The Nation April 07, 2013

Boko Haram amnesty act of JULIUS AGWU wickedness, says Oritsejafor on being Northern Govs demand expansion of committee FG, sect talks set to resume –PAGE 5

40 –PAGES 34 & 39

Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper

Vol.07, No. 2454

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

SUNDAY

APRIL 7, 2013

N200.00

PDP Crisis:

Tukur begs governors –Page 2

Opponents rally state chairmen, want PDP boss’powers diluted

Britain's first black Marchioness is Nigerian Emma McQuiston is the daughter of oil tycoon, Ladi Jadesimi –Pages 9 & 10

12 missing in Bayelsa as militants attack EKITI STATE DEPUTY GOVERNOR, FUNMI OLAYINKA, DIES AT 52 policemen Jonathan, Ekiti Govt, others mourn –Page 5

–Page 4

NIGERIA SLIDING BACK INTO DICTATORSHIP –AMAECHI

–Page 5

NEWS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Fed Govt, Boko Haram to resume talks

By Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor

T

HE Islamic sect, Boko Haram, seems set to resume peace talks with the federal government after months of a stalemate, The Nation has gathered.

The talks are expected to facilitate the proposed amnesty for members of the sect.

A reliable source familiar with the development said the decision to discuss with the federal government followed an appeal to the group by northern elders to embrace President Goodluck Jonathan’s amnesty offer.

The Nation also learnt that the federal government is willing to discuss with the sect.

“In fact, the government has encouraged all efforts to facilitate the talks. Specifically, the government has saddled a group of northern elders with the responsibility of bringing the militants to the table once again,” our source said.

“The latest decision by the sect to dialogue with the federal government is hinged on the planned amnesty offer. The last time the sect embraced dialogue was about seven months ago when it gave a group led

by Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser, its listening ear.

“That process failed because the group felt the government was insincere. This time, following an appeal by northern elders to it to embrace the amnesty offer in the interest of peace, Boko Haram is willing to discuss the modalities of the offer with the federal government.

“The government is willing to discuss with them and has saddled some northern elders who are in touch with the leadership of the sect with the responsibility of ensuring that talks resume as soon as possible.

“Given the current situation of things and the willingness of both parties to dialogue, talks between federal government and Boko Haram may kick off in a matter of days.”

However, The Nation learnt the sect is coming back to the negotiation table on conditions, one of which is that it will choose the venue of the talks.

“The sect wants to be allowed to choose the venue of the talks as a condition for its participation. It is also demanding that the federal government delegation must be made up of prominent northerners. Another demand by the group is that agreements at the talks must be kept away from the public until the end of the process.

“I think the sect is just trying to take precautionary measures with these demands.

In choosing the venue, the militants are being careful. By demanding for respectable northerners on the federal government delegation, they merely want to have people to hold responsible if government reneges on its promises after the talks.”

PDP crisis: Tukur begs governors T

HE embattled national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has jettisoned his tough stance against governors elected on the platform of the party.

He is now wooing them, members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) especially the G-84 comprising state chairmen and federal legislators ahead of the planned NEC meeting.

Tukur wants the party men and women to forgive his sins and support him in riding through his biggest crisis yet as chairman of the party.

But many of the governors are said to be adamant.

They want him out or as a compromise have his power curtailed.

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State and Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) recently decried what he called Tukur’s style of administration He accused him of running the party as a personal business.

It was gathered last night that Tukur and members of the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) have started reaching out to governors and aggrieved stakeholders with a view to persuading them to sheathe their swords.

But some of the governors are insisting on Tukur’s exit or at least his powers and breaches curtailed to move the party forward.

They believe the 2015 poll is too close for Tukur to continue to flounder.

The last NEC meeting was held in July 2012 whereas the PDP constitution stipulates that it should meet quarterly.

Tukur has been reluctant to convene a meeting of the NEC for fear of being voted out of office.

Following protest by the governors and members, however, the National Working Committee on Wednesday decided to convene NEC meeting on or before the end of April.

Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the National Chairman of PDP and NWC members have started reaching out to the governors and members of NEC to stave off vote of no confidence and his removal.

Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and chairman of the PDP Governors Forum is said to be anchoring the battle to save Tukur’s job.

A member of the NWC, said: “I am aware our chairman and some NWC members have started reaching out to aggrieved governors and NEC members to give peace a chance. They are promising to put things in order in the party, especially respect for the constitution of the party.

“One of the governors assisting Tukur is Akpabio. They believe that Tukur has realised his mistakes or shortcomings and the party will be better for it.

“I think there are signs we my get out of the crisis if the

• Opponents rally state chairmen, want PDP boss’powers diluted

•L-R: Chairman, Niger Delta young professionals, Mr. Moses Siasia, chairman, Arik Airline, Sir. Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, representative of president Goodluck Jonathan/minister for special duties and inter-governmental affairs, Alh. Kabiru Saminu Turaki, widow of former president Yaradua, Hajia Turai Yaradua, ten year old awardee, Miss Daniella Nengi Dan Jumbo Clinton and the governor of Akwa Ibom state, Sir. Godswill Akpabio, at the Niger Delta Young Professional award Gala night, held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos

FROM: Yusuf Alli, Managing Editor, Northern Operation and Dare Odufowokan chairman is ready to respect the party’s constitution and ensure fairness.”

However,a northern governor said: “Well, the situation at hand borders on either Tukur’s removal or checking his arbitrary powers or constitutional breaches. The NEC will determine which way to go.

“At a time some parties are merging against PDP, our chairman cannot be ruling the party with an iron hand and be damning aggrieved members as if he can go it alone.”

Responding to a question, the governor said: “It is true that Tukur is reaching out but the ball is really in his court.”

Another party source said the governors, who failed to get the nod of President Goodluck Jonathan in their bid to oust Tukur, may have decided to use chairmen of the state chapters of the party against the embattled national chairman.

President Jonathan during the week reportedly rejected pressure from the governors to sanction the removal of Tukur.

It was gathered that the President did not see any reason to axe the national chairman. Rather, he appealed to the governors to forgive the many iniquities of the party boss in the interest of the party.

Said the source:”The governors were not oblivious of the possibility of the President sticking out his neck for Tukur. They had another plan should that happen. So when they couldn’t get Jonathan to move against Tukur, they reverted to their second plan which is to mobilise the state party leaders against him.

This will not be difficult given the meddlesomeness of

the national chairman in the affairs of the state chapters.

Also in his handling of the crises that rocked the party across the states, he angered many of the party functionaries in the states.”

A chieftain of the party in the Southwest who confirmed to The Nation that the governors are already reaching out to the state party leadership concerning the plot, said the recent statement by Tukur that the party is planning fresh congresses for the zone has further annoyed members of the party.

He said:””This is why we are in support of the call for a NEC meeting. There are many things we need to remind Tukur and his gang. They have forgotten that they are products of the same process that produced Oyinlola and the other southwest officials removed by them.

“Now he is talking about fresh primaries or congresses in the Southwest. Was Oyinlola elected by only delegates from the Southwest?

Was it not at the same venue Tukur and Oyinlola were elected. At the NEC meeting, we will be able to tell ourselves if something can stay on nothing.”

A Senator also speaking on the crisis said: “One of the issues the governors are going to address at the NEC meeting is how to curtail Tukur’s excessive powers, including the management of a parallel NWC. “The governors and party leaders are disturbed that many activities of the party are being done outside the PDP Constitution. You must have seen the list of breaches compiled by stakeholders. Can a party like PDP survive with such a divided house?

“This is why the governors are determined to check Tukur and asked him to abide by the constitution of the

party.

“This is necessary to avoid tyranny and ruling the party by an individual like a fiefdom. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is quite different from that of PDP in matters pertaining to administration of the party.

“While the President has the power of hire and fire over members of his cabinet, the PDP national chairman is not in office in an executive capacity and has no such powers to remove any elected official unilaterally because members of the NWC were all elected from the national convention. They can only be removed in accordance with the party’s constitutional provisions.

“It is indeed time for introspection by the party.

Where did things go wrong and at what stage did the national chairman start being overbearing in his approach?

Is it true that Bamanga Tukur came into office with the mindset that state governors were ‘’toddlers’’ when he was governor of old Gongola state in 1983?

“Is it true that Tukur has clearly been misguided by his ‘’parallel’’ working committee in whom he believes than members of the national working committee? Is it true that functions of NWC members have been consistently usurped illegally by the hangers on? What is the justification for shifting the PDP headquarters to the Wuse residence of Tukur? Is it true that the national chairman by utterances and conducts has continued to encourage fragmentation of PDP? “These are issues to be considered before the Anenih committee and all wellwishers of the PDP to put the party on course again.”

Meanwhile, a fresh row has broken out over the rea-

sons given by the National Working Committee for not convening NEC meeting of the party.

The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisah Metuh, had on Wednesday cited the delay in electing a new chairman for the Board of Trustees of the party as a major factor for the lateness of the NEC session.

But a highly-placed party source faulted the NWC’s position.

The source said: “There is nowhere in the PDP constitution where it is stated that the meetings of the BoT and NEC must hold consecutively. Part VIII of the PDP constitution is explicit on the mode of convening meetings of both the NWC and the National Caucus. Chapter IX deals with the functions and related matters of the Board of Trustees.

“It could be a matter of convention rather than the rule as PDP NEC meetings have been held in the past without being preceded by meetings of the National Caucus and the Board of Trustees.

“These are three different organs of the party and NEC cannot justifiably be held down on account of anything having to do with BoT meeting.

“The simple truth is that Tukur’s refusal to convene a NEC meeting in accordance with the PDP constitution is illegal.

“And to have done that with impunity is criminal. That is why the PDP constitution allows for checks and balances which authorize two-thirds of NWC members to convene their meeting should the chairman refuse to approve.

“The law also allows twothirds of NEC members to call NEC meetings if the chairman fails in his duties to act constitutionally. Never in the history of PDP has any chairman adopted this type of style.”

Column

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

W

HAT can we do without our royalty? And how will the world as we know it be without kings? Kingdoms and empires seem to vanish, but kings and emperors have remained with us forever. Radical historians and other intellectual regicides view them as risible relics of a feudal past that is better forgotten. But the joke appears to be on the revolutionaries. In traditional societies transiting to modernity, royalty seems to playa a critical and crucial role.

For over three hundred years, the Yoruba have been engaged in a war of will and wits with theirs.

Sometimes, they succeed in banishing a few or sending the odd royal to his maker. But as a long term strategy in a war of attrition, they seem to have settled for the policy of giving unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. The king does not die, and neither does kingship. Please note that king, Caesar, Czar, Tsar and Kaiser are all etymological variations of the same word.

The English succeeded in decapitating one of theirs in an epochal revolution. But after the Cromwellian levelling became a joke taken too far, they quickly signed on a new royalty. It might have been a typical English fudge but it works. The English royals are the nearest object of reverence and national veneration in Britain up to this point. Surprisingly, when the Spanish monarch asked the late Hugo Chavez to shut up in full public glare, the Latin American revolutionary promptly shut his trap.

The French sent off their royal couple to the guillotine only for emperors and presidential monarchs to surface like social submarines. The Elysee Palace can only be occupied by royalty. After they blew up the entire royal family, the Russians found themselves cursed with Leninist and Stalinist Tsars until the revolution collapsed one sunny morning. Now, Vladimir Putin is behaving like another Russian Tsar, minus the pomp and pageantry and the Russians are not exactly resentful.

In the case of the Americans, they, vowed from the word go never to have anything to do with royalty. They seemed to have learnt their lessons from the implacable tyrants they fled from in Europe. But with the regal Reagans and the kingly Kennedys, the Yankees appear to have spoken too soon.

Always centralise! If this is the motivating motto of all modern societies, it also tells us why we seem to be stuck with kings. There can be no centralisation without a central figure. As long as this remains the preferred mode of human organisation, revolutions and the dissolutions of empires may consume royalty but only for new royalties to emerge. Napoleon acidly noted that a throne is but a bench covered with damask, but the sly Sicilian eventually ordered one for himself too.

Snooper spent last Thursday afternoon watching a grand royal opera. It was as magnificent as it could have been in the ancient times of magical lore. The event took place at the Wallan Hall of D’Rovans Hotel, Ibadan. It was at the formal presentation of a collection of essays on chieftaincy laws in Nigeria in honour of his Imperial Majesty, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi 111.

The Oyo monarch is a principal emblem of royalty in Nigeria and Africa and one of the most sacred totems of the unyielding potency of the institution. When it is said that Africans cannot build durable institutions, you can always point at the institutions of obaship which has survived and thrived for centuries. It is colonial and post-colonial disorientation which have made it impossible for Africans to adapt to

An afternoon with Iku Baba Yeye

S

3

nooping around With

Tatalo Alamu

•Alaafin of Oyo

western institutions.

Built like a compact but supple prize fighter and without any hint of mechanical inflexibility, his Royal Highness exudes supernatural self-assurance. With his charisma, carriage and comportment , the Oyo monarch is a royal showstopper any day. The finely chiselled features hinting of centuries of breeding and genetic refinement, the Alaafin is the ultimate advertisement for royalty anywhere in the world.

Like most exceptional kings, the Alaafin is many things rolled into one: scholar, diplomat, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, raconteur, warrior, political strategist, traditional savant, writer and supreme athlete. In these days of sharp and severe division of labour even within the same profession, this kind of royal polyvalency is a throwback to some earlier times of superhumans.

Ironically because of its virility and continuing efficacy, the obaship institution in Yoruba land often feels like a jungle of royal adversaries with our traditional fathers often jostling for supremacy and superiority of dynastic lineage.

Snooper does not have the capacity or sagacity to dabble into the cloak and dagger world of Yoruba royal politics..

Suffice it to say that while IleIfe was, and remains, the ancestral homestead and originating sacred site and spiritual shrine of the Yoruba race, it was the old Oyo Empire that took the race to the precolonial zenith of its military, political, diplomatic and economic genius.

All the children of Oduduwa must be grateful to both founders and pathfinders alike for bequeathing a sophisticated culture which has transcended its origins in the forest to become a global brand.

While it was the centralising genius of Oduduwa that cobbled and fused the disparate strands into an organic ethnic group, it was a succession of Oyo kings that expanded this into an empire with sub-continental reach.

Like his martial ancestors, the incumbent Alaafin has phenomenal guts and what they call plenty of cujones to spare. It was an unusual act of personal bravery for a prince of Oyo to train as a professional boxer. The boxing ring does not recognise royalty. You are all alone and on your own. Only the handlers and the proverbial towel can save a prince from punitive pounding, particularly from adamant regicides on the margins of society roused by class hatred and envy. For every prince, there is a waiting pauper.

The early life of the future Oba is the stuff of magical fables. Like all prize fighters, the Alaafin has taken a couple of hard blows. But he has also managed to deliver some sledgehammers. By his own public admission in Ibadan on Thursday, Oba Adeyemi has been involved in about a hundred litigations, ninety five of which he won by technical knockout and a few through lack of diligent prosecution on the part of his opponents. In boxing parlance, this is the equivalent of an opponent not answering the bell for the next round.

It was as if from birth, his father, a strong-willed monarch, strenuously prepared the young prince for royal ascendancy. From early childhood, he was sent off as a royal apprentice to serve in the household of foremost traditional rulers and notables. It was an exacting and tasking royal journeymanship/.

A series of character-steeling adversities ensued. In the event, his father was deposed and banished by the then Action Group government.

Inevitably, the new political elite thrown up by the colonial irruption came into conflict and colli-

Now, Okon propounds a culinary theory of national chaos

A

FTER an Easter celebration filled with bombs and bombasts, snooper had settled into a post-Easter rumination about the fate of the country. One is now slowly coming to the conclusion that things will not get better in this country in one’s lifetime. It is a psychological therapy called reconciliation under duress. No matter how you look at it, it is not a bad development.

It consoles and soothes and helps you put a glossy sheen on things no matter how depraved and degenerate they may be. It allows snooper to reach back for historical comparison. Almost every Yoruba child born between 1823 and 1875 was born into a situation of great strife and turmoil. This was the period of the Yoruba Mfekane, or dispersal of the tribe.

But Okon was having none of that. There is something to be said for the vitality and energy of youth.

As snooper slipped deeper into this anti-revolutionary mush, Okon was all boundless energy and initiative.

One morning, the bounder showed up in the sitting room dressed like a respectable Niger Delta chieftain.

“And where is Asari Dokunmu heading for this morning?” snooper asked with a sarcastic leer.

“Oga, I wan reach Abuja make man attend dem Congress of oilproducing Nationalities (CON) Dem say we dey meet for dem Hall 419 for dem Sheraton. We wan talk before oil scatter obodo as dem mala wan drive Jonothan comot with dem tira and dem wahala”, Okon replied with a frown. “ So what are you going to tell them at the conference?”

“Ha oga dat one dey easy. I go tell dem say obodo problem be like dem problem of dem yeye Yoruba soup. As dem Yoruba soup get too much oil, obodo Nigeria too get too much oil. Make we remove dem oil and everybody go scram and we go get peace for obodo, When dem oil no dey again, you go dey hear dem mala scream, tefi mana, tefi mana”, Okon chortled with devilish relish.

“Quite some culinary theory of national chaos”. Snooper mumbled to himself.

“Oga dis no be time for grammar, na dem Yoruba grammar finis us before before, all dem Lagos lawyers and dem Shakabula journalists

who dey answer Oyinbo name, yeye people”, Okon sneered. Snooper suppressed his mirth at the boy’s militant malice compounded by sheer ignorance.

“So Okon, what else are you doing in Abuja?” snooper cautiously demanded.

“I wan reach Aso Rock make I grab dem amnesty from dem Jonathan. He be like if dat one just dey distribute amnesty like dem Red Cross rice. Dem amnesty na for my brother sub-lieutenant William Oyazimo. Na dem Yoruba people finis dat one for Bar Beach becos dem think say na Ibo” Okon submitted.

“Is that not the WAHUM armed robber of the early seventies?” snooper asked in alarm.

“Him no be armed robber. Na dem Yoruba finis am becos him go knack dem Yoruba wife for dem barracks. You no say for dat time dem wuruwuru man for Dahomey come kill him number two dem Captain Aikpeh becos him say dat one dey knack him wife. Oga rubbing no be robbery” Okon flatly propounded. It was on that note that snooper wished the loony boy God’s speed.

sion with the old traditional class.

Oba Adeyemi became a principal casualty of this shift in the locus of power.

In the north, the same dynamics was to see to the removal and banishment. of the old Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi. Whereas the ordeal of Sanusi exemplified the tension between the old Kano metropole and the new Sokoto caliphate which began with the Othman Dan Fodio conquest, in the west there was a hint of old sub-ethnic rivalries and pre-colonial animosities about it all.

Ahmadu Bello had fought with his cousin, Sultan Abubakar for the Sokoto throne and even after becoming the de facto ruler of Nigeria, this was still the prize he coveted most. Obafemi Awolowo, on the other hand, belonged to the new ascendant class who owed their hegemony to the colonial disruption of the old order.

But looking at a king’s mouth, one would never have imagined that he ever sucked at his mother’s breath. At seventy three and after forty two years on the throne, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi has worn very well indeed. The entire hall erupted in swooning adulation and veneration as the royal retinue, replete with dancers and drummers, heralded the arrival of his imperial majesty. Resplendent as usual in fine native plumage, his royal highness was quite a sight to behold.

Perhaps one was going to get a gift of royal dancing. Like all gifted musical artists, his royal highness has a supreme sense of inner rhythm which translates into exquisite fancy footwork and the inimitable regal trot. But it was not the time for royal cantering.

This afternoon, his imperial highness seemed to have weightier matters on his royal mind. The scholar and the cultural warrior were ascendant.

As he sat impassively on his chair behind a wall of practised silence like an all- seeing, all-knowing, all-hearing deity, you get a sense of why the Yoruba consider their kings as being next to their traditional gods. The ways of these deities are truly mysterious.

You got a sense that your number was up when a native enforcer informed snooper that the Alaafin had ordered that he should be brought before his royal presence. But it was to exchange witty banters. As the king would later publicly reveal, he keeps a file on all major writings in the country.

Needless to add that he has a capillary network of informants where it matters most. It doesn’t get more chillingly impressive.

It has been an engrossing encounter in Ibadan with a worthy embodiment of arguably the most durable and viable institution thrown up by the ancient Yoruba society. In his rigour and painstaking devotion to duty, this remarkable traditional ruler shows just how sophisticated and socially advanced the pre-colonial political order could have been. The life of the Alaafin teaches us two important lessons: The immutability of destiny and the fact that it is not life that matters but the courage you bring to bear on it. Here is wishing the Iku Baba yeye many more fruitful years on the throne of his ancestors..

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News

Jonathan, others condole with Ekiti Govt

By Emmanuel Oladesu

P

RESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday expressed sadness over the death of the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, Mrs Olufumilayo Olayinka.

She died yesterday in Lagos of cancer related ailment.

In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Dr Reuben Abati, President Jonathan described the late Deputy Governor as “a dedicated, public spirited technocrat who used her talents to make a difference.”

He prayed “that the Almighty will grant her soul peaceful rest and her family the fortitude, and the grace to bear the loss.”

Also, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) expressed shock over the death. Wale Oshun, the group’s leader described the deceased as a devoted progressive and principled actor worthy of emulation.

He said: “We had worked closely with her.

She was one of our principled persons and very loyal. She worked hard. It is a personal loss for us in the ARG. She was always there for us. It is a pity we lost her.”

The group’s secretary, Mr. Ayo Afolabi, paid tribute to the Deputy Governor, saying that she was an epitome of humility and hard work. He pointed out that Mrs. Olayinka led a full life devoid of controversy and scandals.

He added: “It is a great loss for our group and we can only pray for the repose of her soul.”

House of Representatives member, Opeyemi Bamidele (Irepodun/ Ifelodun Constituency) described the death of the Deputy Governor as “one death too many.” He said: “It is entirely an unfortunate development.

She was full of life. As a public servant, she understood the needs of the people and how to respond to them.”

The Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dr. Femi Omirin, lamented that Olayinka’s promising career was abruptly terminated by death.

Waxing philosophical, he said death is an inevitable end.

He stressed: “It is a rude shock. It is a monumental loss to the people of Ekiti State and the nation. She had a promising career in the public service.”

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7 , 2013

OLUFUNMILAYO OLAYINKA: 1960 - 2013

T

HE Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Olufunmilayo Olayinka, 52, is dead. She died yesterday of cancer at the St. Nicholas Hospital, Lagos.

Apparently after the news was broken to Governor Kayode Fayemi last night at a public function in Lagos, he hurriedly left the event. Before her death yesterday there had been rumours of her death since she took ill in the last few weeks.

A statement by the state government yesterday night confirmed the demise of the Deputy Governor. A terse statement by the Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Tayo Ekundayo, reads: “The Government of Ekiti State announces with sadness but with gratitude to God, the passing of the State Deputy Governor, H.E. Mrs Olufunmilayo Adunni Olayinka, aged 52, after a tough but courageous battle with cancer.

“She died on Saturday (yesterday) evening.”

“Mrs Olayinka, an accomplished banker and corporate sector player, worked in the financial industry for 21 years before heeding the call of service in her home state of Ekiti when she was selected to serve on the ACN Governorship ticket in 2007. She demonstrated exemplary courage and dedicated service to Ekiti people both during the struggle to retrieve the stolen mandate and in her position as Deputy Governor.

“She is survived by her husband and children as well as aged parents and siblings.

“Further details shall be provided later.”

A tested technocrat and seasoned banker, the late Mrs Olayinka (nee Famuagun) was born in Ado-Ekiti on June 20, 1960. She attended Holy Trinity Grammar School Ibadan, where she obtained her first school leaving certificate with distinction. She

Ekiti deputy governor, Olayinka, dies at 52 from there proceeded to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo State, where she obtained her Higher School Certificate (HSC).

The late Deputy Governor holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Business Administration [Marketing] from Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma, United States in 1981 and 1983. She was three times winner of the Dean’s Honour roll.

She began her banking career at First Bank of Nigeria Plc in 1986, and later worked as Relationship Manager for Corporate Accounts in Access

Bank, and the now defunct Merchant Banking Corporation [MBC] and United Bank for Africa Plc. In August 2002, she veered into Corporate Communications and headed the Corporate Affairs Division of the United Bank for Africa. She later became Head, Brand Management and Corporate Affairs, thus leading the team responsible for delivering a compelling brand proposition and re-branding of the United Bank for Africa.

She was also the 2nd Vice President of the Association of Corporate Managers of Banks

•The late Olayinka

between 2002 and 2004.

Until her recent election as the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, she was Head of Corporate Services, Ecobank Transatlantic Inc where she was responsible for communicating the bank’s activities to the public, among other tasks.

She became Deputy Governor after the Elections Appeal Tribunal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, sacked former

Demise of a loyal deputy

D

EATH sneaked into Ekiti Government House yesterday, snatching the deputy governor, Mrs. Funmilayo Adunni Olayinka. At 52, she bade farewell to the state and her political family without realising her full potentials.

But she died in active service to her fatherland. She left without any legacy of controversy and scandal.

Mrs. Olayinka hailed from an influential family in AdoEkiti reputed for community service. Therefore, her political career was the continuation of her family's public service to the larger Ekiti Confederation. She had placed her hand on the political plough, after crossing the slippery bridge from banking to politics. She instantly overcome the adjustment difficulties and embraced her new vocation with passion and relentless zeal.

An educated and intelligent lady, the late deputy governor was a professional in politics. She had already got to the pinnacle of her career in the banking sector before she responded to

Turai Yar' Adua backs amnesty for Boko Haram F ORMER first lady, Hajia Turai Yar'Adua is advocating the granting of amnesty to members of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, the same way her late husband, President Umaru Yar'Adua, declared amnesty for the Niger Delta militants in 2009.

The former First Lady made this call while receiving a posthumous award for her husband at the Eko Hotel & Suites in Lagos on Friday.

The award, given by the Niger Delta Young Professionals (NDYP), was in recognition of the contribution of the former president to peace in the Niger Delta.

She said: "I want my brother (President Goodluck Jonathan) to sit and think carefully and grant amnesty to Boko Haram. I am expecting my brother to do what Umaru did for the militants in the Niger Delta.

Some people sang here today that children are dying in the Niger Delta; let me tell you that children are dying every day in the North.

"As your sister and a Northerner, I want you to think carefully. There is so

•As Jonathan berates Northern Govs

By Seun Akioye

much suffering in the North just like it happened in the Niger Delta. Your sister says think carefully and do what Umaru did."

The former First Lady described her late husband as a detribalised Nigerian who felt the pains of the Niger Delta.

"Before he gave the amnesty Umaru said to me, 'Turai, people are dying there and we have to save those children because they are the future. When we are gone who will take care of Nigeria. We must do it not just for oil but we can have other resources from that place, we must do it for Nigeria.'"

President Jonathan who was represented by the Minister for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Mallam Kabiru Tanimu, said that unlike the case with the Niger Delta militants there are limitations in giving amnesty to Boko Haram.

"In Niger Delta, you could see the militants. When you need to engage them you know where to get them in the creeks, you can talk to them. But now we have a problem in the North and you can't get Boko Haram, you don't know how to talk to them.

"No matter how passionate the President wants to engage them, there are limitations.

However, government is making a concrete and honest effort towards solving the problem and very soon people will see the faithfulness of Mr. President. What we solicit is understanding and patience."

The President also berated Northern governors for failing to tackle the problems of Boko Haram.

"When the Niger Delta was raging, leaders of Niger Delta especially the governors were the drivers of the process before the Federal Government came in. For goodness sake,

Governor Segun Oni of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared Dr Kayode Fayemi of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as the new Governor of Ekiti State.

This followed a flawed elections process during the 2007 gubernatorial elections, in which Oni was declared as the winner of that election. The fight to reclaim their mandate took three and a half solid years when on October 14, 2010, the ACN candidate was declared as the winner.

Mrs Olayinka was sworn in as the substantive Deputy Governor of Ekiti State, thus becoming the second woman in history to occupy the position of Deputy Governor in the state.

what efforts are the Northern leaders making?

"Security agencies are not magicians or ghosts. These people do not come from the moon, they are our friends, our brothers, and they are our neighbours. Why are we not assisting the security agencies with information?"

The President also lamented that economic activities in the key northern cities have been paralysed by the activities of Boko Haram.

"Insecurity is not the problem of the government alone, it is our collective issue.

Today, the five major cities in the north have been paralysed economically. Kano, Jos, Kaduna, Maiduguri and Gombe are shut down. But let me assure you that Mr. President has promised to look into the problem and very soon, we will see the result."

The federal government has set up a committee to work out modalities for granting amnesty to members of the sect.

The committee has two weeks to complete its assignment.

By Emmanuel Oladesu Group Political Editor the patriotic call to enlist in the rescue mission. It was the most difficult and challenging period in Ekitiland. Some conservative politicians had entered the State House through the backdoor and Ekiti was groaning under their yoke.

UP came Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the challenger of the status quo on the platform of the Action Congress (AC).

Beside him was his running mate, Mrs. Olayinka, the delectable and unassuming workaholic banker. She traversed the nooks and crannies of the hilly state canvassing the alternative route liberation and survival.

However, when the people voted for power shift, the power that be gave power to the loser and in an epic legal battle which tasked the progressives to the brim. The legitimate mandate stolen, governance became a tea party in the rural state. For the three and a half years it lasted, she never wavered in faith and spirit, until the mandate was restored.

Oyo monarch dies at 60 From: Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan HE entire people of Saki, a prominent town in Saki West Local Government Area of Oyo State, yesterday commenced the mourning of the passage of their foremost traditional ruler, the Okere of Saki, Oba Kelani Olatoyese Olarinre II. The Chairman of Saki West Local Government, Hon. Dapo Popoola described the death of the royal father as shocking and a monumental loss to the people of Sakiland and the entire Yorubaland.

Oba Olarinre, who joined his ancestors at about 2am yesterday, was aged 60.

Popoola, in a release signed by the council Information Officer, Mr, Dauda Aderogba, said the wisdom of the late monarch was yet to be enjoyed because of his short reign.

He described his reign as extremely peaceful, stating he enjoyed the love of his subjects.

The Oke- Ogun monarch was on April 9 2012, presented with the staff of office by Governor Abiola Ajimobi, six years after he had been installed.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

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Boko Haram amnesty act of wickedness, says Oritsejafor

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HE President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, said yesterday that the planned amnesty for members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, by the Federal Government amounts to an act of wickedness.

He wondered how government could be talking of amnesty for the fundamentalists without any thought for the welfare of victims of their insurgency.

But the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) is in full support of the planned amnesty and wants the committee set up by the Federal Government to work out the modalities expanded to include ‘critical stakeholders.’

Speaking as a special guest at the 80th birthday of the President, Apostolic Church of Nigeria, Pastor Gabriel Olutola, in Lagos, yesterday, Pastor Oritsejafor advised the federal government to first consider the welfare of victims of Boko Haram insurgence and ensure that Boko Haram embraces peace before considering amnesty for it.

The CAN president faulted the circumstance surrounding the setting up of the amnesty committee.

He said: “I don’t know if the president has actually set up a committee. It is still a rumour to me. But if he has, I think that is a bit dangerous because some of us are stakeholders. I think it is important to consult with all those who ought to know so that they can share their own opinion and also be able to speak on what amnesty is all about.”

He also spoke on the much speculated second term ambition of President Jonathan.

He said: “Well, I don’t know about his (Jonathan) second term ambition because I am not a politician. I am a pastor. But that would be wicked.

I don’t see why he would have to consider that, because we are facing a very serious situation in Nigeria.

“I don’t see why he would have to do that (grant amnesty). Let us not turn this situation into politics. Let’s face it for what it is. The security of the people is the number one responsibility of the president.

And I think at this point, Jonathan must wake up and just face it and do what he has to do. But these people who are putting pressure on him left and right, may God help them and deliver Nigeria from their hands.”

Stressing that CAN is not in any way opposed to amnesty, Oritsejafor, stressed: “When you talk of amnesty, you are also talking about forgiveness. But if you read Luke 15, the Bible is talking about the prodigal son and in verses 17 and 18, the Bible says, ‘when he came to himself.’ In other words, he realised that what he had done was wrong.

“But the people we are dealing with, do they accept that what they are doing is wrong? When he (the prodigal son realised it, then he came to his father to ask for forgiveness.”

Reacting to a call by former First Lady, Turai Yar’Adua, that President Jonathan should extend the same gesture her late husband granted the Niger Delta mili-

From Yusuf Alli, Abuja/ / Remi Adelowo/ Tony Akowe, Kaduna tants, Oritsejafor said, “Comments like this show that those who hold those views either don’t know or pretend not to know what is really happening. If they don’t know, they should meet those who know.”

Oritsejafor said it was wrong to draw a parallel between the Niger Delta and the Boko Haram situations. The Niger Delta militants, he explained, were identified by leaders of the area and agreed to lay down their arms within the period specified by the government before they were offered amnesty.

“The leaders in the North, instead of talking and talking, they should go and identify these (Boko Haram) boys.

Jonathan cannot do that. He doesn’t know where to go.

That is why he must be careful the way he gets involved with some of these agitators,” he said.

Going down the memory lane on how the Niger Delta militants were appeased, Oritsejafor said, “Amnesty did not just happen. What happened was that the leaders from the Niger Delta were able to identify the leaders of these militant groups. Yar’ Adua did not identify them. The leaders in the area identified them and brought them to Yar’ Adua and said ‘these are the boys.’

“Jonathan himself was given the marching orders by Yar’ Adua. He came to the Niger Delta. Incidentally, I’m from that area-and some of us took him to the creeks. I went personally. He went with these boys, he talked with them.

Yar’Adua now said, ‘you have three months to drop your arms. If you drop your arms, then we would start discussing amnesty or any other issue. But if you don’t, you will all be killed.’

“People like Chief Edwin Clark and several others went into the creeks, discussed with the boys, convinced them and within the three months grace, most of them dropped their arms. That was what gradually gave birth to amnesty. So, what are we talking about now?

That a committee would just come out and say ‘now there is amnesty.’ I don’t think that is what Jonathan wants. I would be surprised if that is what some of these Northern leaders themselves want.

“I think we should be concerned about the victims.

How are we going to take care of them? How are we going to compensate the people they left behind? What about the churches that have been burnt?

There are so many unanswered questions that I am wondering why we are putting the cart before the horse.”

The CAN leader also urged the government to intervene in the spate of attacks

by Fulani herdsmen on several communities in the country.

His words: “What we hear today about Fulani herdsmen is a very dangerous trend.

Government and security agencies should look into it.

Is there a connection between them and Boko Haram? The Fulani herdsmen we used to know went about with their sticks and guarded their herds.

“But today, they are killing and maiming in places like Kaduna, Plateau, Ogun, Oyo,

• Northern Govs demand expansion of committee of the NIA, Ambas• FG, sect talks set to resume General sador Zakari Ibrahim whose Cross River, Delta, Benue, Nasarawa and even inside Abuja. And now they are carrying AK47. Who are these people? Leaders of the Fulani community should look into this. Government should help us with these issues.”

The Northern governors in expressing support for the planned amnesty yesterday said President Jonathan was on the right path.

The Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, in a statement through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Danladi Ndayebo said the move “underscores the resolve of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government to restore peace in the region.”

He said a peaceful atmosphere would reinvigorate the region’s development.

It said: “The Northern States Governors Forum

(NSGF) encourages President Jonathan in his effort to find a lasting solution to the Boko Haram crisis, with the hope that members of the sect would make themselves available for dialogue.

“The Forum calls for the expansion of the committee’s membership to include critical stakeholders in the region whose input would facilitate quick resolution of the crisis.

“State Governors, traditional rulers, the clergy Christian and Islamic – academics, retired military men, businessmen and former public officers should form part of the current effort at fashioning out strategies to address the disturbing state of insecurity and to proffer practical and enduring solutions to the insecurity in the region.”

Recalling that the NSGF had, last year, inaugurated a 41-man peace committee headed by former Director

membership cuts across people with diverse backgrounds, it said:”Although the committee is yet to submit report of its findings, its interface with some stakeholders in the troubled states in the North East is responsible for the progress so far made.”

The governors spoke as Northern elders called for the establishment of a permanent amnesty commission to address the issue of pardon for deserving people from time to time.

They have already sent their proposal to President Goodluck Jonathan, in black and white, according to a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof Ango Abdullahi.

The commission will be different from the committee constituted last week by President Goodluck Jonathan last week to work out modalities for granting amnesty to

members of the Islamist sect, Boko Haram.

Professor Abdullahi told the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) monitored in Kaduna that the proposed commission, expected to be backed by law, would be operating independent of government.

He said: "We went with this advice in writing. Our thinking was that if the government felt it would be granting amnesty just like that, then there should be an independent body whose responsibility will be to set up how this amnesty will be granted, and also those affected will not be afraid to come out.

"We suggested the establishment of an amnesty commission. A commission is different from a committee but I hope it is a step that will lead to the commission.

"If a commission is established by law, it is independent and with honest individuals appointed to lead it, they will set up the process through which the desired objectives would be achieved."

•Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku (right), with the United States Consul-General in Nigeria, Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, during the envoy's courtesy visit to the presidential aide on Friday in Abuja

Nigeria sliding back to era of dictatorship, says Amaechi

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OVERNOR Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State yesterday said Nigeria is gradually sliding back to the era of dictatorship and praised the country’s media for remaining “the ray of hope in a dark era.”

In the preliminary comments he made before reading his speech at the grand event at the Expo Centre of Eko Hotel in Lagos, where he was given the Vanguard Personality of the Year Award, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, who has of late been involved in a war of words with President Goodluck Jonathan’s men, explained that unlike his usual style of speaking extemporally, he decided to read a prepared speech, because “I am becoming more careful, given that we are gradually going back to the era of dictatorship in this country.”

While Amaechi was formally presented as Vanguard’s Personality of the Year, 2012, at the event, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the Managing Director of Access Bank, was also honoured as the runner up.

By Sam Egburonu According to an earlier report by Vanguard, the event was designed to highlight Amaechi’s achievements in the last one year, stating that his “feat in Rivers State has been lauded by eminent personalities.”

The report also said “he is being honoured for his widely acknowledged developmental strides which have seen noteworthy improvements in infrastructure and the impartation of governance on all sectors of the society in Rivers State.”

But responding to praises of his achievements, Amaechi, who dedicated the award to the people of Rivers State said, “I am just an errand boy. Our understanding of political power is that power belongs to the voters.”

In his speech, the Chairman of the event, former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, recalled, with passion his friendly relationship with the publisher of Vanguard, Sam Amuka, pointing out that even during the military era, when one of the military governors in his re-

gime shut down Vanguard, their relationship was not destroyed.

The event was a grand party. Nigeria’s pop diva, Omawumi Megbele, Timi Dakolo, Temi Sax and ace-comedian, Gordons led other top artistes to entertain the

audience made-up of Nigeria’s creme de la creme, including top political leaders like the Speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, many state governors and business leaders like Alhaji Aliyu Dangote.

12 missing after Bayelsa attack

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WELVE policemen have been reported missing in Bayelsa State after an attack by militants on a team of police officers in the creeks.

The ambush in the village of Azuzama is the most serious attack in months in the region and came against the background of threat by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) to resume hostilities to protest the recent conviction of Henry Okah for terrorism by a South African court.

But it was not immediately clear who carried out the attack and the motive remained murky.

The militants attacked the contingent of police officers, who were on an unspecified special assignment, after their boat broke down near the village, Bayelsa state police spokesman Alex Akhigbe said.

“Their boat developed some mechanical fault,” Akhigbe said last night.

“While they were trying to fix the boat, they were ambushed by some militants.”

Akhigbe declined to say what the officers’ special assignment was. He also declined to say whether authorities believed the officers had died in the attack, though he said a special rescue team had been assembled for the “recovery” of the officers.

However,it was gathered that the policemen were in the area to provide security at the burial of the mother of an exmilitant, Kile Selky Torughedi aka Young Shall Grow.

Sources said some of his ex foot soldiers accused him of abandoning them after relocating to Abuja in the aftermath of amnesty for repentant militants.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

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Alleged fraud: Residents molest council boss

By Oziegbe Okoeki

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HE ad-hoc committee set up by the Lagos State House of Assembly to investigate alleged financial impropriety against the Chairman of Surulere Local Government, Tajudeen Ajide had an unpleasant experience at the weekend.

Some residents of the area almost disrupted the exercise, molesting and harassing the council Chairman.

The residents, who were apparently angry, refused entreaties by members of the committee who urged them to sheath their sword and allow peace to reign in the area.

Speaking with the newsmen after the inspection, the Chairman of the Committee and Deputy Whip of the House, Rotimi Abiru, said that the unruly attitude of the residents would be properly addressed.

He assured that he and other members of the committee would ensure that justice prevail in the matter.

According to him: "When we got there, we saw some of the projects he claimed to have done while some to us do not exist.

"I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of the committee's report because it is an on-going thing and we are going to invite the legislative arm of the council to air their views about the issue to get to the root of the matter and once we are done with our report, it would be for public consumption."

Terrorism: Lagos community tightens security

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HE traditional ruler of Ayoobo Town in Alimosho Local government Area of Lagos State, Oba Arole Idowu Kadunmise, has called on house owners in his domain to be vigilant and mindful of the activities of their tenants.

He said they will henceforth be held responsible if any of their tenants is caught indulging in terror acts.

The paramount ruler gave this warning when the Obain-Council hosted the CDC/ CDA, concerned citizens, stakeholders, Hausa community and religious leaders on security in the community at the weekend.

Kadunmise said Governor Babatunde Fashola has called all traditional rulers in the state to a meeting where the threat of Boko Haram was discussed.

He started that Fashola advised them to go back to their various domains and instruct their subjects on the need to pay serious attention to strangers, especially those from the northern parts in their midst.

This, the Alayobo of Ayoobo land, said is based on security reports indicating members of the sect are planning to strike in Lagos.

The monarch disclosed that the Oba-in-Council had already taken some steps to improve security in the community.

He called on religious leaders, especially imams to thoroughly check worshippers in the midst and upgrade security.

Jonathan to Nigerians: Don't be deterred

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ESPITE insecurity and other challenges facing the nation, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday urged Nigerians not to be deterred or weary.

He spoke at the 3rd Presidential National Prayer Breakfast at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Jonathan urged Nigerians to be hopeful, focused and watchful to overcome all evil confronting the nation.

From Augustine Ehikioya, Abuja

He said: "Today as we pray, our thoughts no doubt will be dominated by the challenges facing our nation, particularly that of security.

"Providence has placed us all at our various posts at this particular time in our nation's journey to greatness. Therefore we must not be deterred or be weary in spirit at this time."

"We must be hopeful,

focused and watchful to overcome all that is evil confronting our nation.

"We should remember the saying of the scriptures that with men, it is impossible but with God all things are possible."

Noting that prayer is the way ordained for human beings to link up with their creator, he said that the breakfast since 2010 has become a forum to establish God's link at the Presidential Villa.

The president added: "I

believe that all of us if we begin to do what is right individually and collectively, surely we will take our country to the destination we expect."

In his short exhortation at the gathering, Prof.

Afolabi Falola, said God has great promises for nations that submit to Him. He identified obedience, love, holiness and devotion as virtues that will take Nigeria out of the woods.

•: L-R: Commissioner for Information, Delta State, Mr. Chike Ogeah; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; his Rivers State counterpart, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi and Director, Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, during the Nigeria symposium for young and emerging leaders, in Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort, Ekiti State... yesterday

FG upgrades park service to paramilitary status T HE Federal Government (FG) has upgraded the National

Park Service to a Para-Military Organisation.

The approval will take effect from 14th January, 2014.

A statement yesterday by a Deputy Director from the Federal Ministry of Environment, Press and Public Relations, Lawrence Ojabor, in Abuja, stated the approval will enable the organisation perform its function effectively.

It stated that the approval was in line with the NPS Amendment Act of 2006.

From: Olugbenga Adanikin, Abuja

The statement reads in part: "The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR), has approved the classification of the National Park Service as a Para-Military organisation, with effect from January 2014.

"The approval of the ParaMilitary status is consistent with the National Park Serv-

ice Amendment Act 2006 and will enable the organisation to cope with the daunting task of park protection and conservation.

"The National Park Service currently operates seven national parks across the country. The parks cover a total land area of 24, 000 square kilometers.

"The staff trek long distances on rugged terrains and weather conditions to protect the fauna and flora domicile

in the parks and in the process risk attacks by both marauding wild animals and poachers.

"The NPS has responsibility for surveillance, patrolling, checking illegal activities of poachers in the parks.

"It is also charged with the enforcement of relevant international treaties and conventions to which the country is a signatory.

"NPS has the duty of searching, arresting and prosecuting offenders, public enlightenment on the protection and conservation of plants animals, and assisting researchers etc."

Jakande urges INEC to register APC

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ORMER Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Jakande, who spoke to reporters yesterday at the 37th anniversary of the National Committee of Friends (NCF) held at his residence, noted that INEC should register the newly merged political party to resolve the crisis that emanated from the party's crisis of identity.

Jakande, who is the grand patron of NCF said, INEC should do all within its power to resolve the matter amicably.

He called on the Federal Government to grant am-

By Musa Odoshimokhe

nesty to the Boko Haram group to nip the challenges of insecurity in the country in the bud.

He said: "Boko Haram must first of all terminate its era of terrorism in the country, following which government should engage them in developmental programmes. "

He expressed the hope that the country would move forward if all things were done properly, citing the efforts of the Southwest Regional Integration as a step in the right direction.

