue to support his move only because “it was a game... clearly showed a mind luxuriating in unethical lyrics.” Molwus said it was rather shameful that a man occupying the important office of a state governor as Kwankwaso would conduct himself in such a manner that suggested he could not be trusted, and did not have the presence of mind to appreciate what it meant for a leader to indulge in acts of dishonesty capable of affecting the progress and unity of the country. Tukur spoke while inaugurating members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) who were appointed last Thursday by the National Executive Committee (NEC) on acting basis pending the election of substantive officers. “We will now ask you to continue supporting this great party,” he said. “Our people have confidence in our party and in our leadership. So, make sure when you get out of here to also continue to spread the sermon of PDP. This umbrella is big enough to contain everybody in Nigeria and in the Diaspora. “INEC noticed that there were defects in the election that was done. The circumstances, of course, led to the emergence of the present members of NWC. They are here to ensure that our party does what it could to follow the rules and regulations according to our constitution.” Tukur continued: “It is important because our party is democratic and follows the rule of law anywhere. Our party believes in equity and jus-

tice, it does not believe in imposition or anything that is illegal. Our party belongs to all of us here - everybody. “I thank you for being present here to witness another stage of PDP’s way of running its affairs according to the conscience of the collective mandate. There was no vacuum, all I want to assure here is that PDP is working, PDP is waxing strong, PDP is one family in terms of its administration. What we have done is to regulate and regularise what has been observed by INEC.” He congratulated all former NWC members on their absolute support for the party, stating: “Those who resigned to make sure we regularise what was observed as irregular electoral practices are truly loyal members of this party. “They have done well. We appreciate them and hope that they would continue supporting our party to follow the path of trust and justice so that we will move our country and really fulfill the mandate of the people ...” Responding on behalf of the acting officers, a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chibudom Nwuche, who was sworn in as acting deputy national chairman, said: “I am indeed very pleased to speak on our behalf and to assure those present here that we have come to work closely with the chairman and to give him the maximum support to enable the PDP retain its position as the largest party in Africa.” The new officers inaugurated included Nwuche (acting deputy national chairman), Dr. Remi Akintoye (acting secretary), Emma Agboti (deputy national secretary) and Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar (acting national organising secretary). Others were Tony Okeke (acting national publicity secretary), Simon Jok (acting legal adviser), Tanko Beji (acting national youth leader) and Oyibo Nwaneri (acting national women leader). Also appointed in acting capacity were Yau Kwadon (deputy national legal adviser), Peter Adefunmilayo (deputy national youth leader) and Nasiru Ibrahim Birchi (deputy national auditor). There were as well Mrs. Torkwase Ajoh (deputy national women leader), Mohammed Dandari (national treasurer), Onyemaechi Ikechukwu Jideofor (deputy national organ-

ising secretary), Awalu Gwalabe (deputy national financial secretary), Chief Augustine Lugbenwei (deputy national treasurer), Calib Yahaya (deputy national publicity secretary), Chief Akin Taiwo (ex-officio), Tope Ademiluyi (ex-officio), Chief Mike Akinfenwa (ex-officio) and Gbenga Oduwaiye (ex-officio). Also yesterday, the NWC commended President Goodluck Jonathan and all NEC members for the success of the 61st NEC meeting, which held last week. According to NEC, which met yesterday, “the maturity and sincerity with which the President and other leaders of the party handled the leadership challenges facing the PDP has once more indicated that the party is ever capable of solving its problems, contrary to the doomsday prophecies of the opposition.” A statement by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Caeser Tony Okeke, declared: “We have said repeatedly that many voices but one resolution in the aftermath of wide consultation is the hallmark of democracy. In PDP, we disagree, we hold individual opinion but we agree and resolve our differences, and the party, as well as the polity, is better for it. “The founding fathers of our great party have built the PDP as a melting pot. They enthroned the PDP as a platform where all Nigerians, irrespective of creed, race or political persuasion, would find expression. Thus, we have remained the strongest centripetal pull on the unity of the nation and so shall it continue.” The statement added: “We, therefore, commend the President, the Vice President, members of Board of Trustees (BoT), leaders of the National Assembly, PDP state governors and other leaders of our great party at various levels for their sensitivity to this sacred responsibility incumbent on our mandate as custodian of Nigeria’s democracy.” It further commended the resilience of other members of the party and assured that the leadership would continue to work assiduously to ensure that the transformation programmes of the PDP-led Federal Government are faithfully implemented to better the lot of all Nigerians.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

News Ministry to sanction telecom firms over road

9,000 Nigerians in jails abroad, says minister

From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City

INISTER of Works, Mike Onolememen yesterday threatened to sanction telecom companies across the country who indulged in destroying roads while installing their facilities particularly cables and make very little efforts to repair them. Besides, Onolememen attributed the high incidence of road accidents in most roads in the country to over-speeding and non- compliance to road safety rules and not the alleged bad conditions of roads as been speculated. He stated this at the Benin axis of Benin –Shagamu-Lagos Expressway where he expressed satisfaction with the pace of work in that section of the road and other federal highways in the country.

From John Okeke, Abuja INISTER of Foreign M Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru has said that about 9,000 Nigerians are in various prisons abroad. The highest number of 752 are in UK prisons while most them are in Asian-Pacific death row The minister, who disclosed

this yesterday in Abuja at the presentation of mid-report, lamented that the major problem confronting the foreign policy was the predicament of Nigerians abroad. In view of this, he said that there was need to device a strategy to proffer solution to the alarming numbers of Nigerians in detention abroad. He said, “9,000 Nigerians

are in various prisons all over the world, the highest number of 752 being recorded in the UK. One of the major challenges facing Nigeria’s foreign policy is the plight of Nigerians in prison abroad. Most of them are concentrated in the Asian-Pacific with many on them on death row. Given these alarming numbers and the imperative need to find creative solutions to

the plight of these Nigerians.’’ Ashiru, while noting the predicament of Nigerians abroad, warned Nigerian citizens to desist from drug trafficking, adding that the sophisticated nature of airports around the world made it possible for them to be caught. He said: “Airport in the world is very supplicated. If

you carry any drug in your body or bags you will be found. Please Nigerians don’t carry drug again, it tarnishes the image of our country.” Also, the minister decried that another challenges facing the ministry is the funding of the staff missioners abroad, stressing that this has necessitated the reduction of staff abroad.

Fuel operators’ strike paralyses business in Imo From Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri ISSATISFIED with the recent imposition of annual N1 million fee to each of them, all the fuel station operators in the 27 local councils of Imo State yesterday began an indefinite action, calling for an immediate reversal of the policy. As a result, economic and social activities were paralysed in all nooks and crannies of the state as only fewer vehicles operated in various roads of the state with workers walked long distances to and fro their offices. The striking operators who took turn to speak with The Guardian resolved that they would not sell fuel to motorists until the state government rescinds its decision and return to status quo. The action of the fuel dealers came on the heels of the state government asking them to pay N1 million yearly, which has just commenced.

Africa airlines may face stringent conditions By Wole Shadare FRICA countries are to come under stringent European Union (EU) polices in the aviation sector targeted at defining the shape of economic regulation to come. For a start, the EU is placing a blanket cover for Africa as a single sky to negotiate bilateral air services agreements. Informed diplomatic sources said under the new regime, EU registered commercial and cargo airlines would no longer be allowed to individually sign Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) with African states. The implication is that African countries can no longer negotiate on a country by country basis and not a few had expressed concern that both the Africa Airlines Association (AFRAA) and the African Union are silent on this.

Permanent Secretary, Women Affairs and Social Developments, Dr. Habiba Lawal (right); Minister, Women Affairs and Social Developments, Hajiya Zainab Maina and Executive Secretary, PHOTO: LADIDI LUCY ELUKPO MTN Foundation, Nonny Ugboma during the commemoration of 2013 International Widow’s Day in Abuja … yesterday.

Jonathan assures Bakassi residents of safety From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja SSURANCES of safety came A the way of Nigerians still living in the Bakassi Peninsula on Sunday in Yaounde, Cameroun by President Goodluck Jonathan as he reiterated his administration’s continued care, concern and support for their safety and wellbeing. Jonathan gave the pledge meeting with the Nigerian community in Cameroun, however, dispelled fears that the government had abandoned Nigerians who remained in the peninsula to their fate after its transfer to Cameroun, saying that government would not allow them to be victimised or maltreated. The President is in the country for the summit of Heads of States and Governments of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC), which kicked off yesterday, with a focus on maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. Jonathan, who revisited the 2002 International Court of Justice (ICJ) judgment award-

ing the oil-rich Bakassi territory to Cameroun, said Nigeria did not appeal the ruling, saying the decision was to protect Nigerians living in that country. The territory was legally ceded to Cameroun by Nigeria in 2002 and Nigeria had until August last year to decide on whether to become Camerounians or vacate the

territory. A statement by the office of the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Dr. Reuben Abati yesterday quoted the President as expressing the belief that improvement in bilateral relations between the Nigerian and Camerounian governments after the judgment of the

International Court of Justice on the Bakassi dispute will also have a positive impact on relations between citizens of both countries. “When countries disagree, their citizens also tend to disagree. But when they are friends, their citizens also follow the same path,” Jonathan observed in his remarks to the gathering.

Responding to other issues raised at the meeting, Jonathan said that his administration’s hard work and commitment to change have resulted in significant improvements in growth indicators such as a drop to single digit inflation, stable exchange rates and steady Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

How currency counterfeiting destroys economy, by CBN From Anthony Otaru, Abuja HE Central Bank of Nigeria T (CBN) said yesterday that currency counterfeiting poses a very serious danger to the nation’s economy which requires all hands to be on deck if it must be discontinued. The CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi stated this in Abuja while declaring open a one week regional workshop on bank notes and currency management and forecasting in central banks organised by the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, WAIFEM. The governor, who was represented by the Deputy

Governor, Economic Policy, Mrs Sarah Alade, stressed that one of the major challenges facing central banks worldwide is the increasing prevalence of currency counterfeiting which he noted was becoming easier due to advances in technology. He warned that if unchecked and allowed to flourish further, currency counterfeiting will undermine the integrity of domestic economy, creates economic distortions, and render the tools of economic management ineffective. He however, stressed that to overcome this malady, appropriate enlightenment on the evil of counterfeiting needs to be taken seriously while adequate anti-counterfeiting laws

be enacted to check perpetrators of such acts. According to him, there is also the need for effective collaboration between central banks and other international agencies involved in the fight against counterfeiting, adding that effective currency management depended on excellent information and insightful analysis. Sanusi stated that efficient and effective currency management commenced with a strategic analysis of the currency life cycle. The CBN helmsman noted that despite the important role of currency in the economy, its strategic management will be impossible without accurate forecasts of demand

for bank notes. Speaking in the same vein, the Director General of WAIFEM, Prof. Akpan Ekpo, in a welcome address, decried currency counterfeiting worldwide. Ekpo said that currency counterfeiting, which has become as old as money itself, poses grave danger to national economies and financial losses to consumers. Ekpo, who expressed his disgust for the practice, explained that recent developments in photographic and computer technology, as well as printing devices, have made the production of counterfeit money relatively easy, thereby increasing potential threats.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

6 NEWS

Ajudua knows fate today over alleged $1.69m fraud

Anambra council polls to hold October 5

By Bertram Nwannekanma

T last, the council election A to elect chairmen and councillors for the 21 local

N Ikeja High Court, Lagos yesterday said it will today (Tuesday) decide whether or not fraud suspect, Fred Ajudua and his accomplice, Charles Orie, would be discharged of the $1.69 million fraud charge preferred against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Trial judge, Olubunmi Oyewole, fixed the date after taking submissions from counsel on an application filed by Ajudua in which he seeks quashing of the sixcount charge. The judge also ordered that Ajudua should remain in Kirikiri Prison pending the full hearing and determination of his bail application. But in his application, the suspect, who was earlier remanded in prison custody by the court on June 11, 2013, wants the court to quash the charges before him on the ground that each case should be treated based on its own peculiarity. In a motion on Notice dated June 7, 2013, which is supported by a 16-paragraph affidavit, Ajudua’s counsel, Alex Agba, argued that since the complainant has withdrawn the case and filed an affidavit before the court to this purpose, the court should quash the charge. According to him, further hearing in the matter will be a waste of time as the witness who is supposed to testify before the court has travelled down to Nigeria to indicate his unwillingness to continue with the matter. But the EFCC counsel, Mr. Wemimo Ogunde (SAN), in opposition urged the court to discountenance the application. Ogunde stated that it is not known to law for a victim to come to court to file an affidavit of discontinuance on which the defence will predicate its application for charges to be quashed.

By Uzoma Nzeagwu, Awka

Chairman, Oando Nigeria Plc, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland (left); Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Wale Tinubu; Group Chief Finance Officer, Mr. Olufemi Adeyemo; Chief Executive Officer, Oando Gas and Power, Mr. Bolaji Osunsanya, Non-Executive Director, Ms. Nana Afoah Appiah-Korang during Oando Plc Extra-Ordinary General Meeting in Lagos… yesterday. PHOTO: GABRIEL IKHAHON

Taraba Assembly urges support for acting governor By Charles Akpeji, Jalingo HE decision of the Acting T Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Garba Umar, not to deviate from the legacies of the ailing governor, Danbaba Suntai, has been commended by members of the House of Assembly. Citing Umar’s “prompt” reaction to the recent religious crisis in Ibi and Wukari local councils as well as his refusal to “succumb” to pressures that would have detracted him from carrying out his functions, the lawmakers collectively agreed that honour should be given to whoever deserves it.

The Speaker, Haruna Tsokwa, expressed the position of the lawmakers on the floor of the House on resumption from recess for the 3rd legislative year of the Seventh Assembly. The members, according to Tsokwa, “commend Umar for his tireless efforts in piloting the affairs of the state at this critical time in the history of our state. We observed he has refused to succumb to pressure to be detracted from performing his official functions.” The Speaker said to appreciate the efforts being put in place by Umar to forestall any outbreak of order crises, especially now that the people

have begun to grumble over the long absence of the governor, the members should desist from unguided utterances. “While we have continued to fervently pray for his (Suntai) recovery to resume his duties, I urged all of us here to be cautions in our utterances and actions. “As representatives of the people in the highest decision making body in the state, we should be seen to be mostly concerned with the maintenance of peace and orderliness in the state,” he said. The lawmakers further admonished the people of the state to give the much need

support to the acting governor to succeed in carrying on the responsibilities imposed on him as a result of the illness of the governor. Suntai, it would be recalled, has been absent from his official responsibilities since October 25, 2012 following the injuries he sustained in the plane crash in Yola, Adamawa State which led to his evacuation to Germany and subsequently to the United States (U.S.). The lawmakers pledged to enhance the growth of the state rather than flexing muscle against the executive arm of government.

Ogboru held court in contempt over property, judge rules By Hendrix Oliomogbe (Asaba) and Joseph Onyekwere (Lagos)

Delta DPP flays S’Court verdict

USTICE Okon Abang of the Jyesterday Federal High Court, Lagos ruled that the for-

failed to pay N200 million loan granted him and his firm, Friogret Limited by Equatorial Trust Bank (now finances importation of fish from Europe). But Abang said the failure of the plaintiff, AMCON, to ensure the service of Forms 48 and 49 on Ogboru had denied the court the power to impose the necessary punishment. “I agree entirely with the plaintiff that the first and second defendants (Friogret Ltd and Ogboru respectively), violently broke into the properties located at 13A Ijora Causeway and Norman Williams Street, Ikoyi, both in Lagos, which were under receivership without permission of the Receiver Manager and when the inhibition or restraining order has not been discharged. “Therefore the first and second defendants are in contempt of the order of this court. They are now to be addressed as contemnors. They have no

mer Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) governorship candidate in Delta State, Great Ogboru, violated an order of the court delivered on January 30, 2013 evicting occupants of a property belonging to his firm. But the judge said the court would not penalise him for violating the order due to failure of the plaintiff in the case to comply with necessary rules of contempt proceedings. Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) and its counsel, Kunle Ogunba (SAN) had accused the businessman turned politician of resisting eviction and violently taking possession of his property in Lagos which the court had ordered AMCON to take possession of following their inability to pay back an alleged loan deal. Ogboru was said to have

respect for the order of this court as constituted by law. “I therefore grant the prayers 1, 2 and 3 as contained in the application of the plaintiff”, the judge ruled. Abang, earlier in his ruling, dismissed the submissions of the counsel for the defendants, Prof. Mccarthy Mbadugha, who argued that the application for contempt proceedings were not served on him and as such had rendered the application incompetent. The judge said Mbadugha’s refusal to join issues with AMCON’s counsel who had said the application was earlier served on one of the defence counsel, had rendered the defendants’ contention baseless. The judge also dismissed the preliminary objection filed in opposition to the application, holding that it is not in law to file such objection to an “interlocutory application”. The court found Ogboru guilty

of contempt, but it stated it could not make any pronouncement on the six directors, who, according to him, participated in violating the court order, but were not parties to the substantive suit from which the contempt proceedings arose. He said it was an error on the part of the plaintiff’s counsel not to have sought the leave of court to join the directors as alleged contemnors. The judge held that AMCON was at liberty to “set in motion” the necessary machinery to bring Ogboru and six other directors of his company, Friogret Ltd, to justice. He also ordered the Inspector-General of Police, the Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police Zone 2 or the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State to arrest anybody found on the premises of the property. AMCON had, through an application dated April 16, 2013, accused Ogboru, his company and the six direc-

tors of violating the order of the court which restrained them from taking possession of property located at 13A Ijora Causeway and Norman Williams Street Ikoyi, both in Lagos. AMCON accused Ogboru, Fiogret Ltd and six others of using acts of “thuggery, hooliganism and outright lawlessness” to break into the property, carting away “several stock of frozen fish”, “large volumes of files” and other valuable items from the property. Abang also ruled that the allegation that Ogboru and others carted away valuable items from the property should be referred to AIG Zone 2 for investigation. “Claim 4 is hereby deferred pending the outcome of police investigation,” he ruled. On the prayer of the plaintiff, seeking an order directing the Inspector-General to arrest Ogboru, the judge held that he could not do that until the proper procedure of initiating contempt proceedings are strictly followed.

councils in Anambra State has been fixed for October 5, 2013. The Chief Electoral Officer for Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission (ANSIEC), Sylvester Okonkwo, who announced the date in Awka yesterday, assured that the guidelines and time table will be released by Monday next week. Okonkwo, who addressed a meeting of the stakeholders yesterday, said notice for the election released in Awka is in accordance with the provisions of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution, and sections 153 and 163 of the Local Government Law No.5 of 1999 Anambra State, as well as Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended.

Two Chinese nationals arrested over illegal mining By John Ogiji, Minna WO Chinese nationals, Lu T Xiaoyong and Huaiming Geng, have been arrested by men of the State Security Service (SSS) in Niger State for their alleged involvement in an illegal mining of mineral resources in the state. Also arrested with the Chinese is their Nigerian collaborator, Mohammed Bello, who is alleged to be acting as an intermediary between the Chinese and the villagers. The men were picked up by the security operatives from the mining site at Kotugba Village in Paikoro Local Council area of the state during surveillance activities in the area. Parading the suspected illegal miners at the Command Headquarters in Minna yesterday, the Director of the SSS, Dr. Larry Obiagwu, said the men were arrested last week when one of them, Lu Xiaoyong came to the site with a 10-tonne truck capacity with registration Number XD928KA to evacuate some already excavated Gem stones for onward exportation to China.

Akintelure loses mother HE deputy governorship T candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Ondo State, Dr. Paul Akintelure, has lost his mother, Chief Aderonke Christanah Akintelure. According to a statement, the late Akintelure, a devout Christian and community leader who hailed from Igbotako in Okitipupa Local Council, died in Lagos during a brief illness. She was 83 years old. Burial arrangements will be announced by the family.

Akintelure

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

NEWS

Govt files fresh charges against Leadership journalists

Edo confirms execution of four convicts From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City DO State government yesterday night confirmed the execution of four convicted criminals by hanging. The execution has elicited condemnation from Amnesty International, which, in a statement yesterday, called on Nigerian government to exercise restraint in carrying out the killing which it said was confirmed by a court yesterday in Benin City. When contacted last night, the Attorney General and Commissioner for justice, Henry Idahagbon, confirmed the executions. According to him, the convictions were obtained many years ago from the Supreme Court. Three of the executed criminals were said to have been convicted outside the state, but had been in prison in Benin City. Idahagbon said the execution of the convicts was based on the request of the prison authorities. On claims that there was a stay of execution order, Idahagbon said his office got the stay of execution papers but that the execution was not to be carried out by his office. It was learnt that the prison authorities claimed they did not receive any stay of execution order.

Oshiomhole

Tax forum holds in Lagos RNST & Young, a leading E professional services advisory firm, would tomorrow hold a breakfast session on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Law. According to a statement, the event, which is to update clients and key stakeholders in the financial services industry about the new U.S. regulations and the burden imposed on financial institutions in Nigeria, will hold at the Four Points, by Sheraton Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos. Already, financial institutions around the globe now face a complex and onerous compliance burden in terms of meeting the FATCA requirements. Speaking on the event, Mr. Adekunle Salau, Partner and Advisory Leader for West Africa, Ernst & Young, says the goal of FATCA is to reduce U.S. tax evasion by enabling the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), to obtain information regarding worldwide income of U.S. persons. He said the legislation came in response to a series of cases in which some international banks were alleged to have helped their clients evade taxes.

From Lemmy Ughegbe, Abuja than 2 months after LgeryESS withdrawing an alleged forcharge against two

Vice President Namadi Sambo (left); former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Interior, Alhaji Sheidu Bello Ozigis and erstwhile Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Dere Awosika, at the 2013 Civil Service Dinner and Award Night in Abuja…on Sunday

Leadership journalists: Mr. Tony Amokeodo (the Group News Editor) and Mr. Chibuzor Ukaibe (Political Correspondent), the Federal Government yesterday refiled the case at an Abuja High C o u r t . Lead counsel to the Federal Government, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) had on Friday filed an 11–count charge of alleged forgery of presidential directive against Amokeodo, Ukaibe and

Stakeholders differ on delay in clearing of goods at Seme border By David Ogah RADE between Nigeria and T her neighbouring countries in the West African sub-region may have suffered severe setback due to days of delay in the process of clearing goods at the Nigeria’s end of the Seme Border. Investigations revealed at the weekend that the delay was due largely to alleged inefficient scanning machine deployed by destination inspection service provider in the area - Global Scan Nigeria Limited, and the non-possession of valid import documents by importers using the boarder post as entry point for their items. But the Global Scan Nigeria Limited has dismissed the allegation of inefficient scanning machine, blaming the situation on failure by Customs to forward documents of trucks to it. Stakeholders, who spoke on the delay at the weekend, said their goods still have to go through physical examination by the Customs even after they had gone through the process of scanning, making them to spend longer days at the border. To Tino Ezezobor, who is the general secretary of Seme branch of the National Association of Government

Approved Freight Forwarders, government has good intention to facilitate trade using the service providers, whom he said, have so far failed to key into government’s vision. “There was delay and bottleneck because of the broken down scanning machine. This delay on the part of the service providers started affecting our business as we continue to pay demurrage that is pushing up our cost of doing business at the border. The most painful thing is that every truck that is scanned must also go through physical examination. That

means double procedure. At the initial stage, global scan was not able to scan more than 30 trucks in a week,” he lamented. To Alhaji Aliyu Sule, the delay in goods clearing at the border could be attributed to the ineffective scanning machine deployed at the border by the service provider. He said the service from the machine was epileptic. “The mobile scanner that is in use is inefficient, this machine should scan four trucks per hour and that means 48 trucks per day. But once this machine works for two hours, you will

need to stop it for another three hours for it to cool down so that it will not pack up. This is how the machine works. The image analysis sheets from it are illegible and cannot be interpreted, hence the insistence by the Customs on 100 per cent inspection afterwards.” The Customs Area Controller at Seme, Mr. Othman Abdul Saleh, also attributed the epileptic services from the service provider, the need for trucks to be subjected to 100 per cent inspection and the lack of valid import document by some importers to the delay.

Leadership Group Ltd before Justice U. A. Musale. Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on May 2, 2013, struck out the case following the withdrawal of a-six count charge by Awomolo (SAN). The development was sequel to the notice of preliminary objection filed by the lawyer to the Leadership journalists, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who argued that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the charge. But in a new twist, the Federal Government had through Awomolo, approached Justice Musale of an Abuja High Court through an ex-parte application on Friday, May 19, 2013, seeking the leave of the court to prefer a charge against the journalists. After listening to the argument by a lawyer from Awomolo’s chambers, Mrs. F. Folorunso, Justice Musale granted the request of the g o v e r n m e n t . The judge consequently adjourned the case till Thursday, June 27, 2013 for the arraignment of the two Leadership journalists. But a court bailiff accompanied by lawyers from Awomolo’s chambers, came to Leadership’s office yesterday to serve the new charge against the journalists at about 2.45 pm.

Benin catholic priests urge dialogue in church crisis From Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu, Benin City ATHOLIC priests of Bini extraction in the Archdiocese of Benin City yesterday differed from the position of the Edo Liturgical Group over alleged discrimination against the use of Edo language in the Catholic churches contrary to the policy. The group, at a press briefing in Benin, alleged that the action of the Archbishop was at variance with the Second

Vatican Council it claimed was held in 1963 which “recommended, among other things, the use of local languages in Catholic worship to enable natives to participate actively and understand the mysteries celebrated.” But the chairman of the Indigenous Benin Catholic Priests, Rev. Fr Felix Igbineweka, at a press briefing yesterday evening, said Archbishop Augustine Akubeze, since his installation in the past two years, has

demonstrated openness in all his dealings. He 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. 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.”

EFCC re-arraigns Ikuforiji, aide, closes case against Igbinedion From Abosede Musari (Abuja) and Joseph Onyekwere (Lagos) PEAKER of the Lagos State SAdeyemi House of Assembly, Ikuforiji and his Personal Assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi, have been rearraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos. They were re-arraigned over alleged involvement in money laundering to the tune of N338,801,442 from the state House of Assembly without going through a financial institution. The offence is said to be contrary to Sections 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act. The duo, who were rearraigned on an amended 54count charge bordering on

the offence, pleaded not guilty to the charge. Shortly after the re-arraignment and their plea taken, counsel to the EFCC, Godwin Obla, intimated the court of the commission’s readiness to proceed with the trial of the case. But counsel to the Speaker, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), informed the court that the accused had earlier been granted bail on self-recognition by the former trial judge, Justice Okechukwu Okeke (rtd). The Senior Advocate explained further that the personal assistant was granted bail, with the Clerk of the House standing as surety and, therefore, prayed the judge to consider varying the terms of bail initially granted by the former trial court, which had been perfected. Oyetibo stated further that since the accused were granted bail by the former trial court, they have been consistently

present in court except at the last adjourned date on the matter when they were not served. Also, EFCC said yesterday that it is closing the case against Michael Igbinedion by September 23. A statement from the commission indicated that Igbinedion, younger brother of former Edo State governor, Lucky N. Igbinedion, and five others, have been standing trial in a N25 billion alleged fraud case. The accused persons in the case are Igbinedion, Patrick Eboigbodin and four companies: Gava Corporation Limited; Romrig Nigeria Limited; PML Securities Company Limited and PML Nigeria Limited. They are facing trial at a Federal High Court sitting in Benin City, Edo State capital. Three witnesses were called at the resumed hearing last Friday by the EFCC. The first witness, Mr. Ajoyo Sowale, an

accounts officer with Guaranty Trust Bank, identified various account statements and account opening documents of the accused persons and confirmed the lodgments made into the various accounts. “He also told the court that he printed the various account statements and got them certified”, the statement read. Ikuforiji’s counsel also informed Justice Buba of a bail application dated June 7, 2013, adding that it was done out of caution. Similarly, counsel to Ikuforiji’s aide, Tunde Akinrimisi, aligned himself with the submissions of Oyetibo and prayed the court to uphold same. He also prayed the court to rule in line with the earlier bail. But Obla did not oppose the application. He said the commission is only interested in

the bail condition and has to leave that to the discretion of the court. In his ruling, Justice Buba held that the case before him is a new one and that the court is not bound by the bail condition granted by the former judge. The judge granted them bail in the sum of N1 billion each with two sureties on N5 million each. Justice Buba also held that the sureties must swear to an affidavit of means, while the accused must swear to an undertaking that they would always be present in court. According to the judge, they would not be remanded in prison custody if they were able to perfect the bail conditions within 48 hours. But if they fail, a bench warrant would be issued against them. The duo had earlier been arraigned on March 1, 2012, on a 20-count charge.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

8 NEWS

New TV programme, seminar hold tomorrow

Subsidy suspects imported AGO instead of PMS, says witness By Joseph Onyekwere PROSECUTION witness in the trial of the N1.7 billion fuel subsidy scam suspects, Bunmi Bukoye, yesterday told a Federal High Court, Lagos, that the vessel used in the importation of petroleum products carried automobile gasoline oil (AGO) and not premium motor spirit (PMS) as stated by the accused persons. The witness, who is a legal practitioner in the firm of Femi Atoyebi and Company, said the vessels were alleged to have carried PMS between May/July 2011 by the accused persons but at the material time, the records of their voyages showed they carry AGO and not PMS. The suspects, Samuel Owa and his company, StoneBridge Oil Limited, were arraigned together with a Cargo Surveyor, Onassis Wajutom and his own company, Vibrant Ventures Limited, on June 18 by the Nigeria Police. They are standing trial on a four-count charge bordering on the alleged offence to which they pleaded not guilty to the charge but the trial judge, Ibrahim Buba, remanded them at the Ikoyi Prisons, pending the fulfillment of their bail condition. The witness, who claimed to know Stonebridge Limited through Wajutom, said the former (Stonebridge) informed her firm that the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) was about to arrest them because they claimed to carry PMS but that the vessel was in Cotonou. She stated that the claim by the accused persons that the vessel was in Cotonou was not true.