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) who was represented by his Special Adviser on Education, Otunba Fatai Olukoga, said regional inte-

gration is part and parcel of the present global economic order which the country must embrace.

Fashola said: "The reawakening of regional integration as a basis for development of the regions in Nigeria is a welcome development and a right signal that a new mindset which encompasses a change in value, conviction and commitment."

The Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam, who attended the prayer breakfast with his wife, told reporters: "This prayer meeting introduced by the Presidency is something whether as a Muslim or a Christian, we should carry out in the states.

"At this time in history, we need lot of prayers. But beyond prayers we also need to take action so that God will be able to give us required support. “Prayers yes, but we also need to take action."

On amnesty for Boko Haram members, he said: "Quite frankly I believe that whatever solution we will proffer that will solve the problem of terrorist attacks in the north is commendable and welcome.

"I believe the President has looked at the issue critically and decided on the best way out to invite these people to come out in the open and drop their weapons."

At the prayer session were former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Speaker of House of Reps, Emeka Ihedioha and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, among others.

Senator offers relief to victims of Fulani attack From Tony Akowe, Kaduna

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ENATOR Nenadi Usman (Kaduna South) has donated relief materials to victims of Fulani attack in four southern Kaduna villages penultimate weekend that left about 28 people dead.

The victims of the attack are currently taking refuge at the Model Primary School in Fadan Attakar, Kaura Local Government Areas of the state.

Usman said genuine peace can be achieved if people support efforts by government to ensure peace and security.

She condemned the spate of violent attacks on southern Kaduna villages in recent times and expressed concerns that criminal gangs have been allowed to invade the communities to unleash terror on the people with impunity.

The lawmaker appealed to the people to continue to live in peace and accommodate one another.

She said: "As a woman and a mother, I understand the pains and anguish that have befallen the Attakar community hence my effort in bringing some relief materials."

Oyo trains 500 female workers on ICT

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HE Oyo State government has through the office of the First Lady trained 500 female civil servants on Information Communication Technology (ICT).

The training was to improve their work performances and expose them

From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

to the abounding opportunities on the internet.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, which coincided with her 54th birthday at the weekend the First Lady, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, said it was time for women to claim their

rightful positions through acquisition of knowledge.

She said: "These are projects I hold very close to my heart and I enjoin you all today that rather than give me personal gift for my birthday, I would appreciate it very much if everyone could make a contribution towards any of

these projects so that together we can make a joint impact on our people."

She solicited additional support not only for the ICT centre but also for the Educate a Rural Child Project geared at bridging the gap between children educated in the urban and rural areas of the state.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Bayelsa restates commitment to BRACED commission

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AYELSA state has reiterated its commitment to realisation of the ideals behind the establishment of the BRACED Commission, the umbrella body coordinating the affairs of the South-South states of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross- River, Edo and Delta.

Governor Henry Seriake Dickson stated this at a 3-day retreat of the Commission at the Le Meridian Hotel, Uyo, Capital of Akwa Ibom State.

The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof.

Edmond Allison-Oguru, said Bayelsa will continue to promote cooperation in the region and ensure the integration of the South-South region to achieve the much-desired socio-economic development of the region.

Participants at the retreat, including Commissioners, Permanent Secretaries and Directors of Planning from the various states as well as representatives of non-governmental organisations, were drawn from the South-South states of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta States.

BRACED, which is an acronym for the six South-South states, was established to drive the process of economic cooperation and integration among the states in the region, following recommendations at the first South-South economic summit in June 2011.

The theme of the retreat was “promoting understanding and ownership of regional development process”.

Oyo monarch dies at 60 From: Oseheye Okwuofu, Ibadan

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HE entire people of Saki, a prominent town in Saki West Local Government Area of Oyo state, yesterday commenced the mourning of the passage of their foremost traditional ruler, the Okere of Saki, Oba Kelani Olatoyese Olarinre II. The Chairman of Saki West Local Government, Hon. Dapo Popoola described the death of the royal father as shocking and a monumental loss to the people of Sakiland and entire Yorubaland.

Oba Olarinre, who joined his ancestors at about 2am yesterday, was aged 60.

Popoola, in a release signed by the council Information Officer, Mr, Dauda Aderogba, said the wisdom of the late monarch was yet to be enjoyed because of his short reign.

He described his reign as extremely peaceful, stating he enjoyed the love of his subjects.

The Oke- Ogun monarch was on April 9 2012, presented with the staff of office by Governor Abiola Ajimobi, six years after he had been installed.

The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, in a release his Media Assistant, Alhaji Azeez Fehintola, announced the passage of the royal father after a brief illness.

His remains were interred yesterday evening in Saki according to Islamic rites.

News

I won’t go back to APGA, says Okorie

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ESPITE the recent reconciliatory visit of the interim leadership of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the founding National Chairman of the party and current National Chairman of the United Progressive Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, has foreclosed rejoining APGA. “It’s already too late to think in that direction,” he told The Nation in a telephone chat at the weekend, adding, “I won’t go back to the party.”

Okorie explained that when the leaders of APGA

By Sam Egburonu, Associate Editor

paid the said reconciliatory visit to his Enugu residence, “they didn’t come with that proposal.

He added: “Even if they did, it is already too late. We have already formed a new party, which performed very well in the recent election in Abuja.

“So, given the wide acceptability of UPP and the fact that the party is not encumbered with rancor, we do not see any reason to contemplate leaving it now for APGA.” Okorie also pointed out

that APGA is still a victim of numerous litigations, concluding that in that circumstance, “it does not make sense for me to leave a rancour- free UPP to return to APGA.” He however considered the reconciliatory visit as a good development, admitting it could open doors for future negotiations and relations.

“I honestly appreciate the reconciliatory move and is happy that in my life time they have come out to openly vindicate me and say, we are sorry. I know about repentance and forgiveness.

“As a Christian, I accept their apology whole heartedly because I know there is nothing like peace. I know that once you bring peace into your mind, good things will begin to happen to you.”

Since the interim leadership of APGA led by the interim National Chairman, Chief Maxi Okwu, paid a reconciliatory visit to Okorie in his Enugu residence early this month, speculations have been high that the Governor Peter Obiled APGA is determined to lure back Okorie after prolonged crisis.

•L-R: The Olugbo of Ugboland, Oba Obateru Akinrutan; Mama Dideolu Awolowo and Kola Abiola during a condolence visit to the Awolowo family in Ikenne Ogun State… yesterday

Unbridled corruption will ruin Nigeria, Bafarawa warns

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ORMER Sokoto state governor, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, has warned that unbridled corruption ravaging the nation might lead to its doom.

He stated opposition political parties came together to form a formidable party is to re-unite and promote the growth of democracy in the county.

He said the move was necessary because there can be no democracy without viable opposition.

Bafarawa spoke yesterday while commiserating with the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, over the recent attack against him.

He noted the relationship between him and the traditional ruler remains that of a father and son.

As a member of the constitution drafting committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Bafarawa

From Kolade Adeyemi, Kano

expressed optimism that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will register the party.

He said: ”I am optimistic that INEC will register APC. We are law- abiding; we know the rules and what it will take to be eligible for registration and will not submit our application through

Council poll: ACN has strategy to defeat PDP, says Oshiomhole

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DO State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has declared the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has the strategy to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party in the April 20 local government election.

Speaking to ACN supporters at Ehor and Igueben in his campaign tour for the poll, Oshiomhole said: “Our weapon against People Democratic Party (PDP) is service to the people.

“We work for the people

From Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

because PDP has a history of working against the people; elevate the people because PDP philosophy is to bring the people down.”

He added: “We will invest in education because PDP believes in privatising education, investing in the building of roads because PDP believes in under-developing the people. Everything that they are opposed to that is good, we will do.”

He told the candidates:

Speaker charges politicians on poverty

S

PEAKER of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salaam, has charged political office holders to explore all available means to address issue of poverty in the society.

He gave the charge at an empowerment programme of the member representing Obokun State constituency, Hon. Samson Femi Fafiyebi.

No fewer than forty per-

the backdoor.

“We will ensure to forward our application to INEC through the right channel, which is why we are painstakingly going through the right door and trying to comply with due process, before the submission of our application, which I believe we will scale through at the close of the day.”

From Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

sons from Obokun Local government area of the state benefitted from training in the repair of mobile handsets, beads and wirework making.

The Speaker, who said the political office holders and the rich have responsibility to the less privileged, noted that paying attention to those vulnerable financially can only foster productivity for peace

and development.

Fafiyebi said the scheme was his quota to the development of human resources in Obokun local government, which he said was pivotal to developmental agenda of the Rauf Aregbesola administration.

Various items like farm tools, television sets, fans, generators were distributed to members of the constituency at the function.

“We have come to remind you that another election is around the corner. We need men and women who are ready to serve the people at the grassroots.

“Our candidates must imbibe the philosophy of ACN, which is service to the people.

“We have also decided nobody elected as a Chairman under our platform will not be allowed to govern in absentia. You cannot be a visiting chairman.

“You must be resident local government chairman.

That way, he does not need to be told that there is no light.

He does not need to be told that the transformer is bad.

What you don’t know you can’t solve.”

The governor assured voters in the local areas that government would complete all on-going projects in the areas.

He later presented the Igueben council candidate, Mr. Ashuma Asemota and Mr. Alari Roland of Uhunmwode local government areas as candidates of the ACN.

7

Amnesty: Lanlehin, cleric urge Boko Haram to ceasefire From Tayo Johnson, Ibadan

S

ENATOR Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South) and the Bishop of Ibadan Anglican Communion, Archbishop Joseph Akinfenwa, have appealed to members of the Boko Haram sect to ceasefire before the proposed amnesty by the Federal Government takes off.

They said there would be no meaningful dialogue as long as the sect continues to carry out terrorist attacks.

They spoke at the 3rd session of the 20th synod of the Anglican diocese, held at All Souls Church, Bodija Ibadan yesterday.

Lanlehin advised the Amnesty Committee of the Federal Government to insist Boko Haram members lay down arms before meaningful negotiation takes place.

According to him: “If there is going to be an amnesty at all, they should first of all ceasefire from both sides.

“That is when the Armed Forces can arrest miscreants and armed robbers taking advantage of the situation to perpetuate their evil acts”.

He urged Boko Haram members to state their grievances, stressing plans to Islamise Nigeria will never work.

Akinfenwa appealed to them to come out of hiding for dialogue to commence.

The cleric stated: “We appeal to them to lay down their arms and then come out. There is nothing that has no solution.

“Until you know who is fighting you that is the only time you can have a meaningful discussion with him.”

ICPC seeks disciplined civil service

T

HE Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta, lauded the decision by the new Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bucker Goni Aji, to improve welfare packages for workers.

Speaking during a visit by Aji to the ICPC, Nta said the Federal Civil Service “is the engine that propels government business and it needs a high level of discipline, integrity and efficiency which can only be attained by a well motivated workforce to achieve sustainable success.”

He also spoke on the importance of proper time management saying “not keeping to time or working five days in the week is corruption.”

He decried the situation where government offices are almost non-functional on Mondays and Fridays due to late arrivals and early departures by some civil servants on those days.

Nta also called for the protection of whistle blowers as well as members of Anti-Corruption Transparency Units (ACTUs) deployed in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

He said there should be a policy where those who felt threatened for being whistle blowers in government could be transferred from federal to states or local government services and vice versa to protect them from victimisation.

8

News

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Islamic school graduates 24

Edo lawmaker grants scholarship to 122 pupils

From: Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

From, OSemwengie Ben Ogbemudia , Benin

N

T

HE member representing Orhionmwon South 2 of the state constituency at Edo State House of Assembly, Hon. Friday Ogierhiakhi, yesterday granted scholarship to 122 pupils in his constituency.

He said that child education is a right of the citizenry which ought to be implemented fully. The scholarship include school bags, shoes and writing materials. He noted that the gesture was part of his electioneering promises to the people in 2011.

According to him, sound and qualitative education will be a mirage without a foundation and no child should be deprived of education because of his limitation, putting into cognisance that an educated populace is easy to govern, but difficult to mislead.

He therefore called for a university campus in the constituency that will give agriculture the needed impetus, just as he pointed out that the local government was the only reason why Edo State is regarded as an oil producing state in the country.

Abia gospel artists sweep awards From Sunny Nwankwo, Aba

A

BIA armature gospel artists, Izuchukwu (Umuahia), Sarah Micha (Igbere, Bende) and IGN group (Aba) emerged 1st, 2nd and 3rd best armature gospel artists and won a N300, 000 worth of music recording deal each with Grand Mix Studio in a keenly contested musical concert organised for the South East and South South upcoming gospel artists.

The artists also went home with plaques, certificate of participation and a Vision Africa customised radio.

The music concert organised by Vision Africa Radio (VOA), Love 104.1 Fm Umuahia, Abia State had in attendance 27 registered upcoming gospel artists from Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Abia, Rivers, among other states in the South East and South South geopolitical zones which saw the auditorium of Binez Hotels Aba (venue of the event) filled to capacity.

According to Mr. Nduaka Ekpe, the Marketing Manager VOA, the aim of the gospel concert was to harness and bring to limelight young talented gospel artists who did not or may not have the opportunity to showcase their talent to for the society to see or hear.

“We want to use this opportunity to harness them and to bring them into limelight and at the same time entertain the audience who have come to witness or be part of the event.”

Ekpe said that, outside the record deal for the best three, “plans are on the way to help them (all the contestants) to develop the more after the event.”

He further added, “we shall use one of our radio programmes (top 10 new songs) to play and promote their music to make them popular.

•L-R: Media and Brand Public Relation Manager, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Edem Vindah; representative of Managing Director/ CEO, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, Mr. Yusuf Ageni, and Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku-Coy, during the 5th Golden Pen Award, organised by Nigeria Breweries in Lagos at the weekend.

PHOTO: Muyiwa Hassan.

Emeka, New Era boss, kidnapped

T

HERE was tension yesterday in

Anambra State, following reports that one of the leading contractors in the state, Benneth Emeka, has been abducted by suspected kidnappers.

The owner of New Era Construction firm, based in Aba, Abia State and Port Hacourt, Rivers State, was kidnapped at Nsugbe in Anambra East Local Government Area yesterday.

The Onitsha Police

From Nwanosike Onu, Awka

Area Commander, Ben Worju, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, confirmed the incident to The Nation.

Though, according to him, no contact had been made between the suspects and the family, he said more men of the command had been deployed to the dark spots in the area.

According to him, “there is no cause for alarm, this command is

battle ready and we are going to make sure that the man comes out immediately.”

Emeka, The Nation was told, was abducted by a four-man gang along Nwafor Orizu College of Education in the afternoon when he went to inspect the road under construction by his firm.

On lookers who spoke with The Nation yesterday said that the contractor drove himself to the site without any driver or po-

liceman when the suspects, driving an L-300 bus, swooped on him Before his kidnap, the victim had been involved in solving the erosion problems in his Umueri community.

He was said to have built about 350 metre length road in his community which was ravaged by erosion for a long time in the state and had equally been involved in awarding scholarships to students and helping the needy.

Union threatens strike over N12m fund

T

HE Abia State Council of Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria [MHWUN] has threatened to embark on a strike against the management of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) over non payment of its worker’s check off dues, which is alleged to have been used to pay workers’ salary.

The union said the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of ABSUTH, Dr Uwa Iweha, is not qualified to manage the affairs of the hospital, as he has no right to allegedly use the check off dues of its members to offset the salary arrears of the workers of the hospital, instead of paying it to the

T

From Ugochukwu Ugoji-Eke, Umuahia

union.

Speaking during a press briefing on the activities marking this year’s health workers week, the state chairman of MHWUN, Uchenna Obigwe, said they have exhausted all avenues avail-

able to them to no avail and that the strike will commence after their health week celebration.

Obigwe said that the amount which is N12 million has not been paid and that they are requesting the CMD to pay the money without delay, “else, he will start working on how

Ogoni youths seek God’s intervention over land case

T

HE youths of Ogoni in Tai Local Government Area of Rives State have said the only persons to be trusted in times of need and tribulation is God.

From Precious Dikewoha, Port Harcourt

The youths who are also the landlord of the Rivers State plantation stated this yesterday at a special prayer in Uekem

Kogi to harvest dry season rice farming next month

HE Kogi State A g r i c u l t u r a l D e v e l o p m e n t Programme, (ADP) has said it was expected to harvest over 4000 metric tones of rice from its coordinated dry season rice farming.

The Managing Director of ADP, Dr. Ameh Onoja, who disclosed this yesterday while conducting journalists round the farms at Sarkin Noma and Okumi, said the government provided the farmers with all the needed inputs.

The state government had last year December cleared and shared 1,500 hectares of land to prospective farmer groups at Sarkin Noma, Galilee, Okumi in Lokoja and KotonKarfi free of charge as part of

to manage a strike that will come to the hospital,” he said.

When contacted, the CMD was said to be out of town for an official assignment. However, a staff in his office denied the allegation, saying that the union was being economical with the truth.

From Muhammad Bashir, Lokoja

its agricultural transformation in the state.

According to Onoja, Kogi was working to beat the federal government deadline

for putting a stop to the importation of rice, and called on the farmers to take advantage of government’s favourable disposition to improve agriculture in the state to improve their well-being.

community in Ogoni, Rivers State.

Pastor Nwikeigi Nbugere who led the special prayer section said since the community and the youths of the area could not trust the chiefs and elders in their community, the best option is to seek God’s intervention.

Pastor Nwikeigi said: “The community and the youths of Ueken in Ogoni land have decided to run to God for our needs and problem. We can no longer trust our chiefs and elders in the community who have stood on our destinies pretending to be serving us.

Oshiomhole, Ogbemudia, others shun Niger Delta Award Dinner

T

HE Steering and Organising Committee of Niger Delta Awards in the much publicised exclusive dinner/fund raising event was almost marred when notable political invitees declined to honour the invitation nor send any emissarcy.

Among guests slated to

From , OSemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin

attend the occasion who were conspicuously absent included the Benin Monarch, Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of old Bendel, Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, Edo State

Speaker, Hon Uyi Igbe, and Chief Mike Ozekhome.

However, guest speaker at the event, Dr Akpo Mudiaga Odje, a constitutional lawyer, expressed concern when organisers in the country only recognise politicians who in turn use it for showmanship and ostentatious pretences.

O fewer than 24 students were yesterday graduated by the Madarasatul Nurul Islam, Arabic School, Marafa Estate, Kaduna, after series of recitations from chapters of the Holy Quran and sections of the Hadith, the sayings and teachings of the Prophet, PBUH. Chairman, Governing Board of the School and former Commissioner in Kaduna State, Alhaji Zakari Isa Chawai, disclosed at the 2nd graduation ceremony of the school which was established to inculcate religious islamic knowledge, moral and intellectual discipline as well as fear of God in both conduct and character in relation to human endeavour.

However, 21 of those graduated were male children, while three were women.

Speaking, Chairman Kaduna North Local Government , Alhaji Samaila Suleiman, represented by Muhammad Bashir Tukur , Counsillor representing Kabala/Marafa Estate ward, said knowledge, islamic or western, was essential and basic ingredient for the development of humanity. “ I hope the knowledge you acquire will be useful to islam and humanity in the spirit of fear of God.” Similarly, District Head of Gabasawa and the Dan Kaden Zazzau, Alhaji Jibrin said true leadership was founded in the spirit of fear of God. Also, Alhaji Abubakar Abdullahi, Permanent Secretary Islamic Religious Affairs in Kaduna State said the state government was working round the clock to ensure the smooth conduct of islamic activities as well as promote peaceful co-existence across the state through various committees inaugurated by the state government.

Akpabio tasks youths on unity of Nigeria

A

KWA Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has called on Nigerian youths to strive to keep Nigeria united irrespective of tribal or religious sentiments as the future of the country rests solely on them.

Akpabio stated this at the first Niger Delta Young Professionals Award Night held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

Akpabio, who was one of the five recipients of the awards, said he was elated by the ingenuity of the young professionals, as their passion for the total transformation of the Niger Delta region, and by extension the entire country, is an attestation of a rebirth of thoughts of the youths towards positive development.

While commending the group for recognising values, Akpabio said the award is significant as it will engrave in the hearts of Nigerians a willingness and desire to offer selfless service to humanity.

He dedicated the awards to all Nigerian children, especially those resident in Akwa Ibom State, and said his administration will continue to invest in the youths to prepare them for a greater Nigeria.

NEWS REVIEW

9

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

• Emma's future home

T

HE three McQuiston women live in a charming white-brick house in a hidden corner of Kensington.

It is so tucked away that it feels almost secret, as though the people who live here belong to a secret society: a society of the super-rich, apart from the rest of us.

Suzanna McQuiston and her daughters, Samantha, 48, and Emma, 27, like it very much.

But in June, Emma will be moving out, for a rather special reason - she is marrying Ceawlin Thynn, Viscount Weymouth.

Ceawlin is heir apparent to Longleat House, a stately home in Wiltshire known in equal measure for its safari park and the fact that Ceawlin's father, the current Marquess of Bath, has dozens of 'wifelets' scattered about in cottages on the estate.

A Marchioness is the wife or widow of a Marquess - a rank of nobility belows a Duke and above an Earl.

Emma appears on the cover of the May issue of Tatler in a billowing strapless red gown, in front of Longleat House, with the magazine trumpeting the fact that Emma is to become 'Britain's first black marchioness'.

Her mother and sister are not surprised that the aspiring TV chef has made such a good match. All three McQuiston women are beguiling to the opposite sex. And for some reason, they all seem to attract a certain type of man.

Take Emma's mother, Suzanna. In the early Eighties, she had an affair with Ladi Jadesimi, a married Nigerian oil baron who is Emma's father. He is one of the richest men in Nigeria.

And Samantha? Well, she had a long relationship with John Roberts, a multi-millionaire Australian tycoon who won the contract to build the new Wembley stadium.

After his death aged 73 in 2006, she learned he had left her AU$10?million in his will (£6,845,360 at today's exchange rate). He was one of the richest men in Australia.

It is true that Ceawlin, Viscount Weymouth, is not one of the richest men in England, but Longleat House,

Britain's first black Marchioness is Nigerian • Emma McQuiston is the daughter of a Nigerian oil tycoon and its 900 acres of prime Wiltshire land, must be worth quite a sum.

Anyway, Emma appears to be doing quite well for herself already.

The house in Kensington, for example, is conservatively estimated to be worth £7?million. There is no mortgage on the property, which the McQuiston ladies moved into in 2008.

The house is owned by Kleinwort Benson (Jersey) Trustees, a private banking and investment management firm.

A couple of miles away in just as exclusive Belgravia, Emma and her sister Samantha own a large four-storey house, which they bought in 2008 and which is estimated to be worth up to £9?million.

They rent the property out for an estimated £24,000 per month. There is no mortgage on that property, either.

It would seem Mr Jadesimi has been generous to his daughter, unless, of course, being an aspiring television chef pays better than you might think.

In her interview with Tatler, Emma speaks of how her mixed-race heritage has exposed her to snobbery and prejudice since her engagement to Ceawlin. 'There's class and then there's the racial thing. It's a jungle and I'm going through it and discovering things as I grow up.

'I'm not super-easily offended, but it's a problem when someone's making you feel different or separate because of your race.'

But is that really so? After all, Alexander, the 80-year-old Marquess of Bath, is himself famously unconventional.

He has been married to his Hungarian-born wife Anna for nearly

45 years, but his wifelets are from a variety of backgrounds.

In fact, an impeccably placed source confirms there is disquiet about the engagement in the family, but it has nothing to do with Emma's colour.

'Yes, there is dismay and disquiet about the engagement, but that's because Emma appears to be so selfpromoting and, indeed, did not hesitate to promote her fledgling career as a TV chef - or her blog - in the magazine interview about her engagement.'

That engagement certainly caused quite a stir at Longleat, especially among the wifelets, who naturally fear that when Ceawlin and his bride eventually take over the estate, they will be evicted from their comfortable cottages.

Another acquaintance of the family says it has not helped that Emma's mother and sister have both, by one of

Her father, Ladi Jadesimi

L

• Jadesimi

ADI Jadesimi is executive chairman of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL) - a firm providing logistics services for offshore oil and gas drilling companies. He graduated in 1966 from Oxford University with M.A and LLB degrees and subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers and Lybrand in London, England.

He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

A founding Partner in Arthur Andersen Nigeria and a major investor in Niger Delta Oil Company, operating marginal field concessions from CHEVRON, Jadesimi is a long term investor in property that is leased to major international blue chip clients. He is said to have been instrumental in bringing several leading oil majors and oil servicing companies to Nigeria.

He served as non-Executive Director of First City Monument Bank Plc. from 1983 to February 2011.

those quirks of fate, had relationships with multi-millionaires.

'There is this suspicion among some of Ceawlin's friends, which may be terribly unfair, but is difficult to avoid given the McQuiston family ?.?.?.?ahem?.?.?.?history, that Longleat House and everything that goes with it are part of the attraction for Emma,' explains the source.

Unfair indeed, given that the couple are clearly very much in love and that he pursued her.

And then there's the matter of the personal style she demonstrates on her blog. The source said: 'In this day and age, you wouldn't expect an attractive young lady to dress like a Victorian, but she's a little too far the other way.

For example, posting pictures of herself in a bikini on her blog is seen as not being in very good taste.'

Emma's blog undoubtedly exerts a peculiar fascination on the reader, brimming as it is with self-love.

Ostensibly a blog about food, the pictures of the dishes (healthy, low calorie) prepared by Emma vie for attention with photographs of Emma herself. Emma pouting in Florida; Emma pouting in Venice; Emma pouting in St Tropez. It goes on and on.

Soon Emma will finally have the attention she craves as the Marchioness of Bath and there seems little doubt she will revel in the role.

The McQuiston ladies all speak impeccable received pronunciation and are perceived by those who know them to be 'posh'.

So, are they are posh as they sound?

Actually, no.

Emma's mother was born Eileen Patience Pike in Brighton to an able seaman and his wife. In 1961, aged just 17 and a hairdresser in Weymouth, Dorset, she married Ian McQuiston, a 25-year-old sales rep.

Six months later, in March 1962, and by now living in Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, she gave birth to a son, Ian, in Southampton. Samantha Jane followed in November 1964. It is not known when the couple split up, but, at some point, Mrs McQuiston decided to

•Contd. on page 10

10

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

News Review/World

Mandela discharged from hospital

F

ORMER South African president Nelson Mandela was discharged yesterday after spending more than a week in hospital for treatment of pneumonia, raising global concern about the health of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.

"He has been discharged from hospital today, 6 April, following a sustained and gradual improvement in his general condition," the South African presidency said.

It was the third health scare in four months for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who became South Africa's first black president in 1994 and became a global symbol of tolerance and the struggle for equality.

He was in hospital briefly in early March for a check-up and was hospitalized in December for nearly three weeks with a lung infection and after surgery to remove gallstones.

Mandela stepped down as president in 1999 and has not been politically active for a decade. But he is still revered at home and abroad for leading the long campaign against apartheid and then championing racial reconciliation while in office.

Mandela has a history of lung problems dating from when he contracted tuberculosis as a political prisoner. He spent 27 years on Robben Island and in other jails for his attempts to overthrow the whiteminority government.

Pope Francis makes first curia appointment

P

OPE Francis has appointed a Spaniard as secretary for the Vatican's office for religious orders.

The appointment of the Rev. Jose Rodriguez Carballo, announced yesterday, is Francis' first appointment to the curia, or Vatican administration.

The 60-year-old Carballo, who was also elevated to archbishop, replaces U.S. Archibishop Joseph Tobin, who was transferred from the high-ranking Vatican post to the Indianapolis archdiocese of fewer than 230,000 parishioners following his efforts to resolve tensions between the Vatican and U.S. nuns. Some theological conservatives had complained that the nuns had become too secular and political.

More S/Koreans leave N/Korean T

HE North Korean factory park that is the last vestige of cooperation with the South moved closer to paralysis yesterday as nearly 100 South Korean workers went home across a border that Pyongyang has closed in the return direction.

South Korean workers who left the Kaesong industrial complex just north

factory park of the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone said their companies were running out of raw materials that ordinarily would be trucked in from the South.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said

one of the more than 120 companies operating at the complex shut down yesterday, the fourth to do so since North Korea barred people and cargo from entering on Wednesday.

•Journalists interview a driver in a car arriving from North Korea's Kaesong joint industrial complex, on the road leading to North Korea at a military check point in the border city of Paju yesterday. North Korea refused on April 6 to lift a ban on South Koreans accessing their companies in a joint industrial zone on the North side of the border.

PHOTO: AFP

Suicide bomber kills 22 at political rally in Iraq

A

suicide bomb and grenade attack has killed at least 22 people and injured about 50 at a political rally in the eastern Iraqi city of Baquba.

A grenade was thrown into the crowd gathered inside a large tent and, seconds later, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the same tent.

In recent weeks more than 11 candidates standing in this month's local elections have been shot dead.

Polls in two provinces have been postponed for security concerns.

But the attacks have not stopped, and they have affected candidates in other provinces as well, the BBC's

Rami Ruhayem reports from Baghdad.

Opposition figures have accused the government of delaying the elections out of fear that antigovernment candidates will sweep to victory, our reporter says.

Sunni candidate Muthana alJourani was meeting supporters in Baquba, a city 60km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

He was unhurt but his supporters were among the dead and injured.

Ahmad al-Hadlouj, 34, was injured in the attack.

He was quoted as saying by AP news agency that hundreds of people had gathered in a side street for the

rally. His father, a member of the candidate's political bloc, was also wounded.

"This is our blood [shed] for the people," he said. "We will still participate in elections."

Baquba is the capital of Diyala province, which has been among the most violent in Iraq.

No group said immediately that it had carried out the attack but such incidents are usually blamed on alQaeda.

Violence has decreased in Iraq since the peak of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007 but bombings are still common.

Britain's first black Marchioness is Nigerian •Contd. from page 9

reinvent herself. Eileen Patience was consigned to history and Suzanna Louize (sic) was born. She was impossibly beautiful in those days: Suzanna Louize suited her better.

By the early Eighties, Suzanna Louize had become part of a bohemian crowd of wealthy Londoners and foreigners living in the city - Iranians, Nigerians, and other exotic nationalities - who gathered at each other's houses to drink and discuss art, poetry and the like.

Usually, she brought along her daughter, Samantha. One woman who was a regular at the gatherings remembers the pair well. 'I'm afraid I rather disapproved of Suzanna,' she says. 'I didn't think it was proper for a mother to be going out for the night with her daughter.

'Suzanna was stunningly beautiful, a real head turner, but she dressed in very provocative clothes it was very mutton dressed as lamb.

Samantha looked quite old-fashioned next to her.

'Nowadays, it would bring to mind Saffy and Edina in Absolutely Fabulous. Later, I heard Suzanna had hooked up with a very rich Nigerian and I wasn't surprised, given her beauty.'

Indeed, it was possibly at one of these gatherings that Suzanna met Oxford-educated Ladi Jadesimi, then a chartered accountant who lived part

of the time in London with his Nigerian wife, Alero, at their house on The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, the socalled 'Millionaires' Row' (this was the Eighties, when there weren't many millionaires).

Ladi, son of an Anglican cleric, was to become even richer in the Nineties when he began investing in the Nigerian oil industry. Today, he is executive chairman of Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base, known as LADOL. Ladi has four children with Alero, one of whom, Oxford-educated Amy, is managing director of LADOL. A member of Nigerian high society who knows the family, says: 'Ladi is a good-looking, charming man.

He's not gregarious, but quiet and thoughtful.

'He's one of the richest men in Nigeria. He owns lots of companies and has properties all over the place. A lot of businessmen in Nigeria are corrupt, but Ladi is totally straight.

'He's a good man but his Achilles heel is women. He's rather a womaniser and likes blondes, which doesn't go down very well with Nigerian women.

So it's easy to see why he fell for Suzanna. I understand that Ladi is now separated from his wife, though fairly amicably, but I believe they were together when he had the affair with Suzanna.'

Emma was born on March 26, 1986, at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington. On the birth certificate, Suzanna and Ladi gave the same address in Kensington as their usual residence.

Ladi also put down his residence on The Bishops Avenue, suggesting he may have been shuttling between the two places. It's not known how long the relationship endured, but in the interview with Tatler, Suzanna says: 'He's a dear friend and a good man and he gave me Emma.'

The McQuistons forged connections with Longleat in 1989 when Emma was just four. Her elder brother Ian, then 27 - who by now had inserted an 'I' in his name and had become Iain (at least it wasn't a Z) - married 30-year-old Lady Silvy Thynn, a half aunt of Ceawlin's.

Iain, then a decorator, and Lady Silvy, who is described as a gilder on her marriage certificate, now live in Kensington and have two children.

Emma, who was a bridesmaid at the wedding, used to see her future husband at family gatherings.

She was living in London with her mother and sister and attended Queen's Gate School, where she was head girl, and then studied history of art at University College London.

It wasn't until she bumped into Ceawlin at Soho House, a private members' club in London, 18 months ago, that they began a relationship.

By then, Ceawlin had taken over the running of Longleat. Emma, after a failed attempt at becoming a movie star, had taken to cookery. Relationships with an American and a Nigerian hadn't worked out. For his part, Ceawlin's romantic history had been brushed by tragedy. In 1996, he was caught up in a

terrorist attack in India in which his then girlfriend, Jane Kirby, 29, was killed.

Friends say Ceawlin, to the dismay of his family, was quickly besotted with Emma and she began staying with him for extended periods at his private apartments on the Longleat estate.

Last November, Ceawlin proposed to her in the middle of the night after an evening out at Annabel's nightclub in London.

Emma says her father, Ladi, will walk her down the aisle at her wedding in June. Ladi's wife, Alero, will not be happy about this, according to the Nigerian family friend.

'Alero is a very regal, dignified woman who wouldn't dream of showing her feelings about Ladi's affair with Suzanna in public,' she explains. 'It is possible she has accepted Emma's existence, but she will not like Emma talking about her father so publicly.

'She is a woman who likes to keep that sort of thing private, and Ladi, also, is a very private man.'

Unlike Emma, who will no doubt be keen to adopt a high profile when she moves into Longleat House and becomes Marchioness-in-waiting.

How well the McQuiston ladies have done for themselves.

And to think that it all began with a young girl called Eileen Patience Pike.

Courtesy: Daily Mail

The closing of the border crossing is among many provocative moves Pyongyang has made in recent weeks.

It has also made war threats as it expressed outrage over U.N. sanctions related to its February nuclear test, and over ongoing U.S.-South Korean annual military drills that Pyongyang calls war rehearsals.

Outsiders say Pyongyang is talking tough to win negotiations and aid from the U.S., provoke softer policies from South Korea and make young authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un appear powerful to his own largely destitute people.

North Korea last month threatened a nuclear attack on the United States, and last week said it had entered a "state of war" with South Korea. Defense officials in Seoul say they have seen no preparations for a full-scale attack, though they add that the chance of a localized conflict remains.

On Tuesday, North Korea said it would restart a plutonium reactor closed in 2007 and use it to make fuel for nuclear bombs. On Thursday, South Korea's defense minister said the North has moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east, possibly for testing or as part of drills.

South Korea would not confirm a report from Yonhap news agency that North Korea had hidden two Musudan missiles after moving them to the east coast. A South Korean Defense Ministry official said yesterday that if the North had hidden a missile, it could be to run a technical checkup before a test launch.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy.

Analysts believe the Musudan missile has not been tested, but is intended to hit targets at least 3,000 kilometers (1,800 miles) away, putting the U.S. territory of Guam at the limits of its range.

North Korea has been raising its war rhetoric almost daily. Foreign diplomats based in Pyongyang say the government told them it could not guarantee their safety unless they left the country by April 10. There was no sign yesterday that any diplomats were preparing to leave because of the notice.

Six Americans, doctor killed in Afghan attacks IX American troops and civilians and an Afghan doctor were killed in attacks yesterday in southern and eastern Afghanistan as the U.S. military's top officer began a weekend visit to the country, officials said.

In the south, three U.S. service members, two U.S. civilians and the doctor were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car full of explosives just as a convoy with the international military coalition drove past another convoy of vehicles carrying the governor of Zabul province.

Another American civilian was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The attacks occurred the same day that U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Afghanistan for a visit aimed at assessing the level of training that American troops can provide to Afghan security forces after international combat forces complete their withdrawal at the end of 2014.

S

Five die in ChristianMuslim clashes in Egypt

F

IVE Egyptians were killed and eight wounded in clashes between Christians and Muslims in a town near Cairo, security sources said yesterday in the latest sectarian violence in the most populous Arab state.

Christian-Muslim confrontations have increased in Muslim-majority Egypt since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 gave freer rein to hardline Islamists repressed under his rule.

Four Christians and one Muslim were killed when members of both communities started shooting at each other in Khusus outside the Egyptian capital, the sources said.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

News Review/World

11

Will nations align anew?

F

OR all the righteous melodies coming out of Western capitals exalting the rule of law, openness and democracy, when their money is jeopardized, these governments reach for a different fiddle to play a discordant, crasser tune. The rule of law retreats in the face of the imperatives of power. These nations berate African states for inconstancy in economic and financial policy and practice. When it comes to the crunch, we now know these countries commit similar misconduct. In fact, they may have authored it.

Decades ago, a courageous intellectual, Walter Rodney, wrote the seminal work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Sadly, Rodney left us prematurely without finishing the contributions he could have rendered to mankind. If alive today, the West Indian would likely feel a sense of vindication, even schadenfreude, at the economic woes Europe currently experiences. The book he would write today would bear a startling title: How Europe Underdeveloped Itself.

A few weeks ago, a courageous Cypriot government tried to buck the heavy financial pressure levied against by a venal trinity: the German government, the EU and the IMF. The rebellion offered by the tiny island was as futile as it was brave. Given the size of the island's economy compared to three behemoths against it, the Cypriots' stood not a chance. We predicted they would be forced to do what they loathed. The choice before the beleaguered people was one no sovereign nation or innocent person should face. By sticking to principle, they would face sudden and certain financial death. Through surrender to greater power, they would consign themselves to protracted economic recession tantamount to death through slow but gradually compounding torture. Since the latter delayed the execution, thus providing a sliver of a chance for reprieve, the proud Cypriots bowed their heads, tendering to Berlin and its cohorts their dignity in exchange for the less dramatic but equally moribund fate. With heads lowered, they were forced to drink of a bitter cup, the taste of which shall sting well into the next decade.

The price they paid was a steep one.

The Cypriots relinquished to the Venal Triumvirate the scant chards of economic sovereignty the island still possessed. The harsh trio showed little mercy in putting the island to the lash. With the strength of an absolute monarch's medieval edict, the Venal Trio turned the rule of law into the rule of might with one tragic blow.

Heretofore, bank deposits were sacrosanct, insured so savers felt secure in parking their earnings in banks. This no longer applies to Cyprus. The largest depositors lost most of their funds through no fault of their own save bringing their money to Cyprus in the first instance. This effectively destroys the nation's commercial banking sector. Now only the maddest of mad man would lodge his money in Cyprus. The only men known to be that insane are the North Korean and Syrian leaders both of whom are currently too preoccupied with other matters to bestow such largesse at the moment. For a nation where banking stands as one of two major industries, this is not a mere knell. It is the presence of Death itself.

Moving from the terrible to the sublimely catastrophic, the Trio of Doom imposed currency controls on Cyprus.

Basically, any euro already there must remain on the island. Any that enters must stay save a minimal amount per individual exiting the isle. Also, most business transactions on the island have been reduced to cash. However, there is daily maximum limit on bank cash withdrawals. With these restrictions, the only tourists with the desire to visit Cyprus will be ascetics who neither like money nor enjoy the normal comforts upon which money is spent or those who have so little money that the restrictions are inapplicable and who most likely cannot afford to come to the island in any event.

Upon neither class of people can tourism be revived. For a nation with tourism as its other large industry, this is akin to

•History tends to vindicate those who keep their eyes on it

•Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades (L) siting next to Greek Orthodox Archbishop Chrisostomos II during a conference to honour Cyprus's first president the late Archbishop Makarios III in Nicosia, yesterday. Cyprus's wealthy Orthodox Church stands to lose more than 100 million euros in the bailout deal reached with international creditors, its leader Archbishop Chrysostomos said.

AFP PHOTO

BRIAN BROWNE

deboning a turkey while the fowl is yet alive.

Add to these debilitating measures, the biting fiscal austerity placed on government expenditures, Cyprus has descended into the deepest gaol of depression. The island state shall not see the light of prosperity until after it has forgotten such a light exists.

These controls blatantly contravene the EU treaty's (Articles 26 and 63) provisions guaranteeing the free movement of money, people and goods.

When it comes to extracting demands from weaker nations, the Unholy Three have the same lack of qualms as a hardened racketeer. They gutted core EU principles in order to extract a pound of Cypriot flesh. For them, the rule of law comes distant second to the rule of money.

To legitimize their mischief, they passed measures and regulations giving the appearance of propriety. No matter the ribbons and bows place on it, what they did remains a strong-arm confiscation as if done at gunpoint. Pasting butterfly wings on an elephant doesn't convert it to a jumbo jet. Drafting these onerous measures on EU parchment neither eases the misery caused thereby nor makes the overbearing intimidation any more ethical. There lies a broken body in the street, the casualty of a financial mugging of the worst order.

In superficially attempting to save the Euro, this martinet plan makes the first structural crack in the euro zone's architecture. The essential principle of a monetary union is that of a uniform currency. This is no longer the case. The dire restrictions placed on money in Cyprus means the "Cyprus euro" is less useable, thus valuable, than the regular euro. Two currencies effectively are in use. Cyprus now exists in a netherworld.

It is of the euro zone but not completely in it. Only the future can tell if it returns to full membership or goes in the opposite direction. Exiting the zone's strictures would better serve the nation's interests

but it would take politicians of the rarest courage to hew that path. Thus, the nation's future is to be written by the pen of sorrow. Meanwhile, predator nations will swoop on the supine island and purchase its ample gas reserves on the cheap. Have you ever seen an island sink?

It is a rare thing but you shall witness it if you keep your eye trained on Cyprus.

Since Cyprus is such a small economy, all this might seem like a tempest in a teapot. More accurately, it is a teapot tossed in a tempest. A majority of banks in the EU are illiquid; many of these are insolvent. This means the EU financial crisis is buried but not dead. Like most living things, it detests life underground. It wants to surface. More banks will crash. EU officials now contemplate applying the Cyprus medicine to banks in other nations. Even the American Federal Reserve is considering measures that will lessen the government's heretofore ironclad guarantee of bank deposits.

Before our very eyes, a financialism counterrevolution is underway even before the progressive revolt was had. If this method of writing off bank losses becomes practice, depositing savings in a bank will soon assume the same risk as investing in the stock market. The very nature of savings and commercial banking will alter. People will feel compelled to ply their savings into more speculative forms of investments. Nonbank investment houses, known as the shadow banking sector, will enjoy a field day.

If this becomes fashion in the developed economies, it may quickly infect African economies given our penchant for mimicking what comes out of the West without fully understanding the consequences.

However, what recently took place in South Africa offers a thin hope that the days of mimicry may be ending. On March 26-27, BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) held

a summit in Durban whereby they attempted to turn their grouping into something more material than just a notion. They tried to bring some organizational structure and purpose to the unit. They succeeded in part and failed in part.

At its most ambitious stance, BRICS represents the non-Western world's latest attempt to restructure the global economic order. BRICS nations are not paradise and their leaders are not always sufficiently versed or statesmen enough to overcome the peculiar national tasks they each face.

Thus, creating a supra-national entity transcending geographical bounds and somehow harmonizing these disparate economies is a herculean endeavor. But, some of these leaders tend to run when it comes to most forms of heavy lifting.

Heretofore, the unity of BRICS has been a negative one. BRICS joined hands not because of what they were; they did so because of what they were not: they were not the West. However, this antiidentity does not do much except if all that is wanted is a new global platform to publicize Western failings. Those failings are so self-evident that limiting BRICS to such a role would quickly render the grouping an intricate but wet fuse.

BRICS needs to be something more than a club of large economies not situated in the North Atlantic. In Durban, the process of lending the group a positive identity took a few steps. The most noteworthy is the agreement in principle to establish a development bank. Funded in the amount of 100 billion dollars, the bank is envisioned as an alternative to the rabidly financialist IMF and, to a lesser extent, the World Bank. Such a bank will be condign but all will be opposed by established powers. They will see it as directly threatening their ability to impose conservative economic strictures on struggling, beggar nations that now must visit the IMF because there is no other place to go. But IMF remedies are like those of the mad physician who relieves a patient's pain in the neck by poking a sharp dagger in his back.

Unfortunately, the agreement regarding the bank was only in principle.

The summit could move no further on this issue because BRICS members disagreed over structural and operational details for the bank. Also, it is one thing to stand before the klieg lights and pledge 100 billion dollars before a supportive audience. It is quite another thing to return home to write the checks. Allocating funds to the bank entails cutting funding for extant priorities. Influential elements in each government will be unhappy, seeing

the bank as a foreign policy romp prematurely, thus quixotically, made.

BRICS also stepped toward strengthening their Business Council. Also, China promised African nations 20 billion dollars in concessionary loans.

In all of these, China is the biggest winner. Under cover of BRICS, China will pursue its agenda to influence numerous African nations, thus securing supplies of raw materials. However, instead of chasing the hare as a unilateral action, China will do more of this as a member of the BRICS collective. This may help Beijing blunt criticism that it pursues an agenda as equally hegemonic as those of developed nations. However, such criticism is proper and justified given Chinese recent antecedents in Africa. Its policies have revealed a China disinterested in Africa's independent development. China's driving mission is to position itself to control African raw materials and strategic industries at their source. The neo-imperialism of the West focuses on gobbling African raw materials then exporting finished manufactured goods and specialized business services to Africa.

Departing from this model, China reverts to old fashion colonialism. They want to snatch raw materials but are all too willing to export millions of Chinese citizens to run factories and open businesses in Africa. The face of 21st century resident colonialism in Africa is not the face of the Occident. It is the face of China.

The "chinafication" of African economies is noticeable in several countries. It may initially bolster local production and GDP. The uptick comes at the longer-term price of mortgaging the nation's economic sovereignty. As Cyprus and the other nations of the southern tier of the euro zone have shown, sacrificing long-term independence for short-term profit is a wretched bargain.

Consequently, Africa should applaud the ongoing institutionalization of BRICS. At this point, a group offering a perspective of the world economy different than Western financialism is a positive counterpoise.

Western financialism is a corrosive way to model any economy. It is especially disastrous for Africa. We need something else. BRICS may not be the final remedy but perhaps it may be a transition providing some breathing room. For BRICS to be more than a stopgap, it must expand its membership and advocate a more reformist agenda than the one now implied. In some ways, BRICS nations don't want to amend the current system.

They just want to negotiate more room for themselves at the top of the appalling heap.

With this in mind, Africa must keep an eye on the West and one on China.

Both want to keep Africa in subordinate so as to exploit her resources. Africa must be wise by leverage each against the other.

If not, this century will not be the advent of Africa's climb out of poverty. It will be the century of Africa's compound abuse because this time it will not be just the West larruping us the East too will pounce and extract its portion.

In the end, talk about economics as an exact science and about the objective rules of finance is the stuff of fables. This is an elaborate nursery tale told to those who the architects of the current global economy would rather have believe in make believe. Too many of Africa's people are too poor to afford the luxury of believing in things that do not exist and in ideas that do not work except against those who obey them. Africa needs to come to the place where it understands the rules of the current game offer it no respite. The economic and financial regimes set by organs such as the IMF and World Trade Organization are so stacked against the evolution of African economies that should one of them a grow into a developed economy, it will be by accident. Africa needs to confront these regimes to which it has sheepishly agreed.

The continent needs to formulate ideas, ways and means that promote its own interests. Then it must use these things to build its own positive economic life and structure, brick by painstaking brick.

08060340825 (sms only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

13

COMMENT and ANALYSIS TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Talakawa Liberation Herald (7)

Are there any signs or resources of hope in this troubled land (and this earth)? (1)

BY BIODUN JEYIFO Religion is the opium of the people; it is the soul of a soulless world.

Karl Marx

I

ADMIT it. Something seemingly inconsequential or even embarrassing prompted the series of reflections that begins this week on whether or not there are signs and sources of hope in our troubled nation, especially as we approach the year 2015 and the next cycle of presidential and gubernatorial elections in our country. That “something” is the acronym, IJN. I suppose everyone in Nigeria but myself knew what it stands for: In Jesus’ Name. For a long time, every time I saw the acronym - mostly through phone text messages sent to me by relatives and friends who refuse to give up on me even after futile years and decades of trying to reconvert me to Christianity – I wondered what it stood for, this IJN. Then one day last week, someone actually sent me a text message that combined both the acronym and its meaning. IJN, In Jesus’ Name: All will be well; whatever the problem whether personal, familial, national, continental, global or intergalactic, all will be well.

God is in control. Christ is the answer, whatever the question.

I intend no sarcasm in starting this series with this wry observation concerning the links between religion and hope, with particular regard to contemporary Nigerian Christianity. Like most religions, indeed perhaps more than most religions, Christianity has extraordinarily a powerful and evidently efficacious array of rituals, symbols and parables that produce indomitable hope in periods of great personal and/or collective privation. For this reason, for most members of the Nigerian Christian community, especially those of the Pentecostal persuasion, the question that serves as the title of this series – are there any signs or resources of hope in our troubled land? – is almost completely redundant, if not even blasphemous. If you have Christ, if you are born again in His name, if you serve Him faithfully and put all your trust in Him, you are not without hope and He will not fail you.

This is both an article of faith and a materialised sign that is inscribed on countless billboards, posters and advertising slogans and legends that we see everywhere in our country, perhaps more than in any other nation on earth. Apart from the innumerable churches and mosques in our towns and cities, you will also see these materialisations of hope and faith in shopping plazas, in roadside shops and stalls, and in even ramshackle shacks of dealers in articles of commerce of every kind: “Salvation Bakery”; “Revelation Pharmacy”; “Second Coming Welders”; “Everlasting Shopping Plaza”; “Blood of Christ Nursing Home and Infirmary”; “Omo Jesu Barber”; “Hope and Mercy Hair Saloon”. A recent visitor to Nigeria who has done much traveling in our continent and other parts of the world informed me, as she was about to leave the country, that the thing she found the most intriguing about our country was the fact that, more than any other place she had ever visited in the world, the sings of religion are everywhere, to the point that not only is this reality inescapable, it is in fact a superabundant facet of the physical, social and existential landscape.

If this is the case, if the physical and expressive landscape of our country is so massively dotted with the ubiquitous signs of hope and faith, on what basis can I then pose the question that gives this series its title: Are there any signs and resources of hope in our troubled land?

The answer to this question is simple and unproblematic: Without discountenancing the importance of religion, I am referring to secular, rational and idealistic signs and sources of hope. Let me put this as sharply and as

•Another religious event

provocatively as I possibly can. Without leaving Jesus in particular and religion in general out of the equation, the question I am really posing is this: How and where can we find and expand secular, rational, critical and idealistic signs and sources of hope in our troubled country at the present time?

We cannot leave religion out of the equation, not because the signs and markers of religion are everywhere on the horizon of the present, and not because of the undoubted God-obsession that has gripped the mass psyche of Nigerians in general, but because historically, religion has been both a source of hope and liberation for the enslaved and the powerless and a bulwark for the tyrannical social power of oppressors and exploiters. In other words, if you leave religion out of the equation, if you don’t try mightily to nudge it in the direction of social justice, peace and progress, it will, at best be neutralised and at worst be co-opted by the enemies of human equality and progress.

This last point compels me to be completely honest about my feelings and thoughts on both official and popular contemporary Nigerian religiosity on the matter of hope and faith. In this piece, I have commented rather extensively on the fact that the signs of materialised hope and faith are so ubiquitous on the expressive landscape of our country that we can validly talk of an over-saturation. Is this not an indication of the thoroughgoing domestication or neutralisation of religion as a potential force for beneficent social transformation in our country? Everywhere you look there are all these signs of robust religious hope and faith, and yet there is a surfeit, a perpetuity it seems, of so much irreligious stealing and looting, so much unholy use of state and non-state violence and terror, so much ungodly spreading of desperation in the land.

Short of a massive and totally unprecedented irruption of a miraculous or mystical transcendentalism in the economic and social affairs of our country the type of which has never been recorded in history, is there the slightest doubt that the overwhelming majority of the thousands of small business enterprises that boldly display signs of religious hope and faith in our country will never in fact ever make it to the big league of the rich and powerful in the land? Do these ubiquitous signs of religious hope and faith not in fact mystify and confuse praying with preying in the ways in which they ignore or hide the real means by which wealth and power are in reality cornered by the few to the detriment of the many

in our country at the present time?

Karl Marx, in one of the most often quoted remarks in political and intellectual history, famously remarked that religion is the opium of the people. What is often ignored is the fact that this is only half of the full sentence, for in the other half of this often quoted sentence, Marx also observed that religion is the soul of a soulless world. Side by side with often being a metaphysical opiate that deadens the traumas and sufferings of unrelentingly harsh economic and social conditions for most of our peoples, if religion is to become a real and powerful resource for hope in our country it must also begin to act as the soul, the conscience of the nation - as it has historically done in many other nations and regions of the world.

As I have remarked earlier in this piece, in this series my emphasis will be on secular, rational and idealistic signs and resources of hope in our country and the world in which we live, the world that constitutes the outer boundary of the conditions of possibility for justice, peace and progress in Nigeria and Africa. Let me put this observation in the form of a question, though in very concrete terms: How can mystification and superstition, religious and non-religious, that are so prevalent in our country at the present time, be contained by the rational exercise of the collective mind, especially with regard to the knowledges available to us in the world of the 21st century? This question may at first sight seem laughably audacious. Our country may be world famous for the number of its churches and mosques and the size and variety of its denominational congregations, but it lags far behind countries that have solid infrastructures and institutions for teaching, research and inventions. Without such infrastructures and institutions, the gifted, active mind works in isolation, bereft of the kind of supports that make the mind - any mind - productive and socially useful. Since we do not have such infrastructures and institutions in place, how can I seriously or realistically hope for the rational exercise of the mind in our country in line with the great advances in knowledge in the 21st century?

This question is falsely put and this is the fundamental basis of this series. There are no reasons in the world why, under the right sociopolitical conditions, we cannot rapidly but solidly build and maintain infrastructures and institutions of genuine learning, research and innovation that will in no time at all dissolve the fogs of mystification and superstition that now almost completely becloud the operations of the collective mind in our country. Thus, my

question really boils down to this: Are there women and men in our country, are there currents of thought and action that could coalesce into a powerful movement that would fundamentally change the socio-political order in our country such that the institutions and infrastructures that seem so impossible for us to build and sustain at the present time will in short but effective order become a vital part of the exercise of the mind in our country?

My answer to this question is, of course, yes. But I admit that it is a tentative, unsure and provisional yes. Without being sectarian or dogmatic, let me say that the reason for this tentativeness lies in the present almost comatose state of the Left, the democratic, egalitarian and humanistic Left that was a very big movement in our country in my youth and that has been the most dominant ideological, ethical and emotional force in my public and private life. Without that movement - in whatever form or expression it is reinvented as long as it is mature and genuinely humanistic - the signs and sources of hope in our country will remain very dim, very weak and impotent, if in fact things do not get far worse than they are now.

Perhaps there is no need for me to explain why this observation is, for me at least, not sectarian or dogmatic, but I shall do so anyway. Quite simply, I am not talking here of a Left that has a monopoly on moral rectitude, patriotism and dedication. As a matter of fact, it could be said of the Nigerian Left, of the Nigerian progressive movement that it has perfectly mirrored all the social pathologies of the ruling elites in the post-civil war period. I would even go further to say that it has also been as infected with the malaise of mystification and superstition as the rulers and the ruled in our country. The apple does not fall far from the tree: the Left, the progressive movement in our country has been, in the last two or three decades, a perfect mirror of all the social ills that bedevil the country. In fact, this is the reason why, in this series, I decided to start, through an exploration of contemporary religion and the operations of spirit and psyche in Nigeria at the present time, on the subject of mystification and superstition. In next week’s continuation of the series, we shall move to the more secular domains of the operations of the secular mind and the imagination as resources of hope in our troubled land.

Biodun Jeyifo bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Comment & Analysis

IGERIA’S Goodluck Jonathan became acting president in February 2010 following the incapacitation of his predecessor Umaru Yar’Adua. Elected in his own right in April 2011, Jonathan now stands near the midpoint of his first full term in office. His People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has won every election since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, dominates the executive and legislative branches of the federal government and governs 23 of Nigeria’s 36 states.

The advantages of incumbency and party dominance will likely assure Jonathan another term when Nigeria votes again in 2015.

Yet insecurity, corruption and stalled policy implementation have provoked broad criticism of his performance, and the remainder of his term is likely to be characterized by high levels of political tension.

Jonathan’s difficulty in reducing violence was on display last month in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, Borno State, which Jonathan visited for the first time as president on March 8. Maiduguri is the nerve center of the Muslim militant group Boko Haram, whose name is a Hausa phrase that connotes opposition to Western education and culture. Boko Haram previously launched uprisings in 2003-2004 and 2009, before Jonathan became president. Since September 2010 the group has attacked numerous government, Christian and infrastructural targets and has become a central challenge for Jonathan’s administration. Along with its splinter group Ansar al-Muslimin (Arabic for “The Defenders of Muslims”), Boko Haram has kidnapped foreigners, including a French family seized last month in Cameroon. The Nigerian military’s Joint Task Force has occupied Maiduguri since June 2011, and has repeatedly claimed success in the fight against terrorism. But its repressive tactics themselves have partly fueled Boko Haram’s grievances.

Within hours of Jonathan’s departure from Maiduguri, seven bombs exploded. Days later, two PDP officials were killed in Borno.

As a result, Jonathan’s trip, rather than inspiring confidence in his ability to manage the crisis, drew criticism from local residents and media commentators. Jonathan remains

Nigeria’s fault lines threaten Jonathan’s presidency

By Alex Thurston

unpopular in the north, where he received less than 20 percent of the vote in many states, including Borno, in 2011. The trip heightened the contrast between Jonathan and an emerging coalition of opposition politicians, the All Progressive Congress, who held their own meeting — without violence — in Maiduguri on Feb. 28. Boko Haram thus threatens not only Nigeria’s security but also the president’s political fortunes.

Persistent corruption, both at the highest levels of government and in ordinary people’s daily lives, has also sapped confidence in Jonathan, though it is a problem that predates his presidency. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index showed Nigeria occupying roughly the same rank in 2009 - 130th out of 180 countries - as in 2012 — 139th out of 176 countries. Yet many Nigerians and outside observers believe that corruption is the core problem underlying the country’s other challenges, from poverty to security, and many have seen Jonathan’s failure to reduce corruption as a broader political failure.

Jonathan’s recent pardon of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former governor and Jonathan’s political mentor who was convicted of corruption charges in 2007, sparked outrage and further undermined his anti-corruption credentials. Alamieyeseigha governed Bayelsa state from 1999 to 2005, with Jonathan as his deputy. In 2005, when Alamieyeseigha was arrested in London on money laundering charges and subsequently

impeached, Jonathan became governor — a turning point in the current president’s political ascent. Some observers read in Jonathan’s pardon of Alamieyeseigha a willingness to prioritize political relationships over accountability.

Bayelsa’s location in the Niger Delta, the heart of Nigeria’s oil production, highlights the gap between rich and poor in Nigeria.

While politicians like Alamieyeseigha accumulate fortunes, many delta residents confront environmental degradation and grinding poverty. Militants there, demanding a greater share of oil profits for local communities, rebelled against the federal government from 2006 to 2009, when Yar’Adua extended amnesty to the rebels. Jonathan has continued the program, but it is scheduled to end in 2015, and oil theft by disaffected residents and former militants who complain that amnesty has failed to provide jobs is rising.

Meanwhile, despite international praise for his economic team - especially Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank official - Jonathan has also struggled, and at times failed, to implement his economic agenda, which has been dogged by controversy. The administration advocates budgetary reform, even if it means economic pain for ordinary Nigerians.

Critics charge that privatization initiatives and austerity measures will shrink the meager benefits citizens receive from the state while expanding opportunities for politicians to steal public money. In January 2012,

“The opposition’s attempts at coalition-building give the PDP an incentive to preserve party unity, but regional rivalries and a multiplicity of big personalities within the PDP may produce a bruising nomination fight in 2015”

Jonathan abolished subsidies on fuel, leading Lagos, Kano and other cities to erupt in protest. The administration partly reinstated the subsidies, but the debate remains unsettled.

Similarly, a bill meant to reform the oil industry has met countless delays. Many observers still expect it to pass. But as one Nigerian journalist wrote, recent debate in the Senate over the bill “further exposed our delicate [regional] fault lines” - the same fault lines that Jonathan has encountered in other domains, from his own election to the security crisis in the north.

The more Jonathan flounders, the more opposition he will face from within his party.

Some northern PDP members resent him for disrupting an internal party agreement to rotate the presidency between the north and the south. Some southwestern members feel that Jonathan has excluded them as well, and that he favors members of his ethnic Ijaw group. The opposition’s attempts at coalitionbuilding give the PDP an incentive to preserve party unity, but regional rivalries and a multiplicity of big personalities within the PDP may produce a bruising nomination fight in 2015.

With two years left before Nigerians return to the polls, Jonathan faces an array of challenges, a host of critics and a list of unkept promises. In 2010 and 2011, Jonathan defied predictions of his political demise during his tumultuous journey from vice president to acting president to president. The PDP’s structural dominance may ensure his victory in 2015. Yet security threats, corruption issues and a stalled legislative agenda will continue to consume much of his energy and limit his effectiveness. ·

Courtesy: World Politics Review

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Comment & Analysis

15

Just another distraction?

Involving NIPSS in teaching political parties proper conduct needs rigorous thinking

S

HOULD the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Nigeria's apex strategic think-tank, be involved in training political parties in democratic culture, as being suggested by an NGO, Democratic Governance for Development Project (DGDP) and other partners?

Before an appropriate answer is given, an examination of the NIPSS Act of 1 January 1979 is necessary.

Section 3(1) of the Act, stating NIPSS's objectives and functions, is omnibus enough: "The Institute shall serve as a high-level centre of reflection, research, and dialogue, where academics of intellectual excellence, policy initiators and executors and other citizens with high level of practical experience and wisdom drawn from different sectors of national life in Nigeria would meet, to reflect and exchange ideas on the great issues of society, particularly as they relate to Nigeria and Africa, in the context of the dynamics of a constantly changing world."

Section 3(2)(c), which states NIPSS's training obligations to the polity is even more explicit: "To conduct seminars, workshops and other actionoriented programmes, whether on a continuing or ad hoc basis, for leaders in the public services (including the armed forces and other disciplined forces), the private sector, political organisations, professional and other groups, with a view to promoting and defining, and enhancing appreciation for, long-range national plans and objectives."

That "political organisations" were mentioned in the NIPSS law, among those key national institutions deserving of its intellectual expertise, shows there is nothing basically wrong with the proposal to involve NIPSS in political party training and socialisation.

But if NIPSS had this mandate since 1979, why did the Ibrahim Babangida government in October 1989 set up another body, the Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), with a similar mandate of xraying anti-democratic attitudes, beliefs and be-

haviours among Nigerians?

Did Babangida feel NIPSS was too rarefied as a policy think-tank to descend to the level of political party training and mentoring, particularly as that government was imposing its own twin political parties, National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP)?

Even more telling, why did the DGDP and its partner NGOs approach NIPSS, and not CDS, for institutional cooperation in this ordinarily laudable objective of deepening democracy in Nigeria's notoriously undemocratic political parties? Did they think CDS, rooted in the grand political deceit of the Babangida years, was too soiled as a training platform that only NIPSS's towering heights would do?

To the extent that every organisation has a right to partner with any other to realise legitimate goals, the DGDP is entitled to its choice. It is left for it to approach. It is also left for the approached partner to accept or reject. In this case, DGDP and partners have approached; and NIPSS has accepted.

Fine enough.

Chief Olu Falae, veteran politician and All People's Party/Alliance for Democracy joint candidate in the 1999 presidential election, as a representative of political party leadership, has hailed the proposed training programmes as imperative to professionalise both politics and the running of political parties. Fair enough, too.

TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM

•Editor Festus Eriye •Deputy Editor Olayinka Oyegbile •Associate Editors Taiwo Ogundipe Sam Egburonu

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OST arguments against gay marriage in Nigeria which I have come across reveal two basic things: a violently dangerous conservatism and intolerance, and a disguise of ignorance for morality. More appalling, for me, is that in this postmodern age many of our critics who claim to be well-read expose the most insipid of shallow thinking. I take as my reference point Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode’s article, “The American Supreme Court and Same Sex Marriage” (The Nation on Sunday, March 31, 2013). Mr. Fani-Kayode’s piece summarises, to a large extent, the backward, hypocritical and reductive thinking that characterises the intellectual poverty of many of our so-called elite towards the question of gay marriage.

In his piece, Fani-Kayode vehemently dismissed the US and many European countries for endorsing what, for him, God has forbidden. In his words, “what is the world coming to?

How come we suddenly find it easy to turn our backs on the word of God which specifically defines marriage as a holy union between a man and a woman which was designed primarily for the purpose of procreation?”

In the same vein in his characteristic fervour for doublespeaking, the blabbering critic sermonised that gay people should, however, be allowed to only “fuck” insofar as they do not extend the act to marriage.

Fani-Kayode, a devout conservative Christian as he impliedly

•Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief Victor Ifijeh •Chairman, Editorial Board Sam Omatseye •General Editor Kunle Fagbemi

Still, there are quite legitimate basis to feel that, as crucial as evolving a more democratic political culture is, involving NIPSS is introducing banality to solving a pressing national problem. Purists on NIPSS policy and strategy mandate have insisted that Nigeria's apex policy think-tank was set up for more rigorous policy and research stuff, not to start messing around with what well-organised political parties should take care of.

If that argument is valid, then the result could well be double - and tragic - distraction: NIPSS would be distracted from focusing on the rigorous stuff it was founded to tackle; and political parties too would lose vital lead time in squaring up to a problem, which is essentially theirs and theirs only to solve, if a democratic polity is not to collapse on its undemocratic operators.

Though calling NIPSS to the rescue cannot be mutually exclusive to political parties reforming themselves, it is a notorious fact that the crisis in Nigeria's political party system today emanated from Gen. Babangida's failed "new breed" experiment. So, in contrast to the ideological, drilled or at least structurally sound political parties of the First and Second Republics, what are around now are pathetic caricatures that mock their claim to political parties.

Therefore, the long-term solution is going back to proper political parties grounded in shared ideology and teeming with disciplined and committed cadres, who collectively fund their parties and live by the ethos. That would be a clear and welcome relief from the election-time mercenaries who now foul up the political party space.

So, perhaps NIPSS and its partners' help is needed, to use the language of economics, in the very short run: long enough to infuse new democratic spirit in cadres but short enough to realise that only proper and structured political parties could succeed in infusing their own ethos in their own members.

There in then lies the rigorous thinking needed to make this intervention a success.

LETTERS

In defence of gay marriage asserted, went on to remind us that sexualities cannot be legislated. Yet, those “deviant” sexualities such as gay must not be allowed to materialise into marriage. He sanctimoniously added, “I say ‘yes’ to a tolerant and open society that allows individuals, if they so choose, to be gay... without any legal sanction... At the same time, I say ‘no’ to same sex marriages which I believe are a step too far and a direct attack on the family and God’s purpose for a holy union that is designed and meant to lead to the procreation of children.”

Mr. Fani-Kayode’s argument smacks of deceit, an utter hogwash, at best. First, “his God” abhors same sex marriage. I ask, does “his God” at the same time endorse gay “fucking” so long as it does not lead to marriage?

Why is Fani-Kayode pretending to be accommodating in thinking, when actually his arguments are ultimately contradictory? He should have been courageous enough to simply say he hates the idea of homosexuality, without this puerile pretence to logic. Second, the reductive argument that one “Universal God” ordained heterosexual marriage, and that homosexual relationships are

“abominable and morally repugnant” seems to me too debasing, with an amazing lack of depth. Fani-Kayode and many others who adopt this apparently false moral argument must do themselves and the society the simple duty of reading a little beyond their religious scriptures. I ask, which god ordained marriage, let alone a heterosexual marriage in the first instance? All marriages are a product of certain socio-political, religious, and cultural constructs.

No god(s) or deity(ies) at any time ordained one mode of sexuality. But for the sake of argument if truly there is such a god as Fani-Kayode’s, who de-

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WANT to believe that anything the north wants from the federal government they get it without much ado. During the voter registration in 1999, when it was programmed that the data should include religion, the north rejected it because they felt it will not favour them and the federal govt agreed with them.

Every discerning Nigerian should now know that the northern politicians are the brain behind the Boko Haram insurgency. The northern leaders felt that too much

signed and installed a certain mode of sexuality and who FaniKayode impliedly claims designed the whole universe, then my question is this: if gay sex is not part of its design, how is it possible that gay practice is rearing its ugly head in this god’s heterosexual design? Why does Fani-Kayode have to fight for this powerful designer of the universe? If there is such a god as the religionists claim, then they should worry their god(s) over the imperfect works of its hands to have allowed something outside its purpose and design to somehow creep in to ruin its art.

I make to say with all sense of restraint that this “creation” or

“design” that we call world is fundamentally flawed, perhaps a product of a demented divinity! Ironically, the same Europeans who gave Fani-Kayode “a Christian religion” that he is fronting as a universal moral are the ones redefining the basis of that religion. And our frenzied and worried brother cannot comprehend this cultural evolution that stands the dogma of religion on its head.

Here are my arguments for gay marriage! If individuals in the very least have a right to sex, then they should be as free as to decide for themselves the kind of sexual leaning they desire. Tolerance must accommodate hu-

man differences from ethnicity and religion to sexuality. If a man is gay and desires to have a family, should we say to him, “marry a woman to raise a family, but you can go out and “fuck” your male partner at will!” That is what Mr. Fani-Kayode is saying: be gay, but you must never marry!

Gay marriage is not a threat to the family and marriage institutions as Oga Fani-Kayode opined. In my understanding, a family is a social unit of people biologically or socially related and who live together towards certain bonded ends or even just to live together without any duty bound ends in mind. If this idea of the family holds any water, then no one pattern must be enforced for people to follow.

By Arthur Anyaduba, School of Postgraduate Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Northern leaders and amnesty for Boko Haram money is going to the Niger Delta through 13 percent derivation and amnesty granted to the Niger Delta militants by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. The northern politicians thought of the ways to increase their earnings by floating Boko Haram sect with an agenda to forward their demand to the President during dialogue with the sect. Now that it seems that President Goodluck Jonathan is not favourably disposed to granting of amnesty to the sect as

demanded by the northern politicians, you will not be surprised that the activities of Boko Haram will now extend to other states of the country in order to bring the federal government to its knee.

During the presidential campaign in 2011, it was this same politicians who made a statement that should Goodluck Jonathan win they would make the country ungovernable for him. This is happening now. The President himself knows those who made

that statement but when he became the President he failed to muster the will power to bring to book those who threatened the peace of the country during electioneering campaign.

If the north had won the 2011 presidential election, Nigerians would not know anything like Boko Haram and we would have been saved from these incessant cold blooded murders.

By Israel Oyegbile, Sabo Tasha, Kaduna

SEND TYPEWRITTEN, DOUBLE SPACED AND SIGNED CONTRIBUTIONS, LETTERS AND REJOINDERS OF NOT MORE THAN 500 WORDS TO THE EDITOR, THE NATION, 27B, FATAI ATERE ROAD, MATORI, LAGOS: sundaynation@yahoo.com

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Ropo Sekoni ropo.sekoni @thenationonlineng.net

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N these and other writings of Achebe, the country's new ancestor made it clear to his readers that the responsibility or duty to create a good life for people in pre-colonial and post-colonial Nigeria rests on the shoulders of old and young alike, particularly on the shoulders of all human beings who are emotionally intelligent enough to know that good values lead to good change in the hands of old and young people alike. In other words, Achebe did not see a world divided along binary lines.

He saw a world that is driven by ever-present possibility of 'unitiveness' or ceaseless negotiation between elements on what appears to be a divide on the surface.

While Chinua Achebe deserves to rest in perfect peace for the many good ideas he had bequeathed to Nigeria, the call for dialogue on Thursday at Bola Tinubu's birthday colloquium is timely, coming at a time that our nation needs to change its ways, if it is not to go the way of dinosaur, perishing by avoiding to change.

We concluded this column last week by saying that the call for inter-generational dialogue at Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's 2013 birthday anniversary colloquium: "Beyond Mergers: A National Movement for Change A New Generation Speaks" is most timely, coming at a time that our country needs to change its ways, if it is not go the way of dinosaur, perishing by avoiding to change.

Exactly a week after the collo-

Femi Orebe femi.orebe @thenationonlineng.net 08056504626 (sms only)

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Comment & Analysis

ITH the fresh petition delivered to the Chairman, Senate Committee on INEC, by employees of INEC on January 7, 2013, it would appear that matters are far worse today than they were when the article below, mildly edited, was published on 12 September, 2012. Like it or not, President Jonathan would now have to find a way of stepping into the ups-manship going in that agency because of its possible negative consequences on the 2015 general elections.It is now in the open why Jega wanted to be all-in-all as he recently requested of the government. Happy reading.

WHAT GAME IS THE NORTH UP TO AT INEC? Can Professor Jega, a celebrated academic and former University Vice-Chancellor, double as an ethnic bigot? Is the famous Professor Oba, former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, working in tandem with Jega in the former's usual role of a Northern irredentist? Or is it as simple as the Federal Character Commission becoming comatose and toothless wherever in the Nigerian polity the North wields an unfair advantage? These and more questions agitate the mind on reading the advert: THE TAKE OVER OF INEC published in the Monday, 20 August, 2012, edition of this newspaper by the ELECTION INTEGRITY NETWORK but which in itself emanated from an earlier story by TheNews Magazine.

It will be a little disingenuous, even unfair, to claim or even pretend that INEC has just so suddenly become a Northern enclave. The story has always been the same since there

Generation of change: Young and old people in culture 2 Serious-minded and well-planned trans-generational collaboration is needed now more than ever ing the younger generation to speak.

They want the country's youth to join them on the train of change. The elders do not seem to be interested just in the technological advantage or superiority of the youth; they are desirous of drawing young people into the new political configuration that is expected to bring new ideas and positive change to the people of the country.

While the elders have no reason not to acknowledge the technological advantage of Nigerians under 40 years, they also must know that technology is not an end and that the technological wonders of our century is a product of ideology and culture in other parts of the world.Useful as it is, the technological skills of young Nigerians should not be the focus of trans-generational rubbing of minds. What is needed is intellectual and emotional honesty of young and old in efforts by concerned Nigerians in progressive political parties to construct a worldview that can galvanize Nigerians to acknowledge the imperative of change.

What is most needed is the continuation of the dialogue started at the colloquium beyond the walls of the venue of this year's festival of ideas. Young people are not to wait to be invited to join a party that is being projected as the party of change. They are expected to insist and act as co-founders of the Merger for change. Young men and women are thus not to wait until the party's ideology is cast in stone before they engage party leaders on the way forward for the country.

This is the time for focused transgenerational meetings on the ideology that is capable of keeping the country united and at the same time poised for the kind of economic development that can ensure equity

and justice for all. Young people need to be in the boardroom of ideas that create the ideology to change Nigeria from its present paralysis to actualization of the potential of young and old as well as boys and girls. Veteran politicians and aspiring ones need to realize that political culture determines economic development or lack of it. There is no better illustration of this than today's Nigeria. Both groups ought to create a conducive environment for collaboration on how the new party plans to move millions of the country's youths out of unemployment or underemployment.

Similar efforts had been made before. Chief Obafemi Awolowo in his forties joined hands with the likes of Chief Anthony Enahoro then in their twenties to prepare an ideology of Freedom for All, Life more Abundant. This ideology popularized among young and old the duty that political power puts on those in charge of governance, particularly the principle that people voted into power are duty-bound to create and implement policies that assist citizens to have a sense of fulfillment in life and not fight alienation through life as most citizens do in our own country today. Alhaji Aminu Kano also popularised similar ideology of equity and justice in his time in NEPU. The principle that government is created to serve the interest of the people it governs went from Action Group to Unity Party of Nigeria and, to a large extent, to M. K. O Abiola's Social Democratic Party. It surfaced again in AD and later ACN and in other parties now in the process of merging.

Serious-minded and wellplanned trans-generational collaboration is needed now more than ever, more so at the instance of a new party that sets out to be a national movement for change.

WhatisProfessorJegauptoatINEC?

culations? The Election Integrity Network is of the view that the structural iniquity in INEC epitomises nothing but a skewed regional interest especially at a time when geopolitical struggle for power has assumed a violent dimension. The body believes that this is a carefully planned restructuring in which the most important organs responsible for future elections are placed smack in the hands of the North.

The only time in recent memory that I can recall a similar scenario was during the Abacha era when you could hardly find four Southerners on the list of the topmost twenty security officials and a security council meeting could hold with no southerner, whatever, in attendance, if you go strictly by rank.

Without a doubt, this arrangement at INEC cannot be a happenstance; rather it is the result of cold calculations aimed at the next elections. Nothing, for instance, stops some of Jega's Northern top men in INEC from being transferred to other sections of the service as long as they do not lose their seniority. But nobody will dare.

The sponsors of the advert in question bemoaned the fate of the Southwest in the agency.

For me personally, this is a nonissue since it is a failure of the Yorubas in the PDP who are obviously not treated as equals as was recently eloquently demonstrated

by Chairman Tukur who unilaterally sent its Yoruba Secretary packing. If these people now traversing the South-West ahead of the next elections were treated as co-equals, having lost the Speaker-ship of the House, they should have since ensured that they are adequately represented in agencies like INEC. This, however, will never happen since they are keener at feathering their individual nests as opposed to corporate South-West interests.

As things stand in INEC today, Mr President owes it a duty to Nigeria to clear up, the Augean stable as a stitch in time could more than save nine.

quium, the British Council released a report that contains more dismal statistics or scary statistical interpretation about the country. Titled 'British Council Raises Alarm,' the report says in summary that Nigeria's population is heading in the direction of swelling by 63 million people by 2050, with the likelihood of becoming the 5th most populous country in the world, and with the likelihood of teetering on the edge of 'demographic disaster,' unless the country's stagnant economy improves rapidly enough to support its teeming population of young people.

The British Council's report further observes that large cohorts of unemployed and underemployed young people have the propensity to destabilize society, boost crime and foment conditions where civil conflict becomes more common. The report pontificates that any country that is not well prepared to make the best of its Baby Boom generation can find itself in the midst of 'a demographic disaster.' It concludes that if Nigeria fails to respond positively to employment needs of its rising population of young people, it stands the risk of getting its youth radicalized, particularly in the direction of Boko Haram and its Al Qaeda mentor.

As is expected, Nigerians with fathomless and infectious enthusiasm have not failed to addtheir comments at the end of the British Council's report online. Some of such comments go thus: "Our stagnant economy of 6.1 growth rate will soon be supporting UK's stagnant economy of negative -4.6% growth rate,' and 'This seems devastating, but before then d youth of Naija will put things in order. Lets (sic) empower one another cos its (sic) one of the way (sic) out.'

The call for the empowerment

of the country's youths to avoid a demographic disaster is evident in thinking of the organisers of this year's colloquium in honour of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and in the presentations of the speakers at the colloquium. Certainly, the young Nigerians that spoke to their elders at the colloquium fully understood the problem facing the country when they insisted that senior citizens in party politics must engage them optimally if they are to drive the country from its current position of inertia and ritual celebration of percentage of growth in the last few years to an ethos of action and development that provides employment for the nation's youth and thus predispose them to self-actualisation.

One theme that was announced at the colloquium is that Nigeria's young men and women less than 40 years of age are technology lovers, and like youths across the globe, more computer savvy than their parents who are currently directing the country's politics in all the political parties. Without doubt, young Nigerians are capable of using Twitter and Facebook and other devices to mobilise citizens to participate in demands for equity and social justice, just as their counterparts in the Arab world were able to do before and during the Arab Spring. Young people thus need to be attracted to joint meetings on the way forward for Nigeria from its decades of selfparalysis.

The responses of most of the elders at the colloquium suggest that the celebrator's party is not just interested in creating a large party to take over power from the ruling party of today or to stiffen competition for power between APC and PDP. Elders driving the merger appear interested in more than allow-

President Jonathan has to step into the ups-manship in INEC is literally a Northern Executive Secretary, permanently in place, but with the addition of Jega as Chairman, cronyism and outright nepotism have assumed an industrial scale with Oba's FCC's ludicrous connivance.

For ease of reference, let us quote directly from the advert under reference. According to the publication, INEC's top management is made up as follows: 1. Prof Jega (Chairman)- Kebbi 2. U.F Usman (Director of Logistics) -Kebbi 3. A. Muktar (Director of Human Resources) -Sokoto 4. A.A Uregi (Director of Finance) Niger 5. M. Kuta (Internal Auditor) -Niger 6. E.T Akem (Director ICT) -Benue 7. I. Biu (Director of Voter Education) - North East 8. I.K Bawa (Dep. Director, Legal) Plateau 9. Okey Ndeche (Director, Operations) -Anambra 10. Nyise Torgba (Director M& E/ Performance) -Benue 11. A.A Adamu Head, Commission, Secretariat) -Kogi 12. M.Ekwunja (Director, Civil Societies) 13. E. Umenger (Director, Public Affairs) -Benue 14. Regina Omo-Agege (Director, Political Monitoring) -Delta.

15. B.E Edoghotu (Estate & Works).

Those heading its key committees are also quite revealing. They are: 1. Col. Hamanga ( Chairperson, Logistics Committee) -Adamawa 2. Dr Nuru Yakubu ( Chairperson, Operations Committee) -Yobe 3. Ambassador Wali (Chair person, Procurement Committee) Sokoto 4. Prof Jega (Chairperson, F&GP) -Kebbi 5. Prof Jega ( Chairperson, ICT) Kebbi

6. Hajia Amina Zakari (Chairperson, Political Monitoring) -Jigawa 7. Membership of its 9-Man Strategic Planning Committee reads as follows: Nuru A. Yakubu, Istianus Dalwang, Mustafa Kuta, M.S Mohammed. Torgba Nyitse, Emanuel Akeem all from the North with the exception of the duo of Mike Igini and Okechukwu Ndeche from the South. Add to this, the Executive Secretary who is from the same geopolitical zone with Jega and, who, by the way has long passed the official retiring age. How blatant can some supposedly educated people get?

It's impossible not to wonder how an otherwise accomplished academic conveniently overlook the fact that Nigeria has a a Federal Character prescription in its constitution. What will Jega claim as alibi for this totally unacceptable loplopsidedness in an agency that is so critical?

I found the following comments

by Ifeanyi Izeze very useful in taking a look at the Federal Character Commission. Wrote Izeze in 2011 : " When Nigeria's Federal Character Commission (FCC) was established in 1996, it was supposed to enforce the federal character principles which aimed at ensuring fair and equitable distribution of posts; social-economic amenities; and infrastruc-tural facilities among the federating units of the nation. The intention was for it to be the watchdog of government ministries, departments and agencies to ensure an evenly distributed workforce that reflects ethnic diversity and the geopolitical divides of the country'.

In recognition of its failings, wrote Izeze, the Commission after a Port Harcourt stakeholders retreat recounted as follows: 'The FCC has delineated the country into national, state and local government levels as channels of dis-

tribution among the federating units for ease of implementation.

Allocations at the national level, it said, will now be based on the 36 states and Abuja or the six geo-political zones or north and south ‌' Apparently under Professor Oba, all these have been thrown into the trash can such that today, the North can completely dominate INEC with literally all its consultants coming from the North with nary a voice of warning from the Federal Character Commission.

Given Professor Oba's history as Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin, I am not in the least surprised that under his leadership, the Federal Character Commission has decided not know that INEC exists within the country's laws.

It is here that one begins to suspect a collusion with the PDP Federal government, given the ringing silence from the office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation. Not even a single warning to that office for its total ineffectiveness nor to Jega for the nauseating ethnic domination in INEC. Add to this, Jega's clandestine decision to now use permanent voter's cards for the next election, which cards will be obtained in the most dubious of ways as it will permit the registration of, not only minors, but totally non-existent persons, just so INEC can unilaterally swell registration figures in some given areas.

I doubt if Jega's defenders know what incalculable damage they do to his reputation when, in mitigation, they claim that he met everything in place. If in all these years he cannot right the obvious wrongs then he certainly does not deserve all the adulation he got at his appointment by a man who, we now know, truly did not know him at all.

What then are the probable cal-

Comment & Analysis

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Tunji

Adegboyega tunjade@yahoo.co.uk 08054503906 (sms only)

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HEN Oluseun Samuel Faleye received his letter of admission into Shenyang Aerospace University (SAU) in China in September, 2011, to study electronics and telecommunications engineering, in furtherance of his course at the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, his joy and that of his parents knew no bounds. Faleye had in 2011 concluded his diploma programme at the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, which on March 30 of the same year signed a memorandum of understanding with SAU for the purpose of admitting the college's products for a two-year degree programme.

His father, Chief S.A. Faleye, had in a letter of consent to the consular-general in the Chinese Embassy in Lagos, undertaken to take full responsibility for the payment of his school fees and any other financial involvement, before things started going awry. Any parent would not have thought twice before consenting to such a project. Prior to the signing of the MOU with the Chinese university, products of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology used to secure employment with the airlines or other aviation agencies with their diploma certificates. Faleye had hoped to get a job after the Zaria training.

However, a new policy which made it mandatory for those of them from the Zaria college seek-

Postscript, Unlimited!

By

Oyinkan Medubi 07057012862 (SMS only) puchuckles7@gmail.com

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ODAY, reader, I am not talking about anything in particular; I am just going to ramble on and on about a topic dear to my heart: why no one seems to believe in Nigeria. Indeed, everyone appears to be filled with doubt about the survivability of the country and then do everything they can to make sure it does not survive. Get me, I hope so, because sometimes, I can hardly catch up with my own thoughts. Sometimes, they seem to run away with me, sometimes they just seem to fly from me.

Anyway, doubt, like a yawn, is contagious. For example, whenever there is a couple to be joined together in holy matrimony, just watch the face sitting next to yours as it goes all wrinkly in doubt as the owner is obviously thinking: will these ones make it past their second year? They are hardly even talking to each other at the altar!

You also take a second look at the front and find that only the pastor is smiling; the couple is all frowns and wondering why the pastor is smiling. But that doubt is nothing compared to this one: let your kitchen plumbing go all kaput and let your man pick up the hammer and wrench. A mighty but wisely unspoken doubt seizes you as you watch him knock the sense out of the pipes, wrench the life out of the

The Faleye metaphor A young Nigerian's educational dream is about being aborted due to lack of funds ing employment in the aviation agencies to have first degree came into being at about the time Faleye was leaving the college. This apparently informed the college's decision to sign the MOU with the Chinese university so that the diploma holders would be able to go there for their first degree programme.

Faleye and his colleagues were thus in a quagmire, as none of those agencies employed the Zaria college's diploma holder after that policy too k off; at least initially. It was after he had stayed at home for about a year doing nothing that his parents decided to fulfill all righteousness: if what would get him employment was obtaining the first degree in the Chinese university with which the college had signed an MOU, so be it. So, they pulled resources together to ensure that their investment on their son in the aviation college would not be in vain.

Unfortunately for him, it was after he had left for China that some of the aviation agencies changed their mind and recruited some of his colleagues. Unfortunately too, for him, things did not go as planned as they sometimes don't.

The projection of raising the about N4million needed for the school fees soon got derailed. And that is the challenge that Faleye is facing right now in China. As a matter of fact, his father, in his 70s, had to sell a few properties to ensure he completes his studies.

His programme which commenced in 2011 is supposed to end in July, just three months away. But Faleye, the last child of his parents, is in a quagmire: he is not sure of concluding the programme due to the financial challenges he is currently facing. About N1million is standing between him and the conclusion of his programme. If help does not come, all the investments in China since 2011 when he secured admission into the college would go down the drain.

When he realised the precarious situation in which he is, he managed to secure a teaching job in China. But that country is a nononsense country, they quickly stopped him because, as they said, the job is for their citizens. As things stand, Faleye is willing and ready to enter into agreement with any individual, corporate organisation or institution that is ready to offer assistance, on how the

“His programme which commenced in 2011 is supposed to end in July, just three months away. But Faleye, the last child of his parents, is in a quagmire: he is not sure of concluding the programme due to the financial challenges he is currently facing. About N1million is standing between him and the conclusion of his programme�

money would be repaid.

As a matter of fact, he is even contemplating deferring his course and returning home if it gets to that, at least pending when things improve, but he does not even have the means to transport himself back. That shows how tight things are. The story is too long to be captured here; but, this, essentially is the message.

Sadly, Faleye is probably not alone in this kind of an avoidable mess. One shudders at the number of our youths who are in dire straits and could have their fortune reversed simply because no one cares for them. The point is that Nigeria cares about no one in particular. It cannot pay pension to old people.

It cannot ensure that its youths get access to good and qualitative education, and even when the youths manage to find their way, they are left hard and dry in the middle of nowhere if they suddenly run out of funds.

The sadder aspect is that most of those who' climbed the ladder before removing it' as it were (those who are now making things difficult for others today) benefited from one scholarship or government sponsorship or the other in their school days.

They had the best of life in and out of school; many of their children enjoyed the same opportunities too.

One would think the government should have some 'crutches' for people in Faleye's shoes, some shoulder to lean on; unfortunately, the government thinks otherwise.

Rather than put money where it has meaning, the government is pumping money into private businesses

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which the owners ran aground, in the name of bailouts. We have had these in the agricultural sector; we have had it in the textiles sector; we have even had it in the aviation sector which the government is threatening once again to give another round, in spite of the failure and ridiculous allegations that trailed the last bailout in that sector. It is not that bailouts are inherently bad; the problem in our circumstance is that, like most things Nigerian, they are abused and no one is punished for such abuses. As a matter of fact, bailout in Nigeria has become euphemism for doling out government money even to those who already have, to do as they please, when there are people out there genuinely in need of money but cannot have it.

The course that Faleye is studying that is about to be truncated at the ninety-ninth hour due to lack of funds, electronics and telecommunications engineering, is one that should be hot cake in the country. It is a course that any country with vision should be interested in.

Although Faleye is the reason for this piece, the point should not be lost on us, and particularly the governments at all levels, to begin to address in concrete terms the challenges that leave our seriousminded youths stranded, whether at home, or, worse still, in foreign lands, in pursuit of the proverbial golden fleece. This is the only thing that can check the inequity and iniquities in the system and also ensure that we all are able to sleep with our two eyes closed when tomorrow comes.