“After they forwarded the details of the voyages to us through their letters, they never informed us of carrying PMS”, she averred. While cross-examining the witness, counsel to the first and second accused, Dr. Joseph Nwobike (SAN), argued that the letters dated July 17, do not form part of exhibits sent to them and that the witness is not a signatory and maker of the letter. “In regards to the letter and attachment, putting them together, the witness is not the maker and has only given witness of what she knows, as the letter can only be granted by the makers, citing Section 83(1) of the Evidence Act. He opposed the admissibility of the document and prayed the court to discountenance it. Justice Buba in his ruling admitted the document as exhibit. “The objection is over-ruled and the document accepted as exhibit PW3. This objection can only be accepted when a witness presents it outside the country”, he ruled. The witness was also crossexamined by counsel to the third and fourth accused, Mr. Sylvester Ekwueme. Both counsel also prayed the court to vary the bail conditions. They explained that the 4th accused earn less than one million and for this reason, has not met the bail application as getting surety of N500 million is virtually impossible. As a result, the judge asked the counsel to apply for variation and ordered that the accused be remanded pending the perfection of bail and adjourned the case to 2,3 and 4 of October

ELEVISION viewers are in T for better times as Newprotv Platform in

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State (middle) with members of Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in North-East in Maiduguri… yesterday

ACN urges govt to explain state of economy GAINST the backdrop of A alleged conflicting statements attributed to the Minister of Finance, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has challenged the Federal Government to be honest with Nigerians on the state of the nation’s economy. In a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said coming clean on the state of the economy will enable the government to carry the people along in whatever measures it may take to avoid the collapse of the economy. ‘’On February 24, 2013, we issued a statement in which we alerted the nation to ‘an impending collapse of the Nigerian economy, unless the Federal Government cuts the astronomical cost of run-

ning a bloated government and takes urgent measures to diversify the economy and shore up the production of oil, which remains the mainstay of the country’s economy’. ‘’Though the Federal Government quickly denied that the economy was in danger, it is now clear that it (government) was being economical with the truth. The clearest indications yet of this choreographed deceit are the contradictory statements credited to the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in recent times. ‘’According to a published report, on June 10 in Abuja, the minister said at a ministerial briefing that the fundamentals of the economy were strong and that the economy was buoyant beyond danger. However, a

day later, the same minister was quoted as saying, at a closed-door session of the Federal Government Economic Implementation Team, that the Nigerian economy is shaky despite the official fundamentals and that drastic steps are needed to save it from collapse. ‘’She was further quoted as saying that there was an urgent need for ‘stringent budgetary measures’ to arrest the downward slide; that crude oil production now hovers around 1.3 million barrels per day (far lower than what it was at the height of the protracted militancy in the Niger Delta); and that crude oil theft, which costs Nigeria US$6 billion annually, is now severely hurting the economy,’’ the party said. ACN said while it had no reason to doubt that the reality of the gloomy situation facing the country’s economy has now dawned on the government, it is still worried that those in authority are speaking from both sides of their mouths; publicly giving the impression that all is well while privately preparing to unleash belt-tightening measures on the same hapless citizens who have borne the brunt of their poor governance. ‘’When the falling crude oil production and massive oil theft are placed side-by-side with the impact of the rising Shale oil production in the U.S. (which we also warned against in our earlier statement), the regular declaration of Force Majeure by oil firms, the fact that oil firms are divesting instead of investing in the sector and the freewheeling spending by a profligate government, one needs not be a Harvardtrained economist to know that the dark clouds are gathering over the economy. ‘’Since it is a truism that everything revolves around the economy, a government that cannot get it right with the economy cannot get it right with anything else. This is why we are again raising the alarm, with the belief that the government will level with Nigerians and shun the same ‘political’ reactions that it is used to.

Nigeria will unveil a new TV television programme with a seminar at the African Hall of Oriental Hotels, Victoria Island in Lagos tomorrow. The seminar is entitled: “Introducing and Sustaining New Products in a Competitive Economy”. A press statement by the Managing Director of Newprotv Platform in Nigeria, Mr. Ayotunde Akin, said the reason for setting up Newprotv programme is to give individuals, corporate organisations and governments the opportunity to showcase their new products and services to numerous viewers across the country at affordable cost. He also assured that the programmes would be laced with entertainment and sports to meet with the aspirations of all viewers. Ayotunde also said the essence of the seminar was to educate participants on how to introduce new products and sustain them for economic growth. Dignitaries billed to be at the unveiling ceremony/seminar include Chairman of Glaxosmithkline, Chief Olusegun Osunkeye and Chairman of Sheraton Hotels, Chief Goodie Ibru.

JNI seeks sanction for media houses that preach hatred HE Jama’atu Nasir Islam T (JNI) yesterday urged the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to sanction any media organisation that promotes hatred. The organisation specifically urged the NBC to withdraw the licence of any media house that broadcasts hate sermons during and after the Ramadan period. Alhaji Ja’afaru Makarfi, the JNI chairman in Kaduna State, made the call in Kaduna during a press conference organised by the Bureau for Religious Affairs (Islamic Matters) to sensitise Muslim NGOs ahead of the Ramadan. Makarfi said that JNI had discovered that most hate preachers in the media were responsible for chaos in the state. He said there would be peace in the state if such acts were tackled effectively. “Except NBC sanctions media houses which are in the habit of publicising this act due to money, there will not be peace Kaduna State. “All we want is a peaceful state not a confused state,” he stressed. Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Bureau for Religious Affairs (Islamic Matters), Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi, urged religious leaders to call on their followers to conduct themselves peacefully during and after Ramadan. He said the bureau had resolved to withdraw the licence of any hate preacher to curb such unhealthy sermons.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

WorldReport Family members gather at Mandela’s bedside as his health deteriorates S millions of people in A South Africa and across the world feared for the worst, the family of critically ill antiapartheid icon, Nelson Mandela, gathered around his hospital bedside yesterday “Former President Mandela remains in a critical condition in hospital,” Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted South African President Jacob Zuma as saying in an address televised to the world and an anxious nation. “The doctors are doing everything possible to ensure his well being and comfort,” Zuma added. Mandela, the hero of black South Africans’ battle for freedom during 27 years in apartheid’s jails, was rushed to hospital on June 8 with a recurring lung infection. Agency reports indicated that despite intensive treatment at Pretoria’s Mediclinic Heart Hospital, the 94-yearold’s condition appears to have suddenly and dramatically deteriorated. His former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – herself a figurehead of the antiapartheid struggle – and daughters, Zindzi MandelaMotlhajwa and Zenani Mandela-Dlamini, were among those who flocked to the hospital yesterday. Their visits came amid heightened fears for the former statesman’s health. “All of us in the country should accept that Madiba is now old,” Zuma said, using Mandela’s clan name.

“I think what we need to do as a country is to pray for him to be well and that the doctors do their work.” Zuma commended the life of a man seen as the father of the nation and globally as a moral beacon that continues to shine long after he retired from public life. Mandela was last seen in public in 2010 at the football World Cup finals in South Africa. “He is the father of democracy and this is the man who fought and sacrificed his life,”

said Zuma, who spent 10 years in jail on Robben Island at the same time as Mandela. Zuma visited Mandela on Sunday evening, when the Nobel Peace Prize winner was asleep. “(We) saw him and then we had a bit of discussion with the doctors and his wife Graca Machel,” Zuma said. Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after almost half a century of apartheid rule, is due to celebrate his 95th birthday on July

18. He has been hospitalised four times since December, mostly for the pulmonary condition that has plagued him for years. As the world looked on, South Africans resigned themselves to the inevitability of Mandela’s decline. “Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do but to pray for him and the doctors that are helping him,” said Phathani Mbath outside the hospital, where flowers, cards and messages of support piled up.

Berlusconi sentenced to jail in sex trial The trial relates to crimes COURT in Italy has senA committed in 2010 when tenced Silvio Berlusconi to Berlusconi was prime minisseven years in jail and banned the former premier from public office after convicting him of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abuse of power. The judges reportedly handed down a sentence that went beyond the request of prosecutors, who had called for the 76-year-old billionaire to serve six years. The sentence is “completely illogical. The judges even went beyond the prosecutors’ request,” Berlusconi’s lawyer, Niccolo Ghedini, told journalists after the verdict was read out. A small group of protesters cheered and applauded outside the courtroom, and sang the national anthem. The verdict brings to a climax a two-year trial which sparked a media frenzy amid allega-

Berluscomi tions of strippers dressed as nuns and erotic party games with topless girls. The sentence will be suspended until all appeals have been exhausted, a process likely to take years. Berlusconi’s age also means he is unlikely to ever see the inside of a prison cell because of lenient sentencing guidelines in Italy for people over the age of 70.

ter, and revolves around what prosecutors have described as erotic parties held at his luxury residence outside Milan. Berlusconi was accused of paying for sex on several occasions with Moroccan-born Karima El-Mahroug, a then 17year-old exotic dancer and busty glamour girl nicknamed “Ruby the Heart Stealer”. He was also accused of having called a police station to pressure for El-Mahroug’s release from custody when she was arrested for theft. His defence claimed he believed El-Mahroug was the niece of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and wanted to avoid a diplomatic incident, but prosecutors insisted it was a bid to conceal their liaison.

Leaders want naval force in Gulf of Guinea as Africa loses $300b to oil theft, others from West and LforEADERS Central Africa have called the deployment of an international naval force in the Gulf of Guinea as they met in Cameroun to discuss maritime security in the pirate-infested waters. An indication to this came yesterday as the Chairperson of the African Union (UN), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, revealed that African countries lost about $300 billion to oil theft and illegal fishing in the continent. The Gulf of Guinea, which includes the coast off Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, has emerged as a new danger-zone with pirates targetting fuel cargo and loading it onto other ships to sell on the lucrative black market, rather than seeking ransom to release ships, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said last week. “I invite the international community to show the same firmness in the Gulf of Guinea as it has demonstrated in the Gulf of Aden, where the presence of international naval forces has allowed for a

drastic reduction in maritime piracy,” Cote d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara told delegates at a summit convened to tackle the menace. The summit, held in Cameroun’s capital, Yaounde, was being attended by 11 leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to deliberate on new proposals and a joint action plan to tackle piracy and maritime criminality in the region. Also, Chad’s President Idriss Deby said the proposed naval force could be part of the future emergency military force announced by the African Union (AU) last month and which is aimed at rapidly quelling conflict on the continent. According to a report released by the IMB last week, West Africa has now overtaken Somalia as the world’s piracy hot-spot with 966 sailors attacked last year compared with 851 in Somalia. IMB estimates the costs of

the stolen goods in the Gulf of Guinea in 2012 at between 25 and 75 million euros ($33 million to $100 million). Meanwhile, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who spoke at the opening ceremony of the summit, said the continent has lost $200 billion in five decades to illegal fishing and $100 billion to illegal bunkering since 2003. “We cannot allow this incursion of resources to continue”. She warned President Goodluck Jonathan was among the African leaders that were at the opening ceremony of the

summit, which focuses on maritime safety and security in the Gulf of Guinea. The leaders gathered under the UN Resolution 2039 of February 2012, for the Gulf of Guinea region where 200 million people are living under threat of piracy, transnational maritime crimes. The summit is to provide a coordinated regional and international response to the scourges of piracy, drug trafficking, armed robbery and other illegal maritime activities in the Gulf of Guinea.

Powergrid of India clinches Ethiopian, Kenyan energy deals N Indian firm, Powergrid, posed a year. A Ethiopia, a country of more has clinched the management of transmission, gener- than 80 million people, is ation and distribution company of Ethiopia and Kenya after a highly transparent and competitive bidding exercise beating other big firms on financial and technical evaluation. It could be recalled that the Indian firm won the bid for Nigeria’s TCN in 2007 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo but they were not allowed to take over by former President Umar Musa Yar’Adua due to power probe, Africaexternal website reported. In Addis Ababa, the contract was signed between the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation and the Indian company. The highly competitive bid saw the company defeating some other bidders to clinch the management of the project. In Kenya, PGCI will handle the feasibility study to determine the highest need voltage power capacities of the transmission lines taking into consideration the power generation capacity of the nation over the next 25 years. The EEPCo made its selection on the basis of the proposed delivery period; PGCI offered to finalise the study in four and a half months whereas the other bidder which had met the requirements, the State Grid Corporation of China pro-

planning to significantly increase power distribution lines in the coming years and the feasibility study is expected to offer a bench mark for the installation of lines in the future. The high voltage lines to be constructed will be done on the basis of the findings of this study, said a senior official with the EEPCo. Ethiopia currently has 11,124 KM of high voltage transmission lines that transmit power at various kilovolt levels from 32KV-400KV but the capacity is not enough to enable optimum use of the power to be generated explained an expert source. Powergrid also put up a link between Afghanistan’s Pul-e-Khumri and Kabul . The Nairobi contract was signed with Kenya Electric Transmission Company (KETRACO). Sources said PowerGrid won the deal with a parallel agreement to train young engineering graduates for one year. The decision to train the engineers in India was informed by the need to quickly roll-out ambitious transmission infrastructure projects that will see Kenya’s total transmission lines double in four years as a measure aimed at edging Kenya towards Vision 2030, the source said.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

POLITICS

Politics Ekiti 2014: Politicians upbeat, strategise

Fayemi

Fayose

From Muyiwa Adeyemi (Head, Southwest Bureau, Ado-Ekiti)

town campaigning to unseat Governor Fayemi, announced Mr. Owoseni Ajayi as the directorgeneral of his campaign organisation and launched his website. On June 12, Fayemi also used the massive rally organised to commemorate June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late business mogul, Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, to declare his intention to contest for a second term in office. The governor said his declaration was in response to the people’s demands that he should continue with his “good work.” According to him: “I am ready to accept, as ever, to offer myself for your service. I am ready to accept your wish to offer myself for more hard work even more than what we have done already. “I am heeding the calls that I have been receiving since December last year; the work has just started. Since you have pledged support for continuity, I am also ready to continue the good works. “Without being immodest, I feel the good works should continue. Let me say that democracy must be consolidated by continuity, especially when the people say that you are doing well.” There is no doubting the fact that next year’s governorship election is going to be a straight contest between the ACN and the PDP, although the Accord Party (AP) is making an inroad to Ekiti State with a promise to produce the next governor. All indicators suggest that the incumbent governor may fly the ACN flag in the election even with a pocket of resistance from a member of the House of Representatives, Opeyemi Bamidele, who has yet to make up his mind on when to contest for the governorship office. The PDP is bogged down by many intrigues, part of which is the carryover from the last state congress that uprooted all loyalists of Oni from the state party executive and replaced them with members supported by the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olubolade (Rtd) and Mr. Fayose. While the Oni loyalists in the Irewolede group seem to insist on harmonisation having failed in their attempt to form a parallel Exco; the new Exco led by Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe believes that reconciliation is only the way out. This position appears to have the blessing of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the party. The cold war between the two groups persists but the outcome of the Reconciliation Committee, set up by the Southwest Caretaker Committee of the party, is expected to finally resolve the crisis. There are speculations that some PDP members in the state are planning to decamp to a relatively unknown party if the report of the reconciliation committee did not favour them. In fact, some of them had decamped to the ACN on June 12. The chairman of the PDP in Ekiti South senatorial district, Chief Ayo Peters and Mrs. Bose

OLITICAL battle for the 2014 governorship P election in Ekiti State is in full swing, following the dismissal of an appeal filed in the Supreme Court by the ousted governor of the state, Chief Segun Oni. Oni had challenged the verdict of Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, that the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was the real winner of the 2007 election and 2009 re-run in the state. Until May 31 when the apex court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, most aspirants from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and ACN, the two dominant political parties in the state, exercised caution in going to the field with all their political arsenal due to the unpredictability of the outcome of the six-year legal tussle. Right from the moment Oni approached the Supreme Court, many discerning minds dismissed his action as a “mere academic exercise” while others saw him as a “gambler”. Still some politicians, especially from the ACN, said the litigation was to distract Governor Fayemi, whom they said was on a fast track to develop the state that had been bogged down by political crises for many years. The main reason cited by those sceptical of Oni’s petition was the dictate of the Electoral Law that guided the 2007 elections, which terminated hearing of the petitions at the Appeal Court. But Oni claimed that he took the case to the Supreme Court because of the fresh facts at his disposal. He claimed that the then President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, had relationship with the national leader of the ACN and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, regarding the election. However, as expected by many people in and outside the state, the Supreme Court threw out the case for lack of jurisdiction and within a twinkle of an eye, the political activities jacked up in the state, with more politicians joining the governorship race. Few hours after the judgment, a former senator in the state and PDP leader, Ayo Arise, told newsmen at his Oye-Ekiti home that with the final verdict of the court, he was considering giving the governorship election a shot and that after due consultations with his people and party leaders, he would declare his intention. He said he remained the best person to challenge and defeat the incumbent governor, who incidentally comes from the same local council with him. Arise disclosed that he had once contested against Governor Fayemi and with the experience of that election, Fayemi would fear him more than any other aspirant in the state. Similarly, former governor of the state, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who had been going round the

Arise Balogun, a stalwart of the party in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area, led hundreds of PDP members to join the ACN the account of some irreconcilable crises within the party and what they described as various transformational programmes implemented by the Fayemi-led administration. Mrs. Balogun stressed that she was particularly impressed that her child benefited from the “laptop per student” programme of the administration despite that she belonged to the opposition party while the social security scheme for the elderly citizens had also influenced her decision to dump the PDP. Another hurdle in the quest of the PDP to have a united front is the rising clamour for the implementation of the zoning formula, which has further polarised the leadership of the party. Party faithful from the Southern senatorial districts insist that the ticket for the governorship election must go to the zone because it has not produced a governor since the creation of the state. Subsequently, about 23 aspirants from the zone had signified their intention to vie for the office, and nearly 15 of them had collected letter of intent from the party secretariat. But aspirants, like Fayose from Ekiti Central senatorial district, have denied any zoning formula in the party and argued that only weak and unpopular aspirants would base their ambition on such parochial tendencies. According to Fayose: “It is the weak aspirant that looks for the short cut. The advocates of zoning formula are weak. It is wrong for a student to tell the examiner how he wanted the question paper to be. The examiner examines everybody from everywhere. “If we go for the primary election today, I will defeat all of them. Don’t forget that I left PDP for over six years and I had a good showing at the last congress. “But let me say this; some of the advocates of zoning formula contested against me and I trounced them and I will repeat the same feat now. The only problem they have is that they are weak aspirants and I cannot help them. “Let me tell them that it is not the fault of anybody that the South senatorial district does not have a strong aspirant that can win election for the party. You need a good horse to win a horse race and I am the only horse in Ekiti to win this horse race. You can’t give what you don’t have.” But the former deputy governor of the state, Abiodun Aluko, reacting, dismissed Fayose’s denial of a PDP zoning formula in the state. He said: “Zoning is not something new to Ekiti PDP; in fact, it is in our constitution. As far as the zoning issue is concerned, I believe in equity and fairness. The seat, if zoned to the South, no problem because that was the arrangement before now. “During our regime, when Fayose was scheming for a second term, even our own party leaders said no, it was going to the North. Ask Chief

Opeyemi Ojo Falegan, ask Chief Idowu Odeyemi, so many other leaders said no. “We must go to the North. The Central has had two terms; let the North have two terms and the position would shift to the South for another two terms. “And that was why some of us in 2006, including Akin Osuntokun, Gbenga Aluko, and myself that they knew were strong aspirants, were screened out for no good reasons, to give way for the North. The North was deliberately given an opportunity to be the governor in 2007.” A source said the national secretariat of the PDP had instructed that the party candidate for the governorship election should emerge this year and through consensus instead of direct primaries that some of the aspirants have been clamouring for. Political watchers wonder how that would solve the myriad of problems among the aspirants. However, internal crisis is not limited to the PDP, as the ruling ACN is being confronted by a group led by a member of House of Representatives and former Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Bamidele, who kicked against recent endorsement of Fayemi for a second term in office. Last December, leaders of the party converged at the residence of former governor of the state, Chief Niyi Adebayo, and x-rayed the activities of the government and decided that Fayemi deserved to go for a second term. To them, the governor had done more than all his predecessors put together in the area of improving physical infrastructure in the state, education, health, e-governance and social security for the elderly. Besides, about 34 groups, including students, market women, artisans, transport workers and the party structures in the 16 local councils of the state have echoed the decision of the ACN leaders. But Opeyemi has consistently argued that such endorsement should be regarded as personal opinion of those leaders and groups and that has pitched Opeyemi’s loyalists against most members of the ACN in the state. The lawmaker has made public that he was going to contest the governorship election but was yet to announce whether to do so next year or in 2018. The chances of realising his ambition next year in the ACN seems impossible with the manner all his supporters in the party have been treated as “enemies of progress.” There are rumours making the round that Opeyemi’s group is already making efforts to decamp to the Labour Party (LP) where some of them think he would be provided with the ticket to contest. But Opeyemi has denied any plan to dump the ACN. Since the governorship election is expected to hold on or before June next year, in the next few months, the contenders would be separated from the pretenders and the real inter-party politics would commence.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

TheMetroSection End of the road for Lagos kidnappers

Briefs Ibiwoye, 52, for burial

• Police kill seven suspected kidnappers of Ejigbo council chairman

the victim, Vivex Changrani By Odita Sunday HE Lagos State Police Command has smashed the kidnapping gang, which allegedly abducted the Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Mr. Kehinde Bamgbetan and released him a few days after an unspecified ransom was paid. The gang was sent to their early grave by a combined team of State Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS) led by Superintendent Abba Kyari at Agbara area of Lagos in their detention camp shortly after they also abducted an Indian victim. The syndicate had brought the Indian, who was kidnapped last night, to their camp in the early hours of Monday. The Indian victim was said to have been kidnapped in Ikoyi area of Lagos in the early hours of yesterday on his way back from a night-club in Ikoyi.

The suspects ...dead and alive He was rescued unhurt by the Special Anti Robbery Squad of the Lagos State Police Command led by Kyari. Seven of the kidnappers died during an exchange of gunfire with the police while two were arrested alive. The police team carefully executed the plan to ensure that the Indian who was held in their custody came out unhurt. They surreptitiously gathered intelligence on the particular room the Indian was camped and ensured that their bullets did not get to that direction. The Indian was eventually rescued unhurt after the seven suspected abductors were gunned down. The other two suspects were, however, shot in the leg. Police said they ensured that two were alive so that the world could hear their story. One of the suspects, Uchenna Nwanu,

ENIOR Nursing Sister at the Sleum Nigerian National PetroCorporation (NNPC),

PHOTOS: ODITA SUNDAY

who was caught alive told newsmen that he did not know that his boss was into kidnapping. “Himself and the wife told me that they were into drug trafficking. I was surprised to discover that he was the leader of the kidnapping gang,” he said. Recovered from the gang were four AK 47 rifles, 28 AK 47 fully loaded magazines, over 1,000 live ammunition of AK 47, army uniforms, one Honda CRV Sports Utility Vehicle with Reg. No. ABC106 AE and a Nissan Pathfinder with Reg. No. AGL730 AZ. The two arrested suspects- 27-year- old Ogbonna Emenike and 25-year-old Uchenna Nwanyu, were paraded alongside the bodies of their deceased members by the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Umar Manko yesterday afternoon. According to Manko: “Based on

painstaking follow-up, surveillance and tracking of Ghana- based Nigerian kidnappers who kidnapped Ejigbo Local Council Chairman, Kehinde Bamigbetan, a sitting Federal High Court Judge and other notable individuals in Lagos, O/C SARS, SP Abba Kyari led a team of crack detectives to a suburb in Agbara, Ogun State, where the kidnappers have their camp.” “After 72 hours of waiting in an ambush, Kyari and team cordoned and stormed the house where all the kidnappers had gathered at 3.00am. Seven of the kidnappers were fatally wounded during heavy gun battle between the kidnappers and SARS operatives,“ he stated. Manko said that two of the gang members were arrested alive, adding that arms and ammunition including military uniforms, charms and operational vehicles were recovered from the gang.

NDLEA seizes the largest quantity of narcotics in Lagos By Odita Sunday HE National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted 55.6 kilogrammes of narcotics at the Murtala Muhammed Int’l Airport (MMIA), Lagos. Three suspects including two licensed clearing and forwarding agents have also been apprehended in connection with the drugs. The illicit shipments include 43.6 kilogrammes of cannabis meant for export to China and 12 kilogrammes of methamphetamine being smuggled to South Africa. Narcotic officers detected the drug, which was hidden inside foodstuff and artificial hair, during screening at the airport. NDLEA Airport Commander,

Mr. Hamza Umar, described the seizure as the highest since January 2013. According to him: “This 43.6 kilogrammes is the highest cannabis seizure since the beginning of the year. Like several seizures made in the past, the cannabis was hidden inside foodstuff. The drug was discovered during routine examination. The suspects include Keita Mamady, 38, who was arrested with 43.6kilogrammes of cannabis as well as two clearing agents, Samuel Williams, 40, and Adams Adewunmi Samuel, 35, who were arrested in connection with the shipment of 12kilogrammes of methamphetamine.” One of the suspects, Sylvester Nnamdi Augustine,

The seized drugs who hails from Anambra State was caught with a Guinea Int’l passport bearing Keita Mamady. According to the suspect, the drug was to be delivered in Hong Kong while he would proceed to Guangzhou, China afterwards. “I was told to deliver the drug in Hong Kong on my

PHOTO: ODITA SUNDAY

way to Guangzhou. Unfortunately, the NDLEA officers at the luggage-checking desk discovered the drug. I am a business man and I live in Guinea where I obtained my passport,” Keita said. Samuel Williams, who is a clearing agent, collected the consignment from a member of the drug syndicate and gave it to his colleague to ex-

port to South Africa. The drug was found hidden inside female artificial hair. His colleague, Adams Adewunmi Samuel who hails from Ogun State, also told narcotic officers that he was asked to send the package to South Africa by Samuel Williams. “The Agency will do its best to prevent Nigerians from engaging in drug trafficking. We shall intensify screening at all entry and exit points in the country. These arrests and seizures would serve as warning to others. The Agency will prosecute any person found in possession of drugs. Licensed agents must endeavour to know their customers,” Giade said. Hamza said all the suspects would soon be charged to court.

Photonews

Managing Director, Planet Projects Limited, Biodun Otunola (left); receiving the Africa Integrated Mobility Award from the President of International Association of Public Transport (UITP), Ousmane Thiam. Right is UATP President, Jack Van Der Merwe, during the 60th Congress of UITP, in Geneva, Switzerland...

President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Prof. A. F. Ogunye (left); Mrs. Bilkisu Muhammed Raji; the inductee, Jani AbdulGaniyu Ibrahim, Vice-President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA); former President, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Hajia Amina Aliyu, at Ibrahim’s induction as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering at the University of Lagos ... on Friday

Mrs. Stella Toluwalope Ibiwoye, who died on June 12, 2013, at the age of 52, will be buried on Friday, June 28, 2013 at Ebony Vault, Atan, Yaba, Lagos. Meanwhile, a service of songs holds on Thursday, June 27, at Block 77, Flat 1, Ijaiye Medium Housing Estate, Ogba, Lagos; Lying -in -State on Friday, June 28, at the same venue from 7.30a.m. -8.45a.m.; Funeral Service holds at the RCCG, Fountain of Life Parish, Israel Adebajo Close, Adeniyi Jones Estate, Ikeja. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Michael O. Ibiwoye and children: Mofoluwaso Oyinloye Ibiwoye; Olanrewaju Oyinkansola Ibiwoye; Michael Oyinbolaji Ibiwoye ; Israel Oluwatamilore Ibiwoye .

Ibiwoye

Book launch BOOK entitled Better than A the beginning, written by Gloria Okekearu, will be launched on Saturday, June 29, at the Redemption House, Nuru Oniwo, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos at 1.OOp.m. under the chairmanship of Pastor Ben Akabueze. Chief launcher is Pastor Elisha Esho; Special Guest is Nath Olu Ajayi; Father of the Day, Pastor A. A. Adeyanju and Mother of the Day is Chizi Adefuye. The book will be unveiled by Agatha Amatha while reviewer is Pastor Wale Akintode.

Osaghae dies at 93 HE death has occured of T Mrs. Maria Omoruyi Osaghae (nee Aibaengbee) at the age of 93. She died on March 12, 2013. A devout Christian and community leader, she is survived by children, grand children and great grand children among whom are Mr. Festus Osaghae, Mrs. Elizabeth Osagiede and Mr. Clement Omo Osaghae. Meanwhile, a service of songs holds on Thursday, June 27 followed by interment on Friday, June 28, 2013 in Benin City

Osaghae

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

TheGuardian

14| THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Conscience Nurtured by Truth

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

Editorial Poor school enrolment and Nigeria’s future HE latest report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), which rated Nigeria high among nations with a huge population of school-age children who are out of school, is heart-rending. Going by the report, one out of every five Nigerian children is out of school. Put together by the UNESCO Education-for-All Global Monitoring Report (EAGMR), it revealed that 10.5 million school-age children are out of school, accounting for about 47 per cent of the out-of-school population of the 12 nations ranked. Other countries include Pakistan (5.1 million), Ethiopia (2.4 million), India (2.3 million), Philippines (1.5 million), Cote d’Ivoire (1.2 million), Burkina Faso (1 million), Niger (1 million), Kenya (1 million), Yemen (0.9 million), Mali (0.8 million) and South Africa (0.7 million). The record also shows, quite intriguingly, that Nigeria’s children out of school increased in number with the advent of civil rule since 1999. Let this be noted: Without the capacity to guarantee a measure of security or prosperity for tomorrow, governance loses its essence. The future of children often called the ‘leaders of tomorrow’ is one thing that any responsible government must work hard to guarantee. Thus, everything is usually deployed to ensure that the nation’s children live in no fear of tomorrow. This is not fully the case in Nigeria today as governments at all levels have failed to make appropriate investments in the future of Nigerian children. That future is neglected while state resources are looted or frittered away. Education, which is the foundation upon which a prosperous future is built receives scant attention in conception and financial planning. The consequence of this attitude is a large population of children without a future or, at best, a scary future as those children receive an education that is so warped and shallow it is incapable of equipping them for competition in the global market place. Nigeria has not performed well in most areas in recent global rankings. Latest report by African Union Commission on the 2012 MDGs rating, placed 15 African countries ahead of the list of 20 countries that made the greatest progress globally and Nigeria did not make the list, which included Benin Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Malawi and Rwanda. Although the global organisation explained the increase in the number of children out of school in terms of shortfall in aid, especially between 2010 and 2011, this does not remove the stigma on Africa’s giant doing so woefully in children enrolment in school. The causes of the increase indeed are to be sought in the political economy of the affected countries. This is very pertinent in the case of Nigeria, which occupies the scandalous position of a country with most of its children out of school. Despite huge income from oil, this has hardly translated into improvement in the lives of children. Corruption reigns in all spheres of governance in the country. The Universal Basic Education (UBE) policy funds are either being squandered or misapplied with the corresponding result of no basic education for the Nigerian children. The consequent misfortune is unspeakable. In Kano alone, about two million of Nigerian youths have turned commercial motorbike riders. The figure varies from state to state, but it is the same story nationwide. This, of course, undermines the growth figures being touted by the handlers of the economy. Education is the first line of investment for any nation. It is the future; it is progress. Interestingly, the trouble with Nigeria is not the absence of good policies but the absence of responsible leadership and strong-willed public officials to drive the policies. Free and compulsory enrolment was one of the cardinals of the education policy in Western Nigeria in 1954, the result of which is still evident. Today, corrupt interventionist and disorganised educational policies are being pursued even when there are sound, productive ones in the files. Nigeria needs schools, good schools for all Nigerians. Nigerian children deserve good beginning in education and they must be given one. The government should implement a compulsory enrolment policy backed by sanctions. All children from the age of four until 16 must be in school. The country has enough resources to achieve this objective. Indeed, once the cost of governance is reduced to an acceptable or tolerable level, savings therefrom are enough to fund education in a way that will guarantee Nigeria’s future. Education is one thing on which all nations desiring progress put their smart money. Nigeria should not be an exception.

LETTERS

JAMB and the integrity question IR: A cursory glance at the scoring the answer sheets of mindfully reflective of using 2013 Smanagement news media’s account of the the latter. In conjunction with JAMB exam for college admission, and reporting of these anomalies, the Registrar, the Education Committee of the the scores of the last JAMB exam is very troubling to any beneficiary of Nigeria’s education system of pre-war era. JAMB exam by its very nature is supposed to be a type of standardized test or examination. This is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent or “standard” manner and such tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. The last JAMB exam was a far cry from the forgone in terms of the administration of the exams. For instance, the names of some bona fide students were missing from the list of candidates, and there was one logistical problem or the other which interfered with the reliability and validity of this test as a measure of either a student’s college readiness or knowledge, skills and abilities in specific subject areas. According to JAMB, 80,419 results were withheld for further scrutiny (they have since been released). Invariably, the additional scrutiny compromises the integrity of the testing standards and invalidates the scoring system. Also, the additional scrutiny raise some testing as well as scoring issues including the nature of the rubrics that will be used for

Prof. Dibu Ojerinde reported that about 40,612 candidates were not familiar with the shading instructions of the exams. Undoubtedly, this is a reflection of JAMB’s Field Testing Model, not a fault of the students. In terms of reporting of students’ performance on the test, Ojerinde’s report as presented in the news media lacked the fundamental element of relevance that is usually associated with the reporting of statistical data of this nature. In view of these deficiencies, higher education should be

Legislature should conduct a hearing on the myriad of irregularities surrounding the 2013 exams and the Registrar should honorably resign for his inability to administer and conduct a secured and strict examination. No doubt, the leadership of JAMB is a renowned scholar. However, there is a world of difference between scholarship and managerial skill set. The universities should conduct research studies on the use of JAMB examination for college admission. • Dr. Peter Ejirika, Mary Hardin Baylor University,

Good night, Pini Jason IR: For certain reasons, I encounter with Pini but always never knew Pini Jason had admired his incisive and cerebral Sexited our terrestrial milieu opinions on national issues both in until I saw “Just Before Pini Jason Goes Home” by Kanayo Esinulo in The News, May 27, 2013. I was jolted. Could it be the same Pini Jason? I ran through the piece and it turned out to be the same ace c o l u m n i s t . Pini was one of the few in the media of that era that excited my friend, Biodun Sodule and I. There was Chris Okojie of the “Blunt But Fair” sports column in the same Vanguard – I sent write-ups to him regularly from 1989 as far as I could recall. I never had any particular

the print and electronic media. Pini later had a stint as Media Adviser to the immediate past governor of Imo State. It is interesting that I later became a columnist myself and a guest analyst on stations like Channels, AIT, TVC and Galaxy before my current post as Special Assistant on Media to the governor of Ogun S t a t e . I have no doubt that whatsoever is my story today; Pini Jason had had a positive part in one way or the other. Pini fought a good fight and ran a good race. We all can make our lives sublime. • Soyombo Opeyemi, Abeokuta.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Business Appointments P41 Fostering corporate growth through mentoring Firm to float N32b pipe mill in Edo By Sulaimon Salau N indigenous firm, Technova Africa Group (TAG) Limited, has unveiled plans to float a 200,000 tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity line pipe mill and coating facility in Nigeria. The project, which is estimated at about $200 (about N32 billion) is expected to be implemented in two phases in Ologbo area of Edo State. The company, in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, said the pipe mill would be the first of its kind in Nigeria and the West Coast of Africa. Technova said it plans to build a 10 mega watts (mw) capacity independent power plant as well as a private jetty to power the facility and facilitate the supply and delivery of raw materials as well as evacuate finished products in its phase II. According to the company, it was venturing into Helical Submerged Arc Welded (HSAW) Line Pipe manufacture and coating in compliance with globally accepted standards, which would replace imported welded steel pipes with cheaper steel pipes manufactured in the country.

Company Secretary of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) Plc, Chinedu Eze (right); Chairman of the company, Tony Elumelu; President/Chief Executive Officer, Obinna Ufudo, and a Director, Stanley Lawson, during the seventh yearly general meeting of the company in Abuja, on Friday.

CBN rues loopholes in financial system’s regulatory framework By Chijioke Nelson HE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has decried the observed loopholes in the nation’s legal and regulatory system, which gave rise to its inclusion in the “Grey List” of countries that had not made appreciable progress in AntiMoney Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The apex bank disclosed this in a statement signed by its Director of Corporate Communications, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, in reaction to alleged freezing and closure of accounts of religious organizations on suspicion of links with terrorist groups by CBN.

He said that CBN has not ordered the closure or freezing of the bank account of any religious body or any institution whatsoever, as alleged in the publications and posts (not The Guardian), but called on the Nigerian authorities to rise to the challenges of financial processes and procedures. The statement said: “Prior to 2006, Nigeria was on the infamous list of the NonCooperating Countries and Territories (NCCTs) of FATF”- a global watchdog on financial crimes, but was removed as the government took stringent actions thereafter. “However, by 2007, as a result of loopholes in Nigeria’s legal and regulatory system, the country was included in the ‘grey list’. It was therefore

incumbent on Nigerian authorities to ensure that its financial processes and procedures as well as the provisions of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act (MLPA) of 2011 and the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) Act of 2011, were in conformity with FATF recommendations and international best practice.” It further noted that the recent measure, which mandated all Designated NonFinancial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs) operating accounts in all financial institutions to update their account information was not targeted at any particular organization, but to ensure that their respective businesses and vocations were registered as stipulated by the relevant statutes.

DNFBPs refer to dealers in jewelry, precious metals and stones, cars and luxury goods, audit firms, tax consultants, clearing and settlement companies, lawyers, notaries, other independent legal practitioners and chartered accountants, trust and company service providers (who provide services to third parties), hotels, casinos (including internet and ship- based casinos). Others are supermarkets, real estate agents, non- governmental organisations (NGOs), religious and charitable organisations, or such other businesses or professions as the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investments, or appropriate regulatory authorities may, from time to time, designate.

Ecobank Nigeria boosts group’s revenue by $743 million By Bukky Olajide, who was in Lome COBANK Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parE ent company of Ecobank Nigeria has generated revenue of $1.75 billion in the financial year 2012,out of which Ecobank Nigeria accounted for $743million revenue. The indication is that Ecobank Nigeria has beaten other fourteen Francophone/West African countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, and Cote de’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Gambia. The 2012 financials of the Ecobank group presented to

shareholders at its 25th Annual General Meeting in Lome, Togo shows that Nigeria accounted for $9.1billion total assets of the Group which stood at $20billion in the review year. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) plc, the parent company of the Ecobank group, is a bank holding company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Ghana Stock Exchange, and BRVM (Abidjan) Stock Exchange. The acquisition of then Oceanic Bank has propelled Ecobank to become one of the six Tier-1 banks in Nigeria, altering the competitive landscape in the country.

With eleven of the twelve integration work-streams completed in 2012, and the technology platform unified, Ecobank group chairman Kolapo Lawson told shareholders that “the group is now well placed to exploit operational and cost synergies to deliver significant growth from its Nigerian network.” “The deal also gives Ecobank Nigeria the scale, profile and balance sheet to focus on major transactions in the oil and gas, telecommunications and infrastructure sectors,” he added. In the past six years, the leading pan-African banking group has grown its presence from twelve to thirty-three

countries, in addition to international offices in Paris, London, Dubai, and Beijing. At the year-end 2012, the Ecobank group total equity stood at $2.2billion with more than 650,000 institutional and individual shareholders. The group’s profit after tax was $286.7 million; net profit attributable to the parent company was $249.7million. Thierry Tanoh, group chief executive officer, Ecobank group said that these are the strongest results in the Ecobank’s 25 years of operation. “I am confident that our strategy will ensure that we build on this success and continue our progress.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Already it has secured a 150 acres of land situated in Ologbo and has also signed a multi-level Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Service Agreement with PSL Limited, the largest HSAW Pipe manufacturer in India for the purpose of institutionalising a fully integrated Line pipe Mill and Coating Plant in Nigeria. TAG Limited, a 100 per cent indigenous company, is a credible and strong partner to the oil and gas industry seeks to drive the Nigerian Government’s mandate on developing its own content for national growth. The company is an indigenous energy and infrastructure company with experience in construction, engineering, project management and service delivery. The company has under its group six subsidiary companies namely; Technova Construction Nigeria Limited, Technova Energy Nigeria Limited, Technova Line Pipe Mill Limited, Technova Coating Facility Limited, Technova Pipeline Systems Limited and Technova Energy East Africa (Uganda) Limited.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

16 BUSINESS

NCC seeks decentralisation of cable landing stations By Adeyemi Adepetun HE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has expressed worries over the landing of all submarine cables in Lagos, saying that such concentration in one single point was not good for the economy. NCC said that there was the need to situate the cables in other states of the country, so as to ensure even economic growth.

Indeed, all the four cables including SAT3, which has 340 Gbit/s capacities; Main One’s 14,000 km capacity cable; Glo1’s 640 Gbit/s and WACS $650 million submarine cable, which are in Nigeria, landed in Lagos. Speaking through its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah in Lagos at the weekend, the commission said that extending the landing points of the submarine cable to other states would ensure the desired level of broadband

penetration needed in the country. Juwah, who spoke on the theme: “Connected For Growth-Moving from Planning to Execution’’, noted that there should be a developed strategies based on the peculiarities of the different geographical areas to enable the deployment of broadband infrastructure. The NCC EVC said there was need to have a coordinated strategy toward the provision of a broadband infrastructure ecosystem in the country. Juwah said that over 30,000km long of intercity fibre had been laid already to boost broadband penetration. He however said that a high volume of the 30,000km capacity was under utilised due to the concentration of the fibre in one place. For Juwah, one of the rationales for a national broadband strategy is to expand access to more localities. The NCC boss said that the commission was working to engender competition and innovation among service providers by ensuring an open non-discriminatory access to broadband infrastructure for the operators. Delivering his speech, Cochairman of the Presidential Committee on Broadband, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe said broadband was to the 21st Century Information Age what electricity was to the industrial age. Ndukwe said that broadband had a significant transformative effect on how people live and work. According to him, it is considered critical that cable companies all have demonstrable

recovery and restoration agreement with each other. He said that it was critical that cable systems were extended to other coastal regions or states. “The Federal Government shall therefore promote the rapid establishment of recovery agreements and the delivery of additional cable landing points to other coastal states,’’ he said. He listed the states to include Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa and Ondo states. To achieve this, he pointed out that government various levels have critical roles to play in the drive to have pervasive broadband infrastructure across Nigeria. Ndukwe said that for Nigeria to become one of the world’s leading economies, high-speed broadband networks that will provide every Nigerian with fast reliable and affordable Internet access is a fundament requirement. Speaking on the broadband report titled: “The National Broadband Plan 2013-2018”, he said that the broadband Vision for Nigeria is one of a society of connected communities with high speed internet and broadband access that will facilitate faster socioeconomic advancement of the nation and its people. Ndukwe identified the challenges common to operators in the telecoms sector as high costs of right of way resulting in high cost of leasing transmission infrastructure; long delays in the processing of permits, multiple taxations from multiple regulatory bodies, damage to existing fibre infrastructure, and the lack of reliable clean grid electricity supply.

Ecobank Nigeria boosts group’s revenue by $743 million CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 The group got shareholders approval to pay a dividend of

0.4 U.S cents per ordinary share, totaling $68.8million based on the number of ordinary shares, and a dividend of 0.4 U.S cents per preference share, totaling $4.4million based on the total number of preference shares outstanding as of December 31, 2012. “Middle Africa is in a sustained growth cycle and very much open for business. Ghana and Nigeria are rising stars, while Kenya should see an improved economic performance. This is driving to increased investor interest in Africa, helped by improving political stability,” Lawson told shareholders. ETI Rules Out New Acquisition, Eyes Organic Growth ETI had acquired former Oceanic Bank and merged its operations with Ecobank Nigeria Limited, which boosted its market share in Nigeria from outside the top 10 to number six position as at the end 2012 financial year. Industry watchers had expected that, based on the successful impact of the acquisition and need to improve on its position from six, ETI would bid for any of the three bridged banks-Mainstreet Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited and Enterprise Bank Limited-that would soon be sold by Asset Management Corporation (AMCON).

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

BUSINESS 19

Lingering economic crisis worries IoD By Taiwo Hassan HE President/Chairman of T Council, Institute of Directors (IoD) Nigeria, Thomas Awagu has raised alarm over the country’s economic crisis, thus calling on the tiers of government and organisations at all sectors of the economy to invest wisely and channel their human capacity development effort towards corporate governance and international best practices. He also said that the country’s cherised ways of life were on the verge of extinction due to fading ethical governance. Awagu, who spoke at the

association’s 29th yearly report and accounts in Lagos recently, said that the nation’s economy was not in healthy situation as propagated by government and its sponsors, adding that until people’s attitude to life and ways of doing things were positively changed and oriented, “we shall not be able to make trajectory productivity and sustainable economic prosperity.” According to him, ethical imperative in governance was therefore the sine qua non for an enduring dominance of Nigeria in both economic and political affairs in Africa and in the world.

He said that the nation’s Central Bank Code of Corporate Governance, which was a tighter prescription for banks specifically, did not prevent the bank failures in the country’s financial sector that necessitated the federal government’s bailouts in 2009, and also the move to establish an Asset Management Company to take up the toxic assets (bad loans) of those banks. “Ethics in business dealings and governance, focuses on applying ethical theories of right or wrong, to real-life situations on such questions as how people should act in a company in order for it to be

Stakeholders task govt on budgetary allocation to agric From Kanayo Umeh, Abuja IVIL Society C Organisations and stakeholders in the agricultural sector have urged the federal government to implement the 2003 Maputo declaration, which brought African heads of states to agree to allocate 10 per cent of their national budget to agriculture and seek six per cent yearly agricultural growth by 2008. Deputy Country Director of Programmes ActionAid Nigeria, Ifeoma Monwuba, stated this recently in Abuja at a one-day Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and stakeholders in the agricultural sector’s follow- up consultation meeting on the new alliance for food security and nutrition. She revealed that the 10 per cent allocation would help to transform the agriculture sector and also assisted to create a framework for increased investment in the industry. According to her, increased and sustained investment in agriculture especially needs of smallholder farmers and women have also been a major concern, and when it had been noted that Nigeria, like most of its sister African countries, was not yet meeting with the CAAPD goal of allocating a minimum of 10 per cent of its annual budget allocation to agriculture. Monwuba added that the current agreement between the CS0 and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture on the need to review the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) and the National Agriculture Investment Plan (NIAP) with a view to aligning into a single country agriculture plan, was a welcome development, stressing that it was a sustainable base for properly articulated framework for increased investment in agriculture in Nigeria. “It is hoped that today’s consultation, would create an opportunity for the CSOs to come up with strategies for further engagement with government at all levels on agricultural development and implementation process that ensures policies and programmes are effectively designed and implemented in an accountable and transparent manner,” she stated. Also at the forum, a woman farmer, Mrs. Sarah Yapwa, in her contribution lamented that the government signed

the recent New Alliance Charter, which was a private sector driven initiative to support agriculture, without involving farmers at the grassroots. “We have a lot of challenges in Nigeria: one is the formulation of policies, once policies are formulated on agriculture particularly like the ATA, farmers are not involved and they say this policy is for all Nigerians including the farmers. If

they are going to make policies that affect us, then we should be part of the policy, if we are no part then it is not for us.” However, the representative of House Committee on agriculture at the forum, Bilial Kumlia, assured that National Assembly would look into it and address the problem. “Everybody is a stakeholder in the act of governance and a forum like this is a very good initiative.

successful and provide fulfillment to all its stakeholders.” Reviewing the 2012 financial

statement, the president said that about N7.8 million was collected as development

levy for the year under review, compared to N6.3 million last year’s.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

BUSINESS 25

Forum tasks govt on investment-friendly environment From Mohammed Abubakar, Abuja ARTICIPANTS at an investP ment forum in Abuja at the weekend made far-reaching recommendations to authorities on how to create the necessary investment climate in the country, so as to attract more direct foreign investment (DFI) into the country. While they acknowledged that government had already taken the first necessary step, through its handling of the currently security challenges facing the country, they were unanimous that a lot more efforts could be achieved if the current efforts were sustained. The event was the meeting of the 14th edition of the Honourary International Investment Council (HIIC), a Presidential Advisory Council to attract global financial players into the

Nigerian economy. It was inaugurated in 2004 and it is being coordinated by a former Member of British Parliament (MP) and a onetime Minister of State in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, charged with the responsibilities of looking into Nigeria investment environment, advise on areas to improve on and attract businessmen across the world to take interest in investing in Nigeria. The two-day event had in participation from across the varied interest groups in and outside like banking oil and gas, manufacturing among others. In his opening remarks at the occasion, President Goodluck Jonathan noted that the country was winning the war against terrorism through various policies

being implemented, thereby making the country to be once more investmentfriendly. The President cited the recent declaration of state of emergency in some states in the northern parts of the country on May 14 this year, and expressed the hope that the action would engender more confidence. He told participants, which included the Vice President Namadi Sambo; Ministers of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala; Aviation, Stella Oduah; Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo; Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina; Petroleum Resources, Diezani Allison-Madueke and Interior, Abba Moro, on the fact that, the emergency rule had witnessed unprecedented supports by the local residents, which was a demonstration that they

were also disenchanted with the level of insecurity. Jonathan said the development had confirmed government position that the insurgencies witnessed in the country has nothing to do with religion, but activities of internationally backed terror groups determined to destabilise the nation. He said the administration understands that security is key to attracting investments and development and will leave no stone unturned to guarantee safety of lives, property and investments. The President thanked members of the HIIC for their efforts at attracting business and investments into the country and encourage them to do more. He expressed the disapproval of his administra-

tion of the current high level of out-of-school syndrome in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s education system and expressed the desire of the government to redress the phenomenon. As a step towards stemming the tide, he said the government would organise a forum of stakeholders from federal and states levels on the problem after resolving the political

impasse within the Nigerian Governorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Forum (NGF). At the end of the meeting, participants in a 13-point communiquĂŠ stressed the need for government to tackle the rising incidents of youths unemployment as well as increasing the number of poor skilled workforce associated with poor state of the educational system.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Appointments Fostering corporate growth through mentoring By Yetunde Ebosele RAINING and retraining T coupled with carefully planned mentoring scheme play crucial role in sustaining corporate growth and development. Though not a new management technique, mentoring is usually when an experienced member of staff assist others to grow and understand the rudiment of the job. This management strategy is a familiar approach in Nigeria because of its ability to ensure sustainable corporate growth and development. Indeed, several business models rely on the tradition of training and transferring skills to younger employees despite criticism in some quarters, which suggest that it perpetuate a particular way of doing things at the expense of diversity and development. Besides, under a mentoring arrangement, both partners benefit, indicating that the best way to learn is to assist in the development and teaching of others. Mentoring takes place in all organisations whether it is adopted as a policy or not. According to experts, modern day mentoring scheme entails absorbing the culture and perceived values of the organisation through interactions with co-workers. According to experts, the following factors are some of the reasons organisations adopt mentoring programmes: • inductions to help new recruits, trainees or graduates settle into the organisation, • skills enhancement, to enable skills to pass on in the workplace by experienced, highly competent staff to others who need to acquire specified skills, • career development, to help staff in the planning, development and management of their careers and to help them become more resilient in times of change, more selfreliant in their careers and self-directed learners, • affirmative action, to assist women and minority groups to redress the imbalance at higher levels in organisations, provide support and help overcome barriers that often block their progress, • leadership and management development, to encourage the development of competencies more easily gained through example, guided practice or experience than by education and training, • education supports, to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Formal education or training is complemented by the knowledge and the hands-on experience of a competent practitioner, • organisational develop-

ment and culture change, to share the values, vision and mission of the organisation. To communicate and work on a one-to-one basis to develop required changes, and • customer service, to model desired behaviours, encourage the development of competencies, motivate for service quality, and above all to cultivate the right attitudes, among others. Seasoned management experts such as John Murray, Jude Murray and Cliff Summer, explained that there were many factors that could affect the success rate of a mentoring programme in a school or company. “Mentoring will not be successful if done in a tense atmosphere because in such a case senior teachers will be more interested in self-development. They would be looking for ways to enhance their careers and stay ahead of the competition. The organisation must have the adequate number of mentors and if numbers fall short than required, the school must hire people than make do with those available. “Another important requirement is that the dealings between the mentor and the trainee must be very confidential, because the basis of the mentor-trainee relationship is confidence. If the trainee feels that the process is some sort of an assessment or that it would lead to a confidential report to the top management, he will be less forthcoming and will try to hold back himself, which destroys the very purpose of the activity. Usually the requirement of the management is to see that the goals of the trainee are satisfied more than the mentor.”

They explained that the mentor–trainee relationships could get out of hand sometimes because of close interactions, adding that most managements take necessary precautions before the launch of such programmes. It is in such cases that the reputation and professional skill of the mentor far outweighs anything else to the company. It’s difficult to find effective mentors as it is. Many mentors don’t believe they need any training or advice. “Effective mentoring partnerships are goal-oriented and focus on the trainee’s skill, knowledge, and/or attitude development. It is very important that the trainee too have a plan of development before they come into contact with a mentor. “Research shows that people learn best by observing experts and by being given assignments. One of the main role and responsibly of the mentor is to review the progress of the trainee and to keep him accountable for what he does. Mentoring is a mutually beneficial arrangement because both the mentor and the trainee benefit from the exercise. “As far as the trainee is concerned, he will be able to tap into the rich experience and teaching strategies of the mentor. He or she can be assured that the techniques of the mentor would work, because the mentor himself is a living example of success. He will also learn to avoid mistakes that would have been committed by the mentor. In short, the mentor takes him through an experimented and tried path of success. The difference in age is a very big factor that ensures the success of the mentor-

trainee relationships. The difference in age in itself is a psychological factor that influ-

ences the trainee and makes him or her automatically respect the mentor.