But, if you are touched and feel like helping, please contact Samuel Oluseun Faleye on phone number +8615040317741. Better still, you may wish to contact Richard Chen, the Dean of International Education College, Shenyang Aerospace University, 37, Daoyi South Avenue, Daoyi Development District, Shenyang, China, 110136 or phone 8624 89724578.

Whoever believes in Nigeria should please stand up!

pumps and drain all the blood out of your own veins as you hope there will still be a kitchen to use after he is through. That is still nothing yet compared to this. Now, should there be a knock on your door at midnight and a voice asks you to open the door for you are about to be robbed and the head of the house marches forward in great indignation holding nothing but a cudgel, I think the mother of all doubts will seize you at that scene.

The prospect of anyone successfully confronting guns with a cudgel is nothing but hilariously doubtful, I think.

Truly, doubts tend to creep up on us whether we want them to or not. In a well-known and widely circulated joke, a jury was once said to be confronted by the strong arguments of a defence counsel who vehemently denied that his client was responsible for a murder. In just one minute, he confidently told the jury, the dead man would walk in. The jury expectantly looked towards the door. There, triumphantly cooed the counsel, you looked because you doubted.

One of the major things occupying the mind of every thief, I guess, is to ensure that their crime scenes are wiped clean. One man was so incensed at his son for stealing jam that he called him to reprove him. Son, he said, I am not mad with you for stealing the jam.

But why on earth would you leave your fingerprints at the scene of the crime? Create reasonable doubt, he admonished!

The British architects of what we regard today as ancient and modern Nigeria (oh yes, there is an ancient one) deliberately planted reasonable doubt as to the possibility of the new nation surviving by forcefully fusing three completely parallel nations together and choosing doubtful leaders.

Successive leaders of Nigeria have adopted an attitude towards nation building that only a one-eyed giant can have: keep one eye on the eventuality that the contraption may collapse Monumental doubts seized then them, and have continued to trail all leaders ever since. Since independence, successive leaders have adopted an attitude towards nation building that only a one-eyed giant can have: keep one eye on the eventuality that the contraption may collapse. This means there has been no eye to keep on the development road since then. Like Moshe Dayan, who wore an eye-patch said, with one eye on the road, which eye can I now keep on the speedometer? So, for want of a good second eye, our leaders have not worked since independence. Most have been too preoccupied with saving for that rainy day of eventuality, when they expect Nigeria to break up.

This is why I believe that Nigeria has the highest number of plunderers of any country on earth. And no nation that has such a vast number of people more interested in taking than in giving has been able to survive.

Nigerians have indeed turned themselves into worms eating out the core of the national apple (or national cake as we love to call the metaphor) that my fear is that sooner than later, all the core will be gone and we will be eating each other. Perhaps then, we can sigh and begin again. Indeed, the fact that Nigeria continues to survive

today amazingly defies logic, my logic, that is. You see, in my logic, no nation governed by half-literates can survive; no nation ruled by self-absorbed neonates more interested in owning the best shoes and handbags can do a thing about its future; no nation standing on its head, with the best visionaries hidden at the bottom of the heap and the little men who cannot muster half a cow's brain between them standing at the top, should survive. But then, that's just my own logic.

So, here we are, all logic is thrown to the wind, and the country only just plodding on because everyone is too distracted to do the right thing. Governance, right now, is comparable to chewing a piece of rock with one's teeth. In that set-up, no one is comfortable; neither the teeth, nor the rock. Neither the government nor the governed can claim to be comfortable in this hot-bed called Nigeria. And there is only one reason for this: Nigerians do not believe in Nigeria.

The various levels of unbelief are too apparent to even the blind. It is in the fraudulent voting system, the corrupt civil service system, the ineffective federal, state and local governance system, the fallen educational system, and even the rural system.

Did I tell you that even the village chiefs have now perfected their own system of exacting tax from the wealthy surviving relatives of deceased members of the village? Oh ho, you will not believe it, but you better pray that you don't lose any member of your family (as I also pray) so we don't fall into the hands of the village mafias.

On the other hand, it is not too difficult to know a believer. Just look around you at your typical religious pundits, which we are not going to do here. Anyone who believes in Project Nigeria can easily be known.

First, let's shop around among our leaders for a good example. Err... err...

Ok, let's not shop among our leaders; let's go into the civil service for a good example. Err... err... Ok, let's not go into the civil service; let's go into our religious institutions. Err... err... Ok, let's not go there; let's go into our tertiary institutions. Err... err... Oh dear, where then shall we go for a true believer?

Reader, Nigeria is in dire straits because we all to a man and woman, who should be strenuously working at nation building, are more interested in pocket building. The fact that Nigeria has not collapsed in spite of all these shenanigans may be telling us something: it is time to get serious because we're going nowhere. Let's get serious with the transportation system; let's get serious with energy production; let's get serious with leadership and begin to hold everyone accountable. Above all, let's get serious about changing our attitude and begin to think that the country may not disintegrate after all and we may end up passing it to our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. Oh, please!

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Comment & Analysis

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Victor Adedapo Kayode— Lest legend becomes myth O

NE of the most important foundations of any civilisation is history.

If we do not know our own history, who we are, who and what our forefathers were and where we came from then we are truly lost. In the film production of J. R. Tolkien’s famous book titled ‘’Lord Of The Rings’’ one of the most compelling yet tragic lines reads as follows- ‘’Thousands of years passed by....history became legend and legend became myth’’. Few words are as profound as this and the import of those words resonate nothing but the deepest wisdom. The lesson that we can draw from this insightful truism is simple.

If you do not learn and continue to remind yourself of your history as a person, as a family, as a people, as a nationality, as a tribe and as a nation, the likelihood is that what is historical fact gradually pales into an intangible and unlikely legend and then it eventually turns into nothing but an ephemeral myth. And once such sacred historical facts become nothing but myth it destroys the soul and the foundation of your very existence as an individual, as a family, as a people and as a nation. When you do not know, care to know or care to learn and remember what your roots are, no matter how humble or seemingly inconsequential those roots may be, you become a nothing. It is to avoid the possibilty of history turning into legend and legend turning into myth that I have chosen to put on record the facts about one of the most distinguished and well-educated Nigerians that ever lived by the name of Victor Adedapo Kayode.

Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode, was an Anglican priest who studied theology at the Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leonne and who graduated with an M.A. (Durham) in 1892. He was of the yoruba tribe and came from the ancient town of Ile-Ife in the old Osun Province of southwestern Nigeria. He was educated by the Anglican church from a very young age and after graduating from university and finishing at the seminary, he rose through the ranks of the church and served as an Anglican priest throughout his life.

He built, planted, established and pastored some of the earliest Anglican churches in Ile-Ife itself and in Osun Province, Ondo Province and Ijebu Province as they then were. Rev. Emmanuel Adedapo Kayode married Miss Sophia Cole (the sister of the famous Lagosian Rev. M.S. Cole) and they had 13 children out of which 9 survived. The first of those children was Victor Adedapo Kayode who is the subject of this essay and who was born in 1899. Rev. E.A. Kayode’s wife Mrs. E.A. Kayode (nee Cole) came from a very distinguished and illustrious lineage. Her mother was from the famous Savage family of Lagos and her first cousins were lawyer William Akinlade Savage (who was called to the English Bar in 1906) and Dr. Richard Akinwade, who with Sir Kitoye Ajasa, Dr. J.K. Randle and Dr. Orisadipe Obasa, established the conservative People’s Union in 1909. This was Nigeria’s first political party and they were opposed to Sir Herbert Macauly’s more radical approach to political issues in the Lagos colony.

Macauly later established the NNDP and cultivated the support of the largely illiterate Lagos masses whilst the elites gravitated towards the Peoples Union. The NNDP was to later metamorphosised into the NCNC, which turned out to be one of the greatest and most powerful forces in the politics of south-western and southern Nigeria in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. In 1945, whilst on his deathbed, Herbert Macauly handed over the leadership of the NCNC to a rising young and Igbo star that had been resident in Lagos virtually all his life by the name of Nnamdi Azikiwe.

The first son of Rev. and Mrs. E.A. Kayode , Victor Adedapo Kayode, was educated at Kings College, Lagos. In 1917, he matriculated at the Selwyn College, Cambridge

•Remi Fani-Kayode

By Femi Fani-Kayode

University and in 1920 he graduated and was awarded his M.A. degree in law. He did his masters at Cambridge as well and he graduated and was awarded his LLB masters degree in 1921. Victor Kayode enrolled at the Middle Temple and was called to the British Bar in 1922. He came top in his exams at both Cambridge University (both the first and second year tripos) and at the Middle Temple.

This remarkable feat was repeated by his own son Babaremilekun FaniKayode approximately 20 years later when he followed in his illustrious father’s footsteps and attended both institutions.

Victor Adedapo Kayode got married to Miss Aurora Fanimokun in Chelsea, London in 1920. Aurora Fanimokun was the first daughter of the respected Rev. Suberu Fanimokun of the Lagos Colony (as it then was) and he was the Principal of the famous CMS Grammer School, Lagos. Like his colleague in holy orders and future in-law Rev. E.A. Kayode, Rev. Suberu Fanimokun also graduated in 1892 with an M.A. (Durham) from Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leonne. After graduating Fanimokun married Miss Bucknor of the distinguished Bucknor family of Lagos. Her brother was the famous lawyer, E. Bucknor who was called to the

“If you do not learn and continue to remind yourself of your history as a person, as a family, as a people, as a nationality, as a tribe and as a nation, the likelihood is that what is historical fact gradually pales into an intangible and unlikely legend and then it eventually turns into nothing but an ephemeral myth.”

english Bar in 1896 and who was also a friend of Sir Kitoye Ajasa. Apart from Aurora, Rev. Fanimokun and Mrs. Fanimokun (nee Bucknor) also had a son that graduated from Glasgow University as a medical practitioner in the early 1920’s. All these families constituted the cream of Lagos high society in their days. It was by dint of fate and providence that the son and daughter of Rev. E.A. Kayode and Rev. S. Fanimokun, both of whom were contemporaries and illustrious Anglican priests, ended up getting married in 1920. The first child of that marriage was Babaremilekun FaniKayode who was born in Chelsea, London in 1921. At that time, London was the most affluent city in the western world yet 30 per cent of Londoners were living below the poverty line. This shows that even the most developed cities and nations in the world once went through very hard times as well.

After being called to the British bar in 1922, Victor Adedapo Kayode went back to Lagos, Nigeria where he set up one of the most successful legal practices of his day. He specialised in criminal law. He occassionally intervened in the politics of the day in Lagos Colony but his forte was law and because he was acknowledged as one of the best lawyers of his day, he was appointed as a magistrate in 1940. In those days, there were no Nigerian magistrates and judges. They were all British.

Olumuyiwa Jibowu was the first Nigerian to become a magistrate in 1931 and then Adebiyi Desalu followed him in 1938. Adetokunboh Ademola was the third in 1939 and then came Victor Adedapo Kayode, F.E.O. Euba and George Frederick Dove-Edwin in 1940. F.O. Lucas was appointed in 1941. These were the first Nigerians to become magistrates and virtually all of them went on to the higher bench and did exceedingly well. Unfortunately in 1941, just one year after being appointed as a magistrate, Victor Adedapo Kayode died at the relatively young age of 42 whilst he was presiding over an important land case.

A few of years after his death, Madame Aurora Kayode remarried. Her second husband was Ernest ikoli, a well-known and very prominent Ijaw man that had been resident in Lagos virtually all his life.

Ikoli was a journalist by profession and he was the editor of two very powerful newspapers. He was very active in the politics of Lagos; he was one of the founders of the Nigerian Youth Movement (which later metamorphosied into the Action Group) and he was the man that was credited as being Obafemi Awolowo’s mentor and benefactor and that actually funded his education in the United Kingdom when he went there to study law. Ikoli was best of friends with Sir Adeyemo Alakija and many other Lagos elites in his days.

Madame Aurora had seven children for her first husband V.A. Kayode (four sons and three daughters) but she had no children for Ikoli.

Victor Adedapo Kayode and Madame Aurora Kayode (nee Fanimokun) were the parents of Victor Babaremilekun Adetokunboh Fani-Kayode, the former Minister of Chieftaincy and Local Government Affairs and Deputy Premier of Nigeria’s old Western Region. They were also the grandparents of David Oluwafemi Adewunmi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former Minister of Aviation and former Minister of Culture and Tourism. It was as a symbol of the deep affection that Chief Babaremilekun Fani-Kayode had for his mother, Madame Aurora, that he added the prefix of her maiden name (which was ‘’Fani’’) to our surname (which was ‘’Kayode’’) and hence the name ‘’Fani-Kayode’’ was created.

It is my intention to ensure that this legend does not become myth. God bless Nigeria.

The case for conditional amnesty

By Babatunde Olubanjo

T

HE issue of insecurity and enormous destruction and damage to lives and properties over the past years in Nigeria is of concern to the majority. There is need for all stakeholders to proffer solutions to the problem and bring peace and security back to Nigeria in the shortest possible time. The majority of insecurity problems is attributable to mainly two categories of people.

The first category are the plain criminals who bomb and kill for pecuniary gain. These category are to be treated strictly as criminals and need no consideration in terms of negotiations and/or amnesty.

The second category are religious criminals comprising the likes of Boko Haram, Jamatul Islamiyya etc. The suggested approach is to further sub-categorize these groups as follows: 1. The innocent and misguided members.

This subcategory consists of those people who were lured into the group for various reasons including but not limited to deceitful and false doctrines but are yet to stain their hands with any criminal activities. This group is the most critical for the government to negotiate with and grant conditional amnesty. The government should concentrate on identifying those in this sub-category, increasing their numbers, extracting vital information on operations, logistics etc from them as former insiders and granting them conditional amnesty and protection. Conditional amnesty in the sense that they will not be prosecuted as long as they live criminal-free lifes and no past criminal activities are traceable to them.

2. The repentant moderates. This subcategory consists of members who may have soiled their hands with criminal activities but have regrets about their past actions and are willing to change their ways and opt out. Having been involved in some form of criminal activities before, those in this subcategory may not readily want to accept responsibility for their past misdeeds and they are likely to be large in numbers. The objective is to identify these repentant moderates who are willing to face their punishments and change their way of life to criminal free society members.

3. The hardcore unrepentant criminals.

This subcategory of members cannot be negotiated with under any circumstances. The objective here is to identify them and bring them to justice for atrocities committed against mankind and the nation. It may not be out of place for the government to put forward incentives for individuals or groups who can assist with the apprehension and prosecution of the members of this group.

4. There are numerous advantages to adopting a policy of selective and conditional amnesty. Some of the advantages include: i. The government provides a legal and easy pathway for the innocent and misguided members and repentant moderates to renounce violence and be reintegrated into society. ii. The government gathers vital information from those two groups mentioned above for proper planning towards combating and apprehending the hard core unrepentant criminals. iii. A policy of selective and conditional amnesty decimates the rank of members of the criminal groups thus effectively reducing resources to be channeled towards combating insecurity. iv. A policy of selective and conditional amnesty may as well be the new thrust towards combating insecurity in the country.

The government will need to add constructive education, gainful employment and other similar policy initiatives in the mix to have a comprehensive turn-around.

5. There are other pre-requisites that the government needs to provide for a successful outcome. Some of these are: i.The government needs to provide security and protection and some form of compensation to whistle blowers who alert government to the operations of the criminal elements leading to their apprehension for prosecution. ii. The government needs to lay out concrete plans for re-integrating innocent and misguided members and repentant moderates into society Lekan Otufodunrin will be back next week

POLITICS

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Obasanjo’s many battles to reclaim lost ground •Obasanjo

F

ORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo, one of Nigeria’s most powerful leaders, has suffered many political misfortunes of late. Both within his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the polity at large, these have not been the best of times for the former leader.

For months, the elder statesman tactically denied loss of political influence in his home state, Ogun, and in Abuja. That was before his loyalists in strategic political positions in Abuja and Ogun State lost out in what some have described as the most recent strategic coups within PDP in recent years.

For example, two weeks after the national leadership of the party officially recognised a faction of the party in Ogun State, the secretariat of the party in the state was sealed by the Ogun State Police Command.

The extent of Obasanjo’s loss of favour and the battle to overthrow his leadership became even more pronounced on February 15, 2013, when the party’s National Working Committee formally recognised the state chapter loyal to Buruji Kashamu and led by Adebayo Dayo, instead of the one loyal to Obasanjo, which was under the leadership of Dipo Odunjinrin.

Not ready to give in so easily, the Obasanjo loyalists had fought back, as they were alleged to be behind the prolonged face off that prompted the Ogun State Police Command to seal off the state secretariat of the party for a long time.

It was unthought of but the executors had no intension of hiding their primary purpose: To dislodge the political hold of the retired army general and literarly retire him from the PDP and field partisan politics both in his home state and at the centre. Today, Obasanjo’s current moves confirm his acknowledgement of the development and his decision to reverse the trends in a determined bid to regain lost glories.

His political misfortunes: In Ogun State, Obasanjo’s political misfortune was at first a top secret, known only by political elders and major players, some of who actually hatched the plot to undo him politically. But it became public knowledge in June, 2012, following the result of a legal battle in-

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s current moves to reconcile the feuding factions of Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State is his latest effort at reclaiming lost ground within his party and the polity at large, reports Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu volving a PDP faction loyal to him and another faction loyal to Buruji Kashamu.

At first, there was a kind of deadlock when the two factions secured different injunctions declaring each of them as the authentic PDP in the state.

This deadlock was, however, resolved to the shock of many when the PDP faction supported by Obasanjo lost its bid to enlist candidates for the impending local government elections then.

An Ogun State High Court sitting in Ilaro had ruled that the PDP faction led by Mr. Dayo has “the vested authority to nominate and submit list of candidates for the forthcoming local government election in the state.”

The presiding high court judge, Mosunmola Dipeolu, also held that section 60 (10) of the PDP constitution, conferred the authority to run the affairs of the state branch of the party onexecutive committee.

She therefore restrained the national headquarters of the party from submitting any other candidates’ list apart from the one submitted by the state executive committee under Dayo.

The judge also dismissed the suit brought before it by the faction loyal to Obasanjo, which sought to compel Ogun State Independence Electoral Commission (OGSIEC) to accept its candidates’ list for the council poll.

It would be recalled that during the controversial primaries for the last governorship election in the state, Adetunji Olurin and Gboyega Isiaka emerged as candidates for former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the then Governor Gbenga Daniel’s factions respectively.

Before the election proper, Isiaka was rejected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following a court judgment. He later defected to the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN).

In fact, since the run up to the 2011 general election, the party has been battling to harmonise its leadership hierarchy. Three major factions have refused to accept any as the authentic leader. The party and Obasanjo have been

worse off for it.

While the Adebayo Dayo and Senator Dipo Odujinrin factional state executive committees fought fiercely in and out of the courtrooms to determine which is the authentic leadership of the party in the state, another faction loyal to former governor Gbenga Daniel worsened the crisis.

At last, the Daniel faction defected to the PPN, but has since shown interest to return to the PDP. At the national level, Obasanjo’s political influence has also suffered some bashing in recent times, especially within the PDP where he once held sway, first as a very powerful president and leader and later as Chairman of Board of Trustees and grand godfather.

In that position, he easily installed the late President Umaru Yar’Adua as his successor and later President Goodluck Jonathan. He also reportedly positioned his loyalists in strategic positions both in the government and the ruling PDP. Things, however, changed for the former President, when, according to inside sources, Jonathan heeded the advise of his associates to break loose of Obasanjo’s influence and stand at his feet. This led to removal of some key officials to strengthen Jonathan’s hold on power.

From outside, this development was not clearly noted until Obasanjo started being critical of Jonathan’s government and soon resigned his position as chairman of PDP Board of Trustees (BOT).

The situation worsened around January when a court ordered that a top Obasanjo man, the PDP National Secretary and former governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, vacate his office because he came in through an alleged illegal congress.

Two other Obasanjo men soon followed in the desperate power game. They are the National Vice Chairman, South-West, Segun Oni and the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha. With their exit, Obasanjo’s influence

at the national secretariat of the party has been substantially circumscribed.

Efforts to redeem his fortunes: Last week, Obasanjo held a crucial reconciliation meeting with some members of PDP in the South-west who had lost out during the internal crisis that rocked the party in the region.

At the meeting, held in his Abeokuta home, were former PDP National Vice Chairman (Southwest), Mr. Segun Oni, Sen Jubril Martins Kuye, a former Minister of State for Finance and Chief Sarafa Ishola, a former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, among others.

An associate of the former president, who pleaded not to be named, said the meeting was just “one of a series of meetings designed to right all the wrongs that have been militating against the PDP both in Ogun State and the South-West in general.”

The source said Obasanjo is no longer ready to watch some over ambitious elements destroy all he and others have laboured to build. “He is out now to recover all the lost grounds in the South-West, starting from Ogun and this must be done before the 2015 elections,” he said.

Kuye had said that much after the Abeokuta meeting, when he told newsmen that the meeting was part of the moves to reposition the party ahead of the 2015 General Elections.

He lamented that the intra-party crises had caused a lot of setbacks to the party in Ogun State, pointing out that the elders are now out to “mend broken fences”, in order to move the party forward.

Kuye said series of such meetings would be held at regular intervals to ensure that the party was united and focused, ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Ishola expressed optimism that the initiative would bring an end to the crisis which had polarised the party and denied it of victory at the 2011 governorship election in the state.

How far the retired general and former President can go in his present assignment remains to seen.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Politics

Ekiti 2014: Unease as PDP leaders fight Fayose’s entry The formal entry of former Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayo Fayose, into the 2014 PDP governorship race is currently causing tension and unease in the party, reports Remi Adelowo

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HE die seems cast in the race for the governorship ticket of the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Indications that the contest for the ticket will be keen emerged last week with the formal declaration of interest by a former governor of the state, Mr. Ayo Fayose, to contest for governorship position in 2014.

Political observers agree that the incumbent governor, Dr Fayemi is a sure bet for a second term ticket of the ruling party in the state, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

But in the last couple of months, Fayose has not hidden his ambition to reclaim the seat he was unceremoniously removed from in 2006.

Before his impeachment by the state House of Assembly, his tenure had been characterised by several controversies, ranging from his public row with many influential indigenes in the state, including politicians, opinion elders and traditional rulers.

Fayose’s tenure in office, it would be recalled, was as stormy as it was controversial.

The tension prevalent in the state at that period led to the assassination of prominent figures in the state, including a former Consultant of the World Bank, Dr. Ayo Daramola, and Mr. Kehinde Fasuba, the younger

brother of a PDP chieftain, Mr. Taye Fasuba.

The final straw, according to sources, was his open altercations with elder statesman and legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola, a close friend of the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Not a few Ekiti indigenes argue that Fayose’s exit from the government house was sanctioned by Obasanjo to protect his friend.

The Nation reliably gathered that Fayose’s entry into the 2014 governorship race is already causing ripples among members of Ekiti PDP, with many positing that the party needs a clean break from ‘the ugly past’ for it to stand any chance against Fayemi in the election.

Sources disclosed that some leaders of the party are finalising arrangements to send representation to the national headquarters of the party on the imperative of not fielding Fayose, who, they argued, has remained controversial, years after he was removed as governor.

While Fayose seems confident of beating all-comers for the PDP ticket, sources revealed that the race may not be a stroll in the park for him. The former governor’s optimism may not be unconnected to his control of the PDP state executive council, with majority of the party officials alleged to be his stooges.

•Fayose The election into the PDP executive council was not without its drama and controversies. For many months, a former governor of the state, Olusegun Oni, and Fayose were embroiled in a bitter war over the election

of Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe as the state chairman of PDP. The controversy was finally resolved by the national headquarters of the party which recognised the Ogundipe-led executive council allegedly loyal to Fayose.

But sources revealed that Fayose’s opponents are not giving up. As it is now, over ten governorship aspirants are battling for the PDP ticket. They include two former deputy governors of the state, Chief Abiodun Aluko and Mr. Bisi Omoyeni. Others are a former Chairman of the State Basic Education Board, Mr. Yemi Adeyeye (alleged to be backed by the faction loyal to Olusegun Oni), Senator Ayo Arise and a former big player in the aviation industry, Dr. Peter Obafemi, who came a distant fourth in the 2007 primaries.

However, many independent-minded party members are said to be rooting for Senator Gbenga Aluko, son of late renowned economist, Prof. Sam Aluko. The younger Aluko shot into political reckoning in 1999 when he got elected as the only PDP senator in the whole of South-West then under the firm grip of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD).

Aluko served for four years in the National Assembly before embarking on a political sabbatical for about eight years. Those supporting his aspiration argue that with his education, cerebral personality and pedigree, he would give the incumbent governor a reasonable challenge in the 2014 election.

His supporters further posit that it would be political suicidal for PDP to field a candidate perceived to have links with either Oni or Fayose.

The Nation reliably gathered that some of the PDP governorship aspirants, particularly those loyal to Oni, are working on a Plan B in the event that Fayose wins the party ticket.

One of the options is to prosecute their aspiration on an alternative political platform preferably the Labour Party (LP).

David Mark at 65: Still marching on

By Paul Mumeh

•Mark

P

ERHAPS George Bernard Shaw was right when he wrote about life to wit; “this is true joy in life; the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy . I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me . It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to the future generations”.

George did not have Nigerian Senate President, David Mark, in mind when he made the above observation about life, but x-raying the life of service, sacrifice and commitment to the ideals of nation hood of the latter, he unarguably fits into the description . For David Mark, life represents the totality of the value he has been able to add to his family, his community, and the nation at large.It is in living life to the

fullest, not for the sole benefit of the self but to the larger advantage of the many.

On April 8, 2013, Senator Mark will reach the milestone of 65 years on earth. He would have reached the rank of statesman per excellence.

Born in the nondescript and sleepy village of Akpegede in Local Government Area of Benue State in the 1948, Mark seems to have been destined for the top. After completing his primary school at St. Francis Catholic Practicing School, Otukpo, Mark proceeded to the prestigious Nigerian Military School, Zaria, where he laid the foundation for what turned out to become an eventful and indeed accomplished career in the military. After graduation from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Zaria, Mark’s professional skills in the military were further sharpened in some of the most elite military training institutes in Europe, Asia and America. What began as a childhood fancy to appear in crisp military camouflages turned out to become a fulfilling career where Mark’s leadership credentials stood as an invaluable asset to all formations that he had the privilege to serve, not the least of which was as Military governor of Niger state and later, Communications Minister.

But whatever exploits Mark achieved during his sojourn in the military pales to insignificance compared to his remarkable stewardship on the political turf. Agreed, battles fought in military combat can be ferocious and deadly.

Yet they appear simpler when compared to political battles. In the former, the battle lines are fairly clear and the enemy is more often than not, known. For the latter, the enemy is more often than not, the seemingly innocent neighbour next door, the apparent political ally or the ubiquitous godfather. Here there are no battle lines, no clear enemies and the theatres of war are so fluid as to be indistinguishable. It goes without saying therefore that political battles are more difficult to prosecute, and far less easy to win. It is against this backdrop that we can safely say that winning political wars demands much more than brawns and the quality and quantity of the arsenal in the armory.

It demands a lot of political savvy, prime amongst which is the ability to command followership. And this is where David Mark’s leadership credentials have buffeted the grand posturing of his political opponents and traducers.

When Mark, on the return of democracy in

1999 decided to try his hand in partisan politics, many looked upon him as just another exmilitary man seeking to satisfy yet another craving for power and relevance. But as we would suddenly realise, here was a man whose heart was out there with the people, the common men and women in the streets. Mark had no illusions about the toughness of the task he was about to undertake, but his eyes were trained on the objective-to first win the people’s hearts, then votes; which comes with a huge opportunity and privilege to represent his Benue South Senatorial District in the senate. This, again for Mark was just a means to an end-the opportunity to serve and add value to the lives of his constituents.

The rest, as the old saying goes, is now history. Mark contested the election and won a seat to the senate in 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011.

Expectedly and characteristics of politics in our clime, virtually the elections were acrimonious, bitterly fought and won, to state it mildly.

To be sure, they were those who felt that going into the senate, or any political office for that matter was “a turn-by-turn” arrangement, where people “will come and chop”, as we say in local parlance in this part of the world, and give way for others. That is why even when his opponents were trounced resoundingly at the polls, they thought victory and the peoples’ mandate could be secured through the back door- the law courts.

But Mark had a dream, a vision and mission in the National Assembly- to redefine the parameters of leadership where service to the people is the cornerstone. It is this new vision of leadership that Mark espoused in his first two terms in the senate, ‘marking’ him out as one of the most outstanding lawmakers of the 4th and 5th senate. It therefore left little to the imagination, when in 2007; Mark contested and received the overwhelming mandate of his colleagues to lead the senate as its president in an open, transparent and democratic process.

That election was significant in several respects, not least of which was the rebirth of true democracy in the senate.

That was the first time in a long while that the leadership of either House of the national legislature emerged through a democratic process. There is the tendency to miss the huge significance of that epochal event, but it bears mentioning that the sanity, stability and the now entrenched democratic culture prevailing in the senate today is a direct result of that seemingly innocuous democratic exercise. And we must never miss the point, again that David

Mark was, and remains the symbol of that transformation. If our memory does not fail us, we would recall the chicanery that was the hallmark of legislative practices and procedures pre-David Mark’s ascendancy to the leadership of the Red Chamber of the National Assembly.

It therefore speaks loudly to the astute leadership qualities of the senate president that the several hurricanes and tsunamis that use to sweep with profound regularity in the upper chamber, and had brought to a premature end to the vaunting proclivities of many a senate president have become a welcome bygone since Mark assumed office in 2007.

As senate president, David Mark has always pursued the pan-Nigeria agenda. The senate under his leadership has earned a reputation for itself for standing up for the ordinary citizen on the street through the passage of laws and motions that aim to improve the material condition of their existence and stabilize the polity. In this wise, two critical interventions of the senate at a time of grave national peril bear some mentioning- the invocation of the Doctrine of Necessity in the wee hours of the late Yar’Adua presidency to rescue Nigeria from the abyss and the mediatory role it played during the conflagration spurned by the fuel subsidy removal earlier in 2011. In a country so used to holding the national legislature to blame for all manner of ills plaguing the nation, the role of the Senate in the situations under reference was not only a welcome and most desirable breathe of fresh air, but more poignantly gave strong indication that we are not doomed after all. No one can quite reasonably argue that the resolution of those epochal crises were a mere happenstance. To the contrary, the strong leadership provided by the senate president during those trying periods played more than significant role in the final outcome of those events.

As Mark turns 65 today, our only hope and prayer is that the Almighty God continues to endow him with the needed strength and wisdom to carry to logical conclusion at the end of his term, the radical transformation and evolution that the 6th and 7th senate has come to witness under him. Needless to add that all the accolades and recognitions that are daily being bestowed on the president of the senate are well deserved. But more poignantly, there are a call to spur him for further dedication and selfless service to our fatherland in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. * Paul is a media aide to the Senate President, David Mark

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Politics

Ekweremadu’s guber ambition causes stir in Enugu

• Ekweremadu BOUT two weeks ago, Enugu residents noticed some posters announcing fresh electoral ambition of the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.

Curiously, the posters, located at strategic locations in the metropolis, did not specify the position Ekweremadu would be contesting for in 2015. The only message on it reads, “Ekweremadu, our dream for 2015.”

This seemingly dumb poster has, however, caused a stir

A

By a combination of fortuitous circumstances and a well planned strategy, the Deputy Senate President is believed to be well prepared for the exalted seat. A trained lawyer from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ekweremadu was elected Chairman, Aninri Local Government in 1997.

In 1999, he was appointed the Chief of Staff to the then newlyelected governor, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani.

Two years later, he was appointed as the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and in 2003 he was elected as senator to represent Enugu West at the National Assembly.

In 2007, he became the Deputy Senate President, a position he holds till date.

With many political stakeholders in the South East state still pondering over the rationale behind the senator’s alleged bid for the governorship seat, which they consider lesser in status, a fresh debate has ensued over an alleged plot to truncate the unwritten zoning formula in the state.

The power rotation has seen Chimaroke Nnamani from Enugu East being elected as governor in 1999 and the election of the incumbent governor, who hails from Enugu West, in 2007.

The expectation before now was that the Enugu North senatorial zone (Nsukka) will take its turn in 2015, but sources have alleged that this unwritten political pact may be breached for the next general elections.

If Ekweremadu contests for the governorship as it is being speculated, the implication is that Enugu West, where he and the incumbent governor hail from, would have spent an uninterrupted 12years at the Lion Building Government House by 2019.

Will the alleged zoning formula in Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) be maintained in 2015? This is the root of anxiety over an alleged plot to jettison the agreement, Remi Adelowo reports among the common people and political stakeholders.

Swiftly, his media aide, Uche Anichukwu, dismissed the posters, describing the development “as the handiwork of opposition elements trying to cause confusion in the polity.” Speaking further, Anichukwu recalled the several attempts to drag his boss into a personality clash with the state governor, Sillivan Chime, in 2011.

Unconfirmed reports had alleged then that Ekweremadu felt

“

Among leading political gladiators in the state, it is feared that there is an understanding between the governor and the senator, which may compel the former to renege on his alleged promise to help the Nsukka zone realise its governorship dream in 2015.

”

slighted over how his loyalists were removed from the state executive council shortly after Chime was re-elected in 2011.

But in spite of this denial, the state polity in the last few weeks has been awash with stories of Ekweremadu’s alleged intention to contest the 2015 governorship election. Not a few people in the state readily point to his purported ownership of a popular radio station, which sources alleged the senator established to promote his governorship ambition.

Mention is also being made of his numerous philanthropic gestures, including a scholarship programme and his political structures in almost every ward in the state.

The Nation gathered that presently, fears have gripped some governorship aspirants in the PDP over Ekweremadu’s alleged ambition. The argument is that if Ekweremadu throws his hat into the ring, he will surely be the man to beat in the PDP primaries.

21

For Chime, who has also been in government since 1999, The Nation gathered that like most second term governors, he will be moving to the senate in 2015 to represent Enugu West, the same seat Ekweremadu currently occupies.

Prior to his election as governor, Chime first served as ex-Governor Nnamani’s Special Adviser on Legal Matters and thereafter appointed as the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General.

Among leading political gladiators in the state, it is feared that there is an understanding between the governor and the senator, which may compel the former to renege on his alleged promise to help the Nsukka zone realise its governorship dream in 2015.

Ekweremadu’s denial to contest the governorship election in 2015 notwithstanding, leaders of thought in Enugu North, sources disclosed, are not taking anything for granted.

In a strongly worded press statement issued recently, the leaders, who include Chief Mike Ojike, Chief Maximus Ukuta, Major Gen. Godwin Ugwoke (rtd), Prof. Damian Opata, Dr. Chuka Ezema, Sir Albert Nnamani and Chief Emmanuel Alachi, frowned at the alleged surreptitious plan to ‘deny Enugu North of its rights.’

Excerpts of the statement read, “May we, therefore, remind the faceless groups behind this devilry even at the risk of over flogging what is common knowledge in Enugu State politics, that the state is made up of old Enugu and Nsukka zones. The governorship seat has been in old Enugu zone since 1999 and by 2015, it would have been 16 years in that zone.

“Nsukka cultural zone, which is 52 percent of the voting population in the state, has been held down for the two senatorial zones of old Enugu zone to have their turn of eight years each consecutively as governor of Enugu State.”

Though the agitation from the Nsukka zone to produce the governor in 2015 has become vociferous in recent times, sources told The Nation that agreeing on a consensus candidate could be a major challenge for the zone, with many aspirants from the area alleged to be oiling their political machinery in their bid to succeed Chime in 2015.

Touted as possible candidates from Nsukka include the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Eugene Odoh, who was quoted recently to have said it would be unfair to deny the zone of the governorship seat when Chime’s tenure lapses.

Others being mentioned are Chief Ayogu Eze, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works; the state PDP chairman, Mr. Vita Abba and boss of the State Housing Corporation, Ikeji Asogwa.

Until Ekweremadu’s alleged governorship became public knowledge, Eze was reported to be the leading aspirant, with the resources and the clout to prosecute a governorship campaign.

Like most of the leading appointed and elected public officials at the state and federal levels, Eze also hit public limelight during the administration of Nnamani during which he served as a commissioner. He was elected as senator in 2007.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Politics

P

OLITICS is intertwined with interests. The leader’s interest. The public interest. The aide’s interest. The follower’s interest.

The praise-singer’s interest. The family interest. The faith interest. And even ancestor’s interest. And so on and so forth. It follows therefore that appraisal parameters will definitely be dependent on the assessor’s interest. I must quickly admit some pedantic inappropriateness in not taking cognizance of the rule of political assessment when Kayode Fayemi, the Governor of Ekiti State was accused of inactivity by some select politicians of Ekiti sentiments and I got puzzled.

As a stakeholder in Ekiti; yes, I am a stakeholder, not by birth or parental lineage but by “classmate attachment” or even “Great Ife Network”.

First, the governor is my friend and my classmate in Graduate class in 1986 at the Department of International Relations at the then Unife. “Kay” (as I fondly call him), Victor Adetula, now a professor in Unijos and myself were intellectual ‘cold war’ rivals, especially in Professor Olajide Aluko’s class. His wife, Bisi, was, and still is, my, “personal person.”

She was a special fan of “Mujemu,” a writer’s pseudonym in “King Cobra” a dreadful, admittedly to some degree, salacious and subversive campus journal (courtesy: Buhari/ Idiagbon). We were also together in the History Department, Unife. By the special grace of GOD, I knew how it all started between them as I was a key actor and witness. One of the secrets of the relationship that I will share publicly is the fact that “ Kay” (as I fondly call him) achieved in one year what many lecturers and students in Ife could not achieve in four to five years that they were with Bisi in Ife. He came from Unilag to marry one of Ife’s most beautiful girls and his rivals were stunned and dazed by this audacious inter-university marital assault. I know some of them that have not recovered from the shock till today. Only God knows when they will recover and accept their fate that it is all over. Third, the Oba of Ilawe, Banji Alabi, is my friend and classmate in Ife. The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Yemi Adaramodu (Agbaman), was our Chief Cartoonist in “King Cobra” when I was the Cobra Chief in Unife and of course, the big masquerade himself, Femi Falana (SAN) another “Great Ife” from Ilawe is my very good friend. Also, Senator Femi Ojudu another Ekiti power broker was an ALPS chieftain in our Ife days. His organisation, Alliance of Progressive Students, was King Cobra’s chief antagonist and “Mujemu’s” greatest persecutor. The two Femis plotted the “coup” that brought me to the Tinubu government in 1999. For further details on this, consult the duo.

Enough of this stakeholder justification.

The general impression I was getting before leaving for Ekiti was that Fayemi “o se nkankan ni Ekiti” literally meaning, Fayemi has not been active in Ekiti, or better still, Fayemi has not done anything in Ekiti. So, as a stakeholder, I decided to go to Ekiti on a private visit and possibly share with the governor, people’s sentiments about his administration. This was my first time of going to Ekiti since he became the governor of the state, though we have been exchanging phone calls and text messages. We only saw once at ‘Oga’s 60th birthday last year March (when I say Oga, I mean Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu). So, almost a year after our meeting in Lagos, I decided to visit him.

Driving from Lagos to Ado-Ekiti through

Fayemi: A pathfinder on red roof

By Dapo Thomas Iju-Itaogbolu, a federal road in Ondo State was not very pleasant. But from Ikere to Ado-Ekiti, the whole town is on construction rampage.

The entire Ado-Ekiti township from police headquarters to Basiri; from Teaching Hospital to Iworoko; from 1st Baptist to Old garage through Ojumose to Atikankan and Oke Ori Omi Aremu to Old governor’s office, I noticed a construction frenzy. It was however a smooth drive from Ado Akiti to Lagos through Ilawe and Igbara- Odo down to Ilesa-Ife road.

In Ekiti, road construction and the ‘red roof’ (school project) appear to be the government’s priority. Since he came to office, Fayemi has been constructing roads and renovating and rehabilitating schools and these are still on-going and they are not likely to stop anytime soon. If the road construction trend continues like this, the people of Ekiti may not need to polish their shoes for days because they are not likely to gather dust since all the roads would have been tarred.

Good roads have become an obsession with Fayemi. He is not just interested in rehabilitating or laying asphalt on roads, he wants roads with side-walks, drains, medians and street-lights. He wants solid roads that will endure. There was an instance where the governor confronted a contractor on the poor quality of his work. The contractor was unaware of the governor’s private inspection of a particular road and had counted about 17 pot-holes on that same road. The contractor was shocked when the governor disclosed the number of pot-holes to him. Fayemi expressed his disappointment at the shoddy job the contractor did and gave him a strong warning to stick to the specified standard and use the right materials.

An impressive aspect of Fayemi’s road networking is the fact that in addition to the existing roads he is rehabilitating, he has in two years of his government, constructed almost five new roads, I mean virgin roads, that were never in existence before. And the good thing is that all the roads are solid, standard and beautiful. For instance, the Igede-Awo road is a brand new road that reduces the journey from Ado-Ekiti to Iddo by substantial kilometers. It is a beautiful road of about 7 km that was commissioned during the 2nd anniversary of his administration.

The four other virgin roads include OsunIloro, Erijiyan-Ilawe, Ilemoso-Omu and IrelePonyan all of which have drastically reduced the stress of long journeys and facilitated intercommunity connectivity. A new one, Isan-OboAyegunle, was awarded recently by the government. In the past, a journey from Ado to Ifaki and Oye used to take more than five hours but with Fayemi’s intervention, that trip can be done in less than an hour. On the whole, the government has completed more than 400 Kilometres of road out of the 600 km it has in its Phases 1 and 2.

Fayemi’s approach to road construction and

•Fayemi network is scientific, strategic, functional, pragmatic, politically and economically expedient.

From Ikere to Ijero, Ijero to Ikole, the entire stretch of Ekiti State has been rung round with roads that bridge contacts between the various Ekiti communities, between the government and its people, between development and underdevelopment, between primitiveness and civilization, between the “bush gods” and the “City God”, between “the bush man” and “the city man”.

Rural communities should not be made to feel completely alien in their own country by being isolated or restricted to their villages as a result of lack of infrastructure. They deserve good roads to transport their produce to the city for commercial exchange.

Globalization, or its variant “global village”, is not just about the magic of technology. The baseline for its functionality, especially in this clime of ours, lies in the provision of infrastructure like roads that connect one community to the other. What is the gain of globalization if it takes 6 hours for a Nigerian to connect with his business associate in London but double that time for a son that lives and works in Ado-Ekiti to get to his sick mother in Ikole also in Ekiti State?

Guided by its 8-point agenda framework, the Fayemi government is not only constructing roads, it is also providing water and light for the people. One tragic narrative of our history relates to a community called OkeAko in Ikole Local Government, which has been in existence for close to 138 years without light. When in 2012, the government provided

them with light, they erupted in joyous celebration that lasted for days. The same goes for the people of Ilemeso in Oye Local Government. They too were having light for the first time after living so many years of their existence in darkness.

In education, about 183 public schools at both primary and post-primary levels, are being rehabilitated and renovated with the red roof as symbol of their new look. Those that have been given a face-lift operate under a very peaceful atmosphere and environment that is conducive for learning and creative vocations.

From afar, and every corner of the state, one can see the red roof glowing and reflecting the change in the state, depicting a rising hope, exuding a glimmering idea of a bright future, generating a soothing attraction, beaming a gleaming star in the mould of a pathfinder that is perching atop the roof using it as his observatory for a panoramic view of the state with the ultimate objective of clearing all the forest of ancient evils in Ekiti.

Fayemi’s style of governance is elevated.

He is humbly unveiling his new political status by moving from a politician to a statesman. His behavior towards the Ekiti people transcends political partisanship. He behaves like a wise leader who is “motivated neither by crass self-interest nor by narrow partisanship but instead by considerations of the non partisan public good or the general welfare” (apologies Macstadt and Schotten). Ekiti by all development indices, is an evolving state. It has not fully reached the apogee of its development potential.

Based on this fact and what Fayemi is doing, Ekiti is transforming from its ancient character into a modern city. The kind of vision, wisdom and inspirational leadership that Fayemi is providing in the state will one day make the people of Ekiti record him as one of the founding fathers of modern Ekiti.

With what I saw in Ekiti during my visit, I now know that politicians, nay adversaries or better still, opponents or opposition, also speak in tongues. “Kayode o se nkankan ni Ekiti” has two interpretations: One is literal, the other is figurative. So, when a government, that is working round the clock to provide social infrastructure for the people and improve their lot through populist programmes and policies is being accused of “not performing “, it shows that they don’t mean it in the literal sense. It is simply a figurative expression to convey their frustration about the neglect of their own “stomach infrastructure” a la Godswill Akpabio’s sarcasm of “our members are hungry”.

Stomach infrastructure now overlapping with social infrastructure has become a contemporary political reality in this our side of the global divide. What a dilemma for our leaders! God Save Nigeria!!

•Thomas, a former Special Adviser to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, teaches History and International Studies at the Lagos University (LASU)

Muhammed Jumare: A role model I

• Jumare

N an era like this, when role models are difficult to come by, especially in this our part of the country, people with leadership qualities of Dr. Muhammed Jumare, the Sardaunan Zazzau, must not pass unnoticed.