“The importance of mentoring assumes significance for teachers because often, new teachers have to face problems that are similar in magnitude and complexity to the problems that are faced by experienced teachers. Since experience is a big asset in handling these problems, a good mentor will be able to guide new and inexperienced teachers to achieve his professional goals. “Even statistics show that inexperienced teachers have a high probability to leave the profession because of the daily stress and workload that they have to face as part of their profession. It was seen that most new teachers leave their jobs in the first two years due to adverse working conditions in the work place,” explained Casey & Mitchell. Meanwhile, there are three major areas in which attention is required in the creation of effective training programmes and their implementation. These areas are inclusive of ability of the training to be transferred to the work environment, the readiness of the trainee and the structure of the training.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 45

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Peoples’Digest

Published in association with

Unemployment: Involving the uninvolved By Aruosa Osemwegie GPHR, SPHR I wondered why somebody didn’t do something. Then I realized, I am somebody - Author Unknown Introduction HE Irishman, the late Edmund Burke, is right again. He said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” He also said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing [or do little].” Starting in January, we strenuously canvassed for a state of emergency on unemployment. Knowing that dealing a decisive blow on unemployment would require more than political announcements and setting up of committees, we went ahead to underscore some of the solution areas. To end this six-part raid on unemployment, I would like to end where I started – the call that everyone can and must do something. This Hurricane Unemployment requires that we all pitch in our ‘widow’s mite’ and that we start now. Everyone must do something In the first part of this treatise, published in January, we said, “As we set out in this New Year, we need to get our national, corporate and individual imperatives right and the first breakthrough solution is the national resolve that ‘Everyone Must Do Something’. For all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing [or do little]. The days of expecting governments to solve ALL problems are long gone. There is a part the government should and must play, and there is a part YOU can play. All institutions (educational, religious, for-profit, non-profit) must bring their “twelve loaves and five fishes”. The days are gone when lecturers would fold their hands expecting government, university administration or the Ministry of Education to come sweep away the ‘problems with these youths’. The days are also gone (or should be gone) when the universities/polytechnics would keep students for 4-5 years and HOPE that they turn out well when they are ‘thrown’ into the labour market. Corporate organisations must also come up with ideas-driven solutions and contributions beyond complaining about the quality of graduates and refurbishing school buildings and furniture.Sending ONLY your kids overseas isn’t doing something because “today’s graduates are unemployable”. That refrain won’t win a Nobel Prize. The question is this, “what are you going to do about it?” Various professionals in different fields (human resources, economics, science & technology, planning, etc.) must contribute their quota. Apathy, superficial or patronizing contributions may actually be more detrimental than good. That you and I are in this part of the world, at a time like this, places a responsibility on us. Involving the Uninvolved Thus, this concluding piece will focus on the various groups and persons who need to throw more of their weight behind this war against unemployment, thereby heeding the refrain from Martin Niemoller, “First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.” For sure nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. The question is this, “What are you doing with what is in your hand? Or do you play the flute while Rome burns?” Private Sector Organizations and Individuals Obviously, we urgently need heavyweight support from Corporate Nigeria. It is true that a few companies are doing a little but most can do a lot more. We have gotten bread crumbs but the situation requires we literally open bakeries. The world has come full circle to the realization that pure capitalism isn’t sustainable (ask the American government). So the idea that organisations exist for the sole good of their shareholders is so 1920-ish and clearly misses the learnings gained from both the positive and negative disruptive happenings of the last 2 decades.

Organizations and their stakeholder communities exist for mutual benefit. We need support/sponsorship that sparks off entrepreneurial curiosity. We need some funds to be set aside by banks for low interest micro-lending. Or funds set aside as venture capital or angel investing. This funding can work in so many ways as it allows for entry at different levels. For example, we can start an entrepreneurial competition in one or more tertiary institution/s. We could also localize it to specific sectors such as agriculture. The Federal Government has already started something in this regard, with the YouWin programme. YouWiN! stands for Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria. It is an innovative business plan competition aimed at job creation by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria to develop and execute business ideas. But we need more of such or similar interventions sponsored by both the private and public sectors. Promote Academic and Intellectual Excellence Another area where private sector organisations and individuals should throw their weight around is academic and intellectual excellence. The 21st century is the century of the mind. A lot of wealth and possibilities lies locked within our youngsters. It is okay to sponsor music, dance, and football but the source of leverage is academic and intellectual excellence, as this is what would help us transit from an agrarian society to an industrialized nation. A major subset of this is Science and Technology, which is the lever for industrial development. As such, we need support to promote study, research and prototype development. Again, this doesn’t have to be expensive and it also has various entry points. Can someone please help to sponsor wifi hotspots on our campuses? This would allow real-time internet access to both students and lecturers. Can someone please sponsor the review of our tertiary curriculum to determine its alignment with the 21st century, thereby leading to a research driven understanding of the shortcomings of the present school design? Could someone assist to sponsor workplace readiness programmes aimed at getting graduates ready to enter and excel in the 21st century workplace? Can someone or a group of people setup a well-stocked library within their local government? The answer is yes! You or an organization can join up with others to promote something worthwhile. The Carson Scholars Fund Let me give you an example of what one family is doing in America. It’s called Carson Scholars Fund. Go ahead and Google it. The Carson Scholars Fund, Inc. was founded in 1994 to address the education crisis in the United States. When world-renowned Johns Hopkins Pediatric Neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson, M.D. and his wife, Candy, read a research study about education in the country, they were alarmed by the findings. The study showed that American students ranked 21 out of 22 countries; next to the bottom of the list in science and maths. Furthermore, the Carsons observed that many school display cases were filled with large trophies paying tribute to their sports teams’ achievements, while honor students only received a pin or certificate. Dr. and Mrs. Carson felt compelled to take action. They believed that if children could be taught early to excel, they would stay motivated and have a higher chance of educational success later in life. The Carson Scholars Fund was built on these principles.Carson Scholarships are awarded to students in grades 4-11 who exemplify academic excellence and humanitarian qualities. Winners receive a $1,000 scholarship to be invested toward their college edu-

Ben and Candy Carson, promoters of the Carson Scholars' Fund in the U.S.A cation, along with a recognition package, and an invitation to attend an awards banquet. Carson Scholars became role models and leaders. In his autobiography Gifted Hands, Dr. Carson wrote about how his life was changed once he embraced reading. So as the Carson Scholars Fund grew, the Carsons established a second program – The Ben Carson Reading Project. This initiative, which started in 2000, provides funding and support to schools to build and maintain Ben Carson Reading Rooms – warm, inviting rooms where kids can escape into the world of books. Each room is colorfully decorated and promotes Dr. Carson’s “Think Big” philosophy. In total, they have awarded over 5,200 scholarships and over 85 Reading Rooms have been established in schools across the United States. Guess what? The Carson’s aren’t even on the list of the richest people in the world! Synergistic School Communities The tertiary school community is made up of students, lecturers, school administration and non-lecturers. Quelling this unemployment hurricane requires that we all work together as a team. The old formula of being at daggers drawn hasn’t worked. We need to proactively involve each constituent in the running of school affairs. Ideas need to be polled from all quarters. Even though I am not sure of how exactly this should work but I know that a situation where ASUU leaves the school administration to only the VC and his team is old school. A “them” against “us” situation pitches us against ourselves thereby giving Hurricane Unemployment unfettered access to destroy our peace and progress. Because the school administration isn’t getting as much money as it needs, a lot of schools have resorted to setting up micro enterprises/industries as a means to raise additional funds. That is laudable, though largely below its potential promise. But imagine a situation where these enterprises were jointly managed

Source: carsonscholars.org

by lecturers and students, with the school administration, lecturers and students as joint owners under a private shares scheme? With students as the workers, this can be a source of revenue and an entrepreneurial learning opportunity. So imagine a bakery, pure water factory, farm, transport system, or even hostels jointly owned and managed by a school administration, lecturers and students combined? Leveraging on Groups A lot of potential lies within existing groups which can be exploited in this war against unemployment.For example, religious groups need to mobilize their resources to assist members by providing enlightenment and support structures towards increasing employability or entrepreneurial development. Old student associations can also pool their resources together to help alma maters. Organisations within the same sector should also come together to tackle one or two huge projects against youth unemployment. Imagine if all the big Telcos (MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat) came together to sponsor an anti-unemployment project? You just imagine the amount of millions of dollars of cash and expertise that could be thrown into it and the results we could get? Public Private Partnerships against unemployment No one can solve the unemployment problem alone. We feel the Federal Govt is better equipped to do this BUT that is yet to happen. Should we then fold our hands until millions of people and dreams die? Never! That which you can pitch in, pitch in. However there is strength in unity. I propose for more public private partnerships (PPP) against unemployment. PPP is a business relationship between a private-sector company and a government agency for the purpose of completing a project that will serve the public. Public-private partnerships can be used to CONTINUED ON PAGE 43

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

PEOPLES DIGEST

Women and Leadership: Five key strengths By Rita Webster HE time is right for organizations to fully tap the strengths women leaders bring. Are the women in your organization stepping up to their next level? Does your organization know how to create an environment that promotes the best possible contribution of women? In my recent conversations with HR executives, questions about how to tap the unique strengths and talents women have, come tops. Through my leadership development work with women, I’ve seen firsthand the significant gains women make when they are in women-only leadership development programs. Many organizations have hired and developed excellent female talent who are looking for ways to make bigger contributions. When they get the rightkindofleadershipdevelopmentexperience, they successfully lead bigger initiatives, improve their visibility, manage up more effectively and make significant changes. As a result of participating in women-only leadership development program, one female leader saved her company more than $500,000 because she had the courage to stand up and change an HR system that wasn’t cost effective. Another woman leader in a government organization saved over $50,000 by eliminating unnecessary steps in a process that was repeated on a daily basis. Most organizations were designed with the traditional model of power and control. That model had a life cycle that is now coming to an end. Today, organizations are facing rapid change. Both male and female leaders need to build relationships quickly and get varied groups of people coming together effectively in matrix environments. Let’s look at five key strengths of women leaders. 1. Women are relationship builders. Women are cultured to put relationships first, and become masterful relationship builders as a result.Womenaremorelikelytogetsubordinates to transform their own self-interests into the broader goal the group is trying to achieve, with a greater sense of teamwork and commitment. 2. Women connect with women buyers. Research tells us that 50 to 80% of buying decisions are made by women, who automatically understand the perspectives of other women and the motivations behind their purchases. It’s a competitive advantage to have women leading projects that directly touch the female customer, a solid business case for moving them up the ranks. 3. Women intuitively read political dynamics and emotions. Women have a well-developed ability to read the emotions of people through a heightened awareness to subtleties and nuances. Paying attention to this gives women the competitive edge as they tap into the feelings of others; understand when people are happy or discontented,

and why. They also know who to influence and who has the power to get things done. 4. Women ask questions. Women have the courage to ask the seemingly ‘dumb’ questions that uncover the true feelings and perspectives. They can inquire to draw people in and build trust. The gentle nature that many women naturally have creates an inviting environment of safety and interest. Employees will likely express their POV to those who want it. 5. Women are collaborative in their approach. It is important to women to be inclusive. They know that collaboration is about working together effectively, sharing ideas and information and integrating the best ideas possible. They work hard to make people feel belonged and appreciate people. They encourage others to have a say in as many aspects of their work as possible. This could include setting performance goals as well as determining strategy. Challenges On the other side of these powerful strengths, are the many challenges women still face. Most high level leaders have been and continue to be men. Women have fewer female role models to emulate. Bothpowerandcontrolareadouble-edgedsword to women. While assertion and control are often associated with effective leadership, women are often not well received when they display these traits. In leadership roles, many women find themselves in a double bind because people find ‘assertiveness and force’ in women jarring. Alternatively, if she chooses to be compassionate, she doesn’t have ‘the right stuff’ for a tough job. How can we help? The question for many organizations is, ‘How do we fully tap the potential women leaders bring?’ One way is to give women training in demanding developmental job experiences. Another is to create opportunities through cohort leadership development programs. These programs yield platforms to develop and practice women’s authentic style of leadership so they learn to integrate both authority and compassion. Research tells us that women’s approaches are generally more effective in today’s business environment. Their leadership style is more transformational whereas men tend to be more transactional. Yet women often don’t claim the full impact of their leadership style. Accurate feedback from women and men is useful in helping women build the confidence needed to own the strength of their leadership style. Through peer mentoring and coaching, women develop and refine their leadership style, experience greater confidence, can grow and learn from each other to celebrate successes, as well as failure. They think more strategically, learning how to command authority that works and is accept-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 42

Unemployment: Involving the uninvolved finance, build and operate projects such as public transportation networks, parks and convention centers. Financing a project through a public-private partnership can allow a project to be completed sooner or make it a possibility in the first place (investopedia.com). What stops us from having collaborations between the Federal Government, State Governments and the Private sector? A lot of effort is being expended against unemployment but it is happening in silos. Wouldn’t we gain much more if we pooled our resources? Donate Time, Resources and Expertise Professionals and business people should look out for ways they can contribute. Sponsor your wards and children in the neighbourhood to

self-development seminars. Buy books for kids on the street. Start a small venture capital fund with friends with the intent to sponsor some of the best business ideas you hear – you would be surprised at what one hundred thousand naira can do for some. Consulting and auditing firms should come together to conduct free business clinics for existing SMEs. “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do” – John Wooden. “If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it” – Anthony J.D’angelo. Finally I leave us with this Arabian proverb, “If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.

Many women are surmounting leadership prejudices, but more needs to be done Source: forbes.com ed. As a result, they’ve gotten promotions, taken on bigger projects and asked for more of what they want. Coaching and mentoring are also powerful We believe these articles contain great tools for women to develop leadership information that policy makers, busistrengths. This offers the intimacy of a one-on- ness leaders, human resources practione relationship where women can share expe- tioners and the general public can use riences to help them get to their next level. for quality decisions. Your own reaction, As we continue to support women and deliberately offer opportunities for advancement positive or critical, can shed more light, and learning, both women leaders and our in practical ways, on the body of knowledge that we are sharing. As such, your organizations will reap the benefits. What is your organization doing to tap the feedback is important to us. strengths of its women leaders? What is strate- Please mail us at peoplesdigest@peogically possible if their strengths are fully uti- pleprime.net to respond or expand the lized? body of knowledge on any of our treat-

FEEDBACK COLUMN

Rita Webster is President of WiseLeader, a leadershipconsulting firmin Minneapolis,Minnesota. She works with talented managers, teams that implement new strategies and women-only leadership development programs. She can be reached at Rita@WiseLeader.net or www.WiseLeader.net.

ed topics, including past publications. We appreciate your feedback. Please include the topic, date of publication along with your observations, questions or comments plus your contact information in the email.

PUZZLE

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Appointments 45

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Mentoring as an impetus for corporate growth CONTINUED FROM PAGE 41 Meanwhile, there are three major areas in which attention is required in the creation of effective training programmes and their implementation. These areas are inclusive of ability of the training to be transferred to the work environment, the readiness of the trainee and the structure of the training. As reported by Ronald E. Riggio in Introduction to Industrial/Organizational Psychology, the structure of the training with regards to its frequency and style is par-

ticularly important in that it is the one element that is free from external influence such as the cognitive ability of the employee to transfer the training to their environment or the employees current skill level. Riggio explained that a solid training structure could be established by following specific steps such as the assessment of training needs: “The purpose of this is to specifically define what is required to do the work in question. Next, assessing the training objectives allows for the creation of a structural outline

for the training programme, that will not only help administer communicating the data but also the employees ability to understand, follow, retain and apply the information presented. “It will also provide a foundation by which to evaluate the validity of the training programme, after its use. Yet before the training programme is implemented the methods by which the training will be conducted must be evaluated for so as to ensure the highest benefit at the lowest cost.

NIMN set for new leadership By Helen Oji HE National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) has announced plans to conduct a credible election to establish new leadership that would move the institute forward. Speaking at the inauguration of electoral team in Lagos on, the Chairman of the team, Ify Uraih said that the institute’s general election slated for August 9, 2013 had informed the need for the council to appoint five members, including the registrar as electoral team to enhance transparent and successful election. According to him, the vacant positions included office of the president, 1st vice presi-

dent, 2nd vice president and six positions in council. For the president, the candidate, according to Uraih, must be a fellow of the institute for a minimum of seven years and had served in council of the institute for at least two years, while the candidate contesting for 1st vice president must be a fellow of the institute for a minimum of seven years. “All nominees for executive positions must have paid up all dues and levies up to the time of their nominations. Each nominee will have two sponsors, one of whom must be a fellow of the institute. Both sponsors must have paid all dues and levies up to the time of sponsoring the candidates.”

Nominees for council position, according to the chairman would have two sponsors and must have paid all dues up to time of nominations. On the procedure for election, Uraih explained that nomination forms would be made available at the institute or through its website, adding that nominations for all the positions must include a statement of not more than 500 words explaining the details of the nominee and the vision and contributions for the institute. He added that names and address of the two sponsors and the completed forms must reach the electoral team on or before July 8, 2013.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Appointments

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

NECA decries absence of social security framework From Collins Olayinka, who was in Geneva, Switzerland HE Nigeria Employers’ T Consultative Association (NECA) has frowned at the continued absence of a national framework for the implementation of social security in the country. Speaking with The Guardian on the sideline of the justconcluded International Labour Conference (ILC), in Geneva, Switzerland, the Director General of NECA, Mr. Segun Oshinowo, submitted that the government of Nigeria still fails to see social security as part of productive activities but sees it as drainer of national resources. He said: “Nigeria as a country has not decided on a national framework for promoting and supporting social protection. The reason for this disturbing absence of policy is hinged on the fact that the government has not seen the necessity of embracing social protection. Government has not seen the linkage between social protection and productive economic development. Government is probably seen social protection as a drainer of national resources; not knowing that social protection on its own has a positive impact on development.” He argued that social security could also serve as economic buffer when the economy is passing through turbulence period, which comes

with employees losing their jobs and consumer spending at the lowest ebb. His argument: “We must understand the fact that the real and authentic measure of growth and development is not the GDP rate. The GDP growing rate is important at least it gives the comfort and satisfaction that the economy is growing but the growing might necessarily be a reflection of an inclusive growth, which addresses poverty. This is where social protection comes in. The social protection will take care of the vulnerable

groups in the society; ensures when workers are going through economic spells such as frictional unemployment and the likes, workers would still be able to draw some income. One of the major independent variables that drive economic growth is consumer income. So, social protection becomes a channel that ensures that there is no significant drop in consumer income when the economy is going through economic vagaries. This will ensure the speedy recovery of the economy.”

He hinted that a study carried by the ILO has shown many ways through which even the most resourcestarved countries of the world are able to set aside a certain percentage of their GDP to fund social protection and that has not had any adverse effect on their economy. He therefore called on government to move away from the archetypal fundingminded thinking that has stunted the global acceptance of social security initiatives among many governments of the world.

New leadership emerges at CITIN EW leadership that will N pilot the affairs of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) for the next two years has emerged. They are Mark Anthony Chidolue Dike, President; Dr. Teju Somorin, VicePresident; Chief C. I. Ede, Deputy Vice-President; and Adesina Adedayo, who returned unopposed as the Honourary Treasurer. The new officers were unanimously elected at the Extra-Ordinary Council Meeting, with Dike emerging as the 11th president of the institute, taking over from Asiwaju John Femi

Sunday Jegede. Dike, who obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) Ile-Ife, Oyo State, is the Director of Tax Policy in the Federal Inland Revenue Service, seasoned tax administrator and Chartered Accountant. Before his election, he has, at various times, been the Chairman of Students Affairs and Examinations Committee; Dean of International Taxation and Treaties Faculty; Oil, Gas and Solid Minerals Faculty; Project Committee, among

others. Dike was also a member of the Study Group on the Review of Nigerian Tax System; Tax Laws Drafting Committee of the Federal Inland Revenue Service; Drafting/Harmonisation Committee on Current Personal Income Tax Act; Tax Laws Harmonisation and Codification Committee of the Federal Inland Revenue Service; Commonwealth Tax Management Development Programme held in Accra, Ghana; and C o m m o n w e a l t h Association of Tax Administrators.

Expert seeks support for collective bargaining in dispute resolution From Abiodun Fagbemi, Ilorin ROFESSOR of Human P Resources and Industrial Relations, Segun Matanmi, has canvassed the development of industrial democratic apparatus of collective bargaining to check disputes in employment relationship between public workers and their government employers and in the private sector in the country. Matanmi, who is the Dean, Postgraduate School of the Lagos State University, LASU, gave the advice at a workshop organised by the Independent Newspaper Limited (INL) in collaboration with the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) for stakeholders in the labour matters recently. The workshop with the theme: “Towards A Harmonious Workplace Relationship” was held at the Micheal Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies in Ilorin. Matanmi in the lecture he delivered at the workshop entitled “Collective Bargaining: A broad window to solving industrial agitation” said promotion of the apparatus is a major way employment relationship can be made smooth in the country. He stated: “As we increasingly acculturate the norms and tenets of democratisation in Nigeria, there is a need for the promotion and continuing development of the industrial-democratic apparatus of collective bargaining

in Nigeria, because, against all odds, that mechanism represents one of the sustainable institutional antidotes against adversarial and chaotic employment relationships.” He said that in spite of the adverse impact of the reverberations of the international political and economic system across the labour market system of Nigeria, the embrace of and commitment to constructive and responsive collective relations would continue to be necessitated and mutually beneficial in the country. Matanmi said synergetic role by multilateral parties is also important to attainment of harmonious employment relationship. He said the role multi-parties are expected to play include “Collectively nurturing the enabling environment for meaningful Collective Bargaining (CB), in ways that tenets of collective bargaining (as embedded in the listing of collective bargaining rights by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the demands of their practical implementation) are upheld as well as respected always. This recommendation particularly extends to the following issues of CB rights: “Guarantee of full respect of the right to organise and collective bargaining, including the right to strike (agreed, in deference to extant labour law and respect for due process, among others), and protection against antiunion discrimination.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

APPOINTMENTS 53

ILO rallies stakeholders on provision of quality jobs From Collins Olayinka, who was in Geneva, Switzerland NALYSING how key issues are affecting the global economy and the role that the world of work can play in helping to achieve a sustainable recovery was at the centre of a panel of discussants by some key stakeholders. The discussion, convened under the theme “Restoring Confidence: Jobs, Growth and Social Progress”, brought together Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa; Prof. Yves Flueckiger, Vice-Rector, University of Geneva; Daniel Funes de Rioja, Executive VicePresident of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). In opening remarks, ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, pointed to what he said was the question most frequently asked over the course of the just-concluded International Labour Conference. He asked rhetorically: “It’s the simple question of where are the jobs coming from? The concern is not only about generating jobs in sufficient numbers but also their quality.” The first panelist to take the

Govt restates commitment to tackle youth unemployment, poverty From Iyabo Lawal, Ibadan HE Minister of National T Planning Commission, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, has restated the resolve of the Federal Government to address youth unemployment and poverty through science and research. Usman explained recently during a visit to National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) to ratify draft policy on youth unemployment that the Federal Government had resolved to tackle the problem of youth unemployment with a view to safeguarding the future of the country. To this end, the minister said, “NISER, being the brain power of the country in terms of economic policy formulation, is already articulating a very clear set of policies and programmes that the government can use to address the problem of youth and employment in the nation.” He spoke further: “We are currently working on a policy programme that tries to address the issue of youth and employment in the country. And the process has started. “We are at the early stages of articulating a very clear set of policies and programmes that the government can use to address the problem of youth and employment.

floor was Lopes, who presented a positive picture of African economic growth but said that lack of youth employment opportunities, inequality and the challenges of a large informal economy need to be addressed. He posited that what is needed was structural transformation that needs to be in the hands of Africans themselves. He added: “We believe that to successfully create the conditions for jobs, growth and social progress, the continent needs to have its own control of its own vision and narrative. We need a structural transformation of African economies to ensure jobs, growth and social progress.” Flueckiger called for “fair-

ness and balance” in tackling budgets, coordinating more harmonious fiscal systems, while ensuring the future of jobs. There needs to be fair access to education, the jobs market and social protection, he said. “We need to ensure that there is a balance between the necessary social protection of workers and the flexibility, which is essential to make sure that there are jobs for young people. There needs to be a balance between the need to have decent salaries but making sure that salaries are not so high that workers are priced out of the jobs’ market,” he said. Speaking on behalf of the

employers’ group, Funes de Rioja stressed the importance of the private sector to economic recovery, saying, “the return to growth lies in the private sector. There is no substitute for this.” He said that tripartism is essential to growth, and pointed to job creation, particularly for young people. However, he called for the removal of what he called obstacles to growth, such as rigidity in employment regulations. He added: “There is no longer a ‘job for life’. This is what we need to face. Rigidity does not protect the workers. The more we understand this reality, the more successful we will be.”

Lawmaker empowers 165 youths in Lagos By Wole Oyebade O fewer than 165 youths N from Shomolu II constituency of Lagos have been empowered by a Free Computer Training scheme, sponsored by member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rotimi Abiru. The empowerment programme is the sixth in a series and has developed capacity of about 1,000 youths in Desktop Publishing and Computer Engineering in the last six years. Abiru, who is also the Deputy Chief Whip of the Lagos Assembly, said at the sixth Graduation/Town Hall meeting that the empowerment initiative among others was tailored at assisting government in liberating the younger ones from poverty

and give them a can do spirit to make life more tolerable. The lawmaker said he had chosen education as one of the tools to improve the well being of his constituents, leading to his huge investment in educational programmes especially Information Communication Technology (ICT). Three outstanding students among the graduands went home with a new computer set and accessories, having excelled in the examination with good grades in Desktop Publishing. Two best students from the System Engineering Department were also given engineering equipment. Also, 60 G.C.E forms were distributed to indigents students from different parts of the constituency.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

SPECIAL REPORT ON ACCOUNTANCY TUTORS OF REPUTE IN NIGERIA The young shall grow. This saying aptly describes the trend in the professional accountancy, management and financial education in Nigeria. The task now is really for the resilient and the proactives. Exceptionally brilliant, experienced, young and proactive men with global technical know-how of passing tough exams are taking over the market to ‘SAFE’ the precious time of the ‘ESTEEMED and FOCUSED’ students to ‘PASS’ in good time. The Guardian Special Report highlights Accountancy tutors of repute in Nigeria.

Akinsulire, MD, Safe Associates Ltd.

Akinrinade, Director, Esteem Link Business School

walking in saying ‘I was directed to this place. All these are happening despite our location. Students do everything possible to locate this place. So, relocation is now a bit difficult for us. Where do we relocate to? Because all the students have known this place. Every diet keep on excelling. We are waxing stronger every diet”, The Managing Director has no choice than to thank God not only for the school remaining strong in business for the past twenty two years or producing large number of chartered accountants in Nigeria but for the real impact Safe Associates Limited is making in the socioeconomic development of the nation and the proven commitment of the training centre to the development of professional accounting education via the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria’s (ICAN) Accounting Technicians Scheme (ATS) programmes, Foundation, Intermediate and other professional examinations like P.E. 1 and P.E. 2. Safe Associates did not just

achieve this inimitable feats overnight. Records speak for them. According to Chief Akinsulire, the major strength of the accounting training centre lies with the fact that the school is structured to have the highest number of our lecturers and directors that have produced text books that are heavily accepted in the industry and recommended and supported by the institute (ICAN). Additionally, over the years, Safe Associates have produced the highest number of award winners. Just recently, three of our students – one male won a subject prize and two females won best qualifying female student and Royal prize in Communication Skills respectively. These and many other reasons and rare achievements could have been envisioned by Akinsulire and his like minds who established Safe Associates and pride themselves as ‘The Last Real School’. “I told you”, he continued“, when you have people of like minds that really relate together, do things in common and nothing is hidden from

one another, everybody is carried along. Without been egoistic, we ensure that there is easy link between the lecturers and directors. Payment terms could also be one of the distinguishing factors responsible for our huge success. Lectures fees are highly competitive at Safe Associates. Secondly, we accept installmental payment from our students. These are the things we have done to make things more convenient for the students. Economically, we know that things are difficult. We allow students to dictate specifically when to effect payments. They all appreciate that support.” As a father, professional and caring parent, this is a piece of advice from Akinsulire to ensure

SAFE ASSOCIATES WAXES STRONGER EVERY DIET — AKINSULIRE T

HE goodwill, deep relationship with professional accounting students, timely assistance and recommendations by people have been largely responsible for the steady success of the Surulere, Lagos based professional accountancy and management tutors, Safe Associates Limited. According to its Managing Director, Chief Oye Akinsulire, a chartered accountant of decades of professionnal teaching experience; apart from the quality lectures delivered every diet, management and staff of Safe Associates go extra mile to ensure students’ success without wasting their (students) precious time. He said, “we relate deeply with our students, know what their challenges are, their problems and go to the extent of using our personal resources to assist them. We have been doing that and we are still doing it. We assist them to achieve their aim of becoming chartered accountants. They are very free with us. The goodwill have been selling us. You will just see people

Ogundairo, Director, Focus Professional Training Consult

that students pass their examinations without wasting time. “To enable them pass in good time, ICAN involves creating time for its exams. Most students do not just prepare until the examination is about a month away which is wrong. They must take it seriously. Forget about any social outing. And this vogue which is killing most students now – the use of GSM, BlackBerry of a thing. When people say they are reading and they put it on. Any little second they are pinging. That is not it. ICAN does not support it. Even the advice by ICAN to training centres is to disallow your students from using hand sets whenever they are in classroom or lecture. You cannot do two things at a time. ICAN needs

Osuoha, Chairman, Pass Associates Ltd.

giving it what it deserves-maximum concentration”. The leadership of Safe Associates Limited know where the shoe pinches. They, from inception, have prepared for likely challenges of the industry and coping excellently is consequently not difficult. First is the challenge of finance and also the required number of students in a specific class/levels, especially at the lower levels so as to enable the higher levels to run together. Again, syllabuses are changing. New materials, of course, are needed. Current and quality text books and other training packs are required. Good money is needed to do all these including printing costs. With all these tasks, Safe Associates keeps waxing stronger.

ESTEEM LINK BUSINESS SCHOOL, The Fast Growing Accountancy Tutors

N the ever growing business of professional accountancy, management and financial education and just at the time the nation is experiencing geometric increase in the number of young school leavers, undergraduates and the upwardly mobile

working class in pursuit for professional qualification and how to achieve that, ESTEEM LINK Business School has just emerged as one stop solution providers. In less than three years of operation in the

CONTD ON PAGE 63

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

SPECIAL REPORT ON ACCOUNTANCY TUTORS OF REPUTE IN NIGERIA

ESTEEM LINK Committed, God fearing Directors, STRENGTH OF FOCUS PROFESSIONALS IX years ago, a group of young, everything. All our lecturers are the Institute of Chartered dents. After class sessions, students passes through ATS programmes BUSINESS S talented and highly determined happy with our pay. Many of our Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) keep coming for advice and men- can surely defend his or her certifichartered accountants with passion students have won prizes within and we did excellently well as our toring, career matters, etc. As a cate anywhere. It is not about just SCHOOL way of entering the industry. result of all these and his experi- going to higher institution of learnfor teaching and impartation of this period.

city of Lagos, ESTEEM LINK Business School has carved a niche for herself with a remarkable feat of ninety per cent pass rate for the very first candidates prepared in the year 2011 for the professional examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). Mr. Saeed Akinrinade, one of the young and vibrant chartered accountants steering the ship of the professional accountancy and management tuition centre, shared the secret behind the successful beginning. He said, “ESTEEM LINK Business School (ELBS) was established for the purpose of bringing business and professional accounting education to the teeming population of Nigerian students who aspire to become professionals. Our focus is to train accountants for both local and international professional qualifications. We equally want to guide them right. We want to train them for the examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and international examinations like ACCA. “We simply achieve our aims by paying personal attention to our students. Not only that. We give students Post Class Tuition. Oneon-one relationship. We really give them the extra touch which they need to pass their examinations. We have identified that so many of them need personal touch. These are some of the things that make us stand out. We also try as much as possible to design good lecture packs which simplify the whole studies and also let them see where they need to pay more attention. On the board of ESTEEM LINK are five qualified chartered accountants really engaged in ensuring success at first attempt for their students to keep up their very first outing. In this short while, we have recorded some milestones. First, we recorded ninety per cent pass rate and we have been sustaining the great achievement by excelling in subsequent diets”. The attractions of ESTEEM LINK Business School are not limited to the above. “Here, we take students through practical experience from time to time to enable them know how to relate as they work. One thing is to listen to lecturer another is to be able to apply what they have received in the class. That is why you will see a director of an organization that have been working for ten, fifteen years that is not good enough. These are the things we share in the class so as to prepare the students well. The students really appreciate it. We let them know the challenges we have faced in the past. We let the students know that those who fail examinations and refuse to continue are the failures. If you fail and continue that is how success can come. We do tell the students that ICAN requires three things to pass the exams, consistency, prayer and determination. So, if you are consistent, prayerful and determined, you will achieve what you want. Additionally at ELBS, we are cream of people who are not just lecturers. All our directors have worked variously in audit firms for good number of years, oil and gas, manufacturing companies. By virtue of that we do not just teach but let them know about these cognate experiences. Strategically, at the mid of the students lectures, we do invite industry leaders as speakers to enable the students know what is expected of them as professional accountants”, said Akinrinade confidently.

CONTD FROM PAGE 62

knowledge decided to bring another professional accounting and management tuition house to the city of Lagos specifically to serve the people around Oshodi, Isolo, Ejigbo and its environs and other Nigerians that have been yawning for such seasoned tutors and ready to pay for quality irrespective of distance to their offices or residence. According to Mr. Ogundairo Abayomi Oreofe, a director as well as lecturer in the school, Focus Professional Training Consult was established by God fearing and committed directors who put God first. “ All members of our team are God fearing and are not money conscious. We have committed set of directors. We put God first in

“As part of qualities that stand us out, we help solve students personal problems here. Even if some of the students have any challenge in their office jobs, they call on us and we discuss it together. We counsel them professionally. We also organize trainings for organizations and others. We do not just lecture here. We impart the knowledge with passion. We derive joy in doing the job. That consequently brings out the best in us which the students really need to pass in good time. Apart from lectures, our students do get other unquantifiable benefits. We took off with the Accounting Technicians Scheme (A.T.S) programmes of

VEN as PASS CENTRE is today synonymous with production of chartered accountants based on its modest performance every diet and become talk of the town among all students of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), facts are emerging from the directorate of the eight-year old seasoned and dynamic professional accountancy, management and financial tuition centre that PASS CENTRE is the number one name in Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) programmes. According to its chairman, Mr. John Osuoha, “you cannot talk about CIS lectures without calling PASS CENTRE. This is what others have been doing for years but when we came the game changed. Within a short time of coming into tuition provision, we took over the market. We are number one in CIS programmes. Even

when the meltdown came and many tutors fizzled out, we are still on and remain solid. We have never missed a diet in the CIS. And we are not resting yet. We have bigger plans ahead. We are there. God is helping us. On why we always produce chartered accountants as we are excellently performing in CIS programmes, the secret is in the team that drives the vision of PASS CENTRE. We are united and not driven by profit but by passion to impart knowledge. That is what is unique about our team. We have high class professionals that have excelled in their various fields of endeavour spread in a across banking, oil and gas, consulting, manufacturing, aviation and so on. “You cannot come to meet the PASS CENTRE team and go the same way. You must receive something great. Each of us have

Today, we are running all other programmes of the institute, that is Foundation, Intermediate, Professional Examinations 1 and 2. That, of course, is a mark of progress. Today most of our students from ATS are qualified chartered accountants. Just after two diets from year 2010, we have experienced the explosion of students at Focus Professional Training Consult. God has been helping us”, said Ogundairo. One should not expect less from a school led by vibrant young professionals like Focus Professionals when you discover other unique benefits their students enjoy. These include one-on-one interaction that exists between lecturers and stu-

ence, Ogundairo goes on to offer the very many young school leavers out there especially those whose aims are to become professional chartered accountants to do the right thing before it is too late. “My advice just goes to young school leavers still writing JAMB et cetera to start writing ATS examinations. It is a good step for them. Because if you have your ATS certificate, you can be admitted to two hundred level in any university and or go for National Diploma in Polytechnic. With this you have upper hand to get qualified as chartered accountant. Statistics shows that sixty per cent of qualified chartered accountants pass through ATS. That means anybody that

ing. So, even if the institute (ICAN) can have affiliations with these universities where undergraduates will be well grounded right from the academic environment, they will graduate excellently and perform creditably in professional accounting. For instance, the essence of education should not be on certificate but the skill acquired which can meet the need of the society. If you are unable to meet the need of the society your certificate is useless. That is why if you are determined to write ICAN exams, one should forget about the idea of ‘I can pass it at my pace mentality’. Set a time frame for yourself. After that, work hard to achieve this aim.

PASS CENTRE, Leading Name in CIS Programmes, Says OSUOHA

this passion to transform lives. Our focus is what we have brought to bare in PASS CENTRE. So people see us as people they have something to gain from. And it is quite so. We do not just treat them as students, we see them as partners, part of us. And as much as possible we bring them into both formal and informal relationship. Our lecture pattern is to treat each candidate special. They follow us through in our lectures. We do not leave anyone behind, they are not lost in the crowd. We have had people that complained of inability to ask questions in the class where they come from. Here, we allow students to ask questions satisfactorily. Students find the personal touch in PASS CENTRE. They have been affected positively. Our lecturers are serious and committed, focused and give their very best. We do not make so much noise but

those who come know we have great things to offer. We make life easy for students. We are so close to them. We have good geographical spread in Lagos. We are at Gbagada, Ikorodu and Egbeda”. Students of PASS CENTRE also enjoy certain benefits. These are life-long mentoring, high level professionalism on the part of lecturers, support services and guidance. Not only that. PASS CENTRE does fix up their students for jobs. “We have a group of professionals searching for great job opportunities for our students. Number one thing is that they pass their exams here certainly. We do regular appraisal of our team of lecturers. We do not compromise quality. That is why any of our lecturers can stand anywhere. Some of us are facilitators of both local and foreign courses, including trainings in the United Kingdom

(UK). We also receive support from abroad in the area of professional education from highly qualified professionals to train our lecturers. We have good environment. We always complete syllabus well ahead of time, in fact a month before examinations. This enables our students to read well and prepare excellently and come out in flying colours in every diet. We are fully into programmes like CIS, ATS, Foundation, Intermediate, PE 1 and PE 2 and ACCA. “As part of my advice to the people and all ICAN examinations candidates, ICAN is easy to pass, I do tell people. You can pass any professional exam. All students need do is a lot of hard work. To really excel, there is a factor they must deal with. That is God factor. Pray well. We do that at PASS Centre. For the nation too to excel, our leadership style must chanege for better. Waiting for America and others is a waste of time.”

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

CAPITAL MARKET

NigeriaCapitalMarket NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at Friday PRICE LIST OF SYMBOLS TRADED FOR 21/06/2013

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

CAPITAL MARKET

NSE Daily Summary (Equities) as at 21/06/2013

PRICE GAINERS

LOSERS

Transcorp records profit before tax of N2.9b By Bukky Olajide RANSNATIONAL T Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), a diversified conglomerate with strategic interests in the energy, hospitality and agriculture sectors held its seventh yearly general meeting last week in Abuja. The company presented its audited financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Transcorp’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved the company’s audited accounts for the financial year ended 2012 and re-elected Elumelu as Chairman. During the meeting, the Chairman of Transcorp, Tony Elumelu, stressed the significant progress made by the company in terms of improved operational and financial performance. “The first thing we did when we took over was to build a foundation for sustainable growth, based on strong

Re-elects Elumelu as chairman corporate governance. We have made new acquisitions like the Ughelli power plant and embarked on an aggressive expansion of our hospitality business. We want to build a business that lasts, whose shares you can give to your heirs.” During the year, Transcorp led a consortium that won the acquisition bid for the Ughelli Power Plc for USD300m under the Federal Government’s on-going power sector reforms and privatization programme. The initial deposit of 25% has been made and the balance is to be paid on take-over which is scheduled to happen in a few weeks. In the hospitality sector, Transcorp Hilton Hotel was named the winner of the Hilton Worldwide Sales Team of the Year Prize for 2012 (Group Conference and Events) for the Middle East and Africa Region. This award was in recognition of the hotel as the highest per-

forming hotels Sales Team as measured by specific Hilton Worldwide conference and events measurement metrics. In his review of the 2012 financial statements, Obinna

Ufudo, the President/CEO of Transcorp attributed the company’s impressive financial results generally to the focused execution of the company’s redefined corporate strategy based on income diversification, cost optimization and more effective risk manage-

ment controls. ‘The company’s 2012 profits before tax increased by N1.6 billion representing a growth of 123% from N1.3 billion to N2.9billion. This unprecedented growth was as a result of the combined effects of a reduction in administrative expens-

es and a quantum increase in investment income. The cost optimization exercise instituted at the company’s corporate centre continues to yield desired results. This is indeed the beginning of a new era for Transcorp – an era of accelerated and sustainable growth.”

Keystone Bank targets 15% loan book growth in 2013 HE management of T Keystone Bank Limited at the weekend projected a modest 15 per cent growth in loan book this financial year. The bank also intends to improve in other key financial indicators such as profit and balance sheet. Addressing newsmen in Lagos, the chief executive of the bank, Philip Ikeazor, said the institution had returned to profit in the 2012 full year, and that the results would be released soon, after the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Besides the return to prof-

itability, other snippets of the result, he explained, include a stable and growing deposit base. He said: “We are focused on growing quality risk assets but in doing so the board and management is being careful not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We intend to grow deposit base and focus on low cost deposits.” Ahead of plans by the bank’s shareholder – the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) – to recapitalise the bank along with the two other bridged banks (Mainstreet Bank and Enterprise Bank) in the com-

ing months, the bank chief assured of the enormous value that had been added to the three banks. For Keystone Bank, for example, he noted that its 200 branches across the country and the possibility of growing the outlets to 250 outlets within a very short time, makes it a Tier 2 bank and a very good prospect. “If you inherit a bank that the balance sheet has been cleaned up, and which has low deposit base, you can grow the bank. It is better than a green field institution, where you have to develop everything from the scratch,” he stressed.

To acquire a new banking licence, he explained, takes quite some time as there would be approvals to build each branch, marketing for customers and deposits, and skilled manpower, among others, all of which could be avoided if a bank is bought. He noted that the process of further strengthening a bank with new capital could take up to between 12 and 18 months to get the right type of investors to take over the institution, beginning with the appointment of experts, due diligence and the bid process to ensure the right calibre of persons emerge.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Opinion Nigeria: Where dullards are awarded scholarship By Luke Onyekakeyah HE recent absurd cut off marks released by T the Federal Ministry of Education for entry into Nigeria’s Unity Secondary Schools, whereby dullards who scored two marks were given preference over those who scored 137, reminds me of a similar incident in my school life. Sometime in 1979, there was this middle level manpower programme of the then Obasanjo administration through which young secondary school leavers were sent abroad on scholarship to pursue training in technical fields. Shortly before then I had finished secondary school and made 5 alphas and 2 credits with another two papers in Advanced Level. I was looking forward to higher studies in the university. It was then that the Federal Government announced the scholarship programme, which I saw as an opportunity. I was enthusiastic to get the scholarship to enable me pursue further studies. The forms were distributed through the state Ministry of Education and Local Government Offices. Armed with my excellent GCE results, I went to my local government headquarters to pick the form. On getting there after a strenuous trip, I entered the office and met an education officer issuing out the forms. He asked to see my result. I presented my statement of results to him. He perused it and in a short while looked back at me and said me that I was not qualified! Wow! What do you mean? I asked him. He said I was not qualified because my results were above the grades required for the scholarship. He said the scholarship was meant for people who made Grades 3 and 2 in WAEC and not for Grade Ones! I couldn’t understand what he meant and why the scholarship should be for people with lower grades, as he handed my results back to me. I left devastated. As a young school leaver, I had thought that to get scholarship, one must have excellent results. I had thought that scholarships were meant for the best brains and not for failures. But that is not the case in Nigeria. That experience made a lasting negative impression me and for a moment, I wondered if I would have been better off with a lower grade. But there is no way a lower grade would have served me better. Around the

world, scholarships are awarded to the brightest and most brilliant students and not to failures, as it is often the case in Nigeria. I was not demoralised. That same year, I gained direct admission into the University of Lagos from where I move on. The culture of giving scholarship to dullards based on federal character and quota system made me never to get scholarship in Nigeria despite my outstanding academic credentials. The foregoing personal experience is instructive. It is not how bright you are that will make you succeed in Nigeria; it is where you come from and who you know. It is a form of corruption that is enshrined in the system. In Nigeria, mediocrity is promoted. The practice of giving preference to dullards over bright students in Nigeria’s schools is not new. It has been there for decades and merely getting worse with the ugly state of affairs in the country. That is part of the contradictions by which Nigeria is known. We are in a country where “fair is foul and foul is fair”, in the words of Shakespeare. Nigeria’s contradictions manifest in diverse ways. Professor Ayodele Awojobi once said that, “the problem with Nigeria is that the fool rules the wise”. Of the entire Sahel region of West Africa, it is only in Nigeria that it is claimed on paper that the dry north is more densely populated than the luxuriant south. But when you look for the teeming population of children in schools, for instance, you see nobody. You then ask where is the population? Why are the teeming children population not found in school? The other regions in the same Sahel belt across Africa are thinly populated. In Nigeria, the warped economic and political system shares resources based on population. Invariably, areas assigned more people get more resources while those with actual high population density get small allocation. The South-East and Lagos, which are recognised on the world map as having high population density have been relegated to the background and assigned low population in the country with obvious

implications. On the other hand, the NorthWest and North-East that occupy harsh dry environment are assigned huge population figures. These are some of the entrenched Nigerian contradictions that have helped to ruin the fortunes of the country. As long as we continue to deceive ourselves and operate based on falsehood, nothing will work. The controversial cut off marks released by the Federal Ministry of Education may have stirred the hornet’s nest by making the enduring injustice in education more glaring. Many people who didn’t know the extent of the injustice and prejudice seem to have got it firsthand. According to the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufa’i, who made the announcement, states like Anambra, Imo Enugu, Lagos and Delta, all southern states, were given cut off point of 139, 138, 134, 133 and 131 respectively. These are the highest scores in the National Common Entrance into federal secondary schools. At the same time, states like Yobe, Taraba, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi all in the north, were given a cut off of 2, 3, 4, 9, and 9 respectively. These are failures and nothing else. But the unjust system doesn’t see it that way. The system sees these scores are comparable to those who scored 130 and above. A candidate from Imo who scored 137 cannot get admission while his counterpart from the north who failed with 2 marks is admitted. The question agitating every right-thinking person’s mind is why should a candidate who failed an examination by scoring 2 be given preference to the one who scored 137? Under what condition and with what expertise would a teacher handle students at the two extreme in the same class? How will the dullards who scored 2 cope in the same class with the hot brains? The truth is that those championing this inequity are not asking these questions. All they want is to have their state quotas filled irrespective of who is there. At the end of the day, it is the same dullards that will sway over the intelligent ones in this theatre of the absurd. Ironically, the same states that are

favoured in admission are classified as “educationally disadvantaged”. I have asked this question before in this column. Who is disadvantaged between states whose candidates scored 2 marks and are given admission with scholarship and the others whose candidates scored 137 and denied admission not to talk of scholarship? Over the years, different catch phrases have been manufactured and used to edge out bright students from the south in favour of the few students from the north. Phrases like “catchment area”, “environmental” and “educationally disadvantaged states” have been the vehicles for accomplishing the nihilism of the south educationally. Some erroneously think that it will help the north catch up with the south. Is that possible? The Federal Government does not want to accept the fact that what the north is battling with is low student population arising from the low population density of the area. If the Ministry of Education would be honest to release the actual number of candidates from each state who sat for the entrance examination, the truth will be clearer. It will be seen that those states with a cut off mark of 2, for instance, will have a few hundreds, while those with 138 cut off marks have thousands of candidates. At the end, all the candidates from the lowest score states will be admitted thousands of while their counterparts from the high score states will lose out. The reality of low student number in the north is camouflaged under the bogus population figures assigned to those states. The problem is not in student performance. In southern states there are dullards alike who scored very low marks. This class of candidates has no chance at all. The state governments in the north are not doing enough to improve education in those states. They are comfortable with the quota system that guarantees admission and scholarship for their indigenes even when they failed. They should establish community colleges like you have in the United States, where low grade candidates could be brushed up before going to the next stage. The consequences of a misplaced education policy are on the country as a whole. Will Nigeria be able to occupy its rightful position in the comity of nations? The world has become a global village. How will these dullards cope? Or, are they going to be confined in Nigeria all their life? The Federal Government should rise up to the challenge of education if the country will have a future.

Judiciary, public trust in emerging dispensation (2) By Akin Oyebode

personal, private, public or social. Where and when goals have been set, law becomes the instrumentality of attaining them by providing the framework Continued from yesterday that enables the fulfillment thereof. Since the judiciary is the UT for the self-imposed task by the current Chief Justice chief custodian of fidelity to due process and the rule of law, it Aloma Mukhtar of cleansing the judicial Augean stables, it stands to reason that it has to play a pivotal role in the task of would have been hard to imagine what would become of the social transformation. Where and when the judiciary perinstitution. The number of judges who have since been found ceives its place as a change agent, the task of realizing societal unworthy of their high calling and, therefore, shown the way goals is made so much easier. However, this has a lot to do out would seem to have cast a pall on the judiciary and, parawith the consciousness or legal ideology of the judges themdoxically, helped serve notice on those remaining on the selves. For, where judges have imbibed the Austinian or posiBench that a Daniel had indeed come to judgment. The curtivist notions of law, they are, more likely than not, to rent crusade to cleanse the judiciary of deadwoods and comenvisage their role as merely that of declaring what the law is, promised elements is, therefore, most salutary and sure to no more, no less. On the other hand, those of them who had revamp the tottering image of the institution. inculcated theories of sociological jurisprudence are apt to Admittedly it seems necessary to review the qualifications properly conceive their roles as catalysts in the change for judicial appointments, the composition and jurisdiction process and act pursuant thereto. of the National Judicial Council as well as other critical aspects The fact needs to be grasped by all and sundry that Nigeria is of the judicial process; nevertheless, the yeoman duty undera country still caught in the vortex of mass poverty, ignotaken by the Chief Justice has portended both prophylactic rance, hunger, disease and general underdevelopment. The and therapeutic benefits for the judiciary and deserves total prospects of the country transiting from its present quagmire support by all that wish our courts and, indeed, Nigeria well. If of lack of capacity, self-doubt and corrupt practices are not the country had been blessed with such farsighted, forceful, very bright, except until and unless drastic action is taken. fearless and formidable leadership such as her’s, perhaps the Some would, in fact, insist that our score card in terms of judiciary would not have been mired in the quicksand that it transformation is largely in deficit as we seem to have merely currently is. been intensifying underdevelopment of the country instead Now, it should be recognized that the issue of the role of the of taking positive action in the direction of economic change judiciary as a public trust in the emerging dispensation is and social development. The country’s imminent failure to atstrongly tied to the role of law in social change generally. Law tain the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) as preexercises both a conserving and instrumentalist role. Thus, scribed by the United Nations as well as its abandonment of while the law must be fixed or constant in order to ensure cer- the much vaunted Vision-20-2020 goals confirms the fear in tainty and predictability of people’s expectations, it also fulmany quarters that in respect of most indices of developfills its role as an instrument of social change or social ment, we seem to be taking more steps in the backward direcengineering. Accordingly, whether one speaks of a transfortion than forward. mation agenda or fulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations, As Claude Ake observed some years ago, the tragic flaw of the law is the framework for achieving every end, whether

Nigeria’s development process lies in its “disarticulate” economy, that is to say, an economy that produces what it does not consume and consumes what it does not produce. Accordingly, Nigeria can only make progress if it is able to bridge the existing gap between production and consumption. If the emerging dispensation is such that would give vent to effecting the nexus between production and consumption, then the entire country would have been placed on a higher pedestal and all organs of state, not least, the judiciary would perforce have to take position and adjust accordingly in order to attain the socio-economic and political development for which the nation has been yearning for so long. Conclusion Undoubtedly, Nigeria is a most important actor on the global stage and needs to do all it can in order to actualize its proverbial potential. It is stating the obvious that the country is abundantly blessed in terms of both human and natural resources. What has hitherto been lacking, as is universally acknowledged, is leadership in practically all aspects of the country’s political economy. To the extent that law represents the framework for actualizing national goals and objectives, the judiciary should play a pivotal role in the development process. There is no doubt that if the present infelicities symptomatic of the judicial process can be whittled down considerably, the prospects of the courts discharging the obligations thrust on them by society would indeed be tremendous. For this to happen, however, there must be commitment by all to support the on-going effort to reform and re-furbish the country’s judiciary such as to re-position it as an effective arm of government, able to function optimally in its role as the protector of due process, rule of law and good governance. • Oyebode is Professor of Law and Chair, Office of International Relations, Partnerships and Prospects, University of Lagos.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

100

Opinion Achebe: Seer, writer and patriot extraordinaire (2) By A. B. C. Nwosu Continued from yesterday N his essay titled The Novelist as a Teacher, Achebe had this to say: “Perhaps what I write is applied art as distinct from pure. But who cares? That essay written in 1965 but published in 1975 in “Morning Yet On Creation Day” (pp. 67 73) says so much about Achebe the writer. He insisted that the African writer must respond to the social and political issues of his age and promote the right causes of his people and when he fails to do this he “becomes like the absurd man in the proverb who deserts his burning house to a fleeing rat from the flames”. Wole Soyinka agrees that when the writer in his society cannot function as a conscience, he must recognise that his choice lies between denying himself totally or withdrawing to the position of chronicler or post-mortem-surgeon. The depth and clarity of Achebe’s vision coupled to his logic and uncanny eye for detail single him out as a seer. His novels mirror contemporary society and are so realistic, so correlatively true to life that he nearly lost his life for writing “A Man Of The People” – and yet that novel was essentially a work of fiction! In his view, the main problem of contemporary African society was the lack of restrain by politicians in wielding power, added to unbridled corruption and scramble for materialism which has resulted in the destruction of our democratic principles. Indeed, it is safe to state that as early as 1962, Achebe had become disillusioned with abuse of power, corruption, bad governance and impunity in post-colonial Africa. Whether one looks at his novels, or books of essays or short stories, Achebe’s despair over the post-colonial political mess and the squandering of Africa’s bright future to palpable. In his angry book “The Trouble With Nigeria”, published in 1983 he began by analysing where the trouble lay and ended the first chapter with the haunting question: “we have lost the twentieth century; are we bent on seeing that our children also lose the twenty-first? God forbid” This is quintessential Achebe, the patriot who as early as

1960 in “No Longer at Ease” had begun to point attention to corruption and the failure of the emergent indigenous administrative class in Obi Okonkwo. For me, the irony was that Obi, after his theory that the public service of Nigeria would remain corrupt-ridden “until the old Africans at the top were replaced by young men from the universities” would himself become jailed on corruption charges! That was Achebe the seer, and he was yet to be 30 years old! “A Man Of The People” which chronicled the political shenanigans of Chief the Honourable M. A. Nanga MP was described as a funny satire by The Observer, and as a comedy by the New Statesman newspapers. The book was a satire but it was certainly funny to most Nigerians. It showed Achebe’s despair at the mess that politicians had made of Nigeria’s hard-won political independence from the colonialists. Immediately it became demonstrated with the exit of colonial masters that politics carried with it the fabulous cash prizes, politicians typified by Chief the Honourable M. A. Nanga MP would stop at nothing to cling to power and saw their positions as their birthright, seeking to utilise any and every means to perpetuate themselves in such positions of power. From then, the politics of “you chop, I chop” took over. The society watched apathetic and helpless as the distinction between Power and Force became blurred by political rascals until those whose trade was Force increased in their numbers and drove service-minded persons out of the political arena. Thus “A Man Of The People” scrutinised what had gone wrong with both the Nigerian people and their rulers. Put differently, the central theme of the novel as I see it, appeared to be the impunity of politicians and the apathy and docility of the people; Chief Nanga MP and politicians using their positions to shamelessly enrich with the philosophy born of despair, tamely resigned themselves to the situation and did nothing. Along with “A Man Of The People” (1964), Achebe in 1965 had also a short story “The Voter” which became published in 1975 in “Girls At War” And Other Short Stories”. “The Voter” remains one of my favourites. All my children

and associates know about Mr. Rufus Okeke – “Roof for short” – who was the local canvasser for Chief the Honourable Marcus Ibe, Minister of Culture in the out-going government “which was pretty certain to be the in-coming one as well”. The political parties POP and PAP; the bribery and iyi from Mbanta: and the antics of “Roof” at the polling booth in that eight page short story, minor current Nigerian politics, half a century later and attest to Achebe’s depth of vision. To imagine that the seer in him was aware of these happenings almost half a century ago! But who listened to the seer and patriot? That the military coup of 1966 and the Nigeria-Biafra war occurred are a vindication of Chinua Achebe’s contemporary political events, which according to him were evident as far back as 1963. After the Nigeria-Biafra war 1967 - 70, it would appear to me that Achebe the patriot moved on to short stories and essay writing as a means of engaging his fellow compatriots and the world. “Girls At War and other short stores” was published in 1972 and contained illuminating human tragedy stories inside Biafra such as ‘Girls at War’, ‘Sugar Baby’ and ‘Civil Peace’ as well as classics like ‘The Madman’ and ‘The Voter’. In the preface to “Morning Yet Creation Day” (1975), Achebe insisted that ‘a writer need never excuses for writing” and signaled that his book on Biafra would be written when he said: “I have no doubt that there will be some inclined to the view that it will be better to forget the agonies of that past and turn the mind to the marvelous achievements of ‘reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction’. I DO NOT AGREE (capitals mine). I believe that in our situation the greater danger lies not in remembering but in forgetting, in pretending that slogans are the same as truth and I believe that Nigeria, always prone to self-deception, stands in great need of reminders”. He continued: “Experience is necessary for growth and survival but experience is not simply what happened. Experience is what we are able to do with what happens to us. I believe that if we are able to survive as

a Nation we need to grasp the full meaning of our tragedy. And one way to do it is to remind ourselves constantly of the things that happened and how we felt when they were happening (pp. vi – vii)”. That was Achebe in 1974. Thirty-eight years later “There Was A Country” where he took on his compatriots frontally and bluntly said all that he had to say about the rot in the country. The opening remains a classic: “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. Need he have said more? He maintained that Nigerians are who they are, and the country as underdeveloped as it is “simply and squarely” because the leaders are not what they should be. Who disagrees? On page 38 of the book he states that “Corruption in Nigeria has passed the alarming and entered the fatal stage: and Nigeria will die if we keep pretending that she is only slightly indisposed”. Again who disagrees? Thereafter in 1987, Achebe had seen enough of military rule in Nigeria and Africa to write another full-length novel “Anthills Of The Savannah”. Achebe’s “Anthills” scrutinised what the military in government in the emergent independent African nations who came to ‘clear the mess left by corrupt civilian regimes’ had made of their interventions. Achebe was appalled at how quickly the new military leader of Kangan, “H.E”, “His Excellency” succumbed to the corruption, and to anti-people actions that destroyed their civilian predecessors. Indeed Achebe in “Anthills of the Savannah” saw the soldiers as not being better that the civilians that they had ousted. In this novel as in his earlier writings, Achebe’s concern for the feeble, effete and apathetic civil society which had adopted the “I don’t care – it is not my business” attitude is clearly discernible: Achebe partly blamed the indifference and cynicism of the governed for the rot in the society and impunity of politicians. Consequently, some of us saw in Achebe, aspects of the Ayaka masquerade moving with a whip among the citizens, the intelligentsia and the political leaders, flagellating himself as well as them. • To be continued. • Prof. Nwosu is former Minister of Health.