An unassuming achiever, Jumare has traversed the landscape of Nigeria in the pursuit of his public service career and in his service to humanity. He is an intellectual, a philanthropist, an administrator, a community leader, a husband and a father, all rolled into one. He has been handling these roles effectively and admirably. He qualifies to be a role model for younger generations by any standard.

Jumare’s profile can best be appreciated when it is situated against the backdrop of his parentage. His father, Abubakar Jumare, popularly known as Mallam Jumare. Dr. Muhammed Jumare’s father started his political activities when he was a teacher in Zaria Middle School. Although the senior Jumare had parental linkage with the first Fulani Emir of Zazzau (Mallawa), through his mother, his politics was of the radical (progressive) mode.

The senior Jumare’s politics aimed at effecting reforms in the Native Authority Administration through a democratization process, reforms in Native Courts and appointment of

By Sani Musa

TRIBUTE Nigerians as Administrative Officers (DOs, Residents etc). He also agitated for the harmonisation of salaries between Nigerians and Expatriate officers and freedom for partisan political activities and seats in the decision-making councils for the common people. Mallam Jumare’s closest disciple in this struggle was Aminu Kano, who was then a young teacher in Zaria Middle School. It was not surprising therefore that the authorities disbanded them when their political activities were becoming of concern. They were both transferred, Mallam Jumare to Katsina Ala Middle School, while Mallam Aminu Kano was transferred to Maru Teachers College.

It was into this famous family that Dr. Muhammed Jumare was born on August 20th, 1943 in Unguwar Kwarbai, Zaria City, the family, whose patriarch demonstrated courage, bravery and uncommon sacrifices and principles at a time when very few could dare to challenge the dominant and domineering colonial authorities.

The Sardaunan Zazzau schooled at

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he started with a diploma course and read up to Doctor of Philosophy (Phd) in Public Administration. He also attended University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) for an Advanced Certificate Course on Local Government Finance.

Jumare joined partisan politics in 1962. He was Assistant National Organizer, Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), 1981 to 1983. He was also Member/Chairman, Kaduna State Chapter of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN); National Executive Member, and Gubernatorial candidate of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in 1983; he was also Elder and Member, National Board of Trustees, ANPP (1999 to 2002.) He resigned from the ANPP in 2002 and joined PDP in January 2003.

No recognition can be more self-fulfilling than the one from one’s community. It is from this perspective that his recognition by the Zazzau Emirate can best be appreciated. On January 4th, 2013, Zaria stood still for Dr. Muhammed Jumare when the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji (Dr.) Shehu Idris (CFR), conferred on him the coveted title of Sardaunan Zazzau.

•Sani Musa lives in Kaduna

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, examines the ongoing peace efforts in All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and reports

Politics

turf

with Bolade Omonijo boladeomonijo@yahoo.com

Jonathan to cut cost of governance?

I

•Okwu

•Okorie

opinion that all aggrieved members of the party should be approached. He wants the party to be repositioned ahead of the 2015 general elections.

To flag off its reconciliation project, the national leadership of the party recently paid a historic visit to its founding National Chairman, Chief Chekwas Okorie. The APGA delegation, led by its interim national chairman, Chief Maxi Okwu, said the aim of the visit was to apologize to him over the injustice he suffered, which eventually led to his removal as the party’s national chairman.

Full of emotion, Okorie said he was glad that his vindication was coming while he was still alive. He said despite the spirited efforts he made to effect reconciliation, those who were working against him never gave peace a chance.

Party sources say the visit to Okorie is just one of many of such visits liened up by the leadership.

“It is not only Okorie that will be visited. Quite a number of angry party chieftains will play host to our leaders in the following weeks. It is all part of our effort to bring back the real owners of the party.

“The bottom line however is that we are not talking about factions here. Let me tell you that even Umeh and Massalla will

be approached for reconciliation. They are part of the real owners of APGA. Just like Okorie, we want them in one united APGA. Tim Menakaya, the only surviving member of the party’s original board of trustee, BOT, who is now the board’s chairman, is very optimistic that the reconciliation effort of the Okwu-led NWC will yield positive fruits.

“Have you ever been so pessimistic that the problems you have cannot be overcome? It borders on one single thing, as soon as the party is well organised and all the functionaries are in place, the crisis will be over and we will move on. For me, I am optimistic that we can achieve peace,” he said.

While leaders of the party are exuding confidence in the ongoing peace process, observers of the politics of APGA are cautious about predicting the eventual outcome of the process.

“Apologies alone will not eliminate grievances, and the roads ahead will be neither short nor smooth for a party like APGA that spent the last seven years on infighting and litigations. Justice must be done and be seen to be done if APGA is not to fumble this chance for peace,” Itchie Goddy Nwosu, a chieftain of the party in Anambra said.

Political

ripples Ladoja’s suspension rattles supporters

F

Political Politics

Troubled APGA goes in search of peace

F

OLLOWING months of severe internal wrangling among its leaders, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) is making frantic efforts towards mending its fences, a development many say might have been informed by the forthcoming 2015 general elections.

Sources say some chieftains of the party who met recently at the Enugu residence of late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, agreed to pursue the path of peace, as well as reorganise the party ahead of the 2015 general elections.

These decisions, which came after about seven years of crises which started following the expulsion of Chief Chekwas Okorie, APGA’s founding national chairman, from the party by a faction led by Chief Victor Umeh, the then party’s national treasurer, are aimed at rebranding the party ahead of the general elections.

Following Okorie’s exit, Umeh had emerged as the party’s national chairman after the national convention of the party, which was held in 2005.

The confusion within the party continued until February 8, 2013 when the entire National Working Committee, NWC of the party, led by Umeh, was sacked by an Enugu State High Court, presided over by the state Chief Judge, Justice Innocent Umezulike.

The court declared the February 10, 2011 election and the party’s national convention that produced the Umeh-led National Executive Committee as “unconstitutional, null and void” just as it restrained Umeh from parading himself as the National Chairman of the party henceforth.

Consequently, on February 17, 2013, at Chelsea Hotel, Abuja, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State led the National Caucus meeting of APGA to appoint Mr. Maxi Okwu as its new Acting Chairman and Alhaji Sanni Shinkafi as Acting National Secretary.

Okwu until his appointment was the National Chairman of Citizens Popular Party, CPP, while Alhaji Shinkafi was the National Secretary of APGA faction, led by Chief Victor Umeh. The party also appointed the former Minister of Health, Dr. Tim Menakaya, as its Acting Chairman, Board of Trustees, (BoT) Sources say the governor is solidly behind the reconciliation move. He is of the

23

ORMER governor of Oyo State, Senator Rashidi Ladoja, has a new political battle to contend with. Recently, he was suspended by the national headquarters of his party, Accord Party, over an alleged indiscipline, which reportedly borders on insubordination.

Ladoja was suspended for allegedly referring to himself as the National Leader, a position the party officials claim is non-existent in the political party. The suspension, according to sources, has put the former governor’s supporters in a quandary.

Ripples gathers that Ladoja is presently preoccupied with this ‘unexpected’ challenge.

Suswan shifts tension to House

T

HE intense political lobby for appoint ment as commissioner, which puntuated the politics of the state may have come to an end as the Benue State House of Assembly finally receives a list of 12 names from Governor Gabriel Suswam for confirmation as commissioners.

Ripples gathered that the nominees include seven of the commissioners dropped in the last cabinet, including Alexander Atime, Comfort Ajene, Donald Ugboho, John Tondo, Egbiri Idah, Elizabeth Allagh and Anthony Onuh and Elizabeth Ugo. With this development, lobby tension now shifts to the House.

T is a big surprise that the president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, says he is prepared to prune the growing cost of running public affairs. All the newspapers have reported that he is set to confront the challenge headlong by scrapping some government bodies, merging others and restructuring many. The details are still being worked out.

All that has been released so far is that the National Examinations Council, National Poverty Eradication Programme and the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination are the first casualties of the plan.

By the announced plan, it is clear that the president and his men either do not appreciate the magnitude of the problem or he is again playing games with a deadly disease afflicting the country. How does scrapping NECO and directing WAEC to absorb the workers amount to cutting cost? Or how would changing the name of NAPEP amount to enhancing the value of governance? What is he doing to ensure that every kobo that goes into the national treasury counts? What is he doing to ensure that public policy is tailored towards alleviating the suffering of the people?

A government that really wants to free money for development would not encourage freeing those convicted of invading the public till to continue from where they had stopped when apprehended. A president who genuinely feels for the people would have come up with a solution to the logjam at the courts where looters of the national wealth are being shielded by legal technicalities. A man who intends to leave his name on the rock would have stirred the soul of the nation against the vampires who have always held a promising country like Nigeria to ransom.

But, no, enemies of the people are the friends of government. They move freely, fleece the country through contracts over-invoiced and left unexecuted. If our president genuinely wants to lay the foundation for a free Nigeria where thieves would feel a sense of shame, he would have started with a token trimming of his executive council. What really do we need a bloated council of 42 for? Why do we need ministers and ministers of state? True, the constitution stipulates that there shall be a minister from each of the states of the country. But, the last time I checked, Nigeria still had 36 states. So, if the government is committed to a lean government and is only being hamstrung by the constitution, why did he not start by appointing 36 ministers?

Then, in this season of constitution amendment, what has the president done to get that section amended? If he wants to free cost, why is he not campaigning for an amendment to ensure that we have not more than three or four from each zone? If the president is a member of the executive council, why should his state be represented by a minister? If the Vice President is the automatic vice chairman, why appoint a minister from his state? What about the Secretary to the Government of the Federation?

These are elementary and token steps that ought to have been taken by a genuinely concerned president.

How many Special Advisers, Senior Special Assistants, Special Assistants and Personal Assistants has the president? How many are attached to each of the ministers?

How many other hangers-on have these officials, many of whom have no job schedules? As it is at the federal level, so it is at the states.

Besides, how do we cut the cost of governance without touching the emoluments of elected officials and political appointees? It is all too obvious that wealth of the nation is being shared by a parasitic few who paradoxically hopped on the stage by popular votes. The legislators and members of the executive have refused to make full disclosure of the criminal allowances they award themselves. Even in a democracy where transparency ought to be the watchword!

A president who claims to realise the need to prune costs, has just announced a programme of celebrating 100 years of nationhood over a one year period. How much is budgeted to feed occupants and visitors of Aso Rock this year? How many cars do we have in the president’s pool?

How many do we have in the pool of each of his 42 ministers? How many aircraft do we have in the presidential fleet? How many are in the fleet of the president of the United States of America ? How much is spent yearly to maintain the aircraft? How much has been voted to service and maintain the office of the First Lady? A president who wants to cut cost would have started by providing convincing answers to these questions.

The earlier we realised that this path that we have chosen with Brother Jona in the saddle can only lead to perdition, the better for the country. Otherwise, the fate that awaits blind men being led by the blind would be the lot of the country.

May the good Lord help this country.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

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‘Open University not for distribution of degrees’

OU have been in office for about two years now as the Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria. What have been the challenges of managing the institution?

When I came into office, I met a lot of challenges and I knew from the very beginning that it would not be possible to solve all the problems. But I decided to focus on the key problems to ensure that the university gains the confidence of the people. Before I came in, even getting admission into the university was a big problem. We were faced with complaints from people buying forms and not getting admission, including people trying to indulge in some scam to get people admitted. So the first thing I did was to make sure that the admission was electronic. As I speak to you, you can walk into any of our four banks and purchase NOUN form. You will be given a pin code and then you can go on the internet and fill in your data and get your admission. That solves a lot of problems. There was also the problem of students who said they had been in the system for long without writing any examination, some people spend two to three years without writing any examination. When I came in, I made sure that we put a system in place, to the extent that we are now writing examinations regularly and the results are released without delay. We introduced the e-exam, whereby you can write your exam online and get the result immediately.

The system will ask you whether you want to retake the paper if you couldn’t make it. We had the challenges of perception from some people who were saying that our programmes were not accredited and not recognised. Some didn’t even believe that we are an existing university. That was because for the almost eight years that the university was in existence before I came in, there was no any accreditation by the National University Commission (NUC). I made sure I prepared the university for accreditation. Last year, 30 out of our 31 programmes were accredited.

We are working towards ensuring that the one programme that was not accredited is accredited. With the accreditation of our programmes, nobody should doubt whether we are doing the real thing or not.

Many Nigerians are not conversant with the operations of the institution. What are you doing in this regard?

I agree with you on that. We have the problem of advocacy and that is why there are still millions of Nigerians who don’t know that NOUN exists. That is why I have been trying my best to partner with the media to enlighten Nigerians. Nigeria is blessed with high population and there is no how we can educate the whole of this population using conventional system. We don’t have the materials and human resources to do that, but using the Open and Distant Learning which is the mode through which we operate, Nigeria would be able to accomplish this.

This is because it has been proven in countries like China, India, United Kingdom and Indonesia that are highly populated that this system is working. So if we do it well, it will work. So I can say that within these few years, I have been able to bring the university to the confidence of Nigerians. I have been able to take the university to the international world. I have been able to prove that we can perform as any other conventional university or even better. We have even beaten conventional universities in this country in some programmes, So, I can say that even though we have not arrived yet, we are now on track.

You have just enumerated some of your challenges and how you have been able to address some of them, how do you get funds to operate?

Bringing finance as one of the challenges to problems is now old fashioned in the sense that I can tell you that finance is not the problem of Nigeria. Whether we like it or not, we have a lot of money in this country. Whether we like it or not, this country is rich compared to our neighbours. The problem with us is the management. How do we allocate this finance? How do we prioritise the use of this finance? So definitely I have the problem of finance, but I did not go singing the problem of finance as the first problem because even if the federal government gives half of its budget to NOUN and we do not plan how to use it, we will still be in problem just like the whole country is in problem because we have not prioritised our finances. You know that the education sector in this country is underfunded. It is not a hidden thing. It is something that the academia has been fighting for the past 25 years. No government has adequately financed education, but then we have to utilise what we have to get what we want. We don’t just sit down and say we don’t have enough finances; the question is what do you do with the meagre one you have? But honestly, if the government is able to finance education generally, we will have fewer problems because unless we solve the educational problems of this country, then all other problems will just follow.

Most parents and even the younger people find NOUN unattractive and prefer to go to conventional universities where admission is often very difficult. Why is this so?

It is because of ignorance. You know to accept change is difficult. This is a new system that is coming and you don’t expect the younger generation and even the older ones who are not used to Open and Distant Learning to grab it. To them, unless a student gets admission, goes to live in the hostel, goes to the classroom and all those routine, they will not believe they are students. But very soon, this will be the reversed just like it is in India and China. This is a system that will allow the young ones to come to the university full time like any other conventional

Prof. Vincent Ado Tenebe is the second Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). The professor of agronomy is saddled with the responsibility of changing the perception of Nigerians about the institution. It was during his tenure that the institution organised its first convocation ceremony and most of the courses offered by it accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC). In this interview with Tony Akowe, Tenebe speaks about the challenges facing the institution and the plans to make it compete with its counterparts across the globe. university. Because we are flexible, we enable them to go out there and look for some means of sustaining themselves. More than half of Nigeria’s population is not in school, not because they don’t have the qualification, but because they don’t have the financial support. We have a lot of brilliant people whose parents are poor and cannot sponsor them to the university. So even if you have the admission and you don’t have sponsorship, you will sit at home. But the Open University system gives admission to you and we allow you to keep working and we even teach you how to work better without losing the quality in education. That is why in the UK, China and India, you will see young men and women go for Open University. Even if you give them admission into the conventional university, they will reject it because nobody can sustain them there as they have to be studying and fending for themselves.

The law in conventional universities is that every student attains 75 percent class attendance before being allowed to write examination.

What is the position in NOUN? In our system, there is nothing like 75 per cent of class attendance before you sit for exams. That is the requirement in the conventional system whether you are in the polytechnic or university or college of education. The system with these institutions is that if you don’t have 75 per cent class attendant, you cannot write exams. Here is a system that even if you have zero per cent attendance, you can write your examination. In the international world, the young men and women are after freedom, they don’t want anything that can affect their decision. This is the new thing that the Open University is bringing in and that is the change. This is a system that is democratising education, giving freedom and the world is going democratic now. So we democratise and demystify education. That is why with time, Nigerian youths will prefer the Open University system to the conventional system.

Every Nigerian graduate within a specified age is expected to go for the mandatory National Youth Service Corp (NYSC). Have those you have graduated been mobilised for the NYSC? That is another challenge that we are fighting now. The NYSC Act and the laws that governs it, prescribes that if you are 30 and below, you go for NYSC. If you are above 30, you get an exemption letter. We are a special university, our case is peculiar. We are not just dealing with youths; this is a university for everybody – both the old and the young. There are people who are reading courses in NOUN, even though they are reading first degree, they are already graduates. In this university, I have seven Vice Chancellors of other universities including myself who are students. So you are already a graduate and you enrol into Open University to study Law, after you graduate from Law, you are not going to do NYSC again because NYSC is once.

But we are also mindful of the youths who are coming fresh and that is why we have now reached an agreement with the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The board has made it mandatory for us to pay for every graduate that is in the age of participating in NYSC so that they can send to NYSC. We have just done that, so all our graduates who are below the age of 30 will key into the NYSC system. I will also use this forum to tell the federal government that you do not deprive any graduate of Open University who is supposed to go for NYSC because •Continued on Page 25

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When the time comes for the Council on Legal Education to admit our students to the Law School, the situation will speak for itself. We are using the same curriculum as given

by NUC to all universities. I tell you that our students are far better than students of other universities because Law is studied based on experience.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013 •Continued from Page 24 if you do that you will be discouraging the youths from coming into the system. If you discourage them from coming to the Open University, you don’t have space for them in the conventional universities. If you don’t allow them to go to the conventional universities, you are building up a population of illiterates. When you build a population of illiterates, you build up crises in your society and then you have a time bomb.

What is the carrying capacity of the Open University at the moment?

That is another interesting aspect of our university. We are limitless, that is why we are called Open. Our capacity is at infinity. Open universities today can accommodate five million, 10 million students. As much as many are interested in acquiring education, we have the room for them. We are opened as wide as the capacity of this country. As I speak to you, the Open University of India has a student population of 3.8 million students. At the moment we are already at the capacity of 132,000 students. I want to assure you that in the next two sessions, we want to hit 500,000 students. My dream for the Open University is that in the next five years, we should have at least 1.5 million students. So there is no carrying capacity. This is the only university that has the mandate to admit as many students as possible because we have the technology to accommodate the academic need of these students. Open University is a peculiar and special university, designed to do this without undermining quality.

Apart from former President Olusegun Obasanjo, how many prominent Nigerians have graduated from the institution?

In our last convocation, we convoked 7, 222 students. I don’t have the statistics of earlier graduates before now. We don’t want to focus on prominent Nigerians alone because people may think it is a political university. We are more concerned about those in the rural areas. We are more concerned about those boys and girls in the streets. I have just told you that I have seven vice chancellors from other universities including myself as students of NOUN. I am a student of post graduate diploma in education. I have the Vice Chancellor of Berita University who is a student of Law; I have the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, who is also a student of Law. I can tell you so many prominent Nigerians who are students of our university.

The Awujale of Ijebu land, somebody who is 78 years old and has been on the throne for 52 years, is a student of 100 level Law in NOUN. The more than 22 Obas under his domain have also enrolled in NOUN just because the Awujale, the paramount ruler of Ijebu land, enrolled. The Emir of Bauchi has just filled in his form for admission; the Commissioner of Finance, Nasarawa State. Some people thought that NOUN came on board to distribute degrees or sell certificates. Until you come in, you discover that it is more difficult for you to pass exams in Open University than the conventional universities.

We learnt that a group is kicking against the admission of your law graduates at the Nigerian Law School. How do you react to that?

I am a man who wants to do things step by step. Because I am a scientist, I like convincing people practically by showing you.

I do appreciate and respect the school of thought which said Open University Law graduates should not be admitted into the Law School. It is because they are not aware, so it is my duty to educate them and enlighten them because the beauty of Law is the fact that when you are arguing cases, you make reference to what has happened before. That is what gives a lawyer an advantage over the others in court. As I speak to you, the Open University of UK produces the best lawyers in the UK. This year we have 400 level Law students. Every year, the faculties of law of all universities in Nigeria have what they call “Moot Court Competition” where they argue cases and so on. The university that emerges winner at the end of the competition goes abroad to represent the country. This year they were about to do it and I asked my students to key in, but they said Open University is not recognised. I virtually lobbied for my students to participate. As I speak to you NOUN is the winner of that competition this year. Our students defeated all other Law students of conventional universities to emerge winner. So our Law students are going to the United States of America in April to compete among 80 other countries of the world. So when the time comes for the Council on Legal Education to admit our students to the Law School, the situation will speak for itself.

We are using the same curriculum as given by NUC to all universities. I tell you that our students are far better than students of other universities because Law is studied based on experience.

THE SUNDAY INTERVIEW

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We don’t want to focus on prominent Nigerians alone because people may think it is a political university. We are more concerned about those in the rural areas. We are more concerned about those boys and girls in the streets.

I have just told you that I have seven vice chancellors from other universities including myself as students of NOUN.

“

•Tenebe

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Politics

Osun 2014: Hurdles dot Omisore’s path Senator Iyiola Omisore, a former deputy governor of Osun State, is one of the latest aspirants for the governor’s seat in Osun State.

But for Omisore, there are many hurdles on the way to the government house, reports Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan

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T is no longer news that former Osun State deputy governor, Senator Iyiola Omisore, is interested in contesting next year’s gubernatorial election in the state.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain leaves no one in doubt that he sees his age-long desire to govern the state as a dream that must come to reality.

But in spite of his very rich political credentials, the senator’s journey towards the Osun State government house will definitely not be an easy one. The Ife-born politician has a lot of hurdles to cross if he must unseat Governor Rauf Aregbesola during the forthcoming poll.

Aside from the internal wrangling within the state chapter of his party, the PDP, many observers of the politics of the state are of the opinion that Aregbesola’s current popularity, if carried all the way to the election, is capable of making Omisore’s quest a difficult one.

Omisore, who observers say is looking good to clinch the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP for the 2014 race, was deputy governor of the state from 1999 to 2003, after which he was elected to represent the people of Osun-east in the Senate. He was re-elected in 2007.

As the deputy governor during the Bisi Akande regime, he was credited with bringing some innovations into governance and party politics. Specifically, he was widely regarded as one of the leading financiers and grassroots mobilisers within the ruling Alliance for Democracy (AD) at that time.

At the national assembly where he headed different committees, including Police Affairs, Housing, Culture & Tourism, Aviation and Appropriation, Omisore pulled his weight and also remembered to give back to his constituency through a number of programmes he instituted.

But after taking a look at the Senator’s credentials, Micheal Odesanya, a Senior Special Adviser to the governor of the state, though admitted Omisore’s prowess as a politician, advised him to forget his dream of becoming governor in 2014.

“Omisore is not a politician to ignore. We are conscious of that.

That is why I keep saying Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) is very lucky to have someone like Aregbesola in charge today. Osun State is very lucky that Ogbeni Rauf is the governor here today. If you now consider the person of Aregbesola vis-à-vis his performance since assuming office, you will agree with me that Omisore will have to forget about becom-

ing governor in 2014. This is a very wrong time for him to enter into the race.

“Give it to him, Omisore is a good politician who knows what to tell the people while begging for their votes but the people of Osun are wiser now. Aregbesola has shown them that the last eight years of the PDP in government is a big waste. Omisore represent the PDP here in Osun. He will be campaigning on the platform of the PDP. “You saw what Osun people did to him during the last senatorial election in Osun East. That is to tell you what to expect if he comes out against Aregbesola in 2014. It will not just be about who can play politics the best, it will be about who has impacted on the people the more. And I don’t think I need to tell anybody that Aregbesola is a better choice anyday than Omisore,” Odesanya said.

There are also indications that Omisore may not find clinching the gubernatorial ticket of the PDP easy after all. According to sources within the party, as part of ongoing reconciliation efforts within the party in the southwest, the party in Osun State may decide to dump its two major contenders for the governorship ticket.

If this happens, Senator Omisore and another major contender for the party’s ticket, Alhaji Fatai Akinbade, may have their governorship ambitions scuttled unless they opt out of the PDP in preference for other parties.

The two politicians, it would be recalled, polarised the party into two major factions preparatory to the 2011 elections before the court truncated the Oyinlola administration and pronounced Mr. Rauf Aregbesola as the authentic winner of the 2007 governorship election in the state.

As a way of preventing a reccurrence of the ugly rivalry between the duo and deciding who will fly the party’s flag in 2014, the party was considering appealing to the two contenders to drop their ambition.

“The party has agreed to dump the two politicians to enable peace reign in the party and allow for internal reintegration of party members. The party cannot afford another divided house at the polls again,” a chieftain of the party, who would not want to be mentioned, told The Nation.

Asides the burden of having to run against a popular incumbent governor as Odesanya submitted, political analysts say Omisore, if he succeeds in picking the ticket of his party, will also

be confronted by the ghosts of some numerous political battles of the past within and outside the state.

While many amongst the electorate may want to know why he fell out with the progressives in the then AD and decamped to the conservative PDP, others may remind him of events before and after the killing of Chief Bola Ige, former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who was shot dead on December 23, 2001 at his home in Ibadan.

It would be recalled that Omisore was accused of complicity in Ige’s death. He was subsequently arrested and detained.

But he got off the hook in the end and got elected into the senate.

Ige’s killers are yet to be found, 12 years after, and not a few people will remember that when Omisore files out to be considered for election as governor in 2014.

Another hurdle for Omisore is the widespread allegation that he was once found guilty of official misconduct while he was deputy governor. Pundits are of the opinion that unless he is able to proffer a tenable explanation on the issue, it is capable of robbing him of votes, especially among the voting elites.

The allegation became rife following the 2007 election, when the candidate of the then Action Congress (AC), now senator Babajide Omoworare, appealed result of the election on the grounds that Omisore was not qualified to contest the election since he was found guilty of official misconduct as deputy governor.

Although both the election tribunal and the Appeal Court upheld Omisore’s election, ruling that he was qualified to contest the election, the allegation refused to go away. It is not unlikely that it will once again rear its head to torment the Senator in 2014.

Perhaps conscious of the uphill task ahead of him, Omisore has begun to traverse the nooks and crannies of the state, preparatory to the election. In recent weeks, his political machinery has visited scores of towns and villages to remind the people of his ambition.

He has also upped his philanthropic activities as part of the strategy to push through his dream. Communities, individuals and organisations within the state are once again hearing from the Senator.

In addition, he has stepped up his criticism of Governor

Aregbesola and the ruling ACN. With a promise that he can do better if elected governor in 2014, he wants the people of the state to vote Aregbesola out.

But Aregbesola’s men have been responding to Omisore’s criticism as mere political statements aimed at misleading the people of the state. According to chieftains of the ACN, the senator will find it difficult deceiving the people this time around.

“How on earth could any sensible person have said that Aregbesola is not performing even as the giant strides he has recorded within a period of two years have earned him accolade both at home and beyond?

“Across the length and breadth of the country today, Aregbesola is being applauded for his stellar performance in the state of Osun, a state that had its development stifled by the seven and a

half years of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s misrule.

It may be tantamount to unnecessary repetition to start chronicling here again the list of havocs wrecked on the state by Omisore’s party even as he also proved to be a bad representative of the people while in the senate.

“The years that Omisore’s party, the PDP, ruled the state have entered the lexicon of political analysts as the ‘years of the locusts’. It is on record that the ebullient and visionary governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Aregbesola, inherited a backward and insolvent state from the PDP. This is a fact that is not disputable.

“But today, he has been able to turn around the life of the state through creativity and prudent management of the state’s meagre resources,” Dr. Bernard Awoleye, a chieftain of the ACN, said.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Q & A with Petra Kvitova,

Queen of Aces

By Morakinyo Abodunrin

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

Glamour

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Glamour

Social

ADETUTU AUDU (E-mail: crownkool@yahoo.com, Tel: 08023849036)

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Glamour

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

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Brand communication S

• The imperatives for brand positioning

HELF off-take or consumer engagement of any brand is a culmination of so many activities prior. One of such inputs is brand communication or advertising. Depending on set-objectives, an advertising support can drive target market awareness for brand, help proper brand identification from among competing brands, stimulate tactical sales growth, enlighten target market on new developments, announce reward for patronage or loyalty, answer questions or just simply announce a given brand’s presence.

Every campaign effort is capable of achieving so much, depending on set objective.

Suffice that every campaign effort is objective driven. As a professional, it is the responsibility tied to a campaign or advertising that excites me. A campaign must deliver on its objective. So whether a campaign effort is to be evaluated on its effectiveness, efficiency or appropriateness, it all begins by bench-marking its effect against set objective.

Advertising or campaign development – from planning to execution – is a logical sequence of activities, frontally. Starting from the client who generates the campaign brief, it runs through a careful and professional distillation of the brief, verification of claims, instructional information bothering on hypothesis contained in the brief. Full throttle on the creative process starts only after due and diligent distillation of the client’s brief, onward concept generation, creative review, process completion, clients’ final check on agency’s proposal, before campaign breaks. It is a whole and very long sequence of so many inputs. It is simply termed a process.

One would reason that the process is so long and carefully broken down and methodological because of the end-result. As a matter of fact, the primary and immediate consequence of a badly managed campaign planning and development process is its boomerang. A badly or unprofessionally managed creative process results in a campaign that directly attacks own-brand – be it a product, idea, service, etc. It is easier to develop a bad or self-destructive creative end product than a successful one. So, it is instructive that the creative process and sequence of activities is driven through by professionals.

Again, it seems the process is called a creative process for reasons of its importance, method, sequence, logic and scientific analysis…and so much more. The consequence of a badly managed creative process is better imagined. We at MC&A DIGEST and some others, who share similar burden, have dedicated ourselves to stating rules of advertising, reminding fellow practitioners of the MUSTS of practice, in order to help guide against bad creative products. Bed creative products are lethal, toxic to brands and destructive to investors. Brands handled by non-professionals die, resulting in failed investment and all the ripple effects down the line. Unfortunately, over 80% of brands in the market today suffer from bad creative products of unprofessionally managed development process. Interestingly, the big

brands across banks and financial institutions, drinks, telephone services, food & beverages, luxury goods, travel and tours, education, entertainment make up the numbers to a large extent. Increasingly, these big brands have been so badly managed; their campaigns are now negatively posing a problem to the profession. New entrants to the profession of brands management now think what they see are the ideal, instead of what they really are: case study on how not to manage a brand.

It is for the purpose of correcting this wrong impression we need to properly articulate the ideal situation.

Every brand support effort in form of advertising or marketing communication must “sell” the given brand as a distinct personality and its offer/promise, to the extent of target audience engagement. It could all start from share of TA mind. For the purpose here, we shall have to skip part of the creative process in this analytical piece, to focus on the very critical element of brand differentiation.

Basically, marketing is about differentiation. Differentiation underlines the individuality of brand in their totality, at the market place. A brand represents itself among competition at the market place, representing its individuality, with all its character traits, attribute and offer. This community of brands exists in the presence of broad and peculiar similarities that becloud their

individuality, in varying degrees. Among brands in same market segment, the similarities are more pronounced. Because brands can only sell on the strength of their individuality, the most important challenge, therefore, is carving any given brand’s individuality, communicate same for the purpose of (1) creating awareness for the brand and its offer, among its target market, (2) establishing a contact or meeting point between the brand and its target market, (3) effectively tell a persuasive story (including the brand’s offer and promise) that will, at least, pull the target market towards trying the brand’s offer, believing it will deliver on its promise. These three target objectives are primary and fundamental to every brand.

When a marketing campaign or advertising achieves the above, the brand is established and ready for new targets.

Unfortunately, however, brand communication or campaigns common today, do not show evidence of appreciation of these basic marketing communication objectives.

As mentioned above, inadequate professionalism and/or lack of it, results in creative products that, at best attempt to create awareness for their brands. Even at that, they create the awareness with the wrong effect.

All kinds of reasons are given for such weak creativity, including size of relatively similar brand offering, near-commodity posturing of competing brands. Asis commonly

said, brands in particular market segments share so many similarities, it is almost impossible to successfully achieve differentiation.

Take leisure and tours, snacks, carbonated drink market, body care market and recently, energy drink market. Majority of brands in the markets mentioned above are more often to suffer from improper differentiation.

Consequently, a campaign developed for them neither make concrete promise nor leave the target audience with memorable information that is important for top-ofmind presence, engagement or recall after “initial contact”.

But, the task of effective and functional differentiation is primary for every creative process. It only requires deep thinking, proper and articulate understanding of the contending issues, scientific, knowing what questions to ask and where to seek what information, ability to properly articulate available information, scientific analysis of market and consumer insight and a very aggressive, bold and purposeful visual interpretation and execution. We do not think there is any brand that cannot be distinguished from competition and be made to stand alone for its offer, peculiarities, and promise and market position. For every brand communication or advertising campaign, the process must establish the operative strategic thrust, the broad creative platform and the brand’s positioning statement. All of these are the creative imperatives that set the focus towards a successful creative execution.

In sequence, the creative imperatives are derived; derived from a proper application of the creative brief forms, examined at a properly constituted creative review ses-

sion, seen through by a team of experts intellectually equipped enough to logically and scientifically piece the hoard of information presented at such sessions together, to tell a whole story. The job is completed when the story that emerges at the end of the creative process play out good enough to achieve the marketing and communication/ advertising objective, as should be contained in the originating document: THE CLIENT’S BRIEF. The missing link and the reason we find majority of ads and campaigns that are empty of substance, ineffective and dangerous, is that this logical sequence is considered too difficult a road to travel, for many people who go about parading themselves as advertising practitioners on the one hand, and those on the clients’ side who have also become too lazy to discern who the true professional is, and how to fit in to the creative process. So many so-called brand managers today cannot read a good brief (not to talk of writing one). Most brand managers/ marketing managers/corporate affairs on the clients’ side are not trained for the responsibilities of their offices. Consequently, they corrupt the system from the start point.

Brands and brands owners must begin to rethink their work system and value preferences, because until the present system changes, casualty in form of failing brands will keep rising. at them

with

YETUNDE OLADEINDE

molaralife@yahoo.com

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

50

With Joe Agbro Jr. 08056745268

WORD WHEEL

Hello children, Trust you all had a nice time during the long Easter holiday. Hope you are fully back to studying. As usual, our regulars are here. Have fun engaging with the games and learning new stuffs

BIRTHDAYS •Left:Toluwani Dosunmu, a Basic 6 pupil of MaydayShool, Isolo, Lagos, was 10 years old on Saturday, March 9. She celebrated her birthday on April 1 with the presentation of her book, The Thought of a Growing Child •Bottom left: Ogheneruno Agbro, a Reception Two pupil Rose Valley Nursery and Primary School, OkoOba, Agege, Lagos was four years old on Saturday, March 30.

• Dosumu

•Bottom right: Ramat Yusuf turned two on Sunday, March 3

How many words of three or more letters, each including the letter at centre of the wheel, can you make from this diagram? We've found 28, including one nineletter words.

LAST NAMES LOGIC PUZZLE Four children have different last names. Find out everyone's full name.

Smith SAM

Jones .

Gonzales

Lee

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

LIL

. .

DAN

. .

BARB

• Agbro

• Yusuf

.

.

.

1. Barb's last name does not have a "z" in it.

2. Sam's last name does not end with an "s".

3. Lil's last name has 5 letters in it.

4. Sam's last name is not the shortest one here.

FOR TEENAGERS

Send in your stories, poems, articles, games, puzzles, riddles and jokes to sundaynation@yahoo.com

WHILE it is interesting to communicate with 'friends' using social media sites like facebook, google, and Twitter, it is also wise to know when not to go overboard.

As teenagers, it is okay for you to want to express yourself but that should be done with caution. You might write or do something on impulse which may seem okay at that time. However, you have to realize that whatever you do might hurt you or someone later.

Hence, while you’re online, you should do only what you wouldn't mind anyone knowing about. Think well before you post anything on the internet as it's not easy to retrieve.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Young Nation

51

COUNTRY FACTS

North Korea

• North Korean military applauding the country's recent rocket launch

CAPITAL: Pyongyang

Literacy Percent: 99

Currently, North Korea, lagging far behind South Korea in economic development. Some experts estimate that at least 2.5 million people have died of starvation or hunger-related diseases since 1994. An estimated 300,000 North Koreans have fled to China as of 2004, where they hide from Chinese authorities who do not recognize them as refugees-and would force them to return.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or North Korea, is one of the world's most secretive countries. Some info about the country and its people are known, though most is based on estimates.

The country located in East Asia fought a war with South Korea between 1950 and 1953.

Despite severe shortages of food and electricity, North Korea maintains the world's fourth largest army, a nuclear weapons program, and missiles that threaten South Korea and Japan. Led by its current leader, Kim Jong Un, North Korea has recently been threatening war.

Population: 22,912,000 •Pupils and students of Divine Blessed School, Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos, welcoming parents and well-wishers to their 8th Biennial Sports Fiesta which held last Thursday.

PHOTO: ALADE ABIODUN

POEM Smile!

"SMILE without season Smile for no reason Through deep pains and sorrow Past mistakes and a broken tomorrow

That joy of the unknown And vision beyond the known Though you see uncertainty in every second Though you see everyday as just another wasted second Keep your smile, that’s one thing

Language: Korean Buddhist,

Religion: Confucianist

Currency: North Korean won

you own!

Life Expectancy: 63

Life is beautiful, Smile You are wonderful, Smile Let your happiness overflow like the Nile Never let anything take away your smile!

By Adeyemo Adedotun

Area: 120,538 sq. km

•Adedotun

WORD SEARCH

Nigerian Languages Language is a means by which individuals communicate ideas. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 languages in the world. And the scientific study of language is called linguistics.

Languages evolve and diversify over time. For instance, Latin which was widely spoken during the Roman Empire is presently dying.

In Nigeria, over 450 languages and dialects are spoken. Sadly, many are endangered. Can you find the listed languages in the word search below AGOI ARIGIDI BEROM BOGA EBIRA EDO EFIK EGGON EKOI ESAN FULFUDE HAUSA IBIBIO IDOMA IGALA IGBO IJAW IKWERE ITSEKIRI JUKUN KALABARI KANURI MUMUYE NUPE SHAMANG TIV URHOBO YORUBA

WORD GAME Fill in the spaces to get the correct word using the clue below

1. -

-

E

E

-

-

T

• The tallest mountain in the world

2. -

-

S

S -

•Nigerian footballer that plays for Chelsea FC

3. -

T

-

O

-

-

E

I

-

•The name of a river in Delta State

4. -

-

-

G -

•The most populous African country

5. -

-

I

R

-

L

•German leader responsible for starting the World war II

6. -

I

-

M

-

-

E

•Twins joined together at birth

7. -

O

-

-

O

-

L

-

• Being in sole control

Write for The Nation!

Do you fancy yourself as a writer someday? Stop dreaming and start writing. A topic will be presented here every week and you’re encouraged to send in entries in not more than 150 words. The best original story will be published from time to time, so get cracking!

Entries should be sent to sundaynation@yahoo.com and should be accompanied by the writer’s name, age, school and class.

This week’s topic is : “How I spent my Easter holiday”

8. -

W -

-

C

-

•The Zambian currency

9. O

-

-

-

I

-

H -

•The name of a Nigerian governor

10. -

C

-

-

B

-

•Great Nigerian writer that died recently

-

E

52

Etcetera

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

SUNNY SIDE

Cartoons

By Olubanwo Fagbemi

POLITICKLE

deewalebf@yahoo.com 08060343214 (SMS only)

The trouble with ‘Okonkwo’

CHEEK BY JOWL

OH, LIFE!

THE GReggs

In honour of Albert Chinualumogu Achebe (1930-2013) runs a piece that reflects the writer’s preference to foreclose personal unease at the legendary writer’s sometimes romantic and dissonant views on national issues.

FRESH trouble accosted Form 3D. Save an occasional squeak from some worn sandals on weary feet, or inadvertent shift of a conjoined table and chair by a disoriented pupil, the forty-something-strong class stood hands up in subdued punishment following the stormy entry and exit of the English Literature mistress, Mrs Glory Ekazobo, or ‘Mrs Ekaz’, to third form students of the city grammar school.

The dreadful curve to a boisterous morning came with the teacher’s unexpected appearance immediately after Mathematics class. In an emotional voice, the petite, emotional teacher launched earnest inquiry. “Who called me ‘Okonkwo’? Somebody from this class called me Okonkwo as I passed just now.

I want to know who it was!”

None in the class owned up, for, as far as the boy knew, no one saw her pass by the walkway, let alone whisper mischievous connection between the chatty teacher and the protagonist from Chinua Achebe’s African Writer’s Series classic, Things Fall Apart. Tearfully, Mrs Ekaz tried to extract a confession. “This is how you repay me for all my efforts to make good students out of you all. Whether sick or not, I come here every day to teach Things Fall Apart and you reward me by calling me names. Well, my name is not ‘Okonkwo’. Whoever called me ‘Okonkwo’ is the real Okonkwo. And until I find the offender, I won’t teach you English Literature again!”

Emerging from an earlier tango with the teacher and fearful of having a bad reputation stick, the class stuck to their plea of innocence. “Please ma, it’s not us!”

But Mrs Ekaz stormed out – to Form 3C in the next room, it turned out. After repeating the threat there and coming up with the same result, she summarily handed down punishment both classes would find tasking: a quick summary of roughly the first half of Things Fall Apart, for that marked her classes’ literary progress until the rude interruption. Thus laboured a chastised 3D for half the next lesson period, subject to the Geography teacher’s permission.

The boy similarly applied himself, taking some solace in the fact that the latest penalty challenged his broadening knowledge base and eclipsed the previous sentence of repetitive writing in productive value. 500 lines of “I will not call my teacher Mrs Ekaz again” stretched his mind beyond punitive imagination.

At the end, mournful eyes trailed Mrs Ekaz as she collected the scripts which she pledged would constitute part of the Continuous Assessment (CA) for her subject. Not a few mouths rued the impact of Achebe’s 1958 tale of cultural clash and personalitystruggle on their lives. But not the boy. Influenced by Achebe’s simple style and his characters’ struggle with prevailing customs, beliefs and instructions, the boy struggled to juxtapose the wisdom in indigenous proverbs and the African’s failure to decipher Europe’s true mission on the supposed dark continent. In the succeeding years of youth and manhood, the factors responsible have since materialised in the eyes of the writer as innate egotism, resistance to change and abiding fascination with mediocrity, all of which combine to nurture nationwide corruption to today’s endemic level.

Still, the boy had Achebe to thank for whetting his appetite for English literature and questioning Africa’s role in the world order, even if he differed somewhat with the great man’s identification of poor leadership and tribal conflict as major reasons for internal oppression in the essay, The Trouble with Nigeria (published in 1983) and the book, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012).

And Achebe was certainly responsible for Mrs Ekaz’s verdict after marking the scripts. “Who is so and so?” she asked as she appeared the next day, flaunting a rather familiar script. Wondering if he was the long-sought ‘Okonkwo’, Yours Truly stood up, only to lap up citation for use of language beyond his years – but not his ken, the reader is assured. Said Mrs Ekaz: “I had his essay framed and hung on the wall at home for every visitor to see, and all, including my husband, agreed that this boy would pass West African School Certificate English Literature if he were to write now in Form Three …” The rest dissolved in rapturous acclaim on the teacher’s prompting, but more from general relief that some good came out of the affair after all, the boy suspected.

QUOTE People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.

—Chinua Achebe

Jokes Humour The Gift ROBERT was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really angry.

She said, “Tomorrow morning, I want to see a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 100 in 6 seconds, and it better be there!”

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought the box back in the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

In and Out ONCE there was a family of goats who lived with a farmer. There was father hegoat who stank so much and mother shegoat who didn’t quite so. They had two kids and their names were In and Out. Now whenever In, who was the young he-goat, went out, Out, the young she-goat, came in. And whenever Out went out, In

came in.

If In happened to be in and wanted to go out, he would not go out until Out came in.

And if Out happened to be in, and wanted to go out, she would not go out until In came in.

One day a big storm blew up, and mother she-goat and father he-goat were worried about their young. So they quickly looked around to see whether In was in and Out was out or if Out was in and In was out. Out happened to be in right then. Mother she-goat said to Out, “Out, go out and bring In in, please. I’m worried about him.”

Out said, “Sure thing, Mama.” So Out went out, and for the very first time Out and In were out at the same time. A minute or two later Out came back in, and In came in behind her.

For the first time in a long time In and Out were in at the same time.

Mother she-goat was amazed. “Out, how did you find your brother so quickly?” she asked.

“Oh, Mama, it was easy,” Out said. “In stinked!”

Hint: That’s instinct.

•Adapted from the Internet

F

ICTION Writer ’s Fountain WRITING: Examples of stakes. Let’s say that your love and respect.

Whether or not he finds the key to good main character is Jonah. Here are a few stakes governance. that could matter to him: Whether or not he loses five kilogrammes.

Whether or not he renovates his Town Whether or not he saves the life of many Hall.

Whether or not the national team wins children.

Whether or not he is accepted into an the Nations Cup. Whether or not Jonah retains his family’s exclusive international retirement club.

Whether or not his friends/enemies achieve their goals.

Now you know: These stakes will matter to your characters •An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.

•An ant’s sense of smell is as good as a dog’s. if while writing your story, you make them matter. They also help define your characters; •An albatross can sleep while it flies.

•An insect exerts so much energy in one your characters, in turn, will help define the hour of flying that it may lose as much as a stakes that matter to them. If Jonah loves throwing his weight around then he probably third of its total body weight.

•People don’t sneeze when they’re asleep. won’t want to lose five kilogrammes and you can eliminate that stake from your list – unless And bullfrogs don’t sleep.

•A pineapple isn’t a single fruit. It’s a group he’s destined to turn out well in a three-piece suit for a change. of berries that have fused together.

For entertaining stakes: •Black cats are considered good luck in We’ve already discussed some attributes Japan. of stakes: they should matter to your •Butterflies taste with their feet.

•70% of red meat eaten worldwide is goat characters; and the achievement of these stakes should be in some doubt. A third and meat.

•Turtles can breathe through their rear-end. important characteristic is that these stakes should be entertaining.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

53

Routine checks can stop deaths and some ailments —PAGE 68

‘I’m no longer bitter against Charles Taylor’ • Agnes Adenike, wife of the slain journalist, Tayo Awotunsin, who was killed

by Charles Taylor’s soldiers in 1990 She is a classic example of a strong woman who has remained unbowed inspite of the challenges and vicissitudes of life in the last 20 years. For Mrs Agnes Adenike Awotunsin, wife of the late journalist, Mr. Tayo Awotunsin, who was reportedly killed by forces loyal to jailed former President of Liberia, Mr. Charles Taylor, in 1990, the journey in the last two decadewq, has been nothing but pains and agony, climaxed by her suffering from stroke. But despite all of these challenges, Mrs Awotunsin is hopeful of a better future. In this interview with Remi Adelowo at her room-and-a-parlour apartment on the outskirts of Lagos, she recalls the good times she shared with her husband, how she won N1 million in the ‘Who Wants To Be a Millionaire’ show, her ailment and many more

H

•Awotunsin

OW have you been coping since the death of your husband in 1989?

Life has not been easy o! Life has not been easy at all, but I still give glory to God. Considering how I have survived the challenges that I have faced in the last 17 years, I can only give glory to God. Can you recollect your last moment with him before he left for Liberia.

He left Nigeria on June 11, 1990 for Liberia. He had earlier travelled there around May that year, but came back. A week later, he left again for Liberia. Initially, the Federal Government did not say anything about his where about until I granted an interview to Today’s Choice magazine, during which I said I would travel to Liberia to search for him. It was not up to 24 hours after I had the interview that General Joshua Dogonyaro (then the Commander of ECOMOG ) announced that he (Awotunsin) and his colleague, Kris Imodibe of The Guardian, had been killed

by Charles Taylor.

So, it was not that the government sent a team to break the sad news to you?

On the day I got to know of his death, I wasn’t at home. It was on the radio that many people heard the story on 4 pm news.

And you know how bad news spread quickly.

Did the government inform his employers of his death?

I don’t think so. What I remember is that Tayo’s uncle asked me to see him at the family house. As I was going home to prepare, I saw many people on my street, particularly in front of our house. I was curious about what was going on. As I was moving towards our apartment, one of the people asked me whether I’ve heard any news concerning my husband. I said no. Later when I got my husband’s family house, I met a delegation from the

Champion.

What was the first thing that came to your mind at this point?

I just knew instantly that Tayo had gone!

Just like that?

Of course! What else could I have thought of? I mean we had been expecting him (Tayo) for sometime; I’d fasted and prayed for 41 days and looking like a skeleton. I was praying everyday for his safe return, not knowing he had been killed.

Did you make any attempt to take possession of his corpse after his death?

I did my best. I granted several interviews to radio and television stations, including newspapers pleading that his corpse should be released to his family. I guess the government also tried its best in this regard. We later heard that Tayo and other victims had been given a mass burial in Liberia.

Breaking the news to your children must have been a huge task for you. How did you handle that?

My children were very young then.

As a matter of fact, our last child Tolani did not know him, because she was about two years old. I have three girls and a boy for Tayo. The boy, Sola, is the eldest. For the ones who were a bit small, they were crying because they also saw me crying.

What fond memories do you have of your husband? How was life with him?

(Took deep breadth). I really miss Tayo! That’s why I’ve decided not to remarry. When he was alive, we never had problems. There was no interference from anywhere, because we loved and understood each other. Tayo never allowed me to spend my salary. He really •Continue on Page 54

54

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Life

•Continued from Page 53

spoilt me silly. Then, once I got pregnant, he would employ a maid and a nanny to take care of my needs. So, when he died, I exclaimed in Yoruba, ‘omi ti tan leyin eja?

(I’ve lost my benefactor). He was my best friend.

Were you in paid employment then?

No, I was engaged in my personal business. Tayo did not allow me to touch a kobo out of my money.

What was he into when you first met him?

He was working with the defunct Television Service of Oyo State (TSOS), now known as BCOS in Ibadan. I was working then as a Secretary to Mr. Yemi Farounbi, who owned Labs Deroy Centre, Basorun in Ibadan. We met at Basorun, and later got married.

Can you recall your first encounter with him?

It was the normal a young man meeting a young lady scenario. He asked me out, but I told him I can’t date because he was too tall for my liking. He replied jokingly that they ate beans a lot in his family and that was why he was tall. I really didn’t take him seriously, but I guess God had destined our union. We were friends for many months. At that time, he was squatting with his friend at the University of Ibadan, where he was pursuing his Master’s degree. As we got more serious in our relationship, Tayo secured an accommodation very close to our offices.

When did you eventually get married?

1980. We had our first child in 1983. He left TSOS for Guardian and moved to Lagos.

I had our second child and he came to Ibadan to pick us up. Thereafter, he moved to Champion newspaper. We finally relocated to Lagos sometime in 1985. It was while he was at Champion that he got a transfer to Abeokuta and we moved again.

Then after I had our last child, we moved back again to Lagos in 1988 following his transfer. It was from Lagos that he made that journey to Liberia from where he never returned.

Beyond his loving and caring nature, what type of a person was he?

He was a very hardworking man. It was a miracle that I even had four children for him, because he never had time to stay home.

The little time he spent at home, he was always with his pen and paper; always writing till late hours. Let me tell you this story.

When I was about having our third child during our stay in Abeokuta, I had fallen into labour and my neighbour called him to come home. Tayo came home quite alright, but you know what he told me. “My dear, please just hold that baby. Let me quickly rush to the office to file this story to Lagos.” My neighbour could not believe her ears. But Tayo just told her to quickly get a taxi, which took me to the hospital. I had already given birth when my husband dashed in asking ‘where is my wife.’ I asked him, ‘so, you want me to hold the baby while you go to the office to write a story.’ He said ‘my dear, I’m sorry. You see, it was important I file that story today.” As a father, he was very responsible. He never joked with his children’s welfare, most especially the payment of their school fees.

That was why after he died, the proprietress of my children’s school gave them scholarship for their primary education. The woman said she knew my husband as a responsible father. He never smoked, drank or womanised.

Charting a new course for your life after his death must have been a challenge. How did you face this?

My brother, being a widow is not easy at all. I faced too many challenges that I just can’t recount all. Do I need to tell you the day my four children fell sick at the same time, with measles all over their body. The children missed their father a lot and they gave me a lot of problems. There was a time I left them with my shepherd in the church where they lived for one year. I travelled to the north with my last child. There, I hawked bread and did menial jobs to survive. After I came back, I secured a one-room apartment at Baruwa, Ipaja. We had lived in a 3-bedroom flat, I lived in the north for about three years but in between, I came to Lagos to see my children. It was during the Sharia crisis in the north that I finally returned to Lagos.

‘I used to soak garri with onion when life became so hard’

•The late Awotunsin

•Awotunsin

How did you suffer stroke?

It was in 2010. The first sign was when I was coming from the market on this particular day. As I stepped on the plank in front of my shop, it collapsed. It was difficult for me to get up. But the stroke happened much later when I was taking my bath and suddenly fell down. I shouted and shouted, but unfortunately, none of my children was around. It was a neighbour in the third house who heard my voice and came around. But then it was too late. My right leg had turned around, ditto my mouth.

Did you suffer from any ailment before then, like high blood pressure.

I never fell ill for once. I had to be up and doing to make money and take care of my children.

Back to your husband. Did you have any premonition that he may not come back from that fateful trip?

I told him, but he didn’t believe me.

He had returned from office and was having his meal. I went to him and said, “Please my dear, don’t go on this trip.”

He simply told me to be prayerful. On the day he left, he told me he would be back after five days. But after the five days lapsed, I became disturbed, looking out of our apartment just to see if he was back.

And for over 20 years, I’ve kept waiting for him to come back. And see the result; just look at me. Tayo left around May and his death was announced in August 1990.

How have you coped with this stroke?

It’s been very difficult! I can’t trek to the nearest junction without someone holding my hand.

I understand you run a beauty salon before you had the stroke. Is it still running?

Not yet! I was into the business many years ago, but when my son got admission to Lisabi Grammar School, Abeotuta, I had to sell everything in the salon just to raise money for his school fees.

What are your children doing now?

My eldest, Sola, is into music. The second child, Bisola, is a teacher; Folake is also a teacher, while the youngest, Tolani, is at Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

She is almost rounding up. I did my best for all of them before this (stroke) happened. But I still give glory to God. When you appeared on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ show, were you hopeful it could be a turnaround in your life?

I never expected to win anything. It was God who made it happen. Credit also goes to Mr Olu Akinlabi, the man who searched for me and brought me on the show. He is Godsent. Before I appeared on the show, my house rent was due; my daughter school fees had lapsed, but there was no money. Even to feed was a problem. During this period, I will cut onion and soak it inside garri for at least 10 minutes. It was just to make it swell up and be enough to eat for me and the children. With the money, we were able to pay the house rent, my daughter’s fees and also buy some things for the salon. My plan is to get a stylist for the place. The rest of the money was spent to buy drugs for my ailment.

Why did you decide not to remarry?

Which other man could ever be like Tayo?

Tell me, who?

But there must have been pressure from men, wasn’t there?

Too many. Getting married again, for me, is not worth it. I know God is on the throne and He would take care of us.

What lessons have you learnt in the past 20 years?

I’ve learnt many lessons, and in a very hard way. Now, I see life differently. I know that if Tayo were to be alive, life would have been much better. How far can a woman go? But I had no choice but to work hard for the sake of my children and not let Tayo down.

Did all of these ugly experiences shake your faith?

Initially, my faith was shaken, but now, I have infinite confidence that God is there for me and my children. I used to ask God, “are you still on the throne?” But I thank Him, afterall I’m still alive, and the children are still alive and in good health.

Would you like any of your children to follow their father’s path and become a journalist?

Lailai (never). When my youngest child told me that she wanted to study Mass Communication, I said I would curse her if she ever tried it. I repeat, lailai (never). For those of you in it (journalism), I always remember you in my prayers.

Journalism deprived me of the joy of my marriage. I was married for only seven years!

Lastly, do you still nurse a bitter feeling against Charles Taylor?

Well, I used to, afterall I’m human. But not again. I’ve left everything to God.

Donations can be sent to Mrs. Awotunsin’s account below: Awotunsin Agnes Adenike Ecobank 0011203563

THE ARTS

55

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Crafts to the rescue An ongoing arts, crafts and decor fair in Lagos showcases works of diverse visual arts, designs and textiles to promote and propagate Nigerian artistic creativity to the larger audience. Edozie Udeze reports

A

S part of the Easter celebrations, the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art (NGA) mounted an art exhibition in Lagos entitled Arts, Crafts and Décor Fair. The venue of the ongoing exhibition is Aina Onabolu Art Gallery, Iganmu, Lagos, where crafts, paintings and sculptures of all genres are mounted for public viewing, patronage and appreciation.

In declaring the exhibition open, Ekene Okoroma, the head of the Lagos office of the National Gallery of Art (NGA) described the outing as the first of its kind in Nigeria. “It is heartwarming to see these two parastatals initiate and consummate a collaboration to mount an exhibition to showcase works of art, crafts and décor, depicting contemporary socioeconomic realities of the Nigerian society.”

The works on display showed complete array of visual artworks from artists with diverse backgrounds. These included graphics, paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, pottery and lots more. They all depict and portray the different but rich repertoire of cultural settings in Nigeria. The crafts also came in different modes and mediums, representing various ingenious creative persuasions of the multi-cultural nature of Nigeria.

Okoroma, who spoke on behalf of Abdulahi Muku, the Director – General of NGA, di-

rected people’s attention to the essence of crafts in Nigeria. “Often, people ask for space to showcase what they have,” she stated.

“And that is why this exposition is necessary in order to give a lot of artistes the opportunity to showcase what they have. The works of art here depict who we truly are as artists and as professionals,” she further said.

Joy, one of the artists whose crafts dwelt remarkably on interior decoration, praised the two parastatals for making the exhibition possible. “I am elated to be here,” she said. “What we have on display is rich on Nigerian cultural heritage. You don’t need to go abroad to shop for materials for your interior décor. We have plenty of beautiful crafts here to make your day,” she noted.

In welcoming guests to the occasion, Chinwe Abara, who stood in for the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), M. M. Maidugu, drew the attention of the people to the urgent need to continue to discover, tap and develop young talents in the areas of crafts and weave-making.

“We need to always impart on the creative use of indigenous materials. We have to ensure that we inculcate craft skills and appreciation to the younger and future generations. We also organise zonal crafts workshops, exhibitions and trophies for the purpose of creating awareness in the minds of the public,” she further stated.

Some of the artists whose works were on display were Uche Nwosu, John Egwuatu, James

Itodo, Israel Benamaisa and Ugherebe Godwin, all of whom are staff of the NGA. The idea is to encourage these artists to be conscious of their primary calling. Apart from being civil servants, they need to also be aware of their professional calling which is the art.

Egwuatu, whose sculptural masterpieces stunned many, opined that it gave him plenty of joy to be part of the big show.

“Even though I work from time to time, this fair is a big one for me,” he said. “It is a big one, in that it depicts the sort of art that I love so much. As a sculptor, these works showcase my true talents and professional calling as an artist.”

The one week show drew guests from all genres of the art who came out to give kudos to various arts of creativity on display. As people went from stand to stand to view and appreciate these works of art, traditional music played in the background to give the necessary groove to the people. “It is so cool here. In fact, art is really felt in people’s nerves,” Charles, a student from the University of Lagos who attended the programme, enthused. “Nigerians need to inculcate this habit of relaxing with the art,” he said.

•Some of the art works on display at the fair.

PHOTOS: EDOZIE UDEZE

Lagos Water Regatta holds amidst fanfare

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•The regatta as it sailed in its beauty and epitone.

PHOTO: OVWE MEDEME

ASTER Sunday, March 31 was a day of celebrating the rich cultural heritage of various tribes as the much-talked about Lagos Water Regatta held at the Waterfront of Oyikan Abayomi Drive. Being a holiday, families converged to get a feel of the tourist event while regaling in the rare show of entertainment action which included a high dose of comedy and dance competition for all ages.

Welcoming guests to the event, Engineer Olusegun Jawando, Chairman of the Committee which put the regatta together, said that the initiative, which was conceived four years ago has continued to serve as a symbol of common purpose and heritage as well as an important ingredient not only for development of tourism in Lagos but also for the evolution of national culture out of Nigeria’s plural society.

“The Lagos Water Regatta is a water-based cultural sporting and recreational activity put together to exhibit diverse functions of the boats put to use in yesteryears, from community to community,” Jawando noted.

By Ovwe Medeme

Present at the event, the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said that the regatta, held as part of events to mark the celebration of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival, has become a social asset, a renaissance of a greater part of the culture of Lagosians.

“This administration is poised to exploit the commercial essence of its content by heightening the interest of corporate organisations here in Lagos and around the country in promoting it into tourists’ delight.

Our ultimate goal is to register the Lagos Water Regatta in the map of world tourists’ destinations,” he said.

This year’s edition consists of eye-catching activities such as parade of speed boats and yachts, ski jets fun ride, swimming competition, kayak racing which will involve all the 57 local government councils in the state; fun activities at the Regatta Village.

56

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Arts/Reviews

Last week, Nigerian theatre artistes gathered at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos to celebrate the World Theatre Day (WTD) and to honour thespians who have contributed immensely to the growth of the sector. Edozie Udeze who attended the ceremony reports that it was an opportunity to reward artistes in different categories

Drama in climate change

•Babawale

T

HIS year’s World Theatre Day (WTD) which was celebrated by Nigerian theatre artistes under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners (NANTAP) on March 27 th was purposely devoted to the recognition and appreciation of veteran stage artistes in the country. In order to ensure that the celebration was widely spread to take care of all the interests of members in the country, each state chapter of NANTAP was mandated to limit its activities within the state.

In Lagos where the celebration was spearheaded by the state NANTAP, the chairman, Eki Eboigbe, reiterated the need for artistes to always come together to foster unity and purpose for the profession to grow.

Eboigbe, who took over last year as the anchor person of NANTAP in Lagos, reminded everybody that the WTD was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI), an arm of UNESCO, to encourage artistes to perceive their profession as a noble one.

•Onayiga

•Okafor •Foot of Print dancers during the award ceremony at the National Theatre, Lagos

“This is why we have decided to generate a generic theme this year in response to our immediate needs and concern. We take special interest too regarding our culture and environment, which are indeed the focal points for the celebration of WTD 2013.

Indeed our theme is anchored on Sustainable Environment in Reaction to climate change,” she said.

While artistes recognised the numerous contributions made by older professionals, it was equally

time to point the way forward. Eboigbe enthused: “This is why the celebration includes performances of all genres of the theatre arts. In addition, we are recognising and giving awards to distinguished arts and culture ambassadors that have contributed remarkably to the promotion and propagation of art and culture in Nigeria. The idea is for us to continue to ensure that we are in tune with what we do in this sector. The culture sector must be made vibrant and

alive not only for ourselves but for those who are coming after us.”

In his response as the recipient of the World Theatre Day Distinguished personality of the year award, Professor Gabriel Olatunde Babawale of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) said the recognition was an encouragement for him to do more for the arts. “We all are here tonight to honour and recognise distinguishing arts and culture practitioners. I am delighted and

it gives me more joy to be recognised as the distinguished personality of the year. It shows that we have been doing our best for the sector. But more importantly, it shows that we need to do more; we need to return theatre to the centre stage of total entertainment in the society. Theatre, of course, is the centrepiece of life. Therefore, it is our responsibility to reclaim what has been lost in the past.”

In describing stage theatre as the mirror of life, Babawale urged thespians to always be proud of who

they are and what they do.

“It is we who will give that confidence the sector needs to prosper. This is why we must ensure that thespians return to the sector and that the cinema halls all over the country are reclaimed for us to make money and move on,” he said.

In his own reaction, Zik Zulu Okafor, one of those who received an award, described the occasion as the best platform for artistes to receive their due in the society. “It is so heartwarming to be here tonight among many of us to receive this award. It shows the confidence artistes have in me as not only a writer, but a producer and a director. This will certainly make me work harder,” he said.

For Sola Onayiga, a veteran actress whose award was specially heralded by guests, “It is so wonderful to be here as a special artiste. What we are doing is to ensure that the society is kept alive always through our art. And now that my people have singled me out for this special honour, I am so thrilled and hope to do more to help the sector grow.”

Other artistes who received award included Edmund Enaibe, Ego Boyo, Sola Fosudo, Dele Morakinyo, Abiodun Aleja and many others. The recognitions were based essentially on the number of years an artiste has put into the profession and the amount of sacrifices he/ she has made to promote the sector.

Eboigbe said it was all in the spirit of ensuring a steady growth and development for both the sector and the practitioners.

“These arts and culture ambassadors here set the ball rolling. It is therefore our duty and commitment to continue from where they stopped. This is why this ceremony is very important to us and to the sector,” she stated.

Murray and growth of museums in Nigeria L

ATE Kenneth Crosthwaite Murray was born in England in the year 1902. He dropped out of School to study art in Birmingham and the client Hills of Worcestershire in the 1920’s He was appointed to the Education Department of the Colonial Government in Nigeria in November 1927. He was one time Art teacher at Government Colleges of Lagos, Ibadan and Umuahia . Some of his students were the late Ben Enwonwu, Dr S.O. Biobaku former Vice-Chancellor of University of Lagos and Dr. D.F. Salawu of Shanu Hospital in Lagos Murray was passionate about Nigerian Arts which was viewed in different quarters as been “primitive “or” fetish”. He was sympathetic towards the artistic heritage of Nigeria. He saw himself as a major

By Henry Oyediran

means through which Nigerian arts, antiquities and monuments could be salvaged and protected. He and E.D. Duckworth, his friend, pressed for legislation to protect the artistic heritage of Nigeria and the establishment of a Survey of Antiquities.

Murray had a strong belief that the primary aim of the department of antiquities is not only to record but also to see to the physical preservation of the culture of the Nigerian people in whatever format or medium they were presented.

He was the first Nigeria’s Survey or of Antiquities. He was appointed to this post in the year 1943.

He had the onerous task of locating, photographing and cataloging works of art of Nigerians. He engineered, in collaboration with others, the banning of

the unauthorized export of Nigerian art.

Murray worked for the Nigerian Government for forty years (40) and kept on working till he died in an auto-accident in the year 1972 on his way to Benin National Museum.

Late Murray was a writer, a scholar, a researcher, an artist and enthusiast and he contributed articles and offered valuable contributions to journals such as Nigeria Magazines, Nigeria fields African Arts, etc.

K.C.Murray archival materials K.C. Murray had several field notes which were not published because he felt that once published, the information there in would be divulged, hence the arts/objects would be exposed to danger and theft.

He had an extensive tour of different cultural areas in Nigeria before and

during his tenure as the custodian of works of art in Nigeria. He had notes written on localities such as: Ilorin, Bauchi, Gombe Ohafia, Benue plateau, Ijebu, Egbado, Ekiti,etc etc..

As an art teacher, he was fascinated by some of our arts and crafts.

Murray had about two hundred and thirty six files (236) on various subjects.

He also wrote on history of different ethnic groups or locations, their occupation and industries. He had different field notes on personalities that were colleagues to him or those that worked unclear him such as:-Z Dmochiowsk, J.S. Boston and William B fagg who also made valuable contributions to the development of the Museum in Nigeria.

Some of his documented archival materials were on several fields of study, some of which are on Basketry,

Dying, Pottery, Body painting, Weapons, Musical Instrument, Mat-making, Glass and Beads, Weavings, Bronze etc.

Significance of his archival collections The significance of late Murray’s archival collections which spanned well over 30 years cannot be over emphasised. His collections are sought after mostly by researchers from within and outside Nigeria. Academicians and researchers on various subjects in the field of musicology found Murray’s writings very useful.

References are made to some of his collections in different write-ups, articles, and essays by writers and researchers. Murray’s writings are valuable and remain much relevant to Museum professionals today and in future.

K.C. Murray’s collections are authentic sources

of in-depth information on any given subject. This is because he personally visited and interacted with communities, ethnic groups and personalities in different parts of the country These collections are also meant to preserve Nigerian arts, culture and our artistic heritage. They are meant to preserve for prosperity the cultural ingenuity of the people and their rich arts and crafts technology partly for the purpose for which they are being used today and also for the development of the museum in years to come.

K. C. Murray’s collections are, in fact, good sources of factual reference materials on every facet of our cultural life.

Oyediran, is Chief Librarian National Museum Lagos

57

WORSHIP THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

A radical preacher and non-conformist, Apostle Lawrence Achudume is the general overseer of Victory Life Bible Church, Abeokuta, Ogun state. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on the 21st anniversary of the church and sundry national issues. Excerpts:

D

ID you ever imagine the church was going to come this far 21 years ago?

Did I imagine the church would come this far? To imagine means a mere creation in one's memory or head.

But based on what God has spoken, I knew we would come this far. Even though many people prophesied the church was going to close down… …Christians?

Not just Christians but pastors. Many of them threatened the church would close down; we would not go far or even survive the first three years. Someone just sent me a text that I can read out to you now. It says: God has been so faithful to us in VLBC in the past 21 years.

Many started with us but today are no more. Some left the church because of arrogance…

Some have left the church because they were looking for a man to help them. I remember a pastor who left and said in three years, VLBC will collapse. But here we are!

I heard what the pastor and some many other people said then.

What was their grouse?

You know some people believe except they are the ones doing it, God cannot be there. If it is not them, it is not good. Only them were called, others were not called. I remember someone said we have kerosene anointing. You know when kerosene burns for sometime, it goes out. We heard all manner of those things then. But I never replied for once because there was no need.

Never?

I never did.

Directly or indirectly?

I never did either way for once.

Why didn't you, considering they were disparaging something dear to your heart?

My brother, there was no need. I never even reacted from the pulpit. I realised a man is a man. The best of a man is a man. Man is not God. There is no point to reply what men were saying.

God did not say so.

But did you have cause to pray over such evil pronouncements?

'How the church fuels corruption I never did. I knew what the Lord told me. I don't pray about what man says; I pray only on the words of God. I don't pray over man's myopic, infinite opinion. Some are still saying it but I just switched off from such talks.

So, talking about imagination, I did not imagine it. But I believed based on what God said. But I believe we are not yet there. We are just starting.

You are just starting after 21 years of exploits?

Yes, we are just starting. I see 21 as an age of maturity.

We are about to enter a realm that will not command envy but peace. I believe we will command outstanding breakthrough and testimonies.

How far have you gone on the proposed new church auditorium?

We are going to lay the foundation the Monday after the convention. It will be located in the centre of the city, somewhere known as Olorunsogo. The land is there; a four-and-half plots that we are going to use. It will serve as the National Headquarters while where we are remains the International Headquarters.

In 21 years, can you recall one or two outstanding testimonies that keep swelling your heart?

Unfortunately, I am not one who records things God has done so that it does not look like I am the one doing them. But what keeps amazing me is people rising from glory to glory. I have seen people rising from nowhere to where God wants them to be. Apart from the joy of salvation, they live in total peace and rest. That amazes and swells my heart.. Yes, the dead have been raised and demons cast out but the greatest joy is the transformation among people here.

•Achudume

One of the things people have against you is that you say things the way they are.

Will you ever change?

No, I won't change. It's too late to change. I am aware people have that against me but that is who I am. If I want to say you are a thief, I will say you are a thief. I won't say you look like a thief. Before I call you a thief, you better believe you are though you may deny it. I will call you a thief because I want you to change not because I hate you or I am angry. I can't stand compromises and

half-truths.

You have also taken on government officials at different times. Don't you ever fear for your life?

I told a governor recently 'you better be careful because you have only eight years in office. Get rid of the sycophants around you'. The convoy will be gone and you will be left alone. I believe you cannot do anything against the truth but for the truth. If I say a governor or president will leave after eight years, is that not the truth? It is the truth. You

cannot embellish that.. Other former governors have left and now walk without siren or escorts. It will happen to all incumbents now one day.

I was in the airport one day when someone slapped a former governor. He could not do anything. He was just looking. You are just there for now. Being a governor or president is no big deal. You will be gone soonest, at most in eight years. I travelled recently with a former vice president and we sat close.

He was without escort. That is how it is. You will leave one day whether you like it or not. All these things are too temporal and ephemeral.

Are you bothered about the corruption in churches today?

Yes, I am concerned. You see you cannot detach church leaders from the corruption in the society today. Pastors should be models of integrity and faithfulness. There are those who cannot preach without negotiation. There are those who feel bad when they are not paid certain amount after ministration.

That is also a form of corruption. Once you are focused on money, you will always be angry and frustrated. If you are pastor and you cannot tell the truth, you are corrupt.. Government officials come around you but you cannot talk to them.

You’d rather give them more honour than they deserve.

That is a form of corruption.

If you go to State House to beg for money from commissioners and government officials, it is corruption. You are making them to compromise. A pastor who doesn't tell corrupt people he knows to change is also corrupt.

When you live in immorality as a preacher, you are corrupt. A pastor who celebrates being close to the president is corrupt because he would

never be able to correct or criticise the president. A president should be happy to be associated with you as a pastor, not the other way round.

What is the way out?

God is raising people full of integrity and honour.

I see people without greed coming up. They are not motivated by money but consider it nothing.

What is unique about this convention?

Everything about this convention is unique. To start with, the theme is the oil of greatness. I have discovered it is not education that makes a man great. Education is good for integration and gives one a boost.

But if you look at those who really amounted to somebody in life, they had more than education. Many of them were not even educated. Look at Steve Jobs, look at the 17-year-old boy that discovered software, which fetched him $30 million from yahoo. They were not educated. Bill Gates was not made in school.

So, we are de-emphasising degrees and paper qualifications. You can destroy a certificate with an ordinary fire. So, what qualities make for greatness? It's good to have a springboard to launch out in life but to depend means one is signing up to die in poverty. So, myself and invited speakers will be thrashing all these issues out.

Do you believe Nigeria can be fixed?

Of course, I do. I believe Nigeria is the greatest nation on earth. I have travelled far and wide but I am yet to see a nation as blessed as Nigeria. We have 67 untapped natural resources. I can't think of any in the entire Western Europe. So, I believe this country is great. I was invited to a meeting somewhere in Europe recently to address doctors and consultants. I was shocked 60 % of them were Nigerians. I know several cities in Europe where Nigerians control the entire medical industry.

I believe Nigeria will not break up. Those thinking we will break up are the ones that will break up. Nigeria will not break. It will only keep getting better. God had a reason for creating Nigeria and He has not changed His mind. I believe God will raise a leader that will revolutionise this nation. Just watch out. It will happen sooner than we all expected.

NEWS

Remain hopeful, Kumuyi charges Christians

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HE General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor William Kumuyi, has tasked Christians to continue looking up to Jesus as the surest refuge against life challenges.

He spoke at the justconcluded annual Easter Retreat of the church with the theme: "Wonders of the cross

By Adeola Ogunlade

and special touch of miracle".

The retreat held simultaneously in every state in Nigeria and virtually all Africa countries, including Europe and Latin America.

Kumuyi noted that the beauty of Easter was the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

for humanity, which facilitated a great power to save, heal and prepare believers for heaven.

He said that the resurrection power of Jesus delivers from the corruption of sin into a new life of godliness and glory.

The holiness preacher challenged Nigerians to put their trust in God.

He said: "We can only become beneficiaries of Christ’s victory, healing, dominion and success in a world of crises when we repent of our sins and look up to Jesus who has the power to solve all the problems of mankind."

He urged participants to exhibit the virtue of endurance as there is always

a price to pay for every achiever in life.

On challenges facing Nigeria, he assured the nation will overcome.

"We have passed through these testing times before and we overcame. We must lessen our negative sides and play down our perceived differences," he stressed.

58

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

Worship

OPM distributes free kerosene to 4,000 families

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O fewer than 4,000 families last week received 10 litres of kerosene free of charge courtesy of Omega Power Ministries (OPM), a thriving church in Port-Harcourt, capital of River State.

The beneficiaries thronged the headquarters of the church in the oil-rich city as early as 6am to await the arrival of kerosene-full tankers.

There was rapturous jubilation when the tankers arrived around 10am in the expansive church.

The general overseer of the church, Apostle Chibuzor

By Sunday Oguntola

Chinyere, said the gesture was in continuation of the church's humanitarian activities.

Addressing the crowd before distribution of the essential commodity began, Chinyere said: "We realise some of you cannot eat because you lack kerosene.

"That is unacceptable to us. We don't believe anyone should go to bed empty and that is why we are giving you this to take you for days."

Chinyere told reporters 10 litres will go a long in

ameliorating the hunger and poverty in many homes.

"When you are rich, you take many things for granted. But those of us who have been there know how much kerosene mean to survival," he stressed.

One of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Kate Edet, thanked the church for the gesture.

She said: 'They have tried a lot. My family will save a lot of money and stress in the next few days."

Another beneficiary, Charles Peters, said waiting for hours was worth it.

"I have been here since 6am but no problem. I got 10 litres, which would have cost me close to N2, 000. I am happy and may God bless the church."

•L-R: Rev. Dr. Fred Odutola, General Secretary/CEO, Bible Society of Nigeria, Pastor Noruwa Edokpolo, Managing Director, Mind Plus Facilitation Company Limited and Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Managing Partner SIAO, at the 33rd Annual National Prayer Breakfast in Lagos... last Thursday

Be committed to your priesthood, Martins urges priests

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HE Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Al-

fred Martins, has called on priests and members to remain faithful and steadfast in their services to God and humanity.

He spoke while delivering his homily during the Chrism Mass celebration held at St. Michael, Raphael & Gabriel, Satellite town Lagos.

Martins urged priests to keep the dignity of priesthood and not forget the grace and honour given to them to serve in the Lord's vineyard.

He said: "God has given us the responsibility to keep intact the dignity of priesthood hence the need for us to be faithful in our service to Go and humanity.

"Let us listen to the spirit of God and wholeheartedly commit to our primary assignment which is to

By Sunday Oguntola

preach the gospel of Christ and not political theology, football analysis, economy issues. We are specialists in promoting encounter with God and people."

He explained the special mass is a yearly event which usually takes place during Holy Week in every Catholic diocese.

During the period, he stated, the clergy of the dio-

ceses renew their priestly vows and the bishop blesses the holy oils that will be used in Catholic ceremonies throughout the year.

The parish priest, Rev. Fr. Lawrence Odoemena, described the mass as historic in the archdiocese because the bishop is celebrating his first Chrism Mass in the Parish under a new pope.

Cleric faults amnesty for Boko Haram CHRISTIAN leader and the founder of Centre for Righteous Living (CRIL) a faithbased non government organisation, Rev. Solomon Adegbolagun, has criticised proponents of amnesty for members of Boko Haram, the fundamentalist Islamic sect.

Those calling or seek-

A

EAD R T S U 50 M N NIGERIAAN I CHRIST R S AUTHO Are you a Christian author? Are you bothered about poor exposure at bookshops and limited patronage?

The Nation is offering you an unbeatable opportunity to showcase your books and talk about your passion.

The 2-in-1 project involves an advert supplement backed with a profile story on each participant.

Kindly contact Sunday Oguntola on 08034309265 or shinystarontop@gmail.com for advert details and participation.

You will be glad you did!

By Taiwo Abiodun

ing amnesty for terrorists, he said, are insensitive to the victims of terror attacks across the nation.

He said: "The call amounts to injustice where the poor suffer at all times from the hand of the rich.

To ask for amnesty for terrorists is disappointing."

The cleric appealed to Nigerians to respect the sanctity of human life.

Adegbolagun tasked the body of Christ to rise to the challenge of taking care of victims and relatives of Boko Haram attacks.

According to him, "Since the government has failed and the nation cannot help, let the church rise and be their brothers' keepers."

•Chinyere (in camoflauge) kicking off distribution of the commodity

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IGERIANS have been urged to sacrifice and invest their lives to make the country better.

The District Superintendent of the Apostolic Faith, West and Central Africa, Rev Adebayo Adeniran, made this call last Sunday at the annual Easter concert of the church with the theme "I gave my life for you".

He called on leaders to rid themselves of sin and corruption, stating they were called to eradicate suffering from the nation.

According to him: "A

'Sacrifice vital for nationbuilding'

By Nneka Nwaneri

nation rid of corruption is what befits us. Only righteousness exalts a nation and only God can free us.

"So we must turn to God as a corporate entity

'Troubles are springboards for victories'

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HRISTIANS should not pray or wish away troubles but consider them as stepping stones to their Promised Lands.

This was the consensus last Sunday at the public presentation and launch of You are born to win written by Rev. Lekan Adeleke in Lagos.

The guest speaker, Pastor

By Sunday Oguntola and Jeremiah Oke Kunle Olawale, said opportunities for advancement and self-development are packaged in the form of troubles.

He urged Christians to stop thinking every trouble is from the devil, saying God can also use adversities to advance His intentions.

Testimony Chapel celebrates

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CTIVITIES marking the 11th anniversary and thanksgiving service of Testimony Chapel International a.k.a Glorious Assembly of Saints commence tomorrow.

The event with the theme The unfailing Jesus ends on Sunday 14.

The host and the general overseer of the church, Bukola Olanrewaju, assured participants will witness divine miracles.

and avoid corruption which is a reproach to us and God. Thus, Easter is the most important feast of Christendom."

There was a drama presentation of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and orchestra music by the 2000 man choir on classical Beethoven; Geo Bernard; W.A. Mozart; Joe Paterson.

Present at the concert were former Head of State, Chief Ernest Shonekan and former Governor of Lagos, Brig Gen Mobolaji Johnson (rtd), among others.

• Rev & Mrs Adeleke at the launch

According to him: "You will never know what you are capable of until you are faced with troubles."

Adeleke, an associate pastor at The Shepherd Flock International, expressed delight for the successful publication of the book, which he said took him four years to work on.

He said the book was borne out of the passion to lift Christians out of helplessness in life.

He reiterated that troubles are part of and parcel of living.

According to him: "We would be deceiving ourselves thinking we would never face challenges in life."

The Managing Director of Vintage Press Limited, Publishers of The Nation, Mr. Victor Ifijeh, encouraged Christians to trust God in troubled times.

Ifijeh, who was chairman of the occasion, said: "Life is full of troubles but God has packaged everything you need to overcome.

"Troubles may come but the Lord will always be there for us. If troubles come, we should regard them as surmountable because there is no mountain we cannot scale".

Worship

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

FEATURE

COLUMN

A decade after, Taraba remembers great cleric

•The Rev. Andrew Useni Bako Memorial House

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SECTION of Nigeria's anthem which reads: "the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain" manifested on Easter Sunday when the people of Taraba State converged in Bete, Takum Local Government Area, to remember the good works of one of their late fathers, Rev. Andrew Useni Bako.

If life was a movie, Bako acted his part well on the planet-stage before the final curtain.

In any movie, the actor, unlike the boss, never dies.

Bako was the actor: although he gave out his ghost, his spirit lives.

His role was evangelism, and he brought the Good News which the people of Bete said has shaped their lives.

The clergyman was born in the diminutive village of Bete on March 14, 1942 to the family of Mallam Bako Rishante and Ladi Bako.

Bako's father -a Jukum man, who got the sobriquet 'Bako Mission', was one of the first few people to denounce idol worship in Taraba.

The young Bako had the desire to serve God as a cleric, which was bolstered by the training he received from his parents.

In 1967, he got married to Mrs Pantuvo Bako, a teacher of Christian Religious Studies.

The good couple was blessed with eight children.

One of them is Hon. Mark Useni Bako, who organised the Memorial Thanksgiving Service of the late great man of God who died of illness in 2002.

The service held at the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN) in Bete.

To immortalise the deceased, a temple in the church premises was christened Rev. Andrew Useni

S

T Georges Cathedral of First African Church, Ipaja Town has concluded plans to stage her centenary celebration from April 8-13 at the church cathedral in Ipaja, Lagos.

The chairman, planning committee and award, Prince Owen Adeniran, told reporters the event with the theme This God is our God features revival service, colloquium, bible teachings, drama, thanksgiving and award ceremony to individuals with immense contributions in the private and public sector.

He said the church established in February 1913 with

•The late Rev. Andrew Useni Bako

From Fanen Ihyongo, Jalingo Bako Memorial House.

The occasion witnessed many dignitaries across the state. Among them were the deceased's friends in the priesthood, his teachers, classmates and students. They all paid glowing tributes to the late cleric.

The crème de la crème at the event included: Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, Speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly, Istifanus Haruna Gbana, member, House of Representatives, Hon. Sam Tsokwa, Chief Judge of the State, Justice Josephine Tuktur, Deputy Speaker Abel Peter Diah, Chief of Staff, Mr. Garvey Yawe, Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Ambassador Emmanuel Njuwah, commissioners and advisers, other members of the legislature, the head of service, permanent secretaries and chairmen of local government councils, among others. Acting Governor Alhaji Garba Umar was represented by the Adviser on Security Matters, Rt Group Captain Sule Gani. Other guests, mostly senior lecturers, came from Benue and other neighbouring states.

That day Bete, which is usually a rustic settlement, came alive.

The newly built church which was also dedicated to

God was filled to capacity with many hanging outside.

Rev. RY Shamaki preached at the event. He said: "In this world, some people collect debts here and there. When they die their creditors will line up to register the debts.

"The late Bako brought relief to his people. He is no longer living but his name has brought us [together] here."

He advised Hon. Mark Useni (Bako's eldest son) to continue with the good works of his late father by using his position to open the doors for other people to better their living.

A friend and schoolmate of the late cleric, Rev. Ezekiel Nungala, said: "Bako was a spiritual man."

He added: "I know Bako as a pupil in the primary school many years ago when he was not a pastor. He was a spiritual man and he hated lies in all his life. We called each other 'yo' (meaning friend). We were friends within our colony of friends.

"We moved together, even in the House of God. We also served together as members of the state Christian Pilgrims Board. Bako was always very straight forward."

Nungala's sad moment, however, came when "I spoke to Bako but he couldn't answer me."

He said: "My friend is there with God." Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, one of Bako's students, said the late spiritual leader was a thorough-bred scholar and arguably one of the most endowed Taraba indigenes that had the rarest privilege to school in America in those early days.

"So, Rev. Bako had just returned to Nigeria as a brilliant teacher. His accent and writing on the chalkboard were fascinating for every student to cherish. I am missing him as a teacher and mentor," he said.

Bako's teacher, Mallam Ibrahim, said he loved people.

"For that reason, we called him Pastor Useni Bete instead of Useni Bako. I knew him in 1953 before he became a pastor.

"But even then he behaved as though he was a clergy. He always came to discuss with me on key issues affecting the community."

Living Faith

By Dr. David Oyedepo

God's Wisdom Works! (2)

L

AST week, I taught on the reality of divine wisdom, how it engenders mighty works and its worth. This week, I will be teaching on four kinds of wisdom, what wisdom is, why we need divine wisdom and what it takes to access it.

Four Kinds Of Wisdom James 3:15-17 says: This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. …But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Also, John 3:31 says: Whatever is from above, is above all. So, the wisdom that is from above, is above all other realms of wisdom. Below are the different realms of wisdom.

•Earthly wisdom: This means, natural wisdom or common sense which produces common men. The common man, is at the common sense level, because like begets like.

•Sensual Wisdom: Sensual here means, intellectual. This is the type you acquire in school and through the act of learning. Also, we have native intelligence, where people exercise their minds, to determine between right and wrong.

•Devilish (diabolical) Wisdom: This is diabolical and occultism. Some people are being manipulated by demons; and many supposed elites are so dull, as to take dictates from the devil. So, they walk naked in the night carrying calabash on their heads, with only pants. Those who follow idols are naturally dull, because of their inability to

think and reason.

•The wisdom from above: The wisdom from above is superior to all other kinds of wisdom (John 3:31).

That is where you belong!

No one will succeed to take you for a ride anymore, by virtue of this kind of wisdom from above.

What Then Is Divine Wisdom? Divine wisdom can be defined as: •Applied knowledge of the truth. The truth is the Word of God (Matthew 7:2425).

•Holy Ghost-inspired insight or supernatural insight from what one sees, hears, reads or observes (Daniel 2:16-19; Proverbs 6:6-11).

•Accessing the ways of God for getting things done.

Moses went to Egypt with the ways of God and began causing waves unstoppably.

•Knowing the right thing to do from the Word and doing it. Whatever He tells you to do, do it and the result is guaranteed. If it's from the Word, God's integrity is committed.

Why Do We Need Divine Wisdom?

Divine wisdom will enthrone a slave and make a king out of a prisoner: It will change your status dramatically.

It's your access to mighty works, and exploits.

It's the maker of stars, (Ecclesiastes 8:1; Daniel 12:3).

It's divine wisdom that makes a man out of a babe and a king out of a child, (Luke 2:47; Isaiah 11:3-6).

It is the only way to generate outstanding feats in the journey of life.

It is the principal asset to life.

What and where?

Church holds centenary celebration

By Adeola Ogunlade

27 members has grown in leaps and bounds to the glory of God blazing the trails of evangelism and discipleship within the African church.According to him: “God has been faithful to us as there is no doubt the fact that the church planted one hundred years ago like a mustard sees has passed through different stages of development and today as the parish has become a cathedral, but an

59

enviable one among the existing cathedrals.”

The cathedral vicar, Venerable Moses Adeniran, urged the church to remain steadfast in all good works and the teaching of the scriptures so that the glory of this present age will be greater than that of the former.

Guests expected at the celebration include the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Princess Adejoke Orelope Adefulire, Executive Chairman, Ayobo-Ipaja, Local Coun-

cil Development Area, Hon Yusuf; traditional rulers, Primate of the Mission, Most Rev

E. Koya, the Archbishop, Rev Paul Onanuga, and others.

5 Sundays of marriageenrichment seminar

E

VER Winning Faith Ministries International will hold a marriage enrichment seminar from today.

The seminar targeted at singles and couples holds for the next four Sundays.

Time is 7: 30am, 8: 30am

and 10am.

Venue is 31, Oritse Street off Awolowo way Ikeja, Lagos.

The host, Rev Solomon Ojigiri, in a statement said the programme will revolutionise marriages and freshen homes.

What Does It Take To Access divine Wisdom?

•New Birth: Every child of God has natural access to the wisdom of God (Matthew 11:19). Wisdom is our heritage in redemption.

When you are saved, you receive Christ into your life. He enters your heart, so what you have inside you is the wisdom of God. It is resident on your inside, because Christ is the wisdom and the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).

•The Fear of the Lord: It takes the fear of the Lord to flow in divine wisdom (Psalm 111:10).

•All of God's Wisdom is Accessible by Inspiration: Inspiration is the principal channel for accessing divine wisdom (Job 32:7-8).