The skewed relationship among nations By Ladi Folorunsho HE most common relationship between countries is trade, mostly necessitated by the fact that no single country has absolute comparative advantage on the production of everything it needed. To get all you want, there have to be a certain measure of dependency on “neighbour-country.” But for two countries to trade effectively, each must be able to produce commodities that the other will surely need, this will also smoothen other areas of bilateral pacts. However, this has not paid off effectively with respect to developing and underdeveloped countries’ bargain. Beginning from Nigeria, which is endowed with rich agricultural produce and crude oil reserve, beside other mineral resources, to Benin, Mali and Cameroun that are endowed with arable land for cultivating cotton and abundant reserve of productive land for plantain plantation, the story is the same. By the trade relations, Nigeria, Benin and Mali would supply agricultural produce like cotton, wheat, grain and oil to developed nations in exchange for their durable goods like cars, trucks, machines, electronics, among others. The imbalance has started. First, with the value of each country’s product offerings and in this case, it is skewed against the underdeveloped countries. Yet, this is still not the crux of the matter. With utmost dismay, the developed nations have been shortchanging developing and underdeveloped with their “foreign trade magic.” The tactics, whether wittingly or unwittingly are manifest in their agricultural policies; subsidy regime for certain agricultural produce; administrative policy; and activities through world financial institutions. Their agricultural policy ensures that base line prices are in force. From Europe to America, there is agricultural policy, which ensures that prices are set for farm produce. For instance, a farmer has the guarantee to sell for a certain price and when unable to sell off the quantity produced, government will be ready to absorb the excess capacity. We read it in papers and watch it on the news about the American grain reserve, even though it is usually deployed as aides to starving nations in times of disaster. With the coming into effect of this eco-

nomic measure, nations that have comparative advantages in agricultural produce could not exploit this foreign trade window to earn hard currencies nor gainfully engaged their active labour force within the sector. The enormous potential for expansion and engaging people has been hampered. The average cost of producing cotton in United States of America is beyond what cotton sells in the international market. But the American government has been heavily subsidising cotton farmers in the country, although the farmers in return, have a way of influencing their government through their association. The excess produce from U.S. is sold in foreign countries – mostly developing nations, even at below cost price (dumping strategy). The policy effect is that nations having comparative advantage in production of cotton like Mali and Benin, could not compete with the economic strategy. Those nations that have lost out – Benin and Mali are now centre for smuggling of foreign goods and more recently a terrorist haven. Citizens of these nations earn their economic rent, interest or profit from smuggling, dealing on foreign goods that they can produce or serving a purpose in religious fundamentalism. Thus, U.S. farmers are reaping off economic gains of the underdeveloped nations, whereas their counterpart wallows in abject poverty due to consequent dumping. The trade policy, where a nation makes it difficult or almost impossible for foreign goods to cross its borders, is consistently pursued by the developed countries at the detriment of the underdeveloped ones. Example of a nation principally using this policy is Japan. Any export to this country will be subjected to 100 per cent check. This means that if you have packaged your produce in a consumer ready container, the Japanese Customs would have to unwrap each container for check. The effect of this policy is extra cost for repackaging, together with necessary duties and time wastage. Finally, the product price will become uncompetitive at the Japanese market. Another challenge to beset the export is the tying-in arrangement that the Japanese goods distribution networks has with their indigenous firms and where the exporter cannot break into this channel, the

goods will only reach few people. Consequently, it is either one forgets Japanese market completely or enter through foreign direct investment to be producing goods right there in the country. Some of the world’s financial institutions are built to provide credit facility at a reasonable coupon rate for constructing infrastructure like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, among others. But to be at the helm of affairs of these global institutions, you have to be sponsored by the “god-father” nations – U.S. and Europe. If any developing nations must borrow from these bodies, the prime condition must be met – “maintain an open door trade policy with other nation.” The implication has always been the exposure of the indigenous and fragile industries to unequal competition with existing, thriving large conglomerates from developed world and at the end, the indigenous firms would have wound-up with large workers churned out to the labour market again. Also, at the end of the lending transactions, the little nation would be left with huge financial debt at a cut-throat interest rates. Nigeria’s way forward, as one of the recipients of the developed nations’ dossiers, are to target and develop the local market, while holistically implementing its agricultural policy to empower farmers, thereby making the sector attractive to the teaming large active workforce. There should be a deliberate implementation of efficient and effective anti-dumping measures to protect our industries and labour force. Time to lament over parlous infrastructure should be substituted for sustainable investment to facelift prospects, raise electricity generation level and ensure effective transportation system to enable our goods get to the market at reasonable cost price. It will also be a time for value re-orientation – changing the consumption pattern of average Nigerian, which seems to tend towards preference for foreign goods to home made goods. We would need to improve on our import contents from more of consumption assets to investment assets. • Folorunsho is the Managing Partner at Raywhite Folorunsho & Co, Abuja.

101

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Law

Quote of the week The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation. —Emma Goldman, Anarchism judicialeditor@yahoo.co.uk/ 08033151041 Desk Head: Ibe Uwaleke

‘Democracy can only thrive with trusted Judiciary’ Interview By Bertram Nwannekanma

The judiciary’s role in sustaining the nation’s democracy has been greeted with mixed feelings. While many believe the judiciary has deepened the nation’s democracy, others feel the meddlesomeness of politicians in the nation’s judicial system has marred its contributions. But in this encounter, a former secretary general of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dele Adesina, stressed the need for the public to still have confidence and trust in the nation’s judiciary despite all odds. SKED to assess the role of the Judiciary in A Nigeria’s 14 years of democratic rule, Adesina said the judiciary, as an institution, deserves to be commended more than any other institution in sustaining the nation’s democracy. According to him, of all the three arms of government, the judiciary has performed beyond estimation or average. He said: “Throughout the world, democracy is founded on the concept of the rule of law. Democracy is the government of the people, for the people and by the people. It is the people that is the very centre-piece of democracy; take the people away, you don’t have democracy. Rule of law is for the people. It is subordinating the government to the supremacy of the law, so that the people can enjoy their democratic and fundamental rights. It is, therefore, the judiciary that has widened the democratic space. “Recall that during the earlier stage of this experiment, there was an attempt by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to impose some extra-constitutional conditions, which political associations must meet before they can transform to a political party. It became a subject of litigation at the instance of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi and that case went to the final court of the land. But the Supreme Court said no, the constitution has stipulated the conditions for the formulation of political parties, and that any political association that fulfills those conditions are automatically register-able as a political party. That was why we could have the degree of participations that we have had so far. Whether having the proliferation of political parties is advantageous is another thing. When you look at some of the fundamental cases that had gone to the Supreme Court, like the political dispute between the former President Olusegun Obasanjo and erstwhile Vice President Atiku Abubakar, that crisis was enough to engulf that political dispensation against the election of 2007. Also, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) came out with a report purportedly indicting Atiku that he could not contest election on the reason that he had been indicted by the report. It was the judiciary that came to his rescue by saying no, that only a court of law can indict a citizen to the extent of disqualifying him from contesting election. Mention must also be made about petitions that had characterised our conduct of elections. It was generally known that the elections of 2003 were not fair or credible, as well as

the 2007 elections, which were generally accepted to be flawed. It was also the lot of the judiciary to adjudicate on the matter. So, the position of the judiciary is very pivotal to the success of any democracy because there will always be dispute and the only available means to resolve it is the court of law; the alternative to it, is anarchy. On concerns raised over the quality of judges in Nigerian courts, the revered lawyer said he never had any doubt as whether the judiciary in Nigeria is manned by quality personnel. “When you check the history of this country, you will know that Nigeria has produced eminent jurists, who were not only justices of courts in Nigeria but also chief justices of other nations. Like Justice Akinola Aguda, the former judge of the High Court of Western Region, who later became the chief judge of Botswana; Justice Taslim Elias, who distinguished himself as an international jurist; the late Justice Kayode Eso; the late Justice Augustine Nnamani and Justice Chukwudifu Oputa. This generation of judges were our first 11 and they were qualified to be the first 11 of any country in the world. Today, when you look at our Supreme Court, you find the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar; Justices Walter Onneghen, Rhodes Vivour, among others. “None of the justices in the apex court can be wished away. You only sit down to read their judgments to testify that, the same is applicable at the Appeal Court. “So as a litigation lawyer, the preponderance majority of judicial personnel in all cadres of our courts can stand shoulder to shoulder with any of their peers in the world. That is not to say that there are not one or two whose outputs are low, particularly at the High Court level. So when we talk about corruption in the judiciary, we must be careful not to use the exception to represent the general situation. If you have 100 judges, two of them have proven to be corrupt and you now conclude that the judiciary of 100 judges is corrupt. Are you being serious? How much of the fact are you putting on the table?” On whether members of the Bar are not culpable to judicial corruption, he said: “Today, the capacity of lawyers in Nigeria is about 90,000. Just like any other human endeavour, all of us cannot be first 11. Out of the 90,000, there are first-class lawyers, there are middle-class lawyers, there are people who are struggling to make a mark and there are those that are looking for what to do. Again in Nigeria, once you belong to a side that people do not agree with, they are ready to blackmail you. Once a judgment is delivered, which does not agree with the public opinion in the matter, there is always an outcry that the lawyers have taken money to judges. We must settle some of these fundamental conflicts if the country must move forward and if this our democracy must succeed. Without the judiciary that you trust and have confidence in, you cannot talk about democracy and if we must have guaranteed trust and confidence in our democracy, we must stop some of these blackmails that we see in the newspapers everyday. It is particularly so, when you also realise that the judiciary is the only institution of government with proven internal mechanism to deal with erring members of the profession. We have the National Judicial Commission (NJC), which is saddled with the responsibility of maintaining discipline and sanctioning any erring judge and you have seen some of them sanctioned. We also have the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) that is tasked to sanction erring lawyers, who run foul of the rules of their professional conducts. Apart from these organs, which regulate the judiciary, tell me the internal mechanism that controls the members of the parliament or the excesses of

Adesina (SAN) the executive. Why are we not talking about the two? But people are always ready to rubbish the judiciary. Asked why it is difficult accessing the courts for justice, Adesina said access to justice is there for everybody in Nigeria but that it is left for people to decide the level that they can access. “For example, how much is the filing fee compared with the cost of living in some areas? You have a land matter, how much do you need to file it in Lagos High Court or in any of the states in the federation? You could file a case at less than N2,000. Is that expensive? Maybe people are talking of cost of justice being expensive in terms of the lawyers that they want to hire. That is just a component. If you want to buy a car, you have a choice to buy a Beatle car or a Mercedes Benz. The same goes for the lawyers. There are very brilliant lawyers at the lower cadre too who you can go to and you will get judgment. Among the top hierarchy, there are also Pro-Bono cases. “In my little experience as a lawyer, the cases that have given me the toughest time that I had devoted the greatest energy to do have been cases with little or no pay. But I have some reservations when it comes to some matters like election petitions cases. I agree with people believing that the basis of charging professional services is too high. I don’t know the point we are trying to prove but again, maybe this stems from the extreme determination of the politicians to win at all cost. Some will assemble 10 Senior Advocates, how will you not pay exorbitant money when you are

Without the judiciary that you trust and have confidence in, you cannot talk about democracy and if we must have guaranteed trust and confidence in our democracy; we must stop some of these blackmails that we see in the newspapers everyday.

putting together a team of 10 SANs for a case possibly two can handle? But I believe that these are going to be temporary when we began to have credible elections. When we develop the confidence and credibility in our electoral process, some of these things will stop. When we grow to the level that we have confidence in our electoral system and the personnel in the commission. On how to tackle delay and corruption in the judiciary, Adesina said the CJN, in the recent conference organised by the NBA, made a commitment on that. “The basis of that conference chaired by the CJN is the rule of law. It was to enhance the capacity of our judges and to give them assurance that democracy has come to stay in the land and that they must be ready to provide speedy justice to all. That we are concerned that delay, if it cannot be totally eradicated, must be reduced substantially. Let people begin to have the rough idea of when they can start and finish their cases, when they access the court. “We talked about maintenance of law and order, which are necessary ingredients of democracy. I expect that as we continue to grow this experiment, the judges must become more determined that only the best is good for us. In fact, the point was well emphasised by the CJN that those of us who are in the system as judges must do everything possible to make people believe in our impartiality, to make them trust us and believe in our independence. It is only then they can come to us. So, the process of sanitisation within the system must continue, not witch-hunting anybody but to separate the wheat from the chaff. At the Bar level, the NBA president also made the point that the days of flagrant disobedience of the rule of professional conduct are gone. He added that lawyers are going to be held accountable for whatever they do. These are declarations aimed at making the process better than what has been in the past.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

102 LAW

LawPeople Profile By Joseph Onyekwere INCE 2009 when the idea first Sresentatives came up to appoint country repfor the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law, none has been given the responsibility. For the ABA, country representatives would launch programmes that would help expand its membership throughout the world. In Nigeria, the key function of a representative would be to promote ABA activities and events within Nigeria and other neighbouring countries without a designated country representative. The person is also expected to bring in members of the Nigerian legal community into the ABA, and act as a liaison officer and attend to inquire relating to NigeriaAmerican legal issues, as well as coordinate ABA-Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) relations through international city chapter in Nigeria. Recently, Nelson Ogbuanya, who has been a member of ABA Section of International Law since 2009 and a senior lecturer at the Nigerian Law School, was appointed the ABA country representative for Nigeria. “It is a great honour and privilege for me to serve at that level of professional capacity. The selection process was very rigorous. Of course, there would be a lot of benefits from the synergy resulting from the rub-off, in terms of acquisition of international best practice in skills, client care and networking, continuing legal education programmes on cross border legal practice and other emerging areas of legal practice would be mutually beneficial to the ABA-NBA membership”, he explained. In this capacity, Ogbuanya will now set up some chapters in Nigeria where members who are interested will participate, coordinate activities of members, as well as the organization of events, trainings and mentorship programmes that would enhance the activities of ABA in Nigeria. The American Bar will also expect him to do a lot of liaison in relation to clarifying certain legal issues, relationship buildings and some exchange programmes that relates Nigerian legal system with that of America. It also includes document certification and verifying personalities as well as attestation of good standing of members of Nigerian legal community. The term of office of the occupier of the position is two years and is renewable. According to Ogbuanya, having attended several programmes of the Section in the past, he was invited to present a paper this year and the presentation of that paper became the genesis of the processes that led to the appointment. “This year, I was invited to present a paper on foreign investment in Nigeria and I was able to present a very good paper. Later on, I was told

“A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better.” -Jim Rohn

Nigeria as legal symbol for the American Bar

Ogbuanya to file nominations from Africa committee with regards to those who are ready to serve as country representatives in different African countries and that they would screen them through a rigorous process. And after that processes they would announce those who finally emerged. I indicated my interest and filed my nomination and sent it to the African committee and they reviewed it. They told me that it was okay but that I should know that I was not the only applicant. “I was happy on May 23, when I received an e-mail alert confirming that I had just emerged as the country representative for Nigeria and they followed it up with a letter specifying my functions and expectations”, he declared. What was the paper he presented all about? He responds: “It was a topic which we were invited from different countries of the world such as China, Argentina, Denmark, New York and Nigeria to present as one of the activities of the ABA spring meeting in Washington DC in April 2013. The topic borders on restriction of investment across borders. What kind of legal regimes operate in different countries that affect foreigners investing in those countries and I spoke from Nigeria perspective. It

In America also, there are restrictions regime and investment portfolio levels are different. But if you come to Nigeria, you can invest in a small, medium and large-scale basis without any restriction. Nigeria, has indeed, the highest investment legal regime-friendly nature than any of them. And they said it to me that Nigeria is the place to be, that despite all our challenges, our investment regime is still the best so far in terms of protection of investors

was more or less a debate where people tried to showcase their country as the best investment forum. And we were able to scrutinize those legal regimes to see whether they were actually what they were positioning them to be. “I spoke about Nigeria and many of them were interested in Nigeria because of our abundant resources and talents but were afraid of legal issues and corruption perceptions. And I was able to justify my position very well and argued that Nigeria emerged from an era of absolute restriction to the state of laissezfaire, which we have now. Before 1995, there were a lot of restrictions about foreign investment in respect of percentage equity holdings and the kind of investment one could get involved with; but with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Act of 1995, investment legal regime for foreigners in Nigeria, were liberalized by guaranteeing assurance of 100 percent repatriation of return on investment in net of tax and liberalizing the investment forum such that you can invest in any sector.” He explained that all the restrictions that were hitherto in the Nigerian Enterprise Promotion Decree of 1977 and lasted up to 1995 were all removed, adding that the new law suspended those provisions and liberalized foreign investment landscape. “Nigeria has the highest investment open door, legally speaking than many parts of the world. If you look at the law in Argentina for instance, there are standing restrictions of different type of investment; the same in China – repatriation policy in China is very high. In America also, there are restrictions regime; investment portfolio levels are different. But if you come to Nigeria, you can invest in a small,

medium and large -scale basis without any restriction. So, Nigeria has, indeed, the highest investment legal regime friendly nature than any of them. And they gave it to me that Nigeria is the place to be, that despite all our challenges, our investment regime is still the best so far in terms of protection of investor”, he stated. Ogbuanya added that Nigeria has arbitration as a means of settling investment dispute and was among the first to sign International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) convention in 1965, otherwise known as Washington Convention, which resulted in the Multilateral Investment Treaty (MIT). Already, he has got confirmation of approval for bringing in delegates of ABA centre for human rights by first week of July, for an exchange programme on Justice Defender programme, which coordinates pro bono legal support to human rights defenders around the world. They’ll partner with NBA Human Rights Institute and NBA Lagos Branch. Ogbuanya is a corporate and investment attorney, arbitrator and ADR consultant. He is also a senior lecturer with the Nigerian Law School, Lagos campus, where he teaches corporate law practice and arbitration and ADR practice. He is a resource consultant and trainer with Nocs Consults cen-

tre for dispute management and resolution. He also regularly works as a local partner consultant (Nigeria) with the IFC/world bank doing business project team responsible for producing the “doing business report” (2011,2013), which benchmarks business regulations in about 183 economies worldwide. He authored the book, Essentials of Corporate Law Practice in Nigeria 2010. In the course of a distinguished academics and practice career, he has written resourceful papers and represented various individuals, corporate and regulatory organization in litigation matters. He has been involved in negotiating, vetting and drafting major commercial and concession contracts, and has rendered legal opinion on complex transactional legal issues. Nelson was called to the Nigerian Bar in February 1998 and holds Bachelors of Law, LLB (Hons) of the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1996, Masters of law (LLM) from University of Lagos, 2000. He was admitted as a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb), London 2004, and Chartered Institute of Taxation (ACTI) in 2011. In 2006, he was appointed member of the panel of Neutrals (Arbitration) by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), for resolution of interconnectivity disputes among GSM operators in Nigeria and in 2003, he was appointed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria and sworn in as Notary Public for Nigeria. He is an active member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos branch where he has served in various capacities in the executive committee such as Publicity Secretary, continuing legal education committee, Bar-Bench relations committee and secretary bye law review committee. He is also an international associate member of the ABA sections of international law and belongs to many other local and international professional groups. His area of interest include corporate and investment law, arbitration and ADR, investor protection, business regulation, business startup and restructuring, taxation and fiscal regime, corporate immigration and ICT/IPR enforcement. He had actually majored in science subjects as a college student, but discovered he had an inquisitive mind, to always probe further about issues and decided to go for law and since then, law has been the best for it, especially Commercial Law practice. He was inspired by some big names in the profession, which include Professor Charles Iloegbunam (SAN), Professor P. Okonkwo (SAN), Bar Chijioke Emole, former Attorney General of the Federation, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) and Professor Chioma Agomuo. For hobbies, he likes football, interactions, travelling and enjoys green and light blue colours. As an African man, he enjoys Okro soup with pounded yam. Ogbuanya is married with children.

Do you know… Bill of sale: “…like a deed of conveyance, is a contractual document in the sense that it is a more formal document made pursuant to and giving effect to an antecedent agreement”: See The Vessel “Leona 11” v. First Fuels Limited [2002] 18 NWLR (Pt. 799) 439 at 472, [S.C.].

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

LAW 103

FamilyLaw

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. ~Bill Beattie

Child’s support: A legal obligation (2) •How much money is needed for college? •Do the parent’s have sufficient income and assets to pay for the education? •What is the relationship of the cost to the kind of school or cost of study sought by the child? •How committed is the child to a post-secondary education and

Child support for disabled children EW Jersey case law requires parents to conN tribute to the cost of necessary care and maintenance of an adult child who has become so disabled, due to a pre-existing mental illness or emotional disorder, that the capacity to maintain him or herself is lacking. What type of disability would extend a parent’s child support obligation? In the case of Baldino v. Baldino, the court held that voluntary addiction to illegal drugs is not a disability or handicap, which would defer emancipation and extend a parent’s child support obligation. The father in that case was not required to contribute to his son’s support. In the case of Filippone v. Lee, the son was a troubled 14 -year- old teenager who was living at a home for boys. Ultimately, he received G.E.D. and started college. Unfortunately, he failed most of his courses and did not enroll in school the following semester. The son tried again two semesters later, but then withdrew. Approximately one year later, the son sustained serious knife wounds and became disabled. The issue was if the parents were obligated to contribute to his financial support as a result of his disability. The court found that the son became emancipated when he failed his courses and failed to return to school the following semester. The son became disabled one year after he was emancipated. The court held that the parents had no obligation to financially support their son as a result of his disability. Unwed mother Another troublesome circumstance occurs when a minor child gives birth out of wedlock while she is in high school. In the Filippone case, the parties’ unwed daughter had a child while she was in high

school. The daughter went directly to college upon graduating from high school and was primarily supported by her father. Although she received minimal support from the child’s father and was working parttime to contribute to some of her expenses while attending college, the court found that she was clearly un-emancipated and thus, ordered the father to pay child support. Child support includes a post secondary education The New Jersey Courts have held that higher education is a necessity. New Jersey law goes further than most states in requiring parents to financially contribute towards their children’s post-secondary education. In New Jersey, a child is not emancipated until he or she completes their education. Post secondary education is considered a form of child support. In deciding whether a parent is obligated to pay for a child’s tuition and costs, the court considers the following factors: •If the parents were still living with the child, would that parent have financially contributed toward the cost of the child’s education? •What are the background, values and goals of the parent? •How reasonable is the child’s expectations for higher education?

what is that child’s aptitude? •What financial resources does the child have? •Is the child able to earn money during the school year, or on vacation? •Are there any grants, student loans, scholarships, or financial aid available? •What is the child’s relationship to the paying parent? •Do the child and parent have mutual affection and shared goals? •Does the child respond to parental advice and guidance? •How does the education relate to the child’s prior training and the child’s long term goals? In addition to the above, the Court may consider any other factor it considers relevant in evaluating a claim for college contribution.9 Parents who have the financial ability have been required to pay for a child’s graduate school tuition. In the case of Ross v. Ross,10 the mother, the custodial parent, requested continued support from the father until the child completed law school. The father argued that he should not be obligated to pay support beyond

college graduation. The father also argued that his daughter’s professional goals could be obtained by her attending law school part-time and working part-time. The Court held that there is no definitive date as to when child support ends. The father’s argument that his daughter could pay for law school by attending part-time and working part-time was rejected by the Court. The Court held that the custodial parent, in this case the mother, had the discretion as to how the child would achieve the goal of completing graduate school. The noncustodial parent cannot insist on alternative ways of accomplishing that goal. The pivotal issue for the court was this: Had the parents not been separated or divorced, would they have paid for the daughter’s law school tuition? After considering the parties’ respective histories and incomes, the fact that their child was an only child, and the child’s early interest in attending law school, the Court found that the parents would have paid for their daughter’s law school tuition. The Court decided that the child could not be considered emancipated until she graduated or withdrew from law school. The father was directed to continue to support his daughter. Conclusion Emancipation does not automatically occur when a child reaches a specific age or upon the occurrence of a specific event. Furthermore, a child may be deemed emancipated for a period of time and then un-emancipated. The question of if a child is emancipated for child support purposes involves a critical evaluation of the facts and circumstances of each case including but not limited to, the child’s needs, interests, independent resources, the family’s reasonable expectations, the parties’ financial abilities and other relevant issues.

YOU AND THE LAW —-With Dupe Ajayi Constitutional supremacy: The Nigerian experience (1) HE question of who makes the law T or how the law is made or who has the power to do what, is always a constitutional issue in any political entity. In a couple of weeks, our attention will be focused on some constitutional questions with specific reference to Nigeria. The varieties of political systems that exist across the world are a product of the constitution that is adopted or operated by the countries that practice those systems. Nigeria, as a political entity currently operates a federal system with its concomitant presidential system of government. This is in contradistinction to a unitary system with the parliamentary system of government that goes with it. Political scientists, juries and scholars of constitutional l a w

Mark

have defined federalism in their different views. However, since this piece is not about theories, we will spare the readers with the deluge of definitions of federalism given by different scholars and rather offer a simple definition that fairly gives an idea of what federalism is in the light of those varieties of definitions. Federalism, simply put, is a political arrangement in which hitherto autonomous groups from a central government with the understanding that powers will be shared between the central government and the autonomous groups who will retain their separate identities and some degree of autonomy where it is expedient to so do. Thus, one of the important features of federalism is the sharing of powers between levels of government. This is contrasted with unitary government in which power is concentrated in the hands of a government at the centre. The need to share power between the different levels of government will necessitate a written document which will contain the outline, scope, plenitude, and amplitude of powers which

belong to each level of government. There is hardly any federation without a written constitution. The United States of America, Canada and Australia are examples of other countries that operate federalism with written constitutions. As for what informs the adoption of federalism by countries that practice it, including Nigeria, a number of features have been noted to be common to those countries, which make federalism suited to them. Principal among these features are large population, large geographical dimension and homogeneity in character. The presence of these characteristics is sufficiently compelling as to make federalism a sine qua non for any country. From the definition of the federalism given above and a host of other definitions given by scholars, any political arrangement must possess the following qualities before it can be regarded as a true federalism namely, voluntary submission of autonomy, a supreme constitution, division of powers between organs or arms of government, independence and autonomy, equality of size and power and independent judiciary. We are going to make an excursion into the Nigerian constitution to see how these essentials of federalism are contrived in it. Voluntary submission of autonomy by the federating units is the foremost attribute of federalism because in the absence of such voluntariness, the alternative is coercion. The consequence of such coercive approach in most cases result into the unsustainability of the union. The experience of countries such as the USSR, Yugoslavia or Chechoslovakia is

instructive. The Nigerian federalism in this respect is also defective. This is because the country was not created as a result of any pre-union meeting between the various ethnic groups and religion that make up the federation, rather the colonial masters imposed the union on the parties to the arrangement. Structural imbalance, social, economic and political injustice, cut-throat competitions between regions and levels of government, internecine wars and the rise of ethnic militias to mention but a few are the consequences of the defective foundation of the country. However, it should be noted that the absence of voluntariness at the beginning of the federation can be cured by holding a sovereign national conference or in a simple language, to hold a meeting involving all the ethnic groups as stakeholders so as to renegotiate the basis of the union. So, the proponents of a sovereign national conference in Nigeria among the ethnic groups that make up the federation have a strong point. The argument that a sovereign national conference is not necessary because Nigeria is already a sovereign country is unconvincing because sovereignty ultimately belongs to the people and the test of the sovereignty lies in implementation of the wishes and aspirations of the people. Thus, what is important is to ascertain through a referendum whether majority of Nigerians indeed desire such a conference. Similarly, the apprehension that holding such a conference may ultimately lead to a breakage is not cogent enough to per-

petuate the cat and mouse relationship that may degenerate into anarchy and ultimately a break-up. Commenting on voluntary submission as an essential factor for a successful federalism, a learned author observed, “in nations like the United States of America and Switzerland where federalism has thrived for centuries, it is primarily because such is based on a voluntary submission of powers to the central government. Where this is absent at the beginning or as the basis of the federation, there would be need for a sovereign national conference, or at least a conference of nationalities for the purpose of renegotiating the basis of the federation, where this is not done, especially in a multi-ethnic society, the continued existence of the federation remains potentially threatened by matters which in other federations would be regarded as minor. It is because of the absence of such that, for example in Nigeria, every action of the executive head of government is regarded as suspect when it appears to favour a particular ethnic group more than the other. At such conference, issues such as revenue allocation formula, formula for choosing the head of executive periodically, in such a way that every member of the society would have a sense of belonging, would be negotiated. This would make it possible for the nation to involve the kind of federation that would best suit its particular circumstances and people”. Constitutional Law in Nigeria, Kehinde M. Mowoe, 2008, Multhouse Press Ltd, Suru-lere, Lagos, pg 54.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

104 LAW

National Judicial Council vs. Justice Mohammed Talba (3) Matters arising By Iheanyichukwu Maraizu T would be recalled that Nigeria changed I22nd from Pounds sterling to Naira on or about the day of April, 1972 (over 40 years ago). It is, however startling that our statute books still reflect the old currency of pounds and shillings. In order to make the anti -graft war more meaningful, there is need for stakeholders to ensure that anticorruption laws are made stiffer. This is because the crime itself has become more rampant and more sophisticated. It would be good to start by making corruption, fraud and related offences strict liability offences. By definition, a strict liability offence is one whose elements do not contain the need for criminal intent or mens rea. According to the Black’s Law Dictionary, (6th edition) these are usually crimes that jeopardize public welfare. In such cases, all the prosecution needs prove is the fact that the alleged crime was committed (i.e. the actus reus). It is evident in Nigeria today that corruption is the greatest crime that jeopardizes public welfare. This is because funds meant for infrastruc-

tural and economic development are siphoned into private pockets. The result is that abject poverty holds sway in the entire country. It would be recalled that owing to the negative impact of the activities of smugglers on the economy, offences under the customs and excise management act laws of the federation of Nigeria 2004 were made strict liability offences. I am of the candid view that corruption has continued to thrive in Nigeria because of the kid gloves with which offenders are being treated. This must stop if corruption must be reduced to the barest minimum. To however punish a judge who

did his job in accordance with relevant laws is to say the least most objectionable as this amounts to using him as a scapegoat. This is because no allegation of misconduct or breach of code of conduct was made against the judge. If any such allegation was made, it was not shown to be proved. According to the NJC, the Honourable Justice Talba was punished for improper exercise of judicial discretion. With utmost humility, I submit that this is a most nebulous phrase that the NJC needs to clearly define. Failure to do this may leave people like me with the impression that the judge was victimized for reasons that are being hidden from the public. Assuming without conceding that the judge improperly exercised his discretion, the worst the NJC should have done in the circumstances of this case was to reprimand the judge in writing. Even then, this should not have been publicized. So suspend t h e judge for a year Justice Mukhtar (CJN) with-

out salary for merely exercising his discretion improperly amounts to killing a fly with a sledgehammer. Clearly, the punishment, which the NJC meted to the judge, is totally out of proportion with the offence he allegedly committed. In my humble opinion, Hon. Justice Talba was humiliated for no just cause and this is not healthy for the judiciary at all. As a legal practitioner and therefore, a stakeholder in the justice sector, I am in total support of whatever the NJC will do to ensure that our judges maintain the path of rectitude in the discharge of their duties. It (NJC) must, however, avoid playing to the gallery as it has done in this case. A judge should be punished only when a case of misconduct has been clearly and evidently established against him. Anything short of this is absolutely unacceptable. My candid advice to the NJC is that it should immediately recall Justice Talba from suspension and possibly apologise to him. This is because being a body made up of human beings the NJC is not infallible. Whenever it makes a mistake, therefore, (as in the instant case), it should be courageous and humble enough not only to admit but also to rectify same. • Maraizu is an Abuja-based lawyer

Anti-corruption war in Nigerian judiciary: CJN Mukhtar’s example (2) Issues in the news By Femi Falana ER decision to team up with Adesola Oguntade JSC (as he then was) and Walter Onnoghen JSC in writing powerful dissenting opinions in the controversial case of Mohammadu Buhari v Independent National Electoral Commission, convinced the reactionary forces in the legal establishment that she could rock the boat if allowed to become the head of the country’s judiciary. The clean bill of health given to Justice Ayo Isa Salami, the suspended President of the Court of Appeal by a Committee of the National Judicial Council chaired by Justice Mukhtar was the last straw that broke the carmel’s back. A plot was therefore hatched to prevent her from becoming the Chief Justice of Nigeria. It would be recalled that the system had successfully refused to make her the Chief Judge of Kano State in 1987 even though she was the most qualified judge in the state judiciary at the material time. History was to repeat itself in April 2010, when the backward forces perfected the strategy to deny her the opportunity to assume the headship of the Nigerian judiciary. In a dubious move to promote her to irrelevance Justice Mukhtar was offered the post of the Chief Justice of The Gambia under a special bilateral arrangement between Nigeria and The Gambia. But she saw through the plot and rightly declined to take up the offer. Hence, in July 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan nominated Justice Aloma Mukhtar, as the most Senior Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed the then outgoing Chief Justice, the Honourable Justice Dahiru Musdapher. During the screening of the Chief Justice designate, Muktar by the Senate on July 2012, some Senators took her to task on the disturbing rate of corruption in the judiciary. Without any hesitation whatsoever, she was quick to admit that the situation “is very bad and I am saddened by it. I will try as much as possible to ensure that as for the bad eggs that are there, there will be a cleansing by the NJC based on petitions”. It is doubtful if the Senate members were convinced that she could muster the courage to rid the Judiciary of corruption. But

based on her impressive performance at the screening session coupled with her solid credentials the entirety of the senate members unanimously confirmed her appointment. Having had promises of reforms made by political leaders and judicial officers broken in the past Nigerians took Justice Mukhtar’s undertaking to reform the judiciary with a pinch of salt. But since she took over the leadership of the nation’s judiciary she has repositioned the National Judicial Council to take up the urgent task of restoring confidence in the judiciary. Thus, in less than 10 months of her tenure, the CJN has made it clear to judges and senior advocates of Nigeria that it is no longer business as usual. Disturbed by the total loss of confidence in the judiciary by Nigerians, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Muktar, has resolved to take remedial steps to restore the image of the judiciary. The National Judicial Council under her leadership held an emergency meeting on February 21, 2013 to review the pending cases of judicial misconduct against some judges. At the end of its deliberations the NJC recommended the compulsory retirement of two judges namely, Justice Charles Archibong of the Federal High Court and Justice Thomas Naron of the Plateau State High Court for judicial misconduct. According to the statement issued by the NJC, Justice Thomas Naron, the Chairman of the dissolved Osun State Election Petition Tribunal was found to have regularly communicated with ex-Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s counsel-Otunba Kalejaiye SAN through telephone and SMS messages while the election petition filed by Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola was being tried by the Tribunal. With respect to Justice Archibong, it was established that he dismissed the 26-count charge against former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Mr. Erastus Akingbola, without taking his plea; made caustic and reckless remarks on the competence of four Senior Advocates of Nigeria and refused to release a certified true copy of his ruling to the lawyers; convicted some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders for contempt when the contempt application was not served on them, gave judgment in a case commenced by originating summons without written address-

es filed by parties. Owing to such litany of errors the NJC concluded that Justice Archibong did not have any grasp of the law and procedure. Another judge, Okechukwu Okeke J. of the Federal High Court was given a stern warning three weeks to his retirement from the Bench. Mohammed Talba of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has been placed on 12-month suspension while the Chief Judge of the same court, Justice Lawal Hassan Gumi has opted to resign instead of waiting for the investigation of the allegations of misconduct leveled against him. The Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee headed by the Chief Justice has suspended a Senior Advocate of Nigeria sine die while the NJC has referred another one to the NBA for discipline on account of allegations of profession misconduct. To prevent judges from embarking on foreign trips at the expense of their judicial duties no judge can travel out of the country any longer without a written permission of the Chief Justice while judges cannot leave their stations without the authorization of the appropriate heads of courts. The NJC has warned judges to stop compromising themselves by issuing orders or giving judgments that cannot be defended on the basis of the available facts and the applicable law. With the sanctions imposed on erring judges a strong message has been sent to judges and lawyers that it is no longer business as usual. Even the corrupt cabal that took over the award of the rank of senior advocates of Nigeria has discovered that the game is up. The Chief Justice has asked judges who cannot deliver at least four judgments in a year to be prepared to call it quits with the judiciary as the nation cannot continue to keep indolent judges on the bench. She has directed that courts should commence sitting at 9.00a.m. instead of the usual practice whereby many judges walk in leisurely to court at noon without any justifiable reason. It is hoped that the heads of courts and the Nigerian Bar Association will monitor and drive the reform agenda of the Chief Justice in order to restore the confidence of the Nigerian people in the courts. It is gratifying to note that the National Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers has been reactivated to deal with erring lawyers. Last week, five

Femi Falana lawyers were removed from the roll of legal practitioners for having been convicted of sundry acts of professional misconduct. The NBA leadership deserves commendation for this feat. It is however hoped that the NBA will beam its searchlight on senior lawyers who have been linked with serial violations of the rules of professional ethics. In a country where impunity has become the order of the day the forces of darkness that have profited maximally from the judicial rot are understandably not comfortable with the courage and determination of the Chief Justice to clean out the Augean stable in the judiciary. They have therefore decided to resort to subtle blackmail with a view to turning back the hand of the clock. But having lived above board like Ceaser’s wife, the Chief Justice should forge ahead with the purge, which is going to enhance the image of the judiciary and lead to the restoration of the confidence of Nigerians in the institution. Since the principalities that are behind the destruction of the judiciary are stupendously rich and well connected they are going to continue to fight dirty. In other words, the CJN and the NJC should expect a sustained attack from the forces of retrogression as corruption has a way of fighting back. However, the NJC should strive to give adequate time and opportunity to judges accused of misconduct

with a view to confronting the allegations made against them. The manner of appointment should be reviewed to prevent lawyers of questionable character or who lack the knowledge of law from finding their way to the bench. The reports and comments of the Nigerian Bar Association on all short listed candidates for the bench should henceforth be given serious consideration because the body is well suited to recommend those among its members that are qualified to be appointed judges. The NJC should refrain from applying illegal laws and policies capable of frustrating the elevation of competent lawyers to the higher bench. Happily for the legal profession and the country, concerned judges and progressive lawyers have declared their unalloyed solidarity with the CJN. A few days ago, Justice Akanbi spoke glowingly of the Chief Justice when he said “Corruption, talking frankly, is endemic. It has gone to a level that it has affected the judiciary. There was a time you would never talk anything against the judiciary. I am glad to say this is a great moment when Maryam Aloma Muktar, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, is doing quite a lot in fighting the menace. We should support her in fighting the battle to see that we get a better Nigeria. I know Muktar, she served under me. TO BE CONTINUED

LAW 105

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Is the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court a subject matter or party? (2) From the Court By Theophilus Orumor

HE Supreme Court in the case of Adetayo vs T Ademola (2010) 15 NWLR pt 1215 pg 169 would seem to have laid every controversy to rest when the court held, with reference to where a federal agency is a party to a suit before the Federal High Court but the court lacks jurisdiction over the subject matter, as follows: It appears that the impression has been created that the Federal High Court has exclusive original jurisdiction to the exclusion of all other courts in Nigeria in any civil cause in which the Federal Government or any of its agencies is a party. However, a very close and careful and proper interpretation or construction of the provision would show that this is not necessarily the position. This is so because it is the fact and circumstances of each case that will determine whether or not it is a case within or outside the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. (Per Mohammed JSC@ page 190). The above position (i.e. the fact that there is a Federal Government or its agency as a party in a suit does not automatically confer jurisdiction on the Federal High Court where the court does not have jurisdiction over the subject matter) were re-stated by the Court of Appeal in the following case: FMBN vs Lagos State Govt. 2010 5 NWLR pt 1188,pg 570@602, where the Court of Appeal held thus: Rt 5: The Federal High Court can assume jurisdiction in certain circumstances where the Federal Government or any of its agencies are

parties and when the subject matter is covered under Section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution. However, it is not conclusive that once a Federal Government agency or government is a party to a suit, the jurisdiction is vested in the Federal High Court. The court must always look at the subject matter of the dispute to determine jurisdiction, the two must co-exist to confer jurisdiction on the Federal High Court. The court again re-stated the above position in the very recent case of NNPC vs BCE Consulting Engineers (2011) 4 CLRN (Commercial Law Reports of Nigeria) Page 19 where the court held thus: The Federal High Court would lack jurisdiction where the claim before the court is one founded on simple contract notwithstanding the fact that one of the parties to the suit is an agency of the Federal Government. However, the nest may seem to have been stirred again in 2013 with the very recent Supreme Court case of Inegbedion vs SeloOjemen & Otibhor Okhae Teaching Hospital, Irrua (2013)1 MJSC (pt1) pg 50 wherein the Supreme Court simply re-stated its position in NEPA vs Edegbeinro(supra). In the 2013 case above, the appellant who was the plaintiff at the trial High Court of Edo State in the Ekpoma Judicial Division Holden at Ekpoma sued the respondents who were the defendants and claimed as follows: “The plaintiff’s claim against the defendants jointly and severally is: • For the sum of N500,000.00 (five hundred thousand Naira) being costs of medical examination and transportation. • For the sum of N250,000,000.00 (two hun-

Justice Auta dred and fifty million naira aggravated and or exemplary damages for defamation and /or negligence and for breach of patient/doctor confidence”. Upon entering appearance, the respondent via motion on notice filed on June 22, 2001, challenged the competence of the trial court to entertain the appellant’s claim against them. The appellant did not file any opposing counter affidavit. In its considered ruling of May 13, 2002, the trial court upheld the respondents’ application and struck out the appellant’s action before it. On appeal to the Court of Appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld

the decision of the trial court and dismissed the appellant’s appeal. On a further to the Supreme Court, the last court of resort dismissed the appellant’s appeal and held inter alia thus: Rt 4. The effect of paragraphs(p),(q) and (r ) of Section 251(1) of the 1999 Constitution is to vest exclusive jurisdiction on the Federal High Court over all civil causes and matters in which the Federal Government or any of its agencies is a party. NEPA V EDEGBERO(2002) 103 LRCN 2280…. Rt 5.The import of the all embracing provision of Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution is that once the Federal Government or its agencies are involved in matters concerning their actions in the administration, management and control, any court action shall be heard and determined exclusively in the Federal High Court. Ayeni vs University of Ilorin (2000) 6 NWLR (pt 644) 290, NEPA V Edegbeinro(2002) 103 LRCN 2280. Whether or not the judgments cited in the body of this piece are conflicting or complement each other depends on whichever way one chose to look at it. For those who may concede to there being conflicts in the cited authorities, the law is well settled as to what to do in such circumstance-follow the latest authority; for where there are two or more conflicting judgments, it is the latest in time that should be followed, refer: Seriki vs Solam (1965) 1NMLR 1,Ikeakwu& Ors vs Nwamkpa (1967) NMLR 224 and Mackson Ikeni vs Chief William Akuma Efamo (SC.99/1997) delivered on May 11, 2001. • Orumor is a Port Harcourt-based Solicitor and Advocate.

Law Pavilion trains lawyers on Productivity Enhancing Tools Events By Bertram Nwannekanma HE late legal luminary and revered Senior T Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Rotimi Williams (SAN) seemed to have foreseen the importance of technology in the future of legal practice that he was quoted as saying: “ The entire profession, the organization and functioning of our courts of law as well as legal practitioner’s offices must be conscious of the need to adopt and embrace all the new technologies, which are capable of facilitating the judicial and legal process”. “I emphasize that I make this point in order to show that if we are not sufficiently alert to the possibility of making use of available technology, we would be missing our chance of facilitating legal process. The daily or weekly publication of Cause Lists ought to be computerized so as to save unnecessary time and labour of producing such lists”. Today, that prediction from the revered Silk has become a reality with explodes in the use of software in Nigeria’s legal practice. To further buttress the importance of technology in legal practice, the Nigerian Bar Association, Section on Legal Practice (NBA-SLP) recently organized a seminar on productivity tools for sole legal practitioners and small law firms. Speaking at the event held in Lagos, the Chairman of International Legal Practice, Mrs. Funke Adekoya (SAN) said the training organized by the section was meant to train younger lawyers. The legal icon described SLP as pivotal to the NBA and encouraged lawyers to identify with one or two sections of the Nigerian Bar Association. According to her, the NBA sections are of immense benefit to the legal practitioners because of the ever-evolving nature of the practice. Rehashing the importance of computer software to the legal profession at the training, Law Pavilion, a Law software firm, which has taken the bull by the horn to design specific software for Nigerian lawyers, said the software is uniquely designed as a search engine to conduct searches across myriad of legal issues with over 85000 reported cases of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, Civil Procedures of High Courts, continuously updated Laws of the Federation. According to Law Pavilion’s Head of Product Development, Titilola Rotifa, the firm has designed a new case/document management platform, which makes it easy for sole practi-

tioners and small law firms to manage and coordinate their briefs. The technology, she said, could aid electronic research through the use of e-library with access to the most recent judgments, opinions and texts, e-filing, case management, cause list, transcription, virtual lawyering, cross border transactions, increased knowledge beyond borders. She said: “Legal Case management (LCM) or matter management cover a range of approach-

es and technologies used by law firms and courts to leverage knowledge and methodologies for managing the life cycle of a case or matter more effectively. “It refers to the sophisticated information management and workflow practices that are tailored to meet the legal field’s specific needs and requirements. “As attorneys and law firms compete for clients they are routinely challenged to deliver services

at lower costs with greater efficiency, thus developing practice-specific processes and utilize contemporary technologies to assist meeting such challenges. “Law practice management processes and technologies include case and matter management, time and billing, litigation support, research, communication and collaboration, data mining and modeling, and data security, storage and archive accessibility”, she added.

Young lawyers relish a senior’s generosity at JIC Taylor memorial lecture By Joseph Onyekwere HE event was billed to start at T 2.00 p.m. but it never did until 2.45pm. It appeared the organisers were not fully ready for the occasion. Those who came for the event held at the City Hall, Catholic Mission Street, Lagos, an hour earlier, met a hall firmly locked, even though beautifully dressed ushers were strolling around the entrance. This development continued for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) ninth JIC Taylor Memorial Lecture until quarter to 2.00.pm. when a prominent lady lawyer walked in and ordered the place be open and that the process of registration should begin. At that point, a mild drama ensued. The registrars became agitated. Alas, there was no registration form available. Ideas on what to do began to emerge, including the provision of a jotter for registration. This idea was jettisoned when one of the lawyers offered some sheets of A4 papers. The registrars were tutored on how to rule on it and the issue of registration form was done with. By 2.00 p.m. when the event was billed to take off, a handful of audience was available. Besides, the compere for the day was nowhere to be found. By that time, the special guest of honour, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) and other

prominent personalities were already seated. When about 2.45pm, the compere could not be seen; the organisers improvised and brought in another fellow. Though an impromptu arrangement, she acquitted herself in the job. The hiccups notwithstanding, the hall was beautifully decorated in blue and red curtain strapped with a twinkling white light wired across the dais. The aesthetics of the hall was simply appealing. But then, the sparse audience contrasted sharply with the expansive hall when the event initially began. The event, which climaxed with the presentation of free laptops to young lawyers, had in attendance guest lecturer, Chief Badru Olaogun, a life bencher; Chairman of the Lagos branch of the NBA, Taiwo Taiwo; an elder statesman, Pa Tunji Gomez, a life bencher; Mrs. Hariat Balogun, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN); Mrs. Funke Adekoya, representative of the president of the NBA, Mrs. Joyce Oduah, and the immediate past chairman of the Lagos NBA, Chijioke Okoli. As the names of some of the personalities were reeled out by the impromptu compere, they were ushered up the dais with applause. The laptops were purchased from endowment fund instituted by Chief Olanipekun for young lawyers. In his opening remark,

Taiwo said he received N10m from the special guest of honour as an endowment fund for young lawyers and that since his tenure was gradually coming to an end, he deemed it fit to empower young lawyers from the fund by giving away free laptops to everyone of them present. “The guest of honour donated N10 million to our association when I came in. Because I am on my way out, we have decided to make use of the money by procuring computers that will go round to every young lawyer that is here today”, he stated. He added that young lawyers have nothing to do with the age of the recipient but the year of call to the Bar. He stated further that free flash drive would be given out to all lawyers present. Not long after he made the declaration, more lawyers slowly trickled into the hall, suggesting that some informants must have notified their friends of the largesse. Delivering his lecture, entitled: “What manner of lawyers and judges are you?”, Olaogun extolled the virtues of the late Taylor, describing him as an intelligent and a pleasant judge with a beautiful sense of humour. He said: “I sincerely hope that our 21st Century dispensers of justice will do their best to live above board and emulate John Idowu Conrad Taylor, the late pioneer

honourable Chief Judge of Lagos State who left his exalted seat at the Supreme Court to serve his state as a Chief Judge.” Olaogun, who did not spare judges who are indolent, also hit heavily on the lawyers. “Some judges have gone into the abyss that the cases are beyond redemption while others are in the ridiculous and unacceptable habits of adjourning their rulings on exparte applications for three months or even crazier inordinate period. “You do not need to be a lawyer to appreciate or understand my feelings on the state of affairs of our judiciary and the legal profession. A cursory visit to our law courts to watch the proceedings will convince even the uninitiated. The way some lawyers dress in riotous colours or even comport themselves when addressing the courts leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Sadly enough, there is no hope in the horizon given the type or crop of lawyers being produced annually in thousands by the Nigerian Law School”, he declared. On his part, Olanipekun stated that the late Taylor was one of the greatest lawyers this country has ever produced, regretting that not many judges attended the event. He admonished the young lawyers to take it easy in their quest for survival.

106

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

107

Sports Brazil 2013 Confederations Cup

Keshi blames injuries for Eagles’ ouster, begins search for new strikers

OACH Stephen C Okechukwu Keshi was a sober figure after the Super

Eagles’ 3-0 loss to Spain in its last group game on Sunday, a result, which accounted for their exit at the ongoing Confederations Cup. The team has already started a post mortem. The Team’s Media Officer, Ben Alaiya, quotes Keshi as saying that despite his bold face on injuries to some of his key players, it turned out that injuries actually decimated the performance of the team at the tournament. “I can’t imagine that my top striker, Emmanuel Emenike will miss some of the goals that we missed and even Ogenyi Onazi was sorely missed, Victor Moses would have ruined any team here and of course several other players that should have been here could not make it due to injuries. Among them is United States-based Bright Dike. Alaiya revealed that Keshi

already has a plan for righting the situation, promising that the team will come good in the World Cup qualifiers. “We want to come back here next year and make an impact. This is a dress rehearsal and I can assure that the Super Eagles will be among the top nations when the Brazil 2014 World Cup starts,” Keshi said. Alaiya also revealed that Keshi has fresh options for the national team when the team resumes for the final World Cup qualifier match against Malawi in September. He added that Keshi’s immediate concern is to qualify Nigeria for the first time for the African Nations Championships (CHAN), a competition meant for players playing in the local leagues of countries in Africa. “We would go back home take a few days rest and prepare for our CHAN qualifiers against Cote d’Ivoire in the coming days and hopefully we should be able to make it through,” Keshi said.

Nadal stunned by Darcis X-CHAMPION, Rafael Nadal lose in the first round of E slumped to a shock first- Wimbledon since Gustavo in 1997. round exit as world number Kuerten 135 Steve Darcis pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Wimbledon history. The Belgian was inspired as he recorded a 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 win on Court One to condemn the fifth seed to a second successive early exit at SW19. It was his first competitive grass tie since Lukas Rosol beat him last year. However, reigning champion Roger Federer eased into the next round with a 6-3 6-2 6-0 win over Victor Hanescu. Spaniard Nadal, crowned French Open champion for a record eighth time earlier this month, showed signs he was struggling to adjust from the clay to grass in the opening set and Darcis took advantage. The 2008 and 2010 Wimbledon winner saved four set points in a second set tie-break and then failed to take one of his own before Darcis claimed it at the fifth opportunity. And the Belgian showed no signs of nerves as he broke in the first game of the third set before serving out for a famous win, which condemned Nadal to his first ever first-round defeat at a Grand Slam. He became the first reigning Roland Garros champion to

Nadal refused to use the knee problems which kept him sidelined for a lengthy period after last year’s Wimbledon exit as an excuse for the defeat. He said, “there were not a lot of good things for me. I tried my best all the time I had my chances but I did not make it. “It is difficult to adapt your game on grass. Now is not the right time to talk about my knee. The only thing I can do is congratulate my opponent. It is not a tragedy, I lost, it is sport.’’