What is Inspiration?: It's the move of the Spirit within our faculty, which enables our access into the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

How Do I Access Inspiration?

You need a genuine heart for God: John 15:15 says: Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. When you become God's friend, you gain natural access to His mind. You become His confidant like Abraham.

Abraham was God's friend (James 2:23).

You need a joyful heart: To flow in inspiration, you need a joyful heart. Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice (Philippians 4:4). Joy provides access to the flow of inspiration (Isaiah 12:3).

High praises: Another way to provoke inspiration is through high praises (Isaiah 30:29-30). When you are engaging singing and high praises, you are provoking the flow of inspiration which brings you into thoughts with the deep things of God. The practice of purposeful separation: Inspiration can be accessed through the practice of purposeful separation (Proverbs 18:1).

Friend, the grace to access inspiration is available, if you are connected to God. You get connected by confessing your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. This way, you are born again. You can be born again right now, if you haven't been, by saying this prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Today, Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You for saving me! Now I know I am born again! I will continue this teaching next week.

I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with us through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

INSIGHT

• Aguleri-Otu youths

Communal clashes: Following the blood trail T

HE creation of Chiefdoms and Emirates by the Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi-led government in Kaduna State in the early part of the present political dispensation was aimed at giving the various communities in the state autonomy with a view to bringing to an end, constant communal crisis in the state. That seemed to have worked until recently when targeted attacks on communities, especially in the southern part of the state, became rampant.

As at the last count, over 20 communities in southern Kaduna have suffered similar fate from gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen. The wave of attack on these communities is no doubt putting so much pressure on the already fragile security situation in the state. These attacks became rampant after the post-election violence across the state and there are beliefs in the state that the Fulani herdsmen have vowed to unleash terror on the host communities in southern Kaduna for "killing their cattles" during the violence.

Even though this could not be confirmed, the pattern of attack has rendered useless security measures put in place across the state. The communities have often accused security agents of looking the other way while the Fulanis unleash terror on them.

Before now, communal war was the order of the day, but the creation of the chiefdoms, which gave self rule to the people of southern Kaduna reduced such incidences to the barest minimum, but not after the sharia crisis in the state. One thing that such crisis has brought to the fore is the fact that most of them have often turned religious in nature and thus sharply divided the state into two.

Even though the wave of attacks on southern Kaduna villages has been blamed largely on Fulanis, nobody has been arrested since 2011 when such attacks began and nobody has been prosecuted.

Security agents have often told the people that they were investigating such attacks immediately they happened. Apart from visiting such places and promising to beef up security and ensure that such attacks were stopped, the government has done practically nothing to ensure that the attacks stopped. Asides the attacks in southern Kaduna, gunmen have also unleashed attacks on communities in Birnin Gwari local government area of the state with nothing done to bring the perpetrators to book. Though the attacks in Birnin Gwari has been blamed on armed robbers and bandits, the fact that they operated freely, leaving heavy casualties on their trail without any form of

As communal clashes continue unabated across the country, Sam Egburonu, Tony Akowe in Kaduna, Nicholas Kalu in Calabar and Odogwu Emeka Odogwu in Nnewi present updates of the national shame resistance, leaves much to be desired.

There are also selected attacks on people in the Zaria area which have also not been resolved. While the attacks in southern Kaduna and Birnin Gwari have been blamed on one group or the other, the operation of gunmen in the Zaria area has practically gone unnoticed by residents of the state. The Nation was informed that the gunmen in Zaria usually trail their victims on motor bikes and shoot them without anybody blinking an eye lid. The Igbo community in Zaria reportedly closed their shops late 2012 to protest the killing of their people by such gunmen. The matter was practically swept under the carpet when a young man of Igbo descent was said to have been arrested. The young man was

said to have confessed to being among those carrying out the act. But the operation of such people did not stop, leaving the people to constantly live in fear.

But in all, the attack is more vicious in the southern Kaduna area and the umbrella body of the people of the area, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, is not convinced that the government is interested in stopping the killings of their people.

National President of the body, Dr. Ephraim Goje, said, however, that the people of the area should not be held responsible if they decide to rise up and defend themselves against such attacks. The Nation can reveal that taking such action will no doubt be deadly for the state currently standing on a fragile

• Fulani cattle rearers were fingered in the Kaura clash

peace. SOKAPU is of the belief that the current invasion of southern villages by Fulanis is aimed at creating chaos in the area, adding that they will hold Governor Mukthar Ramalan Yero responsible for any breach of the peace in the area as a result of the presence of the Fulanis, while asking him to send them back to where they are coming from.

Dr. Goje said, "we are concerned about the migration of the Fulani people from other states to southern Kaduna villages. The governor should send them back to where they come from. They cannot create trouble somewhere and run to southern Kaduna for refuge. He should not blame anybody if the community of southern Kaduna decides anything different because enough is enough of this nonsense. In as much as we respect the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria about the freedom of choice of where to stay, our concern is that the Fulanis are a people who have created trouble somewhere and are running to southern Kaduna for refuge. We are concerned because of the recurring attacks in our villages by this same group of people. These are people who have been dislodged from Plateau and other states and are coming to foment trouble in our land. They are coming into our land with pretence that they are seeking for refugee and you can see what is happening now to our villages.

The government of Kaduna under the leadership of Muhktar Ramalan Yero must show seriousness now that these things are happening before it gets out of hand. They have to swing into action and identify these people and either return them to where they are coming from or make proper documentation as to who they are and hold them accountable for any soul that is attacked in our communities.

In 2011, youths from the area alleged that machineries have been hired to attack southern Kaduna villages and make life unbearable for them.

The allegation by the youths may have been taken lightly by the authorities. Currently, the people of the state are living in fear of a possible reprisal attack especially on Fulani herdsmen operating in southern Kaduna. As at the time of this report, it was not clear whether the Fulanis that took over four southern Kaduna villages have vacated the villages.

Governor Yero, who visited the area, was said to have been unable to get to the villages located up the Kagoro mountain on the border with Plateau State.

Continued on page 61

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013 Between Akwa Ibom and Cross River Asides the Ebonyi v Akwa Ibom conflict, there are also allegations of plans to annex the Eniong Creeks in Ntan Obu Ukpe Community Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State by the people of Ikpanya in Ibiono Ibom in Akwa Ibom State. It was gathered that this has been responsible for skirmishes between the two communities who share the same boundary.

More than once, the Cross River community have been allegedly overrun by their Akwa Ibom neighbours, the latest being in May 2012 when a village head in Ntan Obu was beheaded, and several people were killed.

Since then, although there have been no conflicts, the people of Ntan Obu-Ukpe, fear there are still threats of invasion. A youth of the area said, "Our response this time may make it a national issue because we would not be peaceful again and let other people come and run over us in our land."

Chairman of the Esop Ufok Ukpe, Eniong Abatim, Chief David Ikpeme, outlining the history of attacks on their people said that on the 16th of February, 2010, the people of Ikpanya Village Ibiono Ibom of Akwa Ibom State invaded Ntan Obu Ukpe, burnt down the buildings, looted property and killed some of their youths and soon after the incident, the Deputy Governors of both the Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State visited Ntan Obu Ukpe.

He alleged that again on the 17th of February last year, Ntan Obu Ukpe Village was attacked by Ikpanya and neighbouring Ibiono Ibom villages.

According to him, the Cross River State Government's intervention has been very minimal even when the invaders have continued to be very aggressive.

Although The Nation gathered that the crisis may not be unrelated to rumours that the area is rich in crude oil, the 80-year-old Ikpeme, who spoke through, Dr Awak Anam, a community leader, alleged that the hostility against Ntan Obu Ukpe was provoked by the attempts of their people to beat back the trespass committed by one Alhaji Bature, who was allegedly authorised by their aggressors to allow Bature's cows to graze along Eniong Creek.

He said, "The cows drink from the very river that our people drink, swim and defecate in the same river thereby rendering it unfit for human consumption. In addition, our people can no longer cultivate the flood plains. The cows are still on the flood plains. What a hostile act of aggression."

"About a decade ago, the people of Omu Ekene village of Akwa Ibom State invaded Ikot Offiong Ebiti of Eniong Abatim. The invaders killed, injured, destroyed property and rendered the people homeless. In February 2010, Okpo village experienced an attack from the people of Ikot OkureIbiono Ibom, who claimed ownership of Okpo village and the environs. Again in February 2010, Asang people were visited by the people of Itai Idoro of Ibiono Ibom. They were armed with dangerous weapons. And at about the same time, Obot Akpabio, the fifth village still along Eniong Creek, was under threat of being annexed by the neighbouring Use Ikot Amama village of Ibiono Ibom, Akwa Ibom State," he said.

He said since the 16th February 2010 invasion of Ntan Obu Ukpe, the people have been living as refugees in their own land. He called for security agents to be deployed to the entire Eniong Creek as a pro-active measure to secure life and property.

He also called for urgent steps be taken to cause demarcation of the border areas of Cross River and Akwa Ibom States by the National Boundary Commission.

He also pointed out that in March 2010, the Cross River State Government directed the Ministry of Lands and Housing to evaluate the extent of damage and recommend possible rebuilding of Ntan Obu UKpe but up till date, nothing has come out of it.

Anambra, Enugu, Kogi States: The Orient Petroleum, Aguleri, Echonwa case Since President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated the Orient Petroleum at Aguleri-Otu to drill OPL 14, OPL15 and OPL 16, tension has been rising in the oil-rich location in Anambra East Local Government Area.

At a time, it became subject of tension between three neighbouring states - Anambra, Enugu and Kogi, as Uzo Uwani Local Government is around there.

Up till today, the drum of war is palpable in Aguleri-Otu in Anambra East Local Government Area of Anambra State. Their youths are saying enough is enough but the leaders are holding them back.

They allegedly fled their homes ten times last week, peaking on Friday and Saturday, an attack that culminated in the burning of over 400 houses.

They are being invaded by the people of Ibaji local government of Kogi State. The Echonwa and Odeke of Ibaji local government area of Kogi State are allegedly taking war to them at Okpali and Okpeze Aguleri-Otu, Anambra East local government.

Eye witness accounts said they had on Friday burnt about two hundred (200) houses and three people were allegedly kidnapped. Property worth

INSIGHT

• Ndidiamaka Michael Muokwe

• Victims fleeing scene of another clash several millions of naira was also burnt.

The traditional ruler of Aguleri, Igwe Christopher Idigo told The Nation that "the steps we have taken is peace. We don't want war. We want peace and nothing else. We don't want war now but peace and we want everybody to embrace peace.

We want an amicable resolution of the entire issue no matter the provocation.

The Nation correspondent entered the Idigo's palace shortly after a meeting with leaders of Okpali and Okpeze on the way forward but the two Presidents General with other community leaders avoided to be interviewed as they literally ran away without a word.

The Nation, however, observed that women and children have been taken to concentration camps where they complained bitterly of hunger and deprivation following the invasion of their homes

by Ibaji people. One of the women, Nzealo Chinemelu, spoke thus: "Look at us and our children hiding from Kogi people. They invaded our homes and took away all our valuables before burning our homes. Hunger is catching up with us and we are not happy with the development. Government should intervene in the matter so that we can return home. Look at this boy, Ndidiamaka Michael Mokwe, he was nearly burnt alive.”

Over 4000 youths armed to the teeth were camped in various quarters battle ready should Federal Government and the state government refuse to intervene and stop the invaders from Kogi State. They wore war regalia. They were at initiation ceremony when The Nation entered one of their camps. No one needed to say a word.

One of the Elders, Ezechukwu Ejike, from the ruling class Ekwueme Group, however, spoke at their concentration camp. He said they were avoiding the war because of the negative publicity they have gotten because of previous wars with their neigbours. He reminded that they are known as lions in the jungle in anything concerning war and the people concerned should appeal to Ibaji people to take down their arms.

President General of Mkpunando, comprising all the arms that made up of Aguleri-Otu, Reverend Edwin Chukwuemeka, confirmed the fresh attacks to The Nation in a telephone interview.

He said more rampaging youths from Kogi State invaded them, forcing their youths who are looking for peace to run away to avoid blood bath but appealed to the Federal Government to intervene before his people resort to self defense.

He said Kogi State people from Ibaji cannot win a

war with them but said they would not want to fight Kogi people sequel to negative publicity they have incurred from previous wars they had with some of their neigbours.

"We are troubled because there is no food , no shelter and we are into hiding just for the sake of peace. “ The Transition Committee Chairman of Anambra East local government area, Comrade Chiedu Obidigwe, also stated, "We are not interested in fighting the Echonwa and Odeke from Kogi State.

They have invaded us and as I speak to you our people have been invaded at Okpali Aguleri-Otu , and Okpeze Aguleri by the Kogi people. They are burning houses and chasing our people away from their ancestral homes and land in an unprovoked attack.”

He said they are still looking for two persons "from our community and police is aware of that and the only Army and police around that place is from Anambra State, we have not seen or heard that any Army or police from Kogi State has visited there."

He also accused the Kogi State Government of having a hand in the attacks. ''I am personally accusing the Kogi State Government and the Chairman of Ibaji local government area of inciting their people against our people as they have not done anything tangible to contain their people. ''The chairman of Ibaji local government has done nothing to stop his people from invading us but I have day in day out reached out to our people not to take up arms to avoid outright war with the people of Ibaji and Kogi at large. ''They are pursuing our people with arms , kidnapping us as prisoners of war and we are being constrained from fighting back even for self defense.

Why are they attacking our people?”

Last time the Kogi State Government and Ibaji Local Government Area had accused the National Boundary Commission of not being fair to them in stating that the boundary is as old as Nigeria during the Northern and Southern Nigeria ''Why are they talking about boundary now if they don't have skeleton in their cupboard because we are not contesting our boundary; we know our boundary. Is it because oil is now found in our land and they just realised they existed in the land.”

Victims recount ordeal A teacher at Njikoka Migrant School OkpaliAguleri-Otu, Okagbue Simon, narrated his experience this way,'' there is war now at Okpeze,

61

Ajiogbe Aguleri Otu. Echonwa and Odeke people from Kogi State have invaded our ancestral homes.

They burnt 20 houses, primary schools and churches.

Schools in Okpeze , Okpuoka Ezi Aguluotu is in ruins. We are looking for two persons here to be frank. All the houses near the oil well of Orient Petroleum at Okpali were burnt. They have taken some of our people hostage.”

His appeal: '' Let the Kogi State government hold their people and the Federal Government should intervene now that our people are still calm.”

Prince Lawrence Egwuatu from Enugu Otu Aguleri corroborated the views of Okagbue but added that the Nigeria Police cannot handle the situation now in Aguleri-Otu but the men of the Nigerian Army. That is why they would be begging the 'Olu' people with arms and ammunition burning our houses, our motorcycles and even our livestock. '' Why these Kogi people are prancing about is that we don't want war again in Aguleri , if not, we would have taught them a lesson they would not forget in a hurry. We are war lords and we have no apologies for that but we are tired of negative publicity. ''We want the non partisan Army to enable workers go to work because civil servants and other workers in and around here are afraid of going to work. This tension caused by Kogi people is stalling progress in the drilling of oil. That's why the Federal Government should intervene now.

He added: "Aguleri has fought before and we are not pretending about it because everybody knows that we are warriors with great strength and vigour. We fought with Ibaji twice and defeated them about 1981 and 1982" he said.

Meanwhile, a team of the Nigeria Police led by CSP Emmanuel Sunday, of Divisional Police Office, Otuocha, were handy, but could not do much in such volatile situation. Two trucks of the Nigerian Army and some ratings of the Nigerian Navy were there but not for the war. They were there to protect the Orient Oil facilities. They had no brief to quell the invading war mongers. The Nigeria Police were helpless either, so alleged the villagers.

Efforts to contact Hon David Ogwu, who some called the Liaison Officer 1 of Ibaji Local Government Area and some others called him the Chairman of Ibaji local government area, proved abortive.

But a woman who claimed to be an indigene of Echonwa but married to Anambra man in anonymity said the war-mongering is unnecessary and uncalled for as the two states have mutual relationship from time immemorial. She called on the Kogi State Governor, Idris Wada, and Local Government Chairman of Ibaji to call their people to order as war will not pay anybody any good.

But the Federal Government and the National Boundary Commission Wednesday received seven days ultimatum to intervene in the looming communal war between Kogi State and Anambra State communities from Aguleri youths, comprising mainly of the Aguleri-Otu people.

The youths gave the hint at one of their concentration camps where some youths were being inducted into the war club through some initiation ceremonies.

But his Special Adviser on Security, Col George Molokwe, refused to speak to the press on the tense situation at Aguleri-Otu. But the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Peter Obi on Special Duties, Tony Nwabunwanne, described the accident as unfortunate.

Nwabunwanne informed that the government had appealed to Agueleri youths to be calm and law abiding as security operatives have been mobilised to ensure safety of lives and properties.

Speaking to The Nation at his duty post , the Commander Anambra Security Pontu Zone , Ejike Alaguwa, said but for their plea and numerous interventions, the Aguleri youths would have retaliated against the invasion because they have been sent packing and were in concentration camps against their wishes. ''You can see the people are not happy, particularly youths, because asides the areas they have taken over earlier , the Kogi invaders have taken over Way 1 and Way 2 and all the farm lands thereto."

On Thursday in faraway Abuja, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and his Kogi State Counterpart, Capt. Idirs Wada, resolved to work more for peace, progress and good neighbourliness of their two states.

They made this resolution at the Kogi State Governor's Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja after a closed door meeting on the recent dispute between Echonwa /Odeke in Kogi and Agulueri-Otu in Anambra State.

In a joint communiqué issued by the governors, they regretted the dispute between both states and assured that adequate measures have been put in place through the collaboration of both governors for the border dispute between both states not to continue.

They affirmed faith in the steps already taken by the President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, towards the settlement of the border dispute and called on their people to be patience for the Boundary Commission to do its work.

62

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

BUSINESS

Bumpy road to number portability Again, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has postponed the take-off date of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in the country. This latest development is coming after many unsuccessful attempts at jumpstarting the process. Bukola Afolabi examines the issues involved and provides insight into what mobile subscribers should expect when MNP comes on stream

•Juwah

•Johnson

•Sim card

‘Overnight’ Nigeria became a poster child for explosive telecom growth on the African continent; all within a decade.

Here and Now Twelve years on, the success story has continued. The sector has reached a level of development that many technology pundits did not think it could attain in three decades.

But owing to the courage, diligence and industry of such operators as MTN who saw possibilities where others saw intimidating risks, Nigeria is a telecom success story today.

However, a particular challenge has persisted through the years - poor quality of service. Though there are multiple network operators, a mobile user is locked in. In a bid to break out, he must purchase multiple mobile phones for all the various networks he wants to use.

That led to the culture of multiple phone ownership, and what operators call multisimming, which simply refers to switching two or more SIMs belonging to different operators in a phone.

Those who insist on going for alternatives face switching costs associated with informing people about changing their number, printing new business cards and missing valuable calls from people who do not have the new number. Premium subscribers are particularly reluctant to throw away their numbers, as they are the segment that can suffer the most should they lose the numbers that

their contacts know them with.

However, from where we currently stand, the dayspring is risen. Freedom looms with mobile number portability.

The game changer Mobile number portability is a system that allows consumers to change mobile network service provider without changing their mobile phone number. This game-changing feature which affords consumers the chance of getting service from any operator they want, not only increases competition level in mobile communication market but also increases consumer choice and welfare.

For instance, a customer who has used a particular network for years and relocates to another area where his operator does not have coverage will now just seamlessly port into a new network with strong coverage in his new environment without having to lose his number.

MNP in history The world’s first country to introduce MNP was Singa-

pore in 1997, followed by the UK, Hong Kong and the Netherlands in 1999. Between 2000 and 2004, a number of other countries in Europe: Spain, Switzerland Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, France, Finland, Luxembourg, Greece (planned), Austria and the USA had joined the train. The African experience reveals that South Africa in 2006 commenced the MNP, while Kenya officially launched its own in April, 2011. Interestingly, our West African neighbours, Ghana, launched MNP on July 7, 2011 to become the third country in Africa to do so.

Nigeria’s telecommunications regulatory body, the National Communications Commission, NCC, had fixed June 2012 for MNP implementation, but shifted the date on the grounds that it needed time to conclude the harmonisation of subscribers’ data collected during the SIM card registration exercise.

According to the Com-

“

We deliberately delayed Mobile Number Portability because we don’t want to inject Number Portability in a state of anonymity of SIM cards; in a state of confusion and chaos of data registration

“

L

OOKING Back The journey has been long and arduous for telephone users in Nigeria. Once upon a time, there was a certain NITEL. The lines were fixed, and you were billed at the end of every month. On a regular basis, you get clobbered with a crazy bill made up mostly of local calls you never made. And if you were unlucky, your line could be tapped and diverted for commercial international call operation by criminal elements and you had to either pay the bill or give up the line.

There was later some reprieve for people who were very rich. Some private operators entered the scene to provide service using mainly Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The reach was limited, in most cases restricted to Lagos and a few other major cities. The price was an arm and a leg.

And then came ‘Hurricane GSM’, powered by MTN and Econet Wireless at the initial stage, and the situation changed rapidly for the better. State-owned Mtel complemented the big operators before running out of steam, but stronger players, Globacom and Etisalat, were later to join the fray. Expansion was rapid, and network growth was unprecedented. All you had to do was just purchase a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card from the network operators and get yourself a mobile phone. Suddenly, artisans could own mobile phones.

mission’s Executive Vice Chairman, Eugene Juwah, “We deliberately delayed Mobile Number Portability because we don’t want to inject Number Portability in a state of anonymity of SIM cards; in a state of confusion and chaos of data registration.” He also said that it was necessary to know the identity of subscribers who are ‘porting’ their numbers at different times from one network to another.

Following the development and approval of the MNP framework, the commission began plans to develop the regulatory, legal and technical framework for the implementation of MNP in Nigeria.

Along these lines, a contract for the establishment of a Clearing House, a key component of the project, was awarded. A consortium of three firms won the bid to operate it - Interconnect Clearing House Nigeria (ICN), Telecordia (now part of Ericsson) and Saab Grintek pty Technologies. The regulatory body later stated that the eventual commencement would be in the first quarter of 2013, following the testing process which started in November last year.

Freedom to Choose An essential element in the development of mobile markets is the ability of consumers to choose between competing providers – and to switch between providers quickly and easily. Subscribers place a value on their phone numbers, especially when they have used that number for an extended period of time. This is a huge

cost to the user, who has to put up with poor Quality of Service (QoS) and maybe even unfriendly call tariffs.

However, the existence of number portability enables such customers to make a simple change to a network operator of their choice with little or no costs attached. Consumers would further benefit from increased flexibility once they embrace portability. This flexibility would help foster competition among service providers because they know that a consumer could switch at any time. Also the MNP will increase pressure on the service providers to compete on price, quality, and customer service.

Under the current lock-in model, loyalty is enforced, not earned. But MNP is a win-win.

A recent study indicated that customer satisfaction is a strong determinant of customers’ propensity to switch, which implies that service providers are better off in the long run if they improve customer satisfaction in an attempt to minimise customers’ intention to switch providers.

There will be greater choice for consumers and enhanced offerings from operators. There is more innovation as operators try to woo customers to come in and stay in.

In the past, service providers have been accused of running an oligopolistic market, or a cartel. Industry experts claim that they use their technology to restrict choice and increase their influence at the market place. The result is that consumers, especially high value ones, who are not very happy

Continued on page 63

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BUSINESS

Bumpy road to number portability

AIICO has paid N1.2 b to its retirees

Continued from page 62 with the service they are getting are unable to choose an alternative.

However, mobile number portability will force service providers to seriously think about innovation, and develop products that address numerous unmet consumer needs as opposed to drawing the battle lines based on pricing alone.

MNP is, however, no silver bullet Experts have, however, variously warned that MNP is no silver bullet for sub-optimal quality of service in Nigeria’s telecommunications sector. The umbrella body for telecom operators in Nigeria has maintained that unless the major causes of poor quality of service are tackled by industry stakeholders, MNP would even compound the problem, rather than solve it.

The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engineer Gbenga Adebayo, in a recent interview opined that the main cause of quality of service challenge is inadequate capacity industry-wide.

According to Adebayo, all the operators have yet to build enough capacity to adequately take care of the surging demand for service nationwide. In spite of that, he said, operators are facing increasing challenges in their bid to expand their capacity to take care of the demand for telecom service in Nigeria.

He argued that until the operators enjoy the cooperation of all stakeholders in their bid to build capacity across the nation, no single operator can claim higher ground for long in terms of acceptable quality of service. He noted that the challenges imposed by the operating environment are common to all the operators and are therefore restricting the advancement of the industry.

“I can’t assure you that it (number portability) will improve QoS and I will tell you why. If one network has glitches or goes down for whatever reason, I don’t have any guarantee that the other networks will have enough headroom to accommodate the capacity of the network that has gone down,” said Adebayo. “It is like having traffic problem on the third mainland bridge. It will definitely impact other smaller road networks. If the biggest player, for instance, experiences some glitches and subscribers migrate to the smaller players, the smaller players will not have enough head-room. It is simple logic,” he said.

Going Forward It would be necessary for all stakeholders to work together to combat the challenges facing all the operators in their bid to provide acceptable quality of service in the country. It is when these challenges have been surmounted that MNP can truly translate into freedom of choice for telephone users in Nigeria.

Clearly for the operators, the MNP would separate the men from the boys. As for the consumer, it is the emancipation of the SIM.

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..Pension fund administrator

T •From Left Frank Nweke Jnr., Director General, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, NESG, Chief Eshiet Essien, Chairman Communications Sub - Committee of NES 18, Mr Foluso Phillips, Chairman of the Board of NESG and Mr Emmanuel Ijewere, Private Sector Chair of the Agric and Food Security Commission of NESG presenting an award to Chief Essien for significant Contribution to the success of the 18th Nigerian Economic Summit.

•Mr Emeka Odom, Senior Legal Officer, CPC, Mrs Adaora Omego, Scientific Officer, CPC and Mrs Abimbola Ezeaku, Chair, MAN Organising Committee at the maiden edition of Market Awards Nigeria Stakeholder Forum on Consumer Rights and Awards Dinner

How to achieve new solutions in NTERPRISE Business offer the flexibility that networking tonetworking Manager of Dell, Mr. managers re-

E

Akin Banuso, has said that the rise of open standards, frameworks and architectures, and a shift from proprietary models will give way to new solutions with regards to networking in the Nigerian business landscape. He made this known as he highlighted three networking paradigms that are shaping the business landscape across the world today.

According to Mr. Akin Banuso, the Enterprise Business Manager for Dell, ‘Broadly speaking, there are three major trends within the networking space that are currently shaping the industry; convergence, distributed networking and software defined networks.

These topics are not new to the table, but having been discussed for some time, they are now beginning to hit the mainstream in terms of the maturity of the technology and where they are on the corporate agenda.’’

The first of these ‘Networking Big3’ shapers of the industry is Convergence. Banuso explains that ‘’It’s not wholly a networking issue but its impact on the way networks are managed and – just as importantly – who manages them, should not be underestimated. Previously IT

functioned in silos, with server, storage and network admins going about their business relatively independently.

When someone within the organisation wanted a new resource provisioned, working across these silos to make that happen could be a painful and unnecessarily cumbersome experience’’ he said.

Software defined networking, is the next of the ‘Networking Big3’. Although the technology is still in its infancy, software defined networking (SDN) is widely touted to revolutionise network infrastructures on the same scale as virtualization in the server market. Traditional networking has been unable

quire today Distributed networking is another Big3 networking shaper of industry. There is a shift from traditional to distributed architectures; several developments have rendered the traditional centralised, monolithic chassis-switched network unfit for the modern business’ requirements. According to Banuso, ‘’firstly, the workforce has become extremely disperse and mobile.

Secondly, virtualisation and cloud computing have resulted in much higher server-toserver traffic flow than before. Finally, enterprises now have vastly larger volumes of data to process, store, and analyse than was previously the case.’’

HE deputy general manager, Technical, AIICO Pension Managers, Mr. Patrick Onos, has disclosed that the pension fund managers have paid N1.2 billion to retirees since its inception. He said an average of N12million is being paid monthly to retirees under its portfolio, with the amount set to grow as more retirees join the pension fund company. Onos said this in Lagos at the retirees forum held for its pensioners, where he said their retirees are paid at when due.

Onos said the fast payment is because “AIICO Pension Managers has organised itself around an inspiring principle: helping people make smart choices for now and for the future”.

He said fraud in the industry is caused by the old system of things which is no more, as the new arrangement is that no pension fund manager can access fund without the National Pension Commission (PenCom), being aware of it.

He said despite the company being a pension fund administrator, funds of

retirees are kept with a different body serving as a Pension Fund Custodian (PFC),even though, AIICO gives them instruction on how to disburse the fund. He said his confidence in the PFC is borne out of the fact that stringent measures are put in place before any PFC can be registered, hence the reason why they are few in the country.

He said the company, beyond effective pension funds administration, ‘is continuously identifying and exploring ways to ensure that its customers are encouraged to make smart moves and choices at every point in their lives. It is a direction the company has recently come to hold very dear because the idea sums up the benefits of planning for the future and the value of making smart decisions on both the present and the future’. The Retiree Forum is a yearly gathering hosted by AIICO Pension, done at the zonal level across the country and is one of the ways the company is showing its commitment to customer service and satisfaction, says Onos.

Safety solutions boss for Ghana Oil and Gas Summit

S

TILL smarting from the success of her appearance at Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja recently where she presented a paper on Systemic Approach to Fire Safety Systems in Off-shore Installations, the chief executive of Safety Consultants and Solutions Provider Limited, Mrs. Antonia Beri, is scheduled to present another thought-provoking paper at the Ghana Oil and Gas Summit coming up between April 23 and 26, 2013.

Beri, a graduate of Howard University in the United States of America, where she studied chemical engineering, is one of the leading lights in the nation’s safety consultancy services, with over twentyfive years of experience in the business.

At the Ghana Summit, Beri would be speaking on Oil Spill Response and Prevention Techniques in West Africa. Speaking to news-

men at her Gbagada, Lagos office, Beri said it was important for oil and gas companies to have a response and preventive mechanism towards dealing with oil spills which she said might be inevitable most times.

“Oil spill awareness has become more central to the thinking of the oil and gas industry and regulators in the last decade. The environmental risks and challenges posed by this hazardous effluent, has increased the desire for more efficient response, mitigation and recovery techniques.”

She informed that the paper would provide an overview of the ecological concepts, technical managerial approaches and technological improvement processes as functional tools in contingency plan, risk assessment, bio-remediation, waste disposal, materials and equipment applications.

How e-wallet scheme saved FG $192m in 2012

C

ELLULANT Nigeria Limited, the firm that is running the electronic wallet programme of Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development under the Growth Enhancement Support scheme has said that government was saved over $192m under the scheme in 2012.

According to details made available to our cor-

respondent recently, the sum of 25billion was the amount of money saved by the Federal and State Governments in 2012 after over 1.2million farmers had received subsidised fertilizers, seedlings or other relevant farm inputs under the scheme. This saving was realised because of the effective targeting and accounting that the e-wallet scheme provided.

An analytical white paper on the project showed that in dollar terms; Cellulant effected $294m worth of subsidies disbursements on behalf of the Federal and State Governments into the wallets of farmers. While farmers used $52m of the subsidy deposits, agro-dealers received $50m as matching funds from farmers leaving about $192m of unused

funds.

This sum, which potentially might have been lost to corruption, under the old scheme was returned back to government coffers for season. The Chief Executive Officer, Cellulant Nigeria, Mr. Goke Akinboro, noted that it was a landmark success for the firm to have achieved so much within so little a time.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

BUSINESS

Paperless trade excites industry stakeholders F

OR many stakeholders involved in the import/ export trade, they are singing a new song, all thanks to the innovative Nigeria Single Window Trade Portal, a cross-government website that opens a new era for trade facilitation by offering a single portal for trade actors, both Nigerian and international, to access a full range of resources and standardised services from different Nigerian government agencies.

Hitherto, at the various ports across the country, it is not uncommon to see port officials and other security personnel drawn from a detachment of the Nigerian Navy and Nigeria Police sweat it out as they battle to control the surge of vehicular and human traffic either going in or coming out of the ports in a disordered haste, not to forget long queues as a permanent feature at the ports, with impatient but visibly agitated visitors crowding every available space in their quest to lay one complaints or the other as evident in their gloomy countenances.

But all that is now a thing of the past with the development of the web-based application known as Nigeria Trade Hub Portal by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The new portal, www.nigeriatradehub.gov.ng, a non-restrictive online medium, is an intuitive and interactive platform for classifying goods. Through this portal, trade processors are enabled to find exact Harmonised System Codes (HS Codes) required for related tariffs and duties.

This latest technology, industry analysts have said, will enhance compliance by traders and avail them the required information on tariff in areas like the prohibited items and taxes/levies due for payment upon importation.

The application is also designed to touch on the aspect of trade facilitation such that trade processors can access information from all related government agencies.

Guidelines and procedures for obtaining permits, licences and certificates of specified commodity and country of origin that a trade will require for business processing are also available on the portal.

Shedding more light on this application, Valentina Minta, a consultant, said it has the potential to boost the country’s economy.

Justifying the need for the portal, Minta said it would enable Nigeria to attract new Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in the maritime subsector.

“The Nigeria trade hub brings together all the information that the traders would need; to news items, legal documents, procedures, the name of the agency, the phone numbers,

•Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga

By Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf

the contact details and exchange rates,’’ she said.

“This new platform is basically 24/7 online. You don’t have to register for it, it’s available to everyone,” adding: “So the traders can key in at anytime from the smart phone, from the mobile phone, from his office without having to go through hold-up to find people who can tell him what he needs to know.”

Views of other stakeholders Speaking with The Nation, a Customs licensed agent, Okechukwu Oduah, who is the Managing Director of Zimuna Nigeria Limited, Lagos, while applauding the Customs for the innovative technology, said the web-based application has helped to processes and procedures at the ports.

“From my experience, I know cargo clearance takes from three to four days normally,” he submitted.

He however agreed that with the introduction of the web-application, positive changes are being noticed with port procedures. “The new trade portal is certainly a good gesture that is being overwhelmingly accepted by the stakeholders. For us, it is long overdue because in other climes importers and exporters hardly go through the stress they put us through in Nigeria, which is why we consider the portal as a welcome development.”

The only snag, he sees is that a lot more awareness needs to be created to get everybody to buy into the ideal.

Echoing similar sentiments, Anthony Williams Offor, an agent at the Apapa port, while giving insight as to how the initiative came about, said the whole idea of the new trade portal resonates with every stakeholder

at the ports because of the immense benefits that comes with it.

“Yes, we’re all aware of the customs’ website and portal. It is a welcome development. It is one of the innovations brought in, in response to the current global trend in information management vis-à-vis the modern demands in the businesses of parastal agencies,” he said.

Pressed further, Offor recalled that: “Originally, the idea is a brainchild of the Ministry of Finance under which the department of customs falls in. It will benefit the nation greatly, in that it will further go a long way in assisting importers and exporters, who, unlike before, would now gain access to information and instructions, hitherto an exclusive preserve of Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders, who most often hoard or distort such information and directions for selfish reasons.”

Buttressing his point with a vivid example, the customs agent said: “For instance, a foreigner who is not used to the methods of operation of our import and export systems but intends to export a cargo into the country would easily access the portal back in his country, and thus you don’t question or suspect any line of transactions upon arrival of the shipment.

“So, the innovation is more of a vibrant strategy to quicken the process of government businesses as it concerns the customs and also minimise certain channels of corruption on the part of clearing agents and freight forwarders. So, on the whole, it is a global practice. My only advice is for the customs to conduct more public enlightenment and awareness to the stakeholders. We’re even told

that more of such innovations are coming, which is a good thing to hear considering the fact that around here port processes and procedures are naturally associated with drudgery and stress.”

In a chat with The Nation over the weekend, Mr. Ken Ukuoha, President-General, National Association of Nigerian Traders, who claimed not to be aware of the existence of the website, however described it as a right step in the right direction even as a he urged sustained awareness campaign on the part of the customs.

Modus operandi The Single Window for Trade is an online B2G, G2B, G2G platform for electronic trade that interconnects public and private sectors trading in Nigeria. It implements effective single window services and is the foundation for “one-stop shop”, paperless trade and e- governance, positioning Nigeria as one of the most advanced nations in Africa for electronic trade.

The Trader can determine which documents are required based on product, purpose and transaction to be made. To access the website, traders are expected to click on Trader Guide Icon on trade Portal homepage / help/tariff/home.do, following which the Help Services Enquiry page will be displayed among others.

Another interesting feature is that this easy to use online application can be accessed via smart phones, PC’s tablets etc., whilst on the move.

Speaking with The Nation, Mr. Timi Bomadi of the Nigeria Customs Service, said the service was desirous of fast-tracking commerce and trade at the ports hence it is leaving no stone unturned to achieve this laudable objective.

24 hour cargo clearance Nigeria’s economy is heavily dependent on import, which perhaps explains why it runs the biggest operation in terms of cargo throughput, next only to South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa.

But the irony, however, is that the level of infrastructures in place is not commensurate with the volume of trade at the various seaports.

A top maritime source who would not be named disclosed to The Nation that at the web-application was capable of ensuring a 24 hourly cargo clearance if the right infrastructures are put in place.

It is however instructive to note that as part of efforts to make the clearing of goods in Nigerian ports faster, simpler and convenient, the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Dikko Abdullahi, recently introduced a special incentive for importers who import cargoes into Nigeria five times within a given period without any discrepancy.

Beyond Talent

By Adetayo Okusanya Email: adetayookusanya@hotmail.com

Have you been majoring in the minors?

O

NE of the things I thought I would appreciate about being an entrepreneur is the fact that I would be my own boss and I would no longer have to have performance discussions with my “manager”.

You know- that hour long conversation, during which your manager tells you how well you are doing, or not doing, in meeting the performance expectations of “management”. Then he proceeds to put a rating to your capabilities as he measures you against performance standards and competency levels set by “management”.

Sometimes those conversations were tough to have because my manager and I were not in agreement.

I thought I was awesome. He did not quite share my point of view.

I have since come to realize that being an entrepreneur and having no “boss” does not necessarily translate to no performance reviews.

That conversation still happens, it’s just that I have it with myself.I can be no less accountable or responsible, than when I was working for a corporation. I set business and personal goals for myself at the start of the year and I find that I must be accountable to those goals if I am to be successful in the year 2013 and make it my best year yet.In some ways, I think performance evaluations were easier then, than they are now. At least, back then I could blame my performance ratings on my manager’s inability to understand and manage me appropriately. But, who do I blame when I am the “Oga at the top”?

The first quarter of the year has ended and, as is customary, I am reflecting on the events and results achieved in the quarter to assess how well I have done, and how much progress I have made towards the accomplishment of my goals.

I have to confess that I am not necessarily liking what the tea leaves are saying. If I do a year over year comparison, I come out on top. Thankfully, I am much better off today professionally and personally than I was exactly one year ago. However, if I judge myself based on my potential and my 2013 goals, I fall short. It would seem to me that this quarter I have majored in the “Minors” and minored in the “Majors”.I have subordinated the important to the urgent and for that, I give myself a “C” grade.

On the one hand, I have all the hours I have put into work. On the other hand, I have the progress I have made towards my 2013 goals.

THE EQUATION DOES NOT BALANCE! And it is

not for lack of effort. The things I am doing and the tasks I am spending my time on are not translating to results in the areas that are most important to me. Something is wrong somewhere.

Either my tasks are wrong or my goals are wrong, because there is clearly a lack of alignment. I am certain though, that my goals are the right goals for me this year, so by deduction the problem lies in how I have spent that precious and scarce resource

called TIME. I find myself at the start of the second quarter of the year, captain of a ship called “Destiny”, with my vessel showing signs of being off course. If I maintain status quo, I am bound to reach a port that is not my intended port. I must therefore set events in motion that will allow me to re-direct my vessel and re-align it with my desired destination. Sometimes the winds will favor me and sometimes they will work contrary to me. Consequently, I must be able to discern when it is okay to cruise and when I must seize the wheel to hold the ship steady and on course.At the same time, I must not forget to encourage and motivate myself by celebrating the things that I have accomplished. This quarter, READINESSEDGE has already achieved 80% of its 2012 performance. So it definitely is not all gloom and doom, I just have to adjust my sail and refocus on the MAJORS. How do you feel going into the second quarter of the year? How well do you think you have done in achieving your desired goals and realizing your potential? Have you been majoring in the “MINORS”? What does your performance scorecard look like? Is your ship on course or is it time to “SEIZE THE WHEEL”. Half time is around the corner. Do whatever you need to do to get back in the game and keep playing it to win it. Spend some time with yourself, your boss, your spouse, your children and your customer, and ask “What do I need to do to STAY or GET BACK on course?”

The secret of success is not that we never fail, but that in FAILING, we learn to SUCCEED. Read more of Adetayo’s articles athttp:// readinessedge.wordpress.com/

• Okusanya is CEO of ReadinessEdge

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

BUSINESS 65

GTB and Zenith achieve phenomenal returns Z

ENITH Bank Nigeria Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc have released their audited financial results for the 2012 financial year to operators of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Zenith bank reported a profit before tax (PBT) of N102.10 billion for the financial year ended December 2012, up by 51.4 per cent, from the N67.44 billion recorded in 2011, while Guaranty Trust Bank Plc reported profit before tax of N103 billion, the highest for any Nigerian Bank. According to analysts at the Nigerian bourse, this performance and an in-depth analysis of the results, which were recently approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, confirm GTBank as the first and only Nigerian bank to cross the N100 billion PBT milestone from continuing operations at both Bank and Group levels.

Details of the group’s audited results, announced on the floors of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), showed that profit after tax (PAT) for the period was N100.68 billion, which represents a 106.7 per cent jump from the N48.70 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2011.

The group’s results also showed improved Gross Earnings of N221.9 billion, 66% growth in Profit Before Tax to N103 billion (2011: N66.08 billion) and 69% improvement in Profit After Tax to N87.3 billion; (2011: N51.7 billion), for GTBank.

The bank closed the 2012 financial year with an On-Balance Sheet size of N1.73 trillion (2011: N1.608 trillion) while total assets and contingents stood at N2.26 trillion (2011: N2.14 trillion) representing a growth of 8% and 6% respectively for Guaranty Trust Bank.

Zenith’s result also showed the bank maintained

its leadership position on other parameters with total assets plus contingents of N2.60 trillion, representing a 12.7 per cent increase over the N2.30 billion recorded in 2011. In line with its tradition of creating more value for its shareholders, directors of the bank are proposing a dividend payout of N1.60 per share. Gross earnings, according to the results, rose by 25.88 per cent from N243.94 billion to N307.08 billion, indicating an increasing market share.

The result also shows the bank’s commitment to prudent debt management yielding positive results as total non-performing credit facilities to total credit facilities stood at 3 per cent, a remarkable improvement over the 6 per cent recorded last year. The result was hailed by financial analysts and investors as an outstanding result, as it shows the ability of Zenith Bank to sustain its performance, raise the bar of competition and continually surpass the expectations of stakeholders.

Zenith Bank, Nigeria’s largest bank by tier-1 capital and shareholder funds, recently listed $850 million worth of its shares on the London Stock Exchange at $6.80 each in a major step to improve liquidity in its stock through Global Depository Receipts.

By its size, that $850 million GDR listing is the largest of any Nigerian bank on the LSE to date and is expected to help Zenith Bank, with a market capitalisation of $4.24 billion, access to a wide range of major institutional investors and significantly raise its international profile.

GTBank closed the 2012 financial year with an OnBalance Sheet size of N1.73 trillion (2011: N1.608 tril-

lion) while Total Assets and Contingents stood at N2.26 trillion (2011: N2.14 trillion) representing a growth of 8% and 6% respectively.

Further analysis shows that deposit liabilities of the group grew by 12% to N1.15 trillion in 2012, reflecting a decent growth of N120 billion from the N1.03 trillion closing position in the corresponding period of 2011. This growth in customer deposits fuelled the increase in the loan book as net loans and advances closed at N783.9 billion, translating to a growth of 11% over the N707.05 billion in the comparative period of 2011.

Shareholders’ funds increased from N230.4 billion in 2011 to N283.4 billion in 2012.

In terms of asset quality, the bank also impressed as Non Performing Loans (NPL) ratio stood at 3.4% compared to 3.5% in 2011, while Cost-to-Income ratio improved significantly to 42.7% from 52.9% in 2011. On the backdrop of this strong operating performance, Return on equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA) closed at 33.9% and 5.2% from the 23.2% and 3.7% recorded in 2011, respectively.

The Bank’s stance as an upstanding social citizen and commitment to full disclosure was further evidenced by its 2012 tax liabilities, which came to over N16.3 billion. The total dividend payment for the financial year is projected at N45.62 billion (N1.55 per ordinary share of 0.50 kobo each).

Commenting on the results, Mr. Segun Agbaje, Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, attributed the bank’s success to its adherence to a defined growth plan, high corporate governance standards and the cultural values for which it

is known. He said these factors, coupled with a resourceful board, an in-depth understanding of the market and the passion of GTBank employees have enabled the Bank grow market share and continue to avail its stakeholders with value adding services.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc was established in 1990 and

MARKET FLASH Bukola Afolabi obrijo4u@gmail.com 08094000015

is regarded by Industry watchers as the best run financial institution within the Nigerian Financial Services space, due to its bias for world class corporate governance standards, excellent service quality and innovation. The bank operates from over 200 branches within the country and has banking subsidiaries in Cote D’Ivoire,

Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom.

The two bank performed wonderfully, but according to an analyst Alhaji Atiku of the Camry Securities Limited. He said this is encouraging but they can still do better and make investors and stakeholders to smile to the bank.

Investors to enjoy dividend boost

T

HE Nigerian Capital Market and the quoted companies are now bringing investors’ confidence back to the market with the some of the results released.

In recent times, most of these companies found it difficult to pay dividend because of the global economic meltdown since 2008.

After achieving a better performance, gleaned from the records of these companies, investors can now smile as they enjoy what hitherto they had been missing.

Like Okomu Oil Palm’s N7.00 per share, bonus onefor-one (one new share for everyone share held) Airline service logistics give 25kobo Zenith bankN1.60 per share, which was better than last year according to an analyst with their result they conveniently pay N2.00.

BOC Gas Plc 20kob, Nigeria Aviation Handling Company Plc 25k per share.

Access bank interim dividend per share 25k final dividend 60k total 85k which is not bad but they can do bet-

ter sterling bank 20kobo, Unilever Nigeria plcN1.40kobo, Presco plc N1.00 per share, Paint& Coasting man Nigeria 12kobo per share, Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc 500k per share, Cadbury Nigeria 50 kobo per share.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc N1.30kobo per share, Lafarge Cement Wapco N1.20kobo per share.

Also Guaranty Trust Bank total dividend payment for the financial year is projected at N45.62 billion (N1.55 per ordinary share of 0.50 kobo each).

Profit taking depresses stock market

P

ROFIT taken by investors in dire need of cash last week depressed Equity market as market index ended in nagative.

The NSE All-Share Index appreciated by 765.12 points or 2.28% to close on Friday at 34,301.37 while the market capitalization of the listed equities on the mainboard increased by 2.28% to close at N10.978 trillion. Also, the Bloomberg NSE 30 Index appreciated by 35.77 points or 2.23% to close at 1,638.65.

Other NSE sectoral indices that appreciated during the week include; Bloomberg NSE Consumer Goods, Bloomberg NSE Banking, Bloomberg NSE Oil and Gas and NSE-Lotus II advanced by 0.09%, 1.00%, 3.01%, 3.38% respectively.

However, Bloomberg NSE Insurance depreciated by 7.38%.

It was a four-day trading week as the Federal Government of Nigeria declared Monday April 1st 2013 a public holiday to commemorate Easter Monday.

A turnover of 1.604 billion shares worth of N19.088 billion in 26,264 deals were transacted this week on the floor of The Exchange in contrast to a total of 1.612 billion shares valued at N13.542 billion that exchanged hands last week in 23,021 deals.

At the close of trading activities for the week, the Financial Services sector accounted for 1.197 billion shares valued at N11.448 billion exchanged hands by investors in 15,771 deals. The Conglomerates sec-

tor (measured by turnover volume) followed in the activity chart with 119.511 million shares valued at N428.835 million traded in 982 deals.

The Banking subsector of the Financial Services sector was the most active during the week (measured by turnover volume) with 951.162 million shares worth N9.305 billion exchanged by investors in 11,498 deals. Volume in the Banking subsector was largely driven by activities in the shares of Zenith Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc and Wema Bank plc.

Trading in the shares of the three banks accounted for 368.485 million shares, representing 38.74% of the turnover volume recorded by the subsector for the week.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

66

Nexim Bank and the growth of agriculture in Nigeria

EBERE WABARA

WORDSWORTH T 08055001948

ewabara@yahoo.com

Mirroring media grammar

N

ATIONAL MIRROR Views Page and other components of the April 4 edition offered readers copious solecisms: “Our home grown (home-grown) terrorists are hitting very hard at us….” “…when in the past we assisted in restoring peace in (to) neighbouring countries torn apart by internal strife.”

“Paradoxically, the call for amnesty for Boko Haram is coming on the heel (heels) of the upsurge in its nefarious activities.”

Next is NATIONAL MIRROR Editorial of April 4: “…the ex-president alerted the nation on (to) the dangers of an army of….” “…while others have drift (drifted) into all manner of….” “…the harsh effects of unemployment failed woefully (abysmally) and was thrown out by the lawmakers….”

Lastly from NATIONAL MIRROR Editorial: “To be forewarned is to be forearmed.” All the sides: Forewarned is forearmed. There is no need for ‘to be…is to be’!

The Back Page of NATIONAL MIRROR circulated some infelicities before the weekend: “But fresh evidence emerged yesterday that it was the dramatic (sic) personae (dramatis persona) himself….”

“How should corporate managers react in (to) turbulent economic times, when the burden of crisis (crises) appears too heavy to bear?” “…to a five-day management conference starting this (next) Sunday (April 7—not March 31) since the extract was published on Thursday, April 4!

“How many persons would they need to deploy to (in) each university for the proposed period of two weeks….”

“There is corruption in the award of contracts, especially by the universities governing councils.” Education as I see it: universities’ governing councils Wrong: I cannot remember Right: I do not remember or I cannot recall/recollect Please note that while ‘obituary announcement’ is wrong, ‘obituary notice’ or just ‘obituary’ is acceptable. (Thanks to Baba Bayo Oguntunase for this contribution)

One of the expressions daily abused by the Nigerian media is ‘flag off’ (clearly an ungrammatical global sporting creation for motor racing competitions!): there is no such phrasal verb in any formal/official/standard English language environment. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2012 New Edition, declares: flag (verb) (flagged, flagging): to make a mark against some information to show that it is important.

Example: I have flagged the parts I want to comment on.

Additionally: to become tired or weak. Example: By the end of the meeting we had begun to flag.

The final entry: Flag somebody/something down (phrasal verb) to make the driver of a vehicle stop by waving at them. Example: flag down a taxi. From these explanations, I do not understand why the two expressions should persistently be abused by the Nigerian media.

Another word that suffers abuse is ‘arguably’!

Once more, Longman to the rescue: ‘arguably’ (adverb—sentence adverb) used when giving your opinion to say that there are good reasons why something might be true. Example: The Nation is arguably the best newspaper in Nigeria. Now, how do you explain this kind of cloudy thinking: ‘Lionel Messi is arguably the best footballer in the world?’ Obviously, the writer does not know the meaning of ‘arguably’ because Messi is incontrovertibly the best footballer in the world today closely followed

by Cristiano Ronaldo, who, by the way, made me to fall in love with Manchester United before his record-breaking movement to Real Madrid.

“As at press time, there has not been any frenzy of activities at INEC headquarters.”

Matters arising: yank off ‘has’ for ‘had’.

“The NUJ press centre in Benin City is just a stone throw from her home.” Pedantic view: a stone’s throw.

“Relatively new on the Nigerian scene, the company has joined the bandwagon….” My diary: climb or jump on/ aboard (not join the bandwagon).

“Today, however, that social buffer hardly exists any more, as a number of the offsprings are themselves either unemployed or financially prostrate.” Travails of language: ’offspring’ is non-count. “…the brouhaha of Jonathan’s political future vis-à-vis 2015 has elevated what was once considered a past time of clowns and scoundrels to a new pedestal.”

No dilemma: pastime.

My own misapprehension last week: “It has to be one of this: last/this/next Thursday.” How did this slip by: ‘this’ instead of ‘these’? I tender my unreserved apologies—excuse the cliché! “...they will not dare do that if he becomes a civilian head of state, under a party platform.”

Succession rules: on (not under) a platform.

“Recently (a coma) some traditional rulers from the Igbo speaking (a hyphen) areas of the East have (sic) pledged their support for Jonathan....” No further comment.

“Cultism in schools are growing in leaps and bounds.” Error of attraction: Cultism in schools is….

“If so, why is it rather difficult for many people especially those outside the corridor of power….” Grammatical landscape: corridors of power.

“In order words, if Goodluck Jonathan were to run….”

In other words, there is consensus on ‘order’ and ‘other.’

“And if from this cacophonies….” Indeed, a cacophony from This Life…. “...Nigeria emerged a nation with a defective system of government fashioned out from series of compromises by our political leaders.” Our right foot forward: a series of compromises.

“There is now a manifest agenda in totally negating the idea of a truely federal territory.” Spellcheck: truly.

“Such dislocation may even be dictated (detected) early enough but no one wants to stand out from the crowd.”

“Thus, the issue of maintaining peace in crisisridden parts of the world have for decades become an important aspect of our foreign policy.” Error of attraction: the issue…has (not have).

HE Nigerian Export Import bank, as part of its strategic plan of action, hopes to channeling its resources into the development of four sectors in the non-oil segment of the Nigerian economy, namely manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals and services.

Agriculture is particularly significant because it once constituted the main stay of the Nigerian economy, and it is the second largest contributor to the GDP of the nation. With 80% of its land cultivatable and its warm climate yearround, Nigeria is a land rich with agricultural resources, which has been the vein of the economy prior to the oil boom and continues to be an important element in the Nigerian GDP. With regards to employment, agriculture is by far the most important sector of the Nigerian economy, employing around 70% labour. According to the year 2010 statistics, agriculture accounted for between 38% and 40% GDP of that year.

Nigeria ranks 25 worldwide and ranks one in Africa for farm output and at least 80% of production comes from subsistence farms. The sector is dominated by crop production, which takes up around 85% of production while the remaining 15% comprises livestock, fisheries and poultry. However, the agricultural sector is not without its challenges. One of the most common complaints from the agriculture sector has been lack of access to credit.

Nigerian banks have been reluctant about lending money on anything other than short term basis. These cause difficulties for farmers more than any other sector of the economy, as the agricultural production has a larger gestation period than the banks are ready to grant.

However, with Nigerian banks slowly emerging from a national financial crisis, their regulations are in a change as well. One of the problems facing banks is that they have very limited resources for providing long term lending. Lack of irrigation is the second most important issue that needs to be resolved, especially to agricultural jobs in the areas of Nigeria. Irrigation equipment in particular is lacking in Nigeria, and variable rainfall has led to similarly inconsistent harvest yields.

Funding in developing essential irrigation systems is essential to growth in the agricultural sector.

The third and not the least important issue is infrastructure, in terms of transportation of the agricultural products. According to a survey by the university and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the biggest concern of Nigerian farmers is the lack of infrastructure that supports their growing and selling efforts. poor road structure and lack of sufficient storage facilities

•Orya

make it almost impossible for small scale farmers to extend their productions.

Between October and December, which is the harvest time in most rural areas, abundance of crops causes drop in the prices and farmers sell their products in reduced rates, in the absence of storage facilities. If government were to act as buyer of the last resort, some inefficiencies could be eliminated.

Most of the larger scale private farms have their own ware houses, or the ability to transport crops somewhere else, and they use this as a leverage and fluctuate prices, thereby causing significant damage to small scale producers.

Though there is no shortage of governmental programmes, donor funded projects and other informal efforts to fund farmers, the agricultural sector in Nigeria remains crippled by the same issues: Funding and infrastructure. Some entrepreneurs find themselves able to rise above the challenges, but most are finding it difficult to secure funding or taking their business plans to neighbouring countries. The sector needs an important financial long term funding in order to grow to the standard it deserves.

In recognition of these challenges, the NEXIM bank has keyed into the vision of transforming the agriculture sector, with a view to strategically contributing to the on-going revolution in the sector. This is no surprise since the main aim of setting up the bank in the first place is to promote the diversification of the Nigerian economy and develop the external sector through the provision of credit facilities in both local and foreign currencies, riskbearing facilities – export credit guarantee and export credit insurance, business development/ financial advisory services and trade and market information, all in support of the non- oil exports sector. In propelling the non-oil sectors to a grand level, the bank has proactively developed a working blue print spanning five years (2010-2015), with key areas of concentra-

tion in manufacturing, agriculture, solid minerals and services. In the agricultural sector, NEXIM’S funding intervention covers both Ago- allied and forestry. In focusing on agriculture as one of its key strategic areas, the bank is conscious of the fact that the sector is dominated by small and medium enterprises, limited usage of modem techniques/machines and reliance on micro credits. The sector’s huge growth potentials is also not lost on the banks to demonstrate the importance it attaches to the agricultural sector. The bank in it five year blue print has increased and sustained agroindustrial exports through enhancement of quality and local value addition, provision of 7.3% (approximately N 33 bn) , of the agricultural sectors, financing requirement by 2015, account for 2.89% of the sectors GDP 2015, and create sustained 60,587. Jobs within the sector through project finance by 2015 with the significant improvement witnessed by the strategic collaboration between the bank and the agriculture sector, following result are envisaged.

•Enhancing agricultural productivity for small scale farmers through better access to improved inputs, research results and extension services.

•Harnessing available water resources for irrigation.

•Providing conducive environment for large scale private sector involvement.

• Encouraging large scale commercial farming, with strategic linkages to small scale farmers.

•Significantly reducing post harvest losses through agro-processing.

•Better focus on value chain approach through rural and market infrastructure and improve market access.

Agriculture still remains the preferred hub for economic growth and development. NEXIM bank should therefore not rest on its oars as the sector continues aggressive expansion that is bound to lead to increased agribusiness growth, wealth creation and economic empowerment.

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013 CHANGE OF NAME OKOYEOCHA I formerly known and addressed as Miss Okoyeocha, Camelia Adaugo Ugoada, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ekwunife Adaugo Camelia.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AKANDE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss. Fatimah Abidemi Akande, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fatimah Abidemi Abodunrin. All former documents remain valid. The Polytechnic, Ile-Ife, Osun State General public should please take note.

AKINBOLADE I, formerly known and addressed as Akinbolade Tayo Dotun, now wish to be known and addressed as Tayo Johnson. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ANYOGO I, formerly known and addressed as Vivian Eru Anyogo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Vivian Eru Adejoro. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ISHAYA

I, formerly known and addressed as Nancy Ishaya, now wish to be known and addressed as Nancy Omoregie. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME I, Ayodele Akinbebije is the same person as Isaac Ayodele Balogun.

All documents bearing these names remain valid.

Irele Local government, Ode-Irele, Ondo State and general public should please take note.

BELLO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Funmilayo Zuliat Mohammed Bello, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Funmilayo Zuliat Kazim. All former documents remain valid.

University of Ilorin and general public should please take note.

IHEME

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Naomi Ijeoma Iheme, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Naomi Ijeoma Dicson. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

EZE

I, formerly known and addressed as Angela Nkechi Eze, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Angela Nkechi Odo. All former documents remain valid. IMT, Enugu, NYSC and general public should please take note.

OLALEYE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olaleye Iyabode Sabainah, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Noibi Iyabode Sabaina. All former documents remain valid.Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta and general public should please take note.

GAMDE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Christy Gamde, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Christy Benjamin Gamde. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

SUBAIR

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Adetoun Nofisat Subair, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Adetoun Nofisat Jimoh. All former documents remain valid.General public should please take note.

ISIORHO

I, formerly known and addressed as Isiorho Olubukola Sewanu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Arowosegbe Olubukola Sewanu. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

FALODE

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oluwatoyin Olareawju Falode, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluwatoyin Olarewaju Adebayo. All former documents remain valid. Eko Hotel and Suite and general public should please take note.

OLADELE

I, formerly known and addressed as Oladele Olajumoke Ayomide, now wish to be known and addressed as Olarewaju Olajumoke Ayomide. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ZAMAN

I formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Victoria Zaman, now wish to be known as Miss Victoria Maikudi. All former documents remain valid.

National Examination Council (NECO) and general public please take note.

67

CHANGE OF NAME OJU

CHANGE OF NAME ADEHINWO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oju Ovuokenye, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ezimeruwe Eric Ovuokenye. All former documents remain valid. United Percel Service and general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adehinwo Ibijoke Felicia, now wish to be known as Mrs. Kasali Ibijoke Felicia. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHIBUOGWU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Goodluck Aharanya, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ahuchaogu Amanze Goodluck. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AHARANYA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Chibuogwu Veronica N., now wish to be known as Mrs. Doherty Veronica N. All former documents remain valid. LUTH and general public please take note.

OJIDE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ifeyinwa Obianuju Ojide, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ifeyinwa Obianuju Abobade. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

BABATUNDE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Bamitele Eyitayo C. Babatunde, now wish to be known as Mrs. Bamitele Eyitayo C. Agboola. All former documents remain valid. UNILORIN, FUTA, Enterprise Bank Plc. and general public please take note.

OLORUNSHOLA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Helen Okanmiyo Olorunshola, now wish to be known as Mrs. Helen Lawrence-Afere. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ABATAN I formerly known and addressed as Miss Abatan Dorcas Oluwakemi, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ajayeoba Dorcas Oluwakemi. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OBIAWUOTU

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Obiawuotu Akudo Precillia, now wish to be known as Mrs. Aduroja Sunshine Akudo Precillia.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

AZEEZ

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Azeez Sherifat Omobolanle, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ogunkoya Sherifat Omobolanle.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CHUKWUELUE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Chukwuelue Dorothy Nonye, now wish to be known as Mrs. Okenwa Dorothy Nonye. All former documents remain valid.

UNN, Ministry of Justice Nigeria and general public please take note.

OSIFESO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Osifeso Oluwaseun Elizabeth, now wish to be known as Mrs Gbenupo Oluwaseun Elizabeth. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EMUANGBON

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Celina Emuangbon, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ogah Celina Sunday. All former documents remain valid. Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and general public please take note.

ANJORIN I formerly known and addressed as Mr. Anjorin Olusegun Peter, now wish to be known as Mr. Oyeleye Olusegun Fortunate. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ONWUNAZI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Onwunazi Nkechi, now wish to be known as Mrs. David Nkechi Mpamugo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ENITILO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyebisi Omolayo Enitilo, now wish to be known as Mrs. Oyebisi Omolayo Azeez. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EMELOGU

I formerly known and addressed as Emelogu Ezeh Sylvester, now wish to be known as Ezeh Duke Sylvester Chiedozie. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OYEJOBI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyejobi Funmilayo Olubusayo, now wish to be known as Mrs. Binuyo Funmilayo Olubusayo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ALEGBE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ateseme Cynthia Alegbe, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ateseme Cynthia Thompson. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ADEBOWALE I formerly known and addressed as Miss Adebimpe Comfort Adebowale, now wish to be known as Mrs. Adebimpe Comfort Amos.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

NZEAKO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Nzeako Ginika Chikodili, now wish to be known as Mrs. Iloelunachi Ginika Chikodili. All former documents remain valid.

NYSC and general public please take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This confirms and certify that Ozukwe Okwuchi Anyahurunwa, Ukpai Favour Okwuchi refers to same person. I now wish to be known as Mrs. Ukpai Okwuchi Anyahurunwa. All documents bearing these names remain valid.

Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and general public please take note.

ADEYEMI

I formerly known and addressed as Adeyemi Racheal Oluwaranti, now wish to be known as Martins Oluwaranti Racheal. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IBRAHIM

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Ibrahim Hannatu, now wish to be known as Mrs Shelnan Hannatu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ONEN

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Alice Ubi Onen, now wish to be known as Mrs Alice Benjamin Ewah. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

BANMEKE

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Banmeke Caroline Olajumoke, now wish to be known as Mrs Moyosade Khadijat Olajumoke. All former documents remain valid. Sterling Bank Plc. and general public please take note.

ALAO

I formerly known and addressed as Ibrahim Rasheed Alao, now wish to be known as Alausa Rasheed Omotosho. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKONKWO

I formerly known and addressed as Okonkwo Caroline, now wish to be known as Elumeze Caroline. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ADESUMBO I formerly known and addressed as Mrs Adesumbo Adepeju Adegboyega, now wish to be known as Miss Adesumbo Adepeju Fetuga. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME ABDULKAREEM

MAJEKODUNMI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Majekodunmi Constance Temitope, now wish to be known as Mrs. Balogun Constance Temitope. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MAJEKODUNMI

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Iroju Oluwayemisi Rosemary, now wish to be known as Fasan Oluwayemisi Rosemary.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

OJIALOR

CHANGE OF NAME ODIAHI

I formerly known and addressed as Abdbulkareem Olayinka Rasheedat and Adekanni Olayinka Rasheedat, now wish to be known as Mrs. Akinyemi Olayinka Rasheedat. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. CHINENYE EUGENIA OJIALOR now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. CHINENYE EUGENIA OKOLIE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Uwaye Odiahi, now wish to be known as Mrs. Uwaye Aiwerioghene. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

DURU

NWICHI

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. DURU STELLA OBIAGERI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. MADUKA STELLA OBIAGERI BARNABAS .

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS KAYODE KEHINDE, now wish to be known as MRS GEORGE KEHINDE. All former documents remain valid. PHCN Ibadan Distribution Company and general public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwichi Oluchi Florence, now wish to be known as Mrs. Eze Oluchi Florence. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

KAYODE

TAIRU

ONYIA

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwankwo Ifeoma Anna now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Orabile Ifeoma Anna. All former documents remain valid. general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. ONYIA EBERE INNOCENTIA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NANIM EBERE INNOCENTIA. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I formerly known and addressed as MISS TAIRU KEHINDE MUJIDAT, now wish to be known as MRS OWOLABI KEHINDE MUJIDAT. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

SOFOLAHAN

WOCHA

I formerly known and addressed as AJIBORISHA MURITALA BABATUNDE, now wish to be known as AJIBOLUWA MURITALA TUNDE. All former documents remain valid. Banks, Commecial Institutions and the general public please take note.

OLATEJU

I formerly known and addressed as MISS ALLI OPEYEMI SUKURAT, now wish to be known as MRS AVOSEH DORCAS OPEYEMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

NWANKWO

I formerly known and addressed as Miss Sofolahan Folasade Ololade, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Otepola Folasade Ololade. All former documents remain valid.Ogun state ministry of health and general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. VICTORIA ERUCHI WOCHA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. VICTORIA ERUCHI EMMANUEL-EREMIE. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

SAMUEL

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OLATEJU ADEMESO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRSOLATEJU ADEMESO IBIDOKUN. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I formerly knwn and address as Miss Shayisimi Samuel, now wish to be knwn and adress as Mrs Shanyiasimi Emmanuella Sylvanus Elisha.All document remains valid Federal university Lafia and the general public take note.

OLADEINDE-MARTINS

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oladeinde-Martins, Oyinlola Yetunde, now to be known and referred to as Mrs ADEROGBA OYINLOLA YETUNDE. All documents remain valid. General public take note.

HART

FADAINI

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS HART GRACE TAMUNONENGINYEOFORI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS HART-WARIBOKO GRACE TAMUNONENGINYEOFORI. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

OSHO

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS NOAH OLUWATOPE DORCAS now wish to be known and addressed as MRSOJO OLUWATOPE DORCAS. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Omoyiwola Aderinsola Fadaini, now to be known and referred to as Mrs Omoyiwola Aderinsola Ogunode.

All documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Osho, Oluwatoyin Aduke, now to be known and referred to as Mrs. Musa, Oluwatoyin Aduke. All documents remain valid. OTS, Ltd, NIPR and general public take note.

POPOOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Popoola Yetunde Oluwakemi, now to be known and referred to as Mrs Ekwenuke Yetunde Oluwakemi.

All documents remain valid. General public take note.

GBADAMOSI

I formerly known and addressed as MISS. GBADAMOSI TAWAKALITU ADETOLA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ADEYEMO TAWAKALITU ADETOLA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

ADEBAYO

I formerly known and addressed as MISS. ADEBAYO ADEDOYIN ADEBIMPE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. DADA ADEDOYIN ADEBIMPE. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

OGBONDA

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. ROSELINE OGBONDA now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ROSELINE ORLU. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ISOKARIARI

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. ISOKARIARI O.K ORIIBIOKU now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ADEJUMO ORI-IBIOKU DAMILOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

MUSTAPHA I formerly known and addressed as Mustapha Sidi, now wish to be known as Mustapha Ayoka Suliyat.

All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

ETUKUDO

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. SARAH TOMDICK ETUKUDO now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. SARAH HENRY-ADODO. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ERIM

I, formerly known and addressed MISS. ERIM LILIAN N. now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. NNA LILIAN N. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UGBAGA

I, formerly known and addressed as PAMELA CHIOMA UGBAGA, now wish to be known and addressed as PAMELA CHIOMA AKINBOBOYE. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

NOAH

TINUOYE

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS TINUOYE ENUNICE KEHINDE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EUNICE KEHINDE ISIBOR All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

EMEIOGU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Emeiogu Lovette Ginikanwa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Madumere Lovette Ginikanwa. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public should please take note.

OKORIE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okorie Ijeoma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Nwogu Ijeoma. All former documents remain valid. Nigerian Police Force and general public should please take note.

OGUNBONA

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunbona Monisola Ebunoluwa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Cuningham Monisola Ebunoluwa. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

ADEBOYEJO

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ayeni Adeboyejo Oyedola, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Owolabi-Lanre Adeboyejo Oyedola. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State Judiciary, Ado-Ekiti and general public should please take note.

OMISORE I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Omisore Afolake Abolaji, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olaore Afolake Abolaji. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

OYENIYI I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Olusike Ruth Oyeniyi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Olusike Ruth Adeleke. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

ATIKU

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Atiku Oluwatoyin Oluwaseun, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fayokun Oluwatoyin Oluwaseun. All former documents remain valid. General public should please take note.

AJIBORISHA

ALLI

EMEJOR

I formerly known and addressed as EFE EMEJOR, now wish to be known as EFE ADERIBIGBE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

SABIU I formerly known and addressed as SABIU RAFIAT AYOBAMI, now wish to be known as SHOYEBO RAFIAT AYOBAMI. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and the general public please take note.

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THE NATION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013

68 BUSINESS NEWS

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ORRIED over what it described as the high level of unemployment in the country as well as growing inequality in the polity, the Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has suggested the introduction of a national basic income scheme to address some of the imbalance in the system.

Making this appeal recently was Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, the new executive director, (ERA/FoEN), who further lamented that “Nigeria is one of the countries in the world where the gap of inequality is highest. Over 68 million Nigeria’s are unemployed, millions live on less than two dollars per day and millions more go to bed hungry.” He said to address these inequalities and save the country from implosion, a new scheme that would pay what he calls “Basic Income Stipend” should be evolved. Under the scheme he suggested that N18, 000 should be paid to the poor and unemployed.

Expatiating, Ojo said a National Basic Income Scheme (NaBIS) should be “funded or subsidised by a reform of the progressive tax system. It is reparation from unequal use of natural resources from systemic internal colonialism.

If the national budget trend is

ERA seeks national basic income scheme

Chambers advocates home-grown investment

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•From left: ERA/FoEN Director of Administration and Corporate Accountability, Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi, Ojo, Head of Benin Office, Chima Williams and Mike Karkpo, Head of Port Harcourt office at the event

anything to go by, a situation whereby less than one percent of the population enjoys about 70 percent of the national wealth through recurrent expenditure while the 99 percent of the 170 million population is made to settle for 30 percent in capital expenditure from the national wealth is no longer acceptable.

It is this sort of insensitivity that

is maintaining poverty and leading to violent conflicts that is not conducive for our development. There is too much money flying around, and the citizens must wake up from docility and place real demands on their government. “ The National Assembly had recently rejected the motion that unemployment

benefits should be paid to unemployed graduates.

Ojo faulted the amnesty granted the Niger Delta militants saying it was a case of “Rewarding entrepreneurs of violence” to the detriments of communities like the “ Ogonis (apparently because they had no guns.”

Ojo who succeeds Nnimmo Bassey as executive

director of ERA/FoEN) said oil companies should be compelled to stop their social corporate responsibility programmes because it has been abused and open to manipulations.

He promised to build on the foundation that had been laid by Bassey and others to make the organisation forge ahead.

HE President of Warri Chamber of Commerce, Mines Industry and Agriculture, Alex Sharta has urged all wealthy Nigerians to invest in nation’s economy, saying such efforts will impact positively on the gross domestic product (GDP) among others.

The chambers boss made this remark recently at a press conference to herald the forthcoming 50th golden jubilee celebration of the chamber in Warri, Delta State.

Speaking earlier, the chairman of the local organising committee, Sir Simon Asite said, the 50th anniversary tagged: “The Role of Agriculture in nationbuilding” will also discuss other sub-themes like job creation, raw material production to power industrialization as well as commerce and human capital development.

Among the dignitaries expected at the event include Chief Edwin Clark, former Federal Minister of Information, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, as the guest speaker and the Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, etc.

Dankwambo’s model for youth empowerment in Gombe State I

N the time past, life in Gombe State was a nightmare because of the level of violence unleashed on the people of the state by some restive youths, who were known as ‘Yan Kalare’.

But today, barely two years since Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo was sworn in as the governor of the state, one can authoritatively say Gombe is a restive-free state, or if you like, a Kalare-free state.

This is because of the series of youth development and empowerment programmes and policies evolved and religiously implemented by the governor. Mainly executed through the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation, the issues of making life better for Gombe youths is the bottom line of every developmental stride executed in virtually all the sectors of the state.

The ray of hope that people saw when the governor first dissociated himself from youths restiveness and then publicly proscribing them during his inauguration has developed into an awe-inspiring atmosphere of friendliness in the state.

This followed the deliberate pronouncement and implementation of policies and programmes designed to‘re-orientate’ and rehabilitate the hitherto restive youths with a view to reintegrating into the social environment in the state. More so, that these policies and programmes are deliberately aimed at aiding them to be useful to themselves, families and the state in general.

Accordingly, in the first batch of reorientation and rehabilitation programme, a total of 1,200 youths were recruited, out of which 1,197 successfully completed the three-week rehabilitation at the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) permanent orientation camp in Malam Sidi, headquarters of Kwami Local Government Area. After they were trained, the youths are now serving as ward, traffic and environmental marshals in the state.

“The testimonies are there and people are very happy with the programme; even the youths themselves. Friends of those that participated in the rehabilitation exercise have seen the advantage and can not wait to be part of it,” said the Commissioner of Youths Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation, Alhaji Mijinyawa Labaran while commenting on the Corps Marshal scheme established by the government.

The success story and many other testimonies underscore the untold turnaround in the life and fortunes of the youths that went through the three-week reorientation cum rehabilitation exercise initiated by the Dankwambo-led administration in Gombe state to set the stage for return of peace and tranquility to Gombe State.

These marshals have so far made tremendous impact in the areas of ferreting information, sanitation, traffic control, maintaining orderliness and lots more. A good number of them were part of those selected from the state during the last army recruitment exercise.

In recognition of their exemplary commitment, 330 of the marshals were selected and trained at the Citizenship and Leadership Training Institute in Shere Hills, Jos-Plateau State. After their training, they now serve as supervisors and Monitors of the marshals.

Considering the huge benefits and growing yearnings by youths to enroll in the marshal programme, government has

•Dankwambo

By Enoch Mela concluded plans to enlist another batch of 1,200 youths for the reorientation and rehabilitation programme.

“We are just waiting for the current batch of the National Youths Service Corps to finish orientation exercise at the camp, after which we will move in and commence the training”, Labaran further explained.

Preceding the rehabilitation programme was another intervention to empower 320 youths through trainings in seven different trades from four skills acquisition centres across the state at the cost of well over N480,000 each. The graduate trainees were resettled with tools of the trades they learnt while the governor approved that an interest-free loan of N200,000 be given to each of them after fulfilling some conditions to enable them set up businesses.

The programme has now been scaled up to accommodate 520 youths and 16 trades where government is expected to expend N228 million in the training, allowances to both the trainees and trainers. At present, the training manual has been developed by the consultant and any moment, the training will commence for the youths. After they complete the training programme, government plans to provide them with similar tool kits for the setting up of their businesses.

According to Alhaji Mijinyawa Labaran, “The youths would equally upon completion of their training receive a credit facility of two hundred thousand naira with kits of the trade they have learnt to enable them start-off. But during the training period, each trainee would be given a monthly stipends of N6,000 to augment

their transportation to the centre and to sustain their interest and commitment to the scheme.

The Dankwambo’s policies in empowering the youths, has concluded arrangements for the distribution of 867 tricycles (KekeNAPEP) to youths in the state. The aim is to alleviate poverty and enhance their economic empowerment.

In the same vein, a tricycle assembly plant has been established to train 1,000 youths who would be engaged in assembling the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts of 550 units of tricycles to be brought from Pakistan and subsequent importations of tricycle CDKs. A reasonable number of fully coupled tricycles will be supplied from Steyr Nigeria Limited, Bauchi.

The interesting thing about the programme is that the 1,000 youths to be engaged in the assemblage of these tricycles would be employed by government while the plant will also serve other neighbouring states.

Another programme which the present government has embraced to alleviate poverty is the Condition Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme in collaboration with the Federal Government. As a programme under the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), the state enrolled 1,500 beneficiaries, comprising the poorest of the poor, the disabled and other less privileged persons in the state.

To sum up the benefit of this scheme, at the end of the year, its multiplier effect will have touched the lives of 3,000 persons. To expand the programme to other numerous poor, government plans to scale up the scheme to accommodate about 5,000 beneficiaries across the state.

As an agrarian state, the Gombe State government also plans to collaborate with the Federal College of Horticulture, Dadin Kowa town of Yamaltu Deba Local Government of the state to engage 1,000 youths who would be given one hectare of land each to engage in farming. Government has began talks with a Chinese firm to train youths in modern farming techniques in animal fattening, fishery, poultry and crop production.

The Dankwambo-led administration has also taken advantage of the federal government’s Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) where another batch of 3,000 youths were engaged for various poverty alleviation programmes.

Youths are unarguably central to the development of any society because they are the strongest, most vibrant and obviously the future leaders. Therefore, every future plan must be built around them to ensure that they are given proper attention that would translate to a brighter tomorrow for individuals and the nation at large.

This is the impetus behind the various intervention programmes and other indirect programmes in education, agriculture, sports development, health among other sectors of the state.

Today, the youths are indeed having a better deal than ever; no wonder the atmosphere of restiveness hitherto witnessed in the state has given way to a hospitable situation as everybody is now busy engaged in one activity or the other for self sustenance and development •Mela writes from Federal Low Cost Housing Estate, Gombe

70

Tomas Rosicky celebrates Arsenal first goal with Gervinho celebrates Ares

THE NATION ON SUNDAY APRIL 7, 2013

71

QUOTABLE "The fact that Jonathan has allowed himself to be intimidated by traditional rulers, Northern Elders Forum, Arewa Consultative Forum and Muslim clerics from the North shows that he is not in charge of the situation. If he is a President that is in charge, he should demonstrate to the world that nobody is above the law in this country."

SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013 TRUTH IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM VOL. 7, NO. 2454

— The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) criticising President Goodluck Jonathan for his decision to set up a committee that will pave way for amnesty for the Boko Haram sect

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ESS than a decade after most African countries got their flag independence, some of their leaders became acutely aware of the corrosive effects of neocolonialism. To counter this problem, they attempted a cocktail of cultural, economic and political policies to neutralise the negative effects of colonialism up to as far back as the curse of the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. Leaders of Africa’s independence movements knew, and to some extent accepted, their limitations in trying to redraw the debilitating maps drawn arbitrarily by the Berlin conferees, but they didn’t entirely give up. They were not only passionate about their countries; they were also largely well-educated, cerebral and innovative. To supplant the destructive impact of colonialism on the African mind, these leaders promoted the ideals of pan-Africanism in order to give the continent an identity, instil confidence in young Africans, and give them a reason to look forward to a greater tomorrow where they could stand tall and equal with the young of any other continent, especially Europe and America.

Barely half a century after independence, however, all hope of a greater tomorrow has virtually evaporated. Not only are the continent’s current leaders half-educated daydreamers and cannot, therefore, tell the difference between colonialism on one hand and neocolonialism on the other hand, they are simply too desensitised to the dangers of harmful external influences to care what happens to the continent or how its peoples are regarded by the rest of the world. It wasn’t too long ago that great minds walked on the continent, minds like Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Tom Mboya, Amilcar Cabral, Kenneth Kaunda et al, but their walk was both too brief and sometimes inexpert to help create enduring ideological and institutional legacies for Africa’s freedom and economic independence. Yet, for all their faults, it was never said of them that they were too stupid not to comprehend the denigrating impact of foreign influences.

In contrast today, there is hardly any African leader with the depth of understanding, political ingenuity and moral fortitude needed to galvanise the continent away from the looming apocalyptic path of recolonisation. West Africa has become a barren landscape of shortsighted leaders who can’t tell the difference between leadership and feudalism. Even when a few honest leaders come along, they lack the rigour to reclaim and promote the visions of past continental leaders. Ghana’s present leaders, for instance, are the beacon for the sub-region, but beyond offering their country technocratic competence, there is precious little else.

Whatever they call vision today can’t hold the candle to Nkrumah’s vision. Both Sierra Leone and Liberia fought senseless civil wars, in spite of their poverty, and Cote d’Ivoire and Mali needed their former colonial master, France, to restore stability and order. And self-destructive Nigeria is, of course, boiling with largely selfinflicted and man-made sectarian cum socioeconomic revolt.

Southern Africa was a hotbed of apartheid, but when they finally emerged from servitude one after another, only Nelson Mandela exhibited the character of a leader. Sam Nujoma had to be pressured not to amend Namibia’s constitution to serve tenure extension, and geriatric Robert Mugabe has become a burden greater than apartheid upon his people. Successive leaders of Angola and Mozambique have also not been too inspiring, while Central Africa is probably the worst served by incompetent leaders.

Since Britain’s MI6 plotted the death of Patrice Lumumba using the façade of Belgian, French and local forces, the hapless country has grappled with a succession of inept rulers, including the two Kabilas, Laurent and Joseph. Central African Republic (CAR), which is embroiled in non-ideological, distasteful and interminable rebellions, has not fared better.

While ethnic groups in Rwanda nearly exterminated one another, and Uganda reels under rebel attacks, and Burundi stagnates, it took spectacular incompetence, as Mo Ibrahim observed, for Sudanese leaders to infuse religious dogmas into their country’s body politic thereby destabilising and fragmenting it. East Africa is also entrapped in rebellions and poverty. Ethnically and religiously homogenous Somalia is just emerging from state failure begun in 1991 and orchestrated by local rebels, Ethiopia and Libya working in concert. And Ethiopia, Eritrea

Retrogression and paralysis in Africa and Nigeria

•Nkrumah

•Nyerere

and Djibouti at the horn of Africa oscillate between pointless wars and horrifying famine.

The retrogression in Africa is so numbing and so nearly complete that whispers are beginning to be heard in many European capitals that what is needed is a complete takeover, a recolonisation. (See Box, and note the factual inaccuracies). The consequence of the massive retrogression is that future generations of Africans will become humiliatingly less globally competitive than their European, American and Asian counterparts. The gap is widening into a chasm, and it is only a question of time, if things are left unchecked, before active calls for recolonisation receive favourable attention in many key world capitals. Except the continent puts behind it the effects of the trans-Saharan slave trade (which are factors in the Mali turmoil), the even greater evil of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the most crippling effects of colonialism that virtually distorted the economy, culture and thinking of the colonies, the continent’s problems will worsen and predispose it to recolonisation.

Indirect rule made it difficult for Britain to retain a strangulating hold on its former colonies. It consequently could not actively pursue the establishment of military bases in Africa as

successfully as France has done in more than half a dozen of its former colonies. But it nevertheless has advisory presence in Kenya and Sierra Leone. France’s colonial policy of assimilation facilitated the insidious subjection of its former colonies. From Central Africa to West Africa and even to the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb, France has sustained its military presence and bases, and intervenes when the need arises. The relationship between France and its former colonies goes beyond military, however. In foreign policy and the economy, the former colonies still look up to France. China is doubtless elbowing its way in. But many analysts suggest that the disturbances in Mali, CAR and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and especially the promptness and assertiveness of France in those trouble spots, could not be detached from the rising economic profile of China in many African countries.

During the Cold War era, many African countries were cajoled into taking sides with the Eastern or Western bloc. In the Berlin Conference, which was chiefly triggered by the quest for raw materials to feed European industries, Africa had no say on how its inter-

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O sooner had the French cleared Mali of Islamist terrorists than talk turned to exit strategy. Although no one thinks the threat over, the thought is of training the Malian army to take responsibility for securing the country’s long and porous frontiers when the French leave.

This is sheer delusion. Even before the Islamists hit town Mali was a barely functioning state.

A military coup last year, led by a 39-year-old army captain who, one year on, is still pulling the strings, put paid to any notion that Mali was a democracy. Long before the coup, corruption had eroded the rule of law to the point where many of Mali’s institutions had ceased to function effectively.

Despite training by US Special forces, the Malian army is ill-equipped, ill-disciplined and underpaid. When the Islamists arrived, it disintegrated at the first whiff of grapeshot. Already, even before the French have turned their backs, the army has resumed harassment of civilians. What is needed is not an exit strategy, but a strategy for the long term. Without one, there is a danger that the country will disintegrate as soon as the foreigners go home.

Mali is only the latest example of that growing phenomenon: the failed state. Somalia is the supreme example, but we can all think of others.

Liberia (currently under its formidable president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, enjoying a respite from decades of turmoil) has been the subject of three UN interventions. Sierra Leone, rescued from implosion by British military intervention, remains fragile; likewise Ivory Coast, recently the subject of another French intervention and presently hosting an 11,000-strong UN military mission. In Sudan, no less than three separate UN military mis-

nal borders were drawn. The fresh campaigns for the recolonisation of Africa can also not be detached from economic reasons. For instance, all seven French West African countries are connected to the French Central Bank. The fall of former Ivorian leader, Laurent Gbagbo, was partly a consequence of his dispute with France over Cote d’Ivoire’s external reserve. Niger is as important to France economically (supply of uranium) as Nigeria is important (oil) to the United States. France, Britain and the US are now engaged in strategic military cooperation involving deployment of drones. On another side, China is also steadily and aggressively pushing in into Africa for raw materials to feed its massive industrial complexes and huge population.

To facilitate this push, China deploys financial and other kinds of assistance to needy African countries. It may not be too far-fetched to say that China and the West have begun a new scramble for Africa, as the September 2011 election in Zambia proved, and as the creation of the US African Command (AFRICOM) is also indicating.

If the creeping recolonisation of Africa is not to become a fait accompli, Nigeria must experience revolutionary changes in order to offer the leadership necessary to reclaim Africa from its local and foreign oppressors and reposition its peoples for greater competitiveness in the coming decades. If things remain as they are for much longer, the image of the continent will be battered and its chances of securing a glorious future compromised. Fundamental changes must come to Nigeria, for it is the only country with the potential to offer that leadership, not South Africa, not Ghana, and not Egypt. Sadly, in spite of the momentous events happening around it, Nigeria has remained silent, phlegmatic, inept and docile. It lost confidence in handling the Mali conundrum, ignored the CAR troubles, and has said little on DRC. It is high time visionary and ideological African leaders emerged, leaders who have the depth, intellect and passion to create and drive technological advancement, cultural renaissance and new and sustainable democratic paradigms.

The ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cannot midwife the necessary fundamental changes Nigeria and Africa need. On its part, it is anticipated the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) will whittle down its ideological purity and political idealism to stand a chance of birthing a new party (say, the All Progressives Congress) capable of beating the PDP. I am, however, not too optimistic that within the existing Nigerian political structure and given the nature of party politics, the changes the continent desires and deserves can be achieved.

Mali needs a takeover, not an exit strategy

By Chris Mullin

sions are doing their best to maintain stability.

Then there is the misnamed Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast, chaotic, dysfunctional kleptocracy. The armed forces are bloated, parasitic, disloyal, and generally useless except in so far as they threaten the civilian population. No one knows how many have died in the years of mayhem in eastern Congo. The figure is in the millions.

What is to be done? There is no simple solution but I wonder if the time has come to experiment with a new, more robust form of intervention, one that recognises that some states have failed so completely that any short term fix is doomed; that we need to start from the scratch and, subject to the consent of the people, stay for the long term. And I mean for a generation.

Some years ago, when a Foreign Office Minister, I stayed with John Blaney, the US ambassador to Liberia from 2002 to 2005, in his fortified mansion in Monrovia, overlooking the Atlantic. It was he who saved Liberia last time round.

While the last bout of violence raged, desperate Liberians were literally pulling their dead outside the gate, begging for US intervention.

Unfortunately Liberia scarcely featured on the radar of the neocons then in charge in Washington. Eventually, they were persuaded to dispatch a naval task force, which, to everyone’s dismay anchored out of sight over the horizon.

Mr Blaney received a message from the admiral saying that they were sending a helicopter and that he should fly away leaving the Liberians to their fate. He refused saying: “I take my orders

from the state department, not the Pentagon.”

The marines had to land, and barely had their boots touched the ground than the chaos subsided.

Mr Blaney had clear views on what needed to be done. It wasn’t enough to send troops. A stronger UN mandate was needed, which gave it the power to run the country in the medium to long term. “Everyone is afraid of upsetting the African Union, being accused of neo-colonialism or racism. The fact is this is a failed state. There aren’t any functioning institutions to plug into.

We’ve got to do what helps people. What works.

So why don’t we sit down and talk about it?”

Our man in Congo, the late Jim Atkinson, said much the same. “There are no altruistic Congolese. You have only to look at what the rulers have done to their people in the last 40 years. A mandate is the only way. The international community is wasting its time on half-hearted measures. They should either takeover and do it properly, or get out.”

Instead of scuttling at the earliest opportunity, a UN Special Representative should run Mali for as long as it takes to build stable institutions. Not just an effective military, but a fully functioning administration so far as possible funded out of local taxation, supported by the rule of law, and subject to the approval of the people by way of referendums every four years. This would be a better way to deal with failed states than anything we have so far tried.

Culled from The Times (London) February 8, 2013

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