Cuba’s Yosel Piedra (front) contests with Nigeria’s Chidi Osuchukwu during the group stage match at the FIFA Under 20 World Cup at the Kadir Has Stadium in Kayseri yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Confederations Cup has exposed Eagles limitations, says Chukwu By Eno-Abasi Sunday IGERIA’S unceremonious N ouster from the ongoing FIFA Confederations Cup has exposed the areas that need imminent reinforcements in the Super Eagles, if the country must qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Consequently, former Green Eagles captain and Rangers Football Club of Enugu legend, Christian Chukwu, who deplored the wasteful nature

of the team in front of opponents goal mouths says urgent steps must be taken to address the vulnerability. Performing a postmortem on why the Eagles failed at the tourney, Chukwu, a former coach of the team said, “the Confederation Cup has helped us to know our team better vis-à-vis where the team needs reinforcement.” He lamented that the team missed a great deal of goalscoring opportunities saying,

“we were lacking seriously in the area of spot kicks as well as conversion of goal-scoring opportunities to actual goals was a problem for the team, so both old and new strikers should be put to task. “From our matches against Uruquay and Spain, it was glaring that we missed the services of Emmanuel Emenike, Victor Moses and IK. Uche. These players, when fit can trouble any defence in the world. But that was not the

FIFA U-20 World Cup

Flying Eagles thrash Cuba 3-0 to keep hope alive IGERIA’S Flying Eagles got N their FIFA U-20 World Cup back on track as they recovered from their opening defeat to Portugal to cruise past Cuba 3-0 in Kayseri. According to FIFA.com, a first-half double from Animu Umar, followed by Captain Abdul Ajagun getting his third of the tournament, allowing the west African side to reassert their knock-out stage aspirations, in what was the pairs first meeting at any level of international football. Nigeria were unable to break down the Cuban’s early

on, with Chidi Osuchukwu’s speculative free-kick the closest they came. Nigeria’s man of the moment Ajagun almost opened the scoring with a superb lob, from the right of the penalty area while running at full pace, but Sandy Sanchez was relieved to see it land on the roof of the net. Seconds later they were ahead. Ajagun fed Olarenwaju Kayode down the left wing, who got clear of the defence, before squaring to Umar to score what is likely to be one of the simplest goals of

his career. Umar had another four minutes later, which had a touch more flair to it. Osuchukwu’s deep corner eventually found Abdullahi Shehu, who drilled a cross that Umar flicked between his legs and into the bottom corner. Olaitan Michael almost made it three with a superb right-footed effort that cannoned off the outside of the post. Nigeria was in full control, and that continued into the second period, Kayode breaking beyond the back line and

firing wide across goal. He charged forward in similar style moments later, but in choosing to square to Ajagun, Abel Martinez was able to clear. Ajagun did get his goal though, with 67 minutes on the clock. Kingsley Madu’s cross-deceived Sanchez and Ajagun stooped to head home, seeing him become the top-scorer so far. Ajagun missed the chance to double his tally for the day late on, missing from the penalty spot after Martinez upended Kayode in the area.

case in these two matches. “One of the indications that you have a good team is when the bench is as good or even better than the starting 11. In other words, substitutions in a team are meant to create impact, so if you make changes and the needed impact is not created, then you do not have a good team. This is what happened to us in Brazil and it is really not the fault of the coach, but the quality of the players,” Chukwu stated. On claims that the team was decimated by injuries to some off its finest players, he said, “injuries are part of the game, so when a player in injured, there should be capable replacements to continue with the job at hand. That is why it is called a team. So if we struggled in the absence of Moses, Emenike and Uche, then we are yet to have a good team and there is still work to be done.” He stressed that handlers of the team must, as a matter of importance, bring the lessons they have learnt from their Confederation Cup experiences to bear “because this is the only way they can adequately prepare the team for the remaining World Cup qualifier as well as the World Cup proper.

108 SPORTS

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

AFN banks on female athletes for medals in Russia By Gowon Akpodonor

I mean well for Nigeria, says Okagbare

HE Athletics Federation of T Nigeria (AFN) may be banking on female athletes to do

much to support her career financially, a declaration many saw as unpatriotic. Some other athletics followers saw Okagbare’s declaration as the ‘simple truth,’ but tagged her an ‘over pampered’ athlete full of ‘pride.’ Okagbare threw more light on her comment at the weekend, when she spoke from her base in Warri. She said, “we have the potential to do well but we need more in terms of planning and support from the Federal Government. Without people like Governor Uduaghan, the AFN President, Solomon Ogba and Amaju Pinnick, it is possible that one would have dropped out of track and field long ago.” She added, “when I dedicate anything I win to Dr. Uduaghan, I know why I do so. Here’s a governor who takes interest in your training, nutrition, coaching and general welfare. And it is not only for me. He does that for some athletes too. “He is the pillar of our sports in Nigeria now. He has given me training grants and has been good to sports generally and I wish others could emulate him for Nigeria to become worldbeaters. “When I qualified for the 100m final in London, everybody banked on me to win a medal. It didn’t happen and many people saw me as a failure. But the governor of Delta State did not see me as one. He called me to encourage me and

well at the fast approaching IAAF World Athletics Championship holding in Moscow, Russia in August. The AFN has named 19 athletes for the championship with sprinters Blessing Okagbare and Ogho-Oghene Egwero topping the list. Since the beginning of this year’s athletics season, the women have given the sport’s faithful the belief that something good may come Nigeria’s way at the World Championship, a position some of them were able to maintain at the just concluded Cross River/All Nigeria Open Championship in Calabar. At the moment, Okagbare is rated world number one in the women’s 200m. She is also in the top three in the world in both the 100m and the long jump event. In Calabar, the Sapele-born athlete picked three gold medals in the three events with ease, though some keen followers of athletics are of the opinion that she needs to do more, especially in the sprint, to achieve her dream of celebrating a world championship medal in Russia. After retaining her 100m title in Calabar, Okagbare said that Nigeria owed her a lot for the countless accolades she had brought to the country at international events. She stated that the Federal Government had not done

Quadri in action during the final of the Portuguese league final in Lisbon…recently.

told me that I was one of the best in the world. He has been very fatherly to me. He is a great mentor and motivator and I want to repeat here that my prayer is to put a smile on his face some day with a medal.” Apart from Okagbare, top officials of the AFN are banking on female stars like Adejoke Odumosu and Regina George to do the country proud in Russia. While Odunmosu made the A standard in 400 meters hurdles for the world championship, George also made the A standard in the 400 meters dash. The nation’s hope is also in the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay. In the 4x100m team picked by the AFN for Moscow event are Okagbare, Gloria Asumnu, Peace Uko and Stephanie Kalu, while Regina George, Omolara Omotosho, Patience Okon, Josephine Ehige and Bukola Abogunloko are in the 4x400m relay. Perhaps, the country’s hope in the men’s event is sprinter Ogho-Oghene Egwero, who won the 100m title in Calabar. But some athletics faithful are of the view that if Egwero repeat what he did at the Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA Grand Prix/Relays) in Warri and the All Nigeria Open in Calabar, he should be able to get into the third round when hostilities begin in Russia. That is if the athlete does not fizzle out when lined up against world best sprinters. African champion in the men’s triple jump, Londonbased Tosin Oke won in Calabar but could not make the qualification mark for the world championship. Oke and other athletes like Doreen Amata (high jump), Ugonna Ndu (100m hurdles), Selim Nurudeen (110m hurdles), Abiola Onakoya and the men’s 4x100m’s relay team has been given three weeks grace to qualify for their individual and team events or forget the championship in Russia. Oke won the triple jump gold at the last Africa Championship in Porto Novo, but many are of the opinion that the athlete holds no medal hope for the country in Russia even if he qualifies, unless the unexpected happens.

Table Tennis

Portuguese Super Cup, African Singles title on Quadri’s mind By Olalekan Okusan INCE moving to Portugal Stennis, to play his trade in table Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri has won virtually all the laurels at stake bar the Portuguese Super Cup. And now the young Nigerian says the elusive trophy is his priority. Also, the GD Toledos star is also aiming to reclaim the African Singles Cup title, which he surrendered to Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh in 2010 when this year’s edition holds in Congo Brazzaville. “I am yet to win all the titles in Portugal, including the Portuguese Super Cup and I am hoping to win it in September when we confront

CP Oliveirinha. After winning the Portuguese league title, I will not relax as I have begun preparation for the African Singles Cup holding next month. “The Singles Cup serves as qualifiers for the Men’s World Cup. Having won it in 2009, I am hoping to win it again this year as I have always been settling for the third place in all the tournaments since 2009,” he said. The Oyo State-born athlete added, “I am hungry for titles as I have not made serious impact in Africa and I pray to succeed this time and shock all the Egyptians like I did in 2009. I know it’s a difficult task but it is possible to achieve with prayer and hard

work.” Saying his performance is yet to yield him enough respect in the continent, “it is true that I am yet to make serious impact in Africa since I joined the national team in 2007, but I have always been giving my 100 per cent best and I pray to have my second African title in Congo Brazzaville early next month. I have been preparing hard for it, and I am not preparing for the Egyptians alone, but for all North African players and the rest of Africa,” he said. The London 2013 Olympian attributes his success with GD Toledos to the huge support they get from the management of the team.

Gloria Asumnu battling for the second round during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London. PHOTO: REUTERS

COD United dismisses players, official for misconduct By Olalekan Okusan O entrench discipline and T encourage sportsmanship in their team, the management of City of David (COD) United has dismissed three players and an official for their misconduct in the Nigeria National League (NNL) encounter against MFM FC. According to the media officer of the club, Biola Kazeem, the affected players are Ikpowonsa Ogbeifu, Kingsley Ogwuche and Eze Anthony as well as the team’s driver, Peter Iduku. “Following an altercation with a Lagos State FA official and unruly conduct by some players and support staff, COD United has announced the dismissal of Ikpowonsa Ogbeifu, Kingsley Ogwuche, Eze Anthony and its driver, Peter Iduku with immediate effect. The driver has also been handed over to the police following allegations that he physically attacked the said official,” he said. He added, “the actions of the players and driver contravened COD United’s code of conduct, which prohibits fighting with anyone, within or outside the club and the management has applied the prescribed punishment as enshrined in the code of conduct.” Kazeem added that the management of the club offered the players and driver a counseling course to make them better people. The club’s Chief Executive Officer, Shola Opaleye said the club’s objective of returning sanity to football continues despite the incident. Opaleye added, “we are deeply sorry about what happened and we have been left

with no option than to show the players and driver the exit door. We have offered them a counseling course and we hope they take up the offer so that they can become better people. “This club would never condone unruly behaviour within or outside the club and we remain committed to that ideal. The club has been in existence for seven years and

everyone can attest to our impeccable conduct at all times. This episode, while regrettable, is completely out of character and totally against all we stand for and represent and preach as a club.” However, he added the club would investigate the matter to ascertain what actually transpired during and after the game.

Supersport’s Let’s Play initiative berths in Enugu O fewer than 700 chilN dren drawn from 32 schools across Enugu State, participated in the SuperSport pet project, ‘Let’s Play,’ held in Enugu at the weekend. A statement released by SuperSport in Lagos yesterday said the children were taken through some of the basics of soccer by 25 coaches, drawn from the state’s sports c o u n c i l . It said that the children were taught skills like trapping, heading and passing of balls under the initiative, which is designed to encourage the youths to be active and take charge of their physical and mental health. The statement explained that the ‘Let’s Play’ initiative was a corporate social responsibility initiative developed by SuperSport and partners, in response to a national need to tackle inactivity, poor nutrition, low self esteem and a lack of fun among the young. According to the statement, the programme was also

aimed at elevating awareness of the social situation in the country and encouraging sporting activities in schools and at home. It added that the children were drawn mainly from JSS1 class of the schools. The oneday event was held at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu on June 21. A former African Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, who is the ‘Let’s Play’ Ambassador, was on hand to co-ordinate the event. The statement said that he commended the initiative and urged the youths to key into the programme, both for their well-being and mental growth. “The Let’s Play’ initiative is to encourage kids to be more physically active, thereby promoting mental alertness,” he was quoted as saying. Princess Stella Ngwu, of the PDP- Igbo Etiti/Uzo Uwani Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, was one of the special guests at the event.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

109

110 SPORTS

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

English Round-oﬀ

Transfer Gossip

All eyes on Mourinho next season, Villas-Boas admits

EAL Madrid striker, Gonzalo Higuain, 25, is close to comNGLISH Premier League R pleting a £22m deal to join Arsenal, according to his Efans should expect new father. Chelsea Coach, Jose

Norwich is competing with Everton for Wigan striker, Arouna Kone. The 29-year-old Ivory Coast international’s contract has a £5m buy-out clause. Swansea Captain, Ashley Williams, 29, is preparing to tell his club he wants to leave this summer. Arsenal is the centreback’s preferred destination, ahead of Everton and Liverpool. Sochaux defender, Sebastien Corchia’s agent says the 22year-old full-back is more likely to stay in France with Lyon rather than move to Arsenal. Manchester United’s hopes of landing Thiago Alcantara have suffered a blow after Barcelona suggested the possibility of offering the 22-year-old midfielder a new deal. However, Thiago’s father, Brazil World Cup winning defensive midfielder, Mazinho thinks his son should move to Manchester United, ahead of Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. In a further boost, Thiago’s younger brother, attacking midfielder, Rafinha, 20, could move to the Premier League on loan, with the family planning to relocate to the north west of England. Celtic defensive midfielder, Victor Wanyama, 21, is being urged by agents to reject overtures from Southampton and move to Galatasaray or Fenerbahce because of the significantly lower rate of income tax paid in Turkey. Stoke want to give 28-year-old defensive midfielder Wilson Palacios another chance to prove himself at the club. Last season, the £6m signing from Tottenham did not start a Premier League game for the Potters. Birmingham centre-back, Curtis Davies, 28, is expected to complete a £2.3m move to newly-promoted Premier League side Hull on Monday. Southampton boss, Mauricio Pochettino is set for a triple snub with Cagliari midfielder, Radja Nainggolan, 25, Celtic midfielder, Victor Wanyama, 21, and Roma striker, Pablo Osvaldo, 27, all set to reject moves to the club. Bolton is close to signing Leicester striker, Jermaine Beckford, 29, after the two clubs agreed a transfer fee. Paris St-Germain’s new-coach-in-waiting Laurent Blanc will consider making an offer for Chelsea defender David Luiz when he takes over from Carlo Ancelotti. Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group are unlikely to want to keep Pepe Reina, 30, at the club if they complete a £9m deal to sign fellow goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet, 24, from Sunderland. Napoli President, Aurelio De Laurentiis has urged Uruguay striker Edinson Cavani, 26, to make a decision about his future before the end of the Confederations Cup.

Mourinho to attract a lot of attention next season, Tottenham Hotspur Coach, Andre Villas-Boas said. In an interview published in yesterday’s edition of Portuguese sports daily O Jogo, Villas-Boas said his compatriot’s return will vastly improve the visibility of the Premier League. “It won’t be possible to take your eyes away from Mourinho,” he said. “One of his characteristics, and I don’t say it in a negative way, is to deviate attentions, positive and negative, in such a way that the team is only worried about winning.” Villas-Boas said he is intrigued by next season’s Premier League race, which will feature Mourinho and also have David Moyes as Manchester United’s new coach, following the depar-

ture of Alex Ferguson after 26 years at the club. “These are two deep changes to English football...it will be interesting,” he said in an interview while on holiday in Porto before competing in a celebrity car race. “The fear that came from playing Alex Ferguson’s sides made everything harder and that may still continue if (Moyes’s) adaptation is fast. That is something I am curious to see.” Villas-Boas’s Tottenham amassed a club record points total last season but were still disappointed as they finished fifth, just outside the Champions League places but enough for a Europa League spot. The Portuguese said he has evolved since an unhappy spell at Chelsea ended after just a few months in the job in March 2012. He said he learned what is needed to succeed in the Premier

League the hard way. “The Premier League is guided by this dynamic; ball lost - ball recovered ball lost again. That makes matches unpredictable, teams must be objective and behave like that because that’s what excites fans. “The aesthetics of the game come second to unpredictability, which is much more exciting than the predictability associated with possession football,” he said, giving the example of Spanish club Barcelona. Demand in England for this fast-breaking football style contributed to his downfall at Chelsea, Villas-

Angry Cavani demands Napoli showdown DINSON Cavani has E voiced his dismay with Napoli boss Aurelio De Laurentiis’ latest comments about the prolific attacker’s future and has demanded showdown talks with the flamboyant club president. De Laurentiis jokingly said that he “would smash Cavani’s head in” if he had not made a decision about

his future yet when he returns to the club on July 20, but the 26-year-old is not amused with the Partenopei chief’s remarks. “The quotes by the president were heavy and very strong. I don’t like it. I want to talk to him face to face,” Cavani told reporters after Sunday night’s demolition of minnows Tahiti in the Confederations Cup.

Villas-Boas

Boas said. “We were a counter-culture team, constructing play from the goalkeeper onwards. “I should have had respected that (England’s) culture from the start. I thought it was possible to establish a different game pattern in a country with a radically different culture. “I respect it now. I have become more versatile after the Chelsea experience.” He said clubs like Swansea and Wigan were exceptions to this obsession with hightempo counter-attack football but they were only able to play differently because they were put under less pressure.

THE GUARDIAN, Tuesday, June 25, 2013

111

TheGuardian

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Conscience, Nurtured by Truth

By Toyosi Akerele F we are to create a vision for the next one decade, we need to take special note of how far we have come, in the past one decade. The reality of reminiscences will, ultimately, determine the speed at which we can actualise our collective dreams as a nation. Nigeria is taking an audacious step towards attaining its vision for 2020. The content of the vision is well spelt out. It is, boldly, stated that Nigeria will be one of the World’s 20 largest economies in the year 2020. The coveted space is, however, currently occupied by United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, France, Italy, Canada, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Netherlands, India, Indonesia, Australia, Turkey, Switzerland, Brazil and South Africa. The possibility of attaining that vision is uncertain when we consider the fact that other nations are also working assiduously to consolidate their positions at the top of global economic ranking. The United States, for instance, is working towards providing more jobs by the day. Britain is initiating policies to restructure its social welfare, to avoid stark austerity compared to the rest of Europe. Brazil is poised to use its infrastructural development and foreign participations in the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 International Olympics, to a greater economic advantage, from revenue accruing from tourism and sponsorship. India and Indonesia are strengthening their exporting industries by creating policies that protect local industries for innovations and invention. China is pushing for more power, in the global arena, by increasing its local content and cheapening labour to attract massive investment into the country. Germany is a great voice in Europe alongside France. Canada and Australia have good economies with strong ties with the United States and Britain. Saudi Arabia is using its great mineral deposit to an extra-ordinary advantage. South Africa is becoming a force to reckon with as the world’s second largest revenue-earner in tourism. Turkey is expanding, greatly, by taking advantage of trade with Africa. South Korea has proved its popularity when its President Park Geun Hyen, insisted that the country is more interested in growth than missile rivalry with North Korea. Mexico is not doing badly. In fact, with the war over drug war-lords almost won, the country can turn the attention of its youth population to education, entrepreneurship and invention, as is obtainable in neighbouring U.S. Other countries on the list, like Russia, are not doing badly either. It seems as though the wind of global development has not blown hard enough to rouse Nigeria’s leaders’ from their slumber. Or history is too dumb and insensitive to the course of events and records nothing that it sees. Nigeria has missed out on dream 2010 already, by failing to match reality with projection in managing the transition from military rule to democracy. However, like it should be coined: The future of the egg is the chicks. If the chicks do not grow virile who will produce the eggs. The future of Nigeria is the burden of the current set of youths who are 35 years and downwards. If this age group is not well taken care of today, who will take care of the nation tomorrow? All the 20 largest global economies share one attribute – youth empowerment. To go by international perspective, youth empowerment is an attitudinal and structural influence of youths to create change and be of use to themselves and the society. With reference to the Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP), youth empowerment includes entrepreneurship training and micro-credit, participation in decision-making, professional training for youth workers, citizenship and human rights education, HIV awareness and counseling as well as ICT. The United States is, continually, debating policies to protect its youths, either through gun-control or investment in research into brains for a better use of the human physiological and biological features. In Europe, the greatest concern of the European Union has been the collation of data on the number of youths who are jobless to provide succour for them, despite the growing austerity. India is working to curb the ‘substance of its future’, youths, from raping or being raped. Here in Nigeria, the youths have become a ready mercenary for political or religious restiveness as witnessed in the recent insurgencies in the Niger Delta and in the North. These are rather an unstructured circumstances or responses to unmet national desires and aspirations. Besides, they are clogs on the wheel of the intelligent work and material sacrifices that have been invested in the nation since the Vision 2020 was initiated. The worst scenario is when these insurgencies and the like will be used as excuses when we would have passed the year 2020 and we are nowhere near the leading 25 largest economies in the world. Nigeria’s private sector must recognise that they are shortchanging themselves by their limited contribution to the most productive section of our population. Deprived Young People see affluence and stupendous wealth being brandished in

Please send reactions and feedback for YOUTH SPEAK to:

editorial@risenetworks.org and 07067976667- SMS ONLY

Youth empowerment, sustainability of govt and private sector prosperity

Minister of Youth Development, Bolaji Abdullahi huge proportions daily yet we are consistently told that we are not such a rich country in cash but in oil. We see our leaders dressed in princely robes yet a majority of us live in penury and can barely eke out a living from jobs we only manage to get. Companies declare monumental profits yearly but there is no visible progression within the communities in which their enterprises thrive or on the lives of their consumers, in such a manner that their improved livelihoods are commensurate to their tremendous accumulation of profits. An instructive case in point which I have shared and with which I have humbly advised a number of my mentors is the role and involvement of ordinary citizens in the Occupy Nigeria 2012 Protests. I noticed that while the discountenanced masses had no strategic plan upon which they had unanimously agreed to run their protest campaigns, it was evident they knew the homes and offices of the high and mighty of our country. The protesters did not march to slum areas and neighbourhoods where middle class Nigerians reside but they organised deliberately and vigorously walked miles to homes in places like Ikoyi, Victoria Garden City, Banana Island, Victoria Island etc threatening fire and brimstone, chanting war songs if they were not paid attention to. They confronted the tall, expansive building with courage and remained resolute in their pursuit. An influential Nigerian whispered to me that some oil magnates and politicians fled the country days before when they got wind of the imminent visit of emotionally battered

Nigerians to their territories. I do not know if you have also noticed the sudden resentment of the privileged (not necessarily rich) by the poor in our country today. During the protest, my SUV vehicle and that of several others who were also harassed were damaged as we drove around Lagos even after I had personally explained to these youths that I was moving around Lagos giving bags of pure water and bottled table water to protesters in different parts of Lagos. Though they saw the packs of water in my vehicle trunk, their statements and innuendoes suggested that whatever they forcefully took off us were their rights since we were riding horses and they were consumed by the vagaries of life. They did not even care to listen to the fact that we also had tales to tell and our Jeeps were mere means of transportation and we had no share of the national cake. This and many other scenarios in my opinion should send shivers down the spine of Nigerian elite that their days of tranquility and comfort are numbered and with the consistent killings and astronomical rise in crime in diverse geographical portions of the country. The CSR project of companies should not focus on few scholarships of individuals whose names we do not know nor can trace, it should not be building one borehole in a remote community, neither should it be helping SMEs vet business plans. Sponsor Innovative initiatives; give out a small redundant space in your office complex to a promising small business, support a group of young people to conduct research in ascertaining the cure for HIV or breast cancer, just

The YOUTHSPEAK Column which is published daily is an initiative of THE GUARDIAN, and powered by RISE NETWORKS, Nigeria’s Leading Youth Development Centre, as a substantial advocacy platform available for ALL Nigerian Youth to engage Leadership at all levels, engage Society and contribute to National Discourse on diverse issues especially those that are peculiar to Nigeria. Regarding submission of articles, we welcome writers‘ contributions by way of well crafted, analytical and thought provoking opinion pieces that are concise, topical and non-defamatory! All articles (which are not expected to be more than 2000 words) should be sent to editorial@risenetworks.org To read the online Version of this same article plus past publications and to find out more about Youth Speak, please visit www.risenetworks.org/youthspeak and join the ongoing National Conversations’’. Also join our on-line conversation

RISE GROUP

@risenetworks

21676F3E

Published by Guardian Newspapers Limited, Rutam House, Isolo, Lagos Tel: 4489600, 2798269, 2798270, 07098147948, 07098147951 Fax: 4489712; Advert Hotlines: Lagos 7736351, Abuja 07098513445; Circulation Hotline: 01 4489656 All correspondence to Guardian Newspapers Limited, P.M.B. 1217, Oshodi, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail letters@ngrguardiannews.com; www.ngrguardiannews.com

Editor: MARTINS

OLOJA

ABC (ISSN NO 0189-5125)

do something for posterity because though you are rich, your children will go to Harvard and Cambridge but will not be allowed to sleep at night once a group of hungry, jobless graduates identify them as your offspring. Ours is a country where First Class graduates leave school to become core professionals, the graduates with second class become business men and hire the first class graduates. The ones who graduate with 3rd Class become career politicians and hire those with 2nd and 1st Class. The ones who manage to go with a Pass or drop out become men of the underworld and rule all of us. I hope the rich have started looking closely to see that their children are not well rounded enough to fit into this tumultuous Nigerian environment where other youth who stayed put here have adapted to and are now running the show as they say. However, there is good news surrounding the Vision 2020; it is the engendering of private sector support, according to the secretariat of National Steering Committee for the vision. This is already being made manifest in a number of private-public support schemes, to help empower the youths to be productive and responsible. Most of the support has come from the telecommunications sector. Companies like MTN, through its musical reality show, the MTN Project Fame, has made sure that talented youths who are aiming to make a career in music are given musical training, financial back-up and career guidance, to make their dreams come true. Under five years, the musical academy has produced no fewer than six musicians, who have become household names in the music industry and are still growing. These names include Iyanya, Chidinma, Praize, Kesse (a Ghanaian) and many others. One must also commend The Guardian Newspapers, an institution that has demonstrated that they believe that talk does not cook rice but that if we must transform our nation, we must put our monies where our mouths are. For over one year now, The Guardian has committed the back page of their paper, which is a foremost reliable media channel in our country to young people to speak truth to power. They have shown that their allegiance is with the people, more importantly, the youth and the column continues to gather steam day in day out with increasing readership and an enthusiastic and passionate generation who now know they do not need to pay or patronise anyone to air their views in a national newspaper. If more organisations make a modicum of investment in the successor generation, Nigeria is a powerhouse in waiting. We own a population that, if actively engaged, can transform the fortune of this country, economically. Just maybe the Nigerian government is also not aware that myriad Nigerian youth who have unfettered access to Social Media these days are the unofficial brand managers of the country. They share the opinion vociferously via all channels on the internet and the world perceives Nigeria based on their assessment of their own nation and unfortunately, this is beyond the ambit of government and private sector’s influence and control. This may seem minor but it is imperative to keep in mind that it has the potency to mar all the major efforts of the government to attract foreign investors into Nigeria. The best PR mechanism for any discerning government or private institution now is PERFORMANCE. Just do it. If we must avoid the errors that made us miss out on the targets of Vision 2010, the youths must be the centre piece of major national policies henceforth. If the current crop of youths in the country who are aged between 20 and 30 get the right exposure, counseling, professional trainings, technological assistance and access to micro-finance, in the next five years, as witnessed in Project Fame, a musical academy and reality TV show, Nigeria can attain the objectives of the Vision 2020. Dreams, of course, can become reality, if the dreamers have the force of habit to work harder at them, yet dreams are good but realities are better. Let the government and private sector also note that our generation is awakened to the realisation that white collar jobs will only be a drop in the ocean and therefore we advise that the government invest seriously in Vocational and Technical Training Centers that embody strong Business Management content and features. We will also be grateful to see the current Honourable Minister for Youth Development do more of the job than he bears the title. I hope this article will provoke deep reflection in the minds of all concerned and catalyze them to do the needful and restore the glorified position of Nigeria amongst the comity of nations, globally. The record is not over yet. I RISE. Akerele, who wrote from Lagos, is a well soughtafter Serial Entrepreneur and consummate Young Professional with an ardent interest in technology, media and their relevance to Youth and Education Development across Africa. She is the Founder/CEO of Rise Networks and Passnownow.com.